/donut/ - Donut Bar

"Oh, I was expecting something more imaginative, for a personal Hell." He looks around, and immediately attaches some invisible thread to the door.

>What's it smell like?

>>489

It smells like sweat, tears, and burnt hair.

There's a slight hint of blood in the air.

"I've seen some stranger ones. They're worse."

Percival draws his sword.

Vasnesh begins walking towards the castle.

"Let's go. We are here to pull your sister out."

>>491

"Thank you."

He follows alongside you.

>Combat Preferences:

>Freeform: Combat is narrative. We'll just get it over with.

>Strategic: Combat is RPG-like. Each fight will test your ability to match powers to weaknesses.

>>492

>Up to you, I'm more of a fan of freeform.

>>493

>Well, the entire point of asking was to do what you'd prefer, so freeform it is.

"We're going to run into some nasty things here. You'd call them demons, and that's not a bad name for them."

As you reach the top of the hill, the castle's gates open, creaking ominously.

"They embody the things that bother Riley, the worst parts of her, and while they can't kill Riley--that's something else's job--they can kill us."

>>494

"Ah, so they aren't as physical as one would hope? Damn. Hadn't had demon in a long time." He immediately shoots some webbing above the door to leap up to should he need it.

>>495

"Oh, they're corporeal here."

Percy runs a hand over the walls, his brow furrowing. "They just can't leave, or attack Riley. The worst they can do is torture her."

There's a grand stairway up ahead.

Something gleams in the darkest corner of the room...

"Then lets move quickly. Torture isn't a great thing to experience. Speaking of, are you and your sister related by birth?" He peers into the dark corner of the room.

>>497

"Yes, why do you--"

You found a [Recall Pin]!

It hums with magical power.

"...you've worked it out, haven't you."

Percy sighs.

>>498

"You think I'm not smart enough to put it together when she full on propositions you in the middle of the bar?" He takes the time to walk up onto a higher section of the wall, so as to have a better vantage point. "If that's the case you'll want to kill the demon that represents her dark desire for you, Percy. That or just fuck her and get it over with. " He shouts down in a joking tone. "I could do it disguised as you! I can pick any looks I like when I change shape!"

>>499

"...if only it worked that way--I would've gotten this over with YEARS AGO!"

He slams a fist into the wall, spreading cracks through it.

"But no, her desire for me can't be killed. If we destroy every demon in this place, they'll come back within the day. And--you don't know how bad the retribution would be."

>>500

"Really friend, you can't keep it a secret? Or set her up with someone that looks like you. Or maybe magic up a doll that functions as you in all respects. There's a ton of options here, and obviously ignoring it isn't an option anymore."

>>501

He's got that teasing tone again. "I'd even lend you a nice little bed of webbing for the task back at the bar if you need privacy!"

>>502

>>501

"I--I don't really think about her like that, okay? And...m-magic doesn't work like that. And she's uncannily good at spotting ruses."

He's backing into the corner.

>>503

"And? Imagine Cayenne. Just make sure she understands it's a one time thing. That way she's got some type of closure."

He moves toward the corner.

"Shit man. I literally am unable to mate with anyone of my kind for fear of having my head torn off and my insides sucked out like a sluice. You aren't willing to help her mental health by using some contraception and going in for a one time thing? That's really fucked, Percy."

>>504

"Dammit, I...I'm afraid I'll lose her!"

He's curling in on himself.

"The world takes away the things you love. That's just how it works. We've got entire branches of science that have proven that everything dies away eventually. And I'm afraid that the moment we become close will be the moment that she starts going away, too!"

>>505

"She's your sister. You were going to lose her anyway. If that's really what you are worried about, I can take you back to my world. We've got longevity treatments for humans that you wouldn't believe, if your magic can't even make a simulacrum."

>>506

For a moment, he shivers, curled up like a dead spider.

"...how pitiful am I? Letting my sister lose her mind for the sake of this fallacy. I don't even have any proof, really...just patterns."

He stands back up.

"Thank you for the perspective, Vasnesh. If I do that again, feel free to slap me."

>>507

"I'll make a day of it." He finishes up the small webbing formed in the shape of a heart. He tosses it down to Percy. "There. A Gift. Don't have children. That's gross man." He motions towards the staircase. And really. If you want her to live forever, you can go literally anywhere. We've got things called liches back home. You can't even kill them and they live forever...."

