[OOC: For those just tuning in, read the old Forums thread.]

Kayla's imaginary knife-hand slashes out at the statue as her disturbing and insane cackles echo off the walls. She doesn't look 10 years old now -- she looks like a child vampire on crack, chipping a personafix BTL. The statue staggers back as she assaults it from the side, throwing a sloppy karate sidekick at her. Her blow breaks off its left big toe, which rolls across the floor like a stone eggroll.

[OOC: Action to Rat and Blackout]

Rat continues to frantically dodge as he backpedals, and his distraction is starting to affect the quality of his insults:

"Yer, um... *huff* yer like, stoned, yeah."

"Yo mama was so stoned, she was... was... really stoned!"

"Hey, that all ya got... YIEEEE!!"

"C'mon, stumpy, over here, c'mon..."

Rat draws the statue further and further from its guardpost.... I'm almost there! he thinks. Just another few seconds....

On the other hand, the statue is gaining speed and getting closer to him now, despite his scrambling. He wonders if he'll even make it those few more seconds he needs.

[OOC: Action to Blackout]

Blackout looks at the statue's advances "No-eyed Demon!" he shouts, in very broken japanese, and forms his hands into one large fist, hanging on with his legs, he bashes his big fist against the top of the statue's head repeatedly, shouting incoherencies.

"Mu-gan no oni! Mu-shiki no inu anato desu! Su-shi tanemas'!" Blackout screams whatever comes to mind as he assaults the statue from above. It sounds legit to everyone else, anyway, and that's the important thing.

The statue ignores him and takes the beating. It's therapeutic for Blackout, but the stone thing is still made of stone, after all. Should've spent more time breaking cinder blocks with my forehead! thinks Blackout.

With Blackout along for the ride, the statue focuses its efforts on smashing the Rat. It seems irrational, as he's the only one not attacking it, but then ascribing rationality to a karate-chopping rock sculpture in a secret underground chandelier-decorated ballroom under a volcano is probably a mistake anyway.

"Nyah nyah, can't catch me... DREK!" shouts Rat as the statue almost catches him. It uses those long legs and arms to cover a startingly long distance and drop another hammer-fist down toward him. It's a little less scary this time than last -- the Rat scrambles out of the way with nimble aplomb. Of course, he still curses with vigor. "Drek-smokin' drek-monster!"

The stone slams into the marble floor and the deep thud makes the room shudder.

So much for the element of surprise thinks Lou. That thing is like an earthquake down here in the ballroom -- they can probably hear it thudding around on the surface, let alone wherever this elf guy is.

[OOC: Action to Lou, and then Kayla]

Finally deciding to give up, he decides to attempt something more useful then cheerleading. He walks over to where Rat is leading the thing, still only vaguely aware of Rat's intention ((unless it's incredibly obvious)) and decides to check out the hidden "door" to follow up on the ((GM hint)) last thought he had.

((If the "battle" has moved enough that he thinks he can get the chip back without much danger he'll grab it before going over, otherwise he'll leave it till the end, but he won't leave the room without it unless he needs to))

Lou wanders over, picks up his chip, and then sets off for what might be a hidden panel -- the slightly out of frame piece of finely polished wood, in the center of the entire beautiful wall of highly polished wood. It'll take a little while to walk across that distance of the room, so he sets off a light job. The pace of battle is actually proceeding a bit ahead of him as the statue follows Rat's scrambling, Blackout rides along on top, and Kayla shrieks and whoops while she runs behind and hits the thing.

[OOC: Presuming Kayla wants to keep attacking for her action -- I don't imagine her giving up now]

Kayla keeps dogging the statue, but she trips over her own feet in her enthusiasm. She staggers twice, avoids falling down, and runs into the back of the statue's right lower leg. She stops, steps back, and rubs her nose for a moment, ensuring it's not broken. Then she whoops again and chases the moving battle more across the room.

Rat continues baiting the statue, pulling it further across the room. His insults are running out of steam now... just a flagging line of profanity. At last, he reaches the panel area he had in mind, just as Lou comes jogging up. Lou is careful to stay out of the way as the statue lurches into the area.

I did it!! thinks Rat. I lured the statue here! Now if I can just get it to break through the panel!

The statue gets into range. Careful now.... thinks Rat. Gotta get the timing just right... It kicks at him with its left foot, he scrambles off to the right -- right into its waiting right hand! It was a set-up! The statue cornered him, herded him, and then scooped him right up. "Drek!" shouts Rat for the seventh time, but this time with more vigor. Don't piss yourself, don't piss yourself... he thinks vigorously, concentrating on his bladder.

