Random Plots and Places 10: Results may not be between 1 and 10

[Ionbound]

Hydra's Boutique

Gwen snorts as her tail lashes around in an annoyed manner as she says, "Easy for youuuuu tooooo say. Youuuuuu weren't forcibly turned intoooooo a minotaur and stripped nearly naked in public."

[Deathkeeper]

Hydra's Boutique

Krayger crosses his arms.
"No, I was just naturally born one and spent twenty-four years being banned from towns and mildly civilized places because of it until I finally ended up somewhere nice enough to actually let me settle down and get a stable job without people worrying about my horns. Forgive me for thinking that I had it bad compared to you being made a member of my species and having three people you'll never actually meet get a quick look at your chest, which is covered in hair anyway." he says irritably, his own tail flicking. Her whining is getting annoying, and the mooing is not helping.

[Rebonack]

[Hydra's Boutique]

"Alright, here we go!" Hydra calls out as she walks out of the back room with her several bolts of cloth on her arms and several more being constricted by her necks. She sets out the cloth on the counter and gestures for Gwen to take a look. "I think all of these would look just wonderful on you, but I wanted your personal choice. Which one do you like the most?"

It's quite the selection of fabrics, that's for sure.

Which color would Gwen like?

We'll just assume whatever color she names is one of the colors on the table.

Makes things easier that way.

[Ionbound]

[Hydra's Boutique]

Gwen opens her mouth to deliver what would be an indubitably scathing reply to Krayger, but when Hydra reenters the room, she decides to ignore the other minotaur and simply look at the selection of fabrics.

She looks at the selection before eventually deciding, "Well...I think the purple one looks nice," as she gestures to a Tyrian Purple bolt of cloth.

[Rebonack]

[Hydra's Boutique]

"What a wonderful choice! That one's my favorite too!" Hydra replies cheerfully. "Now you give me just a moment and I'll have something ready for you in no time!"

And then?

She scurries into the back room again with the bolt of cloth in tow.

[Deathkeeper]

Hydra's Boutique

Krayger watches the reptile-lady go scurrying off.
"So...how long do you think it'll take for her to make something?" he asks awkwardly.

[Ionbound]

Hydra's Boutique

Gwen shrugs and says, "I dunno. However long it takes her I guess. I'm not sure how long it takes to make clothing from cloth."

[Rebonack]

[Hydra's Boutique]

"With a magical loom not long at all!" Hydra says as she returns, outfit in hand. She offers the rather stunning dress to Gwen. "There you go, little lady. I don't do this very often, but I can tell you've had a pretty rotten day. So consider this a gift. And don't ever say that a child of Echidna never did anything nice for you!"

Wow...

Considering how expertly fashioned that dress is, that's quite the prize!

[Deathkeeper]

Hydra's Boutique

Krayger will wave Gwen over to a changing room.
"Go on. I assume you want to change in private." he says politely, though without anything being worn right now "change" isn't really the right term, now is it?

[Ionbound]

Hydra's Boutique

Gwen blinks as she receives the beautiful dress and says, "Wow...This is amazing...Can I come back and get it tailored once I change back?" before nodding to Krayger and stepping into the changing room.

When she comes out, she's wearing the beautiful dress, which no doubt fits her perfectly, and says, "Okay...I wanna go home now...Can you help me?" She's clearly been exhausted by the ordeal.

[Deathkeeper]

Streets of Inside

Krayger smiles. "Maybe I'll be back to get something myself sometime. Thank you, miss." he says to Hydra, before leading the young lady back to her home. He does so quietly and politely despite his previous irritation, and will leave her when they get there just as politely.

[Murkus]

[Ssut - Palace Courtyard]

If the spirits didn't react to Sticks voice, they probably wouldn't react to her reply either. Still, she holds her hand close to the totem to somewhat block his and her voice. "We are the courtyard. There are spirits here. Trying to sneak past." Zareen can at least slither stealthily, a slight advantage to feet and shoes that usually made sounds when they walked.

[Ssut - Palace Courtyard]

"Quietly." Vax says, barely a whisper. It'd be a wonder if Sticks heard. Zareen should get the message, though. These beings can look as alive and nonthreatening as they like, she doesn't trust it for a second. Hopefully they can keep moving past without the beings being alerted. If that hasn't happened already.

"Oh, oh dear," Sticks says, voice falling to a whisper. He clams up for the moment, breaking the silence only to add, "Try not to make eye contact with them!" He fears, even with whatever precautions their using, that they've been spotted already.

