Streets of Atalya Volume Two: Tentacles

[WhammeWhamme]

"Not sure if I have much to add, what with missing the deeper meaning to half of what just happened and all.

Sounded like you were pretty on to it, though."

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio: "What, Dai?"

Oh yeah, Vera, might want to check Dai sometime. Says he was trained to be an assassin, but got better. I don't know... there seems to be something erratic rattling around his head.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Terry sighs as Kinslayer's form drapes around him again.

"If you'll permit a little macabre, I don't think we're getting out of this alive. We're in too deep, and we're too exposed to our threats. We're in a three-way pull between Gaudemus, the Devourer, and Hell itself."

He grins morosely.

"Let me finish. I might well and truly think we're all going to die, but that doesn't mean we will before we succeed. It's amazing what you can do when you abandon self interest, after all. We can do it--we will do it, because we have to. I just don't fancy our chances of joining that happy ending. Don't get me wrong, I still can hope against hope we make it out of this, but...

He smiles. There's no trace of fear, or putting on a brave face.

"I think before this is over, we'll cheerfully die."

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal snorted; the wry temper of a wanderer was back. "Cheerfully? Aye, that'll happen just as surely as Vodette'll seduce Blitz with a lapdance. Personally, I have hopes that we'll be able to get through this thing without the need for me to cast Gentle Repose on anything other than a bit of sushi."

[WhammeWhamme]

"If you've ever been killed for showing up to class late - and I'm not saying I have - 'to the death' loses some mystique. Although mentioning the pain likely to be involved in all this is a mite discouraging.

Either way though, uh, greater good, innocent people, wurble wurble fish and kittens?

Sorry, not really born hero material."

[ExHunterEmerald]

Terry grins.
"Well, that's okay, I was just putting it out th--

...

'Wurble wurble?'"

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

"How about vengeance? Taking the b*stards down with us? Getting the last laugh? Those more your style, Dai?"

[WhammeWhamme]

"I'm going to wear their skull as a hat?

We're going to win, they're going to die. Everything else is a little up in the air, but it's the basics that really matter.

Also, yes, wurble wurble. My mind tends to gloss over the middle sections of heroic speeches."

Dai grins and nods.

[Magnus_Samma]

Kumoru thumps Terry heartily on the shoulder. "I wouldn't be so sure of that kid. You guys are up against some pretty intimidating stuff, but you're not exactly chopped liver yourselves. If we can find my brother and get him to see reason, then our chances of getting out of this mostly intact are pretty good."

Vera strokes her chin pensively. Tahlion pipes up.

As far as Horacio's brainworm goes, I don't think he's in any kind of trouble- what the Devourer left in his head is basically a kind of psionic trap. Anything trying to access certain thoughts in a certain manner gets hit with a jolt of Horacio's latent psionic power, which in turn shorts out their psionic power center. So there isn't anything physically wrong with him or even physically altered, it's a psychic reflex that's been implanted in his mind that operates without him even knowing about it. ... and if Slayer has a little energy left, Vodette, I think we -might- be able to hook the rest of you up.

Screw you, I'm tired.

We get to do a mindscape sequence.

... you want to put ME in a mindscape with them? Are you insane?

I'll be there too.

Oh. Well that takes all the fun out of it.

Vera's eyes glitter. "That actually seems like an ideal idea to me... while we're there, I can tell you guys what I know about what you're getting into... and when we literally put our heads together, we might think of something we wouldn't have otherwise."

Her eyes take on a vague blue glow, and you can feel her voice tickling the backs of your minds.

All you have to do is relax, and let me do the driving. What do you say?

[boxboy582]

Vodette

So that thing that Horacio has in his head is actually a good thin-gahhh

Vodette reaches up to her ear and tries to relieve the pressure in her ears that has suddenly popped up from Vera speaking inside her mind.

This just keeps getting stranger and stranger! Where are we going?

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio grins faintly at Kumoru. "See reason, yes..."

Horacio thinks to everyone: Are you sure, Tahlion? I don't trust anything by the Devourer, but if the stakes really are that high, I could see him giving us this "gift" as a perverted way of helping... Well, I'm not the psion expert & flayer hater here. If Vera's alright with it, I'm game.

But once this is all over, I want to look into it. I do not want the Devourer controlling it later, if he can.

Horacio relaxes & looks over his companions, Kumoru, and Firethena.

And you can drive, Vera, but only if I'm the navigator.

"Ready?"

