[Nexus] Riverside 12

[UncleWolf]

Outside Eastside Hospital

"So you've come to cleanse the place?" Talaitha asks with a quirked eyebrow and a wry smile. "I can see how that would be a good thing, bringing spirits to rest. Mind if I tag along?" She asks, reaching at her far side from the elf and pulling out a light crossbow where none was before. The bolt within glows softly of white light.

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"Oh no, the cream puff wasn't poisoned. It was magic though. Sentient even. It had been plotting to destroy the world though the plan it had was somewhat flaky." Sarah says with a completely straight face before reaching into her pocket to withdraw a handful of sparkling confetti to throw over the cyborg. "Congratulations, Lord. You've saved us all from certain doom."

[Shadowcaller]

Outside Eastside Hospital

Oh crap. "Eh, I was more thinking of weakening it." She admits, rubbing her right shoulder awkwardly. "See, I suspected the ghosts are somehow bound to the hospital by the demon itself as it can't leave it. Now, if I stepped inside it, there is a pretty big chance they're all gonna jump me at once. I kinda attract spirits you see. They are drawn to me like mosquitoes to a fireplace at night. So I had hoped to draw some of them away from the hospital and putting them to rest in small groups. Not sure I can handle all ghosts plus a powerful demon though." She pauses, this had gone a bit too long. She simply needed to know. "Also, since I told you that. Might I ask... are you a vampire?"

[UncleWolf]

Outside Eastside Hospital

The woman throws her head back and chortles at the suggestion. "Hah! No dear. I am not a vampire. I am much worse than those petty creatures." She says with a grin. "I am Romani. Now come, let's see what Fate has in store for us." Talaitha says, still grinning as she starts to head to enter the hospital.

[Lord Magtok]

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"I'm sorry, Sarah of the Masks. You're not strange, and I shouldn't have said that. You're ****ing out of your goddamn mind, carrying confetti around on the off-chance there's the opportunity for a silly joke like that. That, or some sort of really weird future psychic who likes messing with people. I'm going to float away just the slightest bit faster than you can comfortably walk to keep up with me."

Magtok shakes his head, refusing to believe he's accidentally saved the world twice in one day, even if that's almost certainly totally what actually happened.

[Shadowcaller]

Outside Eastside Hospital

Obriane tilts her head in confusion, just giving Talaitha a confused expression in return. A what?
As the woman just walks past her she runs after her however. "No, wait! It's dangerous!" Was she crazy? She didn't even carry any symbols as far as she could see. Just a weapon and who went against spirits with a weapon?

As Talaitha approaches the hospital she can feel a cold wind bushing against her face. The supposed ghosts refuse to make their presence known however, the abandoned building stands just as empty at before without any reaction to her presence.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

There's a moment of petrified terror as the celestial lion looks dead at him, time slowly beginning to move again as it simply watches, not raising the alarm, not summoning back the wolf-head to murder him in a hunded nasty ways.

It's not kind on his nerves, this profession.

He presses himself back against the wall, fading into the shadows again as the tiefling approaches closes the door. Only once lock clicks shut, and then waiting a few more seconds for the demon-botherer to move away, does the Cat Burglar slowly let out his stoppered breath. All for nothing, too.

Waiting for Wolf-Head's footsteps to fade, the Cat creeps down the stairs after him.

[UncleWolf]

Outside Eastside Hospital

"Bah!" Talaitha shouts. "Stop hiding in there and come on out, you paltry little wraiths! There's plenty of warmth to steal and life to devour between the both of us!" The Romani shouts with a mad grin.

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"It's like saying you're psychic and asking someone to pick any number they can imagine. And you getting it right. It's only ever going to happen once, if that, but the expression is so worth it." Sarah says with a grin, keeping up with him despite the uncomfortable pace. "I've been wanting to do that since I was a little girl."

[Lord Magtok]

Lotus Gardens - Magtok


"I'm not a fudging genie, I didn't come all the way out here to grant you your fondest wishes and fantasies. Good day and goodbye," Magtok responds indignantly, trying his best to keep his face from contorting in frustration at being played in such an elaborate and ridiculous manner. He fails horribly in the attempt, and tries accelerating just a bit more, in the hopes of dissuading this absurdly persistent sample platter girl.

