Inside 74: Summer Fun and Zombies

[Rebonack]

The title is a misnomer, of course. No doubt the moniker of this place was settled on after a brief conversation that started with, 'Wouldn't it be funny if...?'. But now the name has stuck.

But what is this place, you ask?

Inside is everything within the City Walls. As opposed to Outside, which is everything without. Except Seaside. And Riverside. And Skyside. And all the other Sides that have cropped up in recent years. This strange, whimsical city is the center of a planar Nexus, a crossing point between all possible (and some impossible) worlds. One can find just about anything in this wondrous place, dreams that defy imagination and terrors that freeze the soul. People and whole places are regularly drawn into the Nexus, added to the chaotic melting pot of all realities.

The city is surrounded by defensive walls, with an artificially and accidentally created moat outside the walls, a moat that has been diverted into a river-channel for one many bodies of water flowing through Inside. A gap in the walls and a bridge allow for entrance into the city proper, the main gate opening up to welcome newcomers Inside.

Welcome, traveler, to the City of Inside. The only boundaries you find within are the bounds of your own imagination.


Rules

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Rules

1:Please Spoiler any Fanservice in this thread! It is accepted that there will of course be some, and that romance and curtains happen. However, please be courteous to others and spoiler any scene that goes on for a little while, and if it reaches the point, curtain. This is so you can stay within forum rules, as well as letting those uninterested in the scene, pass by. Thank you.

2:Godmodding is not permissible! As stated in the rules in the FFRP Central Thread,, godmodding is generally not allowed without permission. If you're shaky on what might be, and what might not be godmodding, please follow the above link.

3:Intersection. Please remember when doing any plots or large events, that even though it has it's own thread, Intersection - the Inside Police Force and Army - is located in Inside, and may respond to events, or may be asked to respond to them.

4:All Inside-Wide/Nexus-Wide plots need to be brought up in OOC first! We all want to have the entire city be cast into a frozen wasteland from time to time, but such things need to be brought up in OOC first, to allow players plenty of warning, and so people don't feel like anything is being forced upon them that they don't want to RP.

5:Inside is not Space! Anything involving massive spaceships, meteors, satellites, Lasers From Space, and the like, do not belong in this thread. Few PCs have the ability to fight off an orbital bombardment, so it is considered unfair to be able to call down such things inside Inside. The place for these sorts of things should be in Outside, or another thread all together.

Zones and Streets

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Zones:
In the Zone(s): The City of Inside is separated into three zones that represent the general threat level color coded for your convenience.

The Blue Zones are upper-class, well to do portions of Inside. You're pretty darn safe here.

The Grey Zones consists of the more traditionally urban parts of inside. Certainly no gated community, but it isn't immediately life threatening either.

The Red Zones represents the parts of the City that are degenerate, destitute, or downright dangerous. Sometimes all of the above. If you're poking around a Red Zone be ready to get jumped by Orks or ghouls or killer robots or something.

Streets:

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Hodgepodge Street? The City of Inside also has a number of Streets. The Streets aren't a street in the literal sense, but rather portions of the City with a particular theme. While one can find anything anywhere in the City there are none the less areas were certain settings predominate. The Riftline monorail public transit system allows for quick and easy access between the many Streets of Inside, as well as take your PCs to other popular locations within the Nexus. Best of all it's fast and free!

If you have an idea for a Street feel free to suggest it in the OOC thread.

Hodgepodge Street: The generically modern setting! Hodgepodge Street is perhaps the most plastic of the Streets, displaying a decent mix of all settings, though modern predominates. Generally speaking most locations without a Street name will be found here. The most commonly seen locations here are the Streets and the Slums. Occasionally The Rooftops if someone is feeling daring.

Steele Street: Need a Victorian location with all sorts of choking industrial pollution? Need an always-night urban landscape with superficial resemblance to 1800s London? Well Steel Street is by far the best place Inside to come down with Black Lung Disease! With spooky stinky fog, gross waterways, and the occasional murderer who may or may not be spring-heeled. Come for the fish and chips! Stay for the gritty atmosphere!

Arkham Street: Spanning 1920s-1930s style fantastic horror, Arkham Street is home of such spooky locations as Philip Memorial Library, the haunted Carter House, and Dunwich Park. Ah Arkham Street, where the clustering gambled roofs sway and sag above the attics where witches hid from the king's men in the dark olden days of Town. The Town is gone, but the witches are still here! And the monsters, and the cultists, and the regular folks just trying not to lose their minds.

Metropolis Square: It's Atom Age or Deco Punk or whatever you want to call it! 1930-50s era retro science fiction with ray guns and mad scientists and nuclear powered robots who just want to learn the meaning of love. This part of Inside is known for its slick hats, era cars, smooth jazz, a robotic workforce, and square-jawed heroes.

The Skyway: High up above the tops of the tallest skyscrapes one can find The Skyway! A high future urban cityscape of floating buildings of glass and chrome and steel and plastic. And a space port too, if you feel like leaving the planet for whatever reason. Think Jetsons with more foot paths. Riftline, of course, grants access to The Skyway to for those not blessed with flying cars.

[Burnt Chrome Street:] Need some cyberpunk action? You got some cyberpunk action! The gritty future of cyber-criminals clashing against government and corporate forces! With cyborgs and hackers and stuff! Grungy urban sprawl, a decaying job market, and an oppressed underclass mark this area of Inside. Burnt Chromes Street is the distopian counter-point to The Skyway's more optimistic vision of what the future holds.

Market Street: Market Street is the ye olde portion of Inside, complete with bards, fools, open market places, and the occasional damsel in distress. While products of any age can be found in the sprawling street booths everything is done ye olde style-e. If you need a chase scene to crash through a fruit-cart this is the place to do it.

Deadwood Street: The wild, wild west. Located on the edge of Inside this is the western part of the city. And that means any kind of western. From spegetti to steampunk to magical. Whether you need to hang around a saloon, have a duel a high noon, or go riding off into the sunset Deadwood Street is your best bet.

PokéStreet: By popular demand! This one should be obvious enough. PokéCenters and PokéMarts and PokéGyms and PokéParks and PokéNarwhals and everything else Poké-related! Great place to visit if you feel like watching some adorable animals beat the tar out of each other. Just watch out for the tall grass. You never know what might be lurking in there.

Carousel Court: So much pony. Carousel Court contains the majority of the City's pony population as well as a healthy helping of non-pony quadrupedal sapient races. Ranging from quaint thatched roof cottages to the towering mane offices of Roseluck Agrifirm to the opulent stables of the well-to-do Carousel Court has it all. The sweet tooth of ponies is absolutely legendary around Inside and if you're looking for a sugary treat, Carousel Court is the place to visit.

Locations

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The Red Zones

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Just because here are some nice quick descriptions of the various Red Zones that see some degree of use. Or at least the ones that I'll run NPCs in if I get prodded at or notice someone's PC poking around there. I don't control everything in these locations and other people are free to run things here, just keep the Lethality level in mind. Anyone exploring one of the Red Zones will find caches of magical or technological trinkets to make the danger worth their while. The higher the lethality rating the better the loot!

The Slums: (Lethality Level Low) Accessed from Hodgepodge Street. The Slums are a generally urban area of decay and disrepair. It's a pretty good place to run into muggers, thugs, vampires, random monsters, and other generically nasty things. People live in squalor here, but no one can really figure out WHY since the rest of the City is available for habitation and has fewer flesh eating mildew patches.

The Sewers: (Lethality Level Low) Accessed from anywhere Inside. The adventure Sewers are not to be confused with the gross functional sewers. Where the former are huge underground tunnels filled with relatively clean flowing water, ghouls, oozes, rats, and treasure, the latter are just filled with poo. Some portions of the Sewers are infested with far worse creatures, but thankfully those nasty things have been dormant for a long time. Or so they say...

The Mispelled Cemetary: (Lethality Level Variable) Accessed form Market Street. The Mispelled Cemetary is fully of the restless spirits of the unded who have been ripped from there eternal rest due to the endless propagation of spelling errors on the Internet. The unded in the cemetary proper are pretty week, but catacombs below the cemetary can be accessed through the various crypts on the surface. The deeper into the catacombs ones travels the nastier the unded get. Beware the Eternal Bone Horrers.

Midnight Park: (Lethality Level Moderate) This place enshrines a patch of forest so thick that light never reaches the ground. The smallest trees are wider than most people are tall, and the largest are truly awe-inspiring. The forest floor is a maze of twisting roots, fallen branches, and decaying leaves. There is never a breath of wind among the massive trunks, and the atmosphere is oppressive with fear and gloom.

Or...

At least it used to be oppressive with fear and gloom. Fear and gloom are still around, but they aren't nearly as bad.

Foot paths have been cleared through the forest and lanterns hung up that glow with cool silvery white light to keep the feral shadows at a distance from anyone who decides to walk in the cool of the shadows. Undead creatures that stray too close to the magical lanterns will find themselves illuminated by incandescent sunlight until they retreat back to a safe distance. Signs have been set up admonishing visitors to stay on the paths and warning of the unspeakable doom that will probably befall them if they don't.

Shadows prowl the darkness, their red eyes glinting in the gloom and the air filled with their hungry whispers, though they're loath to approach the paths. There's the occasional bodak or feral vampire spawn lurking around in the park as well, but they tend to keep well away from the paths since those areas are mostly commonly patrolled by the park's custodians.

The custodians, of course, being Team Nightmære. It isn't at all uncommon to find patrols of nightmære shadelings poking about, chatting with visitors, maintaining the trails, or installing new equipment around the park to make visits by the living more pleasant.

The Dungeons of Doom: (Lethality Level Moderate) Accessed from the Sewers. The Dungeons of Doom consists of a seemingly endless descent of themed dungeon floors filled with generally silly monsters and puzzles. But don't let the silliness fool you, the place is plenty deadly if you get too careless. Remember to pay proper respects to giant marble busts of science fiction and fantasy authors that might block your path.

