CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Seon wrote:"Interesting," Ernest muttered.

"Come on then," he said in the best calming voice, searching the body language of the man. Fear wasn't the response that he had expected from this kind of a man, and the story now suddenly piqued his interest. "Tell me what happened next."
Spoiler:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3269202/. 1d100: 49. Psychoanalysis: 50.
The man jerked his head up to look at Ernest, a fearful look on his face, saying, "Somethin' was there, in the dark! I couldn' hear it, n' couldn' see it, but I knew it was there. Watchin' us."
Results,You believe that the man is being totally forthright with you. He is making none of this up, at least not that you can tell. He also seems to be suffering from a psychological trauma...
"I tol' Gabe. 'Gabe', I says, 'We gotta get below.' He nodded but didn' move! He just stood there. Didn' move a'tall. Gabe saw it. He was staring behind me! So I run fer it! I didn' look back, but... But I heard it take Gabe."

The man's face broke into sadness, and he began sobbing. He suddenly jumped up from his chair, knocking it backwards with a crash, and shouted at Ernest, "God help me! I heard it take Gabe!" His eyes darted left and right. He backed up against the nearby wall, looking like a trapped animal.
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Spoiler:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3271512/Rolled 11. Psychonalysis 50= Success!
"Wow, calm down!" Ernest said, rushing out of his chair. "Sorry," he muttered to the passing barmaid.

"Now listen to me," Ernest said to the man. "Listen to me, I said listen to me.... I SAID LISTEN! Thank you. Now I understand that you are afraid... but look around you, man. You aren't on that ship anymore. You are far from cold and dark Antarctica and instead on the warmest and the brightest piece of land in the entire world. You are safe here, alright?"

"You know, I think it's interesting," Ernest mused. "How likely do you think is for a guy like you, who have heard a horrd thing on the Antarctic Sea, to just happen to meet me going to the same place? A mere coincedence? A mere mathematical inevitability? No, no, no. I don't think it works like that. See, I think it was Fate. Ernest smiled at the man. You could call it... an act of God itself...

See, I think you are carrying a baggage. Not a physical one, of course. Duh. You heard... or perhaps even saw... something horrible on the ship that night... and all this time, you have kept it to yourself! Now it has rotted inside you... you can't simply leave it behind! You can't simply drown it out with lots of liquor or forget about it with time. It just doesn't work like that.

Here's what I think you have to do instead... start from the beggining again. Tell me the story in its full until the end... and don't ever stop while doing so! Share your baggage with me... bring it out... bring it all out of yourself and dump it all on to me instead. Let me take on your burden from now... God wills it so. If he didn't want your burden to be removed? Why would you have been in this bar at the same moment when I got the news? Why would you have tried to get my attention? Why would I have listened?

Sure, maybe you tried to do it on some other people. Maybe they laughed at you. Maybe they thought you were crazy. Hell, some people would have thought that you killed Gabe yourself! But you know what? I believe you all the way, man. So have courage, old man. Tell me the whole story... Tell me what you heard...
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Seon wrote:
Spoiler:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3271512/Rolled 11. Psychonalysis 50= Success!
Psychoanalysis Result,You know that the man is rapidly moving into a dark place in his mind. Perhaps your calming words below will help and, because you've written it so well, I'll consider that you've also made a successful Persuade skill roll (as much as a Persuade skill roll might help, that is).
Seon wrote:"Wow, calm down!" Ernest said, rushing out of his chair. "Sorry," he muttered to the passing barmaid.
The man is watching you carefully, shaking. He is constantly scratching his hands and arms as if he's tormented by insect bites.
Seon wrote:"Now listen to me," Ernest said to the man. "Listen to me, I said listen to me.... I SAID LISTEN! Thank you. Now I understand that you are afraid... but look around you, man. You aren't on that ship anymore. You are far from cold and dark Antarctica and instead on the warmest and the brightest piece of land in the entire world. You are safe here, alright?"

"You know, I think it's interesting," Ernest mused. "How likely do you think is for a guy like you, who have heard a horrd thing on the Antarctic Sea, to just happen to meet me going to the same place? A mere coincedence? A mere mathematical inevitability? No, no, no. I don't think it works like that. See, I think it was Fate. Ernest smiled at the man. You could call it... an act of God itself...
"God?!? Where was God thet night?" He shook his head vigorously, side to side. "No sir! No God wouldn'a let Gabe die like thet."
Seon wrote:See, I think you are carrying a baggage. Not a physical one, of course. Duh. You heard... or perhaps even saw... something horrible on the ship that night... and all this time, you have kept it to yourself! Now it has rotted inside you... you can't simply leave it behind! You can't simply drown it out with lots of liquor or forget about it with time. It just doesn't work like that.

