Outside 48: Hotter than Inside

[Deathkeeper]

[Tower Near Edelina’s Farm]

Kray shrugs.
”It’s a hidden tower in the middle of nowhere, Boss. I doubt anyone would be around to report the death if its master dropped from some sudden illness.” Sometimes it happens that people do die when they aren’t expecting it. The wizard likely hadn’t made any preparations to be interred.

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Duh, yeah. Biggies like you wouldn't have been able to copy it. And they should be here in this biggy place somewhere. I saw them being taken in. Dunno where though. Might have been Knowie of all people they got these blue twotwo wings." The pixie frowns. "I didn't even think they were fleshy again. But if you see them, would you mind squishing their flesh for me?"

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Near Edelina's Farm

"Old age, I think. I created this amulet when I was ninety-six. And I was supposed to find an apprentice whilst I lived, to teach and to do the burying, but with one thing and another, I never got time. It's something I regret, I think. I'm a copy of the body's personality and memories, not the man himself. Things may have changed, though I doubt it. I was created about six months to a year before he died. He gave me to the gargoyle, told it to find an apprentice to give me to, if he died without one. Now, I have Matilda." The illusion goes over to the corpse and looks down on it, his expression a little distasteful, a little pitying. Must be odd, to look at a body and recognise it as your own.

"Oh! I've been learning illusion! And the gargoyle's just a grump. It had Mr. Bhowmik with it, and he showed me sparkles and told me I could make sparkles, too. Plenty here's real. The illusions are mostly outside, but there's some practice ones. Mr. Bhowmik told me there's a really high-level book on illusion hidden in a secret cupboard hidden by illusion magic, but that I won't find it until I'm ready since under the illusion, on the door, is a magic symbol that would drive anyone mad if they looked at it. But once I'm good enough at finding illusions to see the symbol I'll be able to handle the symbol, because it's also illusion somehow? I don't quite understand yet, but I'm learning! Look!" Matilda doesn't fight the comb, and wakes up as she talks. She ends by holding her hand out and concentrating on it, until a small image, just large enough to fit on her hand, appears. It looks a bit like Edelina and Matilda hugging each other, though as it fades out of view and snaps back into clarity again, it's hard to be sure. Especially as smaller details like the clothing changes each time it reappears.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"I'll do my best," Ilpholin vaguely replies, having trouble understanding half of what this creature was saying. Knowie blue two two wings? What does any of that even mean? The other pixie sounds like they might not even be tangible at the moment. She understood that much at least. She thinks. Maybe. Not that she had any clue how to find them even if they were. The computer didn't mention a second room.

"Do you know why the fire started? Who was tagging you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Oh yeah, there were these biggies, and I don't just mean big. I mean like, double big, big biggies. They came with the fire and wandered around tagging everyone that didn't get tagged by it. I avoided it though. Been tagged before and I tell you, it's not nice! So I just pretended until they left. Of course, then you biggies showed up and insisted on taking me here." The pixie shakes their head. "I still don't know what's up with that. I mean, I guess I was hurting and stuff but I'd pass eventually."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Nightmare Forest]

Quin hangs back for a moment, and stays quiet. Spooking the...child? Creature? Is the last thing he wants to do, and his imposing form makes it far easier to intimidate than he likes. Hanging back also lets him keep a sharp eye out for trouble, in case this happens to be a trap of some kind.

[Morty]

[Nightmare Forest]

The deer head, it should be noted, isn't a skull. It's decaying, but the flesh is still on it.

"I am waiting for the fear," it says. The voice doesn't sound like a child. It's like a rattle of a dying creature. "Do you come from the fear? It tried to open a way but it left, so we wait."

That doesn't really answer their questions at all, does it?

[Tower Near Edelina's Farm]

"That explains it, I guess." Dipsnig shrugs. "But it seems Matilda is safe and sound, either way."

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

Probably the same fire rock golems that attacked Riverside. Perhaps a slighter smaller variant so it wasn't seen from everywhere.

"Can you think of any reason why they would want to tag you? Was your village guarding anything?"

There's still a piece of the staff she hasn't accounted for yet. Maybe it was in a fey grove.

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

The deer head still having rotting meat on it does not make things better.

In fact, it kind of makes them worse.

"Oh, okay!" Lapis replies brightly before turning to the others. "I don't think that this dead-deer-thing was ever a person."

She's very perceptive like that.

"Do you think it's talking about whoever made the spooky forest? I think it's talking about that."

Yes.

Very, very perceptive.

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

Makuro shivers at the not-a-child's voice.

