[NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 17: Through Cloud, Shadow, Earth, and Flesh.

[Shadowcaller]

Courtyard

The elemental is thrown into the pile as Cessie still attempts to force cage Stu as he's on the ground. This might be a useless gesture if explosions happens though depending on how powerful they are. In fact, if explosions do happen, Stu is likely to be at least partly shielded from them thanks to the force cage which also happens to function as a force field.

[The Bushranger]

[Meanwhile, with Timey-Wimey having happened...]

After her evening out with Mia, Shawna is likely returning around this time, approaching the Watchtower fortress without a single clue as to what has been going on in her absence.

Oh dear.

And so she'll head to the door and go to step inside...possibly straight into the Courtyard.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard]

Jeremy, upon grabbing Harley's scabbard, will find that there is absolutely no residual shocking happening with it. Unless Jeremy happens to be a mindless zombie or something similar, he probably would be surprised to find it very...normal. Boring.

That is, until Cessie's elemental ran right into it.

Anyway, there's a bright flash of an explosion - heat, light, force, sound. Since Jeremy was kind enough to grab onto the scabbard, Harley was ~15% blocked from the explosion. It's not the kind of explosion that seriously injures people, though. Just the kind that makes you a little dazed and makes you wonder why you're lying flat on the ground.

Thus, she's blown back a yard or two, knocked over. Harley's flammable sweat catches fire, somehow not burning her. The foam sword she had is a little too ruined to use anymore, so she leaves it smoking on the ground.
[if Jeremy let go of the scabbard], Harley "re-sheathes" her scabbard.
[else, if Jeremy continues to hold onto it through the explosion], Harley leaves it in his hands, not worrying about it. (For now.) (Pick one! Did he keep his grip?)
Then, mildly dazed, she makes the sound a bunny makes (probably some unknowable secret code to Stu) and starts running towards the Main Tower doors, hoping to take advantage of the confusion that would surely follow.

As she runs, the dried and burnt glue still on her legs makes her skin crack painfully and even bleed a little.

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

Jeremy will have let go of scabbard during the chaos, and for a long while his only thought is ...gods damn my head hurts now....

He'll pick himself up slowly after the explosion, unable to go after Harley, but when he's finally able to do so, he shakes his head before letting his shoulders slump with a sigh. "Alright, that's it." He says before looking at Stu. "We should call it quits, head over to Trog's, get a pint, and wait for this all to blow over. How's that for a slice of fried gold?"

[Reinholdt]

Courtyard

Not quite the tangled bundle I thought if forcecages can still happen then.

Ah well, at least the cage seems to have taken some of the explosion and Stu is able to wobble back up onto his feet with that mechanical groaning sound of something under strain.
"Sweetcheeks, I know I'm too cute to let go, but the whole idea of BDSM is that you're in here with me in the cage." Stu says, before punching at the forcefield walls a couple of times with his fists.

"I could go for a drink. Never liked the rest of them anyways." Except for Harley and Moff.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

The sorceress isn't focusing on what either Stu or Jeremy is saying as Haley is attempting to run right past her. Unlike the others she have kept a fair distance away from the confusion, she is a mage after all. It's what mages did.

She dismisses the still confused air elemental and turns after Haley as she runs. "Stop right there!" She calls after the shapeshifter and tries something relatively minor to stop her. She summons a single large block of stone in her path to stop her, or at least slow her down. She couldn't force cage her while she was running.

If that doesn't work she tries to follow but won't go too close. Again, she was a mage.
As for the force field Stu is punching, it actually collapses after a few punches, already damaged by the explosion.

[Meanwhile, with Timey-Wimey having happened...]

Considering there is an rather obnoxious intruder alarm sounding loudly over the courtyard, she might not be clueless for long what's happening.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard]

Obviously, Harley does not stop. I mean, that sorceress just tried to kill her without any provocation! Seriously! Who does that? I wouldn't stop, either, if someone (who just threw a sentient glob of air at me) started chasing me.

The nice things about big rocks appearing out of nowhere in your path are that they don't really move much. I mean, after it appears, you only have a split second to change your path before smacking your face into it, but that's plenty of time to dodge it.

However, yes, it does slow her down because she has to alter her course slightly, and she has to spend the time after that accelerating again. Also,there's the fact that her shoulder smacked against it, so that hurt, but it doesn't stop her. Maybe it dislocated? Well, anyway, there's no way to tell right now. It just hurts a lot. "Why should I?" Harley calls back, continuing her sprint to the tower door. Almost there....

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

I'm going to attempt to remove the flower from the premises in a peaceful manner. Be careful with the other one. While I doubt she's too dangerous, she seems rather tenacious.

"Well, if it helps any, I think your companion's going to be fine. Cessie won't do too much to her I don't think, just detain her." Jeremy says, glancing towards the direction Cessie and Harley ran off to. "Welp, lets get going. I'll buy the first few. Lap dances as well as drinks. Figure we might as well beat the crowds to the good skin-joints and while I might be taken, I'm not entirely dead. You game?" He asks, gesturing a thumb to the entrance to Watchtower.

