Inside

[Hraithre]

[Outside Detective Michalson's Office]

"Let's hope so." The gargoyle follows on the detective's heels. After time spent in prison and then inside an empty flask of rum, getting to walk in the city unrestrained is a nice change of pace. As Michalson leads the way, the gargoyle admires the scenery, dreaming of things it will do once it has a proper, human body. A body truly its own and no-one else's. "Soon..."

---

[Elsewhere]

As the man in top hat reaches the roof, he can see the horse has stopped in the distance and is looking at him, almost as if it was waiting. When he pulls out his riffle-slash-pogostick, the horses rears up, neighs, and turns around. Once more, the horse's stop gives the man a chance to build up speed and catch up. In a few minutes, he bounces so fast and so high that he finds himself flying right on top of the horse, even as it races through the streets below. If he just lets go of his rifle, he might be able to land right in the saddle!

---

[Steele Street]

Hanging on to the beast cannot be said to be easy. Several times, one of the man's hands slips and he's left to hold on with just one arm, but he manages to pull his body back against the snake's every time. His armored fingers dig between the sharp scales and into the leering faces, locking him in place. A few times, he's unable to climb around the snake in time and gets slammed against walls of the buildings, in a way that would've certainly been lethal to an unarmored human - even with his armor, his persistence beggars belief.

Yet, his persistence is rewarded! Finally the snake does what he hoped for and tears open a source of pressurized water. Electricity courses through his armor and lightning arcs from his body to the ground and to the skies, but that is not what makes him fall. It is simply that, as the water erodes the faces and scales, even his grip cannot hold on to a smooth, wet metal surface.

So he slips and falls, hitting the ground side first. The snake's thrashing dislodges the warhammer in its mouth and the weapon clatters on to the ground. Drops of water turns into steam as they rain on the armored Reaper. Panting, he pushes off the ground with his right arm, working himself to a kneeling position. He has to give a mortal blow to the snake, now that it has weakened. He reaches out with his left hand, calling to his weapon. The hammer trembles, responding to the wordless call, and begins sliding across the ground towards the man. His flaming eyes turn to regard the serpent. How much fight does it still have in it?

[Thursday Violist]

[Hodgepodge Street]

"I didn't think there were, but apparently there are several bread heresies, and maybe a bread pope and a bread heresiarch, too," Seraphina comments. She gives a beat, and then points back into the bakery with a tilt of her head. "Or maybe that breadsmith is just eccentric."
Seraphina mentally tunes out Magdalene's flowery language, mentally replacing it with something slightly less flowery, like a Forsythia.

Anyway, back to the more important stuff. Like coconut bread.
She bites her lip, as she contemplates.
Well, it would be rude to turn down an offer of food.
There, contemplation over.
"I'll just take one," she kindly informs Magdalene, before taking one off the top. "Thanks."

Leaving the churro and other breads for later, she...well, first Seraphina brushes stray hair out of the way so that it's under her hood and behind her ear.

Just before taking a bite and melting into a puddle of bliss and nostalgia, she says, "So....hi. I'm Seraphina. Nice to meet you. If you're from Riverside, what are you doing here?" she asks.
Bite.

[Morty]

[Normal Escort Missions]

Onyeka's spirit can indeed see more than she herself can. The two elves are looking into a chest of dark wood, reinforced by metal bars.

"Is this..."

"A shard of metal from the temple of a human god whose name has been lost. Erased, perhaps. I do not know what it metal is. My best guess is that it's some kind of alloy whose secret has been lost."

"A fitting anchor, indeed."

"Quite. It will allow you to send this mysterious person through time. From where they, perhaps, might bring back more than they expect."

[Recaiden]

[Rooftops]

The fire strikes Eidolon, and it seems to burn it for a few seconds. But as it does, its form again grows more fiery, and it seems to glare mockingly at Kiun. It turns in place and jets of purple flame spray out from it, lighting the rooftop ablaze. Jason turns and leaps off the roof, a slide of light appearing to carry him over to the next rooftop.

