Seaside 5: Kinda like One Piece without the anime

[Recaiden]

Okay Anchor. Stay focused. You are here to destroy the saint, and help Zophiel.
Don't forget.
Get close to the monster.

Of course, she's interrupted by stone arms coming up everywhere.
So what Anchor does is jump up and try to travel, unsteadily, across the top of the hands, stomping on fingers, stepping from barnacle to barnacle-
Until one of them grabs onto the end of the spear!

Luckily Zophiel threw that exploding darkness sword in at just the right moment. If the hand is pierced and pulled by the threads, Anchor should get over them, close enough to throw the spear in at the sleeping saint. I think her position is precarious enough that she'll be falling to the floor afterward, though.

[Earl of Purple]

Forgotten Coast

Frigate stays out of this part of the conversation, as he might very well be the same age as the child, or younger. He doesn't have parents, and his creator is dead.

He follows the swordsman, though he's still holding his pistol. It needs to be unloaded carefully before it's put back in its box.

[Morty]

[River Delta]

Calm Reed will go to the town, where she'll assure the folk that their local spirit should understand his duties now. She'll then proceed to preach and teach them about the proper order of things. Such as that they do need to respect and venerate Haajuk for his work, as long as he performs it and doesn't ask too much. And that they must do the work assigned to them with righteousness and obedience.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Workout Beach]

"Right, okay! Thanks," Beth says. She takes Karasu's rowing instruction well. "Not sure what part of that constitutes a story. My sister kind of kept me cooped up for a lot of it. Which, okay, yeah, that's probably not normal, is it?" She pauses as they get through the next turn, and has to punctuate her speech for strokes as they pick up the pace. "...so, before we came here, she stole me from our dad, which was also a whole thing, but don't worry about it, and then we took up shadowrunning for a while, and then she made enough money, to keep me hidden, and go to school, with a new identity."

Another turn. "...and I guess she had me on her, when some teleport thing happened, and sent us here. Since then, not much, at least for me. It still feels weird, being out and about, with nothing to do or run from, but I'm getting used to it. It's normal, right?"

While Beth's talking, Karasu is the first to spot several small red-and-white buoys that seem out of place. They're just floating around right in the path of the course, and the boat is about one second away from bumping into them. Obviously, that normally wouldn't be a big deal, right? They probably just floated away from their ropes at some point.

*clunk* *bzzt!* *plunk* *kzat!*

On contact, the buoys shiver and crackle with electricity as they spin around, revealing pairs of angry eyes.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Selekhael is temporarily crippled by the Saint's assault on her senses! Thankfully it isn't awake, otherwise the counter attack would have been far more unpleasant.

Benedict lets fly with his flesh-flaying necrotic attack! This actually works pretty great. But the odd thing he'll discover is that every single layer that's peeled away looks exactly like the layer below it. Just sma-

Wait, no.

Bigger?

The Saint is apparently bigger on the inside and it has already nearly doubled in size. This... might be harming it? It's honestly hard to tell. The Saint probably noticed, though, since it just let lose a wave of entropic power in Benedict's general direction. Its aim appears to be off, though. And the strength of the blast isn't nearly as nasty as what just hit Zoph. So the various numbing assaults seem to be working.

Then another pretty cool sword-toss right into the middle of the forest of arms. Quite a few of the limbs are skewered and yanked toward the sword, giving Anchor a clearer path.

And, finally, a spear is cast.

A spear flies true.

A spear pierces the thing that ought not be.

There's no flash of light. No peal of thunder. No ominous rumbling.

It's gone.

Simply gone.

Banished from this world.

With no will to serve as their impetus the remaining arms fall still. The assaults on Selekhael and Zoph fade.

That's...

That's it.

They did it.

They did it!

Our heroes have stopped the doom that came to Marlick Bay!

Also Selekhael's reliquary just filled up a bunch, whatever that means.

[bc56]

Selekhael breathes deeply. It's done. And she feels... More, somehow? She got something from that fight. Something she can't quite describe. Fuller. Almost like she just had a good meal, but in an indescribable metaphysical sense. "Phew. I'm, uh, tired."

[Purple Eagle]

[Workout Beach]

Karasu listens attentively as they both row, noting the similarities to her sister-in-law's past, and even her own. All of a sudden, she finds Beth a lot more interesting, and even easy to relate to. They even did shadowrunning, how cool is that?