[Reinholdt]

Courtyard

I'm so sorry Jeremy? Were you saying something?
Because Stu stopped listening to anything after "Lap dances".

In fact, he's already at the entrance, with one foot out of the gate, when he pauses to look back at his rather slow companion.
"Well, you coming or what?!" There's dances to be had, man! Dances!

[Shadowcaller]

Courtyard

Cessie doesn't reply to Jeremy, she's too focused on catching the last AMEN member. Nor does she reply to Haley, instead the erected stone wall simply disappears and the sorceress flies into the sky to get a better look over the situation.

Then she summons an earth elemental near the door to grab Haley. It appears as sudden as the wall, already starting to reach out towards the shapeshifter as she dashes towards the door.

Then she says something. "Since I don't want to hurt you, but if you keep running, you'll end up hurt."

[The Bushranger]

[Entrance]

Shawna does, indeed, make note of the alarms, and pauses outside the door in surprise. Just long enough that she sees a rather excited-looking Stu coming out of the door - which just surprises her even more!

And so she'll probably be spotted by Jeremy as he exits, blinking in surprise, befuddlement, and generally attempting to disbelieve what her eyes and ears are telling her: that Stu managed to break in to Watchtower and have his thorny way with the place.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard] - Near door of The Important Tower

Dang it, these Elements appear way too quickly. It's almost not fair.

Harley, who is still on fire, runs into the Earth Elemental. Well, now she's no longer on fire; it got smothered in the Earth Elemental's grasp. She thinks through what her options are:
1. She could try some sort of shapeshifting. It would have little effect against the elemental.
2. She could try to hit the elemental with her scabbard. Because she's in the elemental's grasp, however, it would be almost impossible to hit the elemental in any of its ley lines; thus, the resulting boom would do more damage to herself than to the elemental.
3. There's that fairly-hidden rubied necklace that she has, which does some magical effect. It doesn't seem like it would be very effective against this being of dirt and gravel.

With no useful options available, Harley Zorzo struggles to get out of the Earth Elemental's bear hug. On the bright side, she has time to answer Cessie. With as much venom in her voice as a rattlesnake's, she says, "If a couple of your friends went missing and it was all your own fault, would you not do anything and everything to get them back?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

Haley's statement doesn't even cause the sorceress to raise an eyebrow as she lands near the earth elemental holding her. "Why don't you tell me who you are and what you're doing here and I might consider letting your friends go." Now she also attempts to reinforce the elemental's grip with a force cage to keep Haley from escaping.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard]

I imagine that Harley's body is still buried towards the Earth Elemental, so Harley tries to turn around (in spite of the grip and the force cage) to face Cessie. If she's able to do this, she spits at Cessie.

Don't worry: it's neither overtly acidic nor venomous, for once.

"I'm Harley Zorzo, the Obsidian Butterfly," she says. Not that that title really means anything here in the Nexus, but I've been trying to think of a good title for Harley and this one just barely came to mind and I had to write it down before I forgot it. "and I already told you why I was here."

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

The spit simply hits the shield the sorceress is holding up at the moment, causing Cessie to just stare at Haley for a moment. "Very well then. So how many of you were sent to Watchtower to capture Ilpholin then?" She probably couldn't even trust whatever this woman said so perhaps she'd have to throw her into the cell as well.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard]

"Rescue," she says immediately. Harley corrects Cessie's sentence. "Not capture. Rescue. It's completely different." Actually, to be honest, it was rescue-slash-capture, but Harley forgot that fact; it was so long ago.

Harley continues. "I sent two people to rescue Ilpholin. They didn't come back and so I'm here to get those two released." You know, despite being embraced by a dirty Earth Elemental, she has a noble look about her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

"You sent people here?" The sorceress questions, staring at the woman in mild disbelief.

[5a Violista]

[Courtyard]

Harley scoffs. "Must I repeat everything I say thrice?" she asks. "Or is only twice good enough for you? Of course I sent them. Why wouldn't I?"

Done with her interrogation, Harley returns to demands. "Now, I ask you to let both of them go. It would be much better for you if you would just do that before I have to demand you releasing them, because it won't be pretty."

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

The sorceress ignores her demands. "So you're the new AMEN leader. Not sure if I'm inclined to believe that but I'm going to have to take you into custody for the time being. We're at war and there is very little to be civil about." The door to the keep opens by Garn and the elemental will carry Haley inside, Cessie coming along as well.

Unless she attempts to escape, or think she can convince Cessie otherwise, she will be carried to the holding cells.

[Reinholdt]

Keep

Ilpholin undeadtimes, having done a thorough search with Darcy and having turned up nothing.

[UncleWolf]

Entrance

Jeremy waves to Shanwa, giving her a thumbs up to let her know all is okay, and runs to catch up. "Hey love. This is an invading AMENite. We're heading to a strip club for entertainment and a drink in trade for him leaving. Wanna tag along?"

