Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Strange Aeons (blaze gamma X ShadowPlay) [NSFW]

Tiana nodded. "Let's try it." She said. It wasn't really like they had anywhere else to go.

Exilis walked into the hallway and up to the door. But he had barely reached the wall when a voice called out from the barricade. "Woah there. We got more!"

From the barricade, at least three crossbows were pointing at Exilis and Tiana. "Stay where you are. Don't come closer." Said the voice. They noticed that behind each crossbow were a face of a man, scared and nervous.
 
"Well, that answers that question," Exilis spoke softly, raising his hands to show that he had no weapons. Of course, the same could not be said of his companion, but he at least hoped that he could make a show of good faith. "Easy, we're just trying to figure out what's going on," he spoke towards the barricaded area. "We aren't with those things." Already shaken from his lack of glibness prior, he wasn't sure what, if any, good this talking would do, but he was going to try anyway. He didn't have much other choice, as he saw it.

[ 1d20+4 = 14 ] Diplomacy
 
Tiana followed suit with Exilis. She sheathed her sword. "Peace. We are not your enemies." She didn't know if it was true, but better they believed that.

"Just stay there." Said the voice. "York will be here soon."

After a few tense moments with crossbows pointed at them, Exilis and Tiana saw another face above the barricade. "Just don't get any closer." Said the man that was the Captain York the other men had talked about. "We don't want to shoot you. But if you get closer than that door." He pointed at the door they had approached earlier, "Then we will shoot."
 
"Fine," Exilis replied. "Can you at least tell us what's going on in this place? Zoogs aren't normal inhabitants of a medical facility, nor are those other things." Exilis was cautious not to mention that they'd been prisoners, nor of the fact that their memories were lacking. Until they had sized up the situation, it was better to play close to his chest with those details. While he didn't know if Tiana was any more or less reliable, he had the dream to fall back on, and they had, for better or worse, escaped together.
 
"Zoog? Sorry?" The confusion in the man's voice was evident. "I have no idea what you are talking about. And please don't call this place a medical facility. Nothing medical here." He said in a harsh tone. "The place is overrun by lunatics and with shapechanging monsters that can look like anyone." He said in his nervous voice. "So please don't think bad of me for not trusting you. I can't know if you are shapeshifters."
 
"Just... Don't mess with the thing under the furnace." Exilis sighed. "They have a preference for eating flesh of sentients, but aren't brave enough to attack on their own. At any rate, we've already had a run in with one of those shapeshifters. I can't do much to prove that we're neither them, nor with them, as things stand, aside from give my word. All I know is the sadistic thing was dressed up as a doctor and carving someone up when we came across it. We managed to catch it off guard, but the poor sap on the table wasn't so lucky."
 
The man looked them over when Exilis said that they had killed a shapeshifter. "Hmmm. I want to believe you man. I truly do. But say what. You bring me proof that you've offed a few of those doppelgangers and I will believe you enough to let you in here." He pointed in the opposite direction. "There are several of them running around this god forsaken place. Killing and what have you. We are the last sane survivors here. Or perhaps should I say we are the saner of the bunch. This is an insane asylum after all."
 
Exilis nodded, looking to Tiana. "What do you think? Up for a small job?" He asked her, before turning back to the man called York. "Also, do any of you require healing? It may be a small comfort, but I'm able to channel energy to heal the injured."
 
Tiana nodded. It didn't really suit her well to act out of kindness to these people she had no relation to. But she figured that they might have valuable information to trade. So a mutual agreement on a few dead doppelgangers for safety and information was alright. "Let us do that. Sounds better than having a crossbow pointed at me." She said gruffly, looking at Captain York.

The men on the other side of the barricade considered Exilis' offer. But for whatever reason they turned it down. "No thank you good sir. We are all fine here. At least physical." They did sound tired and scared.
 
"Noted. Before we head out though, I don't suppose there's any more information you can give us about these things that we're off to fight? What sort of trophies are you looking for us to grab? I know you said there's not an easy way for you to identify them, but are there any tips? We only happened across the one we killed by chance, and were hardly looking for it." Exilis rattled off his questions, hoping to milk as much information as he could before York lost patience with the two.
 
"As fear as we know. They return to their natural state once they are dead. So just bring us their heads and we'll be happy." It was a macabre, yet practical solution to a hard problem. "They tend to lurk in the big washroom to the north. But more than that I don't know. We haven't ventured outside the barricades for some time."

It was evident that the man was reluctant to divulge more information to strangers. Especially in the light of his enemies could look like anyone.

Tiana nodded. "The washroom to the north. Well that's something to go on."
 
Exilis nodded. "Alright. Then we'll head that way." He said, backing away from the barricade, though keeping his eyes on those who were trained on him. While he was offering to play their game, he hoped he was clear that this was a purely transactional arrangement, at least for the moment. Until he had reason to trust the others, this would not change. Still, he paused. "Ah... Before I go... A codeword." He offered. "I think that will be the best way to ensure we're the same people we are, no?"
 
"A codeword?" York was a little baffled by the suggestion but soon caught on. "Oh that's great thinking!" He applauded, "How about Cheesecake?" He said. "With that we will know that you are the same people and you will know that we are the same as we are now."

Another voice behind the barricade said, "Cheesecake. That's good boss. I love cheesecake. Damn it's been a while since I got a good cheesecake." The reply was quick, "Shut up Barry. This is a secret code word. Not something you should run around saying all the time."
 
