Outside 51: It's just a weather balloon

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

There isn't anymore shouting.

Nor does G'nichi get launched up into the sky.

Instead the orb floats up between the statues hands, day goes dark, and swanky music begins to play as the (apparently disco ball?) begins rotating and shedding flashes of light.

Fenris seems... confused. "I was expecting something but this wasn't among those expectations."

It is time for my funk to return to Outside! The foul necrodancer Anthumalak has been trapping lost souls to fill the ranks of dance posse. Worse still, he uses my own groove to fuel his foul dance numbers. You will enter my temple, retrieve my moxie, and destroy the defiler.

Fenris isn't hearing any of this, but given how drastically this is diverging from her own experience she's definitely puzzled.

"Where, precisely, is that music coming from?" she wonders aloud. "An illusionary effect, maybe?"

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

Okay yeah that certainly took a hard left turn.
"She's asking us to stop the necromancer from using lost souls for evil dancing. Um. Do you know how to dance?" G'nichi asks of Fenris.
Because he can't dance.
At all. And if he could the alterations to his body would set him back.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

"Y-yes?" Fenris replies a bit hesitantly. "Though I must admit that I have no familiarity with whatever dance might correspond with the present festivities."

The music is VERY strange by Fenris' estimation.

When the lights come on again, the nearby doors of the temple have opened.

It looks dark in there.

And yet... light still? Somehow?

There's a dull purple glow to everything and deep within the temple the rhythmic pounding of music can be heard. Here and there strange glowing cylinders and splashes of luminous fluid are scattered about.

Has G'nichi ever been to a rave?

It sounds like a rave in there.

Near the entrance is the corpse, its flesh shriveled and blacked and splattered with phosphorescent fluid.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

Has G'nichi been to a rave?
Well, he spent most of his life as a three-foot-tall lizard built for climbing and was mostly interested in temple studies, swords, and books. His lifelong crush is a cleric who also likes all of those previous things.
No, he has not been to a rave.
"So. Uh. What was up with those trees you were looking at? You think that maybe we should check that out instead?" he asks nervously.
He seems to be avoiding the problem at hand.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

"There appeared to be an entrance to a grotto nearby. I likely wouldn't have noticed it if not for the fox that fled in that direction," Fenris replies as she inspects one of the corpses. "Hmm... the technique is similar to what I encountered at the Kilkreath temple. Rather than binding the soul to the corpse the soul is removed and manifested as a shade. This allowed them to wield physical weapons rather than being forced to rely on spectral imprints like a ghost might. Though I must admit I'm uncertain why this would be desirable if your goal was to raise an army of... dancers?"

This whole situation is very strange.

"I suspect it must have something to do with the magic of the land itself. This mountain appears to attract and encourage the unusual. It would have to be a potent pull indeed if it can even impact the behavior of daedra."

She gives G'nichi a very serious look.

"Which means we should spend as little time here as possible. Break the necromancer's ritual and then depart. Unless you wish to tempt fate and possibly get caught up in the madness of this mountain."

The mountains of madness!

Just with more silliness and fewer giant albino blind penguins.

Which, frankly, are pretty silly as well.

[Earl of Purple]

Pixie Grinder's Compound

The dryad smiles, and gestures Yuvan to come closer. She sways her hips as she does, though she doesn't take a single step, and licks her lips. Her tongue is long, and forked, and a dark purple colour. Yuvan still probably feels a bit flustered and warm; maybe he should take off his breastplate as well.

Boada stays on Yuvan's foot; she's unaffected by the charm, since the dryad hasn't noticed her and is paying her no attention. Boada's starting to think something is up, however.

Abandoned Battlefield

"It's not warfare, not really. The tanks are fitted with reactive armour so we're relatively safe in here." Accidents can still happen, but mostly if a tank is knocked out in sensha-do the occupants are usually fine. Perhaps a few banged heads and bruises, rarely an injury. Of course, at the moment, three of the four crewmembers are on top of their Valentine's hull, where if they're shot at they have no protection. "I... don't know what one of those is. Tank destroyer? Personnel carrier? Command vehicle? Self-propelled gun?" They aren't familiar with mechs; the technology doesn't exist in their home universe.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

"Do you think we should check the grotto instead? Maybe it's a secret back door that lets us skip the whole thing?" G'nichi posits hopefully.
But he sighs, hanging his arms in front of him.
"Yeah, we should probably get this over and done with before we start turning neon colors and...whatever dances good." he was trying to make a joke there but he doesn't actually know what would go in that situation.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

"I don't believe it is an alternative entrance to the temple. It appears to be a small natural cave," Fenris replies as she heads inside.

