Serious Plots 8: Rawr serisaurus!

[Earl of Purple]

TBC- The Pyramid of the Cosmos

Benedict tries drawing a shape in white light to examine the door, but probably fails to discover anything. "My magic isn't going through either. It's very unusual." Normally his magic has at least some effect. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a jar containing orange-red flames. "I could try setting fire to it. I have some flame trapped in this jar, here." Well, obviously.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

Okay, Tina is liking this less and less and less. To be honest, it's scaring her, but she also just feels... angry? Angry for those dead men outside, angry that this weird woman seemed to want to cause trouble.

"Look lady, I dunno if you can see this metal on my skin or these wings on my back. Maybe you should take a second look before you reconsider whatever it is you're thinking about doing here. Uh..." Tina starts as the lights go out... but she clenches her fists and her teeth. She seems nervous, afraid... but roused, and her wings flare out. "If you think you're gonna whoop on me or set me fire, I've got some bad news for you, hon'. If you try anything like what your 'minions' tried, you and me aren't gonna be very friendly..."

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

Spoiler

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[TBC - MagQuest]

Insults and casual disrespect. Excellent opening social gambits.
Libby is, for her part, just casually drifting her way slightly closer to Orange with her eyes locked very resolutely on Syncope.
Her looking nervous isn't the most common thing in the world, but mortality tends to bring a degree of nerves along with it. She'll be fine.

Blue earns a little side-eye from Syncope, before her gaze slides back towards the only person here actually addressing her: Purple.
"Management doesn't parlay with the walking dead. Can I take a message?"
One would imagine this banter to have an accompanying amount of snark to it, but instead just a trace of exasperation.

Her focus slides over towards Libby and Orange, where it darkens somewhat.
"I don't have any of you flagged for this particular area yet. You are ruining my data sets."

No explosions yet...perhaps this won't immediately degenerate into violence?

Rather than get annoyed with being talked down to like this, Purple instead opts to turn his focus towards his brother instead.

"You hear that? She still doesn't know, Orange," he laughs, as if there was some great big secret they were holding onto that Syncope has completely overlooked. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. It's possible this is still one of his social gambits, that he's laying the groundwork for an environment of fear and uncertainty, but what if that's only half the story here? That hand reaching into his pocket, what's he planning to do wi-oh wait nevermind, that's just a completely ordinary, clear plastic water bottle. Couldn't possibly be anything in there but water, and unless Syncope is the Wicked Witch of the West, I don't think Purple taking a break to sip from his bottle is going to kill her.

Everyone knows that she doesn't know, Purple. Hush, he urges his brother, answering Syncope's complaint with a cold, largely indifferent glare. It wouldn't be his first time ruining someone else's experiments. Gods willing, it won't be his last. A sea of magicka churns and roils around him, a dozen or so half-formed spells waiting to be picked out of the ether and lobbed in the sassy retail clerk's face.

[Deathkeeper]

[Sneak’s Milk Bar]

Sam whirls in surprise, taken aback by the girl. He didn’t even perceive her turning around.
Very abruptly his goofy, oversized weapon is in his hands.
”Stay back now. We don’t want any of...whatever it is you’ve got.” he says shakily. At this point he can’t even tell if she’s a victim or a perpetrator to this bizarre carnage.

[Artemis97]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

Raril jumps a bit when he lowers the mask and sees the elf turned around, hollow and empty inside. "Right. So this mask showed me a vision of how this place used to be, but I don't think the heart is here. I don't think we're safe here, either. Do your keyblade-wielding powers pick up anything?"

[Rebonack]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

Whatever that... thing... is. The feel from it isn't terribly dissimilar from that of a Heartless. A horror defined less by what it is than what it isn't.

It makes no hostile movements, however. It's just standing there looking foreboding.

Really... really foreboding.

The music continues to play...

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

A flicker in the endless emptiness beyond the devoured back wall of the milkbar. A swirl of neon lights.

And in an instant the whole gulf is filled with faceless faces staring silently at Raril and Sam.

There's no malice to be felt from them.

There is only Nothing.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Gem Mountain - First Floor]

The host doesn't even seem to notice Reinholdt moving to the box.
So it seems her sight, in this room at least, is limited to what she can actually see. It's possible she could see through those flame-zombies earlier but her subtle reactions suggest that she only knows that Tina is here. If she knew there was someone else here, she'd probably be adjusting a mirror to keep an eye on him, right? But she's not, and she's not reacting in any way to Reinholdt's actions.

