Inside 68: Dawn of a New Season (or two)

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Corvus grins at Sophie, clearly amused.

"I am a Chosen of Luna." His grin widens. "Corvus the White is my name, but please, call me Corvus."

[Morty]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

"My name is Sophie Mouchabière," the Solar says, extending a hand. "Pleased to meet you. I haven't been a Solar for long. I managed to piece together what it means because my wife is an expert on souls and because I used to know a Solar and a Lunar. So I've been discovering it as I go along."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Industrial Strength Investigation]

"Okay. So, warehouse theft." That's not normal. "Is it a particularly valuable warehouse? Something important or dangerous or expensive or a combination thereof within it?" People don't just steal warehouse without a reason-

Well, no, people just don't steal warehouses.

Who steals a warehouse?

She glances around at the little gathering. "Think we got enough here to take another crack at it?"

*****

[Dibs and Dobs are on the case!]

Dibbles comes to a halt. He turns slowly and stares quietly at the offending house. "Would, ah, would y'like tae do th'honours?" He asks. One of them's got to go knock, right? And surely it's just the polite thing to do to offer to let Dobbers do it, right?

[Deathkeeper]

[Dibbles and Dobbers]

Dobbers does not seem to be any more willing to take initiative than Dibbles.
"Oh, well, you have seniority, Wilfred. Maybe you should-" he's cut off at another round of bellowing, and the sound of shattering glass. Dobbers raises a shaky hand and knocks on the door timidly.
Predictably, the door does not open.
"Um. Do you uh, think we should go in?" Melvin asks his partner.

[Morty]

[Industrial Strength Investigation]

"Well, they nicked it with a bunch o' workers, whom we've found and evacuated," Michalson explains. "And robbed a bunch of stores. As near as we can tell, they're tryin' to create an army of tin men. Robots. Y'know what I mean. With the two of you 'ere, I figure we might 'ave a shot. But let's be ready to give that place the laugh real quick, too. There's somethin' inside and we need to find out what it is, at least. It uses some kinda of dazzle, so I might be able to stop the worst've it."

[Slii Arhem]

Rambling Shop - Lum

The little bug girl awakens groggily, quite clearly roused from a deep sleep by the shop owner. Her one eye blinks tiredly, blearily, before it focuses on the sweet roll. She snags it before practically falling out of the box to give the shopkeeper a tight hug around his waist. She even sounds like she's purring as she hums happily. When she pulls away she takes a bite of food before typing on her little pad.

TOOLZ FIXED GOOD?

Rambling Shop - Lum

The beak of his mask waggles in slow sweeps as Fezziro nods, "The first of them, anyway. And now that the set has been begun, we can use this one to fix the rest and add them to the set. To the story. He holds up the plasma tool, and while it doesn't sparkle anew like one fresh out of the box would, it radiates a feeling of worn reliability at a glance. Faithfulness, dependability, comfort. And as he presses it into Lum's free hand, it feels perfectly fitted to her grip. Smooth wear where her fingers had pressed and rubbed the metal and plastic handle has been incorporated into the newly refurbished tool.

And beneath, she can feel it long to be used. A humming, purring resonance full of energy and eagerness, fueling its mechanisms endlessly better than any battery or outlet.

"Now you have the work to do, Lum. Lum's Tools will always be what they are, even if a new one is added or an old replaced, but using the first of the set to reform and complete the others will be what cements this story in the minds of everyone who sees them in use from now until forever. So step inside with me, finish up your food, and we'll begin."

[UncleWolf]

Palace - Jace/Zebes and Veronica

Once the paladin leaves, Veronica slumps back into her throne and kicks her legs up on the arm as she slouches in it with a particularly heavy sigh. "So. Before you start reaming me again, you two doing okay or do I need to drag you to a hospital? Or do I need to find a young priest and an old priest?" She asks as she holds up a hand and flexes a bit of wind magic within it. It was odd to have a hand, but even stranger to be able to wield true magic for once. "The way you two are, I'm starting to believe the latter."

Palace - Kothar

When Kothar and his son reach the exit, they'll find another one of the guides waiting, this one wearing a little scholar's cap and holding a rather large grocery bag. Gifts from the Mistress. Extra cookies, auroch jerky, and toy. The toy in question is a little tonberry doll, woven from wool, but it is warmed from within unnaturally. A simple warmth enchantment, but it seems permanent.

Golden Flock Orphanage

With her shell fired, Mo's body deactivates as it finally uses up the last of its energy. The gunbarrel and braces all seem to just collapse in on themselves until there's just a woman laying on the street with her clothes shredded. She's not breathing, but she could probably be reactivated with enough juice. Hopefully someone else can remember that she has groceries in a bag near by, though the eggs probably got shattered by the overpressure.

Intersection HQ

Despite the gravity of the situation, Brokenfang keeps her grin and even claps her hands together quite loudly. "And what if I can promise to clear this entire situation up with a single phone call?" Brokenfang asks. "Though I'll have to borrow your receptionist's phone unless you'd rather this be behind closed doors like most dirty deals."

