Log:A Child's Fantasy, Scene 3

A Child's Fantasy 2020/07/10 	 Amelia Apex Carpenter Grimm Harlequin Hotfoot Imaginary Girl Kelly Quiet Riptide Slinger Marty Flinn 3

Two second-grade kids, Jake Barker and Andy Rice, had vanished from Harrisburg Elementary. Investigation revealed that they had been 'disappeared' accidentally by first-grader Marty Flinn, while they were bullying him. Following the panicked interdimensional displacement of a classroom door and some denial, Marty confessed and agreed to help. The heroes went through a portal to the world on banishment, save for Carpenter, remained on Earth with Marty.

The world beyond the portal is an almost cartoonish fantasy world. There's a huge, dark forest with large predators, a grim castle on a mountain top to the north, a big ocean to the east. Carpenter has identified the dimension as matching the world of a book Marty likes, 'The Tower of the Dark Knight', which involves two heroes fighting their way through the forest to retrieve a magic sceptre the knight has stolen.

The heroes (last issue) fought a warg and a number of knights, seemingly in the service of the dark knight, and defeated them all. Harlequin is reading the mind of the unconscious warg. The heroes have determined between them that this is a dimension like a dream dimension, with spirits taking on the roles required by Marty's psychic influence: Marty is attuned to this particular dimension and his psionic presence is everywhere.

The decision has just been taken to proceed to the castle, which, as the seat of the villain, is a likely place for the bullies to have been taken. 

Amelia checks the knight she pinned to a tree with a bodkin arrow. And finds just an empty set of armor.

"Do we know if things here are actually alive, or more like constructs of some warped imagination?" asks Kelly, masked so that she is here as Apex, as she reaches to the small of her back and slides a gleaming silver knife from the sheathe she keeps there. "Just sayin'... this thing is blessed to kill supernatural evil, but I don't want to stab anyone else...."

Grimm repeats herself, "Like we said, they're just dream wraiths that form constructs. You can't really kill them. Just the roles they're playing."

Slinger sticks close to Grimm, but bounces between limbs overhead easily.

He swings by Kelly upside down on a webline as he says to her, "They're spirits who can't die... but best to double check because they might not be? I know I heard, 'something something mystic mumbo-jumbo.'"

Amelia gesture to the set of armor pinned to a tree by a bodkin arrow, "Harlequin says the characters here are actors, dreamspirits taking on a role. Not alive as such."

Harlequin stands over the unconscoius Dire Wolf, the bright blue pupiless eye on his forehead casting light on the creature. "They are akin to dream spirits, fulfilling the role the child has set for them. ALive in the human sense, no? Aware and just doing a job? Yes."

"Good to know." remarks Apex. She slips a hip flask from a jacket pocket... thumbs it open before taking a swig. Then she snaps it shut, puts it away, and begins moving forward. Time to track down these missing kids if she can.... super sniffer, do your thing!

Riptide head scratches a bit, "Uh... y'know, last time I did something like this, we kinda had to finish the story. Is that the case here?"

Amelia goes to Riptide, "We finish when the children and we are back safe and sound. That's all we need be concerned with. Although I pity the therapist who going to have to help Marty."

Grimm sprouts black feathered wings of shadow and flies up past Slinger, trying to get a view above the treelines towards the castle.

Imaginary Girl, doing her usual flying through the city, 'on patrol' as she almost always is, pauses and hovers... and turns her head to look to the north. She looks confused, turns her head as if listening... then turns it the other way, then just looks back towards the north. She hovers in place for a while, then flies northwards, angling down as she nears Harrisburg.

Eventually, she flies into the school... to where she finds Carpenter guarding a gate. "What's going on he...?", she starts to ask, before the gate sort of just... sucks her in.

On the other side of the gate, she hits the ground, shaking her head. As she lifts her gaze to look at Harlequin, and gets to her feet... her costume changes, her hair lengthens. By the time she's on her feet, she's still recognizably Imaginary Girl... but wearing medeival armor, with a sword sheathed at her waist.

"I come to lend aid to those in need! What happens, here?", Imaginary Girl says.

Ths was certainly ...different for Quiet. She's much more accustomed to facing vehicular columns, heavy weapons platforms, tactical teams. Today she was in a sword fight with knights on horseback. After this, they are off to storm the castle? Different isn't necessarily a bad thing. She looks to her companions in fairy tale land for cues, though.

