Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

[Gullara]

This place is just as it sounds. It's Outside!
Want a change of scenery? Go Outside.
Always wanted to visit the beach? Come Outside.
Looking to have a climatic fight on clifftops? Attempt Outside.
Secret meetings being held where there's no cameras? Try Outside.
Want an ambush without nasty base defenses? Yep! Outside.

Any and all are welcome in the wild expanses beyond the reach of civilization. Who's going to keep you out? That's right, no one. You're already out!
Here lie vast expanses, dense forests, towering mountains, dizzying canyons, treacherous dungeons, encroaching jungles, roaring waterfalls, endless wastes, blistering deserts, mossy cliffs, illusionary oases, eldritch moors, flowering bosques, infested hills, cyclopean ruins, weed-tangled gardens, crumbling glaciers, peaceful glades, bubbling tar pits, rumbling volcanoes, teetering hoodoos, honeycombed caverns, dripping grottos, inland seas, grassy knolls, overgrown battlefields, creepy boneyards, guano-covered caves, and so much more!
The sky is truly the limit, and sometimes not even that. If you can imagine it, it's here, and something super cool is probably happening there.

And most importantly, enjoy Outside. That's what this is all about.

---

Rules and Guidelines

Spoiler

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There is very little you can't do Outside. However, like always, please follow the forum rules and general rules of conduct. Respect that a scene may be private or that a plot shouldn't be interrupted. When in doubt, ask someone involved in the OoC thread or by PM.

There are many areas Outside, and people can be in multiple places outside. In order to keep areas Outside separated so there's no confusion, consider bolding your outside location at the start of each of your posts, like so:

[An Epic Cliffside Battle]

The creepy eyed squirrel looks on at the raging battle with contempt! Contempt that only a squirrel with particularly creepy eyes can muster.

[The Beach!]

The menacing craps are not only menacing today, but frustrated. Their every attempt to menace the non-existent duck has met with failure. Some might ask why the crabs are trying to menace nothing, but those people would get viciously pinched.

Note the creepy eyed squirrel and the menacing crabs do not interact because they are in different areas Outside. They could interact, if the squirrel moved to the beach. Of course, various things like telepathy help bypass this.

Archive

Spoiler

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Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway
Outside 49: I don’t remember what it looks like either
Outside 48: Hotter than Inside
Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]
Outside 46
Outside 45
Outside 44: Baby it's cold outside
Outside 43: Where the sun hurts your eyes and burns your skin
Outside 42
Outside 41: Inside Outside, outside Inside
Outside 40: It's all downhill from here
Outside XXXIX
Outside XXXVIII
Outside XXXVII
Outside XXXVI
Outside XXXV
Outside XXXIV
Outside XXXIII
Outside XXXII
Outside XXXI
Outside XXX
Outside XXIX
Outside XXVIII
Outside XXVII
Outside XXVI
Outside XXV
Outside XXIV
Outside XXIII
Outside XXII
Outside XXI
Outside XX
Outside XIX
Outside XVIII
Outside XVII
Outside XVI
Outside 15: There used to be a silly pun here, but it wouldn't fit
Outside XIV: More animals than you can shake a stick at. Yes the PCs.
Outside XIII: Spores of Corruption Dance in the Wind
Outside XII: We number things correctly.
Outside XI: Bugs are Eating the Landscape
Outside X: The Rotting Corpses are starting to Smell
Outside IX: There are Mosquitoes
Outside VIII: We cater birthday parties
Outside VII: Open longer than a 7-11
Outside VI: Now with Locations!
Outside V: More civilized than Inside
Outside IV: The Creepy Eyed Squirrel's Domain
Outside III: Beware the Non-Existant Duck
Outside II: Now with Menacing Crabs
Outside

This thread is managed by Gulaghar. I will create the new thread when this one reached 50 pages. Please contact me for updates to the OP.

---

Thinking about roleplaying in the Nexus? Come say hi in our Discord!

[Ironsmith]

[Wastelands Campsite]

Olvisin is silent for a moment, as if embarrassed not to have thought of that.

