Do we have a way to set the paper on fire say with a spell? Or a searching spell? Or a spell that causes a magnet?
Successor (BTVS)
- Thread starter DeAnno
- Start date
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DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
Buffy thinks she could, and that it's not an unreasonable idea, but it might not be instant and it'd involve a lot of time wandering around and processing things, or possibly a lot of carrying around doors. I would say if you want to Write In smashing through this door and thinking about this room later instead you can do that, but there would need to be more votes for it than time votes.
Essentially the smashing route gives you intelligence about other rooms in the dungeon more quickly at the cost of time spent smashing things and moving back and forth.
Giles isn't really a spontaneous caster at all. Nate could maybe transmute the paper away or something but it's farther away from his skillset than what happened in the 3rd event because it isn't one coherent object. You could try to just set it all on fire, but that's complicated by none of you carrying a lighter (Giles doesn't smoke regularly, as far as I can remember.) And also like, then the room would be all on fire and stuff.
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Lab_Accident
A 2D 1D4
- Location
- Your dreams
[X] 0 seconds
- Location
- usa
[X] 0 seconds
[X] Smash through the door.
I would definitely prefer that we smash through the door rather than use the key immediately. We need to find 2 keys in order to win the game. This room seems safe to search, but time consuming. Instead of using the key immediately, I would suggest that we leave Nate behind to search for the key while we move forward. We spend a little more time in this room, but we can use a skeleton key on a more challenging room.
We have to find 2 keys in 5 rooms or 3 if we find a fake. I bet some of the rooms will be worse than this one. Maybe there is a big monster, or a room with traps. Skipping this room now means that we might need to look through a more dangerous room later. Once we see more rooms we can decide which room we want to use the keys on.
I would definitely prefer that we smash through the door rather than use the key immediately. We need to find 2 keys in order to win the game. This room seems safe to search, but time consuming. Instead of using the key immediately, I would suggest that we leave Nate behind to search for the key while we move forward. We spend a little more time in this room, but we can use a skeleton key on a more challenging room.
We have to find 2 keys in 5 rooms or 3 if we find a fake. I bet some of the rooms will be worse than this one. Maybe there is a big monster, or a room with traps. Skipping this room now means that we might need to look through a more dangerous room later. Once we see more rooms we can decide which room we want to use the keys on.
[X] 35 seconds
Edifier
Trusted within thoughts.
- Location
- Court of Moon Wizards
Breaking the door to get the key and than returning to unlock the door. It may break the spirit but not the letter.
Well well.
[X] Smash through the door.
-[X] leave Nate behind to look trough the room for the key and mark the way for him to catch up.
[X] 35 seconds
If he finds a key and it works for the door, no backtracking and no time wasted. If he doesn't find a key it just means the door's pointless except for a backup for backtracking, if we have all the keys but not all the doors.
What would be easier. Making our way trough the wall, or trough the door?
Tough, even if we use the skeleton, we could set Nate Alooking. There may be a non fake key in this room.
Hear out my thought. Nates magic seems adept at simple but large scale manipulations.
The room is full of 3 things, boxes, stuff filled within the boxes and the stuff outside the boxes. Why not have Nate magic all the 3 things into separate areas of the room? It would at the minimum skip all the box opening.
Or hmm, if they went for something more complex. arranging all the boxes by weight. Or maybe even include a 4th complexity: anything key shaped.
Unless of course I misunderstood how his magic works. Hmm, last times he used it like a rewind button, to undo actions.
It'd be a really dick move if the room had no key or if they where somewhere outside the boxes.
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DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
Gave this a bit of extra time to simmer but requisite momentum for the write in didn't seem to be building. If people think there should be an opening moratorium or that votes should be open longer that can be a topic of discussion going forward. Also people can maybe discuss how stunts and write ins are working, I like the current policy of people just being able to stunt or write in by asking when they feel like it though.
Median time is 0 seconds, Buffy will use a skeleton skip immediately.
Inserted tally
Median time is 0 seconds, Buffy will use a skeleton skip immediately.
Inserted tally
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S3.5E9: Cash Prize VII
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
[X] 0 seconds
"We don't have time for the forever this is taking." Buffy got another key out.
"We could just smash through instead," Harmony suggested. "We could even leave Nate behind to keep searching! He'd be safer."
Buffy considered it for a second, but shook her head and jammed the key home. "I don't want to split up, and all the smashing and running around would just take longer. We still have at least one more skip after this anyway."
As she entered the next room, she was disoriented for a second; the light shining in the window was a harsh, fluctuating blue, and the pitch of the crowd was high, seeming to change and waver uncertainly. Before she knew what was going on the other three all seemed to bump into her from behind and she scooted forward to give them space.
"I hope this light isn't bad for my skin," Harmony said with a little concern.
