Serious Plots 8: Rawr serisaurus!

[Chaotic Bob]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Poor soldier guy. Tossed around like yesterday's garbage.
But not dead..
A curious fact that, going by the expression on his face. Curious enough that he is going to do the rational thing and not antagonize these ludicrous people further. Just accept his tossing and quietly exist on the periphery.
Watching.

As for the magical energies of the room, there seem to be an unusually small amount. There's a cloud of demonic energy billowing around Libby, courtesy her companion, and there's a rigid wall of time magic surrounding that portal in the middle of the room.
Everything else is suspiciously bare of anything but mundanity. More mundanity than you would expect from the dirt outside, really.

Libby is roused from her mystical nap, though not by the hands of a Purple. The shadow thing Asq jerks her back to awareness as soon as the room transfer is complete, evidently entirely hostile to the idea of leaving her out of commission for longer than strictly necessary.
T h e p r i s o n.

This arrangement must be something she's used to, since she aware of her surroundings and in a mobile position fairly swiftly. Her immediate attention is directed at the portal, moving closer to it and inspecting the gray "aura" around it.
Another confusing mash of emotions make their bids for control, more mortal inconvenience. She almost doesn't stifle it this time.
So close.
"I have found others like this. It is pushed out of step with our timeline, so no one can get in or out. We have to realign it, before we can pull the prisoner out."
She turns her head to look over towards Orange, then towards Blue. There's a small frown here, as she comes to the late realization that not everyone present is likely to be who she was thinking they were. Maybe she should have noticed that sooner, but there have been so many distractions. And she is...diminished.
"Have you picked up any chronomancy on the way here? You probably do not want mine."

But the walls speak, in response, scarcely moments after Libby's lips close on her final word. There's an eerily synthetic titter, close enough to natural but missing the mark by the hair necessary to be uncanny. There is no magic behind this, to Needs' prying senses. Maybe someone just hid speakers behind the pipes.
"Your method is so ironic, though. No, don't mind me. Just here to remind all the little puppets that 'management' is rather upset and shortly on her way.
Do carry on."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fairy Mountain]

Not what Damon was expecting.

He had, honestly, just been expecting more elves. Not some sort of dragonfly-fey.

Fortunately, he does a good job of not looking surprised. A black fire mask is pretty good for hiding surprise.

"Ssssinger, may I pressent Ilpholin, sspeaker for the King in Ragss." There, that's his bit done. He politely takes a step aside and behind Ilpholin, leaving her to work her magic.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

Fettina is just left kneeling next to Rein, wings folded, holding this old mouldy blanket. "...Oh." She drops the blanket. "Well that would have been good to tell me about, jackass!" She punches him in the meat of his thigh. "...I'm fine. She really didn't like you shooting those mirrors. I guess now we know why. We won... but what'd we win?" Fettina stares around the room.

[Reinholdt]

[Gem Mountain]

"Owww!" Reinholdt's taken the most damage from Tina this dungeon run! "I just told you I didn't ever want to use it! Besides, I have hundreds of tricks. I can't tell you about them all. I'm just a big, sexy bag of surprises." Rein protests with a pout.

"Win? What? We didn't win anything except the right to be alive. This isn't a video game!" Wow, Rein's starting to be concerned that the uptight Dena was actually right and Tina should be kept away from adventures. And that'd be just the worst.

Reinholdt stands up and brushes himself off, looking around. "There. I guess. We won that." Rein points out the hiding letters and lets Tina retrieve and read them.

[Fairy Mountain]

Ilpholin expected a fey different from the elves, but definitely not this. She was thinking it would be like some kind of living, friendly banshee or siren. Here for the sole purpose of diplomacy however, she walked in prepared to keep a neutral face and that's exactly what she does. The nymph steps forward with a deep curtsy upon being introduced, a gentle smile upon her face. "It's an honor to meet you Singer in Dimmed Crystal."

