Inside 70: Surprisingly Pleasant

[bc56]

Cormorant House

Thankfully, it gets a little cooler as the pair travels down the right passage. Not comfortable, but livable. The room at the end of the passage is smaller than the last, but similar, with domed sandstone walls. It's dominated by the six steel cages arranged in a circle around its edge. The three nearest the entrance are empty, but the further three each have a person in them, stripped to their underclothes and trying to find any shelter they can against the heat. A large stack of plastic water bottles sits next to each cage, just in reach of the prisoner within.

Naomi's Flat

"Not particularly. Whatever's convenient and on the way works for me." Jade responds. She genuinely does want to help Naomi. This sounds like a hard thing to be going through. "I'm ready to go when you are."

[Deathkeeper]

Plaza Park

Hector tilts his head.
”She has a point. It feels like there’s easier ways to get kids cake.”
Meanwhile!
Hector sees if he can’t surreptitiously dig up the source of those good vibes. They can’t leave it in the hands of a bunch of pixies.

[Rebonack]

[Plaza Park]

"WHAT?! No way!" one of the pixies yells. "You can't just GET cake! You have to wish for it!"

"Or you get one on your birthday," the second pixie adds.

"Yeah! You get cake from wishes or birthdays. You can't just have cake that's dumb."

It sounds like these pixies have a tentative understanding (at best) of how cake works.

It may be difficult to convince them that cakes are things which one can simply acquire.

Maybe best to just steal their bottle of happy and leg it.

Speaking of!

Under the log Hector will find a large glass jar full of something fizzy and pink. That must be the stolen happiness!

[Hattish Thing]

[Cormorant House]

This place was absolutely awful.

Billie wanted nothing more than to tear this place down, board by board.

She wipes sweat from her brow as she follows after Magdalene, cursing herself at having worn so many layers. Perhaps conditions would improve the the farther the pair traveled from the enchanted armor? Sure enough, as the pair of investigators round a corner, the temperature plummets. As they walk, she takes a sip from her canteen. She'll present it to Magdalene. "Here. Stay hydrated." For a brief moment, her morale has improved. It wasn't quite as unbearably hot. Then they come face to face with a sandstone chamber filled with cages.

Billie pales before stepping forward, revolver angled to face the ceiling. She looks around for any form of security. If it seems safe, she'll push forward and call out towards the cages.

"Magdalene, help me with them." She'll attempt to free the captives. If questioned, she'll explain hurriedly. "We're with Intersection."

Billie will quickly check each cell. "It's not safe. We need to hurry." What were their conditions?

This was something out of a horror film.

---

[Naomi's Flat]

Naomi will nod before flying the pair towards a local fast food place.

After the pair finish ordering what is, frankly, a downright excessive amount of food, Naomi will fly the pair on toward's Jade's home.

[5a Violista]

[Philip Memorial Library]

The ring is actually a pale metallic pink and black, but in the lighting like this it can look white.

Well, looks like he doesn't have to answer that question. Half of the reason why he's not apparently sad about it is that June is really good at finding distractions and things to think about in the moment. The other half is, "It's fine, I'll eventually get back, and it'll work out in the end." Confidence, that since time is infinite, that means eventually it's guaranteed to happen, one way or another.

June isn't entirely sure what is meant by 'starter' - some kind of equipment, it must be. He says 'oh' and 'I see' and other similar things while listening to Leslie's story of coming here. "Well." Kidnapped. "I was in a bar bathroom. A sink grabbed me, then cultists dressed me up, and then made me scrub the floor with a rag. But then someone I had met came by to rescue me, so...everything was fine. Nothing bad happened." He takes a deep breath and stretches by raising his arms. "Besides, it was so random and weird, and I'm still not sure whether that was a normal experience or not, that I am honestly not sure how I'm supposed to feel about it. I'm sure it'll hit me later, but until then there's no point making a big deal about it."

