Trog's Tavern CLV

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Fenris can't help but laugh at that question.

"I'm afraid I can't take credit for the forging of Sunder or Wraithguard, those were Kagranac's work. I merely empowered them again. I suppose if you arrived here shortly after Arniel's disappearance you wouldn't have received the letter regarding the recovery of the other two Tools of Kagranac," Fenris replies. "I did, however, learn a great deal from them. And I did find some additional supplies of aetherium while exploring the foundry city in which the tools were originally forged. There were aetherium-empowered animunculi guarding the city that were... trying to deal with. To say the least."

She begins examining one of the tubes briefly before turning her attention to the work bench.

"I found sufficient examples and schematics to build a full suit of aetherium armor. I, ah, fashioned it specifically to be worn in my werewolf form with the intent to leverage every possible advantage I could against the World Eater," Fenris explains as she examines a journal. She wrinkles her nose in disgust. "As you observed earlier, he was much weaker than I was expecting him to be."

Fenris ripped Alduin apart.

And hey a nice chest to pick!

It looks like it mostly contains alchemy components, but there's also another one of those red gemstones inside. Also an electric blue crystal that glows with the same unearthly hue as aetherium. It looks oddly... oozy, though. Like the crystal in the vat nearby. If Orathius reaches for the stone it'll melt into a puddle and slither away from his hand like a rivulet of quicksilver.

"It appears as though this was as much alchemical work as alteration. Some kind of body modification project? To what end I am uncertain. If these journals weren't in a cypher I'm sure I would be able to learn more."

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
"I'm not so good at either of those, but I know something I could potentially sell when I see it." The crystal running away from his grasp is annoying. "I found another garnet in here... It feels a bit strange. You want to take a look?"

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Fenris sets down the journal and peeks into the chest, spying the electric blue gemstone sitting in the corner of the box but not presently moving. "That looks like a piece of raw aetherium. Though if it's anything like the material in the tube-"

She reaches for it likewise and as with Orathius is slithers away from her grip.

"Strangely aware. I can say with certainty that none of the aetherium I ever encountered on my delving of Dwemer ruins behaved like this."

Mostly it just sat around.

As rocks do.

And the garnet?

Should it be offered Fenris will hold it up to the light. Considering how much jewelry she's made she has some degree of familiarity with gemstones. "It does have the look of pinkish garnet. But I'm not sure if that's quite right. It feels like it's vibrating? Maybe some sort of tonal- ah!"

She suddenly drops the stone, letting it drop to the floor.

"It... pricked me. Through my armor. How-"

Then it goes whizzing through the air, smashes through one of the glass tubes, and embeds in one of the dead mutants with a meaty thunk. Foul smelling fluid begins leaking out of the hole in the tube.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
"What the blazes?" How did it not prick Orathius? He's wearing lighter armor than Fenris is. His hands go up and he conjures a sword, drawing a strange-looking concave shield of Dwemer alloy with his left hand. In these cramped quarters, without time and distance to prepare, his bow would be useless.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

Veins of crimson creep across the corpse in the vat, its body twitching.

And then things get worse.

Dragon scales begin growing across the horror as its form warps and shifts further. Right before it comes smashing out of the tube, still dripping preserving fluid.

It doesn't pause for even a moment before-

"Yol... TOOR SHUL!"

Oh hey.

Lots of fire.

That's probably a problem.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
That's a lot of fire. The Nightingale armor protects against cold, but not against fire. Orathius slams a potion as quickly as he can to protect himself, then dismisses the conjured sword and draws a similar-looking real one, made from black metal. He smashes another potion vial against the blade and rushes towards the monstrosity, the blade bursting into flame as he slashes furiously at it. The particular poison he used isn't very harmful directly, but it does increase the victim's vulnerability to fire, a nasty combination with his flaming sword.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Fenris slams no potions.

Instead she hunkers down behind her disc and allows the flames to blast over her, leaving her armor lightly smoking but otherwise fine.

Seeing that the beast is getting ready to meet Orathius' charge she lights her hand with telekinesis and gives the monster a yank. To magically grapple the creature she would need both hands, but to simply pull it off balance? That she can manage with one.

With the monster's footing disrupted it can't very well counter the sword stroke, the blade biting into its flesh even as it sears it. The poison seems to help, but the creature is quite resilient to begin with.

Also?

