Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Pulling the Aqua Scrunchy material from her backpack, she uses the last of the water from her canteen to wet it and then imagines a turquoise barrette in her hair. She's not sure why, but she has a feeling she may be about to take a dunk.

She thinks to Helix, I'm not sure what happened, but we're going to have to move a boulder to get out of here. The chief's dead body is down here and it's not pretty. You may have to use your horn's power to find me.

She tells Leto, "We can try to leap over the lava, or we can try to move that boulder over there. Personally, I like the idea of moving the boulder, as it should be less painful if we fail. But we'll have to use our combined strength to move it."

And she moves over to the boulder and puts her shoulder against it.
Kelleia:2D6 → 7(3 +4)#STRENGTH - move the boulder

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The stepping stone Kell and Leto first landed on bursts, sending lava high into the air! They keep moving as they discuss their options.

Kell and Leto agree on moving the boulder, and Kell wastes no time laying her hands on the massive stone!

((Will wait for Leto's check…))

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Helix thinks to Kell, Bridgette and Vin are behind me, I've got Sonja on my back and Nissa's riding Hanna's back—which is weird but whatever!—and the brides and grooms are leading the way. Too bad about the masked men stuck in all that pink goo from Leto's gun, but we gotta move! Kell, whatever you're doing, do it fast! I'll find you!

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto joins Kell in pushing the boulder, putting all her strength into it.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell thinks to Helix, Do what you gotta do to be safe, Helix. I know you can't talk to the others like you do me, but hopefully by watching you, they'll figure out that you know something they don't. I'll have to tell Vin about your abilities so in the future he knows you can find me.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The boulder moves a little more than a foot! A couple of fairies side-by-side holding hands could easily fit in the space, but our heroines need to keep pushing. Fortunately, there's no rush, right…?

Only our heroines may wonder about that. One of the Lava Demon's severed arms tumbles into the molten pool in the volcano! It sends a large wave, which crashes against a cavern wall not so far from our heroines! Drops of lava miss Kell's semi-nude body by inches!

The stepping stones that lead to any other way out burst one-by-one. On the bright side, our heroines are able to move the boulder. They just need to keep pushing…

((Roll STR again!))

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto jumps as the stepping stones burst, and pushes the boulder again. They'd better hurry before more lava splashes -- it might not miss them next time!

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell thinks to Helix, Do what you gotta do to be safe, Helix. I know you can't talk to the others like you do me, but hopefully by watching you, they'll figure out that you know something they don't. I'll have to tell Vin about your abilities so in the future he knows you can find me.

And she pushes against the boulder again.
Kelleia:2D6 → 5(3 +2)#Strength 2, keep on pushing!

Where's Akantha when you need her?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The rock moves just enough for a half-naked nymph to squeeze through the opening (at the cost of a few scrapes), but Leto will need another push to get through with her armor!

The demon's other arm falls into the lava, and not far behind is a blob of pink goo with three men trapped inside! The goo lands on the same ledge as Kell and Leto, and the men who are trapped are still alive…

But when the wave of lava comes by, the pink goo disappears under the fiery liquid. Kell and Leto see the flesh literally melt off of one man, his screams barely audible over the sizzling and crashing of the wave! Another body is drawn back, already skeletonized as it sinks out of sight. The third man is on his face, still in one piece.

If our heroines want to check on him, a splash of lava striking each of them gives incentive to shove that rock aside! Leto's armor absorbs the damage, but Kell feels like someone pressed a branding iron against her right buttock! ((3 damage to Kell!))

((Another STR check—almost there!))

((And, yes, an Amazon's STR check would get more movement per point, while a Fairy would do nothing without some relevant elemental magic.))

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Helix asures Kell, We're taking the easy way down! I don't know where you're gonna end up, but I'll find you and see Vin's with me when I do. I'll clop Morse Code if I have to!

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Wincing as the lava strikes her buttock, Kell puts her mind to moving the boulder. She mutters under her breath, "We can do this, we can do this!"

