[Nexus] Outside XXX

[UncleWolf]

Above the sea

Well, girl does like her sweets.
If she can get a good view she'll use her water-controlling power to remove the liquid from their fugdey bodies.

The cannons are...pretty.. but she snaps back to look at the Krackle.
She'll try to freeze the spray into a giant block of ice.
That might give the creep a headache.

Above The Sea

The spray is stopped by the ice, causing the beast to rear back and roar in anger. That said, it also shatters the ice, causing sharps shards to fall onto the quickly drying Fudgemen below. They release primal screams of agony and fury when they're hurt.

More begin crawling out of the Krackle's mouth, seemingly an unending tide and even more begin climbing out of the water and on the Krackle's skin, latching on with their sticky hands and knives. A quad of thick candy tentacles rise out of the water, swinging towards the flying ship. Two are on the port side, and two on the starboard. One of the Spellcannon roars, launching a powerful bolt of lightning to hit squarely, blasting a large chunk from the creature's appendage and rendering it useless. But even with the small arms fire from the crew, the other three continue their course...


Forest

The Shifterback's flower ears twitch a moment before the tree comes into sight, and he leaps into action, trying to knock the wolf-girl down with his rather impressive weight. With any luck, she'll be okay, and with a bit more, he will be too.

Crash Site

The Ensign holds up a hand in front of the sunlight to allow herself to see, wincing as she does so. When she sees the boy with the dog, she frowns before responding. "No!!! Does it bloody look like I'm okay?!?! I'm in a thrice-be-damnable lifeboat!" She yells before making her way out, clambering up the slight incline with a pack on her back. She grumbles the entire way and looks at the boy with a scrutinizing gaze before offering her hand. "Ensign Edda Vencigad."

[happyturtle]

Crash Site

"I don't know what a thrysbedamd-life-boat is ma'am. But are you hurt?" Cole simply looks down at her hand, wondering if perhaps her hand was hurt and that's why she was holding it out. His own hands remain by his side. After all, it isn't proper for him to touch a woman unless it's necessary.

Mori, however, has no such compunctions, and walks right up, sniffing her all over.

[UncleWolf]

Crash Site

Edda's expression falls at the boy's remark, and she drops her hand. Joy. First her ship gets lost, then is attacked, and after she loses everyone she knows...she crash lands here only to find herself in the hands of an idiot. What gods could have ever been so cruel to her? The Ensign takes a deep breath and counts to ten before answering. "I have a bad headache, but otherwise I believe I'm uninjured. Is there somewhere I can sleep it off or get some treatment nearby?"

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Geeze is this place ever strange...

Bright red birds flit about between oddly colored and strangely drooping trees that could only be describe as 'Seuss-Like'. Large sack-like purple fruits hang from the branches and sway in a gentle breeze that carries with it dust-specks that may or may not be inhabited by Whos.

Every now and again a number of dogs in cars wearing helmets will go rushing past down the road at a feverish pitch, each towing a small hitched trailer bearing three fish of different colors in a bowl.

The road winds in a seemingly nonsensical fashion around hills that seem too steep and lean too precariously to be natural. Nearby is a small pond with a tower of turtles rising from it.

It's on this road that Zaaldunvah and Maarsukaal walk in search of adventure.

"This... honestly isn't quite what I was expecting..." the demi-dragon mutters as he eyes an elephant slowly approaching them.

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Hildur looks at all the Seuss-like surroundings with a bit of nostalgia. "This place is like a lot of books my mom used to read me," she says. She almost waves at the elephant, but decides not to.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

"I can't think of any stories I've ever heard of akin to this place, Maarsukaal," Zaal replies with a chuckle. "It seems like something out of a dream. So surreal..."

The elephant will stomp up to the both of them and lean in close to peer at them. Should Hildur check she will find that he does not, in fact, have a small fluffy pink clover clutched in his trunk.

After a few moments of this he shrugs and wiggles his ears.

What?

You were expecting him to talk?

Everyone knows that elephants can only talk to other animals.

Silly.

Though he DOES have a person riding on him, his back loaded down with a rather wonky looking carriage with an odd little person sitting in it. An odd little person with an absurdly zig-zaggy long beard.

