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  1. - Top - End - #181
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Rebonack's Avatar

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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [An Improbable Adventure]

    Fenris looks deeply skeptical at G'Nichi's explanation.

    "It's powered by amber? I imagine not the mundane sort. I know you can do some interesting tricks by rubbing a bit of amber with wool. Picking up little bits of paper and hair like a piece of loadstone picks up iron filings. But it couldn't be mundane amber. You mean amber infused with chaotic power from Oblivion, right?"

    Fenris is quite certain that's what it must be.

    Of course...

    Using power from the realm of the mad god really doesn't seem... wise.

    At all.

    Even a little bit.

    So maybe she's misunderstanding something.
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  2. - Top - End - #182
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    An Improbable Adventure

    G’nichi in turn looks deeply confused.
    ”No? I said electricity. Like the stuff lightning is made of. There’s no hardened tree sap in my phone. It uses a chemical reaction to draw current. I told you, there’s no magic involved.”
    Why would you draw from a distant plane just to power a phone?
    Spako Highclaws by Ceika.

    [Sorry Boss, but as always, I get the last word.]

  3. - Top - End - #183
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [An Improbable Adventure]

    Alright.

    Fenris is deeply confused now.

    "But... you just said that what powers your device is derived from amber. What does amber have to do with lightning? Lightning is raw power from Aetherius that accumulates in clouds until they are too full of magic and discharge," she replies, offering the device back to G'nichi.

    She must be missing something, here.

    G'nichi keeps saying that the device is powered of amber.

    But he doesn't seem to be aware that he keeps saying his device is powered of amber.

    Is this some artifact of language?

    That has to be it, right?

    "You said this electricus is a chemical effect. There's... a curious device used for plating metals, among other things. You take a jar with a copper cylinder inside and an iron rod inside that. You then fill the container with strong vinegar and seal it. For a time it'll produce a slight shock if you touch it to something, like a mage who's just beginning to learn lightning magic. Is... that the sort of process you're describing?"

    There's a momentary flash of insight here.

    "...are you suggesting that the shock bottle and shock that a bit of amber rubbed with wool can produce are the same phenomena?"
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  4. - Top - End - #184
    Ogre in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    An Improbable Adventure

    "I think we're having a Nexus Translate issue.
    Um. I think that what I'm saying yes. The former example is a chemical reaction producing electricity and the latter is static electricity which is basically the same thing in practice but work different ways."
    An electric shock from static electricity would be more like a capacitor.
    "It's also-" Presently G'nichi's phone rings. Somehow he has reception out here. He picks it up immediately.
    "Hi Nala! What? No, I'm helping a lost soul. Out at Mount Improbable. Yeah it's..." this might go on for a while. G'nichi definitely seems excited to be talking to whoever this is.
    Spako Highclaws by Ceika.

    [Sorry Boss, but as always, I get the last word.]

  5. - Top - End - #185
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Wastelands Campsite

    Quote Originally Posted by Earl of Purple View Post
    "If'n ye do this, t' keep an eye on 'em, ye're expedition will truly be over. There'll be nobody t' remember ye or yours, not who knew 'em as they were. Ye'll rot too, aye? They be like ye but without feedin'?" Frigate thinks it's a stupid idea, to go down with one's ship. Granted he's never had a choice to do otherwise, but he's also never been in danger by doing it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ironsmith View Post

    "...Then the expedition is over." Horace replies, slowly pulling himself to his feet. "I can keep them in this cave, if you will allow it. And I may gain nothing more than time. But I can't abandon my people like this." He turns to Olvisin. "If these were your brothers; would you leave them behind?"
    Olvisin almost quips about how it depends on whether Luuvat gives her back the money he owes her, or something like that. But she (thankfully) thinks better of it.

