>>177938
Yeah, pretty sure this is a good way to get ourselves trapped along with Mom.

Two ways to play this, I guess. Either press forward, and hope that we can somehow destroy our ritual circle, or pull back and hope that Thomas will be able to help us save Mom before she gets hurt.

>>177943
i think with only one hook it can only catch one person.

>>177933
Well just don't fall in the damn trap yourself.

You need to do something besides just walk in... can you get a quick vision of what happened before you got here?

>>177942
...That's the plan? Seriously? Just waltz in and disarm the trap, no bloody problem at all? ...Well, that's... ... ...Yeah.

>>177943
What he said. We're pretty much winging it at this point, and it's a pretty damn good bet gramps has thought this through, with particular plans for our particular brand of impulsive recklessness. We -need- to go with option two and retreat, if we don't we're just throwing away our own life.

The entire hotel is covered in runes. Take a look at them. Is there anything that we could sabotage before we get into the room?

Tiffany 2010/05/15(Sat)17:17 No. 177960 ID: 3a7b79
File 127396907261.png - (123.97KB , 800x800 , 226.png )

Tiffany quickly examines the runes in the motel walls. They seem strange, completely alien compared to the ones she has used before. And they seem almost... Alive. They seem to shift and morph whenever she looks away.

Tiffany's desperate for a plan, but it seems like whatever the plan is she must at least see into the room. She carefully edges her way to the door, careful not to cross the line that marked the supposed barrier.

Inside the room is covered in bizarre writing. A figure that looks like... mom... is standing in the middle of the circle. Tiffany can hear soft whispering from the darkness around her.

SMUDGE THE HOOK!!

Smudge the hook and the circle outside of the large circle!

Tiffany 2010/05/15(Sat)17:30 No. 177965 ID: 3a7b79
File 127396981236.png - (125.88KB , 800x800 , 227.png )

Tiffany forces herself forward, her whole body shaking from fright. She hastily smudges out the hook from the circle. There's a slight change in the air, then she suddenly becomes aware piercing eyes watching her.

>"Hello, little girl."

The voice is mom's. But she sounds like... Grampa.

>"Why don't you step a little closer, so I can take a look at you."

Tiffany's legs are nearly giving out. She's too scared to talk.

>"I told you to come closer."

There's a little pull inside her mind, but it slips, unable to find a hold.

>"Hrmph. Who did this to you, girl?"

>>177960
Okay. If we try to disrupt the circle... where would we do it?

I basically see three options. The hook, since that is nominally holding/catching and might be somehow maintaining the trap. That might free Mom. The circle border, since that's the base symbol and almost certainly essential for the spell to function. That might end the whole spell. Or the power transference rune, so that power is no longer being stolen; that would at least stop Mom from being hurt more.

"I cannot believe you killed my brother for this..."

RUN AWAY! RUN THE HELL AWAY! FLEE! RETREAT! EXIT! -GO-!

>>177967
Or possibly the small circle that gives Grandpa control of the spell... although that would only work if he's controlling Mom remotely instead of having already completely taken over her body.

>>177967
We just smudged out the hook. And... Grampa... Just told us to come closer. To do anything else, he'd have to inadvertantly do as he (she?) says. I really can't see a way to win this. We're way over or head. We need to retreat and regroup.

the trap attacks the haftsusha not the person. it destroys your personality.

Summon Death.

I think that if we can smudge out the small circle outside of the large one, then we can break grampa's power over mom.

>>177965
If you can put yourself inside the circle, and then somehow make a hook inside the circle maybe you could trap him. Gonna be tough to do it without noticing though.

Guys, do we have -any- idea what the hell we're doing? First you say 'Smudge the hook, that will free her!', then when that didn't work, now you're saying 'Smudge the circle, that should free her!' We have no reason to think that will work. Heck, we have no reason to think we can even do -anything- to help mom at this particular point of time. We need to -retreat-. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, and right now, this is a losing hand, and we need to cut our losses. If we keep pressing, we're risking losing everything just because we're being stupid.

Alter the circle to reverse the power flow. Or the targets.

Tiffany 2010/05/15(Sat)17:56 No. 177985 ID: 3a7b79
File 127397136231.gif - (183.07KB , 800x800 , 228.gif )

>"Not telling?"

Mom let's out a cruel laugh. It turns Tiffany's stomach to hear that coming from her lips.

>"Did you come here to rescue your dear mommy, girl? How precious and utterly pointless. A necromancer only looks after himSELF. No-one else. And nothing can save your mother now. The ritual is finally complete. After all this time. Even after thirty years it still worked. And you made it happen, Tiffany. Ah, such delicious irony. The backstabbing bitch betrayed by her own whelp. I suppose I should thank you. HA HA HA OH NO YOU DON'T."

Grandpa/Mom extends his/her hand and the door slams shut in front of Tiffany. Red tendrils surround mom's thin frame. Mom draws a sharp breath.

>"All this POWER. HOW could she NOT use this? Such waste. Oh Tiffany. Why so fearful? You did well. Your only mistake was trust. A necromancer looks after only himself. Only himself! No other. You still haven't learned that? Oh well. I have plenty of time to teach you."

>>177980
>>177982
I'm pretty sure that actually doing more ritual stuff at the moment is out of the question. For one thing, it requires words as well as symbols- and we don't really know those. Not well enough to improvise them on the fly for drastic spell alterations, anyway.

slit own throat, get death's help.

>>177985
Cuntpunt.

>>177985
Well, shit.

>>177988
I doubt that Death would or could do anything. Also, he's a dick.

Though to be honest, I really don't see any other option.

>>177988
Won't work. Death has already proven himself unable to effectively snare Grandpa.

