Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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OOC 'Winging it' it is then./OOC

As the party ran through the smoke Jade found herself having flashbacks to her previous trip to port Lorrel; magic flying through the air, soldiers swinging swords and firing guns and a goddam centipede from hell crawling out of a warehouse and, apparently, thin air. She hissed as a blind-fired missile narrowly missed her face she before she plunged into the cloud bank, Leo by side and the shorter legged Eve lagging slightly behind.

The group emerged a mere twenty feet from the front of the demented magic-user's house to the accompaniment of his cackles of glee. He stood on a balcony with glee dancing in his eyes.

"The last trail you passed!" He declared, twirling a staff which looked for all the world to be a twisted tree branch. "Your prize awaits if you can clear these gates!"

"What the fuck is this guy on about?" Eve muttered, aiming her rifle at the bedraggled old man. Leo, in the meanwhile, had cleared the distance to the door with his usual nimbleness and reached for a lockpick.

"I think he means we just need to get through-"

'here' was how he'd meant to finish, but as she spoke the mercenary became aware of a rumbling on the edge of his hearing. He peered at the door in confusion.

"What in the..."

At this the portal exploded outwards in a shower of splinters, sending Leo sailing backwards through the air with a 'whuuufffffff' as a substitute for a scream. He hit the ground senseless to Jade's cry of dismay as what had struck him was picked out by the moonlight.

It was a tentacle-like vine some thirty feet long and almost as thick as the doorway it protruded from. The group could clearly see that it was bedecked with the same thorns that the caster had been firing during their trip through the magic-draining meadow. Another cackle drew the blacksmith's attention back to the wizard as he lifted his arm and made a sweeping motion. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the vine begin to mimic the movement.

"Watch out!"
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: "Balcony"? I had no idea that was there ... but it does give Khoo a chance to do something useful. The real-world equivalent of what he's about to do is this little guy, which, observe, is popularly called the "devil's snuffbox"; the effect he's hoping for is also a real one, documented here; and besides, there's a pleasing symmetry to it. "Live by the mushroom, die by the mushroom" -- or at least, if not die, sneeze your head off. So:]

Khoo was still tagging along in the back of the smoke cloud, sneezing violently; some vile ingredient in the bombs Eve and Leo had hurled was playing unholy hob with his sinuses ... and that gave him an idea. I'm -- achoo! -- only gonna have one shot at this, so [snif] I better not screw it up. He reached into his pack and extracted something he'd noticed along the trail.

His earlier protestations that he knew nothing about mushrooms and fungi were not entirely correct, although he'd managed to put out of his mind what little he did know, from a certain moment as an undergraduate at Sashi Mu. A certain moment, and a certain fungus. There'd been a TA whom all of his class cordially hated, Khoo included. On the last day of the term, they had their revenge. Somebody had found some specimens of a little mushroom-like fungus that had the popular name "devil's snuffbox" -- some reference to old times, she'd said, since there were no devils, and not many snuffboxes, in modern Tsuirakushiti. The name fit, though, because a squirt of its powdery spores into one's nose, and the result would be nonstop sneezing for at least two hours. Artful use of these specimens, expedited by one of Khoo's Wind Sprites, had had exactly the desired effect on the TA ... and best of all, the authorities had never found out who'd done it.

Without knowing why, he'd picked a few of these little biological-warfare devices on the way to this Weave-forsaken place. Now he knew why. He stole forward under the smoky cover to where Anna-Lisa and Udo were standing, frustrated at their inability to be useful, and took the biggest chance of the mission by handing the cluster of fungi to Udo. "Here," he said, "your arm is better than mine. Throw this up onto that balcony." Udo blinked and started to say something (in his usual style, no doubt), but Anna-Lisa cut him off as she got the idea. "Don't ask questions. Just do it." And Udo's puzzlement was replaced by a leering grin as he, too, figured it out.

A misguided missile arced toward the balcony.

[OOC: Incidentally, unlike my character, I'm a moderately serious collector of edible mushrooms, and I have a bit of experience with these; they're edible and quite delicious before the spore mass gets brown and easy to disperse ... but after that, hoo boy.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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OOC Maybe there wasn't a balcony. I wasn't sure. I just assumed the wizard would have some sort of position where he could survey the battlefield. Well... it's free-form and it's in now. So.../OOC

The ragged wizard paused in his vine control at the sight of the package being delivered at speed to his vantage point. His puzzled expression was lost to view as it struck his barrier in a cloud of spores.

"what is-" He began.

He stopped.

He blinked.

"Ah..." He said.

"Ahh..." He added.

"Ahhhh…" He elongated.

"AHHHH-CHOOO!"

