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

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

The phoenix inclines itself back, still without saying anything. Perhaps it can't talk, beyond somehow communicating with the salamander that shares its nest? Or perhaps it just has a sore throat or something.

"Did you break much on your ascent, or is reassembling everything going to be easy for me?" Doesn't really matter, the salamander has to go back down and fix it all anyway.

[Recaiden]

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.

That sounds fairly final. Like maybe she's not even going to come back to kill the stragglers because they'll already be dead.

So the ominous dark crystal has some time to itself before a hound would show up to investigate.
A combination of good senses (even for magic) and being fairly expandable makes them the ideal choice for poking around a disaster site.
Exactly what is that unholy energy doing?

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

"I didn't break too much. But you'll have to drag that golem back to the hook." Krayger is very grateful to the phoenix and its servant for so willingly granting his wish, but he's not going to lug that thing back there for free. He does feel bad for the salamander when people just start smashing things, though.
Still, time to take his leave. Hopefully he won't have to go through the whole tower backwards. He doesn't want to balance on that portal's tiny path again.

[bc56]

The crystal sits there ominously. As if it's waiting. But for what? The Hound's investigation will reveal things. First of all, the crystal is enchanted to be difficult to move. Second of all, it acts as a battery, or maybe a capacitor. Either way, it's drawing power from somewhere else and storing it here. That may or may not be concerning, but doesn't seem immediately harmful.

[5a Violista]

[Ashbourne]

June takes a pause from eating the fruit, but doesn't drop it. She'll eat more of it once the taste gets out of her mouth. "It only tastes a little like it smells."
...
And also once she knows for certain that her mouth doesn't go numb. Poisonous fruits is a thing.

"Um..." She doesn't know for sure the answer to that question. She looks around at all the tools again. "Um. Hm. Maybe it happened during a workday?" she guesses.

...
Sure, it's a poor guess, but it's plausible.

"Oh? That building? Yeah, probably," she says. She catches up to go along to the town hall.


The town hall is, just like all the other buildings, burned down. Sure, the structure's still up but the outside is stained black, and the roof looks damaged and lets some light in, and other things...
...
It's a two-floor building, but judging on fire damage, the upper floor is probably too unsafe to go to.

So, entering the town hall, there's a grand staircase right in front of the entrance that goes up to the second floor. To the right and left are smaller rooms, there's what used to be a reception desk, and if you go around the staircase then there's a large ballroom you can go to because the doors to it are no longer on their hinges.

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

Unfortunately, they don't have a hang glider for him to borrow, but if he follows the salamander down it will make things easier. It doesn't close the portal, but it does make the pathway visible, and it's possibly not as narrow as he feared, though the breeze blowing down is still quite scary.

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

Show

[Innawoods]

Fidella squeezes Blanche's hand as they trek off between the trees. It isn't terribly long before they start to hear the sounds of falling water. Beautiful, trickling falls descend along a rock face into a luminous pool. The rocks are stitched with wavering veins of malachite and fluted into smooth canals by centuries of passing time. Large stones protrude from the warbling water, and where the water doesn't reach, old paintings or charms have been left by the Frescots to mark the place.

Vots is lying in the grass by the side of the pool, with some of his belongings neatly piled around him. He looks like he's just finished a bath, perhaps some tea based on the little metal heater arranged above a small fire on the shore. The only thing he's wearing is one of his arm prosthetics. His hair is slicked down with the waters of the pool now rather than the tarry stuff he had in it while he was hunting, and his eyes are closed in peaceful sleep.

Fids has to cover her mouth to stop a chortle at Blanche's expense as they approach. She wiggles a hand to indicate Blanche should crouch down behind some bushes with her, and Blanche can quickly see why. She gives the catgirl a lingering sideways glance, one that seems to say, Well this isn't really a problem for me, we all see each other naked all the time...

