[Nexus] Inside 44

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Dusty Flagon

(Nope. The shadow's one of Ray's portals. I'm assuming the watch-seller pockets the bill?)

"Right, see ya then." With a nod towards the peddler, Ray turns and heads into the bar. And as I don't actually know what the inside of the bar looks like I can't say what he does past that point.

[Mina Kobold]

Lellienth nods in acknowledgment, smiling, though she finishes the song, and passes her harp to an elf with a pattern of silver and black lines tattooed on her face, before she goes looking for the Pixie, dancing into the crowd with inhuman grace, born of elven reflexes, Eilistraee's blessing, and long practice.

Meanwhile, as she looks for him, the elf to whom she gave her harp takes up the task of providing music.

Dancing along to the changed tune, Lewis notices the now-harpless Lellienth and flutters closer, moving to the rhythm of the music.

"Peace and hello! You authored the musical glamoure at the competition, right? Quite groovy display, as were your singing here."

The green-eyed illusionist swiftly greets, speaking with cheerful speed. smiling, the flying Pixie extends a hand.

"Care for a dance?"

[Hattish Thing]

The Dusty Flagon

The tavern is dim. Not too impressive. It looks like any other cheap tavern. A rather pretty woman glances over at Ray. She's obviously a waitress. Er....hello? Would you like a seat?
Thw watch-seller pockets the bill and strides down the street, back to his home.

[Rebonack]

Generic Street

Huh. Y'know, I coulda sworn ebony was, like, a tree or something, not some crazy element-infused death metal that can destroy magic items. But because in this case ebony appears to be just that, the wight's ebony claws will have no trouble shredding the magic sword like the poorly crafted piece of junk it is.

Worse yet, Dwayne's armor was crafted by the same cruddy enchanter, so the second clawswipe right through that as well and into the vulnerable flesh below. And unless this wight's claws have the same mercifully numbing effect as the last one, I can imagine that's gonna hurt like crazy.

Wounded and terrified by the sudden loss of his only weapon, Dwayne flees, clutching at the wound in a panicked attempt to slow the bleeding as he scrambles up towards the roof. It's not far, merely one last flight of stairs up, but Dwayne isn't moving quite so fast as he was a moment ago either.

Ebony is a tree in much the same way that adamant is a diamond in most fantasy settings (it isn't).

The stuff is the pure elemental form of metal. At least in the Empyreum setting it is. And that's where the Wights are from. Imagine tungsten carbide without the whole shattering issue. That's what Ebony is based on, more or less.

So in other words the stuff is nearly as hard as diamond and even more resistant to shattering than steel. If you need a material to make stabbing tools with? Ebony is the thing to use. Too bad finding enough Ebony to actually make weapons with is obnoxiously difficult.

Though if the Wight is killed a small amount of Ebony could probably be looted from its corpse. Alloying the elemental metal with normal iron and carbon would make for a very high quality sword.

But for now?

Fleeing!

With a snarl the Wight gives chase, loping along awkwardly after our hero! Near the edge of the building are a number of large blocky air conditioner units he could hide behind. And should he duck back there he might notice a chain that's loose at one end connected to a clasp on the roof.

Hmmm... maybe that would be useful?

[Reinholdt]

[Soul Quest]

Sallianne follows Irene and Sophie. So, can you tell what kind of soul it is? Do you know how many pieces you have left to find?

[Soul Quest]

"Doesn't work like that, unfortunately. I have no idea about either of those things. Weird, huh? You'd think I'd at least notice this stuff was missing..."
But she doesn't.

There's 2 pieces left though. This one, and one more.

[ThirdEmperor]

Generic Street- Dramatic Rooftop Battle!

And hide Dwayne does, ducking behind one of the conveniently placed conditioner units and collapsing against it, head spinning and eyes swimming from the combined stress of bloodloss and dashing up a full flight of stairs while wounded.

Lucky for him, he's got another healing potion, which he promptly retrieves from his belt pouch and chugs down. That's the last one though, and probably all he'll manage to do before the wight reaches the roof.

One can only hope the wight is as dumb at tracking as it is with stairs, cause there's a fairly noticeable trail of blood leading to Dwayne's hiding spot.....

Dusty Flagon

"Yeah, sure. That and a whiskey." Ray replies. Normally he avoids hard liquor, but right now a strong drink would go a long ways towards helping him forget the sight of poor Helga's dismembered body lying in the dumpster. "I'll also need to speak to whoever's in charge a' this place. Tell him it's about a dame named Helga. I've heard she worked here."

