View source for Holes/Session 20

{{holes nav
|top=true
|previous=Holes/Session 19
|next=Holes/Session 21
}}

<pre>
Apheori (GM) drops Ellemerr into a horrible nightmare realm of ponies.
Gaurav: Oh man, that's worse than sheep.
Ganelon: It's a pretty cruel thing to do.
Ellemerr: Eh. I've faced worse.
Apheori (GM): How much worse?
Ellemerr whispers, "Bunnies."
Gaurav: Bunnies are easy to defeat. I believe that have very weak digestive systems.
Ellemerr: You know nothing, Gaurav.
Apheori (GM): You haven't faced the champion bunny in the uncategorised fractal.
Although it is a bit of a pushover. But it's a... glimmer.
An inkling into what they truly are.
Gaurav: o.0
Ganelon: Well, it's got nothing on the shaman or that stupid ettin, both of whom have far too much health.
Frezak (GM): Also they might be liches.
Ellemerr: That's a thing that happens.
Apheori (GM): I dunno, the bandit seems to be the worst of the lot.
And yet it ain't even a champion, is it?
Ganelon: Nope, just a vet.
Gaurav: A bandit lich rabbit?
Or is it _behind_ the rabbit?
Frezak (GM): Yes.
Ganelon: But also easily dispatched. The most annoying thing is the evades, which can be mitigated if you kite it.
Only drops bombs when it reaches melee range of its target, so keep it away and it's pretty trivial.
Apheori (GM): Until it kills all your party.
Ganelon: That has literally never happened to a party of mine.
Apheori (GM): Because for some reason you wound up with all guardians.
Who are all squishy.
Which makes no sense.
Ganelon: *That* has almost happened, but since I only play Thief I'm always the odd one out.
Apheori (GM): And then the mesmers are like, uh?
Ellemerr: Are we moving on from bandit-bunnies soon?
Apheori (GM): Oh, right, campaign.
Gaurav: You brought this upon us, Ellemerr.
Apheori (GM): Gan: Do a fractal with me sometime!
Ellemerr: I could ruin a fractal for you someday, love. :3
Apheori (GM): Sounds like a plan.
Gaurav: I can ... draw a fractal?
Ellemerr: Please do, Gau.
Apheori (GM): Gan: What's your name in gw2?
Gaurav: Ellemerr: Just this one --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle
Ganelon: Well, it's Ganelon.
Let me get you those blasted numbers.
Gaurav: Campaaaaaiiiiiggggnnn
Apheori (GM): Yes.
So you all are... uh...
Ellemerr: Walking through a cliffhanger.
I mean an archway.
Apheori (GM): Radek, Greibel, Rhu, and the mouseforged walked through a portal into a cliffhanger.
Gaurav: Hopefully not over an actual cliff.
Apheori (GM): Gravy is in a strange place. We'll get to that in a moment.
Gan: You can give me a character name too, you know.
Guys who walked through the portal: You find yourselves in a very strange place I don't really know how to describe.
Gaurav: Once this campaign ends, we should sit around and compare all the strange places we've been.
Apheori (GM): It's a city full of skyscrapers and golden light, with lots of shininess.
Gaurav: Is it anything like Sarathi?
Ellemerr: Did anyone think to photo-document the journey?
Apheori (GM): You're on a street with a sheer drop off to one side, with another archway behind you, and behind that, more drop-off.
There are aliens, though you don't recognise any in particular aside from the obligate elves.
Ganelon: I think I did a bit of video-ing on Sarathi for our report back.
Apheori (GM): A bunch of emus run past and down a side street, chased by a pair of guys yelling at them to stop, come back, agh!
Gaurav: Rhu went through the portal after Dave. Is Dave still ahead of me?
Apheori (GM): Meanwhile Dave walks purposfully down the street, then turns down another street that resembles a path along the side of deep ravine, but brilliantly lit.
Do you continue to follow?
Rhu glances back at the rest of the party
Rhu: That way?
Ganelon: Since you said "purposefully" as opposed to the usual aimless meandering, yeah. I'm pretty cool with following her.
Rhu follows Dave
Ganelon: Radek will do the same, but...
He'll look up. At the sky, specifically.
Apheori (GM): The sky is full of brilliant golden clouds.
Ganelon: Probably *not* the same kind of place we just came from, then.
I also appreciate that it doesn't stare back.
Ellemerr: That's always a blessing.
Gaurav: Is there any sort of check we can do to see if the architecture looks familiar? History, maybe?
Oh, hey, we should test our radios to see if we can get in touch with HQ from here.
Ganelon: Well, let's start local.
Apheori (GM): Probably.
Ganelon: Can we get in touch with anything compatible with our tech?
(Also it was your idea, so you should try it)
Apheori (GM): Radek is the techy guy.
Gaurav: Yes.
Apheori (GM): So you all follow Dave.
Gaurav: Rhu would tap the radio gently against the closest stone wall and then shout into it.
Apheori (GM): Amadi appears beside you, also following Dave.
Rhu: Oh, hi.
Apheori (GM) glares at Ellemerr, daring her to argue.
Rhu: Do you know where she's going?
Amadi: Do you know what time it is?
Rhu looks up at the sun to gauge the hour of day
Amadi: (In a tone of voice that says "You're asking a very silly question.")
Gaurav: DM: what is the sun(s?) doing? Time-wise?
Apheori (GM): There aren't any suns.
Gaurav: Huh. So the light coming from the golden clouds?
Apheori (GM): Mostly.
Rhu: (to Amadi) I don't know.
Apheori (GM): The buildings, too. The entire place is full of light.
Amadi: Well, then.
Amadi continues walking after Dave.
Radek: Tell us where our gravedigger is.
Amadi: You're not the boss of me, little boy.
Dave takes another turn that leads out onto a high road arching over the lower buildings, and you get a view of the overall city - or cities, perhaps, precariously perched on cliffs jutting out from a sea of more golden clouds, towering spires reaching up and high bridges tying it all together. And archways, gates like the one you came through, everywhere.
Dave pointedly does not look at it.
Gaurav: woah
(To Amadi): You should tell him, you know. That he's with you. That he's... in your... place.
(To Amadi): That you're with him, and the other you, and the other, and the scary one. Or something along those lines.
Radek scoffs indignantly. "Boy?"
(To Amadi): But you don't like the scary one, unless you do. You might.
(From Ellemerr): I will. Probably.
(To Ellemerr): It's important. It doesn't need to be detailed, but it needs to be enough.
Gaurav: Can we see what these free-floating cities are floating over? if there's land or sea or nothing below the clouds?
Are there other people on the same road as us?
Ganelon: "My beard is longer than you are tall! How dare you insinuate that I'm still young!"
Apheori (GM): You can't see it, but it looks like the cliffs are just the tops of mountains from a rocky terrain underneath.
There are other people. Some nod friendlily, some don't have heads, one hisses something about Rhu's mother.
Bear Soup Guy: AGH AGH AGH
Rhu: HEY!
Amadi gives Radek a snide look.
Amadi: If you'd asked nicely, I might've told you that he's with me. And with me, and with me, and with me... But now I won't. I don't speak with rude little boys.
Gaurav: BSG!!!!!!!
Bear Soup Guy: Sorry guys, I had a late night and then my alarm went weird and BLEGH >_<
Apheori (GM): Rob! You followed Dave into a city of golden light. And skyscapers. Read that huge blob of Dave's up there.
Bear Soup Guy: ooooo, sexy
Apheori (GM): You're here. You're following Dave somewhere. Amadi insulted Radek.
Bear Soup Guy: XD
She would.
Ellemerr: It's fun.
Bear Soup Guy: It is. Everyone should insult Radek every now and then. It's therapeutic :D
Apheori (GM): Rhu: The guy is past and gone before you can really do or say anything back.
Radek: Don't you talk to /me/ about things like manners when you're the one who just comes and goes as she pleases and never bothers to explain why.
Bear Soup Guy: XD
Amadi: Eh, there's no point. You haven't the smarts to understand it anyway. 'Sides, you'd just forget it again.
