Dave, knowing full well that there is no other way to prevent drowning than sudden bursts of self-preservation and endurance, tries to rapidly move in an upward direction, hoping to commune with his inner dolphin to somehow get the strength to perform such a feat.
[Dave's body roll: 5-1]
Fortunately, his inner dolphin is being very responsive today, and Dave manages to begin flopping upward, and continues to do so up until he has reached the surface and grabbed onto the coast and held on tightly - the master and the remaining subordinate grunts seem to have been waiting for exactly this kind of thing, and a few of them pull Dave out of the river of his own making.
"Well. That certainly went exceedingly poorly," the creature observes.
* * * * *
Eta, though momentarily stricken by a bit of self-doubt at the mention of some unpleasant magicking experiences, perks up at the mention of cheese and potential blessings thereof.
"Ooooh, yeah, I got cheese! Cheese is food. I've got the table ready, it's over there. Let's go eat and see what happens!" she says, pulling Lois over to the kitchen and pointing at the cheese plate.
"So that's cheese! Okay, well... here goes!" Lois says excitedly, pointing at the plate. The cheese stirs and begins to emit a soft light, which is something Eta would have expected - however, it also begins to hover slightly above the plate, a barely audible heavenly choir accompanying its ascent to about half a meter above the plate. Looking more closely, Eta can discern miniscule halos on each slice - grand marks of quality, no doubt. Eta quickly seizes a single slice, and Lois does the same, and they each take a bite.
[Eta's body roll: 6-->1-1]
[Eta's mind roll: 2+1]
Eta begins to shake violently, her mind afire with strange feelings of alien pleasures unknown to most mortals, all of them conducted through the sublime medium of cheese - images of thrones, light, planets hurtling through the void and eyes in the sky winking at her flash through her brain, the air around her suddenly taking on a will of its own, swirling through her lungs as she breathes in. She becomes aware of the dusty, humid, cool air of the room - it feels very oppressive within moments. The thought of being trapped in a cage underwater seems oddly applicable to her situation, and claustrophobic terror begins to descend on Eta. Wanting to break free, she begins to flail around, hoping to demonstrate to herself that she is free to move around and to escape, but it does not help at all, and her mind, struggling to deal with the information spilling into it, begins to feel like it is tearing itself in half. Putting her head in her hands, Eta slumps against the wall, feebly trying to make sure her thoughts remain in place. She feels a fever coming on, and boy, is it an intense one. And yet despite her sorry state of body and mind, Eta does perceive some manner of
thing, though not in terms of physical proximity - rather, she feels a concept of sorts, or an embodiment of it, standing somewhere she can perceive it through a sense she did not know she had, and it seems open somehow, watching her and listening to her.
Lois, for her part, seems to have just begun seizing, her twitching form sprawled out on the floor, eyes still open and both moving around and blinking rapidly.
* * * * *
John, rather jovial despite being in an abandoned hospital, asks more of James.
"My my, this place seems positively abandoned. You sure this place isn't haunted and you're just a ghost trying to lure me to your nest? Do ghosts have nests, you think?""I... think I'm alive. I should be. I am alive," James says, looking confused.
"And Mary's alive, too..."While James thinks about this question, John looks for a lightswitch, managing to fumble himself right into a wall several times before giving up on the idea. It's not really
that dark, he tells himself. He can totally see everything. And there are windows and stuff. Those shed a bit of light.
* * * * *
THE DUNKER, challenged by fate, decides to demonstrate exactly why they don't call him the Great Communicator.
"FOR THE SAKE OF PASTRY YOU TWO WILL RECONCILE!" he screams blindly, waving his arms to call storms of electric watermelons and emit garbage in massive quantities.
[Finesse: Bart, Joanie, THE DUNKER: 5, 3, 6-->1-1]
[THE DUNKER's affinity roll: 5+1]
The air suddenly becomes thick with watermelons flying all about, crackling as they pass one another and little sparks fly all about!
[Bart's finesse roll: 5-
1]
[THE DUNKER's body roll: 6-->2-1]
Another shot rings out, shooting right through a watermelon and embedding itself into THE DUNKER's abdominal fat! This makes THE DUNKER no less mobile and active, although he certainly is a lot angrier now!
[Joanie vs. Bart: 4+1 vs. 5+2]
Joanie, meanwhile, attempts to do with physical assault what magic has failed to achieve, but Bart merely kicks her away, once more pointing the gun at her with murderous intent.
[THE DUNKER's affinity roll: 2+1]
THE DUNKER, meanwhile, emits several sizable pieces of garbage in an effort at reconciliation! It fails rather miserably at achieving anything.
[Bart's finesse roll: 3-1]
But the watermelons already present seem to be averting any lethal weapons fire, which THE DUNKER supposes to be a good thing.
[Joanie vs. Bart: 6+1 vs. 3+1]
Joanie, once again trying to change the path of the conflict, charges right into Bart, successfully pushing him off his feet and to the ground, climbing atop him and trying to force him in place while she attempts her next spell.
[THE DUNKER's affinity roll: 3+1]
The storm of watermelons intensifies - the density and violence of the winds inside the room becomes rather terrible indeed!
[Bart vs. Joanie: 5+2 vs. 4]
Bart, meanwhile, easily overpowers the teenage girl trying to keep him forced to the ground and easily reverses their positions, then tries to retrieve his gun to finally perform an execution while the girl resists.
[Joanie's affinity roll: 3+2]
[Bart's body roll: 1-->1+2-
1]
Fortunately for Joanie, a girl needs not physical force to resist when magic will do just as well - in this case, what sounds like a sizable emission of purplish eldritch tentacle product that poor Bart cannot hope to avoid, the stuff forcing itself into his skin, his open eyes, his mouth and seemingly even down his throat, as THE DUNKER can plainly hear from his choking. He wonders if he's lucky that stuff didn't get into his airways, honestly. These barbed hairs are pretty nasty, and he's not sure if they'll come off all that soon - he's only got Joanie's word for it that they will, after all. A moment passes, and THE DUNKER hears sounds of struggling.
"Hey, help me out here!" the voice of Joanie cries out amidst the choking sounds of Bart.
* * * * *
Halesey, very much aware that things aren't exactly going in his favor, tries to call upon the power of mafiosi to guard him!
[Finesse: Cassowary Angel, Halesey: 6-->4+2, 4+1]
[Cassowary Angel vs. Halesey: 4+1 vs. 5+
2]
[Halesey's affinity roll: 2]
The attempt is interrupted by the angel trying to tear through his shield unsuccessfully while making sounds that sufficiently unsettle Halesey to make him decide retreating a bit further, since the circumstances are definitely not favorable presently, and there would be much woe if he got something wrong!
[Cassowary Angel vs. Halesey: 4+1 vs. 1+2]
[Halesey's affinity roll: 5]
And just as a leaping swipe of the angel's talons rips his shield in half, scattering the pieces around the area, a squad of ten mafiosi appear at Halesey's current position, immediately beginning to fire on the angel!
[Mafioso Firing Squad's finesse roll: 6-->1]
[Cassowary Angel's body roll: 2+1]
Unloading their firearms fervently at the angel, they make it retreat significantly, small arms fire beginning to pierce its hide to a significant degree, silver blood pouring out of its heads and bulk as it stumbles back under the sudden assault!
With all this in mind, Halesey quickly evaluates his plan, wondering if certain corrections might not be necessary.
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 256119 times)