Serious Plots 8: Rawr serisaurus!

[Recaiden]

[Semi-Secret Meeting]

The false Sekhmet waves Prumathe over.
"Thank goodness you're here."
She glances around one last time, as worried that he was followed after al, but it won't be hard to avoid being seen by her. There are other people really looking out for the fiend.
"Did my uncle tell you anything else about my mother, when he warned you?" It's the sort of thing a worried Sekhmet would ask, and it's also something that would be good to know.

[Sekhmet's Cabin]

The duke glides down, balloon-like passenger compartments reaching out to swallow up Sekhmet and Ellie.
Uncomfortable, claustrophobic perhaps. But safe.
Sekhmet is informed that they are going to the cluster of Ell. She has not enough practice with long-distance flight, and might be seen by people who could later report to her mother. This is safer.

And they glide up and away. Away from the campground. Away from the city. Into the mountains, far from civilization. Maybe read one of those books during the trip.

[bc56]

Not-so-secret meeting

The fiend spots "Sekhmet" almost immediately. At this distance, she can't smell the decoy's essence yet, and is relying on what she sees and hears, and those are promising. She shimmers into visibility on the street behind where Prumathe came from, walking slowly and calmly towards the pair. She isn't disguised as a Tiefling anymore, but she's similar. Now, she looks more like Sekhmet does currently. Large, batlike wings stretch out from her back. A crown of six curved horns adorns her head. Her tail is long and ends in a spearlike barb. Her eyes are pitch-black glassy orbs. "Sekhmet! My daughter! It's been so long! Oh, how I've missed you!" Her pace quickens as she approaches.

Blimp Ride

Sekhmet settles in, conjuring a small light to read by and pulling out The Hunter's Guide to Demons, Devils, and other Creatures of the Nether Worlds for some reading. Studying the nature of her mother might help find a way to defeat her.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fairy Mountain]

As Ilpholin and the Singer conclude their negotiations, Damon steps back forth beside Ilpholin and bows with her. "It iss fortunate that we had the opportunity to demonsstrate our capabilitiess while we were here. The King iss generouss. I am glad you have decided to join him." His piece said, he too waits to be dismissed.

*****

[TBC - MagQuest]

"Good luck to you too, talking wall. You'll need it. We won't." Blue chuckles, strolling away portal-ways, running a thumb over his pocketwatch. Given the choice between flaming death from above and time portal, he'll take the time portal.

It won't be martyrdom, Needs. I won't allow it. Keep yourself safe. Push the button if you need to. I'll be watching. And Affy will. But he's watching something else too. This little secretarial ghost in the walls could be an unwelcome element in this confrontation.

Cosmically abstract strings, hmm? What a curious little phrase. All the Nexus is a puppet-stage, and by those strings we dance across it, a bunch of toys being pulled about by puppeteers. Are you going to stay out of this, Syncope? Your interference would be, mmm, most unwelcome, for both of us I imagine. Feia doesn't seem in the mood to protect her allies at the moment now, does she? Well who was that thought addressed to? Maybe someone. Maybe no one. Hard to say. But a little spark flicks off to the wall, in search of some trail from Syncope to follow.

We can't have unknowns getting involved at this stage of the game.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

"Well that blows bigtime..." Fettina sighs out a forlorn breath, and would look that way for longer if Rein didn't try to put the jewelry on her. Her face lights up with a blush and with pleasure. "Rein! You can be mighty romantic when you like to."

She follows him around the room with her gaze, folding her arms, listening. "It... doesn't always have to end like that for people who end up that way, does it?" A beat. "But I'd guess pretty often it does."

The chrome gal grins a little more self-consciously than she usually might as he makes his admission. She just sighs. "Yeah, well. It doesn't feel like it. But where do you think those keys go to?"

[Earl of Purple]

Pseudo-Secret Meeting

Prumathe shakes his head. "No, just what I mentioned on the phone." Even if it weren't true, he's not sure he trusts the Hive to tell it directly. He'd rather tell Sekhmet to her face or over the phone. Even if the Hive overhears through the brain, at least it can't keep the information from his girlfriend that way.