Nostrils flaring, Apex inclines her head. "I have their scent." she says as she whirls her knife a bit out of nervous and fidgety energy. The index finger-ring helps her not drop it. But she looks back and lifts a brow, "Wow, I have blade envy." she says as she spots Imaginary Girl there.

But she gestures, "This way." she adds, "That's where their scent leads."

Amelia tests her ability to far reach from this dream realm. If it succeeds she draws back from empty air a long brightly colored plastic toy sword. Offers it to Apex.

"Well that's handy. I bet you never have a hard time telling the clean laundry from the stuff that you haphazardly threw across the room as you struggle to put your costume on huh?" Slinger asks Kelly rhetorically.

Grimm drifts back down beneath the canopy and lands, the wings fading away. "Should be easy to get to the castle without fighting our way through the forest."

Smirking, Apex shrugs, "I don't sweat. So..." she smiles creepily and adds, "My clothes stay clean longer. But.." and then there's a wooden sword. "Um. Thanks." she remarks as she reaches for it. Who knows, in this place it may actually be useful... so she holds a blade in each hand as she turns and starts to follow the trail.

Amelia is a little surprised at what she gets. But still offers the hand-and-a-half pained wooden sword to Apex.

"Let me guess. The trail might eventually turn north and lead us to the big castle atop the mountain that way? Like in the story?" Gabrielle muses aloud to Slinger. "I guess we take the slow path."

Hotfoot says, "Not all of us have wings, ya know."

"I'd hate to assume the castle, and have it end up with the trail leading to a cave someplace." offers Apex to Gabrielle. But she shrugs, "Odds are yes, the castle. But I don't like to assume the odds are correct."

Amelia says, "It's traditional anyway. How many stories start with 'the heroes teleported to the castle' instead of 'the heroes frought through the forest to the gates of the castle'?""

The eye on Harlequin's forehead closes as he starts to walk follows after the others. "This is essentially Marty's subsconscious we are in...so, try not to damage it too much is a suggestion."

Grimm shrugs. "When kids are in danger? I prefer to take the fast path."

Slinger smirks at Grimm. "I suppose this is a pre-digital era- so everything is the 'slow wapath'." He offers with a shrug. "Well except to the grave- boy, they sure got in those fast way back when..."

Riptide shrugs, then looks around. "Hey, did those knights have horses we could use?"

"You want to slow down even more?" asks Apex as she studies the ground, looking for visible signs to track, nostrils flaring once more. "So many people use this route. Damn." She mutters. She's trying to move forward...

"What scent are we to follow? Are there innocents in need of aid?", Imaginary Girl questions, then listens as others speak. "At yon castle? Alpheratz... to me!", she calls out... and, a point of light in the sky appears, like a star, and descends, growing in size as it does... until a winged, armored horse lands next to her, and she mounts herself upon in. "Come, heroes! I shall lead the way!", she adds as she draws her sword and her mount rears up for a bit.

Amelia says, "I'm effectively saying lets not break the narrative thread here. We know who this story ends. We don't know what happenes if we break theme."

Grimm gives Amelia a look, then nods over to Riptide. "I think you can give up any hope of not breaking theme or anything else," she cracks lightly with a grin.

Harlequin walks over to a horse and easily swings up into the saddle. He expertly adjusts the reins then walks it over to grab the other horses loose reins.

Grimm rolls her shoulder and watches Harlequin. "I suppose next you're going to say we need to dress the part while in here."

Slinger simply snickers at Grimm's commentary before leaping up into the treetops and for all intents and purposes vanishing from sight with barely a rustle to alert anyone of his presence.

Riptide looks over at Grimm, "There's a theme to this?" He shakes his head, "Let's just head for that castle." He shrugs, "I think I'm faster than a horse at least."

Lien looks between those debating slow vs fast, thematic vs efficient. They both have valid points so far as she knows. Mostly due her not knowing squat of magical tales and what might happen if they don't follow the yellow bricks to the end of the rainbow even if its the long way around. So she turns to start jogging up the path/road.

And lifting her head, Apex sniffs the air more. She shrugs and looks to Grimm, "Okay. The scent -does- seem to go towards the castle. So I guess you're probably right." she adds as she turns to start trotting that way. "Oh, flying horse. Yeah... subtle." she says with a smirk. She runs faster than almost any horse herself, and it's easier to track when you're not riding anyway.

"The woods contain danger, but the sounds of the beasts differ in that direction", Imaginary Girl adds when her horse's front hooves fall again the the ground, pointing towards the castle with her sword. "... but I still know not the purpose of this adventure. I would know this before charging in to do battle. Might someone speak to me what is happening?"

