Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway

[Gullara]

This place is just as it sounds. It's Outside!
Want a change of scenery? Go Outside.
Always wanted to visit the beach? Come Outside.
Looking to have a climatic fight on clifftops? Attempt Outside.
Secret meetings being held where there's no cameras? Try Outside.
Want an ambush without nasty base defenses? Yep! Outside.

Any and all are welcome in the wild expanses beyond the reach of civilization. Who's going to keep you out? That's right, no one. You're already out!
Here lie vast expanses, dense forests, towering mountains, dizzying canyons, treacherous dungeons, encroaching jungles, roaring waterfalls, endless wastes, blistering deserts, mossy cliffs, illusionary oases, eldritch moors, flowering bosques, infested hills, cyclopean ruins, weed-tangled gardens, crumbling glaciers, peaceful glades, bubbling tar pits, rumbling volcanoes, teetering hoodoos, honeycombed caverns, dripping grottos, inland seas, grassy knolls, overgrown battlefields, creepy boneyards, guano-covered caves, and so much more!
The sky is truly the limit, and sometimes not even that. If you can imagine it, it's here, and something super cool is probably happening there.

And most importantly, enjoy Outside. That's what this is all about.

---

Rules and Guidelines

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There is very little you can't do Outside. However, like always, please follow the forum rules and general rules of conduct. Respect that a scene may be private or that a plot shouldn't be interrupted. When in doubt, ask someone involved in the OoC thread or by PM.

There are many areas Outside, and people can be in multiple places outside. In order to keep areas Outside separated so there's no confusion, consider bolding your outside location at the start of each of your posts, like so:

[An Epic Cliffside Battle]

The creepy eyed squirrel looks on at the raging battle with contempt! Contempt that only a squirrel with particularly creepy eyes can muster.

[The Beach!]

The menacing craps are not only menacing today, but frustrated. Their every attempt to menace the non-existent duck has met with failure. Some might ask why the crabs are trying to menace nothing, but those people would get viciously pinched.

Note the creepy eyed squirrel and the menacing crabs do not interact because they are in different areas Outside. They could interact, if the squirrel moved to the beach. Of course, various things like telepathy help bypass this.

Archive

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Outside 49: I don’t remember what it looks like either
Outside 48: Hotter than Inside
Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]
Outside 46
Outside 45
Outside 44: Baby it's cold outside
Outside 43: Where the sun hurts your eyes and burns your skin
Outside 42
Outside 41: Inside Outside, outside Inside
Outside 40: It's all downhill from here
Outside XXXIX
Outside XXXVIII
Outside XXXVII
Outside XXXVI
Outside XXXV
Outside XXXIV
Outside XXXIII
Outside XXXII
Outside XXXI
Outside XXX
Outside XXIX
Outside XXVIII
Outside XXVII
Outside XXVI
Outside XXV
Outside XXIV
Outside XXIII
Outside XXII
Outside XXI
Outside XX
Outside XIX
Outside XVIII
Outside XVII
Outside XVI
Outside 15: There used to be a silly pun here, but it wouldn't fit
Outside XIV: More animals than you can shake a stick at. Yes the PCs.
Outside XIII: Spores of Corruption Dance in the Wind
Outside XII: We number things correctly.
Outside XI: Bugs are Eating the Landscape
Outside X: The Rotting Corpses are starting to Smell
Outside IX: There are Mosquitoes
Outside VIII: We cater birthday parties
Outside VII: Open longer than a 7-11
Outside VI: Now with Locations!
Outside V: More civilized than Inside
Outside IV: The Creepy Eyed Squirrel's Domain
Outside III: Beware the Non-Existant Duck
Outside II: Now with Menacing Crabs
Outside

This thread is managed by Gulaghar. I will create the new thread when this one reached 50 pages. Please contact me for updates to the OP.

---

Thinking about roleplaying in the Nexus? Come say hi in our Discord!

[bc56]

Rivergreen

Myriam nods in agreement. "Okay."

Down in the hallway, the footprints in the dust mark clearly which doors might be of interest. They only enter the broom closet and one other room up here. That room, if Anchor looks inside, is a sitting room. Tarps are slung over most of the furniture, except a single armchair which, judging by marks in the dust, was moved recently.

[Recaiden]

Well, if there's only one room that feet have been to, that's the room she's checking.
"Anyone here?" she calls into the room, before approaching the armchair.
Her shadow keeps watch in the hallway.

[bc56]

Rivergreen

Just to be clear, the footprints also go up and down the stairs. So there's probably something to look at down there.
No one responds to Anchor's call. "I don't think anyone's here. It looks abandoned." But someone's been here at some recent time clearly.

[Recaiden]

"But hasn't been abandoned for long. I mean, look at the trail."
Anchor agrees, though. There's no one left here.
"Downstairs, next."
And she turns to lead the way there.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

Speaking of troublesome children...

"STOP! THIEF!"

From somewhere within the fort, a woman's voice cries out. Moments later, the "thief" is revealed, as a very young copper dragon bursts out of a door and starts running across the courtyard, holding a string of sausages in his mouth. A couple of other patrons who had been relaxing turn to watch the spectacle, with a faint giggle and a mutter from one or two of them.

After the dragon come two kobolds, frantically chasing after the little troublemaker, almost tripping over their matching robes. They look, well, slightly panicked.

Further behind them in the courtyard, acting as something of a backdrop for this developing chase scene, is a rather expansive play area...of sorts. At a certain point above ground level, it transitions to a ramp leading up to a perch, with subsequent perches placed higher and higher, and further apart, with a net spread out below them. Almost looks like the sort of thing that might be used for, say, safely practicing learning how to fly?

On the lowest perch, two more little dragons are sitting next to each other, craning their necks down to watch the unfolding chaos. One of them is brassy in colour, the other appears to be an odd mish-mash of different metallic colours.

"Imbaeris! You come back here at once with my sausages!" The voice reveals itself, as a little way behind the kobolds, a woman with tanned skin, slightly pointed ears, and very short cut green hair comes running out, wearing only a couple of hastily wrapped towels around her waist and chest. She's pursued in turn by another kobold, chasing after her with a bathrobe. "Mistress, please! For the guests' sake!" Clearly hoping to get the robes on her to preserve her dignity before one of those towels slips.

The copper dragon runs on, leading the kobolds, elf(?) and other kobold on a merry chase across the courtyard.

"Imbaeris! What would your fathers say if they caught you stealing food from the kitchen? They're not going to be happy when they hear about this!"

[Dimensional Troubles]

Thariza listens to the explanation and her expression makes it pretty clear a lot of it is soaring right past her head like an indignant harpy.

"I haven't spoken to the Vigil leadership in a long time and I didn't understand most of that, but you're right. This would be a really tough sell. I don't see how they'd agree to let you do anything on that scope."

[Fort Aegis Resort]

The mention of returning home seems to make Thariza very nervous all of a sudden.

"Yeah, I don't know about that..." Her attention is thankfully pulled away by the baby dragon mayhem. "I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. Probably should have been, though. Seems baby dragons aren't that much different from every other kind of baby out there."

[Dimensional Troubles]

If Ambrosia felt it was safe then... Well, Riss wasn't worried about actual harm so much as perhaps missing out on further opportunity. Regardless, up close examination of a dragon was not to be passed up even if this was a miscalculation. "I have a method I could employ, yes." she said, raising two upper arms. The result wouldn't be necessarily detectable by Ambrosia unless she were standing in a very specific spot as it was basically the same concept as would be behind a laser... Though far less potent to avoid any ocular damage. Still, light directed at a point where one's eyes were calculated to be would be a nice way to send a message or attract the attention of just one being rather than, say, dozens of others that may be in the area. The actual image that had been selected was just a simple circle but centered to where moving towards it would lead the dragon right to them... Though, perhaps the dragon might be taken just slightly aback with the whole thing unless they might be aware of some of the design concepts of augmented reality.

