Outside: Grass touch place

[Wolfbane]

[Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement]

It's done!, comes the response, echoing from deep inside Onisa, I've linked into your circulatory, endocrine, urinary, digestive, muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems. This allows me to both augment you and feed off the waste that humanoids generally produce; you'll find that while you need to eat a little more to account for my presence, you will no longer need to relieve yourself of waste. Should you receive an injury, I will work in all haste to repair it - though, unfortunately, fully replacing missing body parts can only be done using me as a prosthetic replacement.

Try moving about. You have the benefit of my muscular augments to your body, so despite the weight you should feel like you're wearing very little. Aside from the... ah, tatters that remain of your old outfit, which are all sitting on Onisa's body unnecessarily, over the chitinous armor that now coats her from the neck down (and she can already understand how to get the helmet to come up too). It's a fairly sleek fit, too, providing flexibility and protection in a well plated package, being both armored yet accentuating what curves she has. two elements of pure style exist as well, in the form of two lengths of fleshy webbing - one from the bottom of the helmet, currently in pieces around her neck, and the other from her waist, providing a stylish, if veiny, waist cape.

Should Onisa start attempting to move, she'll find that her movement is easier than she's ever dreamed of it being. More precise, with more force than ever before, and there's no lag between the symbiote's movements and Onisa's - the command to move comes from both of them, working in perfect harmony, with each automatically accounting for any errors in the others' movements. It'll feel like walking in a dream, and Onisa may well feel a deep desire to run around and test the limits of her new companion.

It helps that the armor thing is working as new legs for her, too.

Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement

The hob takes a few moments to listen to the new voice in her mind, flexing her muscles and legs and fingers while the explanation was going on. It was disturbingly intimate and intrusive, and no small part of her felt...unclean. Her clothes, expensive clothes, were now in tatters and she gives a sigh, pulling the tatters off entirely with a sharp tug. It makes Onisa look at her fingers and hands, getting a feel for the blunt claws and the augmented strength. "...will I be able to turn pages or work magic with these...claws?" She asks, sounding hesitant to really call them such. "And get ready, I'm going to try and stand..." She says with a swallow before slowly and carefully getting to her...their new feet.

"I do like the waist cape, by the way."

[quillpleasant]

For Whom the Bell Gnolls

As Octavia's barrage strikes down several gnolls, she punches the air in triumph. Sure, it's a high stakes battle to the death, but she can't help but get a little excited when she does something cool. She watches as the wolves, real and illusory go flying across the field. That's also cool! And saving people is just as useful as anything she's doing, which she would be sure to reassure Blank of if she knew he was feeling some kind of way about his shield skills.

But calamity, the gnolls are eating their fallen brethren! That's really not good- that's how you get a gnollk. Better stop them from doing that. Just need to...

Well whatever she was planning on doing it's quickly forgotten as there's suddenly a gnoll attacking her. Since when can they move that fast? This is clearly no ordinary gnoll, but something unique and demonically powerful. Considering her distance, the little angel is completely caught off guard by its sudden appearance.

Octavia's body is made out of a very durable plastic, dense and hard. But it's not as strong as metal, and anything that can shred armor can inflict some serious damage to her. The gnoll's claws leave deep gashes across her torso, and as she raises a hand to protect herself her arm is nearly torn in half.

But luckily, these injuries are very different for a non organic being. She can't feel pain, nor is there any blood, although the force of the onslaught does send her staggering back. If she lets this continue, she'd be ripped in half in a matter of seconds. So it's a good thing she can teleport.

In a flash of light she vanishes, reappearing a good fifteen paces distant. This time she won't be caught unprepared. -woodcutter's axe fells the wolf- she intones, her glowing bow transforming into a deadly looking double bitted axe. Despite its size, she wields it with ease, spinning the blade around to point at the gnoll. Then she disappears-

-and reappears behind her attacker, scything the weapon at its legs.

---

Coaching Inn

Lia nods in understanding. Clearly these guys have been planning out how to deal with this for a while. "HALO? Can't say I've heard of it. Clearly I have a lot to learn about this place still, which is very exciting."

She waits patiently for Rovert to settle their tab. "Well, I hope that Neveah's situation can be fixed soon. Running all your life is truly a curse, regardless of circumstances. I speak from experience."