>>508

"If they're anything like the liches in my world's stories, I might just pass on that."

He chuckles grimly, as he advances toward the main hall.

>>509

"You can both tell me about them when we get you back to the bar. Let's go." He maintains his altitude, making sure that he can leap down on anything he needs to.

>>510

The grand hall has torches blazing along the walls, enough to reveal the true composition of the castle--bone, carved and laid into bricks.

The stairs twist and turn as they lead higher.

A statue of Percival sits in the middle of the spiraling staircase. The head has been knocked away, and lies at the foot of the statue's pedestal.

...a flying skull floats over your head. Percival holds a hand up, palm out--stop.

The skull tries to lift the statue's head, struggling to carry it.

A lance of fire comes screaming down from the sky, and strikes the skull directly, shattering it and scattering its ashes across the floor.

Bits of broken skull and ash are lying everywhere.

Vasnesh doesn't say anything, content to watch and let Percival take the lead.

>>512

"She used to idolize me," he mutters, approaching the statue.

"Look what's happened now."

Another skull floats along, and is smashed to pieces by the fire-lance long before it reaches the head of the statue.

"We should take the stairs. The way they spiral, we'll be out of her line of sight."

>>513

"What do you mean her line of sight? Are we inside of her?" He looks around at the walls.

>>514

"Not inside of her, no. It's a bit complicated."

He glances upward.

"There's a doppelganger of sorts--an 'evil' half of her. It's the part of this place responsible for hurting her. It's most likely the one shooting down these skulls. Riley herself would be in too much pain to do this."

>>515

"Then let's go. The sooner we get back to the bar, the sooner I'll be able to make my demon meals."

>>516

Percival begins climbing the stairs, as skulls begin floating in swarms toward the statue.

"Good news, those things are too focused on the statue to attack us. Bad news, I bet there's gonna be a few of them up ahead."

>>517

"That's fine. I'm sure I can shoot a web that will knock them out of the air. I'm quite accurate."

He illustrates his point by aiming at a few of the skulls hard enough that the impact knocks them out of the air and sticking to a wall.

>>518

>>519

"Good. There is also a significant chance of other demons appearing."

The climb seems to take hardly any time, even though you can feel the length of the journey through the soreness of your legs.

"The good news about these places," Percy shouts over the clacking of a flock of skulls, "is that they usually work in the way your mind expects them to, not the way that they would actually work. For instance, these stairs are not supported by anything, but until you focus on the idea of them falling, they stay in the air."

>>520

Has anybody ever told you why people aren't supposed to say "Don't look down"?

>>521

>"...oh. Shit."

>[falling intensifies]

As soon as he says this, Vasnesh takes the time to imagine each step falling right as Percy takes his foot off of them, just to mess with him. "Good thing I'm a spider then," he says as he walks along the wall.

>>523

KRAK

Something shatters part of the staircase in front of you, leaving scorch marks on the other half.

Looking down, a figure that looks an awful lot like Riley is hurling bolts of fire directly toward the staircase.

"We'll meet at the top!" Percival shouts, as he starts sprinting up the stairs. "Quickly!"

>>524

Vasnesh immediately begins leaping from side to side, dodging as he inevitably moves towards the top. He's a little out of practice, but the cobwebs fall away as he takes one large leap that carries him a quarter of the way to the top.

>>526

Below, you can see Percival leaping between shattered pieces of stairwell. You hear him shout, and in a flash of light, he's wearing full plate--and moving even faster, as the blasts of flame grow larger and hit faster.

To help him along Vasnesh spins a length of silk and aims it at Percival, striking him in the center of the chest and yanking him to the top with herculean strength.

>>531

As he reaches your level, he whips out his blade, and drives it into the wall, hanging next to you.

"They'll do pretty much anything to kill us. You know, one of the theories about these places is that they were made to help us grow, in power and as people."

He laughs. "They forgot to turn down the difficulty."

>BRB, gotta do some chores. Post as you will, just don't expect a reply for another hour or so.

"Yeah, well. Sounds like whoever 'they' is, your world doesn't have real places like this then?"

>>535

"Not physically. Every once in a while, someone does something stupid, or has a breakdown, and one of these doors shows up. Sometimes, they just appear out of nowhere."

A firebolt flies close enough to make things a little too warm for your tastes.

"We have to move."

