[GAME EVENT] CAUSE AND EFFECT
Who: Ash
Where:
When: Day 29, (approx. 4 to 6 a.m.)
Invited: ALL PLAY
Status: Complete
Edited to add: Don't sweat the details of how your characters switched bodies. I added the "touching or close by" requirement to give people an out if they didn't want to have their hharacters swap places. Now I'm revoking it. If you want to join in, forget that. It's simply random--if you and another player want to join the party, just do it. Doesn't matter how close you were or weren't.
Ash closed the double doors of the smaller kitchen/cafeteria and locked them. The last thing he needed was an interruption in the middle of this project. He turned to survey the room, arms akimbo while he thought about what he had to do. "Okay," he said to himself, "first things first. Clear the floor."
Pushing all but one of the tables against the walls and stacking the chairs on them took only a few minutes. Ash laid the instructions on the remaining table and pressed it flat. It was very badly written, but he'd looked it over several times and he was confident that he could manage it. "How hard could it be?" he muttered to himself.
He began assembling all the materials he needed on the table next to the instructions. A glass, a pitcher of water, a box of Dharma brand birthday candles. (The instructions called for six black candles, but these would have to do.) A box of salt, a big black marker, and various other esoteric items. And...coffee, which he'd brewed a few minutes earlier.
But first...Ash picked up the marker in one hand and the instructions in the other. Working slowly and methodically at first, Ash began drawing runes onto the edge of the tabletop. It took a lot of attention. His hand began to cramp after a while. By the time he was done, the figures were considerably less precise than when he'd begun.
"Eh, good enough," Ash decided.
He capped the marker and tossed it away. Then Ash walked over to the stove, poured coffee into a large bowl and carried it to the table. He placed the bowl in the center of the table. Next came the salt. Ash opened the pouring spout on the cannister and began walking around the table, pouring out the salt in a circle, making sure that he was inside it when he completed the circle. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he closed the circle.
"Hrmm, hmmm," Ash muttered, looking over the instructions. "Ah--right, the candles." Ash lit the candles one by one, carefully turning them as wax melted, dripping it onto the tabletop until there was enough to hold each candle upright. Then it was time for the heavy lifting.
Ash picked up a small photograph. He'd gotten it from Daisy, from the wallet of someone who had died in the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. He glanced at the instructions and recited the incantation. "Pro os, statua unus porro lost ut memoria," Ash said, tearing it into bits and dropping the pieces into the coffee.
"Pro auditurus esse, sanus carmen sung ut a parvulus porro.". Ash leaned forward and, feeling very foolish, sang a few bars of a lullaby.
"Pro tactus, sentio parvulus thesaurus,". Ash dropped a pinch of stuffing from a well-worn stuffed animal into the coffee. "Pro nidor, scaena matris diligo." Ash dusted the coffee with baby powder. "Pro sapor, flavor parvulus iucunditas," Ash said, dropping a small piece of chocolate into the coffee.
Ash picked up one of the candles. He held it up over the coffee and recited another incantation. "Hail ut phasmatis of incendia quod unda, terra quod aer! Unbind alica ut redimio nostrum monumentum!" Ash plunged the burning tip of the candle into the brew. The flame hissed and went out. Ash felt some of his strength fade at the same time that a feeling of pressure became noticeable all over his skin.
Ash picked up a second candle and repeated the incantation, quenching the flame in the coffee. The sensation of pressure, of gathering power became more distinct. He did it a third time, and a fourth. By the time he picked up the fifth and final candle, he felt light-headed. It was hard to breathe, the power gathered around him inside the circle of salt tangible and nearly irresistible. Ash recited the incantation and plunged the candle into the coffee.
The power, wound tighter and tighter with each repetition, exploded outward. Ash had a moment to wonder if perhaps he'd done something wrong after all as he was picked up bodily and flung backwards into the stacked chairs and tables behind him. It was very painful, as was crashing to the floor and having the table and chairs fall on top of him. (Maybe,) Ash thought, (he should just give up spellcasting. It never seemed to work out right--)
"It worked!" Ash crowed. "I remember!"
