[ We find Our Heroes (such as they are) witnessing, or participating in, a strange spectacle. Which, suddenly, gets stranger. ] [ As Max and Timeus the Solar are about to continue their debate, the ethereal shackles Max had been held in abruptly shatter with great force; immediately thereafter, a red ring expands from the center of Max's body. Both Max and Timeus seem very surprised by this. ] * Max blinks, and adjusts his glasses. His frantic look is replaced by one of excitement - a look his friends recognize from when he's about to expound on a scholarly subject of great interest to him. That's it...! Of course, that's how they work. It balances perfectly! [ The solar frowns, looking slightly confused. ] * Max raises his hands from his sides, until they're level with his shoulders, palms up. Symbols rise from the ground to take up positions about the red ring. A closer look reveals them to be holy symbols of various gods of all alignments. In particular, various party members can recognize Bahamut's and Galahad's relatively near each other. The dwarven pantheon is represented. Even symbols only Kenji's people would know are present. * Max points to the symbol directly opposite Bahamut's. "Tiamat, in the name of Bahamut, I reject you and deny your power. Bahamut, in Tiamat's name I reject and deny your power." He rotates slightly, pointing at symbols opposite each other and next to the last pair, and repeats this mantra, naming the appropriate gods. As he turns, he names many gods, and recites formulae that presumably prove something about them, or link them. * Max finishes, having illuminated every symbol. With an aire of finality, he grins victoriously at the Solar. "I Wish, by the Proof of Divine Negation and the force of their powers denied, for no god's lies or powers to ever again touch me!" [ There is a spectacular, blinding flash of light, and an indeterminate period of stark, unspeakable disconnectedness. Then you all awaken on your backs, looking up at the cieling of the cavern, and feeling dizzy, numb, and sick to your stomachs. The cavern seems different than it did before, and none of you are in quite the same positions as you were just a moment ago. ] [ Alcinoe lies at one end of the group, and after her is Patrick and Will, beyond which is Anastasia. At the other end are Tia and Istvan, lying motionless but breating (and, in Tia's case, kicking idly at the air), with Kenji and Seylin further in. ] [ The passage is most radically changed at the spot Max had occupied; there is now a a sphere of empty space with a ten foot radius, centered on where Max had been. Kardos is lying at the center of the sphere, twitching slightly. ] [ Session Start! ] * HKenji nnghs and sits up. * Seylin sits up slowly. "Ooooh... what in the world just happened?" * Alcinoe lies there, her breathing shallow. She carefully, slowly moves, propping herself and getting a look around. * Patrick leans back, then springs from his hands onto his feet. "Not quite sure. I have a feeling Max just did something really stupid." * Anastasia sits up, slowly, rubbing her head. * HKenji jumps to his feet. Patrick, hold me. We have to get Kardos out of there. * Alcinoe keeps scanning... until she spots The Hole Where Max Was. * Patrick eyes Kenji. "Hold you?" * WillS graons in pain as he props himself up to look around. "What...what happened?" So I don't get sucked in. * HKenji eyes Patrick. * Seylin sees the nothingness and gasps. "What's that?" * Patrick nods and grabs a hold of Kenji. "I see what you're getting at." It's the product of a stupid wish, Seylin. Now grab ahold of Patrick. A very, very stupid wish. Alcinoe, Anastasia, hold Patrick. * Seylin nods and pushes herself upright. * WillS stares at The Hole where Max was. * Anastasia works her way to her feet, and nods. "Right." * Alcinoe jumps to her feet in a sudden motion that sends her reeling for half a second, and then she dashes for the sphere. "Kardos!" she screams, obviously not paying attention to the nicely organized group. * Seylin grabs onto Patrick with all her strength, which is somewhat considerable. * HKenji holds on to Pat's hand with his left hand, and reaches out into the sphere