Inside 69: Nice.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Slums Vacuums]

Beth nods in agreement with the plan and follows the Hectors outside. Going around and talking to people with empathy is... challenging, sometimes. Guess she should try practicing that, too.

"You get used to it," she tells Fenris. "There are a lot of worlds out there with different ecologies, and there's still a bit of a language barrier, especially when you're talking about magic and monsters."

[Rebonack]

[Aimless Shenanigans]

Doop.

Skeletron now has a seraph on his head.

Another hand comes careening through the air to try to smash Eao like a pesky fly!

Zabb, meanwhile, swords a skeleton! Cleaving the things in two really isn't that hard and they crumble into ashes on impact. Two more skeletons hurl firebolts at him! What a bunch of jerks. Just to make matters WORSE it looks like more skeletons are busy climbing up out of the burning fissure!

Our heroes are probably going to have to beat up Skeletron to actually stem the tide.

As for Laps?

She hurls her sword like a lightning bolt again, blasting another skeleton to bits even as the shape of solar plasma forms in her hand again.

Look at that.

THAT skeleton has a sword! Lapis raises her weapon in one of the fencing stances Commander Wenomir showed her and approaches-

-only to get hit in the back with a firebolt again.

Geeze this skeletons are dumb.

"Stop that!" she yells, whirling around to face the flame-tosser. "I'm trying to have a-"

She takes another firebolt square in the face. Then while she's trying to brush the flames out of her eyes as if she had been hit with nothing more serious than a water balloon the sword-skeleton baps her in the head with its bone scimitar.


[Metropolis Square]

Bingo.

Inside the upper part of the safe is-!

Uuh.

Weird.

It's a bronze pendant with a little floating orb of black goop in the middle of it.

That's kind of spooky.


[Slums]

"I would rather get educated about it," Fenris replies like a true nerd. "So these fae, are they normally like this? Otherworldly spirits stealing emotions from unsuspecting mortal folk?"

Nah.

Sometimes they're WAY worse.

Hector's nose will lead him toward that miserable looking guy sitting under the awning across the street. He looks cold. And sick. And generally unhappy.

[Deathkeeper]

Slums

”Some can be. He eats terror.” Hector says, pointing to the canine.
”But others steal you. Either you-you, or your self. It’s hard to explain but if we find this fae never give them your name or agree to anything it tries to give you.” Hector has done some research.

Hector does his best to look nonchalant as he approaches the guy.
”Hey, mister. Are you okay?”
He’s pretty clearly not but Hector wants to start small here before he asks about faeries. Hector hopes he can sniff out faerie influence. He’s never really tried before.

[bc56]

Interesting. Is this the source of the tar monsters? Or maybe it could be used to mimic their powers, or to control them, or communicate with them, or who knows what else. Magic is weird. Jade hangs the pendant around her neck for safekeeping. It hopefully isn't dangerous to wear.

[Hattish Thing]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

Its clear judging by the sheer volume of filth contained within this alleyway that its been used as a dumping ground of sorts for years. It's once beautiful arched brick walls were covered in graffiti. The grimy floor, slick with rainwater and dumpster sludge, is littered with hypodermic needles, broken bottles and what is probably sewage.

Eyes remain focused on Michalson. As he draws closer, its clear that there's a child there, hiding behind a dumpster.

The entryway proper was likely around the corner, but he'd have to go past the dumpster to reach it.

---

[SciTech Laboratories]

Cascade does not bother correcting the trapped thugs. They wouldn't understand, anyway.

As she glides effortlessly into the lobby, she waves her hand lazily before her. Just as before, shards of glass form a protective pane in front of her, deflecting magnetized rays.
She continues to mutter into her recording device. "Entering the lobby. Four hostiles." She seems unconcerned.

Then, one of the minions strikes the ground nearby. "Desist." Sure enough, her armor was magnetic. "Wait, something's wrong." Her eyes widen beneath her helmet as she's suddenly pulled to the ground.

