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Mac I can barely breathe but am able to choke out, "No. I was told they would be away this weekend, that's why we came." I look unflinchingly in his eyes. "What's happened to you?"
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Oct 14, 2022 03:37
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 01:05 |
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Tony He looks into Mac's eyes for a few silent seconds, and decides to believe her. I don't know. Tony sets Mac down and lets her go, then picks up Casey's body and puts it in the back of her car. He stares at the body, taking a moment to regret the bodies he had to leave behind, then climbs into the passenger seat. The adrenaline is wearing off and he already starts to drift off once he's sitting down, he is somewhere very far beyond tired, and we'll beyond anything he knows.
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Oct 14, 2022 04:21
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you driving out of town Mac?
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Oct 14, 2022 05:18
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There's a scrap of paper on top of the pack of supplies. A note is written on it in Grace's handwriting.quote:Mac
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Oct 14, 2022 05:26
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Mac I rub at my throat as Tony puts Casey in the car. "I think he'd hate us for leaving him here but what do we do with him?" I try to chuckle but it's more of a wheeze. A sore throat and a black eye...I deserve so much more. Did you know? Is that what they all thought? I would lead my friends here as sacrificial lambs for grandma's power grab? We climb in the car. "Am I still your Mac Daddy?" I try to laugh but I can't, I can't even smile. I'm just tired and numb. "Should we go get our poo poo or just leave?"
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Oct 14, 2022 05:55
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sephiRoth IRA posted:you driving out of town Mac? I'll do what Tony wants and then you can just fast forward to whatever fresh hell awaits us 😊 Edit: Changed name to Tony! Maerlyn fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Oct 14, 2022 |
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Oct 14, 2022 05:56
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Tony Tony doesn't answer, or rather his answer is that he's fast asleep.
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Oct 14, 2022 06:01
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 KayHeld aces: 0 Pulled jokers: 2 Kay stares at Casey in silence for a few seconds. Ghosts don't carry physical ailments over - his friend is back to his old looks, healthy if scrawny weight, fitting clothes, glasses fixed. Even though obviously, Ghost Casey does not need glasses, but probably hasn't noticed that still. Down there, Tony is beating an old man to death. "gently caress you." The hug blindsides Casey. Actually, It blindsides Kay, too. Inhibitions, also, don't really carry over to death. And some part of his soul has been dying for it. For an unexpected, unrealized long time. It feels fuzzy. Ghosts can't really touch each other, not much more than rays of light can touch each other. But they definitely can perceive the others' presence, an echo of physicality. Or maybe it's just that even souls like feeling human. The other man tries to fight. He doesn't last long before he is maimed on the ground. To ghost eyes, Tony's soul light redshifts even so slightly with every new death. "How you dare die on me. You rear end in a top hat. You always were an rear end in a top hat." It lasts an unspecified amount of time. Then it breaks. A long silence follows. Both men are dead. Kay speaks again, slowly. "You know how they say you stay back when you have... unfinished business to attend to?" Tony is leaving, a shining reddish beacon in the night. "I think... Eh, gently caress it. Sorry, but I think you may have been mine" A car approaches, wheels making the gravel creak and sing under them. "... I'm not gonna go on yet, though. I can go anywhere. I checked. And there are... a lot of places I wanna see before I die. Or... before I fully die, anyway. Pause. The car comes to a full stop near Tony. "This being dead business is odd as hell." Inside, another soul. Another shining red light. Casey stares silently as his limp, destroyed body gets loaded in the back. "... are you coming with me? If not, well, see you in the other side" You can't kill a bloodthirsty god. You can just change their shape. "Thank you, Cas" Shellception fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Oct 14, 2022 |
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Oct 14, 2022 06:31
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Mac Jokers: 0 Aces: 0 "Okay well if the feds ever come or whatever we'd have a lot of poo poo to explain if our belongings are there. Let's go grab our poo poo and get the gently caress out of here." Driving back to Nana's house I guess! There's no such thing as DNA evidence in Lodestone
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Oct 14, 2022 06:43
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Casey Pulled Jokers: 2 Casey is caught off-guard by the unexpected hug. He can't feel Kay's arms wrapped around him, but still, it's comforting. If they were still alive, it would feel warm, too. He clasps his hands tightly across the other's back, returning the embrace as Kay chastises him for dying. Around them, the souls of the townsfolk rise as Tony sends them into their new plane of existence. Several feet away, the face of the scared, elderly man who shot Casey turns toward them, newly dead. There is a great sadness in his eyes, something far deeper than they can understand. "It's all right," Casey assures the ghost calmly, releasing his hold on Kay. "I'm not angry." The man stares at him, soon joined by his friend. Maybe he's growing too soft as a ghost, but it seems futile to hold a grudge against another dead soul. Mustering a small smile, Casey dips his head in a nod to them. "Go on," he encourages them gently. "I forgive you." The men head away, vanishing into the night like an old memory. There's a long silence from Casey as Kay speaks his mind, as they watch their remaining friends confront each other, load Casey's corpse into the car, and leave. He, too, catches a glimpse of the seed that Mammona has sown in them, and he shudders involuntarily. But that's not his concern anymore. "Kay." With more confidence than he's ever had before, Casey reaches out to take Kay's hand, interlocking their fingers. A mischievous smirk crosses his face. "Don't you dare think you can get rid of me so easily." WindwardAway fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Oct 14, 2022 |
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Oct 14, 2022 10:18
