:: Silent Night :: Into the Ephemeral [IC]

[cameronpants]

The school stands as you remember it. It was one of those periods in your life that you sometimes can't remember clearly- so much has happened since the days of PE, tests, and lockers. So much went wrong.

The event was being held in the north gymnasium- the slightly larger, more advanced one- and already there were pockets of ancient cliques starting to form. Laughter and punch traded like playing cards, mostly-fake smiles passed between old friends. It hadn't been too long since you'd attended school, but already it felt like these people were not who they were back then.

Ryan Allan, the man who spearheaded this reunion for his dear friend James, ascended the stairs to the stage at the north end of the gym. Streamers, black lights, and other ornaments obscured him from many perspectives, but all could hear his voice due to the sound system he had hooked up.

He introduced himself, and then James- who had a difficult time with the stairs- and thanked everyone. He went through the motions, spraying a speech he had prepared at lightning speed. He obviously wasn't used to public speaking. He played a Powerpoint presentation with charts and baby pictures, a map showing how far your grad class had spread, and a pie chart for how likely people were to be angry about the presentation. It was funny, but not terribly so.

Then he started drawing names for tables. He said randomly assigned seats was the best way to go so nobody had hurt feelings.

He listed off names pulled from a top hat. Table 1, table 2... he got to table 9, and all your names were pulled, as well as the retired teacher Dr. Martin Bright. You begin to pick your way to the table, hearing Ryan finish off the tables, and finally say that in ten minutes the food calls would start, and if you heard your table number you could grab food from the buffet.

You sit down at the table. Bright was already sitting there, picking his nails.

Knowledge (Current Events) and/or (Streetwise)
((If your character stayed in this small town at all in the previous 5 years, get a +1 to this check per year.))
Current Events
DC 10
Dr. Martin Bright was in the newspapers. He had a serious mental breakdown in-class and, at the end of that semester, was asked by the school board to leave. He did so.

DC 15
Dr. Martin Bright was mentioned twice more after his forced early retirement. Once he was the only witness to a brutal murder that went unsolved; his testimony changed partway through the trial and it was enough to throw out the case. The second mention of his name was he was the only bystander who saw a hit-and-run at a grocery store where a large vehicle, supposedly an SUV, crashed directly into the front windows. The store was closed, being after midnight, but Martin Bright was nearby. His statement lead to no arrests.

DC 20
Dr. Martin Bright is an expert chemist and bio-electric engineer. Or so he claims. He published a book that was pulled from the shelves three days after it was published for mysterious reasons. This left Dr. Bright in such debt he declared bankruptcy.

Streetwise
DC 10
Dr. Martin Bright sometimes wanders around town, aimlessly, looking into random windows. He sometimes enters a store, looks around at products for a few hours, reading ingredient lists and manufacturer tags, then leaves without a purchase.

DC 15
The good doctor sometimes is seen entering dark alleys or empty parking lots to stand and look to the sky for a long period of time. Sometimes he'll then pull out a can of spray paint or a permanent marker and make strange symbols or words on nearby surfaces.

DC 20
Dr. Martin Bright rarely leaves his house anymore. It is said, however, that he'll keep his engine running all day, then take it over to the Husky on 5th and West to refill. He does this every so often for no good reason. Only does it on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, though.



He looks at each of you in turn as you sit at the table. He seems well enough dressed, aware of himself. He extends his hand to each of you, re-introducing himself.

"I'm Dr. Martin Bright. Welcome back to high school."



