Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

The woman, sometimes known as Persephone, but also occasionally called Kore or just 'The Mistress', walks up to the man. Her shoes click on the floor with each step.

She, surprisingly, waits for the phone call to end.

However, as soon as it hits the desk she starts talking again: "Work's not going well?" she asks. It's...a question that could have once been sincere but now there's only a small hint of sincerity left in it.

She places a hand on the desk and leans - and even sits - on it. "I came up here to see how it was doing, and can you guess what I saw? Everything a mess. A disaster. Are you sure you can handle it? or do you just want to give up?" That last part is more of a statement than a question.

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

There's no immediate response from the man in the fine leather chair apart from the creaking of his revolving throne. Two large hands ball into two large fists, and veins, reddened in frustration, bulge out of place. Broad shoulders tense up as lightning streaks through the darkened skies beyond the penthouse windows. Thunder booms shortly afterwards, rolling through and seeming as if to shake the very tower. As the last cascade of thunder fades away, balled fists slowly relax, broad fingers flattening up against the arms of his leather chair.

Snow continues to fall outside, wintry winds coalescing with the blackened smog. A prodigious finger beats thrice against the arm of the chair before a long sigh bellows forth from the obscured end of the chair, low and gravelly, enough to shake the penthouse walls.

"Work's going fine."

"How you like the new place, huh?"

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

She's been feeling a little frustrated recently, so it gives her a little bit of satisfaction seeing him feel a similar way.

"Oh, it's fine," she says, using the the same wording he used. There was more bite in her tone of voice than she intended: she had intended just a touch of sarcasm, but too much of her frustration leaked through, and it's too late to take it back. So she's just going to keep it there.

She looks out the window. Takes a breath, then starts over: "The view's nice here," she says. "Too high up." The bite and frustration creeps back into her voice as she then needlessly adds, "I sure know how much you like looking down on everyone."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

The tendons in the large man's dominant hand bulge slightly as Persephone snaps back at him, but the muscles relax after a second or two. Behind the chair, Aidoneus, sometimes known as Plutoun, but most often as Hades, instinctively curls his lip as her biting words fill the room, his right eye twitching somewhat. There's a quick exhalation of breath before he swivels upon his revolving throne, the chair now facing the desk. Now fully in view, Persephone will find herself face to face with a change man, from top to toe.

Gone is the beard, black as soot, which once rose from Hades' cleft chin, gone is the long hair which once would cascade down his muscular back. Now, a thick mustache obscures his upper lift, and the god's graying hair has been clipped short and styled back so as to proudly display a somewhat aged, but masculine face. Angular cheekbones descend down into a broad chin, and thick brows rest over darkened eyes. A scar dances from the tip of his large nose towards his right cheek, and a cigarette can be seen pinched between full lips.

His body is massive, with shoulders which seem to stretch on eternally in either direction. A barrel chest is hidden beneath a comfortable black turtleneck, and the rest of his figure is accentuated by an exquisitely tailored pinstriped suit.

Hades scoffs before retrieving the lit cigarette from between his lips.

"Place cost a fortune, not that you'd understand the intricacies of finance. Tch."

---

Spoiler: Portait

Show

[Earl of Purple]

Groundtown Crack

"I don't need a lizard to look after me, sir." Though now their pride's been struck at, they'll likely follow.

"Ye'r welcome to go inside, find out what's what in dere." The orc gestures at it with his free hand, since he's not got much to offer.

[bc56]

Groundtown Crack

"I go. Be back, few hours. Wait until then." The lizardman strides confidently towards and, if unopposed, into the gap in the wall, turning to one side to fit through.

[Earl of Purple]

Into the Fissure in Space/Time

Kothar squeezes into the crack! It doesn't take long for him to disappear totally from view. Where he's going is warm and dry, so that's good.

