Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway

[Ironsmith]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"I'm not a dragon-man," Tristan retorts somewhat crossly. "I'm human with a pretty cool magical power."

And that's all he's got to say about that!

So.

Walking.

After walking ten or so minutes our heroes will notice something a bit odd.

Statues.

Statues of people made of light grey stone. Some of the people look terrified, cowering from something. Others look distorted and deformed. Mutated. But what really catches the attention are the electric blue pits in the stone oozing neon fluid. The otherworldly goop gives off so much eerie blue light that the area around the statues is well illuminated. A few of the statues look like they cracked open, revealing that they're hollow on the inside. The broken statues all lay in puddles of glowing ooze.

"Okay that looks hazardous as heck," Tristan observes.

Wrecked Motorway

"Does that mean there's actual dragon-men about? And also, can I get a magical power?" Is Endurance's reaction to Tristan's reaction.

The girls stop at the statues, and Waheeda drops her fencing mask back over her face. "These weren't here last time we passed this way. Let's go round, the long way round. Stay as far out of the light as you can, guys. Might be radiation or something." Alas, they missed five years of lessons, including the physics and chemistry ones about radiation and its dangers. The six feral schoolgirls will go as far around as is practical, mostly keeping out of the light. Endurance takes his cue from them, and follows around, but he's got a shopping trolley loaded with his worldly possessions so will struggle going off-road until Short Bryony picks up the front and he lifts the back, carrying it between them rather than pushing.

Willow, a small girl wearing a school skirt, denim jacket and cut off wellies and armed with the cricket wicket, is very tempted to poke one of the statues. And so, as they walk past, if one's close enough she will, using her sharpened wicket to do the poking.

[Wrecked Motorway]

Seeing what Willow is about to do, Green interposes herself between her and the statue. "Please stand back. Contact with this item while in close proximity could result in damage to organic tissue. If you wish to investigate, allow me to do so. I am more expendable than any human."

With that, Green turns and looks at the statue more closely, especially the suspected-to-be-radioactive blue goop. Her optical sensors can pick up light outside the visible spectrum, including gamma rays. If this stuff is radioactive, she'll be able to tell.

Wasteland Campsite

"They ain't demons. They be goblins. Any settlement they be runnin' to be full o' more o' them. We're maybe too close t' their settlement an' we've worried 'em. This caravan be not entirely a reassurin' sight, so many armed men travellin' at night. Goblins be persecuted many places, seen as monsters an' such. They'll set up traps an' ambushes to any who follow, 'cos they don't know we don't want to murder 'em all an' take their kids as slaves." And hopefully that's enough to discourage a chase, the idea that any who follow will find their way into a trap or ambushed by tiny gun-wielding warriors fighting to save their children.

[Wastelands Campsite]

Maldwyn opens his mouth to object, but Skuld beats him to it. The winged woman stands in front of Frigate confrontationally, her talon-like hands balled into fists at her side.

"And what would you have us do?" She hisses. "Keep wandering these wastes while our people starve and go mad? For the first time in a month, we have direction, a place to go instead of merely wandering in hopes of stumbling onto exactly this. I, for one, am not going to turn from that simply because it might be dangerous."

"Neither will I." Horace chips in. "We are knights of Maesda. This sort of thing is our duty."

"Agreed."

Maldwyn clears his throat. "Perhaps a more... diplomatic solution would be appropriate. We send a small delegation to negotiate with these... goblins. Perhaps they will help of their own accord."

"Doubtful." Evelyn points to her damaged eye. "They didn't exactly try to parlay before doing this to me. They shot first and asked questions never. One can only assume they'll do so again if they believe us to be a threat to them."

[Rebonack]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"I think so. Maybe?" Tristan admits to Endurance. "I haven't ever actually met one. Though I did see a dragon little girl at a Halloween Party last year. If dragon girls can exist then I imagine dragon men could."

Tristan thinks that's probably a pretty good bet.

The Nexus has a pretty wide range of unusual people living in it.

"I guess that sort of depends on what sort of magical power you're fishing for. Mine's, well, it's pretty specific. It's an ancestry thing. Some people have just got magic in their blood. No, none of my ancestors were dragons either as far as I know," he continues, adding that aside to preempt further dragon-related questions.

He really isn't paying any attention to what Willow is doing in the back.

