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

[Deathkeeper]

In Search of a Fortress

Spako leans against Pepper's humanoid half and gives her a little hug around the waist. He likes spending time with his friend. Even if she's different now.
And then a bard!
Don't worry Mr. Bard. Spako is terrible at singing, too.
"Yeah, looking for an old dwarf fort. Seen it?" he inquires.

[Rebonack]

[In Search of a Fortress]

The snow berries look suspiciously like holly berries so the answer is probably. Red berries with yellow pulpy interiors are almost always NOT for mammals to eat. Birds only! Unless you're a bird, June, then don't bother. You'll just make yourself sick.

"Yeah! It's an old abandoned dwarf fortress," Pepper adds. She reaches behind her back with both arms and gives Spako a squeeze. She's glad her friend has stuck by her even though she's different.

Laughing the bard says, "Hah! Well, that goes without saying doesn't it friend? The dwarves all disappeared ages ago. You're in luck, though! A month ago I would have said the closest one is several days journey from here, but the entrance to a new ruin was found not too long ago at the foot of the Brittleshin Mountain. Maybe a good half a day from here, if you've got Kinnereth's wind at your heels! If you hurry you might be able to make it to the caves by nightfall."

He points off to the north toward a mountain in the distance with a huge, imposing temple of some sort sticking out of the top above a massive frozen waterfall.

It's very picturesque!

And kind of spooky.

"Wow, thanks mister Bard!" Pepper says brightly.

"Ah, don't thank me. But perhaps you can help? What's a good word that rhymes with 'dawn'?"

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Sadly,
June is not a bird.

"Brittleshin Mountain?" She stands on her toes as if that would help her get a better look at it. "It looks nice." Looks really cold, though. Really glad they can get there before nightfall.

So....
rhyming words? Brawn? Fawn? "How about 'gone'?" she suggests. "Gone's a pretty useful word in a lot of situations, I think."

[Deathkeeper]

In Search of a Fortress

Hm. How annoying. If only Pepper and his new friend could fly, they could be there in an hour.
"Wow, nice location. But it sounds like we better head out right away.
Uh.
If you're singing about nature, maybe 'fawn?'"
Spako only managed to think of that because he's riding a deer.
He's really not good at songs either. Just guitar.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Wait, we'll tag along!" The other Ambrosia proclaims as she raises her hand before looking to Thariza. "Right? I mean, whoever you're looking for, the other me or whatever, would probably have gone there too! I mean it's like the only location that stands out in all this chaos."

The warriors pause, giving the two an impatient stare but doesn't project more thoughts into their heads for now.

Thariza takes a look around. They don't really have anywhere else to go or anything else to do, right? Might as well stick to people who can fight off whatever gribblies this place throws at them.

"Probably a good idea. We're safer sticking together. In case we reach into something more dangerous."

[Rebonack]

[In Search of a Fortress]

"What about prawn?" Pepper helps completely unhelpfully.

But hey, at least she tried right?

"Thank you for the suggestions, friend. I think I'll wait here and practice until inspiration strikes. Good luck on your journey!"

Pepper starts off, only to pause briefly. "Oh hey could you do me a favor? When you're done doing song stuff could you send word to Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun that a dragon attacked Helgen?"

"A what!? Are you serious?" the bard gasps.

"Yeah! Don't worry though, we slew it pretty good! Especially since we've got the Dragonborn with us!" Pepper adds, patting June on the back. "Good luck with your music, bye!"

And then off she prances down the road, leaving the flabbergasted bard behind. Wowie, what an exciting adventure so far!

"So guys there's a little village between here and the mountain that's got an inn. Do you want to stay there for the night and head out in the morning or try to get to the mountain before it gets dark and we all freeze?"

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Sadly,
June can't fly.
It's really sad.

"Haha, yeah. I don't envy whoever's job it is to carry the skeleton out of the town." It looked pretty heavy, actually. And big.
She leaves off after Pepper, walking faster than normal to keep up with the prancing.

