[Nexus] Inside 48

[Morcleon]

Spoiler

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[Generic Street]

The woman runs a hand through her hair hair, dislodging some wispy grey dust. The other two will briefly be able to see the ragged looking notch on the outside of her right ear. "Yeah, they're real bastards alright." She rubs her leg at the thought.

"Ignai Innominata is my name." When she takes Kagamine's hand, the other woman might notice that her skin is unusually hot to the touch.

Generic Street

Imesah removes her helmet, revealing her full face and black hair. She does notice the notch Ignai's ear, but doesn't bring it up. "I am Imesah Zhirov," she says while lowering the helmet to the ground.

[Generic Street]

Sayuri raises an eyebrow at the strangely warm touch, and continues to hold onto the hand. "...your hand's really warm..."

After a short time, she finally releases Ignai's hand, and glances at the two women with a smile. "Hey, either of you wanna help me find a buyer for my stuff?"

[Gullara]

[Generic Street]

Ignai pulls her hand back and looks uncomfortable. "Yeah, I know." She folds her arms tightly around her stomach.

Sayuri earns herself an odd look when she poses her next question. "I don't think I'd be good for that." She says, ashamed. Ignai is perfectly aware that she's dirty and she couldn't possibly smell good. It's been a number of days since she was last able to have a shower. She can't imagine why Sayuri suggested that.

[Devixer]

Generic Street

"I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help in that either," Imesah says. "I don't know the markets very well." There's also the fact that she probably isn't all that clean either. Wearing heavy armor doesn't lead to smelling like roses.

[happyturtle]

Warwick Works

"Yeah, I'll bet you did." Arthur's attitude shifts from getting all thoughtful and introspective to genuine anger. He reaches up and slowly removes Willow's arm from his shoulders, glaring into Willow's eyes. His expression softens after just a second, and he looks away, shame filling his features quickly. "I...I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. It's just that I've been taking my new outlook on the situation a little seriously..."

Willow is startled by Arthur's sudden anger, but after his apology, turns back to her lab bench. "I guess this can be salvaged as a diagnostic tool for neurologists."

[Rebonack]

Adventrue Park

"Useful. Okay, lead the way, Myrrh." Gerri will step into the cave after Myrrh, cautious but not cowardly.

Not about this, anyway. The whole reason she got lost in the park is because she was too busy not thinking about pressing issues in her life. Issues that she really should be dealing with right now.

But she's not cowardly about the cave. Only cautious.

Yes.

Clearly not cowardly. If she were cowardly she wouldn't be going in there, right? Despite the likelihood that the cave is full of monsters of some kind. This is, after all, the sort of place one is quite likely to find unpleasant things lurking around in.

Down into the darkness they go!

The light from Myrrh and Rick provide ample illumination. If you count about as much light as a torch as ample. Better than nothing, but it still limits their visibility pretty sharply.

The only sounds that greet them is the steady drip of water...

"So..." the lad pipes up. "I got lost after crawling out of a hole in the ground. How did you end up out here?"

[Hattish Thing]

Temple of Dalachrech-Inside

Captain Clegg Thenardier has walked through Inside, searching for the temple. Provided it's not hidden somewhere, he'll be able to find it pretty easily, knowing the streets of Inside pretty well. Thee bounty hunter is...a unique sight.

He walks with a crutch that used to be composed of sleek ebony wood. Now, there's a piece chipped off, the handle is slightly dented, and the crutch has odd brownish, rust-colored stains. He wears a long navy and gold coat, now ripped up at the bottom, several bullet holes in the back of the long coat. He wears his wide-brimmed, ripped hat. He has a brown-grey messy beard, that matches his long grey hair. His left leg is wooden, and clunks as he walks. He wears ripped up gloves, and black trousers. He has some kind of leather armor underneath the coat. He takes yet another swig from the hip flask at his belt before moving over to the door of the temple, providing he could find it.


He knocks with a fist and looks about. The man smells of alcohol, gunpowder, and...oddly enough a corpse. His eyes flash around with evident paranoia, and hidden in his coat are about ten different pistols and one rifle, hidden in his boot are two magical knives, and up his sleeve is a special gun, strapped to his arm, covered by the coat cuff. He knocks on the door. Hallo? Anybody 'ere? It's me...I"m looking fer High Priest Terrowin?

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Dalachrech

The location is indeed not hidden, and even advertises itself through the use of a large sign. However, despite its name, it is now contained within its own thread, located here.

