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

[Earl of Purple]

Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx

There might be other zombies like that wandering around, their bodies twisted and compacted into the geometry that puppets them.

The heroes can approach quite close without being noticed; the cultists haven't put anyone in the lookout point since their Prospect ran away. There's the guard patrolling with the lever-action rifle, but she's it, and she's too busy trying to attract the zombie's attention so it can be led somewhere else. Given the thing doesn't have a head, it's basically ignoring her, and the orders are not to kill them.

They won't be able to reach the vehicles directly, though. The chef will look up and spot them before then, and call out. "Hey! We got visitors! What the [diddle] do we do with 'em?" He picks up a massive meat cleaver, because he expects it isn't going to be pleasant. Fido, the priest, hears and stands. He'll also approach, though his arms are folded in front of him and he carries no weapons.
"Greetings, travellers. Are you interested in joining our little congregation? The End is coming, and with my help, you can thrive in the After." His dark-skinned face is split by a chasm in the flesh, sickly purple light flickering in the nothing that should be his eyes.

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress]

What if a little kid dorf was accompanying her dad and decided to open up the chest? That would be awful. If it can hurt a kid, then it's probably awful design.

"Maybe they had some sort of crossbow religion," June suggests. She grabs another crossbow to replace the one that got speared. Since that's all that's here, it might be useful to have one so that she doesn't have to rely on this unreliable light armor weapon stuff.

She goes around a chest to the back, and grabs two crossbow magazines. "Like, they didn't worship crossbows themselves but maybe their bolts were in the shape of their god or something. Or maybe they believed their ancestors reincarnated as crossbow bolts or something."

[Deathkeeper]

[iDungeon]

Luckily, they're only making a single right turn to go east to north, so Linus will only need two moves.
Assuming the board is standard the right eastern knight need only move two spaces west and one south, then one west and two north.
Bam! East side to north side via knightly zigzag.

Found a Fortress

Spako can't really answer that one.
"Maybe? Either way we can pawn off their weapons. Where to next?" he asks. Mostly of Pepper since she has the map but June is leading at the moment.

[Morty]

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Atreyu's spell appears to... fail to take hold. It's a strange feeling. It seems that Calm Reed's body is already toughened far beyond mortal limits, so there's little for it to affect. Or there's something burning brightly in her soul that takes poorly to such meddling. Calm Reed doesn't dwell on it and moves forward. She stares the priest directly into what passes for his eyes.

"I am sorry, but my soul is already spoken for. We will, however, give you one chance to repent and renounce your insane beliefs before we use stronger arguments."

[Shadowcaller]

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"Of course." The woman hands over her notebook for Zhareen to read the words she spoke. Meanwhile, Korrina has a few noteworthy details. "The rest isn't known to me, but for the first line I may have a lead. There's a city some ways away knows and Riverside, after the river cutting though it. A river city is hardly notable, but it has just recently suffered from an unusual rat infestation." Keeping up with current events is valuable... of course, Korrina knows first hand given she spends half her time in Riverside. "The infestation wasn't at all natural, that much I can say for sure."

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"The person living here was supposed to help me," Thariza says. "I don't want to start off by making more holes in their walls. Let's go through the one already there."

"That is correct. Soothsayers and those who listen to them have a way of papering over inconsistencies."

"But given the story that has spread, one thing does seem rather clear. He seeks the return of the Fairest of Lands and tries to open the way. What is not clear is why he would warn others of it with the tale. But the Gentry are inscrutable. Their minds are a tangle of stories, titles and goals. Perhaps his legend demands that he attract worthy adversaries." She looks to Eao. "If so, sharing the story may be what he wants. But it might be a risk you will need to take."

"A city named Riverside that suffered from an unnatural plague of rats? That does seem unlikely to be a coincidence. Unlikely enough that it must be investigated. Especially if it may lead you to the King's allies."

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Zhareen carefully looks over what Korrina has written before she comments. "Sounds like the rats might have been his doing then, doesn't it great lady? He made a deal with them to spread across Riverside and perhaps that also serves to spread his story somehow. We must investigate."