    "This looks to have been a merry parade of screw-ups on both sides. But I guess we're not getting paid to force you out of here."
    My FFRP characters. Avatar by Ashen Lilies. Sigatars by Ashen Lilies, Gullara and Purple Eagle.
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  6. - Top - End - #186
    Orc in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills- Maw of Akarkhentkats

    The door has a hole burnt in it, and then is opened. The skeleton which had held the bow now holds nothing but charcoal and ash, the remains of the bow and a few fingers. It reaches into the quiver and pulls out an iron-tipped arrow, joining the others in striding towards the door. They can't go through it, but the first one to reach the door swings at the foxgirl standing on the other side. The axe is old, iron but not rusty- it's far too dry in this tomb for rust to occur. The other two with axes stand behind it, not quite able or willing to demolish their compatriot to make their own attacks.
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  7. - Top - End - #187
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [Bone Hills - Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    Ah! This is why one shouldn't be an adventurer. Skeletons trying to kill you with axes, just to start!
    The foxgirl scrambles further back, narrowly avoiding the iron blade. At least they can't chase them back into the hallway.
    "Wave? Go on."

    The fire elemental steps up, while the other two retreat back to the corner. The constant process of burning destruction that makes up their form shifts and slows as a ball of flame forms above their raised hands...and then they pitch the fireball, aimed just over the skeletons' heads, to explode at the center of those undead.

    [Temple Site]
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowcaller View Post
    "It's indeed but a shell of its former self. That we cannot deny." Jaccalish gesture at the blackened world around them hardly seem necessary here.
    "However, while there are all sort of pragmatic reasons we could list for doing this, like all the lost technology which could be harvested from its surface and how it could in time be restored to life, in truth it comes down to an ideological one."
    Jaccalish steps closer to the two. "You see, the world has actually become something of a liability at this point." With a casual gesture small floating orbs that seem to represent other worlds start to appear around them and they spare them quick glances while their clawed appendages move over their surfaces.

    "While our people have been able to leave it physically for a long time they've yet to been able to do so mentally. The idea that their world could be restored and they can take their revenge is so ingrained in them that they haven't been able to truly settle anywhere else. All our jaunts to other worlds have simply been means to restore their world. Not attempts to create something new elsewhere." Jaccalish continues to speak until they eventually come to a blackened orb which seem to represent their own planet.

    They reach over to touch it with one of their claws.
    "Therefore, the world must be restored." As the claw gently touches the surface the orb suddenly brightens and turns a vibrant green and blue.

    But then Jaccalish closes its claw around it and its instantly crushed into tiny specks of light. "Or it has to be destroyed." Now they turn to face Nathan, almost getting uncomfortably close. "We believe our project will have a good chance of at least achieving one of those. Aiming for the former of course but as I'm sure you're already considering, there will be a lot of complications. We've had a lot of time figuring those out while within this realm however. Indeed, we came here before all others of our kind. So if you have questions regarding it, now would be the time to ask them." They pause, their cold eyes now regarding them with silence.
    Nathan listens, remaining blank of expression up until the orb is crushed, at which point their eyes widen and antennae sweep back.
    "So the problem will be solved one way or the other."
    To be followed by a whole set of new problems.

    "It would surely be easier to destroy it, correct? And the survivors would have to move on.
    Of course, it would be a shame to lose a whole world. All that space, all those hardy creatures clinging to life.

    Questions, yes, they have questions, more than a few, but they can start with these.
    "Where will you put it?"
    "Is your solution specific to your world or could it bring other worlds here?"
    "Approximately how many of your kind are even still alive at this point?"
    "Won't this make revenge more difficult, being here?"
    "How will the angels react?"
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
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    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
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  8. - Top - End - #188
    Orc in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - Maw of Akarkhentkats

    The fireball explodes, and the wave of heat and flame licks over the bones of the long-dead guardians, scorching and crackling. They collapse into a heap, the magic animating the bones scoured away by the fire. The archer's quiver is now on fire; the rest of the skeletons are blackened and burnt, but the bones and toughened wood of the axes are not as flammable as the cloth-wrapped leather.