with his right, reaching for Kardos' nearest limb. * Patrick keeps a hold of Kenji as hard as he can while Kenji reaches for Kardos. [ A ghastly, unspeakable image swims through the spot where Max was. The image is profoundly disturbing, and as it passes through, Kardos spasms and cries out in plain agony. ] * Anastasia grabs hold of Patrick. * Alcinoe runs right in, trying to pull him out all by her lonesome. This totally won't end well. Alcinoe, stop! Please! * HKenji reaches out to grab Alcinoe as she dives in. * Anastasia makes a grab for Alci as well. (Letting go of Patrick first) * WillS stands up and screams. "Alci, no!!" * Patrick winces as he keeps a hold of Kenji. * HKenji latches onto Alci's ankles as she dives into the sphere and thrusts forward further, pulling Patrick closer to the Nothing. "Patrick, don't touch this. EVER." * Patrick grins. "What made you think I wanted to?" * Seylin keeps a tight grip on Patrick, balancing her weight so that she's as stable as she can be. * Anastasia frowns, then grabs ahold of Patrick again, counterbalancing Seylin. * WillS goes over to help Sey and Anastasia keep a hold of Patrick also. * Alcinoe dives in, headfirst and making a wild grab for Kardos. She grabs him around the waist, gripping *extremely* tightly... or maybe just contorting that way, as a scream rips from her throat. [ Kardos twitches slightly. His eyes are wide and his pupils almost completely dilated, but he doesn't seem to have any understanding of where he is. ] * HKenji screams back out of the sphere, "PULL!" * Seylin pulls with all her might! [ Those holding Kenji seem to feel his words through their hands, rather than hearing them. ] * Patrick pulls~! * WillS pulls too! * HKenji pops out of the sphere on his feet, still screaming, "PULL!" * HKenji gives a great yank and pulls Alcinoe out by her foot. * Alcinoe is yanked out next, clinging to Kardos and still screaming. They crash back into Kenji. * HKenji falls to the ground beneath Alci and Kardos and begins pushing back away from the sphere. "WILL! Figure out how to turn it off!" * Alcinoe lands in a crumpled heap, twitching as Kenji moves away from both her and Kardos. * Patrick falls over, and scoots himself away from Kenji so the pile doesn't land on top of him. "Geeze, I really want to kill that fool now. Again." [ Another titanic figure swims past in the void; it slows abruptly, and a single massive, seven-pupiled eye looks at you all, changes color, blinks, and smiles. The figure then fades away from you by steps. ] * Seylin backs away from the sphere once everyone's safely out. "Oh my... oh gods..." * Anastasia releases Patrick and goes to help Kenji to his feet. * HKenji accepts Ana's help, gratefully, and brushes himself off. * Patrick gets to his feet, temporarily putting that image out of his mind while checking to make sure Alci and Kardos are at least alive and breathing. * Alcinoe is. She's even getting under control... slowly, and staring at the ceiling. * Anastasia turns back to the Hole Of Not-Stuff. "That cannot have been pleasant." * Seylin stares at the void. Doubtless it stares back into her. Someone should probably snap her out of it before it breaks her pretty little head. I'm not sure what in hell that was, but I want that... that HOLE closed. * WillS quickly kneels down and prays with all his heart. "Oh Holy Bahamut! Please return everything back to what it was originally!" [ Alci and Kardos are both alive. Alcinoe's heartrate is that of a person who was just panicking and engaging in fight-or-flight activity. Kardos' heartrate is signifficantly faster. ] [ Kardos has a larger twitch, and coughs violently; a spat of blood flies out of his mouth and nostrils. ] * WillS continues on with his praying. "Make that large hole disappear, make sure Alci and Kardos and everybody else is doing fine, save Max from himself if you can, and...and...." [ Power swirls around Will, building for a few seconds until it releases. The void disappears, replaced by a spherical hole in the rock containing nothing deadlier than damp cave air. ] [ Max distinctly fails to reappear. ] * Alcinoe stops twitching, and her breathing quickly becomes more regular. She doesn't move otherwise. * WillS stops praying and stares sadly towards the place where The Hole used to be. * Seylin blinks several times, then rushes over to Alcinoe. "Alcinoe!" [ Kardos' breathing slows down a great deal, but also deepends, and his eyes close. After a moment, he stops twitching. ] * Alcinoe licks her lips. "'m okay. Worry," she says carefully, "'bout Kardos. 