Outside: Grass touch place

[quillpleasant]

Englebrook

Ten minutes isn't a lot of time. But it's certainly better than nothing. Octavia has been absorbing the light around her like a solar panel while she waits, and upon Khannie's return she gingerly gets to her feet. With a shimmer of light, the nebulous orb of her halo reforms into a video camera once again, and she zooms in experimentally.

Seemingly satisfied, she salutes. -all ready to go! by the time we get to the mine i should be back up to 80% efficiency. now that we know what we're up against, we'll be better prepared-

But do they actually know? Between the potentially varied final forms of the gnolls and Blank's strange connection to the riftstone, there's a lot of variables here- not to mention that they're still in search of an origin for the whole situation.

Well at Ieast that guy got cured! That has to count for something.

---

Coaching Inn

Lia is not put off by the elves' attitude- in fact, she finds it rather charming. "Not offensive at all- I am a mushroom! But you can call me Lia, everyone does." She smiles. "Agaric it is. You know, I've never seen real music? My people don't have that art form. I knew a man who sang once, though. It was nice."

Well, things are finally looking up, and she can't help but feel happier at that notion. "When are you leaving? I'm not in a particular rush, I figure I'll just hang out with you guys until you're ready to go." When's the last time she actually had fun? Oh yeah, that ghost party with the cute cat lady, and that was a while ago.

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"Oh, man, you're gonna be in for a treat. Bit of nice root-and-gall, man. It'll be awesome. We got a spare ticket, but... something a bit harder than agaric, right?" If Lia knows what is meant by 'harder', at least. More hallucinogenic, for these high elves are... a little focused.
"We'll finish up here soon, once Mycroft over there either gives up or sells that Slab to the Goron. And once Neveah finishes on the loo. Hey, moron. Go check on Neveah, yeah? Make sure she's not fallen into the mirror again." The first elf gets up at this point, and heads over to a door marked toilets. At the same time, Probably-Mycroft gets up with a grin and minus a bag of powder and heads back over.

[Murkus]

[Chaos]

"It is..." Lidoro hesitates. "It is a writ of office, after a fashion. It is a symbol of power itself, but useful only to a select few - those of royal lineage. My lady requires it. And that's all I can say." Lidoro looks past TASBot to the desperate situation beyond. "And now you must choose - you must leave! Please!"

Savath, the Queensclaw, leaps aside from a blow that would almost certainly have flattened him, magical armor or not. He's thrown by the ruptured ground and the spray of semi-molten earth and stone. In a twist of irony, he skids nearly to the edge of the rock ridge where he first cornered Sineran. Bruised, battered and dazed, but alive.

His armor partly aflame, gnashing and scraping the very stone, Savath whips his sword violently in Mensei's direction. "Go! Go now!"

Several things happen. Mensei snaps another of the spikes adorning her mask - and suddenly she and Sineran are projected high into the air by a sudden, violent burst of wind! But... they don't appear to be doing anything as spectacular as flying. In fact, once they reach a certain height, they start to fall... Surely there's a plan here, right? Sineran shrieks!

The first creature Mensei called reappears. The Water Nightmare whips an icy ramp into being - which lets the pair slide to the ground further along the hill and away from the battle, though not gently. From the sound of it, Mensei is still physically capable of overpowering Sineran... but she flees into Solahart's forest. Perhaps this will be the repositioning that the fungal being requires to further act?

The molten earth of the hillside erupts. Riacan bursts from the ruin, barbed iron tendrils splayed about him, his flesh hanging in bloody strips. Underneath, every muscle, every band of sinew seems to be intertwined with metal. These he hurls at the bear, reaching out from him like a dozen living manacles. He tries to trap the things legs, holding it fast. This isn't his foe - where's that other one gone?

To make matters worse, the Puppet tries its ground-liquefying trick again - though seemingly smart enough not to press its luck, it only does this to one of the bear's back legs this time. It leaps from the ground and has to take a moment to press its palm to the poor raging creature. Together they hope to restrain the beast so Savath can finish it. The team seems to work in concert as naturally as a band of veteran minstrels.

[Morty]

[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.

