Outside: Grass touch place

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

Sometimes if you start with the end then you're left with a puzzle to solve.

An answer.

But how to arrive at it?

But that isn't what Tahara is doing.

Instead she seeks out Silence Above.

Opening the door, strangely, doesn't reveal what's beyond it. Because beyond that door is nothing. But nothing is always hungry, and greedily gulps the air in the room Tahara is standing in with such violence that she's likely to get sucked into the nothing beyond the door along with the air while the door itself will be yanked shut behind her.

If she manages to hang on she'll still be standing in the central chamber.

Otherwise?

She'll find herself adrift in nothing.

Nothing, as it turns out, isn't terribly hospitable.

[Ironsmith]

[Silent Sepulcher]

It's not until Tahara opens the door and finds herself confronted by deep space that she realizes what a bad idea haphazardly opening these things could possibly be.

The trash witch yelps as the vacuum suddenly starts pulling her in, and she's left dangling from the doorway by her fingers as the void threatens to consume her. In some sense, it even partially succeeds; the looser parts of her outfit are torn clean off her body, sent hurtling into the infinite blackness.

Followed quickly by several of the roaches falling off her legs, unable to maintain their grip among the gale winds pulling them in.

Tahara strains against the doorframe, pulling herself up, out, and over, slamming the door shut and letting out a little sigh of relief.

Good god, that almost killed-

Tahara gasps and looks down at her half-disintegrated legs.

Oh, no no no no no no no!

The trash witch grabs the door, ready to yank it open again, but stops herself before she actually does it. Is she crazy? She can't go back in there, that'll just kill her the rest of the way!

No, she needs some way of getting her friends back out. Surely there's some way to...

Tahara looks around the room for some sort of water source; a fountain, maybe, or... or something. Maybe she'll luck out and find one here.

[Rebonack]

[The Silent Sepulchre]

Tahara is looking for water?

The well at the center of the chamber is filled to the brim with something LIKE water. Like someone took a pitcher filled with the night sky and poured it into the stone circle until just shy the point of overflowing.

Would that work?

If Tahara squints into the darkness she'll be able to see her own reflection-
-as she was before she was sundered.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

Nathair's single minded pursuit of his goal is a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that it's given him the determination to force his way through the door, but a curse in that he doesn't stop to worry about pursuit, or a way out. Time for that later.

He makes no effort to widen the gap beyond what is needed for his hand to pass through, nor does he tarry to maintain his spirit barrier. Instead, the moment he's through, he darts quickly off down the hall, not even bothering to regain a coherent shape.

Were Nathair here on a less desperate mission, he might have been awestruck by this ocean of words, or curious about how such a place came to be. But such emotions are trivial in the face of his bullheaded instincts. He hovers over until he's just around directly over where he can sense the artifact before dropping down.

A small rational part of (literally) stays behind. A cloud just big enough for his hand and eye to float over the books and keep an eye on things. The rest of him turns to a liquid consistency, flowing rapidly down between the books. Although he could use his telekinesis to move them, this method would undoubtedly be faster. He's so close, he can almost taste it.

Finding the Lair

As the majority of Nathair moves closer to the book pool both of his parts might notice how the tomes start to stir slightly. But as nothing has dissuaded him so far, these books probably won't either even if he can tell that the wast majority of them are magical somehow.

The real problem is that as the swarm start to descend into the pool that each nanobot that comes in close contact with the pages of one of the books triggers some kind of reaction as the book suddenly grow razor-sharp teeth and slam shut. The teeth in this case are unnecessary as they wouldn't be able to hurt the machines anyway, but any machine that found itself in between those pages when the one of the books closed will suddenly find suddenly to be elsewhere.

The tiny machine itself won't notice right away as the place it's suddenly transported to is next to identical to the one it left behind. But Nathair's hive mind will no doubt notice if parts of his body suddenly started going missing.
The books won't react to any other kind of stimuli though, however is will become pretty clear that most of these aren't just ordinary books.

There is another concern than the teleporting books with teeth though.