PARTY
User|Core|Avatar|Anima|Alignment|Complete

Batpope_Scott|Michael Summers (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626893)|Inquisitor (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626833)|Retributon (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626834)|NG|Yes

Sournote103|Warren Mills (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626812)|Monk (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626933)|Ninja (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=626974)|LG|Yes

Aaron Grimstone|Anastasia Ivanov (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=628689)|Sparrow (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=631995)|Anima|CG/NG|Yes

tofucake|Thomas Oliver (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=630654)|Tactician (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=631284)|Summoner (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=630799)|CN|Yes

Toptomcat|Neil Eisenhauer (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=633332)|Artificer (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=633731)|Anima|NG|Yes

[AaronGrimstone]

"Hello, I am Anastasia Ivanov. Is not so good, being here again, but perhaps is not so bad. Have moved on with life, but is good to see where I've been before. Is everyone else enjoying this reminiscing of the past?" She reaches across the table to shake Dr. Martin Bright's hand in greeting. She speaks in a Russian accent, though if anyone has seen her movies they know she is capable of speaking unaccented English when she desires.

Sitting quietly by the table is a black dog that Anastasia managed to get inside the building. He lies in the shadows as if to keep from drawing attention to himself.

[Batpope Scott]

Michael shrugs off his leather jacket before he sits down, revealing his white tee. "I'm not sure I can say I'm reminiscing, since by definition the memory has to be enjoyable. It's nice to see old classmates, though."

Knowledge:Streetwise [roll0]
Knowledge: Current Events [roll1]

I'm making these untrained, but I have the savant talent so I can get the higher DCs if my rolls are good.

Michael takes the older man's hand with a nervous grip and says "Nice to meet you, Dr. Bright."

[cameronpants]

"Likewise, likewise." After releasing your hands, he looks at his wrist, then up his forearm. You notice his dark hair is standing on end. He looks back up at you, and at the Russian woman. His eyes squint as he stares at you. He shakes his head and continues to introduce himself as the others approach.

[sournote103]

Warren had never been the fastest to warm up to people, and really never had that many friends in high school. He weakly attempted to smile at his former classmates as he tried to remind himself why he had even decided to attend the event. Realizing that socializing at least a little would be the easiest way to avoid drawing undue attention to himself, he greeted everyone and shook sme hands before sitting down.

[cameronpants]

Dr. Martin Bright does a double take at Warren after the handshake, and then starts fiddling with a book that is on the table next to him. He opens it, displaying pages filled with ink. He pulls out a fountain pen, unscrews the lid, and starts jotting things down. He only breaks away to shake the hands of any more students sitting at the table- which sends him further into his book, writing faster and faster.

[Toptomcat]

Neil comes back from the punch bowl and sits down at Table 9. Natasha's heavy accent produces a double-take.

She had less of an accent when she was playing an NBP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bolshevik_Party) zealot in Lighting the Frost. Maybe it takes her a bit of diction coaching to get the lines down?

"Reminiscing...well, it's interesting. Not always pleasant, but I think I'd regret it if I hadn't come."

When Warren comes around for a handshake, the corner of Neil's mouth quirks into a smile.

"Warren...Mills, right? Damn, you've filled out. Good grip, too. What have you been-"

He brushes his thumb over Warren's knuckles, roughened and prominent from long hours of practice.

"...never mind, I think I've got some idea. We ought to catch up."

He shakes the Doctor's hand, too, but more as an afterthought than anything else: the notion of a classmate who shared an interest in martial arts is an interesting one. He'd always been aware that Warren did something athletic, in a vague, background way- but he'd never really gotten into martial arts until college, so whatever Warren's hobby was hadn't really registered at the time.

[tofucake]

"Ah Dr Bright, it's been a while. Say, you seem awfully busy. What are you writing there ?"

Thomas remarks as he shakes Bright's hand. He takes a quick glance at the faces at the table. Many were vaguely familiar, faces and names from the past.

The lady's face was a little fresher than most.

The movie star, if memory serves.

"Not bad. I would think that most who hate it wouldn't be here already."

[AaronGrimstone]

"True, true. For me, was never so concerned about school. Worried I always came off as stand-offish. Plus, first year was new to this country which is jarring experience." She says in reply to Thomas directly. She smiles and shakes hands with all of the newcomers. Then she turns to Warren. "How about you? What were these four years like to you?"

[sournote103]

Turning to Anastasia, Warren replied, "They've been fine. I've just been at college." He seemed satisfied that this was a sufficient answer.

