AQ:Rock Roll'd

GM: Janie
Players: Darius
Synopsis: A synopsis of what happened here.
Date: March 2070

Preliminaries

+ The route
+ Boring disclaimery stuff

Darius is in the basement of the Order of Arcane Lore building, and is currently sitting indian style, with his legs crossed, in the center of a large magic circle that takes up all of the available floorspace. He closes his eyes and slows his breathing, as he projects himself out of his body and out into the astral plane. He floats above his body for just a moment, but he concentrates on making the leap from this plane to the metaplanes, and then his astral body is drawn away, into the threshold.

The Dweller

The darkness at the Treshold isn't unexpected; the muted sounds of drums and chanting, however, are. They seem to be coming from some distance away, but from all directions: multiple voices, men and women of various races, their exact words impossible to determine but the massed anger clearly audible.

"Can you hear them, 'Mister Grey'?" comes the Dweller's sibilant hiss from just behind Darius' left ear — but when he turns to look, there is still only the darkness.

"Can you hear their anger? Their rage against perceived injustice?" comes the voice again, from somewhere on his right this time.

"So many people joining together in their outrage at unjust treatments because you convinced them to. You must be proud…" The voice trails off from behind Darius, only to finish from right before him as the Dweller materializes at last.

"… But not proud enough to stand /with/ them, apparently. Perhaps you prefer it that way; after all, it's much safer for you if someone else catches the bullets…"

Darius shakes his head, "No, too proud to stand amongst them!" he calls out, and gestures around. "I sought to incite a rally, to defend our rights. Not the violence that many of these people have resorted to far too easily." He says then. "Whoever attacked the Councilwoman has done more to harm our cause than the millions who support this 'SLAP-Act'"

"So you bear no responsibility for the consequences of your actions when they were unintended?" the Dweller asks sharply.

+ Rolls: Facing the Dweller.

Darius shakes his head at that question. "Responsibility? I will bear my responsibility. But I will do it by taking my own action against the injustices done- by both sides fo this conflict, not by standing with fools who cannot see the harm they do," he states, staring in defiance at the Dweller.

The Dweller holds Darius' gaze intently for what feels like an eternity before nodding. "Well spoken, but remember this lesson for the next time: all choices have consequences, both intended and other — and when the rockslide has started, it is too late to decide you should have thrown the pebble differently. Pass…"

Place of Magic

And with that, Darius finds himself standing at the foot of a mountain… But before he has the time to assess his surroundings, the ground begins to tremble under his feet.

That's a rockslide, all right - from the looks of it, there's a few tons of loosely collected rubble, mud, and the occasional whole or partial tree headed Darius' way fast enough that running away doesn't seem an option…

+ Rolls

As the rockslide comes hurtling towards him, Darius concentrates and closes his eyes as he tries to remind himself that the laws of physics do not have to hold true here. Suddenly it dawns on him, the first part of the levitate spell is taking off- and that's just what he does, hurtling into the air over the onrushing rockslide.

«Plot» Janie says, "Place of Magic resolved. Astral Pool refreshes."

Place of Spirits

Hovering above the rockslide, Darius can finally see what the dust cloud it's kicking up concealed from view before: A bright shining temple at the top of the mountain.

Darius, unfortunately, doesn't have much control over his newly learned levitate spell. He sort of wobbles about, flying almost as if he's drunk as he tries to get to grips with the mechanics of astral thrust control. He does, eventually, make it to the temple.

… Well, he heads /toward/ the temple, at least. Roughly halfway there, however, he notices something emerging from between its pillars and streaking through the air toward him.

Darius tries to dodge out of the way of the thing that is streaking towards him.

+ The boring dice stuff

Darius just about manages to dodge the gigantic eagle's talons, as he turns to float in the air, facing it- and finally beginning to get the hang of this spell. He watches to see if it's coming back, ready to counter if it does.

Darius tries to Control thoughts on the eagle

Darius yells out in Aramaic, his voice carrying further than it should between his altitude and the magical nature of this place, and he continues to yell even as his voice attempts to infiltrate the mind of this spirit he's up against, and tell it to stand down. It proves much more resistant than he thought, however, and he can't manage it.

