Metropolis - The Weight of the World (and Found Wanting)

[Tonks]

Azot blinked.

He stood waste deep in the filth of Metropolis, floating lazily downstream towards a final destination that was a mystery to all but Sebek, probably. His eyes penetrated the darkness with ease, looking up what had caused the tunnel to block, causing more than a little flood damage to the villages "upsteam". It was a little-used tunnel, Azot had been down this part of the sewer many times before, and he was sure that he'd never seen anything like this before.

Dozens of decaying, rotten, dismembered corpses looked like they had been forced up from an underground explosion, creating a pillar of death that had wedged itself into a bizzare pattern, blocking most of the larger...sewer specimens.

If Azot couldn't clear it, the farms upstream would flood and the villages would suffer. What ever caused this problem would have to wait, the blockage needed immediate attention.

As he moved closer to the corpse dam, Azot could see that moving all of these bodies would take some time, but the drainage of the outweighed the loss of such a trivial thing. Reaching the first knot of bodies, Azot reached out to see how tightly they were pressed together before making the decision on which manner to best clear them.

[sblock]Basically wanting to know if he could manually move them or if he should summon a few helpers. There is always the other standby of using Call Lightening to blast the corpes if the first two options don't seem like they are working. Azot's patience only goes so far..[/sblock]

 

[Phoenix]

The halfling squints hard and rubs his eyes, trying to make sure that it's not simply a trick of the light. "Don't think I've seen that before."

[sblock=OOC]Knowledge (Nature) at +6
Knowledge (Local) at +6
Knowledge (History) at +4
Whichever's appropriate.[/sblock]

[sblock]Knowledge - History (DC 30) +16 - Failure[/sblock]

Stairing at the fin, Corbin could only think of some huge fish that lived in the earth instead of the canals of the city. The fin "swam" forward through the earth with ease, stopping only for a moment when the group of soldiers called something to each other, as if it was getting its bearings on the group.

 

[Phoenix]

"I got no time 'er this Ham," Jasmine says. She jiggles her chest, "Payin cust'mahs only if ya 'ant tha goods."

Jasmine uses her little distraction to find a vulnerable spot on the oaf and see if she can knock him out. She didn't want him dead yet.

[sblock=OOC] Feign (Move action) Bluff +9 vs his Sense Motive. -4 to do non-lethal damage (Included) Dagger +1, +5, 1d4+1, 19-20/x2. If Feign worked, he's denied his dex bonus, and add sneak of 2d6.[/sblock]

[sblock]Bluff check (DC 5) +11 - Success
Jasmine attack roll (Ham - AC hidden) +19 - Hit
Jasmine damage roll - 13pts subdual (13/?)
Ham attack roll (Jasmine - AC 15) +13 - Miss([/sblock]

With drunken passion burning in his loins and fury building in his eyes, Ham turned on Jasmine with the bottle in his hand. Swinging wildly with his bottle at the elusive, taunting Jasmine, Ham fails to see her sway and the waist deftly and dance to the side, slamming the pommel of her dagger into the side of his fat head, sending him crashing into the flimsy wall and dazing him for a moment.

Ham looked across angrily at the small woman, all thoughts of lust gone in his eyes as the drunks in the room burst into laughter at his expense, now he wanted revenge...

 

[Phoenix]

As he moved closer to the corpse dam, Azot could see that moving all of these bodies would take some time, but the drainage of the outweighed the loss of such a trivial thing. Reaching the first knot of bodies, Azot reached out to see how tightly they were pressed together before making the decision on which manner to best clear them.

[sblock]Basically wanting to know if he could manually move them or if he should summon a few helpers. There is always the other standby of using Call Lightening to blast the corpes if the first two options don't seem like they are working. Azot's patience only goes so far..[/sblock]

The corpses fail to budge at Azot's urges, whatever had caused the macabre display in the sewers had made sure that they would not move easily. Even a team of peasants would be force to spend days clearing the blockage, time that Azot didn't...

...

...did...did that corpse just...wink...?

