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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Jan 30, 2016 11:39:09 GMT
I nod at Kotone's remark, not really having noticed Sara had moved on ahead. "Good plan. I'll lead. I'm reasonably sure I won't trip over any constructs." I smirk slightly before jogging up to and past Sara. "Best if I take the lead, kid. My arms aren't full of bat at the moment, for one." I walk past her, taking the lead while looking out for any traps, creatures and items of interest. Perception Check: fqBOBBoo3d6 3d6
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Post by haybalebarn on Feb 2, 2016 6:42:22 GMT
As the four of you walk forward, with your willing and unwilling pokemon companions, you find yourself wandering once more through unremarkable hallways. This continues on for several minutes, until you round the corner and discover and small, well lit room infront of you. The room is unremarkable, except for two features. In the center of the room there appears to be something similar to a stone altar, in pristine condition, almost as if it was placed there only a second before. Beyond it is a giant, grotesque, stone head, mouth wide open, and a passageway through the mouth.
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Post by Bowyer on Feb 2, 2016 12:10:00 GMT
Brinn keeps pace at the rear, keeping silent as she holds in her frustration. An outburst wouldn't help them escape. She's still in thought when the others come to a halt as they enter a bright room. "Why are we..." she demands before petering out. Bright except for the dark statue that took the place of the opposite passageway. She tries to get a grip over the sudden shock mingled with fear. It was a good thing she had remained at the back or the others might have noticed her distress. It was only a statue, a carving. She finds her voice though it shakes for just a moment, "There seems no other way forward than the gullet of a demon." An odd statement of fact. "Unless the altar holds some secrets."Brinn strives to shake off her fear and goes to investigate the demon. She steps around the others and strides purposefully towards it but stops just short of entering the passageway. She looks the carving over and then prods it with the sword. More to reassure herself but perchance Fate would smile upon her. Looking at a big demon doorDaV1YVBy2d6 2d6
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 2, 2016 17:04:04 GMT
I merely raise an eyebrow at the demonic gateway. Real subtle there, jackass. "Yeah, not really keen on walking through a demon's mouth 'less I can help it, really. And oh boy, altars in front of demonic faces! How fun!" Sarcastic quips don't even begin to cover the amount of BS we have to suffer through. Seriously, it's as if some wackjob DM designed this place and decided to outfit it with as much clichés as he could. "You might be right, yeah. The only thing here, any way." I move over to the altar, carefully observing it in both normal sight and with my Arcane Eye. Perception: SyKwHcKd3d6 Occult Education: 4d6 3d6·4d6
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Post by carnackiArdent on Feb 2, 2016 17:34:14 GMT
"Perhaps there's something under the altar?" Kotone doesn't really have any clue - she just thinks this whole thing is ridiculous. Still, the masked woman's already inspecting the big demon mouth and Kotone wouldn't even know where to start on that, so she decides to try something she's less likely to screw up immediately (walking into the Golett was more than a little embarrassing). She circles around the altar, inspecting the floor around it for signs that the altar might slide to one side or swing up. Then she sets her injured Zubat down gently and starts to try pushing or lifting the altar, putting her not-insignificant strength against the heavy stone. Perception - are there tracks or hinges, or anything that might indicate the altar can move? GDwI|iMV2d6 Athletics - trying to move the altar. 3d6 2d6·3d6
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Post by Revimpx on Feb 2, 2016 17:41:17 GMT
Sara watches this all unfold in front of her, tilting her head as a certain term is passed around. "Demon? Whats a Demon?" she questions the others. Whatever the thing was in front of her, it was unworldly to her, who knows about this place anymore. She decides to try something odd, in the odd world, and reaches out to the gate with her mind, poking it for anything she can connect to. Sara believes its a living thing, and tries to read its mind, which probably isn't possible but it might leave psychic residue for Anthony to find. Sara's light grip tightens slightly as holds onto the Zubat, frightened by the immense gate.
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Post by haybalebarn on Feb 2, 2016 22:44:06 GMT
Brinn, as you walk forward and examine the demon's mouth, a sharp wind blows out at you, chilling you to the bone. As far as you can tell, the mouth is a simple doorway, and it doesn't appear to have any moving parts. The only peculiar thing about it is the fact that all light which enters it immediately stops, leaving a curtain of darkness hanging directly inside the entrance. Sara, you find no mind to read in it.