"Would've been better if you just poisoned me..."

[Shadowcaller]

Fourth Tower

Actually, the door is never locked. Just closed so the Cat won't hear that distinctive sound. What he does hear, as he moves down the stairs, is a voice in his head, which might be a bit more intimidating. Now what is a person like you doing in a place like this? I can feel the stench of demon-kind upon you yet I do not believe you to be a demon. Most curious, I simply have to know what and who you are mortal. An deep voice speaks.

Outside Eastside Hospital

Oh gosh, could no one ever laugh sanely?! Yet Obriane continues to hurry after Talaitha, whatever she was, she sounded raving mad and she had odd sympathies for people like that. Maybe she was possessed or something?

"This is a really bad idea!" She protests loudly as she attempts to grab Talaitha's arm. "We should go back!"

Yet despite the elf's fears there isn't actually any visible reaction. The hospital lies still as ever even as Talaitha is now standing right in front of it's entrance.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

"Actually I'm- The Cat catches his instinctive response in time and shoves it out of mind. If the lion -he really hopes it's the lion talking- wants to think, er, what it just thunk (thank?), that's fine by him. "I'm here to retrieve something of mine." He keeps moving down the stairs, not wanting to be caught when Wolf-Head comes back. Sure, being contacted by an otherworldly being is weird, but weird's no excuse to be napping on the job.

[Shadowcaller]

Fourth Tower

Oh? Does this something of yours perhaps have to do with your current demonhood? The voice inquires.

As he heads downstairs he can see four doors and a corridor leading in the opposite direction of the stairs. There are two doors to the left, one right forward and one to the right, most likely leading into the lobby. He can hear voices from there.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

"Yeah, you could say that." It occurs to the Cat his 'friend' might just be waiting to call the guards once it has some answers, but, no. They've got better ways of asking questions here, sadly. "Do you know where Sekai's quarters are?"

Not wanting to be in the open hall while he waits for an answer, the Cat Burglar listens at the four doors in immediate reach, looking to find an empty, unlocked one to slip inside.

[Shadowcaller]

Fourth Tower

I do not. But I do know that name though. If she has stolen something of yours perhaps we can help each other? The voice suggests.

As it turns out he can't hear anything from any of the doors beside the one to his right. Neither of them seem to be locked either. But he can see that the corridor leads into a larger room with yet another door at the end of it.

[The Bushranger]

AMENside- Alpha

The lead demon jumps, leaving the ground just before the grenade shatters into a spray of shrapnel. Three of his kin leap with him. The rest are cut down, some dead, some lamed and left to thrash their death throes in the dirt.

The alpha lands before Sam, roaring in challenge. his pack setting down in a wall between her and her partner. A stinger jabs at Dani's leg, claws like meat hooks slashing at her torso, the third demon standing back to intercept if she tries to dodge away. The holy ground hisses against their feet like a frying pan, but doesn't do much immediate damage.

Dani holds her hands to the ground, spinning to dodge the stinging tail. The claws are harder to dodge, however, and she gets a good-sized chunk torn out of her arm as she cries out in pain, maintaining her sanctification, channeling Holy energies into the area!

While lifting one hand and clenching it as she glares at the attacking demon.

Which might, suddenly, discover itself developing a nasty headache.
More of a migraine, really.
Not quite your head asplode. But it might wish it would!

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

"Maybe." The Burglar agrees reluctantly, shifting his attention towards the door at the end of the corridor. "I'm guessing you want to be freed, right? I think I could manage that if you could help me out."

He puts his eye to the keyhole, or under the doorframe if that's locked. "What would freeing you take, anyway? Would I need to erase the summoning circle?"

[UncleWolf]

Outside Eastside Hospital

"Don't worry, little one. It seems the spirits are afraid of us." Talaitha says with a grin. Even so, she reaches out to set her left palm on the door, trying to sense any spirits within.

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

The woman is left behind for a few moments, but once Magtok relaxes, she quickly comes back into view, riding a unicycle. Not just that, but she's dressed as a mime and juggling.

And she's riding backwards.

In circles.

Around Magtok.

...

"Surprisingly, I'm following orders from my Mistress. Want to know them?"

