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Post by Vesper on Sept 14, 2021 23:21:19 GMT
Vesper got out from the alley, just in time to hear the cultist behind him begin to chant a name, along with the rest of the cultists. Astaroth.. Who the hell is Astaroth?
Just as he looked at the next nearest cultist, it seemed to just...collapse. "Hey!" he shouted. He didn't want them getting away, if that's what it was. Bolting through the crowd, he arrived just in time to see a strange black..goo.. slip through the cracks of the ground into nothing. All that remained was the cultist's cloak...and no cultist.
BOOM! A nearby building exploded, throwing Ves into a bent over position covering his head. Immediately his ears began ringing, but his hearing wasn't too impaired. Hopeful that it was over, the redhead lifted his head to see three citizens that had seemingly been thrown from the building. They all laid there, a little beat up and dusty, with gashes in each of their faces. Instinct told him to run and make sure they were okay, but they all seemed conscious and able-bodied. Somehow they were able to break their fall. Besides, he knew nothing about medical anything, so it was best to leave it to the paramedics that were surely on their way.
In the meantime, he needed to figure out what was happening..or happened. He went over to the only remnant any of the cultists had left: the dark cloak. "Where the hell did you go?" he whispered under his breath while he examined it.
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Post by Fell on Sept 14, 2021 23:34:12 GMT
People were openly looking around, trying to figure out where they were and what they could do to help. A few had cellphones out, and some were attempting to get near the building as the fire continued to rage on the third floor.
That allowed Vesper pretty free reign to get to the cloak of his choosing.
The fabric felt soft in his hands, almost like velvet, and weighed virtually nothing. Touching it, however, would send an oppressive chill through his hand, making it feel significantly heavier the longer he held it.
The black ichor had almost completely leaked into the sidewalks, leaving only small, nickel sized droplets on the concrete. They seemed to be moving towards the cracks slowly, like a slug.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 14, 2021 23:55:52 GMT
Vesper's brows narrowed at the sensation of the cloak. If it wasn't so... depressing it would make for a nice bathrobe. Nonetheless, it gave a darkening weight to his blood, a sensation he wasn't a fan of. How could the cultists stand to be covered in this? Was it the power of the cloak that had affected him, and not the cultist? Or was it the cultist's power that had rubbed off on the cloak?
Out the corner of his eye, Ves caught something moving. Dropping the cloak, he snapped to look at it. He managed to reach the scene before all of the goop had disappeared. Which was good, because it looked...alive.
He wanted to touch it, but it was probably best not to. Instead, he took out his wallet and slipped out an old gift card he had yet to use. With the corner of the card he attempted to let the sludge crawl into it; it was just like all the bug catching and studying he did as a kid.
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Post by Fell on Sept 15, 2021 0:03:42 GMT
The sludge didn't seem entirely sentient. It was moving directly for the crack, and was easy enough to catch on the card that Vesper had in his wallet. It continued to still move in the same direction as before, however, and if it reached the end of the card, it would plummet back to the concrete before continuing its crawl.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 15, 2021 0:11:04 GMT
Ves moved the sludge again with his card, undoing its progress. Then, he thought for a moment, glanced behind him, and settled on the idea. He jogged over to a nearby stand that had been selling drinks, and, hoping no one would notice, snatched a water bottle. He quickly poured it out on his way back, and would attempt to guide the..thing..into the bottle.
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Post by Fell on Sept 15, 2021 0:15:53 GMT
Again, it wasn't a huge struggle, especially once he had the path of the ichor figured out. It moved in a straight line without the thought that it would take to change its direction, and continued to wiggle its way into the water bottle. It seemed unbothered by the droplets of water that were inside the plastic, simply sliding through it.
When it reached the end of the bottle, however, it began to ripple, as if realizing it wasn't where it was supposed to be. It began to slowly grow in size, expanding inside the bottom of the bottle.
By the time Vesper looked around, he would notice that there was only one other droplet left, and it was just about to reach the crack. If he didn't figure out how to keep this one from filling the bottle and escaping, he would lose his opportunity.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 15, 2021 0:19:21 GMT
Nononono, Vesper thought, cursing under his breath. His head dashed between the two droplets before he panicked and put the bottle upside down onto the last droplet, hoping that his expanding one would..feel at home.. with the other one. Or something.