We're going inwards, Vodette. Inside our own minds. Think of it as telepathy & memories turned into a place.

Sense Motive: 33 on Vera's answer about whether spreading the mindworm's a good idea.
Sense Motive: Vera on the Mindworm (1d20+16=33)

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal's yellow eyes glimmered with an awakened fire. "Are you kidding? That would be incredible! You need relaxation and meditation from us, right? Conventional sorts of concentration? Okay, I'm there."

He closed his eyes, shook his head a couple times, and then let his muscles go limp. He twitched his nose as if it itched; but after rubbing at it, he seemed to attain the mental and physical necessary state.

[WhammeWhamme]

"Ah, the other magic... well, it should be an illuminating experience, anyway, and I'd hope I have the mental discipline for this.

After all, mental discipline is what I am, isn't it?"

He centres himself in a moment.

[Magnus_Samma]

(pausing briefly while I try and figure out where Toliudar got to o_O)

[Toliudar]

Daewell

As instructed...and instructed...Daewell has been content to remain silent. This ragtag group may lack the organization and dedication of a real church, but they didn't seem completely useless, anyway. This Vera woman, in particular, seemed quite capable.

I have no objections to, er, letting you drive, Miss Vera. But I must ask...if Horacio had the, er, prophylactic mental protection, and retains it, isn't it likely that the rest of us have it as well, and that by engaging in some form of, er, mental communion, we run the risk of setting off other booby-traps?

Spoiler

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Spellcraft (1d20+26=31) to get a handle on what's being proposed.

Sorry, guys: a series of 16-hour days as I opened three plays at a festival this week.

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio glances at Daewell.

"I think you could answer that, Daewell. I felt something happen to my brain when he inserted it; I just didn't know what at the time. Since no one else has mentioned feeling a brainworm be implanted, I'll take that as a good sign I'm the only one infected.

"As for the risks, I doubt a mental communion would set it off again. Vera wouldn't go through with this if it would. Have some faith in her, Dae."

[Magnus_Samma]

Vera's eyes slowly drift close. The world seems to go slightly out of focus.

The mindworm only attacks if its charge is threatened- if Horacio is communicating with us willingly, then it will not attack. We simply need to avoid attempting to probe deeper into his mind than the surface, which is what I attempted to do earlier. That will not be a problem with the mindscape set up the way we're doing.

Spreading the worm around, now... that -will- entail some amount of risk because... well, basically we have to chop it up. It can't kill you or physically harm you, but if it can it will destroy the pathways of your mind that allow you to utilize psionic abilities. Since none of you utilize these abilities, and Horacio is the only one with the natural talent to really develop them, and he is the only one the worm will not attack... there is not a great deal of harm that could come to any of you. But you needn't participate in that if you do not wish you. Primarily, I want to commune with you all directly because it's just plain faster and easier to explain the things I have to explain. If that is acceptable...

Horacio recognizes the edge to her voice- she's having the time of her life, stretching her abilities to their limit, and learning something new in the process. But she's firmly in control and has every confidence that they'll all be fine. She wouldn't be doing something like this otherwise.

Assuming that nobody really objects, you find yourselves suddenly diving down a tunnel of blue light and arriving in a world of swirling color. After a moment the colors solidify into a large, spartan stone chamber, and you are free to look around.

Vera is sitting on a reed mat in the center of the chamber. She is somewhat changed- her hair flowing out behind her in a crimson wave, her eyes solid orbs of blue light, her body unnaturally thin and long, but with an unearthly grace.

In this place we are merely mental constructs of ourselves. Our form changes to suit function and to mirror our innermost selves.

Kumoru has become a bestial black-furred humanoid with the head of a jackal and glowing red eyes. He hefts a simply massive battleaxe, and his body is surrounded by an aura of livid violet flame.

Firethena looks almost the same, but the lines of age and worry are gone from her face, and her hair has turned all the colors of the rainbow. Her cloak spreads out behind her in a tableau of ever-shifting colors and images.

Terry is clad in shining silver armor, and a pair of great white wings flutter on his back.

Dai is clothed entirely in black, and his face is covered by a featureless white mask. Other masks of every concievable description are placed elsewhere on his body.

Tokugal's flesh appears to have turned into magma, and his hair and clothing are composed of brilliant orange and golden fire.

Vodette is tall and stately, her skin burnished gold, her rapier a thin spike of silver longer than she is tall and sharp as a razor. Delicate fairy-like wings frame her shoulders.

