Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

[Rebonack]

[Selmora]

Two chain lightning spells later and the floor of the mine is littered with blackened imps.

It would appear as though Yuvan has gotten his answer.

No. A resounding no. The imps aren't immune to lightning. If they're even resistant it isn't terribly obvious. Probably about as resistant as the average mage who specializes in lightning spells. Which is to say, not at all.

Fenris, for her part, hefts the mine cart off the trapped miner whilst allowing Yuvan to collect the imp gall they need.

He's the experienced alchemist, after all.

He's probably better at harvesting ingredients than she is.

"A-are they gone?" the miner asks. He's peppered with little burns and sports comically frazzled hair. Comical if not for how serious of a danger the imps are to someone who is neither warded nor armored.

"The ones in the immediate area, yes," Fenris assures him. "You should have a clear path back to the entrance of the mine. Can you tell us how many others are still down here?"

"Umm... Adli, Dravam, and Vonos, I think. Or they were still alive when I ran. I don't know what's happened since I hid in that cart. Where are all these imps coming from?"


[The Ossuary]

Stun weapons will be just fine against the necromancers. They are, after all, the main threat. According to the briefing our heroes were provided with by the employer, they necromancers would mostly be employing simple bones. Mindless undead that are largely ineffectual without direction from a necromancer. If they can incapacitate a necromancer that should solve most of the undead problems.

Speaking of necromancers!

They're breaking up into teams of two and checking the various mausoleums that dot the area in a systematic fashion. One stays outside casting some sort of spell while the other goes inside to check the interior. Maybe the spell is to prevent the bone-based buildings from reacting poorly to their presence? Or masks the person inside from any undead that might be lurking around? Given that each of the teams is doing this it must be important. It's fortuitous for our heroes, certainly. If they decided to hit one of the necromancer teams while the second is inside a mausoleum they'll only have one foe on the outside to deal with. One that's distracted casting a no doubt complicated spell at that.

So that's one possible approach to the situation.

It's also possible that disrupting the spell while someone is inside will result in bad things that might make the job harder.

If our heroes knew more about these bone houses maybe they could make an informed choice about what to do next?

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
Uh, what do we do with it?" Sekhmet asks. What should they do with this strange little gremlin they seem to have captured? It seems like it might be more trouble than it's worth.

[Arkhosia]

The Ossuary

Spoiler

Show

The Ossuary

Pania did not react calmly to Dena's sudden appearance. Cantata would pick up a rush of emotion- stronger than she was used to with her empathetic abilities- surprise and hostility practically emanating from Pania as she shifted into a combat stance. Fortunately, before she could do anything rash, she noticed Dena's hands were up, and upon turning to Cantata she saw the other woman was relaxing as well. And so, she too eased somewhat, although for the time being she still eyed Dena warily.

A strange cloak that tricked the eye was one thing, appearing from seemingly thin air was a whole next level entirely.

She shrugged at the mention of a briefing. "Nobody talked to me about anything past what I was told when accepting the job." Of course, she had been given a PDA when she had signed up with MERC for people to get into contact with her. Just two main problems with that. The first was she had no idea how to use the damn thing. The second? She had no idea how to read.

This of course, became a major problem as Cantata tried to communicate with her. After shaking the woman's hand (quite firmly), Pania stared at the words projected in the air, squinting a little. Were those words? Probably. They looked like them. Huh, oh well. So was this lady actually gonna introduce herself to her? "I don't understand that," she started, vaguely gesturing towards the words, before everything started to dawn on her. The woman hadn't spoken once. But she had been extremely expressive with her body language. She sighed. "...Let me guess, you can't speak." Pania put it rather bluntly. This was going to be a huge pain.

The Ossuary

Dena gaze goes from the words Cantata is conjuring and then Pania as she proclaims that she can't understand them.

...

This explained a thing or two.
She should really have pressed Dipsnig more on that literacy requirement for membership, shouldn't she? How could she even have gone past the form...

"No... she can't speak." Dena remarks, sounding almost as if she's in physical pain.
She manages to suppress a deep sigh while she seems to be trying to somehow rub her eyes tiredly through her goggles as she feels all energy drain from her.
This was going to be one of those jobs, wasn't it?

"Pania, I don't suppose you could attempt to read her mind if that's okay with you, Cantata?" The gorgon glances at the other woman before turning back to Pania. "Cantata is an empath so maybe her mind is easier to... link with? I don't know a whole lot about psychic abilities I'm afraid." And yet she had been tasked to survey two psychic chicks. But hey, at least it hadn't been Kirk and it looked like Cantata had brought some serious firepower or stunpower as it were. She questioned how effective that would be against the undead they might encounter but it would probably be useful against the necromancers for sure.

[The Ossuary]

Stun weapons will be just fine against the necromancers. They are, after all, the main threat. According to the briefing our heroes were provided with by the employer, they necromancers would mostly be employing simple bones. Mindless undead that are largely ineffectual without direction from a necromancer. If they can incapacitate a necromancer that should solve most of the undead problems.

Speaking of necromancers!