Exilis nodded. "I'll keep it memorized." He said, resuming his backwards step until he broke line of sight. He decided it prudent to not repeat the word, just in case of any other elements that could potentially hear it. Once he and Tiana were clear of the others, he spoke up. "Well, it's not ideal, but it's better than going in blind." He shifted his head to crack his neck. "I'd have preferred something more of a call and response, but a single code will suffice. Incidentally, in case we do need to split up for some reason, we may be best to have a code ourselves."

As he spoke, Exilis started to take stock of his current surroundings once more.
[ 1d20+8 = 19 ] Perception
 
Tiana nodded. "It would be nice to have someway of identifying each other. Especially if these doppelgangers can look like anyone. Some call and response would be good. How about we have a call like big? And then we each have a different response. That way anyone hearing it by chance will fail the response half the times."

They stood in the hallway next to the door opposite the boiler room. There was an additional door on the same side as the boiler, but the guards at the barricade wouldn't allow them that close. There were at least two more doors to the north, with the hall stretching past some rubble, what seemed like 200 feet before meeting a perpendicular wall.

Asylum-B2.png
 
"... Masked Vanity." Exilis spoke after a moment. "At any rate, I suppose we should check these doors in order. We're looking for a large washroom. Maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to stake it out and wait for one of those things to arrive." He sighed as he pushed the door open slowly.
 
"...Flying monkeys" Tiana said in return.

She nodded and took the lead, her shield and armor giving her a better protection than his spell would. The door opened into a courtyard that seemed strangely familiar. They had just been behind the very same door only twenty minutes ago when Exilis had flipped a coin.

Tiana looked at her companion with a wry smile. "Well. This does indeed seem familiar."

Asylum-B2(1).png
 
"... Well," Exilis sighed. "I suppose fate just can be rather fickle." He brushed off his clothing almost on reflex, even though he'd been sure to clear off any remains from the furnace with his magic. "At any rate, at least we know not to go back this way... Unless we want to take it easy and go get our head from there..." He considered the corpse room, quickly deciding that it was best not to pass through there a third time. "... No, probably not. On to the next one, then," he sighed, before resuming his blessings on Tiana.
 
They approached the next door. It opened into what seemed to once have been a storage room with linen and cleaning supplies. But it had been ransacked and looted recently. A thick stench of chlorine hang in the air.

Cracks in the wall to the north suggested that the next door on the right held a similar room in similar disarray.

Asylum-B10.png
 
Exilis shook his head, then headed north. "The one on the left then?" He asked.

"I'm guessing that there's still nothing else coming to you?" He asked Tiana as they walked.
 
"The one on the left." Tiana echoed. "But no. Sadly I recall little. Only tidbits here and there. I might have been a physician at an earlier part of my life. I know where muscles attach and some obscure academic names for several of the bones in a human body. I recall a little about a university but I have no clue where." She said. "And then I just know that I need to keep my cool. It's as if it has been etched into my soul, some strange level of calm in the face of danger."

She shrugged as she opened the next door. Exactly as expected it was the same view that greeted them there. Chaos and destruction and evidence of looting. Tiana alchemical training made her realize something. "Whatever has happened here has happened not very long ago. The smell of chlorine would dissipate after a few days at most. Look at those crack in the wall, plenty of air would get in there to replace the chlorine."
 
"So these things are working actively, then." Exilis mumbled. "I can say I'm knowledgable of magical theory, as well as religious rites.... I suppose that all does make sense considering the holy symbol that was among my positions, who appears to be granting me the half of my magic that isn't studied." He looked down to the exquisite silver bifurcated mask in his hand. "It would stand to reason that both clerics and wizards would study where I did. I guess it makes sense then, that even though I can heal, that I am far from a knowledgeable healer. Shall we continue forward?"
 
The two of them continued further north along the hallway. They came across piles of rubble that littered the floor. There a partially collapsed room came into sight. It seemed like some sort of office, with desks and chairs. But it wasn't the sight of the desks that first occupied their minds. On the floor of the room was a gruesome sight. Several dead bodies littered the floor. There were several humans that seemed to have succumbed from different causes and there were three bodies that looked quite similar to the doppelganger that they had encountered in the cellar. The doppelgangers all had several crossbow bolts in their bodies.

Another disturbing fact that Exilis and Tiana noticed was that many of the bodies had their skin cut off in neat strips. The strips of skin that had been removed from the victims were now lying neatly on one of the desks, as if someone was cataloging them.
 
Exilis winced. Whatever he had expected coming into here, it wasn't this. Still, he had a job to do. He cast a small spell, starting to search the room for any signs of lingering magic. He then went up to the strips of skin, looking around cautiously on his way over to them. "I'm not sure I'm fond of whatever game these shapeshifters are playing." He thought aloud. "Unfortunately I'm starting to wonder if they've got some ulterior motive to whatever they're doing... A cult of some kind perhaps...?"

Casting Detect Magic
[ [1d20+8 = 22 [not found ] ] Perception
 
They began searching the room, but Exilis realized that one of the corpses wasn't dead at all. It was an old grandmotherly figure that seemed to have broken her leg. She laid still with her head in a very awkward position, but Exilis was sure that she was breathing and from time to time eyeing the two survivors.

Tiana was oblivious to the charade and kept searching the room.

[ 1d20+4 = 10 ] Perception Tiana
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom