An asylum? Would that make us...patients? Tattoo contemplates her companions. Heavy Hitter's outburst. Reaper constantly talking to that...thing...and Goggles...well...just Goggles. Mustache seems fine though...a bit scared, but nothing out of the normal...and what about me. Surely. I'm not crazy...Well except for the whole memory loss thing...and that dream that I am pretty convinced was real. Making herself anxious, she quickly shakes the thought away. No! Don't let them screw with your mind. What kind of proper asylum has shapeshifters running around torturing patients. No there is clearly something wrong here! ...and the shifters have to be real, since these men as so scared of them that they won't let us through. Then Tattoo has a moment of realization. That man...the way his eyes moved shiftily and he looked behind him when he said that wasn't the exit. He's lying! ...Hmm...but if it was the exit, why wouldn't they just use it if their so scared? No...I know what I saw! Perhaps not an exit...but there is definitely something behind them.
After a long moment on contemplation, Tattoo finally speaks once more. "No problem. We'll look for an exit and if we run into any shifters...well, we will do our best to bring them down and get them here...But, if you don't mind me asking...which way is the exit, if not behind you? You said some of your were orderlies, did you not?"
The word 'asylum' resonates with Goggles as it does with the others. Was I visiting someone here? Did I work here? Seems like I've done some sort of surgery before. Am I a patient? Does it matter?
Heavy Hitter begins moving towards to darkness. Goggles reaches out to stop her. "We need light. You need to make your hand glow again. Things lurk in the dark...things worse than dopplegangers."
Getting the others' attention she says, "We should follow her. The scared men are a dead end, they said there's no exit. They'd have to be pretty stupid to stay in a place they're scared of if they have a way out."
The man points towards north at Tattoo's question, already impatient for you to leave. "There was one door to the north by the tower... now get lost!"
"A door north by a tower..." Reaper repeats slowly, as much to confirm what they're told as to buy a few more minutes out of the burning rain. Still not sure he quite understands, he raises his thumb and points behind him, over his shoulder to the north corridor. "Y'mean back that'a'ways? There a door back there?"
They are definitely holding out on us...but there's so use starting a fight over it...
Bowing somewhat sarcastically, Tattoo mutters, "Thanks for the help." Grabbing her longspear of her back, she spins it around and points it north. "This way, I guess.." she mutters as she just begins to walk down the hallway.
Mustache reluctantly follows the crowd led by Heavy.
He asks no one in particular, "An asylum? Do I look crazy to you?"
He uses his magic to dry himself up and tidy up his mustache, "I may not look my best right now but I am not crazy. I must have been visiting someone here but I just can't remember."
Before they get in the door, he holds up his tools, "But I do remember how to use these so just let me check things first, OK?"
Was I a thief?
As everybody rearranged themselves, Heavy made sure she was at the front. Sword out, eyes and ears peeled. As Goggles moved to get behind her, Heavy whispered, "What's an ah-sigh-lum? Is it jail? Are we bad guys? I don't feel like a bad guy." Looking at the mark on her hand, she suddenly wasn't so sure.
Tag Goggles
Watching Moustache's toiletries, Heavy Hitter grinned. "That's really cool! Maybe you can do me later? I feel so grubby."
Tag Moustache
"I don't feel like a bad guy."
Reaper swallows thickly. Something about the statement doesn't sit well with him. Probably because he can't say the same.
As Mustache goes to work on the door, Reaper starts to think about his ghostly friend. It was odd how they they looked alike. How the ghost seemed helpful, giving advice and such. Maybe it could help him escape? The men with the bows seemed scared, though. Maybe he should wait. He steps further into the shadows.
Wanna come out'n play?
::Always.::
F!&# it, he thinks, taking a minute to release his inner bogeyman.
Goggles whispers back, "Not jail for bad guys." Seeing Heavy's worried look she adds, "And for what it's worth, I don't think you're a bad guy either. An asylum is jail for crazies. Are we insane? That's entirely possible but who can say? Crazy is highly subjective. If we're all crazy together then we're all normal."
tag?
Goggles stops and watches with rapt attention as Reaper regurgitates Creepy. "That will never get old. It must be amazing to always be able to have a conversation with yourself - or at least with whatever that is that comes out of yourself."
tag Cerio?
Watching Moustache's toiletries, Heavy Hitter grinned. "That's really cool! Maybe you can do me later? I feel so grubby."
Mustache considered the request. Something inside of him told that this was a bad idea but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. However, he knew it was a bad idea to get on Heavy's wrong side.
So he mumbled, "Ok, maybe later but pay attention up front."