She's already mentally preparing her answer when she spots the buoys, noting how odd they look. Keeping her eyes on them, she starts to reply, managing to get a few words out before the crackles. "Cool! It's a little bit similar to my big brother and I's story, we... BETH!" She gasps when the angry eyes reveal themselves, letting go of an oar so she can generate some ink spikes to fling at the robotic critters. The spikes are harder than normal ink could ever be, hard enough to be used as lethal weapons if necessary.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Workout Beach]

"Huh?"

Beth looks over her shoulder to see what she just trundled into. Three buoy-bots dive underwater and launch back up to jump onto the boat. Karasu's knives deftly shoot one out of the air! The other two bounce into the space between the rowers and send arcs of electricity their way.

For her part, Beth jumps to her feet and picks up one of the extra oars for attacking purposes. She has to grit her teeth and tank the first shock before she can start swinging it around, but she keep her balance and knock one of the critters out of the boat easily enough.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Oh
It's over.
Is...is the spear still around, or did it vanish with the Saint?

Zophiel, seeing that there, at least, appears to be a break, feels like it's time to heal from the entropy, to keep at least one of the seals intact. As before, he places his hands over where it's the worst. The gauntlets unravel into threads that stitch together the wounds, and start healing.

In spite of being healed, his legs feel weak and he falls to his knees. Everything seems to be going darker...did getting rid of the Saint end the mysterious lighting here, or...?

OH
RIGHT
BREATHING
THAT'S A THING

Zophiel takes a deep breath.
And another.
And another.
And ano- okay, that's fine now.

"So did it flee or did we stop it?" he asks. That's an important question, obviously. And, he looks around to take stock of everyone: "And is everyone alright?" Especially Anchor, because she was the only one being actively attacked.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Benedict yelps and dives out of the way, landing hard and winding himself. Fortunately, what he did seems to have... Well, it did something. Made it easier to hit, if nothing else. That was particularly odd, though. Physically dissecting it made it bigger, and none of it actually helped him learn about it. Still, it's gone now, and... that's disappointing. Benedict, once he's got his breathe back and stood up, heads to where the Saint was and looks for any traces it may have left behind. A relic, perhaps, or just something else that might be useful in the future, even if it's another swirly amulet.

[Shadowcaller]

[BOMBomercials - At the beach]

Blanche and Anika have traveled to the spot, they have prepared and now finally they’re going to start filming the commercial pieces which are going to be quite a few apparently.

Azil Puddlewick, the director, is standing at the beach in front of them and the rest of the crew with script in hand. Currently he’s only wearing sunglasses, a pair of swim trunks and what would likely be recognized as a hawaii shirt on earth.
“Alright, alright, ladies and gentlemen I present to you your menu for the evening.” He holds up the script and gestures towards it. “If you haven’t had the time to read it don’t worry as I and miss Gilbing here are going to be laying it down for you.” He indicates towards the goblin lady by his side, wearing a pair of even larger sunglasses and dressed in what you’d get if you mixed a gold-colored business suit with a bathing suit.
She seems to be some kind of business person though Blanche hasn't really gotten a good grasp of what she’s doing here.
Miss Gilbing corrects her glasses and turns to the crew. “It’s really simple. As you might already have guessed, Miss Turath is supposed to sit on that prop-bomb over there and then we will pull it to make it move as she pretends to ride it.”

She gestures at the contraption that has been set up behind her in the water. It’s a fake missile which is suspended in the air by a number of nearly invisible wires attached to a crane which in turn was on a small set of rails that had been set up underneath the water near the beach.

Azil raises his hand and waves the script in the air. “But it isn’t just that. We also need a shorter clip of that and then a couple of photos so it will likely take a while.”

“Mm… so, any questions?” Miss Gilbing eyes the crew and soon has to crank her poor neck all the way up to see Anika’s waving hand. “Yes the… giant purple lady.”

“Anika.” The druid is quick to correct as she puts her hand down. “So how do, like, capture it? On the screen I mean?”

Azul crosses his arms over his chest. “Any questions that don't involve me explaining how cameras work? Since I’ve already attempted to explain air planes, radars and microwaves to you lady and we got a job to do now.”

[Recaiden]

Is the environment still full of weirdness? Otherworldly light and bubbles of possibility? Or did that leave with the saint?