Vots, meanwhile, continues dozing by the water without seeming to notice them. He's reasonably good looking in this state, but not strictly a stunner. He's fit and strong, but a little thin and rather narrow at the hip. Built like one of those old gunfighters... or at least the people who played them on TV. It's as though he's cut away all but the barest necessities, leaving him lean and trail-rugged, sketched with scars and muscle that will both be with him til' nigh on the end of his days.

His face, brushed with the barest shadow of stubble, is as sharp and handsome as ever. Little black knives for brows, a thin, smart nose, the start of little crinkles around his eyes... probably from squinting rather than smiling. Provided one doesn't account for that scar over his eye, the years definitely haven't taken his charms yet.

"So, how should we wake him?" Fiddela ponders, perhaps a little too excited to start teasing Blanche. Ooh, she is a bit drunk.

Innawoods

Blanche's eyes linger on the gorgeous lines of green that sparkle in the moonlight, dazzled by the natural vista before her. Everywhere the Frescots touched seemed to hold some wild allure to it, so verdant and full of life. She wasn't used to thinking of the untamed wilds like this - she'd seen plenty of plains and forests on her homeworld of Persephone, but the signs of human control and cultivation touched it all there.

There's a similar look of captivation when her eyes fall over Votsona's form, stunned by the rugged lines of scar and muscle - at least, until her gaze drifts low enough to realize exactly how much is on display. Blanche pauses for a moment as she processes this fact and a brilliant red seeps into her visage.

"U-um, I- I dunno," she stutters, tearing her gaze away and back to Fidella."I-I guess I could kinda just... go over and wake him? Unless you think it's better you, er, intro him to the situation?" Blanche fiddles with the skirt of her embarrassingly-translucent dress. Approaching him with confidence is how she wants to go about it, but waking him up herself might be more awkward for him than anything else.

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

"Oh, right. Is there any way you could float the tower closer to the cliff for a moment? I don't think I'll be able to climb the chain with one hand." Krayger asks the salamander conversationally.
"And uh. Who's Pasiphae?"

[Earl of Purple]

Phoenix Tower

"Pasiphae was the mother to Asterios, the first minotaur. She's dead now, her husband executed her for infidelity. And it was a very, very long time ago. Mortals can't live that long." Neither can salamanders, usually; they need external heat to keep going. Most live in volcanoes as a result, but this one gets the heat it needs from the phoenix.

The salamander can't make the tower lower, but it asks Krayger to wait at the front door, where the chain reaches the tower, and climbs up the outside of the structure. Shortly after, the phoenix lands on the ground near the anchor and pulls the chain, dragging the tower lower. It won't get the tower all the way to the ground, but the salamander comes back to take the helmet whilst he jumps to the ground and will crawl down the chain to hand it back.

[Shadowcaller]

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"I see, I see..." Zhareen nods thoughtfully and takes notes. "I would like to speak to your leaders eventually, but first we need to deal with something more pressing." She gestures behind her, to the carpet. "Namely, where do you want us to place the cake? You better eat it soon or it's going to go bad." Right, that.

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"...you did? That sounds really weird, yeah. I sure couldn't see another of me, or anyone else for that matter."[/COLOR] The dragon chuckles. "I mean, you'd think I'd see myself right? I'm kinda hard to miss. Actually, I should show you while were down there..."

The dragon starts flying downwards and they can soon see that the red dragon have crashed into the foot of a giant mushroom. If this was a cartoon, there'd be Ambrosia dragon-heads circling her head right now.

"Ha! Got her good!" Ambrosia the second declares as she gently puts Thariza down on the ground before landing in front of her. "Alright, now watch this." And the giant purple dragon seems to melt down into tiny motes of ice and start to reassemble into something much smaller.

They come out appearing like a human-ish woman whose face and skin tone roughly resemble the Ambrosia she knows but whose proportions and dress style are quite different. She's just a little shorter than Thariza if she would stand at her full height and while the "original" is lean and nimble this version is quite curvy and isn't afraid to show that aspect of herself off. So while she too wears armor, hers look far more decorative than practical considering it seems to be made to show off her body rather than protecting it.
Another striking difference is the fact that this Ambrosia doesn't have horns or any other dragon-like aspects like her counterpart. Her hair is just black without any purple "highlights" that the scholar Thariza knows have (though she seems to have them naturally somehow). "I can be a human!" She exclaims while touching her round ears, another difference between her and the version Thariza knows.