Harlequin shakes his head. "I am offering suggestions, Ms Grimm. And no, I do not think that is necessary. I doubt Marty pays much attention to how others dress here. Or will necessarily notice." He holds up a finger. "That said: the final enemy may indeed be his subsconscoius mind in physical form. That enemy we may wish to treat to non-deadlya ttacks."

"Kids missing. Shoved into this realm, maybe kidnapped, maybe tumbled down the rabbit hole. We're trying to retrieve'em, so... little miss Knight on a Pegasus... that sound noble to you?" she asks even as she trots on, following the scent trail.

Hotfoot says, "Two young boys were sent here, and put in the roles of the heroes of a story. They need to recover a scepter stolen by the dark knight that lives in the castle."

Grimm walks along while others ride. She doesn't know how to ride a horse. "Got it," she says to Harlequin. At her next step, she vanishes and appears 40 meters ahead.

Riptide shrugs, moving off to follow Apex and Grimm. "Sure thing. And sadly, horseback riding isn't my thing. Let's just get to this castle, or find the kids, or whatever and try to get out without craziness going on?"

Hotfoot walks alongside the others. She has no clue what to do with a horse. And she can probably run faster than they can.

Amelia trots along after the leading heroes, occasionally teleporting to maintain the pace.

"Innocents in danger, as always", Imaginary Girl says, as her horse trots along with the others, taking a leap into the air to fly along for a ways, before touching back down on the path. The wings of her mount, who she called 'Alpheratz' before, seem to... have no problem with carrying the horse aloft down the trail, even when tree branches and the like might, and likely should, have hindered. For her part, Imaginary Girl keeps her sword drawn and in hand as she rides, her other hand loosely holding reins, although she seems to not be doing anything else with them other than simply holding them.

Quiet slows her jog enough to turn her attention to those with and/or following her. She points up and towards the castle, then shares what her sensor picked up, tapping a few button on her right forearm. The holographics light up to project a bird's eye view of the castle. Dark stormclouds surround it. There also appears to be a flock of winged humanoids armed with spears flying this way.

Grimm teleports again, this time appearing sitting on a low branch as she waits for others to catch up. She raises a brow at Imaginary Girl. "Someone's getting into the role a little too hard."

As if to punctuate this revelation, distant thunder sounds from the direction of the castle.

Imaginary Girl points with her sword, calling out, "Lo! Battle comes our way! Prepare yourselves!", as she indicates the flying things with the spears.

Slinger drops down next to Grimm. "Sounds like trouble's already found us." He tells her.

Amelia bounds up a tree and walks out on a branch seemingly too frail to support her weight. She searches for the winged opponents

"So, should we prepare to be attacked then?" asks Apex. "Or do we just charge forward and get attacked pel mel?"

That said, she rolls her neck and glances skyward. "Maybe we find a clearing we can defend?"

Hotfoot says, "Or get under the trees so they have to land to get to us?"

"If they're winged maybe stayng in close quarters is better for us." Slinger suggests- though he seems made for this environment.

Those going up to meet the attackers can see that the castle is now beneath black cloud and in a thunderstorm - with lightning flashes in all the colours of the rainbow, to boot. The creatures - something between winged monkeys and gargoyles perhaps - are flying straight for the heroes with their obsidian-tipped spears.

Grimm raises a hand skyward towards the approaching swarm, hand starting to charge with dark energy. "Safe for me to blast them out of the sky, you think, Harley?"

Amelia calls forth a horde of spirits. Her stirring cry to battle is, "Go get them you lot."

The creatures are jabbering to each other and seem not to have spotted the heroes yet.

Riptide, heedless of the danger, looks over at Kelly and Harlequin as they stop. "So... what's got us stopping now?"

"Didn't you hear the statement that there are flying humanoids approaching us.. likely with violent intent?" asks Apex (Kelly) of Riptide. "I thought it'd be smart to group up, circle up, and hold our ground... make them come to us.." And she glances up as others roar away to do battle, "Apparently, I am wrong."

Looking over at Kelly, Imaginary Girl says, "Whilst I typically prefer to take battle directly to the enemy, your thought of defensibility is good. I agree, although it seems the others care not for such tactics..."

Slinger may be out of sight but he isn't far. He's slung himself into the treetops as he prepares to ambush his winged prey.

Hotfoot gathers up several pine cones, and joins Kelly and Riptide.

"I can shield us from attack from above as we...what is the cowboy word...yes, as we mosey along," murmurs Harlequin.

