Vertigo

The Wild Beyond Witchlight

Sshizna stepped further aside as the rest of her saviour crew poured into the room. She was conflicted by the sight; while she'd come to resent the room beyond words over the years, she had also undeniably come to view the space as hers and hers alone. Seeing strangers strolling in so casually felt wrong. An affront, even.

It was an illogical, emotional thought, so Sshizna kept it to herself. Instead, she simply listened as Rory explained their situation, be that not all of it made sense to her. Indeed, the adventurers — if that was even a proper way to address the motley crew — were even more peculiar up close, and half the things they said were confusing at best, nonsensical at worst. They were, as far as she was aware, nowhere near a swamp, for one.

Exactly how much had changed since her capture?

Sshizna might have voiced that very question, had the woman who'd mentioned the swamps not stolen her attention. For a split second, the Yuan-ti's slit pupils dilated, her perpetually angry expression overtaken by startled surprise. It— couldn't be. Simply could not. Why would They be—

She gathered herself, cold hard logic prevailing once more. Yes, that would have been rather silly. Yet it was clear this woman was at least adjacent to... but why? Curious, curious indeed.

It was then she realized the elf had turned to her. Sshizna hoped she was presenting a neutral enough face by the time she turned to Rory. "Ah, now that isss a quessstion I would love to know the anssswer to, myssself," she mused, wry and bitter.

"Alasss, time isss a finicky thing, and ssso very quick to lossse meaning when one cannot ssseee the effectsss of itsss flow." She thought a moment regardless, trying to offer at least some form of an answer. "Sssince before there were ssswampsss in Prisssmeer. Sssince before there wasss a place called... 'Thither', wasss it? Long. Awfully long."

She threw a glance at the woman with the clockwork eyes. "Ssshe might be better equipped to anssswer your time-related quessstionsss."

Hearing rummaging sounds, the Yuan-ti craned her neck to find the bard further in the room. "The dice, and I sssupossse the ressst of the carnival thingsss, are in there. It isss deeper than you think." She nodded her head curtly towards an unassuming, bronze statue of a frog.

The Wild Beyond Witchlight

Was writing and then realized I forgot the Arcana check! Sshizna got a nat 20 for a total of 25 with that advantage. So yeah, tell me 'bout them eyes!

Also, where in the room would the items from the Carnival be kept?

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

Got a few other posts to do first, but will see if I can get a reply in before leaving — if not, Rats will join y'all late when I'm back, and you will never hear his amazing name suggestion.

Symphony on High

💀

20 | Female | Maverick Alternative | So(ME)thing On Your Mind
Kiss & Make Up | Handgun | Physical | We Are But Dust and Shadow
Hellspawn | Streetside Devil
Friends on the Other Side | Shadow | Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
[Obfuscate, Intangible] Damage X (6), Restrain (4), Blink (4), Minor Heal (2), Summon (2), Enhance (2), Powerful (0), Homing (2), Avoid (2), AoE (2), Bend (0), Transplace (4), Quicken (0), Full Extend (4), Scatter (2)

[Silver Projectile][Scatter][Intangible] = -108

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: E | 1250
PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: E | 580

Everything went according to plan — until it didn't.

With Amanda getting injured again and Ciri being forced to admit she had misjudged the time it took her most recently learnt melody to actually go off, the end result was... not exactly what she'd intended, but not the worst case scenario either. At the very fucking least, Viper was further away from Amanda now.

Speaking of, the fuck she meant two versus two, there were like five and a half combatants on this floor! Had all those blows to her helmet rattled out object permanence from her brain or did she just never pass first grade math?!

Whatever, she had a shotgun.

Disoriented as she still was by the change of positions, Ciri managed to stagger to her feet and roll away from the shot just in time, only to be blocked by the one remaining mascot school dropout. Behind her, she could hear Reginass moving closer. Then on top of it all Luna ringed, reminding Ciri she really had to start closing those damn mental connections when she wasn't using them.

What the fuck do you mean, good news?! Wasn't it your entire damn job to keep them occupied down there?! It's a little late to try and lay l--

Ciri was cut off mid-thought. The damn nuns were cackling somewhere far too close for comfort, and the dragon was rearing up for a breath. God, she was so damn tired of being constantly forced on the defensive. But what the fuck else was she supposed to do against... against all of this?! What were the GEMINI assholes doing anyway, how long could it take an entire group of them to deal with things upstairs?

For a split second, Ciri considered using the tigerman for leverage and going through the ceiling to see and give them a piece of her mind. But then she would need to take Amanda along, and she was practically dead-set on offloading her to the first somewhat friendly face she found.

Which meant downstairs it was.

... At least for Amanda.

