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Author Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again  (Read 519118 times)

Harry Baldman

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10515 on: April 16, 2015, 11:29:26 am »

In the dark woods...

Kevin, assuming all this business to be on the level for now, takes the Mantra off Patty's hands and chants the words, thinking of decent clothing with an appropriate number of pockets so that he doesn't freeze to what might be a second or perhaps third death out here in the damn woods.

The words, though not entirely distinct or constant on sight, resolve themselves perfectly in his mind, and the phrases flow from his lips entirely naturally, the alien tongue clear as day, though only three syllables of it appear to fit into Kevin's mind at any given time - the one he is pronouncing, and the ones before and after it, respectively. The rest seem to vanish from his mind almost instantly.

For a moment, Kevin feels light, then heavier - looking down for a second, he notices that he is now clothed, and rather well-clothed at that - quality finery that nevertheless seems appropriate for the road, with pockets both obvious and not lining it. As he chants further, he feels an overcoat appear around his shoulders, and fine boots upon his feet, and a warm fur hat to keep him safe from the elements materializes on his head - feeling quite snug, he stops the chant. He feels much, much better already!

"And it works!" says Patty. "Very good indeed!"

Her horse, for its part, appears to have adopted a sneering expression.


In a pinkish backyard...

Faced with out-of-place furniture-like objects, Scott gives negotiation a go. No reason why it wouldn't work, is there? Providing the table-like things with a flat, yet sufficiently specific description of Tailor Craig and his own former butler, he flits about in the air, awaiting a reply - fortunately, he needs not wait long at all.

"Gzk!" says the surface beneath him. "VESSEL DESCRIPTION MATCH. Inquire beneath LAYER OF PINK."

It says this and nothing more, bobbing on the motionless pool of pink indicatively.


In Harlan's House of Hilarity and Harlotry, crown jewel of Blynn's nightlife...

Timothy suddenly realizes he doesn't appear to have been speaking in anything that could have been loosely described as language up until now. No wonder the lady seems so amused.

"What's a nice ghoul like you doin' in a place like dis?" he attempts to say. He lacks the equipment to process exactly how well he's done, unfortunately.

"Nuffin' much," Timothy thinks is what the lady replies with. "Lookin' fer fun," she adds a moment later, pursing her lips. "Takin' a real long break!"


Inside the home of Karina...

Darren, not sure if this is normal, but guessing it isn't, tries to fill the awkward silence that's now formed between him and Karina.

"Ah! Err... That's also quite different."

The rift in Karina's flesh continues to lengthen and deepen, traveling down toward her sternum. Her hands start to twitch, and tiny swellings develop around the sides of the rift. Bugger, he'll have to do something about this.

[Telekinesis roll: 5]

Concentrating briefly, he quickly forces the rift entirely shut, pressing the edges of it together hard enough to meld them together like bits of ethereal clay. Smoothening the edge in a final stroke, he inspects his handiwork. Karina looks as good as new, if a little shaky and vacant-eyed, and maybe slightly unresponsive. A small spidery thing crawls out of one of her tear ducts, skittering down her face like a confused black tear. She looks to be inflating slowly.

Hm. Maybe he should let her rest a while. Go somewhere else for a while, and then never come back while assuming she will be perfectly all right from here on in.


In an alleyway of utmost danger...

Mark, leaving Wilma be for a few moments, searches about for anything that may prove of use in this less than logical conundrum. The alleyway, however, continues to be an infinite, pointless, empty dick to him on a personal basis, and seems to mock his efforts at locating anything of potential use. Can anything even be of potential use in this situation? What is this situation? Where is he, if anywhere? The mind boggles.

Morton continues in his efforts to help Wilma, and does a bang-up job at that.

"I don't believe that is a good sign, good mage Wilma," he says.

"I also believe that I am going to die in the next few or so minutes, good sir whatever your name was," Wilma says, tugging at her arm once again. It fails to budge. "You see, I don't want to die. I didn't become a necromancer so I could die."

She sounds a little bitter about this now.

"Perhaps it's stuck? I think I know what might help, one second..." Morton continues, and pours some perfectly warm tea he has on Wilma's arm, hoping against hope that tea has somehow become a good lubricant in the wonky physics of this alleyway. It hasn't, unfortunately, but the section of the wall it hits does appear to dissolve readily, letting the mage pull her arm out quickly. She kisses her now-free hand, evidently quite glad to have it back.

