Play@YSDC

It takes a while, probably several hours although it's difficult to know as for some reason all your watches are telling different times, and some difficulty as the map seems to tell you to take this turn only to find it ends in nothing, and when you check the map it seems to have been indicating another path altogether. But eventually, somewhat exhausted and ill tempered;

You notice a change in the vegetation at this spot. The trees all seem twisted, almost as if they were rebelling against their natural shape. The air feels thin, as if you have suddenly climbed many hundreds of feet in altitude. Off in the distance you hear a wind blowing.

OOC:   Please make the following rolls: Natural History +10% and Spot Hidden[/ooc] Ahead is an enormous cave, a gaping hole in the earth more than two hundred feet wide. You hear the howl of wind rising from the depths of the cave. Standing outside the cave are five pillars of stone, making a rough ring about thiry feet in diameter. The trees and the grass seem strange here, bushes grow in unatural spirals that draw the eye...

Francis feels that the place isn't natural, but without any concrete proof or noticing anything else.



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Bridget, face paled by the clear exertion the trek has taken on her, approaches the circle of stones warily. She allows her hand to rest upon one and examines it curiously.

"What purpose could these have Francis?" she asks.

Professor Krugman... Natural History 01 success; Spot Hidden 55 success.

rolls,Natural History +10% = ??? [dice]0[/dice] and Spot Hidden = 65% [dice]1[/dice]

knowing nothing about natural history and caring even less, Ted does spot something.

"I guess this would be the Cave of Winds."

Paul looks around taking in the scene in front of him

Priest,Nature roll 0+10% = [dice]0[/dice] not sure what my chance is because this is not a listed skill for me, spot hidden 50% chance roll = [dice]1[/dice] so both of these are failures

"Yeah, this must be the place," says Tony. He studies the flora carefully and gives his surroundings a good going over.

OOC:   Those who made the Natural History are aware that the vegetaion they are seeing has no precedence in nature. And those who made the Spot Hidden notice that the tops of the trees are swaying as if in a wind, yet there is no breeze to be felt.

Looking into the long opening of the cave you can see some of the dark interior from which a strong wind seems to issue, blowing in all directions at once but not extending beyond the defined by the outermost of the standing stones.

There is something deeply disturbing about the site, something that has the short hairs on the nape of your neck erect. From somewhere you hear a deep throaty chuckle, it seems to come from everywhere at once and from nowhere in particular...

Bridget,The stone feels warm and seems to pulse.

"These plants ain't natural," says Tony. "And look at the trees! They're blowing, but there's no wind! We're gonna need some light in that cave. I've got a cigarette lighter, but it'll get too hot to hold if I keep it lit all the time. Maybe we can make a torch or something."

-Do we really need to enter this place? Is there any proof that anyone have come to here?- says Francis suddenly less secure.

Professor Krugman: This is a remarkable place. As educated people we owe it to mankind to make an investigation.

Ted looks around for some dead branches on the ground that could make a decent torch. "This might work, but we should really use some cloth and fuel if we have anything like that to make it last longer."

At the sound of the guttural laughter, Bridget jerks her hand from the stone and steps back instinctively.

"With all due respect Professor," she says, rubbing her hand. "I agree with Francis. We're not here on a scientific expedition. We're here to find Veronica. What makes you think she's in there?"

Her eyes drift once more towards the cave's great maw while the words of the parchment echo in her mind.

'...the curse of your Master...'

"Good point" Ted says. "Miss Veronica, are you in there?" he asks rather loudly cupping his hands in an attempt to penetrate the wind and darkness.

Teds words echo within the darkness of the cave, distorted by the strange winds into an almost unrecognisable language. If Veronica had been here she left no sign, in fact there is no sign on the ground that anyone had ever been here.

Francis,make a[b] Spot Hidden +10%[/b] please.

"We can always tear our sleeves for some cloth," says Tony, "and I can use some of the lighter fluid as fuel. I think we have to go in that cave. It's important, and it's the only point of interest around here. It's either that or wander around lost in the woods until we die."

