Streets of Atalya Volume Two: Tentacles

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio grins and nods back at a few of them. However, he strides quickly (for a halfling) towards the back, winding through the hallways like he could (and probably has) navigated them in the dark.

He walks up to his mentor's door, opens it, and heads in.

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal follows the halfling closely enough that it is clear that he is part of Horacio's group, but loosely enough that the rogue has a chance to warn anybody who needs to know that the party has been invited--not that anyone unwelcome would have made it this far unmolested.

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio stifles a laugh for no apparent reason and just grins sheepishly as he continues. He does, however, glance at Kumoru a moment. He continues on until he finds a door with a bloody illithid head carved into it, then opens it and heads in.

[Toliudar]

Daewell

The wizard lags a bit behind, smiling and absorbing the surroundings. He follows a bit behind Tokugal.

[Magnus_Samma]

Horacio opens the door on a small sleeping room- it'll be big enough for everyone to crowd in and find someplace to sit, but only just. It's barely furnished, with a simple cot, a chest of drawers with a water bowl atop it, and a well-worn glaive with an ice-blue blade leaning against one wall.

Sitting cross-legged on the cot is a slender woman with gray yellowish skin and an oddly shaped face- she barely has any nose, and her skull is slender and almost comes to a point at the back, though this is obscured by her brown hair, which is currently tied into a tight braid. Her vivid green eyes slide over them slowly, testing them.

She's also stark naked, but that shouldn't be high on anyone's list of priorities right now.

"So..." says Vera in a deep voice, "You're Horace's friends, hmm? I've 'heard' a lot about you already, but it's fascinating to meet you all in person. Please, have a seat and we can begin."

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio enters the room and walks towards her, hugging her like an old friend. When he's done, he turns to the group, smiling, looking at each of them in turn.

"Daewell, Vodette, Terry... Kinslayer... Tokugal, Dai, Firethena, Kumoru, Tahlion... this is Vera. Githzerai psion, flayer hunter, planewalker, old comrade, mentor... friend. You all sit down and I'll get her caught up so we can cut straight to the chase."

Horacio looks at Vera, glancing at her torso for the strange wounds as he "speaks".

Vera, I'm ready for the probe so you can get caught up on what's happened- and see what that flayer took from me- but first let me check you for those parasites. Tahlion, could you do a quick detection on her?

If she's clean, Horacio sits next to her and close his eyes, ready for Vera to dig deep into his brain.

(OOC: I assume Vera can do that, right?)

[boxboy582]

Vodette

Vodette walks into the room and notices the naked woman sitting before them right away. Her hand flies up over her eyes and she is just about to ask for the woman's forgiveness for their intrusion, but then Horacio speaks up. She peers over her hand and lets it flop down at her side. It'd probably be rude to cover my eyes.... She does, however, try to look everywhere but at the woman's nude body. She gives a slight bow, eyes locked on the floor, when Horacio introduces her.

[Magnus_Samma]

(... did we lose everybody else? *poke poke*)

[ExHunterEmerald]

Terry's remarkably less taken aback by the nudity then one might expect.
To Slayer:

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Please don't make another comment like you did at Firethena's. I can't take you anywhere.

He opts to stay back and give a respectful nod. He takes a seat near the wall and lightly rests against it, perhaps to keep part of Kinslayer pinned in case he acts up.

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal is more interested in the woman's features than in her nudity: there was a small group of gith that came through his hometown when he was young, and he vaguely remembered some sort of disturbance associated with the event. The curious blade of the woman's weapon also caught his attention.

[Magnus_Samma]

She looks pretty clean to me.

She raises an eyebrow at that. Horacio's visual inspection yields more or less the same results. Afterwards she wraps her blanket around herself and sets Horacio on the floor in front of her where she can get her fingers on his head.

"I hope you'll forgive my current state of undress. Laundry day and all. Anyhow, I'm just gonna probe Horacio Hornblower here for a little while and try and figure out if the squiddies did anything untowards to him without buying a drink first... why don't the rest of you tell me about yourselves?"

Firethena introduces herself and shakes the woman's hand warmly. Kumoru seems content to sit in the corner and grump. Kinslayer has taken up randomly poking Terry in the back. If Terry knew morse code, he'd know Kinslayer's streadily cursing like a sailor at him. As it is the treatment just gives him goosebumps.

