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It was inevitable

14 (41.2%)

Winners don't do drugs

6 (17.6%)

I'll be back

2 (5.9%)

Drink the Kool Aid

6 (17.6%)

Groovy

3 (8.8%)

Insane in the membrane

3 (8.8%)

Total Members Voted: 34

[Harry Baldman]

((My top 2 suspects for which entity caused problems with the teleporter: Darkstar, and Jordan's unnamed entity.))

((Aren't Darkstar and River the same person, though? I might have missed something.))

[NAV]

((I think there's some sort of Jekyll and Hyde split personality thing going on with River and Darkstar.))

[Tiruin]

((My top 2 suspects for which entity caused problems with the teleporter: Darkstar, and Jordan's unnamed entity.))

((Aren't Darkstar and River the same person, though? I might have missed something.))

((They are, or so I recall River saying [maybe to you guys, but as I recall--the setting was in the inn, before we exited for the mission]; do note that Theri would still be defensive of River because of her first encounter with him--of which I am sure Parisbre posted as snipped from PMs, as it was done in PMs ._.))

[Harry Baldman]

((I think there's some sort of Jekyll and Hyde split personality thing going on with River and Darkstar.))

((I see. He seems to be, like, made of problems and issues by this point. Or is that just River who manages to be both beastly and neurotic at the same time, and Darkstar's twist is that he's generally cool about things?))

[Parisbre56]

((I'll just post this before going to sleep and finish writing the Survival turn tomorrow.))

Campaign, Ike!

<Not really surprising that someone wants River dead, really. He doesn't strike me as the likeable, personable, keep-your-head-down type. Kind of reminds me of old Dick Nixon, really. Such a promising presidency! Such a gallant man cut down in his prime.>

Evasive maneuvers. Get away from the Discoball and try not to die. If it draws close and escape doesn't seem likely, stab it with the bone I tied the skull to.

You start running away from the thing but it soon becomes apparent that you're not fast enough. You feel your hair standing on end and the buzzing sounds closer than ever. With no other option, you dive towards the ground, turn around and stab at the air with your bone.

<O҉h͜, t̶he guy ͘w̶it̕h͡ ̧t͝he ḿoon͡ landing̨,͘ r͞i̛g͘ht̡?͟ W̸as̴n'͟t̡ h͜e̸ ͡alsó ca̵u̢g͞h̶ţ spy͟ing̷ ón ̸şo̸me ot̨h͘er͠ ͡guy̴s? I c͠a͞n't ̸q̶u͟ìt͢e͜ ͢r͞e̢memb̶er͏. ̵I̵ thìn̶k̕ I ̴w̡as͜ in ͞M͜o͟nac͡o whén̕ I҉ heard͝ ab̨o̷ųt̛ ̶it.̴ ̡I ͏wa͘s ̵n̸eve͡r̢ ̴rea̵ll̨y int̶o̕ po̡l͘i͏tic̴ş. Only ev̡er sta͟yed͡ ͏i҉n͘ t҉o͝uch w͘ith͟ ͞thęm҉ ̀beca͟use͜ ̕p̕oliti͜çs ̶ar͠e̷ a̵ gr̢e̷a̵t͡ ͏sourc̨e of͏ h͘umo̸u͏r͡.>

You watch as the Discoball flies inches away from your face. The buzzing is almost deafening now. It looks much brighter from up close.
It feels very cold and smells funny. Not a foul smell, just one you've never smelled before. Your hands feel like something living is inside them and is trying to get out.
You notice that some of the lines of light that make up the sphere flicker, change position or disappear as they pass through the bone. It is left scorching and smoking by the encounter with the Discoball. Despite the fact that it got boned, the Discoball itself looks mostly fine.

