Outside: Grass touch place

[Gold]

[Chaos]

TASBot flinches in slight surprise when one of Riacan's friends appears from thin air just a couple meters in front of him. When Lidoro mentions the warrior, TASBot responds by amicably saying, "Let him know I feel the same way. I would've been scrap metal if I didn't think to run along those tentacles of his."

TASBot briefly glances at Lidoro's spinning spear only to look back at him and explain, "Well, when I got here, I just wanted to make sure you weren't common thieves telling a story." The jury might still be out on that, TASBot thinks, since he wasn't listening to anything Sineran said whilst he was fighting Riacan. "Now, I kinda just want to see that everyone gets out of here as okay as possible."

TASBot pauses for a moment, then continues, "So, even if I can't do much at all to stop it, I'm not gonna walk away and leave your gang and a little kid - even if she is a gifted fire user - to fight off a huge, angry, fire-breathing bear. I won't leave until all is said and done, but if what you're doing is right, I can try to stay out of your way until then."

In terms of Asami's spiritual energy check, TASBot has... a statistically insignificant amount. It's a tiny fraction of the energy a regular human would have, and would easily be drowned out among the energies of the surrounding environment, but there is still some there.

[Halae]

[Ruined Observatory]

Yeah.

That must be it.

The janitor is just really strong.

That isn't too unusual for PREP, right? Janitors need to be able to deal with whatever nonsense the students get up to.

"I think it's done," Khannie replies to sky, snagging the paper and holding it up. "Not... quite sure what we're looking at if I'm gunna be honest, though."

It looks like...

Kind of a roundish lumpy thing?

If you squint though...

It looks like a humanoid form in the fetal position. Judging from the size in the telescope field it must be colossally large.

There was something about finding the corpse of god in the crazy ravings...

[Ruined Observatory]

Yes, everything is just fine. Nothing to be concerned with, nothing to question. Simply a very strong janitor.

"That's... hmm. Didn't we find something about a dead god earlier? It might be more true than I'm comfortable with."

[Ruined Observatory]

Skye looks at it with a deep frown, "It looks... stillborn. I have never heard of such a thing."

[Damundra Canyon]

Emily is already bracing for them to be offended by her appearance, but she'll try and get over it regardless. Instead, she opens up with politeness and courtesy. She calls out, her powerful voice carrying over the distance easily, "Greetings! We've been instructed to come here by our teacher, the scholar Ambrosia. Is she present?"

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

"Well how did that rambling story go? That the One killed itself and created the universe and we're all part of it but just don't know it?" Khannie recalls. "And this guy was looking for the god's body. And he..."

The unicron squints at the image.

"Definitely found something? I don't think he thought it was gunna barf all sorts of weird space monsters into his tower, though."

Or maybe he did?

Maybe making this breach to the lightless space between stars was the whole point?

[Wolfbane]

Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement(Closed Scene)

"...mom always said not to get wrangled with adventurers. Especially unlicensed ones." One failed check by the party's thief and all that remained of the group of five was Onisa. Charred stone, bloody bits, and broken equipment was all that was left after the thief tried to pry some gemstone eyes from a dragon statue. Onisa had been smart enough to hang at the back, but looking at the places where her legs used to be, she had only bought herself some time. A healing potion had been enough to seal the wounds about halfway, leaving charred stumps that leaked fluid, but at least the bleeding itself had stopped.

"...must be in shock. I swear I can still feel them." She admits, feeling distant from herself while wriggling her phantom toes. As much as she needed to get out of here before more monsters arrived, she could feel the exhaustion rolling over her as her body and mind fought to accept and adapt to her current situation. There wasn't even enough left of the wizard of the group for her to bother rummaging through his bags. There clearly wasn't anything left. The priest had clearly gone to their final resting place, the wizard was in half a dozen pieces, and there wasn't anything of the fighter left to speak of apart from a couple bits of what looked like shattered teeth in Onisa's shoulder. The thief had been obliterated as well, but at least their pack had landed near Onisa. "Not that I know how to use thieves tools anyway." She grumbles, looking through the pack. "Thieves tools, busted cell phone, handcuffs, a dagger, a note with my address on it....creep. Maybe its a good thing you bit the dust."