[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.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

Lia frankly has no idea what most of the things they're talking about mean, but her curiosity is definitely piqued. None of her books had anything like this in them.

"Yeah, I can manage that..." She's struck by a sudden thought. Should she? Well, why not? "Have you guys ever melded? Probably not since you aren't mycoids, right? My people enter this state called the meld, it's kind of like a shared dream where your minds overlap. I can bring other people into the meld if they're willing. You might like it." They seem like they would, and it's been a long time since she's done it.

She waves at the one who seems to be called Mycroft. "Hello! I'm negotiating a ride. And a concert ticket." Lia's day has steadily gotten better since getting out of that cave.

[Ironsmith]

[Englebrook]

"...About that, actually." Blank begins, wringing his hands together (which isn't a very pleasant sound while he's wearing gauntlets). "Do we actually have a way to get rid of these things? Like, more than temporarily? I mean the stones that were in me aren't gone, they just got shaped into a card, apparently. And the one we got from that other gnoll is still... um. A problem, kind of. My point is, even if we find the source of all these things, aren't we just kinda going to be gathering it all in one place?"

Gathering a large cluster of corruption magic does not sound like a good idea.

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"Nah, man, we ain't melded. That, uh, safe, though? Won't give us puffballs growing in our brains? I do like mushrooms, but not that much." The high elf looks curious at the idea as Mycroft sits down.
"Hey, dude. Uh, I'm Mycroft, that's Rovert, and Leotello went to fetch Neveah. That Goron weren't interested, so I got a baggy of Slab going spare if you want it. Probably won't do anything, it's mostly ammonium chloride, some radium in there." None of which is organic, though it might serve as fertiliser. Ammonia is used for that, though perhaps not when it's a salt with chlorine. Earl doesn't know much about nitrogen fertilisers.

Leotello is still in the bathroom.

[Zefir]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

The woman's brain is entirely her own; there's nothing in there that shouldn't be. "I go to bed, fall asleep, and I wake up in the hall by my front door. I don't remember any dreams, or anything. I locked myself into my bedroom tonight, so I guess I unlocked that door at least? Uh... no, I don't have a headache. I'm a bit cold, though." She's only wearing her nightdress, and it's night time. It's chilly and she's not dressed for anything but being under a duvet in bed. "Uh... no, not really any new injuries... Oh, I've got a bruise on my leg, here. Pretty fresh, and... I've got a shoe stand by the door, I think I walked into it." She points the bruise out, halfway up her shin between ankle and knee.

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

While she talks the other people communicate through their cyberlinks. It might appear strange, but in a situation like that they rather go save. Also they are not that nice of guys anyways. They don't offer her anything to wear, they don't even have more then their own clothes anyway and likly a fire if it really gets that cold.

"You don't seem to get it." the woman says and points at the dead body. "This guy has carried you to this place. He seemed to think you are sick, but as we asked him what you got he attacked us. It might be that your sleepwalking allways was him carring you around and just dropping you in the entrance to make you think you sleepwalk."

She then turns slightly to the others. They start a discussion to give her something arguing that she might be willing to tell more if they do so. At the end she got them to at last treat the bruise and so the shooter gathers a first aid kit and hands it to the female one who then asks the wooman: "Can I treat that bruise?"

[Earl of Purple]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

"No, it's definitely sleepwalking, not him moving me around. I've got a security camera set up, I review the footage daily. I'd have noticed someone breaking in. And he doesn't look the sort to know how to hack a computer, does he?" She gestures at the corpse, before turning away from it again. Given his archaic armour and antique sword, that would seem a likely conclusion.

"Uh... sure, if you can. What can you do about a bruise, except wait for it?" There's not much she's aware of for treating bruises except waiting.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

"No, it's completely safe," says Lia reassuringly, "It would be... well, it would be like a kind of blaspheme to use the meld to hurt anyone." It's just unthinkable to besmirch it in that way.

For all Lia's knowledge, science is a topic that she knows relatively little about, and the names of the chemicals mean nothing to her. She smiles politely at Mycroft. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lia. I appreciate the offer, but I'll pass on the slab. I don't think it would do anything for my physiology." She doesn't know that for sure, but it's a pretty safe bet, at least.

