Ianez backs up against the nearest wall and goes into a defensive posture, blinking his eyes rapidly to try to clear them.
Blackacre manages to cast his spell just as the roiling combustion hits him. He catches the full impact of the explosion!
Paige leans forward out of an instinct of self-preservation. She is creeped out at the sight of the industrial-looking horror that the construct behind her has suddenly turned into. She looks at Quinn. "Let's play a game of cat and mouse." Despite the duress, she manages to cast invisibility on herself.
One moment she's standing there...the next moment, she's gone.
Quinn and the Mechanical Manservant now stand alone in the softly-lit hallway: high ceilings, sconces, crystal chandeliers, mirrors, flowers, oil paintings, marbled floor. And somewhere in the midst of all of that...
...a murderous sorceress.
Unseen lurking death.
The Mechanical Manservant's attempt to predict the spell Paige was casting turned up only a blank.
Also, I'm worried Quinn will post just after I go to bed! :) I'll post now for Elspeth (I don't see how Quinn can affect her turn). I'll also post a spoilered readied action for MM. If it becomes appopriate I'm happy for you to post his action when triggered. If this is a problem I can delete these posts in the next hour.
"Target Lost" the MM says simply and emotionlessly. He freezes in place, and his eye-lights go black
Ah well, at least I didn't miss with a critical!
La Siréene's body shudders under its restraints.
”I do not know what you know of me. But I draw my… potential from the way I view the world, a view I gained because I defeated a usurper within my own mind, intent to take over the body that was destroyed today. The thing was very dangerous and cannot be allowed to exist. Is there a way to eliminate the risk of it returning, or know with certainty whether it will or has returned?”
Quinn uses all his martial discipline to concentrate on where the sorcereress was previously.
Upon making an educated guess the disciplined warrior of the Arts Martial takes aim and unleashes a barrage of arrows towards the spot where he thinks this trickster to be.
The martial artist and the machine both stand completely motionless in the long, quiet hallway, each bringing his individual expertise to bear. Even so, Paige Carlisle is silent, and they are unable to hear her footsteps. Sight also betrays; not even the flickering candlelight betrays the movements of her shadow.
It raises the question...who is the hunter and who is being hunted?
Elspeth's tentacles catch one of Melanie's arms, the same arm that cast the spell that blinded her master, leaving him vulnerable and defenseless against the fireball that took his life. The sorceress shrieks, tries to wrench her arm away, but she can't break the grip of the tentacles' suction.
In the end, it remains unclear to Dex what exactly occurred, and he wouldn't be able to explain it. But his ally appeared to suddenly become light-headed. She looks at Elspeth with confusion. "I...you...wha...?" she starts to say, but isn't able to finish the thought and trails away. She sweeps her free hand up to her forehead in a dramatic, fainting gesture, swoons for a moment, and collapses to the floor.
Melanie is dead!
The liquid in the tank is comfortable, like a warm bath, and gives everything in your vision a green tint. A few feet away from the tank, you see La Siréene, or what looks like La Siréene, lying on her back on a narrow metal table, held down by leather straps along her arms and legs, and metal clamps around her wrists, ankles, and waist. There is a bright lamp on the ceiling shining down directly onto her, into her eyes.
The light is just dim enough for you to see the ceiling above you in gray and black tones that are muddied. Impossible to make out any distinct shapes. Through the muted effect of the liquid, 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. You see beakers and flasks filled with glowing green and purple fluids.
A figure stands at the druid's side, a man in a dark, hooded robe.
There are tubes inserted into La Siréene's arm and neck. Glowing green liquid runs down the tubing towards her and pumps through her body. The man in the hood works on her with needle and thread. The thread is purple; it's unusual, but you've seen it before. The purple hue seems to recede into dark blue, and twinkle with stars, like the night sky. The druid's skin pulls tightly in places. The stranger makes minor adjustments as he goes and smooths it out.
Another gurgle and a stream of bubbles from the mask over your mouth and nose. La Siréene moves her mouth, saying something to the hooded figure; it looks like she can't turn her head. The stranger looks up from his work, turns, and observes you. His face is in shadow. It is impossible to make out from underneath the hood.
"Lord Caromarc is awake," he says.
Quinn will shoot and sweep covering areas V18, V19 & V20.
"Awwww Lady Paige..... you are not playing fair. You are only prolonging the inevitable. Let's make this easy and surrender."
The three arrows thunk with hard impact into the wall.
Shwip thunk...shwip thunk...shwip thunk!
Dex holds the sides of his head. He stares distractedly at Melanie on the floor. "What have I done?" he moans, thrown back on himself. "What kind of punk have I been? All my crimes and such!" He stares at his hands in amazement. "These hands! They've done horrible things!" He claws at himself, drawing blood. He throws a left hook at his own jaw.
This knocks him from his daze a little bit. He glowers hatefully down at Elspeth. "I dunno what you are, ya freakin' thing, but I know how you're gonna die!" He rears back and charges up his fist with strobing, blue, telekinetic energy. It lights his face in a menacing glow. Oowaah, oowaah, oowaah, oowaah... Dex throws a force punch at the octopus, but it's not enough to break her defenses. Frustrated, he utters a curse.
Quinn does not show any sign of fustration. The student of the Arts Martial exercises his patiences and enters into a cat stance waiting and looking for a sign."Sweet dear lady Carlisle....your boss will make you suffer when he finds out that you could not stop us. I can protect you from my friends and your boss. Make your choice."
I hustle as far as I can towards where I think the sorcerers might be... Using the wall as a guide I keep my hand to it.
The Mechanical Monstrosity stays immobile as Quinn's arrows blurs around him.