[Halae]

[Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement]

'Get out of here before more monsters arrive' is seeming like a tall order at the moment, as, following the sound of the explosion, there seems to be a... scraping sound, currently quiet but getting closer. It's rapidly coming closer, and if Onisa can't get away, whatever's making that noise is going to come around the corner in a moment, from the direction they were heading before the trap was triggered.

Assuming she doesn't manage to escape, she'll see something extremely strange - a pile of chitinous plates closed into a little ball, with a series of pseudopods poking out of it. They aren't strong enough to lift the ball of chitin off the ground, giving the creature a pitiful appearance. A trio of beady eyes poke out from within the ball, and once it spots Onisa, it clearly begins making haste towards her, the scraping picking up slightly as it tries to move quickly, something it isn't terribly good at.

[Wolfbane]

Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement

The creature finds that Onisa is a hobgoblin with deep red skin and much shorter than normal for her kind given her lack of legs. The damage done to her is quite significant, and even if there wasn't anyone present, it was quite evident that she would almost certainly expire from her wounds in the next day or two without help. "Well...hell." Onisa sighs, seeing the creature move towards her. "I'm a scholar! I wasn't supposed to deal with this!" She shouts, angry and frustrated, mostly at herself as she pulls her personal tome close and draws the dagger from the thief's bag. It was better than nothing even if she was doubtful that it would penetrate the chitin. "What are you? Some sort of mimic that got destroyed in the trap with us?"

The dagger is waved at the creature, doubtlessly entirely ineffective.

[Halae]

[Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement]

The little creature, unperturbed, moves up towards Onisa, and takes care to move around to the side that isn't holding a dagger ineffectually, intent on laying a pseudopod - and nothing else - on whatever piece of skin is open and available for it to do so.

And as soon as it does, the voice of a young human woman will fill Onisa's mind! 'Greetings! I'm sorry we're meeting in circumstances like this, but it's the only way we can talk, and it looks like you need help. I might be able to provide.'

[Morty]

[Damundra Canyon]

"That's not the warmest welcome I've ever got. Is Ambrosia even here?" Thariza wonders aloud.

[Ruined Observatory]

"If he didn't expect it, he shouldn't have prodded at the stars." Hiep huffs. "Amateur. But whether it worked or not, this place is still dangerous."

[Rebonack]

[Englebrook]

Khannie, meanwhile, goes running out into the middle of all the biters with that wide aura of shadow around her! Once she's reasonable sure she's got the monsters covered and none of the villagers the whole field of darkness suddenly THWAP!s into a whole field of spikes. Without focusing her will like she does with the shadow lance this thorny attack lacks the raw penetrating power. But the biters are small AND shoving a small spike through most of them is definitely enough to distract them even if it won't slay them.

Hopefully.

So!

A peasant gets swatted.

He's hurled away, unconscious and with a broken arm.

All things considered that's probably better than getting bit by one of the monsters. Speaking of, one of the gnolls is heading straight for him.

The hulking gnoll gets bonked with a shield! It doesn't like that and turns its attention to Blank, seizing a shattered second of the wooden palisade and hurling it back at him. Probably not exactly the reaction he was hoping for but it's something, right?

Then Octavia comes hurtling down out of the sky! The hulking gnoll raises one of its siege-ram arms and blocks the attack, sparks flying from its thick, bony armor and the force causing it to stagger. It just took that hit like a champ. So... apparently the big gnoll IS NOT as easy to kill as the regular gnolls and the tiny gnolls.

Terrible.

Khannie's shadow field attack, meanwhile, manages to wound or immobilize the majority of the biters! That gives the town's defenders ample space to begin hacking at the monsters with their farm tools.