Ganelon: This doesn't seem... *like* Amadi.
Rhu mutters something about HIS mother
Apheori (GM): Are you guys still following Dave, or do you stop?
Ellemerr: What doesn't seem like Amadi but looks like her is following Dave just as purposefully as Dave is walking.
Gaurav: Rhu will keep following her as long as she's moving, maybe pausing occasionally to stare at the landscape, but never letting her out of his sight.
Ganelon: Could I insight that in-character? To uh... see if I'm mistaken or not out-of-character?
Apheori (GM): Insight Amadi?
Go for it.
Ganelon: Yeah, because I feel like she might not be behaving like the Amadi we know and possibly love.
(To Amadi): Do you know anything about insight checks?
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20+3 (Incidentally Radek ain't that great at it)
(
1
)
+3
=
4
Gaurav: We love Amadi?
(From Ellemerr): She might not be... all here. She might have mixed herself up with herselves. And I know tons about insight, but this one is just a total failure so that's all you need to know.
Ganelon: We /tolerate/ her. That's something.
Bear Soup Guy: Some of us love Amadi
We definitely like her more than than the sphinx
Ellemerr: Amadi loves you. Some more than others.
Gaurav: Truth. We could also just wait and see what she does. Or doesn't do. Or vanish.
BSG: to be fair, we've killed zombie elves we liked more than the sphinx, so.
Apheori (GM): Radek gets the feeling that this isn't really Amadi and she might have some sort of alien in her head controlling her. Except that's completely ridiculous and he knows it. Or does he?
I think he does.
Bear Soup Guy: Gaur: Yeah, good point XD
Apheori (GM): You all follow Dave through a tower and onto a balcony and down some stairs and through some alleys and a hawk-lady tries to sell you some lungs. Fresh lungs. Nice, well-developed lungs. Interested in some lungs?
Bear Soup Guy: http://www.chronicle.su/wp-content/uploads/tsoukalosaliens.jpg
Ganelon: You mean she's hawking goods onto us, or she's literally some kind of anthropomorphic hawk?
Apheori (GM): Both.
Greibel: Hummm....I might, uh...no. Never mind, uh....I can hold off for now.
Dave suddenly stops and the mouseforged runs into her, knocking her over.
Ganelon: I *actually* might. How are they being preserved?
Hawk-lady: Not preserved. Don't need preserved. Is-as. They'll do you fine.
Hawk-lady shows Radek some lungs wrapped in foil.
Hawk-lady gestures toward Dave.
Gaurav: Are they gluten-free?
Hawk-lady: Friend yours doesn't know. You might needs them. Lungs. For the other places. Deeper places. Well-developed for undeveloped.
Gaurav: It just struck me that it'd be hilarious playing D&D as a vegetarian character. "That suckling pig looks delicious, but do you have any tofu? Or a salad?"
Dave: Er.
Dave gets.
Dave: up*
Amadi: ... We'll have some.
Radek nods.
Amadi: Do you have shovels`
?*
Dave: Where... um...
Radek: Someone might need a replacement.
Dave: Dammit, I forgot where I was going.
And it seemed so important.
Amadi: That's 'cos it was, hun.
Shovels?
Hawk-lady: Lungs. Good lungs.
Gaurav: So the hawk-lady is on this balcony with us?
Hawk-lady: Process dirt lungs?
Amadi: Yes. Good. But shovels?
Hawk-lady holds up an odd purple blob.
Rhu: (to Hawk-lady) What's your name?
Hawk-lady: And a gizzard.
Amadi: Awesome!
Let's have it.
Hawk-lady: Name? No name. Names names.
Lungs.
Lungs for the godling. Lungs for lungs?
Amadi: Guess so. He already has a lot of shovels.
Rhu: Lungs _for_ lungs?
Amadi takes something that looks like a plastic lung, like those you've got in med-school-things, out of her pocket.
Dave hands Amadi another pair of lungs.
Rhu: Wait, did you say "godling"?
Dave: Did anyone find the shovel fellow?
He had shovels, and lungs.
Didn't he?
Did that even... happen?
Amadi: Yes, hun. He's at my place. It's okay.
Hawk-lady: (to Rhu) Lungs for the fledgeling, perhaps?
Amadi: ... It's /mostly/ okay. Probably.
Amadi exchanges lungs with the hawk-lady.
Hawk-lady takes Amadi's lungs, both the plastic and the one Dave handed her.
Rhu: I'm good, thanks.
Hawk-lady pulls out a rather gruesome pair of grubby black lungs and hands them over.
Dave: Oh.
Okay.
Radek: I must admit that I imagined the organ trade to be... different.
Rhu: (to Greibel) Have you ever smoked a lung?
Greibel: (To Rhu) O_o
Apheori (GM): It's not okay. Not that Amadi lied, but Gravy's situation is definitely, at least for Gravy, not at all okay.
Ellemerr: Yeah, but it's not as bad as it coulda been!
Ganelon: Well gee, thanks for letting us know.
Apheori (GM): He is in a place, trying to leave the place, at a door.
Frezak: What do you do in this place? There are currently no amadis, or not amadis.
Gaurav: There are gradations of badness. Are there giant fish? Are there zombie chickens? Things could be worse.
Dave: Smoked fish.
Gaurav: Hey, did the radio thing yield anything?
Apheori (GM): (I needed to move the Gravy thing into the main chat because this don't support three-way pms well.)
And, let's face it, two players is enough for that anyway.
Frezak (GM): I'd like to try the door.
Apheori (GM): Rhu: You banged the radio on a wall, right?
Gaurav: No, I just said that's what Rhu would do. Radek should do, like, proper techy things.
If you'd rather he did that, then that's fine too. It sounds like something he'd do.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: You open the door and step through. It seems normal enough - more normal than anything else in this place, and you find yourself on a balcony overlooking a world you know well. You feel huge, bigger than life, like you could take on anything, but the only thing around to take on is Amadi, standing next to you and humming.
Well, Rhu's attempt failed. Radek would have gotten humming.
Amadi hums.
(To Amadi): Now here's the weird thing - which Amadi is which? She's in two places... or is she?
Frezak (GM): How familiar?
Familiar how?
(To Amadi): Maybe she's doing the same thing in each, I dunno.
Apheori (GM): You either grew up there or spent a lot of time there recently.
Rhu: (to Amadi, Dave, Hawk-lady) Does anybody know where we are?
(From Amadi): "A holy mix" as we say in Norway. ^_^
Greibel: We're in the caaaaaanyons of your miiiiiiind.
Amadi: I'm at home. And at home. And at home. And... this isn't home. It's very distressing.
Greibel makes weird googly hand gestures
Hawk-lady nods, and says, "A somewhere, somewhere," then, after looking over the companions, heads off into another alley.
(To Amadi): If you're saying things in both places, say. If you're only saying it to some, say.
(To Amadi): We need to know.
Rhu: (looking around) welp, this doesn't look like it's underground, at least. progress!
Dave: I've been here before.
Rhu: Really? When?
Dave: Except I haven't.
Frezak (GM): How big is the balcony? Any other doors on it? How far down is the ground?
Dave: The mushrooms are talking. They're also wearing off.
Please, sir, may I have some more?
Dave mimes holding out a bowl, then looks really confused.
Radek glares at Greibel. "Don't even think about it."
Apheori (GM): A few floors up, the one door, big enough for a few folks, but not huge.
Rhu: To be fair, she makes a lot more sense when she's high. Also attacks us more, I guess.
Frezak (GM): Is that the door I just came in through?
(To Amadi): I'm sorry, I should have thought this throug, but you're in two places at once so where you're speaking is important. >.<
Apheori (GM): Looks like.
Rhu starts walking around the balcony, looking in at doors at looking for someone to talk to.
Apheori (GM): Rhu: NOT YOU.
Gaurav: Yes, I know! I'm looking around on the balcony Dave stopped at.
