[Episode] Playing Poltergeist

The image burned into her mind's eye of the despair in Maxwell's expression only seemed to encourage the girl as she waited for her cue. He certainly was a convincing actor. For a moment she had worried he really thought he was in danger!

She simply wasn't used to working with professionals yet, of course. How exciting!

As money was forked over Aya rolled her eyes to herself. The rat wasn't kidding when he said it would be easy. They sure were quick to hand over more Berries to get this problem phantom to go away! Somehow she wasn't at all surprised when the 'priest' prompted them to further fill his pockets.

Pikasso supposed she shouldn't complain.

A series of sounds like the ripping of paper could be heard from the hallway, then two sets of five gouges dragged down the wall from the second floor level to the first. The claw marks dug deep into the painted wood of the wall with an ear-splitting squeak.

Her little invisible maw clamped down on an equally clear stack of gold-lined pages ripped from a disgustingly lavish and untouched copy of the bible. It had been propped up on a side table in the upstairs hallway like some sort of modern art piece trying to simplify a statement too longwinded to get across very clearly.

A great fluttering of scripture tossed up into the center of the room only a few feet in front of the heroic priest. Pages rained back down and sailed across the glittering floor. Aya tried to find herself a spot where she wouldn't have to worry about stepping on any of the hazards caused by her own chaos, but a few little bits of glass still nudged out of the way of the toe of a transparent boot.

The sheet-covered phantom that reappeared in the middle of the scattered pages seemed to serve as enough of a distraction for now, though. With her ears folded down under the sheet, the mink seemed even shorter. Though it was a bit hard to tell without being able to see Aya herself beneath the cloth.

The apparition seemed to clearly turn her head... slowly... to face her would-be exorcist. At least with a little distance between them, she didn't have to look up quite so much.

With such a small-statured specter in view, she needed to make an impact!

From the ether, she produced the emptied shell of the gaudy testament; bridged before the spirit as the little mink held it in one hand. With her free hand, she sparked a slow-smoking ember into the spine of the book. It caught flame and with a little huff of breath, it began to smoke impressively as it fell to the ground.

It lay smoldering at Richard's feet.

She hoped he hadn't thought she was going to make it too easy for him! After all, it had to be believable! Plus it was just no fun if she didn't make him work for it a little! For a few long moments she simply lingered defiantly before him. Beneath the veil of her powers, she was grinning ear-to-ear.

But this was no friendly ghost!

If he was going to the trouble of calling her a Demon, she may as well sell the part as best she could! She could already hear her superstitious father rambling to her about all the bad luck she was accruing with these sorts of antics.

Surely the powers that be could take a little joke, right? In the name of performance art!

"....Kiiiiiii-piiiiiii-piiiiiii!~"

After another short-lived vanishing act, the sinister snickering spirit reappeared to peek out from behind the crumpled chandelier. With a bit of handy puppeteering the sheet's jagged rip of a mouth pulled into an eerie smile.

A soft whisper questioned him with a chill surely from beyond the grave.

"... Are you here to play, Mister...?"

While Maxwell struggled to choke out his improvised lines for this impromptu show, the ghost's smile slowly fell into the shape of a hollow silent scream.

Pikasso's fingers, which had been hooked into the corners of the mouth-hole to make the sheet smile, fell away as she watched the story unfolding before her. She was doing her best to keep her ears slicked down to mask the silhouette of the twin peaks that topped her head, but the squeak of the priest's voice made them twitch beneath the cover of the sheet.

So much for heroics.

Her giggles gently jostled the specter's shoulders as she watched the rat skulk his way to the table. Her empty gaze remained glued to him with interest, head tilted as the 'floating' sheet shifted towards him the distance of what probably equated to a few small steps. Sprinklings of salt scattered across the floor as he held it up and somewhere beneath the sheet Aya's bright eyes widened, then scrunched shut.

"...W-wait-"

Before she could find a way to convey her concern she felt salt hit the billowing fabric of the sheet. Luckily, her worries were assuaged as the costume and a small step backward rolled the fine powder away from her still-hidden corporeal form. The ghost looked down at the sprinkling of the expensive dust, briefly at herself, then locked eyes with Maxwell again.

There was a small pause, long enough for the little mink to get in a good glare and for a new fire of excitement to spark within the party crasher.

A growl echoed from the hollow face of the ghost, followed by a hiss as Aya turned to flee from the exorcising force. It was all she could do to mask the urge to burst into mischievous snickering as she took a sharp turn around the corner of a table. The apparition faded out of sight just as another handful of salt hit and avalanched down along the folds of the spirit's form, leaving just the hint of its shape hanging in the air as it dusted where it hit.

