The people in the crowd watch you as you make your way to the stage. Insect buzzing fills the air. The two men who were transformed with masks hover over, one on each side of the crowd.
As you walk, you look into the man's psyche. You scrutinize every square inch of that man's face. Behind that cold, wide smile he seems agitated by something. His left toe keeps tapping, and he is rolling his shoulders like you're taking too long. You've seen him quickly change moods before. You have a feeling that's not likely to be the last. You can't recognize this man's face. Not in books not in stories. He looks just to be about anyone you'd meet on the street or in one of your clinics.
You feel that if you were come close to him he would likely grab you. Possibly just for a handshake but who knows? With mind controlling masks and some you know are unaccounted for (where is that synchronous pile from the in-between supposed to lie?), you don't really have a clue what he's planning, but you know for certain that he is trying to trick you. The game is simple. It is about fear. It's about making you make a mistake. Why else do it in a crowd like this?
He wants a show.
The question in how are you going to give it to him?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Macario takes several measured steps towards the stage, not moving too fast or too slow, trying to appear as though he feels entirely in control. Why shouldn't he feel in control? He'd fought scarier monsters than this man. Then again, the bug people were an unknown factor. It would really be nice if Argos was out here.
He stops, still several paces away from the stage. In range for any spells he might want to cast, but not so close that the man could reach him before he had time to react. Time to put on a show.
He speaks, boldly and confidently, projecting his voice so the whole of the room can hear him. "You say you know me, but I'm not so sure you do, as I've no doubt I would remember someone so...grandiose...as yourself. So, just for clarity's sake, please allow me to introduce myself." Green fire races down his free arm where the shadows had been moments before, and he holds it in the air, his hand glowing like a spectral torch. "I am Macario Aaldas Firnev-Gomez, wielder of shadow and chosen of Sesisah. I have walked the halls of the Azzan Ruins and crossed the lines between realms. I have staved off death, and I have hurried it along. I fear no man." He lowers his hand forwards, until the flame is pointed directly at the stranger on the stage. "So now I'll ask again. Who—are you?"
[[ It probably doesn't matter, but I'd like to go on the record to say that I held back a middle name there. You never give the fey your full name. ]]
((Oh man!!! That really sucks. I hope you feel better!!! man I've asked for so many extensions in college like I was supposed to write my honors thesis over the course of two semesters and still left it for last minute and needed an extra week. no shame in asking for extensions!!!))
((Right now Argos is still in the hallway leading up to the backstage and there is an eerie red glow in front of him. Brodir is still stuck in the other dimension with the white tabaxi. Currently Macario is standing up to the big guy himself who now has a little bug-people army.))
((I'll update this later! kinda wanna draw out this scene because it sounds so epic))
"It looks like it!"They watch as you stuff your face with food and laugh. "Thank you! Summoned it myself." They pierce a guava with their index finger, juice bleeds out of its white flesh, coating the green skin of the fruit in nectar, which the tabaxi has to wipe off on their fur.
"Praying to the god Jormun? Ah the great wrym." They put hand to their mouth and nod, "Bleed from the blood, the meat of the Battle. You know when the world was new there was many of him? A true survivor."The tabaxi takes a bite of the guava, gaining another spot upon their arm. "It wasn't until long until they took them all out. All the abominations. Things that weren't meant to be. Sealed them up... forever."
"I've been so afraid of the future," they lick their lips, "because I thought it was going to be more of the same. But now, it finally isn't." They stand up suddenly, smiling.
brodir swallows "not all of them. there is still jormun, the giant dieties, and heil. and the future is never the same."
((gah sorry I've been tired for no reason and also I might not be able to post tomorrow either. ))
@Brodir
"No?" They scratch the back of their head, suddenly caught off guard from their momentum. "Um, yes." A few of the black spots disappear from their white coat. "But only as parts, not a whole. Speaking of, Jormun, you see, he was adsorbed. He took him. That's why he's so powerful. And he didn't stop there. Others sought refugee with their creators. Some were lucky: Heil and Nóth, the two sides of the same coin. But not all." The spots come back, fully populating their hand and right arm. "And you're right. The future is never the same."
"Now that I have you."
You are beginning to realize that you may have eaten fey food.
@Argos
You examine the red glow.
You walk forward. With each step, you feel a sickening sense that you are being watched. The glow gets more intense, nearly heating up the room. There you find it: the source of the stares. The black masks. They all waft off some sort of purple vapor. Their eye-holes filled with a deep dark red, its contents seeming nearly liquid as it threatens to spill out.
