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This adventure begins "in medias res" (in the middle of action).
Whatever your origins, whatever your situations, every single one of you is now in the same location. You are in a city -- a city you *faintly* recognize, but can't place, like a word that's right at the tip of your tongue but continues to elude you. For the life of you, you can't remember what this city is, or when you have been there -- or even IF you have been there! Maybe you only know it from some pictures, descriptions? If only you had a moment to think and focus, maybe you could figure it out. But you don't.
You see, you're fleeing. Fleeing for your life. A thick, billowing fog is roiling down the streets of this city you can't identify. The fog is a sickly citrine yellow in color, like faded pus or poisonous gas. And somehow -- *somehow* -- you just *KNOW* that some relentless threat lurks within the fog. Something that you really, *really* don't want to catch you.
What is your next action?
All player characters are in the same location and can see each other, but none of you recognize each other, so you're just a group of strangers.
Biting down on her lips in fear Miuki sprints away from the fog... as far away as she can.
Do not cry, don´t don´t don´t. IF you cry they can hear you!
"F~##! F&@!! F$+%!"
Her first action is to yell f~$& a lot, for the Vermilion Vixen finds fleeing in terror rather un-heroic, but getting herself or the lovely ladies around her killed would be just plain stupid.
Her second action is to gamble that one of the cuter lightweights can cast a spell, and the only thing stopping her is that to cast, one needs to not be running.
Running alongside some sweet petite thing, VV offers, "Need a lift, Cutie? I carry ye, ye work some magic to save our asses?"
She will not try this stunt without permission, and will continue full run if no one goes along with the stunt.
The porcelain android continues running, tireless, ceaseless, afraid. Her crimson hair flows behind her as if without weight, drifting through tendrils of fog like a snake in the water.
She breathes loudly as she runs, each breath coming out as a low grunt, a faint blue light emanating from her mouth.
Who were these people? What was this place? What, what had she been doing?
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A spectacularly astute question. I'll let the adventure itself answer you:
Use an Item: A PC who chooses to use an item provokes a startling discovery among all the characters. Tell each PC to roll 1d4. The result is how many of the items the character has listed on her character sheet that she actually has. Have every character mark or otherwise note that number of items. These are the only items the character currently has with her. This includes weapons, armor, magic items, objects required for class abilities (like holy symbols and spellbooks)—everything.
So everyone roll 1d4 and choose that many items that you have with you right now.
Taking a moment from running to look around, Malarra spots the other women, then proceeds to ignore them, praying to... to...
"I worshiped something once... what was it?" The drow woman almost stops in her tracks upon the realization that she had no clue as to who or what she prayed to. Snapping herself out of it as she catches an eye on the terror fog creeping closer, she sets off away from it. With luck they didn't notice me. She knows that it is important not to be noticed... she feels it in her bones... but for the life of her she cannot remember why.
Danior stumbles and glances around in confusion as she awakens in the strange city among a group of strangers, all fleeing for their lives from the same horrible fog. All her instincts scream at her to run, and she just manages to keep her feet under her and propel herself forward alongside them.
She looks down at her hands, which possess a strange bruise-purple pallor in the sickly yellow light, and recognizes the items gripped tightly in her fists. A crude wooden stake and... a mirror? "What am I supposed to do with this?!" she cries, holding it aloft in front of her.
The Vixen says to Cutie, "Normally I'd offer to buy ye dinner before getting handsy, but matter o' life and death—"
The Vixen runs alongside, getting in Cutie's personal bubble.
"—I carry. Ye cast. Say when!"
As soon as Cutie permits, the Vixen scoops her into her mighty arms, true hero that she is!
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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.
Roll for initiative, then you may take one single standard action.
Erisa flees the roiling gas trying desperately to stay ahead of it. She keeps glancing over her shoulder checking on if its gaining on her or if its slowing down. Feeling the heavy mace bouncing against her leg as she's running, she takes it into her hand to stop it from bruising her and slowing her down. The warm leather feels comforting in her hand.
