((Shade fluid? Wait... Oh gods, he may be becoming like one of the original inhabitants of the area. Lighteater may be one of them too, but somehow, not.))
See if he reacts to my being near/in front of him. See if his physique is changing in any major way, deviating from normal human. Apart from the covering of black fluid.
You slowly circle around the creature, moving carefully and trying not to look aggressive. He seems to be completely ignoring you. As per his appearance he seems the same, it's hard to tell through the black fire but he doesn't look significantly different at least.
"Lighteater?" Gorat croaks the word.
Back away
((We were never told when Lighteater first appeared, were we? It seems that the oil is Lighteater's true form, and one of the brothers, presumably the one lost to the Graveyard, was the first to turn into the walking flame?
Edit - replace in words like "host", "dormant form", etc as appropriate.))
You back away slowly, out the entrance to the tower and all the way to the inner wall, keeping your eyes glued to the creature.
((Oh... Bad move, me. Does Thomas still have a fighting chance, because 3 is only a lesser failure? Also, if this is a 3, I'd hate to see a 1.))
(sometimes the rolls are just Pass/fail, ie 1-3 fail, 4-6 pass. But you're not completely doomed. Your survival is just in the hands of your "Competent" teammates. )
((@GM: Uh, was Milno even in the same room as Thomas? I remember he was in other place, staring through a broken wall and I made no movement afterwards.))
Nope, You're still there keeping watch. I think the only ones in the room were May, Simus, Maurice, and faith. Chin keeping guard, Charro was being "Useful" elsewhere, as is Travis and you were hanging around in another room.
"Shit!" Faith screamed. "So Lighteater was... might have been one of his brothers!"
Faith began hurrying down the ramp. Whatever Lighteater Thomas was about to do, she needed to catch it.
"I was wondering about why Lighteater was humanoid when everything else was different, this might be the answer. I just hope... uh... well.
THOMAS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Get down to Thomas. Call out to him.
You run down the ramp toward Thomas, filming all the way. Your yelling doesn't seem to have any effect on him.
Milno sighed. It was as if no mission would go smoothly, there had always been problems.
The first brother of the old man to disappear was probably the first Lighteater as well. Well, great.
Watch Thomas the Lighteater.
You walk out of the room you were keeping watch from and look down on Thomas. Yep. Thats different.
Travis was on the ground floor, trying to keep his distance from any problem and guard the entrance. Then the problem came to him.
His mind clicked instantly and came up with a rough theory of what he was looking at.
"Don't shoot it! Thomas is gone. We shouldn't risk any more team members. Now. Will someone pay attention to my suggestion and can we please vacate the area? This is an alien intelligence. It reacts to things differently than we do. An offer of a handshake may be a sign of hostility, leveling your gun may be a sign of respect. We just don't know. Maybe it knows Thomas's memories and could form basic communication, but I highly doubt that. It may even be using Thomas's body temporarily; it may naturally be benevolent. It hasn't attacked us yet. All I can say is leave it alone, please.
The other problem is we have a wyrm or a swarm of something coming for us again probably. I'm going to take a look."
Travis heads outside, giving Thomas a wide berth. He heads past the walls and tries to discern if something was coming, and if so, which direction(s)
You head outside and run out to the edge of the outer wall. You stop, panting, and listen. You can't hear anything and certainly can't see anything either.
Thomas brings one finger up to the lantern, holding it an inch from the plastic casing before pulling it away. The light of the lantern comes away with his hand; not the lightbulb, the actual light itself. He holds it in front of his face for a moment, before opening his mouth and swallowing it whole. The light vanishes and Thomas with it, lost in the darkness he created.