Those spirits that were chasing them seem quite capable of entering the same way as Nathair himself and are now pouring into the room.
The artifact is near though, he just need to be able to carry it out once he gets to the bottom of the pool. Or at least near the bottom of it as the closer he gets the more precise his readings of it are. While giving away massive amounts of magic it isn't actually that big so at least he won't need to worry about it being too heavy to lift.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

The teleportation is indeed a problem. As Nathair descends, his mass begins to slowly decrease as pieces of him are vanished by the rapidly shutting books. Not only is this a physical hindrance, it's a mental one as well, as his attention is divided over a greater area. Rather than splitting his attention between the various pieces in an effort to discover where they're going, each teleported piece is immediately deactivated as he focuses on speed rather than endurance. With the spirits flooding into the space above, there doesn't seem to be any other choice.

And luckily, he has an excess of mass at the moment due to what he was able to absorb from Doormongus. Pushing himself to go even faster with no thought as to the danger or his long term chances, he continues his dive. The artifact is within reach, so close he can almost taste it, and nothing else matters.

[Ironsmith]

[The Silent Sepulchre]

Tahara is looking for water?

The well at the center of the chamber is filled to the brim with something LIKE water. Like someone took a pitcher filled with the night sky and poured it into the stone circle until just shy the point of overflowing.

Would that work?

If Tahara squints into the darkness she'll be able to see her own reflection-
-as she was before she was sundered.

[Silent Sepulcher]

A fact that is totally lost on Tahara. All she sees is a pool of water she can use.

Taking a deep breath, the trash witch raises her hands, attempting to use what's left of her magic to form a globe of water from the pool. Then, if that succeeds, she'll pull open the Silence Above door again, hurtling the globe out in front of her, expanding it to seal up the door and act something like a very literal interpretation of a water balloon, allowing the vacuum to expand it and fill it with air, but at a less ridiculous rate. She'll focus her efforts on it going forward, in the direction her roaches were jettisoned, letting it extend until it can catch up with them.

She won't be sure how long to keep up the search. Her little friends can survive the better part of an hour without air, but the temperature could potentially kill them much faster than that. And if she dallied too long, she'll run the risk of failing to save any she does manage to snag.

But she'll be damned if she's not going to try to save them.

[Earl of Purple]

Little Sattleborough

The Juggernaut is an artefact of war. A vast, self-propelled siege engine capable of ploughing through walls and houses like a bully's foot through a child's sandcastle. It's made of metal, with a gigantic replica of a goat's head at the front, then a single roller as long as a bus with bladed ridges evenly spaced across its horizontal length. Behind that are three axles bearing more massive wheels, all held together by a brass-coloured shell with a row of spikes along the back.

Greater Sattleborough was, indeed, a larger town that its Little neighbour, and it even has a stone wall for defence- unlike Little Sattleborough. As the Juggernaut approached, the locals shut the gate and barricaded it, which didn't help. The mechanical menace ignored the gate entirely, instead aiming for a short tower where some guards were desperately loading a bronze bombard to try and defend their town. The wall doesn't stop the Juggernaut, and neither does the tower; it collapses into a pile of rubble that lands on and behind the siege engine, falling off as the machine rolls on further headed towards the terraced houses and smashing through those, too. It's steered by the wheels at the rear, and isn't interested in the people running around, until they try to stop it. Those guards who try are turned into a red smear on the roller and the ground, and their personal weaponry proves unable to dent it.

[Shadowcaller]

Fighting the Lair

And there it is. The object he's been looking for.
An purple orb, a ball or perhaps a giant marble. All those and more could describe this mysterious magical item.
It's sitting inserted into one of the two slots upon a pedestal near the bottom of the pool. The other slot is empty however though it looks like it would have contained an identically shaped object at some point.

As he comes closer it seems like the item isn't actually colored purple however. Instead it seems to be a container of some sort perhaps? The best description would be petrified purple amber. Yet something seems to shift and move inside as if alive. Hard to tell if there's actually a coating over, which would make it a container, or if its all made of the same material.

Whatever the case to his magic sight it shines as bright as the sun itself which might force him to turn it off now that he's so close to it.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

Nathair allows himself a brief moment of victory. Despite all the obstacles in his way, he's managed to get this far. Before his compleation, he wouldn't have even made it through the gate.

But this is only the halfway point. Now he has to actually get out.

Deactivating his magic sight, he surges forward towards the orb. What he's capable of, he can figure out later, when he's not in imminent danger. He reaches out...

Then pauses. What if there's some ward on it, hidden beneath the glare of its own power? That would be a clever final defense. Better to be safe than sorry.

