Thread #127750

ooc thread >>127752 →



last time: the team arrived in the arapahoe settlement and learned that archie and sam have been captured by an evil dude controlling the beast they saw in lander

now they must save archie and defeat the evil dude

but how?!

"So, you guys down with learning wicked sick magi..."
Thomas pauses.
Thomas then looks down at his hands.
He shakes and then puts his hands to his head.
"GUYS WAIT."
"MAGIC IS REAL?!!!!!"

"You've seen men turned into giant owls, and the return of people who otherwise should be resoundingly dead, and you're getting around to this now?"

"Yeah is all just sort of hit me at once. I have no idea why this didn't register before, but wow this is some seriously groundbreaking important stuff.
Like dang.

A-anyway, uh, you guys wanna learn magic?"

"No, but you do.
And someone needs to come along to make sure you don't get out of your league."

"I expressed disbelief at the proposition that magic existed some time ago, and you among others treated me like some sort of madwoman. And now you choose to have this reaction?"

"Is it really a reaction if you 'choose' to have it?"
Thomas then turns his attention back to Felicity.
"Yeah that's probably a good idea. And wicked sick magic is wicked sick so you're // I am certainly interested."

*"And this bees-knees magic sure is the bees knees, so yes I'm quite interested"

Strikes-the-Blood watches the group of bumbling fools with an amused smile on his face. Sicily, meanwhile, looks completely unamused.

>>127784
"You're confident, sir, that tackling fire with fire is the most reliable way of dealing with this beast of Curtis' then?"

"It is Jeffery's beast. And I do believe that this is the best path for you to take."

"Lack of reliable weapons is a problem for us, so it seems like it might be a wise course of action."

"Then let's do this. But let me be clear; I trust my own body and a gun before any kind of hocus pocus."

Thomas claps his hands lightly and bounds ever so slightly up and down.

StB calls out to George. George enters the building holding a tray with four ceramic cups, each full of a green liquid and steaming. "Tea for your journey," George says, placing the tray down before them. The fourth cup appears to be meant for Sicily but she only eyes the tray with suspicion.

"Gween Tea."

I take one of the cups carefully around the edges, and smell the steam rising off the surface.

It smells as one would expect green tea to smell.

"Works for me, thanks George." Thomas sips the tea carefully as it is steaming and hot and does not want to burn his tongue.

"It's a bit spartan for tea time, but it will do."

I drink the tea.

"No you're from britain not greece."

The tea tastes as one would expect green tea to taste, only perhaps it was allowed to steep a little too long.
"Do you like it?" asks StB, smiling mischievously.

"Oh is this made of somethingl ike that wall meat from last time?"

"Green tea isn't particularly to my tastes." I say as I finish the cup.

#6d6 (2, 2, 6, 1, 4, 4 = 19)

Simultaneously, three natives appear behind the group, having entered the building unnoticed and, reaching around in front of each team member, places a damp rag in to their faces.
The world spins and goes dark.

As the world fades to black Thomas contemplates his life decisions.

The group comes to in the middle of a flat, sandy plain. They seem to be surrounded by mountains, but the mountains are so far away that they can only faintly be seen. A cool breeze blows through. The sky is blue and without a single cloud - judging by the sun, it is probably around noon or 1:00.

"Uh, just as a quick aside friends, if this somehow goes horribly wrong, I apologize, but I don't think I have any regrets."

There does not appear to be any indication of direction anywhere in sight.

I look about my person to see what remains since blacking out.

"Is this sort of thing common in America? This is the second time this sort of thing has happened to us."

Felicity appears to have all of her belongings, as do the others.

"This is not something that happens in my everyday life under most circumstances. Unless I mix up my, uh, chemicals in the wrongest way."

"This is definitely far from the norm. Feels like we should have asked for a risk assessment from Hamlin before starting this job."

"I've never been out in the desert like this." I peer out at the horizon, trying to catch any sight of something out of place.

Thomas has been making sand mounds.

One of the sand mounds smiles at Thomas, though none of the others seem to notice.

"Uh this pile of sand I've been painstakingly putting together is smiling at me. Should I be worried?"

It looks like it wants you to travel north.