[Halae]

[Lots of Hope Hospital]

Sakura smiles to see Adir so enthused about this. She leans against him and wiggles her fingers in front of Laela. The baby is having none of it, thugh. She's far too focused on gumming her toy.

((And we can probably wait on Harnel here.))

Harnel sits beside Cessie quietly, a hand on the bed while the other quietly strokes Cessie's hair. Given that he was sitting right there beside her, he's just trying to be quiet and supportive at this point, looking down at the twins with wonder.

Babies. His babies.

His children.

The thoughts going through Harnel's head right at this moment are all surrounded by that fact, and in this perfect moment, the only thing he wishes is that he had brought a toy for them.

[Hattish Thing]

Dusty Flagon

The woman raises her eyebrows. Helga? She didn't clock in today. Is she alright?! What happened?! Mr. Poe is in his office over there. I'm July. I'm Helga's friend. Did she get hurt? She leads Ray to Mr. Poe's office. Mr. Poe is an elderly man. In his late fifties. Hello? Ms. July Who is thisman? July frowns sadly. She's worried about her friend.He's here with news...something happened apparently.

[Lady Serpentine]

Dancing along to the changed tune, Lewis notices the now-harpless Lellienth and flutters closer, moving to the rhythm of the music.

"Peace and hello! You authored the musical glamoure at the competition, right? Quite groovy display, as were your singing here."

The green-eyed illusionist swiftly greets, speaking with cheerful speed. smiling, the flying Pixie extends a hand.

"Care for a dance?"

Lellienth nods, grinning at the Pixie, and taking his hand, apparently quite willing to dance. "I would indeed. And that was me, yes, at least if you mean the one involving the fading of the fae, rather than the other accompanied by illusions... But in either case, my thanks."

And, with that, the music shifts once again, into a duet version of this, a human and a Bean Sidhe having taken the stage while the elf with the tattoos was playing, so that they could begin as soon as she was done.

[Shadowcaller]

[Lots of Hope Hospital]

The babies continue their crying not that the sorceress seems to mind much, she seem too exhausted for that at this point anyway. She just smiles weakly at her newborns before suddenly saying. "They're hungry right? Someone need to give them food."

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Waiting Room]

In the waiting room a man in a purple robe slowly approaches the bench or chairs or object which I assume Sakura and Adir are sitting on (unless they are standing) with a worried expression on his face. "How long have she been in there?" He asks the fey. "The medicine people said she was okay but..." The man pauses again, just looking at the two almost pleadingly. Desperate for some comfort.

Sakura can probably recognize Arik, Cessie's brother.

[Lost_Deep]

Lots of Hope Hospital

Either Cessie can feed them herself, or the hospital people will provide some formula.

Lots of Hope Hospital-Waiting Room

One rocketfairy is just staring at Arik, and all the rest are avoiding him. If he looks straight at it, it will leave with a great amount of haste!

[Mina Kobold]

Lellienth nods, grinning at the Pixie, and taking his hand, apparently quite willing to dance. "I would indeed. And that was me, yes, at least if you mean the one involving the fading of the fae, rather than the other accompanied by illusions... But in either case, my thanks."

And, with that, the music shifts once again, into a duet version of this, a human and a Bean Sidhe having taken the stage while the elf with the tattoos was playing, so that they could begin as soon as she was done.

[Hollow Hill]

Lewis lands back on the dancefloor as Lellienth takes the offer, following the music as it changes.

"Tis my pleasure, it was a show to remember! Even if the Nexus may try to outdo itself with wonders."

Lewis cheerfully replies. The informal slang leaving way for a somewhat old-fashioned accent, almost as if the colourfully-clothed Pixie had not attempted formal speech for long times.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Hollow Hill]

"'Speaking of outdoing wonders, I noticed there that you're something of an illusionist as well... What do you say to a contest, when we've had our fill of dancing?", the drowess inquires, grinning at him, and weaving an illusion around them; if it affects the Pixie, it should seem as though the celebration is now taking place in an ice cave, the roof of which is just thin enough to let the patterns of light from gold and purple aurora in.

And the music shifts again...

[Murkus]

Lots of Hope Hospital - Waiting Room

I would assume the two fey look a bit tired, considering how long they've been here. Adir's probably still holding Laela, who I should hope is asleep at this point. Considering Harnel's party was in the afternoon, it should be quite late at night.

The stag looks up and blinks at the newcomer. He clenches a fist to rub at his eye, yawning deeply. "Um, I dunno. Nine hours or so. 'R you a friend of theirs?"

