Play@YSDC

Joe and Lucy head to their car while the 5 of you make haste back to your car. You're a bit worried they won't wait for you, but when you break out of the woods finally, there he is sitting, his car running, waiting for you. He doesn't wait long, causing you to pile into your car with a bit of bluster to try and catch up.

There isn't much traffic on the road at this hour, and since you know he is heading back to the college it isn't too difficult to keep track of him. You follow him into the college campus and follow his car up to the English Building. It is a 3 story high brick building built with granite bricks for the foundation. Windows line the walls and a few of the lights are on.

By the time you park Joe and Lucy are opening the front door, "come on, in here." He seems almost anxious to be done with this.

Tobias waited at the back, prepared to be the last one to enter, just in case there's something unexpected in front.

Eddie walks inside first.

Joe and Lucy walk into the hall, as Eddie follows them. The rest of you follow behind Eddie. The building appears to be empty.

Half-way down the hall, Joe pulls the door open to a door on the left side of the hallway. As soon as the door opens you hear talking and light streams into the hall.

You hear cheers inside as Joe walks in, you hear, "You had us worried, you okay?" As you look into the room, you see several young people all about college age. The room is obviously a stadium seating lecture hall that would hold at least 100 people. A large chalkboard dominates front of the room. All the young people are about half way down the room.

Eddie looks at the chalkboard to see if anything is written on it.

Tobias attempted to remain in the background and stay as inconspicuous as possible and attempted to make sense of what he saw in front of him with Eddie.

Bret looks around for any sign of the professor.

The chalkboard has some writing about Skakespear and what outside dark influences may have shaped his stories.

You do not see the professor.
Joe is telling the others he is planning on quitting, that it was fun, but he thinks there are risks he isn't willing to take. And that it is affecting him more than he thought. The seizure was the final straw. Many of the others are agreeing with him.

OOC:   If you are in the room, make a spot hidden check.

"Do you still have that little version of the obelisk?" asks Eddie.

OOC,Spot Hidden roll (61% skill) in the classroom: [dice]0[/dice]

Bret notices something.

Tobias squinted closely, but did not find anything out of the ordinary.

Spot Hidden 50%,[dice]0[/dice]

Maria sees something that gets her attention.

Spot Hidden,Spot Hidden 25: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/564943]Spot Hidden[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]14[/b]

When Eddie asks about the key, you see them get a bit nervous. "Why do you want the key?"

Maria and Tobias,When Eddie asks about it, you see one of the young men slip the key under a desk.

Tobias slowly edges towards the desk.

Maria speaks up.

"It seems to me that you're thinking of quitting this, you realise it's not good for you. Do you want to continue? I can't see how it would end well. You should think of a way of disposing of the key, safely."

"It's hard you know. It's strange. Every time I think I'm going to quit, I can't help but come back, for just one more run," One of the students says.

"Well you saw what it did to me, I can't imagine going through that again," Joe adds. "Bill give 'em the key."

At the stage you see the professor come onto the stage, he stops when he sees you up with the students.

"Professor" calls Maria. "We're all talking about the Hounds, and what needs to be done to resolve the situation. Will you join us?"

Tobias nodded in agreement with Maria's words as he said, "We need to resolve this situation, professor, do you mind if we have a nice chat, aye?"

The professor looks shocked, turns and bolts out the door.

“I wasn’t expecting that” admits Maria. She has no desire to chase after him.

“Still,” she asks the assembled students, “are we going to dispose of the key, then? I don’t think we can rely on the Professor to do the right thing for you.”

Tobias also expressed no desires to chase after the professor.

"He's heading back to the obelisk I know. That thing has him so twisted right now." Joe grabs the key. "I have to go help him."

Tobias had been nodding along uncertainly, but this sentence woke with a start. The last thing he needs right now would be a manic professor armed with some nameless knowledge. He made a start for his car and tried to see if he could still catch up the not-so-good professor.

Drive auto 40%,[dice]0[/dice] [b](－‸ლ)[/b]

“We’ll all go with you Joe” says Maria, watching Tobias depart. “We’ll help him but you can’t let him have that key. We must keep it away from him. Do you agree?”

She fixes Joe with a steady gaze.

"Agreed, but if he changes into a hound without the key, he can't change back, it will drive him mad. With the key we can force him to change back. Let's go." Joe said.

Lucy grabs him, "Be careful." He gives her a quick kiss. "I will."

He starts to run out the front.

Tobias ran out jumped into his car and shoved it into forward instead of reverse. His car surged forward and slammed into the granite corner stone, smashing the front of the car.

