Random Plots and Places 9: What a crazy, random happenstance!

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat falls to the ground with an equally indignant squawk, just barely managing to take the fall with her arms and not break her nose by face-plating on the cold tiles.
Pat immediately begins flopping around without any real coordination, angrily spouting curse words more colorful than the assortment of creatures on the monitors. All of course culminate with giving the man on the screen the finger.
She does at least spare a glance over to Acanthe to see how she's doing.

Acanthe has acquired a pair of actual hips and actual legs---smooth, with webbed toes and lined with glowing blue stripes down the outer sides. She's sort of floundering about, trying to use them to move, not really understanding how they work.

The scientists all take notes as the terrible robot jerk departs from the screen; Acanthe starts cursing about how legs are dumb.

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Oh yeah, hips. Pat could go for having hips right now. She continues to flounder, although she is slowly figuring out how to flex her tail. She has absolutely no clue how she'd move with this tail, but at the very least "standing" up is just sorta pushing against the ground and holding her torso upright, right? She's sure she'll get it in a minute or two. But for now...
"You jackasses, do something besides take notes! Do you have any idea how degrading this is?" she shouts.

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Oh yeah, hips. Pat could go for having hips right now. She continues to flounder, although she is slowly figuring out how to flex her tail. She has absolutely no clue how she'd move with this tail, but at the very least "standing" up is just sorta pushing against the ground and holding her torso upright, right? She's sure she'll get it in a minute or two. But for now...
"You jackasses, do something besides take notes! Do you have any idea how degrading this is?" she shouts.

"Yep.
"Firsthand, even."
"I got a spider-ass."
"My ass was a boat oooooooooonce."
"Nobody cares, Ronny."
"Awwww..."

The techs shrug and Ronny goes back to standing in the corner. Poor Ronny McBurgerson.

Acanthe gets herself into a kneeling position and starts to pick up anything in range and throw it at the techs, grumbling about feet and butts and how they suck.

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat finally manages to coil herself up into a sitting position, an absolutely terrible scowl on her face.
"That gives you even less reason to just sit there and watch! And if you know that why the hell do you even work here?" she demands angrily, examining her tail. Geez, it's longer than her whole human body. She must weigh a ton now.
"Ugh, this thing is useless anyway! It's aquatic but it doesn't help me breathe; I'd still drown in an actual ocean!" she grumps. It's downright embarrassing and not even that useful!

[UncleWolf]

Spoiler

Show

House in the Countryside

"No!" Wesley denies vehemently while washing his hands. Then, "I just... um. Well, I might be able to help?" Wesley's more started by 'suddenly cat' than the door knocking or the shouting, but he tries not to show it, and instead takes a seat. Not the farthest seat from Needs, but not the closest either.

House in the Countryside

"Is that an invitation to come inside? Please, I need to know for certain." The Mother cringes at the obvious hint as to her nature, though it would be hard not to guess based on her unusual garb. She is here to help, and hopes that will be enough for them to accept her aid and not drive her away.

Or worse.

Or perhaps that would be better? It remains uncertain, but for the time being she hovers, literally and figuratively, outside the door.

Needs opens his mouth to speak, and then thinks better of it. He points a paw at the bacon. Twice, to answer the second question as well. Heroics in exchange for bacon. What worthier cause, what nobler motive could there be?

House in the Countryside

"You will always be welcome in my home." Vigil promises the woman at the door before giving out a long sigh as he tosses a handful of flower into the cooking pork sausage and stirring it in the wonderful grease it's made. "I don't really care what your reasons are for coming here. We're thankful either way." He admits before gesturing for the door to close behind the woman. "As I told the young man here, I am Vigil. Or Steel. Whichever of the names you wish to call me is fine." After he pours the milk into the gravy pan he reaches into a pocket to pull out a photograph to pass around. "That's him."

The picture is of a young boy, about ten or eleven and all arms and legs. He's human with a big goofy grin, glasses, and light brown hair. He's shown with a white shirt that has a giant frog on the front and little ants patterned all around it. "That was his picture last week. He's been gone for three days now."

[Shadowcaller]

Pyramid of Painful Demise

I am, but only vaguely- the one game I got involved with was on this site and died. Fortunately, a friend of mine has invited me into a game he shall be running, so I'll get better acquainted soon.

The cement grenade ensures that the lich cannot move this post, and possibly not next post either. Wenomir is also successful in batting the shadowfire away, though unfortunately the undead tiefling is smart enough not to use any spells that might possibly hurt him. He's planning more so he can use area affect spells in melee, rather than having them deflected back at him, but it works both ways.

