Vakkler stares blankly.
Why must everything go wrong at once? All we're lacking is a drow invasion.
There is a second or two of sudden and complete darkness, then a soft yellow-green light shines from the back-side of a ridiculously large Lightning Bug-Spin.
She walked back into the gym.
"Keaton, would you mind taking over for the rest of this class period? I've got to fix the power grid. There was an incident. Also I have to fix the plumbing. Preferably before anyone has to use the bathroom since apparently all the drains are now stopped up. Actually, I think I'll have to get James to fix that. The point being that I'm a bit tied up at the moment. Don't worry, kids, everything is contained now, just needs a little repair is all," she added, trying to sound cheerful.
Vakkler glances towards the boxes, and decides the oozes are secure for now. He heads off to the teacher's lounge.
Once there, he goes to the grate Eldritch Jello escaped through earlier. With difficulty, the kobold lifts it, and jumps down.
Plus, Egon told her not to cross the streams.
There is a second or two of sudden and complete darkness, then a soft yellow-green light shines from the back-side of a ridiculously large Lightning Bug-Spin.
"That is so cool!" she whispered to Amada. "Yes, I know I think everything he does is cool. I can't help it," she added defensively.
She walked back into the gym.
"Keaton, would you mind taking over for the rest of this class period?"
"No problem, Aananada, I was thinking of helping you out today anyway. I don't have a Theology class to teach until later." He turns to the students and flashes that smile again. "I guess introductions are in order. I am Mr. Antairus, but you may call me Keaton if you wish."
"Now," he says with a slight tap from cane. "I can't throw boulders like Mrs. Sunwake can.." His smile grows bigger as he hears several students sigh in relief. "But I have my own ways of making you move and I assure they are no less strenuous!"
He puts his cape up on a hook and turns to face the class.
"Okay, it's time for one of my favorite exercises! Now, in a few moments the lights will dim to the point that you can just barely see. This is supposed to happen. There will be obstacles that you have to dodge around and use to hide.. for a while."
"For one minute while the lights are out, your main objective to to keep from being caught by me. If you are caught the magic of the room will paralyze you until after the lights come on. Any questions?"
Spinning back into normal form, Spin shrugs with a grin. The lights go out. We hide. Gotcha.
She quickly stretched again, trying to release some of the tension from earlier. This was going to be a lot more difficult than the boulders. She expected to be 'out' pretty quickly in this game of freeze tag. The only reason she was even in this class was to keep her away from Nala and because she could phase through rocks she wasn't usually in any real danger. She bounced on her toes waiting for Uncle Keaton to say go.
She muttered happily to herself as she repaired the power grid...and added a few improvements. After all, why not? She was already here and it didn't really take much longer than just fixing it would...
"No questions?" Keaton says, a little sad. Usually at least one student had something to say. Oh well, it can't be helped this time. With a tap of his cane the lights go grow dim. Someone screams and then you hear the dangerous whisper.
"Go!"
The lights go out all over the school.
[Blink, Blink]
"Hmmm...."
Ephebe took off darting this way and that. She knew from experience that hiding inside the wall was frowned on, so she looked for somewhere else to hide...
Something black cuts through the darkness and another student yells as he's paralyzed.
"Come on, you should be able to do better than this! I've already gotten two of you!"
She ducks behind something, and crouches down, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Asch grins as the lights drop allowing him to watch as the other students freak out over the loss of vision. He moves around the room quickly to avoid being touched.
"That one is rather quick..." Keaton thinks as he raps a student trying to sneak up him on the head with his cane. "Not many people can escape my sight, even for a short time." He flicks his hand out toward Asch and the tattoos one his under, hidden from veiw by his sleeve, glow faintly as the floor in front of Asch becomes greasy and treacherous...
Asch easily avoids the greased section of flooring and keeps moving.
Remembering the impromptu instructor's alternate form, a plan coalesces in Spin's mind. As the lights flash out, his form spins into that of a cheetah, and he streaks noiselessly off into the dark on his padded paws. All of his senses (including scent) stretch out seeking the dark hunter.
Ephebe shrieked briefly as she froze, her hiding place not being quite good enough.
Ephebe shrieked briefly as she froze, her hiding place not being quite good enough.
