[Nexus] Outside XXXVII

[The Bushranger]

Elsewhere

"What? Who's there!?" The lady is shocked out of her reverie by Lydia's murmurs. You should have known Lydia. This may be a memory, but that doesn't mean it won't respond to your actions...

Lady Jasmine peers into the darkness where Lydia waits, oblivious to the fact that the dark form she can barely make out is loading a potent concoction.

Lydia freezes at the call, her wristbow half-raised as she stared. For a moment, she considered just firing her sleep-dart anyway...but then her thoughts turn to how this didn't happen and wasn't supposed to happen and if she's in the Void anyway, well, what's the harm.

The wristbow vanishes up her sleeve as she folds down her hood.
"...a friend. Who wasn't fast enough," she says, as she steps out of her hiding place, and into full view.

[Beans]

Sweden

Hildur frowns and wraps an arm around Thyrza. "I'm sorry it's like this, dear."

Thryza leans over and kisses her cheek.
I'll be fine, don't worry---I can do anything as long as you're with me.

[Slii Arhem]

A Hillside

"You... calm down. Think about this rationally... Sophie..." Copi sighs and hangs up. "Sophie's job was just cancelled, and between that and the funeral arrangements... I think she's breaking down into tears. She's been the lynch pin in this whole thing. Doing all the work, really, while the rest of us try to mourn and fail. And now she loses her job, and... she needs a friend. As soon as possible. You want to come with me?" Copi looks directly at Mintbalm, her eyes pleading. "Maybe give me a little boost?"

A Hillside

"Yeah, I think that's probably wise. Let's get there as soon as possible though. I can walk us through the Land Between and be at the front door. It sounds like she needs as many people there for her as she can get." Mintbalm stands up, letting the weave of grass part around her and manifesting a shroud of glowing light that extends from her massive, ethereal wings and quickly settles around her as spun threads of glittering silver cloth, an almost-opaque dress that's a bit too gauzy for regular human fashions.

As a result, the air for about a mile has lost the majority of the non-nitrogen/oxygen contents in it as Mintbalm appropriated the materials for her dress from the surroundings.

She brushes a hand across the air in front of her, parting it like a curtain and revealing a doorway to the precise street in Inside they need. The edges of the door blur as they touch the Land Between, fading into forest greens and mossy earth browns around the scene.

Elsewhere



Lydia freezes at the call, her wristbow half-raised as she stared. For a moment, she considered just firing her sleep-dart anyway...but then her thoughts turn to how this didn't happen and wasn't supposed to happen and if she's in the Void anyway, well, what's the harm.

The wristbow vanishes up her sleeve as she folds down her hood.
"...a friend. Who wasn't fast enough," she says, as she steps out of her hiding place, and into full view.

Elsewhere

"What?" The lady shrieks, keeling over backwards in surprise. She has clearly fainted, and yet a faint outline of an image remains where she once stood even as she clutches her bosom in obvious pain on the ground. A ghost, clad in naught but shadow, howls silently at Lydia and throws up clawed arms in her direction. The floor around becomes spongy and damp as the fountain clogs and overflows, the stone warping and becoming river krusts in an instant as the apparition fades.

She's standing under a bridge now, the krusts stirring at her presence and a half-wrapped corpse bobbing in the stagnant waters of the slow-moving river below.

[Lost_Deep]

A Hillside

Copi smiles and gets up. "Impressive. Thank you, Mintbalm." And, unless Mintbalm has an objection, Copi will step through.

[The Bushranger]

Elsewhere

After only a moment of surprise at the sudden change in scenery, one hand half-raised in anticipation of stopping time to deal with the ghost, Lydia lunges fowards. Dropping into a roll, she pulls a grenade from her pocket, priming it and hurling the bomb at the largest concentration of the acid-spewing mollusks.

The first time she was here, they got her but good, and it was only thanks to the miracle properties of Dr. Sokolov's elixir that she wasn't permamently scarred; she doesn't intend to have a repeat performance.

[OrchestraHc]

[VTOL Party - Free Fallin'... Or he will be soon, anyway]

Well Justin? Do you?

"Alyca, I... How I feel is definitely different now than it was then. I don't know if it's love, but I know it's more than simply caring about you, and that it's especially for you. I know I feel this way only for you." He tries to smile and encourage her to do the same, remembering how much it tore her up before. "You're special to me. And I hope it's love, I really do."

