[Nexus] Inside 53

[ThirdEmperor]

Goblin Market

"Oh." "Well, boo."
The pixies' lights dim as dissapointment takes hold, the crowd slowly dispersing as it becomes apparent that they're not about to make a sale here.
"Sorry!

[GrandDM]

[HLabs, Inside Division]
Amelia follows behind Harald climbing up the ladder with him. She does take a second to admire the sight of the rocket, it has been a long time since she has been this close to a rocket, the last time she was a little girl and her father had taken her for a tour of one of his jobs. There she got to see some impressive rockets. None of those had been preped and ready for liftoff though.

Harald swings into the left-hand seat, placed, as normal for a rocket, facing upward. He hits a button, and a harness wraps around him as the control panels extend, revealing a whole new row of buttons and surrounding him. His fingers dance faster than the eye can follow across keypads and touchscreens, and a gold face is projected into the space between the two seats.

"Uplink successful, holding at one hundred percent integrity. Projections indicate three weeks relay life at maximum range."

Harald gestures towards the second seat.

"Sit in there and hit the green button to your right. That will activate the harness. After that, just brace yourself. Takeoff is not going to be gentle - I had to compensate for the unique formation of the Nexus, and even with the suit to hold you together, it's very possible something will burst or break. The forces involved are right on the redline of the mark-one human body's capabilities."

He turns to the golden head.

"Mastermind, put the medical bay on high alert. Also, assign new command status: Amelia, clearance level three."

"Command status confirmed. Medical bay on alert. Launch countdown T-minus eighty."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Red Zone - The Fiery And The Fiendish]

Pretty much, yeah! If our dandy, dashing devil hadn't ripped his shirt off, Clarissa might not be so motivated to engage in close quarters combat with him!

There's also the minor issue with impaling Clarissa on an essence hacking sword that without Clarissa actually controlling her body, as a slime-like organism, it might be impaled but then ooze around him mostly unharmed, and possibly envelop him which would be icky and gross and dangerous!

Clarissa was expecting this aerial dodge, but dang! Why can't she hit this guy! She barrels through another building, though she was prepared for that this time so it doesn't inflict much damage upon her, before screeching to a halt, arms morphing back into hands and six mawed tendrils erupting out of her back. Grr! This guy makes her so angry that she could just! She could just! Augh!

A change washes over Clarissa. In its wake, it leaves a beast nursed on boiling blood, feeding upon the rage within Clarissa. It is Wrath, and it doesn't appear to be pleased by its current situation.

Plucking the hard light spear out of its calf and casually discarding it upon the earth, Wrath soars onto the battlefield, body dripping with blood.

Wrath isn't in the mood for a swordfight, not while the battlefield is nowhere close to being as slippery as its enemy. It sets about changing this (unless interrupted). With a bloodthirsty roar, pipelines begin to burst all throughout the neighborhood. A nearby fire hydrant explodes into a low orbit from the pressure of that which bubbles beneath. It is not water that flows from these metal vessels. It is blood. The pool's depth should increase until is is three inches at its lowest point, with waves rippling across the surface of the fluid of life (with extra iron added for reasons) as though it were a tumultuous ocean in a, well, violent storm.

Only after this deed is done, Wrath descends from its perch in the skies, landing in a crouched position. It snaps its fingers, summoning forth not a sword, but a charred, simple yet nigh immutable pair of gauntlets and forearm armor.

To the musical howling and screeching of people and beasts, Wrath calls to its (temporary) liberator across the sea of blood,

"May I have this dance?"

[The Red Zone - Pool Party!]

Ew. Blood. Welp, Clarissa just succeeded at ruining her adversary's shoes. They were very nice shoes too. All of the sadness is experienced for their loss.

"Only if you can keep up with the tempo. I do not typically dance with those less experienced than I." Says the gray-winged adversary, having maintained his exact same pose throughout Clarissa/Wrath's temper tantrum.
"Shall I lead?"

[Slii Arhem]

Talking with the strange pamphlet guy? Weelll..