"We were happy to be able to assist with that unfortunate incident. As you say, we were sent by the one who is now known by the King in Rags. What did you use to call him? Or has that name lost its meaning and cannot be shared?" The greater fey are fickle in that way. Their names have great meaning and sometimes great power, but with that comes rules.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

"And who are the right people?" Raril asks, adding two sugars and stirring his coffee before taking a sip. "My friend and I perhaps?" He asks with a grin. He didn't think so, but it couldn't hurt to ask. "I may not be the best person, but Sam here has a special interest in world hearts from what I understand. He's a... oh what do you call yourselves? You and Alysha?"

[Grove]

"I'm Alaine." She says. "Will you take us to the grove? We have a job to do."

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

"Big, sexy bag a' crap is what you are," Fettina mutters, still grumpy, as she gets up and pouts at him. The pout is probably only intensified by his skepticism. "Don't be a downer, come on. There ought to be something important or at least valuable in here. That's just how these things work."

She will stalk over and have a look at these aforementioned letters.

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam quietly mixes his drink while unzipping his jacket while drumming his fingers on the table nervously.
”Well I don’t think we have a name and if we did I’m only an apprentice. But um. I have the big magic key sword thing and we’re here to save the Heart. So...you know where it is?” Sam asks hopefully.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

"He had many names, then. Like all the Gentry," the Singer responds in her melodious voice. She seems to never stop moving - her eyes flick this way and that, her body bends and sways, her wings twitch and flick. "When I last spoke to him and obeyed his commands... he was the Eye of the Bird, forever stalking mortals foolish enough to try and peer past the veil. But we were both in the Fairest of Lands then." Something like a sigh escapes her. "I was left behind when they receded. We didn't know where our Lord fell. We assumed he was as dead as the Gentry can be. What would he have you say to me, now that he has returned?"

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

The letters are mostly boring. Reading through them, it's quickly obvious that they were all written to the queen-lady they just fought and from a certain person who doesn't sign their name. Most of them are pretty old, and it looks like they've been going on for a while.

Skimming through the notes will quickly reveal that most of them are just love letters. Those ones are probably better off skipped, because it's clear the writer isn't actually any good at love letters.

There are, however, a couple things that can be learned from them: the writer is totally a wizard and knows magic. There's discussion of their two daughters - and that the king doesn't know his wife had an affair. Talk of a bunch of different rituals, magic, immortality, plans to meet in the secret lab in the basement, instructions to gather certain things, plans to meet up for a date, a growing rockiness between their relationship, ...

All-in-all, it's an okay read, sappy love letters and love poems aside.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

"Perhaps, yes," the old man replies with a nod. "I suspect you are, since you're the first to come here."

That seems like a pretty good reason, right?

As good of a reason as any.

All the people who DIDN'T come probably aren't the right ones at least.

"The Heart is near here. Though more... down, I'm afraid."

He waits for a look of dawning realization to cross the two adventurer's faces as they recall the saarlac pit.

"Yes. Down there."

Great. Sounds like they may have some battle ahead of them after all.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

Raril's shoulder's slump. "Of course. It couldn't all be a... aha... walk in the park." He peers out the window of the shack at the Sarlaac pit. "Where do you even start fighting one of those things? Do you fight it?or do we just kinda try to avoid the teeth and hope for the best?"

[Morty]

[Grove]

"Yes, indeed," Fayyaad says when the woman starts to pull him. "We don't mean to be impolite, but we really are in a bit of a hurry."

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam frowns at the implications.
”It’s...in that pit-monster’s stomach? Or is it like...in that hole that the monster is in?” he asks, fighting to understand why it would be in a giant pit monster.

[billtodamax]

Grove

But jobs are so booooooring. Fflur says, sagging against Fayyaad. Surely it can wait for 5 minutes? She says, looking up at Fayyaad with puppy-dog eyes. ...or ten. Or fifteen. See how long you last. She adds with a wink. How about it Alaine? You down for some fun? She leans into Alaine's name, savouring how it sounds.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

"Ah, well, it's less a pit monster and more an entrance," the old man admits. "It will likely make more sense once you're down there."

Sounds spooky.

"There are unpleasant things down there that absolutely should not be," he explains. "Things making the Nexus sick. I'm sure that's why you're here."

