TURN THIRTY-THREE: NIGHT OF THE VOID
Yay, new characters! Yay, more story! Yay, more important, key events!
Yay EVERYTHING! Well, except for the loss of data from the computer crash, but oh well!
Enjoy the turn,
Artemis.
Drain all the water from their blood plasma. "I'm a gods damned demon, fools!"
Alex RamanYou decide to try something a bit unorthodox for your range of powers. Maybe your practice will enable you to move outside of your comfort zone and begin destroying your foes with even more power. Calmly and slowly, you draw your hands back and slow down your breathing in order to prepare your focus. You draw yourself to the idea of being able to control the water in the blood of your enemies. It's a bit of a stretch, but it'll have to do for now. A few moments later, you wait for them to take another step towards you and raise your arms in front of you, trying to drain the water out of their blood.
One second goes by, then two, and three. Nothing happens. You try it again, and still receive nothing. Where did the power go? Maybe you don't have access to this part of their bodies. You put your hands back down and back away a bit. Your power failed you this time.
"Hey! Put your hands up and and put your back against the wall, now! You have five seconds to comply!"Above you, a single star twinkles faintly. The wind whistles over your head as it sifts through little windows in the wall. The night is still early, yet it is almost as dark as if it was deep night. The surrounding area is lit only by the lights that are set at intervals on the wall and some headlights in the distance.
Get the creators to start smelting the ore, with leaving one aside at the moment. Have half the normal golems bring up ore, while the other half mines.
RuneRoll for focus: 5 + 2 = 7, succeeded!
(Domain bonus for focus and crafting active.)
[SPD: 4] -- This factors into how much time you spend manipulating golems
Time units from speed: 2
Civilian golem #4 <transport ores>: 2 + 3 = 5, 5 work units added
Civilian golem #5 <transport ores>: 1 + 3 - 1 = 3, 4 work units added
Civilian golem #6 <transport ores>: 6 + 3 - 2 = 7, 7 work units added
Time units passed: 1
Items moved: 8 hematite, 4 cassiterite, 4 clay
Creator golem #1 <smelt ore, general>: 1 + 3 = 4, 4 work units added
Creator golem #2 <smelt ore, general>: 5 + 3 - 1 = 7, 7 work units added
5 units of hematite, 1 cassiterite smelted using magma smelter.
Gained: 5 units of iron, 1 tin
Civilian golem #1 <mine>: 2 + 3 - 2 = 3, okay progress
Civilian golem #2 <mine>: 3 + 3 - 3 = 3, okay progress
Civilian golem #3 <mine>: 3 + 3 - 4 = 2, bad progress
Gained: 5 hematite ore, 8 clay, 6 obsidian
Time units passed: 1
((Your turn is mostly summed up with the rolls log. I took some time units into play, which helps to make your rolls a bit more interesting, but not unfair {at least, I hope}.))
Overwatching your newly-created dwarven factory, you admire the work that you've put in to create these golems and get them going. Now that the magma bed is secure, you move your creator golems and your civilian golems over to begin transporting the ore and smelting it using a small, cut-out section of the magma bed.
You do this for a reasonable amount of time, assigning the creator golems to the smelting and the rest of the golems to mining out some ores and transporting them to the production layer. It only feels like half an hour, but you bet that it's been over two hours or more that you've spent on this.
You look up to the far-off entrance of the cavern. You notice that there's not much light coming from the outside, which is odd. Usually you have the moon to provide some ambient lighting and keep your visibility up during the night. The entire cavern and tunnel system whistles with the howling of the low wind coming from outside. You're not sure why, but this makes you feel somewhat down, as if it is the bearer of bad news.
And then you hear it. Very far away, in a faint tone, you hear a high-pitched scream. You almost don't hear it due to how far away it is, but you still catch it nonetheless. Then, the sound of multiple animals barking.
It would appear as if not all is well outside of your tunnel system..
You are feeling sleepy.((Fatigue is also being tracked.))
Eh Ah
"That would be most wonderful, sir."
Join this man for a spot of tea and stories. Be attentive and respectful.
Eh AhYou begin following him along to his house, the high torch poles casting long shadows on the houses as you walk by. There are still a few people out and about, but most are beginning to make their way back to their own homes as the night approaches ever-closer. As you approach the door of the elderly man's house, you look back and around. The Theyin guard troops are waiting outside of that tower that Seira mentioned she was heading toward, which leads you to believe that she's holding counsel within that tower at this moment. Well, for now, it is nothing of your concern. You follow the man in as he shuffles into the house and closes the door behind him.
"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable," the old man says.