They're breaking up into teams of two and checking the various mausoleums that dot the area in a systematic fashion. One stays outside casting some sort of spell while the other goes inside to check the interior. Maybe the spell is to prevent the bone-based buildings from reacting poorly to their presence? Or masks the person inside from any undead that might be lurking around? Given that each of the teams is doing this it must be important. It's fortuitous for our heroes, certainly. If they decided to hit one of the necromancer teams while the second is inside a mausoleum they'll only have one foe on the outside to deal with. One that's distracted casting a no doubt complicated spell at that.

So that's one possible approach to the situation.

It's also possible that disrupting the spell while someone is inside will result in bad things that might make the job harder.

If our heroes knew more about these bone houses maybe they could make an informed choice about what to do next?

Cantata blinks, clearly a bit surprised by this development. It wasn't the first time she'd run into some manner of language barrier before, but since arriving at the Nexus it had seemingly ceased to be an issue. Honestly, at this point she had assumed that some strange Nexus magic facilitated communication or something.

The woman gives Pania an apologetic nod before looking back to Dena and raising an eyebrow. Working with another psychic lights a spark of interest in her eyes, but she doesn't seem entirely confident or comfortable on the idea of a lasting mental connection. Either way, she expects Dena will have to play interpreter in some form or another today.

"Whatever the arrangement is, we should get moving before our targets have a head-start on us. I should have enough here to frame the Slavers' Guild. Dena, you arrived here first - anything you've seen?"

[Recaiden]

[Temple Site]

"They have already been to our world several times. No doubts searching for the source of the inter-dimensional activity which our experimentation have lead to. Which is likely why they would be here as well." Jaccalish makes a wave-shaped gesture in the air before Nathan causing an illusionary line to appear, following the motion of the claws. Then a planet, one green and the other red, appear on each side of the line. "We are afraid that our experiments with the nature of the nexus have drawn their attention. We've had to test if shifting works to confirm if even moving our world would be possible." The illusion now show objects being transferred between the two planets through the wave-shaped line. "They have all been successful but we knew that it might be possible for the angels to not only be aware of them but to track them as well. It looks like we were right."

Jaccalish then turns their attention back to the image illusion of the beam of light and so a not-so-detailed map of Outside appears with a red and blue dot on it. "The red dot would be where our scout spotted the beam of light and the blue is the location of Inside to give you some perspective." There are also black markers on the map that show the location of Riverside, VIGIL, GloG, Skyside, etc.

The the two dots are perhaps uncomfortably close to one another.

"They've followed the swapping. Even if you do move your planet here, to the nexus's sun, that won't be the end of it. They'll still be here, and probably redouble their efforts. How good is their tracking? Were you shifting things that close to Inside?

Nathan's people immediately send someone to investigate this angel incursion in person. But, they'll want someone particular, someone who's not a demon in any respect. And it'll take a while for that agent to get close to the red dot.

"Although it might draw them away from this planet if you successfully relocate yours, there'll be nothing left near your home star to worry about. They could focus all their efforts on the Nexus."

Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

The gold around the halfling melts as more bones burn.

The head is removed, and the rest of the gold-clad corpse freezes in its movements. Despite being dead, these skeletons apparently still need their head attached.

The child is thrown backwards, bouncing and skidding against the floor as the gold of its chest bubbles and melts. It struggles back to its feet and approaches the elemental once more, arms stretched out before it.

Honeysuckle's visor closes, the burning stops, she makes sense of the heat and motion, gold and bones throughout the room.
Then she turns her burning gaze towards the child skeleton, aiming for its head. The refreshing (and frightening) thing is that she can't really hurt a fire elemental with this, so she barely has to aim.

The manticore tosses the gold-plated skull aside. Not delicious at all.

As for the elemental, they stay on the defensive now, keeping their arms low and backing up towards the wall of the banquet room. They have the guardian outnumbered, no need to be hasty.

[Deathkeeper]

[Riverbank]

"The animal I was most familiar with back then was very large boars. Because my people keep them, train them and ride on them." Batu waves his hand and a wavering image of a boar rises from the water. He's getting better at water-shaping. "Ever seen one of those?"

Riverbank

Nak nods.
"Yup! They're made of meat. I haven't hunted 'em, though. Dad says it's okay for me to not hunt until I'm older. But I do hunt frogs sometimes."
Batu might have seen Nak eat frogs. It's slightly unnerving if you don't see reptiles eating prey often.

[Meowmai]

Spoiler

Show

The Ossuary

Dena gaze goes from the words Cantata is conjuring and then Pania as she proclaims that she can't understand them.

...

This explained a thing or two.
She should really have pressed Dipsnig more on that literacy requirement for membership, shouldn't she? How could she even have gone past the form...

"No... she can't speak." Dena remarks, sounding almost as if she's in physical pain.
She manages to suppress a deep sigh while she seems to be trying to somehow rub her eyes tiredly through her goggles as she feels all energy drain from her.
This was going to be one of those jobs, wasn't it?

"Pania, I don't suppose you could attempt to read her mind if that's okay with you, Cantata?" The gorgon glances at the other woman before turning back to Pania. "Cantata is an empath so maybe her mind is easier to... link with? I don't know a whole lot about psychic abilities I'm afraid." And yet she had been tasked to survey two psychic chicks. But hey, at least it hadn't been Kirk and it looked like Cantata had brought some serious firepower or stunpower as it were. She questioned how effective that would be against the undead they might encounter but it would probably be useful against the necromancers for sure.