* * *
George's dreams were jumbled, confused--and confusing. She dreamed of her family; of Rube, Roxy, Mason and Daisy; of Dolores and Happy Time. She also dreamed of alien worlds, alien skies, battles and espionage and seduction. She woke slowly, dreams shading into wakefulness. She was lying on her back, one arm wrapped around someone who lay cuddled up with her head on George's shoulder.
Thinking about her dreams, George realized with a sudden shock that she remembered! She knew who all those people were. She knew who she was--and where she was, and how she'd gotten here, events of the last few weeks. All of it! Her eyes popped open, sleepiness banished by excitement. She struggled up to a sitting position--
--and screamed, waking the others. Beside her, Faith, Chloe and George jerked awake. Faith flung herself upright and then tumbled out of bed to sprawl on the floor. Chloe looked around, surprise--and alarm--written on her face. "What's going on? I feel...weak."
And George.... George watched herself--watched her body--sit up and meet her eyes with a crooked smile that just didn't look like it belonged on her face. "Well, this is new," she said, and her voice didn't sound right at all--nothing like George's voice sounded to herself.
George looked down at herself, at the masculine torso. She swallowed heavily and tentatively reached under the covers. "Oh fuck, oh fuck..." She found what she'd expected--feared--to find. A penis. "Son of a bitch!"
Yes, boys and girls, it's official. The mass amnesia is over. Everyone has his or her memory back, completely intact. On the other hand...some of you will find yourselves in bodies that are not your own. If your character was touching--or merely in close proximity to--someone else, you will find yourself in someone else's body.
Unlike the mass amnesia, we're not making this universal. If you want to swap around your PCs, go for it. Establish that they were touching or very close at the right (wrong) time. If you want to swap your characters with someone else's, and they're willing to play along, make it so. If, on the other hand, you want to sit back and laugh at other characters' misfortunes, that's okay too.
Have fun with it. It will eventually be reversed....
Where:
When: Day 29, (approx. 4 to 6 a.m.)
Invited: ALL PLAY
Status: Complete
Edited to add: Don't sweat the details of how your characters switched bodies. I added the "touching or close by" requirement to give people an out if they didn't want to have their hharacters swap places. Now I'm revoking it. If you want to join in, forget that. It's simply random--if you and another player want to join the party, just do it. Doesn't matter how close you were or weren't.
Ash closed the double doors of the smaller kitchen/cafeteria and locked them. The last thing he needed was an interruption in the middle of this project. He turned to survey the room, arms akimbo while he thought about what he had to do. "Okay," he said to himself, "first things first. Clear the floor."
Pushing all but one of the tables against the walls and stacking the chairs on them took only a few minutes. Ash laid the instructions on the remaining table and pressed it flat. It was very badly written, but he'd looked it over several times and he was confident that he could manage it. "How hard could it be?" he muttered to himself.
He began assembling all the materials he needed on the table next to the instructions. A glass, a pitcher of water, a box of Dharma brand birthday candles. (The instructions called for six black candles, but these would have to do.) A box of salt, a big black marker, and various other esoteric items. And...coffee, which he'd brewed a few minutes earlier.
But first...Ash picked up the marker in one hand and the instructions in the other. Working slowly and methodically at first, Ash began drawing runes onto the edge of the tabletop. It took a lot of attention. His hand began to cramp after a while. By the time he was done, the figures were considerably less precise than when he'd begun.
"Eh, good enough," Ash decided.
He capped the marker and tossed it away. Then Ash walked over to the stove, poured coffee into a large bowl and carried it to the table. He placed the bowl in the center of the table. Next came the salt. Ash opened the pouring spout on the cannister and began walking around the table, pouring out the salt in a circle, making sure that he was inside it when he completed the circle. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he closed the circle.