Anchor turns to look over everyone, and takes a step towards Zophiel as he drops to his knees...oh, but he seems alright.
"We're okay."
Time to take a deep breath.
"It's over. We've banished it."
She heads over to recover the spear, if it's still there. Walking slow, taking her time.

Her shadow sprawls itself out by the edge of the wall in a melodramatic display of fatigue.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

The alien geometry and fantastical terrain have all likewise been banished along with the Saint. The spear is hanging in mid-air, its tip lodged in a pin-prick in reality. The only breach remaining from the Saint's departure. A weak-point in the veil. It's quite likely that it will return to here, eventually. Maybe in months. Maybe in years. Maybe in decades. Maybe long after humanity has gone extinct and sapient rodents have inherited the earth. It's hard to guess. Time is a strange thing here.

Benedict will discover that there is, in fact, something left behind.

Not a Relic.

An Icon.

Space and time and motion and entropy, endlessly turning and whirling and spiraling in on itself. It hovers just above the ground, surreal in its appearance. The eyes are drawn to it and all else looks like a pale shadow in comparison. Touching it is probably unwise. Though it's debatable whether or not touching it is even possible. It's more like an abstraction than a physical object.

Selekhael will know immediately that it isn't for her. She's already gotten her prize for banishing the Saint. If left here it might grow into a shrine. Or perhaps one of her fellow adventurers will claim it. One way or the other, it will accomplish what it was sent forth to accomplish. That much is certain.

[bc56]

"Uh, what now?" Hopefully no one takes much interest in Selekhael now that Neshiyahel is gone. After all, she is a similar sort of creature.

[5a Violista]

Zophiel also takes his time to recover. He needs to get used to breathing again, after all.

"That's good," he says. That was...honestly, about as simple as he had expected. If the others hadn't showed up, it would've been pretty difficult, but with all of them here it ended up being simple.

Once he's done, he stands up again and goes over to the sword he threw so that he can retrieve it. They are pretty important swords, after all.

"Not really sure what'll happen next." With the town, with the people whose loved ones walked out into the ocean, with...etc.

[Vahnavoi]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

Somewhere on Seaside, a new island is being born. The water steams and roils as magma pours from a deep crack in the seabed, black rock emerging from the waves like giant, cancerous bubbles. At some places, the forming terrain is pushed aside from below and new, orange hot molten rock pours to the surface like blood from a wound that refuses to heal. The lava trickles down the cooling black surface, until it hits the water and sinks into the sea with an angry hiss.

But, there is something on this primordial terrain that does not belong: a structure. Specifically, a pyramid, apparently of blinding white chalk with a golden top. The visible part is roughly 12 meters in height with sides around 17 meters at the base, but it looks like it could extend deep underground into the barely solidified basalt. It appears slightly slanted, as if it was pushed up from the depths of earth or carried by waves of lava. Despite its flawless exterior, it feels ancient, like it has stood in place for thousands of years, despite this being obviously impossible given its surroundings.

Approaching it seems foolhardy; the island is hardly stable and it may take years before the eruption shaping it concludes. But, Nexus and its oceans are inhabited by many strange beings, with equally strange and inventive means of turning opportunity to profit. Maybe the on-going geological process is of interest to some researcher - or maybe a pirate ship passing by just can't resist the idea of a big, fat chunk of gold just lying there under the open skies...

[Hattish Thing]

[Forgotten coast]

The fisherman scoffs at this somewhat insulting idea.

"If you were the old master," he retorts, "you would not feel the need to posture to children."

He holds his daughter close when the swordsman kneels down, clearly uncomfortable with the situation at hand but wary to act, lest he worsen the situation. Things were already incredibly tense, after all. The girl herself just nods, primarily in the hopes that the scarily large man would simply leave her be.

Once the pair of strangers leaves, the fisherman rushes his daughter back into the tent and resumes his campside vigil, his mood thoroughly soured.

It does not take long for the pair to discover a gnarled old tree. A sign has been bolted onto it.

In the distance, the lights of a township are seen.

[Vahnavoi]

[Forgotten coast]

The swordsman nods happily at the sight of the sign. The old man was being truthful. As they get closer to the town, he extinguishes the ball of fire on his hand. "I hope someone's still up to offer us some lodging", he remarks to Frigate. "If not, I may have to go and find those caves myself just so I don't have to sleep outside."

Frigate might guess that the swordsman is thinking of going to those caves regardless, but he puts in token effort to find some other shelter. However, by sunrise at latest, he sneaks off, heading back towards the hill and the old man's campsite. He's not planning on being seen by him or his daughter, though. He'll do his best to stay just out of their sight, tracking them if he has to, while following them to the caves.