The creatures in the courtyard don't break their quiet reverie. They seem content to ignore Vax, Zareen, and their two guards. But at their backs, one at a time, spirits break off from the herd. The husky creatures drift into the hallway in utter silence, eyes wide and staring, faces blank. They move slowly after the party, starting to slide rather than walk, seeming to have given up all pretense of pretending.

Vax and Zareen will reach the far end of the courtyard without incident. Provided they do not turn back. If they did, they'd find the group following them has swelled to nearly thirty, filing together with their gazes locked on the backs of the living. And they'd find still worse things moments after, of that one can be sure.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ssut - Palace Courtyard]

Obeying Stick's words, Zareen looks right forward. Never turning back.
Her body has to rock back and forth as she moves which makes a relatively loud slithering sound (as in compared to a snake) as her scales rubs against the ground, but it shouldn't be much louder than someone walking. While she is tempted to glance back, she has dealt with spirits enough to resist that temptation. So she looks straight ahead.
"Vax, keeps your eyes on me, guys, keep your eyes on Vax's behind. Neither should be too hard." Zareen says jokingly to the others without turning around. Someone had to lighten up the situation, would make them less likely to think of what was following them and look back.

[Gullara]

[Ssut - Palace Courtyard]

Vax represses the urge to pick up their pace, and doubly so the urge to look back. Vax was never particularly inclined to fear, but these spirits do make her... nervous. Even so, she smiles at her love and reaches out a hand to lightly brush her arm. Zareen is ever lighthearted. Even among dangers such as these.

Their guards are well disciplined, and neither of the two women are looking back, so they make it across without incident. So far, at least. "Let's not linger long." She says in a low voice. It's best if they keep moving.

[Darkcomet]

[Evolution Industries Class 3 Array Facility - Some Time In The Future]

A facility that began construction immediately after the destruction of the Class 4 Installation in an attempt to destroy an eldritch abomination, the Class 3 Array consists of several Evolution Industries Class 3 MACE installations akin to that in Riverside, linked together to provide huge amounts of power for EI’s customers. While the Class 3s themselves are complete, construction of the Beamer Portal Network remains in progress, though its completion is no real obstacle to EI. The tech, after all, has already been tried and tested.

But off the record, far from the prying eyes of most of his employees and any scrutiny, built beneath the base is DC's new secret lab, the project having drawn resources from the rest of the facility and delayed its completion. It is quite expansive compared to his older labs, with far heavier-duty equipment including, but by no means limited to, extremely high-powered cutting lasers that draw power directly from the power installations above, linked to them by micro-portal projectors much like the beamer facilities themselves. These allow working with far tougher materials much more easily compared to the older labs.

DC pulled up his visor and looked at the scans on the material recovered from GLoG. They picked up a lot of...oddities, to say the least, but the scanners didn't seem to know what to make of them. But they were not the only things there. Oh, no. He could sense exactly what they meant, as surely as you or I could read this description.

"...Heh.

Heheheh.

A change of plans is in order."

[Earl of Purple]

Deserted Caverns of Kilambesu

Eight months ago, these caverns were the base of operations for a group of interdimensional scavengers, thieves and smugglers. Six months ago, five necromancers moved in, slaughtering the former occupants and reanimating their corpses. Five months ago, a group of adventurers slew half the necromancers and drove the rest away, though were too badly injured to properly explore the caverns.

Nobody has been near the place since, according to whatever research Jace has performed. The cavern's main entrance is a narrow, vertical crack in a granite cliff, sealed with slabs of concrete and a heavy metal door on serious-looking hinges; presently, the door is wide open.

[Deathkeeper]

Desert Caverns

Jace smiles as they approach the cavern. He's dressed professionally for once, in thick jeans and a shirt, heavy boots and leather bracers and gloves, all under his trademark long blue cloak. Zebes is wearing his breastplate as he so rarely does.

"Okay, so in theory this place is abandoned. In practice, there's no way it is, so we'll likely have to mop up a few old minions and projects that were left behind. Stay behind me, just in case. It's not to late to back out." says the sorcerer to the harpy with a smirk.

[UncleWolf]

Desert Caverns

Veronica is dressed a little more than usual, having chosen a light khaki vest covered in pockets and shorts made of similar make. She's barefoot, as usual, but her talons have been recently sharpened. She appears to be a little nervous, fidgeting with her hover-cam to keep herself distracted. "Hm? Oh! Right, sorry. Just give me a moment." She says, embarrassed as she activates her camera and puts a lens over her right eye. She reaches up and taps a button to activate it, causing a small red dot to appear next to the hover-cam's lens. When the Harpy turns her head the camera turns with it and she smiles before attaching a small microphone onto her collar. "Ready." She says with a grin.