>>177985
Well, then... it seems that we once again have two options before us.

We can continue to oppose Grandpa, in spite of his apparent overwhelming power, and attempt to disrupt the circle in some manner which will hopefully get rid of him and/or save Mom, even though he claims it's impossible- as has been pointed out, he's a liar. We'll probably lose, but it might be our last chance.

Or we can accept what he just told us as true, and declare ourselves a necromancer of his school, caring only for ourselves and trusting no one. His words imply that he's still intending to teach us... though it's likely that such will be in a much more sinister fashion, and we'll almost certainly be subjected to additional mind control. Eventually, we might gather enough power to betray him successfully... but it would be a hard and dangerous road.


If we try the first and lose, we might end up stuck with the second anyway, so I'm inclined to try it. I'm not quite cold enough to try the second right off.

Take stock of your resources. What's here in the room?

Tiffany 2010/05/15(Sat)18:13 No. 177999 ID: 3a7b79
File 127397239019.gif - (504.95KB , 800x800 , 229.gif )

Tiffany is frozen in panic, while Grampa raises her hand once more. Red tendrils shoot out towards Tiffany.

[Animated]









>"Miss Blake, run."

DO WHAT HE SAYS!!

>>177999
As I said before:

>>177969
Do as he says and get the hell out of there!

Fine, if Death don't help...

Summon many demons to you. You have us, with all of us we should be able to keep them under control long enough to stop Gramps, and then cast them out.

Or, more logically, fight dark magic with holy magic. Pray to GOD!

>>177999
Run. Get out of the hotel. Hide somewhere where you can see the hotel entrance but run away unseen if necessary, and wait to see who comes out.

>>178005
You haven't been reading the quest at all, have you?

I'm more inclined to say help the dude fight. Find something in the room like maybe the knife you used before. Jostle Grampa's skull. Smash it, perhaps.

Tiffany 2010/05/15(Sat)18:24 No. 178017 ID: 3a7b79
File 127397308056.png - (101.49KB , 800x800 , 230.png )

And so Tiffany fled into the night, leaving Thomas to fend off Alexander. Spurred by Thomas' sudden scream, she ran as fast as she could, as far as she could.

And for a time, all was silent.

i don't think the dude is going to STAY and fight. he will try to distract as long as we need to get out then flee as well.

So... now we need Rothwold's help. Wonderful. how do we go about procuring that. Or another Necromancer this time, hopefully without Grandpa's philosophy...

Think the state trooper might be a Necromancer himself?

Naw, I haven't. I like giving silly suggestions then something which is plausible in my mind, or a serious idea.

I suppose I should do the second part now....
Rest for a moment and try and find safety.

>>178017
Go home, your house is still warded.

>>178017
Run off farther. Find a different public phone, and call home. Grandpa knows that you care a lot about Dad, and will be trying to get him to get a hold on you. Tell Dad to run away. Or... to come pick you up somewhere, and then get him to drive you away. Leave your house for good.

Get Mulder. He's still made of your soul, and there's no telling what Grandpa could do if he got his hands on him.

next goal is to get to the Conclave Thomas mentioned. Home may be a good start. Your dad deserves to know what's going on.

You and your dad will have to seak out the conclave. There's no where else now that you may have Alexander on your ass.

>>178025
by grampa. wait outside, cool off, crap pants in bathroom, prepare to torch the motel.

>>178017
You just left him to die. Nothing else you could do.

Next goal is to find Dad.

Get into Mom's car. She may have left the keys in the ignition, which means...

Wait are you even tall enough to reach the pedals while seeing over the wheel? Maybe the car isn't such a great idea.

Trust is a wonderful and terrible thing. You must trust the first person you meet, because you have no one else to trust, and when that person betrays you it may seem like you can trust no one. But the truth is that the betrayal itself makes you wiser about the world. He can't make you less trusting no matter what he says. Now you know who your enemy is. You still can't stop trusting those who haven't betrayed you, your father, your mother, Thomas. Don't count Thomas out just yet. (You are a necromancer after all!) The friendly bird your grandpa helped you make. Death. These are your allies. They can betray you one after the other, but eventually those left will be your true allies, the ones who will never betray you, at least not without a good goddamn excuse.

Your "grandfather" has already revealed his weakness in fact, that which will destroy him. He has no allies, allows no allies. That makes him alone and vulnerable, a foolish position to be in. You might not be able to save your mother's soul entirely, but he'll never prevail with that attitude.

A necromancer, alone, is just a powerless man, a charlatan waving puppets around, trying to make you think that he is legion. But he's only one man, and if you develop a close relationship with your allies dead and alive, if you learn who you can trust and you truly come to trust them, his powers will tear aside like the spindly spider webbing that it is.

Damn it. Now you're going to have to find another instructor in the necromantic arts.

Hmmm, you know I think it could have been grampa that made you go call your mom. Fighting him while he has your moms body is going to be such an annoyance. Hmm, I wonder if the Rothwalds would be willing to help out with that and with training. Might be a thing to consider.

But for now Tiff, I think you should find your father and tell him everything. He needs to know what's going on.

you know... did we bring the grimoire... or anything else that Gramps wanted us to get?

It might be a good thing... if we had em. If we're going to survive/avenge her mother, studying will have to become a priority...

>>178278
I don't think we did. But Gramps had another grimoire at some point.

Next chapter, we're going to have to make a pact with Death. It's the Reaper Man's JOB to bring grandpa down, after all.

Hell, if we're lucky, we could even squeeze Tony's soul out of that deal. He was killed through necromancy, after all. Illegitimate death is another thing the Reaper Man wouldn't be good with.

tell him that we are sorry and we have found out why he doesn't like grandpa and wish to kill him, again.