Poll of the Day > PotD Fantasy Dungeon Death Battle -- Official Post

(+) Yeah! (+)

Prologue

The legends have it that a black stone shrouded in flames descended from the sky and created the Pit of Periphetes thousands of years before the birth of the first human, shaking the earth and casting enough dust into the air to turn the sky black and block the light of the Sun for three days. Fragments recovered from the chronicles of the Elves speak of walls of fire scouring the land down to its bones, followed by a cold so deep that nothing could live in the regions around the Pit for years, perhaps decades. The land there became a land of death, marked off by a circle of the blackest ash.

The Elves had enough sense to avoid the Pit, but they decided to keep their suspicions to themselves, and, as the millennia passed and new civilizations appeared to replace the Elves that had gone before them, other races discovered it, attracted by the black magic of the object that had first created it. No one can say how many of them it consumed, how many clans and tribes sacrificed themselves to it, but they all built on top of it, making it the focus of their shrines, their temples, their cities, never bothering to clear the ruins of their predecessors, only building on top of them, stacking them up until they filled the original crater, living only long enough to complete their works.

Prehistory became history, and the remnants of the Elves, upon returning from a long exile, followed stories of the Pit back to their source, discovering that the circle of ash had become a labyrinth of ruins upon ruins, filled to the top by the black magic of the object ... and the Undead that it had made of its worshipers over the ages. The Elves lacked the numbers to defeat them all, but they retained their magic from the days before their exile, and they used it to bury the entire crater under a mountain of earth, hoping that it might pass from memory and attract no more victims to its site.

Another millennium passed before a band of human settlers arrived and built the village of Vikenti, unaware of the horrors that lay underneath their feet. For the first year, all seemed normal ... until one of the settlers discovered, in trying to dig a new well, the entrance to a tunnel. He thought it might be the remains of a mine, perhaps the former property of Dwarves, and he gathered several of his fellows to search it for riches.

The expedition did not return, and, by the next morning, the village of Vikenti had been emptied of all life. The Pit of Periphetes had been rediscovered, as had its curse.

Afterwards, adventurers came to the ruins of Vikenti to investigate the rumors started by that initial wave of disappearances, and they, too, vanished into the Pit. Soon, the place developed a reputation as one of the greatest unconquered dungeons in not only the realm, but the world, and the adventurers continued to come in the hopes of being the ones to discover its secrets. Not a single one of them returned from its depths.

The Pit became a business for Rostik, the village closest to the land of death, the last stop for adventurers on their way to the dungeon. At first, Rostik acted as a mere outpost, but, as the years passed, its officials decided to make a major event of the Pit, sponsoring a contest of adventurers and offering a prize to anyone who emerged from the darkness. No one did, but the incentive encouraged the business, and, every year, a new batch of adventurers arrived to test their luck against the Pit and its denizens.

One year has passed. The Contest of Rostik begins again. A new group of adventurers arrives to go into the Pit of Periphetes, unaware of the madness that lurks in the darkness below, but one of them, perhaps, might learn of the secret in its depths.

@Archmage007
@ha21nagamas
@LinkPizza
@Stupid Pirate Guy
@Melon_Master
@Greenfox111
@WhiskeyDisk
@KogaSteelfang
@Mead
@SunWuKong420
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@Jen0125
@LaggnFragnLarry
@keyblader1985
@ss4parrothair
@trodi_911
@wwinterj25
@GameLord113
@TheCyborgNinja