(From Amadi): I'll try and be specific. The last one was the place with the people. xD
Apheori (GM): Gravy and Amadi are standing on a balcony.
You and the others are in an alley.
Gaurav: Oh, wait, we left that balcony. My bad. So I look around the alley we're in, then.
Amadi: (to Gravy) Have you found yourself yet?
Gaurav: Are there any street signs?
(To Amadi): Thanks. >.<
The Gravedigger: If that happens I'm sure I'll tell myself.
Apheori (GM): There are, and they are completely useless. They point in apparently random directions, often not parallel with any roads, and say things like 'this way', 'to bed', 'half-past midnight', 'out', and 'sometimes a chipmunk'.
Gaurav: Ha!
Ellemerr: IS THERE ONE THAT SAYS MIDNIGHT
WITHOUT THE HALF PAST
Bear Soup Guy: XD
Rhu: Hey, there's another sign there that says "out". We seem to be heading in that direction a lot.
Apheori (GM): Considering the half-past one is pointing straight up, perhaps midnight would be down.
Frezak (GM): Well, I know that Gravy can survive at least a 40-foot fall.
Apheori (GM): Or perhaps not.
Ganelon: Hmm...
I'm going to look for patterns.
This is something I have not done nearly often enough.
Apheori (GM): Patterns?
Frezak (GM): I'll go see what's behind the door.
Ganelon: Yes, in the architecture of this place, and in the street signs and in anything else which warrants comparison with another thing.
Is it all completely mad, or is there just something I'm missing here?
Rhu looks hopefully down the way that says "sometimes a chipmunk"
Apheori (GM): Frezak: It looks like the lab you found Dave in.
Ganelon: If that's too difficult for Radek, of course, just say so.
Frezak (GM): I'll go check the tanks.
Apheori (GM): When you look back toward the balcony, though, it's gone - just the same corridor all over again.
Amadi -that's-with-Gravy follows him around, and takes up her humming again.
Amadi -that's-with-the-others starts humming.
Apheori (GM): The tanks are full, their charges put back, or perhaps never removed, save for Dave. She's sitting on a desk with a heavy book open on her lap.
Frezak (GM): I'll go check the chest.
Is the humming tune familiar to anyone?
Rhu: (to Amadi) What song is that?
Apheori (GM): Radek: The buildings are fairly consistent here, though different parts of the city tend to have different architectures. Here you seem to be pretty deep and a lot of it is fairly dirty.
The street signs... roll insight.
Ganelon: Insight, my eternal foe!
rolling 1d20+3
(
12
)
+3
=
15
Ellemerr: The humming is familiar to Gravy.
Amadi: (to Rhu) It's a song from his head. It's floating around there now, and got in my head.
Apheori (GM): The street signs don't appear to have too much to do with the streets - it looks like someone came and added them later for some reason. You're not really sure why, whether they were just mad, the things are really pointing to something, or if it's all part of an art project.
You've seen worse art projects over the years.
Ganelon: Undoubtedly.
Radek: Have any of you conducted a social experiment under the false premise of creating "art" before?
Greibel sheepishly raises a hand
Radek: You might find these signs somewhat embarrassingly familiar, then.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: The chest contains a few things, largely not what it had before - that knife Rhu took for Dave, a pile of masks, an ornate recurve bow, some calipers, a book or two. A small shovel that looks like your craftmanship but you don't remember making.
Argh, I'll be right back.
Frezak (GM): I take everything.
Greibel: Can't I find it refreshingly familiar?
Rhu: (to Amadi) Whose head, Mrs. Teatime?
Radek: Normally I would applaud such mockeries of the art world, but my point is that there is no greater meaning behind these things... and likely no chipmunk, either.
Rhu sighs
Amadi: (to Rhu) Don't call me that! You don't even know what time that is! You've no right to... to...
(to Gravy) Do you think that'll help any?
Greibel: No chipmunks....?
Greibel frowns slightly
Radek: Fortunately, the rest of this place was constructed more purposefully, so we can at least expect the bridges to lead... somewhere.
A map would be useful.
The Gravedigger: Thinking rarely gets me anywhere I want to be.
Rhu: ... no right?
Amadi: (to both) Right. But you have to find yourself eventually all the same.
(From Amadi): Am I doing this... uh... acceptably? *shifty eyes*
Apheori (GM): Gravy: Perception check.
(To Amadi): Sure!
Ganelon: Oh, here we go.
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+9
(
10
)
+9
=
19
The Gravedigger: Well then I wan wait for me to find me.
Amadi: (to Gravy) I tried that once. Uh, more than once. It got really confusing, and then I sort of tried to kill myself and now we're not talking.
Apheori (GM): Gravy: The place feels... off somehow, but you can't place it. You do notice the Dave (or not Dave) on the table is now watching you curiously, though.
Gaurav: What is the technology level of this city? On the one hand, they have skyscrapers, so they need telephones and elevators. On the other, we seem to be in a medieval alley with hawk-ladies. If we walk around a bit, we might be able to find a main street with, like, taxis or something?
Frezak (GM): I'll go check the corridors outside the lab and see if they look like the ones that I went through before the hole.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: The corridors look like the facility corridors you remember, but quieter and darker, fading away into unimportance. The lab is the focal point here, the only thing that matters this time around, as though everything was constructed around it.
Dave: (lab) Gravedigger? Is that you?
(lab) Amadi? Where's Elia?
The Gravedigger: When I decide whether I am, I'll be sure to tell me to tell you.
(From Amadi): That something/someone I should know?
Apheori (GM): It's technological, but it's a mix. Some places are much more advanced than others, and the only elements there in common seem to be more magical than technical.
No taxis, no waypoint consoles, no pillars that you recognise, but perhaps you wouldn't. It is very alien, but it also feels familiar in ways you can't quite place.
Amadi: (lab) You shouldn't be here, Dawn. It's a big mess and none of you should be here. Want a dumpling?
(To Amadi): Probably not, but you could. She's another fragment.
(To Amadi): I'm still not sure which.
(From Amadi): Heeee
Frezak (GM): I'll have a look at the books.
Ganelon: Well, Dave forgot where she was going.
Gaurav: Who *doesn't* want a dumpling.
Ganelon: ...
Ganelon raises his hand sheepishly.
Amadi: (to everyone else) Want a dumpling?
Greibel: Yes, please!
Dave: (lab) You are the Gravedigger. You always were, even that time you tried to bury a ship.
Rhu: Right. If we don't know where we're going, any road will take us there. I say we pick a random direction and see where that goes. Maybe it'll jog Dave's mind, or we'll find someone who has a map, or something.
There must be a tourism bureau *somewhere* ...
Amadi hands Greibel a dumpling.
Rhu: (to Amadi) Yes, please, Mrs. T-- oh. What should I call you if you don't like that name, then?
Dave: (lab) I'm sorry I doubted you, you know. I wouldn't have made that bet if I'd realised.
Radek: Aimless wandering could only ever be productive if we weren't retreading old ground.
...I wish our car was here.
Dave: (lab) Dumplings.
Greibel noms the dumpling
Rhu: It's a city. Cities should have taxis. It stands to reason.
Amadi hands Rhu a dumpling. "Huh? Call who what?"
Dave: Where are we going?
Rhu: Mrs. Teatime it is, then. (savours the dumpling)
Radek: Since when did you begin concerning yourself with /reason/?
The Gravedigger: No, you're right.
They always used to tell me I wasn't who I was. I'll just sit tight and wait for me to tell me who I am now.
Rhu: I've always tried to be reasonable. It's just that reality has been so annoyingly, inconsiderately unreasonable lately.
Still, could be worse. Could be giant fish. *shivers*
Amadi: (lab) Well I guess we've both learnt something important about betting, then: Colourless green ideas dream... Dream, beloved. Let the fury go.
Dave: (lab) They were idiots. Telling someone they don't know is only going to make it true. I say you do.
(lab) I say you always did.
The Gravedigger: Maybe they knew.
Amadi (both) scoffs.
Dave: (lab) This is a dream.