In the middle of it all is a jar made out of clay. There is an inscription on the sides of it but you can't read for it is in Infernal.
Suddenly you hear a "DEAR GODS" from Elias. And soon enough after that you hear the jar break. In front of you now stands what appears to be a hornless goat. Its ears are long and flabby and point downward like a dog. The thing is the way it faces you is from behind. You see its long whip-like tail first and its head... underneath its stomach, connected by its long neck yet rotated 360 degrees. You have never seen the likes of it before.
((ah yeah you were right earlier in the DMs it was Elias who said that dear gods thing. also smart never give the fey your full name.))
The people in the room watch your slow approach with the awe and astonishment of a spectacle. The man on stage turns his head in a way most unnaturally crooked. After you begin he opens his mouth to say something but quickly shuts it. A deep chuckle reverberates around the room with no source other than you guess it was his but disembodied. As soon as you shoot those green flames up, Inra lowers her staff at you. Sparks flare all of a sudden, but the man stop it, signaling her to let go, and she begrudgingly does, setting the stick back up again upward.
Oohs and ahhs can be heard from the crowd as they are mesmerized by your spectral torch of a hand. Though some still try to pull and push on the exit doors, most are in awe of what you are doing. Clearly now, most can see you're not the threat. Though then you say Sesisah and that begins the whispers.
"Me? Alright, you were patient. You deserve an explanation, Señor Firnev-Gomez." The man shrugs."I am the one who sees. I see the end and the future. I see a new beginning. I tell truth as it is; the truth is what people deserve. You may call me Ernesto."
At your defiance, he choose to simply kneel down on stage and shuffles closer, one leg hanging down.
"Man?" he scoffs, "Ah the primal creature. No mind of its own. Running only on instinct and fear. What I seek is liberating all of this. Weak flesh and bone. Only animal. Beholden to the gods that we hold dear."
His voice is soft now, almost like a lullaby, loosing that sense of vitriol it once had in the beginning.
"Now why are you crashing our party? Hmm?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
((gah sorry I've been tired for no reason and also I might not be able to post tomorrow either. ))
@Brodir
"No?" They scratch the back of their head, suddenly caught off guard from their momentum. "Um, yes." A few of the black spots disappear from their white coat. "But only as parts, not a whole. Speaking of, Jormun, you see, he was adsorbed. He took him. That's why he's so powerful. And he didn't stop there. Others sought refugee with their creators. Some were lucky: Heil and Nóth, the two sides of the same coin. But not all." The spots come back, fully populating their hand and right arm. "And you're right. The future is never the same."
"Now that I have you."
You are beginning to realize that you may have eaten fey food.
"ah. it appears i have blundered. i suppose you arent letting me go?"
The tabaxi looks back at you then smiles. "Nope!"They drag out the 'no' then end the 'pah!' with a pop. The start off with a manic laugh that echos and bounces off the room and all chambers. It seems the dark abyss wasn't so big there after all. But then... then you feel it fading. From the corner of your vision, or at least that's the best way you can describe it, you see a vision. You see that elf you saw earlier back in that ballroom but now he's in a dark room. He is facing off with some sort of goat creature. Though you can't see his front you can just tell it's him. Almost like it is in a dream this knowledge is just imparted onto you. The outline of this vision is in neon red, and it crackles at you like a bolt of energy even when you close your eyes.
Then to your 'right' you also see the human too, and he's again in that very same ballroom. There is a faint buzzing sound when you concentrate on that vision. You feel that you might be able to hop on out of here wherever you choose if you have the mind for it.
You leave these visions in the back of your mind for now. You come back in face-to-face with the fey tabaxi. A rapid smile cross their face and they bare their fangs. They are covered entirely in dark spots now, their fur turning from silver white to an intense fiery yellow.
"You're mine now."
Mounds of shadow start to form from beneath the floor.
Another voice whispers to you. The one from the very beginning of this inter-dimensional trip. "This world is yours."
((If you want to try to teleport out to the real dimension give me a Wisdom check! also you can start to shape this dimension to your will is basically what the voice is saying.))
@Argos
The goat brays at you then scuttles closer. It walks backwards with its tail facing forward and its hind legs coming towards. Sure enough it unravels. Its back bends over, facing straight upward with an inverted spine. And its head, like a long snake, twists and turns to face front. It became basically a bipedal goat except for the fact that its body is screaming backwards when its face is saying front.
It blinks.
"State your name and business, stranger!" the goat-monster snorts. It has a bit of a high pitched nasally voice that you wouldn't expect from this type of creature. Its like it slurped helium but also has a rasping cold at the same time.
