Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway

[Rebonack]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"Keep going," Tristan says, the severity in his tone leaving little room for argument. "If we get off the road can you girls still find the way to your camp? If we can then we need to get off the road right now."

And, it sounds like, that's exactly what they need to do and exactly what they'll be doing.

Tristan is speeding up, not quite running in the dark because they can be dangerous, but certainly hustling faster.

He glances back over his shoulder to see if the Tobys are still coming.

If it looks like they'll do some off-roading to follow them.

What happens if they get caught?

Drink stuff out of those coolers and suddenly there are more Tobys with more cars?

Tristan isn't even sure if this is actually what's going on here but given that this is a post apocalyptic part of Outside just about anything a person meets might be dangerous.

Especially if it seems friendly and disarming and harmless and just a little bit off.

"If they keep chasing us I want you guys to pick your way through the roughest terrain you can find. Anything that would make it harder for a car to follow," Tristan says. "And if push comes to shove I'll hang back and make sure they don't follow you."

Fire breath works okay against cars, right?

[bc56]

Mellie's Hole
The group sits in awkward silence for a while after that.
Unless Alan brings something else up, eventually the meal will be finished and Mellie will show everyone to guest beds. They're a bit small for everyone but Kothar's son, but it's not the end of the world.

Village
"The tribe angry. Their eggs stolen. They finished with anger now. Want peace and trade. Justice against egg-thieves." Kothar declares. Unfortunately his natural charisma is hampered by his weak grasp of the language. If he could just speak his own tongue, he could make his point much more clearly.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"Oh well, uh-" Sylvess pauses mid-stutter as he sees Heuldra hop into the water. "A-a-aaah, Heuldra, who let you w-w-wander down here by yourself? Come on, u-up you get!" He swims over towards her, shifting his wing nice and low to scoop his child out of the water.

The other two on his back give little peeps and wander over to sniff and nuzzle at Heuldra, happy to see their fellow sibling.

Uh, yes, w-well I've got three of them here. These are Drassinalrenn, Nasiralrenn, and Heuldranwm." He gives a nervous chuckle, "My mate insisted we keep the names brief. Well, for the most part anyway."

[Fort Aegis Resort]

'Brief'? Wouldn't be the first time she encountered dragons with extremely long names so she supposed she could understand Sylvess mate.
"Hello, little ones." She greets the hatchlings with a wave and a smile. "So who's your other parent? Is he the same kind of dragon as your dad?" It's more of a questioned aimed at Sylvess of course considering she wasn't even sure the hatchlings could talk yet.

[Ironsmith]

Mellie's Hole
The group sits in awkward silence for a while after that.
Unless Alan brings something else up, eventually the meal will be finished and Mellie will show everyone to guest beds. They're a bit small for everyone but Kothar's son, but it's not the end of the world.

[Mellie's Hole]

Alan does not, of course, sleep. The closest thing he has is a form of power-saving function whereon he engages in a repetitive task and most of his neural net shuts down. As there don't seem to be any of those readilt available, he just sits grumpily by Kothar's bad until the morning.

[Morty]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"Those are short names?" Thariza asks, before realizing what she's saying. "Uh. Sorry. I get dragons probably have longer names."

[Dimensional Troubles]

Thariza stays silent, too nervous about what's going to happen to be able to think of anything to say.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis Resort

The door to the pool room slides shut behind Heuldra. Apparently she was not quite wandering unattended...
The gleaming hatchling cannot respond to the questions asked of her but instead gives a mighty yawn and begins stretching after which she curls up on Sylvess' back and falls asleep.

[bc56]

Mellie's Hole
Morning comes. Mellie shows her guests to the door, in a lot worse spirits than when she met. "River's about a half mile east. The city is downstream. If you want the Guosio's help, just pound on a hollow tree and shout 'log' a bunch. If they hear, they'll come." She doesn't slam the door on the adventurers, but she does close it rather forcefully. Kothar immediately starts walking east.

[Ironsmith]

[Outside Mellie's Hole]

"Well, that was pleasant." Alan snarks, following Kothar out of there. "I don't know why we would take advice from her. We found her in a hole and she's suggesting getting a ride from mice. To be quite honest, I have to doubt if they're even-"

"...Kothar, why are we going toward the river?"

[Recaiden]

[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?"

