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

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Room

All that screaming and singing definitely gets Darcy's attention. She comes running out of the shower, with wet hair, bare feet, and a fuzzy bathrobe. "Get your hands off of her!" she yells. Since Darcy has not the slightest amount of mind control, this is unlikely to accomplish anything but warning Blake that she's got opponents coming from two different directions. Blake might make it to the steps in time, or she might want to consider the window.

Portal

Decker's unconscious devil body (about the size and weight of a gorilla) are being godmodded by Reinholdt for now.

[Reinholdt]

Courtyard

You'd probably have to step through the portal to get to their wrists Cat Burglar. They aren't flopped out everywhere, they're glued places. Furthermore, Decker also apparently weighs as much as a full grown gorilla right now, in addition to Ilph's weight. Dragging without proper leverage could prove incredibly difficult at best. That said, he might have surprising strength and I know he spend a good amount of his demonic energy to get strength boosts and stuff. At least I'm pretty sure that's a thing.

He might not want to, though, as Ilpholin stares at him through the portal with her hypnotic eyes. "Stop it! I'm in the middle of using Watchtower and you fools are going to ruin everything. Make sure no one comes or goes through that portal. Your Queen commands it." I don't know Cat Burglar's resistance to such effects, but the fact that he was literally sired from Ilpholin and should be highly loyal to her as a side effect of becoming an Ilpholinite probably leans things in her favor, even without hypno-eyes. Resistance is futile. That said, he might still resist, and I have no idea how the portal plays into such a maneuver. She's never tried it through a portal before.

Granted, he might be averting his eyes in the first place because she's naked, but that makes for bad groping grabbing and dragging.

[Shadowcaller]

Courtyard

Not exactly the words Cessie wants to hear at the moment but she had to save Ilpholin regardless. Summoning the elemental of force she attempts to hold Ilpholin and Decker against the ground. She figures it would take too much energy at this distance to pull them towards her so she settles on trying to lock them in place instead.

The Cat Burglar might suddenly find it even more difficult to move the two.

Meanwhile Garn is flying towards them and will attempt to grab the two women in the next post to pull them back.

[Earl of Purple]

Ilpholin's Room

Blake swats the sock out of the way, so it doesn't prove much of a hindrance- but does distract him long enough that he gets stuck to the floor by webs. He doesn't have any guns or other weapons (besides his implanted blades) because Decker still has them all. He does pull out the one thing he has that might be useful- a hand-mirror. The hand-mirror is an Object, and shows whomever that gazes into it their worst fear. Blake makes a concerted effort to avoid looking into the mirror as he points it at Mr. Squiggles with his left hand whilst his right is pointed at Darcy. "The spider is threatening Ilpholin; defend her." He's trying to mind-control her with a bit more finesse than normal; it's powerful, and will try to force its way through any mental defences, but it's also subtle enough to try and find a weak point to attack first.

[ThirdEmperor]

Courtyard

The Cat Burglar wrenches his gaze away, but it's no good. Her eyes remain imprinted over his vision and the voice echoes inside his skull. It's no good. With a defeated whimper, he lets go and stumbles back through the portal.

[Reinholdt]

Ilpholin's Room

Mister Squiggles chitters! That is a blatant lie and he is highly offended at that accusation!
He also shoots web at Blake's face to get him to stop talking.

But then there's mirror time. I won't describe what terrifies Mister Squiggles the most, but that doesn't stop him from having a heart attack from the potency of the Object. And I do mean that literally. Two of Squiggles legs clutch at his Opisthosoma as he starts twitching and making really pained chittering noises.

Ilpholin doesn't like windows in her bedroom. She needs to convince Darcy to move to a room without them. =x

Courtyard

GAH. Crushing Ilph even more Cessie? YEESH. If she weren't a demon right now, she'd definitely be in danger of serious damage here.

As it is, Ilpholin's just pressed to the ground and kind of lies there, watching the portal, just in case.

[Shadowcaller]

Courtyard

She's actually more holding them in place than crushing them against the ground but I suppose my last post was rather confusing in that regard. Nonetheless, even if the Cat Burglar just retreated, Garn will still attempt to drag Ilpholin and Decker away from the portal.