"I'll go prepare the tea, hmhm."You examine the inside of the house. The house seems to be composed of only three different rooms: one for the kitchen, one for the main entrance and living room, and a small bedroom and bathroom to the side. The three rooms are lit only by some small candles that provide barely enough visibility to avoid irritating your eyes. Near the back of this first room, you can see an old, round table and a couple of chairs, with a single candle on top of the table. You go ahead and take a seat on one of the chairs, which almost immediately begins creaking loudly. You can see some pictures on the walls, most of which seem to feature a young family spending their time out on the ocean and farming in the woods.
The gentleman sets down a plate with a large container full of what you presume to be tea on the table, along with three empty, wooden cups. He then takes the container and pours some tea into two of the cups and leaves one for you. He takes a small sip from his cup and sighs.
"Now then," he begins.
"Do you believe in fairy tales, young man?"((Dialogue open for you.))
Warren Drake
"It's been a very long day."
Sleep, if possible. Make yourself comfortable.
Warren DrakeIt has indeed been a very long day. The clouds have already begun stretching across the horizon and the sky is already darkening, with the sun making its way to the other side of the world. It would be best to sleep of the rest of this fatigue that you've accumulated during the day's travels, especially as a suffering, freezing anole. Now that you've got your hunger and some of your thirst sorted out, you might as well get your rest now while you still have the time and the peace.
You pick a spot in the grass near the tree and pat down the grass, making a nice, comfortable spot for yourself to sleep on. The night is still somewhat cold, but you should be fine for the night.
You do notice something odd, however. You don't know if it's simply the clouds or something else, but you can't see any stars in the sky, save for a single star. In fact, the only light that you can see around here comes from the inside of the tree - which, from what you saw earlier, has a couple of lamps here and there.
Finally, you close your eyes and..
Footsteps nearby. Murky footsteps. It's not that close, but it's close enough for you to hear. Low rumbles.
Something is here.
"Well, that was interesting. Seems to be getting late. Gonna head to the pub, see what's going on there, got nothing else to do. Going to have fun with this night, at least I'm doing something other than having nightmares."
Head to the pub.
Cat SchrodingerYou don't really recall seeing a dedicated pub on the island, especially since this island is mostly used as an independent research outpost funded by private ventures in the continent of Survatas. However, there is a large restaurant in the island square, about three-hundred meters from the university itself. This is what you normally frequent, so you start heading over there.
You walk down the brick street leading down into the plaza and admire the scenery. It's a small town, but it works, and some of the latest technology and theories are tested and experimented with here.
Most of the buildings are made out of stone with cotton-like insulation materials in order to keep the air flowing at a reasonable rate. The walls are mostly lined with one-way glass that allows people from the inside to see outside, but not the other way around. These buildings, some research and some artisan, line the walkway that you use to get down to the plaza.
You take a left and walk down to the center of the plaza and the opposite side. Up on the other side of the steps is the one-story, rather wide building that serves as the restaurant. At this time of the morning, you should be able to find some of your friends from the university and some of the shops walking around here. Moving at your own leisure, you walk through the double doors of the restaurant and observe the are. The entire place has a sanitized feel to it, with large tube lights placed at intervals across the ceiling. Metallic tables are placed around the large, ecliptic area, with about four or five seats to a table. At the back of the large room is a small band composed of a couple of woodwind and percussion instruments. There's not many people around right now, but there's enough to strike up a conversation or two. In the front, a waiter in a tidy suit awaits new guests at a stand.
"Good morning, sir. Welcome to the Telenos Matron. Would you like a seat?"
I take a slow, deep breath.
tonight's going to be another one of those nights isn't it.
then draw my combat knife and start walking into town.
Step 1: steal a sword. My knife has served me well, but it always was my backup weapon, and I'm going to need a longer blade if these things have thick skins and a long reach.
Step 2: rescue whoever I can. I'll need to group them up inside a defensible structure, and arm them as best I can. my knives or a sword would probably be worse than useless on them without my training, spears, staves, clubs, and axes are the way to go, preferably spears. together, they'll have a chance.
or... maybe I'll need to get them to run out of town. If the town itself is being targeted, or if the things are smart and organized, then their best bet is to do what I was thinking of earlier, and to get out into the woods and hide. In that case I'll want to draw off whatever is attacking them and just yell for them to get out of town and into the woods and hide. the rest will be up to them.
Step 3: Raid the compound. I don't want to bring anyone with me when I do that, I think that might be where the monsters will be coming from. I need answers, and there's no better time than a night that nobody will remember.
Get moving into town, and start putting my plans into action. Step 1: Steal a sword, and since I'm planning theft, I might as well steal the best one I can find. None of the fancy ceremonial swords, a good, balanced blade ment for real combat.
LirianThere is not much time left before the beginning of the true night. It won't be long before you will start seeing those shapes and monsters crawling out of the woodwork and begin to assault the town. This is what you're here for, you believe. This is what you work against and fight to destroy. You can only hope that everyone survives the night who still might be awake at this time.
...