A sensible place to shop, if you're not looking for any specific garment.

Honeysuckle tilts her ears. Oh, what a tricky question.
You can't just answer truthfully, because that would give away things people wouldn't like. You shouldn't want to want to have people wear things like that!
But if you answer totally wrong, what if they actually wear it?!
And you certainly can't be seen taking too long to think it over.

"Those pants with all the pockets, and a real short blue shirt, you know, with the folds going down it? Then add a fancy scarf."

The fox scampers a short distance away, a bit ungainly and unsure in its movements.
"And what would have me dressed in?"

[Earl of Purple]

Wasteland Campsite

"I be not a man. But aye, I consider meself honourable. I don't kill those that can't fight back, wi' three 'istoric exceptions. I obey th' rules o' the ship, an' the cap'n's orders in battle. I vote always fer mercy, an' I don't work fer slavers. Th' exceptions be two sailors an' a merchant. Th' sailors had cornered a girl an' were threatenin' her. Poor lass, she were terrified, an' had no way t' fight back. I caught 'em wi' their pants down, literally. Th' merchant were a passenger aboard a ship, I were crew. He had a boy wi' him, I thought 'is son. Little lad, he were, too young t' be a powder monkey. Not his son, nor his page. Lad were a slave, w' no choice as t' what the merchant did." If that's enough for Horace, then that's fine. If it's not enough, then that's fine too. Frigate isn't actually scared by these people, which might not be wise of him.

Wrecked Motorway

The girls get off the road, hopping over the crash barrier and then forcing a way through the unkempt hedge beyond into an overgrown field. Waheeda points at Bryony and then Tristan, grabs Green's hand herself, and points at Willow and Endurance. The girls are still heading away as they do this, but Bryony and Willow stick close to Tristan and Endurance respectively. Fred's last words over the hedge are simple. "Sorry! My mum never get in a stranger's car, and we've just met!"

They head straight across the field, over piles of bones (long-dead sheep, but there's not too much left) and rough ground, avoiding patches of stinging nettles and stuff.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

"Normally, a Heal or something does the trick, right?" Heals cure status effects and petrification is a status effect, unless the whole party has been petrified.

The guy nods. Um....walking. That's a reasonable thing to do. "I wasn't 'um....walking', but, well..." He looks away at one of the statues. "So I live here. Been out of town for the past couple weeks, visiting my fiancée, but my car broke down on the way back," he claims. So that they don't think he's the type of guy who would immorally sleep over at his fiancée's place without good reason! "Do you know what happened here? Is it still dangerous?"

Seraphina shakes her head, "We just got here ourselves," she says. "Only thing we know is that it didn't happen all at once."

The guy sighs. "And here I was thinking my parents stopped complaining because they finally approved of my fiancée."


[Townside Riftline Station]

It's not a tricky question! No tricks involved. Marin's a cat, not a fox. Cats aren't tricky, you can always trust them, 100%.

"So, cargo pants," Marin says, thinking how usually when she sees those in the stores she shops at, they're fit for men, before trying to think what a 'short blue shirt with the folds' refers to. Pleated? But pleated shirts are normally long, aren't they? Being short might make it a crop top. Do they even make pleated crop tops? Of course they have to, we're talking about fashion. "...and a pleated crop top, with a scarf." A silk one might be nice.
"Okay, I'll see if I can find some next time I go shopping." She doesn't own anything like any of that (except the scarf, she has a couple of those).

She stops walking and looks ahead at the fox, trying to decide if she should answer the kinds of things she should wear 'right now as a fox' or when she's back to normal. Marin really likes things that accentuate femininity, so..."W-well, either an A-line dress or a high-waisted skirt with a V-neck," she decides on.

The catgirl starts walking again, to catch up with the fox.

[Ironsmith]

[Wrecked Motorway]

"Keep going," Tristan says, the severity in his tone leaving little room for argument. "If we get off the road can you girls still find the way to your camp? If we can then we need to get off the road right now."

And, it sounds like, that's exactly what they need to do and exactly what they'll be doing.

Tristan is speeding up, not quite running in the dark because they can be dangerous, but certainly hustling faster.

He glances back over his shoulder to see if the Tobys are still coming.

If it looks like they'll do some off-roading to follow them.

What happens if they get caught?

