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

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

The key is retrieved, and the pistol loaded. The door is unlocked, and the third floor is revealed. There's a staircase opposite with a door at the top, to the next floor. That door, however, appears to be open. This chamber has no floor, or doesn't appear to. It does, since the room with the mirror has a ceiling, and also the lack of a floor doesn't show the bottom of the tower. The floor is concealed behind a large portal, and the view through the portal shows a patchwork of fields, villages and strange forests near a strip of black sand and an ocean of glowing green liquid. There's a breeze emanating into the portal, not very strong where he stands in the doorway, but if he sticks a hand over the gap it feels much stronger... Except in one, rather small spot.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

While landing on her armor might cause the dragon more injury, its also causes nearly no friction against the dragons scales which causes Thariza to start to slide down along the dragons body as it angles its body upwards while starting to ascend. Intense heat emanating from between its scale as it unleashes yet another pillar of flame.
"Are you throwing cats at me? How desperate!" She can hear the dragon boom underneath her, its voice sounding so much louder from here.
Thariza could attempt to grab onto something on the dragons back, or try to get a hold in some other way. But if she don't she's going to do a lot more falling.

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

There is a moment of more confusion before the rest of the company starts opening fire at her. Seemingly having little interest in listening to the "creatures" words.
"Establish a firing line, get in cover!" The woman in the funny hat, apparently their leader, commands with her sword raised in the direction of what appears to be giant mushrooms whose stalks are thick enough to provide more than plenty of cover for the battalion.

Since indeed, suddenly both the insects and the soldiers are in a mushroom forest.

Unlike their leader, these soldiers mostly use laser-based weaponry even as they seek cover behind the stalks and their damaged tank which have started aiming at the insect.

[Deathkeeper]

Phoenix Tower

Krayger would rather play this one safe, so he gets down onto the floor of the doorway and sticks a leg out instead of an arm. Much less likely to get staggered by wind when not standing. He's not entirely sure if this is an illusion or something else so probing it before he leaps is probably a good idea.

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

The portal is not an illusion, though Krayger might find the answer to this puzzle doing this. An invisible path, across the room. It's not straight, however, it twists and turns and it has a right angle too. It's tricky, and he'd need to keep aware of it.

[Deathkeeper]

Phoenix Tower

Krayger groans. All this delicate footwork. This is just not made for people like him. Krayger ties one of his climbing hooks around one of his arms. With the other he withdraws his axe. Tapping it against the solid part of the floor like a blind man might use a walking stick, he uses that to guide his way down the path.

[Purple Eagle]

[Rolling Hills]

Zabb does it easily once Selekhael's out of the dome, demonstrating that he does in fact know how. "Fun, isn't it?" But then everything's fun when you enjoy learning about the world.

"What's next?" He asks, excitedly. "Quests, right?"

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza goes into a panicked scramble on the dragon's back, before grabbing onto the ridge along its back. She drives her feet into the scales for extra stability and just tries to hold on.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Ramuq gives a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I should note that we do not... worship. We leave it to the humans and their supposed distant gods. We and the Sky-Cutter have a bargain. It is what we elves do with the elemental fey dwelling in this world. She is a swift winged fey of the endless sky and cold wind." Turning to Eao, he adds: "We have a house of knowledge that stores our lore and where our scholars and magicians learn. You would need to speak with the chief lorekeeper to gain access, I'm afraid. It is not within my authority."

[Terumitsu]

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

Well, an attempt had been made.

Superlative alacrity was, perhaps, another thing that could be measured in relatives. Certainly being able to think at superluminal speeds was something that was vastly effective in deduction and reasoning to just name a few things but the matter was.. Well.. Matter. Matter would always be slow and cumbersome, the only question was by the degrees of which matter was quicker than others. Still, slow as it was, flesh was a necessity. Or was it an indulgence? Regardless, be it organic, synthetic, metallic, electronic, carbonic, or some further refinement of the subsumption of it all, it was still that which interfaced with that which was not Self. It was still 'flesh.' And flesh was ever 'slow.' It was the rule of world but one not necessarily one that was chafing...

