[Nexus] Outside XXXIII

[ThirdEmperor]

Lake Lazuli

For a second, Caesium's simply too taken aback that she would dare spit at him to stop Mrs. Brant. Unlucky for her, this shock doesn't last. With a sudden angry shout he spins around, trying to grab her by the shoulder as she walks away and then strike her with the butt of the pistol. Don't you ever dare try anything like that again! You think I won't kill you, like I killed your friend!?

King's Blood Field

Sadly for One, the sickle can only work it's magic if it's been bathed in blood recently. It doesn't matter whether said blood belongs to him or his enemies, but neither is an option now, as his armor is far too tough to pierce and his foe infuriatingly short on any veins. So as fast as he tries to parry, the spear manages to outpace him and stab at his shoulder- An attempt which his armor promptly negates.

Useful for information. Aiming a last swat with the sickle at the spear's haft to bat it aside, One disregards the weapon he now knows can't hurt him and goes after Red, adding one more the chase.

Alpha's recovered enough from being tossed around by the blast to quickly roll aside from the axe as it boomerangs back towards him, ending the roll on his feet. His assault rifle's no good against this sort of enemy so he throws it aside, freeing up both hands. Dropping into a defensive stance he waits for the axe to take another swing, ready to grab it the moment it does.

First scowls as the shield leaps in front of his shot, shoving the pistol back into it's holster and switching to the rifle instead. It's not loaded with armor piercing bullets, but unless that shields made of something awful sturdy it shouldn't stand up against more than a burst or two.

[Asha'man]

[Cave Dungeon]

The place is deserted as far as the eye can see in every direction. The only structure around is a simple cave. The cave mouth is sealed by a door. Magic can be felt from it. Serph stands a bit far from the door, he'll go closer once the others have stepped through. He had no plans of repeating his first experience.

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Grove

Ilpholin at this point, has nausea kick in, so doesn't eat very much. At least, not much that she keeps down anyways.

But she has to make one last stab at making Darcy understand. She wants Darcy to understand.
"Can we stop Darcy? I want to stop..."
Or she could just beg for it. She's probably having trouble thinking through the brain fog at this point too.

"Ilphy, love, you're halfway through. We can't stop now. You'd just have to do it all over again, and that would be so much worse for you," Darcy pleads back. She doesn't want to admit what she knows deep down - that Ilpholin doesn't mean stopping for now. She means stopping for good.

[Basher]

Abandoned Motorway Community- Town Hall

Opening the cupboard, he sees these metal pieces. He tries to pick up the machine gun, but he can barely slide it across. He gave up, but he takes a piece of the bolts from it. He seems to be familiar with it, since the way he's holding it is like he's investigating it's design. He also notices the crossbow, so he take it out of the cupboard, and again he takes a closer look at it. Nodding once, he slings his bag towards the desk, as he opens it. He then puts the crossbow inside the bag, as well as taking out the quiver of bolts from the cupboard, slinging it to his back, a bit to his left side. He closes his bag, zips it, and slings it back to his back. The weight, however, made him lean back a little. He pulls the bag's straps, supporting the added weight. He closes the cupboard, takes a final look at the room, and heads out.

As he got out of the Town Hall, he turns his head towards the ISO Containers. Looking at it from afar, it looks like a mess. He heads to that direction, whilst shifting his head back and fort. He seems to suspect someone is in the area.

[Morcleon]

[Cave Dungeon]

The place is deserted as far as the eye can see in every direction. The only structure around is a simple cave. The cave mouth is sealed by a door. Magic can be felt from it. Serph stands a bit far from the door, he'll go closer once the others have stepped through. He had no plans of repeating his first experience.

[Cave Dungeon]

Floating over beside Serph, Cerise gazes at the door, then grins at her companion. "So... It's a door. Want me to break it down for you?"

[TechnoScrabble]

An as of yet unspecified place

John is teleported in, presumably attached via handholding to a dark elf woman with a bass!