Francis doesn't see anything of interest.

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As Bridget regards the cave warily, something catches her eye.

Paul noticing that Bridget is focusing her look at some thing walks up behind her and looks in the same direction to try to see what she is looking at

Spot Hidden,[dice]0[/dice]a failure, the RNG really dosent like me this game :D

Professor Krugman wonders what Bridget has seen.

Bridget,You look around and up, to see something hanging from a tree branch above the cave entrance. At first you think its human then it moves strangely as if in answer to a strong wind, yet you feel none. As it does so you realise that what you are looking at is a childs kite painted to look like a armoured warrior of ancient Japan. It turns in the wind to face you and as it does it grins, sharp teeth bared. Please make a Sanity Roll +10.

It is obvious that Bridget has seen something. But before you have a chance to look where she is looking, the same deep throaty chuckle you heard before comes drifting from the cave entrance. It is getting nearer.

Ted puts his hand in his pockets and pulls out the pistol loading it, but keeping it pointed down. "Ok, what the hell was that?"

Tony positions himself between Bridget and the cave entrance, facing the entrance and raising his fists in a boxing stance. He's more than capable of fighting unarmed, and he's glad that he gave Ted the gun so that they can both fight effectively.

Paul pulls out the stiletto and then positions himself on the right side of Tony and ahead of him by a half step or so in order to allow both him and Tony to get swings in on whatever is coming at them, he then takes a deep breath to calm his nerves and prepare his mind for the fight that appears to be coming.

Professor Krugman: "Some kind of prankster I suspect. Japanese Noh theatre revels in ghouls and ghosties and slapstick humour. It was never to my taste."

He continues: "I SAY, YOU IN THERE. COME OUT NOW! WE ARE GENTLEMEN AND NOT AFRAID OF YOU."

Bridget's feels the increasingly familiar twisting of reality contort and flex in her scrambling mind as her senses seem to collide in a kaleidoscopic mural of terror. She stumbles backward, hands held aloft in a vain attempt to block out the horrific image that hang before her. Her jaw works rapidly, opening and closing but seemingly unable to usher forth anything beyond a high piteous wail.

[Spoiler-Button]Bridget.
Apologies I should have added 1/1d6 failure.[/Spoiler-Button]

As Bridget staggers obviously shocked by what she has seen. The chuckling grows nearer and nearer until a strangely dressed figure emerges from the cave. Covered in some form of armoured plates the figure looks like something out of a Japanese history book. He would be quite comical if not for the two swords thrust into his sash and the long wicked bladed spear he holds pointing downward at the ground. He halts shouts something in Japanese, which you guess isn't hello, and begins a complicated move that ends with the long bladed spear pointing towards you. He stops, grins, and says in a broad American accent, "Hi honey I'm home!"...

"Not a prankster," says Tony, keeping a wary eye on the samurai. "More like a lunatic. There sure seem to be a lot of them in these parts. Lunacy and weapons don't mix well."

Paul replies to the gentleman in Japanese

priest,[color=#0000FF]"We are not looking for a fight we are looking for a lost girl who is a friend of ours"[/color]

Ted takes 2-3 steps back to stay out of range of the lunatic with a spear.

priest,I look for a spot on the body not covered in the armor. A leg or arm. If he looks like he is going to thrust or throw the spear I'll take 1 shot at a non-vital area, like a leg or arm. I should be in point blank range which puts me at like 120% to hit. But only if he looks like he is going to attack. I take a mental count of all our people to make sure no one is missing. In case one of our people is the Samurai. I don't think they are, but with the games going on, I'm being triple careful.

"Stop right there, Johnny, and drop the spear." Ted says.

Professor Krugman: Put the spear down!

The samurai smiles. Again he makes an intricate movement with the naginata whirling it above his head, behind his back then slaming the butt hard to the ground, "Okay Johnie, spear him down".
He grins showing a full set of incredibly white and sharp looking teeth.

To Paul's Japanese he shows no response, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on Ted. However he must have heard and understood as he answers without giving any indication of having done so.

