In Search of Sanity [IC, Group #2]

DAY 1

You regain consciousness in a grimy cell you don't recognize. You retain full memory of your dream, but no negative side effects. You have no equipment, and you are wearing the same off-white smocks and breeches as in your dream.

As you groggily awake, a voice cuts through. "Wake up, damn it!" a man on a table screams, his panic cutting through the claustrophobic near dark.

Bars separate you all 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.

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 screaming on the table. As you further regain your bearings, you realize you also don't recognize anyone in the room, including the other PCs.

The smaller table next to the one upon which the victim 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 to the east.

Everyone notices a set of keys dangling from a hook at the doctor's waist. In her pacing, she keeps well out of PCs' reach.

With a speed born of her twitchy nature, one of the women backs into a corner, trying as best she can to keep her flanks covered. Who am I, and what am I doing here. A bow, she knew instinctively, she knew how to wield a bow. But none presented itself. Zarinda, my name is Zarinda, but nothing else

Eric shakes the fog from his head. He sees the torture, it is obvious that there is no good being done here. A pressure builds in his head, a migraine threatening to split his skull. He screams, "STOP!"

Spoiler

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spell point for hostile lift on the doctor (CL1 + 2 burning lore +2 overcharge boon) + powerful telekinesis talent to lift a medium object
burning lore backlash [roll0] 50 or lower 1 Con burn
fatigued from overcharge
Will DC 17 or lifted and slammed into the nearest bars, right by knuckles
[roll1] damage to doctor and bars

Slowly coming to amidst the screams, the man with no name but the tag around his neck mutters to himself. Counting. Counting and touching the bars of his cell.

"Two. Three. Five. Seven. Eleven. Seventeen. Nineteen..." He trails off at the other prisoner's exclamation, focusing, briefly, on the doctor and more firmly on the re-purposed tools. His eyes avoid the victim with practiced ease.

Blood All Flair remembers is blood and pain and- "STOP!" The man yelling next to him snapped him back to reality. He quickly took note of his surroundings; the cell, the man on the crude operating table and the so-called doctor, but more importantly the keys at her belt. If I can get her close, I can get those keys

Spoiler: OOC

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If she gets within 10 feet from me, I can use my 1/day+5 reach and Martial Flexibility into Improved Grapple so I can nab the keys

Haru wakes up dazed and confused, and immediately starts looking back on the dream. The details seem so strong and yet so vague, all at once. He moves to the bars and grabs at them, testing them, but groans as he can't get through by normal means. Watching the torture only bothers him more, and it finally gets to the point where he can't handle it anymore.

Remembering the dream, and what he did, he tries to call up the same power once more, until something snaps and he slides right through the bars, his body glowing like a massive light, while he stumbles to the other side. Once he stands back up straight, he turns to the Doctor and shouts angrily. "I'm gonna kill you you **** geezer!!!!"

Spoiler

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Haru will place a glow on himself and activate it in the same action to use the Flicker talent. He will spend a spell point to continue it without concentration, but only because he's unsure how to control it.

R1T25: With a speed born of her twitchy nature, one of the women backs into a corner, trying as best she can to keep her flanks covered. Who am I, and what am I doing here? A bow, she knew instinctively, she knew how to wield a bow. But none presented itself. Zarinda, my name is Zarinda, but nothing else.

R1T24: Haru wakes up dazed and confused, and immediately starts looking back on the dream. The details seem so strong and yet so vague, all at once. He moves to the bars and grabs at them, testing them, but groans as he can't get through by normal means. Watching the torture only bothers him more, and it finally gets to the point where he can't handle it anymore.

Remembering the dream, and what he did, he tries to call up the same power once more, until something snaps and he bonks his head on the bars, and nothing seems to have happened. He stands back up straight, he turns to the Doctor and shouts angrily, fingers pointing from the other side of the bars and impotently shouts, "I'm gonna kill you, you **** geezer!!!!"

R1T23: Eric shakes the fog from his head. He sees the torture, it is obvious that there is no good being done here. A pressure builds in his head, a migraine threatening to split his skull. He screams, "STOP!"

Implements on the table rattle, but the doctor holds and roots herself as if something unseen acted on her.

R1T21: Slowly coming to amidst the screams, the man with no name but the embroidered patch on his chest mutters to himself. Counting. Counting and touching the bars of his cell.

"Two. Three. Five. Seven. Eleven. Seventeen. Nineteen..." He trails off at the other prisoner's exclamation, focusing, briefly, on the doctor and more firmly on the re-purposed tools. His eyes avoid the victim with practiced ease.