The Gravedigger: So you say.
Dave: And I have let it go.
Amadi: (both) You're not dreaming.
Rhu: (to Amadi) Sorry?
Amadi: (to Rhu) Yes. You should be.
The Gravedigger: That's what a dream would say if it wanted to live.
Dave: (lab) I am dreaming. You're in my dream right now, talking to me like fragments of a past that never happened, and maybe it didn't. It's fine, though. It's fine. Elia survived, at least.
Gaurav: We could do the usual thing we do when we don't know what to do, i.e. ask Greibel to do his flock of birds thing and scan the surroundings.
Dave: (street, in a mumble) We all are.
Ganelon: That's the usual thing?
Well, I like it as an idea.
Apheori (GM): Urgh, this is confusing.
Amadi rises up, claps her hands, and grins at Rhu. "Well, then! Let's go." And she starts walking.
Apheori (GM): I mean, having two separate things works, but two separate things where there are folks in both places?
Apheori (GM) flails.
Ganelon: Yes, your weird dialogue about dreams *is* confusing, miss.
The Gravedigger: So I'm not dreaming so I won't come and get me?
Gaurav: I'm happy to pause either timeline while the other finishes, if that'd help.
The Gravedigger: Well. Damn.
Ganelon: The added complication of it taking place in two separate locations is honestly a pittance compared to how confusing the words themselves are.
Rhu: Okay, so.
Frezak (GM): You pansy.
Rhu: (points at Amadi) We *aren't* dreaming.
Bear Soup Guy: Both timelines with the both versions of both characters has been quite brilliant though
Amadi: (to Gravy) The others might be coming, but I wouldn't count on it. You should just... *makes vague gestures*
Frezak (GM): YOUR BRAIN TASTES LIKE PUSSY
The Gravedigger makes vague gestures.
Rhu: (points at Dave) ... except we are. Brilliant. And useful. And brilliant.
Greibel pats Rhu on the back
Greibel: If there's one thing we are, it's definitely that...brilliant. That's what we are...we sure are.
Ellemerr: Are the vague gestures helping? :3
Dave makes some vague guestures as well. (street)
Dave stops.
Dave: Why did I do that?
Rhu: Well, as long as we're heading somewhere new ... (follows Amadi)
Dave follows as well.
(From Ellemerr): I have no idea where I'm going. Of course. But Amadi might. I dunno.
Radek: Yes, yes, fine. We can't possibly get more lost than we already are, after all.
Frezak (GM): I'll feel about for the universe.
Gaurav: Might be a good idea to get an aerial recee as well. Unless they have planes or drones here.
Frezak (GM): Like I did when I filled the hole.
Apheori (GM): The street Amadi leads you guys down a few other streets and up, back onto some more open areas with bigger, vaulted buildings. There are several gateway-arches in various directions, and you wind up in a grand plaza with people scattered about.
There are some flying things - some birds, some... possibly not birds, some random objects hovering. They drift in and out of the clouds from time to time, much more visible here than they were from where you entered.
Gravy: You realise what's wrong with the universe, in a way - it's thinner. You can see blackness beyond it, like it was all drawn out on a whole lot of nothing, a little pocket to live in, or in the not Dave's case, to dream in. She did this, retreated here, because... why?
You don't know.
Dave: (lab) I should have told you. I'm sorry I didn't.
The Gravedigger: Well that helps us both a bunch.
Dave: (lab, to Amadi) Would it have changed anything?
Amadi: (lab) Everything changes everything.
Gaurav: (to Amadi and Dave) Did that hawk-lady call one of you "godling"?
Rhu: (to Amadi and Dave) Did that hawk-lady call one of you "godling"?
The Gravedigger: SO are we done hiding?
Amadi: (to Rhu) What who now?
Rhu: I'm not sure you CAN be a godling, can you? You can either be a god or not. I don't see how you can have an in-between.
Amadi: (to Gravy) I dunno, are you ready to meet yourself?
Dave: (to Rhu) Huh?
The Gravedigger: I dunno.
I'd have to ask me first, wouldn't I?
Amadi: (to Rhu) Well, you're /clearly/ the expert.
(to Gravy) Go on, then.
Ellemerr: Actually I should've used Rhu's for both again, there.
Dave: (lab) I wonder if I even told myself.
Rhu: (to Amadi) It just doesn't make sense. I never said it wasn't possible.
Dave: (lab) I mean, if I'd known, would I have done it? If I had known the cost of all of this?
Rhu: I wonder if those wizards know about this place.
Frezak (GM): I'll scoop through nothing until I get where I need to go.
Dave: Demigods. The Nawlin had gorgons.
(to rhu)
Frezak (GM): I'm sure I'll tell me when I know.
Rhu:
rolling 1d20+8 religion check to see if I know anything about demigods, Nawlin or gorgons.
(
4
)
+8
=
12
Apheori (GM): Frezak: You scoop through nothing and dig your way into the black, and it begins to close behind you. Before it surround you completely, you hear the Dave in the lab say, "I never told you that this was the cost to close the holes. I never told you." Then everything is dark and you are digging, digging, like when you failed your sanity check with Radek.
Frezak (GM): I'm in the zone.
Ganelon: Uh oh.
He doesn't have anyone to tell him that it's not a shovel.
Apheori (GM): Rhu: The word 'sorenai' comes to mind, but you can't remember what it means.
Frezak (GM): I have 12 int, I'll have you know.
Rhu: (to Dave) What's a "sorenai"? I'm thinking of sorenai all of a sudden.
Ganelon: Hey, I'm just examining past behaviour.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: Aye, you're not stupid, despite folks' impressions.
Ganelon: I've never once thought of Gravy as stupid.
Apheori (GM): But you don't need to be stupid to lose your mind.
Frezak (GM): Well, yeah.
Ellemerr: (to Gravy, although she ain't there, probably) It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. Remember what your mother said. This isn't California. Remember to always close the door behind you if you want to go back.
Frezak (GM): Gravy didn't even start this adventure with one.
Ellemerr: Except, you know, as Amadi. Because she's the crazy one, not I.
Gaurav: That's good advice.
Dave gestures vaguely at Rhu and then shrugs.
Frezak (GM): I'm not scared of grues.
Because if there are grues....
I WILL BURY THE DARK.
Ellemerr: Heeeee
Rhu: (to Dave) I don't suppose you've remembered where you were heading, do you?
Amadi: (still to Gravy) Please be gone. Please come back. Please, please, /please/ be asleep next time.
Dave: (to Rhu) I don't remember anything. I remember too much. I see... things. I don't understand.
Amadi: (to Rhu) Holes, you know.
Ganelon: I feel compelled to share a perhaps obscure reference.
Rhu: (looks at Dave with concern, then, to Amadi) I've been through a Hole. Well, two. They didn't mess up my memories.
Ellemerr: That is a thing you should do, Gan.
Gaurav: Gan: DO IT
The Gravedigger: ...
...
They never said please.
Amadi: (to Rhu) But did the holes go through you?
Apheori (GM): Okay, thing with the two places at once is now over.
Ellemerr: Aaaaw, but I was having such fuuuun!
Apheori (GM): Gravy went somewhere where he can be rescued. He is now being rescued.
Ganelon: "From here on, walk with one eye closed. Give one eye to Ginko in order to get away from the darkness, but close the other eye tightly, so that you'll see the sunlight again."
Apheori (GM): Gravy: YOU HAVE BEEN RESCUED.
Ellemerr: Gan I love you (though I have no idea what that was)
Ganelon: I'll make sure you see it someday.
Gaurav: (to Amadi) Huh, I guess not. Do you think that's what happened to Dave?
Rhu: (to Amadi) Huh, I guess not. Do you think that's what happened to Dave?
Amadi: I know what happened to Dave. I happened. She happened.
Apheori (GM): Gravy: You are no longer in the blackness, but on a dusty street, following a man in grey robes. You don't really know why, but you have a vague recollection of a vast room and someone telling you that "We're just going to pretend you're dead. You're not really dead, but it simplifies things..."
