RandomWiki | ShadowWorld / Session Jan 32008 browse

Holmes: Kerem wakes up in a room full of goblins, swarming about speaking in their squeaky language. One seems to be watching him. The place seems to be yet another cavern, this one quite unfinished.
Kerem: "What the hell...?"
Holmes: The small one watching him says in sibilant tones, "Do not worry, you are sssafe here."
Kerem: "Safe from WHAT?"
Kerem checks to make sure his key and coin are still there.
Holmes: "You're safe from the High King, who seeks to destroy usss for our rebelleeeeon," it replies.
Kerem: "I was ALREADY safe from that. What about being safe from YOU guys? How did I get here? Where are my friends?"
Holmes: "Meror said you had helped some of our people escape," says the goblin, bewildered. "He said that you were knocked out, and had to be rescued yourself. Surely the High King would have had you slaaaayn, no?
Kerem: "Oh."
Kerem: "I guess."
Kerem rubs his head.
Kerem: "So you guys are, what, a slave rebellion?"
Kerem: "That's good. I support that."
Holmes: "Noooo... some of us are kept as slaves," he says, hands gesticulating negatively. Then he changes his story, "Well, I suppose we get some members from slaves..."
Holmes: He perks up, "But we follow the true Gods!"
Holmes: He grins from ear to ear.
Kerem: "Oh yeah? Which ones?"
Kerem: "Tell me about them, please." He smiles.
Holmes: The goblin is taken aback for a moment, but then decides to educate Kerem, "Well, the hardest of them is Goruk, the Crusher, who smashes all before him into oblivion."
Kerem: "That's pretty hard."
Holmes: "Yes, indeed! He is much to be admired and feared!" the goblin exults.
Holmes: There is a smell of something meat being cooked
Holmes: Kerem becomes aware that he's not eaten in some time. He must have been out for quite a while.
Kerem: "Hey! I just had an idea. What about if you told me about the gods while I ate something?"
Kerem: "That would help my...learning process."
Holmes: "Oh," he replies, and leads Kerem over to where a ring of goblins are grabbing bits of hot flesh off a mountain boar rotating on a spit over a fire.
Holmes: "Our teacher tells us that we have forsaken our Gods, who are now angry, and that our sad fate is because of their anger," he goes on.
Holmes: "We must propitiate them, if we are to live."
Kerem: "Huh."
Kerem: "Okay."
Holmes: Detecting that Kerem is not getting it, he continues, "You see, we are all eaten by Shotroth the Maw, when we die, if we do not serve the gods. And in life we're doomed to be slaves. Our only hope is to worship the dark gods, and be empowered by them in life!"
Kerem: "Wait. So you ARE slaves? I'm confused."
Kerem grabs bits of hot flesh and stuffs them into his mouth.
Holmes: "No, we are slaves if we worship the abomination in the halls of Ohidnar. If we worship the dark gods, they may decide not to eat us, and to make us powerful," he tries to convince Kerem.
Kerem: "Hm."
Kerem: "Okay, well, I'm going to come back to that whole situation later, because I have some stuff to say about it. But, uh, first, did you happen to run into any other humans like me?"
Kerem: "They might also need, uh, rescuing."
Holmes: "I was told there was a woman named Tez who also was involved in the rescue," he replies. "But she went back, and you were carried much of the way here by goblins."
Holmes: Kerem detects that there may have been some dragging involved.
Kerem: "Okay."
Kerem: "I have to find her. Can we go back to where she went? Like, now?"
Holmes: "Back?" the goblin seems astounded. "But this is the safe place. You would be killed. Most certainly."
Holmes: "We hoped you would join with us."
Kerem: "Oh, I will, in the long run, kind of."
Kerem: "But I need to make sure my friends are okay."
Kerem: "They'll probably want to join too."
Kerem: "You guys could come!"
Kerem: "Then it would be like I was joining you, but we'd be going where I wanted to go. We'd both be happy."
Holmes: The goblin frowns. "Go back? We just freed many from there. They will be more alert than ever. It would be madnessss."
Kerem: "No, no, no. They'll be weakened and not expecting you to come BACK."
Kerem: "How often have you actually tried attacking them twice in the same place repeatedly?"
Kerem: "I think you guys haven't been thinking near enough outside of the box."
