Difference between revisions of "Holes/Session 51"

A fragment of the Garden of Remembering
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: ''You were just walking. And then this.
: ''You were just walking. And then this.
Greibel Dreams, but this is hardly unusual.
:'' Your name is Kiesthisi Nitheriyamatha. You are a third-year student at Sa Karana High, and you are the drug King of the entire school, the height of cool, the go-to man for parties, enjoyment, and philosophical enlightenment alike. Also diet fads, for whatever reason, though you seem to know less about those than people tend to expect.
:''This is a little different. Normally the dreams don't come with character descriptions.
:''That's cool.


Amadi Dreams, too, and yet she never dreams. That's the whole point, isn't it?
Amadi Dreams, too, and yet she never dreams. That's the whole point, isn't it?
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: ''Perhaps it doesn't belong to anyone? Perhaps it's something else? Would the rest of you know?
: ''Perhaps it doesn't belong to anyone? Perhaps it's something else? Would the rest of you know?


: ''Looking at Squirrel now, you kind of doubt how helpful she's going to be, even compared to usual. She, at least, is entirely convinced of her studentiness, still looking almost exactly the same, but dressed in the uniform: short skirt, funky top, tie. Her bloody red hair sticking out in every direction.
: ''Looking at Squirrel now, you kind of doubt how helpful she's going to be, even compared to usual. There seem almost to be two of her, and she, at least, is entirely convinced of her studentiness, still looking almost exactly the same, but dressed in the uniform: short skirt, funky top, tie. Her bloody red hair sticking out in every direction.


: ''You look down and you're in the same, though your own colours have changed...
: ''You look down and you're in the same, though your own colours have changed...
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EXT. Commons Green - day
EXT. Commons Green - day


It's a bright, sunny morning. Students - most of the school, in fact - are milling about on the green, the spires of the school rising behind, with a general air of anticipation about them. Small groups are chattering excitedly. Others are milling around, some going from group to group, others hugging their tablets, others still just standing about, waiting, content to take in the free break.
It's a bright, sunny morning. Students - most of the school, in fact - are milling about on the green, the spires of the castle rising behind, with a general air of anticipation about them. Small groups are chattering excitedly. Others are milling around, some going from group to group, others hugging their tablets, others still just standing about, waiting, content to take in the free break.
</screenplay>


<pre>
Among them, scattered about, are Hieron Maranthana, Ganasi Miri, Amaranthsi Nisholian, Akari and Adidstha Sudamanshintha, and Kieshisi Nitheriyamatha.
Apheori (GM): Well, you could have something to that effect for club purposes or something.
Though it wouldn't be as effective as your usual.


Some of the students stand out. There is a girl with a tutu on her head, but she's otherwise acting normal enough. Hieron, with his blue hair, is digging a hole, with his friends standing around him in a mix of exasperation and cheering him on, though this is hardly new. Akari and Adidstha, clearly twins, one red-haired and one black, are looking about a bit worriedly, though the red-haired one, Adidstha, just seems to be copying Akari more than anything else. And everyone knows Kiesthisi - the drug King of the school. He's standing there now in a haze of drugs, oddly alone, looking all the more impressive for it.


Apheori (GM): Actually, no, you DEFINITELY have a giant-arse rifle.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): "Drug King" sounds more criminal than the reality of it.
It's HUGE. And it's really light.


The Prince Amaranthsi Fan Club is of course out in force, too, though there's no sign of the prince himself.


Apheori (GM): Anyway, y'all are out on the grass. You don't necessarily know each other, but you may know of each other, or something. There's a lot of students.
The two new girls, Volshikana and Midoriki Hano, are nearby too, standing on something of a hill vaguely in front of the crowd. They're a bit of a mystery - nobody's really sure where they came from, or if they're even iera - they might even be ''deresi'', the whispers go. Whatever the case, they're both beautiful, with incredibly ornate hair, ridiculous accessories, and huge eyes. The huge eyes are key, somehow.


Some stand out. There is a girl with a tutu on her head, but she's otherwise acting normal enough. A guy with blue hair is digging a hole, with his friends standing around him exasperatedly, though this is hardly new. Two girls, clearly twins, one red-haired and one black, are looking about a bit worriedly, though the red-haired one just seems to be copying the black-haired one more than anything else. And you all know Kiesthisi - the drug King of the school. He's standing there now in a haze of drugs, oddly alone, looking all the more impressive for it.
The Prince Amaranthsi Fan Club is of course out in force, too, though there's no sign of the prince himself.
The two new girls, Volshikana and Midoriki Hano, are nearby too. They're a bit of a mystery - nobody's really sure where they came from, or if they're even iera - they might even be _deresi_, the whispers go. Whatever the case, they're both beautiful, with incredibly ornate hair, ridiculous accessories, and huge eyes. The huge eyes are key, somehow.
And they won't tell anyone anything.
And they won't tell anyone anything.


Apheori (GM): Kiesthisi's haze looks almost like a crown from some angles.
Amidst the hubbub, Midoriki Hano and Volshikana whisper to each other.
 
 
Ganelon: "Drug King" sounds more criminal than the reality of it.
 
 
Rhu is practicing Wushu with some other students from the Wushu club. It's all swishy ribbons and random jumping off things, either a tree trunk or a school wall, whatever's more convenient.
 
Apheori (GM): Kiesthisi Nitheriyamatha is a third-year student at Sa Karana High, and he is the drug King of the entire school, the height of cool, the go-to man for parties, enjoyment, and philosophical enlightenment alike. Also diet fads, for whatever reason, though he knows less about those than people tend to expect.
I might as well just tell you since RAHB didn't show.
 
Ganelon: I'd shake my fist at him if he had!
 
Apheori (GM): Can we change your names to the names in the dream?
 
Ganasi Miri is practicing Wushu with some other students from the Wushu club. It's all swishy ribbons and random jumping off things, either a tree trunk or a school wall, whatever's more convenient.
 
Apheori (GM) cackles.
 
Frezak (GM): REmind me of the AS command, Gan.
 
Ganelon: It's really that simple.
"/as Name words words words"
GMs only.
 
Frezak (GM): Yesh, but brackets? parentheses?
 
Ganelon: Well I've not been a GM to test it.
 
Apheori (GM): I'ma just change the names for now. >.>
 
Frezak (GM): Let's see.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
n Maranthana) Yo
 
Frezak (GM): gaah
 
Apheori (GM): Actually, yeah, changing the names seems good. BEcause icons.
 
Midoriki Hano whispers stuff.
 
Ganelon: Not to mention us players can't use /as.
 
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Whisper whisper.
 
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Whisper!
 
Ganasi eyes the beautiful new girls from time to time. He doesn't understand how someone with large eyes can be beautiful, but there they are, being beautiful and large eyed all at once.
 
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
I'm an anime schoolgirl ''alien'', what.
 
Apheori (GM): Yes.
Okay.
Okay, so Gravy's guy, whatever the hell his name is, the blue-haired one, is digging a hole. Rhu's guy is dancing about with clubmates.
What are Amadi and Radek doing? Radek had disappeared, but that doesn't mean much.


Frezak (GM): Hieron will dispense wisdom.
Akari looks around, keeping an eye on Adidstha, watching for anything meaningful, any changes. ''(rolled 19 perception)''
That is all hole related.


Apheori (GM): Actually, Rhu's is a girl for some reason.
Hieron, with his friends, dispenses various bits of hole-related wisdom while he digs. His friends all seem a bit tired of this, but humour him regardless.


Ellemerr: Standing. Looking around. Trying to keep her twin out of trouble, somehow.
LEAF
(after a bit)
Hieron, when will you be done with that?


Apheori (GM): The twin is still following you around copying everything you do.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Perception, then?
Frezak: Your friends are a bit tired of this, but humour you.
 
Gaurav: Excellent. The only Wushu-er I've known was a girl, so I can just play her.
 
Frezak (GM): Such friends.
 
Apheori (GM): One of them, a guy named Leaf, asks when you'll be done.
 
Ganelon: Well the first think Radek is going to do is instinctively attempt to stroke his beard.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Never! But Even great works can be suspended.
Never! But Even great works can be suspended.


Ganelon: And when the dismay passes from him realizing there isn't one, he'll turn it into an inferior ponderous chin-rubbing.
Ganasi's off with his... no, ''her'' friends too, doing some sort of dance practice. Or something. She abruptly stops and sidles off to leave.
 
Ellemerr: Sure, perception.
rolling 1d20 + 8
( 11 )+8 = 19


Apheori (GM): Ellemerr: Looks like thing everyone's out here for is about to start.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
It seems to involve the two... aliens?
(turning quickly back to them)
I'll be back in a bit.


Ganasi tells his friends he'll be back in a bit and sidles up to Gravy.
Ganasi heads over to Hieron the hole digger.


Amadi keeps observing.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
 
GANASI (RHU)
(to Hieron)
(to Hieron)
Psst, it's me. I mean, it's Rhu. How did we get here?
Psst, it's me. I mean, it's Rhu. How did we get here?


(To Frezak): You only vaguely know this guy.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
 
(To Frezak): Er, girl.
 
(To Frezak): In fact she looks really, really normal.
 
(To Frezak): Which actually kind of stands out.
 
Ganelon: So when you said I've disappeared...
 
Ganelon: How literally?
 
Apheori (GM): That's really up to you. You could just be hiding on the other side of a shed, or temporarily invisible, or whatveer.
Pick one.
 
Gaurav: Hiding behind a shed with a giant rifle sticking out.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Hello, friend! We come here every day through that gate over there.
Hello, friend! We come here every day through that gate over there.


Ganelon: Well apparently I've got a giant horde of minions chasing me around.
Hieron indicates the main school gate.
Hiding would be difficult.


Apheori (GM): That's why you disappeared.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Ah, gotcha.
(she nods)
I'll go look for our... classmates, then.


Ganelon: He totally would for that reason, yes.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
 
Apheori (GM): You can make yourself invisible for a round in order to get away from things.
Happy?
 
GANASI (RHU)
Ah, gotcha. (nods) I'll go look for our ... classmates, then.
 
Apheori (GM): The crowd of students seem to be quieting.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Of course!
Of course!


Ganelon: Then yeah, he'll try to use that to get somewhere hidden, and... from there, if possible, somewhere that he can see them for when they disperse.


Frezak (GM): Except Student Gravy who can't whisper.
EXT. Fence; Commons Green - day


Ganelon: And of course he'll be mumbling theories at himself all the while.
Slightly off to the side of the crowd, Amaranthsi is hiding behind a fence. He still has a decent view of things, but for the moment nobody - especially his fan club - seems to realise he's there.


Apheori (GM): On a hill that is vaguely in front of everyone, the two possibly alien new girls are standing with the class presidents and headmaster.
He instinctively attempts to stroke his beard, but finds none. His dismay is intense.
Radek's guy is standing on the other side of a fence from most of the crowd, but he can see most of it fine.


Ganelon: I STEADY MY RIFLE (No I don't).
When the dismay from this realisation passes, he turns it into an inferior ponderous chin-rubbing, mumbling theories at himself.


Gaurav: You totally should.


Frezak (GM): Radek looks down from on his Gnoll.
EXT. Commons Green - day
 
Apheori (GM): XD
 
Ganelon: I'm not turning this into an assassination until I have a reason to!


Apheori (GM): The headmaster does something of an intro speel you may or may not have been paying attention to.
All at once, the crowd begins the quiet, the general roar of excitement calming down.


Gaurav: Given that they are anime schoolgirls, if you try to aim at them, they'll vanish and appear standing behind you, tapping your shoulder to ask what's up.
On the hill, the two possibly alien new girls are now joined by the class presidents - all five of them - and the headmaster.


Headmaster: Students of Sa Karana High!
HEADMASTER
Students of Sa Karana High!
Today is an auspicious day, for today we welcome two of our own.
Today is an auspicious day, for today we welcome two of our own.


Gaurav: Ganasi is definitely paying attention. The headmaster might be Radek!
Ganasi looks over, paying careful attention. For all she knows, the headmaster might be Radek. The others, too, listen from their various vantages.
 
Headmaster: Blah blah blah stuff reckoning blah stuff.
 
Ganelon: Nah, Gaurav.
 
Ellemerr: Considering her careful observation of everything, Amadi would listen too.
 
Frezak (GM): Waaaaaait, Reckoning?
Sounds a tad ominous.
 
Ganelon: If Radek was the headmaster, would he ''really'' be talking about people other than himself? In a positive manner?
 
Apheori (GM): ...he actually says that, at which point one of the class presidents steps forward and steals the megaphone.
 
Gaurav: I kinda want to watch this anime now. Any show where the principal says "blah" during a speech and where Greibel is King of Drugs is likely to be brilliant.
 
Ganelon: Then again, he ''might'' talk of reckonings.


PRESIDENT DANAITAI
HEADMASTER
But seriously, folks, we've planned this festival for months, and we're having a festival!
Blah blah blah stuff reckoning blah stuff!
Having two newcomers makes it that much better, but they're not the only reason we're here!


Gaurav: Gan: ah, if only Rhu had enough insight to suss that out.
One of the class presidents steps forward and confiscates the megaphone, giving him an irritated look.


PRESIDENT DANAITAI
PRESIDENT DANAITAI
But seriously, folks, we've planned this festival for months, and we're having a festival! Having two newcomers makes it that much better, but they're not the only reason we're here!
They're just a slightly better excuse than what we had before.
They're just a slightly better excuse than what we had before.


Line 272: Line 153:
Come on, let's give them a hearty welcome!
Come on, let's give them a hearty welcome!


Apheori (GM): As all the students start cheering, Volshikana and Midoriki Hano start arguing with each other.
Immediately the students start cheering, and Volshikana and Midoriki Hano start arguing with each other.
You can totally try to listen in if you want. Or not. Or something.


HIERON (GRAVY)
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Yay! Woooo!
Yay! Woooo!


Frezak (GM): Gravy totally uses his Reality Analysis power.
The headmaster throws his arms in the air surprisingly anticlimactically and casts a spell thing, and suddenly a whole lot of festival stuff, complete with snack booths, rides, and a very large rhino, appears behind him.


Ellemerr: Listen!
Then he turns and flees in the opposite direction.


Apheori (GM): Perception!
Danaitai gives his back a suspicious look. Two other presidents giggle about something.
 
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+14+10
( 7 )+14+10 = 31
MATRIX DECODING HOOOOO
 
Ellemerr: ... Y'know what, I'll go over and ask Hieron what they're saying, guessing that any diggers must have good hearing.
 
Ganelon: I
...Shall listen too*
 
Apheori (GM): Frezak: They're arguing about the reality of this. One is saying they need to stop it, that it's bad and stuff. The other, Volshikana or whatever, is saying they should maybe play it out.
 
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20+10 Perception
( 15 )+10 = 25
 
Ellemerr:
rolling 1d20 + 8
( 12 )+8 = 20
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: Seems to be something about the reality of it.
 