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"You sure? Don't think whoever lives in there is gonna wanna help anyone. It's in the middle of nowhere." But despite her apprehension the Other Ambrosia lands before the temple-lab's gate.
As Thariza looks at it however it looks as if the pupils of the stone eyes have moved and are now all staring at them.
The dragon seem to notice and it doesn't seem to ease her apprehension. "...don't want to alarm you or anything, but this place positively stinks of demons. Maybe they were the ones attacking it?"

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza breathes out in a heavy sigh. This is awkward.

"Yes, but the person we're looking for is one of them too. This is some kind of civil war. Normally I'd be happy to let them have it out, but I do need the owner's help. I... died, a while ago, and it brought me back to life. But now it needs to remove the hold it's had on me since then."

[Gullara]

Journey to the Center of the Elves

"I would try to share it with as many as possible. The more people know, the more likely one of them will have some insight we miss." Eon couldn't have known about Riverside, for instance.

"That is correct. Soothsayers and those who listen to them have a way of papering over inconsistencies."

"But given the story that has spread, one thing does seem rather clear. He seeks the return of the Fairest of Lands and tries to open the way. What is not clear is why he would warn others of it with the tale. But the Gentry are inscrutable. Their minds are a tangle of stories, titles and goals. Perhaps his legend demands that he attract worthy adversaries." She looks to Eao. "If so, sharing the story may be what he wants. But it might be a risk you will need to take."

"A city named Riverside that suffered from an unnatural plague of rats? That does seem unlikely to be a coincidence. Unlikely enough that it must be investigated. Especially if it may lead you to the King's allies."

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

Zhareen carefully looks over what Korrina has written before she comments. "Sounds like the rats might have been his doing then, doesn't it great lady? He made a deal with them to spread across Riverside and perhaps that also serves to spread his story somehow. We must investigate."

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"Does the King have some prior association with rats?" Korrina asks. If not, why rats? It's unclear to her how that might factor into his motivations.

[Terumitsu]

[Scouting Weirdness]

The scholar takes a look around and gestures at the horizon. "The storm is subsiding, and the lighting is behaving oddly over there." Indeed, the red lighting seems to be taking bizarre paths in the sky above the area Ambrosia is gesturing at.
"I believe-" She takes a step forward but before she can do anything else lighting strikes the ground in front of her and the ground turns into solid ice, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.
Then another lighting strike turns one of the nearby mushrooms into a huge tentacled monstrosity with more hooved feet to count and at least five mouths. Despite lacking eyes the creature seems to spot them and all its mouths lets out a eerie series of shrieks as it starts to trample in their direction.

Ambrosia's tome has turned into a sword at some point.

An.. Interesting specimen. The lightning freezing the ground itself was... There was theory as to where that could be possible but hideously unlikely. Still, it was even less likely that there would be time to investigate the mechanisms at play with further disruptions on the literal horizon. Best to just record now and simulate later. Still, with the pale, gluish foam hardening as metal flesh knitted and renewed, vigorous undertakings were less of an issue now. "Deem avoidance a possibility post some kind of diversion? Current inventory of resources present advises direct confrontation.... Inefficient." the mechaloid uttered, its stance one of composed dismissal of the monstrous entity. Certainly it garnered attention and it was getting quite a bit of that but it might be annoying, almost, with this continued air of detachment. "At the worst, we could make it shut up, at least. It sounds quite as ugly as it looks.".... Why was that, of all things, the thing that seemed to elicit the most umbrage?

It was wasteful, using this resource in this manner, but armaments were not readily present and engaging in direct melee seemed to be a losing proposition. A large clump of the gluish foam was made, emptying a significant remainder of the reservoir, and imbued with a rough series of commands. And then the glob was hurled right at the monster. This wasn't the kind of nano machinery to be able quickly disassemble matter like one might find in a foundry; nothing so directly offensive as some kind of grey devouring swarm. However, they could generate and amass a significant charge... And given the amount of lightning in the area, the mix of charge and the thing's tendrils had fair chance to make quite the lightning rod. And even if not, the heat and charge made by the glob would certainly be at best unpleasant.

