The Thirteen Moons of Shamballa (in-character thread)

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"Well so much for that theory. Mr Buttersocks you were supposed to listen for some type sound that would help you to find some type of... Oh forget it. I have one more idea. Servitor, do you think that the green beam would cause you any harm should you walk in? It doesn't seem to affect metal."
 
"Well so much for that theory. Mr Buttersocks you were supposed to listen for some type sound that would help you to find some type of... Oh forget it. I have one more idea. Servitor, do you think that the green beam would cause you any harm should you walk in? It doesn't seem to affect metal."
"Processing...processing...processing. Response: insufficient data to correlate meaningful answer," says Servitor-1. The robot then turns to its mistress as if awaiting instructions.

"Are you suggesting I risk losing Servitor-1 when we have a perfect test subject right here?" Desideria says, pointing to Buttersocks. "We should simply toss this insipid sub-man in and observe what the green beam does to him! How do we even know it affects living creatures any differently than metal? Have you even tried anything but coins?"

Buttersocks says, "Perhaps if I play my flute I will find the correct notes by chance!" He then begins to play his flute quite loudly.
 
"Well, it would seem that Sergeant Gilipollas would beg to differ were he alive. Do you have a dagger or sword I could borrow? Perhaps this will satisfy your concern? Yes Buttersocks, see if you can't find the tune. Spisarevski, do you have any suggestions?"
 
"I'm wondering whether it needs time to recharge after shooting a beam. If so, how long", Spisarevski answers. So he throws whatever Earth currency - mainly German - he has on him, trying to understand the minimum interval.
 
"Well, it would seem that Sergeant Gilipollas would beg to differ were he alive. Do you have a dagger or sword I could borrow? Perhaps this will satisfy your concern? Yes Buttersocks, see if you can't find the tune. Spisarevski, do you have any suggestions?"
"I see science on your fantasy moon hasn't quite reached the stage where it incorporates basic things like evidence," says Desideria. "I see no deceased apeman. Prithee, sirrah, point out to me this dead pile of blue fur."
"I'm wondering whether it needs time to recharge after shooting a beam. If so, how long", Spisarevski answers. So he throws whatever Earth currency - mainly German - he has on him, trying to understand the minimum interval.
After a few probing tosses at various intervals, it seems the beam has no lack of energy as it seizes, examines, and discards each coin in turn.

Buttersocks playing his flute at such volume that anyone in the vicinity is well aware of your presence by now. Indeed, looking far off in the direction whence you came, you see several shaggy green-skinned men and women dressed in furs and toting spears as they approach.
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"Mutants!" yelps Desideria.
 
"They've got spears. We have rifles", Spisarevski anwers absent-mindedly. "Colonel, let's reduce the intensity of our rays to avoid having to wait between shots? And then we can talk to them amicably."
 
Their apparent leader, a pulchritudinous and callipygian woman despite her unnatural skin tone, strides forward as the men follow close behind. She speaks thus: "Ho! Who are you, who dare to defile the Holy Sound Temple of the Water People? Answer wisely, for your very lives may depend upon how well your words please me, for I am Zoila, High Priestess of the Water People!"
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"I am Spisarevski, from His Majesty Boris 2nd's finest", Spisarevski answers. "We're travellers who hoped to find hospitality, or at least shelter and maybe a means of transportation. This place seemed deserted."
 
"I am Spisarevski, from His Majesty Boris 2nd's finest", Spisarevski answers. "We're travellers who hoped to find hospitality, or at least shelter and maybe a means of transportation. This place seemed deserted."
"I should say not," say Zoila, her chin imperiously upthrust with indignation. "We are here to worship. You may join us despite the sickly hues of your skins--if you have been anointed. Afterward, we may speak of shelter and transportation."
 
"Major Hunter madame. We would be delighted to join you. This is Buttersocks, a lord of Picklenut forest, and this, err young 'lady' is Desideria and yon tin man is Servitor 1."
 
Spisarevski also nods.
"I don't mind worshipping the Holy Sound with you."
 
"Very well," says Zoila. She produces a small wooden flute from her brief fur garments and plays a short melody of six notes. Immediately after she blows the last note, a low humming noise starts up within the pyramid and an overhead light flickers to life inside. Through the doorway, you see a sterile white-walled chamber such as you might expect to find in a laboratory or hospital. Along the far wall are a series of man-sized glass-like tubes, one of which contains Gilipollas, though he appears to be sedated. In the tube to the left of your blue-furred companion you see what seems to be an anthropomorphic lion, also unconscious.
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"The Holy Sound Temple of the Water People deals with intruders thusly," says Zoila. "Now we must disrobe to attest to our purity and enter the Chamber of Purification." Without hesitation, she and her two spear-carriers shamelessly doff their primitive clothing and enter the pyramid unharmed. You see a number of coins littering the floor, at which Zoila looks askance. Strange machinery lines the far wall and there is a large door on the far left side of the chamber.

"It's an orgy!" says Buttersocks with glee as he enthusiastically removes all his clothing and runs inside after Zoila and the spear-bearers. You notice that his doughy buttocks seem to have bright red diaper rash upon them.

Desideria reluctantly disrobes and follows suit, along with Servitor-1, who of course has no garments to shed. To Buttersocks, Desideria says, "If you dare attempt to rub against me or otherwise touch my body, even by accident, I will have Servitor-1 emasculate you by pulling your little testes out of their disgusting, withered, grey-haired sacks in the most painful way he can devise, sub-man!"

"Yes, do keep your lecherous pet away from me," adds Zoila as she stands near some sort of reel-to-reel console or control that appears to be connected by heavy cables to the tubes holding Gilipollas and the lion-man. Her hands are poised at some buttons as if preparing to operate the device.
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All the others stand inside now, waiting for Hunter and Spisarevski.
 
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"Well, when in Rome and all that rot..." Major Hunter disrobes and enters inside. "Buttersocks! Show some decorum, or you can stay outside. Do you understand?"
 
OOC: I have visitors from out of town, so my presence for the next few days may be quite sporadic.
 
"Well, when in Rome and all that rot..." Major Hunter disrobes and enters inside. "Buttersocks! Show some decorum, or you can stay outside. Do you understand?"
Spisarevski looks confused, but then disrobes. Never to be outdone by a Brit, he is going to!

"Yes, Buttersocks. Best stay nearby, lest you commit a less than polite act", he warns the small man. "I won't stand for this."
 
Zoila presses a button on the console and the door in the far left wall slides open to reveal a scientist's laboratory or workshop. You see a set of doors at the far end of the adjacent chamber.
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She then presses a second button and a tube pours a bubbling, bright orange liquid into a series of Erlenmeyer flasks on a conveyor belt; she presses the button a second time when nine have been filled. She hands everyone a flask, with two left over. "We must all imbibe the Holy Fluid of Sensory Derangement so that we may enter the apse and worship the Holy Sound."
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"Drink up Buttersocks. There's a good fellow! How does it taste?"
OOC: Major Hunter will wait and see what effect it has on the others before imbibing. :drink::hehe:
 
Buttersocks downs his frothy beverage in one long swig, then proceeds to rock from side to side while holding his belly, groaning and turning a sickly green in the face before abruptly emptying the contents of his stomach all across the floor.

"Fool!" says Zoila. To the rest of you she advises, "You must sip only a little at a time or you will likely endure similar consequences, for your bowels are unaccustomed to the Holy Fluid of Sensory Derangement."

Buttersocks slides to the floor into a puddle of his own berry-speckled vomit and stares wide-eyed into space, mumbling something about visions of beautiful flowers and butterflies as his drool drips from his chin into his beard.

"Worry not," says Zoila. "He will soon be whatever passes for normal for his breed. In the meantime you must keep him bound for his hallucinations will soon become unpleasant and he may become a danger to himself and all of us. Now sip a small amount and we will proceed to experience the Holy Sound. Consider yourselves blessed, for it is a truly transporting experience."
 
Stoil binds the gnome's hands and feet, using his own discarded clothes (which he twists into improvised ropes). Then he takes his own drink, and raises it to Zoila.
"Ladies first, as we say in my homeland".
 
Zoila drinks her beverage and replaces her flask on the console, then presses a button that causes a pale blue gas to fill the tubes containing Gilipollas and the lion-man. "Drink. Those two will awaken shortly and be offered a chance to imbibe the remaining fluid--or they may choose death for violating the sanctity of the Holy Sound Temple of the Water People if they decline to observe the ritual. Are they your companions?"
 