>>541

"Agreed." Vasnesh goes sprinting off in the most promising direction.

>>545

Percy yanks his blade out of the wall just in time to be carried along with you--and just in time to avoid a fiery death.

There's someone standing at the top of the tower, on a balcony overlooking the crumbling stairs.

Vasnesh shoots some more threads behind him so that you have more grip as he leaps for the balcony.

>>547

You latch onto the railing, Percival dangling under you, and see...

...Percival?

"It's nice to meet you, Vasnesh. Well, to meet you again."

No, that's not Percival. His voice has an odd echo to it--and the real Percival doesn't have bright yellow eyes.

"Why are you helping him, anyway? I take it you haven't seen the way he treats her?"

"You can explain it back at the Bar. Vasnesh attaches the silk to the railing as he says this, and leaps for the fake Percy, hitting him square in the chest, his head and arms wrapped before the even it the ground together.

The yelling comes over the balcony. "PERCY. PULL YOURSELF UP."

>>549

"Mmrgf--"

Not-Percy struggles, kicking and yelling through your strands.

"I'm coming, hang on!"

You can hear Real Percy clambering up your makeshift rope, as firebolts sail through the air around you.

Luckily, Vasnesh has had a lifetime to get better at multitasking. He continues binding limbs, using any opportunity he has to have limbs near the head to slam his head into the ground until he stops resisting.

>>552

"He--"

THUD

"Keeps--"

THUD

"Hurting--"

THUD

"Her--"

THUD-splat

The thing stops talking just as Percival comes climbing over the railing.

He stares at Other Percival for a moment.

"It's a double feature," he mutters. "Her worst nightmare, and mine."

will be slow at dinner

>That is to sya, he's binding the Fake's limbs, and when he has a spider leg near the head, he's slamming a fake head into the ground.

>>553

"Regardless of the truth of his statement, it's the truth to her. One more thing to apologize for when we save her Percy."

He finishes wrapping it into a small fetal position, and then he shoulders the bundle, attaching it this his abdomen.

"Let's go."

>>555

"If I'm correct, the figure at the bottom was her double. And where her double is, she is."

He peers over the railing.

"It's a bit of a drop, for me at least."

Vasnesh sighs, looking back down.

"Then follow me."

He attaches a strong anchoring point to the end of the balcony.

"When we hit the groun, we hit it moving. Then we hit the double. Nonlethal. Then we find her. Ready?"

>>557

"Got it."

He sheathes his sword.

"Riley's tried to give me some boxing lessons. Swords are more my style, but..."

"Just use the flat, if you really need to."

He reaches back and shifts the bundle, attaching more silk, then leaps.

For a moment, all is calm. All has stopped. His 8 eyes see all. The fireballs will never touch him. The ground is waiting. He stops spinning at that perfect length, then drops down to the ground, severing the string, hitting hitting the ground and leaping.

The string falls to to straight position below the balcony.

>>559

Percival wraps some silk around his hand, and hops over the railing.

Tighten his grip for a moment here, and he slows down just enough to let a fireball slip past him. Loosen his grip there, and he falls faster. A quick burst of magical lightning knocks another out of the sky.

About fifteen seconds after you hit the ground, he lets go of the string. A second later, his feet hit the ground, and he starts to catch up to you.

As you approach the figure, the first thing you can make out is a series of cherry-red spears, glowing as if drawn straight from a forge.

As one is plucked from its holster and hurled at you, another comes screaming down from the heavens to replace it.

Once you get closer, it becomes clear that the spears are, specifically, harpoons; you can see the cruelly-barbed tip as the Fake Riley pulls them out.

It also becomes clear that they're being stored in Riley's back. Blood is bubbling and steaming out of the holes where each harpoon has pierced her, and while the harpoons drive her into the ground, a thick iron collar holds her head up, chained to a massive marble column.

The distance seems impossibly long.

"She's trying to push us away," Percy shouts. "Grab my hand!"

Vasnesh leaps for you, limb splayed to catch yours. He's in no danger of being hit by the spears, but he knows he will need your help to reach her.

>>563

As you grab his hand, his legs become a blur for a moment. Lightning crackles along his feet.

The rest of the world is the blur, now; he's the only thing that isn't moving at a million miles per hour. And ahead of you, at a rapidly-closing end of the tunnel of unbelievable speed, is Riley and her torturer.