She nods at Lapis, agreeing about what the child is talking of, and licks her lips. "What do you know of the fear? Do you know where it went?" And she's already dreading hearing that voice again, since it really unnerved her.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Nightmare Forest

Quin continues to watch. The voice does creep him out a bit, but it's easy enough for him not to show it, simply standing stoicly. He watches the village beyond for signs of other similar creatures.

[Morty]

[Nightmare Forest]

The creature in front of them won't feel like fey to Lapis. Or perhaps it will, but... an unfinished one? Not entirely formed like a fey would be.

"It came here, wearing no name and called to the Fairest of Lands. We were born of its call, but it left. I wish it came back and made us whole."

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

"Hey Makuro?" Lapis pipes up. "Have you ever had a dream, but then you woke up in the middle of it and can only kind of remember it?"

A beat.

"I haven't! 'cuz I don't dream. But I have some memories of that happening to mom before she went through apotheosis."

She takes a few steps closer to the... thing.

"I think that's what this is, maybe? A half finished dream. Whatever made this place was maybe trying to pierce through to the Dreamheart? But it didn't work and just made a broken Enchanted Forest instead."

Everyone knows that Enchanted Forests is where you find fae.

That's just common knowledge.

"It's not a real person, even if it talks like one," Lapis concludes. "Let's keep going. There might be real people in the village."

That said, she'll move to press on.

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

"Um, sort of? My dreams are weird." Even when she's not accidentally visiting someone else's.

She takes another look at the creepy dead-deer-headed child and nods in agreement. "I doubt we can learn much of use from it, no. It seems it speaks in riddles." Or maybe it just needs somebody with a better understanding of fae to understand what it says. Either way, Makuro doesn't understand what it says. She'll glance at Quin, see what he has to say about it.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Nightmare Forest]

Quin nods at the two ladies.

"I believe Miss Lapis is correct. This poor creature is, by its own admission, unfinished. I'm sure we'll encounter a number of creatures like it while we're here. We should see if there are more people from before the Fear came in the village."

He moves to follow Lapis.

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

Lapis gives a nod and heads into the village, making sure to give the gross deaddeerhead plenty of space on the off chance that it becomes hostile.

She'll be keeping an eye (and nose, and other senses) out for anything or anyone NOT absolutely drenched in gross faerie magic.

There have to be people in here, right?

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

Makuro will go with Lapis and Quin to the village, glancing back at the creepy not-a-child occasionally. She really hopes it doesn't decide to follow them. Or worse, disappear. That would just be upsetting.

[Morty]

[Nightmare Forest]

The "child" remains where it is. Heading deeper into the village reveals more people with dead deer heads. They're standing still, sometimes looking around with dead, rotting eyes. They look, for all appearances, as if they simply froze in motion while going about their business, in a grotesque tableau of pastoral life. If anyone else has lived here, there's no sign of them. But when the party approaches, the deer heads turn to stare at them, wordlessly.

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

WELL!

This place sure gives Lapis the jeeblies!

Everything is so unlike what she expects fae to be like. Or... a bit different at least.

But one thing she learned from mom? The Nexus is full of lots of different things with the same name.

So these fae might be kind of like the fae who live on the other side of the Eternal Game, but not exactly the same.

Fae are like... parts in a play. They aren't anything on their own. Just a naked soul, whatever THAT is. But then they find a mask. A part to play. Something they can pretend to be so they seem alive.

Whatever these things are?

"I think... it's like writing a movie script," Lapis reasons. "The 'Fear' started writing it, but something went wrong so it stopped. All these things are just parts in the movie that are only part-way written. They don't know what the story is, so they just stand around. I... I don't know if I hate them. They just kind of make me feel sad."

She'll peek into one of the rotten, decrepit buildings just to see if there's anything interesting inside them.

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"It was guardin' me and the lads of course. Pretty good hidey place until that happened. Reckon those biggies wanted it for themselves. Though I'm pretty sure they were too biggie to hide." The pixie explains, still not really giving Ilpholin a lot of information. Their perspective of the world seems quite different from hers.

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

"So we need to figure out why this Fear stopped and make sure that if it tries again elsewhere, we can... stop it from getting this far, I think. I doubt letting it succeed is a good idea." Makuro's also going to open one of the houses, using her enhanced strength to kick the door down if necessary. She doubts any of the inhabitants will try to stop her, and doesn't think they'd be able to overpower her even if they did.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Nightmare Forest

Quin falls silent once more, considering Lapis and Makuro's conversation, standing guard while they take a look into the houses. He doubts the creatures will care, but just in case they do, his imposing form might deter them from trying to attack.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

Their differing perspectives was about the only clear thing here. Still, maybe it was more than it seems. Maybe the demons weren't looking for something, but rather wanted the place itself. Fey tended to gather around magical energies, capable of naturally twisting that energy to hide themselves as the pixie put it. The demons could just be paving the way for something else by claiming fonts of power. Ilpholin may be able to find more checking out the scene of the crime.

