[NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 15: New and Improved!

[Lord Magtok]

Forest Just Beyond Watch

What was once perfectly quiet and peaceful forest is now-


BOOM

-slightly less forest. There's fire up in there now. Broken trees, a huge crater, a massive plume of smoke rising up into the sky, and everything you might expect from an enormous shell getting lobbed from an artillery weapon and detonating just close enough to Watchtower to merit a little panic and disquiet.

[Morty]

[Planning Room]

Wenomir is about to say something when the explosion happens. He facepalms, pounds his fist on the table and swears.
Just our luck. Since I've pretty much said everything I had to say, I volunteer to go check this out, he says and heads for the door.

[KR & Wenomir's Room]

The two brothers enter the room to talk about what's happened to them. Unless someone decides to interrupt, this will happen off-screen.

[Shadowcaller]

[Planning Room]

Cessie sigh as she hears the explosion, again? This is exactly the reason she choose to live in the keep rather then Watch.

"Before everyone goes off to investigate, I'd wish to bring up that Tobias have asked if a HALO member could live here as a liaison in exchange that we provide HALO information about the on-goings in the nexus. We can discuss this later though." The explosion should probably be a priority now.

[Halae]

[Planning Room]

At the Kaboom, Harnel just sighs, "Right. Let's check whatever this thing was out." He'll step away from the table, heaving for the door at this point. May as well look into this, since he's faster than most when on the wing.

[happyturtle]

The Long, Sharp Catacombs of the Soul

Spoiler

Show

Cotton Quest

Frosty moves on to the second one and begins burning it to death. The third non-dead one starts trying to smack Sallianne repeatedly while she's on the ground.

Darcy *fwips* a fire dart at one, which unsurprisingly starts flailing and burning and dying. The vines around Darcy's feet pull and try to trip her since they aren't doing much else. The third one decides Darcy is a far too scary opponent and starts backing away to move to someone else.

Earth energy, again, isn't exactly the best tool for this job. Seeing as how they grew from Kudzu. On the other hand, these are some of the most aberrant aberrations around, so I suppose that nets out. It's alright at slicing at the thorns, but it isn't going to stop the scissors. Jamie successfully stops one of the attackers, and Amelia does a nice assist to grab scissors out another's limbs. The third does get through with its attack though and finishes snip snipping that it started last time.

That leaves more for Amelia however, as she damages another with a slice, but the other two snip-snip at her. That is, unless the light attack from earlier is persistent, in which case one of them is busy trying to get free.

[Cotton Quest]

Nope once the light had grabbed the scissors it had retreated back to Amelia who quickly absorbed it and then redirected it out and splitting it into two shields to block the oncoming attacks. She lunges forward to try and kill one even though she figures the other will get a clear snip on her.

{Soul Quest - Catacombs}
Questers vs. Cottonballs

Ground fighting! The bane of Amazon Pixie Warriors.

Sallianne will stab at the third Cotton-pickin'-Creature's hand (?) with her glowing spear. If this makes it hesitate at all, she'll get up and run for someplace to hide.

On the other hand, if it continues the attack, she'll try to defend herself with the spear, rolling out of the way of the powerful smacks. But that won't last long. Eventually, if it's persistant, it'll clobber her again. And again, and again.

[SQ-C]

There's a sharp cry as Mikani gets a nasty cut on her arm from the snip-snipping, barely avoiding losing her arm as she stumbles backwards. Her wand dropping to the floor, as the Druid Princess instictively tosses out her hands wardingly!

And a blast of sonic energy ripples forth towards her assailiants! Psionic, not Earth Magic this time, and instinctually aimed to rattle their possibly non-existiant brains in their imaginary skulls at the very least...

Darcy gets pulled to her knees, losing concentration on her spell.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Planning Room]

Explosion!
"... the ****?" Says KR, in strict defiance of the milder mannered people in the room.
Then Wenomir volunteers to go check it out.
"You sure?"
That was a pretty big explosion after all. And last KR heard, Wenomir's weak against artillery. But since everyone else seems to be abandoning the meeting she just rushes outside along with everyone else.

