Outside 48: Hotter than Inside

[Chaotic Bob]

[Wrattleham]

Xeni would have considered using the turret door. Briefly. But reconsiders on the basis that that would probably be a little overly aggressive, blocking access to their weaponry.
So the main door it is.

He is quite pleased that this fellow is addressing him in a downright polite fashion. This is a major point towards the corrupted not requiring a Purging.

There does appear to be a problem of some significance going on here (starting with the Mayor wanting to go through the fog), so he'll make a gesture with one hand in that direction.
"Heya, Mark. Sorry to drop in like this, but it is actually the Mayor I wanted to have a chat with. What's the problem? Maybe I can help? I am pretty good at the helping thing."
Sometimes.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"I already tried that like a dozen tiems. They moved them after I attempted to tag them." The pixie rolls their eyes. "They're still close though, I can feel it. Probably just through a bunch of these walls in that direction." They gesture to the wall behind Ilpholin.

[New Inside - Castilla]

Well it's not perfect, but at least it's a direction. Better than searching the hospital at random. "Riiight. Alright, thanks for your help... What's your name?" Ilpholin asks as she starts walking towards the door to leave.

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Uh, isn't that obvious?" The pixie gesture at their wings. "Red twotwo." Their wings are a scarlet shade of red. They suddenly sit up in the bed. "What's your name? You all got nearly the same colors so it's hard to tell!"

[Earl of Purple]

Wrattleham

"Well, um. We were trundling through this desert, and we saw this... Amazing, beautiful thing. So the Mayor ordered us to change course to get a closer look. Now... Now, there's that fog, which makes no sense from a meteorological standpoint, this is a desert no way there's enough moisture in the air for fog. And the overseer down in the Gut has put us in reverse, which I didn't think we could do, and isn't listening to us. The Mayor wants us to go off and through that fog to get another look. But we can't, because the Gut's foreman isn't listening to us. If he weren't so important, he'd be exiled, I reckon." He sounds sad with the penultimate sentence, and doesn't quite cheer up with the later one.

The mayor has stopped shouting, as he's started to cough and hack. His daughter's also stopped shouting, to fetch a chipped mug, which she fills with water from a large plastic jug. The town's slowing down now, and rocks as the rear wheels are turned whilst also being pushed; it's tricky and the town isn't really designed to go backwards.

[Recaiden]

[Manticore's Village]

Calm Reed stands perfectly still when she sees the slaver raise their gun again. The glow around her becomes brighter as something imperceptible seems to flow from the earth itself through her, rendering her as unmoving and unassailable as a mountain. She puts on a facade of calm over the stabbing pain of her broken finger and stares the slavers down, making slow cutting motions though the air with her hands. Will they stand their ground or realize they're outmatched without her having to actually run up there?

The door is still open, and the driver is shot, the bus slowing down before it even got very fast.

The slaver who'd just shot Alice sees her wounded but still standing, and is worried, whilst the other turns to cover Calm Reed. The slaver that should have just shot the Exalted has instead dropped their gun and has turned to run away... But doesn't get far, as the manticore swoops down and grabs him with its paws.

The other two slavers surrender when they see that, tossing their guns down and sticking their hands in the air. "Please, don't hurt us! We was just doin' our jobs!" The man's voice is deep and gravelly; underneath the mask he wears he's half-orc.

Two-
Zero targets remaining
They have finally realized they are outmatched.
Alice's first thought is that she should just kill them anyway. But she reminds herself that no, even slavers deserve a chance.
"Step back, away from your guns, take off the masks, and then lie down on the ground."
"Are there any more of you, in the cars? Any surprises? Have any of your captives already been taken somewhere else?"

The remaining drone carefully hovers over to the crashed one, and slowly sets itself down beside the ditch.

[Morty]

[Manticore's Village]

"Doing your jobs? You should have chosen your occupation or your masters more wisely," Calm Reed says. "But if the lesson has been learned, we can consider letting you go. If you show proper cooperation from here on."

[Camping Trip]

"There's always more," Wenomir says. "When I was younger, all I cared about was power and prestige. It took a lot for me to start aiming higher. I almost died, then was enslaved. But it doesn't have to be this hard."