"Alright. So we go in there and hit them while they're too sleepy to fight back. If we can capture at least some of them, we ought to still get paid. Maybe their leader if we manage."

Wastelands Campsite

"Sounds trim an' proper t'me. Ye want I t' go in first, or nay? I were be stayin' up 'ere, whilst ye be sneakin'. Ye've sneaked, do we be fightin' now?" Frigate checks the load of his swivel-gun, which has been loaded with a tennisball-sized iron sphere. Hopefully it's too big for Skuld to easily deflect, particularly at close range.

[Wastelands Campsite]

It seems a viable plan. As the goblin pointed out, nobody's stirred since they arrived. The only positional advantage the vampires have is the bottleneck at the entrance to the cave. If the goblins get a substantial force in before attacking, the odds swing heavily in their favor.

[Gullara]

[A Hunter must Hunt Kows]

It's a race to nowhere as unsurprisingly it quickly becomes clear that Anika has no idea where she's going.

Thankfully, its also basically impossible to miss even with her horrible navigation skills as they soon run into wast swaths of farmland. Mimi would likely at least have seen these enormous wheat-fields even if she never seen any farm animals before. Not that she'd make the immidiate connection to specific animals and this type of manmade landscape of course.

Anika seems to make an immidiate connection between it and the kows however and rushes right out into it. Presuming that Mimi follows along they soon spot two metal monsters that are consuming the grain with their steel maws.

They move through the field leaving nothing but dirt behind. Seemingly consuming it despite clearly being robots. Perhaps they're somewhat related to the drones that she might have seen Riss using?

Either way, these strange machines make Anika pause as they both seem to be moving towards them. Or at least in their general direction. Perhaps they simply haven't been spotted yet?

[A Hunter must Hunt Kows]

Mimi hovers next to Anika and looks at the great beast with awe. "Are those kows?" She whispers, just barely loud enough for Anika to hear. The challenge she issued seems much more serious now. How could Anika actually fight such massive metal beasts?

"Hold! Take aim and hold, you foundling wretches, this is our only shot at-" the Admiral blinks as the shuttle vanishes from sight, pulling up a holomap to track the shuttle's whereabouts with visible confusion. There's no landing bay over there; what the hell does that stupid ork think he's doing? The turrets scattered across the flagship's surface nearly get a few shots in, with it swinging around into their range, but the sheer gall it takes to even do anything that ridiculous leaves them ill-prepared when their moment to fire actually arrives. By the time anyone realizes what's going on, it's too late, and the admiral is stomping his own hat in fury, cursing Magtork's name in every language he knows.

"That bastard! That whoreson! That snaggle-toothed, wart-skinned, mold-sprouting, goat-romancing caricature! HOW DARE HE?!"

[The Hegemony Flagship]

Magtork can't respond to Admiraltok's indignant rage, but one can imagine his uproarious delight. Instead the shuttle continues on its way down to the surface, not wildly spinning out of control, in case anyone was hoping there was a delayed effect.

[Rebonack]

[The Dread Gazebo]

Quest declined.

Fenris watches the orb roll across the floor without visible reaction.

"Did she shout at you, as well?" she inquires.

She's considering picking the thing up herself. Last time it had meant putting enslaved souls to rest, which isn't something she's terribly keen on allowing. The dead should be left to their rest. Or their heroic revelry if that's the end they earned. Or, ostensibly in her case, being stuck in the Hunting Grounds? It's questionable whether or not that's actually the fate that would await her. Given the sheer range of entities showing interest in her they would probably have to cast lots for who gets to keep her.

Or whatever it is that happens when the gods have an argument among themselves.

"What did she say?" Fenris asks further after walking over to the orb and scooping it up. It feels warm to the touch, just like the other one she found a few weeks ago. But on contact no intrusive yelling graces her mind.

Message apparently already delivered.