Kerem: "Listen, you have to trust me. I'm a servant of a god myself, and freeing the disenfranchised is actually his whole deal."
Kerem pulls out his key and waves it around, doing that eye-glowy thing briefly.
Holmes: The goblin's eyes light up after a bit. He holds up a finger, and runs off to converse with his compatriots.
Holmes: The discussion becomes heated. Some goblins seem excited. Others seem angry. Some walk away.
Holmes: After a while, the goblin returns and says, somewhat dejectedly, "I could not convince many as you did me."
Holmes: "But some will come!" he perks up.
Kerem: "Great!"
Kerem: "I have a theory that this is going to work out really well."
Kerem stops for a second.
Kerem: "Hold on."
Kerem thinks really hard, ~~HELLO?~~
Egani: ~~Hi, K! What's up?~~
Egani: ~~Oh, and Tez is giving birth...right now.~~
Kerem: ~~Where the hell AM I? Where the hell are YOU GUYS?~~
Kerem: ~~That's great, it's not mine so I don't really care.~~
Kerem: ~~Except that I would love to be present if I knew HOW TO GET THERE FROM HERE.~~
Kerem: ~~Why did I get kidnapped by goblins?~~
Egani: ~~Uh, I don't know. I see that you're surrounded by them and otherwise alone. Weird.~~
Kerem: ~~I see that too, thanks.~~
Kerem: ~~How can I get to Tez?~~
Kerem: ~~I convinced some of the goblins to follow me.~~
Egani: ~~OK, so this is pretty problematic at the moment. They're in the Ash Lairs -- another world that they entered from deep beneath Ohindar. And I think they're leaving that place to go to an island near Sel-Kai.~~
Kerem: ~~What, they're just LEAVING me? Tell them to NOT DO THAT.~~
Kerem: ~~Do you understand that I am stuck in the underworld and surrounded by goblins? Not even cool goblins, LOSER GOBLINS.~~
Egani: ~~Where do you want to be?~~
Kerem: ~~With Tez and Chim!~
Egani: ~~Crap, I'm getting cut off from them...too many connections. Well, travel back to Ohindar -- it's about a day. I can lead you down the thermal vents and maybe lead you into the Ash Lairs.~~
Holmes: The goblin reporting to Kerem stares in him, confounded by his extended silence.
Kerem: "This place we're attacking is Ohindar, right?"
Kerem: "Sorry, I'm on the other line."
Egani: ~~Or find one of the Murlogi who can open a portal from where you are...~~
Kerem: "Oh!"
Kerem: "Are any of you guys Murlogi?"
Kerem: "Whatever those are."
Holmes: "We are all Murlogi, in a sense... we are all goblins, as you say in your language," he replies, perplexed.
Kerem: "Ohhh."
Kerem: "Can any of you open portals?"
Egani: ~~Ask them for a priest that knows the way to the Ash Lairs.~~
Egani: ~~Or let me talk through you.~~ Agnes is exasperated at the slowness of this.
Kerem: ~~Wait, you can do that?~~
Holmes: The goblin squints at the question. Kerem thinks he doesn't know the word portal.
Egani: Agnes attempts to slide into Kerem's driver's seat.
Kerem grips his key reflexively, flashing with golden light, and staggers.
Kerem: ~~What the hell was THAT?~~
Egani: ~~What's your damage, Kerem? I thought we could expedite things...~~
Egani: ~~I was going to talk for you.~~
Kerem: ~~You gotta give me a little more warning than that next time.~~
Kerem: ~~O...okay. Go ahead.~~ Kerem sighs, and tries not to tense up.
Egani: Agnes tries to gingerly ease into control of Kerem.
Egani: Something in Kerem's eyes look different as he addresses his Murlogi companion in his native tongue. "Find me a priest who knows the Ash Lairs."
Egani: "Immediately!"
Egani: "We shall travel covertly with the aid of other enemies of the High King!"
Holmes: The goblin runs off to find such a priest for Kerem.
Egani: ~~Kerem, try to order them -- they're used to it. If they produce a priest who can open a portal for us, we can get you to the others pretty quickly.~~
Kerem: ~~Thanks. I...thanks a lot, Agnes.~~

Holmes: Smoke swirls all about Chimrea as she makes here way along the soot-lined tunnel.
Chimrea: "Old Man Spider has a foothold in the tunnels of the High King because of an ancient ritual subverted," Chimrea mutters to herself as she struggles along, coughing occasionally. "Salamander, one of Old Man Spider's children, wants to escape here, and will help me against the High King if I bring the scorpion gem from Green Lake."
Chimrea: "But that would mean undoing my parents' work to mend a broken ritual for Green Lake. Really, it's enough to make you wonder why anyone bothers *trying* a ritual."
Chimrea: "I want to use Kerem's key to break the prison instead. One way or another, I have to return, because I left part of myself with the Salamander as a promise."
Chimrea: "And my only friends are crazy, dead, or in love with more than one person at a time. I wonder what a normal life is like."
Holmes: * meanwhile *
Holmes: Egani, and Tez bring a still stunned Alquas-goblin along on their chase through the tunnels to find Chimrea.
Tez hauls most of Alquas along the tunnel, wondering what life would be like if the world made more sense, and she knew who she was again.
Tez also decides that she probably should not have agreed to mother a god, because her back is killing her.
Egani: Swirling his sample jar appreciatively in the sporadic light, Egani wonders where Chimrea went and what exactly the nature of this location is.
Tez gets a sudden craving for chocolate covered hearts.
Tez: "Egani, do you have any chocolate?"
Egani looks startled. "Sure, of course." Egani paws around for a bit and then hands over a small paper-wrapped bundle.
Tez takes it gleefully and eyes Egani's chest thoughtfully.
Tez: "Is that YOUR body?"
Egani: "Sorry?"
Tez: "Well this isn't Alquas' real body. Is yours, yours?"
Egani: "Yeah, it's my original."
Egani: "Yours? It looks like a clean fit, so I'd guess so."
Holmes: Some sort of bat-like creature, fairly large, swoops overhead; before they know it, it disappears back into the smoke from which it came.
Egani watches the creature thoughtfully. "I wonder if that was a scout."
Tez: "Yes." She breaks off a piece of chocolate and sucks on it.
Holmes: As Tez does so, she notices that they've come to a river of lava that blocks their path a bit ahead.
Holmes: Already the heat is impressively obstructive.
Holmes: Across the river, she sees Chimrea vaguely, emerging from another tunnel.
Tez waves to Chim
Egani looks to follow Tez' wave.
Chimrea peers through the smoke and waves back, deciding to stop grumbling before the others are close enough to hear her. She heads toward the others, but has to stop at the heat of the lava river.
Egani grabs hold of Alquas' charred stump and prepares to use it as a ritual prop for sucking the heat essence from the lava flow. "Hang on!" he shouts across to Chimrea.
Tez sits down and watches, wondering if this will wake Alquas up
Egani: The pages of Egani's opened grimoires flutter in the breeze caused by this latest experiment. As the whole thing activates, a wispy stream of red...something is drawn off the lava and into a fist-sized crystaline vial mounted in a wooden armature. As the process comes to a close, a 5-meter section of the lava flow has solidified and while it still smokes and radiates plenty of warmth, it appears solid.
Tez gets up and meanders over to the lava. She pokes it with her sword experimentally. "That was cool. Do it again."
Egani looks pleased with himself as he drops alquas and begins cleaning up his equipment and stowing it in his travel bags. "Maybe another time if we need to. It is a bit tiring."
Tez looks disappointed.
Egani walks out onto the newly solidified bridge. "So? Now what?"
Holmes: The heat is stultifying, and Tez is suffering worse than the others. A sudden stab of pain hits her in the gut, followed by an intense wriggling sensation.
Egani looks from Chimrea to Tez and notices her discomfort. "Are you OK?"
Tez: "I don't feel very good." She staggers a little, and clutches her stomach. "It's too hot."
Chimrea: "Tez?" Chimrea, who had been looking at the lava bridge a little bemusedly, hurries across it.
Holmes: Another sharp pain accompanies a feeling of tightening in Tez's abdomen.
Egani approaches Tez. "Tell me what you're feeling."
Tez grits her teeth against the pain, still somewhat in denial. "I'm dizzy, it's too hot. my stomach...OW... hurts. I don't think the baby is happy."
Egani fans Tez with his apron.