He then added, "You don't know what an asylum is? Do you know what a mentally handicapped person is? A person whose mind has lost touch with commonly accepted perceptions? A person whose mental faculties are under the established norm?"
tag?
He then added, "You don't know what an asylum is? Do you know what a mentally handicapped person is? A person whose mind has lost touch with commonly accepted perceptions? A person who mental faculties are under the norm?"
Goggles looks at Moustache like he was simple. "That's just what I said...jail for crazies."
tag ?
"That will never get old. It must be amazing to always be able to have a conversation with yourself - or at least with whatever that is that comes out of yourself."
Cerio wipes a bit of ectoplasmic goo from his chin. "Yep, a real carnival. Frankly I ain't figured it out yet. I hafta wonder If'n that ain't why I's here. Maybe that's it, after all. It's a carnival, and we's th' freaks?"
Heavy looked back and forth between Moustache and Goggles with complete confusion on her face, then broke out in a laugh. Slapping them heartily on the shoulder, she said, "Jail for crazies. We're in the right place!"
Seeing that Reaper was barfing up his buddy, Heavy turned to him with another smile and said, "Creepy! You're back! Do you like it better out here? How do you fit inside his head?"
"That will never get old. It must be amazing to always be able to have a conversation with yourself - or at least with whatever that is that comes out of yourself."Cerio wipes a bit of ectoplasmic goo from his chin. "Yep, a real carnival. Frankly I ain't figured it out yet. I hafta wonder If'n that ain't why I's here. Maybe that's it, after all. It's a carnival, and we's th' freaks?"
Goggles shrugs. "As long as it's our carnival it doesn't matter if we're freaks. Just makes life more interesting, that's all."
::Ooout heeere:: Creepy groans.
Reaper scratches his head. "How? Well...hmm... it feels like he's in m'head. Like I need to blow m'nose, or scratch inside m'ears. I reckon he's made O's somethin' magic."
As long as it's our carnival it doesn't matter if we're freaks. Just makes life more interesting, that's all.
Reaper smiles grimly at the thought.
Jail. Asylum. Carnival. Freak Show. Frankly, Tattoo did not much like the idea of any of it. But we are here for a reason. Reaper and his ghost...Mustache and his lights...The way it sometimes feels likes I can touch inside the minds of other...I guess none of us are really normal. Perhaps we were being studied as part of some sick experiment. Perhaps we still are. Freak show indeed. Looking at the others she could see that the talk of carnivals and freak shows seemed to have actually lightened the mood of her companions. But perhaps some thoughts better off not being spoken though.
"Carnival, huh?" she replies to the others with a chuckle. "Well I suppose its a good thing we've got our names picked out then...Otherwise it would have been awfully embarrassing once we find the....ringmaster..."
Leading the way back up the hallway, Heavy clenched her hand to make the funny mark glow. Opening it up, she shone the purple light into the darkness. "There's a door here," she pointed to her right. "Do you think it might be this one? There's a handle here," she pointed for Moustache's benefit.
Heavy moves north finding two doors to the right, but the hall continues north, disappearing in the darkness. You can notice a pile of rubble on the right part of the hall a couple feet ahead but it doesn't block your way.
Heavy is able to see even beyond into the dark hall, knowing that it continues even further north.
"Goin' t'the right'd put us right back'n under that burnin' rain, wouldn't it? If'n we go straight ahead we's liable to find us another door right out this place, don'tcha think?"
::I don't like th'look o' this 'tall. Bet I can find us a better way? Walk right through them walls, like I'd owned th'place.::
"Huh." Reaper says, responding aloud to his internal conversation. "Creepy here might could slime his way through the wall, get a better view. If'n he don't draw no attention to hisself, might could find us the right way t'go. Sound proper?"
"That's really cool!" Heavy watched carefully to see how Creepy managed it.
Reaper and Creepy seem to have a silent discussion between themselves, gesturing, nodding their heads, shaking their heads furiously, and shrugging helplessly.
"Well, I figure he can do his slimin' through a wall t'see what lay on t'other side. If'n there's danger, he can pop back int' th'wall, elsewise I can try to pull 'im back inside m'head as we did 'afore down in that there cellar. Figure if he done move real careful like, he won't draw too much attention."
"Oh, and there's another thing he wants t'show us..."
Creepy's "body" begins to melt again, but this time he doesn't evaporate. His "skin" sloughs off, landing wetly on the ground below him before fading quickly. His body, however, remains hovering in the air, now a translucent portrait of Reaper himself, albeit cloaked in a melancholic, shadowed relief.
"...Cool," whispers Reaper.
Creepy moves through the walls, disappearing from view and leaving only a greenish stain where he disappeared.