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio glances at Kumoru.

"By the way, Kumoru, Vera figured out you're some sort of psionic undead. She might have more to add later."

He looks up at Vera and smiles.

"Ready when you are."

Mindprobe:

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During the mindprobe, Horacio emphasizes the Devourer's visit, the skinstealer victim they saw earlier today, Kara & Gareth's visit, Scarlet's dream speak from the night before, and Vodette & Daewell discussing their dreams.

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Vera's preliminary identification of Kumoru sent Tokugal's mind into a flurry activity; but he really knew next to nothing about the psionic powers of the mind. Apparently I've neglected an entire field of possible inquiry. Hm. Maybe I can ask Horacio about it later.

He resurfaced from his reverie to realize that his companions were also silent. He felt abashed that nobody had accepted Vera's invitaiton to introduce themselves; so he stepped forward and made a slight bow of his head.

"I'm Tokugal Ardolin, ma'am. I'm a long way from home--I grew up on the Plane of Fire--but I've found that there's more to see that interests me here on this one. I'd love to talk to you about Xan Yae or these psionics some time, if you aren't too busy. If you are, though, maybe Horacio can answer my questions." He saw her eyes flick to meet Horacio's, and thought that perhaps he had said enough. "Anyway, I presume that now's not the time. It's nice to meet you, though. Fascinating blade there."

[ExHunterEmerald]

Terry takes Tok's cue and speaks up himself.
"Bit hard to follow an act like that, but I'll try. Terrence Randall, pleased to meet you. Reformed bandit and expert get-your-nose-where-it-ought-not-be-ist. Not the greatest at it, but I've made it this far. As of late, I've become the luckless steward of Kinslayer here."
Terry flops his new "cloak" and tries very hard to not see the bat-wing-esque motion.

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

"Well, Tokugal, I'd love to answer your questions, but I'll be as busy as Vera tonight. There's a lot to meditate and think on. However, as I said earlier, I've taken you under my cloak. The priests here will treat you with the same respect they give me. You can get plenty of info on both from them, although I'd recommend you have some info to exchange in return. That shouldn't be a problem for you.

"Say Vera, does the temple have any party rooms empty? We might need a secure place to stay for a few nights.

"Oh, and Kinslayer, you can switch back to your usual lovable self now. The people around here aren't nearly as touchy about undead and evil talking swords as, say, the standard stupid commoner."

[WhammeWhamme]

"Daisilodavi Daerthin... I'm nobody of any particular importance, I'm sure. 'Tis an honour to be allowed here."

OOC: Seriously, this is not a highly interactive scene, and I hate posting 'me toos'.

[Magnus_Samma]

Vera smiles thinly, her eyes taking on a slight purple glow as she gently probes Horacio's scalp with her fingertips.

"Oh, don't be so modest Dai... I'm sure you're very important to someone."

Kinslayer doesn't respond to Horacio's prompting- it seems content to r emain in cloak mode for now. In fact, it stops jabbing Terry and simply lies ther listlessly.

Kumoru is paying rapt attention to Vera, his ears perked up as he listens to her, but he doesn't reply yet.

Her eyes flicker to Tokugal next. "The plane of fire, hm? Fascinating place, I'm sorry to say I've only ever been there once... fun to visit, but not exactly condusive to long term habitation. The glaive is just an abomination-bane weapon. I'm... not sure why it's that color, actually."

She pauses. Her eyes roll back slightly towards the back of her head for a moment.

"Hunh... he did a number on you Horacio... flayers are fastidious by nature, but there's only so much cleaning up you can do after rifling through so many drawers in so short a time... I don't think he was trying to make you forget anything, but... I think... there's a hiccup... can't figure out what it could be though. Give me a few more minutes."

Her eyes take on a more palpable glow.

"You guys have quite a quest ahead of you... I remember hering tales of Gaudemus... he visited our monastary once, many years ago... he laid down the heads of twelve illithids at my grandfather's feet, for the right to study under him for one month... they say he left behind more knowledge than he took with him..."

She shakes her head, and her ponytail flails around her shoulders. Sweat begins to bead up on her forehead.