Hey, at least he's honest.

[The Bushranger]

[Entrance]

"...I see."
Shawna looks relieved, then nonplussed, and she shakes her head with a sigh of bemusement.
"I am taken to understand that such outings are usually 'boys only', however if you do not mind I suppose I could accompany you." She pauses. "...however, I will require you to be between me and the rose at all times."

As Stu's reputation precedes him.

[Reinholdt]

And Stu proceeds both of them. Or would because strip clubs if it wasn't for one particular thing.

"Hey babe. Don't feel threatened by my manly physique. I promise to be gentle in all the right places."

[5a Violista]

[=> Holding Cells]

With no chance for dramatics, Harley is brought to the holding cells, entirely at the mercy of the Earth Elemental.

During the time she's carried, she does nothing but curse her captor (the elemental) and growl.

Oh, wait, she does do something else, too: she comes up with a plan. The oils secreted by her skin are already flammable, which could be useful. She also shapeshifts her spit to be more dangerous, and...she thinks about making some of her bones stick out of her skin, like Wolverine or something, but that doesn't seem like such a good idea yet. Maybe later.

Oh, one more thing: There's a faint screaming sound coming from her small intestines. Yes, that thing's still happening.

[D_Lord]

Underground

Well the mass of elder evil is still down there. Although now it's taking advantage of all those insects tunnels and spreading out in a pattern. Like it's forming one big glyph, if one can see the wards of the tower they may see changes in them. Little things, some letters changing, some disappearing and others appearing.

[happyturtle]

Watchtower Cells

Harley will see Blake/Nephrim, who is (presumably) conscious. And a big freaky looking devil creature who is not. Whether she knows that the big freaky goat legged devil is also Decker is up to Harley's player, but for rescue purposes, Nephrim will be easier to abscond with than a massive unconscious devil.

(And it would serve Decker right, since her plan all along was to escape with Ilpholin and leave Nephrim behind to be captured. )

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

Jeremy smiles to Stu and slips an arm around Shawna's waist. "Sorry, like I said, she's mine. But I'm sure there's some emotionally vulnerable strippers waiting for you at The Spice Cabinet." Stu might have heard of the place before as a really upscale joint where all the women are so-called "Exotics". None of the more usual races, but plenty of beautiful ones to look at anyway.

Jeremy's Wards

The Wards fight back as hard as they can against the entity, each layer supporting the next. It's quite possible they can deal some damage back, but by the end the wards shatter with flashes of light as they shatter instead of allowing their purpose to be corrupted.

Anyone sensitive to magic will feel strong "explosions" of magic whenever one breaks, perhaps even bringing attention to such.

[Earl of Purple]

Watchtower Cells

Blake is here! He's still in the form of a dark-skinned young boy, and it looks like he's been crying. He starts to smile when he sees the approaching adults, though. "Miss, miss! Please, let me out. I don't know what's going on. Why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong, please let me go." He sounds like a small boy who really doesn't know what's going on, but it's all completely fake and an attempt to get free.

[Shadowcaller]

((D_Lord, you should probably wait for Kris before you can assume the tower is possessed by the thing.))

Watchtower Cells

Cessie's earth elemental will throw Haley into the cell and then shut the door (or field?) close. She has not time to reply to the boy who she saw earlier, he is pretty clearly an AMEN agent and those explosions are triggering her eldritch senses.

"Garn, watch the prisoners. I'm going to check that out." She then runs up the check out what just happened. Her earth elemental following along.

The gargoyle stays at the cells however. Starting at Harley and the others viciously.

[5a Violista]

[WATCHTOWER Cells]

Approaching the cell block, Harley deduces that the two (Decker and Nephrim) are in here, since she knows the two are somewhere here in the tower and she figures there's not another cell block.

So, really, it isn't much of a leap of logic for her to realize these two are indeed the two she's looking for.

However, Harley notices that they both are in a form that she doesn't recognize. That's good. This could be used to her advantage. After looking around for a while (still in the Earth Elemental's grasp), she asks "So, where are they?"

But,
Harley is roughly and uncourteously thrown into the cell.

She gets up, dusts herself off, and walks up to the bars between the Gargoyle and herself. Since everyone knows that gargoyles can talk, Harley looks indignant and stares at the gargoyle. "I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but you're in violation of both the Ashurian Code, article six, and the Treaty of Nirvanha. A captured commander of any organization, military or otherwise, is legally required to be put in the same cell block as his or her men. As you should well know, breaking this code gives me the right to violently explode any and every thing around me in whatever attempt to escape. You have thirty minutes to find where they are, or, so help me God, I'll take advantage of this law to the fullest extent. Starting with you."

((Question: Was Harley put in the same cell as Decker and Blake, as is implied in the IC post, or was she put in a different cell, as was stated in the OoC post earlier?))