Bitey.

Very bitey.

Which is expresses by trying to bite Orathius' face off.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
Block with the shield, the Dwemer artifact holding up nicely despite its delicate appearance. Thrust with the sword, metal and flame biting into the monster's flank. Orathius has a rhythm going and he follows up with a simple shout of "Fos!" not enough to hurl the creature across the room, but it should keep it off balance longer.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

The monster comes away with another wound, staggering under the pounding force of the shout.

Fenris follows up by releasing her chisel-toothed disc, snagging in her telekinesis, and then launching it through the monster in a spray of gore. The monster staggers, badly injured by the brutal assault. Staggers again when Fenris snaps the disc back to herself and cleaves off another limb in the process.

That's got to be over, right?

Nothing could survive injuries like that.

This is, of course, when that strange blue crystal smashes its way out of the tube nearby, slithers across the floor, and pours into the wounds our heroes have made.

The monster begins convulsing as electric blue crystals begin growing out of its wounds, an aetherial nimbus humming around it.

Troublesome, this one.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
"Blast! Will this never end!?" Orathius steps back from the corpse, stowing his shield in order to free his hands for magic. A rift opens before him and out steps an armored skeletal figure wielding a massive bone club, a Wrathman called forth from the Soul Cairn. "Crush it," the command comes, as the "last" Dragonborn starts reaching for his bow. The resilient summoned creature should buy some time if nothing else.

[5a Violista]

[Weird Bathroom]

'No masks'...is a good sign? Maybe? At least that's confirmation that it's not the same bathroom-cult.

June looks out to the arena. She sees the person out there: looks a little tall. She bets, if it weren't for the armor or weapons then she could probably? beat her. As long as Ms. Big-and-Large out there doesn't use any magic. Or softness, or whatever it's supposed to be called. But if she's a champion, she probably either has some softness or some magic or whatever. In fact, almost guaranteed softness; the only saving grace is that armor which would counteract any softness arts.

She looks at the chemist who came with her. "Hey, could you check on the infirmary for me? Make sure the kid's okay. You already know what he sounds like." June looks back at the man, and points her thumb at the chemist. "She's a chemist, so it should be okay to show her to the infirmary, right?"

Anyway.
Maid outfit.
June picks up the French Maid outfit from the wardrobe and starts looking at it, as if making sure it's all okay. "Hmm...Lace. Good. Nylon...satin...Heels aren't too short. The frills here are good enough. Sleeves and skirt length are a bit too short for my taste." She handles it, trying to make it appear very important that it's right. "Oh. Um." She points at it. "There's supposed to be cat ears here, on the headband. And a cat tail. It's not complete without them," June says, trying to see what she can get away with and how far she can push it, and to buy some time.

The reason why there aren't any cat ears or cat tail is because the one it's based off of...doesn't have those. It's just a normal french maid outfit.

[Ironsmith]

[Weird Bathroom]

The caped man waves dismissively at the chemist, who disappears in a puff of fragrant smoke. "Very well." The man says, a little late. "She will wait in the infirmary until the fight is over."

When the subject turns to the maid outfit, and its lack of feline add-ons, June's going to find very quickly that she's mistaken... sort of. The ears and tail are now just suddenly there. Not as in "they appeared", more like they've always been there and she's just now noticing them, as though they'd deliberately picked the most embarrassing way to prove her wrong. The skirt's also going to unfold to be slightly longer; there must have been a ruffle in them she didn't account for.

The caped man gives an amused little smirk. "Are you ready to begin?"

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

"Objectively I suspect yes, this will end," Fenris says as she lobs a corrosive alteration at the monster, eating away at its armor. "However this opponent appears to be quite resilient and can use these aetherial crystals to mend its wounds. I will try to hold its attention. You prevent the crystals still remaining from healing it."

That said, Fenris moves in to get up in the creature's face, her Dwemer disc held at the ready to ward off any assaults from the creature, her other hand glowing with healing magic. Hopefully between herself and the undead creature (ugh) they will be able to prevent it from interfering with Orathius.

The monster, meanwhile, decides to be uncooperative.

It doesn't seem terribly enthusiastic about the melee combatants in its personal space and so responds in a completely understandable fashion.

By exploding.

Sadly the explosion doesn't destroy the abomination, but it DOES cause a massive burst of aetherial flames all around it.