The statue picks him up into the air, winds up in a baseball pitch and hurdles him into the wall. "Aaaaiiiiii!" yells Rat, smashing into the false panel. Sure enough, it was hollow back there, because he blasts right through. Wood splinters explode all over the room and into the hallway beyond at the Rat tumbles to a halt with splinters stuck in his face and arms and a fair bit of mental confusion. Good thing I brought my armored jeans! he thinks, trying to figure out where he is now.

[OOC: Action to Kayla, then Blackout]

(OCC: I reserve the right to turn this into my personal anime series )

Kayla's jaw almost dropps in amazement at the opportunity before her... the statue has over-extended himself and she has the perfect time to unleash her new super attack!

She scream's "Kayla Special Number 1, Flying Death Kick" and with that she launches into the air with a spectacular jump kick aimed at the golems back... (the move was supposed to use a secret boot knife that pops out of her shoe, but she doesn't have boots, much less a knife - so this is good practice)..

Blackout continues to pummel the top of the statue's head.

Kayla soars through the air, visualizing her boot knife slashing into the back of the statue. She slams into it -- all 35 kg of her -- and manages to have enough momentum to disrupt the statue's balance. Unfortunately, the statue corrects the balance, overcorrects, and falls backwards. Just as she's landing on the ground, preparing to leap again, she realizes the statue is toppling over on her, a giant stone wall. Still slightly in fantasy mode, she tries projecting her chi upward to stop the statue in mid-fall, comic-book style.

Sadly, physics wins out. Her eyes widen a split-second before it slams into her. Her reflexes kick in at the last instant and she tries to roll out of the way, but to no avail. The statue flattens her against the marble with its tremendous weight, knocking all the wind out of her, breaking one of her front teeth, and crushing the fingers of her left hand.

Blackout rides it to the ground and sees Kayla disappear under it. Re-doubling his pounding, he perceives that he's having little effect on the thing. Is it getting stronger?! he wonders. Although it was pretty off-balance, it seems to be weathering their blows pretty well. He wonders if Kayla is even alive under there.

Kayla wonders too. If the statue doesn't move soon, she'll die of suffocation -- she can't take a breath with all this heavy weight on her.

In the hallway beyond the smashed panel, Rat picks himself up. The scene in the ballroom looks bad -- real bad. Lou is hesitating on the threshold, trying to decide what to do, and Blackout just seems confused that his savage beating is not affecting the thing.

Rat glances down the hallway in the other direction, away from the ballroom. The marble flooring and wood paneling continue, but under more office-building style lights. The hallway goes down a couple dozen meters, but it looks like someone is sitting in a big chair at the end of the hallway, bent over a P-sec or a Gameboy VI.

[OOC: Action to Rat, then Blackout, then Lou]

"Lou, grab Kayla!" shouts Rat. "And the rest of ya... through here!" He scowls in concern, before turning to walk towards the figure at the end of the hall. He puts his spraycans back in his pockets as he walks over, reasoning that he doesn't want to spook this guy. At least, not yet.

Blackout doesn't hear Rat's call, mostly because he's pondering what he can do to stop this damn statue, all the while pounding into it.

If hitting it doesn't work... maybe... maybe I need to hit it harder!

Rat glances down the hall at the guy -- it looks like it will take half a minute or so to walk down there. The guy is bent over whatever he's working on, so Rat can't make out a lot of features, but he looks pretty comfortable and focused. He's all bundled up in a big easy chair. After he puts his spray cans in his pockets, he kind of straightens his clothes as he walks, trying to put on his "respectable" face. Gotta look good when I meet the man! Gotta impress!

Blackout raises both hands up high on top of the statue, preparing for a double-hammer fist to the back of its head. He hurtles his double-fist downward -- and the statue gets up off Kayla at that very moment. In an embarrassing this-never-happens-to-Blackout mistake in timing, he completely misses his target and throws himself right off the statue. He executes a three-quarters front flip and lands on the ground next to Kayla, the wind knocking out of him as well. "Ugh!" he grunts as he slams into the floor. At least he slapped out so his skull didn't bounce off the marble.

He notes that Kayla is bleeding from the mouth and looking dazed and confused. She conscious, but just barely, and she's probably not going to get up on her own.

[OOC: Action to Lou]

When the statue falls on Kayla, Lou lets out a yelp and starts heading over to try to pry her out. As usual, by the time he gets there it's a moot point. He decides to try to drag her to relative safely and see what he can do to help her ((cast heal)).

Lou's isn't strong, but Kayla isn't big. He grabs her under the arms and walks backward, dragging her along. She's conscious, but confused -- talking to herself about ice cream and Rat. Or is it rats? Lou drags her into the hallway, hoping the statue won't follow, and lays her down to heal her wounds.

Blackout is left alone out in the ballroom with the statue. Lou calls back to him, "Blackout! Come on! You can't fight that thing!"

