[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Fractured Reality

[BrokenPlayer]

Rubbing the back of her head, Sydney steps off to the side as she allows the other individuals to move around her and towards the door. Once the door opens, however, Sydney instinctively crosses her arms over her face to protect it from the wind. It was something that seemed to surprise all of the party members, not just Sydney Rose.

"Is.. is everyone all right?" Sydney asks as she regains her composure. Once everyone seems okay, Sydney walks inside the study with Karlon and the new elven woman. She chooses to stand just a few feet from the doorway. "What is going on here?" she asks Karlon as she looks around.

[OwenQuillion]

"Like what stories? And Ophelia, lovely? Well, I don't mean any disserv-" Beau begins to talk himself into what might have been a trap of some sort as Damian springs one of his own. It doesn't take the gnome long to re-focus his attention to the new-found study.

"Karlon! I was wondering where you'd got... To?" His surprise at seeing himself is taken in much better stride than the last chance encounter. With a look up to his companions, he glibly utters in a low voice, "You know, if it weren't for the roguishly good looks, I'd say he was a cheap impostor." Intensely interested nonetheless, his curiosity gets the best of him. With a few testing toe-taps into the wizard's chamber to make sure the two worlds don't suddenly tear apart from each other, he literally hops through the passage.

"Good to be home! If you can call this shoddy old lab that," he quips as he leans against a bookshelf. "So, what brings you... 'lovely' strangers here?" He cracks another smile, quite ready to break across the room and shake his own hand should this prove to not be his evil twin, as all the good stories go.

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia]

The elf briskly walks through the doorway and approaches herself, bow still in hand, but returning the arrow to its quiver. "Has Karlon figured out what in the Nine Hells is going on? If he hasn't, it's in your best interest to get out of this building, and do to it quickly." In her head, the words made a sensible and convincing argument. Having heard them aloud, however, she realizes with gut-clenching certainty that her counterpart really is her, her warning will only whet her appetite for adventure and excitement.

"Don't say you haven't been warned," she adds.

[LordJecks]

I hate this place... I hate it so much thought Brother Damian as he looks at the two new Ophelia's and Beau's, then the ones standing near him and back again. Shrugging, atleast he was one of the clones, he step through into what appeared to be Karlon's study.

"Good to see you again Karlon. Do you have any idea what on earth is going on here?" he asked as he stood a few feet from the door in the study, trying to keep his distance from anyone and anything.

[EnixH]

Weary from the travels through this bizarre dimension, Allan can't help but wince as Damian opens the door and it makes a stunning impact against his face. As they all wander into the Wizard's study, Allan notices the two 'clones' of the gnome and elf they met up with only a few moments ago, and as he sighed the wizard found an ornate wooden chair with rich,bright red cushions. He sits down gingerly,holding his staff between his legs as he observes the clones, wondering if he should risk another mind-blowing migraine to discern their magical properties, but decided to hold off for now However he continues to stare at the faux elf and gnome, his expression that of curiousness yet frustration, along with mental exaustion.

[Pojo]

"Oh, evil twins!" says Emma, delighted. "And we even outnumber them, should make it easy to get rid of the fakes. I vouch for the legitimacy of, um..."

She squints, sweeping her gaze over the rest of the room like a beleaguered beholder.

"Damn. I've forgotten which is which already. How do we do this... Oh, I've got it! Here's how this works - one of you can only tell the truth and one of you can only lie. Just to be original, the evil one is the one that tells the truth, while the good one will obviously just fabricate something. Everyone clear on their roles? Good. Now. You."

She points at the closest Ophelia, then scrambles up to her side, leaning in closely so that they are eye to eye.

"Which way is it to Birmingshire?"

OOC I have no idea who I'm talking to! On a 1 it will be the PC Ophelia. Dice Roll: (as this is an older post, these rolls are interpreted by the older (more basic) dice roller code) d2: 1

[Timeless Prophet]

"And precisely how do you propose to measure who is telling the truth godmother?" The young elf woman asks from her seat near the fireplace. She is staring into the fire quite intently almost seeming to get last in her thoughts for a moment. "In fact what in the blazes are you talking about god mother? I don't see any evil twins." Nariel remarks as she peers around the room. Her gaze passes right over, what you would assume to be the evil dopplegangers, Beau and Ophelia without so much as a glint of recognition. She turns back to her god-mother. "I do think that even you appear to have gone completely off into the Far somedays."