From this distance, you can make out odd little blue dots scattered across her body, and the sweat dripping from her; the stench of boiling blood lingers here.

>>564

"Dear Chewiceclax above and below."

He says it aloud as he's dragged along. "I will fucking tear this bitch in two. You save your sister. I've got a demon fucking batter to make."

>>565

With one last stride, you land directly in front of Other Riley--who smirks, and holds one hand out to you.

You're familiar with illusion magic, and this definitely feels like someone's smacking you in the face with a boatload of illusory feelings.

>Roll 1d100 and call "Evens" or "Odds" for a saving throw. If you guess right, you've resisted the spell! If not, then you're outta luck.

>>565

>>566

>Note: Rolls are in the "post options" area.

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>evens

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>568

>Rolling for Percival.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>568

>YEAH SON

Vasnesh has the most shit eating grin one could imagine on the face of a spider, as he grabs her outsretched hand and carries that last bit of momentum into her face, riding her down like some kind of horrible alien reproduction mechanism. He takes the opportunity to bite on the way down. One bite is enough to cause total paralysis and either altered perceptions or loss of all memory in the last hour. He gave her seven.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>569

>I'm a dumbass. Evens this time.

>would help if I turned my post options off after as well

>>570

>>571

As you tear into her, you hear her screeching, but only for a moment. The dizziness from the spell's futile attempts to cloud your mind fades quickly as the taste of demon blood draws in old memories.

Percival draws his blade, and in one smooth motion, slices the chain holding Riley in place. With the source of their magic no longer conscious, the flaming harpoons vanish.

"Riley. Speak."

>is she gonna?

>>574

>Annoyingly, his internet appears to have cut out.

>Right at the important part.

>I swear to god if this keeps happening I'm gonna go on a road trip just to slap some sense into him and get him to move away from his asshole parents.

>lol. Agreed. Well no worries. I can wait. You have no worries on my end.

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>576

>That'll be the first in joke on this board. Anyone who just disappears from the internet at an important part has Riley's connection.

>No dice, please

>No

>pls

>any word, my friend?

>>583

>He says he'll be on shortly. But shortly could be a half-hour.

*Listen up u littel shets*

>>573

Riley, for a few horrifying moments, says nothing. Then, very slowly, she begins to stand, murmuring something almost indecipherable:

"imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsoryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry..."

You can both see that she's still in a great deal of pain. You can also see that the blue dots are slightly raised from her skin, and that they have a metallic gleam to them.

>>585

"...what are those--never mind. We have to get you home."

He sweeps you off your feet.

"Vasnesh! You've got the fakes, correct? Nobody's ever tried to take one out of their little pocket world..."

>>586

The instant you pick her up, Riley begins screaming and thrashing. Your hands, along with the rest of you, are quickly soaked in blood.

A single pin, about an inch long and covered in blood, falls to the floor, its blue head "ping"ing off the floor.

>>587

"Jesus--"

He drops you--and with a crackle of magic across his fingers, he wraps you in a telekinetic field, saving you from the agony of the floor.

"...forget home. I'm fixing this now. Vasnesh, watch my back--it'll take a while to heal this."

>sorry wasn't expecting

"AW holy silk. Fuck. Start Percy. You know I've got you."

He finishes the wrapping on the fake Riley and starts setting up a minor silk barrier around the two. It's fireproof and stronger than steel. They should be fine for a bit.

>>589

"Right, then."

Power surges through Percival, and your webbing is illuminated with a bright yellow light.

He starts mumbling--like so many casters do.

"...and...on three..."

The pins scattered across Riley's body begin to vibrate.

"One...two...I'm sorry, Riley--THREE!"

Each and every pin flies out of Riley's body like a stone from a sling.

Immediately after, light begins pouring into her body--directed by Percival's hands.

"Stay awake," he mutters between chants.

You hear something like a rolling wave hitting the shore, off in the distance.

>>590

As the pins exit, both of you are treated to a literal red mist. Percival now might notice that each pin has a fishook-like barb at its tip. Riley makes an unearthly noise, too high to be a scream, then goes limp. It seems she's reached her limit for pain today.

>>591

"Dammit--"

More light surges into her, as the holes stitch themselves shut.

"...and replenish blood, while sealing off the holes in her lungs..."

For a moment, he looks like he's gonna be sick.

>Gotta sleep now.