As he hears the devil's voice behind him, he jumps and turns around. His right hand clenches into a fist, but he'll put it in a pocket to make sure it's hard to notice. Particularly the fact the skin on his knuckles is changing colour, becoming a shiny metallic grey.

[Recaiden]

[Secret Family Reunion]

Sekhmet turns to face the approaching not-a-teifling-anymore, eyes wide.
Funny, how much she looks like Sekhmet herself. You'd think a full fiend would be more monstrous. They'd think that, anyway.

"Is that- Mother? What are you doing here? Where have you been all this time?" Her voice is more shocked and suspicious than joyful at a reunion, and she holds up a hand to indicate stop, slow down.
In a literal sense, the illusions even cover the scent of being Sekhmet. In a magical, essence-detecting sense, they shouldn't have any effect.
But so far, everything is going according to plan.

[Blimp Ride]

It's a lengthy ride, going up and up, back and forth.
The other passenger, in a separate bag at the back of the blimp, does not reach out to Sekhmet at all.

Sekhmet is eventually made aware that they have arrived.

A few moments later, she is dropped into the snow along with Ellie and the other passenger (who looks almost, but not quite, the same as Spike).

They are on a mountaintop, with other mountains surrounding them, smaller in one direction, taller in the other.
Just a few feet away, the snow gives way to the living floor that covered the hive's caverns beneath the city. The whole peak has been overgrown with hive structures. The central castle rises higher and more symmetrical, it's claw towers rising high above the center keep. A little way down the slope is one of those transformative pools Sekhmet is horribly familiar with, larger, bubblier, and more surrounded by glowing ferns. There's a giant living balloon station anchored to the ground by sixteen stretchy cables, a bunch of webbing where something is in progress, the glassy green walls of an experiment chamber nestled between the castle's third and fourth tower. Fern-lined tunnels lead beneath the hive, into the mountain's interior where the workers ceaselessly dig. To the right, down on the shoulder of the mountain, there are the straight lines of some other sort of construction, actual buildings, though the hive's moss flows around them. Lots and lots of more-human-shaped creatures are busily moving around there. All-in-all it's a much more complex and complete hive setup than the one she's seen. Perhaps this is , but perhaps not.

Behind her, down below, one can see fields of snow and rock, then the sudden appearance of trees, then less cold forests stretching off to the horizon.

[bc56]

Family Reunion

This isn't her true form any more than the Tiefling form was. She happens to prefer it for dealing with mortals.
The fiend slows to a stop as "Sekhmet" bids. Something feels wrong here, very wrong. She doesn't smell Sekhmet's essence at all. Sekhmet hasn't ever been here. "You're not my daughter. This is a trap?" She breaks into a wicked grin. "Don't keep me waiting. Tell me where she is, and I'll let you go." She very distinctly addresses this to the decoy Sekhmet. She has no intention of letting Prumathe go. He is too useful for that.

Ell Hive

Sekhmet is glad to be released from the cramped quarters within the blimp alien. She stretches her wings in the open air and takes stock of her surroundings. She's on a mountaintop somewhere. The air is inviting her to go flying. It's so wide open! On the other hand, the center of the hive very visibly reminds her too much of her experiences in Eurus. She stays well away from it, taking to the sky and descending towards the village on the slopes, Ellie following along after her telepathic command.

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

"If it was just trespassing, she would have simply asked us to leave," Reinholdt says, spending a lot of extra time on the drapes, half expecting there to be some hidden magic to them. "But remember, she didn't just attack us. She attacked all those construction workers too. Maybe she was ordered to. Maybe to continue existing, she had to. Some kind of vengeful spirit clause."

Reinholdt moves on from the drapes and finds the jewelry. He rubs it a few times to try and get a little shine out of it before heading to Tina and presenting it to her, even going so far as to try and put a necklace on her. "More than likely, however, she simply was disconnected. When you become too powerful in relation to the people around you and have no grounding, some people become callous. They forget what it's like to suffer or simply don't care what their actions wrought on others. They do what they want, when they want, and everyone else becomes a victim in the process." Rein pulls away from Tina.

"It's tragic, in its own way." Reinholdt pockets the wax stamp seal for himself. "And infuriating." Crossing the room for the sixth time, Rein finally notices the loose stone and bends down.

