Sanctuary Forum Game #3: Your Greatest Sins

[Arnox]

Turn 1

The five-man group stands together before the utterly intimidating Castle of Iron. The very bricks of the structure somehow seem to be made of steel, and it looks like it could endure siege for years. And when you came here, you expected there to be an army to stop you, but there doesn't seem to be anything. In fact, it seems downright peaceful. It looks like no one's been here for years. Some of the formerly beautiful crafted windows were now cracked or simply busted open. There didn't seem to be any lights coming from anywhere inside. The other two bridges that used to be connected to the Castle were now blown apart, it looked like, by some massive force from ages past. And all this you see as the cold winds gently blow across you now with the snow lazily drifting down to the ground. All is silent and serene. And seemingly very inaccessible. The drawbridge was completely pulled up and it looked like one of the few things of the Castle that was made of wood, although it is reinforced with more steel across thick timber that has old scorch marks on it. It does seem like it was pulled just slightly down though.

Besides the Castle, there have been others who've steadily showed up as well, and you've all been eyeing each each other suspiciously as you all check out the Castle, not knowing why the other persons were here. As far as you knew, you were supposed to be the only one who was setting out to find this other sister, but apparently, that was not the case at all. It seemed like a very, very strange coincidence. Assuming it even was a coincidence of course. With that said, you don't feel any particular hostility toward any of the others, or at least right now, and it looks like everyone else is just as bewildered as you are. You should probably get to know each other before proceeding on, or at least find out why everyone is here in the first place. It was also probably a good thing that there are multiple people that showed up here. Despite the apparent emptiness of the Castle, you have a strong feeling that you're going to need every bit of help you can get.

Current Player Statuses:
amitx7 - Azazel Paterdomis - Possessed - No Conditions - 20HP - Point B2
Battousai - Valerius Tigurius - Hunter - No Conditions - 20HP - Point B2
gaijinkaiju - Aizen - Hunter - No Conditions - 20HP - Point B2
Houseman - Judge Jude - Hunter - No Conditions - 20HP - Point B2
M0nke3 - Lumpy - Hunter - No Conditions - 20HP - Point B2
Vendor-Lazarus - Hrolf Skaldr - Ritualist - No Conditions - 10HP - Point B2

For convenience, I'll post the map again here.

And here's a link to the backstory and rules: https://intosanctuary.com/index.php?threads/forum-game-3-details-instructions-and-sign-up.1363

In your first post, say a bit about what your character has come here for. You can change your mind at any time about this, so don't worry. This is just to get everyone started. Players now have two days to make their first post and a decision about what they want to do, even if it's just to wait for now. Keep in mind, if a decision is not made within the time allotted, one will be made for you by the DM. You can also fight anyone at this time as well, but I really wouldn't recommend that... Or at least not right now.

 

[Battousai]

Vale has traveled far to reach Castle of Iron in search of this mysterious woman, to keep improving himself and his swordmanship he seeks to challenge this new foe in an attempt to see just how far he can go and nothing and no one will get in the way of his singular goal, and in the way maybe see if this mysterious lady keeps any interesting weapons that might be of use. For the moment these other individuals that have gathered outside the castle do not interest him, they will either prove to be a hindrance that must be removed or a means to reach this mysterious sister so long as their goals align with his own. For now, he waits and sees how things develop.

 

[gaijinkaiju]

Aizen found himself drawn to the Castle of Iron, guided by a voice in his head. Perhaps this place held the answers he seeked. As he approached the drawbridge, a sense of familiarity briefly washed over him as he eyed the small group forming outside, though he quickly pushes it to the side. Looking up and lowering the hood of his winter cloak, he glares up at the raised drawbridge, muttering something under his breath, before he starts repeatedly and aggressively attempting to kick down the drawbridge. staring intently at the drawbridge on the other side.

 

[Arnox]

Aizen found himself drawn to the Castle of Iron, guided by a voice in his head. Perhaps this place held the answers he seeked. As he approached the drawbridge, a sense of familiarity briefly washed over him as he eyed the small group forming outside, though he quickly pushes it to the side. Looking up and lowering the hood of his winter cloak, he glares up at the raised drawbridge, muttering something under his breath, before he starts repeatedly and aggressively attempting to kick down the drawbridge.

The drawbridge is sadly not connected to your guys' side of the mountain. It's built into the Castle. Sorry, I should have specified.

 

[gaijinkaiju]

The drawbridge is sadly not connected to your guys' side of the mountain. It's built into the Castle. Sorry, I should have specified.

to be fair, i expected it to be on the other side. oh well, guess kicking will wait for time being. Updated my response too

 

[Houseman]

Judge Jude sits on a rock and takes a swig from one of his many flasks, and waits.

