Serious Plots 8: Rawr serisaurus!

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam sighs, trying to look non-threatening to the rabbit. Bunnies are almost as cute as kitties. He doesn’t want to scare it.
He also doesn’t want to get close in case it’s a Vorpal Rabbit. You never know.
”It’s never supposed to be this nice.” he says quietly.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

Raril's tossing motion is enough to spook the bunny, which darts into the brush on the other side of the trail.

And tossing the iron filings, while a great way to foul faerie magic, doesn't reveal any such trickery.

...

Hopefully Raril invested in a magnet that can slide inside of a plastic tube for collecting those iron shavings.

Otherwise he just littered in a park!

That's very rude, you know.

Also against City ordinances.

After the bunny flees our heroes hear that woodpecker smacking his face against a tree again. Somewhere in the brush near the nearby stream a frog starts croaking.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

"Well it isn't a Fae illusion." Raril decides. He did not invest in a magnet, and so litters the trail with a bit of iron dust. He doesn't think that's too harmful, and doesn't care one whit about the city's bylaws.

"Let me make sure we're going in the right direction." The drow says pulling out the Masked Llama mask and putting it on again.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

"Wha-- how do you even remember all of that?" Fettina scoffs. She flinches back a little when the lady seems not only unafraid, but actively aggressive. Those wings are scary...

"...Well, this is just bad hospitality," she decides, a little quavery, before reaching into her hip pouch and throwing a handful of tiny beads at the woman. These are water capsules. When they touch a source of heat like Queen's wings and crown, they burst into a mouthful of clean drinking water.

There are perhaps fifty of the tiny things in the handful Tina throws.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Mountain]

Ilpholin kicks off the troll's face, extracting herself from the creature and gracefully landing at the end of her song. At least, an improvised end. Unless Damon or the elves know drow, it's unlikely they'll notice the difference. She flicks her weapon towards the ground, removing some of the blood clinging to it before it turns back into a normal arm. The lingering gore remains on her arm however, one of the kinks she never could work out. It doesn't disturb her, but she does hope to get clean before meeting the Singer.

The bloodied nymph shakes her head at Damon, turning away from him back towards the elves. "I believe that solves your problem Captain. This time. We shall have to discuss the future of your people with the Singer in Dimmed Crystal to ensure this doesn't happen again. After I've freshened up."

[Gem Mountain]

Titania Beatriz-Esmeralda de la Cruz of Braganza-Savoy certainly puts on a very impressive display. It's a shame it also seems to be an aggressive one. Unfortunately for her, using theatrics to disguise her intentions has been a popular move of Rein's for a long time. Though it really doesn't help he's watching her mirrors in particular already from behind the bed.

Tina's actions say it's go time so Rein takes a shot at where he thinks the hand mirror should have ended up when it slid up her sleeve. He might misjudge. Some people slide it higher than others and it is a small target on a moving arm. Probably helps give away his position as well. Still, gotta take the shot some time.

[billtodamax]

Grove

The woman bursts into a fit of giggles at Fayyaad. You're cute. She says, trying to lean against Fayyaad and grab his arm for support. Hey there~ She says to Alaine, winking at her. Where are you going anyway cutie? She asks, looking up to Fayyaad doe-eyed.

Fayyaad and Alaine will probably become quickly aware that her only coverings are a few tactical leaves.

[Artemis97]

[Grove]

Alaine raises an eyebrow at the way the woman was.... dressed? What sort of wild, uncultured thing was she to wear so little? Still she could be helpful. Drawing on her allomantic powers, the mistborn begins to try to riot the woman's emotions gently. Increase the trust and helpfulness and maybe a bit of lust too.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

All the assembled elves stare at the two in awe. When Damon proclaims his intent, none of them is exactly thrilled about it, but they're not going to say no at this point.

"...we have no need of the body," Haabeth says. "Do with it as you will. I can see why the King in Rags chose you as his emissaries now. We will draw you a bath before you meet the Singer, if you wish."