--

She hits the ground hard, bruising her side and likely cracking a rib. The breath is knocked clear out of her. Shards of glass fall all around her, her concentration having shattered.
Her eyes narrow as she glares at the group of four. "Nrgh, I said desist." At that, she'll clench her hand into a fist, grimacing all the while.

The four gunmen will find themselves pulled towards eachother at a great speed, likely enough to knock them senseless.

[Purple Eagle]

[Aimless Shenanigans]

One firebolt is returned back to sender, hotter than ever before, and another hits Zabb square in the face! "Hey, that's not very nice!" With one hand he brushes the flames away like a mere inconvenience and with the other, he cleaves another skeleton, using evasive manouvres to dodge any other firebolts coming his way.

His destination? The vault, so he can help Eao and Lapis take down the giant skeleton monster!

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Slums (Despair Street)]

Part of Beth wants to go on a tangent about how there are actually a lot of spiritual beings that do that, and that in the taxonomy she's used to they would be categorized according to their dependence on human emotion and likely not called fey...

She doesn't do that though, because Beth is NOT a nerd. She has heard that tangent before and it is SO BORING. Instead, she spares only an offhand comment. "Huh. You'd think eating terror would be a good thing."

She steps out into the rain and huddles under Fenris' force field again. Her sneakers splash in the rain gutter as they cross the street. It's pouring now; when the group approaches the homeless guy, they're forced to get in quite close if they are to make themselves heard over the wind and rain without shouting.

Beth adds to Hector's question in a more detectively fashion. Some kind of dedicated aerobics detective, if her outfit is anything to go by. "Has anything strange happened to you lately?"

[bc56]

Eao jumps around the head to the other side. Hopefully, that means Skeletron will punch himself in the head instead of her. At the same time, she plunges her wings like swords into the skull to begin cutting into it.

[Rebonack]

[Slums]

Fenris looks suitably terrified by that thought. And she keeps glancing nervously up toward the sky. "I... I think this is a little bit too much for me all at once," she admits. "I'm going to go try to find one of those safe rooms you were talking about. Goodluck with the... shadow... things..."

Spooky shadow things.

Fenris has left the party!

The transient, meanwhile, glares at Hector. "Wassit look like?" he slurs back. Tired eyes. Sagging face. Leathery skin from being out in the sun all day. Not that there's much sun to be had right now. The sort of guy who has been trampled by the world and just doesn't care anymore.

Wow.

He doesn't seem very happy. Miserable even! But then again the weather is pretty miserable to begin with.

"You gunna make me answering yer weird questions worth my time?" he demands.


[Aimless Shenanigans]

Skeletron is out in the lobby, actually. With all the smaller skeletons. The robster mobster is in the vault. Or at least he was. Maybe he had some way of escaping? Who knows!

Zabb cleaves through a few more skeletons and rushes toward the giant foe to help Eao! Eao, meanwhile, manages to get the giant skeleton to slap himself in the head. Which was, all things considered, pretty hilarious. Skeletron seems far less amused when the wings begin dicing his skull, though. He reacts by exploding.

Just...

A massive blast of force and flame, enough to send most of his minions rolling across the ground. Enough to ignite most flammable materials sitting around the bank, turning the interior into an inferno. Enough to blast the windows out of the front of the building and send people across the street reeling. Thankfully our heroes are pretty tough and can take it. Also thankfully all the hostages are well outside the blast zone.

Lapis can see it coming.

She wraps her wings around herself, the pinions growing thick and woody as roots dig into the floor until she looks like a cocoon of woven vines and searing orbs of starlight.

The flames wash over her.

She is unmoved.

And as soon as those wings unfurl?

Lapis takes the brief respite in swarming skeletons to hurl her sword straight through Skeleton's torso! "Take THAT you big JERK!" she hollers.


[Metropolis Square]

Putting on the pendant causes exactly nothing to happen.

It smells kind of weird.

Exciting!

What next?


[SciTech Laboratories]

THONK!

Oh wow.

