"Hmmm....well from where I'm standing there's a pretty obvious gap in the pawns...can ya see that from your position? It looks like you could get back there by going in reverse from your last move, without all the zig zagging that you had to do to dodge...." Says Junko.
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"Um, Miss Elizabeth? This way please?" Jessie asks as she approaches the chess room door and opens it.
"Just so long as you can get to the other side nya," Tammy says as she points toward the door opposite her location. "I'll meet you there," the cat girl adds just before hearing the door behind her open. Turning around, she sees Jessie holding the door open. "What kept you?" the cat girl asks the ghost, "And where are you looking nya?" she adds, noticing Jessie facing to her side into the hallway.
"Um, well..." is all Jessie can say as she alternates glances between Tammy and the hallway.
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"Sounds workable to me." says Junko before the door opens. "Oh hi, welcome back, what new complication's hit? I'm guessing there's one anyhow with you gone that long."
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Show an affirming flame
"Uh, yeah, sure," said Elizabeth, still wondering.
Then she saw the chessboard.
The next few seconds were taken up in confused swearing in a Language That Should Not Be, ending with a shrill "...and what the hell is going on here?!"
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Ahhhh so your wondering too huh?" says Junko. "We're trying to figure out a way out of this room at the moment." she shrugs. "I knew this would be a weird day when I got stuck in the roof here."
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Elizabeth tilted her head at that statement; it was impossible to notice her blinking behind her sunglasses.
"There is a doorway," she said. "Like, the one I'm looking through. That's a door frame, that's an open door. Isn't it?"
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Well that's my fault should have chosen my wording better." says Junko looking sheepish, "We're trying to figure out how to get that other door open. Course the way this day has been going the possibility we've been given the run around and wasting our time with this chess board thing has occurred to us, but our last couple attempts at thinking outside the box didn't go so well. And by the way that's quite a vocabulary you've got, I haven't heard swearing like that since my last family reunion. Of course nothing's exploded yet..." she turns to the others "I think it might be best if I don't do the explaining things from here on in."
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"All right, what's your excuse for being here nya?" Tammy asks as she glances at the shades-clad maid now within the room. Jessie steps up toward Tammy. "That was rude, Miss Tammy," the ghost says. "Maybe we should force in another of those catnip tablets?" The cat girl cringes on that notion. "Heck no!" Tammy exclaims. "I was out 24 hours from the overpowering first batch of those Junko made for me, and that was after I was in heat for 6 hours right after being force-fed them nya. I speak for all of us in saying to not let that happen again nya." Tammy becomes slightly somber as the situation sets in. After a silent, apologetic nod toward Elizabeth, the cat girl starts up the side of the room toward the door on the other side.
Jessie shakes her head on Tammy's outburst before turning to face Elizabeth. "Allow me to apologize on Miss Tammy's behalf, Miss Elizabeth. She's been a bit uptight since dropping in along with Miss Junko, who you've already spoken to." The ghost then motions her arm toward Karina. "Over there is Miss Karina, who may be the 'blue-haired maid' you're looking for?" Jessie then moves in a little closer to advise about Karina, "She means well, but you may want to step back if she starts asking about your blood type."
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Show an affirming flame
"Okay...so what's on the far side of the door that has everyone's attention?" asked Elizabeth. In her mind she had to understand the rules of whatever system governed the magic/technology/Weird Stuff here, but just the prospect was giving her a headache; not to mention, she could never quite remember how the little horse-shaped chess pieces moved. "Because the rest of the manor is in kind of a mess. And are we guessing the chess game has something to do with that door opening?"
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Junko gets a shame faced look when Tammy bring up that little incident. "Oh man...I'm never going to live that one down am I?" she mutters. "As to why we're in here...we're chasing someone and we think they went this way...I think we've been at this a while and I haven't slept in a couple days. And yes, we've also found out you can't get across the floor without picking up a piece, if you try the floor kinda drops out from under ya and you get sent back to the start. And we seem to have to move like the piece we're carrying....Are there any details I'm leaving out here?"
edited 10th Oct '14 7:22:06 PM by barzark
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Show an affirming flame
"A couple of days," repeated Elizabeth incredulously. "You mean...most of the working people in this household got stuck down here in a human chess game for a couple of days...in hopes of opening a door?" What have you gotten me into, Ms. Mori?!
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"No I don't actually work here, we haven't been down here....more then an hour or so I think." she shrugs "Things have been a little nuts for me personally lately. And I was stick in the ceiling for a while hard to tell the passage of time there I just know it's been a while since I've slept and ya know going through the ceiling head first kinda knocked me silly for a while."
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The instant Tammy places a foot onto a floor board space, the space she steps on opens up. (Tammy rolls 2 x Athletics 3 = 6.) The cat girl struggles to pull back and seems to do so for a second, but the suction proves too great as she gets pulled in and the space closes. (Being beside the standard chessboard, Jessie rolls 1 x Luck 3 = 3.) A second later, a space on the ceiling near the standard chessboard opens and out falls the cat girl, landing right on top of the ghost as the ceiling space closes. "Oww... To answer the rhetorical you asked a few minutes ago, miss Junko, that trip is definitely not necessary," Jessie painfully muses.
"Sorry about that nya," Tammy says as she gets up off the ghost and offers a hand to help Jessie back to her feet. "It seems that without a chess piece, you're not allowed to cross the..." The cat girl stops as she realizes the key to traverse the room: The pieces on the standard chessboard. "Are you all thinking what I'm thinking nya?" Tammy calls out to the others in the room.
