The Web of All Torment - IC

[cailano]

Dalia

You look up from your work and notice Shaun standing at the back door. He has a bit of straw in his hair, but he looks fit and happy, his skin bronzed from his work in the sun.

Ysabel

You hear Dalia stop her scrubbing, and - as you add a nice chuck of beef to the cookpot - you see that her arms are full of fresh, chopped vegetables. Oh, and there's Shaun Perraps! He's probably come in for a snack. Taking care of all those horses must make a man hungry. You sometimes remember arguing the fine points of magic with him during your old life. But, like you, he seems so much happier now.

Actually, his grin seems quite frozen right now. He's just standing there, smiling and... not blinking.

[Malkavian Grin]

Those last vegetables had really been caked in grime. Dalia huffed and wiped her brow as she finally got them clean.

 

"This last batch really put up a fight! But I'm the best scrubber there is, so they had no chance!" she said with a giggle.

 

That was when the woman noticed Shaun in the doorway. "Hey Shaun, what can we get ya? You know we're a mite busy." But when he didn't answer, Dalia stopped what she was doing and took a step or two closer to him.

 

"Honey, what is it, spider got your tongue? Speak your peace or get out of the kitchen. You know what they say about too many cooks!" she added with a playful tone.

[Cairo]

Shaun

Shaun's sense of elation at both finding shelter from the spider-god and locating two of his friends is short-lived, replaced by shock and disbelief.

"Ysabel? Dalia? W-wh-what are you doing?" he stammers, his throat dry as he realizes what heinous act he interrupted. "Nonono.. this is not you.. no, this is.." he continues, desperately trying to moisten his lips. His rational mind is slowly, so very slowly, rallying to grapple with this terrible reality; piecing together some explanation for it all.

"We came here.. all of us.. we stayed," he says as he spots the door on the southern wall leading to the bar. He starts circling the room counterclockwise towards it, keeping his distance from the creepily smiling pair. Dalia's questions seem to fly right by his distressed mind. "We were.. content. But it was all a lie. Look.. look at what's become of us."

He holds out the severed forearm as if to make a point. For whatever reason he hasn't let go of it yet.

Perhaps.. if I can just.. get past them. Find Quin. Maybe he is like me.. awake? Unless this is a nightmare..

[cailano]

Dalia and Ysabel

You hear Shaun's words, but it looks like he's smiling. His tone, however, is one of confusion and fear.

The thing he's holding out to you looks like that strange taxidermied chicken he's always carried around.

[cailano]

Shaun

Dalia and Ysabel give you looks of concern, which seem sinister given the gore-covered state of the two women.

Yet, your mind has always been your strongest asset, and it's still working despite the strain put on it. You can see that Dalia is pantomiming holding something like a bushel or a few loaves of bread. Ysabel is still cooking as usual and seems either unaware or undisturbed by exactly what she is cooking.

The horror around you doesn't seem to register for them at all.

[Taigains]

Ysabel

Wizard 3

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Ysabel tilted her head. Shaun suddenly standing at the door, his eyes unblinking and his carefree smile now... frozen in place? She continued to cut the beef and tend the stew as Dalia spoke to their friend. Ysabel watched as he answered, and his face didn't move. She felt her stomach pitch, this was... right? He had his ruber chicken... like always?

Everything felt... right. She tried to analyze that, to think about it, she was content. Yet... being content... she held a hand to her head as she began to forget what she was thinking about.

Ooc

Is there any kind of roll she or save that can be attempted due to how strange Shaun is acting, from Ysabels perspective?

 

[Malkavian Grin]

Tilting her head to one side the same as Ysabel, Dalia's face turned to confusion.

 

"Shaun, are you feeling alright, honey? You aren't making a lot of sense right now," she said. She looked at Ysabel for her reaction.

 

Back to Shaun, Dalia continued, "Darlin', we're making lunch, can't you see that?" She motioned to the pot of delicious stew Ysabel was preparing. "Bout to add some of this fresh veg to the pot. We will not be adding that little chicken friend you've made. Ain't that full of stuffing anyhow?" she asked, taking another two steps closer to him.

 

Dalia reached a hand out to the man, trying to touch his arm. "Be a dear and let the others know food is nearly done?"

[Rakle]

 

As the local barflies finish off their morning drinks, Quin pours them and himself another round. Afterwards he sets out a bowl of walnuts for everyone snack upon. The shells become projectiles which he flicks at flies as entertainment. "We should get a minstrel or a copy of some newspapers" he tells himself as sips his ale and waits for someone to crack another walnut shell.

Quin  30' darkvision AC16 HP15/15 R+2 F+1 W+2 Mvmt: 15' Luck11/11 S. sword d20+3; d6+1; s. swordx2 d16+2; d6+1; javelin d20+2; d6+1

 

[Elysium777]

Chard leaves the garden and walks to the kitchen. “I wonder what everyone’s doing. I guess I’ll go check on lunch.”

 

[Cairo]

Shaun

Shaun stops in his tracks as Dalia continues advancing, and recoils when she reaches out to touch him.

Nonono.. the way is blocked! The way is.. hold on..

