[Nexus] Inside 39

[KerfuffleMach2]

Grey Zone Park

When she pulls out the gun, Syra takes a guess at what's coming. She twists to one side to dodge.

Hey! I was just trying to talk!

Then the scorpion roars. Which draws Syra's attention to it.

[TechnoScrabble]

Grey ZOne Park

The bee woman cries and fires at the scorpion now!
"Please! Leave me bee!"

[Zefir]

GrEy ZOne PArK

The scorpion slows down while using his big claws to defend his small body from the shots. after all he didn't do any offensive and he will stop in a swords range to Syra.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Grey Zone Park

Syra makes sure to stay out of the line of fire.

Hey, calm down! I promise I won't attack if you stop now.

[TechnoScrabble]

Grey Zone Park

The bee woman throws her gun at the scorpion and crawls further away, whimpering.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Red Zone]

"That was a bit unexpected," remarked Kyinde, showing a talent for understatement.

Since Demon Queen seemed to be taking on the other bogeys, she turned her attention to the couple. "So you were in on this? Well, I have plenty of prowess for everyone here to get taken down, so you don't have to worry about being left out!" She lunged, casting a spray of icy mist at them as she did so.

[Ashen Lilies]

[235 Noir Lane]

Oh hey what's this! There appears to be a tiefling walking up to this address, in a completely non-threatening and un-hostile manner! Surely he doesn't hold any malintent whatsoever towards the people within! He knocks on the door!

[ThirdEmperor]

235 Noir Lane

235 is an opulent mansion, distinctly out of place amidst the more mundane, even run down buildings that occupy the rest of the street, sandwhiched awkwardly between an old-fashioned diner and a laundrymat. Outside, it looks to have at least two floors and a dozen rooms, but something about the way it's built just looks odd, like someone tried to cram too many impossible angles into a single building, and it's quite likely it's larger on the inside. Almost guaranteed, in fact.

Seven green glass windows, three on the lower floor, three on th second, a single massive circular window at the very top of the building, look out onto the street, and a simple red wooden door appears to the the only way in. In front of the house grows a small, but respectable garden with a cobblestone path leading to the door, a sundial on one side of the path, a fountain in the shape of a wailing column of souls, crying their tears into a basin below, on the other. A wrought iron fence surrounds the entire estate, but the gate hangs open, as the owners are well aware the gate is purely ornamental.

The entire place is, by the way, red. The tiles on the roof are light red, the building itself deep scarlet, the flowers growing in the garden, roses, poppies, tulips, carnations, almost entirely red, with only the occasional spiraling swirl of deep blue or black blooms to offset the otherwise crimson display.

Inside the mansion, the Red Letter Gang is already ready for the tiefling's arrival. He did warn them, after all.

[Ashen Lilies]

[235 Noir Lane]

How do they know it's him, though? He could be a customer! The paper in his hand might lend to this impression, as does the slightly finer cut of his outfit, a silk shirt instead of leather, though still fashionably sleeveless.

Kal walks up to the door and knocks politely.

[Zefir]

Grey Zone Park

The bee woman throws her gun at the scorpion and crawls further away, whimpering.

Grey Zone Park

The scorption tosses the gun away with his big claws and tries to run after the bee. If the distance is low he tries to use his stringer to block the way in front of the bee.

[Lady Serpentine]

Grey Zone Park

The bee woman throws her gun at the scorpion and crawls further away, whimpering.

Talina undeadtimes, and goes after the Bee-person.

If she gets near her, she'll say "Do you want something to help with the pain?"

[TechnoScrabble]

Red Zone

The couple is torn into raggedy pieces by the force of the blast, and lays there, slumped up against the wall.

The bogeys find themselves getting dragged around in traffic. Not very good for them. At all.

Grey Zone Park

The bee woman is entirely unresponsive now. She slowly starts to break apart, the bees that she was made of flying off for a few feet, and then falling and dying.
Something terrible buzzes within the hive...