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"Well good to know the answer to that." says Junko, "And I think so Tammy, but where are we going to find that much gunpowder this time of day?" she chuckles a bit "Sorry couldn't resist. You think you've made a breakthrough?"
edited 17th Oct '14 8:17:17 PM by barzark
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"First we would need a cannon big enough to..." Tammy starts to say before realizing she's caught in Junko's wisecrack. "Junko nya!" the cat girl then shouts, but in a playful tone as she knows she should've expected that from the scientist maid. "Anyway, it seems that the keys to get across the board are the chess pieces themselves nya."
"An interesting theory there," Jessie replies. "Allow me to test it." The ghost turns to face Elizabeth. "If you'll please wait here, Miss Elizabeth," the ghost requests, "And, whatever you do, don't touch a piece on this board until one of us gives the okay, okay?" Jessie then turns back toward the others in the room. "I'll be right with you, Miss Karina," the ghost then says as she picks up the black knight piece that's closer to the opposite side of the board.
"Oh, so you're Elizabeth nya?" Tammy asks as she approaches the beige-clad maid. "Sorry I started us on the wrong foot. If we may try again nya?" the cat girl says, extending a hand toward Elizabeth, "My name's Tammy. I hope we can get along well nya."
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"I see..." says Junko with a thoughtful look. "Interesting....I think you might be on to something there." she nods. "I sure can't think of anything that sounds better. Let's see how this test goes."
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Chess Room
As had happened with Karina before, as soon as Jessie picked up the Black Knight a trap door opened up beneath her, sucking her semi-substantial form into the howling vortex under the floor. At the same time the giant black knight disappeared from the rear row of the chess board at the opposite end of the room. A few tense seconds later Jessie reappeared in its place, mere yards from the door they were trying to reach.edited 23rd Oct '14 3:41:10 PM by alhazred23
H:44F(8/30)S|G:19F(0/10)S
"Well, that answers that question at least, great thinking there." says Junko with a grin. "We might get this mess sorted out after all."
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Show an affirming flame
"Oh, likewise," said Elizabeth, shaking Tammy's hand and trying to size her up. "So it looks like your colleagues just found a way across the room, right? I'm sorry for the outburst earlier—" Especially the dead language, she thought "—but, um, it looks like we're all set to...do whatever it is we're doing at that doorway."
Or, alternatively, trying to figure out the chessboard and then pulling the plug on the display machine, but something told Elizabeth that might well make things worse.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Jessie moans in discomfort as she slowly stands back up, and as she does the others notice her face being slightly more pale than usual. "It's a good thing ghosts don't have to eat, or I'd be needing a motion sickness bag right about now."
"Um, whose turn is it now?" Jessie asks, to which Tammy replies, "How about checking the clocks nya? Of course, they've glitched up once before so it's hard to tell if they're correct nya." Looking up, Jessie sees the black-side turn light on and its clock counting, and down a significant amount of time since she last looked at it. It's not down to the white-side's remaining time limit yet, but it's within a few minutes of doing so.
"What? We've burned that much time?" Jessie rhetorically asks, then turns to face Karina, asking, "One of us should move right away, Miss Karina. Do you want to move or should I?"
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"Hmmm so ghost can get dizzy huh? Interesting..." says Junko taking out a notepad and jotting a few things down. "My uncle would have a field day with all of this." She glances up at the clock when it's mentioned. "Well...time flies when your having fun. Doesn't really explain this situation though does is?"
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Chess Room
Only silence answered Jessie, prompting the maids to look to where Karina had been standing. There, in her place, now stood the black bishop she'd replaced. Of the vampire maid there was no sign. Any maid who makes a Cunning check of 6 will recall seeing Karina disappear into the floor out of the corner of her eye while they were watching Jessie do her 'test.' Anyone who beats 8 will realize that the black bishop piece is back on the small chess board as well, which is just weird. Just doing this to move things along, as Karina's player hasn't been around lately. H:44F(8/30)S|G:19F(0/10)S
"Well....that's weird." says Junko. "And am I nuts or is there one piece more on the mini board there then there was a minute ago?" she pauses "Okay there's a pretty good chance I'm nuts but..."
cunning check 2x5=10
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"But... How...?" Jessie becomes practically speechless when she realizes she was talking to, not a blue-haired vampire maid, but an oversized black bishop chess piece.
Tammy is similarly stunned at losing sight of Karina. It takes Junko's speaking up to prompt the cat girl to look at the chess board. (Tammy rolls 4 x Cunning 2 = 8.) "There does appear to be a piece more than I saw after Jessie grabbed hers nya," Tammy says.
"Speaking of nya... Didn't you say you were testing something, Jessie nya?" Tammy calls out. "Oh, right," Jessie says with a start. "Miss Tammy? Miss Beatrice? If my suspicion is right, you may go for the pieces close to where I am now." (Jessie rolls 5 x Cunning 2 = 10 for determining a move.) Let's see... The knight moves in a fixed L-pattern, the ghost then thinks. I'm not right against the edge, but I am close enough that I can move off the board. Here goes... Jessie moves herself so, hopefully for her, she would be just off the floorboard at the door across the room from the chessboard. (If needed and/or applicable, Jessie rolls 3 x Luck 3 = 9 for her move's outcome.)
edited 10th Nov '14 4:05:55 PM by 1jimbo10
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Chess Room
There was a relatively obvious gap in the black pawns. To get to the back row (and off the board) Karina would simply need to reverse the moves it took to get where she was now, though she could probably skip the 'back and forth' moves she'd taken to stall the black side. H:44F(8/30)S|G:19F(0/10)S