[Grove]

Normally, being addressed this way by a woman dressed in so little would be right up Fayyaad's alley. However, he's on a job. Moreover, prone as he might be to thinking with the wrong part of his body, a lustful woman encountered in a clearly enchanted wood is not to be trusted. But maybe he can use it to his advantage...

"Thank you, milday. We are here on a mission. We need to reach a certain grove and this forest has proven to be more difficult to navigate than we had expected."

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

The forest vanishes as Raril puts on the mask.

Instead, he finds himself standing on the same cobblestone road, now pristine and clean. Marble columns flank the road on either side, some bearing pennants that flap in the wind.

Not too far away looms the arena.

Up close the coliseum is even more impressive than it was in the distance.

The sheer scale of the thing is absolutely boggling.

It isn't much further, really.

Maybe another five minutes of walking?

It's strange. Every rumor about this place suggested that even stepping inside could be lethal. A roving paradox could simply erase someone as the laws that allow them to exist come unwound.

But... so far the park has more in common with the various gardens around town. The difference between a park and a garden being that the former is a green area full of murderous horrors and the latter is a green area full of flowers, benches, trails, and pleasantness.

Come to think of it... Why were Sam and Raril so sure this place was dangerous? No one has ever gone in before. So how did everyone know that it was a death-trap? Sure rampaging monsters would come out now and again, but rampaging monsters can show up anywhere, can't they?

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

Everything seems to go wrong for Queen Titania Beatriz-Esmeralda at the same time. It seems the adventurers' plans paid off.

The water capsules hit various parts of her crown and wings - and even the ones that slightly miss still reach a high enough temperature to activate. That much water is sure to put out large parts of it all, in addition to getting her drenched.

And, since water is the polar opposite element than fire, now that she's covered in it she's going to have a really difficult time controlling more fire. Her breath catches, the rest of the fire-wings fizzle out even though no water's hit them, and she takes a step back.

At that time, Rein shoots at the compact. For various reasons, it slightly misses - but still hits the sleeve and her arm, causing her arm to jerk and making the compact fall out of that hole and onto the ground. The shot continues through and hits the vanity mirror behind her, as well. She turns to look for who shot at her: no longer as confident nor intimidating as she initially seemed, her face shows a little panic.

And then, for a reason probably related to just what happens, some hands start reaching out of the smaller oval mirror, at the queen. They're charred skeletal hands, wreathed in flame, and its fingers wrap around her face. Her hair starts burning and there's the sizzle of the water rapidly boiling off of her, and she says, "No, wait, not yet, I can still - "

And then, her head's gone, replaced by just a jet of flame. Not having a head makes getting her bearings difficult, so it'll take a moment for her to realize what's going on. However, even without doing anything, all sources of heat in the room will slowly start to feel their heat drained away to her, and the hotter they are, the faster it drains, starting with the embers from the torches but even the ornate box and two adventurers - assuming they produce heat - will quickly be able to notice the chill they feel.

It appears that Tina and Rein, through their teamwork, have already moved on the battle to phase two.

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

Raril looks up and up at the past image of the Arena. It was truly impressive. He then pulls the mask off his face and looks to Sam. "It's not far now." He says. "You know if it weren't for the thought we were going to be killed in the next few moments... this would be kinda pleasant?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam himself can’t really see where they’re going so he’s just trusting Raril.
”Don’t you say it. You’ll jinx it.” he whispers tersely.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

Soon enough the arena, or what's left of it, looms before our heroes.

The place is a crumbling disaster.

The pennants have long since rotted. Parts of the wall have fallen in. The once pristine marble has been overgrown with moss and climbing vines. Trees have grown in close to it, blocking out sunlight with their branches. The surrounding park has completely consumed the structure, leaving it only as a hollowed out shell of its former glory. A monument to neglect.

Our heroes may find themselves blinking in the bright light as they step out into the arena, their leafy cover gone and the crisp early winter sun shining down into the ancient field of combat. Stone monoliths, heavy with moss and lichen, dot the field at regular intervals. And in the center? A huge fleshy pit, tendrils groping blindly at the edge. Why did the arena have a sarlaac pit, exactly? The world may never know.