Going to get this done and get out of here.

Really, though, maybe this is for the best.

If she's exposed to the strangest things this place has to offer she'll be over it already and desensitized to the only minorly strange things.

That's a good way to look at the situation, right?

So!

Into the temple!

After a few zig-zagging corridors they come to a chamber with an inert disco ball sunk into a pedestal of sorts. It's surrounded by a trio of floating skeletons draped in glow-sticks and made completely out of multi-colored luminous fluid. It should be clear right away that this rainbow fluid has ZERO RELATION to the rainbow goop G'nichi encountered several days prior.

Also?

It is VERY LOUD in here.

"I BELIEVE WE NEED TO ACTIVATE THE ORB TO PROCEED!" Fenris yells inches away from G'nichi. Even then her voice is hard to hear.

But how will they do that without alerting the rave spirits?

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

"Activate how?" G'nichi asks, making sure to go right to Fenris' ear so she can hear him.
"Just like, hit it or something?" Because that's something he can do from range. Otherwise, G'nichi has mostly lost his ability to sneak.

[bc56]

Abandoned Battlefield
"Where the hell am I that you don't recognize a BattleMech when you see one?" The Griffin jolts into action, walking step by step towards the tank, crashing effortlessly through buildings to stand at the riverbank. "Had a good look yet?" The titanic machine probably appears to be something out of science fiction to the tankers, but there it is, towering and terrifyingly real.

[Ironsmith]

Pixie Grinder's Compound

The dryad smiles, and gestures Yuvan to come closer. She sways her hips as she does, though she doesn't take a single step, and licks her lips. Her tongue is long, and forked, and a dark purple colour. Yuvan still probably feels a bit flustered and warm; maybe he should take off his breastplate as well.

Boada stays on Yuvan's foot; she's unaffected by the charm, since the dryad hasn't noticed her and is paying her no attention. Boada's starting to think something is up, however.

[Pixie Grinder's Compound]

shunk

Is the sound of a heavy suit of chitinous armor hitting the ground, freshly peeled off its owner's torso.

Yuvan can recognize what's happening, of course, but he's powerless to stop it; his equipment doesn't come with any particular defense against mind-affecting magic. And if the pattern held, he'd be in serious trouble... in fact, he already sort of is. In removing his helmet, he'd forfeited most of his ability to use Destruction and Restoration magic. His chestpiece was less impressive, "only" giving him near-immunity to poisons and electric attacks. His gauntlets are likely next, costing him the superhuman strength he'd imbued them with, or possibly his boots, which granted him immunity to extreme heat and cold (he'd designed them with dragonbreath in mind).

But what he was truly afraid of was that the dryad might notice, and take, the jeweled silver pendant around his neck. Of all his equipment, it would be the most difficult to replace if lost, and the most disastrous to get into the wrong hands.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Battlefield

There's some screams from the schoolgirls as the mecha moves closer, but they're already going full speed and don't have access to any guns at the moment. "We're from England! Mercia! We should be having a sensha-do match on Bute, but we haven't identified any landmarks for thirty minutes, or heard from our team in forty-five." So they're lost, too.

Pixie Grinder's Compound

Oh, the dryad is less interested in his necklace, more interested in his underwear or trousers, if he's still wearing any. "Hello there, sweetie. Aren't you precious, killing some of the minions. Want the mistress all to your self, do you? Well, tough, poppet. You're allll mine." She leans forward to lick his face, and then freezes totally, the spell holding him captive broken as the dryad topples over.

Boada grows back to her human (ish) size, holding the wooden sword. "This thing's awesome. Can I keep it? I have no idea what she was doing, dryads aren't supposed to have any power that far from her tree... Not that I know what this tree is. It's not natural, I think."

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

This is one of the downsides to being transformed into a giant beefy dude.

It makes sneaking around WAY more difficult.

Of course, given the loud music and the moshing skeletal spirits you probably wouldn't have to be that good at sneaking to get close.

"THE PEDESTALS I ENCOUNTERED JUST REQUIRED TOUCHING THE OPAL IN THE CENTER!" Fenris yells back. "I DON'T BELIEVE STRIKING THEM WITH A RANGED WEAPON WILL HELP!"

Sadly they don't work like Legend of Zelda switches.

Can't just shoot them with an arrow to make them function.

Getting get in there and touch it.

Which will probably-

Oh wait.

They're all facing away from our heroes and moshing pretty hard.

