[Nexus] Outside XXXVII

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

Spako isn't interested in glassware and already has a set of mortars, so he takes the ammo box (understanding vaguely what it is) and the jar after sniffing it for a moment and probably figuring out it's some sort of oil, unless the processing makes it stop smelling like whale oil.
The last thing before heading out is checking that book. He's not expecting the glasses to be magic, but it could be a spellbook for all he knows.

[Earl of Purple]

The Hidden Dungeon

The book is called A Game at Dinner. Reading it, Spako can spot some useful hints and tips about Alchemy.

Also, the 'whales' the whale oil is derived from are a type of massive beast, each unique in both minor and major ways (from the number of tentacles, to the number of eyes, etc) sharing only a basic body form (with an extra pair of fins) with the whales we're familiar with. They are inherently magical and the oil created from their blubber is highly explosive and used to power a great variety of steampunk-style mechanisms.

[McBish]

[High Seas Adventure -> Melody's Island]

No interuptions. When Derek goes back down, he finds Jezebelle rolled up and snuggling in the warm blanket.

Derek will gently try to shake her awake saying her name gently. "Hey Jezebelle, we are back at the island."

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

I actually have played Dishonored, I just don't remember if the smell was ever mentioned.
Spako sighs and decides he has to do something about the crazy undead in the side room since it's just going to either gnaw its leg off at some points or just sit there getting crazier forever. He goes to that room and opens the door again.

[Earl of Purple]

The Hidden Dungeon

Oh, OK.

The wight is currently sitting where it was before, but now it's somehow procured a large ring with eight different keys on it. It's muttering to itself as it tries to unlock its shackle with each key in turn. "That vampire bastard is dead, yes yes yes. Heard it, I did, and felt the life leave his body, or what was left of it, yes yes yes. Now which key, my pretties, which key? I know it's one of you, so don't lie to me, my pretties. Nasty leech doesn't know I have you, now does he? No no no. Took from his belt when he wasn't looking, yes yes yes. Or was the vampire a woman? I cannot remember, my pretties, do you? No more Liver Purple, my pretties, no more blood red, no more painting when I should be... Hmm. I'll find out when I'm free, my pretties, yes yes yes!"

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

Oh, no. No no, no, no. This thing has clearly been in here way too long than is healthy for any living or unliving mind. He might have let the fairies go, the possibly deadly spider-elf thing go, and he'll end up letting the troll go, but no, this thing's a league all its own. Last time Spako let the crazy one go it backfired bad. Bad. And since this rant is even more clearly crazy than the first, it's pretty much clinched it.
Spako just sighs and tosses a small fireball at the wight. Small in size, but not in punch.

[Earl of Purple]

The Hidden Dungeon

The fireball impacts the wight's leg, and disintegrates its knee. The insane, undead monster blinks once, twice, and shrugs before going back to trying and unlock the shackle. Despite the fact the leg in the shackles is no longer attached to its body. "A good soldier leaves no men behind, no no no. Nor legs, no no no. Poor me, yes yes yes. Rise as abomination unto nature, get captured by vampire bastard, made to paint, yes yes yes. Now free, got leg blown off by impudent hobbitses, yes yes yes." The wight looks up at Spako. "Not hobbit, no no no. Is kobold, yes yes yes. Winged kobold, yes yes yes. Not see those often, no no no. Wings crunchy, bony, yes yes- wait. How do I know that?"

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

Spako frowns and throws another fireball, aiming for its head.

[Earl of Purple]

The Hidden Dungeon

"Thank y-" The wight's head has just exploded, and its body has fallen over, slumping away from its leg.

I really enjoyed writing its dialogue, too.

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

Spako isn't terribly far from civilization, but he's far enough that trying to deal with a dangerous undead would be next to impossible, and he doesn't even know where to find a mental institute. And while he doubts the wight was thanking him for its death, he'll pretend it was.
He'll go back to the front to pick up the troll, unless there is anything interesting in this painting room.

[Earl of Purple]

The Hidden Dungeon

No, that's it.

And it was thanking Spako, actually, or part of it was. Wights can sense death and sentient undead (which is how it knew the vampire was dead). This one sensed its own demise before it occurred.