[Zefir]

Grey Zone Park

The scorpion stops his attemps to cage the now splited bee.
His voice sounding like it came from a deep cave comes out.

"Odd."

Then he turn his attention to the hive ready to defend himself.

[ThirdEmperor]

235 Noir Lane

True, he could be a customer, which is why they haven't shot him. Yet.

After a second, the door swings open. Standing in the doorway is a rather short, slightly fat man with a comb-over, dressed in a burgundy red velvet tuxedo, a black domino mask covering his eyes. In one hand, the man holds a silver platter, upon which sit a variety of drinks, mainly gin and red wine. "Yes? May I help you, sir?" He asks, voice annoyingly high pitched

[Lady Serpentine]

Grey Zone Park

The bee woman is entirely unresponsive now. She slowly starts to break apart, the bees that she was made of flying off for a few feet, and then falling and dying.
Something terrible buzzes within the hive...

"That doesn't sound good..."

She pulls another handful of metal dust from the bag.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Erin's Emporium]

Aeryn, meanwhile, plotcloned here, looks up, sensing customers afoot.

[EE]

"Hello. I'm looking for something that would be good against a Remorhaz, a Barghest pack, or a pair of Fire Angels. Would you have anything that would be particularly useful?"

[EE]

Aeryn ponders that for a moment. "It sounds to me like you'll need something effective against fire, heat and shapeshifting creatures...I should have something here," she muses, flipping through a catalogue.

[EE]

"And something effective against something that doesn't die until diced, that we want to capture."

"Hm. A stunning blade, then?" Aeryn suggests, looking up frm her catalogue. "One that will render an enemy unconsious when struck?"

[EE]

"That might work. I don't know, really. Do you have any experience with Chaos beasts?"

[Erin's Emporium]

"....Ah. Yes, I do. Hm, an axiomatic weapon might work a treat then. I think we have some in stock."

Repost for Harnel.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler

Show

[Red Zone - Alley]

Clarissa does indeed lose her balance! She might end up with her hair and upper torso firmly entrenched within her own goo track! The irony and "unfairness" of it all! The spider caught in her own web!

Clarissa's spear arm likely shatters, quite possibly leaving a large portion of what once was Clarissa's forearm embedded inside of Sally's torso.

Clarissa thuds against the ground with a weak,

"Uurgh!"

What other noise is there to make when one is pinned to the ground with a warscythe in her chest?

This would likely be the end of Clarissa, if not for two critical little details she has identified as entirely beneficial to her own ends in this situation.

1. Her spear was able to ram through Sally's chest, suggesting that Sally's metal body is softer than silicon.

2. Sally is still in direct contact with one of Clarissa's limbs.

That shattered segment of flesh which may or may not be jutting through Sally's flesh begins its attempt to pull away from the center of Sally's body (to the left and right). With immense power and rigor, they are attempting to exert pressure on the left and right side of Sally's center of mass from within. They operate much like a car jack lifting a car off of the ground with a higher force and tension levels.

Clarissa's last chance at wresting victory from the hands of defeat rests in the principles behind erosion. She is almost certain that her preprogrammed "jack" will act as water does when it freezes inside of a crack in a boulder, splitting it open over time. The question here is how much time because it seems like Clarissa doesn't have much time left in reserve...

Clarissa's last chance at survival rests in the fact that Sally might be holding her ankle against her abdominal region. That fact might afford Clarissa the leverage and opportunity requisite for her attempt to viciously kick Sally's "tummy" several times in rapid succession!

Clarissa still has a shot at this! She does everything in her power to make it count before sloth completely shuts her down (in my next post).

Sally fails to look either pleased, amused, annoyed, or remotely caring at all about how this fight is turning out so far.
She may have held a frown towards the beginning, but now she simply looks blank.

You'd think she would be more bothered by the spike wriggling between her metal "ribs" or the woman kicking her in the stomach.
Well, okay, maybe not that last one. Those kicks probably just aren't going to do much at all.
The girl got landed on from on high and merely fell over, what are kicks going to do, beyond make amusing thump noises?