Dramatis Personae
1. Archmage007 -- Human Wizard [Archmage]
2. Ha21nagamas -- Half-Dragon Ranger [Hanagamas]
3. LinkPizza -- Elf Bard [Link]
4. Stupid Pirate Guy -- Human Druid [Guy]
5. Melon_Master -- Half-Dragon Bard [Melon]
6. Greenfox111 -- Orc Ranger [Fox]
7. WhiskeyDisk -- Dark Elf Rogue [Whiskey]
8. KogaSteelfang -- Human Thief [Koga]
9. Mead -- Dwarf Barbarian [Mead]
10. SunWuKong420 -- Demigod Monk [Wukong]
11. Jen0125 -- Elf Assassin [Jen]
12. LaggnFragnLarry -- Human Gigolo [Larry]
13. keyblader1985 -- Human Swashbuckler [Key]
14. ss4parrothair -- Human Pyromancer [Parrot]
15. trodi_911 -- Orc Fighter [Grillga]
16. wwinterj25 -- Dark Elf Sorcerer [Winter]
17. GameLord113 -- Human Barbarian [Game Lord]
18. TheCyborgNinja -- (Former) Human Assassin [Cyborg]
19. [NPC] Adamec -- Human Fighter
20. [NPC] Darico -- Dwarf Rogue
21. [NPC] Fiske -- Human Alchemist
22. [NPC] Belicia -- Elf Cleric
23. [NPC] Matthea -- Human Sorceress
24. [NPC] Rhona -- Half-Elf Rogue
25. [NPC] Tomo -- Human Samurai

As a teaser for what is to come, the raw data for my RNG and Fate / Fudge Dice rolls may be seen here:
https://pastebin.com/4v9xAj0y
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I want a cameo, ok?
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Awesome. Can't wait, also I have absolutely no idea what that pastebin says. lol
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So it begins.
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I am ok with nudity and sexual situations, ok?
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clark can fuck one of my bitches when im passed out drunk

Exciting!!!
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(Cameos and mentions are always a possibility.)

Level 0
Ruins of Vikenti

Twenty-five adventurers departed Rostik for the Pit of Periphetes, the procession having left the village at sunrise in order to reach the Ruins of Vikenti before nightfall. The parade itself made it to the outskirts of Rostik before the celebrants dispersed to let soldiers of the realm escort the adventurers to the boundary of the land of death, marked by a nameless camp full of lepers and outcasts -- the poor souls responsible for clearing the Ruins of bodies and debris during the safety of daylight. The rumors had it that the squatters had also explored the first level of the dungeon itself, but they admitted to nothing, staying in the shadows as the adventurers passed them.

After the camp, silence greeted the newcomers. Since the sinking of that first well, no animals remained in the land of death, and all the plants there had died, leaving a landscape of browns and grays, marked off only by dead trees casting long shadows as the Sun set behind them. The atmosphere became heavy, and all banter stopped, the adventurers separating into twos and threes as they headed into the Ruins of Vikenti.

The two Orcs, Fox and Grillga, paused and glanced at each other as the first buildings of the Ruins came into view. Fox nodded to Grillga before walking forward, drawing his two saw-toothed scimitars and dropping into a ready stance. Grillga returned the nod, understanding two things as she unstrapped the flamberge from her back: One, that it was a kill-or-be-killed situation going forward, and two, that her fellow Orc at least had her back for the time being. They advanced into the Ruins side by side, weapons ready.

A short distance behind them, Whiskey smirked at their solidarity. His people had been making a science of treachery for millennia, and he had no illusions about the things that he needed to do to survive in the Pit. Next to him, Melon, his companion in ale at the bar the night before, stroked his chin, considering the example the Orcs had set.

"Your thoughts, my hooded friend?" Melon asked, but, as he turned to Whiskey for a response, he had no more words to say, for the Dark Elf had put a sword through him. No warning. No sound. Only the surprise of death. He blinked, looking down at the hilt of the sword as if witnessing a joke. Then, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slid off the blade, falling flat on his back, blood bubbling up in his mouth as he died.

"I don't like sharing my thoughts," Whiskey replied, cleaning the edge of his sword on the cloak of his victim, "and you're not my friend, so you don't deserve them, anyway." He made a mock salute as he walked onwards. "At least you could hold your liquor. Good night, bard." From the corner of his eye, he could already see the lepers scurrying in the shadows, eager to strip the dead half-Dragon of his valuables. He considered pausing to do the same, but he had no need of money in the depths of the Pit.