Maybe they COULD sneak over?

[Recaiden]

[Bone Hills - The Maw of Akarkhentkats]

"Looks like - either touching the dead guy is going to turn us gold, or it's all done, and this stuff is safe."
"Eithe' way..." Honeysuckle steps up and starts shoveling golden food into sacks.

The elemental reports that there's some kind of blood sacrifice temple in the next room.
Which does kind of get their attention.

They decide maybe before going into the abandoned(?hopefully?) temple, they'll try the other door, to the south.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

"OKAY. TRY SNEAKING OVER THERE. YOU'RE SMALLER. IF THEY LOOK YOUR WAY I WILL DISTRACT THEM." G'nichi calls to Fenris. Surely the wiry lady has better chance to slip between wraiths than the giant dragon? He could do some need chakram things if he needs to keep them from noticing her.

[bc56]

Abandoned Battlefield
"Relax. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't be talking to you." That's probably not comforting. "I lost contact with my Lance about..." He checks the chronometer in his cockpit, "About 10 minutes ago, when that JumpShip's drive exploded. Since then, you're the first people I've encountered. Neither my Lancemates nor the OpFor are anywhere to be found. I've never heard of Britain or Mercia, I'm from Canopus."

[Ironsmith]

Pixie Grinder's Compound

Oh, the dryad is less interested in his necklace, more interested in his underwear or trousers, if he's still wearing any. "Hello there, sweetie. Aren't you precious, killing some of the minions. Want the mistress all to your self, do you? Well, tough, poppet. You're allll mine." She leans forward to lick his face, and then freezes totally, the spell holding him captive broken as the dryad topples over.

Boada grows back to her human (ish) size, holding the wooden sword. "This thing's awesome. Can I keep it? I have no idea what she was doing, dryads aren't supposed to have any power that far from her tree... Not that I know what this tree is. It's not natural, I think."

[Pixie Grinder's Compound]

Yuvan lets out a sigh of relief as the spell breaks. He can act on his own again. Thank the Divines.

His relief gives way to silent fury as he retrieves his displaced armor, before walking up to the paralyzed dryad and inhaling sharply.

"KRII... LUN AUS!"

The Shout that pulls from his lips will ring over the already-helpless dryad, leeching at her life force and embrittling her bones. Then, Yuvan will stand over her, fists clenched.

KWAM!

The altmer will kneel over the dryad, fist raised, and strike again.

KWAM!

And again.

And again!

And again!

Each blow strikes harder than the last, eliciting grunts of effort and rage from the elf as he keeps up his unyielding barrage of retributive punches, continuing until he needs to catch his breath.

Him being the physically hardy warrior that he is, this will be well after the point the dryad's been reduced to either sawdust or an unidentifiable red smear, depending on how this particular dryad is put together.

Yuvan sighs and sits next to the tree, head in his hands. Is that what it's like to be on the other side of an Illusion? Horrific.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

Fenris nods and...

Sort of... crouches a bit?

And begins crab-walking toward the altar.

It looks very silly.

How could that possibly make her harder to spot?

She carefully reaches toward the orb and as soon as she touches it-!

There's a sound of a record scratch and disco music begins playing instead at a volume significantly lower than what they were being subjected to before.

This immediately causes the three shades to turn toward her.

How are you going to distract them, G'nichi?

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

Well. That's. Uh.
G'nichi chucks the chakram across the room, burning its way across the room into a nearby wall.
Surely fire would distract the undead, right? G'nichi tries to hide behind a nearby pillar so he isn't immediately disemboweled.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

That draws the attention of the spirits, yes.

They turn toward G'nichi and, in perfect unison, begin approaching him. One hand on their hip, the other hand snapping their fingers in synch with each other.

It's very menacing.

Fenris waves her arms above her head to get G'nichi's attention and points. On the upper landing of the entry chamber a heavy iron door has opened, allowing access to deeper portions of the temple. They just need to run through it, right? But what are they going to do about these spirits?

Should...

Can they just destroy them?

Or does the twisted logic of this place require them to defeat them in a dance-off?

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

G'nichi doesn't waste time. He steps to the side, picks up the chakram, and runs over to the open door. He's not about to tangle with wraiths with such a limited weapon if an obvious escape route is right there!
He doesn't know a lot about fighting wraiths in general.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

Well, that's certainly an option.

Our heroes go dashing up the stairs to the landing and hurry through the door, Fenris pausing to pull them shut as several ghostly green shifting geometric shapes manifest in her left hand. She points her hand at the door, fingers clenching, and then-!