[Zefir]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

"No, it's definitely sleepwalking, not him moving me around. I've got a security camera set up, I review the footage daily. I'd have noticed someone breaking in. And he doesn't look the sort to know how to hack a computer, does he?" She gestures at the corpse, before turning away from it again. Given his archaic armour and antique sword, that would seem a likely conclusion.

"Uh... sure, if you can. What can you do about a bruise, except wait for it?" There's not much she's aware of for treating bruises except waiting.

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

Translation problem I thought a bruise was something like a small cut, like you scrathed yourself at a corner of a table or a bush in the forest. Anyway. she will put on a cream that should speed up the healing and also reduces the pain. It's not wonder medicine, but it will make it easier.

"He doesn't look like it, but that's just guessing." the man says who spoke with him earlier. "We can't tell if he was able or if he had friends. Did you leave your security cam sight in the nights you sleepwalk? He might not need to manipulate the system if you walked right into his arms. Remeber he was carrying you around and i can also show you a video if you don't trust us."

Those guys haven't lied after all. They might be just a little to ruthless. Still this job seems to be more complicated then they thought and for now less profitable for their case to gather information if the searched priestress is around.

[General Shrimp]

Overly Adventurous

"I wasn't in over my head, you just... came at a bad time, okay? I would've still won! Probably." Kestrel insists, pouting as Atreyu immediately set about teasing her again. There's a pause, and the birdgirl does have to admit to herself that she's being a little bit silly. Things were looking a bit bad for a moment, there. So she adds, somewhat meekly. "... Thanks though, I really do mean it."

She watches the wood and bark fade away from her skin with some curiosity, before Atreyu remarks on her state of dress. Her eyebrows furrow for a moment, before she looks down, and immediately begins to blush furiously. "Wha- no, hang on, wait, no not again, please don't look!- ow!" The hiss of pain came as she pulls her legs up to her chest in her haste to cover herself, the cut on her leg stinging as she did.

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."

[Meowmai]

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

"Well the Bumpasses tried collapsing part of the cliff onto it, but all the rock just fell into the hole and made it bigger," the woman in the window says. "Ain't nothing even came out before so no one thought twice about it. Now hang on, we need to move some furniture."

A bit of wood scraping against wood later and the woman emerges carrying a WHOLE meat pie with her, which she holds out to Ginger.

"Now don't you go refusing. Eat your pie and go show those varmints what's what."

Ginger will find that the simple, wholesome common food will do a real number on the fever that was already weakened by divine healing magic.

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Ah. So some folks tried. Sorta. She's not going to comment on the silly name. Still, not the sort of situation you want going unchecked, as was proving self-evident at the moment.

The gnoll blinks at the amount of food offered, but she does not balk. "Thank you, miss. I'll be sure to do just that." And just that she does! To her surprise, she heroically manages to finish the whole thing, and she really starts to feel better for it. She takes enough time to address her other wounds too, before it's time to head off.

After finishing her food, and bidding the farmers stay safe, she gets moving again, now heading Eastwards as directed to hopefully find this pit.

[Rebonack]

[Englebrook]

"This is gunna be one of those one step at a time things, I think," Khannie replies, floating out the stone in a jar they had collected earlier. It looks just as unpleasant and full of abyssal corruption as it did before. "I'm pretty sure I can break these things. Like, death of corruption is my whole thing. It just felt like if I did that while was still in that other guy it might kill him, too."

She turns her eyes toward the pit they apparently need to check out and she can almost feel it, like a foul odor carried from afar off on the wind. A slimy, crawling sort of feeling.

"Once we're clear of town I'm gunna try zapping the riftstone here. The folks here are gunna burn all the dead gnolls. I've warned 'em about the riftstones so we can dispose of those on the way back. And... I guess we can head to the pit and try to figure out how to close it once we're there? Adventures are kinda by the seat of your pants sometimes," Khannie says.

Boy.

That sure is an understatement, isn't it?

Anxieties aside, it's time to get moving!


[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Eating a pie is absolutely a heroic acts.

Ginger should never let herself believe otherwise.