"Can you tell me where your hiding spot used to be? And maybe how to find your other friend? So I can, uh, squish em for you."

[Morty]

[Nightmare Forest]

The building is a brick house, fallen into disrepair and disuse. Inside was once a modest living space of a country family, but it also looks like no one had touched it in years. In the middle of the entry corridor is a dessicated body. It once belonged to a human, or perhaps an elf? Some race that's largely similar to a human. It has decayed and dried out past recognition. Though considering that the building was a normal house just a week ago, one wonders what happened.

The deer-headed creatures indeed make no move to stop the party from investigating the house.

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

Lapis does the only thing one can reasonably do when confronted with a dead body.

She fetches a stick and pokes at it.

Hopefully this just results in a poked cadaver and not a zombie leaping to its feet and getting everyone with a good jump scare.

"Do you think they lived here before this happened?" Lapis wonders aloud. "Dead things don't rot this fast, right?"

No.

They don't, Lapis.

Normally it takes a very long time, not to mention special circumstances, for something to mummify like that.

Not at all normal, no. But this place isn't very normal now is it?

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

"I do not believe so. And I truly hope that it was created looking like that, and isn't really a person. Otherwise, it may have been hit by weaponised time." Which is just a nightmare to deal with, unless you're immortal or particularly long-lived. Makuro's basically human, and whilst her superpowers may counteract some of the usual effects of ageing, she is still the most vulnerable to a time-based attack than the others (unless Quin isn't a robot).

She'll go over to the body, and search it. She's trying to find any traces of what may happened to it, and who it might have been when it was alive- if it ever lived, and isn't simply scenery.

Manticore's Village

It's a small place, a handful of turf shepherd's huts, a simple wooden temple, a crudely repaired two-storey brick house converted into an inn and a lone watchtower, little more than a little shed on rickety-looking stilts. Sheep wander around, accompanied by the occasional chicken, goat and alpaca. There's some bodies lying around, most of them shot, all human and none armed with anything more than sharp agricultural tools and slings. The slavers didn't even bother searching them. It's also not that far, as the shuttle flies, from VIGIL's base; just over the horizon. The manticore flies over the small village- more a hamlet, really- and away, following a rough track marked by recent tyre tracks.

It doesn't take long to see the slavers; they've got two double-decker buses, fitted with bars and chicken wire over the windows, a metal farm-wagon with an open top and fitted with seating, currently unhitched and empty except for seven corpses, and a light van, which lies on its side as a tall green open-topped tractor tries to pull it upright again. There's about twelve armed people visible, as a group of young men clad in clothing similar to those of the dead villagers try to help the tractor pull the van upright again. The armed people carry shotguns and wear bullet-proof vests, but mostly they're using whips and bludgeons to try and motivate the villagers.

The manticore isn't flying very high, and swoops down to land behind a hedge, out of view from the vehicles. If the shuttle follows it down, it'll rumble as quietly as it can. "I will fly over and disstract them, whilsst you get in and help the villagerss and find my cubss. They know I will come back for them, but they don't know I've got humanss to help."

[Ashen Lilies]

[City Out of Time]

"Unless there's some sort of barrier at the top, I'm pretty sure I can jump it....er, Parkour it?" Electra tries to explain, though it's clear she's trying to substitute a term from her world for something Cass might be more familiar with. After a moment she sighs, shaking her head. "Triangle jump, is what they called it back home. I can kick off the wall and keep using my thruster pack to scale sheer walls. So it's kind of a mix of parkour and jumping."

[City Out of Time]

Cass listens with interest, nodding slowly.
"Interesting," she says, reaching into a pouch at her belt, and pulling out a bird's feather. "Why don't I float us up there, instead? It's slower, but sounds a bit less strenuous."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[City Out of Time]

Electra nods.

"That's probably a better option, that way we can stick together more easily."

[Morty]

[Manticore's Village]

Calm Reed surveys the scene grimly. Slavers. Slavery is an unavoidable part of life, but this spectacle of cruelty does not fit within the proper order of things. Time to restore it with some force.

"They won't know what hit them. Let's be quick, before they catch on."

[Ashen Lilies]

[City Out of Time]

Electra nods.

"That's probably a better option, that way we can stick together more easily."

[City Out of Time]

Cass smiles, holding the feather in her left palm upraised, and then holding out a hand to Electra. If Electra takes it, Cass will pull her closer, taking her by the waist, then speak a few words, causing the feather to float in the air above her palm. Cass catches the feather, and suddenly Electra will feel a sense of weightlessness, and then they too will begin to peaceably float upwards, carried upwards by the enchanted feather over the wall.