That isn't the most interesting thing here.

Oh no.

The most interesting thing would be that humble little shack built on the field, a thin wisp of wood smoke rising from its chimney.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Spoiler: MagQuest

Show

[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?"

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.

Spoiler: Fairy Mountain

Show

[Fairy Mountain]

Ilpholin kicks off the troll's face, extracting herself from the creature and gracefully landing at the end of her song. At least, an improvised end. Unless Damon or the elves know drow, it's unlikely they'll notice the difference. She flicks her weapon towards the ground, removing some of the blood clinging to it before it turns back into a normal arm. The lingering gore remains on her arm however, one of the kinks she never could work out. It doesn't disturb her, but she does hope to get clean before meeting the Singer.

The bloodied nymph shakes her head at Damon, turning away from him back towards the elves. "I believe that solves your problem Captain. This time. We shall have to discuss the future of your people with the Singer in Dimmed Crystal to ensure this doesn't happen again. After I've freshened up."

[Fairy Mountain]

All the assembled elves stare at the two in awe. When Damon proclaims his intent, none of them is exactly thrilled about it, but they're not going to say no at this point.

"...we have no need of the body," Haabeth says. "Do with it as you will. I can see why the King in Rags chose you as his emissaries now. We will draw you a bath before you meet the Singer, if you wish."

[TBC - MagQuest]

Must we engage in these silly games with her, Magtok? You know we're not leaving for anything less than our goal. The least effort way she has to get rid of us is to point us straight towards Feia. Why not just ask? The irritable tone in Affy's voice is very clear. For someone who has alternated between sounding somewhat diplomatic, and delighting far too much in poking fun at Magtok, it might be rather refreshing for the cyborg to hear the more "classic" Affidavit response.

But while grumpily thinking at Mags, he's still got to puppet Blue into saying something to Syncope. Ideally without undoing what little goodwill he's earned from this dungeon's custodian.

"Ah." Blue reaches up and rubs the back of his head. "Sorry, we're...having a disagreement." He glances across rather pointedly at Purple.

"I am curious to see what she is capable of, but I would rather not push her into something we shall all regret. Let's be reasonable about this, hmm? If Orange has a way back in, then why concoct some nonsense story when we can just offer a way for her to get him to leave, in good faith?

"If you provide a means for her to leave-" Blue nods over towards Libby, "Say, providing a portal to Riverside for her to take, at least one of us would leave with her. But I don't think you can provide what would be needed for all of us to leave right now."

*****

[Fairy Mountain]

The prize is his. Delightful. Damon hunches down over the fallen troll and gets to work. Fire upon fire, contained and shaped, in a slow process that funnels more and more heat into the creature, burning it through to the bone until all that remains is ash.

Comparatively speaking, it's a very quick process.

It still takes a few minutes of careful manipulation of flames, meaning there's no real way to apply this process to anyone capable of moving.

Once completed, the fire is carefully dispersed, and the ashes scooped up into a pouch...and some straight into Damon's mouth.

"Apologiesss for the time taken. Pleasse, lead on."

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

"Whatever gets her to open a portal," Purple answers cryptically, shrugging back at Blue. Orange, on the other hand, takes a step back and tries to wrap a protective arm around Libby's. Is he being kept in the loop here? Does Purple have some sort of mental connection with him, or is he just sitting quietly and hoping for the best?

[Chaotic Bob]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Libby is technically rather practiced at policing her emotions.
She is slightly less practiced at it when she can't cheat and is completely at the mercy of these mortal hormones.
It only gets as far as a twisted expression of pained confusion, though Orange will feel her tense quite a bit, touching her as he is. She murmurs, quietly but angled towards Orange.
"I can't leave yet. It's important."

"Riverside..."
Syncope repeats the name to herself, glancing off to the side where a small golden rectangle of light appears near her head. Blue is angled such that he can just about see the other side covered in text, though most of it looks like absolute gibberish. The shorthand or encrypted sort of gibberish.