[Reinholdt]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

A motorboat approaches with a catgirl sporting blue furred tail and ears, vivid pink eyes, and some sickly coloring around the cheeks riding in it. Leah forgot how much she hated boats until she was on one and she grasps at the amulet around her neck for comfort before another visit to the side of the boat. In particular, a stone amulet with a gold chain engraved with a three pointed crown under a crescent with five rays extending from it that give the impression of a rising sun. It's the singular highlight of her attire, the rest of it being both drab and highly conservative, both practical and reserved enough to not stand out in the least, a feat that can only be intentional. The only other thing of note is the one-handed mallet by her side. The kind of thing used to drive in tent pegs, it has the same image from the amulet set into both faces of the hammer, raised in bas-relief.

The second she gets close enough, Leah hops onto the island, mindful of the hotter segments and instantly sighs relief. This felt way more stable than those choppy waters ever would. Being an earthbender, she was hired by a local population to check this place out and see if this recent formation of land was natural or... forced. Of course, she had her own agenda, having looked for just such a job in the first place. She may have kept Ohlamel from returning, but the One Way, the terrible blinding melody, still haunts her thoughts even though she cannot hear it anymore. The Watcher she inherited her tools from also gave a small mention of the Sunken City, hoping it would never rise. This was the first Sunken anything that had risen and she had to check it out.

Even more than that, was the Pyramid itself, which she now starts making her way towards cautiously. It look like it stood outside of time. An anomaly that has not shown up in any of her and her sister's exploration of the timelines. Getting out of the darkest timeline was a priority and their loops thus far hasn't born much in terms of fruit. Ironically enough, the implements of the Watcher kept Leah grounded in time, which did not allow her to loop anymore in search of a better future, but made her the ideal scout for the sisters in checking out temporal anomalies.

Of which there was no proof that this was as of yet. There are magical conceptions that can protect a location from age. Only one way to find out.

[Vahnavoi]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

There is no easy way to eliminate the possibility that the volcanic activity was somehow triggered by the pyramid, but if it was, nature has been allowed to take its course since then. As Leah approaches the structure, there's a disturbance in her inner ear. From a distance, the pyramid seemed slanted, but when within two hundred meters of it, it seem perfectly perpendicular to the observer, its peak pointing to the sky, its base level - with everything else tilted to the side, including the sea and the ground beneath her feet. Careful observation would suggest it's not merely a hallucination - the way lava and steam move near the base of the pyramid, the way rocks are formed, et cetera, pointing towards gravity itself being warped by its presence.

If she tries to use earthbending to gauge the real size of the structure, she'll find that the stone the pyramid is made of - if it is stone at all - is "dead" to such scanning methods. They don't reach beyond its surface, the entire thing feels like a massive black box or empty space. However, following the edges, it is possible to tell how deep into the basalt it goes. The visible portion is but a fraction of the entire thing - including the underground parts, it is a regular octahedron, comparable in volume to two Kheops pyramids stacked on top of each other.

[Rebonack]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

Ever seen a pink portal before? Or maybe slightly more magenta. Somewhere between those. A swirling torus of eldritch power, darkening toward black at the center, with little ribbons of darkness flittering through it. It rends itself open a foot or two off the surface of the volcanic island and, for a bare few moments, does nothing of any particular interest.

Aside from, perhaps, lowering the ambient temperature notably.

Then something comes out of the portal.

Or, rather, two somethings.

The first is an awful monster. It looks like it might have been human at some point, but it stopped being that a lot time ago. It's still roughly human in shape, though flesh has given away to bottomless cosmic darkness and baleful points of light without the slightest hint of warmth. It's body is armored and jagged, as if fashioned from obsidian, but the nearby earth bender will know in an instant that there isn't an ounce of stone in this abomination. It's full of nothing.

The second something is a girl. Slight and skinny, she looks perhaps sixteen years old. Her dark brown hair is cropped short and her oddly pink eyes are fierce with determination. She's garbed in scrapped together clothing and armor that looks like it was cobbled together from junk steel, odds and ins, and even part of a tire for a pauldron. The only thing of any particular quality on her person is a sturdy backpack and an exquisite targe in pristine condition, wood overlaid with bronze. On the front of the shield in a raised emboss is what appears to be the face of both a stag and a wolf, their features blended seamlessly. An orb of magenta light pulses between the antlers like a heartbeat.

