[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 8: Adventures! Thrills! Groceries!

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia- Pipeways

Pat gives a bit of a Hm! of her own as she follows the instruction and goes into the puddle.

[Beans]

Cabinetopia- Pipeways

Pat gives a bit of a Hm! of her own as she follows the instruction and goes into the puddle.

The puddle of glow-specked black goo starts to envelop her. I am going to... take the changes out of you. This will be very weird.

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia- Pipeways

Pat rolls her eyes.
"This whole day has been weird. I don't think at this point you could beat all of that combined. But I'd rather not jinx it by being too sure of that. But sure, lay it on me. " says Pat, not reacting to being enveloped by jel-puddles.

[Beans]

Cabinetopia- Pipeways

Pat rolls her eyes.
"This whole day has been weird. I don't think at this point you could beat all of that combined. But I'd rather not jinx it by being too sure of that. But sure, lay it on me. " says Pat, not reacting to being enveloped by jel-puddles.

Everything will go warm and fuzzy and dark as heavy, soporific seas wash over Pat. Her body will start to feel less... dumb and terrible, so to speak, as she regains her normal shape.

Finally, she awakens, a scrawny lady with a completely normal butt. The terrible, dumb journey is over and the light at the end of the tunnel was a reasonable ass, shining like a beacon of rump-related hope.

Acanthe is coiled up by her folded labcoat, and has scrounged around to find an oversized band t-shirt (hopefully Pat has nothing against that one Disintegrator tour from ten years ago) that should almost function as a sort of mini-dress. Also, sandals.

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia

Pat starts awake, and looks around. Particularly at herself, which seems to be naked since the labcoat is elsewhere.
"Still a girl, you know. Aw, hell. I'll take it if I have to." she calls, but she's not going to argue too much. She takes the clothes from Acanthe with a small thank-you.
"Well, what now? I have myself mostly fixed. Don't know how to get home, I'll probably be fired for missing work, but at this point I couldn't care less. I'm sure I'll find something." she says with a shrug, finally with a hint of cheer to her.

[Beans]

Cabinetopia

Pat starts awake, and looks around. Particularly at herself, which seems to be naked since the labcoat is elsewhere.
"Still a girl, you know. Aw, hell. I'll take it if I have to." she calls, but she's not going to argue too much. She takes the clothes from Acanthe with a small thank-you.
"Well, what now? I have myself mostly fixed. Don't know how to get home, I'll probably be fired for missing work, but at this point I couldn't care less. I'm sure I'll find something." she says with a shrug, finally with a hint of cheer to her.

Acanthe smiles and is about to say something cute, and then Psamathe trips over her as she emerges from the floor.

Sooooo I sort of figured I should maybe apologize for getting you into all this.
And for stepping on your bitey friend.
She pulls out an envelope.
You were homeless, right?
Way to pay attention, babe.

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia

Pat narrows her eyes a little bit but takes the envelope from the jellyfish-lady.
"No, I had an incredibly crappy apartment, but seeing how I was tossed out of it after a genie popped out of the toaster I turned on, I suppose it is a distinct possibility."
She uses a finger to start tearing open the envelope to see its contents...

[Beans]

Cabinetopia

Pat narrows her eyes a little bit but takes the envelope from the jellyfish-lady.
"No, I had an incredibly crappy apartment, but seeing how I was tossed out of it after a genie popped out of the toaster I turned on, I suppose it is a distinct possibility."
She uses a finger to start tearing open the envelope to see its contents...

It's...
A deed to a cottage in the Elemental Plane of Rabbits?

Welllll... hope you like bunnies!
She grins hopefully; Acanthe begins thinking of bunnies and seems quite happy with where her thoughts take her, given the tastiness of rabbit.
There is also a small origami sculpture of a pair of legs in the envelope, because Psamathe is rather dim sometimes about her attempts to make things not worse.

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia

Pat gives a small smile as she places the papers back safe in the envelope.
"Sounds peaceful. Might as well go see it. If I can find a job or at least something to do it might be better than Inside.
Thanks Psamathe. In the end, I didn't really have enough of a life to make the change in gender matter all that much, since it looks like I'm stuck this way.""

[Beans]

Cabinetopia

Pat gives a small smile as she places the papers back safe in the envelope.
"Sounds peaceful. Might as well go see it. If I can find a job or at least something to do it might be better than Inside.
Thanks Psamathe. In the end, I didn't really have enough of a life to make the change in gender matter all that much, since it looks like I'm stuck this way.""