[Rebonack]

[Cormorant House]

Honestly Magdalene is glad that the Hart is only bottomlessly hungry and not unquincably thirsty. She takes a modest swig of water and hands it back to Billie. She had considered objecting about bandaging the wounds, but the ointment feels nice and... really... it's kind of great having someone look out for her for once. Normally it's just Magdalene vs the world. And the world sucks. Or at least her home world sucked. This one seems to be objectively less terrible, but there were still plenty of terrible things roaming around.

"Thanks," she say, her tone genuine.

And then cages.

"Oh!" her expression lights up upon seeing all the people. "Man I love it when you get to rescue people before they get eaten or whatever. It feels great."

That probably doesn't do a great deal to make the prisoners feel better about the situation but Mags is in pretty high spirits at this point.

She'll walk right up to the first cage, haul back with her shield arm, and smash the locking mechanism.

Considering what she had relatively casually done to the front door, the cage would have to be made of some pretty stern stuff to resist a wholloping.

[bc56]

Naomi's Flat > Jade's Lair

Jade eats a relatively small portion, at least compared to Naomi. Once they've finished there, they're on their way again to Jade's lair.
The building is a disused warehouse near the harbor. Jade unlocks the door, revealing an interior that completely contradicts the exterior. It's clean and brightly lit inside. The large main room is half devoted to workbenches, electrical supplies, and computers, and half to exercise equipment. A few doors in the back lead to other rooms, and a staircase leads to an upper loft area. Looking a bit out of place, a large, old-fashioned mirror stands in one corner, and there's a bowl on the floor under one of the benches, partly filled with food scraps. "Here we are! Home sweet home."

[Purple Eagle]

[Hodgepodge Street - Rainy Gardens]

Rosie continues to mentally battle with the concept, even after she'd declared her intention to try. Will she, or won't she? She doesn't get it, she admits, but resolves to make an effort to understand. Billie's the veteran, not her, and she really enjoys listening to this woman speak... surely, this is something worth pondering over.

The internal struggle in her eyes gives way to determination, as she decides that she will. What has she to lose, if Billie somehow turns out to be wrong? Deep down, she knows the chances of that are nil.

"Huh?" She's shaken out of her internal monologue by the piece of paper being handed to her. Smiling in understanding, she takes it and shoves it into a pocket. Rising to her feet in time with Billie, she shakes the older woman's outstretched hand. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Bansford, this has been marvellously illuminating. You've given me a lot to think about... I admit I don't get it, but I'll try it your way if it means I get to learn from you." She's looking serious and thoughtful by this point, but grins when she's done speaking.

Unfolding her umbrella, she steps into the rain and checks her watch once, before looking down at Billie Bansford. "By golly, look at the time!" Time passes when you're having a jolly good time, after all. "I ought to be heading home, I've got cooking to do, as well."

She enlarges from the 7 or so feet she currently is, to 15 feet tall, shorter than her full height. As before, her clothing and umbrella change size with her. "Thank you, detective. Good night!" Once they've said their goodbyes, she starts heading towards the nearest Blue Zone, thinking of all she's learnt from Billie.

[bc56]

At the arrival of the intersection detective and civilian, the prisoners look up weakly, but with hope in their eyes. They can be broken free easily. The cages are made from mundane steel. All the prisoners are clearly hungry and dehydrated. One, a half-elven woman, appears to be suffering from heatstroke, and seems delirious. Another, a dark-haired human man seems desperate. "My wife. Have you seen my wife?" he asks, over and over. The last is the teenage girl who was the first to disappear. Although she is quite weak, she smiles. "I knew you'd come rescue us. I knew it."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cormorant House]

Billie takes in each of the survivors with a hardened expression.

The man was likely in a state of shock, it was not worth risking further agitation to the point of frenzy.

Her eyes flutter towards the remaining captives, taking in what details she can as she considers her next move. Not quite trusting the bottled water, she'll kneel down beside each captive and offer a sip of clean, cold water from within her canteen. She searches her pockets as well, eventually retrieving a pair of granola bars, one of which is half eaten. She passes the first out immediately, soon splitting the second into two pieces. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. She will then rise to her feet and start to usher people out of the door.