But it looks like Green is!

With Willow getting shooed and Green peering closer several things will be immediately obvious.

First?

The goop does not appear to be radioactive. It's releasing visible light in a pretty narrow band, thus creating the blue glow. If Green has any capacity for chemical analysis, the fluid appears to be nothing more than water with small amounts of limestone dissolved in it. Again, there isn't anything to suggest a reason behind the glow, which is certainly odd. Nothing about the apparently normal water appears to be hazardous.

Should Willow decide to poke one of the statues anyway it will squirt a surprising volume of blue water at her when her sharp stick breaks the brittle, porous surface of the statue. Should she get splashed the water will feel quite hot, though not painfully so. Aside from the fact that's it's glowing it won't be particularly different from being sprayed with any other source of water.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

Even if Khannie claims she doesn't want the weasel, the tree won't lower its guard.


Seraphina looks at her wrist again, as if considering it. "It's fine for now," she says. "If it's still fine in the next six hours then there shouldn't be anything to worry about."

But don't worry!
There's probably some other plant around here that makes things sleepy, and it works in a symbiotic relationship with the trees, where trees like perching near them and sharing their nutrients.

"Magic is weird," she comments, regarding the shadow illusions.


So. Town, lake, another obvious trap.
"If we went to the candy house, anyway, we'd have to walk through all this grass that anything could be hiding in, and past all the trees:" Seraphina says, "I didn't see any paths that led from the road in that direction."

"I know I already said this, but I'd prefer to continue in the direction you came from, and not go back where I came from," she says, "since the town gave me really weird vibes." But...only Khannie knows what the way she came from was like. Even if, honestly speaking, they're more likely to find an accurate map if they go to a town instead of to a lake with an abandoned fishing shack.

[Rebonack]

[Totally Lost]

That's the thing about most wildlife.

Even if you tell it that you're not going to eat it or try to take its food it won't believe you.

"No, magic is cool," Khannie clarifies.

It's probably a little bit weird but Khannie wouldn't ever admit that.

"My daddy's a sorcerer he can do all sorts of magic!" Khannie explains. "But not like that magic from The Sorcerer's Apprentice I think that's transforming magic daddy doesn't do that kind."

Jace mostly does blasty magic and a little bit of teleporty magic.

She looks a little uncertain about just going back the way they came so she yells up at Maridia again, "Is it Soda Springs? That spring lake thingy wasn't THAT big."

"No! It's a big lake! There's an ugly droopy house next to it!" Maridia calls back down.

Huh.

That wasn't what it looked like at the monument at all.

"Okay let's go look at the lake first," Khannie concludes since clearly small children should be deciding which way they go in these wilderness survival situations.

Khannie sets off toward the lake!

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]
(if only Khannie could do teleporty magic, then she wouldn't have gotten into this situation)

Magic is so weird: so many magic-users pride themselves on never doing any serious scientific inquiry into how their powers work, content with just saying 'it's magic' and leaving it at that.
See?
Weird.

More important than taking charge and deciding which direction to go is making sure the kid doesn't get more lost, since, as the adult here, it's now basically her responsibility. Besides, said child is the one who would recognize when they're getting close to the Riftline station.

She goes along.

The lake is really pretty!
Very blue, and a pretty blue too, with the occasional spots of welling water in it, especially far out in the center of the lake. The afternoon sun reflects over it, though, so when Seraphina looks across the lake she has to raise her hand to block the light.
There's also a slightly pungent smell whenever there's a gust of wind blowing across the lake towards them, but it's not that bad. You can even see fish swimming around in the water, too!

And the ugly droopy house is pretty small. Just the size of one room, but it has a half-rotten dock attached to it and an aluminum boat that's tied to the dock and half-underwater but is otherwise completely intact. Just pull it up, and drain it, clean out the mud or whatever that's gotten into it, and it could float pretty well.
And, even better! The trees are keeping their distance from the lake so the only plant they have to worry about here is the thick grass. But to get to the fishing shack, they hardly even have to worry about the grass because a path (admittedly, overgrown but not as much as everywhere else) leads right to it. There's also patches of flowers around, too, with long spindly stems and thorns but really pretty flowers.

"I'm going to see if there's an old map in there, or something," Seraphina says, as she starts down the path to the shack.