There were some crunching noises in there for sure. Localized gravity wells really aren't any fun. How many Gs was that? Enough to really mash 'em into each other? Definitely not healthy. Though it looks like one of them is still cogniscent! Rifle guy! With her rifle! Man, she's kind of... waving it a bit? Is that arm broken? It probably shouldn't bend that way.

Okay, yeah, she passed out too.

Henchmen group two defeated!

Hmm...

Now Cascade just needs to figure out how to get herself unstuck off the floor. Maybe consider investing in ceramic armor?

[Deathkeeper]

[Slums]

"Of course." Hector assures the man, taking a fat silver coin out from his pocket.
"This is for answering our questions. And if we find the thing that's been punking people around here there might be another one in it for you." he adds. The man's living conditions don't seem terribly great. Hector is glad he's not the Hector with the canine nose. But he has to try. He just hopes he has enough bribe-money on him.

[bc56]

Neither of these rooms have contained the missing pony. It's time to bite the bullet and check out either the gross bathroom or the creepy dark room. Jade opts for the dark room. The bathroom's just a little too gross. It might ruin her nice clothes.

[Morty]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

Michalson stops and nods to the child, to acknowledge their presence and show that he's not a threat. He then keeps walking past the dumpster, hoping to find the entrance.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Slums]

"Huh? Wait up!" Beth chases after Fenris to direct her to a safe inn she knows and to give her Riftline fare to get there.

When she comes back, her hair is so soaked that it hangs over her ears. She shakes it out as she watches the weird transaction. How is taking cash for information really a thing? Outside of newspaper subscriptions. And books. Okay, never mind I guess.

[Purple Eagle]

[Aimless Shenanigans]

In that case, Skeletron is more important! He focuses a small part of his senses to scan the vault, seeing if the robster is still there, but just for a quick scan.

Helping Eao with Skeletron is more important.

There's an explosion! Unaffected by the flames, Zabb keeps flying towards Skeletron with a battle cry. His sword disappears, and with the sword hand he scoops up some flame and fashions it into a flaming lance, which is then thrown at Skeletron's head.

Hmm, if he's a skeletron, it should be possible to enter his head and cause damage from within... so Zabb beams a message to Eao's mind. "Enter his head and cut it from inside, Eao!" That way he won't be able to try swatting anything!

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Kraken Open a Book]

So!

How well do our aquatic friends read Azari? Or maybe Akkadian? Have they brushed up on their Ugaritic or Minoan recently? What about Egyptian hieroglyphics?

If not, then reading the books might be kind of hard.

Or...

Maybe a lot hard.

Since most of them are written in extinct languages that no living person has uttered for millennia.

And if the CAN read them? Then wow! They're going to learn a whole lot about curses! Most of them rituals for cursing gods and demons of the underworld. There's this one snake called Apep who apparently no one likes.

The irrelevant person, meanwhile, watches the goings on.

Irrelevantly.

[Kraken Open a Book]

Oh boy, ancient extinct languages!

...

Turns out Suzie speaks about three of them, as the flicks through various books and mutters the odd word or two.

But reading the books here is going to take forever! This simply won't do!

Within moments, Suzie is a whirlwind of books as she grabs them by the tentacleful of the shelves, scans a couple of pages, then sets them aside. "Yes, yes, yes, no, yes, no, no, yes, no, yes, yes, no..." And on and on it goes.

"Are you finding anything useful, Minion?" She asks, half-surrounded by a veritable fortress of books stacked around her.

[Hattish Thing]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

The child, a little elvish girl, by the looks of it, brushes matted silver hair out of her eyes in order to get a better look at the detective. His nod is not enough to comfort her, but she's less on edge. She'll simply pull the muddy, threadbare cloak she's using as a blanket over her face once again, desperately trying to get some sleep among the roaches.

Once Michalson turns the corner, he'll find himself face to face with a rusty metal door as well as a boarded up window. Light shines through the boards, a clear sign of life ahead. Music, also, can be heard. Whatever it is, the bass thrums through the walls, here. Whatever's producing the music must be just on the other side of this door.