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Mac: Tony is out. You hear light snores, shake your head to stay awake yourself, and drive back to your grandmother's. You go slow, and when you drive through the modern part of town it's a bit of a mindfuck. It's after midnight, but there's still a few people around. The presence of normality and light is jarring after your experience. You get to Nana's place, and when you walk through the door (nice of Grace to close it), it feels weird. Not bad, necessarily, not like the place is malevolent, but rather like it's a an AirBnB. All the good feelings you had have been stripped away, and now it's just a house, instead of a warm, beautiful home where you have cherished time with grandparents who love you. Loved you. You move mechanically from room to room, collecting your dead friends' things. Not yet sure what you're going to do with everything, you go to put it in the car, but stop when you realize Casey's body is nestled in the back. You instead put everything on one of the rear passenger seats, and find Grace's note. up to you on how that makes you feel You get back in front, and drive out of town. As you near the limit of town you see the old wooden sign that marks the true limit. You barely notice, except maybe to mark that you're finally leaving. You'll deal with the fallout later- OooOf You feel sick. Mac, make a pull
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Oct 14, 2022 14:09
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...oh dear  Is Hotel California playing in the radio?
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Oct 14, 2022 14:20
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I've been wondering how tf Mac is gonna explain to her grandpa that she fed her grandma to a demon lol
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Oct 14, 2022 14:40
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blue
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Oct 14, 2022 14:42
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WindwardAway posted:I've been wondering how tf Mac is gonna explain to her grandpa that she fed her grandma to a demon lol I wonder if he knew!
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Oct 14, 2022 14:43
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Maerlyn posted:I wonder if he knew! yeah, like I suppose Jacob's wife didn't find out until she got fed to the demon and it was too late
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Oct 14, 2022 14:48
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Mac: King of Hearts! ---> four of diamonds (fail) Mac: You feel bad but shake it off for another few miles. But it gets worse. You're sweating, bile is rising in your throat. Even the cold breeze from your open window doesn't help. Mac, make two pulls
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Oct 14, 2022 15:23
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Maerlyn posted:I wonder if he knew! darling, do you fancy a Disneyland trip? It's this time of the decade again, I'm sorry. Rules are rules.
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Oct 14, 2022 15:31
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Shellception posted:darling, do you fancy a Disneyland trip? It's this time of the decade again, I'm sorry. Rules are rules. I suppose ignorance is a better option than the alternative!
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Oct 14, 2022 15:48
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Tony Tony stirs, and looks over at Mac. He's starting to feel closer to himself again. You ok? You're starting to look like I did an hour ago.
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Oct 14, 2022 15:56
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Mac 0/0 "I don't feel very good, once we passed the sign..." black/white and blue
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Oct 14, 2022 16:01
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a vision, 25 years ago: Jacob Kilgore, younger, face clean-shaven and handsome, has rung the bell. With him are Peter, his brother, and Nora, his wife. None of them knew quite what to expect. They had not been at the one 25 years prior, and had zero frame of reference to this strangeness. They had been too young. Jacob and Peter's father, Harry, had been the Bell-Ringer before, but a car crash had taken his life three years earlier and so now, by birthright, Jacob took the mantle. They were nervous. They had Wilma, of course, and Mary-Louise and her husband Robert, but they could only offer so much guidance. What's worse is that Jacob and Nora were fighting. Francis had been entering his terrible twos, and Jacob had been spending more time "on patrol". Nora had some strong opinions on where Jacob had been "patrolling", specifically the bedroom of one Stacey Kibler, the slutty (in Nora's opinion) hairdresser on 3rd St. Jacob was over it. They'd been fighting for a long time, and he was sick of the nagging, sick of the boring (nonexistant) sex, sick of the kid. So when Mammona asked him for his valued object, he remembered that his uncle Mark had died about the same time that this whole rite had happened and Jacob put two and two together. "I name my wife, Nora!" Nora looked at him in horror. There was barely time for her to register this betrayal, and so it didn't hurt as much as the cheating. Until her soul was devoured of course. That hurt worse. As Nora dropped to the floor, apparently dead, Jacob suddenly burst into tears. He screamed her name, clutched her lifeless body. He would atone for his mistake, of course, because when his first request was for Nora back, Mammona taught him a painful lesson in how to deal with beings beyond your understanding. His face destroyed, bleeding everywhere, Jake's heart hardened that day. He gripped the worst part of himself and rode it forward into wealth, drugs, and power. His requests to Mammona enriched his life and made him a monster. sephiRoth IRA fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Oct 14, 2022 |
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Oct 14, 2022 16:12
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Mac, you can get out of this. You need to hit your pulls though :| You will pull one extra for every time you fail. 8  2  (fail)Mac: gently caress it, it's gotta be some residual bullshit from that loving ritual. You pour on the gas, trying to put as much distance as possible between you and Lodestone. You start to feel a pressure. Like you had to much carbonation or something. You feel feverish. You wave Tony off. Mac make three pulls
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Oct 14, 2022 16:16
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Tony Tony puts his hand on Mac's shoulder and looks her over, then looks back. No, we are getting out of here. It's said as a firm statement, not a question, not a hope.
