Chapter 2B - By the seat of one's pants

Started by pringerbeam, February 19, 2017, 05:03:40 PM

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Mysticsage

Jace watched the butler suspiciously but managed to keep a straight face as a chill ran down his spine. Something about the butler's movements reminded him of the undead nobleman. Fears of what might have happened what had happened while the master was gone settled in his stomach. Not that it would stop him and he stuffed that fear down he did not know if this was just the butler doing his best not to beat him senseless.

[info]
Perception check to see if something weird is going on with the butler or just that he is holding back from strangling jace
Wits + Perception + High Society
[blockquote]Rolled 9d6 : 4, 6, 3, 6, 5, 3, 4, 2, 5, total 38[/blockquote]
[/info]

Mysticsage

[info]exploding 6s
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 2, 2, total 4[/blockquote][/info]

pringerbeam

Black Dice[blockquote]Rolled 6d6 : 6, 1, 5, 2, 2, 5, total 21[/blockquote]

pringerbeam

     You are unable to discern if anything is amiss and your probing gaze is met by the continuing flat expression of Carlson.  The ogre continues to look down his nose at you, motionless like a granite statue.  The still air hangs silently about the two of you as the standoff continues.

Mysticsage

#79
Jace did not allow the awkward silence to hang longer then a few heartbeats for fear of being closed out. He had come this far after all and had no intention of turning away. He had stared into the unknown enough times that this was almost becoming old hat. If he was about to walk into a den of cannibals at least he was doing so of his own will. He was careful not to bump  the butler as he passed smelling his familiar scent curious if he would find blood there as well before coming  back into the familiar entryway. "Should I wait here or the same room as before?" He asked being careful to be aware of the butler's position just in case.

[info]Feel free to roll a smell test if you think it warranted my base perception is 5[/info]

pringerbeam

     Carlson does nothing in response save to draw his hand off the door to sweep his hand slowly before himself, palm up, to gesture towards the solarium door at the end of the hall. 

[info]You smell no blood on Carlson, only the faint scents of rosemary and vinegar are picked up by your nose as you inhale near him.[/info]

Mysticsage

Feeling more at ease that he was less likely to be walking into a death trap. With a sigh he took the few moments needed to walk the hall to the appointed room to strengthen his own convictions. He made it to the door and then knocked calmly before either entering himself or letting Carlson open the door for him.

pringerbeam

     The solarium is unoccupied when you arrive.  The various lamps flickering in silence shed plenty of light but despite this, the solarium's glass walls stand to reveal the looming pitch blackness of the night beyond.  Carlson enters after you, wheeling with him a cart with a tea set.  He moves in silence to one of the clusters of chairs and short tables where he pours a cup of tea which he sets down on a coffee table before taking a station up behind one of the chairs opposite the cup of tea.  There, he resumes his statue-like stillness without saying a word.

Mysticsage

"I assume that's for me?" he asked full well knowing that he would not likely get a response but he sat regardless assuming that Carlson being the man he was he would not pour tea that would be lukewarm upon his master's arrival. Jace was all two familiar with that kind of timing so if he was not going to be pouring two cups he was going to be waiting for a while. He was tired regardless so the idea of sitting for a bit was not the worst in the world.

pringerbeam

     Carlson doesn't respond and continues to stand without speaking.  The ticking of a clock in the corner is the only sound that puncuates the silence of the solarium.  As you sit down, the warm comfort of the high backed chair eases the fatigue you have accumulated throughout the day.  Time passes and no indication of Lord Blackblade's arrival comes.  The darkness of the smog filled night continues to loom outside the glass walls.  That is until for a moment the the smog draws away like a curtain to reveal the crescent moon high above.  Still tinged by the polluted air it hangs like a dirty yellow grin, casting its light down at you.  You find yourself unable to look away from the  moon once you notice it.  You feel it drawing your gaze and more as it seems to grow larger in the night, taking up a greater and greater share of the night's sky.  Suddenly, you feel as if the wind has been knocked out of you as the very breath is drawn from your mouth and a single bloodshot eye opens up above the moon.  You feel your body hurtling forward, crashing through the glass of the solarium into the darkness that lies between the eye and its mocking grin.
      The wind screams through your head as you feel your body begin to break under the force of your ascent.  Just when you feel your body at its limit you are flung to the floor of a dark place, the cold black stone rough against your skin, light flickers from a smouldering brazier before you.  There are no walls, only inky blackness stretching beyond your sight.  A single high backed chair sits next to the brazier, sitting in it is Lord Darby, a malicious grin on his face as he rests his hands ina steepled fashion just below his chin.  "Hello slave."  The second word drips with emphasis.  "Don't think that because I let you live earlier that your gall went unnoticed."  He stands up from his chair and as he does so your hands and feet sink into the stone.  Pain as if your had plunged your limbs into buckets of frozen needles shoots through your nerves like electricity arcing up to your brain.  "I guess it is for the best.  You need a demonstration of what our relationship entails."  He walks around the brazier at a leisurely pace, staring into its orange flames with some interest.  The pain continues, seeming to stretch the moment out endlessly before he finishes making his walk to return to in front of you.  He snaps his fingers and instantly you find yourself naked and exposed.  The pain then changes from a merciless cold to and unbearable heat as if your skin were being seared over the flames of the brazier.  Darby leans over you, inspecting your shoulder and paying no mind to the uncontrolled shaking of your sweat soaked body as your flesh instinctively seeks some respite from the pain.  After a moment he returns to his chair and the pain stops.  "I control you.  You live only because I desire you to.  I can kill you at an instant."  He reaches out as if to grab something and you feel as if something cold and wet slithers around your heart before constricting.  Your heart skips a beat and radiates pain as the breath escapes your lungs.  "I can torment you at a whim."  Lord Darby lets his hand drop and you feel your heart come free of the unseen grasp just in time for a lancing pain to shoot through your head as if someone had rammed an icepick through your eye socket.  "I control you and you will do my bidding.  You will report Blackblade's activities to me and Harper will have his eye on you.  Oh and do try and see what happens if you reveal our relationship to anyone."  Lord Darby's eye glitter with something horrid at this statement.  "They say that the screams can be heard across oceans.  I'll be listening.  Until then, let me leave you with one last taste of the whip."  He raises his hand and spreads out his fingers.  Something begins to crawl under your fingernails under the surface of the stone.  You feel a pressure beginning to build as the nails start to pull upward.  Something starts to tear and you feel the nails begin to separate and something pours into the wound, something sickeningly warm.  Then, as if a rope was tied around your waist, you are yanked back.  Your limbs pull free of the stone and you hear Darby scream "What? NO!"  You feel as if you are being flung by some mad beast gripping you by the ankle and your limbs feel as if they are about to break under the strain untill you take a breath and ice fills your lungs.
     You open eyes you did not realize were closed as the water floods your lungs. You cough and sputter uncontrollably and you find your body lifted up by the collar.  You are struck in the back with a force that could crack stone as water spews fromyour mouth.  You are in the solarium once again.  A basin of water in front of you, your clothes still on your body, now wet with water.  From behind, you are gripped by the shoulders and pulled to standing, breath still struggling to make it into your lungs.  With another strike to the back you feel your chest open up and you are able to breath once again.  The same hands turn you around and you find yourself facing Carlson.  His face with exactly the same experssion as when you last saw it.