    They can now explore the room they've just cleared of its undead defenders, a light covering of dust covering the floor. The bones are heaped in the doorway, linked by iron chains to a ring set in the floor, just in front of a small wooden box. An archway to the right leads to another chamber, its size the match of this one. That chamber is different, though, the wall opposite the archway home to a vast water feature, now completely dry. The edge of the water feature hides most of the floor, without entering that chamber.
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  9. - Top - End - #189
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    "Perfect. They didn't know what hit 'em."

    The explorers head into the room, leaving the quiver to burn.

    The manticore pushes the box away from where it's resting, before the foxgirl goes to open it and see what the skeletons were guarding over.
    Meanwhile, Wave glides up to the water feature to try and see what's beyond it.
    Last edited by Recaiden; 2021-12-02 at 01:22 PM.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  10. - Top - End - #190
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [An Improbable Adventure]

    Sadly Fenris wouldn't know what a capacitor is, nor the difference between a battery and a capacitor.

    "Most enchanted objects are powered by soul gems," Fenris explains as she's handing the phone back. "They provide a magical charge that's slowly consumed by the artifact."

    Oh.

    Hmm.

    G'nichi is looking a bit concerned about this explanation.

    "Soul trapping sapient beings is deeply unethical," Fenris points out. "There's even an argument to be made that the practice is capital 'E' Evil. Only the most vile of necromancers engage in it with any regularity. My gauntlets, for example, were forged using souls from a pair of mammoths. Which, ah, was a bit touch and go. Mammoths aren't exactly easy prey, though it's my understanding that Hircine approved of the hunt."

    Hircine's approval fills Fenris with shame.

    Then?

    The phone rings!

    Fenris looks curious.

    Nala, meanwhile, is pretty glad that G'nichi is helping a Nexus newcomer. It's something of a rite of passage for heroes after all. Nala also proposes a date next week. Hopefully one that won't end in a hostage situation. Again.
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  11. - Top - End - #191
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    No traps are triggered by moving the box, and within there's a pile of gold coins and a plain white jug. The jug is made of some white material that is very light, but hard, too; it doesn't quite feel like a ceramic or a metal, as it's cuendillar, a nearly indestructible substance. It might be a bit hard to split, since they can't hack it into pieces, but maybe they'll find more somewhere in here.

    In the next room over, there's no other exits. These two chambers are on their own; the rest of the tomb lies the other way. The dry water-feature consists of a low wall around a pool once fed by a waterfall flowing from a large face carved into the wall, with two skeletal crocodiles within. There's also a hatch in the floor of the former pool, but one of the crocodiles is lying across it. Just inside the archway, where they're hard to spot from the other side of it, is a silver bottle-stand, with six empty bottles in it but space for twice as many.
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  12. - Top - End - #192
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    An Improbable Adventure

    "Saturday it is! I'll try to stay in one outfit this time. Bye Nala!"
    Click.
    "Sorry about that, Fenris. But you can't keep your lady waiting when she calls. Um. You were saying something about gems and stuff."
    G'nichi's brain clearly did not retain anything Fenris said when thoughts of girlfriend began bouncing in his noggin.
    Spako Highclaws by Ceika.

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  13. - Top - End - #193
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    Default [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    Ahah! Just what they were hoping for, a pile of gold!
    And this curious jug.
    "Huh. Huh. What is?" Honeysuckle muses aloud, tapping at the jug curiously. It's definitely an object, made out of something, but she doesn't recognize the material at all, and it feels...weird.
    Still, it's definitely treasure. They take a moment to pack it into the bags the manticore is wearing.

    Now, as for the crocodiles, are those undead crocodiles just like the bones in this room, or just the bones of the living crocodiles that once inhabited this water trap?
    If it's the former, the elemental roars an alarm and starts charging a fireball again. If it's the latter, they can get a closer look at those bottles.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  14. - Top - End - #194
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    Sort-of both, although they aren't moving from the dried-up pool. They were living crocodiles, reanimated after their natural deaths to continue guarding the pool and the hatch in the bottom of the pool.

    If the elemental wants to attack them, they won't react beforehand- unless it gets into the pool, at least. If it chooses not to, again the skeleton crocodiles won't attack, so long as it stays out of the pool. If it enters the pool, they'll move towards it, shuffling awkwardly and being ungainly. The pool drying up was not planned by the tomb's architects, so the crocodiles losing the element of surprise- or the water in which they could so easily move- was not intended.

