The Well of Descension

[Archer]

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I’ve read 1984, I know where agreeing to that will lead you. Besides, we need more opposition.

Klasten's ears burned at the Liebrarian's ridiculous proposal. 

“I’m out,” Klasten announced. “I’m not losing my moral high ground over this. This man’s just trying to trick us.”

He pulled a Chekhov's Gun from his bag. He cocked the pistol, then pointed it at the assembled adventurers. “Once you join him, there’s no going back. Come with me. Walk away from this all. Know that if you try to go with him, I’ll be forced to stop you.”

He aimed the gun at Silas’ chest. “That includes you, bud.”

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Yes, that was needlessly dramatic of him. But if this is to be a good adventure, somebody’s got to try to stop the heroes. I won’t be offended if you join the liebrarian. I’m definitely not going to shoot you for it. That would be overreacting. 

 

[little wheel]

"K, pal, you might want to calm down," Silas said, with Klasten's arm suddenly bent at an odd and increasingly painful angle. "I really would be happy if you didn't make me include killing a cowboy in my list o' death."

[MetaTerminal]

Alum was on his way out when he heard the click of weaponry. He swiveled, and stared at the gun. He was sure he had seen it before - possibly mounted on a wall somewhere.

“Look,” Alum said. “You can’t claim you have the moral high ground while threatening people. They have the right to make their own informed decisions. And if you disagree, try to dissuade them.” He pulled his own gun, aiming it carefully. “Unless you were planning to preach your moral ways through needless violence. Let’s all just calm down here, alright?”

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I agree, some opposition is in order. Monumental goals require monumental odds. It’s the Hero’s Journey, not the Hero’s Walk in the Park.

 

[little wheel]

"Yes. Let's all just calm the hippity-heck down," Silas said as he pulled three large packages of strawberry sugar wafers out from his backpack.

[I Am Witless]

A very small spider in a dark ceiling corner watched idly, and plucked on it's web in a pattern that only made sense to spiders. And one other. Morse code becomes so much more efficient when you have eight limbs instead of one finger.

There was a web opposite of the original on the outside of the room, several threads running through a crack. This was connected to a whole network of threads running down the inside of the wall, which ran through the broad web of a funnel-weaving house spider that doubled as a networking center. Web after interconnected web, some the tangled mess of a Black Widow, others the single stabilizing line of a jumping spider. The message was repeated, echoes, and sent through the tunnels of bird-eating spiders, the strict webs of orb weavers, and finally received in a small copse on another world (accomplished by a realm-hopping spider whose thread transcended dimensions).

In the woody clearing, a woman opened her eyes and watched a very large spider carefully tap-dance to the tune of spoken words. 

 "So they're planning on releasing the guardian? And not Voidus......" Yzabet smiled as only a born trickster could. "Let's see what Voidus thinks about that."

[MetaTerminal]

"I've got some problems with this plan," said Alum, keeping the gun trained squarely towards Mace. "Firstly, how do you plan to control the guardian? And secondly, I don't think we'll be able to trap Voidus inside if he doesn't want to be there. He's spent sixteen years trying to work out a way to free himself from the inside - the moment we even start to weaken the forcefield, he'll notice. If a literal god wants to leave, we won't be able to stop him. Not to mention the fact that we don't know how you even plan to open up a way out."

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Alum's fine with breaking the law, though. He's no Skybreaker.

 

[Archer]

"Your slytherin logic has no place here!" Klasten retorted. He spat on the ground. "I can see you're all just a load of yellow-bellied greedists. Well, let's see what good your lofty ambitions do you when you're dead!" He squeezed the trigger. Bullets flew through the air, smashing into the walls, nearly hitting the assembled adventurers. 

He then dived to the floor to get out of Alum's line of fire. "You'd better run," he shouted. "But know that you won't make it very far!"

He maintained the barrage of bullets. Hundreds of bullets poured out of his gun, yet none of them managed to hit anyone. Not one. One did hit an exposed pipe, exposing the coolant contained inside to the air, causing a thick cloud of white smoke to begin filling the room. It became hard to see. An alarm blared, a low clanging noise. 

"You can't hide forever!" Klasten bellowed at them. "I will find you! You will rue..." The rest of his words were drowned out. But he'd gotten his message across.

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If any group feels like following the Liebrarian out the backdoor, shaken by your experiences and the sudden realization of how high the stakes are in this quest, but nonetheless are still determined to see it through to its completion, now would be a good opportunity to do so. 

 

[Gancho Libre]

"Ah, very nice," Ioc said, smiling cruelly as it stepped up behind Klasten. Ioc laid a hand on Klasten's shoulder.

Then, Ioc teleported.

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If you don't wanna come you don't have to. I suppose I never mentioned whether or not Ioc's hand remained on Klasten's shoulder when it teleported. 

however, if you come, you'll find yourself in a dark box with wards to prevent teleportive escape. Doesn't sound like much fun, but perhaps it will lead to something.

hum.

@Archer

[Archer]

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I needed an escape route, so that's perfect. Thanks!

WHOOSH! Klasten disappeared, then reappeared elsewhere, in a dark box that smelled like it had wards to prevent teleportive escape. 

[I Am Witless]

A small spider sat in a high-up corner of the box, and idly plucked on it's web. 

[Archer]

The Box, Elsewhere:

Klasten plucked his banjo, playing an upbeat melody with the spider. He looked around, taking in the dark grey walls of the box. "Huh. So this is how Voidus feels," he said.