[Rebonack]

[Totally Lost]

Geneva isn't like that at ALL though! She treats magic like any other form of technology.

This makes her a giant nerd, of course.

Khannie probably isn't quite old enough to really start digging into the technical side of how magic works. But she DOES like math so maybe those interests will overlap eventually?

"It smells kind of like Soda Springs did," Khannie observes as they draw closer to the lake. "There was a sign that said it was because the water came up out of the ground and there's... sulfur something? In it? And that's what makes the stinky fart smell." Khannie idly wonders if she had been a fire-type pokemon instead of a normal type if her fire would have fart smells to it. Commissar's sure does. But maybe that's because he's dark-type, too?

Khannie isn't sure since pokemon are weird.

"I don't see anyone else around," Khannie says as she gazes out over the lake. "Just us and some dragon flies."

Lots of dragon flies, in fact. It's fun watching them zipping around, their bronze-colored wings flashing in the sunlight.

She decides to cup her hands around her mouth and shout, "Hello! Is there anyone here?" Khannie is really only expecting to be answered by blackbirds and marsh warblers but it's worth a try.

[Ironsmith]

[Wrecked Motorway]

Green kneels down next to the goop and scoops some up in her hand and touches it to... well, where her lips would be if they weren't just an image. "Hm... aquaneous solution, ph balance 7.8, fluid temperature 40 degrees centigrade, density approximately 1.21 grams per milliliter."

"Conclusion: limestone disolved in water. Harmless." Green finishes, letting her hand drop.

[bc56]

Off the Road
True to her word, Mellie does live in a hole.
It's not as bad as it sounds though, or even close. It's more like a small cottage dug into the side of a hill. It's quite cozy, if a little cramped for the human-sized guests. True to her word, Mellie immediately begins preparing a meal from her well-stocked larder and root cellar. If Alan doesn't want food, now's the time to say something.

Volcanic Fields
"I shall mediate to the best of my ability," Kothar promises. "I shall go now, if there are no more objections." He prepares to follow Sssnek to the human village.

[Ironsmith]

[Mellie's Hole]

Alan clears his throat (or rather, makes a sound rather like clearing his throat) and decides to intervene before Mellie gets too carried away making him a meal he can't enjoy. "Pardon, madam, but I do not require and in fact cannot consume foodstuffs. I would ask that you not trouble yourself."

Well, that's how a polite android would handle it. Alan sounds a little more like this:

"Oh, for heaven's sake. I can't eat any of this stuff. Stupid meatbag..."

[Chaotic Bob]

ABAJ - Day 4

"If I'm being used by the person feeding me this information and an innocent dies Jeb can hang me too when all of this is over." G'nichi says with utter seriousness. And he means it.
Well.
If that was a case he might ask for enough of a stay so he could find something to properly stab Syncope with and make it stick. But she made it sound like it was quite the process to do the same to her mother.
Either way, down the stairs. They have a breakfast and a banquet waiting for them...

Sumiye was waiting for them a short distance from the foot of the stairs, where she states that Fudo had briefly stuck his head in to tell her everyone is already meeting at the temple.

Seems there will be no breakfast before duty today either, per usual.

At the temple, the scene is much the same as it was for the last meeting, minus Nemeth.
Seating arrangements going around the circle remain thus:
Lady Eiko, Ran (the boy), Kawa, G'nichi, Yuu, Hana, Fudo, Atsushi, Sumiye, Jeb, back to Lady Eiko.

Everyone seems a little more tired than yesterday, the evident stress of the situation impeding any rest they should be getting every night. There is a palpable sense of relief at the lack of any additionally dead neighbors, clearly.
The usual ceremonial wine is prepared by Lady Eiko, to be passed off around the circle, before she speaks.
"It is wonderful to see that everyone made it through the night, though that regrettably does not stay our need to hold today's Banquet."
"Another chance to hang both the Demons before any more pointless lives are lost."

Jeb speaks up here and Lady Eiko frowns a bit, a mournful expression crossing her face and her gaze slides over to lock on G'nichi.
"Another chance to make progress...I regret to inform the gathering that yesterday's choice was incorrect, Sir Nemeth was not one of the afflicted."

