No Longer in Kansas - Episode 1

[Malachite]

Colin rocks his head from side to side as if weighing up Richards proposal.
"A huge cavern full of glowing plants, small creatures that want to bite your face off and at least one ghost? Sure, let's go there," he replies, before smiling to show he's only joking. "Seriously, though, out of all of those phrases written on the pedestals, only the last two sound at all inviting and we've already heard that the Eden one isn't as good as it sounds. Aren't lotuses poisonous, anyway? I reckon we just try "The Path of Noble Unification', hope it's less terrible than the rest and see where we are from there."

He looks around to see if anyone's agreeing or disagreeing.

"To be clear, though, I think it's fairly obvious we need to stick together until we find a way back. So far, everything any of us has met has tried to kill us, and I'd quite like to continue not dying."

[Anyr]

"Let's not kid ourselves. All the options are going to involve difficulties of some kind. Otherwise, our captors wouldn't get the fun of watching us struggle!"

Sarah cast an accusatory glance upwards.

"I must admit, though, that I was hoping for a bit more variety. All of these options seem to be physical challenges. I'd much prefer something more cerebral. Are the watchers really expecting bankers, doctors and the like to put up a decent fight in real combat?"

Or maybe the group was supposed to gradually learn how to fight, via many iterations. The forces controlling this place had already demonstrated incredible powers. Perhaps they'd save Sarah every time she got stabbed to death; And have her start the 'course' all over again. Now there was a chilling thought.

[Inevitability]

Richard frowns at Colin's suggestion.

"Noble Unification is the plains one, right? The one with hunters that've got poison darts and apparently attack humans on sight? Unless our doctor has a few syringes of antitoxin in that bag of her, I wouldn't go there.

Sticking together sounds good, though."

Sarah's comment the man thinks about for a moment, before replying.

"I think... whoever just talked to us does. I mean, I'm still stuck in this armor, and I'm seriously starting to doubt that's accidental now."

[dethkruzer]

Her free hand came up to give her chin a stroke, then another, before rising up to rub her temples, the woman letting out a drawn-out sigh. "None of our options sound particularly.. What's the correct expression? Tempting? Though some do sound to be varying degrees of unpreferable." Her free hand then lowered down, the doctor resting her elbow against her thigh before tilting her head against her knuckles. "So to recount, we have a dead city in the middle of a desert, a garden that we've apparently dubbed "Eden" that also serves as home to wild beasts, a seemingly endless grass plain inhabited by wildmen sporting blowpipes that may or may not have poisonous darts, a cavern out of an LSD trip, my ruined shack that may or may not cause hallucinations... And wherever, Eris, wait ? Ended up." She spoke in a slow, ponderous manner, such that hopefully anyone might notice if she had missed something. Her face rose up from her hand and looked at the pale woman, hoping for some confirmation.

[Anyr]

Sarah sighed. If the hosts were expecting her to put up a good fight, then they were due for disappointment. Then again, they hadn't bothered to provide her with any weapons or armour. Maybe they already knew that she had no combat training. The young banker pondered each of the various 'paths' again. She didn't really want to pick any of them. But as Colin said, they'd just have to find the one that was 'less terrible than the rest'.

"Personally, I think that Julia's location sounds best. It has structures, roads, and a nearby forest. Also, it's possible that the hazards there are of a mental nature. We stand a better chance in an arena of the mind than one of the body."

[Failed Phantasm]

While the others debated what to do next, Tobias went back to gather up his pile of supplies so he would be ready to leave when everyone else was. As he changed into his new clothes and donned his new armour, he found that whatever wounds he’d suffered earlier were completely healed over – so completely, in fact, that it was as if he’d never been shot at all. ‘Odd,’ he thought; ‘Colin still has his injuries, but I don’t?’ Long experience with camping made the packing easier, so he was done in short order. The only unusual work he’d needed to do was to rig a harness for the halberd he’d been given, whose size gave him the impression that it was meant for his other form even if he could lift and (potentially) wield it as a human.