Who knows how much time they really had? She'll offer a statement of reassurance all the while. "It's going to be alright."

She's quite comforting. Meanwhile, she makes a call to Intersection.

An ambulance will be waiting beside her patrol car.

---

[Jade's Lair]

Naomi will wander about somewhat out of her element for a while.

She's eaten quite a lot, and is now starting to regret it. Food was a coping mechanism for her.

It was something she really didn't like about herself. After wandering about for a while, she becomes somewhat anxious. It's clear that she's uncomfortable.

[Zefir]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

Sure enough, this decrepit panhandler had started to foam at the mouth.

Definitely not a good sign. He opens to mouth to respond, but promptly vomits all over himself. He starts to fall out of his chair, now.

No one steps closer to help.

---

[Grey Zone - Museum Street Backalley]

Ms. Bansford will wait with her, focusing purely on the moment at hand.

She does not check her phone nor busy herself with any sort of activity. No, this was a moment to be felt.

A moment she would remember, always. Serving the public was so much more than investigative work and gunplay. It was delivering terrible news. It was quiet contemplation, moments of heartache spent in cold patrol cars. It was never glamorous, and it had nothing to do with fame or recognition. Billie will reach over to Jane and attempt to very gently rest her large hand atop the officer's own.

Billie doesn't answer, simply staring forward. Her presence should be comforting, however.

There was no answer to 'why'. These things simply were.

[Grey Zone - Museum Street Backalley]

The silent method seems to work fine with Jane. When Billie reaches for he hand she twitches, but doesn't shove her away. Then she starts talking more. "He wasn't the best, but he deserved more. He did a great job and he would be employee of the month if it wasn't for his generic name." she giggles. "John Doe. You wouldn't belive how often the lieutenant thought it was a dummy policeman....." she continues telling Billie random facts aboutt he man who just died, most are work related but some seem to come from privat meetings. her voice will break while she speaks and tears will run down her face. This goes on for a while befor Jane catches herself.

"I am sorry." she says "You aren't here to hear more about that. Ask your questions, I think I am fine."

[Rebonack]

[Cormorant House]

Man that one dude seems pretty out of it. They took his wife?

Oh geeze.

She probably got eaten didn't she? Or zombiefied. Or something similarly awful.

Or maybe.

Just maybe.

They'll get really fortunate and be able to save her before she gets sacrificed.

"Hey, what sorta people grabbed you?" Mags asks the most coherent seeming kidnapee. "Robed dudes? Creepy dudes? What's been going on down here?"

She wouldn't mind having some idea of what she's dealing with. Sure Mags is planning on ruining their day one way or the other, but sometimes it is nice to know who you're going in against.

There's a brief idea. She could get all these people out via a riftgate. The skimming sort, not the deep-dive sort. But most of the gates she has found so far in the Nexus have been in pretty unsavory places. Probably best to just get these people out the old fashioned way.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"Oh, of course, bathroom cultists. No doubt choosing you to aid their divinely-sanctioned janitorial duties," Leslie laughs nervously. "Well, I'm glad you made it with your humanity intact. A lot of people here... don't."

...she's not sure if she should elaborate on that one. Maybe it's all implied.

"But, you found a job already? That's cool! Where do you work?"

--

[Plaza Park]

The distraction continues!

"What, you don't believe us?" says Beth. She's invested in this nonsense now. "What if I said we could show you? You can even bake it from scratch, you know. You just need to know where to look."

[bc56]

Naomi's Flat

Jade leads Naomi to a back room. The small, dimly lit chamber is dominated by a large cylindrical device with a door on it and several arms protruding from it. "Here we are. Just step in there and flip the switch when you're ready," Jade begins booting up a computer terminal next to the machine. "It's completely noninvasive and no more dangerous than getting an x-ray, but if you'd prefer, I can do it on myself first to demonstrate."

