As Quinn romances Paige, the light in the hallway flickers a little. There is a slight breeze in the air, the tinkling of chandeliers. If Quinn was to notice this, Paige would hug him around the neck and passionately kiss him full on the mouth. (All the while keeping her eyes open to watch the others sneakily pass.)
Sandru briefly sees a shadow move out of the corner of his eye. Something fleeting, strange...light hitting his retina and then side-stepping to a blind spot when he turns to look. Appearing again, then side-stepping away.
Blackacre is too focused on the attack on La Siréene to perceive much else.
Try as he might, Ianez can't squint hard enough to perceive the haunted spirits that destroy his friend. But as he happens to be looking across the room, he sees the watery outline of shapes, human-looking shapes in fact, sneak in from the hallway up to Hareton and S.
A large white light clicks on flooding your vision. You are lying on your back on a narrow table, held down by leather straps along your arms and legs, and metal clamps around your wrists, ankles, and waist. The bright light shines directly into your eyes. Someone speaks. It is a man's voice.
"La Siréene? Are you awake? Can you hear me?"
You cannot move or turn your head to see the speaker.
Seeing no reason not to respond to someone obviously alert of La Siréene's condition, she answers in her calm tones.”Correct on all three. Well done. You’ll have to forgive me my ignorance; are you and I on a first name basis?”
More silence. The light is blinding. You can't see the ceiling. Then, the voice again.
"I know who you are. Is the light too bright for you?"
"What is this?
You feel a tug at your neck. You can't see, but it must be your pendant. You're still wearing it.
"Noooo! Don't go! Hold on! I can save you! JUST GIVE ME TIME!"
Once again Caromarc is too late to stop one of his comrades dying.
"Goodbye madameouselle. I shall miss you."
The liar is dead? I will not believe it. She lies to survive, even if she does enjoy it too much. Her strength is survival. Nothing here is better at that, except maybe... me.
She changes what she is to survive. I become more of what I am. Always the same. Always Sandru. Always the same, but always better than before. Like a butterfly.
Split up... Stop their magics.
Quinn releases the Glamer and as a result reveals his true appearance. "Maybe you recognize me now!" Bald head, scar over the eye and monk robes and let's not forget the bow in his left hand and arrows in his right.
He says to Paige "I offer you the chance to surrender or else."
As La Siréene is starting to fade, her heart beats faster, trying to get some last activity before the end, her breath unsteady and strange. For the first time since Caromarc has known her, she registers shock.”This... it appears this is it. I never even considered this a possibility.” As she is almost gone, almost out of this world, she remembers herself and gives Caromarc her usual smile, a social gesture designed to calm. "There is no time, dear. Goodbye. I shall miss-" La Siréene voice becomes as insubstantial as her body, and her end is final.
I've died twice now. I am tenacious, aren't I...
La Siréene inspects her form, especially the bandages, as closely as she is able under the circumstances, wondering at their purpose. As she does, she keeps talking in calm, distant, friendly tones.
"It’s a bit bright, yes. The object’s Olivia's Heart. I saved a man tonight – both spiritually and physically - this memory of a dead loved one was his thanks. “She pauses a moment before adding "Thank you for letting me keep it. It is a comfort. “ As she says it, she is sure it will come out a lie, but realizes what she says is true. The pendant is a comfort.
Think rationally. Analyze the situation. That felt similar to passing in and out of consciousness. Has time passed? Was I transported from one place to another, instantly? Did I disappear and was reformed? Died and resurrected? Hm. As always, spells are the answer, or at least one of them. Less than an hour has passed, since this active effect only lasts 70 minutes, even if I am in the habit of reforming it regularly before it goes out. Some, if not conclusive, evidence that I can trust my senses, at least.
"I'll turn it down." The light dims just enough for you to see the ceiling above you, still in gray and black tones that are muddied. Impossible to make out any distinct shapes. You hear zapping. High-voltage, low-current, alternating currents of electricity. There's also the sound of liquid bubbling and the hissing of gas. Something heating on a burner.