"My name is Antguard. I am the protector and the guardian of the jar," it answers for itself. It points its hoof at you. "Now who are you?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
The tabaxi looks back at you then smiles. "Nope!"They drag out the 'no' then end the 'pah!' with a pop. The start off with a manic laugh that echos and bounces off the room and all chambers. It seems the dark abyss wasn't so big there after all. But then... then you feel it fading. From the corner of your vision, or at least that's the best way you can describe it, you see a vision. You see that elf you saw earlier back in that ballroom but now he's in a dark room. He is facing off with some sort of goat creature. Though you can't see his front you can just tell it's him. Almost like it is in a dream this knowledge is just imparted onto you. The outline of this vision is in neon red, and it crackles at you like a bolt of energy even when you close your eyes.
Then to your 'right' you also see the human too, and he's again in that very same ballroom. There is a faint buzzing sound when you concentrate on that vision. You feel that you might be able to hop on out of here wherever you choose if you have the mind for it.
You leave these visions in the back of your mind for now. You come back in face-to-face with the fey tabaxi. A rapid smile cross their face and they bare their fangs. They are covered entirely in dark spots now, their fur turning from silver white to an intense fiery yellow.
"You're mine now."
Mounds of shadow start to form from beneath the floor.
Another voice whispers to you. The one from the very beginning of this inter-dimensional trip. "This world is yours."
((If you want to try to teleport out to the real dimension give me a Wisdom check! also you can start to shape this dimension to your will is basically what the voice is saying.))
brodir says "a shame. we could have been freinds. now we are naught but master and slave."
brodir begins transforming his gear into magical items. his hide armor grows white scales, his shield shimmers with protective force, and his trusty javelin crackles with electriity.
"I wouldn't quite call it crashing when one is an honored guest of the host. Inra could speak on this, though it seems she's perhaps not feeling quite herself. Tell me, Sr. Ernesto, what truth is there in compelling another to do one's will?"
As he speaks, Macario's eyes dart around the room, looking for anything he could use, or any backup. Argos, that tabaxi receptionist, even the little tiefling troublemaker whose life he'd already saved twice today (perception21 for all that).
The tabaxi leers. "In another life..." They watch your gear's transformation with that same kind of intrigue. There is a slight twinkle in their eyes.
The boundaries around this world appear to shift and blur. What was once the darkness of the abyss blinks to blue and white then black again. You feel the warmth of that voice again. 'Yes! Yes! Yes! 'It cries. You don't even heard the voice you just know it is there.
'Be strong, my young one.'
The tabaxi just sighs. Shadows turn to blots, like ink on paper. The jiggle and float in midair. Legs and arms form around them. You've never seen the likes of them before but the one to your left gives you an irritating itch. Not a physical one but a mental one. It feels like your brain is one fire.
The other one you can just barely see. Like the world around you it shifts and turns, always doing something. It constantly can not stay still.
"Please just stay with me,"the tabaxi coos.
You get a sudden long rest!
Also 10 temporary HP
@Macario
"Honored guest? Is that what you are?" the man onstage snickers. His legs wave back and forth at the edge. "I would like to call it more 'honorary sacrifice.' Do you really know how hard it was to get you here? Did a little birdie tell you? Anywho-"
Ernesto stands up all of a sudden. "You're worried about Irna?" He goes over to her. With a wave, he caresses her chin-fur. "Aren't you doing just fine, honey?" She blankly nods.
"People... do not know what they want. It takes a leader to show through their ways. I am but the sheep-herder; I gather up my flock. No one truly has free will in this world. Not I - once - not you. You are beholden to mortal things, like food and water. Do you do things for yourself or your brain? It tells you to eat, to drink, to breed, to destroy, to kill. To take from others to make for yourself. Only a collection of instincts in a body watching helpless through something you call a soul. I am here to fix that."
"The truth is with me."
You look around for all your companions. You see the people around you go stiff with either fear or helplessness. A few still try for that exit but to no avail. Neither even the bathroom doors even work. You heard someone pounding from inside.
You check for anything that could be of use here. You don't see much unless you find a use for the chairs and tables and a bowl of punch. The masked bug-people hiss and lunge at those near who so much as dare to flinch. You're sure someone by now would at least tried to fight them. Something tells you that all those white masks the people all around you are wearing makes them somewhat docile. You wonder what else they are capable of.