"I wasn't even supposed to be here today."

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

As Hrolf winds his way up the rocky path, cold wind biting his exposed face, he strengthens his resolve to find out the Truth.
Going over it in his mind, he, as well as most everyone, know that the slain Sorceress was a Tyrant. Or was she seeming to be.. The world has never been more broken than at present. Did she hoard the excess wealth to stave of greed? Did she entice Heroes to cause this calamity? Dumb, greedy evil Tyrant, or benevolent and wise ruler.
As a Ritualist, he knows that Truth is rarely what it seems. The ever elusive sister could shed some much needed Light on the issue, in these dire times. Spiral up or spiral down, history repeats itself in a beautifully complex balance, he muses.

Almost lost in thought, he quickly snaps out of it when he notices that a group of people have assembled before the mighty gate. Correction, the broken drawbridge TO the gate, he quietly adds. They seem a rag-tag bunch at first glance, but a clue here and there together with their demeanor, shows worldly experience. Could be a good thing, as any nugget of information may be the key that unlocks the path. Could be a bad thing, as ruthlessness is ever in vogue and in demand. Time will tell.

After sharing what glances there's to be had, eye to eye, he focuses on the castle itself. The most straight forward path is the least available one. At the surface that is.. Doing a round in the space allotted by the rugged terrain, he tries to see beneath and beyond the obvious.

 

[M0nke3]

Lumpy not know why him here. (Me hunter by the way). Lumpy wait and smash things. *sniffs the air*

 

[Arnox]

Monkee got in at the last minute.



Just assume you see Lumpy walking toward the group as well, being a little late.

 

[amitx7]

robed in dark cloth that covers all but the most obvious facial details and armed with a seemly harmless walking stick azazel slouches over to the castle with a slow almost dull pace he feels invited by the hostility

 

[Arnox]

Turn 2​

As you all state your basic purposes for being here, attention quickly moves on to the Castle. Specifically, how to get in. Hrolf volunteers and begins to scan the surrounding perimeter of the Castle, and off to the west side of it, he notices four oddly positioned lumps of snow. Clearing the snow off reveals underneath it four small stone poles with ruins in them and a runic teleportation circle inscribed into the rocky ground that the 4 poles surround. What's odd here though is that the cuts made into the rock for the teleportation circle seem pretty fresh... Hm.

Hrolf's pretty confident that the circle, when activated, will put you all somewhere inside the Castle. And he knows how to activate it as well since the magic is pretty basic for him.

I'm assuming you all want to teleport into the Castle then. If so, just say that you will teleport in. You may also ask for further details about your surroundings if you so desire.

 

[Battousai]

Vale sees no reason to waste time idling outside looking at irrelevant things and asks to be teleported in to begin his search.

 

[M0nke3]

*flails wildly with arms at the sparkling teleport effects*

 

[Houseman]

"So, is he just going to stand there and work the teleporter? What if he goes in first? Would we all be stranded outside? Or is it just 'on' now?"

 

[Arnox]

"So, is he just going to stand there and work the teleporter? What if he goes in first? Would we all be stranded outside? Or is it just 'on' now?"

It is a two-way teleporter. Can be activated from both sides. Now that you've all seen Hrolf do it though, you know how to do it too since it only requires running your fingers across certain symbols. With that said though, you strongly suspect there's other ways in and out anyway.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Hrolf knows better than to trust an unknown teleporter. Sure, you got the basic runes for the spatial coordinates but there's no way to tell what trap is waiting on the other side. Hrolf continues looking for another way, while keeping the teleporter as a last resort. He's not averse to teleport in anyone else who directly asks, or who can't work it themselves though.

 

[amitx7]

just before going into the teleporter azazel takes a good look at the sky and (if there are any) trees to see what the rough temperature and forecast is

 

[Houseman]

JuJu gestures a flask at Azazel. "Look a' this un! Do whatever he says. He 'ears messages from God hisself! I'm stickin with 'im."

JuJu follows Azazel

 

[gaijinkaiju]

Aizen walks over to the teleportation circle and takes one glance at it, before standing within the circle proper. Standing within the circle, a series or runes appear around him before he promptly vanishes.

 

[Arnox]

just before going into the teleporter azazel takes a good look at the sky and (if there are any) trees to see what the rough temperature and forecast is

Before you step into the teleporter, you observe that it's incredibly overcast and lightly snowing. Sometime after 8 PM. About 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or -7 degrees Celsius. (There are also many pine trees on the mountains.)

