[Nexus] Outside XXVIII

[billtodamax]

Great Sky Bubble Battle

As the missles near the bubble, the casing suddenly flies off, and hundreds of needles shoot through the bubble at Feia and Ghoul.

They are sharp enough to penetrate light armour, although they'll likely bounce off anything stronger. They are also just clustered enough to avoid, if Feia and Ghoul move quickly. Still, there's quite a lot of them.

As for the missle chasing Kirk - it's a different story. If it connects a bright blue light will expand almost instantly into a sphere the shape of a beachball, disintegrating anything it touches.

If he puts some distance between himself and the missle, he could probably outrun it, as they aren't really designed to be fired this far, so it might run out of fuel.

Down on the ground, the large holes at the end of the robot's arms have started to glow. It's probably difficult to see from up there, but the robot knows precisely what it's doing.

It's charging its lasers.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Great Sky Bubble Brawl]

Needle-cluster missiles below, lasers above, and cavitation over there.
Feia would frown in particular at that last one, but she's busy.

Her half-finished glyph is released, snapping out of existence without any effect, sacrificed for the sake of avoiding pain from...pretty much every direction.
Or, try to. The lasers can be predicted from prior, and the water can buy the moment necessary to flee from the needles, but the shotgun-trick was a bit more on the unpredictable side.
It unsettled the overall immediate strategy.

Lady Feia!
From where he had been lurking since leading Ghoul to the sorceress in the first place, Sasch snaps up from her feet, not even bothering to wait for an excuse.
He stood by and let the slayers wound her eye and arm, at her request, but this would be worse by a fair margin. She has been disengaged from proper martial affairs for too long and clearly does not remember the limits of her form.

Feia has started to raise her hand for a glyph by the time her attendant reforms slightly above and in front, at the appropriate angle to plant a foot on her chest and kick her down and away, towards the edge of the bubble.
Such an action would result in his immediate execution in any other time, but this was important.

The witch frowns at the sudden appearance and twists her face into a snarl as she's kicked.
But only for a moment.
The cavitation wave hits Sasch first, as expected, twisting and being forced upwards, to neatly move into the path of incoming laser fire.
Mathematically executed to perfection, he would be proud of himself, if he wasn't discorporated moments later, oily substance corrupting the surrounding bubble-space.

Feia is treated to a prickly burning sensation along her back and legs, before the rest of the cavitation wave soars over and forces her the rest of the way out of the bubble.

A bloody cloud is left in the fluid behind her, more trailing behind in the air from numerous tiny holes dotting her legs and lower back, products of the needle cluster she hadn't fully avoided.

I hate fire.
Face twisted in a slightly different expression than she's used to, she begins the long fall towards the ground.

[Gullara]

[Great Sky Bubble Brawl]

This would be an excellent opportunity for Kirk to take advantage of Feia's apparent vulnerability and attack, but he has a missile to deal with at the moment. He catches a glimpse of the needles fired at the others, and figures that's what\s in store for him as well. The drow puts some speed on, and soon discovers just how fast the bike can go. He rockets forward, trying to avoid the missile long enough to lose it. Essentially, he's out of the action for this post.

[Terumitsu]

[Boisterous Bubble Battle - Groundward Ho!]

Feia wouldn't be the only one ejected by the concussion. Ghoul had been expecting a sizable force but simply expecting it did nothing to dampen it. Being momentarily stunned by the blast, Ghoul was unable to keep herself 'afloat' inside the bubble and quickly fell through the bottom. There was some silver lining to this, at least. The force had hit her squarely in the chest and had gotten rid of that nasty water-lung problem. Of course, there was also probably some internal damage there too, given that she tasted blood as she spit out the last of the liquid. It hurt, yes, but it was irrelevant for now. At least she could breathe again.