[Lost_Deep]

[The Road]

"Ah, yes, I was about to ask. normally we call people like you Scholars, however, even if it's informal. Not many people I know of can quote so much theory back to me."

"... And I've just realized, I've never given you my name. Hadlin, of Yehuda."

"Oh, Kate Kyland." Kate's smiling, having enjoyed their exchange. "And in the place I come from, information is widely available. If someone wants to, they can get a lot of information on a subject. Of course, there isn't any magic in my world so all my information comes from creative works. Most physicists, as far as I know, focus on subatomic particles since that's something that they can actually find and measure."

As opposed to the x+1 theories about multiple dimensions, and how that differs from the layers of separation that they just went over.

Yes.

Clearly not cowardly. If she were cowardly she wouldn't be going in there, right? Despite the likelihood that the cave is full of monsters of some kind. This is, after all, the sort of place one is quite likely to find unpleasant things lurking around in.

Down into the darkness they go!

The light from Myrrh and Rick provide ample illumination. If you count about as much light as a torch as ample. Better than nothing, but it still limits their visibility pretty sharply.

The only sounds that greet them is the steady drip of water...

"So..." the lad pipes up. "I got lost after crawling out of a hole in the ground. How did you end up out here?"

"I was walking in a park and got lost. Really, it's as simple as that, I was just in a park, and I got lost, and suddenly the trees are huge like I'm in some kind of forest... I don't know how I got here." This is why you stay to the paths in the parks, unless you are an experienced park delver. And even then, the paths won't always be reliable.

[Morcleon]

Spoiler

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[Generic Street]

Ignai pulls her hand back and looks uncomfortable. "Yeah, I know." She folds her arms tightly around her stomach.*

Sayuri earns herself an odd look when she poses her next question. "I don't think I'd be good for that." She says, ashamed. Ignai is perfectly aware that she's dirty and she couldn't possibly smell good. It's been a number of days since she was last able to have a shower. She can't imagine why Sayuri suggested that.

Generic Street

"I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help in that either," Imesah says. "I don't know the markets very well." There's also the fact that she probably isn't all that clean either. Wearing heavy armor doesn't lead to smelling like roses.

[Generic Streets]

Sayuri frowns at Ignai. "What's wrong? I like your warmth."

She shrugs. "Well, Ignai-chan, I was sort of planning to drag you along to a place where we could get you some new clothes anyway, what with your new money, and two pretty girls selling stuff is more likely to get a customer than just one." Turning to Imesah, she grins. "Oh, you don't need to show me where. I know that. You can be a sort of security against people who want our stuff without paying."

"So, how about it?"

[Gullara]

[Generic Streets]

Ignai decides to keep the opportunity to avoid talking about how warm she is while she can. She's mostly just boggling at Sayuri. "Whatever I spend out of something like clothes means I can afford that much less food or something else I really need." She doesn't want to sound ungrateful, but she has to be practical too.

On the other hand, it sounds so tempting to actually do things with people. It seems like forever since she's been able to do that...

[Devixer]

Generic Street

Imesah doesn't return that grin. "I am a Warrior of Sunlight, not a common mercenary." She takes a bit of pride in her covenant.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler

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[Arkham Street]

Things are about as strange here as usual. On the surface it looks like any new England hamlet full of ancient stone buildings, sagging roofs, and rusted iron fences. But there's always that pervasive feeling that something is fundamentally off.

Of course the oddness of the people here, people with a distinct Innsmouth look, would probably be lost on the ponies. After all any human would look weird to them.

Something huge, black, and incomprehensible is clinging to the steeply inclined roof of a nearby church. "Ignore the shoggoth," Sigil suggests as he pointedly avoids eye-contact with the blasphemy against existence. "It's just fishing for attention."

Then answers to questions!

"The Librarian would probably kick everyone out. Twilight included. Assuming things actually got... heated," he explains before casting a sidelong glance at AJ. Discord. Twilight had mentioned him, hadn't she? "Hastur is an Old One like my Mother. Technically he is locked up. So long as the stars aren't right he'll remain Dead But Dreaming. But that just means he's limited. Not that he's powerless."

That's... good. Maybe?

"The Old Ones all have rules they have to follow. Things they can and can't do. Mother always called it 'The Rules of the Game'. I'm not totally sure about all the specifics. She never explained it to me."

[Along Arkham Street]

By the way, the Cricketbatman is here.

Don't know how he got back with the ponies, but he's there.

Maybe he never left?

As it is, suddenly he's quite visible, following along after them.