Ellemerr: Though I do have ears of my own.
 
Apheori (GM): Ellemerr: Same
.
 
Frezak (GM): Gravy waves at them.
And yeah, will relay what he heard to anyone that asks him.
 
The headmaster throws his arms in the air surprisingly anticlimactically and casts a spell thing, and suddenly a whole lot of festival stuff, complete with snack booths, rides, and a very large rhino, appear behind him.


PRESIDENT DANAITAI
PRESIDENT DANAITAI
(back to the assembled students, loudly)
Uh, yeah, PAAARTY.
Uh, yeah, PAAARTY.


Apheori (GM): You guys ask?
The assembled students cheer again and move in a huge wave over toward the festival stuff.
 
Ellemerr: Well, Amadi does. Or Akari Sudamanshintha does. Something.
 
Gaurav: Does we know what a rhino is?
 
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Eh, it's something you know what it is, and I'm just calling it a rhino.
 
Apheori (GM): Er, ooc.
Okay, so y'all coallesce on the blue-haired gravedigging protagonist guy.
Or something.
As everyone moves to head for the festival stuff.


Ganelon: Once my STALKERS are gone, sure.
Akari goes over to ask Hieron what the aliens were saying, a bit against the tide of bodies, Adidstha following.


Apheori (GM): And he relays what he heard.
Hieron waves.
And you have two... squirrels.
Squirrels.
One with black hair, one with red.


Ellemerr: Er.
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
(indicating the aliens)
Those two, what were they saying?


Apheori (GM): Radek's guy evades the stalkers, but then they start crowding around this too after a bit.
Ganasi and Amaranthsi wind up with them as well, Amaranthsi somehow evading his stalkers.


Ellemerr: Am I a squirrel? ''shifty eyes''
Hieron good-naturedly relays that the alien girls were apparently arguing about the reality of all of this. Midoriki Hano was saying they need to stop it, that it's bad and stuff. Volshikana, on the other hand, was saying they should maybe play it out. ''(rolled 31 perception)''


Apheori (GM): You look like her.
Meanwhile the Prince Amaranthsi Fan club suddenly notices that their prince is right there and start crowding around, eeirily silent.
But with black hair.
And less crazy.


Ellemerr: >confused<
Amaranthsi grumbles.


Apheori (GM): You're Amadi/
AMARANTHSI NISHOLIAN (RADEK)
.
...I am trapped in a horrid nimbus of juvenile adoration. Please tell me at least one of you still has their senses intact.
You, like everyone else EXCEPT Squirrel, just look a bit different.
(he hesitates)
Or whatever passes for them among you, considering.


Ellemerr: And in addition, there are squirrels?
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
I'm wary of the squirrels.
I have two Squirrels. The likelyhood of insanity is substantial.


Apheori (GM): Er, sorry, no. >.<
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
I meant Squirrels.
 
Ellemerr: Oh!
Okay, right.
Now I'm less confused.
 
Radek grumbles.
 
Radek: ...I am trapped in a horrid nimbus of juvenile adoration. Please tell me at least one of you still has their senses intact.
 
Radek hesitates.
 
Radek: ...Or whatever passes for them among you, considering.
 
Apheori (GM): Okay, I renamed Radek.
He's the prince.
 
Ganelon: Thank you.
 
Apheori (GM): To clarify.
 
Amadi: I have two Squirrels.
The likelyhood of insanity is substantial.
 
SQUIRREL
This is all not real! Real insanity!
This is all not real! Real insanity!


Amadi: Yes.
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
 
Yes.
Ganasi:
rolling d20 insight to identify radek
( 18 ) = 18
 
Gaurav: err, +8
 
Ganelon: 26?
 
Gaurav: I seem to have forgotten how to roll20
 
Apheori (GM): The Prince is definitely Radek.


Ganelon: Few others would use the phrase "horrid nimbus".
Hieron nods at them all and heads off to rejoin his friends and check out the festival stuff.


Apheori (GM): Also the two aliens are still arguing with each other. They also have really big boobs.
The others start to trail after, lagging behind.


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Um, yes. Nimbus. Right. Is that a rhino?
Um, yes. Nimbus. Right. Is that a rhino?
Apheori (GM): Are you guys just standing there, all moving toward the festival, or going somewhere else?
Ellemerr: I wanna talk with the girls.
Frezak (GM): Lacking anything to do, Gravy will just follow his friends.
Ganelon: I... have no intention to move towards it, but if anyone else is stringing the group forwards then I don't ''mind''.
Right now, just being around them is fine.
Gaurav: ^ same
Apheori (GM): The drug King, Kiesthisi, goes up to Amadi and offers her a toke.
Gravy and his friends are headed for the festival.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
... I'm going to ''talk''. To... '''''those things'''''.
(eyeing the aliens)
...I'm going to ''talk''. To... '''''those things'''''.
Don't get too lost.
Don't get too lost.


Akari accepts the toke (whatever that even is) and puts it in her hair, before walking towards the aliens.
The drug King, Kiesthisi, comes up as if out of nowhere and offers Akari a toke. She puts the bong in her hair and heads over toward the aliens.


Apheori (GM): Kiesthisi follows, humming a strange tune.
Ganasi, Amaranthsi, Kiesthisi, and Adidstha all sort of follow her for lack of any better ideas.


Ganasi follows Akari, but he keeps getting distracted and keeps glancing at the rhino.
On the way, Kiesthisi hums a strange tune, oddly familiar, and very, very out of place.


Apheori (GM): Gravy's going with his group of school friends into the thing itself.
Amaranthsi attempts magic, just to see if it works right. ''(rolled 26 arcana)'' But it doesn't, not exactly. It could just be a thing with the... this. But he could just adjust for it without too much trouble. The cephalopod is very clear on this.
Radek goes which way?


Ganelon: To listen to... '''''those things.'''''
Somehow.


Apheori (GM): Okay.
He has a go at identifying what this even is, and finds it to be a dream. ''(rolled 31 arcana)'' Sort of. A bit more like a virtual environment than a dream itself, something they've been hijacked into, and there's no indication of what by at all.


Ganelon: On the way he'll attempt magic.
Normally there'd be an ''interface''.
Just to see if it works right.
Nothing dramatic.


Apheori (GM): Hieron Maranthana - you follow your friends and immediately one gets distracted by a girl he has a crush on and runs off. You let him go?
Amaranthsi-Radek: D20 and arcana.


Ganelon:
EXT. Festival stuff - day
rolling 1d20
( 7 ) = 7
rolling 1d20+16 Arcana
( 10 )
+16 = 26


Apheori (GM): The magic doesn't exactly work. You suppose it could just be a thing with the... what is this, a dream? But you can adjust for it without too much trouble. The cephalopod is very clear on this.
Hieron and his friends wind up in the thick of the festival. Almost immediately one of the others gets distracted by a girl he has a crush on and runs off after her.
Somehow.


Ganelon: Good to know.
The other friends yell encouragement.
And this better not be a dream!
He hates those!


Apheori (GM): Well, dreams don't usually happen in real time. Or with other people...
LEAF
You can try to identify it.
You get her, Darietsu!


Ganelon: ...Sure, why not.
The rest of them wind up at the rhino. It seems very unhappy, and people are trying to ride it, though most of them just fall off almost immediately after. This makes it even more unhappy.


Apheori (GM): Arcana
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
PLease leave the poor thing alone. It's not happy.


Ganelon:
Some of the surrounding students voice their disappointment at this, but others are a bit more supportive. Either way, Hieron is ushered up to the thing, his friends trying to get him to ride it.
rolling 1d20+16
( 15 )+16 = 31


Apheori (GM): It is a dream, sort of, but more like a VR than a dream itself. You've been hijacked into something, and there's no indication of what by at all.
Hieron takes the opportunity to examine it. ''(rolled 17 nature)'' It looks like a very large specimin of its species, and is apparently not real.
Normally there'd be an ''interface''.


Frezak (GM): Gravy carefully hides the keyboard built into his shovel.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Okay, who put the fake Rhino here? If you're going to make a fake Rhino, at least make it a happy one!


Apheori (GM): o.O
RHINO HANDLERMAN
You need to ride it to make it happy!


Ganelon: I'll work on a solution later, when we're not just standing around.
Hieron narrows his eyes at the handlerman. ''(rolled 14 insight)'' The guy is a nerd from the second year, he seems to mean well enough. It's not clear what he was actually thinking with any of this, aside from 'giant rhinos are cool'.
Or rather, standing up.
Let's go see what the anime babes want.


Gaurav: Later is when that rhino will charge into the crowd and kill us all.
Hieron stomps off in disgust, holding his shovel prominently.
Two of his friends follow, including Leaf.


Apheori (GM): Hieron (Gravy): Your friends wind up at the rhino. It seems very unhappy, and people are trying to ride it. This makes it even more unhappy.


Ganelon: It'll kill a lot more people before us!
EXT. Commons Green - day


Akari stops before the aliens.
Akari stops before the aliens.
Line 492: Line 263:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Hi.
Hi.
Apheori (GM): Everyone else: You go up to the anime babes.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Line 501: Line 270:
(to Volshikana)
(to Volshikana)
Don't talk to them, you fool!
Don't talk to them, you fool!
HIERON (GRAVY)
PLease leave the poor thing alone. It's not happy.
Frezak (GM): Can I... Nature the Rhino?
Apheori (GM): NAture the rhino!
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+11
( 6 )+11 = 17
Apheori (GM): Some people seem disappointed at this, others seem supportive, and your friends try to get you to ride it.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
(to the aliens, in response to Hano) Why should you not talk to me?
Why should you not talk to me?
 
Apheori (GM): Whatever the case, you wind up ushered up to it, and check it out.
It looks like a very large specimin of its species, and is apparently not real.
 
Gaurav: Huh.
 
Apheori (GM): Sorry, Hano was talking to Volshikana when she said that. Do you still respond thus? >.<
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Okay, who put the fake Rhino here? If you're going to make a fake Rhino, at least make it a happy one!
 
Ellemerr: Change to "Why should you not talk to me?"
 
Apheori (GM): Aiight.
Hieron: The handler person tells you you need to ride it to make it happy.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Amadi)
You're... not real.
You're... not real.
(to Amadi)
GANASI (RHU)
(to Midoriki) Yes, we know.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
...Don't listen to him. We are not constructs of this simulation.
Yes, we know.


Midoriki Hano looks at Ganasi and frowns curiously.
Midoriki Hano looks at Ganasi and frowns curiously.
Frezak (GM): I would like to INsight the Handlerman


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
You... you look familiar.
You... you look familiar.
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+4
( 10 )+4 = 14


Volshikana smacks Midoriki.
Volshikana smacks Midoriki.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Don't listen to him. We are not constructs of this simulation.
I assume neither are the two of you.
I assume neither are the two of you.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(to Amaranthsi) Yeah. Not really sure what happened there.
Yeah. Not really sure what happened there. You all all right?
You all all right?


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 570: Line 302:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
It is very strange. I'd ask if this is what dreaming is like for other people, but of course it isn't.
It is very strange. I'd ask if this is what dreaming is like for other people, but of course it isn't.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Frezak: Handler guy is a nerd from the second year, he seems to mean well enough, and you're not sure what he was actually thinking with any of this, aside from 'giant rhinosare cool'.
Apheori (GM): Er, ooc.
Radek's poor beard. I guess I'm holding it hostage until this all gets worked out.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 581: Line 307:


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Yeah.
Yeah. Hi.
Hi.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana) What did you do?
(to Volshikana)
What did you do?


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
I didn't do anything.
I didn't do anything. Did I?
Did I?


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Troubling that you couldn't escape this.
...Troubling that you couldn't escape this.
Ganasi:
rolling d20+10 religion check on the two "gods"
( 6 )+10 = 16
Gaurav: No idea if i can actually religion check in this dream, but I'm going to try.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(indicating Hano) More troubling that he's here, really.
(indicating Hano)
 
More troubling that she's here, really.
Ellemerr: I'm gonna stare hard at Hano and try to figure out who he is.
 
Apheori (GM): Rhu: They have really massive boobs.
People could form religions around those alone.
RELIGION!
 
Gaurav: Rhu is regrettably an ass-man and these boobs mean nothing to him.
Ooo.
 
Apheori (GM): Ellemerr: Religion.
 
Gaurav: Maybe they will some day.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
This is '''not''' my dream.
This is '''not''' my dream.


Ellemerr: Considering my character, my religion is really low. xD
Akari stares hard at Hano to try to figure out who she is. ''(rolled 21 religion)'' She is immediately disappointed to find Hano to be Hazz'ridan.
rolling 1d20 + 7
( 14 )+7 = 21
 
Frezak (GM): Ellemerr, roll Boobs.
 
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
ROLL BOOBS.
Er, ooc.
 
Gaurav: No no she
 
Ellemerr: You sure he didn't just shout that?
 
Frezak (GM): NO THAT WAS IC
TOTALLY IC
 
Gaurav: should say that
 
Apheori (GM): No that isn't!
The other one might yell that, but not Hano.
 
Ellemerr: Snrk
 
(To Ellemerr): Hano is Hazz. Volshikana is Kyrule.
 
Ganelon: BRB.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
(to Hano) Well, of course it isn't. If it was yours it would've been ''boring''.
(to Hano)
Well, of course it isn't. If it was yours it would've been ''boring''.


Midoriki Hano gives Akari a long, unimpressed look.
Midoriki Hano gives Akari a long, unimpressed look.
Line 654: Line 336:
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Where'd the Gravedigger run off to? He looks like a protagonist.
Where'd the Gravedigger run off to? He looks like a protagonist.
(to Radek) Also, nice gaggle.
(to Radek)
Also, nice gaggle.


Akari nods in agreement.
Akari nods in agreement.
Apheori (GM): You still have a bit of a crowd of fan club around you, watching intently.
Frezak: You insighted the handler. What next?
Frezak (GM): I will leave in disgust!
Amaranthsi frowns.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
(frowning)
Yes, it is very ''persistent.''
Yes, it is very ''persistent.''


Apheori (GM): Hieron stomps off in disgust, holding his shovel prominently.
The fan club is crowding around, watching intently, still silent, but now oddly excited. Rarely are they actually ''aknowledged''.
Two of his friends follow.
 
Ganelon: So he's a blue-haired guy, but is it spiky?
 
Apheori (GM): Any interest in anything being there?
It's lush and perfect.
 
Frezak (GM): Food!
 
Ganelon: A protagonist without spiky hair?
 
Apheori (GM): There's stalls with a lot of food. Gather some up?
 
Ganelon: ''Suspicious.''
 
Frezak (GM): Yesss
 
Apheori (GM): They can't always have spikey hair@
 
Ganelon: Actually it's more telling of the genre than anything.
 
Frezak (GM): Gravy is a big active person and needs nourishment.
 
Apheori (GM): Frezak gathers up a whole lot of food and winds up in a pie eating contest against his friends and the girl with the tutu on her head.
 