"But you absolutely can't let it get to you. Whatever just happened, I do believe we prevented anyone else from getting hurt. And that's the real win." Rein pauses for a moment. Wasn't that the same excuse he had for the gem girl? He lets out a sigh and finally leverages the stone free.

"Hah." Reinholdt smiles a bit. "But you really shouldn't ask me. I talk a lot, but when it comes to knowing things, I truly don't. After all. You were right and I was wrong." Rein holds up the keys and the glittering gems for Tina to look at. Their winnings.

[Gem Mountain]

"Well that blows bigtime..." Fettina sighs out a forlorn breath, and would look that way for longer if Rein didn't try to put the jewelry on her. Her face lights up with a blush and with pleasure. "Rein! You can be mighty romantic when you like to."

She follows him around the room with her gaze, folding her arms, listening. "It... doesn't always have to end like that for people who end up that way, does it?" A beat. "But I'd guess pretty often it does."

The chrome gal grins a little more self-consciously than she usually might as he makes his admission. She just sighs. "Yeah, well. It doesn't feel like it. But where do you think those keys go to?"

[Gem Mountain]

Yeah, I think that is the same excuse he had for Emma, the gem girl. Like mother, like daughter, apparently.

...
It makes me wonder what the Queen would have said if he told her that. Probably "Everyone dies eventually, it's just a matter of when" or something callous like that.

The fact that nobody is coming in to check on that queen probably suggests she was pretty alone, too, with nobody around to come in and get revenge for her mirrors being shattered.

...but, yeah, if they walk back on this floor, back to the earlier rooms they were in, all they'll find are the corpses of more construction workers, cooling off now that no fire possesses them anymore.

Anyway, nothing in the room and nothing they've seen so far appears to use the keys they found.

...

...

...

There's still the box in the middle of the room. The longer it sits there while they're just here in the room doing little, the more enticing it seems, to want to open it.

[Reinholdt]

[Gem Mountain]

Reinholdt leaves a chaste kiss upon the blushing Tina's cheek. It's too good an opportunity to pass up. A smile plays at his lips before he moves on.

"No, it doesn't always turn out like that. That's why there's always hope. Why it's worth trying to talk them down. But it's different when they're actively threatening someone you want to protect." The rules change then.

Reinholdt offers the gems to Tina while holding on to the keys, looking them over and shrugging. "No idea. Maybe something to do with that affair she was having. Her lover's room perhaps? A royal treasure chest? Something else?" Rein pockets them for now.

"Only way to find out is to keep exploring I think." Reinholdt ignores his desperately burning curiousity, turning to leave the room and head back a ways. Tina can stop him though should she decide she wants to do more with the box. It is pretty enticing and there may be something in there they can use the keys on.

[Shadowcaller]

Pyramid of the Cosmos

"...I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna boop the snoot." Norael declares after staring at the snek for a few long moments. The entity was simply gorgeous. It certainly meant that the thing was unbelievably deadly, but she was doing this job to try and have fun as well as her work. What was life without a few risks? Unless she's stopped(which is likely easy), she'll breach the barrier and use her wings to glide closer to the giant serpent.

Pyramid of the Cosmos

Benedict has studied many things throughout his life. From ancient religions, to archaeology, to the biology and anatomy of various animals, beasts and cryptids. However, the stars haven't really featured that heavily, so he does not recognise the creature.

"I don't recognise it, but it looks dangerous. I hope you know what you are doing." Because alas, Benedict is a little out of touch and doesn't recognise the phrase 'boop the snoot'.

If Norael does get eaten, hopefully it will give Benedict a clue as to the monster's reaction speed and reflexes, so he can either cross the room- if there's any doorways or portals visible on the far side- or knows how much time he has in which to kill it, as unlikely as that feat currently seems.

[TBC - Pyramid of the Cosmos]

Benedict's surveillance will certainly identify a spot along one wall that looks like a sealed door, as well as that portion off to one side with most of the lights that seems to be the primary (the actual, non-cheaty) entrance to the room.
So there's that.