The other end of the crack is probably about five minute's shuffle away. It's a large, vaulted chamber with a tiled floor. Against the walls are bookshelves, with enough space for hundreds- if not thousands- of books. They're also, however, empty. All of them. Just bare shelves. Other furnishings consist of ten writing desks, two rows of five, with padded chairs at each. On each writing desk is an inkwell, some pens and some blank pieces of paper. The chamber's only book is at the far end, underneath a glowing stained glass window of a man carrying a massive hammer. The window is itself glowing; the light isn't coming from the other side of the glass, but the glass itself. That book is a large, heavy tome with burnished bronze plates acting as a cover, with copper pages and held together with steel wire and chained to a podium of red porphyry with heavy steel links.

The window is not the only source of light in this room; there's also bottles filled with glowing liquid on pedestals near the desks.

[Hattish Thing]

[Silken Whisper]

Immediately following a prolonged period of spacing out, Larza blinks two or three times before calling out to Zee. "Hey, wait! What - what was the plan?"

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

"Ha." To complete sitting on the desk, Persephone raises her feet so they're also on the desk.

"What's there to understand? You get money, you lose money, who cares. Doesn't matter in the long run." Unlike, say, the weather. "Besides, it's not like you actually earned that money, it was all the people working for you."

She leans back and looks up at the ceiling. Sometimes, she wishes things weren't this way. How did it even get to this point? "Don't you ever -" she starts. But, then...no. She's not going to say that. She's not going to lose this. She's right, and they both know it, and it's time he just admitted it. What is she right about? Well, it doesn't matter. Besides, he'll eventually figure out that all this finances that he's been doing is pointless, sooner or later. "You should probably take care of the weather, I'm sure it's not making it easy for your workers. Some of them might even visit the underworld and decide to stay, at this rate."

[bc56]

In the Fissure

That is ... An evil-looking book. No good book is ever chained to a pedestal, in Kothar's experience. He draws his axe and shield, then cautiously advances to the center of the room, turning slowly around to get a good sense for the place. Any active threats? Anywhere those threats could hide?

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

As his wife draws closer, daring even to set herself down upon the glossy black desk which dominates the small office, Hades frowns. In an attempt to pay no heed to the fact that her feet are now soiling the otherwise impeccably clean desk, the glittering hardwood now spotted with grime here and there, he glances out the nearby window. After a second or so, he blurts a slightly stammered response to her. "Feet off the furniture." He hurriedly taps at his cigarette, careful to do so over an ornate glass ashtray before rising up and out of his chair with a small groan.

He sighs before stepping over towards the nearest full window, placing a large hand upon a darkwood beam as he leans forward in order to stare out at the city below. With a shake of his head, Hades sets the fine cigarette between his full lips and takes a deep pull, chest puffing out as he inhales. Black smoke pools out from between his lips shortly afterwards, swirling all about his face. Though the god responds with a fair bit of bite, he remains facing away from Persephone, eyes focused upon the frigid courtyard below. "No, I suppose you wouldn't care."

Hades scoffs before continuing. "You've never had to, have you? Everything you've ever wanted I've provided." His shoulders have risen slightly, one higher than the other, a tic of his which Persephone likely recognizes as yet another sign of tension. "Just where do you think it all comes from, hm? Cash isn't seasonal." The god of the underworld takes another pull upon his cigarette before gesturing with a hand, staring back at Persephone through the reflection in the window. "I work just as hard as the men and women I employ, and you know that. None of this would be possible without me!"

He presses a finger against the window. "You have any idea how bad things were? Hungry masses, they would have withered away without me." Hades pointedly ignores any mention of the weather.

[Earl of Purple]

In the Fissure

It might just be valuable! In fact, it is valuable, since unlike most books it can be sold for the scrap metal value.

The closest thing to an active threat is the half-elf in wooden armour; they've followed behind Kothar, and are also looking around. Their massive arbalest is slung over their back, but their wooden sword- which, despite being made of wood, looks as though it's sharp- is in their left hand as they look around. Where threats could be hiding? Well... That's trickier to say. There's shadows under the desks, and they have drawers, but only a small thing could hide in such a place. Alternately, the shelves are wooden and could potentially conceal a hidden door.