"So, I don't really have any money for an inn," June admits. "So I don't think it would be fair if I had a say in that decision."

[Deathkeeper]

[In Search of a Forest]

Spako stops to consider his options.
"Well, I could carry June in my pocket. Oh, and I could bring your armor and one of your avacados! Then I can plant the tree, and you can come join us, and we can call be there in an hour!"
Yes, very smart, Spako.
He thinks it is, at least.
"You'll have to get back to your garden soon to sleep anyway, won't you?" Gaiads have a weird relationship with resting.

[Rebonack]

[In Search of a Fortress]

June!

You were supposed to loot the dragon skeleton, June! It was carrying a whole bunch of gold for some reason. Guess that gold will go toward rebuilding the damage to Helgen instead.

Pepper looks pretty excited at Spako's suggestion!

"Oh! That's a really good idea!" she says. "That way we can get there WAY faster! Though it means we'll miss out on random encounters along the way. Unless there are flying random encounters but we just fought a dragon so that probably won't happen."

Probably.

The armor peels off Pepper's haunches as one of the little green flowers back there begins growing bigger and bigger until there's a long vine with a funny, lumpy, vaguely egg shaped fruit hanging off Pepper's backside. She picks it and hands it to Spako.

"I'll hang out here and do some adventury things while you're flying over. Once we're there, I'll just have my armor fly after me. It can move pretty quick when it's motivated," Pepper says. "There should be some bandits hanging out in an iron mine nearby, I'll go bop them and feed any enchanted stuff they've got to my my armor."

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

But what if...what if someone else needed that money? You can't just take random money that's lying on the ground.

June glances at Spako, and starts to wonder how big, exactly, his pockets are. "That does sound like a really good idea," she says. She's not sure how an avocado sprout will help, but presumably it's some kind of magic like how Spako can become a dragon or how Pepper's armor is so weird. "Pretty ingenious."

She turns to Pepper and almost corrects her about the 'no random encounters while flying' because the fact that they met a dragon almost guarantees that there's more flying things.
However...dragons are alpha predators, right? And probably solo hunters, too. So, she's forced to admit, "Yeah, the dragon probably ate anything that was out flying. Either that, or scared it off."

So, back to Spako: "So, um...will I have to do anything to fit in your. . . pocket?"

[Deathkeeper]

In Search of a Fortress

Spako takes the avocado and puts it in his bag. In its place he withdraws a large and simple saddle and hands it to June before shifting back into being a dragon.
"I can't really reach back there so you're going to have to help me get it on. If you rode bare-back my scales and spikes would tear up your legs."
Very much not pleasant.
After some fiddling around, June presumably can get the saddle properly buckled on.
"All right, see you soon, Pepper! Hold on, June."
Spako takes off towards the fort. Hopefully June doesn't fall off.

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Oh, wait, really?
A saddle?
Actually riding a dragon?
As she works to get the saddle on, June has to bite her lip pretty hard to hide how much glee she has. This had better not just be a dream, because seriously, she's actually riding a dragon. (And, no, suddenly getting on to that bad dragon's neck doesn't count anymore even though she did count that as 'riding' a dragon when she did it. It doesn't count anymore. This is now the first time riding a dragon.)

Once she's on the saddle and holding on tight, she says, "Okay, I'm ready." Probably. She's only ridden a horse once, and didn't even have a saddle then. Saddles make it easier, right? All she has to do is hold on.

But,
oh, goodness, how she hopes neither Pepper nor Spako were looking at her. She would absolutely die of embarrassment if either of them actually saw how big her grin was during take-off and during the flight. Actually, just thinking about one of them noticing is already shooting waves of embarrassment through her. Luckily, this only serves to make her hold on tighter.


Eventually, when they get there and they've landed and everything, she gets off and - while making sure to face away in case he looks and she withers in shame for having liked that so much - she asks, "So you want help taking it off, too?"
If so, she helps.

[bc56]

Journey to the Center of the Elves

"I swear." Eon holds his hand up in a solemn gesture. "I don't know who he is, but from the story, I can guess." And him returning is probably not good.