Is the purple fire perhaps more destructive than the ordinary kind, like the energy blast that Eidolon used earlier?
Though a small part of her is curious, Kiun does not stay to find out, leaping up from the rooftop and taking flight.
"That's so pretty." she observes.
Then, as before, she casts a wave of draining cold towards it.

Just below the corner dividing roof from wall, her backup shrinks a step down, away from the flames. Invisible, silent - normal senses would not suggest there is anything here to notice, but perhaps Eidolon isn't limited to normal senses, and can detect the fiendish hive stalker-thing waiting for their moment.

[Gullara]

[Normal Escort Missions]

Something amiss?

Ah, to be expected.

No reaction would imply that nothing relevant to the story is taking place.

But that is far from the truth.

This one, the one they followed, what is his story? His purpose? His beginning and his end? What secrets drives him?

Subtly, the star fallen to earth peels back the cover of the world to snoop.

[Normal Escort Missions]

Onyeka's spirit can indeed see more than she herself can. The two elves are looking into a chest of dark wood, reinforced by metal bars.

"Is this..."

"A shard of metal from the temple of a human god whose name has been lost. Erased, perhaps. I do not know what it metal is. My best guess is that it's some kind of alloy whose secret has been lost."

"A fitting anchor, indeed."

"Quite. It will allow you to send this mysterious person through time. From where they, perhaps, might bring back more than they expect."

[Normal Escort Missions]

Though time? Could such a thing be possible? Unfortunately all they can do is observe, not study this metal. Though what's this about it being an 'anchor'? Curious.

Meanwhile Onyeka looks left and right to see if there's something she can step behind in the event Neshi's power fails them.

[bc56]

Rooftops

Is the purple fire perhaps more destructive than the ordinary kind, like the energy blast that Eidolon used earlier?
Though a small part of her is curious, Kiun does not stay to find out, leaping up from the rooftop and taking flight.
"That's so pretty." she observes.
Then, as before, she casts a wave of draining cold towards it.

Just below the corner dividing roof from wall, her backup shrinks a step down, away from the flames. Invisible, silent - normal senses would not suggest there is anything here to notice, but perhaps Eidolon isn't limited to normal senses, and can detect the fiendish hive stalker-thing waiting for their moment.

The purple fire does indeed carry the same properties as Eidolon's energy blasts. But nobody's testing that right now, thankfully.

The cold swallows up the purple flame and seems to douse Eidolon. Its substance grows darker, more rigid. "Enough. Die." The entity lunges at Kiun, jagged crystalline claws glitching through the air faster than the eye can follow.
"Not today!" A beam of light strikes Eidolon and knocks it away from its prey. Jason lowers his gauntleted hand and begins to run towards it for a follow-up before it can fully recover.

[Shadowcaller]

[Planar Introductions]

The trio has finally arrived in Inside which arguably could be called the capital of the Nexus, or at least that's how Ambrosia has introduced it. It's by far the most diverse and chaotic cities in the Nexus which makes it so representative of it.
They are entering through the fabled "gates of Inside" which are strangely fortress-like if not in appearance then at least usage. "The city constantly shifts and change and not by any ordinary means. In the past it apparently had a much more archaic appearance. One that I would have felt more at home with apparently." Ambrosia shrugs. "Take that as you will, but I certainly didn't feel at home when I came here for the first time so it has certainly changed since then."

The scholar guides them onto a sidewalk. Not that there's much traffic here. In fact, people are casually walking out in the middle of the street. Seemingly having little regard for the vehicles that theoretically could be driving here. Though to be fair, some of the people they can see using these streets to travel probably would find themselves rather cramped if they would be forced to only use the sidewalk.

"Yet there are still pockets of completely different architecture and technology than what you're seeing right now. It also used to be much more militarized with these gates that we're going to used to keep invaders out and keep some semblance of order. Since the city is even to this day beset by various disasters. Either naturally occurring or designed by, usually, hostile forces. Despite this people from multiple planes coexist here in relative peace. Since Inside was actually once ruled by one single man, then an organization, then an council and now actually a kind of anarchy, arguably."