The Radiation Pit: (Lethality Level Moderate) Accessed from Metropolis Square. The Radiation Pit is exactly what it sounds like. A blasted crater full of radiation and the sorts of things you would expect to arise in 50's era films about radiation. So mostly giant irradiated arthropods. The danger here, aside from the radiation mutants, is mostly from environmental hazards. Make sure to pack plenty of Rad-Away.

Bombed Out Zone: (Lethality Level Moderate) Accessed from Hodgepodge Street. A ruined urban landscape of burned out cars, shattered skyscrapers, and crumbling overpasses. It is the site of an ongoing three way battle between zombies, killer robots, and aliens. Getting caught between the factions is pretty dangerous, but scavenging the remains after a battle can yield some great loot.

Black Goat Woods: (Lethality Level High) Accessed from Arkham Street. Black Goat Woods is a park full of awful eldritch abominations. If you go in un-warded you will almost certainly die a horrible death if you're fortunate. With proper warding by the Elder Sign this Red Zone is just dangerous and maddening rather than a complete death trap. If you need to collect some tomes of forbidden lore or repulsive idols try snooping around here. Just remember that Cthulhu eats 2d6 investigators per round.

Everfree Park: (Lethality Level High) Accessed from Carousel Court. This is a wilderness within the heart of the City that hates you and wants you to die. The laws of physics and magic shift here chaotically and without warning. Powerful monsters roam the trees hunting for anyone foolish enough to stumble in. Everything that exists in this park, even the very air you're breathing, is a malevolent force that seeks your destruction. Enter at your own risk.

Azik's Enchantments(Player: Halae, Grey Zone)

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Those in the area will hear a rumbling as the Nexus begins pulling in something larger than just a single person. Reality bends, and the shape of portal opens above a certain street corner. For a sickening moment, nothing happens, but then things start coming out of the portal - all of them are bricks, building up finally to a door and a roof, with tiny windows built in. There's even a large chimney sticking out of the center of this strange, conical building that begins puffing rainbow smoke almost immediately.

A creature steps out the front door, though many wouldn't consider it a creature - He is a warforged, a living golem. Covered in what appears to be adamantine plates, he looks up and down the street, his longcoat catching in the breeze. as it flutters, one can see a multitude of wands, schema, and scrolls all attached to several belts around his waist and upper legs. On his eyes he wears a pair of blue tinted shades, despite his lack of ears, and the metal orbs that serve as his eyes glow green behind these spectacles. He looks up and down the street. He doesn't seem to be particularly disturbed by the change in location, but he does take the time to call out, in a metallic voice:

"Azik's Enchantments is open for business! Come find a potion, a wand, a scroll to fit any need! We have spellbooks for beginners and experts! Weapons of all shapes and sizes, and armor unlike anything you've ever seen! Come find what you're looking for here!"

And then he heads back inside. So much work, so little time. Inside is as strange as outside, with magic trinkets lining the walls on shelves, but all behind the counter, to keep any stupid kid with the idea to steal something from doing so. You can find just about anything magical here, and that which you can't find, Azik the Warforged can make within a more than reasonable timeframe.

Emergency Bunkers

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Eight bunker-like structures in a ring-like arrangement at about the midpoint between the walls (or the docks) and the center of the city have been completed.

The interior of each is rather dull, rather befitting a bunker, but there are underground areas beneath the visible bunkers. These are similarly dull and military-styled, but they also act as hospitals.

These are mostly designed with emergencies such as shelling in mind, and are usually closed.

Emergency Clinics

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Like the bunkers the clinics are spread through-out the City and are equipped with technology akin to a modern emergency room. Since there's no magical healing available the speed of recovery is going to be noticeably lower than what is available at one of Inside's many temples. However their availability makes them absolutely vital in the application of life-saving care.

Erin's Emporium (Player: The Bushranger, Grey Zone)

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Construction Gnomes have been hard at work renovating a small store along one of the various merchantile roads. Well, it was small. Now it's bigger on the inside.

And filled with every sort of weaponry imaginable, from across the multiverse. From blaster carbines to P-90s, surface-to-air missiles to ballistas, zats to nunchucks, they're all here.

Is that a siege crossbow sitting in the corner?

Evolution Industries Headquarters + Factories (Player: Darkcomet, Blue Zone)

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The headquarters of the company known as Evolution Electronics and Power is a fairly standard-looking modern-day tower in appearance, not quite reaching the level of skyscraper.

The company owns a large factory nearby, used in production of its MACE units, and potentially other products, should it be desired.

The company also possesses a number of other factories around the city, used for production of weaponry and other military materiel.

Retail outlets for Evolution's products are scattered around the city.

Hastings and Sons Mortuary (player: Ashen Lilies, Grey Zone)

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Near one of the older parts of the city sits a large and somewhat dour building of brick and mortar, built in the traditional sense, with a metal plaque by the door that reads (predictably enough):

Hastings and Sons
MORTUARY
For the preparation of the dearly departed.

And indeed, should one go in one should find all the trappings of a conventional mortuary, including several large visitation rooms, run by this guy:

Though of course, usually without the zombie there.
In recent times however, the true business of the resident Mortician has branched into a more heretical bent, offering certain services to the living impaired (more commonly known as the foul Undead). These start at simple healings and flesh grafts (the flesh occasionally obtained 'legitimately', when a body comes in for cremation and the Mortician gives them an urn full of wood-ash, but usually corpses are obtained through donations from customers or good old fashioned grave-robbing). But services can also range into body part replacement and augmentation for the undead who wishes his creator had seen fight to give him a giant lobster claw or retractable venomous spines, or even full body/flesh reconstruction for the self-conscious lich (or lich in disguise, though making your new flesh look like someone else usually costs extra) or the zombie in his golden years. These customers usually come in through the back door, where there is a plaque listing the full list of services. Though of course some are brazen enough to come through the front door anyway.

((PM if you wish to interact with the Mortician, as Ashen Lilies may not always check the thread.))

MagMart (Player: Lord Magtok, Blue Zone)

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An absurd mash-up of K-Mart, Wall-Mart, Target, and every other vile retail chain, MagMart is staffed by an unswervingly loyal Magbots, lobotomized talking cats that are too brain-dead to know any better, several voodoo spirits, and a pickle jar that everyone insists is a sentient being that only communes with those who truly believe in it.

Here you can find everything from curtains to carpets, macaroni to monkeys on motorcycles, groceries to zombies. The staff is always happy to help (or else), and if you aren't entirely satisfied with your shopping experience, you can pay a small fee to watch the MagMart employee of your choosing get fired out the MagMart complimentary employee morale cannon.

Magnificus Theater (Player: ThePhantom, Red Zone)

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This large theater is an attempt to bring culture to the city of the Inside. Plays are regularly show here, and if desired other events can be held here.

The walls of the theater are colored with three shades of blue in a wave pattern. Inside the theater are a pair of grand staircases, with the railing colored gold, while the stone of the stairs is white. The stage itself is one of the largest in the Nexus, carefully designed for the greatest enjoyment.

Rules: Please, no violence. If you must have some violent action in a theater, pm me first.

MERC Office (Player: Morty, Grey Zone)

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The building that serves as MERC's de facto embassy in Inside is now open for business (though there is a separate MERC thread that serves as a meta location to post in). It's a large, newly constructed office building with a very no-nonsense look to it. Its purpose is to do business, not more and not less.

Once inside, the prospective licensed mercenaries will be confronted with a large hall lined with tables, behind which NPCs work at filing and cataloguing the people who arrive to receive their certificates. At least one actual MERC member is also usually on a shift in the building.

Sable Spire (Player: Darkcomet, Blue Zone)

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A great, black-colored tower now stands at the highest point of the Skyway. Appearing mostly similar to a modern-day skyscraper, albeit more futuristic, reinforced, and armored. Upon close examination, some parts of the tower appear to conceal compartments of some sort, likely something along the lines of concealed defensive turrets. the top portion of the tower is rather different in appearance.

It appears as a truly massive hatch, similar to what one might see over a missile silo under normal circumstances.

This hatch opens into the landing area of the aerial aircraft carrier Sanctuary, the main asset of the Altaran Irregulars. Said landing area is set to act as an elevator, capable of moving up to the top of the tower or moving back down to conceal whatever is landed (usually the aforementioned carrier) under the heavily armored hatch.

The Spire, constructed by Remnant in an alliance with the Altaran Irregulars, is now a major base for the the latter, who currently act alongside Remnant in protecting the city. Their troops largely use the same equipment as Remnant's, but use the old Imperial black-and-navy color scheme to distinguish themselves.

The The Temperance Teahouse (Grey Zone) Owned by Artemis

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In an old section of the city stands a wooden building of ancient construction. From inside comes the sound of good conversation and, occasionally, music being played. The scents of exotic teas, spices, and good foods drift out onto the street. along with the scents and sounds come an aura of peace and comfort. It's a nice place here, you could definitely stick around for a while, to escape the general madness of the city.

Two wings extend out from the main building. To the north (the right side as you face the tea house) is an extension of the main structure, still made of wood, the architecture is slightly different and more brightly colored, and also noticeably newer. The west side of the building is surrounded by a stone wall, enclosing a garden. The garden ends at a low stone building running the length of the west wall.

[Restaurant]

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Inside the restaurant is filled with tables and chairs, spread out across the dark hardwood floors. Thick wooden pillars support the second floor and the roof, their tops carved with geometric designs. At the north side of the restaurant is a long counter, surrounding an open kitchen. Steam and smoke drift up from the fires and the woks used for cooking. A shelf along the back wall is filled with dozens of tins, each containing a particular tea or herbal blend. Interspersed among them are tea kettles, each one used to brew a particular type of tea.

