Outside 46

[Gullara]

This place is just as it sounds. It's Outside!
Want a change of scenery? Go Outside.
Always wanted to visit the beach? Come Outside.
Looking to have a climatic fight on clifftops? Attempt Outside.
Secret meetings being held where there's no cameras? Try Outside.
Want an ambush without nasty base defenses? Yep! Outside.

Any and all are welcome in the wild expanses beyond the reach of civilization. Who's going to keep you out? That's right, no one. You're already out!
Here lie vast expanses, dense forests, towering mountains, dizzying canyons, treacherous dungeons, encroaching jungles, roaring waterfalls, endless wastes, blistering deserts, mossy cliffs, illusionary oases, eldritch moors, flowering bosques, infested hills, cyclopean ruins, weed-tangled gardens, crumbling glaciers, peaceful glades, bubbling tar pits, rumbling volcanoes, teetering hoodoos, honeycombed caverns, dripping grottos, inland seas, grassy knolls, overgrown battlefields, creepy boneyards, guano-covered caves, and so much more!
The sky is truly the limit, and sometimes not even that. If you can imagine it, it's here, and something super cool is probably happening there.


Sometimes, amid the varied and fantastic landscapes, there are very specific places. Places created and maintained by one or two people. These often be visited, but don't forget to give their owner a heads up if you want to explore.

Outside contains various Outside locations! Such as...
Auxiliary MagCave Magtok
A relic from the days of the Age of Apocalypse, this abandoned cavern was once used by the infamous cyborg Magtok as a back-up laboratory and underground fortress, should Calublufiok have ever stormed the primary MagCave.

Blind Cat's Bluff
A sheer cliff dropoff that travels straight down into the water, this is a favored point of people who commit suicide, romantics wanting to watch the sunset and anyone looking to get rid of evidence. The drop is pretty far and there are rocks at the bottom that spell almost certain doom, so watch your step.

Brillian's Baneful Bestiary
A secret series of caves where a mad scientist lives. A mad scientist who creates mutant attack creatures. These can be purchased for the right price.

Dead Pine Lake happyturtle
This lake lies in the middle of the forest. On the eastern shore, woodpeckers feast on the dead pines that give the lake its name (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/p243360-Delray_Beach_FL-Wetlands_sc.jpg). Sometimes one can find Lady Death here, the Aspect of Eve also known as The Grandmother, or Jedwiga.

Frozen Forest & Hermitage
A large forest of tall trees and once very pretty flowers lies here. The entire forest has been completely frozen over, and a blizzard constantly storms and snows over the forest, but doesn't affect even an inch past the forest border. The forest is still very pretty; the flowers and mushrooms glittering under a frozen layer. The place is pretty safe, if you're used to constant snow and cold temperatures.

Gersemi's Island Lex-Kat
Now more commonly known as Melody's Island, since Gersemi has long ago retired. Where once was a single hut with a few sheep, now stands a single hut, a barn, a few sheep, and a small tented community of orphans. Gersemi's loom still rests in one corner of the single hut. Melody, like Gersemi before her, is a healer for the surrounding islands.

Irradiated Wasteland The Mad Hatter
This irradiated flesh-kingdom stretches on for over one-hundred miles, a vile and forbidden place plagued by an unholy combination of severe radiation, supernaturally swift plague, and toxic gasses, to say nothing of the horrific, mutated undead which roam the cursed lands beyond, beholden to their lich-master.

Katz Motel
Located in the middle of Nowhere, our roadside motel is the only decent place for miles near the Taverna that has a bed. Run by a suave anthropomorphic cat (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090705011306/courage/images/b/bc/Katz.png), there is a strict No Dogs policy. A bellhop by the name of Bates is always ready to assist in carrying your luggage. Please ignore his constant mutterings about his mother. Other more unsavory employees can occasionally be found. Please try to avoid eye contact with them.

We at the Katz Motel wish to ensure you have a splendid stay. Any inconvenience due to randomly locking doors, giant spiders, secret passages, vampires, creepy paintings, and the occasional possession and subsequent exorcism are incredibly rare. Just look at our complaint cards! Not a single one mentions dying horribly in their sleep or becoming food for the monster in the basement.

And if you get bored, the owner will always be up for a game of sport, old boy.
((The Katz Motel is a horror filled place with the highest casualty rate of any motel in the Nexus area. Checking in is usually pretty easy and pleasant. Checking out is rare. Anyone can play the Motel and the NPCs within, free to invent their own horror. The NPCs within that can die usually only suffer death temporarily, the supernatural force causing the disturbances bringing them back to life for its own nefarious purposes. PCs get no benefit from this.))
Norosa, Great City of the Elves
A lawful evil city with an incredibly strong military and a very charismatic leader (Archmage Tyrion Lannister). It has a few resisters, but otherwise it is a city of peace and law despite its evil nature.

North Forest
A magical forest with a mythical spring of beauty. A bit like the Weald, but not nearly as dangerous. For starters, you can find your way back out and the pixies aren't cannibals.

Redbrick Falls
A mountainous, cliffy region with a prominent waterfall. A large quarry once was worked in these cliffs. Now, only a few scattered villages and solitary dwellings remain.

Rabbit Hole
The Rabbit Hole is a portal to another world, located in the forest. It looks like an ordinary rabbit hole, minus it being large enough for whoever stumbles upon it to enter. Some say it originated in a different universe, outside the Nexus, others say it shows up in different universes as a result of the Nexus growing.

If found naturally, it will take you to Underside, a world said to lie beneath the Nexus. But sometimes, you'll see a white rabbit in a waistcoat. He looks at the time on his pocket watch, and mutters the phrase "Oh dear! Oh dear! I mustn't be late!" and runs off. No matter how fast you are, you always seem to be just a bit slower than him, which has to make you wonder how he could ever be late for something.

If you follow the rabbit and find The Rabbit Hole, it will take you to Planeside. Where specifically in Planeside depends on who fell through The Rabbit Hole. Either way, you should always survive the fall, even if it seems like you were falling forever. And a warning, it's a one way trip, so if you want to get back, you'll have to do some traveling.

Troll Cave
A cave in a craggy hill. The undergrowth outside is trampled completely flat, and there's not much wildlife. There's a burned patch where a fire is sometimes there. Inside are a few large caves, linked by surprisingly smooth tunnels that look like something big has been regularly pushing through them.

PM the thread maker if you wish to add locations to Outside.

This wide world is empty, except for what you put there. People and places and animals and monsters! You name it. There are a few exceptions, as there always are, but by and large these places are populated with what you put there.

The Creepy Eyed Squirrel - The creepy eyed squirrel does not interfere with anyone. The creepy eyed squirrel is everywhere outside. The creepy eyed squirrel is always watching. The creepy eyed squirrel never sleeps. The creepy eyed squirrel can not be damaged, manipulated, or killed by anyone. The creepy eyed squirrel will eat anyone's very being who attempts to do so. Anyone can god-mode the creepy eyed squirrel. You may pet the creepy eyed squirrel at your own risk.
The Menacing Crabs (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B5bKlQSiirV-UFFydVBFWGJEUEU) - These intimidating creatures are usually found by the shore. Beware their mighty pincers. Beware!
The Non-Existent Duck - You'll miss every time you shoot at it, and then your dog laughs at you.

And most importantly, enjoy Outside. That's what this is all about. :smallsmile:


Rules and Guidelines
There is very little you can't do Outside. However, like always, please follow the forum rules and general rules of conduct. Respect that a scene may be private or that a plot shouldn't be interrupted. When in doubt, ask someone involved in the OoC thread or by PM.

There are many areas Outside, and people can be in multiple places outside. In order to keep areas Outside separated so there's no confusion, consider bolding your outside location at the start of each of your posts, like so:

[An Epic Cliffside Battle]

The creepy eyed squirrel looks on at the raging battle with contempt! Contempt that only a squirrel with particularly creepy eyes can muster.


[The Beach!]

The menacing craps are not only menacing today, but frustrated. Their every attempt to menace the non-existent duck has met with failure. Some might ask why the crabs are trying to menace nothing, but those people would get viciously pinched.

Note the creepy eyed squirrel and the menacing crabs do not interact because they are in different areas Outside. They could interact, if the squirrel moved to the beach. Of course, various things like telepathy help bypass this.
Archive
Outside 45
Outside 44: Baby it's cold outside
Outside 43: Where the sun hurts your eyes and burns your skin
Outside 42
Outside 41: Inside Outside, outside Inside
Outside 40: It's all downhill from here
Outside XXXIX
Outside XXXVIII
Outside XXXVII
Outside XXXVI
Outside XXXV
Outside XXXIV
Outside XXXIII
Outside XXXII
Outside XXXI
Outside XXX
Outside XXIX
Outside XXVIII
Outside XXVII
Outside XXVI
Outside XXV
Outside XXIV
Outside XXIII
Outside XXII
Outside XXI
Outside XX
Outside XIX
Outside XVIII
Outside XVII
Outside XVI
Outside 15: There used to be a silly pun here, but it wouldn't fit
Outside XIV: More animals than you can shake a stick at. Yes the PCs.
Outside XIII: Spores of Corruption Dance in the Wind
Outside XII: We number things correctly.
Outside XI: Bugs are Eating the Landscape
Outside X: The Rotting Corpses are starting to Smell
Outside IX: There are Mosquitoes
Outside VIII: We cater birthday parties
Outside VII: Open longer than a 7-11
Outside VI: Now with Locations!
Outside V: More civilized than Inside
Outside IV: The Creepy Eyed Squirrel's Domain
Outside III: Beware the Non-Existant Duck
Outside II: Now with Menacing Crabs
Outside

[Peppered]

Slaver's Camp

When Orion puffs back into invisibility, most of the slaves instantly start to mutter and curse, wondering if invisible slavers have heard any of their disparaging remarks and rebellious ideas. The exception is the six-wheeled bus, which doesn't talk at all- bar the elf's continued rants and curses in her native Elvish.

None of the slavers notice Orion's departure, just as they failed to notice his infiltration.

The slaver will approach to fire his net gun, not recognising his friend under the morphing mask. This one is a half-orc. He also approaches his captured colleague, to drag him back and possibly question him on how many friends he has in the bushes, and who sent the attackers. And why this chap is wearing nothing but a pair of underwear.



Slaver's Camp

"Meredith, I wasn't able to pinpoint the murderer. There were dozens of them caged in the buses. It might be best if I cause a large distraction while you use the time to pinpoint the culprit. I could start by freeing some of the slaves from their cages then intercept the slavers whilst invisible as they try to recapture the slaves, but you should look at them first to verify whether they're innocent or not. From what I saw, there are a few choices as to who the murderer could be," Orion whispers out, eyes wide and alert as he looks around but mainly focuses on the slaver in his underwear that's being taken away.

"While you're dealing with the slaves the chaos can be used to sneak that slaver away into the bushes. If that mask comes off they'll know that one of us are in his clothes pretending to be him. No matter what that mask can't come off or else this mission will become a lot harder for us to complete."

Meredith nods to Orion, "very well. A diversion would be welcome. The more we can release at once, the greater the chance that they will make it through okay. Just... one moment."

Without being able to touch this man, she can't burn out parts of his brain she did his colleague. But with him standing so close to her as he approaches the netted slaver, she can target specific parts of his brain in less drastic ways. Raising a hand slowly towards him, she focuses on his amygdala (the brain's center for emoitons, mainly fear) and weaves a spell of anxiety and anger. Anxiety about everything, but mainly, anxiety and fear of the other slavers in the camp and anger towards them all. It shouldn't really be based in anything though, which admittedly makes the spell a little easier to shrug off.

"Okay," she whispers to Orion, "now how do you propose to get me on those buses?"



Strange Village

The moment Kalumin and Pain appear atop the rune carved into the pavement, it should be clear that something is very wrong here.

The village is adorably rural, a small collection of modern central buildings surrounded by acres of farmland, sprinkled with animals and the occasional farmhouse. The village center is a main road, with multiple shops, and a few small side roads. The weird thing about it, however, is how many villagers there are here, and how few of them seem concerned with the fact that two people just teleported into the middle of the village.

Milling around, entering and leaving shops, eating and chatting, are about fifty villagers. A couple of them give Pain a few glances, but mostly their eyes seem to glaze over with some sort of forgetfulness when they look in Kalumin's direction. If the pre-existing telportation rune of Kalumin's design didn't give away that they had been there before, then the strange and oddly numerous villagers probably do. If Pain is observant, she may be able to tell that a good chunk of the villagers, about twenty or so, are actually undead, though of shoddier workmanship than Kalumin's own body.

"Well, here we are!" Kalumin announces, "are you feeling okay? Teleportation can take some getting used to, I know."

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Camp

The half-orc feels a sudden and irrational spike of anxiety and fear. Meredith might be unable to link the emotions to specific causes, but the wonders of the brain ensure the half-orc does that. He's associating the feelings with the game of cards last night, where he lost a night's wages, and the half-empty bottle of whiskey of his that went missing a week ago. Lots of little things like that, and his mind creates a narrative for him to be scared of linking them all. It's not the best narrative, and without the magic to reinforce the feelings, it wouldn't hold up to logic. He drags the netted slaver (who is still babbling incoherently from the hallucinations) up to the camp and walks to the nearest slaver and punches him. The brawl is short-lived; the man who got punched wasn't expecting it, and goes down hard. Two other slavers- rush over to break the fight up, to no immediate avail. One, a human, is loudly demanding to know why the half-orc attacked without provocation; the other, a half-orc, is just as vocal in the aggressor's defence.

If they need a small diversion, this would work; all the slavers are watching, as the hagspawn marches towards them, yatagan drawn and a furious glare across his hideous features.

[Mee]

Steve says "I would love to celebrate, but I have other business I must attend to. Don't worry, I'll get you all together soon and we'll have a good party." And with that, Steve begins leave for the exit.

"Oh. W-well. If you're sure."


"It was nice killing stuff for you. Save the party so we can join."

"Sure thing."


"They're very helpful, but having to becoming one is quite a gruesome process," he admits as the final scale burrows into his skin.

"Farewell then," Devero addresses Steve and Luvon before they take their leave.

"A tavern might do, unless you would prefer someplace else," Devero turns to Naku and Cherie, "I'm in need of a drink after all that flying," he grips his throat for a second which is slightly sore from breathing fire earlier.

Naku shrugs the tiniest of shrugs. "Perhaps. But if they're useful enough, that outweighs the gruesomeness." Spoken like someone who has a gruesome transform of their own.
"I happen to know of an inn with decent drinks. I vote we head there." Unless anyone objects, then she leads the party off to the DFI.

[Lazorath]

Naku shrugs the tiniest of shrugs. "Perhaps. But if they're useful enough, that outweighs the gruesomeness." Spoken like someone who has a gruesome transform of their own.
"I happen to know of an inn with decent drinks. I vote we head there." Unless anyone objects, then she leads the party off to the DFI.

Devero looks down to his bloodied physique, agreeing with Naku, but at the same time expressing disappointment with the endless drawbacks to his abilities.

"I don't know which ones worse the transforming, or the blades. I tend to switch between the two," he admits whilst looking around his body to ensure that they all remained intact and he hadn't forgotten anything, "things have gotten messy in the past regardless of which one I'd use."
The sack attached to my back, all six blades sheathed on my waist, and lastly my special sword...yep I've got everything, he finishes thinking while removing the blood red skull-faced necklace and putting it in his pocket.

Devero agrees to Naku's suggestion with a firm nod then follows her, eager to sit, relax, and drink.

Slaver's Camp

"That cloak of yours really is deadly," Orion admits before closing his eyes as the slaver turns against one of his own.
He re-harnesses his darkest, and most painful emotions then holds out his palm to Meredith, "I could sneak you over there," he replies before looking to his other hand that begins to fade out of eyes sight.
"It should work as long as our hands stay linked. I'll get you over there, free as many innocent slaves as possible then handle the slavers while they try to recapture the slaves. We have a small window of opportunity, we should go while we still can," he urges as the right side of his body begins to fade in a slightly creepy manner.

Strange Village

Pain wouldn't take particular notice of the rune, but she knows an undead when she sees one.
There's many, too many, her mind thinks as her eyes glaze over what her eyes can see around her. The shops, the main road, and the decent amount of people.

"There's quite a few of them," she speaks before returning her focus to Kalumin.

"I tend not to teleport, it caused a great number of issues for me in the past. I'm alright for now, but it'll be awhile before I become accommodated with it," despite keeping her eyes on Kalumin she takes notice of all the villagers that she can in her peripheral vision, ready and eager to strike.

"I am more of a sifter, moving from place to place by foot as the forces of darkness wrap around my limbs, granting me rapid transport whether it be through levitation, or moving through solid matter. It is also how I can regenerate without the need to lie on a bed."

Her eyes final move from them to the villagers whilst unsheathing her dark, and twisted blade.
"Do you have history with this village?"

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Atop a hill, half a day's journey from the nearest village sits a rock. A rather impressive marble edifice, as it happens. A towering precipice of off-white stone that, if looked at from just the right angle, looks rather like a sailing ship.

Assuming you squint really hard.

And tilt your head sideways just so.

And really employ your imagination.

No, really employ your imagination.

This is likely why the location is known as Galleon Rock.

The rock itself isn't our focus today, though, as geologically interesting as it may be. No, our focus today is the cave-system under the rock. At the base of the hill a small stream rushes from the dripping, moss-slicked mouth of a tunnel. A tunnel from which the charnel stench of decay wafts. See, the nearby villages have been having problems recently. Animals going missing. People going missing. Graves, both fresh and old, being disturbed. The people suspect vile necromancy may be at work, but they hardly have the force of arms to overcome such a loathsome supernatural threat.

So they did what any self-respecting village besieged by horrors does.

They pooled their resources and hired people to come hit the problem with swords until it isn't a problem anymore.

((Open plawt for anyone who feels inclined to jump it. It should be pretty quick, all things considered.))

[Devixer]

Tower Precipice

Cherie sighs. "Normally, I'd prefer to celebrate with a glass of wine and a long bath at my home. But, if the good lady requests my presence, then it is only right of me to follow her." Although she may not be the most enthusiastic of the three, she still follows Naku and Devero to the DFI.

[Mee]

Devero looks down to his bloodied physique, agreeing with Naku, but at the same time expressing disappointment with the endless drawbacks to his abilities.

"I don't know which ones worse the transforming, or the blades. I tend to switch between the two," he admits whilst looking around his body to ensure that they all remained intact and he hadn't forgotten anything, "things have gotten messy in the past regardless of which one I'd use."
The sack attached to my back, all six blades sheathed on my waist, and lastly my special sword...yep I've got everything, he finishes thinking while removing the blood red skull-faced necklace and putting it in his pocket.

Devero agrees to Naku's suggestion with a firm nod then follows her, eager to sit, relax, and drink.


Tower Precipice

Cherie sighs. "Normally, I'd prefer to celebrate with a glass of wine and a long bath at my home. But, if the good lady requests my presence, then it is only right of me to follow her." Although she may not be the most enthusiastic of the three, she still follows Naku and Devero to the DFI.

"I've found things just have a habit of getting messy while adventuring. It's unfortunate, really."

Then awaaaaaaay (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?427372-Dancing-Fox-In-XII-Dance-If-You-Want-To&p=22343101#post22343101) they go!

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Well, unfortunately, the villagers aren't going to get a sword.
I mean, Jace owns one, but it's very unlikely he's going to use it as he has absolutely no idea how to do that. He has a knife and a teeny-tiny gun though. That's probably worth something. And hey, he has the billowing cloak thing down, which is pretty ace adventurer material. And the shiny shoulder-animal. Which isn't really expected but it does make one look more impressive.

And notable, not any children because it is a week-day and that means good little pokemon are at school even when they can institutionally tell when Daddy is gearing up. Adorable little menace.

So. Tunnel with a stream. One- Two! Two adventurers. One dramatic entrance.
What awaits them at the base of the tunnel?

[Rebonack]

[Gallion Rock]

There's pretty much a one hundred percent chance that if Khannie knew her dad is adventuring she would insist on coming for the purpose of punching things.

But instead she's learning math.

The horror.

Jace will need to duck a bit (and probably get his boots wet) to enter the cave. He'll find himself met with absolute darkness and a pretty gross smell. Aside from the gurgling of the creek and the occasional drip of water no other sounds are coming from the cave. No rattling of bones. No shuffling of corpses. Not moans of the damned.

Yet.

That might change soon.

