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Offline Saracenar

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The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« on: January 6, 2012, 05:13:02 AM »
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“Kane, pass me that piece of chalk. I have one more arc to complete before we can move to the next stage.”

Alexander took the chalk, completing the innermost ring of the pentacle. Handing it back to the darkly-clad man, he stepped outside of its boundary and allowed him to work. Kane drew, with the utmost care, a series of interconnected criss-crossing lines, forming within the pentacle its inner bindings.

Once he was done, he stepped aside to allow two women, one pale-skinned and crimson-clad, the other garbed in a multi-coloured robe, to move to opposite points of the pentacle’s ring. They began filling the gap between the rings with an inscription, the characters uncommon to human writings.

When, after a few minutes, each woman met the other’s script, and they too retired with Alexander and Kane, a man of Italian birth stepped forth to place the incense candles at precise points around the pentacle’s edge. Finally, the eldest of the six unravelled a timeworn scroll and recited words of imbuement.

The chalk lines began to show a faint emerald shine.

Moving into position, the six seemingly ordinary people stood equidistant from one another around the pentacle, careful not to smudge the lines with their feet. Starting with Alexander, they started to chant in low voices the words of opening.

The lines grew brighter. With each uttered syllable, the sorcery strengthened. The planes began to draw closer. The flames around them flickered, but there was no wind. The lines grew brighter, and brighter, until their light overwhelmed the entire room.

The last words were spoken. Everyone looked to the direct centre of the pentacle, where a dark hole in reality was beginning to open. Drawing a small dagger, they each allowed a single drop of their blood to spill upon the pentacle.

Howling voices filled their ears. They spoke of horrors, delights and much more, but the one thing that was clearest among the cacophony, was “opening…”

They knew they had succeeded. The portal had been opened. Now limitless power was theirs to command, the strength of spirits and the dread of demons would be at their disposal, for they had brought through not just a single entity, or a group, but the entire contents of the Sixth Plane, in the first Ritual of Merging ever to be attempted.

But then they realised things had gone horribly wrong. From the ever-expanding opening reached an almighty clawed hand, its fingers each as large as any of the humans in the room. Although it moved slowly, they were helpless to react to it, as it extended towards Alexander, clasping him and dragging him down into the portal.

Terrified, the humans could do nothing as they too were pulled in after Alexander and the hand had disappeared.

They saw nothing but darkness. And then, they hit the ground hard.

It wasn’t the wooden floorboards of their meeting place they peeled their shocked faces from, but rather, a foul-tasting dirt-laced plateau.

Rolling over, they immediately noticed a huge structure towering over them. Gothic architecture twisted its form, seemingly made of obsidian. After a moment, it became apparent that it was a giant archway, spanning from one end of the plateau to the other. All about them lay the ruins of what appeared to be similarly styled buildings, long since destroyed and scattered.

Beyond that, just as the plateau began to decline, walls of swirling colour encircled them, obscuring anything beyond from view.

As a final bonus, it quickly becomes apparent that Alexander is nowhere to be seen.

Offline The Nightwalker

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #1 on: January 6, 2012, 10:30:52 AM »
Odoacer coughed and spit out dirt as he pressed the palms of his hands to the ground and pushed himself upright. Once he was looking up his jaw openly dropped in wonder, What strange hell is this? Then all that had just occured rushed through his head like a river, Lines on the ground, the scroll, he was reading it, it had been working! But the portal.. The vile claw! It had taken Alexander, it had taken them all! Wait, where is Alexander?

Odoacer stood up quickly and brushed off the dirt from his cloak and tunic. He looked around and couldn't locate the man, though he noticed the rest of the party was present. He moved to the closet person to him to help them up, a woman clad in many colors and glass beads.

Offline azore24

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #2 on: January 6, 2012, 04:27:24 PM »
Lilith's head was spinning.  She'd just been pulled through a dimensional rift - which she decided was not an experience to try again.  Well, she'd have to try it again at some point, unless she found a nice cottage overlooking a river with a few acres of farmland and a bunch of servants to work it, but that seemed unlikely.  She sat up and rolled her head around, taking in the environment and stretching her neck.

Odoacer, the other student of Shadow rituals, had come to her, offering a hand to help her up.  He was tall and not all that fun looking, meaning that he seemed to be a noble, and not one to invite many entertainers to court (at least, not for the food part of court).  His costume probably added to his appearance, being all black and sort of imposing - obviously his Shadow cult and hers viewed the art differently.