Psamathe opens a portal to a grassy land of rolling hills, currently under a starry sky; near the portal stands a cozy-looking cottage of pale wood.

Glad I could... um... almost help!

Acanthe hugs her friend, glad to see her true and rightful butt returned to its throne.

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia

Pat shrugs as she heads through the portal, waving on Acanthe to follow her if she likes. It sure looks nice.

[Beans]

Cabinetopia

Pat shrugs as she heads through the portal, waving on Acanthe to follow her if she likes. It sure looks nice.

[Cabinetopia - Buneplane - Cottage]
Acanthe slithers after her!
The cottage's lights are on; inside, it looks neat and cozy, not very large, but still nice. There are a few pictures on the walls, but they are mostly of bune. The chair cushions? Bune pattern.
The majority of things here are bune, probably including any meat.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

While Dena examines the statues, Wenomir goes to investigate the door further. He also puts his ear near it, trying to pick up any sounds coming from behind it that might be a clue as to what awaits them on the other side.

Pyramid of Painful Demise

The statues are quite easy to get to; they aren't on pedestals or anything of that sort. They also don't lash out at Dena as she approaches.

The door is hidden, and it seems from the post that Dena hasn't found it. The compartment in the floor doesn't have any sounds coming from it, and isn't soundproofed either.

[Arty's Epic Quest]

When the wolf is released, Ashna will clam down, turning to watch it go and then falling in next to Arty himself. The fire flares up briefly and then fades down to a small flicker.

[Arty's Epic Quest]

Sinc Ashna doesn not seem keen on following the wolf anymore, Alistair will lift it only a few inches above the ground, quickly move it in the fog so that Ashna won't see it running away, and release it at last. Farewell wolf.

Arty's Epic Quest

Arty sighs and releases Chadwick's power. He decides not to comment on his views of Alistair's animal cruelty. He also decides not to touch Ashna, even though his first instinct at her going over to him was to give her a pat on the head. Off they go, then.

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

I might have missed that part of the post. <.<
The Drow will let take a closer look at the statues to see if they have any type of lever or button which can be pushed. Is there any way to find out how they're enchanted? Violet can to some degree try to find that out if she analyzes an enchantment more closely.

[Arty's Epic Quest]

As the wolf runs away the outlines of more celestial bodies can be seen poping up along it's path followed by some angry roars of the reversed werewolves. It looks like they're still protected from them as long Ashna is in her werewolf form however. So if she doesn't transform back any time soon they will eventually see a hill in the middle of the forest, clearly lit by light. Libra really seem to want to indicate that they need to go here. Or perhaps it's some kind of trap? Only if they visit they can find out.

[Recaiden]

[Arty's Epic Quest]

The centaur has made a wise choice.

So, out of consideration for not being touched and Alistair letting the other wolf go, Ashna races on, heading up towards the center of the hill. The others may have to hurry to keep up within a safe distance.

[Hyperbolic sine]

[Arty's Epic Quest]

Alistair sighs. Again. Why are people always in a hurry? Of course he wanted to leave the place as soon as possible, but still...
Anyway, he'd prefer not to ride Arty again, both for the centaur's and his own backbone's sake, so he starts once again the telekinetic flight and the tree-dodging.

[Deathkeeper]

Arty's Epic Quest

Arty smiles as they get to the next leg of the trip. Progress, albeit small. He doesn't really have much trouble keeping up with Ashna by himself. And it's likely for the bets Alistair try his own methods of travel. Arty might be faster, but riding bare-back isn't good for most people without proper endurance.

[Recaiden]

[Cabinetopia]

Pat and Acanthe might notice a cloud of smoking forming in a corner of the cottage, near any sort of kitchen-space it may contain. Looks rather familiar, actually, and it may very well solidify into the genie that got Pat into all of this nonsense.

[Shadowcaller]

[Arty's Epic Quest]

So they move towards the hill, as they come closer they might be able to spot an small altar-like structure on the top of it. As they eventually emerge out of the woods and climb the hill they can see that there also is a little horned figure sitting on top of it. It's not much larger than a house cat but has large pointy ears, a pointy nose, a tail like a cow and horns of a ram which look a bit too big for it's size. It's skin is as black as coal and it's eyes burn yellow like two ever burning flames.