Here's what I think you have to do instead... start from the beggining again. Tell me the story in its full until the end... and don't ever stop while doing so! Share your baggage with me... bring it out... bring it all out of yourself and dump it all on to me instead. Let me take on your burden from now... God wills it so. If he didn't want your burden to be removed? Why would you have been in this bar at the same moment when I got the news? Why would you have tried to get my attention? Why would I have listened?

Sure, maybe you tried to do it on some other people. Maybe they laughed at you. Maybe they thought you were crazy. Hell, some people would have thought that you killed Gabe yourself! But you know what? I believe you all the way, man. So have courage, old man. Tell me the whole story... Tell me what you heard...[/color]
"I didn' just hear Gabe die," the man said. He opened and closed his mouth, but said nothing right away. He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes. In a half-sob, he choked out the words, "I got t'the door, n' I stopped. Gabe was yellin' 'No! No! No!' N' I turned aroun'." His eyes flitted to the window and he began to edge towards it.

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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Spoiler:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3273698/ Psychoanalysis Roll = 14. Psychoanalysis = 50. Success! Seems like I am lucky with this encounter...
Ernest raised an eyebrow, trying to understand the implication of the words that the man just uttered... a sudden change in testimony, perhaps a repressed memory? He quickly glanced over the man's body language to understand his motives regarding the window...
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Seon wrote:Ernest raised an eyebrow, trying to understand the implication of the words that the man just uttered... a sudden change in testimony, perhaps a repressed memory? He quickly glanced over the man's body language to understand his motives regarding the window...
OOC Psychoanalysis Result,You've correctly deduced that the man is starting to remember something that his subconscious mind had buried away. The man is behaving erratically, so even with a good roll, his actions are likely to be unpredictable...
The man looked at you, but you could tell that he was not seeing you. He was now apparently gazing at the memory of his friend's last moments, whispering something over and over to himself, and scratching at his now-bloodied forearms.

Then he began describing what he saw that night in a dull monotone. "Gabe'd looked up and seen it comin' an' he screamed. Black snakes came down from above 'n Gabe tried to run. Snakes wrapped 'roun his arms. Grabb'd his neck 'n lifted him up in th'air, 'n choked the scream right outta him.

"I c'd see the thing b'cuz Gabe was still hangin' onta his lantern when it took him. He dropped it later, down inta th'ocean..."


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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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"Only it weren't no snakes... B'fore Gabe dropped his lamp, I saw it. It was big. Black as night... It was movin' back n' forth up in th' air n' had wings, but didn' seem to need 'em. It was lookin' at Gabe, shakin' him an' studyin' him w' a head shaped like a starfish. Lookin' down at him--an' me!--with its black eyes wavin' on tentacles . Now I can't stop seein' it..."
Image
**Above, your imaginings of the creature from the man's description

The man crouched, then jumped for the window, his legs catching on the sill, flipping him over and out.

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** = Image copyright 2003-2009 F.LaunetGoomi Studio
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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"What the hell? HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Ernest shouted out the window.

He tried to follow the old man out the window, paused, looked through his purse, hurriedly handed over a couple of dollar bills to a passing waitress, and then looked out again.

"Damn it," he said. "He's gone."
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Image

Katie easily makes her way to Panama. It isn't difficult, as there are plenty of landmarks to follow. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean would be more of a challenge, but it has been done before, by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 and Amelia Earhart the following year, followed by others. The sort of challenge she is interested in is one that has never been done before. She intends to be not only the first woman to fly over those Antarctic mountains, but the first - period.
OOC,On what day do I arrive in Panama, and on what day is the Gabrielle due to reach port?
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Seon wrote:"What the hell? HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Ernest shouted out the window.

He tried to follow the old man out the window, paused, looked through his purse, hurriedly handed over a couple of dollar bills to a passing waitress, and then looked out again.
Ernest could see broken branches in a small bush just below the open window, and then spots a trail of kicked-up dirt leading across the road to the corner of a wooden building where he glimpses a shadow quickly receding behind the structure.

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Ernest swore and jumped out of the window, landing on the ground below with a grunt. Then he began bounding after the man.
Spoiler:
Do I need a roll for this?
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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The first leg of Katie's journey goes smoothly, and covers some familiar ground. Soaring over the Ohio lowlands, she leaves her home of Dayton far behind. Cincinnati is visible ahead before long, nestling on the bank of the Ohio River. On the other side of the river is Covington, Kentucky. She follows the course of the river to the southwest, past Louisville, until the Ohio merges with the mighty Mississippi River. She flies over it on her way south, landing in Memphis late in the morning to refuel.
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Seon wrote:Ernest swore and jumped out of the window, landing on the ground below with a grunt. Then he began bounding after the man.
Spoiler:
Do I need a roll for this?
As Ernest raced into the street after the man, he heard a shout just to his left--and was startled to see a large black horse rear up, neighing loudly, with its front hooves coming within a hand's width of striking his forehead! Ernest stumbled away from the horse and saw behind it, a dark carriage nearly topple over, then bang back down onto the roadway. The long wooden box that it was carrying was thrown into the air and cracked down against its side, tumbling over, down towards the road as the carriage driver cried out a stream of colorful curses at Ernest.

