Dot away!
All around is a wall of sickly yellow fog, tumbling through the alley’s canyon of crumbling, gray brick walls like some jaundiced flash flood. Ahead, the unfamiliar alley splits, curving to the left and right. Behind, from the silent swell of mist, emanates the sound of footsteps—slow, but somehow keeping pace with the careening, hungry wave.
I need initiative rolls from everyone, please.
Cellaich, what will do you? Face the fog? Take one of the branches? Or something else entirely?
Cellaich listens for a moment to the footsteps. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he quickly looks around for a proper escape. He looks to his left, then to his right, peering down the branching paths. He curses loudly before sprinting down the alley to the left. As he runs, he lays his hand on his hip, drawing his sword to be ready for what may come- should he be left to defend himself rather than flee.
Springy, what do you choose to do?
As for Springy herself, she hops down an offered alleyway a couple of steps, then casts Silent Image to pop up a wall that looks like the rest of the decrepit wall.
Why? So she can see what's making those footsteps, of course. And fool whatever's making them into skipping her over.
Jagray, what will you do?
Jagray takes a deep breath before the fog reaches him and holds it as long as he can. He stands defiantly in the path of the mist as he draws his trusty battleaxe, gripping it tightly, prepared to face his fears.
Endol, you're up. What will you do?
Endol straightens to his full height and stares down the stranger in the fog hand away from his sword confident that he could get to it if he needed.
'run,run quickly'
"Stop skulking come forward and face me"
Amestri, what will you do?
Amestri, in an attempt to gauge what danger is in the fog moves partway down the branch to the right, turns, and pauses. She watches to see what will happen to the dwarf and ratfolk facing it and to the gnome hiding from it. She stands ready to either join combat or run as appropriate.
The fog rolls on, filling the air around you, making it harder to see and hear anything but the echoing footsteps which suddenly... stop. Sudden explosions of pain fill your consciousness, as if you are being stabbed from five different directions at once. You hear the wet ripping sound of flesh being torn, and a terrible, piercing scream, which you suddenly realize is yours as everything goes black.
The clammy fog roils, enveloping you, until you can hardly see. The sounds of the footsteps grow louder and closer. You hear a horrifying scream, and the sounds of skin meeting a blade, which is not unfamiliar to you. A gout of blood sprays out of the fog, splashing across the broken cobbles at your feet. As you look down, you realize the blood spatter spells out the word "me". You look up from the blood just in time to see a wicked-looking blade materialize out of the fog and blur past you. You just have time to think, That was close! before everything starts to tilt sideways, and you fall. Your head smacks off the cobblestones, as your sight is tinged with red. The last thing you see is your own still-standing body as it goes limp and falls.
The alley walls sag, battered brick slumping over the path, nearly blotting out the bruised twilight sky. Again the grimy cobblestone path splits. This time one route curves uphill, while the other recklessly descends. Behind, the yellow fog and the relentless sound of pursuit grow closer. You hear screams and grunts from behind you as you run. Each time you glance over your shoulder, the fog appears closer, as if gaining on you. You hear the sound of quickening footsteps. The air grows chill as the fog overtakes you, and suddenly you can barely see ten feet ahead of you. You trip over a chunk of broken stone, and stumble to a stop. A shower of blood sprays forth from the fog, soaking the walls and stones in front of you. You see three words left behind in bloody smears as the ichor runs slowly down the incline of the alley. On the left wall, "save". On the right, "up". On the ground at your feet, "me". Suddenly, from within the fog behind you... or was it in front... with the fog all around it is hard to tell... you hear three voices repeating the words, over and over. "...up" "...me" "...save" Then a bit louder. "Up." "Me." "Save." The voices grow more insistent and forceful. "Up!" "Me!" "Save!" You hear the footsteps again, growing ever closer.
"Save... up... w-what? What the hell is going on?!" Celliach tries to scramble to his feet, looking behind him to see only more fog, leaving him with no escape. He grips his sword tightly and takes a deep breath, attempting to steel himself.