Rhu: (to Amadi) How do you mean, "happened"?
Apheori (GM): Gravy: Now this man leads you to an archway, vaulted and tall, and it opens up into a portal. "Come," he says, and leads you through, out of the grey city with the empty sky and into the golden city of light and shadow.
Amadi: Oh look! Things are happening!
Amadi points at something.
Apheori (GM): Gan: That was lovely, whatever it was.
Dave: It looks like something.
What happened?
Ganelon: Something?
Where?
Apheori (GM): Something is a cat sitting on a pole with a bunch of people around it.
Gaurav: A sphinxy cat?
Ganelon: If it's the sphinx, I'm hiding.
Gaurav: has the crowd on the plaza noticed?
Ganelon: Radek is not prepared to face the wrath of an animal that he personally shot to "death".
Gaurav: or was it always there and we just didn't see it?
Apheori (GM): Normal cat. It's not enough for most of the crowd, but it's drawn some interest around it.
Probably there already.
Amadi goes and pets the cat.
Rhu: (to Amadi) How Do you mean, "happened"?
Ellemerr: Happened! It came to pass! Occured!
Except, *again*, IC.
Apheori (GM): The cat purrs and pushes its nose into Amadi's hand. Some of the folks gathered about are surprised by this and leave. Others say things like 'awww'.
Rhu: So you know what Dave was like before .. the two of you happened?
maybe if you tell her about herself, she'll remember something? it might help her be less ... angry. Or upset.
Amadi squeels and puts her own nose on the cat's paw.
Radek: Or it might agitate her further, like when her /heart stopped/.
...Say, do you suppose those are sold here, too?
Ganelon: Second line devoid of snark.
Amadi: Hearts are more expensive. Almost as bad as livers.
Amadi ignores Rhu's question and pets the cat more.
Dave eyes Rhu worriedly.
Gaurav: ...
I feel like Rhu should do something, but what?Any ideas?
Apheori (GM): Who knows.
Frezak!
Ganelon: I don't know. It's an important question, but it seems you're only just coming to the realization that Amadi doesn't really give straight answers.
(To Amadi): You should tell him what Dave is.
(To Amadi): Dave being the broken god's personified wrath, and all. It could be funny.
Ellemerr: He could always ask again.
Gaurav: This just seems to be the most interesting response we've had from Amadi and Dave in a while.
Frezak (GM): WHat?
Apheori (GM): He should ask again.
Frezak (GM): I don't know where I am.
Ganelon: It's true, there's nothing wrong with being insistent.
Frezak (GM): Beyond 'the city'
Gaurav: I kind of want to pull out something from the past "... is that what the butler said when you STABBED HIM IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE BUTTER KNIFE", that sort of thing.
Ganelon: Radek's going to go check out these archways.
Frezak (GM): "stabbed him with the library"
Ellemerr: You could totes try that. You'd get a proper answer, I promise.
Gaurav: A libraryworth of paper cuts
Ganelon: Are they all portals? Do they all lead to different places? Can he tell where?
Stuff like that.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: You're following a guy. He leads you into the same plaza where the others are, but you don't know that yet. Do you say anything, or whatnot? It'll have taken you until around now for it to even occur to you that this is odd, mind - you're slowly coming back to your senses after everything just sort of not mattering at all.
What organ is the library?
Ganelon: Definitely part of the brain.
Rhu: *sighs* I guess Radek's right. That might make Dave worse/
Frezak (GM): Everything is odd.
So once we get to the plaza, where does he go?
Amadi: Worse would be bad. She's already the collective wrath.
Rhu: It just seems sad that she doesn't remember anything about herself. There's something ... awfully incompletely about that.
Ganelon: Like the... hippocampus.
Apheori (GM): Radek: They're mostly all portals, some leading specific places, others fuzzier. A few seem dead.
Frezak: He leads you to the others.
Rhu prays to Hazz to help Dave, in whatever way would most help Dave, he guesses.
Apheori (GM): The others: A guy in grey who looks suspiciously familiar to Rhu walks up to you.
Gravy following.
You all see each other.
The Gravedigger: Hey guys.
Apheori (GM): The guy in grey leaves.
Radek: Is that...
Rhu: HEY!
WAIT!
Amadi runs over and hugs Gravy, bringing the cat along.
The Gravedigger: Thanks, grey guy.
Radek: What in the nine classical hells are you doing here?
Rhu: (this is to the guy in grey)
The Gravedigger: Great to see you too, Radek.
Amadi: Please don't ever let us do that again.
Rhu: Hi, Gravy! WHERE DID THAT GUY GO?
Radek: Actually, do you know where "here" is? We might be the ones who don't belong.
The Gravedigger shrugs.
The Gravedigger: I'm not a planar geographer.
Amadi: My head is the worst mess and my head is an even worse mess and I don't even want to get started on my head.
Apheori (GM): Some folks pass by and you see the guy again as he turns back. He says to Rhu, "Yes?"
Rhu: You ... you ...
Ganelon: Come on, Rhu. Big reveal time.
Frezak (GM): Should be pretty obvious now.
Apheori (GM): Rhu: He smiles a very slight smile and then turns back and properly leaves this time.
Rhu: You're that guy from the hall in the city of the dead!
Frezak (GM): Yeah, that.
Rhu: The one with the throne. And the sphinx.
Apheori (GM): He's gone.
Rhu: And -- hey, where'd you go?
Ellemerr: Yesssssssssssss
The Gravedigger: Wait, the sphinx was his?
Damn.
Rhu: I don't think it was his. I think it was just moping around.
But he stood in front of a throne and stuff. I think he was in charge?
(From Ellemerr): Do I know him? Is he a god?
(From Ellemerr): Is he something *worse*?
Rhu: He might be Kyrule or Eapherod. Hazz' said I'd met them.
The Gravedigger: I tihnk he made me die.
A little.
(To Ellemerr): He serves a god. He's one of Kyrule's top guys.
Rhu: I don't know which is which though.
Well, he's clearly got some sort of death-city angle going on.
Did you get to the city of the dead? Where there sphinxes?
(To Ellemerr): He's the one who usually does the direct dealing with the newly dead. I forget his name.
The Gravedigger: I didn't.
I was nowhere.
Rhu: Or a beach? Were you on a beach with a cat? And tentacles?
Amadi: ... Not Eapherod.
(To Ellemerr): Folks usually just call him the Voice.
Amadi: Definitely... not...
Amadi mutters.
Radek: How did you close the rift?
Gaurav: Kyrule and Eapherod are not names that Rhu would be familiar with, right?
Ganelon: Really? They sound like gods.
Dave suddenly stiffens and looks a little panicked.
Frezak (GM): I don't think they are.
Gaurav: But not gods that Rhu would be familiar with, is what I mean.
Apheori (GM): Wouldn't have known them before all this, indeed.
The Gravedigger waves a hand.
The Gravedigger: Shovel.
Gaurav: Although ...
Rhu: ... that priest we throw Greibel spiders at said he worshipped Kyrule ...
Amadi is still hugging Gravy.
Amadi: You promised me a shovel.
Dave takes a deep breath, and then starts apologising profusely to Gravy.
Frezak (GM): When did you start? o.o
Ganelon: Pretty much as soon as you arrived.
Ellemerr: The very moment she saw you. I took your not responding as him being very big and her being very small.
Dave: Kyrule was...
Er...
Frezak (GM): Right.
Dave: Chains.
Frezak (GM): Yeah.
Like a friendly Stirge.
Dave mutters something again about being sorry.
Rhu: (to Dave) It's okay. It's not your fault. You don't even remember what happened.
Dave: I lost him.
Didn't I?
Amadi: I found him!
Dave: It wasn't oranges.
Amadi looks very proud.
Dave nods at Amadi.
Rhu: But you closed the Hole, and stopped the giant fish ... didn't you?
(that's to Gravy)
The Gravedigger: Dunno. Did the hole close?
Radek: Yes. Not a trace remained.