Nephea considered that for a brief moment, her nose and whiskers twitching in thought. "Mmmwell... Eh. I'm not certain that would be a good idea. I'm getting this really strange vibe from him and it's kinda creeping me out. Not like 'Dangerous creepy old man' creepy but 'Spying on you' creepy. It's like... Ah crap you wouldn't be able to relate... Um.. Hrm.. Have you heard of optical illusions or... Oh! Isn't there a thing with sound where you can make an area quiet by playing two of the same sounds at each other or something? So something seems like it isn't there but it is for you then, maybe? So if you took that and flipped it around so that something that seems there but isn't so... This is getting really confusing to explain. Um... Okay, it's like my mind says something is going on but I can't tell if it's just me being paranoid or what is what it comes down to.." she said, scratching behind an ear in mild embarrassment for messing up her rather inept attempt to describe an 'optical illusion.'

Still, this blabbering might be heard by the Cat Burglar given his highly adept hearing so perhaps he might have something to act upon. If only to say that he totally wasn't a creeper.

Temple of the Thousand Faces of the Sun

See, problem here is, butting in on a conversation your not supposed to be hearing at all is a very bad way to prove you're not a creeper. So the Cat bites down the urge to protest his innocence.

In fact, he can probably be skipped until they get on with the actual robbery part.

Arkham Street - Temple

"He has animalistic ears, and while they might not be as finely tuned as my body is to vibrations, they have likely picked up everything that's been said so far, and everything I'm saying now. In fact, if he'd like to confirm that all he'd need to do is nod his head, and then we could drop this illusion of secrecy and then just go over and speak with him. It might be to our advantage to do so, briefly." Mostly to eliminate a witness, not that she says that since she's already voiced her suspicions that the man can hear everything they say from where he is.

[Shadowcaller]

Ashley's Tent

Ashley nods. "It should keep the sickness from hitting us," before getting to work preparing the things she'll need to give treatment to the sick people that come in. She'll treat them to the best of her magical ability, which happens to be pretty darn good.

When the plague starts to spread, Remnant's reaction is to quarantine the area in which it hit and begin administering the cure EI had obtained from NO. Since they already have it and can start handing it out to the infected as soon as they turn up, containing the plague might not be too difficult.

The presence of an AMENite is, obviously, noted. Watchtower and HALO will be notified if the sighting.

The Inside Plague

It really depends on how Ashley's healing works. The way the plague works it won't register as it being something wrong in the body. If her healing is just supposed to set back the body to status quo (AKA when they were healthy) it won't do much. She must specifically targets what's is plaguing the body which in this case is the fungus the plague spreads.

Remnant will have a much easier time eliminating the plague however as their cure is specifically designed to combat it. But even if the cure is 100 % effective it will still take a couple of weeks for the outbreak to die down completely with so many infected animals running over the city.

It seem like this plague have a longer incubation period than the Riverside one had if one has studied the plague there and compare it with the one in Inside.

[Devixer]

The Inside Plague - Ashley's Tent

Ashley's healing magic is really just modified arcane magic. It finds whatever is infecting the body and attempts to essentially burn it away, attacking the problem at its source. If that works, she gives the patient a simple healing potion to restore their health.

[Gullara]

[Goblin Market]

Arel breathes a small sigh of relief. She's glad that's over. It's left her rather flustered, but she'll recover soon enough. "At least they stopped swarming us like that." She says, looking up at Rein.

[Reinholdt]

[Goblin Market]

"Well we know where to go if you ever decided you wanted my muscles removed again." That sure was a long time ago. Maybe they should ask if the pixies here can... grow certain assets.

Reinholdt shakes the thought from his head and looks back to the shopkeep that they were talking to. "Well how about it?"

[Lycan 01]

[Carousel Court - Peaceful Meadow ---> Back to Town]

Dawn sighs. "I can't remember her name, either. But I bet if we ask around, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who we're looking for, or for word to otherwise get back to Sunder."

The pegasus looks around. "Hm. I'm not sure quite how to get back, buuut..."