Rambling Shop

Lum gives a the tool an experimental grip and test before pausing and staring blankly at it for several long moments. She shakes a bit before leaping at the shopowner to give him a hug and to nuzzle up against his cheek. She more than likely knocks his mask askew, but she was definitely happier than her poor grasp of language could express. Only after she's clung to him for several long moments does she finally let go, ready to do the work needed of her.

[Deathkeeper]

[Palace- J&Z&V]

While the paladin left, Zebes was trying to write a text to Veronica's sister as promised before Jace takes control of his thumbs back.
V's not crazy she's just a little unwell i know right now you can't tell Everything's mostly good here. Will be back later.

The two stare at Veronica, looking almost disappointed. 'Jace' pulls back his lip distastefully. "Time's up, Boss. Heart's getting funky anyway. Put me back in the box." Jace casually taps the side of his head as if getting water out of his ear, and his left side goes back to normal as Zebes perks back up in his own body. Jace can't tell if it feels better or worse, but Zebes is definitely more stable than he was before, even if he can't stop referencing stupid songs.
"I assure you that I have full control over myself. Him, not so much, but what else is new?" They exchange a glare, entirely for dramatic effect.
"I also believe that I promised you to shut up and let you give me that five minutes you asked for if you told them you weren't planning anything nefarious, which you did. So I didn't plan on reaming into you for anything really. To be honest the most I'd like is to get both of you checked out by the end of the day. Not sure if a hospital is even a good idea for anyone at this rate." Whatever's going around, it's going around. And he hasn't seen any sort of explanation on what's going on.

Of course if he checked all the news bulletins blowing up on his phone maybe he would, but sadly he hasn't.

Jace's expression softens and he smiles at her. "And I'm sorry my panicky mouth made me ruin that entrance. I do love what you've done with your plumage."

[Intersection HQ]

Nick stares at Brokenfang, long and hard. At least he probably is. Can't tell when someone's behind armor.
"You get one phone call, just like anyone else would get. Please don't make me regret it. But I probably will anyway." he tells her at last.

[5a Violista]

[Shapeshifter Investigations]

The shapeshifter Harley - wait, I mean half-elf mercenary - Holly finally returns through another invisible portal. Geez, that wasn't fun, she's relieved to be back. Why would someone leave a portal to another world and another time in the middle of the street?

Her clothes are a bit more worn out. Not wearing a mask, no make-up, or whatever, so her face-scars are pretty visible.

"Well, now at least I can get back to what I was doing." She gets out her notebook and begins scanning it again to remember what she was about to do. Oh, yeah. There was an orphanage.

No longer with the bus, she has to start walking the rest of the way. "At least everything's normal again."

...
Except then she notices that it's not. Holly notices that here, there, and even yonder there are attacking skinstealers and flamethrowers all over.

Confusion sets in.
How long was she gone? What exactly happened?



[Palace Fight]

The catgirl wants to run.

I mean, wouldn't you, if there was a giant thing screeching at you, ready to attack?
"Come on, come on, come on, hurry up," she says under her breath to the booting android. Please run properly so that she doesn't have to do any last-minute corrections or other repairs.

She glances over her shoulder. Gosh, that thing is terrifying. All she can do hope the others are good enough at holding it back, and wait for the android to boot up and hope it can actually do something, and hold tightly on to her pistol even though she's pretty sure she's not a good enough shot to be useful.

Please work, she prays.

[Leostales]

Ice Devil Dimension

Blackwall rushes to attack the new Ice Devil, who impales him with a spear. Blackwall falls down dead. The Ice Devil looks at the king. "Fool, must've had a death wish. If you release his soul, Tymaret could probably resurrect him." The King looks scared of disappointing Tymaret. "Sure let's do that." He conjures up a small sphere. "Hopefully, this should be good enough." He hands it to Tethrik. "You don't need an escort, just go and don't come back."

[Industrial Complex]
Muun follows Jaahlyn. He's been feeling pretty inadequate against all these big monsters. The toughest thing he's ever fought was a Mind Flayer. "What now?" he asks.

Palace Fight
Metalhead flies around, scanning for a weak spot with his high-tech eyes. If he finds one, he shoots at it. While he's at it, he also looks for the nearest exit. He only wanted to recruit a would-be world conqueror to help save the world...

[bc56]

Palace
Kothar thanks the little creature. "Your mistress is too kind." They'll leave now, happily eating cookies. There are certainly no hard feelings here.

Arson Site
This is... fishy. Whoever this person is, they don't seem to be one of the monsters; they're not showing fear of fire. They might be the necromancer, or a burglar. Or they might just be a very strange civilian trying to get out. He steps forward, calling, "Wait!" Hopefully, the person's reaction will give him a clue as to their intent.

Ice Devil Dimension
Tethrik takes the soul, bows more or less politely, and leaves. He has the prize, he just needs to escape with it... and also figure out if just the soul is enough or if Blackwall needs to be resurrected.

