Random Plots and Places 9: What a crazy, random happenstance!

[happyturtle]

Spoiler: Previously...

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Spoiler: Quotes

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A Shadowplane in the Countryside

"It is dark, I will be at comfort, and therefore despise it. We should not tarry within overlong. We will find your boy, or everything will end as we try. Why do people say these things? They are not a comfort, merely unfortunate facts." The Mother follows Wes through, continuing to make sounds in the back of her throat that seem like aborted words, false starts to more phrases as she tries to rein in her sanity and focus on the task.

"Young man, take a picture of the footprints. We will need to compare it exactly to any others we find. We can't trust anything to be as it seems, if we find ones that are close to the same shape they could be false trails. Need to be exact."

A Shadowplane in the Countryside

Needs bats the hairball aside in irritation, before following along with the others. Damned thing, it should've ceased to exist in any sort of meaningful way, not popped back up to irk him again!

Spoiler

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A Little Boy's Grief

Wesley will find his skin on fire the moment he steps into the new plane. The others will see it turn grey and crack before slowly being peeled away in agony as he screams...

Okay, not really.

In fact, nothing happens to him. He doesn't even change with the lighting. Despite the darkness and gloom, he still appears as colorful as when he was in the sunlight or kitchen. The grief of the plane doesn't seem to be able to touch him in the least and the same go for the others as they step through. If they turn around, they'll see an endless plane behind them with a door shaped hole in reality, Virgil standing just on the other side looking slightly worried. "Good luck, and please...take care." He pleads.

A Little Boy's Grief

Relieved not to be on fire, Wes obeys The Mother to take photos of the footprints, then when he sees the hole in reality, he snaps a picture of that too. Then, while he has the VerySmartPhone out, he takes a panorama shot. This will probably get his companions, unless they stop him. "I guess we should follow the footprints?"

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain coughs a few times, adjusting to the lack of atmosphere, and shakes her head, muttering, "Damn that warlock...Urgh...Now I know why so many devils hate me..Banishment hurts.." She then takes stock of her surroundings, and says, "So this is what hell is like. Huh. Pretty barren. No pits full of sinners around." She shrugs and flies off in a random-ish direction as she continues, "There are worse places to be stuck for 23 hours and...47 minutes."

[Slii Arhem]

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A Little Boy's Grief

Wesley will find his skin on fire the moment he steps into the new plane. The others will see it turn grey and crack before slowly being peeled away in agony as he screams...

Okay, not really.

In fact, nothing happens to him. He doesn't even change with the lighting. Despite the darkness and gloom, he still appears as colorful as when he was in the sunlight or kitchen. The grief of the plane doesn't seem to be able to touch him in the least and the same go for the others as they step through. If they turn around, they'll see an endless plane behind them with a door shaped hole in reality, Virgil standing just on the other side looking slightly worried. "Good luck, and please...take care." He pleads.

Spoiler: Previously...

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A Little Boy's Grief

Relieved not to be on fire, Wes obeys The Mother to take photos of the footprints, then when he sees the hole in reality, he snaps a picture of that too. Then, while he has the VerySmartPhone out, he takes a panorama shot. This will probably get his companions, unless they stop him. "I guess we should follow the footprints?"

A Little Boy's Grief

"We see here, but here we are not. It does not touch us, though we may step on its soil. Your idea has merit, follow the footsteps, see if they become more. If they change, or multiply, or twist then we will know something." Her ragged patchwork cloaks and shawls are once more hauled over her exposed skin, fearful of what will happen if the boy comes out of his grief and they are left out in the sunlit, outside world.

[ThePhantom]

Mirror, mirror -Card

Well, don't quite have the full picture here, but might as well be ready. Card takes out the magic absorbing wool sword he got at Trog's and has it at the ready, more for a spell than for a blow. After all, without magic, its as soft as wool. He can take a hit or two after all.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Mirror, Mirror

Well, based on Card's reflection, it seems that Darsy's knocking wasn't heard. Whether that's because he couldn't hear or he just wasn't paying attention is unclear. She does notice that he seems to be looking down the hall as if he heard the footsteps as well. That might have some importance.

However, Darsy doesn't have time to think about that now, as two figures come into the hall. Darsy shows some surprise at the fact that it's two of her companions. Including Card, who was in the mirror.

Wait.

Something isn't right hete.

Darsy keeps her fists lit up and watches both of them, cautious for now. Just like the body she found, something was off about these two.

[Lord Magtok]

A Little Boy's Grief

"This land is plagued by a darkness. Try not to die horrifically,"

Needs attempts to darken his fur, dampening his color and general appearance to better blend into the world around them. It's not an exact match, but it's a little bit better than those two horrible lighthouses of color and warmth standing next to him. Wes's phone does manage to photograph Needs (not so sure about the Mother lady), but in his more traditional form. An orange-robed man crawling on all fours is what will appear when the picture is closely examined.