[cameronpants]

"No, no no. No. No. No. No." Dr. Bright begins to mumble under his breath, slowly getting louder. His eyes start to dart back and forth across the gymnasium. He nervously bites at his knuckles.


Everyone, roll a d100 with a negative modifier equal to your current Ephemeral points remaining (should be full).

[Batpope Scott]

Here's the roll [roll0]

[sournote103]

[/roll]1d100-8[/roll]

[tofucake]

Thomas goes [roll0]

[AaronGrimstone]

Here is my roll [roll0]

[cameronpants]

@Batpope Scott, Sournote103

A feeling of nausea washes over you, and is gone as fast as it came. The shadows of the room become darker, opaque, and then revert to their normal dim levels of light. Something dangerous is nearby on the Ephemeral plane, and you've got it's attention.


@Everyone

Dr. Martin Bright's nervous tics and frantic behavior pauses for a second as he stares at his notebook. "It wasn't coincidence..." he mumbles, circling a string of numbers and symbols. For a moment he is still, and you see his eyes glaze over. He then blinks, twice, and calmly closes his notebook. He screws on the lid of his fountain pen and puts both pen and book into his satchel. He then turns, so smoothly it seems serene, and sits with perfect posture at the table. He folds his hands on one another, and smiles contentedly. He looks at each of you, and then stares off into the distance, towards the refreshment table.
"I wonder when we will be called..." he says, looking back at Anastasia, "I'm getting rather peckish."

You all recognize the signs- the complete turnabout in attitude and disposition could mean one of two things. Either he is the most extreme bipolar case you've ever heard of or he just entered the Ephemeral realm.

[AaronGrimstone]

Anastasia frowns for a moment, unsure what to make of this. She had met few in her life who had managed to make it into the Ephemeral plain. Unfortunately she could not broach the subject here in front of the others, or they would think she mad.

"Doctor," She said cautiously. "Are you alright? You seem a bit more relaxed than you were a moment ago? Why were you so anxious?" She knew it would do no good, but she to make the effort. The only other option would be to go into the Ephemeral after him.

[cameronpants]

Dr. Martin Bright smilea at the Russian movie starlet.
"It is a pleasant day, isn't it?" He begins to hum the tune from the Mickey Mouse Club.

Three out of twenty two tables have been called to the buffet. As you watch, anothert table is called up. Table eight joins the line and you realize that all the tables around you have been called.

Warning bells start ringing in your thoughts. You've had little experience with the denizens of the Ephemeral, but one thing is certain: they feed on the Awakened. And if Dr. Bright is, then perhaps the others at the table are too...

And you've landed in a complex trap.

[AaronGrimstone]

In her sudden panic Anastasia forgets her Russian accent and slides easily into her American one. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but has anyone here ever found themselves in a strange dreamworld, or suffered some sort of out of body experience they cannot quite explain? Have any of you ever visited the Ephemeral plane? Because if you have now would be a good time to switch over, I think." With that Anastasia calls her biscuit to her, and shifts into the Ephemeral.

[Batpope Scott]

Michael has been sitting stoically, a smile nowhere to be seen, and Anastasia's question hammers the nail in his realization. "Y-You... You have..." He stutters a bit as he tries to bring his thoughts to bear but she's gone before he fully gets them out. He sits, agape, as his mind races about what he should do. I don't know if I want to go fight whatever I felt, but I think both she and Dr. Bright are going to meet up with it. I don't want to sit here and let them get hurt!

He tries to focus and bring himself into the ephemeral.

[tofucake]

Thomas is unsurprised by their statements. As I thought, there are others who have access to similar abilities. It would be rather unlikely for a truly unique trait to be present in only a single individual within a population afterall. I should follow them and make more observations, this could yield more intriguing data.

Thomas blinks rapidly. "A buffet would sure hit the spot everyone."

[sournote103]

Warren was somewhat taken aback at the actress' statements regarding the ephemeral world. Realizing, however, that time was of the essence (there being some event happening on the ephemeral plane), he chose not to say anything further and to instead focus his attention on entering the ephemeral world.