You feel a warm tickle in your mustache, and then something drips onto your hand. You see a drop of blood, and realize that you have a nosebleed. As little droplets of blood drip down, you see another word forming in blood on the wall. It says, "Wake". You put your free hand up to your nose, to staunch the blood, as you think over the words. "Up." "Wake." "Me." "Save." The words roll in your mind, then it is clear. "Wake up. Save me." A voice you don't recognize booms in your head. "WAKE UP! SAVE ME!" You spin, convinced that the voice came from somewhere in the fog, and as you turn about, a blade sweeps out of the fog, slamming into your chest, the pain erupting through your being. After a long moment, you slump, and the dark swallows you whole, bringing a respite from the pain, from... everything.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You each awaken in a frantic rush, shocked and bewildered, since the last thing you remember is your death. You're alive and... in some kind of cell?
As each of you come to, and regain your senses, you realize that yes, you are in cells; that you remember your name, but everything else is a blank. You don't know where you are, or why you're here. You don't recognize the other people in the cell with you, or the man strapped to the table outside the cells, who is yelling for you to wake up and help him.
And you have no recollection of the tall figure, unsettlingly thin and wearing a blood-smeared doctor’s coat, who circles the table casually, stopping every so often to scrutinize one of the man’s wounds or select a different object from a sideboard full of shiny blades. She spins one blade of a broken pair of pruning shears, which glints in the dull light of the lamp suspended overhead. With careless cruelty, she draws the blade across the bound man’s bare thigh, releasing a tortured wail.
Cellaich, you feel a droplet of something hit your leg and realize that your nose is still bleeding. You are in a cell with a dwarf and a gnome with pink hair, each of whom is wearing the same tattered, ratty robe you see on yourself.
Amestri, you see a human with a bloody nose, a dwarf, and a pink-haired gnome in the cell across from yours, and as you hear a slight scuffle, you look to the side and notice a ratfolk man, also in robes, in your cell.
"Wake up, damn it!" the man on the table screams, his voice hoarse and panicked.
The tall woman in the white coat chuckles. "You're wasting your breath. They won't wake up for a while yet."
Cellaich quickly realizes that staying quiet would be beneficial to his continued health, and looks to his cellmates. Upon recognizing that they're just as unarmed as he is, he looks across to the other occupied cell briefly before staring at the man on the table and the tall woman, narrowing his eyes to get a closer look as he wipes the blood from his upper lip.
The tall olive-skinned woman starts to come to, and groggily looks around the room. As she starts to take in the scene, she first notices the man on the table being tortured by the unusually unsettling woman, and her violet eyes glint with excitement.
She then notices the three ragged ... prisoners? ... people in the other cell, and turns to see the ratfolk man confined with her. As she looks at him, she realizes ...
By the light! He can see me! Startled that he is able to see her clearly, but unsure why this is so important to her, she lets out a low pitched wail and throws herself down into the corner of the cell, feeling strangely naked.
I must protect these people. Wait...what is going on? For their sake, I shouldn't let them see my face, I CAN'T let them see my eyes ... but why?
Continuing to wail softly, she stays huddled facing the corner and begins tearing a strip of cloth off of the bottom of her robe.
Amestri's vocalizations causes the hairs on the back of Cellaich's neck to stand on end. He whips his head around to see her huddling in the corner and furrows his brow, worried that she just gave away the fact that they're fully conscious. He quickly starts looking around his cell for anything that might be usable to defend himself, be it a broken-off iron bar, or simply a large enough rock to hit someone over the head with.
The gnome wakes up, lurches forward, and laughs into her hands before flopping back against the bed. The tall folk seemed busy. Seem busy. Will be busy, in perpetuity, from now. Best not to bother them.
That dream had been a rush, hadn't it? Oh, but that wasn't important. Isn't important. Won't be important, in perpetuity, from now? The gnome known as...
Hm. A problem. What is her name, anyways? She needed one. Needs one currently. Will need one in perpetuity, since people are nearby. Ah! The joys of names and the needs thereof. Looking around, she spies a cot in terrible repair, left low to the ground. Of course she spies it, she was on it. Is on it. Will be on it, in perpetuity, until she stands.
The cot showed signs of wear, bits of the ratty mattress showing through. She decided her name was Springy... Bedpost, looking over at the cot beside her. Yes, Springy Bedpost was her name. Is her name. Will be her name, in perpetuity, from now.
