Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[bc56]

Something's going on back here. There's a stack of trash cans leading up to a small window on the back of a building (an arms dealer, in fact). Balanced atop those cans and currently cleaning broken glass out of the way is a young woman in a white dress and red vest. What she's up to is not exactly legal or well-advised. But she evidently doesn't care. Maybe someone should either help her out or put a stop to it?

[Recaiden]

Skeleton horses make the coach faster, but aren't always welcome and can prove unreliable, particularly if caught in an ambush- they tend to aim to disable the vehicle, and destroying the beasts of burden would usually achieve that.

The Lyseni gets helped up on the horse, and frowns a little at the discomfort of riding it. Arron calls over from his horse. "Um, some bad news. These horses can't fly, I don't think. We can probably get out of here somehow, though." They have two wizards on their side, four undead horses and an undead tree-drake.

"They could fly on the way here!" A flying carriage with supplementary (ornamental?) skeleton horses? Or did the flight spell just expire?
Kind of beside the point now.
"Head that way, edge of the city. If we can't hire a ride, I have a spell that might help."

[Morty]

Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

Calm Reed wasn't really expecting the forewoman to be telling them the whole truth. But did she feel her use her Essence? Curious. The monk is well familiar with those who try to upend the order of things. Rebel against their perceived unfair station. But is the order proposed by this company righteous and proper? It seems unlikely, so she will not deem the anarchists any worse yet.

"This is the first time I have heard poverty referred to as a disease. How would these anarchists know to target someone who was apparently recently dismissed, however?"

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Crematorium]

It is worth noting that the cherub's crate is completely transparent. One of those crates with the holes in them for attaching gloves to make an air-tight environment. It is plainly visible, hardly just a talking crate. It appears to be a human boy just sort of floating in the middle of the crate to avoid touching the walls.

He scowls at Val and the crew when they continue to ignore him.

"You guys are a bunch of floofing heartless jerks," he spits.

Since they obviously aren't falling for the ruse, the cherub unfolds. It's like watching a flower blossom, if a flower where an awful alien monster with more internal parts than should be able to fit inside it. The creature that reveals itself is... vague. Like trying to interpret a cloud. As if the universe has no idea what the heck it is and is working to make sense of it. Something like a hyena and a gazelle and a mushroom and like wings. Anika has seen such an effect before. It is exactly akin to Lapis when she stops being human and starts being... whatever the heck she is. She's always really vague for the first few minutes and becomes increasingly concrete as time passes.

"I won't hurt you I promise! PLEASE just let me out! I've been stuck in here getting chunks taken out of me by that stupid fat JERK for months!" he pleads.

May as well try one more time, right?


[Drug Busted!]

Zee will offer an exuberant wave to the incoming women.

"Hiya! Alright I got the cultist and it looks like we ruined the day for a bunch of awful gangers while we were at it so wins all around I guess?" Zee says as the others approach. "There's just the one cultist left searching for a motor bike. We can either go looking for him or we can wait over by the shuttle for him to show up and just pounce on him there."

The main problem with searching is that there are several places a motor bike could be acquired nearby. Missing him would be easy.

[5a Violista]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

Cancer isn't contagious, though.

...

Nor is poverty an excuse for 'war'.

First things first, though. Find the missing guy. Everything else comes after.
"And why would everyone he knows be under the impression that he was promoted instead," she adds. Carlie already knows an answer to this, but what the forewoman suggests would be a lot more telling than just saying it herself and letting the foreman coast by.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Back Alley]

...or perhaps, [walking by the back alley, on a so-called ground-level street in the Tempest Row zone]

After disembarking from the first Tempest Row Riftline stop, a woman with big glasses, a heavy book bag and a brown sweater leads an androgynous lady with a windbreaker through town.

"This is the fastest way there, I think," Leslie says to Minerva. "The elevator at the station goes to some skyways higher up, but the ones that don't over-charge you make a point of going through casinos and stuff..."

Leslie seems oblivious to the gloomy conditions of this lower street. It really does feel unfortunately like home to her. Minerva is far more likely to notice the striking young lady balanced precariously on her garbage tower.

[5a Violista]

[Back Alley]

'Not that that's a good thing'.
Minerva isn't really getting a good impression of Skyside, by the sound of it.
It's okay, though! It's got good technology things, right?

The androgynous lady, Minerva, follows along and goes along. She says a couple things in idle conversation here or there to Leslie, until they get there.

Minerva looks down the alley as they pass.
She spots...what looks like someone breaking in? Or cleaning up. Just from this distance, it's not entirely clear. "Hey...should we go inform someone what's going on?" she asks, tapping at Leslie's shoulder and then pointing down the alley.

[bc56]

The young woman pulls herself through the broken window and vanishes into the building. That should put a pretty conclusive answer to the question of whether she was breaking in.

[Shadowcaller]

[Drug Bust]

Minerva chooses to address Zee first as she was most crucial to this operation. Neither option she offered was particularly ideal though. "So you're saying there's no way of tracking it now? Since we can't even trust that it will return to the shuttle." Leaving a infectious heretic like that in a impure city like that was a receipt for disaster. Even if they did manage to catch him at the shuttle they would have to interrogate him to find out if he had infected more of the populace on his way back.