[Arkhosia]

[The Docks]

"Uh, maybe." She glances in the direction of the goblin's ship. Looked like it at least had stopped smoking.
"Maaaybe someone should come with me this time? Just in case?" She glances at the other VIGIL members on the ship.

The Docks

After a moment, Blanche shrugs, wrapping her hands back around the rifle hanging over her torso. "Sure, I'll come." Fighting gibbering amalgamations of lovecraftian nature and mountainous proportion wasn't her forte, but she at least knew how to provide an escort.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dibs and Dobs got another mystery to solve!]

Dibbles tries his best to put a brave face on it.

...

He's not very good at it. He lets out a low grumbly sigh and leans on the door. "Would it hae been all tha' much tae ask fer a nice quiet patrawl, eh? I swear, it's Like I'm cursed- ah, beyond th'obvious thing, I mean."

Assuming the door doesn't open comically when he leans on it (which would be just his luck really), Dibbles will try the door and see if it opens.

*****

[Clarkburn Apartments]

Somewhere behind her, horrible things are happening across Inside. She just watched a woman turn into an artillery piece and shell a giant flesh-thing. She should be out there helping. What, a little brush with a death deity and you're out of action, angel? What good are you? You don't have time to rest, do you? Lives could be lost because you're too busy feeling tired to just keep helping.

No time for that.

No time to cry.

Just bottle the pain up. Let it out later. You're not allowed to feel sorry for yourself yet. Mo asked you to do this. It's just fetching someone for her. You can manage at least that much, can't you?

Ithuriel comes in for a very rough landing outside the apartment block, one wing catching slightly as tired muscles refuse to cooperate, sending her tumbling across the ground in a heap in front of the entrance. She groans and picks herself up, walking over to the door and pressing the buzzer for 3A. "Here's hoping for an answer."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Corvus takes her hand and shakes it firmly, his smile widening.

"Pleased to meet you. I might be able to help fill in some of the blanks, I was Chosen quite awhile ago, and came to the Nexus by way of the Wyld, though I'm no longer sure just how much of it applies here."

[Morty]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Sophie considers this for a moment.

"I suppose the thing I'm most curious about is just what I can do now. After being chosen, I didn't start flying or anything... it's more like everything I could already to was amplified beyond recognition. It's a bit scary, to be honest. I'd always had a way with words, but now..." She shakes her head. "The sun god that apparently chose me isn't very forthcoming, either."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Corvus nods. Here probably isn't the best place to show Sophie what she can do, but he can at least enlighten her a bit.

"Yours is a great power to sway people and organize them, negotiating and even binding contracts to a terrible price just by witnessing them. And you also have a great capacity for learning. For instance, I could teach you some of the...tricks, shall we say, that normally only Chosen of the Silver Lady such as myself could learn. But there are also a great number of other things you can learn, and your capacity to excel at all of them by virtue of being a Chosen of the Sun is practically guaranteed. Here, though, is probably not a good place to demonstrate." For fear of breaking things, if nothing else.

"Do not expect much in the way of explanation from your god, either. Your gifts were given to you to forge your own path with. I do not know exactly why you were Chosen, but all of the Children of the Sun are meant to do great things, and you are no different. If you'd like a place to explore and learn all I know, and have a place to explore your limits without fear of...collateral damage, I suppose is the best term, feel free to come to my dojo. I can teach you ways to harness your new power you may not have known about."

He pulls what seems to be a business card out of a hidden pocket in his gi. Printed simply in silver-on-blue is the name, "Fort Dojo", with an address in Skull Fort Town. He offers this to Sophie.

"Feel free to stop in any time."

[Shadowcaller]

[The Docks - Goblin negotiations]

"Great! Let's go!" Anika will attempt to grab Blanche's hand and then first gently try to tug her in the direction which she wants to go. If Blanche doesn't seem to want to be pulled along, she will simply run ahead instead and gesture for her to follow instead.

"This way!" Either way, she will eventually let go of Blanche once it seems that she has picked up speed.

Yet soon it seems that running isn't enough for the druid as it takes more than just a few minutes to reach the goblin vessel. She suddenly stops and turns to Blanche. "This is taking too long, let's ride instead. Just climb on my back, 'kay?" Then before Blanche can inquiry about this further, Anika has in a shower of green energies turned into a huge saber with teal tinted fur that is looking at her expectingly.

[Industrial Complex]

"Now we're going to be dealing with the monsters on the streets, sir. Apparently, the shapeshifters are attacking everyone in sight and have abandoned all ideas of subterfuge. Miss Zifhara told me so herself." She turns to him. "Do you think you can deal with shapeshifters like that out in the open? They only seem to be vulnerable to fire."

[Morty]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Sophie listens intently. That's about what she figured, really.