"Mmmmm, hmmm, yep..." Reaper nods as creepy relays information from beyond the wall. After only a moment, the ghost emerges from the other side.
"Them two rooms is storage closets. Look like they been ruined in this earthquake or whatever done it. Let's take a look. May be we find some weapons or medicine."
He hoped they'd be outside before they needed medicines, but better safe than sorry.
Useful trick... Tattoo thinks, as the ghost phases through the door.
"Do just storage? I guess it can't hurt to check." she muses with a shrug as she moves to open the door.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Cerio opens the south door, revealing ruined racks, a bit of rubble, and broken containers on the floor. The entire room reeks of chlorine. After a couple minutes searching the rubble, he finds nothing of useful but a lantern, a hammer, and three winter blankets. Meanwhile, moving to the northern storage, Tattoo finds 10 feet of chain, a set of manacles, two winter blankets, and a tarnished old silver necklace.
While searching in the rubble, it moves abruptly, and soon after clicking jaws emerge! The intersection of the two rooms reveals a deed crack, from where giant centipedes were able to enter these rooms, probably nesting in the dark and cold place. Two centipedes emerge into the north room, and attack Tattoo, both of them hitting her, but somehow only one of them causes any damage and at the same time one of the vermin is wounded instead!
Tattoo feels a bit slow after the bite... perhaps it carried poison after all. Two more centipede emerge in the south room, clicking their jaws towards Reaper but none of them hit the completely surprised man.
Giant Centipedes
Jenni - up
Alenka - up
Mira - up
Lucius - up
Round 1
Giant Centipedes
Jenni
Alenka
Mira
Cerio
Lucius
Something startled Mustache, a memory?
Did he raise these vermin? Professor?
Too many questions but one certainty; he knew these things.
He drew his rapier and yelled, "These are giant centipedes and their bite carries poison. Tattoo, come on out..."
-----------
Heavy had been watching the hallway for danger while Reaper and Tattoo searched the small rooms - it hadn't occurred to her that danger might come from within. Yelling a battle cry, she charged into the room with Reaper. Seeing the giant vermin, she gave way to the battle-lust inside her. Screaming again, she swung her greatsword down onto the creature's armoured back.
The centipede was sliced completely in half by Heavy Hitter's heavy hit. Bits of chiton rained down on Heavy and Reaper, and greenish goop splattered their clothes. The remaining centipede screeched a high-pitched cry and clicks its jaws, ready to attack.
Goggles' eyes widen as she catches a glimpse of the creatures.
You are crouched, watching a little bug crawling amid a couple leaves. "It is a centipede, darling..." a voice comes behind you, a tender masculine voice, full of affection, "...you are not afraid?" he asks again and soon you are shaking your head.
The man smiles, "Then you are braver than your sisters!", he laughs once more, "I've heard your uncle saying that he saw one as big as a large dog..." you turn to him but the sun behind him blinds you, "Bigger than Lunny?" you asked and the man nodded, "As big as I am! Oh, and they are also poisonous! Not afraid yet?" he laughed once more....
The rich laughter echoes inside Goggles' head and she feels both comforted and saddened. She missed whoever that voice belonged to but didn't know him anymore than she knew herself. "He was telling the truth...they do exist!"
Heavy rushes through the door. Realizing that Reaper, and now Heavy, were in danger she yells, "Reaper and Heavy, don't let them bite you. Get outta there. I'll cover the door." She steps forward and flanks the door with Creepy.
Goggles readies her cleaver as she waits by the door, prepared to beat back the bugs and slam the door once Reaper was clear.
As Tattoo sees the centipede encroaching, she almost instinctively closes her eyes and remembers being in the cell and her plan to slip past the doctor, like an unseen shadow. Suddenly Tattoo appears to split into two, forming two duplicate versions of herself. One shadowy version remains where she stands, while a seemingly more solid version hovers over the second centipede, veering the first centipede's attack towards it.
When Tattoo reopens her eyes the two forms seem to snap back together instantly. For a moment she looks a little confused as to what just happened, as the centipede seems to be facing away from her and she feels no pain. Did it bite me or not? she wonders to herself. However, as Mustache speaks of poison and she feels a strange tingling in her legs, she looks down at sees what appears to be holes in her pant leg. Oh...I think it bit me.
Heeding the warnings of her companions she takes a step back and lunges the spear in her hand through the doorway, at the centipede, surprising herself with the strength and precision of the blow. Woah...that was...not embarrassing...
Heavy enters the storage room, dodging both the creatures as they lunge with their jaws. In a fluid motion, the half-orc finishes the creature. Goggles moves outside of the south door, ready to attack the vermin if they leave the room while Tattoo steps back and skewers one of the bugs, ending its life... she also manages to slow the poison in her blood.