Instead, she takes the opportunity to viciously yank on the foot she's currently holding, either intending to use the goo's hold on Clarissa or simply the principles of sudden, massive force to potentially tear the leg right off.
Little girl has more than a little strength in her and she's putting a lot of it to use right here.

Meanwhile, over in her chest, where that spike is wiggling around...
It's likely to be thoroughly disappointed in that theorized principle of erosion's effectiveness.
While it certainly stabbed through several somethings and appears to be moving things around, the girl appears to be constructed in layers of two different metals.

At the very core is the densest metal, constructing what could be loosely defined as a skeleton, but more extensive, and filling than a proper bone counterpart.
Essentially a proper body, with reduced emphasis on the stomach region and space between the ribs.
Filling in the gap between ribs and the area of stomach that would normally be filled with organs is another metal entirely, softer, less dense, that seems to serve no purpose other than to fill out Sally's shape, so that her skin fits properly.

It is this softer metal that Clarissa stabbed through, between the ribs.
Her spike will have a merry old time "eroding" that away, until it hits a rib-construct.

Perhaps this is why Sally seems so utterly unconcerned about it writhing away in her chest, whilst she focuses on trying to amputate her opponent.

[Lady Serpentine]

[EE]

"Axiomatic weapons? What are those?"

[The Bushranger]

EE

"Weapons infused with the power of the Elemental Plane of Law, aka the Elemental Plane of Order," Aeryn explains. "They're especially effective against creatures of chaos. I don't usally carry too many of them but I might have a few..."

[Lady Serpentine]

[EE]

"Sort of like a Pattern-blade?"

(part of the Pattern of Amber is put on a Pattern-blade, and it's the embodiment of order in S'Kanthos's universe. So probably?)

[KerfuffleMach2]

Red Zone

Demon Queen looks around, then let's out a slightly frustrated sound.

Damn. I thought we could get some info from them.

Grey Zone Park

Syra looks to the hive, eyes narrowed. Great. What now?

She adjusts her grip on her Keyblade so that she's holding it with both hands now.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Red Zone]

"...Wonderful. Just when I think things are getting exciting again, I use a little too much force and ruin everything." Kyinde shook her head in disappointment, then turned to regroup with Demon Queen. She hadn't meant to take the couple out that quickly, but had caused more harm than intended through her carelessness...

...Unless it was another trick, and they hadn't been so strongly affected after all. She gave a wary glance back.

[TechnoScrabble]

Grey Zone Park

Several swarms pour from the hive and coalesce into cyborg bee women, brandishing their laser flintlocks and vibrosabers at their supposed attackers!
"Yarr..."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Grey Zone Park]

The mouse cowers.

Talina tosses the metal dust at the nearest of the cyborg-bee-people. It's strong enough to stun, but almost certainly not enough to kill it.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Grey Zone Park

Syra stares at the women for a moment, then sighs.

And I thought Halloween Town had some crazy stuff.

[The Bushranger]

EE

Aeryn looks a bit confused.
"Hm? I'm afraid I've never heard of that sort of weapon before. I suppose?"

[Lady Serpentine]

[EE]

"Would taking a look at one help?"

[The Bushranger]

[EE]

Aeryn nods. "Yes, it would - I could match it possibly as well then," she points out with a smile. "Do yhou have one on you?"

[Lady Serpentine]

[EE]

"Not on me, no. But unless you have a dimension lock, I could in a a couple of seconds."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Red Zone]

"...Wonderful. Just when I think things are getting exciting again, I use a little too much force and ruin everything." Kyinde shook her head in disappointment, then turned to regroup with Demon Queen. She hadn't meant to take the couple out that quickly, but had caused more harm than intended through her carelessness...

...Unless it was another trick, and they hadn't been so strongly affected after all. She gave a wary glance back.

So...Kyinde, was it? Demon Queen turns to face her as the blades ring floats back to its spot on her jacket.

Why'd you get involved?