<Bu͟t͝ ye͝ah,̵ ̕he̕'̶s n͠ot͢ v͢er̨y fr̀ien̵dly̨. Or fun to b͜e ar͟o̕un͡d.͝ I̵ţ'̵ş l͝i̛k̷e ̀thè guy ̧n͝ev͜er r̷éĺa̛xȩs/Plus, yơu need ͠to͏ sw҉eat́ ́t͡o ge͡t͢ ҉a͡ single w̛o̶ŗd out of̛ h́im. I̵ ͏mean, ̢he eve̕ǹ ̢l̷eft ҉yo̧u͝ ҉h҉e̷r͡e͘ t́o̸ ̧b̴e..́.̨ ͘ba͜it̢ ̀oŗ ̀d͠i͝st͏r̕a̧ct̛io͠n ór͟... so͡m͞e͡thi̡n͟g,̧ ́a͢ppa̛r͘e̷ņţl͏y. ̡Ì'̀d b̶e̡tter̷ not̴ s̷ta̛rt́ t̴a̕l̶ki̢n̵g ̢about̡ t͠he ̕s͏ub҉j̡ect ͢be͏c͞ause͜ ͝I ̨f̢e̢ęl like ͝I͢'ll̴ ̨n̡e͜v͡e̵r s̨t͡op͢.>

The sphere quickly rises up and moves away from you. Its rise slows down, stops and then reverses. It makes a wide turn and starts moving towards you again. You start running in the opposite direction.

<Ni̴c͜e dod͘g̢e̕,̕ ͞by the̸ ͏w̴ay̕.̸ This͞ re̴m҉i͡n̛d̵ş ̢m͞e ͟o͘f ̵North by͠ Nòrt͝hw͞e͏st̸ ̨a ͟bįt. ̸Ýoų ̢k̛n̸ow͞, ţhe͝ ͞c̷r͜ơp͞ du͜ster ͢s͘cene?҉ ̷Thínk͡ ̶y̧ơu̵ c̴an̨ g̀e͞t͞ ̡sơme̛t̢h̡įn̶g͞ to ̷c͜ol͢li̧d͞e̛ wi̴t͜h̛ įt͡?>

[Harry Baldman]

Campaign, Ike!

<He did get the moon landing, though Kennedy mostly laid the groundwork for that. About the only good thing old Jack did, really. Dude lost the Empire, you know, only forty years after we took it from the Brits, too. I hear he was on so much drugs by the end, he couldn't even keep his wife's name straight on live television.>

<But hey, in mortal peril right now, so why don't you entertain me for the duration with some juicy River-gossip?>

Grab rock, throw at center of Discoball, prepare to dodge. Stab with bone as appropriate.

[Toaster]

Survival

Continue driving to the tunnel, I guess.

If Toaster has posted an action for Alarith too, pick his one instead. He's pretty much the party leader, after all.

Do we drive past the bridge on the way to the tunnel?  We should at least see if it's up.  Otherwise, this sounds quite reasonable.

[Alarith]

((Apologies, I appear to have missed some of the last turns.))
Unless problem got fixed: "Actually something feels a bit weird with the balance."
Continue driving to the tunnel, look for other exits.
Yeah, I am fine with auto driving until we get to an exit, have to be a bit more careful there.

[Parisbre56]

Survival

((Apologies, I appear to have missed some of the last turns.))
Unless problem got fixed: "Actually something feels a bit weird with the balance."
Continue driving to the tunnel, look for other exits.
Yeah, I am fine with auto driving until we get to an exit, have to be a bit more careful there.

Well, the only other exit on your path is the overground metro bridge, but getting onto that would be a bit tricky, because this car isn't exactly nimble and you'd need to either get into a station or make your way to a switching station.

Survival

John backs off his connection the the car and nods.  "Give me a sec- gonna patch up the car a bit.  Let me know if there's anything you need.

Not sure how much time these things will take, so I'll just list several.  Do them in order until I run out of time, repeating anything I screw up:

A spoiler or two to get some downforce going on to make it less squirrelly
Reinforce the glass to make it bullet resistant
A ram on the front (like you see on police cars)
A turret on the back, ideally sunk into the trunk to make it less obviously visible.  Remote operation for someone in the back seat.  A .50 cal or something is fine for armament.

You attempt to summon a spoiler, but it is hard. You have to counteract the air's resistance, trying to hold each piece in place as you assemble them. You loose focus for a second and end up with a bunch of metal debris going for the windscreen. Bryan brakes and dodges the debris. Perhaps it was unnecessary, the glass could probably take it, but better safe than sorry.

You try a second time. You decide to go with a rear spoiler for more safety in case something goes wrong. This time you concentrate extra hard on keeping each piece in the right place. And you manage to do so. All the pieces are connected to each other perfectly. But there is a slight problem: its connection with the car. There's nothing wrong with its quality, it's screwed in place tightly. But it is installed backwards.