Norael, meanwhile, proceeds onwards. That barrier that had been blocking their magic and the great snake's effect impedes her not at all.
Once within the room, the presence of what feels like electricity in the air mingles freely with a wet sort of heat.
Being in this room just feels bad. Not lethal, or necessarily immediately dangerous, but pretty unpleasant.

For good or ill, the snake does not immediate rise up or strike at Norael as she approaches it. It doesn't even open its eyes, on the vague presumption it has any in the first place. There is a slight shifting of its body, but it doesn't seem an inherently aggressive motion.
Just a slight adjustment of its weight around the plinth upon which it rests.

Its head isn't reachable from just standing nearby, placed such as it is on part of its own coils, but she could fly near it easily enough.
As long as she goes fast enough to not be terribly impeded by its next breath.

More than anyone else is likely to, perhaps, she'll feel as all the ambient light and energy in the room is sucked in towards the serpent, creating a brief flash of heat as it all rushes past her and then a deep, bone-chilling cold that is left in its wake. And the darkness.
It's as complete in here as it looked from the other room. Even attempts to make more light just results in the serpent's breath devouring that as well.
But before the cold becomes truly dangerous, the snake exhales again, heat and light returning to the room immediately.

Still predictable, at least.

Up until the entire room begins to violently shake, as if subject to an earthquake, splashing bits of whatever terrible fluid lies below to sizzle onto the edges of the floor around it.
The serpent does react to this, uncoiling itself and raising its head up most of the way to the ceiling, angled straight up. No eyes ever open, but it seems to be sensing something anyway.
Where it was once clearly relaxed and at rest, it is most assuredly taut and tense now.

Back in the piping room, the rest of the party is not spared whatever quake has hit the area, the room violently rattling in its wake as well. Gauges on the pipes flicker back and forth ominously, trending towards the red zones more often than not and some faint keening noise can be heard from many of them.

Pyramid of the Cosmos

"Are you sure about this course of action, miss Jones?" Jaahlyn implores back at the relative safety of the doorway. Something that might be put to the test very soon if Nora does truly 'boop the snoot' of the snake. "It doesn't seem very wise!"

She's not actually planning to stop her, instead she's planning to invoke one of her precations if things went as bad as they seemed to be heading.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

"Yes. Go and tell my King that I will stand under his banner once more. For now, I need to think about what is to come. Sergeant! Do come in."

Haabeth enters the cavern and bows low.

"Inform the elders that I have accepted the King in Rags' offer to swear fealty to him once more. His messengers are to continue being treated with utmost hospitality for as long as they choose to stay. We will discuss how this affect our pledge, but now I must think about what happened."

As the fey returns to the centre of the cavern, Haabeth turns back to Ilpholin and Damon, awe in her eyes and voice.

"Yes... come with me. Those news will cause ripples throughout the city. Many people will want to speak with you, but we won't stop you if you'd rather head on home quickly."

[Rebonack]

[Everfree Park]

"Oh yes, of course. My name is Nicholas of Myra," the old man replies with a twinkle in his eye. "Though I believe you may know me better by the title Santa Claus."

Oh.

But...

There aren't any reindeer around here!

Or elves!

Or a workshop!

And this certainly isn't the north pole.

Then he offers a small smile to Sam. "I work in miracles, my friend. And gifts to those in need. And I dare say, you are both in need if you wish to heal the Heart of the Nexus."

The old man rises and shuffles over to his bed, reaching inside a large sack laying next to it. He retrieves a pair of colorfully wrapped boxes and hands them both of our heroes.

"A Merry Thanksmas to you."

[Deathkeeper]

[Everfree Park]

Sam is confused. He’s pretty sure he knows a lot of people who have been Santa. Wasn’t he Santa for a few minutes one Thanksmas? He can’t remember.
But he’s certainly not going to complain about a gift. So he says ”Thank you” and opens his present.

[Earl of Purple]

'Secret' Meeting

Prumathe isn't being addressed right now, so he'll try to back off. He's not wanting to get in the line of fire. Although he also noticed, and didn't like, the fact Sekhmet's mother didn't imply she'd let him go. That's not great, and he's not sure if he should try to escape now and hope she doesn't follow. She knows where he lives, though, and he'd lose all his stuff. That's not something he'd like to lose.

[Recaiden]

[The truth of the Family Meeting - Revealed!]

