Team B: H4zardZ1, Wolfkit, Illgeo"What is that mannequin thing?"
Magnetize the door to the outside of the room, then Shoulder ram.
You ram the door once more and this time it gives way, the door's frame breaking apart. A good kick is enough to break through the remaining wood and open the door.
Looking at the lock, you notice that the door was actually unlocked. Hm. Well, who cares, bashing down doors is cooler.
Team B.
Come closer to the room. Is it safe?
"Who could have done this terrible thing?"
You step a bit closer to the door, but don't actually go through it. The room beyond is a bit large, but not too large.
There's 16 mannequins here, forming two lines at the other end of the room, each with white dresses in various stages of completion or destruction. And by destruction, I mean that they have several holes and slashes on them, as if someone tried to stab them or maybe shoot them. Some of them are holding white knives that look like they've been carved out of bone or a similar material.
Behind them are two doors. There are various machinery, equipment and supplies lining the walls. Some of them are simple sewing equipment while others remind one of the kind of machines one would find in a machine shop.
Yep. Looks perfectly safe. You should just get through here quickly. They're probably just trying to scare you into attacking needlessly. Or maybe making some sort of art project or fashion show. There's no way this is an ambush of any sorts.
Team C: akkudakku, FallacyOfUrist, mydjet((After a few days, the issues preventing me from posting have somewhat cleared. I'm glad to be able to continue this game.))
"Onwards! To combat! Combat!"
Stairs? If they exist, let's go!
You slowly make your way around the hole in the floor and then carefully walk up the stairs. Going through the door in the top, there is a rather jarring change in your surroundings. Everything gets colder and damper and coloured wooden walls become hard grey stone and wooden supports, almost like you're in a basement. It's the same environment as that stone corridor you found downstairs, you realize.
The most prominent feature of this corridor is some sort of mechanical device that is dividing it in to with some sort of energy barrier. It looks like a series of eggs stuck on the walls, each projecting a pale yellow sphere around it that merges with the spheres of other eggs creating a semi-transparent layer that is thinnest close to its centre. They are also emitting a strange clicking noise, each at a different rate, a fact that makes them sound very discordant. There's wires connected to the eggs, but unfortunately they are on the other side of the barrier, twisting into a bundle and going through a larger egg before disappearing inside the wall on your left.
There's two doors (besides the one you came through) you can access on your side of the hallway, one on your left and another on your right. There's also two doors you behind the barrier, one on your right and another right in front of you.
Team A: DreamerGhost, Beirus, Alarith"Well there go our answers about what is happening here. Flash-lights seem to be failing for some reason, anyone here has a lighter to make a torch?"
Reload.
You become DreamerGhost : Reloaded.
By which I mean you reaload your gun using your spare magazine. That's 7 more bullets for you to use.
Team A
"I'm starting to think that this is very bad."
Keep a close watch on the void, look for exits with the flashlight.
With a quick look around, you manage to spot the exit, a simple wooden door leading out of the room. You could just make a run for it.
Your flashlights dim and start flickering. Everything goes dark for a split second. Something red and blue falls on the floor in front of you with a wet crunch. You follow its motion with your flashlight. It's just a skeleton with pieces of flesh still sticking on it, along with torn and blood-soaked clothes and some of his equipment and spare ammo.
The flickering continues and the psychic void starts condensing somewhere behind you, appearing in your mind's eye as dark and viscous oil falling from the ceiling.
Staging Area
Huh!? There's a voice in my head!
George looked surprised for a moment, but quickly regained his composure after coming to a realization.
Wait...the bizarre machine, the secret cave, the voice...there's only one explanation....
I've been captured by the aliens!
George sighed in defeat, and said:
"Well, I knew this day would come. You're one of them, right? I'm guessing you captured me so that you could use your alien device to get your buddy out of my head. Well, take him! I couldn't care less! I'm sure you'll kill me afterward, so just make it quick."
<Oh, that's interesting. Did you always have this fatalistic and defeatist attitude and tendency to complain to whoever you meet or is this a recent development? Most test subjects usually put up some sort of fight or try to bargain or even run away.>
Final Round
I like Salsa's idea. As the rounds pass, the terrain could become more dangerous as buildings start collapsing nearby, fires spread, etc. John and Ron can just be tied for 3rd place. Despite the tournament format, both battles were occurring simultaneously in the same general area, so it would have been possible for Rune and Saevus to temporarily team up and kill John and Ron first, which would have put the tournament in a similar situation to what we have now.
I'm still rooting for Rune to win. Go slime!
Yeah, you're right, that seems like the most logical thing to do. I'll just give both of them the third place reward.
"Let us stop this farce."
[jk]Dammit, why didn't I get a flamethrower arm instead?[/jk]
I don't have anything that's really good at killing slimes aside from simply hoping that I impact him in a way that breaks him (I probably can't even kill him like this). Cutting probably won't cut it.
