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

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hospital Room]

KR's look of concentration quickly turns into irritation, then frustration, then vexation, as she tries to remember the spell. Eventually she swears, sighs, and buries her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry." She says, voice shaking with exhaustion. "I'll have to consult my books. Be right back." KR attempts to get up and leave to find her books.

[Decker Cell]

"Oh, um... stupid things." Says Kal, suddenly embarrassed.
"Let's uh... let's get you back to AMEN."

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"No," Wenomir says, straightening himself up in the bed. This is much more serious than some childish prank. "The curse can wait. Please tell me what's wrong. It's not like you to forget your spells."

[happyturtle]

Decker Cell

"Okay!" Decker says. "BTW, Ilpholin really was a traitor. Resisted rescue. I nearly got her out anyway, but then I woke up here."

[Morcleon]

[Inside Main Gates]

Amelia smirks at that, having felt the first hand effects of dwelling on the past. "Yeah recon sounds like a good idea. Though drawing the demon out into the open might be tricky the first time, the second time will be harder."

"What kind of magic do you use? I used to study magic myself awhile back." Amelia asks curious about the young mage. His magic is probably to quick to be based on the runic and verbal magic that Amelia is familiar with. She was always curious in seeing and finding out about different magic. Plus if she is going into a fight with him she wants to know what to expect.

[Inside Main Gates]

"How do we draw him out?" Yuki asks, grinning back. "We'll need at least two plans for that, one for the recon and one for the assault."

At the next question, Yuki glances away sheepishly. "Ah, well, you see... it's not actually my magic. Being a xenoalchemist, I've grafted the magical parts and cores of several creatures onto myself, which grants me their supernatural abilities."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Decker Cell]

"Damn, really? She's better than I thought." Says Kal, looking mildly surprised, but not overly betrayed or shocked. He didn't really care enough about Ilpholin to take the betrayal personally anyway.

[Hospital Room]

KR sighs.
"Really, it's not that important. I'm just a little bit tired and stressed out about things." She says, shaking her head.
"Can't we talk about it later?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Front Gate]

"I know bodyguardin a man like 'im is gonna be a lotta work. Prolly why he's payin' me s'much," Cornelia says with a grin. "He's... odd. I hope he's serious about turnin' around. Boris was gonna try an' kill him."

[Front Gate]

"I see. I'd advise caution in that case. If Boris really attempted to kill this man it was on his own initiative, not that I think there are others in Watch who wouldn't mourn his death. My point is that if you really want to protect him you might want to convince more people here in Watch than Boris he's serious about turning around." The sorceress argues.

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"I would rather talk about it now," Wenomir says firmly. "Please. You know you can tell me anything."

[happyturtle]

Prison Break

[Decker Cell]

"Damn, really? She's better than I thought." Says Kal, looking mildly surprised, but not overly betrayed or shocked. He didn't really care enough about Ilpholin to take the betrayal personally anyway.

"Anyway, let's get out of here." Decker says. I suppose there's time for them to get caught, but I don't believe the Watch players particularly want to catch them.

[Aric Kale]

Closet of Horror

Marcus leaves, unless they make it clear that his services are still needed.
He heads towards the kitchen, gathering some travel supplies for the road. Assuming nobody stops him, the young praetorian leaves the castle and heads towards the Outside Crossroads.

[McBish]

[Inside Main Gates]

"How do we draw him out?" Yuki asks, grinning back. "We'll need at least two plans for that, one for the recon and one for the assault."

At the next question, Yuki glances away sheepishly. "Ah, well, you see... it's not actually my magic. Being a xenoalchemist, I've grafted the magical parts and cores of several creatures onto myself, which grants me their supernatural abilities."

"That's interesting, I suppose a lot of creatures have abilities any mage would want to have." She briefly wonders what kind of creature made it so he could exorcise demons. Then a shrill beep comes from her phone.

"Excuse me." She says pulling it out and frowning as she reads the screen. "That can't be right." She punches a few buttons on the screen pulling up a video. A news clip showing this scene. She looks shocked to find out Harald is dead. The man she was here to save is dead and she looks slightly devastated.