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"They do research and stuff, bunch of cleverclogs and boffins. They got a base on the seafloor, I think. Not for the claustrophobic, aqua-averse, or heliocentric. Not sure it'd be great for you, actually." Mushrooms don't need sunlight, but many terrestrial examples are vulnerable to salt.
"Yeah, it's... not as bad as it could be, I guess. Mirrors aren't everywhere, and being alone with one's most dangerous. We took the mirrors off our li'l van, just to be safe." The van would consequently fail a safety check for British roads; perhaps not motorcycles, but cars in the UK are legally required to have at least two mirrors.

[Halae]

Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement

The hob takes a few moments to listen to the new voice in her mind, flexing her muscles and legs and fingers while the explanation was going on. It was disturbingly intimate and intrusive, and no small part of her felt...unclean. Her clothes, expensive clothes, were now in tatters and she gives a sigh, pulling the tatters off entirely with a sharp tug. It makes Onisa look at her fingers and hands, getting a feel for the blunt claws and the augmented strength. "...will I be able to turn pages or work magic with these...claws?" She asks, sounding hesitant to really call them such. "And get ready, I'm going to try and stand..." She says with a swallow before slowly and carefully getting to her...their new feet.

"I do like the waist cape, by the way."

[Destroyed Wizard's Tower Basement]

You shouldn't have any issues with it! The shape of the fingers is a little different, admittedly, but they should be just as if not more dexterous and flexible than before while also being better protected from any mishaps. No more papercuts, eh?

Standing up is... easy. Like she'd never lost her legs in the first place. The space where Onisa's intent for movements end and the creature's begin is something she won't even be able to tell - perhaps because it's linked directly into her body and nervous system. They even feel right - different, but right.

[Damundra Canyon]

The bartender regards them calmly and despite their reaction gives them an apologetic smile. "Well folks around here be a suspicious lot so if they knew an elf was here while they were sleeping, or worse when they woke up there wou' be a lot o' trouble. Probably fighting too." She shrugs.
"So i had ta send your elf away tha only way i knew how." She raises her finger. "But if you're going down there too I will give you the same warning I gave her, there's little lizardfolk down there. Nasty things. Come out every feastday when the folks are drinking to spread devilry. Been particularly nasty as o' late too." As she talks about them its the first time she's shown concern on her face.

It's likely only Thariza who hears this warning as Emily is already on her way out.

The guards at the front door are throwing her concerned glances. It looks like they almost want to stop her given the angry look on her face.

[Damundra Canyon]

Thariza's tail swishes irritably as she departs. She doesn't find the explanation satisfactory. But the warning about lizardfolk is probably going to be useful.

[Damundra Canyon]

Emily regards the guards dismissively. They'd fail if they tried to stop her, and she's not about to break anything - much as she might want to - as she goes towards the exit of the fortress.

[Ruined Observatory]

Should it come as any shocked that a servant of the Maiden of Journeys would have a hard time sitting still for long? It's a merciful thing, then, that night was already close when the ritual began. And with nightfall comes trouble.

The thing that flaps and flops its way out of the tower doesn't look like it should have been able to fit inside, squeezing out through a window many times smaller than its great black girth. Something like wings beat at the air, lifting it into the night sky though by all accounts the pathetic, broken looking appendages should be capable of no such feat.

It is as the first was; a shattered constellation given shape. Empty space somehow acting as a living thing. It wheels above our heroes, making a churning sound like ocean waves crashing inside a massive punch-bowl.

And speaking of punches, the thoughtful thing is rudely out of what might traditionally be considered punching range. Thankfully this also means that its aura of loss and forgetfulness hasn't washed over our heroes yet, either.

The thing doesn't attack, not right away, it simply wheels about overhead and occasionally blasting forth a doleful, wheezing honk.

Khannie glares at the creature as she lights her horn, a grid of black planes flickering through the ground near her and leaving neatly sectioned cubes of earth in their wake.

"Plan's gunna get slippery if this thing gets close. Remember we've gotta fill it up until it isn't," the unicorn says.

[Ruined Observatory]

"Wait, remember? Did we know that before?" Hiep feels like she should have, but she doesn't. It keeps slipping her mind.

Instead of dwelling on it, she opts to pick up the biggest available chunk of the scenery and lob it at the creature. With unerring accuracy, given what she's throwing and the moving target.