Which was a good thing as she would be able to use that fresh air for a snarl of pain as a cloud of needles slammed into her back and side. What got between the ceramic plates of her tactical gear would be stopped by her subcutaneous armor but the depth of the wounds wouldn't be the problem here. The needles likely operated in the same manner as flechettes did, causing multiple wounds as it ripped at the target, leaving many bleeding wounds to deal with. Thankfully, the muse had subsystems installed to shunt blood away from the wounds to minimize bleeding but it was going to be rather trying having to deal with the few needles that had pierced her cheek. It was only a matter of pure luck that she hadn't wound up with a needle in the eye, instead the errant pin landing just above and to the left of her now smudged eyebrows.

One might wonder why her kinetic barrier hadn't protected her from the needles or the cavitation explosion, however. The truth was that a liquid environment was simply too thick a fluid to generate a field in and the device had gone temporarily offline rather than waste energy. Now that the area was dominated by air again, it would soon be operable.

Quickly taking inventory of her situation, the muse checked to see if her joints had been affected by the needles. Her arm seemed to have full range of movement but her leg had a few needles in the back of her knee, preventing her from bending it all the way. Mobility on the ground would be limited until she could remove those. Of course, getting to the ground safely would be another thing. It seemed she had some ways to fall, at least. She had time. Noting that her grenades hadn't exploded yet, she sent a quick command to deactivate them. Now that the battlefield had changed again, the cryogrenades would simply give Feia more ammunition to work with. No reason to help her foe out.

Since the last shot had indeed been the last round in her weapon, the muse decided to use the time available to her to reload her shotgun. Rather than the buckshot she previously had chambered, she pulled ammunition from a different pocket this time. She would be using slugs this time, tipped with a small capsule of what was colloquially called 'hellgel.' The stuff would ignite and turn the slug into what would essentially be a mass of hot liquid metal on impact. It was great for compromising armor but Ghoul had always been curious as to how well it worked on organic targets.

[Mr. Moon]

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[Field]

While Kax fetches his axe, Feia continues drawing.
While he runs, axe ready, Feia continues drawing.
As he swings and freezes, Feia continues drawing.

Draws until she is finished.

Very distinctly ignoring the orc behind her she waits until the runes begin to glow more fiercely, growing in strength until the space in between the borders begins to twist and collapse into itself.
It's not difficult to see that this is a gateway, of some sort.

With that settled, she turns to Kax with a small smile.
"I'll keep you on a point system, I think."
The sorceress maneuvers around him, for the few moments he's likely to remain frozen. It isn't a particularly lengthy effect. Long enough for her to figure out where he was, and reach him, in most typical situations.

In this event, long enough to finish her work, then move around behind him.

She leans close behind him, grinning a little as she stands on her tip-toes to have her head up by his shoulder.
"Not off to a good start."

Push.

As Feia walks around Tel-Zaff Kax, he stands frozen. Only his eyes follow her as he struggles against his own skeleton. When she finally pushes him, he topples forward like a statue of a fallen warlord and disappears through the gateway.

[The Alexandrian]

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Elezibethele

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Elezibethele is perfectly willing to wait for Terrowin to die. She's young; she'll live for hundreds of years. What's another sixty more or less? But yes, the system is quite anarchic. What's worse is that Dalachrech himself has plans and plots, and knows those of His underlings.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll leave you somewhere safe whilst I'm off campaigning. But I'll always come back; not even death could stop me." That's a worrying statement.

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Azurelle

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"Good point. You don't fear punishment, so I'll need the carrot rather than the stick. So. How would you bring somebody rich and important to a position in which they are completely beneath your heel?" I think Azurelle will consider the plan, and possibly even go through with it.

[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Elezibethele]

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Erm... Yeah. That is a little worrying. More than a little worrying, in fact. But that whole "I'll always come back" part is much more fearsome than the part about death. Mine interprets it as "I'll always come back" with an implied "for you" attached to it. He never would have expected such words to be spoken by his Mistress.

"Oh! That's fantastic! I'm so glad that you won't ever leave me!"

Mine does his best to sound enthusiastic even as the words sink deeper in. She won't ever leave him. He'll be her slave forever. Maybe she'll eventually treat him like a peer, but Mine remains skeptical.