Drink stuff out of those coolers and suddenly there are more Tobys with more cars?

Tristan isn't even sure if this is actually what's going on here but given that this is a post apocalyptic part of Outside just about anything a person meets might be dangerous.

Especially if it seems friendly and disarming and harmless and just a little bit off.

"If they keep chasing us I want you guys to pick your way through the roughest terrain you can find. Anything that would make it harder for a car to follow," Tristan says. "And if push comes to shove I'll hang back and make sure they don't follow you."

Fire breath works okay against cars, right?

Wrecked Motorway

The girls get off the road, hopping over the crash barrier and then forcing a way through the unkempt hedge beyond into an overgrown field. Waheeda points at Bryony and then Tristan, grabs Green's hand herself, and points at Willow and Endurance. The girls are still heading away as they do this, but Bryony and Willow stick close to Tristan and Endurance respectively. Fred's last words over the hedge are simple. "Sorry! My mum never get in a stranger's car, and we've just met!"

They head straight across the field, over piles of bones (long-dead sheep, but there's not too much left) and rough ground, avoiding patches of stinging nettles and stuff.

[Wrecked Motorway]

Green follows without resistance or complaint. As far as she's concerned, Waheeda's in charge, and she obeys her orders without question.

Meanwhile, from behind the group, they'll be able to hear a cacophony of whooping, hollering, engines roaring, and cries of "To-BY!"...

Receding.

If any of them bothered to look back now, they'd be able to confirm visually what they'd already be hearing; Toby (and Toby and Toby) was driving away. In their excitement, it seems they didn't particularly care if any of the people they offered to give a ride actually took them up on it.

What a bunch of wackjobs.

Wasteland Campsite

"I be not a man. But aye, I consider meself honourable. I don't kill those that can't fight back, wi' three 'istoric exceptions. I obey th' rules o' the ship, an' the cap'n's orders in battle. I vote always fer mercy, an' I don't work fer slavers. Th' exceptions be two sailors an' a merchant. Th' sailors had cornered a girl an' were threatenin' her. Poor lass, she were terrified, an' had no way t' fight back. I caught 'em wi' their pants down, literally. Th' merchant were a passenger aboard a ship, I were crew. He had a boy wi' him, I thought 'is son. Little lad, he were, too young t' be a powder monkey. Not his son, nor his page. Lad were a slave, w' no choice as t' what the merchant did." If that's enough for Horace, then that's fine. If it's not enough, then that's fine too. Frigate isn't actually scared by these people, which might not be wise of him.

[Wastelands Camp]

Horace nods slowly. It's difficult to read his expression, with how knotted his face is, but he seems perturbed by this response. "Aye." He says finally. "There's honor in that."

"...Let me tell you one of the stories of my people. In the end of the first age, there were no Men. There was only our god, Absum, his bride, Adea, and their children, the Thamar. Of the Thamar, none were more fierce than Skumring, the first of the dragons. His claws cut valleys, his wings beat storms, and his breath burned whole forests to cinders. He was mighty, but he was cruel, striking down his brothers and sisters and claiming lands for only himself. This displeased Absum, so he came with hammer and bolt and smote the dragon, casting his corpse into the sea. But then, in a fit of remorse, he took Skumring's silver scales and carved them into the first Men, and stoked them to life with the last embers of the dragon's fire.

"Now these Men saw what was around them, and they saw the glorious form of the dead dragon, and saw that while they had once been mighty, they were now small and feeble. They did not have Skumring's wings, or claws, or fiery breath. 'O Absum', they cried, 'why have you made us small and feeble? Have you given us life only so we may die?'

"And Absum said to them, 'I have made you small and feeble so you may be humbled. When you are worthy, I will return your might to you.'

"So the Men went forth into Skumring's lands, and were set upon by the other Thamar and their beasts. At first, they were slaughtered, for no Man was a match for any beast. But as their numbers dwindled, each took it upon himself to see no more of his brothers die, and so they banded together, standing as one.

"It was then that they were a match for the beasts. When brother stood for brother, they had a strength greater than either had alone. Soon, the Men rebuilt their numbers, and soon after, exceeded them. With their brotherhood, they soon found themselves wielding a might beyond that of even Skumring. But where Skumring had been cruel, Men found kinship among the beasts, and they were soon able to live together. So was the beginning of Maesda, the Good Field that is our kingdom."