Link witnessed the murder, and his short sword practically leaped into his hand as, next to him, Winter -- another Dark Elf -- turned to him with a ball of fire in his palm, letting it fly as Link raised his shield to protect himself. The fireball detonated on contact, but the innate magic of the shield redirected the blast outwards, blowing Link and Winter away from each other, leaving both of them singed and dazed, but alive. Both of them then sought cover in the Ruins, realizing the dangers of a stand-up fight in the open.

After that explosion, all Hell seemed to break loose at once.

(Continued)
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That escalated quickly. And duh, now I understand the pastebin.
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The explosion startled Key to the point that he took a flying leap at the person next to him -- in this case, the cleric Belicia. He knocked her to the ground to shield her from the blast, almost forgetting, in his haste, that his human weight might be too great for her Elf bones, and he thought that he heard one of her ribs crack, prompting him to apologize quickly and get up again, offering her a hand that she immediately pushed aside as she rose to her feet, holding her side and taking a long, shuddering breath.

Mead, for his part, had been waiting for the adventurers to turn on each other, and they had not disappointed him. He grinned maniacally as he lifted his axe and took a hard swing at Guy, the Druid who had been his friend the night before. He winged him, a line of red marring his robes before he transformed himself into a fine mist in a blink of the eyes, disappearing into the gloom of the Ruins, Mead laughing as he pursued him.

Cyborg followed a similar cue, drawing one of his blades and swinging it in a single smooth motion, cutting Hanagamas across the face. It should have been his throat, by his reckoning, but he had underestimated the half-Dragon and his unnatural reflexes. Hanagamas quickly ducked inside a building that might have once been a tavern, using the darkness inside to conceal himself and vanish from sight, lest the assassin try to get the jump on him again, but Cyborg followed his intuition and did not take the bait.

Rhona had a knife in her hand almost before the explosion, throwing it and catching Fiske in the soft tissue below his right shoulder blade, drawing a hard gasp from the alchemist before he gathered his wits long enough to throw a glass vial to the ground and make it explode in a cloud of white smoke, giving him cover enough to escape. Rhona chuckled, letting him run. She did not have to kill him outright for results.

Wukong and Archmage, watching the drama from a safe distance, turned to each other at the same, but Wukong said it first: "Guess it's time to drop all the pretenses, huh?"

Archmage replied, narrowing his eyes and smiling, "I've been looking forward to this since I found out you were going to be here, demigod. Let's do this." He summoned up his magic in a single gesture, mana-loaded glyphs radiating in circles from his hands and making the air spark and crackle with the sheer power at his command.

To that, Wukong said, laughing, "Okay, you're strong, but let's be honest: Next to me, you're just a little baby. See?" The red pole in his hand immediately doubled in size, catching Archmage in the stomach and sending him rolling on the ground for a fair distance, dispersing his magic and making him look foolish. "Try again later!" Wukong shrugged his shoulders and walked into the ruins, laughing, fearing nothing.

Behind him, Archmage hissed, gasping for breath as he pushed himself up on his elbows, "Oh, you'll be the one who sees, you obsolete piece of --" He coughed, pausing to feel at his stomach for bruising. Despite his words, there was no avoiding the truth: Sun Wukong could have killed him with a single blow, had that been his desire.

On the other side of the ruins, Larry shook his head as the sound of the explosion made his following of prostitutes scatter, screaming as they ran back towards Rostik. "Oh, that's just great. That's what was going to make this whole thing worthwhile." And then he noticed that one had not left. He did not recognize her immediately. She looked exotic, and she had the build of a fighter, not a lady of the night. "You're brave, huh?"

Jen smirked back at him, realizing that he must have been too hung over to realize that she had not been part of his goings-on the night before. "Brave enough. Let's go."

(Continued)
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As violence erupted on the other side of the Ruins, Parrot turned to Adamec, saying, as he gestured to the fighter to go into the shadows ahead of him, "You know, I'm not the kind to set people on fire without provocation, friend. No need to fear me here."