The mushroom mage doubled up under the force of Khoo's concoction. Bringing his hands up to cover his face in a gesture he would immediately regret. The magic link to his flora familiar was still active... and it mimicked it's owners actions perfectly.

The vine swung around in an extravagant arc, forcing the mercenary women to dive for cover once again, and crashed with terrific force directly into the platform their antagonist was standing on. A magic barrier was no use against a blow that size; the wizard was lost to view as he disappeared into the dark of the house, trailing an 'ooooooo'' in his wake. There a crash, followed by an ominous silence.

Jade looked up from her prone position to see the gargantuan vine withering at a blistering pace. Moments later it was nothing but kindling.

"Whoever did that, you just earned a Bernard-sized drink." She declared. She hurried over to Leo, who was groaning feebly after his recent introduction to flight.

"Sweetheart! Are you ok?"

"I think I broke something."

"Walk it off." Interjected Eve, peering through the now empty doorway. "We've got a kill to confirm and a house to loot."
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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By the Sea God's Great Green Gonads, Khoo thought, that actually worked. And just in time, too; the smoke that had given him cover was starting to disperse. His eyes and sinuses appreciated that greatly; his nerves, not so much.

He started to move cautiously forward. "We better still be careful," he said to no one in particular. "We still don't know what's on the ground floor oAAAARRRGGH!" To his complete shock, he was being spun around crazily by some unseen adversary --

-- No, wait, it wasn't an adversary, it was Anna-Lisa. She was stronger than she looked, as Khoo had already discovered (by means best left undescribed), and fuelled by the adrenaline of the moment, she'd lifted him clean off his feet. She'd have some sore muscles from that later, but for now, she just kept saying "SQUEEEE! WE DID IT!" over and over and over again.

Well, I guess I'd better get used to that, Khoo thought philosophically, if dizzily, as he finally came to rest on terra firma.

[OOC: I have nothing whatever in mind for followup here. Go for it.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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The wizards house was a ramshackle affair over grown with vines and potted plants on every available surface. There were bowls containing powder of Gods-knew-what cluttered in an alchemy lab which dominated the main living area. Whatever the chemicals were was of no interest to Jade, but might have been a treasure trove to Khoo and Anna-Lisa for all she knew. She saw the highwayman Udo quizzically examining a vial containing a mysterious black liquid he'd liberated from a bench. The blacksmith shook her head wordlessly and proceeded upstairs.

The destruction the vine had caused was immediate to behold and large in scope. Broken wood and masonry was scattered across the upper floor, along with a pair of broken barrels that a pair of familiar feet were protruding from, but Jade's attention was drawn to a wooden rack at the far end of the room. More specifically to what was in it.

With a huge sigh of relief she strode over and retrieved her sword. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no-one was standing behind her, and planted a kiss on it's long, thin blade.

"It's ok baby." She whispered. "Momma's got you now."

There were other weapons hanging there, but nothing the woman had an interest in ('Udo probably would.' she mused) in any event further inspection of the contents of the room was interrupted by a faint groan from the debris behind her, followed by a half-hearted sneeze.

"You! Still alive I see?"

"Final... trail... passed. Well done <achoo>"

The mushroom wizard was obviously in no condition to fight, but that didn't stop Jade from calling anyone within earshot to come and investigate.

What would happen to the severely injured wizard... well... that would require some discussion.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Not sure whether you were setting this up as a callback to when Al teed up part of the "quest," but it's there and theoretically still active, so ... I would also be very surprised if you were thinking of another moment earlier in this thread when you wrote those last words ...
What would happen to the severely injured wizard... well... that would require some discussion.
... but what Anna-Lisa is about to do works for this, both now and in reference to the callback, all too well.]

Khoo was tired, but detection and forensics magic didn't usually take much effort to call up and maintain. He had about as much of that in his background as any Sashi Mu graduate in some other specialty, probably a little more than most because of his thesis project, which needed diagnostics from time to time. He brought up the basic suite of spells and took a look around the trashed house ... and as he did so, Choubei Masaki's voice spoke in his mind's eye (mind's ear? memory, anyway) like some disembodied evil spirit. He shuddered as he remembered why.

"Operation Girlfriend." No, wait, that's what the other mission was called, the one we managed to get out of, the Sea God be thanked for that. I don't think this one has a code name -- but we still have a job to do.

Honestly, there wasn't that much magic in the place, certainly not as much as he'd been expecting. He could see the smashed remains of a basin that most likely had contained a scrying pool; there was a little Divination magic left on it, but it would never be useful again. There were a few other odds and ends that might or might not be worth investigation. That "mysterious black liquid" didn't seem magical, but his detection suite included some chemical forensics -- that was why he'd been stuck with the mission, after all -- and he could tell there was something about it that needed study, although he wasn't sure what.