"I was facing down a chimera, sent at me by a mad scientist, as I was investigating... someone he'd turned into something horrible," she explains as she takes the card. "All of a sudden, I felt a rush of power like I'd never imagined before, glowed like the sun and told it to stop. Which it did. Ever since then, when I do something, I feel this... inexorable push to excel in it. Even when I'm shooting a gun." She looks at the card. "Fort dojo? Sounds like a place you'd learn martial arts. The Solar I knew was a warrior, but the Lunar... sorceress and mystic, I think. I didn't know her as well. I do seem to be an incredible shot with a gun when I want to now, but I don't like it."

[The Docks]

Calm Reed will turn to the others, who haven't left to bombard the flesh-mountain.

"I don't know if bombing this monstrosity will work, but there's more work to be done. We need to keep the smaller ones off the citizens if we can."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Docks]

Quin has been quiet through most of this, but nods at Anika when she transforms.

"I will provide escort for you."

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

Corvus nods as she tells the story.

"Yes, I teach martial arts. And for people like us, martial arts can unlock new powers. For instance, I know one that allows gun users to deal grievous damage, especially to creatures of darkness, like demons and ghosts. But I'm also something of a lore master myself, despite probably not being quite the same as your previous Lunar friend. I am not a sorcerer, however, and gaining that distinction for us can be traumatic, from what I've been told."

[Arkhosia]

[The Docks - Goblin negotiations]

"Great! Let's go!" Anika will attempt to grab Blanche's hand and then first gently try to tug her in the direction which she wants to go. If Blanche doesn't seem to want to be pulled along, she will simply run ahead instead and gesture for her to follow instead.

"This way!" Either way, she will eventually let go of Blanche once it seems that she has picked up speed.

Yet soon it seems that running isn't enough for the druid as it takes more than just a few minutes to reach the goblin vessel. She suddenly stops and turns to Blanche. "This is taking too long, let's ride instead. Just climb on my back, 'kay?" Then before Blanche can inquiry about this further, Anika has in a shower of green energies turned into a huge saber with teal tinted fur that is looking at her expectingly.

Blanche's eyes widen in surprise as Anika tugs her along. She just never quite could anticipate what this gal was about to do next! She's quick enough on her feet to pick up the pace however, though she may be a moment too slow to match her equally abrupt halt... and suddenly, Anika's a bigass blue murder-tiger.

"Er, alright, but I gotta warn ya, I've never ridden anything before," Blanche states as she awkwardly tries to roll with it, clambering on with clear inexperience. "So you better not throw me off."

[Shadowcaller]

[The Docks - Goblin negotiations]

The saber grins which makes it look amazingly dangerous as it watches Blanche climb up on its back. Then, just as she manage to get a hold of its fur, it just takes off and runs down the street faster than your standard horse.
Blanche better hold on, especially as the the saber is forced to abruptly dodge out of the way as a car comes whirling down the street at a dangerous speed.
Blanche will get a glance of the driver, a woman that seem to have sustained some kind of injury, before the car pass them by.

Just a moment later they can hear a loud crash as the car seems to have come to an abrupt stop some distance behind them. The saber gives Blanche (and Quin? Not sure if he came along or not) a glance, they should probably just keep going right?
The ship wasn't far away now and there probably was way more people than just that woman in danger right now.

[Rebonack]

[The Docks]

Geneva is doing her best here to fight down panic.

She had intended just Anika and maybe one other to go procure some more explosives, but then nearly everyone had left!

She'll... she'll just have to make do with what she has, right? Their location was flagged for VIGIL to deliver that airship. That wouldn't be a problem. It would be a few minutes at least before the airship arrived. That giant... meat mountain didn't look like it had any means of mobility. It was just floundering there and looking awful. It could wait.

But the other horrors screaming everywhere?

She could feel the psychic buzz at the edge of her mind.

It took a few moments to shake off the encouraging fugue and focus on Calm Reed.

~You're right,~ the tiny floating pink psychic cat-monster sends back to the monk. ~The others will handle the explosives. We can protect as many citizens as we can in the mean time.~

And that said?

She'll zip off toward the nearest source of screaming.

[Morty]

[Sunny Side of the Moon?]

"I think I've been dabbling in sorcery," Sophie observes. "My wife has been trying to see if my new power can be used in a similar manner to her magic and we've had some results. Martial arts... well, I've never been much of a fighter. I know how to shoot a gun, but I try to avoid violence. Then again, violence seems to find me every now and again."

[Deathkeeper]

[Dibbles and Dobbers on the Case!]

The door is easily pushed open, revealing an absolutely lavish parlor of a place that probably wouldn't fit into the house they saw from the outside. Dark exotic fabrics line the walls alongside paintings and mirrors, and the whole place smells lightly of incense and...something else familiar.

Several hallways extend to their left and right, but down the middle seems to be a huge pool instead of an ordinary hallway. The bellowing seems to be coming from the right hallway- no, closer no-
Barreling into the room comes an extremely large person with a similar shape to Dobbers, only somehow making even Melvin look small. The enormous hippo-person is clad in what looks suitable for swimming and not much else, and dwarfs even Dibbles' partner in height, weight, and width.
He also appears to be streaming sparks from his eyes, hands, nose, and possibly even his feet as he runs about in a literal blind panic, bumping into every wall and desk possible.