[Morty]

[Planar Introductions]

Thariza is walking beside Ambrosia and Utayo in the swinging gait that seems natural to relaxed Charr. She's eating a large shish-kebab with goat's meat, peppers, onions and mushrooms, which she bought from a food cart. It's very spicy, which doesn't bother her in the least.

"I think the Remnant and the Council were in charge when I showed up. I remember heading into the city with other HALO people to help handle a riot. Someone had released some toxin that made people go crazy... or something like that. At the time, the idea of military commanders being in charge felt perfectly normal. That's how Charr have always done it."

[Recaiden]

[Rooftops]

The purple fire does indeed carry the same properties as Eidolon's energy blasts. But nobody's testing that right now, thankfully.

The cold swallows up the purple flame and seems to douse Eidolon. Its substance grows darker, more rigid. "Enough. Die." The entity lunges at Kiun, jagged crystalline claws glitching through the air faster than the eye can follow.
"Not today!" A beam of light strikes Eidolon and knocks it away from its prey. Jason lowers his gauntleted hand and begins to run towards it for a follow-up before it can fully recover.

"No, sorry."
A bolt of pure force strikes towards Eidolon like an invisible hammer, seeming to come from the corner of the building.
"I - We're just getting started, actually."
Then another hit, this time from above Need to keep it from putting its full attention on Jason.

[bc56]

Rooftops
As usual, Eidolon doesn't seem significantly harmed by the attacks, just reduced a little and altered in substance. It responds to the attacks by firing chunks of purple, not-quite-real ince at the sources of the force bolts, proving with precise aim that it does not rely on the sense of sight.

[Rebonack]

[Steele Street]

The serpent is diminished[/]i.

Physically it is still huge; it isn't any smaller.

But its presence is somehow muted now bereft of lost souls as it is.

This does not, however, make it harmless. Far from it. The monster flops back to the earth, its tongue flicking between its jaws toward the Reaper but once, before it strikes again with jaws agape.

...

The Reaper just so happened to land in front of another fire hydrant.

It would appear as though fortune is on his side in this battle.


[Hodgepodge Street]

"Gunna say he was just making that all up," Magdalene replies, as perceptive as ever.

Sometimes people are just weird about food. Like how people who run all you can eat restaurants kick her out after, like, six plates. It isn't HER fault you called it all you can eat but don't have the resolve to back it up!

So yeah.

Magdalene gives up one piece of bread. It's a small sacrifice but she's found that if she can interact with someone then helping them out is usually a good idea. You never know when they might show up later and return the favor. Anyway hopefully there isn't so much bliss and nostalgia that conversation is impossible.

"Huh? Oh like in Inside? This is where the zombies keep popping up and so this is where I'm at to keep kickin' the (flowers) down. I ran into, like, ONE batch of cultists over in Riverside but I guess Riverside hasn't got as much weird (rose) as Inside does."

Magdalene feels like this is a pretty good explanation.


[Normal Escort Missions]

Hmm.

Little is betrayed.

Unhelpful, but no unsurprising.

What does the forgotten king hope to gain by casting others, mortals she presumes, back in time? Time travel can be a dangerous element to a story, and not just because of the dangers of paradox. But because if employed it can erode the stakes. What weight do mis-steps have if they can simply be unspooled and woven anew?

[Gullara]

[Planar Introductions]

The trio has finally arrived in Inside which arguably could be called the capital of the Nexus, or at least that's how Ambrosia has introduced it. It's by far the most diverse and chaotic cities in the Nexus which makes it so representative of it.
They are entering through the fabled "gates of Inside" which are strangely fortress-like if not in appearance then at least usage. "The city constantly shifts and change and not by any ordinary means. In the past it apparently had a much more archaic appearance. One that I would have felt more at home with apparently." Ambrosia shrugs. "Take that as you will, but I certainly didn't feel at home when I came here for the first time so it has certainly changed since then."