So...hm. That's strange. It's entirely possible she doesn't even know there's two adventurers here at all.

"Minions, actually. They were supposed to slow you down enough to give me time to get ready. I wasn't expecting a guest, after all. Again, I apologize," she says, finishing up with her make-up. She realizes Tina said the word 'we' and then adjusts one of the smaller mirrors to give her a look around the room, while pretending to still be checking her make-up. "Introductions require a certain...pizazz and atmosphere to them and I've never been one to half-heartedly go at it."

Regardless of whether she saw Reinholdt or not through the mirror, she adds: "Okay, I'm ready." She snaps her fingers and the fires around the room go out - and green flames appear in her hands. It eerily casts shadows across her face.

[Gem Mountain]

Okay, Tina is liking this less and less and less. To be honest, it's scaring her, but she also just feels... angry? Angry for those dead men outside, angry that this weird woman seemed to want to cause trouble.

"Look lady, I dunno if you can see this metal on my skin or these wings on my back. Maybe you should take a second look before you reconsider whatever it is you're thinking about doing here. Uh..." Tina starts as the lights go out... but she clenches her fists and her teeth. She seems nervous, afraid... but roused, and her wings flare out. "If you think you're gonna whoop on me or set me fire, I've got some bad news for you, hon'. If you try anything like what your 'minions' tried, you and me aren't gonna be very friendly..."

[Gem Mountain]

Rein frowns. There should at least be some reaction, even if the reaction was to appear not to react by acting 'more' normal. It was like...

Rein sees the woman reaching for and adjusting a mirror and immediately ducks into a blind spot where he thinks no mirror can see him. Not easily anyways. The box could stay where it's at, untouched. There was always stories about mirrors and spirits and while they didn't come up much in the Nexus, any story has a kernel of truth. Perhaps this lady was only able to see through the mirrors.

He's not as nervous as Tina is either as the spooky lady starts to play things up. He's too used to those who like to be overly dramatic for the sake of overly dramatic. Desensitized to it even. This could be exceptionally dangerous and Rein's chilling cause he thinks it's all bluster. That's dangerous!

Well not chilling, entirely. He's cautiously and slowly pulling out a pistol to use on these mirrors. If the dramatics start getting out of control, he wants to be ready to break each and every one to test his theory.

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

Rein is probably hiding behind the bed. There's definitely space there to be hidden and out of sight of the vanity mirror and the smaller oval mirror she adjusted, as well as the lady if she chooses to turn around and can somehow see without looking in a mirror.

She turns around to face Tina.
Coincidentally, her reflections in those two mirrors don't turn, but instead keep on looking into the room, also at Tina.

"I see. I am Titania Beatriz-Esmeralda de la Cruz of Braganza-Savoy, Queen of this castle,"

"And fortunately, even metal burns," she says. The flames from her crown spread and create an extra few spikes in them. And the green flames in her hands spread out behind her and form wings of flame, mimicking Tina's. "How else do you think I get this color of fire?" She spreads her arms out as if...well, I'm not entirely sure shat she's going for. Having her arms out like that leaves her pretty open.

Secretly, while she hopes all the attention is drawn to her wings and as her arms spread, one of them passes by the vanity and snatches a small compact-mirror, which she then slides up her sleeve, like a sleight-of-hand trick.

[Deathkeeper]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

"Great! Take the mask, go down the street, use it to find which building used to be the old Arena. Let's go." Sam doesn't want to be here any more than they absolutely have to. He practically shoves Raril towards the entrance as he winds back and lobs his oversized weapon at the jukebox. He snatches one of the glasses off the table, monogrammed with Sneak's logo, as if to throw that too, but decides against it as he backpedals out of the room.

[Artemis97]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

Raril doesn't need telling twice, and books it for the door. He tucks the Llama mask under one arm and heads out into the old dusty street. Out in the relative safety and the light of the sun, Raril gives a shudder. Gods those faces. That nothingness. He'd prayed he'd never have to see it again, but now he was heading towards the heart of it. The oldest part of the Nexus.

"Right, let's do this." He'll slip the mask on again and look around for the Arena. It should be big and easy to see, right?

[Rebonack]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

The jukebox continues to play.

"Fools," said I "You do not know"
"Silence like a cancer grows-"

And then Sam's weapon smashes into the already damaged jukebox, reducing it to a heap of unrecognizable twisted scrap. The music cuts out instantly, and yet...