[Time for Never]

[Cave Dungeon]

The place is deserted as far as the eye can see in every direction. The only structure around is a simple cave. The cave mouth is sealed by a door. Magic can be felt from it. Serph stands a bit far from the door, he'll go closer once the others have stepped through. He had no plans of repeating his first experience.

[Cave Dungeon]

A lone cave in the middle of nowhere seemed appropriate for a dungeon. If you're going to hide a treasure might as well be far away from those pesky adventurers.

Gan looks over at the ghost when she speaks. He realizes he hadn't talked with her yet back at the inn. She appeared like a young child with incredibly long light-blue hair. He wasn't sure how well she'd be able to fight with her being only a child, though she seemed confident enough.

Apparitions tend to react negatively about their deaths so he didn't bring it up. However, it was strange to see a ghost for the first time. As far as he knew, creatures either reincarnate or reach Nirvana after dying.

"Serph should be able to open it since he's already done it once."

[Lex-Kat]

{Melody's Island}

"Doesn't matter. Come along. Tut tut. Spoon full of sugar. Etc Etc Etc." Reinholdt says as he goes to herd the girls along to their rooms.

Derek stands there and waits, going over what happened in his head one more time to make sure he doesn't leave out anything important when he tells Jezebelle.

Estia and Lyanna are escorted to their rooms. After a moment, possibly after Reinholdt returns, Jezebelle steps out of her room. Her hair is brushed out, the sleepiness has been washed away from her face, and she's wearing a simple green dress.

She goes over to the fridge and gets some milk and one of the brownies. So, tell me what happened. She says as she sits down, taking a bite of brownie.

[Hattish Thing]

Lake Lazuli

For a second, Caesium's simply too taken aback that she would dare spit at him to stop Mrs. Brant. Unlucky for her, this shock doesn't last. With a sudden angry shout he spins around, trying to grab her by the shoulder as she walks away and then strike her with the butt of the pistol. Don't you ever dare try anything like that again! You think I won't kill you, like I killed your friend!?

Amelia Brant is grabbed angrily, and spun around suddenly. She wasn't expecting to be attacked. She's grabbed and she tries to resist. Amelia is a scientist though, and not suited to combat. She's grabbed, and the butt of the pistol smashes her forehead. Her forehead starts to bleed, the pistol butt leaving a cut. She doubles over in pain, and clutches her bleeding forehead. The other scientists gasp and move even closer together. Amelia stands up after Caesium speaks. No, I don't. I don't believe someone like you would kill a fat defenseless man, and then a woman without any guilt. If I'm wrong, then you're an inhuman monster. She'll try to stand up to him yet again.

[ThirdEmperor]

Lake Lazuli

Caesium scowls, biting back the overwhelming desire to kill her right now as he wipes the spit off his face. Because to an extent, she's right- He can't kill her. Not out of guilt, but because even a thug like him can see the value of having Marciano's head scientist's wife as a hostage.

On the other hand, she'll still be valuable with a bullet in the leg. Last warning. Don't test me. Forcing some semblance of calm to cross his face, Caesium takes aim.

[Hattish Thing]

Lake Lazuli

Caesium scowls, biting back the overwhelming desire to kill her right now as he wipes the spit off his face. Because to an extent, she's right- He can't kill her. Not out of guilt, but because even a thug like him can see the value of having Marciano's head scientist's wife as a hostage.

On the other hand, she'll still be valuable with a bullet in the leg. Last warning. Don't test me. Forcing some semblance of calm to cross his face, Caesium takes aim.

Amelia turns around and will walk back to the scientists, much more afraid then she looks. However, as she walks, she speaks back at him, You know, you're going to die one day. For doing this. You killed a poor...defenseless man. You threatened me. You will pay for this eventually. This is certainly against the law, keeping hostages. Remnant will find you eventually...you will be stopped. You're just too much of a dumbass to know it. She'll move to the front of the group, and stare at him.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Motorway Community

There's only one ISO container. Inside, there's several windows cut into it to let in light, some shelving welded onto the far wall opposite the doors, a low bar in front of the shelves, and several tables and chairs. Most of the furniture has been looted from cars, and for decoration there's several car number plates bolted to the walls and bonnet ornaments dangling from string attaching them to the ceiling. There's three bodies inside the container; two near a table with a pair of mugs on it and one behind the bar.