Rolling Hills

"We should just go ourselves! That way the grownups don't get to steal our fun!" Eao counters. She wants all the experience for herself! Letting Zee and other old people steal it means she won't get as strong!

[Morty]

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

The Speaker is guarded still, but Korrina can tell that a weight has been lifted off her mind. This oath seems to have meant more to her than would be apparent.

"I am satisfied. If you did serve him, you would not make such an oath. He is not one to take his servants' words lightly." She breathes in and out. "If what you suspect is true, then the King in Rags was the original Banished King. And his story has spread elsewhere, under different names. But stories are, after all, what the Gentry know best. I... cannot tell you... but perhaps..."

"If anything they said is accurate, Speaker, then the time for oaths is past."

The voice comes from above. If they look up, they will see a figure descent from the top of the spire. An androgynous figure, but a more feminine one overall. She's thin and sleek, with a pair of shimmering insect wings on her back. Her skin has a silvery sheen to it and looks almost translucent - and she's not wearing any clothes. As the figure gets closer, they will notice that her face is elongated, similar to that of a dragon. But aside from a pair of pitch-black eyes, it's featureless. Her voice seems to be emanating from within her. Her legs bend backwards and her hands end in three long, double-jointed fingers.

"Our patron - how did you-"

"When you spoke the name of the one who holds my mentor's chain, it reached me up in the sky."

[Deathkeeper]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Spako lands in a nice outcropping next to a ruined stone building that might once have been a stable. Though for what manner of creatures, Spako could not tell you.
He shakes his head at June's question.
"No, I need to practice doing this. Let's give it a shot." Spako focuses and shifts back to kobold form. The saddle shifts with him, becoming his kobold clothes.
"Excellent! I admit that doesn't always work."
Pleased with himself, Spako finds a nice spot of earth and buries Pepper's little avocado within. He had a trowel lying around in his bag for some reason. Convenient!

[Purple Eagle]

[Rolling Hills]

"Aaww... but if mom comes she'll blow up all the robots herself! She's SUPER strong!" Lapis complains. "I think we should tell VIGIL instead! There are lots of heroes there who could help beat the robots and we would still get to help, too."

And stopping things like this is technically VIGIL's job.

Just sayin'!

Rolling Hills

"We should just go ourselves! That way the grownups don't get to steal our fun!" Eao counters. She wants all the experience for herself! Letting Zee and other old people steal it means she won't get as strong!

[Rolling Hills]

Before he can address Lapis, Eao pipes up with her own thoughts. Zabb turns to her and studies her. "Eao, I used to think you were icky, until I studied you a little bit and remembered you were a warmongering robot before you apotheosized. I'm older than the both of you, so I can tell you that there's a time for peace and a time for war..." He pauses a second or two, for effect. "... and this time is for war, even if you do enjoy it far too much. I know we're far stronger than the strongest mortal..." At least, he is quite on par with Zee, but has less finesse in using the powers. Uriel is also on par with Zee, and despite having more finesse, didn't accompany them.

Usually, he wouldn't as well... but friends help each other out, and this fight promises to be intense enough that he'd be a big help on his own. In Uriel's case, she was enjoying her time spent with Zee...

"That being said, your lust for power could get you killed. We're immortal so it's merely a minor setback, but if you die, don't you momentarily lose the chance to gain more XP?" He gestures at Lapis, and smiles at the littler seraph. "I'm about as strong as your mum, but I've been holding back, so maybe we don't need help, but I think we should get some just in case! It might turn out that we don't even need the help, but better safe than sorry!"

He ponders for a split-second. "Or, we could decide by rock-paper-scissors?"

[Rebonack]

[Rolling Hills]

Lapis gives a gasp! She's utterly scandalized now!

"No way! Mom's the biggest and the strongest there is!"

She very possibly just missed absolutely everything else Zabb just said.


[In Search of a Fortress]

The entrance really isn't much to look at.