This might be a terrible idea, but it might work. Hopefully.
IT'S DOUBLE HAMMERTIME! Summon a pair of hammers that won't be too hard to wield at the same time. Discard the two-handed one (by throwing it at Rune, if it won't take too much time). Smash him apart by striking him with both hammers at once from opposite sides (so that he'll get ripped apart). Summon new hammers for every attack so that I can swing faster.
Got a better idea that isn't that crazy. Cutting might cut it after all.
Discard my hammer (by throwing it at Rune, of course) and summon a sword that will be easy to wield with one hand. It has to have a good edge, so if I can completely ignore its stabby parameters to give it some more sharpness - do it (it'll probably be more like a machete then). My plan is to cut him in two and blast the other piece away, before he reforms (guessing that he can do that, since he's a slime and all). If it won't kill him it'll at least make him smaller - and that means he'll have less biomass to do his tricks with.
Or it might terribly backfire and make it so that there are two Runes after Saevus' unlife.
Try to make myself as sticky as possible. The next time this sunnofabitch hits me, I will stick to him, then I will dissolve him. I will END him.
Saevus throws his hammer at Rune, but the time it takes for him to throw it and for it to arrive gives Rune ample opportunity to slither away from it.
<'Come on, you pansy!'>Frustrated, Saevus summons something like a gigantic cleaver and charges at Rune while screaming. Rune almost manages to get out of the way but he's not fast enough. The blade strikes him, cutting off a small chunk from him that proceeds to dissolve into a puddle of yellowish fluid on the ground.
<'The Black Knight ALWAYS TRIUMPHS!'>The blob shivers and gurgles, clearly in pain from the hit, its movements more erratic. Despite that, it proceeds to latch onto Saevus' leg and begins melting through it, the bright lights on its dark metal surface disappearing.
<'Right, I'll do you for that!'><What are you doing?><What? Half the fun of duelling is the witty banter. And they're not doing much of that. So I'm doing it for them. What's wrong with that?><Probably the lack of wit!><Ack! Haha, you wound me man!><You are idiots.>
Campaign
@Tiruin: Is there anything else you really want to do at the moment? Because if not, I'm going to skip forward a couple of hours so that the other people can arrive. Assuming nothing horrible happens to them along the way.
You can also post any action you want to do during that time, if you want.
((I have been indisposed to post here .-. Sorry!! ))
Head back to River, sneakily tie back the lock, and appear nonchalant as I expect him to wake up.
IF River is awake, be startled and try to explain why I left under the general theme of curiosity tied in with River's world-building concent [which Theri superficially knows!]
((No need to apologize.))
You return to find River still resting on the floor. You quietly block the door again and find a comfortable spot for you to wait and rest.
He wakes up some time later and looks around until he spots you. Seemingly satisfied with your presence and the state of his surroundings, he turns his head to look at nowhere in particular.
In the next few moments, he has a severe and slightly comical change of facial expressions, going from calm, to frustrated, to happy, to angry and then to calm again in the span of a couple of minutes.
He shakes his head slightly and then looks at you.
"I got a message from the others. They are close. They should arrive soon." he states.
He grabs the clothes from next to him and looks at them for a few seconds.
"You can go greet them and help them find this place while I take care of... this." he continues with some annoyance in his voice as he struggles to undo some of the bindings that hold the clothes and armour together.
"If you want to, that is.""Nah, it's just fact and the guy has an obsidian pole lodged in his prostate. I gotta get him to loosen up somehow! The only problem is that I don't have any drugs with me and I can't summon any because households aren't universally shitty enough for that.
Well, yet. There's always hope, ya know?"
Alan thinks to himself for a second.
"Hey Nikolai have you ever tried using your power on drugs? Like what if you did your thing on a package of ... what's the green stuff called again? You smoke it. I'm thinking 'bucket'."
Tsar JointAnd an appropriate
Deus Ex mashupCampaign, Ike!
<Splendid! See you in a bit.>
Ike turns to the others.
<Right, he's in a better mood for sure. Let's go find him.>
To River!
Your group continues until you find the gate. Despite the extensive damage it has suffered, it is still an impressive thing. The thick gate must have been covered with colourful engravings and sculptures in the past, but they have received enough damage that only the fortifications remain in place. You can also see part of the mechanism controlling the gate, but it appears to have been damaged and become stuck in the halfway-open position. The holes meant for archers and rock/oil throwing have been widened, leaving large gaps in them.
You follow River's directions and start heading towards a group of buildings towards the south. You don't encounter anything along the way. The fact that you catch his scent trail as you approach confirms you are in the right place.
Everyone((Pausing here so that you can RP/approach the situation however you want. Unless you don't feel like doing so, in which case just post an appropriate action.))