[Ruined Observatory]

Skye can't help. Dropping the ritual now would be to let Khannie's power run wild, and Skye has no idea what would happen if that... happened. Certainly, it wouldn't close the breach like they were hoping. Khannie's power may be more than Skye was expecting, but that just means it'll take a little while less than usual.

Suffice to say, the others are on their own with this one.

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

Now that Khannie has a pretty sizable collection of projectiles she lights her horn again, forming a sphere of absolute blackness above it about the size of a basket ball. Instead of lobbing the dark orb at the creature she instead begins catching the earth cubes in her magic and tossing them toward the sphere and very specifically NOT at it.

As each cube goes whizzing past it's instead caught in an orbit around the sphere, gaining speed with each revolution. And as Khannie continues adding more cubes to her constellation the orb soon has a ring of whirring motion whirling around it at fantastic speed. She's probably going to do something with that, but not quite yet.

Hiep, meanwhile, grabs a nearby pillar and hurls it at the abomination like a javelin! The projectile hits the monster and knocks it from the sky as part of its nothing is filled with something, negating a portion of its dubious existence.

Wait, no.

It stuttered.

Like an image glitching.

And suddenly it's about twenty feet to the side and closer to Hiep.

Did Hiep ever hit it at all? It's... hard to remember.

With a honk that causes the stars in the sky above to dim, the monster descends towards Hiep and vomits forth a great billowing cloud of Nothing at her. This assault is corrosive to reality and really not the sort of thing someone wants to get caught in.

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

It seems like the dwarves second-guess themselves and ultimately decides not even to bother stopping either of them as they're heading out of the fort.
Helpfully enough there's a sign pointing towards "stairs/elevator", which is most likely the one the saw while heading here.

However as they're heading there they can see another group of dwarves, these look significantly worse to wear and are still heading up from the stairs they're intending to head down. Nearly all of them seems to have sustained some kind of injury and one is even being carried on a makeshift stretcher.

The small disheveled group look at the two in shock and they can see that those who can start reaching for their weapons. Since they seem to be at edge to say at least.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

"I like research, and I'm not claustrophobic- but water doesn't tend to agree with me." Lia gets all the moisture she needs from the rain and soil. Bodies of water bigger than a large puddle are entirely unnecessary, and spending too much time in them would leave her bloated and waterlogged. Best to avoid them entirely.

"And it's probably best to avoid mirrors anyway. They're dangerous things. Back on my homeworld, there was a guy called the King of Dolls who lived in mirrors, and people said that he could pull you in if you stared at one long enough, but you wouldn't even realize at first that the world was reversed until it was too late." Wow, she hasn't thought of that guy in years.

Lia has also never ridden in a car, and has no idea how mirrors might be used in one. So that'll be an interesting experience in itself.

[Morty]

[Ruined Observatory]

This isn't good, Hiep thinks as she scrambles to avoid the cloud. Just being near this thing is making her nauseous. How is she going to stay close long enough to clobber it... if that's even possible? Maybe using her surroundings against it will work. It's not a big deal if it damages those.

Hiep retreats, trying to lure the creature towards a ruined chunk of a wall. When it's close enough, she'll try to kick it and collapse it on top of the star-being.

[Damundra Canyon]

This is going to be a pattern here, isn't it? Those people are pretty trigger-happy. Maybe they got roughed up by those lizardfolk the bartender warned them about. She raises her hands in a gesture that is hopefully conciliatory.

"Calm down, we're just passing through."

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"It's salt water, as well. Tends to kill plants and stuff that isn't adapted to it. That King of Dolls chap sounds a right bastard. He still alive?" Or is that not something anyone's really able to answer?

"Uh... what happened?" Neveah awakens, sitting up and looking around confused.
"Something conked you out and dragged you into the mirror. I saw it happen. This is Lia; she's going to be accompanying us on the trip, paying in mushrooms and offered a meld for the spare ticket, which is some kind of fungal communion thing I think. After the concert, no more delays- we'll get you to HALO." Leotello smiles, glad Neveah has awoken but still a little worried about her.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

"Oh... probably, yes. I haven't been there in years, but I can't imagine anyone killing any of the Lieges." Lia shrugs. It's worlds away, so as long as they don't find some way to get here, then she couldn't care less if they're alive or dead.

