Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 28, 2012, 09:58:40 pm
░░░░░m░
Made of smoothly chiseled granite, it bears a pitiful face that bespeaks constant pain even though it is but mute stone.
░n░░░░o░░░░n░░░░░i░
Both of its hands are held up before it, as if it is begging forgiveness. Either hand holds a different object.
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
The left hand holds a blue crystal with many facets.
The right holds a smooth, red, crystal orb.
A single word, more feeling than voice, enters your mind:
"CHOOSE"
Post by: javierpwn on November 28, 2012, 10:08:16 pm
Post by: Dermonster on November 28, 2012, 10:09:24 pm
Post by: HailFire on November 28, 2012, 10:11:03 pm
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 28, 2012, 10:15:47 pm
Blue orb with facets
Pick up both, grind them into a powder, and inhale through the nose.
You contemplate the idea of grabbing both and smooshing them together or sticking them up your nose or something. However this line of thought is interrupted.
"YOU MAY ONLY CHOOSE ONE"
Don sunglasses, punch gargoyle in face.
Why would you punch a rock statue? That would hurt you more than it!
You shake these silly ideas out of you head.
Post by: Tsuchigumo550 on November 28, 2012, 10:27:03 pm
Blue for consistency
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 28, 2012, 10:34:16 pm
Barring that, blue.
Post by: SomeStupidGuy on November 28, 2012, 10:35:31 pm
Post by: Xantalos on November 28, 2012, 10:42:27 pm
Touch them both at once!Name the stones 'One' and 'One'
Barring that, blue.
Choose them both
Post by: Lillipad on November 28, 2012, 11:04:22 pm
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 28, 2012, 11:11:53 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You attempt to grab both of the crystals at once. You hand however touches the blue one a fraction of a second before the red. Immediately, the gargoyle springs to life and lets out a screech, jamming the blue crystal into its stomach. Cracks spread out from the point of impact until they cover the statue's entire body.
There is a sound much like a sigh and the entire statue crumbles into dust.
There are a few moments of silence, but only a few. Then there comes a small rumble from off to your left. You turn to look.
A new gargoyle sits there.
This one sneers at you. A leering grin peers out from underneath heavy eyebrows, and its smooth, featureless eyes seem to follow your movements.
░h░░░░░░░░░░░░░e░
Its arms are outstretched, as if beckoning. Either hand holds an object.
░░░░░░░i░░
In its left hand it holds and ankh.
In its right it holds an arrow.
"CHOOSE"
Post by: SomeStupidGuy on November 28, 2012, 11:13:19 pm
Post by: jaass on November 28, 2012, 11:15:25 pm
Post by: Hubris Incalculable on November 28, 2012, 11:15:35 pm
Ankh.
Post by: Lillipad on November 28, 2012, 11:16:20 pm
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 28, 2012, 11:28:47 pm
If this fails, ahnk.
Post by: misko27 on November 28, 2012, 11:30:06 pm
Post by: Araph on November 29, 2012, 12:01:29 am
Post by: zombie urist on November 29, 2012, 12:08:43 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 29, 2012, 12:34:47 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You reach out and touch the ankh. Much as the first, it immediately takes the object and jams it into its stomach. Piece by piece it falls apart. You can almost swear that you hear cackling as the stone grates over itself and falls to the ground before disintegrating into powder.
Again there are a few moments of silence. Then a new gargoyle appears, again to your left.
This one bears a toothy grin, filled with needle-like teeth. It seems happy to see you.
░░░░t░░░░
It's arms are held up at its sides as if it is ready to cheer. Either hand holds an object.
░░░░o░░░░░░░h░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░n░░░░
The left hand holds a necklace with a simple gray seashell on the end.
The right holds a necklace with a toothy gear attached to the end.
"CHOOSE"
Post by: Caerwyn on November 29, 2012, 12:36:55 am
Post by: misko27 on November 29, 2012, 12:37:23 am
Post by: Lillipad on November 29, 2012, 12:43:16 am
Post by: zombie urist on November 29, 2012, 12:48:19 am
Post by: joemoben on November 29, 2012, 12:53:22 am
Post by: mcclay on November 29, 2012, 12:58:27 am
Post by: Hubris Incalculable on November 29, 2012, 12:59:30 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 29, 2012, 01:25:43 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You touch necklace with the gear. Immediately, the hand holding it breaks off and you reflexively catch the necklace. The rest of the statue crumbles into pieces slowly with barely a sound.
Once again, there is silence before a new statue appears to your left.
This one's face is concealed by it's arms and the stone table which is held in its clawed hands.
Made out of the same smooth granite as the statues, the tablet is blank, save for a small metal pen and an inscription along the top.
"Please write your name Ma'am"
Post by: mcclay on November 29, 2012, 01:27:01 am
Post by: misko27 on November 29, 2012, 01:28:05 am
Post by: SHAD0Wdump on November 29, 2012, 02:01:23 am
Post by: Hubris Incalculable on November 29, 2012, 02:04:01 am
Post by: SomeStupidGuy on November 29, 2012, 06:46:26 am
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 29, 2012, 07:40:35 am
Post by: monk12 on November 29, 2012, 11:40:12 am
Gear sounds like a good name.
Since we don't already have a name, we should name ourselves after the coolest thing we've touched!
+1 for Gear
Post by: Lillipad on November 29, 2012, 12:54:02 pm
Post by: scapheap on November 29, 2012, 02:31:08 pm
+1Gear sounds like a good name.
Since we don't already have a name, we should name ourselves after the coolest thing we've touched!
+1 for Gear
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 29, 2012, 06:45:40 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After a few moments hesitation you reach out and grab the pen. You're not sure how it will write on the stone, but there's no reason not to try.
Just before the nib touches the stone you stop the pen and it occurs to you that you can't decide what to write. For several frustrating minutes you stand there and try to think of what to put. It takes a while, but eventually you reach a decision and touch the pen to the stone. As you drag the nib across the surface a bright streak of light follows your path, slowly fading to reveal an inch-deep hole in the slab wherever the pen touched.
Gear
When the last of the glow fades away, the gargoyle bends into a deep bow, still clutching the tablet. Slowly it melts into the ground, spreading out and sinking in until there is nothing left to see.
░░░░░░l░░░░r░░░░░░░░░░░░a░░
For what, for some reason, feels like the final time, there is a silence followed by a rumble. This time however, the rumble comes from all sides.
Three gargoyles rise up this time, one in front of you and two more slightly behind and to the left and right of you.