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Oct 14, 2022 18:15
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that piece of backstory is gold by the way 
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Oct 14, 2022 18:18
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Shellception posted:that piece of backstory is gold by the way wholeheartedly agree!
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Oct 14, 2022 18:27
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Mac 0/0 The further we drive away from Lodestone, the worse I feel. I'm sweating, trembling and feel a constriction in my chest, almost a lump weighing me down like I swallowed a rock. Please let me go ----- 2 Black/white and 1 blue
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Oct 14, 2022 18:52
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Tony: Mac's breathing is heavier. Her head hangs low over the wheel, hands at 11 and 1, and she is speeding. The SUV is going 45 around curves meant to be 25. Her focus is intense, and after a while she won't even respond to your questions. She pushes the car faster. Faster than is safe. You see the bloody tears falling from her eyes, and that's when you know that Mammona is not done with her yet. Mac: How fragile we are, as a race. Squishy, egocentric, prone to hubris and self-destruction. So ignorant of all the mysteries of the universe around us. Even having touched a live wire, a being with history and power beyond your comprehension, you still thought you could get away. You could leave this behind. Did you really think that, though? What was going to happen when your grandfather returned home? What was going to happen when the feds raided the cavern below that now-haunted courthouse? What would happen if someone rang the bell? You see it now. Something beautiful! What does it look like to others? Do you think Tony can see it? You crest the top of a hill and below you, the earth, in a stark black line, just stops. Where there were roads and sky and mountains before to you is a single unbroken wall of swirling black space stretching across the horizon as far as you can see. You can see pinpricks of color, of light in the darkness, and know in your heart that these are stars. You push the gas pedal as hard as you can to the floor, sending the SUV redlining toward this shimmering wall that goes up and up and up and there is no more sky as you get closer- Tony: Mac is bleeding heavily know from mouth, eyes, nose, ears. She is pushing the SUV as fast as it will go and you reach the top of a hill. On the decline you top 110 miles per hour, the tires swerving just to the limit of instability. You try to reach to stop Mac, to knock her foot from the pedal, but her limbs are locked in place. Mac: This is it. Tony: It's as if the car hits an invisible wall- a wall that only affects Mac. Her body crumples in place as the car and you are unaffected. Like being smashed under a microscope slide to be viewed by a great eye. Her body liquefies, spraying the entire interior with blood and gore. The car swings sideways through the guardrail, and catapults down the sheer rocks and into the gulf below. You black out on the first crunch. Mac: You leave your body behind. Your tainted spirit travels now to the stars, to beyond. To meet those that reign in the unseen places. - - - Our story ends as we gaze upon the ruined hulk of Mac's SUV. Nothing moves but the wind; nothing is heard but the silence of early dawn. 
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Oct 14, 2022 20:40
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Tony There are a few seconds of blissful oblivion, before Tony is shocked awake. He looks around frantically, but it's clear nothing can be done for Mac. Silence in the area, other than hissing steam and the rhythmic ticking of the turn signal. Silence until a fist punches through the windshield. Tony manages to clamber his way out of the car once its out of the way. He steps back, looking at the ruin of the car, the ruin of what's left of his friends. He staggers his way back up to the road and looks around. He's safe now, he knows, finally far enough from Lodestone's reach. He debates walking along the road from here, wondering how far to the next town, or if he should just wait for a car to pass by. He can go home, go home and.... And what? Sit around getting high and flunking out of school? Go home and be safe and warm? Go home and look his friends parents in the eye? No, he knows he can't go home anymore than Mac could. At least, not while there's a job to be done. He heads back to the car and rummages around in the back, pulling out a tire iron. He heads back to the road and turns his back on safety, and begins walking back down the mountain, towards the lights of Lodestone, to finish what was started.
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Oct 14, 2022 21:37
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 01:05 |
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The End?
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Oct 14, 2022 21:37
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