"Hi!" she waves at Neveah, smiling sympathetically. "The others were telling me about your curse, it sounds just awful." She tilts her head curiously. "Although I'm wondering... what counts as a mirror? Does any reflective surface count, or does it have to be more specific than that?"

[Meowmai]

► SHOW SPOILER

[For Whom The Bell Gnolls? ...Englebrook, Apparently]

Blank's shoulders sag a little as he watches Octavia fire off a volley of holy arrows by herself, once again reminded that of those present, he was easily the least equipped for a straightforward assault. Even the new gnoll girl seemed to have some specialized equipment that would help with this situation. What did he have? A shield. Not even, like, a +3 Holy Shield of Smiting, just a regular disk of wood and steel.

...Okay, he does have his other forms, but they're even less impressive. But then again, since he's clearly not going to do much good as a combatant, he might consider an alternative option.

With a howl, Blank charges forward, shifting over into his armored wolf form as he barrels toward the horde of gnolls, attempting to bound over them to get to the gnoll girl amd the shepherd. Getting them out of harm's way is the priority now.

"Get on!"

Since Englebrook is waaaay over there we'll just go with-

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Well Blank have you considered how helpful it might be to invest in a +3 Shield of Holiness? That seems like it could be something that's really helpful.

Khannie, for her part, focuses on her illusion magic and causes a double of the Armored Wolf to go running off toward the approaching gnolls right before Blank pauses at the shepherd and Ginger with an offer to mount up. She's hoping the feral gnolls will be too dumb to recognize the trick and attack the snarling beast charging toward them rather than the one that ISN'T being aggressive. Considering how they've been acting so far that feels like a safe bet.

So, we'll begin with Octavia's arrow bombardment. It's definitely the sort of thing that invokes more than a little wonder in the on looker. As shining arrows rain out of the sky over the gnolls running toward the shepherd more than a few are laid low by glowing shafts of lightning. The shepherd forgets his terror for a brief moment, staring in awe.

Which is why it's good that Ginger comes running over and lays into the gnoll that was about to pounce on him. The sword stroke would be ruinous, but likely not quite enough to kill the beast. What does it in is the sudden pop from inside it as the riftstone embedded in the creature bursts into holy fire and consumes the abomination from the inside out.

As the flailing gnoll collapses into consecrated ashes the shepherd is shaken from his reverie by... a talking wolf? You know what, sure. Why not. He climbs onto the Armored Wolf without questioning it.

The conjured wolf double goes running past our heroes and a pair of gnolls bearing javelins surrounding it from both sides and stab it pretty solidly. This, of course, causes the double to explode in a scything blast of shadow magic. The force of the explosion shreds the gnolls, leaving them lacerated and dazed as the world spins around them.

With a good six or so gnolls arrowed to death, their fellows turn from charging toward the adventurers to devour the fallen gnolls instead. Given what happened last time they did this it might be a good idea to stop them.

The beclawed ravenous gnoll, meanwhile, gives a snarl of rage and goes charging toward the clearest threat. Which would be Octavia. And calling it a charge is SERIOUSLY understating what happens. The beast leaps forward and there's a streak of abyssal magic across the battlefield. Within an eye-blink that monster is right up in Octavia's personal space unleashing a flurry of armor rending claw slashes. There's little in the way of grace or technique in the onslaught, just pure animalistic fury.

For Whom the Bell Gnolls

As Octavia's barrage strikes down several gnolls, she punches the air in triumph. Sure, it's a high stakes battle to the death, but she can't help but get a little excited when she does something cool. She watches as the wolves, real and illusory go flying across the field. That's also cool! And saving people is just as useful as anything she's doing, which she would be sure to reassure Blank of if she knew he was feeling some kind of way about his shield skills.

But calamity, the gnolls are eating their fallen brethren! That's really not good- that's how you get a gnollk. Better stop them from doing that. Just need to...

Well whatever she was planning on doing it's quickly forgotten as there's suddenly a gnoll attacking her. Since when can they move that fast? This is clearly no ordinary gnoll, but something unique and demonically powerful. Considering her distance, the little angel is completely caught off guard by its sudden appearance.

Octavia's body is made out of a very durable plastic, dense and hard. But it's not as strong as metal, and anything that can shred armor can inflict some serious damage to her. The gnoll's claws leave deep gashes across her torso, and as she raises a hand to protect herself her arm is nearly torn in half.