One more time, the cycle starts again. You wouldn't know it yet, but a door that has been closed for eons opens once more. Only this time, you won't have as much time as you predecessor did to accomplish your goals.
And so it begins again.
...
Your best chance at finding a sword right now would be somewhere near the market. After all, the stock for the market must be kept somewhere nearby, so you figure that the market would be the best place to start now. You cling to the walls and try to make yourself as low and unnoticeable as possible, so as not to attract attention from any of those.. things. It's somewhat hard to see without that much environmental light, but there are some occasional lampposts on the corners of the roads that help you to see. As you move near the market, you can hear some faint moans and whispers. It's hard to distinguish these sounds from the wind, but you know what they come from. You know what they mean: those monsters are not too far away from this town. They may be even closer than you think. This only helps you to pick up the pace and turn the new few corners to get to the market. You waste no time in hopping over one of the stalls and checking under the drawers and inside the crates for anything useful.
You spend a good five to ten minutes searching, but find nothing really useful other than a few crates of food and some basic materials like wood or copper. You're about ready to just forget the market and start searching around some of the shops or homes when you find it: a ceremonial wakizashi blade, stashed along with some other glassware and fine dining plates in a crate. Okay, maybe it's not a true blade - hell, it doesn't even appear to be that sharp - but it has better range than your combat knife, so maybe it will do you some good here. It's a bit too light for your taste, but you really can't complain yet. At least, not until morning comes and you can search out a proper blade.
You begin your search of the town, looking for people who might still be stranded outside or awake at this time of the night. Surprisingly, you don't come across many people from the middle of the town. Maybe these people were more prepared than you might have thought they were. As you make your way around another corner, about a hundred meters now from the market, you hear a couple of voices nearby. They sound like teenagers, you think.
"Hah, where do you think the punk will show up next? I swear, the little duckling can't hold himself up on two feet."You've heard this voice before, when you first encountered Deon. It is Deon's assaulter, and maybe his friend, too.
((WOOP))
Examine the ships on their way in. Walk up to man. Inquire as to the purpose of the ships, and the state of this "war".
Cecil G. PalmerThe sun is already setting below the horizon and the waves have picked up a slight, jarred movement. The air and the clouds in the sky seem to reflect this mood, with the cold breaths that you take and the heavy, foreboding clouds, turtling their way across the night sky. The city behind you seems to be entirely asleep, which is odd if you consider the scale of the city. You'd imagine that at least a couple of people would still be out on the docks, but it appears that only the man and you remain on the docks. Since that man might be your only source of information at this time, you might as well give it a shot and talk to him.
"Good evening, sir." You approach the man and observe him. You can't really see all of his face from here, but he seems to be a middle-aged, weary person. He is wearing a coffee-colored overcoat and a similarly-colored fedora. He seems to have not shaved for a few days and he has lightly graying hair on his head.
"Hello there. What's a man like you doing out this late?" He asks, without turning to you. You find his demeanor odd, as it seems that he's continually staring out to the ocean without searching for anything in particular. He gives you an odd chill, but you continue nonetheless.
"Oh, well I just have a few questions about some things from this area," you start.
"I'm not from around this area, so I was hoping that you could help me out here." He gives a small smile and answers slowly.
"Sure. What do you need?"((Dialogue for you here.))
Crimson...blood.
Oh dear I hope whoever-
...
Eleri glanced around once more before she shook herself towards her thoughts. Why was she concerned--it could just be an animal or the physical embodiment of one of those thoughts again. It wouldn't be a person or something...she cared about.
She raised her hand and held it close to her chest, somewhat of a subconscious language of the body of uncertainty, before deciding to check it out anyway.
She could always run if it was dangerous.
Get a branch or long stick nearby and check out that blood stain trail! Erm, hopefully from a higher ground and very cautiously.
EleriThe red trail could be from a multitude of things. Be it animal, human, or.. something else. Something more dangerous. You shake your head and put that thought out of your mind.
It can't be too bad, you think to yourself. The red trail appears to be somewhat dry and faded, so maybe whatever was here before is gone now. Still, you have a bad feeling in the back of your head. There's no use worrying about something that you can't change now, however. Might as well investigate and see what this leads up to.
Cautiously, you begin heading diagonally up the hill, near a grouping of trees that provide good cover from whatever's out there. You make sure to take light, quiet footsteps. As far as you can hear, you don't notice anything out of the ordinary: the occasional rustling of leaves by the wind and nothing more. Just in case, you look around for a suitable branch to use as a tool or, heavens forbid, a weapon. There are plenty of branches nearby, but one branch that has a smooth end and a fork on the opposite end catches your eye. It seems to fit in your grasp pretty well, too. With the branch providing a little more confidence for you, you make your way through the trees and closer to the running spring.