"Typical American tourists always looking for a girl...No girl here Paul san, merely answers within" he raises the naginata and uses it to point toward the cave opening.

From within the depths a voice rises, "Roll up, roll up. Everyone a winner, want a cupie doll?" As you watch in horrified fascination a child's doll with a white face and a red smear for a mouth emerges from the cave.

Ted,You've seen this doll before, on several ocassions.

Professor Krugman,Please make an [b]Idea Roll[/b].

"Now I've seen everything," says Tony, shaking his head. "I'm not even gonna ask how that's done."

Professor Krugman has an idea. (Roll 48 target 75)

Bridget watches in horror as the doll emerges.

Ted is a bit freaked out.

"Alright enough of this. No more games." He keeps moving the gun back and forth from between the man and the doll.

Paul stands in a defensive posture waiting to see what the doll and or man does

Francis put himself in position to protect Bridget.

Professor Krugman recites the words from the parchment as translated by Paul:
"A final rest
The freedom of lost souls
Now your spirit unfettered
The curse of your Master
Forever Unanswered"

Tony stands ready in case whatever the Professor is doing doesn't work. "I hope it doesn't have to be recited in Japanese," he says.

Paul stands ready to recipt it in Japanese if the english version dosent appear to work.

Ted asks, "if what doesn't work? What the hell are you saying?"

Bridget peers at the samurai from behind Francis. What madness!

Tony can't think of anything else.

Paul,Make an Idea Roll +10.

At the professors recital of the words, other than producing a questioning look from the Samurai and a bizarre smile, which shows too many teeth, from the doll, nothing happens.

Paul yells over to the Professor but keeps his eyes on the Samuri and the doll "Hey Professor didnt you say something about repeating it five times, and doing it the pillars or something?"

"Y-yes!" Bridget blurts out, finding her voice at last. "It said it needs to be read at each pillar! To deal with the...what did you call it Professor? The...entity!"

She points an accustatory finger at the demonic doll.

"That THING looks like an entity to me!"

During the shouts by Paul and Bridget. The Samurai and the enigmatic doll thing show little interest in the various comments.

The Samurai continues his puzzled expression alternating with a toothy grin, while the doll still grinning, its sharp teeth stark against the red slash of its lips, slowly beckons towards you with its left hand while with an impossibly long right hand index finger it points towards the cave opening, "Wanna take a peek? Then step this way" Now it sounds like a typical mid-western carny opperative.

-Well, why don't we do like our hosts are saying and we go outside and you do the reading?- says Francis nervous. He try to go outside but without running to keep his dignity and always far away from the duo...

"We need to stay with him and protect him while he does it," says Tony.

OOC,I thought we were already outside the cave and hadn't gone in yet, and that it's trying to get us to go inside.

"No one is going in that cave." Ted still ready to take a shot at the doll or Samurai if anyone acts like they are going in the cave involuntarily.

PatGrillo wrote:OOG: Um, did we see any pillars?

OOC "Standing outside the cave are five pillars of stone, making a rough ring about thiry feet in diameter. The trees and the grass seem strange here, bushes grow in unatural spirals that draw the eye.." First post of the current Scene

Paul looks over to the Professor to try to determine if he is going to move to the first pillar and reciet the deication or if he should just do it himself as he is getting nervous that something bad is going to happen if the Professor dosent start soon.

Over everyone hangs an air of uncertainty. Even the strange wind seems to have ceased blowing from the cave's entrance. The strange doll opens its mouth impossibly wide, showing even more of those sharp, knife like teeth, I suppose you could liken it to a extreme version of a feral grin,
"Well make your minds up this ride can't wait forever"

-I'm sorry, we will be the most brief as possible- says Francis the most polite as possible, since he is talking literally to a doll...

Professor Krugman rushes over to the pillars and commences the task of reading the words at each.

Ted looks around at everyone trying to determine if they are still in their right mind. "I just want to be sure, we are talking to a doll right?"

Paul keeps an eye on both the doll and the samuri as the Professor runs from pillar to pillar reciepting the dedication trying to see what is anything changes with the samuri and doll.