R1T14: Blood. All Flair remembers is blood and pain and- "STOP!" - The man yelling next to him snapped him back to reality.

He quickly took note of his surroundings; the cell, the man on the crude operating table and the so-called doctor, but more importantly the keys at her belt. If I can get her close, I can get those keys.

He has a flash of insight on grabbing and tries to press himself sideways at the shoulder and nearly dislocates it as he tries reaching for the doctor. He grabs onto the keys and there is a momentary tussle but she wrenches away and keeps the keys on her person.

Spoiler

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Okay, let's break this down. First, attempting to take something off somebody is - if not a Sleight of Hand check - then a steal maneuver. Since that was the truth of what you wanted, even though you defined Martial Flexibility, etc., you conducted a Steal maneuver. There is an Improved Steal maneuver, but without Combat Expertise as the pre-req Martial Flexibility would do you no good. Well, at least not until you can use 2 at a time, that is.

So, the Steal combat maneuver (w/o any martial flexibility) was conducted. Btw, this is not a meta-thing, so I do encourage you to roll your own dice for combat. Still, the doctor has not gone this round and is flat-footed so no AOO. You rolled a 15, with a +2 for CMB for a total of 17. Even then, it was not enough to overcome the doctor's FCMD. However, getting a CMB result of 17 is pretty damn good, so it should tell you something; if nothing else, it seemed like she was fantastically strong despite what you would expect from her size. (Well, at least "fantastically" compared to you.)

Flair has to withdraw his arm immediately or risk injury, and it does hurt as it is.

R1T11: Knuckles, what do you do? The doctor - right now - is actually between the table of implements and the slab, but Zarinda moved so you could move farther west (left) to get a visual on the doctor.

R1T3: The doctor spins on Flair and hisses "Quiet!" as her face momentarily ... changes, to look like that of the man that tried to grab the keys ... before it changes back. She turns to go back to her bloody work, but when she turned the bloodied man on the table used his blood-soaked bindings to slip out a leg and he manages to kick her just as she turns back to him and his foot catches her in the cheek and chin for 5 NL. As her arms flail from what is actually a pretty solid kick, her right arm knocks the keys - previously loosened by the botched steal attempt (Flair) - off of her belt and in reach of Flair's cell (he or Eric can grab them). The doctor, infuriated and seemingly oblivious to her crucial loss, launches on the man on the table to stab him deep with the shears. He gives a terrifying yell of pain and it's hard to tell if he is dead and twitching or moving semi-consciously.

End Round One, Begin Round 2 ...

R2T25: Zarinda, what do you do?

Haru on deck, Eric (fatigued) in the hole, Knuckles delaying ... feel free to post as well.

No one tells Zarinda to be quiet, especially someone who has clearly confined her. She starts shouting at the 'doctor'...serving not only to express her displeasure at being confined but also potentially distracting her from noticing if Flair or Eric make a grab for the keys.

R2T25: No one tells Zarinda to be quiet, especially someone who has clearly confined her. She starts shouting at the 'doctor'...serving not only to express her displeasure at being confined but also potentially distracting her from noticing if either of the two men near the keys grab for them.

R2T24: Haru, what do you do?

Eric (fatigued) on deck, Patient 601 in the hole, Knuckles delaying ... feel free to post.

Haru growls as she ignores him, and yells out once more. "Are you just going to ignore me!!!!!?" He tries again, lighting his body up this time for only a moment as he lunges through the cell bars once more, his body bright this time only for a moment, his focus not strong enough to manage it any further.

Spoiler

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Second verse, same as the first. Cast Glow on myself, then in the same action use Flicker to move through the bars, maintaining it with concentration until I'm on the other side of the bars.

R2T24: Haru growls as she ignores him, and yells out once more. "Are you just going to ignore me!!!!!?"

He tries again, lighting his body up this time for only a moment as he lunges through the cell bars once more, his body bright this time only for a moment, his focus not strong enough to manage it any further. But at least, this time, he is now outside of his cell.

She doesn't pay attention to him, totally focused as she is on her task of murder.

R2T23: Eric (fatigued), what do you do?

Patient 601 on deck, Flair in the hole, Knuckles delaying (feel free to post) ...

Eric pushes against the bars in frustration, eyes attempting to bore holes in the maniac with the shears. People speak of glaring daggers, Eric's look appears more...potent. A short-bladed sword appears in the air and plunges toward the 'doctor'.