That's how it had been explained, right?

That the Nexus was sick and that its Heart needed to be sealed or... something?

Geeze.

It would be really helpful if the other keyblade wielder was here.

Stupid dead time!

[UncleWolf]

[TBC - The Pyramid of the Cosmos]

Norael opens the door!
Well, Benedict tries to put a scouting eye into the room beyond first, but it seems to be hitting a pretty hard barrier at the door's threshold. Technically we could have opened the door, everyone gotten to the side, then left the eye to see beyond, but...it's all going to have the same effect in the end.

The room beyond is structured like an inverse pyramid. It descends downwards in room-spanning levels of wide steps, to nearly an entire building story's depth, before changing.
Half of the room's floor space is this lowest portion, much of which appears to be a pool of strange fluid, with small amounts of silently sparking vapor rising off of it. Every color can be found within this pool of liquid, shifting in undulating waves, but otherwise remaining calm. Almost all of the room's light seems to be coming from this pool, though there are some faintly glowing torches ensconced around a closed stone door on the far end of the room.
To the left, about a quarter of the way around the room towards this lit door, is the outline of another door, in the form of an amethyst rectangle on the wall, with no immediately visible means of opening.

In this center of this pool is an island of smooth stone, upon which rests a large white plinth. There are words scrawled on it, but most of them are obscured by the sole living creature within this room.
Wrapped around most of the plinth, and looping around much of the central island, is an enormous snake, with scales the color of the void between galaxies, with subtle hues of nebula visible from just the right angles. It appears to be sleeping, or otherwise possesses no open eyes, its man-sized head resting still upon another portion of its body. After a moment, it expands with a breath, and all of the room's light seems to flow directly into it, leaving the room that familiar shade of nothing at all. Then it exhales and everything returns to normal.

This, unknown to anyone without obscure stellar lore knowledge, is a Dark Star Serpent.

Pyramid of the Cosmos

"...I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna boop the snoot." Norael declares after staring at the snek for a few long moments. The entity was simply gorgeous. It certainly meant that the thing was unbelievably deadly, but she was doing this job to try and have fun as well as her work. What was life without a few risks? Unless she's stopped(which is likely easy), she'll breach the barrier and use her wings to glide closer to the giant serpent.

[Earl of Purple]

Pyramid of the Cosmos

Benedict has studied many things throughout his life. From ancient religions, to archaeology, to the biology and anatomy of various animals, beasts and cryptids. However, the stars haven't really featured that heavily, so he does not recognise the creature.

"I don't recognise it, but it looks dangerous. I hope you know what you are doing." Because alas, Benedict is a little out of touch and doesn't recognise the phrase 'boop the snoot'.

If Norael does get eaten, hopefully it will give Benedict a clue as to the monster's reaction speed and reflexes, so he can either cross the room- if there's any doorways or portals visible on the far side- or knows how much time he has in which to kill it, as unlikely as that feat currently seems.

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

Spoiler

Show

[TBC - MagQuest]

Poor soldier guy. Tossed around like yesterday's garbage.
But not dead..
A curious fact that, going by the expression on his face. Curious enough that he is going to do the rational thing and not antagonize these ludicrous people further. Just accept his tossing and quietly exist on the periphery.
Watching.

As for the magical energies of the room, there seem to be an unusually small amount. There's a cloud of demonic energy billowing around Libby, courtesy her companion, and there's a rigid wall of time magic surrounding that portal in the middle of the room.
Everything else is suspiciously bare of anything but mundanity. More mundanity than you would expect from the dirt outside, really.

Libby is roused from her mystical nap, though not by the hands of a Purple. The shadow thing Asq jerks her back to awareness as soon as the room transfer is complete, evidently entirely hostile to the idea of leaving her out of commission for longer than strictly necessary.
T h e p r i s o n.