"I can't believe this. I know you don't have much fighting skill, but I would think you could have at least kept yourself moving. You have such a strong spirit too.." Keaton says as he lays a hand on Ephebe's shoulder. "Caught."
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Oh well. Maybe tomorrow!
Nasima drifts in a strange and directionless plane. She is no stranger to planar travel, though, so while a bit disorienting at first she quickly acclimates. All around her are fantastically beautiful and terrible and powerful and swirling clouds and storms; tornados, hurricanes, blast gales and cyclones. Beneath her is sky, above her is sky. All around, nothing but endless, horizonless air. Three suns burn in various places, so all is illuminated. The sylph floats effortlessly. Or maybe falls endlessly, it's hard to tell.
Am I home? she thinks to herself. I don't recall this part of the plane of Air. In a monstrous and anvil-shaped storm cloud high above are giant bolts of blue-white lightning, each as thick as a small moon. They shoot across the sky and disappear into the distance. A fearsome and red-eyed skull the size of a mountain abruptly thrusts itself out of the towering cloud and glares directly at the miniscule child of air. Nasima blanches.
"Khoda..." she says. He has never appeared to her before, not ever. With hideous silence he drifts down like a shark floating softly up to a victim, surrounded by storm cloud and leaving tendrils of smoke and rain and lightning and vapor as he approaches.
Panicking, Nasima turns herself into a cloud and summons breezes to push her along. They are too slow. The Little Guys cannot push as fast as the god of the storm plane can move. She is in his plane, and the laws are his will here.
"Oh gods. Oh gods. Oh gods. Help. Help! SOMEONE! HELP!"
The storm god whirls in front of her with terrible and predatory swiftness, cutting her off and scattering the poor Little Guys, shearing them into tiny aimless zephyrs and spreading them around the sky. 'Sima resumes her solid form. Her heart is hammering in her chest and her palms are slick with sweat. Her breath comes in gulps. Eyes wide in terror she prepares to face him, though she knows it is her end.
He eats planets. I can't even eat a pancake. she thinks "What do you want with me, Khoda?!" She wishes her voice didn't sound so tremulous.
"You were hurt." he answers and Nasima flinches at first, but then looks wonderously at the horrid giant skull in front of her that is speaking directly to her mind, and in a voice that is powerful and strident, like thunder, but surprisingly seemly, almost concerned. "Now you are not. You must not die. Be still." A tendril of cloud shoots out and plunges into Khoda's eye, causing Nasima to flinch and stick out her tongue. "Gross!"
"BE SILENT!" He roars, and she clams up in fright as his thunderous voice booms and ricochets around. Nasima can't help but wonder what it's ricocheting off of.
The cloud tendril then withdraws from his eye socket and there is a small stone at its tip, like a raindrop made solid. No, it's a ruby. No, it's... The stone touches her forehead and she arches her back as a million volts of power shoot through her tiny body. She opens her mouth to scream but only lightning comes out. The cloud withdraws. 'Sima's vision is swimming and blurring. "Use the stone." intones Khoda, and all goes black and shifty.
"Keep an eye on her, James, and no funny business." The healer says sternly, then steps into the next room for smelling salts. Jiminy watches her walk away then turns back when he hears Nasima moan softly. His eyes get wide and his eyebrows shoot up as she whimpers a couple times. He opens his mouth to speak but she suddenly arches her back all the way up into a badly overextended bridge, or wheelback. Her mouth opens and lightning rockets out right at Jiminy's head.
*FFFSSHZHZZZZZZZZKKKKKKKK*
"AAAAGGH-huh?" He screams and covers his head with his arms, then peers out as he realizes the lightning stopped short and is ricocheting off a force wall and being absorbed by a discharger clipped to Nasima's finger and keyed to her energy type. The healer, standing in the door, watches closely but gives a short laugh at Jiminy's terrified position.
"No way was I gonna leave Little Miss Lightning Bolt here uncontained while out cold." she shakes her head. "Poor thing. Wonder if it's like a possession? We could maybe do something about that." Thinking better of it, she sighs. "Ah, but I suppose if it was just a possession she wouldn't be here, would she? Tch."
The lightning stops and 'Sima is again prone. There is a hissing noise and the smell of burnt flesh, and the healer and Jiminy look as a small stone -- a diamond by all appearances -- of alien cut and tremendous beauty appears, fused in her flesh. It is about a half-inch high and a little less than half as wide, and just slightly raised. Light seems to get trapped in it, bouncing crazily and being sort of...consumed by the stone.
