Inside 72: Halfway to a Gross

[Reinholdt]

[Swordswoman]

Questionable efficiency isn't Rein's trademark phrase, but the paperwork is still in processing.

"Uncertain severity." Though Venus seems pretty certain it's severe. "It's possible she simply remembers having a different body." That would explain why her body suddenly 'changed'. Rein didn't sense any such change, but then he's not sure what this small centaur person actually looked like. So it's equally possible something did change.

"I can stay here and monitor the situation if you wish to go on ahead." There are probably more elementals to kill. But, there's equally good reason to stay here! Observing Venus might give some clues on how to deal with them.

"We should probably get inside somewhere where it's safer," Rein directs towards Venus. If the cult church she came from isn't an option, there's bound to be hotels or taverns around here somewhere.

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan's Tavern

"Magic lessons and wine. Sounds good to me." Jim snickers. He looks Jaahlyn over.
"Hm. I'm trying to imagine you as lazy and I'm honestly having trouble with it. If you only vaguely remember it then it must have been ages ago. But you don't have to worry about your work ethic either. It sounds like you have a lot of service left so no one's going to blame you for trying to put a dent into it. I'm sure you must have gotten progress by now." He shrugs.
"And besides, just a little wine and sitting down once and a while won't kill anyone."

[Morty]

[Two Detectives]

"I've never faced any racism towards my own self." Michalson is visibly more careful now, despite the same languid tone. This is sensitive territory. "A half-elf barely registers for most bodies 'ere. And of course one of my superiors is a griffin. Racism is an unfortunate reality of Inside, but of course the Intersection is opposed to it in all forms. That includes the alleged 'dangerous' kinds of people. We don't penalize anyone for what they might, someday, do."

[Shadowcaller]

Pennilan's Tavern

"I wouldn't say lazy, just... not very productive. Not in the sense I usually am at least. Though it's always difficult for me to recall the details of a previous life even if they probably end up very similar. Still the same person y'know? Or I'd like to think so at least." She gestures at Jim. "Can even you say you're the same person you were like... ten years ago? Twenty?"

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan's Tavern

Jim laughs and raises a leg. "A'course not! Ten years ago I had toes!" he chuckles. "And I still found pants comfortable. And twenty I think I was still in diapers."
Though he does take a moment to eat some of his sandwich before it gets cold.
"But it sounds like it's not that different really. But I think if I spend too much time thinking about the existential similarities of souls and afterlives my horns will fall out." And nobody wants that.

[5a Violista]

[Swordswoman]

"That's possible. Regardless, actually changing someone's body or changing someone's memory enough to make them think they looked like someone else...I'd argue both could be pretty severe." Like, what if you suddenly started thinking that you used to be Wenomir or Magtok or a former leader of AMEN or someone like that? Then the first swordfight you got into, you'd lose, or when you go off to the Magcave there'd be a lot of questioning going on, or you'd try to hunt down demons without the skill to back it up, or something like that.

Harley does a quick calculation. "Even if it's only a one-in-a-thousand chance of this happening...well, the streets are only going to get busier as they day progresses." Once it's no longer 'early-to-mid-morning', people will start take their second-breakfast-breaks or shopping trips or commutes and so on. "If there's only twenty of these out there, this'll happen to at least a person a minute." If something can change your memories that much then it's not a stretch to say thousands of people are going to have their lives completely upended and ruined because of this, before everybody has a chance to hear about the danger.

Since they're both here, Harley thinks it's a really good call to split up, with one monitoring here. She does prefer to work alone, but even she has to admit that the tactical advantages of splitting up is much bigger than the comfort of staying alone. "Yeah. I'll go ahead. If you find out anything important, call me." Somehow, her phone survived the magical girl transformation.

She runs off, looking for the nearest clamor.


Venus, who is still not blindfolded, kept quiet - because she didn't want to interrupt the tactical choices of two obvious-superheroes. Or...one's a witch? Magical girls? But one's in a suit. So... She's not really sure what they'd prefer to be called. Regardless, now that she is not in huge major mental pain, she actually had time to admire them.

Once Harley is gone, she nods to Rein. Yeah, get somewhere safe.
"..."
"Yeah, okay," she says. He's still blindfolded, so he can't see her nod. "Um...this way, I guess." She goes in an entirely different way from Harley, looking for some building they can reasonably go inside. This is a relatively busy street, so it shouldn't take long to find a place.
"Actually, though...since something like this has happened to me before, with something changing how I look but also changing my memories at the same time..." It's why she looks very much like the nature-deer-person that she is. "So I have a way to verify what happened. I just need..." She's not really a fan of telling people that she's actually two separate people who...well, she's not really sure how it works, either. Probably some kind of quantum entanglement, or something. "Well. My friend could tell me as soon as she wakes up. She's got a room in the Black Dragon's Den, but she also goes to bed late."

Since bars and hotels are basically everywhere, they quickly find one. "Oh. There's a bar right here." Presumably they get a lot of business from the people staying at the next-door hotel.

[Recaiden]

[Sewer System Blue]

Not exactly the reaction they had been expecting, but they could work with this.

"A wise decision, let us present you with a gift then to celebrate this occasion." The fiend gestures back at the rest of the group and one of the others step forward holding up one of their metal cases. "Within that is what we call a 'soulseed'. It's part of cuthun and the reason all 'demons' like us are immortal. We are not sure how true that is for you anymore, but this is nonetheless very useful. It can 'store' memories, emotions and experiences, everything that we associate with the 'soul'. But not only that, with enough of that stored it can transfer those on into new suitable bodies. Much like when demons are reborn. But with this you aren't limited just to bodies of flesh with this." The fiend gestures at itself. "The evidence standing right before you."

