Inside 72: Halfway to a Gross

[FireFox]

She turns the metallic taste over in her mouth. "I'm ready. Rather get this whole thing locked in and settled sooner than later." A diplomatic way of stating how deeply she hates this and wants it to be over, to be sure. "Much as it'll be better with a fuller crew, don't know if I can fault him for his eagerness to get the show on the road."

She takes a deep drag. "When you got sworn in and all, did you ever think you'd be..." She waves her free hand vaguely. "Doing this, exactly? Hell if I did. 'Course, at the time I was two steps from belting out the national anthem without warning, so even if I'd be told 'you will have to do circus things' I'd probably never have blinked an eye."

[Golden Circus Office]

"When I joined up I knew the job isn't what we do so much as how we do it. It's in the name, after all." The Royal Clandestine Agency, he means. "And I cannot possibly overstate to you just how damn weird work has been ever since I got to the Nexus. But... ending up as Facilities Manager for a Circus? This one's the farthest I've been from what I imagined as a kid."

Rhett smokes holding the cigarette between thumb and index finger, with the rest of his hand curled over the lit end. He takes a quiet pull, then breathes a little smoke out at a time. "Back when I was first starting out, management was entirely old guys with old ideas. They'd take someone like you and give her... very simple assignments. Almost obvious ones. Don't you think those jobs create as many problems as they solve?"

[Beans]

[Golden Circus Office]

"When I joined up I knew the job isn't what we do so much as how we do it. It's in the name, after all." The Royal Clandestine Agency, he means. "And I cannot possibly overstate to you just how damn weird work has been ever since I got to the Nexus. But... ending up as Facilities Manager for a Circus? This one's the farthest I've been from what I imagined as a kid."

Rhett smokes holding the cigarette between thumb and index finger, with the rest of his hand curled over the lit end. He takes a quiet pull, then breathes a little smoke out at a time. "Back when I was first starting out, management was entirely old guys with old ideas. They'd take someone like you and give her... very simple assignments. Almost obvious ones. Don't you think those jobs create as many problems as they solve?"

"Most of what I got before the... shift wasn't terribly simple. Had to set everything up before I closed the deal." She nods, exhaling smoke from her nostrils. "A scalpel making calculated incisions, not a hammer chucked at a window from across the street. Go too simple and you get lots of noise, glass on the ground. Subtle as a big box of plates falling down the stairs. Glad I didn't join during the bad old days. Either they wouldn't have found my skills... or they would, and just apply them all wrong." She looks down at her glittery outfit. "'Course, dunno what they'd have done with my ability to twist up and balance on stuff. Probably not this."

[Deathkeeper]

Sam's Room

Sam could probably guess what Alva was going to say from her expression alone. It was that special blend of tired, annoyed, and just a spritz of exasperation that one might normally use when talking about a troublesome child or a particularly disobedient pet. "Okay, yeah, that's about par for the course." she said, running her fingers through her hair. "I mean, not the worst I've heard about. Like I heard of one particularly bad case where there was this deposed prince in a giant mansion which had all of the utensils and furniture possessed by spirits from the silverware to the sofa. Not sure if he was mad before the haunting or after... she said, trying to remember.

The way she sat up at the idea of someone who might be able to take care of her uninvited house haunts, though, would likely give Sam the impression that if she weren't shape-changed at the moment, her ears would definitely have perked up at the news. "Ooooh, really? Well I suppose a 'loyal customer' by circumstance might not be the worst thing. I mean, people hire landscapers for season-long attention because, well, grass keeps growing so if the spirits keep coming.." she didn't find the idea distasteful at least.

Sam's Room

Sam goes over to a drawer and withdraws an entire block of business cards. With his four hands he sorts through them and after a couple of minutes comes up with a business card with a slightly singed edge.
"Here it is. Well, here you go. I can't say the service was great. The lady was kind of rude, to be honest. But the poltergeist did get removed so..." It's been long enough that he's cooled down about the incident. It's just something mildly annoying that happened at his last place.

[Vahnavoi]

Arkham Street

The door is smashed and the Swordsman goes down the garden path. The gate is not locked, but it is rusty, and the hinges squeal when it's pulled open. Just as well; the fence is four metres tall and cast iron, with narrow spaces between the bars and spikes on top, designed to be hard to climb or jump. The squeal wakes a boulder resting next to the gate. It lifts up and reveals that it is not, in fact, a boulder but rather a very large mollusc shell, though it's not a mollusc living in it at the moment. A giant hermit crab has moved in, and it turns around to see the Swordsman. "Ah, greetings! I was told to wait here as there would be a viewer that wanted a look at the house today." The crab moves its eye-stalks and twists one of its claws to look at a watch on the back of it. "Oh, my. I appear to have drifted off; the viewing was supposedly fifteen minutes ago. Still, if you've just arrived there's no harm done, hey? It's a nice house, structurally sound despite the unpleasantness, with lots of large rooms at a very reasonable price. It comes undecorated, but that simply means you can make your mark on it. One exception- the basement. The basement is a fully equipped magical workshop; my understanding is the last resident, may they rest in peace, was a wizard who made a living through enchanted objects. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Or does the Swordsman want to interrupt the hermit crab estate agent, with the revelation he doesn't plan on buying the mansion.

