Serious Plots 9: Srsr and srsr

[5a Violista]

[The County of Art]

The woman reads the new note.
The mask...she doesn't particularly have a strong grip on it. It gets taken away pretty easily. For now, it just seems like a normal mask. Probably don't put it on.

She notices the person now.
It doesn't really change anything. "Doesn't matter if they are or not," she claims. "Would be good if they learned from their mistakes, but the important part is that they chose it."


The plant-wolf does, in fact, have a pretty good sense of scent. Comparable to an actual wolf, actually, but specialized towards certain scents. It lazily looks in the direction of the swish, then puts its head back down.

---

The plant-wolf could survive a couple days underwater, so even if the water didn't give it the air it needed, it would still be fine. (But its leaves would be a little duller and less lush, over time.) The biggest problem is that, underwater, it is now basically blind. Sure, it can still tell which way is up and what's surrounding it and all sorts of other senses, but by going underwater, the senses it loses is comparable to someone going blind. It pulls at the ground-bits, to test their strength and flexibility, and to see what sorts of things it can tell about them that way.

It is, after all, practically blinded, so it needs to use its other senses to tell what's going on.


It is fairly similar to other plants.
It is soaked in strange fairy magic.
But, if comparing it to a simple plant or a magical construct, it is very much more similar to the simple plant than it would be to the magical construct. The magic could be stripped away, and it would still work fine. In fact, the fairy magic seems more like a coating that aligns its body and weapons and teeth with 'fairy'. Its creator did want to use them against Zee, after all, and she figured a simple plant wouldn't be good enough to survive against her.
Plus, that was the easiest way to create the first ones. Their seeds and everything do use some of this fairy-magic to make them grow faster, and to give them minor control over other plants which is how they're able to communicate through them so easily, but it's all things they could do on their own with time and effort anyway, so it's strictly unnecessary.

In all, it is, genetically, a sentient plant. It has notable differences from just a regular tree or flower or whatever. Just with natural fairy-aligned magic to make some things easier.
If one desired and had enough skill, they could take the genetic differences and transplant them to a different kind of plant's seeds, and grow a morning glory-wolf or a cherry tree-wolf or something else.

[Arkhosia]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

Spoiler

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[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

Anika looks around the area they've teleported into as she appears alongside the other two. "So... are we taking down bankers or something? Or are the bankers the demons? Since I always suspected they were." Then she turns to look up a bit further.
"Oh. That isn't supposed to be there, is it?" The druid was in her full armor set which included the awesome claws she so rarely got to wear. Mostly since they were impractical as she had a hard time holding anything while using them but perhaps she wouldn't need to in this situation.

Then looking at it all, she gets an idea. "...hey, what if we just blew up the base of this building? I mean, it's pretty ruined already isn't it? Just a big bomb and the whole tower would just crash down into...." Anika pauses. "Ah, that's why we're not doing that." She would need to work on that plan a bit. She was sure this could be easily solved somehow.

Inside: Xuracorp Tower
The Vigilantes and the nymph arrive at roughly the same time. The tower looms before them, its formerly shining glass and steel frame blackened, warped and twisted by the molten rock flowing down its sides. The black stone fortress perched atop it seems to glare at them. Suddenly, there's a familiar voice, not aloud, but in their minds. Hello, so-called "heroes." I smell my daughter's essence on some of you. But you haven't brought her. I suggest you return with her if you value your lives.

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

"It's a devil-queen doing as devil-queens generally do," Wenomir explains to Anika. "Her daughter warned us about her. We just need to get up there and defeat her. Remarkably straightf-"

Weomir is interrupted by Sapphira's voice.

"You have no idea how many times I've heard this."

He shakes his head and resumes talking to his squad.

"Maybe we can find a flying vehicle we can use. Climbing this tower will take too long, even if it's possible." He turns around when he sees Ilpholin's hoverbike. "It's Ilpholin. She couldn't resist facing down a devil of this caliber."

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

They would most certainly hear Ilpholin's excessively loud hoverbike before seeing her. It doesn't help they teleported in right in front of her. "THE HE-!!" Ilpholin had predicted demons to pop up to get in her way and she was prepared to run them down, amongst other things. She wasn't prepared for Wenomir and Anika and someone else to zap into her path from nowhere.

The nymph immediately slams on the brakes, swerving hard and sending it onto its side, her leg slamming painfully into the ground as she skids, trying to slow the momentum. She yanks on the bike's structure, the vehicle folding and collapsing in on itself until it becomes a small cube, still careening, but much less likely to do damage if it hits anyone. Now lacking anything between her and the ground, Ilpholin tumbles and rolls, minimizing the impact as best she can.

"Something tells me devil-queens tend to endure structural collapses," Blanche remarks as she checks the magazine in her rifle, making sure she has her enchanted ammunition ready. Magic isn't her forte, but a touch of it helps. She hears Ilpholin's entrance before anyone else, ears flicking straight-up.

"Hey! Get back!" She warns, tugging on Anika to urge her along as she leaps backwards. "[Shist], are you okay?!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

"Yeah, but she gotta have the tower for som-" Anika too is interrupted by that voice.

And then by Ilpholin.