Karlon nods his head in approval. "Indeed whomever are to or about dear friends?" He turns to Beau and Ophelia on this particular remark. "Cheap impostor? " The dwarf appears genuinely perplexed.

As Ophelia is staring down her double suddenly the mirror image smiles and slaps the elven woman across the face. Ophelia jerks in extreme pain, but not because of the slap but because her entire body now feels as though it is burning. The doppleganger Ophelia laughs once more before reaching out and embracing her twin. Ophelia screams in pain as the two are engulfed in a bright light.

A moment later Ophelia is lying on the floor twitching in pain as Karlon opens his mouth to speak. "As I was saying...what seems to have gotten all your combined attention. EH GADS how did Ophelia end up on the floor? What is wrong?" He bends down to examine the poor woman.

Damian and Allen turn their attention to Ophelia. However; Sydney, Emma, and Beau only are distracted by the elf woman for just a moment. Because as Karlon rushes to Ophelia's side a the three of you notice that a creepy shadow has formed on the wall next to Nariel. Out of the shadow steps a human sized Beau or at least what appears to be Beau if you stretched the gnome's skin onto a human skeleton. It brandishes a knife and lunges at the young maiden.

OOC Alright I made perception checks for everyone, that is why some of you notice the Beau-monster and others don't. Ophelia please make a Fort. Sydney, Emma, and Beau may respond to the thing attacking Nariel. Allen and Damian may make obvious observations/tend to Ophelia. Hope all of you had a Happy Holidays!

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia]

"Get..." the elf grunts through clenched teeth, "...get your ... damned hands off me!" The girl twists and moans on the floor in obvious distress, resisting whatever torments her as best she can though the source still remains invisible and incomprehensible.

[LordJecks]

Brother Damian drops to one knee beside the fallen elven woman trying to make sense of her sudden signs of insanity. Putting a hand to her forehand he takes note of an increase in body heat and signs of sweat. Coupled with her grunted remarks about being assailed he quickly decides to take action. He quickly swings his hands above her body to see if there truely was something assaulting her, it had been one of those days after all.

If the cleric found nothing he would attempt to move the distress elven woman to somewhere more comfortable, back to the Inn, where she couldn't hurt herself or another.

[BrokenPlayer]

Somehow, Sydney Rose's hand reached for her large sword strewn across her back as soon as her eyes spotted the odd humanoid-like creature attacking the elven woman. Unfortunately, Sydney's brief moment of clarity ended once she realized that she was about to fight. Her hand shakes almost uncontrollably as it pulls the greatsword free of its leather bed and only manages to jam it into the ground just a few feet from her own feet.

OOC Wow, you guys should see how terrible I rolled. One on initiative, one on attack, and two 2's for damage. Pfft.

[EnixH]

Allan stood from his chair as Ophelia fell to the ground and Damian moved to her side, trying to discern what seemed to be the matter. The wizard too came over and looked over the elven woman who,to his best knowledge,was embraced by her 'twin' who seems to have vanished in thin air. "She seems to be under attack still,but...nothing is around...". Risking yet another massive headache from the magic auras of the place, Allan mumbles an incantation and gestures his hands, casting an arcane spell to discern any magical auras nearby, hoping to tell if her current condition was called by magical means.

[OOC: Means I am casting Detect Magic,focusing it at the area around Ophelia]

[OwenQuillion]

Beau, thoroughly confused and surprised by the whole state of affairs, leaps into action as he sees the him-thing pop up behind Nariel. He draws his weapon and fires from the hip, apparently emboldened by the earlier strike against the chain-demon and letting his cocksure nature get the best of him.

"Nariel, watch yourself! Clear out of the way and I can get him good!"

OOC Not sure if this counts as out-of-bounds table talk or not but I'm thinking Color Spray if I can avoid hitting people with the hueg cone.