Kothar might, in his examination, spot another book- a little notebook, set on one of the chairs. There's also a mummified corpse wearing blue robes huddled under one of the desks, clutching a flint knife and a silver pen. The body's hidden in the shadows, like it's cowering from something.

[bc56]

In the Fissure

Kothar spies the corpse and heads to investigate. Something must have killed this person, whoever they were. The books can wait. They're not doing anything which he needs to worry about, nor is the half-elf.

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Persephone waits a couple moments...then says, "Fine." She twists so her feet dangle off the desk again.

She sighs and leans back so she's now lying on the desk instead. She turns her head towards the window. "They'll be fine," she says. "If they live, they live. If they die, they die. They'll all die eventually, anyway, and then you could help them in the underworld instead." Or, more likely, she mentally adds, she'll take care of them in the underworld since he only seems to care about staying here.

She waits a few more moments, hoping to see his reaction to her lounging across the desk.

Then, she sits up again, and finally slides off the desk. "Anyway, I was just checking up on you. Seeing what sort of mess had gone on. You know, the usual."

[Shadowcaller]

Silken Whisper

Zee finds the woman has been sterilised with chemicals in her food. That has not, however, prevented the cultists from managing to succeed in their nefarious plot. There is a genestealer growing inside her, growing rather rapidly. Surgery might have succeeded, but would have probably left a scar. And would prevent her from being sold on when she's no longer as profitable, potentially as a breeder.

"All the men are dangerous. At least... At least he was gentle, until he changed. Then he yelped like a kicked dog and grabbed his weapons." She's a pale girl, with large green eyes and soft brown hair. Her face is somewhat similar to the gunslinger's downstairs, though she's nearly a decade younger. And hasn't dyed her hair.

"Well, there ain't no cultists up here. We got nobles, captains and pilots. No cultists. Oh, and girls. You wanna look 'round, see fer yourself?" The bouncer doesn't think she can stop Minerva, given the Sororita's power armour, but she's got to try. If she doesn't, she'd lose her job and probably worse.

The gunslinger heads outside, and strolls over to Larza and the corpse. She bends down and takes a large-bore pistol shotgun from the corpse, unbuckling the gun belt to take the holster as well. She'll also offer Larza a cigarillo. "You not done this kinda thing before, eh? Lemme tell you, all the men here are scum. Girls who say no get sold. And not to a better brothel, neither." Her voice is softer than her eyes.

[Silken Whisper]

"Fluff," Zee swears. "Okay, not to make you panic or anything but that guy was super bad news and infected you with a really dangerous contagion."

Really dangerous contagions are the worst of contagions.

"I can cure you, though. Easily, quickly, and painlessly. You'll be totally fine. Is that okay?"

Technically Zee doesn't need permission.

But she's trying to build a bit of trust here. Mostly so the slave girl can help convince the other slave girls to allow Zee to examine them.

Those jerks probably infected as many of the girls here as they could.

And that's just terrible.

She doesn't want an Alien situation on her hands after all.

[Silken Whisper]

Immediately following a prolonged period of spacing out, Larza blinks two or three times before calling out to Zee. "Hey, wait! What - what was the plan?"

Silken Whisper

"There were cultists up here, and they were infecting your 'girls'. Look no further than this body." She will gesture at the dead cultist near the bottom of the stairs. "You can check the body yourself when you have to clean it up. It's mutations will be obvious. These are not humans, these are practically xenos in disguise." She argues while starting to move towards one of the exits. "If they aren't dealt with soon. They will spread across this city like wildfire."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

A small, half-smile of satisfaction forms upon the god's broad face as he hears his wife slowly shuffling her feet off the furniture. "See, now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Hades seems to scoff slightly into his hand as he takes another drag from his cigarette. Persephone's almost mechanical, unemotional talk of death catches him slightly off-guard, however. In response, he looks back towards her, a thick brow raised slightly in suspicion. "Don't tell me you're already sick of the job, wife." With a small frown upon his face, the expression glinting harshly in the bright light, he turns around and sets his back against the window, leaning one huge leg over the other.

