Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[bc56]

Strategic snack reserve: 0%!

Oh no! The monster ate all the snacks! Jade's not going to seal it in there! What if it got out? It would eat everyone's snacks! She has to stop it in the name of hungry seagulls everywhere. She slips through the open door. She needs to find that reactor and blow this place sky high before all the snacks are gone!

[Hattish Thing]

[Groundtown Club]

The roof of the building isn't difficult to reach.

The structure appears to have once been a school building of some sort.

Now, it's fallen into disrepair, with most of its windows having been boarded up or replaced with poorly installed iron bars. Neon light bleeds through cracks in the building, or through the previously mentioned windows. The building quakes to the beat of an electronic bassline below.

Meanwhile, Solstice will be able to find a rock.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie

So it's spreading down there and people are getting more and more bird rapidly. That's not good at all, really. How do I avoid the bird? I gotta get away from that, somewhere I can hide from it. And everything else. She doesn't notice the feathers migrating from her hair down her back, the pied plumage hidden under her clothing for the most part.

She's getting away, and that means jumping from this roof to the next. And then looking to see where she can go from there to get away- or to hide, if that seems too hard.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

In a bar, a chemist does not hear her phone's text notifications because she is talking with her friend over tacos while a Gazorpian slave loudly tries to remember all the lyrics to Wonderwall.

JJ: *Leslie, I'm afraid we need to move up our timetable.
JJ: I'm sending an automated transport to pick you up. *___
JJ: Please do not struggle or question it. *___
JJ: It's the only way to make sure you arrive intact. *___

---

[For the Birds - Combined Pharmaceuticals]

A troll with a teal sweater-vest sits in his office, assessing a problem that turned into an opportunity and that is now in the process of turning back into a problem again. He is Jekkel Gorjek, a patent attorney in a world where patents are mostly meaningless. Luckily for him, official job titles are also mostly meaningless.

JJ: Are you sure you used all biohazard precautions? *___
AV: I think so
AV: Glo-v-es, poncho, respirator, goggles
AV: I just don't think it matters
AV: I talked to the droid in the data center, she said the guards hadn't let a single person in since morning and that the air is feathered
AV: Filtered*
AV: Their only eggsposure -w-as -w-atching through the -w-indo-w-
AV: But there she -w-as any-w-ay, shooing them out as pigeons
JJ: I see. *___
JJ: I'll start the visibility lockdown of my building, then. *___
JJ: Naturally, Mr. Z has already left the planet in his private shuttle. *___
AV: Of course he fled the coop >v<
AV: ...
AV: I'm guessing you don't want me reporting back
JJ: You guess correctly. *___

---

[Bird's the Word - Outside a data center near Magpie]

Beneath a half-elf-half-human-20%-bird's high vantage point, a troll in a poncho with a full respirator mask retrieves an insectile multi-sensor device from the back of her motor scooter.

Part of Aviene Cnicus wants to feel insulted. Bird puns have been her thing since she was a little kid, and Jek-Jek knows that. Nothing she said is a real reason for him to suspect she's turning into a bird. But, she can't muster up any anger. Where the soon-to-be pigeons and gulls are obsessed with trash and nesting material, Aviene's mind keeps drifting back to her Lusus.

Once she's made sure the panicked gunfight hasn't followed her, she scatters some crumbs from her lunch baguette in the street for the infected passerby and scans them as they come to gobble it up. The office guy with beaks growing out of his arm crumples up on the ground, quickly dissolving into a hive-minded flock of little sparrows fighting over the morsels.

The thoughts give her a light, warm, fluffy feeling. She loved her big dumb bird mom. Strong and clever enough to carry a young troll home in its talons and raise it to adulthood, a dire nesting cucco would be an impressive beast almost anywhere in the universe, but on Beforus or Alternia, it is nonetheless an Official Trash Bird on account of its rust-red blood.

She transmits the data. Narratively speaking, it's no more than a retread of what Jade has already found and is thus not very interesting. Aviene scratches her chest, itching from the covering of white downy feathers as they grow in.

