Silly Plots 5: Simply for the birds

[bc56]

Diabolic Visitation
"I know," Sekhmet leans on Prumathe's shoulder with tears in her eyes. "I'm, uh, hoping to find a way to fix that. Uh, without taking your soul." Granting Prumathe immortality by taking his soul would be easy for Sekhmet, but she's worried it would corrupt him into a mockery of his former self. She doesn't have enough experience with this sort of thing.

[Earl of Purple]

Diabolic Visitation

"Really? Well, um, good luck." Prumathe's also glad Sekhmet won't take his soul, because even if she gets to keep it and implant it in something it might not carry his memories across. Sort of depends on how the soul-removal interacts with his body and mind. He'll keep hugging her, though.

[bc56]

Diabolic Visitation
Ideally, his mind would remain intact and stick with the soul (and his body would die) but again, Sekhmet has no experience with this and doesn't want to try. "Uh, I'm getting a little tired of this party. Want to, uh, leave them to enjoy themselves and go home?"

[Earl of Purple]

Diabolic Visitation

"Sure, that sounds good. They all look to be having fun, though." At least, hopefully they are. Prumathe looks over at the dancers and party-goers, before he'll stand and offer a hand to Sekhmet to help her up.

[bc56]

Diabolic Visitation
Sekhmet takes Prumathe's hand and stands up. A portal opens and the two of them can vanish through it back to their cabin, the doorway closing behind them.

The party goes on without the guests of honor. They aren't really necessary, after all. It won't end for several hours yet, but eventually it does, and the ballroom goes silent once more.

[Aurora Alchemi]

Ukry's Grove

Aran hops down to the floor, only to realize the extreme difference in size as he looks up at Grimmjaw. He swaps back to gnoll shape so he doesn't have to shout up at the older fellow. He shakes his head as a brief bout of nausea hits him. He might be shifting too often for his brain to keep up with.
"Well, I didn't make plans for the day, really. Was going to visit Ukry to get things settled, and that was mostly it. So...no, it's no trouble if you want to go with me and do something. But I guess you're right; we'll have to figure something out." He doesn't really have any plans for what he could do with someone like Grimmjaw he met twenty minutes ago.

Ukry's Grove

"Well then come on, we can start with a trip to the shops. I'm not completely caught up with the newer stuff floating about this strange place, but I am looking for a new set of weapons to learn, one hand to hand, the other ranged. I figure we can start there, and if we find something while scrounging about that catches yer eyes, then we can get goin' on that side of things too." Grimmjaw, now much shorter then the fluffy gnoll, opens the door, offering the bustle of the outside to Aran. Grimm cracks his knuckles as he walks outside, eyes slowly adjusting to the change in light. He stands still for a moment, ears gently flicking this way and that way, before starting to amble in the vague direction of a larger market.

"And if we get into a tussle on the way over, all the better. Streets sound full of awnry cusses looking to be put in their place today, could be a good chance for yer to learn actually how to use them muscles." There's an air of matter of factness there, as if it were only the logical endpoint that someone with muscles would use them to battle others. Perhaps a relic of being a war leader, perhaps a mote of the machismo that drove grimm to stand as if he were taller than he is. Either way, there was a confidence there, not the overconfidence of a young pup winning their first fight, but the wisdom of age... A sort of 'if they come to me, it is they who dig their graves' that comes with true tempered skill, tested in the fires of battle innumerable. "It honestly surprises me that yer seem not to get in too many scraps out here. Seems there's a fair bit of territorial joustin' going on up here, not like some of the other places Ukry has her doors right now."

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

Two definitely unassuming looking people have departed Trog's. One a definitely normal human and the other a pretty standard half-elf.

Nothing to see here, folks!

Nothing odd going on.

"So the quest is 'The Doldrums'," the seraph explains. "There's a neighborhood where the people are losing their hopes and dreams. They aren't living up to their purpose! They're just languishing and feeling nothing. Something spooky is at work and we have to figure out what it is and how to fix it!"

This is a quest that resonates pretty strongly with Lapis' Path, which at this point really isn't too terribly distinguished from her Mother's. Maybe as Lapis gets older she'll find her own way. Or maybe she'll continue following Mother's path? She really doesn't know.