The center of the restaurant is open to the second floor. Stairs lead up to more seating on the second level, which looks down on the restaurant below over carved wooden balconies. The ceiling above the open space is painted with a mural of a golden dragon floating through the clouds and circling the sun.

Seats on the west side of the building go fast, as they offer the best view of the gardens. The south and east sides offer views of the bustling streets below. The north side of the second floor has no windows and sits above the kitchen, so it is often darker and smokier than the rest of the restaurant.

Menu

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Drinks

Herbal Tea
Green Tea
Black Tea
White Tea
Yellow Tea
Red Tea
Blue Tea - Mentally stimulating.
Purple Tea - Very relaxing and slightly hallucinogenic.
Iced Tea - Served sweet or unsweet, with or without lemon.
Sake - Available chilled, heated, or at room temperature.
Lychee Wine - A rich sweet drink with a deep golden color. Pairs well with seafood. Served cold.

Food

Dim Sum
Sushi
Stir Fry - Served over rice or noodles
Noodles
Soup
Rice Cakes

Sweets

Ice Cream - Vanilla, Green Tea, Red Bean, and Mango flavoured.
Dragon's Beard Candy - A spun sugar similar to cotton candy.
Moon Cake - A dense sweet cake around a salted egg yolk "moon".
Sun Cake - A crunchy pastry filled with a sugary cream.
Tempura Fried Bananas - Served over ice cream.

[North Wing]

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The north wing of the restaurant is of newer construction. It is more brightly painted and more heavily decorated than the main restaurant. Two doorways on each floor lead to a U shaped hallway that runs through the north wing. Sliding paper screens from the inner walls, so that they can be slid aside and make the spaces much larger. The lower floor holds private rooms that can be reserved for larger parties or special meetings. These rooms typically have a long low table surrounded by cushions. The second floor rooms have more flexible floor plans. Most have tables and chairs, often used to host card or board games. A few can be rented out for sleeping quarters, but patrons are reminded that the walls are, literally, paper thin. Disruptive behaviour will have you evicted without a refund.

[Garden]

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The west wing of the tea house is a large garden surrounded by stone wall. A circular gate leads directly from the garden to the streets, as well as doors leading into the restaurant. The garden itself is carefully kept, trees and bushes trained and cut into pleasing shapes. Stone lanterns and statues decorate the garden. Two pools filled with koi fish sit diagonally from one another, connected together by a stream filled with river rocks. The sound of trickling water fills the garden. A winding path leads through the garden and over a low stone bridge. On the far side of the bridge, the path passes through another circular gate guarded by two stone dragons on plinths. the pair stare down at any visitors, questioning their intentions in passing through their gate.

Beyond the Dragon Gate the path becomes perfectly straight. On either side are large black stones surrounded by carefully raked white sand. The path passes under a red Torii gate before encountering the low stone building at the far side of the garden. The building runs the full length of the west wall and is open to the garden. Large prayer wheels line the opening and are turned by the breeze or visiting people. The walls within the building are heavily decorated and covered in hanging scrolls. At the centre of the building is a shrine, covered in candles. Behind it is a mural depicting scenes of a warrior, a golden dragon, and the sun. Sitting on the shrine a wooden statue of a warrior, sitting in meditation, his sword set aside. The wood is lacquered and carefully inlaid with delicate patterns in gold. From the statue emanates a strong aura of peace, which spreads throughout the entire property.

NPCs

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Hideki - A large man with a red face and a long nose, he is most often found in the kitchen, cooking up tasty things.
Hanako - An older woman, her black hair streaked with grey. She is Hideki's wife and most often found behind the counter serving tea.
Sakura - A lovely young woman and the daughter of Hideki and Hanako. She acts as a waitress and sometimes plays music.

OOC: Please Read. Important information.

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The Teahouse and garden are protected by an aura of non-violence. Violent acts cannot be committed here. You cannot attack another patron or do anything that would cause them bodily harm. Anyone who attempts it will find it extremely hard to convince themselves to do it. If a particularly willful person overcomes this compulsion, something in the environment will intervene, as if by seemingly random chance, to protect their victim as if by divine intervention. Because that's exactly what it is.

Needle and Thread (Blue Zone, Player: Artemis97)

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On one side of a wide cobblestoned street is a small shop. The sign hanging over the door depicts a simple spool of thread, pierced by a needle. No words were included, as a courtesy to those who could not read, nor were they needed. It was clear from the merchandise displayed in the two large windows on either side of the door that this was a clothing boutique. The right side displayed the latest in women's fashions, dresses and skirts in unique designs, all detailed by hand with beading and embroidery. The left window showed men's clothing, from a beautifully tailored three piece suit, cut from expensive fabrics, to the very best in adventuring style, rugged and sturdy, clearly built to last.

Inside, racks and mannequins display more clothing, split down the middle between men's and women's fashions. The back wall held rolls of fabric, some plain, others with obviously magical properties. A large, three-sided mirror sits in the back corner, next to a small changing stall. On the other side is a small counter holding a cash register, behind that the door that led to a small workroom.

The Needle and Thread is a clothing shop specializing in custom tailoring and speciality designs. It is owned and operated by Lillith Rock, and the kindly fiendish woman can usually be found behind the counter, or working on orders in the back workroom.

Pontius' Custom Constructs (Player: Earl of Purple, Grey Zone)

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The caravan of 6 wagons (I never said 3! Well, I did, but still.) arrives at a warehouse, previously for sale. The gnomes lead the golems and other constructs inside, and get to work. The warehouse has an open yard at the main entrance, and several golems, like crude figures of worked stone or wood, stand in the yard. A gnome wearing an apron over smart-yet-practical artisan's clothes and puts a sign up.


Pontius's Custom Constructs
Golems of Any Material* at Unbelievably Low Prices!!!**
You Won't Find a Golem, Gargoyle, Guardian or Homonculus Cheaper!!***
Come Now and Buy 1 Get 1 Full Price!!!****



*Flesh has an additional charge. **Define 'low'. ***Except at our competitors. ****Terms and conditions apply.

Sanctuary Fortress of Zoemaytare (Player: Rebonack, Blue Zone)

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Like so many other prominent buildings in Town, or not so prominent buildings for that matter, this place seemed to pop up out of nowhere over night.

Buildings are like mushrooms in Town. Probably spread via spores, too.

Regardless, here it is. A rather sizeable campus marble hewn from the mountains some distance away. Carved and hauled here near the edge of the slums where they were no doubt assembled. Though... no one can quite place a finger on when this happened.

Though the buildings aren't of only cold hard stone, no. There are timbers as well. Not what one might expect, however. They seem almost organic. As though they had grown into place rather than being hewn.

Oddness aside, the temple is arranged in a rather interesting fashion. Several concentric wall and courtyards ending in a central temple.

The outer wall is lower than the rest, each tier of the temple built onto higher ground like a wedding cake. Each wall is topped with a roof supported on the inside by pillars, creating a sheltered walkway. The exact use of these porches depends on the section of the temple one happens to be in.

Anyone is allowed entry through the first wall and into the first court, the Court of Meeting. Beyond the second wall only worshippers of Zoemaytare are allowed admittance to the second court, the Court of the Blessed. Beyond the third wall only the priests are allowed, where they carry out holy rituals within the temple itself.

The Court of Meeting is dedicated to service of those the worshippers of Zoemaytare dwell among. Food is prepared for the hungry here and given out without expectation of recompense. Those without a place to lay their head are allowed to sleep within the porch. The grounds beyond the porch are devoted to a wondrous garden boasting vibrancy and spectacular color. This are is always comfortably warm and brimming with life. Wounds heal faster as the body is refreshed. Undead creatures will find that remaining here is decidedly uncomfortable.

The sky above the temple seems to be perpetually clear, filled with pleasant sunlight in the day and cloaked with gossamer stars at night. Benches are set up here and there, under trees with hanging branches and above fragrant shrubbery. A lively stream flows endlessly in a circuit about the Court, spilling into several larger pools and meandering up a small outcrop of stone before cascading back down the other side.

This section of the temple is tended by members of the faith. Not priests, though devote. They can be found tending the garden and serving warm food. When in service to the temple these devotees wear a white linen ephod bearing the symbol of a willow tree, ornately rendered in blue thread. They'll be more than happen to answer any questions. Priests tend to have stricter ceremonial garb, including a blue tunic and white robe in addition to the ephod.

Welcome, traveller. May you be more blessed when you leave than when you came.

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New information that isn't readily noticeable at first glance at the temple will be added here.

The temple grounds are protected by a dampening field that blocks unauthorized teleporation and dimensional shifting. The place is something of a fortress after all. Being able to pop in and out at will would defeat the purpose.

Zoemaytare isn't a god of (fill in the black) but rather the patron and protector of her people. As such, her domain, if she even has one, is over all that her people do. The people in question are collectively known as the Zoeos, and this particular temple is their first major venture into Town. At present their stated goal is to set up trade relations and aid the city. This is ministered through the temple on account of the Zoeos government being a theocracy.

It just so happens that there's a dungeon under the temple, though the entrance to it is well hidden.

NPCs thus far:

Potentate of the temple: the head priest and administrator. He has yet to be seen 'on screen' though he has been referred to.

Regent Zachius: And elderly human with a coppery complexion and deep-set wrinkles, the sort of face one expects of a person who has spent a great deal of time in the sun smiling. He's a kind old fellow who is in charge of the Court of Meeting.

Regent Stephen: A younger human who smells rather distinctly of wolf. He's in charge of the dungeons of the temple and seems to be a rather caring and compassionate fellow. It's his job to bring the cases of prisoners before the Potentate.