"Can't?!?" Blackout screams. "Blackout, martial arts master, doesn't know the meaning of the word can't!" On the other hand he thinks to himself, his battle lust finally starting to ebb down to a reasonable anger-level, I could always just fight it on the way back out...

[OOC: Action to Blackout]

"Maybe you should stop getting hit in the head so many times.. can't, as in CAN NOT! I don't think i can help both of you if you get clobbered like she just did! move your hoop!"

Lou hasn't quite gotten far enough into forming his plan to realize that the hallway doesn't qualify for cover or concealment form this thing and it will still be able, presumably, to see and follow them.



[[i know, it's not my turn, but i just had to seize the chance ]]

Blackout looks at the statue, then at Lou, then back at the statue. He scowls for a moment, then trots towards safety, scowling and making a highly sarcastic facial gesture, mimicing crying at Lou

As he does this, he thinks about the thumbprint reader Hang on... how did it know I wasn't the guy? Does it ALREADY have the guy's prints?

[OOC: Off combat time, post at will]

Blackout trots into the relative safety of the hallway, waiting to see if the statue will follow him. It seems like it might fit, although it would be a little restrained in there, but it doesn't follow. It just watches him go, still as stone. He sort of imagines it would be breathing heavy and sweating, if it could do either of those things.

Meanwhile, Lou is hovering over Kayla, waving his hands around and muttering or something. Blackout arches a bushy eyebrow at him, getting ready to make fun of him again, when Lou bursts into flames. "Drek!" shouts Blackout, leaping backwards.

Lou seems unconcerned, however. The flame aura crackles around him, and he places his hands over Kayla. The flames flow down, off of his body, and envelop her in a way that seems gentle -- almost tender.

"Uh....." says Blackout.

Kayla's split lip seals up, her nose straightens back out, and her chipped tooth grows back into the proper shape. The flames subside around Kayla, and then around Lou. He takes a deep breath and his attention seems to return to the hallway and Blackout. He looks up to see Blackout's expression.

"Never seen that before, have ya?" smiles Lou, feeling proud of himself and emotionally rejuvenated from the whole process. Blackout gets control of his face and assumes his "martial arts master" face -- a stern, wise look in his eyes and a relaxed, deep stance. Lou grins even bigger, and then turns his attention back to Kayla.

She stirs in place, but she's still confused. He can't do anything about that part -- she needs a break to get her focus back. She's healthy in body, but she's drained of energy, as if her adrenaline rush wore off and left her with nothing. She needs to sleep for a couple of hours, he would guess.

"Uh...." says Kayla. She finds she can't really control her body very well -- aside from the bruising, she can tell that her adrenal strength boost has wore off. She won't even be able to stand up on her own. If only she were back in the city, she'd feel the pulse and be able to motivate, but here, it's soooo quiet. "I... I just need a minute..." she mumbles as her eyes drift closed.

The statue seems to decide not to pursue them anymore, and stomps off back to its appointed position across the ballroom.

Blackout waves the fingerprint scanner around, just for good measure, and doesn't find any prints here. He looks down the hallway now and sees Rat cautiously approaching the old man down there. "Hey," he says quietly to himself, "there he is...."

Rat is about halfway there, still perhaps 10 meters from the guy. It's an old man, an elf in a robe sitting in an easy chair and reading an old-school actual paper book. The robe isn't like a wizard's robe, but more like a retired old guy's robe. The elf is even wearing eye-glasses! It's so archaic, Rat has to chuckle. Besides, who ever heard of an old elf? Everyone knows elves live forever. Unless you put a bullet in their heads, but that's another story. Rat doesn't feel particularly hidden in this well-lit hallway, nor have they been stealthy in their entrance, but the guy hasn't looked up at them. He must be ignoring us thinks Rat. Just behind the old man in his chair, Rat can see a metal door at the end of the hallway.

Blackout *hmph*s at Lou, and walks over to Rat, taking in the room and situation.

Lou winks at Blackout and grins. "I'm not quite as useless as i look.. well, not ALWAYS."

Lou looks at the old elf for a moment and decides that he doesn't look like much of a threat.. He's sitting there in a robe reading, hardly the image of a homicidal maniac, though the fact that he is still reading through all that noise they just made makes him think to check the astral. Maybe it's just an illusion?

Lou switches over to astral sight to check on the old man -- his instincts were dead on! The guy, the chair, the book, the lamp -- the whole thing is an illusion. He recognizes the spell energy as Trid Phantasm, a spell he knows well, although at a higher Force and probably Quickened. Astral sight reveals that this is just an empty hallway, terminating in that door at the end of the hall.