Mysticsage

Jason sputtered to life hacking up what water he could  and hugging Carlson almost involuntarily glad to have a warm sane soul to cling to in that moment leaving a water mark on the orcs immaculate suit before withdrawing a moment later. With a shaky breath he gained a steely serious gaze unsure just how much if any Darby could see through him. Having another man possibly using his body was far from a comforting thought, but he would find that caging this man would not end well for him no matter what he did. He was officially pissed off the hubris of this man alone would be enough to choke a god. "My apologizes sir sometimes I suffer from blackouts you can imagine the types of things we lesser men must live through." He tapped his lips then and his ear at the same time before waving around the room as if to signify people existing in this empty room. He was going to make things rather complicated for this man one way or the other and teach him what it meant to step on others so liberally. He sat back in the chair now fully awake but even more exhausted this was going to be a long night, but he had even more purpose to meet with Blackblade. Not that he had much energy to move from that spot after the shock his  body had just gone through.

pringerbeam

     Carlson squints his beedy eyes at your gestures.  "So, that's why you have returned?  Your curse has worsened and now you come back looking for his lordship's aid.  I seem to have underestimated your shamelessness."  The ogre picks up a towel that was resting on the table next to the basin and begins to wipe up the water that has spilled to the floor.  "You are fortunate that his lordship is a forgiving man that would not wish me to simply cast you out to die of you fits.  I would not hesitate to toss you back onto the street if it were not the case."  Carlson stands and wrings the moisture from the towel, twisting it in a way eerily akin to throttling some poor soul's neck. He lifts the basin and turns to leave.  "Dry yourself by the fireplace before you ruin the upholstry with the damp."  With that final statement Carlson leaves the room before you have a chance to reply.

Mysticsage

With a resigned sigh knowing that what Carlson said was true as much as it could be an act, and a slight uncertainty to whether his subtext even slightly hit the mark he stood while the man servant left. Jace then sat cross legged on the floor in front of the fire stripping of his shirt in the process to fight off the damp while he waited for what was to come next. His back was to the door then as he let the warmth in hearth help him shake both those dark images and disguise the flush of indignant emotions. Hopefully Carlson's report of his sudden fainting spell and subsequent behavior would be enough to cause Blackwell to bo on edge enough to not say anything to revealing off the bat. As long as the nobleman was careful and smart about the next few moves they could work something out that left his new mental roommate in the lurch.

Moments like this made Jason wonder what the noblewoman who cursed him in the first place wanted for him or even if she knew he existed in the first place. Though that was a thought that was not worth thinking about until it became important at the moment he had enough to worry as it was. He still had to most likely bow his head and do some dealing here tonight even though he really hoped things went better then he feared they might.

pringerbeam

     Your body, bathed in the warmth of the hearth, quickly begins to dry and it is only a few moments before you feel the chill of the water evaporate away.  Carlson returns in short order with a velvet housecoat which he drapes over the arm of the chair nearest to you before wheeling in a trolly with a new tea set.  He prepares to pour a cup of tea when you see him perk up ever so slightly before quickly exiting the solarium.  Over the crackle of the fire you can hear the thuds of activity and the deep voice of Lord Blackblade murmuring back towards the front of the house.  His heavy footfalls draw near with haste, harbinger to his entrance into the solarium.  He comes in through the entryway and quickly scans the room before seeing Jace.  "So, you came afterall.  Honestly, I didn't know if you would actually come here or not."  He pulls out his pipe and hands it to Carlson who had been following the Lord like a shadow and proceeds to take the pipe and load it with tobacco.  "Well then..."  Lord Blackblade takes his pipe back and gives it a few puffs as Carlson lights it for him.  "What were you doing at the museum this afternoon and what have you learned?"  He takes a long drag on his pipe before taking a seat on a couch facing you, his face scruntched up in a scrutinizing gaze.