Of course, since hiding was off the table for the moment... Well, maybe a bit higher scan intensity wouldn't be out of the question. If either Ambrosia or the dragon had senses that leaned more aetherial, they would detect the avid flickering of a burning, glowering, eye-like flame seeping from the metal drone-form from that odd blue sensor.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

Ambrosia pauses and looks around as she hears the calls of 'thief'. What would you even steal in a spa that you could just run away with? Bathsalts?
Sasuages had probably not been her first guess though.

As no one is making any motions to stop the 'thief' she wouldn't either though if Thariza wanted to stop in she wouldn't argue against it. The dragon child was interesting but what really caught her attention was the woman chasing her. Was she their shapeshifted mother or did she simply work here? In her mind the pointed ears would sugggest the former but as there were plenty of other humanoids, even in her own world, that also had that feature it was too early to make any conclusions yet.

Also, she seemed to be mostly nude. That might also suggest a form of shapechanging, but without more information she still didn't want to assume anything. Best to just act as respectable as she could under these circumstances and not stare.

[Dimensional Troubles]

Jaccal nods. "Yes, but they will find out about my plans sooner or later and that will make them assume the worst. We could try to use this to leverage the rest of our kind to put down their arms but we believe that VIGIL will attack and destroy the machine before that happens. Likely along with most of our equipment." They gesture back at the machines the golems are moving.

"Which puts us in a dilemma as you might understand. Especially after this indicent which might put us in VIGIL's crosshairs once more. That's why we need someone or something to help us convince them."

---

Meanwhile, outside the temple, the dragon seems to notice Riss signal right away as it comes flying straight for them.
Ambrosia's sword is somehow gone, somehow replaced with a large tome that the scholar simply tucks into a holder in her belt.
It doesn't actually land however, instead all trees around them simply bow down with a loud crack as if they had been hit by a sudden storm, leaving Ambrosia and Riss's drone completely exposed.

"What is this?" A voice that can only be the dragons despite it not actually moving it's mouth loudly demands as it's huge eyes glare daggers at the drone. "Are you spying on me?"

Ambrosia doesn't say anything yet as she seems to wait for Riss to answer the question while positioning herself as clearly in the dragon's field of view as possible.

[Deathkeeper]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"Oh dear. Please excuse me." The gatekeeper kobold quickly scurries off to get the front gate closed before any of the babies escape the grounds.

The sausage thief may wish to be careful of the deep hole he's headed for, having apparently been dug by his (if mud-encrusted) gold sibling of his and her silver brother whom has been following her for the last month.
He is also on the receiving end of a particular look from his last and youngest platinum sister who has been sitting under an umbrella for the entirety of the morning.

[bc56]

Rivergreen

Downstairs is the foyer. There are tracks leading off to the front door, through an open door to what appears to be a kitchen, and to another closed door. Still, there's no one here.

[Recaiden]

Front door, meaning they could easily have left already.

Anchor heads for the kitchen first. Don't want to check a closed room while they don't know what's behind them. She motions Myriam to follow before heading that way.

[Terumitsu]

[Dimensional Troubles]
Meanwhile, outside the temple, the dragon seems to notice Riss signal right away as it comes flying straight for them.
Ambrosia's sword is somehow gone, somehow replaced with a large tome that the scholar simply tucks into a holder in her belt.
It doesn't actually land however, instead all trees around them simply bow down with a loud crack as if they had been hit by a sudden storm, leaving Ambrosia and Riss's drone completely exposed.

"What is this?" A voice that can only be the dragons despite it not actually moving it's mouth loudly demands as it's huge eyes glare daggers at the drone. "Are you spying on me?"

Ambrosia doesn't say anything yet as she seems to wait for Riss to answer the question while positioning herself as clearly in the dragon's field of view as possible.

[Dimensional Troubles]

Riss made a brief shifting of stance to better stand against the downburst; her feet sinking into the ground from the sheer force of the gale as it nearly set her kneeling. The Eye, however, remained unwavering, unblinking. "Spying implies surreptitious information gathering for nefarious use. This is mere observation. If I wished to spy, I would not have acquiesced to the suggestion of trying to gain your attention. To answer the unasked question, yes you were being observed prior but only due to being a rarefied subject. If you were of a scholarly bent, would you pass the chance to investigate a touted apex entity?" she said, slipping in just the slightest flattery in appeasement. She might not truly feel that way but diffusion of a potentially volatile situation was more important right now.