Reaching out his gold hand, he wraps the orb in telekinetic force, attempting to pluck it out of the pedestal. The force his hand is able to exert is far more than his body, so this should also help keep it from being snatched by one of the many guardians of this place.

Now to escape. Up would just devour more of his mass, and the spirits are coming. Down it is. The lower portion of his cloudy form coalesces into another drill, large enough to create a tunnel for the orb, and he plunges down into the floor. He'll drill all the way down through the mountain if necessary.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

There is some kind of fizzling happening as the telekinetic force touches the orb but its nullified but its nullified by Nathair's precaution. However, his mind is still reached by a vision as he makes contact with it.

A loud voice echoing in his mind as in his imagination a dragon appears. He can't make out the details of said dragon as it mostly seems to be made up of Nathir's own idea of one which are also constantly shifting. The wings, the color of its scales and eyes, its general build. But what is constant is its booming voice and just how large and threatening it appears.

This is MINE. There's no hole which can conceal it, no force that can protect it. Wherever it goes death will follow. Return it to me, save yourself and be rewarded.

Then he gets another vision of a location, some kind of dragon altar, and somehow he will learn exactly how to get there despite never being there before. The vision promises treasure in exchange if the orb is taken there.
And just like that it's over and if Nathair doesn't suddenly have a change of heart he can start to drill through the mountain.

However, its at this point the spirits are starting to catch up with him. Fortunately for Nathair the quickest among them aren't equipped to deal with him for one reason or another so they simply start observing his efforts or are doing things that are just completely ineffectual which is why he can't notice them other than more magical signatures. However, as he's holding the orb they're all drowned out by just being in its proximity. Like trying to detect flashlights in broad daylight.

The stone he's working through isn't enchanted to be more durable than ordinary rock, nor is it possessed, but it is also floating so there is spellwork to detect in what he's drilling through. More so than was in Doormongus or many other "magical" objects that he found inside the library.
This is the more traditional kind of magic that Nathair might be more familiar with. He might get the feeling that whoever constructed the library and its defenses wasn't the same group or person that made this island float.

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

The nothing isn't cold. It isn't hot, either. The roaches only have to worry about losing heat to radiation. They should be fine for a time.

Interacting with the liquid firmament, it behaves something like water. It certainly responds like it. Drawing it forth and forming a vessel, Tahara departs into the nothingness once again. This time, however, with some measure of protection. She's yanked out into the void in the same direction the roaches were and in spite of the fact that this is a lightless, empty place she can see several objects tumbling through the nothing.

She could probably vent a little bit of her captured air to shove herself in the desired direction to catch up.

All around, silence presses in on her.

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

The Juggernaut is an artefact of war. A vast, self-propelled siege engine capable of ploughing through walls and houses like a bully's foot through a child's sandcastle. It's made of metal, with a gigantic replica of a goat's head at the front, then a single roller as long as a bus with bladed ridges evenly spaced across its horizontal length. Behind that are three axles bearing more massive wheels, all held together by a brass-coloured shell with a row of spikes along the back.

Greater Sattleborough was, indeed, a larger town that its Little neighbour, and it even has a stone wall for defence- unlike Little Sattleborough. As the Juggernaut approached, the locals shut the gate and barricaded it, which didn't help. The mechanical menace ignored the gate entirely, instead aiming for a short tower where some guards were desperately loading a bronze bombard to try and defend their town. The wall doesn't stop the Juggernaut, and neither does the tower; it collapses into a pile of rubble that lands on and behind the siege engine, falling off as the machine rolls on further headed towards the terraced houses and smashing through those, too. It's steered by the wheels at the rear, and isn't interested in the people running around, until they try to stop it. Those guards who try are turned into a red smear on the roller and the ground, and their personal weaponry proves unable to dent it.

[Little Sattleborough]

Jubilee coldly watches the devastation unfold, the images flickering in her flames for all present to see. The smoke carries the distant echoes of screams and the crackle of stone giving way to the Juggernaut's rampage, while the heat radiating from her carries with it the unexplained, undirected terror that followed in its wake.

After a moment, the flame vanishes in one last wisp of smoke, before Jubilee shrugs and grabs her scythe from the bar.

"Barely worth mentioning." She mumbles, gesturing for Samantha to follow her back outside.

[Silent Sepulcher]

The nothing isn't cold. It isn't hot, either. The roaches only have to worry about losing heat to radiation. They should be fine for a time.

Interacting with the liquid firmament, it behaves something like water. It certainly responds like it. Drawing it forth and forming a vessel, Tahara departs into the nothingness once again. This time, however, with some measure of protection. She's yanked out into the void in the same direction the roaches were and in spite of the fact that this is a lightless, empty place she can see several objects tumbling through the nothing.

She could probably vent a little bit of her captured air to shove herself in the desired direction to catch up.

All around, silence presses in on her.

[Silent Sepulcher]

Even protected as she is, Tahara still instinctively holds her breath, momentarily forgetting how unnecessary that is. Out in this vacuum, if the bubble ruptures, she's as dead as the roaches would be... a disquieting thought, despite her best efforts to ignore it.

Venting a little air seems like the wise thing to do. And even as she does, she accompanies it with an extension back toward the door, reaffirming her ability to make a rapid withdrawal while simultaneously propelling herself forward some more, as per Newton's laws of motion.

Assuming those work out here.

She can't be far behind. She came after them seconds after the door closed, and by all rights she should now be going faster. All she needs is to collide with them, then yank them through the bubble back onto her body.

And then, of course, get back out.

[Meowmai]

Overly Adventurous

The little mouse looks up at Kestrel. It hesitantly shuffles back very slightly, tilting its head slightly and twitching its whiskers and-

There's a faint rush of wind.

The shadow moves, suddenly distorting, stretching out, and sweeping round behind Kestrel, as a shadowy claw bursts forth and slashes at her back.

Seems that little mouse isn't so friendly after all.

Overly Adventurous

For a moment, Kestrel just stares at the mouse, still trying to figure out what's troubling her. Unfortunately, she's soon given an answer. Her golden eyes widen as the shadow suddenly snakes forward, and before she can react it strikes.

She cries out in pain as the claw easily tears through the cloth of her jacket and shirt, finding flesh immediately thanks to her lack of armour. Kestrel leaps to her feet, bow in hand, rapidly turned and stumbling back as she drew an arrow in a panic. Where did she shoot? What was even happening? She let loose her arrow in a haste at the mouse, but her aim was quick and shaky as she tried to rush to a safe distance at the same time as shooting.

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

Thankfully the laws of motion DO appear to work out here and sure enough Tahara has caught up with the roaches freefalling through the bottomless pit of nothing. It isn't so difficult to pull them into the orb to join their friends.

This is, of course, when complications happen.

Tahara will get the distinct impression of something moving past her.

It's that awful feeling of something brushing against your leg when you're adrift in the ocean.

If she CAN get out of here quickly that's probably a good plan.

[Ironsmith]

[Silent Sepulcher]

Two thousand and sixty-one, two thousand and sixty-two, two thousand and sixty-three...

Okay, that's everyone.

Tahara lets out an involuntary gasp as a great big something makes its presence known by coming far too close to her. She isn't entirely sure what kind of great big something could even exist out here, or if it would have any interest in a trash witch, but these don't seem like the ideal circumstances for finding that out.

Yup. Time to go.

Tahara turns and pulls on the anchor she launched down earlier, attempting to bungee her way back to the door. Hopefully nothing happens to the relatively delicate watery pseudopod that's keeping her tethered to something that isn't deep space.

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

As Tahara goes yoinking away back to the relative safety of the shrine she gets...

A glimpse.

She can't see it.

All she can see is the way the distant points of starlight flicker and warp when it passes between she and they.

It's...

It fills her her field of view. Something moving past her, below her. A sense of awe. A sense of dread. A sense of... smallness.

Whatever the thing is, Tahara makes it back into the vaulted chamber and manages to shut the door behind her. A line of shining starlight now leads from the first door to the well, tracing along the floor.

[General Shrimp]

Overly Adventurous

There's a thunk and a squeak of pain as the hastily fired arrow still finds its mark, embedding itself in the mouse, which falls over on its side, wriggling in pain. For a moment.

As it wriggles, the shadow wriggles. And as the shadow stretches and contorts, so too does the mouse stretch, growing and growing, its little forelegs becoming long grasping claws, its little gnawing teeth becoming long and pointed, its tail now long and thick, swishing back and forth behind it, then snapping against a nearby tree with an audible crack like a whip. That little mouse is now more like the size of a large wolf, and every bit as dangerous.