The strange little man addresses our heroes! "Visitors from afar! Have you not heard? Whoville is burning! It's all quite absurd!"

[Eadin]

Spoiler

Show

[Forest]

Raril throws himself sideways, narrowly avoiding being hit by the tree. "What in the nine hells?!" He snarls, picking himself up from the forest floor.

[Forest]

An entire tree? Hope it's not a redwood.

"Watch out!" Reinholdt shouts, diving to one side.

Above The Sea

The spray is stopped by the ice, causing the beast to rear back and roar in anger. That said, it also shatters the ice, causing sharps shards to fall onto the quickly drying Fudgemen below. They release primal screams of agony and fury when they're hurt.

More begin crawling out of the Krackle's mouth, seemingly an unending tide and even more begin climbing out of the water and on the Krackle's skin, latching on with their sticky hands and knives. A quad of thick candy tentacles rise out of the water, swinging towards the flying ship. Two are on the port side, and two on the starboard. One of the Spellcannon roars, launching a powerful bolt of lightning to hit squarely, blasting a large chunk from the creature's appendage and rendering it useless. But even with the small arms fire from the crew, the other three continue their course...


Forest

The Shifterback's flower ears twitch a moment before the tree comes into sight, and he leaps into action, trying to knock the wolf-girl down with his rather impressive weight. With any luck, she'll be okay, and with a bit more, he will be too.

[Forest]

Whew, that was close! No one got hit by the tree.

But, uhm.

Looks like the tree was just the tip of the iceberg.
Heavy footsteps seem to be fast approaching, along with a terrifying howl.

Soon enough the creature reaches them.
It's pretty hard to see what it really is, mostly a big shadow with flaming eyes.
Those eyes.
It might mesmerize one, if not careful. But the sharp shadowy teeth should warn anyone not to let their guard drop.

[Beans]

She yawns and nods.
Yeah...

[Old Lair]
Antera smiles a bit. "I know of a house we could get to, a real house and not just an old house like this."
((We should put the Leo and Pisces in an inn/tavern somewhere soon.))

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

"I'll have to find some of the books for you," Hildur notes. And maybe for herself as well, just for fun. The rhyme from the old man gets quite the reaction from her. "Burning? How? Why?" And then she realizes that she can't rhyme.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Sure she can! It just takes a bit of thought. But rhyming on the fly can be a bit on the difficult side for some! The crazy little bearded man doesn't seem to have much trouble doing it, though.

"She asks of the burning, the how and the why. Of misfortune that befell us, and makes the Whos cry," the old man replies sadly. "It came with loud flumphing, and of its great Name it boasted! Now it has left Whoville, weeping and toasted."

Zaal winces at that.

"Sounds like a dragon to me. And if the city is on fire quite possibly an Orichalcum dragon," he speculates. "But I hadn't heard of any Orichalcum dragons in this Feifdom before the Nexus swallowed it up... it must be a young dragon, then. Which means we should be able to put it down, Maarsukaal."

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

"Yeah, it sounds like we can take care of that dragon," Hildur says to Zaal. And then to the old man, "Do you know where it went? We can help with your dragon problem."

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

The old man looks overjoyed at the reply of Maarsukaal and Zaaldunvah! "You believe you can kill it? What a glorious day! Then follow me friends, I'll show you the way!"

And with a "Hup!" he'll turn his riding elephant around and begin plodding toward a plume of smoke in the distance.

Zaal will trot along behind, a bit uncertain of the elephant. He's never seen an animal like that before. And he's not altogether sure what to make of it. As they walk he'll glance over at Hildur and ask, "Maarsukaal... you said your mother read you books about a place like this, once upon a time. I don't suppose you know why all their sentences rhyme?"

A beat.

Then a snicker form the demi-dragon. He totally did that intentionally! Though his cadence is off...

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Hildur doesn't mind the elephant as much, even if it's the only one she's seen in person. She follows them towards the smoke.

She laughs a little before replying, "You want to know why they say what they say? It's simple - the books are all written that way!" Then she laughs again. Okay, so maybe she isn't so bad at this whole rhyming business.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

The old man swivels around in his seat and GLARES at Hildur and Zaal. Apparently he thinks they're mocking the sacred verse.