[The Ossuary]

Stun weapons will be just fine against the necromancers. They are, after all, the main threat. According to the briefing our heroes were provided with by the employer, they necromancers would mostly be employing simple bones. Mindless undead that are largely ineffectual without direction from a necromancer. If they can incapacitate a necromancer that should solve most of the undead problems.

Speaking of necromancers!

They're breaking up into teams of two and checking the various mausoleums that dot the area in a systematic fashion. One stays outside casting some sort of spell while the other goes inside to check the interior. Maybe the spell is to prevent the bone-based buildings from reacting poorly to their presence? Or masks the person inside from any undead that might be lurking around? Given that each of the teams is doing this it must be important. It's fortuitous for our heroes, certainly. If they decided to hit one of the necromancer teams while the second is inside a mausoleum they'll only have one foe on the outside to deal with. One that's distracted casting a no doubt complicated spell at that.

So that's one possible approach to the situation.

It's also possible that disrupting the spell while someone is inside will result in bad things that might make the job harder.

If our heroes knew more about these bone houses maybe they could make an informed choice about what to do next?

The Ossuary

Cantata blinks, clearly a bit surprised by this development. It wasn't the first time she'd run into some manner of language barrier before, but since arriving at the Nexus it had seemingly ceased to be an issue. Honestly, at this point she had assumed that some strange Nexus magic facilitated communication or something.

The woman gives Pania an apologetic nod before looking back to Dena and raising an eyebrow. Working with another psychic lights a spark of interest in her eyes, but she doesn't seem entirely confident or comfortable on the idea of a lasting mental connection. Either way, she expects Dena will have to play interpreter in some form or another today.

"Whatever the arrangement is, we should get moving before our targets have a head-start on us. I should have enough here to frame the Slavers' Guild. Dena, you arrived here first - anything you've seen?"

[The Ossuary]

"I can't read minds." Best she could do is give herself (and Cantata) a headache by trying. This was just her luck. First job and her partner had no way of communicating with her? The woman who was leading them sounded exasperated too, and Pania couldn't blame her in the slightest. Still, the woman's body language seemed to be... at least polite, so Pania tried not to get too upset as she waited for Dena to translate. It was probably just as equally frustrating for her- more so, in fact, considering she was the one with a disability.

She did tilt her head slightly as it came to light that Cantata was also a psychic. Curious. Might be useful to... find her and discuss some stuff after the mission. Once she can find a way to discuss anything with her at all, of course. She also finally knew her name now, having heard it from Dena, so that was a plus.

Pania figured that she might as well introduce herself now though. "My name is Pania. I'm a warrior. I also... can push or pull things with my mind. I can do other stuff too, mess with someone's head, but the brute force stuff is what I'm best at." It felt weird, saying the last part aloud. She still hadn't quite gotten use to the fact that weird powers were relatively common in the Nexus, and not something she had to hide, like she had for all of her life up until now.

[Ironsmith]

[Selmora]

Two chain lightning spells later and the floor of the mine is littered with blackened imps.

It would appear as though Yuvan has gotten his answer.

No. A resounding no. The imps aren't immune to lightning. If they're even resistant it isn't terribly obvious. Probably about as resistant as the average mage who specializes in lightning spells. Which is to say, not at all.

Fenris, for her part, hefts the mine cart off the trapped miner whilst allowing Yuvan to collect the imp gall they need.

He's the experienced alchemist, after all.

He's probably better at harvesting ingredients than she is.

"A-are they gone?" the miner asks. He's peppered with little burns and sports comically frazzled hair. Comical if not for how serious of a danger the imps are to someone who is neither warded nor armored.

"The ones in the immediate area, yes," Fenris assures him. "You should have a clear path back to the entrance of the mine. Can you tell us how many others are still down here?"

"Umm... Adli, Dravam, and Vonos, I think. Or they were still alive when I ran. I don't know what's happened since I hid in that cart. Where are all these imps coming from?"

[Selmora]

"That is what we're trying to find out." Yuvan replies, not looking up from his work of extracting gall from the imps. Truly messy stuff. It's fortunate he's wearing gauntlets for this, or his hands would likely never recover. "What can you tell us about the mines themselves? Anything you can pass on will be helpful in our work here."

Shuttle to L1
Uh, what do we do with it?" Sekhmet asks. What should they do with this strange little gremlin they seem to have captured? It seems like it might be more trouble than it's worth.

[Shuttle to L1]

Well, we can't just put it back where we found it. And taking it with us seems similarly counterproductive... if that thing got in my Hotbox...

Yeah, that would get messy in a hurry.

I can see about printing out a cage or something to carry it in. Maybe we can take it back to the ground with us, if you don't have any better ideas.

[Rebonack]

[Selmora]

The speed at which the Last Dragonborn can skin a wolf or butcher a deer or harvest imp gall is a truly impressive feat.

"About the mines?" the miner replies, seemingly taking a few moments to process that question. "There's not much to tell, sera. Used to be some old lava tunnels, I think? And a quick silver mine, years ago. Once it got tapped out it was turned into a kwama mine."

Since kwama are pretty fond of holes in the ground.

"Goes pretty deep. That's how the kwama like it. Most of the eggs are down in the brood chamber at the bottom. But the imps didn't show up down there. They flocked in on the second level and started making trouble. Just flew in out of nowhere! Whoever saw where they actually came from probably got zapped to death."