It's not unguarded, however. A heavily tattooed man leans up against the door.

He'll glance at Michalson. "... ... ..."

--

Spoiler: Tattoo Man

Show

---

[SciTech Laboratories]

Good, the immediate threats were dealt with. Now to navigate the issue at hand. Perhaps if she simply stood up slowly? "No, Cleodora. Don't try it, don't be ridiculous." Ugh, ignore her. Just push through it. "Nrgh, damn! Hhnnnn." Gods, that hurt. "You knew that wouldn't work, and yet you did it anyway, stupid girl." Cascade attempts to regulate her breathing, but its difficult - she's unfocused. "You're an impatient little worm, Cleodora. Our ribs are broken, at least two judging by how terrible that felt." A short, sharp breath. "So I gathered, nrgh. Don't have time for this." Was she bleeding internally?

"Yes, but I do. I've all the time in the world, and I'll not have you make this dreadful eternity of ours any more painful than is necessary." Ignore her, visualizing rising up. "I always have to remind you to take things slow." Rather than continue to focus on her breathing, Cascade reaches up to undo the clasps of her breastplate. "I know. I don't have time to kill." The voice becomes somewhat fainter. "Oh, there's no time to kill, nor time to waste at all." Unhelpful as always. Once free of her metal breastplate, she'll will herself into the air.

Where next? Hm, where next... What was there?

[Morty]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

"Sir." It takes some effort for Michalson to shed the thinking of a streetwise adventurer and put on the polite, passive face of law enforcement. He can't weasel or trick his way in this time. "I am looking for a person who may be inside and may have information in a missing people case I'm pursuing. I need access to the building."

[Hattish Thing]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

The hulking mountain person at the door grunts in acknowledgement as Michalson introduces himself. It doesn't take long for his eyes to narrow. There's scrutiny there, scrutiny and genuine distaste. After several seconds, he just lets out a long, drawn out sigh. "Listen, buddy. I'm tired. Not in the mood." It'd been a long night, his employer's clientele had been exceptionally rowdy. "Access ain't on the table. You know it, I know it. Wouldn't be standing out here in the friggin' rain if it was."

"Shove off, flatfoot." God, he hated this job.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Riftline -> Office Park]

[Continued from Outside]

The stop for Office Park is an indoor station with several platforms and a parking structure for personal vehicles. Sidewalks and bike paths wind their way around fountains, convenience stores and rain gardens to the various office buildings nearby. June can watch the streetlamps turn themselves off in the light of the rising sun.

Finally, at Wanessa's building, an exhausted-looking gray-skinned humanoid in a gray pantsuit with striking red and yellow horns sits at a security desk and greets June as she pushes her way through the office's frankly gigantic revolving glass door. "'morning. can i 'elp you?"

[5a Violista]

[-> Office Park]

June laughs at the thought that Wanessa is one of those partner characters. Yeah, now that she mentioned it, June can kind-of see it. Hopefully the vampire isn't one of those annoying ones.

On the train, she considered talking with some of the other people, but ultimately decided to just say 'hi' and leave it there this time.


Once arriving at Office Park, she looks around. Wow, this place looks pretty neat. And the sunrise feels really nice on her skin.


"Hi," she says with a smile, at the night shift security desk guard. She holds up business card - partially to make a show of being here for an official reason, but also partially to make sure she gets Wanessa's name right. "So...Wanessa asked me to come here," she says, "and bring her suitcase in to her office."

And,
suddenly remembering the state of her clothes, June suddenly feels self-conscious. She probably looks like a mess. Dried mud, dried slime, sweat, neck friction burn, and not even wearing professional-looking clothes. Hopefully the security doesn't mind? At least her shirt has (some) buttons. Maybe if June is friendly and oblivious enough, it'll be fine. "So could you tell me how to get to her office? Thanks!"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Office Park]

On further inspection, her card says her name is Wanessa Glupiecski. The name of the company? Rakdosbucks. The logo emblazoned on the card, on the front of the security desk, and most likely on her baseball cap from before are all of a coffee cup wearing a horned masque.

