Disclaimer: I do not claim to have any idea how to roleplay Wakasagihime. But this is what you get, so :dwi:So, last time we left poor Wakasagihime, she was dreaming of many many deaths in a myriad of embarrassing manners, probably due to her nearly starving state.
After waking up, she reaches in her pack for an apple and continues on her journey deeper into the dungeon. She quickly reaches a Problem merely two rooms into the 9th floor, namely an enemy ice beast, much like the ones she summons so effectively.
Naturally, the response is to summon her own and fight it off. She triumphs, and proceeds to take out a phantom in the same way after availing herself of some bread. She can feel the increasing danger of the dungeon, but knows that to achieve her dream, she must continue exploring.
A few steps later, she finds a curious staircase down, and gets an uneasy feeling. She saw this in her dreams?there are many dangerous beasts there! It?s much better to ignore that and keep going deeper into the dungeon. The devil you know, after all?like that devil up there, but she?s easily taken care of.
Her reward is this strange fan
(that she completely forgets to use on several occasions like a dolt, instead burning less restorable consumables). She ponders how it works before placing it carefully in her pack and continuing on.
After taking out a few monsters with ease, Wakasagihime takes a breather, and sees, not far from her, a book. Curious, she cracks it open, finding it to be a ?Book of the Tempests?. ??first the fan and now this. I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something.? She ponders, before placing it carefully back down in the corner and continuing on. ?The spells are much too powerful for little old me to cast, though.?
A bit further and Wakasagihime sees a strange sight. A single eyeball, hovering in mid air. ?What a curious monster?how could it be dangerous?? She wonders, taking a careful step back to consider her options, feeling strangely concerned about the creature. After a moment?s hesitation, she decides to throw an icicle at it and quickly dispatches it, but not before it turns its gaze to her, causing her limbs to briefly stiffen.
She proceeds carefully after her brush with helplessness, taking out monsters with relative ease between her magic and summons, but she then runs into a particularly well trained, well armored orc. A bit intimidated, Wakasagihime retreats, summoning ice beasts to stand in the way.
Getting hemmed in, she finally lashes out to let her ice beasts catch up, coating herself in ice for protection, and overcomes the orc warrior. ?I?ve gotten a lot stronger than I used to be?? she marvels, a bit of blood dripping off her glaive. She finishes exploring the floor, and looks around ?I have a bad feeling about what will happen when I go into the Lair of Beasts?I?d better go deeper in search of the Beer of ZUN.?
?So far, so good?? She mutters carefully, as she makes her way down and looks around. She turns the corner, quickly takes out a zombie, and finds a grove. ?Oh?this is nice.? Then she hears a roar, and a distant buzz, rapidly approaching. She looks around, to see bees throwing themselves against one set of plants, and a bear ripping apart another. In a panic, she summons ice beasts and tries to stab through the plants, but it?s to little avail. Eventually the bees break through, and her poor ice beasts are overwhelmed?
?I have to get out of here?? She whimpers, backing slowly away from the bees that turn their gaze to her. She rifles through her scroll case as the bees advance and nick her with deadly poison. ?Oh I hope this works??
Her surroundings change slightly, and the bees are out of sight. ?Now?to get back upstairs?? She says, her voice faint from a combination of poison and hunger. Taking a few moments to catch her breath and let the poison run it?s course, she decides to set herself to make her casting more efficient so she doesn?t have to eat as often when summoning. After eating a bit more bread, she returns downstairs and has her ice beasts tear back through the bees. She continues exploring and runs into a veritable giant. She feebly summons an ice beast, but it is almost instantly flattened. ?Oh?I can?t handle that. I?I think I have to steel myself for this Lair?? She manages to flee the giant and return to the Lair staircase, looking at it with a gulp?
She steps down?and finds a pack of Kagerou yukkiris, a giant frog, and a komodo dragon closeby to greet her. ?Oh I KNEW this was dangerous? She cries, fighting them off as best she can.
She manages to draw a couple of them upstairs, panting as she stabs at them with her glaive ?There are so many of them?? She breathes, moving back to lure more, only to find they are lying in wait for her in ambush!
The nipping and slamming pack starts tearing deeply into her, likely emboldened by her freely running blood. ?I?I can?t get away. I?m?going to die here. There?s nothing?? Wakasagihime gasps as she backs away, feeling frantically in her pack as an idea occurs to her. Another scroll, which she reads as quickly as she can, and suddenly she grows to 10 times her size, her glaive growing veritable swords off the sides. ?Go AWAAAAAAAAAY!? She shouts, her voice booming, as the beasts flee her, allowing her to retreat and heal.
Breathing heavily, she tends to her wounds for a bit before reapproaching the stairs timidly, going through a few of the beasts that plagued her before ?I?I think that was most of them?? She whispers quietly, almost hopefully?
She steps down the stairs to find it quiet?well, except for the ambient animal noises and faint, almost spooky whispers. She looks around before stepping off the stairs with trepidation, making her way carefully through the jungly area. A snake drops from a vine and spits in her face, but she summons an ice beast to make it go away. After a bit more wandering, she sees a slug, and panic grips her.
?K-keep calm Wakasagi?it?s just a slug?it was just a dream?you can summon an ice beast and it will go away easily?it?s not even that fast?? She says quietly, trying to keep control of her breathing as she says the words to pull another ice beast from the aether. The ice beast lumbers forward to defeat the giant slug in front of her, rending it with ease. ?See?that wasn?t so bad?? She reassures herself, continuing forward before feeling a burning dripping from her shoulder. ?It burns!? she cries out, as she looks for the source of the acid. ?What?what kind of plant IS that?? She says, stepping back, hoping it can?t move?