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Post by Fell on Sept 15, 2021 0:26:49 GMT
As soon as the water bottle flipped upside down, the first droplet, the one that was expanding, began to ooze downwards, leaving strange, stringy black still attached to the bottle bottom. Then, suddenly, it all collapsed onto the other drop. The two wiggled around around each other for a moment, like they were dancing almost. Then, suddenly, they folded into each other, becoming a larger dollop of ichor, but it did not seem to continue to grow.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 15, 2021 0:42:27 GMT
After letting his red head fall with a sigh of relief, the he picked it back up and stared at the bottle. Running his free hand over his hair to fix it, he calmly asked his two friends, "Alright, now I need you two..or..you.. to be nice and come with me, capeesh?" With one hand on the bottle, he reached for the card that he had returned to his pocket before, though left out of his wallet. Then, he tried the classic technique: slip the card under the bottle, flip the bottle over, and put the cap back on it, all while praying to any and every God that the cryptic semi-sentient slime doesn't blow up and kill you, of course.
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Post by Fell on Sept 15, 2021 17:14:33 GMT
He was successful in his capturing of the ichor. The droplet slowly slid its way back down to the bottom of the bottle, leaving strange black residue on the cap and sides. It continued to idly wiggle around, as if it wasn't entirely sure where it should go or what it should do, but it didn't seem to be expanding anymore.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 15, 2021 17:43:02 GMT
Peering into the bottle, Vesper sighed with relief. "Thanks, boss."
Now, the cloak. He would use his jacket, but he left it back in the alley he came from. He didn't want to risk running to retrieve it, in fear the cloak would somehow disappear as well. So, he only had one option.
After setting the bottle down beside him, Ves removed his shirt, and attempted to pick up the cloak without touching it.
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Post by Fell on Sept 16, 2021 14:39:40 GMT
Vesper would manage to lift the cloak, but the same chill began to creep through him. This time, however, it came with a soft whispering in the back of his mind. He would feel the urge to put the cloak on, to wear it as the cultists had worn it before.
[Roll a d20. 13 and below is a fail.]
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Post by Vesper on Sept 18, 2021 19:44:03 GMT
[Roll: 15, Pass]
As soon as he felt the cold feeling begin to creep through his bones, Vesper dropped everything. C'mon, man... he thought with a sigh.
Now the question was, was it the cloak itself? Or something on the cloak? In order to investigate, he picked up his shirt and felt of it to see if the effect had rubbed off.
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Post by Fell on Sept 18, 2021 20:20:32 GMT
As he picked up his shirt, he found that it was perfectly normal. No strange sensations, no creeping thoughts.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 19, 2021 4:32:27 GMT
After a disappointed sigh, Vesper took his phone out and took a picture of the cloak. Hopefully someone would know something by just a picture.
If successful, Ves would take his bottle, wrap it up safely in his shirt, and see if any paramedics had arrived on the scene.
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Post by Fell on Sept 19, 2021 11:43:58 GMT
Vesper was able to get his picture and wrap up his bottle. When he turned back to the scene, he would see firefighters trying to control the flame as best they could. There were cops littering the streets, some in uniform and some just flashing badges, and in the distance, the siren of the ambulance.
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Post by Vesper on Sept 20, 2021 4:42:02 GMT
The red head jogged across the way to collect his jacket and throw it back on. Once he threw it on and zipped it up, he would see if there was anyone in the crowd that seemed apt for polite interrogation.
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Post by Fell on Sept 20, 2021 14:03:16 GMT
The cops were milling around the small crowd, talking to people. There were groups gathered, as well as individuals. A few firefighters remained on ground level.
Who does he choose? A cop, a firefighter, a group, or an individual?
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Post by Vesper on Sept 20, 2021 16:31:13 GMT
Knowing the police would likely interrogate him later, Ves began to move to the firefighters. However, he paused, knowing that they wouldn't have observed anything he could see for himself, so instead he looked to one of the smaller groups.
"Hey, how are you guys feeling?"
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Post by Fell on Sept 20, 2021 19:01:06 GMT
He had wandered up to a group of young college students. There were three of them, two boys and a girl, and seemed rather close. The girl looked at Vesper first, tears in her brown eyes.
"Its... its horrible! Do they know if... who it was?"
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