[cameronpants]

You each have your own trick for entering the Ephemeral. In the end, they all boil down to the same thing: shedding your thoughts from the real world and seeing past the glammer.

Your perspective changes. It's as if you took a step sideways, but the world doesn't move with you. Depth stretches to infinity, a parallax of colors, sounds, and motion surging behind every angle, every noise, every gesture.

And suddenly there you are, standing in the Ephemeral world.

The gymnasium, in essence, is the same. Except things are magnified. The twenty-foot ceiling is now towering a thousand feet over your head. You can still pick out details from it, however; distance in the Ephemeral sometimes plays tricks on the senses.

The lines on the gym floor have changed, broadened, and become channels of rushing, liquid energy under a thin layer of translucent jelly. Creatures that look like eye-less, nose-less children run at exaggerated speeds through the room, bounding from line to line, never straying from one or two colors. The direction of the flowing lines shift, and the direction the children race reverses.

At the north end of the gym, an eighty-foot stage juts out from the ground, floor splintering around it, as if it had erupted from beneath your feet. On it, towering pillars of wobbling stones bump into hanging discs of white fire. The discs of white fire are suspended from cables that look to be the faces of men and women stretched and contorted at horrendous angles.

The walls are covered in the severed heads of animals, beasts, and humans. They are nailed there with pieces of broken trophies. Pennants and banners in the real world are replaced with tapestries depicting bloody wars fought with orange rubber balls, spies stealing flags, and an atomic explosion detonating in the center of a match of badminton.

Protruding from each wall, about thirty feet off the ground, are massive faces. Their mouths are extensions of their noses, and face downward. Now and then, from this nose-mouth orifice, a glowing orange ball will fall. The eyeless children, racing along the lines, will speed up, attempting to be the first ones to reach the ball. When one does, they pick it up, and immediately grow two large eyes on their tongues. They stick out their new eyes from their mouth, and race around the gym, throwing arm at the ready, aiming for the now-panicked, screaming, blind children.

All around you are massive conical scabs, ranging from a dark brown to a light grey. They move slowly, sluggishly. Some spin around each other in a strange, twisted dance.

The massive cone-shaped scabs are your graduating class back on the real world. Over time, people build up a resistance to the Ephemeral predators that would do them harm. They are protected.

Looking down, however, you see your own physical bodies- no scabs, no protection- glowing a soft blue and white light.

Turning south, almost in unison, you see what some of you sensed before: a massive creature made of shadows and green metal. It seems bigger than it actually is, both stretching the confines of the thousand-foot ceiling and barely touching it. It is slowly walking forwards, shrinking with each step, shadows peeling back from green rebar and sheet metal.

Between your table and the massive creature stands another being. Tall, about seven feet, wearing a top hat, white dress shirt, and black vest. He glistens in the light from your glowing physical bodies, and you realize he is made entirely out of ink. The ink drips off his back, arms, and legs and forms a pool that acts as his shadow. As the ink-shadow expands, ink evaporates at the edges, wisping up into nothingness. The ink-man turns slightly, and you see it is in fact a younger, healthier-looking Dr. Martin Bright. He reaches into his vest and pulls out a chainsaw, also made of the same ink, and it revs to life in his hand.

"I suspected as much," says the doctor, smiling, "say, would you mind terribly in helping me eviscerate this monster?"

[AaronGrimstone]

"Would be glad to help." Anastasia says, still in Russian-American. At first glance it appears that she is wearing a bird mask, but on closer inspection it becomes clear that her face is actually that of a bird. When she talks her beak opens slightly and the words appear without further movement. She has feathers growing down her arm, and her hands have nails that are reminiscent of talons. She is dressed in the hides of animals, all that she has killed herself at sometime while she was in the Ephemeral. Beside her Biscuit has turned from a pampered domesticated dog into a growling, shaggy, black wolf that has never seen civilization.