There is an immediate pall over the Banquet, and a variety of facial expressions. Jeb narrows his eyes in a thoughtful scowl, Atsushi looks alarmed, Sumiye bows her head at the floor, while Kawa quietly closes her eyes, Fudo seems to have very little reaction beyond a pursing of his lips, Yuu doesn't seem to be paying much attention at all.
Hana looks furious.
"What are you talking about? Of course he was!"
"I'm sorry, Hana, but he wasn't. As the Raven..."
The fury bubbles over further and the girl stands to her feet, more looks of alarm bubbling through the group and Jeb seems to shift his posture a little further forward.
"'As the Raven'? I'm the Raven, you liar!"

And so the Banquet starts off on very poor footing.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi returns the stare without blinking. It's a very good stare. Reptiles don't have to blink quite as much as mammals.
"Well, thank you, Lady Eiko. You have done us all a great service. You see, when I tracked the blood to Nemeth's home there was a second trail. It led to this very building. But since both you and Ran were at this temple that morning I accused Nemeth first as I did not want to accuse someone I could only be 50% certain of. So now I can be sure of who's lying." G'nichi makes a show of adjusting his glasses.
"Hana is the Raven. I know this because you tried to kill her last night, Eiko." G'nichi wasn't sure if he was going to play the card of outing himself but he needs to make sure Jeb sticks with him. And this is the best card he has for that.
G'nichi knows that Eiko can use magic after her display against Nemeth. His newest magical friend has his permission to use his lion form for intimidation if she tries any of that against G'nichi. He knows she can't hurt anyone without violating the rules but who knows if she will cheat? More, rather. As Syncope said, everyone is already cheating.

The Green

Artie will do her best to carry Vivi up the tree. A snake's method of climbing is not meant for so much weight to be at the top but she can manage it with those huge coils of her if she goes very slowly.
"From what I can tell I'm that kind of snake that also likes water from time to time. Though I added the rattle for fun." Her tail is indeed making that falling-rain sound quite a bit as she moves her tail throughout this process.

[Gullara]

[A Hunter must Hunt]

Anika is quite fortunate that there's no wildebeest stampeding below as without support she can't hold on and falls down the cliff.
She's not about to give up, even after that fall, but catching up to the saber might be difficult at this point.

But what was up with Mimi? Why did she shout at her?!

[A Hunter must Hunt]

Mimi flits down after Anika, her own decent far more pleasant. "I think you let it get away." She purses her lips, suppressing a smile. It was kinda funny to watch, but she bets Anika is annoyed.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

G'nichi's accusation here inflames Hana's rage yet further.
"A liar and a murderer? She was my friend you witch!"

She starts to take a step in from her cushion, but Fudo has quietly risen beside her and plants a heavy hand on her shoulder, with a solemn head-shake.
"The rules, Hana."
"Screw the rules, Mari is still dead!"
But despite that, and a notable amount of hate-born tears on her face, she does stop her advance. She does not resume sitting.

Lady Eiko doesn't seem especially shaken by this, continuing to look quite despondent.
"I'm not sure what means you attempted to employ, mister G'nichi, but they clearly did not work as intended. I know you don't speak maliciously, you're not one of the Demons, you simply speak from ignorance. Or perhaps, just from being misled yourself."
At her side, Ran raises a hand and points a finger at Yuu, much as he had done yesterday. But then it also slides over to Atsushi.
The fellow looks perplexed by this.
"Uh..."

From a fold in her robes, Lady Eiko produces a small black feather and a mostly-intact snake skin.
"I imagine if we searched mister G'nichi's room, we would also find a notable spider web or two."

"Are you trying to say that Yuu and I are the Demons?"
"Hahaha, that would explain a lot, huh?"
Yuu seems, as is his way, tickled by the suggestion.

[Murkus]

[The Green]

"Oh! You know, that reminds me. You must be getting thirsty. We can ask Savarins if he has something with which to refresh us," Vivi remarks. She hops down from Artie as soon as possible in front of a well lit little house that's perched in the branches of the tree. A platform provides a porch for new arrivals. It seems sturdy. A canvas protects a rocking chair and a halfway knitted apron.

"Why don't you do the honors?" Viviana offers. And if she does... a spider answers the door. Or, well, a spider as big as a man, with a face arranged in a surprisingly person-like manner. And an ordinary looking mouth, save for the mandibles protruding like tusks from the corners. Eight shiny eyes set all about his forehead and temples peer at Artie.