It's a bit of a walk to the old mine, though the well worn road and weathered signs pointing the way won't be hard to find. Like the farmsteader said, it used to be a pretty important location for these here parts! But once all the crazy started leaking out folks shunned it. Probably for the best. Unfortunately Ginger won't reach the mine before she discovers more trouble. Cresting a hill well covered in trees Ginger will spy a small group of the corrupt gnolls and biters are doing their best to herd a large flock of sheep together. A larger gnoll with wickedly curved claws and a sinewy form is barking orders at them in Abyssal. A bit further away, a shepherd is running at full speed with a pair of gnolls loping after him on all fours.

This would be a nasty battle if Ginger tried to engage these monsters. She's outnumbered and by quite a bit more than a little. But if she does nothing that shepherd will be devoured along with his flock.

[Rebonack]

[Chaos]

The fugitive and her captor speeding deeper into the forest does indeed give Solahart more space to act. Weaving between the trees and around the underbrush, Mensei will find that the very forest itself seems to be impeding her progress while doing little to hamper Sineran. Branches catch at the hair, brambles stick in the clothing, roots threaten to tangle the feet. At first the tangle-foot could be dismissed as mere happenstance, but the further they get from the battle raging behind them the more over the attempts become.

It culminates in a seemingly innocuous looking tree fern with wide fronds suddenly moving of its own accord and trying to seize Mensi in an iron-hard grip. The escape from the plant's embrace is possible, certainly, but its thorny fronds would make any rigorous resistance to its unwelcome hug quite painful.

Above, in the tree branches hanging overhead, the encrusting fungus of burnt char and glowing embers begins to glow all the brighter. Luminous spores, like ghostly wisps, light a path for Sineran to follow.

Do not fear. I will lead you to safety.

They aren't words, not really. More impressions caressing the edge of Sineran's mind.

Meanwhile!

The bear is not having a great time.

Lashed in iron and its legs bound, the beast bellows in burning rage. It's strong, unnaturally so, but not strong enough to break the metal cables holding it fast. All the creature can do is burn all the brighter, turning the metal a bright cherry red with steadily growing heat. Given enough time it could probably melt its way free, but it seems unlikely that the hands of the Queen are going to give it that time.

[Meowmai]

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Long walks are nice and all, but Ginger sometimes wishes she could skip them. Trudging down a road alone isn't much fun.

Fortunately, she'll encounter a distraction! Unfortunately, nothing about it is fun! Ginger eyes the sight below her, sighing reluctantly. She's a gnoll. She could try social deception with the other gnolls. But that would require her to know Abyssal, and also crucially be able to lie. Swearing an Oath to a Goddess of Truth could really be rough sometimes. So she really only had one choice here. The stupid idea.

Oh well, stupid idea it is. Try to talk first. Should that fail, just go and fight them. Easier said than done. She drew her blade, returned to the form of its greatsword, and whispered a prayer to the blade spirit. The metal gained a faint, fiery glow in reply. Sarenrae was kind, but her wrath burned hot.

Quickly moving closer, she bellows out the the larger gnoll (though in the common tongue), "Hey! Leave this farmer and their flock alone, and I will leave you alone in turn. Do not force my hand!" Should neither of the gnolls currently chasing the poor shephard falter though, she'll immediately spring into action, rushing forwards with blade in hand to force them asides.

[Ironsmith]

[Englebrook]

"...Oh. Right. Unicorn." Blank's face flushes a little behind his helmet. Somehow that didn't occur to him. For some reason, thinking of Khannie that way just... wasn't computing. She's worn a lot of hats just in the brief time he remembers, and she's probably worn more that he doesn't entirely remember.

He lets out a nervous little giggle and follows after her, cupping his hand over his mouth to mute the sound.

[quillpleasant]

Englebrook

Octavia gives the air a couple experimental punches, then her halo transforms into a pair of binoculars. She scans the distance horizon for a moment.

-so we head into the bit, exterminate everything we see, and then you use unicorn powers to stop them from coming back. great! let's do it- Easy, great plan, done. A more detailed strategy can be devised if and when they need one.

Without further ado, she begins to head off, making a faint whirring sound as she walks.