One of the angels, a hound, comes up to take the metal case in its little middle claws, while the one that had spoken before keeps talking.
"That's how you came into those...metal bodies? Where the information of a living soul went?"
"What memories are in this seed? Or is it empty, for us to use?" How strange this older demons must be, to think that emotions and soul are something to be treasured and saved.
So unwholesome.

"When we have memory or experience to share, we do it directly. And for most there is no need to call them back into another body." They flick a tentacle towards the one mutant that has stayed to observe the proceedings. "How does this soulseed make you immortal? How does it operate?"

[Sewer System Red]

The houndmaster relay this information to the other fiends.
What a mess, these tunnels were even more infested than their original information had suggested. Thankfully, they had just the thing for this. Explosives were what they were best at after all.

It wasn't the kind they prefered using but in this situation they couldn't be too loud unfortunately.

As the rest back away their demolition expert start strapping on a special kind of bomb onto the surface of the machine. As close to the top of the machine as they could possibly reach. Then they're going to draw an orange X on the ground in front of the machine as the houndmaster orders their pets to look for a new target. Is the smell of demons particularly potent in any other direction?

Bomb planted!
Besides near this machinery, the smell of demons comes from the opposite direction, compared to where they arrived. There's a particular place where a sinkhole opened, forming a small cave where water trickles from broken pipes, and cracked sewer passages run across it - demonic creatures run through this cave very often. Turn right, and soon you'll find the place where the very ground is alive with demonic flesh.


[Perfectly Normal Walk]

Dump a thing into a pool.

Seems simple enough. Honestly, being a distraction sounds like more dangerous job.

June follows, then waits (tapping lightly on his thigh to pass the time with a rhythm), and finally grabs the spongey bundle. "This it?"

Okay, he's ready to go.

"This is it."
"To get there, you just-" and then lists a long string of directions. Right-left-right-down-across-and several more.
They repeat the steps a few times, and then-
There's no sound of them leaving, just a sense that they aren't there any more.

Following the directions, the first real obstacle comes with that 'Down' step. A place where the air seems fresh, the bricks crack and fail, and there's a rather steep climb down into an oppressively narrow opening.

Heresy Fighters

Something is terribly wrong here. Purple can tell that Gold is about to do something stupid. She's sure of it. "Snap out of it! Some things, man's not meant to know. That's what we're trying to stop here." She turns away from the burning wreckage and faces Gold, ready for whatever comes next.

"Meant by who? Secrets, on the balance, secrets serve Them."
"And these things, they're just trying to uncover things that might be forgotten and lost."
Gold jerks to the side, and races off around to try to pick up an entire heresy elemental in the powered glove of their left hand.

[Shadowcaller]

Pennilan's Tavern

Jaahlyn's eyes suddenly becomes focused on Jim's sandwich as he eats it and it makes her realize just how hungry she was. Without much of a thought she nods and smiles as to agree with him before she wholeheartedly quickly devours her own sandwich.

"Mm... kinda what I meant... but let's just eat now, yeah? I'm starving." She remarks after taking her first bite before going back to filling her empty stomach.

Once she's finished and able to think a bit more clearly she looks to Jim again. "But, ah, to go back to what we were talking about. What I meant was that it's time that cause people to change, not weird fey stuff. Obviously our experiences have changed us, more than just physically, but we naturally become different people over time. Which is why the human I vaguely remember once being seems so alien to me now." She gestures to him. "You certainly wouldn't recognize me, but I'm pretty sure I'd recognize you even if you had toes back then."

[Two Detectives]

Ava nods, taking careful note of his answer even if she isn't actually writing anything down. "In my experience, people have a habit of going by physical traits more than anything else. Even if you have this theoretical 'monster person' who have more biological initiative to hurt another being for whatever reason, the majority is still going to favor them over people that look less like them. However, favoring this monster person or anyone else simply because of what they look like is still an example of racism. It's just how people's brains seems to be wired. As you said, an unfortunate reality."

She taps her pen against her notebook. "But likewise, it also means that people are willing to overlook physical differences in others as long as there is someone that look even less like them nearby. Ever felt something like that? It's something I'm trying to be aware of concerning my own thoughts and actions."

[Sewer System Blue]

"This one is empty, yes. An empty vessel for whatever you wish to fill it with. Like how you share experiences this one could be used for the same purpose. One simply has to touch it and one will share whatever information they have on their mind to the seed. The longer they touch it the more of their memories and experiences they share." The fiend gestures to the bearer of the cube who lightly touches the upper section of it which causes the entire cube to open up, revealing it to be a container of what appears to be a black seed from a tree, about the size of a human's palm.

It's covered in a sheet of a paper-like material seemingly intended to protect it. "Anyone or anything else that touches it will not only share their own experiences with the seed but also learn what information is already contained within it. If the seed touches a suitable vessel for the information inside to animate, may it be a dead body or perhaps an artificial one, it will eventually bring it to life. Whatever it animated contained all the information the seed had to share." The demon continues as they gently reaches down to pick up the seed from its container.
"This process can be repeatedly endlessly so if you can create enough bodies, like the great cuthun, you can in a way be immortal. Depending on your definition of immortality of course." They gesture down at themselves. "But as these bodies do not decay like biological ones do and can easily be maintained we certainly won't die from age. Of course, it could also be used to avoid losing information from dying bodies or simply to share experiences with those outside your collective." The fiend steps closer and presents the seed before them.

