The rest of the trek through this level of dungeon goes well enough, although Angeal has to admit it's a bit tricky. He'd wanted the first session to be... really good. Something that didn't leave any of them feeling left out, something that'd have a strong impression past any further bad ones. It'd taken a lot of thing on how to make that happen, because, well, it's their first session as a party. There's really only so much he can do here, especially considering that everyone will do things he might not consider, or the dice might not be in someone's favor.
But he manages. Somehow, against all odds, he manages.
Really, he's thankful to Cloud for suggesting that the NPC come along with them. That means he has one more tool in his arsenal to help move things along, like when he has Twelve find a secret passage way for Genesis's character to investigate. "For most of you, the design of the room seems almost incomprehensible. On your own, you might assume it to be some sort of ritual room, for lack of any better idea. But Sieversii, with that successful History check, you can recognize this easily as a performance hall of some sort..."
True love would probably entail letting Genesis have that entire rest of the session dedicated to worldbuilding and making up an imaginary thesis when he already has his current thesis to work on. Whatever Angeal's form of love is, it will have to settle for an ancient metal flute of some sort, and letting Genesis's character have some very worn out pages of an ancient song that he delicately packs away as though they were more precious than gold or jewels.
Zack honestly seems to shine best when it comes to the combat scenes, in a funny contrast to his flubbing of anything else like perception rolls. Then again, an underground area filled with undead is practically made for a paladin to shine in - literally, at times. He seems elated with that enough, and finding any actual material items is just something of a fun bonus.
So Angeal saves those parts for Cloud's character, and details the aftermath of a battle against a few more zombies. "As I said when your group first went into this room, it looks as though this group of zombies had found an armory to settle in. Now that the battle is over, you can all tell that the room is actually surprisingly untouched for the most part. You've see skeletons and the like use weapons, but clearly they weren't from here. That are various armors and weapons put up on display, and not a single seems to be empty." An inclination of his head towards Cloud. "You notice one in particular, actually. A short sword, but out of a seemingly completely different material than the one you've been using for most of your time as a merc, and that you've used throughout this whole place."
Anything a GM points out is suspicious, apparently, because the whole group makes sure to run through every check they can before Cloud feels comfortable in taking the sword for his own, replacing his own rather sad one. An exchange, even. "From the corner of your eye, you notice Twelve also picking up a sword," he mentions nonchalantly.
Cloud squints at him. Cloud squints at literally everything he says, sometimes. Listen, it's not his fault that Zack fell for the trap that got them all in trouble that one time. "I thought he used a crossbow?"
"Is that something you say out loud?"
"Oh. Uh, yeah, sure."
"Twelve just shrugs, and finds a scabbard for the great sword he's just hefted up. *With the things that are happening with this whole thing so far, I just thought it would be good to have a Plan B. And not all of us can turn our canteen water into weaponry.*"
Funnily enough, while he's as different as can be from Zack in many ways, it's also equally easy to placate Lazard with things his character can do almost more than he can find. It's a spooky crypt with all sorts of nasties inside; it's pretty easy to include lots of traps and locked things for Melanion to solve. But, of course, he's still a thief, and Lazard is a pretty sensible guy at the end of the day. As much as he might tease the rest of the group, Angeal does reward a little bit of nosiness, a little bit of curiosity. Lazard seems quite happy, to note down his various riches on his character sheet.
And Aerith...? Well, him and Aerith both know that Eris will get her time to shine.
Angeal tries to keep it all going pretty short and quick, however. All of them had dedicated this first session to a whole night, since things had lined up neatly that way, but a session like this takes longer than one might think... and Angeal, for one, would like to not sleep past noon tomorrow. His plants have a schedule, and he's not going to break that for anyone.
So, eventually, after giving everyone as much as he could give them... Angeal finally says, "As you make your way down this latest set of stairs, you realize this one is different from all the rest. There are murals all the way down the spiraling staircase, and the air feels... wrong, in a way that you all find hard to explain. Like trying to wade through fog in a hot summer, even though the air is as clear as anything can be down in a crypt." He glances over the group, eyes meeting Sephiroth's gaze last. "We're still going down in the order you described to me last, right - Febail, Sieversii, Melanion, Twelve, Eris, and Allan."
The suspicion one little innocent question gets is great, honestly. Angeal might almost not mind being GM just for reactions like that alone.