Quiet holds up as others do. The trees do give them some cover. Not that she expects they'll be lucky enough that they'll all fly by. It also seems unlikely that swords are the way to go, this time.

Riptide rubs his forehead, "So... did anyone think to see if they might be friendly?"

Amelia sends forth her summoned spirit horde to intercept and do battle with the flying hostiles.

"No, but then, so few seldom ask, Riptide," murmurs Harlequin. "This mindscape being based on a children's book, I'd wager any flying creatuer that's not white and or, hmm, glowy, is probably a 'bad guy's servant.' Or so I would imagine."

The spirits swarm the flying hostiles. Many, most, miss connecting after traveling such a distance but some do.

Half the creatures are suddenly begin to spiral down...

Circling the wagons is one thing. But Kelly tilts her head, "You know.. if I Was writing this fairy tale, the monkeys would come in never ending waves until we reached the castle." A pause, "Maybe we should use their attacks as cover and go for full on sprint."

Hotfoot says, "How fast is that for you?"

Top speed... something like forty miles an hour. I'm not at your level. But I'm not slow." says Kelly as she turns and starts sprinting.

Slinger creeps along the treetops, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He wanted to test this new body out and now he gets too. The Daemon within him tries to find a reason to complain anyway.

For all the violence of his internal mindscape it does little to alert anyone to his presence.

He waits patiently, hoping for the clash to roll over them to help quell his existential crises.

Quiet could technically stick with swords and such, but should she? We'll see. Either way, she needs clear line of sight and, preferably, line of fire. She leaps upwards, activating her gravitics to keep her ascending.

"Your words have merit!", Imaginary Girl replies, to Kelly's suggestion. "Let us be off, then!", she adds, following along after Kelly. After a bit, she says, "Come, my mount is faster!", and reaches down to lift the girl in the saddle behind herself. Alpheratz, the pegasus ridden by Imaginary Girl, gallops/flies along with its hooves a few feet off the ground.

Hotfoot grabs a couple of pinecones and follows Kelly at an easy pace

"Flying monsters with spears? Interesting story, but we need to find our 'two heroes' sooner than later," Gabrielle Grimm comments as she raises a hand in the direction of the creatures. A beam of dark energy streaks towards them, then begins to bloom into a shadow storm.

The swirl of black energy moves like a tornado, going in circles as dark ribbons of that energy passes through the flying beasts and draining them of their energy and life force.

Slinger knows Grimm can see him. And with most others gone he teases her from above, "Oh yeah. Totally not a witch."

The 8 most hurt creatures have to stop and regain their balance. But the others fly onward, swiftly reaching the heroes! 3 attack Amelia and 3 Grimm, trying to run them through with their spears. The other 2 approach, but it is now clear they aren't wielding their spears. Rather, they're carrying a box between them, by its handles...

Grimm frowns as she sits on her branch. "Quiet, you," she says back to Slinger.

Amelia nods, "Looked witchy to me. I am a witch. I ought to know."

6 flying non-monkeys strike the surprise barrier with their spears...

Grimm might very well get outvoted about the witch title.

Slinger is an ambush predator. He slings across the area in front of Amelia & Grimm slinging webs as he goes to erect a tangly mess before the pair of magically inclined women.

They tear through the barrier in front of Amelia but only damage that before Grimm.

Grimm braces herself for the incoming spears when she gets surprised by the web wall. She lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for the save, Slinger. That makes up for calling me a witch," she smirks in camaraderie.

"Don't worry I'm sure I'll burn the free pass and be paying full price later." Slinger says as he hears his webbing give way behind him. "Ohno..." He begins to say...

Grimm's eyes widen as she feels what's in the box. "Guys! Magical bomb inside that box!" she quickly warns as she points to the two creatures carrying a box.

Riptide moves after Apex since he can't see the creatures above, and aerial combat in trees is probably a bad idea for him.

Amelia says, "I know, Grimm, Slinger."

Harlequin focuses on keeping the dangers of the forest reaching the heroes from behind.

Lightning flash in strange colours again, bright enough to light up, slightly, even the forest in daylight.

Slinger moves to intercede- still swinging from his webline. He wraps around a tree- kicking off of it towards the on coming horde of magical bomb carrying winged simians.

He lets go of his line and uses his interia to hopefully get him to the box carrier.

His danger sense creams at him the whole way.

The two critters carrying the magical bomb are tangled up in the webbing. And, naturally, now they can no longer use their wings, plummet toward the forest floor.