"I own but a few coins for money", the swordsman says bluntly, "so unless you accept a man's honest word or services as a pledge, I don't think I can pay for more than the door I just broke. How, uh, how expensive is it...?" He hides the urn behind his back as he says it. It probably won't help negotiations to admit he already plundered some of the property.

[Recaiden]

[Perfectly Normal Phone Call]

"I got captured," June says, getting it out of the way fast. "I got away, so I'm okay now."

Meanwhile, the person whose phone is being borrowed starts to worry about if they got wrapped up in some sort of weird fugitive thing.

"But. They might know where you are and they definitely wanted to find you. Maybe they're all dead, though: there was an explosion, and a lot of fighting."

"O-kay. Good." Well, getting captured is bad, but getting free is good.

But then comes much worse news. They know. She didn't get away after all.
"Need. To. Leave?" How long before they arrive, if they know this place?
What about June? Is he going to be safe there?
"See. You. Where?"

[Heresy Fighters]

"Oof!" Purple is thrown into a cart of cabbages, which go bouncing into the road. She gets back up. "Cryptic nonsense isn't going to convince me to let you do whatever horrible thing you're planning."

No! The poor cabbages!

After throwing Purple, Gold hauls themself back to their feet as well, nudging aside an approaching cabbage with their toes.
"Well, it seems I cant stop you from stopping me the easy way."
They tilt their right hand a bit, so as to point their palm at Purple - no, at bits of broken cabbage-cart behind her, which suddenly slide forward, trying to sweep the hero off her feet.
"What would convince you? Do you know?"

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Newspaper]

The lock on the cage is no longer a lock.

It is now a cute, frilly fabric heart laying on the floor.

That appears to be a pretty effective means of lock-picking.

G'nichi is now free to exit the cage with the prisoners! Should he snoop a bit he'll learn several things pretty quickly. First? The cultists appear to be feeding people through the press and collecting the blood on the other side. Which is really terrible. Nearby the blood is being used to power some kind of ritual circle which no doubt is intended to result in something unwholesome. There are two other cages, neither of which is relatively close to the press. One is guarded by six mook-looking cultists. The other has only a single, nastier looking cultist who appears to be trying to convince the prisoners to devote themselves to the Dead Goddess.

The dude has a scorpion claw. And tail.

Why would a dragon goddess have scorpion themed minions? Weird.

G'nichi has several options here. He could get the prisoners he has already freed to safety with little trouble, but more people would be getting blood-pressed in the mean time. Or he could try to free some more prisoners. Or he could try to shut down the press and the ritual, but that would definitely rile all the cultists.

What's it going to be?


[A Street - Cat-hating Sewer Monster]

Red Velvet, for her part, doesn't employ some of her grosser magic here. No, she trots out a horn blast of rainbowy power shimmering with the colors of sunset. One of her bolts nails a shadow dead-center, causing the aurora of light to rapidly eat across it like embers devouring a sheet of tinder paper. Within a few scant moments the shadow is gone, leaving three shadows remaining. Oddly, Red's chest heaves with a spasm as she suppresses herself from throwing up on the spot. There's a pretty good reason for that. She wants to wait to make sure the nightshade isn't lurking around waiting to murder them. A battle is no place for several confused fillies.

The shadows aren't particularly inclined to try touching the star, so the passive defense is less of an issue. The sparks flying everywhere are definitely a problem, though. One of them gets zapped pretty badly, leaving it smouldering. Both the injured shadow and its fellows vanish back into the darkness again, apparently disinclined to attack well-defend targets when those targets are already aware of them.

Ears swiveling this way and that, Red waits for a good thirty seconds or so to make sure no more attacks are forthcoming.

Then?

"nnnnnuggghh..."

She barfs shadowy black ooze all over the ground.

Oh gods why is there so much of it?

"Ugh... so unlady-like," Red frets as she wipes her mouth with a fetlock.

The goopy black puddle then sort of... stands up? Color and texture rapidly resolve until there stands a little kirin filly, her coat sky blue and her mane sea green. She tries taking a few shaky steps only to fall on her butt.