[Sewer System Red]

Getting this new information from the hounds the fiends exchanges looks.
It seemed like this entire place had to be turned to ash before the corruption could truly be cleansed. How it hadn't spread beyond these sewers yet was nothing short of a miracle.

Turning right, but stopping before they reach the actual flesh, the fiends set up what appears to be a turret behind them before they their pyromancers turn their attention to the fleshy growths and start to clear it using their flamethrowers.

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan's Tavern

Jim seems to find this train of thought very entertaining.
"See on anyone else I think you'd be right, but I'm not entirely sure I can say so for my case since magic shapeshifting was involved. I did try to keep my shape having a family resemblance. But my hair wasn't naturally this curly, besides all the goat parts. And even then, I was pale and tubby throughout most of school. I got in shape and tanned after the whole incident. Though obviously being able to just make myself in shape did make the whole thing a lot easier..." At least he's admitting to cheating on that front.

[Recaiden]

[Sewer System Blue][/B]

The hound whines - they were going to open the soulseed container just fine! But no, the fiends had to show it off dramatically themselves.
The angel crosses their arms skeptically (though their tentacles stay ready) as they saunter back towards the north end of the crevasse, to come closer.
"What is your connection to the other demons that have just arrived in these sewers? It puts this offer of the seed into question."

Now the hound takes the seed, gingerely holding the paper-wrapped artifact overhead. No attempt to unwrap it and copy it simple thoughts.

"The decay of living things is something we've largely solved. Of course it needs maintenance, like machines. Anything that moves will wear down. But for us it's easy. We can show you how it's done once the seed is brought back. It's a matter of fairly specific chemical cycles, I think." This angel isn't an expert in biology. to be able to explain it at a moment's notice.

Their antennae mostly all fold back. "Can there be soulseeds that aren't two-way? Ones that only record without animating, or ones that once filled, stop gathering experiences and make perfect copies?"

[Sewer System Red]

The flesh carpet scorches and steams and starts to burn away. Smells and sounds awful.

Unlike when they killed the little eye-growths, this gets a swift reaction.
Tremors in the ground as something squirms towards them beneath the flesh and beneath the stone. A moment later, a huge living spike bursts up from the ground near a pyromancer, attempting to run them through before vanishing back into the ground. A normal human wouldn't move fast enough to avoid getting hit, and once hit, they wouldn't survive. But we can expect more from demons.
Probably their hounds can tell them that there are several of the 'angels' that have come close enough to be scented.
Perhaps they can even track the movement of the sunken spike and know that its center came from somewhere further into the flesh tunnel, ahead and on their left.

[Zefir]

[Searching for Jo]

Carmen looks at Fade's hand.
"Well...if we stick together and just want to go through, then we need at minimum this much." She holds her hand in a fist. If they go back along the path and pick it up from the ground, they should easily gather that much.

"If we want to be safe and be able to avoid surprise attacks...we'll need this much." She holds both hands out miming a ball the size of her head. Just backtracking along the trail won't give them enough for that..."So we'd probably have to find a cache. The paladin fort definitely should have plenty, and maybe a few other smaller outposts around should have some if we find enough."

She shakes her head and shows the crystal again. "So these crystals are basically...crystalized divinity. Divine energy, y'know. The only thing that can push back" she gestures at the empty wall of void in front of them "that. If we gather enough, it makes it so we can walk through that space."

She feels that the actual question will be best answered visually, so Carmen carefully walks towards the void wall, and crouches down. She sticks the shard as near the wall as she feels safe in doing.

The void wall moves a few centimeters back, revealing more path and plants. "To be safe, people around here keep a collection of these crystals to stop the void from closing in around them. But..."
The crystal shard she set down gets smaller and smaller, and the wall of blackness starts to contract back to where it was originally. She points at the shrinking crystal sliver. "But, like, look. If you don't, like, keep an eye on your stockpile then eventually you run out and get trapped. But if we have at least a fist-sized, we should be fine for plenty of time."

[Searching for Jo]

"So this is like a torch?" he says and starts collecting more of the stones they need. He doesn't seem to much impressed by the whole event. On the other hand he hasn't shown any emotions at all.

"Where could we get more of these stones? In case we can't find enougth." He replies. "I assume there is some kind of production place? It would be a real horror if they run out of them."

[Reinholdt]

[Swordswoman]

"Yeah, it's pretty dangerous. I-I'm sure no one would just want to be someone else." That would never happen. Often. Maybe. It would still be bothersome either way. Two heads aren't better than one if there's only one life to share.

"That many? Wow." The Blind Mask has clearly underestimated the danger. He does have to wonder where Harley got those numbers, but seeing as how being a magical girl and a private detective are her jobs, he trusts that she knows what she's talking about. She's an expert on this after all. "Will do! Stay safe! Safer!" Rein calls after her as she leaves. She did get hurt this fight after all. So she should aim to do better in the next one.

Reinholdt refocuses his attention on Venus and nods to her with a smile as she indicates which direction to go, following that floral scent down the street. "What really? That's... pretty awful." Not only is it terrible for Venus, but anything they could learn from her in this scenario is only going to get confused. The results of the experiment are tainted! Well... that's ok. It means Rein can focus less on learning anything and more on helping her. Which mostly requires learning anything.

