Heroica RPG - Quest #86: Gaiden

[Kintobor]

While looking through the boxes, Karie juts the documents in front of Octavyn.

"Read it, and pass it to the others. They need to know what they're getting into."

Unlike what Thothwick did... idiot.

[Cryos]

Baradock looks at the vial from several ridiculous angles, still unable to discern what the liquid was.

He held it out to the emerald light, covering different portions and revealing them, trying to make it divulge its purpose to him.

'Ussse your brain if you have one. What isss it?' His mind was at it again. And now it held the voice of a snake...

"This Doppel... it was human... at one point they took a man, and turned him into... this thing. Using that... black liquid you're holding, barbarian."

She points to the vial Baradock was holding.

Baradock slightly jumped at the break in silence of the witch, and then turned to the vial again. He slid it into his pouch.

He would dispose of it once they were out of this infernal hell on earth.

Shaken, he moved to the torch, unsettling it from its placing. Elevating it so that the party around him could still see.

[Endgame]

Octavyn skims the documents. Even below the black mesh of his mask, the party could see his eyes widening, than narrowing into slits with every passing sentence. His shoulders begin to sag, as if defeated. He addresses the party, not averting his gaze from the documents.

"So. Quick briefing. The Harvester was the weapon that Masson - head of the Syndicate and that purple gent - built and used. Karie convinced him to smash it. In the right hands, it is nonlethal, doesn't require mcuh physcial contact, and can disable hearing, taste, sight, sound, touch, and common sense for breif periods of time. In the wrong hands, it could bisect and blind someone at the same time. Masson was the right hands, but even he saw how sinister the damn thing was, and crushed it.

Apparently, whatever freakshow is pulling the strings behind this place took a little walk around Masson's head and copied down the schematics. Now, whoever the "Master" beind this plot is, the guy clearly has resources: In all likelihood, he will be making several dozen, if not hundreds of Harvesters, if given the time. On the postive time, they'll still have to tweak the design; A nonethal weapon isn't all that useful to a group that clearly has intent to kill.

...I'm debating on whethe ror not to tell Masson about this one."

[Waterbrick Down]

"Well we'd best figure out where he is then, or at least his underlings. Nothin' worse than a soddin' mad man with a soddin' mad weapon." Skrall swigged a Mead before pushing open the next door.

[Kintobor]

Karie downs a Mead.

"Let's get this finished with."

Karie looks over at Octavyn, looking a little upset.

"If your going to tell him about this... wait until tomorrow. For me."

[Endgame]

Nothin' worse than a soddin' mad man with a soddin' mad weapon.

"Something tells me whoever is pulling the strings is anything but human. Demons would never accept a human as their Master..."

"If your going to tell him about this... wait until tomorrow. For me."

"Any reason why, exactly?"

[Kintobor]

"Well... um... he got tickets for the revival of this opera I really like... and I think he said dinner at this restaurant... and then I think we're going back to my place afterwards... so maybe wait two days, actually? What time is it?"

Her face grew red as she whispered into Octavyn's ear, or where his ear should be. She straightened herself, and twiddled her gloved thumbs.

[Endgame]

"Oh, the whole works, eh? Mid to late afternoon right now, currently - I'm guessing we'll have this wrapped up by sunset. I won't ruin the evening for you two... Although dragging you three into this whole demon debacle probably makes for a pretty bad day, huh?

I'll tell the bossman when he clocks in for work tomorrow.

Huh, never noticed your face could turn that red. Must've been the white make-up.

[Cryos]

Baradock oddly eyed the two syndicate members, seeing them exchange secrets. He shook his head and followed behind the ogre, taking the torch with him. Plunging the room into darkness.

He wasn't too proud to admit it, but at this exact moment in time, he thought of these strangers just as well as he thought of his brothers in arms.

'Even the witch!?' his mind snake rang, in honest disbelief.

'Even the witch.' he responded.

'Your going crazy, Baradock. Look at you, your even beginning to talk to yourssself.'

He looked about him, why was he talking to himself? This place was really getting to him...

[Waterbrick Down]

"Something tells me whoever is pulling the strings is anything but human. Demons would never accept a human as their Master..."

Skrall thought back on his other adventures under the city of Heroica. "Ya'd be surprised."

[Endgame]

Baradock oddly eyed the two syndicate members, seeing them exchange secrets. He shook his head and followed behind the ogre, taking the torch with him. Plunging the room into darkness.

He wasn't too proud to admit it, but at this exact moment in time, he thought of these strangers just as well as he thought of his brothers in arms.

'Even the witch!?' his mind snake rang, in honest disbelief.

'Even the witch.' he responded.

'Your going crazy, Baradock. Look at you, your even beginning to talk to yourssself.'

He looked about him, why was he talking to himself? This place was really getting to him...

"You look conflicted there, Baradock."

Skrall thought back on his other adventures under the city of Heroica. "Ya'd be surprised."

"The world is full of surprises, it seems. What human was beind the ploy you helped foil?"

[Waterbrick Down]

"The world is full of surprises, it seems. What human was beind the ploy you helped foil?"

"Long story, let's just say it involved a bunch of running around, an enchanted floor, a portal to another dimension, and a bat brained witch named Wren."

[Kintobor]

"Oh, the whole works, eh? Mid to late afternoon right now, currently - I'm guessing we'll have this wrapped up by sunset. I won't ruin the evening for you two... Although dragging you three into this whole demon debacle probably makes for a pretty bad day, huh?