This arrangement must be something she's used to, since she aware of her surroundings and in a mobile position fairly swiftly. Her immediate attention is directed at the portal, moving closer to it and inspecting the gray "aura" around it.
Another confusing mash of emotions make their bids for control, more mortal inconvenience. She almost doesn't stifle it this time.
So close.
"I have found others like this. It is pushed out of step with our timeline, so no one can get in or out. We have to realign it, before we can pull the prisoner out."
She turns her head to look over towards Orange, then towards Blue. There's a small frown here, as she comes to the late realization that not everyone present is likely to be who she was thinking they were. Maybe she should have noticed that sooner, but there have been so many distractions. And she is...diminished.
"Have you picked up any chronomancy on the way here? You probably do not want mine."

But the walls speak, in response, scarcely moments after Libby's lips close on her final word. There's an eerily synthetic titter, close enough to natural but missing the mark by the hair necessary to be uncanny. There is no magic behind this, to Needs' prying senses. Maybe someone just hid speakers behind the pipes.
"Your method is so ironic, though. No, don't mind me. Just here to remind all the little puppets that 'management' is rather upset and shortly on her way.
Do carry on."

Roughly two-thirds of the Purples frown, considering the matter carefully with a hand upon their respective chins. Realigning the timelines would take a lot of magical effort, he presumes, and we'll need every last bit of Needs Food Badly's magical might for the real conflict, won't we? We should consider alternatives to anything as powerful and resource-draining as time magic.

"Needs? Instead of using chronomancy, what if we-"

"No. It's a terrible idea and would kill us all," Needs answers flatly, a few of his smaller tentacles wriggling from one side of Orange's mouth to the other, adamantly rejecting the idea before the others can even hear it. A different Purple than the one who spoke up a moment ago looks at Orange/Needs with a mix of hurt and frustration, before picking up again right where he left off.

"Blue? Would you be willing to stay behind and transport Feia into the portal timeline realm when she gets here? We'd all be on the other end waiting for her, and-"

"It would not work, Magtok." Needs insists again, reaching into a voluminous sleeve to produce a set of enchanted pocketwatches for Blue, Libby, three of the Purples, and that one soldier guy who was praying Needs had forgotten all about him. "You do not understand thaumatemporal mechanics, but I do. I will weave the spells needed to make this jailbreak possible from here. You will do your part in there. You will be back before I have had time to blink, before Feiadyne makes her dreaded entrance. Do not argue," Needs insists, one of many mouth-tentacles handing out those magical timepieces, before rudely nudging each and every person in the room towards the portal.

[5a Violista]

[Random Street - certain city]

In a certain city, ash blows down the street. It's a pretty street in the city, with various shops and so on. Very small-town feel to it.
It's not clear where the ash is coming from - it's just blowing, and starts to gather in a certain spot.

And then, in the middle of the ash, a woman appears, floating slightly off the ground. Her skin is gray and cracked. Her hair is a white-gray, and her dress is gray as well. Only her eyes aren't: they look like they have a small fire in the irises.

Once she's appeared, she floats down the street a little, and looks into a flowershop. "It was the yellow sunflowers," she says to herself, "who ground the red petals of the children into bread..."
Looking frustrated with herself, she shakes her head and throws something into the shop.
It blows up, and she heads down the street looking for a bakery.

"No, no, that's not it. It wasn't their petals." She acts like she's got some pain in her head, but she can't find the source of it. "Or was it the birds? Birds and sunflowers." She really wants to remember this but it's escaping her.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Fairy Mountain]

"He had many names, then. Like all the Gentry," the Singer responds in her melodious voice. She seems to never stop moving - her eyes flick this way and that, her body bends and sways, her wings twitch and flick. "When I last spoke to him and obeyed his commands... he was the Eye of the Bird, forever stalking mortals foolish enough to try and peer past the veil. But we were both in the Fairest of Lands then." Something like a sigh escapes her. "I was left behind when they receded. We didn't know where our Lord fell. We assumed he was as dead as the Gentry can be. What would he have you say to me, now that he has returned?"

[Gem Mountain]

"Big, sexy bag a' crap is what you are," Fettina mutters, still grumpy, as she gets up and pouts at him. The pout is probably only intensified by his skepticism. "Don't be a downer, come on. There ought to be something important or at least valuable in here. That's just how these things work."