"You saved me!" the filly announces. "It was so scary! I was talking to a kitty he said I could wish for anything and then-"

"Hush, little one," Red says, putting her on the head. "We'll get you and the rest of the girls to safety. Please, do stay quiet and close."

The filly's voice drops to a whisper as she manages to wobbly rise to her hooves. "What about my daddy, though? He's still sick I was going to use my wish to wish him better."

[Shadowcaller]

[Sewer System Purple]

"An um, audio signal, two-way. Enough to converse and little more." If Sargon will only be attending as a projection that should do fine, right? In fact the angel steps a bit forward, as if they had agreed already.
"And how do we refer to you, oh servant of the people?"
The mutant just watches the proceedings.

Pennilan's Tavern

Now that is certainly not what Jim was expecting.
"Well. That's definitely not something I've ever tried before but you're certainly welcome to. I just...go to sleep and you pick me up?" he asks her.
They have officially exited anything resembling his expertise and he does not have any idea where this is going.

[Two Detectives]

"She's Ithuriel, an angel. We joined the force on the same day," Michalson explains. His voice is firm and it's clear he won't budge on this. Something of a change, since normally his voice goes between resignation and formal, emotionless rattling off of regulation-approved phrases. "I need someone I trust to have my back out there."

[Sewer System Purple]

"Should be fine then." The fiend commander looks at their more fleshy counterpart who makes a dismissive gesture.

"And I am Pyrthon if we're going to be sharing names. I assume you have them as well then?" He looks to the angels as the red team is busy fiddling with what is presumably the projection device.

Pennilan's Tavern

Jaahlyn lets out an internal sigh of relief. She seemed to have momentarily forgotten how private dreams could be. She had certainly not intended to pry at Jim's inner thoughts so she was glad he took it this way. They were still relative strangers so this dream-walking might be seen as far too premature.

Maybe that wine had affected her more than she though?

Still, she smiles back as she felt a strange confidence in this course of action. "You wouldn't even have to fall asleep on your own. I could, ah, put you to sleep easily as long as you'd agree to it. Then,ah, another cool thing is that time is relative in dreams so could just doze off for a minute and you would have felt like an hour had passed in the dream. So it's pretty practical that way."

[Two Detectives]

"Ah, I do recall hearing that name now. I know her, and it should be fine. I will call you back tomorrow after lunch so we all can have a little chat together. Now I need to go though so unless there was anything else..." And if there really was nothing else that Michalson wanted to bring up, Aitana will bid her farewells and hang up.

Ava steps closer and looks curiously at Michalson once he finishes the call but waits for him to speak up first.

[Morty]

[Two Detectives]

Michalson sighs deeply and his shoulders slump. The energy he mustered moments ago seems to drain from his body, leaving him slouching.

"There was a terrorist attack in New Inside and I got roped into investigatin' it. It was a stupid thing I should be too old and smart to allow. That's about the long and short of it."

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan's Tavern

Well, it sounds weird but nothing more weird than playing music with drifting sprites of existence.
"As long as it's safe I guess we could try it. But you'd have to actually touch my dream first, wouldn't you? Mine tend to be kind of weird, you know." he doesn't remember them very well most of the time. But like many people they're often just scatterings of concepts.

Abandoned Newspaper

”Make a run for it. I’m going to shut the lights to draw them to me and cover your escape.” G’nichi whispers to the captives. He sneaks out to a secluded spot and points his staff at the sky! Specifically the lights. With a bolt of JUSTICE ENERGY he’ll use Bell’s power to overload the electricity and knock out the power to cut off the lights and the printing press torture machines. This should stop most of the cultist activity.
Naturally G’nichi starts moving immediately before the cultists can get to the spot he fired the beam from.

[Earl of Purple]

Delmah Phor

"So! Um, sorry to change the subject," Jack really isn't, actually, and isn't pretending otherwise, "but I'm a tour guide and these guys have just arrived in the City, and I'm showing them around. But I've not been here before; is there anything here you think we really should see? Or try, like a local delicacy you can't get anywhere else? I've already tried the locusts, they're really good." Jack glances at Rose; apparently she's going to have to buy some more. And see if she can convince the vendor to climb up and attend the next rooftop market, whenever that will be.

Arkham Street

"You can apply for a mortgage, and this house really is cheap. The current owner really wants to get it off their claws. I mean, hands. The door?" The hermit crab stands up and scuttles over to see the damage. "It fell off in the wind, by the looks. That's what insurance is for. Imagine I winked as I said that, OK?" Hermit crabs, being arthropods, do not have blinkable eyes. "The house is currently [quite a lot of money, but under half what a house its size and location should be]. We do offer a Housing New Arrivals Mortgage, which would cover most of that, and then get paid off as and when you can. This house wouldn't usually be covered, but due to the amount the owner wants for it, it just about falls under the upper limit." The Swordsman probably technically counts as a new arrival, since this is still a continuation of his first scene. Or maybe his second.