"How many levels does the mine have?" Fenris asks.

"Three. The top level; where we're at now. This is where we do most of the processing. Not so many kwama up here since kuttle harvesting upsets the warriors. Second level has got a few nests but mostly it's living and foraging space. The bottom level is where they do their brooding."

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
We can try it then. I'll, uh, keep a hold of this thing, while you, uh, fix this, okay? Sekhmet isn't sure that this creature couldn't get out of any cage they put it in, it seems very amorphous and slippery.

[Shadowcaller]

Spoiler: Quotes

Show

[The Ossuary]

Stun weapons will be just fine against the necromancers. They are, after all, the main threat. According to the briefing our heroes were provided with by the employer, they necromancers would mostly be employing simple bones. Mindless undead that are largely ineffectual without direction from a necromancer. If they can incapacitate a necromancer that should solve most of the undead problems.

Speaking of necromancers!

They're breaking up into teams of two and checking the various mausoleums that dot the area in a systematic fashion. One stays outside casting some sort of spell while the other goes inside to check the interior. Maybe the spell is to prevent the bone-based buildings from reacting poorly to their presence? Or masks the person inside from any undead that might be lurking around? Given that each of the teams is doing this it must be important. It's fortuitous for our heroes, certainly. If they decided to hit one of the necromancer teams while the second is inside a mausoleum they'll only have one foe on the outside to deal with. One that's distracted casting a no doubt complicated spell at that.

So that's one possible approach to the situation.

It's also possible that disrupting the spell while someone is inside will result in bad things that might make the job harder.

If our heroes knew more about these bone houses maybe they could make an informed choice about what to do next?

The Ossuary

Cantata blinks, clearly a bit surprised by this development. It wasn't the first time she'd run into some manner of language barrier before, but since arriving at the Nexus it had seemingly ceased to be an issue. Honestly, at this point she had assumed that some strange Nexus magic facilitated communication or something.

The woman gives Pania an apologetic nod before looking back to Dena and raising an eyebrow. Working with another psychic lights a spark of interest in her eyes, but she doesn't seem entirely confident or comfortable on the idea of a lasting mental connection. Either way, she expects Dena will have to play interpreter in some form or another today.

"Whatever the arrangement is, we should get moving before our targets have a head-start on us. I should have enough here to frame the Slavers' Guild. Dena, you arrived here first - anything you've seen?"

[Temple Site]

"They've followed the swapping. Even if you do move your planet here, to the nexus's sun, that won't be the end of it. They'll still be here, and probably redouble their efforts. How good is their tracking? Were you shifting things that close to Inside?

Nathan's people immediately send someone to investigate this angel incursion in person. But, they'll want someone particular, someone who's not a demon in any respect. And it'll take a while for that agent to get close to the red dot.

"Although it might draw them away from this planet if you successfully relocate yours, there'll be nothing left near your home star to worry about. They could focus all their efforts on the Nexus."

[The Ossuary]

"I can't read minds." Best she could do is give herself (and Cantata) a headache by trying. This was just her luck. First job and her partner had no way of communicating with her? The woman who was leading them sounded exasperated too, and Pania couldn't blame her in the slightest. Still, the woman's body language seemed to be... at least polite, so Pania tried not to get too upset as she waited for Dena to translate. It was probably just as equally frustrating for her- more so, in fact, considering she was the one with a disability.

She did tilt her head slightly as it came to light that Cantata was also a psychic. Curious. Might be useful to... find her and discuss some stuff after the mission. Once she can find a way to discuss anything with her at all, of course. She also finally knew her name now, having heard it from Dena, so that was a plus.

Pania figured that she might as well introduce herself now though. "My name is Pania. I'm a warrior. I also... can push or pull things with my mind. I can do other stuff too, mess with someone's head, but the brute force stuff is what I'm best at." It felt weird, saying the last part aloud. She still hadn't quite gotten use to the fact that weird powers were relatively common in the Nexus, and not something she had to hide, like she had for all of her life up until now.

[The Ossuary]

Not sure anyone in this group can strictly be counted as a 'hero'.

Dena makes sure to look strictly at Cantata before she shakes her head to make sure that Pania didn't think the gesture was meant for her. "Cantata, as a rule I don't scout ahead before the rest of the team arrive. If say, its one of the dungeons where the door closes behind you as you enter it would make things rather awkward." She gestures at the doorway.

Then she turns to Pania and gestures to her as to really get the point across who she was addressing at the moment. "Cantata suggests that we move inside, do you want to take the lead, Pania? I'm going to suggest to her." She points at Cantata but keeps being turned to Pania. Though Catata should still be able to tell that this is meant for her too. "To use symbols instead of texts. Like, arrows and such. Also, if she can change the color of her text we could use green for 'go' and red for 'stop'. Does that sound doable?" Now Dena looks between them.

[Temple Site]

"We cannot say how good their 'tracking' is. That information might have been in our pool of knowledge at one point but that's no longer the case and even if it was its likely horribly outdated as we suspect the angels have changed a lot since our last encounter." Jaccalish explains calmly, not that their tone have actually changed during the entire conversation. Their mannerism have however. "As for the location of their suspected appearance, we have actually not shifted anything within Inside. Instead, we suspected that its the fact that this light-phenomena coincides with the location of a suspected, yet unverified, fey grove that's relevant here. That scout was on its way to confirm this suspicion when this was detected."

