TAU IV: It's a small world after all

Post by **Drainial** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:37 pm

The Tzeentchen cultists kept a wary eye on one another as they walked together through halls of glass far beneath the surface of the earth; above them they knew were the great northern wastes but how far above none could know. This deep into the frozen north time was a malleable thing, it was difficult to tell whether they had been walking for hours or days, nor did it matter.

The cultists were as disparate a band as anyone could wish to see, an eclectic blend of nationalities, and walks of life; many were called to the service of the weaver of fate and each had their own reasons, or thought that they did.

After hours of marching, or was it weeks? Or moments? They emerged into a cavernous room which stretched further than the eye could see. The walls were of crystal shimmering with twisting colours, a sight to bend the mind and warp the senses, but walls are ever the least wondrous thing about a place, simply a way to separate one thing from another and keep out the wind. The truly fabulous thing, the thing that they had all come to see was far smaller and much, much more valuable.

An arch, nine feet high and slender (or so it appeared) stood unsupported at the centre of the great chamber. Constructed from warp stone it was a treasure beyond price, but even that was not what they had come to see, no they had not come for what the arch was but rather for what the arch could do. The centre of the black portal, clear and empty one moment, crackled into life; a golden light shimmering with arcane energies filled the space as the crowd of cultists gathered round.

No being emerged, no face appeared but a voice filled the minds of the Tzeentchens, a voice fairly dripping with power and madness.
"Welcome my servants," the cultists attempted to ignore the echo which sounded far too much like 'playthings' for their comfort.
"You have been called to prove your worth; you have been called so that I might find one worthy of ascendance. You have been called to the hall of prophecy; you have been called to the games.

"You creatures of flesh and skin, you think yourselves worthy of daemon hood, we shall see. The games shall test you more thoroughly than any task you have before undertaken. Manipulation, magical puissance, strength of will, breadth of mind; all of these things shall be tested and only one may triumph. The games shall be long and rarely will you be gathered, but it is time now to begin. You shall be scattered to my many realms and my higher slaves shall be your tormentors and guides; the greatest of you shall flourish, those who are not worthy shall surely perish.

"Now, let the games begin."

_______________________________________________________________________

It was the laughter which woke them, a kind of giggling cackle which sounded playful in its way but at the same time boded nothing good. Opening their eyes the gathered mortals gazed up at the sky, at least they thought it was the sky; it was certainly where the sky ought to be but it was more green than usual, and had considerably more squids in it.

Sitting up they found that the sky was not the only thing which had changed; the ground on which they sat was made of stone, almost. Almost because few stones in the mortal world were quite so comfortable or squeaked when you poked them.

All around people and creatures from around the world were gathered, all looking similarly bemused and disoriented despite the fact that many of them were so different. In fact only one person present was not sprawled on the floor and it is difficult to say whether they could be called a person at all.

For one thing they were ten feet tall, for another in all of those ten feet not one inch was given over to arms, legs or torso. It was in fact a floating head, a smiling floating head. After these facts had been assimilated the fact that it was blue and had four eyes were really less important, not that they could be overlooked completely.

"Hello mortals," the giant head said in a jovial tone "As the more perceptive of you may have realised this is not your own world, it is a realm of my own devising, a realm of dreams you might almost say.

"You are here to play a little game bags of meat and the winners get to go home. Two of you are servants of mine and they will be trying to kill you, because otherwise they don't get to live. Your job is to kill them, because otherwise you don't get to live, or to leave. No fighting though, this is a game of the mind, majority vote shall be your swords honest men and women. Pray to your gods for help if you like, it won’t do any good in here of course, but you are welcome to try.

"One last thing, this is a dreamland, you can create any inanimate object you desire by wishing it present, don't abuse this gift though mortals or I will turn you into a sausage. Bye bye." With that the great daemon head vanished leaving eleven confused individuals uprooted from their homes all casting about for the guilty, unless they knew already of course.

I hereby declare TAU IV, it's a small world after all, to be open. Please await your roles by PM and read them before creating a character and posting. It is now day which will last approximately 72 hours unless a majority is reached first. Have fun -Drainial

Belial · Post by **Belial** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:20 pm

"Well, that was rather unsettling", a sharp, female voice said, almost as if to herself. "You gotta stop eating cheese before going to bed, Yana."

Some of those looking to see who spoke, would wonder at this weird girl, barely larger than a child, still with oddly adult proportions. Others, who knew of such creatures, would know her to be a halfling.