You don't see Argos. In fact you don't really know quite where he is. The last time you saw him was going to that backstage door but certainly the trip to the stage shouldn't take that long. You catch something in the corner of your eye: that black tail of that receptionist. You peer through past the heads and necks of the crowd to see him at the corner of that very same door. He is leaning against with slight movements, trying to knock on it. His tail curves around the sides of the hinges. He has a nail file clutched in it. For some reason you see wisps of shadows leap off and on him. You recognize this: it's that shadow mastiff. Somehow it has merged with him. At least you think it did.
You don't see that troublesome tiefling anywhere.
@Argos
"Cleric?" the sigbin whispers. "Strange. You do not have 8 legs." It cranes its snake-like head to the side, now hopping on one foot. "Nor do you have claws. Are you tropical?"
"And your name starts with an 'A' just like me. Antguard. Argos. Weird. That is very weird."
It takes a step towards you and looks you all around. Its whip tail crackling like it just struck the floor hard. Sparks even fly from the hard metal that you now see has become the floor.
"Do you like amulets?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
The tabaxi leers. "In another life..." They watch your gear's transformation with that same kind of intrigue. There is a slight twinkle in their eyes.
The boundaries around this world appear to shift and blur. What was once the darkness of the abyss blinks to blue and white then black again. You feel the warmth of that voice again. 'Yes! Yes! Yes! 'It cries. You don't even heard the voice you just know it is there.
'Be strong, my young one.'
The tabaxi just sighs. Shadows turn to blots, like ink on paper. The jiggle and float in midair. Legs and arms form around them. You've never seen the likes of them before but the one to your left gives you an irritating itch. Not a physical one but a mental one. It feels like your brain is one fire.
The other one you can just barely see. Like the world around you it shifts and turns, always doing something. It constantly can not stay still.
"Please just stay with me,"the tabaxi coos.
You get a sudden long rest!
Also 10 temporary HP
brodir attempts to destroy the quickling with his control of the dimension
No backup except for a dog inside of a tabaxi. Typical.Macario takes another step forward, wary of getting to close, but anxious to keep the man's attention until...something...happens. Preferably some sort of miracle. There had to be something to be done with the masks. He needed the people on his side, not docile, and definitely not against him [[ Arcana12 (I'm decent at arcana now!) to discern anything further about the masks? I'm spitballing here, no clue if I should try to fight by myself or just keep talking. ]].
"You know, we haven't met but I do think I might've heard of you before. Or at least someone like you. A human man, angry and alone, desperate to prove something, with enough hubris to defy the gods, even Death herself. He created a monster. Any of this sound familiar?"
You try to control this dimension. It feels like holding onto sand. It flits and slips out of your metaphorical fingers. You feel it. You feel your mind strain to make something tangible.
Hiss.
You hear it come from behind you. You recognize this type of creature. A shadow snake. This time it is the real thing. You feel it attune itself to you. You gained a familiar.
((This is like the find familiar. You have control over it and it does what you say but this time it also can attack. it takes on poisonous snake stats))
@Argos
"It's necessary for all crust-stations." Antguard looks to you with disgust. "Or else you'd just be eating gills."
It throws its hands (hooves?) up in indignation. "Alan?" It circles the pile of dark masks with its arms behind its back. "That's just like my cousin's. I wish he weren't here right now. How'd you get in touch with him?" It stares at your expression for a while before noting something.
"Oh?" the sigbin smiles with warmth at your response on amulets. It eyes your own.
"Well you would look nicely as one." You see that when it speaks it has rows of hundreds of spiny teeth that go all the way down its throat like a leech. Suddenly it lunges out at you. You get shoved to the wall ((Argos's Strength Save: 8 :( )).
You try to get up, but your foot dips into something. Well, more like nothing. Underneath you is just air. You find yourself falling through what seems like a black hole. The sigbin screeches from up above you.
The rush of wind in your hair and the feeling of weightlessness make this fall all the more confusing.
You land on your back on the stage floor.
"Well look who finally came," you hear a voice from above.
@Macario
((ayyy arcana! oh whoops. okay time to-))
You feel that the connection to the masks is somewhere in this vicinity but you're not certain. It's obvious Ernesto is controlling it, but you don't know how. You wonder if you can tap into this energy flow somehow. Divert it perhaps? You're just not sure how.
Ernesto's eyebrow raises when you start the recount the story of the man. Then he folds his arms around his chest with a wicked grin. "Hubris."
"Who told you that? The gods have hubris." He paces around the stage, taking the staff from Irna's hands on his way out.
"He created a monster?"the man guffaws. "I am the monster."
"I do things myself."
Suddenly a hard whack revebrates across the stage. You see the flailing body of an elf that looks oh so familiar. A black hole hovers above him before flickering out. It's Argos.