Ganelon: If he had spiky hair and ''goggles'' we could be certain that it'd be all about fighting the forces of unambiguous evil with the power of friendship.
 
Apheori (GM): Er, his guy.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Hmm.
Hmm.


Gaurav: We don't need the power of friendship, we have the power of hitting things really hard.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
 
(to a random/prettiest member of gaggle)
Apheori (GM): Th gaggle of fan club watches excitedly. Rarely are they actually ''aknowledged''.
So you guys are like, his fans or something?
 
Frezak (GM): Gravy is certain in his dominion over pies
 
GANASI (RHU)
(to random/prettiest member of gaggle) So you guys are like, his fans or something?


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Line 715: Line 359:
Midoriki Hano stomps forward toward them, then suddenly explodes in a mass of tentacles shooting out in every direction, reaching toward all of them, all at once.
Midoriki Hano stomps forward toward them, then suddenly explodes in a mass of tentacles shooting out in every direction, reaching toward all of them, all at once.


Apheori (GM): The fan club scatters. The rest of you are probably a bit put off by this too.
The fan club scatters in utter horror.


Ganasi screams.
Ganasi screams.


Frezak (GM): IN JOY
Amaranthsi jumps a bit, admittedly.
AND EXTASY
 
AND LOVE
A moment later all the tentacls are gone and Hano is just standing there looking big-boobed and grumpy.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
(mumbles)
(mumbles)
...Show-off.
...Show-off.
Amaranthsi jumps a bit, admittedly.
Gaurav: In surprise tentacles, mostly.
Apheori (GM): A moment later all the tentacls are gone and Hano is just standing there looking big-boobed and grumpy.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Line 742: Line 380:
Not really.
Not really.


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
I... but.. that... you...
I... but.. that... you...


SQUIRREL
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
Boob! Boobs!
Boob! Boobs!


Squirrel jumps on Hano and starts fondling her boobs.
Adidstha jumps on Hano and starts fondling her boobs.


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
It's you. You're here! You ... hey, get off my god!
It's you. You're here! You... hey, get off my god!


Akari smirks.
Akari smirks.


Ganelon: This really is pretty anime.
Midoriki Hano twitches angrily and then pushes Adidstha away with one hand, holding her back while the girl tries to swipe at her with too-short arms.
 
Ellemerr: I'm sure we could sell it for profit.
 
Midoriki Hano twitches angrily and then pushes Squirrel away with one hand, holding her back while the midget tries to swipe at her with too-short arms.
 
Apheori (GM): As for Gravy...
The first round of pies disappears without incident. Some sort of berry.
The second round of pies... you're not sure what they are.
Nature, please.
 
Ganasi hopes Senpai Midoriki will notice him.
 
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+11
( 6 )+11 = 17
 
Ganelon: They're schnozberries.
 
Frezak (GM): Jeez, terrible rolls again.


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Amaranthsi)
(to Amaranthsi)
You don't have a camera or something, do you? I'd like to take a picture of this.
You don't have a camera or something, do you? I'd like to take a picture of this.


Amaranthsi sighs.
Amaranthsi sighs and gets out his tablet. It's different from his real one, but he obliges and takes a few pictures regardless, scowling the whole way through.


Ganelon: The tablet should be capable of that, yeah?
Volshikana wraps an arm around Hano and poses for the picture, putting up bunny ears behind the other's head.


Apheori (GM): Frezak: It might be meat. You are reeeeally not sure. Eat?
Midoriki Hano hisses irritably.
One of your friends balked at it and dropped out.
Tutu girl already finished.


Ganelon: Meat pies?
Savoury and sweet pies?


Apheori (GM): Yes.
EXT. Festival stuff - day


Gaurav: Presumably he turned green and riddled off screen with funky sound effects.
Hieron and his two friends, Leaf and Tatsuoi, go around gathering up and devouring various random foods. There are a lot of foods around, festival and all.


Frezak (GM): Hellls yeah
At some point they all wind up taking part in a pie eating contest against the girl with the tutu on her head.


Apheori (GM): Radek: You have a tablet, but it's different from your real one. You don't know if anything done here will persist.
'''''Frezak''' (Gravy): Gravy is certain in his dominion over pies.
You could arcana to try to find out.


Ganelon: Sure!
The first round of pies disappears without incident. Some sort of berry.
 
Apheori (GM): Hieron eats the pie, along with his other friend. Third round!
 
Ganelon: But he'll take a picture either way because Rhu will get all depressed and annoying if he doesn't.
 
Apheori (GM): Third round is pies stacked on top of each other. You each get a piepiepie.
 
Frezak (GM): And then the eggs hatch!


Ganelon:
The second round of pies... it's uncertain what they are. ''(rolled 17 nature)'' They might be some sort of meat.
rolling 1d20+16 Arcana
( 2 )+16 = 18
Alas!


Apheori (GM): Shrug.
Tutu girl eats hers almost immediately, but Tatsuoi balks at the meat and drops out.


Frezak (GM): Alack!
Hieron and Leaf eat theirs as well.


Volshikana wraps an arm around Hano and poses for the picture, putting up bunny ears behind her head.
The third round appears in front of them: pies stacked on top of each other. They each get a piepiepie.


Midoriki Hano hisses irritably.


Amaranthsi still attempts the taking of a picture, if he can at least figure out how to operate the thing. He scowls the whole way through.
Ext. Commons green - day


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh, cheer up.
Oh, cheer up. This isn't the end of the world.
 
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
This isn't the end of the world.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 836: Line 435:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
There'd be more bunnies if it was.
There'd be more bunnies if it was.
Akari looks around warily, as if afraid that bunnies might spring from nowhere.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Line 841: Line 442:


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(eyeing Hano flatly)
I'm pretty certain, yes.
I'm pretty certain, yes.
Akari looks around warily, as if afraid that bunnies might spring from nowhere.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Aside from the lack of bunnies, there would also be, well... hmm.
Aside from the lack of bunnies, there would also be, well... hmm.
(she looks around)
Well, something, anyway.


Volshikana looks around.
GANASI
''(rolled 30 religion (natural 20))''
The Dark Sister...


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
'''''Apheori (GM)''': The Dark Sister, also known as the Founder and the Architect, is the one who created the (local) network of named universes. Hazz'ridan is not a part of it, but he does interact with them on a fairly regular basis due to a bit of an overlap.
Well, something, anyway.


Ganasi:
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): He probably read it on a wiki-surf starting with Hazz'ridan.
rolling d20+10 religion check on "Dark Sister"
( 20 )+10 = 30


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Line 862: Line 461:
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Radek, what is this?
Radek, what is this?
Gaurav: Maybe the bunnies all think they're anime school kids?
Apheori (GM): The Dark Sister, also known as the Founder and the Architect, is the one who created the network named universes. Hazz'ridan is not a part of that, but he does interact with them on a fairly regular basis due to a bit of an overlap.
You're not sure how you know this, but apparently you do.
Ganelon: He probably read it on a wiki-surf starting with Hazz'ridan.
(From Ellemerr): Where does Amadi and her ilk figure in this?
Gaurav: Okay. He can deal with that.
(To Ellemerr): Amadi and her ilk ARE the Dark Sister.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
To my understanding, we have been forced inside a simulation.
To my understanding, we have been forced inside a simulation.
Volshikana nods.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(she nods)
Constructed as some form of dream form, I'd suppose. I have experience with similar, though that is both more... and less.
Constructed as some form of dream form, I'd suppose. I have experience with similar, though that is both more... and less.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
It possesses dreamlike qualities, yes, but of course it is not one. I do not dream.
It possesses dreamlike qualities, yes, but of course it is not one. I do not dream.
(From Ellemerr): I thought that might be the case. Oh dear.


Akari suppresses a laugh into a sort of snort.
Akari suppresses a laugh into a sort of snort.
Line 895: Line 478:
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
The lack of an interface is concerning. It may be intended to keep us here indefinitely.
The lack of an interface is concerning. It may be intended to keep us here indefinitely.
Apheori (GM): Gravy: You ate the stacked pie, right?
Frezak (GM): Yyyyyep


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Line 904: Line 483:
Except why we would even be here... perhaps it is trying to stop us from reaching the hole?
Except why we would even be here... perhaps it is trying to stop us from reaching the hole?


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
What would an interface look like?
What would an interface look like?


Line 923: Line 502:


Volshikana grins slowly and then pokes Hano in the boob.
Volshikana grins slowly and then pokes Hano in the boob.
Ganelon: Indicating the answer to her unspoken question, obviously.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
You are enjoying this entirely too much.
You are enjoying this entirely too much.
Apheori (GM): Frezak: Next pie is a chicken. Literally, they just slapped a fried chicken down in front of you.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Line 940: Line 515:
Amaranthsi rolls his eyes.
Amaranthsi rolls his eyes.


Ganelon: Radek holds the gods to a very high standard.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): Radek holds the gods to a very high standard. Such as being responsible. It's therefore unsurprising that he doesn't like any of them.
Such as being responsible.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): Well... that he knows.
It's therefore unsurprising that he doesn't like any of them.
Well... that he knows.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Excuse me! This isn't a pie!


Volshikana does an impression of the teacher in DearS, fondling and juggling her own boobs, complete with 'ooing' and squeaking noises.
Volshikana does an impression of the teacher in DearS, fondling and juggling her own boobs, complete with 'ooing' and squeaking noises.


HIERON (GRAVY)
Amaranthsi crosses his arms and turns his back. How ''crass''.
I can tell!
 
Gaurav: ^ http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/dears/images/b/bb/Dears-MitsukaBounce_640w.gif/revision/latest?cb=20110730235133
 
Apheori (GM): It's a little like that.
Hieron!
The contest person asks if you have a problem with that.
 
Amaranthsi crosses his arms and turns his back. How /crass/.


Volshikana stops and bursts out laughing.
Volshikana stops and bursts out laughing.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh, come on. It's anime!
Oh, come on. It's anime! Live a little.
Live a little.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
... I wonder what sleep would be like here. Anime dreams aren't pretty, in my experience.
...I wonder what sleep would be like here. Anime dreams aren't pretty, in my experience.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
I wouldn't advise it. There might be tentacles.
I wouldn't advise it. There might be tentacles.
Akari grins a little.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
(grinning a little)
Some of you should try. Just to make sure.
Some of you should try. Just to make sure.
Ganelon: Sorry, Names, but Radek's all business.
HIERON (GRAVY)
Yes. It's a pie eating contest. If someone asks you to bury a body, you don't dump a corpse in a cannon, fire it, and call it a day. Who is the manager here? I have rights!
Ganelon: Or at least, his definition of "pleasure" is often dangerously irresponsible and unethical sciences.


Midoriki Hano wraps a surreptitious tentacle around Volshikana's shoulders.
Midoriki Hano wraps a surreptitious tentacle around Volshikana's shoulders.


Ganelon: Certainly not...
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(swatting away the tentacle)
Okay, yes, you're right. We do need to sort this out.


Ganelon turns up his nose.
AKARI (AMADI)
(shouting very suddenly)
This carnival is not well-oiled!


Ganelon: ''Boob'' juggling.
Ganasi jumps.


Apheori (GM): The guy asks Hieron if he'd like to bury the chicken.
Akari decides to ignore the others and turns and runs towards the festival in the direction of Hieron.


Ganelon: ...I just realized, if this is the general sentiment, I'm going to be working on a way out of here... teamed up with the personification of Hazz'ridan.
We're doomed.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
EXT. Festival stuff - day
(swatting away the tentacle) Okay, yes, you're right. We do need to sort this out.


HIERON (GRAVY)
The stacked pies have been eaten, aside from Leaf's. Leaf has also dropped out at this point, so he and the other are both cheering Hieron on against tutu girl.
No! This is a contest! I am contesting! There are rules, you know! You can't get away by breaking the rules!


Ganelon: Tentacles and OBSTRUCTED PROGRESS.
The next pie is a fried chicken. The pie guy slaps one each down in front of Hieron and the tutu girl.


Gaurav: Wait, if we've all realised he's Hazz, how come Amadi hasn't punched him in the nose again?
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Excuse me! This isn't a pie! I can tell!


Ganelon: She still has time.
PIE GUY
You have a problem with that?


Ellemerr: Heeeee
Tutu girl just eats her chicken and watches.


Gaurav: There are precious minutes of Hazz' punching that are passing her by.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
There is nothing sadder than missing all the god-punches that might have been.
Yes. It's a pie eating contest. If someone asks you to bury a body, you don't dump a corpse in a cannon, fire it, and call it a day. Who is the manager here? I have rights!


PIE GUY
PIE GUY
(leaning forward at Hieron) The rules... ''are what I make them''.
Would you like to bury the chicken?


Apheori (GM): Hieron: Your other friend dropped out, so they're both cheering you on now. You just have tutu girl against you.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
She already finished her chicken.
No! This is a contest! I am contesting! There are rules, you know! You can't get away by breaking the rules!
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
And when rules are broken, bad things happen to bad people!
And when rules are broken, bad things happen to bad people!


PIE GUY
Hieron's eyes are becoming slightly unfocussed.
So eat your pie.
 
Frezak (GM): His eyes are slightly unfocused.


PIE GUY
PIE GUY
Or conceeeeeed.
(leaning forward at Hieron)
 
The rules... ''are what I make them''.
Ganelon: Geez, Gravy, just because you started a religion doesn't mean you have to get all ''paladin'' on us.
So eat your pie. Or conceeeeeed.
 
Gaurav: By the rules of Anime, tutu girl is clearly Gravy's love interest.
 
Ganelon: Forget the rules and devour that chicken!
 
AKARI (AMADI)
(shouting very suddenly)
This carnival is not well-oiled!
 
Ganasi jumps.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
This issssn't a p-p-pie


Frezak (GM): Hieron jerks upright
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Assuming he was seated.
This issssn't a p-p-pie.


Akari decides to ignore the others and go towards Hieron. If he's far away, she'll run.
Hieron jerks upright in his chair.


PIE GUY
PIE GUY
Piiiiiie.
Piiiiiie.


Apheori (GM): Amadi runs off, finds the drug guy in the process, and they both wind up behing Hieron.
Akari and Kiesthisi show up behind Hieron.


Frezak (GM): Gravy grabs the table and tries to smash the Pie guy.
Kiesthisi blows a cloud of drug smoke on Hieron.


Gaurav: Are we sure Pie guy isn't a god too?
KIESTHISI (GREIBEL)
Go with the flloooow, man.


Apheori (GM): Greibel's guy blows a cloud of drug smoke on Hieron.
Hieron grabs the table and tries to smash the pie guy.


HIERON (GRAVY)
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Badthingstobadpeoplebadthingstobadpeoplebadthings
Badthingstobadpeoplebadthingstobadpeoplebadthings


Greibel: Go with the flloooow, man.
The table flips, flies into the pie guy, and sends bits of pie plate everywhere. Several stuffed animals also go flying.
 
Ganelon: ...Do you still have your giant strength?
 