With the important bits decided, she sits up and looks over at the others in her cell.
"Well. Guess who knows what her guts feel like splayed out on the ground now?" she asks, chipper as a canary in a coal mine.
As soon as the gnome speaks, Celliach takes in a sharp breath through his nose and sighs in exasperation. Now the doctor definitely knew they were awake.
The cell you are in appears to be clean and well-maintained, Cellaich, as if someone took its purpose seriously. That said, you do find a chipped bit of stone from the floor, about half the size of your fist.
Cellaich picks up the bit of stone, feeling its weight in his hand before closing his palm around it, ready to throw at the first sign of danger.
The doctor spins around upon hearing the gnome speak. With a wicked grin, she calls out, "Keep silent. It will be your turn soon enough." She resumes pacing around the table, pausing just long enough to replace the shear handle with a long piece of jagged green glass, which she begins to lightly trace across the man's chest. He groans, as small beads of blood well up from his skin.
"That... doesn't seem like a proper surgery," Cellaich murmurs, narrowing his eyes and closing his grip around the rock in his hand. While his sense of morals tugs at him to attack the "doctor," he quickly decides that doing so would only put the victim, himself, and everyone else in a heightened state of danger. He curses under his breath yet again, looking down at his feet.
"Oh, no it won't. You're handling it aaaaall wrong."
The gnome gets out of bed, looking over at Cellaich with the bit of stone in his hand. She has an idea.
"Don't you know anything about glass? You go in, not over. Over is for dumb people who don't want to learn anything. In lets you see inside. With a green tint! But hey, since you're dumb people anyways I guess that's nooo problem for you, longleg! I mean, heaven forbid that you ever be a proper whatever-you-are. Can't even use glass right."
The woman places the strip of cloth over her eyes and tries to look around the room, and mumbles "Too thick. Can't really see." She turns back to the corner and starts separating the layers of the cloth to make it thinner.
Jagray wakes startled after hearing the high pitched gnome lecturing someone about glass. Before anything else he grabs his neck feeling for any wounds or scars. Relieved his head seems to still be properly attached to his body he grunts as he picks himself up off the floor.
"What is all this racket about?" He levels a glare at the gnome, then realizes he has no idea where he is or how he got there. Taking in his surroundings he blurts out "What in the nine hells is going on 'ere?"
Endol is startled awake the pain in his head causing his thoughts to spin, he carefully reaches a hand up to test the source of the pain and is pleased to feel no wetness, ’My hair… before that thought goes anywhere a second scream reminds him what woke him and he looks around his vision swimming ’I’ll need to visit the chirurgeon about this head wound’ spotting his cell mates, a gnome, a dwarf and two other humans, a cell well at least that can be taken care of easily enough his brothers in the ))@$(%* society will bail him out.
The conversation between the woman in the white coat and her “patient’ draws his attention, ”at least she thinks we are still unconscious’ as that thought completes the gnome announces they are awake. He works to gather his thoughts and when the dwarf speaks out he moves to his side to add some authority to his demand for information.
The doctor spins towards the caged dwarf. "I said to be quiet! How on earth is a person supposed to think with all this racket?" She raises the glass shard to gesture at you while she speaks, gripping it tight enough that you see a bit of blood welling out from between her fingers.
Having successfully bound the cloth around her head, covering her eyes and as much of her face as possible, Amestri turns and takes in the room carefully.
She watches the scene around the table in the center of the room looking for any clue as to how she got there or how she can get free.
She addresses the unusual woman waving the shard of glass around. "Excuse me ma'am, but I believe the little one in the other cell is correct. I'm not sure if your goal is punishment or to gather information, but in either case it does nothing to just graze him with the glass. Perhaps he is your lover and your goal is foreplay? The gentle touch of a blade can be quite sensual. If you let me, I can show you much more interesting methods for whatever your goal might be."
This woman seems unhinged. If we can keep her distracted and confused, she might make a mistake we can take advantage of
The ratfolk moves forward and reaches out to test the cell door.
"You would do well to free me, And these others"
Jagray moves to the cell door and rattles the door, trying to force it open "Ya want me ta be quiet, than let me out o' this forsaken cell!"