More importantly than that, though, he sees that one of the floor bricks under the illusion have another enchantment on it -- some kind of powerful 2-step energy embedded in the stone. It has a blue, rotating spiral-galaxy kind of shape swirling just above the brick in astral, apparently sampling the surrounding mana and waiting for something. Contained inside the galaxy is hot-looking yellow sun, crackling with energy and barely contained by the galaxy. Lou isn't familiar with these particular enchantments or how they came to be here, but the implications are quite clear.

"Guys, I advise you not to touch the old dude," he calls down the hall.

Keeping astral sight up, Lou subtly extends his sorcerous defense to mentally envelop his comrades in a visualized coating of protective Phoenix flame. He's not sure he can stop the powerful energies in this place if they get triggered, but maybe he could at least slow them down a little.

Blackout catches up with Rat, who has paused just 5 meters from the guy. It's puzzling how the old elf is ignoring them, just calmly turning pages and enjoying his reading. It's also strange that he's not really in a room -- I mean, this is a hallway with a big metal door at the end, but for some reason the guy put his chair here in hallway to read? It tickles Blackout's instincts.

When he hears Lou's warning, he looks back at him. Lou is shaking his head gravely. Remembering the statue ambush, it occurs to him that this scene may not be as it appears.

Rat pauses, then carefully walks around the old guy, noting the lack of reaction. "Whoa, it's, like, some kinda trid thingie or somethin' - and I don't even see the projectors. Yeah, yer probably right, Lou. We don't wanna be touchin' it. Probably set of an alarm or somethin'." Carefully easing past the illusionary elf, Rat steps up to the metal door and takes a good look at it - wary of possibly another trap.

Blackout follows after Rat, his hands in his pocket. He kicks a loose pebble, and mutters something under his breath. His eyes look around at everything menacingly. Especially Lou.

Lou looks at Kayla to check on her and tries to think of something else he could do to help her. After a moment he hears the pebble skipping across the ground and almost jumps. He looks around one more time, almost getting lost staring in the galaxy hidden by the old elf. so beautiful.. could he learn to make something like that? with the sun so blinding, promising so much destruction, would he want to? he snaps out of it as Rat gets close to the door and scans the door for any other surprises he might notice.

Rat's eyes blur as he looks at the metal door. Now that the blood-pounding adrenaline is wearing off, he realizes he feels like drek. Being thrown through a wall did not do good things for his composure. Truthfully, he's barely walking -- these are the kinds of times when he makes his worst mistakes. Usually it's beer induced, but it's also not the first time he's been thrown through a wall. He wonders if he should find a place to rest -- maybe let Kayla recover a bit too -- but then this isn't such a great place for that either. He sighs out loud.

From what he can tell, the door looks ordinary. He doesn't see any cameras, poison needles, or other weirdness. He wonders about the metal. It's not gonna shock me, is it? Or be really hot or cold or some drek like that? "I hate this place," he announces out loud.

"Oh God," says Blackout. "Just open the damn door!" He impulsively marches forward, mildly shoving Rat out of the way, and opens the door.

Lou didn't even get a real chance to examine the door, but as Blackout is touching it, his astral sight shows that there isn't anything special to it. It's just a door, it would seem. The room beyond is something else entirely...

Physically, Rat and Blackout observe another large room, but quite plain compared to the ballroom they left. There are no cameras, no giant statues, and no chandeliers. It's a plain stone square room, about 15 m. on a side with another metal door on the far side. In the middle of the room is a large, formal dining table in oak, upon which sit a sword-in-scabbard, a 1-meter walking stick, and an ancient-looking actual paper book. All three of them glow with a soft white light and have a heat-shimmer of rippling power around them.

"Wow...." says Rat, his jaw open. That drek must be worth thousands! he thinks to himself.

"Damn," adds Blackout. "A martial arts master could use a legendary stick."

Astrally, Lou's vision is somewhat blocked by the light-show in the corridor, but he can see that the items on the table are indeed enchanted in some fashion. Energies roll around them in a circulating blue river that chases itself around the perimeter of each object. More than that, the room is crowded with spirits like a Concrete Dreams concert! It must be wall-to-wall spirits in there, all jostling for position with each other in a teeming mass of living mana. He gets the distinct impression that they are ready to pounce.

"Um, guys. You may want to come over here. NOW. and close the door on your way. NOW." He isn't quite yelling. In fact he doubts he could yell if he wanted to. He desperately needs something to drink and tries to remember if they brought any canteens with them ((LOL.. I can't remember, sorry )). He gives them another half second of so, not enough time for them to react before reiterating: "NOW would be a good time."

Lou remembers that the damn parabats in the stairwell took everything that wasn't tied to him, including his and everyone else's food and water. He's got very little on him, at this point. He realizes that if he weren't so stressed, he'd cry again, but he doesn't have the energy for it. "And try not to hit the sunburst trap on the way back!" he adds.