[Murkus]

[Front Gate]

"I see. I'd advise caution in that case. If Boris really attempted to kill this man it was on his own initiative, not that I think there are others in Watch who wouldn't mourn his death. My point is that if you really want to protect him you might want to convince more people here in Watch than Boris he's serious about turning around." The sorceress argues.

"I turn't Boris off've him, marm. Fer now. An' I'll do my bes to make sure he's on the straight n' narrow, but..." Cornelia frowns and glances at Cessie, less worried about finding Boris than having to go up against the people at Watch. "Unless he starts hurtin' folks agin, I'm stayin' on."

[Morcleon]

[Inside Main Gates]

"That's interesting, I suppose a lot of creatures have abilities any mage would want to have." She briefly wonders what kind of creature made it so he could exorcise demons. Then a shrill beep comes from her phone.

"Excuse me." She says pulling it out and frowning as she reads the screen. "That can't be right." She punches a few buttons on the screen pulling up a video. A news clip showing this scene. She looks shocked to find out Harald is dead. The man she was here to save is dead and she looks slightly devastated.

[Inside Main Gates]

"Indeed. I have some interesting ones..." Yuki smirks. He leans back, but then looks curiously at the screen. "Hm? What's going on?"

"...I see..." He frowns and looks closer. "Oh..." He places a hand gently on her shoulder. "So... what now?"

[McBish]

[Inside Main Gates]

Amelia looks stunned, slowly turning off her phone and sticking it in her pocket. "I don't know, damn." She seems pissed off, clearly upset. Sure she didn't know Harald very well, having only worked for him a short time. But she can't help but feel responsible, she might have been able to stop this if she had acted. She clenches her fists. "I guess there is no reason to figure out how to rescue him."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hospital Room]

"I would rather talk about it now," Wenomir says firmly. "Please. You know you can tell me anything."

[Hospital Room]

KR sighs, sitting near the bed.
"I know I can, but I don't even know what to tell you or why I'm feeling this way. I'm just... exhausted. I feel like there's a big mountain of pressure sitting on my back and I don't know why or how to get rid of it."

Prison Break

"Anyway, let's get out of here." Decker says. I suppose there's time for them to get caught, but I don't believe the Watch players particularly want to catch them.

[Prison Break]

Indeed. Unless anyone intervenes at this point, Kal will take Decker and backtrack her steps through the base, making good their cunning escape!

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"Pressure... from what?" Wenomir asks, and drums his fingers on the mattress. They need to get to the bottom of this. "How long have you been feeling this way?"

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hospital Room]

KR shrugs. "I don't know. A while, I guess?"
She pulls her legs up on to the chair, hugging her knees.
"It's just problem after problem that seems to pile up."

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"That they do," Wenomir says with a sigh. "Have you considered taking a break from all the Watchtower administrative and leadership business? Just focus on your other projects for a while. Cessie, DC and I can keep the place running while you do. It sounds like you could use it."

[Library]

Wenomir's plotclone is there, buried in books about astrology, which he's going through slowly but steadily. Someone needs to figure out what's up with the solar eclipse, so he might as well try. It's not like he's good for much else these days, with his injuries making him even more useless than usually.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Library]

Good ol' bookwork.
No one likes doing it, but sometimes it's just gotta be done.

More often than not, an eclipse is simply the moon deciding the sun needs to take a break. The significance of this varies, either being a natural phenomena that happens to have side effects, or perhaps some grand celestial event...but that isn't the case here.

The moon isn't a poison devouring the sun from the outside.

This portent is fairly clear: bad. Some terrible power is striking directly at the sun, and recent books would have two fairly recent cases of entities that did this in the past.

Father Llymic and Psyrrak the Three-Fold Eye.
Each was responsible for causing eclipses to suit their specific purposes.
Each was accompanied by a horde of spawn and terror.
The former had occurred during a simultaneous appearance of the Undying Moon Atropus and its undead plague, while the latter had been one of many Old Ones to try to lay claim to the Nexus when the stars aligned.

Neither of these cases seems to be quite as dire this time, but it is certainly a grim record.

[Shadowcaller]

"I turn't Boris off've him, marm. Fer now. An' I'll do my bes to make sure he's on the straight n' narrow, but..." Cornelia frowns and glances at Cessie, less worried about finding Boris than having to go up against the people at Watch. "Unless he starts hurtin' folks agin, I'm stayin' on."