Lilith accepted the man's hand and rose quickly, checking that she hadn't injured herself as she did.

"Thank you," she said, "any idea what went wrong?  Or where Alexander got dragged off to?  We'll need him to get back, unless one of us is secretly a wizened master of dimensional crossings."

As she was saying this, she turned to help up the other three members of the ritual who'd all been dragged down with her.  The closest was Therese, the other woman and another noble.



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Offline Killskin

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #3 on: January 6, 2012, 04:34:39 PM »
Kane stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself. He looked around, something went wrong. Did he draw the lines wrong, was a word mispronounced? He turned to look at the others and realized one was missing. Where is Alexander? Why wasn`t he here, why weren`t the rest of them where he is, what did that mysterious hand want with him? The questions kept piling up, but answers were nowhere to be found. He continued to ponder these questions, judging by the looks of things there isn`t much else he could do anyway. Kane scowled, he despised being helpless as that is what most of his childhood had consisted of. Although, he hated to admit, there was nothing he could do but wait for the others. Hopefully one of them will have an idea better than standing around in this bizarre place.
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Offline The Nightwalker

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #4 on: January 6, 2012, 07:57:28 PM »
"My pleasure," the Master of shadows voice was smooth like honey, yet it was cold and dark like one who cared little of the world. "I know not what has occured, or where our friend has gotten to. Though if I may guess, he can not be far. We did after all exit the realm of mortals through the same spot. If that is how such things work..."

Offline Heretek

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #5 on: January 7, 2012, 01:45:47 AM »
Therese took Lilith's hand and allowed herself to be helped to her feet. The sleeve of her crimson gown fell back as she reached up, revealing a milk-pale arm crossed with a crazed spider's web of faint white and red lines; old scars overlaid with still healing cuts. With her feet beneath her again, Therese gave Lilith a grateful smile and released her hand.

The blood disciple turned in a slow circle, taking in the blasted plateau they found themselves on. The bizarre structures that loomed overhead dwarfed the humans, particularly the Cyclopean archway that soared above them. As she studied the gateway, Therese felt a trickle of warmth on her upper lip and a dull pain where her face had struck the ground. She absently licked away the blood leaking from her nose, then frowned.

She'd felt the faintest tingle of power at the taste of her own blood, and that shouldn't have been possible. Without any of the rituals or chants, drawing strength from blood, even her own, couldn't have worked. She wondered if perhaps there was some leftover energy from the great ritual, or some native property of the damned place they found themselves in. It was a mystery that had to be set aside for the moment.

"If we're going to search for Alexander," she spoke up. "Those ruins would seem the place to start."
« Last Edit: January 7, 2012, 02:45:45 AM by Khemri. »

Offline Chie Satonaka

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #6 on: January 7, 2012, 01:58:53 AM »
Giuseppe rubbed the side of face that had smacked hard against the ground as he got to his feet slowly. He looked around at his companions, and counted only four. The others soon began talking about finding Alexander, and after a quick look, Giuseppe confirmed that their leader was indeed missing. More concerning to Giuseppe, however, was the massive scaled claw that had pulled them all into the portal. Was it some sort of otherworldly demon or something completely different? Perhaps a physical manifestation of some sort of spell or defense?

One of his companions, a frail, anemic looking woman, expressed interest in searching for Alexander in the ruins. Giuseppe simply shrugged; it seemed as good a plan as any.
« Last Edit: January 7, 2012, 02:04:15 AM by JoBob5FDP »
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Offline Saracenar

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #7 on: January 7, 2012, 03:09:06 AM »
Once the humans had all arisen from the ground, they watched the archway with awe as it glimmered with a sparkling energy that quickly dissipated. Silence fell.

They were some distance from the archway itself. Between them and it the expanse of ruins and debris lay. Most pieces were just chunks of stone, but one or two were larger, perhaps almost large enough to be a room, or a piece of a great statue. Whether the ruins had all come from the same source was hard to tell.

While examining their surroundings, Lilith noticed flicker of movement near the base of the archway, for a moment.

Offline azore24

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #8 on: January 7, 2012, 09:24:45 AM »
"Well, this certainly is a great view, if nothing else," mused Lilith.  She surveyed the surroundings as the great archway seemed to lose a charge of power.  Perhaps it was through the archway they had traveled, or through it came the great hand which snatched them from their world and into this one.

This line of reasoning brought her to examine the archway, there wasn't much else of note to be seen, anyway.  As she stared at the structure she saw, just for an instant, a flash of something.  Perhaps someone or something moving around near it, though it also could have been some bit of debris falling off of it, or anything else.