 

[Phoenix]

...there is something much worse...

Fine mist drifted about the child that knelt before Ymris, caressing the child's long hair and flowing down to the ground to bubble across the floor. There was something about the child...something...

A dark form crawled out of the mist, a large rat, a giant rat, wandered (could a rat wander?) towards the child, eventually resting beside her. Both the rat and the child looked at Ymris, a look of knowing in their eyes, as the girl reached into the mist and pulled forth three golden coins.

Knowingly she cast them upon the mat before Ymris. Two coins showed an image of Metropolis, the third the face of a regal woman, unknown. It was unusual to see this ritual done without the proper stones, but Ymris saw were this was going.

"...you left me..."

The second cast showed two regal women, one city.

"...but I forgive you, she found me..."

The third cast fell into the mist, hidden from view. The girl patted the rat with affection, looking Ymris in the eyes, not allowing her gaze to seek the final throw.

"...you must look outside destiny itself sometimes..."

The girl stood and left, the rat close behind, both swollowed up by the mist. Looking down Ymris watched the mist retreat from the coins, showing the final cast. All three coins had landed on their edge, on one side the woman was stripped of her flesh, the other side showed a burning Metropolis.

The coins spun lazily and faded from view, disappearing into the dream. It would be another hour before Ymris' body clock allowed her to awaken, another hour before the dream would focus to clarity...

 

[Tonks]

The corpses fail to budge at Azot's urges, whatever had caused the macabre display in the sewers had made sure that they would not move easily. Even a team of peasants would be force to spend days clearing the blockage, time that Azot didn't...

...

...did...did that corpse just...wink...?

Taking a step backwards from the bodies, Azot looked down at the corpses once again and then reached for the bone necklace that he wore. While Sebek did not suffer the weak to worship him long, neither did he grant the foolish the ability to call upon his power. If the bodies had been placed here by something other than a freak collapse of an underground cairn, then Azot would deal with the person, or people, responsible swiftly, as Sebek commanded him to do. For now though, his task was the removal of the corpses and whether they were all dead or undead mattered little to him.

Feeling the power buried deep within the necklace, Azot called upon Sebek to grant him the power to accomplish his task. Climbing out of the waterway and standing upon the ancient stone path that lined both sides of the canal, he could feel the air around him changing and felt the hair along his arms and neck begin to stand on their own accord. Letting go of the necklace once the air became heavy with the smell of ozone, Azot extended his hand and the darkness of the sewers was shattered as lightening struck the first mass of bodies.

[sblock] Cast Call Lightening and send it into the barrier. 1/5 bolts expended[/sblock]

edit: Corrected sentence structure and bad grammer.

 

[Scotley]

Jazick

Disgusted and frightened, Jazick struggled to his feet. He moves off cautiously in the wake of the halfling and his macabre band of raw flesh eaters. Whatever they are about it cannot bode well for the good people of Candlestick Lane. Keeping them just in sight Jazick pursues with mounting concern.

 

[GlassEye]

Fine mist drifted about the child that knelt before Ymris, caressing the child's long hair and flowing down to the ground to bubble across the floor. There was something about the child...something...

A dark form crawled out of the mist, a large rat, a giant rat, wandered (could a rat wander?) towards the child, eventually resting beside her. Both the rat and the child looked at Ymris, a look of knowing in their eyes, as the girl reached into the mist and pulled forth three golden coins.

Knowingly she cast them upon the mat before Ymris. Two coins showed an image of Metropolis, the third the face of a regal woman, unknown. It was unusual to see this ritual done without the proper stones, but Ymris saw were this was going.

"...you left me..."

The second cast showed two regal women, one city.

"...but I forgive you, she found me..."

The third cast fell into the mist, hidden from view. The girl patted the rat with affection, looking Ymris in the eyes, not allowing her gaze to seek the final throw.

"...you must look outside destiny itself sometimes..."

