Inside 72: Halfway to a Gross

[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cage]

"Umm..." is Nala's reaction when the pink bubble and sparkly transformation springs up.

Oh. Oh my.

She's imagining what this would have been like if G'nichi hadn't gotten big.

If he was still small and cute.

He would be so adorable.

But no, she needs to pay attention this is serious and- wait. How does G'nichi know what Tiamat would or wouldn't want?

Anyway!

Fight time!

The people knocked out by the cultists, violently or otherwise, have little badges placed on them! This causes them to vanish in gross sanguine clouds of mist, no doubt sent away to a bad place. The cultists are moving through the building nabbing everyone!

Nala decides she isn't going to just stand back and wait. She might not have her weapons or armor, but she DOES have the divine magic of Bahamut!

She touches the pendant around her neck, speaks a small prayer in draconic, and then points at one of the cultists! A streak of vaguely dragon-shaped light springs from her finger and strikes the villain!

Oh.

He's still standing.

And he looks mad.

One of the armored cultists and one of the casters are heading for our heroes now. The warrior raises his shield and rushes forward to clobber Nala! The mage, meanwhile, begins weaving a spell.

[5a Violista]

[BDD Sans Thread]

"Headache passed," June says. She taps her head. "Memories are just as clear as the one of that drunk patron groping me yesterday. Seems like they're going to fade like any other memory, though, over time. Already can't remember all of them as clearly as I could when I first got them."

June doesn't bother saying anything that she sees or doesn't see when it comes to kinda-not-exactly seeing Rein's maybe-soul. In the first place, it's rude to do that without permission. In the second place, probably all she would say is that he's probably more of a cat-person than a dog-person.

She listens. "Uh-huh." "Yeah." "Okay." "Got it." Fun fact, it was actually June that got mugged underground, but the specifics of who was where when don't matter and would just complicate the matter. "Yeah, okay, that all checks out." If you asked June why her eyes were still closed, she'd probably say it was because she didn't want to potentially contaminate her own memory by looking at Venus, since this thing seems to change memory by looking. But, really, it's because it's too bright in here.
She points at Venus. "Names."

Venus nods, and starts listing them off. She's not really interested in Rein knowing all her names, but it's better to do that than to miss one. "Nikita Eloy." June nods and puts up a finger. "The Promised Anani." Nod. Two. "Mairi Jolene and Nina Rayen." More nodding. "Talah Cathwulf. Mighty Seraphina Gabrielle. Minerva-June. Florete the Lost. Venus-Buttercup the Frolicking." June nods, eight fingers, and then adds, "And then, of course, the other one." This time, it's Venus's turn to nod.

June finally stands, leaving the pillow behind, and opens her eyes. "Well, whatever happened isn't that bad, then," she says. She walks to Venus, and touches her hand, and then her face, and then her ears, lingering a little much....."Fingers. Eyes. Ears. Your hair wasn't this long. And this is new." Why would it affect the two of them differently? "I could tell those things should only affect memories and thoughts, so why...?"

June looks at Rein, in case he has any clues. At the very least, looking at him seems to have given her a thought.
She snaps again, this time a little better than before. "Oh! The only difference -"
but Venus finishes the sentence, saying, "is I'm a fairy." She facepalms. "Literally made out of beliefs and memories and magic and stuff."

There. That's an answer, at least. Seems a little unsatisfying, though, since it doesn't answer anything about the cultists or why she looks like that or why it didn't change her deer-body or why those memory-elemental things are out in the first place, or anything like that. To Rein, Venus apologizes, saying, "Sorry to make you go out of your way for something that should have been obvious," forgetting that the actual reason he went with her was to make sure she was okay because she was in a lot of pain.


[A Street -- Cat-hating Sewer Monster]

Harley looks over at Red Velvet. She obviously wasn't going to disturb the crime scene. What kind of person does that? Besides, Harley doesn't even need to touch the bench to know it's cold; she can sense heat as good as a snake. (It was helpful when using fire to fight those heresy elementals while blindfolded.)
"Ma'am, I know I don't look it," she looks like a witch or something with a sword, "but I am a Private Eye. Even have a li-"
Sadly, Harley isn't able to finish her sentence, which honestly is good enough. She didn't bring her MERC ID today, only expecting to fight monsters, so she wouldn't be able to prove it. Plus, y'know, her MERC ID has a picture of a half-elf.

