[Nexus] HT's plots

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Dionysus gets himself a little smile back.
"It is appreciated. I couldn't forgive myself if he got hurt while I was nearby."

Libby frowns slightly, then, mostly at a thought she's had.
She really could have prevented this little embarrassment to Maggy, couldn't she? Just sort of...walked over and plucked him away. But that might interfere with things too much...

Mleargh, but Maggy.

The reaper looks over to the cyborg, reaching a hand towards him, but then veering it away to nudge his slushie closer instead.
"Where is it? The clinic."

[Lord Magtok]

Beachside

"Mrm. Irrelevant."

Magtok shakes his head, dismissing the whole 'let's go beat up her husband's business' idea just as quickly as he brought it up. He sips at his drink, idly curious as to whether health potions actually deal with minor things like his aches and pains, or just fix up flesh and bone and ignore such trivialities.

[The Alexandrian]

[Beachside]

"Ah, he'll be fine."

Clarissa snickers, casually shrugging as though she hadn't nearly launched her boss's second on a free vacation to the moon and back!

"Why? Do you think I should toss people less forcefully in the future?"

Oh, Clarissa is expecting to be admonished upon returning to AMEN after this juvenile little prank, but this was totally worth it. Clarissa isn't too perturbed about Dio angling Maggy out of his salty predicament. Maggy experienced the initial flight acceleration and all of the g-forces of the most turbulent segment of ride. That sufficiently satisfies her desires for the outcome of the situation.

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

"Perhaps in the future, you can save someone I care about from humiliation and harm. Then I'll be glad to call things square." Behind Dio's sparkling smile lies a devious glint in his eye. He's sure Libitina has played this game before, her pantheon has a Bacchus of its own after all.

Unless, of course, he was murdered for his heavyhandedness. Romans never did understand subtlety.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Libby frowns a little bit at this.
How...un-Maggy.
Concise and restrained.

These are opposite to what she would expect. Clearly this situation must have egged into him a little more than she had expected it to.
"Maybe abusing a Magbot would help..."
He did seem to have a disregard for their personal comfort.


The reaper stares at Dionysus for a moment, her frown upgrading to a faintly tense smile for diplomatic purposes.
"Within reason, we shall see. One good turn for another."
No dragging souls out of their afterlives, Mr. Wine God...
That would cause rather unpleasant consequences.

[Lord Magtok]

Beachside

Magtok opens his mouth, as if to say something, before he abruptly changes course, and instead takes a moment to sip at his drink. He slowly nudges the drinks aside after that, takes a moment to turn to one side so that his shiny left side is facing the bar, and then shakes his head in response to Libby's remark about Magbots.

"Maybe. Gonna pass out first, though. Make sure I don't choke on my own tongue or something? Can people do that? I don't know if that's just a myth or if that can actually-"

Whap! The left side of Maggy's face hits the counter, exactly as he planned, and he loses consciousness in an instant.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Magtok is doing all sorts of strange things tonight.
One would have thought he'd be better at monitoring his alcohol intake than that, with the mechanical bits or something.

Apparently not though, so Libby will give a little poke at him to make sure he's out before frowning.
"That's probably...not very healthy. Won't be killing him at least, I suppose."

Drat, not all she has to talk to is this other god who she definitely didn't steal from and apparently owes a favor to.
Hopefully this won't get awkward at all.

[Murkus]

[Beachside]

Fettina approaches the sandbar, frowning melodramatically at everyone there. "Gee, you guys sure are good at ruining fun."

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

"And you certainly know how to drive away paying customers. Now, what can I get you to make all this nonsense about flinging things flee your mind like so many specks of sand in a summer's breeze?" Did a wind just pick up? Probably just their imagination. Nevermind that Dio is technically footing the bill for all the drinks either. He expects his customers to pay with different currency.

