PrP: Tides of Magic, Part 1
The small office is a little cramped, for all the people here today. Besides the five adventurers who have been recruited (with two soon to arrive), there's also the stern Arvek Nar who usually occupies the office; a tall, blond Llyranesi in clean, rich clothes; and an even taller cherry-hued man who, thanks to his frame, rather resembled a brick. A shy, bespectacled brick, but a brick nonetheless.
"I can't press this enough. It's extremely unlikely that the house will be there much longer," the Llyranesi is saying. He's introduced himself as Tuck, and he seems to have a habit of wringing his hands. "Anything that appears in the Broken Plains is what one might call transient. This house doesn't even belong there -- and I don't know how it wound up there, but it /won't be there much longer/." He frets, wrings his hands. The other man smiles gently and offers a glass of water, which Tuck takes, and sips on worriedly. "Thank you, Brick." (Apparently the resemblance is canny enough to have earned him the nickname.) He continues, addressing the group. "But as long as you can get in and get out with the doll before the house either explodes or rips into another plane altogether, you'll be fine." According to the scant pieces of paper the group has all been given, the doll in question is a child's doll: a woven llyranesi doll with straw hair. Nothing more, nothing less.
Brolin isn't really quite sure how he got here, and it shows. He woke up in a hay loft somewhere by a drinking buddy/fellow guildmate kicking him in the ribs and yelling at him to not be a welcher. Putting together what few scraps of memory the blackout didn't erase with the chiddings of his would-be alarm clock, it would appear that Brolin lost a bet that he could do the knife hand thing without cutting himself. He lost and now he's sitting in this tiny office with a head full of angry squirrels, a skewered pinkie, and some job he has do to for the guy. He nurses a small flask for some hair of the dog and cups a temple with a meaty hand.
Raising her hand in question, Savannah gets a bit of an amused smirk on her face. "This....may not exactly seem funny but, if all we're after is a doll, why not shoot in an arrow, hit the doll, and drag it out?" She then sighs a bit. "Do you have floorplans of the house? And where the doll is in the house?
Rotgut currently standing chest to chest with the red-hued man (or trying to), staring him down with a chin jutted out. The blocky oruch shares his frame, though not his attitude, and is trying to look fearsome and vicious. Which means no smiling. Which is /hard/. But when Brick (really? Well, it takes all kinds) looks away, Rotgut barks a laugh and points at him. "YOU BLINKED! I WIN!"
Plenty pleased, he turns away from his opponent, only to realize he's missed the first half of the conversation. Uh, oops? And what's this about exploding houses. "We going to get dollies?" he asks, both confused and a little disappointed.
Ashlynn is spending her precious time frowning. At the papers. At the people. At any walls, floors or furniture that happen to find themselves on the receiving end of her gaze.
She doesn't mean any of them ill, not at all - that's just what her usual expression looks like.
Like she's having a slight case of cramps.
The scarred archer is quiet. This, too, seems to be a thing for her. She's taking the tale of disappearing houses and children's dolls awfully well, with only frowns - which are subsequently lost in the storm of all the -other- frowning she's engaging in.
Jibbom seems quite excited to be visiting the rapidly changing Broken Plains. "Oh, this will be fun. My parents met in the Broken Plains, you know. Terribly fun place. One moment you think you're going to a fancy dinner party, the next you're gathered around a campfire singing songs with some horrible creature with a dozen eyes and twice as many mouths. Fun times. Let's go, let's go!"
"/Nooo/," Tuck replies hastily to Savannah. "No, absolutely not. The doll must come back unharmed and un...arrowed." He blanches a little, in fact, at that image. "I sadly don't have a floorplan, nor do I know where the doll will be. I'd only been there twice before it was snatched up like that.
Brick, on the other hand, looks a little cowed at Rotgut. He blinks again, brows knitting worriedly. Did he just lose something important? But he offers a small smile to Jibbom and nods. Yes! Exactly! Tuck continues. "It's of vital importance you get the doll back. And before the house disappears." Because he hasn't impressed this upon them enough already. Brick holds up a hand meekly to get his attention, but the man steamrolls on. "Because if you don't, you're all going to /die/ and no one wants that. Because more than likely it won't be a house in the Plane of Warm Apple Pie. It'll more likely transport to something like the Plane of Death and Decay and Murdertime--"
"...ahem..."
"--Destruction /Kill Everything/." Thus having riled himself into a fearful tizzy, the dawn elf downs the rest of his water in one go. "But I promise--"
"...ahem!"
"--that if you return safely with the doll, you'll be--"
"/Tuck/!"
The dawn elf jumps and looks at Brick, blinking. "What?" Thus having garnered the elf's attention, Brick turns to address the group as a whole.
"Ah...I have a theory," he offers shyly. "On how to keep the house...anchored." The dawn elf pauses, and looks to his companion with a brow lifted, hands quickly waving him onward. Well? Get on with it! Brick stutters. "The house-- I mean, all of Golarion, and things in the Vast especially, but this house...it's criss-crossed all over with leylines. Like... like a nexus of magical energy. You-- you know what leylines are, right?"
Brolin winces as the volume rises in the room, especially when Brick begins to speak again. He shrinks into a corner. Which is almost comical since he takes up most of a corner already. He waves brick away, just seeking relief from violent hangover accosting him. "get a doll from a hainted house. Got it. Let's go." He mumbles and starts to shuffle out the door. But not before grabbing the closet thing to a waste basket available and having a nice long vomit into it.
