Miyuki doesn´t notice anything.
"NOW, strike... kill it!"
Saiya looks back as the Tian woman yells. She vaguely notices that the Tatterman has claimed another victim, whose blood...spells out a word? 'Up.' What does that mean? But more importantly, she notices that the creature actually appears to be dazed. The spell worked!
Running hasn't helped; the creature is right behind her no matter where she goes. She'd been too panicked to consider magic before, and none of her spells were for combat anyway. But, now that she could see the creature, now that she knew mind-affecting spells could actually affect it...
There is one spell I could try.
Biting her lip, she ignores her instincts still screaming at her to RUN and goes back. Taking advantage of the creature's distraction, she moves her fingers in a practiced gesture. "Hey there. Remember me? It's your good friend Saiya. You wouldn't hurt your good friend, would you?"
A few tears slip down Saiya's face as she feels the spell fail. But she's committed now. She didn't run when she had the chance. And if she had, where could she go?
She tries again. "No, really. We're friends. Remember?"
When she sees the two options ahead, she thinks, the gas is roiling along the ground, its probably poison gas denser than air, so running up will hopefully mean it can't follow. When the monster emerges from the gas, she gasps but doesn't stop running.
Erisa glances over her shoulder, sees Saiya cast twice at the hideous monster, and fervently wishes the monster will be affected by the spell. She senses a slight change in reality at her wish and is startled at what just happened.
She continues to run away from the vile thing.
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Still no dice, pun intended. Misfortune used, but unfortunately no benefit gained out of it.
While the Tatterman is dazed, Malarra's head slips out of the monster's fingers and drops to the ground, whereupon it also speaks, like Vixen's head a few moments earlier. Just like that previous incident, Malarra's mouth lolls open, and a voice that is definitely not Malarra's emerges like from a long dark hallway, echoing with the word, "UP".
By now, Erisa has been running the most, so she's the safest from the Tatterman's attentions when the creature emerges from Matsu's Daze spell, and its eyes draw into focus once more. Now, Matsu and Saiya are the closest to it, and for the briefest of moments, it seems to pause to consider which one of them will be its next victim.
It seems the Tatterman took offense at the Daze effect, and decides to ensure that it won't happen again. Swinging its decrepit and rusty looking war razor, it shreds clean through Matsu's arm, cleaving it off, and finishes the razor's arc by swinging around and going through the other arm as well, sending both arms flying. Perhaps mercifully for Matsu, though, she's not given too many seconds to realize that her arms are gone, before the war razor stabs right onto her frontal lobe, smashing through her forehead and into her brain, removing her from among the currently sentient.
Saiya and Erisa remain and may act.
Saiya stares blankly at the blood splatter on the ground. The word 'SAVE' means nothing to her at this point. She's out of spells. She's out of time. Again, the morbid joke about outrunning the bear flits through her mind. There's only two people left. And with her one poor decision to try and charm the monster, she's been outrun.
She gazes up at the creature. "Fine you bastard. You win." She laughs, though there's no humor in it, and suddenly tries to stab the creature. "Then again, maybe your other victim was right all along. Maybe it is better to die fighting."
I'm going to die here. But I'll be damned if I give it the satisfaction of seeing me cower in terror.
Erisa sees yet another person ripped to shreds and remembering her wish changing reality a moment before, wishes really hard that she’d turn invisible or fly away or something miraculous.
Poop she thinks dejectedly when nothing extraordinary happens.
Hoping to buy some more time or that the creature will lose interest for some reason, she runs some more.
”Me”, “Up”, “Save” runs through her head. She thinks its odd that blood would splatter like that. Perhaps this is a dream.
Wait, can you read in a dream? she wonders. I should really look that up when I have time, she thinks. Then she feels really sad as she realizes there may never be a time she’ll get to read again. Well, except for her own blood splashed on the wall saying “You lose!”
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Matsu's jaw lolls open and out comes again the ghostly echoing voice that is not hers but someone else's, saying, "SAVE..."
Saiya's rapier connects, but is deflected off the Tatterman's metal-hard skin. And while she might have expected to be the next victim, it turns out she's wrong. Perhaps Erisa is getting too far away for the Tatterman's liking -- even though it seems the creature is everywhere at once -- but it now seems to draw a bead on the fleeing Samsaran, lean back with its war razor, and then throw it through the air with fantastic speed and force, so much so that when it crashes into Erisa's back, it tears a hole clean through her chest. The razor only stops when it impacts onto a wall beyond Erisa with a loud, dull THUNK noise...and with Erisa's heart, blood-dripping, having been carried along, now impaled onto the wall...
Only Saiya now.