"Well! That's much better. Thank you," she says. "Now we only need to survive whatever horror is about to be visited upon us."

She looks at Morton for a moment before a tinge of worry crosses her features, something on the edge of her vision. Slowly turning her head, she looks upon the hole in the wall roughly simultaneously with Morton, who also seems to have seen the same thing.

The hole, as it were, is a complete black, nothing at all visible inside of it except a small shadow of a glint, an infinitesimal point of voracious something. Wilma tilts her head as she looks upon it, and Morton rotates back and forth, but the sight remains just as perplexing as moments ago.

"Oh dear. That looks very dangerous," the mage states the obvious.


Outside the ruins of Eckledun...

Sigmund suspects that it'd probably be healthy if he went ahead and did something about these wanton breakdowns of physics in his vicinity. But alas, the source seems unknown or at the very least extraordinarily unpleasant, so he'll have to deal with the symptom first, and address the underlying cause later. He examines a quaint little brick in a wall on one of the outlying houses, finding it very nice and bricklike, though a little bit inclined toward being a multidimensional razor blade as well in both appearance and function. Perhaps it would be good to change this misconception of the silly thing.

[Sigmund's magic roll: 2]

Sadly, its ambitions are not easily forsaken, and the brick continues to menace its surroundings with its extratemporal sharpness and Sigmund's mind with its simultaneous sentience, non-sentience and semi-sentience.
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Tomcost

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10516 on: April 16, 2015, 04:11:04 pm »

Aha! So the pink has a sentience of its own! Then, a means of reducing it, should prevent further distortion of reality! Or maybe not. Who cares, this is at elast an opening for Sigmund to do something about it.

Investigate further! Is the brick capable of taking decisions? Can it expand the pink on its own?

killerhellhound

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10517 on: April 17, 2015, 12:39:06 am »

Mark seeing Mortons tea dissolving the wall leaps at the improbably effective weapon, writing a quick note "Make some more tea Morton we might be able to fight our way out of this." he gives it to the gentlemen desk and takes some tea ready to throw it on any hostile that shows it self.
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Xanmyral

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10518 on: April 17, 2015, 11:02:16 pm »

Morton finds the dissipating wall most peculiar. The something quite horrifying. He... Rather wished he hadn't looked.

Reading the note as a nice distraction, the tea apostle ho-hummed. "Make more tea? Good surgeon Mark, wherever shall I find the water and heat? I'm afraid I only have what I've currently saved for the ghosts amongst our companions. The tea was enchanted though, it might be that perhaps this place is susceptible to magic?"

Morton ventured and guessed, asking good mage Wilma if perhaps she knew any sort of applicable magic or magical application for this type of situation.

miauw62

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10519 on: April 18, 2015, 04:02:21 am »

"Well, uh. Thanks, I guess. Do you know the area, by the way? I need someplace to go that isn't a possessed city."
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Quote from: NW_Kohaku
they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the raving confessions of a mass murdering cannibal from a recipe to bake a pie.
Knowing Belgium, everyone will vote for themselves out of mistrust for anyone else, and some kind of weird direct democracy coalition will need to be formed from 11 million or so individuals.

Innsmothe

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10520 on: April 19, 2015, 02:17:32 pm »

Before submerging myself into this liquid, ominously bodiless voice...what the hell is it and how will my ethereal form react with it?
Scott would say whilst circling above.

« Last Edit: April 19, 2015, 02:19:23 pm by Innsmothe »
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"That which does not kill me, can only make me stranger." -Dana, Creator of Ozzy & Millie.

Yoink

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10521 on: April 19, 2015, 07:34:59 pm »

Timothy flashes what he hopes is a charming smile, bobbing his head (most likely along with the rest of his ghostly form).
"Ooh, a break! Breaks is lovely. Whatcha takin' a break from?"

Continue getting to know this lifeless lovely. 
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ATHATH

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10522 on: April 21, 2015, 08:47:55 am »

Every time I read the title, I imagine it being sung to "All You Need Is Love".
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*slow clap* Well ATHATH congratulations. You managed to give the MC a mental breakdown before we even finished the first arc.
I didn't even read it first, I just saw it was ATHATH and noped it. Now that I read it x3 to noping

Harry Baldman

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10523 on: April 21, 2015, 04:49:41 pm »

Outside the ruins of Eckledun...

Sigmund continues his indirect interview with the brick, seeking to discover the limits of its sentience, however simultaneously existent and nonexistent it may be at any given moment.

