Outside: Grass touch place

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

Fortunately, there is no breeze or other hazard that would make the journey more hazardous than it otherwise would be. Eventually the intrepid duo encounter the next building, a small thatched cottage drifting in the mist. It has a door, and light streams out of the windows as well as the sound of music. The door is not locked, but it does stick a little, and requires a serious pull to open. Stepping inside, the cottage is lit by several lanterns hanging from the roof and a fire burning in a stove at one end. It's a rectangular room with a bed near the stove, several cupboards and a wardrobe, and rushes spread across a dirt floor. A door at the back leads to what should be a garden, but may not be.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Well this seems…rustic. Maybe appropriate for a unicorn?
Jace glances around. There’s a fire; is someone around? He shifts his shoulder, sore from pulling.
He opens the cupboard just to make sure there’s nothing nefarious in there. But if nothing jumps out at him he’ll continue to the next door.

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

There is nobody present in the cottage, and the cupboards prove empty beyond small spiders, cobwebs, and mouse droppings. One has a chipped terracotta mug, otherwise nothing.

The next door opens onto another path of hovering stones, leading north and curling east to approach another building again from the north. That building is much different, a black stone building with jagged spurs and dripping slime. The hollow tower is also visible, further east.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

What a strange place. So many disjointed places with very little around. Memories? Or places that fade out and find themselves here? It seems to have some semblance of continuity.

Jace is certainly getting tired doing all this jumping but advance he does.
Into the scary looking structure they go!

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

What a strange place. So many disjointed places with very little around. Memories? Or places that fade out and find themselves here? It seems to have some semblance of continuity.

Jace is certainly getting tired doing all this jumping but advance he does.
Into the scary looking structure they go!

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

The door opens easily, and beyond... this is clearly a dead end. A large chamber dominated by a central idol of a demonic figure carved from a single block of blue-painted stone, a tall and lanky figure resting on a pair of thin, swirling legs studded with hooks and barbs, with more hooks and barbs emerging from their bones at elbow, shoulder, and along their ribs. The head is large and blank, no eyes or nose, but split by a wide mouth filled with teeth- as more teeth emerge from the head in place of hair. Set in the idol's ribs are six large garnets carved to resemble eyes. The figure's arms end in a cluster of tentacles instead of fingers, and it holds in one hand a black iron dagger, loose enough it could be taken out and used- and it has been. Lying at the idol's... base are several old skeletons, with the floor and the idol's feet sprayed with blood.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Jace’s expression darkens. Damn demons. And Veronica isn’t here to tell him about destruction of culture or whatever. Jace glares and points a finger at the idol and growls out an incantation.
”Begone from this world, foul one. Stain reality no longer.”
Jace uses the basic Shatter spell to make the physical components of the idol burst into pieces. If the idol does break he will simply shut the door and leave. He wants no part in the foul tools of demons. Better to leave them all in ruin.

[bc56]

Japaraita
"No one can fly forever," Sekhmet points out. Sooner or later you need to land.
"That's, uh, still a few days of walking. Or, uh, swimming." Is swimming faster than walking? Sekhmet doesn't know, she's only been a mermaid for an hour or so.

[Thursday Violist]

Japaraita
"No one can fly forever," Sekhmet points out. Sooner or later you need to land.
"That's, uh, still a few days of walking. Or, uh, swimming." Is swimming faster than walking? Sekhmet doesn't know, she's only been a mermaid for an hour or so.

[Japaraita]

Fortunately! June has been a mermaid for longer than an hour. So she knows a mermaid swimming is faster than walking, and could cut the travel time by two to three times. Not to mention, there's fewer obstacles and difficult terrain to pass over in the ocean, too. "That's perfect," June claims, "A couple days swimming is probably the perfect amount of time to find a sea witch on the way."

Assuming, of course, that sea witches are as common as she assumes. And that she'd recognize one if she found one. If it were that easy, she probably would've found one already.

June stretches and yawns.

[bc56]

Japaraita
Sekhmet shrugs and slightly adjusts her shells. "I wouldn't know. I have no idea how many of them are out there." She idly flicks her tail through the water sending ripples across the surface. "It's peaceful here. Nobody seems to be around."