"You can always check quests to see what sort of fighting is needed to finish them. It'll tell you how tough the battles are. If you want quests where you don't have to fight at all then you need to look for ones where combat is rated as trivial or optional."

Sappeerel laying out some useful advice here.

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
"How can you know we won't have to fight whatever is causing it?" Selekhael asks nervously. The Ophan has a very different Path to tread. She looks around as if expecting to be jumped. "So, uh, how did you suddenly get so much older?" And calmer and more mature, apparently. If she had just changed her physical form, her behavior wouldn't have also changed, would it?

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

"Well... I don't! I don't know lots of things for sure but that's fine," Sappeerel admits with a shrug, doing her best not to skip down the sidewalk and mostly succeeding. "But this quest says combat optional so unless we decide to start a fight then there doesn't need to be one. There's usually other ways to solve things besides just swording them until they stop like I did a quest the other day where I had to solve a mystery at VIGIL! I don't have to sword anyone."

She's quite proud of the job she did.

The seraph is pretty much the best at the infiltration stopping.

"How? Oh! Yeah it's a Shape trick I learned from my sister. It makes me feel a little less bouncy, too," she explains, quite in spite of the fact that she's still at least a little bouncy. She seems to take after Zee in that regard. "The shape of the body shapes the brain since the brain is still part of the body. When we're like this we're real fleshy people just like anyone else. We get hurt, we bleed, we feel the same sorts of things. So when I've got a more grown-up brain I've got more grown-up thoughts."

Just like that.

Easy!

Their surroundings are becoming steadily more drab and grey, as if the very color were being sucked out of the world. Peeling paint exposing weathered wood under it. Planters of dry, bare soil with a few brittle twigs sticking out. Trees bereft of leaves. People with a slump to their step, as if they were carrying a great weight on their backs. The only sound is the steady thrum of noise.

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
Selekhael doesn't really understand any of those words. Brain science wasn't much of a thing when she came from.

But enough of that. Selekhael is going to ask some questions .
"Excuse me sir, is something wrong? I can't, uh, help but notice everyone around here looks so... Unhappy."

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

Well, it was, but it was basically phrenology which was absolute bunk.

So anyway.

Selekhael begins questioning a rather unhappy looking men sitting on a bench. He seems listless, staring vacantly at a point on the brick wall across the street. Bricks that seem more of a muddy gray than the cheerful ocher one might expect them to be. It takes him a few seconds to to look up at Selekhael, deep circles under his eyes as if he had hardly slept a wink for several nights.

"I don't know. What does it matter, anyway? Hopeless. Everything is hopeless."

Sappeerel, for her part, scoots up along side Selekhael and adds-

"But it's never hopeless! We're here to help! Do you know when people started feeling like this?" she asks.

The man looks like he's fighting through brain fog just trying to assemble an answer, as though even the simple act of thinking is exhausting.

"A... week. A week ago? But what does it matter..."

Wow.

Some evil force is just sucking the pizazz out of everything, isn't it?

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
"Do you know where it started?" Selekhael suspects further questioning is as much a lost cause as this victim believes living is, but it can't hurt to try. If that fails, she can probably invoke her Id sphere to detect emotional disturbances. Probably. She's still not entirely sure how those things work.

[Deathkeeper]

Ukry's Grove

"Well then come on, we can start with a trip to the shops. I'm not completely caught up with the newer stuff floating about this strange place, but I am looking for a new set of weapons to learn, one hand to hand, the other ranged. I figure we can start there, and if we find something while scrounging about that catches yer eyes, then we can get goin' on that side of things too." Grimmjaw, now much shorter then the fluffy gnoll, opens the door, offering the bustle of the outside to Aran. Grimm cracks his knuckles as he walks outside, eyes slowly adjusting to the change in light. He stands still for a moment, ears gently flicking this way and that way, before starting to amble in the vague direction of a larger market.

