Riverside 15

[Shadowcaller]

Graveyard

Invidia does so, leaving, waiting for Oribane to follow her.
Say, would you like to get a drink or something?
She offers.
Invidia is kinda jaded.

Market (Closed Scene)

Sakura walks in the market, looking around warily... but possibly not seeing anyone who could bump into her

Southside Apartment

"I am Babette, and this is Kessandra. We serve Elereshur." Both girls are dead, and it's the younger one who speaks. They'll pull out the youngest female merperson, unless she's over the equivalent of twenty. If there isn't a merperson under twenty, they won't select any of the prisoners and instead help Elereshur get them into the apartment.

Are any of them innocent of evil thought and evil deed? It's the former that's the hardest to find, lots of people fantasize about things that are morally questionable.

[Southside Apartment]

After examining the slaves, Elereshur tilts her head and says, "Interesting...They seem to be host to a secondary consciousness...Hmm..." She then turns, trying to grab the golem by the throat, saying, very calmly, "Do you take me for an idiot? Did you really think for one second that you could fool me?"

[Malchenar Keep-Gates]

Kanya approaches the gates of the keep, and, as she does, the temperature drops several degrees. However, she has gained some better control of her power, and, while it's still uncomfortable for most people, it's not lethal by any stretch of the imagination.

[Southside Apartment]

I should explain to Earl what I told FD in the IRC chat. The mermen are in fact all mindcontrolled by something (in this case a brain parasite) and have been so from birth. So it's quite hard to discern if they're truly "innocent" or not. They have all committed evil deeds (as generally seen by humans at least) in one way or the other but they weren't in direct control of their actions. Whatever is controlling them through the parasite is.

The golem stands motionless. "You stated you didn't care what mortals we brought you. These ones are controlled by something but we don't know what. Is that a problem?" It doesn't reply to Babette or Kessendra for now.

[Below Malechenar]

The keep itself is actually flying some distance above the city, but there is a community right underneath it where she might go. The blue-uniformed guards obviously recognize what she is as she approach and stand back. "Not any closer! Stand back!" One of them yells while the others are pulling some sort of crystals out of their belts, aiming them at her but doesn't do anything... yet.

Graveyard

"A- a drink?" Obriane stammers as they leave the gargoyles and the body behind. "I... guess?" She wasn't sure why Invidia would want to buy her a drink. Then again Alice had bought her a drink so maybe it was something people in lotus garden just did when they met someone? Some sort of tradition they had there.
Or a nefarious scheme to recruit people into their cult! Or maybe they're just nice.

[Ionbound]

[Below Malchenar]

Kanya stops, raising her hands in the air as she almost sobs, "P-please...I just want to find out what happened to me...I'm trying so hard not to hurt anyone..." With the last sentence, sparkles slide off her cheeks, which, the guards might realize, are flash-frozen tears.

[Earl of Purple]

Southside Apartment

Then so long as the parasite is present, they don't count, and possibly afterwards as well. If they were aware of what was going on, then they don't. Innocence at the magnitude Babette seeks is rare, and hard to find, and even the slightest thing can corrupt it forever.

The girlish ghouls stop, and wait to see what happens next. If Elereshur wants the other demon dead, they shall assist, but as it stands an explanation may be forthcoming.

[Ionbound]

[Southside Apartments]

Elereshur nods angrily and says, "Yes, that is a problem. Did you consider that the thing controlling these might come looking for them? Does subtlety mean nothing to you?"

[Earl of Purple]

"My... former tribe rides boars" Batu says. "I'm told other hobgoblins ride different beasts depending on where they live. Maybe humans are just attuned to horses the way we are to all beasts."

Westside Park ((Sorry Morty. I missed this.))

"Your former tribe? So, you're an exile?" She can empathise with that slightly, as she is quite possibly the only Skin-Stealer Vampire in Riverside, so she's surrounded regularly by others that aren't the same type of vampire as she is.

[Morty]

[Westside Park]

"I am," Batu says, as his shoulders slump. "I was exiled for the crime of practising sorcery. I was lucky enough to find a teacher and a place to stay afterwards."

[Earl of Purple]

Westside Park

"I'm sorry to hear that. My family was killed by a vampire, who turned me before the Enforcers arrived and killed them. I surrendered, or they'd have killed me, too. I can't remember the turning itself, which is a blessing." Because she instinctively knows how to perform it, and knows how painful it must have been.

[Shadowcaller]

[Below Malchenar]

Kanya stops, raising her hands in the air as she almost sobs, "P-please...I just want to find out what happened to me...I'm trying so hard not to hurt anyone..." With the last sentence, sparkles slide off her cheeks, which, the guards might realize, are flash-frozen tears.