But first, Jace might want to light things up a bit.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

When times are dark, that's a job for a pocket dragon! Well, really either of them could do a simple floating light spell, but Zebes handles this one because Jace is doing the nice thing and wading through water in a dark tunnel. That's what his thick adventuring boots are for, but still. Slow and steady, only now with light.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

And so the sloshing begins.

Truth be told, there will likely be quite a bit of this during the adventure.

After a good ten feet of slogging, the tunnel opens up into a much wider cavern with two more tunnels branching off of it. The river flows from the path to the right, while the one to the left looks much dryer. Perhaps even worked? Though before Jace has time to decide on which path to take he'll be met with an obstacle.

Or, maybe not an obstacle.

Maybe just something gross.

A pair of corpses are sprawled out of a rocky shelf, stinking to high heaven and appearing pretty darn dead.

Though when you're dealing with necromancy, it can be hard to tell...

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

And now it's time for some dirty work.
Jace covers his nose with a cloth and gives the bodies a cursory examination. Mostly, to check out how old they are and if they could be some of the missing villagers that were mentioned or older victims. Zebes sniffs around for necromancy in the air.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Zebes is totally going to smell tons of necromancy in the air. It's as thick as the gross, scummy growths all over the two zombies.

Because those are totally two zombies.

As soon as Jace gets close enough to examine the corpses, they spring to their feet! The nasty things are actually pretty spry for dead guys, and the closer of the two just sprouted some really terrifying looking claws as its face split open into a toothy maw!

And not split open the correct sort of way, either.

Vertically.

Thing-style.

A rotting tendril of flesh that probably wasn't originally a tendril at all lashes out of the corpse and aims to wrap itself around Jace's neck! The other zombie seems to be more of the slow, plodding sort. By the time it stands up that's about all it can muster.

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

Ha! A predictable chara- oh gods why.
Jace's plan was to send cold through the watery muck at the zombies to immobplize and stab them with ice, and he still does that. Only now he has to dodge a tendril, which he does, waving at it with a knife in a poor excuse for a parry. He's very lucky to have been expecting an attack and prepared to jump aside.

[Shadowcaller]

Galleon Rock

A large purple falcon settles down on the top of the rock, and then spends a few moments in thought. Did the rock really look like a Galleon? Maybe if you turned your head a bit...

Didn't it look more like a sword from this perspective?

Or a bird?

The falcon turns its head the other direction, squinting its eyes. Yeah...

They shoud rename it bird-rock!

The villagers had to be informed as soon as it had dealt with the situation. The falcon lands in front of the rock and starts peering inside the tunnel underneath. Bird-tunnel perhaps?

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The tunnel is pretty easy to find, though it's some distance from the rock proper. It should be pretty easy to spot between the creek running out of it and the sounds of pitched combat coming from within it. Should the oddly colored bird fly down to check it out, she'll discover Jace being harassed by a really freaky zombie!

Isn't that swell?

With a rather distinct sound of grinding ice, spears of frozen water stab the ever-loving crap out of the tentacle zombie. The monster twitches spasmodically for a few moments before melting into a heap of viscous fluid. The stuff is about as thick as molasses. Looks like it, too. Sadly it doesn't smell like molasses.

At all.

Jace may be left gagging from the nasty aroma.

The other zombie somehow manages to stumble out of range of the ice spikes. It flails at Zebes in a mostly pathetic fashion.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

What bird? I don't see any birds.
There is a black panther though, sneaking down the newly discovered (and named) bird-tunnel. Though upon further consideration, perhaps "piss tunnel" would be a better name. The smell, the dampness, that sound of running water? Yeah, piss tunnel it is, running right underneath **** rock.
But suddenly, name considerations are interrupted as the panther spots, and hears, fighting.
It stops in its tracks and takes a moment to analyze the situation.

Oh, who am I kidding?

It runs through the watery tunnel and takes a leap, turning into a big bark bear (https://forums.mylzh.net/filedata/fetch?id=175455&d=1448317521&type=full) and attempts to trash the other zombie with its powerful pawns.

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

Suddenly bear!
"Hello bear." says Jace weakly. He wasn't really expecting that. His dagger is quickly sheathed.
Though he keeps a finger ready if he has to give it additional blasting.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The other zombie is rather unceremoniously pummeled to (re)death.

Oddly enough, this one doesn't melt like the precious one did. No doubt there's a reason for that, though whether our heroes are aware of the reason or not remains to be seen.

So!

We're left with a human, a bear, and a pocket dragon hanging out in a cavern with a watery path to the right and a dry path to the left. And, of course, a cavern that may or may not have hidden baubles somewhere just waiting to be looted.

What do our heroes do?

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Take that!

The bear watches as the zombies plummets down. You could never be sure with zombies, but that might just have destroyed it.

It then turns to look at the mage and tilts its head. Hmm...

Suddenly, in a cloud of green the bear disappears and in its place is a tall purple woman dressed in a red patched up robe. "Hello, Mr. Magican." The shapeshifter greets, offering her hand to shake. "And that would be 'miss bear'." She claims with a wide smile, her amber eyes watching him with amusement.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace steps away from the corpse and the goo, hoping to keep it from getting all over his shoes.
"Well thank you for the assist, Miss Bear. You here to do some heroics?" he asks, with a straight face to obfuscate whether he's fooled into thinking that's her name of just being facetious.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The stream continues to burble past as it has for aeons, oblivious to the presence of our heroes. Thankfully its washing away that vile scuz and taking the stink with it.

Meanwhile!

Elsewhere in the cave, atop a grisly alter of bones, a nefarious hooded figure is directing skeletons to toss another corpse atop the blasphemous monument.

"Sure this time, yes," the evil conjurer titters to no one in particular. "This time it will work, yes. I shall draw something in from the outside, yes. I will bind it to my will, yes. Yes! Already I've mastered the powers of the outside for the reanimation of dead flesh, yes! YES! And next it will be a being of POWER from the outside I will master, yes! And none of those small minded fools will stand in my way, yes!" they shriek in maniacal glee to a nearby idle skeleton.

The skeleton just stands there, about as oblivious as the stream flowing through the cave.

"They said it was impossible, yes! But look at you! Look at ALL of you! Nothing can stop me now!"

The skeleton has no reaction to this.

Which apparently upsets the necromancer.

"Applaud, you mindless heap of bones, yes! Applaud for your master, yes!"

And now the skeleton is clapping. Or at least trying to. Several bones go flying off its hands.

"Yeeeees!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

"Heroics? Nah. Just exploring." Says "Miss Bear". "Being called a 'hero' feels rather cheesy these days, doesn't it? We're just idiots on a power trip really." She turns her attention to the passage. "I do wonder where this leads though. Considering the dangers this place pose, we might be two of the very few people who ever come down here. Feels kinda exciting."

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace shrugs. "Speak for yourself. I'm here to rescue some folks and come back with a story and juice-box money for my daughter. My ego's quite healthy. Come on now, we need to get moving before something realizes we trashed their sentries." the sorcerer suggests, moving deeper into the cave.
"Oh, and call me Jace." he calls back. Zebes is staying quiet. He likes surprising people with his intelligence some ways into knowing them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

His daughter? And here she thought people just retired when they had children. Getting to places like this could sometimes take days, so would you leave the little sucker alone for such a long time? But then again, he was a mage so he probably teleported around or something. Man, instant travel would make her life so easy. No more flying around in the wilderness for days.
"Alright, Jace. So is there a plan? Mages don't usually run headlong into things." Anika remarks as she tags along, trying to take the lead. No one would be crazy enough to place traps here, right?

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

So apparently our heroes are taking the right path, following the stream's very slight uphill grade. It's a pretty slick trek, so they had best watch their footing lest they face-plant in icy water.

Which wouldn't be fun at all.

It'll take a good ten minutes before they find anything interesting, which should give Jace plenty of time to lay out his devious and well thought-out plan for thwarting the evil necromancer that's take up residence in the cave. Because surely he has such a plan.

Right?

Right?

Regardless!

Eventually they'll come to a vertical shaft with water pouring down it in addition to a few beams of sunlight filtering through from above. It's rather pretty, honestly. Though they won't have much time to contemplate it before the air is filled with the sound of awful shrieking as a bunch of rather unpleasant looking giant bat/mosquito things descend toward them!

Stirges!

The batbugs will do their best to stab their probosces (probosci?) into our heroes and drain their blood. It may be wise not to allow them to do that.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

"The plan is blasting all undead and necromancers in our path, and you two stand in front of me if things get real bad." Jace says casually, slogging away.

And then enemies! Jace reacts immediately with an outstretched hand, sending a missile of force out to five different stirges, each moving to strike like a well-thrown, large stone.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

So there was no plan, darn.

It would be hypocritical for Anika to complain about the lack of one however as her plans were about on the same level. Simple, straight forward and short term. It was always a relief if someone in the party thought ahead and planned long-term though. That way they could cover every basis and wouldn't need to worry too much about say, how killing that one warlord caused a horrific civil war when the political body collapsed upon itself.

It was always nice leaving that sort of thinking to other people.

But no matter, there were more things to kill!

'Miss Bear' turns back into a bear which should have more than enough natural armor to be protected from the Stirges stings as it attempts to maul and/or bite any of the flying creatures that come too close. The bear roars loudly as it fights, trying to get the blood-suckers attention away from Jace.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Blast those stirges!

Chomp those stirges!

Several of the gross batbugs are unceremoniously slain. The rest promptly ignore the bear made of wood and swarm Jace from several sides at once.

Hmm.

Seems that tactic backfired somewhat.

Probably because bears made of wood are notoriously short on blood supply.

But sorcerers?

They have plenty!

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

How does Jace respond to this?
He turns invisible. Yeah, he doesn't have any big explosion powers that wouldn't involve bombing his own location, so his best bet is to just hide for a moment and slink away until he can get a better shot off.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

The bear suspected that wouldn't work. If it only had a magical ability that caused people to attack it.
Alas, it would imply some pretty insulting things of the stirges mothers if it could, but all that comes out is another roar as it charges towards the blood-suckers attacking Jace. It swipes at the overgrown mosquitoes, attempting to rend as many of them as possible.

[8BitNinja]

[Strange Forest]

Gary and Geneva will come across a snow covered forest. Although there are lots of trees and foliage, the forest seems devoid of animal and human life. On the ground, scorch marks, brass bullet casings, and empty magazines and clips are strewn about, but no human biological matter seems to be around, except for Gary's now mostly covered footprints. After a while, the two will reach a patch where it looks like the snow melted. This is where Gary stops and says "Well, here we are. I hope this helps you out."

((I'll post description soon if anyone wants to join in on this scene))

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The stirges becomes rather confused when their prey abruptly vanishes. With their only food source gone, they beat a hasty retreat, flapping up the cave-chimney to find a nice dark spot to tend to their wounds.

And with that, our heroes are left alone once again, the floor littered with dead bugbats.

Short of trying to climb the narrow shaft the gross bugs fled through, this appears to be a dead-end.

Ah well.

They can't all be winners, right?

Looks like our heroes are going to have to do some dreadful backtracking.

Unless, of course, they decide to try searching behind that one stalagmite over there. Probably nothing back there aside from slick rock. Totally unremarkable. They shouldn't even bother, honestly.

[Strange Forest]

Geneva gives a hum as she glances around. "Weird. Almost as if it only grabbed you and the landscape, but none of the other people. Didn't have any issue with gobbling up the trees, though. How odd..."

She heads over to the patch of melted snow an draws an odd device from her inventory, causing it to materialize in a wave of electric blue pixels. She extends a tripod from the bottom and sets the machine up, fiddling with it both directly and through her wrist computer. After a few minutes, a trio of saucer-sized drones disengage from the device, buzz straight up into the air, and begin to slowly spiral outward.

"Alright! Surveying outpost is ready. And now just one more touch-" she says as she withdraws a small sign affixed to a completely mundane galvanized steel spike. She hammers it into the dirt next to the automated surveying station.

Should Gary read it, he'll find it says:


Important scientific study in progress. Please do not tamper with the equipment.
-Geneva Richards

"There! All done. My gear will collect the data I need, provided roving hooligans don't decide to kick everything over for the fun of it."

[8BitNinja]

[Strange Forest]

Geneva gives a hum as she glances around. "Weird. Almost as if it only grabbed you and the landscape, but none of the other people. Didn't have any issue with gobbling up the trees, though. How odd..."

She heads over to the patch of melted snow an draws an odd device from her inventory, causing it to materialize in a wave of electric blue pixels. She extends a tripod from the bottom and sets the machine up, fiddling with it both directly and through her wrist computer. After a few minutes, a trio of saucer-sized drones disengage from the device, buzz straight up into the air, and begin to slowly spiral outward.

"Alright! Surveying outpost is ready. And now just one more touch-" she says as she withdraws a small sign affixed to a completely mundane galvanized steel spike. She hammers it into the dirt next to the automated surveying station.

Should Gary read it, he'll find it says:



"There! All done. My gear will collect the data I need, provided roving hooligans don't decide to kick everything over for the fun of it."

Gary says "Do you need help with anything else? If not, do you know where I should go?"

[Rebonack]

[Strange Forest]

Geneva checks her wrist computer again, humming to herself. "No? At least i hope not. I've designed my gear to streamline the setup process as much as possible. The quicker I can get it up and running the less likely it is that I'll be harassed by a random encounter near delicate machinery. The diagnostic station is otherwise self-sufficient."

Which is really handy!

Being required to stand around in a field for hours on end would be pretty dull.

As no doubt Gary is aware. Being a solider typically involves long periods of boredom and short periods of terror.

"Where you should go? As in... where you can stay? Where you could work?" Geneva replies. "Well, you have quite a few options there. My husband runs the umbrella organization that oversees the City's security forces. Though I don't know if you're tired of conflict by now. If you wanted to do something more akin to what you did before the war, there are plenty of farms surrounding the City. That would be quite a bit more peaceful."

Unless of course the farm gets attacked by brigands.

Or undead.

Or mean goblins.

Or really, really cranky giant gummy bears.

Or what have you.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace reappears, satisfied. "Not so bad, was it? Alright, quick look around." Jace says, casually throwing Zebes off his arm like a trained falcon to flit about the place, looking for discarded treasure in nests or wherever the GM is hiding it it might be.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

The bear isn't bothering turning back in case those stirges were still lurking around. It wasn't too keen about bothering to look around, just eager to continue in the other direction. But if it can smell something interesting, it might just change its mind.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Zebes does some searching while the bear begins heading back toward the entry cavern!

Mrs Bear probably won't encounter too much on her way back, aside from water, rocks, and darkness.

As for Zebes, he discovers a large stainless steel lever sticking out of the floor behind the large, unremarkable stalagmite. It's the sort with a big red knob at the top and a little sign hanging from it.

The sign reads:


If you are an adventurer, please do not pull this lever.
-Howard the Necromancer

Well.

That isn't conspicuous at all.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Trap.
"Trap."
But is it the bad kind of trap, or the really bad kind of trap? There's only one way to find out.
Zebes returns to Jace, who gets ready to run, and uses a little Mage Hand to move the letter from waaaaay over there 30 feet away.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

The bear stops as Jace starts doing stuff, had they found something?
It looks closely on, just what were they up to now?

[8BitNinja]

[Strange Forest]

Geneva checks her wrist computer again, humming to herself. "No? At least i hope not. I've designed my gear to streamline the setup process as much as possible. The quicker I can get it up and running the less likely it is that I'll be harassed by a random encounter near delicate machinery. The diagnostic station is otherwise self-sufficient."

Which is really handy!

Being required to stand around in a field for hours on end would be pretty dull.

As no doubt Gary is aware. Being a solider typically involves long periods of boredom and short periods of terror.

"Where you should go? As in... where you can stay? Where you could work?" Geneva replies. "Well, you have quite a few options there. My husband runs the umbrella organization that oversees the City's security forces. Though I don't know if you're tired of conflict by now. If you wanted to do something more akin to what you did before the war, there are plenty of farms surrounding the City. That would be quite a bit more peaceful."

Unless of course the farm gets attacked by brigands.

Or undead.

Or mean goblins.

Or really, really cranky giant gummy bears.

Or what have you.

Gary says "I'll join up with the guard. I don't like fighting, but that's why I do it, so others don't have to in the future. Besides, this place doesn't look like France or North Africa or the Pacific, I'm pretty sure guard duty wouldn't be involving huge invasions. Do you know where I can go to sign up?"

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The lever is pulled!

With a mechanical CLUNK! a bunch of jagged rocks and about four gallons of glitter are dumped all over the area the lever is in. And about five seconds later, a zombie comes tumbling down the shaft, too.

"Uuuggh..." the undead moans as it begins staggering to its feet.

The thing isn't very fast.

Looks like Jace's assessment was correct!

That was totally a trap.

[Strange Forest]

Geneva refrains from making comment on the 'huge invasions' part.

There hasn't been an invasion in a while at least.

That counts for something.

"Intersection headquarters," Geneva replies simply as she holds out one hand toward Gary. "I can get us there pretty fast, but you'll have to hold my hand. And there will be a bit of a light show, too! But don't worry, it's completely harmless psionic overflow. Totally normal."

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace laughs. He wonders if they could try to climb the shaft, but that doesn't seem practical. So he settles for pulling out his tiny revolver, shooting a magic missile at the zombie, and following the way the bear was going.

Two missiles if the first doesn't kill.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

The bears eyes widens. The jagged rocks were self-explanatory, but the glitter? They were dealing with a real madman here.

Then again, anyone that decided to live in a smelly place like this was probably a bit mad.

Oh well, the party was over, lets explore deeper!
Anika heads straight into the other passage, keeping an eye out for more potential traps. She might get distracted by any breathtaking sights of nature though.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace fires his wand gun of magic missile!

Pew pew!

The bolts plow into the zombie, staggering it slightly.

It's still coming, though!

Jace might have to walk briskly to escape.

Getting back to the main cavern shouldn't be too terribly difficult. Even with a lone zombie slowly shambling after our heroes. Though it may still be a good idea to get rid of the thing before they go too much further. What if the zombie's constant moaning alerts the other undead? What if the thing's gross smell makes our heroes queasy? What if the zombie gets stuck between some rocks and flails impotently while being annoying? Those are some pretty serious hazards!

Best to do something about it.

[8BitNinja]

[Strange Forest]

Geneva refrains from making comment on the 'huge invasions' part.

There hasn't been an invasion in a while at least.

That counts for something.

"Intersection headquarters," Geneva replies simply as she holds out one hand toward Gary. "I can get us there pretty fast, but you'll have to hold my hand. And there will be a bit of a light show, too! But don't worry, it's completely harmless psionic overflow. Totally normal."

Gary says "I don't know anything about psionic overflows, but you've done nothing to make me distrust you and you've only helped me so far." He grabs Geneva's hand and braces for whatever form of transportation Geneva has that he is unaware of.

[Rebonack]

[Strange Forest]

Gary takes Geneva's hand and several things happen at once.

First?

Something akin to pink fire begins to lick from her eyes as an unseen wind picks up, sending her hair flapping in the breeze as snow is shoved away from her. A feeling of power fills the air, not terribly unlike the feeling of a thunderstorm building in the distance. The sensation of raw potentiality grows sharply over the next several seconds until it collapses inward with an echoing sound not unlike a reverberating bell.

Should all go as planned, Gary's vision will go white-

-for a just a moment.

When everything clears, he'll likely find himself standing in front of the Intersection office.

Teleportation! How handy.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

With a sigh, Jace empties the other three chambers.
Undead are such troublesome threats.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

The bear turns back into its humanoid form. "Sure that will work? Might be one of those immortal ones you have to bury head-deep." Anika had seen them! Really annoying buggers, no matter what you did they always got up on their feet again.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Maybe it IS one of those annoying ones that has to be buried up to its head?

Because it just took all three of those shots and just rag-dolled around a bit before continuing its not particularly speedy shamble toward Jace.

If he doesn't move away he'll soon be within gross zombie groping range!

Don't let it grope you, Jace, it's rude and icky!

"Guuuuugh..." the zombie moans.

Stupid zombie, being all undead and durable.

If only they had a paladin around to smite it. That would probably help.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace groans audilbly (again) and uses the trick he did before, using his magic on the water to freeze (and stab) the zombie in place.
"We don't have time to be burying enemies." he insists.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

"We're on a schedule?" 'Miss Bear' teases as she hears Jace's annoyance. "But no, I'm not gonna bury zombies. I was just saying that this one will be difficult to deal with." She pauses as she sees Jace's ice trick. "That might do it though." Hopefully. Someone ought to get props for making an really annoying trap though.

[Rebonack]

((Intersection HQ is in the Inside thread, sorry))

[Galleon Rock]

The zombie gets icicle shish kabob'd!