"the one in m't', right? i'll call 'er an' let 'er know you're 'ere," the security guard rattles off. She dials an extension on the desk phone and lets it ring for a moment.

A ring tone goes off in the suitcase. The guard sighs and hangs up the phone. "'ey Wanessa."

"Hey Postac," says the suitcase.

"floor b2, first 'vater on the left."

When it comes to the point where the elevator door closes, Wanessa lets herself out of the suitcase with a sigh of relief.

"The basement is connected to a tunnel network that goes between all of the buildings in Office Park," she says before the doors even open. "That's how I usually get around during the day. The office we're going to is going to be down the hall on the right, with a key card lock. But, enough about me. Now that we're here, what does June need? Besides the magic lint roller, I mean."

[bc56]

Taking Zabb's advice, Eao tries to finish her hole and get inside the head. She's looking a bit burnt from the fiery explosion a second ago. Unlike the others, she didn't shield herself in any way from it, just taking the hit without stopping her attack.

[5a Violista]

[Office Park]

June smiles as she waits patiently for the phone call and everything to be sorted out.

"B2," she repeats. "Got it. Thanks."


Now that Wanessa is out of the suitcase, June tries to hand it back to the vampire.
She didn't consider this before, but accommodations like tunnel networks for vampires makes sense. Like, they're probably in the same category as automatic doors and wheelchair ramps. "Yeah, that makes sense, with the tunnels and all."

But what does June need? "Um..." It's easy to think of things she wants, but not really things she needs. "I want to learn how to resist mind control and stuff, and probably figure out how to do magic and stuff, or some place to learn it, but it all sounds like it would take a while."

However. "But I guess the only thing I really need is, I guess, practice flirting and knowing how to get good tis as a bar server." And everything else she can take her own time learning.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Office Park]

"I see! Did she get a job at a bar recently?" Wanessa accepts the suitcase handle and raises a hand to her chin as she thinks out loud. "Well, flirting's not really my thing... but, people do say I have good fashion sense..." She looks June up and down. "Does she already have clothes for work? Or was she planning a shopping trip?"

The elevator reaches B2 and opens up into the basement tunnels, letting them proceed to the office. "Of course, my first idea would make her immune to basic mind whammies, and then I could teach her some spells, too..."

She scans her wallet and finger on a sensor next to the door to her office. "Here we are! A darkened maze of cubicles under a projector displaying several windows of arcane information on one wall. It looks like a data center's operations room, or maybe the bridge of an extremely low-budget starship."

Individual cubicles are decorated with the interests of their occupants; it would seem that at least two seem to be obsessed with acrobats and harlequins. If one looks for Wanessa's cubicle, its walls are decorated with a bunch of video game-related pins. Legend of Zelda partner indeed.

Wanessa walks to an empty cubicle that definitely does not have her name on it, punches and pops open a drawer that was almost certainly locked, and pulls out an object resembling a metal lint roller that has been polished to a mirror sheen. "But first, here. This is Gary's cleaning tool. Gary's very protective of it and keeps telling me to get my own because he knows I can afford it, but it's not like it's fragile or anything, so I don't care."

She hands the tool to June. It's not hard to figure out how it functions, though it might still do something neither of the night owls were expecting.

[5a Violista]

[Office Park]

"Yeah! I did get a job at one," June says, nodding. "I've already got one outfit and have plans for getting more." As soon as she makes enough money to pay for it. Which is why getting more tips will make that faster.
She exits the elevator and follows to the office.

The first idea for basic immunity and things: "That does pretty useful," she says. Hopefully it doesn't have some unmentioned downsides. First ideas usually have downsides.

The cleaning tool actually looks pretty fancy. "So it just works like it looks it does, right?" she asks, verifying. She's used lint rollers before, but for dog hair. She tries it out.