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"Yeah, don't do anything to us, either. Bought it before we knew what it was, and we're not sufficiently mineral for it." The radium does, but they've not taken enough to get radiation sickness.
"'We'll try melding though, for sure." Rovert nods as he speaks, glancing at Mycroft.

Meanwhile, Leotello has appeared from the bathroom, cradling a small woman. Leotello has a cut on the side of his face which is bleeding slightly, and there's something oily and iridescent staining his left hand. The woman is wearing a navy blue sarong and a white t-shirt; she's also an elf, and is currently unconscious. "We, uh, should stop letting Neveah go anywhere there's mirrors alone. She didn't fall, something grabbed her. I fought it off, but... it were close."

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

Nah, a bruise is a bleed under the skin that goes purple, blue, and ultimately yellow, where it's tender and sore for several days. "Yes, it covers the approaches to my house and inside the front and back doors. Most of the house isn't covered, but anyone trying to get in would be. Most of my ground-floor windows aren't big enough to climb through, especially in armour like that." Full plate is quite bulky. "I'd need to go home to prove it though."

[Rebonack]

[Englebrook]

Thus our heroes set off! They have a pretty big problem to solve, but as stalwart heroes they're sure to succeed! With the celestial strength of Octavia and the corruption devouring presence of a petty god and Blank's...

...uuh...

Shield bonking powers?

They're sure to succeed!

Their walk will take them through some rolling hills, soon emerging from a wooded hillside to overlook a valley where gnolls are surrounding a flock of sheep to devour them! And several gnolls are chasing after the shepherd! And there's another gnoll in honest to gods shining armor pointing a holy sword at them and yelling that they should cut it out with the evil stuff!

Which means this is truly-

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls]

Ginger may notice MORE adventurers emerging from the woods nearby. So an angel, a knight, and a unicorn walk into a burgeoning fight. There is no joke and something is probably going to get stabbed.

The ravenous, clawed abyssal gnoll looks up at the heroes emerging from the woods and gives a cackling laugh. "You bark orders?" the big gnoll replies, its tone sneering. "There is no Yeen in you. You are empty meat."

Then the monster points up at the hill and laughs, "Kill! Kill and eat! Catch fluffy things later."

Wuh oh.

The monsters are heading toward our heroes now.

[quillpleasant]

Englebrook

Octavia isn't sure why, but it seems right somehow for an angel to defend sheep. Her lens zooms in on the valley below, taking in the situation as she plans her strategy. It's actually a good thing that the gnolls are heading for them, since if they focused on eating the sheep they could potentially trigger another gnollk situation, and that does not sound fun at all.

And that holy gnoll is interesting. Gnolly? Octavia wonders if she's another strange transformation like the Blank situation, or just a normal gnoll who happens to be in the area. Khannie said that there's gnolls who... aren't like these ones, right?

Well, act first, ask questions later. Octavia's halo shimmers and liquefies, reforming in her hands as an advanced looking white compound bow that glows with golden light. Drawing back the string and aiming up, she speaks another incantation.

-twice tenfold volley spares the innocent!- She releases the string, and an arrow made of light fires up into the air.

Then that single arrow multiplies by ten. And then it does it again. Suddenly there are a hundred holy arrows raining down from the sky on the oncoming gnolls.

They're far from accurate, relying more on volume to find their mark. Should any of the sheep or the nice looking gnoll be caught in the area, they'll be safe- like most of Octavia's attacks, this one will simply phase through the innocent or good of heart.

---

Coaching Inn

As the wounded elf is carried over, Lia's eyes widen in alarm. What's all this about mirrors? For once she swallows her questions for the time being- it's more important to help right now.

"Oh no, are you okay? What kind of injuries did she sustain?" Lia knows a bit about humanoid anatomy from reading some old medical textbooks- enough to know that going unconscious can be more hazardous than most people think.

She cups her hands together and breathes into them, then holds one out with a small pile of glittering purple spores on it. "This will provide energy and numb pain- helpful for both of you, by my guess. Just breathe it in."