Her thick auburn hair was bound in two pony tails, that framed the young, but serious face. Clad in dark brown leather armor, with various pouches and pockets, she looked like a shifty sort, the sort you'd rather tell the combination to your safe.

"Heh. I'd say this is the weirdest dream I've had yet..."

Meteor · Post by **Meteor** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:58 am

"First it was the heated discussion about swallows and coconuts, and now a Daemon game. This is sure troublesome..." Morr pouted when he gained consciousness in this realm.

Scratching his hair as a habit when confused and idle, he surveyed his surroundings and was bemused.

Well this isn't a very fanciful dream when there isn't an assortment of creatures participating. Rather, it looks like an intelligent lot. Jacks thought to himself, unable to decide whether he should take the weird bloated head's words seriously, or bat it off as a very bizarre dream. The fact that the sky was pretty and the stones soft and squeaky like a bed mattress didn't help him decide.

An African Swallow and an European Swallow, each with a coconut tied to them suddenly appeared in front of Morr.

"Well that part is true..." Morr mumbled as they flew off, or rather, tried to fly. Yet it still didn't help convince him, or rather, he didn't want to be convinced.

He was rather conscious of the fact that he had his own self awareness, a little too aware for an ordinary dream.

Only one way to find out..

"Hello!" he bellowed to the other ten strangers, feeling like an idiot. "Do you have your own self awareness? Or am I just going batty?

He hoped he was going batty, anything is better than being dragged into a sick daemonic game.

Human, male, short and stocky. Pleased to participate, let us have some fun!

Deroth · Post by **Deroth** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:12 am

"Well Yana I would say you are not far wrong, this would certainly be the wierdest dream but yet I don't think it is, as for you strange man you might be batty but this still appears to be a daemonic game."

The white robed man stood and looked around bemused, he then conjured up a comfortable seat and a bottle of wine and sat down in the chair. Stroking his long white beard he looked around and saw the others standing around, deciding to introduce himself he put the wine down onto a table, again conjured out of thin air and stood for the moment.

"I am Herod, a mage from the light order in Altdorf and unfortunately this place is real, well real in the way that we are here and won't be leaving until we fulfil our task. Don't ask about it's state in reality though im not sure even I can answer that."

"Well im going to drink more wine, come and introduce yourselves, the more the merrier I say", and with that he sat back down in his chair and started on the bottle of wine.

Lord damian valar · Post by **Lord damian valar** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:20 am

The Elf looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was dressed in full armour, silvery embroidered elven plate over delicate chain links. A long Elven blade with a large ember stone in the hilt rested at his side and the high helm on his head shaped in the cone like fashion of the Elves of Ulthuan. The crest on his breastplate and cloak, for any that would know, sported the sigil of the Realm of Caledor.

Looking over the assembled crowd, he removed his helmed, revealing a fair, but strong face, with long dark hair, bound together in a long warriors tail. Taking a few long strides towards the now talking individuals, he makes a short inclination of his head as he speaks:

“Good day to you all. My name is Vaelen, Leuitenant of the Royal guard of Caledor. Forgive my short introduction, but it has been some time since I have spoken in the common tongue.”

.

Draknir · Post by **Draknir** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:04 am

A raspy shout tore the atmosphere, as a scruffy, dark-haired man stumbled up from the ground. His hair was black and oily with silvery bushes on his temples, his mustache was thick and beard unkempt. He was wearing a leather apron with various craftsman's tools strapped to it; it was obvious that he was taken from the middle of his workshop, judging from the large oil stains.

"Bleedin' 'ell! The second time this month I be findin' meself kidnapped by demons. Dammit I'm popular in these circles."

The man dug up a large, possibly white handkerchief and wiped his forehead of sweat.

"I be Hugo, 2nd degree master at the Miragliano Guild of Engineers, a pirate who has mended his ways, and a bleedin' abductee as well, apparently. There I was, workin' on me new invention, and suddenly there be a bleedin' 'uge yoink and here I am... those bleedin' devils. If I get out of 'ere alive, I be hirin' a bleedin' wizard tae draw circles around me."

Dragonsbreath · Post by **Dragonsbreath** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:15 am

The hunched ratman watched the conversation with a detatched interest, though his pierced ears did pick up when the half-thing mentioned cheese.
"This place very strange," he muttered to himself, prodding at the bizzare floor tentatively. When the dirty man-thing had finished his introduction, the skaven puffed out his chest imperiously,
"I am Grey Seer Skabslik, very powerful sorcerer, yes-yes"

Absently, Skabslik noted that his staff was missing. True to the daemon head's words, a gnarled stave appeared in his clawed hand as the Grey seer wished for one. Looking shiftily at the others, he made a second wish. A large lump of warpstone appeared in his other hand. The Grey Seer's eyes widened,
"This place not so bad-bad," he commented.