Geez, she was the one that was supposed to interrupt people!
Well, Anika isn't even going to attempt to dodge. She's just going to turn into a bear and take the hit. That's gonna make it hard for Blanche to pull her back however but as Ilpholin minimizes the bike in time it seems that the damage is minimal anyway.

Blanche will get a bear noise in response to her question, but Anika isn't injured. She was ready to kick some serious ass though! Demon ass!

Once this Ilpholin situation got resolved at least. Does Ilpholin look injured?

[FireFox]

Inside: Market Street
As one devil falls, a spindly devil with way too many fingers and toes drops out of a second floor window onto the gaiad knight. Its polydactyl hands grasp at her throat as its toes claw at her flanks, and it cackles through a mouth with more tongues and teeth than is strictly necessary.
The woman in the burning upper floor shouts back, sounding a little desperate, "I can't! There's rubble, I'm trapped!"

[Inside: Market Street]

"Then hold on, I'll come to you!" the redhead shouts up. She bends down to draw a chalk square on the street below the window and writes crude letters on the outside border. A metal spike is produced from her messenger bag and used to chisel off a piece from the center of the square. She pours an oil of some kind from a plastic shampoo bottle onto the shard of street and a rubber band. The rubber band gets stretched around the fingers of her left hand while her right carefully waves the fragment in short, parabolic movements. A little bit of mumbling completes the spell, allowing her to jump into the square and have the street move elastically underneath her shoes. She jumps on it like a trampoline three, four times and then a fifth bounces her high enough to grab the window sill with one hand. It might be prudent to sneak a peek inside the building before going in, but she feels like the magic took too long. In order to get to the trapped woman as quickly as possible, she's tries to pull herself into the window and from there roll onto the floor before taking a swift look around.

[bc56]

Inside: Xuracorp Tower
Oh please. Do you know how many times I've heard that? You only have a couple pathetic decades beneath you. You wouldn't that to be all, would you? I suggest you return with my daughter in tow, or this will be the last time you hear that corny line. Sapphira sends back to Wenomir with an exasperated mental tone. Then her presence retreats, but she subtly leaves a little psychic trap in each of the Vigilantes (and Ilpholin)'s minds. It doesn't do anything... Yet.
The sliding doors to the tower hang open and the glass front of the building is smashed. Getting inside will be easy.

Inside: PCC
Sekhmet watches the preparations unfold, but she can't help. She can't work silver, and she can't conjure fire to help the smiths without giving her location away. But then something unexpected happens. She feels a tug on her soul. She gasps and looks frightened, "Huh? Who is..." Her extremities are becoming transparent, just fading away. "Prumathe! Find me!" Then Sekhmet vanishes, her clothes dropping empty to the floor.

Skyside: Shivernight Manor
When the blade cuts through Sylvester's throat, suddenly his entire body excruciatingly bursts into flames. It doesn't last long before he's a cloud of swirling ash. A humanoid figure begins to materialize in the midst of it. If Bluefoot is practicing safe summoning practices, she should step out of the circle before the devil fully manifests.
A few seconds later, the being is fully visible. A bewildered looking demonic girl, not unlike Sapphira, about 20, totally unclothed, with a little ball of fire hovering between the largest pair of her six horns. "Who are you? Where am... Eep!" She suddenly realizes her state of undress and covers herself with her hands.

Outside: Ell Hive
Using fiendish power against the crystal seems slightly more effective. The aura fluctuates a little.
And there's a sense of connection. A marquess has very similar fiendish essence to Sekhmet, who has very similar essence to Sapphira, who created this enchantment. A little bit of power from the crystal actually leaks back into Lokvah, and she'll feel a bit stronger as a result. But the crystal keeps on its way.

Inside: Market Street
The devil hanging on Pepper's back jumps off as she descends into the ground and then hisses, running off in search of easier prey. However, the hissing attracts something else. The huge brute of a fiend turns, stomps towards the site where the gaiad disappeared, and gives a deep snort through its porcine nose. Then it moves, raising a huge fist and striking the ground where she is, cracking it. Foul gasses leak out from beneath. Then the creature raises its meaty hand again and prepares to repeat its attack.
Meanwhile, the redhead squeezes through the window to find a room filled with thick smoke and debris. "Is that you? I'm over here!" She rasps. It's hard to see through the smoke, but that might be a hand poking out under that fallen chunk of concrete and plaster, near where the voice is coming from.

Inside: Hodgepodge Street
As the slimegirl pulls, the man slowly moves, but not in a natural way. He feels stiff and immobile, like a corpse, but he's still breathing. Now, now. Don't take my guests. I'm not done with them yet. Something in the fog suddenly looms over the slime, not at all human shaped. You should really be more careful.
As the hounds enter the area, they will definitely find resistance from groups of lesser devils. But then something reaches out of the fog to snatch at one of them, a huge clawed arm that tries to grab a hound like a twig between its fingers and yank it into the fog. If it succeeds, the hound won't have a chance to absorb much before it's dropped, only to be mashed to pulp between colossal teeth.

