Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway

[Rebonack]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"Rowboat? ROBOT. Machine shaped like a person," Tristan retorts. "She isn't human. Not alive. 's why the zombies didn't care about her."

What kind if idiot doesn't know what a robot is?

Drakania helpfully recalls that even the ancient Greeks made up robots, sort of. Animated bronze statues.

Then?

Tristan takes a deep breath and releases Endurance. His posture changes ever so slightly.

"Right! So, Endurance? You've found a place that's really weird. But good news! There aren't flower zombies around here. Usually," Tristan says as he walks over to one of the motionless undead, examining it. They seemed really wet inside. Maybe even a bit on the flame resistant side of things? Well. If there's anything Tristan has learned it's that when fire can't solve a problem that just means you need to apply more fire. "So Green there? She's a robot. Pretty sure. And I-"

Tristan points a thumb at himself.

"Have fantastical magical powers! Or only one that's fantastical, I guess. Most of them aren't really flashy. I didn't want to go and use it since, well-"

He gestures at Green.

"-you seem new around here and you kind of freaked out. So no freaking out, okay?"

Then he turns toward one of the zombies, takes a deep breath, and-

BWARGH!s fire breath all over the corpse. It's a bright, orange flame. The sort you might expect from natural gas seeps. Though given how uncommon those are in general Endurance can be forgiven if he hasn't ever seen one before. The fire is quite hot, but unless it manages to ignite something it'll go out pretty quickly. It isn't like an oil fire where its burning an accelerant.


[Thermal Lake]

Kothar has successfully reached the door!

He has a few seconds to unlock it and dive through before the urchins reach him.

Can he make it in time!?

[Chaotic Bob]

ABAJ - Day 3

Well, that could simply mean Fudo has been having an odd week. He was part of the group that headed out with Jeb that the sword seemed slightly more at ease without but G'nichi still finds the child's arrival just before the Banquet the most suspicious. But he can't entirely rule out the possibility that this Target of his is influencing the villagers somehow. Syncope told him they were both cheating. He should avoid blabbing to just anyone even if he's positive the last demon is Eiko.
"I wouldn't worry about it. The Spider probably knows who the demon will go for after that performance. I'm more worried about our Crow speaking up. They're the only one we have to confirm I was right about Nemeth. Without that it's going to be a lot harder to convince anyone I was right." And of course if he was wrong he has a lot to worry about.

"Well, if they don't offer up their information in the morning, we can just...ask? Maybe they'll step forward."
It seems logical to him. There's some inherent risk to them revealing themselves, but there seems to be more risk to them not doing so...

Hana decides that this is about as much of this as she can handle though, wrapping her arms around herself and trying to look less sad, more irritable (badly).
"Can we go back home now? This place is...creepy. And cold."
And having this conversation little feet away from the corpse of a dead friend is extremely off-putting.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

G'nichi nods. He makes sure there's a grave marker at the spot for now. Mari deserves a proper stone later when they have time and someone who can make one.
"Yeah, let's go back."

G'nichi will lead the other(?) teenagers back to town. He has to find Jeb anyway. They really ought to have that discussion.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

Atsushi intuits something else here that G'nichi is not well situated to intuit and promptly looks very apologetic.
"Oh shoot, sorry Hana. Look...I'm sure your grandfather will be fine. He's probably too much of a pain in the ass for Death to take anyway, even if the Spider is isn't half as smart as they would have to be here."
Whoops, looks like talking about the probable murder-threat on someone's family member is also off-putting!

Hana doesn't really respond to this much, beyond hugging herself tighter and looking slightly angrier.

There won't be much else of interest on this walk though, with Atsushi suggesting the dining all. It's the community center, might as well drop off there.
Literally everyone in town is there right now anyway.

Sumiye made sandwiches.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

G'nichi winces. See, this is why they need to actually tell him things about people!
Ugh. G'nichi takes Hana and Atsushi back and gets his own lunch before he starves. He'll let Jeb approach him when he feels like it. Preferably outside where the entire town can't overhear them.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

Jeb does not approach immediately. Even crotchety old men need their lunches.
He even politely gives G'nichi time to finish his.

It's not very long after that where he leaves his seat, makes eye-contact with G'nichi, then jerks a thumb towards the door.
There's a hand gesture made towards Sumiye after this, before he steps outside.

No time shall be wasted, upon G'nichi stepping outside.
"I want more information about your magic."

[Rebonack]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

A breeze picks up.

Warm.

Smelling faintly of salt.