She would let the dragon mull over that response for now and wouldn't interject if Ambrosia moved to speak up. She had been of two minds in whether she should introduce the scholar but decided to be on the slow path to avoid the risk of unduly agitating the dragon with moving too quickly at the moment.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

The final door is opened to reveal-!

Another dead end.

The only thing in the room is a huge leering stone face. An ogre of some sort.

Or...

Maybe a cyclops.

Considering it only has one eye?

Its mouth is yawning open and its tongue is sticking out, a grotesque features that takes up the whole back wall.

Jeanette is eyeing it suspiciously.

"Hold up, something's off here," she say as she takes a few steps closer to examine it critically.


[Found a Fortress]

The darkness grows deeper and the words grow brighter until those blazing letters are all that June can see. And then, all at once? The chanting rises to a crescendo as the lightning returns to normal, leaving nothing but the sound of drums not unlike the rumble of thunder. June will get the odd feeling that she just gained something from the wall, something that mingled with whatever power she took from that dragon. A word she could utter. If spoken forcefully a word that could change the world around her.

What an odd feeling, right?

"Wowie, everything is out of order," Pepper says as she goes trotting toward June. "I think this is about the time when-"

The casket atop the dais suddenly bursts open! Inside is a desiccated corpse in ancient, rust pitted armor! It holds a battle axe, frost drifting from the blade.

"-the dragur pops out."


[Steelbite Canyon]

Chomp chomp crunch squelch.

Stupid Fido.

She told him not to look. She WARNED him.

Went to all that trouble to save him then he went and forced her to kill him. Stupid stupid stupid.

"Not gunna lie this hasn't ever happened before. Gotta be what that (flowering) sword guy did to me," Magdalene swears. She's rapidly becoming less and less concrete, less visible. "Probably going to get yanked back to Sylvanas again. What a (flowering) pain."

[Morty]

[Dimensional Troubles]

Thariza makes an uncomfortable noise and a half-hearted shrug.

"I see what you're trying to do. But I don't know if I can be your emissary in this. I'm not a diplomat. I don't know if Vigil would trust me instead of treating me as a traitor. And I'm trying to leave this entire situation behind me. I don't want to keep coming back to the ruins of Vigil. Literally or otherwise."

[bc56]

Rivergreen

It's an old-fashioned kitchen. A wood-burning stove sits in one corner, and an icebox on the other side of the room. There's a table and a few chairs... With a plate and pewter cutlery sitting on it. A closer inspection will reveal that there are still crumbs of food on the plate.
"Huh?" Myriam says. She bends down and begins examining something beneath the stove. She suddenly starts making a bunch of squeaky, chattery sounds.

[Recaiden]

It keeps seeming like they just missed whoever was here.
Anchor starts over to check inside the stove, but then stops and looks at Myriam.

"Oh, is something there?"

[bc56]

Rivergreen

"Oh, just a rat." Myriam answers. "She's just looking for food." She makes some more unintelligible sounds and a rat pokes it's head out from beneath the stove. Myriam lowers her hand and the rat crawls onto it. "See?" She lifts the rat up and sets it on the table, where it begins picking through the crumbs left behind.

[Recaiden]

Anchor looks the rat over stoically. Cute enough, but the scavenger feels like a bad sign.
"Oh, yeah. You're welcome to the crumbs, little guy."
She resumes checking out the stove. And then the icebox, and then any cupboards, should the others be normal kitchen spaces.

[bc56]

Rivergreen

The icebox hasn't been used in a while. There isn't any ice in it. The stove has the ashes of a recent fire in it, but nothing else. And the cupboards are surprisingly well stocked, full of canned foods and other non-perishables.
The rat, meanwhile, begins eating the crumbs while Myriam watches. "Find anything?"