Suffice to say said flames will be quite uncomfortable for anyone experiencing them.

There are three more crystal clusters in the room. Two large clusters slithering around inside of tubes and the fourth inside the chest under the table.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
Orathius is glad he took the fire resistance potion, because that still hurts even despite it. He ducks and rolls away from the fighting and comes up channeling swirling frost in his hand and releasing it in a ravaging vortex at one of the tubes with the crystals in it. Destructive magic like this isn't his forte, but he's pretty sure weapons, even bound weapons, wouldn't work on the living crystals.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

It really doesn't help that the attack is really only partly fire. Partly fire and partly raw arcane energy that combusts one's magicka in a rather painful fashion.

Just not a great thing to deal with at all.

Fenris, for her part, has exceptional resistance to magic in general due to her deep focus on alteration, so she manages to blunt the worst of the attack, flames washing over her and around her shield as the defensive magic humming around her flickers and sparks. She grits her teeth and raises one hand, healing magic washing over herself and her allies. Healing magic that also makes the flesh on the monster wither and crumbles into dust. Not quickly, mind, but enough that the monster isn't having a great time.

Meanwhile!

The fluid in the tube freezes and splinters as the wave of frost blasts through it! The crystals inside fall very still, mostly due to being frozen in a block of ice.

That doesn't look like it killed them. If these are even things that can be killed. But at the very least it appears more heavily imprisoned and reaching the abomination to heal it will be difficult if not impossible.

Speaking of the abomination, it doesn't take all this sitting down.

Liquid aether runs up its arms and pools around its fists moments before it slams the upraised limbs into the floor, sending a shockwave racing through the ground followed by a carpet of wicked crystal spikes jutting from the earth.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
This is getting annoying. Orathius jumps away from the crystal spikes and disappears. There is no flash of magic; not even a whisper of a Shout precedes his vanishment.
Invisibly, he searches the room, looking for any container more durable than glass. Metal would be ideal, he thinks. He's not sure how to destroy the crystals, so he'll settle for trapping them (and since he's not fighting, he won't be forced to reappear).

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

A cunning plan!

Fenris, for her part, acts swiftly when she sees the monster's arms raise. She doesn't have enough time to dodge to the side, nor the space for it. So instead she tosses her disc to the ground, leaps on top of it, and telekinetically gives it a yank with both hands. In an impressive display of lifting one's self by one's own bootstraps she's launched upward right as the spikes strike, propelling her over the monster! Whilst in mid air she launches her disc at the beast again before landing deftly on the other side.

She's pretty spry for wearing heavy armor.

The disc gouges through the beast and the frozen crystal attempts to leap to the rescue, but it is too busy being frozen solid at the moment.

The monster isn't happy about this and lashes out blindly at Fenris with one large, spiky arm.

Orathius, meanwhile, does some searching!

He'll find several empty canisters on a nearby shelf with a strange, round, spiky looking symbol on them. He may not be sure what the symbol means, but it definitely looks threatening. A small note is pinned to one of the containers.

Remember to clean out the aether crystal containers with oil of vitriol before putting any crystals inside. If you forget again you're going in one of the tubes and I'm getting myself a new assistant.

There's a large brown bottle nearby clearly marked oil of vitriol, along with several crystals of green vitriol in a bowl nearby for making more of the potent acid.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
Helpful. The cannisters and the bottle of oil subtly disappear, followed by the frozen crystal cluster.
Orathius invisibly pours a bunch of oil into one of the cannisters, drops the crystal in, and seals it. Then he proceeds to shake the container vigorously in the hopes that the crystal doesn't like the acid. Either way, it's contained now.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

Fenris gets a face full of great big spiky arm!

Thankfully she also has a pretty high quality shield which means she only nearly gets knocked off her feet when the attack smashes into her.

Then?

She bashes the monster right in the face with her shield.

The result of this should be familiar to Orathius. Now ghostly in appearance, the monster continues trying to clobber Fenris and finds its attacks passing through her impotently. This only seems to make it even more angry.

"Our foe is temporarily incapacitated," Fenris announces. "How goes the search?"

Pretty good!