[Asha'man]

[Cave Dungeon]

Floating over beside Serph, Cerise gazes at the door, then grins at her companion. "So... It's a door. Want me to break it down for you?"

[Cave Dungeon]

A lone cave in the middle of nowhere seemed appropriate for a dungeon. If you're going to hide a treasure might as well be far away from those pesky adventurers.

Gan looks over at the ghost when she speaks. He realizes he hadn't talked with her yet back at the inn. She appeared like a young child with incredibly long light-blue hair. He wasn't sure how well she'd be able to fight with her being only a child, though she seemed confident enough.

Apparitions tend to react negatively about their deaths so he didn't bring it up. However, it was strange to see a ghost for the first time. As far as he knew, creatures either reincarnate or reach Nirvana after dying.

"Serph should be able to open it since he's already done it once."

[Cave Dungeon]

".....You're not a very good listener are you Blindfold? I never said I got it to open. All that happened was the door making me fall into a pit of fire for trying to get inside alone. As for you ghost I have a better idea" I don't think the three actually introduced themselves to each other. Serph walks right in front of the door and this time with companions. The door, somehow, acknowledges that there are three this time around. The door spits out 3 dice at the three by the door. A black one with silver pips to Serph, a yellow one with braille as the pips for Gan and a blue one with white pips for Cerise. The door simply vanishes and Serph goes into the cave. Inside the cave is a set of stairs leading down to a hallway. The floors of the hallway are separated into squares like a board game. At the end of the first block a barrier can be felt. On the wall of the first block something is written. Serph waits for his companions to arrive before examining it.

[Gullara]

Mimi wouldn't have to look far as a particularly towering redwood reached skyward past the canopy formed by its lesser kin. There were a few similar examples of impressive growth but there was something about this one that simply seemed.. Off somehow? Perhaps it was the fact that there wasn’t any birdsong to be heard in its branches or perhaps it was the faint shimmering of color in the air. Or perhaps it was the fact that its crown was apparently playing a jaunty tune with instruments that Mimi has likely never heard of before. She might recognize the language by sound but likely not the words, though.

If she tracks the sound to its source, though, she would find a small ovoid that was about her size with a speaker as large as her head. Once she drew close to it, however, it would stop playing its song and instead it would begin playing a recorded message although it would be much quieter in comparison to the music that came before. ”Hello Mimi! Glad to see you’ve gotten this far. Your next task is to find this place:

A hive of walls but there are no bees;
Rivers without water and which never freeze;
Hollow blocks making hollow block spires;
Each lit inside by glass covered fires;
Sand mixed to stone to support a thousand feet;
Atop a singing, roofed mesa is where we’ll next meet.

There would then be a pause before Riss’ voice came through the speaker again, saying: ”And if you need to hear that again, just tap the small glowing circle on the device.”

[Scavenger Hunt]

Mimi has to press the button a few times while she's thinking. Riddles are hard! So... some kind of building she's guessing? Glass covered fires are lights maybe? Sand mixed to stone, a mesa.

Riddles are hard.

She flies along, trying to think it through for a while. She flies long enough that she can see Inside. Hm, maybe it's there? That's where buildings are, right? The pixie flies over the city walls. It'd be worth a shot at least.

Continued here.

[Morcleon]

[Cave Dungeon]

".....You're not a very good listener are you Blindfold? I never said I got it to open. All that happened was the door making me fall into a pit of fire for trying to get inside alone. As for you ghost I have a better idea" I don't think the three actually introduced themselves to each other. Serph walks right in front of the door and this time with companions. The door, somehow, acknowledges that there are three this time around. The door spits out 3 dice at the three by the door. A black one with silver pips to Serph, a yellow one with braille as the pips for Gan and a blue one with white pips for Cerise. The door simply vanishes and Serph goes into the cave. Inside the cave is a set of stairs leading down to a hallway. The floors of the hallway are separated into squares like a board game. At the end of the first block a barrier can be felt. On the wall of the first block something is written. Serph waits for his companions to arrive before examining it.