Zaal stops laughing in a hurry and averts his gaze elsewhere.

Whoops...

That's one problem with the Nexus.

All sorts of crazy cultures.

It isn't hard to offend someone by mistake.

Before long they'll reach Whoville! The buildings are whimsical and surreal in their design, leaning and curving in ways that probably shouldn't be architecturally sound. A portion of the city is on fire and Whos armed with buckets of water are busy dousing the flames.

"The monster was awful, and with the greatest of ease. It ate things like sidewalks, and people and trees," the old Who recounts, shuddering as he does. "It smashed the Who Library, and burned all the books. And we Whos just cowered, too scared of its looks."

What a terrible creature!

"The monster laughed at our weeping, then it demanded all our gold. Now it has slithered off westward, please slay it if you are bold!"

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Likewise, Hildur stops laughing and just keeps walking. Now she felt bad about offending the old man.

She finds it difficult to look at the burning buildings in Whoville, but she nods at the old man. "Don't worry, we'll find that dragon." She gets her backpack and retrieves her compass in order to tell which way is west. It probably won't work, but it's worth a shot.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

The Nexus is actually pretty nice about cardinal directions within a large chunk of similarly themed land Outside. Though Inside is a whole different matter completely.

Silly inside.

Zaal nods in the affirmative. "I'm sure we'll be able to find it," he replies to the old man, his tone certain.

"It laughed as it departed, and roared out its Name. That we would always remember, Shulausbah was to blame," the old mans says, shaking his head.

Zaal quirks his head off to the side a little when the Name is mentioned.

Then grins a wide grin.

"Let's go quickly, Hildur. The last holder of that Name was slain only recently by the Inquisition. This foul wyrm is still young and drunk with power."

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Hildur nods, and grins a bit herself. "Alright Zaal, let's get going then." She takes off westward at a running pace, which is pretty quick, but still a very human speed.

[happyturtle]

Grasslands

Crash Site

Edda's expression falls at the boy's remark, and she drops her hand. Joy. First her ship gets lost, then is attacked, and after she loses everyone she knows...she crash lands here only to find herself in the hands of an idiot. What gods could have ever been so cruel to her? The Ensign takes a deep breath and counts to ten before answering. "I have a bad headache, but otherwise I believe I'm uninjured. Is there somewhere I can sleep it off or get some treatment nearby?"

"We are many leagues from any settlement, ma'am. I can find a safe place for you to rest, in the great forest to the south. But the nearest settlement is about two days travel, or so it is for me. I do not know how well you are able to travel in the wilderness."

There are grasslands almost as far as the eye can see, but as he gestures to the south, there is a dark smudge on the horizon showing the edge of the forest.

Meanwhile, Mori continues to sniff and wonder why this human wasn't paying attention to her! She deploys the tongue to try and lick Edda's hand.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Zaal goes bounding off along side Hildur, reducing his pace enough so that she can easily keep up with him. Though...

That will still slow them down a bit.

As he trots along beside her he can't help but comment, "You know, Maarsukaal, if you took advantage of your wings I suspect that you would be able to easily keep up with me at full speed. The sooner we can find and slay this wyrm the better."

Sounds like he's asking her to dragon up!

Following the trail left behind by Shulausbah shouldn't be very hard. There's a clear swawth of destruction. Burning trees, scorched earth, animals cooked to death and half eaten. It's... horrible to say the least.

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Hildur glances at Zaal as she runs, and nods. "I'll probably just get tired running anyway." She starts to Shape the air so that the Gossamer grows around her, and then she gets to flying.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

As with any Gossamer wielded by Hildur this 'armor' feels just like a part of her. In fact the tail and wings feel no different than the ones she had briefly before the Rite of Alms. Though with one very important distinction.

These limbs? She actually has control over them. She can make them go away if she wishes. A lack of control over one's own body can be a pretty horrifying thing after all...

Anywho!

Maarsukaal will actually feel lighter in this shape despite that fact that she's easily twice her size as a human. And unless she paces herself she'll be able to exceed Zaal's running speed several times over!

Hopefully she doesn't leave him in the dust by mistake.