Nasima's eyes open.
"Oh. Hi. I'm...I'm sorry...I'm...Oh, James! Hello. Am I in trouble? If I'm...here...with Jiminy I...figure I...must be in...troublllee..." She sort of trails off but remains conscious. James makes a face at her inference but says nothing.
The healer strokes her temple. "Shhhh...quiet dear. You're quite dehydrated, which is bad for anyone but for a sylph it's near a death sentence. You just rest for a bit. You've had quite a first day. After you've rested, we'll talk some more." She pulls a thin blanket over 'Sima and lets her drift. She turns to Jiminy. "Thank you, James. That will be all. Shouldn't you be in class?"
Ephebe would have sighed if she could have moved. Being frozen wasn't a lot of fun. And why exactly was it that everyone seemed to expect so much from her? Everything she'd done had been a total disaster. And she was so tired of pretending to be confident and capable. She waited impatiently for the exercise to be over.
Nala shifted restlessly in her chair. Cryptozoology was dull enough to start with, but once the power went out and they ended up sitting in the near dark with nothing but a few candles lit it was almost impossible to stay awake.
He mind drifted to her plans for the rest of the day. She was going to have to find a way to talk to that boy alone again. The one who made Ephebe smile. She'd worked too hard making that wretched girl miserable to have anyone spoiling it now. She checked the clock again. Still ten more minutes of class time to go. And she still had so much to do to finalize her plans for after the snipe hunt. She tapped her pencil against her desk until the instructor glared at her. She smiled apologetically and pretended to pay attention.
Vakkler climbs out of the sewer. The kobold looks surprisingly clean. His clothing is torn, and there are a few slight burns. "Bloody brats..." he mutters. "Whoever flushed those muskrats is in a lot of trouble."
He heads to the teacher's lounge.
Moments before it was time for the bell to ring signalling the end of the first class period, Aananda finally brought the power grid back on line. She smiled, satisfied with a job well done.
The lights come back on all over the school.
[Blink, Blink]
"Hmmm...."
The light in the gym returns to normal with Keaton just a few feet from Asch.
"I'm impressed. I only got about half of the class this time." He says as he goes to get his cape. "I have to admit, I expected to catch a much greater number of you, since for most it is your first day here."
The bell rings, signaling the end of class.
"However, none of you said anything when the minute was up. Fear(and boredom for those I caught) can make one experience time differently. Class dismissed."
As the lights come up and Mr. Keaton announces the end of the game, students begin to come out of hiding or un-freeze. One frozen student, a nearly seven-foot tall red-skinned orc-looking kid who was apparently frozen while trying to hide on his hands and kneeds behind a fallen ceiling section half his size spins and distorts into the familiar smiling form of Spin… who's obviously very pleased with his success.
He looks at the dark instructor, "Or it could be that we were enjoying actually succeeding at the exercise." He gives a thumbs up to Asch's success as he turns to Ephebe, "Sorry, i tried to give you a heads up as Mr. Keaton was heading towards you, but he moves too fast."
"No, it's okay," she said. "At least I wasn't the first one caught this time. Plus, I didn't get reamed out for hiding in the wall. Didn't realize that was a no-no the first time I played this game." She glanced back at Uncle Keaton as she scooped up her bag. "I just don't get why they always seem to expect so much more of me. It's like they think I'm holding back when really I'm just not that good."
"I just don't get why they always seem to expect so much more of me. It's like they think I'm holding back when really I'm just not that good."
"Something about the way you traveled a few decades ago, and what you were doing during those travels, I'm sure."
"I just don't get why they always seem to expect so much more of me. It's like they think I'm holding back when really I'm just not that good.""Something about the way you traveled a few decades ago, and what you were doing during those travels, I'm sure."
"Yeah," she grimaced. "That was two weeks ago my time."
"Also, you guys remember me as being way more awesome than I was. Probably because you weren't as powerful back then as you are now. I mean, seriously, Uncle Keaton, it took me three years worth of screwing it up before I got it right. It's easy to seem more competent when you already know what's coming."
Keaton shakes his head. He walks over to Ephebe and whispers to her.
He leaves then, his cape billowing as he walks off.