[Murkus]

Beachside

"You are so full of it," Tina laughs, frown turning to an ivory smile, right before she sits down. He props her arms on the bar. She asks, in relatively good humour, "Got any decent red wine in this dump?" This oughta be good.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Meanwhile, Libby has finally starting slipping her slushie.
Why are these things always so tasty?
Who knows, but they are!

She carefully elects to stay out of the entire "fun ruining" conversation, since they're the ones that went faintly violent on things.
"I would quite hope he had some red wine...not entirely sure he can be found without some form of it."

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

Dionysus seems all geared up to be affronted at the mere implication that he doesn't carry all forms and varieties of wine on his person at all times, but Libby beats him to it.

"Of course I have red wine, as well as black, white, green, yellow, and gold. All fruits, vintages, barrels, soils, mulches, and ripenesses have been carefully tried and retried in all combinations imaginable, and a few even unthinkable. Name a preferred beverage madame, and I will provide it, no matter how irregular it seems." A challenge! Dionysus must have a challenge, or it would barely be worth his time to serve her at all.

[Murkus]

Beachside

"Well now I'm intrigued. I guess you two know eachother?" says Tina, leaning on the bar heavily and eyeing Dio. Well, no questioning how he has every wine in the universe. Time to take advantage of the fact. "How to start... Why don't you surprise me?"

[The Alexandrian]

[Beachside]

Counterwise Wine. There's nothing so exotic or tantalizing to the palate as Counterwise Wine. And best of all, the hangover comes before you imbibe the intoxicating concoction so you end up suffering earlier rather than later.

Hmm... Tantalizing. The only good that came of Tantalus's crimes against humanity and the Grecian gods. Perhaps some would call his punishment extreme, but Clarissa could dream up a worser fate in one second flat.

Now what exactly was Clarissa up to here? Ah, yes, the none too punctilious gal was searching for her mate. With any luck, he won't be all that fastidious in demand of sincerity in her apology. Considering the circumstances, she doesn't think that he'll wish ill on her for it. But how shall she explain? How can she vocalize what she feels within? How she yearns for her other half to rejoice as she is? How she personally feels about...

All in good time. All in good time.

Clarissa begins to comb the beach, relentlessly attempting to hunt down Dave!

[Gullara]

[Beachside]

Kirk heads over to the bar. He tries to put a hand on Tina's shoulder. "Fettina, I'm going to head out. I'll call you soon, we should do something."

[happyturtle]

Beachside

Suddenly, the cross-dressing fae vanishes, leaving all his fine clothing lying empty on the sand.

Or wait... maybe not completely empty. There's some movement under the swimsuit fabric. After a moment a pixie pops out of the neckline.

"Oh! I have turned back! It must be a year and a day since I arrived! I lost the trail of the time!"

It's Shae! Only he's a tiny pixie.

(Also, he's naked...)

[Mindfreak]

[Beachside]

Counterwise Wine. There's nothing so exotic or tantalizing to the palate as Counterwise Wine. And best of all, the hangover comes before you imbibe the intoxicating concoction so you end up suffering earlier rather than later.

Hmm... Tantalizing. The only good that came of Tantalus's crimes against humanity and the Grecian gods. Perhaps some would call his punishment extreme, but Clarissa could dream up a worser fate in one second flat.

Now what exactly was Clarissa up to here? Ah, yes, the none too punctilious gal was searching for her mate. With any luck, he won't be all that fastidious in demand of sincerity in her apology. Considering the circumstances, she doesn't think that he'll wish ill on her for it. But how shall she explain? How can she vocalize what she feels within? How she yearns for her other half to rejoice as she is? How she personally feels about...

All in good time. All in good time.

Clarissa begins to comb the beach, relentlessly attempting to hunt down Dave!

Beachside
Dave notices Clarissa searching for him!
He takes a deep breath and walks towards her, head upwards, ready to face whatever.