Blackout is completely mesmerized by the interior of the room and doesn't react in the slightest to Lou's shout.

Rat sits down against the wall as a wave of dizziness hits him. He blearily glances up at Blackout. "Damn, we might want ta go back a ways and rest up a bit. Um, I mean the kid, she looks real banged up. *huff* But hey, maybe one of those things has the old elf dude's prints on it, and we can get outta here. *Pause where Rat spaces out for a second* Ya still got that print reader-thingie, Blackout?"

Blackout fumbles around in his pockets, his jaw still wide open, as he drops the printreader on the floor. Dropping the reader seems to snap him out of it, bringing him sober in an instant, as he bends over to grab it.

[OOC: BUMP!]

Blackout looks around the room one time again. Ain't nothing to it... he thinks. He takes a confident step forward, print-reader in hand.

"No!" yells Lou.

Blackout ignores him -- after all, leaders ignore people. That's part of what makes them so leaderly. He strides into the room and waves the print reader around in the air abstractly, as if clearing spider webs away.

Lou cringes and watches astrally and physically, but the spirits just sort of ripple around Blackout's aura. They are still primed to pounce, but they don't manifest.

Nothing happens, as far as Blackout is concerned. Lou was just being paranoid he decides. He walks into the room and starts scanning the walls, the table, and the items for prints. He finds nothing. That can't be right! he thinks. Why wouldn't these things have prints? He must use them. Or at least, somebody must use them. Why make all this cool stuff and then not use it?

He raises a furry eyebrow, just to himself, and walks around the table to the door on the far side of the room, another metal one. He doesn't touch it, but he runs the print-reader over this one too. Nothing. Incredible! This guy either has the most efficient cleaning crew in the world, or he's some kinda clean freak who wears gloves all the time.

He turns back to look at the glowing items on the table, in particular the stick. I wonder...

Lou sees him looking. "Blackout, don't touch those things. The spirits will eat you alive," he calls out.

"Lou," says Blackout, "I don't see any spirits here." He looks around the room. "No spirits! The room is empty! There's nothing here!"

"Dude, there are spirits everywhere in there!" calls Lou back.

"No, no, there aren't, Lou. You're just seeing things."

"Damn right I'm seeing things. I'm seeing spirits."

"Where?"

"Right next to you!"

Blackout looks all around himself. He calls back down the hall. "Sorry, buddy, don't see 'em. I think you're a little confused. Why don't you take a rest?" With that he reaches out and grabs the glowing stick.

"Ack!" yells Lou in anticipation. Sharp, hostile emotion emanates from the dozens of spirits. They gnash they teeth in astral space and chatter with some kind of high-pitched, angry, alien voice. "Now you've done it! They're really mad!" says Lou.

Blackout waves the stick around the room. As before, as he expected, nothing happens. The stick feels good, though. "Hey, this is a nice stick!"

"Ghost, look out Blackout! They're gonna get you!" yells Lou as the spirits stir angrily in astral space like a shaken wasp hive.

"Yeah, yeah..." says Blackout. "There are no spirits in here, man!" He looks around again. "Still nothing! Are you chipping on me?"

Why aren't they manifesting? wonders Lou. They look so angry! What are they waiting for? He takes two deep breaths.

"Blackout, I'm reallllly uncomfortable right now. I think you've just really made these guys angry. They're not in my imagination-- you can't see them 'cause you don't have the Sight. But I'm telling you, they're there."

"Then bring 'em on!" says Blackout. "Now I got this stick, Blackout, martial arts master, is ready for a good fight." He swings it around a couple of times.

Lou shakes his head. "You're just lucky that they seem to be manifestation-impaired."

"More like reality-impaired!" shouts Blackout back. "Like, as in, actually-existing-impaired!"

Lou is at a loss as to why they wouldn't manifest, but seeing Blackout waving the stick around gives him an idea. Maybe they were set to guard something specific? He gets up and walks over near the door, resting a hand on the door itself in case he needs to close it quickly, and looks around the room again, paying particular atention to the items on the table and the door to the other room.


[[if he thinks it would help any against spirits he'll send some of his magic resistance to Blackout to protect from the spirits when they attack him, as Lou is positive they soon will.]]

Any thoughts of entering the room while assensing are banished as Lou approaches the door. The spirits are in a churning froth in there, and as he gets closer, they orient toward him as well. They seem actively excited at the possiblity of sinking their fangs into something astrally active. He stops short of the door, and a pack of a good dozen of the little guys, snarling and yapping, comes over to him. They hover just inside the door frame itself, like dogs trained to an invisible fence, ready to kill. They seem unable to come out into the hallway to get him, but he's certain that if he stepped into the room, they would assault him with great vigor.

Still astrally active, he also glances around physically at the room interior. It's surprisingly plain -- the stone room has those flourescent office lights over head, and another metal door on the far side. The only thing in the room is the table with the three glowing, enticing objects on it. It's hard to see the objects' aura because of all the spirits, but he believes there is some kind of spell attached to them. The energy seems more to circulate them than emanate from them, although back in physical space, they glow brightly and seem to pulse with that heat-shimmer of power. The heat-shimmer and glow is not at all reduced on the stick Blackout is waving around. It seems to have no effect.

Obviously, they get really worked up when he took the stick... Wonder what triggers them to manifest? Or are they only a threat to those with the Sight? he wonders.

Rat sits in the doorway, trying to relax. He looks back and forth between Lou, just outside the doorway, and Blackout in the room. He wonders who to believe. Magical types are weird he thinks.

Blackout chuckles to himself and looks at his staff. He lets out a weird sounding cry, and starts spinning his new stick, fighting some imaginary monster in the room. He feigns getting hit by the monster, and falls onto the ground, prone, with his hands flat in front of his chest, to protect himself.

"Help me! Lou's imagination is out to get me! OH NO!"

He dusts himself off, and gets back up, wandering to the other door in the room, to check it for fingerprints.

Blackout scans the other metal door and finds nothing again. He pretty much expected that. Deeper and deeper into Fairyland... he thinks.

Shrugging, he reaches out and opens the next door. Might as well see what stupid thing is next. The door opens to reveal yet another stone hallway like the others. It goes six or seven meters straight ahead, and then turns right with no markings. The same lighting and flooring scheme continues through here.

"You guys ready to move on?" he says back to the group. Of course, Kayla is still unconscious, and Rat is still resting.

"If you won't listen to me that you are in trouble, will you at least let Kayla and Rat rest a little? Or would you rather leave Kayla here by herself? I certainly can't carry her, you can't fight and carry her, Rat is too beat up" *looks at Rat and shrugs* "sorry, it's true" *back to Blackout* "to carry her. or maybe you want me to stay here and 'protect' them while you go on?"


Lou takes another look at Kayla both physically and astrally to see if he can get a better idea of how she is doing, then does the same for Rat. Lou is no streetdoc, but he thinks he can get a rough idea how hurt they are.

Astrally looking Rat and Kayla over, Lou can see that Rat is battered, but not ridiculously so. His injuries look superficial, and he's a tough guy. He'd probably feel a lot better in just an hour -- maybe even less.

Kayla's in a little bit of system shock, right on the edge of unconsciousness. On the up side, she doesn't seem to have any serious wounds, but she probably won't feel normal for a day or so. However, with some sleep time, the team might be able to get her staggering under her own power in an hour or two.

Lou's instincts are that by the time Kayla is up and mobile, Rat will be fine. Waiting for Kayla to get "fine" is probably not an option if he's going to get back in time for Lucy -- plus, no one really wants to spend that much time down here. An hour of rest would probably help, though.

"How about an hour?" he proposes.

Blackout thinks it over. Well, I could run ahead, and steal the glory... but.... this does give me a good excuse to take a break and blame it on someone else.

He jogs back to the door. "Well, if these pansies need a rest I suppose we can let them rest. Not that I couldn't finish this on my own of course."

The team sits down in the stone hallway. Lou is amazed that the spirits don't follow Blackout out of the room, even when he removes the magic stick. They stay just as amped as before, however, just gnashing their teeth on the inside of the room, waiting for an astral target.

Lou inspects the stick astrally with some interest once it's removed from the confusion of that guarded room. He laughs a bit when he realizes what he's seeing finally -- a Trid Illusion spell cast onto the stick to make it glow and look pretty. There's nothing more to it than that. I wonder if that's what they call Quickening? he thinks, noting that there doesn't seem to be anyone around to sustain the spell.

[OOC: More post to come later....]

Lou debates telling Blackout that the stick has no value at all -- it's just a fancy glowing stick -- but he decides it's not worth it. Besides, Blackout would probably just think he was jealous or lying to get the stick himself. It suddenly strikes Lou that those items are probably thief-bait.

The team settles in, and within 30 mintues, Rat feels much better. Fully recovered, he gets peppy again and starts telling stories of his scrounging last week, the ork prostitute he had a conversation with on Thursday, and how much his cousin used to drink when they were kids.

Kayla stays out for the rest of the hour. She finally stirs, blinks twice, and sits up. She instinctively feels for her split lip and is pleased to realize that she's intact. She vaguely remembers Lou healing her before she passed out. "Wow," she says out loud.

She struggles to her feet before anyone realizes she's in motion. She sways unsteadily, leaning on the wall for support, and realizes she's still pretty battered inside. She'll need a day to sleep it off, but they don't really have a day. "How long was I out?" she asks.