She glances at the little xeno. Was it different? She could have sworn... well, if it had been infected Zee would have detected it probably so she wouldn't need to worry about that for the time being.
What she needed to worry about was the creatures greed. She had learned that even xeno's were controlled by it which is why they came to follow Rogue traders ever so often. However, Minerva had little to give the creature and it seemed like it was running out of patience.

There wouldn't be any time to interrogate or follow up on the heretics foul deeds.

"Zee, if we are able to capture it at the shuttle, would you be able read its mind? We need to know it didn't left another mess for us to clean up before we go." Then she have to turn to address the xeno itself (AKA Larza). "We're going back to our shuttle to prepare for departure. The heist will be up there." She gestures upwards towards the sky. "So you should prepare yourself."

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Anika gives the cherub a surprised look at it starts changing. "Uhh... maybe we should put it somewhere else if its evil?" Then something occurs to her. "Hey, I know someone who might know something about it. If we call Blanche she could give the phone to Lapis. She might know what's up."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Back Alley]

"Huh?" Leslie looks up at the window to just catch someone slipping inside. "Um, well, the thing about that is..."

She puts her phone away and rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. She doesn't really want to get White Dress in trouble, but an atrophied instinct tells her that whatever she's after must be pretty valuable, and that this building must thus have more going on inside than the decaying floorboards and squatters its facade suggests.

"So, um, what kind of justice system are you used to? ...actually, no, that's too long... The point is, we should check it out ourselves before getting anyone else involved."

She instinctively reaches for a pouch on her bag, but it's empty. No rats to climb up and investigate the window for her today. She huffs and reaches for a different pouch instead. "Want to go up after her or try the front door?"

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

"Did you see them? I didn't have a view of them from where I sat on the way over." Arron frowns and directs the horses towards the city's edge. They Lyseni yelps and hangs on tighter, not expecting it to move. Her eyes are pretty wide, and she's quite nervous. Benedict is leaving another way, the carriage rolling under its own power.

[5a Violista]

[Back Alley]

Minerva has a question of her own that's probably too long to ask or answer, saying, "Wait, why would the justice system even get involved...?" is her own question, hinting that yeah understanding each other would take too long for right now.

She pauses and thinks about what Leslie said.
"Well, if we don't want to get anyone else involved," she reasons, heading towards the alley so that they can go through the same entrance the lady took, "then we can't take the front door."

Once there, Minerva climbs up to follow.

[bc56]

Minerva pushes through the window and winds up most likely dropping headfirst into the room beyond. It's a storage room, loaded with boxes and boxes of bullets in all different sizes. The lady that just snuck in here ahead of Minerva is here too. She picks a box of shotgun shells up that had fallen on the floor and sticks it into the pocket of her dress, where it disappears without a bulge. Then she tries the one door in the room, seemingly oblivious anyone else's presence.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Back Alley Armory]

Leslie takes a deep breath as she watches Minerva ascend the swaying tower of garbage cans, and keeps holding it as she rolls up the left sleeve of her sweater and plucks a small hand sanitizer bottle from her bag. She squirts some gel on the inside of her arm and spreads it around with two fingers while flexing her left hand.

Seconds later, she splats on the floor next to Minerva amid the clatter of tumbling bins outside. She picks herself right back up, but is sweating and shaking a little. Her eyes are wide as she picks up her glasses and looks around the room. "That's a lot of ammunition... Where'd she go?"

[5a Violista]

[Back Alley Armory]

Minerva, after falling headfirst into the room, catches herself with her hands and rolls. She looks around to see where they are, and so on, until she finds the lady.

Minerva's voice drops to lower than it was before. "Over there," she says, "by that door."

[Recaiden]

"Did you see them? I didn't have a view of them from where I sat on the way over." Arron frowns and directs the horses towards the city's edge. They Lyseni yelps and hangs on tighter, not expecting it to move. Her eyes are pretty wide, and she's quite nervous. Benedict is leaving another way, the carriage rolling under its own power.

"Yes, they were running like the air was solid beneath their hooves."

Miri is holding on tightly to the skeleton herself, and trying to keep an eye on the Lyseni.
"Oh, I've seen this square before. Back when-" There's something wrong with this memory. But the streets are all in the same place. Just with less being on fire. It couldn't have been that long ago.
"Turn left, then back after two blocks, that should end up being a shortcut."

[bc56]

The stranger is by the door. But not for long, because it's unlocked, and she goes through. The other two are left in a room full of bullets.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Back Alley Armory]

...but not for long, as Leslie readjusts the strap on her book bag and runs up to the doorway for a better look.

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

"I'll look deeper into it, then. I could be missing something." The flight spells are an additional thing not directly related to necromancy, so it's not ideal for Arron's abilities.

The Lyseni is an awkward rider; she's not been on a horse before, let alone one that is very dead. She doesn't try to struggle or resist, however, going wherever she's taken and grinning the whole while.