"Not all of us," says Tony. "Some of us are taking great pains to avoid talking to it." He stays with the professor, positioning himself between him and the samurai and doll, ready to keep him safe as he recites the words.

As the professor begins to recite the words at the first of the pillars a strange hush falls over the area, as if the world was holding its breath.

Suddenly the entire forest lights up as if by some impossibly sustained bolt of lightning. The source of the light is a strange apparition that appears hovering over the mouth of the cave. It is vaguely human-shaped, but no earthly human.
The apparition’s face has something of both predatory animal and bleached bone to it. It wears a garment that hangs about her like silk floating on the surface of the sea. She - for unmistakeaby its form is female - opens her mouth of dagger-sharp teeth, her mouth growing larger and wider until finally the terrible maw looks wide enough to bite through a man, opens still wider and then she howls, so loud that the earth tremble beneath your feet.
Now in the new illumination of the clearing the thing twists about in air, holding her arms open to the forest, her corpse-pale forearms and hands dangling at a most unnatural angle. She screams at the woods and somewhere in the distance you begin to see tiny lights, like tiny candles appearing between the trees.

As you all struggle to deal with the sudden apparition (Please roll SAN 1/1d8) you are aware that both samurai and doll seem to have disapeared without trace.

Sanity check,[dice]0[/dice]

Sanity results,passed so suffer 1 point.

Ted looks away not wanting to know what the hell that thing is, "DAMN, this is a bad idea. Lets get in the cave." Seeing the doll and samurai are gone, Ted moves towards the cave and go inside if he can.

Tony stares in shock at the apparition, his mind breaking down and filling with a terrible knowledge.

OOC,Hello, madness! :?

Paul takes several steps back away from the apparation clearly having issues dealing with the horrific vision currently in front of him

Sanity Roll,Sanity chance = 55 (I am not sure if this is accurate I need to go back and track any sanity loss I have already taken, sorry I lost my notepad :( ) [dice]0[/dice] so this is a failure [dice]1[/dice]

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Francis finally fully understands the madness of the situation and is horrified. This is not s script for one of his books, or a story of ghosts, this is something that no sane mind should see.

Bridget recoils from the terrifying apparition, but her already shaken mental state lessens the blow from shock. She sprints to the Professors side and grasps him by the shoulder.

"Keep reading!" she cries, "Don't stop!"

Ted moved to the entrance of the cave, whereever that is.

Bridget alternates her attention between the specter above them and the Professor from her spot just to his left.

OOC:   I'm going to assume that Bridget (B) is just to the left of the professor (K), Ted Nelson (N) is just on the edge of the cave opening while the Geisha (G) is to the top left of the cave.

Professor Krugman concentrates on reading the words at each stone. He fights not too look at the apparition and to shut out the babbling of the people around him.

Paul continues to stand there still trying to figure out what it is he is seeing.

Like a flash the geisha, her silken robes flowing as if blown by unseen winds, flies, like something in a speeded up film, towards the two figures at the stones. Krugman despite small drops of sweat lining his brow, continues chanting the strange rhyme.

However it appears to show more interest in his companion, Bridget. In that strange flurry of jerking movement it strikes with fingers that end in long sharp claws. For a moment Bridget is convinced she can hear the air scream as the claws rush towards her.

Bridgett,Geisha attack 30 http://orokos.com/roll/234951 You may attempt a Dodge. The blow cannot be parried

As he speaks the last syllable of the rhyme Professor Krugman looks for some indication that it is having some effect. He watches in horrified fascination as the lights which had appeared within the forest begin to change into a myriad of crawling, sliding ghostly forms that begin to creep toward the clearing. He glances down at the parchment then up to the stones, realizing that he has to read the rhyme four more times if the parchments instructions are to be believed.

Ted, pulls the slide back on the Luger hearing the satisfying sound of a 9mm bullet being chambered. As he realises that other that the professor and Bridget the rest of the party look in little shape to aid them…

Paul, the shock of the Geisha's appearance has driven you to your knees where you shake your head as if trying to make sense of the situation.