The Vixen is quite certain that her plan to carry a magic user and run full sprint is brilliant! This's the stuff heroes're made o'!
In fact, she's so sure of herself that she's slow to react as the surrounding women all make their moves!
Her action will be to run with them or stand with them...
The fog, pouring in from all sides seemingly, finally corals Malarra where she feels she can run no further. The other strange women she found herself herded with seem to have kept pace - Why was it that I didn't want to be around others again? Oh well, I guess I can only hope it wasn't that they were on the side of ... whatever it is in the fog... - but some of them also seem to be stopping at this strange intersection.
Muttering a curse, the drow turns to face the oncoming slow, methodical footsteps. "I wish I knew what it was I prayed to... I might ask for something. Like courage... or perhaps a weapon of some kind." As she says this, the shadows around her coalesce around her hand, startling her. Looking at them, she notices that they have formed into a thin, long blade with a pointed tip. It feels familiar in her hands, as if she had used one countless times before, but for whatever reason even the name of the strange blade escaped her. "Well, I guess this... thing... will do. Thank you, whomever."
The android squats, growling, teeth bared. She grips a wicked weapon in both hands, a farmer's scythe on a long curving handle, but somehow, her teeth seem deadlier.
Danior pivots, standing half-crouched and defensive among a group of complete strangers as the fog creeps closer and closer from all sides. She grips the wooden stake so tightly that her knuckles turn white, torn between rushing forward and stabbing wildly into the yellow clouds, and waiting for whoever or whatever is lurking within them to come out; if only there were two of her!
Where the hell am I!
Saiya doesn't remember what she's doing here, who these people are, or what that thing is in the fog. At the moment, none of that seems important.
Whatever it is, it's getting closer!
She sees some of her...allies? grabbing weapons. Looking down she realizes her rapier is in her hand, her fingers clutched tightly around the hilt.
No. Nonononono. She doesn't know what's going on, but she can't fight whatever's in the fog. She knows that instinctively. Maybe these people can, and good luck to them, but she's not sticking around to find out. Choosing a direction at random, she keeps running along the alley to the left.
No swearing, no panicking, only running, running, running. Always running. Even as her legs pump, carrying her onwards, Jassminder takes stock of what she has: no armour (fine. It would only slow her down). Her bow (no arrows). Her falchion.
Her shoulders, joints and muscles scream in protest: she still hasn't recovered from the enhanced interrogation she underwent. The fog looks tireless. She is not.
She looks around at the strangers fleeing alongside her. "If we keep running, we'll just get picked off when we tire. Rationally, we should face whatever's chasing us now, before we're exhausted."
Panting, lungs bursting, she draws the double-handed weapon off her back and takes up a fighting stance. The blade trembles as her muscles try to control it; she glares, and the trembling stops. Briefly.
"Or you can keep running. In which case I probably won't hold it for long. But I'm damned if I'm going to die fleeing."
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The fog billows forward quickly, filling the streets and alleyways where you are. Vixen and Saiya keep running to avoid the fog, while some others either slow down or stop entirely to prepare, to intimidate, or other activities. That means the fog starts to overrun some of them...
Danior who pivoted and stood is the first one to start being enveloped by the sickly yellow fog. As more and more of the fog envelops her, blocking her from view of the other six people present, you start to hear sounds that people shouldn't hear. The ripping of flesh, the snapping of bone, the wrenching of joints and tendons. Out of the yellow fog, sprays of blood eject, enough fluids to fill a beer mug or several, flying all over the place and coating the brick walls and cobblestones in dark red splatters, with some bits of flesh and bone among the goo.
The remaining seven characters may take a standard action.
Miyuki uses her spell like ability to conjure dancing lights at the fog, trying to make sense of it.
Saiya casts an incredulous look backward at the fighter who seemed prepared to make a last stand. There's no difference between dying fighting and dying running. Dead is dead either way. Besides, if I can get far enough ahead maybe I'll find someplace to hide. She's good at hiding. She doesn't remember ever doing so, but somehow she knows that much.