[Lord Magtok]

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

Magtok sighs in defeat. He knows he's lost this one, as well as his sanity.

"Mimes aren't supposed to talk, but sure, go ahead. Just don't tell me how you managed to expertly put on all of that facepaint and stash a unicycle and change into a costume and everything else. I don't even want to think about that. I'm past the point of caring now. You have an explanation, it's a good one, and somehow makes perfect sense. Somehow you have all of this prepared every single day, and you made a seamless transition through all of your shenanigans without a single hiccup, for a stranger's impromptu, unscheduled trip through the neighborhood."

[UncleWolf]

Lotus Gardens

The woman smiles and stops the unicycle in front of Magtok to block his way. "I've been waiting for you for weeks now. Mistress Jezebel has had me and others waiting for you with a specific purpose." Sarah admits.

"To distract you from this place. To keep you concentrated on us rather than the surroundings. It might seem strange, but many people who come here don't wish to leave. We'd rather you were able to go back and forth." She tells him with a wry smile.

[Shadowcaller]

Fourth Tower

As he approaches the door he will see that it's different than the other doors, namely it has a large white eye carved into it at eye level. An eye which just blinked at him.
Might want him to act differently right?

Erase the summoning circle yes. If you do that, I can help you escape if you really need to mortal. Providing you tell me what you came here for of course. I can't help an evil deed can I? The voice asks.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

Oh dear. Today is just not his day for staying hidden.

"There's, uh, there's an eye on this door. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He straightens up, not wanting to appear an intruder as he carefully backs away.

"They have my blood, going to do voodoo to it. After I've got that.. I'm going to liberate some art from a bunch of slavedriving vampires." That sounds, well, almost acceptable. At least like the lesser of two evils. Figuring that Wolf-Head is going to be coming back any minute now, he tries one of the unlocked doors from earlier for a hiding place.

[Lord Magtok]

Lotus Gardens

The cyborg shakes his head, and tries to step right past the Mask mime.

"I've seen enough of the surroundings. It's Allergy Season, combined with Awkwardly Try Not to Look At The Public Displays of Affection High School, crossed with Stepford Wives smiles and a bizarre general populace that isn't half as ugly as a crowd of people from the rest of Riverside would be. Thank you, Sarah, but I'm pretty sure I'd be able to make my way home back to-"

He stops abruptly, and looks back at the mime.

"Others. Meaning either the others were all positioned at other angles or shifts I might've approached from, or there's more of you on the road ahead in my future. Meaning my epic journey to just say hi to Jezebel and talk politicky stuff has only just begun."

He shuts his eyes tight, wincing as he tries to awaken from this nightmare. It doesn't work. When he opens his eyes again, Sarah is still there, and the world is still a terrible, awful, sadistic monster.

"Frustrating mime or not, I'm still not going to smack you like we talked about. I don't know if that's a relief or a disappointment to you, but I don't do that sort of thing. Also, this has been a hell of a walk. Is it always this long, or did Jezebel magically distort the space between so she'd have more time to shove a naked Cessie and a folded up bundle of her clothes out the back door, and then set up another choreographed song and dance number with a sixty-five or so dancing Mask folk choir?"

[Devixer]

AMENside - Sigma

Nai holsters his weapon and approaches the fire, not seeming to care about the heat. None of his clothing lights on fire, not even the gauze covering his face. "You do not have the right to speak of courtesy," he says, as he draws a revolver again and fires at each of the cannonballs heading for him. The bullets should be able to simply break the cannonballs into pieces and slow them down enough to make no difference.

[The Alexandrian]

[Clarissaside - Sigmahhh!]

Oh my word!

Now this... This is not a development that Clarissa had anticipated. There are no less than fifty cannonballs pelting the earth around everyone like hail. Well, there shall be soon, but I'm getting ahead of myself again.

Shield bashing a mighty, bellicose, cornered demon-angel-goddess-monster-person in the head while being thrown to the ground in front of her with considerable force is a exceptional feat that would require dexterity galore! Clarissa is struck by the shield and, while it doesn't deal much damage to her, it does knock her off balance. Her plight is compounded by her giddiness. As the world spins before her eyes, she stumbles backwards several feet and falls upon her rear with cartoonish cries of "Woaaah!" and "Oof!" without any of the grace or elegance befitting a supernatural angel-demon-predator of her caliber.