[Rebonack]

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Magdalene's eyes narrow as soon as Fido speaks.

She knew it.

She KNEW it.

She had gone to all that trouble to prevent this stupid kid from getting eaten and he goes and lets something worse happen to him.

"I told you not to (flowering) look up," Magdalene hisses at him. "I told you and you went and (flowering) did it anyway. Now you and all these (flowers) are (flowered)."

Wow.

That's some really colorful language, Magdalene.

Maybe she's making up for the time she spent around Leah.


[Found a Fortress]

It IS worth noting that some of the crossbows are different sizes.

Some are little hand crossbows.

Others are moderately sized crossbows.

Some are big crossbows.

Some are HUGE crossbows with folding tripods since holding the weapon would be difficult otherwise.

"I guess we could pop a bolt out of a magazine to check?" Pepper says. If June does so she will find that it is normal crossbow bolt shaped. "Do we want to try shutting down the power and then climb down the elevator shaft? Or just ride it down? The latter will be easier but if there are other traps they're probably being powered by the generator."

Easy descent?

Or hard descent with no traps to worry about?


[iDungeon]

To the north door!

Opening it isn't difficult in the least and it opens directly into... another room!

This one is a bit smaller and definitely not as nice. Unlike the previous chamber it has a rough stone floor covered in cave pools of various sizes. On the north wall there are THREE doors. The one on the left? Locked. The one on the middle? Also locked. And the one on the right? Sealed with one of those tooth gates. Which means?

As soon as our heroes step inside the door seals behind them.

A roar fills the room as two leyeons and four heyenas approach!

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

That's probably good since Linus is already carrying one (1) door key.
Linus would turn on his sword-wings though they aren't charged much since he hasn't done much slicing since he last used them. Still, it always helps.
Linus brings down his shield as the first heyena leaps at him. The rim cracks against its neck with a wince-inducing snap before he puts the sword through its eye. The second one is hot on its pack-mate's heels, but the predictable pouncing makes it rather easy for Linus to bat it away with his shield and stab that one again.
He's trying his best not to move, though. He doesn't want to slip and fall into one of those pools.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

Thankfully the pools in question aren't gross, just wet and cold as Linus discovered when the octopeye decided to make friends with him.

The heyenas, it would appear, as screening for the leyeons since the latter are just standing there and appear to be channeling some sort of potent magical attack as eldritch fire begins burning around their eyes. It might be a good idea to prevent them from doing whatever it is that they're planning on doing.

Probably something bad.

Jeanette would definitely help with the whole stopping the channel thing, but she's got a pair of heyenas snapping at her, too!

Well.

Not snapping.

Like all the monsters so far they don't appear to actually have any mouth which raises a whole bunch of questions. Just scything at her with their claws.

She's doing a generally good job at holding them off while decapitating one of them with her bone blade.

The sword's lessons with Linus must really be paying off since he managed to dispatch BOTH of the heyenas already, leaving him free to maybe deal with the leyeons.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Luckily with all the adds cleared Linus can focus on the big ones.
And extra lucky, they're busy casting some sort of spell which makes them less likely to fight back when Linus lunges forward, sliding a bit on the slick stone floor but managing to keep his movement forward enough to properly poke his sword forward at the right leyeon's great obvious ocular weak-point!

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

Jeanette manages to shove the other heyena off herself, tossing it to the ground and planting a foot on it to prevent it from getting up again. Two blows fall and the monster is dead.

Take that eye-themed beast!

Linus, meanwhile, stabs one of the two leyeons, though its has enough sense to shut its armored eyelid and turn its 'face' away from him. The weapon still gouges it badly, but it isn't dead! At the very least it was prevented from doing... whatever it was trying to do.

Speaking of what it was trying to do?

The other one does it.

A roar.

Or... 'roar' in finger quotes.