"Oh okay cool thanks mound guy. Alright we're going north let's go" Thomas begins heading north

ASsuming he can tell which way is north.
He's got astrology but it's daytime so that's probably moot.
Otherwise he could try to hope he has a compass.

A preparedness check might find you a compass

Thomas is fiddle faddling with his bag
#d6 (1)
Thomas touches something slimy and regrets his life choices.

"Do either of you two conveniently carry a compass? We gotta go north and that's really hard to tell right now unless you want to wait like 8 hours"

"Let me check."
#d6 (3)

Felicity finds no compass, much to her chagrin.

"A compass?"
#d6 (6)

Luckily, VV, being your everyday outdoorsy axe-throwing rich english woman, has a beautiful and clearly expensive compass handy!

VV takes a beautifully etched gold compass out of her bag.
"It was a gift, but I suppose it will work."

the group can now determine direction

>>127878
I give the compass a look that is a cross between consternation and amazement, before turning to Thomas.
"You said you wanted to go north, right?"

"You know it boss. The sand said it was a good idea and I have no reason to think they'd lie to me."

will you go north?

It's as worthwhile as walking any other direction, I guess. Point us away, Miss Vane."

Thomas uses a spare vial to store some of the sand from the mound.

[Vial of Sand obtained]

And thus the team gets ready to head North.

"So we're to head north? I guess that's as good as any direction."

And North they go. Walking and walking, until finally they come upon a river in a dry land.
Across the river, as clear as day, is what appears to be a staircase leading down into the underground.

"Yeah this looks about right."
Thomas descends.

Thomas notices that, despite the stairs descending into the ground, enough light gets in to illuminate the path before him. A moderate number of steps lead down to a very plain looking door.

"Oh, are either of you two hungry?"

"Not hungry enough to eat whatever absurdity you're going to offer. Let's keep going."

"Wow granola isn't absurd."
Thomas observes the door.

It's a very plain door without a handle or knocker. You might not even think it is a door just by looking at it. Seeing it, however, you cannot shake the idea that it has to be a door.

Thomas pushes on the "door"

How much force are you going to push on it with?

Let's find out
#d6 (2)

Thomas gets ready to push on the door
He puts his hands on it and pushes
And falls through it as if it weren't there

That's probably about as much as you would need to open a non-handle push door to a restaurant.

Is Thomas plummeting downwards or does he simply faceplant

yeah thomas dies
rip

actually there are just more stairs

"Oh no."

Oh no does Thomas fall down the stairs

roll athletics to find out

#d6 (5)

Thomas manages to avoid falling down the stairs, much to the surprise of everyone

"Be careful there are fake doors and now stairs."

I cautiously feel the surface of the seemingly door.

Felicity's hands go right through it as if it were not there at all.

"Told you boss."

With far less gusto than Thomas, I carefully step through the door, feeling out for the following steps as I pass through it and down the stairs.

VV waves her hands through the door.
"What's going on with this?" How odd.
She steps through and goes down the stairs.

The second set of stairs after the false-door appear to go down much farther. You cannot see all the way to the end from where you stand, but it is easy to surmise that they may be as many as ten times as long as the first set.

"Oh man, what if we have to go back up these stairs..."

The stairs appear a bit steeper than might be comfortable. Walking down them might make you look silly.

I lean against the wall of the tunnel, using it to keep myself upright as I walk down the stairs.

#d6 (3)
#4d3 (3, 3, 1, 2 = 9)
The stairs begin to shake for a moment
Suddenly, a loud grinding resounds from the stairs and they begin moving downwards as would a down-escalator

Thomas tries to hold himself steady as the not-escalator starts

"This is quite strange."

The moving stairs increase in speed, moving downwards at an incredible rate. The grinding sound becomes a hideous laugh.

Thomas makes a face of mild discomfort and concern.

The hallway goes pitch black, though the team can still feel movement.

feel the movement*

"Oh is this one of those roller coaster things because golly gee this is horrifying."

"There's no earthly way of knowing, which direction we are going." I crouch down and clutch the edge of the stair I'm perched on.

Suddenly, the movement stops completely. The lights are back on.
Birds are chirping loudly now. The team is standing in the grass, surrounded by trees which partially block the sun.