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

The door slams down, and the smoke pours into the room. It's a living space, one which has seen better days; an old sofa is against the other wall, opposite a small black-and-white television and a large wireless. There's two doors further into the building, one of which leads into the old tower. The floor has a threadbare brown carpet spread across it, with a moth-eaten smilodon-skin rug over the top. There's no men visible in the chamber; just a young woman with pale skin, red hair and freckles, wearing a stained t-shirt and a pair of knickers, holding a baby tight to her chest. There's an empty brass fire extinguisher discarded in the corner, next to an umbrella stand containing a black umbrella, a parasol and an aluminium walking-stick, but otherwise the room is empty.

[Little Sattleborough]

...Shit.

This is a bit of a setback.

Jubilee looks between the two doors, trying to decide exactly what to do. Where Samantha's father is supposed to be, it isn't at all obvious. He could be up in the tower, or he could be in just the other room, and if Jubilee proceeds like she doesn't know where he is, that would certainly compromise the illusion of the all-powerful, impossible-to-resist supernatural entity here to claim to soul of someone who thought he could cheat death.

Would it be better to demand an answer, or to proceed with the information she has?

Jubilee pauses for a moment, thinking it over, before finally pointing to the carpet just in front of the stairs, setting it ablaze with towering green flames, barring entry to the tower or exit from the same. Then, pointedly ignoring the woman, she continues toward the other door, walking her scythe across the floor as she continues humming the song to herself, no longer indulging in the lyrics.

[Magtok]

Orb of Oujet

But taking attention off the sword and back at orb in her hand she suddenly realizes something. "But you don't happen to have something to carry it in do you? Like a blanket or something." As she asks this she has start to walk back the way they came.

"Nope, sorry. If I did it'd be soaked in blood right now, anyway, Laz explains, gaze fixed on this incredibly strange magical sword she now owns. A different Tiamat, then? Some other mythology altogether, bearing even greater significance than the dragon lady? It's not unreasonable, she supposes. With all the conflicting cosmologies and myths in the Nexus, it can't be that surprising to hear that there's more than one interpretation of Tiamat out there.

"Vigil isn't that far, I'll carry it if your arms get tired," the ghoul offers. What does Anika need her arms free for, anyway? They're just walking back to the base.

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

The statue shatters, chunks of stone and teeth flying out across the room as the dagger drops to the floor. All that's left are jagged stumps which were the ends of its legs, still standing where they are lodged in the floor.

And then he leaves! Back to the cottage, or to the concrete-slab room to investigate beyond the arch, or all the way back to the first branching path to find whatever lies beyond?

Little Sattleborough

I'm guessing that Jubilee doesn't block the route behind her? If so, the woman and child will flee once the other path is lit and Jubilee continues in her march. If it is blocked, then they're going to stay here and panic a little.

The other room is revealed to be a kitchen area, with a large gas cooker, a sleek new fridge, and several counters and cupboards. There's also a small dining area, with a small table that would seat four if it weren't against the wall, so instead it seats three- and one of those three appears to use a children's highchair. There's another door into a kitchen garden, but nobody is here unless one counts the fat tabby Manx cat sleeping in front of the oven, which doesn't even wake up as Jubilee enters.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Jace takes probably a little more satisfaction in destroying the idol than he should. After all, he didn't really bother to examine it. It's POSSIBLE that being covered and spikes and slime belied a less malevolent purpose.
But sometimes you just really want to wreck something.

Jace is going to return to the slab room and poke his head into the side-room he didn't examine earlier. He'll be going as quietly as he can so as to not disturb the monster in the water again.

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

I'm guessing that Jubilee doesn't block the route behind her? If so, the woman and child will flee once the other path is lit and Jubilee continues in her march. If it is blocked, then they're going to stay here and panic a little.

The other room is revealed to be a kitchen area, with a large gas cooker, a sleek new fridge, and several counters and cupboards. There's also a small dining area, with a small table that would seat four if it weren't against the wall, so instead it seats three- and one of those three appears to use a children's highchair. There's another door into a kitchen garden, but nobody is here unless one counts the fat tabby Manx cat sleeping in front of the oven, which doesn't even wake up as Jubilee enters.

[Little Sattleborough]

Jubilee doesn't see the cat at first, but she is all the same privy to its presence after a moment, if for only one very simple reason.

"Choo!"

Jubilee sniffles and holds her hand over her nose, masking the tiny, high-pitched sound further, in the hopes that it didn't carry over to... wherever that sonuvabitch was hiding. She prods the cat with the butt end of her scythe in an effort to shoo it away. "Ugh. Geb oud ob heye, dub cad." She mutters, already feeling her nasal passages swelling up. Ugh. This would certainly explain why her nose has been tingling since she came in here, though it didn't really bear mention until just now.