?but it doesn?t seem to follow. ?I?I?ll come back later. Why does this place have to be so scary.? She remarks, caught between irritation and fear. She continues picking her way through the lair, carefully managing the packs of animals that reside here and grabbing scrolls at she sees them. She eventually comes upon?
?That?s..a strange looking frog.? She comments, almost curious, before summoning a couple ice beasts. It?s practically rote for her by now, to summon ice beasts when she sees something unfamiliar. ?At least it should be cold blooded?? she says as she readies an icicle to support her friends. The spiny frogs go down relatively easily, though not without sticking her with spines. She grabs the ring she saw, and the other items the frog was guarding, and reads a scroll to identify the ring she just got. ?This ring?sustains one?s abilities? What is this even for?? She says, more puzzled as she slips it on and continues on her way.
As the animal corpses pile up before Wakasagihime?s might, she swears she hears the faint whispering get louder, a bit spookier?but it seems almost approving. She spits another jackal, when she hears a carefree woman?s laughter in the distance, and a book appears before her. ?Orin?s?Catalogue of Black Rituals? She reads, puzzled. ?Well?I?ll take all the help I can get.? She nods, opening the book and poring over the contents, committing Animate Skeleton, Corpse Rot, and Regeneration to her memories. ?Maybe these will help me survive better?? She says, a little convinction in her voice as she continues.
After a few more close calls, she looks contemplatively at the spiny frog corpse she just made. ??well...I wonder if that spell does what I think it does. That frog was scary?maybe it?s skeleton will be too.? She walks over to the corpse and starts saying the dark, unfamiliar words to animate the skeleton, which rips itself from the flesh of the animal she just slew, making a silent croak before following her obediently ?Oh, it worked!? She exclaims, before continuing her exploration, her new subject following slowly but obediently until she passes the Oklob, which the skeleton inexorably shambles towards. ?Froggy? What are you doing?? she says uncertainly, carefully skirting the oklob. ?Froggy?? She calls out, as it doesn?t seem to follow. A lump forms in her stomach as she continues a bit past, before doubling back?to see her skeleton seemingly unharmed. ?Froggy!?
?I?m so glad you?re ok?? She says, relieved, looking towards the plant?s territory. ?But?if you?re still animated??
She takes a careful step towards the oklob, only to find it not there. ?You did that yourself? You really are strong!? She says, surprised at the results of her magic. She explores the area around where the oklob was and finds nothing of interest, and walks to a staircase. ?All right?I know Froggy and I can do anything!? She goes down the stairs boldy?only to find Froggy didn?t follow. ?Froggy?come on.? She whimpers, exhorting the skeleton to head down the stairs, but it merely stares off after her, expressionless. ?Well?well I?ll just make more, if you?re gonna be like that!? She storms off, tearing apart more beasts and reanimating their skeletons, collecting a small army.
Her skeleton horde makes the floor go much easier than the first one, and she manages to find an powerful item in the process.
?Oh?good, with this, it?ll be much harder for me to be ambushed?? She comments, sticking it carefully in her pack. Continuing on her way, her glaivework and spellcasting continue to improve, and her army grows and shrinks as new threats appear. She eventually happens on a dangerous for, however?
?I?ve heard of these?they can turn you to stone with a gaze?I have to be careful.? She orders her army to attack, but not a moment later, the basilisk locks eyes with her and her muscles stiffen. ?Oh no?is?is this it?? She whispers as her legs?arms?her entire body stiffens and becomes as a statue.
Wakasagihime blinks, confused to see a bleeding, half dead basilisk in front of her, and shallow claw marks across her stomach.
?I?m?alive? I?m hardly even hurt?I guess in this dungeon the old legends don?t play for keeps?? She remarks with wonder, dealing the final blow to the basilisk. ?Um?good job skeletons!? She says encouragingly, stretching her now mobile limbs and continuing on. She stumbles upon a pair of boots, looking at them curiously, then at her new feet. ??I can actually wear shoes now!? She exclaims, almost giddy as she slips the leather over her feet, a surprisingly snug fit. ?Oh?wow, that is nice. The hard dungeon floor was so rough?? she comments, ordering her skeleton army on and finishing her exploration of this floor of the Lair. ?I think?I?ll take a short rest here. It was scary?but at times like these I really think I can claim the Beer of ZUN and get my wish!? She says, strongly and confidently.
End turn: 16,254.9
Turns taken: 5343
State of the mermaid: Current skills I have on are Polearms (because we probably want to get at least to a halberd's mindelay, though I'm pretty sure glaives just are terrible beyond having good base damage), Necromancy, and Spellcasting so we stop running around hungry/very hungry/near starving when we need MORE ICE BROS.
I played honestly quite poorly this session, and used consumables I never should have had to. In the ambush situation especially, a fan of gales would have saved us our only scroll of fear. Still, don't let this stop you from using consumables to stay alive. It is more important to live than it is to save items, even in a situation like this.
We've broken into necromancy and it'll save you turns to always use regeneration while resting. Corpse Rot is better in cooridors when a monster is standing on a corpse (though I think bigger corpses make more miasma? Someone else will have to confirm). Skeletons are, as always, quite good.
I'd say keep exploring Lair and keep an eye out for better stuff, overall.
Pirate! You have until Saturday, 11/24/2014, 2:00 AM EDT to post your log! The save is attached to this file.
Also, following my own rule, I guess I'll subject myself to going again later.