Indeed, the only strictly inhuman aspect of this woman is her striking purple eyes. A inhuman feature the original Ambrosia actually lacks.

[Scouting Weirdness]

The woman looks in the direction of the probes that the drones they pointed out earlier, but while she doesn't seem to be able to see it with her human eyes, she does seem to know what the drone was talking about and gestures upwards.
"I'm here to discuss some matters with those things owner. The person partly responsible for all this. I believe something went wrong with one of their experiments, resulting in all this." She gestures around. "Their lab shouldn't be too far away, likely in the epicenter of all this chaos." A pause. "You seem to be able to detect things around you pretty well. Could you perhaps be on the look after a large humanoid being with thick fur and cat-like features? I could show you a sketch..." Her tome suddenly flies out its holder and starts to flip pages on its own accord until it presents a sketch of Thariza which should give the drone a good idea of what she looks like.

[Deathkeeper]

[Phoenix Tower]

"Oh. Sounds vaguely familiar now that you say it like that. I've heard of Asterios before. I know a bartender with that name." It might have been one of those minotaur origin stories that Krayger read the start of and didn't finish when he realized it was from one of those worlds where his people aren't actually people. He doesn't usually bother reading too much into those. It's rather depressing, really.
He's happy to accept the help.
Reunited with his prize on solid ground, he gives his hosts a salute with his free hand.
"Farewell! A more accommodating pair of hosts, I could not have asked for." and he means that, too! He really wasn't expecting them to be so nice to him on his way out.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza scratches the back of her neck. She does look kind of similar, but not quite...

"You do look a bit like her. But a lot bigger. And no horns. And you dress differently." She looks around. "But I should probably focus on finding her. Except all those aerial acrobatics mean I'm not really sure where we are." She tries to find the laboratory in the distance, as that's the most distinct landmark she has available.

[Zefir]

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?"

Spider Cave

"Sounds like a plan to me." Karl replies. "And if things get well you migth open up a shop here. People will hear how much those spiders can help and here you can have them see what they can do in a real situation." She normaly has only some papers, maybe something recorded or so Karl assumes. "Let's get to them."

[Recaiden]

[Sapphira's Prison]

The crystal sits there ominously. As if it's waiting. But for what? The Hound's investigation will reveal things. First of all, the crystal is enchanted to be difficult to move. Second of all, it acts as a battery, or maybe a capacitor. Either way, it's drawing power from somewhere else and storing it here. That may or may not be concerning, but doesn't seem immediately harmful.

The hound spends a while trying to dislodge the crystal with its claws, and then by digging out the ground around it.
But in a little while it gives up and scampers away. Something better equipped will come investigate in time; the crystal doesn't seem like any immediate threat.

[Let's recap for the heroes who are going to be showing up]
The arch-fiend called Sapphira was bound inside a magic circle inside a cave in a mountainside in the middle of nowhere, watched over by 'friends' of her daughter Sekhmet.
The cave looks out over a valley (beyond the valley is a desert). That valley contains a small recently-active volcano, the earth is generally torn up, and the ground is littered with the scattered bones of an army of skeletons. Nearest to the cave, the ground is covered in a thick purple moss-mud substance that annoyingly resists attempts to walk on it (just a little) and moves as if it were wind-tossed waves. The mouth of the cave was once buried by huge stones, but they have since been rolled away.
Just outside the cave is a razor-sharp shard of black crystal, embedded into the ground, pulsing and throbbing with some sort of unholy energy.
Within the cave itself is the broken circle, the very ground it was painted on cracked in two. Also lots of the more-or-less liquefied corpses of strange alien creatures, and a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain.