[Recaiden]

[Sewer System Purple]

"Should be fine then." The fiend commander looks at their more fleshy counterpart who makes a dismissive gesture.

"And I am Pyrthon if we're going to be sharing names. I assume you have them as well then?" He looks to the angels as the red team is busy fiddling with what is presumably the projection device.

"Some flights have names. I am Nathan, should you somehow need to speak to me again."
The angel reaches up with a tentacle, makes their audio-communications equipment visible where it had been resting on their neck, and lightly sets it on the ground. The vox, which looks something like a floppy crab with slender arms held out in front, it stretches its four pointy little legs and scrambles over to a good spot to converse with the red team. Then it will wait for the projection device to do something or the fiends to signal that they're ready.
At that point, the voice comes through.
"Greetings, King Sargon. I am Aaiesi, queen of the hive's largest division in the Nexus."

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

Pulling doesn't work. The ridges aren't aligned that way. But twisting will, causing the piece to rotate off like a screw. The hollow inside of the stone scroll roller is dark, empty except for a small cylindrical object about a foot in length and an inch in diameter, made of what appears to be leather and sealed with wax at both ends.

Heresy Fighters

"Explain. In plain... Oof!" Purple is knocked off her feet again. She didn't know Gold could do that. The wind is knocked out of her, but she struggles to her feet again.

Abandoned Hospital

This hospital has seen better days. Its brick walls are chipped and streaked with grime, its windows cracked and/or boarded up.
But perhaps something remains within. It's one of those places that's always swirling with rumors. Strange lights and noises within at odd hours of the night, people going exploring inside and never returning. Some say it's haunted. Others discount this as ignorant superstition.

[5a Violista]

[Perfectly Normal Phone Call]

"I don't know. I was captured, I passed out, and then all of a sudden there were just...lots of people dead after. I don't know, but staying there is probably not safe."

He thinks.
"But leaving immediately might not be safe either, in case they're waiting for you to leave. We can't meet up somewhere that we have already been." Thinking aloud seems to help, maybe. "..."
"Okay. There's a black jacket hanging up on the closet; make sure you bring it. Then leave the house, and turn right. Keep on going until there's a park, Stone Lake Garden, I'll meet you there. Also, I look different, too. I'll be there in thirty minutes. You should decide if you want to leave now or wait first."

"...Bye."


[Necropolis of Kysimax]

Even though it doesn't work initially, Venus keeps on trying other things until she gets it open.

She looks into the hollow, and notices the small object. Venus tries to pull it out and make it fall out in to her hand, and then sets down the stone scroll on the fountain, in case she needs it again later.

"Huh." Leather, sealed in wax? Is this some kind of scroll that was in the scroll, or...well, whatever. Not exactly a scroll.
She tries to break the wax seal between her hands, and then carefully open it to not break apart the leather.


[Abandoned Hospital]

Carmen, who claims to be a half-elf with silver hair and purple eyes, is wandering around trying to find something interesting. The hospital is definitely interesting, that's for sure. Would make for a really great haunted house exploration thing, she thinks, if it were night.
But!
She's not the kind of one who would explore that at night. Day's best. Plus, these types of places always have neat magic to look at.

She walks up to the hospital, and looks in. She then enters into it.

[Reinholdt]

[BDD Sans Thread]

To be fair, buying a castle would solve a lot of people's problems.

Venus starts to wonder if she said something wrong.
Or if this is some kind of test.
If it's a test, then what's he testing for, anyway? Figure that out, and she'll pass the test. She's clearly already doing poorly, judging by his tone. So she needs to do something to make up for it. Regardless, staying here is clearly not the right answer. "Actually, I am in a little bit of a hurry. I mean, for now we're safe from cultists because they couldn't have followed us, but I'm sure some of them know I occasionally come here and so the longer we stay here, the higher chance we have of running into one. We can stay for a bit, but it's probably best to leave sooner than later."

She wonders if that was the type of answer he was looking for.


And, honestly, it's probably Magtok because their names start off the same, and that's how babysitting works.

[BDD Sans Thread]

Then Reinholdt needs to get home as quickly as possible because that's the worst potential babysitter. It's doubtful he even agreed to such a thing. And there's at least a 70% chance Magtok would allow Manja to die in perilous situations he conveniently didn't deter her from.