Pyramid of Painful Demise

Dena really need to get the number of Wenomir's supplier.

In any case, the drow has no intention of fighting a lich with only two people so she's escaping right now unless Wenomir is planning to stop her. "Come on, let's get out of here. That cement won't last forever."

[Morty]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

Wenomir closes the door to the tunnel.

"Yes. And if you have any more of that cement bomb you just used, use it on the door. Let's put as many obstacles in its path as we can." Any magic the lich might expend to get past them is magic it won't use on them.

[happyturtle]

House in the Countryside

House in the Countryside

"You will always be welcome in my home." Vigil promises the woman at the door before giving out a long sigh as he tosses a handful of flower into the cooking pork sausage and stirring it in the wonderful grease it's made. "I don't really care what your reasons are for coming here. We're thankful either way." He admits before gesturing for the door to close behind the woman. "As I told the young man here, I am Vigil. Or Steel. Whichever of the names you wish to call me is fine." After he pours the milk into the gravy pan he reaches into a pocket to pull out a photograph to pass around. "That's him."

The picture is of a young boy, about ten or eleven and all arms and legs. He's human with a big goofy grin, glasses, and light brown hair. He's shown with a white shirt that has a giant frog on the front and little ants patterned all around it. "That was his picture last week. He's been gone for three days now."

Wes takes out his VerySmartPhone and takes a picture of the picture, if no one stops him. "What is his name?"

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat finally manages to coil herself up into a sitting position, an absolutely terrible scowl on her face.
"That gives you even less reason to just sit there and watch! And if you know that why the hell do you even work here?" she demands angrily, examining her tail. Geez, it's longer than her whole human body. She must weigh a ton now.
"Ugh, this thing is useless anyway! It's aquatic but it doesn't help me breathe; I'd still drown in an actual ocean!" she grumps. It's downright embarrassing and not even that useful!

Acanthe scoots along on her butt, trying to punch someone in the leg. It's sad and everyone looks awkward when they easily avoid her.

"'Cause it's less likely to happen to us if we work for him than if we don't..." One of them at least has the decency to look sheepish.

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

"Oh come on, you've got reality bending guns and you don't think that you could all gang up and do something about him?" Pat says angrily. But then looks very uncomfortable and achey as her hands go to her gut which seems to be protesting about something.
"Hey uhm, I don't suppose there's any chance of you fixing us any time soon? Because I think you broke Acanthe and right now I have fifteen feet of serpent-body that hasn't ever eaten." she says. It's certainly not very pleasant, since serpents' stomachs run a pretty decent length down their bodies if I remember correctly. So with an empty stomach, about ninety percent of Pat's body mass starts to feel lousy. Pat also realizes that the metric ton of snake means something very important.
She now has Acanthe's appetite.
Dear gods. At least Pat doesn't have her iron jaws.

[Earl of Purple]

Pyramid of Painful Demise

The lich is breaking free, using a spell to transmute the cement into mud. The mud's still hampering the undead tiefling wizard, but not as much as the cement was.

If Wenomir and Dena wish to flee, they are perfectly able to do so.

[Shadowcaller]

Pyramid of Painful Demise

"I have one larger bomb, but it will take a bit to set up." Dena replies as she throws another grenade at the door to the corridor, hoping it would delay the lich even further. She doesn't stop running however.

[Morty]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

Wenomir runs off after her. He does fully intend to fight the lich, but it doesn't need to be here and now.

[Earl of Purple]

The Pyramid of Painful Demise

The door's now blocked, as the lich reaches it no less. The door starts to shudder as the undead wizard tries to batter it down with magical spells.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

Dena will continue to retreat out of the pyramid unless Wenomir has a different suggestion. This simply wasn't worth it.

[Morty]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

Provided they're able to leave the pyramid, Wenomir turns around.

"We're in the clear for now, but I'm not going to just let this lich go. This whole thing turned from a treasure hunt to VIGIL business."

[Shadowcaller]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

"A lot of these do, but there are good reasons I don't work for Vigil." Dena remarks. "Risk versus reward and all that. So you better give me a good reason to stay." She glances at the warrior.

[Morty]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

Wenomir shrugs.

"I don't think I really have one. Whatever treasure that might still be in there probably isn't worth facing down a lich, pragmatically speaking. I'm going to call for backup from VIGIL and hold on until they arrive if I have to."