Up ahead is what... is probably a volcano. Though a Seuss style volcano. Which means the thing is way too narrow for how tall it is. And leaning precariously off to one side. The volcano is also pretty darn small, about the size of a large house.

Curled around in front of the petite volcano, basking in a pool of molten rock, is a dragon. A dragon easily twice the size of either Zaaldunvah or Maarsukaal. The creature has no human traits to speak of. Whoever this monster was before has been completely consumed by his Name. He's snake-like in appearance with surprisingly long limbs to boot. No wings at all. The Orichalcum dragons scales look like massive overlapping shields and glow in the heat of the lava. A large crest on his head looks rather akin to a Roman helmet, making the monster look like he's clad in gladiator armor.

Several large eggs float in the magma pool near the dragon.

His eyes are closed and he doesn't seem to have spotted the incoming heroes yet.

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Maarsukaal wasn't entirely sure about changing into this form, but now that it's happened, she feels a certain excitement about it, as well as a temptation to just fly as fast as she could. She does manage to pace herself in order to keep up with Zaaldunvah, much as she wants to just blast forward and try to break the sound barrier.

She lands a bit far from Shulausbah, making sure to stay next to Zaal. Shall we wake him up? Maarsukaal asks.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

The fact that Hildur can change back any time she likes probably makes it a bit less horrible, too. And it's a good thing that she doesn't break the sound barrier. A sonic boom would almost certainly wake the dragon up.

"Not yet," Zaal will whisper as he takes up position behind a heap of oddly shaped rocks with a weird pink tree growing up between them. "A few things you need to know first."

Combat lesson time!

"The hotter his scales are the harder they are. So we'll have a better chance against that wyrm if we can get him to chase us. We can both easily out-run him, but he's a lot stronger than we are. My molten breath won't harm him at all, but yours most certainly will. One of those thunderclaps will likely fracture his scales. But again, we need to get him to cool off first," Zaaldunvah explains, trying to go slow enough for Maarsukaal to catch everything. "Once he's out of the magma pool hit him with strong winds to cool him off. I'll try to keep his attention on me. It would be best if you don't move into melee combat with him, you're much more fragile than I am."

As he speaks Zaal he begins to unfasten his saddle, unclipping straps and fasteners until he drops the whole harness on the ground. Probably doesn't want it to get set on fire. With his 'clothing' off Hildur will see that he has silvery-gold swirls in his scales along his back, shoulders, and hips. Usually they're covered up by the saddle and harnesses.

The demi-dragon stretches his wings, splaying out the ribs before carefully folding them again.

"Alright. I'll wake him up. You stay hidden and begin the Air Shaping to cool him once he's on me. If he starts coming your way take to the sky, he won't be able to follow."

And with that Zaaldunvah settles onto his hind legs, takes a steel spike out of one of his saddle bags, and nods to Maarsukaal. "Are you ready?"

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Maarsukaal absorbs all the information given to her. Sounded simple enough to her. Stay away from the dragon, cool him down with a ton of strong wind. I think so. I am to stay put and support you with Air Shaping? She could do that.

Hildur will stay still, laying low to the ground and behind one of the many odd rocks. so that she can see the scene while remaining hidden.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Gnoll battlefield]

Talnissa:

Well, that certainly sounds unpleasant, and more than vaguely evil. Although it can't really be said that the gnolls deserve much respect, even after death.

"You- would? You'd help them?" The spirit had done little to calm her, if anything making her more nervous, as it's a new type of magic she's never encountered before (and probably having someone else's spirit/soul attach itself to you may not be the nicest feeling). The words however had served their purpose.

"Thank-you. Talnissa. I will remember your name. May Andaress protect you more than she ever protected me." She flees the field. The blood, the death, and the very idea that she is free now is just too overwhelming.

And with that, Talnissa will find herself more or less alone. The ground is blanketed with snow, tinged pink in some areas, churned to slush in others, and speckled with dead and dying. Pleasant.

And yet she is alone. Most of the remaining gnolls have withdrawn to a hill, watching something obscured by their furry bodies, and snarling loudly, angrily. Whatever slaves haven't fled are under the watchful eyes of several other gnolls, driven together into three small herds and kept still with whips and blades, within view of Talnissa but not particularly close by. On a hilltop, completely ignored by just about everyone, AM4 battles the gnoll-mage. The rest of the group is hidden by the group (gang? gaggle?) of gnolls.