Spisarevski sips from the fluid, less than Zoila. He suspects she's more used to it.
"Ah yes, Sergeant Gilpolas ran before us, we didn't know it's the Temple of the Holy Sound...I'm sure he won't object to your offer. And we wouldn't mind talking to the other, either, if he refuses."
 
Gilipollas and the lion-man waken with dull headaches and confusion regarding their nudity and current surroundings.

"My boon companions!" says Gilipollas with delight. "I knew you would not abandon me! What deviltry has the sub-man committed now?" He prods the gnome with his foot. "Disgusting. I warned you about these filthy creatures, did I not?"

The lion-man merely looks around cautiously, suspicion apparent in his narrowed eyes.

Zoila explains their options and both imbibe the fluid, after which all of you are led through the door into what she called the apse. Rather than finding an altar or other recognizably religious set-up, you instead find yourselves in a large room centered on a strange contraption shaped rather like unto the open jaws of a megalodon about to swallow its prey whole. Various light-emitting diodes and crackling antennae protrude here and there on the exterior. Directly at the center of the machine is a bizarre whirlpool of light and sound, spinning endlessly, and occasionally you catch a glimpse of a face or a landscape and hear a speaking voice or music amid the static. While you watch, you see the images of Prospero and your erstwhile companion Klingermann. A glowing red button at the base of the machine begins to emit an eerie sound rather like that made by a violin bow playing a carpenter's saw, or that newfangled theremin instrument you've heard tell of back home.


It sounds very much like this

"Behold the Holy Sound!" announces Zoila, her eyes wide and seemingly possessed by a thoroughly arousing enthrallment.

"By the thirteen moons!" says Gilipollas as the lion-man emits a startled roar.
 
Spisarevski looks around, curios more about the reactions of the cultists - for he labels them as such - than about the sound. He's heard worse back at Sofia...though granted, that one had involved a company of drunken revelers, a mousetrap and the tail of a stray cat that the revelers had paid the local gypsies to catch.
Both the gypsies and Spisarevski disapproved of the incident afterwards, it must be noted.

"Praised be the Holy Sound", he announces, looking Zoila in the eyes. He has to, or else he might show...too much religious enthusiasm. Though only certain religions would approve of that particular way of showing it.
 
" I say! What a beastly sound that thing makes. I'll bet you can't play anything nearly as close Buttersocks. What! Gadzooks!
What now?" Major Hunter addresses no one in particular.
 
"Listen! Observe!" commands Zoila as she points at the ever-changing images. You see strange scenes: gigantic horned frog-like creatures doing battle near a lava flow, men in glittering golden armor parading past a bandstand, a rocketship blazing heat and fire from beneath as it launches from a platform into the sky, Professor Prospero placing a hand drill against the skill of an aghast Dr. Klingermann, and a giant kangaroo-like creature breathing flame at a squad of blue-furred ape legionaries. You also see more familiar scenes: the LZ 129 Hindenburg floating in the sky over Friedrichshafen, an angry mustachioed Austrian ranting and raving at a podium, a pod of dolphins leaping through the rippling ocean off the coast of San Diego, and a fat Asian woman eating fish and chips somewhere in Japan. "The Holy Sound brings us visions of both reality and fantasy!" says Zoila. "It is said that one may enter the Holy Sound and be transported instantly to wherever one has seen, be it real or fantastic!"
 
Desideria discreetly moves nearer to Hunter and Spisarevski and quietly addresses them both in a tone inaudible to the others, "There should be a vehicle somewhere on the premises, but I have heard rumors that this device she and her fellow primitives worship is in fact some mode of instantaneous teleportation. How it works I cannot say."
 
Major Hunter as quietly responds "Teleportation? If I understand the word correctly it means that this machine is capable of transporting us instantaneously at great distances? If so, then this may our ticket home Spisarevski. What do you say? Back in London, or Sofia in a blink."
 
Major Hunter as quietly responds "Teleportation? If I understand the word correctly it means that this machine is capable of transporting us instantaneously at great distances? If so, then this may our ticket home Spisarevski. What do you say? Back in London, or Sofia in a blink."
"And to leave Dr. Klingermann to his fate, as depicted here, drills and all?", Spisarevski raises a brow. "It's up to you what you'd do, Major. But the Spisarevskis are known for upholding honor at all costs. My uncle died because of it. If I have to live in a foreign place like this, because of it...then so be it!"

Dumarest Dumarest is this an implicit offer to drop the campaign? I'll admit I'm not so inclined...
 