AV: Here you go ^v^
AV: Do you still -w-ant me to send pictures?
JJ: I suppose so, I've already seen a few. *___
JJ: That and I highly doubt a digital picture transmits the contagion. *___
JJ: Though you do raise an interesting point. I should isolate myself from my other colleagues until I can confirm. *___

[5a Violista]

[Riftline Cantina]

As Leslie goes to order the tacos, Minerva waits patiently, looking around at the sights in here. She believes this place would be better with a balcony or as an outdoor restaurant or something, but...from the looks of it, they're trying to make it look confined and having low visibility.

"Yeah, thanks!" she tells the trashcan-on-wheels.


They talk about lots of things, probably including the music, languages like the kind the pig man and tentacle monster were shouting in, the thief-slash-assassin(?) they met earlier, more discussion about monsters and where they come from, Minerva's job at a bar and how it's been so far, and probably books too - they did, after all, meet in a library. Minerva, of course, sprinkles in a few jokes here and there, but made with a completely serious face and hardly acknowledging the ridiculous things she said.

Vegetarian tacos are actually pretty good, she decides. Not as good as fish tacos, but still pretty decent. "I've only ever had jackfruit plain before, so it was a new fun experience."

[Rebonack]

[Groundtown Club]

Yep.

This is definitely, totally, without a question a party.

Zee decides that these iron bars are going to be an impass for both herself (assuming she doesn't cheat and she's trying not to cheat) and for her party members?

To that end?

She's going to grab some of those poorly installed iron bars and pull 'em straight out of the wall. Once free, she'll be discarding them so she can get a better look in through the window. That might involve pulling some wooden planks out the window and may also involve comically losing her balance and falling through the window.

We'll see how it goes!


[Bird's the Word]
Jadegull

Into the depths of the facility Jade goes. The casket, a huge lead box marked with those threatening looking red and black symbols dominates the center of the chamber. It looks like it is approached via a catwalk from above. Lurid light pours from the open container, causing everything it falls on to be bird. Feathers and beaks and toes stick out of the ceiling where most of the light falls, a chaotic mishmash of parts without reason or purpose. Most of it looks dead. Some bits twitch spasmodically. It is deeply, horrifically disturbing.

Jade will get the feeling that direct exposure to the Entity would be a terrible idea.

A flight of stairs leads further down. REACTOR is written on the wall in faded yellow letters.

Should Jade descend, she'll first find the reactor control room. Another glowing green monitor awaits her.

>Activate Reactor
>Disengage Safety Protocols
>Diagnostic

Nearby is a heavy sealed door prominently featuring the perhaps more familiar yellow and black radiation hazard symbol. No doubt that leads down to the reactor chamber itself. There are several radiation suits hanging on the wall nearby. Several of them look like they were designed for birds.

What shall Jadegull do?


[Bird's the Word]
Magpie and Cucco

The half elf will find that jumping from one roof to another is strangely easy. As if her body were FAR more light than it has any business being.

That is, no doubt, the work of BIRD.

As she lands she'll hear another commotion nearby. A single voice dissolving into a chorus of many, many sparrows. It sounds disturbing. Should she look down, she'll see a person below wearing some kind of protective gear? What if they have another suit? Could it protect from the BIRD? That has to be why they're wearing it, right?

Should she risk asking the person about it? Or should she just keep working on flying the coop?

As for the troll, even down on the ground she has a pretty good view of the chaos unfolding. There's that poor raven guy over there desperately trying to escape from his clothing. He just kind of folded in on himself and now he's a pretty normal sized raven who can apparently still speak just fine. It's a weird, halting voice. With lots of swearing.

Apparently he isn't pleased about the whole bird thing.

"THE CURE!" shouts a fellow with the head of a pigeon. "I HAVE THE COOOOURE! YES YES! FLOCK TO ME! GIVE ME YOUR SHINIES! I SHALL CURE YOU!"

There's a pretty good chance that this guy does not, in fact, have the cure. But it sure is attracting the attention of a whole bunch of birds and mostly birds.

It's fascinating.

Even the people who end up 100% bird seem to still retain some of their wits. They are certainly acting pretty bird-like, but they're also acting way more humanoid-like than any bird has a right to be.

