Part 1 - Ice and Time

[Mr. Handy]

"Nooooo!" screams Jacqueline, tears streaming from her eyes.

[HoneyDog]

"This isn't real!" shouts Ellis. "He doesn't have any power over us! Boys, concentrate! Free yourselves!"

Ellis tries to imagine his bonds falling away.

[SunlessNick]

"Nooooo!" screams Jacqueline, tears streaming from her eyes.

Jacqueline,You hear Ellis shouting from somewhere outside the room, "This isn't real! He doesn't have any power over us! Boys, concentrate! Free yourselves!" James continues strugging, prompting Covington to say "Hold still, you"-followed by a word you know all too well. Looking back at you, he says, "You're walking to get a knife right now. Can you feel it?" But then he looks distracted, as if something he didn't plan for has just happened.

[SunlessNick]

"This isn't real!" shouts Ellis. "He doesn't have any power over us! Boys, concentrate! Free yourselves!"

Ellis tries to imagine his bonds falling away.

OOC,POW 50 and Mathematics 70. Rolled 1D100: 13. Numbers govern this place, and you know numbers.

Ellis,The yard and house dissolve around you, revealing an infinite expanse of blackness, broken here and there with "bundles" of light, in sharp angular geometries - there's no sense of scale, it's impossible to tell how big they are - except that one of them seems to be surrounding you all. Your bonds are gone - instead you're lying on a surface indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. Alexander, James, and Jacqueline are lying nearby, with Covington standing among you. He seems to be talking to Jacqueline, saying, "You're walking to get a knife right now. Can you feel it?" But then he stops and turns. "How have you...?" he asks

[HoneyDog]

“I see through your lies, Covington” Ellis tells him. “You took me by surprise, but you’re weak.”

Ellis tries to imagine himself holding a weapon.

[SunlessNick]

“I see through your lies, Covington” Ellis tells him. “You took me by surprise, but you’re weak.”

Ellis tries to imagine himself holding a weapon.

Nothing appears in response to that effort, though the geometric tracery around you all flares slightly, drawing your eye to follow it. As you do so, you realise this is what the equations were trying to model.

Searching your face, Covington takes a sharp breath. "You know it, don't you. The answer I've been searching for. Give it to me, and I need spill no blood. Give it to me and I'll spare you and your woman."

[SunlessNick]

Jacqueline,The bout of madness is over, so you can act normally again. You're still in the parlour, though you can hear Ellis's voice from somewhere - Covington hears it too, and is replying - so you can hear everything from my previous post. It's distracted him from James, who has wriggled free of him and run over to you, clutching at your arm.

[Mr. Handy]

Jacqueline tries to concentrate on breaking free from this illusion with all of her will.

[SunlessNick]

Jacqueline tries to concentrate on breaking free from this illusion with all of her will.

OOC,POW 65. Rolled 1D100: 01 - that went well.

The parlour vanishes from around you, replaced with a vista of darkness stretching endlessly in every direction - though you are lying on a surface that's solid enough, if invisible - and in your own clothes, instead of the maid uniform. Alexander and James are lying nearby, though Ellis is on his feet, facing Covington who's standing between you. Around all of you are threads of light arranged in odd geometric patterns that ping some kind of recognition at the back of your mind - there are other such traceries in the distance.

Covington is focussed on Ellis, and appears not to have noticed your breaking free.

[HoneyDog]

“Spare us?” Ellis sneers. “You talk like you’re the one in control. Stop deceiving yourself. Your time is over.”

[Mr. Handy]

Jacqueline prays for protection from Covington and checks to see if she still has her purse in this setting. If she does, she tries to retrieve her revolver from it.

[SunlessNick]

“Spare us?” Ellis sneers. “You talk like you’re the one in control. Stop deceiving yourself. Your time is over.”

"You-" He takes a breath. "It is within my power to keep you here. Forever, if need be."

[SunlessNick]

Jacqueline prays for protection from Covington and checks to see if she still has her purse in this setting. If she does, she tries to retrieve her revolver from it.

OOC,Luck 65. Rolled 1D100: 51.

You still had it on you when you sat down, so yes.

[Mr. Handy]

Jacqueline takes out her revolver and aims it at Covington.

[SunlessNick]

Jacqueline takes out her revolver and aims it at Covington.

You're behind him, and he's intent on Ellis, so he doesn't see you do it.

[Mr. Handy]

Jacqueline doesn't hesitate to shoot Covington in the back after what he did to her. The bullet causes massive damage.

[SunlessNick]

Covingon screams as the bullet tears into him. Jacqueline sees no blood coming from the wound, but he staggers and collapses anyway. He tries to push himself back upright, but his arms don't have the strength.

"Without me, you're trapped here," he gasps.

Alexander and James both stir, looking around each other in surprise - it seems the illusion of the plantation has collapsed for them too.

[HoneyDog]

"Wrong" says Ellis, looking down at him without expression. "I know how to return."

[SunlessNick]

"Then... take me with you. I will leave you in peace, all of you. None of you need ever hear from me again."

"Won't that be true anyway?" Alexander says.

"I will... still... have a way into your minds," Covington says. "Help me to live, or I shall haunt your dreams. Help me and you shall be free."

[HoneyDog]

"No" says Ellis. "You're finished, Covington. You underestimated us. How does it feel?"