I get up from being crouched, and look around amongst the foliage.

"Alright now how on earth does this work?"

by asking for a stability check!

#d6 (2)

#d6 (4)

"Like no seriously. We went down. This is like taking an elevator up only to end up in a volcano area."

#D6 (5)

"This isn't a very large surprise compared to what we've seen."

It's, it's at least not the River Styx. Pleasant, at least."
My eyes dart about the shadows in between the trees.

Thomas looks around for any magic.

There's a particularly magical-looking birb in a nearby tree. Not only is it abnormally large, but it appears to be a raven with white feathers.

Thomas approaches the tree with the magical birb. "Hello?"

It darts off quickly, flying towards Felicity on a collision course, only to shift up seconds before impact and fly past her head into the trees.

"Oh it knows aerial ace that's cool."

Shrieking, I dive as it shoots towards me, sliding on the grass.
Panting heavily, I glare at the spot it disappeared in.
"Birds are fucking assholes."

"Hey now birb you can't just harass boss like that."

A light shines through the trees in the direction the bird flew.

Thomas goes toward the light.

I stalk towards the light, jaw set in a heavy grimace.

Heading towards the light, the team reaches /// team slowly sees fewer and fewer trees until they finally see no more, emerging from the woods. Before them is a wide, open plain covered in vivid green grass and in the far distance stands a snowcapped mountain.

"So should we take a snakc break or are we heading up that mountain because that sounds like a rough time."

"So now what. Are we going to walk towards the mountain, only to find it not as far off as it appears? Is a giant hole going to appear in the grass and swallow us whole? Is another God-damned bird-" I kick a tuft of grass for emphasis "-gonna spring out of the grass?"

"Is this supposed to have something to do with magic?"

Thomas takes out the vial of sand and consults it.

#d5 (1)
You can hear the sand snoring. It must be sleeping.

Thomas carefully tinks the vial. "Hey bud I just wanted to make sure we're going the right way."

I stride a short ways out into the field and look around.

The sand does not respond.

Felicity sees what appears to be boat, almost like a galley, sailing through the sky above.

"At least it's not a bird" I mutter to myself, as I trail the boat with my eyes, trying to follow where it is going.

>>127999
"If anything, we can go towards the mountain. Might take some time to get there though."

"So, where to now?"

"Boat."

A small, brown, wet, rodent-like creature emerges from the trees behind the team. Were it not for the mass of tentacles covering its face, it might look like a rat.
Its tentacled snout flutters about as it seems to blow air from its mouth rhythmically at the group.

"Hello"

I watch the creature cautiously, one hand resting in my bag.

(Sense Danger #d6 (5))

It looks pretty dangerous.

The creature focuses on Thomas. "Hello traveler!"

Thomas attempts to converse with the spoopy rodent.

"Oh, hello there, mister...?"

It ignores the request for a name. Whether because it doesn't understand that it was being asked or whether or chose not /// wow that sentence
Whether because it doesn't understand the request or because it chose not to answer remains unclear.
"You must be new here, traveler!"

"I am very new here, as are my pals. We're here after agreeing to go and obtain some magic so we can defeat some bad dude that's got our meal ticket/boytoy captive. Do you have any idea which way we should go for that?"

"You're talking to it.

How are you talking to it."

"Sounds like you're in a real pinch!" The creature stands on two legs and rubs its front paws together. "Maybe you could use a guide!"

>>128026
Thomas looks at Felicity. "Yeah, I'm just talking to it like I do you guys, no // what's the matter?"
Thomas returns his attention to the rodent. "A guide would certainly help. Are you saying you'll help?"

Thomas looks back at Felicity and just looks fairly bewildered, but probably accepts that things are just weird like this.

"You're just standing there blowing air. I mean sure it's also just blowing air but apparently that's how you speak octo-rodent."
Taking my eyes briefly off the creature, I look back at where I last saw the boat in the air.

VV looks puzzled.

The boat seems to have passed.
>>128028
"I'd be happy to help!" says the creature, still rubbing its paws together. "I'm not sure I can do it for free, though! Maybe you've got something nice for me in exchange, yeah?"

"I figured that would be the case. What kind of thing do you have in mind?"