He was just getting ready to cast an enhanced spell, when he heard one of the Silver Hands say, "So what are we going to do with this guy?" It seemed a fair question, although one he wasn't going to bother himself with; but then he noticed that Anna-Lisa was unlimbering her backpack ... and his mental state turned to out-and-out horror.

"Oh, not to worry!" his girlfriend said cheerfully, as though discussing a shopping trip (ironic, given how Fumiko had got here). She held up the pack like a small child showing off a trophy she'd won, or a snake she'd caught. "Mr. Masaki says there's room inside this thing for a small submarine, and Fumiko already tested it out." She waved back to the woods, where the hapless Tsuirakuan girl was presumably still cowering ... and Khoo realized that his previous idea about the pack, which he'd had somewhere on the trail, had been incomplete. It wasn't just that the thing could be used to smuggle an agent into some highly sensitive place; it could also be used to smuggle someone out.

"We'll just stick him in here," Anna-Lisa beamed, showing that she'd had the same thought as Khoo, but obviously without his own sense of revulsion.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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OOC I didn't intend that as a callback to anything tbh. But if it works as one, great!/OOC

Jade shrugged.

"Works for me. The people in town seemed to be in fear of this guy. There's probably a reward if we get him to the authorities."

She slid her newly-recovered sword into its sling with a quiet sigh people couldn't fail to notice.

"If any of you magic users know any healing magic I'd appreciate it if you could heal up my man." She gave Udo a knowing look. "He's well-to-do Udo, so your reward won't be an issue. Oh, and umm...."

The techsmith suddenly took an interest in her boots.

OOC Some weird issues with editing going on here.../OOC
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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"That magic gun I used before. That was the same type the black guard used at the demonstration at Port Lorrel before that battle happened. I think some of you might have been there. Look, I'm not of one of the bad guys OK? I was just under contract as a blacksmith, and I definitely didn't have anything to do with that giant monster crawling out of the warehouse!"

She offered a sheepish smile. "So... friends?"

OOC Done. Sorry for the double post, but the system kept cutting off the end of my post no matter how many times I tried editing it./OOC
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Weird. This board is currently "lightly" adminned, and I don't have the permissions myself to pursue your odd editing problem, but if it happens again, let me know and I'll pulse the system. Meanwhile, another callback, or more accurately, shoutout to my own fanfic on Sister Rose; what follows here connects to this episode of the first volume. (Hey, anything to encourage people to read it. :) ) If everybody survives, Khoo will respond to the "Friends?" inquiry ... but first things, like survival, first. /OOC:]

Anna-Lisa smiled happily. "It's agreed, then." (As far as Khoo could tell, nothing had been "agreed" about the fate of the mushroom mage, but he knew better than to get in front of this train by now.) "Lover, help me with a Binding spell."

Khoo sighed, in the manner of a man who'd been married to a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for twenty years, rather than in a relationship (of sorts) for a couple of months. "Yes, dear." How much more married-sounding could he be than that? Udo was busy tending to the wounded Silver Hand, so Khoo just sucked it up and started working on the man under the debris ...

... But as they were getting close to completing the spell, he remembered something and his eyes got wide. "Uh, sweetheart, I'm not sure we should be doing this. Remember that class we took on Gu theory? They think that this is what Gu was doing when he -- blew up, working on what happens when a Binding spell and a Pocket Dimension interfere. We ... if ..."

But it was too late. The magical Binding flashed into being, and Anna-Lisa's smile was back and wider than ever. "There. Now we can celebrate!" she said, her face positively angelic. Again, she started casting what Khoo could instantly recognize by now as a Contraception spell.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Jade watched the magic display with quiet admiration. The blacksmith had no talent to speak of; she considered that that might have been a motivating factor in her design of the mana rifle and the golem blade.

"...which is still in the hands of those miltia pricks back in town."

"What d'you say?"

"Nothing, Eve. I was just saying we should get back to town. I'm not sure if this guy is a 'dead of alive' deal, but why take the risk? Drinks are on me."

After Leo's medical attention the trip back to Ester proved uneventful (apart from a brief negotiation around the bones of the skeletons the wizard had resurrected for want to a better term) and the group arrived shortly before midnight. They approached the Falkenrohr's watchtower under the observation of the armed guards at the entrance, who looked at them with about as much interest as a cow cloud gazing.

"Brave miltia!" Hailed Jade, sarcasm dripping like honey. "It's your lucky day! Myself and my heroic companions have taken it upon ourselves to capture the magic menace plaguing your town! I expect monetary reward is in order?"

OOC I'll try and get something more in tomorrow. Feel free to hijack the guards for creative purposes; these guys aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. The Captain (I'll have to check his name) is though./OOC
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