Ah, she figured it out already.
"It's not like that." says the decoy, her voice changing as it loses it's disguise. "I am your daughter. Just not the one you were looking for." The decoy then walks forward towards the fiend.
"I don't know where my sister is. Why don't the two of us just talk?"
It also puts her between Prumathe and the fiend, in case one of them tries something.

[Ell Hive]

Ell is sad you feel that way, Sekhmet. You can feel how disappointed she is.

There are lots of flags fluttering over the village. All sorts of different shape, sizes, colors, designs. Lots of flags and banners. Not sure if they mean anything.
The buildings were built of wood atop protruding bases of stone, but the alien growth of the hive has long since swallowed the foundations. Tentacles stretch up to windows, and the luminous ferns sprout along corners and in the lee of various structures.
In the buildings, around the buildings, walking the streets, there's various manners of mostly humanoid hive creatures. People like Spike, but more sinuous. Blue-skinned people with holes in their arms. Huge people walking on four legs. Relatively normal people with 'wings' like a hound's cutting limbs. Deeply mutated people with seventeen tentacles and no other extremities. They are largely engaged in one of two things: practicing sorts of magic, and weaving cloth.

[bc56]

Family Union
(Not really a reunion, since no one here has met.)

"Let me see your true face then. I have only one child." The fiend doesn't wait for an answer, instead raising her hand and sending out a pulse of magic at the imposter and Prumathe for good measure. It's not harmful, at least not to people, other than a sensation like being struck suddenly by a strong wind. It's actual purpose is to shatter ongoing enchantments and disrupt spellcasting. She wants the illusion to fall, and her power is tremendous. Regardless of the result, the fiend continues walking towards the pair. "And tell me. <WHAT IS YOUR NAME?>" The last four words are spoken in the secret language of fiends, and each syllable rolls off the fiend's tongue as a burning glyph hanging in the air. The words have power. Even if the imposter doesn't understand them, they may still be compelled to answer truthfully. If they do understand, using knowledge that would have been stolen from Sekhmet's mind, the compulsion will be even stronger.

Ell Hive

Sekhmet ignores the displeasure sent to her by Ell. She lands on a rooftop and is more than content to watch the people moving about below her. Flying is great! Being on the run from her evil mother is less great. She wonders why everyone here is practicing magic. Should she get some lessons? That might be a good idea.

[Earl of Purple]

Deceptive Meeting

Prumathe stumbles back after the wind, trying to channel some solidity and strength into his legs, but the magic is blown away by the wind. He's quite surprised by this, which is one of the reasons he's stumbling.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Mountain]

As Ilpholin and the Singer conclude their negotiations, Damon steps back forth beside Ilpholin and bows with her. "It iss fortunate that we had the opportunity to demonsstrate our capabilitiess while we were here. The King iss generouss. I am glad you have decided to join him." His piece said, he too waits to be dismissed.

[Fairy Mountain]

"Yes. Go and tell my King that I will stand under his banner once more. For now, I need to think about what is to come. Sergeant! Do come in."

Haabeth enters the cavern and bows low.

"Inform the elders that I have accepted the King in Rags' offer to swear fealty to him once more. His messengers are to continue being treated with utmost hospitality for as long as they choose to stay. We will discuss how this affect our pledge, but now I must think about what happened."

As the fey returns to the centre of the cavern, Haabeth turns back to Ilpholin and Damon, awe in her eyes and voice.

"Yes... come with me. Those news will cause ripples throughout the city. Many people will want to speak with you, but we won't stop you if you'd rather head on home quickly."

[Fairy Mountain]

"Certainly. We would be happy to speak with them." Ilpholin glances briefly at Damon to ensure this was actually true, but doubts he'd have any objections.

She'd rather head home quickly herself. Her job done, her bargain fulfilled, there was no more reason to play lapdog. But a part of diplomacy includes some aftercare and rushing the job just because of a little mild inconvenience would display an inelegance and mediocrity that doesn't befit her. Much better to be thorough. If they wanted to talk, she would talk.

[Recaiden]

[Family Union]

The fiend is surely stronger than the tenuous illusion projected over the decoy. The magic is washed away, and we see that the imposter's true face is...a lot like her fake face. She looks like a younger Sekhmet, really. Outside the face, it's more different; her strange wings are revealed, the arthropod armor here and there, etc.