[Artemis97]

[Caravan Search]

Following the maps they were given, the group will find themselves following muddy road up a mountainside. Not a steep trek, fortunately, but one filled with many switchbacks and overgrowth. Though it's spring in most of the Nexus, winter still had its grip on this elevation. Snow was beginning to fall, melting in hair and covering everything in powder. Those able to see into the infrared spectrum, will see a rune painted on some rocks as they pass. A matching rune exists on the map of the area, a clear sign they're going the right way. Those with particularly keen eyesight, in addition to the infrared based darkvision, will see a larger version of the same run, higher up on the mountain wall, above the tree line. Those without darkvision might spot the hidden mouth of the cave there.

[bc56]

Caravan Search

Selekhael has very good eyesight. She spots the cave quickly. "Up there. There's a cave." She dusts snow off her dress and starts up the slope towards it. She could fly, but it isn't necessary. And when she doesn't trust the entire party, there's no reason to tip her hand early.

[Earl of Purple]

Caravan Search

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Stepping out of the portal behind Jack Raeh raises a hand over her face and squints her eyes as they adjust to the midday sun. The sky was clear and the air was still. Raeh knew then that it was going to be a warm day, especially in her blacks.

“So, like what are you anyway?” she asks aloud, all curiosity and no manners, as she steps towards Jack with an outstretched hand reaching to touch a wing.

"I'm a shapeshifter. Where I was hatched, we called ourselves. chyuk-chyuk I don't expect you to be able to repeat me, though." Jack grins, as she makes quite a birdy sound. If anyone knows much about birds, however, she copied the call of a corvid, and the wings upon her back are from an auk. "How about you, what're you, miss?" Jack grins as she asks, neglecting to mention that the wings that triggered the attention aren't a natural feature of her particular type of shapeshifter.

She doesn't complain at the trek, either, folding the blade of her shovel up and using it as a walking-pole. She'll flare her wings occasionally to catch her balance, but... well, if she flies up there, she'd be leaving all these walkers behind. And that's not really fair, since she's going to possibly be relying on them for a while.

[Recaiden]

[Rivergreen]

The icebox hasn't been used in a while. There isn't any ice in it. The stove has the ashes of a recent fire in it, but nothing else. And the cupboards are surprisingly well stocked, full of canned foods and other non-perishables.
The rat, meanwhile, begins eating the crumbs while Myriam watches. "Find anything?"

Anchor shakes her head.
"Nothing but food. I mean, it's just a kitchen. Left alone for a while until this meal here was cooked."
So, the next step is to check the closed door that the footprints led to. Better be something in there, or this is going to get a lot more confusing.

[Caravan Search]

Tao is in unusually high spirits for this part of the trek.
Shockingly, nothing has tried to kill him today!

There's a rune there that matches the map, so they're definitely on track. It's just cold enough to be familiar without actually making things hard yet.
He slows and turns up to look at the cave. The way down, already. He could simply transform and fly up there, but that would be leaving Selekhael and Wren behind, right? Plus there's no hurry at this stage.

[bc56]

Rivergreen

The door is unlocked and opens with a soft creak.

There's good news, and bad news.

The good news is that the book they need is most likely in this room.

The bad news is that so are hundreds of other books.

It's a library, and clearly the best upkept room of the house. Partly because it's also the only occupied one. An old man with a ragged white beard is collapsed in a chair, snoring softly, a pile of books across his lap.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dimensional Troubles]

Riss made a brief shifting of stance to better stand against the downburst; her feet sinking into the ground from the sheer force of the gale as it nearly set her kneeling. The Eye, however, remained unwavering, unblinking. "Spying implies surreptitious information gathering for nefarious use. This is mere observation. If I wished to spy, I would not have acquiesced to the suggestion of trying to gain your attention. To answer the unasked question, yes you were being observed prior but only due to being a rarefied subject. If you were of a scholarly bent, would you pass the chance to investigate a touted apex entity?" she said, slipping in just the slightest flattery in appeasement. She might not truly feel that way but diffusion of a potentially volatile situation was more important right now.

She would let the dragon mull over that response for now and wouldn't interject if Ambrosia moved to speak up. She had been of two minds in whether she should introduce the scholar but decided to be on the slow path to avoid the risk of unduly agitating the dragon with moving too quickly at the moment.