Inside: Skyway
When Geneva shields the civilian and slices the tentacle, suddenly a horrible screech echoes through the entire building. All along the hallway, windows shatter as inky tentacles and pseudopods reach inside, groping around for anything not nailed down to seize in their gelatinous grip. Along with them comes the stench of fetid water, filling the corridor and sending some of the conscious reeling. More disconcerting to Geneva might be the voice. You are mine. All of you. It echoes through the minds of everyone nearby, and along with it comes a terrible psychic assault, raw fear tearing through minds and bringing with it horrible hallucinations and unpredictable urges.

[Morty]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

And here are some downsides of an emergency teleportation system. Wenomir jumps out of the way with his usual quickness when Ilpholin comes at them, though with Anika's bear transformation that might not have been necessary. He hurries over to check if the nymph is alright, but stays back a little. No use making a crowd.

[5a Violista]

[


[inside: Hodgepodge Street]

The slimegirl feels something looming over her.
She glances upwards and behind her...oh, this looks bad.
She should definitely try to hurry up.

She tries to pull a little harder...but finds that's about her limit. Her strength gives up and she can't pull him anymore. And she starts to eat away, a little, at his shirt so the slimegirl pulls away. So, she decides that she needs to quickly find an alternate way.

. . .
She looks at her hand, and then at the frozen guy.
He's breathing. But...asleep? Do people tend to wake up when you start suffocating them? She brings her hand up to his mouth, about to cover it and his nose. If she breathed, she would be holding her breath right now in anticipation.
But,
The slimegirl stops right before. What if she accidentally kills him instead? No, this should be a last resort.

After glancing once at the not-at-all-human-shaped-fog, she moves her hand from 'suffocation' to 'tap his face and cheeks'.

[Reinholdt]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

Well, tumbling into a Bear helps. As long as the Bear is friendly. Tumbling into an angry Bear probably wouldn't help.

"Who teleports in the middle of a road?! I had a straight shot!" Ilpholin seems fine enough to grumble as she peels off of Anika, pulling her helmet off. Her hair disconnects from the headgear and she shakes it loose, black sclera eyes looking at each of them. She reaches out to gently pat Anika's side in particular, making sure she wasn't hurt, a genuine concern in her face for but a moment. The nymph's leg, however, is what you'd call tore up. It's bleeding something black anyways. Though the patches in her suit slowly close and bind over the wounds, as if the clothing itself had a mind of its own, repairing itself and compressing where needed.

She limps over to her hoverbike cube and puts the helmet on it, it too compressing into the block. Examining it, she shakes her head and tucks it away. "Damaged. Guess I'm not going up the cool way." She hadn't driven up the side of a building before, but she was kind of looking forward to it. "If you guys are fine, we're wasting time." Ilpholin sure seems focused, attempting to ignore her injuries as she heads for the tower's front entrance instead.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

See? Anika's transformation was completely nessecary!
She became the perfect cushion for Ilpholin.

Thus, the bear simply shrugs at Ilpholin's accusation, it wasn't like she had aimed that teleportation. She was just happy they hadn't teleported inside a wall or something. Teleportation always made her uncomfortable. Like, were you technically even the same person if the magic took you apart and put you together somewhere else? It was crazy!

Speaking of crazy, the ranting demon in her head started to get even more annoying so Ilpholin was right. It was best to do something about it as quickly as possible.
In a emerald green cloud she turns back into her humanoid form for a few moments simply so she can cast a healing spell on Ilpholin. Unless the nymph suddenly objects purple energy will start to swirl around her and start to mend her wounds.

"Yeah, let's go and kick some demon butt!" She declares once the spell is cast and will then turn back into a bear and head inside the tower, trying to take the lead as she was the most durable member of the party.

[Earl of Purple]

Inside: PCC

Prumathe had been helping to barricade the doors, but when he hears Sekhmet call him he runs to her as fast as he can. He might be able to take her hand before she disappears, but he can't stop her going. "Sekhmet! Where'd she go? Does anyone have any idea?" Prumathe looks around, really unsure as to what just happened. He's not seen her be summoned before, and didn't realise it could happen if she wasn't in Hell. He might try calling her from Hell, but he'll probably need things he doesn't have yet. Saying her name three times in a mirror is unlikely to work, no matter how dark it is.

Skyside: Shivernight Manor

Bluefoot stepped away as soon as Sylvester burst into flames. He doesn't get a last scream; he tries, but the air escapes from his slit throat.

Bluefoot and Sekhmet have seen each other before, when Sekhmet rescued Prumathe's sister from the Guild, Bluefoot was amongst the slaves she freed, though didn't stick around to go to GLoG. "I'm Lady Shivernight. You're where I want you to be." She smirks as Sekhmet covers herself, slipping the sacrificial dagger back into its box. The room doesn't have any windows, so there's no direct way of sunlight getting in, but she'd rather not risk losing its unusual properties- especially as the ceiling has holes covered by tarps. She has her own knife, if it looks like one will be needed.

[Lord Magtok]

Avenue of Unpleasant Dreams

Spoiler

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Avenue of Unpleasant Dreams

"Everything is a dream here, lady Fidelia." Jaahlyn replies with a nod. "So treat everything the same, unless it feels different." Well, that was vague.
No time for further explanations though as mini-Laz rushes forward and Jaahlyn motions for Fidelia to follow. "You should be at her side."