Horace gives a rueful little smile. "My apologies. I'm not a bard by trade. I hope the story came through nonetheless."

[Rebonack]

[Village]

"What in all the hells are you talking about?" the sheriff of the militia replies indignantly. "No one has ever stolen eggs from you lizards."

Hmm...

It doesn't sound like the sheriff is quite buying it.

"The human may not know eggs well," Sssnek suggests. "I have heard humans raise their young in a strange way without eggs. They do not take fire jewels from the sea below and incubate them. They do not know these jewels are sacred to us. They think they are only glittering stones, I think. You must make them understand."

"What is that other lizard hissing about?" the sheriff demands of Kothar.

It really doesn't help at all that this fellow is more than a little hostile.

Though it IS understandable. As far as he's concerned the salamanders have been attacking humans without provocation.


[Wrecked Motorway]

Kinda off the motorway at this point, aren't they?

When it becomes clear that the Tobys aren't following them Tristan heaves a sigh of relief.

"Thank God... I was really worried there for a moment," he says, relief heavy in his tone. "Sorry if that seemed abrupt. A few months back there were these things that if they got someone to answer to the name 'Buttercup' three times then that person would become another Buttercup. The Toby squad reminded me of that and I didn't want to take any chances."

The world doesn't need any more Tobys.

"I might have just been overly cautious, but better to be cautious than... another Toby. I guess?"

And now?

To the camp!

Probably!


[Totally Lost]

"Heal Bell might work?" Khannie says after thinking for a little while. "But it might be hard to find a pokemon that knows Heal Bell out here. You haven't seen any funny looking pink and yellow cats while you've been lost, have you?"

Skitty is the only pokemon Khannie knows of who learns that move. She kind of knew Skitty from the pokemon village a long time ago until she... wandered off into the woods one day. Khannie tries not to think about it too much.

But that is a conversation for the past!

The conversation for NOW is with this guy who had his car break!

"Oh no your parents might be statues?" Khannie gasps! "That's terrible!"

It really is pretty terrible.

"We don't know what happened yet, just that all these statues used to be people."

Technically someone could have abducted everyone and left life-like statues behind but that seems pretty unlikely.

"It might still be happening, though. How long ago did you go to visit your girlfriend?" Khannie asks.

Maridia, meanwhile, continues to keep an eye out from way up high!

[bc56]

Outside Mellie's Hole
"River lead to city. Easy na-vi-gate." Kothar struggles to make his point. "If we follow the river, we don't have to spend effort navigating." Achuak explains. It's not like Alan has much choice. He doesn't know the way himself any better than these two do.

Village
The second concern should be dealt with first. "He not speak your language. I here to speak on be-half." Kothar paces a little. Humans don't lay eggs at all. They definitely don't understand salamander reproduction. "Fire lizard egg not like bird egg. Fire lizard take special gem from deep underground and in-ku-bate. Gem hatch baby fire lizard. Humans take gems. Maybe not know was eggs?"

[Ironsmith]

[Outside Mellie's Hole]

"Oh. Good." Alan lets out a little sigh. "For a moment there, I thought you were actually considering that woman's ludicrous advice." Following the river was a logical decision, at least. Better than trying to ride it.

[Earl of Purple]

Off the Wrecked Motorway

"That sounds a pretty odd thing to happen. What happened to the Buttercups afterwards?" And Waheeda's logged it in that she shouldn't answer to the name of Buttercup.

After crossing the field, and climbing over a stainless steel gate held in place with a rusty chain and heavy padlock- Endurance has help from Willow and Bryony in getting his shopping cart over it- the party find themselves on a narrow country lane, which is in very poor condition and basically blocked to vehicle traffic where a four-by-four formerly pulling a horsebox has gone off the road and into the ditch. The vehicle's doors are all open, and it looks as though it's been very thoroughly looted. There's enough space to squeeze past it on the road, and maybe space for a motorcycle, but they're walking on the verge between the paved road and the hedge. They'll carry on along the road past it, to a point where two metal temporary fence posts, the ones that mark off the edge of a roadworks area with that orange plastic net fencing, have been stuck into the ground. On each post is a human head, crudely mummified by being buried in road salt until they dried out and then put on display, and hanging between them is a blue nylon rope with old cans hanging from it, banging in the breeze. The girls stop here, ignoring the heads, and call out. "Let the Head Girl know Captain Waheeda's back with her party, and she's got friends. She's going to want to talk to them, and wake Tall Bryony too, I think one of them can look at her leg."