The creatures attack once more. The vermin in the north room attacks Tattoo bit misses entirely, while the one in the south room attacks Reaper, still unable to properly react, hitting him on his tight, its huge jaws almost reaching for his bone.
Giant Centipedes
Jenni - up
Alenka - up
Mira - up
Cerio - up [wounded]
Lucius - up
Trying to use her spear to keep distance on the creature, Tattoo takes a step backwards and prepares herself for attack. As the centipede approaches, she seems to avoid it with a practiced calm that does not at all reflect the way her heart is pulsing in her chest. Gripping the spear ever tighter she thrusts forward once more hoping to end the fight as quickly as possible.
Seeing Tattoo's prowess with that longspear gave Mustache cause for concern.
He nodded his head in congratulations, "Where did you learn to do that? You must have been a trained armed guard or something."
tag?
Rapier in hand, he then moved to the room in the south but remained outside once he saw how crowded the room was.
He asked Goggles, "Everyone Ok in there? Are there centipedes in there as well?"
tag?
His mind kept going back to his flashback. professor? of what?
Goggles shakes her head. "Reaper was bitten even though I told him not to let it. There's one centipede left in there, for now. They actually grow that big. I'd heard stories, or a story, and it's exciting to know that they're real."
She muses to herself, "Their poison could be interesting to study." She searches the kit she had acquired and finds an empty glass vial and a pair of gloves. She moves towards the room that Tattoo had come out of. "Yours are dead? Keep an eye on the other two in case they need help. Although with Heavy in there, they're probably ok." Peeking into the other storage room to make sure the centipedes are indeed dead, Goggles kneels beside one of the bodies and puts the gloves on. She then tries to milk some of the poison out of the centipede's mouth using the edge of the vial.
Tattoo looks up at Mustache and then back down to skewered centipede, as her chest moves up and down from breathing heavily. Trained armed guard? Almost immediately, something in her brain responds negatively to the idea. No. No way. At least that doesn't...feel right. Then where did I learn to use a spear like that? That's not normal, right? I mean...he wouldn't be asking me about it if it were normal. Ugh. Why can't I remember anything. Confusion and frustration is noticeable on her face for a brief moment, until she remembers Mustache is watching her, waiting for an answer. Quickly trying to cover up the moment of doubt, she looks at him and laughs. "It's a pointy stick. You pick it up and thrust. Doesn't require a whole lot of special training, sweetie." Yeah, that's probably right. Beginner's luck. "Let's just focus on helping out Reaper and Creeper before they become bug food."
Still roaring with the primal joy of the fight, Heavy barely noticed that the creatures were attacking back. Swinging the greatsword again, she took just enough care to ensure that Reaper wasn't gutted, then she smashed into the remaining bug.
It's armoured body wasn't up to defending against such a mighty blow, and it curled up and died without further protest.
Reaper gasps in disgust when the many-legged creatures emerge from the wall. The gasps turn into a yelp of pain when the things sink their insectoid incisors into his flesh.
"Yeeooww!"
He leaps back a step, grabbing at the wound. Inadvertently, a pale green light passes from his hand onto the bite, knitting the flesh.
I didn't know I could do that.. he thinks, examining his hand in wonder.
::That 'n more.:: his ghost replies.
Quickly trying to cover up the moment of doubt, she looks at him and laughs. "It's a pointy stick. You pick it up and thrust. Doesn't require a whole lot of special training, sweetie." Yeah, that's probably right. Beginner's luck. "Let's just focus on helping out Reaper and Creeper before they become bug food."
Mustache nods in approval; he clears his voice, "Well, it looks like you've been sticking with the pointy end for a while. Trust me. I know a well done move when I see one. Who knows? Maybe you did get lucky."
Hearing Heavy inside and the splatter of centipede, "I think the big girl has got it. She also seems to get lucky quite a bit."
Tattoo internally lets out a sigh of relief that Mustache wasn't pressing the issue. Hearing the same splattering noise as Mustache, coming from the other room, she replies with a chuckle. "No. I don't think that's luck at all. I have a strong feeling it isn't that girl's first time on the delivering end of that greatsword...I didn't start calling her Heavy Hitter because I thought she needed to ease up on her stickball swing." Looking a little bit more serious, she adds, "Just look at her fists. Whoever did this to us...well, it seems like she didn't go down so easily..."
Tattoo and Heavy dexterously smash and skewers their respective centipedes and, at least for now, a sensation of safety washes over you. With his recently discovered power, Reaper heals his leg completely, almost as if he had never been wounded in the first place. Dropping on her knees besides the slain vermin, Goggle is able to recover 2 doses of centipede poison without poisoning herself... it appears she had some practice on this subject before...