Cessie herself let's go of the two for the time being and hurries over to see if Ilpholin is okay. She still have no clue what to say to her however. No clue.
She had hoped their first encounter after all this time wouldn't be Ilpholin naked and glued to some kind of goat woman.

She was at loss of words really. Someone should close that portal though, but for now, she summons an earth elemental to stand right in front of it. That could work.

[Reinholdt]

Courtyard

I guess Garn's strong enough, being a gargoyle and all. Or maybe he's really weak. Imagine having a stone gargoyle no one can move, but he can't even bench a hundred pounds. Hehe. Poor imaginary gargoyle.

"Hi Cessie." Ilpholin flicks her hypno eyes off. "I know this isn't the usual sticky situation I'm in. Not as pleasant at any rate. I don't suppose you can remove glue without ripping my arms off?"

[Terumitsu]

[Infirmary]

"Can't say that seems like that is the case, though." Ghoul said, doing a little neck stretching. "I mean, I come from a place where it isn't unheard of for a person to just jump from body to body as suits their whims. You'd think not being tied to a specific form or just migrating so often would induce this kind of thing or at least make it more well known? I'm just not seeing it especially with what chrome I have stuck in me being symbiotic rather than that invasive crap that people here seem to think of." she said, voicing her skepticism on that diagnosis.

Still, while the painkillers were in her system, they didn't seem to be really doing anything. That was a bit odd but given just how much of a mashup Ghoul's makeup had become both before and during her stay in the Nexus, it could be any number of reasons why... Although it may be a hint at her troubles not specifically being physical, though.

[UncleWolf]

Infirmary

"But can you say any of what's happened to you is normal for your world?" Cutter asks as he pours water into a beaker for him to drink from before offering Ghoul a beaker of her own.

[D_Lord]

Meeting Room

Your aren't getting away that easy!!!!!


Que one big made of tentacles, hand reaching through the portal to watchtower.

Courtyard

One big hand coming through portal trying to grab Ilpholin.

[Terumitsu]

[Infirmary]

"I suppose you have me there." the fledgling said with a small chuckle, waving off the beaker in favor of the blood bag that had not quite yet been forgotten. "But you would think that some rules might still stay the same, hm? Everything else works and, if anything, just as if not better than before." she said, cringing slightly again. The compound in her system was being passively analyzed in case it would be necessary to have some on hand later on as well as for any potential harmful effects although it would be rathe limited to what would kill a living person due to the 'library' on hand being rather focused towards such. It was learning to pick up the odd thing here and there at least but so far her systems seemed to still think she was, for the most part, alive. Which, she supposed, she was still animate just with altered functions so that was probably as good of an assesment as any.

"You mentioned acupuncture? Had that before. Actually pretty good for relaxation at least so I'd be willing to give that a try if you think it as ancillary benifits." she said.

[Shadowcaller]

Actually just outside the courtyard

Cessie opens her mouth to answer but then the tentacle will slam into the earth elemental she just summoned. The elemental will respond in kind, attempting to grab the tentacle so it can hold on to it.

The sorceress moves so she now stands between the portal and Ilpholin before summoning a force shield around herself to block out the tentacle in case it managed to get by her elemental.

Garn will continue to drag Ilpholin and decker back into the courtyard as Cessie slowly backs after him. Once they are all behind the wall of the keep the sorceress will slam the door shut with a pulse of force energy and then lock it. The tentacle have a good chance to react before the last part of this post happens though.

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Room

Mind control might have had a chance of working on Darcy, but the statement "Blake" said was just too improbable. It would be like trying to convince her that gravity was working the other way. The attempt itself is enough to really piss her off - not that she needed much help.

She can tell that whatever is going on with that mirror, it's really bad news. She's not a very strong sorceress, but she can do minor spells, like pulling the air from the shower room in here, in the hopes it will fog up the mirror. That's it for her this round, but she's now reached melee range, and is between Blake and Mister Squiggles.

[Earl of Purple]

Ilpholin's Room

The mirror fogs up, clouding over whatever it is that Mr. Squiggles was looking at. The web misses, because Blake had been addressing Darcy and was looking at her, so now he's got web in his hair.