Tobias rejoined the group but remained quiet while he considered what had been said. It sounded as if they were making too many assumptions about what they’d find through the doors. Perhaps the dangers they’d encountered were singular events, never to be repeated. Perhaps the door that seemed the most innocuous on its face would wind up leading them to the most dangerous locale. More fundamentally, perhaps they didn’t know everything they ought about the door they were trying to represent to each other. ‘Maybe I was only shot because I looked like a lion,’ he thought, ‘or because visibility through the grass was poor.’ Even the descriptive identifiers on the pedestals were complete non sequiturs, seemingly begging to be misinterpreted.

[Malachite]

Colin begins to feel a coil of anger beginning to unfurl in his belly, but he tries to keep it from his face. Instead, he nods to Tobias and Sarah as though nothing has changed.

"Ok, if Noble Unification is the one with hunters and poison darts, let's go with Julia's. We can get on the road, start moving in one direction or the other and see where we end up."

He begins wandering casually over towards the glowing book in the centre of the room but, just as he reaches it, his eyes flick up from the pages to somewhere just above them.

"Are you enjoying this, so far?" he says as calmly as he can manage, seemingly into empty space. "You seem to like stories, so let me remind you of how they tend to go. When someone kidnaps a group of disparate individuals and sends them out for some hidden reason, they tend to fall into one of two archetypes: mentor and ultimate antagonist. It rarely ends well for the latter. Which are you?"

[fire_insideout]

Eris

The sudden swirling lights and the reoccurrence of the voice which brought here here is too much to bear for Eris and she simply stares at the table for a long while, letting the others discuss what path to take from here. To her it does not matter much, her mind is still reeling from her death and apparent resurrection, loss of identity and the inexplainable transportations.
"Perhaps this is just a hallucination." Her mind whispers. "Perhaps, I did not die, but is in a coma. Perhaps this is how I cope with trauma?" But somewhere deep inside of her she knows that this is not true, that she has changed and that there will be no going back, no waking up. The only way is forward. She draws a deep breath.
"I came from a valley of dust, walls made of countless of bones. A sun with no warmth shone. I do not wish to go back anytime soon, although it might hold answers to who I am." She sighs.
"Let us start with Julia's path then." Gripping the handle of her scythe tighter she turns towards Julia.
"Speak the words, Julia, and let us leave this place."

[dethkruzer]

She gave Eris a nod. Agreed, what you described does not sound like an exactly inviting place." She would then nod again, solwer this time, when suggested that they would follow her path.

"I suppose that sounds like the safest option. But I want to stress that I only had a very brief experience with that place. Considering how there are clearly... Supernatural elements in play here, it would not be impossible that what I saw in my illusions was in fact the default state of that place, and what I was seeing was some kind of induced hallucination." She would saying, ending it with a shrug. "I'm not saying that's necessarily how it is, but it would be wise if we also considered something like that to be a possibility, however infinitesimally minor it may be. All that said, does everyone else agree to what miss Eris proposed? I'd rather the decision be unanimous."

[Anyr]

"I agree. And yes, we're obviously working with very little information here. Each of us (except Richard) only got a brief taste of these places. Any of our assumptions about them could turn out to be wrong. For all I know, those snarling creatures I met were about to give me a complimentary fruit basket. But what choice do we have? Selecting a path at random would be madness."

[PeacefulOak]

The pages rustle once more, and the voice of three tones speaks.

"The path you choose imports me no more than the aggression you seem intent on displaying. My role, if it needs defining, is to set the scene and open the way for you, once you have chosen it. You have your options, and you have your opinions. What remains is a choice, and action."

[Anyr]

The voice's return reminded Sarah of something that had so far been neglected. Their group had spent much time listening to that damned book; But nobody had actually bothered to read it. Sarah immediately set about remedying that. She climbed up onto the table, and walked across it.