[Halae]

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Maternity Ward]

Given that Harnel knows Cessie isn't big on the idea of breast feeding, Harnel will go out of his way to ask for some milk from the hospital, knowing they probably have something on hand. Obviously, this is the case, so when Harnel gets the formula, he'll try to take the girl from Cessie to feed, while leaving a bottle with her to feed the boy. He's only got two hands, after all, and feeding a baby is a two handed job, "How do you feel Cessie? They're amazing, aren't they?"

[Gullara]

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Waiting Room]

Laela is indeed fast asleep. In fact, Sakura is leaning against Adir and nearly drifting off herself. She starts awake at the sound of Arik's voice. It takes her a few moments to figure out what's going on. "Oh... Hi Arik. We don't know much more than you do I guess. I'm sure she's fine, though."

Sakura doesn't seem all that enthused to see Arik. She probably told Adir way back how rude he was when they met. She certainly understands why he's here, though. It's not like she's one to really hold a grudge anyway.

[Rebonack]

[Generic Street]

Calling the Wights dumb as mud would be in insult to mud. If they don't see something they don't recall that it's there. And aside from a vague sense that tells them living things are nearby they really don't see that well either.

They're dangerous, sure. But in the same sort of way that a blind bear with short-term memory loss would be dangerous.

The Wight is still running toward the edge of the roof though. Right toward the location where that chain is draped across the roof between the AC unit Dwayne is hiding behind and the second unit across from it.

...

No.

There's no way something that dumb and cliched would work.

Is there?

[Shadowcaller]

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Maternity Ward]

The sorceress looks half-asleep once Harnel returns to the room with the milk. She still seem to hear him though. "Thank you dear." She says in a low tone. "Think you can feed them as well? I'm struggling to not fall asleep at the moment." The babies screams do seem to keep her awake thought as they lay resting against her chest, trying to grab on into anything within reach.

Cessie's eyes remain half-closed though, she doesn't even look up at Harnel as he enters the room.

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Waiting Room]

"I'm her brother." Arik replies, assuming Adir know who 'her' is. He pauses again, looking rather frustrated as he looks around in the hospital. "In what room is she in?"

[Halae]

[Lots of Hope Hospital - Maternity Ward]

"Alright. Sleep well, Love." Harnel will pick up the second screaming child and bottle. after doing some maneuvering, he should have both sitting on his lap with their backs to his stomach. His tail will be wrapped around their stomachs to keep them in place as he holds bottles for them to suck on. Uncomfortable as holding his tail like that may be, it's the best alternative to give Cessie the rest she deserves after all that.

[Lex-Kat]

[Soul Quest]

"Well, it does, but, um, sometimes they're not very kind to onions in places like that," Mikani admits.

Pearl looks shocked. They're the enemy? ((I forgot she speaks in Pink. )) They need to be stopped! She starts to head inside the deli.

"Doesn't work like that, unfortunately. I have no idea about either of those things. Weird, huh? You'd think I'd at least notice this stuff was missing..."
But she doesn't.

Yeah, you'd think..... Sallianne continues to follow.

When the three or five (depending on if Mikani convinces Pearl to not start trouble) arrive at the scene and push their way through the throng of mostly men, they'll find a beautiful young woman, likely in her twenties, dancing seductively for all the crowd to watch.

She's currently unbuttoning her blouse, very slowly as she turns away from them. She's still wearing a skirt, but the lower half of it looks to have been ripped away. No shoes, and she's removed one stocking as well.

((And in case I forgot to mention it, the last piece was her child-like soul.))

[ThirdEmperor]

Generic Street

As Dwayne is entirely ignorant of the art of slapstick, it takes a second for the idea to occur to him. And another to realize that as terrible a plan as it is, it's also just about the only one he has.

Grabbing the chain, Dwayne pulls it taught like a tripwire at the last possible moment. And prays this wight isn't immune to falling or something crazy like that.

Dusty Flagon

As the barmaid walks away, Ray briefly closes his eyes and concentrates. However far away the watch-seller is now, the portal attached to the twenty dollar bill Ray gave him should begin to move, sliding off the twenty and onto the inside of the pocket it's being held in.

There it should expand to the point where Ray can quite easily reach through the second portal stored in his own pocket and retrieve his twenty dollars, along with anything else the unfortunate crook was storing in that pocket. At which point he quickly shrinks the portal once more to prevent any counter-thievery.

That done, Ray returns his attention to the matter at hand, following July to the office and taking a seat without bothering to ask. "Yup. I'm sorry to say this Helga girl bought the farm sometime last night. I found her body in a back-alley this morning and decided to look into the matter, being a detective and all. She still had a nametag from this establishment on her clothes, so I figured I'd swing by and ask a few questions."