[UncleWolf]

A Little Boy's Grief

The footprints are those of a young boy's, and when they look closer they'll see a pair of thin lines, as if he was dragging something with him like a wheeled backpack or something else that's similar. There's also a small piece of chewing gum foil crumpled up and left on the ground. However this all came to be, the boy took time to prepare himself for a journey. The footsteps seem to head to the rocks, though what they find once they get there is unknown.

The air is completely still for the most part except for the slight breeze of air moving through the doorway, revealing that if nothing else is too weird, the air pressure is different.

Should anyone look back once more, they'll see Vigil close the actual door, leaving just a doorway standing in the middle of the plane.

[happyturtle]

A Boy's Grief

Wes won't notice the picture of Needs until he looks back at the pictures. For now, he puts the phone back in his pocket and carries on walking. On to the rocks.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

Certain coughs a few times, adjusting to the lack of atmosphere, and shakes her head, muttering, "Damn that warlock...Urgh...Now I know why so many devils hate me..Banishment hurts.." She then takes stock of her surroundings, and says, "So this is what hell is like. Huh. Pretty barren. No pits full of sinners around." She shrugs and flies off in a random-ish direction as she continues, "There are worse places to be stuck for 23 hours and...47 minutes."

[Hell?]

The core is a lot more impressive, but we aren't going to go there today. The master wishes to see you now that you're here. The whisper demon says. Who though you would be banished by a simple mortal, the master won't like such a bold move against our kin. Not at all...

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain mentally grumbles, Not a whole lot you can do when the metaphysical equivalent of a house is dropped on your head when you're not expecting it...Look at what happened to that wicked witch. In any event, I look forwards to meeting the person I'm working for. Where is he?

[Slii Arhem]

Spoiler: Quotes

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A Little Boy's Grief

"This land is plagued by a darkness. Try not to die horrifically,"

Needs attempts to darken his fur, dampening his color and general appearance to better blend into the world around them. It's not an exact match, but it's a little bit better than those two horrible lighthouses of color and warmth standing next to him. Wes's phone does manage to photograph Needs (not so sure about the Mother lady), but in his more traditional form. An orange-robed man crawling on all fours is what will appear when the picture is closely examined.

A Little Boy's Grief

The footprints are those of a young boy's, and when they look closer they'll see a pair of thin lines, as if he was dragging something with him like a wheeled backpack or something else that's similar. There's also a small piece of chewing gum foil crumpled up and left on the ground. However this all came to be, the boy took time to prepare himself for a journey. The footsteps seem to head to the rocks, though what they find once they get there is unknown.

The air is completely still for the most part except for the slight breeze of air moving through the doorway, revealing that if nothing else is too weird, the air pressure is different.

Should anyone look back once more, they'll see Vigil close the actual door, leaving just a doorway standing in the middle of the plane.

A Boy's Grief

Wes won't notice the picture of Needs until he looks back at the pictures. For now, he puts the phone back in his pocket and carries on walking. On to the rocks.

A Boy's Grief

Though normally, The Mother would be invisible to cameras with their complicated systems of mirrors, the backpacks are not, and will hover in the air in Wes' photo. She does not notice or care, simply keeping her sharp eyes wide and sniffing loudly for any scent but their own that is not coming in on the outside wind.

"Thin air here, Are we high in his sorrow? Must go to the deepest depths of it, look for slopes." She takes a rubber bouncing ball from her pocket and drops it against a rock, looking to see which way it rolls or bounces. Why she had one is for her to know, though she watches it keenly, not wanting to lose it.

[5a Violista]

[Mirror, Mirror]
Card

The magic-casting shadowman finishes his spell, and black shadows fire at Card and his sword (which I honestly completely forgot about, but that's alright...). Since I remember what the magic will do when it hits the sword, I'll just say it now. The magic is absorbed into the wool, tinging the sword black. The magic doesn't affect Card, and the shadowman magician begins casting again with the darkness swarming around him.

Meanwhile, the second shadowman - the one who was running down the hallway - he trips and curses. Or something like that. It was rather strange, actually, but it's probably best described as a trip. After all, he couldn't have run into anything, since there was nothing there, right?


Darsy

The Card-a-like nears Darsy and leaps at her, arms outstretched. It seems like he's trying to grab her in a tackle, so they'll be forced to brawl on the ground. There's an angry glint in his facial expressions.