But she's not able to finish because of the sudden appearance of the Triumphant Hero.
She sighs.
At least there wasn't that much evidence to destroy, anyway.
To the magical gnome-girl, Harley says (while pointing at Red Velvet) "She's in charge of this investigation. Talk to her, and she'll be able to tell you everything you need to know."

...
Harley mentally apologizes a little to Red Velvet, for sending the Triumphant Hero at her out of a little spite-revenge for thinking Harley would mess up the evidence. At least, it'll make it harder for Red Velvet to bother Harley while she tries to figure this out. The attack likely came from the manhole, she thinks, so...
Speaking of disturbing the crime scene, Harley (who is wearing gloves) goes to the manhole cover and tries to take it off (might be harder, she thinks, because of the Triumphant Hero crashing into the ground) to see if the mysterious cold continues down into the sewers.




[Necropolis of Kysimax]

Beheading someone, even beheading a skeleton, is pretty rude. She's not sure how skeletons work, but what if beheading him kills him? That would be pretty awful.

Once he stops struggling, Venus removes her arm from his, and backs away. Her sword backs away, too.
Her arm resets to a 'ready' position, since....well, the skeleton hasn't really said anything. So she's not really sure what he's thinking.

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

Once released, the skeleton lowers his sword. He bows to Venus and removes something from within his ribcage, offering it to her. It's a small, ornate copper key, coated in verdigris. The handle is cast into the shape of a sword, and there are faint letters on its surface, too worn to read in its current state. With that done, there's a sound not unlike a soft, contented sigh, and the skeleton collapses into loose bones.

[Rebonack]

[A Street -- Cat-hating Sewer Monster]

This is going to be one of those investigations, isn't it? The sort where well-meaning adventurers arrive in a continuous stream, testing Red Velvet's lady-like demeanor.

Well!

She isn't about to let them get the better of her. Certainly not! She's about to interrupt the Private Investigator who certainly doesn't look it (that whole ensemble is just a tad gauche for Red's taste) when someone else riding a tiny star interrupts her interruption.

Oh goodness. This is going to be harder than Red anticipated. Look how adorable she is!

Red Velvet scarcely manages to avoid squeeing in glee at the sight of the child in her wonderful little dress and assumes the role of the very serious and very authoritative grownup.

"Now aren't you just delightfully precious? I know you want to help, dear, but this is very important and very dangerous grownup business. A very bad monster has been hurting little girls about your age and I would be simply heartbroken should another be harmed. So why don't you run along and find some friends to play with, hmm? Perhaps well away from any suspicious mare-hole covers?"

Red Velvet is quite certain that the child isn't going to obey her request. It's clear to her that this girl is possessed of significant arcane power, though the precise flavor isn't bouquet she's familiar with. It's all bright and pretty and sparkly but there's something else, some nefarious undercurrent. Like a serpent hiding in a flower bed. She needs to at least try to dissuade the child. If her foe is what she believes it to be she would prefer if no one living accompanied her.

Speaking of?

One of Red's ears flicks toward the sewer.

Of course the witch is already wandering off. Goodness, what a snaggled mess.

Harley will find that the unnatural cold is clinging to everything around the cover. Even the ladder that descends into the darkness is so frigged it's painful to touch. There's no sound of flowing water down there. Everything is frozen. Thick, gloomy darkness, darkness so thick it can be felt, hangs heavy in those tunnels.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Pretty sure she thinks you look adorable right now. She had a look.
The staff is completely failing to get G'nichi's point.

Besiiiides, it's iconic! Everyone who sees you will remember you! It's the ultimate in hero advertising.
And it's functionaaaaal~
It does not elaborate on how it's functional, despite the delighted sing-song tone.

Now kick their butts. Think up some cool things to do and I'll help you out!

[A Street -- Cat-hating Sewer Monster]

The little gnome looks from Harley, to Red Velvet.
For a moment she looks incredulous.
"Obviously that's why I'm here. No other girls are gonna kick the bucket on my watch."
It would appear the mare's assumption here was very predictably accurate.

"If anybody should go run for cover, it's you two. I'm an experienced monster hunter."
She does a pose with the giant paintbrush that would probably look pretty dignified and heroic if A) she wasn't only a few feet tall, B) she was wielding something other than a paintbrush, and C) if her little ponytail didn't billow out around her head in a flurry of sparkles at the declaration.

Instead it is just pretty cute.