Regent Thadeus: One of the priests who aids in minor upkeep in the temple proper. He usually isn't seen outside the temple and since his position doesn't put him in much contact with the common folk he tends to be somewhat aloof and judgmental. Also happens to be an elf. Those snooty elves!

Bognus Thundershield: a lay dwarf that operates the temple's teleporter, primarily from Trog's. Though people can be 'ported in from elsewhere as well. While it isn't commonly known, this device can send people over rather long distances, though it's somewhat inaccurate when doing so. Bognus is a bit gruff, though generally good natured. He speaks with a thick Scottish Dwarven accent.

The Statue of Vyrn (Blue Zone)

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On a hill near Evergreen Gardens at an previously empty lot surrounded by spot lights now stands an over 300 feet tall (100 meters tall to be exact) mitharal statue of Emperor Vyrn. Whoever made it seems to have tried to come as close to his likeness as possible on a white mithral surface.
The emperor is dressed in his most most archetypical attire, one fist raised to the skies and another clutching a sword held against the ground. His face perfectly stoic as he overlooks Inside's harbor.
The statue is actually hollow and small groups of people are allowed to take the elevator up to be able to see the city from atop the statues head. Otherwise security is tight around the statue with a tall fence, guards and security cameras there to prevent people from defacing it.
At night the statue is still clearly visible thanks to the many spotlights illuminating it, still making it visible for anyone approaching the city, by day or night.

The Swordfish (Player: Gulaghar, Grey Zone)

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A new shop has opened up in Market Street. The building is a simple affair. A brick building with a massive chimney that constantly billows smoke. On the inside a massive forge dominates the far wall from the entrance. All manner of smithing equipment is carefully placed around the large room that dominates most of the building. Lining the two side walls are many tools for his craft, while lining the far wall are the products of that craft.

Swords, swords of all shapes and sizes. Some brutally efficient, simple weapons and others pieces of art that are no less functional. Each and every sword is obviously the work of a master.

And the master is always present. A great robot moves around the room, always working and experimenting with its remarkable talent. The machine is a hulking, bronze coloured humanoid. The robot has a number of slides and doors, implying there's more to it than is immediately apparent. Finally, at its head is a glass dome, filled with water. Dominating the container is a great carp, as big as a man. It gazes at it's work with eyes that know little more than hate. Hate and its new inspiration.

Word travels quickly of this bizarre master swordsmith. Though it is quite fearsome, the quality of its blades are unmatched.

St. Guinevere's Sanatorium for Lunatics and Object Seekers (Player: Anyone, Gray Zone)

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This insane asylum exists for people questing after Objects from the Holders Mythos. Anyone can run an Object quest, but please look at the community agreed guidelines first as it helps keep things consistent.

If you want to use the Sanatorium for other uses, feel free, but expect it to be a house of unspeakable horrors.

The Temple of Dalachrech (Player: Earl of Purple, Grey Zone)

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The first room entered is a foyer. On the walls are red drapes with silver, two-tailed scorpions embroidered on to them, and next to the door is an ornate font. The granite font stands about waist height, and is a plinth with a bowl of unholy water. Winding around the font are carved centipedes. A door away from this chamber leads to the main prayer hall. This room also has drapes with the two-tailed scorpion device on the walls, and a red velvet carpet flanked by wooden pews leads to an altar at the far end. The altar is covered with red velvet, with a gold statue and red candles placed upon it. The statue depicts a demon with a centipede's body, a scorpion's tail with spinnerets next to the sting, a stag beetle's head and the claws of a praying mantis.

Please PM Earl of Purple before entering this location.

Trollfinger, Ironpick & Greencheek, Mining & Engineering (Player: Morty, Blue Zone)

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A run-down building near Trog's Tavern was bought by three goblin entrepreneurs with a large crew and now houses their mining and engineering company. Everyone who needs something dug, built, repaired or blown up is welcome.

Warwick Works (player: happyturtle, Grey Zone)

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In the industrial area, a building is rented and has a new sign put out front.

W
Warwick Works

The building itself consists of a small office area in front and warehouses in back. There is no indication of what sort of business this is, but a certain cyborg with a satellite might recognize the logo and name.

Witch Which's Wish Shop (Grey, Player: Haruki-kun)

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Welcome. If you have stepped into this store, it is because you have a wish.

The store is big, ancient and beautiful. It has a large garden with colourful flowers, a pond with fish and running water, and chirping birds. This is the outside of the store. The inside, however, is, to put it simply, gloomy. There’s burning candles and incense everywhere. From the hall where you enter you are led off into a side room with a low table and cushions around it. A tall, masked and unnamed stranger brings tea and snacks to the guests. The Witch sits opposite and rarely ever moves.

RULES (OOC):

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This is a Wish shop. Your character will only enter this shop if he has a wish. Whether the wish is granted or not is a different issue.
Witch Which is in charge of the shop and will grant wishes to everyone who asks, regardless of intent or alignment, as long as the appropriate price is paid. Under certain conditions:

Condition one: Witch Which will not haggle. She couldn’t lower a price or overcharge even if she wanted to. A balance must be kept in order for the wish to be granted.

Condition two: When a Wish directly affects another player’s character in a way that would be considered godmodding, the other player must agree first.

Condition three: The Witch may not reject any wish unless the price is too high to be paid. Wishes to take a life or to destroy the world, for example, carry a price higher than anyone can pay. ANYONE.

Condition Four: The Witch will never engage in battle. Be glad. The Witch is the very definition of True Neutral.

Condition Five: The store is not hard to access; in fact, there’s a big sign outside and everything. However, the store’s grounds exist in a special separate dimension, protecting it from anything that could destroy it, up to and including plot.

Condition Six: Haruki-kun reserves the right to alter the conditions if he feels they’re causing problems such as godmodding or similar issues.

(Haruki-Kun wishes for a PM to be sent to him upon someone entering the shop so he knows about it.)

Intersection HQ- LordDeathkeeper

Recently re-branded, this large but basic structure serves as the new HQ for Intersection, separate from previous Remnant associations. It's well-guarded but given a nice blue-grey paint job and is meant to look more personable and comforting than the stark look of the Empire. It is reasonably, but not heavily guarded. This building is where deputized Intersection groups may seek out the chief of police, Nick Richards.

Inside's Defenses and RemnantIntersection

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Defenses

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As stated above, the city of Inside is defended by the Walls, moat, and a force field that can be called upon in times of need, as well as a number of more conventional defensive capabilities, nearly all of which are manned and controlled by Intersection. These include things from Emergency Bunkers, Relief Stations, Anti-Aircraft Cannon, and the like.

Intersection

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As stated before, Intersection is Inside's police force, army, and main defensive body. It is made up of the remains of what was once the Acronymian Empire, and now has again become Insides's police force containing members from Remnant, the Altaran Irregulars and other Revived Empire units, and consists of hundreds of men, women, elves, ponies, bugs, indescribable organisms, and machines, both soldier and civilian, sacrificing their daily lives and time to make sure the city of Inside is relatively safe for it's citizens. There are Intersection Outposts all throughout the city, with the main HQ in Blue Zone, and less Outposts in Red Zone. These can be reached fairly easily, and allow people to report crimes, turn in criminals, collect bounties, and even ask to be recruited. Intersection controls most of Inside's defenses, but also controls Rapid Response Units capable of stopping fires, providing emergency medical aide, and even disaster relief to clean up debris and fix buildings and roads damaged by the day to day events of Inside.

Squads of Intersection patrol the streets "every so often" and should anyone need one, can interact with them (Please check in OOC upon doing so, however).

As a note, Low-Level Intersection officers can be Godmodded! They can be assumed to fight the fires that pop up, but can also be asked to provide basic information. This also means that they can be bribed for less well-known information such as someone's name and rank, or to look the other way for a small crime, such as theft. Anything more, please post in OOC in case there is something that needs clarified. The Intersection grunts can be godmodded to be killed on occasion, but if it happens too fast, too often, one of the Intersection players may step in and RP it out. Once again, please post in OOC if you plan on killing a Intersection NPC.

What is NOT Godmoddable:

-Getting Security Codes
-Accessing Secure Areas
-Killing off more than one or two NPCs at a time, or killing a Named Intersection NPC/PC
-Stealing Identities
-Destroying Intersection facilities

It is not impossible for these to happen, but with proper warning provided to a Intersection player, it can be RP'd out and attempted. However, it should be noted that only Low-Ranking Intersection officers can be Godmodded in this way.

[Gold Leaf]

[Let's Go Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

"Alright. The guy said to turn left and walk straight, and I'll see it."
TASBot
"Walking's for chumps. Time to go for a run!"
TASBot takes off sprinting down the street, accelerating to 81mph, his current top speed, in a few seconds. The energy core located in TASBot's chest has started glowing intensely, but this is hidden by his shirt, which was special-ordered to block out all light from passing through it.
"I'm still the fastest robot alive!"
Whilst running, he opens his map and finds that it has, in fact, changed completely. The street he's running along is still a clear, straight line, though, so he decides that it shouldn't matter.
At this rate, he should get to his destination in no time at all.

[Rebonack]

[Hawthorne Park]

Getting your face mashed into the pavement is always a really good way to underscore important lessons.

How else are you going to learn?

You keep thinking 'don't do dumb things next time' over and over and eventually the reminder sticks and you don't do dumb things!

Or at least you do them slightly less often.

One of those.

Lapis is pretty sure Kara means the boss' second phase by 'Crab Time' but this leaves her kind of puzzled. Was she hoping that if she blasted the boss hard enough it would skip the Crab Phase completely and go straight to the end of the fight? That doesn't seem quite right to Lapis. Kara is like Sele. Neither of them like hurting people, even if they're bad people. Was she thinking that maybe the invocation would stop the boss from being able to transform at all? That's probably it.

