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

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

"It looks like we got relocated for the tutorial," the lamb-like cherub, Arukhael, says to the lioness. He's keeping a leery eye on Zabb if only because it's pretty apparent Zabb is something else completely. But that's the Nexus for you, right? "Don't worry about it too much. It starts off with some easy stuff so just use the time to get your bearings."

The Servant, meanwhile, laughs in response to Eao's exuberance. It isn't a mean sort of laugh. Though it DOES sound a little bit canned. "Your enthusiasm is welcome, aspirant! Prove your worth and the Copper Host awaits you."

"Or maybe you'll just get gobbled up by someone bigger," the malak, Athakel, comments in a bored tone while examining his fingernails.

Lapis retorts in the most mature way possible, by sticking her tongue out at the malak.

"So, to begin, a partial itinerary of the tutorial session!
1) How to move!
2) Jumping and climbing!
3) Drifting!
4) Accepting and completeing quests!
5) Weapon selection and loadouts!
6) Basic target practice!
7) A surprise!" the Servant announces, its voice brimming with faux enthusiasm. "Later activities will be announced after the first half of the session is complete to avoid ruining the surprise! Aspirants! If you've participated in the tutorial before please do not spoil the surprise for your fellow aspirants."

Lapis is bouncing with excitement now, too.

"So to begin! Movement!" the Servant says.

"I already know how to move this is dumb!" one of the putti complains as it flounders and undulates along the ground like a seal.

At this the Servant laughs and begins explaining the mechanics behind moving properly.

Lapis begins pronking energetically just because she can. Arukhael walks a few steps before giving Selekhael a shrug. That's just how the tutorial starts. Athakel just sort of floats about.

It takes the putti a little while to figure out how to use their legs and wings properly. It's like watching a bunch of fledgling birds flopping about.

"They've got to start with the basics for the putti," Arukhael explains to Selekhael. "I think they get sent in here right after they populate."

[bc56]

Eao laughs back at the Servant. "I'll be there. And higher." She does a few cartwheels, just to show she can. She's been walking and jumping and climbing and flying around for days. On the other side of the group, Selekhael gives a feline shrug with her wings and pads back and forth a little. "Putti? Populate?" She's still pretty new to this.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods]

"I'll try anything once," Thariza says. "I've never been clear on what 'sacred' means, but I'll do my best to be respectful."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Flowers]

And hark! A singing voice from atop one of the flowers, soft enough to be carried away on the wind without being directly underneath. It sounds like it could be Vivi, but there doesn't seem to be clear means by which someone might ascend. Maybe Vivi climbs some of the viney-looking things hanging off the flower stems?

[Forest of Flowers]

As has been made clear over the course of recent events, there are many disadvantages to being a personality stuck in the mind of a dragon.

There are, however, a couple of advantages to it. One being her ability to selectively shapeshift to make use of Sylvess' dragon-y abilities. You might assume she'd just shapeshift in wings, but that doesn't work particularly well. Her body's just not really shaped right for a copper dragon's wings. It's awkward and uncomfortable and at best makes it look like she's drunk-flying.

Copper dragons, however, are very good at climbing! So some claws here, a little more muscle there, and she's ready to climb up those vines at ludicrous speed!

She'll try her best not to leave any claw marks, but there's likely to be at least a few little scratches on the way. Hopefully the flowers don't mind?

[Deathkeeper]

Phoenix Tower

The gloves work, enough of a barrier to prevent the minotaur from touching his reflection and letting it affect him. And the plan works- where the wall is blank in reality, there's a reflection of a key on a hook. Just a matter of figuring out how to get it; Krayger won't be able to feel the hook on his side of the mirror, and the wall is solid stone, with no illusions or hidden compartments concealing anything.

[Phoenix Tower]

Krayger's hands are still gloved, so his first idea is to try to touch the key on the mirror's surface. His second idea is to see if he can angle the mirror so that the key and the door's lock are both in view at the same time.

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

He can reach through the mirror's surface, though doing so lets the reflection reach out. Whilst he's groping for the key, the reflection tries to grab Krayger's flesh, and reverse his feelings for Rassa, so instead of the negative emotions he associates with her he feels equal and equivalent positive ones instead.

The key is on the wall, so to reach the mirror has to be quite close to the wall. As the locked door is at the top of the stairs, it's basically impossible to get the key and the door reflected in the mirror at the same time.

[Purple Eagle]

[Rolling Hills]

"Hi, everyone! Let's get along and be friends!" Zabb announces to the new arrivals, grinning and waving at Arukhael, hoping that at least half of them are the good and benevolent sort. The concept of empyreans eating those smaller than them to grow is troubling, though... but he picked up some things from the link he has with Uriel, like a summary of the conversation with Zee over CelestiChat. Lapis seems super-nice and fun, and he can only hope that she remains that way.

After a brief glance at the worldlines to learn their names, he focuses on the present. He did promise to try and nerf himself for the purposes of this tutorial, after all!

Lapis' excitement is contagious, and Zabb bounces along with her. Even though he's been doing all of this for about 8 years now, he humbly does as instructed, without any complaint, running around beside Lapis. "Movement done!"

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

"Well done, aspirants!" the Servant booms. "You have all successfully moved! Before we continue, allow me to welcome a visitor from another cosmology who chosen to join us today! Please feel free to make him feel included in whatever fashion you wish."

Wow something about the way the Servant said that sounds kind of sinister.

"Yeah, it's a ton of weird stuff to take in at once," Arukhael laughs in reply to Selekhael's confusion. "The weird baby things-"

"Your FACE is a weird baby thing!"

"-are the putti. They just kind of start existing up in the Empyrean. They weren't ever mortal like we were."

"Pfft," Athakel snorts. "They should have tutorial sessions that exclude apotheosians. Too many stupid questions."

"Hey!" Lapis shouts. "My sister did apotheosis and she's great! You're just a jerk!"

"You mad?"
"She's mad."
"There's no need to be upset."
"Saaaaaalt!" comes a chorus of razzes from the putti, who are as terrible as ever.

Lapis, never one to give up a good tactic, blows a raspberry at them.

"With movement complete, we'll continue on to more advanced forms of movement! Climbing and jumping!" the Servant announces, either oblivious or apathetic toward the conflict. "But to do that we will require-!"

Alien landscape erupts from the ground! Pillars, walls, stairs, gaps, floating platforms, and more! All fashioned from latticed chrome, porous sponge, coral-like fungus, and strange iridescent bubbles.

"-the obstacle course! To pass this part of the tutorial you must navigate the course with one very important limitation! No flight."

An image flashes above the course, a pentagram with a wing in it, an X passing through it.

Everyone with wings will suddenly find that they feel heavy and useless. No flight allowed!

[bc56]

"I just have more questions." Selekhael continues to be confused. And now her wings are heavy! Ugh. Her lion shape is not exactly good for jumping. But she'll reluctantly begin the obstacle course.
On the other hand, Eao seems excited. "Okay, I'll do it!" She races to the course and immediately begins scrambling up it in defiance of gravity. She has plenty of experience with this.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods]

"I'll try anything once," Thariza says. "I've never been clear on what 'sacred' means, but I'll do my best to be respectful."

[Walk in the Woods]

The tea is quite good, and very warm.

One wonders how this came to be, given the lack of a nearby flame.

It is a fine green blend, tasting of the earth and the rain. The water with which the tea is made is supernaturally pure, its taste both clean and crisp. It will ease muscle pain, and result in a more comfortable and relaxed state of being. Guru Mandhati pours himself a cup before lowering himself onto the grass, resting with his legs folded in lotus position. He will sip at his tea and inhale the scents of the woods, clearly quite at home. "That is quite the story," he admits to Mageshi.

"One I am eager to tell," he explains. "I must be certain of your intentions first, however." This is quite serious, but the monk is calm, his tone friendly.

He takes another sip at his tea, closing his eyes as he savors the taste. "What has brought you down this path?"

"I do not often meet with one of your kind, spirit." It was true.

[Walk in the Woods]

While the dragons claws seem ill-equipped for it, she nonetheless takes one of the cups and pours the tea into her mouth. As she lacks lips she can't exactly sip the tea slowly so it was either pouring it all down her mouth at once or try to lap up it her tongue. Megeshi choose the former.

I didn't exactly look peaceful but there was some physical limitations involved there.

As he asks them what they were doing here, she turns to Thariza. "Is it fine if I tell him?"