Avenue of Unpleasant Dreams

Fidelia follows Jaahlyn's guidance without comment or protest, moving to back Bab!Jenette up and make sure she doesn't get surprised from behind. Her knife isn't drawn quite yet - she wouldn't want her intentions to be mistaken - but she's ready to do so at a moment's notice. "Careful, you'll make mistakes if you get yourself riled up," she cautions, staring into the darkness around the room with a steely gaze.

"Jaahlyn? Fi? Is that you guys? Did the spell not work?" asks a familiar voice in the darkness. Well, not exactly familiar. Smol Laz has the familiar voice. This stranger in the shadows is a little lower in pitch, similar to how your voice always sounds different in your head than on a recording. Smol Laz sounds a little closer to what Fidelia has heard before than this shadowy spectre does, but does that make it more or less real than the new Laz? How much can your eyes and ears really be trusted in the unconscious realm of nightmares?

"I've been looking everywhere for y-Oh. I see you've met her," she remarks bitterly, evidently recognizing the pipsqueak. The voice seems to be drawing closer and closer, without being any easier to actually see in the gloomy, bloody abode. "I hope she hasn't been too difficult. She's not what we're here for, but-"

"Shut up, freak. No one even asked. Why don't you just do everyone in the room a favor and drop dead already?" the small one retorts, waving a glowing magical sword in the dark. Tendrils of light pierce the gloom just a little, making it possible to identify a twisted, misshapen silhouette on the other side of the room. It has too many arms, too many teeth (many that aren't even in mouths or places where mouths should be), and what looks like steel plating grafted onto its rotten skin. I don't know if I'd want to look too closely into those shadows, Fi. At least it has the decency to keep its distance from the trio, though that may have more to do with Lil Laz's zweihander than anything else.

"Like I was saying, I'm glad you two are okay," the mass of limbs and teeth with the slightly off voice remarks. "I hope she hasn't caused you any problems or said any-"

"Said any what? You mean like what happened to the pillow? Actually yeah, that's perfect. I should tell her, shouldn't I? Fidelia, do you want to know why we had to have that pillow you liked replaced out of nowhere last week?" the smug, abrasive little knight sneers, reveling in the monster's fear. The thing recoils as if struck when the subject is brought up, but clearly has nowhere to run, and no means by which to silence the brat. I mean, it could try eating the vindictive little thing, but that's a really big sword she has.

[Shadowcaller]

Avenue of Unpleasant Dreams

How unsettling... and interesting.
The grim reality certainly appealed to some aspects of Jaahlyn and grimness might just be the thing she needed now in her role as a guide. She just hoped that they could forgive her after this.

She steps out from behind the couch. "Sir Lazarus, Lady Fidelia and I have traveled to your humble abode to help you, don't fret. We're both fine." She declares as she walks up to Fid. "Lady Fidelia, would you mind giving me your hand for a moment? It's important." Jaahlyn's black eyes will meet hers for a moment.

If Fid presents Jaahlyn her hand she will take a firm grip around it. Giving Fidelia what she at least believes is a reassuring look, one of her fingers turns into a wicked claw for a moment and makes a small incision in the side of Fid's wrist, just deep enough to draw blood. Then she will pull out and let the blood hit the floor.

[Arkhosia]

Inside: Xuracorp Tower

"It's the Nexus, you should kinda anticipate this sorta thing," Blanche retorts, eyeing the wound on Ilpholin's leg with concern but choosing not to offer help when Anika seems to beat her to the punch. "Better to go into this together anyways. Maintain coordination." She readies her rifle, flicking off the safety and chambering the first round as she prepares to advance in with the others.

[Recaiden]

[Inside: PCC]

If Prumathe has with him the vox that the hive gave him, it will activate itself and inform him of what they know from their earlier experiments.
"That was a summoning spell."

[Outside: Ell Hive]

Aha!
They've hit on a way to effect it. Power links to itself, like what Sekhmet discovered with her Mother.
Back at the hive proper, their forces reorganize slightly.
Unfortunately, Lokvah is the only proper and fully grown marquess in Ell, and still has to do what she can to stop the crystal herself.
She directs her mantis to keep up using all the strength in its wings, and tries not to strike at the crystal, but to pull, and in a more metaphorical sense, hoping to drain away from the enchantment directly.

[Skyside: Shivernight Manor]

As a general rule, Aaiesi does not send her hive to Skyside.
If they need something done in the lawless city, they have a stalker anonymously hire freelance mercenaries.
You see, there is something here they are afraid of.

It has taken notice of Sekhmet being here, though the context of the situation is still unknown to it.
The circle blocks the normal sort of telepathy that fiends are familiar with, but the hive's connection is something a little different. It faintly reaches through.
Sekhmet will get a sort of message. It is through the hive, but it is not the queen, nor her princesses, nor any of the near-human voices she knows. It isn't even so close to being words as the other use. It is just knowledge: I see you. and the tone, both a question and a threat.

[Inside: Hodgepodge Street]

The hound is chomped right up.
Well.
That's certainly the largest opponent they've had to face here in the Nexus. Amazing that something of that size can conceal itself in these mists.
Even as the hand is grabbing, though, archers are launching spikes at where the huge devil must be.