Well, at least not all the time. Right now, however, was one of those times. Being able to calculate and extrapolate motion was certainly useful but the only way to escape saturation was to simply not be there. Saturation could really only be mitigated against and, of course, light would always win in a race against matter. Metal skin was scored by electromagnetic fury, blackening silvery surfaces as the pseudo-insectoid dodged behind a stalk. Most of the damage had been on one side, isolated to the outer shell, and while it was fixable, doing that now would not be prudent. Still, laser weaponry was a problem given that heat-stress was quite good at making things brittle. And there was still that tank. Fight or flight was the question now and though fighting did not have an unfavorable estimated outcome, it didn't seem like the most efficient option. Disorientation, momentary subdual, flight. The group did not seem equipped for rapid pursuit and sowing just enough chaos should be sufficient. Unfortunately, optical camouflage was off the table for the moment given that a significant portion was offline due to laser damage. Though a few adjustments and it could serve to diffuse further damage by an appreciable margin during flight. It wouldn't be a perfect defense but perfection was really only approachable in laboratory conditions anyway.

As for how to disorient the company, tank included.. Actually, there was an idea. Reaching down and grabbing a rather large stone, the insectoid-humanoid knelt stock still as the firing line formed, extrapolating positions from sound, smell, heat, and radio reflectance. The best way to disrupt most things was simple. Remove the head. Or at least knock it about. Either result was favorable, really, as the stone was hurled skywards with enough force to easily bypass the expected resistance of the mushroom cap above it and potentially direct attention up and away with the inevitable burst of fungal substance. And though not very aerodynamic, stones in flight still were subject to the wind. If predictions held, then that stone would be aimed on a collision course with the woman with the odd hat. Lethality was secondary as long as it shook things up enough to escape.

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

It takes another few minutes before the putti figure out the drifting things but eventually they join the others on the outside of the dome.

"I knew you could do it!" Lapis sing-songs at Selekhael. It's probably nice to have a few supportive people around.

"Excellent job, aspirants!" the Servant proclaims. "You have successfully learned to drift! Next, you shall receive a quest! To finish this trial, you must stand on this platform-"

A platform of interwoven coral-like fungus manifests.

"-and accept you new quest!"

Lapis pronks right up onto it!

When the others join her they will be met with a chime as their quest log is updated.

The quest?

Step off the Quest Platform!

Lapis hopes off. Quest complete!

Super simple stuff.

[bc56]

Eao quickly hops onto the platform. Ooh, a quest! She hops off. Done!
Selekhael is more cautious. She gets onto the platform easily enough. But having a menu is weird. She veeeeeery cautiously accepts, then steps off, hoping nothing strange happens.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

There's a grunt as the woman tumbles to the ground, not even having time to regret that she hadn't brought an helmet like everyone else.

"COMMISSAR DOWN!" Is called out by a nearby soldier as the others are desperately trying to hit the strange creature.
There does seem to be an established chain of command however as a male soldier, likely a sergeant, quickly takes charge of the situation. "Pluto, check on the commissar! Defensive positions!"

The soldiers don't seem sure where that rock came from so the firing line breaks off into a more circular formation around as they keep taking cover behind the stalks and the tank which have moved up to provide more cover.

It have yet to fire however as the creature seems to be simply too fast to properly aim at. But it doesn't look like this company is going to move anywhere soon, especially as large black shapes can be seen moving between the stalks in the distance. If the creature wanted to get away, it could easily do so now.

It might note two things however.
1. Three tiny shapes seems to be circling above the scene. They must be quite far up in the air.
2. She can see several pillars of flame appearing in the distance to her right.

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The dragon's ascension thankfully soon flattens out as the dragon starts to chase the Ambrosia-like dragon. Sending pillar after pillar of flame after her.

"STAND STILL! GRAAAH!!"

The ambrosia-like dragon politely refuses by suddenly quickly turning 180 degrees and flies right past Thariza. As she passes by the dragon seems to be looking right at her while making a stabbing motion with its claws.

How helpful.

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

"..."
June looks down.
"Oh!"
That's...
...
...
...
Okay, honestly, compared to all the other things June has run into over the past couple weeks, that's actually not that weird.

"I see."

"Yes, of course."
She bends down to open the trapdoor. "So, going down, is it more like rappelling? Or rope burn? Or more of a 'jump down' sort of thing?" she asks, as she goes down and starts to descend.
When close enough to the bottom that she feels like it's safe to jump off, however, she'll jump down the rest of the way.

[Ashen Lilies]

[City out of Time]

There are several buildings that look like they could be a library, all of them located in the centre of the city. It's also where the defenders' forces are concentrated, which would make sense if they do want to keep the King in Rags away from it.

[City out of Time]

Electra cross-references the probably library locations with the defenders indicated on the map with the maps the dwarves showed Cass and her when before they entered the city. Perhaps that will help them nail down exactly where to start. She nods at Cass.

