"Oh thank god." Drake Stone declares, and you can feel the mood of the remaining crowd agree with him. There's only so many square dances you can perform a jig before you tear your own feet off.
Heh. Everyone's desperate for a reprieve.
"Do not waste your time, simpletons!" Winnifred screeched mockingly. "Thine choice of funeral dirge shall not save thee. We cannot be defeat-"
Janna Occult Check: 90+12+10+55=171
Winnifred Occult Contest: 56+30+20+20+5=131
Another burst of flame incinerated the witches. The various undead stared dumbly for a few seconds until they burst out of a nearby alley.
"We cannot-"
Janna Occult Check: 64+12+10+55=141
Winnifred Occult Contest: 62+30+20+20+5=137
This time Janna electrocuted them, leaving them singed but still standing.
"I feel as though thou art not getting this."
Ah, the classics. They never cease to entertain, nor grow old.
Max Diplomacy Check
DC 100 needed: 87+13+10+14+10=134
Success!
The duck-billed skeleton stared at Max for a moment, then tilted its head. A couple of them rubbed their chins.
Holy wow, that actually worked. Looks like Max is really getting into this.
"Don't question it." Max whispered out of the corner of his mouth. Seems like he's finally learning.
FINALLY!! I was getting worried there. Seems we won't need that lecture after all.
"She just used that, uh, teleport-thingy you gave her. Dunno why she didn't use it earlier, but… oh well."
Why
didn't she use that earlier?
"Are you sure you wanna do the whole 'shout name of attack to attack' focusing? I always preferred the 'glare menacingly as dark magic flows through your body and your very orifices glow with baleful light' method."
"I'm proving a point and getting some practice in! What's the use in coming up with a cool spell name if you enemies don't get to hear it before they die?"
Exactly! Everyone knows that attacks are 50% more accurate, focused, and damaging when you call out the attack name!
There is science behind this!!
"A churchyard?" Russ suggests.
"'T'woud do it."
Janna Intrigue Check: Formulate a plan!
DC 100 needed:
67+20+10+38+10=145
"I may have an idea." Janna says, before sildling over to the auction block.
Ohhh, boy. I'm not sure whether to be excited or terrified.
"Sisters! Hand me the Manual. I shall find a spell within its pages to turn this entire cavalcade of trinkets to dust upon the wind!"
There is a pause.
"Sisters? Why are you not handing me the book?"
Sarah shrugs.
"I thought you had it." Mary says.
"Where hast it gone?!?!" Winnifred screams.
"Uhhh, it didn't burn up did it?"
"Nay! Not even the fires of hell could singe it! It must be here somewhere sister! Quickly, sear-!"
"Hey fugly!" Janna yells, holding up a thick, soot-blackened tome. "Lookin' for this?"
"THE BOOK!!!" All three of them screech in unison.
Pffffft! Oh my gosh, did they
really lose the book in between all of those attacks?! That's so lame!!
The portal building?!?
Wait a second. Is Janna leading you out into the streets of New York?!
Oh, crap, Masquerade's gonna break like-!!
"Uhhh, guys? Not to be a stickler, but…"
"Horvath, Pandarus! Put up the best glamours you can manage!" Russ declares. "Everyone else, just act like this is normal! It's Halloween night! This worked in '71, it'll work now!"
Intrigue check: Disguise this walking disaster area!
DC 130
21+14+38+10+5+50(glamour)=138
Bare success!
Working together, the two dark wizards manage to throw up a glamour charm before anyone on the outside can notice anything's amiss! Of course, it doesn't make the patrons of Grand Central Station ignore the mass of strangers dance-running in their midst, but it does manage to gloss over some fine details in their minds. It's Halloween night! Of course it makes sense for there to be a Thriller flash mob! Those zombie costumes are really good, and whoever set this thing up was dedicated. Okay, so one or two of the smarter people are looking at you oddly, and several children scream and run crying. You're willing to call this a success.
*relieved sigh* Thank goodness, we're not
completely insane and we're surrounded by competent occult people.
"Two miles." Horvath replies impassively, using a bit of magic to join you in hovering over the street at a decent clip.
Max blanches. "Oh boy."
In the words of the immortal Gimli, son of Gloin, "Here's hoping they last the night."
Janna Intrigue Check: One last Trick with a Treat
79+20+45+20(almost perfect bait)=164
Winnifred Opposed Intrigue Contest:73+12+13+5=103
"There is nowhere left to run, child!" Winnifred cackles. "Give me the book!"
"Come and... get it." Janna panted, still getting her breath back from doing two miles in less than fourteen minutes.