As when Sapphira confronted them, most of this hound will start to melt away, leaving only unfulfilling bones.


[The County of Art]

Ein scribbles out another note with their hands before offering it to the woman, while holding the mask away from them both at tentacle-length, like it's something disgusting.
Writing is sillier when the mask can see it being done, but they are set in their ways.

Why is it important to choose?

Making choices should definitely be left to people who know what they're doing.

A lazy look will have the wolf see the end of a sharp pointy tail vanishing around a corner. Probably attached to a pretty large creature. Gotta be attentive if you want to see more; people are hurrying here!

---

The tendrils of ground are quite flexible, stretching and tightening a bit as the wolf pulls. On the other hand, they're not very strong. That's why there are so many of them.
The ground that makes up the pool and the plants around it and the strands holding the wolf are, together, a single living thing. Not entirely unlike being tangled it a tree's branches.

It's harder to get plant scents to diffuse through the roiling water, but the thoughts still come. They are so pleased with the wolf. Certainly the best plant they have come across. Won't it stay with them? They'll find a great place for plants to grow. A whole orchard.

[Morty]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

"Our quick response teleportation system isn't very precise. But it beats getting here by airship." Wenomir sounds cranky to have to explain this, but puts a lid on it quickly enough and focuses on the task at hand. "We're being invited in. It means the top devil has a plan of some kind. Nothing for us to do but make sure it doesn't work. Anika, stay in the front and draw their attention. Blanche, keep in the back and focus on priority targets." He's not exactly authorized to be giving Ilpholin orders, but hopefully she'll integrate with their tactics.

[5a Violista]

[The County of Art]

Redcurrant debates taking the mask back. If this person isn't interested in it, then...well, if it gets left somewhere, then that just increases the chances of someone else finding it. No point in taking it back.

She reads the note.
"If the capable don't make the right decision, they don't deserve their strength. If the incapable don't make the right decision, they don't deserve their weakness. Likewise, if they can't decide who to trust, and when to obey, then the same." is what she thinks. "If someone's not exposed to the consequences of their choices, they'll continue to do the wrong things, and trust the wrong people."


The plant-wolf doesn't particularly care enough right now. They're not bothering it, so it doesn't see the point in bothering them.

---

This wolf finds it odd that it can't communicate, but there's still thoughts in it that have its own coding, but it heard through the grapevine on the way here that the wolf in the tavern had a similar experience. So it's pretty comforting, knowing that it's just the same thing that happened before and it knows what's going on.

Yes, it decides. It'll stay here.
Especially because, with plants growing and an orchard and everything, there'll be more to communicate with. Having nothing communicating with it, as it experienced after the secret passage, is very strange and it doesn't like it.

[Reinholdt]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

Ilpholin doesn't stop Anika from healing her. "It would have regenerated." Ilpholin says quietly, mostly in case Anika has a limited number of those. Best to save them for people who don't fix themselves. "Thanks." It still feels better. Which is always nice. It's a little early to turn off her pain receptors.

The nymph can't roll her eyes harder at Blanche though. Rather than reply, she'll fall into the middle beside Wenomir, following the bear inside but keeping her head angled to keep an eye the catgirl. She doesn't much like the idea of someone she doesn't know covering her back, especially someone with a powerful ranged weapon. She whispers quietly to the Vigil Commander. "Who is the queen of logical fallacies?" Ilpholin asks, tilting her head towards the back. More importantly: "Do you trust her in a fight?" If Wenomir says she's good, then she's good. Ilpholin can respect that much without having to see for herself.

[Terumitsu]

Mountain Temple

Arty sets the stuff down. He realizes how much he’s sweating. Looking up, the sun is actually getting higher, so it must be morning, not afternoon. That would explain why it’s only getting hotter and hotter. Arty frowns and strips off his sweater, laying it over his lower back. He’s only wearing a thin sleeveless undershirt under it. Something he would never usually wear in front of a lady! But he isn’t really in front of a lady now he is? Merely listening to a voice in his head that seems feminine despite the wordlessness.
So. She broke the rules, huh? She can claim that she is unchanging for the eons and yet here she is, mumbling into the brain of this particular centaur. What use is he to her anyway?
He doubts he’ll get any straight answer out of her, so he lets himself get distracted by the fruit tree outside the window. The fruits are small and half green which is why he only noticed it now when the buzzing of insects drew his attention. He can’t climb things, but a good kick might loosen things up...

Mountain Temple

Feminine you say? Interesting. One could wonder if perhaps that says more about you than you would think? Still, good choice on the disrobing. Heat is nice but perspiration is gross. Warm-things do that and it's really weird. Okay, so technically it's natural and all but some things should be different! There are better cooling methods out there but.. Hmm.. Well some extensive remodeling would need to take place. Uuuhhhh.... Wow, warm-things are annoying complicated. Like, half the stuff was made on some kind of nootropic binge and the other half is bolted on some ancient architecture that wasn't even built for this kind of stimulus and environment and the third half was made by the lowest bidder with the motto of 'it functions so that's good enough.' At least there was the avoidance of that weird 'everything must be a crab' fetish that someone in natural design clearly had. Yeah, some changes need to be made here but, like.. Where to even start with this?