"Well look who finally came," Ernesto stifles a laugh with a hand to his face. The masked bug-people hiss and begin to encircle you.
((Oh yeah if you want then combat will start? the bug people will fight first before the main guy))
Macario tenses, years of combat training screaming in his mind that being surrounded was not ideal. With a quick glance at Argos, trying to convey a sense of urgency, he dashes towards the bug farthest from the stage, drawing his dagger as he moves, and slides past it, stabbing upward with his dagger on the way past (22 to hit, 5 piercing and 2 necrotic damage). He springs back up to standing, with the bug now between him and the stage as shadows flare around him once more.
[[ I don't remember what weapons (if any?) the bugs had so 2 possible reactions: If they have only ranged weapons I'll save my reaction for a possible opportunity attack against the one next to me, if they look more melee based then I'll use my reaction at the beginning of its turn to do Halo of Spores forcing a DC 13 CON save or it takes another 5 necrotic damage. ]]
@Macario
((ohhhh nice!! ehehehe!))
The people in the crowd watch you as you make your way to the stage. Insect buzzing fills the air. The two men who were transformed with masks hover over, one on each side of the crowd.
As you walk, you look into the man's psyche. You scrutinize every square inch of that man's face. Behind that cold, wide smile he seems agitated by something. His left toe keeps tapping, and he is rolling his shoulders like you're taking too long. You've seen him quickly change moods before. You have a feeling that's not likely to be the last. You can't recognize this man's face. Not in books not in stories. He looks just to be about anyone you'd meet on the street or in one of your clinics.
You feel that if you were come close to him he would likely grab you. Possibly just for a handshake but who knows? With mind controlling masks and some you know are unaccounted for (where is that synchronous pile from the in-between supposed to lie?), you don't really have a clue what he's planning, but you know for certain that he is trying to trick you. The game is simple. It is about fear. It's about making you make a mistake. Why else do it in a crowd like this?
He wants a show.
The question in how are you going to give it to him?
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
Macario takes several measured steps towards the stage, not moving too fast or too slow, trying to appear as though he feels entirely in control. Why shouldn't he feel in control? He'd fought scarier monsters than this man. Then again, the bug people were an unknown factor. It would really be nice if Argos was out here.
He stops, still several paces away from the stage. In range for any spells he might want to cast, but not so close that the man could reach him before he had time to react. Time to put on a show.
He speaks, boldly and confidently, projecting his voice so the whole of the room can hear him. "You say you know me, but I'm not so sure you do, as I've no doubt I would remember someone so...grandiose...as yourself. So, just for clarity's sake, please allow me to introduce myself." Green fire races down his free arm where the shadows had been moments before, and he holds it in the air, his hand glowing like a spectral torch. "I am Macario Aaldas Firnev-Gomez, wielder of shadow and chosen of Sesisah. I have walked the halls of the Azzan Ruins and crossed the lines between realms. I have staved off death, and I have hurried it along. I fear no man." He lowers his hand forwards, until the flame is pointed directly at the stranger on the stage. "So now I'll ask again. Who—are you?"
[[ It probably doesn't matter, but I'd like to go on the record to say that I held back a middle name there. You never give the fey your full name. ]]
//Heya, got sick sick. I also had to do homework while having the sick sick. idk why didn't I ask for an extension- But I think I'm back!//
//What did I miss?//
((Oh man!!! That really sucks. I hope you feel better!!! man I've asked for so many extensions in college like I was supposed to write my honors thesis over the course of two semesters and still left it for last minute and needed an extra week. no shame in asking for extensions!!!))
((Right now Argos is still in the hallway leading up to the backstage and there is an eerie red glow in front of him. Brodir is still stuck in the other dimension with the white tabaxi. Currently Macario is standing up to the big guy himself who now has a little bug-people army.))
((I'll update this later! kinda wanna draw out this scene because it sounds so epic))
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
brodir swallows "not all of them. there is still jormun, the giant dieties, and heil. and the future is never the same."
hi
mourn the flumph. enter the galaxy, join the planetscape! yep. do you like ravenloft?
new thread coming eventually.
bye
(Alright!)
Argos examined the red glow, wondering if that was the deal with the thing behind the stage.
((gah sorry I've been tired for no reason and also I might not be able to post tomorrow either. ))
@Brodir
"No?" They scratch the back of their head, suddenly caught off guard from their momentum. "Um, yes." A few of the black spots disappear from their white coat. "But only as parts, not a whole. Speaking of, Jormun, you see, he was adsorbed. He took him. That's why he's so powerful. And he didn't stop there. Others sought refugee with their creators. Some were lucky: Heil and Nóth, the two sides of the same coin. But not all." The spots come back, fully populating their hand and right arm. "And you're right. The future is never the same."