[Earl of Purple]

Manticore Village

The slavers do as bid, revealing orange-brown skin, tusks and bright crimson eyes under their masks. "Uh, no. No more. Um. Maybe one, maybe. Not sure. Uuh... Surprises, maybe. Dunno where Slicer went. We got all the captives from the village, an' the cubs. Careful with 'em, they're vicious things. Thyona had to swap Tusker's hand with one of the slaves, cos he'd been bit." Though now the cubs have a parent, that might calm them down.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Wrattleham]

Xeni keeps an eye on the Mayor here, while he talks.
Is the hacking just a thing he's always done? A mutation symptom? Is he dying? Are horrible little Zee-monsters going to jump out of him?
All questions training through his mind while he carries on this conversation with the otherwise-pleasant navigator.

"So, possible mutiny below-decks, huh? I could go check in on that, if you want.
And uh, your boss okay?"

[Recaiden]

"Come on, let's get everyone out of the cars." Alice says to Calm Reed. The monk will be better at that than she will, especially if the captives are thoroughly restrained.

"Slicer? What's he do?" Other than, you know, slice things.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Uh, isn't that obvious?" The pixie gesture at their wings. "Red twotwo." Their wings are a scarlet shade of red. They suddenly sit up in the bed. "What's your name? You all got nearly the same colors so it's hard to tell!"

[New Inside - Castilla]

"So very obvious," Ilpholin says dryly, all but certain the sarcasm would fly over Red TwoTwo's head. "My name is Ilpholin." She admits, it can be hard to tell some people apart at least.

Unless the fairy has anything sudden to add, she will open the door and step back out to where the guard was.

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Bye Illpphulin!" The pixie sounds oddly cheerful as she leaves, even waving at her.

The guard have already put away the paper and turns to face her. "Was it productive?" He inquires. "There is another one we had to move a few hours ago. Haven't managed to add them to the system yet."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Hillside Rambling]

"Lucy?" The stocky woman next to her asks as they meander along. She's volunteered, nay, insisted on carrying everything for the picnic. She looks like she's got some arms well use to bearing burdens, although her bundles are often more child-shaped. "Was there something specific you wanted to talk about?"

While it's definitely a welcome visit, that gap in their seeing each other combined with the sudden timing of it and Lucy's discomfort makes this an easy read.

[Hillside Rambling]

Uh oh, she's been rumbled! How could Vivi have possibly seen through her-

Look at the poor thing. She's practically shivering. It couldn't be more obvious that something's up if she tried.

But her response is a little less than helpful. "I need to show you something. I-it's just a little further up ahead."

[Earl of Purple]

Wrattleham

"Um, sure. You can go look. I... don't really have the authority to order you, though. And he'll be fine, just... Too long in the Gut of Steersham when he was young. He's got bad lungs." Probably from the town's exhaust smoke, but it sounds like something he's always done.

[Morty]

[Manticore's Village]

"Perhaps they will be gentler with people who are not enslaving them," Calm Reed observes, as she heads to free the captives. She is indeed more than willing and capable of tearing doors off the hinges and breaking restraints with her bare hands if she has to.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Wrattleham]

Right, okay. Just a sick guy that happened to become mutated afterwards. That's fine.
Xeni isn't going to dwell on that too much right now, in the midst of all these other things going on.

"Hope his cough gets better then. I'll go check on your...wheel guys? Foreman overseer? Whichever. Back in a tick!"
Please ignore the dorky little salute he does as he turns on his heel and walks right back out the door.
There to do precisely as stated and go find these wheel folks.

How hard can it be to find them, in a place like this? Go to the wheels!

He's very clearly hoping that these are not Zee-tainted citizens and that's why they're reversing. They are clever enough to see the threat here and are trying to do their community a service.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

Ilpholin shakes her head towards the guard. "Not much, let me tell you. It's like talking to a child who can't take their finger out of their nose."

"Can you take me to the other one? I don't have high hopes, but I want to be thorough."

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside - Castilla]

The soldier nods, a small smile on his lips but simply out of sympathy. "I know what you mean, m'am. The other one seems more coherent though. Should have let you talk to them first instead of wasting time on this one. But this is the room the system sent you to."
They don't have to walk far. The other room is just three rooms away near the end of the corridor. "This is it. The creature was terrified after we had to seperate them however so keep that in mind. It knows the other one is still scheming to kill it."