The horror hits the hot stone first, causing frost to spiderweb across the surface as heat is rapidly sapped from the ground.

The girl lands on top of it, rises to her knees, grips her targe with both hands, and begins smashing the rim of her weapon into the monster's neck.

After three sharp blows the horrid thing is decapitated.

Magdalene quickly stumbles away from the monster, glaring at it. "And (flower) you, too!" she yells at it. For good measure she spits on its rapidly dissolving corpse.

It takes her a few moments to realize that the ground is really hot.

"Ow! (Flower)!" she succinctly summarizes as she quickly dances her way to some footing that isn't quite so scalding. Thankfully her boots are pretty sturdy. "Where... what's this, an island?" she mutters, glancing around to get her bearings before spotting the cat-eared woman nearby.

"Oh, uh, hey? What's with the-" she begins, stepping toward Leah only to stagger when the definition of down suddenly shifts. "Woah. Thought I was done with this (rose). Hey is that (anise) the Insatiable Night chewing on stuff here too, because I've been dealing with his (cow parsnip) all day already."

It sounds like Magdalene is interpreting the distortion in gravity as relating to the horror she just murdered.

[Reinholdt]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

Leah has to close her eyes for a moment to overcome the wave of dizziness. She thought she had left it behind on the boat, but no, here she is. Thank goodness Rebekah isn't here to see her. Leah doesn't fully understand the gravity of the situation, but what she does understand is that this pyramid is unlikely made from actual stone given how it doesn't respond. Probably some highly advanced metal made to look like stone. It certainly is massiv-

"KYAAAH!" A portal, a monster, and a dumpster diver pile out in front of Leah and leave her flailing. If not for the sturdiness of her stance, she almost certainly would've fallen over on her rump. The monster is particularly distressing, too close to the void for comfort, too full of emptiness. But the dumpster diver is equally disturbing for her pink eyes, not entirely unlike Leah's. Was she another step-sibling? From the future? An alternate timeline? Was she a different dimension Leah? Just because Leah was grounded in time, didn't mean this pyramid, this potential time anomaly couldn't pull another her out from another time. Though she'd like to think she'd be dead in any timeline before she'd get caught wearing that.

"Hey! Heyheyhey!!" Leah exclaims, pointing at Magdalene. "Language! Mind your language!"

Congratulations, Magdalene, you've portaled to the only person without children who would ever care about the filth that spews from your mouth. The cosmic horrors never cease. "It is improper behavior for a young lady." Leah really doesn't look much older than Magdalene. Maybe 19, 20 at most.

[Rebonack]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

Okay.

So.

We got problems already.

Problem one?

"The (flower) is wrong with my language?" Magdalene inquires indignantly. She's honestly not one hundred percent sure what the problem is. The only time anyone has ever said anything like that to her before was when kids were around and given that this is a molten hellscape it sure doesn't look like there any kids nearby. Maybe this cat-eared lady just doesn't like profanity?

Pfft.

Well, tough (rose).

Problem two?

"You didn't answer my question. You know if this slanty (cow parsnip) is Night stuff or have we got some other half-dead god laying around (flowering) things up? Because I've already got geared up for dealing with void and cold stuff but if this is, like, some kinda volcano (anise) then I should probably pick up some fire-resist."

C'mon catgirl these are important strategic questions. Get with the program.

[Vahnavoi]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

For what it's worth, the pyramid is fairly cool. If they touch it or look at it through an infrared camera (etc.), they'll find the surface temperature of the above-ground portion hovers around 15 degrees Celsius on the sunny side, lower if they wander into the pyramid's shadow.

[UncleWolf]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will groans, even though with the wind and the dragon screaming past their ears no one can hear it. He shoves his empty pistol into its holster and wraps the fingers of his left hand around what would be his right bicep if it wasn't a piece of cold, humming metal. His right hand unfolds slightly away from the lens at the center of his palm, and as he squeezes gout after gout of crackling plasma flies at the dragon's face beside Titania's (frankly rather gross) biological weapon.
You know, if I wasn't seconds from death this would be really rad.

Operation Sea Slug

As the little group descends the dragon roars in pain. "Gyyaaah!"

As they keep soaring through the air, Leopold actually grinning toothily as they fall as if he was actually enjoying it for a moment, Titania actually gets a reply from the demonic core.
Like before it's not a reply in words but instead information.

