>>93112
"Are you prepared?" I ask her.
She merely nods. We keep going.

(DAY 3)
We are within sight of the temple. It is modest, barely noticable from the outside. Most likely the bulk of the building is underground.

>>93125
Is there anyway you could use a hand and an eyeball to make a mobile scouting rig?

>>93137
Actually, yes. I have a glove especially made for that. Be forewarned, however, replacement of my body parts is hard.

The glove fits over the hand and on the back has a small, hollow glass orb. It opens by unscrewing the top half.

>>93143
Hm. Continue.

>>93145
I should also note that my control of sperated limbs works on ANYTHING, so long as it has muscles, and extends out to about a mile. So. Should I send Shi in, my hand and eye, go in myself, or go in with Shi?

>>93148
The both of you.

You first, as you're more durable (or it seems that way anyway)

>>93157
We both enter the ruin, and it is very, very dark. I should note my monocle doesn't see through darkness unless someone is actively hiding in it. In any case, I pull a lantern from my cloak, lighting it with a single match.

The frontal cavern is long, but not very wide. the floor is square bricks. The front room has only two exits: the entrance and the one deeper inside.

>>93167
Cautiously go deeper.

>>93169
Again, Shi stops me, reaching into a pouch on her hip to pull out a metal orb about the size of her fist. She leans down and rolls it towards the stairs.

One of the bricks depresses and then suddenly rockets up into the ceiling. I wince, and it lowers, revealing... a flat metal ball.

Shi's expression briefly resembles that of a kicked dog.

>>93172
OK, maybe we need to start making a map for this kind of shit.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)20:22 No. 93180 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102373640.png - (2.37KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93176
Here is a map of what I know so far.

The trap resets with a click.
Then goes off again.

>>93180
I hope she has more balls, we may need them. Tell her to roll another one to the left of the trap.

>>93172
Grab the flattened ball via the hat, and try tossing it to more bricks. Map out where it's safe to step.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)20:29 No. 93185 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102414429.png - (2.45KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93184
I grab the 'ball' as the trap resets, and toss it to other squares. Two other, similar traps are revealed in this manner, though one has a pillar slam from one wall to the other and another has one fall from the ceiling.

>>93180
1. If that's all of them, store the "ball in your hat and continue cautiously.
2. If not, then continue to throw the "ball" around, then refer to 1.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)20:40 No. 93190 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102483593.png - (3.42KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93186
I store the metal disc and we walk into the next room with care.
The next room, about a floor down, is much, much larger. My light does not reveal it all from the entryway, but ahead I can see a chasm and a bridge over it. I hear running water. The floor here is smooth stone.

>>93190
Lean as much as you can in there and outstretch your hand. And ask if Shi thinks if there's any danger.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)20:51 No. 93195 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102547435.png - (2.74KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93192
I lean out as far as I can... it doesn't help much. The room looks barren and very, very clean.

"Is there any danger, Shi?"
She looks around me and shrugs, shaking her head.

>>93195
Enter cautiously. Tell Shi to wait until you think it's safe.

>>93195
Tilting floor.
Look into the chasm with the hat.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)21:08 No. 93208 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102650834.png - (2.93KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93204
I enter the room with care and... interesting. there is a great pile of skeletons on the other side, near the exit to the next area. I count at least twenty.

The chasm is deep enough that my light cannot see all the way down.

>>93208
You can control body parts, right? Try controlling one of the skeletons.

>>93211
Only my own. And even if I could control the dead bodies, there is no muscle mass to manipulate.

>>93212
See if you can break a hand off one of the skeletons using the hat.

>>93213
I reach through the hat and snap off one hand of a skeleton, pulling it back in.

The bone is not smooth like a it should be from decomposition in the elements. It is etched all over, full of holes, and smaller in places than others.

>>93214
Back away from the bridge a bit and throw the hand over the bridge.

>>93218
I do so, and it clatters into pieces by the exit.