Heedless and blind to the world, Winnifred soared forwards and snatched the tome out of Janna's hands.
"At last at last!" Winnifred cackled. "No more delays, I will know the recipe posthaste!" She flipped the book open. "Let me see, I remember the boil, the pox, the piece of my own tongue-"
"Dead man's toe!" Sarah supplied.
"Yes yes dead man's toe. All I need to check is-" Winnifred looked down at the page. "ONE POUND DICED PINEAPPLE?!?!?!"
"Gotcha." Janna smirked, yanking the Mad Mojo Cookbook out of Winnifred's hands and running Feldrake down the side of the witch's broom like a match. A moment later his eyes caught on fire.
"Uh oh." All three witches said together.
Janna Occult Check: Torch the rides: 92+10+12+55=169
Winnifred Occult Check: Resist 78+30+20+20+5-20(hallowed ground)=133
Sparks lept from Feldrake's eyes, and within seconds a broom, a mop and, quite inexplicably, a vacuum all burst into flame. All three witches tumbled down to ground level as you and the rest of your strange, strange cavalcade made it into the churchyard. Bereft of updated orders, the various skeletons and zombies began wandering through the gate, shuddering for a moment, and then bursting into dust.
WOO-HOO!! FINALLY!! Take
that, witches~!!! *delirious laughter*
"You picked the wrong party to crash." You say, repeating something you saw in a movie once. You realize after a second you have the threatening tones of Vincent Price backing you up, which is probably helping the evil gloating a lot. "Why if I had a nickel for every time a major social event I attended turned into a fight to the death, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but still, weird that it happens twice, right?"
You pause for a moment, not sure how to swing this back to intimidating, but then you realize the song is finally ending and the perfect opportunity presents itself.
You and Vincent Price laugh in perfect synchronicity.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ahahaha."
Wow. If we hadn't impressed anyone before, we sure did with
that stunt. (Also, bravo MiH! A reference to the Sands Gala
and Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension. Well done, my friend)
Winnifred scrambles up from the holy ground, and screeches as her feet begin to steam and glow beneath her. "Accursed child! Accursed apothecary! Accursed wizards and witches all!"
Winnifred Occult Check: Spit one last curse
87+30+20+20+5+30 (Dramatic Last Words)=192
Doofenshmirtz Occult Contest:
33+4+20(I do the cursing around here)+45+30 (Hallowed Ground Bonus)=132
You feel a terrible wind whip through the cemetery as the witches begin to chant. You can hear Puck try to drown them out with his own witty repartee, but for some reason he sounds like he's coming from the other end of the tunnel.
"Hear me well and hear me wise, though meet we now with our demise. To stone we turn on hallowed ground, but peace, respite will not be found! With my last breath I do intone- thine doom as well, will come through Stone! I damn my soul now unencumbered. This city's days, I say, are numbered!"
Something has been sped up.
To Be Continued in: Twelfth Night
Ulp. I didn't see the invisitext until I highlighted all of this to quote it. Buckle your seatbelts, kids. Our one-year deadline seems to have been moved up
drastically.
"Doofenshmirtz… I wanted to thank you for helping deal with the breach we almost had tonight."
"Eh?"
"The witches. And the dancing parade of zombies. And… so on."
"Oh. Uh, yeah. No problem, I guess."
Russ sighs.
"Doctor, it's becoming clearer by the day that you do have good intentions-"
"Evil." you correct him.
"Sure. The point is. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, and I hope that you recognize why, for the time being, being too brazen with magic would."
You grimace. You were half-expecting something like this. "I know, I know. But just think of everything I could accomplish! Potions in every drug store! A massive boom to the lawn gnome industry! A magical L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N! ...Okay, maybe not a magical L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N."
"I wish I could say the Huntsclan was unique." Russ says quietly. "They're not. I've had a lot of cases where the big bad monster ended up being the aggrieved party. Sometimes… sometimes I was too late."
You sit in silence for a moment.
"Xanatos is right." Russ admits. "Even if he was being very… manipulative. I know it's hard Doctor, but please. For their good. Keep their secrets."
What do you say?
[ ] "All right, I get it. I'll keep things on the down low for now."
[ ] "You're wrong, and I'll prove it to you."
You and Russ part ways again, still feeling uncomfortable. You guess you know what Russ does when he's not around you now. He comes up with nasty arguments for tough moral questions.
Yeesh. In-depth conversation with Russ. Jeez. Really punch us in the moral center, there. I could honestly go either way.