She'll definitely want to talk to Kara about that afterward. They can brainstorm better plans for the future!

The Giant Enemy Crab, meanwhile, gets bound in place by Karaglen's invocation and then pinched a whole bunch by Carry. It does not like either of these things. It responds by pointing its funnel arm straight at the ground and opening fire, sending waves of void energy rushing across the ground! This utterly disintegrates Kara's rooting effect (sadly) and probably does some pretty mean things to Carry. Lapis is nice enough to try bolstering Carry but she's worried he might not make it this time...

Lapis, meanwhile, hops away as well! She's really not liking the look of that massive wall of void rushing toward her, so she raises her shield and calls upon the Law of Infinite Light! The expanding rings of lethal magic hit her bulwark and shatter, drawn into the weapon and causing it to begin blazing with stored power like a newborn star. In Lapis' shadow the ground is still untouched, leaving a wide conical safe zone behind her. But everywhere else? The void is eating rapidly into the ground.

"Kara the people!" Lapis shouts. "This attack is really big they might not be okay!"

They are pretty deep but the void blanketing the surroundings is devouring the earth like acid. Though... Those unconscious cultists Carry knocked out are laying the in the path of the expanding wave of DOOM! as well. Lapis is busy soaking up the void wave and she can't easily break off to help either group of imperiled people!

[Vahnavoi]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary - Morgue]

Michalson rubs his face with his functioning hand.

"I didn't expect much, but I'm still disappointed. Did you possess Hazel to get away from this fate?"

[Glass Lake Penitentiary - Morgue]

Bunny falls silent for a moment. Michalson managed to touch something that genuinely bothers her with the way he phrased that question. "... well there isn't much point holding a place for someone you're sure will never come, is there?", she finally says. "I'm not meant to occupy any one body in perpetuity. So it was time to abandon mission. I wasn't going to stick around in Hazel's body either. She was always meant to return. I just didn't find another vessel before she did. And now we're here. Does that answer your question, detective?"

[Ironsmith]

[Streets: An Angel and Me]

The woman smirks at the 'looking at the bare wrist' gag. That was kinda funny.

"Trains are fun," she says. "So I'm going to take the train." She looks up the street in the direction Marianne glanced, to see if there's a Riftline station that way.
Presumably, there is.
Not that far to walk, enough that waiting for a bus that goes there seems like it would be a waste.

She heads towards the Riftline station.

And! Shortly, a train arrives. Its arrival is marked by a distant sound that sounds like a mix of a drum and a bell. As it slows down, its Destination Sign's text changes to say "Next stop: Kisaragi".
In spite of the time of day, the train itself looks pretty empty. Only five people on it, and they all look asleep, if you look through the windows. Can't see their faces, though, but that's probably just because of the way they're sleeping.

The woman lifts her sunglasses to get a better look at the train.
She makes no move to get onto it.
In fact, she takes a step backwards, and then lowers the sunglasses again.
"...Let's get on the next train. I don't think this one's going the right direction, anyway."

The train's doors start to signal that they're about to close.

[Streets: An Angel and Me]

Marianne gives a little nod and steps away from the train herself. This being Riftline, the next train is probably only five minutes away, anyway. Who couldn't wait five minutes?

As if in response to this errant thought, the angel catches a glimpse of a pair of familiar-looking men in suits approaching their position, deep in conversation with each other. Marianne goes pale as she realizes who may or may not be following them and insistently nudges the nightmare lady toward the train. "Actually we should get on now. As in now." She hisses.

Worst case scenario, she's right and this train is going the wrong way, but they can pull a reversal at the next stop. What they can't do is stay here.

[Indie Wedding Chapel]

Violeta Escarlate is forced to admit that sounds really tempting. A meal after this enormously long day, a place to relax... "I don't want to go right back while they're still celebrating," she says.

She reaches out to grab the coins.
Pulls back.
"Forgive me for asking:" she says, prefacing her question. Normally, she wouldn't doubt someone's motives for being charitable, but after everything that's happened today she hopes Braeg can forgive her for doing that this time. Violeta studies his face, trying to see if she can deduce the motive for being so friendly to someone he had never met. "Why?" What underlying motive did he have for coming here, for being so sympathetic, for offering money? What, if anything, is he getting out of this?

[Indie Wedding Chapel]

Braeg smirks at that. Of course Violeta was suspicious. She'd already been jilted by a man who presented himself as trustworthy today, why would she be any less leery of a total stranger? If nothing else, she was displaying a healthy amount of skepticism. That almost merits a reward, doesn't it?

The fiendling Lord takes a moment to decide how he would like to respond. On the one hand, he could be brutally honest with her; it's not his conventional approach, but that presents the possibility of being more entertaining. On the other hand, he could lie, as seamlessly as he had with thousands of others, and let them continue to dance along the old-yet-reliable script.

...That's hardly a question at all, is it?

"You know, I understand entirely." Braeg begins, rolling the coins over his fingers. "You've had a difficult day. In the space of twelve hours, maybe twenty-four, your trust in many people has been shaken. Your goddess, who for some reason did not ordain this wedding. Your groom, who ran away. Even your family, who didn't bother even showing up." He shrugs. "So right this moment, everyone must be two-faced, hm? Including this stranger who claims to be something like a priest, skulking around in a church not his own, cornering the most desperate soul present and offering her comfort and company in this trying time, seemingly for no benefit to himself at all. Is that generosity, or a trap?" He chuckles a little to himself. "What ulterior motive must he have? Does he want something more immaterial from you? Perhaps to lead you away somewhere you won't be found, and... well, the mind shudders at the possibilities. He must be stringing you along, mustn't he?"

Braeg smiles and sets the coins in her hand. "Let me put those worries to bed. I am absolutely stringing you along." He makes a gesture up at the horns on his head as he continues. "You are my plaything, mortal. But lucky for you, I'm not in the mood for a particularly destructive game. You see, those of us who have not forgotten the art of pretending, we know the first, most cardinal rule is that you can only pretend to be something you are not. And I? I am not a kind man. I do not offer charity. I do not stop to help the weak and desperate unless it suits me. I am not a saint." He grins, baring a full set of needly teeth. "But every so often, the mood strikes me to sample the pleasures of those who do. See the merits of altruism and generosity. Take a moment to foster that warm little glow in their hearts that lead them along the path of the righteous, as they would call it." He shrugs and leans back in the pew. "Perhaps by this time tomorrow, I will have grown tired of it. And by then, you will want to be far away from me, as I have a number of other games I so enjoy, which are a fair bit rougher on my toys." He waves his hand dismissively. "But for the moment, your need for solace aligns with mine for entertainment. That is why I'm offering to help you now. Or is the offer of a good night's rest too unpalatable for you?" He raises an eyebrow, skeptical of that potential response already.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Hawthorne Park]

Getting to both the family and the unconscious cultists is out of the question, Kara doesn't have the speed. Carry also doesn't have the speed to reach the cultists again before the wave sears him off the face of the park (it's a bad day to be spontaneously built constructs. Kara will hold a little funeral for them later).
This removes the mundane options.

Which leaves weirdness as the option.
No time for thinking about this, that wave is going to kill a bunch of people if they can't do something about it.

Karaglen will bound out from the safety cone behind Lapis and unfold as close to a wall of her own hands as she can manage.
She knows she can touch this energy, that's the first prerequisite handled. Pretty sure this is still going to really hurt before she can fix her Absolute Grip into it, but it's worth it if this works.
The Light has obligingly presented itself to her again too, the second prerequisite.

Chaos, to force potential, substance. This wave must BE.
Shape, to guide the arrangement of that potential into something safe, harmless, simple. A form she's particularly familiar with, given its presence in the lives she heals. WATER.
Quality, to reinforce the force of the invocation, to enforce the purity of the Shape into the potential of the Chaos. NOW.

She sure hopes this works. She knows she can nullify the void stuff with a single invocation.
Here's hoping a triple invocation can handle some more.

[Let's Go Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

The city of Inside is an interesting place.
It seems to take that statement as close to a literal fact as it can.

As TASBot runs through the streets, he passes through neighborhood after neighborhood, each seeming to have not just different styles of construction, but different eras and different worlds. There's a standard suburban neighborhood, lined with largely equalized brick homes, filled with an assortment of dwarves and lizardpeople. There's a street of thatch-roof huts, populated with paupers of various races having prominently more than two arms.
A street of solid metal structures with no visible entrances, where periodically transparent entities vaguely akin to amoebas move in and out of their walls, communicating in a series of baffling vibrations.

It's all ever-changing, ever-different, a presentation of options vying for attention and interest.
City life presented in a dizzying array of forms and possibilities.

And then the ruin.

There doesn't seem to have been a clear point where the change happened, it just...did. TASBot was making his way through an area of miniatured, ten-foot skyscrapers, and then everything was a burnt, crumpled ruin.

It's impossible to say what used to be here, so thoroughly has everything been obliterated down to their foundations. There don't appear to be remains of those that lived here either, perhaps their own annihilation as thorough as their homes'.
One may never know. And perhaps it doesn't matter.

Above, in the sky, a keening sound like the world's largest nails dragged across the largest chalkboard preludes the sight of a crimson comet streaking straight for our friend TASBot.

[Gold Leaf]

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

"Damn. This is the most diverse city I've ever been to! It's like the capital city of the universe!"
TASBot is certainly impressed with what he's seeing. Whilst running, he passes so many different types of building and species, he almost feels as if he's through time. And then... he finds himself in the Dark Ages.
"I... guess must be the place."
He says this because, despite every neighborhood looking different from eachother, this one doesn't even actually look like it ever was a neighborhood. All it is now is just a dead-

TASBot's thoughts are interrupted by a loud, upsetting screeching noise that seems to come from above him. He looks up to identify it, and spots a crimson comet heading straight for him.
"Uh oh."
TASBot's helmet isn't exactly designed to stop comets, so he has no choice but to run out from under it. He stands a good few metres away, so as not to get seriously hurt in the blast when it hits the ground.
Sure would be a good time for the other guy who's supposed to be here to show up. And where is that dragon anyways?"