The first is weather-worn and small chips are missing from its body here and there as if someone took a blade to it. Its face is distorted in what appears to be the savage joy of battle and, were it not stone, it looks as if it might decide to pounce at any moment.
░h░░░░░░░░n░░░░░░░░░░░░░░v░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░o░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░b░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░f░░░░
The second is also weather-worn, but lacks the scars of the first. It floats several inches off of the ground; sitting down on some invisible surface on it's haunches. It rests its head on one of its hands in a contemplative manner, and it seems to stare off into infinity. For some reason it seems to remind you of a wise old man.
░░o░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░p░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░k░░░o░░░░░░░░░
The third is still smooth and shiny, but it has many chips missing from the body much like the first. The large majority are on its back and arms. The entire gargoyle appears to be bent over some invisible object with its arms wrapped protectively around it.
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░p░o░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░l░v░
"CHOOSE ONE TO SAVE AND ONE TO SACRIFICE"
Post by: Lillipad on November 29, 2012, 06:55:11 pm
Post by: mcclay on November 29, 2012, 07:00:41 pm
Post by: adwarf on November 29, 2012, 07:03:22 pm
Save the protector and wise man, sacrifice the pouncingThis.
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 29, 2012, 07:09:11 pm
Post by: misko27 on November 29, 2012, 07:11:02 pm
Save the protector and wise man, sacrifice the pouncing+1
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 29, 2012, 07:11:18 pm
+1Save the protector and wise man, sacrifice the pouncingThis.
Post by: jaass on November 29, 2012, 07:28:21 pm
+1+1Save the protector and wise man, sacrifice the pouncingThis.
Post by: Lillipad on November 29, 2012, 07:28:30 pm
We can only save one, so I say sacrifice the pouncing, and save one of the others.
Grammatically speaking, we're only sacrificing one, and are technically saving the other two.
Post by: Xantalos on November 29, 2012, 07:29:10 pm
Save only the wise man if we have to choose between them.+1Save the protector and wise man, sacrifice the pouncingThis.
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 29, 2012, 07:33:39 pm
Post by: Xantalos on November 29, 2012, 07:35:46 pm
Post by: jaass on November 29, 2012, 07:36:25 pm
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 29, 2012, 07:57:59 pm
Save wise man, sacrifice pouncer.+1
Post by: monk12 on November 29, 2012, 08:06:14 pm
Post by: mcclay on November 29, 2012, 08:53:27 pm
Save Protector, Sacrifice PouncerEh, since you guys seem to hate the best warrior I'll go for this.
Post by: SomeStupidGuy on November 29, 2012, 08:57:23 pm
Post by: Lillipad on November 29, 2012, 08:58:27 pm
Save Protector, Sacrifice Pouncer
Post by: adwarf on November 29, 2012, 10:10:05 pm
Save Protector, Sacrifice Pouncer
Post by: Dermonster on November 30, 2012, 11:02:26 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 30, 2012, 11:37:23 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You examine each statue in turn, slowly walking past each until you come to the third gargoyle.
You consider the statue for a few moments and then you make your choice. The Protector will be the one to be saved and the pouncing statue will be the one to be sacrificed.
The moment you speak your choice aloud the Protector statue begins to shake.
Piece by piece it falls apart, and for some reason you feel a little different. A little tougher perhaps, maybe a bit nimbler, and a little more confident about what lies ahead.
░░░░░░yo░░░y░░ift░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░w░░░░o░░░░░░░░a░░░░░░░░w░l░░░░░░░░░░░░f░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
You turn around to face the pouncing gargoyle. At first there seems to be no difference in it, all over the weather-worn stone shows no sign of cracking, nor does it seems to be melting or moving in any way.
Then you notice its mouth.
What appears to be liquid shadow drips from between its teeth like saliva. Your eyes follow a single drop as it falls towards the ground. It seems to take forever to fall, stretching and thickening as it does so, and when it finally makes contact with the ground it rears up like a snake. Slowly, it slithers over to the gargoyle's feet and climbs up.
More and more drops fall from its mouth, growing ever faster until there seems to be a waterfall of shadow streaming from its gullet. The shadows writhe up and over the statue covering it and squeezing it, breaking off pieces here and there. It is not long before the entire statue is covered in shadow, the stream not stopping until every bit of the statue is concealed.
There is a loud pop and both of its stone eyes fall out and to the ground, shattering into pieces. Almost immediately they are replaced by two glowing yellow slits. The statue slowly, almost laboriously, pads around, turning towards you.
Your eyes meet the yellow slits it now possesses. A few long seconds pass, then it leaps into the air towards you, opening its mouth to reveal a glowing red maw and it utters a single hissing word as it flies through the air.
"Die!"
...
...
...
...
Chapter 0-1
A soft breeze blows through your hair as you drift slowly out of sleep. Off in the distance you hear a seagull cry and the hum of a passing airship's engines. Was it a dream? It felt so real though! You can still feel the cold breath of the shadow gargoyle on your face, almost as if it had been there and merely vanished into thin air. You push those thoughts aside in favor of the absence of any. No use thinking about these sort of things, they just end up looping back in on themselves.
Besides, the warm sun feels so good! Even though it's the evening and the sun is close to setting you've been laying here long enough that it barely makes a difference. You could lay here until the sun sank all the way...
*BAM!*
Suddenly you're jolted into wakefulness as a boot embeds itself into the side of your skull. You're sure that's going to leave a mark.
"What was that for?" You mutter as you look up at the culprit. Standing there are two people you're sure that you know.
Hhhm... Who are they, who are they...
Oh, yes!
That's right!
Your two best friends!
The first one, whose boot just left quite almost as big of an impression on you as she did on your life, grew up right next door to you. The two of you were rather inseparable for years, and you guess you still are in a way. The two of you even work right next to each other. She's apprenticed to the town's herbalist, and you to the mechanist next door.
Ever diligent, or so she says, she constantly keeps you on your toes and never lets a sneaky nap go unpunished. She tends to have a rather morbid sense of humor and is prone to giving advice even when its clear its not being asked for, but you couldn't find a more faithful friend anywhere.
The second, who is currently having a good chuckle at your expense, you haven't known for quite as long, but has proven himself just as good of a friend. He went to the same preparatory school as you, but you never talked to him much until later when you both became apprenticed to the same mechanist. The two of you got to know each other well, spending hours working and chatting together under your masters watchful eye. Eventually you introduced him to your other friend and the two took a liking to each other immediately. The three of you started to get together more and more and it wasn't long before the inseparable two of you became the inseparable three of you.