-------
[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Azurelle]

Toy is relieved! She was that close to being tormented to death for all eternity! She pauses for a moment before continuing, running through the entire scheme in her mind once more.

"There are multiple ways to reach those ends, Mistress. You could blackmail someone to gain power over them and then use that power to unseat them from their position and force him or her to serve her. You could take tips from Ilphy and use curtains to scale the ladders between the tiers of society and then overthrow or assassinate kings and queens as you see fit. You could storm a city and take it for yourself. You could use mental compulsion or a special parasite to control a leader. You could manipulate two nations, causing them to wage war on each other and enslave the survivors of said war. You could also, and this option is my favorite, steal away someone's family and use those hostages to subject someone to your every whim."

Toy is a scary person. She's the type that I wouldn't want to meet anywhere, not even in a public place. At least her hostility is aimed at those who deprive others of their free will. If she ever escapes this place and is properly trained in martial strategies and techniques, she's surely not going to be a pushover.

-------

Percival... is not sure how to respond to that. He certainly didn't expect it. So he just sort of shuffles his feet and asks, "Do you know how to swim, Eericka?"

[At the Coast with Percival]

Eericka doesn't know how to swim at all. She has never seen a body of water larger than one which can be contained within a bathtub. Maybe the slavers decided that the slaves shouldn't be instructed in that art because it would give them another route that they could use to escape their masters! The slavers appear to be lacking in decent pedagogy, if this matter and that of the sky are indicative of anything.

"No. I do not know how to swim, but I can sink very well."

That is the truth! If Percival were to, say, push Eericka into the deep end of a swimming pool, all she'd probably do is flail about wildly and scream in panic!

[Shadowcaller]

[Underground Lake]

Moss is taken underneath the earth and will then up inside a huge underground chamber of some sort. It's perfectly dark in here without any source of light whatsoever but yet Moss can almost feel another presence nearby. Something enormous.

"And here you are. Perfect! One step closer to city-wide domination, ahaha!" He hears a particularly loud voice announce as he's slowly dragged towards by the creature which now is warped around his entire body.

[DoomITP]

The Library of Alexandria

Zero walks into the middle of the room. There is a moment when he wonders if he should just try to reach the door but it seems that doing so would be too easy. After he stops moving he looks around and tries to see if there are any other exits to the room.

[Slii Arhem]

Underground Lake

Moss struggles valiantly, but he's only human and nowhere near strong enough to fight off this beast. To the presence he simply shouts out blindly.

"There are things stronger than you that ensure Riverside's protection. Even if you take me you'll never have the city! Stop the Bad Vibrations!"

The last part of his speech is his most powerful Hippiemancy spell, fueled by his faith in this time of need. It should calm anything he considers unnatural around him including the earth vampire unless it can resist the effects.

The presence may notice that there is fear in his voice, but he seems resolute.

[The Alexandrian]

[The Library of Alexandria]

Nope! This room has no other exits! That's unsettling. Maybe if he yanked the giant librarian creature out of the ceiling, he could create another exit, but then again, that might not work at all.

The librarian continues to stare at Zero, reaching out with a crimson tendril and attempting to prod him with it, checking to see whether or not he is mentally here.

[ThirdEmperor]

Riv's Hamlet- Ruins

No one comes looking for Javert. None of the villagers anyway. The townsfolk are too busy dealing with the Drone that just attacked one of their own for seemingly no reason, as the gunshots and occasional scream attest. But although the townspeople may be busy frying bigger fish, Javert is still at the top of Excelsior's list of problems to be solved with extreme prejudice. From his vantage point atop the ruins of the old inn, he'll see an armored car come racing out of the forest, pulling to a halt at the town gates.