"Hey, everyone!  I think I saw something flitting around at the base of that big archway," said Lilith to her compatriots.  "As there's nothing else to really be seen anywhere around here, what say we go investigate?"  Lilith looked around, gesturing to the group toward the structure.



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Unsophisticated players might think that the Letter of the rules is more important than the Spirit - but the Letter isn't liable to sneak up behind you with an axe if you abuse it.
"Esprit de Core," 2005


Offline Killskin

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #9 on: January 7, 2012, 10:52:51 AM »
"You think," replied Kane, "How can you think you saw something, you either saw something or you didn`t and I`m not going to go chasing after hallucinations." Kane looked toward the spot where Lilith was pointing and saw nothing. I guess that what happens when you like to create illusions, he thought, you start seeing them.
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Offline The Nightwalker

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #10 on: January 7, 2012, 01:51:16 PM »
"Do you have a better idea Kane? I think if she thinks she saw something, we may as well start looking for answers there. It is a good a place as any," The master of shadows said from under his hood. He started to walk towards the area, the ritual knife clasped tightly in his right hand. He knew not if it would even do him any good in this bizzare place, but it made him feel calmer to have it.

Offline Killskin

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #11 on: January 7, 2012, 05:42:02 PM »
Kane scowled from under his own hood. When he was waiting for an idea he wasn`t expecting one of them to be chasing after figments of some walking rainbow`s imagination. He and this self-proclaimed master of shadows may look similar, but they sure thought differently. Despite his own mental protests, he followed. If there was something and it was dangerous, at least it would attack the "master of shadows" first.
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Offline azore24

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #12 on: January 8, 2012, 01:19:11 AM »
Lilith mentally sighed at the early power-struggle.  While she did agree that the group should investigate the movement, she would have liked it better without the antagonism.  In any case, unless either of the other two cared to argue the point further, it seemed like they were taking a trip to the giant looming archway.  In order to be sure that everyone was going to stick together, Lilith decided to do an over-the-top, flowing bow in order to invite the other two on the adventure.

As she turned to head to the archway [assuming no one else complains about going], Lilith's hand clasped her ceremonial dagger in its jeweled hilt.  It was both a tie to the real world and her only form of physical defense, so it was quite precious to her now even ignoring the piece's monetary value.



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Unsophisticated players might think that the Letter of the rules is more important than the Spirit - but the Letter isn't liable to sneak up behind you with an axe if you abuse it.
"Esprit de Core," 2005


Offline Heretek

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #13 on: January 8, 2012, 09:54:06 PM »
Therese followed silently, keeping pace with the other woman. Like Lilith, she kept one hand on the pommel of her ritual knife as they walked. Her own blade was as plain as the shadow disciple's was ornate; a worn bone handle and a gently curved, single-edged blade. She ran her thumb absently over the cabochon ruby set into the hilt, the weapon's only concession to ornament, and considered the arch that rose above them.

She wasn't inclined to disbelieve Lilith out of hand, as Kane seemed to, but she hadn't seen this mysterious shape at the base of the arch either. The arcs of power that had been coruscating across it, on the other hand, intrigued her. Therese wondered if the archway might have played some part in their arrival. 

Offline Chie Satonaka

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #14 on: January 9, 2012, 12:25:03 AM »
Giuseppe looked over at the archway and although he saw nothing, he did not disbelieve Lilith like Kane had. There did not seem to be any reason for her to lie, and they had to start searching somewhere. He found it amusing that almost as soon as their leader had gone missing his companions were already sizing each other up for the role. Let them. All five of us are strong-minded individuals; not a single one of us could manage to master the rest.

As they started walking, Giuseppe analyzed his companions. Odocaer and Kane were both of the same caliber. Both came from shady backgrounds, and both were unscrupulous and power hungry. Odocaer was quite a bit older and had quite a bit of experience without going soft, and Giuseppe knew that gave him a distinct advantage. Odocaer had his weaknesses as well. He had quite a lot of hubris and lacked subtlety, as his self-proclaimed title advertised. Such men tended to be thin-skinned, as Giuseppe knew from experience, and it wouldn't be very hard for Kane to provoke a confrontation at an advantageous time. Kane, although not particularly intelligent, at least from Giuseppe's appraisal, was quite cunning. Giuseppe concluded that although Kane could not hope to come out on top in a fair fight, the likelihood of the fight being fair was pretty poor. In the end though, any confrontation would be meaningless if they found Alexander. Kane, being more clever, already knew this and that was why he was stalling. Odocaer clearly hadn't realized that this was his big chance.