Lifting up her blue and white die with an unseen hand, Cerise examines its floating form carefully. Keeping it with her, she follows Serph into the cave and stares at the script. "I take it this place is as new to you as it is to us?"

[Time for Never]

[Cave Dungeon]

".....You're not a very good listener are you Blindfold? I never said I got it to open. All that happened was the door making me fall into a pit of fire for trying to get inside alone. As for you ghost I have a better idea" I don't think the three actually introduced themselves to each other. Serph walks right in front of the door and this time with companions. The door, somehow, acknowledges that there are three this time around. The door spits out 3 dice at the three by the door. A black one with silver pips to Serph, a yellow one with braille as the pips for Gan and a blue one with white pips for Cerise. The door simply vanishes and Serph goes into the cave. Inside the cave is a set of stairs leading down to a hallway. The floors of the hallway are separated into squares like a board game. At the end of the first block a barrier can be felt. On the wall of the first block something is written. Serph waits for his companions to arrive before examining it.

Gan wasn't sure whether Serph had meant to offend him by calling him blindfold, but he doesn't get annoyed easily, if ever. He turned to Cerise as if to say something but then stopped. Gan looked at his die out of curiosity. Was the dungeon sentient? Did it know about the blindfold and thus gave him a braille die on purpose? In any case it appears that if did happen to be alive, the cave wasn't aware that he could see perfectly fine. Looking back at the cave suspiciously, he walks in.

[5a Violista]

Oldale Town Ruins

Well, I'm reasonably sure that's everything over and dusted with. Unless Alvida wants to do something else besides look for a museum, anyway.

Oldale Town Ruins

Nope, nothing else to do. All she needs to do now is find a museum.

Thanks! That was pretty fun.

Alvida gets up and now tries to figure out her new map, wandering around to find a museum.

[Basher]

Abandoned Motorway Community

Arriving at the ISO container, he enters inside. He notices these things tied to a string. Curious, he lightly pushes one of them. The bonnet swayed left to right, but the string suddenly cuts, letting the bonnet fall to a table, which got destroyed. He stepped back as he saw this, looking around if he's being watched after the commotion he made. He moved away and went towards the small bar, heading at the back of it. He sees the dead body, crouching down as he inspects it.

[Asha'man]

King's Blood Field

Sadly for One, the sickle can only work it's magic if it's been bathed in blood recently. It doesn't matter whether said blood belongs to him or his enemies, but neither is an option now, as his armor is far too tough to pierce and his foe infuriatingly short on any veins. So as fast as he tries to parry, the spear manages to outpace him and stab at his shoulder- An attempt which his armor promptly negates.

Useful for information. Aiming a last swat with the sickle at the spear's haft to bat it aside, One disregards the weapon he now knows can't hurt him and goes after Red, adding one more the chase.

Alpha's recovered enough from being tossed around by the blast to quickly roll aside from the axe as it boomerangs back towards him, ending the roll on his feet. His assault rifle's no good against this sort of enemy so he throws it aside, freeing up both hands. Dropping into a defensive stance he waits for the axe to take another swing, ready to grab it the moment it does.

First scowls as the shield leaps in front of his shot, shoving the pistol back into it's holster and switching to the rifle instead. It's not loaded with armor piercing bullets, but unless that shields made of something awful sturdy it shouldn't stand up against more than a burst or two.

[King's Blood Field]

Serph notices that he is being ignored. Which is actually a good thing. His arm was now completely numb. He takes a stance and focuses on something. If they ignore him for awhile (3 more turns) then he should be able to have everyone's undivided attention.

Element notices that his weapons are no use against the two in power armor. He calls them back and sheath them back in the tower shields. As for the rifle shots from First it is blocked by a tower shield again. It is not the sturdiness of the shield that keeps it undamaged but a telekinetic shield. It stops the bullet a little bit before it touches the shields. Element goes for First this time around trying to touch him or his armor. If touched he should be able to drain energy from whatever is touched.

