[Nexus] Outside XXVII

[Gullara]

[Lost]

You don't have to tell Sakura twice. She'll get in along with Adir and breathe a small sigh of relief. Even just getting in the truck put up a barrier between her and whatever is going on out there.

"Thank you." She says wearily, the strain from her fear not yet leaving her voice. Sakura leans against Adir, more than likely crushing one of his hands in a death grip. "How did you find us?"

[ThirdEmperor]

River

"A fear spirit, one that liked to dress up as the devil." Jasper says, holding up the coin for her to inspect. It resembles an old cartwheel dollar, except made of solid gold, the metal turned slightly green and the edges worn away by time, the design just barely visible; some sort of geometric pattern that doesn't seem quite within the realms of possibility.

"An interesting game, but not one I'd care to repeat." He sighs heavily, leaning against Legion slightly, free arm around her waist."Suffice it to say, it's a long story and I don't remember half of it."

[Murkus]

Lost

She'll notice that Gerald has the window's rolled up. So that's a bit more of a barrier, at the very least.

"Wasn't lookin' fer you." Gerald says simply, rolling out further into the half-darkness. As he drives by a crop of trees, several of the tall, pale things (definitely not men) turn to look. They appear to have a single, huge, glassy eye covering their whole face. A combination sensory array.

Gerald pays no mind. "I'm out checkin' on the stone."

"You mean my rock?" Adir says, wincing and looking down at Sakura's hand. Man can she squeeze.

Gerald looks at Adir squarely, quirking an eyebrow. "Your rock? Pfft, boy, ain't nobody's rock. And if it were, it wouldn't be yers."

River

Legion tries to take the coin from Jasper. Pluck it from his fingers and hold it herself, if allowed.

She looks up when he mentions the fear spirit. Recalling his horror stories from back home. The Lady smiles mildly. "Hey, you don't have to tell me. But it turned out well for you, at least."

[Gullara]

[Lost]

The squeezing doesn't let up. Hopefully Adir's hand can take the punishment! Sakura bites her lip. and makes a point of not looking out the window for the moment. "Does the rock have something to do with all this?"

[ThirdEmperor]

River

Jasper won't stop her. Why would he? Not like the coin can be taken from him, not unless it's won fairly. In fact, should Legion begin to seriously think about trying to keep it, the coin will vanish and reappear in Jasper's hand.

"Yeah. Can't say it was a bad deal, all told, 'specially as I would never have met you otherwise." Jasper says, grinning again, trying not to let the rather depressing topic get to him.

[Murkus]

Lost

"The rock's what protects you from all this." Gerald says, just as the white boulder winks into view a few hundred feet ahead. He's forced to stop the truck halfway there, due to another vehicle screaming across their path. The car - some old Cadillac - flies past them, the driver white as a sheet, and disappears into the dark.

Gerald pays it no mind and rolls on. "It's a warnin' system. Put here for the Nexus's protection. If yer in contact - and I think both of you are - then you'll get a warnin everytime somethin's about to happen." He pauses, then elaborates, "Somethin bad."

Adir looks stunned. And confused. "But that's insane. I never saw anything like this before, and..."

"It comes and goes, boy. Backwards and forwards, or sideways. I dunno. Strange like that. Been outta touch with the world awhile anyways, least till you two showed up."

River

"And what a shame that would be." Legion says, twirling the coin and trying to put it back in Jasper's palm. She ruffles his hair and grins. "Wanna swim?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Harnel gives Libra a glare, "Yeah, and I would if I wasn't worried about the baby seeing me, but I am. I've asked you politely because I consider you a friend Libra. Friends help each other out and do things for one another."

[Libra's Meeting Point]

The little hand is withdrawn back into the egg. It starts teetering back and forth a bit as the baby works at widening the hole.

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Libra looks quite confused, "A friend? That's how you see me?" Time around the egg should slow down to an halt as Libra get's up from the ground.
"Why? It's not like you can do anything for me. Your just a terrestrial."

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Harnel relaxes once the egg is slowed down to a halt.

"I'm doing something for you now, aren't I?" he says, "Gathering up all these objects is supposed to be entertainment for you. That's something. It's not like I didn't have any other ways available to me to turn into a dragon"

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"Hmph, it's Zee isn't it? Your going to her to get transformed." She turns away, crossing her arms underneath her chest.

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Harnel rolls his eyes, "Libra, think about what I just said. I had other options, certainly, but I'm not dealing with them now, am I?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"...so you promise I'm the only one for you then?" The oni asks, her back still turned to the half-dragon.

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"That's why I came to you, Libra." Harnel says simply, standing still and waiting for her to turn back around.

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

The oni slowly turns her head around, "Your still going to explain why you stole the egg you know? What about the egg back with you? Then you can explain everything!"

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"My original idea for the egg was to take it away and give it back without the dragons noticing that it was gone. It would make things much simpler." Harnel says, "Part of why I asked you to send it back was because sneaking in a second time could be really bad for me, but I was also telling the truth in that we might cause the baby distress if it doesn't see its mother as the first thing it spots."

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"But you have been spotted and they are coming for you, even if you do return the egg, they will be chasing you, no?"