The last words continue to echo-
-in the sound of silence.

Silence like a cancer grows

Silence like a cancer grows
^Nothing
Silence like a cancer grows
Nothing
Nothing like a cancer grows
^Silence
Nothing like a cancer grows

NOTHING LIKE A CANCER GROWS

Ṇ̸͍͍̠̲̦̲O̰̿ͪͥ͐ͨ̅T̛̝ͭ̒ͧ̒̅̿H͖͚̞̮̖͖ͣI̯͚͓̹̺̖̗͆̔͆̐̐ͣN̉ ̷͎͔͇͉͊͋̆̍G̰̙̗̣̅͠ ̥̦̘̫̯͎Lͣͤͯ̉ͯͬ́I̜̱̤͉ͭ͢K̲̰̟̗̊ͤͩ̃͛E͇͇̮̬̋̂ͣ̍ ̠̯̬̖̐ͦ͊̎̀A̭͙͇̭͈̽̃ͧͅ ̳͈̯̇̏ͬͯC̫̺͈ͣ̈́ͭͪͮ̂̔A̘̜̲̠͐͋̏Ṉ̖̲̘̗͚̰͜Ć̟̖̟͉͔̎ͨ͛̆̾E̙͌ ̞R̨͓̦͚̪̙̐̾̍̽ ͦ̑͆̓G̫͙̊ͨͯͥR̶̬̭͇ͤͭ̎̇̍̚O̜̠̻̻͇̅̎ͬW̨̯ͦͦͯ̈ͨS̪̯ͩ


Like a torrent thick, oily, indistinct darkness explodes from the face of the 'elven' girl. Tendrils of black oblivion slither from the abyss in the back of the bar, reducing everything they touch to Nothingness. The whole building is being rapidly consumed.

Time to go!

As Sam and Raril stumble out of the Milkbar there's a horrible blast of roaring static, rending stone, shrieking metal, and popping wood as the the building, the lot, and even the space it occupies implodes in on itself.

When the dust settles all that remains is the 24 hour laundromat that flanked the bar on one side an a comic book shop on the other. Not so much as a playing card could be inserted between the two buildings. Save for the shotglass Sam is holding, it is as if Sneak's Milkbar had never existed at all.

That harrowing leg of our heroes' journey over, Raril puts the mask on again.

Strange...

It was at once so much busier and so much smaller in Town. How could that even be?

Finding the Arena is simple enough. Off in the distance stands a coliseum of gleaming white marble with flags snapping in the breeze above it. When Raril lowers the mask, he'll be able to see a densely forested park now occupying the same space. That's...

That's Everfree Park.

The place where all the lethal paradox of clashing cosmologies in the Nexus is concentrated. Where things that literally can not and should not exist live. It's a place no one goes, where no one has ever gone.

Ever.

For good reason.

Everyone knows that place is absolute suicide.

So...

Now what?

[Deathkeeper]

[Sneak’s Milk Bar]

Sam runs. Fast. Screaming for a lot of it. Luckily his key vanished shortly after its impact or that might have been a problem.

Unfortunately, even after looking around their problems don’t end there.
”Raril...we can’t go in there. Not by ourselves. We won’t last twenty minutes in that death trap. Not even the super magic pony commandos go in there.” Ponies can have some pretty potent abilities. He’s seen them!

[Artemis97]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]

Raril pulls the Masked Llama mask off his face and stares at the forest. This was going to be interesting.

Then Sam mentions Pony Commandos. The drow gives him a weird look. "Ponies? Ookay, we're going to need some backup. Serious backup. I might be able to convince my family to lend me a squad of soldiers, but I feel like we'll need more than that."

[Rebonack]

[Sneak's Milk Bar]
[In Front of 24 Hour Laundry and Comic Cingdom]

They certainly could do that.

Does Raril really want to have anyone from his family anywhere near the Heart of the Nexus?

Nothing like a cancer grows...

Do they really have time to muster an army and storm a forest?

Nothing like a cancer grows...

Would anyone volunteer to go in there?

Nothing like a cancer grows...

Can they even afford to stand around here debating about it?

Nothing like a cancer grows...

[Deathkeeper]

[In Front of a Laundromat]

Sam shakes his head.
”Your family that you said is totally crazy? We don’t have the time or the loose morals to handle Drow politics. Um. Maybe we could go really fast and run past all the crazy things? I don’t know. I’m still mostly new to the hero stuff.”

