The Eye of Kaggath Will Protect You
The Eye of Kaggath Will Protect You.
I was walking through a large electronics store, probably a Frye's Electronics store, when the fabric of reality twisted. Several large grey creatures shaped like swooshes poured from the rift. They moved so quickly that it was difficult to see what they actually looked like other than to have the impression that they had many sharp pointy legs behind the head of the swoosh that were folded up underneath as the grey blur rocketed through the overhead areas of the store.
There was general panic as one of the large dolphin sized creatures landed on a person and began stabbing with its small legs and gnawing with a toothy mouth that was revealed as the head of the swoosh tilted back. In a few short seconds there was nothing but a layer of bloody debris under the alien beast. The folks who were around to witness that ran screaming from aisle, looking for cover. Me among them. I ran past the HDTV displays and as I did so the transmissions all changed to a grainy black and white image of a stylized eye with several alien looking runes or characters around it. I had the impression that the image was reversed, a negative or even possibly solarized image because of the way the shading around the illustration looked. There was some loud burst of audio that I didn't recognize but could tell was some sort of language, then the message repeated in highly accented English.
“The Eye of Kaggath will protect you.”
The alien words repeated, just a bit slower. I tried to copy them, but found the sounds almost impossible to repeat. I recorded them on my MP3 player, though. I grabbed a speaker dock and plugged in my MP3 player and started looping the recording. I aimed the speakers at the first alien swoosh I saw hovering in the air about 15 yards from me. It turn towards me. I envisioned the Eye of Kaggath (with uncanny ease) and muttered “The Eye of Kaggath will protect me.”
The thing exploded into a thousand and one tearing bits of gray ectoplasmic ooze that evaporated before it got more than a few yards from the creature.
I ran out into the store, finding that I didn't need the audio from the MP3 recording. I could just envision the Eye and say the phrase and the things would explode in a display of ectoplasmic pyrotechnics.
When the police arrived, they arrested me, as I was the only one left at the scene of the murder. I went with them, not sure what I could tell them that would actually make any sense. I knew I would end up being held until they finally got the idea to look at the security video. (Which didn't show the aliens, of course, but did show that the person was being shredded while I was running away with everyone else. The broadcast of the “Eye of Kaggath” was visible on the tape, as was the explosions when I went around shouting “The Eye of Kaggath will protect me.”
Because I'd taken the speakers and connected them to my MP3 player they decided to charge me with shoplifting. Which I told them was odd, as I left the speakers and my MP3 player in the store when I realized that it wasn't working.
I was just falling asleep on the saggy cot in the holding sell when the Sheriff walked in and told the deputies to get me in a squad car and get to an address that he rattled off followed by “Lowes, parking lot.” One of the deputies was one of the ones who'd questioned me about the security video. On the way over there I told him to try to remember the Eye. He was surprised at how easy it was when he repeated the phrase.
The two of us cleared up about half a dozen of the beasts. Again, you could see the ectoplasm explosions, but not the creatures themselves on video.
Leopards in the Yard
Later, I found myself at my parents. They hadn't responded to repeated telephone calls so I was worried. When I got there I let myself in with their key and they were nowhere to be found. I stepped out into the patio, into a quarter inch thick layer of bloody goo. I started to get sick when I heard a growl from outside the patio.
There, right outside the door was a leopard, and her two cubs. One of the grey swoosh beasts swooped at her, and she leapt aside, slashing at it, and knocking it about. A second one came from around the corner of the patio and caught her from behind. She hissed and growled. I tried to envision the eye, but it took a second, until I repeated the phrase, and then it was too late for the leopard.
She looked at me, and I could hear her clearly in my head “save my cubs, teach them everything you can.” I stood in the goo, looking at the tiny terrified cubs. With her dying breath she told them to go with me. I understood her, even though that thought wasn't in English. They put their paws up on the ruined bottom of the patio door, obviously afraid to step into the goo. I bent down and picked them up. They were still only eight pounds each or so, very young. I looked in their eyes, they were bright blue, like a white tiger's eyes. They were crying. I could hear them in my head and told them to hang on tight, we were going to get the rest of the beasts.
I could feel them learning how to envision the Eye as we made our way through the house clearing out the remaining aliens. By the time we'd gotten our fourth one, they were helping, one looking over my shoulder and the other tucked inside my shirt looking forward with me. They could spot them long before I could. They could summon the Eye, but not with enough force to blow them up, just enough to keep them away. I found myself wondering why their mother hadn't been able to do that.
Victorian RPG, Risus/Lego style
I woke up when the kittens demanded breakfast. When I fell back to sleep I was still dealing with the alien swooshes, but now they were 4 dice physical, and one die psychic monsters. I was running a bunch of people through a scenerio at a convention of some sort and all of my illustrations had a decidedly “Girl Genius” look to them. I had a great set of iron, silver and copper dice three iron, black in color, two silver, nickle iron, really, and one copper. The dice were 2cm on a side and had a really nice heft and just hammered the dice tray when they landed. All of the character sheets were on parchment, and the players were using fountain pens to make any needed notes. I was in a waistcoat and wearing an ascot. I had knee breeches and riding boots as well as aviators goggles perched on my head.
Funny part of this was that I had several cards with The Eye of Kaggath on them, and the phrase in both English and IPA for the original alien language. Every player had to memorize the phrase and tell me if they could see the Eye when they invoked it. The ones that could I gave another card with a web address that they could go and register as a member of the “Tears of Kaggath,” for free.