"I'm friends with the owner of Black Dragon's Den, so if we can make it to there, that would be great. If that's not a great option, I actually have more friends in HALO who could perform more thorough research I think? They may be able to help as well." Getting off the road is probably just the first step. "Oh. Yeah, let's go in there for a moment." They can rest a bit and Rein can ask Venus some basic questions.

[Shadowcaller]

[Sewer System Red]

The pyromancer doesn't have enhanced reaction times and gets impaled straight through its armor.
However, before it can even collapse one of the other members reaches out and grabs its shoulder, speaking a rune word.

The runes of its armor glow softly and in a flash of orange light it's gone. Suspended in what the fiends called gate-space. They would be taken care of back at the base, the soldiers not wanting to put too much trust in their own regeneration.

The rest of the fiends take a moment to get their bearings before starting to retreat back towards the corridor they came. It was a shame to leave a job like this half-finished but for now they were going to have to do this another way.

The houndmasters will task two specially breed hounds with curious noses which they took along for this particular mission to press their noses to the ground. They will be attempting to detect underground movements as the rest of the pyromancers draw up a summoning circle to conjure up something to help them out.

[Sewer System Blue]

The metal fiend turns to ask the others something in their demon-tongue as the question about the other fiends are brought up. It doesn't seem to like whatever the answer was.

"Where are these fiends? Another faction was supposed to meet us here but they never showed up. If you can give us... directions we can go and deal with them."
They then nod in response to their other question. "There are seeds that have been made to fit such purposes, yes. This is just what they look unmodified. We could have cuthun produce seeds of all sort of specifications however."

Pennilan's Tavern

Jaahlyn nods."Huh, well, everyone wants to look good so that's only natural. Can't blame you for that. But I was talking more about, ah, mental change." She gestures at her head. "I mean, you'd probably recognize my face even from back when I was human, but you wouldn't recognize me as the same person. So even if your appearance changed a lot and your priorities were a bit different but you'd still be the same person, right? Well, I've been alive so long and things have changed so much around me that I'm not sure I can say that anymore if you know what I'm saying."

[Morty]

[Two Detectives]

Michalson's careful mask of professionalism and detachment seems to be slipping. He looks like a man thoroughly out of his element. He is not, by his nature, an empathetic man who thinks about his assumptions and biases.

"Er. I can't say as I've ever given it a lot of thought. I reckon I might have felt somethin' like that?"

[5a Violista]

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

June follows the directions.

Down. Okay, this looks reasonable, June thinks. A little steep, but much better 'down' than 'up' when it comes to a steep thing. Then again, this implies he'll have to go back up later. Narrow is also a plus, because then he can use the walls if he needs to, when he gets there.

He takes a few moments to take deep breaths and get ready.
He turns around, facing towards the ground, so his feet go down first and one hand on the ground. (The other is holding the spongey thing.)


[Searching for Jo]

"Yeah, I suppose it is like a torch," Carmen says. She had never considered it like that, but it makes sense.

There clearly aren't enough immediately around. "We...well, no, there's not a production place," she says since that's the easiest question to answer first. "The only locals who really know how to make it are, well, the leaders and their direct subordinates. Plus the gods, but they haven't been here in ages."

"So basically that would be...well, the leaders of the place locked up over there -" she points in the direction they can't go yet, "or, I guess, the paladins. They probably have a ton at their home base, and maybe we could find a few stockpiles around their outposts."

Carmen sketches a map onto the ground. There's a big X for the paladin fortress, a dot where they are, and smaller Xs for outposts, spaced pretty evenly around the whole area. "This outpost and this outpost are pretty closeby to us," she says, circling two of them, "so they would be decent choices, I think, if you don't want to go to their homebase."



[Swordswoman exits, stage left]

Harley's math included the assumption that - since their goal seems to be noticed by people - it could find one new person per second. (Plus, the complete guess of one-in-a-thousand chance of serious effects.) On a busy street, that seems reasonable but breaks down over time. It just becomes harder and harder to find someone who hasn't already seen it, especially as people run away or word spreads. It's an overestimation, especially because the one they just took out was finding people a lot slower than one-per-second, but she just assumed the worst reasonable case in order to keep herself motivated.

If she's going to take out potentially-dozens of mind-virus monsters, she definitely needs to keep herself motivated. Especially since this is the first time she's done this since her daughter was born.

Instead of depending on impaling herself, Harley's going to just go straight to fire next time. Probably a lot better, in the long run.


Focusing on helping someone is always good. That's Venus's opinion, anyway.
She goes into the bar. The 'door' is basically a large pair of curtains you can just walk between. (On hot days, they pull them up and it's essentially an open-to-the-street bar.) There's a a couple tables, and on the counter there's large jars of fermenting fruits.
"My place is actually between the Black Dragon's Den and here," Venus says. "So if we go there, I'd like to go the long way around. To, y'know, avoid any weirdos at my place."

Venus looks at the chairs and such, and notices that none of them are for people with four legs. She can fix that, but...if she doesn't need to, probably best to not.
She just stands in place, for now.
"I guess HALO would be fine, too," she says. After a few moments of thinking and realizing she's not sure where or what HALO is, she asks, "Where is HALO, anyway?" She imagines it's downtown, in a skyscraper. That's what she's thinking right now. Maybe even some kind of campus with several buildings.