Another girl steps out from the hedge, about seventeen, wearing a camouflaged fishing jacket over cargo trousers and plastic crocs. He's got a school tie hanging from her belt, and she carries an air rifle.

Wastelands Camp

Frigate doesn't get the point of the story, suspecting there's some rebuke there for his prior piracy but not seeing it. "Aye, it be a good story. It be how ye were made, or yer ancestors, aye? Did Absum give ye yon might, or do ye still seek worthiness?" Earl thinks it might be more about working together, and supporting a society. Frigate has never had a society, and most of the sailors- and pirates, indeed- he has met had their own reasons to go to sea and leave their homes and families behind.

[Ironsmith]

[Wrecked Motorway]

Kinda off the motorway at this point, aren't they?

When it becomes clear that the Tobys aren't following them Tristan heaves a sigh of relief.

"Thank God... I was really worried there for a moment," he says, relief heavy in his tone. "Sorry if that seemed abrupt. A few months back there were these things that if they got someone to answer to the name 'Buttercup' three times then that person would become another Buttercup. The Toby squad reminded me of that and I didn't want to take any chances."

The world doesn't need any more Tobys.

"I might have just been overly cautious, but better to be cautious than... another Toby. I guess?"

And now?

To the camp!

Probably!

Off the Wrecked Motorway

"That sounds a pretty odd thing to happen. What happened to the Buttercups afterwards?" And Waheeda's logged it in that she shouldn't answer to the name of Buttercup.

After crossing the field, and climbing over a stainless steel gate held in place with a rusty chain and heavy padlock- Endurance has help from Willow and Bryony in getting his shopping cart over it- the party find themselves on a narrow country lane, which is in very poor condition and basically blocked to vehicle traffic where a four-by-four formerly pulling a horsebox has gone off the road and into the ditch. The vehicle's doors are all open, and it looks as though it's been very thoroughly looted. There's enough space to squeeze past it on the road, and maybe space for a motorcycle, but they're walking on the verge between the paved road and the hedge. They'll carry on along the road past it, to a point where two metal temporary fence posts, the ones that mark off the edge of a roadworks area with that orange plastic net fencing, have been stuck into the ground. On each post is a human head, crudely mummified by being buried in road salt until they dried out and then put on display, and hanging between them is a blue nylon rope with old cans hanging from it, banging in the breeze. The girls stop here, ignoring the heads, and call out. "Let the Head Girl know Captain Waheeda's back with her party, and she's got friends. She's going to want to talk to them, and wake Tall Bryony too, I think one of them can look at her leg."

Another girl steps out from the hedge, about seventeen, wearing a camouflaged fishing jacket over cargo trousers and plastic crocs. He's got a school tie hanging from her belt, and she carries an air rifle.

[Off-Road Campsite]

There's always room for more Tobys, Tristan.

Anyway!

Green follows with the rest of the group to the campsite, eying the human heads with what would probably be anxiety if she was capable of it. Human remains tended to be indicative of things hostile to humans, which would invoke system functions if they showed themselves. Logically, she knew this was probably just the girls' way of warding off unwelcome company. Neurally, she was dangerously close to switching over to "smash anything that looks dangerous", the state which Tristan and Endurance first saw her in. While that was, by necessity, not dangerous for people, it was still... less than optimal.

Wastelands Camp

Frigate doesn't get the point of the story, suspecting there's some rebuke there for his prior piracy but not seeing it. "Aye, it be a good story. It be how ye were made, or yer ancestors, aye? Did Absum give ye yon might, or do ye still seek worthiness?" Earl thinks it might be more about working together, and supporting a society. Frigate has never had a society, and most of the sailors- and pirates, indeed- he has met had their own reasons to go to sea and leave their homes and families behind.

