Planeside

[Recaiden]

[Yggdrasil]

You know Arlen, the squirrel is probably naked as well. Rodents are not known for their use of clothing.

"How long have your worlds been linked?"

For her own part, Cleo admires the squirrel from way over here.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Inside]

Helen nods as she follows and says, "Yeah...It is quite odd, isn't it. Still...There's something pretty about it. Like a mirror."

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Inside]

Frederick nods in agreement

And all black and white...

But they come upon the gate, and a clearly werefox guard stops them

Hold on, there. You're material folk... where're you headed?

Frederick smiles

Orochi's palace!

the guard nods

Ok, then. You shadow-soul folk get about sixteen hours in the wild which is more than enough, so step right along. But keep to the road and remember: for folk native to the material realm, the shadows are a place of black and silver. If you start to see color at all, you've lingered too long. And here's a hint: the flowers along the road are really bright purple to those of us from here - you'll likely notice them first.

Frederick looks in incredulous amazement at the charcoal grey flowers

thanks...

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow-Inside

Steven bows to the guard and turns to Frederick.
"Sounds like we'll be fine, but can you get us back, just in case?" he asks.

[Cyber Punk]

[Yggdrasil]

Fixer smiles slightly. "Of course, ladies. I'm The Fixer because I fix problems. Not mundane problems, but practical problems." He bows to Korisfa as he says this.

"What is it you do here, Korsifa? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

[Holy-hunter]

Yggdrasil

"Ratatosk" Arlen repeats the word through smiling lips as he follows behind Blodou's lead. He had approached many stray animals before, enough to know caution was necessary and to read for signs.

"My ma taught me never to call a man by what he does, everyone has a name." Arlen calls back, adding his two cents to the conversation, his wide eyes never leaving the squirrel creature before him as he waits for the 'ok' to pat it then readily does.

"So how big do these Ratatosk's get? What's its name? How olds this one? How long have you had him?"

There appears to be no filter between Arlen's curios thoughts and his ever smiling warm lips.

[Ionbound]

Shadow-Inside

Helen bows as well and, not particularly caring about the effects of the shadow plane, figuring even if she does here it won't change her life too much, says, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

[Earl of Purple]

Yggdrasil

"About sixty years. And I do whatever I want, in Yggdrasil or Phelamm." Korisfa, like all four dryads (and the others elsewhere in the tree) are walking, sentient, cross-planar links. They don't need the same things as mortals, so don't need jobs, though sometimes they'll get gifts for access to Yggdrasil.

"He's fully grown. His name is [perfectly-replicated giant squirrel noises]. He's about forty- time doesn't mean the same thing to animals as it does humanoids. He's served me for about twenty years." She turns to Cleo. "I don't know. Older than the other three, I know that much. At least two hundred."

Yteved is the last person to answer Cleosepha's question. "I'm ten. Only young, I know, but not as young as Veggmaleri."

[Cyber Punk]

Yggdrasil

"Oh, I see." Fixer replies. "And where might Phelamm be?" Fixer wonders aloud. "And what are those regular shaped... things?" He points to the regular shapes in the distance.

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Inside]

Frederick nods

Let's go!

And so off through the gates and out onto the highway: and the difference can be felt. Rather like stepping from a nice heated building out into a crisp winter day, even here on the highway the feel of the wilds is very different.

This close to the city, the road is quite busy with creatures of all descriptions heading about their business, and there are even a few members of Team Nightmare to be seen heading out on their missions. But aside from the slight change in variety of fellow travelers, there is little enough to see in the fields around, and Frederick hmphs.

Ugh, it's like walking to Riverside on market day.

[Deathkeeper]

shadow inside

Steven laughs. "Really? I've always known Riverside to be very different from Inside in looks and atmosphere." he says idly.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Inside]

Helen shrugs and says, "What were you expecting? A mirror doesn't exactly show anything if there's nothing there to begin with."

[Holy-hunter]

Yggdrasil
Arlen laughs at the expert squirrel sounds and tries to copy them as he pats the creature.

He lets the others talk as he carefully listens to the conversation trying to make sense of it all.

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Inside]

Frederick grumbles

They keep rambling about the wilds... I thought it would be more interesting.

Freddie rolled a natural 1 on his wisdom check, it would appear. Moving along, the group moves along. A few junctions with other roads thin the crowd down somewhat, and the highway passes through rolling fields analogous to Steven's own home terrirory.