The scholar guides them onto a sidewalk. Not that there's much traffic here. In fact, people are casually walking out in the middle of the street. Seemingly having little regard for the vehicles that theoretically could be driving here. Though to be fair, some of the people they can see using these streets to travel probably would find themselves rather cramped if they would be forced to only use the sidewalk.

"Yet there are still pockets of completely different architecture and technology than what you're seeing right now. It also used to be much more militarized with these gates that we're going to used to keep invaders out and keep some semblance of order. Since the city is even to this day beset by various disasters. Either naturally occurring or designed by, usually, hostile forces. Despite this people from multiple planes coexist here in relative peace. Since Inside was actually once ruled by one single man, then an organization, then an council and now actually a kind of anarchy, arguably."

[Planar Introductions]

Thariza is walking beside Ambrosia and Utayo in the swinging gait that seems natural to relaxed Charr. She's eating a large shish-kebab with goat's meat, peppers, onions and mushrooms, which she bought from a food cart. It's very spicy, which doesn't bother her in the least.

"I think the Remnant and the Council were in charge when I showed up. I remember heading into the city with other HALO people to help handle a riot. Someone had released some toxin that made people go crazy... or something like that. At the time, the idea of military commanders being in charge felt perfectly normal. That's how Charr have always done it."

[Planar Introductions]

Utayo takes the information in stride, not too taken aback by the appearance of the city around her. She's fairly well prepared to handle this sort of thing, given her experience travelling to different planes. "I'm not surprised by such a dichotomy. Different planes can be drastically different from one another. I can only imagine the extent to which mixing those elements together could cause conflict."

[Gold]

[Elsewhere]

The man doesn't let go of his rifle, but does store it safely... somewhere behind his back. A good rifle is much harder to replace than, say, a mallet or a tooth. Anyways, he lands belly-first on the horse's back. He quickly sits up and lets out a triumphant cheer for having completed his goal. "I did it! I'm riding the pony! Wheeeeee!"

A beat.

"So, uh, what now?" Usually whenever anything weird happens to Gaul (that's the man's name, by the way), it's in 11-minute bursts, but this feels much shorter by comparison. "Wait, I know! You have an owner? Maybe one with a lot of money? Obviously not so I can harangue him for a reward for finding you, or anything like that. Hehe!" Yeah, Gaul's also kind of a greedy fuck.

[Shadowcaller]

[Planar Introductions]

"Yes, I'm honestly surprised it's not more violent all things considered." Ambrosia remarks with a look at Utoya. "Since while I don't have any experience with other planes than this one I know that simply two cultures of my own can get into a feud over much less than a different number of arms. So it's really quite remarkable. That said, there is some order keeping in Inside in the form of Intersection. They're police essentially though I couldn't actually tell you all that much about them other than their presence in the city isn't oppressive."

[Hraithre]

[Steele Street]

Fate is always on the Reapers' side. After all... it's the fate of all things to die.

"Oh yes. Go ahead! Eat me!", the man croaks, having caught his breath again now that the spiritual pressure of the snake is diminishing. Clumsily, he hefts his hammer and strikes the top off the second fire hydrant, creating a small gush of water towards the snake's open jaws. He then clumsily jumps and rolls out of the way as the beast's mouth strikes where he stood. It's not a great showing, he stumbles and falls on his face. Hastily, he rolls on his back and holds his hammer before him, ready to brace it against the ground to at least have some hope at keeping the snake at a distance if it turns and strikes again.

---

[Elsewhere]

When Gaul lands on the horse's back, it jumps around at tosses its head in a token attempt to shake the man off, but its heart is clearly not in it. Not that it has a heart to begin with. When he begins asking questions about its owner, the horse slows to a trot. It seems to think, being somewhat more docile and more mindful of the surrounding traffic as it carries Gaul through the streets.