Belial · Post by **Belial** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:50 am

"This dream just keeps getting weirder and weirder... I just hope I'll remember this on the morrow...", Yana muttered, mostly to herself.

"Wait..." she says, and seems to consider something for a moment. A sandwhich, content unknown, appears in her hand, prompting a big smile from the halfling.

"Well, despite the weirdness of this place, and the weirdness of you men, elves and... er... rat... wizard... thing...,"
A brief pause
"er, this sounds like fun. Like a... murder mystery sort of thing? Captain Ketchup in the library, with a chandelier? I'm in. How do we do this?"
Another brif pause, then a worried look.

"Oi! You, wizard! Can dreams kill?"

Deroth · Post by **Deroth** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:05 pm

Looking up from the wine Herod rubbed his beard while he considered the question, "Well I would say any normal dream can't kill but this is certainly no normal dream and when magic is involved anything is possible so as far as I am concerned, yes dreams can kill.."

"Things may seem peachy now with the ability to conjure things but I'm pretty sure the negatives, like death, are worth it."

Smiler666 · Post by **Smiler666** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:36 pm

"By my beard, last i knew i was happily asleep dreaming of a beautiful dwarven maiden and... *ahem* and then i wake up amongst elves and wizards, thats a fair step in quality of company as far as im concerned, and not a pleasant direction." grumbled the particularly stocky dwarf to himself.

his eyes narrowed between his thick greying hair and beard, taking in the scene around him, before straightening his gold chased crimson tunic and bowing low, "I, Glorin son of Florin, lord of the western halls and master of the trade gardens, put myself at your service"

Draknir · Post by **Draknir** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:00 pm

Hugo shivered at the idea of a beautiful dwarven maiden.

"I don't know about ye lot, but I know what I need."

In a humorous popping sound, a sturdy wheel-lock pistol, fully loaded, materialized in Hugo's hand.

"Just so that you know, I'm not goinna shoot any of you. This be for meself, as I won't be lettin' any bleedin' devil get me body or soul. Not yet, though, not yet. I be countin' on we bein' smart enough for these bastards."

Hugo attached the gun to a strap on his leather apron and sat down on the floor, stroking his beard.

"We be needin' some kind of plan to deduce who is, in fact, a servant of that eyey thing. And when I ask for tactics, I'm looking at you, Elves; you are a crafty lot, and you might indeed be able to devise a scheme for this. My plan would be to pull everyone's trousers down and see who's got tentacles up 'is bleedin' backside, heh heh heh."

Lord damian valar · Post by **Lord damian valar** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:19 pm

As the Skaven made himself present Vaelens eyes narrowed and his left hand was placed on the hilt of his sword, not drawing it, but his face betrayed nothing of the contempt he had for the creature.

Staying in this pose untill the Dwarf spoke his comment about the company of Elves. turning to the stocky one Vaelin speaks in the dwarven language: "I hail you Glorin, son of Florin. I know our races have had it's history intwined in perilous, but also glorious times. We have our differences, but as the older races we share our history against the Ruinous powers of Chaos beyond the younger races can comprehend. If you would will it so, let us put aside our grudges for the time being and work to survive this perilous scheme we have found ourselves in.."

As the strange and dirty Hugo adresses him, Vaelen looks at the man, obviously having difficulty understanding the mans heavy accent and seemingly not truly understanding the joke made he replies:" Yes.....thank you good man...I think."

After a short pause he continues: "The powers of Chaos are never a laughing matter. Allthough a dreamworld it may be, no good will come from it. Alas, as a soldier of Caledor, my knowledge of wizardry are limited. It seems although we are forced to play this game though, unless Master Herod knows of some magical way to see us home?"He looks at the white mage as he asks the question.

Dragonsbreath · Post by **Dragonsbreath** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:18 pm

Skabslik did not miss the elf-thing's reaction to his introduction, but chose to say nothing due to his proximity and the elven blade which rested at his side. However, when the elf made such a blatant display of ignoring Skabslik's obviously superior magical ability and knowledge in favor of the man-thing's surely limited comprehension, the Grey Seer could not help but chitter in annoyance,
"Foolish elf-thing, there is no other way out. We must play the game, yes-yes"

Drawing his tattered grey robe about himself, and consuming a small amount of the warpstone still clutched in his paw, the skaven considered the situation,
"The face said we must vote, find his servants and kill them, quick-quick before they kill us."