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

"Well now I'm intrigued. I guess you two know eachother?" says Tina, leaning on the bar heavily and eyeing Dio. Well, no questioning how he has every wine in the universe. Time to take advantage of the fact. "How to start... Why don't you surprise me?"

Beachside

Dio reaches under the table for a bottle that isn't there, yet. He'll let this fine mischief maker sample some of his finest from fifteen years ago, and go from there. He always did enjoy that particular year. Had it himself, in fact, when he was Integrity's slave for a day.

"Oh, we know of each other, but our social circles don't mingle all that often. This has been the first chance we've really chatted all that much in... ever." When the bottle he was looking for fails to materialize, he misses a beat as a frown overtakes his usually serene expression.

Well, wasn't that odd. Perhaps one of his soon-to-be-murdered followers thought it funny to hide it on him.

He grabs another bottle of much more ancient vintage instead. It may not be as good as his most recent best, but Tina will hardly be able to tell without trying both. He pours her a glass, and then one for himself for good measure.

"Enjoy!" His smile is firmly back on his face, as if it never left.

[The Alexandrian]

[Beachside]

Look at that! Oh, goodie!

A wild Dave (finally) appeared!
Go Clarissa!
Fight>Tackle
Clarissa used tackle!

The second that Clarissa lays her eyes on Dave, she bolts toward him with such speed that any measurement of it would only yield a fatal error message followed shortly thereafter by a bluescreen and the subsequent explosion on that bluescreen's heels and rage at the fiery doom and shrapnel loving explosion resulting from the bluescreen. She'll try to smoothly take him down to the sand and, attempting to cushion his head to deflect any excessive damage to his cranium, give a shot at land straddling his chest in a defiant yet exclusively playful wrestling move of dominance!

"Hi Dave!"

She smiles foxily.

"Sorry about tying you up like this, but I wanted to apologize for being so nasty to you back there. It was nothing personal."

Clarissa's smile suddenly falters and she temporarily falls silent. Her eyes flash with the marks of subdued apprehension. Her tails droop like withered flowers under the pressure and strain of a snowy gale.

"It was just that...uh...I was..."

She closes her eyes. As much as it stung admitting that she was weak and afraid when it came to these sort of matters, she was finished keeping secrets from Dave.

"I was terrified. I am terrified."

Clarissa hangs her head low. She'd never felt this way before around Dave, and it made her feel pathetic and, yuck, mortal.

"When I yelled at you... I didn't mean to hurt you or make you cry. I've done something that makes me feel terrible every now and again...from withdrawals."

"I weaned myself off of humanoid lifeforms for a spell. It might not be permanent, because I feel horribly out of sorts without some form of game to hunt."

"But when I started shouting, I kept on hollering because I was afraid you'd leave me..."

"You can annul the marriage and do whatever you want but don't leave me."

You know, Clarissa's never been this sensitive before. She ordinarily laughs these things right off without a second thought! Something is off here with her today...

"I..."

"I have a surprise for you. One that can't go wrong and backfire and hurt you."

"Do you trust me?"

[Rebonack]

Waaaaait.

This isn't the Den at all!

Must be Nexus shenanigans.

The cultists groans and falls to the floor. however, just as he hits the ground, a blinding light fills the room. The cultists body explodes and fiery chunks of dead cultists fly about. Poor Raven will get the brunt of the explosion and will probably find herself on fire and smothered in blood. Then, a huge crack is heard and the floorboards begine to crtack under her, exposing a hole into the ground. This whole then erupts with fire, sending volcanic bursts of magma into the inn. Whew...these guys have spells!

Raven gets blasted backwards by a face full of explosions! She Curls her body into a ball, hitting the ground in a roll before springing back to her feet covered in sizzling gore and a few chips in her armored carapace.

That had caught her by surprise. Next time? Not so much. The Farspawn rogue is quite the nimble one, and the improbable ability to dodge explosions is something she's well acquainted with. And thankfully her hyper-natural body doesn't quite adhere to the normal laws of physics, thus blunting the impact of the blast a bit.