OOC:   Remember this all happens in a moment, those who failed their San roll and the ensuing Idea roll are temporarily frozen to the spot.

Ted takes careful aim and will fire 1 shot at the Geisha, doubting it will help, but not sure what else to do.

pistol shot,[dice]0[/dice]

Krugman runs to the next stone and begins the recitation once more.

OOC:   Apologies for the delay in posting. Was unexpectedly out of town for the weekend.

As the incorporeal horror lunges in it's unsettling jerking motion towards Bridget, the startled reporter does her best of dart out of the way.

Bridget,
For a brief moment the claws look about to tear you assunder, but as they hit they seem to pass through you. For a time, you have no idea how long maybe seconds, minutes or hours time seems to have no meaning. Your entire being is filled with nothingness other than cold and fear. Somewhere in the distance you are vaguely aware of a pistol shot and someone babbling in some strange tongue. Then with a rush time reasserts itself, you see the ghostly image floating above you. To your right you see that the professor has started reciting the rhyme at another of the pillars. Ted Nelson still points the pistol toward the geisha, curling smoke from the pistols barrel points to its having been fired. You are also aware that Paul is turning towards you a look of confusion on his face.

You take 3 points damage.

Above you the ghostly geisha screams and flashes towards you once more...

Ted,You fire at the apparition as it seems to move in flickers towards Bridget, whether you hit or not it seems the bullet had no effect whatsoever
Please roll Idea+10

Paul,As your vision clears you can see the apparition of the geisha hovering above Bridget.
Please roll Idea+10

Everyone else,
Please roll 1d6 these are the number of rounds that you will be powerless to interfere.

Bridget gasps as the temporal world comes flooding back to her. She watches with a sense of disconnect as the geisha floats momentarily above her, her legs feeling leaden and distant. Then, as the phantasm lunges towards her once more, she makes another frantic attempt to scramble out of the way.

Tony remains frozen for a little while longer.

idea roll,target = 85%, [dice]0[/dice]

Ted realizes the gun is pretty useless, but he does come up with an idea that might work.

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Francis is still frozen.

Once again seeming to flicker like a old movie, the ghostly Geisha rushes at Bridget, who despite her attempts to dodge away is once more the target of the malicious attack.
With a eerie scream that seems to originate in all places at once she strikes, her ghostly hand appearing to pass through the Bridget as though she had become insubstantial.

Bridget,[b]4 points of damage[/b]

The professor having raced to the second of the stone pillars begins reciting, one eye on the geisha as it ignores him to continue its attack against Bridget. He wouldn't swear to it but with the first recititation complete he could swear the glow of the floating apparition has lessened somewhat, and the steady approach of the thousands of crawling ghostly figures seems to have slowed a little.

Despite being sure that his aim had been good, the apparition seems to give no indication of having been hit by the shot, Ted gets a sinking feeling that bullets are of no use here. However it seems that something is having an effect as the glow emanating from the fast moving apparition seems to have faded a little and even as the flickering geisha sweeps a clawed hand through Bridget for a second time he notes the look of cold rage it sends to the chanting professor.

Ted,You get the idea that the professor is your best bet, the geisha must be kept from him at all costs.

Raising himself to his feet Paul notes the furious look of the apparition and the paleness of Bridget. He quickly comes to the same conclusion as Ted, the professor, or the poem, is the key.
Paul, the geish musta be kept away from the professor at all costs.

Tony and Francis,You are paralysed for the next two rounds in the case of Tony, one for Francis

Professor Krugman braces himself with the grim determination of a senior academic facing his umpteenth graduation ceremony and continues to recite the incantation, moving onto the next pillar as soon as it is complete.

Paul puts himself between the Geshia and The Proffessor with the Sabre in his hand he stands prepared to stop the Geshia with any means possible if it attempts to approach the Professor he yells out to the Professor "Hurray up get on with it"

Ted rushes over to Bridgett. "Leave her alone you son of a bitch." He looks over at Paul, "Protect the professor at all costs." He waves the gun again towards the creature knowing it has no affect, but it makes him feel better anyway.