With a somewhat judgmental tone to his voice, he adds on to his question. "I never took you much for a fatalist." His voice rumbles, comparative to the very speech of the earth itself as he speaks. With arms now crossed over his broad chest, he turns his head slightly to the side. "Compassion makes us better than them, you know that. Show a little." He chuckles a little. "Work not as easy as you once thought it was, huh?" Hades continues, his words becoming more and more corrosive. "Didn't think the endless, weeping masses would get to ya?" His somewhat sardonic grin fades away as soon as it came, replaced instead by a hardened gaze which seems to stare deep into Persephone.

"The weight, you still think you can take it? A million frightened faces, a million fractured families, and they hate you for it." As he looks her over, reclining upon his desk, Hades sighs, a grave expression upon his weathered face. His golden eyes wander for a moment before he strides over to her, gesturing with a large hand.

Should Persephone take it, he'll help her up to her feet. "Come on. I want to show you something."

---

Silken Whisper

Larza steps up towards the heavily armored woman and waves. "Uh, things going ok?"

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Seph shrugs. "I'm just sure you'd enjoy seeing what I've done to the place," she says.

She turns her head, not facing her husband so that he can't see her face, or what she actually thinks about what she's saying. "Nature's cruel. Things live, then when it's their time, they die. That's just how it is. Perfectly normal, everything in balance. I've already been 'taking it' for half my life, a little bit more won't change anything." And no way is she going to give before he does.

She can see that he's offering his hand in one of the many reflections around the room. She grabs onto it, and uses it to stand.

"What do you want to show me?" she asks. She'll go along with him, but it better not be another jacket that she won't wear.

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Once Persephone places her far smaller hand in his, Hades guides her over to the window which overlooks much of the rest of Skyside, including the industrial district. "I'd like to show you what I've done with the place." He holds her hand tight before gesturing towards an enormous facility in the distance. The facility appears to be a sprawling, unfathomably expansive joint structure composed of numerous refineries whose dozens of smokestacks spew foul black smoke into the murky air above. Neon lights glare whilst overburdened powerlines spark and thrum, snowflakes melting on contact.

Enormous pipes flow from the factory throughout the rest of skyside as veins would, spewing all manner of wasteful byproduct down onto the land below. Scores of trucks move to and from the lots outside the facility at all times, and though night has fallen, the area surrounding the facility is bright as can be. "For you, I've strung the world in wire." His voice lowers more, a sultry, spiteful sound. "Isn't it electrifying?" He continues after a brief pause, glancing to his wife in order to gauge her reaction. "There's nothing like it. I've thirty-four coal-powered water boiler reactors, and I burn them every hour of the day, three-hundred and sixty-five days of the year!"

Hades squeezes his wife's hand before breathing in a little, exhaling sharply. "The yield is upwards of forty-two-thousand megawatts. That's more than six times as powerful as any mortal machine, and we're expanding every day!" He chuckles here, pausing to a raise a hand as if struggling to sense something. "Take a deep breath, can you taste it on the wind?"

"The steam with which I power a million tons of stone and steel."

---

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

An enormous man has entered KABAL headquarters and currently looms over the nearest help desk, large hands resting upon the counter. His body is massive, with broad shoulders which seem to stretch on eternally in either direction. A barrel chest is hidden beneath a comfortable black turtleneck, and the rest of his figure is accentuated by an exquisitely tailored pinstriped suit. A platinum-colored pocket square adds a dash of color to the dark gray material he has draped himself in, while metallic buttons and cuff links flash in artificial lighting.

The man's broad back is obscured entirely by a massive fur overcoat worn as a cloak. The black fur is dark as night, with gray tufts serving to accentuate the sleeves. A number of platinum pins depicting all manner of curious mythological creature rest upon the overcoat's oversized lapel. A cane rests of its own accord beside him, its glossy ebonwood shining in the light. The head of the cane is crafted entirely of the finest platinum and appears to depict a trio of snarling wolf heads. A thick, black mustache obscures the man's upper lip, and his graying hair has been clipped short and styled back so as to proudly display a somewhat aged, but masculine face.