She will stalk over and have a look at these aforementioned letters.

[Gem Mountain]

The letters are mostly boring. Reading through them, it's quickly obvious that they were all written to the queen-lady they just fought and from a certain person who doesn't sign their name. Most of them are pretty old, and it looks like they've been going on for a while.

Skimming through the notes will quickly reveal that most of them are just love letters. Those ones are probably better off skipped, because it's clear the writer isn't actually any good at love letters.

There are, however, a couple things that can be learned from them: the writer is totally a wizard and knows magic. There's discussion of their two daughters - and that the king doesn't know his wife had an affair. Talk of a bunch of different rituals, magic, immortality, plans to meet in the secret lab in the basement, instructions to gather certain things, plans to meet up for a date, a growing rockiness between their relationship, ...

All-in-all, it's an okay read, sappy love letters and love poems aside.

[Fairy Mountain]

"He would have you return to his service and obey his commands once more," Ilpholin says simply, jumping to the point. "He seeks the return of the Fairest of Lands, with your help. And to your benefit, should you also wish to live there once more."

[Gem Mountain]

"Aww. Damn, you're cute when you pout, you know that?" Rein starts moving around, checking other things. Especially the furniture. The box can be ignored and all the mirrors are broken, but there might be something else they didn't see hidden behind a slat of wood. "The fire zombies are probably all actually dead dead with her gone, but I feel like she was working for someone else. Maybe deeper in?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Transporting Feia is an amusing notion, but I think I would struggle rather a lot convincing her to momentarily reject her incorrect perception of reality, don't you? Do keep not understanding what I'm doing though. It's, mmm, quite important that you don't try to "get it". Your poor little mind won't be able to grasp what's going on.

Even in the most dire of circumstances, with an angry dragon with delusions of godhood bearing down upon them, the Prof can't miss an opportunity to insult Magtok.

Meanwhile, Blue takes his pocketwatch without question. Needs has a plan. It's probably a good plan. Might as well go with it.

"There's something rather amusing about Feia's own little puppet using that term to refer to anyone else, don't you think? Come now, are you really just going to do as she says when she's left you in charge of such a playground? It's disappointing, really. You think she'd know better than to leave a secretary like you in charge of anything. Speaking of which, care to tell us exactly what you are while we wait?" Poking fun at Syncope probably isn't wise, but Blue doesn't care. He's about to be out of sync with time or something.

As he's pushed towards the portal, though, he takes a moment to slip a small cylinder across to Needs, doing his best to keep the action hidden from all other parties - just in case a Purple felt like kicking up a fuss about this.

Affy's voice filters through just to Needs for a moment. Magic dragon. Do not make any assumptions about what is and isn't achievable before she arrives, irrespective of, mmm, time shenanigans. Keep it safe. Push button in case of dragon.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

"Aww. Damn, you're cute when you pout, you know that?" Rein starts moving around, checking other things. Especially the furniture. The box can be ignored and all the mirrors are broken, but there might be something else they didn't see hidden behind a slat of wood. "The fire zombies are probably all actually dead dead with her gone, but I feel like she was working for someone else. Maybe deeper in?"

"Maybe," Fettina admits. She looks up from the letters, a little melancholy, and mostly just watches Rein search the place. "But why'd she attack us, Rein? Cuz of this other person? Or because we were trespassing or something?"

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

There's a couple of things here and there. Not very much major stuff, just small things.

In a drawer of the vanity next to some make-up, there's some pretty antique jewelry. Seriously old, could use a good clean-up but it's definitely genuine and fancy.

Under the bed and strapped to the underside of the structural parts of the bed, there's a magic book. It's pretty old as well, but still mostly legible. Most of it involves theories about the manipulation of the four - or maybe five? It's not entirely clear and there are some pages missing - elements, along with a few basic spells.

In the closet, discounting all the moth-eaten clothes or clothes that have fallen apart due to age, there's a couple fancy dresses and outfits and shoes, including a tarnished silver tiara.