But luckily, these injuries are very different for a non organic being. She can't feel pain, nor is there any blood, although the force of the onslaught does send her staggering back. If she lets this continue, she'd be ripped in half in a matter of seconds. So it's a good thing she can teleport.

In a flash of light she vanishes, reappearing a good fifteen paces distant. This time she won't be caught unprepared. -woodcutter's axe fells the wolf- she intones, her glowing bow transforming into a deadly looking double bitted axe. Despite its size, she wields it with ease, spinning the blade around to point at the gnoll. Then she disappears-

-and reappears behind her attacker, scything the weapon at its legs.

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Things get chaotic pretty quickly, and Ginger becomes a little bit lost. She doesn't know these people. She doesn't know what they're capable of! There's a wolf, and soon a second wolf, alongside the holy rain of arrows. It's hard to form a strategy when you don't know what's going on.

Her blade connects with the gnoll before her, and the result is far more effective than she might have expected. The kholo isn't given much time to contemplate on this though, as the wolf arrives yelling to get on, at the same moment as the other gnolls change tactics and turn to the livestock. Ginger hasn't seen what happens if these gnolls eat enough, but she's seen a biter transform and she assumes the result can't be good. At this point the other wolf explodes, which Ginger really wasn't expecting.

Now she eyes Blank warily for a moment, half expecting him to explode to. But he doesn't! Ginger looks between him, the shepherd, and the various battles going on, before coming to a decision made out of pure haste. Those hungry gnolls need to be stopped, but she's not about to pick a fight where she's outnumbered that badly. So it's time to go help out with that nasty clawed gnoll! "Right. Can you get me to the angel?" She'll join the shepherd in leaping onto Blank's back. "And then get this man to safety!"

► SHOW SPOILER

Overly Adventurous

"Hey, hey, yer stil injured, Missy. Hold yer horses fer one second." Atreyu reaches down and gently lays a hand on Kestrel's bite wound, the initial sting of contact swiftly replaced with a faint tingling feeling as healing magic surges forth, rapidly closing the wound as her flesh knits itself back together. His hand gives off a faint glow as he rests it there, slowly letting the magic do its work.

"Not the time ta be lettin' embarrassment get th' best of ya, Missy." Atreyu chastises lightly before lowering his voice and adding playfully, "Nothin' I ain't seen before anyways."

Overly Adventurous

Despite her first instinct being to pull back further from the slightly painful touch, Kestrel begins to relax with a sigh as the healing magic does it's work and the wound begins to fade. Her blush firmly stays put though. "Well, yes, I... I remember, b-but that's not the point!" Even as she protests his teasing there's signs of a shy smile creeping onto her face.

[Ironsmith]

[For Whom The Bell Gnolls]

"That I can do." Blank growls, adjusting himself a little as Ginger and the shepherd take up seats on his back. "Mind the fur. I'll transform if you touch it and we don't need that right now."

The armor, evidently, is perfectly safe to touch. Which is good news for them; it'd be hard for him to carry a rider otherwise, which was basically the point of this form.

As soon as his passengers are on top of him, Blank turns and sprints back toward Octavia... and suddenly seems to realize just how heavy two people, one of them apparently a paladin, combined with a set of silver armor, actually are. So the sprint comes out more of a determined plod, and as an added precaution, he takes a more circuitous path around the gnolls rather than risking trying to plow through them again, where his silver plate may as well be a silver platter.

[Rebonack]

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Okay so the gnolls with the big claws are crazy fast Khannie's gunna need to keep that in mind. The monster is attacking Octavia and Blank is carrying the gnoll paladin over to help so that just leaves Khannie to prevent the gnolls from chowing down on the dead gnolls.

The last thing they need is MORE of the big ones.

Since these things are dumb she goes with a simple illusion; obscuring the sight and smell of the bodies by putting fake boulders over them. Out of sight out of mind!

Unfortunately for our heroes this means the remaining gnolls are headed towards them now instead. Fortunately they're still over there so they just have to worry about a few thrown javelins.

Meanwhile, Octavia swings her mighty axe-!

-only to have the ravenous gnoll riftwalk about four feet to the left before trying to pounce on the angel.