Lifting up her blue and white die with an unseen hand, Cerise examines its floating form carefully. Keeping it with her, she follows Serph into the cave and stares at the script. "I take it this place is as new to you as it is to us?"

Gan wasn't sure whether Serph had meant to offend him by calling him blindfold, but he doesn't get annoyed easily, if ever. He turned to Cerise as if to say something but then stopped. Gan looked at his die out of curiosity. Was the dungeon sentient? Did it know about the blindfold and thus gave him a braille die on purpose? In any case it appears that if did happen to be alive, the cave wasn't aware that he could see perfectly fine. Looking back at the cave suspiciously, he walks in.

[Cave Dungeon]

"That's correct Ghost." This would be easier if someone decided to ask everyone to introduce themselves. Serph did not mean to insult Gan by calling him blindfold its just with no names apparent he had to call them something. As for the Cave it can see the ones going inside it. It can't fully scan them though. By the wall of the first block this is what is written.

"Welcome to Dungeons and Dragons: Cave Story! I presume that all who enter here are adventurers seeking rewards at the risk of danger. However here things are a bit different. Simply thwacking monsters left and right is a bit boring, wouldn't you agree? Each of you has a six sided die in their hand. Each of you will take turns throwing their die, the order all depend you, whatever number that comes up that is how far you will advance. Wherever you land something will happen. It could be monsters, traps or treasure that appear. At the end of the dungeon you can collect your prize, assuming you're still alive that is. Lastly don't cheat."

"Whoever made this place must have been bored out of his mind. That or he was a djinn." His words slur as usual. Serph's map changes into this.

with a note on the upper left corner of "you are here".

[Lady Serpentine]

"Really? I would love a demonstration, but I'd like a tour of the production facilities first, if I can." Yuki grins and, still latched onto Talnissa's arm, beginning to pull her forwards as he continues to ask his (slightly calmer now) hyperactive questions. "How do you animate the flesh? Is it the standard negative energy, or something different? Could I have a sample to study?"

"...also, why chainsawsaxes?"

"Really. And I think that most of your questions will be answered when we go down and look at the process...", Talnissa replies, firmly, but gently, planting herself in place. "As for 'why chainaxes', these two were originally... Ah... Anti-tank units might be the best term. Rather than have to learn to use new weapons, they simply continued with what they were familiar with."

[Cabin]
She frowns, frustrated at this.
This isn't getting us anywhere... how else do you get rid of spider webs?
---
[Flats House]
No, the Guides keep it nice and clean...
She smiles, leading her downstairs to the warm basement.
It's nice here---warm in winter, cool in summer.

[Cabin]

"Um... Burn them?"

That actually is a viable alternative method - spiderwebs are thin enough that they they go up like a torch, and it spreads through the whole thing about as fast. Though for some reason they stink of burnt plastic.

[Flats House]

Karyana smiles as well, going to slip a wing around Carrie, and gently kiss her cheek.

"It's lovely, dear... We'll have to come out here more often, I think."

[Reinholdt]

"Ilphy, love, you're halfway through. We can't stop now. You'd just have to do it all over again, and that would be so much worse for you," Darcy pleads back. She doesn't want to admit what she knows deep down - that Ilpholin doesn't mean stopping for now. She means stopping for good.

Ilpholin's Grove

"But I dun wanna...." Ilpholin moans, shaking a bit. "Being a non-demon sucks." You never get sick as a demon.

{Melody's Island}

Estia and Lyanna are escorted to their rooms. After a moment, possibly after Reinholdt returns, Jezebelle steps out of her room. Her hair is brushed out, the sleepiness has been washed away from her face, and she's wearing a simple green dress.

She goes over to the fridge and gets some milk and one of the brownies. So, tell me what happened. She says as she sits down, taking a bite of brownie.

