[Nexus] Outside XXV

[Murkus]

Hermitage of Dalechrech

"Now that's asking a bit too much." Percival says with a mild smile. He winces marginally with every prick. He's not exactly a glutton for pain, even with his demonic existence. "But I appreciate it. Most summoners wouldn't bother to even consider helping." He's awfully polite, for what's supposed to be a wholly evil creature. Perhaps he's more subtle in that regard.

The Brick House

"Thank you." Molodai says, giving a small nod. She doesn't smile quite yet. Instead, her expression turns curious. "Wait... you can make creatures?" Her eyes widen a little. "Are you a god?"

--------------

"I think my dad caught a fish earlier." Eos tries to pluck the cat off his shoulder. He steps out of his room, tiptoeing over to the fridge and swinging it open. "There." He says, setting Rose down beside her new meal.

[Recaiden]

[Field]

((Alright. It's Earl of Purple's No Longer Abandoned Mansion, so I dunno what he'll find.))

Soon enough the field is empty except for Brendan.

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
"No, I can't make creatures. I can breed them however. My kind is commonly mistaken as gods a lot. The cooky thing is you can actually become a cleric of me. I have my own set of rules for my clerics though."
---
Rose quickly devours the whole fish, leaving behind only the skeleton.
"Mmmm, tasty. Thank you Eos!" she said while licking her paws clean.
He might notice that she's three times as big now.

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech

Terrowin's evil but hasn't actually done anything evil on-screen, yet I know that if Dalachrech ordered it, or if it made Terrowin's goals easier, he'd kill a small child in cold blood. Even torture it first; Dalachrech is the one thing Terrowin considers when it comes to moral issues.

"Then most summoners are stupid for not looking after their investment. A slave's life might not be worth much, but your presence is worth a lot more." Is that a compliment? Huh, I didn't think Elezibethele complimented anybody, the racist elf supremicist.

[The Bushranger]

[Field]

A flock of dickcissels flies down into the field, migrating.


[The No Longer Abandoned Mansion]

Brendan, having noticed the mansion, approaches it with curiosity.
He's wearing an obsidian feather, that has...negative effects upon the undead, as his player recalls.

[Murkus]

The Brick House

"What is a cleric?" There's no real formal religious leaders, where Molodai's from. The closest thing would be a shaman, and her kind has no such thing. "And so you... breed these things? Mate them?"

-------------------------

Eos is pretty much astonished. He has four siblings, and together they can't eat as fast as this creature. "Whoah... you're like us! You grow really fast, just by eating the right stuff." He kneels to quirk a brow at Rose, still curious as ever. I guess that's why dad wanted you to have me...

Hermitage of Dalechrech

Percival is much the same way. He'd be more hesitant to do such things to someone he considers a civilian, however, let alone a child.

"You'd be surprised. Summoned creatures are often mistreated. Most black mages can be somewhat cruel." Percival's baby blue's study Elezibethele's expression. "Though... why not summon other demons? I'm just one man. Surely I can't be worth much in the grand scheme of things." Ah, the mentality of a former zealot. Refreshing.

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
"A cleric is someone who worships a god and spreads his religiousness in exchange for some powers. Like when I healed you? That's the kinda things they get. And I didn't breed them, my friend did. He runs a monster farm."
And he looked at her.
"So yeah, he mates two monsters together but he doesn't force it."
---
Rose nods.
"Yup! Your dad's really smart! And now that I'm bigger, I can sleep next to you in your bed! I can keep your belly warm!"
She seemed excited by the idea.

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech

"I only had one slave, and I didn't know the names of any demons, so it was pretty much summon one and hope for the best. Which I believe I got." Yes, that's definately a compliment. But he was human! I thought Elezibethele hated humans. Maybe Percy's current demonic nature makes up for his human past?

No Longer Abandoned Mansion

The mansion itself appears to be nearing the end of renovations, although it's hard to tell since there's a forest surrounding it. Just outside the forest, near a track leading the mansion's front door, is a graveyard.

[Murkus]

Hermitage of Dalechrech

It makes sense. She certainly reveres Dalechrech, perhaps she has some measure of respect for his lesser kin.