[Arkham Street Ahoy]

Well this place is fabulous.
So fabulous it went right around and became utterly terrible.

It's not really long before Rainbow Dash is stuck half-pushing Fluttershy along, in order to keep her moving at all into the depths of "the Everfree Forest but like a town".
"Oh come on, we're fine. You've got me and the Princess here. Nothing's gonna mess with us."

Everyone should probably ignore the fact that Pinkie Pie is trying to give the shoggoth a cupcake.

"Discord wasn't much for rules, that I remember. Not sure why this Hastur fellow would care either."
Well, just a difference between them then, Applejack.
"So uh, the library as creepy as the rest of this place?"

Luna is corralling Rarity further back, for some sort of discussion or another.

Spoiler

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[Red Zone- Sewers]

"Oh fun. Here they come." Yuki chuckles through his respirator. He twirls his scalpel, his tentacles humming with a powerful glow and his glow returning to full power as the wind dies down. Glancing over to Kirlia, he raises an eyebrow. "Do try to capture one of these, okay? I'll take the one on the wall. You handle the one on top."

He lifts off slowly and clicks the safety off his hypospray. A moment, then he shoots forth, trying to get in a hypospray shot before the... thing manages to gain full mobility.

[Red Zone - Sewers]

Noise...

There's more lurking in these sewers than just those creepy hissing things. I say more, it's only a singular being. Down one of the other passages off the junction, the hissing alerts something.

Winged, black, humanoid in appearance...and very hard to detect, the Black Creation had been carefully navigating through the sewers in search of something, making use of various tools at its disposal to avoid detection. Apparently someone else down here had now alerted the creatures infesting the sewers.

Unfortunately that means a lot more things are probably going to be a lot more alert now. Were the Black Creation one to do such things, it would probably be muttering silent curses right now. As it is, it just mentally reports to its master that its mission has been compromised.

A fraction of a second later, it receives the command to provide assistance. And so it takes off at speed. Quickly, but still stealthily mind you. Its invisibility aura has been disabled by the weird dispel effect that swept through the sewers moments earlier, but its active camouflage systems are still active.

So the Black Creation approaches the scene from behind Kirlia and Yuki, its footsteps dampened to be silent, mimicking the scent of the sewers perfectly, adapting its camouflage to match the colours and details of the surroundings perfectly. But perhaps Kirlia and Yuki have some means of seeing through all the fancy science-y doodads keeping the Black Creation hidden.

Sewers
"No."
From what she remembered, she was tasked with eradicating them. Not capturing them.
And so, she proceeds to fly at the one on the ceiling, bringing back her fist in preparation of slamming it into the arms. Her knuckles have silver on them, so she's expecting the punch she's attempting will be effective.

[Sewers]

Yuki blinks, then sighs. "Well, I'll have to do that then..."

He continues with his previously stated attempt at a preemptive strike.

The Black Creation will likely be the one to notice that these creatures seem to be coming out of the walls all along the sewer system, as it moves.
Numbers in the tens of dozens, and that's only in this section of the underground.


Meanwhile, the hunters initiate some fighting.
Kirlia punches!
The silver seems effective!

The blackened carapace along one of the creature's arms burns, hisses, and shatters, reacting extremely poorly to the metal's touch.
It also spews out a highly pressurized, brownish fluid out of the wound, directly back at Kirlia and her poorly-positioned fist.

Acidic to the extreme and quite frankly not caring what anything is actually made of, it is quite the unpleasant substance to be splashed by.

The creature reacts rather swiftly to the assault, tearing another limb free of the wall and lashing it out at its attacker. It's a long-barbed limb that could probably be mistaken for a tail, if there wasn't a misshapen hand twitching on the end of it.


Slightly-over-there, Yuki uses the hypospray!
Whatever it was actually supposed to accomplish doesn't really seem to happen, as the initially-affected area sizzles a bit, before shining back over with a malignant energy.
Blessed/cursed? Who's idea was that?

A spindly black fist shoots out of the mass of limbs, straight at his face in response.

[Rebonack]

[Outside Trog's]

Oh hey!

A seraph just walked out of the tavern! And aside from six wings and the whole 'on fire' bit he looks absolutely nothing like pretty much any picture of a seraph one might find.

The most obvious difference is that he's a bipedal humanoid dragon. A humanoid dragon made out of molten metal with liquid flame for wings and tabbard. Probably best to avoid looking straight into his eyes considering that they burn like the noon-day sun.