[Beans]

Lab Complex

"Oh come on, you've got reality bending guns and you don't think that you could all gang up and do something about him?" Pat says angrily. But then looks very uncomfortable and achey as her hands go to her gut which seems to be protesting about something.
"Hey uhm, I don't suppose there's any chance of you fixing us any time soon? Because I think you broke Acanthe and right now I have fifteen feet of serpent-body that hasn't ever eaten." she says. It's certainly not very pleasant, since serpents' stomachs run a pretty decent length down their bodies if I remember correctly. So with an empty stomach, about ninety percent of Pat's body mass starts to feel lousy. Pat also realizes that the metric ton of snake means something very important.
She now has Acanthe's appetite.
Dear gods. At least Pat doesn't have her iron jaws.

Acanthe starts to gnaw the table edge.

The scientists sigh. "Yeah, we have these laser-morphy guns, but where do you think that power comes from? It's all borrowed from him!" The speaker jerks a thumb toward the blank screen, frowning. "I doubt we could change you back if we tried..."

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat groans. Gods these guys are spineless.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You all said this happened to you and you look fine! And you could at least try! Or feed me..." she says, trying to move forwards to the guy but coming very close to face-planting.
"Acanthe how the hell does slithering work?"

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat groans. Gods these guys are spineless.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You all said this happened to you and you look fine! And you could at least try! Or feed me..." she says, trying to move forwards to the guy but coming very close to face-planting.
"Acanthe how the hell does slithering work?"

"He's the only source of the body-changing energy wavelengths, so we can only use them if and when he wants!"

Acanthe gets close to chewing on some wires, which makes the scientist wince and relent after a moment. "... But... the shifting energy is mostly stored in big capacitors... If you ruptured one you'd probably change back, and... we could 'accidentally' let slip where one is, if you're planning to stop him..."

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat glowers at Acanthe and her not-being-helpful today attitude. Or maybe she's just tripping out from the crazy magic mist. She hasn't really said anything that coherent for a while.
"What, he assigns you test subjects but only gives you one charge for your thing? That's lame. What the hell were you supposed to do after the test, just wait until we starve or eat one of you? I mean sheesh. I'll be glad to put that bastard in his place, but you should know that between the tail and my empty stomach I'm not going to be going anywhere fast." she says at the seeming-slightly-less-cowardly scientists.

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat glowers at Acanthe and her not-being-helpful today attitude. Or maybe she's just tripping out from the crazy magic mist. She hasn't really said anything that coherent for a while.
"What, he assigns you test subjects but only gives you one charge for your thing? That's lame. What the hell were you supposed to do after the test, just wait until we starve or eat one of you? I mean sheesh. I'll be glad to put that bastard in his place, but you should know that between the tail and my empty stomach I'm not going to be going anywhere fast." she says at the seeming-slightly-less-cowardly scientists.

"... He's kind of terrible and I'm pretty sure personnel have been eaten in circumstances like this... um... okay, we'll see if we can get a cart or something..."

After some shuffling outside, they return with a big plastic bin on wheels, probably big enough for Pat to ride in. They will try to help her get into it if she approves. Acanthe, meanwhile, gets a wheelchair, which she finds pretty exciting, along with eating half someone's thesis.

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat sighs and simply uses her hands to crawl over to where Acanthe was standing before and grabs the bag she had, opening it and ravenously tearing into the bag of trail mix she'd stored in there just in case. I mean sheesh, what part of "I'm starving" do these people not understand.
"Cart? How the heck am I supposed to get around in a cart? Unless you plan on pushing it?" she says, probably a bit rudely, before turning back to her friend and softening up a little bit. "Really though. I really need some help on this one, Acanthe. Could you...try to describe what I'm supposed to do with this?" she asks, more exasperated than anything else.

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat sighs and simply uses her hands to crawl over to where Acanthe was standing before and grabs the bag she had, opening it and ravenously tearing into the bag of trail mix she'd stored in there just in case. I mean sheesh, what part of "I'm starving" do these people not understand.
"Cart? How the heck am I supposed to get around in a cart? Unless you plan on pushing it?" she says, probably a bit rudely, before turning back to her friend and softening up a little bit. "Really though. I really need some help on this one, Acanthe. Could you...try to describe what I'm supposed to do with this?" she asks, more exasperated than anything else.

She thinks through a mouthful of paper. "Mmmmhhh... well, it's sort of... you undulate your body, like, and your bottom-scales grip the floor and push off it... it sounds really weird, 'specially when you just got all these muscles you have no idea how to use... how do you walk with legs and feets?"