Angular cheekbones descend down into a chiseled chin, and thick brows rest over darkened, slightly sunken eyes. A scar dances from the tip of his large nose towards his right cheek, and a cigarette can be seen pinched between full lips. He waits patiently, but checks a platinum wristwatch every few minutes.

With a low voice which rumbles as the earth would, he speaks.

"Afternoon, ma'am. I'll need to meet with your boss." He smiles warmly.

--

Spoiler: Man in the Lobby

Show

[Earl of Purple]

In the Fissure

Well, the corpse died a long time ago. There's no blood, or any signs of injury, or trauma. It clutches a flint knife and a broken pen.

The half-elf has set their arbalest against one of the writing-desks and is going through the drawers. Occasionally they look up at the metal book upon its podium at the end of the wall, however.

Silken Whisper

The girl's eyes widen as she receives the bad news, and she nods vigorously to accept getting cured, even if she doesn't know what she's actually infected with.

Feeling outwards, there's five other girls on this floor with genestealer babies growing inside them. Three of them are similar in gestation to the girl before Zee, but the other two are further along- a couple weeks, if the baby was human. As it isn't, probably a few days at most.

"Oh, yeah. I see 'im. He and his mates didn't have the funds to come up here. You gotta be a captain or a merchant to come up 'ere. Not just some space-scum drifter. But fine, y'can have a look 'round." Minerva's on the top floor, and if she pushes a door open she'll find a large and opulent bedroom with a four-poster bed and a large bath, though the finery isn't as nice as it looks. The silks are old and faded, the feather pillows thin and tattered, the paintings on the wall are prints, and rather obscure at that. A potted fig tree sits in the room's four corners. Currently, the room is occupied by a red-skinned twi-lek with two head-tentacles, green eyes and an intricate network of black lines tattooed upon her skin. She's sat on the bed wearing a nearly sheer white nightie and eating a bowl of salad.

The gunslinger gets up and walks into the brothel. She's headed upstairs, to the room Zee's currently in- though she doesn't know it yet.

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Persephone doesn't find it as impressive as he does.

She 'tsk's. It's an ugly eyesore, it's ruining nature, and he's just spouting off large numbers. "But what's it do?" she asks, pointedly avoiding taking a deep breath. "Those numbers mean nothing if that's all it does."

She turns around, so that she no longer has to look at it. "And your workers won't be able to continue unless you fix all this snow."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Hades smirks as his wife turns away, clearly disgusted with his raunchy display of unbridled industrial excess. Persephone's reaction was exactly what he wanted, knowing his latest project got under her skin brought him no small amount of satisfaction. Reinvigorated, Hades moves with a swagger as he heads back to his desk, gracefully placing himself down within his fine leather chair once again. With a somewhat malicious expression upon his face, the god puts his cigarette out within the glass ashtray upon his desk, relishing as he grinds the ashen end into powder.

He chuckles here, a low and rumbling sound, before all but whispering to her. "Well, I could tell ya, wife." A brief pause accompanied by a gleeful exhalation of breath. "But in truth, I'd rather show ya." Hades proceeds to reach under the table and press his thumb against a glossy panel. A secret compartment pops out shortly afterwards, and within it, a key-like device can be seen. "Things have changed up here." The strange key is removed from its hidden compartment before Hades reaches for the extraordinary cane he'd left leaning up against the desk. "Everything runs on lightning, now."

An amused smile forms upon his face as he unscrews the top of his cane, revealing a hidden keyhole. "Everything from their trains, their clocks, their silly little speaker-tools." The key is gently inserted into the cane, and Hades runs a large finger down its side, pressing his thumb against a tiny panel. "Control their lightning, and you control them. And I do, Seph. I supply more than half the power on this rock with a fraction of what I produce!" With a determined grin upon his face, Hades pushes the panel inwards, sliding his finger across a meter of some sort. "And... I can take it away whenever I please." A finger is slid across the meter.