At all.

Even a little bit.

It's basically a dirty cave entrance held up by wooden planks vanishing off into the hillside. The old ruined stable is the only thing that suggests there might be something more at work here. It's made of great slabs of stone held together with braces of some sort of silvery colored metal that, in spites of its apparent age, shows no sign of tarnish.

As soon as the avocado pit is planted-

-nothing happens.

Yet.

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Eventually, June manages to stop smiling.
She turns. "Oh! You did it! Good job," turning the saddle into clothes.

She walks over to the stable and looks inside of it. Must be some kind of stainless steel, probably.
Glancing back, she asks, "So is that avocado supposed to do something, then?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza takes a look around. They don't really have anywhere else to go or anything else to do, right? Might as well stick to people who can fight off whatever gribblies this place throws at them.

"Probably a good idea. We're safer sticking together. In case we reach into something more dangerous."

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Great, let's go then!" And so the other Ambrosia's form blurs as she changes back into her true form before the psionic warriors whose glowing eyes widen in shock.

It's not until the dragon have reached her full size and looks back at the taken aback beings she realizes that she seem to realize that she never mentioned the whole 'I am a giant flying monster' part.

"...oh come on! Have you guys never seen a dragon before? You'd think I'm nude or- well, technically I am nude now but that's besides the point-"

Thariza might need to jump in here before more misunderstandings happen.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

The Speaker is guarded still, but Korrina can tell that a weight has been lifted off her mind. This oath seems to have meant more to her than would be apparent.

"I am satisfied. If you did serve him, you would not make such an oath. He is not one to take his servants' words lightly." She breathes in and out. "If what you suspect is true, then the King in Rags was the original Banished King. And his story has spread elsewhere, under different names. But stories are, after all, what the Gentry know best. I... cannot tell you... but perhaps..."

"If anything they said is accurate, Speaker, then the time for oaths is past."

The voice comes from above. If they look up, they will see a figure descent from the top of the spire. An androgynous figure, but a more feminine one overall. She's thin and sleek, with a pair of shimmering insect wings on her back. Her skin has a silvery sheen to it and looks almost translucent - and she's not wearing any clothes. As the figure gets closer, they will notice that her face is elongated, similar to that of a dragon. But aside from a pair of pitch-black eyes, it's featureless. Her voice seems to be emanating from within her. Her legs bend backwards and her hands end in three long, double-jointed fingers.

"Our patron - how did you-"

"When you spoke the name of the one who holds my mentor's chain, it reached me up in the sky."

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Oh wow, a manifested patron!

Zhareen nods curtly before the being before she speaks up. In general patrons wanted you to be direct, having to repeat or clarify things could often test their patience but not being courteous could also be dangerous so one had balance the two. "Patron of these lands, we are of the fourth tower and have come to aid your people, but to do so we need to understand what is happening. Why does the rag-king of whom you speak hold the chains of your mentor?"

[Deathkeeper]

[In Search of a Fortress]

Spako backs up and looks into the stable, seeing if he could use it for shelter.
"After a while, the plant should sprout and Pepper can join us. For now, we probably want to start making shelter for the night." he looks around. Maybe they can hang a tarp or blanket to keep the wind out?

[5a Violista]

[In Search of a Fortress]

June agrees: that sounds like an okay plan.

She turns around to look at the nearby trees. "I bet it'll get cold tonight, too," she says, "so we might want a fire, then." A bunch of the trees look pretty fresh, though. Would be really hard to light them, and...besides, Pepper's the one with that chainsaw axe thing. "But...might be better to wait for Pepper for that." Sure, they could maybe get wood from the cave but they look like supports so that would be dangerous.

"Guess I could get some things already, to act as an insulation to the ground."

[Rebonack]

[Found a Fortress Maybe]

Our heroes have two main choices when it comes to setting up camp. They could head into the tunnel and see if it opens up a little. That should provide ample shelter since there is supposedly a fortress in there. Or! They could try setting up camp inside of the old stable. Or... whatever that building is. Honestly anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's. Did dwarves keep unusual animals just outside their fortresses on the surface?