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat looks enviously at Acanthe. Maybe she judged her too much. Feeling as hungry as she does it's no wonder Acanthe eats so much.
"I uh, don't really know what you mean. But uh, start with getting your feet flat on the floor and your legs bent so you're sitting on the floor, then try to straighten them with your body pointing at the ceiling as much as possible. Once you're standing try to well, kinda fall forward, but put a foot out so you push off of it and keep going, and then just keep doing that until you need to stop when you get your feet flat on the floor again, maybe leaning back a little if you're still forward-heavy." she tries to explain.
"And save some of that for me if you can. They're not going to feed me and I have another few hundred pounds of stomach to feed." she says quietly.

[Slii Arhem]

House in the Countryside

"You will always be welcome in my home." Vigil promises the woman at the door before giving out a long sigh as he tosses a handful of flower into the cooking pork sausage and stirring it in the wonderful grease it's made. "I don't really care what your reasons are for coming here. We're thankful either way." He admits before gesturing for the door to close behind the woman. "As I told the young man here, I am Vigil. Or Steel. Whichever of the names you wish to call me is fine." After he pours the milk into the gravy pan he reaches into a pocket to pull out a photograph to pass around. "That's him."

The picture is of a young boy, about ten or eleven and all arms and legs. He's human with a big goofy grin, glasses, and light brown hair. He's shown with a white shirt that has a giant frog on the front and little ants patterned all around it. "That was his picture last week. He's been gone for three days now."

House in the Countryside



Wes takes out his VerySmartPhone and takes a picture of the picture, if no one stops him. "What is his name?"

House in the Countryside

The Mother slides in through the door, closing it shut behind her and immediately busies herself about the room, pulling blinds and arranging anything loose on the tables and counters present into easily counted groups. She's surprisingly quick at the activity, completing it in under a minute unless the clutter is quite pronounced.

She's very practiced at it, doesn't do much else when left to herself.

Only after she's done does she remove the mass of cloth from around her head, "I may not perish by sunlight's first kiss, but it does not make it any more pleasant to feel his lips. Was there anything unusual around where the boy was last known? Impressions in the soil, smells, a sense of foreboding?" She glances over the photo once, even in the shaded room her eyes adapt and know his face. The face of the one that could have been hers. For a moment, her own gaunt, pale features fill and twist into something close. In the instant before her ingrained instinct is reigned in, her face could pass as the boy's mother to a stranger, a familial resemblance built in the blink of an eye.

And then it passes, and her face is the same elongated, tapering pale slice of flesh that it was when she first revealed it. Dark circles beneath yellow eyes and bruised, tooth-worried lips are the only colour on her otherwise alabaster features.

She stares intently, unblinking at Vigil, waiting for his reply.

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat looks enviously at Acanthe. Maybe she judged her too much. Feeling as hungry as she does it's no wonder Acanthe eats so much.
"I uh, don't really know what you mean. But uh, start with getting your feet flat on the floor and your legs bent so you're sitting on the floor, then try to straighten them with your body pointing at the ceiling as much as possible. Once you're standing try to well, kinda fall forward, but put a foot out so you push off of it and keep going, and then just keep doing that until you need to stop when you get your feet flat on the floor again, maybe leaning back a little if you're still forward-heavy." she tries to explain.
"And save some of that for me if you can. They're not going to feed me and I have another few hundred pounds of stomach to feed." she says quietly.

Acanthe starts to try to wa---and she's on the floor. Trial and error sets in as she tries again and falls slightly less quickly.

She holds up the remains of the graduate thesis as she gets up again; with a bit of practice, she figures out how to sort of walk kind of?

[Deathkeeper]

Lab Complex

Pat snatches up the paper with a bit of effort to get over to her and crams it down.
It tasted alright. And it was food in her stomach, which does significantly help her mood.
Trying to move is still an effort mostly in squirming around in place but maybe she'll catch on soon. Still, she feels decent enough to go back to her usual self.
"Hey, where the heck did ya go, Labcoat? We still need those directions, you know!" she says testily, snapping her fingers.

[Beans]

Lab Complex

Pat snatches up the paper with a bit of effort to get over to her and crams it down.
It tasted alright. And it was food in her stomach, which does significantly help her mood.
Trying to move is still an effort mostly in squirming around in place but maybe she'll catch on soon. Still, she feels decent enough to go back to her usual self.
"Hey, where the heck did ya go, Labcoat? We still need those directions, you know!" she says testily, snapping her fingers.

The sorta-helpful-ish-esque scientist sighs. "Okay, welll... when we open that door there, go down that hallway and through the door labeled 'Capacitors'... and try to rupture one of the pipes, that'll make it leak instead of exploding."