[Artemis97]

[In Front of a Laundromat]

Raril could still hear that twisted song ringing in his ears.

The drow takes a deep breath and sighs. He pulls the crossbow off his back and checks the string and the sights.

"If you're willing to go in there with just me, I'm as ready as I'm going to be. I won't call myself a hero, but maybe after this, I can." He slings the crossbow over his back again. "Right, we go fast, we hit hard, we don't stop. If I go down, don't worry about me. I'm tough, I'll manage. It's you we've got to get to the Heart."

[Rebonack]

And so, daunted and yet willing, our heroes approach-

[Everfee Park]

It just looks like an overgrown forest from the outside.

Nothing... particularly threatening at all?

Except that every now and again horrible abominations against all that's holy and right come crawling out of there and wreak some havoc on Inside.

The park is surrounded by stainless steel posts, each with silk sealing tags attached to them with wax. This place has been warded in just about every way imaginable to prevent things from coming out.

And yet sometimes they still do.

Not too far from our heroes there's a post that looks like it was blasted to slag, leaving behind a burst spot on the ground. A new post has since been installed in its place.

So...

This is it.

They just need to walk in there.

Nothing like a cancer grows

Walk in there, find the remains of the Arena, find the heart within the Arena, and seal it.

Sam knows how to do that, right? Those weird looking weapons come with instruction books on how to heal a world's heart, yeah?

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

Raril looks forebodingly at the slagged post. "Gods help us." He says, praying to whoever might be listening. He draws his rapier and steps forward. "Let's do this. For the Nexus." For everyone. Everything he cared for. Even the things he hated. For all of existence. Let's do this.

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

”If all else fails, sneak out while I’m making a scene. You’re the one with the eyes and the light frame.” Sam says with a gulp. Sam has a few means of going quickly when he needs to. Most of them are hypothetical.
Sam summons his blade again. He’s glad that it’s a dull gunmetal grey and deep blue. If it was shinier it would give them away. He’s hoping it will lead him if he gets separated from Raril. Because if he does he really will be just following his heart.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

Raril and Sam step past the warning signs and-

Nothing.

Aside from the sound of their hearts pounding in their ears nothing changes. No spatial sheer tearing them apart. Not horrible diseases suddenly springing upon them. No temporal vortex erasing them from existence. No awful monster leaping out of the bushes at them.

Nothing.

Just the sound of an upset squirrel somewhere in the trees giving an alarm squeak.

There's a game-trail in front of them that leads off into the park. If they look closely, they'll be able to see that it is a heavily overgrown cobblestone road.

Raril will probably recognize it from the ye olde road of choice in the old Town.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

"Hey, I recognize this road." Raril says. "If we follow it, we should get close." Small blessings, he thinks. "Watch your footing on these old cobbles." The drow warns.

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

”Yeah. Great. Let’s go.” Sam says nervously. He’s let his weapon vanish again. He barely even does it on purpose most of the time. His hands flick occasionally to his more mundane weapons. Mostly Steve. He wouldn’t dare use his gun here unless it was an emergency. Setting off a gunshot would be suicide.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

Into the woods.

Making out the old cobblestone path isn't terribly difficult, overgrown as it is. Grass and wildflowers poke between the stones here and there while branches lean in to greedily soak up the sunlight. A few brambles need to be chopped or shoved aside, a task which Sam's intelligent weapon will no doubt complain about being used for.

The chirping squirrel continues somewhere off to the left.

Somewhere else in the park a woodpecker hammers at a tree.

Low, trilling calls of thrush cut through the woods.

Off down a hill a stream can be heard babbling over rocks.

Cool autumn wind tugs at the trees, pulling a leaf loose. It drifts lazily through the air, threatening to land on Raril's head.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Being somewhat less familiar with the details of Magtok's history with Feia, Affy is left a little unclear here as to whether that "walking dead" comment is because of some previous encounter between Syncope and Maggums, something that happened with Feia, or if it's just a straight-up threat about their imminent demise.

For now he's assuming threat. The possibility of prior history mostly just suggests a spicier kind of threat anyways.

It has been, mmm, a while since I've had to engage or observe this sort of petty banter. How close are we to engaging in violence here?