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

A eye slot slides open in the wooden door, forcing both Thariza and Emily to look down to meet the gaze of the short bearded fellow looking out through it with fearful wild eyes.

Whispers can be heard coming through it. Those behind the door discussing among themselves.
Then finally the man speaks up. "This be going ta' sound strange but be ye beardfucker?" He first with his beady little eyes on Emily only to turn them to Thariza whereupon he asks the same question. "Be ye' beardfucker?"

[Halae]

[Ruined Observatory]

"It gives us a level of framing for what's going on. If this divinity is alive but dead and undying, that would be a corruptive force on the world around it, and create coterminous points where its power is seeping about. From my readings, that's the nature of the Labyrinth back in my homeworld. Which of course leads necromancers to pick at the ragged edges of the boundaries and pull them further open."

Skye says this all matter-of-factly. Hiep may be shocked to learn how much Skye knows of the makeup of the underworld. Then again, this is the kind of information you learn when you want to study the underworld and the labyrinth in any great detail, and Skye is a devil hunter. Sometimes, necromancers have to be stabbed.

"I posit that that is what's happening here. Someone made an attempt to use this stillborn divinity's power to peel apart reality in select ways, and it let things in."

[Damundra Canyon]

Emily stares at the little bearded man for a long, long moment, clearly uncomprehending. The words make sense in and of themselves, but her brain is tripping over the way they're strung together.

So, she answers after a moment, "... 'Beardfucker' is absolutely not a term I've ever heard before. My name is Emily Grant, or Scaleback if you prefer."

[Morty]

[Damundra Canyon]

Thariza has even more trouble understanding the situation she finds herself in. She never was good with surprises.

"You're right. This is the weirdest thing I've heard this month. I've fucked guys with beards, but unless that's what you mean, my guess is no."

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

There's an audible collective sigh of relief coming from beyond the door.
"Well come on in then!" The man declares as the doors open up to the pair.
"Sorry aboot that. Had ta make sure. It's that day o' tha year." The short bearded man they can now see fullt let's out a nervous chuckle. He's stands out among the others because of his tall helmet which looks like a miniature obelisk with a mine lamp sticking out of it.

"So ye were asking aboot something? Might be best to ask the beertender, we're just glorified doorguards."

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

Khannie is absolutely NOT familiar with the ins and outs of necromancy, whether that be on an individual level or a 'dead god' level. But from the little bit she DOES know that sounds about right. Mages often stick their noses where they shouldn't be and the result is creeps creeping through.

As creeps are known to do.

"Okay, yeah, I think that sounds about right," Khannie muses, mostly following the idea here. "I'm gunna say I haven't gotta lot of experience with necromancy stuff. Like, I smashed some skeleton control pillars one time. Did some digs over at the necropolis. But I dunno how the magic actually WORKS. Do you know a good way to shut the bits that this doof of a wizard ripped open?"

Because as it stands it sounds like even if they beat up all the monsters here already new ones might just shuffle on through.

[Wolfbane]

Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement

Onisa deflates the moment the creature is unperturbed by her dagger and comes close enough to touch her. She looks entirely defeated, resigned to her fate...but then it speaks in her mind and just confuses her greatly. "...what?" She asks, blinking. "You can help me? How? I mean..." She pauses, swallowing and suddenly feeling thirsty and weak. "I mean...I can't even really say no. How can you help?"

[Halae]

[Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement]

'I am a suit of symbiotic armor! In exchange for making it so you need to eat more - sorry about that - I'll be able to strengthen you, armor you, and... well, act as legs. But I want your consent first. It's something of an intimate process.'

The little chitinous creature seems earnest enough, at least.

[Damundra Canyon]

"We're looking for scholar named Ambrosia. She looks human aside from a some horns, she has black hair, and she wears a long, curved sword like the sort we're wearing," Emily explains, tapping the sword at her side. Hopefully they can help.

