The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[Jack Simth]

Jack hears the commotion, and turns around just in time to see the flour coat him. He looks down at himself, and notices he can see himself.

Jack "Hmm. Well, that's annoying. Ahh well; that's what capacitors are for...."

ooc:[The capacitor was inside his robes; neither the capacitor nor Jack's link to it would have been immediately affected.]

Jack squints, and and the flour on him can be seen to glow a brilliant green as Jack overloads it and the flour degrades into sand. The glow spreads out, forming an tight ovoid around Jack, where it clears considerably, flashing occasionaly as a little of the flour still in the air comes into contact. It quickly becomes clear that Jack is continuously supplying the shield, as it doesn't dim.

Jack "Now for the rest..."

At this point, the giant bug and the woman start to move on Jack, but suddenly find that they have more important worries when Jack casts his next spell; the other party members recognize it as a variation on the spell Jack used to retrieve John's ring. It has the same light bending characteristics, but this one doesn't have a quiet black dot at the center, and doesn't take nearly so long to form. No, this one forms instantly, and has a black sphere the size of a melon at its heart. The sphere forms touching the edge of Jack's shield, and the spell's true effect becomes apparent as everyone feels a strong tug towards the sphere, and everything starts rushing towards it; the swords, spears, helmets, shields, and crossbows from the rack, the comestibles and potables from the shelf, the large cloth sacks, the fragments of shelving, the dust and the very air in the room all rush into Jack's dark sphere. The only one in the room completely unaffected by it is Jack himself, safe in the shield he built.

ooc:[Any other objects weighing less than about 50 lbs that weren't well-secured would have flown into the sphere as well; a good grip (Narp's sword and shield, for example) counts as well-secured.]

After just an instant, the room is cleared, and Jack closes his hole in reality. Air rushes in through the open doorway to fill the void, ripping the doors off their hinges and howling like a banshee for a few seconds. Then Jack calmly turns back and smiles at the bug.

The bug starts to run out the open door, but a look from the woman stops it cold.

Jack "Sorry about that everyone; I couldn't figure out how to get the shielding around you properly because of the flour. Don't worry; we can get everything back; I sent it all to John's workroom."

John "All that damping flour in MY WORKROOM!?"

Jack pounds a fist into his palm.

Jack "I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry about that. I can help you clean it up later if you like."

ooc:[Some of the damping flour would have become ground into the cloth in the room; John, Arthur, and D still have some cleaning up to do before they can cast spells unencumbered by the dust.]

[ July 25, 2003, 18:24: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Narf'scompatshop]

ooc:[she's summoning her bandits. and the bug'll have enough flour on it to interfere with spells, for plot purposes. ok, don't post when your ready to fall asleep. gonna fix. ]

Reacting quickly, the psi stands still and closes her eyes for a moment. Also reacting quickly, Narp shoots the arrow which he had nocked. unfortunatly, the arrow is flicked aside two feet from her, into the wall, where it shatters. the peices go flying around the room, but nothing dangerous hits anybody anywhere vulnerable.

Her eyes snap open, and she frowns in concentration. Then, she mentally heaves the bug at the group. Narp is clipped on the upper shoulder and doees two full fips and a half-spin before hitting the wall, Jack is hit solidly on the upper chest and does three-quarters of a flip, ending up face down and somehow not very hurt and the bug hits John at an angle and knocks him flying into Arther, whose legs shoot out from under him. The bucket goes flying off his foot, bounces off the opposite wall and then the ceiling and finishes by landing on the bugs eye.

At that point, the bug rears up and looks for a target. a close target.

The psi appears to be concentrating with her eyes open.

ooc:[she's trying to find a way around our shielding. she can tell something is wrong, since her psi senses are telling her we're not where her eyes tell us she is. the bug is to distract us while she does that.]

[ July 24, 2003, 23:11: Message edited by: Narf'scompatshop ]

[Jack Simth]

ooc:[Of course Jack isn't seriously hurt - he hadn't dropped the shield he used to hold off the flour coming his way and insulating himself from the effects of the wormhole while he eliminated the rest of the flour.]

ooc:[She's concentrating on getting around our defenses? Not for long....]

Jack teleports onto his feet, and then starts teleporting rocks from Arthur's mountain into the room, directly over the Psi's head. Large rocks. Lots of them. The woman notices before they hit, however, and starts throwing them telekenetically. Every time she does, Jack teleports the thrown rock back over her head. When Jack has a free moment, he teleports another rock in. After just a few seconds, the two reach equilibrium; it seems Jack can teleport things in just as fast as the woman can divert them with telekenisis. Equilibrium seems to be five large rocks, each of which gets teleported and telekenetically thrown a few times per second. Jack sweats profusely from the concentration, while the Psi perspires heavily for the same reason.

ooc:[Both Jack and the Psi are at their limit on how much they can handle at once. If the Psi tries something, she'll get hit on the head by a rock, and will be out of the fight. If Jack tries something, he'll miss a rock the Psi throws, and someone will get hit (probably Jack, if the Psi knows who is doing all the teleporting...). In the meantime, Narp, Arthur, D, the bug, and John are available for action; can the four remaining party members take on the bug?]