Since it doesn't have a mouth.

However, the blast of arcane power that explodes from around it sounds an awful lot like a roar.

Linus is pretty darn close to the epicenter of the blast so hopefully that shield(s) of his holds.

[Deathkeeper]

[iDungeon]

Linus turns in time to see the blast coming and scrunches up behind his shield.
The leyeon next to him will likely also eat the blast as his wing-shield bursts. He's mostly fine, but the blast does badly scuff up the nice glass shin-guards he just got, as well as burning his shoes. His feet are alright but likely to be very lightly burned. But he'll probably need new shoes.
But there's no time for that! Linus pivots and starts stabbing the first leyeon again, making sure that its body is in between him and the second beast. Hopefully a few stabs and it will go down. Then Jeanie can handle the other one.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

"Well now, ain't that interesting?" Atreyu mutters to himself as the spell fizzles. He'll have to ask Calm Reed about that afterwards. Creatures with an innate resistance to magic aren't unfamiliar to him, but he can't claim to have seen any people with that trait before.

Something to puzzle out at a later date, anyways. Right now, between Calm Reed's rather...calm statement, and Magdalene's colourful outburst, it seems that things are going to escalate rather quickly.

"Y'heard the ladies. Ain't a thing worth worshiping out there in that void that ain't as likely to bite yer damn head off, drive y'all insane, or worse. We're giving you a chance to settle this simple-like. I advise you to take it."

Not that Atreyu has high hopes for a peaceful resolution. As he talks, he waves a free hand and pauses to cough out a puff of pink smoke, using the cover to mutter a word of incantation, causing roots to sprout underground, hidden for the moment but ready for when he'll almost certainly need them.

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress]

Normal crossbow bolt-shaped.
"Yeah, I could see someone worshiping this shape," June says.

So, with that taken care of, she decides to leave the room. "We were going to go shut down the power, weren't we?" she says. She hadn't heard anyone give a reason about why they should change their minds, so after working to pull back the crossbow (without a bolt in it right now), goes in the direction that she thinks the power room is in.

[Earl of Purple]

Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx

"You growled at me, Magdalene. You growled, and I made out no words. I'm glad I looked up, however. I have learnt so much. So, so much." Fido turns to Calm Reed, and frowns at the Exalted. "Your soul is forfeit. Nothing can stand up against my master." Fido grins, purple light building up in the crack across his face, before flaring out in a blast of entropic energy, eating away at the fabric of reality and potentially the monk's face as well.

Meanwhile, the chef also attacks, running toward the trio, cleaver raised. He's a large man, but moves faster than it looks like he should. The party has a moment to respond before he closes, however. The guard lets the zombie wander off, ceasing to try moving it, instead raising her rifle and aiming at Magdalene, before firing a single round at the wendigo's head. The gunshot rouses other attention; another person, an older man wrapped up warm, emerging from the furthest motorhome, a human nearing seventy, leaning on a cane and with a wooden peg replacing his left leg below the knee; he's rushing as fast as he can to the Quonset hut.

[bc56]

Journey to the Center of the Elves

"I meant to share the prophecy," Eon explains, "The story seems widely known enough already."

[Morty]

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"You may be right, though I imagine the spreading of the prophecy is the decision of the prophetess." The Speaker looks between Eao and Zhareen.

"I have heard he has an association with carrion-eaters and creatures that scurry in the dark. He holds sway over all that lurks beneath." Sky-cutter pauses. "But my mentor would know more. He served the King in Rags directly before his downfall and before the Fairest of Lands were taken. His name is Silent Feathers Drifting and he presides over a hunting lodge far from here."

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Calm Reed raises her forearms to her face, shielding it behind her armored greaves. The entropic energy deflects off them every which way, as the monk begins to glow in a soft blue light.

"You will understand how little you know when I send you on to a hopefully wiser life."