Rotgut listens, brows knitted and /trying/ to follow the talk. It's all going a little over his head. When Brolin shrinks away, Rotgut absent-mindedly gives the giantborn a comforting slug to the shoulder. "Gonna be okay, brudda. Dunno what leylines are...but the Plane of Murdertime sounds like the Plane of Goodtime!" Big grin.
"Yes, yes, all but certain death, dangerous travels across the planes, dollies that are probably magical, got it." Jibbom says with a dismissive little wave of his hand. "Heard it all before. We're /adventurers/, man! Danger is what we live for!" He scratches his head at the mention of leylines. "Some kinda flow of magical energy and good times?"
"I am unfamiliar." Ashlynn speaks after a silent pause for pondering, finally showing she is not, in fact, a mute. Magical theories, leylines - none of it was on her order's curriculum. There's a sideways glance at the hunched-over Brolin saying goodbye to his lunch, but her gaze quickly returns to the dynamic duo haphazardly trying to explain the nature of their job.
Savannah blinks. "You're telling me there are magical pathways inside of the house? Who was the...." She then shuts up before she can insult anyone. "How much longer will it be before the house implodes?"
Brick looks dismayed as the party generally dismisses this all as all in good fun, and his hand lowers uncertainly. But Tuck elbows him, urging him to take his stand, and the red man shifts uncomfortably, fidgeting with his furs. He nods to Savannah uncertainly. "Well...leylines are... No, let me back up. Magic is-- The Sea... There's a Sea of Mana, and it...when you do magic, it's just a drop, you see. And..." He stutters a few syllables, then takes a deep breath and tries again. "Leylines are rivers. Rivers from the Mana-Sea. And-- and they hold p-power. And...the Vast is full of them, but it seems several crisscross through this house."
Brick draws himself up a bit taller, taking a deep breath as he girds himself to continue being the center of attention. "So...if you get... If you get objects of memory. Like-- like things that were important to...the previous... the previous owner, and you put them in the places where the leylines cross-- I have a... I have charms, to protect them there. And that... that should keep the house anchored?" Somehow it's a question, instead of a statement. And somehow that's not reassuring. "Any questions?"
Tuck, on the other hand, adds his two cents: "You have a day, at the absolute best; a couple hours at worst. Time is running out! Ask your questions fast!" Oh, fret fret fret! He goes to get himself some more water and very nearly spills it down his front, which prompts a whine from the elf.
Savannah shakes her head. "All of this over a friggin doll." She says before starting out the door. 'and since you don't have anything to help us with.....we should get going."
"Magic is the cool stuff that happens when I wiggle my fingers at bad guys." Jibbom replies quite authoritatively. "Okay. Find the big rivers of cool stuff, put cooler stuff where they are, then get the dolly and get out of the crazy magic house before it turns into an apple pie. Got it. Let's go! I shall summon my mighty steed."
Brolin has given up on the realm of questions. It's magic, that's all he needs to know. Violence has had a good track record in solving his problems, and he's not about to give a good thing. But for the time being, he seems to more interested in staying away from light and noise, which means this place. He takes another long pull from his flask and groans, "G'na get a wagon and my kit. Meet e'rybody back at front in half an hour." He mumbles and then staggers off to shake off the hangover (and maybe actually do what he said he was going to do)'
It's clear Ashlynn is trying to understand of this - trying being the key word in it all. She's doing her best, but the Arvek Nar's stammering and skips are not making things better. There is a long pause, a very long pause, as she picks at her own thoughts. "What is it you wish us to do, exactly?" she asks, finally, of both the elf and the hobgoblin.
"No questions? Good. -- No no no! No wagons! No /time/! -- Well, if you need to get supplies, you can get supplies, but there's no time for wagons or air travel." When at long last the group is reunited, however, Brick stands with arms outstretched. "Everyone take hold. I'm...I'm gonna teleport us there." Brick closes his eyes, and something at his chest begins to glow: an amulet, that had previously been hidden by all those furs. As everyone grabs hold of the man's limbs, he mutters under his breath, and the world suddenly twists away.
Crystals. That's your first impression of the Broken Plains -- or at least the portion you've arrived in. They jut out at strange angles from the ground, or the surrounding rocks: huge stones, white or blue or purple or pink that seem to almost glow with the sunlight above. They seem to be arranged specifically in a circle around the group, pointing toward you.
As the glow dies down in Brick's necklace, the ring of crystals seem to become less effusive. Perhaps they really were glowing? "We have arrived." He dusts his hands, smiling helpfully at the group. "Now, I am supposed to help. Because I live here. I know how to navigate. But please please watch your step, because it would be easy to get lost. Please follow me exactly."
Jibbom pouts a bit. "You mean I won't get to ride my mighty steed majestically into the Broken Plains on an epic quest to play with dollies? Just boring old teleportation? I never get to do anything fun." The halfling pouts right up until the teleport actually happens, at which point the sight cheers him up immensely. "Ooh. Pretty crystals." He follows obediently.
Teleportation doesn't agree with Brolin, or perhaps it's the last bits of the hangover, but the Giantborn rockets out another stream of vomit. This one actually has something in it besides booze and bile, so there's that. On the other hand, it looks like some sort of half digested goblin mystery meat pie, so perhaps it's for the best. He takes a long pull from his waterskin, draining the half gallon sack greedily. "Alright, I'm good. Let's go get a doll." He says, bristling with all manner of weapons, most notable is the massive bell-shaped steel weight on a 12 foot length of chain that he holds in his hands.