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Harnel blinks in surprise, "But..." he turns to look at the sky in the direction he came from, but probably won't see any dragons coming for him, "I thought Greg was going to distract the one that was there?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"Oh yes, he did. But slamming a instrument of some sort into it's head. It wasn't that effective. They have seen you after all and now they like your blood. People are awfully protective about their children." Libra shakes her head.

[Halae]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

Harnel looks at Libra and sighs, "Wonderful. I'm going to take the egg back to their lair now, then. Unless you'd be willing to help me with that."

[Gullara]

Lost

"The rock's what protects you from all this." Gerald says, just as the white boulder winks into view a few hundred feet ahead. He's forced to stop the truck halfway there, due to another vehicle screaming across their path. The car - some old Cadillac - flies past them, the driver white as a sheet, and disappears into the dark.

Gerald pays it no mind and rolls on. "It's a warnin' system. Put here for the Nexus's protection. If yer in contact - and I think both of you are - then you'll get a warnin everytime somethin's about to happen." He pauses, then elaborates, "Somethin bad."

Adir looks stunned. And confused. "But that's insane. I never saw anything like this before, and..."

"It comes and goes, boy. Backwards and forwards, or sideways. I dunno. Strange like that. Been outta touch with the world awhile anyways, least till you two showed up."

After recovering from the vehicle coming to such a rapid stop, the dryad says. "But, what's going to happen?" Sakura asks, her eyes wide. "Has this happened before?"

[Libra's Meeting Point]

And the egg is frozen in time. Just in time too. Not much longer and the baby would have been out.

[Shadowcaller]

[Libra's Meeting Point]

"I might as well, not going to change anything."

And Harnel will suddenly find himself outside the dragon's lair in random places.

[Neon Knight]

[Spooky Forest]

Were creatures are far more powerful than creatures of their size normally are, and the were moose is giant. The webs are not impossible for it to break, but it isn't necessarily easy either. And it's beside the point, really; the webs serve as an ample distraction, allowing Darst to line and land the perfect blow.

Crack!

The bone breaks and the moose bellows, shakes, teeters, then topples straight towards them!

Timber!

Hopefully the won't be crushed underneath his weight or struck by his impressive antlers as he falls. That would just be awful.

[Lost_Deep]

Spooky forest

Thankfully, Darst is close to the thing's feet and has experience dodging falling things. A quick shoulder roll to the side should enough to get Darst from under the moose, if the moose is threatening to fall on him.

Also, I thought the victim was a female. Whatever.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Courts of Chaos]

S'Kanthos has arrived at his estate here, presumably with the things from the elevator shaft.

[Rebonack]

[Spooky Forest]

Apparently becoming a were-moose also makes someone a guy? All the more reason to avoid it! Or at least Amil thinks that would be wise. She would rather not have to deal with being a guy on top of everything else.

Amil begins to fire the Tangle-web gun wildly at the moose, aiming to fasten the beast to the ground!

Even if it can rip through the tougher-than-steel cords enough of them should eventually manage to subdue the monster! The only question is whether or not Amil can apply enough of them before the moose manages to get up.

Better shoot faster Amil!

Pew pew pew pew!

[ThirdEmperor]

Courts of Chaos

Indeed. The tendrils of horrid magic release their grasp on S'Kanthos, falling to the floor and wriggling about, searching for meat, for flesh to devour, bones to sunder, lives to rend. And as they writhe, questing, they begin to grow, regenerating into whatever unseen beast injured S'Kanthos before, the thing in the tunnel that wounded him so badly.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Courts of Chaos]

He bled on them correct? If so, they might not be doing much regrowing - his blood is extremely volatile in this region of Shadow, and any that's exposed to the air has caught fire.

In any case, he tries to slice them up with corona-blades.

[ThirdEmperor]

Court of Chaos

As I recall, they didn't actually cut him, just broke his wings, several of his ribs and gave him a bad case of internal bleeding. So they wouldn't have gotten a significant amount of blood on them. Either way, the tendrils are chopped up, and dissolve into a blackish, tar-like murk that begin to sink into the floor.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Courts of Chaos]

Why do I get the feeling that's not good?

In any case, he hops back to The Nest, to get healed, unless stopped.

He'll be back shortly, though. I wonder what he'll find?

[ThirdEmperor]

Court of Chaos

Should the house not somehow be able go resist such things, the ooze will sink into the very foundations of the manner, and there begin to erode away all around it, eating away a small cavern in which it can safely regenerate. Within an hour, it will have been reborn. Then the real fun will begin. The creature will send out thousands of tiny, thread-like tentacles, each made of the same extremely acidic, pliable ooze it dissolved into before. These strands will eat their way throughout the house, into every wall, every floor, every ceiling, every room, weaving a trap for S'Kanthos.

All this is merely attempted of course, and can be stopped at any time, if there's anyone around capable of detecting the beast as it weaves an insidious snare throughout the mansion. Certainly, the creature won't make itself easy to detect, staying hidden within the walls. At most, perhaps there'll be a slight tremor when it begins creating a nest within the foundations.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Courts of Chaos]

They won't be stopped, but, due to the rather unique nature of construction here, they won't be able to move beyond this room and its foundations, unless they can pass through Shadow.

However, he comes back to the same room, so the point is fairly moot.