Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[_DivideByZero_]

The party continues into the depth of the hallway. What beckons next is a gigantic chamber, not quite unlike the chamber at the mouth of the labyrinth, but with a markedly different decorum. The floors are hardwood, and scratched due to ages of abuse. Dozens of halls converge at the same level, and a quartet of spiral stairs lead down to the level below, which holds dozens of mahogany doors reinforced with brass.


One of the doors is open, and a trail of fresh blood leads out toward a foggy mist that fills the center of the arena. But more pressing, is the existence of... floating books? They seem to be flying to and fro, casting spells of their own right, raising skeletons out of the floorboards, all of which dance pointlessly across the fifty-meter arena. They seem to be swinging their wooden weapons at the air...

Then one of the books flies apart into a burning cloud of scraps. Briefly, if only for a moment, can the party see a figure, gray as the sky, emerging from the fog, and once again retreating. She wields two hammers in reverse-grip, one in each hand, and before she disappears, she slams both hammers into each other, her fists also coming into contact--and both hammers emit more of the grey mist.


There are ten (?) books in total remaining, and about twenty skeletons scattered throughout the fog. The skeletons are armed with a mix of weapons--wooden planks, wooden swords, wooden clubs... and an assault rifle?

Spoiler: A Map (click to show/hide)

Havelock is the armored dude.

>Being shot through smoke confers +1 evasiveness
>Being attacked by melee, while within smoke, also confers +1 evasiveness
>Melee attacking from high ground adds your speed to your strength for a more powerful attack--but you take a constitution test for landing
>All shooting attacks in this chaos have the regular difficulty boost for attacking at a distance

Phantasm? You mean the little one or the friend?

Raioyris creates a dream duplicate form of himself and approaches the boy and his friend while his actual form remains hidden.

"Come here." Raioyris' form calls the kids.

This world. Normally a human cannot produce one. Not with such detail.
Be careful! I suspect I am not the only spirit in this realm. Take each step carefully.


[4 -> 2] Raioyris creates a duplicate of himself out of the grass. It looks, and even talks, just like he does, though it would not stand up to combat like his true presence.
The kids get up and back away as the duplicate calls out. Little Eugenius bumps into a telescope, which had been previously aimed at Altair, but now its scrying lens points at Vega.

His friend reaches back and puts his hand on Eugenius' shoulder.
"He's not from the sanctuary," states the child.

"Hey!" Eugenius shouts the clone. "Who're you?"

[Egan_BW]

"Threat detected. Engaging."

Fire some guided munitions at that ak. Damage to the skeleton holding it is acceptable, but focus on rendering the weapon unusable.

[WunderKatze]

"A hunter of spirits." Raioyris' clone says invitingly.

He sits down on the grass and looks at the stars. "I see. This is your grace.

Tell me, how are the others?"

[_DivideByZero_]

"A hunter of spirits." Raioyris' clone says invitingly.

He sits down on the grass and looks at the stars. "I see. This is your grace.

Tell me, how are the others?"

Little Eugenius speaks to his comrade.
"That guy creeps me out."

His friend is silent.

"What others?" shouts Little Eugenius.

[WunderKatze]

"Other stars.

Seriously do you just stare at Vega all night?" Raioyris' clone looks through the telescope.

Smooth save. Raioyris chuckles watching his clone. What do you think about that other kid Beatrice?.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Other stars.

Seriously do you just stare at Vega all night?" Raioyris' clone looks through the telescope.

Smooth save. Raioyris chuckles watching his clone. What do you think about that other kid Beatrice?.

Little Eugenius seems surprised, and takes a look through the telescope. His eyes widen.

"We need to go," demands his friend.
"It's Vega."
"What?"
"We weren't looking at Vega."

It takes a few moments for the children's brains to fully process the information.

Confused, they end up just running away, toward the Sactuary off in the distance. It looks like the Verciliak, a somewhat familiar place. Though it looks more... how would one put it... fresh.