[Lost_Deep]

Lots of Hope Hospital - Maternity Ward

Umm.... Cessie and the babies can stay here until she's strong enough to go home. I'm not really sure how hospitals do this. Handwaving!

Lots of Hope Hospital - Waiting Room

Those waiting will be told by that nurse with the prosthetic that the babies have been delivered! But the mother is very tired and as thus can not have visitors tonight. Sorry! But both the children and the mother are very healthy and there were no complications.

[Rebonack]

[Generic Street]

DOINK!

The Wight trips over the chain and goes tumbling head over heels off the top of the building. With a metallic sounding crash it hits the street at the bottom of the sheer drop and explodes into a heap of metal fragments and slag.

Hooray!

Dwayne has slain FOUR Wights!

That's probably enough for him to level up or something! He should be excited!

And if he checks the remains of the Wights he should be able to find a small amount of Ebony, Gossamer, Plasma, and Blue Ice! Useful materials for making useful things!

[Murkus]

Lots of Hope Hospital

"Um, Cessie's over there, but you're not really supposed to go in," Adir explains, blinking slowly at Arik. So tired. He's not really used to staying up late, and it's just so damn boring here. "Seriously, she's fine. I'm sure we can go in..." Yaaaawn. "Soon."

[Mina Kobold]

[Hollow Hill]

"'Speaking of outdoing wonders, I noticed there that you're something of an illusionist as well... What do you say to a contest, when we've had our fill of dancing?", the drowess inquires, grinning at him, and weaving an illusion around them; if it affects the Pixie, it should seem as though the celebration is now taking place in an ice cave, the roof of which is just thin enough to let the patterns of light from gold and purple aurora in.

And the music shifts again...

Lewis replies with a smile and a nod as the illusion takes hold, the lights making the dust around the Pixie seem like flakes of gold.

"A Pixie shan't say no to a friendly contest in the illusory arts-"

As they pass another dancing pair, the Pixie begins fading into the shower of golden sparkles in the air as they flow around the Drowess. Swirling about as if carried by a gust of wind before reforming as the Pixie without missing a step of the dance.

"And certainly Lewis Wyllt shan't either."

Lewis says with a cheerfully mischievous smile.

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street Hospital]

Oh boy adventure time!

Winifred arrives on the scene in her suit of female fantasy armor which, aside from the really sturdy cuirass on the back, doesn't look like it would offer much in the way of actual protection.

And oddly enough she's unarmed.

Weird.

She'll be waiting here for the gaggle of adventurers she managed to pick up at Trog's!

Why?

Because they have a spooky hospital to clear out!

The building looks horrifically dilapidated and exudes a nebulous sense of foreboding and dread. This is no place of healing. Not anymore at least. Windows are broken, boarded, or both. What little paint remains is discolored and peeling. Splashed across a large piece of plywood near the front entrance is a message which reads, 'Nothing dead here leaves.'

Well!

Better not die then!

[Gullara]

[Lots of Hope Hospital]

"Yeah, don't worry too much. Have a seat." Sakura leans her head against Adir's arm again. She's bound to drift off at this rate.

[Hattish Thing]

Haunted Hospital of Dooom!

A ceryain wolfman arrives! Rodolphus raises an eyebrow. That "heavy armor" couldn't possibly be efffective. Then the mind-numbingly beautiful woman stretched so provacatively.Rodolphus smirks again while admiring her bust rather creepily. Then the creep wolfman remarked. That armor can't actually do much can it? That suit would probably just attract monsters! Not that I mind of course...

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street Hospital]

Sadly the view of Winifred's bum is blocked by the armor's leather skirt. That's one less thing that the Wolfman will get to ogle. Unless of course he actually has the power to peer through clothing. Which would be kind of creepy.

"It'll work fine," Winifred replies, her tone confident. "I have it on good authority that this is how armor is forged for women here in the Nexus."

...

Okay.

Someone had to have been pulling her leg on that one.

Because... well. Okay. A disturbing number of female adventurers do in fact wear armor like that.

[Halae]

[Arkham Street Hospital]

"Leave it. Her physiology is a lot different from ours, so I figure Freddy knows what she's doing," Amlin says. He's honestly not sure about that, but it seems like a reasonable guess given that her natural form is a hollow wolf sized fox.

"Give me a bit, i'm going to test something." the necromancer will move over to the building at that point and place and hand on the stonework, followed by closing his eyes. After this, he'll send out minor pulses of energy - it shouldn't be enough to alert anything that isn't expecting such pulses, but it should tell Amlin the general whereabouts and spiritual force of any undead inside the building.