There's hissing sound from inside the canister and our hero can feel the crystal writing around in there, but it isn't eating through the metal or... whatever it might have been able to do had the oil not been added first. That just leaves the two remaining crystals now that the frozen tube is beginning to thaw out.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
Unless Fenris can see the invisible, it will appear that Orathius is just gone. The Shadowcloak of Nocturnal is a potent tool and he doesn't want to break the cover it gives him, not yet. He snatches up the remaining cannisters (they appear to disappear into thin air) and turns to the remaining crystal clusters to repeat the process.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

Now there's a question.

Does the cloak mask his scent as well?

Because if not Fenris will likely know that Orathius is still around somewhere.

Regardless!

The remaining crystals are shoved into canisters just in time for the abomination to pop back into corporeality! After it had become clear that it wasn't harming Fenris (at all) it seemed to have decided to begin gathering aetherial flame in itself and the moment it pops back in it releases that charge in a massive burst of ghostly blue fire.

Which.

Well.

Which isn't great for the room or anyone in it.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom.
Considering that human beings leave their smell on everything they touch, it will smell like Orathius is around even if the cloak doesn't mask his scent.
But this is when he takes his chance to reappear as well. A spectral bow materializes in his hands as he fades back into view. He nocks an arrow and opens fire, heedless of the explosion burning around him.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

Fenris, for her part, moves to get in front of Orathius and kneels, allowing him to fire over her shoulder without too much trouble.

Also?

She casts a ward.

His arrow will pass right through the shimmering barrier of magic, but it proves impassible to the monster's ghostly flames. Like a boulder in a river, the magic parts around her and leaves a spreading cone of safe space behind her. Which thankfully for Orathius he happens to be standing in.

This is one of the upsides to having competent allies with diverse abilities.

So!

Arrow.

Right in the eye.

The monster staggers, touching at the glowing shaft sticking from its face, then topples forward.

"Well. I must say that was one of the more threatening creatures I've faced recently," Fenris comments, brushing a stray wisp of ghostly fire from her shoulder. "It actually managed to fight back."

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
"I've never seen Aetherium so... Active. Or hostile. We need to find out what was going on here." Orathius holds out one of the cannisters. "I've trapped the remaining crystals in these. Do you recognize the symbol?"

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

"It's reminiscent of a primitive atronach," Fenris muses as she stows her disc on a little hook on her armor. "Though I certainly haven't heard of an aetherium atronach before. It does warrant investigation, certainly."

Fenris eyes the canister and the rather threatening looking symbol it's stamped with.

"I'm not familiar with it, but its design is foreboding. Maybe it is meant to convey the hazard posed by the intended contents?"

In this case the crystals.

Crystals that have both a restorative and (apparently) corruptive effect on living flesh.

So!

To reiterate-

The lab is a smallish, square room maybe fifteen feet across. On the south wall there's a sliding door, closed at the moment. There had been tapestries in here at some point, but they've been defaced with graffiti written in the goblin tongue. More of those strange fluid filled tubes abound, over half of them holding misshapen monstrosities. Points of interest include-

A broken tube the bearman used to be in before being destroyed.
A broken tube, jagged glass sticking above the bronze base. It's badly corroded and the floor around it is sticky and discolored.
A tube containing a hyena-man that appears to be conscious. It watches the heroes with malevolent, beady eyes.
A tube filled with rotted remains. The lights in this tube appear to have gone out.
A broken tube that once contained the aetherium atronachs.
A large desk covered in tools and notes, no doubt regarding the tubes. This was raided for the canisters and oil of vitriol.
A wooden chest under the desk that has been looted.

[bc56]

Dungeon of Doom
"A disturbing thought. Of course, it's also possible this is something else, which superficially resembles Aetherium but is an entirely different substance." It doesn't behave like any Aetherium Orathius has ever seen. "There is another question. What do we do about that?" He points to the still-living hyena man in its glass tube.

[5a Violista]

[Weird Bathroom]

Sadly,
June doesn't notice that she was supposed to be embarrassed by the cat-features' sudden and embarrassing appearance. So she doesn't even act embarrassed, sadly. "Cool, thanks."

She just thinks the guy decided to add them after she asks.

June examines the additions, tugging on them as if inspecting their quality.
"Just need to put these on, first," she says. And maybe see how else she can push the boundries.

She looks at the clothes, trying to decide if she should just put them on right now or go behind the wardrobe or something. "There somewhere I can change?"