'r maybe Max." I think Kardos is going to be okay. But Max... I think we now have a location to call Max's Blunder. I think that's all we have left of Max. * Alcinoe chokes. "Yeah. Ah know." And she props herself up. * HKenji offers Alcinoe a hand up. * Alcinoe accepts his help, letting Kenji pull her to her feet. She might have control of herself, but she still looks badly shaken. Plus, her hair is a mess. * Seylin goes over to Kardos and kneels next to him, checking him over. She leaves plenty of space for Alcinoe. [ Kardos takes a deep breath, pauses for a moment, and lets it out. "Max, I'm afraid, is thoroughly lost to us." ] * Alcinoe nods. She looks like she wants to cry again. Lost to his own foolishness. * HKenji spits in the hole. * Anastasia looks at the hole. "We should find a smith and make a plaque. Everyone deserves a memorial." No. * WillS looks backwards and is glad sees that Alci and Kardos seems to be doing better. No memorial for a blood sorceror. [ "Quite a bit more than 'foolishness'. In his quest to be immune to the influence of the gods, he fell under the sway of the darkest of all." ] [ "She led him to the culmination of his perilous quest; Max is now quite beyond the reach of any god. Unfortunately, this puts him beyond magic, beyond death, and well outside anything that might be considered real." ] * Alcinoe nods. She might want to cry, but she doesn't. "He don't exist." He caused quite a lot of trouble for someone who doesn't exist. [ Kardos attempts to get up, and doesn't quite make it. He blinks his eyes slowly and shakes his head. "Yes... yes, that's it, Alcinoe. Max no longer exists in any meaningful sense, and it is beyond any power to change that." ] Well, he *did* exist. And I'm not going to forget that... but I'm not going to forget how he stopped existing, either. I... * Seylin wipes at her eyes. "I... still can't believe it, though." * Alcinoe shrugs. She lets go of Kenji's hand and stumbles off, probably to check Istvan and Tia. * Kardos nods at Seylin's comment, then winces. "I hardly can, either. Especially since the spell shouldn't have worked. Max's ...'equation' was seriously flawed." * Patrick hrrms. "Well, that's what he did to himself. He got exactly what he asked for. No more. No less." Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it? * HKenji smiles sadly. The third part of the curse, that. Regardless, we have a job to do, as soon as we can wake up Istvan and Tia. Will, come with me. [ "Advice worth following. Fortunately, Will was here to repair the rift to the..." he shivers. "...to repair the hole." ] * HKenji walks around the hole towards Istvan, Tia, and Alcinoe. [ Istvan is now snoring. Tia appears to be chasing something in her dream. ] * WillS gets up and follows behind Kenji. * Alcinoe is there, kneeling by the pair. Apparently, she's decided they're well enough, because she's staring blankly at the hole. * Patrick nods. "But what's done is done." * HKenji squats down next to Alcinoe. [ Kardos struggles to his feet, and staggers towards Alcinoe. ] * Alcinoe doesn't seem to notice. She's crying now; Kenji can see it close up, though it doesn't involve the sobbing that normally comes with crying. * HKenji pulls out a small flask of tea and offers it wordlessly to Alcinoe. * Alcinoe doesn't take it for some long seconds, or look in that direction. After enough time has passed, though, she eventually turns her gaze that way and takes the tea from Kenji. [ Kardos walks around the dent in the world, and squats next to Alcinoe, putting a hand on her shoulder. ] * Alcinoe shakes her head. She swallows some tea before handing the flask back to Kenji. [ And so they rested a while before continuing on their mission. Presumably. ] [ Eventually, Tia caught the butterfly; then she woke up. ] [ Session End! ]