Battle Info HP: 10/12 AC: 14 (14 Touch, 11 FF) Ini: 17 Actions: Move action to draw crossbow, Standard action to fire with an attack result of 9 (5 if into melee) for 8 damage.

[Timeless Prophet]

Ophelia suddenly feels an extreme stabbing pain in her stomach, almost as if something is attempting to shred her insides. She howls out, unable to control herself due to the inordinate amount of pain she is in. Damian drops to his knee in an attempt to bring relief to the elf. He notices that several red splotches have begun to form on the young elf's face and she appears to be sweating profusely. He waves his hand above her body in an attempt to find her assailant but instead his hand seems to run from natural air to an incredibly muggy almost damp section of air probably two or three feet across over Ophelia.

Now, now, lover if you keep feeling me up like that I'm going to think you want to get frisky. TEEHEE. And the gods know that men of the cloth aren't to get to frisky with their patrons. A voice sounding eerily like yet different than Ophelia's seems to call out from nowhere in particular, or maybe even Damian simply hears the voice from within the walls of his mind.

Allen begins to weave his magic and concentrates on the area surrounding Ophelia. Immediately Allen's senses are once again assaulted by a flurry of colors like before except this time they seem weaker, in fact so faint that they form a dull background dancing from rainbow shades to the dull gray that is customary of the world around him. Allen quickly discovers two areas of interest. One appears to be hovering over Ophelia, a mass of the magical rainbow that constructed the world they had just come from. Damian was frantically running his hands through it and slowly the cloud seemed to envelope the priest. The cloud ebbed and fell back from the priest seemingly act like some freakish tide of magic. The other mass is located on...no inside of Ophelia. The elf appears the dull gray of those not attuned to the magical arts and so does all of her gear. However at the center of her stomach is a work-like mass that is a fiery and deep red. The thing appears clearly and has a blade shaped head and is covered in what appear to be spines. The magical enigma is furiously moving about inside the elven maiden. Suddenly it stops and reels about almost in pain. It then stops and suddenly dissolves.

Sydney appears caught off guard by the strange Beau-like beast in fact stumbles as she attempts to react; luckily though, Beau managed to keep his wits about him and fired a bolt. However, he misjudged the target and the bolt soars over the creature's shoulder and it reaches out grabs Nariel. She turns and screams as the beast lunges at her with a dagger. She manages to narrowly avoid the blow but in the process she knocks into Sydney who had come to her aid and brings the woman to the ground with her. The creature cackles before vanishing in a puff of smoke and dark shadow.

Emma stands oblivious to anything that is wrong and prattles on about one thing or another.

Karlon turns from one side to the other and shouts, " What in the Nine Hells is going on, why in the hell are you shooting that damned crossbow and why hasn't anyone done anything to help Ophelia?" With a huff he furiously grabs a bottle from his side and uncorks it with his teeth. He spits the cork in the direction of Nariel and Sydney before bending over and with little grace yanks open Ophelia's jaw and pours the contents of the bottle down her throat.

"Now then," the dwarf says with a huff as he stands smoothing his ruffled robes "anyone care to explain what is going on here and where you have been."

OOC Ophelia recover 2 HP (you took 3 damage from the failed fort and Karlon's potion recovered 5)

[BrokenPlayer]

"Oomph!" Sydney says as the elven maiden plows into her. She falls onto the ground in a heap and loses her grip on her greatsword in the process; the bladed weapon merely falls onto the ground with a loud thump a few feet from Sydney's body. Apologizing quietly to the elven woman, Sydney helps the maiden back onto her feet and retrieves her greatsword soon after.

"The.. there was a creature," Sydney starts as she places her greatsword back into its sheath. "It attacked Nariel and I.. I tried to help."

[OwenQuillion]

"What are you, blind?" Beau says as he digs out another bolt and reload his crossbow. "Some... Thing just tried to stab Nariel from behind!" Some me, more like.

"Though... You didn't see 'us' earlier, did you?" Beau mutters, suddenly making connections. "There was a perfect doppleganger of both Ophelia and myself right there," Beau says, pointing to the door. "One of them attacked her, and I think... Well, the other one got behind Nariel, somehow. I'm not sure."

"Somebody else saw them... Right?" the gnome finishes in an uncertain tone.