Lilith, on the other hand, was quite different. Giuseppe had no idea how cunning she was, but she was clearly intelligent, at least more than the two men. No doubt she too aspired to lead the group, and in fact she already was, albeit subtly. She, unlike Odaecer, was the true master of shadow. Giuseppe's face almost split into a wide grin when he realized what she had done. Had Kane caught on as well?

Lastly he appraised Therese. There really didn't seem much to her. She was quiet and thoughtful, but other then that, Giuseppe considered her completely unreadable. He had no clue what she aspired to or even if she aspired at all. Perhaps she, like Giuseppe himself, didn't care who the leader was as long as things got done.

In the end, though, the demonologist reflected, these are just guesses. I may consider myself an objective judge of character, but I haven't known these people for very long time. The moment I think I'm infallible is the moment my judgement lapses.

The group was beginning to approach the arch and Giuseppe noted with disapproval that Odocaer had drawn his ritual dagger in defense. Being a farmer's son, Giuseppe knew knives, and he knew that although the dagger's cheap, brittle iron was sturdy enough to puncture soft skin, it was far too weak to hold up when thrust into a ribcage or when parrying a stroke. The women had no better way to defend themselves, but Giuseppe and Kane had kept their daggers sheathed, preferring to rely on their reliable fists. Giuseppe was a decent brawler, having learned self-defense from all of the bruises he had sustained in the local inn.
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Offline Saracenar

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #15 on: January 9, 2012, 05:26:54 AM »
It took longer to reach the archway than expected. When they finally arrived, whatever Lilith had seen, was not in sight. However, as they drew closer still to the great structure, it quickly became apparent to Giuseppe that they were not alone. After spending much time studying demons, he realised they were in the presence of one, not particularly powerful though.

From behind a nearby piece of rubble, a figure emerged.

It was small; only half the height of the shortest of the group. Standing on thin, spindly legs ending in tentacle like extensions, it looked up at them with one bottomless eye of swirling green and blue, mounted on an oversized head with few other features. Little wings sprouted from its back, but whether they were strong enough to allow it to fly, was uncertain.

It had two arms, each ending in hands with toothed openings on them. They opened, and at the same time it spoke.

"What...what are you?" it asked with a distinctly high-pitched but somewhat masculine voice.

Offline The Nightwalker

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #16 on: January 9, 2012, 08:11:48 AM »
Odoacer was somewhat annoyed at how long it took to get there, this place was very different. As far as he could tell, this was not a good thing.

Then it happened, an other worldly creature came from behind a little bit of rubble. It had a foul look to it, you might say it had a demonic look to him. Is that what it was, a demon? He raised his knife in a defensive posture, ready to slay it if it moved on him.

But it didn't move on him, it started speaking. He wasn't the master of wordplay, that title belonged to another of the guild. But he assumed that it was not very wise to have a drawn weapon in that sort of confrontation. The thief deposited the finely crafted knife of black steel, onyx, and ebony back into his cloak, and started to converse back with the creature. "I am an appraiser, and a requisitioner of things. These are my associates." He said waving a hand at the rest of the party. "Though you haven't happened to see another like us recently have you?"
« Last Edit: January 9, 2012, 08:18:17 AM by The Nightwalker »

Offline Killskin

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #17 on: January 9, 2012, 03:38:52 PM »
"By requisitioner he means thief," remarked Kane. "I`ve got a better question," he continued, "What are you and what do you want?" Kane stared down at the small creature. What is this thing, he thought, and who or what does it think it is to start asking questions and to expect answers.
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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #18 on: January 9, 2012, 06:49:32 PM »
The eye became more of a green colour than blue, still swirling.

"That doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of..." it said. "And I definitely haven't seen anything like you before now."

It turned its eye on Kane. "What am I? I'm me, that's what. What do I want? All I want is to get out of here. But I can't! And I don't know why!"

It looked at the rest of the humans. "What are you? I've never seen an uglier lot."

Offline Killskin

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Re: The Sixth Plane (Game Thread)
« Reply #19 on: January 9, 2012, 07:05:42 PM »
"What am I," repeated Kane, "I am your doom if you don`t start giving us answers, like what gives you the right to insult me!" Kane was almost shouting. Not only was this thing being a smart-ass, but it had the nerve to insult him! Kane`s hands clenched into fists. The only thing stopping him from ripping this things head off was the almost guaranteed intervention of the rest of the group.
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