Surely this will finally put the awful thing to rest since there's no way it could have possibly survived this time arou-

"Guuuuuugh..." the zombie moans, flailing from its icy prison whilst remaining otherwise immobile.

Geeze.

This thing just won't quit, will it?

Maybe if they tried setting it on fire?

Too bad they're both pretty short on abomination-searing holy power.

[8BitNinja]

((Intersection HQ is in the Inside thread, sorry))

((It's alright. I removed the post and then replied there))

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

"We are! I have to be back to pick up my daughter from school in eight hours." Jace insists. With the zombie properly imprisoned, he continues walking down the hall.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

"Right. Let's hurry then." Daddy of the year coming through, make space!
Anika takes the lead in case they would get jumped by more zombies. But hey, at least there were no zombie puzzles like in that one dungeon she explored...

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

So would that be a zombifed puzzle?

Or a puzzle which involves zombies?

Regardless!

Our heroes take the dry path, descending deeper into the cave! The path is cramped and winding, and the adventurers will probably need to crouch a bit in several places to avoid hitting their head on the ceiling. But before long, they'll come upon a chamber full of stone slabs, each with a skeleton laying atop it. Skeletons wearing armor. With weapons laying beside them.

This isn't suspicious at all.

Not even a little bit.

Two passages branch off from the chamber, one to the north and one to the east.

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

"Gentlemen, do you have permits for those swords? State ordnance says no weapons without a permit. I'll have to confiscate those." he declares at the skeletons. He moves to begin stealing their weapons.

And maybe punt off a head or two while he's at it.

[Shadowcaller]

Galleon Rock

Both. Anika is just relived those skeletons aren't holding stone slabs or something with symbols on them instead. That would have meant that this was a big puzzle, which she simply didn't have the patience for.

Now they just needed to kill some skellies.

"Officer Jace is right, you're all under arrest boys. Only stoners are laying around sleeping at this hour so we're going to have to confiscate everything." Anika will move to do the same thing as jace does. Now they can both be idiots!

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Rattle rattle!

The bones leap to their feet in a jerky display of stop-motion animation when our heroes get too close! They snatch up their admittedly rather terrible gear and move to attack!

Sabers swinging!

Shields blocking!

Bones rattling!

Wait, didn't we mention the bones rattling already?

Well, they're doing that even more.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace laughs, leaping backwards. Oh, the joys of classic perils! He's had to deal far too long with strange pokemon curses and all-hearing chaos creatures. It's far better to find things he can beat just by blasting them with force missiles. And he does, deciding to splurge and fire a few from his own hand, at the three nearest him instead of using the gun again.

Zebes provides a soundtrack, unheard to all but the two of them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Anika could turn into a bear again, but as Jace was merrily blasting the skeletons, she couldn't risk charging in without potentially getting hit by friendly fire. Therefore, she instead holds out her both hands in front of her and a beam of focused sunlight, functioning like a magically enhanced magnifying glass, to ignite one of the skeletons and turn it into ash.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Magic missiles and sunbeams of death, ahoy!

The skeletons aren't particularly durable. Not in the least, no sir! But as each one is destroyed, bloody red runes begin glowing on the remaining bones, matched by similar runes on the ceiling. With each ruined skeleton, the runed circle above inches closer to completion.

There's a pretty good chance that something bad will happen if the circle is completed.

The remaining skeletons, meanwhile, continue their onslaught!

Rattle rattle...

[Earl of Purple]

Isolated Hilltop

A storm brews over this hilltop, thunder rumbling overhead and lightning flashing through the sky as rain pelts down and gale-force winds strip the leaves from the trees. There's a smash and rumble as the tallest tree is struck, bursting into flames which are quickly doused by the heavy rain. A few more strikes hit the edges of the hilltop and nearby trees, though no more strikes create fire.

A final rumble accompanies three simultaneous bolts of lightning, each striking the same central point of the hill. After that, the rain dies down, the clouds quickly dissipate, and there are no more lightning flashes or rumbles of thunder. The burning tree smoulders and smokes, but no flames are visible, and all is still. The storm has gone, leaving only devastation in its wake. Devastation, and a jian sword, eighty centimetres long, is sticking from the ground where the three bolts struck. The sword rests in a bone scabbard, with delicate etchings and carvings along its sides. A black silk tassel hangs from the hilt, passing through a hole in the rounded bronze pommel.

A magical signal is sent throughout the Nexus, to attract the curious, inquisitive and scholarly.

[Shadowcaller]

Isolated Hilltop

If this artifact truly wanted to be found, then perhaps it should have landed in a more populated area than outside. Out here, only adventurers, travelers and beasts held sway.

This visitor would be in the second category.

Down from above a huge dragon descends, its body curling along like a snakes in the skies as it rides the winds with its feathery wings.
(This dragon (https://raka-raka.deviantart.com/art/C-she-dragon-608613786))

While the dragon stops as it reaches the blackened tree, it never actually lands. Staying floating just above the ground. It inspects the sword carefully, trying to magically analyze it to see how the sword drew it here.

[Earl of Purple]

Isolated Hilltop

The magic which drew the dragon here is very curious magic. Interesting and confusing. It's powerful, but seems benign- or at least, not actively malicious. Further, it seems that the calling magic does not actually originate from the sword itself; though the sword is a magical weapon in its own right, it seems more as though something else wants somebody to find the sword, somebody that meets the requirements of being inquisitive and curious enough to follow the signal all the way out here, from wherever they started in the Nexus. Somebody possibly like the dragon.

The dragon may feel it is being watched.

[Shadowcaller]

Isolated Hilltop

The dragon certainly filled the requirements, but it did not see what it would use such a weapon for. It was hardly the tool of a scholar. Unless that scholar happened to want to learn more of sword fighting techniques of course, something which admittedly had drawn its interest in the past. Looking around, it attempts to reach out to whatever presence that might be watching, attempting to make contact with it, or perhaps even the sword itself. This dragon regularly communicated and ordered around conceptual spirits, and this sword would be no different.

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

"Maybe we should leave before the death-circle finishes. It sounds like an invader-wiping mechanic to me. Thoughts?" Jace asks casually, backing away from a skeleton.

[Earl of Purple]

Isolated Hilltop

The entity that is watching is not a spirit of any kind, and will deftly avoid the dragon's attempts to make contact. If the dragon attempts to order it, on the assumption that it is a spirit, the watcher will not respond and keep watching.

The sword itself isn't intelligent, and cannot talk. Though if the dragon tries to make contact with the sword, as it would with the watching entity, the sword will reply to any and all questions by stubbornly saying 'I am to slay ignorance and defend knowledge'.

[Shadowcaller]

Isolated Hilltop

That's one aggressive sword, hardly meeting the dragons standards for enlightenment. Killing people, ignorant or otherwise, always caused a loss or information, or so her father always said. Killing should always be the last resort, especially when you had such great powers.
What a curious artifact. Shame about the bloodthirst, but what else would a sword be? It is a tool of murder after all.The dragon then grabs the hilt of the sword by its teeth and attempts to pull it out. It had no intention of claiming ownership of it yet though. Opposed to violence as she was, she didn't think she would fulfill the swords purpose very well.

Galleon Rock

Anika knew that only black and lime were as much associated to Bad Stuff as red. So Jace was probably right, unless the loon running this place was using reverse psychology. "Let's just gets past these goons without destroying them then. Get on my back!" Was there a exit here, besides the one they came through? If so, Anika will turn into a bear and charge straight at it, ignoring the skeletons attacking them.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

There are in fact two ways out of the chamber. One to the north and the other to the east.

The northern tunnel is glowing with a suitably creepy light.

Lime colored light, in fact.

And everyone knows that lime colored light can be just as associated with eeeeeeevil as red!

The other path is dark, though our heroes might be able to here the sound of water dripping on metal.

Which way do they go?

Best choose quickly, since the skeletons don't seem keen on allowing our heroes much time to consider options.

[Earl of Purple]

Isolated Hilltop

The moment the dragon grips the sword, the dragon knows several things. One, it now owns the jian, and will continue to own it until somebody else grips the hilt. Two, it is now incapable of forgetting anything, so long as the dragon owns the sword- even if the sword is not being held or carried, or is kept locked in a vault miles away, even if magic is used to force the loss of memory (though certain powerful entities might be able to force it anyway- gods of memory, perhaps). Three, the dragon can will the sword to glow brightly; the light burns through deception and deceitful magic, and anything written down that the light falls on can be read and understood by the sword's holder, with the possible exception of very unusual and esoteric languages.

Four, the jian is a gift, and the dragon's use of the weapon will be observed and judged, and if the entity feels it is being misused, it will be taken away again.

[Shadowcaller]

Isolated Hilltop

Ah, yes. She had figured something like this would happen. But she had also figured that it wasn't cursed either, and as it turns out, she was right on both accounts.

While the effects, assuming the sword didn't lie being rather antithetical to its purpose, seemed useful, she couldn't help but to wonder why it came in the shape of a sword. Swords were made with one specific purpose, to hurt people. She supposed it could be symbolic for 'cutting through lies and deceit', but wouldn't a lantern be more appropiate then? It just seemed to her that unless the sword was used to hurt people, it would be 'misused'.

Perhaps she would be able to find someone better suited for this, or she would find a use for it herself. Either way, she was keeping it for now.
Grabbing it with her claws, the dragon takes off with the sword and flies away.

[Deathkeeper]

Galleon Rock

"Go to the glowing door, that seems like the more important one." Jace hollers as he jumps onto the bear.

He hasn't really ridden anything except when switching roles with Zebes so he can only hope that the two of them can hang on.

[Shadowcaller]

Galleon Rock

Anika the bear growls and heads for the glowing door then. Jace better be right about this one, and he also better hold on since this bear isn't messing around. Straight for the exit, baby!

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Down the glowing hallway!

The source of the glow soon becomes quite apparent. A large chamber looms before our heroes, decorated with stone slabs, milling skeletons, and a pile of corpses heaped on a corner.

Oh.

And an evil-looking alter made of contorted bone that's pulsing with sickly green light. At the top of the alter is what can only be called a tear in reality itself, a gaping wound in the face of the universe dripping brownish-black goop the consistency of molasses. The skeletons have a line set up, heaving bodies from one to another before tossing them atop the alter. Upon landing, the flesh is rent into the rift while the remaining bones are warped into part of the unnatural edifice of impossible angles and fluted, alien geometries.

Howard the Necromancer is standing near the alter, shrieking in maniacal fits of laughter. Though, sadly, he seems to be lucid enough to recognize a potential threat. "Fools, you are too late, m'yes! I have already solved the riddle, m'yes! I have expanded my mind beyond the feeble limits of mortal understanding, m'yes! Already I have unlocked the secret of reanimating dead tissue and soon I will step beyond the veil into eternity itself, m'yes!"

And with that, he begins chanting while several skeletons move to interpose themselves between our heroes and Howard. That gross pile of corpses is twitching a bit, too. Which might be bad.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace blinks.
"You sound like a lich I vaporized once." he says flatly.
I'm feeling some doubt, Zebes. And when in doubt...
Then he lobs a little red orb high into the air. If nothing intercepts it, it'll fall squarely on the necromancer's head where it'll explode in a large, fiery blast.
Necromancers so often forget about basic defensive spells.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Villains, always so egocentric, thinking everyone is out to stop them.

But since they happened to come by... why not?

She is going to wait until Jace's red orb does its work before making any move though. Hopefully, that was the real necromancer and not some dumb illusion. Those lone wizard types seemed to like those for some reason.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

As Jace tosses the fireball into the air, Howard the Necromancer raises his staff and utters a few guttural, mystic words in defiance of the spell! There's a brief clashing of magical power followed by a sizzling POP as the fireball fizzles.

Stupid counterspell! The skeletons, meanwhile, begin firing upon our heroes with not particularly great bows! Probably a good idea to take cover if you happen to not be a bear made of wood. Arrows are pretty hazardous otherwise. That gross pile of corpses is twitching even more, now. Hopefully it isn't going to suddenly transform into some undead giant or something. That would be terrible.

Howard continues his cackling, now turning his attention toward the alter as he intones some awful mystic formula.

"Y'AI 'NG'NGAH, SOMBALET H'EE—L'GEB F'AI THRODOG UAAAH!"

There comes a sickening, wet sucking sound from the rift followed by a wave of unnatural humidity that will likely leave our heroes feeling sticky and gross. Like stepping into muggy summer heat. Except the heat is crawling with giant amoebas that decide to start slithering on you.

"Too late, m'yes! Now you fools shall witness my ascension into godho-"

With a gross PLORP a mass of molassesy goop is disgorged from the rift on top of the alter, oozing down it like the worst smelling chocolate fondue ever. The rift then promptly ceases to exist.

"What."

Howard is confused!

"WHAT! WHAT!? NO! I'm supposed to be a god now!" the necromancer shrieks as he begins pounding his fists against the alien alter, gashing his flesh against the fluted surface.

Howard hurt himself in his confusion!

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace assumes the normal stance of a magic user in situations like this.
He hops off the bear, takes cover behind her, and puts up his force-shield ring above him and Zebes as an umbrella. Once their volley is over he jumps out, assumes Doctor Strange's rock-horns pose Dammit Zebes that's not what it is!, and sends a number of large lightning bolts to all of the skeletons within 30 feet of him.

Hopefully he doesn't need to do this more than once a day because he actually can't.

Meanwhile, Zebes turns invisible and tries to sneak around the battlefield to the necromancer.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Wait, the stumbled into god stuff? There wasn't near enough foreshadowing for that!

It was like tripping over a manabomb on your way to the bathroom. You never expected to find something that dangerous there.

Nonetheless, Anika the bear closes her eyes and weathers out the arrow storm. While her 'fur' was tough, feeling arrows bouncing off and shatter against it wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling.
Once she feels the arrows have started coming, playtime was now officially over. This madman was going down.
So she charges straight at him, attempting to maul the necromancer.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

You know what toasts skeletons really well?

Lightning bolts.

Many of the skeletons are blasted to ash. The rest move to dogpile on the barkbear when she goes charging past. This may or may not actually slow her down much, but at least they get points for effort. They also try raking her with their bony fingers, but that may not be very effective. Her first bearslap nails the reedy-looking necromancer, causing him to stagger back a few steps whilst proving that the guy is WAY more hearty than he looks. The second swipe strikes a shimmering screen of force that suddenly springs up between he and the bear.

"This is your fault! YOUR FAULT, M'YES! Your fault that my ritual has been ruined and now you shall DIE, M'YES!" the necromancer shrieks as he thrusts his staff toward Mrs Bear, sending an oily black bolt of energy sizzling toward her. Should it strike, it'll cause the area around the point of impact to rot while inhibiting healing, magical or otherwise.

The gross blob of goop on top of the later twitches a bit.

Which may or may not be an ominous foreshadowing of some kind.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace wants to help, but he can't do much with a force field in front of the mage and a bear in front of him too, so instead he moves up and begins preparing a blast on that pile of goop that's definitely going to need blasting.

In the meantime, there is suddenly a Dragonite behind the necromancer! He better be careful or else he's going to be hit in the back of the neck with THUNDERPUNCH! "Gooo!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Welp, Anika the bear just have to endure. She takes the brunt of the bolt with her head, people back home always told her she was thick headed so so might as well use it. But even the magical blast discharges, and the bark skin start to rot, she endures and keeps charging towards the necromancer. She will attempt to maul his throat with a loud roar, not even noticing the big dragon-thing that suddenly appeared behind him.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

You know what happens when a guy named Howard gets clobbered from two sides at once? Well, first that force barrier manages to hold off the barkbear. But then he goes and gets brained from behind by Zebes, causing him to get smashed face first into the wall he created. As if that weren't unpleasant enough, the lapse in concentration causes the barrier to falter, which in turn ends in a bunch of messy bear mauling. Poor Howard gets his throat ripped out and staggers back a few steps, gurgling as the whole front side of him is stained crimson.

Very messy.

His blood burns creepy looking runes into the floor where it falls, similar light blazing on the gross corpse-heap on the other side of the room.

In spite of the horrific damage, he whirls around with his free-hand, aiming to grab Zebes right on his oversized dragon-belly. Should the attack strike true, his hand will flare with foul power and drain some of Zebe's vitality in a desperate gambit to staunch his own bleeding.

And as if things weren't bad enough already?

Something pops out of the pile of goop that plopped onto the alter.

It... well... it's probably absolutely nothing like what Jace may have been expecting as far as otherworldly horrors being vomited out of wounds in reality go.

It's a lamb.

A perfectly normal lamb, in fact.

Smallish and white and wooly. Though it's hard to tell exactly how many legs and wings and arms it has. It's also hard to tell if they're in precisely the right spots. But it's plain to tell that it has more eyes and horns than anything aught to have. And surely there's nothing odd about ribbons of spidery alien language flowing around it, filling the air with half-heard whispers of unspeakable truths from which reality itself shrinks away. All of these insights might cause one to briefly wonder why they ever thought it was a perfectly normal lamb, though such thoughts may be quickly dismissed since that's clearly what it is.

"Expression of relief! That was very proximal. Or close? That idiom escapes me," the completely normal lamb says. "My passing was fortunate! Someone opened a pore in this world's [untranslatable]. There is no need for accolades, I have contracted it for you so as to prevent your goods and services from being subsumed." The totally unremarkable creature begins taking stock of its surroundings, its attention falling on Jace. "Salutations, flatlander! I am attempting to communicate with you via meat-noises. Do you comprehend my sounds?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Belly? What belly?
There's certainly no belly on the tiny dragon that's standing on the floor, much too low to be grabbed by a necromancer without him bending over. Zebes shuts down all telepathic activity and scuttles away, claws clicking.

"Um. Yes. That is a thing that happened. Who are you and why are you here?" he asks, trying to be polite so he doesn't have his mind wrenched from reality.
Great. A Far Thing. Jace has been lucky to not have ever run into these things in earnest. He's never even needed to use his Amnesiac potion except for Geneva. Or was she Fortuna at that point? It's hard to remember.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Zebes must have been working out.

"Lose your dragonite beer belly in 30 days!"

As the necromancer fall to the floor, Anika changes back into her humanoid shape in an attempt to dispel the rot currently effecting her with a arcane gesture. Otherwise she is going to be in big trouble considering she couldn't heal herself now.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Mrs Bear manages to remove the rotting curse without too much trouble, thankfully.

Howard topples over when Zebes gets lil', leaving him floundering on the floor for a few moments before falling still. With any luck, that's the end of Howard the Necromancer.

Though...

Our heroes might have bigger things to worry about now.

Like that absolutely unremarkable lamb on top of the bone-altar.

"I expressed that already?" the creature retorts. "Maybe I made the meat-sounds wrong. I will attempt again! A pore was opened in your crust? and I closed it. It was fortuitous that a flatlander was tugging on my star, otherwise I may not have noticed the leak. It is not often to find open pores in a flatland's crust? and I found myself overcome with discovery! So I sent a fingers? through the pore while I closed it to investigate. I have only found an open pore twice prior and I was not aware that flatlands do not have layers. It was quite disastrous. But I have learned since then and now I am here without disaster! Would you like to exchange recipes?"

That's...

Umm.

An explanation of some kind maybe?

The creepy glow on the pile of corpses is growing steadily more livid.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Zebes shortly rejoins Jace on his shoulder, watching the lamb.
"Ah, you own the 'star' that he was trying to tap into. So uh, what sort of recipe are you talking about. And uh, is that part of your finger?" Jace asks, pointing at the glowy pile that he thinks should not be glowing.

That seems very bad.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Phew. Anika breathes out and makes more gestures which causes green energy to wash over her, healing her injuries.
Finally, she turns to the conversation at hand.

...


Yeah, she would be of no help there. The only interaction she did with entities like that these days were mauling and blasting. She never planned to actually talk with the things. Mostly they just babbled on about how everyone's heart would explode and friends betraying you, not that great a conversation.

Instead, she turns to the glow-y pile that Jace is pointing out (she had to ask about that big dragon later...) could that be something she could punch?

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

"There is a great deal of debate over why flatlanders tug stars. Prevailing consensus suggests parasitism for reproductive cycles," the totally normal lamb replies helpfully. "However! I am left pondering uncertainty. It is hard to fit? in a flatland, but I am a fractal perceptoid? which makes me saucy?"

It takes the completely mundane creature a few moments to properly interpret the meaning of Jace's gesture.

"That is biomass, it is not fingers?. You are also biomass. Have you noticed that your air is very thin? It is uncomfortable to breath it and I think that it does not enjoy my company?" the critter observes as it begins fizzling like a wound with hydrogen peroxide dumped on it. "The biomass is metabolizing power tugged from my star. I believe it is attempting to do a thing."