The monk moves like an unstoppable avalanche, intending to intercept the chef. She greets him with a powerful elbow-strike, intended to stop him in his tracks and push him back, before seamlessly transitioning to a different stance in the blink of an eye. A deft claw-strike of her left hand tries to snag his right elbow and push it back along with the cleaver, then both her hands drum a rhythm of three painful strikes along his ribs and sternum.

[Rebonack]

[Found a Fortress]

As our heroes descend no doubt the hypothesis of crossbow worship will either be confirmed or denied.

And so on to the power generator!

A huge boiler dominates the room, glowing with heat and surrounding by glowing conduits and hissing pipes. It's honestly impressive that the machine has stayed intact for so long and it a testament to dwarven engineering. There's no fire under the boiler, but rather a collection of bluish crystals that radiate intense warmth. The boiler isn't the only thing in the room. There's also a small shrine with a statue of a dwarf with a VERY impressive beard holding a crossbow in one hand and a cheese wheel in the other.

"Huh... Maybe you were right?" Pepper comments on the shrine.

A bank of controls are set up near the boiler, but they're all marked in the ancient dwarven script.

It would be WAY too easy if it was in a language everyone could read.

Also?

Somewhere up in the recesses of the ceiling, hidden amongst the pipes and darkness, comes an ominous honk.


[iDungeon]

Jeanette was, thankfully, far enough away to be well out of reach of the explosion. She draws her organic railgun, takes aim, and-

There's that weird sputtering electrical noise again and the further leyeon is launched off its feet as the high velocity round smashes into it, hurling it away from Linus. "And stay down!" Jeany yells at the creature as she stows the rifle and begins approaching the remaining Leyeon, sword gripped at the ready just in case Linus needs any help.

And it looks like...

Not really?

He's doing a pretty good job of just stabbing the awful thing until down it goes.

Victory!

The sealed door to the right slides open, though the other points of egress remain locked.

"You look a bit singed, you doing okay?"


[Steelbite Canyon]

Oh neat.

It looks like it's time for violence.

First of all, Magdalene gets shot. She lurches sideways awkwardly from the projectile smacking into her, but proves to be inhumanly resilient. Normally she would have just blocked the bullet with her shield but whatever that sword guy did to her has really thrown her off her game. Still, it doesn't look like she enjoyed that much.

"Son of a (birch)!"

See?

Didn't like it at all.

Though the guard will be in for a pretty unpleasant surprise when a cloud of necrotic power detonates directly atop them; freezing cold and decay that threatens to sap their heat and rot their flesh.

Magdalene TRIES to approach Fido threateningly, but that bullet overbalanced her and she ends up falling on her face instead. Whoops! She swears colorfully into the mud, floundering awkwardly, the ghostly form of the wendigo spirit protruding from her here and there. This REALLY isn't working.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Linus nods, testing taking a few steps.
"My feet don't hurt to move around in. Looks like my armor and shoes ate what was left of the spell after my shield broke. I hope I can find a solution to my new shoe problem, though." His shoes aren't looking great after getting hit with that blast. At least he can pretend his jeans were supposed to be torn.
"Maybe there's another loot cache behind one of these doors." Unless Jeanie stops him Linus will try the key they found by the waterfall on the right locked door, looking for TREASURE.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

Through the middle door!

As usual the gem in the key's handle shatters when the door is unlocked. A weird way of making magically locked doors but someone is definitely committed to these key puzzles. Beyond the door is!

Not a treasure cache.

It's another hallway.

This one meanders to the north before jaunting around a corner to the east. The walls here are covered in tiny square tiles which, of course, from vaguely eye-like patterns. Somewhere in the distance our heroes can hear the roar of a waterfall and the crackle of a large open flame.

"Hoping to find new shoes in the dungeon?" Jeany replies with half a smirk. "This is why investing in some nice boots is a good plan. An adventurer is only as adventurous as her boots."

Unless you have hooves.