[Earl of Purple]

Spider Cave

The girl grimaces at the mention of a shop; she doesn't deal well with people.

She clambers out of the cabinet she was hiding in, and she's pretty small. Human, but short and slight. She brushes herself off and will follow Karl out of the cave to the farmers.

There, there's a discussion over the spiders, the fields, and the cave, as they hammer out some kind of agreement. Karl is also paid at this point; a small bag of gold coins and a leg of mutton from the farmers and a wind-up spider toy from the arachnomechanist, who has no real money to pay him with.

[Terumitsu]

[Scouting Weirdness]

The woman looks in the direction of the probes that the drones they pointed out earlier, but while she doesn't seem to be able to see it with her human eyes, she does seem to know what the drone was talking about and gestures upwards.
"I'm here to discuss some matters with those things owner. The person partly responsible for all this. I believe something went wrong with one of their experiments, resulting in all this." She gestures around. "Their lab shouldn't be too far away, likely in the epicenter of all this chaos." A pause. "You seem to be able to detect things around you pretty well. Could you perhaps be on the look after a large humanoid being with thick fur and cat-like features? I could show you a sketch..." Her tome suddenly flies out its holder and starts to flip pages on its own accord until it presents a sketch of Thariza which should give the drone a good idea of what she looks like.

[Scouting Weirdness]

"I am not averse to a trade of services." the drone stated, not making any apparent reaction to the image it was shown. "Given local conditions, the choice to postpone barter is acceptable should you elect." it continued, holding out one undamaged hand fully splayed as the other began to press at the darkened burns as a sharp yet earthy smell began to fill the air. "If you are in possession of an article of the one pictured here, it would be of greater benefit to your request." it said. As for the outreached hand, a holographic projection of line after line of text scrolled by at an unreadable pace before ending with what looked to be a place where one could place a mark. Like a contract, really. There did look to be a function where one could read through it, if wanted.

[Morty]

[Sapphira's Prison]

Wenomir arrives there, along with some Vigil members. Geneva's early warning system alerted them that Sapphira has escaped, so they came as quickly as they could to stop her. Seems they're too late, though.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sapphira's Prison]

Quin takes up position next to Wenomir, Excalibur in hand. The mechanavi surveys the area, looking for signs of hostiles, ready to defend the other VIGIL members at a moment's notice.

[Gullara]

Eon nods. "That is understandable. Would it be possible to arrange a meeting? Perhaps an exchange of knowledge?" He's hoping there's some clue to the mysterious story in the archives here. And he knows a great many things he could possibly trade for access.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"Our pact is not a written contract." This seems to be a point of pride for Ramuq. "It is a compact our leaders renew each year at spring equinox, when we honor our lady. She keeps the sky clear for us, brings rain when we need it and warns us about enemies. In return, we do not hunt birds that dwell here, only those that come from elsewhere. We sacrifice part of what we fish from the river, for the fey who lives there is her enemy. The exact details of the compact are for our leaders to know." He looks to Eao. "Sky-Cutter prefers to keep to the skies and clouds. What do you wish to know from her and what do you offer in exchange?"

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"I see, I see..." Zhareen nods thoughtfully and takes notes. "I would like to speak to your leaders eventually, but first we need to deal with something more pressing." She gestures behind her, to the carpet. "Namely, where do you want us to place the cake? You better eat it soon or it's going to go bad." Right, that.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

A typical strategy of Zhareen's. Get to people through their stomachs. Whatever works, right? "Yes, we should put it somewhere. It's a bit precarious to transport, and we wouldn't want to waste it." Besides, Korrina is tired of having to share space with it.

[Murkus]

Innawoods

Blanche's eyes linger on the gorgeous lines of green that sparkle in the moonlight, dazzled by the natural vista before her. Everywhere the Frescots touched seemed to hold some wild allure to it, so verdant and full of life. She wasn't used to thinking of the untamed wilds like this - she'd seen plenty of plains and forests on her homeworld of Persephone, but the signs of human control and cultivation touched it all there.