From there, angle of vision and the village walls obscure what happens next, but it won't be long till footsteps can be heard. Heavy footsteps, accompanied by many lighter ones. A few seconds later, lumbering into view comes Markus*, the hydratroll. Eight feet tall and as ugly as can be, with thick brown-green scales, a mug like a crocodile and talons that can snap bones like twigs, Markus is an imposing sight, especially in contrast to the armored drones that follow him as he stomps into the ruins.

Unless Javert does something to interupt, the hydratroll will lean down to sniff at the blood on the ground, taking in the various scents. Five people. Two died, as their their nearby remains attest, one ran back to town, leaving his hand behind, and two, the only two of interest, headed deeper into the ruins.

I'm not sure whether or not Javert's scent is trail to trace though, or if he even left one, so how succesfull Markus's tracking efforts are will be delayed till the next post.

Riv's Hamlet

As Rick runs, he'll hear more gunshots behind him, accompanied by screams and shouts and the sounds of unmitigated violence being perpetuated upon someone. And just when things don't look, or at least sound, like they can get any worse, he'll hear the sound of a fully revved twelve-cylinder engine being reined in and wheels screeching, as an armored transit unit drags to a stop in front of the gates.

Or, well, a mostly armored transit unit. At this range it's easy to tell the vehicle is unfinished, missing huge patches of it's armor and lacking a turrent entirely. Someone was in a rush, apparently. Said someone being the eight-foot tall hydratroll and it's four traveling companions, who disembark from the car and walk right past Rick on their way to the ruins, bristling with enough weaponry to suggest standing in their path would be a truly terrible idea.

[DoomITP]

Library of Alexandria

The librarian's tendril is dodged by Zero who looks straight up at it in an attempt to figure out it's weak spot. Zero thinks that the creature is blocking the only other exit to the room and he doubts that walls around it could be destroyed by normal means.

[The Alexandrian]

[Library of Alexandria]

I'd say that the Librarian's eight eyes are its weak points. Eyes are normally flimsy like that. Personally, although there are more traditional ways to completely eliminate a monster such as crushing a dragon with the ceiling of its own cave or choking a rancor with a sturdy metal chain, Valaira would go for a massive creatures eyes as they are generally weak points. Take them out and the monster loses one of its senses. They are also easy to identify most of the time.

The Librarian has figured out by now that Zero is in a fighting mood. He evidently doesn't want to talk this through. Thus, he must be erased before he causes too much damage to the plinths of the building.

The Librarian attempts to lash Zero with a horizontal tentacle strike! That will probably hurt like crazy if it hits him!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Descending Bubble Fight]

Another moment of peace.
That's nice, as Feia is discovering that her legs aren't actually on fire.

She twists her head around as she falls, acquiring a faintly surprised look at the sight of blood instead of flames.
That's a little worse than she had thought.
She needed those legs.

No time to think about that, with the ground coming up.
A quick look around, to find Kirk fleeing another missile, Ghoul over there with her gun, and the robot...doing something.
And herself, falling and leaving a wonderful blood trail.

Feia snarls at herself, jerking her shot arm forward.
The fingers can still move, so it can still do its damned job, pain or no pain.
It isn't a hard job, simply guide the three mini-glyphs the other hand is producing into their proper places as a triangle.

Two or three seconds before the ground becomes a problem.
Plenty of time, to get symbols ahead, to greet the ground before her.
The triangle is wider than Feia, which works nicely with the fact that she will be flying through the ground it settles on, a bit like it isn't even there.

[DoomITP]

The Library of Alexandria

Zero jumps out of the way of the attack and once he is standing still again he gathers energy in his hands before attempting to throw the energy towards the librarian. Once it gets close enough or is hit hard enough it will flash with extremely bright light. Zero also creates a defense for himself against the flash as it flies towards the librarian.

[VampireRot]

{Melody's Island- the Cabin}


Thanks Momma. Melody gives Happy a hug and a kiss. She then pockets the whiskey and wine. I'll bring them back when they're done. And off she flies back toward the barn.

[Melody's Island - Barn]

"Yeeeeep. I'll have to thank them somehow." Maybe send them cookies.