Daewell is clad in heavy wizard's robes and a long cloak that hangs from his shoulders and spreads out around him in a closed circle. His belt is hung with money bags, but they are all empty.

Horacio stands tall and valiant, shining armor largely hidden by a black cloak. On his brow sits an iron crown studded with purple gems.

Perhaps the most dramatic change comes to the runeblades- standing beside Horacio is a tall, powerfully built elf with long strikingly silver hair, clad in simple but elegant white garments and wielding a wicked curved sword. Behind Terry stands a black metal demon, splashed liberally with bright scarlet blood and grinning with a maw filled with huge fangs, a single horrible eye staring out of the middle of its forehead as its mechanized wings creak and stretch open to nearly ten feet on either side.

Slowly and hesitantly, Tahlion reaches up and prods what appears to be a very impressive set of bazooms.

"... bloody hell, now I remember, I'm a woman."

Kinslayer falls over and pisses itself laughing.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Terry is surprised by the sudden and drastic change, but has the presence of mind to step away from the rolling demon.
"...If I ever wanted to counsel troubled people, I'd learn how to do this trick..." He warily runs his fingers along one of his wings.
"Our innermost selves. Hm. Not big on subtlety, are we?"

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Well, we might need to... but let's make sure that flayer didn't leave any other surprises in it first...

Horacio looks around to see how his companions have changed without glancing down at himself. He smiles when he looks at Firethena.

"I didn't realize how beautiful you could be, Firethena. Maybe it's because you're not frowning...

"And Vodette... you look lovely as well.

"And... Tahlion?"

Horacio stifles a chuckle.

"Well, uh... I guess we have more to find out about you than we first thought. You... uh... well, wielding you will be awkward with that image in my mind. But I'll manage."

Horacio grins and sends a private message to Tahlion.

Spoiler

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So, does this mean you want me to find a male drow to polish you?

He turns to Vera and points his thumb back towards the walls.

"Well, shall we destroy this cage and get the sightseeing started?"

(Horacio concentrates and helps Vera with the mindscape as he can, to get back in the hang of using psionics.)

[PolkaBear]

Tokugal Ardolin

Tokugal flexed his arm and watched the 'skin' on the magma crackle and flex. "Wow! This is--" The sound of his own voice startled him. It had an echoing quality, as if the same voice were speaking in a poorly synchronized unison with itself; as if there were internal disagreement on how best to express itself. "Well, that's interesting," he remarked, more thoughtfully. (At least, two of the voices sounded more thoughtful.)

His gaze slowly moved from his own form to those of the others, taking each one in turn. The glowing cracks that marked his eyebrows ascended when he marked Terry's form, with Kinslayer behind him. That's a formidable match! He did a double-take when he saw Tahlion--not out of disbelief, but because she struck a rather impressive figure for an elf.

He started chuckling. "Don't worry about it, Tahlion. I'm sure Scarlet would still swing your way given the opportunity. As for the mixup about your gender; well that should be expected when you spend so long in a form with so many suggestive associations."

[Toliudar]

Daewell

Daewell swirled his robes a bit, feeling the weight both bolster him and draw him downwards.

Associations? What ass...oh. Ah. Right.

Colouring a bit, the wizard experimentally drew his legs up into the air, coming to sit crosslegged, and leaving only the hem of his robes brushing the ground.

Seeing all of your inner selves is a privilege, and one that I will honour. And Tokugal, I would suggest that if anyone looked a fitting match for Scarlet right now, it would be you.

He smiled at the fiery elf, then seemed to catch himself. Reminded of the seriousness of their quest, he looked eagerly around to see what would happen next.

[boxboy582]

Vodette

Like most of the other members of the group, Vodette glances around at the others before she glances down at herself. Her mouth falls open. Everybody looked so amazing! Her voice has a light, ringing reverberation that seems to come from everywhere. There is no direction to her voice.

Terry! Armor and wings? I had never figured you for armor. It looks good on you. You look like a knight...in shining armor.

Dai....I'm sorry that is really creepy. What does it mean? Expressionless void and you only wear masks? I hope thats not how you really are. But I'm sure there is some meaning there.

Vodette smiles when she looks over at Tokugal.

Well, Tokugal. I'd say that seems very fitting for you. Is it warm? Having magma for skin, that is. It seems like it would be dreadfully uncomfortable.

Dae, you can float? Thats so cool! What else can you do? What do you have in those pouches on your belt?