"And if we get into a tussle on the way over, all the better. Streets sound full of awnry cusses looking to be put in their place today, could be a good chance for yer to learn actually how to use them muscles." There's an air of matter of factness there, as if it were only the logical endpoint that someone with muscles would use them to battle others. Perhaps a relic of being a war leader, perhaps a mote of the machismo that drove grimm to stand as if he were taller than he is. Either way, there was a confidence there, not the overconfidence of a young pup winning their first fight, but the wisdom of age... A sort of 'if they come to me, it is they who dig their graves' that comes with true tempered skill, tested in the fires of battle innumerable. "It honestly surprises me that yer seem not to get in too many scraps out here. Seems there's a fair bit of territorial joustin' going on up here, not like some of the other places Ukry has her doors right now."

Ukry's Grove

Aran follows Grimmjaw out, unbothered by the cold thanks to Ukry's modifications to this form.
"Now being fair, I'm usually packing and make it pretty obvious. Even without magic our foundry can make a piece impressive enough to scare away a mugger." Aran is not carrying his at the moment due to the situation that he arrived here under.
"They also tend to not go for people who look like they aren't easy marks. I think you have that covered pretty well." If anyone ever looked at Grimmjaw and said "easy mark" they're either insane or very, very confident in their powers and abilities.

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

"When?" the hopeless man slurs back, clearly trying to recall but having trouble seeing through the mind fog. "When...The one selling tonics. Said it would make all our troubles go away. And there were some lights at the mound. And... there was a sound. Like bells. From the old church."

That's less a time and more a set of circumstances that coincided with the event.

It isn't too difficult to figure out what things he's referring to.

A sign on a nearby building appears to have been hastily slapped on, reading 'Radghast's Curealls'. Definitely sounds like some sort of snake-oil salesmen. Maybe this listlessness is a side effect?

The mound is just that, an earthen mound in a park nearby with a few standing stones sticking out of it. Every now and again there's a little flicker of ghostly green light. Fire flies? Or something more sinister?

And there's the old church. It looks like it's been abandoned and boarded up for ages. There certainly hasn't been a bell in that steeple for a decade at least. So where had the ringing of bells come from? Definitely suspicious.

The quest instructions are heroes get don't help all that much. 'Search for clues'.

"We should probably search all three eventually, right?" Sappeerel reasons. "Where do you think we should start?"

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
Selekhael looks up from the man. "The, uh, swindler first, I think." She turns back. "Thank you." She touches his forehead and invokes the power of Id in a possibly futile attempt to at least make him feel better. She doesn't like to see people suffer like this.

[Murkus]

[Double Date]

Div would be happy to marvel at the columns and nudes for a while longer, but the lion-thing is pretty distracting.

He was always taught to be wary of large predators. His people could get on with them better than humans could, but they were hunters themselves. A thing like a lion was usually prey or competition. And with his stature and his natural tendency to go unarmed, alarm bells go off in Div's head. Especially when he sees Jaahlyn won't turn her back on the beastie. Concerning.

"I'm Div," he says, looking at Radigal as if trying to unravel the beast's mysteries with his mind. "I'm the same as Batu, but... I also like looking at pretty things, like you've got around here. I love art. I guess you could say I desire... art? To be an artist?" He's unsure how to frame this to answer Radigal's question.

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

Selekhael pokes the poor listless man with a boop of emotional energizing!

He perks up a bit-

-only to slump again.

Whatever is doing this is actively robbing people of their ethos.

Which definitely isn't great.

Anywho!

Our heroes head toward the swindler's shop! Shoving the door open announces their presence with a little jingling bell.

At the sound they find themselves facing a guy who is probably THE most con-man looking con-man in history. Everything about him looks shifty and conniving.

"Well well well my fine ladies what brings you into my humble little shop today? Seeking one of Radghast's Nexus-famous curative elixirs perhaps?" he inquires.

Lapis can't help but notice that THIS GUY doesn't seem drained and depressed. But she's trying to let Selekhael take the lead here for the most part.

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
"Have you noticed anything unusual around here? People acting strangely?" Selekhael gets to the point. She's not going to bandy words with this conman. This might not be urgent, but it is important.

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

"That's quite the question, my fair lady, this is the Nexus after all! There are always people acting strange. Lycanthropy, possession, gout, indigestion, all terrible afflictions which can be made a thing of the past with just one sip of my miracle elixirs!" the con-man barks back. "Now, if you're wanting some more specific information I may know a thing or two, but I only share gossip with paying customers."

Oh.

Seriously?

He wants a bribe.