Apheori (GM): Yeah.
The table flips, flies into the pie guy, and sends bits of pie plate everywhere.


Akari cheers loudly.
Akari cheers loudly.


Apheori (GM): A whole lot of stuffed animals go flying too.
Hieron's friends also cheer.
Hieron's friends also cheer.


Greibel: Yeaaah, man.
Kiesthisi starts choking and wanders off.


Greibel starts choking.
Hieron leaps at the pie guy and winds up on top of both pie guy and table, the table pinning the pie guy down.


Greibel wanders off.
Hieron grabs the pie guy's face and starts bashing the guy's head against the floor over and over again while babbling on the theme of Bad THings and Bad People.


Frezak (GM): Gravy will leap at the Pie Guy as soon as there isn't a table in the way
AKARI (AMADI)
 
(chanting in time to the bashing)
Amaranthsi glances off in the direction Akari left. He doesn't even need to see the chaos to know that it's going to happen.
Consequences! Consequences!


Apheori (GM): He leaps, winds up on top of pie guy and table.
People around are starting to notice, and they're screaming, yet none of them actually do anything. It doesn't occur to anyone else that this is not the correct response.


Frezak (GM): And try to get hold of his face/head


Akari chants,
Ext. Commons green - day


AKARI (AMADI)
They hear a bit of a commotion from the direction of the festival.
Consequences! Consequences!


Apheori (GM): You succeed, no trouble.
Amaranthsi glances off in the direction of the commotion, which just happens to be the direction Akari went. He doesn't even need to see the chaos to know that it's going to happen.


Ganelon: Is this about to get really dark?
Ganasi just runs toward it.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Well. Shall we see how this plays out?
Well. Shall we see how this plays out?
Frezak (GM): And try to bash the guy's head against the floor over and over again while babbling on the theme of Bad THings and Bad People
Ganelon: Yyyyep.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Time is still advancing in the real world.
Time is still advancing in the real world.


Ganasi notices the fighting breaking out and runs over to help.
The squid gibbers.


Apheori (GM): The squid gibbers.
Amaranthsi mentally prods at the squid. ''(rolled 36 arcana (natural 20))'' The response comes with a sense of thoughts, the time, the worry.
Frezak: d20.


Frezak (GM):
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): You're a good friend, squiddie. I'm glad I didn't turn you into magic dust.
rolling 1D20
( 19 ) = 19


Apheori (GM): People around are starting to notice, and they're screaming. Nobody actually explicitly does anything.
Amaranthsi nods to himself and follows as Volshikana heads off to check out the commotion of Hieron. Midoriki Hano also follows.


Amaranthsi attempts mental communication with the squid - nothing complex, just a bit of prodding to see whether he can elicit a response.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Mm. I am still in contact with my cephalopod companion.


Apheori (GM): Hieron's friends are no longer excited. Tutu girl is bugging her eyes out at it.
Radek: Arcana.


Amaranthsi:
EXT. Festival stuff - darkening twilight
rolling 1d20+16
( 20 )+16 = 36


Ganelon: BOOM
Ganasi arrives to find Hieron still smashing the pie guy.


Frezak (GM): He's gonna keep smashing until he doesn't have much to hold on to.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Hidehideittheysaid


Apheori (GM): Gravy: You bash the guy's head. It breaks his skull and continues to break and blood and stuff flies everywhere.
Covered in blood and brain stuff, Hieron finally stops and looks down to find he's holding mush.


Frezak (GM): ONce he's holding mush he'll stop and look down.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
And then start gibbering again and try to run away with the body
(gibbering)
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: Yeah, you get a bit of a response. A sort of sense of the thoughts, the time, the worry.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Can'tbefoundcantbeseencantbehearddon'ttelldon'tspeakspeakspeak
Can'tbefoundcantbeseencantbehearddon'ttelldon'tspeakspeakspeak


Apheori (GM): Frezak: The guy still has table on his legs, though you could stop and move it, or strength to yank it out.
Hieron yanks at the body, winding up with a large chunk of torso and an arm, and starts to run away with it. ''(rolled 24 strength)''
The people around are utterly horrified, not even saying anything.


Ganelon: You're a good friend, squiddie. I'm glad I didn't turn you into magic dust.
Akari follows Hieron, now silent, but he doesn't look back. He doesn't look at anyone.


Frezak (GM): He'll just pull at the bit he has to hand and run, even if he doesn't have a full body with him
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
A torso will do.
 
Apheori (GM): Strength.
 
Akari follows Hieron, now silent. If he looks in her direction, she'll smile encouragingly.
 
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+4+3
( 17 )+4+3 = 24
 
Gaurav: Should we be trying to stop Gravy tearing this reality apart? Or is that what we want, given its unreality?
 
Frezak (GM): Gravy won't actually look at anyone. Won't register anyone he sees, either
 
Amaranthsi nods to himself and sticks with Volshikana, if she really wants to observe this mess.
 
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Mm. I am still in contact with my cephalopod companion.
 
Apheori (GM): Volshikana and Hano come up, probably accompanied by all the other PCs?
To Gravy-dream.
Guy.
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Hidehideittheysaid
 
Gaurav: Crazy-Gravy is pretty scary
 
Apheori (GM): Gravy: You wind up with an arm and a chunk of torso and try to run off, but how do grabs work?
 
HIERON (GRAVY)
Don'ttelldon'ttell make it up
Don'ttelldon'ttell make it up


Apheori (GM): Hano tries to grab you.
Volshikana, Amaranthsi, and Midoriki Hano show up as well.
 
Frezak (GM): It's a... Strength roll against... reflex?


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Your bodies are still there. Mine isn't, which I suppose might make sense. Theirs is, though. (indicating Amadi and Squirrel)
(to Radek)
(to Radek)
Your bodies are still there. Mine isn't, which I suppose might make sense considering it's just a manifestation anyway. Theirs is, though. (indicating Amadi and Squirrel)


Apheori (GM): What's the strength of a tentacular god as an anime schoolgirl?
Hano Grabs Hieron before he can run away entirely.
 
Gaurav: Aren't octopuses really strong?
 
Apheori (GM):
rolling 1d20 + 20 vs reflex?
( 12 )+20 = 32
Pfft.


Akari tries to bat Hano away.
Akari tries to bat Hano away.


Ganelon: Well, 20 is like... someone's entire reflex defense on its own.
Hieron responds by attempting to Gore Midoriki Hano, but lacking horns this winds up as a headbutt instead. ''(rolled 26 vs AC)''
 
Apheori (GM): That was a bit extreme.
Yes.
 
Ganelon: That said.
 
Apheori (GM): Make it +10 and it still works.
 
Ganelon: 20 is also a reasonable to-hit from a strong guy who is level 30.
Kinda low, actually.
In 4E, level counts for a lot.


Apheori (GM): Either way, Hieron gets grabbed by anime schoolgirl.
This doesn't do much.


Frezak (GM): If Gravy is grabbed he'll automatically try to... well, gore. But no horns so he'll try to headbutt, I suppose.
Akari tries to punch Hano's nose, but misses. ''(rolled 20 vs AC)''


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...What's wrong with him?
...What's wrong with him?
Akari punches Hano's nose.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Perhaps it's a reaction to the dream? Tried to push him in a direction contrary to his nature...
Perhaps it's a reaction to the dream? Tried to push him in a direction contrary to his nature...
Or perhaps it simply was his nature all along.


Apheori (GM): Gravy: Do it. Roll or whatever?
Hieron, still holding the remains of the corpse in one hand, uses his other to try to grab Hano by the head/throat, gibbering all the while.
Akari: Roll. >.>
 
Akari:
rolling 1d20
( 17 ) = 17
 
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+13
( 13 )+13 = 26
AC
 
Apheori (GM): What would the bonus be on Amadi's?
 
Ellemerr: I don't even know. xD If it's str it's pretty low.
 
Ganelon: Minimum +2.
 
Ellemerr: Her str is 10, so it's just the level mod, yeah.
 
Ganelon: Then +3.
 
Frezak (GM): +3 on amadi's Str
 
Ellemerr: Oh, right.
Yes.
 
Ganelon: And add another +2 from attacking someone who didn't expect it, if they... well, didn't expect it.
 
Apheori (GM): Amadi misses. Gravy headbutts.
Though it really doesn't do anything.
 
Frezak (GM): Rolling... Atheltics to try to escape.
 
Apheori (GM): Frezak: You wind up with a head full of boobs. They're very squishy.
 
Frezak (GM): Delightful!
 
Frezak (GM): He'll... hold the corpse in one hand and use the other to try to grab Hano by the head/throat
Which shouldn't be a problem if his head is being squished.
Muffled gibberings.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 1,274: Line 697:
Do you have this under control?
Do you have this under control?


Midoriki Hano attempts to bring Hieron under control by grabbing his head right back
Midoriki Hano attempts to bring Hieron under control by grabbing his head right back.
 
Apheori (GM): You both have each other's heads.
 
Frezak (GM): Hieron is bigger, yeah?
 
Apheori (GM): Pretty similar.
 
Gaurav: But Midoriki is a god, even if she doesn't look like one.


Akari kicks Hano on the shin - probably not very hard, if not for lack of trying.
Akari kicks Hano on the shin - probably not very hard, if not for lack of trying.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(to Amadi) Hey, not now.
(to Amadi)
We need to calm him down somehow.
Hey, not now. We need to calm him down somehow.
And I'm a little concerned about using my... usual methods in a place like this.
And I'm a little concerned about using my... usual methods in a place like this.


Line 1,303: Line 718:


Akari looks ''very'' doubtful.
Akari looks ''very'' doubtful.
Frezak (GM): He'll grab her by the leg and lurch backwards, trying to toss Hano over his back.
Dropping the corpse to get the second hand, of course.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Well, no. I think he's just trying to keep him put for now.
Well, no. I think he's just trying to keep him put for now. Or... something?
Or... something?


Apheori (GM): Roll.
Hieron finally drops the corpse and grabs Hano by the leg and lurches backwards, trying to toss her over his back. ''(rolled 21)'' This doesn't entirely work, though she loses most of her hold as a result.
 
Ganelon: Suplex the god!
 
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20+11
( 10 )+11 = 21
Minotaur Suplex!


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Oh, ''please''.
Oh, ''please''.
 
(she rolls her eyes)
Akari rolls her eyes.
 
Apheori (GM): This doesn't entirely work, though she does lose her hold on you.
 
AKARI (AMADI)
How about just letting him dig it off?
How about just letting him dig it off?


Frezak (GM): As soon as he's free he'll try to grab the corpse and run again
Hieron grabs the corpse and tries to run off again.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
He's not digging.
He's not digging. Quite the opposite
(in an oddly booming voice)
HOLD.
HOLD.


Apheori (GM): Her voice booms everywhere, and everything stops.
Everything stops, aside from Akari, Amaranthsi, Hano, and Volshikana. It is as thought the entire world-dream is just frozen mid-whatever.
Aside from Amadi, Radek, Hano, and herself.
It's all just frozen mid-whatever.
 
Akari huffs and taps her foot.


Ellemerr: Crossed arms. All that stuff.
Akari huffs and taps her foot. Crossed arms. All that stuff.


Midoriki Hano walks over to where Gravy had gotten (a few feet away) and then pushes him over.
Midoriki Hano walks over to where Gravy had gotten (a few feet away) and then pushes him over.
Ellemerr: http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/150/f/2014/224/7/6/ic_huff_by_insaincat1111-d7uwgav.jpg
Apheori (GM): Heh.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I am having serious difficulty concentrating. On anything.
Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I am having serious difficulty concentrating. On anything.


Midoriki Hano gestures vaguely at Rhu's gal and suddenly she resumes moving as well.
Midoriki Hano gestures vaguely at Ganasi and suddenly she resumes moving as well.
 
Ganelon: Is that true?
Are we having trouble concentrating?
 
Apheori (GM): Naw, you're basically fine, aside from some weird dreaminess.
 
Ganelon: Accursed dreaminess!
 
Apheori (GM): And the general ''knowledge'' of dream stuff.
But when it comes to thinking, it's all doable just fine.
You may not be at your best, but it's been a long day anyhow.


Ganasi steps up to try to stop Hieron escaping, but is surprised to find him lying on the ground.
Ganasi steps up to try to stop Hieron escaping, but is surprised to find him lying on the ground.
Line 1,371: Line 752:
...That's unusual. My thoughts are largely unobstructed.
...That's unusual. My thoughts are largely unobstructed.
(he indicates Gravy)
(he indicates Gravy)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Distractions aside.
...Distractions aside.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana) I feel the same, and it is very... aggravating.
(to Volshikana)
I feel the same, and it is very... aggravating.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Strange.
Strange.
Ganelon: Oh boo hoo, Hazz.
Having trouble thinking about stuff?
Apheori (GM): Gravy: You can move again.


Akari grins gleefully.
Akari grins gleefully.


Apheori (GM): You are no longer frozen.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): Are your thoughts hitting a DEAD. END? HMMMMM?
 
Ganelon: Are your thoughts hitting a DEAD. END?
''HMMMMM?''


Midoriki Hano gives Amaranthsi a withering look.
Midoriki Hano gives Amaranthsi a withering look.


Apheori (GM): What does Hieron do?
Volshikana runs and grabs Hieron's shovel.


Frezak (GM): Scramble for the remains of the Pie Guy
Hieron suddenly scrambles up and grabs the remains of the pie guy corpse.


Apheori (GM): Where's Hieron's shovel?
Midoriki Hano wraps Hieron in black tentacles before he can run off again, with only his head poking out.


Frezak (GM): Back at the pie eating stall, I think.
Hieron gibbers and thrashes about.
 
Volshikana runs and grabs the shovel.
 
Midoriki Hano wraps Hieron in tentacles before he can run off again, with only his head poking out.
 
Apheori (GM): So there's basically this schoolgirl, with black tentacles coming out her front, with a head sticking out?
 
Frezak (GM): Gibbering and thrashing is on the cards, I think.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Line 1,415: Line 780:
Midoriki Hano squeezes a bit.
Midoriki Hano squeezes a bit.


Gaurav: What '''is''' left of the Pie Guy?
Volshikana hands Amadi the shovel and pushes her toward Hano and Hieron.
 
Apheori (GM): There was the chunk Gravy ran off with.
 
Ganelon: I'll give his best friend (Amadi) a chance to try and resolve this before doing anything, but if she won't...
I'll approach him instead.


Volshikana hands Amadi the shovel.
Akari bonks Hieron lightly on the head with his shovel, ''accidentially'' poking Hano with the shovel as well.
 
Volshikana pushes Amadi toward them.
 
Volshikana's voice booms again, this time saying 'Release' and everyone else resumes again as well. Mostly panicking. And fleeing. And being all horrified and stuff.
 
Akari bonks Hieron lightly on the head with his shovel. If she ''accidentially'' pokes Hano with the shovel as well, no loss.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Hey. HEY! Gravy! You in there? HELLOOOOO?
Hey. HEY! Gravy! You in there? HELLOOOOO?