As the charr nods in reply, Megeshi returns it and looks to Mandhati.
"We seek to free my companion from her bounds." She gestures towards Thariza. "She has been marked by a being which wishes to study her like an object. As you might be able to see, she cannot go anywhere without them knowing which shouldn't be something I would wish to subjected to either." The dragon turns to Thariza once more. "Do you wish to elaborate on how it happened?"

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

Show

The ladies look at eachother, making comical little O's with their mouths for just a second. "You cheeky little girl!" The other Frescot lady leans against Blanche. "She doesn't just want the cake, she wants both kinds, and to eat it all, too."

This seems to have made even Fidella blush in earnest. "Oh, goodness, Blanche, I hadn't understood what you meant. I... well... If Votsana would like to join us..." Fidella seems embarrassed, either because of the idea itself or the fact that she's not sure she minds.

"You two should go on, then, but not I! That's a Frescot too many for this lass. I don't do good with sharing three ways," The second lady says candidly, right before trying to plant a big kiss on Blanche's cheek. "Nice meeting you, cat. Stick around a while, huh?"

And with that, their escort will try to melt into the woods, leaving Fidella and Blanche alone. Fidella coughs. She steps close and puts her hand out for Blanche. She seems pleased. "Well... let's go and see what Vots is up to, hm?"

Innawoods

Oh dear! Blanche didn't realize her suggestion would be so scandalous! She giggles as the woman teases her, entertained by the wordplay and a fair bit too drunk and distracted to catch just how red Fidella's face is as she entertains the thought. She probably wouldn't catch onto the source of it if she was sober though, most likely simply assuming she's not alone in finding Votsona distracting - Blanche hasn't quite realized the degree of familial relation among the Frescot clan, assuming it was more akin to the usual community of families rather than stemming from one large, sprawling tree.

Not that even a sober Blanche would be in any state to deduce much after the second Frescot plants that big ol' kiss against her cheek. She straightens in surprise with a gasp and a blush, taking a moment to process the event. "O-oh, er, o-of course!" Blanche answers... well, to both questions, really, taking Fidella's hand with a lingering blush.

[Purple Eagle]

[Rolling Hills]

The eyes on Zabb's halo-wheel narrow almost imperceptibly at the sinister undertones. There's talk of apotheosis, and Zabb has something to say on the issue. "Your mum too, Lapis! Uri said so! I'm like the putti, I came into being. No celestial of my kind was ever a mortal, apotheosis is impossible in my world!"

Wow, the putti are such jerks, though.

Obstacle course where wing-use is banned! If no wings, then he'll use no wings! Even if he could!

However, 'no wings' doesn't mean 'no teleporting', but he decides not to do that. Instead, he starts running, climbing and parkouring through the obstacle course.

Obstacle courses are fun, especially when you nerf yourself for the situation. See, he's already learning a lot!

"Wheeeee!"

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods]

Thariza shrugs and makes a non-committal growling sound.

"I died and that being brought me back to life. Near as I can tell, just to see if they could. So I won't complain about being alive again, but I would also rather nave nothing to do with them again."

That seems to be about as much detail as she's willing to get into here.

[Gullara]

[Journey to the center of the elves]

Zhareen scoffs. "My ways? It's the way of the tower girl, something you seem to know little about considering your assumptions. Invention may be its pillar, but its nothing without its foundation, safety." Korrina knows this metaphor as its being used all the time in their teachings. The foundation, safety, the pillar, invention, and the peak, power, the goal of it all.
"I've taught many warlocks like you, either they learn why the foundation is important or bad things happen, Korrina. See to it that you will be the latter kind. I'd hate to lose someone who is considered so promising." She let's out a deep breath and turns to Eon and the... elf village?

She scratches the back of her head. "So what were we doing again? I lost my train of thought."

Eon sighs. "We need to go into the village and learn about the Banished King and the Gentry. The tower is probably a good place to start." He did not sign up to escort a pair of bickering mages, one of whom was pregnant. It's a less than ideal situation.

[Journey to the center of the elves]

Korrina refrains from further comment, but she stares daggers at Zhareen's back and her mouth presses into a thin line. This flight is only in an intermission.