Meanwhile, the Xanthos casts the spell. Fire and tentacles leap from his hand down the hallway. For some reason, though, they completely miss Darsy (it seems he has bad aim?) and then the magic suddenly vanishes as if it hit a brick wall. Something's definitely strange, and I don't know what.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

He is waiting for you at the tower of tears, just over the hill to your left. If Certain choose to follow the demons words and move over the hill she will see this sight. Beautiful isn't it? Once this was the only world we knew.

She can also see what appears to be an outline of an tower with the top shaped as a cupola on the top of a tall cliff. Guess she needs to go there.

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain, a little surprised, laughs and says, "So Hell is on the moon. A fascinating insight," as she glides over towards the tower where she was directed to go.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Mirror, Mirror

Darsy sees not-Card moving towards her and keeps her attention on him for now. She bounces on her feet a bit, and right when he leaps at her, Darsy twists to the side and brings her knee up to his midsection. For good measure, she also lights her knee up with the same energy as she currently has on her hands.

If that connects, she'll take a brief moment to check on not-Xanthos. He makes a magic attack, but not only is it nowhere near hitting her, it also seems to get blocked by something else. Odd. She was gonna have to keep an eye on him. At least a little.

[ThePhantom]

Mirror, mirror- Card

Card sees that one of the two shadows is distracted with something, so he advances on the shadowy figure that tried using magic on him, wool sword now capable of being used as a sword, in hand, ready to block another spell. Take out the spell caster first, that a good tactic for battles.

He can worry about Darsy in the mirrors later.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

"Where else would it be?" The demon inquires as Certain starts to ascend towards the tower. Here she will see larger shades standing guard at the tower door, they move away as Certain approaches however. She might note that every demon she has seen so far are shrouded in darkness, like shadows of their true selves.
This close Certain can see that the entire tower has figures carved into it, they're all humanoids that are either hiding their faces with both hands or with hollow eyes and mouths wide open, screaming in terror.
The giant doors have two giant monstrous figure carved into them, grinning at the misery around them as they stand guard with pitchforks in their hands. They open up before her, seemingly automatically, releasing a small cloud of black smoke which seem to grow and take shape before Certain until it's nearly as large as the huge doorway itself. Like the other demons it's but a shade, even if it's by far larger than any other being here. Yet it feels different from the others, six glowing orbs marking what appears to be eyes, revealing an astonishing power.
"So chance has finally brought or paths together Certain. I am Baelron, the one that has been directing you so far."

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain nods to the demon lord, her demon lord even, and says, "Well. A pleasure to meet you. I assume you're behind the series of event that lead to my current form?"

[Lord Magtok]

A Boy's Grief

Spoiler: Quotes

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A Boy's Grief

Though normally, The Mother would be invisible to cameras with their complicated systems of mirrors, the backpacks are not, and will hover in the air in Wes' photo. She does not notice or care, simply keeping her sharp eyes wide and sniffing loudly for any scent but their own that is not coming in on the outside wind.

"Thin air here, Are we high in his sorrow? Must go to the deepest depths of it, look for slopes." She takes a rubber bouncing ball from her pocket and drops it against a rock, looking to see which way it rolls or bounces. Why she had one is for her to know, though she watches it keenly, not wanting to lose it.

A Boy's Grief

Wes won't notice the picture of Needs until he looks back at the pictures. For now, he puts the phone back in his pocket and carries on walking. On to the rocks.

A Little Boy's Grief

The footprints are those of a young boy's, and when they look closer they'll see a pair of thin lines, as if he was dragging something with him like a wheeled backpack or something else that's similar. There's also a small piece of chewing gum foil crumpled up and left on the ground. However this all came to be, the boy took time to prepare himself for a journey. The footsteps seem to head to the rocks, though what they find once they get there is unknown.

The air is completely still for the most part except for the slight breeze of air moving through the doorway, revealing that if nothing else is too weird, the air pressure is different.

Should anyone look back once more, they'll see Vigil close the actual door, leaving just a doorway standing in the middle of the plane.

Needs takes the chewing gum foil and swallows it. If nothing else, vampire lady might be able to trace the child by scent, and having it locked away in the cargo space where the cat's stomach should be means they won't have to backtrack for it later, if she should admit to such an ability.

[Felandria]

The Middle Of A Park

There is a thump, and there is a smoking crater near a small pond.

Felandria slowly drags herself out of the crater, she is wearing a toga and laurel.

nnnnnghhhh.

And she collapses, unconscious.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

Certain nods to the demon lord, her demon lord even, and says, "Well. A pleasure to meet you. I assume you're behind the series of event that lead to my current form?"