After a cursory check around the kitchen area, Jubilee makes her way over to the garden, hoping this dead-ends soon and she can confidently enter the tower. It's a rare day there's only one cat in a house like this.

[Thursday Violist]

Japaraita
Sekhmet shrugs and slightly adjusts her shells. "I wouldn't know. I have no idea how many of them are out there." She idly flicks her tail through the water sending ripples across the surface. "It's peaceful here. Nobody seems to be around."

[Japaraita]

June glances over.

"There's got to be a lot around, right?" she says. "I mean, there's all sorts of stuff all around. Sea witches wouldn't be that unusual, I think. Find a big enough sea town and there's probably a sea witch around, I assume."

June rests her head in her arms. "Here, though...probably not a sea witch or other kind of witch around a town this size. This is actually one of the smaller towns I've visited so far. I asked around, besides the ones who work as hunters or the occasional traders coming by, there's not many people coming through the forest."

She rolls her neck. "But if we go that way," she says, pointing off in a direction away from the village, "there's a pretty big river just past the hill. Something about the river makes it backflow from the ocean during the winter, but there's much bigger towns up and down the river." She keeps on aimlessly rambling about the locale, "Gotta be lots of people there. But I suppose since the castle here failed, nobody's bothered to follow up with building anything here again, and eventually people just stopped coming around."

She takes a deep, slow breath.
"Yeah, I already have enough freckles, don't need more on my back and chest. I'm getting back in the water."

June rolls off the rock to get all but her head submerged.

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire for Blue

The side-room is empty, completely so. There's a bit of resistance as Jace sticks his head into the chamber, as he pushes through an invisible magic barrier. The room's a vaccuum, and the barrier is keeping it contained. If he throws or knocks a bottle in ahead of him, the way it'll bounce across the floor without making a sound would probably provide a clue to the nature of what's beyond.

The monster in the water remains where it is, the three-eyed tentacle that emerged earlier having disappeared again. A bulky shape is just about visible through the murk near the door, however.

Little Sattleborough

The garden is walled, with the wall being high enough it's not immediately apparent from outside it marks a garden. There's no gate out, just a self-contained area for the growth of vegetables. There's a few tomacco plants in the corner, a hunched old persimmon tree that looks to be dying, a small pond with some goldfish in it and a humming nirnroot plant growing on the edge, a raised bed filled with yams, and some raspberry canes. Painted on the far wall is a faded mural, looking to be a family tree of some kind.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Well. Scientifically the vacuum is extremely interesting but right now it appears to not contain a unicorn. Jace moves on after verifying that the room is actually empty.

Which means that they just have to fly past the monster in the water to get back to the original branch on the bridges.
…
And yeah, on the way back Jace is going to throw a fireball into that pit of centipedes so he can claim that armor. It will make a good gift for Veronica.

[Ironsmith]

[Little Sattleborough]

And of course, dead end. But at least now she knows that.

And it's not as though the trip is entirely wasted. There are a few things here she can gather, as one might expect for a phytokinetic in a garden. She'll take the liberty of pocketing a few tomaccoes (she knows this great recipe for cigar sauce) and some nirnroot, taking just a moment to grow the plants back afterwards.

It's not robbery if she grew them herself, right?

She stops by the family tree (the one inscribed on the wall, not the wilting persimmon tree) and takes a moment to examine it, scanning for Samantha's name and working her way back to find her father. This will all go a bit better if she can actually address him.

[Zefir]

[Riftline]

Let's hope the catperson doesn't ever actually learn who he is. He'd feel so terrified if he did.

The hobgoblin is disappointed that he doesn't want any, but that's okay. Not wanting to eat in trains is pretty reasonable. She sits back down to talk with the others around.

And, finally, the cloaked guy sits back once Zefir returns. Unlike that aristocrat catperson, this cloaked man actually is able to see Zefir as someone to not mess with (even though he, too, has no idea who he is).

Violeta Escarlate doesn't react for several moments after Zefir returns, as she's just thinking about what the guy now sitting behind her said to her, and what it means. She looks for a distraction from her thoughts, and turns to Zefir, "Oh. Um....Actually, that was pretty impressive. I hope the train worker is able to get back to work and get something done, then," she says.