Southside Apartment

Then so long as the parasite is present, they don't count, and possibly afterwards as well. If they were aware of what was going on, then they don't. Innocence at the magnitude Babette seeks is rare, and hard to find, and even the slightest thing can corrupt it forever.

The girlish ghouls stop, and wait to see what happens next. If Elereshur wants the other demon dead, they shall assist, but as it stands an explanation may be forthcoming.

[Southside Apartments]

Elereshur nods angrily and says, "Yes, that is a problem. Did you consider that the thing controlling these might come looking for them? Does subtlety mean nothing to you?"

Fourth Tower Compound

Now Arty is getting a bit annoyed. He'd prefer to thing Bigfang really only wants what he says, but his instructor's words stand, and he has no idea if the spirit is bound to its agreements.
"Besides medicine, my secondary studies included foreign cultures and writing systems. I'm quite sure that I will manage enough. Anything excepting can be written out in words instead of symbols if necessary. I don't need to understand everything to deliver it. Heck, I don't think Chadwick would understand any of it anyway.

Just what does the formula prove anyway?"

[Below Malchenar]

The guards remain in position but makes no move as Kanya stops. The highest ranking member finally lowering his device. The others stand vigilant however. "What's your name? Why have you come here of all places?" He asks, his voice not betraying any of the fear his comrades seem to be feeling however. Whatever she is she sure got them spooked.

Fourth Tower Compound

"Hmph. It is actually more dangerous than one thinks horseperson." Apparently Bigfang forget that's insulting. "It is ritual that can damage gods. Yes, Bigfang made a ritual that can harm gods. You think about that, he got it from Arbil. But fine, if you think you so smart, I can simply tell you."

Now Arty can hear the door open and Kipp's voice. "Yes?"

"Good! You need to write down everything Arty here says while I maintain the ritual." Zareen states in a oddly cheerful tone.

"...right. Whatever you say."

[Southside Apartments]

"They don't know what 'here' is. We took them from seaside, very far away. They won't be able to come here, nor are they capable of doing anything to harm us." The demonic construct states. "Anything else?" It asks, it's tone not changing the slightest.

[Ionbound]

[Beneath Malchenar]

Kanya says, panicked to try to get them to stop, "My...My name's Kanya...I came here because I...I thought you could tell me what happened to me...What I am now..." The temperature also begins to slide downwards as she begins to lose control of her emotions, though she's maintaining control. For now.

[Lord Magtok]

FF&FF

Invidia is pulled along by Magtok, looking rather irritated and kind of worried.
She does her best to nod

"If things get too intense or uncomfortable for you, just whisper 'Hephaestus' and I'll get us out of here, okay? I don't want to go past what you're comfortable with." Magtok leads the way inside. Hopefully they'll find this Fallow person, if there is, in fact, a person by that name.

[Devixer]

[Northside - Wizard Community College]

The effect of freezing magic on a polymer, fully automatic weapon... An interesting question, which I did my best to answer. Cold has two primary ways to negatively effect the operation of a blow back firearm. If condensation builds up on the guide rods, and then freezes, the gun will jam. But that is only likely to happen if the temperature goes from cold, to warm, back to freezing temperatures again. The second way is if the gun oil freezes, something that is likely to happen as the temperature falls below 0 (I use the Fahrenheit scale, as I'm more familiar with it). Now, the P90 is a well-designed weapon; it only needs a few drops of oil on its moving parts group. But an amateur such as this kid--oh, did I not mention Dwayne's age? Ashley will see he's not even 18 years old, younger than the students he was shooting--may have added more oil than necessary in a zealous attempt to make sure everything works. In subzero operations, it is actually better to run your weapons without gun oil than to use something which could freeze and cause malfunctions. Mr. Gates is unlikely to know that, however, much less anticipate subzero operations. So, having opened fire on Ashley once she came into his sights, the shooter may fire over 20 rounds of SS190 FN 5.7×28mm armor piercing rounds before her frost magic manages to freeze enough of the oil to cause a FTF jam. Of course, there is another aspect to cold magic and that is the human factor. Depending on the exact temperature of the spell and how quickly it works, Dwayne's hands are more likely to freeze before the weapon does. At the very least, the cold is causing him to shake and shiver vigorously, throwing off his aim and sending those 20 rounds every which way with very little accuracy.

The drowess makes it up the stairs and finds the correct door. It's the one with loud, automatic gunfire behind it.

Magic>Guns

The drowess did!
She attempts to burst in and hurl a cloud if freezing daggersthe man, before taking cover behind a wall and flipping through her Spellbook.