"I'm named Serket." Those words, they must have meant something about a name, but by what power did she hear and answer them?
"What shall we call you?"

[Ell Hive]

Because, Sekhmet, the main purpose of humans and similar creatures is their magical potential. That they can think and talk, their opposable thumbs, their incredible endurance, their rich inner lives - these things are just incidental. The magic, that is their raison d'être.
One of folk down below sends an impression of welcome and waves a tentacle.

[bc56]

Family Union

"You can call me Sapphira," the fiend replies. It's not her True Name, of course. She would be a fool to give that up. "You are not truly my daughter. You are a flawed copy. Who are your creators? I would speak to them." Sapphira's eyes are, however, on Prumathe. She wants to see his reaction to Serket's appearance. Did he know?

Ell Hive

Sekhmet spots the wave and jumps from the building, gliding down next to the tentacled person. She's curious of why she's being waved to, and who this person is. She's also a bit chilly. This mountain air is cold. She wouldn't mind getting inside.

[Earl of Purple]

Secrets Revealed Meeting

Prumathe isn't really looking at the Sekhmet-clone, since he doesn't want to take his eyes of Sapphira.

Nevertheless, when she brings up the fact Serket is an imperfect copy, he glances across. He's surprised, but tries to get his face under control very quickly. Because he clearly didn't know.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[TBC - Pyramid of the Cosmos]

"Yeah, I'm with Jaahlyn, this does not seem like a very boopable- agh!" Magtok yelps as the room decides to go nuts, staggering off to one side and leaning against the wall.

"Uh, think we might be on some sort of time limit?" He glances at the dials pointing towards dangerous on the pipes and hesitantly edges away from them. Getting a blast of steam to the face is not fun. "Hey! Do you see an exit past the galaxy-snake? We need to keep moving!"

*****

[Fairy Mountain]

Damon nods. "My duty here iss to protect Ilpholin. If ssshe wissshess to sstay and talk, I sshall sstay with her. I'm happy to sshare what knowledge I can with anyone who may be interessted, of coursse." It's not something he particularly likes the thought of either, but it would be foolish to do otherwise.

The King is generous...as long as he serves well.

[Recaiden]

[Surprise(ing) Meeting]

"Different copies. We're never quite the same as the original, for a couple reasons."
Serket turns so she can look at Sapphira and Prumathe both, while sidling closer to Sapphira.
"The Queen made me; I'm sure she'd love to talk to you. But right now we don't even know why you're looking for Sekhmet."
You need a bit more trust before you can talk about how to make Sekhmet clones.

[Ell Hive]

They shuffle into a nearby building - I think it used to be a general store - on their four most ambulatory tentacles. Sekhmet must be cold. Packs of little cleaner-creatures hang from the ceiling and sprawl on the countertops, resting until they are needed by the hive. A couple others follow.

They project a wordless explanation. They're 'Thyom', though they don't use names much up here. Waving at someone is a greeting that humans came up with.
Why you wave and think hello at people, that's not so clear. It's just what you do.

[bc56]

Meeting

So the boy didn't know either. Interesting. "Do I need a reason to meet my daughter, who was STOLEN FROM ME so long ago?" The hive needs more trust before they can learn why there is a Sekhmet in the first place. Sapphira didn't care about learning how the clones came to be, but rather who made them, anyways. "I am a queen too. Perhaps your queen can understand why I want my princess, the heiress to my throne, safely back at home." It's very important that Sekhmet be recovered. Decades of planning hinge on it.

Ell Hive

"But why did you wave to me?" Sekhmet asks Thyom. She's expecting that there's something that needs to be discussed or done. Either way, she's happy to be out of the cold for a bit. This building is much better, although she doesn't like what it implies. The hive must have overrun or assimilated this village some time ago.

[Earl of Purple]

Meeting

Prumathe speaks up, though he's not entirely sure why he's still here. "You're a fiend, they don't die of old age. Anything powerful enough to challenge your rule would be capable of killing Sekhmet, even if she hadn't been hidden by her father." That's not true, the last bit. She was abandoned by her father, or possibly been left somewhere for later collection. But if she thinks that Sekhmet's father could help her find Sekhmet, then throwing him under the bus is what Prumathe will do. Particularly since he's probably well aware of any plan and willingly took part in the plot.