"There you two are! You're late! How did you manage to be late to a predestined event? Ugh, fine. Just push him into the pool, will you? Poor lad guzzled the wrong potion and I'm stuck in this sigil and can't come help. Don't tarry now, I imagine it's quite painful for him." quips a tiny purple ball floating above their heads.

Dobbers, predictably, tarries.

[Arkhosia]

[The Docks - Goblin negotiations]

Blanche instantly regrets her decision as Anika bolts. She does far more than just grip the saber's pelt, shifting instead to hug the creature tightly for dear life with both arms and legs and a terrified expression. She glances back at the driver in shock, but doesn't focus on it; judging from her expression, she seems to have reached the same conclusion as Anika.

[UncleWolf]

The Palace

Despite getting what she thought she wanted, Veronica gives a heavy sigh and shakes her head. "To what point? Zebes is out of commission and if his heart is as funky as he's saying it is, then you should go. Not like the history of this place is going to matter." She says with a heavy helping of resignation to her voice. "You should be using those five minutes to rush Zebes to a doctor or a healer and to get your heads straightened up. Or do I need to ask the helpers to take you two out like a pair of carpetbags?" She asks. "So what if you mangled the chance and my planned welcoming? It doesn't mean you're exactly wrong. Get going, I'll be...around I guess." She admits with a wave of her wing.

The Palace Fight

Luckily for most of the group, Emily had enough foresight to get in the way of the giant magitek beast. Unluckily for her, it seems to have some sort of knowledge of what her pose means as it reaches out with its lower hands in order to try and occupy her. If she doesn't catch them, it'll attempt to rip open her abdomen but if she does, then the two swords swing down to try and sever her right arm at her elbow.

That is of course unless Jacke's shovel is capable of getting in the way of one or both and of blocking a monomolecular blade.

As for Metalhead, he'll find the chest of the creature to be exposed as well as the joints of its legs being typical weak spots, but the former is blocked off by Emily's great bulk.
If he shoots at the latter, hopefully he's packing rounds that are capable of ripping apart reinforced metal.

And lucky for the catgirl, the android seems to finally finish booting up as she goes into a seizure before fianlly falling still. The glowing lines and core pulse gently, but after a few brief moments her chest begins to rise and fall in simulation of breathing. A few seconds later she even opens her stone-grey eyes tiredly. "Where..."

Intersection HQ

Without waiting for permission, Brokenfang reaches over the receptionist's counter and dials a number. She hums happily, proud of herself, and even wags her tail a bit as she waits for the other side to pick up. "Eralaaaaaae...." She calls gently, as if that'd help get her to answer the phone quicker.

Docks

Part of those screams were surely from people panicking as a giant flaming tyrannosaurus walks out of an alleyway towards the obvious group of warriors. The smell of hot metal, ash, and burning wood comes with him, and the footprints he leaves behind grow small shoots of charred wood in his wake. His head, heavily armored, bares the symbol of a stag's skull bleached out against the black-blue of the rest of his hide. His left eye, rather than the beady normal one, has been replaced by a glowing green sphere that leaves wicks of flame behind as he moves. The massive creature walks right on over to the only people that really seemed to know what they were doing and looks down at them with his glowing eye. Geneva, Calm Reeds, and any other VIGILantes staying behind will be "spoken" to by a low growl that surprisingly gets his point across.

Glavvy wasn't here to fight them, rather he was there to guide a Hunt and he'd chosen his group of Hunters. He would provide gifts, gifts of primal flame and savagery. All they had to do was accept.

If any of them can sense divinity, they'll feel the blessing of The Huntress upon the monster despite being outside of the Hunting Grounds. The Herald had come to do part of his duty and he'd been drawn to the flesh monster's intense desire to Hunt and feast. It was a challenge and one the Glavenus was eager to take on despite its slender chance of winning.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Palace]

Jace turns around, dropping to his knee so he can look Veronica in the eyes...and then remembers she's taller now and has to straighten up.
"No no, none of that. We're fine, you hear me?" "My ticker's doing fine. But Ticker can't Tick if I ain't there to wind her, y'see?" "What he means is that he was getting sick because I was sheltering him in my head. Willingly, I might add. It was for treating his mind. Now that we're back to our proper places his body will go back to normal. Sorry we didn't explain; sometimes we...kind of forget that others can't read our thoughts like each other can. And as for his head, he's got what you got, I'm sure of it, and if you think he needs help I'm not leaving without you."
He reaches out to put his hand on her shoulder.
"Methinks the Lady Veroni isn't saying all, and that she can tell the man who's crazy about her how she feels." He scowls and turns his head.
"And that's man singular by the way!" "Ok that's just unfair you were thinking that thought REALLY loud okay? You both know if I was any more ace you could use me in a Royal Flush."
Jace chuckles and turns back to Veronica.
"My point is, I'm not going anywhere. We're as well as you are, and I won't let you give me the tough big sister routine. There's no one around but us. I don't know what is going on, really. I don't know if this is for today or for the rest of our lives, but we're here alone in a glittering palace of your own making and I won't let you push me away. I know you meant every word that you said before and you had the right to say it. And if you tell me to leave again before you're actually satisfied with where we are, well, I'm just going to make myself as difficult to dislodge from this floor as possible."
Given that Jace has ice, wind, gravity, and actual flight at his disposal with all of his powers and tools, he can make himself very difficult to dislodge from a floor.
"This is your day. You deserve it. Let yourself have it."