"Outta my damn face!" Ciri shouted at the tiger, digging a heel into his foot to maneouver past him. She shoved a hand into her inner pocket, pulled out her one and only flash bang, and tossed it over her shoulder as a parting gift, arm covering her eyes just in case. Then she made a mad, desperate dash further along the hallway. Grab the girl, she told It, get her through the floor. She just needed to get a little closer. A little closer, and then—

She cast, trying to scatter the effect to herself, It and Amanda, but she didn't really care whether the tiger was accidentally in range or not and got saved. Either he got incinerated by the dragon now or got caught in the crossfire of something else later, didn't matter. The important thing was that her partner took Amanda back down a floor where the rest of the Mavericks could better protect her (because she sure as hell couldn't, that was clear by now), while she slipped through a wall in the cover of the flash bang and the incoming fire.

"Get down!" she shouted at the last second, hoping if anyone heard, they'd think she went through the floor too, as she pushed herself sideways into an unknown room. She had no idea where she would end up, but it had to be better than what was in the hallway — and it would help her sneak up on that damn sniper snake for a close and personal shot to the temple. Back to her old tactics, to being one with the shadows, far from the center of combat, as she was supposed to.

Also.

Damnit Boteg, if you're still up there, get down the side of the building, your girlfriend's outta whack.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

Rats

Swarm of Rats

or to friends, colleagues and that one guy in middle management who actually remembers them (thank you it means a lot to them), simply,

Rats

1★ | Rats | Level 1

Appearance: They look exactly the way you imagine them to; a mischief of pretty regular-looking rats in various shades of grey, black and brown. There's seven at the moment, six if we ignore Larry (we usually ignore Larry).

Personality: The hivemind known as Rats consists of multiple different bodies that each share a (fairly simple) mind — which, for the most part, is concerned about survival and its various aspects. That doesn't mean Rats are selfish or lack the ability to work in a group however; quite on the contrary. Because while food and water are important for survival, so is fighting off the creatures trying to invade your home and avoiding getting exterminated by someone angry at upper management — or worse, getting fired in this job market. So while Rats can be overly curious and certainly overly greedy when it comes to things they can devour (and if you ask them, they think they can devour quite a lot of things), they're also diligent and resourceful workers who do their best to follow orders — the way they interpret them, anyhow.

Constantly scurrying about doing something they deem important, Rats are very rarely caught resting (are they actually just regular rats...?) and seem to be at their happiest when they have a project to work on. If they aren't handed one, they make one up for themselves, and that usually means they're the only ones happy though, so it's best to make sure their grubby little hands are occupied at all times. Otherwise you might find them rearranging every rock from the Entrance to the Core, usually in a way that's quite a tripping hazard.

Famously, they also have a knack for avoiding trouble, being very good at running away and having developed quite a heartwarming apology dance (Larry notwithstanding).

Abilities:

[We are Rat] ➤ in the good, the bad and certainly the ugly. But this is the abilities section, so we don't need to point out the obvious downsides of being rats in here. Instead, we're going to focus on how keen their sense of smell is, how they can squeeze through tight spaces, move quickly and quietly, and apparently scare the shit out of elephants. Pretty useful stuff.

[We are Many] ➤ one rat isn't very strong. Two rats aren't very strong. Many rats—— are still not very strong, but they sure are annoying. To kill them, you need to kill every rat, and that sucks if you don't have reliable AoE or don't want to waste it all on the first floor of that dungeon you're trying to raid. They're pretty good at fighting together too, so it's easier for them to land hits when there are multiple of them focusing the same target. Most annoyingly, their numbers also seem to replenish in time, so they are never not many for long.

[We are Hungry] ➤ their bite hurts some, but you know what hurts way worse? Hunger, and they're pretty good at causing it, even if unintentionally. So you'd better keep your eyes on everything edible on your person, otherwise, those rations in your bag? Gone. That snack bar you forgot in your back pocket until it melted there? Gone. Whatever monster you happened to turn into a gourmet meal recently? Dude, not cool, but also gone.

[We are Heard] ➤ in your head, multiple times, whenever you want to communicate with them — that is, if you're a monster. Their weird hivemind telepathy doesn't seem to work on humans. So yeah, while their fellow monsters get to communicate with them fairly effortlessly, humans are stuck listening to squeaks and enjoying their — continuously improving, mind — pantomiming routine.

[We have Trenchoat] ➤ it's true, they do. It's pretty neat, looted from some fashion-unconscious adventurer or something. If enough of them pile up inside, they can pass as a human. An itchy, twitchy, squeaky human, but that's hardly the weirdest human you've ever seen, now is it? Be honest.

[We are Plague] ➤ well, not literally the plague (not at level 1, anyway), but they don't exactly wash themselves, and like we learned in an earlier ability description, they kind of eat everything remotely edible without a care for expiration dates. So if they bite you or otherwise hang around your foodstuff, you aren't going to feel very good for very long.

future abilities wip

[You are Us] ➤ eventually, once they've gorged on enough juicy exp, they'll be able to make you — yes, you, human, join them. How? The way vampires and werewolves do it, except the end result is less a Majestic Creature of the Night and more another nameless vermin added to the pile. But hey, you'll never, ever be alone again.