Zimrethel takes a deep breath and sings out to the heavens in a commanding, unearthly beautiful voice.

And the snowy sky answers by splitting asunder.

The clouds have parted, leaving a path of clear azure from Trog's to GLoG in the far distance.

[Adventure Park]

"Remind me not to get lost in the parks around here..." Rick mutters as he shuffles deeper into the darkness.

Before long our heroes reach a bit of an impasse. A roundish chamber with a torch burning in the middle. And four large boulders blocking the three paths that could be taken forward. Now what?

[McBish]

[Outside Trog's]

Following the Seraph out of Trog's is a young woman with a pair of large white wings coming out of her back. She isn't nearly as imposing of a figure and stands behind him as he clears the skies, her eyes going big as she watches.

"Wow."

[Lost_Deep]

Adventure Park

Gerri steps into the room and frowns at the boulders. What? Ignoring that there is four boulders for three paths, why are there boulders in the way in the first place?

Gerri will look around to see if there's something else. Like directions.

[Deathkeeper]

Location <Insert Street Name Here>

(snip)

Well, sorry to disappoint you, but my Gauntlet's map is a bit finicky today. Not sure if it'll be exactly correct, but it shouldn't be too bad.
It can't be as bad as some of the direction systems he'd seen on Earth, at least.
You have anywhere specific in mind?

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street Outside Philip Memorial]

"All the Old Ones have to follow them. But again, I'm not sure why," Sigil replies with a shrug. "Not that I'm complaining. We would be dealing with a lot worse than toys from the sky if Hastur had free rein."

In the far distance there comes what is at once both resonant song and booming command. And at that voice the sky is split asunder. A mile wide lane of clear azure sky now extends from elsewhere Inside and reaches off out of the city. The command seems to have obliterated the army man clouds. Yay? There are still toys all over the ground, though.

Sigil briefly glances up, but pays it little heed. "The library can be a bit spooky, yeah. But so long as you don't break into the Rare Book Room then you should be fine. There's a dimensional shambler locked just outside reality that'll try to creep you out, but it is harmless."

[Adventure Park]

Why ARE there boulders down here? It doesn't look they they fell out of the ceiling. So where did they come from? As Gerri gets closer she might feel something drip on her shoulder.

Unlike all the water that has been dripping on her shoulder in the gave this stuff will hiss and sting upon contact.

"LOOK OUT!" Rick yells as a huge mass of bright green protoplasm drops from the ceiling above the girl.

[Outside Trog's]

Zimrethel gives a bit of a shrug. "It's not that big of a deal. The Lord of the Heavenly Host created us with some fairly versatile abilities. I can hardly take credit for what I was given as a gift," the seraph says with a toothy grin.

And then spreads his six blazing wings wide.

"Given the whole 'being lighting' bit this isn't exactly a race. I'm just going to try to push you to go as fast as you possibly can. And then maybe a little faster. Ready?"

[Lost_Deep]

Adventure Park

"Ow. What-"

SMOOSH.

Or presumably some other sound effect? Gerri isn't attentive enough to evade the protoplasm and presumably is engulfed.

How strong is the acid? It's a good thing that Rick and Gerri aren't fatebound since it would really stink if the first dungeon was an escort mission. Hypothetically, Gerri could die and Rick can just go on without having to worry about her.

[McBish]

[Outside Trog's]

Yuki briefly considers anwsering by taking off into the air but feels that cheating against a celstial probably is wrong, not to mention it wouldn't help. Her wings spread a bit getting ready to start, and a small smile breaks through the look of concentration on her face, she is obviously a little excited. She nods to Zimrethel and gets ready to take off.

[Rebonack]

[Outside Trog's]

If she had answered by taking off Zimrethel would have responded by watching for a few seconds to gauge her speed before taking flight himself. It's not cheating if it isn't really a race!

"Alright then. On the count of three," the seraph says. "One..."

He crouches a slightly, the muscles in his legs coiling.

"...two..."

His wings spread wide, ready for a powerful downstroke to send him skyward.

"THREE!"

And he doesn't take off. Why? Because he's going to wait a few seconds to gauge how fast Yuki can fly.

[Adventure Park]

"Gerri!"

Oh great. Now the girl is being smothered by an ooze. It just isn't her day, is it?

Rick darts forward and thwacks the creature with his sword! Really though? What could you possibly expect an attack like that to do to a mass of goop?

The mass of goop responds by splitting neatly in half and leaving Gerri exposed on the floor. And covered in ooze snot. Eeww...