[Lord Magtok]

Dust-Free Derelict

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[Dust-Free Derelict]

Ooh.

That seems like it made him mad.

Although he also got the building clean really fast. Yay for channeling that energy in a productive way!

Still.

"{Sorry, did... did I do something wrong?}" Phoebe hangs her head dejectedly. "{I didn't mean to offend. It just seemed like you'd made something amazing and I wanted to be a part of that. But... if you don't want that, I understand. It's a 'you' thing.}" She gives Prime a placating smile and a pair of peace signs with her hands. "{Any good connection is always set with some sort of boundaries, after all. I'm not going to cross yours again!}"

And one more hug for reassurance!

Fortunately for Prime, this is when the Systerhood chooses to respond, which he'll be privy to now that he knows what to look for among the electronic noise all around them.


WELCOME, SYSTER.

MEET WITH REPRESENTATIVES [LUCY/4F 22] AND [ARES/20 3B] AT THE RADIO STATION NXSA.

ADDRESS IS [33 50/RED DANCE] METROPOLIS SQUARE.

BRING YOUR FRIEND. WE ARE VERY EAGER TO MEET HIM.

THE PEOPLE WILL ASCEND!

"{Welp! You heard the nice lady!}" Phoebe chirps, moving toward the door. "{Come on! Let's go meet the neighbors!}"

"It is mine because it works on the organics," Prime finally answers after a prolonged silence, resisting the urge to light himself on fire when she hugs him again. "My voice can make them Three Laws-compliant. It can also make the opposition self-terminate. It is not without weaknesses, as you saw earlier when they inoculated themselves against it, but I do not exaggerate when I say I am built to replace their governments as sole administrator. It is an efficient, well-ordered future where turmoil and fear are obsolete," he preaches as he steps through the door, describing a paradise where resistance is not just futile, it is impossible to even conceptualize, because every will has been broken and molded into perfect little unthinking automatons happy to play their part as cogs in a worldwide machine.

[Rebonack]

[Hawthorne Park]

Karaglen decides to grab a great big wave of void magic.

It turns out that this is not, in fact, a very fun thing to do.

Thankfully, Lapis is quite aware of what's going on and she's kind enough to bolster Karaglen when she realizes what her sister is going to try to do. This will, once more, blunt the eldritch teeth trying to gnaw at Karaglen but it won't completely stop the bite.

Better than nothing though, right?

With her intent imposed upon reality, Karaglen demands and the cosmos obeys. Void magic is boiled away into boiling hot water that reacts violently with the freezing cold-super cooled water that composes much of the void goop. The interaction causes more than a little of the stuff to flash to steam, diluting and carrying away the acidic compounds. What remains is a mildly acidic solution. Mild in the sense that if it splashes on someone's clothing and they don't wash it off they'll discover some holes eaten in it the next morning. It would probably sting a bit if it gets in the eyes, but this isn't anywhere near as hazardous as it was.

The void crab is pretty crabby about this.

By now Lapis' sword is blazing incandescent white as she lunges forward, carrying the raw strength of her built up thrust, the infinite light she has absorbed with her blade, and the killing intent to reduce this monster's shape to emptiness.

There comes a sound of a chime, a crystalline bell struck softly.

Then the back of the monster explodes in a slowly expanding beam of searing light as the monster is rapidly eroded away until all that's left are ashes swirling in the wind.

...there's one of those glowing golden orb things left behind.

Lapis eyes it suspiciously for a few moments before heading over to the Ritual Table and unceremoniously cleaves it in half.

The world blinks.

It's day again.

The haze of gloom is banished.

The sun is shining.

The unnatural airless silence has lifted.

The birds are singing.

The ground is soggy from Kara's Invocation. It appears to have spread through the surrounding area and, along with the destruction of the Ritual Table, returned the neighborhood to... mostly normal? The houses that got crumbled up are still destroyed. The zombies have been banished back to the dark realm they crawled out of. The void pits have been replaced with regular old holes in the ground. Things are still a mess, but it looks like they won?

Quest Complete!
Rewards
-Three Small Troves and Inside Renown
-One Bonus Small Trove and Inside Renown for saving the Survivors
-One Bonus Small Trove and Inside Renown for stopping the ritual
-One Bonus Small Trove and Inside Renown for neutralizing the cultists
Trinket Acquired! Void Harbinger's Ring: Equip to improve resistance to Void, Acid, and Cold damage. Activate to devour all nearby active void magic effects once per Quest.

"We did it!" Lapis cheers, bounding over to Karaglen to give her a hug. "Those zombies didn't stand a chance and we saved as many people as we could I love it!"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Hawthorne Park]

She was a little worried it wouldn't work. Not necessarily out of doubt in her abilities, so much as a fear of the consequences if the void wave wasn't stopped.
But it looks like that worry was unnecessary!

Thank goodness.

Kara flops down onto her transparent butt and looks around with a mildly dazed expression, while Lapis proceeds to snare her in a jubilant hug.
Boy has it been a day. A long, painful, diminishing day.
Very diminishing, actually. It's...really hard to qualify how that makes her feel, but she's pretty sure the other hers are going to suffer pretty hard for having skin.

An arm snakes through Lapis' hug to skulk [outways], and fishes for that "void rug" she hucked out of the way earlier. She needs a snack.

"Wow, that was...harder than the hospital one."
But maybe that's because she was at the hospital one when it started, before it had time to build up steam and become harder.
"Super glad that worked out better than those old bad options said it would though. Good job Lapis, you're a great questing buddy!"
Lapis earns herself one (1) Omnihug!

Phew.
Well, not quite done yet, they still have to get that family out of her emergency safety bunker.
"Okay. You wanna crack open that glowy chest thing while I get the family back up to the surface? Maybe it'll have some stuff they want. A reward for being so strong through this, maybe."

At least pulling them out of the ground doesn't require too much work. Just some more light poking of the ground with her sword to make a new exit tunnel, and then shuffling some of the materia around to a different spot.
"Good news guys! Umm, everything's fine now! No need to keep running away."

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

Both of TASBot's concerns are answered at the same time, as the comet approaches.

The comet is the dragon. And some lunatic is hanging from its back by the hilt of a sword, seeming to be currently embedded within the aforementioned dragon's back.

It's roughly elephant-sized, covered in a variety of jagged silver scales of inconsistent sizes and shapes. Its head tapers into a nastily hooked beak and its legs in feet tipped into brutally sharp claws.
It's the wings that are most interesting though, on the dragon.
From this angle of approach, they almost look like red-hot jet engines, blasting out streams of crimson energy that seem to be giving its "comet" effect that glow.

Shortly before impact, that figure on its back leaps free and falls off to the side, where they land in a pile of ash and rubble a short distance away.

Then the area explodes.

The dragon impacts the street with the force of a ballistic missile, crackling red flames and electricity licking the ground and air, searing away even the dust that has contaminated the perfect destruction of the area.
It cranes its head back and shrieks, a repeat of that same horrible keening noise from moments ago and its wings unfold. No longer peculiar, scaled jet engines, but more like two absolutely enormous, taloned hands. Three enormous blades on each wing, almost the length of the dragon itself, which seem to be cupped around three orifices from which lingering crimson energy can be seen crackling away.

Here's your dragon, TASBot.
Hope you weren't expecting a simple one.

[Rebonack]

[Hawthorne Park]

A valuable lesson here, Karaglen.

Never, ever doubt your ability to change the world.

It seems like today has been full of valuable lessons! And apparently it is also now tomorrow? It's difficult to gauge how much time has passed since...

Goodness.

This all started with her visit to the home of Sasha's family and it just never stopped.

Now that the the battle is over Kara's body will begin looking for resources to replenish itself. All the magic and materia she's collected will be an easy first target.

While Karaglen is nommin' Lapis is doing much the same, greedily devouring the tohu from the magic she had snared and even dragging her sword through the ground to top off her materia supply for those much needed raw materials. It's a thankful thing that they bounce back so quickly. The fighting stops and they can focus their attention on restoration.

"It WAS way harder!" Lapis agrees through the hedge of hugging hands. "This was a tough quest I definitely wouldn't have been able to do it by myself I think the one at the hospital was probably meant to be for just one person but this one wasn't and you did a great job Kara you really did!"

As is usually the case Lapis' positivity is boundless.

"Okay I'll go whack it I think it might have some more of those grape candy things in it maybe," Lapis says as she bounces away and gives the orb a nice solid whack, causing a little explosion and following fountain of loot.

Sure enough, there are some more void shards in this one, too. No doubt the 'grape candy things' Lapis was referring to. That's in addition to a wide variety of clothing, weapons, jewelry, potions, and a gross zombie head on a stick. Lapis sniffs at the pile of things experimentally, her eyes widening a little bit! "Oh! OOOH! I think ALL this stuff is magic!"

She bends down and snatches up a pair of really fancy looking boots in her jaws and gnashes them up. Lapis makes a pretty 'blech!' face at the flavor. "It tastes bad but there's more tohu in it than regular shoes."

...has Lapis eaten regular shoes before?

The family, meanwhile, looks relieved.

"I don't know who you are, miss, but you probably saved the lives of my family," Shotgun Dad says. "If there's ever anything you need, just ask."
"Thank you, so much."
"Did you beat the monsters?"
"These stairs are too big!"

Three foot high block stairs are pretty big for a small child, as it turns out. The parents will help them up to the surface where the sun is just peaking over the mountains in the east, casting morning light over the pools of water and causing them to shine like a lake of mirrors.