[Wastelands Camp]

"A little of both, I would say." Horace shrugs. "Lord Arnbaith the Unbroken, our king, was among those first Maesdans. Most of the rest of us are their descendants, to varying degrees; if I recall correctly, Lady Skuld ascended a few centuries later. Everyone else here is about three hundred years further removed from her. As for the promised might... well, that's something of a point of debate among our scholars. Some contend that, no, we have not yet reached worthiness, though we've made excellent progress. Others argue that the promise was Lordship; individuals who are worthy ascend to a state of great power, so that the promise is fulfilled for some. Then there are those who contend Maesda itself was the promise; collectively, we're far stronger than any dragon, as we've proven imperically many times before, and Absum guided us to that point. It's a bit of a vagary."

[bc56]

By the River
The narrow path opens up to travel alongside the river. It's clearly well traveled. "It good advice. You should con-sid-er." But unless Alan changes his mind, they'll just all keep trudging downriver until they encounter something or night falls.

[Rebonack]

[A Camp That Is Adjacent to a Wrecked Motorway]

"Some of them are still faeries. My friends and I discovered there was a way to cure people who got Buttercup'd, but it involves retrieving some pretty rare objects from dangerous locations," Tristan recounts. "We, heh, we actually tested the first one on me. Worked great, thank God. As you might imagine I really don't want to go through something like that again regardless of what the name attached is."

Seriously.

It was just the worst.

Mind, it was fun and great and wonderful while it was going on but in retrospect and with a clear head it is creepy as heck.

Then?

Severed heads!

Yay!

Tristan grimaces.

"Guessing those were chavs?" he asks.


[Village]

The sheriff is looking skeptical, but at the mention of the gems there's a brief flicker of concern and recognition.

"Hey Charles," the bearded man asks one of the other humans nearby. "Where did Stephan say he found those diamonds?"

"He wouldn't say," a farmer armed with a pitchfork replies. "Just that some fancy jeweler from the City who came into town was buying them. Said the fellow told him where to get 'em. You think that's what got the lizards all riled up? Stephan done stole their eggs without knowin' what they was?"

That is absolutely what got them riled up.

"What are the humans discussing?" Sssnek asks of Kothar.

[bc56]

Village

Kothar turns to Sssnek. "One human was paying other humans to get gemstones for him. He told them where to find the stones. Diamonds, the humans said." He then faces the human villagers again. "Could you desk-ribe what happened?"

[Earl of Purple]

Outside Lady Aethelflaed's Boarding School Yrs. 7 & 8 Cricket Team's Campsite

"Yep, both of them. That one had Stephanie's air rifle, before it was Stephanie's." She gestures to the head on the left, which has had a pair of cracked sunglasses taped to its face. "He shot Stephanie with it, so it's only fair she gets it now. And she's actually fired real guns, too. She went clay pigeon shooting for her dad's birthday just before the Flash." Obviously it didn't kill her, or she wouldn't be able to use it now.
"You don't have real guns? How come? I thought they were everywhere." Endurance is confused, since when and where he's from ammunition is harder to find than guns. In the UK, guns are available, if you know where to look, but by law they have to be locked up when not in use.

Wastelands Camp

"Aye, religion often be vague. Don't stop priests callin' me blasphemy an' unholy, if'n they get their knickers twisted. Throw stones sometimes too. Me creator, he be dead now, he said how were I different from a child, save th' materials o' me body? Nae divine clay 'ere, jus' brass, bronze, bit o' gold n' copper, some granite an' some... other stuff." The amethyst beneath his helmet that serves as his eye is one such thing, another is the diamond in his heart.

[Ironsmith]

By the River
The narrow path opens up to travel alongside the river. It's clearly well traveled. "It good advice. You should con-sid-er." But unless Alan changes his mind, they'll just all keep trudging downriver until they encounter something or night falls.

[By the River]

Alan, of course, does not change his mind.

However, a ways down the river, they'll hear the sounds of indistinct chanting. It's coming from a direction a little ways away from the river; investigating will be a significant digression.

[A Camp That Is Adjacent to a Wrecked Motorway]

"Some of them are still faeries. My friends and I discovered there was a way to cure people who got Buttercup'd, but it involves retrieving some pretty rare objects from dangerous locations," Tristan recounts. "We, heh, we actually tested the first one on me. Worked great, thank God. As you might imagine I really don't want to go through something like that again regardless of what the name attached is."

Seriously.

It was just the worst.

Mind, it was fun and great and wonderful while it was going on but in retrospect and with a clear head it is creepy as heck.

Then?

Severed heads!

Yay!

Tristan grimaces.