[zeifly]

[Red Plains]

The sun hung low in the northern horizon. It was still the early hours of the morning as Myzid crested another grassy hill. The sun being in the "wrong" place had taken some adjusting to, but he had come to just accept the fact that this place was weird. It seem to exist everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It gave him a headache every time he tried to understand it. As such, he had given up on understanding the Nexus. Instead, he had bent his focus towards understanding what his new teacher was training him to do.

Iron, as it turned out, had quite a few secrets to tell him about itself. He had assumed it would be a fairly simple thing to learn how to work with it. He had been very mistaken. There were so many subtle changes and minute intricacies to working any kind of metal that Myzid had had some trouble keeping track of all of them. Recently, Renault had shown him how to gather his own materials for his crafts. As such, Myzid had been expected to venture out to gather said resources more and more often. Today was just such a day. He looked out over the plains in front of him.

Given their names due to the reddish hue that the iron in these hills gave them, the Red Plains were quite extensive. They stretched on for miles and miles as far as one could conceivably see in any direction. Myzid had come here a couple times before, so he was at least passably familiar with the area. Several of the hills here were so rich with iron that you could gather enough raw metal for a small necklace in a matter of a few hours. Shifting the backpack he wore to a more comfortable position, Myzid gave a contented sigh and began to make his way down the hill. Though this area wasn't particularly dangerous normally, you never could tell what you were going to encounter in the Nexus. This was why Myz had tried to get as early of a start as he could. Maybe he would meet someone new and make a friend, or maybe he would meeting someTHING new and have an exciting story to tell Renault when he returned. Who knew? Certainly not Myzid.

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

June, too, has come to the Red Plains early in the morning.
...
But for an entirely different reason.
See, she checked out a book from the library that said something about something-or-other. Etc, etc. Supposedly, there was something out this way that would tell her about one of the many things she wants to know and learn. However, either the place moved, or...she got lost. It's understandable, of course! All the landmarks around are different. She is, after all, still kind-of new here.

With the book in her hands and a small bag slung over her back, she walks along the hills.

June, of course, is a redhead. Wearing kind-of modern clothes: a brown long-sleeve shirt with a couple buttons at the top, long shiny gray athleticwear bottoms, black tennis shoes, and coral socks (all of which she swiped from the other one, since her own set of clothes were stolen by some kids). She also looks incredibly androgynous - could pass as a guy if she were wearing men's clothing.
...
Which, she is. Wearing men's clothing.

It isn't long until she notices Myzid. Great! Someone else! Finally!

"Heeeey!" she calls out, waving an arm widely. "Do you know where, um," She looks down at her book and flips through it. "- where Ashbourne is?"

[zeifly]

[Red Plains]
The deep blue skinned tiefling looked up at the sound of someone's voice. He was wearing very plain travelling clothing with a rather nice green cloak. A small backpack on his shoulder has a mining pick attached to the side of it. He also wears a set of goggles on his forehead just below the horns that sweep almost straight back save for the tiny curl upwards on the ends. He spotted the person speaking to him and smiled a warm, friendly smile at them.

"Hello!" Myzid called back to them, "Sorry, I'm not entirely sure where that is. I'm still relatively new here. Sorry. I'd be willing to help you look for it, though."

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

"Oh," June says.

She approaches Myzid, so that they don't have to shout as loudly. "I'm...not even sure if I'm in the right area," she confesses. "If you haven't heard of it, then. Maybe it's not nearby?"

She sighs.
"So, um. Why are you around here?"

[Zefir]

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.

Spider Cave

"Maybe you should try something else then. I mean it sounds like hiding your work draws more attention then making it obviouse. Just find a suitable building you can afford. Isn't part of inside still abondend due to some events?" Karl just heared that. he doesn't know the apocalyptic events that happened befor he enteres the nexus, they are quiet rare these days.

"Well, I can summon alot. Som common summons mostly serve a purpose like nightmare eaters or so. The personal once I have are a giant centipede, an ice princess, a fire minotaur and a ...eh... fairy lizard?" Karl struggels with the last one. he's not even sure himself what would describe Carbuncle to people not from his homeworld. On a second thought he doesn't think he could lett anyone what he is.
"Could we both take a step down now? I mean a giant exploding spider in the room is giving this talking a bad atmosphere, right?"