She will learn the following things:

1. Azaries is capable of transporting her, but only her, to itself back at the bunker. So that was always an option.
2. Lannereth was nearby and there was a high probability that, based on their previous encounter, that she was coming to help them.
3. Its threat predictive analytic unit suggested that beings with a desire to destroy it (Azaries) had entered this world (the nexus) and thus its threat level had been heightened. While there was no enemies near it at the moment it had to inform Titania that if such an enemy would come near it, Azaries would have to gate her and any other unit connected to its location as a part of its self-defense program.
It suggested sharing the last piece of information with Lannereth as it was likely that she was motivated to sustain its existence.

She will learn all this in a blink of an eye, before she even tumbles and make contact with the ground. She can still hear the dragon roar but its unlikely it will be distracted for long. "Death is too good for you! I will send you all to a realm of eternal torturer and have you suffer for all eternity!"

Opeation Seaslug

Unfortunately for both Leopold and Will, Titania's landing is going to feel far more rough than it looks considering that despite being able to fall to her knees and take the brunt of the impact upon herself, they'd likely end up dazed and with more than just the wind knocked out of them given their ride on her shoulders. "Our best bet would be to try and link up with Lannereth, I believe." She decides, thinking it over as she checks her partners over for injuries. "Unless there is some point to us running through this forest apart from cover of course. Though now that the dragon is downed, it might also be the time to strike..." More than a small part of her, likely driven by her deeply ingrained sense of romantic chivalry, wanted to go and slay the massive beast. Then again, it was already quite dead despite its animation.

"Is it possible to transfer you into another vessel?" She asks the odd Intelligence within her.

[Deathkeeper]

Operation Sea Slug

Will clings tightly to Titania even as the impact presses him against her shoulder to the point of bruising. He wheezes, but manages to recover after a few seconds.
”My arm-gun barely scratched that thing. If you want to fight it, it’ll be just you.”
Will shakes his head. He would really rather not do that.
”Either of you know enough about demon magic to pick out a good spot for it? That’s probably where Lannereth went before all this happened.” Because why would a dusty mage like her leave a library if she could help it? To go do something probably.

[Reinholdt]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

"F-f-foul! It's foul!" Leah proclaims as Magdalene not only doesn't stop using profanity but also continues to use it! This was terrible! "Ahh, no! Lalalala LALALAAA!!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Leah completes this traditional warding prayer by covering her ears with her hands as she sings the song of her people.

It's a lie of course. She heard just about all of it. She swears, cat ears are such a curse sometimes. "I don't know anything about hungry half dead god knights. I'm just here to check out this pyramid." A fantastic idea. This gives Leah something to walk towards while she keeps her ears covered to protect her delicate purity. So she starts doing that, looking for some way to get inside.

[Vahnavoi]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

There are no visible entrances on the closest side of the pyramid - indeed, there are none on any side. However, when Leah gets within 10 meters of the pyramid, she experiences another shift in gravity: the closest side is now the new level ground and the ground she left behind is like the slope of a truly gigantic mountain. If Magdalene isn't following right at Leah's heels, she might see her sliding or falling towards the pyramid before experiencing it herself.

If Leah touches the pyramid, bright blue glyphs appear on the previously white surface, expanding out from the point of contact and forming a circle around her, two meters in diameter. Going clockwise, there are following motifs: a line of swastikas, with one dot above each, ascending towards a triangle; then, another line of swastikas without the dots, descending away from the triangle; a big swastika and a small swastika, with one dot above the big one, next to an empty triangle; then the same, but with the dot moved above the small swastika; big and and small swastika inside a triangle; and finally, a big swastika outside a triangle, with a small swastika with a dot above it alone inside it.

The same will happen if Magdalene touches the pyramid, but only if she similarly proclaims aloud that she's here to "check put the pyramid", and makes it to the structure before Leah. The last one to touch it will cause no visible change in it.

If either of them have equipment designed to protect them from telepathy etc. mind-affecting things, contact with the pyramid will cause those to gently warm up. If they have equipment or enhancements meant to actively alert them to the presence of such things, touching the pyramid should make those scream bloody murder.

[Rebonack]

[Pyramid on a volcanic island]

Wow.

That's a reaction alright.