[Caellath]

Gilles massaged his temples inside of the suit in slight frustration. "It seems all the recent events are trying to tell me to get a good sensor suite. It's the world's way of saying 'Hey Gilles, it's good you carry your shop around, but get a good sensor!'" He began rummaging into the suit's saddlebags with the secondary pair of arms as he talked, recovering several metal bearings of different sizes.  "Let's see. Power Armor (Havelock), what's the biggest threat here?"

Release and roll several ball bearings, of appropriate size, towards the foggy area the figure was last seen in.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Threat detected. Engaging."

Fire some guided munitions at that ak. Damage to the skeleton holding it is acceptable, but focus on rendering the weapon unusable.

Solj's targeting algorithms sample the obscured view and reconstruct the bearing of his target based on esoteric mathematical processes. [6+5 -> 1+1] [An enemy disrupts: 3 ->> 1] Suddenly, a blaze of light dazzles his sensor array, and the guided projectiles fare no better, having their views scrambled. A couple of shots hit nearby targets in the crowd as they scatter, but the original target remains unscathed. (1 book has acted)

{Morale: 8 -> 3} The back line of skeletons shambles into the smoke, seeing this new threat, and start crawling along the ground. The skeleton with the ranged weapon gives some return fire, {3 -> 1} but nothing hits. (2 books have acted)

Gilles massaged his temples inside of the suit in slight frustration. "It seems all the recent events are trying to tell me to get a good sensor suite. It's the world's way of saying 'Hey Gilles, it's good you carry your shop around, but get a good sensor!'" He began rummaging into the suit's saddlebags with the secondary pair of arms as he talked, recovering several metal bearings of different sizes.  "Let's see. Power Armor (Havelock), what's the biggest threat here?"

Release and roll several ball bearings, of appropriate size, towards the foggy area the figure was last seen in.

"The swords! The swords are the biggest threat." He looks around, dazed by the chaos of war. "Where are the swords...?!"
Gilles throws ball bearings into the smoke. While this won't harm the enemy directly, it will inhibit their ability to maneuver. The gray figure does not emerge from the smoke.

{3 -> 2} Despite the treacherous path, the skeletons to the party's right are able to squeeze pass the mess of ball bearings and begin climbing the stairs. It seems their attention has shifted. (3 books have acted)

The skeletons to the left do the same thing: they begin ascending the stairs, menacingly waving their wooden weapons. (4 books have acted)

{9 -> 3} Three of the books form a trio, and flat panels of energy weave between them. Soon their pages loosen themselves from their bindings and form a glowing barrier of paper. (7 books have acted)

{3 -> 2} One of the books fires a glowing ball of energy, which travels slowly and seems to pick up glowing bits of material up off the ground as it travels, getting bigger as it floats through the air. The attack hurls toward the party. (8 books have acted)

{3 -> 1} One of the books creates a glowing staircare of light, and bricks start removing themselves from the walls and floors to become part of it. The staircase is 1/3rd complete. (9 books have acted)

{3 -> 1} The last book raises an extra skeleton to guard itself. This skeleton is made of iron, walks very slowly, and holds up a spear, which it prepares to throw.

The man in the power armor moves to block the eastern skeletons from advancing further up the stairway. He raises one up with his fist, and screams.
Millenus rips the half-dissolved claw out of his back, and cautiously approaches the skeletons to the right, knowing his teammates have a propensity to use a lot of ranged firepower.

Spoiler: Round Two (click to show/hide)

>Being shot through smoke confers +1 evasiveness
>Being attacked by melee, while within smoke, also confers +1 evasiveness
>Melee attacking from high ground adds your speed to your strength for a more powerful attack--but you take a constitution test for landing
>All shooting attacks in this chaos have the regular difficulty boost for attacking at a distance

[Egan_BW]

"Irritating. My attention has been gained."

Fire a dubstep blast at the trio with the shield. (Heavy attack)

[WunderKatze]

That's what I wanted to know. I think this is a superposition of consciousnesses.