The sounds coming from inside the fog cement her decision. She stopped to fight and something tore her apart. That's not happening to me!
She keeps running, not wasting her breath trying to convince the others to do the same. If they were smart, they'd run too. If not...
The punchline of a morbid joke flashes through her mind. 'I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you!'
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The dancing lights make some pretty lightshows inside the fog, kind of like lightning strikes inside a cloud, if you've ever seen them. But the lightshow does not reveal any new information. You thought that maybe you could see some kind of shapes moving in there for a moment, but it was so fleeting -- and then they were gone, and maybe they weren't there at all.
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For my ease of adjudication, please conclude your posts during this scene by an OOC note that summarizes your post into one standard action. For example:
<paragraph of text>
That will make it easier for me to distinguish what is just descriptive text and what is the actual game mechanical action you take.
Malarra blinks at the blood spraying out from the fog, the sounds of viscera and bones snapping. "Perhaps you could have given me something a bit more... intimidating..." she says to the forgotten deity as she looks down at her rapier, then back at the ever approaching fog. Time to withdraw...
The drow turns and runs, choosing to go down the right side alleyway since she noticed the other woman had run down the alley to the left.
Jassminder narrows her eyes. She signed up to fight - there was never a promise that she'd win.
Raising her sword, she charges.
The android hesitates, but feeling synthetic adrenaline course through her veins, she charges the fog, announcing the charge with a primal yell.
The Tien one casts without accepting assistance, so VV respectfully sidesteps to give space. Brave. I best stand with me—
The Vixen is about to stop and stand with those who refuse to run. But—No...—a woman is ripped to shreds, exploding in a bloody mass!
No! NO! Think dammit! RUN! THINK! Like chewing and walking! MOVE, FOOL!
To sacrifice herself is meaningless. She keeps running. Two choices—
I know this city! I KNOW I know! I can save the rest—tell 'me which way!
Fog can't swim. A dead end it true to its name. Save 'em. Warn 'em...
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Matsu: Cast
Saiya: Run
Malarra: Run
Jass: Attack
Milady: Attack
Vixen: Run
Matsu, pausing to cast instead of running, has the best view of what happens when both Jass and Milady charge into the yellow fog. They seem to fare no better than Danior did, and outwardly at least the results are similar...at least...somewhat.
Again, as soon as the two women disappear into the fog, ripping and tearing and snapping and shredding noises begin, the volume of them so loud that you could swear it's all happening only a couple of feet from you -- no matter whether you're Matsu who stayed closer by, or one of those running away at full speed. Somehow, *somehow*, you can hear -- or is it *feel*?? -- those bonecrunching sounds right in the gut of your belly.
Regardless of whether you stayed in place (Matsu) or turned left or right (Saiya, Malarra, Vixen), you now face the following description:
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.
Again, just one standard action per character, for the five remaining of you.
Saiya winces at the crunching noises coming from the fog. She’s quickly losing any hope that this creature might be distracted or delayed. It’s ripped apart at least three people and it’s still right behind me. What can I do?
Run. That’s all she can do. Run and pray to...whom? Did she worship a god? She can’t remember.
She takes off downhill, hoping the slight increase in speed might somehow help her gain some distance.
F$+@ you, Cloud. I get yer game. I got only two moves. Non-suicidal plan first.
Figuring fog rises, the Vixen follows the Speedy One downhill, calling out to her and any others going that way, "Can any o' ye cast fire? Got a plan—need an answer—please don't stop and die for nothing!"
I can help. Just need one of 'em to believe it! Please believe it...!
Malarra blinks in surprise as the remaining others somehow get funneled into the same area as her once more, wincing at the sounds of crunching that maddeningly seem to be just a pace or two behind her no matter how fast she moves. Focus. Got to focus. Deaths do not seem to slow this thing. Maybe elevation might.
So thinking, she breaks away from her fellow "racers" as she heads up the hill instead of down it. Luck to them, but I am not following down. Fog goes down easier than it goes up... right?