The girl stood and left, the rat close behind, both swollowed up by the mist. Looking down Ymris watched the mist retreat from the coins, showing the final cast. All three coins had landed on their edge, on one side the woman was stripped of her flesh, the other side showed a burning Metropolis.

The coins spun lazily and faded from view, disappearing into the dream. It would be another hour before Ymris' body clock allowed her to awaken, another hour before the dream would focus to clarity...

Ymris drags herself awake, disorientation from sleep and dark dreams pulling at her body and mind like chains, slowing her reactions. Blearily she casts her gaze around her momentarily confused to find herself waking here. Even the dim light makes her sleep sensitive eyes squint. Rubbing gummed matter from her eyes she pulls herself from her bed.

Instinctively she begins the stretches and slowed stances that have begun her day for the past 30 years. Her body begins to waken and limber but the peace of mind these movements normally instill is elusive to thoughts still heavy with dream-mist.

Mist. The dream. The girl. The reading... Patterns of movement are shattered by the sudden clarity of memory of the dream that now crashes through her mind like thunder. Gasping as if she had just spent the past hour sparring with the Maidens, Ymris sinks down onto the cot that served as her bed and clutches her head in her hands. Thoughts whirl about in her head skipping about but repeatedly returning to two things: the girl and the reading.

Deliberately shying away from thoughts of the girl Ymris concentrates on the reading to no avail. I gave up my daughter to be raised by another woman. Does she forgive me? Do I need forgiveness? With sudden and sharp pain Ymris realizes that for the first time since she gave her daughter away she feels regret for having done so. Regret turns to a sickening feeling in her gut as her thoughts jump to the third casting and the fate? that Metropolis will burn and every woman in it. Or something worse.

A plaintive meow from beyond her shuttered window interupts her thoughts. As she opens the window a large battered tabby cat leaps onto the sill, stretches and then settles himself. "Ay, Thom. That yowling kept me up half the night. I'm surprised no one set the dogs out on you." Thom twitches his broken tail and lifts one paw and begins to lick it. Waves of smug satisfaction lap agains Ymris' mind and she snorts. "Just like a man." Turning for the door she snatches up her possessions. Shrugging her pack onto her shoulders, grasping her staff, she steps out of the room...

 

[Komodo]

Staring at the fin, Corbin could only think of some huge fish that lived in the earth instead of the canals of the city. The fin "swam" forward through the earth with ease, stopping only for a moment when the group of soldiers called something to each other, as if it was getting its bearings on the group.

Corbin gasps. "That thing's gonna attack them!" he says softly. He sucks a breath of air in through his teeth, then pushes himself up. He pokes his head out of concealment. Nobody was getting eaten tonight in his neighborhood. "Get off the ground!" calls Corbin to the group, extending a small hand to the fin. "There's a...uh...land shark coming right for you! Get to higher ground!"

 

[Bront]

[sblock]Bluff check (DC 5) +11 - Success
Jasmine attack roll (Ham - AC hidden) +19 - Hit
Jasmine damage roll - 13pts subdual (13/?)
Ham attack roll (Jasmine - AC 15) +13 - Miss([/sblock]

With drunken passion burning in his loins and fury building in his eyes, Ham turned on Jasmine with the bottle in his hand. Swinging wildly with his bottle at the elusive, taunting Jasmine, Ham fails to see her sway and the waist deftly and dance to the side, slamming the pommel of her dagger into the side of his fat head, sending him crashing into the flimsy wall and dazing him for a moment.

Ham looked across angrily at the small woman, all thoughts of lust gone in his eyes as the drunks in the room burst into laughter at his expense, now he wanted revenge...

Jasmine flutters her eyelashes sweetly, "No pay, no way," she says.

She bends over and blows him a kiss, using his awkward gait and slow reactions to swing around and knock him again.

[sblock=OOC]Feign (Move action) Bluff +9 vs his Sense Motive. -4 to do non-lethal damage (Included) Dagger +1, +5, 1d4+1, 19-20/x2. If Feign worked, he's denied his dex bonus, and add sneak of 2d6. [/sblock]