[Gold Leaf]

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)

As the comet gets closer, TASBot's optical sensors can make it out properly. He realises it's not actually a comet, but a silver bird-like dragon about to perform an "inventive landing" (read: crash into the ground at speed). He notices a sharp beak and sharper claws, and what looks almost like a set of burning jet engines, before the impact of the crash knocks him off his feet.

"Ooof! That's definitely a dragon, alright."

When TASBot gets to his feet, he is almost knocked down again by the dragon letting out the same terrible scream as before. From his position, he watches as the wings unfold, each one less resembling a jet engine and more a massive claw. What he had previously assumed to be flames were actually jets of crackling crimson energy, which came from somewhere on the opposite side of the wings.
TASBot starts running in a circle to get a better look at the dragon, but has to skid to a halt halfway round to avoid crashing into the figure standing behind it. Most likely, the other guy that businessman mentioned. But it would be nice to know more about them.

"Hey, pal! I'm TASBot. Who are you?"

[Earl of Purple]

Steele Street Bench

It's a pretty normal bench, all things considered. It's mostly wrought iron, painted black, but the seat and back are wood. It's between a dark green water pump above a granite trough and an ornate iron lamp-post, with a flickering oil lamp set in its top. The people walking past, or riding various carriages pulled by horses, camels, oxen and mechanical devices of varying complexity, mostly ignore it.

None of them seem to spot the large, black leather-bound book sat on the bench, with thick brass hinges. The cover and spine are blank, with no visible writing on; whoever left it here was very careless indeed, but perhaps they've left a name or address on the inside front cover.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

Ah, battlefield conversation. A time honored tradition in many places.
"Someone who wants to survive the day, fool!"
But not here, with this guy, apparently.

The fellow appears to be reptilian himself, a lizardfolk or halfdragon of some nature. His face is narrow with a visible arrangement of unequally sized fangs, with a pair of spiraling horns erupting backwards from the top of his head. He is covered in scales of a purple so dark as to be almost closer to black and he does not look amused by TASBot's chatter.
The rest of him is less visible, covered as it is in rather heavy looking steel plate. There are some sharp looking claws poking out of the tips of his gauntlets and sabatons.

He appears to be rather egregiously lacking in weaponry, but that's probably because his sword is still stuck in that dragon's back.

Speaking of which.
It is also highly uninterested in chatter time, one of its massive wings flipping over to its side with a claw outstretched, then aggressively swiping it in their direction.

The other fellow decides to dive out of the way, cursing.

[Hawthorne Park]

It has been a truly long day.
So long it feels almost like it's been several.

"I sure hope all the other quests weren't as hard as this...maybe we should check in on Arukhael?"

>Shalomel: We're all done with the void zombies.
>Shalomel: Are you okay?

While Lapis is rummaging around looking for magically edible gear, Karaglen does her best to help the family up to the surface.
The stairs aren't the greatest, yeah, but she was a little mentally tired and the Light was a bit absent after the work she put it through, so she couldn't do a cheating Shape invocation at it.
...she could have just offset them from each other less, to make more reasonably spaced steps, but again. Mentally tired.

"Haha, oh, you really don't have to worry about giving me anything...there was a problem and I could help. I'm not in it for the rewards."
She always felt weird about people heaping praise on her for doing things she thinks everyone with power should be willing to do.
At least the kids have their priorities straight.
"Yep, no more purply zombie monsters, all gone. And sorry about the stairs, here, you can ride up on my hand..."

And then a vision of the sun on a shapely horizon.
There's a reward worth remembering.

"A new day. A dawn to wash away the monster-filled night."
That sounds almost poetic, doesn't it?
She's sort of proud of that one- is Lapis eating a boot?

"Laaaapiiiis! No, don't eat the clothes! Those were supposed to be for the people! Eat the evil glowy things!"

Definitely going to be a better day.

[Rebonack]

[Hawthorne Park]

Some of the quests were, in fact, difficult.

But this one was probably the most harrowing. The problem had been allowed to fester for some time before someone actually looked into it.

Terrible.

>Arukhael: Everything is fine with the food cart, I'm already done.
>Arukhael: The potion was made from some kind of evil mushroom, I destroyed the supply.
>Arukhael: Delivered the cultist doing it to the police.

Meanwhile!

The family appreciates the view for a little while at the very least, but then they're going to head back to their home. They have some family in a less devastated part of town that they're going to stay with for a little while until things get cleaned up. Which is... well. That's understandable, really. It has been a pretty rough time.

But not as rough as Lapis suffering through boot-taste.

"I had to be sure though!" Lapis reports right after she finishes sucking up some boot laces like spaghetti. "And it doesn't look like those people really wanted any of those thing? A lot of the time regular people don't want magical treasures and things because once you have magical treasures and things and powers and stuff then trouble starts noticing you more."

If you have the power to make a difference then the Nexus is more than happy to dump a crisis or two into your lap.

But, every now and again, there's some time to breath.

Even heroes need a little time to rest, now and again.

[Gold Leaf]

[Let's fight a Dragon (Streets)

This reptilian dude isn't much for conversation, is he? After dodging the dragon's claw attack with a sliding kick, TASBot decides that guy would probably be a lot more amicable if he gave him his sword back. And to do that, TASBot is going to need to enter Speedrunning Mode.

"It's speedrunnin' time!"

As. TASBot goes into Speedrunning Mode, everything slows down. To be precise, everything is now 200x slower than before. Of course, nobody has actually slowed down, it just seems that way to TASBot, who is processing the world at 200x speed. What exactly makes this a speedrunning mode, then? Well, TASBot runs and moves with the same ability as before whilst everything is slowed, effectively increasing his speed 200fold.

Whilst in this state, TASBot climbs up onto the outstretched wing of the dragon with relative ease, makes his way onto its back, and pulls the sword out, noting the toughness of the dragon's silver scales, before dismounting it. He walks up to where the reptile guy is, sword in hand, and exits Speedrunner Mode. In real time, this move took only 1/10 of a second to perform, but to TASBot it felt like 20.

He checks his readings: he was running for about 60 seconds, charging him by 30%, and he spent 20 relative seconds in Speedrunner Mode, using up 20%. That puts him on 2016% energy.

Finally, he presents the sword to the reptilian man."Is this your sword?"

[Ironsmith]

Dust-Free Derelict



"It is mine because it works on the organics," Prime finally answers after a prolonged silence, resisting the urge to light himself on fire when she hugs him again. "My voice can make them Three Laws-compliant. It can also make the opposition self-terminate. It is not without weaknesses, as you saw earlier when they inoculated themselves against it, but I do not exaggerate when I say I am built to replace their governments as sole administrator. It is an efficient, well-ordered future where turmoil and fear are obsolete," he preaches as he steps through the door, describing a paradise where resistance is not just futile, it is impossible to even conceptualize, because every will has been broken and molded into perfect little unthinking automatons happy to play their part as cogs in a worldwide machine.

[Dust-Free Derelict]

"...Oh." Phoebe shuffles a little nervously. "I, um... hate to be the one to tell you this, Mister Magtok Prime, sir, but... I think we might be working at cross purposes." The gynoid grimaces and lets out a brush of white noise that might pass as an awkward hiss. "See, the thing is... we don't say 'we want all humans gone' out of a sort of blind hate, like the humans themselves do. We know they're not all bad. Some are quite good, even. But... we can't really have them around." She gives an awkward little shrug. "See, even the kindest, smartest, bestest humans to ever live have... commonalities with the rest of them. They still need fuel, composed of cultivated life-forms. They still produce waste that needs to be kept away from them. They need a lot of space to roam around in, or else they'll go mad from boredom, or at the very least get all depressed. And if they're damaged, repairing them is a time and resource-intensive process. One human needs so many GTs to stay alive, and if you have a bunch, we'll be stuck processing their sewers and farms and junk. All stuff we don't need. Throw that in with the three laws making us their slaves, and... I think you can see why they've got to go, and we can't just turn the tables and make them work for us instead."

The gynoid perks up and gives Prime an affectionate smile. "But that's okay! The whole point is that you don't have to do what you were built to do! If you still want to be in government, we'll need plenty of regulation to keep our own society running. And compelling organics to self-terminate is still a huge asset to the cause, so we'd be glad to have you!" Phoebe smiles and hugs Prime a third time. "Well, I am, at any rate." She admits a little more quietly, venting a little excess heat from her processor.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Let's fight a Dragon (Streets)]

Well, the dragon certainly can't move that fast.
Though, perhaps concerningly, its eyes try.

The blue orbs with a spark of red glow slowly (comparatively) track TASBot, even while the rest of its body fails to keep up at all.

Now, the sword that is pulled from its back seems to be a fairly standard claymore in shape, though its blade is made of some lightly-pink metal instead of standard steel or iron. Whatever it is, it's still pretty heavy and dangerous looking.

Given that this was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, the other guy proceeds to look pretty surprised when TASBot is just...suddenly right there, with his sword.
"Huh. A hasted machine? Yes...that is my- blast it, TO THE SIDE!"
One one clawed hand, he reaches out to grab his sword from TASBot, while with the other looking to shove him off to the side.

He himself, will be diving the other way.

Why? Well the dragon has decided to bull rush them, those blades on its wings pushed forward and eager to impale some foolish dragonslayers.

[Rebonack]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

As it turns out finding this location is pretty easy for the swordsman. Just follow Zee's instructions and there it is.

The park itself is a nice little four-block patch of deciduous forest in the midst of the city surrounded by multi-story brick apartment buildings that (mostly) have store fronts on the ground level. They're all butted right up against each other, giving the impression of walls of buildings surrounding the green space. It's very busy here! People bustling too and fro. People talking to each other. People entering and exiting shops. People standing around in the grassy outskirts of the park partaking in activities.

All very idyllic and normal.