Dawn hops up, flaps her wings, and shoots skyward. She ascends up a hundred feet or so, clearing the treetops and surveying the land around them. After a few moments of gazing about, she ducks into a nosedive, zooming back towards the ground before pulling up and halting sharply at the last moment. The G-forces would have pulped the insides of most creatures pulling that sort of stunt, but the innate magic of pegasi allowed them to essentially violate the laws of physics and make Newton roll in his grave.

"Civilization is thatta way," the pony says with a smile, pointing a wing somewhat Northeasterly. "Let's get a move on..."

And presumably they do! The trip is actually rather uneventful. Trees, bushes, grass, and the occasional songbird or squirrel are all they really see. They find some dirt trails without much issue, and are easily able to follow them back to Carousel Court itself.

They don't really net much attention from the townsponies though, other than the occasional curious glance or friendly smile and wave. If anypony realizes what they just got back doing, they don't seem to be showing much concern about it.

The spa isn't too hard to find either. "Pretty sure this is the place," Dawn muses, pointing a wing up at a sign in front of the building she just stopped in front of. The sign in question shows a picture of a steam bath. "That's pretty spa-y, right?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Run-Down Building

Randii raises a dyed eyebrow. Lady in the knife? That's...weird.

Meanwhile, the spirit continues talking.

Kelnon told you of me? Well, that is a good thing. It means he must think you can help. My name is Palta. I am the Life spirit.

[Lost_Deep]

[The Mispelled Cemetary]

A shortcut?

Though this place?

The Nexus would have to be in a really weird mood for the Mispelled Cemetary to be a shortcut to anywhere.

Ah well.

The place is about as spooky as usual. Tomb stones, crypts, mysterious green mist creeping along the ground, dead trees, the works.

And of course a dozen zombees doing the thriller dance. Because why not? They don't seem to have noticed the living interloper just yet.

Cute. Cute...

Huh. Actually, they're pretty good.

Look, the insane Freakshow girl can enjoy a good dance number. She's going to stand for a minute and watch the show. It's worth a chuckle or two, at least, and she needs something to brighten up her day after what she's been through.

[McBish]

[HLabs, Inside Division]

Harald swings into the left-hand seat, placed, as normal for a rocket, facing upward. He hits a button, and a harness wraps around him as the control panels extend, revealing a whole new row of buttons and surrounding him. His fingers dance faster than the eye can follow across keypads and touchscreens, and a gold face is projected into the space between the two seats.

"Uplink successful, holding at one hundred percent integrity. Projections indicate three weeks relay life at maximum range."

Harald gestures towards the second seat.

"Sit in there and hit the green button to your right. That will activate the harness. After that, just brace yourself. Takeoff is not going to be gentle - I had to compensate for the unique formation of the Nexus, and even with the suit to hold you together, it's very possible something will burst or break. The forces involved are right on the redline of the mark-one human body's capabilities."

He turns to the golden head.

"Mastermind, put the medical bay on high alert. Also, assign new command status: Amelia, clearance level three."

"Command status confirmed. Medical bay on alert. Launch countdown T-minus eighty."

Amelia straps herself into the seat. "Awesome." She says fairly sarcastically. Well I'm tougher then I look I will be OK. Let's get this show on the road." She can always kick in her healing if things get rocky.

---------------------------------

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"You should try self-employment. Research the dungeons and seek them out yourself. Then you get to keep all the treasure." That's how Rein did it most of the time before Nexus. Even now he only doesn't do it because plot/logistics reasons.

"I've had bad luck going that route as well. I don't know if the dungeon crawling profession is really for me. Though I guess I will keep my ears open for any dungeons." She gives a little shrug. At least she has money coming in now. The knife fights have proven fairly profitable.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"Eh, all right. Maybe start a training dojo instead or something." Reinholdt shrugs and stands up straight, stepping over to hand Amelia her pay for this session.

[Deathkeeper]

Run-Down Building

Randii raises a dyed eyebrow. Lady in the knife? That's...weird.

Meanwhile, the spirit continues talking.

Kelnon told you of me? Well, that is a good thing. It means he must think you can help. My name is Palta. I am the Life spirit.

Run-Down Building

Zebes shrugs with a foreleg.