"Horacio... I think I figured out what the Devourer did to you... it was a clever trick... he didn't take anything away... he put something in..."

She coughs. Something crimson flecks her lips.

"He wants you... to himself..."

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio grins slightly at Kinslayer, easily noticing his change in demeanor.

"Oh, and just a tip, Kinslayer, you should stay on your best behavior while you are here. The priests are pretty tolerant as long as you don't cause trouble, but if you do... well, they are quite fond of unarmed brawling. And ways of obliterating weapons so it's a 'fair' fight. No doubt you could slaughter everyone here, including the special rust monsters they keep for 'disturbances', but I'm sure you would experience new levels of pain doing it.

"On the other hand, there are some rare services available here. I could arrange some for you, provided I'm sure you won't cause trouble and Terry doesn't mind someone lifting the 'burden' off his shoulders for an hour or two. Tell me, have you ever been polished by a renegade drow with a weapon fetish?"

And before you get jealous, Tahlion, I was planning to arrange the same TLC for you. That is, if you have nothing against drow.

Horacio glances at Kumoru as he leans back into Vera.

"Strange, huh? I was wondering where the psionic powers came from myself. Was it a result of your spiritual trip, or were they already there? Perhaps that 'experiment' left you more powerful than anyone thought."

Horacio closes his eyes as Vera continues, mentally helping her maneuver through his mind. He stirs a bit when Vera mentions Gaudemus's visit.

"Crud... he had all his corners covered. Please tell me he didn't learn much about psionics while he was- stupid question, he didn't go there to learn cooking..."

Horacio sighs.

All that knowledge and power... I'm tempted to think he's overwhelming, and that anything we do against him is doomed to failure. But there has to be a vulnerability somewhere...

"Can you estimate how many decades ago it was, and anything you remember about the tales? We have almost nothing on Gaudemus's activities over the past century, or even how he changed since he left Atalya."

Horacio goes silent as Vera gives her diagnosis.

Tahlion, could you heal Vera for me?

He frowns, head turned down, thinking silently to himself. His voice, when he speaks, is soft and melancholy.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... a minion for a minion... I knew that promise would turn out to be bull..."

He glances up at Firethena and chuckles.

"And here I thought he'd punish me by taking you!"

Although he still could've. Could you check Firethena later and make sure he didn't do the same thing to her? He said she could alter reality under his sway. Why would he take me, but not her?

Horacio closes his eyes again and shudders for a moment.

"I assume it will be hard to remove it. Perhaps near impossible, given the circumstances. There has to be a way, though. But even if we do..."

Horacio chuckles bitterly and shakes his head, scowling in fury.

"Years of fighting and bleeding for this city, losing friends and comrades to these abominations, and this is the thanks I get? Scorn from those I saved, betrayal by my lover, and my life destroyed by my worst nightmares come true!

"Gods damn it! I never expected a reward, but is it too much to ask that I could live in peace?!"

Horacio grimaces and slumps over, rubbing his temple, futilely trying to fight back tears.

(OOC: Hmmm, when I wrote this, I assumed Vera was finished with the mindprobe. Did I interrupt her halfway through?)

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

A shocked and speechless elf put his silent hand on Horacio's shoulder in support.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Damn it. Should have thought of that.
Terry's expression betrays more disgust than fear or surprise.
"Don't worry, Horacio. We'll get rid of it. There's ways."
He doesn't add that the only way he's really sure of it to kill and revive the subject with powerful divine spells.
"Well, Slayer, you've got to be loving this. Going to gloat?"

[Magnus_Samma]

(Vera ended the probe when she started coughing up blood.)

Kumoru continues to look stricken. Firethena puts a comforting hand on Horacio's shoulder, but can't seem to think of anything to say at the moment.

Oh you are all just a bunch of wusses.

Kinslayer shifts. Terry finds the relatively loose and flowing cloak becoming a somewhat more constricting garment- in point of fact, he is now wearing the meanest-looking suit of spiky armor any of them has ever seen. And he finds himself more or less helpless to resist as Kinslayer stands up and walks across the small room to Horacio and the ailing gith.

Keep your trap shut, kid, I can't do this without a body to form around and you'll thank me later.