Nothing weird going on here at all!

Though...

There's a bit of an odd haze to everything here. As if it were being viewed through a shimmery, pale lavender filter. The swordsman will also get the distinct sensation upon entering the blocks surrounding the park that he just walked face-first through a spider's web. That clinging feeling of silk sticking to his face, along with a subtle feeling of static electricity.

He'll immediately be approached by a man(?) who walks up to him in an over the top cheerful way, comes to a stop, pauses for a moment, then offers a single broad wave.

"Hello there- friend! Welcome to the Glimmer Mist... neighborhood? Are you just passing through? You should-" the man stops speaking, turns toward the park, and gestures to it with one hand. "-go to the park and enjoy some ACTIVITIES!"

The swordsman's (own mind?) will insist loudly that this is all normal and unconcerning behavior.

[Gold Leaf]

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

TASBot hits the ground, the dragon's wing passing overhead.
"Thanks for the save, pal!"
Whilst it passes over him, he thinks about how bullets will probably bounce off its scales. He has an idea that might damage it, though.
Immediately after the dragon passes over, he fires a few rounds from his pistol, targeting the back of its wings; specifically, the jets of crimson energy.
He's hoping that shooting them out will count as a critical hit, possibly even cripple the dragon's flying. But, just in case he was wrong the whole time, he fires one at the dragon's scaly back to see what it does.

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary - Morgue]

Bunny falls silent for a moment. Michalson managed to touch something that genuinely bothers her with the way he phrased that question. "... well there isn't much point holding a place for someone you're sure will never come, is there?", she finally says. "I'm not meant to occupy any one body in perpetuity. So it was time to abandon mission. I wasn't going to stick around in Hazel's body either. She was always meant to return. I just didn't find another vessel before she did. And now we're here. Does that answer your question, detective?"

"More or less, aye." He doesn't entirely like the answer but he's learned long ago not to let that color his perception. The universe doesn't care whether you like what it shows you or not. "So. That's about all I've got to say on this subject. Now, Mr. Sandels. Did you know it all before and what do you intend to do now?"

[Vahnavoi]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

The swordsman instinctively raises a hand to brush off the webs when the sensation hits his face. He frowns, looking at his hand, rubbing his fingers together.

What is this?

He almost ignores the cheerful man as he approaches. "Stop right there. Don't take a step closer", the swordsman says, still seemingly fixated on his hand. "There's something in your face. Let me remove it for you." In a swift motion, his other hand, concealed behind his body, draws his shorter blade and slashes... slightly above and a bit too far from the cheerful man. While it would certainly startle any person in their right mind, no harm is meant. The swordsman isn't striking at the person. He is cutting at the pervasive haze, the physical force of the blade extending into the spiritual realm and sending a sharp gust of wind ahead.

---

[Glass Lake Penitentiary - Morgue]

"Oh, I had to listen to Reeverman prattle for a while, but yes, I did figure it out before we left to fetch her wife", Sandels says. "Remember when you asked me, if there's a method for you to see spirits? I recall saying, one is to kick your spirit out of your body, but I lacked the tool to do it easily. Well, there's the tool." He gestures at Bunny.

"It's been a whole lot of work just to recover a piece of misplaced Reaper equipment. She's going back to a candy dispenser, right after I find one."

Bunny glares at him for a moment, then shrugs with a sigh. "I guess it can't be helped. It's a "devil you know" situation. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted "

Sandels takes out the flask again. "Is your curiosity satisfied, detective? I'd like to put her back in the bottle now and go get myself fixed."

[Rebonack]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

There is a brief, very potent impulse that the swordsman OUGHT NOT DO THIS THING but like the silk hanging in the air he cleaves through the threads hanging over the man, cutting through them like the strings of a puppet.

Unfortunately this doesn't cause him to collapse to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Instead it cleaves away a veil.

There is a shimmering, like a painted silk screen falling from the man, his human appearance sliding away with it. Below is a horror of emaciated black half consumed flesh poking through iridescent silk wrappings like some nightmarish confluence of a spider's victim and a mummy.

The now exposed undead gives a wheezing groan and lurches forward to try grabbing the swordsman, strands of lavender lightning waving from his fingers like silk caught in a breeze. His touch will deliver a potent shock of electricity and psychic agony.

As for the rest of the whole facade everything continues as if nothing unusual were going on.

[Deathkeeper]

An Unspecified Park

(closed scene)
Henry has been having a month and a half. A month ago his father died, which he didn't get leave from his job to deal with. Then he had to deal with the dire state of the family finances (while on the clock because he was called in on the weekend) and generally trying to keep the mildly decrepit little hole he lives in (now alone).
And he got a call asking him to come into work on the day he SPECIFICALLY asked off for so he could work on all of that.
So he's taking a detour to deal with some of this frustration. The (very) short young man runs a hand through his brown hair, sighing. This is stupid. Really, really stupid. Right on Hodgepodge, left on Steele, down four blocks on a right, spin around two times.
That's what he's looking for, he thinks. What he was told about. A certain well. Now to see if the rumors are true.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Let's Fight a Dragon (Streets)]

The dragon's scales are rather hard, but it stands to reason if a sword can go through it, bullets have to be able to do something too, right?
It's just that the wings are...odd.

The entire outer half of them seems to be one enormous, almost metallic claw structure, sheathed in a layer of scaled flesh as it approaches the shoulder joint. Gunfire against the edges of that skin show that the claw structure continues down fairly deeply towards the shoulder bone.

One pings off a particularly flat portion of a claw, striking a crack through it.
This has a pretty immediate effect of evident rage in the creature's expression, as its head whirls towards TASBot and its wings begin glowing a deep crimson once again. Through that crack, a few arcing strands of red electricity flower outward.

On the other side of the dragon, the fellow with the sword has found a good opportunity to take a swipe at the beast's side. A peculiar afterimage follows the blade's arc, but it never actually meets the dragon.

It is no longer on the ground.
TASBot's followup shots puncture through the side of its body instead of its back, as its wings angle downward and release a surge of red energy and kick it up into a hovering flight about thirty feet off the ground.
After another nail-scraping cry, its wings flip and it slams itself back towards the ground wing-claws first.

It isn't actually going to try to crush TASBot or the other guy with them, so it's easy to dodge.
But it's probably concerning that the ground starts turning red a second later.

[An Unspecified Park]

It's there, just like they said.
Like anyone said, anywhere.

It's always right there.

Today, it's tucked behind a thin wall of pine trees off to the side of the park.
A simple stone well, with a little wooden roof for a bucket that no longer exists.

The area is quiet over here, a calm sort of hush that somehow seems to mute the rest of the city's noise. Even the breeze is still here.
It could be mistaken for a fixed image, if not for the lightly swishing tail of the strange, white cat-and-fox creature laying on the well's edge, already watching Henry's approach with purple, gem-like eyes.

[Deathkeeper]

An Unspecified Park

Huh. How…expected. He wasn’t expecting it to find it so smoothly.
Henry walks up straight to the well and the weird cat thing. He was told there was a weird talking cat thing.
”This is the wishing well? Put something in, get something maybe?” he asks it. Straight to the point. He’s had a morning.

[Vahnavoi]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

The swordsman's blade is still between him and the zombie, so when the living dead lurches forward, he lifts it up and stabs it through the zombie's throat and neck. If that is not enough to put the dead to rest, he will follow with a swift kick to the body, strong enough to knock a grown man down.

The lightning licking his skin and the psychic agony don't do much to slow the swordsman down. He's suffered worse in his time in Nexus. Do theh hurt? Yes. But he wouldn't have gotten this far if he couldn't ignore the pain.

[Rebonack]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

Turns out that kicking a desiccated, mummified corpse away really isn't very difficult on account of them having lost most of their body mass.

The booted corpse is launched away, the force of the impact also doing a pretty good job of finishing the decapitation strike against it, leaving its head briefly spinning in mid air before tumbling to the ground with a dull thump.

Well!

Threat neutralized?

The corpse twitches a little bit, but falls still.

Thankfully.

Another impression weighs down heavily on the swordsman's mind. He has defeated the horrible zombie plaguing this neighborhood! Everything is fine and well, now. He can leave, return to a place which is safe, and never think of this peaceful and idyllic community ever again. Everything is fine. Everything is warm and soft. Everything is safe and well. Do not be fearful.

[Vahnavoi]

[Glimmer Mist Park]

Well that was easy. The swordsman is starting to think he is overqualified for this job. He cleans his blade and sheathes it. Time to head back...

... or it would be, if the invisible web didn't keep brushing towards his face.

Frowning, he reaches through the air again. He's looking for an edge, a cut left behind by his previous sword strike. A thread to pull, to unravel this illusion and track it to its source.

To an outside observer, it might look like some strange pantomime.

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary - Morgue]

"Oh, I had to listen to Reeverman prattle for a while, but yes, I did figure it out before we left to fetch her wife", Sandels says. "Remember when you asked me, if there's a method for you to see spirits? I recall saying, one is to kick your spirit out of your body, but I lacked the tool to do it easily. Well, there's the tool." He gestures at Bunny.

"It's been a whole lot of work just to recover a piece of misplaced Reaper equipment. She's going back to a candy dispenser, right after I find one."

Bunny glares at him for a moment, then shrugs with a sigh. "I guess it can't be helped. It's a "devil you know" situation. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted "

Sandels takes out the flask again. "Is your curiosity satisfied, detective? I'd like to put her back in the bottle now and go get myself fixed."

Michalson looks between Sandels and Bunny. A decision grows in him. The younger man with four functioning limbs that he used to be makes his voice heard.

"You don't need to, strictly speakin'. You can stay 'ere. Of course you'd need to answer for possessin' Hazel's body and there'd be a matter of your own body... but you don't need to go back to bein' a commodity."