About twenty rounds are bounding every which way. A few of them hit Ashley, but her shield is able to deflect exactly one shot. The rest actually hit her, even though the force behind her magic is able to keep them from causing any serious damage beyond bruising. She winces at the impact, then hops off of the windowsill to approach the kid, maintaining her cold magic as she does so.

[Morty]

[Westside Park]

"I'm sorry to hear that. My family was killed by a vampire, who turned me before the Enforcers arrived and killed them. I surrendered, or they'd have killed me, too. I can't remember the turning itself, which is a blessing." Because she instinctively knows how to perform it, and knows how painful it must have been.

"I'm sorry to hear that too," Batu says. "I didn't even know that vampires existed before coming here. I mean, I'd heard stories about the corpses of those who weren't properly returned to the sky rising again, but I never quite believed them. Those who run this city seem alright, though. My teacher negotiated my place here with them."

[Earl of Purple]

Fallow's Furry & Feathered Friends

Of course Fallow is a real person! Admittedly, this is the second Fallow to own and run the store.

He isn't on the shop floor, however. He's got better things to do. There's several gnomish shop assistants, however; they seem to be running the place, dealing directly with most of the customers.

Westside Park

"I knew about them, obviously; my family lived here. But I wasn't expecting to ever become one. My family was quite devout, but gods really don't like the type of vampire I am. I can't even say the name of the deity I worshipped now, let alone ask Him for direct intervention or assistance." Not that He ever actually replied; she wasn't a priestess. But she was seriously considering it as a career.

[Morty]

[Westside Park]

"I'm told the totem spirit of my tribe too offence to my practice of sorcery, so I suppose I know what you mean," Batu says.

[Earl of Purple]

Westside Park

"If ever you see somebody whose eyes are flecked with red, go to the authorities and let them know. I have my weaknesses, but they are different to the ones of the ruling vampires here, and I have my strengths as well. One of them is shared by all vampires like me- we can wear the skins of our victims to masquerade as anyone we like." But not for forever; they rot quickly, but can be kept fresh by drinking fresh blood regularly. Or by having a rubber fake skin made and using that instead.

[Morty]

[Westside Park]

"I'll make sure of that," Batu says, suddenly a bit suspicious. What if she is just wearing the skin of a victim? "I don't leave this park too often, though. I like it here, and the city makes me nervous."

[Deathkeeper]

Fourth Tower Compound

Arty stops.
"Just a moment, Kipp.
Don't call me that, Bigfang. And that isn't what Chadwick told me to get. And given his mental state if he did he'd probably be trying to kill himself, which I wouldn't be encouraging."

[Earl of Purple]

Westside Park

"Here, feel. It's artificial skin, made of rubber and based on what my natural birthday suit." She holds out a hand for him to feel; it does feel rubbery. It's a good fake, but it's clearly fake.

And why would she warn him about something if she was doing it herself, especially something like that which helps her blend in?

[Ionbound]

[Southside Apartment]

Elereshur glares and says, "Take them away. I'm not going to risk it. Sorry, Babette."

[Murkus]

[Malechenar]

I'm sure we can handwave some of the questions as we both know all the details OOC.

As Sticks explains the condition Ryhe suddenly chuckles. "You're in luck Mister Sticks, we were looking at the wrong place entirely." He moves away from the fey section and the forcefield reappears. Instead, assuming Sticks follows, he comes to another section which is labeled "worlds" where he takes out an enormous tome. "This was given to me by the fourth tower who had gotten it in a deal with an god of knowledge. It contains an enormous amount of information of a world they like to call "Kouy", an closed off world which so happens to have the condition you describe." He flips through the book before handing over it to Sticks. "Here, this section might be describing what you're looking for..."

I was just enjoying the way they discuss things! Plus, I have a horrible memory, so you may have to touch upon some parts of Obriane's condition.

Sticks can be assumed to follow, unless the lord Ryhe does something untoward while they're rifling through his inexplicable book collection. A compendium of worlds! No doubt ones catalogued by the mysterious Fourth Tower. Now that is a book he may well have been interested in, were Obriane not already on his mind. He could match their findings against his own journal. He often made numerous notes about the worlds to which he traveled before settling from time to time.

Depending upon the size and weight of this tome, Sticks may well be forced to lug it over to the nearest table or other flat surface. He grins, embarrassed, and leans over the weighty volume so he might learn it's secrets.

"A fey... intertwined with her soul? Why, I'm not sure safe magical practices would have any sort of effect here..." He begins to look somewhat troubled as he goes over the passage.