Gaurav: What're the teachers doing?
Volshikana holds out a hand and seems to be doing some sort of magic.
 
Apheori (GM): Perception.
 
Gaurav: Or that class president dude, he's probably more competent than the staff.
 
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20+10 Perception
( 12 )+10 = 22
I'm concerned about that, too.
 
Frezak (GM): I don't think Gravy is registering language at present.
 
Gaurav:
rolling d20+15 perception check on adults in the area
( 2 )+15 = 17


Apheori (GM): Rhu: It's all a mess.
Midoriki Hano sticks a tentacle in Hieron's head. Hieron goes completely rigid and still.
Radek: They're trying to calm the mess, and especially to get everyone else away from you all.
 
Gaurav: Good. We are kind of dangerous.
 
Frezak (GM): Naaaah
 
Volshikana holds out a hand and seems to be doing some sort of magic or sensy stuff or whatever.
 
Midoriki Hano sticks a tentacle right in Hieon's head.
 
Frezak (GM): AAaaaaagh


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
That's a little excessive, don't you think?
That's a little excessive, don't you think?
Gaurav: We could try to use a Heal attack to knock him out. Didn't we try that on Dave back when we were fighting the sphinx?
Apheori (GM): Hieron tenses up and just completely stops moving at that point.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
He will not be silent!
He will not be silent!
Frezak (GM): I don't think he can get any more tense, to be honest.
Apheori (GM): Hmm.
Rigidly tense.
OR... maybe.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
So?
So?


Apheori (GM): Well, Volshikana stops what she was doing and comes over as well.
Volshikana stops what she was doing and comes over as well.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Line 1,490: Line 808:
I take it he's not thinking rationally anymore.
I take it he's not thinking rationally anymore.


Amaranthsi is still looking in the crowds' direction.
Amaranthsi is still looking in the crowds' direction. They're in panic. The teachers and whatnot, at least, seemed to be trying to coordinate things, though it doesn't look right.
 
They've also started moving again.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 1,496: Line 816:


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(a bit more calmly) He doesn't seem to be thinking at all.
(a bit more calmly)
He doesn't seem to be thinking at all.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Can you tell what's wrong with him? Exactly?
Can you tell what's wrong with him? Exactly?
The madness, the corruption that entered him so innocuously from the first hole, it has finally taken hold.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Line 1,507: Line 827:
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
The madness, the corruption that entered him so innocuously from the first hole, it has finally taken hold.
The madness, the corruption that entered him so innocuously from the first hole, it has finally taken hold.
Apheori (GM): NOT VOLSHIKANA.
SHE DIDN'T SAY THAT BIT.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
You need to GET HIM OUT OF HERE.
You need to GET HIM OUT OF HERE.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
We need to get all of us out of here.
We need to get all of us out of here.
Ganelon: OH!
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Before we lose ourselves.
Before we lose ourselves.
Ganelon: ''LOVELY!''


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Some of us did that a long time ago.
Some of us did that a long time ago. It's not so bad.
It's not so bad.
 
Volshikana gives Amadi a worried look.
 
Amaranthsi shoots a glare at Akari.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
(he shoots a glare at Akari)
Unacceptable.
Unacceptable.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(giving Akari a worried look)
You did not think that at the time.
You did not think that at the time.
GANASI (RHU)
How did we even get here?
Didn't we leave Dave behind as an anchor? Can't we use that something/
somehow*


Akari shrugs.
Akari shrugs.
Line 1,547: Line 848:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Am I not allowed to change?
Am I not allowed to change?
 
(pointing to Hieron)
Akari points to Gravy.
 
AKARI (AMADI)
He did. He should again.
He did. He should again.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
That was the anchor from the time and place at Sanessee, but that was for our bodies, not our minds.
Midoriki Hano wiggles the tentacle about.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(wiggling the tentacle about)
Yes, he does need to change.
Yes, he does need to change.
Hieron jiggles a bit in response.


Akari glares at Hano.
Akari glares at Hano.


Apheori (GM): Hieron jiggles a bit.
AKARI (AMADI)
Not ''your'' sort.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
...Would you perhaps be able to use a mad squid?
How did we even get here?
Didn't we leave Dave behind as an anchor? Can't we use that somehow?


AKARI (AMADI)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Not ''your'' sort.
That was the anchor from the time and place at Sanessee, but that was for our bodies, not our minds.


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Yes. Okay. Good. Next time we should remember to leave a mind anchor behind too. Brilliant. Don't know why we didn't think of that.
Yes. Okay. Good. Next time we should remember to leave a mind anchor behind too. Brilliant. Don't know why we didn't think of that.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Would you perhaps be able to use a mad squid?


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Line 1,582: Line 883:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
We should... wake him.
We should... wake him.
 
(she shudders a little)
Akari shudders a little.
 
AKARI (AMADI)
I'm not sure I know how to.
I'm not sure I know how to.


Line 1,596: Line 894:


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Hazz'ridan.
(she nods slowly)
Kill him.
Hazz'ridan. Kill him.
 
Ganelon: Or I hope it does, anyway.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Excuse me?!
Excuse me?!
Ganelon: WHOA WHOA WHO
Gaurav: Does Rhu still have his Mask of furry true sight? Or did we leave our possessions behind?
Frezak (GM): Cripes!
Apheori (GM): No mask.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Line 1,619: Line 907:


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
No. But he is already as good as gone. And maybe that will get him out.
No. But he is already as good as gone. And maybe that will get him out while we work on the rest of us.


Apheori (GM): Radek: This is your time to... uh... come up with something better.
Hano eyes Volshikana curiously, but waits for the time being.
>.>
Or Amadi.
 
Ganelon: Um...


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
If it doesn't work, I'll - I'll kill you right back. Or worse! I can do worse.
If it doesn't work, I'll - I'll kill you right back. Or worse! I can do worse.
Wouldn't it be enough to just bury him?
Wouldn't it be enough to just bury him?
Gaurav: Does Amadi have a mental connection with Dave?


Akari mumbles to herself, sort of as an afterthought,
Akari mumbles to herself, sort of as an afterthought,
Line 1,637: Line 919:
AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
I ''could'' do worse...
I ''could'' do worse...
Apheori (GM): Yeah, she does if she wants to.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Bury him in what, the dream?
Bury him in what, the dream?


Ganelon: Radek thinks!
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
As do I.
 
GANASI (RHU)
Whose dream is this anyway? Can we convince them to let us go somehow, and then try to treat Gravy in the real world?
Whose dream is this anyway? Can we convince them to let us go somehow, and then try to treat Gravy in the real world?
Ganelon: So we're in a simulation and our bodies are intact. All that should be necessary is severing the connection between it and our heads, and we should get our heads back.
Apheori (GM): It's a lot darker out now. The sky has gone overcast, grey clouds hanging low with the promise of rain. Pretty much everyone else has gone, for whatever reason.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
It's not mine.
It's not mine.
I mean... it's not even a dream.
I mean... it's not even a dream. Not a proper one.
Not a proper one.
 
Ganelon: Unless this is like our brains have been put in the sim rather than just connected to it.
Then we'd just be trapped forever.


Apheori (GM): Maybe.
It's a lot darker out now. The sky has gone overcast, grey clouds hanging low with the promise of rain. Pretty much everyone else is gone now, and it's not clear when this actually happened.
 
Frezak (GM): Eh, the gods are in here.
I don't ''think'' that they have bodies in the way we do?
As in brains and all that.
It's them!
 
Ganelon: Well.
 
Frezak (GM): It's all their fault!
 
Apheori (GM): Yeah, one them said how they just sort of wound up here, no bodies left behind.
 
Gaurav: Can they use that Dark Sister Network thing to call for help?
 
Ganelon: This is going to sound incredibly callous, but I could always use Rhu as a guinea pig and see what happens.
 
Frezak (GM): Can they try to sleep?
 
Gaurav: That is his job in this party, yes.


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Wait. Tell me about this "book". Is it responsible for our circumstances?
...Wait. Tell me about this "book". Is it responsible for our circumstances?
Ganelon: I know we've encountered it before.
Though I think I messed up the reading of it.
Apheori (GM): Amadi: You might still have access to all the random stuff in your pockets.
Being... in your pockets.
Which don't entirely exist to begin with.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Maybe if... if there was more of me... I mean...
Maybe if... if there was more of me... I mean...


Akari trails off, looking anxious, and then suddenly looking panic-stricken around for the two Squirrels.
Akari trails off, looking anxious, and then suddenly looking panic-stricken around for the two Squirrels. There is no sign of any.


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
The Book of Dreams...
The Book of Dreams...
Gaurav: Amadi: Empty your pockets.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
You had a copy, once. But with that, the way I came to use it, I would open it, and it would take me... places...
You had a copy, once. But with that, the way I came to use it, I would open it, and it would take me... places...
But at first, all it was was words. Words take you places, too. There may be a connection.
(straining to remember)
If I just could think straight!
But at first, all it was was words. Words take you places, too. There may be a connection. If I just could think straight!


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
What would happen if we tried to open a Hole in here?
What would happen if we tried to open a Hole in here?


Apheori (GM): A Squirrel suddenly appears and stares Amadi in the face.
One Squirrel suddenly appears and stares Amadi in the face.


Ganelon: We could... tell a story and see where we end up?
Akari calms immediately and starts digging through her pockets, throwing out... sandwiches, of course; but also a stuffed wyvern, several sporks, butterfly jewellery, a microphone, some anime DvDs, a long letter to Sandy Claws, a shorter letter to Santa Claus, some broken glasses, a bowl of cereal, a glob of porridge which looks suspiciously like Rasputin and bounces up onto her shoulder, two stale cookies, and an entirely blank book.
Gods, don't count on ''Radek'' for that one.


Gaurav: If nothing else, that would attract all the sphinxes in the area. Of which there are probably none.
Akari pounces on the book and just looks at it for a bit.
Remember Gravy's digging-a-hole-in-the-fabric-of-reality trick? Do you think that would work if it was one of us doing it?


Akari calms immediately and starts digging through her pockets, throwing out... sandwiches, of course; but also a stuffed wyvern, several sporks, butterfly jewellery, a microphone, some anime DvDs, a long letter to Sandy Claws, a shorter letter to Santa Claus, some broken glasses, a bowl of cereal, and anything else the GM wants, of course.
AKARI (AMADI)
 
(muttering under her breath)
Apheori (GM): Amadi also pulls out a glob of porridge, which looks suspiciously like Rasputin and bounces up onto her shoulder, two stale cookies, and an entirely blank book.
Please be useful.
 
Ganelon: STUFFED WYVERN
YOU WILL BE MIIIINE
But not here.
Not today.
 
Akari pounces on the book and just looks at it for a bit, muttering under her breath, "Please be useful," before opening it on a random page.
 
Apheori (GM): Amadi: d20
 
Akari:
rolling 1d20
( 13 ) = 13
 
Apheori (GM): Words appear on the page, slowly, as though the ink is coming up through many layers.
 
Frezak (GM): It says "Eat Me"
 
Apheori (GM): It says, "mw.loader.state('the_pope_is_an_atheist_woman_alien', 'missing');"
 
Frezak (GM) gasps.
 
Frezak (GM): The tongue of devils!
 
Gaurav: It says "Hello! My name is Tom Riddle, what's your name?"
 
Frezak (GM): It says "You are in a room"


AKARI (AMADI)
She opens the book to a random page. ''(rolled 13 reality)''
... I am not perfectly sure that's "useful".


Apheori (GM): The words disappear, and are replaced by a diagram of utter madness.
Words appear on the page, slowly, as though the ink is coming up through many layers.
It literally seems to be mapping out madness. Madly.


Gaurav: Hmm.
They say, ''"mw.loader.state('the_pope_is_an_atheist_woman_alien', 'missing');"''


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
''Now'' we're getting somewhere!
...I am not perfectly sure that's "useful".


Amaranthsi tries to read over her shoulder.
The words disappear, and are replaced by a diagram of utter madness. It literally seems to be mapping out madness. Madly.
 
Gaurav: Does it have a little "You are here" sign with an arrow next to it?
 
Frezak (GM):


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
Squirrel, have a look at this.
''Now'' we're getting somewhere! Squirrel, have a look at this.


Apheori (GM): Also Hazz hasn't killed Gravy yet, but she does seem to be losing patience. Slowly.
Amaranthsi tries to read over her shoulder. ''(rolled 24 arcana)'' The map is moving, but mapping it ''to'' anything is harder.


Squirrel looks and then almost immediately points at a spot on the map, but the spot keeps moving.
Squirrel looks and then almost immediately points at a spot on the map, but the spot keeps moving.


SQUIRREL
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
This. No, this. No, it keeps moving!
This. No, this. No, it keeps moving! This!
This!


Akari nods vigorously.
Akari nods vigorously and stares hard at the point Squirrel is trying to pinpoint.


Ganelon: Can I... comprehend this at all?
Radek has a go at relaying what he sees of the map to the squid. ''(rolled 32 arcana)'' The squid doesn't like it. At all. It reacts the same way as it does when something tries to attack him/it.


Apheori (GM): I assume your will is above 13?
Then the squid shows Radek a bit of what it sees: Their bodies unconscious on the ground. Greibel standing over the Gravedigger, plying his unconscious body with drugs and acting very, very worried. The darkness whispering.


Ganelon: Yes.
Amadi pulls at a point on the map, and everything starts moving around it. ''(rolled 19 reality, 21 arcana)''  The rest is being pulled, too, but not so much as the point, like pulling a point up on a sheet.
'Tis 19.


(From Ellemerr): Not entirely sure what I should do with this, of course. It seems like the sort of thing Amadi would understand and use. Could she find the place? Is it a place here? Is it inside someones head?
The world-dream shivers. And then it starts raining.
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: d20 and arcana.
 
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20
( 14 ) = 14
rolling 1d20+16
( 8 )+16 = 24
 
(To Ellemerr): You can try to latch onto the point with your mind and hold it put.
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: You can see the map, and see it move, but mapping it TO anything is harder. Maybe if you had a bomb, you could blast to it...
Make it stay put through an appropriate application of force?
 
(From Ellemerr): I'll do that.
 
Ganelon: Bombs making things stay ''put?''
 
Gaurav: Could Greibel have a look at the map?
 
Ganelon: He really must be going mad.
But aha! I DO have a bomb!
 
Akari stares hard at the point Squirrel is trying to pinpoint.
 
Apheori (GM): Greibel... seems to have wandered off with the locals.
 
Ganelon: As in, even if I don't have my tools, or the not-assembled superbomb, I have my 'bots!
And one of them violently explodes upon death.
 
(To Frezak): Actually Greibel already woke up and he's been drugging your character this whole time with hallucinogens.
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: I suggest trying to get an update on what's going on from the squid.
 
(From Frezak (GM)): Oh. uh, okay, I suppose.
 