    The jug is exceptionally light, and very hard.
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  15. - Top - End - #195
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    The elemental does want to attack, gliding around beyond the edge of the pool and throwing a blast of explosive flame in at the crocodiles.
    Wave is perfectly happy not to have a bunch of water in here to contend with.

    If the fireball works as well on the crocodiles as it did on the human skeletons - were they chained up in here still alive too? - then before too long the foxgirl will come into the pool and try to open the hatch.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  16. - Top - End - #196
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    Now isn't that a worrying question?

    The crocodiles, however, were not chained down. The flame works quite well, however, burning and scorching the bones. They start to move as they come under attack, but too little and too late.

    The hatch isn't locked, and leads into what was, once, a flooded treasure vault. There's no water at the moment, however, which means there's also no way back up- no ladder set into the wall, or anything else that might be useful for climbing; the walls are smooth stone. The gold is heaped in piles, but it's hard to say how deep they are- the shaft is narrow, and the gold covers the floor. The gold is also trapped; if it's moved, an electrical discharge fills the vault.
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  17. - Top - End - #197
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    "More gold!" Honeysuckle sings out, and the others gather to peer down the hatch.
    "Just need to get it up here."

    "So send someone with rope, bag, 'nd opposable thumbs?" That means her, so in the hope of not having to to do all that, they take a while to look over the room for any secret doors, hidden staircases, things concealed in the carved face that would have filled the pool with water, etc.
    If they don't find anything, soon a coil of rope (held up here at one end) will be tossed down the hatch, probably disturbing a few pieces of gold at the bottom.
    Last edited by Recaiden; 2021-12-03 at 08:32 PM.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  18. - Top - End - #198
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Quote Originally Posted by Recaiden View Post
    [Temple Site]


    Nathan listens, remaining blank of expression up until the orb is crushed, at which point their eyes widen and antennae sweep back.
    "So the problem will be solved one way or the other."
    To be followed by a whole set of new problems.

    "It would surely be easier to destroy it, correct? And the survivors would have to move on.
    Of course, it would be a shame to lose a whole world. All that space, all those hardy creatures clinging to life.

    Questions, yes, they have questions, more than a few, but they can start with these.
    "Where will you put it?"
    "Is your solution specific to your world or could it bring other worlds here?"
    "Approximately how many of your kind are even still alive at this point?"
    "Won't this make revenge more difficult, being here?"
    "How will the angels react?"
    [Temple Site]

    Jaccalish turns away from Nathan and more spheres appear before them. One that seems to represent a sun. The construct's attention seems to be aimed at one of the seemingly shifting numbers of spheres that's circling it however. "To minimize the chaos caused by the shift, we have actually located a world not far from Nexus Prime with the ideal orbit around the Nexus sun."

    They gently touch it with one of their claws, causing it to turn blue. "The intention is to replace that world with our own. Of course, as the the worlds aren't the same size or have the same number of satellite objects orbiting them we can't avoid some side-effects but considering what the goal is we simply have to accept side-effects like that." They make a gesture with their claws and the blue world is replaced by a green one (supposedly their own) which seems to be slightly larger.

    "As for your other questions, they are more simple to answer. It's theoretically possible that we could move other worlds here too but each world is unique and would therefore adjustments would be needed. How significant we cannot say however. Likewise, we cannot say how many of our kind are left. Not unless you elaborate on why you like to know this information. We consider it of more strategic value than the other ones.

    Finally, our speculations regarding the reaction from the angels would probably be less than accurate as our focus have been this project. Their reaction to is the business of the military. Since our intention is not revenge here. We couldn't care less about the angels or their masters. Our only concern is the continued survival of our civilization."

  19. - Top - End - #199
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    No secret doors or hidden stairwells; in this room or the one next to it that had the skeleton axemen in. Concealed in the face, at the back of the throat, is a narrow pipe that would have provided the original source for the water. It's long-dry, however, either blocked or whatever aquifer, well or cistern it is connected to simply doesn't have water any more either.