Smiler666 · Post by **Smiler666** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:52 pm

"very well Vaelen, we'll tolerate each other for now" agreed Glorin, extending his hand to shake.
"im impressed, very few elves still remember the tongue of my people"

turning suspiciously toward the skaven he adds,
"i would not be so fast to throw such suggestions around, master... Rat, there are still some of us who have not spoke our part, and your willingness to start killing members of our number is highly suspicious", also touching the hilt of the rune covered hand-ax that appeared by his side while he spoke.

Darkdoom · Post by **Darkdoom** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:51 pm

Besides Carnk himself the goblin did not see any other Greenskinn. Hesitant to speak the little green thing with a staff taller than himself, which had just appeared right in his hand spoke:
Bad magic, here, bad magic. But will not stop Crank. Crank wont have killed his master just for dieing here! Gonna be clan's shaman. WaaaAAAaaaAAaaaAAAAaaAAGHHH!!!!!
Due to his size the last part did not sound as impressive as intended.

Raneth · Post by **Raneth** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:24 pm

Rutger Von Mazzeltov awoke as if in a dream. A green baby elephant hit the young, profoundly hungover jester on the head with a giant pacifier: This is actually a dream! You're not awake at all. Though he believed the beast, Rutger felt hungry, and willed himself a mustard and ham sandwich. MOST EXCELLENT! He really, really liked mustard. Only now did he cast his eyes on his surroundings. So eclectic were they, Rutger had no idea his imagination could conceive of such brilliant and varied concepts. The elephant said the weird four-eyed thing was the leader of this dream, and all the creatures present were his honored guests.

THEN LET THERE BE MUSIC! Rutger exclaimed, quite uncaring of the others. A fine lute appeared in his hands, and he began to fiddle the most joyous tune he could think of to lighten everyone's spirit.

The blob of blue says VOTE!
Or else we will be smote
Forever trapped in here!
OH SAVE US, SIGMAR DEAR!

Lord damian valar · Post by **Lord damian valar** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:08 pm

As the Skaven spoke Vaelen took two steps toward it with a sneer on his fair face. The words of Glorin made him stop and turning to the Dwarf he shook his hand. "Oh, we remember bearded friend...We just do not speak it to spite your kind." Giving the dwarf a wink of the eye to make clear he made a jest.

Turning back on the Ratman, his face tunred serious once more. "It is votes you want foul spawn? How can we make votes when we do not even know eachother in the first place? I do know your kind however and you are the plague of this world.....trust me...you do not want me to make a vote just now!"

His gaze stays locked on the Skaven for some time, ignoring the screaming Goblin and the singing bard for the moment, waiting for the Skavens reply.

.

Dragonsbreath · Post by **Dragonsbreath** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:35 pm

As the elf-thing moved towards him, Skabslik bared his teeth aggressively, clutching his staff anxiously. However the creature merely began threatening the Grey Seer.
"I know your kind, elf-thing, taste good, not much meat" the skaven sneered in response - an unnerving expression for his rat-like features to adopt.

"You heard the face; vote to kill, find the servants, get to leave," Skabslik reiterated, as if giving instructions to a particularly stupid slave.
"Make votes on instinct, watch for mistakes,"

He took another bite of the glowing warpstone, chewing it reflectively while casting his eyes over the others.
"Why is that man-thing singing?" he asked at length

Dresden · Post by **Dresden** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:27 am

Skwee awoke, and his first thought that he'd finally gone and exposed himself to too much warpstione. Then he berated himself, saying
This is impossible, no such thing as too much warpstone. Even as he said it, a chunk of the stuff appered in the skaven's hand, followed by the prototype "enhanced" warplock pistal he had been working on previously. If deamon head-thing is right, no blow up here, would spoil its game, safe to experiment, not so bad, no-no.

It was only at the argument between the elf-thing and the Grey Seer that Skwee stopped talking to himself long enought to actually notice his companions. Probably at least in part in a sniviling attempt to curry favor for when he got out, and as a member of the superior race he never once questioned that he would, He immediately lept to Skabslik's defence. How dare elf-thing and dwarf-thing question a prophet of the Horned Rat. You will not talk down to your betters, no-no. Vote now, maybe get lucky, maybe trick head-thing slaves to reveal themselves, either way make progress. Only fear of sausagedom stops me from atomizing you on the spot. Come to think of it, what would warpstone weapon do in chaos-daemon place, wonder-wonder. Must test, maybe delay vote, stay a little longer...