"Something appears-" Giles was cut off by all their watches beeping for attention in sequence. Buffy's eyes flicked down, and saw the seconds on hers ticking irregularly, along with a red hourglass icon flashing in the corner. It flicked through a bunch of time at what seemed like triple speed, and then slowed to almost normal before speeding up again. The sound of the crowd noise and the color of the exterior lighting changed with it, making for an eerie effect.
"It's a time eddy!" Nate said. "These are really hard to get right, even on a limited scale like this."
"His soul is about to be sucked out and he's still nerding," Harmony taunted.
"Focus people," Buffy said. Aside from the bizarre lighting and acoustics, the room was relatively featureless: a tall, wide cylinder with glass went around part of one side and rock covered the rest. She tried to look around for signs of anywhere to hide a key, but even as she did there was a flash of light from above and she saw a glint of reflective silver before it vanished again.
The others seemed confused, but Harmony had caught it too. "The key was up there for a second. Maybe it's usually invisible?"
"Yeah, boost me?" Buffy asked. It had been almost twenty feet up, but she was pretty sure she knew the right spot. Harmony got set up for her and they did a cheerleader move that normal cheerleaders absolutely did not have the strength to pull off. It was for naught though; Buffy flew and waved through empty air before making a disappointed landing. She wasn't sure if she should feel cool or embarrassed about the cape whipping around behind her.
"I believe Nathaniel is correct. The key phasing in and out may be the, ah, 'keystone' of the eddy, as it were." Giles smiled a little at his own joke. "If I remember the traditional implementation of this phenomenon there should be a consistent period."
"And the translation of that is?" Buffy asked. She thought she knew what he might be getting at but didn't want to screw it up.
"It should pop in and out consistently. Normally it'd be impossible to judge from inside, but we do seem to be excellently equipped for it." They all checked their watches reflexively and saw '9:03', even though it'd been far too long since the key last appeared to get a good idea from that. Just a moment later though, the key flashed above them again before popping out.
"Every minute, on the minute, looks like," Buffy said.
"We don't know that for sure," Nate cautioned.
Buffy shrugged. "Might as well try. You two pay attention for the key in case it defies expectations. Harm, set up for boosting me just before 8 minutes, getting it right will be kind of tricky with all the timey-wimey."
She was concerned that the flow would change midway through and trick her, but after watching it closely for a little bit she was almost getting the feel of the current, and the light and sound would help her judge once she was moving. When her clock read '8:04' she moved, hopping up into Harmony's clasped hands and quickly launching up again from there as she got an extra push. The key popped into being a little early, but she was able to reach up and snatch it before it got away again.
When she did, there was a slight discontinuity as the light and sound from outside went back to normal, but she didn't let it distract her as she landed, cape fluttering behind her again. She decided it was cool, as long as nobody called her on it. Everyone moved to catch up to her as she opened the next door, which led into a deep darkness.
They all hesitated to step inside, because the darkness was anything but natural; it was just like a wall of blackness. Buffy moved her finger in and it looked like she was dipping it in ink, though it didn't feel weird.
"I can't see through it either," Harmony said, discouraged. Her senses were overall better than Buffy's, but this was some kind of magic.
"Maybe it's just a wall?" Nate guessed. He was about to test something, but Harmony preempted him and stuck her whole head in.
Buffy was a little concerned, but Harmony popped back out right as rain. "It's just as dark inside. Quiet too."
"Everyone hold hands, we don't want to be separated," Giles said. Buffy was holding her hammer so she just grabbed Giles, and he linked up with Nate. "It may help with navigation to close your eyes once we enter."
Harmony grumbled a bit about her position but grabbed Nate's hand without needing to be told. Buffy heard a muted squeak from him; she was probably giving him a rough handshake.
"Let's please be friends, everyone." With that, Buffy led them in. It was quiet inside, and with the absence of any comments from the peanut gallery she realized that it might be muting them too.
"Anyone listening?" Buffy tried. "Umm, Harm looked better as a brunette, tea tastes terrible, and I don't know, too many books makes Nate a dull boy?" There was only silence in response, and so Buffy was confident of what was going on. Sensing uncertainty from Giles' hand, she just dragged it forward and ventured into the blackness. She poked and prodded with her hammer as she went, but it didn't run into anything but floor.
There was some tension in the line a few times, but gentle tugging let Buffy get her way as they made their confused voyage. It seemed to keep going on and on, and Buffy was getting confused about how much space could be in the room, or even the cave. She wanted to panic and start running to save time, but that would just get them separated, so she kept her steady course. She wouldn't have put it past Sour to put monsters in here to come at her blind, but if they were here, they hadn't attacked yet at least. It'd almost be a relief if they did, she wasn't too afraid of whatever rejects Sour could dig up even in this darkness, and it would break up the monotony.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and almost lashed out, but the temperature and shape reassured her; it was just Harmony. She kind of wished the vampire would keep her extra hand free, but she could understand getting a little rattled in a situation like this and just let it ride.