Immediately, the lights go out throughout Skyside. Warehouses go dark, streetlights blacken, and thousands of homes are plunged into the gloom. Even the penthouse itself is now completely dark, though the senses of the deities within are hardly affected. The only remaining source of light for miles would be the factory itself, which now stands out as an island of bright, neon light engulfed within a sea of shadow. "I control their heating. I control when their food rots, when they've access to the media. I control the way they communicate, the way they navigate, I control everything."

Then, Hades slides his finger up the opposite direction, causing the lights to flash back into being. He continues to slide the meter, however, and as he does so, rows upon rows of streetlights burst, lights within homes grow so bright so as to blind occupants, and lightning surges through powerlines. "I own them." His sickening grin fades away, and Hades promptly returns the meter to its standard setting, and all is normal once again. "They'll work if I tell 'em to. Times are hard, and rent is due." He shrugs, this time raising his feet up and onto his desk. "They can quit whenever they like, but they don't, do they, wife?"

He scoffs before shaking his head. "Ah, but I'm ramblin' again. You wanna know the real reason I went through all this trouble?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

The petroldactyl could be smelled as soon as one enters the same city block. The giant machine wasn't on, and evidentally hadn't been for a while judging by the huge chains shackling it to the dock, yet the air around it was still smoggy due to all the fumes coming off it.

If that wasn't enough the fact that about half the KABAL mercenaries hanging out in the docks, goblins, humans, gnolls and the occasional swinefolk, wore facemasks was yet another sign that staying around here for too long probably wasn't very healthy.

Indeed the secretary, a goblin lady sitting on a tall chair with a small ladder connected to it, is wearing one too. She takes it off with an apologetic smile as soon as he approaches the desk however. "Hello sir, do you have a scheduled meeting? You a client perhaps?"

[Hattish Thing]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

The large man appears more or less unperturbed by the abundance of evidence suggesting the toxicity of the atmosphere within and around KABAL headquarters. As he approaches the front desk, he'll lean forward upon the counter, shoulders crossed upon it. With a warm smile upon his rugged face, the well-dressed man offers an oversized, outstretched hand. "Pleasure to meet you, young lady. I assume you're a representative?" Once she questions as to whether or not an appointment had been made, the man nods. "Seems I assumed correctly! Ha, love the service here." Should the goblin shake his hand, the towering man will retract it afterwards and casually set it within his pant's pocket, winking towards her as he does.

It's a slightly condescending wink, but it likely came off as genuine.

In response to her question, he nods before answering brightly. "As a matter of fact, I am." The man offers a good-natured chuckle before continuing, his tone a little more serious. "I own a number of enterprises, including the power plant up Cloudtop, you know the one. Great big thing, neon lights, cathode rays!" He purses his lips before shrugging, sighing as he does so. "Anyhow. Lately, I've found myself in the market for some new hardware." The man glances around the lobby before whistling softly, admiring the place. "Aaaaand, I've heard your people're the best for what I've got in mind, yeah?"

"Did I hear right, young lady? Huh? Did I?" His line of questioning is delivered calmly, but comes off as... almost an interrogation. It's completely out of nowhere.

[bc56]

In the Fissure

Kothar leaves the corpse behind, and goes back to the abandoned notebook. That looks like it might hold more information. Maybe the dead guy was writing in it before he passed. It could also talk about what all the bottles are, or that weird book.

[Shadowcaller]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

The goblins smiles back, a tad nervously, but nontheless reciprocates the gesture and shakes his hand.
"Uh, thank you, sir. And yes, I am Mister Kelligan's personal secretary. Amy Zap." She replies to his question. Not sure if he was joking or not. It wasn't like she had done anything special and there hadn't been any other physical clients in the lobby. Most people arranged business by phone these days.
"I do believe I've seen it. Though neon is pretty popular around here." And so were businesses like power plants, the city took a lot of power to keep floating after all.
She then nods as he reveals his intentions and starts prodding. Anything to not looking lost in the conversation even if she had no idea where he had heard this. "Uh-huh, uh-huh." KABAL was into enforcement and other violent business that usually involved a lot of destruction of private property. People didn't usually contact them if they wanted something created. That was like the opposite of their business model.
But it wasn't like she could turn him away now. He looked like a true mr. big-time so she better think of something quick.
"The... the bosses have been involved in a lot of projects like that. Mr. Kelligan made this base, Lady Tusumi owns an auto mobile business and Shazhan knows, eh, ethereal technology. Super-advanced. Waaaaay beyond the things you see around Skyside."