Egani: "Sit. Lay back." Egani gets some water out for Tez.
Holmes: After a few moments, another tightening feeling wracks Tez' abdomen.
Egani: Egani's hand detects the contraction. "Labor." Egani smiles at Tez.
Chimrea: "You don't do anything easy, do you?" Chimrea asks, kneeling by Tez.
Tez does not smile back. "I don't want AAAARGHHH" she writhes on the bridge.
Chimrea: "It's just that I'm not sure this is a good place to have Akalatan's baby," Chimrea points out, but her hands are gentle as she pillows Tez' head on her skirt.
Egani: "Akalatan?" Egani raises an eyebrow and considers.
Tez 's fingers dig into the newly made ground. "Make it stop" she hisses between clenched teeth.
Egani looks to Chimrea. "We may have to temporarily abandon your quest to see Salamander. But I'll help you get back here again."
Chimrea opens her mouth to explain that she's seen the Salamander, then decides that now is a bad time to explain the whole thing, since after all she does need to come back. "What can we do for Tez?" she asks, instead.
Egani peers around the immediate vicinity scrutinizing the thin places between worlds.
Holmes: There is a seam nearby, Egani notes, and his vision seems to expand as he looks at the subtle underlying nature of it, and what it represents of what is beyond it. It leads to an island far to the Northeast, though still within the vicinity of Emer. He realizes that it would be not too far from Sel Kai.
Holmes: But the island is a volcano, and the essence there is highly disturbed by something... malevolent.
Egani: "Hmmm. I doubt that would be much of an improvement."
Egani looks back and forth between Tez and Alquas. "They both need to be carried and we can't do both."
Egani: Talking to himself, but clear enough for his audience, "I could yank him out of there and store him in there..." Egani gestures subconciously at Tez' belly. "I dunno."
Tez lets out a sort of growling scream
Chimrea: "That sounds like a terrible idea," Chimrea says to Egani, fighting to keep her voice calm.
Egani gives a funny shrug and looks at Chimrea. "Huh? Oh, OK."
Tez: "Do you," she pants, "think it'll be evil?"
Egani nods. "Could be."
Holmes: Egani becomes aware that the labor is proceeding extremely quickly, there's not much time.
Holmes: Through the nearby seam, he detects a people... somewhat elfin, and yet very human, too... they seem... peaceful...
Egani: "I think your baby is going to be born here. Relax. Keep me informed of your sensations. I'll try to keep you as comfortable as possible. Let it roll through you. Don't fight it."
Holmes: Alquas seems to come out of his stunned state.
Holmes: But the revival is only temporary.
Tez: "If it's born.. then what happens?"
Egani: "Tez, would you rather have your baby on an island with peaceful natives and evil spirits, or right here, or any other ideas?"
Egani: "What do you mean?"
Tez shakes her head, unable to figure out what to say what she's thinking.
Egani: Agnes arrives in Tez' head. "Hey there kiddo! I heard you calling out."
Tez: "Agnes?"
Egani turns to the nearby seam and gestures violently in an attempt to open the portal.
Egani: Agnes responds to Tez. ~~I'm here. I'm with you.~~
Tez: Agnes receives a jumble of thoughts; confusion, pain, fear, doubt all at war with eachother.
Egani: Agnes attempts to calm Tez...not sedate her, just bring peace.
Egani: At Egani's gesture, the seam splits open, spilling daylight into the Ash Lairs from the other side.
Holmes: The light comes from the end of a black-glass cave, worn smooth from erosion. The effect is eerie.
Tez reaches out a mental hand towards Agnes, barely aware of what's happening around her
Holmes: Beyond the cave entrance, there's a lush tree growing
Egani: "OK, folks, here or there?"
Holmes: Agnes can barely sense Tez; first the distance is so great. Second, there is interference from whatever is in the volcano.
Chimrea grits her teeth. "Cassio and Kerem are still down here. I can't just leave them. But Tez needs help."
Egani: Agnes tries to tell Egani and Chimrea to close the portal but can't tell if she's getting through.
Chimrea: "I think I can find my way back up," she says, reaching a decision. "If you need to take Tez through, do it."
Egani is indecisive and eventually decides to make the decision based on his best medical reasoning.