The storm outside picks up and the rain gets even noisier. Lightning flashes and thunder roars.

She thinks, and says, "Well, I hope this doesn't take too long." She ends up rambling, and keeps on talking: "How long did they say it'd take? A couple hours for someone to get here? Do you know anything that can help pass the time? I didn't even bring a book, or anything."

[Riftline]

Without a hin Zefir has no intention to stop the cloaked man. He just looks after him as he goes away.

"It wasn't that impresiv. I just noticed who I deal with."

He then looks outside to see the storm. Not that he can see much more then the rain pushing against the window.

"We might be here for hours. The rescue team will need some time and then the storm needs to calm down." Thats not what he assumed happens when he tooks the ride with this.
"You might either take a nap or just talk. I haven't brought anything with me."

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

Three tentacles emerge from the water as Jace and Zebes fly over the top, one tipped with three eyes and the other two ending in barbed pads that flail around, trying to catch the escaping pokemon. The tentacles are followed by a lumpy body consisting mostly of very wide mouth, mounted on three stumpy legs. The creature stinks, or possibly that's the water now that the water tension has been broken by the emerging creature.

Little Sattleborough

Earl forgot to mention the outhouse! The garden has one of those, as well.

Samantha's name is near the middle, under what would appear to be the founder of the line- Jackson North, married to Lupa North, with Arthur also located beneath. No dates are provided, but there's a third child- Michael North, from whom more names flow (unlike Arthur and Samantha, who both seem to have had no children- which, given Samantha is apparently seven and Arthur was eight when he drowned in chocolate, shouldn't be a surprise). Michael had two children, Brian and Meredith, and Meredith is linked to the newest name on the tree, one inked on this year most likely- Samuel North, with no identity for the father.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Luckily the creature revealed itself earlier so the dragon and pokemon were expecting this. They respond by both blasting the tentacles with fire; Zebes from his mouth and Jace from his V-shaped head and ears.
They aren't trying to slay the creature. Just delay it for about five seconds for them to zip to the other side of the room and out.

[Earl of Purple]

A Desire For Blue

The otyugh screams as it's blasted with fire, and retreats into the deepest part of the pool of water, before emerging briefly to throw a section of cast-iron railings at Jace and Zebes, though they've probably long gone by then and can blast the centipedes in the pit to recover the lamellar armour. It's surprisingly light, as well as glowing.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Poor otyugh. At least it didn't get blasted to cinders. Like the centipedes.

There's probably a question about the ecological ramifications of adventurers like Jace walking up and blasting forty potentially rare invertebrates to death with nary a thought. Or how either rooms of these creatures could possibly be surviving where they are without being deliberately fed. But Jace rarely stops to consider those kinds of things, much like how he doesn't stop to consider the ramifications of burning demonic statues and necromantic artifacts when other people aren't around to call him out on it.

Jace will give the armor a quick once-over to see if there's any enchantments on it. The weight and glow make him think that it could be enchanted mithril or some similar material. But either way he'll pack it up in his bag for Veronica, who he thinks would very much enjoy getting to dress as a knight samurai in shining armor. Hopefully it's the kind of magic armor that can shift for its wearers.

With that done, all that's left for Jace's route as far as he and Zebes can remember is to check the other bridge in the bridge section.
Jace's legs are getting really tired from all these precarious chasm-crossing rooms.

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

Earl forgot to mention the outhouse! The garden has one of those, as well.

Samantha's name is near the middle, under what would appear to be the founder of the line- Jackson North, married to Lupa North, with Arthur also located beneath. No dates are provided, but there's a third child- Michael North, from whom more names flow (unlike Arthur and Samantha, who both seem to have had no children- which, given Samantha is apparently seven and Arthur was eight when he drowned in chocolate, shouldn't be a surprise). Michael had two children, Brian and Meredith, and Meredith is linked to the newest name on the tree, one inked on this year most likely- Samuel North, with no identity for the father.

[Little Sattleborough]

Jubilee frowns as she traces her finger up the line, thrn back down to the rest of the material still showing up. Starting with the assumption that Meredith North was the woman who had already fled the tower, she looked... Jubilee would guess early twenties, maybe twenty-five at her oldest. A conservative guess would say that Michael was maybe about thirty when he settled down, and a similar guesstimate puts Jackson at maybe thirty-five when Michael was born, since Samantha had yet to mention any recollection of him, meaning he was likely born after she went missing.