"And to leave Dr. Klingermann to his fate, as depicted here, drills and all?", Spisarevski raises a brow. "It's up to you what you'd do, Major. But the Spisarevskis are known for upholding honor at all costs. My uncle died because of it. If I have to live in a foreign place like this, because of it...then so be it!"

Dumarest Dumarest is this an implicit offer to drop the campaign? I'll admit I'm not so inclined...

"Steady on old bean! There's no talk of leaving quite yet! Even though Klingerman is a blasted Hun, I'll not leave him to these savages. Merely something to remember when we are ready to go."

Of course not. This campaign is a blast, and one I look forward too. :thumbsup:
 
"Steady on old bean! There's no talk of leaving quite yet! Even though Klingerman is a blasted Hun, I'll not leave him to these savages. Merely something to remember when we are ready to go."

Of course not. This campaign is a blast, and one I look forward too. :thumbsup:
"Oh...sorry for misunderstanding you, Major", Spisarevski nods.
"Me? I was thinking more about using it to get up close and personal with a certain Professor from The Tempest. The question is, can we survive such a trip. Because not saving the good herr Doctor would defeat the point of a heroic rescue!"
 
Dumarest Dumarest is this an implicit offer to drop the campaign? I'll admit I'm not so inclined...
Not particularly...assuming it can, in fact, teleport you elsewhere, there are numerous options. Just because she's naked as a jaybird and looks like Britney Spears in her prime is no reason to assume she's correct. :tongue:
 
Zoila, noticing your confidential conference, turns, her countenance livid with anger, and states, "Sound is holy! The first law states you must speak loudly and honestly so that all may hear you and believe you! Honesty is so sacred, thus our refusal to wear clothing before the Holy Sound, for we hide nothing!" Her guards turn to you with stern faces and narrowed eyes. "Tell all present what you discuss in secret--or pay the price!" commands Zoila.
 
Spisarevski looked her in the eyes,ignoring the guards.
"Oh...so you want to hear? Very well: we're worried about the pictures we saw. One of them included one of our companions, who has been captured by an evil man...and we just saw said man approaching Dr.Klingerman's head with a drill. Does any of you even care? And if not, what difference does it make that you've heard the sound?"
Not particularly...assuming it can, in fact, teleport you elsewhere, there are numerous options. Just because she's naked as a jaybird and looks like Britney Spears in her prime is no reason to assume she's correct. :tongue:
OOC: That was the answer I was hoping for:smile:. And yeah, I'd guessed that errors are possible on any roll below 30 on 5d6.
 
Spisarevski looked her in the eyes,ignoring the guards.
"Oh...so you want to hear? Very well: we're worried about the pictures we saw. One of them included one of our companions, who has been captured by an evil man...and we just saw said man approaching Dr.Klingerman's head with a drill. Does any of you even care? And if not, what difference does it make that you've heard the sound?"
"Obviously you are incorrect as it is written that the Holy Sound produces images as allegory from which we must learn to draw our lessons," retorts Zoila. "Only a fool would think what he sees is reality. Do you see your friend here? What you say makes no sense. None of ehst you see is even possible in this wasteland! This once we will forgive your blasphemy, but I warn you not to repeat your error. Now be silent and contemplate the meaning of the sound and visions." She and her attendants drop to their knees to gaze into the ever-changing images.
 
"Obviously you are incorrect as it is written that the Holy Sound produces images as allegory from which we must learn to draw our lessons," retorts Zoila. "Only a fool would think what he sees is reality. Do you see your friend here? What you say makes no sense. None of ehst you see is even possible in this wasteland! This once we will forgive your blasphemy, but I warn you not to repeat your error. Now be silent and contemplate the meaning of the sound and visions." She and her attendants drop to their knees to gaze into the ever-changing images.
"But our friend was kidnapped away from this wasteland", Spisarevski says. He looks at the lionman, wondering what the feline might think of all of this.
 
"But our friend was kidnapped away from this wasteland", Spisarevski says. He looks at the lionman, wondering what the feline might think of all of this.
"We would know if your friend had been in this area," counters Zoila. "The Water People know all that transpires here. We have our ways."

The lion-man looks back at you with narrowed, hostile eyes and growls, "You don't smell of Volcana. Nor do you smell of any other moon I have visited. You do not belong here."
 
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