"Oh. Good evening."

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

"Sorry, Eiko. But you can't pull that one on me. I already know my sources are reputable." he shrugs.
"But I know all of you have had enough of hearing about my magic that I can't prove. Let's go on facts: why would Yuu and Atsushi go after Mari and Hana, their friends, first? Sure going after one might make them avoid suspicion, but why would they eliminate everyone who would easily side with them? That only makes their lives harder. Of course, I can't explain what insane logic you're going on. Mari, Hana, and now these two. I would have never figured that you hated teenagers so much. And why would Hana be lying about being the Raven."

"And for the record, no, there aren't any spiderwebs in my room. I was visited by a very much living spider which promptly vanished without a trace. Do you really think props you can find outside mean anything? Look, I can use irrelevant props, too! Since I can't prove most of the magic I use, say hello to the good townsfolk, Shar." he gently holds up his mace, giving him permission to speak. Might as well prove that he does actually have magic.

The Green

Artie nods at the mention of water. She feels like she could drink an ocean. Probably because she hasn't had much to eat or drink since her transformation.
"Hello. You must be a friend of Vivi's? She was helping me with clothes and said you could help. I'm Artie." she introduces herself to the spider.

[bc56]

Mellie's Hole

"You sure? I promise I'm a good cook!" Kothar stops her. "It not your fault. He have... Eating problem." "Oh. One of those 'eating disorders' I've heard about? More food for us!" Mellie chuckles and gets back to work.

[Recaiden]

[Townside Riftline Station]

Actually touching it would definitely confirm if it's a prank or not, but it would also ruin the magic of the prank.

"Okay. But I had the impression that the town had something to do with foxes, even if it was only something minor. Also it gave Jade the ability to change how she looked, remember?" Although that was probably just a coincidence and incidental. And it made Honeysuckle catch on fire. That may have also been a coincidence, though. And it gave Marin a second tail. Which also could have been a coincidence, but three coincidences feels a little too much. And now two of the people who went can now turn into foxes, which makes a fourth coincidence.

The catgirl looks at the fox's eyes.
She blinks.
"Oh! I see. Um."

She quickly stands up, and twirls around, then freezes, smiling with a little pose. "So how do I look, then?"
Notably, Marin's not wearing a turtleneck or a scarf, or even a necklace. Is wearing a skirt, though.
Also, her color choice doesn't go well together.

"Right, right. Must have missed that something it had to do with. Well, great being a fox, if that happens." Honeysuckle is nodding along. That's a lot of fox happenings in that one place. Too much to be coincidence after all, isn't it? Kind of a shame that Marin doesn't like the idea.
Cats are fine, but-

The fox has normal fox eyes, black and gold. No blindfold, nothing strange.
She watches the catgirl twirl around.

"Looks good to me. Such colors!" Doesn't have anything you might call a refined sense of fashion, not yet.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

Unfortunately, Seraphina hasn't met Geneva yet.

It's not just the sulfur-fart smell (it definitely has that), but there's also a little bit of...well, it doesn't smell like anything except mild irritation. Like the kind of irritation that makes you think 'this could be painful if it continued for an hour longer' but luckily it only lasts until the gust dies down.

Khannie's correct, though: nobody answers her call except for species of birds that have found a way to survive in spite of the trees.

Seraphina doesn't answer, of course, because she knows Khannie's not calling for her. She gets to the fishing shack and looks around in it.


[Townside Riftline Station]

Admittedly, thinking it had to do with foxes is just a hindsight thing after foxes have happened and tracing it back. Like, she thinks she remembers seeing a fox-charm that Jade bought, or she thinks she remembers the priestess being a fox-girl or something, and so on.

"I know, right?" she says, looking down at her clothes again. "I picked them out mostly because of the colors," Marin says. It was 'mostly' the colors but 'partially' because of the price. She shops at thrift stores.

On the subject, she asks, "So if you could choose for me to wear anything, what would you pick?"

[Ironsmith]

Mellie's Hole

"You sure? I promise I'm a good cook!" Kothar stops her. "It not your fault. He have... Eating problem." "Oh. One of those 'eating disorders' I've heard about? More food for us!" Mellie chuckles and gets back to work.

