Nikolai shrugs and signs the paper. "I can always just kill you if I don't like what I see in the next room,"he smiles menacingly at Blinsky, "so I guess we'll just have to trust one another."
Standing at the top of a barrel, at one side of the shop, hearing and looking inside through a partially open small window, Lenn decides that he has heard enough. The creepy summon had picked his curiosity but what he has seen and heard, specially the way that the toymaker spits every time he pronounces the monster's name, has make him made up his mind.
He jumps down the barrel, but this time not even the heavy rain and the conversation inside can mask the noise his armor made when he hit the ground. He walks around the shop, his boots making a metallic sound with each step. The ones inside can only see a tall figure slowly walking towards the door. He stops for a second before opening it and when he does a lighting falls nearby, giving but a glimpse of a tall, muscular figure, with the pommel of a greatsword above his right shoulder.
He enters and closes behind him, leaving the storm outside but bringing some cold with him. Slowly, his gauntlet covered hands raise towards his hood and put it down, revealing a pale human with intense brown, almost red, eyes. His skin is pale and he has the eyes surrounded by deep baggy eyes. He has a scruffy looking beard of some days and his cloak and attire shows sings of had been used for many miles. His hair is white and is kept away his face by a small ponytail. He stands tall, probably 6'2'' and his muscular frame almost occupy the whole door.
He looks around to the motley crew and finally to Blinsky.
"I'll sing it." he says and walks towards the paper turning words into action. "I am Lenn. "he simply says looking at no one in particular.
'Male. But not elf, at least. A little too pale, still... I just hope' she shudders 'he's not a vampire going up against Stradh to eliminate the competition!'
"Hi Lenn" sighs the savage stranger. "I guess I should tell you my name in turn, but you entered already determined to sign without asking anything... so something tells me that you have already heard a lot of things by yourself - including my name and everyone else's. And this is good, because then maybe we can move on to what our host is going to propose to us".
Lucian is still rather wary of signing the document, but he does see Chara's point. Still...what would happen if... no, he likely already knew the answer to that. It wouldn't matter what state of mind one was in. Alright, well, like he said earlier, he has nothing left to lose.
Just as he steps forward, the armor-clad newcomer enters the room and signs. Lucian eyes the stranger, taking in his appearance...he wasn't sure how he felt about this one. Still, if he signed the paper, he must be against Strahd. So, perhaps he could trust him...maybe.
"Hi," he says to Lenn. "I'm Lucian."
He glances at Onika, who still hasn't signed the paper. Hesitating, he wraps his hand around a tarnished pocket watch hanging from a chain around his neck like a medallion. Fingering it for a moment, he lets out a breath before walking over to the parchment. Once there, he hesitates again, wondering what would happen if he 'accidentally' spelled his name wrong...perhaps he could substitute the 'c' for a 'k'?
No, he decides. That wouldn't be the best way to gain trust. After all, this toymaker had signed as well...but did it hold as much risk for him as it did for Lucian? Swallowing, Lucian picked up the quill, holding it slightly tighter then was necessary, and wrote his name...the spelling is correct if not a little difficult to read. Clearly, Lucian has not spent much time writing.
Once finished, he feels slightly sick to his stomach as if he just did something he would regret later, but the feeling goes away after a moment. This was the right thing to do. He needs to do something to overthrow the accursed vampire, and in order to do that he needs a group who he can trust. This was his best option. Turning around, he holds the pen out to Onika, "Uh...are you going to sigh?"
If she doesn't take it, he will set the quill back down beside the parchment, duck his head, and hurry back into his corner.
Chara regards the newcomer. She's not usually one to judge, but she can't help but find this giant of a man a bit off-putting, between his gruff attitude (not to mention the fact that he cut past Onika and Lucian to get at the paper), his unusually pale skin, his sheer massive size... and those eyes. There is no one major thing about him that she can point to, but the many small details that add up to an unsettling whole, nearly human, but just off in several subtle ways. And she quickly realizes that she isn't the only one feeling this way, noticing Eithne's shudder at the sight of this strange man and her less-than-friendly words to him.
Still, she wants to try to give this man the benefit of the doubt. She knows all too well what it's like to be judged a monster for nothing but one's appearance.
"Hello, Lenn," Chara says hesitantly. "I'm Chara... it's... it's good to have you with us."