Liessa is just about to say something on the topic of sudden teleportation when she finds herself suddenly teleported. She lurches as they arrive, recovering her balance quickly but looking annoyed. "My donkey better still be there when we get back. Otherwise you owe me a new donkey." She unsheathes her rapier more or less on reflex: better to be armed when in crazy places, y'know?
The crystals are judiciously frowned at by Ashlynn - at least once she's stopped wrestling her own lunch's sudden desire to see the sun as result of the disorienting, nauseating experience of magical travel that she's so, so very not used to. Despite looking around entirely too much at the alien environs, swiveling her head left and right more or less continually, she does fall into step with the hobgoblin, heeding the warning given.
Letting out a sudden belch at her sudden teleportation, Savannah grumbles a bit. She looks at all of the crystals and shakes her head before looking at Brick. "Lead the way." She says before taking a drink of water from her waterskin.....if only to keep from throwing up.
Rotgut sidesteps the stream of vomit, and slaps Brolin heartily on the back with a grin. "That's it, biggun. Get it all out, dere! Out with the bad, in with the good!" He adjusts his nipple-plate, checks the lay of his hammer against his back, and the cleric nods firmly to Brick. "Followin'! Hope we goin' somewhere fun!" Brick smiles, and gestures everyone after him, pleased -- though a little unsettled by the projectile vomiting. Eegh.
As the group starts carefully picking their way through the plains, the landscape seems to change dramatically from one step to the next. Great swirling crystalline structures in one area gives way to rolling grassy hills the next; electric blue rocks, sparks of magic, and even stranger things dot the countryside.
Brick's footsteps are very precise. In one hand, he holds a small woven object that he holds up occasionally. Frequently, it sends ripples through the air, and he turns to avoid them, moving in a new direction and trying again.
The journey is slow, but short: within an hour or two, they finally approach a pristine house sitting precariously on the edge of a cliff, its foundations crumbled and sticking at awkward angles. The air beyond the cliff seems to merge straight into a roiling blue-black and purple storm, complete with lightning arcing through the sky. The house rocks and creaks ominously, and.../flickers/.
"This is the house," Brick points out helpfully.
"Well, let's get this over with." Brolin announces, somewhat put off by the flickering of the house, but not enough to keep him from marching straight up to the front door and trying to kick it in, unless his comrades or some horrors of the night stop him first. "Stupid wizards and their wizard houses, playing with dolls." He grumbles under his breath.
"It's not a real adventure until someone vomits!" Jibbom declares cheerfully. Doing his best to keep spirits high during the slow journey, he notices there are a few members of the team he hasn't met yet. He turns on the patented Jibbom charm to make a good first impression. "By the way, I am The Jibbom. Or Steel Von Ironblood, Bane of the Night to some. I get paid to blow things up and play with dollies!" He beams proudly. Then they're at the creaking, ominous, flickering house. He beams. "Neat!"
"This....could be a problem." Savannah says pointedly as she looks at the house, especially as it flickers. However, after she looks at the entrance, she looks pointedly back to Jibbom. "No pranks. We have to be careful." She then touches Jibbom on the nose. "Maybe after the job is done."
Liessa taps her chin as she looks at the house. "Huh. I've never robbed a magic house before. I've stolen dolls. That was easy enough: the right dress and a little acting and nobody looked twice at me carrying a doll right down the street. Not that that'll be relevant here. So... any idea what's inside? I mean, I like to know a little about any place I plan to burglarize."
Brolin pages: Shall I roll a strength check or is there other forces at work that will come into play before/when I throw a boot into said door? :D
You paged Brolin with 'You don't have to roll strength if you don't want to. XD'
Long distance to Brolin: Emir isn't going to require it for this door.
Ashlynn stares unabashedly at the bizarre surroundings, her eyes growing rather wide whenever some unexplained phenomenon rears its head. She's lucky, by the end of the journey, that her eyes haven't popped out of her head with how many times they've run into something strange and unnatural here, in spite of the relative briefness of the trek. She does, at some point, find a moment to introduce herself as Ashlynn, of the Order of the Silver Arrow, but is otherwise too busy being assailed with strange sights, sounds, and sometimes smells (though that might just be Brolin) to say much of anything else to her companions.
Once they arrive, however, the sightseeing is over. Eyes narrow at the house, the flickering, the boiling storm beyond and it's clear she's trying to make sense of it - but if she's afraid, it's not showing. A questioning glance is given to Brick, as if to ask whether it's safe - for a certain definition thereof, anyway - to approach the house and be about their business.
Jibbom crosses his eyes when Savannah taps his nose, then pouts at her. "Not even a little one?" He asks quietly. "You never let me have any fun." He eyes the house with distinctly diminished enthusiasm. "Gonna have to make up for it with continual jokes to keep the mirth levels up. Alright, into the creepy, creepy house."
Rotgut gazes around like a tourist at a palace, eyes wide and amazed at all the sights! But the walk gets boring quickly, because there's nothing to hit. A half hour into the walk, the party's cleric is making small, unintelligible whining sounds in the back of his throat. Off and on...like his own personal song. He's even unslung his massive maul, and is twirling it around his head, like he can drive the boredom away. "Rotgut am Warrior of Angoron. Good for punching and unpunching things. You need be unpunched? Rotgut the oruch for the job."
But the house...that's interesting, and Rotgut just blinks up at it. "Dis is da movin' house?" When Brolin steps forward, Rotgut just follows with a huge grin. Finally, some action!