Then, it begins speeding up again, a wordless understanding having been reached. Fast as the wind, it takes its rider towards Steele Street. Soon, he finds himself amidst a scene of disaster. Lamps have been broken. Trashcans have been set on fire. Earth has been torn asunder and water is gushing from torn pipes. Stones have struck holes in the pavement and seem to suck life and warmth from around them. Several of the fancy Victorian style buildings look like a bus has crashed against them, some walls teetering on the brink of collapse.

If Gaul does not get cold feet, the trail of destruction will lead him to where the snake and the Reaper are battling.

[Morty]

[Normal Escort Missions]

"You should watch it with your speculation and cryptic predictions."

This voice is irritated. The old man struck a nerve. He didn't want him to guess the true purpose of this mission.

"Hmm. As you say. I have all you need, so let us be off."

The men leave and the door closes behind them. The two spies are left alone again.

[Planar Introductions]

"I haven't spent much time in Inside since I came back." Thariza looks around, gnawing on the shish-kebab. "So I haven't had a lot to do with the Intersection. They seem to be doing a good enough job. Or maybe Inside reverts back to an equilibrium on its own no matter what happens."

[Thursday Violist]

[Hodgepodge Street]

Fortunately, Seraphina is actually made out of bone and flesh, and not slime so she doesn't really melt that much.
It would be unfortunate if she did, though.

"This is so good," she says to herself, having lost all sense of whether it's actually good or not, because it's just what she was craving.

Seraphina eats more.
"So you're a zombie hunter, then," she concludes, although she wonders just why this bread-girl doesn't just move to Inside, to be closer to the zombies.
Even so, she says, "I get that, though. When I was in Riverside, biggest thing that happened was some alternate-universe dude wrote a fiction book about alternate-universe me, I guess, and then the machine that lets you go inside book stories started malfunctioning and then everyone started mistakening me with the main character." Mistakening. "But here, there was an explosion that turned a whole bunch of people into ghosts..."
Seraphina closes her eyes, takes a breath, and sighs.
"Well, what I mean to say is, I can see there being a bunch of zombies around here too," she says.

Seraphina glances around,
just in case
there's actually a bunch of zombies literally right here and she accidentally wandered in to a zombie horrorscape while following the scent of bread. "Hahaha, hopefully not literally right around here, though."

[Rebonack]

[Steele Street]

The storm serpent tries.

Oh boy does it ever.

But there's a problem, see.

The water has diminished it. Loosened its grip on those lost souls.

And getting blasted straight in the mouth with flowing water when it strikes really doesn't help.

Not even a little bit.

The massive monster begins writhing and lashing, a great mess of flailing steel coils. The Reaper might be able to deliver the beast a deathblow, but the problem would be getting close enough to actually carry such a thing out.


[Normal Escort Missions]

Silence, for a time.

And consideration.

"I believe we have enough information to report to your master and the one who called me forth. The destruction of the king has not yet come, but I believe his intention to fray the warp and weft of time will plant the inevitable seed of his own unraveling."

Time to go?


[Hodgepodge Street]

Definitely good.

Melting is bad for probably at least ninety five percent of people. Maybe more!

"Book machines sound weird, yeah, but not really my thing. I don't know what to do about book machines," Magdalene admits. That sounds more like a job for... someone... else? Who isn't her.

Yeah.

"Dunno much about ghosts, though," Magdalene admits again. "Or, I mean, I guess some of the zombie things still leave sort of a ghost behind I guess? But some of them aren't really ghosts or... whatever. Like... they're other things."

There's probably a special word for it but Magdalene doesn't know special words.

"Nah, not literally right around here," Magdalene confirms. "They're over there."

She points across the street at some sort of super high tech solar power farm that takes up a whole block. There are several people staggering around in the fenced in area that look kind of burned and shriveled. Almost mummified?

"I'm gunna finish my bread and then go chomp 'em all," Magdalene informs Seraphina.

[Gullara]

[Normal Escort Missions]

"You should watch it with your speculation and cryptic predictions."