[Rebonack]

[Nightmare Forest]

Lapis has, in fact, been leaving a trail the whole time. That's why her pack is so big. She brought lots of fresh bread! Both for eating and trail-making.

Uh oh.

They circled back around!

Which... shouldn't be possible?

Since they were going in a straight line the whole time!

"I guess there's no crossing," Lapis hums. "I don't love that, not one bit! We need something to cross over. If we just fly or jump we won't have a trail to follow."

She glances around, looking at their surroundings.

Maybe there's a tree they could knock over and use for a bridge?

[Earl of Purple]

Nightmare Forest

"I don't think this means that, Lapis. These crumbs... I'm not sure they are where you left them." She's bent over to look at where they are, and whilst she's not exactly been watching Lapis drop them behind the group, she's still noticed her do it. "Look, this one's got mud on it, yet rests on leaves. If we carry on, we may yet find a way to cross." Or they might find an ambush that's being prepared whilst they dawdle here. It's hard to say.

Wrattleham

The engine deck is loud, noisy and dominated by two very large engines. They're powered by a multi-fuel system which is currently being fed a pile of branches by a group of men and women wearing dirty jumpsuits. There's more people running around than just those fuelling the furnaces; there's people rushing around doing lots of things. Some are carrying tools and working on repairing minor damage to the steering mechanism and the rear wheel assembly, others are working on examining a large gearbox currently rattling and shaking as the town speeds up in the other direction, there's someone carrying a plastic basket filled with raw meat, headed towards the exhaust pipes... It's noisy, cramped and busy. Everybody's got something to do, possibly more than one thing to do, and nobody's noticed Xeni's arrival yet. Most of them show some sign of mutation, but compared to the Lord Mayor's office or even the farmers on the top deck, it's far less severe. The odd patch of scales, glassy fingernails, budding antlers... Stuff that is certainly signs of Zee's influence, but nothing so severe that they couldn't walk down a street in Inside without attracting an unusual amount of looks.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Wrattleham]

At some point along the way, Xeni has changed.
This is rather literal, as he seems to look an awful lot like that first fellow who was pointing a gun at him earlier...though maybe slightly more normal. Mimicking someone, but artfully cutting out choice features (mutations) is never going to be especially precise, but he is pretty decent at it.

He is, after all, a doppelganger.

Noticing that his arrival hasn't lead to any immediate cause of alarm or even recognition, he gets another idea. Probably a terrible one, but one that seems interesting to do anyway.
Xeni fades from view entirely, as a curtain of basic invisibility settles over his form. From here, he walks further into the engine deck.
Unless he gets found out in a hurry, he is going to spend a little time just...watching how everyone is getting along. See if there's any interesting or unusual conversations. Seemingly odd hostilities or actions.

He will also be trying to identify anyone who looks important and/or in charge.

[Reinholdt]

[New Inside - Castilla]

"Gotta love that system." Ilpholin's smile is thin and mirthless. She ends up rubbing her forehead. "If I could but kill them myself. Alright. I'll be gentle. Thank you." With an appreciative nod to the guard, she heads inside the new room.

[Earl of Purple]

Manticore Village

"Slicer? He's a good shot. And he can drive, too." So a guard, rather than another specialist like the pain-wizard.

Calm Reed gets on a bus! The seats have been ripped out and replaced with small cages, which are bolted shut. They're mostly made of wire, so hard to remove without tools- and the people in the cages don't have anything to use to cut through it. There's about twenty people downstairs on this bus, all of them wearing clothing like that of the villagers. They've got very dark skin, but blue or green eyes that stand out sharply, and wear crude woollen clothes. They're all women, on this one at least, and they thank Calm Reed profusely when she frees them. There's also a set of narrow and steep stairs going up to the bus's top deck, which is where the half-elf came from. I'm not sure if Calm Reed was trying to knock her out or kill her, with that pressurised blast of water.

Wrattleham

Xeni has to be careful- rushing people might bump into him. But should he be aware and alert, the workers down here have no real ability to detect him except by contact.