And then it does a thing!

The heap of corpses suddenly surges upward, melding and warping and cracking and popping until the result isn't terribly dissimilar to a certain awful movie alien that harassed scientists in the Arctic.

"Yes, that is a thing," the lamb confirms.

"You are fools, m'yes!" the corpse-heap booms. "I already told you I have mastered reanimation, m'yes! And now I have a being of unfathomed power summoned from beyond eternity to do my bidding, m'yes! Now my minion, destroy them, m'yes!"

In a display of alien power and incomprehensible eldritch magic, the lamb slips off the top of the bone alter, goes sliding down the side, and collides into the wall with an, "Uuf! Friction has betrayed me!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace! Jace! You have to say the line!
"I can't believe you would give me a bigger target!" Jace declares, angrily snapping his fingers. yaaaaaaas "Disintegrate."
Then he shoots a tiny green laser that disintegrates large areas of unliving matter at the monstrosity. While Zebes snickers.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Punch- oh.
Eh, screw it. Anika gestures at the pile and fires off a mighty sunbeam as well. Jace could probably finish this alone, but perhaps she could help just a bit.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

You know what the best way to deal with horrors cobbled together with necromancy and foul power from beyond eternity?

Magical laser beams, obviously.

The air is filled with an awful sizzling scent as the horror is blasted away! Well, not completely blasted away. It's still sitting there being awful. Giant amalgamations of awfulness and flesh have lots of hit points? Who knew! The amalgam lashes out at our heroes with a tendril of flesh studded with splintered bone, looking to cause them unwelcome physical trauma! They had best not let it do that.

"Go'loch en tag marusheen tagmara no-"

Oh.

And it's starting a guttural invocation that's making Zebe's teeth itch. They might want to stop that, too.

"Ah! Why am I accelerating in an arbitrary direction!" the totally normal lamb laments, apparently unaware of what gravity is. Seems it tried floating up into the air and found it to be impossible.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace dives aside, landing hard on his left shoulder but avoiding being crushed by a tendril. Teeth gritted through pain, he and Zebes shout a seven-syllable chant and point at the undead monstrosity.
Fwoosh!

A jet of flame washed over the area in its direction. He'd like to see it chant when its bones are ashes.

[Mee]

Little Lake Somewhere

[Closed scene?]

Well, somewhere around Outside there is a lovely little lake. It's in a clearing in a forest, rather away from everything. This lake also happens to be Grace's home away from home, and she is here once again, mostly asleep on a folding beach chair, simply soaking in the sun, and enjoying the warmth of the afternoon.
She's human, of maybe 5'4", and appears to be in her early twenties. She has about shoulder-length, incredibly vibrant red hair, a tan that would imply she's out here snoozing in the sun fairly often, and a picnic basket of snacks nearby.

[Celticbear]

Little Lake Somewhere

[Sure, Closed Scene]

Jonas Sinclair, the once man now machine, stands at a dizzying eight feet tall. His helmet has two shades, white and gray, which create a sort of "ying yang" symbol, and has two beady brown eyes looking out of it. His torso, mostly purple in color, has many interconnected wires running all about it. From his torso are two mechanical black arms, each with four fingers each (more like mini tentacles if you ask some people). Two robotic legs, bent backward at the knee, creak and clank as he walks through the forest.

Really need to oil these things. Annoying, grumbles Jonas in a voice that sounds as if John Cramer and Darth Vader had some deformed love child.

As he gets closer to the little lake, he doesn't notice Grace until he is almost on top of her. When he does notice Grace, he lets out a small grunt, though it is still kind of loud.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Anika had never been good at dodging, so instead she turns into something that can take the blow.

In a flurry of feathers, a clawed hand suddenly attempts to grab the tendril as it comes lashing out against the druid and an empowered flare of solar energy so hot that it might set fire to the tendril, a fire which is then directed to go along the length of it, directly back to the base.

It appears Anika have turned into a weird falcon-eyed (http://dreamicus.com/data/falcon/falcon-06.jpg) creature with a beak for a mouth and claws of a bear. It is covered in a mix of feathers and fur with antlers crowning its head.

*Squack*

How... impressive.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Okay.

Yeah.

This is a bit more than the giant flesh heap can handle. Like, seriously. That is a whole bunch of fire. And while our villain is certainly a pretty durable dude, this is just too much for him to hang on. With an awful shriek, the runes covering the corpse pile begin to flicker in time with the pinprick that remains of the void portal. And then in a rather grisly display, the whole undead shambler gets sucked through the pinprick void portal as his hold on the far realm tainted flesh wavers.

Ever seen something the size of an elephant pulled through a rift the width of a hair?

Well.

Now you have!

With Howard the Necromancer well and truly gone, our heroes have completed their quest! And best of all, there were no serious complications to speak of resulting from him ripping at the fabric of reality!

"Bwah! What am I accelerating toward? Your campgrounds? make no contextual sense!"

No complications at all.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace lays back for a moment, breathing heavily, before he slowly gets up and makes sure he didn't dislocate his arm (he didn't).
After giving himself a moment to catch his breath and get rid of the colors swimming in his eyes, he can take a moment to answer the creature.
"Gravity pulls to the center of a world's core. That's how it works." he explains.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Victory!
The creature raises its arms into the air in triumph.
*squawk!*

Then she turns to Jace and... whatever that was. She was pretty sure you weren't supposed to talk to whatever that mage had summoned. Seemed pretty dangerous.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Technically, the necromancer didn't summon this absolutely unremarkable lamb. It came through the rift of its own volition and apparently (mostly) closed the rift on its way through. Had it not done so, the situation would likely be quite a bit worse than it is right now. And why would anyone think a totally mundane lamb would be dangerous? They're near the bottom of the dangerous animal list, ranking between bunnies and kittens.

"World?" the lamb replies in a fashion that suggest confusion. In fact, confusion is radiating from it now. It might be sorta confusing just being near it. "World.... world... Ah! A clot of matter spinning through an infinite expanse of nothing! Yes? You have provided me useful information. I will reciprocate. Feel free to make an inquiry of me and I will do my best to answer it."

The lamb rises to its hooves and beats its wings a few times, lifting slightly off the ground. This results in a feeling of irritation.

"Expression of malcontent! The sea? here is too thin to swim in. Whoever designed your world made it very strange," the critter states as it continues to fizzle like hydrogen peroxide on a wound. "And it still does not approve of my company? I should make a better anchor? so the world stops heckling? me."

Then it trots behind the alter-

-and steps out from behind Zebes,quizzically looking around.

"Most of your world is not living?, which is strange and also unsettling. I require bio-mass to make a new anchor? and wish to know if that mass in unused?" it inquires, gesturing at several of the corpses sitting near the alter. "I inquire because I learned on my last visit that sometimes flatlanders become insentient and I do not wish to cause undo distress."

[Green Elf]

[Mountain Hut]

Thanoc the dwarf leads Gary to his house in the mountains. At the bottom of one mountain which is indistinguishable from others, an arched door about five feet is seen. On the right of this door is a natural spring which is an obvious source of supplies.

The hut seems to have one problem; The door is blocked with solid stone. Gary will notice an oddly shaped indent in the wall. It is the shape of a battle axe but has odd indentations. The dwarf puts his axe in the door and then removes it, causing the stone to slide into the ground.

When inside, Gary will see a fire pit in the center of the room, with a crevice in the ceiling to let smoke escape from a tiny tunnel leading out of the house. He will also see a kitchen in the back and a large table. Monster heads are on plaques on the wall such as werewolves and strange lizardish heads. A door leads out each side of the room. One is Thanoc's room. This contains his personal supplies, weapons, bed, and other miscellaneous things. The other is a guest room with two bunk beds, in total housing four people. Chests are at the bottom of each bed. Various weapons are kept in this room; two longswords, a shortsword, a battle-axe, two hatchets, and a warhammer. Someone clearly does some killing.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace and Zebes both jump about a foot in the air, whirling around in surprise.
"Ok, uh, do you have something we can call you by?" Jace asks it.
"Only the three of us moving and you are alive, yes. You can...probably use those bodies, I guess. We can just tell the villagers we cremated the bodies..." says Zebes, unsure of that decision.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

It appeared while they were fighting the warlock, so in Anika's book, it is likely hostile. Not that it seemed to act as such, but they had just defeated its master so it was probably trying to trick them... or something.

*squawk?*

Oh, to the nether with this!

Anika changes back to her humanoid form. "Jace, I'm confused. First, have your familiar been able to talk this entire time? Second, why are you making friends with that... whatever it is?" Important questions, and she had not even asked why his familiar could turn into a dragon.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Yes.

Attempting to trick you.

That's clearly what this perfectly normal lamb is trying to do.

"The elves I met last time used the word 'Derelith' to refer to me. I believe it would translate to 'thing that ought not be' in your language," the lamb replies helpfully. "They called me that because your universe is imaginary? instead of being like a normal universe."

And then?

The lamb trots over to the heap of corpses and...

Well.

Something unspeakable happens.

We're not even going to try to describe it. One of those incomprehensible sorts of things. And since it's incomprehensible to the mortal mind, the mortal mind will likely ignore it the same way the mortal mind ignores perfectly rational dimensions like inways.

The lamb appears to be gone. Instead? There's a red-haired half-elf woman. And also a raven. And no corpses. Neither the woman nor the raven are wearing anything. The former is just standing there like a mannequin while the latter ruffles her feathers.

"Expression of excitement! This anchor? is already preventing your universe from heckling? me! That is desirable, as I do not wish to be dissolved," the perfectly normal bird (no, really) squawks. The 'anchor' continues standing there like an expressionless statue. Made of meat. Except that she happens to be talking in stereo with the bird. It's creepy as hell.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace looks a little sick, and really doesn't know how to respond to any of this.
"Okay, why did you make two bodies, and why didn't you even dress them? Only one of you needs to talk at once, we can hear you."
"What, of course I can talk. Why did you think I couldn't?" asks Zebes innocently. And Zebes has been a dragon the whole time! He can just turn into a different one.
Sssh! Don't antagonize it! Do you want it to start throwing its crazy mojo around? You saw what that wizard did just stealing power from it. Zebes whispers into her mind.

[8BitNinja]

[Mountain Hut]

Thanoc the dwarf leads Gary to his house in the mountains. At the bottom of one mountain which is indistinguishable from others, an arched door about five feet is seen. On the right of this door is a natural spring which is an obvious source of supplies.

The hut seems to have one problem; The door is blocked with solid stone. Gary will notice an oddly shaped indent in the wall. It is the shape of a battle axe but has odd indentations. The dwarf puts his axe in the door and then removes it, causing the stone to slide into the ground.

When inside, Gary will see a fire pit in the center of the room, with a crevice in the ceiling to let smoke escape from a tiny tunnel leading out of the house. He will also see a kitchen in the back and a large table. Monster heads are on plaques on the wall such as werewolves and strange lizardish heads. A door leads out each side of the room. One is Thanoc's room. This contains his personal supplies, weapons, bed, and other miscellaneous things. The other is a guest room with two bunk beds, in total housing four people. Chests are at the bottom of each bed. Various weapons are kept in this room; two longswords, a shortsword, a battle-axe, two hatchets, and a warhammer. Someone clearly does some killing.

Gary says "Thanks for letting me stay here." Do you know where I can clean myself?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Anika makes a grimace half way between disgust and confusion. She had no idea what was going on anymore. Now she was suddenly talking to a tiny... dragon? A tiny dragon that could turn into a larger dragon. Things made so much sense right now.
He did? So that's some sort of... demigod? In fact, who're you?! She recalled vaguely of a name being used. She hadn't paid much attention though.

[Green Elf]

Gary says "Thanks for letting me stay here." Do you know where I can clean myself?"

The dwarf laughs. "Go use the spring outside. No one's thar. Believe me."

[8BitNinja]

The dwarf laughs. "Go use the spring outside. No one's thar. Believe me."

Gary leaves and cleans himself and his clothes in the spring. After a while, he comes back with him and his uniform clean. He says "Thanks a lot. I hope I'm not being to much of a bother, but do you have any food and ammo? I'm kinda low on both."

[Green Elf]

Gary leaves and cleans himself and his clothes in the spring. After a while, he comes back with him and his uniform clean. He says "Thanks a lot. I hope I'm not being to much of a bother, but do you have any food and ammo? I'm kinda low on both."

The dwarf answers, "Aye, I've got plenty o' food, but I don't have tha ammo of yar's. Believe me, somebody has tha ammo tho."

[8BitNinja]

The dwarf answers, "Aye, I've got plenty o' food, but I don't have tha ammo of yar's. Believe me, somebody has tha ammo tho."

Gary says "I'll deal with being low on ammo. Can you please tell me where I can get some food?"

[Green Elf]

Gary says "I'll deal with being low on ammo. Can you please tell me where I can get some food?"

The dwarf walks back to the kitchen and opens a chest. There are plenty of salted meats in it, almost filling it to the brim. "Go ahead and take what you need."

[Mee]

Little Lake Somewhere

[Sure, Closed Scene]

Jonas Sinclair, the once man now machine, stands at a dizzying eight feet tall. His helmet has two shades, white and gray, which create a sort of "ying yang" symbol, and has two beady brown eyes looking out of it. His torso, mostly purple in color, has many interconnected wires running all about it. From his torso are two mechanical black arms, each with four fingers each (more like mini tentacles if you ask some people). Two robotic legs, bent backward at the knee, creak and clank as he walks through the forest.

Really need to oil these things. Annoying, grumbles Jonas in a voice that sounds as if John Cramer and Darth Vader had some deformed love child.

As he gets closer to the little lake, he doesn't notice Grace until he is almost on top of her. When he does notice Grace, he lets out a small grunt, though it is still kind of loud.

Grace's Li'l Lake

Well, the good news is that since Grace was only mostly dozing, she does eventually hear the clanking and creaking of Jonas' metal legs. Unfortunately, she doesn't really hear it and start to react until he's basically right next to her. Her eyes start to drift open slowly, and then Jonas' quietly loud grunt startles her into action.
Of course, this action is to 'Eep!' loudly, flail her arms a bit, and fall off her chair entirely and in such a way that it rolls over and lands on top of her.

". . . ow."

[Celticbear]

Grace's Li'l Pool

Jonas had instinctively raised on of his arms, releasing a purple energy blade of about four feet in length, but when he notices that the person he tripped over was not a slobbering alien monster, he quickly raises his arm and sheathes the blade. His eyes go distant for awhile, shakes his head, and offers a black, metallic hand to Grace, and says in that creepy robot voice: I didn't see you. Sorry I tripped over you.

[Mee]

Grace's Li'l Pool

Jonas had instinctively raised on of his arms, releasing a purple energy blade of about four feet in length, but when he notices that the person he tripped over was not a slobbering alien monster, he quickly raises his arm and sheathes the blade. His eyes go distant for awhile, shakes his head, and offers a black, metallic hand to Grace, and says in that creepy robot voice: I didn't see you. Sorry I tripped over you.

Grace's Lake

"Nooononono, that's fine! I was-" well. Actually. She really hadn't been in the way at all. And there had been no one here when she set up. "not paying any attention." She finishes, before getting herself up. She nodded a thanks for the offer for the hand up, but she chose not to accept it.

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake (Don't Know Why I Called It A Pool)


Jonas retracts the hand, there's that creak again. When was the last time he had himself oiled? Getting off topic, Jonas thinks. So, this your spot?

[8BitNinja]

The dwarf walks back to the kitchen and opens a chest. There are plenty of salted meats in it, almost filling it to the brim. "Go ahead and take what you need."

Gary eats some food and then packs some of it in his backpack. He says "Thanks for helping me out. I guess I'll be going now." With that, Gary leaves for the door.

[Mee]

Grace's Lake (Don't Know Why I Called It A Pool)

Jonas retracts the hand, there's that creak again. When was the last time he had himself oiled? Getting off topic, Jonas thinks. So, this your spot?

Grace's Lake

"Uhh. Y-yeah." Grace looks around a bit, and scratches at the back of her neck a bit, almost abashedly.
Of course, that has the added effect of her looking down.
"Oh. Right. Uh. I should get dressed. Would you turn around for a moment please?"

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake


For Jonas's credit, he hadn't been staring. Wasn't really any for that since specific unnamed organs had burned away on that fateful night. Jonas's head spins around 180 perfect degrees, though his body doesn't follow suit.

Immediately realizing how creepy that was, Jonas quickly says: Um, it's way easier to just spin around my head. This body isn't that... dexterous.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

"But you have two bodies?" the completely normal bi- Wait. No. That's still a lamb. Draped across the woman's shoulders. Okay, that's probably a little bit odd, at least. "The large pink one and the small flying one. Isn't that typical? To have more than one body?"

Ah, see.

That's a perfectly normal misunderstanding.

How was she supposed to know that Jace and Zebes are two different creatures that share a mental link rather than the same creature?

You've gone and confused her, Jace.

You should have been more considerate.

"Where does one get clothes?"

[Mee]

Grace's Lake


For Jonas's credit, he hadn't been staring. Wasn't really any for that since specific unnamed organs had burned away on that fateful night. Jonas's head spins around 180 perfect degrees, though his body doesn't follow suit.

Immediately realizing how creepy that was, Jonas quickly says: Um, it's way easier to just spin around my head. This body isn't that... dexterous.

Grace's Lake

He might not have been staring, but it's the principle of the thing!

"That. Uh. Well then. That's quite a party trick." Grace comments, while pulling her clothing back on. "Sooo. Robot?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace groans.
"No, the three of us here are all totally separate entities. Zebes and I are not one person, even though we're bonded magically." he tries to explain calmly.
You don't remember my name? I'm hurt. Well, Jace just said it. I got no idea what it is. But it scares the scales off'a me. mental-whispers Zebes.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Pink? Was it talking about her or something else? She was pretty sure she wasn't pink.
...whatever, she had to focus on Zebes now.
I'm not good with names. She admits. So it is something indescribably horrible? I get you.
It's not really acting as one though.

"Yes, I'm certainly not a part of them. I'm Anika. Not magically bonded to anyone." She tries to explain, it didn't seem hostile at the very least?

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

"Oh," the lamb and woman reply in unison, looking slightly disappointed by this. Obviously she made a mistake, jumping to a conclusion that was incorrect about her observations. Clearly this won't be a common problem in the future and she'll make sure to fully understand situations better.

Okay, no.

That won't happen.

She'll continue to be mostly clueless and it'll continue to be hilarious.

"But now I have already created an anchor? and removing it would result in deportation? I should only make meat-noises from one body at once? Would that make me appear more typical?" the pair ask, which is a completely normal thing for a typical person to ask.

Clearly.

"I am still uncertain where to acquire 'clothes'," she adds. Only the woman this time around.

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

He might not have been staring, but it's the principle of the thing!

"That. Uh. Well then. That's quite a party trick." Grace comments, while pulling her clothing back on. "Sooo. Robot?"

Worse: mangled human, retorts Jonas. "Comedy equals tragedy plus time right? Wait, why am I questioning my every statement?" thinks Jonas. if his cheeks weren't burnt to cinders, he'd probably be blushing.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

"I mean, you should probably just go home. We don't really have much to offer you." Jace tries, going through his bag of holding and finding a loose pair of shorts and a shirt, but really hoping this horrible far-thing just goes away soon.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Anchor? Deportation?

Just what kind of inter-dimensional horror was this?

"Yeah, uh, I don't think this place have much to offer you. I wouldn't want to be in your home, so why would you want to be in ours?"

[Mee]

Worse: mangled human, retorts Jonas. "Comedy equals tragedy plus time right? Wait, why am I questioning my every statement?" thinks Jonas. if his cheeks weren't burnt to cinders, he'd probably be blushing.

Grace's Lake

"Oh no!" Grace exclaims, covering her mouth with one hand, a look of horror on her face. "Nooo. No it doesn't equal out to comedy. And why are you questioning yourself?"

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lil Lake


Jonas's eyes suddenly widen. Could this girl read minds? If so, how? Could it be magic? If it was magic, Jonas thinks, he's running the other way extremely quickly. Only one way for sure to see if she could read minds, Jonas thinks.

I'M THINKING OF A NUMBER, Jonas thinks but doesn't say, THE NUMBER IS FOUR.

[Mee]

Grace's Lil Lake


Jonas's eyes suddenly widen. Could this girl read minds? If so, how? Could it be magic? If it was magic, Jonas thinks, he's running the other way extremely quickly. Only one way for sure to see if she could read minds, Jonas thinks.