[5a Violista]

[The Palace Fight]

Marin is relieved when it works.

...
Then, she remembers that there's still a deadly monster right behind her, trying to kill them. There's no time to be relieved.

What should she say? In this situation, any wasted second could mean the difference between dying and surviving. 'We're in a flying temple' - that's pointless to say, so Marin doesn't say it. 'I used copper wiring, plastic, and my whole supply of band-aids to repair you, don't worry I'd be willing to redo it later when I have the tools' - no, that's not important to say now, it can wait. If they all die, then she wouldn't be able to fix it later anyway. 'We're in a fight for our lives' - probably something too obvious to actually bother saying right now.

Instead: "There's a monster-thing." The catgirl points at the magitek beast. She hopes there's enough urgency in her voice to signal that there's no time to waste. "Do you know how to stop it?"

She chooses to ask a yes/no question rather than a more open-ended 'how do we stop it' simply because Marin assumes the open-ended question would take longer to answer.

[Earl of Purple]

The Palace- Fight

Jack's shovel is an immovable object, so long as that button's pressed. I'm not great at science, but I think that trumps monomolecular blades. At least the robot monster's weapons nod at science with passing familiarity, rather than just flat-out ignoring physics. Still, Jack's all too stabbable, and she's not too keen on getting too close. She probably only got it in the way of one before pressing the button and fleeing hopefully out of reach, particularly given how far she flew to get there.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Partial Spoils for Everywhere Because the Forum Is Being a Butt

Show

[The Docks]

"Uh, maybe." She glances in the direction of the goblin's ship. Looked like it at least had stopped smoking.
"Maaaybe someone should come with me this time? Just in case?" She glances at the other VIGIL members on the ship.

[Industrial Complex]

"Good luck! I'll contact you if I have more information!" Jaahlyn exclaims as she waves Down and Morning glory off. She would likely not be of much use there, she could apply her particular skills much better elsewhere.
Now that the veil of secrecy was gone for their visitors, they were going to use theirs to its fullest extent...

[Here, There, and Yonder]

Just as a lot of citizens are caught in surprise by the skinstealers, a lot of skinstealers might be caught in surprise by just how well-prepared some citizens are for this.

A counter clerk pulls a flame-wand on a misshaped tauren attacking her customers.
A mother of five has a flame-thrower prepared when her former friend bursts into her home.
A gang of hoodlums drives blasting everything that even looks suspicious.

Information was a battlefield and it was won by placing it in the right hands at the right time...

Metro Square

The Skyside incident was a mess. That nuke business Krystal got caught up in, it was absolutely misery. Malice did what he could to help, but seeing as all he had was a stolen skytaxi and a prop gun, well...you can imagine everyone’s disappointment, surely. After that disaster, Malice promised himself he wouldn’t be so woefully unprepared, so utterly humiliated the next time a crisis struck. He would be armed and ready, determined to prove he isn’t some washed-up bootleg Magtok, but something infinitely greater, smarter, and cooler.

"Aw ****."

That's why it's more disappointing than horrifying for Malice when, on a routine walk in the park with his pet disembodied human head, skinwalkers go on the attack. Innocent people are getting torn to shreds, that harmless old couple over there just transformed into a mass of tendrils and teeth, and the children on the playground are desperately holing up in the jungle gym, relying on the few kids with superpowers among them to keep the monsters at bay.

"Raptor Christ. That just figures, doesn't it, Ras? The one day of the year I'm taking you for a walk in the park and I forget to bring my gun, this happens. I knew it, I knew I should've brought it with me no matter what those nosy busybody NPCs think of me, and now it's too late. Welp, I guess I'll die, then," Malice sighs, dropping Grigori Rasputin's leash so that the undead head-in-a-jar can skitter back home on his spindly robot legs. No point in making Griggs stick around, after all. He's just the head of a dead man encased in a jar of embalming fluid; the flesh-eating monsters probably won't even bother going after him. Besides, someone ought to escape to tell Krystal what happened to her flatmate and business partner. Maybe call the cops too, unless this is going on everywhere else in Inside and they already know all about it.

"Hey look, that one with the knives for fingers is working his way through the crowd towards me. Won't be long now. You know, maybe I'll get lucky and wind up in a more mild circle of hell this time-OWW OWW F***!" Malice exclaims, getting pulled out of his fatalist mood by a spindly spider leg slashing at his shin. Grigori, how could you?!