Perhaps most worrying, some birds appear to be flying away from Skyside. That could cause problems elsewhere.

What does Aveine intend to do? Just sit back and watch the birdpocolypse while getting increasingly poofy herself? This HAD to have come from somewhere, right?

[bc56]

Jade resists the urge to go squawk at the monster in its casket. That's a suicidally bad idea. Instead, it's to the reactor. Looks like there's a bunch of radiation suits for birds and another console.

> Down

> Disengage Safety Protocols

> Enter

That parts easy enough. Now comes the hard part. Finding a radiation suit that looks about the right shape for a lady with bird legs, tailfeathers, and wings instead of arms... Has she heard of that configuration before? It sounds familiar... Oh! She's a harpy! Although she's pretty sure harpies are eagles, not seagulls. Whatever. The newly self-discovered harpy tries to put on a radiation suit that looks like it will fit, a difficult task without opposable thumbs.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie & Cucco

Huh, that was quite easy. Maybe it's the panic? Or the tail. But how could that help her jump? Possibly the balance of it?

The half-elf turns to look at her long, black tail. I've gotten used to carrying it already. Maybe being a bird isn't so bad? With that thought, her jaw clicks painfully and she concentrates, her face turning grey and losing all definition as a long, pointed black beak replaces her mouth and nose. She's changing internally as well; hollow bones, and her lungs have adapted to her new mouth and nose. The havoc from below overrides her caution, and she has another look at the street. She has no shinies for that pigeon with the cure, and no weapons so she can't mug him for it either. Unless... She looks around for anything that could be a tool of violence, a length of metal pipe or a sturdy-ish branch or something. Oh, wait. That person has protective gear. Does that help? She can't see any obvious bird about them, as her toes lengthen and split apart, though she doesn't have scales on them yet- just big bird-like feet, still the same colour as the rest of her skin. She's glad- briefly, in a way at least- that the slavers had taken her shoes to discourage her from trying to run, as if she still had those on when that happened either her feet or trainers would have been damaged, and that could have been painful.

Now, how to get down and talk to the person in protective gear? She double checks, and she still doesn't have anything resembling wings- which is likely a good thing, given the issues others are having with wings and clothes.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Birb's the Wirb - Magpie & Cucco]

The scary-looking troll on the street adjusts her goggles, placing them in AR mode so she can text and send pictures in a hands-free manner.

Spoiler: Comm Window

Show

AV: Alright, I am definitely feeling symptoms already
AV: Physically, with softening and follicle de-v-elopment in the carapace
AV: Mentally, I feel like I'm turning into my lusus? ovo;
AV: -W-hich, I mean, gi-v-en the circumstances, I guess I could do -w-orse
JJ: Could you send some visual documentation? *___
JJ: A detailed recording of the feathers' growth pattern, perhaps? *___
AV: E-w-, no >v<
JJ: It could be vital to our biological analysis. *___
AV: Jay-Jay, you are not a biologist
AV: You are a stuck-up peck neck -w-ith a transformation fetish
JJ: Potato, potahto, I say. *___
AV: Just let me know when Leslie gets there
AV: There's a -w-eird signal that's mirroring all the anomalous metabolic pulses
AV: I'm going to go see -w-here it's coming from
JJ: Understood. *___

Aviene prods at her buggy-looking tricorder to isolate the strange radiation that seems like it could be related, then starts slowly waving the device like a divining rod. As the signal takes her past pigeon-head, she finally thinks to add to that conversation. "Don't listen to him, e-v-eryone," she says, shooing away the crowd with her free hand. "T-w-o out of three professionals recommend that you split up, go home, and rest until your local pharmacy starts carrying an approved treatment from Combined Pharmaceuticals! Pester them until they dooo!"

The troll coughs and clears her throat. A bit of her mom's voice managed to sneak in at the end, there. It certainly dispersed the crowd, though. She and her friend in the office are both taking for granted that escaping birds spreading the flu farther is mostly a good thing; more patients means more customers, after all.

She continues following the signal, oblivious to the keen-eyed magpie above her. Aviene has just made herself look awful suspicious, hasn't she?

[Rebonack]

[Bird is the Word]

ERROR!
Insufficient power to automated systems. Please engage reactor.