[5a Violista]

[Back Alley Armory]

Being in a room full of bullets is kind-of pointless if you haven't got a gun.

Minerva, seeing no reason to say here, decides to follow over that way. Not quite as fast; not running, just fast-walking.

[bc56]

The doorway leads out to a stockpile of guns! So much for not having guns. The stranger is there, looking through a smallish rack of shotguns. She's probably looking for the shotgun that matches the shells she picked up. She's still not paying attention to the others in the room.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Back Alley Armory]

"That's... it?" Leslie's gaze darts back and forth as she surveys the room. She looks over her shoulder and up at the ceiling for cameras or sensors or... anything that might suggest that this stockpile is being watched at all. "There's no one else here... whose stuff is this? It's totally insecure!"

She's not even bothering to whisper at this point, and her voice cracks a little as a result of... whatever she has going on. She assumes that the thief already knows she's there and has just been ignoring her up to now.

"Maybe there's a silent alarm. Or did they just only alarm on the front door? This room back here was wide open to start with..."

[5a Violista]

[Back Alley Armory]

"Yeah, that's weird. Maybe it's abandoned?" Minerva responds. She has followed Leslie through, and decides whispering probably isn't that important, either.

"Maybe the place recently went bankrupt or something."

[Recaiden]

"I'll look deeper into it, then. I could be missing something." The flight spells are an additional thing not directly related to necromancy, so it's not ideal for Arron's abilities.

The Lyseni is an awkward rider; she's not been on a horse before, let alone one that is very dead. She doesn't try to struggle or resist, however, going wherever she's taken and grinning the whole while.

Miri keeps relaying directions to Arron. Away from the market, down Tempest Row, and towards some of the docks. Best place to find a way down, if they have to.
She did hear a bit about flying from Mildred, but is pretty sure the skeletons work in some other manner. They can hardly imagine much of anything, from when she looked at their memory.

In the best case, Arron figures out the flying spell and they ride off through the sky.
In a more likely case, they spend some of the gold they have left to ride down to the ground in an elevator basket or something.
In the worst case, they have to dramatically jump from the side of the city and rely on Miri getting the secret of flight correct as they fall.
Let's see what the necromancer comes up with.

[bc56]

"Nah, these things just work out for me." The thief doesn't turn around to speak, instead sliding a shotgun into one of her dress pockets. "Are you going to try to stop me, or are we cool? You're welcome to anything I don't take."

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

Arron falls back, directing his skeletal horse to follow Miri's. She might feel strangely cold a moment, as he's just tried gifting her control of her mount. It will go where she wants it to, following her directions- although it's not really total control. The link between Miri and the skeletal mount is being maintained by Arron, and if he wanted he could snap it and resume control. It lets her lead whilst he follows without having to think on controlling the horses and concentrate on finding and activating the flight magic.

After a while, Arron's horse leaves the ground, and not just by galloping. "Found it. Runic array, I think. Carved into the bones of their feet. Not something I know how to replicate, at least not yet." Nor something he'd considered, enhancing his minions with runes carved into them. He needs to learn runes. "You can activate yours by putting a bit of power into it. Just... not quite a spell, reach out and touch it with your magic."

[Recaiden]

Miri shivers at the cold touch of necromancy, and, thinking she's losing her balance, scrambles a bit to straighten up. But no harm done besides looking foolish.

"Amazing work!"
She turns back to look at Arron's horse (almost steering hers into a wall in the process). He really did it. And she was right, the skeletons really could run on the air!
To be fair to Arron, Benedict has been practicing necromancy for much much longer.
Miri intends the horse to climb, as if up a hill, starting there at the next corner, and warns the Lyseni girl 'hold on' and reaches out for the runes on the horses' hooves. Just like trying to feel for someone's mind and memory, or flow a glass into existence, except vague and unformed, right? No spell, just the touch of magic. She can do that.
Now, up!

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

Benedict is also not technically a necromancer. He'd describe himself as an occultist; he has studies and knowledge in several distinct branches of magic, hence why he's able to use runes and undead horses. And have a coach capable of movement without horses, in case they are destroyed.

The horse lifts off, with the feeling that Miri usually gets after casting a spell, however that's manifested. Arron climbs shortly after, following Miri's lead. They Lyseni yelps and holds on tighter, screwing her eyes shut and shuddering as they leave the ground behind. Seems she's scared of heights.

[Recaiden]

There's that defiant whispery feeling that comes with this sort of spell,and Miri rides up into the sky with a laugh of triumph. Almost like learning to fly all over again.
The course will take them up a little, out of the city, and then descend over a rather long distance, because any large change of inclination at these heights seems like a bad idea.

And then, barring some disaster, they can come down to the ground and dismount far away from Skyside.

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

And so they leave the city, with Benedict remaining in Skyside. He might be leaving soon, however. If Miri wants to move against him, she'd have to do it soon.

The Lyseni, if asked, would reveal her name to be Vaemys Moparis, and her father was a trader who lost a lot of money. She was seized and sold to pay off some of his debt, along with all his other assets. Things are looking better for her than she expected three months ago, when his trading company collapsed.