[Nexus] Outside XXV

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

The dryad starts skipping off into the woods. They don't go too far before they come up to a large weeping willow tree. It's in a small clearing. It seems grand compared to the more mundane trees around it.

"This is my tree." Salix announces, spinning to face Olivia. She reaches up her hands to run then through the hanging leaves.

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

"It's very pretty."

Olivia peers at the tree. It... looks like a regular tree, despite being bigger than usual.

"So... you're connected to it? Like, magically?"

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Salix beams at Olivia. Seems she appreciated the pretty comment. "Um, I guess so." She lowers her arms and looks at Olivia quizzically. "What do ya wanna do now?"

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

"... I don't know. What do you usually do? Is there anyone else around here, besides your tree or the rabbit?"

Olivia does not really want to play with a small child. Though she doesn't have anything else to do besides devour the blood of the innocent.

...

And she doesn't want to do that.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Gnoll Village]

The gnoll quickly runs off, literally jumping off Zanny's back and disappears into the fog without a word.

It should probably be mentioned that the female demon gnoll looks heavily pregnant, if someone paid attention they might have noticed that many others of the female gnolls fleeing were pregnant as well.

The demon gnolls looks slightly unsure as Zanny shouts at them and exchanges nervous glances before addressing the group.

"No, we did not. That would be Yigoth and his spawn. We came to this village and gave these gnolls the tolls they needed to protect themselves. The only thing we wanted in exchange were to be able to stay in this village as honored guests." The sister replies sharply.

[Gnoll Village]

Inside Wenomir, something snaps. He steps forward, flourishing his sword.
I'll be blunt here. We don't give a damn. We really don't. We're here to hunt down the demons who kidnapped our friend and yet all we found were two groups of demons who seem to be under the impression we understand, or even care about, their pointless feuds. Start talking straight or I won't leave enough of you to bury. You can start by telling us who the hell is Yigoth and who kidnapped our friend. And before you get the bright idea to lie to us: don't. We're already close to just murdering all demons in ten kilometers' radius to be done with it.

[Gnoll Village]

Zanny growls and nods in agreement with Wenomir. The dragon's huge eyes flicker to the pregnancy. He does not approve of that.

"And what are your real reasons for 'protecting' these gnolls, fiends? I'm not stupid. No demon helps others when it has nothing to gain. Are you using them to breed your spawn?"

[Gnoll Village]

Koro roars loudly. Intimidation!

[Gnoll Village]

Ilpholin doesn't really feel the need to add anything.
She throws in a smirk and fingers her whip. She'd love to kill something living today. Undead were always a bore to take down.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

"Not for a while." Salix shakes her head. She doesn't get visitors very often. "Oooooh, we could play and hide and seek. Do you wanna play hide and seek? I'll hide first." The dryad looks absolutely giddy at this possibility.

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

"Hide and seek? Okay."

Olivia shrugs.

"I'll count to 100 then."

She goes to cover her eyes against the nearest tree and start counting to 100! Because that's how you play hide and seek.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Salix giggles giddily and runs off into the trees as Olivia counts. She stops behind a tree, peeking out behind it at Olivia. She giggles again. I don't think she's a very good hider.

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

Once Olivia is done counting to 100, she'll go to try to find Salix. If the dryad girl is giggling and peeking a lot, this is probably done rather easily. If she's moderately good at hiding, the vampire will sniff the air and try to smell Salix's blood. I'm not sure if the dryad-equivalent counts, but since the blood is important to my vampires because of it's "life-fluid" status rather then the actual composition of it, dryad "blood" is probably detectable.

Anyway, if the vampire finds Salix she'll try to lightly grab her arm, probably giggling.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Lots of giggling and peeking does indeed happen. Olivia should have little trouble locating the dryad. When the vampire nears, Salix peaks out and eeps. She leans into the tree and melds into it.

...

Silence for a moment, then stifled laughter from the branches of a nearby tree.

[Mr. Moon]

Lost Coast

Allen either doesn't hear the guard's words as he makes his way into the light house, or he doesn't pay them any attention.

As the cowboy walks into the light house, he takes a moment to gawk at all the stairs.
There we a lot of stairs.
And also a lot of people? Maybe. The Rebo didn't give an interior description.
Either way, Allen makes his way up to the top of the light house!

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

Olivia rolls her eyes. Well, at least it'll make the game more exciting.

She looks for the source of the laughter, up in a tree. Very well, two can play at that game. After a moment of doing nothing and going cross-eyed with effort, she poofs into the form of a dainty and little brown bat. The vampire flies up to the tree Salix is hiding in and attempts to revert to her human form, then quickly grab the dryad.

[Ashen Lilies]

Spoiler

Show

They fit inside each other though they all aren't perfect fits. This must mean that there are more of them, though I don't know what you accomplished by putting the dolls in each other. You then hear a boom from Room Four, the door for that room swings open.
The cat purrs while being pet, he then scratches at Kal's hand and then runs away.
This cat is clearly one of Reinholdt's relatives.