(Eithne also signed, Aroc... she was the first one to do it! Lol)
("Facepalm", I'm so sorry! I just went back through to find where I missed that. I must have just read over it. ...I'll edit again. Sheesh, I guess I need to get my eyes checked... lol)
(Eithne also signed, Aroc... she was the first one to do it! Lol)
("Facepalm", I'm so sorry! I just went back through to find where I missed that. I must have just read over it. ...I'll edit again. Sheesh, I guess I need to get my eyes checked... lol)
This is a dark campaign... of course it is difficult to see everything 😉
(Eithne also signed, Aroc... she was the first one to do it! Lol)
("Facepalm", I'm so sorry! I just went back through to find where I missed that. I must have just read over it. ...I'll edit again. Sheesh, I guess I need to get my eyes checked... lol)
This is a dark campaign... of course it is difficult to see everything 😉
Wait, I thought elves had darkvision lol
Anyway, Chara is ready to follow Blinsky into the meeting room whenever everyone else is.
Lenn nods to the others telling him their names, acknowledging their words, he only replies muttering some words, more not to interrupt the others and the singing of the document than due to bad manners. When the last of them sign the document he turns to Blinsky.
"It is done. Show us who has the strength and guts to stand against the Master of this land"
(Lol, I'm gonna end the string of quotes but... yeah looks like Lucian's dark vision doesn't transfer over to his player lol. I'll try to roll higher perception going forward...)
After Onika takes the pen, Lucian gives a nervous nod before heading back to his corner. From there, he waits for Blinksy to take them to...wherever it was they were going.
Eithne is still there, with her arms crossed on her chest, waiting for Blinsky to speak.
The voices in her head begin to show signs of impatience...
'Why doesn't he start explaining? He must help us destroy the devil Stradh! ' 'Come on, Eithne! Tell him to hurry up! ' 'Devil Stradh must pay!'
Since the toymaker, unaware of the vast number of voices that are eagerly awaiting, seems to hesitate a little longer (maybe he is checking if they all, really all, signed?), the savage stranger, while continuing to stare at him with her azure eyes, takes out a pomegranate, begins to peel it slowly and extract one by one the blood red beans, to bring them to the mouth.
'I've always loved the pomegranate' recalls the last of the dusk elf maidens. 'Even lately, which seems to me I'm eating more out of habit than out of necessity, tasting the juice-rich beans is still one of the few acts that reminds me of something akin to pleasure. And if I must have the boredom of waiting for a hesitant man to speak, I might as well at least indulge in a little pleasure in the meantime... Not to mention, it's one of the few things that, at times, silences the voices for a while. Maybe it's because they are enjoying the pomegranate with me?'
Blinsky nods at you, takes the parchment, and slips it back into his shirt. "Is good! Is good! Vee are family now, yes? Excellent. Follow me."
You step around the counter and follow Blinsky into the back of the shop. As you do, you see that there is a large circle painted on the floor with arcane symbols carefully drawn around and in it. Several chairs are inside the circle, as well as an oil lamp set on a low table, like a night stand. Beside the lamp, Piccolo, Blinsky's monkey, sits in a chair seemingly built for him.
Blinsky says, "Pick a chair and have a seat. Did you bring your poppet? Good, good!"
Once everyone is settled, he whispers something to the circle and it starts to glow a dull blue. He theatrically puts a vampire puppet of his own on his hand, glancing around to make sure that everyone is watching.
His hand raised, the puppet begins to speak, in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, that has perfect diction, "Hello again. The circle creates an area of silence where humanoid voices cannot speak or be heard. However, these puppets are ensorcelled and designed to project your foremost thoughts. You must be careful with them, as they will occasionally project random or suppressed thoughts, but most of the time, they only project the thoughts you want projected. It's not a humanoid voice, so the sound it makes isn't stopped, but it will not leave this circle. To activate your puppet, please think the words, "Hey Sergei!" and then think what you would like to be heard. Go ahead and try it."
After the minor chaos of everyone trying out their puppets, he resumes.
"I apologize for the emphasis on secrecy, but Strahd (he spits, careful to avoid hitting the circle) has spies everywhere."