Rhu: Yes. We found Dave on our side, so I assumed you'd ... sorted it out. Somehow.
Dave: Out.
The Gravedigger shrugs.
The Gravedigger: There you go then.
(From Ellemerr): I don't think anyone even noticed the Wrath part. I'm sorry.
Rhu: (to Dave) Out?
(To Ellemerr): I missed it too.
(To Ellemerr): Er, not Dave, although I guess Dave did too.
Dave: It's what he said.
Radek: So, why bring us here? To retrieve him?
Dave: There was something, something important, but I don't remember what it was.
Radek: I would still very much like to learn where "here" is.
Dave: Arah.
Ellemerr: Oh that's bad
Rhu: Ahrar?
Dave: Arah. It's... well, I don't really know.
This, I suppose.
Rhu: (looks at Dave funny) Are you remembering things, Dave?
Dave: Do you have a mushroom?
Ganelon: Let's see what I know about Arah...
Amadi told the sphinx a story involving Arah, which terrified it.
Ellemerr: It didn't even hear the end.
It was a glorious end.
Ganelon: The lab guys wanted to get *back* to Arah.
Gaurav: The hologram in the lab said something about "getting back to Arah"
Apheori (GM): And by killing the sphinx, you deprived me of this end as well.
Grr.
Argh.
Gaurav: The Kyrule priests said that "Arah is the City of Doors. It connects the planes, different worlds which exist in tandem. "
Frezak (GM): So.... Sigil?
Ganelon: ...So they're probably quite aware of the hole problem here.
Apheori (GM): Like Sigil, but not.
Gaurav: Gan: ooh good point
Apheori (GM): Since from what I understand Sigil has something of a locked doors problem, whereas here folks often wish they COULD lock them...
Frezak (GM): Kaspall?
Gaurav: "We've got adventurers in the basements again!" "*sigh*, I'll go get the adventurer-bait"
Apheori (GM): That sounds like the Shivering Isles.
Right down the the adventurer bait.
Frezak (GM): It's a webcomic.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: Maybe. I dunno.
Gaurav: Who could we speak to about Holes in this world/plane/whatever? We could look for wizards again, although Rhu will disapprove.
Radek: This is the "City of Doors"?
That's... quite useful, actually. You did well to bring us here, Dave.
Ganelon: So, Plan A: Find someone who might know about holes.
Plan B: Construct this massive bomb, destroy the city, and sever all ties between the planes forever?
Ellemerr: HAH
Gaurav: o.0
Ellemerr: You're horrible.
But a very good mad scientist.
Apheori (GM): IS that science?
What would you be testing?
Science has to involve testing.
Gaurav: It's not science. There's no replication.
Ganelon: Well, I would need a hole to run tests on.
Apheori (GM): Right, you need replication for testing.
Ganelon: I'd love to do just that, but well...
They're hard to get a hole-d of.
Apheori (GM): Terrible.
Gaurav gasps.
Ganelon: Let's start with trying to get the materials to make smaller explosives of a similar nature to this one.
Dave tries to get a mushroom from Greible.
Ganelon: Then we can see what effects they have on a hole... and what would be really ideal would be if I could figure out how to /create/ a hole.
Then I'd put one connecting the world and a small pocket dimension, which I would then destroy.
I might have the dust for that. At least, magic dust should be suitable to the task.
Ellemerr: I almost said "Or you can close them in a plot-related fashion without explosives" but then I realized I was being silly.
Gaurav: We could go back to the world with the Hole under the tree and experiment on that.
it seems ... stable. ish.
Ganelon: Might not be anymore, but yeah.
Apheori (GM): Sounds like you have plans, at least.
Excellent.
Gaurav: while we're here, we should probably ask around before we leave.
in case somebody in Arah knows more about this.
Ganelon: Well, my ACTUAL plan A is still to find someone here who might be aware of the problem, and knowledgeable about it.
Apheori (GM): Good plan. Should we close on that note?
Ganelon: And my actual plan B is probably to find a not-too-dangerous hole to test on.
Sure.
Gaurav: The pool Hole would work for that maybe. we've already experimented with it, and there aren't many people living in the area.
Ganelon: Yeah, it would be a good start.
Gaurav: aw, but it's just getting interesting!
Gaurav pouts
Apheori (GM) grins.
Ganelon: Otherwise... well, the wizards did sort of explain how holes can occur.
Gaurav: they did?!
Ganelon: If we can't find a good one, we could start experimentation by making one.
Gaurav: Rhu never listens to wizards.
Ganelon: Yeah. Something about magical malfunctions, basically.
Mess up a spell and sometimes... holes
Ellemerr: I'm so glad I have my own place I can just disappear to when you start doing that,
Ganelon: You people have your madness, and dreams, and deific guidance, and drugs.
All I've got is magic and science.
Gaurav: But people have been making spells for a while, right? Why now?
Apheori (GM): Gaurav: Next time, don't let me forget to have Hazz give you guidance.
Hazz'ridan must guide you.
Ganelon: I'll feel honoured if Hazz tells him "You seriously need to make Radek's plans result in a dead end here."
Gaurav: We don't need guidance now, Radek came up with a plan.
Apheori (GM): You prayed for something. He will answer.
Gaurav: I'm imagining Hazz suddenly appearing in front of us going "right this way guys, I have two plans: plan A, find someone who ..."
awesome
Hazz is the bestest god
Apheori (GM): Probably with a dead end, but hey.
Gaurav: in him, all Dead Ends find silence, death and completion
Ganelon: If he's afraid of my dangerous endeavors enough to bless them with futility, I'll feel accomplished as a player instead.
Apheori (GM): Snrk.
We'll see.
Gaurav: awesome. same time next week?
Ganelon: I'll be there.
Gaurav: i have a Big Scary exam the Monday after the Sunday when we play, but I hope to be prepared in time for it not to affect the game.
Apheori (GM): Eek.
Gaurav: It'll be fine.
The people I work with literally don't know that I can wake up before 1pm.
Apheori (GM): Snrk.
Gaurav: Btw once we're done saving the world, Rhu would like to come back to Arah for a visit. It seems like a pretty city!
s/world/universe/
Apheori (GM): It's based on a weird cross between Coruscant and the city in the first world in Otherland.
And a bunch of half-remembered thingies about Sigil.
Ganelon: I liked the description.
Apheori (GM): Man, I need to read that book.
Anyway, toodles.
And yay!
Ganelon: See ya!
Ellemerr: Have fun, dearest.
Gaurav: Bye, everybody! Thanks for a fun game!
Apheori (GM) hugs Ganelon and runs off to play with her shiny new toy.
Ellemerr:
rolling 1d2
(
2
)
=
2
Gaurav: Here!
Ganelon: Here.
Bear Soup Guy: Here.
Frezak (GM): I'm in space.
Gaurav: What are you doing in space?
Frezak (GM): Tearing apart a derelict Military transport.
Apheori (GM): All here?
Great.
I lost my notes.
Gaurav: Space salvage? Nice!
Bear Soup Guy: brb bathroom
Frezak (GM): I also don't have enough thrusters to take this damn wreck anymore.
So I'm adding new ones.
*take it anywhere
Ellemerr: I'm here.
Bear Soup Guy: Here again!
Apheori (GM): Okay.
So you all are... what were you doing? Where were you?
Bear Soup Guy: That's a good question
Frezak (GM): Chillin' and being puzzled.
Ellemerr: Big square, reunited.
... I think.
More things might have happened after. >.>
Ganelon: Lots of portals.
Gaurav: You and Frezak were talking about Sigil?
WE HAD A PLAN
Gan came up with a plan
that was new
we don't usually sully our minds with anything resembling a plan, but we actually have one now
Amadi was squealing at a cat.
Ganelon: Of course *I* was responsible.
My plan was to actually approach this hole problem scientifically.
Gaurav: we should approach it holistically
Ganelon: Sure, why not.
We should find a hole and run tests on it. See if it can't be mended.
Possibly, we should make a hole under controlled circumstances.