Chimrea: "And, um, oh hell. I think I can take care of Alquas, if that would help." Chimrea isn't actually sure she can handle any of this, but figures that like usual there's no point in saying that.
Tez is flushed, and panting, her eyes wild, glimmering, flickering occasionally with reddish light. "My baby... if it's evil... I have to kill it."
Egani gives up, not trusting the malevolence he felt earlier and just snaps the portal shut. "OK then, Chimrea, we'll do it here."
Holmes: As Egani inspects Tez, he can feel that there's something very wrong with this pregnancy. The baby seems too large... and he cannot find a head!
Egani: "Huh!" He moves his hand around, pushing and prodding at Tez as he drops into magical sight and tries to determine the essential and spiritual nature of this baby.
Chimrea: ~~Agnes, are you here?~~
Tez: "Ow, what are you doing?"
Egani: ~~Chimrea! I am. That portal was blocking me, but I'm back -- trying to help Tez.~~
Chimrea: ~~So you're, um, busy. I won't bother you, then.~~
Holmes: There is a loud ripping sound a ways off, down a corridor.
Holmes: Egani, peering inside parses through the strange essences there to find that what he is seeing is some sort of super-serpent-being. And it writhes angrily.
Egani: "Tez, can you calm the child? It's angry."
Tez: "Um."
Egani: "Agnes...are you there? Can you pacify the baby? Help Tez with that. Chimrea, what about you -- can you see it's spirit...this thing is strong."
Tez tries to find some calm somewhere inside herself, the peace that Agnes had lent her, and attempts to make some soothing noises and project something like love at the baby.
Kerem runs in. "Okay! I'm here! Nobody give birth til I say so! Let's -- wow, your vagina is CRAZY right now. Is that a baby thing? That's a baby thing, right? Cause I don't remember that."
Chimrea: "Kerem!" Chimrea says, her concentration broken. "You're all right!"
Kerem: "Kind of. Except there are some goblins with me. Also I want to talk to you guys about that."
Egani: "How about later?"
Kerem: "Can I...is there...is there anything I can actually do to help? I could just stand over here if not."
Holmes: The aforementioned goblins come stampeding up behind Kerem.
Kerem: "Watch out! This woman's giving birth!"
Egani takes a moment to nod to the Murlogi.
Tez , concentration completely shatterd by Kerem's arrival, decides that's not going to work, and so instead she bites her wrist and smears the blood over her stomach, trickling down towards the aforementioned crazy vagina. The red glow in her eyes intensifies, and spreads through her, and she starts softly chanting the rituals her uncle had taught her.
Kerem: "...in kind of a creepy weird kind of way."
Tez: Her voice strengthens, and she stills, mostly no longer fighting against the birth. She smiles, as she ritually calls him forth with praise and glory and promises of a world for him to reign over, the words falling from her lips in a sibilant language.
Chimrea eases herself away from Tez's side, since she has no idea how to help anyway--her training is in easing death, not birth. She sidles over to Kerem. "Tell me," she says in a small voice, "am I a terrible person for wanting to be anywhere but here?"
Kerem looks at her, a little surprised, and slowly says "No...I mean. It's not...it's okay."
Kerem: "Are you okay?"
Kerem: "I'm sorry I got...kidnapped? Or something."
Chimrea: "I'm better than Tez," Chimrea evades with a bright smile. "Are YOU all right? You look bruised." Chimrea herself looks smoke-stained, wrinkled, and a little wild-eyed, but uninjured.
Kerem: "I feel like I got hit with rocks or something."
Chimrea winces in sympathy, reaching up to touch a bruise on Kerem's forehead, then stopping herself. "You came back, though. And you brought friends. Um, they're friends, right?"
Kerem glances around, then says "Sure!" in a horribly fake voice.
Kerem makes wild eyes at her.
Chimrea edges closer to Kerem, tucking herself in against his side as if seeking comfort. She is, but she also wants to get close to hiss at him, "How much trouble are you in?"
Holmes: With everyone around concentrating... after a long while... Egani and Tez can detect that the child has calmed.
Holmes: But it is still determined to get out. It is time.
Egani: As the anger seems to subside, Egani tries to verify his earlier impression that the child is too large to deliver normally -- before making any incisions.
Holmes: From what Egani can tell, if they attempt to deliver the baby normally, it will likely not go well. Simply too large.