Adamec nodded in return as he said, drawing his broad sword and walking down what had once been the main street of Vikenti, "Appreciated, mage. I'll remember that."

Matthea witnessed the exchange and turned to Game Lord, saying, as she narrowed her eyes behind the red veil she used to obscure her face, "Live and let live. Sounds fair at the outset. Do you agree?" He had spent the night in her bed, and he had been more than capable there, but they both had promised not to let that get in the way of the killing that was certain to happen once the exploration of the Pit had begun.

Game Lord grunted, unstrapping his axe and holding it tight as he said, "Agreed."

One of the buildings above the sorceress and the barbarian had a roof that was more or less intact, and two of the rogues in the company lay on top of it, looking down at the others. Koga looked at Darico, and Darico winked at him. They had a plan. ... That is, Darico had a plan. He smacked the roof next to Koga, and it collapsed, dropping the other rogue into the wreckage of the building below. The night before, they had laughed and cried into their beer together, but, in the end, there was no honor among thieves.

Darico called down, as he dusted off his pants and readied himself for a sprint down the main street of Vikenti, "Head start's mine, Koga! Better catch up to me!"

And Koga called back, groaning from the pain of his fall, "You just wait!"

As Darico dashed past her, Tomo -- the samurai -- paid him no mind. She walked calmly towards the location of that first well -- not the only entrance to the Pit, but the most direct. She had her katana in one hand, her heart beating as calmly as if she had never stopped meditating. She had focus. She did not fear the adventurers.

No, she feared the darkness that lay in the tunnels beneath the Ruins.

Results
1. Archmage007 -- Human Wizard [Archmage] [- 1]
2. Ha21nagamas -- Half-Dragon Ranger [Hanagamas] [- 1]
3. LinkPizza -- Elf Bard [Link] [- 1]
4. Stupid Pirate Guy -- Human Druid [Guy] [- 3]
5. Melon_Master -- Half-Dragon Bard [Melon] ... Killed By # 7 [Level 0]
6. Greenfox111 -- Orc Ranger [Fox]
7. WhiskeyDisk -- Dark Elf Rogue [Whiskey]
8. KogaSteelfang -- Human Thief [Koga] [- 2]
9. Mead -- Dwarf Barbarian [Mead]
10. SunWuKong420 -- Demigod Monk [Wukong]
11. Jen0125 -- Elf Assassin [Jen]
12. LaggnFragnLarry -- Human Gigolo [Larry]
13. keyblader1985 -- Human Swashbuckler [Key]
14. ss4parrothair -- Human Pyromancer [Parrot]
15. trodi_911 -- Orc Fighter [Grillga]
16. wwinterj25 -- Dark Elf Sorcerer [Winter] [- 1]
17. GameLord113 -- Human Barbarian [Game Lord]
18. TheCyborgNinja -- (Former) Human Assassin [Cyborg]
19. [NPC] Adamec -- Human Fighter
20. [NPC] Darico -- Dwarf Rogue
21. [NPC] Fiske -- Human Alchemist [- 2]
22. [NPC] Belicia -- Elf Cleric [- 1]
23. [NPC] Matthea -- Human Sorceress
24. [NPC] Rhona -- Half-Elf Rogue
25. [NPC] Tomo -- Human Samurai

24 Adventurers Remain
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This is really drawing me in so far! Good work!
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On how to read the Pastebin:

+ and - are plus and minus, respectively, and o represents a blank roll. For example, +oo- means a plus, two blanks, and a minus, resulting in a net of zero (+-0 in the results, or neutral).

On injuries and aiding:

Injuries accumulate from post to post. If a character reaches - 4, that character is dead. (Note that Melon got - 4 in a single roll, resulting in the abrupt -- and rather stereotypical -- death of one of our bards.) If characters aid each other (which is looking like a frequent occurrence in my next set of rolls, not yet posted), the number can be brought back up to 0, but not above it.