The statement is only improbable if one doesn't know Mr. Squiggles on sight, which Darcy does- but Blake didn't know that. Blake swings at Darcy, a blade of red solid light emerging from her wrist as he does. He's aiming to disembowel her, because he's short like a ten year old. The blade starts off thirty centimetres long, but just before it hits Darcy it extends another thirty centimetres, so jumping back from the prior length is less helpful than it should be.

[Reinholdt]

Courtyard-ish

Ilpholin and Decker are dragged by Garn.
"Is that the fastest you can move? Come on, put your back in it! Or don't you have the stones?"

Ilph's Room

Mister Squiggles is skippable.

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Room

Darcy realizes about now that Mister Squiggles has glued Blake's feet to the floor. She lunges towards Blake, trying to grab his blade arm and force it away, pointing to the side - whichever direction is away from Ilphy. She's using her own shapeshifting to bulk her arm and shoulder muscles to help her likelihood of success. "SOMEONE HELP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!" She's hoping someone else will turn up soon. There's certainly been enough noise to attract attention, but with so many of the members elsewhere, it's probably unlikely.

[Earl of Purple]

Ilpholin's Room

Blake keeps his mirror-arm pointed towards Mr. Squiggle (and presumably, also the door). Blake lets Darcy grab his arm and hold it away- only to extend another blade from his elbow and slims that forearm using his own shapeshifting ability before twisting and wrenching to try and cause Darcy to lose her grip. Blake's stronger than he looks, and the strength doesn't change despite the changes in his musculature and skeletal system, but it's still no more than adult human average.

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Room

Darcy tries hard to keep hold of the arm, but she's struggling. Deciding that what she needs most is help, she puts her energy towards casting another spell rather than working the shapeshifting. The spell fills the area with the scent of sal volatile - smelling salts - to hopefully revive Ilphy and/or Mister Squiggles.

Unfortunately, casting the spell causes her to lose grip of Blake's arm, though as she slips, her elbow is likely to smash Blake in the face.

[Earl of Purple]

Ilpholin's Room

Blake is elbowed in the face, and there's a crunch as his nose is broken. He ignores the pain, and instead bends down and uses a mix of his wrist blades and slimming his ankles to struggle free of the bonds around his feet.

[Darkcomet]

[Ilpholin's Room]

Vrrrr.

Whirrrrr.

PEW!

These are the sounds made as another DCdrone rounds the corner and fires its puny little laser at Blake.

[Courtyard]

The drone here does much the same, moving so it can aim and just firing lasers at the portal. The tentacle will probably take them.

[UncleWolf]

Infirmary

"You'd think rules would be same everywhere, but sadly not." Cutter says with a small smile before shrugging. "Or gladly not depending on how you look at it. I'd have been dead by now if the rules weren't more flexible here." He admits.

"And sure, I can do acupuncture for you. Would you like to set up a schedule for it? Chiropractics and Massage maybe too."

[Terumitsu]

[Infirmary]

"Whenever you have time, really. I'm kinda in recuperation mode from.. Well, if I could remember it, I'd probably be able to do smonething about it but I've not had the time to really run a recovery operation seeing that I've been a bit preoccupied with shoring up a few defenses and finding a place where I'll have ready access to resources seeing that it would take a little while." Ghoul said, rather more overtly nodding to the blood pack. She was doing her best to be civil right now and was succeeding rather admirably considering the mix of pain and hunger.

Still, Cutter may be detecting a bit of an edge in her tone alongside the rather more noticeable canines that were extending like the fangs of a snake. It generally wasn't the best thing to taunt a hungry undead, after all.

[D_Lord]

[Courtyard]

The hand takes the hits, they don't do much. The earth elemental is going to be try and grabbed, and if it is then it's let go and has now with black lines over it were the hand was holding it, and those lines are trying to dig into it.

[Reinholdt]

Ilpholin's Room

Mister Squiggles is having a serious medical emergency. Smelling salts won't help him now.

Wakes Ilphy up though. Her options are still rather limited, with her hands glued to her, but she starts by rolling out of the way. Particularly towards the glove that's on the ground.

Courtyard

Cutting in slightly, but it should be ok since Ilpholin didn't really do anything last post. Let me know if it's not.

Ilpholin's tail wiggles, trying to slide her whip out and roll it out towards Cessie. Success is questionable and might need Garn help. "Use my whip Cessie! The sign engraved on it protects against eldritch creatures and will let you hurt it!" Less protection and more damage really as it's the Eye of Dereleth on her handle. The basis of this being Rebo's elder creatures of course, but it has a decent track record.