Percival seems surprised to hear this. His surprise, like most of his emotions, does not shift his face much. "The best?" He scoffs a little, tone good-natured. "I don't think so." A pause, while he looks at her sutures.

"...But thank you." For the sutures and the compliment, in all likelihood. His expression is neutral, if more pleasant than before. "I'll certainly try to live up to that."

The Brick House

"Your friend sounds good. What other creatures does he breed?" Molodai comments, confused at the rest of John's explanation. Religion? What a strange word.

----------------

"Yeah, alright." Eos stretches and yawns. "I was getting pretty tired anyway."

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
"I don't know exactly. We should stop by there to pick something out for the girls though."
---
Rose jumps onto Eos' bed and waits for him to lay down.

[Rebonack]

[Lost Cost]

The children make it to the house safely. That's certainly better than getting eaten by things lurking around in the dark, right? Speaking of lurking things the mouse should probably find a nice bright place to hide unless he feels inclined to be something's lunch.

Meanwhile!

Allen is regarded by the guard with...

Well.

A look of 'you are not worth my time.'

As Allen flees down the stairs the lights will soon come back on, once more banishing that weird Fog.

[Murkus]

The Brick House

"I would like that." Molodai agrees, smiling at John and studying the empty canister. Hm.

------------------------

Eos climbs in after the little cat, still looking at her inquisitively before lying down. The half-fey yawns again. "So how fast are you gonna grow, anyway?" He asks quietly.

Lost Coast

Allen may well run straight into Bellan, who had started climbing the stairs so he could investigate the disturbance.

Unfortunately, the giant blocks his way through sheer size. Not intentionally at all. >>

"Is something amiss?" He asks in that humble tone, narrowing his eyes at the mercenary.

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
'John' smiles at his mate.
"What'cha thinking about?" he asked, a smile on his face.
---
Rose snuggled up next to Eos.
"Pretty fast......by this time tomorrow I'll.....be as big as a medium sized dog. But that's because I'm a mutant variation of my kind.......good night, Eos."

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech

"There. All done. So, what non-combat skills do you posses, if you aren't just a soldier?" He did mention them, and his employer is going to chase him up on that.

[Recaiden]

[No Longer Abandoned Mansion]

Nothing related to me is happening. Except that a troupe of zombies, revenants and other undead are shambling up to the front door, drawn by the call. Most of them are elves, but a fair number are humans.

The feather is dangerous to anything repelled or hurt by Holy objects, but other than that it is only as strong as Brendan's belief in it.

[Murkus]

The Brick House

"Everything!" Molodai responds, and finding that to be inadequate, she elaborates, "Just... you. And the kids. I wonder when I'll have kids again."

------------------------

"Uh... right. G'night." Eos puts his arm around the strange little beast and slips off to sleep.

Hermitage of Dalechrech

Percy tries to move it tentatively, wincing at the barely-responsive twitch. He manages to curl his fingers, if briefly. He grumbles something under his breath.

Then a new line of questioning! Percival looks at her blankly before falling into thought. "I'm very versatile, ma'am. Infernal magics. And my friends can help with chores around the base..." To be more clear, the face of that beaked horror blinks from his shoulder before disappearing again.

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
Rose falls asleep.
---
'John' smiles.
"After these kids grow up, we could have more......"

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech

"What type of magic? Flashy, buffing, destructive, summoning, enchantment?" Elezibethele means making magic items with the last one. "Your, uh, friends will be useful, yes. Can you see what they see?" Because then they'd be more useful around the edges of the wood to ensure nothing gets in.

No Longer Abandoned Mansion

The undead will be drawn to a basement window, on the other side of which is a greased slide and at the bottom is a binding circle to bind any undead within it to eternal servitude to Serafina Nokastria.

[Recaiden]

[Reoccupied Mansion]

Windows - Not a zombie-friendly concept. After flailing at it for a bit a little cloaked figure among them sighs and goes to unlatch the window, dissolve to mist, and slowly float along. A good number of them follow down the slide before the vampire senses the magic ahead and goes to retreat.

[The Bushranger]

No Longer Abandoned Mansion

Spoiler

Show

The mansion itself appears to be nearing the end of renovations, although it's hard to tell since there's a forest surrounding it. Just outside the forest, near a track leading the mansion's front door, is a graveyard.