In which case you don't really need boots since you've got shoes built in.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Linus is not a satyr, centaur, gaiad, or pegasus-person. He does not have hooves and doesn't intend on changing that! Even if Heather seems to like her weird leg/foot situation.
"We've had this conversation. I didn't expect to go on this trip! We'll just see what happens." Linus grumbles as he walks down the hall. He hopes he doesn't have to get soaked again. He was hoping to find shoes or at least another gem for Sword easily, but a path works too.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

Ah, but a good pair of boots can serve you well even outside of dungeons!

What if you try going to a library but suddenly you're in a strange forest with trees made of scrolls?

Then you would really want some good boots.

Anywho(of), down the hallway!

Our heroes will come upon something interesting as they round the corner.

A skeleton.

An adventurer skeleton, judging from the outfit. Sturdy modern-style armor, good backpack, sturdy boots. THEY knew that you should wear some good boots. But judging from the hole burned through their torso the boots didn't save them. Alas! Scratched into the wall near the skeleton are the numbers '7, 3, 5, 7'. A message left by the dead.

Or possibly a dungeon prop left behind by whoever created this place. It's hard to guess sometimes.

"Hmm..." Jeanette hums as she kneels down to inspect the dry bones. "Been here a long time. Hardly even smells anymore."

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Linus hesitantly takes a look into the backpack in case it's full of keys or other helpful items or treasures. It might be a bit sturdier than his, actually.
He's not taking the dead man's boots, though. He might take a bag lying next to a body, but he isn't going to literally strip it just for the man's shoes. They don't even look big enough for him.
"Maybe the code is a hint for getting through the traps ahead? Though I don't think he'd have been able to scratch them into the wall with a hole that big through his sternum."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Steelbite Canyon]

Atreyu exhales with a heavy sigh. "Well, don't go saying we didn't warn ya."

With Calm Reed and Magdalene dealing with the guard and the chef, I guess that leaves Atreyu to do something about Fido, right? With a flick of his finger, those previously magic'd-up roots burst through the surface nearby in the form of a long, viciously spiked vine that lashes out at him, trying to sweep his legs out from under him.

[Earl of Purple]

Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx

The chef is pummelled and driven back, the air driven from his lungs and the cleaver flying from his grip. He'll lie gasping on the floor for a bit, trying desperately to fill his lungs with air, but he's still trying to reach for another knife, and will recover quickly.

The greatcoat does not protect against the blast of necrotic energy; it helps against the unearthly chill, but the riflewoman doesn't have gloves or a hat on, so the frostbite is able to drink deep. The decay eats at the greatcoat, rifle and the woman's exposed flesh, and she shrieks and collapses before she gets another shot off. She's still alive, but really, with the frostbite and advanced rate of decay eating at her flesh and making her wish she wasn't.

Fido's legs are swept out, and he yelps as he hits the ground, before the crack in his face flares with sick purple light once more, and another beam of entropic light lances out at Atreyu. Like the blast he directed towards Calm Reed, this will try to eat away and corrode his flesh, and it would not be a good idea to be hit by it.

The peg-legged man is still rushing to the Quonset hut, and finally the mechanic has noticed something's up, alerted by the screaming. He looks up, and yelps before dashing around to the motorhome's entrance.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza breathes out in a heavy sigh. This is awkward.

"Yes, but the person we're looking for is one of them too. This is some kind of civil war. Normally I'd be happy to let them have it out, but I do need the owner's help. I... died, a while ago, and it brought me back to life. But now it needs to remove the hold it's had on me since then."

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"Does the King have some prior association with rats?" Korrina asks. If not, why rats? It's unclear to her how that might factor into his motivations.

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"You may be right, though I imagine the spreading of the prophecy is the decision of the prophetess." The Speaker looks between Eao and Zhareen.

"I have heard he has an association with carrion-eaters and creatures that scurry in the dark. He holds sway over all that lurks beneath." Sky-cutter pauses. "But my mentor would know more. He served the King in Rags directly before his downfall and before the Fairest of Lands were taken. His name is Silent Feathers Drifting and he presides over a hunting lodge far from here."