There's a low clank as a sheen of light envelopes the doors.

"Hold portal should keep them occupied for a few minutes at the very least, that should afford us-"

Snap.

Snap snap snap.

There are three more wraiths in here.

Because of course there are.

The chamber looks like it might have been a library of some sort? Shelves heavy with ruined books and other odds and ins. A large brazer burns with unearthly white light in the center of the room. Two doors on the opposite end provide egress, one of which is obviously trapped. An old wooden chest is nestled below a stone table covered in odd pinkish gemstones.

Yes.

And the wraiths.

They're important, too.

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

(Day 2)

So far, the trip's been reasonably agreeable. Sekhmet will probably be comforted to know that the shuttle is an extremely smooth ride; there's no turbulence on their way out of the atmosphere, and space itself doesn't have anywhere near that level of resistance. As Miranda had promised, there's a tiny amount of "gravity" brought on through the shuttle's continued propulsion toward their destination, which should make acclimating to the new environment slightly easier.

In order to maintain some sense of normality, and let them both get the necessary rest, Miranda's drawn up a twenty-four hour schedule, broken into three eight-hour shifts: morning, midday and evening. Sekhmet will quickly find problems with all three; for the morning shift, Miranda will be asleep, leaving Sekhmet alone in cramped quarters with relatively little to do. For the evening, Sekhmet will be asleep... meaning she can't keep an eye on Miranda, or Lizzie, while also getting any rest in. And in the midday shift, they're both awake, which means plenty of time to get on each other's nerves.

Miranda will also have drawn up a list of things to do while she's asleep, ranging from exercise (she doesn't know if Sekhmet suffers from musuclar atrophy in a low-gravity environment, but she doesn't want to wait two weeks to find out) to cleaning (with a fumeless sanitizing solution) to meal breaks (with the menu cut down to avoid any particularly odorous or messy foods). She'll even try to enforce this plan while she's awake, but mercifully still sees a need for free time.

How's Sekhmet holding up so far?

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
(Day 2)
This is... Mostly boring. Sekhmet doesn't bother to follow the exercise regimen while Miranda isn't watching. She can't gain or lose weight no matter how she eats, so it stands to reason she can't lose muscle mass from not exercising either. Instead, she practices magic: shapeshifting, conjuring fire, illusions. The first mealtime, she wakes Miranda up because she can't figure out how to work the "conjuring thing." She likes her food at scalding temperatures. She sleeps either in the eating booth or one of the pilot chairs, covered in a heavy pile of blankets.

[Ironsmith]

[Shuttle to L1]

(Day 2, Morning)

Conjuring fire, in an enclosed space with limited oxygen and microgravity? Even knowing it's magical, Sekhmet really should see this result coming.

"This result" being a series of blaring alarms, Miranda springing out of her pod, and Sekhmet having cold, wet, fire-suppressing foam all over her face and hands.

"Are you okay?" Miranda asks, setting aside her fire extinguisher and pushing off the wall so she floats back toward Sekhmet's position. Netwon's Third Law was really making itself known out here.

[bc56]

Shuttle to L1
(Day 2, morning)

Sekhmet literally has a ball of fire constantly floating above her head! She didn't think it would be a big deal! "I'm fine, uh, what's all this about?" she asks, confused, a large tongue of flame hovering above her hand, completely unaffected by any attempt to put it out. Her free hand wipes foam off her glasses.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

G'nichi steps into place beside Fenris.
"Um. They're...snapping at us. Do you think we should just try fire?" he asks, incredulous at their situation.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

Fenris frowns at the wraiths as they approach.

They're terrible things, exposed and dripping skeletons that they are. Just with bones made of gaudily colored fluid. This makes them no less horrifying to behold, just somewhat silly as well.

"Their fellows in the previous room were doing the same when the music, and I use that word in the loosest sense possible, changed. I believe it may be some form of challenge?" Fenris surmises.

Well.

If they're meant to dance then...

In Nord custom most dancing is a corporate affair. The typical circle dance would be rather difficult to perform with just two people. However, as has often been the case in her increasingly incomprehensible life Fenris is being forced to improvise. So...

That's what she'll do.

She reaches out to take G'nichi's hand in her own. "Try to follow me lead."

Then?

She'll dance, slowly shifting to the side so the shuffles and kicks will maneuver them around the skeletons to the door on the other side of the room.

So!

How badly does G'nichi fail to follow her lead?


[Thralkeld]

Fenris Grey-Mane looks down at her map, then back up at the village.