And suddenly that arrow looks rather small and meek by comparison, that little trickle of blood leaking out of the wound a mild inconvenience rather than a killing blow.

And still the shadow moves independently of the body as both mouse and shadow turn and advance towards Kestrel, the shadow whipping back and forth from side to side as if looking for an opportunity to dart in to slice at her again.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

There is some kind of fizzling happening as the telekinetic force touches the orb but its nullified but its nullified by Nathair's precaution. However, his mind is still reached by a vision as he makes contact with it.

A loud voice echoing in his mind as in his imagination a dragon appears. He can't make out the details of said dragon as it mostly seems to be made up of Nathir's own idea of one which are also constantly shifting. The wings, the color of its scales and eyes, its general build. But what is constant is its booming voice and just how large and threatening it appears.

This is MINE. There's no hole which can conceal it, no force that can protect it. Wherever it goes death will follow. Return it to me, save yourself and be rewarded.

Then he gets another vision of a location, some kind of dragon altar, and somehow he will learn exactly how to get there despite never being there before. The vision promises treasure in exchange if the orb is taken there.
And just like that it's over and if Nathair doesn't suddenly have a change of heart he can start to drill through the mountain.

However, its at this point the spirits are starting to catch up with him. Fortunately for Nathair the quickest among them aren't equipped to deal with him for one reason or another so they simply start observing his efforts or are doing things that are just completely ineffectual which is why he can't notice them other than more magical signatures. However, as he's holding the orb they're all drowned out by just being in its proximity. Like trying to detect flashlights in broad daylight.

The stone he's working through isn't enchanted to be more durable than ordinary rock, nor is it possessed, but it is also floating so there is spellwork to detect in what he's drilling through. More so than was in Doormongus or many other "magical" objects that he found inside the library.
This is the more traditional kind of magic that Nathair might be more familiar with. He might get the feeling that whoever constructed the library and its defenses wasn't the same group or person that made this island float.

The vision gives Nathair pause. Dragons are usually pretty powerful, and considering the size and defenses of this lair, this one is strong even for a dragon. If the orb has some sort of tracking magic on it, that could be an issue.

Nathair isn't actually worried about the dragon coming after him. In fact, he's quite confident that he'd come out on top in such a struggle. Regardless of if that confidence is deserved or not, what really concerns him is that if he brings the orb back to his mistress, a dragon attack could cause some damage to her estate, which would certainly displease Ilpholin. And that is far more nerve wracking than the thought of fighting the orb's owner.

But he can't just... give up, and return to Ilpholin with some lesser treasure. That's if the dragon is even telling the truth about making an exchange. This would all be so much easier if the dragon was here. Either he'd kill it, or he'd realize that such a feat is impossible and give up the orb for easier pickings.

Well, even if he does choose to return it, he'll still have to get out of here to do it. Tabling the conundrum for the moment, he continues his downward descent. The history of this place, and the various visible enchantments, might be more notable if those spirits weren't so close behind him. A few small nano clumps break off, flying back up towards the spirits as decoys. Maybe if the more dangerous guardians are busy attacking pieces of him, the rest can get away. Much like a lizard dropping its tail, really.

Regardless, regular stone should be no match for his drill. What an utterly efficient form, and definitely one that warrants continued use in the future. For now he continues down, tearing through the stone faster than most humans can run, the orb being drawn behind him in his telekinetic web.

[Ironsmith]

[Silent Sepulcher]

As Tahara goes yoinking away back to the relative safety of the shrine she gets...

A glimpse.

She can't see it.

All she can see is the way the distant points of starlight flicker and warp when it passes between she and they.

It's...

It fills her her field of view. Something moving past her, below her. A sense of awe. A sense of dread. A sense of... smallness.

Whatever the thing is, Tahara makes it back into the vaulted chamber and manages to shut the door behind her. A line of shining starlight now leads from the first door to the well, tracing along the floor.

[Silent Sepulcher]

Tahara collapses against the floor, panting as her bubble of firmafluid collapses around her, leaving a dry spot where she herself was but forming a puddle just outside of her immediate area. That had been too close. Whatever that was in there, she does not want to face it again.