[Dimensional Troubles]

Thariza makes an uncomfortable noise and a half-hearted shrug.

"I see what you're trying to do. But I don't know if I can be your emissary in this. I'm not a diplomat. I don't know if Vigil would trust me instead of treating me as a traitor. And I'm trying to leave this entire situation behind me. I don't want to keep coming back to the ruins of Vigil. Literally or otherwise."

[Dimensional Troubles]

The dragon's eyes narrows as Riss speaks. "The what now? You use a lot of nonsense words for someone trying to convince me that she's being honest, lady." The dragon gestures at the drone. "Especially considering that thing is literary trying to peer into my soul which makes you a bit of a perv. Avert thou gaze or thou shall be smited or however it goes." She makes a shooing motion with her claws. "I'm being serious though. Turn that thing off."

If Riss turns off the drones scan, or at least the parts of the scan which the dragon can detect, she continues. "Alright, so let's start over. Who're you guys and what are you doing here?"

Now Ambrosia finally decides to speak up. Nodding politely to the dragon as she speaks in a loud and clear tone. "I'm Ambrosia Ith-" Sadly, she gets interrupted almost immediately by the dragon.

"HA! You're ME! In that little body!" She dragon flies straight down to the scholar and quickly encircles Ambrosia with her long body. "This is so amazing! But why are you using a human body like that? Can't you shapeshift?"

The dragon appears rather excited but Ambrosia looks more surprised than anything. "Er..."

Going to let Riss reply before letting this conversation go on any further however.

---

Jaccal seems to consider her words for a moment.
"...fair enough then. But what about the person you travel with. She has been here before and we know that she have helped out VIGIL a number of times. Do you believe she could be convinced to help us out in this? We fear that our people will destroy themselves, and take countless of other lives with them, if we don't act soon."

[Terumitsu]

[Dimensional Troubles]

The dragon's eyes narrows as Riss speaks. "The what now? You use a lot of nonsense words for someone trying to convince me that she's being honest, lady." The dragon gestures at the drone. "Especially considering that thing is literary trying to peer into my soul which makes you a bit of a perv. Avert thou gaze or thou shall be smited or however it goes." She makes a shooing motion with her claws. "I'm being serious though. Turn that thing off."

If Riss turns off the drones scan, or at least the parts of the scan which the dragon can detect, she continues. "Alright, so let's start over. Who're you guys and what are you doing here?"

Now Ambrosia finally decides to speak up. Nodding politely to the dragon as she speaks in a loud and clear tone. "I'm Ambrosia Ith-" Sadly, she gets interrupted almost immediately by the dragon.

"HA! You're ME! In that little body!" She dragon flies straight down to the scholar and quickly encircles Ambrosia with her long body. "This is so amazing! But why are you using a human body like that? Can't you shapeshift?"

The dragon appears rather excited but Ambrosia looks more surprised than anything. "Er..."

Going to let Riss reply before letting this conversation go on any further however.

[Dimensional Troubles]

The result was a diffusion, perhaps not fully in line with the projected result but decidedly within parameters. Still, seems that this one was a casualty of dictional poverty. Best adjust to that. ...And maybe wait until permission could be obtained for further investigation given there seemed to be a sticking point in this degree of investigation. The Eye flickered out like a gas furnace slowly being closed and the sensor's gleam faded to nearly nothing. No sense invoking umbridge at this point... Though the prospect of shapeshifting data might almost be worth it. Almost.

Still, it was interesting that both 'Ambrosias' did share a number of markers to an uncanny degree. A duplication of some kind? Or perhaps a division? Further observation was needed and it was sorely tempting to just watch the two and see what resulted... But a baseline of some kind needs to be established, doesn't it?