The illusionary map briefly flickers to show over a dozen "fey groves", both confirmed and unconfirmed, all over this part of the nexus. One of the still unconfirmed ones happen to be exactly on top of the red dot.

"As for the rest, we don't want to speculate on the outcome yet. We still need to verify the arrival of the angels and their numbers before we can even start to do that."

[Ironsmith]

[Selmora]

The speed at which the Last Dragonborn can skin a wolf or butcher a deer or harvest imp gall is a truly impressive feat.

"About the mines?" the miner replies, seemingly taking a few moments to process that question. "There's not much to tell, sera. Used to be some old lava tunnels, I think? And a quick silver mine, years ago. Once it got tapped out it was turned into a kwama mine."

Since kwama are pretty fond of holes in the ground.

"Goes pretty deep. That's how the kwama like it. Most of the eggs are down in the brood chamber at the bottom. But the imps didn't show up down there. They flocked in on the second level and started making trouble. Just flew in out of nowhere! Whoever saw where they actually came from probably got zapped to death."

"How many levels does the mine have?" Fenris asks.

"Three. The top level; where we're at now. This is where we do most of the processing. Not so many kwama up here since kuttle harvesting upsets the warriors. Second level has got a few nests but mostly it's living and foraging space. The bottom level is where they do their brooding."

[Selmora]

"That sounds targeted." Yuvan observes. If the imps just migrated in naturally, they would have shown up in the upper levels near the surface, where they'd have minimal competition for food and plenty of living space. Not to mention that'd be where the entrance is. The fact that they suddenly showed up in the middle floor and began killing miners is highly suspect, to put it mildly. "Is there anyone who would want to see this mine closed? Or at least shaken?"

Shuttle to L1
We can try it then. I'll, uh, keep a hold of this thing, while you, uh, fix this, okay? Sekhmet isn't sure that this creature couldn't get out of any cage they put it in, it seems very amorphous and slippery.

[Shuttle to L1]

Considering the gremlin's now on her shoulder and undoing the stitching of her dress there, that's good intuition on Sekhmet's part. At least the little guy seems entertained.

...I'll try to be quick about it. Miranda offers, going to work on the damaged engine with a tool resembling a tankless welding torch.

[bc56]

What? How did it get out of her hands? Sekhmet snatches the gremlin off her shoulder before it can pick her dress entirely apart. She's got to keep it under control until Miranda is done working.

[Rebonack]

[Selmora]

Fenris nods.

If the imps had come up from deeper underground one would expect the outbreak on the lower level. Or on the upper level if they came in from the surface. But to just show up in the part of the mine with the highest proportion of miners tending to the kwama? That certainly seems suspicious.

"Well... there is the other kwama mine owner, Breves Oul. I imagine he would have a lot of money to make if we had to shut down. Vivec's spear... you don't think he would really do that, do you? Kill and injure all these mer just to make a bit more coin?"

Fenris puts a hand on the dark elf's shoulder. "We'll find the truth of it, for good or for ill. You get back up to the town and have your wounds looked at. For now-"

She raises a hand and the swirling lights of Grand Healing wash over our heroes. The poor bedraggled miner perking up immediately as his stamina is restored. The mer mutters a quick, "Thank you, sera," and points out heroes toward the tunnel that leads to the second level before hurrying toward the entrance.

Then? It's time to set out again.

"This situation grows increasingly suspicious. I suspect we're going to find some foul play before the end," Fenris says as she starts off down the tunnel.

Our heroes don't have to go very far before they find a group of six imps feeding on a pile of dead kwama scrib.

[Ironsmith]

Shuttle to L1
What? How did it get out of her hands? Sekhmet snatches the gremlin off her shoulder before it can pick her dress entirely apart. She's got to keep it under control until Miranda is done working.

[Shuttle to L1]

If Sekhmet's ever seen that factoid about octopi slipping through holes the size of a quarter, she's going to see much the same effect here. The little scamp can pull in all his limbs and his eye, leaving a nondescript ball of hair... which then, in turn, is amorphous enough to slip right through the crack of her fingers.

Which, extrapolating from that, means it could probably also slip through literal hairline cracks.

It certainly doesn't have any problems slipping into partially-undone seams, like the one on the side of her dress. Damn. This thing is wicked fast.

[Selmora]

Fenris nods.

If the imps had come up from deeper underground one would expect the outbreak on the lower level. Or on the upper level if they came in from the surface. But to just show up in the part of the mine with the highest proportion of miners tending to the kwama? That certainly seems suspicious.

"Well... there is the other kwama mine owner, Breves Oul. I imagine he would have a lot of money to make if we had to shut down. Vivec's spear... you don't think he would really do that, do you? Kill and injure all these mer just to make a bit more coin?"

Fenris puts a hand on the dark elf's shoulder. "We'll find the truth of it, for good or for ill. You get back up to the town and have your wounds looked at. For now-"

She raises a hand and the swirling lights of Grand Healing wash over our heroes. The poor bedraggled miner perking up immediately as his stamina is restored. The mer mutters a quick, "Thank you, sera," and points out heroes toward the tunnel that leads to the second level before hurrying toward the entrance.