[McBish]

[Outside Trog's>>Skies]

Yuki takes off on the three not noticing that the celstial isn't taking off yet. She is a strong flier but not incredibly fast, probably a bit faster then most birds of prey. Right now she is trying to gain as much altitude as possible while heading in the direction of GLoG, she figures the best way to get some extra speed will be to do some dives.

[Rebonack]

[Skies ==> GLoG]

Zimrethel waits a few moments longer before giving his wings a single beat and launching himself into the sky like a missile. Fast is an understatement. He probably isn't even contending with the normal laws of aerodynamics. He's just flying because he feels like it.

Stupid celestials and their supernatural cheatery.

Once he's caught up with Yuki he'll matcher her speed before ever so slowly pulling ahead of her.

Why?

Because he's trying to get her to speed up of course!

[Slii Arhem]

The Road

Did someone say- what do you mean the joke's been done? How am I supposed to remember every bloody character introduction this kook has cooked up?

Ugh, and the dialogue colours are the same too. Just bloody brilliant. I swear working with amateurs is going to be the death of me.

*coughs* WELL THEN! Obviously no one has said Chaos!!!

Spoilsport

Hush you. But even so, Chaos is brewing down the road from Hadlin and Kate. Chaos of a very familiar variety. Normally a mech slapped together from a bunch of twigs and neon green twine wouldn't even cause a double take on the mean streets of Inside, but the "driver" of said mech who is suspended in the branches of a tree that makes up its torso and tugging on the strings that cause its limbs to move should be faintly familiar to Ms. Kyland. He is a tentacle-haired pseudo-elf with cat ears and a tail, and even worse than that he has a name.

That name is Flora Madhowl, buttmonkey of the gods.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!! !!" He tugs hard on a cord, sweeping one of the mecha's wooden fists to the skies where it discharges a mass of lightning, fire, chickens, necromantic energies, and teeth that obliterates a flock of starlings overhead.

Dear gods above, those aren't ordinary twigs. The blasted thing is made of wands.

"No dear, it's not just random, it's CHAOS!!!!" Eris cackles as she steps out from behind one of the wandmecha's legs, and Kate may notice that the limbs of its torso tree are heavy with golden apples. It appears Flora traded his old masters for a new one, far more dangerous than the gods of dice had ever been.

"Have fun Katie Darling!" Eris waves cheerily at Kate before tossing an apple at the ground and disappearing in a poof of purple incense.

[Lost_Deep]

Adventure Park

Gerri is left on the ground, on her hands and knees. Shaking violently.

Her skin burns, and so does her mouth...

Her vision is blurry. Her heart is beating too fast. Her lungs are just going to...

Okay, actually her lungs are fine. But it feels like her chest is going to...

going to

Gerri suddenly jerks up and back, and her ribs... swing out of her chest.

The laws of biology take a back seat as twelve pairs of long, sharp, curved blades that try to rip into the nearby jellies.

Gerri has no idea what's going on.

The Road

Kate watches it happen.

She then turns to Hadlin, grabbing his sleeve. Kate is wild-eyed with fear. "RUN!"

Whether she can pull Hadlin along or not, Kate is making a beeline back into the park. She does not want to be here for this! She does not want to be in a one-mile radius of this!

[Halae]

[Inside]

Hadlin's sleeve is grabbed, and he blinks in surprise as he's dragged along behind Kate.

It seems they may make a clean getaway.

Though the park they're getting away into is kind of a bad choice.

[Slii Arhem]

The Road -> Random Park

Not quite a clean getaway if Flora's jerky movements have anything to say about it. More strings are yanked and the wands that comprise the mech's left hand gesture towards Kate and Hadlin as they flee back towards the park, firing off four distinct magical effects in their general direction.

Three of the bolts of magic are indistinct and hazy as they fly through the air, and once they strike a surface it billows out in a shimmering haze that effects everything in the vicinity. The first causes a zone of low self-esteem, the second a field of grumpiness, and the third makes everything take more effort than it should by those effected, inconveniencing people most horribly.

Why even bother? It's just not your day after all. It's never your day. Besides, it would be far too much effort to continue running. Might as well give up.

Oh, and the last spell sprays everything in a three block line with brightly colored strips of confetti. Yay confetti!

[Lost_Deep]

Random Park

Poof!

No! Kate does not want to have to deal with this!
She can't deal with this! It's always coming to her and she can't get away.
Literally, it seems.

Kate keeps running. Not as fast, but her sudden emotional shifts don't impede her movement as much as the lethargy does.