Cormorant House

"They were creepy. All wearing old-fashioned suits and talking about their master and great mistress. They weren't quite human either. They smelled gross, and had fangs. They took two of us away yesterday. That guy's wife, and another dude. A little grey alien." The girl thinks. "I tried to pay attention, so that I could maybe escape. There are at least three of them. They kept offering us some kind of gross rotten meat to eat. I don't know what kind of animal it was from. I don't want to know." She shivers nervously. "And I overheard something. They have a set of ceremonial relics. Whenever they want to offer something to their master, one of them has to wear all three. Otherwise they won't be accepted into his presence, or something."

[Deathkeeper]

[Plaza Park]

Hector melts into the shadows with the jar, retreating while the others handle the talking.
"Yeah, you can just buy one with money, too. By the way, what would happen if someone stood up that ward stone? Wouldn't it be bad for you? It's just kind of sitting there." Leaving your weakness right next to your nest doesn't sound like a great idea.

[5a Violista]

[Philip Memorial Library]

June laughs too. In retrospect, it was kind-of ridiculous. "They even used things like mops and sponges to fight."
...but, yeah, June's glad she made it out of there with humanity, too. Wasn't really something she was considering in the moment, though.

But...the implication is simple enough to understand.

"Yeah, I'm working at the Black Dragon Den. Helping out in the kitchen, waitress, busboy, helping with unloading...a bit of everything, really." Except for the gambling part, he hasn't worked there yet and probably won't. "The guy seemed kind-of surprised that I knew how to cook. Apparently that's not a common thing around here, or something."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"That's funny! I mean, literally the first person I met here was a chef," the besweatered bespectacled one laughs, a bit more genuinely this time. "The Black Dragon's Den... that's the one by the docks, right? It's, um, not really the good side of town. Not that I'm really in a position to judge. Maybe their last cook got sick of serving raw meat or something."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cormorant House]

This was only getting stranger. It seemed that cultists were responsible.

In truth, she had been hoping for something a little less fantastic. Somewhat more grounded, easier to understand.

But then, this was the Nexus. Nothing was ever so straightforward or simple. Billie won't ask much more of the captives, realizing that they've likely been through more than can be imagined. Rather, she'll focus on ushering each captive back out into the foyer, and then through the doors leading back outside, if possible.

She does ask one question before the group can proceed too much further, though.

Kindly, and soft. "Do you know where the others were taken?"

She didn't expect an answer.

---

[Naomi's Flat]

Naomi is just as lost as she was when she started.

Only now, there's a strange cylindrical machine. It looks like a nightmare.

Still, she trusted Jade. What could go wrong here? With a shrug, she'll step up into the device before frowning. "Okay, uhh. I'm ready, I think."

--

What is the machine searching for?

[Morty]

[Slums - Patton Publications]

Well, that's... convenient. But Michalson's not about to look a gift cranium rat in the mouth. He takes a closer look at the poster to see where the cabaret can be found and maybe some more information.

[5a Violista]

[Philip Memorial Library]

June nods: Yeah, that's the one.

"It's not," he agrees. "Already been robbed once. Didn't really have anything on me, though, so...nothing important was taken. I figure, so long as I stay on the right roads in larger crowds and at the right time of day, then everything's fine."

But!
June feels the need to make a correction: "No, the cook's still there. It's just that the owner's pretty nice." Not to mention, "Plus, I guess he stands to profit if I can get customers to buy more, get their orders faster, and pay more tips, plus most of my earnings go back to paying for rent to live there, food from there, clothes from his sister, and so on. So long as I do a good job, seems like he has nothing to lose."

[bc56]

"When you're ready, just flip the switch and hold still until the machine stops," Jade explains. Sure enough, there's a small red switch inside the machine.
Once Naomi activates it, the machine will scan her body in a similar way to an MRI, the arms rotating around to get a full 3D image. It should detect any anatomical anomalies, such as missing, misplaced, or extra organs, most tumors, and foreign objects within the body. It also performs a rudimentary thermal scan, detecting any irregularities in body heat, and a scan for exotic materials and radioactivity. The whole process takes about a minute or two.