Nothing related to me is happening. Except that a troupe of zombies, revenants and other undead are shambling up to the front door, drawn by the call. Most of them are elves, but a fair number are humans.

The feather is dangerous to anything repelled or hurt by Holy objects, but other than that it is only as strong as Brendan's belief in it.

The undead will be drawn to a basement window, on the other side of which is a greased slide and at the bottom is a binding circle to bind any undead within it to eternal servitude to Serafina Nokastria.

Windows - Not a zombie-friendly concept. After flailing at it for a bit a little cloaked figure among them sighs and goes to unlatch the window, dissolve to mist, and slowly float along. A good number of them follow down the slide before the vampire senses the magic ahead and goes to retreat.

Brendan's believe is quite strong, actually - he believes it will work as advertised, and has no fear of the Un-Dead.

...that's not to say he's stupid, though, and, upon spotting the shambling horde, he makes for a tree for cover, looking around at the scene going on to assess the situation thoroughly.

[Mr. Moon]

Dead Forest

[Dead Forest]

"I'm happy to hurry, but hurry and do what? Go after that, or something else?"

The elf sits there for a moment.
He looks at the vampire.
He blinks at her.
"I want you to go back and get me some tea from Insi-WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN?"
You'll have to forgive the elf for his impatience. He's somewhat distressed.

He sighs, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. "Y'know what. Why don't you just... stay here. Right here. That way if he comes back here he'll have someone waiting for him."

Spoiler

Show

[Dead Forest]

"Blood." Beorn says simply before standing. "Whoever was walking her was slain. By these." He gestures to the remaining tracks that continue into the forest.

Dead Forest

Flix walks around Beorn, looking down at the blood-stained ground.

"Unless our man just collapsed into a pool of blood, whatever did this must have taken the body with it," he deduces, his eyes once again tracing the furrows. "Which means, unless we're chasing after some lunatic who gets off on playing with dead bodies, our little predator probably has himself a lair set up somewhere."

He glances back at the others, pointing a finger down the trail.

"And I'd imagine we'd find that lair at the end of these...tracks, I guess, here, he says, the tone of his voice revealing some level of excitement. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll find our mark there, too. Come on, let's move. And keep your eyes on the woods. It'd be best if it doesn't get the jump on us."

Flix then starts following the troughs further along the trail, once again taking his carbine in both hands.

Dead Forest

Sidney nods in agreement, Do not worry, I should be able to assists you in case we are jumped by whatever manner of beast that is attacking these elves. Nice to meet you too by the way. The cultist tells them both.

And with those words the acolyte follows along by the best of his ability.

[Dead Forest]

Beorn nods approvingly at Flix's deductions. That little bit of excitement is contagious. First and foremost, Beorn is a hunter.

"There's no use waiting any longer. Let us find out just what this beast is." The fey suggests.

It is a long and eerily still walk down the path. The further they get, the darker it becomes - not because the branches of the trees are knitting together and blocking out the sun, but because of the setting sun.

As they approach the fork in the road, the forest behind them seems to swallow the clearing. The party needs to decide which way to go, but it shouldn't be a hard choice.

[hr]

Lost Coast

Allen may well run straight into Bellan, who had started climbing the stairs so he could investigate the disturbance.

Unfortunately, the giant blocks his way through sheer size. Not intentionally at all. >>

"Is something amiss?" He asks in that humble tone, narrowing his eyes at the mercenary.

The cowboy manages to see the giant just in time and comes to a skidding halt. He glances around, looking for an alternate pathway and finding none.
Fantastic.
"Oh, well, y'know. Some chump wen' an' turned off th' big light. I were jus' runnin' off ta make sure everyone was okay."
Sure, Allen. That's totally what's going on.

[Morty]

[Ancient Tomb]

I assume we're done here and ready to go home, then, Wenomir says, looking at his companions.

[Reinholdt]

[Ancient Tomb]

"We are." Ilpholin says, stepping out of the cave with Koro. She frowns. They didn't nearly accomplished what she had hoped. All their information was sketchy and nothing seemed like they had killed Darcy's kidnappers.

