IC: Guns, Germs, and Steel Options

[gobogen]

The ork boy is almost 7 feet tall. His name is Howard and he's looking at Ben with an evil grin. Ben hears a few other boys around him - they must be 3 or 4 - but only stares at Howard, who's in command. They had cornered him at school during lunch time and now they're just messing around with the weakest of the class, making fun of him.

"Give me your schoolbag, I want to see what's inside." The voice is authoritative and confident. Ben despises this sort of authority gained purely through violence, and doesn't want to give in. Holding his bag tight, he doesn't say a word. Howard walks toward him and easily takes it by force, while others restrain Ben from trying to get it back. Howard empties the contents of the bag on the floor, spits on it and tramples it with fierce pleasure, cheking on Ben's reaction.

"Aren't you sad Benny?" says another boy named George. The bullies are obviously expecting their victim to weep. But Ben does not. With rage burning deep inside his soul, he turns to George and whispers "I - HATE - YOU". At the same time, George falls on the floor heavily while everyone turns back to look. A boy yells when he sees the blood that comes out of George's mouth, nose and ears. They're all looking at Ben in horror, walking away, terrified.

Ben is breathing deeply and slowly, his heart pounding. His rage is so intense that there is blood in his eyes. He looks down, still enraged, and understands that he might be responsible for whatever has just happened to George. He hears a commotion in the hallway and feels unconfortable. "What have I done?"

On the ground, Storm is still motionless, although with closer examination one can see that his lips form a slight smile of satisfaction. He must be dreaming.

[mallet]

The newly named Ego, goes over to one of the dead mages and struggles to pull the robes off of the dead body. It takes only a minute for the robe to pull free and the limp body to fall out.

Ego pulls the robes on, while Daniel moves closer to inspect the dead mage.

"Look at this." He says to the others, and points at the dead man's body.

The chest and back of the body is covered in blue tattoos, depicting Owls, wolves, ravens mixed with celtic knots and strange symbols that might be nordic ruins, but none of you are too sure about that.

"Interesting..." He mutters as he flips the body over to get a better look at some of the tattoos on the back. "What do we do now?" He asks.

[ Spoiler ]

Well, I am not going to have an NPC make the decisions for you, or do any more investigating for you guys either. This is YOUR game. Let me know what you want to do, or if you have no ideas, just post that you are waiting/standing/calling a friend on the phone, etc... Also, if anyone has dropped out, no longer wants to play, please let me know, so we will not be waiting for you to post. thanks.

[Whizbang]

"Guess it's sewer slogging time." Darien replied. "Perhaps it was better that Phoenix isn't here. I'd hate to hear her whine." he added, despite the fact that of his team, he was one most likely to be complaining. "So is this the Stones transformed? Or just another artifact that seems to have a similar effect on magically active people?"

Recalling Storm's condition, he turned to Stark. "Stark, think you could keep an eye on Sleeping Beauty until he recovers? Don't really want to leave him alone here, but we can't afford to let the trail get any colder. Give me a buzz when you're ready to catch up." he said, giving the dwarf his number before heading for the hole.

[ Spoiler ]

figured that would take care of our unconsious and awayish people yet letting them catch up when they're ready.

As for relying on the NPC...that's pretty much in character. Being a mundane, my char is pretty much out of his league when dealing with all this magical stuff, as such, he's more likely to turn to his friend than to people that he just met...though as time goes on, and he gets to know people better, that will likely start to fade, though not completely vanish.

[Kaosaur]

Ego gets the robe on and doesn't feel vulnerable for the first time since this whole debacle began.

"So Daniel, do you think that there's anything to those tattoos? And what do sewers have to do with anything?" Ego asks, noticeably confused.

Ego stares for a long time at the symbols on the dead man's body, hoping that they trigger some kind of memory of his true self.

[mallet]

After a lengthly pause, Daniel looks up from the body, "I do not know. The tattoos are tribal, so I assume that these men were shamans. But as to what tribe or what totem I do not know. They were dark though... Almost assuredly toxic."

He looks around at the destruction, "I do not think any of them survived the blast."

He gets up and moves over to the unconscious Storm and begins to give him first aid and ready a magical spell.

[mallet]

Daniel looks up from Storm, "Well?" He says, addressing the others, "What do we do now?"

[Kaosaur]

Ego stares off for a minute. "I'm going to find out who I am. Whether I have your help or not."
Ego then looks at each of them, "So, are we going together, or will this be a parting of ways?"