He proceeds to grab Tahlion's hilt and yank it out of Horacio's sheath/grasp.

Hey! What are you-!?

Don't t ell me you remember how to do it? This kind of damage takes more than a simple cure somethingorother wounds.

A blue glow surrounds Tahlion, and a moment later an identical one appears around Kinslayer's left gauntlet, which he proceeds to place on Vera's head. Her eyes roll back and she slumps against the bed, unconscious. But still breathing.

... where do you GET this stuff from!?

I'm just that good.

(Sorry if the NPCs are hogging the spotlight, btw. I hadn't planned for this sidetrip and I couldn't think of much to give you guys to do besides holding a conversation, and I apparently couldn't start one. So I'm gonna try and make this short and interesting to watch instead.)

[ExHunterEmerald]

"Heironeous on a RAIL, Slayer, warn me when you do that, damn it!" Terry half-sputters.

[boxboy582]

Vodette

Vodette steps forward with Tokugal and tries to sooth Horacio by rubbing her hand over his back. She gives a sad frown.

Poor guy.

After Kinslayer forms around Terry and decides to take matters into his own hands, Vodette stars in shock her mouth slightly agape.

Terry what are you doing? Kinslayer! What are you doing to them? Let her go!

Even though she hardly knows the woman, Vodette rushes forward to Vera when she slumps over. She checks the woman's vital signs and tries to wake her.

[WhammeWhamme]

Dai keeps a tight watch, and when blood started flowing he moved to help... but did not get in the way. Afterwards...

"Life - and that sword - keep coming up with new ways to reinvigorate my sense of wonder."

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio's self-pity instantly evaporates when he sees Vera's not improving fast enough. He grasps for Tahlion when Kinslayer pulls it out of his grasp, but doesn't interfere, watching Vera and Tahlion closely for any signs of stress. He pulls Vodette back a bit when she tries to wake her.

"Gently, Vodette. Kinslayer, can you give me Tahlion back?"

Horacio takes Tahlion back from Kinslayer, if he offers it.

Tahlion, contact Vera telepathically. Try to prod her awake if you can. See if she's alright...

Horacio gently brushes the hair from Vera's face as he places one hand on her forehead and holds her hand with another. He smiles sadly at her.

"Thank you, Vera. We really put each other through some sh*t, don't we?"

He looks at Kinslayer, his expression stern.

"...Looks like you've both earned your polishes."

He looks at the others.

"Someone grab a cleric outside, tell him Vera encountered a mental trap and needs some treatment. Kinslayer, could you change back so you don't freak out the doctor.

"We're staying here for the night, possibly several. I'll talk with the priests, tell them we might be expecting... company. Figure out what you need and we'll find it. Services, equipment, information, whatever. Let's figure out what we're going to do about Gaudemus."

He turns back to Vera and lowers his head, closing his eyes.

"Any suggestions?"

(Horacio will suspend any talk about Gaudemus when the cleric enters, then send him back out as soon as possible.)

(OOC: Damn, was Vera really in that bad a shape? I thought she was just strained from the effort, not dying!)

[Magnus_Samma]

Even Vodette can tell that Vera's vital signs actually improve fairly rapidly- she remains unconscious, but she's pretty clearly out of danger now. Kinslayer hands Tahlion back to Horacio without comment, then stumbles backwards and wordlessly melts back into his familiar sword shape, hanging limply from Terry's cloak.

I think that did him in for the moment. Criminy but that was a hell of a thing. You've got a nasty little brainworm in your head now, Horacio- it almost shut down the parts of her brain that give her her psionic abilities. The good news is it'll do that or worse to almost anything trying to read, probe, invade, or otherwise molest your mind. Think of it like a sonky for your brain.

The clerics are very eficient about their work- Vera is wrapped up in a blanket and propped up and awake and apparently feeling alright in a trice, though she still looks a little tired. The party is also informed that there are several rooms readily available for their use, whenever they feel like using them. One of the female clerics makes a pass at Kumoru, who just looks unnerved. After the hustle and bustle is over Vera is smiling weakly at them and munching a ration bar.

"I'm gonna tell you something right now, Horacio, of all the crap I've dragged you through, I never thought you'd put me in a situation as bad as that in my own bedroom. Well, the leeches say I'm gonna be fine, so where were we? Something about finding this Gaudemus character and giving him a solid kick in the groin?"