I'll tell the bossman when he clocks in for work tomorrow.

Huh, never noticed your face could turn that red. Must've been the white make-up.

"It's not the best of days, no. I've been in worse though."

Her mind raced back to that day in the woods, her time in that dingy cell being heckled by the Apprentice, dealing with Thothwick and to a lesser extent Dyric.

"Thanks. I know he won't like hearing it, but he needs to know."

Karie braces herself for whatever lies beyond the next door. It filled her with tension and nervousness. She looked over at the barbarian.

"You best drink that mead if you still got it."

[Endgame]

Straightneing his posture, his hand drifting to his sheathed corseque, Octavyn follows Bradock and Skrall forward.

"One step closer to the final confrontation, it seems."

The party steps through the door, but instead of encountering the haywire Doppel, they find something else entirely...

Black ink, splattered across the wall - being an almost perfect match to the vial of black plasm. Odd, dimly glowing eyes float in the puddles of black goo... These were remains of some sort of creature. Karie can recall vividly this horrid substance, being the smae thing that stained her when she stabbed the Oculoids to death.

[Kintobor]

Karie stops, looking the black masses over. She remembered their crud dripping over her, covering her like a blanket. She walks up to a puddle and pokes her Fire Staff about it, ensuring it's still dead.

"I had about four of these things inky puss covering me by the time I dealt with them. Even after I washed most of it off, I still got scars that won't leave."

[Endgame]

"Wait a second. These a re demon remains? Just not more of that black vial we saw earlier?"

It was becoming clear to Octavyn that he was almost out of his element. Almost, but not quite.

"If these are the experimentors remains, then, we can only presume one thing: Doppel got free. And if he isn't in this lab, he could be absolutely anywher ein Eubric... A deranged killing machine on the loose."

Karie pokes around the black puddles of goo, determining they were quite dead.

[Cryos]

Baradock crouched near the nearest puddle. Dipping his index and middle fingers in the black ink.

He reared it up to his eyes, holding an expression as if he saw something deep inside the goo. If the Doppel got free, that must mean...

As if compelled by some other force, Baradock abruptly rushed to the other end of the room, swinging the door open with his forearm.

[Waterbrick Down]

"Like I said there's nothin' worse than..." Skrall stopped short as Baradock rushed forwrard. The ogre unstrapped his long bow from his back, "Well, looks like things are about to get interestin'. Come on ya two, Octavyn ya'd best have those seditives ready."

Edited November 24, 2013 by Waterbrick Down

[Kintobor]

"Great. A shapeshifter out on the streets with arms that turn into weapons. It's like everything that can go wrong, does, and always will, go wrong."

Karie watches as Barradock charges for the door.

"He certainly gets around quickly, that's for sure."

Karie follows behind the hulking ogre, partially for cover, partially because she was less than thrilled to confront what possibly lay behind the door. However, she stays behind Octavyn, leading the back of the group.

[Endgame]

Baradock rushes forward through the ink-stained corridor, throwing the door open with a shove from his forearm. It slams open, nearly shattering its weak hinges... But the noise doesn't seem to alert the abomination lurking inside the room...

The room is claustrophobia incarnate - it was big enough to hold more than the five people standing in it, but it seemed almost as if the walls were closing in... The stench of death was heavy in the air, a suffocating smell.

However, the sights and smells of the tiny chamber were dwarfed by the creature inside of it: His complexion was pitch black, a glassy membrane protecting his chest. He seemed to be composed entirely out of ink and black mist, vague hints of a skeletal system poking through his spindly frame.

He leans his head on the wall, clutching to the sides chamber, breathing heavily and quivering - as if trying to get a grip on reality.

He has not yet noticed the heroes...

[Kintobor]

Karie simply looks the creature over. It was quite... pitiful. It was still down right terrifying in one huge roll of spine-tinglingly creepy package, but still, it invoked a sense of remorse, as if it didn't need to end the way it did. She decides against unfurling her whip, and slowly draws Sexy.

"Well... we found him. If he can be even called a he anymore..."

[Endgame]

Doppel suddenly lurches around, turning to the origin of the sound. He faces the heroes, still clutching at the wall.

"What the - who are you and what are you...?! Are you another one of those experimentors?"

[Cryos]

Baradock unanticipatedly froze, his eyes locked on the pitiful abomination that inhabited the room.

A cold sweat traveled down his forehead. He kept the torch jutted toward the mutant. But his other hand lingered of the hilt of his club.

He slightly turned his head keeping one eye on the Doppel and the other looking at the party for some kind of a response.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Cryos

[Kintobor]

Slowly, she puts Sexy back in it's place, motioning for Barradock to do the same. She had one shot at this.

"No... we're not. You look confused. Can one of us perhaps help?"

[Endgame]

Doppel straightens his posture, but begins to tread towards a corner, as if he was a mouse about to be devoured by a cat.

"No... No, you can't help me. This can't be possible... This isn't possible... This is a dream. This a dream, an illusion, and none of you are real. The experimentors used to thrust me into an illusion, a dream, and made me kill all the people inside of it to get out... After that, would give me a nice prick of that yellow potion stuff... It made me feel all warm and happy inside."

Doppel's face seems to controt into a growing rage.

"I'm right, aren't I?! You aren't real! If you're real, then prove it!"

The poor thing had no concept of reality anymore - the Oculoids destoryed everything he had. His name, his memories, his body, his sanity... All gone.