Outside 49: I don’t remember what it looks like either

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

Well, sounds like Krayger has to unhook the golem. Easier said than done but still a simple goal. Krayger lowers his shoulder and charges, aiming to tackle the golem and unhook it while it's unbalanced.
Minotaurs are rather good at charging.

[Zefir]

Secluded Forest

Hunter will enter the ruin, poking about the rubble for anything man-made he could find. He's not experienced with surface plants, so he's ignoring all of it on the basis that he doesn't know if it's edible or not. He's glad that he hasn't seen anything resembling an anemone on the surface, though that's making him incautious- he's assuming all the plants are harmless if touched, when that might not be the case at all.

He'll go downstairs after he's confident there's nothing on the surface of the ruin, finding his way down there by echolocation.

Spider Cave

"A necromancer is a wizard who raises the corpses of the dead to do his unholy bidding, and I see corpses raised to do your unholy bidding, necromancer! And of course people have seen the spiders- I need to test them in real environments, I can't simulate everything down here. Now go, leave, tell them there's nothing worth their lives in this hole and make them leave me alone so I can work in peace!" The voice is louder this time, and Karl could easily trace it back to the cupboard in which the Arachnartificer hides. More importantly, however, the large spider, previously lying still on the floor, is getting up and brandishing its pedipalps threateningly. Despite her words, the roboticist who created them would prefer not to kill Karl and the skeletons whilst they're present.

Spider Cave

"See, thats were you are wrong." he says. then he starts moving, slowly going near the walls in the direction of the voice. his skeletons will also walk around untill they notice the big one moving so they try to surround it or at least protect Karl from it. They don't attack for now.
"I am a summoner. I don't raise dead, I just summon them from another plane of existance. Those aren't what you label as undead. They are just beeings that look like skeleton." That's not really a good explanation, but it may buy him enougth time, so he hopes, to reach the hideout of the person,
If nothing mayor stops him he will just open the cupboard and say. "They don't do unholy stuff you know."

[bc56]

Kothar uses one finger to draw a circle in the dirt floor. "Fire is like animal. It needs proper cage, proper food, and proper space." He takes stones and bits of rubble from the basement floor and builds a ring around the circle he drew. "Cage. Stone keeps fire in place. Harder for embers to jump." He takes a bundle of papers and a few dry branches out of his pack and stacks them in the ring. "Food. Wood. Paper. Dry plants. Fire eats these things." He stands and gestures around the room. "Space. Even the strongest warrior chokes on smoke. Needs somewhere to go." He points to the entrance. "Now. Make fire."

[Recaiden]

"My coat?" Jade looks down and notices the stripes for the first time. "Oh!" She brushes an hand along her flank, as if to confirm her zebra stripes aren't going to come off when touched. She notices the other changes a few moments later. She didn't realize her bust had shrunk, or that she'd gained a little more muscle definition. She seems less girly and more tomboyish. "It's a curse on me. When I spend time around someone, I... Change. To become more attractive to them." At least that's what she assumes is happening.

"Yes, it-"
Did Jade really not know? It seems she's genuinely surprised.
"That sounds like it would- well, don't get any ideas." Just because you're attractive by definition doesn't mean anything.

Alice sets the drone aside and reaches back to one of her bags for some electrical tools.

[bc56]

"Don't worry, I won't. If I had any, you'd know." Because her appearance would have shifted much more dramatically if she did. "Believe me, I'm not planning anything... Untoward. I'm not really interested, honestly. That's why it's a curse."

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

The golem wasn't expecting to be charged, usually it does the charging. It's knocked off balance, and nearly falls over. The chain isn't quite taut, so now's the time to disconnect it. It doesn't resist as the chain is taken off the hook, ceasing to move and the glyphs crawling across its surface dissipating once the chain is removed. There's also a key hanging on the golem's hook, but it doesn't look like it fits the chest.

Spider Cave

"So you summon dead people. You don't even have the guts to kill people before you bring them back to a mystic mockery of life!" That's all she gets out before the cupboard is opened. Inside, there's a skinny woman in oil-stained aprons, holding a microphone in one hand and a remote control in the other. She stares up at Karl and the skeletons. "I press this button, I activate that big spider's self-destruct mechanism and we both die. You were just sent by people to investigate the spiders, right? You've investigated, now go away. Leave me in peace." She looks a little scared.

Secluded Forest

Hunter nods; that makes sense. He'll sit at the bottom of the ladder down and make a circle of stones, and try to start making fire. He's still not mastered the technique properly, so it takes a while.

[Recaiden]

"Don't worry, I won't. If I had any, you'd know." Because her appearance would have shifted much more dramatically if she did. "Believe me, I'm not planning anything... Untoward. I'm not really interested, honestly. That's why it's a curse."

That sounds a little ominous, Jade.
People usually can't read the narration to know what was meant.
"That does sound difficult. How did it happen?" Or perhaps Jade doesn't want to talk about the curse. But you'll only know by asking.

[bc56]

Open Field

"Some idiot was wildly slinging curses in a crowded tavern. I got hit bad." There isn't much more to tell. "That was a couple months ago. I've gotten used to it since then."

Secluded Forest

Once Hunter has gotten the fire going, Kothar sits down next to it. "Tell me. What on your mind?" The recent experiences Hunter went through are probably still going through his head. Kothar wants to talk about them, and understand how his apprentice is feeling right now.

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

Krayger pockets the key. He'll try it on the chest's lock just to make sure that it isn't a magic key that works anyway, but assuming it doesn't work he'll continue up the stairs that he spotted when he came in. He picks up his dropped gear on the way, of course.

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

It may very well be a magic key that works anyway, but unfortunately it's also a magic lock that seems to magnetically repel the incorrect key from being used- a ward that also works on lockpicks and other devices intended to bypass finding the correct key.

The key does open the door at the top of the stairs, however, though it doesn't have a traditional lock- there's an inset brass plate on the door shaped like the key. The door pops open if it's pressed against it. On the other side of the door, there's another staircase on the opposite side of the room, and in the middle stands a tall mirror. Krayger is reflected in the mirror, but there's a difference. The mirror's flipped around, so something on his left wrist is shown on the reflection's right. There is nothing else in the room, the flagstone floor bare.

Secluded Forest

"How dangerous fire is. I had no idea it was so hungry, that it could burn the coral up there. Even if the coral did look bleached and lifeless. I could have been the first triton to be fired to death, and I wouldn't have been able to stop it."

[bc56]

Kothar nods. "Fire is a fickle friend. We use it for much, but it is dangerous to keep." He retrieves a rabbit from his pack, dead, of course, and begins skinning it with one of his knives. "Fire makes light and warmth, cooks food, and eats everything it can. You would do well to learn what it fears, and what it cannot touch."

[Earl of Purple]

Secluded Forest

"I know it cannot touch water. I have seen ships burn, and the parts below the surface of the sea don't burn." It's where tritons get most of their metal artefacts, shipwrecks. Occasionally trading with surface ships, or attacking them. Sometimes a brave triton sneaks aboard at night and steals what they can, but not too often- tritons live near the surface, and breathe air. Most sailors can spot a pod coming, which at least reassures them there's no large sea beasts in the area.

[bc56]

Kothar nods. "It also does not eat earth. Use water or earth to drown or smother it." He finishes skinning the rabbit and places it just inside the fire to cook.

[Shadowcaller]

[A walk through the woods]

"It wouldn't be accurate to say I know this entity, but I know who you mean, yes." Thariza's voice is glum but resolved. "It treated me like a lab rat but brought be back from the dead, so I'm willing to call it a wash. I'd rather not be tracked by it, so removing this mark is fine with me."

[A walk through the woods]

The scholar nods and turns to look at the path ahead as they keep walking. "I will admit that this wouldn't be the first time I meet with them. I am a scholar and it... well, it's a form of scientist as you might have guessed. One without little ethics or boundaries. Nonetheless, there are things for people of my profession to learn there. However, they don't know me by this form which is why I need to explain a few things to you before we get there..."

She pauses as to let Thariza grasp what she was saying. They were walking and talking after all and just focusing on yet another thing, no matter how simple, could leave one a bit distracted.

"Remember how when we met I mentioned I was a dragon scholar? Well, that's true in more than one way. The being we're meeting only know me as a dragon." The scholar explains as she suddenly stops walking and looks to Thariza. "And while not one from your world, I can understand if you might have a problem with that."

[Morty]

[A walk through the woods]

Thariza likewise stops and shakes her head, very much like a disoriented cat.

"You don't look like one." When she realizes she just voiced the first thing to come through her head, she adds: "Uh, sorry. I've just never seen a dragon who looked like... a human with horns. But you don't act like the Elder Dragons and you've helped me a lot, so... I guess this doesn't really change anything."

[Earl of Purple]

Secluded Forest

"I... don't know the word smother. I know drown, it's what happens if you dive too deep without enough sky in your lungs and you can't keep your breath inside until you reach sky again. I guess... fire doesn't have large lungs to hold a lot of sky in?" Hunter's guessing it might be drown, except without sea to drown in, and he's not sure how that works. Of course, Hunter can also hold his breathe for fifteen minutes, and his grandmother can hold it for far longer than he.

[Zefir]

Phoenix Tower

The golem wasn't expecting to be charged, usually it does the charging. It's knocked off balance, and nearly falls over. The chain isn't quite taut, so now's the time to disconnect it. It doesn't resist as the chain is taken off the hook, ceasing to move and the glyphs crawling across its surface dissipating once the chain is removed. There's also a key hanging on the golem's hook, but it doesn't look like it fits the chest.

Spider Cave

"So you summon dead people. You don't even have the guts to kill people before you bring them back to a mystic mockery of life!" That's all she gets out before the cupboard is opened. Inside, there's a skinny woman in oil-stained aprons, holding a microphone in one hand and a remote control in the other. She stares up at Karl and the skeletons. "I press this button, I activate that big spider's self-destruct mechanism and we both die. You were just sent by people to investigate the spiders, right? You've investigated, now go away. Leave me in peace." She looks a little scared.

Secluded Forest

Hunter nods; that makes sense. He'll sit at the bottom of the ladder down and make a circle of stones, and try to start making fire. He's still not mastered the technique properly, so it takes a while.

Spider Cave

Karl looks at her for a moment then sights and shakes his head while lookingg down. it's this kind of expression that clearly means he is annoyed. While he does the skeletons move closer to him trying to get btween him and any of the amchines around, especially the big spider. The carl leany forward at the edge of the cupboard.

"Come on, do it." he says. "Just think a moment, if I can summon things like them, which you still not understand right ince they aren't dead people, what can I also summon?" He grins like he knows something she doesn't.

"I am still investigatin. What I'm most intressed in is, what's your plan? can't be a good one, since you hide in this old bunker to do it."

karl seems to be certain he got the upper hand, either he assumes the device is a fake or he really has a summon to help him.

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

Rolling hills covered in waving, brown grass. The occasional scrubby oak tree. Random boulders of dark black basalt. Streams running between the hills, carving out sandy washes where the toolies grow tall. Old, sun-beaten barbed wire fences.

And cows.

Quite a few cows, actually.

Most are wandering around aimlessly, laying in the shade, or eating grass.

As cows do.

Lapis seems pretty content with this spot. This is a good spot, she thinks.

"Okay!" she says to her sibling and friend. "This will be a great place since there aren't a lot of people around just cows and stuff. So we can start here and see where the tutorial has us go. There might be putti in it and maybe others but I dunno! There were some putti when I took the tutorial and they were both jerks."

They said her build was dumb.

Well they're dumb so nyeh!

"To start all you've gotta do is select your tutorial quest and it starts! I'm not sure what'll happen since Zabb is here but I guess we'll find out?"

[bc56]

Secluded Forest

"Smother is drown, but in earth." Kothar lets some dirt trickle through his fingers. "Few breathe in earth." Kothar can't comment on the fire's lungs or lack thereof.

Rolling Hills

"Okay! Here I go!" Eao goes into her menu and starts the tutorial. What happens? Who knows?

[Deathkeeper]

Phoenix Tower

It may very well be a magic key that works anyway, but unfortunately it's also a magic lock that seems to magnetically repel the incorrect key from being used- a ward that also works on lockpicks and other devices intended to bypass finding the correct key.

The key does open the door at the top of the stairs, however, though it doesn't have a traditional lock- there's an inset brass plate on the door shaped like the key. The door pops open if it's pressed against it. On the other side of the door, there's another staircase on the opposite side of the room, and in the middle stands a tall mirror. Krayger is reflected in the mirror, but there's a difference. The mirror's flipped around, so something on his left wrist is shown on the reflection's right. There is nothing else in the room, the flagstone floor bare.

[Phoenix Tower]

Krayger tries to see if he can turn the mirror around. Maybe he has to point it at the door or one of the walls to reveal where he has to go? It's not like there's anything else in the room.

