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 Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:07 pm
[For the potion-drinking:]
At first, nothing happened.
Then John's skin started to tingle like he'd been rubbed over with eucalyptus or Icy Hot, a warming of his muscles -- an expansion -- and he started to grow. Everyone could see his skeleton shooting up before his skin and fat caught up with it, his skull ballooning as his shoulders did. There wasn't going to be enough room. He had to stumble back as he shot up seven feet, eight feet -- he widened -- nine feet -- double that! He rose up into the darkness without the floor even bothering to creak under his feet, and when he had reached full height the doorknobs of the four huge doors was more than at his reach.
And at eye level, at the opposite side of the room, he could read:
YOU ARE A LIAR AND A THIEF. THERE IS NO GOLD IN HER COFFER
The others and the cabinet were Playhouse doll figures now, though if they shouted he could hear what they were saying. Any too-inadvertant movements would squash them. He was fully twenty feet tall.
You can try the door or investigate.
[For Perry's corpse investigation:]
They were bleached bones, their clothes removed or so long dead that they had rotted off -- which didn't seem too likely, as there wasn't even evidence of metal buttons or rusted gimlets of shoes. It was obvious now that one was on the other side of the door and had gamely tried to get back, and failed, and one had tried to squash itself in and also failed.
There were deep gouges in the door from frantic scrabbling.
[For the potion-sniffers:]
The oily black potion in Van's hands smelled unmistakeably -- and uninvitingly -- of wet dog. Perhaps setter.
The only uninvestigated bottle is now the green.
[For the others:]
John's potion-bottle had dropped harmlessly to the ground, but Sailor Polaris' full one had shattered into a hundred glass shards and its contents leaked out onto the floor. Eleven potions remain.
You may still:
take
investigate
uncork
drink
recork
The remaining eleven.
The red potion bottle is now empty and could be filled.
[PLAYERS WHO ARE NOT JOHN, PLEASE ROLL 1-10 TO SEE IF YOU WERE HURT BY THE FALLING GLASS. A ROLL FROM 1-3 WILL INDICATE A BLEEDING CUT ON YOUR BODY BELOW THE KNEE SOMEWHERE.]
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:28 pm
John's main concern seemed to be that his clothing was growing with him, and once he determined that it was, he stared at his outstretched hand like it contained the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Once he was done growing he blinked huge blue eyes and looked at either of his arms, then his hands, and his feet.
He spared a glance for his cloak, which was now big enough to knock people and things over with a careless flick -- and for his boots, which were giants' boots now. In fact, he was a giant. A D&D Monster Manual would qualify him not as a Large but in fact a Huge being. In all other ways he still appeared to be John Liddel, including the smile that lit up his face with big Colgate-white teeth a moment later.
"Damn right. Ten points to Gryffindor!" His voice -- already fairly resonant -- boomed like the sound system in an IMAX theater.
He looked down at his companions for a moment or two, making a quizzical face. "I can't really hear you unless I stoop down really low," he said a bit more quietly, though now it just sounded like the normal dialogue in an IMAX theater, "so I'm just going to leave you be for the moment. I drank the red potion because it was fizzy and smelled like a living thing, which I figured gave it two points of safeness in accordance with the 'what is alive' theory. Also because I stuck that note on it. I advise you guys stick the note to anything you want to drink, in case it makes a difference. Gimme a holler next time one of you wants to drink something. I smell the blood of an Englishman."
And with that he turned to investigate the tall doors, which were now about the correct size for him.
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:31 pm
John's voice was loud but not uncomfortable to the others.
The doors seemed like your average, white-painted door that you got in English houses circa the 1920s, with some careless panelling done. The doorknob was round and had a keyhole underneath, which already contained a huge key.
There was something glinting up in the darkness overhead. It was too dark to make out as of yet without further investigation.
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Silent Spy generated a random number between
1 and 10 ...
6!