There is a good chance of this dungeon crawl lasting a while, going by what I have seen thus far.
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Crap, -4 is dead? That was a heck of a fall then.
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What I should say is that the numbers are cumulative. I reserve a certain amount of writerly license when it comes to the described severity of injuries.
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This is getting me Fired up
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Goodness gracious great balls of fire!
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Good start.
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Orc-kin rule!
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How often are you planning on updating this? Just curious.
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As often as I can, Koga, but real life is what it is, so I might need the occasional bump to keep the topic from disappearing. At the moment, I am considering whether or not to do little in-between 'flashback' posts to flesh out some of the characters and their interactions, but I do not want to slow things down too much.
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Yeah, I figured your life would slow things down, I just didn't know to expect them mainly on weekends, or just whenever you have time. I didn't mean to seem like I was pressuring you or anything.
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:-) No offense is taken. Do not be surprised if weekends end up being the best time for updates, but I will try to put them up more often than that.
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Tuesday bump.
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The bump is appreciated, Sunny.

All right, here is my thinking for doing those in-between / prequel posts. All are going to be titled The Night Before (and numbered). How that is going to work is I am going to take the most recent dead character (in the first case, Melon) and use the RNG to see which other character will be in a scene with them. No Fate / Fudge Dice rolls, only exposition that I can then use at a different time.
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What does it take to get added to these things >3
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Babbit55 posted...

What does it take to get added to these things >3

You're too late for this round, boyo.
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Sarcasthma posted...

Babbit55 posted...

What does it take to get added to these things >3

You're too late for this round, boyo.

Boo! I didn't even see a signup or anything
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Babbit55 posted...

Sarcasthma posted...

Babbit55 posted...

What does it take to get added to these things >3

You're too late for this round, boyo.

Boo! I didn't even see a signup or anything

So you know what to look out for next time:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/3-poll-of-the-day/76324899
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Sarcasthma posted...

Babbit55 posted...

Sarcasthma posted...

Babbit55 posted...

What does it take to get added to these things >3

You're too late for this round, boyo.

Boo! I didn't even see a signup or anything

So you know what to look out for next time:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/3-poll-of-the-day/76324899

I shall keep an eye out for it, Shame I can't just come in and take an NPC slot =p
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Sign-ups are already set in stone, unfortunately, but I can always provide a cameo. Thank you for your interest.
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I'm not bitching due to luck of the draw for melon, but his death was very out of character for how I tend to play my rangers and rogues. I'm a chaotic neutral at heart, and the death I gave him was pure evil.

That being said, I *don't* like sharing my thoughts so it is what it is.
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I keep forgetting about this topic. I saw it at the beginning and intended to read it when I got a chance, but it slipped my mind until now.
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Plenty of updates to go, Key, so no worries there.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

I'm a chaotic neutral at heart, and the death I gave him was pure evil.

My apologies. That is another reason to do the in-between posts, though: To go back and establish possible motives (and leave myself outs as needed).
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Bump.
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(Thank you for the bump, Koga.)

The Night Before (1)

"They're all fools," the bartender said as he dabbed at one of the puddles of ale in front of him, "all of them, and they're all going to die, every last one of 'em." He sighed. "It's a shame. It's a damn shame. So much youth, and it's all going to be wasted down there."

"You say the same thing every year, P.O.," Duke the bouncer said, one hand on the collar of a half-awake Fox as he dragged him towards the front door, "and every year, you just stay back there behind your bar and mumble and do nothing about it. When are you gonna back up those words with deeds? Tonight? Or maybe next year?"

"I'm the one paying you, Duke," P.O. growled, wagging a finger at him, "so don't you think you can call me out at just any old time of the evening. Get back to work, you!"

"Funny thing is," Duke replied, pushing Fox through the door and closing it behind him, "we have pretty much the same conversation every year, too. This is usually where you threaten to fire me and never do. And then you tell me how you fired that Babbit character who used to work here. Every year, it's really just the same old thing."