[Deathkeeper]

The Dread Gazebo

"Deep darkness, infested my temple, Mount Improbable, you will do this. Well, what if I don't want to do this? Maybe if it was so important she'd get herself a champion in ways that weren't hiding around in treasure chests and springing it on them against their will." G'nichi growls. Yeah he's definitely mad about something.
"I am sworn to my father Bahamut, who asks of me only that I do my best. Who are these gods to demand that I help them?"

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: ABAJ Day 4 Last Few Posts

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[ABAJ - Day 4]

Jeb doesn't immediately grasp whatever significance G'nichi is implying here.
"I would guess he's probably still at the temple with Kawa, unless they left. They didn't come with us."

He does frown at a different part though.
"What do you mean Lady Eiko was cheating?"

ABAJ - Day 4

"You remember I said my weapons have their own power? Yesterday's went nuts when I was alone with Ran and Eiko. One of them was some sort of monster and was influencing the Demons. I figured it had to be one of them. But Eiko is dead and the fog is still out there. So Ran must be the last Demon, and Eiko was the imposter. But they were still clearly working together. I just hope Eiko didn't leave a contingency for Ran to enact in her absence." She had said good luck.
"I should check the temple. If nothing else Kawa needs to know that there's poison in the air." He needs to wait for Shar to return before he checks out the cliff anyway.
He sure hopes that if something happened to Shar he would know.

[ABAJ - Day 4]

Jeb frowns rather deeply at the latest information G'nichi has supplied, but does not question it at the moment. Out loud, at least.
Instead he interrupts Atsushi and Fudo's latest argument and instead begins directing them to take the kids out and back towards the dormitory to prepare for nightfall. If the game is still on, then no sense in unnecessarily testing that particular rule.

Meanwhile, G'nichi heads off towards the temple!

Wherein Kawa is fretting over an also unconscious Ran. Unlike the other two youngsters, he doesn't seem pale. Just...out cold.

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi notices the unconscious boy immediately.
"Kawa, did something happen? There's some sort of poison that nearly killed Yuu and Hana. Did- ah. He doesn't look like the others. Was he outside?"
He isn't going to say anything, but this is all very suspicious.

"I, I don't know! One moment he was shouting for poor Lady Eiko, the next he started screaming and then...this! I don't understand..."
Kawa is holding a hand over Ran's face, feeling for breath, the presence of which seems to only be slightly comforting her.
"He's been in here the whole time, how could he be poisoned?"

There's a slight pause as a train of thought cranks its way through her panic and twists it further.
"Hana and Yuu are poisoned?"

ABAJ - Day 4

"Some sort of pink fog has rolled in. The kids it touched were knocked out immediately. If Ran didn't touch it then something else is at play. It's possible Eiko put some sort of fail-safe on him. Or maybe there's just a lot of magic going around." G'nichi tries to examine Ran but doesn't expect to find anything without any of his more knowledgeable weapons to advise him.

Ran does appear to be asleep, though a different sort than the other two kids. Visually, he seems less pale and obviously sickly, on the surface.
The more interesting problem sets in as soon as G'nichi does any sort of physical examination.

His clothes seem to be attached to his skin, about a inch in from the edges. Outwardly they look separate, given the edges can still move around, but the rest of the outfit itself seems to be a part of him. Not in a "it's stuck to him by adhesive" or "it's sewn on" sort of way, but actually a part of him.
The cloth very seamlessly transitions directly to skin.

And it is definitely cloth, G'nichi's claws could even separate out the fibers if he wanted, and it is actual skin there as well.

Somewhere behind him, Kawa has moved towards the temple entrance to look outside. She somehow completely failed to notice it earlier and is taking this opportunity to begin a feverish prayer to Lord Shinomo for deliverance from evil.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

"Gix of bahamut..."
What the hell? Does this mean that Ran was the all imposter this time? It would...certainly explain things. He was certainly told that "everyone dies" was a possible future here. If that's the case he doesn't really have a leg to stand on in this conflict.
Of course, he could simply be a changeling of some kind. Which is strange but wouldn't suggest he's an eldritch being. No, he can't assume that Ran is the rival he was supposed to eliminate. If that was the case why would he keep up the charade by calling for Eiko? Would he not simply kill them? No, he'll stand by his first guess. Ran is certainly the second killer, but he's likely merely a shapeshifter and not Syncope's rival. If he were, G'nichi would certainly be already dead.
"Um. Kawa? Did you notice that his outfit is connected to his skin? Has anyone seen him bleed or anything like that?"