"What? Where?" the disoriented Caromarc starts throwing questions before a new and more relevant question asserts itself "When?"
Am I now an experiment in someone else's lab? I've seen that thread before! I will not become another monster to help those destroying my people
Silence. Then, 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, your body was badly burned. This chemical bath is healing your scar tissue...among other things."
"Let yourself just float in the chemicals and relax," the hooded figure intones. "You've been displaced out of space and time. You don't exist in your world as you used to." Another pause. You feel a current swirl through the liquid in the tank and bubbles tickle your skin. "I know this is disorienting, but don't worry. We have the power to make you better."
"I'm going to make you better right now."
A shiver runs through Caromarc, and he cannot help but verbalise his thoughts
"I've heard those words before"
Blackacre steps forward blindly, tentatively, across the lounge, which is now a battlefield. The "landscape" is filled with upturned tables, charred ottomans, smoldering love-seats, and broken chairs. Small flames crackle across the blackened room. Gaston sets his shoulders resolutely and grits his teeth. Breath comes quickly because of the pain.
He must live to see these arrogant sorcerers brought low.
He will fight through agony to be the hand of justice!
Despite his reputation as an impulsive hot-head, first things first, certain matters need attended to. He must heal his burn wounds. Just enough to be able to fight and bring the remaining sorcerers down. He lays his hands upon his tender flesh and casts cure light wounds, channeling a glow of pale, yellow positive healing. The wounds ameliorate: skin reforms, blood vessels reknit. Ragathiel is good. The angel be praised!
...this one time.
And come what may, isn't that everything?"
Ianez listens carefully, trying to figure out what's happening. He maintains his defensive posture and otherwise says or does nothing to draw attention to himself. The dazzle in his eyes is just starting to clear....
“You sound almost as if I’d complained. I am grateful, I said so. I’ll deal with the drawbacks as they arise.”
La Siréene attempts, unsuccessfully, to turn to face Caromarc, then stays still and speaks as if conversing with the ceiling.
”For what it’s worth, Caromarc, I trust this man to bring us back to life. Further than that, perhaps not, but us alive again appears to be his current goal.
At the end of the hall, at the base of the grand staircase, a chain unhooks from the wall. There's a fast rattling of metal links as the row of large chandeliers in the hallway is sent crashing down on top of the Mechanical Manservant and Quinn!
The stranger sighs. "Yes. Sometimes that is all we can do."
He monitors both of you as pinpoints of green light appear in your pupils. The dots of light rise up and flare, like handheld torches, until your eyes...the pupils, the irises, even the whites...shine forth as beacons of bright green light. With a synth trill, lighted binary appears and starts scrolling down your bodies in streams of pale blue.
The chandeliers come crashing down, two by the front door, one above the manservant...and one above Quinn! The monk responds quickly in his catlike stance. He dodges just in time to avoid the wrecked metal and rain of shattering glass.
While the monk avoids the falling danger, the Mechanical Manservant is not so lucky. The last chandelier at the end of the hall crashes down on him!
MM remains motionless as the Chandelier smashes into him, sparks of energy cascading in a sphere around him as the chandelier slows - as if falling through water.
Remembering the changes wrought upon the dragon's mind Caromarc fears that every thought may be his last.
"Hold on! Remember who you are!" He yells to La Sirenee.
The thought of killing himself flashes through his mind, but to his shame he cannot. Trapped here, without even his anchor..
no anchor...
"Hold on! Remember who you are!" He yells to La Sirenee.
Ianez starts at the crash. What was--I don't hear any shouts, so Quinn's probably still alive. I have to get out there.
The chandelier screeches against the sparking barrier as it crushes down against the spell, and the spell absorbs some of the damage. The Mechanical Manservant is buried under a heap of bent metal and crystal shards, and is knocked prone.
Quinn is no ordinary man. He is not an ordinary monk. He is a Zen Archer monk, one who has devoted his life to the perfection of using the bow. Beside the ever improvement of mind, body and spirit, he is constantly improving his bow skills. His new target will soon realize that this monk is not to be toyed with.
It shows with his reaction. He moves with fluid like grace to avoid the falling Chandelier, the reaction of someone who has seen plenty of combat. Before his manuever to avoid the chandelier, he saw the chain move by itself and realized that the sorceress is manipulating it. Avoiding the Chandelier he immediately takes aim towards the moving chain (X-12) and unleashes his typical volley of arrows.
The arrows launch from the bow, their aim true, but just hit the stairs and clatter to the floor.
Shwip...shwip...shwip...clackety-clat!
Dex continues to fight the demons that plague him. "I didn't do nothing. I swear! Okay...I did do stuff! Whatever!" This followed by an uppercut to the chin!
He breaks away from his psychotic anger at Elspeth long enough to notice the hulking figure making his way towards him, feeling his way hand-over-hand along the wall. "I see you, tough guy," he mutters threateningly. "Don't think you'll get the better of me!" Dex casts scorching ray. Two streams of fire jet from his fingers. The first one misses Sandru and makes a scorch mark on the wall, but the second one scores a direct hit. Sandru feels the fire bore into his back.
Elspeth, black tentacles waving from inside the dead sorcerers chest hisses, and launches for Dex's head.
Dex feels the tentacles lash on his face. He flinches in indignation, disgust.
The Mechanical Manservant turns to Quinn and in a strangely commanding tone says "We don't need two of us to stop this Bimbo. Help the others."
MM's eyelights glow crimson, and the immense Candelabra on top of him suddenly flies upwards, smashing into the ceiling
"Run or die, Paige. It's the same to me."
The fire burns, fire... always fire. I do not like this place and I want to leave now... And, I can see. Most helpful.
I charge what passes for a man. With both hands, I bring the cutlass down.