Survival

Continue driving to the tunnel, I guess.

If Toaster has posted an action for Alarith too, pick his one instead. He's pretty much the party leader, after all.

Do we drive past the bridge on the way to the tunnel?  We should at least see if it's up.  Otherwise, this sounds quite reasonable.

The bridge is indeed up. It looks a bit like this one, but is quite larger and a bit higher above the water, so it's easy to tell that it's up.

Survival

"Good work. Gramercy."

Keep being the party's anti-projectile system and meat shield.

As you approach the entrance to the docks you hear shouts. A second later two men with guns, one with a shotgun and one with an assault rifle, come out of their hiding spots and some sort of wheelbarrow is pushed in the path of your vehicle.

The man carrying the shotgun seems to be a bit too nervous and shoots before the car ends up in front of him. He ends up hitting the man with the assault rifle instead, causing him to scream in pain. Guess that's what crossfire gets you when you're not careful.

Saevus manages to push the wheelbarrow out of the way with a well timed telekinetic blast. However during his attempt to dodge the obstacle, Bryan looses control of the car. The back of the car veers towards the left. The vehicle falls to its side and comes to a literal grinding halt a few metres later.

Saevus is a bit disoriented but otherwise unharmed by the sudden stop. John is also fine, or would be if there wasn't a giant metal suit of armour using him as a cushion. Bryan is bleeding from a cut on his forehead from where one of the fragments from the driver's side door's window hit him, but it's nothing life threatening, merely annoying as the blood is falling in his eyes. All and all, it looks like you weren't harmed too much.

Just fly to freedom...

You cross the bridge to other side. Congratulations.

So, any plans on what you want to do while you wait for the others to get away?

Point the rocket launcher at their feet.

"How 'bout ya drop da gunz, and give meh ya car?"

The men exchange meaningful looks.
"Uh... Okay. Just take it easy now. No reason to do anything any of us will regret. Just... uh... we don't have a car. So that's a problem. But we can get you a car. Yeah sure, what kind of car would you like? We'll get it for you."
They keep pointing their guns at you, taking slow and frightened steps backwards and away from each other.

Campaign

Campaign, Ike!

<He did get the moon landing, though Kennedy mostly laid the groundwork for that. About the only good thing old Jack did, really. Dude lost the Empire, you know, only forty years after we took it from the Brits, too. I hear he was on so much drugs by the end, he couldn't even keep his wife's name straight on live television.>

<But hey, in mortal peril right now, so why don't you entertain me for the duration with some juicy River-gossip?>

Grab rock, throw at center of Discoball, prepare to dodge. Stab with bone as appropriate.

<Oh, boy, where do I begin? It's like the guy has it in for me. Let me give you an example about what I'm talking about. I don't know if you know this, but when it comes to relationships, bond-formers tend to be more for 'free love' than long term relationships. You know, find someone you like, have some fun, ...'get busy' and then each goes their separate way. Especially inorganic ones like the ones involved in the following story.>

You continue to run, but unfortunately for you, there's no suitable piece of rock around. They're all either too large, too small or fused together into pieces you'd have to break apart.

<So when I first met her I naturally made my move the moment I saw her. But he's all like, keeping me away from her, being an aggressive jerk, trying to make me look bad, generally cockblocking me and stuff. And from what I could tell he wasn't even doing her. I mean, hey man, I get it, you like her, but as long as you're not man enough to do anything about it, why not let a brother have a go?>

You once again throw yourself to the ground when you feel it approaching, thrusting your bone in its direction in the hope that it will dissuade it from coming closer. Once again the bone does its job, keeping you safe.

<Not that it really hurt me or anything, it's not like I don't get enough. In fact I may have dodged a bullet there, because it turns out that girl is way higher in the hot/crazy scale than I'm comfortable with. Don't want to end up with some crazy stalker unless she's really worth it, you know.>

You get up and keep running. This time you manage to spot the skull you threw earlier, surprisingly intact despite the fact that it fell on a piece of stone. You change direction and start heading towards it with the intent of picking it up.

