Ah, alcohol is indeed a solution! Innuendo!
"You wanted to see me naked so badly? Well, you should have told me so! Behold!"
Undress slowly, gauging her reaction.
You decide to take off your robe in the manner of a bar fly who's got lucky - slow and a mite wobbly, swimming against a stream of booze in your effort to be even vaguely seductive.
[Behold The Holy Presence: 2]
Lee does not take her eyes off you during the process. Or, to be more specific, she does not take her eyes off the robe, and you seem to be an unfortunate byproduct of the scene. As you wiggle your way out of the thing and lift it up for her enjoyment, she takes it off your hands rather gingerly, and regards it for a few moments to check its overall condition. It takes a few moments, and when she's done, she looks back at you by default. You offer a grin. She glances down briefly, raising an eyebrow, then looks at you again, seemingly very unimpressed. Saying nothing, she walks to the oak and starts gathering up dry twigs, unwilling to entrust the robe to what remains of your white fire.
"Kay, I really just need the one honestly. Hey captain! Guard captain or whatever! Gimme one of the disposable prisoners for me to store!
...
Please!"
Try a completely novel tactic and be polite.
The captain's not around, the guards say after you spend a few moments shouting at nobody in particular, since the . She's at the forward command post, which is to say she's shouting at people by the warehouse. Besides, one of them adds, the point is that these
aren't disposable prisoners. There'd be hardly any problem if they were, would there?
Thomas shrugged. "Well, I'm no sailor, but I have seen a few boating accidents; at least the aftermath of them. Boat insurance is one of the many products we offer at Sureness Assurance, you know. Anyway, it is my understanding that boats typically do not explode when they run into things. It felt quite reasonably solid and non-exploding. Perhaps the exploding ones were actually meteorites? I'm not sure what time of year Australia is subject to meteor showers."
Converse. Understanding space debris is not one of Thomas's strong points, except how it pertains to insurance. If it hits your car, you better have comprehensive.
[Consideration of Risks: 5]
The elderly fellow gives this some thought. Very reasonable point. Though if he recalls correctly those would be
meteors rather than meteorites. A meteorite would imply that there is anything that remains of the impacting meteor. He steps slowly off the foundation, trailed by the turnkey and lovely girl, both of whom keep an eye on you as their leader passes you by, beckoning to follow as you walk through the devastation and the masked people milling about and lamenting their cruel fates.
Indeed, he continues, it is very possible that the exploding ones were not boats at all. Or at least not far enough from boats in concept to explode satisfyingly upon contact with the ground. But similarly they are unlikely to be meteorites in any conventional sense, he says as he leads you up to the edge of a crater, where you see another of those pools of glowing toxic waste. You are about to bring up how standing here might not be the best idea, but the guard goes on - observe the crater. It seems to be filled with some kind of liquid matter with fascinating properties, which may be remains of the meteorite that have melted - this, however, does not satisfactorily explain how the meteors in question maintained apparent solidity on the way down. In fact, they resemble lava to a greater degree, if considerably cooler than he would assume lava to normally be, which would hint at it emanating from the earth below, unable to bubble over due to insufficient pressure from deep below.
This idea, he goes on in a monotone, is supported by the nearby faultline - the northern notch - which seems to have similarly overflowed with matter of an identical nature, except slightly fuzzier and considerably more disturbing to find oneself in the vicinity of. It is difficult to say for sure, but one would strongly suspect that there is a causal link between the happenings there and the shower of so-called meteors coming in from the north. And truthfully, the obviously unusual nature of this event - meteor showers here are a very rare occurrence, particularly ones of northward origin - would point toward all of this being some form of
force majeure - unpreventable, unpredictable and absolutely uninsurable.
What does it matter what caused this, the lovely girl asks, and you notice she seems to be standing behind you now. It's a disaster! Shouldn't there be something you all can do about this?
The elderly guard thinks. Why, yes, of course. But before anything at all can and should be done, one should take a moment to appreciate the madness, and look for its appropriate method. How else would one prepare themselves against it happening again? Even if it is an act of god, one shouldn't just lay down and just take such treatment from an indifferent and only possibly existent power. Or, more simply, if a given god is set to make an enemy of you, it's only fair to respond in kind, no?
Rummaging around in a rickety house sounds fun. Or dangerous. Maybe both.