[Gold]

[Chaos]

TASBot is silent for a while. There's something he doesn't like about this, and his conscience won't let him leave the pudu-girl to her fate. That said, he's quickly running out of things to say to stall for time. And Lidoro's asking so nicely...

After a few more moments of silence, TASBot relents. "Alright, pal - I'll get out of your hair for now." With that, the blue robot turns on his heel and slinks off through the forest, never to bother any of Lidoro's colleagues again... or, at least, that's what he wants it to look like.

In truth, TASBot is now moving as stealthily as he can among the trees of the deeper forest, trying to follow the movement of Sineran and her pursuers without being detected himself. He can tell he isn't the only one who wants to see her get out of this safely, despite the action being fairly difficult to make out without compromising his position.

[quillpleasant]

For Whom the Bell Gnolls

So the enemy can teleport as well! That's a problem. Dealing with a big stupid monster like the gnollk is tough, but at least speed and strategy were on her side there. This thing is different- it matches her speed, and it's smart. And, as evidenced by the damage it's inflicted on her, it's stronger that she is too. What does that leave?

Well, angelic powers and skill. The beast may be ferocious, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily well trained.

Although she wasn't expecting the riftwalk, she was expecting a counterattack. This time she lifts her axe, using the oversized blade like a shield to protect herself from the sweeping claws. The force of the pounce still sends her skidding back, her heels digging furrows in the dirt.

But then she's ducking, using her smaller size to try to tumble under the gnoll's arms and pop up behind it again. As she does this, she releases a blast of light from the axe at its face. It's not powerful enough to inflict any real damage, but it's hot and bright enough that it might temporarily blind the gnoll, and that kind of small advantage is crucial here.

As she's utterly focused on the fight, Octavia is unaware of her approaching allies. Perhaps she would be a little more confident if she noticed that she's not against this creature alone.

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"Artificial reflective surface with a minimum of distortion. So flat, basically. I'm... I don't get as affected by smaller ones as bigger ones, but there's a communal sink with a massive mirror over it in the bathrooms here. Too big to not look at, really, because I do need to look to fall in. Or get caught, whatever's happening. That's... that's what does it, even if I'm trying not to, my peripheral vision can be enough." And it's hard to wash hands in a sink with a mirror so large nearby without looking at it even slightly. The other elves are packing up their table, to head to the van, and Leotello will help Neveah get there.

[Meowmai]

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Ginger's brows furrow in confusion a little bit at the mention of transformation. She has no idea what that means, so she's extra careful to not touch the fur as asked. It's not as fast of a trip as she'd hope, though that much is understandable. She's not exactly light. It does at least give her time to take in a bit of the battle, and give her a clearer understanding of what's happening.

They've got gnolls on the way! They've been tricked away from the bodies. And the angel is still holding her own against the ravenous gnoll for now. The extent of any of these people's powers is still an unknown to her. The knight has some sort of shapeshifting/transformation. The unicorn seems to be an illusionist of some kind. The angel has a lot going on. Also, it's weird how you go never seeing a unicorn your entire life and then you meet two within half a year. Anyways, the gnolls. Ginger pulls a trick she used earlier with the first biters she fought, raising her blade into the sky that then flashed with holy light. Images of a better life would flash through the minds of the gnolls chucking javelins at them, and with it would come a crushing feeling of guilt. Of course, even with spark of divine magic burning at them, chastising them for their actions, she doubted the gnolls would care, but it would hopefully throw them off their game a bit.

Regardless, they're close enough now that she figures it's time to give poor Blank an easier time. "This is my stop, I think," And with that, she'll leap of Blank, and immediately land way harder than expected. Ouch, ouch ouch fuck. She still has a wound in her shoulder and ankle, easy to forget. Fuck. Gritting her teeth, she hauled herself back to her feet, wind now taken out of her sails, and began to charge. When she gets there, she'll lunge forwards with her sword, hoping this rather speedy riftwalking gnoll would still be distracted enough by it's current opponent to stay put long enough for her stab to land.

[Zefir]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

"Yes, of course. I'd... rather not go home alone in my pyjamas. He might have friends, or there might be monsters around. Vargouilles hate sunlight, and whilst I don't know of any nests around here that don't mean much." All it would take is one of the flying head-monsters to be passing through without a flock or nest nearby to doom her, for example.

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

They nod and start packing their stuff up. The man who talked to her remains near her to watch for any incoming enemy.