A shadow slipped through the bazaar, hood pulled over their head. This was not particularly unusual, nor was the simple wooden staff they carried. What might be slightly unusual is how it complained.
"Come on, you can't just glamor Lord Feldrake! I'm a magnificent magical power source, I deserve respect!
"Shhh." Janna whispered. "Hold on."
Arriving back at the still-deserted square, Janna slipped over to the set of scorched flagstones that was the site of the Sanderson Sisters' repeated incinerations.
"They said it wouldn't burn, they said it wouldn't-"
Janna smiled. There, sitting on the ground in front of her, hidden under collapsed tinder but remarkably unharmed, was the Manual of Witchcraft and Alchemy.
"Janna, you're my favorite apprentice."
"And you're my favorite evil artifact."
"We should really see about figuring out how to get you to cast magic on your own one of these-"
Suddenly, the book's one grisly eye snapped open, staring at the world with bloodshot menace.
Janna poked it.
The eye blinked.
"Boop."
[ ] Yoink the Book (Moderate Intrigue Check to avoid anyone seeing you take it)
[ ] Return the Book to the dark wizard Pandarus (Hard Diplomacy Check to not take it- come on, it's Janna)
Yoink it. It'll be
way too difficult to convince Janna to part with that thing without drawing unwanted attention. Besides, Monty Hall was gonna use the Crystal key for a game show from the Black Lagoon! I do
not trust him or his boss with a book from Hell.
From an alcove, another figure skulked. This one popped open a small device, and Molly spoke in her angry, synthetic tones.
"Yes. He was here. That item you were worried about? He bought it." Molly paused a moment. "And he had a wizard with him. Strong. She called herself…"
"Lord Feldrake."
Woah. Allegiances. She's not working for Xanatos, they seem to hate each other's guts. And what could we have bought that concerns her? The scrolls and the amulet make sense, but so does-
The key.
With extradimensional travel capabilities.
Which would put us on equal footing in manuverability with-
HOLY SHIT, DOES MOLLY WORK FOR TOFFEE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Quest: Moolah and Magic completed!
Janna has met up with Brocamas! She can do jobs for the leprechaun and possibly obtain magical items in return! 'Work for Brocamas' Personal Action unlocked!
Multiverse's Best Sandwich, Scrolls of Jo-Lan, Crystal Key, and Yáng Talisman obtained!
You have made a reasonable first impression on the Glooms! This warlock duo is of… questionable competence, to say the least, but they do seem to know quite a bit about the interdimensional scene, and they also have a couple magical artifacts on hand. They have been added to your Rolodex!
You have made a decent first impression on Magica De Spell! The witch will be open to buying unwanted magical artifacts off of you in the future.
You (well, Janna, but close enough) have made a favorable first impression on Eli Pandarus, who has suggested he would be open to a collaboration in the future!
Janna has made a favorable first impression on Maxim Horvath! He suggested that he might be willing to part with an Encantus at a future date, but not for money!
Open Ties to Magical New York Diplomacy action unlocked!
Networking in public among prominent movers and shakers has let people see you for what you truly are. Most people in the know now think that you're a moron, but one who gets things done regardless, and the people you surround yourself with are clearly formidable. 'Diseased Lunatic of Danville' now only provides an increase of 7 to any Intrigue actions made against DEI.
Doof's Intrigue has increased by 3! Janna's Intrigue has increased by 2! Janna's Occult has increased by 3!
Agent Russ' Occult score revealed to be 15! Agent Russ is not a spell slinger, but he has spent decades dealing with them.
Sa-weet! Shame about the Diseased Lunatic, but we've opened so many diplomatic channels and got some stat boosts! I also want to know about Max's Tooned Out trait, it doesn't say anything about that here. Do we have to talk to Max about it?
'Doof Troop' has been removed from Janna, Max, and Vanessa. This trait was a bit more problematic than we initially planned. We were hasty in handing it out after the company retreat and realized too late that the three of them have very little in common. This makes it a bit complicated to write as they don't play off of each other very well, and it's also unfair for you to use. The quests Janna is in highest demand on are the ones Max hates and Vanessa is forbidden from attending. If we're going to develop them properly, we need to start putting them in positions where they can actually develop.
Don't worry about the loss of a quest team, though. Barring catastrophe, you'll be getting a new trait in the near future.
The Marcnificent Few.
Oh. That's a shame. Still though, opens up a bunch of avenues we didn't have before! And I'm really hoping if we continue the way we are now, we get that mentioned trait!
Overall, pretty good ending! Bit nervous about that curse, of course, but this could have turned out a lot worse. I, for one, am happy with the results.