[Morcleon]

Spoiler

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[Generic Streets]

Ignai decides to keep the opportunity to avoid talking about how warm she is while she can. She's mostly just boggling at Sayuri. "Whatever I spend out of something like clothes means I can afford that much less food or something else I really need." She doesn't want to sound ungrateful, but she has to be practical too.

On the other hand, it sounds so tempting to actually do things with people. It seems like forever since she's been able to do that...

Generic Street

Imesah doesn't return that grin. "I am a Warrior of Sunlight, not a common mercenary." She takes a bit of pride in her covenant.

[Generic Street]

Sayuri begins talking to Ignai in a calm, rather teacher-like voice, smiling warmly. "Well, if you can get some decent clothes, there's a much higher chance you getting a job, and thus you can then have a steady source of income, which will soon repay the cost of the clothes themselves, and earn you a profit, which will eventually boost you out of poverty."

Chuckling at Imesah, she gives the paladin a bemused look. "Hey, just because you're a paladin, doesn't mean you have to go around destroying evil. You can do some work to help us two get along in life, can't you?"

Spoiler

Show

The Black Creation will likely be the one to notice that these creatures seem to be coming out of the walls all along the sewer system, as it moves.
Numbers in the tens of dozens, and that's only in this section of the underground.


Meanwhile, the hunters initiate some fighting.
Kirlia punches!
The silver seems effective!

The blackened carapace along one of the creature's arms burns, hisses, and shatters, reacting extremely poorly to the metal's touch.
It also spews out a highly pressurized, brownish fluid out of the wound, directly back at Kirlia and her poorly-positioned fist.

Acidic to the extreme and quite frankly not caring what anything is actually made of, it is quite the unpleasant substance to be splashed by.

The creature reacts rather swiftly to the assault, tearing another limb free of the wall and lashing it out at its attacker. It's a long-barbed limb that could probably be mistaken for a tail, if there wasn't a misshapen hand twitching on the end of it.


Slightly-over-there, Yuki uses the hypospray!
Whatever it was actually supposed to accomplish doesn't really seem to happen, as the initially-affected area sizzles a bit, before shining back over with a malignant energy.
Blessed/cursed? Who's idea was that?

A spindly black fist shoots out of the mass of limbs, straight at his face in response.

[Sewers]

Yuki grimaces at the failure to effect the creature. "Well, at least we can confirm that they are indeed the demons we're looking for... I've spent way too much time hunting Things That Shouldn't Really Exist(TM)..."

"One dose used, nine left." He flips the "cursed" function off, just in time to see the spiked fist rushing towards his face. A crackling blue tentacle whips up, fast enough to soften the blow, but not nearly enough to stop it completely. Carried from the momentum of the blow, he is blown back, his wings stopping him in midair.

Wiping a slight trickle of blood from his lip, Yuki narrows his eyes. Then, he shoots directly back at it, this time leading with the two tentacles, glowing with a vivacious energy, which try to restrain it long enough for him to cut an opening with his silvered scalpel, and hit it there with the (now only blessed) hypospray.

[Halae]

[Random Park]

Hadlin doesn't really feel like running anymore but, well, he also doesn't really feel like getting Kate to let go of his sleeve. He's too lazy to stop running, somehow. Despite this, he's glad for the slower pace.

[Slii Arhem]

Random Park

No doubt somewhere Eris is thrilled by Kate's tenacity, wherever she might be watching this from. Flora, however, just does his thing once again.

Thankfully they manage to make it out of the effects of the combined grump, self-esteem, and inconveniencing spells before the next barrage hits, but probably not before they get swatted by branches, tripped by roots, and have tiny sharp rocks somehow get lodged in the bottoms of their shoes. How bloody inconvenient!

And what's even more inconvenient is the pair of spells the wand-mech has managed to shoot their way just by advancing towards them ponderously. The first manifests as a blast of thick, doughy biscuit batter that arcs over the trees like an artillery shell to come splatting down near them, covering the park's ground in a mire of muddy dough. The next...

For a moment, even Eris boggles from her voyeur's dimension as a portal opens up and a four foot tall fairy made of sliced meat flies out on wings of cold cuts, holding a tukey-dog in one meaty fist like a wand. The meat-fairy gurgles wetly and begins gesturing with her wand, and everything she points it at begins transfiguring into piles of sliced, chopped, or ground meat. If Hadlin or Kate are unfortunate enough to get hit directly by the wand's meat-ray, they could find themselves transfigured into meat fairies as well.