[Katz Motel]

Eric goes to check what the noise was, peering into the room. If Kal is watching Eric, he may notice something twitch under his shirt. On his back. Eric doesn't seem to have noticed.

He will see that there's a large hole in the wall and a man running away who was wearing army fatigues. The hole is swiftly closing up, though there's enough time for Eric to get through and escape. There's also a bundle of dynamite, a detonator, and a Matyroshka doll of the army guy in his fatigues. Nothing is inside it.

[Katz Motel]

Kal hears the explosion, and rushes out. He's about to jump through the hole, when...
"Uh... dude? There's something on your back."

[Halae]

[Katz Motel]

Eric is too surprised to go for the hole, both by Kal's statement and the whole situation. He freaks out, trying to twist his arms around to reach his back, "Augh! What is it?!"

he doesn't like being attacked from behind.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Katz Motel]

"I don't know, it's under your shirt!"

[Halae]

[Katz Motel]

"Get it off me" Eric yells, moving over to Kal, and pulling up the back of his shirt. Kal will note that his back has turned a dark rainbow in color, especially around one specific spot... where he happens to be growing a tentacle. or, more accurately, a trio of tentacles all stuck together. It's not very big right now, but it was long enough to cause that twitch.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Katz Motel]

"But... It's growing out of you!"
Nevertheless, he attempts to grab the tentacles and pull. Hard.
And to think, any other time he'd love to be stuck in an abandoned motel with Eric and a bunch of tentacles. Any other time.

[Halae]

[Katz Motel]

"Hrrk!" Eric is pulled off his feet! Kal will find that the tentacles are about as hard to detach as a leg would be - it's not going away. from his new spot on the floor, eric demands, "Well, what the hell is it?!"

[Recaiden]

[The Dead Forest]

"Yes. Physically, they are empty, but in places like this, they are not so different from us."

Riace walks out towards the edge of the dead zone, to the closest living trees, and sets a hand against their bark. A faint rustling and creaking rises through the air as they consider and confer.

[CBI]

There must be some reasonable trees inland. Valuable information!
One of the more reasoning inhabitants, the one with the cyborg eye, has taken a seat near the owl's nest and is psychically studying the odd creature inside the bubble.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Olivia rolls her eyes. Well, at least it'll make the game more exciting.

She looks for the source of the laughter, up in a tree. Very well, two can play at that game. After a moment of doing nothing and going cross-eyed with effort, she poofs into the form of a dainty and little brown bat. The vampire flies up to the tree Salix is hiding in and attempts to revert to her human form, then quickly grab the dryad.

This technique is an overwhelming success. Salix gives a shocked, gleeful little scream as Olivia suddenly appears and she falls backward. Hopefully Olivia is holding on enough to stop the child falling, and balanced enough to not fall herself.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Katz Motel]

"Three... tentacle... things." Says Kal, wondering if he should try cutting them off with a knife.

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

Olivia could balance upside-down on the branch, holding onto Salix while keeping herself up is pretty easy for the vampire. She gives the dryad a sly smile, again showing her large fangs.

"I got you!"

[Halae]

[Katz Motel]

Of course, it'd probably hurt like all-get-out if Kal tried to cut the tentacles off. And this, of course, leaves the question of what's in the space between them?

"What? Oh damn." Eric looks worse than if someone had crapped on a canvas and called it a masterpiece. This is horrible! "We don't have time to deal with this crap right now," He says, "we need to get out."

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

The young dryad's face splits into a grin after she realizes she isn't falling anymore. "You got me!" She exclaims, laughing delightedly. She hasn't had someone to play with for too long.

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

"Now you have to look for me."

Olivia lets go of Silax once she is sure the dryad can balance on her own. The vampire then hops down onto the ground, landing lightly on her feet no matter the height of the tree.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Salix scurries deftly out of the tree after Olivia. "Okay! Go hide, I'll count." And counts she does after putting her face to the tree. 1... 2... 3....

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

Olivia nods, then goes off to hide!

She chooses a fairly large tree, away from Salix's willow though, and jumps up into the branches. She... clings to the underside of one, and disappears into the shadows. Not actually invisible, mind you, just using good vampiric stealth skills. She doesn't giggle or peek at all.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

65... 66... 99... 100...

"Ready or not, here I come!" She announces loudly. And then she's off! Salix goes running through the trees, doing a generally bad job of seeking. She's headed in the general right direction though, so that's something. "Oliiiiivia! Where are you?!" She calls out, before giggling more. She's never gonna tire of searching, is she?

[VampireRot]

[Generic Forest]

"Oh, I'm right here."

No, she doesn't say that. That would be silly. The vampire stays quiet and hidden. She's the hide and seek CHAMP.

[Gullara]

[Generic Forest]

Olivia is clearly the best at hide and seek. Far better than Salix.

After a few minutes, Salix cheats. The horror. Namely, she whispers to a tree then looks almost right at Olivia a second later. The dryad runs full speed at Olivia's tree, suppressing the urge to burst out laughing.

But, when Salix gets there she still can't see Olivia in the shadows. "Olivia?" She looks rather confused.