"I have lived my whole life in Barovia and, from an early age, I became convinced that if Strahd (spit) ruled through fear, the way to beat him was to encourage joy. So I became a toymaker, spreading joy and fun to all the children of the land. But it was not enough. Many children did not like my toys; Can you believe it? Also, it is hard to feel joy when your life is dependent upon and cruel and uncaring master who is as likely to eat you as look at you. So, I needed more help."
"Well, I have recently gotten a friend. He and I have spent much time talking. We have plans that we believe may well restore joy to the land. Plans that may lead to the toppling of Strahd(spit), but will also, almost certainly, lessen his influence."
"You may wonder why the people of Barovia so rarely rise-up against the devil. My friend has done some experimenting and has discovered that much of the people in the land have no souls. It is as if only a certain number of souls are allowed to exist in this place, but we've somehow overpopulated it. The souls recycle into new bodies as babies are born, but there are many born without a soul at all. They accept a life of sorrow, drudgery, and pain as simply the nature of their existence. They aren't capable of wanting more."
"The first phase of our plan is to find a way to test who does and does not have a soul. The second phase is to ensoul those who are suffering from its lack. The third phase is to gather an army of the newly ensouled to take back the land. The fourth phase is to escape those dark forces that punished us all to live here eternally, thralls to the whims of a mad vampire lord (spit)."
"With that goal in mind, I want to introduce you to my friend, the leader of our group."
Blinsky's hand stops moving. He turns to look at Piccolo. Looking up, the monkey looks at the group gravely. It says, "Hello, my name is Rudolph van Richten. I'm sure that you have many questions. I'll answer what I can."
'The name Sergei doesn't suit you...' thinks Eithne, imagining she is talking to her doll 'I'll call you Vlad instead, okay? Let's try...'
And so the savage stranger thinks the words: 'Hey Vlad!'...
...and Vlad begins to speak in the calm but vaguely threatening tone typical of a vampire: "Well Rudolph, how..."
But suddenyl the doll begins to gibberish incomprehensibly, as if she were trying to say many phrases all at once, which overlap with each other. This goes on for a while, until...
"Shut up, damn it!" finally manages to growl the doll menacingly.
After that, Vlad resumes, as if nothing had happened: "I was saying, Rudolph: yours is an interesting theory. And parts three and four are great, really, they convince me. But it's what comes before that does not convince me at all. How can you say that so many have no soul, if you still can't even tell who has it from who doesn't? Have you had a vision? Or have you heard voices? Can you speak with the souls? And... uh... maybe you even know how to prevent souls from talking? But that apart, even if you were right and you hadn't dreamed it all after a bad hangover... where would you find the souls to give to those who don't have one? Can you create them? Have you discovered some kind of mine of souls? And how are you going to put them in the bodies, anyway? You see, people are usually good at taking souls out of bodies, by happily slaughtering each other, but... insert them? Will you turn the souls into pomegranate seeds so that those in need can swallow one?"
Lucian enters the room with wide eyes. Seeing the circle on the floor, he is rather unsettled...it looks to much like some sort of unholy ritual. Oh well, there's no turning back now. He takes a seat beside either Chara or Eithne, since he's spoken to them more then anyone else.
"Poppet? Oh, this thing?" He pulls out his puppet, again holding it a little awkwardly (and upside-down).
When Blinksy pulls out a puppet of his own and...it...talks, Lucian stares at it in brief confusion before realizing that Blinksy was using it to talk to them. Isn't this a little overboard? ...well, maybe it wasn't, he just hadn't been prepared for...this. Projecting thoughts? And they had to be careful not to project suppressed thoughts? This already sounded difficult.
When Blinksy urges them to try their puppets, Lucian reluctantly turns his over and puts it on his hand. Staring at it intently, he thinks "Hey Sergei?" and then thinks...
"Hello?" says the puppet in a deep (rather intimidating), gravely voice. The sound causes Lucian to flinch, nearly tipping his chair over backwards. Throwing his hands upwards to stop his fall, the puppet flings off his hand and into the air. Upon regaining his balance, the puppet falls into his lap, where he stares at it for a second before looking around in embarrassment.
"Sorry," he says, forgetting that the circle kept his voice from being heard.
Placing the puppet back on his hand, he stares at it again and thinks a little more quietly this time...
"Hello? Good grief this thing...oh..." the puppet says in its throaty voice. As it speaks, it remains slumped over like a marionette without strings. Lucian frowns, wondering if he could change the puppets voice but not knowing how... oh well, it wasn't as if he would have to put up with it for to long right? Shaking his head he looks up at Blinksy. The puppet says, "I think I've got it now..."
