"Hm," was Emily's only response to Luka's warning about the range of his abilities and his blithe response to her reprimand. She kept her eyes on the door to Mario's and watched as the strange goat like creature entered. She watched it struggle to move on the tile, like it found itself on top of ice on a wintery day. She ducked as it leaped over her and the diner's counter. She turned her focus to the counter again and watched as the strange man entered.
She studies his surprised reaction and listens to his...well, not quite so official demand for their identities. She retorts to the man, borrowing a line from an enigmatic character she once read, keeping her tone even and calm, "Don't you know it's rude to demand our identities without introducing yourself first?"
Moving past the door, Brutrumukk and Jub find themselves in another large hall. To say that it was quiet and peaceful would be incorrect.
A familiar macaw is screeching and swooping at two large grinning cats, "You damned pests! Get lost!" One of the cats have their giant paw over Aaliyah who is shouting in a complete panic from her translucent, spherical prison, "Stop it! Let me out of here! What do you want?!" The cats are tossing her prison out and about like it was a simply toy.
Jub, with your arcana, you realize that Aaliyah was somehow captured and is now trapped in an Otiluke's Resilient Sphere!
"Such fortune! Such fortune!" "You little servant, shall help us find the treasure!" "Ishaan's had his time with it, now we want it back!"
The cats answered Aaliyah, while the macaw retorts to the cats, while swooping and pecking at them again, "I remember you! You made a deal with Ishaan, and you're still benefitting from it! You don't get to have that back!"
One of the cats swipe at the bird, while the other holds down Aaliyah's prison with a paw. The cats then look to Brutrumukk and Jub upon noticing their entrance, and they speak,
"Ah, our accomplices have arrived," "You want treasure too, do you not? You only need follow us,"
One of the cats then picks up the sphere with his maw, and the two vanish from sight. The macaw screeches, "Get back here!!!"
The macaw remains high in the air as he addresses both Jub and Brutrumukk, "Oi! You two! Help me rescue Aaliyah! Trust me, you don't want to know what could happen if Aaliyah gets so much as a scratch! Follow me, I know where they're going!"
The macaw then proceeds to fly ahead of the two goblinoids down the hall.
Assuming there were no disagreements or protests to Aurora's suggestion, the group would make their way back to Bavlorna's Cottage. As they leave, Clapperclaw waves to the party, "Thank you and good luck! I'll wait here for your return!"
The group is able to get a boat from the new bullywug court nearby, in return for their assistance with the revolution, and they'll be able to use it to make their way back to the cottage.
Bavlorna's Cottage: Preservation Pool (B1)
The party is able to reach the cottage without incident, and thanks to the fact that they were not moving quickly like they were before, they are currently able to take in more of the details. They climbed up the four flights of wooden steps rising out of the swamp, ending at a trapdoor in the underside of the cottage, which is perched atop tall, thick wooden stilts and surrounded by dense fog.
The trapdoor leads them into a large room. A recessed pool lined with moldy clay tiles takes up most of this large square room. Stagnant water fills the depression to a depth of one foot. Rising from the pool's center is the head of a stone well that gives off an unpleasant, pungent odor. In one corner of the pool stands a tall, dirty, freestanding mirror in an oval frame, and floating on the water is a large lily pad.
Creaky wooden floorboards are arranged in a ten-foot-wide raised walkway around the pool. This walkway is crowded with shelves, tables, and stools in all shapes and styles. Almost every available surface is littered with stacks of dirty plates, scraps of food, and old junk. Dressing dummies are pushed together in one corner, and a wooden staircase spirals up from another corner. Five closed doors lead from the room.
Emily had not expected it to work, but it did! Diana, strict as she may have been, actually did care about the people around her and heeded the warning! She got everyone out of the diner with the excuse of a gas leak, while the four of them were as good as invisible. Before she could say anything, she felt recoil from her own journal, and the energy crawled up to her mind from her arm holding the pen.
Fear clenched its ugly fist around her heart again and she could feel her heart race once more. She tries to control her breathing as she speaks to her friends quietly, "So, there's a cost...!" Her words go unheard as she watches her new affiliates tap into their gifts from Santana.
Ashley suddenly seems to have an idea on what to do, The Crow is suddenly able to control metal, and Luka...is conjuring up things of his own accord? But there didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason behind his conjurations.
She blinked once to find herself suddenly wearing the grecian priestess robes from her card, and the ceremonial mask on her face! She nodded in agreement at the explanation for the disguises and code names. She answered the code names with a "Not bad. I can go with that. Makes us sound like we're a different variation of the Three Fates," before she moves to grab the fire extinguisher and stand by her friends with it.
She nods at Ashley's instruction, before she turns an irritated look to Luka disapprovingly. She reprimands him, "Now's not the time to be getting at each other for verbal mistakes. And no, we're not killing anyone, 'Reveler',"
With those stern words spoken, she readies the fire extinguisher.
checking in--are we waiting for me to advance the plot or do any of you still have things you want to do first? no worries if ppl still have posts they're waiting to make, just wanna make sure things aren't waiting on me
I still have a post to write up. ^^" Sorry for the wait.