Or at least he wants the gals to buy some of his useless colored syrup before he'll talk.

Lapis looks pretty skeptical.

She's not expert but she's pretty sure no potion can cure all of those things.

[Fenric]

The hatchlings vanish over the edge one after the other, variously alarmed by Keiko's warning and then by how strong the current is. But, the current is still kind of exciting.

Cleo joins the others in racing over to the edge as quick as she can - which, well, she's a worse swimmer than all the others.

All the way down in these deeps, Cleo rounds up the hatchlings to be sure they don't get swept away by anything else.

But she pauses, looking out at the castle-shape.
"Has that been there this whole time?"

"Castle?!" The kids know what their destination should be.

Caroline looks around uncomfortably.

Keep close, everyone - we don't want to get separated down here.

Keiko narrows her eyes.

It reminds me of the King Under the Sea's territory... except this is fresh water.

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
Selekhael is similarly unconvinced. "Really?" She looks at the shelves, feigning partial interest while she checks for dust built up. If the people here don't care about anything, they wouldn't see any need to cure anything, would they? "The last person who came in here, what did they need cured?"

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

That seems to be a reasonable conclusion, Selekhael.

There's definitely something weird going on here.

But it isn't immediately obvious what it is.

"Ah!" the shyster brightens up at that question. "They were suffering from a bad case of tooth worms, my fine lady. Which my special secret tooth worm killing elixir is perfect for getting rid of! Why, it'll even patch up the holes left in your teeth by the worms!"

Cavities.

He's talking about cavities.

Though the cause of cavities weren't really known back in the 1800s.

'Tooth worms' were a common (and wrong) explanation. But given that this is the Nexus who knows whether or not tooth worms are actually a-

Haha, no, obviously not.

Not like this guy is selling anything that actually works.

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
As far as Selekhael is concerned, cavities are caused by tooth worms, but this guy 's "medicine" certainly doesn't cure them. "And she was completely normal? Not, uh, incredibly listless and uncaring?" She wishes there was some way she could send Lapis a message without the salesman knowing. She could use some sneaky help right now.

[Shadowcaller]

Double Date

Jim steps forward and gives a somewhat theatrical bow.
"James Puck. Musician, toymaker, and apprentice mage. I admit I haven't decided on what I desire that would be worthy of your prodigious talents." He's being a little dramatic but he is being truthful in terms of he isn't sure what to do with such a blank check.

[Double Date]

"Uh. Batu. Student of sorcery and occasional were-crocodile," the hobgoblin says, honestly enough. "I didn't really come here with any desires beyond having a good time with my friends and my boyfriend."

[Double Date]

Div would be happy to marvel at the columns and nudes for a while longer, but the lion-thing is pretty distracting.

He was always taught to be wary of large predators. His people could get on with them better than humans could, but they were hunters themselves. A thing like a lion was usually prey or competition. And with his stature and his natural tendency to go unarmed, alarm bells go off in Div's head. Especially when he sees Jaahlyn won't turn her back on the beastie. Concerning.

"I'm Div," he says, looking at Radigal as if trying to unravel the beast's mysteries with his mind. "I'm the same as Batu, but... I also like looking at pretty things, like you've got around here. I love art. I guess you could say I desire... art? To be an artist?" He's unsure how to frame this to answer Radigal's question.

[Double Date]

Once Jim speaks up Radigal rolls over to his other side and then slowly sits up if only to nod his majestically maned head in response to Jim's bow and then regards him in silence for a moment until he turns to Batu once the hogbolin speaks up.

His reaction to Batu is also one of stoic silence but they get an odd sense of genuine curiosity hidden behind it. Wherever its a good or a bad thing that a giant lion is curious about you is anyone's guess however.

Finally, Radigal turns to Div and this time there's another nod once he mentions that he wants to become an artist. "A fellow crafter and hunter? I am pleased to have laid my gaze upon you, young one, as I can see you still know the courtesy of the wilds." The lion gets up on all four and leaps down from the altar and slowly starts to approach them. "Tell me then, Div, what kind of art do you like to produce? What kind of project do you dream of doing?" Radigal then starts to move in a circle around Div and the others as he speaks. He's moving slowly but is never completely still which might be somewhat disconcerting.