More than a little bit of a perfectionist, its not unusual to see him spend hours sanding a single tooth on a gear so that it fits just right, nor is it unusual to see him depressed over not matching his own impossibly high standards. Although he tends to be pessimistic towards himself, he is otherwise an optimist and is great at cheering people up when they can't seem to do it themselves.
Honestly, you couldn't ask for better friends than the two of them.
But for some reason you can't remember their names...
Hhhhhm...
What were their names again?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Post by: scapheap on November 30, 2012, 11:53:20 am
male: Ankh
you know since we're name gear
Post by: monk12 on November 30, 2012, 12:58:49 pm
Serafina Maria Francesca De La Cruz
Boy:
male: Ankh
Post by: GreatWyrmGold on November 30, 2012, 06:11:29 pm
Girl:Serafina Maria Francesca De La Cruz
Boy:male: Ankh
Girl:Serafina Maria Francesca De La Cruz
Boy:male: Ankh
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 04, 2012, 01:25:13 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ah yes, that's right! How could you have forgotten them? The boot to the head probably didn't help.
"You know very well what that was for." said Serafina, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you want another?"
"Oh no, no, don't trouble yourself! I'm fine now thank you!" You wave your hands protectively in front of your face and decide to attempt to deflect the conversation away from the possibility of adding another indention into your skull. "Besides, I just had the strangest dream, and it felt so real!"
Oh? said Ankh, leaning against one of the pier's supporting beams, a grin on his face, "I don't suppose we have any chance of being spared having to listen to you talk about it?"
"No you don't, now shut up and let me talk." You stick your tongue out at him and make a face.
"Now, come on, whatever your head came up with can't be that, interesting."
"Hey!"
"Come on Sera, don't be harsh! You do have to admit that Gear's stories have gotten more interesting than watching bread rise as of late."
"Hey, watching bread rise can be pretty damn interesting. It was really weird, I was in this room and there were all these gargoyles..."
"I don't know, gargoyles seem pretty boring to me. They just sit there and fail at looking scary. Like in that one weird church on Coffer Street."
"What church on Coffer Street? I've never seen it."
"Neither have I. You would think that one of us would notice it with how often we take that route to come visit you."
"That's because it doesn't look like one on the outside. It looks like one of the old abandoned storehouses that you see around the east side of town, but someone took the inside and decorated it like a church of some sort. That isn't the oddest thing about it though: whoever bought the place put gargoyles instead of angels or figurines of Ysef all around. I didn't even know it was supposed to be a church until I took a peek inside this morning. It's really weird."
Breaking and entering random buildings in our spare time are we?"
"No! I saw a really rich looking guy walk in and was wondering what he was doing in there, since you don't see many wealthy people on the east side and I've never seen anyone go in there before, so I decided to take a look. He left the door open anyway." muttered Ankh, starting to look embarrassed.
"Ooooooh, so you were stalking someone then~"
"What? NO!"
"Oho, Ankhy has a cruuuush."
Ankh began to protest, his face beet red, "For Ysef's sake it was a GUY!"
"And that makes a difference why? You really shouldn't hide these type of things from us~"
"Aaaaaaauugh, just kill me now!" He exclaims and buries his face in his hands.
The three of you continue your usual routine of friendly teasing mixed into idle chatter until the sun has sunk past the horizon and its final rays barely provide enough light to see across to the other side of the pier. You and Sera bid farewell to Ankh and head off to your homes on the other side of town. The journey is rather short, made a little longer by the darkness, but that is soon remedied by the gaslamps as the lamplighters finally finish their rounds.
Arriving home, the two of you bid each other goodnight and head off into your respective houses. Yours is empty, your mother being off on a trip to meet with some foreign prince interested in buying her sculptures, and your father...
Well, the last you heard of him he was somewhere over the Gaffer Sea, being a scourge of the skies and a rather notorious one at that. You don't really mind either of them being gone, you're old enough to live by yourself and they raised you well enough when they were around, but you do wish your father would choose a less dangerous occupation...
But that is neither here nor is it there, it just is, and what also is is your need for sleep. It's a rather strong is at the moment, and you can barely crawl up the stairs to your bed before collapsing. It's been a long day, and for some reason your earlier nap only made you more tired rather than less, but at least you have a free day tomorrow.
...
...
...
Cherry gumdrop bells walk past your nose as the door arcs up into the sky. Your feet have a hard time gripping its pebbly surface as you struggle towards the hippo. Briefly you see a female elf talking to a creepy one as you slide past on a turtle named Bread. The hippos land you gracefully on Coffer street and you walk into the church. All around there are candles and smashed gargoyles, except for one at the end under the stained glass window. You walk up the aisle of pews towards its wise face, and you notice a man in a nice suit sitting casually with his arms over the back of the front pew. He glances at you with his one eye and says:
"Would you hurry up already?"
The floor becomes a tomato and you sink into its warm depths. Ankh hands you a sandwich. You cry as the onions become children who fall down the stairs into the tomato, turning into lamplighters who spend the rest of their dreary lives walking over cogs of a great machine under the sea driven by Serafina. Ankh hands you a sandwich. You throw it up into the air and it becomes the ceiling. The ceiling screams the sound of your alarm clock.
You wake up.
...
You slap your hand around blindly, searching for the clock in the early morning haze. Eventually you find it and pound it into the pillow a few times before remembering how to turn it off. Groggily, you push yourself out of bed and march your way downstairs. You feel your way over to the water basin and wake yourself fully up with a few splashes of cold water.
After you fully refresh yourself, you fix yourself breakfast and think over what you want to do today. You could do your original plan and laze about the entire day, but something tells you that checking out that church that Ankh mentioned would be an interesting idea. Or is there something else you'd rather do?
What should you do?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Notes (click to show/hide)
Post by: scapheap on December 04, 2012, 03:49:26 am
Post by: monk12 on December 04, 2012, 09:20:38 pm
Post by: misko27 on December 04, 2012, 10:04:21 pm
Post by: monk12 on December 11, 2012, 11:36:37 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 11, 2012, 01:09:46 pm
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 12, 2012, 11:11:46 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
While the skillet heats you check through the cupboards. They're more or less stocked. Various baking goods and condiments fill the shelves up fairly snugly, there's not nearly as much as when the house is full, but enough to where you won't have to go out and buy more of anything for a couple of days. Satisfied that the cupboards are good, you head to the larder. The last time the thing was stocked up there were three people in the house, and two of them left shortly after so it's still very well stocked. A little too well stocked maybe...