"Oh. Well then. You make a good point. Let's grab a drink and be on our way."
Uhh... didn't they just have a drink no less than fifteen minutes ago?
Does Rein really need another? With elementals and cultists on the loose and a dryad and a baby counting on him?

Those questions are irrelevant! Rein turns to leave the room to head back downstairs!

[Zefir]

[Searching for Jo]

Carmen tries to think what she could do that could possibly help.
She can't help with the jaguar.
So, realizing that Fade might be worried about something appearing from the outpost, she says, "I'll watch the fort!"
Fortunately, nothing comes from the outpost.


The jaguar gets hit with the flat side of the sword and is knocked down. Its attack is interrupted, and so is its psychic energy charge. It makes a whimpering noise, but gets back up: it's pretty hungry, actually, after all that following so it's not going to just give up easily.

The jaguar stays outside of Fade's sword range, cautious of the lightning, and circling around and trying to find another moment to attack.
It growls.
It starts building up psychic energy again, while keeping its distance.

Searching for Jo]

That might be tougth for the jaguar. Fade doesn't want it to get time for a concentration so he dashes after the beast waiting for a moment to swing his sword. He doesn't try to use the flat one anymore. He noticed that the beast is more despprate then he assumed. A shame, but Fade doesn't feel more Mercy. He knows that this needs to end fast. So he sends out his shadow hiding in another trees shadow. Fade will attemp to lure the beast there if he can't catch it himself.
If not the shadow waits until the beast is close appearing out of nowhere and attacking from behind.

[Vahnavoi]

Arkham Street

"You can apply for a mortgage, and this house really is cheap. The current owner really wants to get it off their claws. I mean, hands. The door?" The hermit crab stands up and scuttles over to see the damage. "It fell off in the wind, by the looks. That's what insurance is for. Imagine I winked as I said that, OK?" Hermit crabs, being arthropods, do not have blinkable eyes. "The house is currently [quite a lot of money, but under half what a house its size and location should be]. We do offer a Housing New Arrivals Mortgage, which would cover most of that, and then get paid off as and when you can. This house wouldn't usually be covered, but due to the amount the owner wants for it, it just about falls under the upper limit." The Swordsman probably technically counts as a new arrival, since this is still a continuation of his first scene. Or maybe his second.

"Uh, a new arrivals mortgage? That sounds... generous", the swordsman mutters. "Speaking of, could you tell... where exactly have I arrived? Oh, and is it possible to perhaps meet with the previous owner?"

[5a Violista]

[BDD Sans Thread]

"Okay, yeah let's do that," says Venus who didn't get alcohol back then and just some juice stuff. Speaking of, does the Black Dragon's Den even have anything nonalcoholic or that she can drink?

She leaves the room, and then spends a little longer finding a way to lock and get the key back on the other side of the door.

Once that's done, she goes downstairs after him, and looks around for Rein. Oh! There he is.
She goes over and sits next to him. "Sorry. Was putting the key back."


[Searching for Jo]

The jaguar thinks that Fade is scary.

It backs up, trying to stay out of his sword's range. It gets hit a little, and shocks it and causes some of its muscles to spasm, but it manages to get away before it gets an even worse wound from Fade's sword.
It reconsiders its options.
Obviously Fade is too dangerous to go after.
However, Carmen looks pretty weak.
All it has to do is avoid Fade and get one good strike in on Carmen, then it could drag her away and it won't be a total loss.

So, trying to keep away from Fade and go around towards Carmen, the jaguar is lured pretty easily towards Fade's Shadow. It barely even noticed it, so it didn't expect to be attacked by it.
The jaguar is caught by the shadow.

[Recaiden]

[Heresy Fighters]

"Explain. In plain... Oof!" Purple is knocked off her feet again. She didn't know Gold could do that. The wind is knocked out of her, but she struggles to her feet again.

That was one of the points of not using it before now. Can't give away all your tricks at once.
"I am part of a loose team that protects the world from very large disasters."
"This sometimes requires unusual measures. These corrupting creatures, for example, need to go free."
While Purple is getting back on her feet, Gold draws their sword again.
"Your valor does you credit, but it is misguided. If you want to help people right now, this is the wrong place."

[Perfectly Normal Phone Call]

"I don't know. I was captured, I passed out, and then all of a sudden there were just...lots of people dead after. I don't know, but staying there is probably not safe."

He thinks.
"But leaving immediately might not be safe either, in case they're waiting for you to leave. We can't meet up somewhere that we have already been." Thinking aloud seems to help, maybe. "..."
"Okay. There's a black jacket hanging up on the closet; make sure you bring it. Then leave the house, and turn right. Keep on going until there's a park, Stone Lake Garden, I'll meet you there. Also, I look different, too. I'll be there in thirty minutes. You should decide if you want to leave now or wait first."