Apheori (GM): Right, so you all are in a square. Greibel: You apparently followed the others. Dave tried to get mushrooms from you.
Bear Soup Guy: I hope I had enough sense to keep them from her this time
Gaurav: Or go back to the Hole under the tree, which seems more stable than the other ones we've encountered
Frezak (GM): Stable?
I thought it periodically vanished?
Ellemerr: Full of horses.
Ganelon: That could be a good thing.
Apheori (GM): Yup.
Gaurav: Gan: you also said that living in a city of portals, the people of Arah might have some idea about what's going on and how it might be stopped.
More stable than the Hole Rhu or Gravy went through, anyway.
Holes*
AND
Rhu prayed "to Hazz to help Dave, in whatever way would most help Dave, he guesses."
Apheori (GM): Oh, right.
Gaurav: which the DM said might have consequences
Apheori (GM): Pity Hazz can't wake me up.
Gaurav: That would count as a beginning. Not his division.
sorry, His division
Bear Soup Guy: Not if you look at it as the end of sleep
Apheori (GM): I think I may genuinely be too tired to do this.
Bear Soup Guy: That's okay
Apheori (GM): This is really weird.
Bear Soup Guy: We don't really have much time left and I should probably do some other stuff before I leave
Gaurav: You woke up by 8am and got a computer working. That's a full Sunday for me generally.
Bear Soup Guy: ^
Ganelon: I'll forgive you your fatigue.
Bear Soup Guy: Should we reschedule for some time during the week perhaps?
Ellemerr: I'll be sad.
Apheori (GM): I've got work all week.
Bear Soup Guy: Ah, right
Gaurav: We could play something out-of-story. An encounter with a thief or something.
Apheori (GM): Okay, how about this? We do an hour, you all talk to Amadi, Hazz, and other suspicious characters, and then we come back next week and I make it up to you.
Bear Soup Guy: Sounds like a good plan!
Gaurav: That was basically my plan anyway!
Ellemerr: xD
Go for it.
I'm ready to be talked at.
Apheori (GM): So y'all are in the square. Amadi has a cat. Gravy showed up. Amadi may or may not still be hugging him. It's a grand reunion.
Those of you with high perception and/or insight may notice that Dave looks both relieved and annoyed.
Go talk to Amadi.
Frezak (GM): Why would we talk to Amadi?
Rhu ends his prayer to Hazz with a cough of reverence
Amadi is still totally hugging Gravy. She doesn't look like she's going to let go anytime soon.
Apheori (GM): Because she's going to talk to you.
Unless you stop her.
Ellemerr: She is?
Apheori (GM): I have no idea.
Frezak (GM): She tends to do that of her volition.
Talk 'at' us.
Apheori (GM): But hugging is a form of communication.
Frezak (GM): Fortunately Gravy can walk with a midget stuck to his leg.
So I'm good for finding someone about town.
Bear Soup Guy: Greibel's been an observer for a while and tends to like Amadi pretty well, he probably has some questions he could ask with no context because he's good at damning context
Radek: Are any of you familiar with this city?
Amadi: Arah!
Rhu: (to Gravy) So ... you closed the Hole, and then you went somewhere, and then the guy in grey made you die a little and then got here?
Bear Soup Guy: Gezundheit!
Gaurav: BSG: lol
Bear Soup Guy: err
The Gravedigger: Nope.
Bear Soup Guy: That was in character actually
Frezak (GM): Sorry, that was to Radek.
Amadi: No, Gezundheit is somewhere else.
The Gravedigger: Basically, Rhu? Yes.
The details are a tad fuzzy right now.
Greibel: (to Amadi) I'd love to see it some time. Maybe we could go on holiday there once we've cleared up this hole business.
The Gravedigger: Well, he said it was best if we said I died. I think he meant towards reality.
Amadi: It's that way. About... fourtythree years by the speed of a lantern-hawk.
Amadi points.
Greibel: Huh....
Dave: Hazz'ridan hates this place. Backwards ent.
Greibel: What is that in ambiguous flying car years?
Rhu: (to Gravy) Do you know who he is? What did your elf-eyes see?
Dave: What a strange fellow. Do I know him?
Frezak (GM): GODS DAMN YOU RAVE
Dave wasn't talking to anyone in particular, mind.
The Gravedigger shrugs. Dunno, never seen him before.
Frezak (GM): DAMN PAGEBREAK
Amadi: Oh, Car would break down. Sorry.
Gaurav: Pagebreak?
Ellemerr: If you press enter the next part will be spoken, not /me'd.
Frezak (GM): Or linebreak or whatever.
Gaurav: Oh, I thought you were asking the gods to damn me for pagebreaky reasons.
Frezak (GM) says that I can do an emote and
Frezak (GM): A text in one go.
Except I misstyped.
Radek: Could you close another hole like that?
Amadi: No! Nonononono!
Dave: No!
The Gravedigger: I'd really rather not.
Dave: No.
Amadi: No no no no no.
Dave: That went badly enough.
The Gravedigger: Also what the crazy ladies are saying.
Rhu: Why not?
Amadi: Yes!
Dave: We almost lost him. Gone, not even dead end gone, just gone, gone.
Dave winces, then yells at Rhu: "RHU!"
Radek scowls disappointedly.
Amadi hugs Gravy some more.
Rhu: Huh. (to Gravy) Are you sure you're okay?
Dave: Hi.
Rhu: (to Dave) Hullo?
Radek: Then we've made no progress at all, have we?
Rhu: You screamed?
Dave: Can you please, kindly, be a dear and ask your god to LEAVE ME ALONE?
The Gravedigger: Well, we're here.
Amadi: We've moved in time! That's progress. Isn't it?
Rhu: We found a city full of portals. That's ... different, at least.
Rhu squints at Dave
Rhu: What do you mean, leave you alone?
Dave: He keeps... talking.
Oh, nevermind. He got the message.
Rhu: Really? What's he saying?
Amadi: Oh, ugh, you too? I hate it when he does that.
Dave: Why does he do that? Do we know him?
Does he... know us?
Is that us?
Amadi: Eh. He knew her.
Dave: Are you...
Who?
Amadi shrugs, sort of lost-like.
Amadi: Her.
Rhu: He speaks to me sometimes but it doesn't always say useful things. He let us understand the speech of people in the last place we were at, so that's something.
Dave: The dark... the one in the cottage?
Dave rubs her head.
Gaurav: Would trying to find someone here who knows about portals something we could do in this hour, or should we hold onto that until next week?
Rhu squints suspicious at Amadi
Rhu: I thought you _did_ know who you were?
Dave: Would probably take longer. Remember, these are civilians.
Amadi: I did? Did I tell you? Can you tell me?
Greibel: Do any of us really know "who we are", man?
Greibel accentuates this with air-quotes
Dave: He does.
Dave points at the Gravedigger.
Greibel: Oh, well that's cool
Congrats, buddy!
The Gravedigger: Hmmm.
Radek: I know exactly who I am.
And I would dare to make the assumption that I'm one of the few people here who knows what he's doing, too.
Amadi: ... What are you doing?
Radek: ...Wasting time.
Dave: What else would you do with it?
Radek: To start? Find someone here who might know about the holes.
If this is a gateway between dimensions, it stands to reason that someone is responsible for maintaining it.
Dave: He's not here.
Radek: And how do you know this?
Dave: Midnight.
Rhu: (to Dave) Who's not here?
Amadi cheers, "Midnight!"
Dave: The name was named, but this isn't Midnight.
Greibel: Seems they're doing a pretty unorderly job at maintenance
Rhu: Maybe if we cause one of the portals to jam or something, they'll need to send someone who knows about them out to fix it. Might be risky, though.
(to Dave) I thought Midnight was a place? Mrs. Teatime said she was going to Midnight when we first met her.
Dave: It's where it starts.
Where it ended.
Dave rubs her head again.
Amadi: Are we then, yet? What time is it?
Amadi sits down on Gravy's foot and tries to make him walk, grinning like a little kid.