[Deathkeeper]

Pennilan’s Tavern

Jim seems pensive.
”I mean, maybe? It’s hard for me to really process thinking about periods of time that big. Does the core of someone’s being change that much with time? I know it’s kind of a lame answer, but I really don’t know.” he munches on the meal at a significantly slower pace than Jaahlyn.
”Well if nothing else I’m glad you seem to be enjoying the food.”

[UncleWolf]

Flying Palace

"Commissar would love you either way but I think yours do miss you." Zebes mutters. By the door they can hear the gentle thumping of the houndour's short tail on the floor as his name gets mentioned.
Jace gently rubs Veronica's shoulder as he sits down next to her. He has a habit of doing that when they're together and he isn't sure what to do with his hands.
"Well, I imagine the most likely ways would be to either spend enough time outside the Palace for it to 'fall off' or publicly renounce it at its heart and witnesses. Unless there's another ritual in that old book of your grandmother's." He stares off toward the wall.
"But if nothing else, we gotta make sure we get through your bucket list. Before you put the mantle in the bucket, you know? I don't think we ever got that dance in the palace's garden under the moon."
"Yeah, I got the band to practice and everything."
Jace knows that look. That's a look Veronica gives him so rarely. And frankly, he's learned at this point that just saying he gets it isn't really what she needs to hear. Far better that they start making plans. Veronica has always been far more attuned to throwing herself at things in Jace's experience. But that's why she's got wings, isn't it?

Flying Palace

"Hup!" Veronica tucks herself and rolls backwards off the seat entirely, sticking the landing as soon as she gets to her feet. Thankfully her light body makes it far less awkward than it might be otherwise for non-harpies. At least until her outstretched wing nearly knocks a vase off a shelf and causes her to have to use a foot to break the fragile object's fall. She gives a sigh of relief when it is unharmed and gingerly puts it back up. "Date night in the gardens under the moon." She considers before kneeling down next to one of the tonberries to whisper. After a few incredibly hushed moments, the little dungeon denizen nods and scampers off while Veronica smiles after it. "It'll be set up for us for tonight, though we've plenty of time to kill until then. It won't take long to ship everything back to my place, so...hrm..." She scratches her chin, considering what should be done next or in the meantime. A grin comes to her face and she offers her hand to Jace. "If I'm not mistaken, there's probably a hot spring somewhere in here somewhere that the doc found. I hadn't really thought about it before, but just us, candles, some music in a magic recuperating spring? I'd say that sounds like a good day to me. And I won't even ask Zebes to head off for it. If it's as suffused in magic as it seems like it might be then I think it could be revitalizing for you too."

[Recaiden]

[Sewer System Red]

Well, at least it's one fiend that's not here right now.
The mole hounds will be able to locate the source of the attack, as mentioned above. They'll also find, through much smaller disturbances, that there's another waiting further back from the one that struck their soldier.
The other angels that were disturbed are passing those defenses now, in just a few moments they'll come around the corner, into the fleshy tunnel-


[Sewer System Blue]

"What does this faction stand for? Or have you also invited the demons we oppose in hopes of making peace?"

The angel rounds the crevasse and comes closer to the fiends.
"We will show you." They point back the way that the blue team came.
The first step is, where they turned right to find this battle, to instead turn left...

"Once they're dealt with, please tell us about 'having cuthun produce' things. It's always seemed fairly singular in its methods."

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

Good decision taking a moment to get ready, June.
He should be able to clamber down the ground, and climb when it gets narrower.
Once he's all the way down, it opens up again, leading into an old arched sewer passage. It's not that much more open; there's barely room to stand.

From up ahead, he hears a scream, and the faint sounds of a struggle.

[5a Violista]

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

What was the next step, across or something like that? he wonders.
Half of him hopes he has to go past the source of the scream, so that he can help. The other half of him knows that's a bad idea because it increases the chance of him getting caught and being unable to stop this from happening.
And then he remembers all those action movies where the hero intentionally gets caught just to be led to the place. He considers different places on his body/clothes that he could probably hide the sponge thing, and decides armpit is probably the best overall, since when they take him near wherever, he could still manipulate it by moving his shoulders and elbows.
...
And then he thinks that's a bad idea, because what if they search him or keep him locked up for a while or something? It's best to not get caught because then they don't have the opportunity to know you're there. It's so narrow here, anyway, that it's probably incredibly dangerous to run into someone.

June continues following the instructions. Across...something.
Just in case he has the opportunity to help whoever, he goes slightly faster than he was going earlier.

And he's still incredibly torn on whether or not he wants to run into that scream and that struggle.
Why can't doing the right thing just be easier?

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

The skeleton waits until Venus says "ready," then attacks again, lunging forward with a thrust that turns into a second attack, skipping sideways to strike again from an angle. Again, he stops short of actually injuring Venus.

Heresy Fighters

"It's just a saying!" Purple reacts quickly, her sword flicking out to interpose between Gold and the intended target. "Knowledge can be dangerous., and these things are spreading that danger as quickly as they can."

[Reinholdt]

[Sans Swordswoman]

"I don't know about taking the long way around. By my understanding, there's plenty more of those things out there." It could exacerbate her condition. Or create several brand new ones. That would be pretty bad. "Are the weirdos at home that weird?" They can't be worse than memory elementals can they?

"You know. HALO? The big research organization under the sea? Been around literally longer than Inside?" Technically true and also technically not. Reinholdt orders a rum, realizes he can't see if he's actually talking to a waitress, and finally slides the blindfold up so he can see. Finally take a look at what this horsewoman centaur person looks like.