Kerem: "I don't even know. They want me to join them and worship the dark gods instead of the High King. I don't feel really comfortable with the whole thing."
Egani: "I'm going to have to remove the baby surgically. Here, Tez, drink this."
Egani: "Get some hot water folks! pans and helmets full of water placed at the edge of the lava should boil pretty quickly."
Chimrea: "I think I messed things up again. I talked to Salamander, a powerful spirit here, and he'll help Green Lake against the High King but only if I free him. And I sort of left part of me down there."
Tez gazes at Egani calmly, "I am the Chosen One. I will give my life for His, and he will feed from my flesh and blood to grow strong."
Kerem: "Which part?"
Kerem: "A good part?"
Chimrea: "Yes." Her voice is tiny. "It will be all right if I go back soon, I think."
Kerem: "Well. I mean. I could...I'm good at freeing stuff. Theoretically."
Kerem: "Hey! Goblins! Boil some water!"
Holmes: The goblins seem very confused by all of this. One steps forward, "We didn't come for a birthing, we came to free more of our kindred!"
Kerem: "It's cool, this is the chosen one."
Holmes: The surgery proceeds, Tez barely anesthetized.
Kerem: "He or she is going to lead your people to victory in probably fifteen years or so."
Kerem: "I figured you'd want the heads-up."
Holmes: Egani does a masterful job, and not a bit of magic used in the delivery
Tez screams bloody murder, due to the aforementioned lack of anesthesia
Kerem: "See, that's the prophecy. And the chosen one shall be delivered painfully and loudly."
Holmes: As the child is drawn forth, it becomes quickly apparent that it is a serpentine creature. Unexpectedly, however, it has long legs, and arms. It's hips are too wide for the incision that Egani has made. He has a choice now... make the incision wider, risking even more bleeding in more sensitive areas. Or pull out the creature risking breaking a limb or worse.
Chimrea has turned away by this point, a little over her sixteen-year-old tolerance. She stares out into the smoke at the dull gleams of lava in the distance.
Egani attempts to dislocate the baby's hips in order to get it out.
Holmes: Tez somehow discerns what Egani is about to do.
Holmes: Despite the anesthetic, and pain.
Kerem: "Chim, are you okay?"
Chimrea: "Me?" She winces at a particularly piercing cry from Tez. "I just can't watch."
Tez 's hands come up suddenly and grip Egani's wrists, "If you hurt Him, I will kill you." She seems deadly serious for someone missing a large chunk of stomach
Kerem: "Maybe we can...go outside."
Kerem pauses briefly to realize how stupid that was.
Kerem: "I mean...somewhere...somewhere else."
Egani: "Someone hold her..?"
Egani is in the calm place brought on by this kind of work and doesn't even consider whether Tez is a threat.
Kerem: "What's going on?"
Kerem: "Goblins, what's happening?"
Egani: "Chimrea? A little help?"
Tez scrabbles about reaching for her sword
Holmes: "The child is being ripped from the womb of the, uh, chosen one," replies a goblin.
Kerem: "What? No. The CHILD is the chosen one. Don't screw that up!"
Kerem: "I'm not letting THAT happen again."
Kerem: "Tez, what are you doing?"
Kerem: "Egani is just trying to help. I know that sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it's my best understanding of the situation."
Egani: "Hello?!?! Anyone? Help?"
Egani turns to the goblins. "Kinsmen! Will you help me?"
Holmes: There is a titanic crack off in the distance, as if some huge part of the Ash Lairs has been torn asunder. The goblins look toward it in fear.
Holmes: One says, "It is the High King, come to squash us!"
Kerem: "No, probably not."
Chimrea looks over at Egani's call, at the blood and the screaming and the pulling, and can't make herself do it.
Kerem: "Chimrea! Can you, like, teach the goblins about religion or something?"
Kerem: "That'd be really helpful."
Kerem walks over to Tez, key in hand. "Okay. It's going to be okay."
Tez grips her tethium sword with one hand, Egani's arm in the other.
Kerem: "Tez...Tez!
Kerem: "Don't cut off Egani's arm."
Chimrea turns to the goblins to turn her back on what's behind her. "Right!" She says. "I'm going to go investigate that noise. If any of you actually have the spine to turn away from the High King, now would be a good time to show it by coming along. You can tell me about your gods along the way."
