selfpreservationist | [RAVEN'S HEART GAME

The first thing you hear is the sound of rain faintly hitting the exterior of the house. The soft pitter-patter is almost soothing, in a way, but it’s quickly followed up by rumbling thunder in the distance. You open your eyes, and for a second all you see is a flash of light--at first it seems like it’s lightning, but then you see something. A vision of a man dressed in rags, hunched over, waves of demonic power rolling over him. He howls, and something terrible starts to grow out of him: the bloody roots of a massive tree. An immense wave of panic hits you, and you can’t move, you can’t speak, you can’t breathe--

And then it’s over. It’s over. You’re fine.

The sound of rain returns. (This time it’s definitely soothing, compared to what you just saw.) You’re standing in the foyer of a mansion, a wide open living room in front of you. The door behind you is faintly ajar, leading outside.

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You don’t know how long you’ve been walking, but the further you go, the more it feels like this was a bad idea… and yet, you find you can’t stop yourself from walking, as though your limbs are being pulled by an unknown force. Deeper and deeper you go, until...

You step in something wet, and as soon as you do a rotting stench fills your nostrils. You want to gag, want to turn back, but all you can do is march forward. The smell gets worse. Soon, you’re trudging through a sea of blood and viscera, each splash soaking through to your legs--a cold, unpleasant sensation that you can’t seem to shake.

Eventually, you come to a stop. Faintly, you see it ahead of you: a massive throne built out of rotting flesh and blood-slicked roots. Embedded in the ground in front of the throne is a cane sword (visual). But before you can approach, the roots begin to move, slithering like giant snakes through the gore at your feet, and quickly they wind around your ankles, moving up your legs.

What do you do?

[that seems like a key item!!

Randy kicks at them, trying to break free enough to dive for the canesword. He's wicked fast even without powers, in spite of his size.]

You manage to dodge a few, but there are more and more pursuing you now, and a few lash onto your legs. Although it’s dark, suddenly you can see something shining just ahead of you: three shining orbs, hovering in midair, each one bearing a different sigil: talons, claws, and an eye. You sense there’s something powerful hidden within them.

If you use all of your strength, you can probably reach one. And you’ll likely want to do so--there’s someone, or something, sitting in the throne now. It almost looks like there are two large, hulking figures, sitting side by side. However, if you focus, you can only see one. But that may not be high on your list of priorities right now.

Its booming voice reverberates through you, and it feels like your very bones are rattling.

“PITIFUL THING. YOU WILL REGRET BEING BORN SO WEAK.”

The roots are growing tighter, painfully so.

[Randy struggles with all his might, grabbing for the clawed sigil.]

Gotta say-- not the kind of trash talk I usually get, old man!

[look he's just picking out what features he can.]

You touch the orb. A large shapeless mass forms in front of you, twisting and lurching until it settles on the shape of a large black panther. It lets out a low growl, tail splitting into two that grow sharp and jagged at the end. It turns to you and regards you expectantly.

I don't s'pose you'd mind cutting me free, kitty-cat?

The panther nods, and morphs into a blob that's just made entirely of spikes, like a giant sea urchin. The spikes jab at the tendrils, quick enough that they don't harm you and manage to keep you mostly free of being grabbed.

The large, hulking creature waves its arm, and more tendrils arise--these ones larger, with spikes at the end that stab at the panther, and a few that go for you--the panther manages to narrowly keep them from getting any vital organs, but it's incapacitated for the time being.

“FOOLISH. YOU ONLY PROLONG YOUR DEMISE.”

--Kitty!

[Randy may take some hits. He is trying to dodge, but frankly at this point his priority is really getting that fuckin sword.]

Fuck off, man!

Even though the panther is struggling against the onslaught of spiked tendrils, it's managed to deter and distract them enough that you have a clear path to the sword--and you grab it! You have obtained a cane sword. Even the tendrils that aren't distracted by the panther don't quite manage to reach you.

The large hulking figure makes a displeased noise.

[SWORD GET

whirling to help kitty-cat with those tendrils, thank you very much, no matter how many he needs to cut through to get back to the panther.]

Between you and the panther's efforts, you both manage to make it to the other. It shrugs off a few more spiky tendrils, and you see before you a carved path towards the large, hulking figure. The panther abruptly morphs around the sword you carry, imbuing it with a bright purple glow. It shimmers with power, and you can tell it's become incredibly sharp and powerful.

The large hulking figure sounds distraught.

“WHAT...?! HOW COULD A MERE HUMAN...!”

You've got one shot to finish this.

I wouldn't go 'round underestimating humans.

[coming in for the killing blow with his KITTYSWORD. he's still having trouble quite parsing features, so he aims to simply behead the figure(s???). That should do the trick for most things.]

With a hard strike, you manage to slash across the figure's neck, and with a roar of defeat it explodes in a mass of blood and viscera. The roots seem to die with it, flailing about before collapsing in heaps of lifeless tendrils. You're covered in blood but you are victorious! The panther reforms at your side, licking its paw, clearly pleased.

YOUR SCORE:
S

[bleugh. wipes his face with his sleeve, at least mostly smudging it away from his mouth and eyes.]

Oooh, we were being scored.

[turns to kittycat]

Thanks for your help, pal! You a fan of petting?

The panther immediately rolls over onto its back to show its fuzzy belly and gigantic paw beans.

Oh excellent.

[kneeling to get some good bellyrubs going.]

You successfully rub the belly. It's very soft. The panther purrs happily.

[hell yes tummy rubs. pets for a little while before sitting back on his heels.]

All right, there was a collection of swords I should probably return this to. You wanna tag along?

As if to answer your question, the panther morphs back into an orb and remains there, stationary.

...I'm not sure if that's a yes or no, honestly...

[well, standing up.]

The panther seems to be asleep... in the orb. It wore itself out.

[Aww, kitty.]

Rest well, bud.

[BACK UP THE STAIRS.]

[RAVEN'S HEART GAME - SESSION TWO]

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