But yeah. That's the formation when they enter the grand room, waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Here, that wrongness in the air is thickest, and strange lights glow out from various panes of blue glass all around near the top of the massive walls. There's no other exit, as far as you can see... Just the entrance you all go through, and a strange enormous pillar right there in the center of the room.
"And there, right near that pillar on his knees, is a humanoid figure.
"Zack, Genesis, Twelve actually pushes past your characters here, and he calls out a name - *Malum!* But... Actually, why don't you all do a perception check for me?"
Continuing his streak of not perceiving fuck or all - sometimes the dice really do make character decisions for the players, huh - Zack gets a 6, and that infects Lazard with the same roll. Cloud and Aerith are a little more passable, but the results are still rather middling. It's Genesis who scores the highest out of all of them, pulling out a natural 19, so it's him that Angeal primarily speaks to once he stops looking that smug.
Angeal helps him out there a little bit. "I wouldn't look that smug, if I were you," he comments lightly. "Because there's a problem here, Sieversii, and it's that you recognize almost instantly the place that you're in, all that knowledge about history and art coming through for you once again. Now that the murals here are in bright lights, crawling up the wall of that enormous central pillar... Now that you can recognize the rot peeking out from beneath the stone tiles right under your feet, rot that Eris and Allan also spot... You realize what this room is. You realize who this room is for, and how it connects to the uneasy aura around the man named Malum there on his knees in front of the pillar.
"Sieversii, you realize that you and everyone there with you is in a sacrificial chamber dedicated to the Goddess of Plagues."
It's a nice dramatic moment. So of course Cloud hisses at Zack, "This is about gods, how did you mess up that roll!?"
"Hey man, it's not my god! Why would I know anything!?"
Aerith laughs again at this, with Genesis joining in with a bit of snickering - even he can't resist Zack's charm in the end - but it's all broken through with the sound of a single die clattering against the table. And it's not from Angeal. Instead, for the first time in the entire night... Sephiroth has rolled a die, and he surveys the result even as he slowly flips over his character sheet at long last. A small, slow little smile. "A 19," he informs him, looking across the table at Angeal.
Angeal smiles right back. "You heard the man," he says. "As all of you stand there, Twelve right at the forefront, Malum jerks up to his feet in movements wholly unnatural, and turns to face all of you. In his eyes, you can see a red glow so dull that it almost leaves his sockets looking empty... Trademark courtesy of the Plague Goddess.
"The very man you all came down here to rescue... is possessed by the very will of you. Better roll initiative... and quick."
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But he manages. Somehow, against all odds, he manages.
Really, he's thankful to Cloud for suggesting that the NPC come along with them. That means he has one more tool in his arsenal to help move things along, like when he has Twelve find a secret passage way for Genesis's character to investigate. "For most of you, the design of the room seems almost incomprehensible. On your own, you might assume it to be some sort of ritual room, for lack of any better idea. But Sieversii, with that successful History check, you can recognize this easily as a performance hall of some sort..."
True love would probably entail letting Genesis have that entire rest of the session dedicated to worldbuilding and making up an imaginary thesis when he already has his current thesis to work on. Whatever Angeal's form of love is, it will have to settle for an ancient metal flute of some sort, and letting Genesis's character have some very worn out pages of an ancient song that he delicately packs away as though they were more precious than gold or jewels.
Zack honestly seems to shine best when it comes to the combat scenes, in a funny contrast to his flubbing of anything else like perception rolls. Then again, an underground area filled with undead is practically made for a paladin to shine in - literally, at times. He seems elated with that enough, and finding any actual material items is just something of a fun bonus.
So Angeal saves those parts for Cloud's character, and details the aftermath of a battle against a few more zombies. "As I said when your group first went into this room, it looks as though this group of zombies had found an armory to settle in. Now that the battle is over, you can all tell that the room is actually surprisingly untouched for the most part. You've see skeletons and the like use weapons, but clearly they weren't from here. That are various armors and weapons put up on display, and not a single seems to be empty." An inclination of his head towards Cloud. "You notice one in particular, actually. A short sword, but out of a seemingly completely different material than the one you've been using for most of your time as a merc, and that you've used throughout this whole place."
Anything a GM points out is suspicious, apparently, because the whole group makes sure to run through every check they can before Cloud feels comfortable in taking the sword for his own, replacing his own rather sad one. An exchange, even. "From the corner of your eye, you notice Twelve also picking up a sword," he mentions nonchalantly.