Once a gap in the dragon's questioning arose, Riss would speak: "You may call me Riss, to answer your first question. You seem to have already met Ambrosia. Or perhaps yourself, depending on this situation?" she began, assuming a sort of parade-rest stance with all arms behind her back. "I am here on an expedition into this anomaly to collect samples, observational data, and specimens if the situation is permissive." she continued. "To use something other than 'nonsense words,' I'm simply here trying to understand the why behind what is going on to the best of my ability." Plain speech was... It wasn't uncomfortable on it's own but she wasn't exactly in the habit of casual familiarity. Well, I suppose right now is as good of a time as any for practice, then.

[Recaiden]

It's a library! Anchor can't be disappointed at finding a library, even if it means more work for them.

She turns to Myriam and motions to keep quiet.
Then she sneaks as silently as she can towards the old man. Most likely, one of the books he has with him will be what they're looking for.

But first...if she gets close enough without waking him, she'll conjure a coil of rope and loop it around him to quickly tie him to the chair!

[bc56]

Rivergreen

The man awakens partway through the rope wrapping around him. "Wh-huh?" Lightning suddenly crackles into being around his hands, as he shouts an arcane word and throws a bolt of electricity at Anchor.
Whoops, looks like this decrepit old man was a decrepit old wizard.

[Morty]

[Dimensional Troubles]

Thariza scratches her head.

"I don't know. But maybe. You've probably got a shot. She's a lot smarter than I am."

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress]

After those nearly-blinding lights and overwhelming chanting and incredibly weird feeling of having a word, June needs to blink a lot and reorient herself. She looks around.

When she sees the draugr, she backs up against the wall.
"Hey! There's a clown zombie," she informs the others - who almost certainly have already noticed it by now, but her vision and hearing are still adjusting after that blast of light and sound. It might not even be a clown, but everything else has been a clown so far...well, except for the bandits, but it's only reasonable to assume this is one too.

She still has that crossbow, right?
June tries to get it ready to fire. She spends extra time aiming, because if she misses too far, there's a chance she might hit someone else, she thinks.

[Holy-hunter]

Spoiler

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Caravan Search

"I'm a shapeshifter. Where I was hatched, we called ourselves. chyuk-chyuk I don't expect you to be able to repeat me, though." Jack grins, as she makes quite a birdy sound. If anyone knows much about birds, however, she copied the call of a corvid, and the wings upon her back are from an auk. "How about you, what're you, miss?" Jack grins as she asks, neglecting to mention that the wings that triggered the attention aren't a natural feature of her particular type of shapeshifter.

She doesn't complain at the trek, either, folding the blade of her shovel up and using it as a walking-pole. She'll flare her wings occasionally to catch her balance, but... well, if she flies up there, she'd be leaving all these walkers behind. And that's not really fair, since she's going to possibly be relying on them for a while.

Raeh didn’t even try repeat the avian sounds but instead curiously echoed “hatched.” not so much as a question but a thought. A small shrug quickly erased such thoughts and gave way to her own reply.
“I’m just your regular plain ol’ half elf gal” she says pulling some of her messy black hair behind her slightly pointed ear. “Human scum father, foolish romantic elven mother, and now there’s me who just wants to hurt some big bad’s. Or be one, I haven’t decided yet.” her face shows genuine thought as her eyes go to the sky. “Say, what’s the biggest thing you ever killed? Do you think it makes me a bad person that I like hurting things?”

Raeh had quickly fallen to the back of the line, constantly grumbling about the walking. If she had noticed the runes she made no effort to make it known. A sigh of relief was given when someone pointed out the cave, but even that was quickly followed by another groan as she looked up at the steep ascent.

Turning to Jack she eyes the shifters wings. So, do those actually work? she asks, her intentions for a lift obvious and clear.

[Recaiden]

The man awakens partway through the rope wrapping around him. "Wh-huh?" Lightning suddenly crackles into being around his hands, as he shouts an arcane word and throws a bolt of electricity at Anchor.
Whoops, looks like this decrepit old man was a decrepit old wizard.

What a shock! Figuratively as well as literally.
But this sort of thing is exactly why she has protective spells to cast each morning. The electricity stops just before reaching Anchor and fizzles away, although she wouldn't do so well against a second lightning bolt. And she's glad he didn't do a thing to Myriam.
She responds with the spell she always uses, the one that causes brief but overwhelming pain.