On the other side of the room, there's a wax-stamp seal.

And there's some drapes on a wall, which is odd because there's no windows and nothing behind them?

Oh, yeah, and there's a loose stone on the floor near the middle of the room, with a small pocket beneath it when the stone is moved. There's a small keychain with no hints to where any of the keys on it go, and a couple more gems, and some long-dead plants that were kept in a tiny box. Herbs, mostly.

And...
That's about it.

[Reinholdt]

[Gem Mountain]

"If it was just trespassing, she would have simply asked us to leave," Reinholdt says, spending a lot of extra time on the drapes, half expecting there to be some hidden magic to them. "But remember, she didn't just attack us. She attacked all those construction workers too. Maybe she was ordered to. Maybe to continue existing, she had to. Some kind of vengeful spirit clause."

Reinholdt moves on from the drapes and finds the jewelry. He rubs it a few times to try and get a little shine out of it before heading to Tina and presenting it to her, even going so far as to try and put a necklace on her. "More than likely, however, she simply was disconnected. When you become too powerful in relation to the people around you and have no grounding, some people become callous. They forget what it's like to suffer or simply don't care what their actions wrought on others. They do what they want, when they want, and everyone else becomes a victim in the process." Rein pulls away from Tina.

"It's tragic, in its own way." Reinholdt pockets the wax stamp seal for himself. "And infuriating." Crossing the room for the sixth time, Rein finally notices the loose stone and bends down.

"But you absolutely can't let it get to you. Whatever just happened, I do believe we prevented anyone else from getting hurt. And that's the real win." Rein pauses for a moment. Wasn't that the same excuse he had for the gem girl? He lets out a sigh and finally leverages the stone free.

"Hah." Reinholdt smiles a bit. "But you really shouldn't ask me. I talk a lot, but when it comes to knowing things, I truly don't. After all. You were right and I was wrong." Rein holds up the keys and the glittering gems for Tina to look at. Their winnings.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

"The return of..." The Singer's body sweeps the floor as she sways from left to right and her wings flutter. "That can't be possible, not even for him. How does he intend to do it? What have you seen him do?"

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Mountain]

"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps it is impossible for him. Alone. But it wouldn't be just him, would it? Besides that, I think that would be underestimating him." Ilpholin tucks one hand to her belly. "The King in Rags has raised a true dragon to his side to heed his commands. And he has surpassed his own constraints and given me child."

"He has no time for the impossible when he is already forging the path."

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

The Singer's eyes gleam with some interest when she hears about the dragon. That is a sign the King in Rags might have regained his station. Not much, perhaps, but... then, however, her attention is drawn to something else entirely. She lowers her head towards Ilpholin's abdomen, with little regard for personal space. Her mandibles click rapidly.

"It's true. I can feel his essence in you. How is this possible? No fey has ever begotten a child!"

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Mountain]

Ilpholin half-predicted the invasion of personal space. Fey rarely understand, and nobility (of a sorts) on top of that. Well it's fine. It works towards what she wanted.

"One fey has. The King in Rags," Ilpholin declares, with a hint of pride over the honor. "Siring an heir is but the start. If he can do the impossible once, he can do it again. And you'll want to be at his side when he does."

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam hesitantly nods.
”Yeah. You have any ah, advice for handling those? And maybe some rope?”
Sam didn’t really come prepared to venture into a giant pit monster’s mouth today.
He really hopes the monster is some sort of illusion. Or at least doesn’t go all the way down.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

"It is a compelling achievement," the Singer admits, pulling back from Ilpholin and slithering away a little bit. She looks around the cavern with her multi-faceted eyes. "When the Fairest of Lands were taken away from us, I despaired. I hid in this mountain and tried to recreate my memory of them. When the elves came, we made a deal for them to mine the crystals for me. They remind me of the home I had, in our homeland." Suddenly, she turns back to the nymph. "You spoke to him and carry his child. Did you feel it? The primordial breath of the Fairest of Lands? They say that if one of the Gentry came back, it would slip in, no matter how small the crack."