You grab a small slab of bacon to cook before you head out. Stuff needs to be eaten, and that's the only reason that you're fixing an entire slab, certainly not because you lack the self control to resist its deliciousness.
The skillet still has a bit to go when you get back from the larder, so you head to the door and grab the paper from the doorstep. The headline is predictably sensationalist:
SIR DAVID HUMPHREY DISCOVERS STRANGE ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE!!!
SWEARS THAT HIS "FUMES OF HUMOROUS DISPOSITION" HAVE NOTHING DO WITH THIS
SWEARS THAT HIS "FUMES OF HUMOROUS DISPOSITION" HAVE NOTHING DO WITH THIS
The article itself has very little to do with Humphrey's discovery, and more to do with Sir Michael Fairday's mocking of him over the "STRANGE OCEANIC DISTURBANCE" incident. Page two is filled with gossip about the Royal Family, and the rest of the paper mainly concerns itself with the local goings on, fresh fruits on sale, cow found eaten by wolves, yadda, yadda yadda...
You sigh and put the bacon in the skillet. As usual, any news relating to the outside world is nothing but a couple of boffins with a rivalry and the usual gossip that crops up when your leader has more than half a dozen children. Only a slight mention made about the war against the Nonijan. Apparently you've been at war with this country for years now, but you never hear anything about it this far north. Almost all the fighting is done in the ░░░░░░░ Mountains and the recruits come from the villages surrounding them. It might as well be happening in another country if it weren't for the slight increase in taxes; you're not even sure what the war started over, or who was responsible. The entire affair is rather strange.
...
You finish cooking the bacon and fix yourself a couple of sandwiches. You'll give some of them to Sera and Ankh when they get out of work. In the meantime, you quickly chomp down on one and munch on the other as you wander around the house idly.
Eventually, you decide to check on your mother's workshop. The room is the same as she left it: Covered in half-finished statues and stone dust, with tools laying scattered about. She does just about everything that someone can do with stone, but specializes in neo-classical Remean depictions, i.e. naked people missing their arms. You suppose she gets so many royal customers because they want to look like they own some sort of ancient artifact or some such.
You sigh. You just don't understand some people, royalty especially.
You glance around the workshop to check and make sure that nothing is missing. Satisfied that everything in the workshop proper is still there, you check the door at the back. The door is made of solid metal and always locked, you've never been past it, and you don't think anyone other than your mother has been either. She calls it her personal project room and apparently doesn't want anyone messing it up. Your guess is that whatever it is she makes back there more embarrassing than her usual orders and she doesn't want the public eye to see. It's hard to imagine what would be worse than neo-classical Remean depiction and you frankly don't want to.
Trying to keep thoughts of what could be worse from your head, you check that the key is still hidden in the small slit above the door and give the handle a few tries to make sure that it's still locked; it barely budges at all. Satisfied, you turn around and begin to walk away. Before you go to far though, you hear the crash of breaking stone. From inside the locked room you can hear what seems to be the sound of multiple statues being smashed into pieces. You quickly back away from the door. There's only one way into that room, and unless whatever is in there busted the wall down or somehow locked it from the inside, you don't know how anything could have gotten in.
There's a police station a few minutes walk, maybe a little less than a minute if you run from here. There are plenty of sculptors tools laying around that you could use to defend yourself if you needed to.
What should you do?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on December 12, 2012, 11:30:22 pm
Also, did we finish that second sandwich, or do we still have it in one hand? You never know when a delicious bacon sandwich might be useful.
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 12, 2012, 11:35:45 pm
Also, did we finish that second sandwich, or do we still have it in one hand? You never know when a delicious bacon sandwich might be useful.
Woops, forgot to update the inventory, sorry 'bout that.
You still have a few bites left, and there are three wrapped ones sitting on the table in the kitchen.
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on December 14, 2012, 03:26:46 am
Post by: monk12 on December 14, 2012, 12:31:00 pm
Long term goal- acquire "Fumes of Humorous Disposition"
Post by: Demonsul on December 14, 2012, 04:17:20 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 16, 2012, 09:06:50 pm
We are a protector, and we must defend our mother's embarrassing nude statue collection! Open all the doors between here and the outside to facilitate a rapid retreat (if necessary,) grab a pointy metal thing and open the door!
While I agree we should open all the doors to nearest exit to facilitate rapid escape we should be less paranoid. We could have easily bumped into a fragile object or perhaps our character's mother when we fiddled with the door and knocked either down.
Panicking, you run through the house flinging doors open wide until you reach the front door, whereupon you stop and ask yourself why exactly you're freaking out- in all likelihood you just made something fall over when you shook the door.
You laugh at yourself and head back inside; there's nothing to worry about, it would be typical of your mother to leave something on the edge of a table next to the door where it could be easily knocked off. Besides, it would be impossible for someone to bust down the wall without you hearing and the door can't be locked from the inside, so worrying about it is completely silly...
...All the same, you think you'd better check and make sure that there's nothing inside. Better safe than sorry after all.
You walk back calmly, leaving the doors open behind you and when you reach the workshop you pick up one of the sharper chisels. Just in case. Not that you actually think that there's something in there to defend yourself against.
This is a disturbing world full of disturbing disturbances- it never hurts to be too careful.
Long term goal- acquire "Fumes of Humorous Disposition"
Take heed and take caution, this turn of events is extremely disquieting...
Briefly, it occurs to you that some "Fumes of Humorous Disposition," whatever they are, might come in handy in the future and you make a mental note to get some at the nearest opportunity.
You tuck the chisel under one arm as you reach up for the key and fumble with it a bit before finally getting the thing to fit in the lock. Putting one ear up against the door, you slowly turn the key, listening for the sound of movement on the other side of the door. You don't hear anything, so you finish turning the key and fling the door open wide, letting in a large beam of light which reveals several feet of the pitch black room directly in front of you.
Sure enough, laying there in no more than two feet away is a smashed bust that fell off of a table. You chuckle to yourself at your earlier panic and yank on the light cord to the right of the doorway, turning on the light bulb in the center of the room.
The incandescent bulb flickers to life and reveals the shadow creature crouching in the center of the room. You glance around and to your surprise see nothing particularly embarrassing like you expected. Instead you see several gargoyle statues, most of which are in some state of destruction... Wait a moment... Shadow creature? You do a double take and your eyes snap back to the crouching beast at the center.