"What's in the bag?"

"What isn't in the bag, really. I've got a couple different explosives in different containers, this new sand friend I picked up, some granola, something slimy, a magazine in case I get bored, my wallet, a photo of Archie that he doesn't know about, my overnight jammies, a portable science kit that doesn't work, a peanut butter sandwich I made when I was 7, a journal full of notes from university times, a grapefruit, another grapefruit, mossy grapefruit, a spoon, some water in case we get thirsty, my keys..."

"Keys!" He reaches out his hand eagerly.

Thomas hands over his keys.

The creature happily takes the keys and shoves it into its mouth. "Where you wanna go is deep into those woods you popped out of! You're not the first ones to come through here, so I know where you've got to go!"

"Oh alright, thanks." Thomas turns to the others. "This guy says we go deep into the woods we came out of. Also we're apparently not the first folks to come through here."

The creature climbs into Thomas' bag.

"Oh, please do be careful in there."

"Deep into the woods is incredibly vague. Woods are big."

The white raven sits atop a nearby tree, watching the team.

>>128052
"What are we waiting for!"

"Do you think we should trust that? You have a history of being a poor judge of character."

>>128056
"Well just 'into the woods' is a little vague. Any particular direction?"
Thomas turns to address VV. "I can't entirely deny that but I mean I gave this thing my keys surely he's the kind of being that will uphold a trade."

>>128056
I glare at the raven.

"Oh, he wanted your keys. Quite right then, carry on."

>>128059
"Go straight until you reach some huts!"

Thomas gives the rodent a nod and begins going straight into the woods.
He also hopes that this isn't a terrible decision.

With no particular enthusiasm, I follow Thomas, keeping my eyes on the raven as long as I can see it.

It follows Felicity with its eyes.

the raven does

After a short walk, the huts come into view. Many short people appear to be working outside of the huts, farming. Though they appear to be adults, they are quite short, measuring only three feet tall at the most. They are all built to be fairly muscular and when they smile, their sharp teeth gleam in the light.
"Those are the guys you're looking for!" the creature says.

"I know I'm echoing Miss Vane but what does this have to do with magic."

(Sense Danger for the little folk #d6 (3)

Thomas waves nervously at the small folk.

"Oh, these are like those short people in Africa. Who would have thought they they would have them here, too!"

The small people don't seem to notice Thomas waving.

"I don't suppose you know how to talk to them too, would you?" I ask Thomas.

"It's worth a try if nothing else." Thomas shrugs at Felicity, then approaches the small folk and says "Uh, hello?"

They all turn to Thomas at once and bear their sharp teeth.

"Hmm......"
Sense Danger #d6 (2)
eff

You feel rather safe, but you're also smart enough to know that they things look like they're about to attack you.

I watch the little creatures with care.

Thomas backs up and begins fiddle faddling within his bag, hoping that the little rodent hasn't been ruining everything in there too.

The creature hops out of the bag and climbs partway up a tree. "Why'd you do that! Those guys eat people!"
The insides of the bag have not been altered significantly by the creature.

The tiny people start moving closer.

"Then why did you say to go this way?" Thomas huffs at the rodent.

"I think we should take care, indigenous peoples can be quite dangerous. Do we have the firearms with us?"

"You gotta kill them!" the creature says.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"
Thomas grabs a large explosive from his bag and prepares himself for battoru.
>>128107
Nice.
I'm going to spend 3 athletics on this toss.
#d6+3 (2 + 3 = 5)
phew

"I still have both firearms on hand. You have you axe, Miss Vane?"

you can throw the explosive at them before they attack if you want

"Yes, but I hope that it won't come to violence!"
she says as thomas is throwing explosives at them next to her....

The explosive lands smack dab in the middle of the little people and explodes. The smoke clears, revealing their disfigured corpses... which are piecing themselves back together.

Thomas sighs.
"Alright how do we kill them Roger?"

The creature tilts its head. "Who the fuck is Roger?"

"Don't worry about it. How do we kill these things?"

The little people get back to their feet, intact once more.
>>128114
"They'll die if you destroy their hearts! Their hearts are probably inside their huts!"

