Inside 69: Nice.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad]

Asher offers to help her with the books by trying to take two of them from her. "Let's research it together so we can figure out which train it is. What are we looking for, Eao? What does it look like?"

[bc56]

Reading Railroad

Eao lets Asher take two books. "It's green and black, with gold stripes. And it says G S R on the side in fancy gold letters." She opens one of the volumes she's holding and begins reading at the table of contents.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad]

Asher opens one book to start reading, then pauses. "Can you fly? Why don't we just fly along the railway and look for the train? Is it not in the Nexus right now?" It's an important question. Just in case, he continues scanning the book.

[bc56]

Reading Railroad

"I can. I have wings too!" With an unnatural, sickening twisting of flesh and bone, a pair of wings erupt from Eao's back, covered in white scales and dotted with eyes. The cashier and a few patrons look like they're going to be sick. That is not something you ever want to see a human body do. "I just don't know which railway it's on. There's lots of them."

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad]

"Eao, no!" Asher reprimands once she reveals her wings, and at the manner in which she chooses to do so. "You're not supposed to do that, mortals are scared of that stuff, you should go out of reality first if you really have to. Can you hide the eyes in your wings? I think they're pretty, but the people around don't."

He keeps scanning the book. "We can find more places if we do it together, and meet back here."

[bc56]

Reading Railroad

"Aww," Eao complains, "I see so much better out of these." While she's speaking, her face is still turned towards the book. She's watching Asher through her wings. But then the eyes slide closed as requested and seal as if there were never any openings there at all. "All right. When should we meet back up?"

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad]

"Well can't you open them out of reality and see through them then, so that you don't scare mortals with them? It's what I do, with the wheels!" Asher suggests. At her question, he thinks for a moment. "In 6 hours!"

[bc56]

Reading Railroad

Eao nods. "I'll see you here then." She runs out the door, spreads her wings, and takes off into the sky with a faint "Wheeeee!"

[Rebonack]

[Doom Door]

"Is that a zombie?"
"That's a zombie."

"Not the sort we can do anything with, though."
"No. She's really weird."
"Tell me about it. I'll knock."

The crystal pony trots up to the door, reaches up with a hoof, and gives several sharp raps.

The slat slides open again.

"Whadayahwant?" wheezes the thing in the door.

"Brought some meat," the pony replies, gesturing at the incoming zombie.

The jet-black eye in the door... maybe looks at the zombie? It's honestly hard to tell what it's actually focusing on. Like a guy wearing sunglasses. But it apparently worked because there comes a clunking sound followed by the door swinging open. Glommed onto the back side of the door is a gross mess of meat, spidery black eyes, and random teeth. Several finger-like limbs are connected to the door-meat and a patch of wall-meat nearby, no doubt serving as the means of self-propelled door opening.

Beyond the door it is dark, humid, and smells of metal. Crisscrossing catwalks and dangling chains give the place beyond a distinctively industrial look. Near the door is a large metal contraption that looks like an over-large wood chipper with a pair of spinning metal cylinders studded with spikes. Spray-painted above the device are the crudely formed words 'meat offerings'.

Both ponies look repulsed at the sight of the place.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad]

Asher follows behind her, and takes off in the other direction.

[bc56]

Reading Railroad -> Flying -> Reading Railroad (Night)

Both angels take off in different directions, flying towards the edges of the city where the rail depots are. From overhead, several locomotives match the description Eao gave. She'd probably know better if one is correct. As long as Asher remembers where they are, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

Hours later, the sun is going down, and the street is lit by lamps. Eao is waiting for Asher just inside the bookstore, still winged and her nose buried in a book.

[5a Violista]

[Doom Door]

The good thing about zombies is that they're slow, and they mindlessly chase after the closest thing that seems edible.
Which means it's really easy to lead them around on a rope.

To be honest, the hardest part about it is that Obsidian is still a little hungry and being chased by food is like going to a grocery store on an empty stomach.

She eventually gets it to the door and through it.

"I can see why they're running out of food," is her comment when she enters the industrial dungeon. "There's too much metal, it smells like metal," she complains. Turning to the thing attached to the door, she says in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice, "That's why you're running out of food. If you fixed the smell, maybe more food would want to live here."

Speaking of food, she looks at and notices the spray paint. "M...me...e...eat. Meat. That must be it!" She leads the zombie to there. "Be thankful!" she calls out. "These kinds are harder to find! And I was saving it for later!"

She leads the zombie there.
"Hey! You! Um....with the four legs!" she says to the ponies. "Push it in, okay?" She orders this, because it'll be much easier for the ponies to push the zombie into the meat offering place than Obsidian, because Obsidian would have to lead it there, circle around, and then push it in while the ponies can push it in on Obsidian's first pass past the entrance, with no need for circling around.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad (Night)]

Asher takes note of the positions of the trains matching her description, and also their precise geographic location at the time of sighting. He first thinks he's found it, but after seeing more than one of its type, decides to defer to Eao and her books.