This voice is irritated. The old man struck a nerve. He didn't want him to guess the true purpose of this mission.

"Hmm. As you say. I have all you need, so let us be off."

The men leave and the door closes behind them. The two spies are left alone again.

[Normal Escort Missions]

Silence, for a time.

And consideration.

"I believe we have enough information to report to your master and the one who called me forth. The destruction of the king has not yet come, but I believe his intention to fray the warp and weft of time will plant the inevitable seed of his own unraveling."

Time to go?

[Normal Escort Missions]

Onyeka lets out a breath she'd been holding. After a small moment to steady herself, she nods to Neshi. She pulls out the wand she'd used earlier and dismisses the spirit while also going to physically retrieve her lockpicks. "Let's not waste any time, then."

[Gold]

[Steele Street]

Gaul shivers as he looks at what lays before him. "Rough neighbourhood, huh?"

He dismounts the war horse. "You wait here... I'll find your owner."

And so Gaul walks down the street, readying his rifle and clutching it tightly for support. Soon enough, he finds the Reaper and the giant snake.

"Hey, buddy? I've got your pony." he calls to Reaper. "Sweet worm statue, by the way. It really illustrates the artist's opinion that, uh, worms are real." he says, pointing to the storm serpent.

[Recaiden]

[Rooftops]

As usual, Eidolon doesn't seem significantly harmed by the attacks, just reduced a little and altered in substance. It responds to the attacks by firing chunks of purple, not-quite-real ince at the sources of the force bolts, proving with precise aim that it does not rely on the sense of sight.

Kiun swerves through the air and the ice passes her by. Hope it doesn't hit anything important on the way down. All of Eidolon's attacks seem to be that not-quite-real purple energy, just with the ... texture of whatever they recently used against it.
There was no one quite in the direction of the other attack. No need to see what you're aiming at with your own eyes when there's someone else around to do it for you.

A little worried about Eidolon running away again, Kiun nevertheless tries tossing a fireball down at it while it's icy and compact.

[bc56]

Rooftops
"Keep doing that!" Jason encourages, "It doesn't seem to like when you use different types of attacks against it in rapid succession!" He adds a beam of light to the fire attack. "I don't know if we can kill it, but I bet we can drive it off!"

[Hraithre]

[Steele Street]

The Reaper watches the thrashing snake, but is too exhausted to move fast enough to exploit an opportunity to deliver the killing blow. So he hovers just out the serpent's reach, wondering what he should do.

Then Gaul arrives. The Reaper shoots him a glance. "Shoot! Don't talk!", he croaks, pointing at the snake with his hammer. He hopes Gaul can hear him over the racket. He's not sure Gaul's rifle can kill the creature, but maybe it can provide the distraction necessary to break this stalemate.

Behind Gaul, the horse neighs and rears up. It almost looks like it's challenging the serpent to come after it.

[Morty]

[Normal Escort Missions]

The two are left alone and nothing will stop them from leaving the same way they came in. It appears they successfully concealed their presence.

[Thursday Violist]

[Hodgepodge Street]

Ninety-five present of people having an allergy to melting sounds about right.

"Yeah, so the book machine basically just had a power issue going on." A good electrician would be able to solve the issue, probably.
Apparently, Magdalene's not an electrician.

Seraphina sighs: "Ghosts sound very complicated. I feel sorry for whatever kind of ghostbusting trade job there is."

Anyway.
So.
Seraphina looks over at the zombies across the street.
"Oh." What are you talking about, 'not literally right here'. Across the street is very quite literally right here!
"I guess zombies are big fans of green energy. That makes sense, thinking about it."

Some people are excited for a zombie apocalypse. That their anime sword skills would be useful or their video game knowledge will somehow help them or that they know kung fu, and that would make them great at fighting zombies.
Even though Seraphina has previously fought a dinosaur, she's pretty sure that was mostly luck. And the fact that big dinosaurs are the exact opposite of dextrous.
And luck won't help you against zombies.
She'd rather not be around when zombie stuff happens.
"Well. Um," Seraphina says, "Good luck. Make sure you stay safe, yeah? Don't get in over your head."