What do you think? Those legs aren't made for climbing, as you said. Maybe something better? Something suited for trees even?

Also, since you seem to just want to totally ignore pursuing your own question, that's fine. Suuuuper boring, but fine. Not like just dropping a topic in the middle of what clearly was going to be a really fun give and take is super rude and boring or anything. You know, just saying. Or rather, [Intonations felt without senses. Words with no shape. Stillness full yet unbroken. Significant thoughtless divulgence].

[Deathkeeper]

Mountain Temple

Arty frowns. Wow, not going to give him anything, are we? Just going to sit there and play the critic? Well, he'd certainly like to see her come up with better than the gods...whatever it is that she is. And making some kind of insinuation about him based on her voice in his head!
Except in this case he'd rather not. Who gives her the right to do any... any remodeling? Don't you dare go touching his DNA. Can you even do that? What would you even mean, trees? Centaurs are not made for climbing!
Arty gets the rather distressing feeling that she can, in fact, do that. He sighs and looks down. The sun is shining nice and bright on the spot of the floor to his left. He lays down, folding his legs and letting his belly enjoy the warm stones as the sun beats down on his lower back. Grand. At least he can enjoy the weather while dealing with this buzzing in his head.
Is she going to tell him anything useful or just criticize his organs? He had totally been hoping for an answer to the previous question. After all, he can do something with his body while he mentally talks to her, can't he?

[Organs which move rather easily when manipulated. One long stomach and set of organs are easy to make happen, especially with your expert touch. The mortal feels a little odd but is oblivious to it as long as you don't touch is nerves too much. He hasn't even noticed some of his humanish half losing some of its body hair (which he doesn't need since it isn't an effective coat like his lower half anyway). Though while he might not notice you fiddling with his innards, moving things around and growing some where there weren't before, eventually he's going to notice.]

[Rebonack]

[Icon Quest]

"Nah, we're trying to get put back together again, little dude," Dandelion replies with a shrug.

"And Jade doesn't want to eat people! Which is a pretty reasonable thing to not want to do if you're asking me," Snapdragon adds.

Lambslaural reaches out to scritch Hector's ears for him. "I started thinking a little umm... a little different once I grew up? Whatever happens, I think you'll be okay."

Encouragement for Hector!

Our heroes briefly admire the neon geysers and then head onward!

It takes another few hours of walking, but eventually our heroes will traverse a mountain pass and find themselves overlooking an otherworldly garden filling the valley below. It looks... awesome. In the old sense of the word. Something that is at once unnaturally beautiful and deeply dreadful. Invoking awe is a wonderful and terrible thing. To Hector it probably just looks weird and kind of neat. To our fae touched friends it will invoke feelings of bone-deep revulsion. This place is wrong in a way that's difficult to put to words.

The Plum Sisters look uncomfortable at the sight of the garden.

"Umm... th-that's the place we're going, r-right?" Lambslaural mutters.


[Market Street]

Pepper definitely isn't over there anymore.

No, Pepper is popping out of the ground over there as she's briefly obscured by a scintillating cloud of tiny silvery cogs. They attach gear to gear, forming a suit of shining silver armor coating her from head to hoof. She raises one hand, a flurry of gears rearranging themselves into a long, tapered shape moments before there comes an electric crackle and a sharp recoil. A small silver projectile just got launched at the devil. Should it strike the fiend the missile will explosively unwind into into a rapidly expanding razor-sharp ribbon.

Honestly Ser Pepper isn't expecting the devil to survive this. She's already looking around for any signs of people who immediately need her help.


[Skyside]

Oh, well, that isn't great.

Geneva falters briefly, before steeling her mental defenses and drawing on a well of power of a different sort. A brilliant, shining, Dazzling Gleam blazes around her! Searing light to banish the darkness! Streamers of ethereal radiance surrounds her as her features take on a more whimsical air. The air in the building begins to positively thrum with the power of hope and light and serenity, seeking to wash away the devil's malignant presence.

~Be strong! I'm coming for you, friends!~ Geneva sends to the minds in the building. And that's exactly what she'll be doing; zipping through the building blasting tentacles and searching for survivors. It probably won't be long before she has a veritable constellation of people floating around her.

She hasn't attacked the devil directly. Not yet. So far she's mostly just focused on protecting herself and the people she's rescued.

[bc56]

Iconquest
Jade shivers. "Yeah. Last time I was someplace like this, it didn't seem so... Sinister." She can feel the hairs on her tail standing on end, puffing it up. Of course, last time she was somewhere like this, she wasn't a kumiho. But it's hard for her to remember those things. "So... See anything that looks promising down there?"

Inside: Xuracorp Tower
Inside the bottom floor of the tower is what was once a nice, if sparsely furnished, lobby. Seated behind the receptionist's desk is a bored looking succubus in a suit that's straining to contain her figure. "Do you have an... Oh, the Mistress is expecting you. Go right up, she'll meet you on the top floor." She waves them towards the elevator, in whose polished volcanic glass doors twisted reflections of the adventurers can be seen. Her message delivered, she turns back to her computer and types something in, not really paying attention.