The spirit shrieks in rage at Darius' attempt to control its mind and lashes out at the hovering mage with its talons.

+ Exciting mid-air combat!

Darius manages to evade the eagle as it approaches, and the glint of his monowhip darts out, catching the eagle's wing and cutting it quite badly.

Even in this not-quite-reality, it's hard to fly properly with one wing clipped - and the pain disorients the spirit badly enough that it forgets it doesn't quite need them to fly. It drops into a rapidly descending spiral until it remembers what it truly is and stabilizes for another pass.

Darius calls out to the giant eagle. "Stop! I have proven myself a worthy oponent, now let me pass." he calls out to it. "I do not wish to kill you in your own domain!"

+ Boring talky stuff

The spirit considers Darius' words, as well as the pain of its own injuries, and weighs them against its orders. It was commanded to drive the unworthy from the temple's premises, but Darius has proven himself worthy…

After a moment more, it flaps its wings once and veers off, catching a thermal to ascend back into the clouds.

«Plot» Janie says, "Place of Spirits completed. AP refreshes."

Place of Battle

Finally, Darius makes his way to the temple at the top of the mountain, and settles in to continue his journey.

Two burly guards block Darius' path as he tries to enter. "You may have maimed the sacred guardian, but you will not find us such easy prey!" One challenges, his voice only barely muffled by the gladiator helmet he wears as both of them lower their pikes at the mage.

Darius rolls his shoulders a little, and then takes a step back. "I am seeking knowledge. Let me pass." he says to them, though he still holds his whip at the ready.

Neither guard seems willing to comply with Darius' commands. Instead, they level their pikes at him and charge forward.

+ Fight! Fight! Fight!

Darius Rolls his eyes at the two of them, and he points at one of the guards. "You." he commands, "Attack him." he says and points at the other guard.

The gladiator masks leave little visible in the way of expression, but judging by the guard's body language he is surprised and horrified as his comrade turns on him. He manages to parry the incoming thrust and counter with a jab across the chest that sends his comrade staggering back, then turns on Darius.

+ Round two, FIGHT!

Darius snaps out his whip as the guard comes for him, and he tears a laceration in the man's arm, while he himself manages to avoid taking any damage.

Both guards are bleeding from heavy injuries, but they will not turn from their duty. They nod once at one another and advance again, flanking Darius to force him to divide his attention between them.

+ Round three, FIGHT

Darius takes two direct hits but he manages to shrug off the damage as his armor soaks up most of the impact- blocking the first attack with his forearm guard, he counters with his whip, but his oponent is too fast, and slips under Darius's counter to plant a fist in his gut that knocks him back but doesn't cause any significant damage.

«Plot» Janie says, "Guard #1 at S+3, Guard #2 at S. Inits again."

+ Round four, FIGHT!

And just like that, Darius steps up to one of the guards and does a whirl, sending robes fluttering about rather artistically, and then the monowhip darts out and slices right through the guardian's neck, severing his head.

Judging by the brief hesitation, the surviving guard was not unaffected by his comrade's gory end. But despite his injuries and the loss of his fellow, he stands his ground and advances on Darius again.

+ Almost done, I swear.

And in one fluid motion, Darius continues this little pirouette towards the other opponent. The monowhip comes down and tears into his upper body, splitting it open. His deadly dance is over, and Darius withdraws the monowhip again. He pushes open the door and heads inside.

The Citadel.

For a temple dedicated to the element of Earth, a surprising number of objects are /not/ supported by anything. A recurring theme seems to be solid geometric objects hovering in mid-air, spinning gently around one or more axis. Nothing else springs out to impede Darius' journey to the inner sanctum.

And so Darius makes his way to the center of the place, and finally studies one of these floating geometric shapes for insight itno the magic that allows it to float so.

At the very heart of the temple is a three-dimensional diagram floating in midair like a wireframe made out of light, rotating in an apparently incredibly complex pattern that seems to draw Darius' vision inexorably into it, until everything goes white—

—And he finds himself back in his meat body, the pattern still spinning before his mind's eye.
aqastral-questchar:dariusgm:janielog
page revision: 4, last edited: 26 Mar 2010 22:23
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