"Maybe he's some kind of fae king? Remember what that mechanical bull said about elves being allies or something with the fae? What if he's a former fae king? King-In-Rags would certainly imply that," she says quietly, apparently thinking out loud. "But...what sort of weaknesses would a fae king have? And were they already used against him, and that's why he's now 'in rags'? Or something else?"

[City out of Time]

"He is a fae king," confirms Cass. "And he has power over dreams. You've experienced his power already - the dream staff that I own is a boon that was given to me for completing a job for him."

She looks thoughtful. "Maybe something that could... impose reality on him? Disrupt the dream? He did seem to have become fallen... but from what he showed me, I remember humans being the cause of it. They slayed his allies."

Cas shakes her head.

"Let's go to this library."

[Shadowcaller]

Journey to the Center of the Elves

Eon nods, quietly, respectfully. He doesn't have or need a special title. "Do you have a house of learning here, a temple, a college, or a library, that you could direct us to?"

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza goes into a panicked scramble on the dragon's back, before grabbing onto the ridge along its back. She drives her feet into the scales for extra stability and just tries to hold on.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Ramuq gives a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I should note that we do not... worship. We leave it to the humans and their supposed distant gods. We and the Sky-Cutter have a bargain. It is what we elves do with the elemental fey dwelling in this world. She is a swift winged fey of the endless sky and cold wind." Turning to Eao, he adds: "We have a house of knowledge that stores our lore and where our scholars and magicians learn. You would need to speak with the chief lorekeeper to gain access, I'm afraid. It is not within my authority."

Journey to the Center of the Elves

"Aha! Just like the mumda- erm, I mean, we have encountered communities just like that. Not worship, active participation and bargains." Zhareen nods and takes up a little black notebook from the satchel she wears. "But honestly, right now we shouldn't even need access to your lore house. Conviction to bargain like that is after all something the entire community performs, am I right? If you're going to hold it up its something you all need access to and that's what we're interested in." At least for now.
Having taken up a pen, she puts it to her little book and leans closer to Ramuq. "So if I may ask, what is your bargain exactly? Is it a spoken oath, carved into stone, written down on paper or perhaps performed through theater or dance?"

[Terumitsu]

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

A chain of command was not unexpected but it does take time to re-establish things once one head is removed. It was like some kind of imperfect hydra in that respect.

Still, opportunity was opportunity and the quicker one could be absent of this area, the better. A cloud of visual noise, not unlike static on a screen, flickered around the insectoid though it was definitely more weighted to the undamaged side. It would probably be a bit disorienting to look at but mostly it was there to diffuse any laser shots that might be otherwise unavoidable when flitting between mushroom stalks.

The silver lining of this all, though, was getting incidental samples from the surrounding soil and mycoidal growth. They would get more study later.

The fire was, however, not immediately enticing as a subject of study.

The small subjects above, though, would at least be given some additional attention once the soldiers were far enough away to safely resume normal travel. A few levels of visual magnification wouldn't be remiss either.

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

That works, and Krayger crosses the room.

Up the stairs, through the unlocked door and to the fourth of the tower's five floors, plus the roof. In the centre of the room is an ornate throne, carved from granite. Solid and rather square, it's decorated with elaborate knotwork and complex designs. Sat in the throne, holding a steel sword- so shiny and clear it doesn't look to have been used- and a key is the statue of a dwarf. It's ridiculously lifelike, masterly done, and if it weren't bare porphyry without paint or other sign of disguising its nature it could possibly pass as an actual dwarf. It's sat straight in the chair, clad in real ringmail with a stone beard flowing over it. The dwarf speaks, without opening its mouth but there's nobody else here that could talk, so it has to be the statue. "In kings I am blue, in peasants I am red. In frogs I am cold and in dogs I am hot. What am I?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

Krayger presents himself before the dwarf on the throne- bowing respectfully just in case.
He hardly pauses before giving his answer-
"Blood." he booms clearly.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza doesn't need to be told twice. She unhooks an axe from her belt and, whenever she can get some proper footing, tries to drive it into the dragon's back. She also starts glowing with a purple flame, which isn't very deadly yet, but is painful and aggravating.

[zeifly]

"Well, it's kind of like reverse climbing if that makes sense." Myzid explains as June starts to climb down. He waits a few moments to allow her to reach the bottom and then calls down, "But if you want to get down a bit faster, you can do it this way."