"...H... hueh..." The trash witch wheezes instinctively, finding no relief due to her lack of lungs. "...Of... of course I came back for you. Did you guys think I was just gonna let you perish in the vacuum of space? ...Okay, I didn't actually mean what I said about an infestation, I was just..." She sighs and hugs her knees, bringing the whole roach swarm together in a little ball around her. "...Yeah. Okay. I'm... I'm glad you guys understand. I-"

Tahara cuts herself off when she notices something quite peculiar about the "water" she'd just used to stage her rescue. Staring back at her is a fresh-faced young woman, with raven hair and big, wide, innocent-looking eyes, smiling demurely. Her face is framed in the hood of a white shawl, which is draped over her shoulders and a long-sleeved tunic of the same color. Her hands are curled loosely around the shaft of a polished shepherd's crook, inlaid with an amber heart-shaped gem just below its head.

Tahara would be hard-pressed not to recognize her own reflection. But that isn't what she expected it to look like.

[Halae]

[The Ruined Observatory]

"I can resist reality-warping pretty well. That's why I got the job at PREP." Technically true. "I say we start at the top and work our way down. And if we run into anything particularly dangerous, I take the lead."

[The Ruined Observatory]

Ah, a difference of opinion!

Skye wants to jump straight into the most dangerous part of the dungeon.

Mai the totally normal janitor wants to start at the top so they have a chance to acclimate to the dangers.

Khannie glances between both. "I think starting at the top of the tower and retracing my steps from yesterday isn't a bad idea. I dunno exactly what it was I fought in there but I know it was pretty bad. We can prolly find some clues along the way about the nature of what the wizard did here. Maybe a way to undo it?"

Sounds like it's a two to one vote.

But will Skye be willing to agree with the others?

[The Ruined Observatory]

Skye frowns at the two of them for a moment, but nods, "Very well. Please, lead the way, Khannie."

It's clear that Skye doesn't approve of this choice, but the team has voted and she's not in the lead. All she can do is rely on her senses and training going forward.

[Thursday Violist]

[Riftline]

"Usualy they do that." he replies. "It is their main agenda."

When she explains her fear he just laugths. "I see where you go there, but at last the heads of Vigil aren't lawful stupid. At least one of them even has a family on her own which makes them even more eager to help you out. Trust me. Sadly I couldn't go there for you while you check your curse. I don't know if they remember me, but if they do they likly won't listen to me anyway."

He was at AMEN for a time, but never played a decent role. I assume he could walk up there and chat withthem without anyone care.

"As for your curse. What can you tell me about it? Source, Symptoms etc." he says, but befor she can answer.
"I might have a way to weaken it, but it's not a nice way... not like black magic or stuff just uncomfortable for most people."

[Riftline]

Violeta Escarlate considers what he says about Vigil. "Well... You've got a good point."

The foxlady leans her head back on the seat. "I'll tell you as much as I can," she says. Sadly, Violeta is unaware that the problem affecting her kid isn't just a single curse but instead a combination of three different effects. First, there's the heritable curse her family's had for several generations back. It was supposed to kill her ancestor, but her ancestor found a partial cure and discovered that hot springs alleviates the remaining side-effects to make them bearable. Second, the child's spiritual powers are growing faster than her body can handle, resulting in what appears to be a severe illness. And, third, there's a time paradox. People used time travel to save her ancestor, and her kid is the first one in her family to be born after the time travel, instead of being spontaneously poofed into existence at the same time. And now reality itself is trying to fix this paradox.

Violeta relays the information she knows: her daughter's fever, how nothing – magical or otherwise – seems to be working, how her body just keeps on getting weaker and weaker every day, as if it's consuming itself...and so on. She can't relay what she doesn't know, but she does know the physical symptoms her daughter's experiencing.

Japaraita
"Okay!" Sekhmet sits and waits, idly transforming her legs into a mermaid tail and back.
When June returns and strikes a pose, Sekhmet sighs. "Just hold still," She touches June's tail and casts a spell, the same one she used earlier, with the same side effects, which means that as June's tail softens and splits, her a-shells inflate up into e-shells. Then Sekhmet adds a second layer to the enchantment and releases her. "There. Once you immerse yourself completely in water, the enchantment will unravel," she explains.