[zeifly]

[Red Plains]

"You never really know with this place. It could be right around the bend, or it could be a couple days walk away."

In response to the question, Myz twists to show the pack he is carrying with the mining pick tied to it.

"I'm gathering some resources to use in my crafting. I'm learning how to be a smith you see, and these hills are full of iron. That's what gives them the red color." He's still smiling, and it's a rather infectious smile filled with hope and excitement.

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

Lapis sticks her tongue out of her mouth a bit, hunkers down for a good start, and begins pronking from obstacle to obstacle. It's some pretty good jumping! But she's been practicing jumping anyway. Since her body is in a quadrupedal configuration she needs to kind of hunker down when she leaps at one of the walls and PLAP!s onto it like a gecko before scrambling up its face. She got lots of climbing practice, too! Especially with the Frescot kids they love climbing it's the best. Just for fun she does a little dance once she gets to the top of the tallest tower.

"That's where all the putti come from. But all the ones I've met are way mean and not nice like you at all, Zabb. Except this one I met one time he said he was doing 'Explore Mode'," Lapis recounts as she finishes her little hopping dancing and begin to descend the other wide of the high wall.

Arukhael gives an apologetic shrug and follows Selekhael. He's pretty well equipped for climbing things. Mountain sheep! "There's a bunch of stuff that probably doesn't matter. I just asked about them the first time I did the tutorial and got made fun of for it."

Athakel, meanwhile, looks pretty irritated when he's suddenly grounded. With his way too many arms he begins skittering around like a spider over and around things. It looks kinda creepy.

The putti are as awkward as ever. Ever seen a raccoon judging whether or not they can jump across a gap and then when they leap they just flop over the edge of what they're standing on?

Yeah.

Like that.

They get it eventually, though. Just not without lots of complaining.

Once everyone makes it to the end of the course the barriers and walls and platforms don't vanish. They just keep hanging there. Maybe they'll be used again later?

"Well done, aspirants!" the Servant proclaims. "You have shown aptitude in jumping and climbing. Next is Drifting, an even more advanced form of movement. Mortals are restricted to three degrees of freedom. However, you can selectively utilize a fourth. The universe, however, takes offense at this action and will not allow you to use it without limit. It is a tactical resource! Use it wisely."

And then a new barrier appears!

A dome surrounding the aspirants, completely sealed. For someone restricted to moving in three dimensions they would be trapped!

The Servant goes on to explain how one moves a few steps sideways in time to bypass physical barriers.

[bc56]

Eao immediately drifts out of the dome. She has a lot of practice doing this. Selekhael, on the other hand, paws at the prison despondently. The Servant's explanation doesn't make much sense to her. She's going to take quite a while to escape if no one helps her.

[Earl of Purple]

Spider Cave

"My workshop in Riverside got trashed. Insurance won't pay out, demons aren't covered apparently. So I've got no money to move to Inside, or set up in Riverside. Not until I'm ready to start selling these babies, and that's not yet. I can't afford any building, that's why I'm in some abandoned military bunker in the middle of nowhere." She's lost pretty much everything, so there's nowhere she can set up as cheaply as she could here.

"Can I see the centipede? For inspiration, y'see. And I disagree, I think leaving this room with the giant exploding spider could end poorly for me. Since as soon as we do, I don't have any other way of stopping you or your dead people from killing me." And a promise isn't likely to help, either. Mostly she wants to be left alone.

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

"Yeah," June agrees. She looks around at the hills: "But the problem is that there isn't any really really tall areas to just climb and look around for it," she says. "Not sure if I want to spend a few days just wandering around. Definitely don't have enough water for that and I've got better things to do."

She looks at the mining pack. "Oh, yeah? That's pretty cool!" she says. "How much are you going to gather?"

[zeifly]

Myzid begins thinking out loud as he replies, "Hmmm...let's see, I need enough to finish my current projects, but they're mostly small things still, sooooo....maybe about 12 units? I miiiight get a bit more than that just to be safe, though." Concentration covers his face, and he looks very serious as he makes these calculations. It's almost humorous to see this young man who can't be more than 25 look so serious. Then a look of shocked realization covers his features and he looks back to the redheaded individual quickly.