It was a winding road to the word no, but there's so much more to it than simply not loving her. It's good news, at least. They are close, ever so close.

[The Alexandrian]

[VTOL Party! - And I Think It's Gonna Be A Long, Long Time...]

All of the sorrow, Alyca has!

Just a friend...

A miserable, spurned Alyca interprets.

A friend... Perhaps only just...
Just. A. Friend. T.T

The message echoes over and over inside of her mind. Louder and louder it grows! With each sequential repetition, she can feel her heart breaking more and more. Softer and softer still it repeats within her dispirited mind until it is but a whisper on her still, lifeless lips forced into the sorriest of an excuse for a smile. Her expression is as joyously bleak and apathetic, a mask disguising her inner lamentation.

It's a chant now. The next moment it's a cheer. The next, a scream building in her chest. And then a pitiful, pathetic wailing.

Just a friend. Noncommittal. If our love was meant to be, he'd feel it by now. But...he...doesn't...so......

No.

Not here.

Without a single word, Alyca nods and attempts to unceremoniously stand and quickly leave the room, proceeding down a hall leading somewhere, anywhere but here. If Justin attempts to stop her, she'll respond by attempting to brush/push him away.

"Uh, can you two hear me back there 'cause I can't hear either of you, like, at all."

[OrchestraHc]

VTOL Party! - It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to

"Aly, Aly wait," is all Justin can say before she escapes out the hallway. I screwed up. I screwed up really bad.

"Be right back Miriah," he says before he dashes behind his, hopefully still, girlfriend.

"Alyca, please wait. I'm sorry!" Unburdened by his usual bag of hoarding, he could probably catch up to her.

[The Alexandrian]

[VTOL Party! - Why She Had To Go He Don't Know, She Wouldn't Say!]

"Whatever. Just wanted to let you two know that the escort is - ****!"

Uh-oh! This is the perfect time for everything to go horribly wrong, isn't it!

Justin will be able to reach the middle of the hallway Alyca was retreating into just in time to watch the side of the plane in front of him be torn away as a powerful explosion rocks the VTOL. Flames briefly but brilliantly glow in the corridor in front of him only to be snuffed out in no more than a second as he might feel the suction of the air rushing out of the pressurized interior into the thin air of the exterior before a blast door slams to the floor in front of him with a heavy thud. Red lights are flashing and sirens are blaring!

"We're taking fire from the escort! Weapons systems online but cameras are down! Fall back to my location ASAP! Move!"

Things just got real.

[OrchestraHc]

[VTOL Battle! - Danger Zone!]

Why now? Why the hell now! This couldn't have come ten minutes later, or hell, two minutes earlier? He's got too much romantic comedy crap to sift through to deal with an action adventure!

He can't do anything against a steel door without a lock. And all he's got for weapons are stupid ninja stars so he can't exactly blow it down. He runs for the cockpit! "Miriah, you have to open the door!" he screams trying to be heard over the sirens "You have to open the blast door! Alyca was back there!"

[The Alexandrian]

[VTOL Battle - Staying Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!]

Le timing was impeccable!

The cockpit door unseals itself and opens with a mechanical hiss as yet another rocket shakes the VTOL. Justin will spot Miriah rapidly donning a suit of black, heavy powered armor with the assistance of six robotic arms as he approaches.

"There is no 'back there' anymore, Justin."

She informs Justin in a hurried, grave tone.

"If Alyca was 'back there' she's on the ground now and there's nothing we can do to help her or ourselves unless we bail out of this aircraft."

A black Masterchief-esque helmet covers Miriah's head with a click as the robotic arms withdraw.

"Get over here and stand as still as you can so we can get you suited up! There won't be enough countermeasures left to divert their missiles for much longer."

Justin might hear the sustained "pew" of a laser raking the side of their VTOL.

"Methinks we should've stayed in bed today!"

[OrchestraHc]

VTOL - Put On Your War Paint!

"I hate power armor," Justin complains, stepping to the machine that will dress him in armor. "Okay, so what's the plan? Word of warning, I may not follow it if it's not 'run like a lunatic to the back half of and grab Alyca.' Nothing personal, just a distaste for authority."

[happyturtle]

TARDIS Adventures - Shopping

"Oh! My! HADES!" Decker announces, as she finds a wooden box. "I know what this is! Watch!" She speaks what she thinks is the command word, and if she's right, the box unfolds into a boat, ten feet long, four feet wide, and two feet deep. Which is likely rather inconvenient to do indoors.