[Japaraita]

June holds the pose she picked as Sekhmet gives her the enchantment.

She glances down at her now-forming legs and expanding chest and hips as it takes place.

She wiggles her toes and her ankles. "Ooh, so it's water soluble magic? That's pretty cool," she says before adding, "I wonder if, when I get wet, if I will be able to see it melt off me like clay. That would be pretty neat." Actually, that's not the main thing she's wondering: she's mainly wondering how Jade the Foxy Scientist would think about it; not only did the Cute-But-Married (the charming glasses didn't help) Demon Lady manage to repeat the magic, she chose to make it water soluble. That implies there's some repeatable principle behind this magic, and, even if she can't get Foxy Scientist to admit magic is cool, if she manages to somehow get Foxy Scientist and Cute-But-Married to meet, the latter would be able to demonstrate magic that's both controllable and repeatable, and thus, scientific.

June shrugs then bounces in place to watch her bouncincess.
She stands. "Well, then, I better hope there's not a sudden and unforseen storm," she says.

She grabs her bag, looks at Sekhmet, and then looks around the lake to see if she can remember which side of the lake she left her suitcase. "Well, thanks. It was fun," she says.

And she suddenly realizes she has a massive moral dillemma: should she go straight to the river to get on the search for Inside and a sea witch? Or should she take advantage of the legs to just walk to the next city by the coast and perform her search along the beach? Admittedly, it'd be a lot quicker to ask around if she's on land, and she won't have to waterproof her suitcase.

"Oh! And, um, have a great time for the rest of your vacation!" she tells the demon queen.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

His decoys do seem to work to some degree as those who aren't consumed by the books will find their existences being cut short in ways that Nathair himself thankfully will never experience.
This gives him time to tear through the stones until just about when he's about to come out at the bottom when he suddenly runs into a bit of an issue. Since the same magic that's lifting this mountain is now pushing all up him upwards with the same kind of force that, well, is required to keep a mountain flying. It will only push him if he goes outside the tunnel he's now made.

Attempting to feed on this enchantment will be futile as it would be like trying to drink up the ocean. However, this was not actually intended to keep anyone in so there's likely some way to bypass it other than raw force. He can actually see the sky at the end so he's so very close to escaping now.

There might be a lot more thunderclouds than it was when he arrived but it doesn't seem like there's anything preventing him from leaving.

[bc56]

Japaraita
Sekhmet looks at June bouncing a little strangely, like her reaction is odd. "You have fun too! Bye!" She begins walking back towards the coastline.

If June wanted to get the fox and the demon in the same place, she'd have her work cut out for her, but it's certainly not impossible.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

The loss of some extra mass doesn't bother Nathair, since he can simply rebuild later. However, the magical barrier is significantly more problematic. He throws himself against it, but as strong as he is, it's nowhere near enough to contend with a mountain moving force.

What is strong enough to do that is his hand. Originally designed to create massive natural disasters like earthquakes, it could potentially force a path through. However, he's using that to hold onto the orb, and he's unwilling to transfer it to his body since there might be some protective enchantments on it. He stares at the wide open sky below, snarling with fury. So near and yet so far.

Well, if he can't go through, he'll go around. With how quickly Nathair was able to make it down here, it shouldn't take too much longer to reach the mountain's edge. He launches into his drill form again, tunneling along the base of the mountain towards its closest edge. He keeps as close to the bottom of the mountain as possible, essentially creating a groove just shallow enough to keep out of the levitation zone. The orb is pulled along behind him, still clutched tight in his telekinetic grip.

[Zefir]

[Riftline]

Violeta Escarlate considers what he says about Vigil. "Well... You've got a good point."

The foxlady leans her head back on the seat. "I'll tell you as much as I can," she says. Sadly, Violeta is unaware that the problem affecting her kid isn't just a single curse but instead a combination of three different effects. First, there's the heritable curse her family's had for several generations back. It was supposed to kill her ancestor, but her ancestor found a partial cure and discovered that hot springs alleviates the remaining side-effects to make them bearable. Second, the child's spiritual powers are growing faster than her body can handle, resulting in what appears to be a severe illness. And, third, there's a time paradox. People used time travel to save her ancestor, and her kid is the first one in her family to be born after the time travel, instead of being spontaneously poofed into existence at the same time. And now reality itself is trying to fix this paradox.