"Just a second. Before we depart, I'd better give this tome a quick once over. We'd all feel very silly if it later turned out to be a 'Complete Guide to the Infinite Multiverse'."

[PeacefulOak]

"The young woman quickly realized her error, as all the hair on her body began to rise as though standing in an electric field. I would recommend that you not pursue your current course, Sarah. Not all is for you to observe, in this moment."

As the voice(s) speaks, Sarah indeed feels all the hairs on her body rise up from her skin. A fierce tingle spreads across her body as she steps toward the podium.

Spoiler: Choices

Show

Back away, or roll a fortitude save pushing forward.

[Anyr]

Sarah took the book's advice. Seconds later, she was standing back on the floor again. Her hands alternated between scratching at new itches, and smoothing out her long black hair: Which was far less neat than it had been before.

"Well, that settles that. Shall we depart?"

[Inevitability]

Richard observes Sarah's attempt to read the book warily. A... thing that could apparently control what happened to them? That was alarming.

Briefly he considers venturing an attempt of his own, but decides against it. Instead, he turns to Julia.

"Let's go."

[Malachite]

The pages rustle once more, and the voice of three tones speaks.

"The path you choose imports me no more than the aggression you seem intent on displaying. My role, if it needs defining, is to set the scene and open the way for you, once you have chosen it. You have your options, and you have your opinions. What remains is a choice, and action."

Colin stares at the faint outline of a face, his eyebrows knit together in obvious irritation, and takes a deep, slow breath to calm himself.
"I'm not intent on displaying aggression," he replies, with all the frustration of someone trying to refute an accusation of being argumentative. "I was trying to understand your role in what happened to all of us. None of us chose to be here, and I think we have every right to be angry at whoever pulled us away from our lives without our consent. You seem to be saying you had no involvement in that. If that's so, may I ask if you know who did?"

He glances around at the others.

"Just this one question and then I'm ready to go too."

[PeacefulOak]

Rustle rustle...

"There are truths that can be told, and there are truths that must be experienced in order to understand. This is one of the latter, oh source of anger. Your choice awaits you, and beyond that choice, opportunities for learning and knowledge."

[Failed Phantasm]

Tobias sighed. His patience for the voice was not as spent as the others', but it was it was an exhausting conversation nevertheless. "It might be easier for us to accept your claims," he said calmly, "if you weren't so intent on being as patronizing as you are unhelpful." He shook his head to emphasize his next point, "Never mind threatening to electrocute one of us for violating rules and principles you seem to be making up on the spot."

Turning to look at Julia, he then said, "Ready whenever you are."

[dethkruzer]

Julia turnes her head toward the enter podium, her face twsiting into an ugly scowl of equal parts disapproval and frustration. "Not what any sane persona would call a satisfying answer, but I feel it's all we're going to get." She sighs.

"But it's settled, and I understood that we are unanimous on this?" She speaks again, mostly directing her wrods towards Colin, the doctor not quite sure whether what he had just said actually was consent to the idea of the path they would choose. After finishing, she stood up and walked over to the selection of items behind her pedestal. Most of it was already in a backpack, but there was some kind of v-shaped wooden frame with what appeared to be a kind of burlap sack strung open between the two poles, a small number of items set upon it. And then there were the articles of clothing. One an almost full suit of what seemed to be leather, the chestpiece and attached shoulder bits much harder that then rest. There was also a baggy shirt, and equally baggy breeches, both of a rather coarse fabric, and then also a few extra strips of cloth?

She lifted up the chestpiece, the thick hardened leather quite heavy. "I'm guessing this must be some kind of armor or something? Perhaps I'd best put it on..." She uttered.

[Malachite]

Colin had really been trying to keep the ember smouldering in his gut damped down. He'd been willing to give the voice the benefit of the doubt, but this..? The anger roars back to life, like petrol thrown on a dying fire.