Hmm...

Looks like the reactor needs to be turned back on to disengage the safety protocols. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

Jade finds a harpy-shaped hazard suit and just by stepping into it the thing kind of... warps around her and snaps closed. At the end of her wings are little mechanical fingers that seem to respond to flexing different parts of her wing.

Helpful!

Though there is one problem with using this suit. It covers up her boot-blaster. That might take some-

Oh wait.

No. It's formed a seal around the boot-blaster. Handy! Or maybe footy?


[Bird is the Word]
Mapgie

A weapon?

How about that old broken down natural gas piping? Someone has already scavenged most of the good parts, but there's a heavy length of pipe with an elbow joint on one end. If Magpie wanted to, she could probably bash a bird pretty good with it. It feels heavy and unwieldy, but it'll work.

The person in the protective gear is heading toward a tall silo with a conspiracy of ravens hanging around at the top. It doesn't LOOK like a very interesting place, but those stuck-up ravens are probably hiding food under the roof tiles. They think they're so clever.


[Bird is the Word]
Cucco

The pigeon glares at Aviene in that way pigeons...

What am I even talking about?

Pigeons can't glare. They can't manage expressions at ALL.

But considering how he just poofed his neck feathers up at the troll he's obviously pretty upset. "DON'T LISTEN TO HER! COOOO! I HAVE COOOOOURE!"

Worth a shot, right?

The strange radiation seems to be coming from two sources. One much stronger and closer, and the other weaker and more distant. The stronger source will lead Aviene to a tall silo with a bunch of large black birds roosting on the top. Near the bottom it looks like a brick wall (and metal door) have been blasted open from the inside.

Hmm...

It's pretty dark in there.

But troll eyes are better adapted to low light anyway, right?

Better for hanging out under bridges.

Judging from the burn marks on the inside of the brick wall this was made with some kind of directed energy weapon.

And recently.

Curious...

[bc56]

Harpy

Oh wow. That's really useful. Jade makes a mental note to examine the hazmat suit at her lab. She could use this sort of technology in her own armor.
Okay. Apparently the reactor is disengaged, so the complex must be running on emergency power. She heads for the reactor now that she's suited up. Does it feel like she could fly in this thing? That might be helpful. She's hoping starting the reactor will be pretty straightforward.

Cucco

Strewn about on the floor of the room are women's garments, a shirt, tennis shoes, socks, and yoga pants. They don't look like they've been there long.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie

It's better than nothing, so the mutating magpie takes the pipe and then has to figure out how to get down so she can follow the hazmat person. And maybe see if the pigeon is telling the truth and applying violence until they reveal the cure. There might be a ladder, since there was at the last building she visited the roof of.

The hazmat person went into the big building all the black birds are flocking around; that seems easy to follow, and hopefully nobody else will be.

[WindStruck]

Solstice hangs back as.. Zee does her thing. She was not sure how to proceed from here. And of course, she is amazed how the once seemingly normal barmaid, now possibly a wizard, yanks some iron bars right off a wall. Maybe they weren't designed all that great, but still...

Another amazing feat of strength.. perhaps arguably possible by a human in peak physical condition. A very large, burly human... But Zee obviously did not appear that way. Just what was going on with this woman?

As for Jade, still no sign of her. Solstice walked up to the window and also tried to peek through.

[bc56]

Jade hops back down from the roof. Looks like they've got the better odds at the window, especially judging by the iron bars Zee pulled out of the window. "Any luck? Looks like there isn't an entrance on the roof."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Cucco & Friends]

Aviene follows the stronger signal through the provocative glowing debris. She's played a video game before. The farther-away signal will turn out to be the more important one, and whatever is going on here will provide some crucial context or tool she'll need to get it. At least she hopes it will, because right now chasing down a laser-falcon or whatever is a little outside her scope.

The yoga pants are not the first piece of discarded clothing she's seen in the last ten minutes and they probably won't be the last. Without thinking, she steps on the clothes and sweeps them aside with her foot to see if anything's hidden underneath. Like, I don't know, a wallet maybe? Disintegrated remains of whoever set off the explosion? Doesn't matter, there's nothing of note but some clumps of earth human hair. She proceeds further into the... catacombs? What kind of building is this?