After what seemed like forever, her hammer bumped against something else, and she moved up to feel it out. It was metal and it seemed like it must be the next door, but she hadn't found a key. The rest of everyone seemed to pile up at the door too, and as far as she could tell everyone was standing around not knowing what to do, so with a sigh she took out another skeleton key and fumbled around until she had the door unlocked. They quickly piled through back into light and sound.
"That was a total horror show!" Harmony shouted. "I don't know how you were so chill."
"It certainly wasn't comfortable," Giles admitted. "But it's over and we have to move on. Buffy, I don't suppose you actually found the key?"
"Had to use a skip," she replied. "One skeleton key left."
"We have less than five minutes now," Nate said, looking dour.
"Don't worry, we've got this no problem," Buffy said, more confidently than she felt.
The current room was small and simple. The was a big obnoxious portrait of Sour on the wall opposite the glass, a big pedestal in the middle of the room, and some pieces of what looked like scrap metal scattered around in some rubble.
Giles had gone to pick one up. "Interesting. This almost looks like some kind of statuary? Perhaps a bust."
"I think it's part of Sour!" Harmony said. "That's his little stuck out chin thing, just like in that picture! All this other junk is probably more of him."
"Maybe we're supposed to put them all together?" Nate said.
They all rounded up some more of the metal pieces over to the pedestal and started to put them together. Buffy laid in something that looked like a base, and Giles tried to put the jaw over that, but it didn't really fit.
"I think you're missing the neck there," Harmony said, fishing around for it.
"Well, you would know," Giles snarked.
"Do people never stop with these vampire jokes?" Harmony complained.
"It's your destiny now," Buffy said solemnly. She tried to stack up the part with his nose, but it was sticking out weird.
"Buffy, that's upside down." Giles fixed it, but then when he was trying to put on the next level there was a piece on it extending down that wouldn't lock in.
"I think the pedestal is actually backwards, look at the textures," Nate suggested quietly from the back.
Buffy tried to pick it up and spin it around for him, but it wouldn't go down right. "Are you sure we aren't just supposed to smash it? I could smash it."
"We don't have the skips left to take risks, Buffy," Giles warned.
"I know, I know, I'm just saying."
Harmony picked it up and put it down again, and this time it went in. "Look! I'm a genius!"
"Of course, a genius. You picked it up and put it back down." Giles said.
Meanwhile Buffy was trying to fit on the top of the head, but it had a big pipe that extended down through the statue and wouldn't go all the way. "I could force it. Maybe it's just stuck."
"I think the neck is upside down too, actually," Nate cut in.
"Oh. Or we could fix that," Buffy said. When she did, everything seemed to clamp down easier, and after spinning the top around a few times to line it up right, it sank in and locked. Right when it did, a key fell out of the ceiling and landed on top of it. Buffy grabbed it up, and it promptly disintegrated into dust. Of course a puzzle this obnoxious would be the other fake key.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Nate said.
"We still have over two minutes for the last room, we can do it," Buffy pulled out the last skeleton key and opened the door to the last room. No more free passes, it was do or die.
This door led to a featureless tunnel that spiraled down. Buffy had the sense this wasn't the kind of tunnel meant for hiding things and booked it, staying well ahead with Harmony hot on her heels. The other two would catch up, and extra time could be critical. Her hunch proved right as the tunnel emerged out of the floor of the main cavern again, under a glass dome.
The announcer's voice boomed out "AND NOW FOR YOUR THRILLING CONCLUSION, A BATTLE BETWEEN THE VAMPIRE SLAYER AND TODAY'S DUNGEON GUARD, A DULE FANSA!" So the masses wanted their bloodsport. That was fine; she could do timed slaying.
The thing across from her looked more bizarre than most demons. It was big, and purple, and had an ugly, bitey face in its chest. It had four muscular pointy arms too, and Buffy felt like that was where the real trouble would be. The last door was on the other side of their little arena, but of course the key was embedded deep in the demon's forehead (forechest?) Slaying would not be optional.
She didn't have any time to dance around, so she just readied her hammer and charged it, looking to see what it would do. As she'd half expected, one of the arms shot out at her, but the speed and reach were impossibly far; the thing was like a rocket. She did a little flip, still managing to dodge, but the second arm winged her in the side and the third would've gutted her stomach between the two piece if she hadn't parried with her hammer. The crowd cheered wildly.
She took a defensive position, expecting the fourth, but it kept it back, and instead retracted the other three arms, shlooping them back up into its shoulders. She would've liked to go for one of the arms when vulnerable, but needing to keep conscious of the fourth limited her movement enough that they managed to all pull away safely.
She anticipated it's next set of attacks and started to run around it radially to make herself harder to hit. She had to close with it, but hoped Harmony would appear soon to create a distraction. This thing was dangerous, but it did stabbing, not cutting. Harmony would survive a few stabs.