[Mellie's Hole]

"Mm. No. It is not an 'eating disorder'. I simply do not need to eat like you humans d-"

>WARNING: BATTERY LOW (15%).

...Uh-oh.

"Marvelous. Wonderful. Battery's about to die and I'm here miles away from the nearest electrical port." Alan mutters, annoyed. "A few more days of that and I'm done for."

[Rebonack]

[Totally Lost]

Marsh birds are probably fine because they don't really like trees that much.

They just hang out in marsh grass and cat-tails and things.

Khannie gives a little huff when no one replies. She wasn't really expecting anything but she had decided to try.

Are there any rocks laying around nearby?

If there are Khannie will try skipping a few on the lake.

Why?

Because she's kind of bored and skipping rocks is always fun and there's nothing else going on.

Hopefully the shack isn't full of monsters because then they might eat Seraphina and that would be tragic.


[Volcanic Fields]

And they're off!

Sssnek will make a point of hanging his club on the make shift build he wears, really the only adornment the salamander has at all. Useful for holding things. This is mostly because he doesn't want the humans to seem him approaching with weapons drawn since that might send the wrong idea.

"How is it that you came to find yourself for so long among the humans, cousin?" Sssnek inquires as they walk along the path toward the human village.

[Terumitsu]

[Dimensional Troubles]

"A good aim. No middlemen or restrictive practices." Jaccal comments thoughtfully before turning to Thariza. "We are ready for you now. If you would please follow this drone, they shall perform the surgery and remove your apparatus. We will discuss matters with, ah, Riss now. In private. Thus, you shall attend to your friend now, Ambrosia." They gesture at the scholar now exchanges a glance with Thariza before nodding.

"Very well." She turns to Riss. "If you're alright with that...?"

One of the drones seem to be waiting expectingly for Thariza and Ambrosia to follow them.

[Dimensional Troubles]

A shrug of four shoulders was the reply. Or the start of it at least. "I have no qualms." she intoned. She deigned to speak little and less of the item she had given Ambrosia but she was not necessarily expecting any sort of 'tactical' knowledge so much as just sating curiosity at this juncture.

Of course, it would remain to be seen if the... 'Eyes' in the walls could sense the superposition-parallel of her being, however. As uncomfortable as they made her, she held quiet about it. Most likely she was being 'investigated' in a way not dissimilar to how she was trying to take in everything as well. An informal trade but equitable. Fair.

Once Ambrosia and Thariza had been lead away, she slightly adjusted her stance so as to be focusing directly at Jaccal.. Or at least facing so as to a person who had binocular vision would interpret as being made the center of attention. There had been the statement of speaking in private after all, yes?

[Earl of Purple]

Wrecked Motorway

Technically, one of Tristan's ancestors was a third dragon.

"So why's it glowing, if it's just water and limestone?" Willow did move back to let Green poke it, but now she's got the confirmation it's safe, she reaches out to poke it again. She squeals as the water bursts over her, and quickly tries to dry her hands on her skirt. "It sprayed me, I'm OK. Just made me jump, is all." She dropped her stick, so she picks it up again.
"Willow, I said not to touch it. You're one of our best finders, but sometimes you need to control your curiosity." Waheeda frowns at Willow, who nods her head and bobs into a curtsy to acknowledge the scalding.

Wastelands Campsite

"I'm not part o' this crew, don't see that I be gettin' a vote. If'n ye wish t' follow, I can't stop ye. Jus'... tryin' t' warn ye, an' prevent unnecessary bloodshed." Frigate raises his hands conciliatorily, and takes a half-step back. He's not sure if these people can hurt him- they seem to have quite a bit of magic, so it's possible, and he's not yet convinced they're a threat. Just seem to be religious pilgrims seeking healing.

[Ironsmith]

Wastelands Campsite

"I'm not part o' this crew, don't see that I be gettin' a vote. If'n ye wish t' follow, I can't stop ye. Jus'... tryin' t' warn ye, an' prevent unnecessary bloodshed." Frigate raises his hands conciliatorily, and takes a half-step back. He's not sure if these people can hurt him- they seem to have quite a bit of magic, so it's possible, and he's not yet convinced they're a threat. Just seem to be religious pilgrims seeking healing.