Eavesdropping, Xeni learns that Etward is in the medic's chamber because he burnt his hand on the side of the furnace, and there's a suggestion the burn isn't as bad as he lets on and he just wants to flirt with the nurse. Somebody else has lost their favourite spanner, and is accusing somebody nearby of stealing it, though the tool in question has fallen off the workbench. Everyone around the accuser seems used to his behaviour, however, suggesting it's a personality quirk.

As for people in charge, there's several options. There's the man in relatively clean overalls staring at a bunch of dials and gauges on the side of the furnace, the much dirtier man getting involved and leading a team that's disassembling a gearbox that looks as though part of it is still being used, and a woman in a grey dress staring at the side of the wheel and being otherwise left alone.

[Murkus]

[Hillside Rambling]

Uh oh, she's been rumbled! How could Vivi have possibly seen through her-

Look at the poor thing. She's practically shivering. It couldn't be more obvious that something's up if she tried.

But her response is a little less than helpful. "I need to show you something. I-it's just a little further up ahead."

Viviana purses her lips together and looks at Lucy patiently. "...As you wish." She will try to hold Lucy's hand as they go, though. She knows that sometimes you just need someone there.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Nightmare Forest

"I suppose I could cut one of the trees down and we could try to cross that way," Quin offers, gesturing, "But I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea. What are the odds we'll be attacked by something if we try to make a major change here?"

[Recaiden]

Rather than try to squeeze into a bus, or rip one apart to let people out, Alice just keeps watch on the surrendered slavers and tries to keep a lookout for the last guard who might have been separated from the others.
Maybe she'll say a few encouraging things to the women getting out of the bus.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Wrattleham]

While Xeni hasn't delved too deeply into the finer arts of being a sneaky guy, he does have enough experience with crowds to at least know how to move around in them without bumping into people. Coupled with his cheap invisibility, this should keep him relatively in the clear if no one does anything weird.

He takes his time observing everyone, listening in, casually judging movements and appearances.
Place doesn't seem to be in any sort of emergency mode, as best he can tell which is...weird? Though there's some mutation and they're still trying to get away from Zee, so maybe he just has no idea what he's actually expecting from these people anymore.

With this realization, he decides to find the most important-but-uncomfortable person he can. Evidently, this is that fellow by the gauges.
Easy enough.
Just walk up behind the guy, drop your invisibility, and say "hey, anything I can help with?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Hillside Rambling]

It's a good thing Viviana's being rather understanding about this. Lucy does seem particularly agitated.

Still, it is a mercifully short walk onwards to their destination. The path clears and opens up to reveal a cliff-face with a large open cave in its side.

"Up there. The view is wonderful."

[Earl of Purple]

Wrattleham

He's also not seen them before. They might just be drilled into panicking constructively. A town this small has probably been chased at least once, so the engineers and Gut-workers know what to do when threatened. It generally isn't this busy, and they're only dismantling a gearbox that's in use because they're in emergency mode.

The man jumps when Xeni speaks. "What? Oh. I've been told there's an urbivore sighting, so... Go do whatever you're supposed to do. I'm assessing the furnace and keeping an ear on the speaking-tube in case it sees us. Um. Normally the tube's louder than this." Indeed, the tube is producing no noise whatsoever; it's been subtly disconnected. "But, uh, I think it's something else. We'd stopped, and were ordered to go see... the really pretty thing. But the Foreman ordered us to get moving, stoke the engines and put Wrattleham in reverse." He's got mutations, too; some scales are hidden by his clothes.

[Morty]

[Manticore's Village]

Calm Reed will proceed to remove the bolts and let the villagers out. The half-elf ought to have only been knocked out, as the freezing water isn't quite enough to outright kill someone.

[Earl of Purple]

Manticore's Village

The slavers don't move, though the half-elf is starting to wake up.

The slaves file out of their cages and off the bus, smiling and waving at the manticore up ahead. There's another bus, and Calm Reed hasn't checked upstairs yet.

One of the women, a twenty-five-year-old wearing several bone rings on a thong about her neck, grabs one of the shotguns and walks over to the slaves. Unless Alice stops her, she'll shoot one of the slavers in the upper back.