True. But Cryxians have never been particularly nice people, and Talnissa is only partly an exception. Besides, the rotting at least serves a purpose, even if she could leave them unaware for it...

In any case, with AM4 apparently doing fine - as a robot of sorts herself, Talnissa is well aware that an arm coming off isn't necessarily that bad, and the other construct certainly seems to have bested their opponent, judging by what said opponent is doing - the ghost tries to magically mask the injuries and smell of the five freshly undead gnolls as best she can, though with their wounds she simply changes anything that's obviously lethal into a less severe blow, since that takes less energy, is easier, and it's certainly not unbelievable that some of them would be injured, even quite badly.

Then, assuming that nothing would interfere, she sends them to join the throng around Kale and Kordak, as equidistantly from each other as possible, so that when she chooses to set off the strange things brewing inside them, it'll do the most damage she can get out of the improvised Bile Thralls.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Zaal nods. "Unless he starts to come your way. Then just do your best to stay out of his reach. He's so young that I doubt he'll know how to use his Name yet, so you'll just need to worry about his breath."

The demi-dragon offers a reassuring smile. "Our cause is just. The Emperor will no doubt watch over us and give us victory. Fight with honor and distinction, Maarsukaal!"

And with that Zaal goes bounding toward the sleeping dragon before using his Metal Shaping to launch that steel spike at the monster with terrific force!

With a sound like a thunderclap the projectile slams into the Fire dragon, exploding on impact due to the sheer force of the attack! Though given how hot the monster is right now his scales shrug off the blow admirably.

Oh.

And he totally woke up.

The still groggy fire dragon breaths a plume of flames in Zaal's general direction! Though Zaal had already been moving as soon as he hurled his alarm-spike at the monster and the fire just torches an unassuming shrub.

With a roar the dragon wades out of the lava and begins crawling after Zaal!

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

After the fire dragon gets out of the lava, it takes less than a second for Maarsukaal to start Shaping so that a strong current of wind hits it. She watches the chase, making sure to keep cooling it with her wind.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Off from far distance, over the gabbled hills, a number of Whos arrive in the back of Go-Dog carts, and what they see gives them the chills!

Looks like Zaal and Maar have an audience!

Maarsukaal's winds buffet the Orichalcum dragon as he clumsily swipes and bites at Zaaldunvah, the agile Ebony dragon leaping and dodging the attacks with the finesse of a practiced fencer. And with each opening he lashes out with his wings, causing showers of sparks to fly from the monster's hide!

This goes on for a while, Shulausbah growing increasingly agitated at his inability to pin down Zaaldunvah. Stomp! Stomp! Dash, duck, SLASHSLASH! A roar of irritation and anger!

"Hold still and let me crush you!" Shulausbah bellows even as the glow of his scales fades completely thanks to the Gossamer Dragon's wind. So focused on killing Zaaldunvah is the monster that he hasn't noticed how much colder he has become.

"Maarsukaal! Now!" Zaal cries out. "Use your breath!"

[Devixer]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

Maarsukaal immediately jumps from her spot to somewhere she can easily get at Shulausbah, and prepares her breath. Hoping range isn't too much of a factor, she aims at the fire dragon and breathes outward, just like she had already done.

[Rebonack]

[The Meadows of Gildamanjoo]

There comes a sound of thunder! And a terrible crack! And then Shulausbah's scales shatter! From his chest to his back!

All the Whos stand and cheer, for their foe had been struck! They cry out for vengeance, against that arrogant shmuck!

"Three cheers for the heroes! Three cheers for them all! Three cheers for the black knight! And the dragon Maarsukaal!"

Shulausbah's armor splits and shatters and splinters! It had been rendered brittle from the cold and the concussive force of Maarsukaal's sonic breath had just sundered it. Bits of Orichalcum armor lay scattered across the ground, exposed muscle below glowing like lava and dripping sizzling hot blood onto the earth.

With a roar of pain and rage Shulausbah turns his attention to Maarsukaal and spews a raging torrent of flame at her! Whoop! Time to move!