There's a similar look of captivation when her eyes fall over Votsona's form, stunned by the rugged lines of scar and muscle - at least, until her gaze drifts low enough to realize exactly how much is on display. Blanche pauses for a moment as she processes this fact and a brilliant red seeps into her visage.

"U-um, I- I dunno," she stutters, tearing her gaze away and back to Fidella."I-I guess I could kinda just... go over and wake him? Unless you think it's better you, er, intro him to the situation?" Blanche fiddles with the skirt of her embarrassingly-translucent dress. Approaching him with confidence is how she wants to go about it, but waking him up herself might be more awkward for him than anything else.

[Innawoods]

Fids looks Blanche up and down, just the once. She gets up with a rustle of leaves and crosses the clearing. She picks up Vots' teakettle and the spoon beside it. Then she starts to bang. "Voootsanaaaaa!" Fidella pipes over the drumming. She grins and it compresses her cheeks into little freckled dumplings.

Vots is up like a shot after the second rap, and he looks none too pleased. He rolls up off his lean back and glowers. "Fidella! 'Della, knock it off!" He groans. "Yuri's pale blood, who let you drink so much?"

Fids stops and bends forward, clasping her hands behind her back. The teakettle swings on its handle. "There's a certain little kitty cat who wanted to see you again before the night was through. Over yon'." She points and wags her eyebrows. Votsana props his body on his arm and twists to look.

[Forest of Flowers]

"Oh, Vivi, hi-" Lucy is halfway through giving an awkward smile and wave when Viviana stands up. Her cheeks flush as her words fall short, not having expected to have encountered Vivi quite so...exposed.

She hurriedly turns away, looking rather flustered. A shame her awkwardness has momentarily got the better of her. The beauty of the moment is quite something. One might almost imagine Vivi had planned it, were it not for Lucy's appearance being completely unexpected.

The way the nectar made the water sparkle and shimmer all the more as it ran off Vivi's-

Oh dear. She might need to give Lucy a moment or two to recover and stop being quite so tongue-tied.

[Forest of Flowers]

"You're here!" Viviana pops out of the water and streaks over to Lucy, burying her in a sopping wet hug. She was, ironically, wearing a pair of sandals under the water even if nothing else. They have little flower buckles and ties made from woven reeds. "I thought for certain-- well I don't know what I thought for certain but I was so worried! I didn't know what... what your plans were, or how-- how things were going to go for you. Your situation... I confess I still don't understand it completely, but I've been dearly concerned! I thought maybe you hadn't been allowed any time to be... you."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Uh, thanks." Thariza's voice is weak and her heart is still hammering like a tank factory. Did she just help fight a dragon? And not die? Does that make her like Rytlock Brimstone? "Can you tell me who you are and who we just fought?"

[City out of Time]

Cass and Electra will find little difficulty in leaving the barracks and heading towards the library. The city's streets are still as eerily empty as before. They will go uphill again, towards the centre of the city. As they do, the atmosphere... changes. The time anomaly weakens, or perhaps is simply different there, and the city seems to age before their eyes. Buildings crumble, weeds grow and the sorceries pervading the air fade into nothingness. Fortunately, they won't need to use any of the hard light bridges to get where they're going.

Their road takes them to a massive, round courtyard among dilapidated buildings that may have been glorious once. The library is a tall tower reaching into the sky, clearly a centrepiece of the city. The air around it is stale and old. And the two mercenaries might feel as though they're not alone there. The tower has several entrances - one massive, clearly made with someone enormous in mind, and others made for the dwarves and halflings who dwelt here.

[City out of Time]

Electra nods, as her system manages to impose both maps together and she gestures for Cass to follow her. She's quiet, and contemplative on the walk to the library, but as the time anomaly seems to subside, her expression grows pained for a moment.

As they stand in the courtyard, she closes her eyes and rubs her temples gently.

"Ugh....which....which door do you think?"