I think that other kid is the spirit we're looking for.

"You won't get far." The Raioyris clone says with a smile.

I might need your help with this.

Superimpose painful memories of my time with the puppets on this reality. Include another clone of me but a child puppet lab dog.

Focus on the interior of the sanctuary. I spent most of my time with the puppet founders hooked up to a machine by the spine, they didn't talk to me much as they didn't need to, just skin grafts and screaming. Quite terrifying.

It was a stark contrast to my time with the wizards.

[_DivideByZero_]

That's what I wanted to know. I think this is a superposition of consciousnesses.

I think that other kid is the spirit we're looking for.

"You won't get far." The Raioyris clone says with a smile.

I might need your help with this.

Superimpose painful memories of my time with the puppets on this reality. Include another clone of me but a child puppet lab dog.

Focus on the interior of the building. I spent most of my time with the puppet founders hooked up to a machine by the spine, they didn't talk to me much as they didn't need to, just skin grafts and screaming. Quite terrifying.

It was a stark contrast from my time with the wizards.

Actually... Beatrice does not seem to agree. This is also one of the memories I inherited from his friend. Claude, he was called.

The memory proves fleeting.
[4 -> 2] The kids' shoes grind to a halt on the rusted floor as a monolith rises up out of the ground in front of them, marked with thousands of receptacles for the tree-like nervous systems of Ghosts inhabiting the system. A dimly lit warehouse surrounds them, as do carts filled with blood plasma, rows of plastic drug canisters, medical tools and scalpels, and power tools; the floor is a grate, the crawlspace below having been colonized by electrical cables. Faceless workers ponder to and fro, the new recruits awash with confusion as to their jobs, the veterans overtaken by decades of exposure to the mind-altering chemicals used in this avenue of research.

To the right are rows of printing chambers the height of a man, busy at work reconstructing organs and bodyparts, their interiors starkly illuminated by fluorescents. To the right are the moulds, shaped like half a human body, with a pallet of barrels marked with biohazards present on a rolling cart, and a pallet of human brains sitting on another.

And on the side opposite the foreboding monument to science, is Raioyris' chamber, lined with bulletproof glass, maintained as a controlled environment by the machinery surrounding it, when it would be locked. For now, the chamber is open, revealing a computer on the back spanning the wall of the bedroom-sized enclosure, and an unconscious Raioyris laying on the ground, his skin half-melted and perforated with syringes.

The children are both about as terrifying as one would expect. They sit down hugging each other and start crying as the workers ignore them.

[WunderKatze]

That's what I was hoping to confirm, do you think that we should bother looking for this spirit.

I was hoping the spirit would intervene in a situation like this.

The grass clone catches up, "You guys are really hapless. I mean. No bigger brother figure around the corner?

Well. I guess, it's time to clean up here."

Maybe we can provoke it?

The grass clone pulls out his copy Samurai Edge 92FS aims it at the weeping Eugenius.

[Caellath]

((Quick post.))

"Incoming! Milenus, keep an eye out for those swords! I'll try something.'" Gilles announced, quickly uncoiling his lasso and swinging it in an arc.
 
Dodge the glowing attack. Heavy attack: smack and immobilize the stairway-constructing book.

[AzyWng]

Having mainly leaving the major decisions/combat to his colleagues, Johan tries to take cover wherever he can.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Irritating. My attention has been gained."

Fire a dubstep blast at the trio with the shield. (Heavy attack)

That sounds like not a good idea to do in a cave.
...but it seems Johan is the only one really at risk for hearing loss. [5 -> 2] He covers his ears before the attack drops.

[6+5 -> 0+2] Solj emits a narrowly focused blast of sound, guaranteed to overwhelm any sound-based sensor system.

Except, in hindsight, it seems obvious these constructs don't depend on sonic echolocation. They're having trouble with the smoke after all.
But at least it seems the barrier did not have any noticeable effect on the soundwave attack. That seems to indicate certain attacks will bypass it completely.