Inside: Market Street
Pepper's projectile slices through the huge fiend and keeps going. The behemoth staggers, a ragged hole torn through its gut, but then rises to its feet again. The injury is already knitting itself together, and more. Uneven plating of black steel is growing around the injury, spreading gradually until it covers the entire monstrosity like some horrific exoskeleton. It rips a lightpost out of the ground and swings it in a wide arc at the distracted gaiad, its mouth (the only part of its flesh still visible) in a wicked grin.

Inside: Hodgepodge Street
The slimegirl taps at the man's face, but he doesn't react, not even to blink. Her continued attempts are interrupted by a long, thin staff with a sharpened point, which extends out from the dark shape and attempts to pierce through where her heart would be, if she had one. This motion stirs the figure's shadow, and its true form is revealed. It's a cloaked devil, unnaturally tall and thin. Scraps of cloth rise and twist from the edges of the cloak like ragged fingers. Little one, he is mine. Resist no longer. I am merely giving him what he wants. The voice is little more than a whisper, but it carries strangely well.

The barrage cuts through the fog, yet hits nothing... Impossible! They went straight through where it should have been... Then a limb tears out of the fog behind the archers to snatch one and subject it to much the same fate as the Hound. How did it get there so quickly?

Inside: Skyways
This creature is powerful. Geneva's bubble of hope only extends a small distance. Beyond it, a maelstrom of hostile emotions swirl, invisible but no less dangerous. If this thing is so strong... How strong must Sapphira be to command it? Tendrils of darkness probe the edges of the shield, looking for any weakness they can exploit, any way to crack the pink bubble.

Inside: PCC
Sekhmet looks very slightly relieved to hold Prumathe's hand in the instants before she fully disappears.
But it doesn't feel like she's completely gone.
Remember way back when when she kissed him and semi-accidentally transfered a little of her power to him? That little bit of Sekhmet in Prumathe twinges. It can't tell Prumathe anything he doesn't already know, but it can dredge up a memory.
Sekhmet holds up her journal to show Prumathe. "Prumathe, if I, uh, if I ever, uh, disappear, I... It might happen. I don't want it to. If I ever disappear, I, uh, wrote in my journal a way to, uh, contact me. I'm going to work on something, uh, simpler, but, uh, for now it will work. It's on the last page."
Sekhmet's journal is in her work bag, isn't it? It shouldn't be that hard to find.

Skyside: Shivernight Manor
"Why?" Sekhmet asks, bewildered, then stops. "Wait, uh, you were one of the, uh, slaves I rescued! Why are you, uh, holding me prisoner?" To the unknown voice, she sends, weakly without the aid of her fiendish power, Uh, hello?

Outside: Ell Hive
When Lokvah pulls on the power, it starts to unravel. But not in a good way. Like pulling a thread of a sweater, the enchantment tightens, becoming sharper and more dangerous. But power begins flowing into Lokvah. She can feel it, no doubt, surging into her veins, amplifying her fiendish heritage, strengthening her magic... And threatening to burn her out if she drinks too deeply of it too quickly. But time is of the essence here. If she takes it slow, she's more likely to survive to finish the process... But she might be too late to stop the crystal from reaching its destination.

[Deathkeeper]

Icon Quest

The problem with having primarily faerie friends is that Hector doesn't know if Lambslaurel is referring to that time she grew up before being Chimera or that time she grew up into a giant tree. His life is so weird.
And the fact that his friends have started to pet his ears through his human illusion says something about him and them but he doesn't know what it is.
"Come on girls, we can't back out now! We got some Enemies to shank and a cure to get. Onwards, noble sister-steed!" he pats Heather's shoulders. She smiles faintly. This place isn't any more pleasant to her than it is to anyone else. She remembers this feeling that Hector described back in the original Weald. But he's right. They can't back down just from this sense of wrong. She advances forward, albeit slower than before. They're going to find this stupid thing and get the Sisters fixed up!
"I don't really see anything in particular yet..."

[Rebonack]

[Iconquest]

Well.

There are in fact several things that might be important.

Down in the valley our heroes can make out four... temples? They certainly LOOK like temples. Something about the architecture gives them an indisputable air of sanctity. Multi-leveled buildings reminiscent of pagodas, each floor slightly smaller than the one below it. Should our heroes compare notes on exactly what the details of the buildings are, they'll find that their descriptions may differ wildly.

What do each of our heroes consider a holy place to look like?

In spite of the uncanny observer effect there are notable differences between the buildings.

Not visual differences, though.

The fae won't pick up on it at all.

But Hector sure will.

Hope. Certitude. Compassion. Defiance.

Each positively radiates a feeling. To the fae they will only get a mounting sense of dread the closer they draw to the shrines.

The valley itself is dotted with uncanny, alien shapes. Fluted, marrow-like metal filled with searing light. Coral like fungal growths oozing black slime that smells of heady incense. Masses of iridescent bubbles that drift and spread, covered in endless fractals that one can find themselves getting lost in should they look too closely. Things that might have once been animals lurk here, but none are yet making themselves known.

Dandelion grips her spear, squares her shoulders, and descends down into the valley.

"Bet what we want is in one of those tower things," she says.

[5a Violista]

[Inside: Hodgepodge Street]

The spearlike staff easily pierces her. There is damage: more at the perimeter of the staff and less at the point.