A roof-crawling elf rogue has a number of ways to catch up with Aviene. She could slide down the banner naming the data center's security firm. She could find the rusty old fire escape in the alley that they never removed even after sealing the exit doors. She could even take a leap of faith and drop down directly behind the horned poncho-wearer like a comic book superhero. The hazmat troll's black hair was already in a feathered style, but by the time the elf gets into the building a shock of white has appeared that she didn't notice before.

[Rebonack]

[Harpy]

Now clad in a protective radiation suit, Jade descends deeper.

The reactor room is dark, lit only by the dull red glow of emergency lights. In that glow Jade will be able to see something... disturbing. There are a number of mechanical components to the reactor that are clearly designed to move. Control rods that can be inserted or removed to start or stop the reaction.

But...

Several of the booms are obstructed with bird.

Incoherent masses of feathers, meat, beaks, and wings flapping and gasping uselessly. They're gumming up the mechanism and if the reactor is going to be engaged they're going to have to be removed.

Well!

Thankfully Jade is the world's one and only lasergull! She SHOULD be able to blast the four masses of BIRD clogging the works on each side of the reactor free. Easy, right?


[Magpie and Cucco]

The troll heads into the silo. The more and more magpie watches and... maybe follows? Superhero jump, drain pipe, fire escape, even a running leap onto the ladder attached to the silo and then scuttling down. All viable options.

As for the silo itself?

Well. There ARE those pants in there. And a wallet.

Score!

Also?

A hatch on the floor that leads to some stairs. This, in turn, leads to the laboratory that Jade visited earlier.

The lab in question isn't that large. And it seems more like... a study, maybe? A desk. Old looking books. And several heavy lead boxes on a shelf, each designed to slot into some kind of machine and slide open. Though there doesn't appear to be any machine to slot them into. There are some diagrams nearby, displaying some sort of...

Power generator, it looks like?

Whatever the lead boxes are, it appears to be fuel for the machine. Or at least containers for the fuel. There's a rather frightening, intimidating looking spiky symbol stamped onto the side of the led boxes in black and red. It isn't at all obvious what the symbol means, but it looks threatening.

There's writing on the diagram, but it's some ancient dialect that Aviene hasn't ever seen before. Thankfully, however, there are also sticky notes in writing she CAN understand! Something about unlimited power. Speculation on how the reactor works. Noting potential hazards of the fuel. There are several books open on the desk nearby. A journal, a large, crumbling tome, and...

A birding magazine?

Then there's the small mini-fridge. It looks like someone was digging around in it earlier. There are several little single serving yogurt cups, an empty plastic bag that smells like tuna, a half eaten take-out box of fried rice, and a plastic container marked SAMPLE: DO NOT EAT from which the radiation appears to be coming from. There are also several cans of soda and one bottle of cheap beer.

Finally?

Several unusually large gull feathers are laying on the floor.

Along with a pretty high tech suit of armor obviously fitted for a human. One of the gloves is missing.

[bc56]

Bird is the Word
Harpy

Jade takes aim with her foot at the first blockage. Pew! A blast of light should burn through the birdish mass and put it out of its misery. Jade can't help but feel revulsion towards them. That could've been her. She got lucky with the bird pushing her into this harpy form.

Cucco

The armor is, more specifically, turquoise blue, designed for a female human with a generous figure, and has a Greco-Roman design.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie

The half-elf birdgirl slides down the banner, keeping a grip on her improvised bludgeon because it's dangerous to be without a weapon. She looks around quickly before following the troll inside. She's soft-footed, on her large and awkward-looking feet, and has no clothing or equipment that could rustle or bang, meaning she's very quiet. She follows and looks around, stopping at the pile of clothing to see if she can find a knife or any money. Currently she has nothing, since all her personal effects were confiscated after she was caught. She'd look for shoes, but at the moment they won't fit.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Cucco]

Naturally, the gray-skinned human-sized tiefling called a troll already picked up the wallet before the half-elf arrived. Score!