Spoiler

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move to summon bound weapon adjacent to the doctor, burning lore to boost CL to 3 to be able to lift it [roll0] (low bad)
attack w/ bludgeon [roll1]
damage [roll2]
concentration on the lift to keep the weapon floating

R2T23: Eric pushes against the bars in frustration, eyes attempting to bore holes in the maniac with the shears. People speak of glaring daggers, Eric's look appears more...potent. A short-bladed sword appears in the air and plunges toward the 'doctor' but misses. The keys still lie next to the bars of his cell.

Spoiler

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Why did you say "attack with bludgeon" when you attacked with the sword?

R2T21: Patient 601, what do you do?

Unknown woman (who technically is delaying) on deck, Flair in the hole (feel free to post). Remember, the keys are on the floor right next to the bars of your [Flair/ Eric] cell ...

Eyes now shifting rapidly from corner to corner, the man with no name gathers what little power he can from the angles and intersections of the room itself. Holding up his hand, his eyes settle on the key.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Casting Mage Hand to levitate the key towards me
DC 20 Concentration check to cast without implement: [roll0]

R2T21: Eyes now shifting rapidly from corner to corner, the man with no name gathers what little power he can from the angles of the room itself. Holding up his hand, his eyes settle on the key, and they lift up a few inches off the ground ... seemingly responsive to his power!

R2T14: Flair, the keys just lifted about three inches off the ground ... and other impossibilities are occuring all around: glowing, scarred creatures walking through prison bars; swords appearing and swing about. Yup. Reality has taken a holiday. What do you do?

Knuckles (delaying) on deck, bloody man in the hole (unless he's been taken out of the running, in which case the doctor is next) ...

Flair stats cursing in Abyssal, his recently hyperextended shoulder throbbing. After taking a deep breath, he starts slamming the cell door, screaming, I'm going to knock this door off its hinges and rip your head off your body!

Spoiler: OOC

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Using Martial Flexibility to get Dazzling Display (remember, I have Weapon Focus(unarmed strikes)). I then attempt to demoralize the doctor.
Intimidate check: [roll0]
It's pretty much all I can do at this point.

EDIT: Well, ****. I'm just going to assume the doctor is sure the door will hold.

R2T14: Flair stats cursing in Abyssal, his recently hyperextended shoulder throbbing. After taking a deep breath, he starts slamming the cell door, screaming, "I'm going to knock this door off its hinges and rip your head off your body!"

Spoiler

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Dazzling Display is just that ... a dazzling display. Shaking bars and yelling is not a show of your unarmed prowess. Some type of spinning kata, shadowboxing, or something like that would fit the bill. Either way, it was as fail as fail could be.

The doctor doesn't even seem to register that Flair was making noise, let alone noting what he said.

R2T11: The burly woman (Knuckles) reaches out in anger - her arm obviously and woefully too far away - but from her anger a green dot of light comes forth from her hand and hits the doctor right at her tailbone with a crit for 14 acid!

R2T3.1: As the doctor wheels around in pain, the man has just enough energy to push-kick her against the bars to the women's cell several feet away. The effort seems to be too much for him and he slumps, possibly dying from his wounds.

R2T3.05: The female towards the back of the cell has all she needed and runs forth and reaches through the bars across the doctor's throat and her hand coming mostly back while her left hand reaches and then clasps at the woman to try and keep her at the cell.

R2T3: The doctor thrashes at the bars to try and break free of the bar-reinforced choke hold.

End Round 2, Begin Round 3 ...

R3T25: Zarinda, the front-of-the cell is now crowded as two stronger-looking woman than yourself are there - the one who seemed to fire some type of acid ray, and the one currently grabbing the doctor in a sleeper hold through the bars. What do you do?

R3T24: Haru, what do you do? You are adjacent to the man (though a 5' step is better positioning if you want to do something for him). He is dead, dying, or unconscious. You are 20' from the doctor who is against the bars of the far cell in a neck hold.

Eric on deck, Patient-601 in the hole ...

Haru lunges over to the doctor, held in the sleeper hold by one of the other prisoners, and shoves a fist into her stomach. To his surprise, his hand has become cold while he strikes, but the energy and the feeling dissipates the moment he moves back from the strike.

Spoiler

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Move action: Move to the grappled doctor
Standard action: Energy Blade, punching her in the gut.

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1] + [roll2] Frost damage. DC 16 Fort save to avoid being staggered.

R3T24: Haru lunges over to the doctor, held in the sleeper hold by one of the other prisoners, and shoves a fist into her stomach (4 + 6 cold). To his surprise, his hand has become cold while he strikes, but the energy and the feeling dissipates the moment he moves back from the strike.