I was walking through a large electronics store, probably a Frye's Electronics store, when the fabric of reality twisted. Several large grey creatures shaped like swooshes poured from the rift. They moved so quickly that it was difficult to see what they actually looked like other than to have the impression that they had many sharp pointy legs behind the head of the swoosh that were folded up underneath as the grey blur rocketed through the overhead areas of the store.
There was general panic as one of the large dolphin sized creatures landed on a person and began stabbing with its small legs and gnawing with a toothy mouth that was revealed as the head of the swoosh tilted back. In a few short seconds there was nothing but a layer of bloody debris under the alien beast. The folks who were around to witness that ran screaming from aisle, looking for cover. Me among them. I ran past the HDTV displays and as I did so the transmissions all changed to a grainy black and white image of a stylized eye with several alien looking runes or characters around it. I had the impression that the image was reversed, a negative or even possibly solarized image because of the way the shading around the illustration looked. There was some loud burst of audio that I didn't recognize but could tell was some sort of language, then the message repeated in highly accented English.
“The Eye of Kaggath will protect you.”
The alien words repeated, just a bit slower. I tried to copy them, but found the sounds almost impossible to repeat. I recorded them on my MP3 player, though. I grabbed a speaker dock and plugged in my MP3 player and started looping the recording. I aimed the speakers at the first alien swoosh I saw hovering in the air about 15 yards from me. It turn towards me. I envisioned the Eye of Kaggath (with uncanny ease) and muttered “The Eye of Kaggath will protect me.”
The thing exploded into a thousand and one tearing bits of gray ectoplasmic ooze that evaporated before it got more than a few yards from the creature.
I ran out into the store, finding that I didn't need the audio from the MP3 recording. I could just envision the Eye and say the phrase and the things would explode in a display of ectoplasmic pyrotechnics.
When the police arrived, they arrested me, as I was the only one left at the scene of the murder. I went with them, not sure what I could tell them that would actually make any sense. I knew I would end up being held until they finally got the idea to look at the security video. (Which didn't show the aliens, of course, but did show that the person was being shredded while I was running away with everyone else. The broadcast of the “Eye of Kaggath” was visible on the tape, as was the explosions when I went around shouting “The Eye of Kaggath will protect me.”
Because I'd taken the speakers and connected them to my MP3 player they decided to charge me with shoplifting. Which I told them was odd, as I left the speakers and my MP3 player in the store when I realized that it wasn't working.
I was just falling asleep on the saggy cot in the holding sell when the Sheriff walked in and told the deputies to get me in a squad car and get to an address that he rattled off followed by “Lowes, parking lot.” One of the deputies was one of the ones who'd questioned me about the security video. On the way over there I told him to try to remember the Eye. He was surprised at how easy it was when he repeated the phrase.
The two of us cleared up about half a dozen of the beasts. Again, you could see the ectoplasm explosions, but not the creatures themselves on video.
Leopards in the Yard
Later, I found myself at my parents. They hadn't responded to repeated telephone calls so I was worried. When I got there I let myself in with their key and they were nowhere to be found. I stepped out into the patio, into a quarter inch thick layer of bloody goo. I started to get sick when I heard a growl from outside the patio.
There, right outside the door was a leopard, and her two cubs. One of the grey swoosh beasts swooped at her, and she leapt aside, slashing at it, and knocking it about. A second one came from around the corner of the patio and caught her from behind. She hissed and growled. I tried to envision the eye, but it took a second, until I repeated the phrase, and then it was too late for the leopard.
She looked at me, and I could hear her clearly in my head “save my cubs, teach them everything you can.” I stood in the goo, looking at the tiny terrified cubs. With her dying breath she told them to go with me. I understood her, even though that thought wasn't in English. They put their paws up on the ruined bottom of the patio door, obviously afraid to step into the goo. I bent down and picked them up. They were still only eight pounds each or so, very young. I looked in their eyes, they were bright blue, like a white tiger's eyes. They were crying. I could hear them in my head and told them to hang on tight, we were going to get the rest of the beasts.
I could feel them learning how to envision the Eye as we made our way through the house clearing out the remaining aliens. By the time we'd gotten our fourth one, they were helping, one looking over my shoulder and the other tucked inside my shirt looking forward with me. They could spot them long before I could. They could summon the Eye, but not with enough force to blow them up, just enough to keep them away. I found myself wondering why their mother hadn't been able to do that.
Victorian RPG, Risus/Lego style
I woke up when the kittens demanded breakfast. When I fell back to sleep I was still dealing with the alien swooshes, but now they were 4 dice physical, and one die psychic monsters. I was running a bunch of people through a scenerio at a convention of some sort and all of my illustrations had a decidedly “Girl Genius” look to them. I had a great set of iron, silver and copper dice three iron, black in color, two silver, nickle iron, really, and one copper. The dice were 2cm on a side and had a really nice heft and just hammered the dice tray when they landed. All of the character sheets were on parchment, and the players were using fountain pens to make any needed notes. I was in a waistcoat and wearing an ascot. I had knee breeches and riding boots as well as aviators goggles perched on my head.
Funny part of this was that I had several cards with The Eye of Kaggath on them, and the phrase in both English and IPA for the original alien language. Every player had to memorize the phrase and tell me if they could see the Eye when they invoked it. The ones that could I gave another card with a web address that they could go and register as a member of the “Tears of Kaggath,” for free.
posted by Fermius Firefly | 8:39 AM
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