It resembles the shadow gargoyle from your dream, only distorted. The head is about the size and shape of a basketball with a jack'o'lantern-esque mouth, two glowing slits for eyes, and two curvy horns stretching off of the back of its head. Its neck is impossibly thin and the rest of its body is similarly proportioned, except for its hands and feet which are each nearly the size of its head and end in sharp claws. Two undersized wings are folded up on its back and seem like they wouldn't be able to hold its weight should it try to fly. The entire creature seems like it is composed of solidified shadow, and the tips of its claws and other parts of its body near the edge are nearly see-through. It stares at you as if it can't quite decide whether to eat you or just rip out your throat. In one hand it clasps the head of one of the gargoyle statues and the other is placed flat on the floor as if to brace itself.
The creature continues to stare at you for a few moments, then throws the stone head in its hand to the ground. As the head shatters, the creature bends over and emits a low hiss from its mouth, revealing a glowing red maw that seems to have no bottom.
Hsssshhhhhhhhh!!!
It looks as if it might pounce at any moment.
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on December 16, 2012, 09:24:57 pm
Slam the door shut, then run outside!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Tsuchigumo550 on December 16, 2012, 10:25:55 pm
Post by: misko27 on December 16, 2012, 10:27:31 pm
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on December 17, 2012, 08:00:11 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 19, 2012, 12:53:35 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Heeey theeeere little guy." You say as you slowly back up; holding the remains of the sandwich out in front of you. "You look... hungry... Would you like something to eat?" The creature bends down even lower, slight variations in the thickness of the transparent parts remind you of muscles tensing, making it very clear that it's you that it wants to eat, not some measly scrap of pig meat sandwich.
You decide that now would be an excellent time to make your exit, so you fling the remains of the sandwich at the shadow creature, distracting it for a moment, and slam the door shut. You manage to close the door, but before you can lock it again the beast slams into it, nearly launching you off of it. Immediately it sticks a hand between the door and frame, preventing you from closing it again. You attempt to stab at it with the chisel, but the rapid movement of the door makes it impossible to land a hit. Even more unfortunately: The time you took away from holding back the door to take aim gives the creature a chance to push forward.
It wastes no time in taking advantage of the opening to shove another hand in between the door and frame. Slowly, it begins to force it open despite your best efforts to try to keep it closed. With few options available to you, you try to stab at it again with the chisel. This time the improvised weapon makes contact and the chisel sinks into the creature, feeling rather like a knife being stabbed into the middle of a warm stick of butter. From the other side of the door you hear the creature hiss and draw its hand back, allowing you to slam it onto the other with extreme prejudice.
HSSSSSHHHHH!!!
The creature lets loose another, louder, hiss and pulls its hand back before you can slam the door down on it a second time. As quickly as possible, you close the door and lock it, slumping to the ground.
You breath out heavily, resting for a moment. Then the door shakes as if being hit by a battering ram making you wince as the hinges creak and groan. They weren't exactly designed to hold back murderous shadow beasts, so it's probably only a matter of time before they break.
You proceed to do the only logical thing that a person in this type of situation can do:
Run like hell.
Grateful that you had the foresight to see that you would be attacked by something, you make a beeline through the house to the front door, grabbing one of the sandwiches off of the table as you pass by. Can't go out without rations you know. Once you reach the front door, you stop and listen. From he back of the house you can still hear a loud repetitive thumping sound, so the door must still be holding up.
Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)
Where should you go?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on December 19, 2012, 10:15:17 pm
Incidentally, anything of note to the East?
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 19, 2012, 11:29:22 pm
Incidentally, anything of note to the East?
The poor/warehouse district, Ankh's house (which is on the opposite side of that), and the odd church/warehouse that Ankh mentioned; which is roughly half-way between the your current location and his house.
And the lawn that one of your neighbors keeps precisely cut to a millimeter and treated with the best fertilizer available. It's quite impressive.
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on December 20, 2012, 01:03:46 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on March 16, 2013, 08:57:39 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Immediately you take off towards the police station at full speed, making sure to keep where people can see you. Rushing along, you draw a few odd looks, but luckily no one tries to stop or hinder you as you hurtle along. You can't quite place it, but something seems to be off about the way the air feels. It could just be from stress or adrenaline, but you could swear the air feels almost like it's holding an electric charge.
As you turn the final corner the police station enters you sight. It's a simple, small, brick building with POLICE written in all caps and a clock set over it. You estimate that it'll take another five seconds at full speed before you reach it, but you're not sure that you'll be able to keep up the pace you've been going at though, so you slow down for a moment to catch your breath.
The moment that you do however, there comes a yell from behind and a small crowd of people come scattering onto the street like so many pool balls. A fraction of a second later a streak of black, too fast for your eyes to track, flies straight past the corner and skids to a stop while turning around.
The shadow creature looks at you and narrows its eyes. Your blood seems to freeze as it looks at you and you feel a shock travel through your body. Slowly, it begins to accelerate again on all fours, heading straight for you.
"GIRL. Stop running. It'll make it easier on the both of us. You get a free ride instead of walking or running and I don't have to keep this thing here any longer than I have ta."
The creature is a good thirty or so feet away still, the police station isn't too far away and the thing is accelerating fairly slowly, so you think you can make it, but you can't say for sure. There's an alleyway off to your right you could duck into and you could of course try to yell for help or fight the thing, assuming you can actually do any damage to it.
What should you do?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on March 16, 2013, 09:11:48 pm
And oh no we're screwed. I don't think we can escape it at this point, so if we're going to be captured/eaten I'd rather go down fighting. Chisel Attack, Forward the Gear, Charge!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Gamerboy4life on March 16, 2013, 09:29:36 pm
Run in a sort of zig-zag, if the creature is going fast enough, it won't recover in time to apprehend you as you turn.
Post by: scapheap on March 17, 2013, 03:34:37 am
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on March 17, 2013, 10:45:28 pm
Make a beeline for the police station.
Run in a sort of zig-zag, if the creature is going fast enough, it won't recover in time to apprehend you as you turn.
We won't be able to damage the Shadow Creature nor do athletic maneuvres of such finese, I find this most practical.
Post by: Phantom of The Library on April 07, 2013, 05:29:34 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You jerk your eyes away from the creature and begin to run for the station. From behind you hear more screams and the quickly approaching sound of the creature’s claws on the street cutting through them.