Then? It's time to set out again.

"This situation grows increasingly suspicious. I suspect we're going to find some foul play before the end," Fenris says as she starts off down the tunnel.

Our heroes don't have to go very far before they find a group of six imps feeding on a pile of dead kwama scrib.

[Selmora]

"I concur." Yuvan agrees, lifting his hands to use two more chain lightning spells to dispatch the imps. He doesn't consider the possibility that they may have some other trick up their sleeve to be worth noting; he might as well be brushing them aside for as dangerous as they seemed to be to him. "Unfortunately, I doubt we'll find much evidence of it in the mine itself. Teleporting the imps in would be an easy thing to conceal; at best, we can expect to find the item or mage responsible, and possibly a few choice corpses. For now, I would say our best bet is to simply clean this place out as quickly and efficiently as possible, to minimize our employer's losses. We can follow up on any leads afterwards."

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
Sekhmet has no familiarity with those factoids, but... Augh! Get it out of her clothes!
Unfortunately, her dress is definitely falling apart from the mischievous gremlin and her futile attempts to keep it from taking things apart. By the time she gets ahold of it again, she's in her underclothes with what's left of the dress drifting off into the void. Uh, I don't think we should bring this inside. It's, uh, very good at taking things apart. But, uh, hurry up.

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

Well, that doesn't give us a lot of options. Miranda observes, not looking up from her attempts to replace a couple of burnt-out fuses as the gremlin climbs into Sekhmet's hair and starts batting at the fire over her head. Unlike the succubus we've got in our hold, this little guy doesn't really deserve to be set adrift in the void of space... that leaves, what, throwing it into a portal? Miranda sighs, her breath visibly fogging up in her helmet. I don't think there's a right answer here. Just a least-wrong one. What do you think should be done about the furball?

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1

Miranda might notice something unusual while Sekhmet is in this state of partial undress... Namely, the fiendish queen doesn't have a belly button. Maybe that's not that surprising, she isn't a mortal, but she mentioned having a mother?

If it can live here, it can live in my kingdom. I'm just a little worried it might reproduce somehow and overrun things.

[Rebonack]

[Selmora]

Those poor imps.

They really can't deal with-

Oh.

Hmm.

They didn't just up and die.

It looks like that mostly just upset them. This is rather surprising!

One of the imps cuts loose with a continuous stream of lightning that slaps straight into Fenris and leaves her ridged and paralyzed as the power courses through her. Two more imps begin launching bolts at Yuvan that actually hurt. The remaining three begin setting up in a rough triangle around our heroes, no doubt with ill intent.

Oh no.

OH NO!

These imps are being level scaled!

[Arkhosia]

The Ossuary

Spoiler

Show

[The Ossuary]

"I can't read minds." Best she could do is give herself (and Cantata) a headache by trying. This was just her luck. First job and her partner had no way of communicating with her? The woman who was leading them sounded exasperated too, and Pania couldn't blame her in the slightest. Still, the woman's body language seemed to be... at least polite, so Pania tried not to get too upset as she waited for Dena to translate. It was probably just as equally frustrating for her- more so, in fact, considering she was the one with a disability.

She did tilt her head slightly as it came to light that Cantata was also a psychic. Curious. Might be useful to... find her and discuss some stuff after the mission. Once she can find a way to discuss anything with her at all, of course. She also finally knew her name now, having heard it from Dena, so that was a plus.

Pania figured that she might as well introduce herself now though. "My name is Pania. I'm a warrior. I also... can push or pull things with my mind. I can do other stuff too, mess with someone's head, but the brute force stuff is what I'm best at." It felt weird, saying the last part aloud. She still hadn't quite gotten use to the fact that weird powers were relatively common in the Nexus, and not something she had to hide, like she had for all of her life up until now.

[The Ossuary]

Not sure anyone in this group can strictly be counted as a 'hero'.

Dena makes sure to look strictly at Cantata before she shakes her head to make sure that Pania didn't think the gesture was meant for her. "Cantata, as a rule I don't scout ahead before the rest of the team arrive. If say, its one of the dungeons where the door closes behind you as you enter it would make things rather awkward." She gestures at the doorway.

Then she turns to Pania and gestures to her as to really get the point across who she was addressing at the moment. "Cantata suggests that we move inside, do you want to take the lead, Pania? I'm going to suggest to her." She points at Cantata but keeps being turned to Pania. Though Catata should still be able to tell that this is meant for her too. "To use symbols instead of texts. Like, arrows and such. Also, if she can change the color of her text we could use green for 'go' and red for 'stop'. Does that sound doable?" Now Dena looks between them.

At the moment, the literacy barrier wasn't too frustrating. How things play out might change that, but for now it hadn't caused any discord. If some disaster happens from it, well, they'll deal with it then.

In response to Dena's suggestion, Cantata taps a couple settings on her wrist-comm and uses her finger to draw rather than type, prompting the image of a thumbs-up to project from it. Communicating to Pania how their powersets differ might be a bit trickier, though. Nodding to convey that she understands what Pania's describing, She opts to try and communicate her own style of combat by pointing to herself, raising a finger to her lips and then miming the use of a garotte. She keeps her demeanor friendly and studies Pania's expression for recognition, hoping to avoid the gesture being mistaken for some kind of active threat.