Kotone, you don't immediately notice anything moveable about the altar, but you try to move it anyways. As far as you can tell, it's just a plain stone table, right? Anthony's normal sight tells him the same thing. The altar is completely generic and unimpressive, not particularly decorated with any symbols. As you shift over to your occult sight though, enchanting magic radiates from it, but before you have a chance to warn Kotone, Kotone begins pushing against the thing. Kotone, as your hands touch the altar, you push as hard as you can, but nothing happens. But then, as you try to pull away from the altar, you find yourself unable to, your hands stuck to the stone surface by some sort of cold energy. Anthony, being familiar with enchantments, you can immediately tell what this one does. When two people touch the altar, it will switch the binding curses upon them, giving them the others item. Oh, and it locks the first item in as soon as someone touches it. As far as you can tell, both those effects will fade once the enchantment switching activates.
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 15:46:22 GMT
I realize what the altar is and does just as Kotone touches it. "Kotone, wait!" I try to warn her, but it's to late. Her hands are already stuck. "Dammit. That altar will switch the binding curses on the weapons. Basically, it will switch the weapon of the two people that are touching it, but it will only work once, so we need to consider it. As there's no way in hell I'm using something that... corrupting, it basically comes down to who of you two want the shadowy blades of doom?" I turn to the two as of yet unbound people. "Actually, scratch that, Sara's still holding my gun. Mask, would you like to switch your toy sword for some proper, if shadowy ones?"
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Post by carnackiArdent on Feb 3, 2016 16:45:22 GMT
Kotone winces quietly when she feels the sudden shock of cold run up her arms as she tries to pull away - and then her eyes widen as she realizes she can't. She's frightened for a moment, but as Anthony explains what the altar is intended to do, the fear gives way to irritation and embarrassment. This is the second trap she's managed to stumble into. And while this might be good, if it lets her get rid of the rage pushing at the edges of her mind, it's only at the cost of shoving it off onto someone else, and she's not really wild about that, either.
Then something else occurs to her and fully distracts her from her situation for a moment. "Wait, how do you know what this thing does?" After all, she has no idea Anthony can analyze magic - she doesn't even know magic exists.
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 17:29:12 GMT
I sigh and rub my face at Kotone's question. "How am I gonna explain this? Where I'm from, magic exists. No time to explain how iit functions, but I'll just say that I have the rare natural talent to see magic, enchantments, wards and such, and I can study magic patterns like the one that's on that altar to see what the magic does, how it functions. Got it?" I really hope she does, cause dammit, I don't want to get lecturing at the moment.
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Post by Bowyer on Feb 3, 2016 19:12:02 GMT
Truly it was stone. Brinn is still unnerved by the unnatural darkness at the arch but it wasn't going to jump out and attack them. She didn't quite dare to cross the threshold. There was still the altar to look at.
Anthony's shout causes her to spin around sword at the ready. Where they under attack again? No, it seemed as though Kotone had run into a enchanting snare. The woman certainly seemed unlucky. Anthony's explanation of the trap leads her to take a second look at the altar but it was still looked the same as before barring Kotone looking a bit irked to be stuck to it.
The explanation on magic is a... brief one but could it be true? The answer seemed obvious. Brinn had no idea how she'd gotten here and she couldn't drop this stupid sword. Magic would seem the only explanation. "Are you certain that we won't come to harm?" She is cautious. One curse seems as good as any other and it seemed there was no other way to free Kotone.
"Wait..." Anthony's remark hit something. Mask? "Do you truly not know who I am?" She looks around at the blank faces in confusion. Her infamy had always preceded her before. How far had she been taken to? "I am Brinn..." She hesitates a moment, thinking to say more but bites back the word. They had only given a first name after all. Her secret could lie for the moment.
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 19:21:24 GMT
"None at all, as far as I can see. Well... Beyond the fact that Kotone's weapon is rather... cursed, but technically, all of our weapons are. Hers is just ... the most obvious."
I blink for a moment as the maske- Brinn mentions her actual name. "How are we supposed to know your name, lady? Not exactly like we're from around the same place, right? If you were from where I'm from, my name would likely have rung a bell or two."
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Post by carnackiArdent on Feb 3, 2016 19:23:21 GMT
"Magic. Really." Kotone looks at Anthony flatly. "That's the best you can do? The rock is magic, which, you know, isn't real, and you're conveniently the only person here who can see magic, so you're the only person who can tell us what it does besides stick me to it. Oh, yes, that's very likely."
She shakes her head. "Much more likely than, oh, you working for the people who trapped us here, and knowing what it does ahead of time. Want to try another obvious lie or are you going to stick with that one?"
She ignores Brinn finally introducing herself for the moment. Funny how she's suddenly much more suspicious of the ordinary guy than of the woman in the mask.