[Wastelands Campsite]

Maldwyn places a massive hand on Frigate's shoulder. "I appreciate that. But when we went out to face the enemy, you charged right alongside us. You're enough one of us to have a voice."

"You've just been out-voted is all." Evelyn chips in.

"Not that this is a democracy in the first place." Horace adds. "But Lord Maldwyn is right. You're one of us."

Skuld waves her hand dismissively and retreats into the cave. She doesn't seem to agree with their assessment.

[Rebonack]

[Wrecked Motorway]

You could probably argue that Drakaina is a dragon. She would definitely insist that she is in the same way that Leona would say that she's a lion or Aries would say he's a ram. But Chimera as a whole? They're definitely NOT a dragon. And neither is Tristan. Echidna was a dragon, though. It seems kind of weird that a dragon and an even weirder dragon would give birth to a whole range of random grab-bag beasts but that's divine ancient monsters for you.

Anyway!

Tristan jumps when Willow screams, ready for one of those statues to have animated or something but-

Well.

She's just got some phosphorescent water on her. Well, Green DID say that it's safe so... probably just some sort of random magic thing? Maybe? Considering that most of the normal looking statues are all cowering in terror and Willow isn't immediately turning to stone he figures that the glowing water must have been a byproduct of whatever awful thing did this.

"As a general rule of thumb it's not a good idea to poke things that are glowing. Just sayin'," Tristan adds helpfully.

And as for Willow?

She won't feel anything aside from wet. Maybe a little cold due to the water evaporating off her as the walk to the camp continues. Exposure to the glowing water will do absolutely nothing to her-

-for two days.

After two days she'll get a runny nose and start sneezing. Not constant sneezing. Just often enough to be annoying.

[bc56]

Mellie's Hole
"He say many strange things." Kothar explains to Mellie. Apparently he feels he should cover up Alan's true nature for now.
Barring anything unusual from Alan, the meal is served. It's duck and turnip stew with loaves of homemade bread. The three meatbags dig in hungrily. During the meal, Mellie tries to find out more about them. "So where are the three of you headed?"

Volcanic Fields
Kothar begins to tell the story,
"When I was younger, the traders that regularly traveled between my village and the nearest human town were being attacked and their goods stolen. As the most accomplished warrior of my tribe, I was asked by the human and elf leaders to work with two of their people in stopping the raids. We drove off the kobolds together, but we discovered an underground fortress beneath the mountain they lived on, and a great evil trapped beneath that. We vowed to work together to destroy that evil before it could break free."
He pauses to let Sssnek ask questions if he likes.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

Yup, there's rocks around. Limestone, shale, rhyolite, and basalt. Very few of them are particularly shaped well for skipping.
Oh!
But there's actually a nice target for skipping stones.
Not far out in the water, there's a stone thing coming up that has a hole in the top, just barely sticking out of the water. It's got a little steam coming out of it, too! The hole's about the size of a basketball hoop. Would make for a great target.


Shortly afterwards, Seraphina emerges from the shack and she is decidedly not eaten. (But her foot's wet. Long story.)
Unless...maybe something happened to her and she got replaced while in the shack? How will Khannie know!

She waves, and calls out, "Found a map! It was in really bad condition, hand drawn, too!" She's got an old book in her hand. "No train stations on it, though!"

[Lord Magtok]

The Hegemony Flagship

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[The Hegemony Flagship]

Magtork gives the admiral a smile full of sharp, misaligned teeth. Without putting the clone down, he marches down the hall, leaving the still burning engine room behind. "Your locks ain't keeping me outa anywhere on this hulk. I go anywhere I want." He says with a chuckle. Yet he doesn't get rid of Magtok. Maybe he's bluffing? Or just toying with the clone?

Admiraltok frowns, wordlessly calling in an emergency engineer team to deal with the engine room as soon as Magtork is a safe distance from the burning mess. Oh gods, they don't have much backup power; everyone's going to have to transfer everything to the other vessels in the fleet until this is taken care of. Non-emergency staff, cloning vats, food rations, furniture, everything needed to keep everyone comfortable while their home's engine is replaced. The Research Vessel Yersul's captain is going to be a smug ass for weeks while he's forced to borrow a mattress and sleep on the lesser officer's ship. Maybe it'd be better to just let Magtork kill him after all.