"Now that I have you."
You are beginning to realize that you may have eaten fey food.
@Argos
You examine the red glow.
You walk forward. With each step, you feel a sickening sense that you are being watched. The glow gets more intense, nearly heating up the room. There you find it: the source of the stares. The black masks. They all waft off some sort of purple vapor. Their eye-holes filled with a deep dark red, its contents seeming nearly liquid as it threatens to spill out.
In the middle of it all is a jar made out of clay. There is an inscription on the sides of it but you can't read for it is in Infernal.
Suddenly you hear a "DEAR GODS" from Elias. And soon enough after that you hear the jar break. In front of you now stands what appears to be a hornless goat. Its ears are long and flabby and point downward like a dog. The thing is the way it faces you is from behind. You see its long whip-like tail first and its head... underneath its stomach, connected by its long neck yet rotated 360 degrees. You have never seen the likes of it before.
((here's the minifig rendering))
@Macario
((ah yeah you were right earlier in the DMs it was Elias who said that dear gods thing. also smart never give the fey your full name.))
The people in the room watch your slow approach with the awe and astonishment of a spectacle. The man on stage turns his head in a way most unnaturally crooked. After you begin he opens his mouth to say something but quickly shuts it. A deep chuckle reverberates around the room with no source other than you guess it was his but disembodied. As soon as you shoot those green flames up, Inra lowers her staff at you. Sparks flare all of a sudden, but the man stop it, signaling her to let go, and she begrudgingly does, setting the stick back up again upward.
Oohs and ahhs can be heard from the crowd as they are mesmerized by your spectral torch of a hand. Though some still try to pull and push on the exit doors, most are in awe of what you are doing. Clearly now, most can see you're not the threat. Though then you say Sesisah and that begins the whispers.
"Me? Alright, you were patient. You deserve an explanation, Señor Firnev-Gomez." The man shrugs."I am the one who sees. I see the end and the future. I see a new beginning. I tell truth as it is; the truth is what people deserve. You may call me Ernesto."
At your defiance, he choose to simply kneel down on stage and shuffles closer, one leg hanging down.
"Man?" he scoffs, "Ah the primal creature. No mind of its own. Running only on instinct and fear. What I seek is liberating all of this. Weak flesh and bone. Only animal. Beholden to the gods that we hold dear."
His voice is soft now, almost like a lullaby, loosing that sense of vitriol it once had in the beginning.
"Now why are you crashing our party? Hmm?"
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
"ah. it appears i have blundered. i suppose you arent letting me go?"
hi
mourn the flumph. enter the galaxy, join the planetscape! yep. do you like ravenloft?
new thread coming eventually.
bye
Argos looked around, and then back at the goat. "After all of the crap we've gone through, this seems normal to me..."
@Brodir
The tabaxi looks back at you then smiles. "Nope!" They drag out the 'no' then end the 'pah!' with a pop. The start off with a manic laugh that echos and bounces off the room and all chambers. It seems the dark abyss wasn't so big there after all. But then... then you feel it fading. From the corner of your vision, or at least that's the best way you can describe it, you see a vision. You see that elf you saw earlier back in that ballroom but now he's in a dark room. He is facing off with some sort of goat creature. Though you can't see his front you can just tell it's him. Almost like it is in a dream this knowledge is just imparted onto you. The outline of this vision is in neon red, and it crackles at you like a bolt of energy even when you close your eyes.
Then to your 'right' you also see the human too, and he's again in that very same ballroom. There is a faint buzzing sound when you concentrate on that vision. You feel that you might be able to hop on out of here wherever you choose if you have the mind for it.
You leave these visions in the back of your mind for now. You come back in face-to-face with the fey tabaxi. A rapid smile cross their face and they bare their fangs. They are covered entirely in dark spots now, their fur turning from silver white to an intense fiery yellow.
"You're mine now."
Mounds of shadow start to form from beneath the floor.
Another voice whispers to you. The one from the very beginning of this inter-dimensional trip. "This world is yours."
((If you want to try to teleport out to the real dimension give me a Wisdom check! also you can start to shape this dimension to your will is basically what the voice is saying.))
@Argos
The goat brays at you then scuttles closer. It walks backwards with its tail facing forward and its hind legs coming towards. Sure enough it unravels. Its back bends over, facing straight upward with an inverted spine. And its head, like a long snake, twists and turns to face front. It became basically a bipedal goat except for the fact that its body is screaming backwards when its face is saying front.