Having mainly leaving the major decisions/combat to his colleagues, Johan tries to take cover wherever he can.

Fearful for his life, Johan searches for some cover... but there aren't any conveniently located pieces of furniture to hide behind. Maybe if Gilles dropped his stash and let him hide inside of it...

((Quick post.))

"Incoming! Milenus, keep an eye out for those swords! I'll try something.'" Gilles announced, quickly uncoiling his lasso and swinging it in an arc.

Dodge the glowing attack. Heavy attack: smack and immobilize the stairway-constructing book.

[10 -> 7] Gilles throws his lasso across the field with great force from his armored suit. It flies across and Gilles is able to land the hit straight at the book. The stairway vanishes, leaving confused skeletons piling up at its base. (1 book has acted.)

[Constitution: 8 -> 4 (pass!)] Gilles then tightens the lasso, but not too swiftly as to rip the book apart. It seems like a fragile target.

...

The glowing attack lands right next to Gilles, {6 -> 2}, splashing liquefied structural material all over his suit. Fortunately, the hot slag doesn't get into any joints or other vulnerable areas. Gilles is unimpeded.
It seems that the book is preparing another one, as evidenced by the glowing motes surrounding it. (2 books have acted)
The skeleton with the rifle attacks! {3 -> 2} Once again, it seems its fire is too inaccurate to do much other than make Johan fear for his life. (3 books have acted)
The books forming the purple barrier begin another joint incantation: {9 -> 3} Three claws, of ethereal forms like crystalized smoke, reach out of a portal forming in between the books, clasping onto the ground and raising up out of the ground the head of a long-necked dragon, whose appearance strongly resembles myth. It towers fifty feet into the air, confronting the party with its gaze. (7 books have acted)
The Iron Guardian throws his spear, {5 -> 3} embedding it through your armored compatriot's torso. Surprisingly, there is no blood. (8 books have acted)

The skeletons assaulting the power-armored ally beat him with clubs, {3 -> 2} Eventually knocking him to the ground. {6 -> 2} He kicks two of them off of him, and they fall apart into their constituent bones. (9 books have acted)
Millenus does not hold back, approaching the skeletons climbing the stairs with caution and [4 -> 2] ripping two of them apart with his claw weapon. Enzymes continue to dissolve the bones as they melt into goo. The skeletons strike back, {3 -> 1} [Disrupt 6 ->> 0][Dodge 7 ->> 1] and Millenus is eventually caught off guard, making too much of an art of killing the skeletons, and eventually he gets a good bump on the head. His Reflex is reduced by 3. (10 books have acted)

(TL:DR Giant dragon being summoned, Havelock and Millenus both got some kills but are having trouble.)

Spoiler: Surprise! It's a map. (click to show/hide)

>Being shot through smoke confers +1 evasiveness
>Being attacked by melee, while within smoke, also confers +1 evasiveness
>Melee attacking from high ground adds your speed to your strength for a more powerful attack--but you take a constitution test for landing
>All shooting attacks in this chaos have the regular difficulty boost for attacking at a distance

That's what I was hoping to confirm, do you think that we should bother looking for this spirit.

I was hoping the spirit would intervene in a situation like this.

The grass clone catches up, "You guys are really hapless. I mean. No bigger brother figure around the corner?

Well. I guess, it's time to clean up here."

Maybe we can provoke it?

The grass clone pulls out his copy Samurai Edge 92FS aims it at the weeping Eugenius.

Raioyris' clone pulls out a grass 92FS and threatens the children.
The gun curves its barrel back toward his clone's hand, and the barrel opens up like a mouth and bites its finger.

I sense an aura now! There is but one spirit who could mask it so cleanly, it all makes sense now...

"That's enough," interrupts the Banshee, who appears in front of the children, stepping out of the shadows.
It appears your actions have put us both in grave danger. Beatrice remarks.