A plan? What kind of plan could she have?
Saiya calls over her shoulder, ”Can’t do fire. Just keep running!”
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The mist parts, now mere steps behind. A mask of gray rags emerges, strips of something fleshier than fabric worming and constricting across a body that’s almost humanlike—but too lean, and far too flexible. Gauzy gray ribbons reach out like tendrils, each grasping for less doubtful flesh to claim.
<clickable link to image, should hopefully work>
You are now in full combat mode, and may take full round actions (or standard+move, as normal). The figure of rags/strips/ribbons (let's call him the Tatterman for now) is no further than one move action away from you, regardless of whether you went uphill or downhill.
beats all of yours, so he acts first.
The Tatterman follows the larger grouping downhill, where the Vixen follows Saiya and is therefore the trailing member of the group. The creature, whatever it is, reaches the Vixen first and assaults her viciously with its savage looking war razor, slicing her hard across the back and literally cutting her open, making her spine clearly visible in the bloody mass. It grabs the spine and gives it a few yanks, pulling it outward little by little and causing gushing sprays of blood, until the spine makes a little U shape outside the Vixen's body. The Tatterman makes a sort of a wheezing-cackling sound that comes out more like a 'sssssssss' through its sharp teeth.
Malarra, Saiya, Matsu and Erisa may post a full round's worth of actions.
Saiya screams as the stranger is ripped apart. She didn't have a chance! She turns and flees down the hill, any possible thought of strategy ignored in her desire to be as far away as possible.
Malarra sees the thing pursue the others as they go down hill, literally ripping the courageous spine from the one shouting about 'having a plan' of some sort. Time seems to slow momentarily as she idly notices the bizarre coincidence that the blood spray from the poor girl seemed to spell out M E. Odd... I wonder if that was deliberate somehow from the tattered murderous thing or if it was a happy little accident....
Shaking her head, she notices that the thing somehow seemed to be within striking distance of her despite having followed the others and their heading in opposite directions. I wonder why this thing is so omnipresent. Well, I guess I can always see if it bleeds. Somehow I doubt it... everyone else seems to die when they get close.
"Only one way to find out." She mutters to herself.
Turning around, she closes the distance and attempts to run the shadowy weapon she acquired earlier into the Tatterman.
Falling down as the vixen fell Miyuki rolls with it a bit and raises her hand to throw a spell at the enemy.
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Malarra is attacking the Tatterman, but Matsu is conveniently right there after eviscerating the Vixen, so there are two deliciously convenient targets right there for the entity, while Saiya keeps running away...
Matsu gains a moment of reprieve as the Tatterman is drawn more to the dark-skinned creature trying to stab it...unsuccessfully, as the creature's hide seems thick as metal, deflecting aside the shadow rapier.
The Vixen's dead head lolls to the side, and its jaw falls slack and a voice no one recognizes -- definitely not the Vixen's own voice -- echoes forth, as if from down a long hall. The word “me” resonates and repeats from deep within.
The Tatterman lunges forward, bringing its inhuman sharp-toothed maw right in Malarra's face, breathing a foul stench like the pits of Hell as it seems to bizarrely smile as it draws right up against Malarra, and its hands jolt upwards to grab her neck faster than the eye can blink. With a groan that seems like the wail of an undead, it sinks its sharp claws into Malarra's neck and wrenches violently, *violently*, shredding the meat of her neck and starting to tear the drow's head clean off. With a powerful yank, it finishes the job, separating Malarra's head from her body, causing the body to slump to the ground.
The Tatterman plays with Malarra's severed head, turning toward Matsu and making Malarra's jaw go up and down as if speaking, but no sound comes forth. That's when Matsu's Daze spell goes off...
...and goes through! The Tatterman is momentarily dazed by the spell, giving the survivors a few seconds of extra time.
Matsu, Erisa and Saiya still remain and may act. Two full rounds instead of one, thanks to the Daze spell.