It blinks.
"State your name and business, stranger!" the goat-monster snorts. It has a bit of a high pitched nasally voice that you wouldn't expect from this type of creature. Its like it slurped helium but also has a rasping cold at the same time.
"My name is Antguard. I am the protector and the guardian of the jar," it answers for itself. It points its hoof at you. "Now who are you?"
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
brodir says "a shame. we could have been freinds. now we are naught but master and slave."
brodir begins transforming his gear into magical items. his hide armor grows white scales, his shield shimmers with protective force, and his trusty javelin crackles with electriity.
hi
mourn the flumph. enter the galaxy, join the planetscape! yep. do you like ravenloft?
new thread coming eventually.
bye
"I wouldn't quite call it crashing when one is an honored guest of the host. Inra could speak on this, though it seems she's perhaps not feeling quite herself. Tell me, Sr. Ernesto, what truth is there in compelling another to do one's will?"
As he speaks, Macario's eyes dart around the room, looking for anything he could use, or any backup. Argos, that tabaxi receptionist, even the little tiefling troublemaker whose life he'd already saved twice today (perception 21 for all that).
Argos's eyes widened as he heard its voice.
"Oh... Ermm... Argos, Cleric..."
@Brodir
The tabaxi leers. "In another life..." They watch your gear's transformation with that same kind of intrigue. There is a slight twinkle in their eyes.
The boundaries around this world appear to shift and blur. What was once the darkness of the abyss blinks to blue and white then black again. You feel the warmth of that voice again. 'Yes! Yes! Yes! 'It cries. You don't even heard the voice you just know it is there.
'Be strong, my young one.'
The tabaxi just sighs. Shadows turn to blots, like ink on paper. The jiggle and float in midair. Legs and arms form around them. You've never seen the likes of them before but the one to your left gives you an irritating itch. Not a physical one but a mental one. It feels like your brain is one fire.
The other one you can just barely see. Like the world around you it shifts and turns, always doing something. It constantly can not stay still.
"Please just stay with me," the tabaxi coos.
@Macario
"Honored guest? Is that what you are?" the man onstage snickers. His legs wave back and forth at the edge. "I would like to call it more 'honorary sacrifice.' Do you really know how hard it was to get you here? Did a little birdie tell you? Anywho-"
Ernesto stands up all of a sudden. "You're worried about Irna?" He goes over to her. With a wave, he caresses her chin-fur. "Aren't you doing just fine, honey?" She blankly nods.
"People... do not know what they want. It takes a leader to show through their ways. I am but the sheep-herder; I gather up my flock. No one truly has free will in this world. Not I - once - not you. You are beholden to mortal things, like food and water. Do you do things for yourself or your brain? It tells you to eat, to drink, to breed, to destroy, to kill. To take from others to make for yourself. Only a collection of instincts in a body watching helpless through something you call a soul. I am here to fix that."
"The truth is with me."
You look around for all your companions. You see the people around you go stiff with either fear or helplessness. A few still try for that exit but to no avail. Neither even the bathroom doors even work. You heard someone pounding from inside.
You check for anything that could be of use here. You don't see much unless you find a use for the chairs and tables and a bowl of punch. The masked bug-people hiss and lunge at those near who so much as dare to flinch. You're sure someone by now would at least tried to fight them. Something tells you that all those white masks the people all around you are wearing makes them somewhat docile. You wonder what else they are capable of.
You don't see Argos. In fact you don't really know quite where he is. The last time you saw him was going to that backstage door but certainly the trip to the stage shouldn't take that long. You catch something in the corner of your eye: that black tail of that receptionist. You peer through past the heads and necks of the crowd to see him at the corner of that very same door. He is leaning against with slight movements, trying to knock on it. His tail curves around the sides of the hinges. He has a nail file clutched in it. For some reason you see wisps of shadows leap off and on him. You recognize this: it's that shadow mastiff. Somehow it has merged with him. At least you think it did.
You don't see that troublesome tiefling anywhere.
@Argos
"Cleric?" the sigbin whispers. "Strange. You do not have 8 legs." It cranes its snake-like head to the side, now hopping on one foot. "Nor do you have claws. Are you tropical?"
"And your name starts with an 'A' just like me. Antguard. Argos. Weird. That is very weird."
It takes a step towards you and looks you all around. Its whip tail crackling like it just struck the floor hard. Sparks even fly from the hard metal that you now see has become the floor.
"Do you like amulets?"