It's only there for a moment before it disappears and her attention returns to the group before her.
"Hm. For security reasons, there is only one individual capable of opening true exits on a whim."
Who this is, shouldn't be hard to guess. Accompanying this fact is an up-to-this-point unusual sort of lazy smile on the girl's face.
"Shall I submit a request?"

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

Orange drums the tips of his fingers against Libby's arm. Morse code, he's tapping out C, which according to Wikipedia is used as shorthand for CORRECT/AFFIRMATIVE. It's very possible that Libby won't know any of that, since she doesn't have access to wikipedia or a Morse code translator right now, so maybe following that up by spelling out OK by moving a finger across her arm will work better. Needs doesn't know how much Syncope can and can't hear, but it's very likely that her vision is limited to just whatever's in front of her eyeballs, so he's fairly confident that the Successor won't pick up on any of this going on while she's distracted.

"You're asking how you can convince us to leave when you can't even open a door without asking management?" Purple loudly sighs to make his ridicule of Syncope all the more aggravating, before making a circular gesture with his hand to tell her to get on with it already. Just one little gate back home, and then they'll be able to move on to the next part of the plan.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Mountain]

Ilpholin bows to the elves slightly. "That would be greatly appreciated, thank you," She says, watching Damon 'consume' the troll out of the side of her eyes. Fascinating. She admitted, she expected a more gruesome display when he made his request. The fire is more than just an effect.

When he's finished, she'll turn and follow Haabeth's lead.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

Oh no. Oh this is bad. Tina definitely produces heat in this body, a bit more than that of a human, but sapping it won't be healthy for her just the same. She doesn't really understand what's happening or why the fire spirits blew up the Countess' head, but she's not going down, and things just seem to keep getting worse.

"Rein!" Fettina fumbles for her extinguisher, and then unleashes it at the fount of flame atop the lady's shoulders. It doesn't have nearly so much left as it did before... in fact, it will sputter out in about ten seconds whether or not that succeeds in dampening the blaze. "I need ideas here!"

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

The elves' reaction to Damon's incineration of the troll is rather less composed than Ilpholin's. Haabeth manages to keep steady, but the soldiers shrink back in awe and fright. Once it's done, however, they swiftly lead the two back upwards to the main hall. One of the soldiers runs ahead, presumably to bring news and get things prepared.

There, they resume their journey towards the elders' quarters in the upper part of the city and the Singer's demesne still above. The news of the two outsiders who slew a great troll and come in the name of a figure from legends have spread and many elves stare at them as they pass. Haabeth speaks to some of them on their way, to make arrangements.

Some way up from the bottom of the chasm, the party stops. They're on a platform made of... not wood, but some kind of bone-like material, surrounding a building carved into a rocky pillar.

"These are some of our best guest quarters," Haabeth tells them. "Lower to the ground as well, so we don't need to climb all the way up before you can refresh yourself."

She shows them inside, where they will find fairly comfortable and perhaps even somewhat luxurious arrangements. A circular dining room equipped with a low table and several chairs greets them, then two doors leading to their respective rooms. They appear to be largely identical, each with a bed, table, wardrobe and a dressing table. There's a separate bathing area, where two servants have prepared a hot bath for Ilpholin.

"Tell the servants if there's anything you need or when you're ready to meet the Singer."

[Artemis97]

[Everfree Park]

"That's curious." Raril remarks. "Is someone living out here?" Careful to avoid the sarlaac pit, he ventures towards the shack. "Do you feel any heart-like emanations around here, Sam?" He asks his adventuring companion.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fairy Mountain]

The concerned looks from the elves get little more than a shrug from Damon. This is just how he eats. Besides, it's going to make the cleanup a whole lot easier for them!

He follows along quietly after that, sitting down at the table once they're shown to their room. "Let me know if you require anything of me, Ilpholin. Enjoy your bath."