You look around you for anything that seems odd in your environment. Nothing really noticeable so far, except for the red trail itself. As you follow it and examine it further, you're pretty sure that it is indeed dried blood. This worries you a bit, but you're nearing the spring now. As you approach the treeline that merges with the rocky boundaries of the spring, you look to your left and to your right. Once again, nothing is really heard except for the running of the water. The trail of blood leads its way up near the other side of the spring. Carefully, you move around the edge of the rocks and come up to the spring.
The first thing you see is a hand. You flinch back a bit, realizing that it looks like a human hand. You peek around once again and let out a slight gasp. Near the edge of the spring itself, an emaciated man - or adolescent, you can't really tell from here - lies motionless, his blood tainting the spring and the surrounding area. He has a light coat on, but it's been ripped and cut away in large parts. You can see deep, gleaming wounds in his back where the coat was torn. His right hand and both of his legs are also scratched and bloody. His sky-blue hair is matted down and messy, and you can see several scratches on the right side of his face. His eyes are closed and you can't see him moving from where you stand, a few meters away. By the looks of it, he's been here for somewhere from a few hours to a day or two. At any rate, he's definitely not in any shape to move anywhere. In the back of your mind, you try and think of anything that could've assaulted him. You haven't seen any animals that would be much of a threat and you doubt that any humans would really interact with him.
The wind picks up a slow breeze, moving the trees around you in a soft, dancing motion. It's as if nature is recognizing what a tragedy must have happened here.
He's..a human.
...
Is sky blue a natural hair color?
Again the thoughts followed Eleri's vision, until she focused on the man in front of her. A twinge or a string in her spoke of empathy and hurt. She pitied him, and wondered if she could aid him.
He was missing a hand...and though matted, dirty and otherwise very gruesome to hold, she...took hold of it, in the bucket and approached slowly after taking a deep breath.
This was crazy, said a thought, and yet it also said to go on with it. It wasn't of her to abandon such duties.
Be cautious--try to ascertain in the surroundings of a hostile predator. Either way, approach the man and check health condition. Look at the skies--what time is it? Is there any other area I've seen near my beach-village where there is civilization I could probably drop off this person? Any herbs nearby I could use to aid the wounded?
...Focus primarily on checking his health condition.
Eleri((Oh, by the way, his hand is not completely gone, it was just out of view. As in, he still has both hands attached.))
A sense of urgency wells up within you. What sort of creature could have done this to him? You haven't seen anything on the island yet that you think would have done this sort of thing. You scan around you in a fifteen meter radius, looking down the hill and through the trees, searching for anything that could have attacked him. You do notice that there is a path of trees coming from the other side of the hill that has been disturbed and ravaged, as if something particularly rash came through and up the hill. However, you can't see any sign of a threat right now.
You think to yourself for a few moments, looking up at the sky. Wavy, thin clouds sparsely spread across the sky, the morning sun shining down on the top of the hill.
You would still have plenty of time to transport him to a different area if you wanted to, you figure. You know that there is indeed a small town on the opposite end of the island, but you're not sure if you can get him across the island safely. You would need something to transport him on, at the very least; Or, you could go request help, but you can't really communicate well with other people anyways. It would be more of a waste to do that instead of finding immediate help for him. He doesn't seem to be bleeding much right now, but parts of his back are as red as a raw piece of beef, and his arms and legs don't seem to be doing much better either. Basically, he's been nearly cut up into a prepared meal at this point. It's amazing that he hasn't died yet.
You don't know that much about many of the plants on this island. You know about some basic fruits and vegetables which would provide sustenance, but they are of not much use for medical purposes. However, there is some moss on some rocks near the spring that you may be able to use. Along with that, there are some long leaves and stringy plants that you could make use of at the moment. After you at least get him patched up, you might be able to move him to a safer location and find some herbs for him.
Not wanting to waste any more time thinking, you move closer to him and check his vitals. He appears to be alive, but only barely. His breathing is shallow and his heartbeat is irregular and weak, at best. He also appears to be unconscious, not responding to your gentle touch on his shoulder. The state of his extremities has already been relayed, as he seems to have some deep cuts on his back and some smaller, more jagged cuts on one of his arms, one of his legs, and face. His other arm appears to be broken at an angle that you think it shouldn't be in, though he still has one good leg, if that's a small piece of good news to give. Again, you have no idea how he's still alive, but he's barely clinging on.
Time is running. He won't be around forever.
Author's Note: Computer crashing is definitely a sucky part. On the brighter side, however, I did manage to plan out some of the later interactions in the story and some of the more complex kinks that still needed to be worked out. It wasn't all bad, I guess. The inclusion of more dialogue in this turn will ensure some more text will be outputted in the meantime.
Have a great day/night,
Artemis.
Author
Topic: Roll To Medium: Awakening [Chapter VI] (Read 145655 times)