On the deck of the Second Shank...
Sigmund, not having heard the tremendously huge ship-scuttling explosion from the cargo hold, practices his windy magic with his one good focus, leaning against the wall of the aftcastle.
[Sigmund's magic roll: 6]
Air begins to funnel toward him rapidly, pressing him into the wall with its sheer speed. Anybody looking Sigmund's way presently - like Justine, for instance - can't help but smile at the way his cheeks start to move as a result of the wind. It's so amusing, in fact, that she forgets to pay attention to the nearby Niklas, who has just snapped out of his chair coma and is trying to be loud and disruptive.
"HELP! HELP! I'VE FORGOTTEN WHAT I WAS DOING AND NEED HELP!"
The painted guy steps over to Niklas calmly.
"I do believe you were telling me a story."
"No, I believe it was something... more strenuous! You, my dear, were trying to reach your own hindquarters with the back of your head, I believe. Can you try that again for old Niklas, please?" he asks slowly.
"Hm... that does sound fun!"
In that very moment, his torso folds suddenly in half like a flat sheet of paper, the back of the man's head tapping against the man's left buttock in a second. The upper half of his torso then snaps back into place without a sound.
"And it was! It was fun!"
"Wait, I think it was something else... now, my dear, let's try... you wouldn't know how to tie a figure-of-eight knot, would you? No, of course you-"
"Wait, that's an even better idea!"
The man suddenly elongates, tying himself into a figure-of-eight knot surprisingly elegantly. And he even keeps his arms and head in roughly the same place in the process.
"Say, that looks pretty cool. I think I'll keep it that way for now!"
"No... still not it, dear. But you're doing great, yes. Keep doing that. I'm trying to remember..."
Really, Niklas is trying to think of some way to further exploit this guy. It's no fun when it doesn't hurt anyone!
Scott, who still has no limbs, wonders if he can do anything fun now. He looks at a nearby barrel. That looks like a good target!
[Scott's telekinesis roll: 1]
It seems to do something, but then Scott realizes that's just himself flying through the barrel and landing in the sea. Though it doesn't hurt or anything, it feels kind of weird to phase through things like that, he thinks. Not fun at all... until he gets used to it, he supposes.
Rounding off the company on board is Morton, who has just received a complement of chants.
"Gracious thanks, mage Evelyn. I have a few more questions, if that's quite alright. This seems like quite the subject one should be prepared for, after all," he says, taking the sheet of answered questions and placing a new one in front of the abomiduck. "What exactly do you mean by side effects? Is it something to take caution to avoid, or perhaps an expectation? Do you perhaps have any final advice?"
Evelyn's answer is brief.
Mostly hallucinations. Sometimes elaborate ones. Some endure them, some indulge in them, some disbelieve them. Disbelief may be the wisest strategy, but others have their good points as well. Final advice - do not get hasty. Ever.
While all this fun business happens on deck, the action stops for a moment when something begins to happen. That something appears to be the ship beginning to rise from the sea. An astute observer may note the sudden absence of both the shades and the Captain, though there does seem to be a shortage of those on deck presently. The rising is gentle, barely noticeable - it's easier to notice the accompanying low hum, actually.
In the den of the Second Shank...
Mark, after giving his master plans a quick look again, decides to deliver them to the Artiste immediately. He heads up to the deck, where the Artiste is found watching that wizard guy contort himself at Niklas' command. He hands the papers to his master, who seems confused.
"Uh... thank you?"
Good enough! Mark then looks for party supplies. Since there weren't any party favors that he could locate in his ship-check, he supposes he'll have to fashion his own... but then he'd have to craft them from something. But the only thing he's qualified to properly work with are corpses, and though those would make exquisite party favors, there's two, no, wait, three problems - Mark wonders whether that's a rational use of his limited corpse resources, Mark fears that if he makes them now, they'll spoil, plus there seems to be a dangerous-looking floating sheet of paper in the cargo hold.
Back in the den, though, Kevin pursues interesting avenues of conversation.
"Curious. What did you say about a huge construct that you made or something...?"
"Oh, was that a funny one. Get this, a huge machine meant for war - at least eight stories high, it was. Or was it ten? Eh, doesn't matter - there's this giant construct that's supposed to smash things. Then its master gets offed and it's left standing around. And then it gets to thinking, which leads to this epiphany that it wants to be a force of creation rather than destruction and that it has a lot of untapped potential that servitude simply wasn't helping to develop. So it walks off and starts building castles from debris. I get sent to fix the problem - hey, can always use a huge engine of destruction, right? But what do I find? The damn thing has its soul wedged in there so tight and affixed to so many triggers and contingencies, even its master's death - the guy actually soulbound it, too - couldn't rip it out of its frame. It described the feeling it felt as 'a slight discomfort of unknown origin'. Unbelievable. So I do the next best thing - get it under contract doing controlled demolition, cleanup and reconstruction. That made the thing happy. Best part is, it agreed to it despite getting paid nothing and being obligated to remain in service for a thousand years. Sweet, huh?"
The rising of the ship is also evident down here, though obviously with fewer signs like the town becoming increasingly less visible. Kevin's not sure, but he thinks Lizzie's eyes flash a little with realization. He gets the feeling that if she could actually smile, she would right now.
In an artifact weapon-pet store...
Darren has a new idea. He has to drum up some enthusiasm here.
"Here, let's try this outside. I might even be able to pay you back."
"Very well..." the woman says resignedly, and they both head outside. At this point, Darren realizes there is nobody around here. At all. The streets are completely silent, with the nearby buildings looking completely untouched. He thinks he can see tracks in the dust covering the streets, but those don't look like human tracks.
"Everyone is dead," the woman states. "Except me, you and the pets."
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Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 564092 times)