@Guardian Angel Haruki i didn't see the metatextual angle of Scheherazade coming, but that's very fun
Thank you! I figured the subtle metatextual angle suited the eidolon better than a flashy summoning, especially considering that Scheherazade is already in journal and pen form. ^_^
also, both of you, make sure that you're recording both the maturity and the affinity on your ties. everything should be set to 1 at the moment since you just formed those ties, but when your ties change, your maturity and affinity will increase. both are important because maturity gets cashed out as experience, and affinity can be used to supplement draws that use your weaker stats.
The rulebook recommends you write them like this, but as long as you record both maturity and affinity I don't mind if you do it differently:
(Maturity) Bond description to Person (Affinity)
So for example:
1 Diana takes charge when there's a crisis 1
Got it. Thank you! I've added the Maturity and Affinity accordingly.
@Guardian Angel Haruki No roll necessary--I have a real, physical tarot deck here and through it I can push my mastery of that I'll draw the cards from, and you pick from the draw.
Your ELE is 2, so you get:
The Moon - Negative - Something unknown or unknowable interferes Temperance - Neutral - You are met with an equal and opposite reaction
I'm down with your in-character actions too, but Pick Locks, Hack Consoles isn't the right move for this--you're kind of trying to do the opposite lol. Let's call this a Challenge Fate: ELE? It'll be the same draw, you'll just use the forecast from the card you pick instead of the ones from Pick Locks, Hack Consoles.
OK. Sounds good. Let's go with it. ^_^
Shall I go ahead and roll for the draws here on the site?
Upon hearing Luka ask about Ashley's last name, she shot Luka a warning glare. Of course it went ignored. Emily even knew that Ashley didn't like talking about the people who shared her last name. That was a line Emily herself learned not to cross while sharing the dorm room with Ashley.
But the conversation was quickly cut short when Santana spoke up, mentioning that they didn't have time, and snapped his fingers. Emily found herself gripping at her card and not letting go, as though she had been shocked and her fingers wouldn't listen when she thought of letting go of the card. She watches as the card takes form of a tarot card, the design bearing her likeness of her own appearance! One half of her is her normal self in jeans, shirt, hoodie, and sneakers, while the other half is that of a greek priestess!
Straddling between reality and imagination... Bridging, defining, and also making a clear line between the two... This is her...?!
She is brought back to her senses and found herself sitting at the booth in Mario's with Luka, Ashley, and the Crow...as though nothing had happened. She noticed the coffee left behind with a note, clearly indicating it was from Santana.
Luka easily takes care of getting two people he knew out of the cafe, but there were still others here...
When he mentioned the Indy Ploy and just having fun, she answers in sarcasm, "Only if you want to die again. I'm not so keen on that,"
While she would have helped the Crow with the caffeine, she became too focused on her thoughts and trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, Ashley was able to help the Crow in her stead.
Emily recalled the mentioned gifts that Santana mentioned, and upon thinking about it, she felt her mind divert its attention to her journal and pen that she carries around everywhere! Her eyes widened as she pulls out the journal and pen in question.
The journal appears to be a small, black leather covered book on the surface, and her pen just a standard fountain pen, and that was all it was before she died. But...when Emily opened her journal, she finds that after her previous passage she had written, new words were appearing in beautiful cursive describing the present moment as the group speaks, not too unlike seeing how words appear in Tom Marvolo Riddle's Diary.
Yes, the very words you are reading now appear in the journal!
Emily could not help but gape in awe, and amazement upon realizing the possibilities!
She looks around the cafe, and she whispers to the group, "I have an idea. Hopefully this can give us more time and room to prepare, and get innocent bystanders out of the way. Just stay quiet..."
She proceeds to uncap the fountain pen, and the self-writing journal stops. She takes the point to the pages, and proceeds to write...
"In this quiet moment within Mario's, Head Waitress Diana feels the creeping sensation of danger lurking outside. Her intuition warns her not to ignore her senses. In order to heed this warning, she knows that she needs to close Mario's early and as quickly as possible. As she does so, she remains oblivious to the presence of Emily Sanderson, Ashley Whitlock, Luka Durand, and the Crow."
Emily then caps the pen again, and she watches as faint light dances across the words she just wrote before continuing to write on its own.
She looks up and watches to see if her idea works, biting at her own thumbnail nervously. She knew it sounded crazy on the surface, but she felt as though her writing would actually work to influence things in their favor...
Emily is using the move described below to essentially make the Cafe a place nobody is supposed to be in at this time, but the four of them would remain in there to combat the oncoming threat. If this doesn't work, let me know and I'll change my post accordingly. ^_^
One-Man Band: Pick Locks, Hack Consoles from the Infiltrator Playbook When you attempt to disarm a security system, pick a lock, or otherwise use finesse and subterfuge to get somewhere you’re not supposed to be, draw ELE, but ignore the Forecast of the card you play.
*On a positive card, you sneak in without being detected. *On a neutral card, something is damaged or an alarm is raised, your choice. *On a negative card, something is damaged or an alarm is raised, GM’s choice.
Also, if Emily could have a new tie, it would be... 4. I do not believe Luka should be trusted with a position of leadership.
Member
rush99999
OliveYou
Level_5
ctrlsaltdel
DaKittyNinja
op2024
wanderingwolf
angelsgrief
Lurking Krog
Silent Showers