Turning back to the trunk, Cantata holsters one of the shock batons into her belt and slings the shotgun over her shoulder. She unfolds the mancatcher and, after a brief test of its heft and balance, looks back towards Pania and offers it to her. If she looks confused, the woman will gesture to indicate their quarry, point from her eyes to the weapon, and then tap the side of her head and gesture to the slave collar in her other hand; They'll see [you with] this, and think we are the slavers.

[Ironsmith]

Shuttle to L1

Miranda might notice something unusual while Sekhmet is in this state of partial undress... Namely, the fiendish queen doesn't have a belly button. Maybe that's not that surprising, she isn't a mortal, but she mentioned having a mother?

If it can live here, it can live in my kingdom. I'm just a little worried it might reproduce somehow and overrun things.

[Shuttle to L1]

Miranda shrugs the lack of navel off. Sekhmet's a shapeshifter; she could easily do away with having a belly button if she found it unsightly, right?

As if in response to Sekhmet's concerns, the tiny creature's body shakes violently, and it twitches its face in a way that implies sneezing- though of course there's no sound out here in space. Just lots of little brown hairs, all over Sekhmet and the shuttle.

...Great. Miranda internally snarks, wiping away the deluge of dandruff as the gremlin starts digging at the demon queen's horn, as though trying to see where it physically connects to her skull, if it actually does. That's your judgement call to make, I guess. I just hope the little guy will be okay, however we do this.

[Selmora]

Those poor imps.

They really can't deal with-

Oh.

Hmm.

They didn't just up and die.

It looks like that mostly just upset them. This is rather surprising!

One of the imps cuts loose with a continuous stream of lightning that slaps straight into Fenris and leaves her ridged and paralyzed as the power courses through her. Two more imps begin launching bolts at Yuvan that actually hurt. The remaining three begin setting up in a rough triangle around our heroes, no doubt with ill intent.

Oh no.

OH NO!

These imps are being level scaled!

[Selmora]

Well. That could be bad.

It would really depend on whose level they're scaling to. From what Yuvan could gather, Fenris has a unique-but-middling powerset; if these imps are meant for her, they'll only be a little more of a nuisance.

But if they're meant for him...

"...Bother." Yuvan mutters, drawing his mace and taking a swing at the imp that shocked Fenris.

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
Sekhmet opens a portal, and grabs the gremlin in an attempt to push it through and close the portal behind it.
Hopefully that works.

Also, all 6 of her horns do connect to her skull, for reference.

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

Buh-bye! Chirps the creature in Sekhmet's head as she shoves it into an actual portal to hell.

...Okay, I think I've fixed it. Miranda pulls back out and taps a probe to the engine, causing it to light up dramatically. Yes! We've got power! Miranda beams through her helmet at Sekhmet, and immediately has to stifle a giggle. Oh, geez... sorry, I wasn't watching too closely. Are you, um... cold, at all? I'll get you something warm to drink when we get back inside. Lord knows you've earned it.

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
I'm freezing. It's true. Sekhmet's deadened herself to the pain of the cold, but she's used to temperatures that would be too hot for a normal human to be comfortable. She's far too cold. Some, uh, hot cocoa and a, uh, pile of blankets would be great.

[Earl of Purple]

Pixie Grinder's Compound

The fireball enters the room and briefly illuminates a combination lab and torture chamber, with a rack of bottles on one side of the room and several large mortars and pestles on tables set up throughout the room. The shooter is briefly revealed; a stunningly attractive young man with a long tail, wearing silk robes. He burns, screams, flails and falls silent. The room seems otherwise empty, though if Yuvan and Boada enter (the half-sprite is only entering the room to follow Yuvan; he's such a good distraction and bullet sponge she thinks it best if he goes first) some of the bottles will light up. There's a rack of about thirty bottles, though only thirteen are glowing. Inside twelve of those thirteen bottles are pixies, tiny humanoids with butterfly or moth wings and clubbed antennae, mostly wearing clothing stitched from leaves- though two are wearing armour made from pieces of bark. The final of the thirteen bottles contains a sprite, a similarly minuscule humanoid, though his wings are like a fly's wings and he wears a pink tutu and a bowler hat. All thirteen of the pixies and the sprite are glowing faintly; the pixies each glows a different colour whilst the sprite is a flickering white. Five of the other bottles are larger, with leprechauns in. The leprechauns are larger than the pixies and the sprite, though lack wings, and each has red hair and freckles. Four wear sharply cut green business suits, whilst the fifth wears a green dress.

There's also a hatch in the corner, leading down.

Abandoned Battlefield

The grabbed guard yelps as they're grabbed, and freezes when they feel the barrel of the gun against the side of their face. The other hadn't even noticed initially what was going on, so slowly raises his hands and says nothing. Their rifle is on a sling over their shoulder, so they haven't dropped it, but dropping the gun might be more noticeable anyway.

Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats

The beam of heat melts the child's gold and burns a hole through its skull, so it freezes (though not literally) and falls over with a thud.

Now the gold-clad skeletons have been defeated, the gold food can probably be safely looted. Or the adventuring party can head through to the spherical room half-filled with dust or to the temple room. Or they could poke the desiccated corpse with something, or try taking the simple crown on its head.