[Hell]

The shade chuckles darkly and seems to shrug. "A grand design, no? You should see it as a welcoming gift." He shade bends down as if to get a closer look at her. "You are now a member of a very exclusive group and the very first of our kin within the nexus. This comes with both benefits and responsibilities. You're like the first demon lord Azel in a way, he too was powerful but there is always someone even more powerful. Alone we fall as you just experienced but together we can be unstoppable. This is why I told you to recruit allies Certain. Fellow demons who can help you fight your adversaries. But there is going to take more than just allies, you will need to organize perhaps even make a base for yourself such as this one." Baelron gestures at the shade-filled landscape. "Where your enemies can't follow you."

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain nods and says, "Well. I have been trying to do that. I don't know why that warlock was hunting me...She just showed up. In any event, I have something planned. Don't worry about it."

[5a Violista]

Mirror, Mirror
Darsy

The not-Card gets hit painfully before silently collapsing on the ground. I imagine the regular Card would be more durable than this guy, actually. However, he's not completely down yet. and then turns his head to the side, as if distracted by something. This leaves him completely open, I imagine.

Down the hallway, the not-Xanthos casts the spell but the spell is interrupted much sooner. Since Card is now further down the hallway, Darsy will be able to see that (in the mirrors), it's Card fighting the not-Xanthos, and he blocked the spell with a wooly sword.

Anyway, the not-Xanthos shouted something but (obviously) no sound comes out of his mouth still.

Also, there's one more pair of footsteps coming down the hallway, from the same direction. Who knows what it is this time?



Card

Since Card ran so far forward, he'll be able to spot several mirrors on the walls that don't have a frozen image of Darsy in them. It's pretty neat, if you ask me.

The shadow magic-using shadowman casts its second blast of shadows, and they get absorbed by the sword again. He backs up a step so he can continue casting magic. He shouts something in a panicked voice at the other one, but the melee shadowman just grunts in pain as a response.

For some reason or other, the melee shadowman didn't follow Card down the hallway. Also, for some reason, a frozen mirror image of Darsy suddenly appears in a few more of the mirrors around Card. Because of positioning, Card will only be able to see her in these ones if he turns around back towards the melee shadowman, but he'll be able to see her in combat positions in roughly the same area where the shadowman is. (He won't be able to see the not-Card, though; just the shadowman in the reflection).

Either way, Card definitely has time to counterattack right now.

[Deathkeeper]

Library of Grimoires

The Grand Library of Grimoires was once a grand complex, proud in its design and sprawling in its architecture. Well, sprawling it still is, but its air of pride has been replaced with one of foreboding. Its front entrance is mostly one of straight lines, of rectangular steps and triangular awnings being held up by scarred pillars which were white at some point. This facade is the only visible feature, as the rest stretches into the mountain that the building is built into. Surrounding the building is next to nothing, just a few scattered wooden structures that once sheltered workers, but now stand empty. Some animals have settled into them, but for the most part the entire place is desolate.

The wooden doors of the place are not locked, and swing open easily, although they might seem in oddly good condition. Perhaps not the damaged wood, but the fact that they swing on their hinges perfectly well. Inside is a short hallway lined with worn paintings of old wizards, leading to another door, likely to the main foyer...

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

Certain nods and says, "Well. I have been trying to do that. I don't know why that warlock was hunting me...She just showed up. In any event, I have something planned. Don't worry about it."

[Hell]

"What are your plans exactly? The nexus is new territory for us and right now we lack Intel, you and your head pet are our only eyes and ears in there." Baelron replies.

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain nods again and replies, "Well, a theater is opening soon. I converted the owner to our cause, and planned to do the same with the actors and visitors on opening night...That's when that warlock entered."

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

"So now you need help dealing with this warlock? Why is it chasing you in the first place? Does it have to do with the other warlock you killed?" The shade asks.

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain shrugs and replies, "Help would be appreciated, yes. But I haven't the slightest clue why she's after me. Maybe it had something to do with the other warlock, but I can't imagine how she found out it was me."

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell]

"I understand, an unexpected foe, nothing to be ashamed off. You should consider what you did wrong as you lost however, one benefit of having such long hard-to-take life is that you can attempt to learn from your mistakes. So why don't you tell me all you know about this warlock and perhaps we can find out how to bring it down, together." Baelron says good-heartily.

[Ionbound]

[Hell]

Certain nods, and says, "Well, she was a tiefling warlock. She has this weird trunk-like thing that I think she called the luggage or something. If I had to guess, I'd call it some variety of mimic because the damn thing nearly bit my leg off, but it's bigger than anything I've ever seen before. Otherwise, she seemed to be physically weak but cunning and magically powerful. I managed to counter her magic and hold her up against a wall while I tried to convert her, but she has wards over her soul, and managed to literally blast me out of the plane before I was successful."