At the shrieking ship of Shriekpot....
Scott considers the feeling he now feels, and judges that it might have something to do with the drowning Bernie. He quickly excuses himself, heads back to the pier and looks down. Yeah, he looks to be drowning. Better save him!
Scott dives right into the water!
[Swimming roll: 3]
Since he isn't all that good of a swimmer, it takes him a while to get to Bernie, as doggy-paddling is really not the fastest way of moving in the sea. Bernie looks to be completely insensible already, and Scott grabs him and drags him ashore in due time.
He is rather shocked to find that Bernie appears to be stone dead, though not of drowning by the looks of it. Or anything else that's readily apparent. The feeling of existential dread mounts within him as he regards the corpse produced by a prank gone rather horribly wrong, becoming rather actual pain shortly.
Back at the navigationally-challenged undead adventurers' association, Niklas reveals his completely unreasonable expectations.
"... you guys DO remember where the guy who sold you the tickets was, right?"
The other people don't really reply, though. Possibly of great shame, possibly of great indecisiveness. Possibly both. Eventually, Sigmund breaks the ice.
"Well, where should we look for him? Hmm, if I were a scammer, what would I do while I'm not tricking people?"
Mark, in a rather uncharacteristic move, has an idea! And he shall convey this through dance!
Several rounds of invigorating dance charades later, Sigmund's got it!
"So, you say that he should be in a tavern or something similar? That makes sense, somebody who scams people probably is not of the hardworking type, and even less of the kind of person who avoids vice. Now that I think about it, he could be either drinking or gambling. Good job, Mark," he says, getting all the delicious points for this round. Niklas comes in a close second, and nobody else is present.
"We will search for the false captain in taverns. Who will come with us?"
Mark lifts up his hand eagerly and starts to forge ahead! Niklas is a bit more reserved in his enthusiasm, and Scott must be busy, since he isn't immediately visible around here.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Morton board the ship, unsuspecting of any misdeeds currently in progress. Morton calls out as he comes up to the assembled mages.
"Hello? Good captain! We're back!"
The head of the captain phases out of the captain's quarters.
"GOOD HEAVENS! Back already, ARE WE?"
"Yes, indeed we are! We wish to take you up on your offer of a ride!"
"Well, we DID AGREE that you WOULD CHANGE THE SHIP before I would TAKE YOU ANYWHERE."
"Yeah, and we're gonna do that!"
"REALLY? But WHAT about the FLYING SHIP?"
"We kinda got swindled on that one."
The captain looks crushed.
"Oh my! THE GALL on some people! DID YOU TAKE APPROPRIATE REVENGE?"
"Several minions are working on that as we speak."
"Hope you CATCH THE CULPRIT, then. AND PUNISH HIM SEVERELY! Can't have swindlers TARNISH THE GOOD NAME of shipping everywhere!"
"Yeah, so I'm gonna need a guided tour of this place so I know what to change and all that. Can I take a look?"
"SURE! Everything should be OPEN, I BELIEVE. TAKE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. But not FOREVER. That would be FAR, FAR LONGER THAN I WOULD LIKE. And I would know."
Erin nods to the captain and slowly descends the stairs to the lower decks.
"Need help, Erin?"
"Ya can come along if ya like, but it's not strictly needed. Maybe the captain can amuse ya while ya wait."
"Can you amuse us, captain?"
"Why, CERTAINLY! I could TELL YOU A STORY or two, maybe DISCUSS OUR EVENTUAL JOURNEY."
"I do believe I'll stay here, then, captain! After all, this will all be changed shortly, so there's no point in going on two tours of it all. Aside from a before-after sort of effect, but I've never been one for that sort of thing."
"I will go with Erin and make sure she remains on track."
"I'll go with them as well. I like to see how things change."
Back in Emlocke...
Darren stubbornly clings to the delusion that he can actually possess things, but it is to no avail. So instead he directs his construct to go show the invisible schmucks some love.
However, they are very elusive, and the Darren-guided golem just bear hugs a wall instead in its quest to find love.
[Darren will roll: 1]
Just then, something really terrible twists inside Darren's very being! It's almost as if his spectral heart decided that it's time to start explosively hemorrhaging for real rather than just in a metaphorical sense!
[Darren will roll: 4-1]
However, one miniature heart attack later the sheer urgency of the attack seems to subside! Now it's just a more general sense of immediate mortality surrounding him.
Meanwhile, the whip man goes for a brand new and original strategy - using water!
[Water use roll: 5+1]
He fetches two jars from his seemingly limitless satchel and throws them up in the air, then uses his whip to split them open, creating a miniature acid rain!
[Whip Man dodge roll: 5+1]
He then dramatically backflips out of the way as the burning rain begins. There is a visible smoking and screeching at the point where he used to be, originating from no fewer than six different points! A lot of pain has been dealt by the bombardment, one could say. Judging from the sound, at least four of them are out of commission.
[Master magic roll: 6+1]
Since the minion's out of the way, the dog realizes that there's no point to hold back anymore. It opens it maw soundlessly and the world seems to fade away for a moment as the entire alley seemingly implodes upon itself in a mighty blast.
[Whip Man endurance roll: 6+1]
The Whip Man, safely on the other side of the alley, looks curiously at the pile of rubble left behind by the dog's magic. If Darren wasn't so busy rapidly expiring, he might say that there's something still moving in it.
[Golem endurance roll: 1+2]
The golem, unlike the whip man, doesn't seem to have had good enough fortune to get the hell out of the way, and it looks to have been visibly affected - some of its skin has cracked and most of its glass bits have shattered into even tinier pieces.
Author
Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 557203 times)