Just as she hoped, Harmony joined the scene opposite Buffy, letting them flank the thing. She charged in at it and it took a sideways stance, trying to fire arms at the both of them to keep them back.
Harmony didn't do so well, with one glancing blow and then the other one digging into her stomach. Well, she'd wanted some murder tonight, and she'd be fine. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the audience made some sympathetic noises. Harmony was a crowd favorite here.
KILL
Buffy did considerably better, easily dodging the mere two arms launched at her and then pulverizing the weird structures inside one of them as it was trying to retract. It stopped retracting after that, and the creature screamed with a grating demon noise.
With Harmony wounded, it turned again, trying to fight her, but it was clumsy now where it had been sure before, and it was missing one of its weapons. She dodged two arms again, batted the third away, and then she'd finally closed with it, and dealt a savage blow to its shoulder with her hammer right in the space between two of its functional arms.
It was staggered to the ground, and after that Buffy hit it again, and again, and again. The last blow cracked whatever passed for its skull, and then with her free hand Buffy ripped out the key. Amid the roars of the crowd, she made a dash for the door and unlocked it, throwing it open.
Behind her, Giles and Nate had grabbed Harmony up by the shoulders and were making their way to the door too. Buffy went back to relieve them, grabbing her up under the shoulders and with her occupied arm under the knees, and the whole group crossed over the finish line. The frozen clock on the projector read '00:51'. Plenty of time.
"And there you have it!" Sour shouted to the cheering crowd. "Our first grand prize winners after a twelve episode drought, here are Buffy, Harmony, Ripper, and Nathaniel, on the Sunnydale Hellmouth!" The lights in the ceiling spun crazily, and tacky victory music played as the demon girls took out the Crown and brought it over, giving it to Nate only after it was clear Buffy had her hands full. He was so shocked that he almost dropped it.
The audience bleachers started to rotate back into the cave, and all the other stuff started to sink underground or back into the walls as well. Sour took the moment to get a last word for the cameras, "Don't forget to patronize this episode's sponsors: Silkworm, Pan-Where, and Lost Hours! And don't forget to recycle your bone waste; hellhounds have to eat too!"
With that, the music petered out, the audience finished rotating away, and the lights dimmed. Sour, however, remained. He didn't say anything, but Buffy was too curious to let the silence hang.
"I'm a little surprised, really. I mean, no tricks, no take-backs? You're just letting us win?" It felt a little awkward to have this conversation with Harmony half-insensate in her arms (she'd really tuckered herself out, and that wound was going to need to be bandaged.) But really, Buffy couldn't bring herself to just put her down on the cave floor after her brave attack, so she just rolled with the situation. Harmony was still pretty wet too, not to mention the blood, but at least what Buffy was wearing basically repelled water.
He shrugged. "You were good sports and played well. I like collecting souls as much as anyone, but if people don't win sometimes, everyone will say your game is rigged."
"Baseless slander, I'm sure," Giles said.
Sour rolled his eyes, ignoring him, "Besides, Buffy, I have an eye for people, and I can tell you're going places. Fast. Maybe when you get there, you'll remember your old pal Sour, who did you a good turn?"
Then there was a moment that seemed like the static between changing channels, and Sour was gone. Giles turned on a flashlight to fill the sudden darkness, and saw that in his place was a box full of miscellaneous stuff. Nate was still awestruck by the Crown in his hands, looking almost like he didn't believe that anything could ever actually go this right.
Meanwhile, Giles was looking through the box. "Buffy, your clothes are here; they appear to have been professionally cleaned… and there are some manuals for these watches." He paused. "And I think these are tapes?"
"Of what?" she asked.
He inspected one carefully, as if it might bite him. "You Bet Your Soul. Sunnydale Edition."
Harmony seemed to perk back up at that, "Yes! I need to show everyone!"
Next Time, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ever since the breakup with Angel was painfully finalized, Buffy has been searching the sea for other fish. Romance is running amok in the hot summer air, but who will it be with?
[] Warren Mears, local businessman
[] Sam Lockett, SDCW member
[] Nathaniel Smith, sorcerer noble
"We don't have time for the forever this is taking." Buffy got another key out.
"We could just smash through instead," Harmony suggested. "We could even leave Nate behind to keep searching! He'd be safer."
Buffy considered it for a second, but shook her head and jammed the key home. "I don't want to split up, and all the smashing and running around would just take longer. We still have at least one more skip after this anyway."
As she entered the next room, she was disoriented for a second; the light shining in the window was a harsh, fluctuating blue, and the pitch of the crowd was high, seeming to change and waver uncertainly. Before she knew what was going on the other three all seemed to bump into her from behind and she scooted forward to give them space.
"I hope this light isn't bad for my skin," Harmony said with a little concern.