"Nice driving, professor," Bret says, strolling outside. "I'm thinking we should take Eddie's car..."

OOC:

"Damnit!" Tobias cursed very furiously as his relatively new car ended up trashed. He'll have to arrange to get it fixed. He ranted and brayed about it for a good minute or so before ultimately agreeing with Bret's remark. Ignoring the sarcasm.

He took deep breaths. "...I'll...hitch a ride with Eddie, then." Tobias said, with great difficulty, holding his heart as though just saying these words had left him in severe pain. He spared one parting glance at his car, with tears flowing out of his eyes. "Goodbye, Ol'Bessie. I'll remember and treasure the short time we spent together. I'll be back for you, I promise."

You follow Joe as he drives to a different entrance than the one you stopped at before. Another car is already there.

You pile out of the cars and Joe hands you the key. "If he has changed he can tear you to shreds."

As you hurry down the path the full moon lights up the path and clearing up ahead. You can see movement up ahead. As you break into the clearing the professor is standing by the pillar, his bloody hand has traced most of the pattern on the pillar. "Et tu Joe, you traitor. How can you bring these unbeliever's to our sacred grove. Daoloth will will curse you."

Tobias ran forward and stabbed the professor. He tried to sound menacing and intimidate the professor a little bit.

Brawl 70%,[dice]0[/dice] Knife damage: [dice]1[/dice]

As you start to cross the 30 feet to the professor he slaps his hand against the pillar and you see him transform into an obsidian hound.

OOC:   Everyone make a Sanity 1/1d6 check for me.

You slam into the hound taking its legs out from under him. The hound is quickly back up on his feet and on top of you. Your knife slides against the stone skin without even leaving a scratch.

OOC:   Everyone else can now make an action if you can after the sanity. Tobias you still have to make a Sanity. Sorry, not even Usaine Bolt could have made that run before he slapped his hand, you just forced his hand. Great rolls though.

SAN 70,[dice]0[/dice] SAN lost 1

Though Tobias could not successfully stop the professor from initiating the ritual, he had, at the very least, managed to temporarily disable the professor for a short while. He turned towards his friends and yelled at them, "Mon dieu! Someone grab a gun and shoot this bastard, he isn't going to cooperate!"

OOC:   Alright, but I want to distract him at least to turns. I rolled a crit, I think distracting the damned thing for 2 combat rounds is reasonable.

Maria

SAN,SAN 50: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/565914]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]75[/b] [url=http://orokos.com/roll/565917]SAN loss[/url]: [u]1d6[/u] [b]1[/b]

Maria feels real fear for the first time in this affair. The Professor's words show that he may mean them harm, and she wonders what they can do to stop him. Talking to him probably won't do any good now.

"Can we change him back?" she shouts at Joe.

Joe yells at Eddie, "Change him back, change him."


The hound looks over at Eddie, still standing over Tobias. The red glow from his eyes stops on the key, a growl that almost sounds like a word that would be impossible for you to pronounce comes out of its mouth.

OOC:   Lets say Eddie has the key then.

"How the hell do we work the damn thing?" Maria shouts at Joe.

Tobias continued his struggle against the Hound. “Eddie, please make it quick. I don’t think I can hold this damned thing for any longer!”

The sight is too much for Eddie, and this time it causes him to lose it.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 32) for seeing the professor transform: [dice]0[/dice] Sanity loss for seeing the professor transform: [dice]1[/dice] INT roll (60% stat) to avoid temporary insanity - failure is good: [dice]2[/dice] Well, that's temporary insanity for me. Probably also indefinite insanity, as I also lost 6 for seeing [b]Joe[/b] turn back.

Tobias lost his composure as he saw Eddie lose it.

Bret urges Eddie to hand the key over.

Eddie,you have just started babbling incohernetly. You now have a phobia of dogs, especially large ones.

Eddie begins to just start babbling, the key in his hand, he seems oblivious to the danger Tobias is in.

OOC:   New round, if someone has a gun ready they may fire first. If not we will move to intiative order and the Hound will go first. If you have a gun ready, please shoot now, if that is what you want to do. Tobias is holding onto the hounds legs so if you miss badly you could end up hitting Tobias, but the hound is much larger and Tobias is on the ground. So you have a pretty clear shot with anything except a shotgun.

Maria is frantic as she grabs the key from Eddie’s hands.

“Tell me how this works you son of a bitch!” she snarls at Joe.

OOC:   Note, this happens after anyone with a weapon ready fires. I'll give it till tonight, and then push forward.

Maria,make me a sanity test, just pass or fail.

"just trace the lines," Joe responds.