*****

[TBC - MagQuest]

We could connect her to our thoughts. We could explain everything to her in safety, and understand what she's planning. If you want to, anyway...

Blue glances at Purple and shrugs. "That translates to "yes, please submit a portal request". He's not good with words."

[Chaotic Bob]

[TBC - MagQuest]

Libby's expression softens a bit at Needs' gestures, so she derives some degree of comfort in there, regardless of which method got the point across to her.
Still looks pretty tense, but maybe that's just because this entire situation is unpleasant? She's not breaking eye contact with the scene before her.

Magtok, meanwhile, has failed to grasp one of the finer points of working retail with uncooperative customers. Perhaps the MagBots can explain it to him later.
Typically there are a lot of rules for dealing with customers, or on infringing upon the very exclusive attention of management. Usually this revolves around the customers being particularly unruly or making the sort of requests that fall into a gray area of infringement permission.

Apparently this qualifies?

Also apparently, this realization has just entirely inoculated Syncope to Magtok's needling, under the official categorization of "this isn't my problem anymore".
"Sure, sure. Just a moment."
Another little golden rectangle of light appears before her, for only the moment or two necessary for "cyborg monkeys and haunted cat want out" to appear, before it flicks away.

And then she places her hands in her lap and smiles.

Four seconds later a little door-sized hole appears in the middle of the room, opening directly into the dark void between two unnotable stars.
The vacuum does what vacuums do.

This is not a portal to Riverside.

[Lord Magtok]

TBC - MagQuest

This is not a portal to Riverside.

It doesn't need to be. All Magtok really needed was a portal.

Now admittedly, there is a very long list of places that would've been preferable to the cold vacuum of space. Riverside would've worked fine, of course, the main reason Purple said Riverside was to get Feia and The Successor to focus on the wrong thing. Just about any of the places we normally think of as 'The Nexus' would've worked splendidly, really. Riverside, Inside, Outside, Skyside...heck, even the not-side places, like VIGIL and NO and HALO and the MagCave. That's because Purple can send out a signal to the MagFleet from any of those places nigh-instantaneously, you see. From there, it would be a simple matter of waiting for the fleet to open fire on one fixed point, and while Needs sets up a portal of his own. One end would act as a funnel, collecting the combined wrath of the entire fleet's hyperlaser mexibeam cannons, and the other would be pointed directly at Syncope's portal, resulting in a whole lot of superheated lasery death bearing down right on her stupid retail face.


Sadly, that's not what's going to happen. This particular empty void, this starry emptiness of death Feia's arranged for our heroes? It's just too far for Purple to get a signal delivered in time. His message won't be relayed for years, maybe even decades, and by then it'd be too late. Fret not, however. We have a backup plan, a contingency for precisely this sort of scenario. It's one of those things Needs really didn't want to resort to until they were facing Feiadyne herself in battle, but y'know, you have to play the hand you're dealt, not the one you wish you had. We'll just have to find some other spectacular, show-stopping finish, I guess.


"D̿ͧ̈͐O͋̍̒̾͂̄ ̅ͭYO̓͗̍U̧ ́̉̍̄̚F̸̍̄E̿̓̈́̈̇ĒͥL̷ͥ̅ ̛́̅̇̂ͯ̈ͭĽͣ́͌I̶͂̈̽̊KE̔̈́̔ͥ̌̔ͦ ͯ̆̒͊͐͒̈́Y͒̒̎̊̿Ö́͋͌͂̊͐͑Uͫ̿͂'ͮ̊͂̀̄͞ȐE̔͌̈́ͨ͜ ̌̓̓ͥ̚S̉ͣ̐͜U̷ͭͬ̚̚CC̷̍ͪͥ̀Èͭ̔̚EͪD̡͛I͡N͊ͥ҉Gͮ̓ͨ́ͤ, ͣ̈́̊͞ ̿ͬ͌̉͋Sͣ́̊͗̔ͩ͒Y̑̓̃̚̕Nͨ̉͏C͂̽ͪ̚Oͥ̈͑̾̇̽̀P̊ͣĘ̓ͯ̐?̃ ͫͦ" taunts a voice from the other side of the portal. Something akin to a sarlaac pit clogs the portal with its hideous girth, sealing it off from both ends. It's all teeth and tentacles and death, and it hurts just to look at it for long. Sarlaac pits don't go sailing through space though, so it's obviously not one of those. It can speak almost coherently, so it's not a shoggoth either, though that would be a very understandable mistake, given the mass of barbed tentacles lashing out towards Syncope, aiming to pull her into its stomach. It's not even Orange, who's just standing there watching all of this, holding Libby and casting all the protection spells he can think of on her. No, Orange could never do anything like that. He's just a cleverly-disguised warforged cleric wrapped up in synthetic flesh where appropriate, and forged from the fragment of a certain MagClone's soul. A good guy, sure, and technically he's still Needs if you squint and fudge the rules a little, but not quite the Needs Food Badly that we all know and love.