"Oh my goodness!" he exclaims, "I'm so so so sorry! I didn't even think to introduce myself!Nul'ZEReb!Sorry, my name is Myzid." He smiles again, which may potentially give June whiplash at the quick change from shocked, to frustrated, to a strange word spat out, to a cheerful smile.

"If you need help getting higher I could potentially help out. I could get us about 60 feet in the air quite easily, or I could give you the ability to fly for a very short time." Then he frowns a bit again, "Though...that second one still takes a lot of effort from me, and I can only do it about once a day."

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

Not entirely sure how much 12 units is, June just nods. "Yeah, a bit more might be better."

June, who now thinks he must have two names, does find the mood whiplash to be a little odd, but not as odd as some of the other things she's seen so far. "I go by June," she says.

Imagining getting pretty high into the air - or, alternatively, flying - she only has a couple of questions. "Okay, but how about landing?" she asks. Flying for a very short time doesn't sound good, especially if the time limit runs out while you're still in the air. "How good are you at it? Like, pretty good? Or is it more of a 'falling with style' sort of thing?"

[zeifly]

"well, it's nice to meet you, June! As far as the flying thing goes, I can give you....roughly 10 minutes or so of flight time. And it really is more flying than "falling with style". At least, as long as I can keep my concentration, that is. Shouldn't be too hard, though. Nothing's gonna come along and try to attack me while you're flying, so it should be fine." He smiles broadly at her, but the grin grows a bit sheepish.

"Well, there shouldn't be anything around that would attack me while I'm concentrating." he admits, but then continues quickly, "But even if I do lose concentration while you're way up in the air, I can make sure you get to the ground safely. I promise I'll catch you if that happens. I give you my word!"

He seems very earnest and eager to help. If June has been paying attention during their conversation, he will have noticed that Myzid wears his emotions all over. He's a children's book that's been left wide open for anyone to read.

[Shadowcaller]

[Journey to the center of the elves]

Zhareen raises her finger and gestures at the tower. "Oh! Good idea, Eon!"

She gestures for Korrina to follow, now speaking as if she was leading a school class on a trip. "Come on now everyone, let's go to the tower and remember to be respectful to everyone you see! We don't know much about their culture yet so let's see if they allow us entry into their village!" She will start to slither towards the tower, taking the lead of the little group.

[Walk in the Woods]

As Thariza and Ambrosia, now using her human body again, walks on the scholar taps turns to her companion. "Once we get closer I'm going to leave this body behind somewhere safe. So I'm going to meet the entity as a dra-"

KAROOOOM!

She looks up just in time to see a gigantic rainbow colored cloud raise at the horizon. It still so far away it probably took about a second for the sound to reach them as its still slowly expanding.
But rainbow doesn't quite do justice to just how diverse this explosion is in coloration. Besides the standard colors of red, blue, yellow, green and all the colors in-between them there's also more exotic colors. Thariza can also see ulfire, jale, rej, octarine and plueragloss. Colors that are quite clearly see but that she probably couldn't explain to anyone else. They would have to see them for themselves.

"That... must be their lab. Something must have gone terribly wrong." The scholar remarks as she stares at the still expanding cloud in the distance.

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

Ten minutes is a 'very short time'?
If that's the case, then how long is a 'long time'? she wonders.

Taking that into account, June considers the options again. Especially in light of Myzid's...attitude.
Sure, she believes that Myzid believes that he could do it.
Besides, ten minutes? After he said that, she doesn't have confidence in his ability to keep track of time properly.

"I'm not sure how good I am at flying," she ends up saying, "so maybe it'd be best if you come with. Plus, that way, you'd get to save your once-a-day thing, in case of emergencies or whatever."

[Morty]

[Journey to the center of the elves]

The walls of the town are closed. No one seems coming or going at this time, at least from this direction. From beyond the gate, the city seems strangely quiet. The normal sounds of a city are muted, but there's also a lot of music. Singing, playing, chanting. A head pokes out on top of the wall. It belongs to an elf, with pale brown skin, very dark eyes and dark hair, tied into two braids. She's wearing a leather and fur coat.

"Who goes there?" she asks.

[Walk in the Woods]

"Burn me. No kidding," Thariza says, squinting and shielding her eyes with her paw to see better. "And I think our visit here just became a lot more important. Because whatever that is, it can't be good for anything nearby. And we're the only ones in a position to do anything."