"...Bye."

Well, that sounds horrifying. Waking up with everyone dead around you?
"Stone. Lake. Gar-den."
Oh, the situation is getting worse and worse. Would they be waiting outside for Vix to leave? Could they have gotten here already? Or is fleeing immediately the best way to avoid them?
"Bye."
The phone hangs up. Vix has some things together, some things to worry about...

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

Not a scroll. A scroll case. Because once the wax is unsealed, a rolled up piece of parchment, clearly very old, slides out, followed by a small metal object that, unless caught, will go pinging off the floor and into the shadows of a corner.

Heresy Fighters

"That's not enough. Explain why." Purple counters. She takes a defensive stance, ready in case Gold decided now is the time to attack.

Abandoned Hospital

The door is heavy steel, slightly rusty, and creaks as it slowly swings open. The inside is damp, floored in tile. An ancient, sagging reception desk watches silently over the double doors leading to the corridors of the hospital itself, out from this waiting room.

[Earl of Purple]

Arkham Street Mansion

"Lots of people find themselves in your position, slipping through the cracks in reality and discovering they've entered the Nexus. Most can't get back. Not everyone arrives with a business or a family, either. Fortunately, when Crab's Hermitage entered the Nexus, it did so with its whole premises and half its staff, and they were able to get a claw firmly on the grip of the housing market in this city. We work closely with the House Hunters that ensure the new homes are safe and were quickly able to house our workers." The hermit crab bobs in an approximation of a nod. "This is the city of Inside, within the realm known as the Nexus. Meeting the previous inhabitant is possible, but speaking with them likely expensive. They died, you see. The current owners are their great-grandchildren, nine of them, who have never lived here. They wish to sell so they can split the proceeds fairly and put it all behind them. It has been empty for three years, since their grandparent died. Or perhaps longer, there is some debate on exactly how long they were dead before the discovery of the body. If you have questions, I have read up on their history and that of the house, and may be able to help you."

[5a Violista]

Perfectly Normal Phone Call

Oh.
June forgot to say "stay safe".
He hands back the phone and goes to Stone Lake Garden, a pretty small park with a playground, a few trees, and a more naturey half of the park.

Of course, the air blowing on him still hurts. And he doesn't know what they're going to do after. Or if there actually is them around everywhere already.

He just prays she gets there safe and it all works out.


Necropolis of Kysimax

Well, Venus thought it was just a leather scroll at first. Those things exist, right? She thinks they exist.

Thinking it was a scroll and not a case, she wasn't expecting there to be a little metal thing.

Luckily, she noticed in which direction it bounced off to. With the scroll in one hand and the glowing flower ball in the other, she gets down to her hands and knees to look for it.

It's only after she finds (hopefully) the metal thing that she sets down the flower ball and opens up the scroll to look at it.


Abandoned Hospital

Carmen looks around the waiting rokm and at the reception desk.
It all looks pretty interesting! Kinda gross, though, but old stuff tends to do that.

She takes care to not step on nails.

Well! She needs to explore a bunch, to get a better look around the place, to see if she can figure out why it was shut down and abandoned.

She goes through the corridors into the hospital.

[Reinholdt]

[BDD Sans Thread]

It's certainly not ordered as often and may be past expiration dates, but they serve food here too, so some non-alcoholic beverages are to be expected.

Reinholdt has bought a bottle of spiced rum for the trip! "Not a problem, not a problem." He holds up his prize for a hard morning's work. You want to share? Get your own? Pass?" Venus kind of passed earlier so he wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't get anything.

Or well, doesn't get anything fun. That's ok. More for him!

[Golden Circus Office]

From the blackest pitch of darkness in the furthest recesses of the office grows a void. A terrible expanding gloom of shadows. A chill emanates outwards as if all heat were being sapped from the area by this malignance's existence.

Roiling outwards from the emptiness, both separating from and embodying the shadows, is a small figure about the size of one who has suffered for a decade. Nearly humanoid but grotesquely lacking in discreet features, the umbral monster floats forward, abandoning the safety of the dark to seek out new life. Beside it a tendril of solid shadow trails like a pet, clutching a piece of paper that the monster cannot. A piece of paper with various pictures, but many many words. A familiar flyer previously posted in the city by an unhappy clown advertising the Golden Circus as a place of opportunity.

And a reaper of darkness has come to collect.

Spoiler

Show

[Zefir]

[Searching for Jo]

The jaguar thinks that Fade is scary.