The Toy Tinker

Well, if he wishes to say anything Sticks will have the chance as the next day Jim will enter the store as he always does, about sixteen minutes early so he can leisurely set up shop before getting straight to work on the very exact minute of his proper shift. He'll cheerily greet Sticks when he makes an appearance as always, making no mention of the previous day.

While the Tinker opens quite late in the morning - ah, the joys of having one's own business - Sticks remains to be seen long after the store has already opened. Certainly some mornings he's emerged from his lab rather late, scorched and wide-eyed and grinning madly. As many as ten or fifteen minutes after the store's opening! Already inappropriate that he hadn't cleaned up, or even changed his clothes by all accounts, the tall man will sidle up behind the counter and simply sit there at length, staring blankly into space.

Today he can't even muster up the effort to do that. Hm. One must wonder where he could be.

[Slii Arhem]

Westside Greenhouse

Elaine barely even notices the injections as she's high as a kite. She kinda woos around for the hour or so it will take for the seeds to gestate and grow, alternating between playing with the growing saplings and thanking Shayan profusely for helping her so much.

Westside Greenhouse

The roots and vines are growing under her skin, close to her bones, so it's rather hard to play with them without ripping her skin and muscle open. Still, she's high as a kite, so it's entirely possible she thinks that she's growing plants out from her skin.

((But she is not, and I made that as clear as I could twice previously.))

Shayan waits until she comes down slightly before preparing and administering the second treatment, explaining it as she goes, "This one should affect your bark in a very beneficial way. I was leery of replicating my own regenerative properties in you directly, but I seem to have hit on a solution that will allow you to heal yourself from any wounds that puncture the skin, as well as apply healing to other." This treatment evidently began working more quickly, as Shayan levers a scalpel under the bark and lifts up a tiny sliver of it, exposing the underside's fresh, new, green-tinted sheen. Milky green fluids wells up on the bark, beading and sticking together in fat droplets.

"A numbing agent, an antibacterial, and a binding agent to seal the wound. Whenever your bark is pierced, it will produce this mixture and flood the affected area with it. In time, the rudimentary cells in the mix will speed up the healing by being converted to and replaced with your flesh, in a regenerative fashion. You could feasibly pry off your bark and apply it to another person's wounds, to seal them and begin accelerated healing on them. Your bark will grow back nearly daily now, so long as you get enough sun, so you shouldn't run out."

[Ionbound]

[Westside Greenhouse]

Yeah, high as a kite.

When she comes down, she's slightly disappointed at the lack of real saplings, but then very excited when the other treatment. After the demonstration, she gushes, "Ohmigosh, that's sooo cool. Thank you so much, Shayan...Mind if I stay here for a while until I get used to my new self?"

[Arkhosia]

Graveyard

"A- a drink?" Obriane stammers as they leave the gargoyles and the body behind. "I... guess?" She wasn't sure why Invidia would want to buy her a drink. Then again Alice had bought her a drink so maybe it was something people in lotus garden just did when they met someone? Some sort of tradition they had there.
Or a nefarious scheme to recruit people into their cult! Or maybe they're just nice.

Great! Is Trog's good?
The drowess questions, smiling.
Which is probably slightly creepy, as a couple flecks of red blood dot the left of invidia's face unbeknownst to her.

[Gullara]

Alright, sounds good.
Misaka replies, ready to play.

[Suncrest Manor]

And so the two play, much to Eliseo's frustration he soon discovers. It's a tough game, and he's not very tolerant of beginners, which Misaka definitely is. "I keep telling you that zombies come through those windows twice, not just the first time." He says after the fifth death, sounding exasperated.

[Arkhosia]

[Suncrest Manor]

And so the two play, much to Eliseo's frustration he soon discovers. It's a tough game, and he's not very tolerant of beginners, which Misaka definitely is. "I keep telling you that zombies come through those windows twice, not just the first time." He says after the fifth death, sounding exasperated.

Sorry.
Misaka simply replies sincerely, and indeed does happen to adjust to that!
They probably don't die nearly as often as misaka slowly but surely
Gets the hang of it.

[Morty]

Westside Park

"Here, feel. It's artificial skin, made of rubber and based on what my natural birthday suit." She holds out a hand for him to feel; it does feel rubbery. It's a good fake, but it's clearly fake.

And why would she warn him about something if she was doing it herself, especially something like that which helps her blend in?

Fear and suspicion are hardly rational, especially for a nervous person who is very much a fish out of water.

"That's... pretty impressive," Batu says uncertainly. "So what do you look like underneath the skin-suit?"

[Earl of Purple]

Westside Park

"Did you ever do any hunting? Because if you've ever skinned a rabbit or something, you have a good idea of what I look like. Only, human, not rabbit." Slightly more elastic, but she was flayed by her sire; it's part of how she became a Skin-Stealer Vampire.