[Ironsmith]

[Englebrook]

Khannie, meanwhile, goes running out into the middle of all the biters with that wide aura of shadow around her! Once she's reasonable sure she's got the monsters covered and none of the villagers the whole field of darkness suddenly THWAP!s into a whole field of spikes. Without focusing her will like she does with the shadow lance this thorny attack lacks the raw penetrating power. But the biters are small AND shoving a small spike through most of them is definitely enough to distract them even if it won't slay them.

Hopefully.

So!

A peasant gets swatted.

He's hurled away, unconscious and with a broken arm.

All things considered that's probably better than getting bit by one of the monsters. Speaking of, one of the gnolls is heading straight for him.

The hulking gnoll gets bonked with a shield! It doesn't like that and turns its attention to Blank, seizing a shattered second of the wooden palisade and hurling it back at him. Probably not exactly the reaction he was hoping for but it's something, right?

Then Octavia comes hurtling down out of the sky! The hulking gnoll raises one of its siege-ram arms and blocks the attack, sparks flying from its thick, bony armor and the force causing it to stagger. It just took that hit like a champ. So... apparently the big gnoll IS NOT as easy to kill as the regular gnolls and the tiny gnolls.

Terrible.

Khannie's shadow field attack, meanwhile, manages to wound or immobilize the majority of the biters! That gives the town's defenders ample space to begin hacking at the monsters with their farm tools.

[Englebrook]

Oh sh-

Blank ducks as the oversized wooden stake goes flying over his head, swearing loudly. That was way too close. He's not sure how much damage that actually would have done in the long term, but even if he healed quickly it probably would have been ridiculously painful.

But at least he has the monster's attention. All he has to do now is make sure it doesn't smack around any more civilians while the others-

Wait. Is that guy still alive?

Blank's gaze flicks over to the unconscious peasant, then to the gnoll approaching him.

Oh, beans. If that thing reaches him, dead or alive, they're going to have two brutes to deal with and that just isn't a sustainable situation.

Blank charges toward the gnoll, his shield re-materializing on his arm before he pounces the monster, throwing the whole of his weight into the attack.

Just before he remembers why he hasn't been doing that all this time.

[quillpleasant]

Englebrook

As the giant gnolls blocks Octavia's blow, she's sent backwards from the force of the collision, falling the rest of the way to the ground and skidding until she comes to a stop. Now this is more like it! Finally, a worthy challenge. She feels a little guilty for finding this so exciting when people are getting hurt, but as long as she's helping, then how much do her emotions actually matter?

A quick look at the unconscious man reveals that Blank is helping defend him. At least he's not dead- that would really make her feel guilty. But as is, she can focus solely on the big gnoll, and hopefully stop it from causing any more havoc.

Octavia strikes her arms together and the glowing punching dagger duplicates into a set. Then she charges, dashing nimbly across the battlefield towards the giant, trying to run between its legs. As she gets close, she leaps into the air, spinning around and lashing out with the daggers at the creature's hamstrings in an attempt to sever them and slow its movement.

[Rebonack]

[Englebrook]

With a graceful flourish Khannie retracts the field of thorns, pulling the darkness back to herself and focusing it into a piercing beam to polish off the rest of the wounded biters. There! That's done! Now she just needs to help her friends inside the town with the hulking gnoll! Her cloak flutters to life again and she takes to the air, flying up over the wall to get a good look at the situation.

Looks like Blank is charging a smaller gnoll and Octavia is duking it out with the big one?

Blank shield-slams the gnoll, smashing into it from the side with enough force to send both of them toppling over. The monster, of course, begins snapping and clawing wildly at Blank, though hopefully the armor will prevent the worst of the harm. That probably isn't what Blank is worried about, though. Probably more worried about what might happen if the gnoll bites him. And considering how snappy the monster is being that's a distinct possibility.