Upon returning, he lands and walks into the store, standing in front of Eao. "I saw some trains that matched! I remember where I found them, but I don't know if they're still there! What have you found out?"

[Terumitsu]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam sighs, his oversized weapon appearing in his hand in a burst of pink and blue sparks.
"You realize that wooden furniture ain't really gonna stop someone my size? I could probably bust through the wall if I wanted to." he blusters, trying his best to keep his knees from knocking as he advances on the far door. He's not very good with this sort of thing. He's far too used to having someone else behind him when he runs into trouble.

Though really, he COULD probably charge through a window if he wanted to. It's something to remember. He's starting to think he understands why this place was being sold cheap...

The furniture didn't say anything... But there was a seeming... Presence that seemed to be at least appreciative that he was finally taking notice of it.

Maybe...

Though if that did bode well or not was to be seen. And was it feeling colder now?

The room he entered into was.. Wait, there hadn't been a door here before. He was back at the hallway at the top of the second floor stairs. And.. Well, was there stray webbing between the banister rails there? He hadn't been there that long. He had certainly not left the door front open yet wide it hung with snowflakes drifting in and melting on the floor. It seemed like they had been doing this for a while considering the puddle that was growing there.

A low thud came from below him, as if entreating him to test his courage further beyond his initial venturing in the foyer. There was still the room to the left of the front door as well as what had appeared to be a dining area...

[Deathkeeper]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam slowly walks down the stairs, brandishing his silly weapon. And taking a moment to close the front door. It's just going to make the whole place colder and rot out the wood out front further. Honestly he might as well leave right now since Lucy is so afraid of things, but it just doesn't feel right to give up so quickly. It would be letting the stupid ghost win.
For now, he heads into that area to the left of the front door.

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"I saw some too." Eao replies, "But none of them were the right one. We should go looking at them." She thinks for a moment. "But during the daytime. People don't like it when I ask them questions at night." There's probably a story behind that.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad (Night)]

Asher nods, agreeing to go looking at them. He's definitely curious at her next statement, however. "Why not? Did something happen?"

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"There were some people who tried to hurt me when I was asking questions at night. They don't like it. And other people tried to take me to an orphanage when they found me alone at night." Eao doesn't want either of those to happen again.

[Purple Eagle]

[Reading Railroad (Night)]

"Aww!" That's bad! The first one, more than the second. "What did you do? I hope you didn't hurt them back!" That wouldn't be nice and loving. "The orphanage people were probably trying to help, you can tell them you're an angel and they'll leave you be, or come to GLoG if you want and tell them you're with GLoG." The latter works for him, at least.

[Felandria]

Red Zone Lab

The lunging man is bonked to unconsciousness! "Many thanks, hun." Rosie finishes binding the two on the ground, and motions for the other two to lie down as well. They sure want to avoid a bonking, nodding in fear at the two amazonian women before them. They don't struggle as they're being bound. One of the mooks gains some bravery and speaks whilst bound on the ground. "You may have taken us down, but you'll never take down all the rest of us in our quarters!"

"Why, thanks for the heads-up. Now sleep." Rosie says gratefully, before zapping the awake mooks with her stun gun. "Okay, Fel, let's loot the place for food. I'll gather the supplies for the prisoners that can be saved, you get us some foodpacks. If there's so many in the next room, I think you should take point. I'll be behind you of course, I'll follow you anywhere." At her last statement, she kisses Fel.

Then it's food-looting time! She gathers foodpacks, sandwiches and bottles of water, storing them in her inventory so that she and Fel can focus on eating before moving on.

Felandria obtains several foodpacks and some water and puts them in her Handy Haversack.

Then she makes her way to the door for the next room and waits for Rosie to join her.

Alright, wanna do the same thing as last time?

Or, if you can get tiny, we can switch it up if you like.

Then again, we could just barge in and swing wildly, that seems like fun too.

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"I just disappeared and ran away. I didn't want to fight them; they're not robots." That goes for both encounters. "What's a glawg?" Eao hasn't heard of GLoG before.

[Purple Eagle]

Red Zone Lab

After looting for food and presumably eating some to gain strength, Rosie joins her in standing in front of the door. "That mook alluded to the fact that there are more of them in the quarters. Barging in wildly could ruin our element of surprise... but I know you can take them, so I say I hide in your pocket." So, she shrinks down to tiny size, enough that she can fit where Fel chooses to put her.

Upon entering the next room, there's a door on the other side labeled ARMOURY, and a door to the left labeled LAB ENTRANCE. Above, a readout says 'LOCKED - OPERATION IN PROGRESS', indicating that this door is locked. Surely, the mooks know of another way.

Speaking of which, the place is furnished with bunk beds and footlockers. As promised, there are a number of mooks laying on the bed, discussing, though about half the beds are empty. They all stop what they're doing upon seeing Felandria.

Two closest to the armoury door run for it, while the others scramble to defend the intrusion!