She notices the men in the purply-pink goo as they die, but her mind just disconnects. I'm sorry for them, but they had the chance to do right and stand against that demon but they did wrong. This is the price they have to pay. Later, maybe, she'll be able to feel something.

And as if her earlier thoughts of the Amazon Princess sent a message to the woman and the Amazon responded with a measure of her strength, Kell finds power and energy coursing through her limbs, enabling her to give a mighty heave.
Kelleia:2D6 → 10(4 +6)#STRENGTH 3, last time?

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto gasps and covers her mouth in horror as the men melt before her eyes. A burst of lava reaches her, but her armor absorbs the damage. Shuddering at her near miss, and wincing in sympathy for Kell, she braces herself for one more shove against the rock.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Our heroines each give a mighty heave that would probably impress Akantha. The boulder doesn't just move a few inches, but exposes the entire three foot wide cave and continues to roll away from our heroines!

The one surviving masked man shakes off the goo. He sees the almost-spherical boulder rolling toward him. "Holy shi—!"

His words are cut off as the stone crushes his head into a red paste, then keeps rolling until it ends up in the lava. Our heroines see the Laval Demon's head dangling into view. They don't stick around to watch it fall…

Crawling through the chasm is slow and clumsy, but Leto's breel-eye helm lights the way with its purple glow! There is a river on the other side, and a boat tied to a dock within the cavern.

Sitting on the boat is Phœbe the Fairy Torch. "On your left is the lake of fire, and on your right…" There are no tourists with her. She seems to be rehearsing her lines. The water has a pretty strong current. Our heroines can either swim or each take an oar and row their way out.

"Oh, hi there!" says the Torch, recognizing our heroines—who have just enough time to say hi back before they hear the sound of a sizzling splash somewhere behind them.

((SWIM or ROW? … Roll AQUATIC feat either way!))

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell tells Leto, "I'm still feeling strong, and the water is my element. I'd probably prefer to swim, but I think rowing might be easier for you. Besides, there's no telling what just fell into the water - it might poison the water or something. What do you think?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Phœbe says, "Who is poisoning the water? And what are all those weird noises anyway? No tourist in their right mind'll go in the caverns if this keeps up!"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell tells Phoebe, "Slow down, I don't know for a fact that the water is being poisoned. But we just defeated the Lava Demon, and then we fell into the volcano. Things may settle down now that it's dead, or things may get really bad and the whole thing could blow. We just don't know. But for the immediate term, we need to get out of here and find our friends."

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto nods at the mention of rowing. "I think I'd prefer to stay as dry as possible. Let's stay with the boat."

She picks up an oar and starts rowing when everyone is ready.

It seems the strain of pushing the boulder has tired her out more than she thought.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

((Ouch! Let's see if Kell rolls a double six and you just go in a circle.))

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell steps into the boat and grabs her oar, moving like a pro.

Kelleia:2D6+3 → 11(5 +3 + 3)#Aquatic 1

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Kelleia rows like she's been doing it since the day she was born, and seeing how nymphs hatch as adolescents, she likely did a lot of rowing before her first birthday. Leto's rhythm is way off at first, but the two manage to get the boat moving at a decent pace…

Phœbe sits back and watches the two row. "This is nice," she says. And it is for a while.

There is an orange glow coming from behind, and our heroines soon realize that lava is flooding into the cavern behind them.

"Uh…!" Phœbe's little fairy face stares in panic. "Okay! I'm a tour guide! I can help, um…" She sounds like she's about to cry, but she does her best to tell our heroines about the possible paths ahead.

"On your left is the white water rapids! On your right is the black pools!"

((Pick a direction! Roll AQUATICS!))

((You can roll as you discuss even if the conversation takes more than one post, since the roll is just to see if the two of you can outrun the flow of lava. Your total of 13 was successful, by the way. Kell's +3 is helping!))