Kerem: "Chim! Don't go far! Be careful. I...be careful. Don't let them drop ROCKS on you."
Egani: As Tez gets ahold of a sword and becomes an imediate threat, Egani dodges away, exasperated at the lack of help from the knuckleheads his daughter has visited upon him.
Kerem: "Tez." Kerem reaches down and takes her hand. "I'm gonna poke around in your insides with my magic key now, okay?"
Kerem: "Man, that sounds really dirty when I say it out loud."
Kerem: "Don't stab me, okay? That's your job here."
Kerem: "Can you do it?"
Tez looks up briefly at Kerem, and speaks in a language he (probably) doesn't know. "The child must live."
Kerem: "Yeah I don't speak your crazy moon language Tez. Talk normal talk."
Kerem pokes the baby gingerly with his key.
Chimrea stalks off into the smoke in the direction of the loud noise, unable to stay and temporarily indifferent about whether anyone follows.
Egani: ~~Tez, what are you doing?~~
Kerem: "Okay, Egani is gonna help get the baby out, and you're not gonna cut him either, okay? And if you can push with your...stomach, or something...that would be good."
Kerem: "Why does everything keep ending up being my problem, anyway?"
Tez: ~~Ushering in the glory of Akalatan!~
Kerem gives Egani a meaningful look and gestures towards Tez's viscera.
Egani: From a few feet away, "Actually, the only logical course is to dislocate the...uh...child(?)'s hips and withdraw it. Just pulling will kill her."
Tez gurgles a bit
Kerem: "I'm going to use MAGIC. Y'ever heard of that?"
Egani: ~~Please don't kill my dad. He's quirky, sure, but trying to help.~~
Kerem uses magic.
Tez lowers the sword down, but eyes Egani with deep suspicion.
Egani stays out of Tez' reach but is happy to provide tech support.
Tez: ~~He tried to hurt the baby~~
Kerem: "Okay, listen up, crazy baby. Here's the deal. If you stay in there, you're probably gonna die, and mommy's gonna die, and I'll probably die, so we'll all die. So that plan is no good. But if you come out of there, and don't hurt anybody, I promise when you grow up I will love you so much! You'll have a great childhood!"
Egani: ~~He was going to temporarily dislocate his hips so that it would fit out through the hole before it got mad again.~~
Kerem touches the key to the baby's leg with one hand while he ever-so-carefully tries to wiggle it out with the other, rubbing his forehead against Tez's side to clear it of sweat, and muttering all the relevant prayers to A'taal (which aren't much) as fervently as he can...when he feels the leg suddenly become light in his hands, flowing through Tez's belly as if through oatmeal.
Kerem: "Oh my god, it's working."
Tez: "What are you doing?"
Kerem: "It's working!"
Kerem: "Egani! Grab the baby!"
Egani: "She's still armed."
Egani: "Tez, grab your baby!"
Kerem: "Tez, grab the -- Tez, put down the sword!"
Egani: "Normally, a baby at this stage would be nursing...but reptiles don't drink milk. I wonder what the protocol is here."
Holmes: There is a sighing sound, as if the rock is breaking apart from stress, coming from the direction where the huge thunderous crack came from earlier.
Egani is somewhat detached.
Egani: "Maybe it needs to drink the mother's blood, instead."
Egani: "But hopefully(?) not all of it."
Holmes: The goblins look to Kerem for leadership, obviously very worried by whatever is headed their way.
Tez reaches for the baby, pulling it from her stomach, and lifting her still bleeding wrist to its mouth
Egani watches the essence flows associated with this feeding.
Kerem: "Chim? Where's Chim!"
Kerem bolts to his feet and trips over Tez.
Egani: "Oh, she flaked out quite some time back...I thought you knew."
Tez generally bleeds all over the place, slumping back against the rock
Egani: "She gets that from her father, I can assure you."
Kerem runs off in the direction Chim went. "Tez, it's a lizard!"

Holmes: Chimrea, running towards the noise, turns a corner, and sees a monsterous figure of a white man, three times the height of her father, coming walking down a wide corridor. Then she realizes that the corridor is widening to fit the figure as he goes, reality being stretched to accommodate him.

Shadow World

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