"Where exactly do you life? Can you tell us more about you?" he asks.
"We have followed a quest from another adventurer who lost his companions here and we just investigated"

[Riftline]

If the aristo-cats knew how wealthy Zefir is, they would apologize. A lot. And then probably give him a lot of flattery.
Instead, they move to another traincar and cut in line for being rescued. Fortunately, they aren't going to save much time, since the first rescue truck fills up too quickly for them to get on.

Violeta has never really seen gods as power-hungry (how can someone who's already omnipotent want more power?), but since he prefers she doesn't, she won't. She respects what he thinks enough to not push her own beliefs onto him.

"Um..." Violeta says. She glances around and then outside, to see if she can see the rescue trucks from here. (She can't.) "Well... let's head back to my town. It's Caldas da Rainha, at the previous stop this train was at. Then I can take you to my place, and then you can do your thing."

As soon as the first rescue vehicle is full, it leaves. Zefir's drill tank definitely has enough time to arrive next. And, depending on how well it traverses mountains and valleys, it can arrive here very quickly.

[Riftline]

Zefir doesn't give those cats any more attention. So he won't see their low moral.

Powerfull beeings normaly do seek for more power. Same with money.

The drill tnak is made to drives through caves, mostly which he made himself so a mountainside should not slow it down much. A straight road would make it look slow as the tnak is made to drill through ground so it's quiet sturdy and able to pass uneven terain.

The tank arrives soon after the frist trucks leave and Zefir stands up to leave, heading for the cars exist to go outside not to the trains end. With his ability to controll the water he can walk through the storm without getting drenched. He does note her to follow. The tank itself is not as comfortable especially since there are already two people in there to get it here. Thought he keeps an eye open for that cultist and any other strange beeing that might try to sneak into his tank. If nothing happens they likly head to her town if she follows him to the tank.

[Earl of Purple]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

"I live in a bungalow, over... uh, that way I think. It's a small place, really, near Greenglass Fields Farm. My partner works there as a labourer, but it's a busy time of year so they're not staying with me right now." The woman points in a direction, which the cyberguys might remember having large greenhouses in it, or possibly they could find the greenhouses with their drone, and the bungalow isn't that far from it. Perhaps fifteen minutes of walking.

"My name's Arbastutanif, I'm a nurse and vet. I work for quite a few of the local farms as their emergency medical provider. Anything else you want to know?" The pyjama-clad woman shivers as she starts to lead the way.

[Halae]

[Damundra Canyon]

It seems like the dwarves second-guess themselves and ultimately decides not even to bother stopping either of them as they're heading out of the fort.
Helpfully enough there's a sign pointing towards "stairs/elevator", which is most likely the one the saw while heading here.

However as they're heading there they can see another group of dwarves, these look significantly worse to wear and are still heading up from the stairs they're intending to head down. Nearly all of them seems to have sustained some kind of injury and one is even being carried on a makeshift stretcher.

The small disheveled group look at the two in shock and they can see that those who can start reaching for their weapons. Since they seem to be at edge to say at least.

[Damundra Canyon]

This is going to be a pattern here, isn't it? Those people are pretty trigger-happy. Maybe they got roughed up by those lizardfolk the bartender warned them about. She raises her hands in a gesture that is hopefully conciliatory.

"Calm down, we're just passing through."

[Damundra Canyon]

Emily just continues walking, making no move for her weapon, and not even really looking at the dwarves, "We're just passing by."

The anger in her tone is evident, and there's an unspoken demand in her tone - get out of the way and we'll have no issues. Get in the way and there will be problems.

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

With a doleful honk the stellar horror swoops after Hiep, spewing its cloud of oblivion all over everything as it flies and leaving ruination in its wake.

Then it gets a wall collapsed on top of it.

The monster begins flickering again, and this close Hiep will probably be able to tell that it's searching for an alternate fate where it DIDN'T have the wall shoved over on it. But before it can settle on a timeline Khannie opens fire with the magical sling she's been preparing.

One after another blocks of stone are released from her magical grip and sent sailing toward the monster at a pretty impressive clip. The first two go wide, but those that follow pound the monster mercilessly. Whatever fate bending trick it used before doesn't seem to work as well when it's getting bludgeoned with a steady stream of rocks.