[City Out of Time]

"I'm... not sure there's a difference?" Says Cass, shrugging uncertainly. But all the same she casts a spell to detect magical resonance, to see if there's any particular door that she might be drawn to. If there isn't a difference, she'll shrug again. "Big door?"

[Sapphira's Prison]

Kalya stands at Wenomir's other side. She's forgone her usual dress, instead wearing a long, heavy jacket over wide trousers. Over the jacket she's wearing a breastplate and armguards, and she seems to have acquired a shield and a cap helmet. At her hip is a large, curved dagger, a pair tarnished silver bells, and a mirror made of driftwood and rusted bronze. In her free hand, she's holding a sturdy looking studded cudgel. The breastplate, shield, and cudgel have been painted over with a complex pattern of runes in charcoal paint, which should help protect and repel unholy energy.

I mean, just because Kalya is Vigil's head librarian, not a warrior, doesn't mean she needs to come completely unprepared. Of course you wear armor when you expect there might be things that could hurt you. That's just common sense.

[bc56]

The crystal sits there. It's only about a meter tall, and yet it seems to loom over its surroundings, pulsing with some malevolent presence like the beating of a twisted and rotten heart. Clearly some dark magic is at work here. But of the archfiend that created it, there is no sign.

[Morty]

[City Out of Time]

There is... a lot of magical resonance here. Sorceries from long ago are still permeating the time anomaly. And there is something strange inside the building, but Cass can't quite tell what. Nothing that suggests the large door is particularly dangerous to go through, though.

[Sapphira's Prison]

"I was really hoping we could catch her before she escaped," Wenomir says grimly. He's wearing his mail armor with no surcoat and the Answer is in its longsword shape. "We need to track her, but this crystal is also clearly bad news. Can you tell us anything about it, Kalya?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[City out of Time]

Electra nods, and stops rubbing her temples after another moment. The headache seems to have subsided for the moment, and she opens her eyes and moves up to the large door, examining it more closely to see how they might get it open. If it's just a large door, Electra's strength should allow her to open it, barring some kind of magic, but she wants to be ready in case there's something unfriendly waiting on the other side.

[Sapphira's Prison]

Quin glances quickly to Kalya and nods, before focusing back on the crystal, since the area seems to be clear of hostiles for the moment. Back home, it was usually when he and his friends were examining something or discussing what to do about it that the big bads would try and spring something on them, and he's not about to let that happen to Commander Wenomir or Kalya.

"I'll keep watch if you need to take a closer look."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Flowers]

Oh goodness, Viviana, give the poor lady some time to recover!

No?

Okay then. Lucy hugs back after a moment or two, smiling softly.

"Th-that's, um, that's pretty accurate, honestly. I haven't been out since, um, not longer after last time." Which was months ago. "Th-they kind of sort of decided they wanted to have children a-and things took a very unexpected turn and they-" She pauses, sighs, backtracks a bit. "Sylvess mated with another dragon and they're both male a-and petitioned a goddess for help and...she helped much sooner than they expected. A-and pregnant dragons can't, um, transform. The eggs can't really-" There's a couple of awkward fumbly gestures to try and explain the incompatibility. "You know. So I had to...stay inside."

[bc56]

Eon shakes his head. "If I knew exactly what I wanted to know, I could tell you. But I do know somewhat. I have an interest in a certain story, about someone called the Banished King. It seems to appear in every known culture. I would be interested in hearing your telling of it, and the lessons you learn from it. In exchange, I have occasional visions of the future. Perhaps something I have seen might be of use to you?"

[Morty]

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Ramuq eyes the cake warily. What is he to do with that? This is the biggest piece of confectionery he's ever seen; they're not exactly easy to come by around here. Finally, he claps his hands. Two young elves come running.

"Take it and bring it to the market office. We shall enjoy it shortly, with compliments of our guests." Then, however Eao mentions the story. Ramuq's face falls, then becomes carefully neutral. "What is your interest in this tale? We did not think it had reached foreign lands."