[Shadowcaller]

Great! Is Trog's good?
The drowess questions, smiling.
Which is probably slightly creepy, as a couple flecks of red blood dot the left of invidia's face unbeknownst to her.

I was just enjoying the way they discuss things! Plus, I have a horrible memory, so you may have to touch upon some parts of Obriane's condition.

Sticks can be assumed to follow, unless the lord Ryhe does something untoward while they're rifling through his inexplicable book collection. A compendium of worlds! No doubt ones catalogued by the mysterious Fourth Tower. Now that is a book he may well have been interested in, were Obriane not already on his mind. He could match their findings against his own journal. He often made numerous notes about the worlds to which he traveled before settling from time to time.

Depending upon the size and weight of this tome, Sticks may well be forced to lug it over to the nearest table or other flat surface. He grins, embarrassed, and leans over the weighty volume so he might learn it's secrets.

"A fey... intertwined with her soul? Why, I'm not sure safe magical practices would have any sort of effect here..." He begins to look somewhat troubled as he goes over the passage.

Fourth Tower Compound

Arty stops.
"Just a moment, Kipp.
Don't call me that, Bigfang. And that isn't what Chadwick told me to get. And given his mental state if he did he'd probably be trying to kill himself, which I wouldn't be encouraging."

[Beneath Malchenar]

Kanya says, panicked to try to get them to stop, "My...My name's Kanya...I came here because I...I thought you could tell me what happened to me...What I am now..." The temperature also begins to slide downwards as she begins to lose control of her emotions, though she's maintaining control. For now.

[Beneath Malchenar]

The guard captain just stares at her for a moment, the others exchanging glances, all weapons ready. "Just... stay here. I'm going to talk to someone." He shoots a glance at the other guards who remains at their positions. If she does what ordered it will take a while until the guard captain returns. "You have been granted an audience to Malechenar, but on one condition. We need to put you under however to make sure you don't accidentally hurt someone until you're under controlled conditions. Eventually, once you learn to control yourself better you will be set free. Is this acceptable?"

Fourth Tower Compound

"You can encourage whatever. Bigfang just did what was told of him, nothing else. So you want it or not?" The gnoll ghost asks. "Otherwise you sell it or something maybe? It is worth lot to right persons."

[Malechenar]

The book goes on about so-called winter fey or "dark fey" or "fae" as they're also called (but with a more complex name). These beings can't unlike their cousins the summer fey (or just "fey") leave the fey spirit realm as they have no physical bodies of their own. Instead they let "fetches", basically golems made of various aspects taken from their victims to go into the mortal realm and gather even more material. They are said to despite the material world but still mimic it and it's aspects in their own world. They love "inviting" mortals into their realms so they can play cruel games with them.
However, it is said that a few of their number still are curious about the mortal realm and hijack newly formed to be born in their stead. These "vessels" as they're called often manifest strange physical aspects and can like the fae rule over lesser spirit beings. However they also lose all memories of their previous cruel lives as they're born and can thus not control their abilities very well. Therefore they're often subjected to spiritual possession as spirits of various kinds as lower spirits use their disoriented state to feed upon their great powers.
"Quite a curious passage wouldn't you agree? These vessels are apparently very rare so you're fortunate in finding one." Ryhe muses. "So what are your plans now, knowing this information? You might have to confirm if you're really dealing with an vessel first."

[Graveyard]

Trog's? Wasn't that place where you got attacked all the time? "Eh, are you sure that's safe? I heard a few bad things about that place, like creatures suddenly showing up and attacking you." Then again, at least it wasn't some cultist bar.

[Southside Apartment]

"No, they have suffered enough. I will release them now, stand back please." The demon raises it's hand and at the same time the merpeople all look at it in horror, not many even realizing what is about to happen before it's too late. "Jezeri Legias zerak." And with those, unless Adele or someone else manages to stop it a pure white light will surround the merpeople and all that will be left of them will be fine dust and the clothes they were wearing. Somehow everything but the merpeople themselves are completely unharmed.

The demon then touches it's head as if giving a sign of respect. "Lazeri ilja." Finally it turns back to Adele. "We will send other mortals for you then."

[Arkhosia]

Graveyard No Longer

fair point. Hmm... The Dancing Fox Inn then?
Invidia suggests.

[Shadowcaller]

Graveyard No Longer

"Never even heard of that place, but if it's safer than trog's then sure." She pauses, suddenly remembering something. "But it's... not associated with the Lotus district right? Not that I have anything against it, I'm uh, just curious."