Meanwhile

Fiona Ryder scratches her head while 'optimizing' her latest 'patient', whose screams are held back by the soundproof doors. Who needs anaesthetic, anyway, when she has a machine designed to restart their hearts and keep them alive? "Where are my spare parts?" She wonders, frowning under her surgical mask. She sent some henchmen to get some for her. Maybe she just has to wait a little while longer. At this rate, she'll dock the offending henches' pay!

The erinye tiefling shrugs and focuses on removing those pesky nerves so her patient can stop screaming so much. So noisy!

Reading Railroad (Night)

"Yay! That's good, too!" Asher grins, hugging her (or at least trying to). He's very huggy. "Don't fight unless you absolutely have to, my momma always says. Or unless they're demons, most times."

"G-L-O-G, the Good League of Good! It's a safe and welcoming charity place that takes care of the needy and redeems evildoers, it's close to here! I can take you there if you want, it's where I stay!" He explains excitedly. "You'll like it, no one will try and hurt you there."

[Terumitsu]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam slowly walks down the stairs, brandishing his silly weapon. And taking a moment to close the front door. It's just going to make the whole place colder and rot out the wood out front further. Honestly he might as well leave right now since Lucy is so afraid of things, but it just doesn't feel right to give up so quickly. It would be letting the stupid ghost win.
For now, he heads into that area to the left of the front door.

((Slight modification as I was going off of memory of the floor plan last post. I assume progress was desired so I went with that))

Well, Sam had already been to the study at this point so to say it was directly to the left of the front door was perhaps somewhat disingenuous. Still, the other left turn was further in a ways past the stairs. Though the room itself was large with tall windows, it wasn't anything he hadn't already seen from when he first entered unless he was particularly interested in coffered ceiling. The wood was a nice umber color at least. Though being able to see that it was now snowing was a new development at least.

The door would stick a bit. Not the kind of stick you would get from a misalignment or the swelling of wood in wet weather.. Well, not quite like that last one. There would be a noise like a sick sort of suction being forced to relent if he put a bit of weight on the door and a dark, crumbling brownish..Dust would fall to the floor. More dark brown stains covered the floor, seeming to originate from a shattered bedframe and trailing down into a boudoir, taking a hard left into a closet opposite what looked to be the master bathroom. Well, it wasn't much to look at and the faint cupric smell just made things less appealing but it seems Sam had finally found the master bedroom, at least.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam just kind of sighs.
"That better be rust. I thought I was done going into old places and seein' bodies." But he shoves his old squatter memories away. For a moment he was just sad until he remembered that he's dealing with an actual spook here.
Letting out a sharp breath as the copper stench assails his sensitive nose, he slowly makes his way towards the closet. He takes a deep breath. "Okay, here we go..." He hefts his weapon with a two-handed grip as he yanks at the door handle. One of the many benefits to having so many arms.

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"I don't need anywhere to stay!" Eao protests. "I can stay up aaallllll night. I'm not afraid of anybody!" She's lived this long on her own. She prefers to be independent.

[Purple Eagle]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"I know, Eao! I'm an angel too, remember?" Asher says, trying to comfort and calm her down. "I just think it'll be nice to have a place to stay where you'll be surrounded by nice, friendly people." He shrugs. "You don't have to stay if you don't wanna."

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"Oh, okay." Eao doesn't seem so sure. "I guess you can take me there, if you want."

[Purple Eagle]

Reading Railroad (Night)

"Okay! It'll be fine, promise. They can't make you stay!" Asher nods a number of times, then hides the books he's holding in another spatial dimension, waiting for her to do the same. Then he'll take her hand and lead her to GLoG by flight if she'll follow. It should still be early enough that no one's gone to sleep yet. "Maybe we'll find someone who can help us, too."

[bc56]

Reading Railroad (Night)

Eao nods and vanishes her own books as well. She'll follow Asher to GLoG.

[Rebonack]

[Doom Door]

One major problem with the ponies shoving the zombie into the chute presents itself quickly.

The door is closed.

In fact, it doesn't look like there's even a door there at all now. Just a patch of gross meat-moss clinging to the wall. It watches Obsidian with its creepy black eyes. Doesn't even answer her when she gives all that helpful advice, either!

That's really rude.

Leading away from the area Obsidian is in are three pathways.

A flight of rickety metal stairs leading upwards, chains with hooks dangling everywhere. Some of the hooks have meat dangling from them. None of this meat appears to be moving. Not alive. No undead. Just... meat. Plain old gross dead meat. The smell of dead meat is strongest from that direction and the sound of clanking chains is unmistakable.

A rusted catwalk leads off into a thick red haze where the metallic smell gross stronger. There are whirling gears everywhere and the din of rushing machinery is almost overwhelming.

A second set of stairs looks to lead down to the factory floor where the scent of oil and burnt refuses rises in thick, choking clouds.

None of these seem like much fun.

What does Obsidian do?