Aviene looks around the abandoned research lab, transmitting pictures with her goggles and loudly 'Hmm'-ing to herself.

Spoiler: AR log

Show

JJ: Don't even think about it, *Cnicus.
AV: About -w-hat? ov6
JJ: About carrying home that armor suit. *___
JJ: This isn't a salvage operation. *___
AV: Hey, gi-v-e me some credit
AV: It probably -w-ouldn't fit in my trunk any-w-ay
AV: Look though, I think I found the source of the radiation
AV: Sort of ov6

She kneels next to the mini fridge to examine the container that's generating those strong tricorder readings. She turns on her goggles' custom speech-to-text algorithm, which conveniently lets nearby rogues eavesdrop on her side of the conversation more easily.

AV: It looks like someone ate a refrigerated sample and took off
AV: It might even be patient zero
AV: I'm captchaloguing the container and one of these baga-w-kxes
AV: Boxes*

Aviene secures the samples in her Containment Modus, which as far as any stealthy onlookers are concerned means retrieving a deck of metal cards from her pocket and magically shlorping items into them one by one. Barring a Containment Breach, her cards will refuse to release the samples unless she inserts them into an appropriately controlled environment. Her inventory now contains Threatening Lead Box, Used Danger Snack Container, and Seagull Lycanthrope Feathers.

She has plenty of cards, so she goes ahead and shlorps up the Armor Set as well.

Spoiler: AR log

Show

JJ: Oh, for *___'s sake. *___

[Arkhosia]

[Meowstaken Fidentities]

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow when Fidelia mentioned she worked for VIGIL. The catgirl had done her own research into VIGIL before, and if the stranger really was from VIGIL, it perhaps meant she was slightly more trustworthy. It was of course no guarantee, even if she wasn't lying. And... it seemed like she actually sounded like she might care about her safety? Elizabeth wasn't the best judge of character though, and thus not very good at telling how genuine someone is.

"Y'know, I thought I was fine before but now I'm not so sure..."

Mewostaken Fidentities

"I uh, could maybe give you an escort?" Fidelia seems slightly unsure in her words here. Is that the right term? She's not sure how helpful something like that might be for Elizabeth considering her task, admittedly. Fi's no expert in stealth or anything after all. Then again, if she gets fleeced by a pushy merchant or collared by a slaver... well it's not like she's getting anything done then now, is she?

[Rebonack]

[Bird is the Word]
Seagull

The first of the four bird-masses bursts in a cloud of burning feathers, followed by an awful squawking noise as an incoherent mass of wings and beaks just materializes in the chamber. It looks... sort of scorched as if it were MAYBE the thing Jade just shot? But that disintegrated, didn't it?

The horror flops through the air toward her, attempting to slam into her with its bulk.

And now that it's closer...

Jade will be able to see that there are MANY types of birds amalgamated together.

Along with a few scraps of yellow hazard suit.

She will get the impression that she REALLY doesn't want the FLOCKING HORROR to touch her.


[Bird is the Word]
Magpie

Hmm...

Not much.

The troll already took the wallet, alas. There isn't much else in the silo proper. But there IS a hatch leading to a flight of stairs heading down. The stairs aren't that long and will take the quarter elf half magpie to the lab. She can probably hear the troll still talking on her com from here.

Hopefully this doesn't lead to an altercation.


[Bird is the Word]
Coccu

The specimen container, on closer inspection, still has something inside it.

A single pink pigeon foot.

Weird.

Aside from the various collectable objects, there is also the spooky tome, the birding book, and the notebook that might be worth looking at. They aren't any form of digital media so hopefully the troll has a means of simply reading things that exist in the physical world. These game abstractions get weird sometimes.

[bc56]

Seagull

Jade hops back, flapping her wings for extra distance. Without the main suit reactor, her blaster only has a couple shots. She leans back and blasts another bird blob on the reactor. Hopefully she can dodge four of these things at once, because she can't afford to waste ammo on them.