[Rebonack]

[Silken Whisper]

Zee offers a reassuring smile as a pleasantly warm glow surrounds her hand. She reaches out and places it on the girl's abdomen.

Now, genomes are fantastically complex things. It doesn't take much to completely destroy their ability to function. And that's exactly what Zee is going to be doing here. Specifically by absolutely scrambling which codons code for which amino acids. That should grind protein synthesis to a halt and kill the nacient genestealer within a matter of minutes. Nothing should be able to survive that. Nothing living, anyway.

"Okay, all done," Zee says. "That wasn't so bad, right? There are a few other girls up here who have been infected too. Would you mind coming with me to talk to them and reassure them that everything's going to be okay?"

Because it will be!

Totally okay.

Completely fine.

If Zee gets a nod of assent, she'll reach down and grab the chain tying the slave girl to the room. There's a brief flash of light, magnesium bright, and the chain has melted apart. Then she'll stand and offer a hand to the girl to help her up.

[Hattish Thing]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

The large man clasps his hands together loudly as she introduces herself, a wide smile upon his broad face. "Amy? Well then! That's a lovely name, and it seems as if you've done well for yourself! Your ancestors would be proud of the woman you've become, I'm certain." He could check, but better to assume and stroke her ego. Mortals were usually more responsive afterwards. After noting the fact that this 'Kelligan' individual seemed responsible for the great machine all around him, the man becomes intrigued. With a curious expression upon his face, he leans once more upon the counter before continuing his line of questioning. "Kelligan, eh? Tell me about Mr. Kelligan."

"Would you, young lady?"

[Earl of Purple]

The Fissure

The notebook has quite a few things in it. Including an alchemic recipe for something called a 'potion of light'. Probably what the bottles are, resting on the pedestals; just a fire-free method of lighting a study. There's also some notes on the book; apparently the author and several other scholars discovered this space (an unanchored subdimensional pocket, apparently) and the book within. There's tracts copied from the book, which is written in quite an obscure dialect of Elvish, though the alphabet used is an archaic form of dwarfish runes. Most of the tracts are quite short, on degraded pieces of paper. Another part of the book explains the metal tome is about necromantic magic, and several of the quoted passages are complete or partial entropic spells that degrade the formally-living fabric of the parchment notebook.

The half-elf, meanwhile, is walking to the podium and is going to open it, unless Kothar acts quickly to stop him.

[bc56]

Fissure

Kothar reads through the notebook to the best of his ability (he's not exactly good at Common) before spotting the half-elf approaching the pedestal. "Hold! There dark magic at work here." He stands, and opens himself to sense the flow of holy and unholy power through the room, at the same time walking towards the other adventurer and holding out the notebook. "Read," he commands.

[Purple Eagle]

Harley rolls her eyes. "Can you even grow up?" she asks, referencing how young he still looks even though he's supposedly pretty old.

They enter the Smooth Stew Bar.

Obviously, talking with drunk people won't help, and shady people won't really help much either, so the bartender is the best shot, she figures.

Harley, holding tightly on Shuyoru's hand, walks up to the counter. "Hey," she says. "Whatever you recommend, for me, and some juice for the kid," she orders.
She moves to help Shuyoru up onto a stool at the counter.

[Smooth Stew Bar]

Shuyoru just smirks to himself at that question. "Yes, and no." Is all he says before they enter.

And then he's helped up onto a stool, after which he quietly sits like a good boy and accepts his juice, which oddly, a 'vampire' has no trouble drinking out of.

"Does your smooth stew make people drunk? Can I try some?" He asks childishly, referencing the name of the bar and the drunkards around.

Also, partially to annoy Harley a bit.