[Rebonack]

[The Dread Gazebo]

Fenris frowns slightly.

This is a problem she's had to deal with herself.

"In my experience the gods don't care a great deal for allegiances and pick whoever they want for their champions, whether the champion approves or not," she grouses. "I didn't exactly choose to be a champion of any of the gods, they just started dumping their problems in my lap and expecting me to resolve them."

She frowns down at the orb.

"I'll complete the task myself, if I have to. I won't abandon lost souls out of spite toward an intrusive deity."

Because, she reasons, that wouldn't be a particularly good thing to do.

Not a particularly valorous thing to do, either.

"However, I can't say I know where Mount Improbable is," Fenris admits.

What?

Would you expect her to have some sort of crazy magical quest sense that points the way to her objectives or something?

[Deathkeeper]

The Dread Gazebo

G'nichi looks hard at Fenris before his spite crumbles over his do-good tendencies.
"Fine. I'll take you there. But I won't be happy about it." he grumbles.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

"It's what? Of course it...isn't?"
From over by the door, Kawa seems confused, like someone who has forgotten quite where they are. She looks away from the wall of pink outside, her expression tightening in some degree of mental effort.
"Lady Eiko kept a close eye on him, she would have noticed something like that."

Each word is pushed out with a degree of notable effort, the panicked expression in her eyes not quite reaching the almost placidly confused tone from her mouth.
Something is definitely not right with that.

On the floor, Ran lightly shivers before a muffled sound not unlike grinding mountains can be heard from outside and the temperature immediately around our scaly hero seems to plummet a good ten degrees.

G'nichi

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

Okay, that settles it. G'nichi was clearly wrong. Kawa seems to be under some sort of mental effect. Which is exactly what he was told to watch out for.
This, of course, means that he has to find a way to deal with a situation he caused that he was told specifically to not cause. He reaches down to pick up Ran, as he isn't sure if he's allowed to hurt him. If Eiko was the second killer shouldn't the Banquet be over? Sure, there's an eldritch entity trying to kill them but the rules of the game were met. That means that Ran was free to summon the pink fog that hurt the teenagers, and G'nichi is free to wring his neck. But he doesn't know that. And he's fairly sure it wouldn't help.
"Kawa, stay inside. Don't go near the windows or doors. If that mist gets indoors we're finished, but I don't have a better-
what?" he whirls at the sound of the voice. Oh boy, now he's being haunted, too.

[Rebonack]

[The Dread Gazebo]

"A hero doesn't have to be happy about doing heroics," Fenris points out. "That makes little difference to those they help. Now then! Which way to this Mount Improbable?"

Sounds like she's waiting for him to take the lead.

Also?

Once they're outside the guy with all the bug bites is mysteriously absent.

Hmm.

The water in the basin of the wayshrine isn't all bloody and gross anymore, either. Fenris could probably (maybe?) go home.

But she's not going to do that.

Not yet.

This place is interesting and worth exploring. And the wayshrine isn't going anywhere.

...she hopes.

[Deathkeeper]

The Dread Gazebo

G'nichi leads Fenris outside and points her to a mountain off in the distance.
Mount Improbable is an improbable distance away.
Does that mean improbably close? Or improbably far?
They won't know until they set out, so with some reluctance G'nichi does so.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

G'nichi reaches down to collect Ran -

Don't

-and a wispy voice mutters into his ear with urgency. A faintly familiar voice.
Just a little bit, if G'nichi thinks really hard about it, it sounded like Mari.

Basement

The temperature starts creeping back up around him, though it remains rather cool.