"Something appears-" Giles was cut off by all their watches beeping for attention in sequence. Buffy's eyes flicked down, and saw the seconds on hers ticking irregularly, along with a red hourglass icon flashing in the corner. It flicked through a bunch of time at what seemed like triple speed, and then slowed to almost normal before speeding up again. The sound of the crowd noise and the color of the exterior lighting changed with it, making for an eerie effect.
"It's a time eddy!" Nate said. "These are really hard to get right, even on a limited scale like this."
"His soul is about to be sucked out and he's still nerding," Harmony taunted.
"Focus people," Buffy said. Aside from the bizarre lighting and acoustics, the room was relatively featureless: a tall, wide cylinder with glass went around part of one side and rock covered the rest. She tried to look around for signs of anywhere to hide a key, but even as she did there was a flash of light from above and she saw a glint of reflective silver before it vanished again.
The others seemed confused, but Harmony had caught it too. "The key was up there for a second. Maybe it's usually invisible?"
"Yeah, boost me?" Buffy asked. It had been almost twenty feet up, but she was pretty sure she knew the right spot. Harmony got set up for her and they did a cheerleader move that normal cheerleaders absolutely did not have the strength to pull off. It was for naught though; Buffy flew and waved through empty air before making a disappointed landing. She wasn't sure if she should feel cool or embarrassed about the cape whipping around behind her.
"I believe Nathaniel is correct. The key phasing in and out may be the, ah, 'keystone' of the eddy, as it were." Giles smiled a little at his own joke. "If I remember the traditional implementation of this phenomenon there should be a consistent period."
"And the translation of that is?" Buffy asked. She thought she knew what he might be getting at but didn't want to screw it up.
"It should pop in and out consistently. Normally it'd be impossible to judge from inside, but we do seem to be excellently equipped for it." They all checked their watches reflexively and saw '9:03', even though it'd been far too long since the key last appeared to get a good idea from that. Just a moment later though, the key flashed above them again before popping out.
"Every minute, on the minute, looks like," Buffy said.
"We don't know that for sure," Nate cautioned.
Buffy shrugged. "Might as well try. You two pay attention for the key in case it defies expectations. Harm, set up for boosting me just before 8 minutes, getting it right will be kind of tricky with all the timey-wimey."
She was concerned that the flow would change midway through and trick her, but after watching it closely for a little bit she was almost getting the feel of the current, and the light and sound would help her judge once she was moving. When her clock read '8:04' she moved, hopping up into Harmony's clasped hands and quickly launching up again from there as she got an extra push. The key popped into being a little early, but she was able to reach up and snatch it before it got away again.
When she did, there was a slight discontinuity as the light and sound from outside went back to normal, but she didn't let it distract her as she landed, cape fluttering behind her again. She decided it was cool, as long as nobody called her on it. Everyone moved to catch up to her as she opened the next door, which led into a deep darkness.
They all hesitated to step inside, because the darkness was anything but natural; it was just like a wall of blackness. Buffy moved her finger in and it looked like she was dipping it in ink, though it didn't feel weird.
"I can't see through it either," Harmony said, discouraged. Her senses were overall better than Buffy's, but this was some kind of magic.
"Maybe it's just a wall?" Nate guessed. He was about to test something, but Harmony preempted him and stuck her whole head in.
Buffy was a little concerned, but Harmony popped back out right as rain. "It's just as dark inside. Quiet too."
"Everyone hold hands, we don't want to be separated," Giles said. Buffy was holding her hammer so she just grabbed Giles, and he linked up with Nate. "It may help with navigation to close your eyes once we enter."
Harmony grumbled a bit about her position but grabbed Nate's hand without needing to be told. Buffy heard a muted squeak from him; she was probably giving him a rough handshake.
"Let's please be friends, everyone." With that, Buffy led them in. It was quiet inside, and with the absence of any comments from the peanut gallery she realized that it might be muting them too.
"Anyone listening?" Buffy tried. "Umm, Harm looked better as a brunette, tea tastes terrible, and I don't know, too many books makes Nate a dull boy?" There was only silence in response, and so Buffy was confident of what was going on. Sensing uncertainty from Giles' hand, she just dragged it forward and ventured into the blackness. She poked and prodded with her hammer as she went, but it didn't run into anything but floor.
There was some tension in the line a few times, but gentle tugging let Buffy get her way as they made their confused voyage. It seemed to keep going on and on, and Buffy was getting confused about how much space could be in the room, or even the cave. She wanted to panic and start running to save time, but that would just get them separated, so she kept her steady course. She wouldn't have put it past Sour to put monsters in here to come at her blind, but if they were here, they hadn't attacked yet at least. It'd almost be a relief if they did, she wasn't too afraid of whatever rejects Sour could dig up even in this darkness, and it would break up the monotony.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and almost lashed out, but the temperature and shape reassured her; it was just Harmony. She kind of wished the vampire would keep her extra hand free, but she could understand getting a little rattled in a situation like this and just let it ride.