Just as it seems that the clack of the shadow gargoyles claws are coming from directly behind you, you make a sharp turn to the right, practically diving. The creature is unable to change its course to match and skids past you, its momentum carrying it into the station with a loud THWUMP. The impact knocks several bricks loose,
The creature slowly climbs to its feet as you back away unsure of where to go. Before it can fully recover, however, a policeman exits the building to investigate and upon seeing the creature his face turns white. He pulls out his pistol, firing off several shots into the creature. In response the creature raises a disproportionately-sized hand to shield itself. Three bullets slam into the hand and a fourth misses, hitting the ground. The shadow making up the creature’s hand explodes out as the bullets strike it as if it were being held under pressure. The shadow flies out it separates into strands and slivers which hang in the air around where the hand was for a moment.
Almost immediately the shadows swirl back together as if in a vortex and reform into back into the large clawed hand that they had made up a moment before. The shadow creature flexes the hand as if testing it and the officer freezes, unsure of what he is seeing. The officer's paralyzation only lasts for a moment, however, and within a moment he is trying to fire off another shot, but the creature is faster and knocks the pistol out of his hands with one gigantic hand and then sends him flying with the other, newly reformed, one. Before the man even hits the ground, the shadow creature turns around to face you once again and wastes no time in bounding forward.
You prepare to run again as...
No. You have had enough of this crap, and you aren't going to take it any longer, you are going to show this thing what's what. No more running, except in its direction.
You charge towards the creature, chisel raised, and sink it into its shoulder as you leap up off of the ground and attempt to vault over it using its shoulders. Unfortunately, you aren’t quite coordinated enough to pull off a stunt like that, so you end up falling into a heap as you flip over its arm. You quickly try to untangle yourself, but you’re too slow at doing so. The creature puts both arms around you as if embracing you in a gigantic bear hug and squeezes tightly. It stops just short of crushing your ribs and leaves just enough room to breathe though doing so is like trying to suck air through a straw. Its body feels surprisingly corporeal, though you do seem to sink into it a little bit.
With you now trapped within its grasp, the creature slowly unfolds its diminutive wings and bends over before launching itself into the sky. Barely moving its wings as it flies; the creature seems to be propelled by something other than its own physical strength. You’re amazed that it can even generate enough lift to get itself off the ground, much less you.
"Good, now don't make a fuss. I'd hate ta have ta clean up th' mes, see?."
You don’t seem to have many options right now, you suppose you could try to wriggle free, but you’re pretty high up already and the thought of becoming a pancake doesn’t sound too appealing to you.
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: scapheap on April 07, 2013, 05:32:17 pm
Post by: monk12 on April 07, 2013, 09:23:07 pm
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on April 20, 2013, 12:14:21 pm
Scold the creature! At the very least, try to make breathing more comfortable
Yes.
Post by: Phantom of The Library on May 25, 2013, 11:49:43 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Buildings slide quickly in and out of sight as the gargoyle carries you over the city. Occasionally a pedestrian looks up at the sky and sees you; which initiates another scare, but no one seems to be of the mind to try and help you. Which is probably for the better as you're pretty sure that any “help” that anyone could try to offer would most likely involve bullets and you turning into a pancake. Besides that, you're not sure whether the creature wants you alive or just as fresh as possible and it might decide that the best decision should any projectiles come your way is to use you as a shield.
You look up at the creature and glare at it.
It doesn't seem to be paying any attention to you and instead has its gaze focused on what you suppose must be its destination. You can't tell for sure, but it appears to be somewhere in the East side of town.
“Oy!” You yell and shift around, trying to get into a position where you can actually get enough air into your lungs to continue the outburst. Eventually you manage to get yourself onto your side, whereupon you begin to awkwardly kick the shadow creature in what you assume are its shins.
“Bad gargoyle, BAD!” You yell while continuing to struggle. “I would totally be shaking my finger at you if you didn’t have my arms tied up right now.” You kick it in the shin a few more times. “You put me down this instant; do you want me to put you in time out? I’m warning you mister, you have till the count of three to stop terrorizing people and put me down or el-”
Suddenly the creature jerks into a sharp dive and you open your mouth to scream as the ground comes rushing up at you, but seemingly just before you make contact the creature pulls up and comes back down again softly in a parabola.
Having landed, the shadow gargoyle folds up its wings walks awkwardly over to the entrance of the building it landed in front of, dragging your feet over the ground and finally releases you.
You take in a sharp breath to refill your lungs and look up at the building. It appears to be a normal warehouse, like the others around it. The door is open slightly and inside you can see rows of pews leading up to an altar of some sort, matching the description Ankh had given of the strange church.
"Aright, now come in Miss Champion, we got things ta get started, see?"
Turning around, you try to leave, but the gargoyle blocks your path no matter which way you try to go. It seems to become impatient and nudges you toward the door with its oversized hand. You think it wants you to go inside.
You suppose you could try to jump past it or fight it in some way, but given how well your last two attempts went, you're not quite sure that it’ll turn out well.
What should you do?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: zombie urist on May 26, 2013, 12:08:04 am
Post by: Phantom of The Library on May 26, 2013, 12:18:14 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on May 26, 2013, 10:27:00 pm
Choo Choooooo! I kid, of course. Glad to see this is back.
Post by: Zecro_The_Scourge on May 29, 2013, 02:05:21 am
Go inside since we seemingly have no choice.
Post by: GiglameshDespair on June 06, 2013, 06:34:49 pm
Post by: Phantom of The Library on November 29, 2014, 03:40:20 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
“Alright, alright, I get the point.” You turn around and throw open the door before stomping in.
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
From inside the church comes the rhythmic, echoing click of something being repeatedly opened and closed. You examine your surroundings as you search for the source. The place seems to be deserted and a bit more run down than you imagined from Ankh’s description; about a third of the statues on either side are smashed and the pews are in various states of disrepair. Dust and the plaster powder from holes in the walls cover practically everything. The only clean thing in the building is the man sitting on the final pew on the right side, though he is a bit scruffy-looking.
Tik.
Tik.
Tik.
He seems rather relaxed with one hand lazily draped over the back of the pew and the other playing with a butterfly knife. The knife is the source of the clicking; giving off a slight tick every time he twirls it open and closed.
Tik.
Tik.
As you approach, he turns his head and you get a better look at his face. The first thing you notice and the most remarkable thing about him is his right eye which bears a heavy, straight scar stretching over it. The scar starts below his nose and travels straight up until it nearly touches the hairline. He has a rather squarish, unshaven face, slicked back hair, and a hooked nose, altogether the sort of looks that you would expect to see on someone who has too close a relationship with the wrong side of the law. The sort of look that implies a frequency of visitation similar to that which most people associate with annoying neighbors who bear a gap in their internal dictionary right where privacy is supposed to lay, or perhaps a dear relative lying on their deathbed.