At this point the warlock engineer wondered off muttering to himself, once again oblivious to everything around him.

Belial · Post by **Belial** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:52 am

"The furry bugger has a point, though. That horned one, that is. It's like a game, see? And we just have to play along. And according to the rules, I can't just stick a knife in your backs and be done with it. So we need to vote. And we need to move fast, right? The longer we wait, the longer time they have to get at us. So the way I see it, not only is the rat right, we should get that pot a rollin, but we should also pay some attention to the ones seeking to stall the vote..."

Taking a bite out of a newly onjured apple, Yana pauses briefly.

"And whaddaya know elf. That's you right now."

Lord damian valar · Post by **Lord damian valar** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:06 am

Vaelen looks at Yana with a frown:"These are skaven miss Yana. I take it this is the first time you encounter their species?"

He looks over from one ratmen to the other and points in Skabslick direction. "If you are wanting to urge into making votes, I will choose the vermin. That one! We have no way of knowing who is in line with the Deamon, but at least my vote shall not go to an innocent being."

Vote: Skabslik (Dragonsbreath)

.

(ooc: will be attending a warhammer tourney today and wont post for the next 10 hours or so.)

Meteor · Post by **Meteor** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:41 am

Having recovered from his confusion, Morr gathered himself together and watched in amusement as the other ten strangers taunted one another.

It's just what a Daemon would want honestly.

Sighing, Morr changed his sleeping robes into his usual business outfit and a peculiar abacus fell into his hands as he approached the bickering group.

"Though they are Skaven, Master Elf" Morr directed at Vaelen, "they do have a point. I can only imagine any attempts at cheating this game will only result in something worse, like getting turned into a sausage.

Also, although our goals are ultimately the same, if the Daemon spoke true, then there are two amongst us who won't let us wake from our sleep. Therefore, I wouldn't be so quick to trust anyone other than ourselves until we learn more of each other."

"Mi'lady here is also right, apparently there is a time limit to this game. Let us not waste anymore time than we need to on pointless bickering, anyone at this stage, is as likely as anyone else, even myself. And for that my good sirs and ma'ams, I will leave my vote to random chance." Morr finished and begun plucking the beads on his magical instrument.

After a few moments of mumbling and calculating, Morr revealed his vote for the evening, be it to the Daemon or to the crowd, he did not know.

"My vote for this session will be you Master Rat, Skwee I believe." He indicated to the Skaven Engineer fiddling with his contraption in which Morr quickly became curious about.

Vote: Skwee (I literally rolled a D12 at this point)

Raneth · Post by **Raneth** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:24 am

The White Rat looked at Rutger, apparently annoyed. He pondered this for a bit. Why would a dream-rodent take offense to his merry bout of merry merriness?
Stay your paw, dear vermin-friend!
And chitter not in hate.
For regretfully I must agree
That instincts rule our fate!

Vaelen's prejudice towards the rat-folk might have been understandable for some people, Von Mazzeltov did not care about smell or appearance when his life was on the line. And so far both rats were being quite constructive about JUST GETTING ON WITH IT!

Wait, did I say that out loud?

Vote: Vaelen (Lord Damian Valar)

Deroth · Post by **Deroth** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:30 am

Herod looked on in astonishment as votes began to fly around from different people for different people, "And here we stand with 3 votes cast all for different people, correct me if I am wrong but generally to acheive a majority we need to be voting for the same man/woman/skaven/goblin thing."

Standing for dramatic effect Herod continued, "Now while it may not suceed, picking someone at random to vote for it the best strategy to start us off. Now as for adding new candidates to vote for after people have started voting is somewhat foolish all it acheives is splitting votes between even more people making it less likely that anyone will achieve a majority vote."

"As it stands I am going to add my vote against Skabslik"

Muttering under his breath, "damn skaven give me the creeps."

Vote: Skabslik (Dragonsbreath)

Smiler666 · Post by **Smiler666** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:47 am

"bah! ill not be talked down at by sewer scum and little girls, you wish to speak of betters? my trading gardens bring me a small fortune in dwarven gold every day, a legion of dwarven guardians stand to protect me, i own a mountain for Grungni's sake. but if you all wish to start throwing your votes around, then mine goes to Skabslik: not just a stinking rat, but a sorcerer to boot, perfect company for beardless deamons wouldnt you think?"

Glorin grinned fiercely at the skaven magister, proud with his deductions and not a just a little pleased to see three votes go toward the rat.

"now can someone shut up that infernal screeching greenskin!"

vote:Skabslik - dragonsbreath (sry, i forgot to add it on)