Cucco

The armor should be labeled "Athena Armor (incomplete)" by the troll's inventory. Curious.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie

The magpie half-elf burglar will follow down the stairs, trying to keep herself out of sight from the troll. She's listening, and... it doesn't quite make much sense to her what they're talking about. So she'll just stalk along behind and hope she's friendly enough that she doesn't need to be hit with a length of pipe.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Cucco & Magpie]

Aviene's Used Danger Snack Container is now the Radiating Pigeon Foot.

The Journal and the Magazine she'll keep on hand for possible reference, assuming they're not radiating anything weird. She gives the Ancient Tome just enough of a look to find a title and a forward, but she's not going to sit here reading through it, especially if it's in the same indecipherable language as the diagram. She'll captchalogue it in another card.

She goes ahead and captchas the Bird Engine Diagrams as well, all in one big pile. No sense leaving them here for some competitor to steal.

With the loot and the radiation source all safe-ishly stowed, Aviene turns around to start tracking the weaker signal, only to come mask-to-beak with yet another bird-person.

0v0 "Huuhm? Right! I guess nothing -w-as stopping anyone from follo-w---w-ing me." Wow, that pun was not good. Oh well. They can't all be winners. "Sorry, no cures yet, but I assure you -w-e're -w-orking on it! No-w-, if you'll eggscuse me..."

The increasingly pale alien tries to walk out, shoving past the elfpie if it's posing an obstruction.

[Rebonack]

[Cucco and Magpie]

Sadly the tome is in some unreadable moon language. It matches the diagrams and thus whoever was down here could readily read it, however unlike the diagrams there aren't any notes.

Bothersome.

So!

Stuff is looted and there's a gal with a pipe!

Hopefully this doesn't result in violence that would be regrettable.


[Seagul]

Thankfully dodging the squawking, honking abomination isn't difficult. It's as cumbersome as it is awful.

Jade fires at another ornithological obstruction and it too evaporates.

This doesn't result in another mass of BIRD materializing.

No, the one that's already in the reactor chamber with Jade just gets bigger.

As a thank you for freeing it the bird mass is kind enough to spit a smaller, somehow even MORE awful bird mass at her. What a kind creature.

[bc56]

Seagull

Jade squawks in alarm and dives to the side away from the bird projectile. This thing is just nasty! Fortunately, it's also ungainly, so she can just keep avoiding it and shoot another one of the masses gumming up the reactor. She's ready for it this time.

[Earl of Purple]

Bird's the Word Magpie

The half-elf shrugs and cackles, before turning and following the troll, resting her impromptu club on her shoulder.

She realises she sounds like a bird, and can't talk, which furthers her mutation; scales, dark and glossy, spread across her already avian feet and legs. She stumbles as her knees change, but follows quite adroitly, since magpies are able to walk and aren't limited to hopping like some birds. It's a more awkward walk, but she's not slowed too much. She's just thinking about moving, and trusting her legs to know what they're doing. Basically the way she's been walking since she was a baby.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Cucco/Magpie]

Aviene turns startled at the sound of the magpie's stumbling. Did her knees actually switch direction? It would make more sense for her toes and ankles shift to take their place, but then this kind of mutation doesn't happen because of things making sense. Also, thinking about it makes Aviene uncomfortably aware of her own slowly-shifting bones, so she shakes her head and moves on.

She glances at a couple pages in the notebook on the way outside. It seems that the magpie is intent on following her wherever, but for some reason she doesn't feel like objecting. If anything, part of her wants to keep an extra-close eye on this fledgling mutant. She goes ahead and gives a vague summary of her note-skimming. "Huum, looks like the -w-riter theorizes something about, 'ornithological radiation,' before s-w-iftly going insane," she cluckles. Chuckles*. That pun was a little better!

Even in the light outside, it's hard to tell what's going on with the troll's anatomy. She doesn't have a beak bursting out of her mask or anything, but the fit of her pants and poncho might suggest more of a chubby pear shape than she had previously. That and her feathery hair, her comb-shaped horns, and what little skin she has visible are all pure white at this stage.

After shooing away any curious birbs, she locks the notes and notebook in a trunk on the back of her bright red three-wheeled scooter. She pops her tricorder into a holder on the control panel and adjusts her enlarged butt in the seat as she gets ready to go. "You -w-ant to come, right? Hop on!"