"You know what? Fine!" he shouts, real venom entering his tone. "You want me to be angry? Make a choice? Here's my ****ing choice!"

Drawing his arm back, he hurls the small but heavy lump of gold as hard as he can right at the faintly-shimmering image of a face he sees hanging in the air above the book.

"Julia, just say the ****ing words and let's get on with whatever comes next!"

[dethkruzer]

She had already turned her back to the group, peeling off her pinstriped jacket. She tried to figure out how the leather chestpiece was supposed to go on, probalby had something to do with the leather straps an buckles on the sides. Still holding the armor piece in one hand, she turned and motioned Sarah to come over. "Sarah, do you think you can help me get this thing on?" She asked the other.

The doctor lifted the shirt from the pile, lifting it over her head to pull it over the blouse she was already wearing when she found herself startled by Colin's sudden and surprisingly violent outburst. "Jesus Christ. Keep your head on, Bruce Banner." She said in a sarcastic tone, before pulling the long-sleeved shirt over her head. Gah, the rough textile felt so uncomfortable against her skin. "I'll be ready as soon as I get this gear on. If what the rest of you have been saying about these various beasts and such is true, then I have no interest in taking pointless risks."

[Anyr]

Sarah was only too happy to help out Julia. She did her best to help the doctor don her new armour. And should Julia need to expose more skin than was proper, Sarah would act as a human shield to block the mens' gaze. She recognised the discomfort on Julia's face as she put on the shirt. Sarah gave a sympathetic wince.

"The fabric is so coarse, isn't it? Be thankful that you at least got to keep your designer clothes. I can assure you, wearing a whole outfit made of this stuff feels even worse."

A hint of envy could be heard in Sarah's voice. Why hadn't her expensive suit made the trip too?

[dethkruzer]

Sarah was very gracious in aiding her with getting the armor on. The fit was a little poor, the chestplate feeling a hint restricting on her chest. She was sympahtetic to the doctor's admittedly very minor plight, and Julia honestly couldn't help but feel a little petty over that. "Thank you, Sarah." She would say, giving Sarah a nod. She the folded up her remaining clothes, and stuffed them into the provided backpack, along with the extra strips of cloth. It did not seem to occur to her at the time that maybe keeping the high heels on wouldn't be the best possible idea.

She stepped over in fron of her pedestal, looking into the shadow cast upon the wall. "Please just let this nightmare end already" She tohught to herself, drawing a deep breath. Holding said breath in for a moment before exhaling, she then drew a shorter, sharper breath.

"The Path of the Whole Un-made, of the Un-made made Whole." She intoned slowly, making sure to get it right.

[PeacefulOak]

The lump of gold flashes just over the book and hits the floor hard, bouncing and clanging to a stop at the far side of the room, near Tobias' feet. The book doesn't seem to respond, apart from a slight ruffle of the pages that has almost the feel of a raised eyebrow.

"Then your choice is made."

The light flares again, swirling down like a cloud of fireflies to the top of the table. The light spills off the edge of the table, flowing around Julia's legs and feet to wrap around the pedestal on which she had arrived. The light begins to spin around it, circling faster and faster until it is a tight band of solid golden light. The pedestal lifts from the floor, rotating in place until it is upright, with the image of the surgical mask and scalpel facing out. It drifts back towards the wall and as it touches, it sinks into the wall. The circle of light frames the pedestal now, the symbol standing stark against the light.

Abruptly, the pedestal fractures, cracks covering the surface like an insane maze each beaming with the light that still spins around. The light surges, the shards of rock seeming to strain against the push of something immense from the other side. A flash of light, and the circle goes completely black for a split instant before static appears across it. It looks exactly like a television that doesn't have any signal, that appearance of white snow/static on a black background. Every few seconds the contrast flips... white snow on black... black snow on white... and back... and forth...

"The portal awaits. Take your first steps on the path you have chosen."

[Malachite]

Colin strides forward without another word and steps through the portal.