[I Am Witless]

The spider stopped for a few minutes, then felt the minute vibratons of a message under its feet. It rappeled down the wall and scuttled up to Klasten, waving it's front sets of legs in the air.

[Archer]

The Box, Elsewhere:

Klasten wished he spoke spiderspeak. He tried to remember his dogspeak lessons, and hoped the languages were close enough to be understood by the spider. 

"What is it, boy?" he said, speaking louder than he needed to. "Roll over? Sit! Is it dangerous? Would you like a bone? Speak!"

[Gancho Libre]

"Sure thing," Ioc said, materializing into the box. "Now, what can you tell me about Smedrys? I've noticed your... Hushlander tendencies,"

Ioc paused. "Also, what the storms was happening in that basement?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Tena patted her son's shoulder in approval. She then said, "I lack a moral grounding. I'll still join." She rolled her eyes at Klasten's antics; Klasten being Klasten wasn't any sort of news to her, and sighed when he disappeared. "Why do I feel like I'm the only adult here?" She looked at the Liebrarian and said, "Well, except you, I guess."

Edited October 8, 2018 by AxeliustheGreat

[Archer]

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Plot twist: the liebrarian is a pair of babies standing on each other's shoulders underneath that cloak. 

The Box, Somewhere:

Klasten was confused. THE SPIDER CAN SHAPE SHIFT?! He wasn't aware that spiders had that capability. Maybe it's a mutant spider. Maybe I can get it to bite me, then I'll get super powers! 

He decided to answer the second question first, while he searched his memories for what he'd been taught about Smedrys. "You know when you're roasting marshmallows and everyone around comes over to try to steal from the bag? It was like that. The liebrarian's planning on travelling to the worldspike to free the guardian. All the best adventurers stopped by to nibble. But then the liebrarian let his marshmallow get to close to the fire, and I was forced to burn him a bit. Just to dissuade him from doing it again, you know? At that point, the marshmallows were all poison anyway and nobody knew it but me 'cause I knew knowing marshmallows and I warned them but they didn't listen so I shot at them."

He took a deep breath. "Smedrys are a race of invested humans hailing from the planet Earth. My mentor told me they had two power. The first was always something random and useless. The second was that they were incredibly lucky. I’m not actually from Earth, but I had a cousin from there I could hook you up with, if you’re interested. Fun place Earth. Lot’s of water. Why do you want to know about them?"

[old man moomba]

Rick looked about. He had heard of the liebrarians plan, and he applauded their attempt to release the guardian. But, Rick wanted to release Voidus, so then Voidus would give him some apple cider and a donut, it was fall, after all. After some deliberation, Rick decided that outright opposition was a better idea than infiltrating the little group that whatisname was setting up. He smiled. Today was a good day. 

 

[I Am Witless]

The spider, which was female, couldn't roll over, didn't know how to sit, had a different definition of dangerous than Klasten (anything that could squish it), and actually wanted a fly, dodged around Ioc's foot. Then it went to one of the bottom corners and started spinning a large web.

Edited October 9, 2018 by I Am Witless

[PrinceDusty]

Night dipped his head. He and all honorable Ghostbloods were bound to the Liebrarians- for the time being. That could change very quickly, though. For now, Night awaited his orders in the aluminum-lined room.

Edited October 9, 2018 by PrinceDusty
gen update

[+Sorana]

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So, I can have my character both at the ball and here? Did I get that right?

 

[Gancho Libre]

Ioc nodded. "I'd like that," it said. "Where is this cousin of yours? Is he a Smedry? I need to know for a project of mine. Of no consequence to anyone but myself.  Where are the spatial coordinates? Tell me and we will go there,"

@Archer

[Archer]

Klasten was not at all worried that Ioc was planning on destroying the Earth and/or slaying the Smedry clan. 

"His name's Max. He's the son of a Smedry, so he is too. He got the power to underestimate things. He mostly just uses it to carry heavy boxes, so we call him Super Max."

Klasten was an idiot. 

"Here, I've got his number. You can just look him up his coordinates in the Alleyverse Phone Book." He wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to Ioc. 

"Before you go, would you mind helping me get out of this box? It's giving me claustrophobia."

[Gancho Libre]

Ioc nodded. Once twice, then thrice. Ioc liked how well those words worked together.

'Don't do it!' Prefrontal Cortex yelled. 'You'll-'

Ioc threw everything it had against the voice of reason. Prefrontal Cortex quieted, then began to whimper.

Ioc ignored it. "Sure, I'll; let you go. I'll drop you off at Roshar. Is that fine?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ioc laid a hand on Klasten's shoulder and teleported, landing in Shinovar.

"Thank you," Ioc said with a cruel smile before snatching the piece of paper and disappearing.

@Archer

[I Am Witless]

The spider stopped spinning it's web. It had been a good one, and the spider knew good from bad. She would have been able to get Klasten out eventually, but now he was gone. She wandered to the center of the web, tapped a few random threads, and disappeared in a zip of light.

[Archer]

Shinovar: Home of the Shinovar Shin-kickers

"What a nice spider-mutant," Klasten remarked as Ioc disappeared. "But he forgot to drop me off next to a perpendicularity." He was tempted to use his black sphere to summon Ioc again, but then he remembered his convenient supply of Tia cards. 

"I wonder if these are working now," he said, tapping the card. Fortunately for him, it did. 

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I'm going to go crash the GB Ball. IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by Archer