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Saiya gapes as the creature ignores her entirely in favor of throwing its weapon at the fleeing woman. She thought for sure she would be the next to die. Instead, the creature killed the woman running away. As if it was toying with her, demonstrably proving that there was nothing she could do to get away from it. Not running, not hiding, not attacking. There was absolutely nothing she could do to save herself.
...'Save.' That was one of the words this creature wrote in blood, right? She squints at the gory mess just created, too emotionally exhausted to care anymore. And that says 'Wake'.
'Wake', 'Save', 'Up', 'Me'...
...'Wake up. Save me.'
She laughs bitterly. "Is that it then? Is this just a f!!+ing dream? Is that why you haven't killed me yet? It sure doesn't feel like a dream." Moving towards the creature, she continues, "'Save me.' Is that supposed to be some sort of request? Couldn't you have spelled that out with flowers or something? Because let me tell you, if you want me to do you a favor, this is not the way to go about it."
Standing directly in front of it now, she spreads her arms wide. "Alright then. If this is a dream, then this is the part where you kill me and I wake up, right? And if it's not, if that message is some sick joke...then you're going to kill me anyway. Either way, just do it and get it over with."
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And with Saiya's realization, the nightmare ends, and all eight of you wake up...
You regain consciousness in a grimy cell in a dungeon you don't recognize. Each of the three cells in the room has space enough to comfortably fit two Medium humanoids, but three people is feeling crowded.
You retain full memory of the dream, but no negative side effects. You have none of your equipment with you, even if you had it in the dream. You do have clothes though.
You wake up groggily to...
(Google Slides updated to show you the layout of the location.)
“Wake up, damn it!” the man on the table screams, his panic cutting through the claustrophobic near dark.
Bars separate you from the stranger, a struggling human with split lips and skin covered in a mapwork of fresh red lines. Heavy ropes lash the man to a splintery worktable. The lighting is very dim but enough to see him on the table.
Another figure, unsettlingly thin and wearing a blood-smeared doctor’s coat, circles the table casually— stopping every so often to scrutinize one of the man’s wounds or select a different object from a sideboard of shiny blades. Currently, 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, the doctor draws the blade across the bound man’s bare thigh, releasing a tortured wail.
None of you recognize the man on the table, or any of each other.
The smaller table next to the one upon which the man is bound displays an array of sharp instruments, none designed for use on living flesh: a gardening trowel, forks, several long pieces of broken glass or metal, and the other blade of the tormentor’s shears. Additionally, heavily loaded sacks lie near the door.
Jassminder's eyes snap open and she is immediately fully conscious; although she doesn't move a muscle, except as needed to take in the scene. Her eyes survey the room, taking in everything - from her two cellmates, one tall and pale, the other tall and blue-skinned, to the trio in the cell opposite, to the bound screaming prisoner and the figure circling him; to the weapons on the table and the sacks near the door - she takes one look and she sees everything.
Her gaze briefly meets those of her companions of circumstance, recognising them from her dream - before swiftly breaking eye contact and looking down, away, before they can see that she doesn't reciprocate whatever connection they are trying to make. It's a learned response. She sees the flicker of emotions stir across their faces, the terror and pain of the man bound to the table, the inscrutable expression of the woman in the doctor's coat. Unless there's been a change in the job description, she's not a doctor.
Through it all, Jassminder's expression doesn't change: calm, almost impassively so (if the sight of the man being tortured upsets her, she's doing an amazingly good job of hiding it). Her breathing is even, as she readies herself to make a move; but she won't move until she has a plan. So she watches the proceedings, tries to spot anything useful, and carefully orders her thoughts. When she is ready, she will move.
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You clearly sense that Linweigh is genuinely panicked and extremely distraught. He has clearly been abused on the table, and has 1hp left, so is very close to being gone. The doctor seems sadistic and preoccupied with torturing Linweigh, with no pangs of remorse.
Not moving Xiao Hua looks left and right. Her gaze focuses on the man on the worktable and then to the doctor. What is going on here. Why am I here. Who am I? Who am I? WHO AM I?
The Vixen awakens.
I won that fight! Me plan worked, she tells herself. But the Porcelain One with amazing hair thankfully still lives. It was all a dream.
The screaming is not.
She assesses her current situation.
Saiya jolts awake, then immediately freezes. That weird city and the monstrous creature may have just been a nightmare, but there's still screaming coming from nearby. 'Wake up'? I guess that explains the bloody messages.
Okay Saiya, think. Where am I? Who is that person screaming? She tentatively starts looking around her cell, moving as little as possible. Huh. Guess that's where the Tian woman in my dream came from. No weapons, that's unfortunate. She still has both arms though, that's a plus.
Cell cataloged, she finally glances outside of it at the woman torturing the screaming prisoner. Do I see anything useful?