Shi looks at me, tilting her head, and then her eyes grwo to the size of dinner plates.
I look to see a massive, clear ooze fall from the ceiling to envelope the bones, then slide back to the ceiling. Moments later, the bones fall on the pile.

>>93220
WELL IT'S A GOOD FUCKING THING I DECIDED TO TEST THE BRIDGE OUT! Ask Shi if she has any ideas.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)21:35 No. 93225 ID: 6faa8c
File 126102810470.png - (5.55KB , 640x480 , masterplan.png )

>>93222
"Do you have any ideas?" I ask her. She things for a minute.

Then she scribbles something and hands it to me.

>>93225
I... I think she wants us to pull out the heart of the ooze thing.

>>93228
That... appears to be the gist of it.

But... what of the creature's digestive juices? If this breed of ooze has a heart, this would indeed be a viable plan.

>>93239
Try stabbing the ooze's heart with your dagger, but don't put it all the way through.

>>93245
I again use a bone to bait out the ooze, and I can see the heart clearly, like an enourmous pearl.

In a flash of intuition, I use the dagger to stab it, not putting my own hand through the portal and pulling the heart out easily: it grips the dagger, as if trying to eat it. The slime at the other end of the room becomes inert, and the heart blackens and dies.

>>93247
Is the heart still on the dagger? If it is, shake it off. Then grab another skeleton hand and throw it over the bridge just to be sure there isn't another one.

>>93250
I do so, and the heart splashes onto the floor, eaten by its own juices.

I toss another bone over the gap. Nothing happens.

>>93251
Pocket your dagger, say it's safe, and cautiously cross the bridge.

>>93252
"It is safe." I say, putting away the dagger as I cross the bridge. Shi follows me.

We pass the bone pile, and one of the skulls is propped out by a rigid spine.

>>93252
Throw a hand at it.

>>93259
Why would I do something like that?

Shi runs up and takes the hat from my head, placing it atop the skull. Just as I am about to say something, I notice something odd.
When the hat touched the skull... the skull... flickered.

>>93260
Why did it flicker? Ask Shi. Also scold her for ripping YOUR hat out of YOUR hands.

>>93262
"Why did it flicker?" I ask.
She shrugs, smiling mischeiviously.
"Don't take things out of my hands. We aren't certain what this is capable of, so we must use it carefully. Clear?"
She nods quietly.

>>93265
Does the skull flicker if you take the hat off? Or of you put it back on?

>>93266
I think. Taking the hat off does nothing. Putting it on the skull causes it too flicker in place. As if it teleports elsewhere very breifly immediatly and returns.

>>93267
Examine the skull.

>>93268
It's perfectly ordinary. Whatever is causing this, it's definitely the hat and not the skull.

>>93269
Try placing the hat on another skull.

>>93270
The same thing occurs. Hmmm...This might be one of the other powers Anansi promised to tell me about.

>>93270
Place it on your head and ask Shi if you flicker.

>>93273
"This might be an odd question, Shi, but when I put the hat on, do I flicker?"

She shakes her head.

>>93274
So you need to be dead in order to flicker. Dead dead, not alive dead, like you are. Proceed. Cautiously, of course.

>>93276
Just out of scientific curiosity...
I place the hat on Shi's head, and she flickers too, her mouth and eyes forming wide Os.

>>93277
Anansi has some 'splainin' to do once we get the amulet...

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/16(Wed)23:56 No. 93281 ID: 6faa8c
File 126103657664.png - (3.68KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93278
Indeed he does! I make my way into the next roo- oh for the love of all that is good. It's a narrow walkway slowly making it's way down and turning to the right. My monocle doesn't spot any traps.

>>93281
Take some hands/feet/heads/etc. and store them in your hat. Take a hand and throw it down the hallway.

>>93282
I do so, tossing one of the hands down the walkway. It bounces a few times, then falls off.

...


...


...


It hits the bottom.

>>93283
Try sliding one down.