A pleasure. Now, can you tell me anything about your situation that might help. Oh, and should I be worried about anyone coming to find this item you're bound to anytime soon? It was just sort of sitting here.

[GrandDM]

[HLabs, Inside Division]
Amelia straps herself into the seat. "Awesome." She says fairly sarcastically. Well I'm tougher then I look I will be OK. Let's get this show on the road." She can always kick in her healing if things get rocky.

Harald raises his hand to the dashboard over his head and flicks a series of switches. The shutters on the windscreen roll up, and the rocket begins to shake as the engines cycle up. He presses another button, and the off-white door far above opens slowly, revealing blue sky.

"Launch window T-minus twenty."

Harald flicks another row of switches, and hydraulic beams extend and lock into place, reinforcing the structure of the cockpit. The noise of similar beams extending echoes down the rocket.

"T-minus ten."

He moves to the dashboard in front of and around him, inserts a key into a keyhole and turns it. A gold button lights up under a plastic cover, which Harald lifts.

"T-minus five."

He looks over.

"Good luck."

[Asha'man]

[Everfree Park]

Serph wins! He wins all the things! Forever!

Congratulations!

Aaaaaand I'm done here.

As odd as that sounds, I'll take it. He finds what he needs, the red hair of a queen succubus, a heart of a fallen angel and the blood of a raging dragon. With that he completes the process of a successor to leave behind before he is summoned by Beelzebub and loses his free will.

A couple hourglasses of time later...

Serph Oaruma is no more as Serph is summoned back into his home world from the Nexus to fight in a battle against YHWH's armies. To the very least he has left a successor behind. One who has all his power and with the ability to surpass him. He is neither evil nor good. Once he has grown up and surpassed him, the successor will be able to choose if he wants to be an agent of Law, Chaos or Unity.

[McBish]

[HLabs, Inside Division]

Harald raises his hand to the dashboard over his head and flicks a series of switches. The shutters on the windscreen roll up, and the rocket begins to shake as the engines cycle up. He presses another button, and the off-white door far above opens slowly, revealing blue sky.

"Launch window T-minus twenty."

Harald flicks another row of switches, and hydraulic beams extend and lock into place, reinforcing the structure of the cockpit. The noise of similar beams extending echoes down the rocket.

"T-minus ten."

He moves to the dashboard in front of and around him, inserts a key into a keyhole and turns it. A gold button lights up under a plastic cover, which Harald lifts.

"T-minus five."

He looks over.

"Good luck."

"You to." She says sincerely hoping neither of them need the luck. Her hands will grip whatever is around to hold onto, armrest or strap on her chair. She waits for liftoff.

--------------------------------

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"Eh, all right. Maybe start a training dojo instead or something." Reinholdt shrugs and stands up straight, stepping over to hand Amelia her pay for this session.

Dojo's are expensive, empty yards are nice and cheap. "Yeah maybe." She takes the money tucking it away safely. "So when do you want to get your next lesson?"

[GrandDM]

[HLabs, Inside Division]
"You too." She says sincerely hoping neither of them need the luck. Her hands will grip whatever is around to hold onto, armrest or strap on her chair. She waits for liftoff.

Harald nods and sits back, then looks over again.

"You need to re-"

The rest of his sentence is lost as the engines fire fully, catapulting the rocket towards the sky. The inertia hits hard, and keeps both Harald and Amelia (assuming she doesn't have supernatural strength) pressed into their seats. The forces are severe, and if Amelia is going to take any injuries it will be now.

<GENERAL NOTICE>

The rocket has just launched, with the following effects:
1. Severe shaking near the launch site (deep in the crummiest, most dangerous part of town), enough to make people stagger around and stuff fall from shelves, but not knock down houses unless they're really badly built.

2. Large amounts of heat, around forty degrees Celsius, around the launch site, lowering as you get further away. No flames though (Harald uses clean engines).

3. An almighty, ear-hammering, bass roar, audible across the city. At the launch site, it's just below danger volume, getting fainter as normal the further you get.

