Campaign
<Um, last question. Why are you still draining me?>
<Oh! I am sorry.>He closes his eyes for a few seconds and takes some time to calm himself down.
<I am learning the magic of this place and the magic of my element. I can not direct it well. Not as well as my gifts.>He opens his eyes again and looks at you.
<Thank you.>With that, he runs off, with Ike trying to hold on.
Campaign, Ike!
"Onwaaard... to victory! Hooope you're not a wraith about to eat meeee!" Ike draws out, delirious with exhaustion.
Hold on! Hold on! Wait, stop! No, okay. Hold on!
<... I have not thought of that. I might be. I can not look at myself. We should have killed it, but if we have not, if it is controlling my thoughts, if I attack you... Kill me. Show no mercy. If you can return my soulsphere to my brother, he should be able to heal me.>River starts running and you do your best to hold on as you bounce up and down along with his body, your feet occasionally scraping against the ground, especially when he performs a jump. Oh dear. Too bad you're tall. Hopefully any healing you receive will take care of those bruises.
...
You don't remember exactly when you lost consciousness. Maybe it had something to do with that second time you fell. Or was it the third? You aren't sure, but you're pretty sure it involved River suddenly stopping and a very big rock.
When you wake up again, you're back on familiar territory, back in your Ikecave. Looks like River did a quick job on your hands, just enough to stop the bleeding (you can still see the scars through the holes in your sleeves). You're feeling OK though, so he either fixed any internal damage you had or it healed naturally. The torn clothes and the smell of vomit kinda make you look like a drunk though. And you're still a bit bruised and sore from your trip here.
River is currently in the process of retrieving the other two soulsphers from the hole Zechariah's was in, carefully putting each in a bag made out of a shirt.
Noticing that you are awake, he kicks a black stone towards you, trying to touch it as little as possible. You recognise that. It was one of the stones that were above the soulspheres. It looks like a fragment that was recently broken off from from a larger piece, full of sharp edges. It kinda looks like the part of one of those black stone blocks that were in the portal room's floor, now that you look at it more closely.
"This stone harms magic." he starts explaining without waiting for you to ask what it is, continuing to work with the spheres at the same time.
"Eats it. It had some sort of seal. But it is gone now. I do not have the time to recreate it."He finishes wrapping the spheres in the improvised shoulder bags, gets up and approaches the pile of large rocks near the fire, the ones he was sitting next to when you first woke up.
"It is weak. And it keeps getting weaker. It will not kill magical things. But it is unpleasant. It might be enough to keep them away. You do not have much magic. You can use it with little fear."He proceeds to raise one of them with one hand. It looks like it is positioned in such a way that if it was removed completely, it would cause the other stones to collapse onto whoever removed it. He puts his other hand inside the cavity uncovered by the raised stone.
"Make sure not to touch it for long. In this world everything is magic. Even you. So it can harm you."He grunts and pulls his arm out of the hole, dropping another one of those black fragments. He puts his hand in the hole again, this time carefully pulling out a sphere made of a glass-like material with many colourful reflective surfaces on its surface and a bright white light at its core. He sets it down inside another one of those shirtbags and then lets the concealing stone fall in place with a thud.
Staging Area
"You. You're the only crazy one around here, sir. Well, except for me. And that other mad scientist guy. So, what's the news? What's next?"
"Ha ha! Only crazy!" the entity caws as it jumps off the sign and glides towards you.
It lands on your fedora.
"Not sure. I have a friend working on something simple but fun. I think it will be the challenge chosen next."John smiled and raised the glass in a toast motion. "Thanks, buddy! To our health!" He drank deeply.
"De rien, mon ami. To enjoying life!" he says and toasts with his own mug.
Mmmm... Good stuff.
I'm in for mission 4.
Ask if I may try to... "flip something" like he did. If yes, try it. If not, head outside, and make something to test out my strength. I feel stronger than before, and tougher too.
"I dunno, you could always flip that guy off." he says and laughs with his own joke.
"Seriously though, I'd prefer it if you didn't ruin my kitchen. The walls are indestructible, but the equipment isn't.""I guess I could let you have a go though. No reason you can't learn things other than how to kill each other. And it's not like I can't just respawn anything you break."He nods to himself, as if agreeing with himself.
"Yeah, it'd be educational and stuff. Know anything about cooking?"Chat up the people in the bar.
((Selecting target. Rolling for effect. Speech roll protocol engaged.))
You approach Wolfkit and introduce yourself, showing him your pole.
"Hi! I'm Lioraw. Have you seen my pole? It's big but I can handle it pretty well. All the ladies, they love it. They like to caress its long shaft. They say it's hard to find wood that good. But the its tip is the best. I have penetrated many men with it. Sometimes multiple times. Penetrating them over and over and over again, until it is covered in their juices. And because the shaft is so long, it means I don't have to get close. Although what I really love is leaving my goo on their faces. You know, blinding people. Because after they've had a taste of my goo it's a lot easier to stick my pole into them whenever I want."That's certainly an interesting way to talk about your abilities.
I assume you want in on next mission?
In for mission 4.
Saevus regains consciousness and finds himself sitting in one of the couches Alan had summoned previously.
Kick back and relax for now. Observe the humans, they're bound to do something amusing soon.
Things seem to be rather tame right now, although judging from experience that won't last for long. Then again, the usual troublemakers are not here, so maybe things will proceed more calmly. Couchman is especially missed. Our two summoners separated.
You look at an imaginary clock on your wrist and wait for the other shoe to drop.