Conrad walks out from behind a tree. He's carrying a rifle on his back, and a small bag of herbs. He takes a step, eyes head, and stops. He looks behind him. Then he looks at the party, blinks, and looks behind him at the house. "...Um..." Looking back at the party, he raises an eyebrow. Then back at the house. Then at the party. "...Right. Well." Yes, exactly.
Whether or not it's safe is rather up in the air -- and Brolin and Rotgut don't seem to care either way. The giantborn's approach brings no alarms or bells; just the whoosh and crackle of the magic storm behind the house. The door before him is clean -- almost brand new! -- which is why when his leg lashes out to kick it down, it's absolutely a surprise when it folds like a wet tissue and crumples in a cloud of blue smoke that wafts out in tendrils.
Brick winces.
Jibbom tilts his head and peers at the sight of the folding door. He follows along behind to get a better look. "Huh. You know, I have great respect for the people of the Broken Plains, but they need to learn a thing or two about quality building materials. Say what you will about Alexandrian architecture, but their doors don't fold."
Brolin wrinkles his nose as his *KRRRCK!* is more of a *whiff*..."Nngh, stupid magic. HEY GUYS, I KILLED THE DOOR. LET'S GO IN." He calls out. Hope you guys didn't like the element of surprise. Though the stench of booze and hangover sweats and blood preceeding him probably killed that already. He readies his monstrous flail for a quick swing and steps inside, ready to take point.
Savannah tilts her head and pulls an arrow from her quiver to put it on the string of her bow. "Yeah, you broke the door." She says walking her way in. "Come on, we're wasting time."
Liessa rolls her eyes. "Excellent going. I'm sure it never knew what hit it." She creeps in through the ruined entrance, making little 'shh'ing gestures at everyone.
Rotgut jumps back a little, as the door acts distinctly NOT like a door. He glances back at the group, pointing in amazement at the entrance Brolin made. Did you guys see that?? He hangs back, looking back at Brick with a worried expression. "The floor not be blue smoke too, right?"
Conrad pulls the rifle off his shoulder, cracks open the rifle, and checks the chamber before snapping it shut again, "Ready to move out." Was he always there? Sure, why not. The huntsman in the longcoat is certainly acting like he should be there, at any rate. Conrad's eyes flick to the side, and he narrows his eyes at something in the distant. Something pink. "...I hope this house doesn't try to eat us."
Blinking at the door's reaction to being kicked - she's fairly sure doors are not, in fact, supposed to fold and evaporate like that - Ashlynn's pause lasts only a moment further. With no stopping them from Brick, she, too, makes way for the door. The sooner they have the doll, the sooner she can get back somewhere sane and reasonable, after all. For a certain definition of sane and reasonable, anyway. Alexandria never was very good at that.
"We walk in the light of the gods. If what we do is just and true, they will protect us." Ashlynn asides to Rotgut. Considering lack of words like 'hitting' or 'smashing' or 'fighting', she probably doesn't sound terribly convincing, but there it is.
The party ventures inside to find...a normal house. Well... sort of. Maybe. If you squint. It smells of electricity and something faintly saccharine -- cookies, maybe? Glitter? Does glitter have a scent? Well, whatever it is, that's what this house smells like. But while the outside of the house is pristine, the inside seems warped. Aged in strange ways, but not decayed, per se: the paint seems to have melted in drips off the walls to pool on the ground, and small blue sparks seem to flicker through the wooden floor. Contrary to at least potential expectation, the floors do not cave like the door did. Thankfully. Still, there's a low crackling hum coming from everywhere at once, which is not unsettling at all.
The entryway leads into the dilapidated living room. Furniture half-collapsed with false age is strewn about, blankets suspended haphazardly between them. A strangely moth-eaten rug is sprawled in the center, and whatever the pattern on it used to be, now it flickers and ripples strangely, changing all the time.
Past the living room is a table tucked into a dining nook with a long tablecloth draping over it crookedly and trailing over the floor in places. The chairs nearby seem to have...fused into the walls and floor at awkward angles, as though they had sunk unevenly into liquid. To the left of the dining nook is the kitchen; to the right is a hallway with six doors: three on the left, two on the right, and one at the end.
( I put this here, for reference: http://info.rentnet.com/property/80/430780/floorplan/430780.f03.gif )
Savannah looks to Jibbom. "That is why I say no pranks." She says with a chuckle. She then looks through the house, looking quickly, but carefully, for the missing doll. Of course, her first inclination of where to find it is simple. She looks to Brick. "Where's the bedroom?"
Jibbom eyes the decor once he moves into the house itself, staying carefully behind the sturdier-looking members of the group. The rug in particular gets some attention. "Ooh. That'd go great in my place. If I had a place. So... anyone see any rivers of magical energy, or valuable dollies, or anything like that?"
"Do we?" Rotgut says with a naive grin at Ashlynn, "Oh, that's good to hear. Angoron likes to...what's brudda say? Give his warriors lots of rope. Dunno why rope is a bad thing, though."
He's even more amazed when they enter the house, sidestepping with loud thumps at first so the sparks don't shoot up his pantlegs. "It smells like lightning and gramma's kitchen in here!" the Angorite bellows loudly. "Oh yeah, dolly! And gotta look for memory items. Let's go!" Eagerly, he charges towards the back hallway, poking about for anything looking like a bedroom.