I'M THINKING OF A NUMBER, Jonas thinks but doesn't say, THE NUMBER IS FOUR.

Grace's Lake

Uh oh. She hadn't realized that the thoughts she had been reading had been thoughts. She didn't notice that they didn't have text color, and erroneously replied to the wrong stuff.
WHAT TO DO OH NO PANIC MODE ACTIVATE.

"Uhhhh do you eat? I have a picnic basket of stuff if you'd like. I also probably have something we could use as oil, if you want to try to stop the joint creaking."

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

I don't eat, and the oil would be great, says Jonas.

[Mee]

Grace's Lake

I don't eat, and the oil would be great, says Jonas.

The Lake Grace Visits A Bunch

"Yeah, of course!" With that, Grace kneels down and opens her picnic basket. She pulls out a bag from one side of it, opens it, and start digging through it. She comes out with a tube of a dark, dark reddish black something. "Thiiiis should do the trick really well. It's not perfect, but I wasn't expecting to have to lubricate joints and hinges today." With that, she offers him the tube of thick paste.

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

Jonas grabs the tube, opens his chest, and deposits a few globs inside. Jonas then sits now, except now there isn't a creak.

I apologize if I offset you. Sometimes I think Banshee put me in this thing just so I could star in a horror movie rather than run a business.

[Mee]

Grace's Lake

Jonas grabs the tube, opens his chest, and deposits a few globs inside. Jonas then sits now, except now there isn't a creak.

I apologize if I offset you. Sometimes I think Banshee put me in this thing just so I could star in a horror movie rather than run a business.

Grace's Lake

"Oh. Not at all. You're all fine." Grace replies, and would take the tube back if it were offered to her. "Who's Banshee? And do you run a business?"

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

Banshee was... a colleague of mine. Ran the military side of the operation. See I wasn't born in the Nexus, I came here. Back where I'm from Alien invasion is a huge threat. It's a complicated mess of trouble, but the long and short of it is that I run a military organization. I'm currently doing some outsourcing. Been travelling from place to place looking for people who want to join. I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. I'm Jonas Sinclair. I'm the head of Biological R&D in the aforementioned military organization. I make men live longer, heal better, fight better, and above all look good doing it. Who're you? states Jonas.

After talking with Jonas for a while, it seems that he has a slight southern accent but one that has weathered away over the years.

[Mee]

Grace's Lake

Banshee was... a colleague of mine. Ran the military side of the operation. See I wasn't born in the Nexus, I came here. Back where I'm from Alien invasion is a huge threat. It's a complicated mess of trouble, but the long and short of it is that I run a military organization. I'm currently doing some outsourcing. Been travelling from place to place looking for people who want to join. I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. I'm Jonas Sinclair. I'm the head of Biological R&D in the aforementioned military organization. I make men live longer, heal better, fight better, and above all look good doing it. Who're you? states Jonas.

After talking with Jonas for a while, it seems that he has a slight southern accent but one that has weathered away over the years.

Grace's Lake

"I'm sorry to hear that." Grace frowns. Alien invasions didn't sound fun at all. In fact, possibly the exact opposite of fun. "Oh, I'm. I'm Grace. I play with chemicals. What sort of things specifically have you done in your R&D? You mentioned living longer and all, but nothing suuuper specific?"

[Celticbear]

If Jonas could blink, he would. It would be a visible sign of fear. Even still, one could feel him radiating fear. Oh the things he's done indeed.

The closest approximation of the kind of soldiers I make would be... a lesser version of a space marine. I wish I was as organized as they are. back home all we can do is huddle and occasionally shot guns at interlopers. Place is mess.

[Mee]

If Jonas could blink, he would. It would be a visible sign of fear. Even still, one could feel him radiating fear. Oh the things he's done indeed.

The closest approximation of the kind of soldiers I make would be... a lesser version of a space marine. I wish I was as organized as they are. back home all we can do is huddle and occasionally shot guns at interlopers. Place is mess.

Grace's Lake

"That . . . oof. Well, good thing you're away from it now?" Is just about all she can think to offer to that.

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

"That . . . oof. Well, good thing you're away from it now?" Is just about all she can think to offer to that.

That it is, Jonas retorts.

You said you worked with chemicals, what sort?

[Mee]

That it is, Jonas retorts.

You said you worked with chemicals, what sort?

Grace's Lake

"Basically everything I can get my hands on. Nothing radioactive though. That doesn't sound like anything fun to deal with."

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

The totally normal female humanoid accepts the clothing and begins puzzling over how to put them on. She isn't making much headway thus far. But there's a good chance she figure it out eventually!

"I'm here to learn things!" the lamb replies. "I've exhausted my ability to learn new things about your world from inways? and so now I'm here walking on the substrate! Learning new things is very important because otherwise I get very hungry? Also; I find interacting with tiny people interesting. It is a useful way to gain new perspectives and thus learn new things. I do that back home, too, with the tiny people who live inside a single layer. But your world does not have layers! I learned that previously from a different world, so this time I fragmented? myself and arrived as a fellow tiny people."

If nothing else, the being isn't overtly malicious.

Though...

It's possible that might be a trick of some kind.

"Also also;" the lamb adds. "Another multi-layer perceptoid finds the composition of your world disagreeable and wishes to repair? it. That process would likely be undesirable for all the tiny people who live here as well as ruining my research. So I will endeavor to prevent that from taking place while I learn things."

Okay, that sounds bad.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

"Well, uh, you go do that? I don't think you need us for that research, so...." Jace would like to just get his loot and go. Metaphysical things like this are best left alone. Don't think about them too hard.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

What a coincidence, neither does Anika.

"I be frank, I didn't really get much of that. This must be another of those nexus things that I don't get so I don't think I'll be much of a help with that either. New here myself, you know?" She admits.

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

"But you've already helped!" the totally normal lamb replies as the woman finally figures out how to apply clothing. "But if you don't want to help anymore, I won't continue making sweaters? with you. I shall find other things to learn about, farewell!"

...

They're gone.

Not like POOF!

Or flash of light.

Or... anything, really.

Just gone.

Not like, gone from reality. More like just suddenly somewhere else. But at least that means Jace and Anika don't have to endure it being odd at them anymore? Though someone else likely does. Maybe letting that thing run off on its own wasn't the best idea?

Regardless!

If our heroes search the main chamber they'll find a large pirate-y looking treasure chest in an alcove behind a tapestry. The top is open, and it is clearly full of loots! Glorious, glorious loots. Aside from the assorted gems, coins, paper bills, strings of shells, and completely immaterial electronic currency, there are several objects of power. A small torc made of bone, a wand made of some strange black stone that oozes thick green slime, an orb sparkling as with starlight, and a left handed leather glove/bracer with an azure stone set in the palm.

Our heroes will get the distinct impression that they should only take ONE of the magical objects each.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace and Zebes exchange a glance with Anika at the same time, and decide to not even comment on what transpired.
Far Things are very odd.

After stuffing their bottomless bag with their half of the monetary spoils, Jace and Zebes bicker silently for a few minutes (Anika can probably tell, due to them both still gesticulating and moving their heads as they converse).
Eventually Jace settles on the orb, because worst case scenario he can hang it in Khannie's room as a nice nightlight.

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

"Basically everything I can get my hands on. Nothing radioactive though. That doesn't sound like anything fun to deal with."

I mean unless you're in a hazmat suit. And you use prongs. And don't mind cancer. Even still it's risky. "jokes" Jonas.

[Mee]

I mean unless you're in a hazmat suit. And you use prongs. And don't mind cancer. Even still it's risky. "jokes" Jonas.

Grace's Lake

"Yeaaaaaah. Yeah I'm good without it. I'll just play with everything else. Seems safer, and just more fun over all."

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

A lone traveler hustles through the spooky forest. Gnarled, blackened branches arch over what little could be called a path. Little but thorns, branches, and rocks seem to choke this region, and that's certainly daunting for our traveler. Dressed in long, draping clothes that cover the face and neck, they do seem to be overdressed for the cool, Autumn air. But that's not important. What's important is getting somewhere safe.
Wherever that is.

[closed scene]

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

Wait.

Wait, really?

Long, flowing attire in a spooky forest full of grasping vines and raking thorns?

That's just asking for trouble. Like, getting your clothing torn up sort of trouble.

See?

Some brambles caught the outfit just now. Probably tore a big gash in it, too. What an awful choice for wearing when fleeing through the Black Forest. Unless, of course, it wasn't a choice at all. Sometimes a person doesn't have any choice in what they're wearing or what they look like. Especially when someone or something else is pulling the strings. But that's not what's going on at all, is it? Just your average, normal, billowy cloak wearing person hustling through an enchanted forest.

Did we fail to mention the forest was enchanted?

We probably should have.

That's an important point. Pretty major hazard, that. Someone should really put up a sign or something.

Because any time someone steps into an Enchanted Forest, they're passing into an unknown realm of liminality and transformation. And if they're really lucky, that's a figurative transformation meaning 'growing wiser' or 'coming of age' rather than 'get turned into a deer'.

Wonder which one it'll be this time?

As the traveler flees deeper, the sunlight gradually wains until the forest floor is suffused in an uncanny twilight wherein it is both lightless and yet plainly visible. A soothing warmth suffice the wood, a lulling sense of comfort in spite of the pounding horror clutching at the heart. A smothering sensation of unseen malice waiting just beyond the edge of perception married to a dulling of the senses. Something is lurking in this forest. Something hungry. Something hunting. Something-

"Ooooga booga booga!" shouts a hideous knee-high goblin as it leaps atop a log along the traveler's path, no doubt trying to startle them enough to stumble.

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

Our traveler suffers a nasty gash in the bottom of their outfit, on their leg. They press on, oblivious to enchantments, feelings, and oncoming goblins.
They cry out with a wordless shout, and jump back, off balance and teetering in surprise.

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

"You were supposed to fall over!" the goblin shouts in transparent rage as it stomps a tantrum in a little withershins circle atop its log. He seems very upset by this development. "You were supposed to fall over, you're doing it wrong! You were supposed to fall over and crack your head on those jagged rocks!"

There are, in fact, several suitably jagged rocks sticking out of the trail not to far ahead. Nasty, pointy looking things. If one looks close, they might even spy some rusty stains on them...

As for the goblin, it is a thoroughly unpleasant little creature. It's flesh and face are eerily reminiscent of a jack-o-lanturn that has been left out on the porch a few weeks too many, complete with a stem-like horn sticking out of the top of its head and curving in at an odd angle. The thing is otherwise humanoid-shaped, aside from its sagging, corpulent countenance. It's also wearing a bright red jacket with shiny brass buttons and a pair of black trousers. No hat, though. That's a good sign. When you encounter a goblin wearing a hat, that's either a bad sign or a REALLY bad sign.

"Why have you got to do it wrong? You have you got to make this hard, huh? HUH?" the goblin demands of the traveler, jabbing a sausage-like finger at them.

Geeze.

Calm down, guy.

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

The traveler, who does not have any interest in suffering cranial damage which would be potentially lethal. So they are quite happy to have not cracked their head on the rocks.

What they do instead, when confronted by a gross, fat, and grossly fat goblin?

They run away, of course. Running!

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

Running is probably wise.

"Hey! Come back here!" huffs the goblin as it leaps off its log and gives chase! Of course, the grotesque little creature is plainly out of shape and doesn't manage to keep up for long. Pretty soon to jogs to a halt, puffing and yelling obscenities after the traveler.

Well!

That's one obstacle overcome.

But there's always another.

Before long, the traveler will come upon a new sight. It would appear as though some guy got his leg caught in a snare, and now he's dangling awkwardly between heaven and earth from a lash bound tight around his ankle.

The bait that caught him?

A box of crumb donuts.

"Hey," he calls out, doing his best to remain casual whilst hanging upside down. "I, uh, I don't suppose you could give me a hand? It was probably a bit on the stupid side to fall for this, but I figured the risk was worth it when crumb donuts were on the line."

He has a good point. Crumb donuts ARE pretty amazing. The guy in question looks pretty normal, as far as humans go. Though something about him isn't quite right. Hard to place one's finger on, though. The traveler is met with a choice. Continue to flee? Or help a stranger in need here in the Enchanted Forest?

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

The person in the hood looks back to the goblin waaaaaay over there and then back to this seemingly not-a-goblin in front of them.
They scurry over behind the man and start fiddling with the knot on the leg. The idea that the person themselves could be a trap doesn't occur to them.

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

Well!

That's certainly kind of them, helping a stranger out like that in the middle of an enchanted forest. Of course, maybe they've heard a few of the stories that take place in enchanted forests and know that helping the stranger is a good way to gain a boon that will save you later on when you encounter whatever lurking danger you're supposed to be vanquishing.

Is the traveler here to vanquish any lurking dangers?

Maybe they aren't.

Maybe they're just here for a jog?

Though that's a pretty odd outfit to be wearing for a jog.

Regardless, the snare takes a bit of effort to undo. As soon as the tension is released, the branch the snare was attached to snaps back upright as that guy gets dumped on his-

Oh.

Wait.

He's not getting dumped on his face at all.

He's just kind of... hovering there. Exactly where he was while the snare was attached to his leg.

"Oh wow, thanks, that's a ton better," the guy says, flexing his leg a few times whilst hovering upside down. Then he rights himself by rotating his whole body deosil such that his face is stabilized at the center. Then, still being a few feet off the ground, he slowly settles to the path. It probably looks pretty strange. He then makes a vague gesture at the box of donuts, causing it to snap up into his hands, whereupon he'll pull one out and offer it to the traveler. "Doughnut? These are probably my favorite as far as the pre-packaged ones go. Usually I go for old-fashioned, but pre-packaged old fashioned doughnuts never taste right, you know? The frosting always has this weird waxy texture to it."

This is all very strange.

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

With a hesitant body-language, the person tries to take the donut from the strange man, gobbling it up from under that hood.
There's nothing that could possibly be wrong with fattening foods from a box in an enchanted wood.
Nothing!

Though the person does stare at the fellow a bit. What's he doing here?

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

Nope.

Nothing wrong with that at all.

The doughnut tastes... well. Like a crumb doughnut. Specifically one of those Hostess crumb doughnuts that comes in a little plastic wrapper. These ones are bigger, however, and inside a box instead. Important distinction.

That guy stares back.

What are THEY doing here?

Perfectly valid question for either.

"Not even a 'thank you'? No, 'thank you kind sir, your gift of empty calories has renewed my stamina," he says, trying to add as much faux self-pity into his tone as possible. Which is all clearly a joke. He isn't terribly offended at all in the first place. "Haha, yeah, I know that look. 'What are you doing in an enchanted forest full of goblins and elfs and stuff.' Well my hypothetical enquirer, I'm glad you asked. I need more frogs to finish my zoology practical exam, otherwise I won't be able to get to the train on time. And obviously I saw those doughnuts and decided to stop for a quick bite."

...what?

"So same question, right back at you. What are YOU doing in an enchanted forest full of goblins and elfs and stuff?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

The person gestures at their face, and then points to where their mouth is.
Someone stole their voice!
And possibly also their identity.
They have to track down the terrible being responsible for this!

[Celticbear]

Grace's Lake

"Yeaaaaaah. Yeah I'm good without it. I'll just play with everything else. Seems safer, and just more fun over all."

Jonas seems to space out during this line. If Grace is good people reader, she can see that Jonas is reflecting on past events. Past events that part of him clearly does not wish to share, yet another part of Jonas yearns to tell someone, anyone, of his turmoil. All Jonas says though after this moment of reflection: Hm? Oh, yes, fun. Genetics is a bit less fun though. One miscalculation, and you could accidentally create "Cthulhu on Ice" in human form.

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

"Someone stole your identity? Great. Just fantastic. How am I supposed to turn in my exam if my lab partner's name isn't on it, too?" the guy bewails. There's... some logic to what he's saying. But it's the tenuous sort of logic one tends to find dreams populated with. Considering that this is an enchanted forest this probably shouldn't come as TOO much of a shock.

Of course...

This all means the guy might be a fae of some kind. Though more likely he's a Dreamer. Whether or not he's Lucid remains to be seen.

"You really should be more careful about phishing scams," he chides the traveler. "That's how they get you. Make you think you're signing into a legitimate web-site, only to steal all your information! It's pretty underhanded. But if you pay attention, they should be pretty obvious."

As he speaks he takes another doughnut and eats it. His mouth is... eer... Well, it looks wider than it should be. And his teeth pointier. But only for a moment. Just long enough to leave someone questioning whether they saw anything at all.

He begins walking down the trail, no real hurry to his stride, quite unlike the traveler's previous mad-dash through the wood. "Okay, so, who stole your identity? Was it from a bank statement or something?"

How on earth is the traveler supposed to reply if they can't talk? Though... the guy DID somehow manage to interpret exactly what the traveler was trying to say in spite of this. Even is his interpretation is a bit... off-kilter.

[Deathkeeper]

[Black Forest]

The traveler holds out their hands. A big guy. Or a big place. A hand is held parallel to the ground at their waist. A small guy? Maybe something short? And then pantomiming something being held in the hand. Something stored in a jar, perhaps?

[Rebonack]

[Black Forest]

This guy has been pretty perceptive so far.

No doubt he'll continue to be so, right?

"Mimes," he spits, pounding one fist into his palm. "Those darn mimes are always stealing identities. Probably Russian hacker mimes."

Okay.

Maybe not.

"Come on, I know a shortcut to where the Russian hacker mimes hide their pickle factory," he says, turning toward the edge of the trail where there stands a...

Refrigerator.

The guy walks over to it, carefully turning the safe-dial on its face this way and that for a few moments before pulling it open to reveal the darkened interior of a pickle factory. The scent of brine is pretty thick in there, and the whole place looks pretty sketchy. What with the ample catwalks and huge bubbling vats full of... pickles? Why would pickles be in florescent green glowing vats of fluid? In the distance of the factory, the flickering light of old fashioned computer monitors illuminates a large stack of crates. In fact, there are TONS of crates in here, looming like boxy canyon walls giving way to actual canyon walls of red sandstone with a starry night-sky above.

Okay.

Yeah.

This guy is almost without question dreaming.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Forest

The traveler tugs on the man's sleeve, shaking their head. This doesn't seem right!
Or does it?
When you don't have an identity whether or not you have a good memory is ambiguous.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

"But you've already helped!" the totally normal lamb replies as the woman finally figures out how to apply clothing. "But if you don't want to help anymore, I won't continue making sweaters? with you. I shall find other things to learn about, farewell!"

...

They're gone.

Not like POOF!

Or flash of light.

Or... anything, really.

Just gone.

Not like, gone from reality. More like just suddenly somewhere else. But at least that means Jace and Anika don't have to endure it being odd at them anymore? Though someone else likely does. Maybe letting that thing run off on its own wasn't the best idea?

Regardless!

If our heroes search the main chamber they'll find a large pirate-y looking treasure chest in an alcove behind a tapestry. The top is open, and it is clearly full of loots! Glorious, glorious loots. Aside from the assorted gems, coins, paper bills, strings of shells, and completely immaterial electronic currency, there are several objects of power. A small torc made of bone, a wand made of some strange black stone that oozes thick green slime, an orb sparkling as with starlight, and a left handed leather glove/bracer with an azure stone set in the palm.

Our heroes will get the distinct impression that they should only take ONE of the magical objects each.


[Galleon Rock]

Jace and Zebes exchange a glance with Anika at the same time, and decide to not even comment on what transpired.
Far Things are very odd.

After stuffing their bottomless bag with their half of the monetary spoils, Jace and Zebes bicker silently for a few minutes (Anika can probably tell, due to them both still gesticulating and moving their heads as they converse).
Eventually Jace settles on the orb, because worst case scenario he can hang it in Khannie's room as a nice nightlight.

[Galleon Rock]

"Wait, so what just happened there? You you seemed more familiar with it than I." Anika asks, half-expecting the two to start rolling dice for the loot. That's what they always did back home. "Am I supposed to be concerned here?"

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace has found some bottled night-terror! Releasing the oneiric mist will cause it to surge around a nearby creature the user finds distasteful and will lock them into a state of sleep paralysis wherein they'll find themselves assault by phantasmal horrors! Wow, isn't that just swell? Probably not the best night-light, in that case. Jace probably picked the least friendly object in the treasure heap.

Also!

Anika is met with no explanation what so ever for the nonsense that just took place. Gotta go with the flow, Anika.

Black Forest

"It's too late!" that guy proclaims as he gestures broadly toward the threshold. "A path is already chosen and we must commit to it!"

And with that said, he'll head though the open refrigerator despite the fact that going into refrigerators is very dangerous!