One can almost imagine the distant sound of waves and the cries of sea birds.

Speak truth, hatchling. Do not fear.

[bc56]

Thermal Lake

Kothar lands in front of the door, jams the key in the hole, and turns it quickly. At the same time, he turns back to face the urchins, axe in hand, ready to attack if one gets close enough to him. Hopefully the key works before that.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

G'nichi gives Jeb a sidelong glance and goes into an explanation forthwith.
"Where I go, I go in the name of Bahamut. But there are others who are invested in my continued survival. An obscure goddess of earth and blood likes to chip in from time to time. Like a very ancient bloodhound I offered unto her a drop of Mari's blood, and she showed me everywhere that it did stain. And so it was in only five places: the room she was killed, her body where it lay, the hands of the one who wrapped her body (that's me), in the abode of Nemeth, and the temple of Shimono." He looks at the old man clearly. "I might be dead in the morning so I feel like you should know that last part. Only really two people probably there first thing in the morning."

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

One of Jeb's eyebrows raises pretty far up.
"If I hadn't regularly seen Lady Eiko doing similar magic, I'd be more tempted to toss this out.
Still kind of tempted."
He is nothing if not an honest man.

His gaze scrutinizes G'nichi for a moment or two, rather intensely processing some thought or another.
"How'd you know she was dead so quick? Yuu bolted down here pretty quick, babbling about how you were already moving her body out of the room by the time they were up."

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

And here we come to the point where G'nichi has to lie a little because people will die if he tells the whole truth.
"In my dreams I saw the demons burst into Mari's room. One tall, one short, both wrapped up. It was an extremely clear image and with the life I've had the past month I don't doubt when omens like that happen. So as soon as I woke up I went straight to her room. It wasn't locked." Nothing he said was untrue at all.

[Gullara]

[A Hunter must Hunt]

"It's a gift for my friend. A pet, a battle-pet to be specific. She totally needs one to keep enemies at bay while she snipes them off with her rifle." Anika claims as she mimics holding a sniper rifle with a scope. "So... you have any idea to find one? It would look kinda like that cat-form I assumed earlier."

[A Hunter must Hunt]

Mimi gives her some confused looks. At least the core of what she's talking about makes sense. "So you just wanna take a cat away?" She looks contemplative, putting her hand on her chin. "Yeah I know where a cat is. I can show you."

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

This is not the most concrete evidence Jeb has ever heard. "I had a dream about it" is...frankly awful.
That being said, G'nichi was still right, which means this was either a terrible coincidence, more magic, or he's lying.

Some of that oft barely-restrained anger seems briefly evident on his face, but it doesn't seem to necessarily be at G'nichi himself.
"Can't really use that. Ugh."
Old man seems to have just be rummaging around for ways to shortcut through this nonsense a little faster.
"Still can't say you didn't just throw someone else under the bus, but it doesn't seem likely. We'll see in the morning."

Jeb's fingers tap along the pommel of the sword always at his hip, glancing back at the door to the dining hall.
"Can you keep doing that magic?"

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

"This game was designed to not give you any information. What I have done is about as much cheating as I'm permitted." he nods, but clearly doesn't look happy about it.
"If another victim is taken, I can track the blood again. I would very much prefer to not have to; blood magic, even when done by a benevolent goddess is pretty sketchy and this is more or less the only application I'm willing to use it." He shakes his head. "Of course you realize that after we got Nemeth today the next victim will likely be one of us. But yes, the best we have to go on is if our Crow confirms Nemeth was guilty. If you know who that is feel free to look into it yourself. And of course our Hound is already checking the prime suspect."

[Shadowcaller]

[A Hunter must Hunt]

"Yeah, exactly!" Anika readily agrees along with a series of nods. "If you could take me to them that'd be great!" She smiles widely, maybe this would go a lot easier than she'd thought?

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

An eyebrow is raised at the not-very-subtle implication that G'nichi knows of at least one of the roles (could be said role), moreso than at the mention of blood magic.
"Hm."
He looks tempted to press that, but evidently elects not to.

"If it's one of us, so be it. Doesn't change much. Still going to look out for the town, until I can't anymore."
And if it's G'nichi, then that's technically no real loss to him, outside of the practicality of his supposed magic.

"That's all I wanted. We'll save some blood in the morning."

[Rebonack]

[Thermal Lake]

The result of sticking the key into the door and turning it is... odd.

First?

The key just kind of slides inside the key hole when Kothar turns it. Then the key hole closes in a shutter.