[ July 28, 2003, 18:31: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

Arthur grabs a nearby halberd and waves it in the general direction of the bug. Unimpressed, the bug snatches the weapon from his hands and snaps it in two with its mandibles. D and John decline to offer similar resistance and begin backing away, flinging anything they can find at the bug. All three periodically attempt to burn off the damping flour with which they are coated, but their attempts are fruitless. Just as the bug backs them up against a wall, John quickly tosses a side of pork into the air. While the bug is distracted, he dives under it and plunges down the well. Arthur and D look puzzled for a minute, but quickly decide to follow suit as the bug polishes off the meat. As they disappear down the well, a well-timed arrow from Narp smacks into the back of the bug's head. The arrow snaps, and the bug turns angrily around in search of its tormentor. Narp, across the room, appears to be a willing culprit. The bug begins to stalk in his direction.

[ July 27, 2003, 21:06: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Narp shoots it in the left eye. The bug leaves off stalking, rears up on it's hind legs and emits a shriek which momentarily stops everyone as they grab there ears in pain. unfortunatly, there was no rock above the telepath at that moment.

Narp takes the opportunity to shoot another arrow at it's right eye. unfortunatly, it snaps a limb up and blocks the arrow. then it charges at Narp. Narp throws his bow accross the room, drops his pack, waits till the Last second, then rolls under the bug. the case protects the arrows and the bug smacks into the wall. Narp takes a moment to shove the tip of his sword into a natural crack in the bugs armor while rolling. and he keeps on rolling till he reaches the other wall, where he rolls to his feet and turns to face the bug...

[ July 31, 2003, 07:48: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

The momentary break in the action gives Jack an idea, and he switches over to inertial teleports, placing the rocks the psi diverts in places where their intertia will carry them into the psi. It's only a slightly greater strain on Jack's concentration, as he is watching from a distance; the psi, however, is in the middle of it. When she knocks one away from her, it flies at her from behind. They are coming at her from multiple angles, and she now must react to new positions.

After a moment, it becomes clear that she can't handle the extra strain as one of the rocks gets through and hits her head rather hard, knocking her down. The remainder miss, but she doesn't get back up.

Jack teleports the ones that missed and drops them on the psi's head for good measure.

Jack turns and looks at the bug.

Jack "Now, what are we going to do about you?"

[ July 31, 2003, 08:30: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

At that moment, the well spews a veritable waterspout, from which the three missing mages appear. They seem waterlogged but otherwise healthy, and nearly all of the damping flour has been washed off. D promptly makes the party invisible again; Arthur sends a tornado to dance in front of the bug and distract it; and John fires off a couple of large fireballs. The flames glance off the bug's rear plating and strike the remainder of the shelves, quickly igniting them and devouring the remainder of the food. The bug shrieks again in rage.

John "That's a pity; I was looking forward to trying some of that salted beef. My, what a lot of noise from something with such a small head!"

D silences the bug, much to the relief of five pairs of ears.

Arthur "Much better. Maybe now I can think. Let's see..."

He sends a wave of force magic at the bug's legs to knock it down, followed by another wave to flip it. A blanket of force then holds it to the floor; by the strained bulging of its plates, it would seem that tremendous pressure is being applied to the gigantic insect. Everyone is grateful for the silence spell; it is evident from the wild gyrations of its legs and mandibles that it is making a dreadful racket.

Arthur "Should I just finish squishing it, or does someone have any ideas which would make less of a mess?"

A groan comes from what's left of the psi, who seems to be maintaining some level of consciousness despite the severity of her wounds.

[ooc: Given the filter spell and the "borrowing" of John's skills, it's possible that both the psi and the bug have death-activated spells. Also, it would be nice to get some answers from the psi. Doesn't have to be healing/interrogation; could be diary/journal/find-a-flunky-and-interrogate-him.]

[ July 31, 2003, 09:05: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "You seem to have burned enough of the flour off. We could teleport it somewhere; perhaps a cage, so it could be studied."

Jack "Meanwhile though, I ought to do something about that psi."

Jack walks over to the moaning woman, and baths her in a green light. Sparks flash as the flour is slowly overloaded, and after a moment, the flashes stop. Jack then forms a small green bubble between his hands, and places it into the woman's head.

Jack "There, that should hold your power in check for a time. I never did get to the method for chaining a spell to another unwillingly. That would probably be quite useful here. No matter. That was quite well played. Now then...."

Jack reaches down to start healing the Psi.

ooc:[Feel free to stop him if you think she's better off injured.]

[ July 31, 2003, 10:14: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

A few moments later, bandits burst through the door.

Narp hits one in the chest with an arrow as several throw familair bags through the air.

The psi, although still wounded, does something clever and suddenly backhands Jack accross the room. He slams into a wall.

Arther gets two bags in the chest and Narp gets one on his shield. John manages to duck and the bag hits the force wall holding the bug down. fortunatly, it doesn't burst. unfortunatly, it appears to be dissolving the shield.

ooc:[since your spell is covering her head, she's improved her neural signals. it'll improve her strength and speed, but she can't do it for long. and i decided my character doesn't have to be the only one to hit walls. ]

[ August 01, 2003, 07:07: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack stands back up, and notices his left arm is dangling loose.

Jack "Hmm, that needs fixing...."

The psi makes a lunge at Jack, but he teleports her back, then levitates her in the middle of the room, keeping everything out of reach.

Jack's right hand glows green, and he runs it over his left arm, which starts responding again.

Jack "That's better."

The bandits throw a few more bags of flour at Jack, but he teleports aside before they can hit.

Jack (to Psi) "Hmm, I was expecting you to wait until I was done healing your wounds before playing again. I suppose it's because your reenforecements arrived."

The bandits let loose a volly of arrows at Jack, but he again teleports aside.

[ August 01, 2003, 19:18: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]