Tik.
"Took ya long enough." He sighs and flicks his knife closed without turning around to face you fully. He speaks with a heavy accent, though you can't quite place where it’s from. "Sorry 'bout the rough ride, but I can't start the heist without ya and Tengu's already gotten started. Can't let 'im beat me, see?" He gestures with the knife-wielding hand and indicates that you should sit down.
You respond by waving the sandwich threateningly in his face.
He leans back, perplexed, and you move the sandwich closer. "Nuh-uh, sorry mister, but I am not taking part in any heist of any sort, especially after what your pet did to my house, do you realize how much those statues were worth!" He tries to move out of the way again, but you are merciless in your assault with your pork-and-wheat based weaponry.
He doesn't seem to know how to respond to this and blinks a few times before snarling: "Well I am sorry 'bout the statues; the darklings don't seem to like them much." He leans backward further in an attempt to avoid the sandwich. "And you're not part of the heist anyway, I just got ta give something to ya as per the contract, see?"
"Contract?"
"Yes, contract; get that thing away from me." He pushes the sandwich back. "And no you're not supposed ta know. The ancients get a clueless champion an' I get an army of shadow creatures in exchange for a part of myself. Old Laws and all that, see?" He waves his knife in the air; an act that in most situations would seem suave, but the awkwardness brought about by the sandwich-waving reduces the effect somewhat.
You look at him blankly for a moment, unclear on what he means. "...No?"
"Well, don't worry your pretty little head over it, miss. The less of that you do, easier it'll be for me to finish you off before you can do the same to me, see? Now, all you haves to do, see, is sit there and listen to me read off what's on this paper” He holds the paper up and flicks it, “And then I make with the shadow magic and you get a nice shiny present to take home."
You're nearly yanked off your feet as his shadow suddenly reaches up and grabs you by the ankle. You try to kick it off, but it quickly grabs the other leg and holds both to the ground. Axel scoots across the pew until he can stand up and his shadow makes you move your feet to face him.
"Ahem!" He clears his throat as he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "Alright, here goes nothin': 'Champion of the Ancients, Guardian of Fire, Hero of Light,' note the capital letters on those miss, 'you have been summoned to ‘dis place to fulfill the contract as set up by the Old Laws, to be provided wit’ what information you can be and a means wit’ which to dispatch your opponent.'
That would be me, 'Your opponent has optioned for gaining minimal power in exchange for minimum information on your part, what can be informed of is as follows: Your opponent, Axel Oubliette, will gain the power to control beings from the realm of shadow known as darklings, new types being given at regular intervals over the course of four months, for whatever purpose he sees fit, as well as invulnerability to all normal weapons.
The opponent will not be able to directly attack or interfere wit’ you for a period of one-hundred and twenty-eight days during which time you will attempt to find a way to defeat him using the weapon provided by the opponent. The type of weapon given will depend on which part of him/herself the opponent gives up. The weapon by itself will be insufficient to defeat the opponent and must be completed or supplemented in some fashion.'"
He finished with a sniff and stuffed the paper back into his pocket.
"Now, if you don't mind miss, I'll be startin' the ceremony." He walks around you and up to the crumbled ruins of the altar. He stops for a moment.
Then he begins to speak.
Only his voice does not come. Instead out from his throat comes a hissing, crackling sound like the static from a radio interplayed over the hiss from a phonograph and magnified a dozen times.
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He spreads his arms out ceremoniously and looks up and the ceiling. You look up as well. Through the holes you can see the sky above. Dark clouds have gathered, obscuring the sun and releasing a few small droplets of water back down to the earth. You're not sure what, but there's something off about it. It's like the entirety of the sky is shifting in and out of focus.
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Axel places his hand on his scarred eye. He winces slightly, as if in pain and a bright light begins to shine from beneath his hand. He slowly removes it revealing a brightly glowing sphere that clings to his palm. You notice that his eyelid seems to be sunken in now. He closes his hand partially around it and the air in the room seems to become tighter somehow.
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Tendrils of shadow wrap around the light in his hand cocooning it and muffling it. Every instinct you have is telling you to run, but the grip of Axel's shadow is as strong as ever and it seems to be steadily growing darker, to where it’s more like looking into a deep pit than a shadow. Axel himself seems to be caught up in a trance as his hissing grows louder and he begins to make large gestures with the arm that isn't holding the shadow orb.
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The air shifts.
All the tension that had been building seems to relax all at once, its absence somehow more noticeable than the slow buildup.
The shadow beneath Axel's feet begins to boil and suddenly shoots up, releasing your feet. It tears through the ceiling and rockets up into the sky. You cover your eyes as boards and plaster fall down around you. None hitting you luckily.
After the rain of boards is finished, you look up into the sky again and at first all seems normal. Then your eyes catch a strange shimmer.
Shakily, as if something is holding it back and with painstaking slowness, a large slit begins to open spreading from one horizon to the other. The sight reminds you of a gigantic sleepy eye opening.
It stops and seems to collapse in on itself for a moment, then flings open again until it takes up nearly an eighth of the sky above. It looks like some colossal beast has torn the sky open like it was no more than a large door and left it sit ajar.
As you gaze up at it, it seems to fall down to meet you and you can see stars within, thousands of them. They seem to gently shift around and blink out now and then, beautiful and somehow sinister.
No...
Those aren't stars.
They're eyes. Thousands of pairs of eyes opening and closing as their owners shift position. Thousands of pairs of eyes that are coming closer and closer as their owners drop down from the sky. Thousands of pairs of eyes paired with thousands of red glowing mouths attached to comically large heads.
"Ahem."
You seem to fall back to earth with a thud, losing your balance and falling to the floor. You look up to see Axel standing there tapping his foot impatiently, dark tendrils swirling around his hand. He opens his hand and throws the orb within in front of you. The shadows disintegrate, revealing a triangle-shaped object made of light that quickly grows and changes shape until there is a sheathed dagger laying there.
"Well there ya go miss. Ya can only unsheath it four times, so I wouldn't be brandishing it around everywhere if I were you." He hisses toward the door: ░░░░ And the darkling shambles in the through the door, then glides to his side. It hisses and smashes an already broken piece of statue when it lands.
Axel taps his foot. In response, plaster and dust swirl away in a cyclone around his feet and he slowly lifts up into the air, hands in pockets.