After that point Kothar can easily shove it open!

And the urchins are right behind him!

He can shut the door to block them off. Or possibly fight them if he feels like it. Either way, he'll have stumbled back into the main chamber he started in through a secret door! The water level is still exactly where it was before. However! All the brass cogs in the walls are turning now. That's a win, right?

The passage behind the waterfall and the doorway underwater are still unexplored options.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

"And I've told you what you needed to know. If we're lucky I'll have made myself the biggest target possible and the Spider will solve the problem. Otherwise I trust you'll handle things without me."
Speaking of, his next and last stop is the temple again. He needs to verify that the presence the Sword felt was one of the two there and not Fudo.
And of course, he needs to make sure he has presented his back as a target without making it too obvious.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

Jeb is comfortable enough ending the conversation there. He is always comfortable ending any conversation he's done with, at any point.
This one just seems to be mutually complete.

Lady Eiko and Child are currently in the dining hall, but if G'nichi feels like killing an hour or two in some fashion, they will be back in the temple.
Not in the prayer position, as he usually finds them, but somewhere in the back shuffling around boxes (judging by the noises).

[bc56]

Thermal Lake

Kothar shuts the door behind him. No need to fight the urchins, and they'll probably give up pretty soon. Now that he's back in the main room, he looks at the underwater door. It seems a good next place to look. If there's a drain that's preventing the water from rising, it has to be in the water, after all.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

G'nichi gently knocks on the door.
"Lady Eiko? Do you need help with anything?" he calls. Of course, even if she says no he should be close enough to at least let his sword take a 'look,' metaphorically speaking.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

The sword's metaphorical hackles immediately started rising the moment G'nichi stepped back on the temple grounds, and only rose higher as he approached the back room.
Being alone in here seemed like an even worse idea than this morning. It couldn't force its wielder to leave the temple, but it can very strongly emote the desire to.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, there's a little "meep" followed rather promptly by the sound of several crashing boxes.
A moment or two later, a quiet:
"Um, maybe a little?"

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

G'nichi is simultaneously perfectly safe while the game is active and in as much danger as he could possibly be in. As long as Syncope's rival is entered into this game as one of the villagers it is bound by the rules and can't move against him directly.
Right?
Besides, he needs to make it abundantly clear that he has everything he needs to catch the second Demon tomorrow. He needs to make it super obvious to take him out instead of Jeb. And of course make himself seem innocent so it isn't obvious that it's a ploy to protect Jeb.
So G'nichi wanders into the hornets' nest with a smile on his face fully prepared to clean up a mess of boxes.
"I'm sure I can help with that."

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

This back room is evidently a storage area of some kind for the village. Odd, for a temple, but such is the situation.
There are numerous shelves lines with boxes, most taped up and covered in a pretty thick layer of dust.

Lady Eiko is currently under a pile of boxes, some of which have opened up and spilled some mixture of papers (food orders, evidently), blankets, and wooden blocks.
The quiet boy is nearby, as always, trying to futilely move one of said block-filled boxes.

They could probably figure this out sooner than later, but the two of them do seem to be struggling with the mess a little.
The priestess seems supremely embarrassed and understandably disheveled.
"I was trying to find something for Ran here to play with..."

[Lord Magtok]

[The Hegemony Flagship]

The great, green beast grins toothily as Admiraltok dives for the gun. As he does that, he swings the machine over his shoulders by some crude cable straps. He pulls a cord and an engine revs to life. Electricity arcs between two antenna on the contraption and Admiraltok can taste ozone.

He laughs. "Ya don remember me? Too bad." He points at the gun. "Goin' to shoot me wit dat? Try it." To provide some encouragement, the brute lunges forward deceptively quickly to grab the Tok.

Admiraltok squints, as the flagship's databanks flood his thoughts with every relevant memory it can find. Magtork. Himself, but as an ork. There's not much else to go on beyond that, though, since their only encounters were largely belligerent and confrontational. So what is it, exactly? An ancient experiment that got away from us? An alternate reality Magtok? Some alien bastard's crude attempt at parody?