Bedore giving the person time to think about the answer, audibly sighs and says, largely to herself, "I'm sure I would do so much better if my sister were here to cheer for me. Being the Away Team is the worst." Her 'sister' being Venus who is currently hopped up on warlock drugs over in HALO right now.

Anyway, more importantly, regarding putting on the maid outfit. "I presume the weapons are in the pockets, right?"

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon of Doom]

"That's also a possibility. I find myself wishing Yuvan was here, his knowledge of alchemy would likely be helpful," Fenris sighs as she flips through one of the incomprehensible journals.

Then?

There's some pointing at the other mutant.

"Yes. Though I suppose our course of action depends on several things," Fenris says, approaching the tube. "You there, are you aware?"

The creature hisses and snaps at Fenris from within its jail.

Hmm.

Probably not.

"I suspect it will attack us if we release it. For now it is contained."

[ResidentScribe]

New Beginning

It all happened so fast, Maxson played it back in his mind as he tried to process what was going on right around him. There was the mountain, that cool, crisp air with just the hint of sulphur. Not just sulphur, propellant, smoke and other chemical mixes. Orders were being barked back and forth and yet he felt calm in that moment.

He gripped at the blanket placed over his shoulders, he was soaked to the bone. It hadn't been raining, he had been helping someone, "That's right" He thought to himself, he had been helping with stretchers. they were loading up helicopters with injured and medical staff. He remembered helping someone onto the last ride out, his foot was on the rail to help her in then he saw it. The smoke trail then the flash and lastly the ground giving way below him.

He remembered feeling like he was falling, the helicopter above spinning, "Or was I spinning?" He grumbled to himself as he rubbed his brow. It all started to become real again, the fall, the other explosion then the roar of the water. He couldn't remember much else after that, just stumbling out into a footpath looking like a drowned rat. Others seemed to act like they knew what he was going through, he tried to ask questions, not sure if he was making sense or if there were no answers to give, all simply said to come here, wherever here was.

"I'm dead... that has to be it" He mumbled as he patted himself over, still wearing his combat gear, still sporting marks from still healing wounds. "If this is the afterlife... it sucks" He added with a grumble. Ulfen afterlives were supposed to be wild hunts, very little clothing and lots of drink, at least that was what Maxson was told. So far, he was seeing drink, too many clothes and no hunting, not to even mention the fact that he didn't see a single person he knew, even more to the point, he didn't see a single other Ulfen there.

[Aurora Alchemi]

New Beginning

A man stumbling and incoherent, looks injured? Reuma shivered gently in the winter chill, peeking down alleys and blind streets. It didn't take long to find the source of the tip the healer had received, and not too far from a somewhat familiar, if slightly unnerving place. The masked medic quickly goes over to the individual stumbling... no... dragging themselves along much to the chagrin of the common foot traffic. "Sir, please stop moving, I'm a healer, I can help... Sir!" The healer had to give it to them that they were tenacious, almost reminded her of the great wolf people where she had come from. Reuma carefully grabs onto the man's shoulder, stopping him before he could make the lacerations and fractures worse. His skin was cool to the touch, and he was drenched with rain... must have come from a wetter place into the nexus, but already some of the water was frosting.

Giving a gentle tug, Reuma turns the man over, and her breath catches, eyes widening behind the porcelain and gold gilt mask. Maxson? But how.. nevermind, not yet. I need to get him warm, and patched up. The pronghorn's combat medic training takes over, even as her mind races with questions, especially about the burned and torn uniform. "Come, we need to get you out of the cold. Wear this and lean on me, there is a tavern nearby, I'll get you some food and bandages there." Reuma doesn't take no for an answer, tightly wrapping her winter coat, the same one that her own Maxson had made for her, around this Maxson's shoulders, then wrapping an arm around him and guiding him.

Her other hand rests onto his chest as they walk, glowing blue and green, feelings of gentle warmth, and soothing emotions spreading softly from the spot. "You've got some nasty wounds here... Nothing too bad for an ulfin normally, but something is keeping you from healing quite right. I'll take a deeper look at it when we get inside, but try not to move or twist too much until I get this metal out of your belly." Worry speckles the healers voice, but there is a degree of professionalism and careful habits that might help to pierce the cluttered and muddled mind of Maxson as she pushes him into Trogs, eyes scouting a secluded booth in the corner and making the way right there. Sorry strange barmaid.... I didn't mean to come back with more problems like this...