Hope you've been watching Ilpholin lustfully more than you care to admit during all her prancing around with a whip Cessie. You can put that study to good use!

Of course, given that the whip is highly bonded to Ilpholin, it might reject Cessie if she had less than honorable intentions towards Ilph. Or just on the account of Cessie's clothes. Ilph/Ilph's whip can be petty like that. But at least Cessie might be able to use the symbol in some way.

[Shadowcaller]

Courtyard

Neither Cessie or the elemental pays particularly much attention to the black lines appearing on it's surface. The earth elemental will instead focus on holding on to the hand as long as it's under the sorceress control while she focuses on slamming the door shut and locking it once they're inside.

Once they are Cessie will attempt to unsummon the elemental but at this point it's likely too late, but she doesn't really care. The elemental had fulfilled it's purpose of delaying the hand long enough for her to shut and lock the door.

The thing now controls a strong but fairly slow earth elemental which while resistant to damage still can be damaged as a human being as it's made up by Cessie's subconscious mental construct of herself (just roll with it).

The thing will also learn through the elemental some of Cessie's conscious and subconscious thoughts as she summoned it (as it's literary matter constructed by consciousness).

Spoiler

Show

I wish Harnel was here.

I need to find a way to shut down that portal.

Why in the void is Ilpholin naked?!

On the other side of the door Cessie turns to Ilpholin and slowly kneel down to collect the whip while keeping her eyes on the gate. Whatever the weapon respond to her touch is anyones guess though.

Garn grunts loudly at Ilpholin and with a beat of his wings he's suddenly off the ground. With his wings help he manages to drag the two women slightly faster Though she can probably feel his displeasure by the way his claws are digging into her skin. He's going towards the entrance to the keep itself.

[happyturtle]

Ilpholin's Room

Darcy tries to grab Blake's arm again. This time, if she's successful, she'll shapeshift her hands into blades to try and sever his arm. Hopefully, it will keep him from noticing that Ilphy is conscious again.

[Earl of Purple]

Ilpholin's Room

The laser blasts hits Fear and knocks the Object out of Blake's hand. He swings the (now-free) left arm round, extending a blade from its wrist and aiming at Darcy's midriff. Her grab is unsuccessful, as Blake was expecting that move again, but stops the boy from using that arm for anything.

[Darkcomet]

[Ilpholin's Room]

PEW PEW.

The laser attacks continue.

[Courtyard]

PEW PEW PEW PEW.

These laser attacks also continue. Really, these drones don't do much. Nor do they have much of a sense of self-preservation.

They're kind of outdated, really.

[UncleWolf]

Jeremy and Shawna's Room => Courtyard=> Outside

There were some days when it wasn't worth it to stay in bed. This was one of them.

A small glance outside Jeremy's window was enough to tell him he needed to get involved despite his better judgment. At least he listened to the need to get dressed first. So, wearing pants, boots, a safari style shirt, a shotgun, and a frown, the man kicks open his door to make his way downstairs. Sure, he could just Shadow-Walk through the floor, but he felt the need to get Stompy and to work himself into a worse mood.

Cessie probably realizes he's not particularly happy when he also boots open the door to the Keep and begins walking outside.

When he gets down to Cessie, he just gives everyone inside the courtyard a glance and sighs. "Do what you need to do. I'll cover outside." He grumbles, raising up his pitch-black shotgun in meaning before looking at the closed Gate (The entrance to Watchtower, not the portal between Watchtower and AMEN) and the 12 meter high wall.

He takes a couple seconds, an idea brewing before he gives another long sigh. "This...is gonna hurt." He admits before backing up several long paces. Before anyone can interrupt him, he starts running towards the wall and jumps high before tucking his knees to his chest. Before he hits the ground, a pool of darkness appears below him, with another that's vertical in the air, angled above the wall slightly.

Jeremy then vanishes through the first portal to go rocketing out the second in an attempt to launch himself over the wall. When he lands, he gives a grunt, going into a roll that ends with him on his feet. Even though he survived the hard and long fall, he's standing with an obvious limp, having injured his left ankle.

Of course, this probably means he and the Corrupted Elemental meet face-to-face.