Maybe it isn't a stable at all.

Maybe it's actually some sort of check point for people who want to enter the fortress.

Or, rather, it WAS a checkpoint for people who want to enter the fortress.

What with all the dwarves being gone and stuff.

Either way!

A tiny little sprout with two leaves on it is now sticking out of the ground.

It isn't growing quite as quickly as it would if Pepper where here to tend to it. But! It is still growing WAY faster than an avocado tree would normally.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza sighs and swishes her tail back and forth.

"You guys can't tell me this is the most shocking thing you've seen in the past thirty minutes. She's already carried me around a bunch, so let's just go."

[Deathkeeper]

[Found a Fortress Maybe]

Spako starts inspecting the little building for solid walls that have few enough holes in them for them to take shelter in. He's also going to start sweeping snow away so they can sit on dry-ish ground. The snow can patch up some of the holes near the ground if they pile it well enough.

"Pepper should be able to handle wood for a fire. I can handle the fire. We should focus on getting this place insulated as best we can." Spako tells June.

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress Maybe]

"Okay," June says. "I'll go get some pine branches and grasses, then." Pine branches make both decent insulation and are really good at sweeping, it turns out.

She leaves the stable and looks for nearby trees, so that she can break off the lower-hanging branches - not the big ones that would be good for fires, but the smaller ones with lots of needles-, and large clumps of grasses. Then, she brings them back to the stable then leaves to look for more.

[Rebonack]

[Found a Fortress]

Given that the old building still has a roof of that strange silvery metal the interior is thankfully snow-free. Really, it's in quite incredible shape in spite of how old it seems to be. One scan see where a few people have tried to chip away at it with iron tools mostly in vain due to the rusty streaks on the outside. Any why wouldn't they? Who wouldn't want to harvest wondrous dwarf metal?

June will be able to heap up pine branches on the ground without too much trouble. There are quite a few of them nearby after all. Our heroes will have plenty of time to set up camp before the coming nightfall thanks to Spako's flying plan. In fact, they'll even be able to find a reasonable quantity of relatively dry wood to build a fire with. An excellent start to the adventure, certainly.

It takes a little over two hours for Pepper's little tree to grow to full size. Or maybe a bit bigger than full size. Large enough for the gaiad to step out of anyway. She is, of course, completely naked when she appears. Just one of the big downsides to tree-travel.

"Hey guys! Great camp you did a really good job," Pepper says as she picks a few leaves off he tree and fashions them into a nice green tunic. "That mine was full of bandits just like I thought it would be! I knew I wouldn't be able to carry the gems and coin they stole with me so I left it out where someone passing by might see it."

That'll be a pleasant surprise for the next traveler.

"So! What have we got!" she asks, inspecting the little building our heroes are setting up camp in.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Brisk Afternoon Jog]

G'nichi wakes up to find himself in bed and a spider on his arm. G'nichi tries to cup his hand around the creature without hurting it.
"Good morning, my little tormentor. Or my savior?" he asks sleepily. Weird spider dreams. Normally he would brush these things off.
In a murder forest? No way. Could it have been a message? Was someone trying to warn him? It would sure make sense, because then the instructions to wash his face might be to block any such warnings.
Maybe G'nichi is reading too much into it, but with a situation this messed up being sent spider-related dreams via magic is not the strangest thing he can think of. He just hopes that he's entirely wrong and it wasn't a warning because wow that would be messed up. Being grabbed by giant spiders and coated in blood? Nothing good happens in this town, he's sure of that. G'nichi goes to collect his weapons, but he has no other gear to equip himself with. And it wouldn't do him any good anyway.

The spider appears to be a fairly standard house spider, reacting with alarm as G'nichi tries to grab it. It'll skitter for safety, but it's easy enough to catch and won't bite him (not that it likely could, given the nature of his skin).
Relatedly, it does not respond to his comments.