[Lady Serpentine]

Dead Forest



The elf sits there for a moment.
He looks at the vampire.
He blinks at her.
"I want you to go back and get me some tea from Insi-WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN?"
You'll have to forgive the elf for his impatience. He's somewhat distressed.

He sighs, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. "Y'know what. Why don't you just... stay here. Right here. That way if he comes back here he'll have someone waiting for him."



It is a long and eerily still walk down the path. The further they get, the darker it becomes - not because the branches of the trees are knitting together and blocking out the sun, but because of the setting sun.

As they approach the fork in the road, the forest behind them seems to swallow the clearing. The party needs to decide which way to go, but it shouldn't be a hard choice.

<hr>



The cowboy manages to see the giant just in time and comes to a skidding halt. He glances around, looking for an alternate pathway and finding none.
Fantastic.
"Oh, well, y'know. Some chump wen' an' turned off th' big light. I were jus' runnin' off ta make sure everyone was okay."
Sure, Allen. That's totally what's going on.

Karyana sits down next to him, and says "That's probably best. That way, I can tell you if they find something. And you're right that if it comes back there should be something waiting for it."

She pauses for a moment.

"Look, why don't you tell me about the famine? It might get your mind off of worrying about what's going on out there, and I need to know anyway, just in case they're related."

[Earl of Purple]

No Longer Abandoned Mansion- Undead

Forgot to mention that the window in question is more the hole where a window was. Also, could you please PM me with details about the revenants?

No Longer Abandoned Mansion- Brendan

Some of the trees are large, smouldering hulks surrounded by ash, cinders and burnt ground. Oddly, trails of ash and burnt vegetation often leads through the forest to these trees, accompanied by the odd massive round foot print shaped vaguely like that of a treant.

Anyway, the forest is dark, gloomy and oppressive, with patches of disturbed ground and cracked gravestones hidden amongst the leaflitter. Occasionally a snap underfoot isn't a twig or branch, and rather an old bone. Something approaches Brendan from the side, in his peripheral vision. It's floating, so there's no sound associated with it.

[Recaiden]

[No Longer Abandoned Mansion]

Well, in that case, a great deal, maybe fifty-five of the sixty unliving, have already gone inside and been caught when the vampire rematerializes and forces the other few to ignore the call.
"In the front door."

[Murkus]

The Brick House

"Maybe." Molodai says, smiling at John mildly. Or maybe she needs more diverse offspring. Hm...

Hermitage of Dalechrech

"Minor enchantments, rituals, summoning, blighted blessings..." Percival counts them off on his fingers. "And yes. They prove to be able spies."

Lost Coast - Lighthouse

"Who here would be foolish enough to turn it off?" Bellan asks, looking at the cowboy without a trace of visible suspicion. His mandibles click quietly.

[Mindfreak]

The Brick House
"Well, you have all the time you need to decide. As for now.....we should probably go to bed since we'll teaching the kids how to hunt in the morning."

[Rebonack]

[A Peaceful Field]

Or at least it was until the explosions came.

BOOM!

Jeany throws her hands over her face as a boulder some distance away explodes in a rather spectacular fashion. And why did it explode? Well... Because the Tyranid is testing out a new bio-morph of course!

It's... Strange really.

Ever since her metamorphosis Jeany's mind has been positively aflame with ideas for new new living weapons. And now that she's found a relatively safe place to mess around she feels like a kid in a candy shop!

At present one of her upper arms has taken the form of a long oblong pod of sorts, several orifice adorning the end. Her lower right arm has developed to support a large fleshy pink brooding pouch with several tubes running from it to the pod on her upper right arm. A lump of... something is squeezed from the brooding pouch to the launcher, reloading the weapon.

So? What is it?

The pod itself uses a powerful muscle contraction to launch its ammunition, armored torpedo-shaped fishish things that extend flight membranes to guide themselves to their target.

Fish-things with guts packed full of octanitrocubane, an explosive compound roughly twice as potent as TNT.

"Heee..." the Tyranid laughs, dropping onto her hind-end in the grass and peering at her new weapon. "I made a living grenade launcher."

Indeed you did, Jeany. Indeed you did.

Wonder if the sound of explosions will attract anyone?

[Lady Serpentine]

Depending on where this field is located in relation to the Field with a Mech, there may be some Quill Wolves coming to investigate.