He climbs out of the "glass" box and sets himself on the rope. He wraps it around one of his hands and begins to let the rope slide through his hands. He begins to descend quite quickly. It looks kind of cool even for a minute before the hand that has the rope wrapped around it catches painfully and Myzid accidentally lets go. Now he is falling really fast, and the ground isn't that soft here. Unless June does something rather quickly, Myzid will start to panic, frantically reach into a belt pouch, and pull out a feather. Tossing it out, he shouts a word that is unintelligible and begins to fall much more slowly with more control of his movements. When he does finally reach the ground, he is breathing heavily. He looks up at June blushing rather embarrassed.

"That, um, wasn't supposed to go like that."

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The red dragon will turn to fly after the purple one which might throw Thariza's balance off. However, otherwise its now flying in a straight line which will make it easier for her to find her footing even as it fires off another pillar of flame after her foe.

So after some turbulence Thariza can drive her axe into her temporary rides back, penetrating her hardened scales.
"Gyaaahh!"
The moment the red dragon screams, the other one nearly stops mid-air and as the distracted red dragon flies straight into her, causing everyone including Thariza to start falling out of the sky. "Ha! Good work!" The purple-ish dragon seems to have grappled the other one in some kind of wrestling move, but that does leave Thariza rather helpless in the air.

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

That's fortunate as the two objects seems to be just as interested in the creature as they're interested in them.

As they get away from the squadron, still hearing shots being fired at... something, they don't stay around. They seem to follow.
Indeed, once they get some more magnification on the moving objects they can see that they appear to be bird-like machines, or machine-like birds. It's hard to tell at a first glance.
What is apparent is where their heads traditionally should have been these creatures have telescope-like contraptions which seems aimed right back at the creature kind of two people looking at one another through binoculars.

Either these creatures don't care that they're being watched or they don't realize it however as they have little to no reaction.

But someone else seems to have walked in on her as a woman is giving the creature a curious look from afar, seemingly having just come out from behind one of the giant mushroom stalks.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The powers Thariza channels from the Mists through legendary figures don't include flying. Or indeed anything that might slow her descent. Screaming "Help meeeeeee-" is all she can do as she plunges.

[Recaiden]

Sapphira dissolves into mist, letting the barrage of attacks fly through her (although the silver projectiles seem to burn away at her form as they fly through). She coalesces on the other side and breathes out. A thick, black, toxic fog roils forth from her mouth, a disgusting mix of chemicals that will cause flesh to necrotize and melt into pus on contact. It's a thoroughly unpleasant way to die. The deadly cloud billows outward to begin filling the room with the stench of decay.

The hounds pretty much melt right away, thrashing and dissolving.
The archers steadily continue firing their projectiles of silver. Better to at least hurt her as they corrode away.
And now, globs of holy water are splashed down and towards the re-forming Sapphira. It's the least they can do.

[bc56]

Sapphira laughs as everything around her melts and dies. With a gesture of her hands, the liquidfied hounds flow into a shield of crystalized pus, deflecting the holy water away. She sidesteps most of the silver spikes, but one impales her arm. That limb falls off and dissolves to dust, and a new replacement begins growing out of the stump. It's time for me to go. I can't say I enjoyed my time here. But I'll be seeing you again soon. A portal tears itself open in front of the Archfiend, and she steps through and vanishes... And a few seconds later, reappears, visibly frustrated. "FINE!" She storms towards the exit, splashing up bits of melted hivelings in her wake.

[Zefir]

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.

Spider Cave

"I can, but I won't do that here." Karl replies. "It would trash the place, what I assume is something you don't want."

He then sights. what should he doe about this whole thing. They seem to be stuck in this situation, even if it isn't immediatly hostile.

"Look!" he then says in a seriouse voice. "We get nowhere like that. People know about your spiders so they won't accept a 'nothing was there' report. On top I stick to my word. That get's us to you. You won't stop your inventions so the farmers will see them once in a while and then call another merchant. That one might not be as friendly as I am, so now is your best choice to do something. Can't you get your work help out those farmers? Wouldn't that be a good testrun and if things go well the farmers might buy some, pay for their service?"

[Recaiden]

The hounds die in droves. Honestly its part of what they're meant for.
The archers follow a little after as the whole main cavern is scoured of life.

But there are some interesting moments.
Look how quickly Sapphira regenerates her physical shell. If one shot can take off an arm like that, there should be an amount of force that can stop her. Much more force than could fit in this small room. It would take a whole local group, or a pondful of holy water, or mysterious angel weapons, or more Form than they have claimed.
And they can feel the fiendish portal and Geneva's device activate. No smoke, no distortion, just a hole. Amazing.