If she's wrong about the command word, then the box remains a box.

Either way, her attention is then drawn by a dark cloak on a hook. Decker pulls it around her and intones. "I am Darkness. I am the Night!"

[Zefir]

((Hopefully the rope made of stone should hold the door))

Felandria rips the lock off of one of the locked boxes.

The stone robe will hold them fro some time, but they still got their tools adn weapons so they likly manage to get out soon.

As she opens the coffin (which I assume you mean) she migth be very suprised. A child lays in there or better said something that looks like a child. the only difference is that the ears are missing and instead meatal cat ears are on the childs head.

[Earl of Purple]

Clouded Void- Chariot

After they leave the palace, Atorre might note it's not the only thing Pazuzu's done. The rock holding the portal to the Nexus is no longer in sight; instead, there's a massive storm containing at least ten different tornado-style funnels, all at different angles and occasionally intersecting just behind the palace, whilst to the left of the chariot is a field of debris scattered across three dimensions. The pegasi skirt around the edge of the debris-field, although occasionally something small like a screw, a nail, a splinter of wood, or a pebble hits the chariot as there's no set edge. Meanwhile, on the right, is a vast bank of chlorine-coloured fog; it's hard to tell with so few landmarks, but it seems to be a great distance away. Ahead, and approaching, is a lump of earth resembling a hill next to a fortified town made of clouds.

A cloud scatters as the pegasi approach, dissolving into a shoal of fish, each apparently made of cloud.

[Recaiden]

[Clouded Void - Chariot]

Ranna looks about, amazed. "Does it always change this much?" That cloud, actually poisonous or just intimidating?
Those fish, are they self-contained or is something creating them?

[Earl of Purple]

Clouded Void- Chariot

"Pazuzu's Palace is within a day's flight from anywhere in the Void, meaning that from His Palace, everywhere is a day's flight away at most- so long as Pazuzu wants you to find His palace. We are eighteen thousand kilometres or so from where we started." The cloud's probably poisonous, and the fish are a variety of elemental, born from magical winds.

[GrandDM]

[Tomb of the Lost Innocent]

A small, greeny-black figure leaps onto a nearby rock.

"Ooh, what a big minotaur! Methinks I have myself a companion for the exploration!"

He capers down the stairs to the door and examines it.

"Hmm... somebody doesn't want visitors! No matter. I have power enough for this."

He examines the spells on the door and constructs a casting that will, if all goes as intended, neatly unravel the spells without triggering them.

[The Alexandrian]

[VTOL Battle! - What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!]

The VTOL quakes and groans again and again as it takes damage!

"If Alyca was hanging out in the back of the VTOL for whatever reason, she's not there anymore."

Miriah persuasively repeats without one iota of doubt in her voice.

"And that's a fact, not an opinion."

Meanwhile, the suit of powered armor might be assembled around Justin by robotic arms! The scene faintly resembles the one in Star Wars where Skywalker is reforged as Darth Vader.

When the helmet finally slides over his head, the suit's HUD and other systems flash to life. It scans him and reports!

User: Justin Mine
Employment Status: Romantically Involved With Employee #727666
Health Status: Uninjured
Micro-Blink Accelerator System: Online
Daedalus System: Online
STR-ENhancement - Gladiator Type H: Online
Cloaking Device: Online - Deactivated
Command Uplink: Access Restricted
Data Uplink: Access Restricted
Employee #728666 Overriding Lockout...
Unclassified Data Uplink: Online
Environmental Regulation System: Online
Listing Weapons Systems Status:
Arm-Mounted Chainguns (2) - Online
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Left Wrist Mounted Grenade Launcher (1) - Online
Right Wrist Mounted Rocket Launcher (1) - Online
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Right Palm Mounted Flamethrower (1) - Online
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Access Restricted
Targeting Assist System - Eye Reticule - Online
Buddy System: Access Restricted
Employee #728666 Overriding Lockout...
Buddy System: Online
Attempting Neural Uplink: Attempt 1...2...3...4...5...
Neural Uplink Failure
Manual Controls Engaged
Clarification:
-Standard Control: Arm Mounted Chainguns: Clench Hand Into Fist. Extend Thumb And Index Finger Of Respective Hands Away From Body To Fire
-Custom Control: Wrist Mounted Launchers: "Hang Loose". Clench Hand Into Fist. Extend Index Finger and Pinkie Finger Away From Body.
-Custom Control: Flamethrower: Shout "Flame On!" With Palm Leveled At Enemy.
Shielding System: Online - 100%

"We were hit by a scattermissile. Most of the plane is depressurized and I'm not detecting any life signs anywhere else in this deathtrap, but the cargo bay doors were blasted open and a couple of seconds later, a hover tank drove out of, so if Alyca is alive, she's not up here."