"We can get to it from the docks if someone hasn't taken all the boats already in a panic." It's probably panic at the docks. That's prime foot traffic for the elementals to do work in. "Leaving the city also works pretty well." A longer trip once outside, but a more pleasant one.

[5a Violista]

[Necropolis of Kysimax]

Venus, with her sword closer to vertical than horizontal, parries the thrust's foible with her forte while retreating. She still doesn't like how she's not wearing any safety gear, but...well, at this point, there's not really anything she can do about it.

Luckily, because she retreated, she has enough time to react to the second strike, so she meets the blade closer to the middle of both swords with a circle parry.

In order to regain her lost footing, she advances while pushing against the skeleton's sword to trap it against hers while she extends her arm and twists her wrist (to reorient her sword's point at the skeleton) and is about to try to take control of his sword by sliding hers and stab the skeleton, when..."Oops, I guess a stab doesn't work on skeletons." It'd just go right through him, she presumes, and get caught between his bones and force her to drop her sword if she wants to avoid a counterattack.

Having realized how bad of a decision it is to stab a skeleton, Venus pulls back her sword and retreats two steps again.


[Sans Swordswoman]

"Yeah, that is a really good point. Don't want to run into any more of those things either..." Huge conundrum.
Venus moves a chair aside and stands in its place, out of the way of any waitresses.
"Those people are that weird,.yes, but they're not dangerous yet. But, like, so quick story. One time, one of them followed me to my favorite grocery store and I can't go back there any more because some of the cashiers started praying at me every time I went to buy something." Honestly, sounds like a minor problem. Lots of people would love to get worshipped randomly. "Had to find a new grocery store after that."

Now that he can see her, he can see that her lower body is totally a deer. One of the smallest species of spotted deer, actually. Her hands are...well, they have one fewer finger each, but it looks completely natural. Her eyes are violet and catlike, her ears are a little pointy like an elf's (they used to look more unique but have since changed to be more boring) and her hair is a natural red and goes down for days, nearly to her feet. Not to mention, the plants growing in it: thorny vines at ear level, keeping her hair neat and out of her face, thin/small white flowers, opened red and green flytraps, and bright yellow inflorescences: balls of dozens of tiny flowers.
"Actually..." she admits, "Never heard of it. Pretty new to the Nexus." Then, realizing that she can't just use that excuse forever, she quickly adds, "Newish. I mean, not, like, brand new, but still less than a year."

Venus almost orders Just water but decides to ask what kinds of virgin juices they have. Cherry-limeade, apparently, which needs to be diluted with water and sugar, since it's meant to be mixed with alcohol instead. She requests no sugar.

"Those things like crowds, right?" Venus surmises. "We'd have to stay away from any of the major docks. Do you know a minor road or backroad out of thr city? I only know the major roads to the docks and I haven't actually left this city since I got here."

[Recaiden]

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

What was the next step, across or something like that? he wonders.
Half of him hopes he has to go past the source of the scream, so that he can help. The other half of him knows that's a bad idea because it increases the chance of him getting caught and being unable to stop this from happening.
And then he remembers all those action movies where the hero intentionally gets caught just to be led to the place. He considers different places on his body/clothes that he could probably hide the sponge thing, and decides armpit is probably the best overall, since when they take him near wherever, he could still manipulate it by moving his shoulders and elbows.
...
And then he thinks that's a bad idea, because what if they search him or keep him locked up for a while or something? It's best to not get caught because then they don't have the opportunity to know you're there. It's so narrow here, anyway, that it's probably incredibly dangerous to run into someone.

June continues following the instructions. Across...something.
Just in case he has the opportunity to help whoever, he goes slightly faster than he was going earlier.

And he's still incredibly torn on whether or not he wants to run into that scream and that struggle.
Why can't doing the right thing just be easier?

There comes a place where this sewage tunnel crosses another one, where there is a waterfall of liquid waste down to the lower level, and a walkway that stretches across the gap, to the other side of the tunnel. Down on the lower level, well, June remembers that thing with too many limbs that he encountered in the darkness, that was looking for Vix and refused to listen to his very reasonable requests? Something just like it, if not the same one, is carrying someone along. It is that someone who was screaming, twisting and turning to try to get away, but to no avail; the monster has so many claws to hold them with, after all.

Heresy Fighters

"It's just a saying!" Purple reacts quickly, her sword flicking out to interpose between Gold and the intended target. "Knowledge can be dangerous., and these things are spreading that danger as quickly as they can."

"So they always say to justify their selfish acts."
Gold stops short, with Purple's sword before them.

"You are trying to keep these secrets for yourself. It's such obvious."
They twirl on one foot and point their own sword at Purple.

"Back down. Let the people learn. You don't need to be involved."

[bc56]

Necropolis of Kysimax

The skeleton retreats as Venus advances, keeping a steady grip on his sword as she attempts to control it, resisting her force. When she realizes her mistake and retreats again, he follows, sweeping his own blade up at her weapon in an attempt to disarm her.

Heresy Fighters

"What truth is so important to be spread, that you would hurt all these people to give it to them?" Purple stands firm and begins slowly circling Gold, but she's not trained in swordplay. She's nervous.