Truth is, it takes him a moment to wrap his mind around the idea that something can be sentient and non-sentient at the same time, and he's not sure his mind is better off for realizing how this is possible, since he does need to deconstruct causality and some basic precepts of existence to do so - fortunately, the metaphysical vision helps a lot. The truth about the brick, he soon realizes, is that it does not obey any laws that Sigmund cares to set for it - indeed, to try and analyze the ways of the pink is futile, as they do not make any form of sense. The brick could theoretically swallow Sigmund whole from twenty miles away and experience no increase in mass, and tear his soul in half with a thought that it should not have, or perhaps that it ought to have thought of some time ago. It knows where he will go and what he will do, on some level. It can extrapolate flawlessly, but chooses not to, or it cannot and it desperately wishes to. It is through this sort of discontinuity and disharmony that the pink spreads and prospers - one thing existing in many contradictory states ripples outward, causing fraying in the very bones of the universe. It appears to have a roughly set radius, given that it appears to lose some potency over distance, which is very good indeed, as otherwise there'd probably be no way of stopping it from just eating the world.

Maybe it could eat the world, and simply doesn't want to at the moment. It doesn't have to make sense on any level, the point is. And trying to find out more about it is pointless, as the rules it follows seem to be made up of random noise that remains after the knots of the universe have unraveled, and are thus anything but consistent. Or maybe they are consistent, in that the noise balances out in the end - Sigmund hasn't seen enough pink phenomena to know for sure just yet.


In an increasingly perilous alley...

Mark has a brilliant idea, and immediately sends Morton a small letter detailing an urgent need for tea to fight this new pink menace. Morton is less than cooperative, which is most unexpected for the man.

"Make more tea? Good surgeon Mark, wherever shall I find the water and heat? I'm afraid I only have what I've currently saved for the ghosts amongst our companions. The tea was enchanted though, it might be that perhaps this place is susceptible to magic?" he starts to reply, looking at Wilma in an unquestionably wondering manner.

"Might be. Or maybe it's just screwing with us," she replies with no small measure of paranoia. "But then again, this is the Pink. It might not be so much susceptible to magic, as it is actually all magic of a sort. I think that's how it goes, anyway. If a mage ever sees pink, that's a good sign they need to run in the other direction, you know. It's bad, really bad magic. The kind where anything can happen."

The alleyway's walls start to bend inward a little, creaking ominously. Even the bits that have dissolved appear to be bending inward in keeping with the rest of the thing.

"Yeah, like that," she points out. "I have no idea why that's happening."


In the deepest woods...

Kevin, feeling altogether more comfortable now that he's clothed, settles into more familiar routines immediately.

"Well, uh. Thanks, I guess. Do you know the area, by the way? I need someplace to go that isn't a possessed city."

"That way," Patty tells him, pointing in the direction Kevin came from, "that way lies danger. The way I came from, that way lies danger also. But the most danger, hm..."

She points her arms off  both sides of the road.

"Yes, the most danger you would find in those directions!"


Above a pool of deepest pink...

Scott wasn't born yesterday - he knows that such a reply practically begs for followup questions.

"Before submerging myself into this liquid, ominously bodiless voice... what the hell is it and how will my ethereal form react with it?"

"Pink. PINK," replies the voice in two distinct, alien inflections.


In Harlan's House of Hilarity and Harlotry...

Timothy, breaking all the ice he knows how, makes further talk with the lovely ghost.

"Ooh, a break! Breaks is lovely. Whatcha takin' a break from?"

"Liftin'," she says and giggles. She has the look of a weirdly swirling peasant girl about her, just on the cusp of blurry womanhood. "I'm the best lifter! They have me lift all the big stuff. Built the food-place all on my lonesome one night, y'know!"

She sounds quite proud of the work.