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

Definitely sounds right that is a rigorously attained bit of statistical data.

"Dunno about powering stuff. Never learned anything about electricity and (rose)," Magdalene admits. "But I guess Hyperion zombies are into that so I better go stop them before they break something and turn all the street lights into zombie rays or whatever the (flower) they're doing."

Turning all the street lights into zombie rays would be really bad, probably.

"Neh, these (flowers) aren't that tough, I can take 'em. Pretty dangerous for normies though so yeah you better stay clear. Hey don't get, like, convicted of any bread heresy okay?"

See look at that.

Magdalene is concerned about Seraphina's physical well being!

Aaaannnd now she's going across the street toward the zombie infested power plant.

Apparently Magdalene's definition of 'right over there' is pretty different from Seraphina's, too.


[Steele Street]

Yep.

Real worms.

Really real worms.

Great stuff.

The storm serpent's thrashing manages to catch a gas street lamp, ripping the thing out of the ground and coincidentally hurling it straight toward Gaul and the horse. Definitely not intentionally there, just bad luck. So not only is there a heavy metal object spinning through the air toward someone there is ALSO a bunch of gas leaking into the air.

The serpent is otherwise busy flailing around for the time being.

[Gold]

[Steele Street]

Gaul isn't sure why you would shoot a worm statue. Though... "Are statues supposed to move around that much?"

Then a lamp is flung at him. "YEEIKES!" Gaul does a classic Wild Take, jumping into the air while his eyes pop a metre out of his skull and his jaw drops to the ground - you know, the works - before closely ducking the lamp while his top hat appears to jump over it and land back on his head. After that's done, Gaul finally decides to take aim and fire on the big worm while saying "Bad worm statue! Bad!"

[Rebonack]

[Steele Street]

A gun is fired at the storm serpent.

Now, a gun all on its own isn't going to do a great deal. The monster still has steel scales and smashing through them will be tough. Unsurprisingly, the bullet pings off the serpent and causes a spark as it ricochets.

An explosion follows.

Just, like, so much explosion.

The blast will possibly knock our heroes over and it flattens the storm serpent against the ground, sheering off several of its steel scales from its face and revealing insubstantial flesh of lightning and breath below. The monster's insides are exposed AND it's stunned. Probably as good a time for a killing blow as any.

[Hraithre]

[Steele Street]

The Reaper throws himself flat on the ground. He is well-protected from fire and heat, but he doesn't want to be hit by full force of the shockwave. Soot and debris falls on him.

His horse fares better. While it is hit by the blastwave, there is no mortal creature of flesh and bone under its metal surface. It is pushed back, yes, but unlike the snake, it was not at the center of the explosion, and thus most of the force just washes over it. Its four legs split into eight as it scrambles to brace itself against the ground, to keep itself from falling over.

Then, the moment passes, and it charges. It sprints towards the snake, leaps in the air, landing on the snake's head with all its weight. Then the horse begin's trampling it with all its eight steel hooves in a rapid rhythm. Stomp, stomp, stomp. The sound is akin to a jackhammer striking metal. The horse screams furiously all the while. Smoke and fire erupts from its nostrils and stench of sulphur fills the air.

[Gold]

[Steele Street]

Unbeknownst to the serpent, it managed to take advantage of Gaul's one weakness: he is incredibly light. That means when he gets launched, he gets launched. Gaul is sent flying at comical speeds by the blast, rebounding off a building, the ground, another building, the Reaper, the first building again, before finally sliding to a stop face first on the ground.

After that, he gets up, gives himself a good shake, spits out a mouthful of ground material, and says "Here, I thought I was prone to explode in anger. Like now, for example. AAAAAAAAARGH!"

That was none other than the shout of a man who has just pulled out a mallet three times as large as he is, and is charging the serpent while wielding said mallet, with full intent to hit it once in range.