Jaahlyn makes a circular motion with her finger as she gets up and follows Radigal with her gaze and keeps turning as he moves. It might just be her goatiness but she still seems to consider it important to not lose sight of the lion fey, not even for a moment.

((Murkus might go first this round unless the others have ideas for what to post.))

[Murkus]

[Double Date]

Div will keep trying to turn to keep up with Radigal. It seems a bad idea not to. At least, Jaahlyn is insinuating as much. The young stag awkwardly shuffles in a circle and says, "Uh... I dream about making a piece of art-- a-a painting or a carving, I think, because that's what I'm good at. I dream about making one that lasts forever. Or at least a very long time. Something that makes people's hearts soar... and that says... I don't know. I was here, I guess. I was here."

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

Oh. Oh oh oh Selekhael wants to talk to her but she wants to be sneaky about it!

Lapis learned this trick with Mother it's the best for being sneaky!

She crosses her arms and does her best to look suspicious at the salesmen. But the gesture carries with it a distinct meaning for Selekhael and Selekhael alone.

What do you need me to do? Make a gesture, but with INTENT behind it. I'll figure it out.

There are no words there of course. Just the meaning the gesture is intended to convey to her quest-buddy.

"You mean like most of the fine folk in this neighborhood? No, I don't believe so. The came over from Steele Street, I do believe. Come to think of it, the folk around here HAVE been a bit under the weather of late. A funk so bad they aren't even coming in here for my miraculous curatives! I'm sure if they did I could fix them right up, though," the shyster boasts.

It doesn't sound like whatever is going on is very good for business. They might not have anything to do with the waves of listlessness. Or maybe the shop is cover for something else? But how would our heroes find out for sure...

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
That's weird, but Selekhael rolls with it. She shifts her weight forward, leaning towards the shyster as if to say,
You're a seer. Scan him, and tell me what you see. We need to know if he's anything more than he appears to be on the surface.
"That didn't strike you as unusual before now?" the Ophan presses. "Can you remember anything about when it started?"

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

Selekhael's whole life is weird now.

It's inescapable.

Regardless, the trick must have worked because shortly after that request Selekhael will see the man suddenly outlined in bright yellow. She can even see the outline of his legs behind the counter! Along with that is a collection of useful information.

Radghast Fleur (Critter)
Job: Alchemical Flimflamsmen
Threat: Negligible
Radghast Fleur is a scam artist that prepares a small number of actually useful alchmical agents to hook prospective customers and then gives them the old bait and switch, selling useless elixirs to fleece unsuspecting victims of illness. BE AWARE! He knows more about the malaise than he lets on, however Radghast is a coward at heart and will flee at the first sign of conflict. Be careful how you approach the subject lest he become aware that you're catching on.

Oh there's a flash of anger in Lapis' eyes, but she tamps it down quickly. The idea of someone who is pretending to help when really he's just trying to take people's relic fragments... oh that just makes her so mad!

"It IS a bit odd, I must admit," Radghast replies thoughtfully. "I pulled into the neighborhood about the time the FIRST person came down with the malaise and my elixir fixed her right up! But it sure seems to have spread since then, hasn't it?"

[bc56]

Pacifist Quest
"If you can cure it, why don't you?" Selekhael asks, innocently. "Think about it. It would be good for business. You, uh, said yourself that they won't buy anything from you when they're too depressed to care, and, uh, you'd get a lot of good publicity by curing an epidemic like this." Hopefully that's a convincing argument. Hopefully he doesn't have an ulterior motive (other than making a quick buck).

[Rebonack]

[Pacifist Quest]

"Well, I have! I have been! Since my curative elixirs are without peer!" Radghast replies, smiling like the showman he is. "The, ah customers just haven't been coming in recently. I don't do house calls, you see. If someone wants a cure they need to come to a shop."

Okay.

Both Selekhael and Lapis will feel that one.

There's a lie in there somewhere.

Like the verbal equivalent of a sweet smelling pastry trying to cover up the scent of a dead rat rotting away under the table.

It isn't clear exactly where the lie is, but considering that they hadn't been feeling the stench of lies recently it must be a different statement he hasn't made before.

Lapis manages to avoid straight up accusing Radghast of being a liar. "But if you DID make house calls wouldn't that be good?"