And Tahlion! You're beautiful. I had an idea, but this proves it. At least Firethena and I aren't the only females around now. Vodette moves closer to Tahlion for a better view. Her face has a warm smile on it.

Vodette finally realizes that she must have changed as well. She looks down at the enormous spike of silver she holds in her hands. Her eyes run affectionately up and down it's length. She steps back and gives the weapon a few thrusts. It practically sings as it whirls in the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the wings. Craning her neck to see, she wiggles her wings a few times.

Hmm, wonder if they work.

The small wings flicker a few times and then begin to beat in a blur. Vodette is lifted a few inches off the ground, her wings humming.

Amazing. Can we stay like this forever?

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio chuckles.

"Of course he can float, Vodette. We all can. This is perception, not reality. And the only limitations you have..."

Horacio's eyes swirl for a moment. He suddenly dissolves into a puddle of silver liquid that slides beneath Vodette. Behind her, he twists back into his avatar form and taps her on the shoulder.

"...are the ones you assume you have."

He blinks and holds his hand to his face, noticing the shining gauntlet on it for the first time.

"Huh, that's a new one. I must've changed more than I thought..."

[ExHunterEmerald]

"I think you're finally going to have to fess up that you're a good guy beneath that thief exterior, Horacio. And what do you mean by sightseeing? What do we have to see here, just our minds? That's gonna be telling..."
Terry stretches his wings and bobs just the slightest bit, ending up scraping the ground gently with one boot. While his voice remains exactly the same, it has a slight air of...warmth, perhaps, to it that's difficult to place, and sliding away the harder you try to get a feel for it.

Now that there's no fear of demon pee staining his armor he can look around more carefully.
"But--damn, Vodette, you do look good."

[WhammeWhamme]

Dai reaches for one of the masks, taking one with a downcast face (presumeably symbolizing tragedy) and holding it in front of his face. His voice is sad, yet clear.

"Well, I have heard it said of my kind of person, that our one true nature is that we have no one true nature. That is, I am who I need to be, no more, no less."

He swaps the mask out, selecting one that smiles, coincidently underlining his speech with barely supressed mirth.

"This pairing is highly symbolic... I shouldn't tease, but the real joke of the masks, is that it's the black and white that's the truth. All colours, yet none..."

The puppeteering continues with a third mask, one looking quite self satisfied; he sounds smug.

"That is, it is all me. I am always true to myself. How can I not be, and still be convincing?"

Finally, he settles on a stern and serious mask; very no-nonsense.

"Now you know.

-

Shouldn't we continue? I suppose I could attempt to analyze your inner natures, but that seems a trifle personal, doesn't it? Besides, I'm sure there's shades of meaning, as there was even where there weren't shades of colour."

Did the mask wink? The mask winked. He breathes heavily, as though winded.

"Okay, that was a little more difficult than anticipated. I think I'll stick to following instructions."

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio glances at Terry for a moment, on the verge of a retort, when he closes his mouth and looks down at his gauntlets again.

"...Just because I care about something decent doesn't make me one of the good guys."

He doesn't sound too confident about that answer.

[Magnus_Samma]

Tahlion blushes a little and smirks at Horacio, tho0ugh she doesn't respond right away.

"It's wierd," she mutters, prodding herself again, "just feeling like I have a body again, I mean. The gender part doesn't even enter into it so much. I'm just glad to have limbs again."

Kinslayer regains its feet and seems absorbed in its own body as well, stretching its limbs and flexing its wings as if it had forgotten what it was like to have them. Vera watches everyone's reactions and smiles serenely.

I'd actually appreciate you didn't do any cage destroying, Horacio, since this is my mind. We'll at least be going into yours in a short while, though, so don't get claustrophobic. I suppose you could take tours of each toher's heads if you really felt like it was worth the time, but I have a feeling only a few of you are really up for it. In any case, let's get down to business. There were two things I really wanted to cover while we were here and this is them.

Behind Vera there appears a shadowy creature. It looks like nothing so much as a series of spiked tentacles twisted together into some kind of grotesque flying spaghetti monster. It curls and writhes in on itself and stares about with horrible eyes situated on the tips of its tentacles.

Firethena subtly sidles up to Horacio.