Cloud squints at him. Cloud squints at literally everything he says, sometimes. Listen, it's not his fault that Zack fell for the trap that got them all in trouble that one time. "I thought he used a crossbow?"
"Is that something you say out loud?"
"Oh. Uh, yeah, sure."
"Twelve just shrugs, and finds a scabbard for the great sword he's just hefted up. *With the things that are happening with this whole thing so far, I just thought it would be good to have a Plan B. And not all of us can turn our canteen water into weaponry.*"
Funnily enough, while he's as different as can be from Zack in many ways, it's also equally easy to placate Lazard with things his character can do almost more than he can find. It's a spooky crypt with all sorts of nasties inside; it's pretty easy to include lots of traps and locked things for Melanion to solve. But, of course, he's still a thief, and Lazard is a pretty sensible guy at the end of the day. As much as he might tease the rest of the group, Angeal does reward a little bit of nosiness, a little bit of curiosity. Lazard seems quite happy, to note down his various riches on his character sheet.
And Aerith...? Well, him and Aerith both know that Eris will get her time to shine.
Angeal tries to keep it all going pretty short and quick, however. All of them had dedicated this first session to a whole night, since things had lined up neatly that way, but a session like this takes longer than one might think... and Angeal, for one, would like to not sleep past noon tomorrow. His plants have a schedule, and he's not going to break that for anyone.
So, eventually, after giving everyone as much as he could give them... Angeal finally says, "As you make your way down this latest set of stairs, you realize this one is different from all the rest. There are murals all the way down the spiraling staircase, and the air feels... wrong, in a way that you all find hard to explain. Like trying to wade through fog in a hot summer, even though the air is as clear as anything can be down in a crypt." He glances over the group, eyes meeting Sephiroth's gaze last. "We're still going down in the order you described to me last, right - Febail, Sieversii, Melanion, Twelve, Eris, and Allan."
The suspicion one little innocent question gets is great, honestly. Angeal might almost not mind being GM just for reactions like that alone.
But yeah. That's the formation when they enter the grand room, waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Here, that wrongness in the air is thickest, and strange lights glow out from various panes of blue glass all around near the top of the massive walls. There's no other exit, as far as you can see... Just the entrance you all go through, and a strange enormous pillar right there in the center of the room.
"And there, right near that pillar on his knees, is a humanoid figure.
"Zack, Genesis, Twelve actually pushes past your characters here, and he calls out a name - *Malum!* But... Actually, why don't you all do a perception check for me?"
Continuing his streak of not perceiving fuck or all - sometimes the dice really do make character decisions for the players, huh - Zack gets a 6, and that infects Lazard with the same roll. Cloud and Aerith are a little more passable, but the results are still rather middling. It's Genesis who scores the highest out of all of them, pulling out a natural 19, so it's him that Angeal primarily speaks to once he stops looking that smug.
Angeal helps him out there a little bit. "I wouldn't look that smug, if I were you," he comments lightly. "Because there's a problem here, Sieversii, and it's that you recognize almost instantly the place that you're in, all that knowledge about history and art coming through for you once again. Now that the murals here are in bright lights, crawling up the wall of that enormous central pillar... Now that you can recognize the rot peeking out from beneath the stone tiles right under your feet, rot that Eris and Allan also spot... You realize what this room is. You realize who this room is for, and how it connects to the uneasy aura around the man named Malum there on his knees in front of the pillar.
"Sieversii, you realize that you and everyone there with you is in a sacrificial chamber dedicated to the Goddess of Plagues."
It's a nice dramatic moment. So of course Cloud hisses at Zack, "This is about gods, how did you mess up that roll!?"
"Hey man, it's not my god! Why would I know anything!?"
Aerith laughs again at this, with Genesis joining in with a bit of snickering - even he can't resist Zack's charm in the end - but it's all broken through with the sound of a single die clattering against the table. And it's not from Angeal. Instead, for the first time in the entire night... Sephiroth has rolled a die, and he surveys the result even as he slowly flips over his character sheet at long last. A small, slow little smile. "A 19," he informs him, looking across the table at Angeal.
Angeal smiles right back. "You heard the man," he says. "As all of you stand there, Twelve right at the forefront, Malum jerks up to his feet in movements wholly unnatural, and turns to face all of you. In his eyes, you can see a red glow so dull that it almost leaves his sockets looking empty... Trademark courtesy of the Plague Goddess.
"The very man you all came down here to rescue... is possessed by the very will of you. Better roll initiative... and quick."