While working on the cell door he looks around for anything that may be of use in attempting to get out.
Cellaich lets out another sigh, watching as the dwarf attempts to free himself.
"You're better off staying in here, you know. At least then there's a barrier between yourself and the woman with a weapon."
He narrows his eyes, looking the doctor up and down as he attempts to discern if she carries the keys to their cells.
Amestri rolls her eyes as she hears the human address the dwarf. In a calm measured tone she hisses at him scornfully.
"Yes, of course, because cowering behind bars waiting to be taken to that table one at a time is such a good idea. In the words of Ghadir al-Gohar:
"To not strike first is to invite defeat, yet to strike first is to embrace war. Neither is the better choice. Neither is the right choice. But to make no choice is the worst option of all."
Does this man wish to die on that table like a coward?
I agree with sir dwarf on this, we would be better off engaging than doing nothing."
She resumes looking around the room for any means of getting past the bars.
While looking, she addresses the woman again. "Miss, have you thought about my offer? I'd be more than happy to show you much better ways to torture or to share sensuality if you stop waving that glass around and let me come out there and join you. Are you afraid I'm more of a woman than you are and you'd lose his attention?"
"Wait, wait, waaaaaait! I know what this is! This is that one concept! Net tore rare! When the person you like gets stolen because of foreplay and things like that!" She's half being annoying on purpose, and half actually amazed at seeing such a rare thing with her own eyes. She thinks it's rare, anyways.
"Is it really okay? Or are you one of those sexy bitionists? That's what this is, right?"
Cellaich coughs. Not because he's sick, but because he's quickly growing more and more uncomfortable with the womens' talk of sex, and is almost beginning to wish it was him strapped to the table about to be killed. Not in a sexy way, either.
[ooc]Jagray and Cellaich, as the doctor moves around the table, her coat flaps and you spot a ring of keys attached to her belt.
Jagray, you are unable to budge the bars.[/poc]
As the gnome spouts off her sex theories, the doctor rushes over to the bars separating them. Grabbing hold with one hand, she reaches the arm holding the glass through, trying to slash at the gnome. Almost incoherent with rage, she shouts, "I SAID TO SHUDDUP!", spittle spraying from her mouth.
Springy smiles, unflinching.
"Gotcha."
Heedless of the danger of the swinging glass, she goes for the arm holding it to keep her there. There's three people in here, after all...
As the doctor turns to attack at the gnome in his cell, Cellaich quickly lunges forward, his arm darting through the bars of the cell as he attempts to swipe the keyring from the doctor's belt while the gnome distracts her.
Between Cellaich and Springy, you hold her still just long enough to grab the keys. The doctor gives a shriek of frustration as she pulls her arm back. She darts back over to the table and picks up the largest item left on it, a chipped cleaver. "You think you're tricksy? Ahahahaeheheha. When I'm slicing the meat from your bones we'll see if I can find the tricks!"
She casually swings the cleaver off to the side, slicing the foot of the man strapped to the table. He cries out in pain.
Cellaich quickly steps toward the cell gate, reaching through and sticking the keys in the lock one by one until he finds the correct one. Upon getting the door unlocked, he swings it open wide before throwing the keys through into the cell opposite his where Amestri and Endol reside. He looks back to Jagray and Bedpost before tightening his fist around the stone, planting his feet, and throwing it hard at the doctor to get her attention away from the man on the table.
Amestri grabs the keys that she all of a sudden finds at her feet and gets the second cell unlocked. She steps out of the cell and watches for a minute, deciding what her next course of action should be.
There seem to be people here better suited to take that woman on physically. The man should be my primary focus for now.
---------------------------------------------------------
She waits for the woman to be distracted, and as soon as she is, Amestri dodges in and places her hand on the man's forehead.
HP
---------------------------------------------------------
The doctor ducks the hastily thrown rock and responds by throwing her cleaver towards Cellaich and bolting to the east. As she turns to run, she changes before your eyes, leaving a hairless, long-limbed creature with silvery skin in a bloody lab coat running for the door in the east wall. Concurrent with this, you see a woman from the cage on the other side with a bandage around her eyes step out and place a hand on the bound man, who sighs with relief at her touch, though he still looks plenty injured.