... So yeah, better either avoid getting bitten or get working on that constitution.

[TBA] ➤ ... go grind first.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

I also don't mind if people humanize concepts (IE, oni ranges from cutie with horns to giant red/blue behemoth of muscle--I don't care where on the spectrum that's placed).

@Burger

In light of this information, in a true gacha fashion, the final form of Rats once they reach level 100.

Potential D&D idea

Take your time, and also take care of yourself. Also, what N3v3r said.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

From the midst of a swamp called travel prep, I come bearing—— rats.

Rats

Swarm of Rats

or to friends, colleagues and that one guy in middle management who actually remembers them (thank you it means a lot to them), simply,

Rats

1★ | Rats | Level 1

Appearance: They look exactly the way you imagine them to; a mischief of pretty regular-looking rats in various shades of grey, black and brown. There's seven at the moment, six if we ignore Larry (we usually ignore Larry).

Personality: The hivemind known as Rats consists of multiple different bodies that each share a (fairly simple) mind — which, for the most part, is concerned about survival and its various aspects. That doesn't mean Rats are selfish or lack the ability to work in a group however; quite on the contrary. Because while food and water are important for survival, so is fighting off the creatures trying to invade your home and avoiding getting exterminated by someone angry at upper management — or worse, getting fired in this job market. So while Rats can be overly curious and certainly overly greedy when it comes to things they can devour (and if you ask them, they think they can devour quite a lot of things), they're also diligent and resourceful workers who do their best to follow orders — the way they interpret them, anyhow.

Constantly scurrying about doing something they deem important, Rats are very rarely caught resting (are they actually just regular rats...?) and seem to be at their happiest when they have a project to work on. If they aren't handed one, they make one up for themselves, and that usually means they're the only ones happy though, so it's best to make sure their grubby little hands are occupied at all times. Otherwise you might find them rearranging every rock from the Entrance to the Core, usually in a way that's quite a tripping hazard.

Famously, they also have a knack for avoiding trouble, being very good at running away and having developed quite a heartwarming apology dance (Larry notwithstanding).

Abilities:

[We are Rat] ➤ in the good, the bad and certainly the ugly. But this is the abilities section, so we don't need to point out the obvious downsides of being rats in here. Instead, we're going to focus on how keen their sense of smell is, how they can squeeze through tight spaces, move quickly and quietly, and apparently scare the shit out of elephants. Pretty useful stuff.

[We are Many] ➤ one rat isn't very strong. Two rats aren't very strong. Many rats—— are still not very strong, but they sure are annoying. To kill them, you need to kill every rat, and that sucks if you don't have reliable AoE or don't want to waste it all on the first floor of that dungeon you're trying to raid. They're pretty good at fighting together too, so it's easier for them to land hits when there are multiple of them focusing the same target. Most annoyingly, their numbers also seem to replenish in time, so they are never not many for long.

[We are Hungry] ➤ their bite hurts some, but you know what hurts way worse? Hunger, and they're pretty good at causing it, even if unintentionally. So you'd better keep your eyes on everything edible on your person, otherwise, those rations in your bag? Gone. That snack bar you forgot in your back pocket until it melted there? Gone. Whatever monster you happened to turn into a gourmet meal recently? Dude, not cool, but also gone.

[We are Heard] ➤ in your head, multiple times, whenever you want to communicate with them — that is, if you're a monster. Their weird hivemind telepathy doesn't seem to work on humans. So yeah, while their fellow monsters get to communicate with them fairly effortlessly, humans are stuck listening to squeaks and enjoying their — continuously improving, mind — pantomiming routine.

[We have Trenchoat] ➤ it's true, they do. It's pretty neat, looted from some fashion-unconscious adventurer or something. If enough of them pile up inside, they can pass as a human. An itchy, twitchy, squeaky human, but that's hardly the weirdest human you've ever seen, now is it? Be honest.

[We are Plague] ➤ well, not literally the plague (not at level 1, anyway), but they don't exactly wash themselves, and like we learned in an earlier ability description, they kind of eat everything remotely edible without a care for expiration dates. So if they bite you or otherwise hang around your foodstuff, you aren't going to feel very good for very long.

future abilities wip

[You are Us] ➤ eventually, once they've gorged on enough juicy exp, they'll be able to make you — yes, you, human, join them. How? The way vampires and werewolves do it, except the end result is less a Majestic Creature of the Night and more another nameless vermin added to the pile. But hey, you'll never, ever be alone again.

... So yeah, better either avoid getting bitten or get working on that constitution.

[TBA] ➤ ... go grind first.

Also yeah, will be afk for the next two weeks, in case that affects the picking decision and all.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union [It's Monster Politik Time]

Hmm, since there seems to be quite a few 2* already, I might switch from mimic to a (pack of) rats (as one entity) for a classic 1*

An Idiot's Dungeon Union [It's Monster Politik Time]

A mimic incoming eventually!