The real Needs Food Badly has arrived. He's angry. He's hungry. He's hangry. He's found his own soul fragment all the way out here in the cold vacuum of space, and now he's trying to use Feia's portal as a loophole to tear his own gateway back to the Nexus within Feia's azure metropolis, to cast from traditional Nexus space where such magic isn't restricted, into Feia space, where crafting such portals normally is. Then another, and another, and another. Some will lead to bright and sunny skies, hundreds of feet up. Others will open a five thousand fathoms under the sea. A few will be on ground level, one might wind up just outside the MagCave, and others go to places I don't even recognize. The destination's not important right now, not really. What Needs means to do here is establish a foothold, to spit on and stomp all over Feia's rules, and show her exactly why she had that policy of restricting portal access in the first place. Portaling in an army or a laser beam or a nuclear explosion can come later; the focus right now is to just go completely ape****.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[TBC - MagQuest]

So you're employing that kind of, mmm, thing now, are you? Remind me Magtok, you wanted to rescue Miss Libitina, correct? Without her becoming frightened of what you've become?

Blue had his sights set more on survival than the utter destruction of Syncope and a sizeable portion of Feia's lair, but with some abomination blocking the portal, that seems rather unnecessary now. Though for all he knows, this thing might turn hostile at any moment. So he backs away, slowly, carefully, just...further away from everything bad happening just over there.

Well, okay, no, he's pretty sure he's safe from that thing but he's got to back away for effect. The situation sort of demands it, really.

Should I make a comment about Needs showing his "true form", or is this not even his "final form", hmm? I suppose I ought to congratulate you for this move, really. I imagine this has a good chance of getting Feia's direct attention very quickly. I hope you're ready for that...

[UncleWolf]

Spoiler

Show

[TBC - Pyramid of the Cosmos]

Jaahlyn can't keep the portal open for very long so it closes once they've all gone through it but just being able to open it here meant there currently wasn't a global anti-portal effect on the pyramid. That could change though...

"I'm afraid we are all in need of your magic detecting abilities once more, miss Jones." She remarks while turning to Norael. Of course, if there is no immidiate hostile magic or mechanic connected to the door or beyond it, the satyr will move forward to glean it open and peek outside. Unless of course people had better alternatives like spectral scouting eyes.
Jaahlyn couldn't see magic per say but she is instictively in touch with other spirits so she could detect them along with effects made by them.
She glances at the door to make sure there weren't any obvious malicious contraptions on it before she starts to actually move into the room. Provided of course there wasn't a death machine on the other side. She is using the orb on her tail to light her way forward if it happens to be dark in the room.

TBC- Pyramid of the Cosmos

"I've got detection magic, as well. Perhaps not as effective; my magic is typically quite weak, unless I've got an external power source. I didn't want to give Syncope much clue about my abilities." Though the fact he's wearing robes made from human skin might give away the fact that he's got some kind of magic of his own. As he speaks, he's drawing a symbol in white lines before him, creating a lens that he can look through. He can move the lens about, and will use it to examine the room. Through the lens, any triggered magical effects will glow, though it doesn't show passive effects or mundane traps and so on.