After that brief distraction, she latches onto that mention of "suspicious mare-hole covers", sees Harley poking around at the one next to her.
"Perfect! A starting point for my hunt."

Her paintbrush is dramatically waved as she leaps up in the air and quickly slashes the instrument into the shape of another star beneath her, evidently painting into existence another one of those peculiar purple warpstars.
Pretty obvious she's planning on just riding it straight into the sewer.

[Earl of Purple]

Arkham Street Attic

Looking out the window's a little awkward, as it is high in the wall. Mostly all the Swordsman can see are the leaves of the ivy, but beyond that there's a roofline of steep, pointed roofs much like- he could guess- the one he's standing in. Beyond those roofs, however, things get much weirder. There's a modern skyscraper topped with an onion dome; over there, a red granite steeple crusted with gargoyles and grotesques, and beyond that an immense oak tree with small brick houses built on its branches. Looking at the street below is impossible from this window; the roof below it pitches too steeply and it's placed too high in the wall.

The chest is open, and lifting the lid reveals the hinges have broken. Inside the chest are some moth-eaten green velvet curtains, swaddling an elegant rapier with a silver mesh basket hilt. The sword's sheathed in a fine wooden sheath, hawthorn if the Swordsman knows how to identify it, and on a red leather belt, human leather if the Swordsman knows how to identify that, which is probably trickier. I believe the Swordsman has a sword, so this probably doesn't interest him. Also lying within the chest is a plain bronze urn sealed with white wax. A red rose petal, sealed in a glass paperweight. A baked clay tablet, covered in arcane symbols and glyphs.

Delmah Phor

"What kind of a sacrifice? Like, favourite flowers, a glass of wine?" Jack's more curious than anything, since she's not been here before. She takes the fried locusts back and pops one in her mouth. She grins at Rose, forgiving the overindulgence; Jack had no idea humans ate this kind of thing, and it tastes really different when she's this shape. Particularly because they've been cooked and spiced, and she's not eating them as she catches them, but also bird and human tastebuds don't map exactly.

[Deathkeeper]

Moondoe Cafe

G'nichi takes note that the cultists don't seem like the type for conversation.
Obviously they have to protect Nala! They would be doing that even if he wasn't on a date with the person in question!
G'nichi throws his arm forward with the staff outstretched-
how about they get that guy off Nala and throw him at the mage before either of them can get their nefarious deeds done? The staff sure seems to like ribbons so that should be fine, right?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Aw yeah, I love some enemy-on-enemy tactics!

In perhaps defense of its clothing choices earlier, as G'nichi waves the staff forward (it seems to bend very slightly in the process, like it's made of stiff putty, before snapping back straight) the gem adorning the top of it sparkles and glows...
...at which point all the ribbons drifting around our hero's arm dart forward, tangling around themselves in the approximate shape of a large hand, which will try to pick said cultist up and Fastball Special it right at the casting cultist.

[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cafe]

The ribbons go streaming toward the sword cultists and-!

The mage cultist casts her spell!

In this case, a barrier of magical force briefly snaps into existence around the cultist warrior and flares outward, preventing the ribbon from getting a grip!

That dastardly mage doing mage things.

This gives the warrior cultist time to charge forward and thrust his sword straight at Nala-

-who kicks the table they were sitting at right up into the cultist's path.

The guy's sword is now stuck in a table.

This makes it really hard to use it for sword things.

[Deathkeeper]

Moondoe Cafe

Well, that didn't work. Time for Plan B.
G'nichi jumps forward and tries to bludgeon the cultist over the head with the rod. With his other hand he grabs the tablecloth and tries to pull it over the cultist's head as a distraction!
He would go get that mage but the big guy is threatening Nala!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Halfway through the swing, the jeweled end of the staff inflates to slightly more than the size of the average beach ball and becomes distinctly more hammer-shaped.
That'll probably help with the bonking.

If you want to be extra cool, G'nichi, you gotta shout out cool battle lines!

[Reinholdt]

[BDD Sans Thread]

Well, Rein's maybe-soul is only a little on fire and if she's not worried about it and Rein's not worried about it, then there's really no point in bringing it up. It doesn't seem to actually be burning, which is good.

Wow, it was like watching one of those sister movies. Where you meet your twin sister and swap places with them for two weeks and nothing but hijinks ensue and then some lesson is learned and they swap back which is dumb cause one sister has all the money, definitely be that sister.