More silence. The man speaks again. "You're probably wondering what happened to you exactly. It is..." a long, thoughtful pause "...difficult to explain. You are dead. But I was able to find you and bring you here before it was too late. I'm glad I did. By the time I found you, there wasn't much left...of you...for me to work with. That might be painful for you to hear, but it's true."
Now that the light is dimmer, you see out of the corner of your eye beakers and flasks filled with glowing green and purple fluids. A figure stands at your side, a man in a dark, hooded robe. "You've been displaced out of space and time. You don't exist in your world as you used to." A pause. "Yet, interestingly, you took this shape. Maybe it comes back to you as a memory stored in your brain. Something comfortable, familiar. Who knows? You've always been a mysterious creature."
You feel a needle jabbed into your wrist and another one in your neck. This is followed by the insertion of tubes. There is discomfort, but not necessarily pain. The hooded figure twists a valve, and glowing green liquid runs down the tubing towards you.
"Now, lie back and relax," the hooded figure intones. "Don't worry. We have the power to make you better."
"I'm going to make you better right now."
"there wasn't much left...of you...for me to work with"...well, there was never much of Nameless to live with, was there... "You've been displaced out of space and time."... And now, it no longer exist as a physical thing... "You don't exist in your world as you used to."... Which would mean that what there is, is a mind..."Yet, interestingly, you took this shape."... A mind with some unshakable ideas about reality and a willpower unimaginable... "Maybe it comes back to you as a memory stored in your brain. Something comfortable, familiar."...And one idea it desperately wanted to be real... "Who knows? You've always been a mysterious creature."
"Complicated, tenacious and in possession of considerable willpower and force of mind, I'll give you."
"Nhh!" The mind moans, as the needles enter its body. The incredible, incredible possibility presenting itself, the mind does not resist, but asks the question screaming in its mind, voice shaking; "C-can you …”Short, hesitant pause, as if it was almost afraid of the answer, ” can you give this mind, this memory without a body - the body of La Siréene?
Round 1:
Ianez wrenches himself out of his focus on the druid's untimely death and moves up and around on the pair of sorcerers , buckler raised defensively and sword drawn.
Paige smirks at Quinn. "You're just one of those guys who thinks..." she casts mirror image and unfolds like paper dolls into copies of herself "...he can get all all the girls the girls?" The Paige(s) lift their skirts and tumble down the hall towards the balcony .
"You should have surrendered. You are a threat that must delt with."
Quinn targets from left to right and launches a trio of arrows towards Paige.
As for how you get back, it's as simple as walking back through the fireplace!
The first arrow shoots down the hall, but catches torque so that it misses the sorceress and her duplicates. It nicks the ear of the image on the left...which doesn't flinch as one normally would. Quinn is able to tell that it's an illusion. It winks out.
The second arrow pierces the image on the right. The image wavers like a signal tuning out. It also disappears.
The third arrow hits the real Paige square in the abdomen. She staggers back a step. "Unh!" She cricks her neck, wrenches out the arrow, and flings it aside. "Really?" she says. "That was your best shot? Don't make this too easy for me."
She wriggles her fingers to cast another spell.
The manservant calmly grabs a loose tube on his torso and hooks it into a discrete recessed plug. He then walks calmly but quickly past Paige , before swivelling and sidestepping to stand behind her.
Slowly a thick blue-black liquid oozes through the tube into the plug. A second after he stands behind Paige his system freezes momentarily and his eye-lights blink out. There is a sudden, high-pitched whine rising into inaudibility. His eye-lights switch to bright, bright blue. All manner of sharp tools deploy from his hands, rendering them into bright, shiny, razor sharp brass claws. His faceplate cracks down the middle, slides in half and a large serrated circular saw blade emerges, spinning up as he slowly faces Paige.
Elspeth can feel her mind slipping away as her bond with Caromarc starts to fade. Horrified and terrified she is broken out of her reverie when the sorcerers break in. With an inaudible scream she flashes towards Melanie, quick as thought.
The necrotic energy subsides from Caromarc's body. For the first time since he crossed into the vault, a normal-looking blush returns to his pale skin. The black in his veins returns to blue.
Melanie sees Elspeth slither across the room and braces herself.