Not homemade though, cause he doesn't know how to make cookies.

[Melody's Island - Barn]

"Aye. Mebe ye can give em some loot from yer adventurin', or just host a dinner fer them."

Ermine shrugs, not sure how to do most of these things. Pirates don't usually do each other nice favors like this without some greedy motive.

[The Alexandrian]

[The Library of Alexandria]

Wow! That is extremely clever! Blinding the creature with light before permanently blinding it with something else entirely! The attack is super effective against the Librarian! It thrives in pure darkness, after all! Two of its tendrils thrash against the floor wildly as it blinks in response to all of the pain and agony!

So...much...light...

[Lex-Kat]

[Melody's Island - Barn]

While Melody is gone, Estia and Lyanna return each carrying a glass of water. Lyanna is slower, because she's being extra careful not to drop it. Momma said to give you some water, while you wait. Estia says when she places her glass before Reinholdt.

Lyanna finally sets her glass down next to Ermine. You're welcome. she smiles brightly up at Ermine. Are you a pirate!

((Estia's 9 and Lyanna's 7, now.))

[Reinholdt]

[Melody's Island - Barn]

"Ah. Thank you." Reinholdt says, smiling and giving a head nod before he goes to take a sip of water.

"How have you and your sister been doing?" He asks Estia, while letting Ermine answer Lyanna's question.

[VampireRot]

[Melody's Island - Barn]

"Tanks."

Ermine takes a drink of water, then grins and tips her hat to Lyanna.

"Aye, I am a pirate."

[DoomITP]

Zero starts to work another bit of magic to keep the librarian blinded long enough for him to get out of the room. He didn't want to kill the librarian unless he had to. Now, if the way out is revealed, Zero will attempt to exit the room.

[Shadowcaller]

Underground Lake

Moss struggles valiantly, but he's only human and nowhere near strong enough to fight off this beast. To the presence he simply shouts out blindly.

"There are things stronger than you that ensure Riverside's protection. Even if you take me you'll never have the city! Stop the Bad Vibrations!"

The last part of his speech is his most powerful Hippiemancy spell, fueled by his faith in this time of need. It should calm anything he considers unnatural around him including the earth vampire unless it can resist the effects.

The presence may notice that there is fear in his voice, but he seems resolute.

Underground Lake

The earth vampires grip around him seems to loosen around him to the point he might be able to escape it.
"Ah, some resistance,. I was afraid you would just crawl into a hole and die, but of course, that would be the smart thing to do and mortals have never really been strong in that area." The voice says, now feeling very close.

[The Alexandrian]

[The Library of Alexandria]

Nope! No more exits have been revealed! Just that one on the wall opposite the route by which Zero entered. It does appear as though this exit has swung open an inch or two, however. Soft blue eyes peer out from the empty space between the door and its frame. They are more inquisitive and playful than insidious and fearsome.

Odd.

[Slii Arhem]

Underground Lake

The earth vampires grip around him seems to loosen around him to the point he might be able to escape it.
"Ah, some resistance,. I was afraid you would just crawl into a hole and die, but of course, that would be the smart thing to do and mortals have never really been strong in that area." The voice says, now feeling very close.

Underground Lake

"And I was afraid you would be some kind of blowhard! I'm so glad you're proving me wrong. Why don't you just Rest in Peace!" Moss uses his newfound freedom to squeeze his arms out of the wormlike creature and point them out into the darkness, spread apart to cover a fairly large area where he thinks the presence might be.

The spell he casts isn't precisely hippiemancy, being a perversion of the craft he had thought of during a dark period of his life. He had never dared cast it before, being afraid of losing control of it due to his somewhat lacking faith.

But now he has nothing to lose if he fails, and too many people who will be defenseless against this monster unless he can succeed. The spell shines brightly, possibly striking the presence and piercing through the darkness. It is designed to grant the final, ultimate peace to whatever it touches.

The peace of the grave.