4. Any satellites, flying people etc. in the rocket's path are shunted aside by a GDG (Gravitic Distortion Generator).

[McBish]

[HLabs, Inside Division>>Space]

Even if Amelia could get up out of her seat she doesn't try. She lets herself get pressed up against her seat as they take off into the air. She doesn't close here eyes or look away, instead focusing on watching out the windshield in front of them, waiting for gravity to lose it's grip on them. She doesn't seem to get any injuries.

[GrandDM]

[HLabs, Inside Division>>Space]

Even if Amelia could get up out of her seat she doesn't try. She lets herself get pressed up against her seat as they take off into the air. She doesn't close here eyes or look away, instead focusing on watching out the windshield in front of them, waiting for gravity to lose it's grip on them. She doesn't seem to get any injuries.

Assuming there's nothing else happening (post now if you're throwing something at me, everyone), the rocket reaches space. There's a loud clunk as the main stage detaches and the second stage fires. Harald hits a button, and his harness retracts, along with the console panels. He rolls out of the seat, falling to the back wall of the cockpit, flipping in midair landing with unexpected agility for a science-nerd type. (Because, of course, the rocket's acceleration provides gravity in the opposite direction to its motion).

"We'll reach the asteroid in three hours, eighteen minutes. You stay there, we'll stop accelerating in four minutes. That's when the gravity provided by that acceleration will no longer be in effect. I'll be back then; there are some things I need to prepare. If you need me, say clearly "VC, call Harald". You'll be able to talk to me."

He grips the ladder above his head, lifts himself up and slides through the hole.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Dojo's are expensive, empty yards are nice and cheap. "Yeah maybe." She takes the money tucking it away safely. "So when do you want to get your next lesson?"

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Gotta spend money to make money.
"Tomorrow right? Same time?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

A certain tiefling walks down the goblin market, curiously browsing the various shops. She is on the hunt for something for her next big project and this is the perfect market for that kind of thing.

Her seemingly pupilless eyes are drawn to Reinholdt and Arel however, hadn't she seen those two somewhere? The pair might catch the tiefling looking at them.

The Inside Plague - Ashley's Tent

((Need to wait a moment for this scene.))

[The Bushranger]

[Carousel Court - Peaceful Meadow ---> Back to Town]

"That does look like a spa to me," Lydia agrees with a nod, even as she switches to her special vision to see who or what might be hiding inside!

===

[Below the TV Tower]

Hikari ponders this for a second, then shrugs. "If you know a place nearby where I could get healed quickly, that's fine. Otherwise, I think it'll be better to press on. The necromancer could easily escape if we take too long."

"...well, as long as you're careful," Mikani says after a moment's thought. "So, which way should we search?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Run-Down Building

Zebes shrugs with a foreleg.

A pleasure. Now, can you tell me anything about your situation that might help. Oh, and should I be worried about anyone coming to find this item you're bound to anytime soon? It was just sort of sitting here.

Run-Down Building

Right now, three other spirits are bound to items. I can detect the energies of all of them, so I can locate them easy enough. Given my current state, however, I am unable to actually do much about it.

The process for freeing us requires the presence of all ten spirits, however.

As for your last question, there has been a man living here for a while. I have no idea if he will return soon or not, though.

[Deathkeeper]

Run-Down Building

Well, let's get out of here and we can see about getting your peers and seeing if Kelnon and the rest can get together.

And he'll turn around, wave to Randii and do just that.

[Morcleon]

[Below the TV Tower]

"...well, as long as you're careful," Mikani says after a moment's thought. "So, which way should we search?"

[Below the TV Tower]

"I will be, don't worry. You'll just have to cover for me a bit." Hikari chuckles, then looks around. "I was thinking that an aerial recon would work best. Mainly because I have no idea which direction he or she could have gone..."

[McBish]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Got to have money to spend it, it really is a vicious cycle. "All right sounds good to me. I'll see you tomorrow." She says going to grab the bag, looks like she is going to head to the DFI to grab herself some brunch.

Also future lessons can be done off screen unless there are specific things you want to RP. There is only so much I can pretened to know about how to fight.