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:04 pm
When Devi leapt back from the falling potion and heard the glass shatter, she closed her eyes tight with her hands tensely clenched around the vial of white potion. A few seconds passed and she felt no pain - she peeked open one eye to see a twenty foot tall man before her. Both eyes opened and mouth went ajar, and she took another small step back so she can get a full look at him (or as best she could).
"Hey, giant man!" she shouted, after having heard what he had to say. She looked around, a bit uncomfortable being so loud. It felt like she was being the center of attention, not something she very much enjoyed. "I have this white potion that is fizzing and that girl-" -Devi pointed at Vanessa- "-said it was mouthwash. I think it might have alcohol in it. Could be a liquor? Safe to drink?" His confidence in drinking the red potion was enough for Devi to warrant him an expert.
Her own logic was a stretch, and drinking something with alcohol in it made Devi slightly nervous. She had only had alcohol once before - it was a Passover seder and her family was drink Manischewitz. The experience of the cheap wine was bad enough to deter her from alcohol for quite some time. But if it was her shot to get out of this creepy place, that'd be enough motivation for her.
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Iris_virus rolled 1 10-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-10)
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:07 pm
-As the glass bottle fell and proceeded to shatter near her feet small specks of glass flew in all directions. A few pieces skimmed her boots leaving glittering specks, one fingernail sized piece of glass lodged deep enough that crimson began to tinge a section of her ivory boots.-
"I'm sorry!" -She spouted as she knealt down to care for her leg, digging free the shard before pressing her hand against the wound. From her position below John's sudden growth only seemed that much more monsterous, and she silently prayed he didn't find himself as clumsy as she had been.
Creeping back a few steps, she turned back to the cabinet grabbing the teal bottle she'd started out with in the first place. Growing huge could be a serious help, even if she just held everyone up so John didn't squash them while trying to find a way out. Uncorking it, she lifted it to her lips before taking a drink. She didn't down it like he had, but she'd taken in about half the bottle before she swallowed, closing her eyes tentatively.-
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Silverah rolled 1 10-sided dice:
7
Total: 7 (1-10)
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 11:38 pm
Europa narrowly missed being struck with glass from Polaris's dropped bottle. She liked her teammate dearly, but the other scout was proving herself to be quite clumsy! Meanwhile, John had quadrupled in height... everything was happening so quickly! At least her thought about the bottles that smelled like living things was right.
If she'd been right about that, what about...?
Europa eyed the blue bottle in her hand, then uncorked it. It still smelled of licorice.
"Candy is dandy," she nodded, and drank the bottle.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:26 am
"Doors have keys in them, big enough for me to turn," narrated John from up above them, looking at the keys and keyholes but apparently decided not to touch anything just yet, considering his mousehole experience. "I dunno, though, it seems a little too easy -- wonder if I should try a few bars of Paint It Black on them -- well, would you look at that, there's something up here."
He stood on enlarged tiptoe to investigate the glint in the darkness. A moment later, though, he glanced down to the group of people clustered at his feet, frowned, leaned down to look a bit closer -- his eyes were a bit of a close-up in and of themselves, wide enough that they could see the fine crystalline striations in the blue -- and blinked.
"What in Sam Hill do you think you're doing?" he snapped, which packed a bit more of an auditory punch from a twenty-foot man. "Jesus Christ. Can either of you puke on command? Cecilio, somebody, does anyone person-sized know the Heimlich in here?"
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Skye Starrfyre rolled 1 10-sided dice:
9
Total: 9 (1-10)
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:36 am
Before her eyes a man was becoming a giant. A bottle was falling from whatever height he'd been when it had dropped, clattering empty to the floor whereas the one that had been filled with the puce potion had shattered. "What are you doing?" Corvus snapped at Polaris as she leaped back from the small explosion of shattered glass, eyes narrowing at the other girl before going wide as she watched not just Polaris, but Europa too, down a potion a piece.