"They said they was promoting me! Now I'm learnin' funny magic words to say a lot so my thinkbucket gets funny too, and then I can do magic stuff! Thee-retically, they say. I started a week ago. Now I study half a day, lift half a day, stay in here half a day, and it's real fun!" she giggles. "Yah, real fun. Whatchoo doin', uh... what's yer name?"
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Tomcost

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10524 on: April 21, 2015, 06:20:52 pm »

So, so far away from understanding. But how could it be understood? If understanding means to wrap oneself's mind around how something works, and the whole idea behind the Pink is chaos. No rules, not even the lack of them. Such absolute randomness. It makes Sigmund feel small. Not small in the sense of something being able to crush you, but small in the sense of not even being aware of the existence of the foot going to squish you. He pondered silently about this. He had to do something, but he didn't know what, nor how. What is power? The ability to impose your own will upon the world, of course! And he could already do so! He could alter the fabrics of the universe to do his bidding! He could do magic! Yet... yet... it was not enough. He was just a single, lucky individual, one that had went across many different horrible experiences, but that somehow had found how to come out alive. And here he was, a stone jar with pulverized entrails currently using the corpse of a badger. If he had to start in some place, it should be this one: it shold be what is he. Screw the Artiste, no matter how good (or at least decent) boss he is, Sigmund can't help anybody witout a proper body, the ability to speak, and the ability to manipulate stuff with hands. He needed a human body, or at least something similar.

He slowly turned his badger body away from the sight of chaos that was Eckledun. It was foolish to try to understand what can not be understood. He walked away, there may be another town nearby, one with people.

Turn away, search for another town. If I happen to find a human skeleton/dead guy on the way there, stop. Sigmund at least needs hands.

Spinal_Taper

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10525 on: April 22, 2015, 03:17:25 am »

It was about then that leaving seemed like a good idea to Darren. Spider eruptions were a big no-no on his list, even if they erupt from a normal woman. Ghost spiders were even worse. As such, he chose to evacuate.
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killerhellhound

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10526 on: April 22, 2015, 04:38:37 am »

Mark trie's to remember how to make a magical focus there must have been a time someone told him.
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Fluttershy jumps onto TCM, giving him a hug. "~Yay~"*Player TCM has left the server. Reason: HHHHNNNNNGGGG-

We Madmen are very ingenious.  Sometimes it just takes just a little less sanity to pull off something completely awesome.

miauw62

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10527 on: April 22, 2015, 08:50:35 am »

"Well, I guess some people that could be called friends are back there. I guess I should go and find them. Thanks for giving me this. And good luck, wherever you are going."
Will myself some sort of small sword to use as a lightweight weapon, and continue on my way.
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Quote from: NW_Kohaku
they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the raving confessions of a mass murdering cannibal from a recipe to bake a pie.
Knowing Belgium, everyone will vote for themselves out of mistrust for anyone else, and some kind of weird direct democracy coalition will need to be formed from 11 million or so individuals.

ATHATH

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10528 on: April 22, 2015, 02:11:06 pm »

Turn away, search for another town. If I happen to find a human skeleton/dead guy on the way there, stop. Sigmund at least needs hands.
Wait, don't leave yet! The brick is (possibly) sentient, right? Your phylactery can possess sentient things, right? Suddenly, the option of being a scientist vampire lich pink/stone mage becomes possible! If you don't want to risk your sanity, you could make it a focus instead, or at least take the brick with you. You might never get the opportunity to get a possibly omnipotent brick again!

@miauw62: Obviously, you must go up (or down)!

@Harry: Wait a minute, what happened to the waitlisters who are still milling around in Bernie's graveyard?
« Last Edit: April 22, 2015, 02:38:35 pm by ATHATH »
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Seriously, ATHATH, we need to have an intervention about your death mug problem.
Quote
*slow clap* Well ATHATH congratulations. You managed to give the MC a mental breakdown before we even finished the first arc.
I didn't even read it first, I just saw it was ATHATH and noped it. Now that I read it x3 to noping

Tomcost

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Re: Life Begins At Death - Chapter 6: Enjoying the Gub Life?
« Reply #10529 on: April 22, 2015, 02:22:09 pm »

Turn away, search for another town. If I happen to find a human skeleton/dead guy on the way there, stop. Sigmund at least needs hands.
Wait, don't leave yet! The brick is sentient right? Your phylactery can possess sentient things, right? Suddenly, the option of being a scientist vampire lich pink/stone mage becomes possible! If you don't want to risk it, at least take the brick with you. You might never get the opportunity to get a possibly omnipotent brick again!
1) I'm not near the brick
2) It's neither sentient nor non-sentient. It is weird, incomprehensible pink stuff.
3) My phylactery is just a stone jar with my innards. It is floating because of a magic focus I made. I need my dead tree-focus to possess stuff.
4) Pink magic is likely to get you killed. Maybe also hilarious, but I won't risk it.

That makes me remember:

Make my phylactery always follow me unless stated
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