Well.

Now the traveler is met with a choice.

She can follow, or she can forge her own path. Best make a choice quickly, though. The trail behind her is steadily being overcome with darkness and thorny, creeping brambles. Two ways forward. No way back.

[Deathkeeper]

[Galleon Rock]

"You should be concerned, but there's nothing to do. It finally got the hint and left. Take your half and we can burn this place to the ground. Nothing should remain of this monstrosity." Jace says flatly. He looks in distaste at the orb as he tries to identify it. He'd put it back and get something new but that probably isn't allowed.
But why would he think the pretty thing would be worse than green slime?

[Black Forest]

Without a word, as always, the person hurries after the strange man. She isn't really sure what's going on, but she's not about to abandon this hapless guy, nor will she brave goblin-infested woods alone.

[Rebonack]

[Black... forest?]

The traveler hurries into the open refrigerator, which of course swings shut behind them. See! This is why you don't go into refrigerators! You'll get stuck inside! Should they turn back at the dull thump behind them, they'll find all traces of the forest gone. Instead, there's a large inspirational poster hanging on a dilapidated looking wall next to some steel shelving depicting the forest they were just in. At least, if a picture of a grotesque goblin squatting on a log holding a sickle with the caption, 'You too can be murdered by redcaps!' could be considered inspirational. There's a large filing cabinet next to the poster, along with a small table covered in various objects. And a water cooler.

Flickering lights appear to be the rule of the day here, illuminating the factory in an eerie half-light that occasionally plunges into nearly absolute blackness, objects framed in the ghostly green glow of the pickle vats. The dangling lights don't appear to be attached to anything, simply hanging at the end of vine-like cords from nothing at all. The persistent buzz and occasional sputter of unnatural electric lighting is the only sound to break the stillness. Stacked wooden creates appear to form the outer walls of the factory, with row upon row of steel shelves heavily laden with pickle jars and giant churning vats break up the interior. The harsh glow of computer monitor screens can still be seen in the distant gloom. There are gaps between the creates... and there's something beyond them. But those gaps appear to be stuffed full of dusty old wire bird cages. Steel platforms lead up to the higher portions of the factory, but said platforms are slowly drifting up and down suspended by nothing more than spinning green turret lights. It would probably take some careful leaps to traverse them.

That guy is nowhere to be seen.

But... he couldn't have gotten far, could he?

The traveler is met with many courses of scrutiny here. What will they investigate?

[Deathkeeper]

[Pickle Factory]

Our person is curious about the cages, as they are something you'd hold things in, but they're all dusty and probably heavy.
Instead, they go to the computer. Maybe there's something on the monitor that can help them?

[Rebonack]

[Pickle Factory]

The wire cages vary in sizes. Some small. Others quite large. But they're all made of relatively sturdy wire, the sort one might expect a parrot or canary cage to made of. They could probably be pulled free, with a little effort.

But they find themselves being disregarded as the traveler moves toward the distant computer station. As they moves cautiously past the towering shelves of pickle jars, she'll find that the the scent of brine and dill almost overpowers her. It's a bubbly sort of smell, filling her mind with with fizzling bubbles and a sharp taste. She-

Wait.

She?

Her?

Where did that come from? Was she a she before? Something's different. What happened?

As these thoughts fill her mind, she may here an odd scrambling noise. Should she glance up, she'll see the end of some large creature's tail vanish over the top of the shelves, followed by the tell-tale clumnk clumnk of feet on a steel catwalk. Someone's moving around above her? In the distance, the computer scree flickers again. Somehow, even from so far away, she'll be able to spy what appears almost like an oversized holographic projection. However, the words are impossibly garbled. If there are even words at all.

[Deathkeeper]

[Pickle Factory]

The traveler grabs one of the jars of pickles. They look at the tail with an odd look. But then they run towards the computer, holding the jar. It's something to bash a monster with, if nothing else. But she doubts the pickles are the identities she's looking for. Which means it's time to sprint for the computer.

[Rebonack]

[Pickle Factory]

The traveler now has a jar of dill pickles. She'll simply know it contains dill pickles, since the label doesn't really say anything. It's a mess of.. well... Blankness. Looking at it gives the distinct impression that it says something about dill pickles, but the words themselves are fleeting. Or perhaps in her mind only. It doesn't take very long to reach the computer now, and like the pickle jar the screen is nonsense. Or a lack of nonsense. Or maybe only actually filled with information when she's looking at it. 'Reading' in dreams is really weird.

Regardless, she'll get the general idea that the screen says something along the lines of:

HACKING IN PROGRESS!

There's also a video feed of someone being hacked, causing them to slowly lose all distinction and identity as a person.

Though the traveler had best not watch too closely.

That's an easy way to get yanked into a new scene within a dream, and that might result in some very real problems for her. Thankfully, before she can find herself becoming lost in the video, she'll find herself confronted by a mime!

Pretty normal looking mime, really.

Black leotard, tights, white gloves, white face paint, and one of those tall furry stereotypical Russian hats with a red star on it. The hat may, in fact, be a racoon sitting on the mime's head rather than an actual hat. It's hard to tell. Regardless of the true nature of his headgear, the mime begins mining at the traveler! Specifically miming... umm... Hacking...?

But her personal information has already been hacked! What could the mime possibly steal from them?

Oh. That.

A cucumber manifests in the mime's gloved hands as he turns and begins prancing off in an over-acted sort of way toward one of the pickle vats, leaving the traveler even less defined than they were a few moments ago.

"Hey, what's the big idea barging in here?" the mime's hat demands angrily, hovering in mid-air where the mime was previously standing. It quickly zips over atop the computer monitor, which now displays a cartoony mime-face taking up the whole screen. It keeps making weird expressions at the traveler. "We're already done with you. Go get eaten by goblins or something, you may as well be dead already. So just go die alre-GAH!"

"Tactical surprise glomp!" crows that guy, as he tackles the hat from above, sending them both rolling across the floor while the monitor topples over and shatters, spilling brightly colored saltwater taffy all over the place. The guy looks less like a guy and more like a large... bat wyvern person thing...? Though in retrospect maybe he looked like that the whole time and it just wasn't quite so obvious before. The hat, though, is pretty obviously a bear. That's also a raccoon. With a large sloshing plastic tub full of water under one arm.

A wash bear.

That guy manages to get his feet under the bear and hurl it away, causing it to collide heavily with the retreating mime.

"We've got to get your identity back!" the guy tells the traveler, pointing at the pair of villains with his tail-spade.

[Deathkeeper]

[Pickle Factory]

The traveler punches the screen angrily, and then nods to the weird fuzzy dinosaur person. He's kind of cute isn't he? Maybe it's the bat ears.

They would tell him that he shouldn't have thrown one of them away if he wanted them to get their identity back, but there's no time. They have to team up with this person and give chase to the villains. Possibly with the pickle jar for bashing.

But if their identity was put into a cucumber and thrown into a vat, that means that it was probably mixed up with all the other victims'! It probably won't ever be the same as what it was before.
Whatever it was before. They'll have to work that out later. Mimes to punch now. Or in this case, running up to the two before they can get up and kick them a few times.

[Rebonack]

[Pickle Factory]

The traveler kicks the mime several times! He doesn't cry out in pain, since he's a mime and mimes don't make any noise. This does, however, cause him to loose his grip on that pickle. With a rumbling growl, the wash bear rises to his feet and hauls back his bathtub to clobber the poor traveler, only for the water weapon to come crashing down on an imaginary pole sticking out of the floor. The object is only tentative there, appearing as little more than a fractured, glassy distortion in the shape of what it's supposed to represent, but that's enough to prevent the traveler from being subjected to anything worse than getting slightly damp.

That guy tackles the bear again, sending them both careening across the room, claws flashing and fur flying! "Friggin' dream bears! It's always dream bears!" the guy snarls. "Thought you could get the drop on me, huh? I'll show you!"

That just leaves the traveler, the mime clutching his guy, and a cucumber rolling across the floor toward an iron grate on the floor with slats that are WAY too wide.

Oh no!

What will the traveler do?

Clobber the mime again? Throw the jar at him? Dive for the fallen cucumber before it's lost forever?

Quick, make a choice!

[Deathkeeper]

[Pickle Factory]

The lost cucumber only represents something the traveler only recently had. The original identity they had has everything they need.
Right?
The traveler tries to whack the mime with the jar, before setting it down so they can shake him by the collar. Pointing at themselves, then the mime, and then the giant pile of pickle jars.
The mime has to know which is theirs. It has to!

[Rebonack]

[Pickle Factory]

The pickle jar shatters when it strikes the mime, covering it in smelly pickle juice and pickles!

But then there aren't any pickles.

Or any juice.

Or a mime.

Instead there's an elf rapidly jittering between the features of dozens of people, bits of personality and appearance bubbling to the surface before vanishing. And no, we're not talking fantasy elves here. Elfs. As in the pretty human-like fae as opposed to the grotesque human-like fae. But it doesn't look quite so pretty tiwtching around like that as it slowly rises into the air before exploding in a brilliant flash of starlight and gossamer. Apparently assuming so many mortal identities at once didn't agree with them.

The computer monitor, now laying on its side, displays the idea of a new message. Hacking failed. What would you like to do?
1) Hack
2) Pickle cucumbers
3) Search inventory
4) Play global thermonuclear war

That guy, meanwhile, has managed to get the dream bear in a headlock. The beast is flailing around fruitlessly in an attempt to escape. In a single deft motion, the guy thwacks the bear with his tail, before flopping the perfectly harmless bearskin rug onto the ground in front of a roaring fireplace. "There, probable solved. I really do need to try being direct more often with these bears,maybe they'll finally wise up and leave me alone."

[Deathkeeper]

[Pickle Factory]

The person shakes their head in frustration. They press 3, and try to look for any inventory that was made today.
That's it. They don't have anything else to go off of. They motion for the strange dinosaur to help, but they don't know if he can.

[Rebonack]

[Not a Pickle Factory]

There's a momentary jitter in the traveler's peripheral vision as they focus on the screen, and if they look up they'll realize that they standing in the middle of a large forest glade. Scattered around are dozens, if not hundreds of gauzy white cages containing lights not terribly unlike fire flies, each stacked atop each other in shelves that look rather akin to honeycomb. In the center of the glade is a large, rune-carved standing stone table with a human-shaped imprint in it. Two fae lay slain in the glade. An elf with skin that glitters like diamonds, though their face is nothing but a black, sooty pockmark that's still smouldering. And a bugbear stripped like a honey bee, or perhaps a racoon, that has been impaled through the heart, mist like the night sky now pouring from its empty eye sockets.

That guy, the strange beast that he is, suddenly seems quite a bit more alert than he was previously, now sporting several gashes from the bugbear's claws. "Oh, right. Dreaming. Okay, what's the damage this time?" he mutters as he examines one of the waxy shelves with icy blue eyes. He sniffs a few times at the gossamer jars with that batty-lizardy nose. "Oh geeze... they've been stealing faces..."

Faces?

Identities.

"So... that means..." he glances back at the traveler. "They took your face, too? And your voice? I guess you wouldn't even know where to start looking, would you?"

The monitor is now a book sitting atop a stone pedestal. It's full of names and descriptions of people who were stolen tonight. That guy peers over the traveler's shoulder. "Do you remember anything?" he asks, an edge of pity creeping into his voice.

[Deathkeeper]

[Glade]

The cloaked person gives some semblance of relief. The dinosaur-person seems to be a little more lucid at the moment, at least. Maybe getting punched does that?

Anyway, they have to shake their head at the dinosaur bat person.

Maybe they would have tried to express to him that they might have been a she.

But they let that get stolen again. So it comes down to a wild guess. They try to look for names, descriptions, that click for them, anything.
And if the bata'saurus comes close enough they might poke him on the nose, because they don't have much else to do to thank him and they still think he's kind of cute.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

That guy gets his snoot booped!

But, sadly, the traveler has no voice for the proper sound effect. So that guy will have to supply it for them.

"Boop?" he offers. "You were a 'she' right? I'm pretty sure I noticed that," he says as he pokes at the wounds he suffered, wincing slightly. "Bleh. At least those will be gone when I actually wake up. Or maybe I could just-"

Oh wait.

He's not some weird beasty at all.

He's just some guy. Maybe he was the whole time, but it just wasn't obvious? The wounds all appear to be gone.

"Okay, so, female. So we can disregard all these male ones," he says, reaching over the traveler's shoulder and flipping a page, causing the words to be scattered. "You aren't from that nameless city I keep dreaming about, are you? The weird one that stretches on forever? If you are, then literally any of these could be right. Do you even recall what species you were?"

He frowns down at the book. Hundreds taken tonight. It could be any of them. But... for some reason six entries stand out. That guy gestures to them.

Linda, the Princess of All Lizards (who names a lizard Linda?)
Augusta the Dancing Hippo (what?)
Demeter, human the Knight of Silver Order (that sounds... mostly normal?)
Stella, a human Dreamer who lost her way (geeze, someone like me. Must have gotten really unlucky)
Helga, a Minotaur barbarian (what's with all these animal people? Animal people are weird)
Maria, a harpy space swashbuckler (okay, that actually sounds pretty amazing)

"Do any of those seem right to you? Because I'm getting a feeling from this section..."

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

The traveler nods, running a finger over the passage. It's definitely one of these!
But without definite labels, they're going to have to take a guess. And judging from what happened to the elf, some are stored together so it's possible they're going to be a little mixed up.

The traveler tries to find where these names should be held. And takes a long look. Though she looks to the guy for help, she gestures at her backside. She's certain she had a tail. She just can't remember if it was long, feathered, or tufted.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

"So one with a tail," the guy replies with a nod. "But that only rules out the two human ones. Unless there are humans with tails around here, which I wouldn't be shocked by."

Like a human with a lion tail and ears!

The dreaded cat-girl.

Or... lioness girl.

Whatever.

"It looks like the ones from tonight are stored over here," the guy says, pointing to a nearby shelf that only has a few gossamer jars on it. Unfortunately... it looks like each jar has two wispy motes of essence floating around in it. Though that's better than the dozens in many of the older jars. They've been pickled together to the point that they're little more than a glowing green slurry. There's no way someone could get a coherent self from those. Would be way too mixed up. Makes one wonder what they're even for... "I... hmm... They're just marked by the phase the moon was in when they were taken," the guy observes. "That's the best we've got. So it's one of these three."

The traveler might be able to pull out a single wisp without touching the other.

...maybe.

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

The traveler nods, and shakes the man's hand in thanks if he lets her.

But now they have to reach inside the cage. The traveler does so-
but without an identity, they have no established level of manual dexterity, and their hand touches both.
Oh, dear.

Luckily, our traveler doesn't end up being a cow knight or a dreaming hippo. Both of those would be very-
Well, one of those would be very odd.

But what Liria is, is a short, thin, scaly person partially covered in feathers. Deep, scintillating blue scales with long, colorful plumage like an exotic blue macaw. Three-fingered hands attached to wing-arms, with scaly legs with claws. Her face is mostly lizardy, but with feathers for ears and eyebrows. Her tail is long and lined with feathers on its end and top.
Of course, the process that left her a robed husk robbed her of everything, so the fey must have taken her stuff somewhere. Shedding her placeholder appearance, she's well, not exactly decent. Though clearly, she's much more comfortable with that than a mammal, as she immediately goes to give her new friend a hug.
"Oh, thank you so much! You're a wonderful help. I finally feel like myself again." she insists. Of course, she's wrong, she couldn't possibly have been both these people, but her brain can't really process that. The souls are all blended together now.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer Glade]

That's always a fun thought experiment. How do you know you're the same consciousness you were the day prior? All you have to go by are your memories. A different mind stuck into a new body with new memories, would they believe themselves to be anyone other than what those memories dictate? Probably not. How would they know anything else?

Aside from the few memories Liria has from wandering around as a husk, she doesn't have anything else to go on, either.

Regardless, that guy gets hugged by a little three foot tall birzard person! Arguably one might just call that a feathered dinosaur, but arguably one could call a chicken a feather dinosaur, too. That guy drops down on one knee for the hug since otherwise someone that short hugging him would be really awkward. "Hey it's no problem," that guy replies, hugging Liria back. "I've done this sort of thing before. I think? Probably. Usually it's easier to remember things I've dreamed about before after I actually wake up. Unless it's the exact same dream again. Or set in the same dream."

Once the hug is done, he'll stand back up again, casting his gaze around the glade. He has the sneaking suspicion that there might have been more fae involved with this operation, so they might not be out of the proverbial woods just yet. "Do you remember how these face-stealers caught you? And... uh... did you see where they dumped your stuff? I'm pretty sure goons like these strip people before they steal their faces. So all of your equipment is probably squirreled away in the glade somewhere unless they already pawned it off to passing goblin merchants."

Goblin merchants can be pretty shady sometimes.

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

"Nope! Don't remember a thing about that. Let's look around a bit. Finding my diadem and my stuff would be very much appreciated." Liria says. She'll be looking with her friend, though, not wanting to split up and go off alone in her currents state. "Where do you think they could have put them? And what about everyone else? If we shake these cages loose could they find their way home some day?" Liria doesn't want to just leave Helga and Augusta and the rest to their faceless fates.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

No memories of being caught, darn. Then it's pretty likely they just grabbed her while she was sleeping somewhere. That's what happens sometimes when people take naps in the wrong places. Just vanish and no one ever sees them again. Though... usually that's the result of humans being terrible, not fae kidnappings. The fae will only snag someone if they break their rules somehow. And, of course, the fae's rules are a bunch of made-up nonsense that they typically don't bother telling anyone about while still expecting them to be followed.

It's like a bunch of kids making up the rules to a game as they go and then singling you out for breaking the rules.

Even though they never told you what said rules were in the first place.

"If I were to wager a guess, I would say near the standing stone," that guy says, gesturing toward the ominous looking granite table. He'll start heading that way, making a point of walking at a measured pace so Liria doesn't have to jog to keep up. Short legs and all that. Upon getting closer to the table, our heroes will see that the stone is stained with blood and scribed with foul glyphs. Next to it is a stump with a leather bag full of various surgical tools tat probably haven't been sterilized ever. Made out of bronze, of course. Bronze and obsidian. Because no fae in their right mind would be lugging around steel. Near the stump are several large chests that appear to have been fashioned from hollowed out logs, each with a large brass padlock fitted on it. Judging from the faint scintillation of gossamer, the locks are probably enchanted.

That guy gestures at the trunks-

-then face palms.

"Okay, that's really terrible pun. But, uh... pretty sure those are what we're looking for," he says. Then at the mention of others, he gives a sad look. "Busting them loose with no one around would just result in a bunch of lost souls, will-o-wisps. At worst, we might end up with some sort of amalgamated ghost haunting this area."

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

"Oh. Well, maybe I'll take one or two with me. Better to sit on the mantle for a while and hope to find the owners than rot here. Anyway, did that guy we smashed have a key ring? I don't have anything right now to pick locks with." Liria asks that guy. She doesn't think it's statistically likely that she'd find the lost people, but from experience she would say she'd have taken any of the faces in the list, no matter how dissimilar to her real one it was. Yes, even the hippo. So maybe she can help someone with them.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

"Probably not the best plan," that guy points out. "Pulling anything out of the dreamlands is dangerous. Putting bottled ghosts on your mantle is really dangerous. This isn't like Zelda where bottling ghosts is a safe hobby."

He isn't sure if she'll get that reference or not, but it still had to be made.

The bat-wyvern person approaches one of the massive trees making up the edge of the glade, wincing a bit as his wounds appear again. He gives the huge fir tree an appraising look before nodding. "I'm going to get a high view on things. Check the baddies to see if either of them have the keys, but my gut says they won't. I'll see if I can't spot anyone else in here."

That said, he leaps onto the tree's trunk and begins scaling it with all the deftness of a giant squirrel.

...

It looks pretty silly.

Also looks like that 'split up' happened anyway. Maybe she should have said something out loud...

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

"Oh." Well, that won't work. Maybe she can find some way to gather the other victims? She just can't leave all these people to their fates.

But for now, she has to go to the bodies and look for keys. One thing at a time. She wants her diadem.

[Mee]

Jonas seems to space out during this line. If Grace is good people reader, she can see that Jonas is reflecting on past events. Past events that part of him clearly does not wish to share, yet another part of Jonas yearns to tell someone, anyone, of his turmoil. All Jonas says though after this moment of reflection: Hm? Oh, yes, fun. Genetics is a bit less fun though. One miscalculation, and you could accidentally create "Cthulhu on Ice" in human form.