THIS is probably what we're dealing with. We don't know what they call themselves, so they're commonly referred to as skin wearers, mage eaters, and other more colorful epithets. We don't know where they came from, though what little we do know about their anatomy indicates that they couldn't have originated in any of our planet's ecosystems, but they don't appear to be extraplanar. We don't know what they want here, but we do know that they gravitate towards arcane spellcasters. The best information we have about the things comes from people who were possesed by them and lived to tell about it. This is exceedingly rare, but it has happened, and from it we have a few insights into their minds. Unfortunately, these insights seem to indicate almost universally that they are completely and utterly amoral, coldly logical, and indecipherably alien. They want magic, but we have no idea what they do with it. They want to keep their existence a secret, but we have no idea what they could be hiding from. Isn't it comforting to know all these things that we don't know? What worries me, though, is that so far they've only been observed to act alone. It sounds to me like you guys are up against a group. And that's probably some of the worst news I've ever heard.

The creature dissapears, replaced by an army of shadowy warriors that take up a place behind Vera, silent and threatening.

Want to know some more bad news? That conversation you guys overheard is ominous for a number of reasons, but primarily to me because someone mentioned the six hundred and sixty-six legions. There is a legend among my people that a great warrior descended of Gith himself once took it upon himself to make war upon the illithids by summoning forth a great army from a world beyond limbo. It was an army of horribly twisted and disfigured men, men who fought like demons and laughed as they drank the blood of their enemies. They were an unstoppable force, but they were also uncontrollable, and instead of just wiping out illithids, they attacked everything that moved. The warrior who summoned them sacrificed his life to return this great army to whence they came. And I probably don't even have to tell you, but it is said that the legions of this army numbered six hundred and sixty six. It's something of a cautionary fairy tale to my people, but given the circumstances... I'd say there's a possibility there's something to it, and it might behoove us to figure out what.

She lapses into silence. Kumoru's lower jaw has fallen so far open that it is currently resting on the floor. Kinslayer is giggling madly to himself in a truly disturbing manner.

[boxboy582]

Vodette

Vodette does her best to try and ignore Kinslayer. She disliked the sword, and she wanted nothing to do with whatever it "thought" itself to be. She listened quietly for the most part. When the image of the 'skin wearer' appeared, Vodette tightened her gripe on her long, deadly weapon, but made no move. Nothing would hurt her here. After everybody had finished speaking, Vodette simply said.

But those skin wearer things go after anybody. They don't just eat arcane magic because that other man was a cleric. Thats different. And this legion thing, I think I've heard something about it. My old mentor used to tell me stories about it, usually when I wouldn't leave him alone and go back to my cleaning. He'd say that the Legion of the Damned would come and take me away. Is that the same legion? And I don't remember who this Gith is. But this other army you're talking about: we don't know for sure it's the same one, right. It could just be a coincidence. Or they could be trying to use some scar tactic. I'm sure lots of people have heard of that particular legion.

Vodette gives Kuromu a sideways glance.

Whats the matter, Kuromu? You've heard of the Legion too?

[Mike_Lemmer]

Horacio

Horacio grins at Tahlion.

Heh, I always said it's amazing intelligent weapons don't go mad, not being able to move themselves. Then again, movement hasn't helped Kinslayer's mood any. We'll see what we can do about your movement...

Horacio listens carefully to Vera, only pausing to glance over at Firethena when she moves closer. After Vera's done mentioning the legions, he nods, a grin slowly forming across his face.

"The 666 legions... another piece of the puzzle. I can't thank you enough for that info, Vera. We might finally have a good idea what's going on here. Of course, we'll need to find proof... evidence... but now we have some places to look.

"We'll have to go to my mind and lay out the pieces, see what variations everyone else has...

"I wonder if the storm there's calmed down any..."

He turns to Vodette.

"The githzerai & githyanki were slaves of the mind flayers for millenium. It was Gith who taught them how to harness their psionic powers & rebel against them."

Horacio thinks for a moment.

"Vera, Firethena, how long ago was the first sighting of these mage eaters?"

[Toliudar]

Daewell

At the introduction of the term "mage eater", Daewell instinctively lifted a hand to create a defensive spell. Although no actual words emerged, a rainbow sphere of colours briefly erupted around him, obscuring his floating form for a moment before contracting and settling in under his skin. The wizard did not seem comforted by this.

A great warrior leading a bloodthirsty army against his ancient enemy...more shades and echoes of our current predicament.

And, Miss Vera, I'd say that knowing what we don't know is a great first step towards learning it. I'll guess, but hope that I'm wrong, that we also don't know any particular defence against these...erm...Mage Eaters.