You arrive some distance away from the area outlined as potentially having a natural portal, and being to scout things out.
Location:
Roll 1d8 until you gain 10 SP (scouting points) which lead you to the portal area.
1. You notice a group of strange birds. As they fly past, most seem to have two heads. (1 SP) 2. A tree lifts out of the ground, its roots forms two legs as it walks away. (2 SP) 3. There is a flickering in the corner of your eye, as if the channel had briefly been changed on reality. (3 SP) 4. You see your reflection in a mirror. Upon closer inspection you realize there is no mirror, only another you looking back. You blink and they're gone. (3 SP) 5. You find a section of dead grass with odd shaped footprints burned into it. (1 SP) 6. There is something that looks very much like a unicorn in the distance. (2 SP) 7. You feel a sudden, terrible heat, as if lava surround you. (2 SP) 8. Air is suddenly difficult to breath, as if you're very, very high up. (2SP)
You've been given a set of four runic knives to create a barrier around the portal and close it. They must be planted very precisely, one for each of the four cardinal directions. As you plant them, the words to awaken the runes are: borealis (north) australis (south) occidentalis (west) and orientalis (east). When all four are activated, speak the phrase, "A caelo usque ad centrum," in order to finish the process and seal the portal.
Closure:
For each dagger and the closure, the person doing it will need to roll, for a collective 5 rolls.
Roll 2d20
The first die is the prompt you receive. The second die is the damage done to you while your shield comes into contact with the unstable portal.
1-3: You step into the shoes of someone else in your life, either in your past, present, or even future. You are a passive but aware presence in their mind as a memory of your own plays out. You see yourself and your actions through their eyes. When the vision clears, you're able to speak the activation.
4-7: You find yourself reliving the worst moment of your life. You are not a passive presence, but an active one. You're able to make things go differently, though the results may not be what you hoped for. When the vision clears, you're able to speak the activation.
8-10: You are a future you, a very likely you, and you are dying. You are a passive presence, forced to watch the scene play out but not interfere. When the vision clears, you're able to speak the activation.
11-14. You wake up a different you. In the mirror you see changes, small and large, the ones you'd always wanted. The place you wake up in is the sort you'd always dreamed of. The people you wake up to are your ideals, and everything about them is exactly as you'd like them to be. If there was a checklist of everything you'd ever equated to an ideal life, this is it. When the vision clears, you're able to speak the activation.
15-18: You wake up a different you. In the mirror you see changes, small and large, and it's as if every single flaw has been increased, made more obvious. The place you wake up in is the sort you'd always feared you'd have to live in. The people there are those who make you miserable, and everything about them is now worse. Like you, every flaw has been exposed and inflated to make existence unbearable. If there was a checklist for your worst living nightmare of existence in general, this is it.
19-20: Wildcard - you can pick any of the above, or create your own vision prompt. When the vision clears, you're able to speak the activation.
The portal seals and there is a sudden air of rightness that exudes the area. Areas that had once housed strange phenomena are back to normal. The air is crisp and clean, and you stand a little taller, as if an oppressive force was no longer weighing you down.
chimarii
GM grant of 1 wildcard prompt that does not have to be rolled!
darkheartedsorrow
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:54 am
Chel arrived at the lighthouse locked and loaded. They'd been given the mission details in short, quick sentences, and then a little bit of time to prepare supplies (Chel had grabbed her runic daggers, and torch, like she always did) before the appointed time to meet at the portal.
Whatever they were doing, it apparently wasn't the most dangerous thing in the world. Still a risk, of course, because they were dealing with portals that could potentially rip them to shreds, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was sad when, as a hunter, that was how your risk factor scale went.
"Alright. Now don't go wanderin' off. I ain't gonna save you if things get rough. My heart won't go on, Jack." She grinned, giving him the lopsided sort of smile that proved if he was in danger, she would definitely save him and it would definitely be the end of both of them. "Think we'll get lucky and find a portal off this place that just "happens" to not reopen?"
darkheartedsorrow
chiickadee
Princess Hoarder
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DarkHeartedSorrow
Adorable Trash
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:54 pm
Chris only had runic daggers to pack, but that was better than nothing. Whether this was going to be dangerous or not, Chris wanted to be prepared for anything. Or at least prepared enough not to die right away.
He raised his brows at Chel with a laugh. "Who's saving who's a** here? Cause I'm pretty sure my entire job description is 'don't let dumb Suns get themselves killed.'" He looked around the area they'd been sent to, but there wasn't a lot to see from here. They'd have to do some scouting. "I'm pretty sure if it's convenient for us, it's not going to happen. Let's go look around."
chiickadee rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6Total: 6 (1-8)
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:55 pm
Chel reached up to mess up Chris' hair, but she really didn't have a counterargument. Chris' job was always going to be to clean up her messes, even outside of hunterdom.