[Reinholdt]

[Sans Swordwoman]

Well Venus is certainly very unique and very pretty. It seems an additional step from that however to unadulterated worship. "That's... very strange." Something Venus has been saying all along! "It honestly sounds like they're doing more than just convincing people. There may be something insidious they're doing to change people's actions. I can't fathom why though. Do you have divine origins of some kind?" It wouldn't be the first time he's met a goddess who wasn't shining in divine power all the time.

Rein looks almost disappointed she hasn't heard of HALO, but nods. "Well... we're not exactly in the public eye that much. Research is useful, but not glamorous. I really need to go on another recruitment drive." There's bound to be more people out there in need of facilities to perform mostly legal research.

Fortunately for them both, Reinholdt nods. "Yeah, I actually know a few back roads out. I've had to leave the city once or twice discreetly. Be glad you weren't here for the dead invasion."

He's not going to rush back out there until they've at least finished their drinks though. "So, what's your name?" Reinholdt has asked this before, and he hasn't forgotten. He's seeing if she's going to give a different answer. Because that's the one thing he knows for certain about her that he can test in regards to what's happened to her.

[5a Violista]

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

Oh no.
As much as June had hoped that he would encounter the screaming source, actually seeing the thing he found in the dark makes him realize how much he dreaded it. Mostly, there's just nothing he can do. He couldn't do anything up on the surface, and now in a cramped area like this there's even less than nothing he can do.

Well, actually, June thinks, if he can get to this pool thing before the person is brought there, that's probably the most he can do. And then maybe on the way out, during the confusion and chaos, he can help.

He continues following the instructions, and keeps in mind where the creature-with-the-screaming-person went, so that he can go that way afterwards.


[Necropolis of Kysimax]

The last time Venus was disarmed, it was from a guy over a foot taller than her and over a hundred pounds heavier than her. She then practiced holding onto her sword better, to face him again because she was so embarrassed. And that was back when she was very much human, and not a gaiad.
Even though she's not used to the handle of this sword, the skeleton would have to be supernaturally much more powerful than her to disarm her by hitting it. (Or...it could aim at her fingers. That could possibly work, she thinks.) Especially since it's in her left hand now.

With the skeleton trying to power through her, Venus feels her opportunity!
She moves her sword in the same direction that the skeleton is pushing hers, to give her sword space. Then, she moves her wrist in a u-shape, to go under the skeleton's sword.

And she steps forward again, and brings in her sword at the skeleton's shoulder.


[Sans Swordwoman]

"I'm not any more divine than anyone else," Venus asserts. "I mean, sure, I believe that I'm descended from my god, but also that literally everyone else is, too, so I don't think that's what you're referring to. And, like, yeah I live in a church. . ." She sighs and rests her fist on her face. "And, I guess, okay, last time this sort of thing happened to me, it turned me into a fairy and I've met people who have worshipped fairies. Maybe it's because of how attuned I am with nature? Lots of people have worshiped nature before. So...honestly, there's just a million different explanations for what it could be, but just as many explanations for why that's nonsense. I'm not sure if this line of thinking is actually helpful without knowing more about...whatever."

"Yeah, research is pretty useful," she agrees, nodding. "I used to do some, way back when. On, like, sports biomechanics and design and stuff like that." Speaking of biomechanics, she's not sure that she wants to stand this whole time while waiting and drinking. Especially if he's sitting, it feels weird looking down on him while talking with him. She doesn't like having to look down at someone like that.

So, while listening and nodding to show that she's listening, Venus turns her head away towards the wall, reaches up to her face, and...
...
She now has human legs, instead of deer-body. Actually, she's now a bit taller than she was before. Still wearing a dress, so it doesn't change her clothes at all, which explains why she's barefoot. (Deer can't really wear shoes.) She sighs; she was trying to get herself used to being part deer. She pulls back the chair that she had moved away, and sits in it...and then has to seriously readjust herself because she just sat on her hair and it pulled.
"So, my name's Venu..." She trails off. "...s..." and then snaps and points at him. "Oh! I had almost forgotten! The thing that happened last time totes completely messed up my names!" She starts counting them out on her fingers, while mouthing words. One, two, three...seven, eight. That...that should? be? all? of them? But, ugh, maybe she miscounted because she has fewer fingers on her hand. She counts again, this time starting with a closed fist for 'one' and 'six', so that she can still count five for a hand. She's glad that whatever happened to her didn't suddenly make her think in base eight, because that would be hard to reconcile. "Okay, eight. Seems...right, I guess. But something that could change my memory could also change what I think my names are..."

Venus groans and leans on the table - this is a benefit of sitting down, you can put your elbows on the table and lean on it - and puts her hands over her eyes.
"I guess that's one more thing I need to verify when she's awake. Why are people always asleep when things happen?"

[Deathkeeper]

Flying Palace

"Hup!" Veronica tucks herself and rolls backwards off the seat entirely, sticking the landing as soon as she gets to her feet. Thankfully her light body makes it far less awkward than it might be otherwise for non-harpies. At least until her outstretched wing nearly knocks a vase off a shelf and causes her to have to use a foot to break the fragile object's fall. She gives a sigh of relief when it is unharmed and gingerly puts it back up. "Date night in the gardens under the moon." She considers before kneeling down next to one of the tonberries to whisper. After a few incredibly hushed moments, the little dungeon denizen nods and scampers off while Veronica smiles after it. "It'll be set up for us for tonight, though we've plenty of time to kill until then. It won't take long to ship everything back to my place, so...hrm..." She scratches her chin, considering what should be done next or in the meantime. A grin comes to her face and she offers her hand to Jace. "If I'm not mistaken, there's probably a hot spring somewhere in here somewhere that the doc found. I hadn't really thought about it before, but just us, candles, some music in a magic recuperating spring? I'd say that sounds like a good day to me. And I won't even ask Zebes to head off for it. If it's as suffused in magic as it seems like it might be then I think it could be revitalizing for you too."