[Training Grounds]

The next stretch of the obstacle course is flat and easy. However about a half dozen cardboard cutouts of Magtok appear on each side, with bullseyes painted on their chests and faces. Some are large, some are small, some are moving.

Serph manages to carve two deep gashes into Crab Spider 1's chestplate. The damage seems to be superficial, however, as the Crab Spider focuses its four arm beams into one massive concussive burst, attempting to knock Serph across the circle into the spidery arms of Crab Spider 2, which will attempt to trap him with its appendages.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Cotton Quest]

Nope once the light had grabbed the scissors it had retreated back to Amelia who quickly absorbed it and then redirected it out and splitting it into two shields to block the oncoming attacks. She lunges forward to try and kill one even though she figures the other will get a clear snip on her.

{Soul Quest - Catacombs}
Questers vs. Cottonballs

Ground fighting! The bane of Amazon Pixie Warriors.

Sallianne will stab at the third Cotton-pickin'-Creature's hand (?) with her glowing spear. If this makes it hesitate at all, she'll get up and run for someplace to hide.

On the other hand, if it continues the attack, she'll try to defend herself with the spear, rolling out of the way of the powerful smacks. But that won't last long. Eventually, if it's persistent, it'll clobber her again. And again, and again.

[SQ-C]

There's a sharp cry as Mikani gets a nasty cut on her arm from the snip-snipping, barely avoiding losing her arm as she stumbles backwards. Her wand dropping to the floor, as the Druid Princess instinctively tosses out her hands wardingly!

And a blast of sonic energy ripples forth towards her assailants! Psionic, not Earth Magic this time, and instinctively aimed to rattle their possibly non-existent brains in their imaginary skulls at the very least...

[Soul Quest]

Amelia should be able to finish off a damaged one this round with her lunge attack, it falling to pieces. One of the others does try to take a chunk out of her though.

Salliane will find that stabbing it with the spear will slow it down a bit. Perhaps enough to run away from it. Perhaps not.

Psionic sonic blasts are much more useful and the two closest explode in a burst of cottony fluff.

The ones that have Darcy begin constricting.

But much of that doesn't matter, because random number generator says that one of the fluff balls that died this round had the soul piece. It whooshes off back to Irene and the other mustachioed cottonballs shriek before disintegrating into golden light. Then... there was none.

[The Bushranger]

[Soul Quest]

And Mikani collapses as the cottonballs asplode, her hand on her arm in a grimace of pain!

[Lord Magtok]

The Forest Smoking Crater Inside the Forest Just Beyond Watch

It's a crater. And it's also smoking. Not in the 'smoking hot babe' sense, but in the 'plume of smoke rising up into the air' meaning of the word, of course. A tree or two or six has been knocked over, taken out by the blast, with one bearing an enormous hole in its trunk where the artillery shell shot right through it, before burying itself in the ground and exploding to bits.

[Sahaar]

Mathias hears the explosion and rushes to a nearby window. Seeing the crater outside, his hand goes directly to the hilt of his blade.

"What's going on out there?" He asks, startled.

[Lex-Kat]

{Soul Quest}

Sallianne was able to get away from the cotton-monster, but just barely.

After they all disappear, she steps out of the shadow she was hiding in . Are... they gone? she says, sounding a little shaken.

[Morty]

The Forest Smoking Crater Inside the Forest Just Beyond Watch

It's a crater. And it's also smoking. Not in the 'smoking hot babe' sense, but in the 'plume of smoke rising up into the air' meaning of the word, of course. A tree or two or six has been knocked over, taken out by the blast, with one bearing an enormous hole in its trunk where the artillery shell shot right through it, before burying itself in the ground and exploding to bits.

Wenomir puts his hands on his hips.
So... someone shot at us with a giant cannon? And was blind enough to miss the tower itself? I don't suppose we can figure out where the shot came from...

[Devixer]

[Training Grounds]

The cardboard targets aren't much of an obstacle to Hildur either. What she tries to do is essentially launch pressurized air at each of the targets, blowing a hole in all of them at once.

[McBish]

[Soul Quest]

Amelia receives a fairly large cut on her thigh before the cotton balls disintegrate away. She grimaces and shakes her head. She will need to head back to her old place to pick up some more clothes soon, the ones she has now are quickly becoming unwearable.

She lets her sword of light fade away an places a hand over her wound, the palm of her hand glows slightly as the wound starts to heal, from a deep gash to more of a serious scratch.

Anyone need any healing.

She sees the few people who look wounded but doesn't assume that they can't heal themselves.

[Reinholdt]

[Soul Quest]

Irene returns, having a cut in her side as well. Being a ghost, she probably won't accept Amelia's offer though.

"Is everyone alright?" She asks, concerned.

Darcy was unhurt by the situation thanks to shapeshifting powers and smashing weapons early.

[Lex-Kat]

{Soul Quest}

Can you mend a broken wing? Sallianne asks, limping closer. Her left wing looks fine, mostly. But the upper part of the right wing's veins are broken and the membranes torn.

She also has some bruising on her face and the visible part of her chest, likely more so under her clothes, but she's not worried about those. She waves her spear where Frosty is, and she disappears.

[Murkus]

War Room --> Lobby

Adir rushes down behind the others without a word, pistol drawn in anticipation of violence. Not that it'll do much against artillery or evil magic or whatever the hell, but it's something.

The stag is just about to follow his fellow Watchmen outside when he notices Sakura. Staying behind a moment, he yells at her, "Sakura! You need to get somewhere safer!" He glances outside, eyes widening at the size of the crater. "And, uh, stay away from the windows."

With that, he hurries outside, surveying the wreckage. "Someone should get up to the observatory. See who shot at us."

[Gullara]

[Main Room => Adir and Sakura's Room]

Actually, for reference the crater wouldn't be visible from where they are since it hit outside the outside walls.

Sakura screams a little when the explosion first happens. Her first instinct is to rush to her and Adir's room to check on Laela. "I don't know. I have to go."

She starts to rush out of the room when Adir shows up. "I know. I'll get Laela. Be careful." She gives his hand a squeeze before hurrying off.

Once the dryad enters the room, she goes immediately to the crying baby and scoops her up. From there she gets just out of the room where there're no windows.

[Outside]

Yazon, meanwhile, hurries out as fast as his short legs will carry him. He whistles when he sees the crater. "Now what do you suppose made that? Looks like black powder. A lot of it." He notes the tree with the hole through it. "Probably came from that way."

[Asha'man]

[Training Grounds]

The next stretch of the obstacle course is flat and easy. However about a half dozen cardboard cutouts of Magtok appear on each side, with bullseyes painted on their chests and faces. Some are large, some are small, some are moving.

Serph manages to carve two deep gashes into Crab Spider 1's chestplate. The damage seems to be superficial, however, as the Crab Spider focuses its four arm beams into one massive concussive burst, attempting to knock Serph across the circle into the spidery arms of Crab Spider 2, which will attempt to trap him with its appendages.

Element sees the cardboard cutout targets but has no idea of who that is. Seeing as that is the only thing on the field at the moment he decides to hit whatever got in his way, in high speed to boot. He shape shifts into multiple,yes he can do that, giant metal ball with spikes and runs over anything in the way. Once reaching the end of this particular area the spiked balls will go together to reform Element.

The burst hits Serph square in the front and blasts him backwards. Before ending up in the arms of Crab Spider 2 he will use fire to keep him up. With this Serph will stay airborne for increased movement for the remainder of the test. The four Dai-Onis, who used focus earlier converge on Crab Spider 1 to bash it in with charged physical attacks.

[Zefir]

[Planning Room] -> [Observatory]


After the meeting seems to be interrupted by the explosion Mia heads up to the observatory. With MDM she arrives there quick and may be able to defend the building . She will use whatever is available to spot the attilery who attacks them.

[McBish]

{Soul Quest}

Can you mend a broken wing? Sallianne asks, limping closer. Her left wing looks fine, mostly. But the upper part of the right wing's veins are broken and the membranes torn.