<And the hypocrisy! A few hundred years later I heard from a friend that he heard that she's been 'busy'. Like, a lot. With many people. So what, he's fine with her going around with everyone but me? I don't get it. Unless he had a thing for me instead and that's the only way the unsociable geezer can show it. (And before you ask, I'd have no problem with it if he put some effort into actually becoming likeable. Like most inorganics I'm technically genderless. But we spend our time with humans, so...)>

You reach the skull, duck to pick it up and twist around and face the Discoball. It has started dashing towards you again. With less than a second to react, you take aim and do your best throw, falling backwards at the same time in the hopes of avoiding it. Despite the throw being a bit weak, it's aim was pretty good. You don't manage to hit its exact centre but you do manage to make it pass close to it. The buzzing it emits as the skull passes through it approximates a screech. Many of the lines that make it up flicker and disappear. It immediately changes direction, quickly moving away from you. What was once your skull falls to the ground as ash and glowing hot stones.

<And now I see him walking around, holding hands and cuddling with foxgirl number two. If he's supposed to be in some sort of relationship with her, then doesn't that make him a giant cheater? Talk about double standards. I at least never do anything like that. I'll never promise anyone exclusive relationships or eternal love or whatever story he has sold her to get her to come along with him.>

The thing flies higher and starts making wide circles around you, the pitch of its buzzing periodically going higher and then lower. You get back up and watch it carefully, holding your bone tightly in your hands.

< He's like the personification of double standards, always talking about one thing and ending up doing something else. He's always going on about how I should be more careful about my decisions, but I've seen him lashing out, acting on his feelings and making impulsive decisions thousands of times, even though he tries to play it all cool and indifferent. Not to mention that he's a freaking psycho sometimes. I've seen him hurt people because they talked back or didn't follow orders or even because he was hungry. Especially humans. I really think he has something against them. Bloody speciesist. But god forbid I accidentally cause someone some harm, he starts going on and on and on and on about it, he's all like 'oh, no, why did you do that, you didn't need to, that's bad' etcetera, etcetera.>

Then it suddenly breaks pattern. You get ready to dodge again but it doesn't move towards you. You watch as the Discoball flies away and disappears behind some rubble, scattering the Baubles along its path. You keep hearing it for about another minute after that and you think you catch sight of the glow it produces a time or two, but it keeps moving away, a bit slower now.

<Great shot man. You really showed that thing. You got it running like the nose of a kindergartner during wintertime. Looks like it decided you aren't worth the trouble.
Or it's going to get its friends.
Or it's going to get its parents.
Let's hope it's the first one, eh?>

You settle back down to cover and look at what's going on at the crater. It doesn't look like anything's changed. The distortions in the air are still there in the same basic shape, although they look like they've moved a bit. You keep watch, just in case something else decides to make an appearance.

<So, it looks like this will take a while. Anything else you want to talk about before we are hopefully joined by someone else with the capability of speaking?> ((Basically, tell me when you're ready to timeskip and if you want to do anything else during that time.))

((Alternate name for this section: 'Bad mouthing River'))

[Toaster]

"Ow!  Get off me, Iron Man!"

[Harry Baldman]

Campaign, Ike!

<Man, these Discoballs are pretty fast. Other than that, though, they seem pretty reasonable to deal with. As long as there's not more than one, anyway.>

<More on topic, though, River does sound like the sort of guy who you'd describe as 'he's a good guy if you get to know him' when you really mean 'he's an asshole, but you'll get used to him'. More interestingly, though, who's she? I'm not up to speed on all these entity babes. Or, to be honest, any entities at all. I don't think I've been paying nearly enough attention to all this shit. But yeah, got some choice commentary on her?>

Get the dirt on whoever the main man cares to provide dirt on, in short. Though I can perfectly nicely continue gossiping even after that, I assume, so timeskip if it brings over some other living people to mess with.

[Hawk132]

Survival

"'Tis time to spread fear."

Get out of the car and commence impalement of undesirables. Attempt to look extra terrifying during said impaling.

[Alarith]

"Ugh, I guess good things can't last forever, suggestions?"
Carefully work my way out of the car and find an inanimate object to hide behind. Can I rip a sleeve off my shirt to keep the blood out of my eyes?

[Toaster]

((I make you guys a nice car and you smash it just a couple turns in.  Sheesh.  (Though if it's just on its side I imagine Captain Armor can just push it back over on its wheels.  Hell, he could probably just rock it down, though that might flip it the wrong way.))