He listens quietly as Blinksy's puppet explains the problems they're facing as well as his plan to fix them and destroy Strahd. When the monkey speaks, Lucian's eyes widen again.
Through the doll he says, "Wait...did someone turn you into a monkey? How?"
"And...there's people here who don't have souls? And the souls are here are being recycled? Wait...so my soul might not actually be mine? Or...how do we know if everyone here has a soul? Oh...I suppose that we wouldn't be trying to fight Strahd if we didn't but... Gods above that means I've got the soul of someone who died ages ago? I don't like that at all..." The puppet lifts its head for a moment before slumping over again.
Lucian hesitates, realizing that he had been rambling.
"Oh, sorry. But... how in the world would we be able to give someone a soul? Where would we get souls from? I don't like the idea of taking them from somewhere else... honestly I haven't really considered how souls work until now. I thought everyone was born with one..."
"This plan sounds good and all...but where do we even start? Who else is part of the group?"He tries to think back on how many names there were on the parchment. As he does, he falls silent, deciding he'd better let everyone else ask their questions before he made an even bigger fool out of himself.
Chara picks a chair... preferably between Eithne and Lucian. She's already starting to feel attached to the savage woman and the young elvish man. Not many people can see past her infernal appearance, and even fewer have shown kindness to her within minutes of meeting.
Chara looks at her puppet, not quite sure what to make of it. She sighs and puts the puppet on her hand. "Hey, Surgei!" she thinks.
"Okay, this is weird," the puppet says, as Chara tries it out. "But... I guess now I know why you sent them to us."
Chara is startled when Eithne's puppet starts babbling... the insane word salad that came out of the puppet's mouth giving a clear indicator of what must be going on in the elf woman's head.
"That poor woman," the puppet mutters, before Chara can stop the stray thought from spilling out. "How is she able to keep going with that going on inside her head?"
Chara claps a hand over the puppet's mouth to stop it from letting any other loose thoughts come to the surface. She glances at the elf woman to see if Eithne noticed what the puppet said about her.
Nikolai shrugs and signs the paper. "I can always just kill you if I don't like what I see in the next room," he smiles menacingly at Blinsky, "so I guess we'll just have to trust one another."
Standing at the top of a barrel, at one side of the shop, hearing and looking inside through a partially open small window, Lenn decides that he has heard enough. The creepy summon had picked his curiosity but what he has seen and heard, specially the way that the toymaker spits every time he pronounces the monster's name, has make him made up his mind.
He jumps down the barrel, but this time not even the heavy rain and the conversation inside can mask the noise his armor made when he hit the ground. He walks around the shop, his boots making a metallic sound with each step. The ones inside can only see a tall figure slowly walking towards the door. He stops for a second before opening it and when he does a lighting falls nearby, giving but a glimpse of a tall, muscular figure, with the pommel of a greatsword above his right shoulder.
He enters and closes behind him, leaving the storm outside but bringing some cold with him. Slowly, his gauntlet covered hands raise towards his hood and put it down, revealing a pale human with intense brown, almost red, eyes. His skin is pale and he has the eyes surrounded by deep baggy eyes. He has a scruffy looking beard of some days and his cloak and attire shows sings of had been used for many miles. His hair is white and is kept away his face by a small ponytail. He stands tall, probably 6'2'' and his muscular frame almost occupy the whole door.
He looks around to the motley crew and finally to Blinsky.
"I'll sing it." he says and walks towards the paper turning words into action. "I am Lenn. " he simply says looking at no one in particular.
PbP Character: A few ;)
Eithne's azure eyes examine this newcomer too.
'Male. But not elf, at least. A little too pale, still... I just hope' she shudders 'he's not a vampire going up against Stradh to eliminate the competition!'
"Hi Lenn" sighs the savage stranger. "I guess I should tell you my name in turn, but you entered already determined to sign without asking anything... so something tells me that you have already heard a lot of things by yourself - including my name and everyone else's. And this is good, because then maybe we can move on to what our host is going to propose to us".
Lucian is still rather wary of signing the document, but he does see Chara's point. Still...what would happen if... no, he likely already knew the answer to that. It wouldn't matter what state of mind one was in. Alright, well, like he said earlier, he has nothing left to lose.