"Oh, god..." Not wanting to risk being trampled if either of them immediately shot up, Corvus acted quickly. She stooped down to take the empty bottle, tucking it safely within the folds of her sash so that her hands were free to take the purple and beige potions with her over to the cistern. She paused by it long enough to carefully set down the two potions that she had nabbed, withdrawing the empty bottle from her sash so that she could fill it with water from the cistern to see if anything in particular happened.
While she did that she kept her eye on the other two, watching closely for whatever might be happening to them so that she could try to get a better grasp on what the different potions did.
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wuthering gee rolled 1 10-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-10)
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:15 am
As John listed off the colours of the potions and their various properties, Super Van's golden gaze flickered over each of them in turn. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. Tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth. She was thinking, very hard, about exactly which one would be safe to drink when John lifted the red bottle to his lips.
"Dude!" Vanessa exclaimed, and her jaw dropped almost to the floor. It was not exactly an encouraging shout, nor was it a warning. She was too excited about what might happen to make him stop and, in fact, was lamenting her decision to pass up the red vial. Clearly, if somebody else thought it was safe enough to drink, it was safe enough to drink.
She was vaguely aware of pain when a shard of glass from the puce bottle sliced into the flesh of her calf, but too engrossed in what was happening to John to really pay attention to anything else. Blood dyed a little patch of the blue spandex suit she wore a dark red.
This was quite the magic trick.
John's voice was violently loud. Vanessa still held the awful smelling black potion in her hand. When he spoke, she had only one free hand with free fingers with which to plug one ear. It was a pointless thing to do, but she did it anyway. Her face was a strange mixture of discomfort and what could only be described as pure joy. The sight of John's giant foot before her inspired a grin that was positively dazzling. Vanessa thought that this was very cool.
Suddenly everybody around her was drinking bottles. Well- almost everybody.
Super Van buzzed with the air of competition and, anxious to be BIG like John, took a thoughtlessly healthy swig of the black potion she held. She did not know the Heimllich maneuver, but the stench of wet dog alone was enough to make her throw up. Vanessa wondered if she could keep it down.
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cibarium rolled 1 10-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-10)
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:26 pm
A shard of potion-bottle flew at Perry's ankle, the glass hitting with a teeny tiny thonk! noise -- which fortunately did no damage, as the piece was quite small and he was wearing a pair of boots designed to repel snake bites and insect stings. It was still a strike two for Polaris in his book, as he gave her a glance and called at the senshi to try and be more careful. He hoped she would shape up; slip-ups were not a pleasant prospect in such an unknown place.
His look at the corpses hadn't magically turned out any clues about the potions, it had just become even more obvious they'd been trying to escape whatever had been on the other side of the door. However, that was still something worth thinking about, and he turned to look at John Liddel (who should have at this point considered changing his name to John Biggs), and shouted, "Hey, if you haven't picked up on this, be careful about the door you open! There might be nasty s**t on the other side of one of 'em." For emphasis, he gestured towards the door their deceased new friends had tried.