[Recaiden]

Open Field

"Some idiot was wildly slinging curses in a crowded tavern. I got hit bad." There isn't much more to tell. "That was a couple months ago. I've gotten used to it since then."

What do you say to that? "An awful thing to have happen." But Jade is used to it, like she said.
So that's that. Shrug, move on.
"Where are you from, originally? I hardly ever meet anyone normal here."

[Earl of Purple]

Spider Cave

"My plan is to be left alone and work in peace. It's not a good plan, because people keep on finding me and trying to stop me. Eventually, maybe I'll go back to Riverside and open a shop selling mechanical spiders as pets to anyone who wants them, but that's in the future. So what else can you summon, Mister 'I Summon Things That Look Like Dead People'?" Despite herself, she sounds curious. She's still glaring a little, though.

Secluded Forest

"I see. I think that makes sense." Mostly to a triton, even if they're buried underwater somehow, drowning is a more risky proposition. If they can't free themselves from the earth quickly, then they're dead. Not much difference if they drowned or were smothered.

Phoenix Tower

As he tries to turn the mirror around, the reflection inside the mirror tries to swap the emotional attachment Krayger feels to Koshal, replacing positive emotions with equally strong negative ones and vice versa. There's a vague feeling of pressure on his mind, but the reflection is trying to be subtle, and keep Krayger from noticing what it's trying to do.

[bc56]

Open Field

"Planet called Earth. It's a nice place. Or was. I heard it nearly got destroyed while I was out." She shrugs. "I haven't ever gotten a chance to go back. Not that there's much there for me."

Secluded Forest

"We sleep here. Move on in morning." Kothar unpacks a pair of bedrolls and begins eating the rabbit he was just cooking. "Sleep well."

[Recaiden]

That takes Alice almost a moment to process.
"Earth...huh. The whole planet, nearly destroyed? How can something like that happen?"

[bc56]

"Some cosmic entity. A whole army of heroes teamed up to stop him. Standard stuff." Jade shrugs. It's not really standard, even for her universe, but her world was threatened by destruction frequently. It loses its edge after a while.

[Purple Eagle]

[Rolling Hills]

"I'll watch!" Zabbaiel pipes up once the two are done: Lapis with her explanation and Eao with the menu pulling.

Only... Zabb pulls up a menu, too! He usually doesn't need one, but for the purposes of hanging out with them, he makes one. No tutorial option in sight though, just a reality debug console, quests and CosmicLink chat.

> generate fanfare

And then there's pretty lights and fanfare to signal the start of Eao's tutorial!

[Shadowcaller]

[A walk through the woods]

Ambrosia gestures for Thariza to follow as she starts walking again. "Come, let me show you something, Thariza."

If the charr doesn't object they will continue further along down the road until at one point where Ambrosia gestures into the nearby woods. "This way."
She will depart from the road and walk in the direction she indicated until she comes into a small clearing. "Just give me a moment." She will sit down on the ground and take a meditative pose which can't be easy in that armor.

As she sits there with her eyes closed a spectral being suddenly emerges from her, roughly the size of Thariza herself. "We meet fact to face for the first time, Thariza." The dragon remarks as it puts its hand together and bows before the charr.

[Journey to the center of the elves]

Zhareen have been keeping a close eye on Korrina ever since they left the HALO submarine. If that young lady insisted on coming along despite her prolonged pregnancy then she would have to get used to have her gaze glued on her. It was her responsibility to make sure no one in the compact were harmed and right now there were far more than Korrina's life that was in danger.
"Eon, you don't have any predictions that involve this young lady, do you?" She asked the very same question a bit more than an hour ago.

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

There it is again. That insidious little feeling; that pressure on the back of his brain. Krayger pivots immediately, moving behind the mirror where it can't reflect him. He's ignored that feeling once too many times, and he's paid for it before.
Though this might put a damper on how he's supposed to figure out this room.

[Morty]

[A walk through the woods]

Thariza isn't quite sure what to think. For most of her life, "dragon" meant "danger". But she's never seen an Elder Dragon, or even a minion of one. Her service was against the ghosts of Ascalon and the Flame Legion. And she really can't think of Ambrosia as dangerous.

"It's good to see your real face, then. Is the human-like body just... a vessel?"

[bc56]

"Not that I'm aware of." Eon isn't exactly comfortable with taking a pregnant woman along on this mission either. "But my visions are not very specific. She could be in them without me knowing."