Once the magpie is aboard - likely gripping the corners of the trunk with her new feet? - Aviene drives off in pursuit of the other signal.

Spoiler: AR Log

Show

JJ: Why are you inviting an obvious spy along on a proprietary investigation? *___
AV: I don't kno-w-, just a feeling I guess
AV: Maybe she'll be helpful ^v^
JJ: If you say so. It's not as though I can stop you, anyway. *___
JJ: At any rate, Leslie is now en route. She should be arriving in a few minutes. *___

---

[Riftline Cantina]

Be it from the funky atmosphere, their new shared experience or something in the teriyaki, Leslie and Minerva's conversation has become much more comfortable and animated. Among other things, they talk about what kinds of books are popular where they come from; on Planet, 'Earth,' is a popular setting for fantasy stories, like Atlantis, the Demon World and the Garden of Eden rolled into one.

Just as Leslie is about to ask something about names as it might relate to her sister's alarming texts, she is interrupted when the door is kicked in by a hulking robot.

"PEE-PA-LOOK"

The droid is almost all glossy black torso. What passes for its face is two blinding headlights surrounding the logo for a Skyside vehicle manufacturer. The bartender glares at it. "You're payin' for those hinges if they break!"

"my license number is Z-E4-Y7. please direct all inquiries to Zenn Auto and/or Combined Pharmaceuticals. PEE-PA-LOOK, LESS-LEE-AY"

Leslie groans. "That's me! Sort of."

The robot scans the room and stomps up to the table on barely-visible piston-legs. "identifying... PEE-PA-LOOK, LESS-LEE-AY"

"Yes, it's me, Y7!" Leslie says, standing up before the robot runs over something. "Did Gorjek send you? I told him I was-"

"CONFIRMED"

The robot's massive chest opens up, briefly revealing the plush red upholstery of a windowless limousine as a hook shot launches out to grab Leslie's arm. Only a yelp escapes her as she's pulled in and the robot closes back up. It then looks down and comically leans over to pick up her belongings in its little t-rex arms.

This part might go faster if Minerva helps it reach.

Once that's secured, it will accept no further conversation as it stomps back out of the cantina. It will then fall on its back to convert into vehicle mode and launch off to bring its payload to work.

[Meowmai]

[Unanticipawted De-Fi-nder]

Wait, did that girl really just offer to help her out? After everything Elizabeth had tried to do to her? Why?

"Um, I'm sorry, I'm not sure I heard you right there. Are you... offering to help me out? Like, escort me back to the main streets or..?" The catgirl let her question hang in the air, entirely baffled by this turn of events.

[Rebonack]

[Bird is the Word]
Seagull

The awkwardness of the terrible mass of BIRD is certainly an advantage for Jade. As a seagull she is small and maneuverable, though thanks to this insane curse and her useless human anatomy she's bigger than she should be. But thankfully not as huge as the BIRD FLOCK. Another obstruction is blasted and the tumorous mass grows again, this time lurching toward her like a phagocyte trying to engulf a bacteria.

There's only one mass left Jade.

C'mon, you can do it.

You have to do it!

For birds everywhere!

[Bird is the Word]
Magpie and Cucco

Thankfully the other radiation source isn't too far from Skyside itself and reaching it isn't a particularly arduous task. Maybe fifteen minutes away, tops. Sure that's technically Outside but what are you going to do?

Our scooter-bound heroes will probably get a pretty decent view of more birds flying the coop as they go. Since that's just what the world needs, right? More infectious birds flapping all over the place molting and fighting over discarded fries.

Upon reaching the source of the ornithological radiation the troll will find that the signal is significantly more intense here. That probably isn't too much of a shock. This has got to be it, right? Aside from the looming mouth of the tomb there's a dig site set up outside with a little table next to a huge stone slab with a series of extinct languages carved into the surface. A journal has been placed on the table along with the various digging tools. A small campsite is likewise nearby with a mini-cooler in the tent.

The cooler has been left open and judging from the smell a tuna sandwich has been pilfered from one of the bags

Our heroes could poke around the camp, or inspect the journal and slab, or say nuts to that and head straight into the tunnel.

What's it going to be?