    The rope descends down the shaft, hits the gold coins which shift and clatter against each other. They sound like real gold, if any know the sound of coins clattering against coins. There's also a shock, a blast of electricity directed over the coins. It might go up the rope to whomever may be holding it, but that's unlikely. Had the shaft still been filled with water, it likely would have been far more dangerous, the electricity spreading through the water to strike everyone nearby.
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  20. - Top - End - #200
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    Default [Temple Site]

    "An exchange of planets. The logistic implications there are astounding." And the moons are being left behind, Jaccalish implied? The possibilities are endless. The stakes of this whole things have just gone up.

    "At that distance, the gravitational disturbances should be minor, even trivial depending on when in their respective orbits - this world and yours - the switch happens. Perhaps not so for the satellites, but that shouldn't...be much of a problem." If you can arrange for planets to change places, is it that much harder to arrange for a moon to be thrown at the Nexus like a cannonball, just as a coincidental side effect? That could put even their most far-flung cluster in danger.

    Nathan lifts a hand slightly.
    "Two reasons for asking. We would not like to see your species destroyed or imperiled if there should be disaster in the process. For the same reason, we hope to have some of the living to study or keep, irrespective of this plan."
    "Secondly, there is the manner of what happens next if you succeed. With access to a sun, will you still be operating here on Nexus Prime? Will you focus on rebuilding, or will your military begin a new sort of invasion? The very fact that it is a strategic value suggests dangers to the rest of us."
    "Of course you are concerned only with the survival of civilization, but that is not the priority of every group, is it?"


    [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    Sadly for the trapmakers, rope isn't nearly as conductive as gold.
    With the manticore holding the rope under her paws, Honeysuckle carefully climbs down the shaft.
    At the bottom, she unfolds the bag stuffed into a pocket and starts filling it with coins. And once it's full, or not full but pretty heavy for her, she'll tie it to the end of the rope and call for it to be pulled up, before they do it again.

    This is exactly where an unscrupulous adventuring partner would take the gold and leave. They're all thinking it, at least for a moment.
    But they trust each other more than that. Maybe not the manticore quite as much, but Wave is also up there.
    Last edited by Recaiden; 2021-12-04 at 12:39 PM.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  21. - Top - End - #201
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    The gold layer isn't as deep as it looked from the surface, and removing the coins quickly reveals the trap responsible for the electricity- a set of runes carved into the floor, triggered by disturbance. They take a while to recharge, but Honeysuckle should probably hurry just to be on the safe side. There's no obvious glow to give the trap away, but the smell of ozone is steadily getting stronger. After a minute, there's a slight hum as the runes finish replenishing power; if Honeysuckle is still down there, she should stop moving to avoid the potentially lethal blast of energy. Or she could disrupt the runes by carving through them with a knife or chisel, or she could note the small niche hidden in the side of the pit, just big enough for an acorn, reach in and remove the small faceted crystal located within, removing the trap's battery.
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  22. - Top - End - #202
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Abandoned Battlefield
    The wind howls over a dry and withered field. The rusting hulks of tanks and other vehicles rest among the ruins of what was once an industrial complex.

    Thump.

    Pigeons scatter from the skeletal buildings in panic.

    Thump.

    A massive cloud of dust is kicked up as an old warehouse suddenly crumbles.

    Thump.

    A huge machine strides into view out of warehouse, a bipedal vehicle towering over the smaller buildings of the ruined complex. Painted in dark green and bright orange, with a pair of missile batteries on its shoulders and the barrels of a pair of guns protruding from a reinforced brace on its right hand, it is nevertheless clearly well used, bearing the scars of numerous battles on its plating.

    Thump.

    It continues its advance, one step at a time.

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    Last edited by bc56; 2021-12-04 at 02:56 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by William Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.i.46
    'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind.
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  23. - Top - End - #203
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [An Improbable Adventure]

    What a fascinating device.