"Hrmm, hmmm," Ash muttered, looking over the instructions. "Ah--right, the candles." Ash lit the candles one by one, carefully turning them as wax melted, dripping it onto the tabletop until there was enough to hold each candle upright. Then it was time for the heavy lifting.
Ash picked up a small photograph. He'd gotten it from Daisy, from the wallet of someone who had died in the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. He glanced at the instructions and recited the incantation. "Pro os, statua unus porro lost ut memoria," Ash said, tearing it into bits and dropping the pieces into the coffee.
"Pro auditurus esse, sanus carmen sung ut a parvulus porro.". Ash leaned forward and, feeling very foolish, sang a few bars of a lullaby.
"Pro tactus, sentio parvulus thesaurus,". Ash dropped a pinch of stuffing from a well-worn stuffed animal into the coffee. "Pro nidor, scaena matris diligo." Ash dusted the coffee with baby powder. "Pro sapor, flavor parvulus iucunditas," Ash said, dropping a small piece of chocolate into the coffee.
Ash picked up one of the candles. He held it up over the coffee and recited another incantation. "Hail ut phasmatis of incendia quod unda, terra quod aer! Unbind alica ut redimio nostrum monumentum!" Ash plunged the burning tip of the candle into the brew. The flame hissed and went out. Ash felt some of his strength fade at the same time that a feeling of pressure became noticeable all over his skin.
Ash picked up a second candle and repeated the incantation, quenching the flame in the coffee. The sensation of pressure, of gathering power became more distinct. He did it a third time, and a fourth. By the time he picked up the fifth and final candle, he felt light-headed. It was hard to breathe, the power gathered around him inside the circle of salt tangible and nearly irresistible. Ash recited the incantation and plunged the candle into the coffee.
The power, wound tighter and tighter with each repetition, exploded outward. Ash had a moment to wonder if perhaps he'd done something wrong after all as he was picked up bodily and flung backwards into the stacked chairs and tables behind him. It was very painful, as was crashing to the floor and having the table and chairs fall on top of him. (Maybe,) Ash thought, (he should just give up spellcasting. It never seemed to work out right--)
"It worked!" Ash crowed. "I remember!"
* * *
George's dreams were jumbled, confused--and confusing. She dreamed of her family; of Rube, Roxy, Mason and Daisy; of Dolores and Happy Time. She also dreamed of alien worlds, alien skies, battles and espionage and seduction. She woke slowly, dreams shading into wakefulness. She was lying on her back, one arm wrapped around someone who lay cuddled up with her head on George's shoulder.
Thinking about her dreams, George realized with a sudden shock that she remembered! She knew who all those people were. She knew who she was--and where she was, and how she'd gotten here, events of the last few weeks. All of it! Her eyes popped open, sleepiness banished by excitement. She struggled up to a sitting position--
--and screamed, waking the others. Beside her, Faith, Chloe and George jerked awake. Faith flung herself upright and then tumbled out of bed to sprawl on the floor. Chloe looked around, surprise--and alarm--written on her face. "What's going on? I feel...weak."
And George.... George watched herself--watched her body--sit up and meet her eyes with a crooked smile that just didn't look like it belonged on her face. "Well, this is new," she said, and her voice didn't sound right at all--nothing like George's voice sounded to herself.
George looked down at herself, at the masculine torso. She swallowed heavily and tentatively reached under the covers. "Oh fuck, oh fuck..." She found what she'd expected--feared--to find. A penis. "Son of a bitch!"
Yes, boys and girls, it's official. The mass amnesia is over. Everyone has his or her memory back, completely intact. On the other hand...some of you will find yourselves in bodies that are not your own. If your character was touching--or merely in close proximity to--someone else, you will find yourself in someone else's body.
Unlike the mass amnesia, we're not making this universal. If you want to swap around your PCs, go for it. Establish that they were touching or very close at the right (wrong) time. If you want to swap your characters with someone else's, and they're willing to play along, make it so. If, on the other hand, you want to sit back and laugh at other characters' misfortunes, that's okay too.
Have fun with it. It will eventually be reversed....