Justin might observe that the suit's HUD is tracking Miriah, highlighting her in green, and displaying what she's seeing in the upper right hand corner of his visor. Additionally, Justin will be warned of any threatening being/hazard within up to 10 feet of his location and those targets will be auto marked and tracked by the suit's HUD.

"And we shouldn't be up here either! We have to jump!"

[Recaiden]

[Clouded Void - Chariot]

He knew it was moving away. "It must be difficult to get around with distances so variable. ...wait...how far is a kilometer?"

[ImpSyndrome]

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

It takes about an hour for Leo to return to the place where he was first catapulted into the Nexus. Once there, he takes a seat in the shade beneath a tree and awaits the arrivals of Ray and the spectral girl who greeted him there the day before...

[GrandDM]

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

It takes about an hour for Leo to return to the place where he was first catapulted into the Nexus. Once there, he takes a seat in the shade beneath a tree and awaits the arrivals of Ray and the spectral girl who greeted him there the day before...

She appears almost as soon as he arrives.

"You came back! Thank you... all the others just left. When you are ready, I will lead you. I cannot help you fight, but I can heal your wounds at least a little."

[ImpSyndrome]

She appears almost as soon as he arrives.

"You came back! Thank you... all the others just left. When you are ready, I will lead you. I cannot help you fight, but I can heal your wounds at least a little."

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

"I appreciate that," Leo responds. "I'm just waiting on Ray, the kid who was here yesterday...Wait, did you say 'others'? Has someone else gone to this mountain already?"

[GrandDM]

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

"I appreciate that," Leo responds. "I'm just waiting on Ray, the kid who was here yesterday...Wait, did you say 'others'? Has someone else gone to this mountain already?"

"A few. Those looking for glory and treasure. They would have sold my stone, so I did not show myself to them. What I was talking about was all those who I asked to help me. As soon as I mentioned the mountain, they ran and never came back."

[Felandria]

The stone robe will hold them fro some time, but they still got their tools adn weapons so they likly manage to get out soon.

As she opens the coffin (which I assume you mean) she migth be very suprised. A child lays in there or better said something that looks like a child. the only difference is that the ears are missing and instead meatal cat ears are on the childs head.

Felandria looks at the child/kitty/robot? and quickly wonders how she's going to transport them, since she's already disabled the trucks.

If only the man who sent her on the mission had given her a phone number or some way to contact him to get a vehicle or any kind of transport.

She runs over to the other truck and examines the contents.

[ImpSyndrome]

"A few. Those looking for glory and treasure. They would have sold my stone, so I did not show myself to them. What I was talking about was all those who I asked to help me. As soon as I mentioned the mountain, they ran and never came back."

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

"That...sounds troubling," Leo responds, somewhat worried that he might meet the same fate as those before him. "How long ago exactly was this?"

[GrandDM]

[OUTSIDE, A FEW MILES FROM INSIDE]

"That...sounds troubling," Leo responds, somewhat worried that he might meet the same fate as those before him. "How long ago exactly was this?"

"I do not know. I have no accurate way to measure time."

[Earl of Purple]

Tomb of the Lost Innocent

The door spits a fireball back at the two approaching it. The fireball will burn whatever it hits. The spell, clearly, didn't work. It does have a mouth, though. It might not be able to just spit fireballs with that maw.

Clouded Void- Chariot

"Anywhere we want to go is usually within sight of our town, which helps. For longer distances, Pazuzu gives us some help." Navigating is less important than surviving, and helping Pazuzu helps navigating and survival.

[Recaiden]

[Clouded Void - Chariot]

"Somewhat far then. And he has ordered everything around him."

[Deathkeeper]

TotLI

Krayger crouches down and lets his heat-proof hoodie take the blast. Coming out with just his gear and horns singed, he stands up, shaking his head.
"I get the feeling the place has solutions, but it's protected against the easy way in."