Calling it a village would be...

Generous.

She decides.

It lacked so much as a simple wooden palisade for its defenses and considering the density of unsavory elements she's encountered thus far whilst exploring this fascinating new land that struck her as deeply inadvisable. None the less, the state of fortifications in small backwater villages was hardly her concern. No, her concerns were with procuring materials for her studies and experiments. She had shown the namesake Dwemer alloy to a few smiths in the general vicinity and was informed that there were some ruins in this region featuring odd steam machines and this very metal.

Perfect.

Of course, it was wholly possible that these ruins were unrelated. That is a rather... reoccurring theme in the Nexus, Fenris has discovered. When she thinks she comprehends the situation something utterly unexpected blindsides her.

It should come as a surprise to none, least of all Fenris, that no sooner does she think these thoughts that something utterly unexpected blindsides her.

In this specific case the blindsiding is by a Dwemer spider drone leaping toward her out of a nearby crevice and attempting to stab her in the neck with its immaculately pointy legs.

Should most any regular folk be subjected to such a surprise attack it likely would have resulted in their swift and bloody demise. Thankfully for Fenris she is far from regular folk. With nary a conscious thought Ocato's Preparation blooms in her mind, the magic fastening upon other spellwork and pushing it from potential to reality. Her skin, suddenly as tough as dragon hide, weathers the impact admirably.

She staggers away, shoving the construct off herself with one hand as coppery ethereal geometric shapes coalesce in both her palms. What should have been a relatively weak push becomes a telekinetic thrust, sending the construct bouncing across the muddy road any into the shrubs. Not to be dissuaded, it shortly emerges with four of its friends.

"This is abnormal behavior for Dwemer constructs, I hope you're aware."

Fenris frowns and draws the shield from her back. If one could properly call the artifice of Dwemer metal a shield. She had fashioned it herself with no small amount of work and study. Dwemer metallurgy is truly an amazing art. Most who dabble in it tended to stick with familiar forms. Armor, shields, swords, and the like. But that was hardly inspired, especially when Dwemer engineering is so inspiring. A wide, slightly convex circle lined with chisel-like teeth. The center of the device a pulsing crest of aetherial blue, a fragment of the firmament itself. Shifting the shield in her telekinetic grip, Fenris eyes the spiders.

The first lunges, only to be caught in mid-air with a deft pummeling. Metal bends and groans for a moment before the now ghostly silhouette of the machine is hurled away.

"One momentarily incapacitated, now for-"

That spider looks to be preparing to leap.

Fenris looses her spell, launching the spinning disc at the machine, teeth humming with aether. The spider is neatly bisected and the disc embeds itself in a granite boulder behind. A telekinetic tug wrenches it free from the stone, cleaving off two legs from another construct as it returns to her hands. She grips the handle on the back of the shield boss and raises a shimmering ward with her free-hand just in time to intercept a lightning bolt from another spider. The spell splashes across the arcane barrier, decomposing into raw magic for her to utilize.

One incapacitated. One destroyed. One maimed. Two still active, one of which is a bolt-thrower. Those aren't bad odds, she should be able to finish them off without any great-

Oh.

Ten more just crawled out of concealed holes in the rocks.

"Well. This is going to be something of a slog, won't it?" Fenris sighs. Troublesome, but not out of her league. Twelve Dwemer spiders. That's... no. That's still manageable, provided she is methodical. If things get too hairy then she'll be forced to act in kind, but she would really rather avoid that so close to a village.

[Deathkeeper]

An Improbable Adventure

It is important to note that G’nichi is wearing armor. So not only does he have no sense of rhythm he also has somewhat restricted movement and a lot of weight on him.
The resulting cavalcade of clanking and shaking might be considered dancing, but only if you were very familiar with the context beforehand.

[Rebonack]

[An Improbable Adventure]

That's...

Something, certainly.

Movements that are almost, but not wholly, unrelated to the beat of the music.

Vaguely dance-like stumbling about.

The wraiths don't seem very impressed.

In fact, they're wailing and attempting to avert their eyes from this absolute travesty that G'nichi is inflicting upon them. Wailing until they burst in a cloud of multicolored goop and collapse into rainbow puddles of ectoplasm. With the immediate threat vanquished Fenris ceases the dance to inspect the remains.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but I believe the sheer embarrassment from watching you attempt to dance slew them," Fenris surmises.

Huh.

Yeah, that's pretty silly.

Doesn't G'nichi feel inclined to search the room for loot? There are several interesting looking things in here.