>>93284
It rolls down, end over end, until it falls off the side of the very high and narrow walkway.

>>93368
Peer at the walkway with your lens while carefully walking down it.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/17(Thu)10:49 No. 93375 ID: 6faa8c
File 126107576261.png - (4.31KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93371
I see no magical traps or mundane ones, and nothing hides in the darkness or under the bridge.

We are halfway there, I think. Shi is staying oddly close. Shi is shaking.

>>93375
Oh, she must be afraid of heights. Let her hold onto your arm or something so she doesn't worry as much about falling off.

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/17(Thu)11:10 No. 93384 ID: 6faa8c
File 126107700372.png - (4.65KB , 640x480 , Templemap1.png )

>>93376
I let her hang onto me as we enter the next room. This appears to be the last one, with a statue of a sphinx. I see no Amulet, only writings on the walls.
Over the one to my left is a sun dawning. Behind the sphinx, a noonday sun. And to my right, a setting sun, made clear by the visible moon.

Ah... looking at the face of the sphinx, I can see the amulet inside, but it is so snugly fit, I cannot reach inside.

>>93384
Writings on the walls, or just drawings?

>>93388
Writings. Over each plaque of writing there is the drawing. Each one seems to be a riddle... which one would you like to hear first? Dawn, Noon, or Dusk?

>>93391
Dawn.

>>93392
Dawn it is.

What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

There is a speaking tube under each riddle.

>>93394
A river.

>>93397
I lean down and speak into the tube:
"A river."

The tube retracts, and I hear a soft click.

It appears that was correct... which one next?

>>93398
Noon.

>>93401
Very well. I approach the noon riddle.

I am the black child of a white father, a wingless bird, flying even to the clouds of heaven. I give birth to tears of mourning in pupils that meet me, even though there is no cause for grief, and at once on my birth I am dissolved into air. What am I?

>>93402
Smoke.

>>93402

A nozzle.

>>93416
I lean forward again and speak into the tube:
"Smoke."

It too, retracts and eventually clicks into place. This leaves the final riddle.

The rungs of a ten foot ladder are attached to a ship and are a foot apart. If the water is rising at the rate of one foot every hour, how long until the water covers every rung?

>>93418
Never. (The boat will float at the same depth no matter how high the water gets)

>>93419
Ha!
"Never."
Again, the tube descends, and the Sphinx's mouth opens wide...

And it lifts its paw to reveal a small hidden compartment.

>>93420
Collect thine loot!

>>93430
In a cautiously but hard-broiled manner.

>>93430
might I suggest poking it with a stick or something first?

How do I shot trip?!H508X.HbJ6 2009/12/17(Thu)14:52 No. 93497 ID: 6faa8c
File 12610903493.png - (54.60KB , 420x653 , dragon-cane1.png )

>>93430
Of course. I peer into the compartment under the foot, and see no traps awaiting me. Carefully, I pull out what sits within:
A long cane, ending in a dragon's head.
But the real treasure awaits in the mouth. I pull it out and the mouth and the paw snap back to their original positions.

>>93497
Examine dragon cane.

>>93504
And medallion.

>>93497
Nice cane. Give it a twirl.

>>93504
It is of excellent craftsmanship! The head is, if I am not mistaken, pure silver. The length of it seems to have been made of ironwood.

>>93508
I twirl the cane, and as it reaches speed, the wood heats and bursts into flame. When I stop, the fire stops, and the wood is unharmed. Shi claps.
Interesting.

"Oh hot damn, you're still upright and whole." mutters Anansi, lowering himself from the brim of the cap.

>>93511
Greet him... her... it... and demand to know the information it promised.

>>93511
"Hello, Anansi. I got what you wanted. Now, tell me about this hat. All of its abilities, please. Some of its history would be nice, too."

>>93515
>"Hello, Anansi. I got what you wanted. Now, tell me about this hat. All of its abilities, please. Some of its history would be nice, too."