Grains of salt peppered the material of her invisible boots, barely perceptible as they moved along the ground.

Pikasso didn't notice. She was too busy scrambling her way up onto the table, tossing aside platters and fancy arrays of bowls of dip as she did. A dish of some sort of oddly colored, untouched, sweet-smelling goop was flung towards Richard and landed with a splat on the floor beside him just as the haunted sheet reappeared hovering above the table.

Two more dishes hung at the ready in the air to her sides.

Beneath the sheet, little Aya's hackles were raised and her fur bristled against the fabric. The exhilaration was not unlike getting the jump on her brothers during games when she was younger, and in a way, it alleviated a bit of the girl's latent homesickness.

" ... I'll drag yooooooouteia to Hell myself, fooooooolish mortal!... "

She declared raspily to the room, chucking the hors d'oeuvres. It had been one thing to start talking this much again after so long, but projecting like this now gave Aya's quiet voice almost otherworldly hoarseness. One plate flung towards onlookers who scrambled to get away from the resulting mess. A bowl whizzed past Maxwell's head with surprising force and splashed a wall with citrus slices and punch.

Another snicker resounded as the runty mink moved along the length of the table, kicking and swiping over nearly everything in her wake with her tail and trotting through the mess with glee. She put more distance between herself and Mister Maxwell, glancing over her shoulder to keep an eye on him.

Pikasso was almost focused enough to miss the sight of the door over Richard's shoulder as a nightmare of her own decided to join the party.

A hulking swatch of the stark white of 'Justice'...

Aya's blood ran cold. She may as well have just seen a ghost herself.

Her nose twitched as her gaze fell upon the proverbial salt in the wound; a massive hound, all a rumble with vicious snarls beneath that keen nose, seemed to see right through to the actress as she stood up on the stage of her own chaotic making. Her eyes darted back and forth between her partner in crime and the four-legged fiend. After a moment of shock, the visage of the spirit disappeared as the mink cursed her luck.

She should have prepared an exit plan.

Round 1

Richard uses:
[MT] Energy Steroid on himself
[LT] Leg It on himself
[LT] Eye Poke on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 20, 10

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 17, 15, 20, 7

Round 2

Richard uses:
[HT] Euthanasia on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Placebo Effect on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] Walking, Talking First Aid Kit - Heal on himself

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 5, 6, 20

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 2, 20, 3, 20

Round 3

Richard uses:
[AoE] Autoclave on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[HT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 5, 11

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 3, 9, 18

Round 4

Richard uses:
[HT] Malpractice on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Shiv on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

---

Used "Screw you, RNGesus" consumable. Chose the latter set of rolls.

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 4, 1, 15

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 16, 4, 1, 4

Round 4 - "Screw You, RNGesus" consumable
Re-rolling a single set of combat rolls. Chose this set of rolls.

Richard uses:
[HT] Malpractice on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Shiv on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 7, 9, 8

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 8, 12, 15, 10

Round 5

Richard uses:
[HT] Backstab on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Sucker Punch on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 20, 15, 5

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 20, 4, 14, 7

Round 6

Richard uses:
[MT] Blunt Trauma on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Lights Out on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] 9mm Aspirin on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] Walking, Talking First Aid Kit - Heal on himself

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[AoE] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 2, 1, 17, 2

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 1, 14

Round 7

Richard uses:
[MT] Tetanus Shot on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Shiv on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[LT] Incision Aspirin on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men
[UT] on Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 14, 16, 1, 16

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 14, 6, 5, 13

Round 8

Richard uses:
[LT] Bandage on self

Lieutenant Hu Gibsashid and his merry men use:
[MT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[LT] on Richard
[UT] on Richard

BOSS DEFEATED

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Maxwell' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 19

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 10, 17, 1, 1

'Pikasso' activates toggle Spectral Sneak.

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'Pikasso' uses [HT] Poeta Decadente (self).
'Pikasso' uses [LT] Soft Shock on 'Marshmallow'.
'Pikasso' uses [UT] on 'Marshmallow'.

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'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [UT] on 'Pikasso'.

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COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Pikasso' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 11, 10

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 8, 6, 7, 8

'Pikasso' uses [HT] Beautiful Embrace on 'Marshmallow'.
'Pikasso' uses [LT] Panda Pounce on 'Marshmallow'.
'Pikasso' uses [UT] on 'Marshmallow'.

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'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [LT] on 'Pikasso'.
'Marshmallow' uses [UT] on 'Pikasso'.

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COMBAT TRACKERS: