[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 5

[Devixer]

[Into the Cave]

Hildur gazes at the remains of the dragon for a few moments. It kind of felt weird to her, to see the bones of what once held her Name. She shakes that off, though. This was just a dead dragon. It wasn't even Maarsukaal, because Maarsukaal is alive and well.

"So, how are we going to break up this Gossamer?"

[Eadin]

[Prison]

That was very unpleasant. And a little gross.

"Seems like it," she responds to Freddy, sticking close to him. This place doesn't feel all that safe.

"So.. You know if people are human or not by tasting their blood? How does that work?"

[Rebonack]

[In the Cave!]

Oh certainly. Those aren't the remains of Maarsukaal at all. Just a heap of dead wyrm bits. Maarsukaal is standing right there asking how to break them into usable size.

At the question Zaal steps forward, spreads his wings, aaaaand-!

*slashslash!*

It's hard to even follow the motion with one's eyes. Little more than a blur. Like trying to track the individual wing-beats of a humming bird. Zaal calmly folds his wings against his back again before stomping one foot on the cave floor rather hard.

The skeletal remains then slide apart into a heap of Gossamer fragments!
Zaal glances over at Hildur, a rather pleased grin spread across his face. "Like that, m'lady."

[Devixer]

[In the Cave]

Hildur just gawks at the scene for a few seconds, and then she says, "Well, that's simple enough." She really needs to work on her one-liners. "Thank you again, Zaaldunvah."

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- New London

"Not as many human visitors as non-human ones. An' by deffy-nishun the non-human ones ain't friendly. As for y' other question? Th' answer's practice." He grins, revealing teeth that appear filed down to points. The old guy seems to have misunderstood the meaning of the word 'humanitarian'. "Now, if y'd please foller me, I'll take y' to town. What d'y want first, a bed, a meal, a weapon or gamblin'? We captured a nogre yesterday, the arena's takin' bets on how long it lasts against the entire gladiator team."

Necanth Prison- Elsewhere

Zefir's route will take him down a concrete-lined tunnel with a rail in the floor and ceiling and neon lighting mounted half way up the walls. The corridor is long and predominantly featureless, with no obvious doors or turnings. At the end of the turning, there's a small metal grate in the wall, an open lift shaft with a rope ladder visible in faint light coming down the shaft, a large crack in the wall leading to an unlit natural cavern and a large machine with two wheels- one on top, in the ceiling rail, and one on the bottom, in the floor rail. A human-sized ladder leads into a hatch in the machine's chassis.

[OrchestraHc]

[Adventure!]

Correl just shakes his/her head, "True masters can defeat their enemies without killing them. But there is no time to mourn these brigands now. Let's just try to make sure I didn't kill them for nothing." The knight replies. "In any case, it's your turn to shine now. With the sentries gone you should have an easier time sneaking in and save that girl. Make haste now."

[Adventure!]

Alfred nods at Correl's command and loses no time making his way to the cave entrance. He trust Sadei and Sonnya's magic will keep them safe, with no sneaky magic of his own, he'll have to wait to prove himself.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

Freddie has no idea what a noger is.

Nor does he have any idea what an ogre is.

Either way he would have been pretty clueless.

"Ah, I think we were just looking for somewhere to sleep where we wouldn't need to worry about someone murdering us," he replies.

Not getting murdered in one's sleep is always a positive thing.

[Cave]

Zaal flourishes a bow back to Hildur in his usual graceful sort of way. Agatha just laughs at the display. She hasn't seen a demi-dragon before! Well... at least not one that she didn't have to kill to death. And watching a monster that is so well mannered strikes her as silly.

"I have room in my saddle bags. And some can be carried by hand," the demi-dragon says. "Most of the proceeds from the sale of this Gossamer will go toward the upkeep of the Abbey, I think. But I believe that Maarsukaal should receive some of it as well. She did technically kill the dragon by resisting its will."

[Devixer]

[Cave]

Hildur smiles at the suggestion that she get some of the Gossamer. "That's a very kind suggestion, but I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with more Gossamer than I already have." Which just means that she's not all too imaginative about her Shaping as of now.

Hildur walks up to the pile of Gossamer to pick up as much of it as she can reasonably carry.

[Rebonack]

[Cave]

"Well... given that you're a dragon your whole body is technically a focus," Zaal laughs. "It wouldn't be for you, m'lady. It would be to sell. Elemental materials are quite useful for practical use. And use as gems, too. Your adventures are just beginning and I suspect some funds would help you to a good start."

"Oooh! That's right! Hildur will need to get her new Name well known, won't she?" Agatha comments as she gathers up some Gossamer as well.

The material is, as before, virtually weightless. The only problem is finding enough room to carry it. Not heavy... just awkward...

"I'm sure you could sell it at Ironkeep. Or even back at that weird city called Inside," Agatha suggests.

It's a good suggestion!

[Devixer]

[Cave]

"Oh, right. Of course I wouldn't need any Gossamer." Hildur laughs at her self and how she's still a little stuck on thinking she's completely human. In between her words, she stuffs a bit of the Gossamer into the pockets of her jacket. Not too much, because the pieces are so unwieldy, but it does help her out a little.

"Yeah, I'll sell the Gossamer I get. Been a while since I had some money." She didn't know what she'd need it for yet, but she was new to this whole adventuring thing. She'll figure things out.

[Rebonack]

[Cave]

Silly Hildur!

When you can have skin made of Gossamer why would you need to carry more around with you?"

Though the little bit that makes up her glove is probably important. Somehow.

Maybe?

"Funding can't hurt. Though... if you want to stay here in our little piece of the Empyreum you'll almost certainly be asked to join the Inquisition," Zaal mentions. "All demi-dragons that don't go berserk and become full dragons are. I believe it's a rewarding career. But if you don't think that's what you want to do you should probably seek your fortune in another part of the Nexus. At least for a while."

[Devixer]

[Cave]

"Hmm, I don't know about joining the Inquisition yet." Hildur has never really been all that religious, but she did owe these people for saving at least a small part of her humanity, even if that part was just her appearance.

"'Course, I don't know anything about the rest of the Nexus, either. Bunch of new career opportunities for me, I guess." Becoming a demi-dragon helps with job-hunting quite a bit.

[Rebonack]

[Cave]

"That's understandable. And..." Zaal coughs slightly. "I'm not sure how you would be reacted to on an official level since uuhh... I don't think you even worship the Emperor?"

He glances over at Hildur.

Hildur shakes her head.

"Right. From what I understand there's quite a debate underway right now how to respond to all the... eerr... heathens who boarder our land now. I'm hoping that cooler heads win out and we use a system of evangelism rather than forced conversion."

He's seen forced conversions of barbarians before. It... never seems to end well.

And being a demi-dragon totally opens up career paths! The more variable and versatile someone's skills the more neat things they can do!

[Devixer]

[Cave]

"Ah, yeah, I hope for that too. Otherwise there's going to be a bit of a war, and that never goes well for anyone." That, and Hildur didn't want to be forced to worship the Emperor. Didn't sit all too well with her, overall. She couldn't place why, either.

"But anyway! How about we take all of this Gossamer back to the Abbey?"

[Rebonack]

[Cave]

As a general rule of thumb no one likes to be forced to worship anything. A person's beliefs are an important part of who they are and being forced to change them is being forced to change who one is.

And that's terrible.

Zaal spreads his wings and cups them such that the metal ribs act as a sort of basket for Gossamer fragments. Agatha will load him up and Hildur can totally help to if she likes!

Back to the Abbey!

As they walk Agatha speaks up. "I think a war with the rest of the Nexus would be a terrible idea," she reasons. "I've seen what some of the people here can do. They can easily match with a Sister of Silence or an Inquisitor. And everyone would hate us."

[Devixer]

[Cave]

"Yeah, I'd only heard a few things before I came to the abbey, but it sounds like people in this world are powerful on average." Hildur helps carry the Gossamer down to the Abbey, although she can't really carry a lot of it.

"I really don't think there will be a war, though. That'd be horrible."

[Rebonack]

[Abbey - Courtyard]

"It would be horrible!" Agatha agrees. "It's hard to make friends with people when everyone hates you."

...that makes sense.

Zaal will dump his load of Gossamer there in the courtyard before saying, "I'm unable to go inside the Abbey, Maarsukaal. It's sanctified ground and demons can't set foot there."

He then quirks his head off to the side a bit.

"Though... I'm curious whether or not you will be able to. Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if you can cross the threshold without trouble. You seem to break the mold in every other way after all."

He raises a good point!

[Devixer]

[Abbey - Courtyard]

Hildur places the Gossamer she has with Zaal's load before turning to him as he mentions his inability to enter. "Well, I'll try to head inside, there's some things I'd like to make sure I still have. If I can't, I'll stay here and keep you company. That sound good, Zaaldunvah?"

[Rebonack]

[Abbey - Courtyard]

Agatha steps inside and beckons Hildur to follow.

Zaal nods in reply. "Sounds like a plan. Go ahead, Maarsukaal. I'll be waiting."

And when Hildur steps through the door!

...

She'll step through the door.

Just like she had stepped through the door all those other times she had when living here. Didn't feel different in the least. Except perhaps of the anticipation of something really odd happening.

Anywho! She's free to go to her room and get her stuff!