[Earl of Purple]

Sunlight Gardens

Prumathe nearly says something to Sekhmet then, but realises he has no idea if she's looking at his face. So he turns in Samantha's vague direction- he's unaware she was just about to leave- and explains what's going on. Then, he doesn't know if she can hear his thoughts, but he's thinking Yes, of course. He also, to ensure there's no confusion, reaches out to gently take Sekhmet's head and turn it so it's facing him and nodding.

[bc56]

Okay. Uh, this might be a little disorienting, Sekhmet thinks. Then she reaches out with her powers, doing something she's never done to anyone outside the Hive before, but that she knows how to do. She patches her and Prumathe's senses together, so that he can see what she does, and she can hear what he does. Of course, looking out of Sekhmet's eyes probably will be disorienting for Prumathe, especially since she's looking him right in the face at the moment. "There. Did it work?" Sekhmet says tentatively, unsure if she'll be able to hear herself.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"Okay! I hope it works out... Oh, um, I'm Leslie, by the way!" She raises her hand and waves comically. "It's nice to meet you. Did you, um, need anything? I saw you on the ladder like you were looking for something..."

[Rebonack]

[Cormorant House]

"Gross rotten meat, huh? Yeah, that sounds familiar," Mags replies thoughtfully.

Of course it sounds familiar, Mags. You ate a giant rotting flesh heap no more than fifteen minutes ago you absolute lunatic.

"With fangs though, huh?" she inquires further. "Did they have like-"

She waves her hands above her pink stocking cap.

"-horns or anything? Or antlers? Or were they just dudes in suits that smelled gross and liked rotten stuff?"

Mags is thinking that this entity, whatever it is, has nothing to do with her home world.

But!

It would still be a good idea to be sure.

"Hey whaddayah bet that bracer thing and the armor are part of those relics she's talking about?" Magdalene says to Billie.

That aside, she'll help escort the prisoners out of the house assuming our heroes don't get accosted on the way.

"Do you cops have, like, a base or something? Maybe I should get a riftgate set up there so when I find normies like these imprisoned by cultists I can just send 'em straight to you guys."


[Plaza Park]

Looks like doggo Hector just absconded with the jar. Good on him!

No doubt he'll go return all that happy to the people it was stolen from rather than keeping it for his own selfish reasons.

"No way!"
"Yeah, no way, we don't believe you!" the pixies object to the very notion that cake isn't some magical confection that just appears as a result of birthdays and wishes.

"Oh, uh, the stone? We wouldn't be able to hang around here anymore."
"Yeah, we would have to go get happy somewhere else but this place is just about out anyway."

[bc56]

"No, I don't know. And no antlers. Just fangs." The girl seems a little impatient. "Let's just get out of here. I don't want to be here when they want to take more people away."

[5a Violista]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"Yeah, me too."

Leslie.
Leslie.
June tries to commit that name to memory. "I'm Minerva," he replies. "Same."

He looks over at the ladder. "Yeah, I was looking for some things," he says. "All the books I was looking for were missing." He then looks over at the stack of books Leslie has. "I assume you've got them. Basically, I was looking to understand what certain topics here conventionally are, like fiends and demons and vampires since I met some of those recently." He takes a breath, and adds, "But also, like martial arts? Since it makes sense there'd be a martial arts that helps protect against mind control and in the first twelve hours I was here I indirectly encountered like six different flavors of mind control."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cormorant House]

Inhuman monsters, rotten meat, and strange relics. This was not what she wanted to hear.

Now was the time to focus on the rescued captives, however. There would be plenty of time later to ponder over the particulars of the case.

Ms. Bansford will dote over each captive, careful to check them for injuries and make certain that they've the strength to continue forward. She'll offer up her shoulder as aid should any prisoner find themselves too weak on their own. When the small group gathers just outside, there's an ambulance waiting just beside her patrol car, as she stated their would be.

A second Intersection representative meets with Billie while the three are helped into the ambulance to be taken away. He doesn't seem pleased with recent developments.