It backs up, trying to stay out of his sword's range. It gets hit a little, and shocks it and causes some of its muscles to spasm, but it manages to get away before it gets an even worse wound from Fade's sword.
It reconsiders its options.
Obviously Fade is too dangerous to go after.
However, Carmen looks pretty weak.
All it has to do is avoid Fade and get one good strike in on Carmen, then it could drag her away and it won't be a total loss.

So, trying to keep away from Fade and go around towards Carmen, the jaguar is lured pretty easily towards Fade's Shadow. It barely even noticed it, so it didn't expect to be attacked by it.
The jaguar is caught by the shadow.

[Searching for Jo]

Finally someone finds Fade scary. Thats his whole thing. I mean shadow person, yellow eyes, no emotions. Classic evil dude in a movie.

The shadow is a perfect copy of Fade as it jumps out of the ground, but it holds a different sword in hand. He's not going for any of this crazy anime moves. he just strikes with it from behind into the neck. A clean kill if it hits. Fade doesn't have Mercy.

[Shadowcaller]

Pennilan's Tavern

Well, it sounds weird but nothing more weird than playing music with drifting sprites of existence.
"As long as it's safe I guess we could try it. But you'd have to actually touch my dream first, wouldn't you? Mine tend to be kind of weird, you know." he doesn't remember them very well most of the time. But like many people they're often just scatterings of concepts.

[Two Detectives]

Michalson sighs deeply and his shoulders slump. The energy he mustered moments ago seems to drain from his body, leaving him slouching.

"There was a terrorist attack in New Inside and I got roped into investigatin' it. It was a stupid thing I should be too old and smart to allow. That's about the long and short of it."

[Sewer System Purple]

"Some flights have names. I am Nathan, should you somehow need to speak to me again."
The angel reaches up with a tentacle, makes their audio-communications equipment visible where it had been resting on their neck, and lightly sets it on the ground. The vox, which looks something like a floppy crab with slender arms held out in front, it stretches its four pointy little legs and scrambles over to a good spot to converse with the red team. Then it will wait for the projection device to do something or the fiends to signal that they're ready.
At that point, the voice comes through.
"Greetings, King Sargon. I am Aaiesi, queen of the hive's largest division in the Nexus."

Pennilan's Tavern

"Don't worry, you'll be perfectly safe with me. I've done this so many times I've lost count." But she couldn't remember doing it like this. Usually it was something she had been hired for.

There were vague memories of instances like this but right now her mind couldn't muster the patience to recall them. Trying to remember thousands years of existence divided between many bodies took a lot of effort and right now she wasn't feeling it.

In many of those memories she might have been a completely different person anyway.

Jaahlyn waves off his concerns. "I wouldn't even peek. That'd be rude. No, I'm just going to be using instances of my own memories to weave whatever scenario we desire. Like... ah, sports? Flying? Riding? I'm sure I can think of something if you don't have anything specific in mind."


[Sewer System Purple]

The device the fiends have been fiddling with suddenly flickers to life and as they put it down on the ground it starts to display a series of colors and indistinct shapes which eventually start to come together and form a consistent image of Sargon. Or at least his head.

As usual the demon king is wearing his crown-shaped helmet cast in silver, causing it to glow due to the presence of its wearer. His blue eyes are the last things that come into focus. Their color more similar to the metal fiends than his own soldiers despite appearing fully in flesh.

His gaze wanders for a moment as if unsure what to focus on until finally coming to settle on the vox itself. "This... is a surprise. I was under the impression that weren't on talking terms, queen... Aaiesi." He manages to pronounce it with some effort. "Just what gives me the honor?"

[Two Detectives]

Ava nods, her expression best described as restrained. "I might have overheard parts of your conversation. Seems like an ongoing situation." She pauses for a moment. "Been to New Inside a couple of times. It's actually rather nice considering the rumors about the place. Awful to hear it got attacked." The detective eyes their surroundings and seem to decide to not continue this line of conversation here. "But perhaps it's time to return to your office. It looks like you should sit down for a bit if you pardon my concern."

[5a Violista]

BDD Sans Thread

Venus shakes her head. "Um...anything that's artificial or...non...or..." She tries to come up with the right word that wouldn't be too broad but also not too narrow, "...manufactured? Depends on the amount of preparation, I guess. Well, those kinds of things make me feel sick. Comes with being a nature...whatever, I guess. Not really sure where, exactly, the line is, though. Probably don't want to have to carry a sick me around, so won't test the boundaries today." So she just orders water on the rocks. "Also not really a fan of alcohol."

So he can have all he wants! She won't try to take it from him.

"But the atmosphere is nice in here, this time of day."


Searching for Jo

The jaguar can't read his emotionlessness, but it definitely knows that he's strong and dangerous.

It gets scared when it realizes that there's another one of him, suddenly behind it.