Octavia does a SICK charging slide, narrowly missing a pulverizing overhead slam from the hulking gnoll as she whips around behind it and slices through the hide on the monster's ankles. This gets a roar of anger and pain and rage from the hobbled beast. Unable to turn around quickly, the monster simply lurches over backwards and attempts to fall on Octavia with its bone-armor covered body. There are a few places here and there the monster ISN'T armored, and Octavia manage to find one of them. But for the most part the beast is just one huge slab of bone and muscle. Definitely not a fun opponent.

Unless you're some sorta crazy person who finds danger fun.

[Murkus]

[Chaos]

"Little spirit - or whatever you are. I won't be responsible if you're harmed here. Leave us in peace," Mensei pleads with Asami. The little girl gets no respect! No respect at all, it seems. While these aren't the most trusting people under the best circumstances, they're certainly not going to trust a mysterious little girl-god-thing to accompany them on this most important mission - nor to offer them help and advice without being somehow vetted first. It would seem Asami is out of luck in that department, unless she wants to get directly involved one way or another.

As far as spiritual energy, well, there are a number of powerful flares here. Savath and Riacan are likely the strongest souls on their side, from a raw metaphysical mass standpoint, followed by Mensei, then Lidoro. The Puppet seems to give off no energy at all... only a cold absence where a soul ought to be. Like looking at a corpse.

"And as for you-- Sineran-- be still!" Mensei fights with the other woman, the 'skaela', briefly, but Mensei is clearly trained for confrontation and physically sturdier than her counterpart. Sineran glowers, but she's rather small and spare, like her deer-form. She can't break free without some kind of help or distraction... But she's given up on that coming from Asami, considering the little girl is offering to aid her captors now.

Savath curses as his strike falls and misses, cleaving open the bear's shoulder, just before he's driven back by the waves of coiling heat. His hands sing with muscle aches from the wrenching on his blade, and a number of the spores touch his armor... which quickly goes berserk. Whatever that suit of living leather and metal is, it seems to share the common monstrous aversion for cleansing fire. It goes to work begrudgingly extinguishing it, even as it snaps and snarls and even emits weird, atonal metallic yelps. The mouths that spontaneously split the armor simply devour the flames and spores, belching smoke as they do so, leather blackening and crinkling. The armor seems to be able to absorb damage and attacks - but it probably couldn't absorb too much fire for too long.

"Cursed, blasphemous thing! Begone!" The smoking soldier roars, and he wheels his blade high in a stance almost parallel with the line of his shoulders, before sweeping it down in a deadly arc. This time he doesn't close in, however - and the blade emits a wave of foulness, a guillotine blast of noxious green energy that will splash across anything it strikes like a bucket of terribly potent acid!

All the while, the Puppet lurks.

The pile of molten rubble and shifted earth that Riacan is buried under begins to quiver like the portent for an earthquake.

And Lidoro seems surprised that TASBot is being so reasonable, after giving Riacan such a fight. Now he's not sure what to do. If TASBot learns much more about the situation, he might change his mind suddenly. Or he could well elect to rescue Sineran when the situation with the bear is dealt with - if it's even something that can be dealt with quickly. What is the course here? Would it be best to simply hold the strange metal being in play while the others deal with the monster?

"I will tell him," Lidoro says, thinking.

If TASBot intended to stick around for the duration, that would mean he'd learn more about the situation. Which meant it was possible he might not understand the need for what came next.

Lidoro's fingers rap along his spear-haft. He can't afford to invite TASBot openly into the fray, nor let him get too close to Sineran, nor trust him to stand by unwatched. So he'll need to be sure. One way or the other.

"The girl has stolen something precious from our liege-lady. A very important token - and more than a token. If she continues in her trend of being difficult, she will need to be interrogated. Do you understand what that means?" Lidoro holds very still, watching TASBot steadily, and if the robot is perceptive, he might notice misty spears - duplicates of the one Lidoro holds, but not yet fully solid - appearing in the air around the two of them. Aiming inward. "It will not be pleasant. She may die. And then be raised again."

Common thieves, slender Lidoro thinks. If it were only so simple - or so pleasant. Ay, Savath?