Sister Gertrude wouldn't approve. If she knew he was even considering such a thing she would eject him from the church dishonorably... But he thinks of Lily, of Gremalphin... of Tor. So he puts his all into this, driving himself to the brink of exhaustion. When the spell cuts out he's unconcious, unaware of how successful he may have been.

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Elezibethele

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That's because Elezibethele didn't say 'for you'; Mine is not the reason Elezibethele will come back. She'll come back because she's confident that she can make herself invaluable to Dalachrech in the land of the living. When Dalachrech sends somebody back, they retain their personality, memories and quirks, but loose their bodies, and become decidedly inhuman (or inelf, as the case may be).

"I'm glad you're so happy for my potential immortality. If humanity's extinct by the time I die, though, I'll die happy and will have no need to come back. I don't mind much either way, because as long as it takes I will see humanity destroyed." Elezibethele smiles, and seems convinced by the faux-enthusiasm.

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Azurelle

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"I like the blackmail option. Curtaining up the tiers of soceity I'm not sure about; I don't curtain casually with those I don't have the power to execute without question. I lack the forces to storm a city, but I might be able to organise a lightning-raid to steal captives and enslave the rich and beautiful, and politics would be required to force two nations into conflict, and politics does not interest me. And mental control would ruin the fun; I enjoy forcing people to my bidding, yes, but magical control isn't the same; there's no option of failure, and no possibility of punishment. And that's the most fun part of all." A parasite would, however, be possible; there already exists the brainbeetle used in Dalachrechian sentient sacrifices, whose larvae eat the nerve tissue of its host to their brain, where it pupates and matures until it's ready to eat its way out through the optic nerve and start the process anew (as that host is either dead or too brain-damaged to look after itself).

[The Alexandrian]

[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Elezibethele]

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Great! Now Mine can warn whatever ends up killing Elezibethele (if anything ever manages to do such a thing) that she'll be back to murder it! And if she fails, she'll come back again and again and again until she succeeds. All I can say is that if Elezibethele's plan to wipe all humans from the face of the earth is ever put into effect, she'll have Remnant and a major number of Nexus PCs to cut through. And if she were to use economic and agricultural warfare against Inside as a whole, she might actually unite all of the different species of Inside and pit them against the Dalachrechian clergy.

"What of orcs, ogres, and gnomes? Surely you would agree that members of those degenerate species must die as well."

Mine needs to get to the root of this problem. Elezibethele hates humans, but is this revulsion universal or exclusive?

-------
[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Azurelle]

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"And that is where our opinions differ."

Quoth Toy.

"Honestly, I favor mental control over many of the other choices. It doesn't have to be absolute. It can be quite fleeting, really. A snip here. You change someone's perceptions for all eternity. They see what you want them to see. Your reality and their's become one in the same. It takes time and effort, but when they break out of the cycle only to observe what atrocities they have committed, the destruction of their very soul is complete. It can break people entirely, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Toy grins savagely.

I remember reading about those parasites. They called one character to the front of my mind. KHAN!

[Earl of Purple]

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Elezibethele

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Well, it's not true immortality. Death is still involved; but it's in a way that the whole of Elezibethele survives. Hard to kill, yes, but not impossible, and once destroyed impossible to bring back in the same manner. Like an undead, but different.

"They can live; orcs are dangerous, but aren't in the same order as humanity with regards to their society. The same goes for ogres. Gnomes, on the other hand, have a rich and vibrant society which is also being destroyed by human encroachment. I knew a gnome who had similar ideas to me; regretably, he's dead." He was a cleric of Dalachrech, and attacked a paladin. The hatred is directed solely towards humanity, and to a lesser extent those elves who seem willing to let humanity destroy elvish culture. Although any elf that she perceives as weak is in trouble, too; hence the initial harsh treatment of Mine.

Hermitage of Dalachrech- Azurelle

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"Yes, they do. I have little experience with magic that effects the mind so subtly, and also have no access to it. I can imagine its effect, but I don't know of any magics that actually work in that manner." Azurelle returns the savage smile.