Continue to moving north, you find the hall partially collapsed but for a path to the right to a room that seems to have once served as an office, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies that almost look human. Three of these bodies are from doppelgangers, most riddled with bolts. There is a partially opened door on the north of the room that probably leads back into the hall...
Heavy wrinkled her nose at the sign of the battle - the bodies were starting to stink. "I guess those guys back there really hate these doctorgangers." Picking her way past the debris, she lifted her bundle of salvaged blankets and chains so it didn't drag through the blood. Standing in front of the door, she raised her sword and pointed at the doorknob. Then she stood back to let Moustache pat the door down. To each his own. Who was she to judge? She grew claws when she was angry.
Goggles kneels beside the bodies to get a closer look. "Whoever did this didn't just hate the dopplegangers. The same wounds appear on all the bodies alike." As if it was nothing weird, she continues, "Looks like whoever did this wanted pieces of their skin." She points to numerous strips of missing flesh. "It was done with great precision...fascinating."
She continues to talk but more to herself. "I can understand taking the doppleganger's skin because maybe you can learn how it changes into other forms but why take the human skin? Maybe control tissue for the experiments? Or maybe someone just has a fetish."
tag?
Pieces of their skin?
Unwelcome memories of their recent, shared nightmare surface. Something unspeakable. Something blasphemous. Something in rags. No, not rags...
"Skin..." Reaper murmers. "It was wrapped up in skin, wasn't it? Th...the thing from the dream."
"But that's jus' nightmares talkin'. Can't 'a been real." He laughs a forced, false laugh, though he begins to sweat.
"Creepy, why dun' you go on through the wall yonder'n see what y'see, hmm?"
Goggles' work is interrupted by Reaper's voice mentioning that thing from her dream. She sinks from her knees to her bum and her body shakes involuntarily as she remembers being torn apart by that creature. It had been wearing bandages and not skin, right? She tried to convince herself but now she wasn't so sure.
Taking a deep breath to hopefully steady her voice she answers tentatively, "Right..." her voice cracks. "We're still alive so it couldn't have been real. It was probably bandages that looked like skin." But her voice was filled with doubt.
Still wondering whether his flashbacks were actual memories and hoping that his nightmares were just that, Mustache continued to pat down the door before trying to open it.
He commented to the others while he worked, "You all know I'm a professor?"
-----------
Heavy forced herself to focus on Moustache's words - rather than the nightmare memory that the others words had conjured - the half orc turned to him and said, "Your memories are coming back! That's wonderful! What do you profess?"
Heavy forced herself to focus on Moustache's words - rather than the nightmare memory that the others words had conjured - the half orc turned to him and said, "Your memories are coming back! That's wonderful! What do you profess?"
Mustache looked up to the big girl, clearly annoyed. He was going to lecture her but the bloody big-ass sword by her side made him change tactics.
He cleared his throat and spoke slowly, hoping she would understand. "I don't profess anything. Being a professor means that I am an expert in one or more topics. I am such an expert that people come to me and pay me so I can impart this knowledge to them."
He wanted to add what he was an expert on but he wasn't quite sure.
He did add, "I bet I am one of the most accomplished professors in a large city..."
----------
Tattoo nods, when Goggles points out the missing strips of skin. "I noticed the same thing. It is rather...strange."
As Mustache pats down the door, something else strange catches her eye. "That's weird..." she muses out loud. Once she has the others' attention, she points to one of the bodies. "Over there...the old nurse who looks like she must have been someone's grandmother. Look at how her leg is broken. It's almost come clean off." Pausing, she realizes that the others still aren't seeing what she is seeing, so she explains further. "There's no blood...anywhere around the wound." Letting that sink in, she tries to hide a shudder. "So, Professer, any explanations for that one?"
Pausing, she realizes that the others still aren't seeing what she is seeing, so she explains further. "There's no blood...anywhere around the wound." Letting that sink in, she tries to hide a shudder. "So, Professer, any explanations for that one?"
Another annoyed look. Didn't these people realize that he was busy?
"I'll take a look after I'm done here. Please - do - not - rush - me."
He searched his head for any possible answer but nothing came up other than just hypothesis.
When nothing came to his mind, he quipped, "I don't think my area of expertise is in the body. I am obviously a professor and not a doctor. Why don't you have Goggles take a look? She seems to know how to torture people..."
----
Tattoo lets out a sigh. Well this is probably going to be graphic. Turning to Goggles, she hesitantly asks, "So, what do you think?"