Kawa is looking on with some measure of that confused concern, as G'nichi decides to start spinning around.
But she does step away from the door. And him.
"Lord Shinomo preserve us, bless us with a bounty of safety and security..."
And continues to pray away.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi stops what he's doing.
"Don't go to the basement, or don't, basement?" he asks the air simply.
Clearing up this kind of miscommunication quickly is absolutely vital when lives are on the line. He doesn't have time to worry about what's going on or who's contacting him.
He really wishes his mace would get back to him. G'nichi really hopes that he didn't somehow die from the fog.
"Kawa, does this place have a basement?"

[Morty]

[Wastelands Campsite]

"I reckon the time for sneaking is past, Frigate." An idea strikes Olvisin. "Can you carry some of us on your back and your arms? We'll go in first this way, then the rest will advance under your cover and swarm them. As goblins do best."

[Murkus]

The Green

Artie waves a hand.
”Do not worry, Sir Savarins. You are doing an excellent job.”
But she turns back to Vivi and nods nevertheless.
”That does sound like a lovely idea, Vivi. I’m sure we can put something together.” Probably more Vivi than her. She’s still new to this whole fashion thing.

The Green

"Yes, I think so too," says the woods-lady. And so they have a few more things to consider...

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

In retrospect, finding Mount Improbable wouldn't have been very difficult. Mostly because of how conspicuous it is.

The mountain is upside down and floating in the sky, bound to the earth by chains of truly phenomenal size.

Fenris eyes it incredulously from afar off.

"Oh. That's..." she turns her head sideways to better peer at it from the 'correct' perspective. "I wouldn't normally expect to see something like that outside Oblivion. That's a flagrant violation of creational laws, isn't it? Mountains aren't meant to fly."

Mountains sink down into the earth instead since they're constructs of earth and seek their like. That's just basic elementalism.

This place is either going to drive Fenris insane or provide some very interesting avenues of study.

"You don't have to accompany me if you don't wish to," Fenris assures G'nichi. "It's clear that you don't want to be involved in the errands of a Daedric Prince; that's completely understandable."

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

G’nichi shakes his head.
”You don’t know the rules of this world. I can’t leave you to such a dangerous place alone. Besides, there still might be lost souls in need of aid.”
Even if the being asking for help on their behalf is a huge jerk.

[Earl of Purple]

Wastelands Campsite

"Aye, hop aboard. From what I recall, they not have many ranged weapons, an' no firearms. Still, I do be a large target, an' me cannon be loud despite its size. Ready?" Frigate gets down onto one knee, so some goblins can clamber up and find somewhere to hold on. His replacement stonework isn't as smooth as his prior metal armour, though there's still quite a few metal plates about- and his joints are probably quite risky for nimble goblin fingers.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

The response seems even quieter, in relation to the loss of cold around G'nichi, but it isn't gone.

Go now

That sounds like a confirmation of his latter option? Possibly?

On the ground, Ran's shivering seems to be transitioning to stillness once more and Kawa is over there trying to not look too concerned about it. Poorly.
"Oh, there...there's a root cellar accessible from the back room. The temple of our Lord is a natural place to store extra harvest..."

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G’nichi nods. He wishes the voice could be more clear but at this point he isn’t going to turn down any form of guidance.
He takes off immediately, heading for this cellar. It shouldn’t be difficult to find. He recalls already having some experience looking around that back room.

[Ironsmith]

[Wastelands Campsite]

When Frigate enters the cave, he's going to... well, not be accosted by that horrid itching. All of the goblins currently on him certainly will, though.

What Frigate might find more disconcerting is the supple crunkle under his foot, for three reasons.

First, the offending relic looked to be a piece of wickerwork, the kind that was used to confine the moroi to a single part of the cave last time he was here.

Second, that sound was loud enough to wake the dead.

And third, it didn't.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

G'nichi really shouldn't expect clarity from anything these days, given how his week has been going.
He should know better.

The backroom remains accessible from the door against the far end of the primary temple room, leading straight into rows of shelving containing various boxes full of all manner of things.
Previously, G'nichi had only just entered the room, before running into Lady Eiko and Ran under the box pile.