This embarrassing display might in turn complicate targeting her with cannonballs as she staggers backward without any observable pattern whatsoever.

It wouldn't be easy hitting her with cannonballs in the first! Standard cannons are fixed in place on a ship, after all, so that they won't rocket backward with the recoil of firing the instrument of death and crush the cannoneers. Therefore, the skilled undead cannoneers in zombie pirate LeClegg's employ probably won't be able to all fire at Clarissa unless they fire one by one instead of firing everything in a single destructive volley of death. Additionally, as there is no rifling in the barrel of a standard cannon (as far as I am aware) and Clegg's zombie crew members aren't firing anti-personnel shot (grapeshot) at Clarissa, the statistical probability of any of the cannonballs hitting Clarissa is likely extremely low, if their cannonballs were allowed to hit the powdery ground around Clarissa, I mean.

Fun fact: cannonballs were effective weapons against large groups of people because the momentum of the cannonball would transfer to the bone of the skeletal system of whoever it hit and cause them to explode, shooting bone shrapnel into everyone unlucky enough to be standing near the guy the cannonball actually smashed into.

Without warning, eight colossal black tentacles ascend from a section of the bubbling lava encircling the arena. Thankfully, the tentacles aren't surrounding the arena so whatever abomination they are connected to won't be bursting out of the ground under anyone's feet. What's more, four of the tentacles dive back into the lava seconds after they are visible. The behemoth's four remaining tentacles are assigned no more than two tasks telepathically by Clarissa, which they diligently attempt to carry out without any delay or hesitation whatsoever.

One of the tentacles forcibly appropriates a gold plated wall of Clarissa's nearby fiery temple before attempting to use it as a paddle in the world's biggest game of ping pong, swatting at any cannonballs that could potentially crush Clarissa in order to deflect them, possibly smacking Andy if she is riding her cannonball all the way to the ground. The other three begin attempting to flog the bagpipes to death, kicking up a huge cloud of fine black suffocating powder that isn't healthy to breathe but isn't so fine that it'd pass through the simplest of filters and that, with the aid of the cannonballs, envelops the battlefield in an instant.

Die bagpipes! Die!

As if that blinding, suffocating black powder environmental effect isn't incapacitating enough, Clegg's squall of rain produces scalding clouds of steam that might make it difficult to safely abseil onto the battlefield upon contact with Clarissa's lava. Depending on how low the airship is floating, the steam might even affect the ship's flight somehow!

[Shadowcaller]

Fourth Tower

The eye is looking directly at him as he's standing there but isn't reacting in any other way... for now.

I know very little about this place besides the room I'm held in I'm afraid. Of course, I could get your blood too if you so desire. I just need the truth in return. Is that a deal?

Outside Eastside Hospital

Little one?! "Hey! I'm not little and I happen to be an expert on these things so... uh." Obriane asserts herself in a heated tone until she realizes that they are already at the door and nothing has happened. "I know that it's really strange that they aren't showing up!"

But as Talaitha touches the door and invokes her spiritual sense she gets a response.

What follows is a chorus of loud incoherent voices of people sobbing, screaming, laughing, moaning, or just screaming in misery and horror. It's like a storm of the sheer terror of hundreds individuals all around her, trying to force itself inside her head through the keyhole she just opened up by attempting to sense it.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Southside - Creations

Magtok gasps the moment the hood comes off. For air, maybe? Probably not. In shock, when his senses suddenly come flooding back and making sense again? It sounds plausible enough. Claustrophobia? Maybe. He looks back up at the creation and scowls.

"Affidavit. I should have expected to, ummm...I recognized your foul stench when I was brought aboard and-shoot, how does that Star Wars quote go? A New Hope, when she's talking to Tarkin? I would've looked it up while I was waiting for the hood to come off, but no internet connection."

What a sad waste of the perfect opportunity to quote Star Wars at Affy. Oh well. Magtok accepts the water, staring at it suspiciously before drinking it anyways. Hell with it, he's already being held prisoner. If Affy wanted to drug him, he'd find a better way of doing it than sticking the stuff in a pitcher of water.