After what seemed like forever, her hammer bumped against something else, and she moved up to feel it out. It was metal and it seemed like it must be the next door, but she hadn't found a key. The rest of everyone seemed to pile up at the door too, and as far as she could tell everyone was standing around not knowing what to do, so with a sigh she took out another skeleton key and fumbled around until she had the door unlocked. They quickly piled through back into light and sound.
"That was a total horror show!" Harmony shouted. "I don't know how you were so chill."
"It certainly wasn't comfortable," Giles admitted. "But it's over and we have to move on. Buffy, I don't suppose you actually found the key?"
"Had to use a skip," she replied. "One skeleton key left."
"We have less than five minutes now," Nate said, looking dour.
"Don't worry, we've got this no problem," Buffy said, more confidently than she felt.
The current room was small and simple. The was a big obnoxious portrait of Sour on the wall opposite the glass, a big pedestal in the middle of the room, and some pieces of what looked like scrap metal scattered around in some rubble.
Giles had gone to pick one up. "Interesting. This almost looks like some kind of statuary? Perhaps a bust."
"I think it's part of Sour!" Harmony said. "That's his little stuck out chin thing, just like in that picture! All this other junk is probably more of him."
"Maybe we're supposed to put them all together?" Nate said.
They all rounded up some more of the metal pieces over to the pedestal and started to put them together. Buffy laid in something that looked like a base, and Giles tried to put the jaw over that, but it didn't really fit.
"I think you're missing the neck there," Harmony said, fishing around for it.
"Well, you would know," Giles snarked.
"Do people never stop with these vampire jokes?" Harmony complained.
"It's your destiny now," Buffy said solemnly. She tried to stack up the part with his nose, but it was sticking out weird.
"Buffy, that's upside down." Giles fixed it, but then when he was trying to put on the next level there was a piece on it extending down that wouldn't lock in.
"I think the pedestal is actually backwards, look at the textures," Nate suggested quietly from the back.
Buffy tried to pick it up and spin it around for him, but it wouldn't go down right. "Are you sure we aren't just supposed to smash it? I could smash it."
"We don't have the skips left to take risks, Buffy," Giles warned.
"I know, I know, I'm just saying."
Harmony picked it up and put it down again, and this time it went in. "Look! I'm a genius!"
"Of course, a genius. You picked it up and put it back down." Giles said.
Meanwhile Buffy was trying to fit on the top of the head, but it had a big pipe that extended down through the statue and wouldn't go all the way. "I could force it. Maybe it's just stuck."
"I think the neck is upside down too, actually," Nate cut in.
"Oh. Or we could fix that," Buffy said. When she did, everything seemed to clamp down easier, and after spinning the top around a few times to line it up right, it sank in and locked. Right when it did, a key fell out of the ceiling and landed on top of it. Buffy grabbed it up, and it promptly disintegrated into dust. Of course a puzzle this obnoxious would be the other fake key.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Nate said.
"We still have over two minutes for the last room, we can do it," Buffy pulled out the last skeleton key and opened the door to the last room. No more free passes, it was do or die.
This door led to a featureless tunnel that spiraled down. Buffy had the sense this wasn't the kind of tunnel meant for hiding things and booked it, staying well ahead with Harmony hot on her heels. The other two would catch up, and extra time could be critical. Her hunch proved right as the tunnel emerged out of the floor of the main cavern again, under a glass dome.
The announcer's voice boomed out "AND NOW FOR YOUR THRILLING CONCLUSION, A BATTLE BETWEEN THE VAMPIRE SLAYER AND TODAY'S DUNGEON GUARD, A DULE FANSA!" So the masses wanted their bloodsport. That was fine; she could do timed slaying.
The thing across from her looked more bizarre than most demons. It was big, and purple, and had an ugly, bitey face in its chest. It had four muscular pointy arms too, and Buffy felt like that was where the real trouble would be. The last door was on the other side of their little arena, but of course the key was embedded deep in the demon's forehead (forechest?) Slaying would not be optional.
She didn't have any time to dance around, so she just readied her hammer and charged it, looking to see what it would do. As she'd half expected, one of the arms shot out at her, but the speed and reach were impossibly far; the thing was like a rocket. She did a little flip, still managing to dodge, but the second arm winged her in the side and the third would've gutted her stomach between the two piece if she hadn't parried with her hammer. The crowd cheered wildly.
She took a defensive position, expecting the fourth, but it kept it back, and instead retracted the other three arms, shlooping them back up into its shoulders. She would've liked to go for one of the arms when vulnerable, but needing to keep conscious of the fourth limited her movement enough that they managed to all pull away safely.