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza scratches the back of her neck. She does look kind of similar, but not quite...

"You do look a bit like her. But a lot bigger. And no horns. And you dress differently." She looks around. "But I should probably focus on finding her. Except all those aerial acrobatics mean I'm not really sure where we are." She tries to find the laboratory in the distance, as that's the most distinct landmark she has available.

[Scouting Weirdness]

"I am not averse to a trade of services." the drone stated, not making any apparent reaction to the image it was shown. "Given local conditions, the choice to postpone barter is acceptable should you elect." it continued, holding out one undamaged hand fully splayed as the other began to press at the darkened burns as a sharp yet earthy smell began to fill the air. "If you are in possession of an article of the one pictured here, it would be of greater benefit to your request." it said. As for the outreached hand, a holographic projection of line after line of text scrolled by at an unreadable pace before ending with what looked to be a place where one could place a mark. Like a contract, really. There did look to be a function where one could read through it, if wanted.

[Scouting Weirdness]

The woman raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Depends on what you mean by 'possession' I suppose. She have made a few notes in my tome but otherwise I don't make a habit out of keeping her belongings on me."

Above them, more strange clouds are rolling in and it appears like they might soon have a full-blown storm on their hands.

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The other Ambrosia scratches her head. "I got no problems with that but first we gotta deal with this lady." She gestures at the red dragon and then just stares at it for a moment.

"...you don't have any normal- er, dragon-sized manacles do you? Or perhaps we could just make a pair? Can't just leave her like this, y'know? Sounded pretty pissed." The other Ambrosia starts to look around.
"We just need some good materials... eh, what do you make manacles off anyway? It needs to be strong enough to keep a dragon down."

Above, strange red colored clouds have started to blow in and it appears that they might have a storm on their hands soon enough.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Zhareen too claps her hands as the elves come in to carry the cake away. "Grand." She remarks with a smile.

Then she turns to Eon. "Oh, not that particular tale but tales very similar too it you see. Yours the oldest and most prominent within your culture however so we suspect you might be the origin of it somehow." She scratches her head. "We're not really sure how it spread, but the nexus can be pretty strange at times."

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza blinks slowly. This other-Ambrosia isn't the sharpest axe on the weapon rack, is she?

"You need good iron or steel to make manacles. And even if I had any, I wouldn't be able to make manacles big enough for that." She pauses. "So we're still in deep trouble. Especially with those clouds coming."

[Arkhosia]

[Innawoods]

Fids looks Blanche up and down, just the once. She gets up with a rustle of leaves and crosses the clearing. She picks up Vots' teakettle and the spoon beside it. Then she starts to bang. "Voootsanaaaaa!" Fidella pipes over the drumming. She grins and it compresses her cheeks into little freckled dumplings.

Vots is up like a shot after the second rap, and he looks none too pleased. He rolls up off his lean back and glowers. "Fidella! 'Della, knock it off!" He groans. "Yuri's pale blood, who let you drink so much?"

Fids stops and bends forward, clasping her hands behind her back. The teakettle swings on its handle. "There's a certain little kitty cat who wanted to see you again before the night was through. Over yon'." She points and wags her eyebrows. Votsana props his body on his arm and twists to look.

Innawoods

Blanche winces as Fidella starts to bang on the kettle, and then reddens and ducks a little further behind the greenery when Vots awakens with a start. Although the action proves unnecessary - she'd expected Votsona to actually get to his feet, meaning that a significant adjustment to her angle of visibility would have to be made.

It's between that and Fidella gesturing cheerily over towards her that Blanche permits herself to lean up out of cover with an awkward little wave of the hand. "Er, hi. I was... kinda sorta a little worried we got off on the wrong foot and you got, er, the wrong impression about me and- well, erm, I was gonna spend the night with Fidella, but Iiiii kinda wanted to ask if you wanted to spend the night with me too?" Her hands fiddle nervously with her dress, making a very determined effort not to let her eyes drift too far down and blushing all the while.