Sparrow, as she is called in the Ephemeral, reaches into her chest and pulls out a rifle that glows. Each metal part seems to be made of solid light, and a shield icon appears on the side of the stock, also glowing. "Let's bag us an eldritch horror that comes from our darkest nightmares."

[tofucake]

Thomas takes a moment to survey his surroundings. Fascinating. Hallucinogenic drugs would be obsolete if everyone had a chance to see this.

Oh, really? I recall a particular hallucination of yours when you OD-ed on that shroom cake a couple of months ago.. A gruff but friendly voice points out in Thomas' mind.

Not now, Basa. We have work to do. Thomas interjects as he turns to face what appears to be a cross between a tiger and an asian dragon, an orange striped beast with a small pair of horns and a scaled back that is showing the beginnings of a mane running down the spine. It's tail ends in a flame-like flare and a pair of whiskers hang from a feline face.

Visualisation aid for eidolon http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/293/c/7/honor_and_beauty__tiger_dragon_by_reallurial-d4dguq2.jpg

Dr Bright interrupts the mental conversation between the two with his offer of cooperation, which Thomas accepts with a simple "Why not ?"

Thomas begins gesturing and intoning words of power in Basa's direction and Basa begins to grow in size. Could you not achieve physical maturity any faster ? The need to enlarge you is an objective waste of time that could be better spent on assessing and manipulating the combat situation.

Or you could drop a size category, fatty.

Thomas glances at Sparrow's exotic hide armor and looks at his own scraggy wooden armor. And Basa ? Remind me to get some real armor one of these days.

Thomas casts Enlarge Person on Basa the Eidolon. (+2 Str, -2 Dex, -1 attack and AC

[AaronGrimstone]

Sparrow rushes to within 30ft of the creature, aims, and fires an experimental shot at the bruiser.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]


At a whistle from Sparrow Biscuit sneaks around the creature, staying low to the ground to avoid detection. When he gets close enough he bites the monster.

Stealth: [roll2]
Attack Bite: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

[Batpope Scott]

Michael appears as he remembered; taller, blonde, blue eyes and a muscular physique only barely concealed by his white coat with armor plates that are a bit heavier than his preference. He stands frozen by the environment before his eyes slide to the people around him.

He silently stares at at the group for a moment before drawing a blade from over his shoulder where nothing had been and brandishing the black iron blade with a slight flick of the wrist. Along the blade is a plain text that simply says RETRIBUTION. He quietly states that "I suppose this means we're hunting."

He charges the creature, swinging Retribution overhand with a single arm.
[roll0] Attack
[roll1] Damage
[roll2] Critical Confirm
[roll3] Critical Damage

[cameronpants]

The creature, now all gleaming, neon-green and black metal, lashes out with twisted, long talons made of dark glass. It attacks Michael as he charges forward, and directs one towards Biscuit as he slinks by.

Dr. Martin Bright runs forward, quicker than one would expect, and leaps into action, swinging the chainsaw with expert ease.

Sparrow's slug rips into the metal creature of nightmares, and liquid, flickering electricity starts spilling from its wound.


Attack on Michael: [roll0], Damage [roll1]
Attack on Biscuit: [roll2], Damage [roll3]
Martin's Chainsaw: [roll4], Damage [roll5]

Biscuit, Martin, and Michael each need to make a Reflex save DC 18. Failure deals [roll6] damage, half fire half electricity (your Universal Energy Resistance will apply twice). Success is half damage.

[sournote103]

After a few moments of surprise- Warren was not yet used to the ephemeral plane- what initially appeared to simply be a well-worn child's toy stood up and turned his attention on the hostile creature, circling around to attack it from behind while it was focused on others.

Attack - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Sneak attack damage - [roll2]

[AaronGrimstone]

Biscuit is swiped easily, and falls to the ground in whimper. He appears to be conscious.

"BISCUIT!" Sparrow shrieks. "Hang in there buddy! I'll get you soon!" She chokes back her chairs, chambers another round. Then glares at the beast. "You will die!"