Just as he steps forward, the armor-clad newcomer enters the room and signs. Lucian eyes the stranger, taking in his appearance...he wasn't sure how he felt about this one. Still, if he signed the paper, he must be against Strahd. So, perhaps he could trust him...maybe.
"Hi," he says to Lenn. "I'm Lucian."
He glances at Onika, who still hasn't signed the paper. Hesitating, he wraps his hand around a tarnished pocket watch hanging from a chain around his neck like a medallion. Fingering it for a moment, he lets out a breath before walking over to the parchment. Once there, he hesitates again, wondering what would happen if he 'accidentally' spelled his name wrong...perhaps he could substitute the 'c' for a 'k'?
No, he decides. That wouldn't be the best way to gain trust. After all, this toymaker had signed as well...but did it hold as much risk for him as it did for Lucian? Swallowing, Lucian picked up the quill, holding it slightly tighter then was necessary, and wrote his name...the spelling is correct if not a little difficult to read. Clearly, Lucian has not spent much time writing.
Once finished, he feels slightly sick to his stomach as if he just did something he would regret later, but the feeling goes away after a moment. This was the right thing to do. He needs to do something to overthrow the accursed vampire, and in order to do that he needs a group who he can trust. This was his best option. Turning around, he holds the pen out to Onika, "Uh...are you going to sigh?"
If she doesn't take it, he will set the quill back down beside the parchment, duck his head, and hurry back into his corner.
(Edit: Hopefully its right this time lol)
Chara regards the newcomer. She's not usually one to judge, but she can't help but find this giant of a man a bit off-putting, between his gruff attitude (not to mention the fact that he cut past Onika and Lucian to get at the paper), his unusually pale skin, his sheer massive size... and those eyes. There is no one major thing about him that she can point to, but the many small details that add up to an unsettling whole, nearly human, but just off in several subtle ways. And she quickly realizes that she isn't the only one feeling this way, noticing Eithne's shudder at the sight of this strange man and her less-than-friendly words to him.
Still, she wants to try to give this man the benefit of the doubt. She knows all too well what it's like to be judged a monster for nothing but one's appearance.
"Hello, Lenn," Chara says hesitantly. "I'm Chara... it's... it's good to have you with us."
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
(Nikolai actually did sign in post #41)
(Ah, sorry. I didn't see that post... I'll edit to compensate)
(Eithne also signed, Aroc... she was the first one to do it! Lol)
("Facepalm", I'm so sorry! I just went back through to find where I missed that. I must have just read over it. ...I'll edit again. Sheesh, I guess I need to get my eyes checked... lol)
Onika takes the pen when Lucian offers it. She mutters some thanks and signs her name in surprisingly practiced cursive.
This is a dark campaign... of course it is difficult to see everything 😉
Wait, I thought elves had darkvision lol
Anyway, Chara is ready to follow Blinsky into the meeting room whenever everyone else is.
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
Lenn nods to the others telling him their names, acknowledging their words, he only replies muttering some words, more not to interrupt the others and the singing of the document than due to bad manners. When the last of them sign the document he turns to Blinsky.
"It is done. Show us who has the strength and guts to stand against the Master of this land"
PbP Character: A few ;)
(Lol, I'm gonna end the string of quotes but... yeah looks like Lucian's dark vision doesn't transfer over to his player lol. I'll try to roll higher perception going forward...)
After Onika takes the pen, Lucian gives a nervous nod before heading back to his corner. From there, he waits for Blinksy to take them to...wherever it was they were going.
Eithne is still there, with her arms crossed on her chest, waiting for Blinsky to speak.
The voices in her head begin to show signs of impatience...
'Why doesn't he start explaining? He must help us destroy the devil Stradh! '
'Come on, Eithne! Tell him to hurry up! '
'Devil Stradh must pay!'
Since the toymaker, unaware of the vast number of voices that are eagerly awaiting, seems to hesitate a little longer (maybe he is checking if they all, really all, signed?), the savage stranger, while continuing to stare at him with her azure eyes, takes out a pomegranate, begins to peel it slowly and extract one by one the blood red beans, to bring them to the mouth.