"Nngh, smells like pixie turds." Brolin complains as he kicks over a chunk of some debris to look underneath. The atmosphere has his hair standing up, both literally and figuratively and the giantborn looks around. "Watch the furniture. It might attack." He warns omniously, a few 4 tined fork scars on his forearm tell of his anti furnishing exploits.
Conrad stalks carefully into the house, his expression...somewhat solid. Somewhat cold. His eyes are a little wide as he eyes the sunken chairs, and the dripping paint. "Use caution... One bad step, we may never find you. Test any surface before putting pressure on it." Conrad is diligently following his own advice, each step carefully placed.
Liessa hmms. "Second floor. Second floor is always a good bet." She's moving economically through the room, tapping furniture and the walls for any suspicious hollow noises."
<OOC> Emir says, "Okay, everyone roll perception, and arcane casters, roll spellcraft."
"I... am unsure as well. Rope is a useful item." Ashlynn replies to Rotgut, as lost on hidden meanings as he is. Lovely. Once inside, Ashlynn opens her mouth as if to speak several times as her gaze falls on the various elements of the house that are... off. The corners that dip just a bit too deeply, the furniture that seems bigger on one side than the other or twisted, and the chairs seemingly half-devoured by what should be solid surfaces? Her mouth works, but nothing comes out, and she ends up looking much like a trout gasping after being washed ashore in futile attempts to power water through its gills. Eventually, she clamps it shut and keeps it that way - hopefully she didn't swallow any magic dust or whatnot, though she's fairly certain the place cannot possibly get more odd than it already is. She steps carefully, eyes not lingering, expression blank - almost like she's shielding her sanity by simply not thinking too hard about what her eyes are telling her.
GAME: Liessa rolls perception: (6)+8: 14
GAME: Ashlynn rolls Perception: (3)+5: 8
GAME: Savannah rolls perception: (20)+1: 21
GAME: Savannah rolls spellcraft: (3)+6: 9
GAME: Jibbom rolls perception: (3)+4: 7
GAME: Jibbom rolls spellcraft: Trained Use Only: 0
<OOC> Jibbom says, "Oh. Right."
[RPOne] Savannah says, "You didn't train spellcraft? You lazy gnome."
<OOC> Jibbom says, "Jibbom has no idea what he's doing."
GAME: Rotgut rolls perception: (12)+4: 16
GAME: Conrad rolls perception: (6)+4: 10
GAME: Brolin rolls Perception: (5)+10: 15
Beneath the debris Brolin kicks over is a very shiny blue rock! How'd that rock get here? Who knows, because as soon as Brolin unearths it, it vanishes with a ear-turning POP.
Meanwhile, the party starts poking about the house. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a second floor: just the one. There /did/ use to be a basement... until the house was ripped up from its moorings. Brick responds to Savannah's question with a shrug. "I haven't the faintest idea," he replies meekly. "I'm sorry..."
Still, it's a pretty good bet that one of the doors in the hallway is a bedroom. Goodness gracious, who'd have guessed? The house creaks loudly, the whole structure swaying in a rather unsettling way.
You paged Savannah with 'There's something under the tablecloth draped on the table! It's shiny.'
Rotgut staggers a little in the hallway as the house tilts, looking about with a nervous grin. "Gonna be fun when this whole place tips over..." Carefully, he puts his ear to a door before opening it to peek in.
"Huh." Savannah says softly as she walks over to the table nearby and moves the tablecloth with one of her arrows. "Wonder what this could be." She then looks over her shoulder. "Hey Jibbom? Can you make this thing out?" She says looks under the tablecloth.
<OOC> Emir says, "Doors to your left are Doors 1, 2, and 3; Doors to your right are 4, 5, and 6. What door do you choose, Rot?"
<OOC> Ashlynn says, "It might be a prize. It might be a horrible monster!"
<OOC> Ashlynn says, "Lifelong supply of your favorite canned spam, maybe."
Jibbom is too busy making inappropriate jokes to be really dedicated to this search. His random capering around the tilting home doesn't seem to be alarming him too much. "That'll make it easier to search the ceiling!" He calls out chipperly to Rotgut. When Savannah calls him over he bounds in that direction, peering underneath the tablecloth to inspect for himself.
Brolin sways a bit as the house moves and shakes, but looks reassured when everyone else seems to be having the same problem. Damn hangover vertigo. He steels himself as best as possible and the giantborn moves forward near Rotgut, ready to run and just start swinging that lump of steel on a chain around until it connects with something breakable.
<OOC> Rotgut says, "I'll take 1"
Conrad steps forward cautiously, gingerly moving past the others as he heads for the hallway, "Are we opening these one at a time, or do you want to fan out? Staying here longer than necessary may be more dangerous than monsters or magical traps."
Liessa hmms. "Well, nothing for it." She finds the closest handy door, which we will call Door One, opens it and makes with the searching. "At times like this you want to move fast and be ready to get out at any moment. Not that I've been in a house that might get deposited in some other dimension before. But the principal's the same."
Under the tablecloth, there appears to be a metal bowl and a wooden spoon! It seems deceptively unscathed, compared to the house around it.
Behind Door Number One is no sound; but beyond it appears to be, indeed, a bedroom. The walls have the barest strips of sickly green and brown paint smeared haphazardly around. Around the edges of the ceiling are some sort of horrific demon creatures painted with faces dripping and oozing down the wall. There's a small bedframe in the corner carved to look like a cloud, but the mattress isn't resting on the slats. Instead, it's been propped up across an exotic assortment of pillows to form a rudimentary structure.