Sparrow chambers another round, aims, and fires.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] Add +1 to attack and damage

[cameronpants]

The wounds shred metal fibers from the creature, elastic energy spraying like some kind of damaged fire hydrant. The gunshots from Sparrow's empowered rifle leave gaping holes in the monster's hide, snapping rebar and internal gears alike.

Martin Bright steps away from the creature, slipping between its clawing, rending talons, and slides over to Biscuit. His hands smother the creature, smearing it with a sticky, opalescent layer of ink, and then stands again. Biscuit's eyes flutter for a moment as the ink seeps into the wounds, covering them, healing to his flesh. He then stands, part of his body looking like its made of ink, and charges back into the fray.

Martin uses his Healer training: Biscuit heals [roll0] hp.
Biscuit can then charge a now-flanked creature.

[AaronGrimstone]

Biscuit shakes his head, as he stumbles to his feet. If dogs or wolves could glare he would do so at the strange beast he thinks of as sparky metal hurt thing. He charges and attacks the monster

Attack, Charging:[roll0]
Damage: [roll]1d6+1

[tofucake]

Thomas grabs the saddle on Basa's back with his left hand, slips his left foot into the stirrup and mounts Basa smoothly, swinging his right leg across into the other stirrup.

The creature's lashings are strong enough to create a palpable vibration across the hall on impact. Ehhhh.. buddy ? I know I'm totally awesome and all but a smack from that thing is a wee bit much.. Basa points out.

Duly noted. A ride-by it is then.

CHARGEEEEEEEEEEEEE Thomas yells and as he readies his crystal lance for the strike, blurring into a streak of brown and orange as Basa sprints towards and past the creature.

Thomas and Basa performs an 80' ride-by attack
Thomas' attack [roll0] (+2 from charge)
Thomas' damage [roll1]
Thomas' confirmation (if crit) [roll2]

[cameronpants]

Thomas's charge rocks the creature, ripping nearly a third of its husk apart. Dr. Bright stands, mouth slightly agape and chainsaw raised above his head, as he watches the students-transformed shred the creature. It stumbles and falls, landing with a crash. Immediately the green metal begins to decay, oxidize, and disintegrate. Laying in the center of a pile of green ash is a boy, no older than nine or ten, bleeding. He looks up. He has only one eye in the center of his face, and a mouth above and below it. He chitters, and sinks into the floor like it was quicksand.

"Damn cyclopses... always looking to make a buck..." grumbles Dr. Bright, kicking the green powder from his shoe. He looks up at the rest of you.
"Nice mask," he says, checking out the feathers. "So... are there any questions?"

[AaronGrimstone]

"First off. Thank you for saving my dog, I appreciate that more than you might know. Second, what was that, and what was that running it? Also, how did you know we were able to go into the Ephemeral?" Sparrow starts petting Biscuit as soon as he gets close enough, and casts Cure light wounds on the dog.

It will heal [roll0]

[cameronpants]

The man of ink smiles.
"I've always had a knack for healing folks. Both in mind and body."
Martin Bright moves back to the table where your physical bodies are sitting. Through the haze between worlds, you see your group is politely trading pleasantries, good posture and smiles all around. Dr. Bright leaps up and lands standing upon it own head. He crouches, staring down at his own physical shell.
"That critter was a cyclops. Ideation, obsessed with getting rich. I made a bad choice a while back and got my name on the list of a Wham Beast named Shrell. He's probably sold it to a few other Ideas to get some revenge."
Martin Bright ruffles his physical body's hair.
"I've learned a few things from my time in the Epherium. I can feel those with the connection in the real world by touch. I also know Realitical Math. Allows me to predict things and locate stuff. Pretty neat. I'll show you some time. On that note... We really ought to figure out who wanted us dead. Throwing us all on the same table like that was not random. I proved it with the math. This was intentional. If it drew something else before the Cyclops here..." Martin Bright's brow furrows, ink slipping around his features. "...oh, no. Just became pretty sure that the 'clops monster was a distraction."