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

Hildur does expect something odd to happen, so when nothing odd happens, she hesitates for a moment. Then she says, "You'd think I wouldn't be surprised by weird things about me anymore." Then she turns to Agatha. "I'm going to head to my room and get my backpack. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to stay here anymore, so might as well be prepared." Then she heads off to do just that.

[Rebonack]

[Abbey - Hildur's Room]

Craaaazy stuff!

That's what Hildur gets for coming to the Nexus as a normal human. That just isn't something that the Nexus can abide by for very long. Though some people have managed to avoid getting Weird blarged all over them for quite a while...

Anywho!

All of her stuff is still in her room.

Hasn't even been touched.

She'll be free to gather it all up and take it with her for future adventures of adventuriousness!

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

Hildur gathers up her backpack and gets right back out of her room. She didn't really have a bunch of things on her anyway. She heads back to where she already was. If Agatha's still there, she waves at her. "So, where do we head next? Should we let the Matron know that we got the Gossamer?"

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

"The Matron already knows about it. It's being collected now. And..."

Sister Agatha bites her lip and looks down at the floor.

"I... don't think you'll be welcome here anymore. Demons aren't allowed on sacred ground. Normally... they can't even walk on it... But you..."

Are weird?

Different?

Unique?

"I wish you could stay. I'm going to miss you a lot, Hildur..."

Aaww... she's sad...

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

Well, now Hildur looks sad too. She'd already guessed, but she kinda wanted to be wrong about that.

At first, she doesn't reply. She isn't even sure what to say. After a couple of seconds, though, she steps forward and tries to hug Agatha really tightly. "I'll miss you too, Agatha. Thanks for everything."

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

The hug is returned in kind.

Nothing needs to be said.

No words need be spoken.

At least not for now.

The tears speak well enough on their own.

Once she leaves the embrace Agatha will offer a small smile and a final blessing. "Emperor's favor on you, Hildur, bearer of the Name Maarsukaal. Be well. May our paths meet again, whether in this world or the next."

And with that she departs into the Abbey to attend to her duties.

[Devixer]

[Abbey -> Courtyard]

Hildur smiles a little as well. "I hope to see you again, Agatha. Preferably in this world." She won't say anything more, for fear of choking up, and she quickly turns around and heads out into the abbey's courtyard.

[Rebonack]

[Abbey Courtyard]

Zaal will be waiting, standing at the edge of the courtyard with his hands on the guard rail. Looking out at the Nexus. He hasn't seen it from up here before. To see... so much of it all at once.

"It's almost like looking at a quilt..." he mutters as Hildur approaches. "All the little pieces all patched together. None of them the same color or texture. I'm really not sure any of us really understand what we've been thrust into the middle of here."

All sorts of crazy!

That's what!

He'll turn to look at Hildur, taking his eyes off the crazy Mount Improbable in the far distance. "I need to go to the the city of Inside to meet my Master there. We have a mission to accomplish. But... he's expecting me at the gates a day and a half from now. I was expecting a little over a day required to climb up and down the mountain..."

Teleporter surprised him there.

"So now I have a whole day that I don't know what to do with..."

[Devixer]

[Abbey Courtyard]

Hildur leans on the guard rail next to Zaal. Her only response regarding the Nexus is "It's a damn nutso place filled with magic and monsters and technology. I'm not going to try to understand it any more than that."

Hildur shrugs. "I've got a free day too. I can't stay here any longer." Despite all the interesting sights, she just looks at the ground.

[Rebonack]

[Abbey Courtyard]

But the ground is so booooring!

Zaal gives a sigh of resignation at that reply. "I had feared as much. Another reason you might be best served making your Name known in other parts of the Nexus. Those in the Empyreum won't ever trust a dragon. Especially one that doesn't wear the emblem of the Inquisition. They often don't even trust those that do."

Hence the guard that was keeping an eye on Zaal and Wiggums.

The demi-dragon makes a sweeping gesture toward the Nexus as a whole. "But anywhere else? You're just another strange person. Just like all the other strange people here."

A beat.

"I believe I have an idea, Maarsukaal. Both of us have some time. Why not strike out into another part of the Nexus and have ourselves an adventure? Both our Names will be known to people who have never heard them uttered before. This land is so full of suffering and injustice that finding some wrongs to right shouldn't be difficult."

[Devixer]

[Abbey Courtyard]

Hildur reflects on that. She would be almost normal in her weirdness. That was actually pretty nice. Still, she can't help but joke a little. "I don't know, a snowboarder who's also a legendary dragon? That's pretty weird."

And then a chance for adventure! Hildur glances at Zaal. "Yeah, sounds like it'd be fun. You know where it'd be easy to find adventure?"