Scouting was, for the most part, pretty boring. They were in a stale kind of meadow- flowers, birds, all that s**t. An hour or so must have passed before Chel finally saw some movement. "Yo is that a ******** unicorn?"
If it was, Chel- the girl who had grown up with Lisa Frank out the a**- called dibs.
Chris didn't even bother to look. "It's not a unicorn you're just high." Which was especially naive considering that he was a hunter. But in his defense, they were supposed to hunt monsters, not sparkly virginity beasts.
He nudged Chel onward and away from her unicorn hallucination. Suddenly as they walked his lungs burned, like they weren't working quite right. He tried to breathe deeply, but it was like they were suddenly too high up and the air pressure was different.
He reached out for Chel's shoulder, wanting to make sure she was okay, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "Did you feel that?"
[ SP: 4 ]
chiickadee rolled 1 8-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-8)
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:22 pm
Chel was stopped immediately as Chris bent over on her shoulder, her arms awkwardly circling him. "You okay? Chris?" But then he seemed to regain his vigor, as though nothing had happened in the first place. "Dude ... don't scare me like that. Not cool brah." Then again, she'd played countless tricks like that on him. All was fair.
"I didn't feel nothin', but let me know if it happens again." That way they could at least piece it together.
As they were walking, Chel glanced at a larger boulder that had a mirror on it. A version of herself was sitting on the rock, which felt unnatural, since that wasn't what should have been reflected. She looked at her cousin and began, "Chris there's-" but when she turned to point at the doppleganger, there was nothing. "Weird. Thought I saw something. Nevermind, ignore me!"
It was kind of fun being out here in the woods and nature. It reminded her a lot of their many camping trips they'd taken when they were younger.
"Couldn't breathe. I'll tell you next time," he nodded in agreement. He wasn't going to let Chel get away from him if he started struggling again. He'd hit her over the head and mime to her to save him if he had to.
He didn't see the figure, but when he turned he made a flat, unimpressed face at the mirror. "I usually do," he drawled. Figures she'd find something weird and unnatural in the middle of ******** nowhere. Unfortunately it wasn't something helpful.
When he turned away the feeling hit him again. He waved a hand wildly and Chel as he wheezed painfully for a second. Like the first time, it was gone as soon as it came.
"I'm becoming asthmatic," he gasped. "I'm becoming an asthmatic invalid in the middle of nowhere."
[ SP: 9 ]
chiickadee rolled 1 8-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-8)
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:30 pm
Chel hoisted Chris up with a worried expression. "Let's set up like a mini camp here. You're not lookin' too good, and it looks like most of the portals are condensing around here anyways," she said.
She gestured for him to sit on a boulder. "Take it easy. I'll get started."
Somewhere behind Chris, a tree ent moved itself elsewhere. Chel didn't notice though, so it went COMPLETELY IGNORED.
Where they set up camp happened to be stupidly close to the portal. Chris discovered that when he wandered away a little to see if he could move without his lungs seizing.
"Yo! Chel the portal is right here. Lets get this over with." He took one of the daggers they'd been provided and shoved it into the ground north of the portal. As he did so he felt it pull and tug at him, and his vision went black. When it came back, nothing was the same.
He was back home, or least somewhere that resembled where he'd grown up. The space seemed smaller, like it was pressing in on him from every direction. It looked old, dingy, and not cared for in the slightest. s**t was broken everywhere or so dirty it probably had no chance of ever being clean again.
It made Chris's skin crawl. He could see his mom through the doorway to the kitchen, and every word out of her mouth dripped with sarcasm and passive aggression directed straight at him. Worse yet, his dad sat on the couch and agreed with every word.
Chris grit his teeth and felt his blood pressure rising. This was like a horror movie, except he couldn't press pause.
Just when Chris thought he was going to snap, he blinked and he was back in front of the portal.
"Borealis," he said with relief. The rune glowed in response.
"Eh?" she called, following the sound of his voice. Chris was nowhere to be found, but there was a gaping hole in the bottom of a tree, which had a swirling mass of purpleish color inside of it. She just connected the dots, assuming it was the portal he'd found.
She slapped down one of the runic daggers, marveling for a moment how easy and natural the motion felt. Maybe she really had learned something here at Deus.
The dagger echoed a pulsation of power, and the portal leaked out of the tree, covering the area in another time and place.
---
"You promise? I go, he stays?"
The hooded figure nodded.
"Askin' a girl to give up her life. Kinda a d**k move." Chel was in her backyard, sitting on one of their ugly lawn chairs. It was a strangely casual setting, her in some summer attire and a set of Christmas lights illuminating their back porch. Such a conversation, with a weird supernatural hooded figure- completely bizarre.
So Chel went to Deus Ex, and as agreed, Chris was ignored. She spent the last of her days on Deus. Alone.
---
Chel awoke from the strange dream, finding herself on the roots of the tree. She stood up and brushed herself awkwardly, then pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket. She'd written the names down because they were hard to remember, and she now realized how dumb that was because she didn't have Chris to read it out to her.