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
brodir attempts to destroy the quickling with his control of the dimension
hi
mourn the flumph. enter the galaxy, join the planetscape! yep. do you like ravenloft?
new thread coming eventually.
bye
No backup except for a dog inside of a tabaxi. Typical. Macario takes another step forward, wary of getting to close, but anxious to keep the man's attention until...something...happens. Preferably some sort of miracle. There had to be something to be done with the masks. He needed the people on his side, not docile, and definitely not against him [[ Arcana 12 (I'm decent at arcana now!) to discern anything further about the masks? I'm spitballing here, no clue if I should try to fight by myself or just keep talking. ]].
"You know, we haven't met but I do think I might've heard of you before. Or at least someone like you. A human man, angry and alone, desperate to prove something, with enough hubris to defy the gods, even Death herself. He created a monster. Any of this sound familiar?"
"Why would I need 8 legs or claws hm?" He questioned.
"Loads of names start with A... Like.... Alan?" Argos said, keeping an eye on the contorted goat as it looked at him.
"Amulets? Hmmm yeah... I do. What about it?"
@Brodir
You try to control this dimension. It feels like holding onto sand. It flits and slips out of your metaphorical fingers. You feel it. You feel your mind strain to make something tangible.
Hiss.
You hear it come from behind you. You recognize this type of creature. A shadow snake. This time it is the real thing. You feel it attune itself to you. You gained a familiar.
((This is like the find familiar. You have control over it and it does what you say but this time it also can attack. it takes on poisonous snake stats))
@Argos
"It's necessary for all crust-stations." Antguard looks to you with disgust. "Or else you'd just be eating gills."
It throws its hands (hooves?) up in indignation. "Alan?" It circles the pile of dark masks with its arms behind its back. "That's just like my cousin's. I wish he weren't here right now. How'd you get in touch with him?" It stares at your expression for a while before noting something.
"Oh?" the sigbin smiles with warmth at your response on amulets. It eyes your own.
"Well you would look nicely as one." You see that when it speaks it has rows of hundreds of spiny teeth that go all the way down its throat like a leech. Suddenly it lunges out at you. You get shoved to the wall ((Argos's Strength Save: 8 :( )).
You try to get up, but your foot dips into something. Well, more like nothing. Underneath you is just air. You find yourself falling through what seems like a black hole. The sigbin screeches from up above you.
The rush of wind in your hair and the feeling of weightlessness make this fall all the more confusing.
You land on your back on the stage floor.
"Well look who finally came," you hear a voice from above.
@Macario
((ayyy arcana! oh whoops. okay time to-))
You feel that the connection to the masks is somewhere in this vicinity but you're not certain. It's obvious Ernesto is controlling it, but you don't know how. You wonder if you can tap into this energy flow somehow. Divert it perhaps? You're just not sure how.
Ernesto's eyebrow raises when you start the recount the story of the man. Then he folds his arms around his chest with a wicked grin. "Hubris."
"Who told you that? The gods have hubris." He paces around the stage, taking the staff from Irna's hands on his way out.
"He created a monster?" the man guffaws. "I am the monster."
"I do things myself."
Suddenly a hard whack revebrates across the stage. You see the flailing body of an elf that looks oh so familiar. A black hole hovers above him before flickering out. It's Argos.
"Well look who finally came," Ernesto stifles a laugh with a hand to his face. The masked bug-people hiss and begin to encircle you.
((Oh yeah if you want then combat will start? the bug people will fight first before the main guy))
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
"Crustaceans?" Argos implied. "Is this a fish thing..."
"I was not calling Alan, I was just giving an example, your strange strange creature..."
His eyes then widened. "AS?" Argos barely had time to react before he was shoved against the wall, and then started in a freefall.
"Is this how I'll die?" He wondered as he fell. "Ehhh too probable..." A small smirk forms as he felt the wind.
Well until he makes the impact, of course!
And lookie here! Bug people and Ernesto! What did he do...
Macario tenses, years of combat training screaming in his mind that being surrounded was not ideal. With a quick glance at Argos, trying to convey a sense of urgency, he dashes towards the bug farthest from the stage, drawing his dagger as he moves, and slides past it, stabbing upward with his dagger on the way past (22 to hit, 5 piercing and 2 necrotic damage). He springs back up to standing, with the bug now between him and the stage as shadows flare around him once more.
[[ I don't remember what weapons (if any?) the bugs had so 2 possible reactions: If they have only ranged weapons I'll save my reaction for a possible opportunity attack against the one next to me, if they look more melee based then I'll use my reaction at the beginning of its turn to do Halo of Spores forcing a DC 13 CON save or it takes another 5 necrotic damage. ]]