Still hurt. But she's not out of commission.

As the floor beings cracking and erupting and burbling menacingly Raven dodges perpendicular to reality, neatly skirting around the molten rock and leaping into the midst of the chanting cultists. No time to take them one by one, this earthquake spell needs to end now.

The chimera's form blurs as she unleashes a flurry of slashes from wings and tail, limbs like sickles aiming the scythe down the cultists in a graceful waltz of violence, blades, and blood.

[Murkus]

Beachside

Tina watches the god of winemaking closely, wondering perhaps if he's missing some ammunition from his arsenal.

That assumption is quickly forgotten as Dio retrieves their bottle with a smile on his face. Whether or not Dionysus puts it away, she attempts to read the date of manufacture and the winery from which this bottle originated.

"This looks positively ancient," says Tina, holding up her glass and examining the presumably red wine. She takes a sip, merely tasting.

In the next moment, a hand appears on her shoulder. She turns and gives Kirk a mild smirk. "If Jezebel doesn't keep you too busy, well, I don't see why not."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Someone finally looks back at this thread.

Dionysus covered how they knew each other rather nicely enough, so Libby just looks in an elsewhere direction and sips her slushie for a moment.
This entire situation just felt awkward.
For reasons that no one here is aware of but her and the unconscious lump of fleshy metal next to her.

Hate it when that happens.

In a vague effort to stamp down on said awkwardness and keep things from becoming decidedly unsane, Libby joins in on watching Tina drink her new alcohol.
"Hopefully that isn't one of his more...exciting brews."
Warning, side effects may include drunken nude rampaging through the fields.

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

Dionysus quirks an eyebrow, clearly amused at Libby's comment.

"Brews of which I'm sure you've only heard rumors milady? After all, you're not the sort to be galavanting through fields of clover stripped to the waist and covered in smeared juices." Dio of course gives no confirmation as to whether the red wine is one of said specialty blends.

The label simply has a handwritten scrawl, noting the vinyard and year, the latter in roman numerals that will be entirely unhelpful to Tina. CCXL could be anywhen considering Dionysus doesn't exactly grow his grapes in the Nexus, and most calenders flee in terror when you try to find the exact date on them around here.

The taste is a perfect mix of sweet and dry at 01, not a hair too far in either direction. A good wine to start off with when he doesn't know a person's preferences, and the more the taste lingers the better it adapts to Tina's tastebuds, becoming something she'd enjoy before slipping down her throat.

"Well? I hope you don't feel like rampaging through any innocent hamlets after just a sip."

[Gullara]

[Beachside]

Kirk chuckles and shrugs. "I always have time for my good friends." He gives her a searching look, though he's subtle about it. It seems like everything's still okay between them, but it wasn't that long ago that they had their falling out. In any case, the drow will tip his hat. "I'll see you soon then." And then he turns to leave.

[Murkus]

Beachside

"Yeah, see you," says Tina, giving the drow a wave and a genuine smile. Once he's a fair distance away, the platinum girl sighs, melancholy coloring her expression.

Arright, back to the fun bit. Tina flicks her eyes between the two gods, blinking slowly. The pianist seems amused. She takes another, longer sip, the wine seeming... sweeter than before. That's odd. "I dunno. I feel something."

Having read a bit about Dio, I think Tina would make an excellent maenad. Despite the 'tearing up small animals and eating them' bit.

"This is just regular wine, right?" Despite her cautionary nature - and their rather vague comments on the subject - she takes another quick sip.

[happyturtle]

Not The Black Dragon Den

((The events that started here have now been transplanted to a generic tavern in this thread.))

Billie sees at once that killing these guys up close would be a bad idea, but she isn't much of a ranged specialist. Sure, she could throw her dagger, but wouldn't it be more fun if...

...she picks up the wizardess bodily over her head and flings her across the tavern at the largest cluster of cultists. Definitely super human ability showing here.