"What did you say?" he suddenly asks, stopping his delirious rambling. He holds his free palm out, signalling for the healer to stay where she is, giving the briefest of glances at Ysabel to make sure she's also staying put with that nasty-looking cleaver of hers.

"You can hear me?" he asks them, the severed forearm - nee chicken friend - twitching in his hand as a wave of disgust and hope runs through his ragged body.

"Please, just.. stay where you are. Something terrible has happened. I... I'm experiencing a very different reality from yours. That's not.. vegetable stew or whatever you think you're cooking. You just drowned a man, Dalia. And you, Ysabel... you just chopped the hand off some shackled dead woman. There's a terrible spider outside..."

Shaun turns to gesture towards the doorway when he sees another ragged form enter the kitchen (Chard). Taken by surprise he lets out a high-pitched scream and purely instinctively throws the severed forearm - nee chicken friend - at the figure.

[cailano]

Ysabel and Dalia

Shaun is acting very strangely. His smile seems to vanish as he speaks, leaving a look of... is it horror? What is wrong with him?

When he holds his palm out to tell you to stay put, a strange coin falls from it and lands with a clink on the floor. It's dull and featureless and looks to be made of iron or lead or some other base metal.

Quin

You hear a quick shriek from the kitchen, and it doesn't sound like one of the ladies. Not that they're the shrieking type, necessarily. There was something in the pitch of it that was alarming.

Chard

You enter the kitchen, and wow, does that stew smell amazing! Ysabel has really found her calling as a cook. Shaun is already in the room. He must have smelled it, too.

But he's acting very strange. He jumps when you come in, shrieks, and throws his "pet" chicken at you. You catch the taxidermied fowl on instinct.

Ysabel

You begin to sense something, and it doesn't sit well with you at all. It's a feeling you've not had in... how long has it been? Since you came to the Kobweb. Since you were on that quest for... what was it again? Why have you forgotten?

Forgotten... forgotten... what did you forget? Ah, the stew! You forgot basil. That was it.

... or was it?

 

[Elysium777]

Chard looks visibly confused. “Are you okay Shaun? Did a horse kick you in the head? I know you’re hungry, but we have to wait for lunch.” He glances at Dalia and Ysabel, he inhales, really absorbing the smell of the stew. “Oh man, the stew smells amazing! Do you guys know what’s going on with Shaun?”

 

[Malkavian Grin]

Stopping in her tracks, Dalia shot Shaun a confused look. Her weight shifted to her other hip. Her eyes we're drawn to his palm which wasn't a very friendly gesture. She gave the coin a quick glance, then back to her friend in distress.

 

"Shaun, honey what are you... Drowned a man? Do you mean these vegetables?" she guffawed.

 

The shriek from him made Dalia jump ever so slightly as she pinched her eyes shut. "Chard maybe you can talk some sense into Shaun. He's...he's n-not..." she struggled to say. "N-not...acting...himself..."

 

Dalia's attention was drawn back down to the coin on the ground. She stared at it, slowly getting lost on thought. A single, solitary thought in her mind seemed to stretch out time and space...

 

Supplication...

 

Trying to blink away the strange feeling, Dalia approached Shaun again, much slower this time. She knelt and picked up the coin.

 

"What's this?"

[cailano]

Dalia

You pick up the coin, and a moment later, you're hit with a wave of nausea that leaves you unable to stand. Reality itself bends and warps around you and everything changes. The light dims. Pleasant smells become vile. You squeeze your eyes shut to block the sensation of... what? What is it like?

Waking. It feels like dragging yourself out of a very deep sleep.

You feel a void within yourself. A void once filled by your dark faith. That, more than anything, gives you a sense of lost time. How long has it been since you've prayed to the Old Ones? How long since you've left yourself open to their madness?

When you open your eyes again, the room has become a twisted, nightmarish version of the kitchen you've known. There is blood and filth everywhere. You are covered in it. Your fingers look like emaciated claws.

The smell of blood - old and new - assails your nostrils. You look up at Ysabel and see her starved and gore-covered. The butcher block behind her... there's a chained corpse... it's....

Then you see another corpse beside you. A man who has been tied up, beaten, and drowned.

Shaun

You see Dalia coming out of the dream of the Kozy Kobweb, and you see the potential reaction building in her. All at once, your experience as an adventurer mitigates your sense of horror. You realize what a dangerous position you're in and how much of a disadvantage you're at.

Things are bad. They are horrifically, impossibly bad. But that doesn't mean they can't get worse.

[Taigains]

Ysabel

Wizard 3

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Forgotten. Forgotten... basil? Ysabel walked over to where the basil eas and grabbed some. She held in her hand and staired at it... it didn't feel like she had forgotten basil. She looked back to her friends, poor Shaun must be so hungry to be acting like this, throwing his chicken and dropping his... coin.

The dull thud of the coin makes Ysabel twitch. It sounded... to heavy, to fast, to... real. She watched Dalia pick it up as She moved up behind her, basil in one hand and her knife in the other. "Dalia... what is that? Can I see it? Do I want to see it...?" Ysabel struggled against the many questions filling her mind. Questions... questions... QUESTIONS! When has she stopped asking questions!? Her eyes went a little crazy as she took a step back.

Ooc