Slinger flies through the air, anchoring his line on one of the fliers, swinging around it and his winged friend. He begins crawling, leaping and bouncing about gunking them up real good even as they plummet.

That done he realizes he needs to get himself out of this mess before he splats on the forest floor with the bomb & the goons.

Quiet scowls (not that it's visible) as the flying not-monkeys may use spears, but also serve as bombers. Unsure what the remaining incoming octet may hold in store, she decides to send them some flak. She draws her weapon, taking aim just ahead of the lead flier of the 8 before launching a shell its way.

Quiet's flak is more... flake, as the detonation is weak and the shrapnel spread minimal.

The critters attacking Ameila and Grimm continue to do so - flying round the barrier in the latter case.

Grimm stretches a hand towards Slinger and the pair become transparent, shadowy versions of themselves.

Three spears pass harmlessly through Grimm.

The other six critters all charge Quiet, who last attacked them!

Despite being well attached to the bomb Slinger feels all tingly and not becuase his bits are being resituated across the forest in a fine mist either! He pats himself down as if to make sure. His Not-Patented-Stolen-Stay-Alive-Sense stops screaming for the moment and he lets out a sigh of relief.

Only one of the six hits, and that with a glancing blow.

One of them hits a tree after passing and knocks himself out.

 Carpenter sends to Grimm, "I've been reading a bit more of the book. The knight isn't the main villain. He's in the service of a powerful witch. One that summons a dragon using a stolen magic sceptre. In the book, the heroes take the sceptre and the dragon turns on her."

 Grimm says, "Oh boy. That's good to know. I'll pass it along. We haven't even gotten to the knight yet. Busy fighting some flying spear wielding creatures and dealing with a magic bomb. I don't suppose you know much about that?"

 Carpenter says, "Not sure. I'll skim a bit and see what I can find."

 Grimm says, "Okay. Though I'm guessing you're about to hear or see the explosion, so...it may not matter in a second."

 Carpenter says, "Umm...there are flying craetures in the book. Guarding hte mountain with the castle. But they were avoided with stealth. Guess you all failed on the stealth?"

 Grimm says, "...yeah. Amelia lit them up before they noticed us."

Amelia teleports 15m away from the point the bomb is falling toward. Then she draws her bow and fires an explosive arrow at the flying hostiles who attack Grimm and her.

The explosive arrow detonates in the midst of the three attacking Amelia and knocks them out and away.

Riptide once he's fairly sure there's nothing really following, takes to leaping away at high velocity to catch up with the others that are heading for the castle.

The box impacts the ground, splitting open and releasing a vast cloud of glittering black dust, which spreads out and up through the air. As it touches smaller plants and animals, they warp into twisted versions of themselves...

Amelia is an ex Chosen One. She shrugs off the transformation attack.

Hotfoot says, "I can scout further ahead..."

Slinger thinks the black dust looks harmless but the back of his mind is screaming for him to run and clear the area as fast as he can. He looks for Grimm and bounds toward her to try and get them clear of the deadly vapors before they too are turned into less versions of themselves. He's already got that problem.

Slinger lands hard in the midst of the bleak miasma cloud that the bomb set off. He grunts from the impact and from the searing spike of danger impaling his skull.

Quiet was only grazed in that mass flyby... and the things obviously can't maneuver for $#@! give that one faceplanted into a tree. She rotates in place 180 degrees and her weapon alters, the bore becoming very large. While they're not birds, it's time to bring ot the birdshot, or blunderbuss. She fires off a cannister of pellets that is little more than a very, very large shotgun.

This time, there are no partial- or misfires... only the nice, soothing sounds of a very large BLAM followed by winged things falling out of the sky. Blasting the heck out of things is still part of fairy tale theme, right?

Grimm looks around, as most of the team has gone. "Detective Carpenter read more of the story. The Knight isn't the only villain we have to worry about."

Grimm continues, "There's a powerful--don't you start, Slinger--witch that he serves. She uses the magic scepter to summon a dragon. The heroes are supposed to take the sceptre to turn the dragon on her."

The advanced group comes out of the forest soon, to get the full view of the castle atop the mountain, wreathed in multicoloured lightning. Lightning which, when it flashes, silhouettes a dark shape, within the dark clouds - a black dragon, blacker even than the clouds...

"Maybe we can teach her that 'friendship is power' and you guys can start a 'not-cove-' Fine. But let's get out of here ... yesterday before my head explodes..." Slinger replies, relenting his quips in exchange for safe passage out of the cloud.