Perception checks!

[AaronGrimstone]

Perceptive Check Go [roll0]

[Batpope Scott]

Perception Check [roll0]

[sournote103]

Perception:
[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

...

wait a minute...there were five of you at the table, weren't there? Six, counting Dr. Bright. Anastasia's the bird-woman, Tom's the huge one with the dragon-tiger, Michael much the same except in armor, Warren is the stuffed otter. Where did Neil end up?

...

Atop a stowed set of bleachers that towers like a skyscraper, a vague outline stirred, concealed by distance and the outline-blurring effect of military camouflage uniform. Neil lay prone, peering across the vast expanse of gymnasium floor over a long rifle.

Damn, that was disorienting. I thought I'd transition to the Ephemeral somewhere where there'd be ready cover, but I hadn't expected it to telescope distances like that. The bleachers were fifteen feet from our table, where did- there they are!

Neil squinted to get a better look before realizing that it wasn't really necessary- he could see them like he was standing right next to them, now that he knew where to look. He still wasn't used to how phenomenal his vision was on the Ephemeral.

Looks like I missed something big while I was getting over my little attack of vertigo: that's quite a creature they just-
-What is that?

Rolls and OOC:

M21 is loaded with standard rounds, suppressor and scope are mounted. Clothing is urban/gray fatigues. Anima is set to default.
Stealth with fatigues, plus hero point: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[cameronpants]

You all hear it. Ticking. Loud, echoing, but infinitely quiet at the same time. It starts out just a few, ticking together in a tangential unison, but as you peer around the gymnasium you begin to hear more. And more. Soon the ticking, so loud and quiet at the same time, is just a mess of sound. You all see them as they enter: tiny, dust-speck crosses. The T-section on each cross is spinning, like a helicopter, clicking with every rotation.

There are millions of them. They creep in from the stage, the doors, windows, and cracks of the paint. They flow in from the ceiling, so far away, and begin to swarm into black clouds. Nine clouds in total, growing in side until they are approximately as big as a car. Perfect spheres of ebbing, flowing crosses.

They bob in mid air, looking around, and begin to creep forward.


You each get an action now. I remind you of your Ephemeral points- use them wisely, but don't hesitate to be really, really creative with them.

[Toptomcat]

Neil breathes deeply, looks through the scope, and prepares to fire...then, he blinks in puzzlement. Something is odd about the lines on the basketball court: they seem to flow and change as he glances at them. He takes another critical, close look at the whole room and the designs on the floor.

The lines on the floor...that's not an ordinary basketball court. It's like a circuit diagram. There's a resistor...that's a NAND gate...that's a capacitor...and I'll be damned if that isn't a stylized version of the Nine Cuts of the Buddha's Sword of Wisdom. Rin, Pyō, Tō, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen.

...

It's a set of rules.

Halfway across the court, three subtle pulses of energy turn a right angle, and two previously unconnected lines are joined. Niel thinks for a moment, then turns to the giant mouth on the wall behind him, silently counting three, two, one-- and right on cue, the mouth disgorges a glowing orange ball.

Neil grins like a cat that's swallowed the canary, aims carefully, and snaps off two rounds into one of the channels of rushing energy that crisscross the gym floor. It spurts out neon blue liquid for a moment before sealing itself, the connection between two crucial points severed.

"Three, two, one..."

[AaronGrimstone]

Sparrow gets an idea, almost immediately. These crosses seemed to behave a lot like insects, and one thing the plant world had figured out how to deal with long ago were plants. She uses her knowledge of magic to subvert a prepared spell she had, calling on its power in a somewhat different manner.

In Druidic she spoke, "All things belong to nature, all things are alive. Now, power of Nature, hear me. Remember that all of this gym was once living, and must simply remember that fact." She forces the pulse of her Entangle spell through the floor and air of the room. Using her knowledge of nature, she shapes her intent, and releases it.

"Arise and defend us! Devour what you are made to devour!" She yells in Druidic again.