"Guessing those were chavs?" he asks.

Outside Lady Aethelflaed's Boarding School Yrs. 7 & 8 Cricket Team's Campsite

"Yep, both of them. That one had Stephanie's air rifle, before it was Stephanie's." She gestures to the head on the left, which has had a pair of cracked sunglasses taped to its face. "He shot Stephanie with it, so it's only fair she gets it now. And she's actually fired real guns, too. She went clay pigeon shooting for her dad's birthday just before the Flash." Obviously it didn't kill her, or she wouldn't be able to use it now.
"You don't have real guns? How come? I thought they were everywhere." Endurance is confused, since when and where he's from ammunition is harder to find than guns. In the UK, guns are available, if you know where to look, but by law they have to be locked up when not in use.

[Outside Camp Sorority?]

Green hums in confusion. "Is an air-propelled gun not a real gun?" She asks. "My database is telling me that they are lethal." She looks up and down Stephanie's rifle, trying to gauge how dangerous it really was.

"...No, perhaps not. As long as you don't shoot your eye out, it can not cause any meaningful harm."

Wastelands Camp

"Aye, religion often be vague. Don't stop priests callin' me blasphemy an' unholy, if'n they get their knickers twisted. Throw stones sometimes too. Me creator, he be dead now, he said how were I different from a child, save th' materials o' me body? Nae divine clay 'ere, jus' brass, bronze, bit o' gold n' copper, some granite an' some... other stuff." The amethyst beneath his helmet that serves as his eye is one such thing, another is the diamond in his heart.

[Wastelands Camp]

"Silver or brass, there isn't much difference." Horace agrees. "I fail to see what's so blasphemous about creating a new life. Especially since your creator took the hard route." He chuckles. "Though between finding a life partner and putting together a complex machine, it's probably a close call which is more difficult."

Horace might have been projecting here. He himself was not especially lucky in love.

[bc56]

By the River

Kothar holds out a hand at the sound of changing. "Hold. Listen." After a few moments of silence, he turns to follow the noise, away from the river. "This way. Quiet." He's surprisingly sneaky, creeping through the undergrowth, and except his bright orange crest, blends in well.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

Seraphina shook her head: no cats, pink-and-yellow or otherwise. "Heal bells might work," but she only knows stuff from video game moves, and not how real-world stuff like healing bells would actually work because she's never actually seen any of those.


It is terrible that his parents might be stone, but to be honest he's glad it's just his parents and not his future-wife.
He looks around at all the statues around. "This has got to be some kind of magic, right? Or some high-tech sciencey thing. So that means there's either some kind of magic or alcohol-mixed-with-bat-poop that can be put on them and that solves everything." That's how science works. Mix alcohol with bat poop and it reverses petrification. "Right?"
He looks between the two. "Right?"

"Yeah, um, we were just talking about how maybe a priest or healer or some kind of magic cat bell could fix this," Seraphina says.

Anyway, so, answering questions.
"I left nearly three weeks ago, last letter I got was a week and a half ago," he says. He thinks. "If a priest could help, then maybe the local church?" He looks around, this time, at the church building, thinking anyone who was in the church is probably stone, too. Including the priest.


There's nothing else significant that can be seen from the skies, other than people being around.
Well, depending on how well Maridia is good at stochastic pattern recognition, the fairy dragon might be able to notice that on streets that run east-to-west, there's slightly more statues on the south side of the street than on the north, but streets that run north-to-south have a pretty even distribution. Likewise, narrower streets have slightly higher concentration than broader streets.

[Rebonack]

[Totally Lost]

Oh that's too bad.

A pink and yellow cat pokemon would have been really useful if they could convince the skitty to help them.

"I don't know anything about healing magic OR bat poop," Khannie admits hesitantly. "But somebody probably does? If there's a church here we could see if the priest is a statue, too. But... no that's probably a bad idea. If the priest could help they would have already turned everyone back to normal, right?"

Khannie figures that's a pretty good guess.

"We should probably leave and find a cave to sleep in or something so we don't get turned into statues, too."

Because maybe whatever turned everyone into a statue is still around?

"None of the statue people look scared or anything so it probably wasn't a monster that did it. They were just doing normal stuff then POOF! they were a statue."

Maridia, meanwhile, gathers no new useful information!