The slimegirl looks down at her chest, and sees the spear in her.

She turns her head to look where the staff came from. She sees the devil.

The slimegirl moves and pulls so the staff goes through her and out of her, and she moves around to behind the man, keeping the man between her and the devil, and her as close to the man as possible. She's basically up against him, with her hands on his arms.

[bc56]

Iconquest

Jade keeps a wary eye on the surroundings as they descend. She feels it in her tails, this place is wrong horrifyingly wrong. "I don't see any difference between them. Let's just go to the closest one. I'd rather not spend more time here than necessary." She had no idea how bad it was going to be. She feels foolish for ever suggesting they could do two in one expedition.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

The bear eyes the evil demon lady, already knowing what Ilpholin was likely to do.
She hadn't expected succubi though, they were a bit less satisfying to bash considering how kaldoreoid they looked. They also looked hot but this was neither the time nor the place for such thoughts.

Since if there was one thing she knew, it was to never trust a demon, if she had said the top floor, they should get to the basement!
So with that and not wishing to see Ilpholin brutalizing this low-level drone in mind she will move around looking for stairs leading downwards. Failing that, she will carefully peek her head into the elevator to see if it had some kind of basement level button.

[Deathkeeper]

Iconquest

Heather nods. "Yeah, makes no difference to me." Hector blinks in surprise.
"Well I mean, there's totally a difference. They've got that psychic feeling. That one's hope, and that one's defiance. You don't...do you guys not feel it?" Hector asks with confusion in his face. His confusion only deepens when Heather seems equally confused as she shakes her head.

[Recaiden]

[The County of Art]

A quick note, scribbled out and sent fluttering through the air.

Silly. No one deserves anything.

Another one, that takes a bit more time and is written more neatly.

Choices should be made by those wise enough to choose well. The incapable need only obey. If they never make a choice to trust, they never trust the wrong one.

---

Then rest, plant-wolf. Sleep, and let things change.

Soon enough comes the touch of a magical presence, hot fiendish-magic and warm-flowing life-magic, working together to try to strip the fairy-magic away from the plant-wolf. Their examinations show that it isn't necessary, is additional to the sentient plant blueprint. So it would be better to start with a clean, magic-free plant.

[Skyside: Shivernight Manor]

A variety of shifting impressions accompany the message. Anger and appreciation that have both hardened into the cold intention to retaliate. Curious amusement. Looking down from a dizzying height. Just a twinge of sadness and pity.
You [lone minion of the hive] should not have come here [Skyside/OtherSkyside/My city/My domain].
But then, you [Sekhmet] are not like the others[Eurus/Zephyr/Doctor/Ghost/Riverside], are you? [confirm, but it is already known]

[Outside: Ell Hive]

They have seen no other enchanted black crystals. This is a singular threat that had been waiting for a long time.
It's all up to her.
And Lokvah feels it working. The more power she takes, the more power she can take. So she has to pull on this thread of magic until the whole spell snaps.
Some of the overflowing energy, she pushes towards her mantis mount, that is bonded to her the way Sekhmet discovered. And she does not pull absolutely as hard as she can - if she loses control before it's done, she won't get another chance. But she certainly isn't playing it safe.

[Inside: Hodgepodge Street]

An archer is snatched up, though it can put up more resistance than a hound, biting and carving at the hand that's caught it. Still, even such a big creature is small compared to this gigantic mist fiend.
They quickly get some idea what's happened. It's not the first teleporting foe they've fought - or perhaps there's nothing more to it than a single claw emerging where it wishes. Either way, they need to hold themselves ready to attack as it appears for the third time.

[Rebonack]

[ICONQUEST]

"Geeze this place is creepy," Snap mutters despite being no less exuberant as she prances down the hill. "Haha, wow. Does anyone else feel thin? Like too little butter spread over too much toast. Straight up Bilbo stuff. Like a breeze could knock you over."

Lambslaural nods back.

Something about this place will make the fae feel more ephemeral and unreal. And not in a particularly good way. Using dreamheart magic will likely be a bit more difficult here.

"Sounds like you're gettin' something we aren't, little dude," Dandelion observes. "Let us know if anything changes."

The closest shrine happens to be the one exuding the feeling of hope. Which... might be good?

Maybe?

Honestly it's hard to tell.

As our heroes approach they may notice begin to notice mutated animals observing them.

Like that rabbit.

They may have a hard time justifying why their first thought upon seeing the abomination is 'rabbit'. It looks like someone took the idea of a rabbit and stretched into into something not unlike a tree. Except the tree is also a dragon made of black glass specked with drifting stars. It looks like it should have trouble even moving but it's getting along fine.

[Morty]

[Inside: Xuracorp Tower]

"Blanche is a Vigil member. I have full confidence in her," Wenomir says to Ilpholin, before the group is greeted by a succubus-secretary. He stares flatly at her, his expression (to put it mildly) unamused.

"...is treating us like corporate peons her idea of a joke? Never mind. Do you have anything useful to say in exchange for us not shooting you?"

He glances over to Anika. Is she looking for a way to the basement? He can't say he relishes the idea of doing what the enemy expects, to looking for another way might be useful.