"Anst ... Anstr ... oh. It's a u. Okay Aust ... Austalllls. Aus - ...."
A good five to ten minutes later and she finally got it. "Australis?" The dagger ignited, a wave of energy hitting the area. "GOD FINALLY."
Chris moved in a semi circle to the next spot around the portal. He hadn't seen Chel but he was working on the assumption that she'd figured out what was going down.
He stuck the next dagger into the ground, and sucked in a distressed breath as his vision went black again. When it cleared to a very similar setting to the one he'd just escaped, he nearly screamed in frustration. Instead, he settled for childishly covering his ears with his hands so he couldn't hear his mom. He stood like that, looking like a gigantic baby, until the vision disappeared and he was back in front of the portal.
He moodily said the activation word and made a face at the dagger when it glowed at him.
The next hour passed far too slowly. It was literally just her sitting in the middle of the meadow, waiting for either Chris to return or for another portal to open up. About three times she even went to bang a stick on trees, hoping the noise would attract a disturbance.
Instead, the portal appeared when she had nearly dozed off in the middle of the meadow. The noise gave this one away, as it was a loud metallic thrumming through the entire nature setting.
The dagger went down and the same sensation overcame her. Here we go again.
---
This time the era was much different. It wasn't something from her own life- not something she remembered anyways. This land was darker, edgier. It was gloomy, something lurking around each corner.
Halloween.
She was there, but she had no influence on the world. Her body floated through physical objects, her voice made no sound.
Did I die, Tensy?
There was no response.
"Tenebrae!" a small voice called. A girl, pink in color. She matched the male who was stepping away from her, talking to a dark figure. Chel strained to hear the voices, but they were muddled, static. It was like listening to the voices through a tin can.
Chel could barely understand the events that were occurring, but she knew that the male was Tenebrae, and the female was trying to stop him from doing something.
Finally, the interaction ended. Tenebrae departed with the hooded figure in a bright flash of light, and the girl was left alone.
---
As always, the vision faded. Chel was unsure of the events she'd just seen, or if Tenebrae was even related.
You know anything about that?
< About what? >
Uh about the girl shoutin' Tenebrae and s**t?
< ... Chel are you under the influence of a stimulant of some kind? >
What? No. I'm just askin'-
< You've been staring at a rock for approximately 5.039284 minutes. >
Well that was an odd fact to learn. Chel was troubled, unsure which was worse- the odd hallucination she'd just had or the fact that Tenebrae seemed to have completely deleted that section of time. Either way, she uttered, "Orientalis," and departed back to the campsite.
As Chris circled around he crossed paths with Chel. He waved to her as her approached, but for a third time he began to black out.
Which wasn't fair, really, because he hadn't even placed a dagger this time.
He half expected to see the same gross house again, but this time the vision was way more familiar. The house was the way it had been back then. The walls, the decorations, the furniture. It was all exactly how he remembered it.
He glanced up and was shocked to see himself. Literally. He wasn't much younger, but it was clearly before his bootcamp days. He looked nervous and upset.
"Look. Chel. I have to do this."
Oh no. He knew this speech. Wait.
Did that mean...?
Chris looked down at himself and realized with horror that he was Chel in this scenario. He was literally Chel, watching himself give the army speech. And it was awful. He could feel as every word sunk in with sharp betrayal. He could see exactly how much of an a*****e he was from the other side.
God, he was such a douchebag.
The vision cleared, but he had to take a second to readjust before he could say anything. Seeing that discussion from the other side had been way more jarring than the awful nightmare house.
He cleared his throat and said the final words quietly. "A caelo usque ad centrum."
The portal sealed with an air of finality. Chris squinted at it for a second like he didn't quite believe it. "Well, that was pretty easy, right?"
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:49 pm
Tenebrae, you're not lyin' to me, are you? I mean like you'd tell me right? Chel thought as she stood beside Chris, arms crossed.
< I have no reasonable motivation to lie. All of my thoughts are auditory, as are your own. >
But she said Tenebrae. Like I didn't hear anything else, but your name for sure.
"Well, that was pretty easy, right?"
Chel's line of thinking was broken by Chris' interjection, and Chel said, "Ah? Eh - ah, yeah." Her lips were pursed and she wasn't feeling happy about it, but Chris was right. It was easier than she had suspected it would be- almost too easy. Getting promoted was supposed to be some big arduous task, wasn't it? That's what all the hunters always raved on about.
Chel wasn't going to complain. She liked the easy road. "Good work, cap. You didn't let me die." Kind of a weak compliment, since nothing had attacked them.
Now she was left with more questions than answers. Maybe that was the leads' intentions? But that seemed way too specifically planned. They couldn't possibly have control over something like that.
She shook her head. Now she was just worrying about nothing. "Let's go home."