"But anyways, how're things, you lifeless, unfeeling ol' bastard? You still peddling your pain drugs to masochists? Testing out a new aerosol spray version on me, for your glorious march on the battered and wounded MagCave? Will your girlfriend Snow Turtle or Chelonie Frost or whatever her name was be showing up to stab holes in my chest?"

The water is pleasantly cool, well filtered with just a faint hint of a metallic taste to it. Considering the environment Magtok is in, it's probably not that much of a surprise.

The water is, however, also drugged. Sort of. Just a very weak solution mixed in to remove any remaining traces of the effects of liquid agony.

"We are not Affidavit." The creation says nothing else, simply heading to the door and knocking once. It is promptly opened from the other side, and in steps the Black Creation.

"Our apologies, Magtok. Father has been going to increasingly great lengths to ensure his activities are kept hidden from the eyes of those who attacked your cave. I suppose it would be too much to hope you know why you are here?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Fourth Tower

"Truth?" Okay. So if this thing isn't a camera, it's a security measure of some sort. And he has no idea what it's looking for. "Is there a salute these guys do, or something?" He tries the first of the doors on the left, looking inside.

[UncleWolf]

Outside Eastside Hospital

Talaitha isn't new to the needs of spirits, even serving as an oracle from time to time for them, but this was quite powerful. While she's not overwhelmed, she is staggered and pushed back. The elf will see her pale slightly and shake her head, trying to clear it. "It is...it is much worse than I thought. There must be hundreds or thousands of them locked inside." She says with a frown, all joviality gone.

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"Cessie visited a couple weeks ago, the choir only consists of twelve, and I've already called ahead to let her know you're coming." Sarah says with a wry smile. "She's sending out someone else to meet you and bring you to her office." She says, gesturing to the Temple in the middle of the park where a woman is waiting for him.

[The Bushranger]

[Lotus Gardens - Magtok]

Indeed, waiting outside the Temple, on the steps, is a woman with raven hair and blue eyes, wearing a decidedly slinky dress in seafoam green. She looks slightly impatient, but looks to be amusing herself by people-watching as she awaits the arrival of one Magtok, Lord.

[Lord Magtok]

Creationside

"Our apologies, Magtok. Father has been going to increasingly great lengths to ensure his activities are kept hidden from the eyes of those who attacked your cave. I suppose it would be too much to hope you know why you are here?"

"You had me abducted after I went to some abandoned house under false pretenses, trapped me in a white box room thingy, and then some non-creation golem guys beat me up and black-bagged me for the trip over here. The whole time, nobody's said a word to me." Magtok responds with clear disdain.

"So no, I might not know why I'm here, but I've got a pretty ****ing good guess. Can we cut the social niceties BS and get right to the torture? I've got a whole bunch of swears and comments about your mother and such ready and waiting, and I'd rather not have to spend the next ten minutes talking about the weather, asking each other about our latest projects, and pretending we haven't entertained fantasies wherein our opposite suffers an elaborate series of karmic accidents, one after the other, culminating in one final humiliation wherein they're crippled and down to their last body, begging for mercy and peace, only to be thrown into a cauldron of fire with only a pithy one-liner worthy of a corny Agent Chrome film in response."

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"Mhm."

Our cyborg doesn't recognize the woman. Not even a little. Can you blame him, though? I mean, as slinky as that dress might be, it's still nowhere near as daring as what he would expect from her. Hell, this is probably the first time she's ever worn something around Maggy that doesn't reveal her entire bum. And the makeup? Sarah's little mime episode aside, I don't think I've ever heard of a Mask as pale as Becky, smothered in as much goth eyeliner as that loathsome trollop always used.

"Oh hi, are you the guide person I'm waiting on? I'm Magtok, as you could probably guess. Is everyone around here like Sarah, or...?"

Nope, not even at this range does Magtok seem to show even the slightest signs of recognition. Again, hardly surprising. It wasn't Becky's face that earned her a reputation.

[The Bushranger]

Lotus Gardens - Magtok

"Of course. I'm your guide for the next part of your journey to the center of the Masks," the woman tells Magtok, and boy does her voice sound familiar, suppressed mirth dancing in her eyes as she turns to face the cyborg. "And no, not everyone's like her." She pauses. "Not everyone is as sane as she is, certainly not me, your guide, Rebecca."