"I'm out! Finish it off!" Khannie calls out to Hiep as she begins feeding a new batch of stones into her orbit.

The creature seems diminished. More physical than it was before. Now might be a good time to punch it to death.

[Morty]

[Ruined Observatory]

Hiep need not be told twice. She lunges at the creature legs-first, delivering a powerful kick with her sandal-shod foot. The sandal gleams briefly as its power magnifies the strength of Hiep's kick. She then proceeds to punch and stomp it.

"Why... won't... you... just... die already?!"

[Rebonack]

[Ruined Observatory]

It dies.

Hiep will find the battered, broken body of a completely normal goose laying at her feet. Considering her strength it should come as no shock that the animal is exceptionally dead. Though the may be puzzled why it took so much effort to kill an unremarkable, if horrible, bird.

Where the cloud of nothing touched the earth cracks have formed and through them the night sky is mirrored. None of the constellations are familiar, though, and there are only wandering stars adrift and condemned to the blackness of darkness forever.

Hopefully the ritual clears that up.

No more horrors will assault our heroes which is probably for the best.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

"Artificial reflective surface with a minimum of distortion. So flat, basically. I'm... I don't get as affected by smaller ones as bigger ones, but there's a communal sink with a massive mirror over it in the bathrooms here. Too big to not look at, really, because I do need to look to fall in. Or get caught, whatever's happening. That's... that's what does it, even if I'm trying not to, my peripheral vision can be enough." And it's hard to wash hands in a sink with a mirror so large nearby without looking at it even slightly. The other elves are packing up their table, to head to the van, and Leotello will help Neveah get there.

Coaching Inn

Lia nods thoughtfully. "That sounds truly difficult. I wish you the best of luck in getting it sorted out at HALO." She's curious about how the curse originated, but she doesn't want to come off as too nosy. They'll have more time to talk on the road.

And speaking of which, looks like it's time to go. Lia has nothing to take with her, so she'll just trail behind the others as the get ready, trying to look as helpful as she can.

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

Emily just continues walking, making no move for her weapon, and not even really looking at the dwarves, "We're just passing by."

The anger in her tone is evident, and there's an unspoken demand in her tone - get out of the way and we'll have no issues. Get in the way and there will be problems.

[Damundra Canyon]

As soon as it becomes the two were't aggressive the dwarves start putting away their weapons.
But they seem perplexed by the route the two are taking, following them with their gazes for a moment.

One of them even decides to object. "Tha main road goes that way." He gestures in the other direction. "That route only goes down ta tha canyon an' then straight down into alfheim." He uses this in the same way someone would use the word 'hell'.
"Tha kobolts have turned into monsters. Ye dinna want ta go that way. Tha kobolts have turned into monsters. There's nothing but death down there now."

[Morty]

[Ruined Observatory]

Hiep leans against a broken piece of masonry, breathing heavily. This shouldn't have taken so much out of her. She's fought worse... or has she? This entire place has her on edge. Hopefully the worst is behind them...

[Halae]

[Ruined Observatory]

As the ritual ends with one final beat of Skye's spear against the ground, she croaks out, "It's done!" to Hiep and Khannie, looking like she's about to fall over. Given she's been chanting and dancing for hours straight, she very well might be, with the way she's leaning on her spear and breathing heavily.

[Morty]

[Damundra Canyon]

How many more times are they going to have to hear this? It's not like they're going to turn back now.

"Appreciate the warning, but we have something we need to find there. Wish us luck."

[Halae]

[Damundra Canyon]

Once they're away from the guards, Emily comments, "I'm willing to bet there's another side to this story. There's no way this kind of racial tension comes from just one side."

She's deeply unhappy, but at least the worst of the fury seems to have pittered out.

[Shadowcaller]

[Damundra Canyon]

"Nae being figurative lass, never seen anything like it. But suit yourself. Your funeral." The dwarf shrugs, grunts and then marches on.

But as they reach the chair there's a small problem.

Or perhaps a problem that's small, since that's what these stairs look like to be.
It appears as if they were made with the intention that dwarves should only be able to march up and down them in a single file and not next to one another. This makes them so narrow that Thariza would have to either squeeze herself down or crabwalk but it would be completely impossible for Emily given the metal railings.

There's also an elevator that seems to be intended to bring down the various vehicles they use but the control panel to it seems to be locked.