WEEK 2

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 2

[It is again early morning when the train docks next. This time, however, the dock is not as busy. There are few trains to be seen, and even fewer people. Only a man stands at the dock, teeth sharp in his smile, scelera a deep gold as he stares beneath his fedora.

"Unexpected," he said with a smile. A two-dimensional dog with the head of a scribbled black cloud hops by, ignoring him. "But not unwanted. Do make yourselves comfortable."

This new place is known as Victoria's Chasm, named after an Empress. No, not that one. Her Thrice-Renewed Majesty is quite comfortable on her Throne, and rulled for much longer than 99 days, thank you very much.

In the distance, black begins to erupt like tendrils. Lightning flashes through the clouds. This is the land of monsters; tread carefully. And do not despair, whatever you do.


There are fifteen strangers left in this place.]

Comments

[telecosmetic]

Fuck. [It's a very sharp hiss of a word from Eliza.] This is a witch barrier! There's...I'm pretty sure the only way out is to kill the witch maintaining it.

[She glances at the city.] She's probably there...though there'll also be a bunch of her familiars around. [So yeah, she'll follow Mithos, throwing knife out and ready to strike with. Both her rats are looking in opposite directions as well, giving her close to a 360-degree viewpoint of the surrounding area.]

[strangerpeople]

[As they get closer, though the distance never seems to change-and we'll spare you the long search details-but finally, the city suddenly veers forth towards them, like a conveyor belt. The darkness is suddenly plunged into a soupy, green light.

All around them, headless schoolgirls in cheerleader outfits begin to chant, glowing like radiated green Hulks.]

NNE! DIE SONNE! DIE SONNE! DIE SONNE! DIE SONNE! DIE SONNE! DI
[They keep chanting, and it's like bees buzzing. All around them, tea plates fly, and the portrait of the woman in the salon also floats by lazily.

Finally, the witch itself appears. Twelve arms, all of them holding vials, and a glowing green atom diagram spinning on top for a head.

Looks like you've been noticed.]

[eternaldivide]

[ Getting to the city... took a while. But it must have been just how part of this "world" was.

When they finally do arrive the ... whole atmosphere was disturbing to say the last. It was almost a bit hard to digest. The constant chanting certainly didn't help, either. But the moment the witch appears Mithos tightens the grip on his sword as he glances at Eliza. ]

Is ... that her?

[ She seems different than the headless schoolgirls. If she is they ... would have to proceed with caution. Who knows what those vials contain. He's waiting to see if the witch will make a move first, in any case... ]

[telecosmetic]

Yeah, it is. [Eliza is keeping an eye on the schoolgirls and plates as well.] They're usually way bigger, but other than that they're all different...I'm not sure what kind of strategy we should use first. [She still has her knife, and unlike Mithos she's already winding up to throw it at one of the vials, despite her uncertainty.]

[strangerpeople]

[One of the other arms starts to move, pouring its vial onto the ground. A sandstorm begins to churn all around them.]

[eternaldivide]

[ Oh great, a sandstorm. Well, no time to hesitate. Even though the sandstorm is making it increasingly difficult to see Mithos will dive right in with his sword and try to swing it at the witch.

If only he had his magic right now. ]

Eliza, we need to stop her from using the other vials!

[ Who knows what they could do if the one she's using is creating a sandstorm to obscure their vision. ]

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza hisses, raising an arm to block her eyes from the worst of the storm.] Got it! [She hangs back for a moment, grabbing another throwing knife and taking a few more deep breaths before trying to aim it at one of the arms still holding a vial. She's not sure if that will work to disable it without activating the vial, but she has to do something...]

[strangerpeople]

[The cheerleaders start to chant.]

JU-LI SAND-STURM! JU-LI SAND-STURM!

[As Mithos runs in he might notice the witch begin to pour from the vial in its next arm, beneath the arm that poured the sand. Also, it starts to scream.]

F E H L F U N K T I O N

[Then it seems to glitch, then stop, then glitch, as a clock strikes 7.]

[eternaldivide]

[ It's a good thing he doesn't have his divine hearing right now.