"About an hour," says Lou. "But I healed your wounds. You should be okay, eventually."

"Thanks!" she says brightly. "I've never had magic done on me before."

Rat bounces to his feet, full of vim and vigor now. Not to be outdone, Blackout kip-ups to his feet as well. It's not too hard, since he doesn't have to go far. "Hey!" says Rat enthusiastically. "So glad you're awake! Man, I'm pumped! Let's bust this bad boy out!"

Lou stands up as well. "Kayla, do you think you can go on?"

"Sure!" she says, almost falling over. "I'll be fine." She takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "Just fine. Did I dream about those bats?"

"No, that really happened," says Blackout.

"Oh. Damn."

"I got me a magic stick, too," says Blackout.

"Um, yeah," says Lou. "The room is full of spirits." Blackout rolls his eyes at that.

"Really?" says Kayla. "Where?"

"In Lou's head," says Blackout.

"No," says Lou a bit sharply. "In the astral. But they appear not to be manifesting, so I think we're okay. I just have to ignore them." By which, he means shut down astral sight.

Yeah, try to ignore those voices in your head... thinks Blackout. He almost says it, but then he decides not to be quite so adverserial for once. He figures, he has to keep the team together, being leader and all.

"Dibs on the magic sword!" says Rat.

"There's a magic sword?!" says Kayla excitedly.

"Yeah, but it's mine," says Rat.

"No way!" she responds. "I'm the cutter around here! I get the sword!"

"There's also a magic book," comments Lou ironically. "Maybe it would make you really smart or all-knowing or something."

"Ooh, that's what I need!" says Rat, not thinking about the implications of that statement. Everyone laughs and he reddens a little, but then smiles. The friendly atmosphere of the team has returned a little, and it eases the weight on everyone's hearts. "Okay," continues Rat, "I'll take the book. Kayla gets the sword."

"Sweet!" she says. "But what about Lou?"

"Um, I'm fine, thanks. I'll just take the next thing," says Lou. Which might actually be worth something.... he thinks to himself.

"Okay, good, we've divided the spoils," declares Blackout authoritatively, as if he were involved in that conversation. "Let's continue with our mission. There's a hallway on the far side of this room that bears investigating. Let us be on!"

"Be off," corrects Rat.

"Be off yourself!" says Blackout impulsively, thinking it must have been an insult.

Rat shrugs, and Blackout leads the way. Rat follows along, and then Kayla staggers next. Lou takes a deep breath, takes a last look at the crazed astral entities, and stops assensing to preserve his health in the room. They march quickly through the room, Rat grabbing his book and Kayla her sword, and then down the next hall.

The hall goes on for six or seven meters and then turns right. Although they could fit two abreast, they sort of settle in to a single-file line. Kayla is admiring her magical glowing sword, and Rat is checking out his new magic book, Demone des Plannes Inneres.

Blackout reaches the turn in the hallway and turns without even pausing. As he does so, a loud rumble emanates from behind the walls, like a powerful engine starting up. The hallway beyond extends a good 20 meters, and the walls are made of gleaming metal. An audible deep hum fills the room, and as Blackout watches and the rest of the team bumps into him from behind, huge crackling lightening bolts begin to leap from one wall to the other.

The bolts snap and crackle across the gap of the hallway and the sharp smell of ozone assaults their nostrils. Blackout eyes widen at the scene -- dozens of bolts of electricity leaping constantly between the walls. "Holy crap!" he yelps. It looks completely impassable.

The rest of the team crowds up behind him and expresses similar sentiment. "Ain't no way no Rat ain't going through no lightening walk!" declares Rat.

"Lou, see if it's an illusion!" says Blackout.

Sure, now he respects my abilities... thinks Lou. On the other hand, he's pleased to be of service. With a bit of a flinch, he re-activates astral sight -- luckily, no crazed spirits are waiting for him. He breathes a sigh of relief and examines the scene. "Sorry, Blackout, those bolts are absolutely real. They are generated some astral static, but they aren't illusions. They aren't even magical -- they look like regular old electricity."

"Well, damn," he says.

"Damn," Kayla agrees.

"Well, nothing to it but to do it! No guts no glory!" yells Blackout. He tries to think of some other platitudes that would apply, but fails in the moment. Then he shrugs and goes for it.

He runs as fast as he can down the hall -- leaping into the air over one bolt of lightening, tucking into a tight roll to go under another bolt. He leaps left, right, up, and down. Amazingly, he dodges the bolts. Just as they shoot out from the wall, he's in motion, moving somewhere else. They all seem to just miss him.

Several adrenaline-soaked seconds later, he reaches the far side. "Woo hooooo!" he shouts. "I did it! Blackout, martial arts master, prevails again!!"