(To Frezak): You just went mad on your own, didn't you? Was this what you expected? >.>
 
Ganelon: Sure!
Though I've not known it to be comprehensible in the past.
 
Apheori (GM): Ellemerr: I need... uh, d20 and arcana.
 
Ganelon: ...Hell, why not. I'll try to relate this maddening map to the mad squid.
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: More arcana.
 
(From Frezak (GM)): He went mad because he is mad. He forgot he was the Gravedigger, the persona of which he uses to seperate himself from being an escaped mental patient.
 
Ganelon: Maybe insanity will help it understand.
rolling 1d20+16
( 16 )+16 = 32
 
(From Frezak (GM)): He just reverted, and found himself again.
 
Akari:
rolling 1d20
( 19 ) = 19
rolling 1d20 + 11
( 10 )+11 = 21
 
(To Frezak): Ahahahah, that is awesome.
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: The squid gets the map and doesn't like it. At all.
It reacts the same way as it does when something tries to attack you/it.
Amadi: You pull on a point on the map, and everything starts moving arond it. The rest is being pulled, too, but not so much as the point, like pulling a point up on a sheet.
Everyone: The dream/whatever shivers.
And then it starts raining.
 
Gaurav: ... huh.
 
Frezak (GM): It starts raining WISHES
 
Gaurav: At least it's not fishes.
 
Apheori (GM): Hazz has still not killed Gravy's character.
 
Frezak (GM): Everyone roll to save against being crushed by the futility of countless hopes.
 
Ellemerr: ... I have not noticed time moving for the last hour. >.< I guess I can delay a little longer by eating, since I'm too hungry to sleep, now, but I should really go soon.
 
Gaurav: Is this like Inception? Does this mean the dreamer needs to go to the loo?
 
Apheori (GM): Radek: The squid shows you a bit of what it sees.
 
Ganelon: Uh oh.
 
Apheori (GM): And what it sees is apparently Greibel, in the real world, giving Gravy drugs and acting very, very worried.
Let's see if we can wrap this up.
 
Gaurav: So that's where he went.


Akari grabs Squirrel's hand and stares harder, frowning in a terribly anime-y fashion.
Akari grabs Squirrel's hand and stares harder, frowning in a terribly anime-y fashion.
(To Akari): It occurs to you suddenly that you could just... leave. Step outside. This is all just cloth, after all. A thin veneer of stuff happening...


AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...The book. Of course!
...The book. Of course!


(From Akari): But could I take others with me? Gravy, for instance?
Amaranthsi tries to figure out where they are on the map, but while this doesn't work, he does manage to make out several discrete points on the map that seem to be moving. ''(rolled 19 arcana)'' It's unclear what's what.


Ganelon: It's our interface! ''Maybe!''
Amaranthsi gives a point, any old point, or maybe it's not even a point, but it's definitely at least ''something'', a big ol' yank. ''(rolled 18, 19 arcana)''


Gaurav: A map of madness is our interface? That ... would make sense.
At the same time, Midoriki Hano kills Hieron.


(To Akari): You could try.
Ganelon: Okay.
I need to locate... us.
(From Akari): Let the others try this other thing first. Might be cool.
Apheori (GM): Arcana!
Ganelon: And if everything's all moving about, yeah, I will totally detonate my robot to fix that. If that can actually help.
rolling 1d20+16
( 3 )+16 = 19
Damn!
Apheori (GM): You make out several discrete points on the map that seem to be moving.
You can... do something with them maybe.
Because magic.
Ganelon: Ah screw it. Desperation move.
We don't need this world to remain stable if we're leaving it.
So he will just start disconnecting/unplugging/removing everything he's able.
But, you know, tell me what the first one does.
Before he ruins everything and then just keeps going.
Gaurav: This is a very tense session.
Apheori (GM) cackles.
Apheori (GM): Give me an arcana and an insight.
AAAGH I NEED BATHROOM.
Apheori (GM) throws a pineapple at Gan.
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20+16 Arcana
( 2 )+16 = 18
Hold on.
I use my action point on that (if you'll allow it).
To reroll that because fuck no, this is important.
Regardless, the insight.
Apheori (GM): Sure.
Ganelon:
rolling 1d20+5
( 5 )+5 = 10
Ganelon sighs.
Ganelon: Rerolled Arcana:
rolling 1d20+16
( 3 )+16 = 19
OKAY.
Apheori (GM): o___o
Okay.
Gaurav: Ouch.
That was physically painful.
Apheori (GM): Amaranthsi Radek gives a point, some point, or maybe it's not even a point, but it's definitely at least ''something'', a big ol' yank.
At the same time, Midoriki Hano kills Hieron.
Everything lurches horribly.
Everything lurches horribly.
Hieron just flickers a bit and then disappears.
Frezak: d20
GANASI (RHU)
(to Midoriki) Did you do it? Did you save him? Is he awake?
(From Akari): - Am I allowed to sidestep into nothing and disappear?
Apheori (GM): The tentacles all sort of disappear at about the same time as all the lurch stops.
Frezak (GM):
rolling 1D20
( 1 ) = 1
WHEEEEE


Apheori (GM): Wheeee!
Hieron just flickers a bit and then disappears, ''(rolled 1 reality)'' and the tentacles fall away as well, leaving only Midoriki Hano looking like an anime schoolgirl.


Gaurav: Um.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Hano)
Did you do it? Did you save him? Is he awake?


Ganelon: FAILURE ALL ROUND, LADS
Midoriki Hano just looks surprised.
 
Apheori (GM): Midoriki looks a bit surprised.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Line 1,983: Line 1,016:
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Okay, that's it. I don't even care anymore.
Okay, that's it. I don't even care anymore. Radek! Bombs!
Radek! Bombs!


Ganelon: Is that an order or is she going to provide bombs?
Volshikana hands Amaranthsi a pair of large bombs. He takes one and considers the map.


AKARI (AMADI)
AKARI (AMADI)
I'm going after him.
I'm going after him.


Akari takes a step to the side, and... something might happen. Maybe.
Akari sidesteps into nothing, stepping outside the cloth of the world-dream, outside of the thin veneer of stuff happening, and simply disappears. ''(rolled 22 arcana)''
 
Apheori (GM): Gan: Feel free to keep yanking on the map.
Otherwise Volshikana will give you a bomb.
 
Ganelon: No, no, I'll take the bomb.
 
Apheori (GM): Akari: Arcana.
 
Akari:
rolling 1d20 + 11
( 11 )+11 = 22
 
Apheori (GM): Akari: You find yourself in Midnight. But this was all also Midnight anyway. A dream made up of a piece of it?
Anyhow, he's got to be around here somewhere...


Ganasi just looks around at everybody with a mix of confusion and panic in his face.
Ganasi just looks around at everybody with a mix of confusion and panic in his face.
Apheori (GM): Akari becomes just Amadi again, and heads off into th black....
Ganelon: Okay, how do I use a bomb to create stability from this mess?
Akari starts searching frantically and calling for Gravy in many, many voices.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana) Go after him! Find him!
(to Volshikana)
Go after him! Find him!


VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Er...
Er...
(to Hano)
Keep them safe?


GANASI (RHU)
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Volshikana) Take me with you! I can help!
Take me with you! I can help!
 
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Keep them safe.


Volshikana shakes her head at Ganasi and disappears.
Volshikana shakes her head at Ganasi and disappears.


Apheori (GM): Gan: You...
Radek directs the bomb beneath the map of madness, and sets it off, pushing the explosion into the book, and out the other side. ''(rolled 20 reality)''
Uh...
Make something up and roll something and we see where the whims of irreality take us. >.<
 
Ganelon: ''You'' suggested it.
Right, let's start with a d20 because bonuses are ephemeral anyways.
rolling 1d20
( 20 ) = 20
Cool.
 
Apheori (GM): Blow EVERYTHING UP!
 
Ganelon: Wish I had you SOONER
 
Apheori (GM): Or something. Do you want to do that?
 
Ganelon: More like "out" if that can be managed.
 
Apheori (GM): Blast a hole out?
 
Ganelon: If I could just blow the crazy right off this map, that'd be cool.
 
Apheori (GM): Where do you direct the map?
What exactly do you do?
Er, the bomb.
 
Ganelon: Well, pulling seems to have an effect.
So "beneath".
Let's get us a subsurface detonation.
 
Apheori (GM): Okay. Radek sets y'all up the bomb, pushing the explosion into the book, under the map.
 
Ganelon: And then he points it away from himself.
Because obvious safety precautions ought to be observed.
 
Apheori (GM): The explosion is immediate and horrifying, and generally away.
 
Ganelon: And subtle ones like "don't set off bombs within their blast radius" ignored.


Apheori (GM): The dream just ''shreds''.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): And he points it away from himself. Because obvious safety precautions ought to be observed.
'''''Ganelon''' (Radek): And subtle ones like "don't set off bombs within their blast radius" ignored.


Ganelon: Fuck yeah.
The explosion is immediate and horrifying, but also decidedly elsewhere.


Gaurav: Eeks.
The world-dream just ''shreds''.


MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Welcome to the true dead end.
Welcome to the true dead end. An illusion.
An illusion.
 
Apheori (GM): And then everything is gone.
 
Apheori (GM): In all seriousness, this isn't the end.
You just... blew up the thing you were in.
I suppose you can just wake up or whatever next time.
 
Gaurav: And a fictional rhino.
 
Frezak (GM): Poor rhino.
 
Apheori (GM): Also, Amadi, I need three d20s.


Ganelon: I specialize in showing a highly irresponsible disregard for the stability of the worlds I inhabit, don't I?


Apheori (GM): XD
EXT. Midnight


Ganelon: "Get him out now? OKAY!"
Akari finds herself in Midnight, but almost immediately 'Akari' falls away and she's Amadi once more.
'''YANK.'''


Amadi:
Except this time she is alone. This time, she has brought only herself, only the idea of Amadi, the notion, the need. She's here to find him. Yes. The one.
rolling 1d20
( 12 ) = 12
rolling 1d20
( 16 ) = 16
rolling 1d20
( 13 ) = 13


Frezak (GM): Radek explodes into 12 pieces, Rhu explodes into 16 pieces, Amadi explodes into 13 pieces.
Akari starts searching frantically and calling for Gravy in many, many voices. ''(rolled 12, 16, 13 reality)''


Gaurav: YAY! I WIN!
He's here. Somewhere. She just can't find him, and as she searches, the vastness only broadens, for there is too much, too much. But she's not lost. She knows where she's going, searching the black between universes, the sheer nothing that is the everything of Midnight, and she gets the sense, even, that she's done this before.


Apheori (GM): Okay, Amadi, you don't find Gravy.
But you also don't get lost.
You're searching the black between universes, the sheer nothing that is the everything of Midnight, and you get the sense, even, that you've done this before.
Or perhaps after.
Or perhaps after.
You can keep going, but then, especially as small as you are now, you may only increase your chances of getting lost.
But you could also keep going, maybe find him, maybe prove it can be done, because after all the others you've condemned you need it to be possible...


Apheori (GM): But that's not you anyway. This is you, and that's him. It's all up to you what you do now.
And so she continues on, search, searching, not giving up on the one known as Gravedigger. He is here. Somewhere.
 
</screenplay>
Ellemerr: Not going to give up on Gravy. If I'm reasonably sure this is where he is, I'll keep going.
Also sleeping.
 
Apheori (GM): You're sure he's... somewhere.
HEre. Yes.
Aiight, you're off doing that.
</pre>


{{holes nav
{{holes nav

Latest revision as of 15:23, 19 August 2015

≪ PreviousNext ≫
Session 51 (raw log) (Overview)
This dream is not like the others.
The Gravedigger Dreams. (26 against will)
: Your name is Hieron Maranthana. You are a third-year student at Sa Karana High, well-liked, and out-going in a curt sort of way. While you are relatively athletic for your class, overall your appearance is fairly normal aside from the blue hair and the shovel you carry with you pretty much everywhere you go.
: Your friends have remarked on this, and rather disapproved, but despite all their concern that having the blue hair was a bad enough sign already, and that having a shovel on top of that would only make it that much more certain that you would become some sort of protagonist, you would not be pursuaded to desist. It is your shovel, and it is important to you.
: This is who you are.
Rhu Dreams. (16 against will)
: Your name is Ganasi Miri. You are a second-year student at Sa Karana High, a bit awkward, but friendly and fairly well accepted, though you have no specific social circle and no close friends. For an iera, you look quite normal. So normal, in fact, that the thing people notice is how utterly unnoticeable you are. Usually you just laugh, but sometimes... sometimes it gets to you, just a little.
: You put most of your energy into your studies. After all, that's what you're all here for - to prepare for your lives in full. So you do, and it works, and your grades have stayed up and then some, though while you're the top of your class, you're still not quite at the top of the school.
: That unfortunate honour goes to Amaranthsi Nisholian. He looks like L.
: Except that's not right. None of that is right. As far as you can recall, you were somewhere else not so long ago. Some planet called Cerris. Investigating some holes. In a hole, practically, with everything all weird and black and falling to pieces around you. You had a god with you, another one - it's getting a little hard to keep track of them all - and Radek was going to close the hole one way or another.
: Whatever happened with that?
Radek Dreams. (28 against will)
: Your name is Amaranthsi Nisholian. You're a fourth-year student at Sa Karana High, and yet despite the fact that you've not even graduated, you're the most competent scientist in the known worlds. Law enforcement organisations and powerful corporations alike seek out your aid on a near constant basis, and you simply have to turn most of them down. Your hair is black as Midnight, but your eyes are even blacker, sunken into deep shadows that creep out some and only entice others. Your face utterly, painfully, refuses to grow a beard.
: You have no real friends, but you do have a fan club consisting of a good two thirds of the school's female population, and almost one third of its male population, and there is almost always a bit of a mob following you around on campus. When they can find you at all, that is. You do have a way of disappearing on them.
: Except the gibbering in your head is telling you that none of this is true.
: No, not in. The gibbering is on your head. You know it's there. You remember the cephalopod's smooth cold feeling, gripping your cranium strongly in an embrace that always came across as strangely non-threatening, except now the feeling is gone. Your head is bare, even though you know it to still be there. Wherever you really are, the cephalopod is still on your head, and it's worried for you.
: And now you remember the hole. The strange light, the darkness, the vertigo. The god who surprised you, the chance to test your creations without anyone to complain... whatever happened with that? Did you even make it that far? You don't think you did.
: You were just walking. And then this.
Greibel Dreams, but this is hardly unusual.
: Your name is Kiesthisi Nitheriyamatha. You are a third-year student at Sa Karana High, and you are the drug King of the entire school, the height of cool, the go-to man for parties, enjoyment, and philosophical enlightenment alike. Also diet fads, for whatever reason, though you seem to know less about those than people tend to expect.
:This is a little different. Normally the dreams don't come with character descriptions.
:That's cool.
Amadi Dreams, too, and yet she never dreams. That's the whole point, isn't it?
: Your name is Akari Sudamanshintha. You are a student of some sort at Sa Karana High, except there is no such place, and if it were, you'd not be here at all. This is clearly a dream, but it's not one of yours. And the weird thing is, the particularly weird thing that just doesn't fit anything you know, you don't even know whose it is.
: Perhaps it doesn't belong to anyone? Perhaps it's something else? Would the rest of you know?
: Looking at Squirrel now, you kind of doubt how helpful she's going to be, even compared to usual. There seem almost to be two of her, and she, at least, is entirely convinced of her studentiness, still looking almost exactly the same, but dressed in the uniform: short skirt, funky top, tie. Her bloody red hair sticking out in every direction.
: You look down and you're in the same, though your own colours have changed...