Still, that screaming hurts, though Mithos tries to remember what it's screaming about What Mithos also realize is the Cheerleader's change in chat before the witch began to pour from the next arm. ]

Eliza, do you know what's happening?

[ she seems to have knowledge so why is it screaming does these cheerleaders have something to do with it. ]

Maybe we should target the cheerleaders ...

[telecosmetic]

I think what they're chanting is definitely relevant-that sounds a lot like "Sand-storm!" Maybe they're just reacting to what happens? I'm not sure what that other word means, though-something to do with -function?

[She hisses as she tries to count the clock bongs.] Seven...and it has twelve arms, like a clock. [And one of them just stopped...] Keep targeting the arms first! Go for the one in the seven o'clock position!

[She whips out another throwing knife, hurling it at the arm closest to the 7-o'clock direction. Normally she'd be using her illusions her to point it out as well, but the best she can do is hurry to Mithos' side and try to point it out.]

[strangerpeople]

[The vial shatters, and the creature lets out a scream as the glass embeds itself into the arm, freezing it in place, as the eighth arm begins to ready itself to pour.]

F E H L F U N K T I O N

[Looks like you guys figured out how to stop it, it seems?]

[eternaldivide]

[ Eliza's knives are more useful in this situation (and it's making Mithos miss his magic even more now). But after Eliza takes down the 7 O' Clock one. Okay, it's starting to pour the eighth arm so let's try attacking that next! ]

[telecosmetic]

Got it! [Eliza pumps her fist in the air in a cheer for a moment, before pulling out another knife and readying to throw it.]

I'll aim for the hand, you go for the shoulder? That way we won't get in each other's way.

[strangerpeople]

[And so it goes like that.


And really, we all have shit to do, so we'll just skip the missing reel here and 12 arms later, the witch lets out her death scream of DIE SONNE, turning to glass before shattering, followed by the city and the familiars.

Soon, the whole sky wavers, falters, then dissipates, leaving the two back in the Wastes once more.]

[eternaldivide]

[ Well ... that's that. Mithos here is doing an excellent job killing creatures here, isn't he. Once they're back in the Wastes he looks at Eliza ]

Are you alright?

[telecosmetic]

Yeah...yeah! We actually did it! [Eliza holds out a hand for a high-five, still high on victory adrenaline and all that.]

Oh, right...we should probably find the Grief Seed so she doesn't hatch again.

[strangerpeople]

[It won't take long to find it. There is a Grief Seed on the ground nearby.]

[eternaldivide]

[ O-Oh ... a high five. He'll give her a high-five, though definitely not with as much as energy ]

A Grief Seed?

[ Mithos takes a glance around the ground before noticing the seed. ]

Ah. Is that it?

[ He'll point for Eliza to notice. She seems to know more than him so he'll leave the seed itself to her. ]

[telecosmetic]

[She nods, picking it up and tucking it away.]

They can be used to cleanse soul gems...if their gems aren't cleansed, magical girls like these-[She gestures at the bodies]-can end up turning into Witches as well. And...there's no way for them to turn back.

[eternaldivide]

Is that so ... [ That's ... certainly not a good fate for anyone to have ] Are the Witches the ones who drop the Grief Seed? If so that's ... a bit ironic.

[telecosmetic]

Yeah...it's a pretty horrible cycle. [A pause] The last I saw...it was supposed to have changed, somehow, so that Witches would no longer happen and there would be other ways to cleanse gems. Maybe these are from before that.

[She glances around.] ...there might be more Witches out here, as well. At least there would have been one for each of these girls...

[eternaldivide]

Ah ... really?

[ ... ]

It's possible that they were brought here somehow. But ... maybe... only that one Witch was brought here despite there being so many corpses. Still, we should be cautious while we're out here since I may be wrong.

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza nods.] Or...someone else might have gotten rid of them. Or maybe even...Witches seem to be drawn to places with more people, so this might just be too empty for them...

[eternaldivide]

It's ... possible. Other than us there isn't anything else that's ...alive out here.

[ And ... with that said ... ]

We should head back. If there is a possibility of a witch then we shouldn't linger.

[telecosmetic]

[A slow nod.] Yeah...and probably warn everyone else, as well.