Who's Khan?

[Shadowcaller]

[Underground Lake]

The whole area is lit up for a short moment, the darkness giving away to the light for the first time in hundreds of years.
For this brief time a horrifying creature is revealed, large as a whale it lays in the murky waters. It have tentacles thick as tree trunks and a 'face' of fish with a huge maw filled with razor-sharp teeth surrounded by smaller tentacles.

Three plate-shaped empty blue eyes stare in surprise as the beam is flung at it.

There is a loud scream as the light hits, the whole cave shaking as the light slowly fades away once again.

"AHHHH!"

Moss won't really be able to see what's happening before the earth vampire seems to go berserk on him, attempting to force it's way into his mouth.

[The Alexandrian]

[Hermitage of Dalachrech- Elezibethele]

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Gnomes. Vicious little things, in my experience. Persistent too.

"The humans you describe are horrifically stunted compared to the human I lived alongside. Maybe I saw the best of humanity in the worst of conditions. We were all the same. Every one of us. Bonded together not by race but by station. We are shackled together with blood and pain. Pain thrust upon us not by any people in particular but with those who shared in your beliefs. You call us advanced and make claims that we are oh so sophisticated, but all I see is a disjointed tribe of persnickety loons hellbent on their own gain. Your family's serendipity and my family's misfortune is what you believe separates us. I'm fated to serve you because you are supreme, right? How can you render such judgment on another without first seeing the world through their own eyes?"

"You have lost a part of yourself. I knew it from when we first met. Someone did something to you. Something remarkably ugly which has caused your spirit to languish. I think that's why you hate humans. But that hate is destroying you! The anger is more your enemy than humans are!"

"There are bad people out there, human, orc, and even elf. Humans aren't all bad, though, just as elves aren't all good!"

"Elimination isn't the answer. Torture isn't the answer! Education is! Through education there is control, understanding, and harmony!"

"Truth be told, I like you, Mistress. I think that you are a fine, intelligent person. But as much as I like you, I think you misunderstand where the responsibility for the sins of the humans falls."

"When an unchained dog bites the neighbor, we punish the owner more than the dog. When a baby is dies on account of ingesting a fatal toxin, do we blame the baby for its actions or the parents? The responsibility rests on our shoulders, Elezibethele. If humans are as corrupt as you say they are and those I met in captivity were real humans, then they have a potential for good that we haven't yet tapped! And for not allocating our resources to change humanity to the better, we are at fault."

"Humans are too precious a resource to be squandered, and elves dying in vain in a conflict against humans is too much of a cost for this irrational purpose!"

... Mine is so going to be beat now, isn't he? He should have just held his tongue and not voiced his opinion.

-------

[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Azurelle]

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Khan is the antagonist of the Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan.

Spoiler: A Segment of the Plot of The Wrath of Khan Is Addressed:

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Khan makes use of a parasite identified as the Ceti Eel to torture two human officers of the United Federation of Planets. It burrowed into their brains as well, resulting in less than favorable side-effects.

"Then blackmail it is."

Toy states. She doesn't have access to magic at all. Therefore, if Azurelle can't do something, then it isn't even an option which can be considered in this particular scheming session.

"Anyone in particular that you want to start with?"

[Slii Arhem]

[Underground Lake]

The whole area is lit up for a short moment, the darkness giving away to the light for the first time in hundreds of years.
For this brief time a horrifying creature is revealed, large as a whale it lays in the murky waters. It have tentacles thick as tree trunks and a 'face' of fish with a huge maw filled with razor-sharp teeth surrounded by smaller tentacles.

Three plate-shaped empty blue eyes stare in surprise as the beam is flung at it.

There is a loud scream as the light hits, the whole cave shaking as the light slowly fades away once again.

"AHHHH!"

Moss won't really be able to see what's happening before the earth vampire seems to go berserk on him, attempting to force it's way into his mouth.

Underground Lake

Moss, being unconcious, cannot resist whatever the foul creature intends to do with him.