In a pristine restroom in the Red Tower of Power...Niklas, after explaining his habit of talking to his family (making sure not to mention to spruce man, who is hardly present these days anyway) in his head to Lifeboy, who simply rolls with it and chooses not to ask any questions, presumably knowing better from his constant contact with people of magic. At any rate, they move out, seeking the nearest dining hall that his mistress may frequent - and as luck would have it, the main dining hall is closest! What's more, Fat Candace is floating within! Niklas and Lifeboy approach, both quite happy at their stupendous success.
"Ah. You're here. Finally," she says, looking at Niklas with an impatient eye.
"I assume all of your business is sorted out, or, rather, that you didn't have any in the first place. This is the only acceptable way of things. Now, on to what I need you to do, new minion - there's some pathetic little king in the nearby area that demands a representative from our Tower in his court - somebody has to do it, and I drew the short straw, so to speak. So you get to go spend time in a king's court. Any questions?""Can I go, Mom?" Lifeboy asks.
"Of course, dear," Fat Candace replies sweetly, and Lifeboy squeals a little with delight.
"After all, you are woefully behind on your field work. Any other questions?"In the dining room of Castle Melville...Morton thanks Lady Melville for the map - unusual though the map seems, a gift is indeed a gift, and one should never refuse a gift offered in good faith.
"Gracious thanks, good lady Melville. This will be a boon on our travels and learning of the locale. Certainly of more ease of mind than following a road until one hits civilization," he says to his benefactor, quite glad at the way she seems to be performing an almost fateful role of pointing them where they need to go and explaining what actually seems to be happening. But then the gladness is significantly lessened by yet more of
Scott's charming antics.
"I can't wait to try out a few ideas I have for my psychokinetic talents on this outing. I have free reign right Morton? Maiming some of these childers won't encumber the Artiste in any fashion right?...I WON'T BE SENT HURTLING INTO THE NETHER RIGHT? TO BE DEVOURED BY SOME CRUEL CAPRICIOUS GOD?!?" he begins to rant apropos of little, collapsing into absurd, significantly frightening, gibbering laughter that serves as a most adequate indicator that, were he still in possession of flesh, it would have been wise to keep him away from any sharp objects. This continues for a moment before he stops, then speaks again.
"As far as I know he can't wrangle my soul like the Gub can, however, he becomes rather wild when you disturb his sleep cycle!" he says, barking with laughter for a bit before going silent and coming to a rest atop Morton's surface.
"Truly there is no greater pleasure than to travel with such bastions of mental health," Justine says, and Morton, ever tactful, tries to smooth things back into regularity, as Lady Melville appears most disturbed, though seemingly too polite to say much on the matter.
"We--well, hopefully those of the Black Circle in, erm, Eckledun will be helpful and forthwith, so there shouldn't hopefully be any need for such, uh, actions," he says, inspecting the little black cube that purportedly houses a map, though he can't really see how one could fit one inside such a small space.
"I'm certain they'll at least listen to us, and I suppose a place with a center for such a faction must attract many of similar talents. Hopefully some of them will be keen on helping start up a new town. I thank you again for your hospitality, good lady Melville, and for what you've told us. We will be sure to inform you of any new information we manage to garner about the event, either from others or perhaps from good group Gub himself," he continues, turning to Lady Melville thankfully once more.
"I would... appreciate that, yes," Lady Melville says, glancing concernedly at Scott.
"Is there anything you three wish before we set off? I don't believe I've forgotten anything, have I?" the desk asks his allies, and much shrugging happens.
"Well, if you wish to set off, I can have my servant teleport you out now. You may feel free to come back at any time afterward - I would certainly appreciate the company," Lady Melville says, glancing at Henry, who is standing by quite eagerly.
At an excavation in the middle of nowhere...After meeting no objection amongst themselves to the plan of going through the tunnel beneath the earth,
Sigmund,
Kevin and Art thank the helpful magic man up top and head back down into the tunnels, finding that there is indeed a light in one of the tunnels - and it is the one right to the left! Also, no clacking, clicking or whistling to be heard - happy about this turn of events, the group head down the tunnel, making sure to step carefully as they proceed. The tunnel's a bit narrow, it seems, so Art, being a pretty good light source, goes first, with Kevin next and Sigmund last.
It is quite a distance the group gets to walk to the light ahead - at least a good half mile, and the ground's pretty uneven, prompting the occasional
"whoops",
"whoa" and
"whuh-oh" as they nearly trip over various peculiar elevated bits, protruding structures similar to wooden doorsteps and more. Eventually they come to the end of the tunnel and, as they regard it for a moment, they are less than pleased.
For one, it appears to be a white sheet draped over a wall, illuminated by a directed lamp that had been out of sight for the length of the whole tunnel. A quick check reveals that beneath this sheet no escape route can be found. Kevin, whose thought it is to perform the check, turns back to report this fact to his fellows, only to find that Sigmund appears to be missing. Art stands there for a moment, wondering what Kevin's staring at, then notices the conspicuous absence of Sigmund as well.
In addition, the sounds of gnomes - the clicks and the clacks, and more than a few whistles, reappear suddenly, just as the two make their realization, in fact.
"I'm... not the only one getting a sinking feeling here, right?" Art wonders.
Sigmund, for his part, remains missing and in darkness - currently, he feels like he has been stuck inside some sort of oversized pillow - a rather sizable one, with plenty of fuzzy, unidentified filling! It's not an uncomfortable feeling, though Sigmund's still not sure being abducted by filthy cave dwellers was worth it, honestly! But before he can even start doing something about it, he enters a state of weightlessness - he suspects he was just thrown off a very tall precipice of some kind, given the way he seems to still be falling since having that thought.
He lands without many troubles - nothing is broken, bruised or even mildly pained - that filling, in addition to absorbing his screams very nicely, appears to have protected him just as well!
In the Temple of Automaton Worship...Darren, not particularly confident he's doing the right thing, goes with telling his friend to keep the card. And then he makes an informed, reasonable decision as to what he will do with the current card, either dropping it or keeping it - a decision that shall remain unstated for now, though will assuredly become clear at the end of the game.
Next, he and his friend both draw new cards - his friend seems to have gotten an "ECSTASY" card, and looks rather doubtful about Darren's card.
"Kind of open to interpretation, but I'd say... keep it?" she says.
I kind of moved ahead with Spinal despite him not really stating if he wants to keep the current card - next turn he'll just state his preference for both.
Author
Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 562037 times)