[Anyr]

Sarah was late going through the portal. That's because she made a detour to retrieve Colin's discarded gold. If he didn't want to be rich, then she'd gladly take this wealth off his hands. Sarah grinned as she turned the lump over in her hand. Shiny! Though she routinely handled vast quantities of money, it was nearly all in digital or paper form. There was something very satisfying about handling physical gold for once. Sarah happily dropped the lump in her bag, and walked towards the portal. She failed to notice a sudden glint on the floor behind her: Belonging to the lump of gold that she thought was now hers...

Spoiler: OOC

Show

A reminder: Sarah's 'Vow of Poverty' isn't actually a vow. She very much wants to acquire wealth and possessions. It's just that the Universe won't allow her to do so.

[Failed Phantasm]

Over the spectacle of the portal being opened, Tobias appraised the lump of gold that had skidded to a rest near his feet. ‘Wasn’t this the only thing he was given?’ he thought; ‘Temper or no, he shouldn’t have to face whatever’s on the other side of that portal with only the clothes on his back.’ And really, who could blame Colin for being so angry? Judging by their reactions, most of the others felt just as frustrated. Fortunately, it didn’t look as if the animate book took offense at what Colin had done, which seemed to imply that it wouldn’t care if the gold were returned.

When Sarah approached, he wondered if he wasn’t the first person to whom that thought had occurred. He didn’t care to challenge or stop her as she scooped up the gold — what did it matter which of them did the good deed? — but her sudden grin at turning the nugget over in her hands made him realize that he had misjudged her motives. ‘As if I weren’t standing right here,’ he thought, giving her a look of quizzical disbelief but otherwise doing and saying nothing else. It’s not as if he would consider snatching the gold out of her hand or otherwise forcing it from her, and neither would starting an argument do any good. Tempers were clearly frayed enough already, and who would care to hear that kind of “moralizing” from a stranger? But as she dropped it into her bag and walked away, it looked to Tobias as if the nugget kept falling straight through and back down onto the ground.

Once she was nearly to the portal and well away from him, he scooped up the gold himself and slipped it into one of his breech pockets. If Colin really didn’t want it, he could give it away himself to whomever he pleased. Tobias then strode towards the portal, taking deep breaths and trying to steady himself for whatever came next. Hopefully, being in the pedestal chamber wasn't the only thing keeping him in his human form; as bizarrely comfortable as it was being a werelion, he had no reason to expect he could control his transformations — ‘Assuming this isn't permanent.’ — and it was yet one more surprise that didn't need to be sprung on the impromptu travelling party.

[Inevitability]

Richard confidently strides through the portal (clank, clank, clank), a smile concealed by his helmet still lingering from Colin's action.

[fire_insideout]

Eris

Eris watches the heated exchange between Colin and the figureless voice with a distant expression. The woman has, somehow, accepted their current lack of free will. For now she resorts to play along in the voice's drama and hopes that a better opportunity to escape will present itself.

She hefts her backpack and scythe and passes through the portal.

[PeacefulOak]

Each of you steps through the flickering portal into brilliant daylight. The smell of growing green grass and rich earth fills your nostrils, and brilliant soft carpet of grass nearly knee high dustless with each step. You are standing on a hill top, seeming tallest of a large field of rolling hills that stretches far in all directions. The sun beams straight down, making it hard to discern direction, but in the far distance you can make out the profile of mountains in one direction, and the dark blur of what might be a forest in another.

Sound reaches you, quieting the soft chirps and buzzes of insects. From the direction of the mountains you begin to hear a rhythmic metallic rattling that is rather faint at first, but grows noticeably. From the direction of the dark blur you hear shrieks and cries, exhortations in some language you do not grasp, and a rhythmic thudding that seems to match in counterpoint the sound from the mountains both in cadence and in growth.

No sign can be seen of the source of either sound, and the portal seems to be invisible... if it even exists at all.