>Urgh. I was looking forward to this, dammit.

>get some rest. I'll hit you guys up tomorrow.

There's some kind of sounds outside like the chattering of many skulls, and then there's the telltale sound of many skulls being bounced off of hard surfaces and broken.

"Take your time, Percy."

Rolled 41 (1d100)

After a few moments. "Do you need silk? You can bind wounds with them! Because I'm beginning to feel like we need to moving."

>Make me roll dice again, /donut/ I fucking swear.

>>594

>>595

"I'm almost done--"

The sound of waves crashing upon the shore grows louder.

"Let the white light of healing descend upon thee," he chants.

The roaring sound is getting closer, and the ground's starting to shake.

"Let the white light of healing stop thy spilling blood..."

The skulls retreat; the rubble starts to shake.

"Let the white light of healing mend thy bones..."

Down one of the scattered halls of this place, you see a veritable wall of bodies round the corner.

They tumble and clamber over each other, like some kind of tsunami of bodies.

"Aw, great."

Vasnesh begins tossing loops of silk around the enclosure, linking the tied up Doppelganger Riley to the silk. "Let's go. I hope you can heal in motion. Grab on."

He immediately begins pulling like some weird spider chariot, trying to make good speed despite the extreme weight.

>>604

You hear Percy stumble for a moment. From the speed with which he resumes his chanting, he must have excellent balance.

The front gate is just a few dozen feet away, but it's starting to close...

>>607

"Lay down and start casting from your back. Gate is closing!"

He begins pulling harder, trying to gallop at speed, instead of the basic spider run.

"Really! Let's go!"

>sorry for slow. Family dinner and all that.

>>611

"Damn it, Vasnesh--"

You hear them thump to the ground. Riley doesn't scream.

You're not sure if that's reassuring or terrifying.

Just as it seems like you won't make it--you squeeze through. Moments after Percy and Riley are through, the gate shuts, tearing the rear of your webbing-sled clean off. A mere tenth of a second after that, you hear the sound of bodies slamming against the door.

Looking back, you can see the gates creaking, the portcullis bending under the strain of the thing trying to break out.

The sled starts to catch up to you as you hit the slope.

"Don't damn me, damn the dark ends of your sister's soul!"

He begins spinning more silk to add a little more mass to this weird sled contraption, slowing it down, but lessening the jolting they are receiving.

"Something I'm holding you personally responsible for curing."

He starts digging his limbs in deeper. "I need an update. We don't have much time. There's a real Grave Wave coming for us. How is she doing?"

>>616

"She's unconscious, but mostly stable--"

Thump.

"Just gotta repair a bit of damage to the kidneys--"

Thump.

"And then she'll be right as rain--"

Thump.

There's bodies piling over each other high enough, now, that they're starting to fall out of the windows on the second floor of the castle.

"Those things--they're a Cerberus! A defense mechanism! They'll keep coming until we leave!"

"Well then it's time to leave. Heal the rest of her at the Bar. I'm having a hard enough time carrying the four of you. Can you carry her?"

He begins dismantling their enclosure as soon as he reaches a relatively flat place. He's used a lot of webbing recently, and he needs to recycle as much as he can.

>>619

"I've got her."

You see him cradling Riley in his arms.

"She's safe, for now. I can't tell if there's any adverse effects from her passing out until she wakes up."

"Good."

He finishes eating the silk, scaring it down his mandibles.

"How do we get out of here, Percy. You are the wizard, and you got us here!"

>>622

"Up ahead!"

He points toward the place where you entered this hell; a door sits there, opening into the Bar.

"Now that we've talked to the doppelgangers, that door is open--we can get through, we just have to do it before--"

You hear the sound of metal bending in ways it was never meant to.

"Oh no."

Vasnesh spins on the spot, his 8 legs working in a strange unity of motion. He glances back at the horrifying sight that awaits him.

"Got any magic to make us fast? It's time to GO."

He reaches back, adjusts his loads, and begins running.

>>624

"Hop on!"

He's standing perfectly still, holding one hand out to you.

He leaps out, one limb falling into your hand and the rest wrapping around your midriff and upper legs.

>>626

There's a sudden flash of green light, and when your eyes adjust, you're at the door.

Percy lunges, grabbing the handle and pulling the door shut behind him as you all tumble into the Bar.

>Time to return to the Counter thread.

>K