[Morty]

[Fairy Mountain]

Thankfully, Ilpholin and Damon won't be kept in the underground elf city for very long. Some of the nobler and higher-ranked elves will approach them with questions about the King in Rags and the Fairest of Lands, followed by a series of young and impetuous ones. They all want to know more about something they thought of more as a legend coming back. Soon enough they will be able to excuse themselves and leave the caves, to begin their journey home.

[Murkus]

[Gem Mountain]

Reinholdt leaves a chaste kiss upon the blushing Tina's cheek. It's too good an opportunity to pass up. A smile plays at his lips before he moves on.

"No, it doesn't always turn out like that. That's why there's always hope. Why it's worth trying to talk them down. But it's different when they're actively threatening someone you want to protect." The rules change then.

Reinholdt offers the gems to Tina while holding on to the keys, looking them over and shrugging. "No idea. Maybe something to do with that affair she was having. Her lover's room perhaps? A royal treasure chest? Something else?" Rein pockets them for now.

"Only way to find out is to keep exploring I think." Reinholdt ignores his desperately burning curiousity, turning to leave the room and head back a ways. Tina can stop him though should she decide she wants to do more with the box. It is pretty enticing and there may be something in there they can use the keys on.

[Gem Mountain]

"Yeah. I wasn't gonna let her hurt you. I wish it coulda been different, but... I dunno. I don't even know if she's dead, or what the hell happened there." Fettina takes the kiss and the gems with approximately equal pleasure. She seems to be fine with the plan to keep exploring... but...

"...Would it hurt to just check inside?" She asks, and she shouldn't have to indicate it for him to know what she means.

[5a Violista]

[Gem Mountain]

Well, if they're going to do something with the box, they'd better decide soon.

The reason why?

There's a sound echoing down the hallway. Several sounds, actually. At first, it's not really clear what's creating the sounds, but as it grows closer, they become more clear.

First, there's the sound of chains. Chains being dragged along the stone floor, chains hitting things, and chains jangling against itself.

Then, there's pounding. For some of the pounding, the sound seems to travel more through the ground than the air.

And, finally, there's deep grunting and other sounds, that eventually can be identified as a gorilla.

Its getting closer. Based on the way the sound's traveling and how it's growing louder, it can be estimated that the gorilla could arrive here in twenty to sixty seconds, depending on if it goes at its top speed or if it goes slower on its way here.

...
Don't owrry, though. You probably don't have to worry. Why would a gorilla want to go straight to the room they happen to be in?

[Recaiden]

[Meeting]

"That's why we have lots of princesses. So if we lose one, well, that's sad, but not a disaster." Serket says, obviously suggesting that Sapphira should just have more children.
She nods to Prumathe, stretching her wings.
"Sekhmet has joined our, uh, kingdom, so we need to understand."
Maybe they really ought to help her reunite with Sekhmet. It's certainly being considered. But Sapphira surely hasn't convinced them yet.

[Ell Hive]

Oh, you want to help? Thyom misunderstands. Sekhmets are good with hounds and workers and all, right? Could go down beneath the hive, very busy.
No, tell us about tieflings. Suggests the stalker who joined them in this stroe-turned-storage room.

She's right. This village was assimilated quite some time ago. It's where they found the first Weaver.

[bc56]

Meeting

"What do you know of it, mortal?" Sapphira replies to Prumathe angrily. "If you care about her, you will help me find her. I am the only one who can teach her to use her full power before it destroys her." A lie, but not one easily spotted. Sapphira is a consummate liar, and she has millennia of practice. "I need her, and she needs me, even if she doesn't know it yet."

Ell Hive

"I am? I'm not sure... Wait, Sekhmets?" She caught that distinct sense of plurality in the thoughts coming her way. She's also asked about tieflings. "I, uh, don't know much." No one does, it's not exactly a common field of study. "Tieflings are people with some amount of fiendish blood in them. They, uh, look different and have stronger magical potential."