With Bridget sinking slowly to the floor, her face a mix of confused emotions, Ted's brandishing of the gun seems to have an effect.
The dark eyes of the floating Geisha lock on to him and with the same flicker of movement she swoops at him.

Ted,Please roll Dodge.

As Paul moves towards the chanting professor he notices that Francis stirs, shakes his head and looks aghast toward the action.

OOC: Can Francis act at full speed? Does he know what is happening or is he confused?

Ted's sudden realization that he is in mortal danger and no way to protect himself is horrifying. He leaps to one side.

Dodge,target 28% [dice]0[/dice]

His reaction time was extremely slow. He screams out as the creature hits him.

As Ted jumps too one side, a fraction too slow, the Geisha swoops and her clawed hand seems to pass right through him as if he did not exist.

Ted,For an unknown time seemingly aeons or mere moments you are aware of nothing. It is as if he floats on a sea of cosmic nothingness in which his consciouness has left him alone with nothing but random thoughts which know no end. 3 points of damage.

Ted screams and the Geisha, her long fanged mouth twisting into a parody of a smile, hovers momentarilly before once again turning a baleful look toward the professor who having finished his reading at the second of the five pillars now hurries towards the third.

Professor Krugman makes the third recitation. He reads are quickly as he dares, not wishing to risk any mangling of the words.

Francis starts running in direction of the Geisha screaming and trying to get her attention.

Uttering the last of the syllables, Krugman is pleased to see a repeat of the effect on the Geisha and the crawling ghosts, She has become somewhat fainter and they now crawl far slower and seem at a further distance. He rushes to the fourth pillar.

Francis' yelling and clapping has also had an effect on the geisha. Hand raised to again strike Ted, it screams angrilly, her horrific visage turning first towards the professor and then towards the newcomer. In a flicker of movement she rises above the writer before flashing a long taloned hand towards him.

Francis,please roll to dodge.

Tony,you are awake and may act.

Francis in a most brave (or stupid) way,fail to dodge and atracts all the attention of the geisha...


http://orokos.com/roll/243250

Tony finally comes to his senses and rushes to intecept the Geisha before it can get at the professor or further harm Francis. "Hey, over here, you crazy dame!" he shouts, waving his arms widly.

Ted rolls away fron the creature trying to regain his senses after the attack, what the hell is that thing he thinks to himself. He pulls Bridgett off to one side to see if there is any wounds he can try and mend.

First Aid,not on my sheet, so assuming base roll of 30%? [dice]0[/dice]

The area of the cave is now a maelstom of noise and activity as everyone tries to attract the attention of the Geisha and keep it away from the professor. She screams a scream of anger mixed with something else - fear perhaps, as the voice of professor krugman drones on uttering the Japanese syllables from the parchment.

Ted,obviously Bridget, has been hurt as have you, but you can find no sorce of wound to apply first aid too.

Francis continues to shout and insult the Geisha, but in the oposite of the Professor, to keep her attention.
-Hey, you must have that bad temper because your so hugly that nobody likes you. Why don't you cover your face?

All the noise and motion is having a distracting effect on the Geisha, it turns this way and that at each new attemt to attract its attention. Suddenly it flashes once more towards Francis it seems his attempts are best.

Francis,please try and Dodge.

Francis again fails to avoid the creature.
-So honey, your really interested in me? It must be my natural kindness...

http://orokos.com/roll/244248

Professor Krugman gulps to relubricate his mouth and lips and rushes on to the next monolith to read the incantation yet again.

As the professor rushes to the fourth stone, the Geisha strikes again the wildy gesticulating Francis.

Francis,2 points damage

Francis feels the bruise, gulps and then says:
-Wow, did nobody teach you manners? This way you won't get any friends. I would love to help you, but I'm a bit busy...

Grateful for the courageous shielding actions of his colleagues Professor Krugman reads the ritual words for a fourth time.

"Leave him be!" shouts Tony, running to draw off the Geisha after seeing Francis getting beaten. "You think you're tough? Try me on for size!"