Entirely unlike his weapons, however!
The sword responds in its usual tone, grumbling a little about "trickery in the night" and G'nichi sleeping in (he didn't).
The disc, the chakram, is a new one for our hero.

Well hello there! Great to finally get some fresh air and meet the modern bearer!
It sounds like a fairly perky voice, though not overly so unlike some prior weapons.
Shame about the death game circumstances. Kudos on the blessing though.

[Deathkeeper]

A Fortress Found

Spako waves Pepper in.
"Well, I was thinking it might be a stable or an old guard outpost. There's not much left, really. Inside there's just what probably used to be wooden crates, a busted-up chair, and a box I couldn't figure out how to open."
The chair didn't look like it was terribly comfortable in the first place, having been made of metal and its cushion rotted away. The box in the back is not really a box at all, but does look like some kind of container. Spako has no clue how to get it open, though.

A Brisk Afternoon Death Game

G'nichi stares hard at the spider. "If you're looking out for me, thanks. If you're with him you better not show your pedipalps around here again." he growls before letting it go.
Sure it was probably nothing but if the spider really was self-aware? It would probably be super freaked out and it's not like anyone but his weapons can hear him. And who would they be to criticize him for talking to strange things?
Speaking of,
"Good morning, Sword. And hello, Chakram. As always, and of you can give me a name if you prefer. What blessing do you mean?" G'nichi has quite a few blessings. For now he just starts strapping on his weapons. He will likely leave his pack here. There's nothing in it he'll need in a town, or a game like this.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza sighs and swishes her tail back and forth.

"You guys can't tell me this is the most shocking thing you've seen in the past thirty minutes. She's already carried me around a bunch, so let's just go."

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The warriors look at one another, a silent argument seemingly taking place for a short bit until their leader curtly replies. A mere moment of hesitation, but we are not deterred. We shall act the vanguard.

He raises his arm to signal to the others who crosses their right arms over their chest. WE DIE FOR AIUR!

And so they take off running towards the temple.

The dragon tilts her head. "You're planning to run all the way there?!" She calls after them, but there's no response. "I was gonna offer them a ride but I guess they wouldn't have accepted the offer." Her head turns to Thariza, the enormous yellow reptilian eyes turning larger as they focus in one her. "But I don't think you're gonna decline are you? It's gonna go a lot faster."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Hideout- The Steelbite Canyon

It's pretty much the middle of nowhere, a narrow road winding through a mountain pass. A dirt track leads off the main highway into a small hidden valley. It consists of seven battered motorhomes, an old Quonset hut turned into a garage, and a stone bothy, with a broken-down minibus atop a cliff serving as a lookout point. There's a number of motorbikes in the Quonset hut, all different; two choppers, a monowheel, a dicycle, a 1940s military bike with a sidecar mounting a machine-gun and a large trike. There's nobody really around, save a lone tiefling at the lookout. The tiefling has purple-black skin, white eyes with no visible pupil or iris, no hair and there's teeth growing from his chin. He wears black motorcycle leathers, including a skull on the back with a bone crossed with a spanner underneath, emblazoned with the single word Prospect. He also looks cold, given that he's huddled up to a fire in an old oil drum.

A rift opens up, and out steps a young man, maybe nineteen years old. He's got dark skin and black hair, and where his eyes should be is a cracked and gaping void, horrid purple light occasionally flickering and flaring within. He wears a pair of brown trousers and a slightly tarnished copper collar, a leather strap hanging from it. He carries a glowing trapezohedron in his hand. He strides through the ankle-deep snow, barely noticing the cold on his bare feet, and knocks on one the door to one of the motorhomes. A man opens it, wearing a leather jacket with the Road Pirates logo on the back and a pair of jeans, and holding a sawn-off shotgun. "Rejoice. The end is coming. Quicker for you than many." The biker frowns, as the purple light in the chasm of the stranger's face flares and flickers out, stroking and caressing his flesh. The man screams, as the flesh sloughs off his face, his jacket melts and then the light eats into his chest.