Plants come out of the ground all around her, but instead of regular plants they are made of concrete and steel, the weird liquid, and even some glass. They sprout all around her, growing till they reach the swarms, then they shoot up out of the ground, forming into thick vines of rebar and linoleum before the tips open up into aggressive hungry flytraps. The vines crisscross themselves, creating organic nets that help trap the swarms while the fly traps go to work.

After all, why have boring, passive carnivorous plants, when the active, hunting kind are so much more interesting to watch?

[tofucake]

It was hard to miss a sight like that but instead of reacting immediately, Thomas elected to wait and observe how the new swarming threat responded to stimuli instead. Better to let someone better equipped test out its capabilities for now.

Instead, Thomas took advantage of the short lull to attempt a psychic bonding trick he had been experimenting with without proper test subjects for a while. He unconsciously frowned as he focused and projected his psyche beyond his "body", reaching out to the others present. That's it, twist and braid it like a rope, then extend it across the distance so it doesn't lose intensity with distance.. Psychic contact achieved.



Thomas connects Michael, Warren, Anastasia and Bright together with himself psychically into a collective. Neil is likely to be out of range and out of line of sight for this ability unfortunately. It's not enough for telepathic speech yet but anyone in it can get a vague feeling of my intent I guess. Mechanics details in OOC thread.

[cameronpants]

Right on cue, the wall-face drops a glowing orange ball. And then it drops another, and another, and the wall-faces across the room start spewing forth balls. The eyeless children go beserk; one after another they grab balls, and start hurling them at any target they lay their eyes on. Almost as quickly as they throw them, they scoop up another and let it fly.

At the same moment, gigantic plants of metal, wood, and flowing energy burst out of the ground and stage. Massive, razor-toothed flytraps start gnashing their teeth towards the nearest cross-spheres. Between the onslaught of glowing balls and the plant attack, two of the swarms of crosses are scattered, and two more are slammed about. Three circling above you, out of reach of the plants, combine together, condensing into a shape similar to the hybrid of a helicoptor and a pelican. It has rotors all around it and a long neck. It spits towards your group, dozens of crosses acting like bullets from a machine gun, and the little black crosses appear to be razor-sharp. They rip into the tables and floor by you, peppering the metal plants with lacerations.
The remaining two swarms are by the entrance the Cyclops came through, and are slowly drifting towards one another. They seem to be slowly moving towards Neil's location, but they have yet to identify his location.


Everyone is attacked by an Orange Ball at least once.

Attack [roll0] +5 to hit. If it hits your Touch AC but not your Regular AC, take no damage but the Ball Effect still functions.

(In order of the five results: Mike, Warren, Ana, Thomas, Dr. Bright, Neil)
Damage: [roll1] +4 force damage.

Ball Effect: Make a Will save, DC 15. If you fail you are Compelled to go pick up a ball and throw it at a non-ball-weilding target. If you hit, you get another save against this effect.

Then, everyone but Neil needs to make a Reflex save against the cross-fire (punny, I know).
Reflex DC 18; Damage [roll2]; half damage on a successful reflex save.

[Batpope Scott]

Michael ducks a ball and yells "I really don't wanna get killed here, guys! Can we cut down on the friendly fire?!"

[roll0] Reflex

[AaronGrimstone]

"Yeah, dodging balls is not my idea of a good time!" Anastasia is distracted by trying to play dodge ball. I've seriously grown out of this! She thought angrily.

Reflex save: [roll0]

"If anyone else has some bright ideas, I'm sort of almost out of my bag of tricks, and the fly traps might only last for a minute!" She readies her gun again, hoping it will be of some good.

[sournote103]

Moving with surprising swiftness and precision for being in a form without muscles, Warren attempted to avoid the objects flying through the air.

Reflex - [roll0]

[tofucake]

Thomas was being peppered with crosses but none of that mattered. He needed to pick up another ball... and throw it... and pick up another... and throw it...

ranged attack with ball [roll0]
if target is non-random, targeted at pelicopter