{Melody's Island}

Reinholdt will return in time if the kids hop in bed without a fuss, though Rein will make sure they're tucked in as well.

[Beans]

[Cabin]

"Um... Burn them?"

That actually is a viable alternative method - spiderwebs are thin enough that they they go up like a torch, and it spreads through the whole thing about as fast. Though for some reason they stink of burnt plastic.

[Flats House]

Karyana smiles as well, going to slip a wing around Carrie, and gently kiss her cheek.

"It's lovely, dear... We'll have to come out here more often, I think."

[Cabin]
She shrugs and nods. Sounds good to me, and fast... let's do it.
---
[Flats House]
Carrie giggles and nestles closer, leaning up to return the cheek-peck.

[McBish]

{Melody's Island}

Estia and Lyanna are escorted to their rooms. After a moment, possibly after Reinholdt returns, Jezebelle steps out of her room. Her hair is brushed out, the sleepiness has been washed away from her face, and she's wearing a simple green dress.

She goes over to the fridge and gets some milk and one of the brownies. So, tell me what happened. She says as she sits down, taking a bite of brownie.

"Well we were sailing into town when the weather started acting up, it was to quick to be natural and it was acting like it wanted to take us somewhere or stop us from going somewhere. I didn't want to try and test it too much so I went where it seemed to want to go. I had the girls head down into the ship in case the weather turned really nasty or there was something dangerous. That is when we found this island, and a voice started talking to me from thin air. It claimed to be the girls grandpa and it wanted me to bring them to it. I told it no and turned the ship to come back here. That is when this giant tentecaled monster attacked the ship. I was fighting it off when Reinholdt came along and gave me a hand."

Derek says quickly summing up the trip.

[Lord Magtok]

Fields of Strife

"Hey Rein? I'm lacking in any decent ranged weapons I'm ready to unveil just yet, and there's no way I'm closing in on this guy with those electro-buzz saws whirring in front of his face. Plus, I kinda want to wait on killing him until after he starts up whatever lame-ass failure of an evil scheme he's cooked up next. Can you take these sacks of aboleth droppings on your own, or at least engineer your own escape if I leave?"

The cyborg doesn't wait for a response, and is already tearing a telewarp portal into existence. That gun doesn't look very welcoming, and while Magtok could easily afford to lose a clone or two fighting here, dying is still very much a painful experience and bothersome waste of resources. Best to just cut and run, right?

[Lady Serpentine]

[Cabin]
She shrugs and nods. Sounds good to me, and fast... let's do it.
---
[Flats House]
Carrie giggles and nestles closer, leaning up to return the cheek-peck.

[Cabin]

"You want to, or should I?"
---
[Flats House]

Karyana smiles happily, going to pull her into a gentle hug.

"I've missed this..."

[Beans]

[Cabin]
You probably should do that. I'll shake out the sheets and stuff...
---
[Flats House]
Carrie nods, hugging back.
Nice to spend some time with my paladin...

[Lady Serpentine]

[Cabin]

The mage nods, and sends a spark into the mass of webs!

Whoosh!

The cabin is shortly full of smoke, and stinks of burnt plastic, but the webs in the hallway are gone soon enough. Which leaves the question of why this particular section was so heavily infested, of course, but it's still an improvement.
---
[Flats House]

"It's good to be with my goddess, too. And my friend..."

[Beans]

[Cabin]
Khair gets the bed shaken out and clean, though she wonders what to do about the smell.
---
[Flats]
Carrie pulls her over to a couch to snuggle close, giggling. So, how's motherhood treating you?

[Lady Serpentine]

[Cabin]

Open a window? Assuming you mean the smell from the burning spiderwebs, that is. Though that might cause problems with Khair's illness; I don't know.
---
[Flats]

Karyana grins, nestling into her lap.

"Well! Though we're going to have to bring in some new hosts soon. Tiri's a hungry baby; the others are starting to look pretty drained."

[Beans]

[Cabin]
She does indeed open a window, keeping her respirator on to deal with that.
---
[Flats]
Think goddess blood would work?
Callie would probably offer too.