"This is not a hulk. This is the MagFleet's Flagship, The Insurmountable, and the very second you put me down, I'm going to have automated turrets from every direction shred you with bullets, lasers, and plasma until your forcefield overloads and melts your fetid green flesh inside of it, the clone insists, trying not to think about how this enormous alien freak is going to use a perfectly good purple robe as a sock or something stupid like that once he steps into the flagship's wardrobe chamber.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dimensional Troubles]

Ambrosia nods. "Well, I thank you for the assistant you've offered then. But before we part ways, may I ask if we could meet again someday? I think we have ideas to exchange and I'd like to learn more about you. So I hope that you feel the same."

Riss can note that even here there are carved eyes, both in the floor, the walls and the ceiling. If they're actually watching her is impossible to tell but the feeling of being watched haven't gone away.

[A Hunter must Hunt]

Anika looks after the saber, gritting her teeth. For a moment it looks like she's going to continue the chase but then she closes her eyes and letting out something resembling a sigh, as far as a cat can sigh at least, before changing into her humanoid form.

"Why were you shouting at me back there?! You distracted me!" She shouts while gesturing at the cave they came from.

[Ironsmith]

Wrecked Motorway

Technically, one of Tristan's ancestors was a third dragon.

"So why's it glowing, if it's just water and limestone?" Willow did move back to let Green poke it, but now she's got the confirmation it's safe, she reaches out to poke it again. She squeals as the water bursts over her, and quickly tries to dry her hands on her skirt. "It sprayed me, I'm OK. Just made me jump, is all." She dropped her stick, so she picks it up again.
"Willow, I said not to touch it. You're one of our best finders, but sometimes you need to control your curiosity." Waheeda frowns at Willow, who nods her head and bobs into a curtsy to acknowledge the scalding.

[Wrecked Motorway]

You could probably argue that Drakaina is a dragon. She would definitely insist that she is in the same way that Leona would say that she's a lion or Aries would say he's a ram. But Chimera as a whole? They're definitely NOT a dragon. And neither is Tristan. Echidna was a dragon, though. It seems kind of weird that a dragon and an even weirder dragon would give birth to a whole range of random grab-bag beasts but that's divine ancient monsters for you.

Anyway!

Tristan jumps when Willow screams, ready for one of those statues to have animated or something but-

Well.

She's just got some phosphorescent water on her. Well, Green DID say that it's safe so... probably just some sort of random magic thing? Maybe? Considering that most of the normal looking statues are all cowering in terror and Willow isn't immediately turning to stone he figures that the glowing water must have been a byproduct of whatever awful thing did this.

"As a general rule of thumb it's not a good idea to poke things that are glowing. Just sayin'," Tristan adds helpfully.

And as for Willow?

She won't feel anything aside from wet. Maybe a little cold due to the water evaporating off her as the walk to the camp continues. Exposure to the glowing water will do absolutely nothing to her-

-for two days.

After two days she'll get a runny nose and start sneezing. Not constant sneezing. Just often enough to be annoying.

[Wrecked Motorway]

Green pauses, unsure of what to make of Willow's question. She was right; water and limestone didn't usually glow. Maybe she was wrong about what sort of liquid they were looking at. "Reassessing..."

And then the sploosh.

"...Assessing damage." Green amends, looking Willow over. Without her medical scanner, she'll be unable to find any actual problems. "Assessment complete. Conclusion: you are soaked."

How did the girls ever get by without these modern conveniences.

Mellie's Hole
"He say many strange things." Kothar explains to Mellie. Apparently he feels he should cover up Alan's true nature for now.
Barring anything unusual from Alan, the meal is served. It's duck and turnip stew with loaves of homemade bread. The three meatbags dig in hungrily. During the meal, Mellie tries to find out more about them. "So where are the three of you headed?"

[Mellie's Hole]

"We're on our way to the Everclear Estate." Alan replies, leaving the food untouched. "It's on Electric Avenue, in New Berlin." He pauses before adding, "And you have no idea where that is, do you?"

[bc56]

Mellie's Hole
"Nope! Never heard of it!" Fortunately, Kothar has his own ideas. "We going to Inside. He find way from there."
"Oh! That's just a half a day downriver, if you go by boat. Longer on foot. The Guosio take passengers if you need a lift."