"We should probably tell the priests at Inari's or something I bet they know how to make someone stop being a statue."

Khannie isn't waiting on a reply for that one.

She's hurrying toward the edge of town before the turn people into statues gas or whatever it is gets her. Maybe petrification oil?


[Outside Lady Aethelflaed's Boarding School Yrs. 7 & 8 Cricket Team's Campsite]

"Because you came here from what was left of the United States," Tristan explains as he tries really hard not to pay any attention to the severed heads. "Firearms are pretty common there. These girls came here from England, where guns aren't as plentiful. I came in from the States, too. But it wasn't post apocalyptic. I was just out talking a walk and met a centaur. Things got increasingly weird from there."

The Nexus is really great at upping the anti on the weirdness.

Tristan will cross his arms and wait, hoping they let them into the camp soon so that he can stop thinking about severed heads.


[Village]

"Diamond. Strange human word. The fire gems come from deep in the sea below. It is a place of pilgrimage to collect them. A holy place," Sssnek replies. "I do not understand why the humans would treat a holy thing like it is common. But if they simply do not understand I believe they can be forgiven since the blood price is already paid."

The sheriff, meanwhile, crosses his arms with a huff.

"Sounds like some city slicker put up one of our boys to go steal those rocks of yours. We had no way of knowing those were eggs otherwise he would have gotten a stern talking to," the man says. "What are you lizards willing to trade? What do you want from us?"

Sssnek reaches into his pouch and pulls out a gold nugget the size of a cherry tomato.

"I know the humans value the yellow metal. It is soft and heavy; no good for making tools and weapons. We use it to make toys for the hatchlings. What are the humans willing to trade?"

There's a gasp from a few villagers at the sight of the gold.

[Ironsmith]

By the River

Kothar holds out a hand at the sound of changing. "Hold. Listen." After a few moments of silence, he turns to follow the noise, away from the river. "This way. Quiet." He's surprisingly sneaky, creeping through the undergrowth, and except his bright orange crest, blends in well.

[By the River]

Alan follows, making as little noise as he could.

The group will eventually come across a group of small red humanoids, about half Kothar's height. They're a deep shade of red, with chins that reach down to their waists. Each of them carries a scepter of some sort, carved from the bone of some large animal. They're chanting and dancing around a large firepit; at least, it looks like a firepit. Kothar won't be able to see to the bottom of it.

[bc56]

Village
Kothar doesn't need to explain that. The humans know what gold is. "They want to know what your tribe wants in exchange. The yellow metal is very valuable to them."

by the River
That's strange. What even are those creatures? People? Kothar crouches down in the undergrowth and waits. They're performing some sort of ritual, by the looks of things. Can he get a feeling for what it's about? He extends his divine sense, detecting the presence of holy or unholy things nearby.

[Ironsmith]

by the River
That's strange. What even are those creatures? People? Kothar crouches down in the undergrowth and waits. They're performing some sort of ritual, by the looks of things. Can he get a feeling for what it's about? He extends his divine sense, detecting the presence of holy or unholy things nearby.

[Dantini Pit]

Oh yeah. There's some unholy stuff going on down here. Sort of. It feels less like a crime against the cosmos is happening and more like the universe is groaning, "oh no, it's these jerks again".

Well, with one exception.

Whatever is in that pit should definitely stay in the pit. But the creatures doing the ritual seem to be coaxing it to the surface, and it's going to arrive soon if nobody stops them.

[bc56]

Dantini Pit
Okay, that's enough for Kothar to intervene. Roaring, he rises up out of his hiding place and rushes the group of creatures, aiming to scatter them by means of his superior size and strength. Right now, he just needs to disrupt the ritual. He can deal with the creatures afterwards depending on their reactions.

[Ironsmith]

Dantini Pit
Okay, that's enough for Kothar to intervene. Roaring, he rises up out of his hiding place and rushes the group of creatures, aiming to scatter them by means of his superior size and strength. Right now, he just needs to disrupt the ritual. He can deal with the creatures afterwards depending on their reactions.

[Dantini Pit]

Their response to Kothar's incusion on their ritual is immediate; frighteningly so, even. Without breaking the circle, each of the little red gremlins turns to face Kothar, laughing maniacally. They all briefly shake their scepters a moment before pointing them at him, shooting out an intimidating wall of fire.