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 19:44:00 GMT
I stare blankly at Kotone for a few moment, processing what she just said. Then I breath in and out a few time, barely constraining the anger that's bubbling up again. Goddammit, this place is bad for my blood pressure. I speak with tranquil fury. "You serious? Do you really think I'm working with this jackass? Why in the Nine Hells would that be the most logical explanation? I don't know if you noticed, but I'm trapped here too, lady, and have had to endure just as much bullshit as you guys. Hell yes I'm staying with magic, cause that's what's f**king happening. How else would you explain any of the bullshit that's been happening? Like these weapons for instance. Don't know if it was normal wherever you're from to have swords that enveloped you with a shadowy aura, or a hammer that shoots lighting, but I can ascertain you that it wasn't science that achieved any of those things! It! Was! Magic! I don't f**king care whether or not there was any magic where you're from, there was where I was and clearly there's magic here as well!" It seems that somewhere along my tranquil fury rant I had began shouting. Welp, so much for tranquil fury, I guess.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Feb 3, 2016 19:57:04 GMT
"Well, forgive me if I'm not exactly up on modern scientific techniques," Kotone replies icily. "AceLife seems to be able to make people who can move things with their minds or get into people's heads without any problems, and Hive Co managed to make someone who could shoot fire. And me. So I don't see why the shadowy swords or the lightning hammer are any more impossible." "Without any problems" makes it very clear that Kotone's never exactly had a real conversation with a telepath, but that's rather beside the point.
"And as for you being trapped here, too, do you really think they don't do things like that? The sort of person who puts shock collars on people and throws them into a dungeon for a sadistic game is perfectly capable of putting a spy in the group. It's the sort of thing the megacorps do all the time, playing with people." She glares at Anthony, challenging him, "If you want to prove the altar does what you say it does, why don't you touch it?"
This is probably the longest speech Kotone's made in months, as little time as she's been spending talking to people since she was operated on. She's breathing hard at the end of it, her cheeks flushed angrily.
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 20:13:17 GMT
I snap. "I JUST SAID WHY NOT! I DON'T WANT TO BE SADDLED WITH A F**KING CORRUPTED WEAPON!" I pant, anger still boiling. "We aren't from the same world. We did not function according to the same rules. I have no idea what AceLife is, or Hive Co. All I know is that you're stuck, and if you refuse to listen to me, I will just leave you behind. We're in this together, and if we start distrusting each other already, we might as well start an all out brawl, cause that's the only way that would end. Really, who's to say that you aren't spying for the jackass that put us here?" I glare at the woman, fingers twitching around the handle of my hammer. I really should get my anger more under control...
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Post by carnackiArdent on Feb 3, 2016 20:49:31 GMT
"Because as far as I know, the people who put us here are the same ones who turned me into a monster." She sneers at him, her own hands flexing against the altar. They'd be curling into fists if she could pull her palms back enough.
On the other hand... he's awfully eager to avoid a fight for the one whose hands are free. He couldn't possibly be that scared of her. Maybe he really does want the group to hold together. Kotone isn't used to people having good intentions towards her - it's been so long since anyone did, at least whose ability to help extended beyond a meal and a place to lie low for the night. Working together has gotten to be kind of an unfamiliar concept.
And she supposes he really is right about the different rules, unless Sara's somehow managed to be in on it, too - she's awfully insistent about the Pokémon thing. She breathes out hard. "... Oh, what the hell. If you think this is going to work, it's not like I have any ideas. If you're working for them, I will take you down, but I can't do that stuck to this thing."
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Post by Harbringer of Insanity on Feb 3, 2016 20:54:04 GMT
I nod at Kotone's concession. "Good. Same here." I gesture for Brinn to walk over to the altar. "Just touch it and your weapons should be switchd. I have no idea how they will be switched, but it shouldn't be too violent."
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Post by Revimpx on Feb 3, 2016 21:20:07 GMT
Sara sits in the corner, crying softly through all the yelling, the others were getting aggressive with each other and she didn't want to get involved. She didn't know what was going on in the world and the others arguing didn't help at all, she thought they had to work together, and it was clear that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. She didn't know what to do.
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Post by Bowyer on Feb 4, 2016 0:01:51 GMT
Other worlds? It was a difficult explanation for Brinn to grasp. It didn't help that Anthony and Kotone were yelling at each other over who might be a spy. Magic and Science. Demons and Megacorps, whatever they were. It's hard to draw a line on which to believe. If their worlds were different, what did that say about this one and Brinn's own? She wanted to deny it but there wasn't any good explanation to the contrary. Plus any further shouting was likely to upset Sara further.
The pair finally manage to settle down and Brinn comes to a decision. It isn't one that sits well with her though. "Fine. I'll touch the altar if only to get you two to stop arguing. I don't know anything about your magic or 'Megacorps' but we're still in this place. We can't change that with words," she speaks tersely and strides impatiently to the altar. She hesitates before striking it with a fist. "Make no mistake. If this leaves us trapped, I'll help her kill you," she says coolly but quietly so it wouldn't carry. She didn't like to take orders from the man but Brinn couldn't leave Kotone stuck either.
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