[[brackets lover]]

[Chaos]

Asami looks uncertainly at Mensei, taking a step back submissively. "Well, I won't be harmed. And no one's gonna ever leave you in peace. 'All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.' "

Asami puts her hands in her pockets, taking a look to the ongoing battle between Savath and a bear. "Oh, uh, my name's Asami Sonnenschein, by the way. It was nice meeting you."

She begins to casually walk away, looking for a large rock or something similar to sit on nearby.

[Ironsmith]

[Englebrook]

Were he only so lucky.

Blank yelps and pushes against the gnoll with his shield, trying to hold it back from the exposed parts of his body, which mostly amounts to his face. A bite there would certainly be a problem, but with his shifting, all he really needs is one errant touch and-

It seems to happen in slow motion. One of the gnoll's swings goes just a little higher than the edge of his shield, up directly toward his face, too quickly to turn aside. All he can do is watch, pulse pounding in his ears, as the claw inches closer.

There's a searing pain in his eye as claw meets flesh, but that's the least of his problems.

The gnoll howls in rage as it attempts to hurl its counterpart to the ground, yanking out one of those bony javelins for a follow-up attack to the throat. It'll move up in the direction of the creature's head in an attempt to cut off its options for clawing or biting it. No sense in letting its meal get any last licks in.

[quillpleasant]

Englebrook

Oof. Octavia was not expecting the tactic of "just falling over" and the weight of the gnoll slams her into the earth, her body cracking as the armor plating grinds into it. She can't feel pain, at least not from something like this, but it's still not a pleasant experience.

But it won't hold her for long, on account of the teleporting. In a flash, she's standing several feet away. Her punching daggers quickly reform into the interlocking eye wheels above her shoulders- the default halo. A quick glance around the battlefield reveals that-

Blank is gone? Well, at least some of the gnolls have turns on each other. She can find him later, but for now, time to capitalize on the big guy being down.

-HOLY WHITE DEATH- she calls out, her halo taking on an incandescent glow as she raises a hand heavenward. A pillar of white hot energy descends from out of the sky at her command, aimed directly at the gnoll's chest. It's hot enough to melt metal and scorch earth, but it is dodgeable- if the gnolls is nimble enough despite its bulk.

[Rebonack]

[Englebrook]

Khannie is watching from above when Blank's tackle goes sideways and now there are two gnolls rolling around on the ground trying to murder each other. Great. Now she can't tell them apart. If she tries blasting one of them there's WAY too big of a chance she might hit the wrong one. Heck, even if she knew which one was which she might STILL blast the wrong one.

So instead she turns her attention to Octavia's fight to help out there. It looks like Octava just got smooshed on but the she teleported clear and she's gearing up for a bit attack. Yeah, Khannie can help there. A pool of darkness begins growing above her horn for a few moments before she lobs it earthward, the blot splattering into a pool of shadow that immediately sprouts tendrils to wrap around the hulking gnoll's limbs!

The hulking gnoll definitely TRIES to roll out of the way of the incoming celestial death laser but all of a sudden it's seized by shadow tendrils! That makes escaping pretty hard and the beam carves a burning hole right through the middle of the monster's chest! The blinding white light, of course, casts some very dark shadows which Khannie's magic is more than happy to soak up, the tendrils becoming both more coherent and more numerous. The monster is trying to rip them away, but so long as Octavia keeps the orbital bombardment going they're growing back faster than the monster can rip them free.

You would think that someone with darkness magic like Khannie would be weak to light magic, but the opposite is true. The brighter the light the starker the shadows cast.

Amazingly the hulking gnoll is STILL alive. It's going to take more than just some little smouldering hole in its chest to keep it down! Maybe Octavia can make the death laser bigger?

As for the gnoll fight...

The regular gnoll gets speared through the throat! It gives a horrible gurgling laugh before falling still.


[Chaos]

What a mess this all is.