Maria

SAN,SAN 49: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/566653]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]57[/b]

The hound takes a bite at Tobias.

[dice]0[/dice]

His teeth misses Tobias' neck by only an inch or two. It's hot breath blows on your neck, the steam burning down your shoulder.

OOC:   Everyone may make an action now.

Maria,you don't lose any sanity, but you have an overwhelming urge to move towards the pillar.

Tobias screamed in fright, and struggled as he attempted to outrun the Hound and reach a safe distance away from the goddamned thing.

Dexterity 58%,[dice]0[/dice]

Maria feels herself compelled towards the pillar, standing ominously in the darkness. She needs to trace the lines on it anyway, but this is going to bring her closer to the Professor / Hound. She can't seem to break away though.

Eddie continues to babble.

OOC:   No pressure... I'm not sure if we're supposed to trace the lines on the pillar while holding the key or if the key itself has lines on it? Either way Bret will try to assist in what Maria was intending as he doesn't have a gun.

With the others seeming overcome around him Bret grabs the key from Miss Adams and desperately begins to trace the lines.

Bret can feel the power of the key as soon as he rips it from Maria's hands. He begins to trace the lines before it can take hold of him.

Bret,please make a sanity test, if you fail you will be drawn to the large pillar.

Maria,you come out of your trance as soon as Bret grabs the key from your hand, suffer 1 sanity point. You are now free to act.

The Hound howls out in anguish and pain, the sound piercing through the woods. He turns and leaps up the pillar until he is at the very top, just as he is transformed back into his human form.

OOC:   Everyone except for Eddie may make an action now, Bret, you need to test before taking an action.

Maria shudders as she feels herself released from whatever force compelled her to the pillar. Taking stock of the situation, she sees the Professor at the top of the pillar, and turns to Bret, looking at the key in his hand.

“Thank you Bret” she says sincerely. “I couldn’t do it.”

Bret barely hears Miss Adams as, drawn by a sudden strange compulsion, he starts walking toward the pillar...

Tobias gave the professor the one-finger salute before shaking an angry fist at him. "I'll get you!!"

The professor hung on the top of the pillar, his face pale and streaked with sweat. "You ruined everything, everything."
He slaps his bloody hand against the ruins on the top of the pillar.

OOC:   Eddie and Bret you are no longer affected and are free to act.

Tobias growled and ran off as quickly as he can.

Coming to his senses at last, Eddie climbs up the pillar in effort to reach the mad professor.

OOC,Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb the pillar: [dice]0[/dice]

Tobias attempts to run while Eddie charges the pillar, the ground underneath you swirled and no matter how hard you struggled, the ground around you sloshed and turned. A pattern of blues, greens and purples. Everyone gets sucked down into the gate that appeared below you.

All was black as you awoke. Darkness surrounded your senses, not just your eyes, but everything, even how you felt and what you touched, "felt" dark.
You can hear the professor cackling, "We made it, he found us worthy and brought us to him. Daoloth, we are here to serve you."

The ground you lay on was cold, slick stone. It almost felt like glass.

OOC:   Everyone use up 3 magic points and suffer 1 sanity point lost.

Feeling his way through the darkness, Eddie tries to make his way toward the sound of the professor's voice.

Maria shivers in the cold and in the dawning realization that the Professor has done something profoundly disturbing – they are no longer in the swamp. The darkness is oppressive and she begins to feel a mounting dread. But if they got here, they can get back. They probably need the key.

“Bret!” she calls out, in a low but urgent voice.

"Mes couilles sur ton front, Monsieur caca boudin!" Tobias cursed furiously in French as he realised that he's under the effect of some sort of spell by the professor. He tries to find his friends.

Coming to his senses in that terrible dark place Bret hears Miss Adams' voice urging him to act, fumbles for the key and begins to trace the lines again, hoping it will be enough to get them out of wherever this place is...

Slowly images return to your brain, it's not that it was dark, only that your brains had no way to interpret what you were seeing.

As the impulses slowly and tentatevly revealed them to you, you realize you are by your friends, and in some cases inside or through them. Large holes are in their bodies, arms and legs. In cases organs were outside, and your hand or pieces of it, could pass through someone else as if they were not there.

The ground was black, and looked liked polished obsedian, it seemed to be the only material you could not pass through. Pillars were staggered around, with strange and shocking carvings of beasts and men. They stretched up into the dark sky.

Bret cannot quite figure out how to trace the lines with his thumb, as the touch still felt black, not lines. You did the best you could, but nothing seems to happen.

OOC:   Everyone take a sanity 1/1d6 check please.

Moved