Still, this person is at least a little interesting. Feia's set up her playpen and left this individual in charge of actually running the experiments, it seems. There's a familiar taste of arrogance in the air too - seems Feia likes minions with a similar sort of mindset. But if Affy's initial suggestion that they'd need to get Feia's attention is correct, then surely dealing with the curator of her toy dungeon will achieve just that?

"Yeah, sorry about that. I guess we cheated a bit since nobody bothered to tell us the rules. Oh, and I'm Blue, since those two chuckleheads didn't feel like including me in their little witty exchange of banter."

*****

[Fairy Mountain]

Damon isn't the sort to take chances - not with something this big anyway. He swings the axe once more at the back of the troll's neck just to make sure the beast is slain before sheathing his weapons, though still keeping a wary eye on it, just in case. "Do you have any ussess for the corpsse? If not, I wissh to devour it." An open question. If either elf or Ilpholin has a use for the troll, Damon figures they deserve first dibs on it.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

Raril waves a hand to ward the falling leaf away. If this wasn't so serious, this would actually be an enjoyable walk. He leads the way, using a frozen short sword to slash away any underbrush in their path. He didn't want to use the flaming one and potentially start a fire.

The drow was on edge and didn't dare relax, but maybe, just maybe, they were too small to notice out here?

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam is also on edge. Other than using his key to clear brush (as Steve is shiny and also might alert any nearby aberrations with his burning hatred), he tries to keep as silent as possible as they progress.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

Deeper.

Deeper into the forest.

It doesn't get darker.

Or more foreboding.

No strange distortions rip through the air. No beastly sounds echo from the depths unseen.

In fact, the canopy is thinning out a little, letting rays of sunlight filter down through autumn leaves.

But then!

What's this?

A rustle in the underbrush!

Something is coming! Something is getting closer! It's a-!

-rabbit.

A little grey bush bunny. It freezes as soon as it spots out heroes, motionless save for its nose.

[Chaotic Bob]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Short of outright reading peoples' minds, there is always a requisite amount of curiosity when people start bantering around quips about "they don't know". Frustration and annoyance, for others.
In this case, Syncope is exhibiting a flickering trace of the annoyed flavor of curiosity. It seems pretty probable they're just trying to be buffoons and antagonize her, but after their mysterious entry into this area, who knows? Maybe they aren't purely goading her.

Annoying.

She sighs and rubs the side of her forehead with a hand, one of her feet tracing a lazy sort of circle on the ground as she goes.
"I am not especially in the mood for this, today."
For just a moment, she has the perfect expression of soul-worn exhaustion that one can easily see on the face of most supermarket cashiers.
But then it is bottled away, with a little tap of her foot on the ground.

"There is always plenty to not know, but such is the purpose of life. To fill in the gaps."
Blue is being vaguely diplomatic with his insertion to the conversation, so Syncope redirects her attention off to the side towards him.

"Blue, you say. I would give you a 'welcome', but you aren't. What is the least effort action I can take that leads to you all leaving?"

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

Raril stops and stares at the bunny, his nose twitching, lycanthrope senses searching for a scent. He's beginning to wonder if any of this is real. "Is this place supposed to be this nice?" He asks Sam. Thinking, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a pouch of iron filings. He reaches in and spreads a bit on the path. Real or just a mind trick?

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

"Think you can make a trade? Tell her that if she makes a magical oath saying that no harm will come to this Libby within this realm, and in exchange, we'll send Blue and Orange home? It wouldn't be too hard to find you a new body and name it Green, and then you can immediately walk back inside and laugh at her. As for Orange, he's...well, Needs and I agreed to only give each other parts of each other's plans, but I know enough to be sure that wouldn't really slow him down, either," Purple think-talks to Blue, quietly disassembling the anti-wizard rifle, assimilating the components into his left arm with remarkable speed. That's...that's not normally a thing Magtoks can do, is it? What's going on there, and why do that now, when there's clearly more important business going on here?

There's a brief pause, followed by "On second thought, she's probably not stupid enough to fall for any of that. We're only the scouting party; ask her to open a doorway to Riverside so we can get a wi-fi signal and have her negotiate with our people directly."

Meanwhile, Orange plucks a small hand mirror from his robe, sculpting it like clay into a ball of magicka that roughly corresponds with the Sanctuary first level cleric spell, which he has yet to actually cast. He's taking his time with the spell, boredly drawing out the process of casting as if to mock Syncope, or maybe just to have it ready and prepared for when she inevitably tires of these games and violently snaps.