The sorceress nods. "Fair enough. I don't think anyone but Boris will move against him anyway, they have a lot of other things to care about right now. But you should talk to him if that's why you're here."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hospital Room]

KR frowns.
"Are you sure?

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"I think so," Wenomir says. "You can't keep going like this, and it might help you relax a little. Focus on what you're comfortable doing instead of what you feel you have to do."

[Library]

Okay then. Wenomir puts down "Sun attacked" in a notebook. Then he puts down the next thought, which is "What the hell do we do about it?". Having done that, he looks up how those two events ended. Maybe it'll help.

[Murkus]

[Courtyard --> Main Lobby]

The sorceress nods. "Fair enough. I don't think anyone but Boris will move against him anyway, they have a lot of other things to care about right now. But you should talk to him if that's why you're here."

"Partly so, marm. He's um, important to me," Cornelia admits. "I won't trouble ye any further, then. If he iddn't around, do ye mind me waitin'?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Library]

The details on the former event are a little vague.
Most of the information on that time period was focused on the undead moon Atropus, and his undead threat. It seemed more pressing at the time.
There is mention of a small group who prioritized Llymic instead, supposedly greeting it in battle and leaving it sealed away in a relatively obscure location.

Guards were placed in secret and the affair quickly forgotten.

Psyrrak wasn't technically defeated directly.
There was a combination of events leading up to that particular release of the sun.
The goliath Cthulhu had been defeated and consequently the vast majority of the Old Ones appeared to have been sealed away. The entity Krax'Naggath was slain/knocked dormant, which may or may not have played a significant factor in this event.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard --> Main Lobby]

"I don't mind you waiting around. Just stay in the main lobby if he isn't here. He's usually in his room or the training ground so I'd look there first." Cessie explains.

[Murkus]

[Main Lobby]

"Yeah, I figgered. Thank ya, Missus Mithar," Cornelia says, offering her a small, crooked half-smile before walking off toward the barracks. Given that he isn't there, or on the Training Grounds, Nelia will probably end up wandering around a little bit. She doesn't stray too far, but maybe just enough to sate her curiosity. This place has changed some. Anyone can run into her.

[Devixer]

Main Lobby

Boris is not in his room or the training area - in fact, he's nowhere to be found, no matter where Cornelia might wander.

[Morcleon]

[Inside Main Gates]

Amelia looks stunned, slowly turning off her phone and sticking it in her pocket. "I don't know, damn." She seems pissed off, clearly upset. Sure she didn't know Harald very well, having only worked for him a short time. But she can't help but feel responsible, she might have been able to stop this if she had acted. She clenches her fists. "I guess there is no reason to figure out how to rescue him."

[Inside Main Gates]

"Mm... I would think so. Unless you have a way of resurrecting people." Yuki sighs, letting a comforting smile onto his face. "Still, don't blame yourself for his death. There's nothing that could have been done..."

[Morty]

[Library]

The details on the former event are a little vague.
Most of the information on that time period was focused on the undead moon Atropus, and his undead threat. It seemed more pressing at the time.
There is mention of a small group who prioritized Llymic instead, supposedly greeting it in battle and leaving it sealed away in a relatively obscure location.

Guards were placed in secret and the affair quickly forgotten.

Psyrrak wasn't technically defeated directly.
There was a combination of events leading up to that particular release of the sun.
The goliath Cthulhu had been defeated and consequently the vast majority of the Old Ones appeared to have been sealed away. The entity Krax'Naggath was slain/knocked dormant, which may or may not have played a significant factor in this event.

Alright, so at least the first event was ended by simply facing down the perpetrator. The question is, can the cause of the current eclipse be handled the same way? Wenomir looks for the location of the tomb of this "Llymic". Maybe visiting it would provide some clues...

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hospital Room]

"I suppose." Says KR, not looking entirely convinced, but not about to argue. "Thank you."

"So about this curse of yours..."

[Morty]

[Hospital Room]

"You're welcome. And yes, this curse is still here, isn't it. I'd like to get rid of it quickly, but I'll wait if you need to consult your books first,"
Wenomir says.