"I guess we clear the area?"

Still got my gun, right?  Use it!  Otherwise, summon a Molotov and chuck it at the largest concentration.

[Parisbre56]

Survival

((I make you guys a nice car and you smash it just a couple turns in.  Sheesh.  (Though if it's just on its side I imagine Captain Armor can just push it back over on its wheels.  Hell, he could probably just rock it down, though that might flip it the wrong way.))

"I guess we clear the area?"

Still got my gun, right?  Use it!  Otherwise, summon a Molotov and chuck it at the largest concentration.

((Indeed, car is mostly fine. Just lost part of its exterior.))

You get out your handgun, hide behind the car and prepare to fire. The assault rifle wielding man is currently still screaming in pain and cursing due to the loss of his arm from friendly fire, so you focus on the cause of the injury instead: the shotgun wielding man. You take careful aim, hold your breath and the moment you see him leave cover and prepare to fire you put a round through his shoulder. The man gets back into cover and semi-blindly fires at you again but at this distance he can't hit anything. A few seconds later, he makes a run for a nearby shop and smashes through the front window.

Survival

"'Tis time to spread fear."

Get out of the car and commence impalement of undesirables. Attempt to look extra terrifying during said impaling.

You smash through the back window, slowly get up and start walking. Mostly because you're afraid that if you push it too much you'll end up with no legs again, but it also helps with the intimidation. As you do so, you summon a spear so that you can start the impaling.

The men who threw the whelbarrow on your path peek out of the alley they were hiding in, look at you for a second and then start running away.
"Wait! Stop running! I just want to make a point! On your head!"

Oh well, they're gone. It's like luck is conspiring against you to ensure you will never get to thrust your spear into anyone today. I guess you could go stab the injured guy, but that's just not the same. Plus you'd have to walk all the way there, and that would take a while.

Those guys are the worse ambushers ever. No challenge at all. Then again, they probably had to set all this up in a very short time, what with the speed you were going.

"Ugh, I guess good things can't last forever, suggestions?"
Carefully work my way out of the car and find an inanimate object to hide behind. Can I rip a sleeve off my shirt to keep the blood out of my eyes?

You join John in hiding behind the car. You attempt to rip your sleeve but you just can't. All those movies make it look so easy. Or maybe you're just weak. Now that you think about it, it might be easier to just use telekinesis. Or you could even supplement your physical effort with telekinesis. It would be hard to concentrate on doing two things at once, but perhaps the combined strength will overcome the lack of concentration.

Campaign

Campaign, Ike!

<Man, these Discoballs are pretty fast. Other than that, though, they seem pretty reasonable to deal with. As long as there's not more than one, anyway.>

<More on topic, though, River does sound like the sort of guy who you'd describe as 'he's a good guy if you get to know him' when you really mean 'he's an asshole, but you'll get used to him'. More interestingly, though, who's she? I'm not up to speed on all these entity babes. Or, to be honest, any entities at all. I don't think I've been paying nearly enough attention to all this shit. But yeah, got some choice commentary on her?>

Get the dirt on whoever the main man cares to provide dirt on, in short. Though I can perfectly nicely continue gossiping even after that, I assume, so timeskip if it brings over some other living people to mess with.

<Yeah, that seems like a nice way to sum it up. Like a guy I knew used to say: 'It's like being punched in the face so hard and for so long you sometimes start to sort of miss it when it finally stops.'>

<Oh, she's just your good old fashioned power hungry psycho. You know, first time I met her she didn't seem so bad. You know, a bit vain, a bit bossy, things to be expected from the young and powerful, nothing that screamed 'Danger: Stay away!'. But the craziness starts soon after that. If he never chills then she doesn't know what chill is. She's ready to snap at the slightest provocation. And god forbid if you ever disagree with her. Even when she's blatantly wrong! And of course violence is the answer to everything. And not the angry kind of violence the 'oh, you forgot to say hello to me ten years ago so today I'm going to kick your dog, kill your family, burn your house, nuke your planet for good measure and then go for tea like nothing happened' kind of violence. As you'd expect she doesn't have any friends (she says she 'doesn't believe in friends' whatever that means), just people she bosses around or people she lies to trick them into working with her for whatever nefarious purpose. Nowadays I try to stay away from her as much as I can. This entity thing has pushed her crazy into overdrive and inflated her brains to thrice their previous Zeppelin-big-enough-to-lift-Fort-Knox state. She thinks she is the most powerful being in the entire universe (or multiverse, whatever term you want to use), that everyone should bow down to her greatness and other such deranged supervillain clichés. And-...>