[boxboy582]

Vodette

Vodette had remained relatively silent throughout the rest of Vera's recovery. She nearby the group and pulled out some trail rations and munched away on them.

She muttered to herself: Yeah. Give him a kick right in his little metal groin.

She clears her throat and looks up at the group.

So whatever Horacio has that attacked you...could we all have it? Why would it only do that to Horacio?

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal looked sidelong at Vera through slightly narrowed eyes. "You're made of stern stuff, lady, to get back to business so soon after almost dying in a mind trap--that's what it was, right?--but that resilience is probably what got you where you are now. Very impressive."

"And you, Kinslayer. I still think you're cursed and more than a little crazy; but that was a pretty piece of intervention you did. Resourceful and effective. Dare I even say perhaps a bit noble?"

"Anyway. Thank you, Vera, for getting Horacio fixed. It was clear that the squidfa--uh, the illithid creature did something to him. It'd be pretty spooky having to walk around not knowing what it was or when it'd be triggered."

[OOC: Tokugal is under the impression that whatever Vera did was dangerous but ultimately successful, since he wasn't privy to the telepathic conversations that indicated otherwise.]

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio thinks silently, although not to himself...

To Tahlion:

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That's... interesting. Not something I want, but at least we can gain a strength from it. So what's the bad news about it? How will it try to destroy me? Will it interfere with my telepathic communications? Would it contaminate any merge we do?

And Tahlion... we need to practice. We need to relearn you. I do not want that accursed damned sword knowing how to use you better than either of us. Vera could help us with that.

He looks at Vera for a moment, then looks down.

To Tahlion & Vera:

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Vera, I'm sorry. I thought it was bad, but I didn't think it was that bad. I'm just glad you're okay now.

Unfortunately, I think over the next few days we'll need your powers more than ever. Do you think you have enough energy left tonight? There's a lot to do. We need to contact someone that's hundreds of miles away. Tahlion & I need to practice mind merging. And then there's everything else.

It sounds like we're the trail of an apocalypse-level event that could destroy this world and usher in some Nightmare God into the universe. And... well, I don't think we're ready for it quite yet.

Horacio looks down.

Especially me. I doubt nimble fingers and a sharp mind are enough anymore.

...I would like to resume those mental exercises with you.

Horacio glances at Tokugal a moment.

"I'm not fixed, Tokugal... But I'm not going to die tonight, either. I'll manage."

He glances back at Vera before addressing the group.

"More like finding him and beating some sense back into him. He has enough power to blow up a small city by sneezing; the direct approach those blunt Cudgelers want will do jack sh*t besides peeve him off.

"What we need right now is info; on Gaudemus, on those parasites, on that cult, on the planar experiments he was doing. Once we know what we're dealing with, we can figure out which angle to attack it from.

"Gaudemus is the trickiest; no one around here's been near him for a hundred years. We know of some people who have, but they're far away at the moment. I was hoping you could help us contact them.

"The parasites, your area of expertise, I'd say. Between the abominations and those damnable slaad, I think you could give us all some pointers on them."

He glances at the glaive.

"A couple specialty weapons wouldn't hurt either.

"The cult is tricky. If anyone knows about them, it's Snake Eyes. I'll arrange a visit as soon as possible, but someone else may have to go in my stead." He glances around. "As much as she respects me, she's too paranoid to let me anywhere close to her with a mindworm in my skull.

"The planar experiments are your area of expertise again. I figure you and the arcanists can figure out just what he did, how he did it, and what went wrong. We even brought a planar gate puzzle box for you.

"There's a few other things we need to take care of, but those are the main problems." He looks at the others. "Anything else I'm missing? Suggestions?"

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio looks at Vodette.

"If you have it, I'm sure you'd know. It felt like he popped out a piece of my cranium and... replaced it." He frowns. "None of you felt something like that, did you?

"As for why he'd do it to just me, I don't know. Maybe he wants me as a minion. Maybe it's meant to be help, in some twisted, perverted sense. Or, perhaps, it's just revenge for all the trouble I gave them back in the Silent War." He sighs. "The past keeps catching up with us..."