Grace is pretty good at reading people. As though to counter that, though, she does tend to wear her own emotions on her sleeve, as it were.
"Thaaaaat doesn't sound like a good thing at all! Has, um, has that happened?" Grace asks, a look fairly extreme 'uh oh' on her face. "And no, while I might not have that problem, there was the day I accidentally combined a few things and it started pouring out this insanely lethal nerve gas. That wasn't a fun day."

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

That's the hard part, isn't it? Sometimes you can't help everyone. It's a painful part of living in a less than perfect world.

Liria won't find much on the vanquished bugbear. However, she WILL discover a note on the burned out elf. Unlike the script in the more dreamlike landscape, this note is plainly legible. Thank goodness.


You guys have been slacking off again. The client hasn't been very happy with the stock lately, either. If I catch either of you watering it down again, it'll be your asses on the cutting table. Double last night's yield by the time I get back from the market, or I'm not going to be the only one upset with you.
-M

Hmm...

Well, that isn't a key.

But it sounds like their boss is out at the moment. And if there's anyone who would have a key to the trunks full of treasures, it'll probably be the boss. Maybe the setting of a trap is in order?

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

Well, Liria hasn't got much to fight a boss fairy with. Her tiny claws and teeth probably aren't worth much. And her friend hasn't gotten back yet. She can take some of the gauze from the cages and tie it to the rack. Maybe she can topple the rack of the corrupted faces onto the boss-fey? She won't do that to the fresh ones. Just in case.

She'll try to do that without causing a huge ruckus while she waits for the wyvern to get back.

[Celticbear]

Grace is pretty good at reading people. As though to counter that, though, she does tend to wear her own emotions on her sleeve, as it were.
"Thaaaaat doesn't sound like a good thing at all! Has, um, has that happened?" Grace asks, a look fairly extreme 'uh oh' on her face. "And no, while I might not have that problem, there was the day I accidentally combined a few things and it started pouring out this insanely lethal nerve gas. That wasn't a fun day."

Jonas looks up, and says: His name is Michael. I will fix him, along with the rest of my... mistakes.

Jonas says this with gravity, with an eerie calm.

Krell, a mage, had invaded my lab one day. He used insidious magic to cripple me, along with everyone else in the room. Banshee became mute, I became a cripple, Michael became... something else, and he stole something of mine. I lied earlier, when I said I was here on recruitment. I'm hunting Krell.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

It isn't too long before that guy returns, leaping off one of the high branches of the trees and stretching his arms wide as he nears the ground. Turns out he's got five fingers after all! Two of them are just elongated and bearing membrane for a huge pair of bat-like wings that are typically clamped tight against his arms. He gives a few strong wing-beats as he drops, slowing his descent and kicking up a whirling storm of fir needles. As soon as he's on the ground again, he tucks his wings out of sight.

"It looks like there's a wagon on the way here. Maybe ten or fifteen minutes out," he informs Liria. "But no one else was in the glade. The wagon might be goblin merchants, or maybe someone who works here. The glade didn't decay when those two goons went down, so whoever it belongs to must still be kicking. Did you find the key?"

He's hoping the answer is yes.

Liria certainly looks scrappy, but he doesn't want her to risk herself in another skirmish if it can be avoided. Especially because he's already injured. Normally he heals up from one night to the next, but that's always involved him waking up. And it feels like it has been days since he stumbled across this nameless city in his dreamings and hasn't been able to awaken since. Which... is somewhat concerning. Usually he can wake himself up without an issue. And if he can't wake up, either there's something wrong on the waking side or... well. Maybe dream-time is just really warped here. He's had a few dreams that felt like they lasted for days before.

Hopefully that's all it is.

Just an extra long dream.

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Glade]

"No, but I found a note. That wagon must be the boss. Maybe we can topple a rack of cages and take him out. I can't leave without my diadem!" Liria insists. Her heirlooms are very important.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

"A diadem is... a type of crown, right?" the guy asks, wanting to make sure he isn't thinking of something else. "Okay, okay, we'll get it back. We just need to be able to unlock those ugh... trunks... properly. I'm willing to bet if we just force them open they'll be empty."

A common problem with goblin-made chests.

Unless you've got the key (or a way to trick the enchantment) just cracking 'em open with a crowbar isn't going to work.

It's very fortunate that Liria has someone around who is familiar with all this dreamlands nonsense.

"Okay, so we'll just lay low and wait for the boss to show up. Then we dump a shelf on him. Sounds like a good plan," the guy says, giving a little nod. There are a few things that could potentially go wrong, but all in all it seems like a pretty solid course of action.

Now?

The waiting game.

A good fifteen minutes later, our heroes hiding behind a shelf ready to spring their trap, they'll spy a preternaturally beautiful elf strolling into the glade. And while he probably counts as an 11/10, that sour expression he's wearing totally ruins it. He was expecting his minions to be doing something useful! Not slacking off! "Bog! Laniael! Get out here this instant! NONE of the product is stacked where it's supposed to be!"

The fae hasn't shown any recognition of the fact that Liria and the guy are hiding. And he's juust now walking in front of their rigged shelf...

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

Liria is small, but her body has plenty of muscle, and when the elf stands into their trap she shoves the shelf of tainted wares directly in his direction, as quickly and as quietly as she can, hoping she can push it over in time before he realizes what's happening.

[Rebonack]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

That guy likewise really puts his shoulder into it! He's isn't packed with super strength by any means, but the musculature required to make something as large and heavy as he is fly with any degree of agility is fairly impressive. With their combined effort, our heroes easily shove the shelf over on top of the evil fae elf!

"Wait, wha-"

And then it comes crashing down on top of him!

That jerk didn't even see it coming.

There a fizzling, popping sound along with the distinctive scent of dill. And a pretty gross crunching noise. And now we're left with a huge wax shelf, a bunch of broken bottles, and creepy looking amalgamated wisps slowly seeping up into the air. They boil and writhe, the skulls of various sapient creatures swelling to their surfaces before bursting like bubbles. Some of them drift about the grove, blindly lashing out at things while wailing in agony. Others just lay on the ground in a puddle, sobbing inconsolably with dozens of voices. And several more are slowly merging together into an ever-growing mass of ghostly ectoplasm.

Hmm...

Maybe this wasn't the best plan after all?

That guy gestures with one hand toward the shattered lump in the middle of the ruined shelves for a moment before sharply snapping his hand back, causing a large brass ring of keys to come zipping out of the wreck and thump into his palm. "C'mon, let's get your stuff and get out of here!" he says, more than a little bit of urgency in his tone.

[Mee]

Jonas looks up, and says: His name is Michael. I will fix him, along with the rest of my... mistakes.

Jonas says this with gravity, with an eerie calm.

Krell, a mage, had invaded my lab one day. He used insidious magic to cripple me, along with everyone else in the room. Banshee became mute, I became a cripple, Michael became... something else, and he stole something of mine. I lied earlier, when I said I was here on recruitment. I'm hunting Krell.

Grace's Lake

"Fix, like, actually fix?
Or fix like . . . not. Fix. And just like. You know. Kill them?" Grace asks, slightly worried about her new friend.

"Oh. Oh I see. That . . . well that seems like a good cause?" Grace frowns a bit. She had never had her lab raided. Had a cat come through a few times that had knocked some things over, but that was about the extent of it. Having your lab raided must be the worst thing.
"That sounds like the worst thing."

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

"Just throw the trunks onto the wagon!" Liria shouts, taking a moment to snatch the two cages that had flanked hers, and carries them off to toss them onto the boss-fairy's wagon. She's had an idea on how to save them, and she can't let them get gobbled by that horrible thing.
"Let's go!"

[Rebonack]

[Face Stealer's Grove]

That guy will move as quickly as he can! Remember how it was mentioned he doesn't have super strength by any means? Well those trunks are pretty heavy. And there are four of them to move. He glances back and forth between the cart and the trunks, grabs ones of them, squeezes his eyes shut and-

~Discontinuity~

-is suddenly in the back of the wagon, plopping the chest down. He gets a running start and leaps out of the back of the cart, unfurling his wings and flapping his way over the bubbling horrors. He dives down on the second chest, squeezes his eyes shut again, and-

~Discontinuity~

-reappears two feet to the left.

"Oh come on! I don't have time for this!" he growls. And then glances up just in time to notice that the huge (and rapidly growing) amalgamate has spotted him. "I really don't have time for this! Come on come on come on work!"

~Discontinuity~

Now he's in the cart, panting hard and draped over one of the trunks. There's still one left, too.

"We don't have time to get the last one! I don't think I can do that again! Let's get out of here!" he yells to Liria.

[Deathkeeper]

[Face-Stealer's Grove]

Liria dives into the cart, pumping her little wings. With a panic, she looks from her friend, to the pile of trunks, to the one remaining one. She refuses to bet three thousand years of family history on a gamble, even a gamble vastly in her favor.
Her eyes glow brightly, and she rips the trunk from the ground, causing it to go sailing into the pile with a mighty crash. Liria is unconscious instantly, leaving her wyvern friend to guide the wagon out of there.

[Rebonack]

[RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!]

With an "Eep!" that guy tumbles out of the way of the incoming trunk before scrambling up to the front of the cart where he discovers a pair of moose hitched to it. Moose with stone antlers covered in moss and lichen.

Sure.

Why not?

He grabs the reigns and gives them a flick, prompting the pair of critters to pull the wagon through the glade's threshold and to safety! And none too soon, either. With the glade's creator dead, bushes and brambles are quickly overtaking the clearing, choking out all open space and filling it with the same oppressive mist that permeates many wild portions of the dreamlands. The canopy above rapidly closes in, plunging the vanishing glade into perpetual twilight. A ruin haunted by lost souls.

The wagon crashes through the brambly gate and leaves what's left behind to be reclaimed by the thorns and the darkness.

....time passes strangely when you're asleep...

A Completely Normal, non-Enchanted Forest

When Liria comes too, she'll find herself laying on some hard-packed, gravely sand under the shade of a scraggly pine tree. The air feels warm and dry, and if she looks around she see that there's good reason for that. Rolling hills spread out from their perch, a huge granite spire looming a few miles away. The terrain is speckled with stunted pine, sage brush, Joshua trees, and the occasional cactus. Nearby is a small circle of stones where that guy has kindled a fire. And beyond him, stands the wage.

The faerie moose are still faerie moose, it would appear.

And just a little beyond that stands an imposing looking archway made of black obsidian shot through with streaks of pumpkin orange. Every now and again, images of an uncanny forest flickers from within the threshold.

"Hey, you're awake," that guy observes, once again looking like any typical guy. He's got a bronze pot simmering atop the fire. "I was starting to get worried, but I guess the smell of food revived you."

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

Liria pops up onto her claws, hobbling over to sit next to that guy, leaning against him.
"You make a very good vassal. You're ok, right? Is all the stuff ok?" she asks, looking around for the trunks and the cages.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

The guy pats Liria on the head. He's not sure how appropriate that is, but she booped him on the nose so that seems fair to him. I mean, come on, three foot tall birdlizard person? Between being child sized and looking like a cute animal what else are you supposed to do? NOT find critters like that adorable? The guy gives a little snort. "A good vassal? Can't say I've gotten that specific complement before. I'm fine, don't worry about me."

He gestures toward the wagon.

"Everything made it through fine. None of the gossamer bottles broke, thank God, and we got three of the four trunks. Which isn't bad odds. I haven't opened any of them, though. Figured I would save that for you since it's your stuff that you're looking for," he says as he fishes the brass key-ring out of his pocket and holds it out to her. "I found some food in the cart. And some cooking utensils. And a box of matches, of all things. Guess even fae don't like fiddling with flint and steel."

A beat.

"Though... considering the steel part I guess that makes sense. Only other option would be a friction bow."

He shrugs.

"Either way, it'll be a bit before the stew is ready. I have no idea what you eat, so I just tossed in a bit of everything. Go ahead and check on your things, I'll finish up here."

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

Liria drops into the trunks and digs through them. She finds her own things, plus Augusta's enormous tutu, dancing shoes, and bra. Helga's robes, some fairly normal clothes of various body types, including a tuxedo sized for a dragon which took up the entire third trunk. Liria immediately gets ideas. After a quick stop to check on the bottles, she comes back.
Liria's outfit includes comfortable but rugged clothes under a deep brown coat that loosely fits over her. It has no sleeves to give her wings room. Tucked into it is a short, needle-thin blade made from mithril, inlaid with gold and ivory. A similar looking hand-crossbow is tucked into a special holster. And of course, her diadem, laid gently over her head. A gold-mithril alloy with a shine that belies its age, inlaid with a trio of red, blue, and yellow gems.
"Thank you. And as long as there's meat in there, it's fine. You may bow to Princess Liria." she says with a toothy grin.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

"Haha, you were serious about the crown thing," the guy laughs, doing his best to provide an awkward bow given that he's both sitting on a rock and making sure the stew doesn't burn at the bottom. Campfire cooking is tricky. Never works evenly. "It's meat and vegetables. Not... totally sure what kind of meat, mind. But the cuts were big enough that I'm reasonably confident they weren't someone before getting butchered."

He would prefer to avoid eating people.

Seems like a reasonable line to draw.

"Princess Liria, huh? Interesting name. So, what are you princess of?"

Seems like a reasonable question.

...though.

Kind of odd that he doesn't introduce himself, isn't it?

He offers her a bowl of hearty stew!

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-enchanted Forest]

"I'm princess of the Archaea, home flagship of the Archeons, obviously." she says, sitting down at the fire to receive her stew.
"Speaking of, now that you are officially my escort, after the meal you can wear a uniform I found in the trunk that'll fit a fine winged gentleman such as yourself. I'll not have an escort in such drab attire without dire need. And I wouldn't have a nameless one, either." she insists, turning up her nose slightly at the thought.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

"Obviously," that guy replies, nodding his head sagely. What else would she be? "So you're a space princess. Huh. Usually I imagine space princesses being a little more snarky," he idly muses as he eats some of the soup himself.

To be fair, she has been SLIGHTLY snarky.

Just not quite Leia level snarky.

Hmm.

Eating the soup just fine. And it tastes like soup. Not just the phantasmal sort of eating he's used to whilst dreaming. This is a fair bit more 'real' than usual. Maybe the John Carter of Mars analogy isn't too far off? That would be pretty great if accurate, since John went into a sort of stasis whilst existing on Mars. If his body is back home slowly dehydrating to death that would be pretty bad. Only potential problem is figuring out how to get back. That's what he gets for poking at weird artifacts in a nameless city.

"Ah, there might be a problem on both of those points," he mentions at the talk of both names an uniforms. "I come as pictured. Mostly because I'm not... well... strictly here? Or real. I think. I've encountered some weird stuff while poking around the dreamlands, but I'm pretty sure something slightly different is going on. Regardless, think of me as a... projection? Maybe? Or a hard-light hologram if you've got those. Either way, I swap from one side of the coin to the other and it defaults to this-"

He tugs at his jacket to illiterate the point.

"-and this-"

He gestures at the exact same outfit, now cut to fit his wyvern-like body. As before, there's no transition or transformation to speak of. One simply notices that facet of him when before it wasn't apparent at all. Interestingly enough, the claw-marks in his blue tee-shirt are gone. Along with the bloodstains.

"I guess I reset at dawn. Thank goodness. I was worried those slashes were going to get infected. And I would rather not find out what happens if I die here. But! That means what I'm wearing is just as much a part of me as this is," he says, thumping his tail against the decomposed granite sand. "So, sadly, I don't know if I CAN update my wardobe. Though I guess we could try?"

A few moments pass.

He takes a few spoonfuls of soup. They really DID turn out good. The sunrise was really pretty, too. The clouds had just finished fading to cottony white when Liria had woken up. Too bad she missed it.

"And no name, either. I'm a dream-avatar. A persona. I'm not really the person I am when I'm awake. I can't claim his name since I'm not him, not really. It's better this way. Safer. You don't want to lose your name when you're wandering in the dreamlands. That's how the fae getcha'," he explains. Then grins that huge, Cheshire cat grin of his. "However, you can call me whatever you like. Nick-names are totally fine."

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

"Well, we are going to try, because it will make you look positively dapper, so there." Liria says, sulking as she eats her stew.
How could the universe be so cruel as to deny her the chance to see a bat-wyvern in a suit?
"You're a good cook." she says, trying to divert the conversation.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Forest]

Honestly it isn't much of a forest. More like a high-desert with scattered trees. But if there are more than a dozen or so trees, that still counts, right? Or are we talking a non-enchanted savanna?

"Well there you go, don't want to pass up the chance to make me a dapper whatever I'm supposed to be," the guy laughs.

Interesting comment, that one.

An admission on his part that he has no idea what he is. To his knowledge, he's unique. At least one side of him is. Humans probably aren't very unique.

But who knows!

Maybe there aren't any humans where Liria comes from?

If not, then she's going to have plenty of opportunity to encounter more of them.

"I'm glad my cooking is up to princess standards. Haven't had to cook for any before, so that's another first. Pretty sure that I haven't rescued any princesses before... except if you count those dreams where you dream about playing a game... Those ones are always kind of odd."

They are. Dreams that represent viewing a film or playing a game often times get twisted all over themselves quite quickly.

"So, you were on a space ship before, I take it? Any idea how to get back there?"

[Deathkeeper]

Non-Enchanted Location

"Oh, I don't expect too much fuss. I just have to find a port and wait for them to weigh anchor.
As for you, you you try to work out what you are. Or else the children will call you a bat-o-saurus and it'll stick." The heavens forbid such an egregious nickname be bestowed upon her vassal.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

"I believe there was a spaceport in the nameless city," the guy muses as he polishes off his soup. "Truth be told, I got the impression that there was an everything in the nameless city. Which is both really fascinating and kind of troubling. Everything includes plenty of great things, and also plenty of not so great things. One way or the other, we can head toward the city whenever you're ready. I can cut the mooses loose and we can take whatever we need from the wagon."

He's probably thinking in terms of flight.

Flying is always waaaay faster than mucking about on the ground.

And then?

He wrinkles his nose at the 'bat-o-saurus' comment.

"I've never really thought about it. I'm just me. Near as I can tell I'm unique? Haven't really ever had the need to come up with a name for it before," more nose wrinkling. It probably looks rather silly. "And I'm pretty awful at coming up with names, as it happens. Nor have I had the occasion to meet a zoologist in a dreamscape who decided to assign a binomial to me."

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

"Well, I have my things. I'm not terribly going to miss the other ladies' clothes. So we'll just have to get you suited up and then we can be on our way." Liria says with a nod, finishing her stew.
"And I'll see if I can think of something to call you on the way. But I'm also not very good with names..." she admits.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

"We should probably get moving as soon as we can, then. Things look pretty placid right now, but there's no telling white might be skulking around out here," the guy cautions.

Sure, they might be out of the dreamlands, but from the little bit of experience he's had so far with the Nexus, it's pretty clear the place isn't strictly safe. He's expecting a purple worm or a landshark or something to suddenly burst out of the ground at any moment. Of course, given that neither of them have to worry much about being grounded that's far less of a hazard than it would be otherwise. There are quite a few scary monsters that are far less scary when you can just fly over them.

"And... eerr... suit up? What exactly did you have in mind?" the guy asks cautiously.

She did say 'dapper' earlier.

Is she honestly going to try stuffing him into a gentlemen's outfit or tux or something?

There's no way that'll end well.

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

Liria gives him an enormous grin and scurries over to the trunk. She pulls out the suit, hardly able to contain herself.
"Isn't it lovely? Oh, you'll look just adorable. And it's mostly buttons, not too much fuss." she says, with a very royal look that insists that her vassal must comply.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

Why.

Why would a dragon want a tuxedo? Let along a dragon that, for whatever inexplicable reason, is the guy's size and general build. It's almost as if someone out there were conspiring to make this situation happen. He COULD just tell her no. Because he really doesn't want to wear a tuxedo. Especially when he's going to be doing some long-distance flying. It's just so impractical!

But on the other hand...

Liria looks like she's really dead-set on this.

And he's pretty sure that she isn't the sort of person who is use to having people oppose her sovereign will.

Maybe a little lesson in the fact that some cultures don't value royalty would do her good?

Or he could just play along. He's still pretty sure this won't even work.

With a sigh, he doffs his tan denim jacket and hangs it on a nearby tree branch. Then he starts removing the t-shirt under it-

-revealing another, identical tee-shirt.

"What..." he mutters glancing between the two. He tosses the first one aside, which vanishes as soon as it touches the ground, and removes the next one.

With the exact same result.

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

"Well! We'll just have to get it on over your shirt. No problem."