Malarra wakes with a start. Wonderful. My head is still attached it seems. Looking around her cell she spots the strange woman that 'died' right before her and one of the two that decided to charge into the fog instead of away from it. She is about to say something when she notices the impromptu operation occurring in the center. Another dream perhaps?
Nagging at the back of her head is the sensation of being unarmed and unarmored, but she pushes it aside. I am not sure how, but I think I can always get a weapon should I need it. Of course, that is a bit moot if I can't get out of this cell.
Wonderful... the strange woman with the fascination for carving seems to have the key... and seems to keep it out of reach.
Malarra sighs to herself.
One guard, keys on her belt. Saiya glances across the hall, seeing three of the other women from her dream in another cell. At least six prisoners, five of which are in cells together, but not otherwise restrained. Meanwhile the guard is distracted with torturing the sixth. Sloppy. Very sloppy. I would never have...never have...
For a second she almost panics, as the enormity of how much she doesn't remember hits her. She doesn't remember how she got here, what she was doing before, or even why she's so certain that she would have done a much better job of restraining captives.
She forces herself to calm down. Focus. Figure out what's going on later. Get out of the cells and away from the torture-happy guard now.
With the guard so distracted, she feels comfortable moving around the cell, though she does keep an eye out just in case the guard starts paying attention. She searches for anything potentially useful, particularly anything that could be used as a lockpick or any loose bits of copper that might be around.
The Vixen whispers to her cell mates, "Name's Vix."
She says it while the man screams, and says nothing else... yet.
Malarra nods absently at the woman calling herself Vix. She is about to say something along those lines when she pauses... What was my name again? I know I had one once... just like that dream cityscape had one once... just like the thing I worship had one... and presumably still has one, like I do. I just can't remember it. A brief moment of panic threatens to seep to the surface but she forces it down. Not the time, not the place. One problem at a time. Can't remember who said that but it is sound advice.
Shrugging, she whispers back. "No idea. If we survive this long enough for me to find out I will let you know."
Turning so that her back faces the bars and the torturer cannot see her front, she hold her hand in front of her and attempts to recreate what happened in the dream. OK, god... goddess... whatever... like before... but something smaller this time, ok?
Together with the fetchling woman Miyuki slowly moves closer to the bars.
"If I saw a key, I could maybe call it to my hand!"
Milady's eyes flash open, darting accusingly back and forth at the two women she is sharing her cell with. She moves in a circle about the cell and hisses at them, trying to establish dominance and earn her own distance.
The orderly's agonized wailing eventually catches her attention, and she pushes her face against the bars to get a closer look.
"What are you doing to him?" she asks the doctor, voice blank and not very telling.
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While minor noises and soft conversing won’t attract her attention, any PC who shouts or addresses figures outside a cell immediately alerts her. Upon noticing the PCs, the doctor wheels on them and demands, “Pipe down. You’ll have your turn soon enough.” She then goes about her business, agonizing over where to make her next incision on her patient.
The Vixen trusts the seemingly-curious android has a plan. Her red hair's more heroic than mine.
To 'No Idea,' she replies, "How's N.I. for short? Or make a word o' that? Ni. Sounds more like something a knight would say, but feel free to invent a better name when ye've a moment."
She sees the shadow weapon (assuming that's inky-black but visible), and grins.
"Nine out o' ten times, I kick that door, I do no more than make noise. Noise can draw attention away from any lock-pickers. I know the type. Opportunities. They just need an opportunity. Bonus if I break the f~$@ing door."
She asks her mates, "If ye've no objection, I'll act crazy. Ye decide whether I'm a good actress or not acting."
So she plans on doing the same to us. I won't get out of here without the key. I need to draw her over here to have a chance at grabbing it. The one on the table won't last much longer. Time to act.
These thoughts flash through Jassminder's mind in quick succession. It may seem irrational to draw the attention of the only person in the room who is armed, but looking at the longer-term goal it is the only logical conclusion to be drawn.
She stands, moving to the front of the cell. "I'm not sure whether you are doing that for information, or for pleasure, but I have something you need to know."
Saiya glances sideways at her companion. She was a bit worried at the open talk of grabbing the keys, but fortunately the women in the other cell seem to have grabbed the guards attention.
Voice low, she whispers "Good idea. I can see the key; it's hooked to the guard's belt. I know a few magic tricks; I'll try to grab it while she's distracted." Frowning, she recalls her dream. This was the woman that dazed the monster...and it seems she might actually know some magic. Maybe I knew that. Know that. Ugh, I don't have time to figure it out!
"Can you daze the guard if she notices us?"