EXT. Commons Green - day
It's a bright, sunny morning. Students - most of the school, in fact - are milling about on the green, the spires of the castle rising behind, with a general air of anticipation about them. Small groups are chattering excitedly. Others are milling around, some going from group to group, others hugging their tablets, others still just standing about, waiting, content to take in the free break.
Among them, scattered about, are Hieron Maranthana, Ganasi Miri, Amaranthsi Nisholian, Akari and Adidstha Sudamanshintha, and Kieshisi Nitheriyamatha.
Some of the students stand out. There is a girl with a tutu on her head, but she's otherwise acting normal enough. Hieron, with his blue hair, is digging a hole, with his friends standing around him in a mix of exasperation and cheering him on, though this is hardly new. Akari and Adidstha, clearly twins, one red-haired and one black, are looking about a bit worriedly, though the red-haired one, Adidstha, just seems to be copying Akari more than anything else. And everyone knows Kiesthisi - the drug King of the school. He's standing there now in a haze of drugs, oddly alone, looking all the more impressive for it.
Ganelon (Radek): "Drug King" sounds more criminal than the reality of it.
The Prince Amaranthsi Fan Club is of course out in force, too, though there's no sign of the prince himself.
The two new girls, Volshikana and Midoriki Hano, are nearby too, standing on something of a hill vaguely in front of the crowd. They're a bit of a mystery - nobody's really sure where they came from, or if they're even iera - they might even be deresi, the whispers go. Whatever the case, they're both beautiful, with incredibly ornate hair, ridiculous accessories, and huge eyes. The huge eyes are key, somehow.
And they won't tell anyone anything.
Amidst the hubbub, Midoriki Hano and Volshikana whisper to each other.
Akari looks around, keeping an eye on Adidstha, watching for anything meaningful, any changes. (rolled 19 perception)
Hieron, with his friends, dispenses various bits of hole-related wisdom while he digs. His friends all seem a bit tired of this, but humour him regardless.
LEAF
(after a bit)
Hieron, when will you be done with that?
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Never! But Even great works can be suspended.
Ganasi's off with his... no, her friends too, doing some sort of dance practice. Or something. She abruptly stops and sidles off to leave.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(turning quickly back to them)
I'll be back in a bit.
Ganasi heads over to Hieron the hole digger.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Hieron)
Psst, it's me. I mean, it's Rhu. How did we get here?
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Hello, friend! We come here every day through that gate over there.
Hieron indicates the main school gate.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Ah, gotcha.
(she nods)
I'll go look for our... classmates, then.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Of course!


EXT. Fence; Commons Green - day
Slightly off to the side of the crowd, Amaranthsi is hiding behind a fence. He still has a decent view of things, but for the moment nobody - especially his fan club - seems to realise he's there.
He instinctively attempts to stroke his beard, but finds none. His dismay is intense.
When the dismay from this realisation passes, he turns it into an inferior ponderous chin-rubbing, mumbling theories at himself.


EXT. Commons Green - day
All at once, the crowd begins the quiet, the general roar of excitement calming down.
On the hill, the two possibly alien new girls are now joined by the class presidents - all five of them - and the headmaster.
HEADMASTER
Students of Sa Karana High!
Today is an auspicious day, for today we welcome two of our own.
Ganasi looks over, paying careful attention. For all she knows, the headmaster might be Radek. The others, too, listen from their various vantages.
HEADMASTER
Blah blah blah stuff reckoning blah stuff!
One of the class presidents steps forward and confiscates the megaphone, giving him an irritated look.
PRESIDENT DANAITAI
But seriously, folks, we've planned this festival for months, and we're having a festival! Having two newcomers makes it that much better, but they're not the only reason we're here!
They're just a slightly better excuse than what we had before.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Which was nothing?
PRESIDENT DANAITAI
Yes!
Come on, let's give them a hearty welcome!
Immediately the students start cheering, and Volshikana and Midoriki Hano start arguing with each other.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Yay! Woooo!
The headmaster throws his arms in the air surprisingly anticlimactically and casts a spell thing, and suddenly a whole lot of festival stuff, complete with snack booths, rides, and a very large rhino, appears behind him.
Then he turns and flees in the opposite direction.
Danaitai gives his back a suspicious look. Two other presidents giggle about something.
PRESIDENT DANAITAI
(back to the assembled students, loudly)
Uh, yeah, PAAARTY.
The assembled students cheer again and move in a huge wave over toward the festival stuff.
Akari goes over to ask Hieron what the aliens were saying, a bit against the tide of bodies, Adidstha following.
Hieron waves.
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
(indicating the aliens)
Those two, what were they saying?
Ganasi and Amaranthsi wind up with them as well, Amaranthsi somehow evading his stalkers.
Hieron good-naturedly relays that the alien girls were apparently arguing about the reality of all of this. Midoriki Hano was saying they need to stop it, that it's bad and stuff. Volshikana, on the other hand, was saying they should maybe play it out. (rolled 31 perception)
Meanwhile the Prince Amaranthsi Fan club suddenly notices that their prince is right there and start crowding around, eeirily silent.
Amaranthsi grumbles.
AMARANTHSI NISHOLIAN (RADEK)
...I am trapped in a horrid nimbus of juvenile adoration. Please tell me at least one of you still has their senses intact.
(he hesitates)
Or whatever passes for them among you, considering.
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
I have two Squirrels. The likelyhood of insanity is substantial.
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
This is all not real! Real insanity!
AKARI SUDAMANSHINTHA (AMADI)
Yes.
Hieron nods at them all and heads off to rejoin his friends and check out the festival stuff.
The others start to trail after, lagging behind.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Um, yes. Nimbus. Right. Is that a rhino?
AKARI (AMADI)
(eyeing the aliens)
...I'm going to talk. To... those things.
Don't get too lost.
The drug King, Kiesthisi, comes up as if out of nowhere and offers Akari a toke. She puts the bong in her hair and heads over toward the aliens.
Ganasi, Amaranthsi, Kiesthisi, and Adidstha all sort of follow her for lack of any better ideas.
On the way, Kiesthisi hums a strange tune, oddly familiar, and very, very out of place.
Amaranthsi attempts magic, just to see if it works right. (rolled 26 arcana) But it doesn't, not exactly. It could just be a thing with the... this. But he could just adjust for it without too much trouble. The cephalopod is very clear on this.
Somehow.
He has a go at identifying what this even is, and finds it to be a dream. (rolled 31 arcana) Sort of. A bit more like a virtual environment than a dream itself, something they've been hijacked into, and there's no indication of what by at all.
Normally there'd be an interface.


EXT. Festival stuff - day
Hieron and his friends wind up in the thick of the festival. Almost immediately one of the others gets distracted by a girl he has a crush on and runs off after her.
The other friends yell encouragement.
LEAF
You get her, Darietsu!
The rest of them wind up at the rhino. It seems very unhappy, and people are trying to ride it, though most of them just fall off almost immediately after. This makes it even more unhappy.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
PLease leave the poor thing alone. It's not happy.
Some of the surrounding students voice their disappointment at this, but others are a bit more supportive. Either way, Hieron is ushered up to the thing, his friends trying to get him to ride it.
Hieron takes the opportunity to examine it. (rolled 17 nature) It looks like a very large specimin of its species, and is apparently not real.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Okay, who put the fake Rhino here? If you're going to make a fake Rhino, at least make it a happy one!
RHINO HANDLERMAN
You need to ride it to make it happy!
Hieron narrows his eyes at the handlerman. (rolled 14 insight) The guy is a nerd from the second year, he seems to mean well enough. It's not clear what he was actually thinking with any of this, aside from 'giant rhinos are cool'.
Hieron stomps off in disgust, holding his shovel prominently. Two of his friends follow, including Leaf.


EXT. Commons Green - day
Akari stops before the aliens.
AKARI (AMADI)
Hi.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Uh... hi.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana)
Don't talk to them, you fool!
AKARI (AMADI)
Why should you not talk to me?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Amadi)
You're... not real.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Yes, we know.
Midoriki Hano looks at Ganasi and frowns curiously.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
You... you look familiar.
Volshikana smacks Midoriki.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Don't listen to him. We are not constructs of this simulation.
I assume neither are the two of you.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Yeah. Not really sure what happened there. You all all right?
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...In some ways.
Amaranthsi silently mourns his beard.
AKARI (AMADI)
It is very strange. I'd ask if this is what dreaming is like for other people, but of course it isn't.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
The others are recognizable enough. Under the circumstances... I take it you are the god? One of you?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Yeah. Hi.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana)
What did you do?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
I didn't do anything. Did I?
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Troubling that you couldn't escape this.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(indicating Hano)
More troubling that she's here, really.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
This is not my dream.
Akari stares hard at Hano to try to figure out who she is. (rolled 21 religion) She is immediately disappointed to find Hano to be Hazz'ridan.
AKARI (AMADI)
(to Hano)
Well, of course it isn't. If it was yours it would've been boring.
Midoriki Hano gives Akari a long, unimpressed look.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Where'd the Gravedigger run off to? He looks like a protagonist.
(to Radek)
Also, nice gaggle.
Akari nods in agreement.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
(frowning)
Yes, it is very persistent.
The fan club is crowding around, watching intently, still silent, but now oddly excited. Rarely are they actually aknowledged.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Hmm.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to a random/prettiest member of gaggle)
So you guys are like, his fans or something?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Oh, please.
Midoriki Hano stomps forward toward them, then suddenly explodes in a mass of tentacles shooting out in every direction, reaching toward all of them, all at once.
The fan club scatters in utter horror.
Ganasi screams.
Amaranthsi jumps a bit, admittedly.
A moment later all the tentacls are gone and Hano is just standing there looking big-boobed and grumpy.
AKARI (AMADI)
(mumbles)
...Show-off.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Heheh.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...E-effective.
AKARI (AMADI)
Not really.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
I... but.. that... you...
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
Boob! Boobs!
Adidstha jumps on Hano and starts fondling her boobs.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
It's you. You're here! You... hey, get off my god!
Akari smirks.
Midoriki Hano twitches angrily and then pushes Adidstha away with one hand, holding her back while the girl tries to swipe at her with too-short arms.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Amaranthsi)
You don't have a camera or something, do you? I'd like to take a picture of this.
Amaranthsi sighs and gets out his tablet. It's different from his real one, but he obliges and takes a few pictures regardless, scowling the whole way through.
Volshikana wraps an arm around Hano and poses for the picture, putting up bunny ears behind the other's head.
Midoriki Hano hisses irritably.


EXT. Festival stuff - day
Hieron and his two friends, Leaf and Tatsuoi, go around gathering up and devouring various random foods. There are a lot of foods around, festival and all.
At some point they all wind up taking part in a pie eating contest against the girl with the tutu on her head.
Frezak (Gravy): Gravy is certain in his dominion over pies.
The first round of pies disappears without incident. Some sort of berry.
The second round of pies... it's uncertain what they are. (rolled 17 nature) They might be some sort of meat.
Tutu girl eats hers almost immediately, but Tatsuoi balks at the meat and drops out.
Hieron and Leaf eat theirs as well.
The third round appears in front of them: pies stacked on top of each other. They each get a piepiepie.


Ext. Commons green - day
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh, cheer up. This isn't the end of the world.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
You're certain of that?
AKARI (AMADI)
There'd be more bunnies if it was.
Akari looks around warily, as if afraid that bunnies might spring from nowhere.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
This is literally the end of the world, you fool! You call yourself King, part of the Dark Sister's elaborate network, and then you just sit back and party?!
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(eyeing Hano flatly)
I'm pretty certain, yes.
Aside from the lack of bunnies, there would also be, well... hmm.
(she looks around)
Well, something, anyway.
GANASI
(rolled 30 religion (natural 20))
The Dark Sister...
Apheori (GM): The Dark Sister, also known as the Founder and the Architect, is the one who created the (local) network of named universes. Hazz'ridan is not a part of it, but he does interact with them on a fairly regular basis due to a bit of an overlap.
Ganelon (Radek): He probably read it on a wiki-surf starting with Hazz'ridan.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Then what is this?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Radek, what is this?
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
To my understanding, we have been forced inside a simulation.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(she nods)
Constructed as some form of dream form, I'd suppose. I have experience with similar, though that is both more... and less.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
It possesses dreamlike qualities, yes, but of course it is not one. I do not dream.
Akari suppresses a laugh into a sort of snort.
Amaranthsi narrows his eyes, though not at anyone in particular.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
The lack of an interface is concerning. It may be intended to keep us here indefinitely.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Not necessarily. In the Book, there isn't really an interface either, normally.
Except why we would even be here... perhaps it is trying to stop us from reaching the hole?
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
What would an interface look like?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
What hole?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Sanessee.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
When?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Then, of course.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Then how...
Volshikana grins slowly and then pokes Hano in the boob.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
You are enjoying this entirely too much.
AKARI (AMADI)
(to Midoriki)
Oh, you're such a boob.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Isn't she?
Amaranthsi rolls his eyes.
Ganelon (Radek): Radek holds the gods to a very high standard. Such as being responsible. It's therefore unsurprising that he doesn't like any of them. Ganelon (Radek): Well... that he knows.
Volshikana does an impression of the teacher in DearS, fondling and juggling her own boobs, complete with 'ooing' and squeaking noises.
Amaranthsi crosses his arms and turns his back. How crass.
Volshikana stops and bursts out laughing.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh, come on. It's anime! Live a little.
AKARI (AMADI)
...I wonder what sleep would be like here. Anime dreams aren't pretty, in my experience.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
I wouldn't advise it. There might be tentacles.
AKARI (AMADI)
(grinning a little)
Some of you should try. Just to make sure.
Midoriki Hano wraps a surreptitious tentacle around Volshikana's shoulders.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(swatting away the tentacle)
Okay, yes, you're right. We do need to sort this out.
AKARI (AMADI)
(shouting very suddenly)
This carnival is not well-oiled!
Ganasi jumps.
Akari decides to ignore the others and turns and runs towards the festival in the direction of Hieron.