((I almost had her admire the rocket as it blasted off into space. Then remembered that she is on the rocket leaving continuity behind.))

--------------------------------

[Rocketing Towards Space]

"OK then sounds good. I'll just be here." She peers around looking at all the buttons and switches careful not to touch any of them. Without any instructions she acts like a tourist on a rocket ride.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Got to have money to spend it, it really is a vicious cycle. "All right sounds good to me. I'll see you tomorrow." She says going to grab the bag, looks like she is going to head to the DFI to grab herself some brunch.

Also future lessons can be done off screen unless there are specific things you want to RP. There is only so much I can pretend to know about how to fight.

((I almost had her admire the rocket as it blasted off into space. Then remembered that she is on the rocket leaving continuity behind.))

I have no specific RP ideas here beyond what I've already done, so offscreen it is.

[GrandDM]

((I almost had her admire the rocket as it blasted off into space. Then remembered that she is on the rocket leaving continuity behind.))

--------------------------------

[Rocketing Towards Space]

"OK then sounds good. I'll just be here." She peers around looking at all the buttons and switches careful not to touch any of them. Without any instructions she acts like a tourist on a rocket ride.

((That would have been awkward ))

I should have mentioned earlier - there aren't any buttons (except the harness) on Amelia's side. The dashboard is just a clean surface. Harald didn't want anything getting pressed by accident. (That's why there's the extending section of dashboard on his side - to fit all the buttons and switches that he's moved).

A window suddenly pops up on the right of her vision. It contains Harald's face. "I almost forgot - here's a video on how to operate the armour systems." The sound quality is excellent, as if he was right there.

The window blinks out, and the whole of her vision (which is, I forgot to mention, provided by the helmet as if it wasn't there) is replaced with a short video. It explains that the armour greatly increases her strength, will sustain her for up to three days in a complete vacuum, is proof against anything up to tank fire, has MFGs (Magnetic Field Generators) in the boots and has radar and infrared imaging. It also shows how to operate the radar, IR and MFG boots, each of which is surprisingly simple to use.

As the video comes to an end, the rhythmic throbbing of the engines cuts out. Normal vision returns, and Amelia will gently float about half an inch up out of her seat, restrained by the harness. Harald sails gently out of the ladder-opening, catches hold of his headrest and spins himself effortlessly into his seat, hitting the harness button with one hand and a complex series of switches, buttons and number pad taps with the other. A long series of sharp throbs runs through the ship as various manoeuvring thrusters fire, pointing the craft in the right direction.

"We have three hours thirteen minutes to go. Pop your harness and follow me; there's a few things I need to go through with you."

He'll lead her down the ladder for eight floors, past strange apparatus, massive blue-glowing rods mounted in matt-black holders, crates and boxes, inert robots, large empty glass tanks, tanks of varying sizes with occupants - although he doesn't give time to stop (unless you stop following him and go to take a look), two of the occupants seem to resemble him. Another is a good ten feet tall and monstrous. Further on, there's a medical bay, a workshop and several other unidentifiable setups, down into an empty bay with padded walls, floor and ceiling.

He raises a hand and gestures, suddenly turning on artificial gravity as both him and Amelia are in midair, landing perfectly and watching what happens.

[The Alexandrian]

[Red Zone - The Fiend and I]

Mwahahahahaha! Take that, probably ridiculously expensive shoes! Now all that Clarissa has left to do is to trash the articles of clothing covering her opponent's lower body and she'll have managed to expertly destroy his entire outfit!

"You should enjoy the honor of leading, if you are as experienced and elderly as you claim to be, so that I'll know whether we'll be dancing the devastating disco or the sanguine swing and won't accidentally mutilate you with a clumsy misstep like I seem to have been oh so prone to today. I've tried multiple times now to lead, and you've proven a mite reluctant to indulge me. Don't be. I won't judge your performance too harshly."

Wrath snarls, all riled up, fangs bared and nine tails wagging like there's no tomorrow in the thrill of the moment, as Wrath gestures for her statuesque, elusive, taunt-fond nemesis to come at her for a change!

"Let's get our groove on, mister!"