She also has some bruising on her face and the visible part of her chest, likely more so under her clothes, but she's not worried about those. She waves her spear where Frosty is, and she disappears.

Soul Quest

Yeah, I think I should be able to help with that.

She says taking a careful look at damaged wing.

Just hold still for a second.

She gently places her hands on both sides of her damaged wing. And between them her light starts to fill between her hands healing the wounds on the wing.

There you go, I would try and be careful with that, it will still be weak for awhile, but should heal just fine.

[Sahaar]

Mathias ignores Sakura's response and runs outside (in whatever direction the forest is).

He looks at the giant smoking crater in the ground.

"Oh my", he says. "What happened here?"

[The Bushranger]

{Soul Quest}

Sallianne was able to get away from the cotton-monster, but just barely.

After they all disappear, she steps out of the shadow she was hiding in . Are... they gone? she says, sounding a little shaken.

[Soul Quest]

Irene returns, having a cut in her side as well. Being a ghost, she probably won't accept Amelia's offer though.

"Is everyone alright?" She asks, concerned.

Darcy was unhurt by the situation thanks to shapeshifting powers and smashing weapons early.

{Soul Quest}

Can you mend a broken wing? Sallianne asks, limping closer. Her left wing looks fine, mostly. But the upper part of the right wing's veins are broken and the membranes torn.

She also has some bruising on her face and the visible part of her chest, likely more so under her clothes, but she's not worried about those. She waves her spear where Frosty is, and she disappears.

"I'm fine," Mikani says, grimacing, standing, and Blatantly Lying as blood seeps between her fingers clamped down on her arm. "Those things were nasty!"

[Reinholdt]

Soul Quest

Irene turns to Amelia and Darcy then.
"Thank you both for your help. I don't think we'd have been able to do it without you." Probably would have gotten overwhelmed.

[happyturtle]

Soul Quest

"So you found your soul?" Darcy asks. She's surprised. She didn't think souls looked like... that.

[The Bushranger]

[Soul Quest]

And now Mikani collapses to the floor, bleeds out and dies de-transforms to Jamie, biting her lip and managing not to cry out in pain as the transformation doesn't include the injury to her baseline from.

Surprisingly, this hurts.

[Devixer]

[Entrance]

In a timeline conveniently separate from the cannon firing on Watch, Boris comes back from his three-day scouting of Mattock Hill. He's doing his best to walk tall, but it's clear he's very fatigued.

[Lex-Kat]

Soul Quest

Yeah, I think I should be able to help with that.

She says taking a careful look at damaged wing.

Just hold still for a second.

She gently places her hands on both sides of her damaged wing. And between them her light starts to fill between her hands healing the wounds on the wing.

There you go, I would try and be careful with that, it will still be weak for awhile, but should heal just fine.

Sallianne stares straight ahead as Amelia heals her broken wing. Once it is healed, she gingerly wiggles it, then sighs in relief. Thank you, Miss Amelia. I owe you a debt. She reaches her tiny hand up toward the (human?).

I think Jamie may have been lying, when she said she was alright. She states, giving a side-glance toward the former-magical princess.

[Morty]

[Outside]

Wenomir turns around and looks at the strange man.
Who are you?
For the record, he's a tall, muscular black-haired man with red eyes and scars all over his body. He's currently wearing simple gray trousers and a loose, black sleeveless shirt.

[Wenomir & KR's Room]

After about an hour, Mścisław can be seen leaving the room, and hurrying out of Watchtower to bring the news to his wife and kids, who will be pretty amazed to find they have an uncle in high places. Wenomir remains there, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

[McBish]

Soul Quest

Yes Amelia is indeed human and smiles as she reaches out to shake the little faeries hand. But before she can respond to the thanks she hears the cry of pain and jumps both of her swords of light appearing in her hands. She looks a bit embarrassed and lets them fade away.

I could have helped with that you know.

But I am glad I was able to help out. A soul is an important thing not to remain lost. Besides I would probably still be wandering around aimlessly if it wasn't for you guys.