The Shattered City: Chapter Two

[NeoTiamat]

47 Rue Foyle, Quartier Savant, Port-a-Lucine; Late Night of March 24th, 770
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She paused to peer about the (now dimmer?) elaborate room, and tapped Richard's arm. "They have magic," she whispered, and pointed. "Obviously."

Richard wasn't listening.

Had the young man been turned to stone, he could not have stood any stiller than he did right now. He had approached one of the wall mirrors, perhaps with the intent of turning it face down; now he stood frozen, utterly transfixed in place.

A woman floated in the mirror before him, her face pale and her eyes downcast. She was tall and svelte, willowy and beautiful, not more than twenty five years old. A tattered linen gown, ill fitting and poorly made, hung from her frame. Silken strands of auburn hair floated gently around her, suspended as if she were a mermaid in water. The normal reflection of the room around you distorted as it touched her, and she looked as if she were simply standing on the other side of a pane of glass. Richard's face went white, his mouth slightly open in pure surprise.

"What, what happened to you?" he breathed, lifting one trembling hand, as if to reach out and touch the mirrored glass. The woman coldly raised her eyes from the symbol on his chest.

"Richard!" Cerise cried out in warning, as the ghostly woman lunged through the mirror and wrapped her hands around his arm. It was only the quickest of reflexes, the remnants of wariness before shock had stolen it, that saved Richard from being sent plunging through the mirror in one swift movement. His teeth gritted with exertion as he set his stance and brought all his strength to bear, halting his advance with half his arm through the mirror. But the woman seemed impossible to resist, and Richard's boots skidded across the floor as he was dragged further and further in, inch by agonizing inch.

Richard's arm began to crack like ice, blood oozing through the sudden fissures in his skin.

[lostboy]

"An intriguing philosophy Mr. de Castigne. I have always held that 'truth' is subjective, a malleable to the needs of the masterful."

"Indeed Signore, truth is indeed a subjective issue, one that differs in form and substance depending on the person in question, yet in my experience truth as a personal notion is rarely easily won, it remains like quicksilver, elusive and always strived for. The truth is indeed "out there" as someone once noted in...."

He tails off as the horror enfolding Richard manifests, then with an uncharcteristic burst of action he grabs the man's other arm and bracing himself pulls frantically in the opposite direction. "Quickly get him out of there! Put your shoulders into it!"

Strength check 22 to help pull him out of the mirror

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Smash the glass!" Lia hisses, her voice tight with shock. "Smash it before more come through!"

And with those kind words spoken, she snaps words of arcane might: "Sagitta magica, omne errore vacua, e manu meu evolat!" The Mage thrusts out her hand and launches a dart of pure force at the mirror-woman holding Richard by the wrist.

(OOC: Casting Magic Missile at the mirror-woman. Attack roll of 18. Eek. If it hits, damage roll of 11.)

[DocBeard]

"Hold on!" Tomas snaps, pulling Ivorsen out and muscling his way forward. He's a bit slow to do what he was hoping, having gotten distracted by strange visions of blood and death and horrible gray mist...

"Stupid thing. Work!" Tomas snaps, swatting his sword against the ground. It blinks, for a second, and starts glowing blue again. "Real helpful-Richard, hold on! It is not what it seems! Resist!"

(Moving to get adjacent to Richard and the monster, firing off a Divine Mettle to help Richard out.)

[yalenusveler]

"Richard!" Kerrian cried out, moving to get closer and assist in the attempt to prevent him from becoming the latest resident of the mirror world. He should have taken things more seriously, he should have realized how serious the vision was.

No. Right now trying to prevent that was what was important, not chastising yourself over a threat you only had the vaguest hints of. Kerrian's spirit wolf manifested as near to Richard as it could, giving the mirrored woman a baleful glare. As it did so, Richard felt a surge of energy flood into him, something more real than real, trying to drive out the hostile influence of the world on the other side of the mirror.

All the while Kerrian was now helping to brace Nicolas, trying to whatever it took to prevent Richard from getting dragged through.

Move to get Adjacent, Free to summon companion giving +1 to all non ac defenses, then using Sudden Restoration to grant Richard a Saving throw. Fluff text is it's a surge of primal energy that tries to push out negative influences, so worth a try. 16 on an Aid another at Nicolas, bringing him to a 24

[The Whistler]

Celeste, in characteristically irrelevant fashion, had been taking the moment to admire the tasteful interior decoration of the person whose house she'd just broken into. It seemed that the imminent mirror-universe abduction of one of her friends, however, was more than enough to attract her attention. She didn't seem frightened, this time--just momentarily shocked, and very concerned for Richard's safety:

"Oh, heav-- Yes, resist, M. Blackwood, resist with every fiber of your stalwart being, that we may-- oh, perhaps reason with--"

Lia's Magic Missile hit the mirror hard. Unsettlingly hard. You were reasonably sure that it wasn't supposed to coruscate like that.

Celeste takes no actions. Lia spontaneously rolls an extra 26 on an attack roll on the mirror-woman, for 19 psychic damage, which is odd because she can't cast "Chaos Bolt."

[Nerit]

Nerit whipped around at the commotion. When she saw the reflection, she whispered, "Is it really you?" But the trapped Richard forced a cry to the reflection from deep in her lungs. "Stop it!"

"You can't..." she faltered. "Don't..." Nerit realized her predicament and brought a hand to her forehead. Evidently, the nun had great respect for the man before her, and also the siren pulling him into a backward, empty world.

"Stop it." She passed Lia a pleading look.

With an expression that denoted a mental slap to her own face, Nerit marched toward the mirror where everyone had clustered to save Richard.

"You don't want him, do you? You want me! Let him go! Libera eum, materterra!"