That child, if she is a child at all, has made a bit of a mess of things. The landslide fouling much of Solahart's mycelial network in the area didn't help either. If the fungus ridden bear is killed then she won't be left with much recourse unless the group begins moving through another part of the forest where she has a presence.

Possible?

But not assured.

She'll have to make the most of what options she has here.

The caustic slash splashes across the bear, causing its flesh to bubble and sag like hot wax. The monster isn't particularly moved by this, however. Could the attack kill it? Perhaps. But it hasn't killed it yet. With another bellow the blazing bear surges forward, ignorant of any terrain that might interfere with its charge. It rises, sweeping down with one paw carrying all the crushing force and boiling heat of a volcanic landslide.

Hopefully the warrior is nimble enough to avoid the swipe because it may leave him burning and disarticulated otherwise.

[Earl of Purple]

Greater Sattleborough

"Twenty-year-old marshmallows? Count me out, thankyou." Samantha doubts they'd be edible after so long, even if the bag hadn't deteriorated and mice or other things hadn't got into it and had a nibble.

Samantha turns after Jubilee to get onto the carriage. Whilst there's no rush, she's still a bit scared of being left behind.

Outside the Sudden Cave

The pile of firewood left near where the people who camped here might also be of interest, consisting of dead wood.

The book is a tome of theology, titled The Seven Scriptures. After an introduction, there's a chapter on the Wandering Gaze, the First Scripture. Then one on the Lying Tongue, the Second Scripture. The third chapter- and Scripture- is about Restless Hands. Fourth is Roving Feet, and fifth is Rampant Hunger, whilst sixth is Wanton Flesh and the final Scripture deals with the Errant Mind. All of them are portrayed as bad things, that will result in the unwary falling into the grips of the Outsider, or getting damned to the Void- though the book does not explain what the Void is, or elaborate on the Outsider's identity.

Near the Delve of Dripping Dread

"I... I serve the masters. Since... Since always. Nothing is wrong, everything is fine. She's sick, they'll make her better. Everything is fine, nothing is wrong. I serve the masters." He's repeating himself, and looks confused, lowering the girl to the floor. He'll then draw his sword and yell as he charges in, swinging it at the person speaking. It's a pretty standard sword, made of steel with ++ULFBERHT++ inscribed into the blade.

[Morty]

[Ruined Observatory]

Hiep's reaction is to wonder where precisely Skye learned all of this. Not many mortals know even an inkling of it, and she can't have been Exalted for long. Besides, being Exalted doesn't usually come with access to records, unless you're a Sidereal or Dragon-Blooded Dynast.

"I certainly don't." Which is true, at least. It's really not her expertise. "Something tells me collapsing what's left of the roof on this place won't work."

[Damundra Canyon]

Are they dwarves? Weird to see them in flesh and blood, rather than stone. But then, these ones presumably didn't turn to stone to fight an elder dragon.

"Yeah, what she said. Our friend is pretty hard to miss."

[Halae]

[Ruined Observatory]

"The way to counter such... holes in the world, for lack of a better term, is to counter the aspects of what was brought through," Skye explains, considering the space around them, "You need to reinforce the reality which you choose to have it be. The most common way in my homeworld was reinforcing the life of an area to keep the underworld at bay, usually with the help of a local god."

"I don't know if we have any of those on hand, and I fear what would happen if we used my power in its place."

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

Huh.

So they need to reinforce life near the tower until all the weird death magic sorta stuff stops leaking through? And they need help from a god, maybe.

Khannie's ears fold back a little and she gives her tail a flip.

"Umm... I dunno if it would work or not but I guess I kinda count as a god?" Khannie says.

She very much does in the Creation sense. A petty god with a small domain. Except her domain isn't life; it's cleansing of corruption.

"But if my magic won't work maybe we can find someone else nearby?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

The dwarf goes wide-eyed. "ye mean tha elf?!" His companions have a similar reaction, giving the two odd stares. "Yes we let it in but but only in tha spirit o' rest day. But why are decent folk like you in company like that?"