Frezak (GM): How does that work?
Bear Soup Guy: Awwwwwwwwwww
My sister and I used to do that too ^_^
Apheori (GM): Probably not very well.
Rhu: (to Dave) Is that where you ... lost yourself?
Ellemerr: It's quite simple. It's like a piggy-back ride, except way further down. If Gravy is big enough, it might work. Though Athyria is also likely right.
Dave: (looking surprised) Is what?
Rhu: Midnight.
Frezak (GM): Are there Arahians about?
Apheori (GM): Aye, some about, loitering, walking from place to place, etc. The group around the cat dispersed when Amadi picked it up.
A lot of them look rather odd.
Frezak (GM): In what way?
Dave: (staring at Rhu) How... you couldn't.
No. No!
Apheori (GM): Just random aliens.
There are some whale people.
They look like a cross between whales and giants, anyway.
Frezak (GM): I'll go talk to one that looks like it has the equipment to speak whatever language we do.
Apheori (GM): Sort of.
You probably want an elf. There are quite a few of those.
The Gravedigger: Scuse me, do you you anyone that can tell us about holes? Possibly from an academic standpoint?
Rhu just watches Dave to see what she does next.
Gaurav: Any humans?
Random passerby: Um... no?
Amadi says in an ominous voice from down on Gravy's foot, "Hoooooles...!"
Random passerby looks at Gravy like he's some sort of weirdo and then starts walking faster away.
Dave stares at Rhu.
Frezak (GM): I'll go ask someone else.
Amadi: Try portals. Portals are almost holes and they do have a lot of them.
Amadi wheeees as Gravy starts moving again.
Frezak (GM): ANd I'll use the word Portals.
WHICH I WAS GOING TO DO ANYWAYS.
Ellemerr: Of course, dear.
Frezak (GM): I'll move at a brisk stride, for maximum leg-swinging.
Ganelon: I'm going to follow him.
Dave follows Gravy.
Rhu follows Dave, thinking to himself.
Frezak (GM): Gravy train!
What about Greibel?
Bear Soup Guy: Greibel follows Rhu at a relative distance owing to his slow and slightly uninterested gater
gate*
Also he's enjoying looking at the weird aliens
Rhu: (to Amadi) Do YOU know who that guy in grey was?
Frezak (GM): brb
(From Ellemerr): I think Amadi knows more than me but I'm not sure what ought to be told anyway.
(To Ellemerr): Feel free to make it all up. I don't know either.
(To Ellemerr): Like the guy's name. It was something ordinary, I think. But not too ordinary. Maybe ordinary in another place or time.
Frezak (GM): back
Amadi: Oh, ol' Bertram? He's Kyrule's. He can be a bit of a stick, but I... think he's important. He looked important, didn't he?
Rhu: He ... there was a giant hall in the City of the Dead, and he was standing in front of a throne. All the souls would pass in front of him.
Amadi: Oh. Well, he's still a *little* important.
Rhu: I suppose that counts as important.
Amadi: Poor guy.
Apheori (GM): XD
Poor guy indeed.
Gravy: You may come to a Random Loiterer, if you'd like.
Amadi mutters, "I wonder if I have any guys... or if she did..."
Amadi: Dawn! Do you have any guys?
Dave: Have? Like a...
Dave motions strings and webs with her hands.
Amadi shudders.
Amadi: Do you think that's the way they all have them?
Dave: No.
Never needed to.
Rhu: Like a puppet, d'you mean?
Dave: Everyone loved us.
Amadi: Oh. That's good!
Rhu: But why would you ...
Dave: Is it?
Forgot awful quick.
Or did they?
Amadi looks uncertain.
Amadi: Isn't it?
Dave: Did I?
Dave looks at Amadi.
Dave: Did you?
Amadi: Oh, well I know I did.
Amadi giggles.
Ganelon: Fascinating.
Truly fascinating.
Dave just looks worried.
Amadi: I totally forgot. All of them. They were like ants and I think when I stopped sitting on their hill they just weren't worth the attention anymore.
Rhu: (to the rest of the party) Maybe they're *both* demigods.
Amadi: ... Huh. That doesn't sound very nice at all.
The Gravedigger: They're the same one.
Greibel: Yeah, get with the picture Rhu
The Gravedigger: THey upset a god and were sundered.
Dave: They weren't mine. They came to me but they weren't mine, they weren't anybody's and I... we... knew that. That's why we did so well when the others squabbled and fought and sought for dominion.
Dominion was ours. And theirs? Everyone's, really.
Rhu: (to Gravy) Oh! Huh.
Dave: (to Gravy) You're right, you know.
Rhu: ... I was kind of hoping that would explain things but no, no, it just makes things weirder.
Dave: Except it wasn't just one.
And it wasn't use.
us*
Greibel: How many of you are there, do you think?
Dave: (to Amadi) Was it?
Amadi looks at Dave like a child may look at her very, very clever teacher.
Amadi: I... Midnight will know. When I am then, we'll remember.
Dave: Will we? What if it comes too late?
Amadi: No. We've dreamt of this.
Dreams, beloved.
Dave: I don't know. I don't know how many there are, I don't know what are when. I don't know anything, really, or what I'm saying, even, so I'm just saying it and trying to listen.
Rhu:
rolling 1d20+8 religion check to see if Rhu knows anything about gods sundering demigods or suchlike
(
13
)
+8
=
21
Dave: There's us and there's her and her and the other her and the reaper, the reaper who showed up and wasn't Coraline but she looked just like Coraline besides the colours. The colours were all wrong.
She lost her colours when she died.
Dreams don't die.
Amadi: Coraline is something else entirely, anyway. You shouldn't confuse the good people, dear. That's HER domain.
Apheori (GM): Rhu: It happens, but usually they just turn into mortals at that point. Multiple mortals.
Amadi: ... Or is it mine?
Amadi giggles.
Rhu: What do you mean, domain?
Dave: Seventeen.
The first was the last. The small girl and her cat.
Amadi: Domain. Do. Main. Mine.
Rhu mutters "the small girl and her cat ... and the game?"
Dave: It's what we are. The masks.
Rhu: Hazz'ridan said you were masks. But of whom? (points at Dave) You used to have a mask once, but Mrs. Teatime took it away.
You also had a dagger. I've still got that.
Dave: Wasn't mine.
Amadi: Was so!
Rhu: Oh.
Radek pulls out his computer and begins taking notes.
Dave: The dagger... may I?
Rhu takes the dagger out of his cloth bag
Rhu: It reminds me of my time through the Hole ...
Gaurav: Did we get this dagger Gravyvisioned last time?
Frezak (GM): What for? I don't detect magic.
Bear Soup Guy: I'm gonna need to make some phone calls and then hit the road, but feel free to keep up the chats and stuff and I'll try to read them before next time.
Dave takes the dagger and starts randomly poking the air with it.
Bear Soup Guy: Adios guys!
Gaurav: bye bye BSG!
Apheori (GM): Nope, it's past time anyway. We should stop.
Bear Soup Guy: Cool
Ellemerr: But we were just getting pokes! Air-pokes!
Bear Soup Guy: See ya all next week!
Apheori (GM): Sorry about the delay, and nextweek will be better!
Bear Soup Guy: No worries!
Apheori (GM): Because you shall see what Gravy and Dave can come up with!
Also Amadi.
She's going to be exceeeellent.
Ellemerr: *shudders* I feel a sudden dread...
Gaurav: Next week I'll be done with my Big Scary Exam, so I'll have more time and be less stressed :). That sounds awesome!
Apheori (GM): Good luck.
Gaurav: Thank you!
Apheori (GM): Thank you all for being awesome.
Ellemerr: Yes! And likewise!
And good luck!
Gaurav: Yup! Thanks for a fun game!
Thanks, Ellemerr!
Dave: You know, I'm going to need my cane back.
At some point.
I mean, I'm just saying. I should get that back.
</pre>

{{holes nav
|previous=Holes/Session 19
|next=Holes/Session 21
}}