She anticipated it's next set of attacks and started to run around it radially to make herself harder to hit. She had to close with it, but hoped Harmony would appear soon to create a distraction. This thing was dangerous, but it did stabbing, not cutting. Harmony would survive a few stabs.
Just as she hoped, Harmony joined the scene opposite Buffy, letting them flank the thing. She charged in at it and it took a sideways stance, trying to fire arms at the both of them to keep them back.
Harmony didn't do so well, with one glancing blow and then the other one digging into her stomach. Well, she'd wanted some murder tonight, and she'd be fine. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the audience made some sympathetic noises. Harmony was a crowd favorite here.
KILL
Buffy did considerably better, easily dodging the mere two arms launched at her and then pulverizing the weird structures inside one of them as it was trying to retract. It stopped retracting after that, and the creature screamed with a grating demon noise.
With Harmony wounded, it turned again, trying to fight her, but it was clumsy now where it had been sure before, and it was missing one of its weapons. She dodged two arms again, batted the third away, and then she'd finally closed with it, and dealt a savage blow to its shoulder with her hammer right in the space between two of its functional arms.
It was staggered to the ground, and after that Buffy hit it again, and again, and again. The last blow cracked whatever passed for its skull, and then with her free hand Buffy ripped out the key. Amid the roars of the crowd, she made a dash for the door and unlocked it, throwing it open.
Behind her, Giles and Nate had grabbed Harmony up by the shoulders and were making their way to the door too. Buffy went back to relieve them, grabbing her up under the shoulders and with her occupied arm under the knees, and the whole group crossed over the finish line. The frozen clock on the projector read '00:51'. Plenty of time.
"And there you have it!" Sour shouted to the cheering crowd. "Our first grand prize winners after a twelve episode drought, here are Buffy, Harmony, Ripper, and Nathaniel, on the Sunnydale Hellmouth!" The lights in the ceiling spun crazily, and tacky victory music played as the demon girls took out the Crown and brought it over, giving it to Nate only after it was clear Buffy had her hands full. He was so shocked that he almost dropped it.
The audience bleachers started to rotate back into the cave, and all the other stuff started to sink underground or back into the walls as well. Sour took the moment to get a last word for the cameras, "Don't forget to patronize this episode's sponsors: Silkworm, Pan-Where, and Lost Hours! And don't forget to recycle your bone waste; hellhounds have to eat too!"
With that, the music petered out, the audience finished rotating away, and the lights dimmed. Sour, however, remained. He didn't say anything, but Buffy was too curious to let the silence hang.
"I'm a little surprised, really. I mean, no tricks, no take-backs? You're just letting us win?" It felt a little awkward to have this conversation with Harmony half-insensate in her arms (she'd really tuckered herself out, and that wound was going to need to be bandaged.) But really, Buffy couldn't bring herself to just put her down on the cave floor after her brave attack, so she just rolled with the situation. Harmony was still pretty wet too, not to mention the blood, but at least what Buffy was wearing basically repelled water.
He shrugged. "You were good sports and played well. I like collecting souls as much as anyone, but if people don't win sometimes, everyone will say your game is rigged."
"Baseless slander, I'm sure," Giles said.
Sour rolled his eyes, ignoring him, "Besides, Buffy, I have an eye for people, and I can tell you're going places. Fast. Maybe when you get there, you'll remember your old pal Sour, who did you a good turn?"
Then there was a moment that seemed like the static between changing channels, and Sour was gone. Giles turned on a flashlight to fill the sudden darkness, and saw that in his place was a box full of miscellaneous stuff. Nate was still awestruck by the Crown in his hands, looking almost like he didn't believe that anything could ever actually go this right.
Meanwhile, Giles was looking through the box. "Buffy, your clothes are here; they appear to have been professionally cleaned… and there are some manuals for these watches." He paused. "And I think these are tapes?"
"Of what?" she asked.
He inspected one carefully, as if it might bite him. "You Bet Your Soul. Sunnydale Edition."
Harmony seemed to perk back up at that, "Yes! I need to show everyone!"
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Next Time, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ever since the breakup with Angel was painfully finalized, Buffy has been searching the sea for other fish. Romance is running amok in the hot summer air, but who will it be with?
[] Warren Mears, local businessman
[] Sam Lockett, SDCW member
[] Nathaniel Smith, sorcerer noble
[X] Warren Mears, local businessman
[X] Harmony Kendall, teen vampire
So of the three provided options I think that Warren is the best option, despite the various downsides. Getting those out there he clearly could end up going evil, and has a degree of inclination towards violence and technomagical thuggery and deceit to solve his problems. On the other hand we picked him up a couple years before he really starts to self destruct when katrina dumps him over his previous girlfriend robot, so things are starting from a much saner base level. Also violent thuggery is kind of Buffy's claim to fame, so picking someone that is ready to dive in on that is a real plus. His upsides to me are that when he went on an adventure he immediately jumped in with violence, he actually seems confident about things, and sooner or later he is going to start popping out killbots.