Now lacking such an obstacle, he is free to go further. Unless he wants to rummage through the boxes, however, there's nothing exciting that jumps out at him here. Lots of shelves, lots of boxes, a few visible vegetable-shaped decorations for some sort of festival in one corner, and a rather weighty-looking trapdoor on the floor between two of the furthest-back shelves. It isn't locked or barred, though someone does seem to have stacked some blankets on part of it at some point.

Outside, the sounds of grinding stone grow louder.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

That sounds an awful lot like a time limit.
G'nichi tries to hurry. He throws aside the blankets and opens the trap door. At this point no matter what lies under it, he's heading down inside.
Unless what he sees is an impassable stone floor, of course.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

"Thus far most of my assumptions about the workings of creation seem to be accurate," Fenris insists. "Aside from-"

She glares at the mountain hovering in the distance.

Just hanging there.

Mocking her and all semblance of sense.

"-obvious outliers. I would imagine most rules are the same. All the standard alchemical laws, for example. If those didn't work then I'm not sure how objects would even interact with each other. Or the laws of optics. Or of physiology. Or the laws of magic."

You know.

Basic things.

She is, of course, walking toward the mountain as she speaks. While trying not to think too hard about it.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

"Your laws of alchemy might work, yes. But so do the ones of my ancestors. And those of others. Many things are true here. You will have to deal with being confronted with things you don't understand and being able to adapt to them. Um, does your world have gunpowder?"
This is an important question, as G'nichi has been shot several times.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

It is not an impassable stone floor.
It is, instead, a very passable stone staircase leading to a very dark dirt landing with a thick wooden door.

Heading down the stairs and yanking the door open reveals a wall of rippling water, tinged with a bubblegum pink on the edges. The same sort of pink as the fog outside.
The image beyond it is distorted, but it looks like a flame-lit cave wall.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi only hesitates a moment to rub his bracelet. It protected him from freezing to death before and it kept him from falling ill from the fog earlier. He has to hope it will continue to protect him.
He's dead if he backs down anyway. He really wishes his mace were back though.
He takes a few prepatory breaths before he traverses the fog wall water veil.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Fort Aegis Resort

"Dragon growth is decidedly odd. If they were kobolds they'd be mostly functional by two years, but dragons are capable of usual physical activities right away but can't talk for a while, as Sylvess says." Spako reiterates.
"From the sound of it once they figure out their talking and their basic magics they'll be children for longer than a kobold would be alive." Luckily the babies have been making friends with the youngest kobolds. Especially since the latter will probably end up taking care of the former one day.

Steelbite Canyon

The crystallised zombies can probably be lured out easily enough, just open the door and yell. The one with no head maybe can't see or hear them, but then they're zombies. Who knows what they can or can't do? The one with the crystals growing in place of legs doesn't appear able to walk, though as they mature and the crystals grow that may change.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"It isn't too unusual for dragons to grow slowly. I've talked to many dragons that told me similar stories of their offspring." Ambrosia remarks as she thoughfully looks over the hatchlings. "How long do you expect it to take until they can talk though? Since I feel that's a important milestone of interaction with your children. Once you can exchange words between one another I mean."

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"I don't have a very good frame of reference," Thariza admits. "My experiences with other races' kids... I don't think I actually have any. But I know Charr cubs grow quicker than, say, human kids. They can follow their mother after a few days. About a year after birth they're handed off to the fahrar."

[Steelbite Canyon]

"Outside, I reckon. Get them out here an' I'll grab the thing." It's about the best plan they've got, by the sound of it. Atreyu puts a hand on the door and looks to Calm Reed. "When yer ready, I'll open it and duck round the side n' wait fer them to chase after ya."

*****

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"Um, y-y'know, I don't know exactly when they're due to start talking." Sylvess admits, awkwardly, scratching at his snout. "I don't know exactly how old I was when I started talking. They sometimes try to take after me and roar like a proper dragon, a-and it just comes out as a squeak. It's cute."