An.. Interesting specimen. The lightning freezing the ground itself was... There was theory as to where that could be possible but hideously unlikely. Still, it was even less likely that there would be time to investigate the mechanisms at play with further disruptions on the literal horizon. Best to just record now and simulate later. Still, with the pale, gluish foam hardening as metal flesh knitted and renewed, vigorous undertakings were less of an issue now. "Deem avoidance a possibility post some kind of diversion? Current inventory of resources present advises direct confrontation.... Inefficient." the mechaloid uttered, its stance one of composed dismissal of the monstrous entity. Certainly it garnered attention and it was getting quite a bit of that but it might be annoying, almost, with this continued air of detachment. "At the worst, we could make it shut up, at least. It sounds quite as ugly as it looks.".... Why was that, of all things, the thing that seemed to elicit the most umbrage?

It was wasteful, using this resource in this manner, but armaments were not readily present and engaging in direct melee seemed to be a losing proposition. A large clump of the gluish foam was made, emptying a significant remainder of the reservoir, and imbued with a rough series of commands. And then the glob was hurled right at the monster. This wasn't the kind of nano machinery to be able quickly disassemble matter like one might find in a foundry; nothing so directly offensive as some kind of grey devouring swarm. However, they could generate and amass a significant charge... And given the amount of lightning in the area, the mix of charge and the thing's tendrils had fair chance to make quite the lightning rod. And even if not, the heat and charge made by the glob would certainly be at best unpleasant.

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

The dragon just stares at Thariza for a moment. "You're asking me to put a lot of trust in you, stranger." The dragon puts extra emphasize on the last word as to make their relationship clear.

But then the stone door starts to slide open before them on its own, a booming voice declaring. "Enter."

"See? That's totally creepy and I'm a giant ******* dragon!"

[Journey to the Center of the Elves]

"So we could either go to investigate Riverside or to see the mentor of the great lady." Zhareen summarizes as she taps her index finger against her chin thoughtfully. Then she turns to Korrina. "Talking to the mentor first might give us ideas what to look for in Riverside but going to Riverside first would give us more things to tell him about. I have an idea of what we could do, but I'd like to hear your suggestion first." Then the warlock makes a sweeping gesture towards Eon and the others. "And you may of course chime in. The more opinions, the better."

[Dimensional Troubles]

Seeing that the drone claimed to have a better option while it was seemingly talking to itself, the woman dodged back as the creature just attempted to stop her with one of its massive feet.

While she had never planned to fight this creature up front, not like this at least, whatever solution it had would probably be better than just running.

Now dodging a swipe of its tentacles she just hoped that she would be able to hold its attention enough for the drone to reach whatever conclusion it was reaching for. But it worked as the next moment the tree-like creature is hit with some kind of spray.

The reaction is imminent as the whole creature seem to seize up. Yet despite what seemed to be a strong electrical surge coursing through its body it's mouths could still scream as if its vocal cords and mouth weren't effected by the currents causing the rest of it to go stiff. Then it start to twitch and seemingly flail around randomly as the creature seems to go into a blind frenzy as it falls over, still flailing around like crazy.

The armored woman just stares at the creature for a moment. "...we should leave."

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress]

June was expecting there to be more robo-clowns around here.
So, she's rather surprised that she didn't see any here in the power generator room, and is too busy looking around for the robots to properly analyze the shrine. "Or maybe that was the guy who made this power generator," she suggests.

She looks to the left, and steps forward in case there's a robot hiding just behind that thing, which is when she hears the ominous honk.

She looks up in the direction of the honking, into the darkness, and points her crossbow up there and fires it in that direction.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

Thariza looks up at the other-Ambrosia and grows, the hair on her neck rising.

"I don't want to be here any more than you do. And my friend, who was here with me, is rust knows where. The only thing I can think of doing is try to get to where we were going to begin with. So here we are."

She strides into the complex, indignation replacing anxiety for a while.

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Calm Reed doesn't let up and opts to finish things quickly. She puts her armored boot on the man's neck.

"Daana'd grant you a wiser course in your next life," she says, then brings the boot down with enough force to crush his neck and kill him immediately.