...

Turns out Gary was really frustrated with it getting borrowed without permission, so he wanted to punish Wanessa.

Sure, it cleans up the dirt and slime and everything else.
But it turns her brown shirt amethyst, her gray athleticwear bottoms turn teal, her coral socks turn lavender, and her black shoes turn jade.
"Was...was that supposed to happen?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Office Park]

Wanessa looks over the recolored clothes, confused. "That's odd. It hasn't done that before." She takes the roller back and rolls it across Gary's keyboard. "Sure enough! It takes off the dust but leaves behind a candy rainbow of keys. So, either Gary somehow broke it in a very specific way, or someone is playing a prank on him."

This conclusion is wrong, but when Gary comes in for his shift, he'll probably assume she figured him out and confettified his keyboard in vengeance.

"Well, I guess she has some colorful new clothes now. Actually, I wonder if we could reapply it until she got just the colors she wanted..."

She uses the roller on her own muddy jeans and shoes a few times, instantly coloring them yellow and orange and not budging them from there. She sighs. "Nope. No coloring what's already been colored, I guess. I guess that would probably cause an infinite loop or something. At least she already had the plans to get more. I think her shirt and trousers look better this way anyway, honestly. Brown isn't very flirty, and everything else can work in the right outfit..."

A rotund human employee in a cap just like Wanessa's scans his badge, walks in, and nods to June and the vampire before proceeding to his own cube. "Good morning to Jean Claude. June doesn't need to worry; he's not Gary."

Jean Claude audibly snorts at this observation. "Morning to you too two too. To. ...I'ma sit here and drink my coffee now."

"...but we should probably go somewhere else before I go into detail about repaying her. It's kind of... personal."

After dropping the roller back in its drawer, Wanessa leads June out to the hall and to the women's restroom before elaborating.

"So, my idea involves giving her a potion made from my blood," she says once she's sure they're alone. She stands next to the sink and draws a razorblade that she had hidden up her sleeve like it's the most natural thing in the world. "Which... isn't really a potion, or even really that involved; she'd just be ingesting the blood itself. It would grant the magic power she needs to practice without needing the equivalent of a college degree. Would that interest her?"

[5a Violista]

[Office Park]

Oh.
"Well, on the bright side," June remarks, "they actually look like good colors and kind-of go well together."

She watches the experiments to see how the roller is working now. To be honest, June probably would have experimented with it, too, if she knew the owner of the roller, too. "Yeah, seems like some kind of prank," she agrees. "Actually kind-of glad I didn't think to use it to clean my hair or my skin."

She nods back at Jean Claude.
"...Okay. Let's go."

She follows her over, and to into the women's restroom.

So. In the privacy of the restroom, she thinks about the idea. She considers the merits of it. Pros: based on her first-day experience here in the Nexus, being able to resist basic mind-control is a must that needs to be solved ASAP. Being able to practice magic also seems like a great benefit that could possibly save her life in the future or prevent her from being kidnapped by animated sinks or cultists again. Cons: Vampire...depends on the kind of story, she supposes, but it seems like it could make her have vampiric traits. Or maybe even be a vampire. Or maybe that would require drinking enough of it? She really hopes she doesn't develop a thirst for blood. Drinking anyone else's blood other than her own just seems...weird. "If I drink it, will it make me allergic to sunlight or something?" she wonders. But, even if it does...after getting enough practice and getting a decent start, she's sure there's got to be some way to reverse it. So...regardless of sunlight allergies, so long as sunlight just won't straight-up kill her or something, it seems like a good enough trade-off.

She ultimately decides, "I mean, yeah. It interests me. Let's do it. I mean, thanks."

[Rebonack]

[Slums]

Fenris is safely off to make sure she doesn't maul anyone when she transforms. That would be a terrible way to make a first impression on people.

Meanwhile!