Of course the grab and throw was an attempt. If the wizardess has a way to escape being grabbed and thrown, then Billie will have to react accordingly. But Billie is all up in her face, so it'll have to be something good. Hopefully she can't just teleport away. That would leave Billie badly outmatched.

If the wizardess can still manage to throw a fireball, and aim it properly, while being punched and then thrown (or trying to escape being thrown), then Billie might get burnt. Of course, Billie is hoping that the spell will end up hitting the tangle of cultists she's hoping to create, or better yet, that getting knocked over causes them to explode.



Since a floor flooded with real magma would be pretty much instant death for most organic creatures, whether cultists or not, and since the cultists aren't dying from standing around in magma, I'm going to assume it's Video Game Magma, where you can actually walk through it if you have enough hit points to sustain the damage from each step, and somehow emerge from it without being horribly scarred for life. Billie would like to jump on a table, since that's what you do when you are playing The Floor Is Lava, but she's a little occupied at the moment. Maybe next round.


((If this is real magma, I'll have to retcon Billie out of the scene, as she couldn't possibly survive.))


((Could you include at the bottom of your post a little tally of the cultists and what they're doing?

ex: Cultists kicking kittens 3
cultist chanting in faux latin 1
cultist returning from the loo because his watch was slow 1
cultists exploding this turn 19))

[Mindfreak]

Beachside - This is the part where they forgive and forget
Clarissa is, as always, successful in tackling Dave and straddling his chest. He actually looks happy to see her, and when she apologizes he gives a small frown. "Clarissa I...forgive you. But I want you to know something, everything I've done for you was because I loved you. I'm not going to leave you, nor am I going to annul the marriage. I married you because I want to spend my life with you, and that hasn't changed."
And then he smiles. "And yes, of course I trust you."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Beachside]

Libby gives a strange little cough in response to Dionysus' question that could either be shallow avoidance of answering the question, or some hint that she finds even thinking about what the question entails horribly embarrassing.
It could go either way, maybe both.

Then she proceeds to stare at Magtok for a moment, trying to look somewhat blank.
Maybe drawing social courage from him or something.
Maybe just staring at him.

Why is it that her capability for smoothly talking to anyone in a group setting seems to decline, the longer she's in the situation? Usually fine with individuals, but this is just odd.
"Well, from what (second-hand) knowledge I have, if it was the more exciting kind of wine, we'd know."
Maybe not you, but we'd know.

"Regular wine isn't as good though. Well, unless you count your lighter experimentations regular?"
This is probably a compliment of some sort. Or Libby just remembering the (Magtok-stolen) bottle of wine that she knows nothing about.
That was really tasty.

[Slii Arhem]

Beachside

"Can anything I have a hand in truly be called regular? However, that brew is only mildly magical, and not the concoction reserved for my most devout and maniacal followers. Your slushie is getting low there, may I offer you a glass so you can verify for yourself?" The last part is directed to Libby as he lifts the bottle invitingly. Perhaps she'd like to see how it compares to what she's already sampled?

Back to Tina, Dionysus grins somewhat heartily, "You know, if you don't mind a bit of a sales pitch, I'd love to offer one. It isn't often that I see someone who's idea if retribution so evenly matches with my own." Of course, where Tina decided to hurl Maggy into the sunset, Dio would have simply arranged for him to wake up in an embarrassing location, like nude in a lion enclosure. Still, it's roughly the same level of spite and hilarity, mixed with non-too-subtle danger.

[Murkus]

Beachside

"Um... good. Right on," says Tina, looking between the pair of them. Devout and maniacal followers? What was this guy, a god?

...

She'll catch on sometime. She sips and stares off down the beach for a moment, enjoying the waning sunlight on the water. After a moment, Dio garners Tina's full attention again, and her eyebrows rise as he talks. Despite the fact that Dionysus halted that same retribution, she decides to listen. "Alright, what is it?"