'I've always loved the pomegranate' recalls the last of the dusk elf maidens. 'Even lately, which seems to me I'm eating more out of habit than out of necessity, tasting the juice-rich beans is still one of the few acts that reminds me of something akin to pleasure. And if I must have the boredom of waiting for a hesitant man to speak, I might as well at least indulge in a little pleasure in the meantime... Not to mention, it's one of the few things that, at times, silences the voices for a while. Maybe it's because they are enjoying the pomegranate with me?'
Blinsky nods at you, takes the parchment, and slips it back into his shirt. "Is good! Is good! Vee are family now, yes? Excellent. Follow me."
You step around the counter and follow Blinsky into the back of the shop. As you do, you see that there is a large circle painted on the floor with arcane symbols carefully drawn around and in it. Several chairs are inside the circle, as well as an oil lamp set on a low table, like a night stand. Beside the lamp, Piccolo, Blinsky's monkey, sits in a chair seemingly built for him.
Blinsky says, "Pick a chair and have a seat. Did you bring your poppet? Good, good!"
Once everyone is settled, he whispers something to the circle and it starts to glow a dull blue. He theatrically puts a vampire puppet of his own on his hand, glancing around to make sure that everyone is watching.
His hand raised, the puppet begins to speak, in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, that has perfect diction, "Hello again. The circle creates an area of silence where humanoid voices cannot speak or be heard. However, these puppets are ensorcelled and designed to project your foremost thoughts. You must be careful with them, as they will occasionally project random or suppressed thoughts, but most of the time, they only project the thoughts you want projected. It's not a humanoid voice, so the sound it makes isn't stopped, but it will not leave this circle. To activate your puppet, please think the words, "Hey Sergei!" and then think what you would like to be heard. Go ahead and try it."
After the minor chaos of everyone trying out their puppets, he resumes.
"I apologize for the emphasis on secrecy, but Strahd (he spits, careful to avoid hitting the circle) has spies everywhere."
"I have lived my whole life in Barovia and, from an early age, I became convinced that if Strahd (spit) ruled through fear, the way to beat him was to encourage joy. So I became a toymaker, spreading joy and fun to all the children of the land. But it was not enough. Many children did not like my toys; Can you believe it? Also, it is hard to feel joy when your life is dependent upon and cruel and uncaring master who is as likely to eat you as look at you. So, I needed more help."
"Well, I have recently gotten a friend. He and I have spent much time talking. We have plans that we believe may well restore joy to the land. Plans that may lead to the toppling of Strahd(spit), but will also, almost certainly, lessen his influence."
"You may wonder why the people of Barovia so rarely rise-up against the devil. My friend has done some experimenting and has discovered that much of the people in the land have no souls. It is as if only a certain number of souls are allowed to exist in this place, but we've somehow overpopulated it. The souls recycle into new bodies as babies are born, but there are many born without a soul at all. They accept a life of sorrow, drudgery, and pain as simply the nature of their existence. They aren't capable of wanting more."
"The first phase of our plan is to find a way to test who does and does not have a soul. The second phase is to ensoul those who are suffering from its lack. The third phase is to gather an army of the newly ensouled to take back the land. The fourth phase is to escape those dark forces that punished us all to live here eternally, thralls to the whims of a mad vampire lord (spit)."
"With that goal in mind, I want to introduce you to my friend, the leader of our group."
Blinsky's hand stops moving. He turns to look at Piccolo. Looking up, the monkey looks at the group gravely. It says, "Hello, my name is Rudolph van Richten. I'm sure that you have many questions. I'll answer what I can."
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
'The name Sergei doesn't suit you...' thinks Eithne, imagining she is talking to her doll 'I'll call you Vlad instead, okay? Let's try...'
And so the savage stranger thinks the words: 'Hey Vlad!'...
...and Vlad begins to speak in the calm but vaguely threatening tone typical of a vampire: "Well Rudolph, how..."
But suddenyl the doll begins to gibberish incomprehensibly, as if she were trying to say many phrases all at once, which overlap with each other. This goes on for a while, until...
"Shut up, damn it!" finally manages to growl the doll menacingly.