The spider laughs, pulling a wooden box from nowhere and holding it out to me. I place the amulet inside and he snaps it shut.

"Most certainly. The history, first." he clears his throat. "The hat belonged to an old magician, one who excelled at slight of hand and smokes and mirrors. He wanted to be able to put on a show like no other, so he approached me with a deal: I would enchant this hat, and he would... repay me." the spider snickers. "The hat is harmless to you, my good man, but every minute a living thing employs its use is a day shaved from its life. You can imagine what occurred when he started to do performances, some lasting for hours, many times a day. The powers are thus."

+ The Hat may be used as a storage device for anything that could fit into the brim. The storage is infinite, and when reaching inside, you will always find what you are looking for, unless your terms are vague, like 'what I need to solve this'.
++As a collorary to this power, turning the hat inside out will dump all the contents of its storage. You can will the items to be expelled at normal speed or very, very high speed when commiting to the action.
++Things placed inside the hat are frozen in time, so living creatures, food, time-sensitive objects, and the like will last indefinitely.

+You may reach through the hat, and out into real space wherever you can see. This is only limited by the acuity of your own sight, but only one such bridge may be made. In other words, you may not put both arms into the hat and have them pop up in different locations.
++Velocity is maintained between points using this power. Speedy thing goes in hat, speedy thing comes out hat.
++Objects pulled back out may either be placed into storage or retrieved immediately. Living tissue is locked in place if this power is used on, say, an arm. The same goes for anything pulled partially through.

The spider takes a breath, but it is not yet finished, clearly.

>>93519
"Thus are the abilities you have discovered thus far. Allow me to finish."

+When you place the hat on the head of another creature, whether alive, dead, or in between, besides yourself, you may choose to teleport it forcefully as far as you like within sight.
++You may, at the expense of a great deal of your own energy, decide to only teleport the head.
++Creatures that do not have heads are not affected by this power.
++You must be holding the hat for this to work. The hat does not teleport along with the target.

+When wearing the hat, if you tip the hat in a direction, you will instantly teleport a distance relative to the distance the hat was tipped. This power may be deactivated and reactivated with an application of will.
++Be forewarned, this is the only power that you can use that can target outside of your range of vision! It is also the only power of the hat that can kill you!
++Looking up allows you to teleport up, lookong down allows you to teleport down. You do not teleport where you are looking, however.

"And that is all." Anansi says smoothly. "Would you like to make any other deals? Perhaps I can offer you information about the cane you hold?"

>>93522
Accept it.

>>93522
Sounds like the teleportation deal is how you will eventually be killed by the Hat.

Find out what he wants in exchange for information about the cane.

>>93526
That sounds... oddly accurate. I will hesitate to use it, then.
"What sort of payment for the information about the cane?"
"Another favour. More dangerous this time, since you know the full capabilities of your artefact."

>>93533
Accept it.

>>93533
Yeah, okay.

>>93533
Sometime in the future, find a wide open field or something and practice teleporting. Finding out how relative the distance is before an emergency pops up could save our unlife.

>>93533
"Very well. What is your mission?"
"Some distance from here, there is a great dragon, name of Jerasp. He stole something from me. A sword that sings." he smiles that strange smile of his. "Whether the dragon lives or dies is a seperate matter, I want that sword back at any cost."

>>93566
This is a good idea.

Ask Anansi where Jerasp is.

>>93606
"Where is this Jerasp?"
"He lives nearby, in a mountain." the spider points. He smiles. "Shi will likely prove most useful there."

She points to herself, a questioning look on her face.

>>93608
"How so?"

>>93615
Anansi smiles.
"You haven't noticed?"

Wait.
When she clapped.

There was no sound.

>>93618
She's muted herself completely. She generates no sound at all. What an interesting ability. So it wasn't just her voice that was silent.

Chapter one end!

Item powers discovered: 3/8
Hat Tricks discovered: 3/30
Magical artefacts found: 2/2
Secrets found: 1/1