Though Reinholdt does raise an eyebrow at the name listing. Now he really wants to know that last name. But he can't think of any way to convince them or trick them into telling him. Agggh, that not knowing is going to gnaw at him for WEEKS after this, at least. It drives him to start biting his lower lip, nibbling at it.

"No no. Don't worry about it. That's a start, and only part of the reason." Rein assures her. It is good to know. That's progress at least. It must be awful being made from someone else's memories and beliefs because if that changes you change and normally you get at least a little say in how you change. "So how exactly have you changed then? Are you able to tell?" Her soul hair is longer? That's not very detailed.

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

Ergh! The girl knows she's lying. Raven could...

No. All this lying doesn't suit her. This outfit doesn't suit her. This was the worst!

The doors to the truck shuts as Raven's mouth turns up in a cruel smirk. With a dramatic and honestly impressive flourish, she rips her peasant manual labor clothes off in a single swift motion to reveal a gothic lolita dress underneath. Black, with green and white frills and a pair of small black wings fastened to the back, it's far more elegant than the hideous thing she was wearing before. Must have been really hot wearing both of those though, just for this moment. But there are some lengths you have to go to in order to be a proper villain.

"Nya Ha Ha!" Raven gives a stilted laugh in a deep, regal princess voice as her mecha-zombies come to her aid, lifting her up in a fancy chair, probably previously hidden just behind the truck? Possibly coming from nowhere in particular. It's really hard to say, the transition is very smooth.

"You needn't worry little girl! These corpses will get to live on in a better world! As the bedrock of my world! All shall know and fear the name... RAVEN EBONDARK!! NYA HA HA HA HA!" It's such a slow laugh.

One thing we also learned today is that zombies can jump! Well mecha-zombies can mostly jump as they leap onto the top of the truck, chair and all. Granted, one of them lost one of their legs in the process, but it's fine. The point is, there's one catgirl empress Ebondark laughing maniacally atop a truck that's making that hissing noise trucks make when they're about to start moving.

Spoiler

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[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cafe]

BONK!

The cultists warrior just got clobbered by a hammer and went down hard.

The cultist mage doesn't seem very happy about this! She backs up several steps and-

"In the name of Bahamut! GROVEL!" Nala commands, pointing at the mage.

The mage's eyes go wide with terror for a moment before she suddenly drops to her knees before plopping flat on her face, covering the back of her head with her hands.

That probably won't last very long.

Nala really isn't a super powerful cleric. She has certainly got some clericy magic at her disposal but compared to G'nichi's absolutely adorable (and powerful?) hammer she can't really compete.

She isn't helpless, however.

[Deathkeeper]

Moondoe Cafe

"Tie him up!" suggests G'nichi to Nala as he runs over to the mage.
Let's try this one again! he points the staff at the groveling mage and suggests that she tie this guy up too. Once these two cultists are bound he can worry about any others.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

Being entirely, 100% honest, Karaglen is suddenly deeply unsure if this is a weird game or prank now, as opposed to a genuine Dangerous Situation.

Dressing up in fun outfits for performances is something she is completely onboard with, up until it involves actual dead bodies and then it seems less okay (but she also generally doesn't understand necromancy, so this could just be a bias on her part).
Though it is possible Raven just dresses like that all the time, is genuinely trying to be evil, and is just not quite nailing it (in her opinion).

This confusion is plainly evident on her face for at least a solid two or three seconds.
"Um, that's...a very cute dress!"
Yeah, she has no idea what she's supposed to be doing here.

Everyone's already dead, so no healing is needed, she's...not actually hurting anyone, so no one to defend, but this also doesn't really seem Good either...

Her hands pull out a capped fountain pen from her bag, along with her notepad again.
"Can I get your autograph?"

[Moondoe Cafe]

One cultist, tied up in a bow, coming right up!
Very, very literally.

As before, a large portion of G'nichi's ribbon adornment flairs out around his staff towards the intended target, whereupon it will be tasked with very thoroughly tying them up with a neat bow on top.
It's not opposed to trying to keep them in the groveling position either.

[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Okay.

Well.

Now we've got one really fancy gift-wrapped mage cultist. She's so thoroughly trussed that she hasn't a chance for making any of the arcane gestures needed to perpetrate some spellwork. Does the staff add any glitter, too? Or just a nice pink bow? Because clearly this cultist isn't feeling sparkly enough. If she felt sparkly then she wouldn't be out here kidnapping people to steal their blood. That is a highly unsparkly hobby.