In the moments that Sapphira is gone, Sekhmet has been notified that her circle broke and Sapphira is free, a separate message has been sent to VIGIL ((For when other threads are ready for that)), and the scouts who were out in the valley on watch for intruders have scattered in every direction.
The few things deep in the cave or out past the entrance, which Sapphira hasn't melted yet, they watch her go.
This isn't the time to struggle to contain her. They're not ready. This whole prison complex, all those little lives? Acceptable loss.

[Terumitsu]

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

Using a form modeled after a dragonfly was hardly a whimsical design choice. The eyes alone were a compelling argument given the natural coverage and made 'facing' a moot point. So while there was still the appearance of being behind the metal insectoid, it wasn't necessarily out of it's range of vision. "Greetings." it said, arms and hands held out to it's sides in the same 'I am unarmed' motion as it had shown to the soldiers, twisting hands around so that both front and back could be seen before letting both pairs rest back at it's sides. Still, it didn't turn around, observing the behavior of the pseudo-birds while another mental process began to survey what it could of the area.

Observation of the goings-on was the whole reason it was here, after all.

[bc56]

Sekhmet is, of course, terrified.
But in the meantime, Sapphira makes it outside the cave. "So long! It was nice knowing you!" She tears open another portal and vanishes into it, the gateway closing behind her. But she left something behind. A razor-sharp shard of black crystal drops out of the place where the portal was and embeds itself into the ground. It pulses and throbs with some sort of unholy energy.

[5a Violista]

[Red Plains]

June looks up from the ground as he descends.

Wait, don't, that -
Well, it is a magic rope, so maybe it won't go bad?
And then he starts falling.
"ah-"

Honestly, there isn't that much she can do. She doesn't have weird super powers like that.
She moves out of the way so that he doesn't land on her head, but holds her arms out so that she would hopefully slow him down just enough so that he won't hit the ground as hard.
...
That's about all she can do in this situation.

Regardless of how he lands, she scolds him after seeing that he's not seriously hurt. "Hey! Don't show off when climbing!" she says.
After that's out, June takes a breath, and then asks, "So, are you alright?"

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

The statue speaks again, and opens its hand- the one holding the key, not the one holding the sword. "You are correct. Continue onwards, with my blessing."

Up the stairs, to the fifth and final floor of the tower. The next door is a trapdoor in the ceiling, with a set of narrow stairs up to it- much narrower than the ones before, little more than a ladder. To reach it, however, Koshal needs to open a gate in the wall of metal bars that block off half the chamber. In this half of the room, there's six buttons, all mounted on pedestals and lined up in a row. The first pedestal is carved like a bird of prey; the second has been polished to a mirror-like shine. The third is shaped like a fist, and the fourth like a dwarf. The fifth pedestal is covered in chains, and the sixth has a small fountain of glowing green liquid built into it.

Spider Cave

"That might work. Yes, I could have my spiders, um... plough fields and the bigger ones can be ridden across pretty much any kind of terrain- even up walls, if it's strong enough." Spiders that big made of metal are heavy. "And maybe they can help defend the farmers, should anything bad come along." Like a real necromancer. "Can you introduce us?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Riss]

The bird creatures start to split up with one going towards the area where the creature saw pillars of flame appear moments ago, another going back towards the soldiers position and the final one remaining with it's telescope-like head aimed right back at them.

The sound of battle can still be heard of the distance, and a sudden explosion can be seen.
She turns to look at it with clear concern before looking back at the being. "Greetings, you don't happen to have seen a tall cat-like woman around here have you? She's my companion and we seems to have lost one another in this chaos." A pause as she again glances at what now must be a battlefield. They can't see anything besides that explosion but the sounds are a bit too close for comfort even if they don't seem to get any closer. "But perhaps we should relocate first?"

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Ohright!" The dragon's eyes widens as she spots the falling Thariza.

Meanwhile, the red dragon struggles violently against her grip. "GRAAAH! WEAKLING! I WILL-"

And the purple dragon just let's go, but not before grabbing the red dragons right wing and with a beat of her mighty wings she seems to pull it out of its socket. The red dragon roars in pain just as the purple one swoops down towards Thariza and catches her just as she was about to reach the trees below.

"Phew! Wow! We did it! Great job!"
They won't see the red dragon reach the ground, but there is a loud thud soon afterwards. Even if it survived it must have been massively injured by that.