Liria immediately tries to go about doing so, no matter what protests might follow. For someone who's royalty, she seems pretty adept at this sort of thing. Claws fly around buttons almost as fast as a tailor's. With particular determination.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

After quite a bit of fidgeting-!

The guy is in the tux. Or at least the tux's jacket.

He's got his arms sticking out awkwardly and his head sorta tucked down with his neck ruff all poofed up.

He looks like an incredibly uncomfortable pigeon.

[Deathkeeper]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

And doesn't he just look adorable in that jacket and little red bowtie?
"You look like a complete gentle-drake. Oh, my dearest vassal, I will cherish this moment...."
Click! goes a little black device in her hand.
"...forever.

Now, we can go. I trust you know the direction we're going?" she asks, all innocence.

[Rebonack]

[Non-Enchanted Location]

AND NOW WITH THAT SILLINESS DONE.

The guy will retrieve his normal clothing, if only because even minor differences in the cut of that tux will inhibit his ability to fly with any degree of skill.

Once ready, he'll take off, proving to be unusually swift and agile despite his large size. He'll reign things in to make sure Liria can keep up, assuming she doesn't have some kind of enchantment in her gear to up her flying speed. Because typically something her size isn't going to be getting much above the thirty mile an hour range without some sort of preternatural assistance.

One way or the other, he'll lead her to the Skyway inside the city walls, where the Nexus' starport awaits.

Hopefully they can get her back home.

Because otherwise she's going to be stuck.

And the Nexus just loves stucking people.

[Shadowcaller]

[Galleon Rock]

Jace has found some bottled night-terror! Releasing the oneiric mist will cause it to surge around a nearby creature the user finds distasteful and will lock them into a state of sleep paralysis wherein they'll find themselves assault by phantasmal horrors! Wow, isn't that just swell? Probably not the best night-light, in that case. Jace probably picked the least friendly object in the treasure heap.

Also!

Anika is met with no explanation what so ever for the nonsense that just took place. Gotta go with the flow, Anika.


[Galleon Rock]

"You should be concerned, but there's nothing to do. It finally got the hint and left. Take your half and we can burn this place to the ground. Nothing should remain of this monstrosity." Jace says flatly. He looks in distaste at the orb as he tries to identify it. He'd put it back and get something new but that probably isn't allowed.
But why would he think the pretty thing would be worse than green slime?

[Galleon Rock]

"You're gonna burn a wet tunnel system?" Anika asks with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I won't complain if you somehow destroy this place but that gotta be some intense fire." She will claim the orb of starlight as it seemed pretty easy to carry. Could put that thing in your pocket. "So, you're going home to your child now, huh?"

[Rebonack]

[Galleon Rock]

Hey now.

Just because something is green and oozy doesn't mean it is bad! Like Slimer from the Real Ghost Busters!

The unhallowed alter will provide no resistance to being destroyed. That's probably a good thing.

[The Village of Hamletdale]

Ah, the Village of Hamletdale, a fine bustling village full of fine, young, healthy bustling people. There's one fine bustling fellow, heading to market with his fine selection of goat cheeses. And there's another, bustling along with a fine cart full of fine cabbages. And my my, look at that, there's a unfine, not-so-bustling woman rushing from one person to the next. "Joshua! Have you seen my Joshua? He's missing. Please, he was here just last night, have you seen him?"

But alas, all these fine, bustling people are just far too busy bustling about to help.

No one spares even a passing thought to her plight! They have more important business to attend, the fine, young, healthy bustling people that they are.

And so, in her moment of desperation, one of the few non-bustling villagers sends out word requesting aid from any heroes willing to help.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Poor, unfortunate villagers. Being poor and their reward small as they are, MERC has spared a rookie. That is, one overly large cook with a small little bit of combat experience and the promise of maybe one day being noticeably competent at this sort of thing.
For now, he has to rely on his surprisingly decent equipment in the form of his fancy gauntlets and Steve the Sword. And maybe some backup, whether or not that'll be coming isn't confirmed on his end. So, for now, he has to wander into town alone, and hope to all gods who'll listen that this can work out for him.

[Rebonack]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

That's how these things always go, isn't it?

You have some minor, hardly worth while problem and someone tosses a few green adventurers in to solve it. Before long, they find out that the goblins raiding caravans had some connection to the resurrection of the demon king of doom or whatever and they end up gaining a bunch of levels, loot, fame, and saving the world. Or, y'know, they all die horribly.

But surely that isn't what's going on here!

Just look at how fine and bustling this town is! It's probably just a totally innocuous one-off. Like a kid wandering into the forest or whatever. People wave to Sam, greeting him warmly. Odd Nexus folk come through here now and again, so the villagers aren't terribly put off by Sam's unusual appearance. There doesn't appear to be anything unusual about the village at all, aside from the apparent medieval stasis that parts of Outside seem to suffer from. You know the sort, carts hitched to animals, chickens wandering around unsupervised, cottages with roofs fashined from split wood shingles, that ever-present gross aroma of no plumbing to speak of. Farmers bringing produce to market. The occasional guard in dubiously useful leather armor leaning on a spear. Children playing in the stree-

Wait.

No, there aren't any children playing in the streets, actually.

Considering the village has a few hundred people in it, there should be tons of kids. But since Sam has arrived, he won't have spotted a single one.

Weird.

Near the end of the main road, he'll spy the little shop with the sign of a crossed sword and shield hanging over it. It's a squat building fashioned mostly from rough stones and mud-brick, a chimney sticking off an out-door workshop to one side billowing smoke into the air. Sam will be able to hear the sound of the bellows and clanging metal from within. According to the contract, that's where his contact should be.

[Deathkeeper]

The Village of Hamletsville

The place sure is...quaint. Sheesh, even Skyside slums smelled better. Well, some of them did.
Sam makes sure Steve and his little gun are snug in their places. Autumn wind blows through, yet even with his open jacket with nothing underneath Sam isn’t bothered. He heads straight for the client’s building and won’t be distracted by anything. Not even food.

[Ashen Lilies]

[[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Well, a bit more than a rookie. Cassandra is new to the MERC organization itself, true, but calling her a "rookie" would stretch the meaning of the word far beyond any semblance of the truth.

A thin vertical slash of light appears in the air some distance away from the village, away from any prying eyes or inconvenient bystanders to get in the way of her entrance. The light widens a little, and a large rectangular doorway seems to rotate into view, a flat hole sliding perpendicularly into the air, slicing through a couple tall tufts of grass and dandelion stalks with an edge fine enough to make a razor seem dull. Yeah, having one of those appear inside you would be very inconvenient indeed.

Stepping through the doorway from her tower library, Cassandra is dressed unassumingly in dark trousers and a dark blue coat shaped to present an androgynous frame, as if her striking elven features and shoulder-length white hair could ever be mistaken for androgyny. A dagger hilt is plainly visible peeking up from the top of one of her boots, and an ordinary knife sits at her belt, but other than that no visible armament would signal her as an adventurer.

Taking a brief look at her handiwork, she lets the doorway fizzle into nothing before setting off towards the village.

[Rebonack]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Cassandra will be met with much the same lack of fanfare as Sam. Though, perhaps, she'll get a few more admiring looks from the passing men. Sorry, Sam, there aren't that many folks here who find blue pig-ogres attractive. Just one of those sad facts of life. Cassandra will find the town more or less par for course as far as ye olde villages go. One large main road. A second road that cross it at a roughly perpendicular angle. A temple with a little graveyard behind it on the city's high-ground. A general market were farmers bring their wares. A butcher shop. A leather worker's shop. A lumber mill powered by the sift flowing little river running through the town. A bridge that spans said river. An inn for weary travelers with the sign of a speared boar hanging above its door. And of course various homes representing varying levels of income. Nothing here is terribly fancy.

Though something here IS terribly odd.

The complete lack of children.

No kids playing in the streets. No boys or girls sweeping the front step of their family store. No babies in the arms of mothers.

Only adults, bustling about on their business.

Sam, meanwhile, heads into the blacksmith's shop! He mat notice a horseshoe nearly hidden in a tuft of grass near the front door of the house, discarded and forgotten. Regardless, a gruff voice will call from the adjoining outdoor shop, "Hail! What can we do for you today, sir?"

[Deathkeeper]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Sam would probably be more worried about these people if anyone did flirt with him. Unless they were a pig person also but he would probably be disgusted at that for a different reason.
His trotter accidentally kicks the horseshoe, and he bends over to pick it up. No matter what some people might taunt at him, he has no trouble doing this.
"Uh, I'm here representing MERC. Your village said they needed help?" he asks. That's why he came with Steve in his big intimidating shape and both his gauntlets on and his gun holster strapped. He has to look like a proper MERC on this one.

[Rebonack]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

There's a blacksmith in the shop! Middle aged guy. Beard that looks like it has caught on fire at least once in the past few weeks. Pretty standard blacksmith fellow wearing a heavy leather apron and gloves to keep the sparks at bay.

Sam will be met with a completely blank look.

"Help with what, now?"

This may strike Sam as very strange.

Mostly because half the payment was already sent to Merc by the blacksmith and his wife. Specifically to help them find their lost son. And given that there doesn't seem to be any lost son nearby, that issue hasn't been resolved. In fact, the blacksmith doesn't seem distraught at all. Just another fine man bustling away at his forge! Looks like he's busy straightening out someone's plow right now. That's hard, heavy work! Lots of work. Fine, bustling work. The sort of work someone might be doing because they don't have anything else to worry about right now.

Which is weird.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Sam frowns, placing the horseshoe on the counter of the shop with a thump.
"Help with your son. He's missing. You sent a pretty hefty sum to MERC to look for him, remember?" Sam asks. Well, what he considers hefty for a family. Not so much for the company as a whole.

[Ashen Lilies]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Cassandra makes her own way to the blacksmithy, definitely taking note of the lack of children around in the streets while internally scowling (while outwardly studiously ignoring) the attention she's getting from the men. She enters quietly, slipping through the doorway to lean against the frame and observe if she can.

[Rebonack]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

Our heroes may spy a brief glimmer of hope in the expression of the blacksmith, but it's quickly replaced with a glower. "What are you talking about? I don't have a son. Now get out of my shop and stop wasting my time!"

Well.

That probably wasn't the response they were expecting.

The horseshoe sits on the counter, by the by. Just sits there. Like an inanimate object. Most lumps of iron would be jealous of just how motionless that horseshoe is.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Village of Hamletsdale]

"Fine, it's your money." grumbles the pig, who turns (and takes the horseshoe because myeeeeh) and runs into Cass.
"Oh, hello Ms. Cassanda! Are you my backup?" he asks, bowing and bobbing his head.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Cassandra nods at Sam, both as greeting and as answer to his question.

She raises her eyes to look at the blacksmith, stepping forward slightly to get his attention.
"Where do the children in the village play? Perhaps we can ask some of the others about the boy we're looking for."

[Rebonack]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Again, there's a brief inkling of understanding in the blacksmith's expression, but just as quickly he gives his head a shake as if trying to dislodge an annoying fly from his hair. "Ain't no children in this village. Never have been. Now scram!"

Well.

That seems tremendously unlikely. A village of this size would vanish in a single generation if no one was having kids. That's a simple fact of demographics. Something else must be going on.

[Deathkeeper]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Sam grumbles, trotting over to Cassandra.
"You got any of that uh, magic that can help us find things? I don't know if we would have time to just look around the miles around the place. Or a playground. I can only sniff so far." he whispers to her.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

"Look at him. The man's obviously been befuddled," says Cassandra, frowning at the blacksmith. "No children in the village," she says flatly. "None."

She reaches out with a thin probe of magic, settling it into the blacksmith's forehead as she waits for his response. At the range she's standing, she can detect any blatant or obvious magical buggery that might be affecting his mind.

[Rebonack]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

"Have you go slag in your ears?" the man replies after a moment's pause for face-twitching. "That's what I just said. No children in the village. None now. Ain't ever been any."

And... yeah.

There is CERTAINLY some magical shenanigans going on here.

The fellow is under an enchantment that seems to be triggered each time memories of children come up. The spell is expertly woven, using the man's own life to fuel itself. It has wormed its way deep into his brain and removing it would require something on the order of psychic surgery. A simply dispel magic would probably give him a stroke. Whatever cast this spell certainly knew what it was doing, which is troubling for several reason. The first, that it could even cast a spell like this to begin with. The second, and perhaps more sinister, is that it could have easily made the effect more subtle. Considering the ticks and the unimaginative (and not to mention unrealistic) denial, one might almost imagine that whatever inflicted this enchantment wanted it to be noticed by outsiders.

But for what purpose?

That's hard to guess.

[Deathkeeper]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Sam looks expectantly at Cassandra. Clearly she's not just making statements for fun, so he's sure she's going to explain something to him momentarily.
He just doesn't know what because magic has always evaded him.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Cassandra scowls, crossing the smithy floor in a fury as she reaches up to grab the blacksmith's head in both hands and yank him down towards her. Of course, blacksmiths tend to be fairly large individuals, and Cassandra is but a tiny elf, but surprise might leave him vulnerable - that, and the sudden numb feeling of being simultaneously dunked into a tub of ice water as dozens of frozen hooks start slicing into your brain.

The delving is complete, of course - Cassandra will be able to detect every ailment or injury afflicting the man, from the hundreds of tiny scars on his arms caused by metal sparks that got past his gloves, the burns on his face from that time his beard caught fire - even the bruise on his stubbed toe. Ouch. But her primary attention and focus, of course, is diving into those brainmeats of his - delicately, of course, but also with merciless and exacting precision, teasing and prodding at the magic embedded in his mind to see what it is and how it could have gotten into there.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Road to Inside - Forgotten Grotto (Closed Scene)]

The roads leading to Inside are always interesting. Some pass through meadow, others through forest, as this one does, and still others wind more esoteric paths. Each is dotted by towns, landmarks and campsites, places for travellers to rest, perhaps trade some of their current possessions for needed supplies, and recuperate from their chosen method of transportation. And so, this fine early morning, one of these small campsites is occupied by a traveller. Hardly remarkable, that, but he seems to be waiting for someone or something. He seems to be wearing a martial arts gi of some sort, a light blue color, broken by a wide black belt. His feet are bare, though a pair of geta rest next to his legs, and on his head is a wide-brimmed straw hat, under which, a massive shock of white hair has been pulled into a long, bushy ponytail, just visible when he turns his head. He's seated at the base of a massive tree, his back against its trunk, the embers of a small fire still smoldering a few feet away. He seems to be watching the road, the long stem of a wild grass of some variety or another held in his mouth. His frame is well-muscled, and there's a leonine quality to his face, suggesting a ferocity that seems to deter many of the curious.

Each group that passes by on the road seems to get a silent appraisal, before he watches them go by without moving. Whatever he is, he doesn't seem to be a bandit, at least. What's more curious, is that he doesn't seem to have any sort of traveling gear on him. No bag nearby, no coat, no weapon, not even a hatchet or saw, though from the ash and the remaining embers, he must've built that fire the previous night. Curiouser and curiouser.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Road to Inside- Forgotten Grotto]

And today, he might have been visited by a traveling centauress, were it not that she had something specific in mind. She's fit, tanned, with black hair just short of her shoulders and a similarly colored tail, but a white coat on her horse half. She's rather vivacious, and a very good horse were someone trained to look for that sort of thing. She's dressed in a simple bra top, and with a bag with her stuff tied to her waist. She also has blue paint down her back and limbs, along with going across both her chests, though it seems like it was applied a few days ago.

Hrm. This fellow might do. He's attractive, isn't causing trouble. And she has him curious. Must be a local, if he has no traveling gear, and she hasn't heard of any trouble in the local area. It's actually very nice and peaceful.
Well, it's another hour's trot to Inside. Why go all the way there to look when she can experiment with a hunk right here? Without ceremony, and with as little sound as possible, she uncorks a bottle and drains it, setting it down in the grass.

The succubi elixir should cause her to change shape into her target's ideal love, complete with attire. She's hoping he's not into anything too odd. Though she's lucky she hadn't tried it on the "man" who passed by this fellow before her, as that could have been disastrous. But that will be left to the alternate universes.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Road to Inside - Forgotten Grotto (Closed Scene)]

The man doesn't seem to have noticed the centauress, his eyes having passed over her and traveled to anyone else traveling near her, before returning to where the road meets the horizon. Good enough, that, then, so that he doesn't see her duck into a hiding place, let alone her transformation.

She'll find that her black hair has grown, wildly so, reaching down to the small of her back, and it's streaked with highlights of silver. Gone is the horse-half of her body, replaced with the legs of a human; fairly standard so far, though as she looks down at herself, she can see that the changes have granted her a number of tattoos, each in glittering silver, all in the shapes that were once painted down her back and front. The shapes that were once painted on her second chest have now been migrated tastefully to her new legs, so as not to interfere with any sort of magic they may grant her. It may take her a few moments to realize just how much brighter everything seems to be, and her teeth feel kind of funny, too, as though they've changed shape just a bit, her canines seeming to have grown slightly longer. What's more, she can hear things more clearly and further away, too. Reaching up to where her ears are reveals that they're now longer and furred, ending in tufts somewhat similar to those of a bobcat. Most of what she was wearing hasn't changed too much, though thankfully enough, the potion did give her a pair of rather baggy blue shorts that end just above her knees, and a pair of simple, flat shoes. Her bag is still tied to her waist, and hasn't changed, nor have its contents.

All that remains now is for her to reveal herself to him, and see where this takes them.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Road to Inside- Forgotten Grotto]

Willa blinks, but luckily she remembers this feeling, and notices the ears quickly. She can't tell what kind they are without a mirror, but a girl with fuzzy ears is nothing out of the ordinary. Alright, she can work with this. Luckily the elixir bridges the gap of re-learning bipedal nature, and so with just a minute to experiment with her toes she can saunter over to the man, trying her best to get the motions right.
"Now, just what's someone like you just sitting around here doing nothing?" she asks him with an innocent smile.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Road to Inside - Forgotten Grotto (Closed Scene)]

The man blinks at her, light blue eyes with slitted pupils, like those of a cat. To his credit, he doesn't seem to ogle one part of her or another, just looks her up and down and smiles lazily at her, his eyes full of warmth and...mischief? His voice is deep, but friendly.

"Oh, who says I'm doing nothing?" The lazy smile turns to a grin. "I'm quite active, you see, though I know I don't look it, miss. For instance, I've never seen someone with such...interesting tattoos before. Normally, I'm quite good at reading them, but I'm having a hard time with yours. Perhaps you'd care to sit awhile, and enlighten me?" He sits up, and gestures towards a protruding root that places her close to him, but far enough away to be respectful, then removes his hat. As he moves, she can see that his frame is larger than it looked from far away, with broad muscled shoulders, and a wide chest. His arms and chest are covered in tattoos the same color as the ones the potion gave her, but they're shaped differently, swirls and whirls, and stylized clouds, though she only catches glances of them, since his gi is covering most of them. There must be some sort of symbolism to his own from what he says, and perhaps he'll enlighten her if she stick around. He seems friendly enough, at least.

[Rebonack]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Poor Sam.

All he's getting to do is watch his partner harass brains. He could stand around and wait for the result. Or he could start poking around himself. The town IS pretty big and there are likely clues scattered about. Whatever did this isn't trying to be secret about it. It's like a game of Clue! Except with more actual murder.

As for Cassandra, she'll find the magic to be pernicious and deep. Whatever did this took its time, several hours at least, to carefully weave this spell. Likely while the blacksmith was asleep. That might explain why he and his wife remembered the problem yesterday enough to send the contract and have no recollection of it what so ever today. The magic itself has a distinct air of unreality to it, gossamer threads of dreams woven into a rough analog of reality. That is, perhaps, why such an unconvincing lie is believed by the blacksmith. One often doesn't question logical inconsistencies while dreaming.

Though, perhaps most odd, is the fact that the spell appears to be tied to the existence of whatever awful dark faerie cast it.

If the creature were destroyed (or compelled to remove the hex) it would harmlessly unravel itself. There's nothing in the spell that would require this to be the case. Whoever cast it added this feature intentionally.

Someone is playing games, here.

[Deathkeeper]

[Village of Hamletsdale]

Sam tries to ignore the magical harassment happening at the moment and sniffs experimentally at the horseshoe, wondering if there's enough of a scent on it that he could use it to track a dragged-off child who had lived in the place.
He's never actually tried this sort of thing, but he's been told pigs are very good at it, so it's worth a shot.

[The Road to Inside- Forgotten Grotto]

Willa returns his warm look and sits down.
"They were designed by a superior of mine, the goddess who protects the town I live in. She has honored me, so I honor her." she explains simply.