    Imagine a world where artifice like that is common place, where communicating over long distances can be accomplished with a tool rather than requiring two mages adept in the art of scrying at either end of the connection. It would make communicating ideas over long distances trivial.

    "Oh no, of course not," Fenris agrees absently.

    G'nichi's sweetheart?

    Apparently?

    "I was discussing the applications and limitations of soul gems, since I noticed that you seemed uncomfortable when I mentioned them."

    Maybe she just imagined it?

    Granted, his facial expressions are quite different from those of men and mer. Or argonians, even.
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  24. - Top - End - #204
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    An Improbable Adventure

    ”Ah. That, right. Well, just glad to know you aren’t a necromancer. Well I think we should be at the mountain soon or at least by morning. Are you prepared for more strange things to happen?” he cautions Fenris as he looks up at the mountain.
    Spako Highclaws by Ceika.

    [Sorry Boss, but as always, I get the last word.]

  25. - Top - End - #205
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    Default [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    Quote Originally Posted by Earl of Purple View Post
    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    The gold layer isn't as deep as it looked from the surface, and removing the coins quickly reveals the trap responsible for the electricity- a set of runes carved into the floor, triggered by disturbance. They take a while to recharge, but Honeysuckle should probably hurry just to be on the safe side. There's no obvious glow to give the trap away, but the smell of ozone is steadily getting stronger. After a minute, there's a slight hum as the runes finish replenishing power; if Honeysuckle is still down there, she should stop moving to avoid the potentially lethal blast of energy. Or she could disrupt the runes by carving through them with a knife or chisel, or she could note the small niche hidden in the side of the pit, just big enough for an acorn, reach in and remove the small faceted crystal located within, removing the trap's battery.
    Even a floor barely covered in gold is a floor covered in gold.
    She can't complain too much.

    And what's that!? A little crystal! She picks it up before considering that it might be electrified.
    Luckily that works out.

    "Coming back up!"

    Now, the next thing to do is-
    Head outside and convey this treasure up to their partner at the top of the cliff.
    But after that, it's back towards the intersection, and this time, taking the right fork.
    Last edited by Recaiden; 2021-12-05 at 12:04 PM.
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  26. - Top - End - #206
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    Back outside they go, hand off their current loot of gold coins, cuendillar jug and small power-crystal.

    And then back into the tomb. The other branching passageway is much longer, and after a turn to the left it continues on, a slight upward slope to the floor. Opposite the turning where the slope begins, at the end of a long shaft, there's another wooden door. The corridor continues, turning right until it turns. Do the adventurers open the wooden door, to see what lays behind it, or continues along the corridor towards the bend and whatever lies beyond?
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    Default [Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

    "Anyone else feel like a giant boulder is going to roll down here later?"
    "Just me?"
    The manticore suggests, looking along the slope.

    But they do check the door first.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
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  28. - Top - End - #208
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

    If it makes the manticore feel better, the tunnel is rectangular and there's no sign of where a boulder would come from- unless it teleported in, somehow. A boulder rolling down the corridor could only be as tall as the corridor is wide... unless it's a giant wheel, then it can fill the tunnel far more effectively until the far end.

    The door is unlocked and untrapped, and leads into what looks like a dining chamber. The room is dominated by a large table, apparently made of gold, covered with gold plates and cutlery and gold ornaments shaped like food. A massive gold roast ostrich is in the middle of the table, and every plate has gold vegetables on, and there's a basket of woven gold wire filled with loaves of golden bread. Five gold chairs are around the table, with four diners- one of the chairs is empty. Sat at the head of the table is a mummified corpse, human; naturally desiccated, it seems, rather than artificially mummified. It wears a chainmail hauberk of gold and holds in one hand a golden apple; the other hand holds the hand of the diner to their left. A plain gold circlet rests on their head. On their immediate left is a life-sized gold statue of a young elf woman wearing a ragged silk dress; she smiles as she looks at the corpse holding her hand. Opposite her is a gold statue of a halfling hiding their face behind their hands, wearing a motheaten wool tunic. The final diner is a gold statue of a half-elf child, looking in horror at the elf and crying as they pull on her other arm; this statue is clothed, a pair of trousers moulded to their legs.