"[Foolish child, did I not tell you before? Sin burns within our hearts. We bear the same corruption, the same hate. We are not men, we are souls, tainted spirits dragged out from hell and garbed in new flesh. Know this, and you will never be unarmed,]" the disembodied head of Rasputin chides Malice in Russian, only to be met with an irritated scowl and a heavy sigh. That stupid talking head just can't let him die with some dignity, can it?

"Gods, this again? Listen Grigori, you can believe whatever evil cultist voodoo mumbo jumbo bs you want, but leave me out of it. None of that hocus pocus is going to change the fact that this nightmarish conglomeration of John Carpenter's The Thing is going to kill me. Just because I've been to hell before doesn't mean I can just snap my fingers and-" Malice snaps his fingers, to demonstrate how stupid Grigg's argument is. Knifefinger's eyes promptly burst into flame, and he twists in agony, running and screaming into a nearby tree.

"...okay that was just a weird coincidence. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that which doesn't-"

["Your hand, Malice."]

Malice acquiesces and looks down at his brass fingertips, blinking in surprise to find scarlet flames darting between them. Has he always been able to do this? It's been so long since he broke out of hell, how did he never notice?! Was he so focused on being a better Magtok than Magtok that he never even stopped to consider that Malice could be something different? Something infinitely greater, smarter, and cooler than Magtok ever was?

"...Okay. Okay yeah, I think we can make this work. Ras, call up all your friends. We're having a barbecue," the brass-faced cyborg grins, a sadistic twinkle in his eye as hellfire gathers around him. Oh man, this is going to be fun.

[Here, There, and Yonder]

Ah, chaos. Panic. Disorder. Fear. Confusion. Strife, paranoia, and suspicion running rampant. All thanks to a few wonderful little shape-shifters from the Wasteland.

In a word?

Discord.

BUT! But. It can't be allowed to progress unchecked, now can it? Oh no, surely not. What would the Nexus be if there was no one left here but buggy knockoffs of Who Goes There?

Boring, that's what.

Dull.

Uninteresting.

Homogenized.

And that just won't do!

That's the problem with too much entropy. You end up with a sad slurry of sameness and sameness never manages to do anything fun no matter how much you poke at it.

Which means, of course, that someone should probably do something about this skinwalker problem. Someone who's as clever and resourceful and powerful as she is beautiful. But nothing obvious of course. That wouldn't be fun, either. No, just a little change in fortune here and there.

A victim here and there reacting a few fractions of a second faster. Cleaning chemicals hurled on horrors that sear flesh a little more vigorously than they probably ought to. Now who could have put that flame thrower in that drawer! How convenient! A grease fire flashing in a pan at a restaurant just as a skinwalker aggressively unfurls itself. A thousand thousand auspicious moments, some big, some little. Always just what someone who otherwise would have died needed to get an edge on survival.

And the skinwalkers? That home with a wholly infested family? Whoopsie doodles! What a time to have a gas leak. Now that was a shame when it blew up, wasn't it? The pyrotechnics at a concert having a rather targeted malfunction. Some power lines toppling over on a group of horrors. At least one skinwalker finding all of its bodily fluids replaced with cheese fondue-

What?

You wouldn't deny a girl SOME zaniness, would you?


[Industrial Complex ==> Meat Tower]

Morning Glory can't help but... itch. Something is sowing unreality around the City, but she can't really pinpoint it. She gives her head a shake and focuses on the problem at hand.

"Thank you for the help, Jaahlyn," Morning says. "Stay safe, okay? This is probably going to get much worse before it gets better."

And then?

She takes off after Down, flying with all the grace of a wounded duck. And while on this wobbly flight she'll keep an eye out for little horrors making trouble.

Golden Flock Orphanage

With her shell fired, Mo's body deactivates as it finally uses up the last of its energy. The gunbarrel and braces all seem to just collapse in on themselves until there's just a woman laying on the street with her clothes shredded. She's not breathing, but she could probably be reactivated with enough juice. Hopefully someone else can remember that she has groceries in a bag near by, though the eggs probably got shattered by the overpressure.

[Industrial Complex]
Muun follows Jaahlyn. He's been feeling pretty inadequate against all these big monsters. The toughest thing he's ever fought was a Mind Flayer. "What now?" he asks.

Arson Site
This is... fishy. Whoever this person is, they don't seem to be one of the monsters; they're not showing fear of fire. They might be the necromancer, or a burglar. Or they might just be a very strange civilian trying to get out. He steps forward, calling, "Wait!" Hopefully, the person's reaction will give him a clue as to their intent.

The Docks

After a moment, Blanche shrugs, wrapping her hands back around the rifle hanging over her torso. "Sure, I'll come." Fighting gibbering amalgamations of lovecraftian nature and mountainous proportion wasn't her forte, but she at least knew how to provide an escort.

[The Docks - Goblin negotiations]

"Great! Let's go!" Anika will attempt to grab Blanche's hand and then first gently try to tug her in the direction which she wants to go. If Blanche doesn't seem to want to be pulled along, she will simply run ahead instead and gesture for her to follow instead.