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"She's fine, in a trance but not hurt. It's a family curse, I don't know the details. She doesn't, either. Not really. Something that looked like her reflection reached out of the mirror and grabbed her as I watched, I was able to grab hold and follow and stabbed it. It bled colours, and scratched me. Wasn't her reflection, I'm pretty sure, something else. Its eyes were mirrors." He's also a bit still panicked and worried, so can't really give details on the curse or its origin. Possibly because he doesn't know them. He's grateful for the spores, and huffs them eagerly, with more sprinkled around Neveah's nose and mouth. She doesn't immediately react to them, but none of the elves know how fast they're supposed to act.

[Meowmai]

[For Whom the Bell Gnolls... and Englebrook?]

Oh, thank the Prismatic Ray. More heroic adventurers! Well, she assumed they were. There was what looked like an honest-to-gods angel, so, probably heroic. And with the weird collection of silhouettes, they must be adventurers, surely. She once helped a bizarre collection of a ysoki with a talking bear, a kitsune, and an actual walking marble statue, all to retrieve the soul of a drow once, and this reminded her of that. Adventuring parties are never just normal. Not that she's one to talk. But it's good to see them! Just when she was regretting turning her life around and becoming a hero, she gets reinforcements.

And her offer/warning is rejected on no uncertain terms. No surprises there, but she has to try. She swore a whole oath about it and everything. It's sorta her thing. Oh well.

"You! Shepherd! To me! I will keep you safe!" She bellows, charging forwards in a loping sprint towards the gnolls that chased the poor fellow. No time to watch what the others are doing, she's just going to have to hope they're going to fight alongside here. As she reaches her foes, she's just in time to see the rain of holy arrows begin to fall from the sky. Holy shit. She was aware that there was what looked like to be an actual real angel with those on the hill, but witnessing the power of one first hand is something that the holy warrior was not quite prepared for.

Still she had a job to do. She surged forwards once more, blade coming down in an arc that trailed embers towards the nearest gnoll, Ginger trying her hardest to severe the hellish creature in half.

[Zefir]

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

Nah, a bruise is a bleed under the skin that goes purple, blue, and ultimately yellow, where it's tender and sore for several days. "Yes, it covers the approaches to my house and inside the front and back doors. Most of the house isn't covered, but anyone trying to get in would be. Most of my ground-floor windows aren't big enough to climb through, especially in armour like that." Full plate is quite bulky. "I'd need to go home to prove it though."

Outside the Delve of Dripping Dread

"Might we acompany you?" the man asks. "You don't seem to be armed and there might be more than just this person, especially if hes not the one hacking your security."

[Earl of Purple]

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.

[quillpleasant]

Coaching Inn

The spores should act rather quickly, but they help in a purely physical way, so a mental trance or any kind of magic would likely be unaffected by them. Lia listens to the story of the mirror creature and shudders.

"Mirrors are dangerous things, but such a manifestation is hardly normal. I've never heard of a reflection turning on someone like that." She gives Leotello a sympathetic look. Hopefully the spores help to calm him down a little, since the experience has clearly shaken him up greatly.

"I'm no warrior, and often find it hard enough to protect myself, let alone others. But I have a... another version of me who's becoming a knight. Perhaps she can help your friend break this curse by doing battle with the entity from the mirror."

[Ironsmith]

[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!"

[Thursday Violist]

Ouside

[Riftline]

Zefir listens to her and just nods. he doesn't need payment at all since he is quiet wealthy on his own. It might be even more wealth then those aristocats got,

"Don't pull gods in there." he says in a neutral voice. "I'm not really a fan of those power hungry beeings, at last that was my experience with them."

He listens to the message and then goes for his own phone and sends a message. The aristocats get a glare from him, but he won't go stop them instead he will wait for his own vehicle to arrive. it sure should get here befor the next evacuation wave comes, after all the drill tank has no problem with the weather.

"So what first?"

[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.

[Earl of Purple]

Coaching Inn

"Thank you, but we'll go to this gig and then take her to HALO. They should be able to help her, and if not they'll maybe know who will." Leotello nods.
"Neveah's been looking forward for this for months, and she's the one who got the tickets. She's also been living with the curse since puberty, it can wait a day or so- unless she thinks otherwise, but I doubt she'd disagree with the plan. It's all in the same direction anyway, HALO and Inside." Rovert gets up, ready to pay for their meals so they can leave.

[Rebonack]

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.