Well, that was one way to fight a ghostly mirror.

She positioned herself to the side of the mirror beside the chaos, watching the specter drag Richard away, helpless. She put her hand on a free section of Richard's arm while the rest of the group played tug-of-war. The crackling of his arm and the presence of blood did nothing to stop her from staring at the haunting figure. "Don't you understand me?"

Any idea of mental steeling slipped away. Her words grew more incoherent, a stunted mixture of High Mordentish and Darkonese. "Don't you remember what you were?"

"Please," was the last comprehensible Mordentish utterance.

[Isabella]

47 Rue Foyle, Quartier Savant, Port-a-Lucine; Late Night of March 24th, 770
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"Wait!" Cerise cried out, even as Lia's voice raised in magic chanting. "You can't hurt it like that! You'll just break the mirror! He'll lose his arm!" Nicolas and Kerrian managed to slow the inexorable pull into the glass portal, but it only increased the strain on Richard's arm. His skin was cracking like porcelain, thick, viscous blood running in rivulets down his hand. The young man fought to free himself, but was clearly in shock, watching himself start to shatter before his very eyes.

The woman looked up. Her hazel eyes widened in surprise, then shock. Richard's arm slid back an inch, as her grip slackened, her face a wreck of wistful heartbreak. It was unknown if she had even heard the words that had been spoken, if sound could even travel through that glass mirror. Nothing more needed to be said. There was nothing more that could be said.

Just a moment before the mirror shattered, in the instant before the magic arrow struck the surface, the woman in the mirror let go.

Twisted shards flew everywhere as glass and metal exploded, warping into tortured shapes and shattering upon the floor. The momentum generated by several strong men, suddenly deprived of an equal force with which to counterbalance it, sent Richard careening to the floor, taking his attempted saviors down with him. The young man curled in pain on the ground, cradling his broken arm as he gasped for breath, his wheezing audible and half sounding like sobs. Sweat began to roll down his brow as shock and adrenaline wore off, and agony began to set in.

"I'm alright," he managed to get out, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth with the pain. "I'm, I'm alright..." The icy, glasslike texture of his shattered skin began to revert to normal, revealing ugly, oozing wounds that cut all the way to the bone. Blood began to spread across the floor, staining his tattered coat and sleeve a deep crimson.

The glass in the house still surrounded you, but the woman in the mirror was in none of them - she was gone, as if she'd never been. Up above you, you could hear a burst of new movement, in response to the commotion downstairs.

[Kaitou Kage]

Cyrus had wasted no time, even when Richard started getting sucked into the mirror. He hurried upstairs after Darius, ignoring the commotion below. They'd be fine. If someone needed to be caught, that person would be upstairs.

Still going upstairs like I have been for the past while.

[yalenusveler]

"Can...explain who she is later" Kerrian said as he rose to his feet, focusing energies on Richard to try and restore his damaged arm. "I'm thinking we might have other things to deal with first though..", trying to get ready for whoever or whatever might be coming down the stairs, trying to keep from looking at any of the mirrors lest he tempt some other assailant to issue forth.

OOC:Healing Spirit on Richard, for Surge+3

[DocBeard]

"So much for the subtle approach, ja?" Tomas murmurs, nodding at Kerrian having Richard's wounds handled. Instead, the big Lamordian puts a cold-as-the-grave hand on Nerit's shoulder. "Come on! I'll give you first crack at whatever's hiding up there, yes?" Tomas winks that annoyingly infectious wink of his, and starts booking it up the stairs himself.

Honestly he doesn't hold much hope of catching whoever was here-at least not at his speed, but he figures there'll at least be another clue.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia nods wordless agreement at Tomas' words, then speeds off after the Mulan brothers. 'Well, this is going smashingly so far,' she thinks to herself as she reviews the magic still available to her. 'Something happened to my Missile,' she adds, eyebrows drawing down. 'Some interference ... augmentation? Someone used an additional magic. I need to look into that - later.'

[Nerit]

Nerit had been weeping, without knowing it. Her gaze went from the shattered space of the mirror to Richard's mutilated arm. At Tomas' pat, she gave Richard himself a stalwart glance (regardless of the fact that he was in no shape to acknowledge it) and took off after the others.

Something, she thought, had just broken with that mirror.

[Nathan of the FoS]

There is a great deal of commotion downstairs, but there's eight of them (or however many ended up coming in), surely they can take care of it themselves.

Accordingly, Darius, like his twin, keeps his attention on the sounds from the second story. "Which way?" he mutters to Cyrus as they reach the top of the stairs. It's well-known between the two of them that Cyrus has better ears.

[lostboy]

Nicholas extricates himself form underneath Richard and Kerrian, and with a quick look to satisfy himself that no more psycopathic mirror phantasms were about to descend upon them he moves to assist Kerrian.

"I'm alright," he managed to get out, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth with the pain. "I'm, I'm alright..."

"Indeed, and all this blood is just for show then?" Nicholas says with a grin. "I suspect Monsieur you are putting a brave face on it no? Now sit still whilst the doctors operate." So saying he pulls a scarf from his satchel and binds Richards arm, before looking over at Kerrian with a wink "satisfied Doctor Mauganson?"

His head whips round at the commotion from above and he stares oddly at the ceiling for a moment as if expecting something to descend upon him. But then it dawns on him that everyone is staring upwards "You all hear that too then? Thank the mists I though I was going mad, time to move post haste I believe. And you Monsieur no more dipping useful appendages into shadowy parallel hate-filled dimensions." The last is directed playfully at Richard, before he grabs his pistol and dashes after the others.

Heal 21 to allow Richard to use his second wind if he fancies or a saving throw if he needs it