"This way!" Either way, she will eventually let go of Blanche once it seems that she has picked up speed.

Yet soon it seems that running isn't enough for the druid as it takes more than just a few minutes to reach the goblin vessel. She suddenly stops and turns to Blanche. "This is taking too long, let's ride instead. Just climb on my back, 'kay?" Then before Blanche can inquiry about this further, Anika has in a shower of green energies turned into a huge saber with teal tinted fur that is looking at her expectingly.

[Industrial Complex]

"Now we're going to be dealing with the monsters on the streets, sir. Apparently, the shapeshifters are attacking everyone in sight and have abandoned all ideas of subterfuge. Miss Zifhara told me so herself." She turns to him. "Do you think you can deal with shapeshifters like that out in the open? They only seem to be vulnerable to fire."

[The Docks]

Calm Reed will turn to the others, who haven't left to bombard the flesh-mountain.

"I don't know if bombing this monstrosity will work, but there's more work to be done. We need to keep the smaller ones off the citizens if we can."

[The Docks]

Quin has been quiet through most of this, but nods at Anika when she transforms.

"I will provide escort for you."

[The Orphanage]

This was a great show for the various Intersection officers around here, surely. The ones that still have their hearing, at least.
Hopefully some of them do! Seems things elsewhere are getting squirrely. While this specific location seems to be more or less peaceable at the moment, the madness they wanted to contain has decided to stand up elsewhere.

[Docks - Chaos]

Half the group is going to go get an airship.
Half the group is staying to help citizenry but also now has a flaming dinosaur giving them a divine stare-down.

Meanwhile, there's some less-than-great things happening in their vague vicinity.
None of it is right there, in their faces. Most of that chaos with the flower-angel scared off the citizenry and unearthed the immediately local monsters. But, there are things happening within a several block radius of them.

1. A skinwalker revealed itself in the middle of a smaller fish market, where a particularly crusty-looking sailor with a harpoon spear is fending off tendrils from people retreating into the building behind him.
2. A skinwalker still wearing most of a human body (if you ignore the extra mouth and the semi-melted skin) is camped out on top of a building with a tranquilizer rifle, taking shots into the people below. The gun keeps jamming though, clearly frustrating it.
3. Another is pinned to the wall by a car, after a tire had spontaneously burst and thrown the vehicle off course towards the monster. It isn't dead and is currently trapping the car's driver and occupants, though it can't seem to easily free itself yet.
4. A couple burning buildings.

[Industrial Complex]

This area seems to have less outright chaos than more residential and commercial areas of the city, probably due to reduced population to prey upon.
There are a handful of unusual emergency sirens going off around some of the factories though. Possibly unrelated, possibly very related.

Jaahlyn and Muun can choose to investigate these or go elsewhere. That's on them.

[Understreets - Meat Tower]

Down and Morning Glory are headed this way from the skies, which means they get prime viewing of a lot of the problems below.
It seems a little different with proximity to the awful flesh pillar though.

Most of the visible monsters in the city below aren't statically causing problems in whatever area they're in. They're all running towards the big monster, opportunistically attacking whoever happens to be in their way, but still funneling towards their apparent objective in the Understreets.

The bright side to this is that it really isn't terribly hard for Morning or Down to pick off individuals, should they so choose. With their vantage from above, and their aggressively effective weaponry, it's almost like shooting fish in a barrel. There...just seems to be an awful lot of them. Down's ammo reserves aren't infinite, but she'll run them down to empty if she has to.
After observing a skinwalker slip on a peculiar oil puddle on the sidewalk as it runs, the pegasus takes a dive to introduce it to a little bit of fire. In the process, she decides to check in with her sort-of-partner-of-the-moment.
"So are we going with a 'fight the rabble until we die or win' strategy here, or was a grand plan for murdering all the mooks sloshing around in your head somewhere?"

Meanwhile, the tower itself continues to be horrible, albeit a horrible that really isn't paying too much attention to nearby gnats that aren't attacking it directly. It's probable it has noticed them buzzing around over there, but it is still more pressingly focused on what is going on at its base and scanning the horizon for more heavy weapons like the one that blew its top off.
Its top which currently is slithering around a bit across a lot of the nearby houses.

[Shapeshifter Invetigation]

Harley is still in the middle of the residential city. Which means there is quite a bit of madness going on within ear and eye-shot.
At the moment, this is most poignantly notable through something akin to a spike-and-tentacle covered, bloody elephant trying to ram its way through the wall of a house a block away to get at the family yelling inside.

If she cares about such a thing.

Alternatively, there's a short, attention-grabbing whistle from a nearby alley.
Wherein stands an elf woman in a loose pants and tunic combo, wearing a weirdly wide-brimmed hat that hands over the top half of her face. There's a cigarette hanging from one hand and a wisp of pink smoking leaking out from between her lips.
She's definitely facing Harley and aimed that whistle at her.