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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Mr. Handy wrote:The first leg of Katie's journey goes smoothly, and covers some familiar ground. Soaring over the Ohio lowlands, she leaves her home of Dayton far behind. Cincinnati is visible ahead before long, nestling on the bank of the Ohio River. On the other side of the river is Covington, Kentucky. She follows the course of the river to the southwest, past Louisville, until the Ohio merges with the mighty Mississippi River. She flies over it on her way south, landing in Memphis late in the morning to refuel.
After her plane was fully fueled and inspected, Katie visited a small shop in the airport hangar to refill her thermos with coffee. As she walked back across the sod runway to her aircraft, that was when she saw the bird.
Image

The raven was perched in a low dead tree up ahead and was watching Katie. As she approached the dead tree, the raven suddenly took flight, but toward Katie instead of away from her. Katie kept walking but the raven flew straight at her and then turned and dove towards her again. But this was not an attack; it was more like a warning. The bird continued to flap in front of her, appearing to do some sort of aerobatics and then suddenly something caught her eye, a large snake crossing her path just a little ahead. As soon as the snake had crossed Katie's path and disappeared into the bracken on the other side of the runway, the raven broke off its gyrations and returned to the tree to call out a [sup]1[/sup]melancholy dirge.

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[sup]1[/sup]A tip of the hat to Edgar Allen Poe
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Katie smiles at the raven. "Thank you!" she calls sweetly, saluting it. She has always admired birds. It is part of her obsession with flight, but more than that. She has always found them to be highly intelligent and graceful creatures. They had been flying for extremely long distances long before her distant cousins' first flight not quite thirty years ago. Human pilots sometimes got lost, but birds always seemed to know their way.

Katie boards her Lockheed Vega, completes her final preflight checks, and takes off once again. She follows the course of the Mississippi further south, passing over New Orleans around noon. When she reaches the Gulf Coast, she turns west and follows it into Texas. A couple hours later, she lands again in Houston to refill her tanks.
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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"Oh for crying out..." Ernest muttered as he quickly regained his composure. He looked hurriedly around to catch sight of the man and spotted him somewhere up front.

"I wonder if Dad had to deal with any of this crazy..." he muttered to himself.
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Job wrote:The long wooden box that it was carrying was thrown into the air and cracked down against its side, tumbling over, down towards the road as the carriage driver cried out a stream of colorful curses at Ernest.
Seon wrote:"Oh for crying out..." Ernest muttered as he quickly regained his composure.
James' composure lasted only a split second when he noticed that the tumbling box was actually a pine box casket. It hit the roadway with a sudden loud breaking sound, its lid snapping open a few inches before its nails caught purchase, then it bounced into the air directly towards Ernest to land with a crunch at his feet, the top boards splintering away and flying about him, exposing the contents...

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...full of chickens, all dead, tumbling out of the casket against Ernest's pant legs and over his shoes. Brown, tan, and white feathers surrounded him and he was assaulted with an unwholesome smell. The bodies of the birds smeared thick, dark-red miasma onto his clothing and, looking down while attempting to move away and avoid stepping on them, he realized that all of their legs were severed, bloody stumps with claws missing.

"Madre di Dio," exclaimed someone nearby.

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"GREAT SCOTT!" Ernest yelled out as he swat the feathers away from him. He tripped on a body of a chicken, fell back, and then desperately kicked away the body as he half-crawled his way away from the mound of flesh.

"So..." Ernest said after a while, looking down at his clothes with sad eyes. "Somebody ordered a lot of fried chicken legs, I presume?"
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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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The cart driver leaped from his seat down to the roadway, red-faced, angrily yelling at Ernest in what sounded like Spanish, waving his arms and pointing at the broken casket. Passers-by stopped and stared, although Ernest noticed a couple of ladies making the gesture of a cross and hurrying away.

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Re: CHAP 4a: IC - Late Additions

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Ernest threw up his hands. "Yo no hablo espanol," he said.

"Listen, fool," he hissed, knowing that the cart driver probably wouldn't understand a word of what he was saying. "I have to get someone... he is probably mentally unstable... I don't know what he would do... so I have no time to waste arguing with you over petty chicken carcasses! DOES ANYONE AROUND HERE HAVE A GLOVE THAT YOU WOULD NOT MISS? NO ONE? DAMN IT! And you ruined my pants too. It was my favourite pants!"
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