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

Cocoa and blankets it is. Miranda agrees, crawling along the underside of the ship, back toward the cargo hatch. ...Aaaand I'll throw in my jacket for good measure. You know, for modesty.

The only other person who was going to see Sekhmet right now doesn't have a nudity taboo, but all the same, she's sure Sekhmet's going to feel a little awkward making the rest of the trip in her underwear, and would rather not if it could be avoided.

So! When Sekhmet gets back into the ship, the door gets sealed again, the atmosphere gets replenished, and Miranda plots a new course to compensate for the time they've spent not accelerating, she's going to be treated to a little pampering; the aformentioned blankets (well, they're really more of very fluffy towels, but hopefully the distinction doesn't matter too much), carefully tucked in, with a little "cup" (more like a sippy cup, really) of hot cocoa, and some fresh clothes that don't quite fit her.

Maybe not quite the royal treatment... but it's something.

[Pixie Grinder's Compound]

Yuvan blows the smoke off his fingers and smiles. Dungeon cleared, captives rescued, quest more-or-less complete, all in a good day's work for the dragonborn. "Take them back to the Fairy Godfather, or their families, or whoever it is that's meant to see them." Yuvan instructs Boada, moving toward the hatch. "And tell him I'll be expecting a reward when I see him. Paid in magic. Am I clear?"

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
Sekhmet brought more than one dress, she doesn't need Miranda's clothes. Why would she only bring one set of clothes on a two week trip?
But she collapses into the blanket/towel pile, takes a few sips of her cocoa, and promptly falls asleep.
It's technically still her watch, but all this took a lot out of her.

Abandoned Battlefield
"This way, slowly." Almoner leads the two guards around behind a building. "Now, drop the guns and pass them to me."

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

"...Eh, I'll allow it." Miranda mumbles to herself as Sekhmet drifts off to sleep. It's special circumstances, she can bend their schedule a little; just as long as Sekhmet can go back to normal afterwards.

(Day 7)

Well.

They're here.

This is the point where, if they leave Lizzie, she's going to be stuck in between the orbits of a star and a planet for... well, how long depends on how precisely they time it. Probably a few hundred years, given the computing power available to them. All that's left is to see her off.

[Rebonack]

[Selmora]

Yuvan clobbers an imp!

That's enough to stagger the creature, a loud thump sounding as the mace bashes the thing and hurls it to the cave floor.

Fenris takes a brief moment to gather her bearing before swatting one of the imps moving into position and smacking it into ghostly form. She isn't completely sure what the trio of imps were setting up, but she could feel the magicka heavy in the air like an approaching storm.

Then she hurls her disc at another imp with a burst of telekinesis, only of the creature to nimbly dart out of the way.

These creatures really are a pain, aren't they?

With two briefly incapacitated the other four continue their impish work. Two continue hurling lightning bolts at our heroes while the other two raise their hands above their heads, crackling orbs of lightning forming between their fingers.

Whatever that spell is, it probably isn't very nice. No doubt it would be a good idea to interrupt them.

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
Sekhmet holds the little safe. "Uh, we just toss her outside?" There will be no snarky remarks from the trapped succubus. She's too trapped.

[Ironsmith]

[Selmora]

Yuvan clobbers an imp!

That's enough to stagger the creature, a loud thump sounding as the mace bashes the thing and hurls it to the cave floor.

Fenris takes a brief moment to gather her bearing before swatting one of the imps moving into position and smacking it into ghostly form. She isn't completely sure what the trio of imps were setting up, but she could feel the magicka heavy in the air like an approaching storm.

Then she hurls her disc at another imp with a burst of telekinesis, only of the creature to nimbly dart out of the way.

These creatures really are a pain, aren't they?

With two briefly incapacitated the other four continue their impish work. Two continue hurling lightning bolts at our heroes while the other two raise their hands above their heads, crackling orbs of lightning forming between their fingers.

Whatever that spell is, it probably isn't very nice. No doubt it would be a good idea to interrupt them.

[Selmora]

Yuvan takes a deep breath and glares up at the imps. Okay. What they need is to start this encounter over again; do something that will let him and Fenris take back momentum and therefore control of this fight. Fortunately, he has just the thing.

"FUS... RO DAH!"

As the shout reverberates throughout the cave (hopefully without causing a cave-in anywhere) and the shockwave travels towards the spellcasting imps, Yuvan raises his hands, lightning crackling from them as he prepares a spell of his own. It's a favorite for bringing fown dragons; they never seem to see it coming, and it packs quite a wallop. His hands dance over each other in a slow circle, before he brings them together and a continuous stream of lightning shoots out, at whichever imp he happens to see first.

Shuttle to L1
Sekhmet holds the little safe. "Uh, we just toss her outside?" There will be no snarky remarks from the trapped succubus. She's too trapped.

[Shuttle to L1]

"We have to be very precise about it, but yes." Miranda replies from the pilot seat, switching the direction of their propulsion so that "down" now appears to be toward the cargo bay door. "I'm opening the hatch. As soon as I give the signal, drop the safe."

True to her word, the cargo bay hatch opens with an airy hiss, sucking out the atmosphere for a third time, leaving a hole in the "floor" (formerly the wall) through which the void of space can be seen.

"Mark in five... four... three... two...... mark."

That's the cue. Any last words from Lizzie?