"I would wish you best of luck miss, but that would mean bad luck on my part, so instead I hope you trip and break yer neck." He lets out a hoarse laugh and flies away, shadow gargoyle close behind.
You watch as he quickly disappears from sight.
Well, now what?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: GiglameshDespair on November 29, 2014, 04:11:41 pm
That said, I don't really know what to do. Go home and inspect our new possession, I suppose.
Post by: monk12 on November 29, 2014, 09:11:15 pm
Verify we are not dreaming. Assuming we don't wake up, then head to the library and search for any clues about this strange contest. Keywords: Old Laws, Champion of the Ancients, Guardian of Fire, Hero of Light. Don't be afraid to ask the reference librarian for help! If we're gonna play the game, we've gotta know the rules.
Oh, and inspect fancy new dagger without drawing it. Hopefully it came with a user manual or something.
Post by: Powder Miner on November 29, 2014, 10:02:14 pm
Deadly shadow creatures and ancient static chanting rituals and Champions and (air and fire???) and obviously dangerous criminals and THOUSANDS OF EYES IN THE SKY THIS IS STRANGE AND NOT GOOD!
Then, check on our friends. Given all the calamity, they were probably affected in some way, right? Right?
Post by: Harry Baldman on November 30, 2014, 07:38:27 am
Aw yiss. Glad to see it's back.
Verify we are not dreaming. Assuming we don't wake up, then head to the library and search for any clues about this strange contest. Keywords: Old Laws, Champion of the Ancients, Guardian of Fire, Hero of Light. Don't be afraid to ask the reference librarian for help! If we're gonna play the game, we've gotta know the rules.
Oh, and inspect fancy new dagger without drawing it. Hopefully it came with a user manual or something.
This seems like a good idea. Let's be unusually sensible with this. Although something does tell me that the Old Laws are probably reasonably ancient, and thus probably written in an awfully unreadable form.
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 29, 2014, 10:30:14 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You take a few deep breaths in and out. Okay, okay let's ignore the gigantic tear in the sky for a moment and determine if you are in fact, awake. You stash the chisel and sandwich in your pockets.
You start your attempts at validating your lucidity by attempting to push a finger through your palm.
Nope, solid. You then move on to counting your fingers and of course the tried and true pinching. After you run through the gamut of tests, you decide conclusively that you are, in fact, awake. Not time to freak out yet though.
With awareness tests completed you decide to examine the knife.
The handle is notably featureless- just a plain and functional piece of orange-brown metal (some sort of copper alloy if you had to place a guess) that seems easy enough to grip and is just rough enough to where you shouldn't have any problems keeping hold of it.
The blade is concealed, and you don't want to use up any of your unsheathings so you try to gather what information you can from what you can see. Unless the sheath is VERY thick, it appears to be large and triangular, about the size and shape of your hand. It's strangely light for its size. You don't expect it to fly away in the wind anytime soon, but it probably weighs less than the chisel you've been carrying around.
The sheath is made of dark brown leather, nice and sturdy, and is much more detailed than the handle. There are four red gems set into the middle on both sides that occasionally give off a glow; you're sure that there's a reason for when the glow happens, but you can't pin down what it is. You'll probably have to experiment a bit to determine. Surrounding the gems and covering the rest of the sheath is a bunch of small holes arranged in rectangles, a bit like braille, but more dense. You're pretty sure that it's some sort of awfully unreadable ancient language. That would be just typical for this sort of thing.
With the knife examined, you make a quick plan in your head: First you'll hop over to the library and see if you can't conjure up and answers about this confusing contest you seem to have been entered in without your consent. Afterwards you'll check up on your friends and assuming that nothing is wrong, head back home and see if there's anything there that can help you examine this thing more closely.
…
As you leave the church for the library, you examine your surroundings. You must have been more absorbed in examining the knife than you thought, people are already starting to wind down. There's a small group gathered outside of the police station and a couple people gathered in the streets still staring up at the tear in the sky. It's an ominous addition to the scenery and inescapable as it stretches from horizon to horizon. Still not time to freak out, you've got places to go and books to check out.
…
You enter the library The librarian seems to be oblivious to any goings-on outside and is preoccupied with something behind the counter in front of him.
“Noisy out today isn't it?” You address him, walking up to the front desk.
“Yes, indeed.” The librarian says grumpily, looking down at you over his glasses. “May I help you?”
“I was looking for books over a certain subject. Would you happen to have anything about the subjects: Old Laws, Champion of the Ancients, Guardian of Fire, Hero of Light?”
“Ah, you'd be looking for a Vules Jerne novel then, fiction section.” He points back with his thumb.
“No, I'm looking for non-fiction.”
“Hmm, well then. Just a moment.” He turns around to a contraption behind him. Taking a card from a pile next to it, he punches out a pattern of holes and feeds it into the machine. The machine shudders for a few seconds and then sputters out.
The librarian hits it a few times muttering something about blasted new-fangled machines and how things were so much better when they had to do everything manually and the things never work properly and you have to reinstall the gears every three months or else the whole thing starts giving you nothing but references to photo collections of Sir Nicholas of Caje. He continues on like this for a while before the machine finally begins to shudder back to life.
A short while later it spits out another card covered in punch-holes. He looks over it for a moment and then looks back to you.
“I'm afraid that we don't have anything on any of those. We have a couple of books on old laws, but none on Old Laws with capitals and the rest got no results. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
You think on it for a moment and then carefully show him the dagger's sheath, with the dagger still inside of course. “What about this?”
“Oh, now that I recognize. I can't translate it myself, but I do have a friend in Sportagul who's obsessed with it.” He tears off a corner of paper and scribbles something on it. “I'll give you his address and you can ask him about it.”
He turns around to hand the paper to you, but freezes part-way, his jaw slowly moving up and down.
You slowly turn around to look.
Pressed up against the library window are three darklings.
Freak out! Freak right out!
You calmly decide that now is precisely the time for that and immediately scrambled over the counter to hide with the librarian. After you finish clumsily scurrying over, you peek your head up above the counter and see that the darklings are getting ready to bust through the window. Any second they will bust through and tear you to pieces. It is only a matter of-
"MEEP MEEP"
Without warning, like a badly timed comedy skit, a police vehicle rides by and scrapes the darklings off the window before careening off to crash into another building.
What now?
Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Long Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Short Term Goals (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on January 01, 2015, 09:25:32 pm
Grab the address from the librarian and sneak out the back, keeping away from any darklings. Supposedly the darklings can't be killed by conventional weapons, so the police vehicle probably didn't finish them off.