Irrelevant. It doesn't matter who Magtork was, because we already know exactly what he is, and what he's going to be. The fungus among us is going to die. The sheer gall of this creature, coming aboard our flagship, ripping up our engine. For such monumental hubris, nothing less than the great green beast's death could possibly placate our admiral's fury. Admiraltok's body swings upward, his service pistol aimed at the arm reaching out to get him, pulsing and humming ominously as the gun between his chrome fingers grows grotesquely, unbearably hot, before unleashing a beam hot enough to liquidate both flesh and the very same pistol the beam originated from. Yes, the maximum charge setting on this gun is very much a one-and-done sort of thing, enough to reduce the entire weapon into molten slag that would roast his soft flesh if he'd used the wrong hand to fire it. So either the Admiral remembers how hard it was to scrub away all that fungoid mass the last time Magtork's spores were found in the Flagship, or else he's just really reckless and/or furious at the xenos filth standing before him. Or maybe both, I don't know.

[Earl of Purple]

Wrecked Motorway

They may have had robots, but the Greeks might not have used the word 'robot'. "She looks human, an' alive." Endurance still doesn't get it, unfortunately. He yelps when he sees Tristan cover the pile of dead with fire and they start to burn. There's the odd pop as something bursts, and the vines don't burn easily. The dead flesh and other parts of the plant do, however.

"How'd you do that? Can I get teached it? Where'd the fire come from?" Endurance didn't have very good lessons on grammar, it seems. Probably more important things to learn, like how to use a spear, what's edible and what isn't, and how to repair a wall so the monsters can't get in.

[Ironsmith]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"Doubtful." Green chips in. "Breathing fire is not anatomically possible for a human being. At least not for one which has not been genetically or surgically modified." She gives Tristan a look, humming quietly to herself.

>MEDICAL SCANNER OFFLINE

Damn. No way to confirm her suspicions... not that she really needed to, given what Tristan had done was impossible. That meant Endurance was the only human here, and therefore the only person she could take orders from. She turns to him and stares at him expectantly, like she expects him to know this.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 3

"Ah, is that your name, then?" G'nichi asks. He should have any trouble picking up the boxes and getting them into more manageable places.
"This place does seem to have a lack of toys lying around..."

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 3]

The sword is currently giving off the emotional equivalent of a mother watching her son stick their head directly into a maybe-turned-off woodchipper.

For G'nichi specifically, these boxes shouldn't pose any sort of issue. They're technically heavy, but he's a bit of a beefcake.
As soon as a few are moved, Lady Eiko pulls her robes out from a couple others and gets back to her feet. The child, Ran evidently, wastes pretty much no time hiding behind her again, but does peek his head around her enough to give G'nichi a sort of half-nod.

She smiles with clear fondness, and places a sleeve-shrouded hand on his head.
"We have some blocks and things that I thought would be better than nothing, but I overestimated my strength it seems. Thank you very much for your assistance."
It takes a second or two after that, but she does get an immediately apologetic expression.
"Oh no, I'm sorry. I'm sure you didn't come here to help lift boxes. Was there something I could aid you with?"

[Rebonack]

[Wrecked Motorway]

Too bad the medical scanner doesn't work. That would have revealed some interesting things. And possibly offended Tristan if he knew what was going on. Which he would have had no way to know, honestly.

Anywho!

"The magics!" Tristan replies unhelpfully, wiggling his fingers. Then he gives a snort of a laugh. "Okay, more seriously? I'm not one hundred percent sure. They've got a magical zoology class at Inside University that I probably should take at some point but I haven't ever really gotten around to it. Between my part time job, my own classes, and my TA position it's hard to find the time. Especially with hobbies."

Hobbies like adventuring!

But, thankfully, Tristan has today off and he had resolved to use it for some exploring.

"There's probably some anatomical basis to it but I'll admit I'm not totally sure what it is. So teaching is out of the question. Where the first comes from ties into question one. I don't THINK it's like dragon fire. Pure elementalism stuff. I can always smell a whiff of gas when I do it so my guess is that it's tied somehow to the eternal flames on Mount Chimera but I'm going to guess that your geography knowledge isn't exhaustive."

Oh, um... the robot is acting differently?
Like how?
She isn't p-paying attention to us as much now?
So what?
Huh. Maybe she decided we can fend for ourselves because of the fire thing?


[Thermal Lake]

Okay underwater door time!

...the doorway leads into an alcove that's about four feet deep. It dead-ends at a blank stone wall.

Of course, Kothar DID just move through a secret passage that was nearly invisible from this side so maybe there's something hidden here?

Let's see...

There are a few parallel gouges in the stone surface. Maybe claw marks? Several small brass gears are set into slots in the wall, but they aren't turning. The rest of the gears are turning so that's a bit odd. Finally, the silt that covers most of the floor is absent near the base of the dead end.

Clues!