Danior awakes from the nightmare with a start and leaps to her feet, baring unnaturally pointed teeth and hissing at her cellmates! After a moment, she realizes that the yellow fog, the city, the unseen creature that had torn her apart... They're all gone, and she's in a cage with a human woman and some sort of blue-skinned creature, both of whom she vaguely recognizes from the nightmare. They clearly aren't hostile, at least for the moment, and both seem quite preoccupied with something outside the little cell; she slowly drops her defensive position and follows their eyes to the grisly scene in front of them.
A ring of keys adorns the waist of the woman she assumes is her captor, who stands over a person covered in cuts and lashes. The sight of blood makes the dhampir uncomfortably thirsty, though she isn't sure why; she swallows against the feeling and presses a hand to her throat, trying to ignore it.
One of the women in her cell — the human — calls out to the doctor, which seems to be an idea worth trying. Danior presses her face to the bars and looks at the doctor, willing her to listen to her fellow prisoner and come closer; as she does so, she feels a strangely magnetic bond take shape in the space between them. "Come here," she says, licking her lips with a strangely dominant air.
The android hisses at the doctor, but behind the bars she has difficulty posing herself as a genuine threat.
Erisa wakes up slowly, remembering the dream, I hate when I die in a dream, when I wake up I’m unable to remember who I am nor where I am. She checks the relevant information then says under her breath, ”Damn, not again.”
She takes in the situation, moves to the corner of the cell nearest the doctor, peeks around the edge as little as possible, and wishes that there was something distracting happening down the far hallway, like the noise of a muffled voice or something bound and gagged struggling, maybe kinda both. And if it distracts the ‘doctor’, she wishes the other blade of the shears would come to her.
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Several of you begin to show initiative at almost the same time, and the scene gets a little chaotic.
First, Jassminder beckons the doctor closer, to which the doctor's expression turns extremely annoyed as she appears to lose her patience. The doctor wheels around toward Jass (but does not approach close enough for key-filching), and yells, "QUIET!", while her face transforms to an exact replica of Jassminder's.
Then, Saiya begins casting prestidigitation, and tries to be stealthy about it...
...but has poor luck, as the doctor is very highly on-guard now, and upon noticing the spellcasting clamps her hand down onto the keys, preventing the spell from taking away the keys.
Then, it's Danior's turn to make a move, as she locks eyes and casts command upon the doctor, who tries to resist...
...but fails. The doctor approaches to the square right outside Danior's cell, but she still clings on to the keys determinedly, as the spell doesn't go so far as to make her give up on them. She is now, however, right outside Danior's cell.
Erisa says to the ‘doctor’, ”Sleep”
[dice=Will DC 13]1d20+6-2
Misfortune causes second roll!
[dice=Will DC 13]1d20+6-2
The Command goes through, but I don't think it has a Sleep option?
Either show me a Sleep option for Command elsewhere, or pick from those listed.
With the help of Saiya Miyuki is able to see the key. And with the others distracted she uses her spell like ability to use her mage hand to get the key to her.
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Between Prestidigitation and Mage Hand, Matsu and Saiya can bring the keyring to their cell, in the six seconds while the doctor is Halted by Erisa's Command.
(I checked, Mage Hand can move an object 15' and moving it by three squares -- the first diagonal being 5' -- is just enough to put it in your cell.)
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I'm gonna let it work -- with Halt, I'm ruling that she doesn't get to struggle with the full muscle power of her hand to grip the keys, and Prestidigitation can loosen the fingers a little, then Mage Hand can move the keys. If it was *just* Prestidigitation *or* Mage Hand, then I'd rule no, but with both of them working together, I think it's reasonable to let it work.
Jassminder doesn't react on seeing her own face appear on the "doctor".
So. Not a doctor, and not human either.
Seeing the keys float away, a new plan is needed. Sensing that somehow their jailer is unresponsive (for a few moments at least), Jassminder reaches through the bars and grabs the enemy, holding her in place.
Saiya curses as the doctor notices her attempts to get the keys. Guess she wasn't as distracted as I thought. Luckily, it seems the people in the cell next door had plans of their own, as clear commands ring out from there and the doctor obeys. Another quick cast of Prestidigitation along with a similar spell from her Tian companion, and the keys are floated into to their cell.
Saiya immediately snatches the key ring and starts trying to unlock the door. Abandoning any attempt at subtlety, she calls out to the next cell. "Grab her or something! Give me a second and we'll all be out of here."
Giving the key quickly to Saiya Miyuki uses a spell like ability to make some dancing lights on the other side of the hall.
Seeing the happenings around her, including the formation of a shadowy weapon on the hands of a cell mate, the Vixen says, "Opportunity's knocking on our door. Let's knock it down on three."
"One, two, THREE!"
Counting makes for a stupid battle-cry, but the Vixen doesn't care. As she talks big, she thinks big, and kicks big!