"We've got a stinky knee type situation friends." Thomas relays to the others. "Kill their hearts which the little guy says are probably in the huts."
Would an athletics-y or fleeing-y type roll be good to get past them?

"At least it's not trees this time." I say as I take off towards a hut.

>>128117
either is fine
>>128118
#3d6 (3, 1, 1 = 5)
Three of the little people race towards you to block you. One of them is holding a spear.

VV looks at Thomas.
"Wouldn't now be a good time for some sort of bomb you have that might set this village on fire?"

>>128123
"I... uh, maybe? But this might be quicker."
Spending 1 fleeing to dash into a hut if at all possible.
#d6+1 (6 + 1 = 7)

Thomas runs very fast into a hut. Hanging from the ceiling is a small net with three beating hearts inside.

Reaching towards the pygmy ahead of me with the spear, I lunge at the shaft of the spear.
(Scuffling to disarm #d6+2 (5 + 2 = 7))

Thomas pulls down the net and, with the hearts on the ground, stomps on them.
Hearts are hearts so Thomas doesn't imagine they'd be too durable.

Felicity successfully grabs the spear from the little person and knocks all three of those charging at her to the ground.

As Thomas stomps the hearts, they emit a bright green light and scream as their bodies are reduced to ash.

VV watches, bewildered!
How many little people are still assembled out there between her and the village?

Spear in hand, I continue on the way to the hut I was moving towards.

six little people remain

Felicity reaches the hut.

Thomas is going to try and run towards another hut, ideally not the one Felicity just ran towards.
#d6 (3)
I should have spent that point.

>>128148
(Is the layout of the hut similar to the one Thomas was just in?)

Thomas is pretty tuckered out and is taking a while to reach the next hut. A little person with a sword stands between him and the hut.
>>128151
yes

VV sizes up the situation, whether it will be easy for her to get a hut.

It looks pretty easy for VV to reach a hut, provided she can stop the two little people approaching her.

The creature sits in the tree looking amused.

Using the spear I took from the pygmy, I stab the three hearts in the net.

Thomas whips out a smaller explosive from the bag, this time a gassy-blindy-smokescreeny type, and chucks it towards the one remaining fellow in his way.
#d6 (2)
EFF

Thomas sort of drops the smokescreen as he tries to throw it and finds himself unable to see anything. He can hear the feet of the little person running towards him through the smoke.
>>128160
Three of the little people become ash

One of them is one that was approaching VV. VV is only being approached by one now.

"I hate to visit violence upon an indigenous person like this, but I guess there's nothing that can be done."
#d6 (4)
VV approaches and attempts to hit him with her axe.

Thomas, while in the smoke, tries to think quick on his feet and get down into position to trip the tiny fellow.
#d6 (3)
GEH

VV swiftly brings the axe down onto the little person. The little person looks horribly injured for a moment before his body starts to reassemble itself.

>>128178
Thomas trips, falling to the ground. The little person, unaware, runs straight into him and trips!

VV takes the moment she's been afforded to pass into the hut and destroy the heart!

VV finds three hearts in a net in the hut. Destroy them all? y/n

>>128183
Thomas thinks to himself that that wasn't ideal but he'll take what he can get. Thomas attempts to right himself and get back to moving towards the hut // remaining hut (presumably there are 3 in total).
(IF //
oh, well Thomas will still right himself and as he starts moving will take notice of the change in enemy combatants.

>>128189
Of course!

The three remaining little people dissolve into ash.

The creature descends from the tree. "You folks sure did a number on them!"

Thomas dusts himself off. "Yes, we sure did."

"I was rather hoping this would just be some kind of spiritual journey and not involve killing weird little peoples.
There's enough supernatural creatures to deal with while we're awake."

"Yes, I don't think attacking indigenous peoples at the behest of some small monster is the sort of path we should be on."

The creature hops back into Thomas' bag. "I think we're gonna make a great team, friendo!"

"Hopefully. Now where do we go from here, fellow?"
Addressing the party, Thomas says "I wasn't expecting to have to fight these things either. Just tripping out with Strikes-the-Blood would have been nice."

The creature rubs its front paws together as its tentacled face writhes disgustingly.

<======TO===BE===CONTINUED====| i'll be the roundabout