"Oh, it bugs you?" Magdalene asks with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, I guess I can try cutting it out since we're doing this pyramid (ro-) ah, I mean. Stuff. Pyramid stuff together."

That was a close one, Magdalene.

She starts off toward the structure, notices Leah sliding, and braces slightly when she hits the same spot so she doesn't go tumbling head over heels. After dealing with warped space (cow parsnip) for most of the day already this isn't too bad. You just have to be quick on your feet is all.

Unless it reverses up and down all of a sudden.

That always sucks.

Then things appear!

Lots of little twisty symbols.

Magdalene has no idea is going on here.

"So... is there a door or something?" she mutters aloud before trying to poke at a dot on the ascending manji line.

That's the way of adventurers.

If you don't know what some weird glowing thing does, poke it until it does something neat.

[Shadowcaller]

Spoiler: Quotes

Show

Moonwell Convergence

Saint Lazarus knows she doesn't need to kill this demon. She just needs to keep it busy until the bear gets here. She swings for the demon's weapon, hoping that even if she doesn't slice off its fuel tank, she can at least put a bad enough dent in the thing to temporarily neutralize the weapon and give Anika an opportunity to maul the crap out its wielder. She's never fought with the druid before, but she has seen some nature videos, so she's fairly confident in the bear's ability to end this swiftly.

[Moonwell Convergence]

It's true: Awen's communicator is broken. Has been since she fell from that height.

She glances at the flamethrower demon, to see how effectively the others are taking care of it. And to make sure it's not going after her.

She can't really speed up the other demon sleeping, but she hopes it works out. She can't even speed it up. Really, all she can do is stay out of the way and start preparing for her next move. She makes sure her hair is securely holding onto the broom, so that she won't fall off...

And starts preparing a possession hex to use as soon as the demon appears to have fallen asleep. The witch really is lucky that the other two are distracting that demon, because doing this would be difficult if they weren't. Awen dips her fingers in her own blood like inking a quill, and then starts tracing three-dimensional shapes in the air in front of her. The shapes appear translucent in front of her.
And, when (if?) the demon falls asleep, she grabs the shape to crush it in her hands, completing the hex.
. . .
If it all works out, then her mind will then possess and control that sleeping demon's body.
If it doesn't, then obviously nothing happens.

Moonwell Convergence

Spoiler: Awen's Mind

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Awen will succeed, but not without complications.

She isn't the first person who has attempted to mind control one of these demons actually. Cass might not even recall everything that happened back then but perhaps Awen will live to tell the tale.

Awen will find herself suddenly being in control of the demon's body, but she isn't alone in there. If she has ever had telepathic communication with someone she will recognize what could be described as 'mental' voices communicating with her.
"-these ships cannot be replaced, theirs can. Turn around now." A dark booming voice within the mind she's inhabiting insists and she gets an emotional residue of frustration, anger and resignation from within it in response to it.

There are other voices, more like inaudible whispers, too but they're all drowned out when a new voice joins in. "INTRUDER ALERT. LINK INTRUSION IN LEGION UNIT 0000332." It sounds like one might imagine a robot or other artificial being might speak like, cold and metallic.

"What-"

"STARTING SEALING PROTOCOLS, THE UNIT MAY ABORT WITH THE WORD OF SECRETS." Awen might just find out what that means if she doesn't hurry.

In the physical world Saint Laz makes a swing for the demon fuel tank and manages to make enough of a dent in the fuel tank that a burst of flame escapes out of it. Saint Laz doesn’t manage to see much more of that however as the bear jumps the demon with a terrifying roar.

But as soon as Laz attempts to move her weapon again, she will notice that something is grabbing it. It’s not the demon, being far too preoccupied with fighting a bear, it’s an arm made of flames that is coming out of the dent in the demon's tank. It appears the owner of the arm is trying to pull itself out of the tank using Laz’s sword as something to grab onto.

Awen will, in the middle of hearing all those mental voices, see floating mist-made panels in front of her. All written in a language she doesn’t understand. She has a good view of the fact that they’re right on course for the VIGIL sky ship though.

[At the wheel]

“You should really ask em’ to just fire then, ma’am.” The flaming dwarf lady points out. “This one ain’t made for precision if ye’ catch mine drift.”
The cannons can’t really be angled on a ship like this, it would have to move itself into that angle.
Still, the incoming ships course seems to have changed slightly in that it's no longer changing at all. It's now moving straight ahead without realigning itself to match the movements of the VIGIL ship.