Small bookshelves line one side of the room, all of the books warped and melted. A small chest shaped (and presumably, at one time painted) like a bus sits in the corner, falling in on itself. Against one wall is a rickety accordion door that sits skewed across its track. The carpet underfoot is squelchy and unpleasant, but at least it's not crumbling into nothing. Blue sparks spatter through the air.
<OOC> Emir says, "Everyone behind door number 1, perception check please!"
Savannah pages: can I redo my spellcraft?
You paged Savannah with 'Depends on what you're doing it for.'
GAME: Liessa rolls perception: (1)+8: 9
<OOC> Liessa says, "Oh for chrissakes."
<OOC> Emir says, "Oop. XD"
"It's a spoon!" Declares Jibbom. "And a... bowl." He continues to eye underneath the tablecloth for a moment, furrowing his brow. "Huh. Doesn't seem as messed up as the rest of this place, but it otherwise seems sort of... normal."
GAME: Conrad rolls perception: (1)+4: 5
GAME: Rotgut rolls perception: (1)+4: 5
<OOC> Rotgut says, "...wow"
<OOC> Emir says, "WOW."
<OOC> Jibbom boggles.
<OOC> Liessa says, "Somebody log that and post it."
Savannah pages: mostly to recognize what's going on with the house.
You paged Savannah with 'You can roll that if you want.'
Savannah pages: Hmm....mind if I use Detect magic too?
You paged Savannah with 'Sure.'
GAME: Brolin rolls Perception: (11)+10: 21
<OOC> Brolin says, "It is truly a sad day when the drunk is the most perceptive of the group."
<OOC> Emir dies.
From afar, Savannah does both then....
GAME: Savannah rolls spellcraft: (1)+6: 7
<OOC> Savannah thuds.
<OOC> Emir says, "All of the ones. ALL OF THEM."
<OOC> Savannah says, "yeah really. XD"
<OOC> Rotgut says, "At least we're getting them out of the way now!"
GAME: Emir rolls 1d4: (4): 4
Ashlynn, still not really thinking terribly much, steps to follow the leading group of men - not crowding, however, knowing that both she and her companions could use room to maneuver in the already cramped space. Her weapon is not in hand, though she is poised to fetch it - reckoning, perhaps, that horrible monsters are not as much of a threat as the house itself, and that a free hand may be more important by far.
You paged Savannah with 'First off, as for why the house looks like this: it's been ripped from its moorings and shoved into a place that is absolutely rampant with wild magic, in a place where several streams of magic converge. It's a little wonky.
And on that note, when you cast Detect Magic, the magical auras are so strong, so plentiful, and so /bright/, that you're practically knocked backward. You're blinded for four rounds, and stunned for one.'
"Oooo, good point!" Rotgut calls back to Jibbom. "Maybe after we're done with the floor, we can go outside and push to help it flip. What is behind door number--GYAHH! ... oh, paintings. Rotgut almost have heart attack! Not good way for Angorite to go." Peering around for a moment, Rotgut's eyes widen when he sees, "Pillow fort!" He steps squishly inwards, and bends down to try and peer in.
<OOC> Emir says, "One more perception check from everyone in Room 1 please <3"
GAME: Brolin rolls Perception: (9)+10: 19
GAME: Rotgut rolls perception: (7)+4: 11
GAME: Liessa rolls perception: (12)+8: 20
<OOC> Liessa says, "That's more like it."
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Savannah says covering her eyes and falling backwards until she's literally a crumpled heap on the floor. "That.....was a......mistake....." She growls as she literally gropes around for her bow and arrow......and failing to find them.
You paged Brolin with 'Okay congratulations! You're the only one who notices that there's a book in the pillow fort. A child's storybook called 'I Don't Want to Sleep.' It features a little elf girl smiling and waving at the moon, who smiles and waves back. Unlike the other books in the room, this one seems fairly untouched by magic, if a little damp and dusty.'
GAME: Conrad rolls perception: (2)+4: 6
<OOC> Emir holds onto those perception checks. :D
Jibbom peers at the bowl and spoon, confused, then peers at Savannah with equal confusion. "So... you have some sort of... extreme bowl and spoon phobia?" He asks, tilting his head and peering at his fellow sorcerer.
Conrad is distracted by Jibbom's cry and discovery. Looking away, he raises an eyebrow at the lifted tablecloth, "That cloth may be a magical shroud, best keep it close." Then, back to the room. Nothing inside of note. "Right." Then, he's distracted by Savannah's cry, "What is going on here?!" Turning about, Conrad looks at Door Number 4 and moves to open it, brow furrowed.
Liessa pads into the room. "Well, hmm. This looks more like a boy's room. Not that I'm here to judge." She shrugs and turns around to check another door. Room two, let's say. "You all go ahead and give that room the once over, I just want to narrow things down."
<OOC> Conrad says, "Moving to open Door 4."
You paged (Liessa, Brolin) with 'As Liessa moves to leave the room, the sounds of soft sobbing trickle from behind the wrecked accordion door in the room.'
To (Brolin, Emir), Liessa pages: How utterly delightful and not at all creepy.
Brolin looks inside the first room, and does not seem all enthuised, since there are no hot bitches, booze, or dolls in there. So moving on. Jibbom's attention to the bowl and spoon earn him a warning. "Watch out. Once almost got my eye dug out by a spoon." He starts to move on to follow Liessa but something in the first room grabs his attention. "Hey, there is some kid in here crying." The giantborn announces, unaware of the creepy child trope or practically any rules of horror, and pulls the door open without a care!