The psychic jaguar struggles to get away, but dies quickly and cleanly. For an injured and soon-to-die animal, a quick and clean kill is a kind of mercy.


Carmen looks back at Fade and the now-dead animal. "There's absolutely nobody manning the outpost," she says. "I would've expected somebody to notice us by now."

Since it seems there's no danger from the outpost, she goes over to Fade and the animal. "Um, there's a psychic crystal here in the back of its throat," she says. "If we take it and throw it, it makes a pretty good explosion. Um...psychic energy bomb, makes everybody around it confused and disoriented."
She points out the crystal in the jaguar's throat.
He can take it if he thinks it might be useful.

She looks back at the outpost.

"Um...there should be no traps. The crystals we need would be in the storage room, right in the middle of the outpost. Probably locked, too," she says. Carmen adds, after glancing at him, "There has to be a key around somewhere, but I get the feeling locked doors don't matter for you."

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan's Tavern

"Oh, well that sounds fine then. This something people have you do that often?" he reaches down and finishes off his sandwich.
Must be odd, being asked to go into people's dreams. He can't imagine she does it for fun normally since well, she made it sound like she doesn't do anything for fun normally.

[Shadowcaller]

Pennilan's Tavern

"On occasion. It's not a skill I make a big deal out of though and it's not like people look at me and go, 'oh, that hooved lady can dreamwalk'. Most of them apparently associate satyrs to sex n' stuff." Jaahlyn shrugs, not even bothering using a more subtle term for it now. "Usually I'm just made to dreamwalk to leave messages though. But honestly, I vaguely recall using it in way worse ways so that's fine."

[Recaiden]

[Heresy Fighters]

"That's not enough. Explain why." Purple counters. She takes a defensive stance, ready in case Gold decided now is the time to attack.

Gold doesn't attack, just circles a bit, keeping their sword at the ready.
"If these things were stopped, people would blunder, rose-eyed, into much worse trouble. By keeping people occupied with peoples' own secrets, they're kept out of worse situations."
"It's not obvious, but I have seen them."
There's something they're trying to talk around, avoid saying.

[Perfectly Normal Phone Call]

Oh.
June forgot to say "stay safe".
He hands back the phone and goes to Stone Lake Garden, a pretty small park with a playground, a few trees, and a more naturey half of the park.

Of course, the air blowing on him still hurts. And he doesn't know what they're going to do after. Or if there actually is them around everywhere already.

He just prays she gets there safe and it all works out.

Don't worry, I'm sure Vix will still try to be safe even if not explicitly told.

And look, when he arrives at the park, there's a figure in Vix's cloak leaning against that tree.

I don't think they've seen June, and actually, I don't expect Vix would recognize June right now.

[Sewer System Purple]

The device the fiends have been fiddling with suddenly flickers to life and as they put it down on the ground it starts to display a series of colors and indistinct shapes which eventually start to come together and form a consistent image of Sargon. Or at least his head.

As usual the demon king is wearing his crown-shaped helmet cast in silver, causing it to glow due to the presence of its wearer. His blue eyes are the last things that come into focus. Their color more similar to the metal fiends than his own soldiers despite appearing fully in flesh.

His gaze wanders for a moment as if unsure what to focus on until finally coming to settle on the vox itself. "This... is a surprise. I was under the impression that weren't on talking terms, queen... Aaiesi." He manages to pronounce it with some effort. "Just what gives me the honor?"

That is an impressive effect, the silver crown. They should have Emef look into doing something similar with his crafts. His eyes though, why do they look that way?
"Pyrthon's group is an indication that talking may be worthwhile. Things have changed since your attack on Riverside, correct?"
"What are your goals, that brought your forces here to destroy our sentries?"

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

It takes a minute, but there it is.
The object is a bronze ring. Its flat face has an elaborate pattern of a lion rampant beneath a pair of crossed swords.
The scroll is also sealed in wax. The wax has the same symbol pressed into it as the ring. Venus will have to break that seal to open it.

Abandoned Hospital

The smell of mildew and decay is stronger here, and a thin layer of water covers the floor. Just wandering the halls is inefficient, but fortunately at every corner there are signs that point the way to places of interest:
Offices
Burn Ward
Surgical Theater
Operating Room
Maternity Ward
Maintenance
Research Wing
Emergency Room

Heresy Fighters
"How do you know? Anyone can say anything about what will happen, but no one knows who's right until it does happen. You can't pretend to have a perfect authority on these matters." Purple answers. She's still on guard against a possible attack.

[Morty]

[Two Detectives]

"Aye. And I need to tell Ithuriel what I just roped her into," Michalson says as he starts walking back towards the station.