    Two doors lead away- one to the north, one in the opposite wall in the south-eastern corner. Both are sturdy-looking wood, blocked by gold bars. One sealed the door they've just used, but over time the weight proved too much for the brackets holding it in place, and it has fallen from the wall.

    Pixie Grinder's Compound

    It doesn't look like a very secure compound on the top of the hill that Boada leads Yuvan. She stops in a grove of trees, looking up at the compound. There's a brick wall around the place, but it isn't especially high- two and a half metres, at best. It's broken by two gates, one cast iron gate large enough for a car to pass through, the other smaller, under an arch, big enough for a person, not a vehicle. Inside the compound, there's a house looking to be on the peak of the hill, a two-storey structure of older brick than the wall. There's also a water tower, only just inside the walled area; a big metal drum atop a steel frame, with a ladder leading up to it and a walkway around the edge. Visible on the walkway is a man carrying a rifle, walking around and keeping an eye out. There's a dirt track, often used by vehicles and partly churned to mud, leading up the hill to the larger gate. A large tree also grows in the compound, an odd one; even at this time of year, it has all its leaves, and they're lilacs, pinks and purples rather than green.

    "The moment I go over that wall, if the big gate's closed I'll trigger the alarm. It detects faeries, see, and I'm faerie enough t' count, thanks to Ma. I saw some of th' Fairy Godfather's thugs fly over it, an' heard it wail. So I know it detects sprites, but it don't go off when they're drivin' in a van filled wi' more people to crush up. Won't trigger for you, though. I saw a halfling climb over it without triggering it, though the guard in the water-tower saw him too." If Boada's mother was a sprite... well, how'd she manage a half-human child?
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  29. - Top - End - #209
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    [Pixie Grinder's Compound]

    Riddle for the ages. But if Yuvan had to guess, he'd probably postulate that there was sizeshifting involved.

    Questions about how two people of such radically different size could have produced viable offspring aside, Yuvan finds himself standing at the gate, casually checking the latch to see if it's locked. Boada seemed to be under the impression that he was going to sneak in, but that... isn't really his preferred method for situations like this.

    "Hm." The altmer muses, producing a wooden practice sword and a pair of flasks from his not-pocket. He keeps one of the potions for himself and hands the other, along with the well-shaped stick, to his partner in crime. "You're going to want to drink that." He advises her, gulping down the other potion himself and raising his hands, which have little cinders building in his palms.
    Who're you? ...Don't matter.

    Want some rye? 'Course ya do!


    Here's to us.
    Who's like us?
    Damn few,
    and they're aaall dead.


    *gushes unintelligibly over our cat, Sunshine*

    [Nexus characters, grouped by setting:
    Ouroboros: here
    Maesda: here
    Others: here
    ]

  30. - Top - End - #210
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    Default Re: Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

    Pixie Grinder's Compound

    Oh, sure, but... That's Boada's trick, not something most sprites can do.

    Unfortunately, Boada is a far more sneaky person than Yuvan. She's expecting him to sneak in because that's the best chance she sees of her getting out again; she's expecting things to go badly wrong. In which case she's going to try and leave, regardless of Yuvan's status. She takes the wooden sword, eyeing it rather skeptically, and the bottle. She looks at it before popping the top off and downing it in a swig. Hopefully it tastes nice, at least.

    The big gate is locked, whilst the little gate has been bolted from the inside. There's the sound of an engine from inside, and voices are approaching the big gate- it seems as though now they're here, they won't need to open it themselves; somebody's about to do that for them. Unfortunately, that person is also planning on leaving, which isn't great if Yuvan's planning on wiping them all out. Two people will open the gate, both human; they wear jeans and leather jackets, not quite a uniform. They also both carry pistols, though after unlocking the gate they push it open- it slides to one side, rather than swings outwards. Yuvan has a chance to react before they see him, whilst the gate is still mostly shut. Boada doesn't do well with surprise like this and freezes.
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