"Too bad I didn't have that 'rip your eyes out' spell finished yet to use on you all!" she snarls. She smiles wickedly. "But perhaps that works to my advantage."
Dex looks away. Lady Foxglove concentrates, reaches out with splayed fingers, and casts pyrotechnics. The hearth explodes in a burst of fireworks! They pop like firecrackers, sending flashing, fiery, colored aerial lights whizzing out in every direction. She squints, resisting the effects of the magical light.
After the flash of pyrotechnics, Dex returns his gaze to the room. "Die!" he roars. He whips an arm and points his index finger. A glowing, pea-sized bead of fire appears at his fingertip and streaks across the room towards the men standing at the fireplace. It sails between them, blossoms into a fireball, and detonates with a low roar into a searing explosion!
Line of Effect
A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight. A line of effect starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that would block it. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares through which the line passes.
Line of Sight
A line of sight is the same as a Line of Effect but with the additional restriction that that it is blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight (such as Concealment).
I find the corner of the room on my side, as I draw my blade.
Two creatures can see each other if they have line of sight to each other.
Sandru is blinded by the pyrotechnics. But his roguish abilities pay off. He throws himself wide of the fireball's immediate blast, taking less damage as it sears just his back.
Caromarc opens his eyes I'm back? Right - I... Wait, is that Dex and Melanie? And that little bead looks like... oh...
Round 2:
Lord J V Caromarc is hit full on by the blast! He throws his arms up is surprise, and dies...silhouetted against an inferno of flames.
A glowing pink orb falls from his coat pocket and rolls to the floor.
Caromarc?! CAROMARC?!! I call for the wizard as my hand touches the long wall.
The Monk's level of concern increases upon hearing Sandru's scream for Caromarc. The disciplined warrior sees Paige's finger waggling and he concentrates on her torso hoping that his next volley will confuse her spellcasting. "You have really gotten me angry. You have been warned."
Blackacre looks on in horror as Caromarc falls.
NOOOOO!! NO MORE!! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!
He stomps forward, straight at Dex . It may just be the reflection from all the flames, but his eyes appear to burn with a fury of impending vengeance.
He pauses long enough to babble a few arcane words and point at Dex. Terrible Remorse
The pyrotechnic display blinds Ianez and Blackacre. Ianez claps his hands to his eyes with a curse. Blackacre presses forward towards the sorcerers, casting his spell like some haunting, sightless avatar of vengeance. A torrent of...condemnation...leaps from his hand, like small swords made of holy light. They cartwheel through the air, dipping and rising in slow procession until they circle and surround Dex's head. The toothpicks halt, poised at his ears, and stab into them! He clutches the sides of his head with a tortured expression.
You can feel your skin pull tightly in places. The stranger makes minor adjustments as he goes and smooths it out.
"When I'm done, your base form will be La Siréene," he says. "You will retain the ability to shapeshift. But I haven't perfected this process. There are going to be side effects. For instance, some of your...psychological content...will likely become externalized."
There is a gurgling sound. Off to the side, you notice a large containment tank filled with glowing green liquid. Suspended in the tank, hooked up to tubes, floats the wizard, Caromarc. His salt and pepper locks float lank about his head. He is naked, and appears to be just waking up.
As the mind feels this body solidify, become corporeal, Nameless is filled with joy unimaginable. ”I will do as I have done. I will honor La Siréene Dorée’s memory by taking her shape, her name.” La Siréene smiles to herself. ”La Siréene Dorée is dead. Long live La Siréene Dorée.”
As the stranger speaks, however, La Siréene’s mind starts to buzz once more.
“For instance, some of your...psychological content...will likely become externalized." Endbringer. But I would consider it unlikely that the stranger would know about that. No witnesses, no dead ones to bring back. But he can reform those not properly diseased, can he not…
”What, exactly, does that entail? Would that include… memories of murderers?”
She considers Caromarc for a moment. "Another Question – do you and I have doctor-patient confidentiality?"
Another gurgle and a stream of bubbles from the mask over Caromarc's mouth and nose.
The hooded figure speaks again. "You may ask me your question in confidentiality."