The transient takes the coin, bites it, then stuffs it into one of his many pockets. "I seen these little bug people buzzing around. Thought I was trippin' but I think they're real. Whenever I'm asleep I can feel their little fingers in my brain. Ever since they showed up things have been getting worse. Always been bad, but you know things can always get worse."

Not a great life philosophy but basically accurate.

"Every time I seen 'em they're coming from the park. Park used to be a good place to camp but not since the bug people came. Folks disappeared if you get my meaning."

Well!

That sounds sinister.


[Metroplos Square]

It takes some doing to reach the door that shouldn't be there. Shelves need to be pulled out of the way. But it is quite possible.

Inside?

It's pretty gross.

Tar everywhere. It looks like it should be some sort of supply closet but the back wall is just gone and replaced with... something else. A shaft descending into the earth full of hissing steam, stone, sand, and whirring machinery. There's a scaffold surrounding a central pump that could be descended. It looks almost like an oil derrick? But it's warped somehow. Malign. Just looking at it fills Jade with a profound sense of hopelessness.

There isn't any need to climb, though. Morning Glory and two shoe store employees are glued to the ceiling with tar. Morning Glory waves at Jade silently. Then suddenly looks quite alarmed, pointing back behind her.

That's the second clue that it has arrived.

The first is that world has gone dead silent again.

The tar-baby is once again standing in the wallway looking horrible.


[Aimless Shenanigans]

Oh wow lots of people tossing stuff at Skeletron now. Another hole seared into its skull, too.

But then Eao climbs into that nexus of necrotic power and decides to just camp out a bit.

Skeletron is really upset about this. It decides to display its displeasure in its favorite way! By launching both of its flaming fists! One at Zabb and the other at Lapis! Lapis is pretty ready for this and Drifts, shrinking out of existence only to appear a few seconds later to rake her thing which is like a sword through Skeletron's ribs. She's immediately swarmed by smaller skeletons, but in spite of their pummeling she's doing pretty well!

As for the vault...

It looks like Skeletron's thermobaric blast was pretty unhealthy for the mobster robster that stole the pendant. Maybe he should have gotten out of the vault right away? Maybe he should have known better than invoking a fowl spirit from the underworld? Either way he's been pulped and incinerated and there's another skeleton ambling out of the vault wearing the Amulet of Skeletron. THIS skeleton looks about two hundred percent more metal than the rest of the skeletons. Not JUST on fire, on fire and covered in intimidating looking spiky iron armor! And with a scary looking horned helmet!


[SciTech Laboratories]

A breastplate lies on the floor, discarded.

Along with four mooks, all unconscious.

The ground floor of the building appears to be mostly just the lobby and a few no-security displays showing all the amazing products made by SciTech Labs. You know the sort, little tables with pamphlets and flat screen TVs showing looping adds. There's an elevator that looks to have been forced open. A secure elevator you would typically need an ID card to access. Apparently Master MagniGauntlet isn't impeded by such trivial things. Our hero could probably float up the elevator shaft after them to the upper high security floors-

-or she could take the stairs like a pleb. Either walking or floating up through the middle of the stairwell.

Oh, wait, they have a little caffee!

And there's a scientist cowering behind an overturned table!

"H-hey! You're a hero right?" he calls out. "You've got to stop that mad-man! He's after our magnet cores up on the twelfth floor!"

Thanks for the useful directions guy!

[Deathkeeper]

[Slums]

"Huh. Maybe some kind of pixie like I met on the train." But probably nicer than that little swarm. They seemed pretty tame.
"Well, we got our place. Let's go." Off to the park! That step went shockingly smoothly, at least. The park is only a few blocks away; Hector can see the trees over the squat buildings. So they don't need to waste time asking for directions.

[bc56]

That does it. From now on, when she goes out, Jade's keeping a projector in her purse. Maybe she should make a special one for that purpose, one that's easy to use quickly. But this is the priority now. She whirls around, facing the tar baby and brandishing the goop pendant at it. She wobbles a bit from the quick motion while wearing heels. "You want this?" Her voice is cold.