Violeta relays the information she knows: her daughter's fever, how nothing – magical or otherwise – seems to be working, how her body just keeps on getting weaker and weaker every day, as if it's consuming itself...and so on. She can't relay what she doesn't know, but she does know the physical symptoms her daughter's experiencing.

[Riftline]

I'm not an expert for curses and Zefir is not a spellcaster so he doesn't know all the details. Thought her Symptoms lead to a clue that might have the same result.

"Well, that does sound like the curse consumes her. Either by using her lifeforce to remain or other means." he says and thinks for a moment. "I guess my method can help supress it. Not sure if it can solve it."

For the information Zefir got a unique trait.
His blood produces cells(I'm not sure if that is correct but I think of something like bloodcells) that have a magic nullifying trait. So Magic cast on him will be less effektiv and like an imune system some kind of magic which appear regular have no effekt. If someone would get a blood transfusion this person migth encounter the same effekt until those cells are washed away. Things like magic barriers enchantments or creatures made of magic would se his blood like acid. That migth solve the overpowering but non of the other effect.

"Just for me she got it worst, but do you still got the curse as well?" he asks. "I guess a high skilled mage would be able to identify it and in the best case decurse it. Thought the information about it might be more then enougth to find a cure."

[Earl of Purple]

Little Sattleborough

Earl forgot there was sound as well! The whole vision is accompanied by a ghastly roar and a constant rumble. The other patrons of the Priest's Head get up and some of them nearly start to panic, before they realise it's not an actual Juggernaut approaching the town. Some of them are still a bit jumpy- the bikers especially, though it all seems to calm down once the fire is snuffed and the noise stops.

Either way, Samantha waves at her brother before following Jubilee.

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

The shrine offers no explanation for the vision Tahara sees in the reflection pool.

But that's how this place seems to be, isn't it?

Big on mysteries and light on explanations.


[The Ruined Observatory]

Khannie gives a nod and heads toward the collapsed portion of the tower that's...

On the ground.

Sort of.

There's a great gash in the side where the stones were ripped free by the impact despite the fact that it's mostly intact. Khannie heads straight for the hole. "Okay so one of the things I DO remember is that gravity is wonky in here. Sometimes it's toward the wall and sometimes it's toward the floor and it'll switch real quick so pay attention to where rubble and stuff is laying."

Stepping inside, our heroes will find a tower laying on its side, much of the furniture near the breach cast about haphazardly in a jumble of books and shelves and scrolls. However, the astronomical equipment dominating the far side of the room is still standing on the floor (now the wall) as if the tower were still upright.

No indescribable horrors attack our heroes.

Yet.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

Nathair is a swarm of nanobots so the difficulties that others would suffer from so quickly drilling through rock, like superheating or collapsing it, doesn't apply to him. Since he's his own drill.

And suddenly there he is, there's some resistance as he reaches the end of this tunnel but not nearly as much as when he attempted to go out from the bottom. So he will manage to force himself out of the hole he just made for himself. The wind hitting him with full force as he squeezes his nanomachines through the tunnel.

But if he has glanced at the orb he's carrying he might have noticed what looks like a reptilian pupil has appeared within it which seems to be peering at him and his surroundings.

[Morty]

[The Ruined Observatory]

"Mai" strides confidently forward, pushing furniture out of her way.

"Looks like there's some equipment that's still intact. But gravity is obviously being screwy there, so approaching it might get messy."

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

He's free!

Nathair twirls in the air, laughing with excitement. All the horrors and defenses of the lair were unable to stop him, and now he's retrieved a prize that seems more than worthy. Of course, it's dangerous, and he's clearly being watched through the orb, but that's of little matter. The day's events have cemented in his mind that he can do, well, absolutely anything he wants to.

What use is there in humility if you're unbeatable, after all?

And this will certainly impress Ilpholin. Or at least he hopes so. There's a sneaking worry that she might be angry at him for bringing back an object so clearly dangerous without dealing with its owner, but if she wants to return it in exchange for whatever other treasure the dragon's offering, that's her call. It's not his job to think, it's his job to be a weapon.

So, turning his back on the flying mountain, he jets off, rushing swiftly away through the air just in case any last spirits are following him. Time to meet up with the other pieces of him that were sent on their own missions.