It's quite apparent after a moment or two that the officer doesn't particularly care for Billie, although she appears to be his superior.

After a moment or two, Billie heads back to Magdalene, pondering over the situation. "Gates won't be necessary."

"Wouldn't be my decision to make anyway." She frowns before her thoughts drift back to the relics.

She had her own ideas. "If the bracer was one of these objects..."

"Why would they bury it?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"That's... kind of worrying," Leslie says. "I guess that makes you pretty popular, hah..."

That defense mechanism of a joke is made with a particularly haunted look in her eyes. Mind control is a scary subject.

"Well, I can help you with some of that! For instance, generally, demons are considered a subset of fiends. I think the original lore, to the extent that you can say they share a lore, was that they were spiritual creatures that possessed people. But from there they differentiate into a lot of different forms and MOs. I think I prefer the taxonomy that's based on how they physically manifest..."

She instinctively turns to her computer and pulls up her notes, but manages to stop herself before subjecting Minerva to her full lecture mode. Despite her nerdiness, she can usually tell when she's about to be really boring and stupid.

"But, um, anyway, from what I can tell, the most common kind of fiend in Nexus ultimately becomes an independent, sapient being! They can still try to be a pure representation of evil, but once they become corporeal, the fabric of the Nexus doesn't bind them to it even if their original world did. So, that's what you need to keep in mind if you ever physically meet one."

At this point, Leslie decides to flip to a page in her handwritten notebook and start going over it after all. She hasn't had someone else to bounce her ideas off of for a while.

"But the kind I'm focused on, and the kind that's more dangerous, is the kind that possesses you as a shadow and turns you inside out. There's at least one kind of vampire that does it, too. They kind of... latch on to your biggest flaw, and open it up until it swallows you completely. Or, so I theorize. That's, um, hopefully not the kind you ran into, is it?"

Leslie's expression here is a little hard to read. The answer that's worst for Minerva here would actually be a pretty big opportunity for her, but she doesn't want to come off like she's hoping for that.

--

[Plaza Park]

Beth looks down at the fallen rock. Thank goodness. Hopefully that's all we need to do.

"Oh yeah? Like this?" She crouches next to the stonehenge-grade goonie and lays her hands on it, but then hesitates. Wouldn't this just displace the problem to some other part of town? Urgh. Beth really doesn't want to just straight-up kill these pixies, though. As dumb as they are, they are just trying to cheer up children. Unless they're lying? Beth's never been great at lie detection, but then this would be a seriously weird con.

...whatever. The quest is to recover what they already stole, and this does that with no further harm. Easy.

Beth quickly lifts the rock and sets it down upright!

...

She then realizes that she doesn't actually know the correct stone-and-rune orientation to ward off the pixies.

"...uh. Hector, did I put it in upside-down or something? I can't tell."

[5a Violista]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"Yup. I am incredibly popular," Minerva confirms. "The most popular. In fact, so much so that when I was a baby some random guy came up to my parents and started prophesying about me."
Yeah, it is scary. That's why it's such a high priority to find out multiple ways to circumvent it.
And Minerva actually has a pretty similar defense mechanism.

So, yeah. "Oh, really?" he says, listening even though it might start to become boring and stupid. "So they do sound significantly different than the kind I'm used to, but it looks like there is some sort of minor similarity thread, so...it's not completely unrelated." Always looking at the bright side. "But, yeah, the one I met was actually pretty nice. Didn't look at all like I'd imagine a fiend to look like, either." She then describes the fiend she met to illustrate how different she was: "Um...she had red skin, horns, pointy tail, wings, and she also had a ball of fire between her horns. She was one of the people who rescued me from the janitorial cultists. Hopefully getting engaged soon."

Then, she adds, "The vampire was actually pretty nice, too. She could turn into a shadow thing and stuff, but she wasn't at all sparkly or stale or anything like that. Couldn't go out in the sun, though. She said she was pretty standard. So, not that kind, I think." A vampire that possesses you as a shadow doesn't sound standard at all. "...sorry to disappoint."