The little creature sits on all fours on the black altar with it's long tail moving back and fourth like a cats as it seem to wait for them. As they come closer it greets them with a huge grin, revealing many pointy little teeth. "Greetings friends, you must be Arty." The creature addresses the centaur. "My name is Ibis, I am my mistress' new familiar and I'm here to see how much you three are willing to give up to avoid a fight and potential horrible death. Doesn't that sound fun eh?"

[Deathkeeper]

Arty's Epic Quest

Arty examines the creature curiously. It has a rather odd anatomy; probably some magic-born critter. He honestly can't tell if its haphazard combination of body parts makes it more evident of Libra messing around, or less because she's less likely to have made something original.
"I thought familiars were a mage thing, not something for gods and such. Whatever. I don't really know what you mean by that, although I can certainly guess that it's nothing good. Care to elaborate?" he says, tapping a finger against his forearm as he crosses his arms.

Cabinetopia

Pat's stomach drops as she sees smoke in her brand new place. It drops further when she realizes that it's not regular smoke. By the time the figure emerges, she's gotten into a proper stand-offish pose so she can look proper when she rolls her eyes and says, "Oh great, it's you. What do you want?"

[Beans]

[Cabinetopia]
Acanthe glances at the smoke and the emerging figure, blinking.

"... Is this someone for me to bite?"

[Recaiden]

[Cabinetopia]

The genie/genii/genius/djinn/singular wish-granting demihuman fully appears. She's added a pair of bunny ears to her appearance since Pat last saw her. "I'm here to grant you your wish, of course."
She shakes her head at Acanthe. "Not if you're planning to hurt me with it, dearie."

[Deathkeeper]

Cabinetopia

Pat groans.
"Last time I saw you you were questioning my masculinity before I was sucked into another dimension and made a girl, which is very fishy if you ask me. What makes you think I'm willing to bite on anything you have to offer any more than I was for that lame dollar bill?"

[Shadowcaller]

Arty's Epic Quest

((Going to skip a bit as I don't think anyone else has anything to add here.))

Ibis shrugs at Arty's comments about familiars. "Eh." Then the familiar looks at his own hand and starts counting on it's fingers. "But there is plenty you can offer me, your souls, servitude, your appearance, your equipment, your secrets, your bodies, your innocence..." Ibis looks up at them. "Not a sex thing. I mean geez, what in hell's unholy name would I do with your sex? Ew!" The imp seems rather disgusted with this prospect.

[Morty]

[Pyramid of Painful Demise]

"Tricky," Wenomir says. "Looks like the statues are the only option we've got left."

[Beans]

Cabinetopia

Pat groans.
"Last time I saw you you were questioning my masculinity before I was sucked into another dimension and made a girl, which is very fishy if you ask me. What makes you think I'm willing to bite on anything you have to offer any more than I was for that lame dollar bill?"

Acanthe holds back, though she's clearly weighing her options of bitey vs non-bitey.

[Deathkeeper]

Arty's Epic Quest

Arty raises and eyebrow.
"I'm not sure I follow you. What's the difference between one's body and their appearance? And how exactly would this be surrendered? Appearance can't really lost unless you're invisible. And I'm not really sure what innocence would mean in this context. As of yet, I don't see how 'avoiding a fight and death' factors in to this." he says, continuing to tap that finger against his bicep.

[Earl of Purple]

Pyramid of Painful Demise

The statue's enchantment is linked to something in the hidden compartment, and also the very well hidden door. Specifically, something in the compartment activates them, and they can open the secret door. The secret door is also keyed to open if the statues are destroyed after they are activated.

[Shadowcaller]

Arty's Epic Quest

"Ha! Are you trying to fool me or are you really this stupid?" Ibis asks. "Disregarding the fact that I only used a few examples sacrificing your appearance means I get to decide what you look like. Think of it as resigning the control over it to me." The imp holds his hand against his chest, looking rather proud of itself. "As for innocence, well suddenly you will be wanted criminals everywhere you go as some horrible person who look just like you have done horrible things. Mistress can do that of course, reality is but an plaything to her." This is Libra we're talking about right? "But really, this challenge is about your own imagination, not mine. Come on, give me an offer. What would you give up to avoid certain death?"