As for the other cultist?

Nala glances down at him.

Then to the table they were sitting at.

In a wonderful display of quick thinking, she yanks the table cloth THROUGH his sword several time, creating several long strips of fabric. She'll use those to bind his hands and feet.

Then?

She'll swipe his sword and shield.

Nala doesn't really have much experience with using a sword. She's more on the Life side of Bahamut's domain rather than the War side. But she'll just have to hope for the best, right? Maybe one of the other cultists has a nice cudgel...

"The rest of the cultists are still in there," Nala whispers, pointing into the cafe proper. Sure enough, the villains are still rounding up prisoners. Four cultists left, including the leader with the extra fancy robe and mask.

[Reinholdt]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

"Oh, uh, thank you!" Raven calls out sincerely at the dress compliment. It IS a very nice dress. Very cute. She quite loves it. Still, she calls this out as if she's just leaving.

Which doesn't quite happen because suddenly the truck driver hits the brakes. It's enough to make Raven sway in her seat a little and she has to put her hand on her head to hold her cute hat in place.

"An... an autograph?" She sits there, sincerely thinking about it for a moment. It's... possibly a trap. But then again, much more likely is that this girl was just emotionally blown away by how awesome and amazing Raven is. She couldn't blame her. Raven would want an autograph too.

"Well alright. Just for you, this one time kid. Cherish it, for it'll be worth a lot some day." Her cybernetic eye glows and the zombies jump back down off the truck to escort Raven's chair to in front of Kara. One of the mecha-zombies reaches out with its free hand for the notebook and pen, waiting for Kara to transfer them over so it can give them to its mistress. Raven's not the type to lean out of her held aloft chair to grab something herself. That would be undignified.

[Deathkeeper]

Moondoe Cafe

Well, four against two, huh? Not great odds, not great. G'nichi strides into the room to present himself as a threat before they can vanish any more people. Waving the rod around, he shoots the leader a nasty look.
The rod likes bubbles, it seems. Remember that bubble she put him in to recover when he got his face smashed in? How about something like that to trap these minions while he takes care of the big one?
The leader wouldn't fall for a bubble trap. Bosses don't work like that.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

This all seems...weirdly familiar...
Karaglen can't quite place why it seems so familiar, but it is. Probably nothing significant.

"Thank you very much! I don't get to collect autographs very often."
Her face continues to say "confused", but she does put a smile on while she hands the pen and notepad (turned to a blank page) to the zombie.
It is just a plain, if nice, pen and notepad. Nothing magical at all.

Sure doesn't seem like a trap!

[Moondoe Cafe]

Aw, G'nichi remembers their first day together. If it wasn't a designated weapon, the staff would find that almost romantic.

In gleeful agreement with his plan, a spray of bubbles fly out with the wave of the staff. Most of them are about the size of baseballs, but everythin every time they touch something they expand into whatever size comfortably encloses it. Tables, chairs, cultists, they're open to all.

[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cafe]

It seems like it would be kind of hard for G'nichi to forget his first day with the staff, right?

The day in question was quite...

Dramatic.

To say the least.

Regardless!

BUBBLES!

Bubbles looking for friends.

So unexpected is the attack that ALL the cultists (and several unconscious victims) find themselves bubbled!

"You DARE!?" thunders the cultist leader in the fancy hat. He smites his staff against the bottom of the bubble, causing it to pop without difficult. "DIE!"

And then releases a swirling maelstrom of fire, lightning, acid, cold, and poison at our heroes!

Seems like this jerk is one of those villains who uses his strongest attack first.

[Reinholdt]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

"Well, you're very welcome. You are truly honored to be blessed by my signature this day. It is a rare and special occurrence."

Raven will take the notebook and pen and sign her name. It is exceptionally flowery and there's a heart where the v of Raven is and a second one at the end of the k in Ebondark, not that the two names are all that readable. And if nothing sinister happens, she will return the notebook and pen to the zombie who will return them to the girl.

"Now I really am very busy. I'm afraid I cannot linger." Just because the little girl isn't a trap, doesn't mean the authorities won't eventually catch on that Raven killed the real corpse collectors, stole their outfits, and hijacked a bunch of bodies from an attack. Raven would rather not be around when that happens.