<And I just realised that by shovelling all this dirt I may be digging myself into a hole. So I think I'll stop talking on the subject for now and hope he doesn't remember this when he regenerates.>

Time flies as you wait for whatever is going on to finish. You alternate from watching the crater to watching the sun approach the mountains on the horizon, going from orange to red. It's a bit strange though that even though the ambient light is decreased, the light coming from the crater also starts to look dimmer. One would expect the opposite. You also fail to spot any movement either in the city or outside of it.

Finally, as nightfall approaches, the phantom shape extending above the crater disappears and the Baubles begin scattering, although many of them stay in the general area. Everything around looks much darker and silent. Even the wind has stopped.

<We get signal. What!> you hear the voice of your entity a few minutes after that.
You can see the glow of lava coming out of the crater again.
<Main screen turn on.>
You start getting a visual feed from him again. The image itself looks much better, even though occasionally details disappear or things become out of focus. The inside of the crater looks much like the impact site of a meteor, rock molten, fused and metamorphosed by extreme temperature and pressure into a bowl-like shape, with one side being higher than the other due to the mountain's inclination. The lava inside hasn't started cooling and solidifying yet. It hasn't got much viscosity and it is still radiating light and heat which are providing light to the surrounding area.
<It's you!!>
The feed is focused on a small three-tailed fox lying on the ground close to the observer's legs, which are barely visible as dark shapes at the edge of the vision. They both seem to be standing close to the lava, not close enough to be in danger of being burnt but probably close enough they aren't comfortable.
<No, wait! No no->
The feed cuts off. You take this as your queue to hastily make your way there to see what's going on.

Lenglon
You are drowning. In darkness. Alone. You do not react. The darkness is pushing you from everywhere. The cold surrounds you. You do not react. You float limply, letting the currents take you. For a moment you feel the need to act, the need to do something, even though you don't know what that may be. You need to stop this. But the feeling passes a moment later. There is nothing you can do. You failed. Everyone is gone. You can not make things right for them. All you can hope is that someone will come to you. That someone will do something for you. Something to make you live again. You float. Alone. In darkness.

Suddenly the world floods with golden light. It's so bright. It's burning you. But you know it is a chance. It scares you. You hesitate. But you have to take it. You try to fight. You try to open your eyes-

Your vision is blurry. Something is holding you. You try to move, but you can't escape its grip. Its holding your mouth shut, not letting you take all the air you need. It's holding your neck like a noose, ready to dig into your flesh. You feel sick. Your chest is burning.

But then you notice you have a second set of feelings. Eyes and ears you can use but cannot control. You focus on it as your heart-rate starts returning to normal and you stop hyperventilating. A humanoid with the characteristics of a black wolf is holding a three-tailed fox, forcing it to stand still and look at him. The fox looks tiny compared to him.

The moment you stop struggling, he brings his face closer to yours, looks at you straight in the eyes and speaks.
"I will not forget what you did. Not until you cease to be."
There is little emotion in his voice.

He gets up, pushing you a bit harder than needed in the process, causing some pain. He leaves you looking at the points of light floating around above you like burning ashes in the wind in the backdrop of the dark blue dusk sky. He quickly walks towards your second vision. He reaches out towards it with a hand and it ceases to exist.

You still feel dizzy, disoriented, sick. And now that the adrenaline rush has started dying down you also start to feel hungry. Yet you also feel like something is slowly filling you with strength, empowering you.

Harry Baldman
As River walks by you, he pauses and grabs you by the wire around your neck. You notice that he, unlike you and Irene, doesn't have a wire around his neck. In fact, he is completely naked.
<If you care about your entity, you will not speak about it to anyone.
And stop transmitting. I do not need you to attract attention anymore.>
You get the feeling that what he said was only heard by you.
He releases you and continues walking away, disappearing outside of the crater.