[5a Violista]

Spoiler: Quotes

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[Mirror, Mirror]
Reflecting Pool

Upon examining the reflecting pond, Suthy notices that his initial guess was correct. The glimmer of gold on the water is something more than just the reflection of the sun on the water. Along the tile ground beneath the water, there's golden little round bumps every so often, which somehow make the sunlight reflect even brighter.

Also, there's a bunch of century-old coins all over the ground in the reflecting pool, underneath the still water. It seems people liked throwing coins in there when this place was more popular.

Actually, there's something even more interesting in the pool. From far away, the reflected light from the sun hid this, but halfway out in the pool, there's an underwater staircase going downwards into a dark corridor (still underwater). It looks very inciting, does it not? Almost enchanting.


Front Door

Harley opens the large doors, and walks into the dark building. It's really dusty inside, and any sound echoes throughout the entire room. "Well, I can't say this doesn't look creeeeeeeee-" Then her voice cuts out suddenly, as do her footsteps. Only Card sees what happened, because Darsy paused at that fountain for those crucial moments.

The room is basically a large room filled with nothing except pillars, arches, staircases, and doors to other hallways and rooms and wings. There's a few gasoliers along the ceiling, which is almost too high to see without looking upwards. The floor is tiled, much like a chessboard. Like a chessboard, half the tiles are black. However, the other half are a reflective silver color. Some are tarnished, some are polished. Nearly everything is covered in dust - which makes following Harley's footsteps easy - up until the point where they abruptly stop.

Harley fell through one of the polished tiles as if there were nothing there, and that tile rippled like water afterwards. The ripples and waves nearly die down by the time Darsy gets inside.


Fountain

Xanthos, using his Mage Sight, will be able to tell that it is, indeed, powered by something magical. Must be the pump, or something, because (as Darsy guessed) it wouldn't be working any longer if it ran on electricity.

As he studies the fountain, he'll also notice something very peculiar. After looking in the water for more than two seconds, his reflection will begin to fade. Actually, the reflection of everything begins to fade. Oddly enough, the longer he looks at the water, the more magical it becomes. It's also strange that it didn't do this when Darsy looked at it. There must be some reason why.

So, now the question is: Does he continue to study it or does he go on ahead to catch up?

"Martinez!"

Card reaches for Harley as she falls through, but he's too late. He pauses on a black tile, watching the ripples fade out. He turns to look at Darsy as she comes in.

"She fell through the floor."

Mirror, Mirror - Front Door

Darsy hurries up when she hears Card yell. When he turns back to her, he'll see that her fists are on fire, and her expression and stance show that she's expecting a fight of some kind.

At Card's words, Darsy relaxes her stance a bit. She looks around, but doesn't see any holes in the floor.

Where? And how? Trapdoor or something?

Seems she missed out on the silver tile shenanigans.

As the reflections in the fountain start to fade, Xanthos hisses some choice curse words in the demon tongue, snapping his attention away from the fountain. No sense in letting it do its thing when you don't know what it does. With a quick tread, he heads up to the front door and catches up with Darsy in time to hear her ask her question, and see a distinct lack of Harley. Taking this in, he mutters a few more demon swearwords.

"I would suggest we stay outside until we know what happened. Give me a moment to take a look."

He blinks, reactivating his mage sight, eyes glowing red as he examines the room.

Spoiler: Mirror Mirror

Show

"Like it was a pool."

Card stands back while Xanthos looks at the floor of the room. Detecting magic isn't something he can do very well.

[Mirror, Mirror]
Reflecting Pool

[...]


Grand Hall

Magic is detected!

It seems that the entire room is filled with a lot of background radiation of magic; however, that's usual for creepy buildings, isn't it? Possibly more pertinent is the wellspring of magic power that was coming from the tile that Harley fell into. Actually, the magic energy is fading very quickly, dissipating throughout the room until, after some twelve or so seconds, it becomes nigh impossible to tell there was a burst of magic energy.


Flipped Room

Well, this is where Harley is. Since nobody else followed, there isn't much of a point describing it or what happened; only that broken legs and wall climbing is involved.

[Recaiden]

[Cabinetopia]

"Aww, but you look so much better now. I was hoping the journey would have led to some character growth."
The genie laughs.
"Besides, you'd have been glad enough to get the money before I put it out of reach."\

[Arty's Epic Quest]

Ashna would have a lot more to say here if she could understand words. As it is, she circles the imp, growling.