[Occupational Safety: 6]
You head in first - the doctor follows despite her doubts about the idea. The house, considerably larger than you would expect of a country farmstead, creaks and shifts as you struggle to pull open the door that has settled poorly in its crooked frame. You are keenly aware of all the people outside looking on as you do, wondering with mild excitement if you know what a terrible mistake you may have just made. You step over the threshold and the plank floor bends a little. You hear something gently roll along the inclined floor. Quite a few of the furnishings are jostled out of place, and you think one of the walls is very slowly caving in on the far side of the main room. A pot seems to have fallen off the hook over the hearth. Everything is still gently swaying from your entrance. This seems to be the safest room in the house, being merely unnervingly imbalanced rather than actively dangerous at every point. As such it's hardly surprising that it's been clearly liberated of its valuables apart from one corner where the roof seems particularly precarious - there you see a large and rather comfy-looking chair, over which a sumptuously ornamented woolen blanket is draped.
A misshapen doorframe with a curtain gently wafting from the house's constant swaying leads to what looks like a kitchen, and an outwardly bent door blocks the way to what you would guess are bedrooms. There's also a third door of unclear purpose off to the other side of the room from the two others - right in front of this one you see resting a spear-wielding stoatman's body, stabbed in the chest with a spear and left in place when that side of the room no doubt started to bend inwards from him pushing up against the door.
This does not seem very sa-
oh, the doctor says as the sound of her voice causes something to fall and shatter in one of the nearby rooms. Looks like a late Interregnum house, she whispers meaningfully, so best tread very carefully. They get like this with age, she's heard, even without earthquakes at work.
"Bye then."
Strange. Well, I'm sure there's a reason for her behaviour.
Speaking of seeing, how's the Measure doing? Hope it took the Words well...
You watch the perplexing woman run off as you stop and take a moment to look over whether the passage of time has given you any extra data.
The measure seems to be very much indecisive about whether it is done or not. You suspect feeding it something that very literally silences revelation may not have been the greatest idea, as now you seem to have absolutely whether it's done or not, and whether it can even possibly be done at all. Hm.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- Naked
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- A Word: APOCALYPSE
- Induced Inebriation: A Bit Pissed
- Body Count: 228
- Mead of Poetry (5 shining revelations remaining)
- Enders' Friend: The Grave of Red Clouds Parting
- Inscribed Wooden Stylus
- Iron spear
- 1.03 gp
- The Box: ?
- Induced Lucidity: the Aftermath, or the New Beginning
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Perception, Memory
- Tricks of the Mind: Engagement, Negation, Abstraction, Prestige
- Tricks of the Mind: the Self, the Other
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- A Visit From The Stork: Is What You Yes
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Moth's Flight: A Crime of Ignorance
- An Ancient Sea: The Hedonist's Inspiration
- The Miracle of Life: An Honored Guest
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Naked
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Grenade Jumping: A Solid Technique
- The Good Doctor: Fellow Naked And Confused Traveler
- Higher Tonight: There And Back Again
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Naked
- Red and gold vest and breeches combo
- Leather boots
- Traces of Mischief: 90% Boneless
- Wounds: 1
- 14033 gp (in sack)
- The Queen's Guard: Unusual Troublemaker
- Powers of the Beyond: Gardener of Thoughts
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- Crossbow Bolt (in throat)
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: Run Like Hell
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Elongated Affairs: Enemy of the New State
- A Place In History: Vastly Unreliable
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Worm
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- Doomstones: So High Up But Such A Bitter View
- The Majordomo: A Great Divide Between Us Now
- The Voracious Dark: Decreasing Demand
- The Voracious Dark: More Specific Requests
- The Good Doctor: An Eager Listener
- Body Count: 3
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Troubles In Anglefork Town: Bearer of the Sword
- A Word: ABSENCE
- A Word: GOODBYE
- The Doom Guard: A Productive Discussion
- A Weapon: The Sword They Fear
- Traces of Mischief: Whole-Body Radioactive Burn
- A Bowl, Black and Knobby
- Tight Leather Pants (worn)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday, July 25th, 409 S.D.
- The Good Doctor: An Island of Sanity
- The Queen's Guard: A Reward Well Earned
- The New Queen: Lasting Gratitude
- The One They Fear: A Satisfactory Contract
- The Box: Absolutely Delightful
- Body Count: 2
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- A Word: REVELATION
- Wounds: 3
- Traces of Mischief: Glowing Facial Rift
- The Serpent's Egg: Dissemination
- Body Count: 4
- Time-ender's measure (wrapped, processing? stopping?)
- 10 m of rope
- Half a candle
- 1 rat, skinless and smoked
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: The Less Dangerous Friend