[Meowmai]

► SHOW SPOILER

Overly Adventurous

Atreyu chuckles. "Had it covered, huh, little Missy? Sure ya did. I-" He blinks and growls, taking a half step back as the shadow senses a gap in the light, jabbing at him, only to be repelled once more as he refocuses the light from his claws to force it back. "Grr, stay where I can see ya, ya slippery little-"

Whatever else Atreyu was about to say is cut off as Kestrel lets another arrow fly. The wolf mouse decides to make one more attempt at its would-be prey, snarling and leaping, ensuring the arrow doesn't hit. Well, doesn't hit its head at least. Instead, with a thunk and a squelch, it embeds itself in the wolf mouse's belly, causing it to fall and tumble back onto its side, gasping for breath.

The shadow quivers and withdraws, rapidly reducing back to an appropriately wolf mouse shaped form.

"Huh. Nice shot, Kestrel. I think ya got it."

Overly Adventurous

Much to Kestrel's equal surprise and relief, yet another one of her arrows buries itself into the flesh of the wolf mouse. Even as the mouse falls to the ground, twitching, she stares at it suspiciously. A moment passes, her breathing heavy. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I did." There's pride in her voice, but exhaustion too. She stares at the body for a few seconds longer, before finally flopping unceremoniously to the ground as everything caught up with her.

"Owwww... shoot... aghh..." Kestrel shows remarkable restraint in keeping herself from cursing as she nurses her wounds, in particular prodding at her injured leg and hissing at the pain. She turns to Atreyu with a bit of a grimace- although not because of him of course. She's pleased to see him. "So uh... we meet again, huh?" She says somewhat meekly, doing her best to smile despite her mild injuries.

► SHOW SPOILER

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

They're terrible, Ginger.

That's what they are.

Terrible.

If Ginger is at all familiar with the forces of the Abyss she'll be able to pick up on the unmistakable whiff on these creatures. Especially the bigger one as it comes loping closer. If she's ever encountered ghouls before she might find the undertones of corruption and ravenous hunger familiar.

As Ginger makes the overhead chop the gnoll lurches to one side suddenly, getting a gouge carved into its bone armor but otherwise failing to cause any real harm. Unlike the little biters this thing seems to actually have SOME sense of self preservation and some grasp of combat besides. It swiftly wrenches out another bone javelin and makes a somewhat awkward jab at Ginger's flank, aiming to spear between joints in her armor. The attack doesn't have as much force behind it as the monster could muster, hurried as it is, but the creature is trying to keep her off balance-

-mostly so the remaining handful of biters can try scurrying up behind her for some biting.

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Ginger has experience with the Abyss and ghouls alike. The former, because a distasteful amount of Hellknights patrolled the city she used to call home, leaving the scent of the demons they summoned and trained with in their wake. The latter, from the many undead that plagued the surrounding countryside. For all she missed it, there was a lot she was glad she had left behind in Streamsurge. Being reminded of both of these at once in a single creature twisted her stomach in a knot.

But there was no time to dwell on that, not as this gnoll surprised her with unexpected intelligence beyond that of the horrid things it spawned from. Her blade scraped ineffectively across it's armour, leaving her caught off guard. The bone gnoll's spear leapt at her, and she barely pulled out of the way in time, feeling the spear point just catch her on the side. She hissed in pain, snarling at her foe, feeling the blood beginning to ooze from the small wound. It may not have been a lethal blow, nor even one that debilitating, but the time it took for her to stumble backwards and recover was precious time wasted.

This was bad. She had been planning to deal with this gnoll quick, and the smaller critters later, but it seemed like that may no longer be happening. Time to adapt. Her weapon shimmered once more, hilt growing and blade shifting till the greatsword became a glaive. She spun it around, this time not so much going for a solid strike as trying to force her foe back, in an attempt to give herself the space needed to make use of her reach and hold her soon-to-be multiple threats at bay. The smaller critters were nasty, but not much of a danger if kept at arms reach after all.