[Aric Kale]

Harald Hunt

We'll see just how effectively Marcus will use the Thought-Bound Etherium soon enough, I suppose. If it leaves any visual effects, such as giving a slight opaque layer over his body, there may be an odd flickering as the red energy of his runes pulse wildly.
Suddenly, new arrivals!
Marcus slams his left arm against his chest, simultaneously dropping into a short bow.
Hail! Sir Hex. I take it you have seen fit to end the threat known as Harald, also. The Last Praetorian is at your service, as long as our goals are united.

[Deathkeeper]

The Hidden Dungeon

Spako will go back to the almost-troll and net it again, then climb the stairs to the cabin with the rope from his glove extending and then uses the glove to retract the rope, hopefully pulling it up and to safety.
He'd normally have just fed the troll with what was around, but he's not going to ever condone eating people.

[ThirdEmperor]

Main Road

"Indeed. In-deed. And may I be the first to congratulate you both, on taking upon yourself a tiresome but necessary task. Now, if you could both step a little closer..?" He waves them forward, his other hand tracing wards against scrying in glowing lines upon the air. "I think it would be best no prying eyes hear what I've to say..."

[BladeofObliviom]

Road to the Sun

Whoops, forgot about Marcus' runes! As a rule of thumb, the stuff is magic-sympathetic, so it shouldn't interfere too much with the inscriptions. Heck, it might even help focus the healing runes to a degree, since that's also associated with White mana by Nexus Translation.

As for actual appearance, the metallic surface is smooth, opaque, and actually quite shiny. In fact...

Spoiler: Illustration

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...Darn it, Cyrus. YOU PLANNED THIS, DIDN'T YOU?!


Speaking of Cyrus, he shrugs and takes a few steps inward. He has his own countermeasures against being spied upon, of course, but there's no need to share that information. Besides, whatever makes Hex more comfortable makes this less of a hassle.

[Aric Kale]

Main Road - Harald Hunt

Luckily for Cyrus, Marcus has not heard of the Silver Surfer, or he may feel as if he's being mocked. Instead, he marvels in his new look as he steps forward towards Sir Hex. It is WATCHTOWER's duty to defeat apocalyptic threats. I shall do my part...
This Roman will have many Nexian gods to thank if he gets out of this mess in one piece.

[Hattish Thing]

Junkyard-The Reformation

((The following has been discussed between Third and I.))

Nightime. So eerily peaceful. There's a full moon shining brightly over the old junkyard. Piles of old cars, broken weaponry, and even a few dead bodies are bunched atop of eachother, forming small mountains of shining metal. The white moon shined brightly over one of the mounds of scrap, making the one man out for miles visible. His name was Ardan. He was the one who watched over this place, and ran a small blacksmith right next to the junkyard. He'd take the abandoned metal and make incredible armor and weapons out of it. The human was a kind enough man, if gruff and antisocial. He liked his life.

No people. No bothersome noise. Just the peace and quite of the beautiful countryside. He did get awfully lonely sometimes, though. But... That was his life, and he was just going to have to continue dealing with it the same way he always did. By building machines. He had a crew of three assisting work drones, which helped with the heavy lifting and various grunt work around the junkyard. One of these three gnome sized robots stands by it's creator. Ardan's eyes are currently glancing down at what appears to be... a head. Yup. That's a head. A metal one at that, and rather frightening looking. Certainly resembled a human skull, but with a sharp jaw... The thing was buried under a large chunk of sheet metal, which covered most of it's body.

The machine was clad in what seemed to be slightly torn and rather old purple clothing. The coat was torn to shreds, but a dark purple cloak remained tightly wrapped around it's wearer's cold metal skin. Ardan gently pushed his drone over to the sheet metal, and went onto the opposite end. Several grunts later, the large metal piece was thrown to the side, revealing the figure. Nearly seven feet tall and composed completely of very tough and resilient, if dirty, armor. It looked as if it had been stripped of something though. As if an entire layer of metal had been ripped off of it with little care. It had a skeleton though. A vibrant metal skeleton that looked like chrome, upon which metal was wrapped around like muscles. There would be prosthetic 'skin' atop of that, but whatever it was is long gone, probably lying in Excelsior's deep, dank laboratories.

He tried to lift the thing, but gods was it heavy. He whistled, and the other two drones came along to assist him in carrying the machine to his blacksmith slab. This robot looked strong and fit, and certainly well-made, and Ardan could always use more help here. He decided the machine would become his project. Ten minutes later, the robot is placed upon the slab by the forge. Ardan decided he was going to work on it now. Why not? He had already eaten, and his insomnia kept him up. He places on his apron and grabbed his toolbox. He began to get a better look at the thing. He had absolutely no idea how to replace the 'skin' of the metal automaton. It was incredibly advanced technology that put this thing together, and Ardan the Blacksmith certainly didn't have any of that here. Buuut, he did have armor.

Simply adapt a chestpiece, some pauldrons, legbraces, gauntlets, and armbraces to fit the machine, and he'd have a brilliant looking machine! He was no fool though, and was well-aware that a bad sort of crowd usually dumped their unneeded or unwanted metals here. It was possible that once he activated the thing, it would turn on him. That wasn't good at all! He'd have to set to work on the thing, changing cables, switching wires, and of course building a rechargeable battery that could power such an automaton. He had his work cut out for him. Ardan continued to work upon this project for two weeks.

By now, he was very familiar with the machine he jokingly called, "Grumps", due to the permanently threatening jowl the robot wore. He had discovered a button deeply embedded in the robot that was labeled "Factory Reset", which he had pushed. That ought to help lessen the possibility of a hostile machine. He created several different gauntlet types for the robot. One for simple work, one with sharp claws to help defend the junkyard against bandits and the nasty wolves that came around, and a few other types he just made for fun. Soon it became time to activate the newly crafted machine.

It was night yet again, but three and a half weeks had passed. Ardan moved to the robot, which was mounted up on it's legs, and screwed off the back and fiddled with it for about five minutes before finally pressing the ON button. He heard a gentle "Vrooooommm", as the engine inside "Grumps" turned on, which in turn powered the new engines Ardan installed. The Blacksmith put the back of his robot back together and turned around to face the machine. It was about ten minutes of the robot twitching and activating after such a long time of rest, before it's eyes hummed on. They were a glowing purple.

It felt power. Energy flowing through it's synthetic veins. Electricity humming and coursing through him. Memories came back, but they were scrambled and he could remember only a few things. Amnesia. The "Factory Reset" had been damaged long ago, preventing it to take a complete effect. He was called...

Enshadu.

No. That wasn't it. He was Umbra. Enshadu was the First. Enshadu was gone. Excelsior. Magtok. Marciano. Reinholdt. Tobias. He remembered names and recalled faces. Then he remembered locations and events. The Magcave, a war. A huge battle of firepower blasting more firepower which in turn counterattacked with even more over the top firepower. Enshadu disappeared, the mental link broken between Umbra and Enshadu. A laboratory underground, as elementium was ripped off of him by Excelsior scientists. Reinholdt had taken Enshadu, and supposedly destroyed him. Good. Was that good? Yes, that was good. Enshadu was bad. Broken. A killer. But wasn't Umbra built in Enshadu's image? Built to kill? Yes. Yes he was. But Umbra didn't want to kill. He wouldn't hesitate to terminate life, but felt no reason to blindly kill and hate and destroy.

He didn't want to. Therefore he wouldn't. Umbra... This robot was built with sentience. Free will and thought. His body coursed with incredible strength, and his mind was almost completely correctly balanced. Near perfection. He looked up at the world around him, and at Ardan. Killing you serves no purpose to me. But I will require you to free me, human. How very to the point. Ardan stares flabbergasted as his machine, his project, gives him an order. Ardan frowns and grips his hammer. That was sentience. That was not what he was expecting. Uh oh. Erm. Disactivate! Turn off now! I'm not done working on you!You are false. I am free. Thank you, creator. With that, Umbra powers up the rockets built into his feet and back, blasting himself right through the blacksmith's roof.

He flies towards Inside. Systems were running, magnetic pulse was now being powered up, lessening the weight of Umbra and allowing his telekinetic powers to begin to activate themselves finally.

All was well. All was working. First, he'd need a job. NO was always hiring mercenaries, he recalled. Reinstitute himself into society as a hardworking automaton. He'd need a new name. Apparatus. For Machine.

But he did not forget. He did not ever forget. Excelsior. Louv're Tech. Magcorp. Three powerful companies fighting with eachother like rabid dogs. Louv're Tech lost. Excelsior came in second. And Magcorp ended up on top. In the process, Umbra was created and forced to kill and watch as the only person to close to him, Enshadu, who was like family... was destroyed. As things rained fiery death on him. As he was stripped off any 'useful' metals and dumped away to rot and rust. He would have vengeance upon the evil. But... that was for another day.

Spoiler: Apparatus:

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[Zefir]

Fish on Ice

"Ponies are not My Lord's only servants. As for why He chose to send me instead, I know not." The lanky, skinny humanoid is the creature that speaks; it's voice is surprisingly deep and booming, considering its fragile-looking frame. "I am The Cruthaitheoir na Péine, and this is my bodyguard. It cannot speak this language, and cannot currently hear us." It makes a gesture towards the floating squid-thing, which is still quite red though is fading quickly to its natural, pale grey colour.

Fish on Ice

Arkant just eyes them. They could make soem good subject for new evolutions, but right now he shouldn't attemp to kill the servents of his business partner. On the other hand he assumes those two are more capital of fighting then the ponies or at least could cause more damage.

"Well, I can guess what he is thinking. Let's go to business. The thing we stand on is what your master wants. I giant creature able to carry a whole castle or building a flying island."

[Earl of Purple]

Fish On Ice

"Hmm. We need a bigger portal. Do you have the ability to move it yourself, or do you require the assistance of Pazuzu?" The creature is one of Pazuzu's best torturers, giving it an unequalled knowledge of anatomy and causing pain, even if it does regret killing. The flying octopus-creature is naturally predatory, and knows how to use its chain with devastating effect, though it does have several severe weaknesses that make it a poor soldier.

[GrandDM]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]

The ghost drifts up to each of the two in turn and whispers in their ears so softly that she's barely audible:

"You must be very quiet for this next section. There are sound-activated traps. I will tell you when it is safe to talk."

[RyanKoopa]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]

The ghost drifts up to each of the two in turn and whispers in their ears so softly that she's barely audible:

"You must be very quiet for this next section. There are sound-activated traps. I will tell you when it is safe to talk."

Ray nods in agreement and continues on slowly, trying to make sure each of his steps makes as little noise as possible.

[ImpSyndrome]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]

The ghost drifts up to each of the two in turn and whispers in their ears so softly that she's barely audible:

"You must be very quiet for this next section. There are sound-activated traps. I will tell you when it is safe to talk."

Leo nods to acknowledge the ghost's warning and treads softly, careful to keep his staff away from the walls to avoid making any noise. If the blade of ice has not yet melted away from his weapon, he will beckon for Ray to walk ahead of him, taking extra care that the improvised scythe does not betray them by mistake...

[GrandDM]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]

After a couple of minutes, the ghost relaxes.

"We are past the noise wards. There are mechanical traps in this next section. They require certain places to be pressed in a particular order. I will instruct you on how to do this when we reach those points."

[ImpSyndrome]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]

After a couple of minutes, the ghost relaxes.

"We are past the noise wards. There are mechanical traps in this next section. They require certain places to be pressed in a particular order. I will instruct you on how to do this when we reach those points."

Leo slowly breathes a sigh of relief at circumventing the second trap, but his calm is quickly shattered when their spectral guide speaks of yet another pitfall. He moves slowly, making sure to heed her warnings as they are issued...

[Hattish Thing]

Sith'ari Temple: Shadows of the Sith

I wanna get this going, so I'm just going to go forward here.

Trucido simply begins to move forward, activating his lightsabers in the process. He speaks to Skye as he enters the temple. Follow me, close. This place is old, yes, but I do not doubt that Sith traps have lasted this long. There's most likely a room full of computers. We should be able to access logs, a map of the place, locations of items we should know about, and activate the full security system. Shouldn't be too difficult. He walks forward and glances down the dark corridor to the right. There's a light mist along the floor, which hides it from view. ....I suspect some form of pit trap soon.

[RyanKoopa]

[Dungeon of Kharuzar]
"What kind of mechanical traps are these?" asks Ray. He thinks to himself that it seems a bit odd for a sorcerer to use machinery in his evil lair.

[McBish]

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