If Nate wasn't quite so much of a sad sack I'd probably be willing to vote for him too, but honestly he just seems a bit too pathetic. This isn't season 1, constantly being surprised that things worked out and so browbeaten by his parents that he expects to fail just don't add up to someone that I think can keep up with Buffy for long. Also I expect if things do go well with him it is going to lead to an explosion with Joyce. I expect if he gets more confident he would be more than willing to point out that Joyce is closer to his parents than Buffy likes to acknowledge when she isn't high on shrooms or bloodlust.
Sam seems ok, but I don't have that much to say about him. I am willing to bet the plotlines he would have been big in did not get voted in, so he seems a bit more like an everyman than I want to vote for.
As to the Harmony write in, well she is clearly crushing incredibly hard. She spends as much time as she can around Buffy, has been finding out more about her background history and interests, and honestly shares alot of Buffy's hobbies in the form of murder and adventuring. She is less likely to randomly die if things go to absolute shit, and she has honestly just been a really fun character to read about. Also Buffy liked Angel's temperature, so why not just stick with dating vampires?
The big risks there are mainly if Deanno is willing to have Buffy be at least a bit bisexual as she was in the comics, and whether or not Harmony is going to end up being a bit too shallow for this to work out. We would have to be a bit delicate about ending things with her if they really did not work out, because she is still a soulless demon, but canon has shown that those can fall for people just fine and so I am willing to give this a shot.
[X] Harmony Kendall, teen vampire
So of the three provided options I think that Warren is the best option, despite the various downsides. Getting those out there he clearly could end up going evil, and has a degree of inclination towards violence and technomagical thuggery and deceit to solve his problems. On the other hand we picked him up a couple years before he really starts to self destruct when katrina dumps him over his previous girlfriend robot, so things are starting from a much saner base level. Also violent thuggery is kind of Buffy's claim to fame, so picking someone that is ready to dive in on that is a real plus. His upsides to me are that when he went on an adventure he immediately jumped in with violence, he actually seems confident about things, and sooner or later he is going to start popping out killbots.
If Nate wasn't quite so much of a sad sack I'd probably be willing to vote for him too, but honestly he just seems a bit too pathetic. This isn't season 1, constantly being surprised that things worked out and so browbeaten by his parents that he expects to fail just don't add up to someone that I think can keep up with Buffy for long. Also I expect if things do go well with him it is going to lead to an explosion with Joyce. I expect if he gets more confident he would be more than willing to point out that Joyce is closer to his parents than Buffy likes to acknowledge when she isn't high on shrooms or bloodlust.
Sam seems ok, but I don't have that much to say about him. I am willing to bet the plotlines he would have been big in did not get voted in, so he seems a bit more like an everyman than I want to vote for.
As to the Harmony write in, well she is clearly crushing incredibly hard. She spends as much time as she can around Buffy, has been finding out more about her background history and interests, and honestly shares alot of Buffy's hobbies in the form of murder and adventuring. She is less likely to randomly die if things go to absolute shit, and she has honestly just been a really fun character to read about. Also Buffy liked Angel's temperature, so why not just stick with dating vampires?
The big risks there are mainly if Deanno is willing to have Buffy be at least a bit bisexual as she was in the comics, and whether or not Harmony is going to end up being a bit too shallow for this to work out. We would have to be a bit delicate about ending things with her if they really did not work out, because she is still a soulless demon, but canon has shown that those can fall for people just fine and so I am willing to give this a shot.
[x] Nathaniel Smith, sorcerer noble
I think he will be the most enjoyable train wreck to see. Wareen we need so that he can continue to make us money. Sam is a nice guy who does not deserve the horror of dating Buffy. Nathaniel would be hilarious and provide maximum entertainment.
I think he will be the most enjoyable train wreck to see. Wareen we need so that he can continue to make us money. Sam is a nice guy who does not deserve the horror of dating Buffy. Nathaniel would be hilarious and provide maximum entertainment.
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[x] Nathaniel Smith, sorcerer noble
- Location
- St. Petersburg
:lol
That was a fun arc.
Although it feels like there is something missing... can't quite put my finger on it...
K I L L
Ah, maybe next time.
[x] Nathaniel Smith, sorcerer noble
I'd rather not go there at all, but this is Buffy, so I'll just pick something that will burn to the ground with what looks like the least amount of collateral damage.
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- Location
- Germany
[X] Sam Lockett, SDCW member
Seems less likely to go catastrophically wrong than the other two?
I mean, can't really see it work out, but I'm sure Warren would end up much worse and Nathaniel will come with family-issues en masse.
Seems less likely to go catastrophically wrong than the other two?
I mean, can't really see it work out, but I'm sure Warren would end up much worse and Nathaniel will come with family-issues en masse.