So she's looking for what could very easily be a ninety-year-old man. With the health of an eighty-year-old, given Samantha's missing fingers and the implications of the related deals.

...For all she knows, he might already be dead.

"Goddammit." Jubilee mutters to herself. Samantha probably isn't going to be happy to learn about this, either. Jubilee thought she'd been gone for maybe a decade or two... not two whole generations of Norths. If she was having issues reconciling her internal calendar already, this certainly wasn't going to help.

Jubilee sighs and makes her way back toward the entrance to the garden... before stopping next to the persimmon tree. That seemed like an odd inclusion in a garden of this size. If they'd planned for it, it would've had about ten feet of clearance in every direction, but they put it in a garden that's far too small and now the poor thing seems to be choking. And persimmons, in amongst so many more fantastic crops? This isn't here for functional reasons.

It's got to be a marker.

Taking a deep breath, Jubilee places her hand against the tree, feeling for its roots. What was it placed on? What's buried underneath it?

[Earl of Purple]

Desire For Blue

Given this is a unicorn's temple-dimension, perhaps it feeds the animals here?

The lamellar is Chinese in style, so wearing it Veronica would look more like a Terracotta Soldier than a samurai. It does shift to fit its wearer comfortably, but it's not mithril- or metal at all. It's made of some kind of ceramic, hard and light. It also glows, but less than it did; it glows in the presence of arthropods, and the dead elroe ferects don't quite count.

The bridge sways a little but remains as sturdy as it was when last Jace walked it, although there is a length which is invisible. It's still present, and all the standard tests of detecting invisible objects will work to find it, especially as the swirling mist doesn't go through it and instead flows around it. Past that, it continues and turns west. Halfway along, there's a stop with a door to the south, just standing there, not apparently connected to a room. It also goes past that door, and turns south.

Little Sattleborough

Not a ninety-year-old with the health of an eighty-year-old; that's not quite how the raksha's deal works. It keeps you alive five years past your natural death, with no guarantee for health. Plus one of Samantha's fingers was bartered on her own behalf, and not that of her father.

The persimmon tree grows in the dirt, and always has done. There's not much to feel amongst the roots besides soil and the occasional stone, but quite deep down, pushed aside and deeper, is a tightly sealed urn and a corroded metal box with a hinged lid. Jubilee might need to dig the box out to find out what it was, or what's inside; the tree's roots don't know.

[Keeper]

A Desire for Blue

Oh boy that is disorienting. Jace can walk along the invisible bridge but he's not happy about it. It gives him a lot of anxiety looking down and he can fly (with an extra step but still).
Jace will stick his head through the mysterious doorway just in case it's a portal. And maybe also test if there's a floor beyond it with a toe.

[Ironsmith]

[Little Sattleborough]

Digging down that deep takes time and energy she doesn't have. But, given what sort of container it is, the fact that it's buried and the presence of a persimmon tree over it, Jubilee would guess it to be the cremated remains of someone in the North family. Given the apparent age of the tree and the depth of the urn, she would guess someone from Jackson's generation; either the man himself or Nora.

The witch sighs and steps away, returning to the main room of the house and going back up the other way, into the tower, the veil of flames parting for her if nobody's managed to put them out.

[bc56]

Japaraita
Sekhmet's really not sure what to make of all that rambling. "Uh, that's okay. Good to hear you have a plan, I guess." She doesn't understand the comment about freckles, so she stays on the rock.

[Earl of Purple]

Desire for Blue

It is a doorway! Beyond is a luxurious bedroom, dominated by a four-poster double bed. The walls are covered in fine wallpaper, and a thick carpet lies on the floor. There's an antique writing desk with chair, a large wardrobe, and a stool in front of a vanity with a broken mirror. There's also a dead body lying on the ground, just visible past the bed.

Little Sattleborough

Into the tower goes Jubilee! The ground floor has a tightly-wound helical staircase in the middle, but is primarily dominated by toys and bright colours. It's clearly used as a nursery; there's toys all over the place, and a large toybox has been made especially with a rounded rear so it fits nicely in the room. The room has been decorated with painted handprints, though many of them are quite old and faded; if Jubilee looks carefully, she'll be able to find those made by Samantha; she favoured green paint, and her missing digits are rather obvious. There's also a raised area opposite the door, with a trapdoor in- this tower apparently has a basement or cellar.