Savannah rakes her nails on the floor, and actually pushes herself up with shakey arms. "No, Jibbom. That's not what happened. I used detect magic to see what sort of magical auras were in the house." She says as she finally finds the string of her bow, as well as the fletching of her arrow. "All I can see is white because the auras were so damned bright. But what I COULD see was significant. Wild magic is tearing this place apart, but I couldn't tell WHAT was causing it." She says softly as she slowly stands up.....
Jibbom offers Savannah a hand up, which is only going to be slightly useful from a man half her height. "That's how the Broken Plains works. Everything is magic happy fun times here!" He declares, unconcerned by the many obvious signs of impending doom here. Curiously, he peeks in the direction of the door that supposedly holds the crying child. "Crying kid, eh? Sounds like a good place to find dollies."
Glancing over a shoulder at the screaming back around the terrifying bowl and spoon, Ashlynn moves over to give Savannah a hand up herself. Or, this being Ashlynn, just plain try haul the sorceress up without much pomp or fanfare, should she get there before Savannah is on her feet. Well, she seems okay. And then Brolin speaks, and the archer is distracted for the second time. "I do not think anyone could live in a place like this. Be wary." she speaks - not because she's any less naive, but simply because phantom sounds aren't on the 'implausible' list in this place, after the chairs.
Liessa stops in her tracks: she heard the damn thing too. "My rate just went up," she says with a frown and turns around to re-enter the room. "Someone open te door, and be CAREFUL about it."
Behind the accordion door is...a closet. Wilted scraps hang from the hangers, once a child's clothing. Now they're too rotted to even determine what sort of garments they used to be. But one thing is clear:
No one's there.
The sobbing fades away when the door is opened.
Meanwhile, behind door Number Four at the end of the hall is a dark room. Very dark. Even though the furniture is still barely visible, it just seems...so /dark/ and oppressive. Lightning arcs through the air from the storm outside, as furniture tilts at weird angles.
Meanwhile meanwhile, Rotgut sticks his head in the fort and finds... a book! It's a child's storybook called 'I Don't Want to Sleep.' It features a little elf girl smiling and waving at the moon, who smiles and waves back. Unlike the other books in the room, this one seems fairly untouched by decay, if a little damp and dusty.
Brolin throws a foot into the back of the closet door to make sure. You know how adventurers love their secret doors. If nothing horrible comes out or reveals itself, he grumbles, "Stupid house." And turns to join the others.
Nothing. Just dust and magic sparks.
"Well, YEAH!" Rotgut calls from the bedroom, at Savannah. "LOTS of wild magic! Everywhere! Magic that is very wild! That's easy to see! ... oh HEY! A BOOK!" Trying his level best not to level the fort, Rotgut fishes the book out and straightens. He beams when he sees the cover, and even waves a little at the book cover. "HEY GUYS!" he yells, loud enough to make any normal house's roof rattle, trundling out of the bedroom, "I FOUND SOMETHING! Looks like a good book!" Wandering absently into the main area, he starts to flip through it, reading aloud.
<OOC> Emir says, "Okay! Everyone!"
<OOC> Emir says, "A vision is trying to reach your minds. Does anyone roll Will Save?"
<OOC> Rotgut says, "A shiney vision? Nope! I wanna see!"
<OOC> Liessa says, "Nah,"
<OOC> Conrad says, "I do."
<OOC> Liessa says, "Actually, yes. Liessa is paranoid.,"
<OOC> Ashlynn says, "Depends. Does it feel invasive?"
GAME: Liessa rolls will: (15)+2: 17
<OOC> Emir says, "Anyone who saves it, roll it!"
<OOC> Brolin says, "I will, I'm in a foul mood I ain't want nobody in my head."
GAME: Conrad rolls will: (2)+2: 4
<OOC> Jibbom wants to see!
GAME: Brolin rolls Will: (13)+3: 16
<OOC> Emir says, "Uhhh it feels like a vision is sweeping over your mind like a wave."
<OOC> Savannah does not wish to save.
<OOC> Ashlynn says, "Hm! I'm... going to say Ash is too on edge not to react negatively to this, and will roll the save."
<OOC> Emir says, "Go for it!"
GAME: Ashlynn rolls Will: (17)+3: 20
Rotgut picks up the book, and flips it open, meandering out into the hall -- but the moment he opens his mouth, a cool wave seems to sweep through everyone's mind. Everyone's, that is, except Ashlynn's, who's left completely in the dark.
The room around you ripples, transforming into that bedroom, but newer. The walls are a light powdered blue with happy dancing animals painted along the ceiling. A young elf girl is curled in her bed, dressed in a yellow nightgown, looking gleefully up at an older dawn elf man. He looks quite like your employer, in fact, but there are enough differences that they are probably not the same person.
"'But I don't /want/ to go to sleep,'" the man says in a squeaky voice, as he reads out of the storybook in his lap. "'I want to play in the trees, and talk to the squirrels, and sing lullabies to the moon all night long!' The little dawn elf began to cry. Great big crocodile tears ran down her cheeks and splashed, splish splish, onto her bed."
"I don't want to go to sleep /either/," the little girl yawns.
The man smiles, and continues. "'But if you don't sleep, tomorrow will never come,' her mother said. 'No matter how many lullabies you sing to the moon, she cannot sleep while you do. And when the moon doesn't sleep, the squirrels don't play, and the trees don't grow.'" The little elf gasps, hands going to her little face, while her father chuckles. "'Don't you think you should let the moon sleep too?' And the little girl yawned, and nodded. 'I really /would/ like to play in the sun,' she agreed."