Flying Palace

"Oh, can I get the band? We've been practicing you know with no gigs in ages." Zebes sits up and starts wiggling his foreclaws as if pantomiming a saxophone.
For his part Jace stands up with his usual wry smile.
"I don't know Veronica. Hot tub afternoon in a palace. Not sure I could make that happen without any swim trunks." He shakes his head and knocks on the door. "Commissar we're fine. Go check on the girls, why don't you?" the pokemon on the other side of the door barks. The sound of paws padding echo even through the door. "You know, it's funny he still does that even when he can talk."
"Now then, where is this secret spring? I think it's good that if this is our last day here we can at least cross another chamber off the map." Jace likes filling out maps. Some habits never really die.

[Reinholdt]

[Sans Swordswoman]

"Just a wild thought, but have you actually asked them directly why they worship you?" Sometimes people miss the obvious solution to an otherwise complicated problem. That's what makes Rein specialized in research! Kinda. Sort of.

"That's a new one to me. What is sports biomechanics?" Rein has an idea, but he's pretty sure that's just cyborg rugby teams and not quite what Venus is talking about in the least.

He does have to blink a little and take a few more sips of rum as she shifts to a human shape. Or the illusion of one. It's not that far off from what he does so he can't be too surprised. He just hasn't met very many others like him who could do that.

On to... kind of the topic at hand? "Right, uh, ok. So... not this time, but another time? What happened that time? And 'she' means your friend at BDD? What's her name? And you said something felt wrong earlier? What felt wrong?" That's probably too many questions. Slow down Rein.

[Recaiden]

Heresy Fighters

"What truth is so important to be spread, that you would hurt all these people to give it to them?" Purple stands firm and begins slowly circling Gold, but she's not trained in swordplay. She's nervous.

"Nothing less than the nature of people. Do you know why the wind bears anger upon it?"
That's not the most coherent thing Gold could have said there.
"It's all coming back. Learning isn't easy, but one's better off knowing."

Gold lunges forward, striking towards Purple's center - in what turns out to be a feint, and after a twist becomes a slash towards Purple's sword-arm. They are trained in a style of swordfighting, and seem to have lost most of the doubts they had before.

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

Oh no.
As much as June had hoped that he would encounter the screaming source, actually seeing the thing he found in the dark makes him realize how much he dreaded it. Mostly, there's just nothing he can do. He couldn't do anything up on the surface, and now in a cramped area like this there's even less than nothing he can do.

Well, actually, June thinks, if he can get to this pool thing before the person is brought there, that's probably the most he can do. And then maybe on the way out, during the confusion and chaos, he can help.

He continues following the instructions, and keeps in mind where the creature-with-the-screaming-person went, so that he can go that way afterwards.

The instructions lead June throughout the sewers, and without any further difficult, he should reach the part of the sewers that has been made into the lair of these monsters.
The ground has gone from bricks and waste to skin and bones. The air is lit (though dimly) by green bioluminescence from strange plants(?) that aren't quite ferns. The screaming is mixed in with squelching and squirming and inhuman howling.
From here on, he does have to worry a bit about being noticed by the monsters. But they're not looking for him. They're looking for other monsters, after all.
Maybe he could run right in and make it to the pool? Or maybe he take a different approach?

[Shadowcaller]

[Sewer System Red]

So they wouldn't be able to set up the ritual without getting interrupted here either? The creatures seemed to only react to pain however so as long as they didn't do anything to hurt it they could probably not even tell what was going on.

Still, that was a risk to take.

There is a short debate regarding their next move should be until the commander decides to not take the risk. They should set up the pyromancers ritual outside of the creatures reach.

So they move until none of those underground creatures are nearby before they start the ritual. It wouldn't take particularly long unless more distractions will be interfering with them.

[Sewer System Blue]

"They were the ones that invited themselves here first. We decided to come along in hopes that we could make this encounter more... productive than what their plans are. They're military you see. Seeing everyone else as enemies and thus their solution to every problem becomes rather predictable." The metal fiend explains as the rest of their team are getting ready to move out.

"Cuthun can make basically anything for us. The only issue is controlling all the life it makes. This 'corruption', as the mortals call it, is a direct result of it going beyond our control. Creating completely independent life such as yourself and many other beings across this plane." But unless there are any replies to that the fiend will be moving towards the red team.

The result of the meeting resolved in my next post. The question is if any of the angels are going to be there for it.

[Two Detectives]

Ava opens her mouth to reply but just then Michalson's phone rings.

If he looks at the caller ID...

...he might recall the saying that when you speak of the devil, he appears.

Since who else would call but racism Aitana, the Order of Iron agent he spoke to a while ago during the meme virus her home city was involve with. Now what could she possibly want to speak to him again for?

Pennilan’s Tavern

Jaahlyn wasn't clueless enough to not know when to switch topics. "I've learned to never say no to food, especially when it's free." She looks down at her empty plate as Jim is slowly finishing his own sandwich. "...though in this case I must have thought you'd would withdraw your offer at some point." The satyr chuckles. "Is this something you do often, Jim? Offer people you've just met free food, not to mention wine, or is it just satyrs?"