It looked like John's actions had been a bad influence -- now some kids were downing potions like they were wine coolers and they were at a dorm party at Sovereign Heights. This was unsettling. He personally was not prepared to try any of them himself just yet, and kept a careful eye on those who did while moving over to investigate the cistern of water and the coins dropped inside.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:43 pm
[For Polaris:]It took a little while for the teal potion to do anything. For a few moments it seemed like it had no effect. Drinking violets was a strange sensation, but then the strange sensations deepened and multiplied and bred into smaller sensationlets of their own. Her skin buzzed. Then -- just as John's had before -- she started to expand, her internal organs dancing a sickeningly visible tango at her bared midriff as she grew and grew. She had to move out next to the equally-massive John as her height grew massive, shooting up into the darkness, ending a little way below his twenty feet by the time the potion stopped working. She too could now reach the doorknobs, the keyholes and what they held. There was also the glint she could investigate. [For Europa:]Candy was dandy, and her potion had smelled like licorice. The aniseed taste was very strong and burned her tongue. The burning sensation did not go away. It burned down her esophagus, sat as a burning coal in her stomach, and suddenly the pain grew: she was wracked with cramps, forced to double over. Her nose and mouth were filled with burning liquid. Her eyes were filled with burning liquid. The pressure was too much. Underneath her skin red marks suddenly blossomed, seeping, the blood pooling underneath with no way to get out. Two thin rivers of it leaked from her nose. Her ears. The corners of her eyes. She could not even be sick: the shaking and the heat took control of her body. In front of them all she fell, the bottle rolling out of her hand. The blue potion was poison. * * * EUROPA HAS DIED * * * Europa has died! Please post a death reaction in this thread. She has sunk into a deeper sleep and her REM functions no longer display her as dreaming. Otherwise she is in a normal comatose state at Destiny City Memorial.[For John:]Before he'd gotten distracted by the girls down below (and Cecilio), the glint in the darkness had proved to be many glints in the darkness. Something clustered thickly on the ceiling. Something metal, as though it was covered in one ginormous chandelier -- but no chandelier caught the light up here. He would have to investigate further. [For Corvus:]You now have a potion bottle of lovely clean water. If you cork it and take it, perhaps this will come in handy. Or maybe you will just have a bottle of lovely clean water. [For Van:]As she'd suspected, drinking wet dog was nauseating. At least she'd only had one sip. One sip was enough, though: it sat coating her throat and mouth for a while, and -- as she watched Polaris, and as she watched Europa -- her body started doing the same trick that Polaris' was. Her spandex expanded. Her arms grew. Her head grew. Then there were three massive people, all in all, in one end of the room. She too could now reach the doorknobs, the keyholes and what they held. There was also the glint she could investigate. [For Perry:]The cistern is an old stone bowl smoothed by water and time. Water gushes through a hole in the wall, down a stone pipe and into the bowl. The coins that glitter in the water are of familiar and unfamiliar denominations: a quarter here, a tiny fingernail-sized gold coin there, some heavy pound coins. The water drains out through some kind of drain in the bottom, but that too is stone, grated over and looks immovable. ... Polaris and Van are bleeding lightly. There is one broken bottle and three empty bottles. There is Europa's corpse. Corvus holds the purple and beige potions and a bottle of clear water. Six potions remain. The only uninvestigated potion is the green. You may still: take
investigate
uncork
drink
recork
empty
fill
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:14 pm
Everything that happened happened quickly, and some of it at John's feet, but twenty feet tall wasn't a hundred feet tall: when Europa collapsed bleeding from everything, he and the other newborn giants could see it clearly, and save grit his teeth and stare there was nothing he could do. There was nothing any of them could do.
It only took him a moment to snap out of it -- in fact, it was debatable as to whether there had ever been an 'it' to snap out of when it came to John Liddel and this situation -- and a moment later he clapped his hands. The sound was a gunshot-crack in the enclosed chamber. The moment after that he was untying his sash again, which now was about the size of a dorm room bedsheet, and dropping it over Europa's bloodied body.
"Smash the rest of the candy potions."
He didn't sound or look amused this time, to Perry, Devi or Corvus, and a moment later he said to underscore: "Right now. Don't touch her; you don't know if her blood's toxic, or whether it'd be a contact poison."
Without waiting for an answer he turned back to Polaris and Van, compared to whom he was now simply a proportionally taller adult male giant, and fixed a blue-eyed stare at them -- particularly, he laid a hand on Van's shoulder, and then after a moment on Polaris's as well.
He looked like he was struggling for what to say for a moment or two, looking at them, but what he settled on was, "You can do what you want, but if you look at her you're just going to make yourself sick and put everyone else down there in danger if you go into hysterics. I'm not gonna lie to either of you and say it's okay. She's dead, but there's not a damn thing you can do for her now and right now we have one priority, and that is getting out where this load of bull won't continue happening to us. Is there any part of that that's unclear to you?"
Was there a 'yes' option in that question?