[Artemis97]

[Delmah Phor]

The acolyte pockets the coins. "That'll do." She doesn't say thank you, but it wasn't in the nature of drow to be grateful, especially to outsiders.

The priestess sips her tea and grins. "Oh no, Lolth likes living sacrifices best." Preferably living, thinking, sacrifices, but that wasn't really allowed here in the Nexus. Still, people disappeared under mysterious circumstances, especially if they'd pissed off a priestess.

[Vahnavoi]

Arkham Street Attic

Looking out the window's a little awkward, as it is high in the wall. Mostly all the Swordsman can see are the leaves of the ivy, but beyond that there's a roofline of steep, pointed roofs much like- he could guess- the one he's standing in. Beyond those roofs, however, things get much weirder. There's a modern skyscraper topped with an onion dome; over there, a red granite steeple crusted with gargoyles and grotesques, and beyond that an immense oak tree with small brick houses built on its branches. Looking at the street below is impossible from this window; the roof below it pitches too steeply and it's placed too high in the wall.

The chest is open, and lifting the lid reveals the hinges have broken. Inside the chest are some moth-eaten green velvet curtains, swaddling an elegant rapier with a silver mesh basket hilt. The sword's sheathed in a fine wooden sheath, hawthorn if the Swordsman knows how to identify it, and on a red leather belt, human leather if the Swordsman knows how to identify that, which is probably trickier. I believe the Swordsman has a sword, so this probably doesn't interest him. Also lying within the chest is a plain bronze urn sealed with white wax. A red rose petal, sealed in a glass paperweight. A baked clay tablet, covered in arcane symbols and glyphs.

The man indeed has a sword with him, two in fact, but he is not averse to having a third. So the rapier is one of the first things he picks up, peeling away the curtains and hanging the sword from his sash, next to the others. The paperweight doesn't seem too important, but is easy to carry, so what the hell, he picks it up and stashes it in the folds of his shirt.

Then there's the urn and the tablet... the swordsman looks back at the mirror portal he came from. On one hand, he sort of wants to take all of this back with him. On the other, part of the reason why he risked coming here is that he's in need of a library. Based on what he could glimpse through the window, this mansion is in the middle of a city, a quite large one at that. He has a much better chance finding a well-stocked library here than on a little island populated by fisher men.

He walks to the mirror and speaks into it: "I think this place is in the middle of a city. I'm going to do some searching. Don't wait for me. I'll come looking for you when I'm done." He doesn't know if Frigate and the sailors can hear him, but maybe they can read his lips. He gives them a thumbs up, then returns to the chest. He tucks the clay tablet in the fold of his shirt too - it is unwieldy and uncomfortable against his skin, but it's the best available option. Then he picks up the urn with one hand and heads for the hatch. Hopefully, it's not locked or stuck, he'll have to rip it open with raw strength if it is. He is not quite sure if he trusts the ladder - if the fall behind the hatch is not too dramatic, he figures he'll just jump down.

[Ironsmith]

[Delmah Phor]

Nobody seems to like hearing that.

Miranda looks silently furious that they'd even considered asking for money for living sacrifices. Especially in the context of "in exchange for medical treatment"; had Eun been in more serious trouble, such an act would be tantamount to extortion. She also didn't like the implication that they had such sacrifices ready to go, just waiting for someone to buy them.

Eun and Rose both look horrified. Apparently, they had they same general thoughts as Miranda on the subject, but with a little more emphasis on what those poor creatures must be going through right now. Eun in particular looks to be ready to faint again.

Vlad shrugs. "So... how does Lolth feel about having celibate priestesses?"

"VLAD!" The other three exclaim simultaneously.

"What? We used to have animal sacrifices a few thousand years ago, and up until about twenty years ago, we still had slaughterhouses. And we've all personally done worse. It doesn't seem entirely fair to judge them for it. 'Oh, you guys ritually kill animals. Great. I tore a man in half last week. You wanna go grab dinner?'"

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

Nothing suitably nefarious happens as the pad is signed, nor after Karaglen recollects it.

"Aw, even your signature is cute."
Maybe she should work on her own signature? It surprisingly doesn't come up often.
"Well, good luck with your...bodies?"

It's not the most convincing goodbye in the world, but it's the best Karaglen can do. This remains just very, very weird to her.

But that's all fine.
She has a willingly given aspect of Raven, courtesy the autograph, and a willingly accepted aspect of herself, courtesy the rose.