[Deathkeeper]

Desert

Jace wants to smile, as he finds the whole thing rather cute, but he has to frown instead.
"You sure you want to record this? These were necromancers. Things might get nasty." he says to her.

[UncleWolf]

Desert Caverns

"It's not just recording." Veronica admits, reaching up to tap on her eye-lens. "This is a direct feed into the camera. It has several different vision modes, including night vision. My own eyes are terrible in the dark, so that helps. Plus I can send it ahead to scout with the command microphone." She explains.

[Deathkeeper]

Desert Caves

"Well, I doubt your eyes are any worse than a human in that respect." chirps Zebes from Jace's shoulder.
Jace shrugs. "It is a sad fact of life." he says, tugging at the goggles hanging around his neck. "Though I was planning on just summoning a light for us if we needed it. Just say the word if you need anything." he says as he walks to and hopefully through the entrance.

[Earl of Purple]

DesertED Caverns Not desert. Silly people.

Through the entrance, the rift is narrow, dark and windy. Stashed just inside the door is a large, tan duffel bag. It's tucked in the corner, out of the way, but still noticeable.

[UncleWolf]

Deserted Caverns

"Actually, they're a little worse." She admits as she walks forward a little bit. When she spies the bag she starts to reach for it before stopping and scratching at the back of her head. "Something wouldn't be trapped this early, would it?" She asks, a little embarrassed that she might have fallen for something so easily. She was supposed to be practical.

[Deathkeeper]

Deserted Caverns

Jace shrugs. "Well, this used to be a thieves' lair, but I don't feel like necromancers would do that sort of thing. Let's see what we're in for." he says, waving her away towards him. Then he'll use magic to open the bag from afar.

[Earl of Purple]

Deserted Cavern

Inside the duffel bag is no trap. Instead, there's four hand-held electric torches with LED lights, plenty of spare batteries, a can opener, eight cans of pineapple slices in juice and eight spoons. It's left over from the scavengers; the necromancers never bothered to find out what was in the bag and the adventurers failed to notice it.

[UncleWolf]

Deserted Caverns

Veronica looks through the bag after it has been opened and frowns as she fumbles with one of the flashlights. After a bit she just sighs and sets it back in the bag. "Curses. Nothing is ever made for just two fingers." She mutters. "If nothing else, we can always just pick this up on the way out. I could always use more pineapple at home." The Harpy admits.

[Deathkeeper]

Deserted Caverns

Jace smiles. "Don't worry, we have something better anyway." He says, touching a hand to the gem on Zebes' breastplate, which shines as bright as any torch, casting a cone of light in a slightly blue-tinted glow. "Yeah, we'll come back for it later. Free food is free food." he says, starting to head deeper into the cave.

[Earl of Purple]

Deserted Caverns

Further on they go! The passage way twists and turns quite a lot, but isn't descending very far. It eventually ends with another bunker-like door in a slab of concrete; this door is also open. Beyond the door is an old military-style bunker, showing signs of neglect and battle. It is lit primarily by eight glass orbs filled with glowing gas; the orbs hang above head-height on steel chains. A ninth orb has fallen and shattered, littering the floor with broken glass. On the right hand side of the room is a trailer canteen surrounded by mismatched tables and chairs. The kitchen's wheels have been removed to reduce the height of the trailer, and there's a stack of propane tanks to power the ovens. Four blue portaloos stand nearby; a fifth has fallen over.

There are four doors leaving this chamber, and a metal shutter like the ones on a garage. To the left is the metal shutter and another, wooden door marked 'Garage & Unloading'. Opposite is a metal door marked 'Down: Barracks. Up: Commander's Chambers'. Another door to the right is labelled 'Survival Systems', and next to it is an unmarked door made from corrugated iron on big, barn-type hinges.

The walls and furniture has been pocked by bullets, and there are blood stains on the floor. Several tables are pushed over facing the garage door, and the area by the canteen has many brass bullet casings, old blood stains and scars from magical blasts. The wall around the garage door and the sheet metal itself have more bullet holes than the other walls, and there's shrapnel from a grenade blast near a small crater as well.

[UncleWolf]

Deserted Caverns

"Looks like it used to be a military bunker of some sort." Veronica says as she looks over the place. She walks carefully around to check and see if the propane tanks were full before heading over to the portaloos and opening their doors one at a time.

[Deathkeeper]

Deserted Caves

Jace nods. "Yeah, a bit out of place, isn't it?" he says, keeping close to Veronica in case something pops out at her.