[TBC - MagQuest]

Tinker tinker, safely disarm, etc.

Hey, you know how Magtoks are always feeble and wimpy and generally pathetic? Yeah, they're mostly just really bad at this, y'see.

With the armour disarmoured, Blue will use his metal hand and a little dose of Affy know-how to get it working properly, and put the soldier's arm in a crushing grip.

See Magtok? If you didn't keep sabotaging yourself, you could maybe even be halfway-decent at this combat schtick!

*****

[TBC - Pyramid of the Cosmos]

First person to put their hands in their pockets? Well, that'd be Magtok of course! Not like he's got much to do at the moment while all the magic-y people do magic-y things to analyse the magic-y stuff in this place full of magic.

"Where's Needs when you need- huh?" He pulls out the envelope and stares blankly at it, slowly going over the events for the day, trying to figure out if he ever put that letter here or if some other Magtok or Magbot or one of those people running around the MagCave (why does it always get so busy? We didn't even put up signs telling people to go away this time! Wasn't that what attracted everyone all the time? Like moths to a flame loudly protesting against the existence of moths) could've snuck it at some point or-

Nope. Pretty sure that letter shouldn't be here.

"Hey, I got mail." He says, waving the letter in the direction of Norael. "Could you scan this as well to make sure it doesn't explode or turn me into the Thing or something when I try to open it?"

*****

[Fairy Mountain]

That wasn't supposed to happen. The singing distracted the troll too well! Well enough to just entirely stop caring about the guy chucking fireballs!

As soon as the troll turns tail, Damon drops to the floor with a wince as the damaged wing scrapes against the wall. He de-gargoyles, the flames covering signs of scarring marking the cost of wounds taken in other forms - shapeshifting doesn't grant him infinite durability, though the natural resilience of the gargoyle means it hasn't had much of an effect. Still hurts though.

"Ilpholin, look out! You've sssung your way into the troll'sss sssightsss!" He shouts, hopefully giving Ilpholin at least a little bit of warning before the troll is upon her. Taking a moment to rebuild the flames around him, Damon charges off in pursuit, axe in hand.

[TBC - The Pyramid of the Cosmos]

The surprise mail looks and feels just like a standard greeting card in an envelope should feel like. Per magical analysis, there are lingering effects of some magic on it, but as they are fading this is probably just from whatever put it in his pocket. Nothing else!
Opening it (as they presumably will eventually) reveals what essentially amounts to a lineless index card with a very simple message:




The various scanning powers that be are free to analyze the room to their hearts' content. No deadly traps here.
Getting really close to the pipes will get a muted response of some form of energy, but nothing really detailed. Whatever is in them seems to be sealed up pretty well.

Which brings us to that door.
Now, Jaahlyn is probably rather careful with opening it, regardless of any indications to the contrary that it is safe. It means she'll get a good look at the general ambience of the other room long before she sees anything else.
Imagine that haphazard lighting effect, cast upon the walls around a large indoor swimming pool. Scattering and constantly shifting smears of light moving hither and yon.
Now paint them all in electric yellows, flaming reds, glacial blues.

From a cracked door, the only angle of view she has is on a wide, inward-curving stone wall scatted with this dizzying array of colors, and a floor that seems to be made of very wide and shallow steps, moving downwards and out of sight.

Then something breaths.
It's subtle, but quick. Jaahlyn's view distorts and bends towards what is down those stares, stretched out as if all the colors and walls and floor were being pulled away.
And then it's just black.
Not the black of darkness, but the black of nothing. It stops at the door's threshold, but is as absolute as a wall of its own.

There is a faintly hissing exhale and all the color and vision blinks back into view.

If she hesitates here and refuses to open the door further, nothing significantly changes.
This event repeats itself fairly regularly, every several seconds, but it never varies in presentation and never crosses the threshold.

Similarly, none of the group's magic seems especially keen on passing over this threshold either. Whatever effect is keeping the darkness from crossing over appears to be a two-way deal.