R3T23: Eric, you have TK control of your summoned short sword and you are fatigued. The keys are floating three inches off the deck right near your feet. What do you do?

601 on deck, Flair in the hole ...

If she had some sort of weapon, even an improvised one, Zarinda could lend a hand to dealing with the doctor but it seems they have her under control and lets them continue

Eric stands dumbfounded for a moment, the sword faltering as he realizes he can FEEL it, across the room. He tries to gather his wits and swing it again.

Spoiler

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attack w/ bludgeon [roll0]
damage [roll1]

the usage of the telekinesis sphere for attacking with a lifted object is called 'bludgeon', so I am listing that to keep it clear how he is attacking

Eyes not shifting from the key, the man makes as if to pull on a tether and the key glides towards him. Grabbing it, he reaches up to unlock the door of his cage.

If she had some sort of weapon, even an improvised one, Zarinda could lend a hand to dealing with the doctor but it seems they have her under control and lets them continue.

R3T23: Eric stands dumbfounded for a moment, the sword faltering as he realizes he can FEEL it, across the room. He tries to gather his wits and swing it again. He has no memory of doing anything like this and as such as no sense of what it takes to do a task. With a little bit of oomph, the sword vastly overshoots its mark to smash against a far stone wall and shatter. The pieces hang there in midair briefly and then disintegrate into the air.

R3T21: Eyes not shifting from the key, the man makes as if to pull on a tether and the key glides towards him. Grabbing it, he reaches up to unlock the door of his cage. His cell is now unlocked and he has keys in hand.

R3T14: Flair, what do you do?

Knuckles on deck, woman doing the grabbing in the hole ...

Surprised by the goings on outside his cell, Flair takes a breath, watching the action intently.

Spoiler: OOC

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Delaying; short of randomly attacking my cell-mate, there's nothing I can do right now.

R3T14: Surprised by the goings on outside his cell, Flair takes a breath, watching the action intently.

R3T11: Knuckles, a woman is holding the doctor around the neck right at your cell. Her keys are not on her belt anymore. What do you do?

Grappling woman on deck, doctor in the hole ...

R3T11: The woman that fired the blast of acid gives two punches through the bars into the doctor's kidney areas, though only the second one really landed. The puncher is just under five-and-a-half-feet tall, but she is stocky and her punch does 6 (lethal) damage.

R3T3.05: In the meantime, the woman performing the hold tries to use the bars to give her extra leverage to really apply pressure and does 4 NL (min, seems she's pretty strong herself) to the doctor.

R3T3: The doctor drops the half-shears and really struggles to get out of the hold as she is gasping for air and having trouble breathing now. In this effort, her body transforms - but not in a manner that gets her out of the hold. What remains is a gray-skinned humanoid with noseless, mouthless face and truly inhuman eyes. It is a terrifying alien in that its featurelessness and spindly limbs are a mockery of yourselves. Even the clothes she was wearing are gone, either assumed into this form; or having been "constructed" from whatever allows this creature to shapeshift.

Spoiler: ALCON

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I am sure you know what it is, but none of your characters do. Don't spoiler IC or OOC. And, yes, that is including the reroll aspect of Haru's Spiritualism ability.

End Round 3, Begin Round 4 ...

R4T24: Haru, creepy, grappled alien in front of you. What do you do?

Eric (fatigued) on deck, 601 in the hole, Zarinda and Flair delaying ...

Haru recoils in surprise, but grits his teeth and slams his fist into the creatures gut once more.

Spoiler

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Second Verse, same as the first. Standard action: Energy Blade (Frost Blast)

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1] + [roll2] Frost damage DC 16 Fort save or staggered for one round.

R4T24: Haru recoils in surprise, but grits his teeth and goes to slam his fist into the creature's gut. But first, he again tries to bring forth more cold and that was his mistake. The thing is ready for him this time and throws a claw right into his chest for 12 (max) and the bizarre-looking humanoid with scarred features (that's Haru, not "the Asian youth" anymore) screams and falls to the ground, dead or unconscious.

R4T23: Eric, what do you do?

Patient 601 on deck, Flair in the hole (and delaying), with Zarinda delaying as well.

Eric stares atthe sword that disappeared as quickly as it came. He looks back to the 'doctor' and glares. A dagger appears and plunges toward its target.

Spoiler

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move for summon equipment, MW dagger, lift as part of the summon, using per the bludgeon option to attack the doctor
[roll0]
damage [roll1]