Blackout conducts a little victory dance on the far side of the lightening hall, shaking his furry booty in all directions. The team is deeply impressed. "I don't think I can do that," says Lou. Kayla nods. Maybe on a good day, but she feels a little down right now.

"Come on, guys! There's another door here, just around this last corner! We must be almost there! Just run real fast!"

Rat drops down to his hands and knees, in preparation for evaluating the crawling feasibility. What could I scrounge to help with this? he wonders. Damn guy keeps this place too clean. Then he realizes that the metal walls don't actually touch the stone floor -- there is a 2 cm plastic spacer between them on both sides. "Hey...." he says kind of to himself. Turning to the team, he comments, "Now, I'm no electrician, but I think this floor might actually be insulated from there. This might be safer than it looks."

"I don't know, Rat, it looks pretty unsafe from where I stand," says Kayla.

"See, that's the thing. Don't stand! Down here, you can see the insulation. I think it's, like, safety-sealed."

Lou and Kayla look at each other, and then down at Rat. They're not sure whether to believe him. He's not sure whether to believe it himself -- he'd much rather one of them tries it first, which is why he's trying to play it so confident. "Go ahead!" he says brightly, "give it a go!"

Lou looks for a second longer then remembers that the statue presumably still waits for them if they turn back now. He remembers an old series of vids with a guy called James Bond and grins as he pretends to straighten his tie and steps casually into the spark section and stands there for a second, the picture of composure, in stark contrast to Blackout's cannonball run. After a moment he stats down the hallway doing an imitation of a walts with an imaginary partner.

As the first bolt starts to crack around him he braces himself, but tries not to show it on the outside and continues his little dance. He sees it zap across a little way in front of him and nearly jumps out of his pants in fear. Maybe Rat was right, or maybe Lou just wasn't close enough to that one. Either way, he's lost his little charade and starts to bolt to the other side like Blackout did.

Bolts zap and pop all around him, but miraculously, Lou is not hit by any of them. As he gets to the end of the hall, Blackout puts up a hairy palm for a high-5, which Lou slaps as if he were arriving at home base.

"Sweet run!" says Blackout.

"I gotta go back for Kayla!" says Lou.

"Why didn't you just bring her along?"

"I had to make sure it was safe!"

"Aw, that's sweet, Lou. Doesn't look any safer though!"

That's true... he thinks. I guess if I really want to test it, I have to not lose my nerve this time... He gulps, takes a deep breath, and starts running into it again, back the other way. He forces himself to try to walk, sort of settling on a slow jog. That bolts continue to leap around him enthusiastically, but they don't strike. Flooded with adrenaline, he half-jogs his way back through.

"Wow!" says Kayla. "I guess it's safe after all!"

After Lou gets back, Rat shakes his head. "I told ya it was safe. Now you're gonna have ta do it all over again." With a wry backwards grin, Rat sets out across the hallway himself. Although he acts nonchalnt about it, his heart is still hammering loudly in his ears as the bolts hiss and arc around him.

Blackout stifles a slight chuckle as he watches Lou return for Kayla. He turns to the next door, and starts jogging down the hall to catch up with Rat.

When he catches up, he turns to Rat as they walk. "You don't think there's anything between those kids do you? Could be bad for the mission."

"Lou and Kayla? Naaah. Kayla's just a kid, and Lou don't seem like the pervy type. He better not be. If he is, we can hold 'im down and let Kayla chop his willie off with her magic sword. But, nah, I don't think anything's goin' on."

Rat turns back to the door, looking dubiously at it before tentatively testing the handle to see if it is open.

"Damn, though, I hope we find some prints for this guy soon. He must have a maid dust the damn place every day or somethin'. And we still haven't run into a fridge yet. I could use a nice cold beer about now."

As Lou and Kayla tentatively cross the lightning-hall, Rat tries the door and it easily opens. It swings silently inward to reveal a huge lounge. The room is at least 15 meters across, filled with couches, chairs, and various trid screens playing sports stations with the sound off.

Halfway across the room, a beautiful elf woman in a summer dress is reclining on a couch. "Hi!" she says brightly. "I bet you could use a nice cold beer right now. Come on in. The beers are in the fridge!" She gestures across the room to a large glass-fronted refrigerator loaded with imported Japanese beer, Tir Tairngire wines, and Jack Daniels. She smiles a dazzling smile, and Rat isn't sure what he wants to grab first.

Rat grins and turns to Blackout. "Ya know, I bet about three minutes after we get in there, Lou'll come runnin' up goin' 'Stop! Guys! It's an illusion! That's not beer, it's lukewarm Faygo!' But live fer the moment, that's what I always say."

And with that, Rat steps into the room. It's a testament to his powerful thirst that he grins back at the elf woman, but then walks past her to grab a beer first.