"Me too," mumbles the little girl, who's started to fall asleep.
"'Then sleep, my little one. You can play with the squirrels in your dreams.' And..." The man pauses, noting the little girl's soft snoring, and leans down to press a kiss to her forehead as he sets the book aside. "Goodnight, Maya."
[RPOne] Jibbom says, "Wait. Elves can sleep in Pathfinder?"
[RPOne] Emir says, "They can now >8("
[RPOne] Rotgut says, "Yeah, I think PF got rid of trancing."
[RPOne] Emir armfolds.
[RPOne] Rotgut says, "They're still immune to magical sleep effects, though."
[RPOne] Jibbom learned something from this plot!
[RPOne] Rotgut says, "The More You Know!"
[RPOne] Emir says, "Thank god because I totally forgot that part. C_C"
[RPOne] Ashlynn says, "It's been played as they trance here for as long as I know, but eh. Maybe they dream in trance!"
[RPOne] Jibbom says, "We could retcon the book to be called "I Don't Want to go to Trance"."
<OOC> Liessa says, "Oh my god that was adorable."
[RPOne] Emir giggles. XD
<OOC> Emir says, "(End vision.)"
Rotgut jolts as the vision ends, standing in the middle of the living room with the book in his hands and his mouth open. He blinks...where did these tears come from?? "Ummm..." The Angorite is much quieter. "I think I found a memory item."
Conrad cautiously steps into the darkness of Room 4. "Light. I need a light over here." Meanwhile, he sights down his rifle as he moves into the room, ready to MAKE light with his rifle if necessary. A flick of his eyes left and right, a cautious sideways shuffle...and then the vision. When it is done, Conrad's eyes, which had gone wide from the dream-like vision, slowly narrow. Growling at the darkness, he declares in a low, cold voice, "If some evil power is keeping the spirit of that little girl here... That power just made a very bad enemy."
[RPOne] Ashlynn says, "I think we all agree that elves *mumblemumblemumble*. SOLVED."
[RPOne] Emir sagenods. YES. THAT.
[RPOne] Jibbom says, "Works for me!"
[RPOne] Emir sidles out stage left.
Savannah pages: so we're asleep?
[RPOne] Rotgut XDD
You paged Savannah with 'Nope, just had a vision.'
Brolin stares blankly at the wall as he is struck with the vision, a little more slack jawed than usual. "Aww, that's sweet." He mumbles, unaware or unable to put any real signifigance to the vision. He blinks when Conrads calls for light and produces a mana lamp from a belt pouch and flips it on, bathing him in a sanitized white light.
Savannah pages: oh okie.
Jibbom smiles as the dream washes over his mind, looking touched by the memory and rather unconcerned about whatever magical force is planting visions in his brain. "Awww. Adorable." He ponders the meaning for a moment. "Alright. So, I think what we've learned here is that we all need to go to sleep, or the sun will never rise again." He pauses. "... That, or I packed the wrong mushrooms in my rations again. Did everyone else see that?"
Liessa shakes her head clean of the vision. Her fists are clenched. "Okay, what's going on here? WHY are we after a doll? BRICK, I want answers!" Awfully strong reaction from te lass.
Savannah shakes her head quietly. "Jibbom? Did you see that book too?" She says softly as she stands up with Ashlynn's support. "Thanks, whoever you are." She says softly as she shakes her head.....and rubs her eyes.
Having valiantly fought off the vision seeking to overtake her mind, the on-edge Ashlynn gives a questioning, slightly wary glance to her companions as they seem to rave and rant about something or other that makes next to no sense to her. Have they gone mad? She doesn't know! "I saw nothing." she replies, frowning deeper than usual, deep enough to cast shadows on her expression. "I would not trust anything in this place. Let us keep looking."
Brick blinks, hanging back. Blink blink. "Uh-- because Mister Tuck hired us to?" he asks uncertainly. Meep!
Meanwhile, Room Number Four! As the mana lamp baths the room in light, it still seems helplessly oppressed by the darkness. Soft sobbing washes through the room, quiet and barely there. In the center of the room is a large oaken bed that has been, like the chairs in the other room, melted half-into the floor. The mattress is bare, all the sheets and blankets in a pile on the floor, far from the door. There's another door in here, hanging off its hinges, leading into what appears to be a bathroom.
The whole house starts to shudder, tiles cracking.
Conrad glances back as the light is produced, addressing Brolin, "Thanks. Check that room over there, I'm checking that pile of blankets." Slowly moving forward, Conrad cradles his rifle one handed as he reaches out to throw the sheets and blankets aside.
"I did. And the elf girl and her father? Yep, definitely got all of that." Jibbom answers Savannah. He eyes those cracking tiles with mild worry as the house shudders. "Uh-oh. I think we may be headed to the apple pie plane. Did anyone see any leylines we can use to stabilize the house the way that boring guy was talking about back in the place with the thing?" Articulate as ever.
Rotgut jerks in place when the house shudders, and he turns quickly on Brick, shoving the book into the Arvek Nar's hands. "Quick! Do the anchoring thing! I think this will work!"
Savannah rubbing her eyes again, and blinking her eyes to see again, she looks to Jibbom. "Get the book, Jibbom."
Ashlynn blinks, and blinks again, confusedly. So out of the loop. Poor thing. "I do not understand. You had a... hallucination of some sort involving a child?" she asks of the group at large, endlessly puzzled. What little girl and her father?