"There's something up there, I'm going to look at it first. If I can't reach I'm going to have to lift one of you up. Don't touch anything."
There weren't any more commands he could make to the people down on the ground -- even if they weren't inclined to listen to him at all, that was far out of his hands. Or at least, that seemed to be his attitude as he turned his attention away from them entirely and continued his investigation.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:22 pm
Ding dong, Europa was dead.
It wasn't the corpse of the fallen girl that had bothered Devi so greatly - she had been around corpses before. But she had never seen someone actually die. Slasher films, sure, she saw kids be sucked into beds and their blood erupt onto the ceiling and promiscuous teens get their throat slits every which way. But to see actual, nonfictional death before her eyes - that was a whole different story.
She wasn't sure how to react. It was terrifying, it was gruesome, and it made Devi want to fall down and cry. But she couldn't do that. She can't allow herself to do that. Instead, she bit her lip, hard, until there were bite marks on her bottom lip and she was close to bleeding. It helped release some of the stress, grind her back into the situation and clear her head.
"We need to be very careful," she said as she put away the white potion back on the shelf. After seeing what happened to the dead girl, Devi's faulty logic for the white bottle's safety seemed less sound.
However, when she put the bottle back, she noticed an opened bottle. Curious, Devi took the green bottle and, once again careful to keep her face turned slightly away from the bottle in case of toxic fumes (after what had just happened, she was even more cautious), she uncorked and investigated it.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:30 pm
Well, god damn. Europa's death played out horrifically in front of everyone's eyes, but there really was nothing that could be done about it. It was horrible, they really could die here -- Perry's second guessing about them being dead already had started with the skeletons in the room, but actually watching it happen to Europa was a different story. While John was talking over everyone and advising how to go about what to do next, Dr. Westerman chose to sum up the general mood of the situation with a drawn, hissing "<********, running his hand through his hair again, gritting his teeth, face stone-cold, he started, "Hang on a minute, John. We really shouldn't be smashing this s**t all over the floor, we don't got any idea what could happen if they mix together. There's a drain over in this thing, I say we pour them all down it, one by one. Since Polaris hasn't gotten anything from drinking the water yet, we can clean out and fill the bottles with 'em, that sound like a plan?"
He strode over to the cabinet and took the pink potion, and removed its cork to get a reminder of what was in it -- roast beef.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:33 pm
-Growing was not exactly a comfortable sensation, it was a little disorienting as she shot upwards, even if it was what she'd hoped and expected to happen. She'd even been lucky in the fact that her own growth has shielded her for the most part from her friend's pain and demise. Polaris' saw her fall though, heard the sudden exclaimations, and could see the trickles of blood on her face. Polaris' face contorted into a look of horror, her giant eyes growing all the more huge.- "Europa!"
-Everything else was disregarded. The bottles. The cistern. The fact that she was somehow magically giant and that she could actually reach the doors and a possible exit. Her friend had followed her lead, her friend was lying bleeding on the floor. She tried to lean, her fingers outstretched, tears beginning to well at her eyes and trail down her cheeks.
Her friend. Her teammate. And what of Jaime? How would Polaris ever explain to him that his girlfriend had died, that she hadn't done anything to save her?
She would have screamed if her voice hadn't been caught in her throat. She was reaching down to grasp Europa's body, to pull her close to her chest and will her to live. A hand touched her shoulder and she stopped, tear glistening eyes staring up at the man as he spoke.
It was her mistake... her mistake that had gotten her friend killed. Her mistake that had dropped the bottle that had hurt not only herself but some of the others. John's advice had been solid, it was her that screwed up. She couldn't do it again.
She lifted to stand tall again, regarding his warning with care. Don't touch her.. as much as she wanted to cradle her friend. Don't get hysterical.
She didn't answer him physically, but it seemed his point was taken. Polaris stood still and in wait, not touching anything, silent except for the soft sound of sniffles as she sobbed into her hands.-
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