[TBC - The Pyramid of the Cosmos]

The inverse goat-like eyes of Jaahlyn's doesn't widen, as they don't quite work like that, but the shock is still apparent in her face as she peers out. It wasn't that she was unprepared, quite the opposite really, but there was no way to account for surprises.

"Hello? Excuse me?" She inquires, seemingly into the breathing void. Then, unless there is a reply, she takes a step back with the door remaining open and glances at the others. "Sounds like a monster, looks like a void. Does anyone have something to bypass this or do we have to get more creative?"

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.

Pyramid of the Cosmos

"Void? Here, let me take a look." Norael insists, stepping closer. She sends out a touch of magic, taking a moment to analyze what's behind the door before pulling her hand out with a touch of disgust. "Spacial magic? Like...think like a bag of holding but to the nines and with a different purpose. What that purpose is, I cannot say though I do not believe fire would make too much of a difference. Only one way to see though, so if you all don't mind stepping back a little more I'll take a better look." The angel prepares herself, casting a personal shield and an enforced calm spell over her own mind before nudging it open a bit more as she takes a look.

[billtodamax]

Grove

The woman leans heavier into Fayyaad as he talks. If Alaine can tell, it seems like her magic is working. I can't remember the last time someone so cute was so polite. You think she'll share? The woman asks, reaching up to trace her hand across Fayyaad's chest idly. Yeah it's uh... it's definitely working. What's your name? I'm Fflur. She tells Fayyaad. If he's paying very close attention he might identify the cunning fae trick of directly asking for his name.

[Chaotic Bob]

[TBC - MagQuest]

We're going to be doing this now then, it looks like.

Contrary to Affy's concern(?), Libby seems surprised by the sudden appearance but less by the contents.
"Needs, have you put on some weight?"
While the "Orange" at her side is busy casting all of those spells he can think of, that shadow has begun to filter out of her sleeve again, taking a vaguely defensive presence in front of both of them.

Contrary to that, Syncope lazy smile becomes abruptly vacant as the tentacles flail out of the blocked portal and snare around her. As her body is hauled forward, a cloud of silver dust flows out from her mouth, eyes, ears, nose, the wounds those barbs are making. A distinctly electronic voice vibrates its way out of the cloud.
"Fascinating. Hold that thought."
And then most of those little bits of silver dust begin vanishing.

Unlike that interesting mirror light show from earlier, this seems...a lot more akin to what Blue did to bring them into the room.

Along with this, that little spot on the ground where she traced a circle with her foot?
A patch of the floor beneath it shifts aside like an unfolding piece of origami into the vague shape of a clock. It flickers a series of colors, but there's no immediately visible effect to probably anyone but Needs here.

Specifically, because clawing his magic beyond the bounds of this room smacks directly into a wall of temporary disruption, as the world beyond proceeds to start running on super fast forward.
Or, rather. Because this area has been kicked into a very localized slow down.
Now technically this doesn't actually stop anything he's trying to do with these portals. It just imposes a rather ugly disadvantage that a rather angry dragon-witch can and is definitely going to use to work against his influence elsewhere. Opening those portals is going to be very exceptionally difficult.

Beyond that, he should probably care about the rapid unraveling of the room within said temporal barrier. Like a fruit on the tree of The Blue City, it is going to be kicked off the branch momentarily.

[Deathkeeper]

Everfree Park

Sam follows Raril down to the shack. He gives him a double-shrug.
”I dunno. I really don’t know what a heart would feel like. I think I’m supposed to know it when I feel it.”
Maybe. Maybe not.

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

No, nothing unusual is felt.

Nothing yet, at least.

Just a quaint little shack with smoke twisting its way of the chimney.

And that awful pit of flesh a few dozen feet away.

Why would anyone want to live near that thing?

Seriously?

The only way to know for sure, perhaps, would be to venture inside the shack and find out. Between the light in the window and the wood smoke it certainly appears as though someone is home.