She's just going to go check in with Uncle Yurioc and ask his opinion, then use all of the aforementioned items to either track Raven down herself or send along the authorities. Kara never got too deep into Uncle Xeni's magic explanations, but she does know that having little bonds like this make it pretty easy to do some things.
The rose really was a gift, but it gets to serve a dual-purpose now.

Karaglen innocently waves goodbye to the possible-villainess, feeling at least somewhat confident that nothing too bad can happen with just some dead bodies in the meantime.

[Reinholdt]

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

Raven blushes a little, flushed with pride. "Well, uh, thank you," the catgirl nekromancer says. This has been... nice. Though it does detract a little from her villainous laughter as she returns to the roof of the truck and they all drive off. Her heart's just not as in it anymore. The moment has been lost! Maybe because no one tried to stop her.

Success?

Well, there's one more autograph out there, so that'll be good enough. Plus new corpses are always needed!

So Raven and a van of former Inside citizens gets away. For now.

Should Karaglen track Raven, she'll find they head to the far city of Skyside. In particular a shop called 'Black Abyss Auto Body Shop'. It's a strange place to be sure. Black tinted windows if the brief flashes of imagery is to be believed.

[Deathkeeper]

Moondoe Cafe

G'nichi slams his staff on the ground to produce a big (probably pink) barrier to protect himself and Nala from the magic attack!
And then he can-wait a second.
"Wait hold on that was a Tiamat themed spell- are you guys worshipping five-headed dragon Tiamat, sworn enemy of Bahamut, or dead goddess Tiamat from whose blood life was fashioned? Because you know those are two different goddesses from different worlds, right?" Though he can't help but agree that it is rather confusing.

[Recaiden]

[Heresy Fighters]

"No, you are beyond mine!" Purple ducks under the swinging fist and attempts to jab the cutting torch into Gold's armpit. Using a sword restricted her to a fighting style she was unfamiliar with. But brawling with bare knuckles and improvised weapons? She knows that well.

"That doesn't mean what you think it means!" Gold cries back, almost laughing.

The torch sweeps under their arm, but there's not much of a reaction. Maybe there aren't so many heat-sensitive parts there? It looks like the back and the enter of the left arm are most likely to be vulnerable.

Gold, for their part, backs away and takes a defensive stance. Purple has the longer reach; they really don't want to keep fighting like this.
Just need a moment to arm themselves again...

[Chaotic Bob]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Of course the barrier is pink, why wouldn't it be pink?
What weapon does G'nichi think he's wielding?

The barrier may also surreptitiously shrink slightly to encourage Nala to be closer to G'nichi.
For no particular reason.

[A Street - Corpse Collection]

Karaglen watches Raven leave, with a perplexed little frown on her face.
This probably wasn't the best decision she could have made, but...it's probably fine. Probably.

Once Raven is out of sight, she quickly continues on her way to Yurioc's.
There's less actual talking these days, as his mind is stretched thin and wide as it is.

A swirling maelstrom of papers move around a blue, vaguely mouse-shaped blob of light in the middle of the main room. Some are floating still in the air, swarms of pens buzzing about scribing hundreds of lines of text. Pages fully covered in text zip across the rim, slotting themselves into a large open book that does not seem to be growing thicker.

Opening her bag, Kara places several jars of ink into the air alongside more pens, which are pulled into the room's paper-storm immediately.

She watches it all for a few moments, with a bittersweet expression, before a gap opens and the glowing mouse-shape floats out towards her. They stand for a few minutes, silently staring at each other and sharing a mental exchange, before she gives a small little wave and runs out the door.

The mouse watches through the window as little dragon wings sprout from her back and she flies across the city.

[Rebonack]

[Moondoe Cafe]

Definitely no reason.

As the barrier snaps up and contracts slightly, no doubt to increase the density of its protective power, Nala takes a few stumbling steps closer to G'nichi.

She's holding onto his arm, doing her best not to flinch away from the raging magical energy slamming into the barrier.

Mission accomplished!

The priest, meanwhile, looks pretty mad that his blasty spell didn't work.

"Fools! You can not stand before the might of Tiamat!"

He levels his staff at the dragony folks again and then-

His staff kinda sparks but doesn't do anything. His eyes widen in shock. "Wh-what? No! Why isn't it working?" he rages as the end of the weapon sputters droplets of draconic energy impotently.