I wonder what they grow here?

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow inside

Steven chuckles at the question.
"If I had to guess, I'd say something surprisingly similar or moderately scary." he jokes.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Inside]

Helen shrugs and says, "Well, I mean, probably some kind of rice. That's what people seem to grow around here."

[Recaiden]

[Yggdrasil]

Cleo nods, recording that the one of them is very old, so old to have stopped counting the time.
"Are there ever connections like you have between two worlds, I mean, where none of the worlds are Yggdrasil?"

The squirrel creature is cute, she admits, even if it's strange to see such a large rodent.

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Inside]

Frederick laughs

Shadow rice, now with even less color than before. And shadow corn, just in case you thought the old kind had too much flavor! Maybe they have a shadow chicken or two to chase!

This gains quite a few glares from fellow travelers, and Frederick folds his ears down

Just kidding...

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow-Inside

Steven smiles and puts an arm around Frederick's shoulder, waving off the people's glares.
"Best not try your luck. Don't want to mistake a shadow Cucco for a normal one." he says quietly with a chuckle.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Inside]

Helen laughs as well as she says, grinning, "Indeed. That would be quite something, wouldn't it. Hmm...Maybe a shadow Cow to round out the barnyard."

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Highway]

Frederick laughs along, and things progress smoothly.

Further yet from the city, Freddie gets his wish as things finally start taking a turn for the weird: trees are twisted and strange, now. Odd birds fly through the sky, and the vague hints of creatures only barely seen from the corner of the eye flit outside the edges of the highway. A growing sense of danger is difficult to shake as the trio finds themselves alone: the nearest patrolling guard is little more than a speck in the distance.

Er... what was I complaining about, again?

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow- Highway

Steven shakes his head at the growing strangeness of their environment.
"It's not going to be like this for the next two hours, is it? It'd be awfully stressful. The place isn't the most welcoming." he says. No cheery shadow cows here.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Highway]

Helen glances around and says, "Mmhmm. It's certainly gotten weirder...That said, I don't think anything would be stupid enough to attack us. We should just enjoy the scenery."

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Highway]

I'd hope that only the middle bit between the two places is really wild.

Frederick peers at what seems to be a squirrel, but which unexpectedly bares nasty fangs and hisses before scurrying away. He starts in surprise, then nods to Helen's comment.

And anyway we do sort of belong here - they can't drain us and they know it, so I would imagine that we're not really all that likely to get bothered by anything.

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow Highway

Steven sighs and starts spinning his walking stick in his hand.
"I guess so. They could use to be a touch less hostile about it, though." he grumbles.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Highway]

Helen shrugs and says, "They're just wild animals. They're probably more scared of us that we are of them. Don't worry about it."

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Highway]

Frederick looks ever so briefly askance at Helen.

But it's far too late.

There's more than wild animals in the shadows: many things haunt the eternal twilight, and no few of them are unfriendly. A trio of Orochi's children - whether adopted or in-law - is not about to be missed by those who don't care for the eight headed dragon king.

A silvery arrow whistles from the darkness and sticks into Frederick's right foot

YIP!

[Deathkeeper]

Shadow-Highway

Steven reacts immediately, throwing up his arms and raising a big thick wall of shadows for them.
"Hey Helen, you have anything good at violence? Because I'm not really good at that for anything out of arm's reach." he says sheepishly, motioning Frederick over so he can deal with the arrow.

[Ionbound]

[Shadow-Highway]

Helen blinks as Frederick is shot, then growls and says, "Oh yes...They're going to regret that." And with that, a vengeful tentacle of shadow lashes out into the darkness, trying to catch one of the archers, pull him close, and crush him.

[Fenric]

[Shadow-Highway]

Brilliant green energy resists Helen's tentacle with a shower of lightning and sparks, and two samurai in jade-green warring states period Chinese armor charge: one with a katana, one with a naginata. Meanwhile, another arrow embeds itself in the shadowy wall that Steven conjured and the archer yells out - "Slay the islanders - those foolish deluded spawn of the demon, descendants of cowards and peasants with no dignity! For the glory of the eternal throne!"

Frederick stops regardless of the arrow in his foot, and looks utterly baffled.

What the hell? The Jade Emperor is attacking us?!