EXT. Festival stuff - day
The stacked pies have been eaten, aside from Leaf's. Leaf has also dropped out at this point, so he and the other are both cheering Hieron on against tutu girl.
The next pie is a fried chicken. The pie guy slaps one each down in front of Hieron and the tutu girl.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Excuse me! This isn't a pie! I can tell!
PIE GUY
You have a problem with that?
Tutu girl just eats her chicken and watches.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Yes. It's a pie eating contest. If someone asks you to bury a body, you don't dump a corpse in a cannon, fire it, and call it a day. Who is the manager here? I have rights!
PIE GUY
Would you like to bury the chicken?
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
No! This is a contest! I am contesting! There are rules, you know! You can't get away by breaking the rules!
And when rules are broken, bad things happen to bad people!
Hieron's eyes are becoming slightly unfocussed.
PIE GUY
(leaning forward at Hieron)
The rules... are what I make them.
So eat your pie. Or conceeeeeed.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
This issssn't a p-p-pie.
Hieron jerks upright in his chair.
PIE GUY
Piiiiiie.
Akari and Kiesthisi show up behind Hieron.
Kiesthisi blows a cloud of drug smoke on Hieron.
KIESTHISI (GREIBEL)
Go with the flloooow, man.
Hieron grabs the table and tries to smash the pie guy.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Badthingstobadpeoplebadthingstobadpeoplebadthings
The table flips, flies into the pie guy, and sends bits of pie plate everywhere. Several stuffed animals also go flying.
Akari cheers loudly.
Hieron's friends also cheer.
Kiesthisi starts choking and wanders off.
Hieron leaps at the pie guy and winds up on top of both pie guy and table, the table pinning the pie guy down.
Hieron grabs the pie guy's face and starts bashing the guy's head against the floor over and over again while babbling on the theme of Bad THings and Bad People.
AKARI (AMADI)
(chanting in time to the bashing)
Consequences! Consequences!
People around are starting to notice, and they're screaming, yet none of them actually do anything. It doesn't occur to anyone else that this is not the correct response.


Ext. Commons green - day
They hear a bit of a commotion from the direction of the festival.
Amaranthsi glances off in the direction of the commotion, which just happens to be the direction Akari went. He doesn't even need to see the chaos to know that it's going to happen.
Ganasi just runs toward it.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Well. Shall we see how this plays out?
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Time is still advancing in the real world.
The squid gibbers.
Amaranthsi mentally prods at the squid. (rolled 36 arcana (natural 20)) The response comes with a sense of thoughts, the time, the worry.
Ganelon (Radek): You're a good friend, squiddie. I'm glad I didn't turn you into magic dust.
Amaranthsi nods to himself and follows as Volshikana heads off to check out the commotion of Hieron. Midoriki Hano also follows.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
Mm. I am still in contact with my cephalopod companion.


EXT. Festival stuff - darkening twilight
Ganasi arrives to find Hieron still smashing the pie guy.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Hidehideittheysaid
Covered in blood and brain stuff, Hieron finally stops and looks down to find he's holding mush.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
(gibbering)
Can'tbefoundcantbeseencantbehearddon'ttelldon'tspeakspeakspeak
Hieron yanks at the body, winding up with a large chunk of torso and an arm, and starts to run away with it. (rolled 24 strength)
Akari follows Hieron, now silent, but he doesn't look back. He doesn't look at anyone.
HIERON MARANTHANA (GRAVY)
Don'ttelldon'ttell make it up
Volshikana, Amaranthsi, and Midoriki Hano show up as well.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(to Radek)
Your bodies are still there. Mine isn't, which I suppose might make sense considering it's just a manifestation anyway. Theirs is, though. (indicating Amadi and Squirrel)
Hano Grabs Hieron before he can run away entirely.
Akari tries to bat Hano away.
Hieron responds by attempting to Gore Midoriki Hano, but lacking horns this winds up as a headbutt instead. (rolled 26 vs AC)
This doesn't do much.
Akari tries to punch Hano's nose, but misses. (rolled 20 vs AC)
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...What's wrong with him?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Perhaps it's a reaction to the dream? Tried to push him in a direction contrary to his nature...
Or perhaps it simply was his nature all along.
Hieron, still holding the remains of the corpse in one hand, uses his other to try to grab Hano by the head/throat, gibbering all the while.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
(To Hano)
Do you have this under control?
Midoriki Hano attempts to bring Hieron under control by grabbing his head right back.
Akari kicks Hano on the shin - probably not very hard, if not for lack of trying.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(to Amadi)
Hey, not now. We need to calm him down somehow.
And I'm a little concerned about using my... usual methods in a place like this.
Akari blinks at Volshikana.
AKARI (AMADI)
We do?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Yes.
AKARI (AMADI)
...And this is the best way?
Akari looks very doubtful.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Well, no. I think he's just trying to keep him put for now. Or... something?
Hieron finally drops the corpse and grabs Hano by the leg and lurches backwards, trying to toss her over his back. (rolled 21) This doesn't entirely work, though she loses most of her hold as a result.
AKARI (AMADI)
Oh, please.
(she rolls her eyes)
How about just letting him dig it off?
Hieron grabs the corpse and tries to run off again.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
He's not digging. Quite the opposite
(in an oddly booming voice)
HOLD.
Everything stops, aside from Akari, Amaranthsi, Hano, and Volshikana. It is as thought the entire world-dream is just frozen mid-whatever.
Akari huffs and taps her foot. Crossed arms. All that stuff.
Midoriki Hano walks over to where Gravy had gotten (a few feet away) and then pushes him over.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I am having serious difficulty concentrating. On anything.
Midoriki Hano gestures vaguely at Ganasi and suddenly she resumes moving as well.
Ganasi steps up to try to stop Hieron escaping, but is surprised to find him lying on the ground.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...That's unusual. My thoughts are largely unobstructed.
(he indicates Gravy)
...Distractions aside.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana)
I feel the same, and it is very... aggravating.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Strange.
Akari grins gleefully.
Ganelon (Radek): Are your thoughts hitting a DEAD. END? HMMMMM?
Midoriki Hano gives Amaranthsi a withering look.
Volshikana runs and grabs Hieron's shovel.
Hieron suddenly scrambles up and grabs the remains of the pie guy corpse.
Midoriki Hano wraps Hieron in black tentacles before he can run off again, with only his head poking out.
Hieron gibbers and thrashes about.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Shut. Up.
Midoriki Hano squeezes a bit.
Volshikana hands Amadi the shovel and pushes her toward Hano and Hieron.
Akari bonks Hieron lightly on the head with his shovel, accidentially poking Hano with the shovel as well.
AKARI (AMADI)
Hey. HEY! Gravy! You in there? HELLOOOOO?
Volshikana holds out a hand and seems to be doing some sort of magic.
Midoriki Hano sticks a tentacle in Hieron's head. Hieron goes completely rigid and still.
AKARI (AMADI)
That's a little excessive, don't you think?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
He will not be silent!
AKARI (AMADI)
So?
Volshikana stops what she was doing and comes over as well.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Hey, hey, calm down.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
I take it he's not thinking rationally anymore.
Amaranthsi is still looking in the crowds' direction. They're in panic. The teachers and whatnot, at least, seemed to be trying to coordinate things, though it doesn't look right.
They've also started moving again.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
The others won't bother us, for a while. I still recommend we resolve the problem soon, or relocate.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(a bit more calmly)
He doesn't seem to be thinking at all.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Can you tell what's wrong with him? Exactly?
AKARI (AMADI)
Well, he's stuck, ain't he?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
The madness, the corruption that entered him so innocuously from the first hole, it has finally taken hold.
You need to GET HIM OUT OF HERE.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
We need to get all of us out of here.
Before we lose ourselves.
AKARI (AMADI)
Some of us did that a long time ago. It's not so bad.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
(he shoots a glare at Akari)
Unacceptable.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(giving Akari a worried look)
You did not think that at the time.
Akari shrugs.
AKARI (AMADI)
Am I not allowed to change?
(pointing to Hieron)
He did. He should again.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(wiggling the tentacle about)
Yes, he does need to change.
Hieron jiggles a bit in response.
Akari glares at Hano.
AKARI (AMADI)
Not your sort.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
How did we even get here?
Didn't we leave Dave behind as an anchor? Can't we use that somehow?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
That was the anchor from the time and place at Sanessee, but that was for our bodies, not our minds.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Yes. Okay. Good. Next time we should remember to leave a mind anchor behind too. Brilliant. Don't know why we didn't think of that.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Would you perhaps be able to use a mad squid?
AKARI (AMADI)
I don't know about squids. Maybe?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
We need ideas. There are things I could do, but I fear to actually try them now, because once done, they will not likely work again.
AKARI (AMADI)
We should... wake him.
(she shudders a little)
I'm not sure I know how to.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Using the squid, can you communicate?
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
In a limited fashion.
It is difficult to relate concepts to the creature, though I suspect it does possess intelligence.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
(she nods slowly)
Hazz'ridan. Kill him.
AKARI (AMADI)
Excuse me?!
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...What?
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Are you... sure?
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
No. But he is already as good as gone. And maybe that will get him out while we work on the rest of us.
Hano eyes Volshikana curiously, but waits for the time being.
AKARI (AMADI)
If it doesn't work, I'll - I'll kill you right back. Or worse! I can do worse.
Wouldn't it be enough to just bury him?
Akari mumbles to herself, sort of as an afterthought,
AKARI (AMADI)
I could do worse...
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Bury him in what, the dream?
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Whose dream is this anyway? Can we convince them to let us go somehow, and then try to treat Gravy in the real world?
AKARI (AMADI)
It's not mine.
I mean... it's not even a dream. Not a proper one.
It's a lot darker out now. The sky has gone overcast, grey clouds hanging low with the promise of rain. Pretty much everyone else is gone now, and it's not clear when this actually happened.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...Wait. Tell me about this "book". Is it responsible for our circumstances?
AKARI (AMADI)
Maybe if... if there was more of me... I mean...
Akari trails off, looking anxious, and then suddenly looking panic-stricken around for the two Squirrels. There is no sign of any.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
The Book of Dreams...
You had a copy, once. But with that, the way I came to use it, I would open it, and it would take me... places...
(straining to remember)
But at first, all it was was words. Words take you places, too. There may be a connection. If I just could think straight!
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
What would happen if we tried to open a Hole in here?
One Squirrel suddenly appears and stares Amadi in the face.
Akari calms immediately and starts digging through her pockets, throwing out... sandwiches, of course; but also a stuffed wyvern, several sporks, butterfly jewellery, a microphone, some anime DvDs, a long letter to Sandy Claws, a shorter letter to Santa Claus, some broken glasses, a bowl of cereal, a glob of porridge which looks suspiciously like Rasputin and bounces up onto her shoulder, two stale cookies, and an entirely blank book.
Akari pounces on the book and just looks at it for a bit.
AKARI (AMADI)
(muttering under her breath)
Please be useful.
She opens the book to a random page. (rolled 13 reality)
Words appear on the page, slowly, as though the ink is coming up through many layers.
They say, "mw.loader.state('the_pope_is_an_atheist_woman_alien', 'missing');"
AKARI (AMADI)
...I am not perfectly sure that's "useful".
The words disappear, and are replaced by a diagram of utter madness. It literally seems to be mapping out madness. Madly.
AKARI (AMADI)
Now we're getting somewhere! Squirrel, have a look at this.
Amaranthsi tries to read over her shoulder. (rolled 24 arcana) The map is moving, but mapping it to anything is harder.
Squirrel looks and then almost immediately points at a spot on the map, but the spot keeps moving.
ADIDSTHA SUDAMANSHINTHA (SQUIRREL)
This. No, this. No, it keeps moving! This!
Akari nods vigorously and stares hard at the point Squirrel is trying to pinpoint.
Radek has a go at relaying what he sees of the map to the squid. (rolled 32 arcana) The squid doesn't like it. At all. It reacts the same way as it does when something tries to attack him/it.
Then the squid shows Radek a bit of what it sees: Their bodies unconscious on the ground. Greibel standing over the Gravedigger, plying his unconscious body with drugs and acting very, very worried. The darkness whispering.
Amadi pulls at a point on the map, and everything starts moving around it. (rolled 19 reality, 21 arcana) The rest is being pulled, too, but not so much as the point, like pulling a point up on a sheet.
The world-dream shivers. And then it starts raining.
Akari grabs Squirrel's hand and stares harder, frowning in a terribly anime-y fashion.
AMARANTHSI (RADEK)
...The book. Of course!
Amaranthsi tries to figure out where they are on the map, but while this doesn't work, he does manage to make out several discrete points on the map that seem to be moving. (rolled 19 arcana) It's unclear what's what.
Amaranthsi gives a point, any old point, or maybe it's not even a point, but it's definitely at least something, a big ol' yank. (rolled 18, 19 arcana)
At the same time, Midoriki Hano kills Hieron.
Everything lurches horribly.
Hieron just flickers a bit and then disappears, (rolled 1 reality) and the tentacles fall away as well, leaving only Midoriki Hano looking like an anime schoolgirl.
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
(to Hano)
Did you do it? Did you save him? Is he awake?
Midoriki Hano just looks surprised.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
I... don't know.
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Oh dear.
Okay, that's it. I don't even care anymore. Radek! Bombs!
Volshikana hands Amaranthsi a pair of large bombs. He takes one and considers the map.
AKARI (AMADI)
I'm going after him.
Akari sidesteps into nothing, stepping outside the cloth of the world-dream, outside of the thin veneer of stuff happening, and simply disappears. (rolled 22 arcana)
Ganasi just looks around at everybody with a mix of confusion and panic in his face.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
(to Volshikana)
Go after him! Find him!
VOLSHIKANA (KYRULE)
Er...
(to Hano)
Keep them safe?
GANASI MIRI (RHU)
Take me with you! I can help!
Volshikana shakes her head at Ganasi and disappears.
Radek directs the bomb beneath the map of madness, and sets it off, pushing the explosion into the book, and out the other side. (rolled 20 reality)
Ganelon (Radek): And he points it away from himself. Because obvious safety precautions ought to be observed. Ganelon (Radek): And subtle ones like "don't set off bombs within their blast radius" ignored.
The explosion is immediate and horrifying, but also decidedly elsewhere.
The world-dream just shreds.
MIDORIKI HANO (HAZZ'RIDAN)
Welcome to the true dead end. An illusion.


EXT. Midnight
Akari finds herself in Midnight, but almost immediately 'Akari' falls away and she's Amadi once more.
Except this time she is alone. This time, she has brought only herself, only the idea of Amadi, the notion, the need. She's here to find him. Yes. The one.
Akari starts searching frantically and calling for Gravy in many, many voices. (rolled 12, 16, 13 reality)
He's here. Somewhere. She just can't find him, and as she searches, the vastness only broadens, for there is too much, too much. But she's not lost. She knows where she's going, searching the black between universes, the sheer nothing that is the everything of Midnight, and she gets the sense, even, that she's done this before.
Or perhaps after.
And so she continues on, search, searching, not giving up on the one known as Gravedigger. He is here. Somewhere.


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Session 51 (Overview)
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There's nothing more reassuring than realising that the world is crazier than you are.