"You watch your mouth," P.O. said, not paying attention as he lined up a fresh row of tankards, "or I'll fire you, just like I fired that Babbit character who used to work here."

Duke shook his head. "Every year, the same thing. I guess that's what it means to get old when you used to be an adventurer, but have to pay your dues because you're just a washed-up bartender who lost his legs in a dungeon full of Dwarf-made traps." But P.O. was immersed in his duties, no longer listening to him, using his arms to move himself back and forth on the bench he had set up for himself behind the bar.

Melon witnessed the exchange, but said nothing. P.O. had long been one of the legends of Rostik, the only survivor of the expedition into the Tomb of Sliding Stone, resting place of a Dwarf king and all of his treasure ... and so many traps that not a single monster could make a lair there. Mangled, mutilated, barely alive, P.O. still managed to escape with a single gem hidden under his tongue, and that fetched him enough money to build a tavern from the ground up and still be running it two decades later. It was one achievement that all of the adventurers there had to respect.

"You're looking thoughtful," Whiskey said to Melon, nursing his ale, "and that's a dangerous thing when you're a bard. Got a song you want to share? Because I'm not really in the mood for it." Rostik always had too many bards on hand for the Contest, and every single one of them seemed to have a floppy hat waiting for his coin.

"I was just thinking of that wizard I told you about," Melon replied, his eyes half-open, as if looking into the past, "the one who tried scrying his way into the Pit with a crystal ball. It drove him mad, but he at least managed to sketch up a map of the first couple of levels before he lost his wits. Now, I don't know how complete it is, but it's the only real map that exists of the place, and I got it from the place where he hid it. You know the one. The Tower of Folding Space." His face sobered. "Six of us went in. Only three came out, counting myself. The others --" He shook his head. "-- I've never seen a trap like that before, reality folding itself through magic, making a perfect cut all the way through a mortal body." He shivered. "Never want to see that again, I tell you."

(Continued)
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"I believe it," Whiskey said, keeping his smirk to himself. The bard had enough alcohol in him to talk about things he might have kept to himself before -- things that might give him a real advantage in the Contest. Things that could be of use to a certain rogue who had half a mind to take them. "Best be careful, though. Much as a map like that is worth, those lepers hanging about the Ruins are likely to snatch it right off you."

"You're right," Melon mumbled. "I'll ... be careful." A long, ale-laden sigh. "It was just -- one moment, my friend's looking at me, smiling, telling me how he figured out the sliding tile puzzle, only for what looked like the air itself to cut him straight down the middle. He was still smiling when --" Whiskey stopped listening, stopped caring.

The next day, before running Melon through and leaving his body for the lepers, as the two of them walked next to each other through the center of Rostik in the procession of adventurers, Whiskey slipped the scroll case containing the only existing map of any portion of the Pit from his belt, unseen by any of the onlookers, unnoticed by Melon ....
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bumpire
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Bumpstock
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Thank you for the bump service. Next post is in progress, and I have updated the Pastebin to reflect that.
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I_Abibde posted...

Thank you for the bump service. Next post is in progress, and I have updated the Pastebin to reflect that.

I knew it...
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I apologize, Koga. You called it, unfortunately. ... Eerie that the RNG and my dice made that decision, to be honest.
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I knew I was dead when you said -4 was death. You kind if got my hopes up when you said there was lots of aiding going on, but they've been dashed. Good job.

Also, I like being able to see a preview and get the story after.
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Bumpskis
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Here's a bump from me to you...
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Great story and topic. Already seems like a ton of fun, and thank you for putting forth the effort for this topic I_Abibde.

im destined for great things, i can feel it
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Archmage007 posted...

Already seems like a ton of fun, and thank you for putting forth the effort for this topic I_Abibde.

You are welcome, and my thanks to you and the others for the bumps.

Should have the next installment up by Friday. Sorry about the delay.
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*waits patiently*
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