 

[Arnox]

Turn 3

​

As everyone steps one by one into the portal (with the small exception of Lumpy who flails his arms wildly and rather entertainingly at the portal before accidentally touching it and teleporting himself in), Hrolf feels a little uneasy about this, so he decides to check out the Castle perimeter some more to see if perhaps there was another way in.

The first thing he noticed once again was that the pulled up drawbridge attached to the Castle seemed to be not fully pulled up, as if it was either partially pulled up and left like that or simply just somewhat broken down at this point and wouldn't fully lock into place. Hrolf knew of people who could probably use some kind of telekinesis to pull the drawbridge down, but at this current time, you don't know anybody in the party who can do this, or really, know anyone in the party, period. It was a little too late to ask now though since everyone else had already stepped into the portal.

Jogging around the Castle perimeter, Hrolf continues to notice a little more about the Castle's damage. Most notably, at the northeast end, it looked like a huge chunk was either ripped out of that section of the Castle roof or just blown through along with so much carbon buildup on the structure as to make the usually shiny steel bricks look black as the yawning crevice separating Hrolf from the Castle, and finally, massive gouges in the walls as if made by giant claws.

The last thing to notice was the two stone bridges leading to huge iron doors into the Castle at the east and north side of the Castle both. Both of these bridges were also blown apart though, so they provided no access. With that then, and with no other options at hand, Hrolf circled back quickly and went into the teleporter as well.

-

Once everyone step into the teleporter, with Hrolf following some minutes later, the party was treated to an utterly impressive sight. They seemed to be teleported right to the entrance in the Castle interior where the drawbridge would have led them, should it have been pulled down. And before their eyes was an impressive scene of past carnage. The first thing that they were greeted with was the sight of frosted bones and frozen perserved corpses with many of them having remarkably still-shiny steel blades shoved right into their ribcage, legs, arms, face, or abdomen along with the usual arrows sticking out of other bodies. Others had shiny-steel chains wrapped around their necks that pulled their victims down to the floor or chained them to the wall as they were choked to death. What was odd about that as well is that the chains seemed to come from the steel bricks of the Castle, which themselves had more carbon blast marks on them along with... Massive gouges as if made with huge claws.

Although it seems someone pushed all these remains aside to the walls to clear walkable paths through the castle, the carnage that was wrought here however many centuries ago still definitely left a massive lasting impact on this Castle that no one in the party thought could probably ever be truly removed. Beyond the carnage and debris that had resided in this Castle now for who knows how many years, the party all sees that they were in a large entrance hall with 3 darkened paths presented to the them. Judging by the map you all had, you're pretty sure you're all at the south entrance to the Castle, with the path to the left leading down to the basement levels, the center path leading through the ground floors, and the right path leading to the upper floors.

As you all then stepped just a bit into the Castle interior, you all hear a crunch of ice and snow behind you. The party quickly turns to see a youngish and fit man in brown and black robes looking grimly at them with bright yellow eyes.

"I am only going to ask this once... What are you all doing here?"

As he said this, you all see two other other similarly dressed men and one woman come out of the shadows, all of their eyes bright yellow as well.

The party is now at point G1 inside the Castle of Iron. None of you are in combat just yet. It is advised that one speak for the group in a basic capacity instead of everyone speaking at once. You may whisper to yourselves in character as to what you think is best as well before having someone make a statement.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Hrolf knows an impossible situation when he sees one. Not wanting to become the sole focus of ire by either speaking up directly, as was his first reaction because they can't possibly be of one mind, one aim, or one goal after all, logically.. nor be seen to assent to, and subdue his iron-willed geas of Truth to the group as a whole.. Hrolf tries to silently take a step behind the group in a conciliatory fashion, and nudge himself towards the basement entrance, ready to make a run for it, should it go pear-shaped. Not so far as to be singled out by either party though, or it would be for naught.

 

[Houseman]

"No, what are YOU doing here?"

 

[gaijinkaiju]

Aizen takes a quick glance at the creepy crew, before disregarding them and wandering over to the various corpses to both investigate them and also take any, and as many, weapons as he can get his hands on.

 

[Battousai]

Vale glances at the robed figures and ignores them for the moment, he looks around trying to figure which way would be the best path to this mysterious woman. Since he really doesn't know anything about this place he figures he might as well ask the robed lads if they know the way, while clutching the hilt of his sword loosely he asks them "My business is my own, now would you mind telling me which is the swiftest path to the master of this castle? I have no time to waste on lackeys, corpses or pointless questions."