After that, Vlad resumes, as if nothing had happened: "I was saying, Rudolph: yours is an interesting theory. And parts three and four are great, really, they convince me. But it's what comes before that does not convince me at all. How can you say that so many have no soul, if you still can't even tell who has it from who doesn't? Have you had a vision? Or have you heard voices? Can you speak with the souls? And... uh... maybe you even know how to prevent souls from talking? But that apart, even if you were right and you hadn't dreamed it all after a bad hangover... where would you find the souls to give to those who don't have one? Can you create them? Have you discovered some kind of mine of souls? And how are you going to put them in the bodies, anyway? You see, people are usually good at taking souls out of bodies, by happily slaughtering each other, but... insert them? Will you turn the souls into pomegranate seeds so that those in need can swallow one?"
Lucian enters the room with wide eyes. Seeing the circle on the floor, he is rather unsettled...it looks to much like some sort of unholy ritual. Oh well, there's no turning back now. He takes a seat beside either Chara or Eithne, since he's spoken to them more then anyone else.
"Poppet? Oh, this thing?" He pulls out his puppet, again holding it a little awkwardly (and upside-down).
When Blinksy pulls out a puppet of his own and...it...talks, Lucian stares at it in brief confusion before realizing that Blinksy was using it to talk to them. Isn't this a little overboard? ...well, maybe it wasn't, he just hadn't been prepared for...this. Projecting thoughts? And they had to be careful not to project suppressed thoughts? This already sounded difficult.
When Blinksy urges them to try their puppets, Lucian reluctantly turns his over and puts it on his hand. Staring at it intently, he thinks "Hey Sergei?" and then thinks...
"Hello?" says the puppet in a deep (rather intimidating), gravely voice. The sound causes Lucian to flinch, nearly tipping his chair over backwards. Throwing his hands upwards to stop his fall, the puppet flings off his hand and into the air. Upon regaining his balance, the puppet falls into his lap, where he stares at it for a second before looking around in embarrassment.
"Sorry," he says, forgetting that the circle kept his voice from being heard.
Placing the puppet back on his hand, he stares at it again and thinks a little more quietly this time...
"Hello? Good grief this thing...oh..." the puppet says in its throaty voice. As it speaks, it remains slumped over like a marionette without strings. Lucian frowns, wondering if he could change the puppets voice but not knowing how... oh well, it wasn't as if he would have to put up with it for to long right? Shaking his head he looks up at Blinksy. The puppet says, "I think I've got it now..."
He listens quietly as Blinksy's puppet explains the problems they're facing as well as his plan to fix them and destroy Strahd. When the monkey speaks, Lucian's eyes widen again.
Through the doll he says, "Wait...did someone turn you into a monkey? How?"
"And...there's people here who don't have souls? And the souls are here are being recycled? Wait...so my soul might not actually be mine? Or...how do we know if everyone here has a soul? Oh...I suppose that we wouldn't be trying to fight Strahd if we didn't but... Gods above that means I've got the soul of someone who died ages ago? I don't like that at all..." The puppet lifts its head for a moment before slumping over again.
Lucian hesitates, realizing that he had been rambling.
"Oh, sorry. But... how in the world would we be able to give someone a soul? Where would we get souls from? I don't like the idea of taking them from somewhere else... honestly I haven't really considered how souls work until now. I thought everyone was born with one..."
"This plan sounds good and all...but where do we even start? Who else is part of the group?" He tries to think back on how many names there were on the parchment. As he does, he falls silent, deciding he'd better let everyone else ask their questions before he made an even bigger fool out of himself.
(I knew I should have reloaded my page before writing my post lol)
As Eithne gives her opinion about the souls, Lucian nods in agreement. This was his biggest question as well...
Chara picks a chair... preferably between Eithne and Lucian. She's already starting to feel attached to the savage woman and the young elvish man. Not many people can see past her infernal appearance, and even fewer have shown kindness to her within minutes of meeting.
Chara looks at her puppet, not quite sure what to make of it. She sighs and puts the puppet on her hand. "Hey, Surgei!" she thinks.
"Okay, this is weird," the puppet says, as Chara tries it out. "But... I guess now I know why you sent them to us."
Chara is startled when Eithne's puppet starts babbling... the insane word salad that came out of the puppet's mouth giving a clear indicator of what must be going on in the elf woman's head.
"That poor woman," the puppet mutters, before Chara can stop the stray thought from spilling out. "How is she able to keep going with that going on inside her head?"
Chara claps a hand over the puppet's mouth to stop it from letting any other loose thoughts come to the surface. She glances at the elf woman to see if Eithne noticed what the puppet said about her.
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