Outside 42

[Shadowcaller]

A Stone Table

The light seems to fade for a moment as a terrible sound can be heard as the ground around the stone table starts to shake underneath the young man's feet.

Then a middle-aged woman appears, scratching her long black hair. "So who are you? The last person who summoned me like this didn't even finish their quest so you better give me a good offer boyo."

[Deathkeeper]

A Stone Table

The young man panics for a moment, leaning over the circle before the lady appears out of nowhere, and he jumps a solid foot in the air.
"B-b-boyo? I-I'm Walter. Wh-what do you mean offer? I haven't even talked about wanting anything yet!" he stammers, caught completely off guard by her appearance and attitude.

[Shadowcaller]

A Stone Table

The woman sigh and gestures up to the sky. "Okay, fine. What do you want? You don't look very powerful so I guess I could grant you a first thing for free."

[Deathkeeper]

A Stone Table

Walter lets go of the breath he was holding in, but that doesn't help him relax too much. Somehow this spirit-lady seems very intimidating. Are they all so nonchalant?

"Uh, I, uh, well, I h-have trouble talking to people, so I uh, don't really know how to make friends. Or get dates. Or jobs. So uh, I need help with that. Or any of those things, actually. I guess I'd settle for one of them instead of the big one." he stammers out, staring at the ground.

[Nalix]

Greater Littlewood

Phil remains quiet and contemplative. In part he is wondering about what the mayor said about the gods, and the possessive nature he described them with. "Did that mean that he had a god?" Phil wondered to himself. He had studied about the gods in his courses, but didn't think of any of them as "his". It was something he would probably spend some time thinking about now.

He also is rolling over the mayor's words in his head, looking for any hint of adventure or sources of power that he might find useful. He liked the idea of being a court adviser for a ruler, though this mayor seemed to lack the ambition for having much of a political career.

[Cyber Punk]

Greater Littlewood

Hotaru examines the box and notes its state. "I guess I'll just have to wing it, then." She says, as the fingers on her left hand turn into various mini-tools. She passes a small amount of electricity through them and begins to work, making sure to keep a steady supply of electricity supplied to the hands, as it's either that or she gets hungrier.

Hotaru gets to work aligning the glass shards and welding them down, tightening the wires and adjusting the loose paper clips.

[Shadowcaller]

A Stone Table

"You want help from me to be social?" The woman giggles hysterically. "I suppose I could give you a boost of some sort, it's that heart day or whatever it's called now right? It's the perfect chance to be social!" She tilts her head and gives him a curious glance. "So what about being Cupid for a bit huh? Everyone loves Cupid!"

[Deathkeeper]

A Stone Table

Walter sighs. "I don't think I got what I was trying for." he says.

He looks back up at the strange "woman" and considers her offer.
"Uh, I don't really know if he's all that popular or if he just does that for others. But uh, he's got wings in pictures. Wings sound cool. And magic powers are also cool. So uh, sure I guess? I can give it a shot, err, no pun intended?" he says, fumbling a bit for words. He's really not used to that sort of thing being just offered like that.

[Fenric]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

"Storm's coming."
"I'm supposed to give you the unpleasant news, right?"

They start angling downward.

"What are you doing, Seeker?"
"Getting us down to find shelter? Last time this happened, I crashed into the Nexus."
"What's your plan for the cold and the floods?"
"The what?"
"Low temperatures? No heat? Rushing walls of water covering the ground?"
"That's a -that happens?"
"Yes?"
"......this is a terrible world. Why do people live here?"

Archangel looks around. Are there structures, caves, interesting and useful terrain features? Perhaps their destination, just now coming into sight and reachable just before they crash?

Unless that thing is a LOT faster than I imagine it by your descriptions, they're not really all that close quite yet.

But a low mound of well-worn rocks can be seen a small bit northwest. Which is good, because a roiling dark brown cloud is building up to the north and heading their way at substantial speed. Strange horizontal lightning crackles as the tiny sand grain whip around and build up impressive static charges in the dessicated wind while making a decidedly unpleasant and deafening hiss.

The heat becomes more oppressive yet as the updraft starts to get stronger and pulls the baking air off the sand below.

[UncleWolf]

"I would like to cover as much ground as possible before stopping," Endrik said, clipping his helmet to a loop on his belt. He wanted the increased visibility that came without wearing one. "We shall go until we find a good space to rest. I would prefer something more enclosed than a clearing, but if there is nothing else a clearing will have to do. We can keep an eye out for wildlife as we walk."

Degenberg Castle

"Very well, good Master." The Huntress says before pulling her wheel-lock rifle from her back and checks it. "I shall set a firm pace, but one that you can keep up with. Should you need me to take some of your load, merely say so and it shall be done." She promises before setting off. Endrik would likely know that she prefers to run everywhere, but with him in tow it might not be possible.

Desert

Lyn's ears twitch as she looks at both the suarian and the map.
"Oh, you have serpents to draw your wagons? That's interesting." she says. Darn reptile civilizations being weird!
"You understand all this planar travel stuff?" she asks hesitantly.

Desert

Belisarius nods and gestures at the calculations. "Am...scholar." He admits with a sheepish smile. "Good warrior, but prefer this." He explains before standing up and stretching. "We meet General now if you like."

[Recaiden]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

Unless that thing is a LOT faster than I imagine it by your descriptions, they're not really all that close quite yet.

But a low mound of well-worn rocks can be seen a small bit northwest. Which is good, because a roiling dark brown cloud is building up to the north and heading their way at substantial speed. Strange horizontal lightning crackles as the tiny sand grain whip around and build up impressive static charges in the dessicated wind while making a decidedly unpleasant and deafening hiss.

The heat becomes more oppressive yet as the updraft starts to get stronger and pulls the baking air off the sand below.

It can be pretty fast in a dive, but generally no. 30-45mph is the sort of speed we're looking at. This was going to be a long trip even with the aircraft, and it just got longer.

"We'll deal with that when it happens. We're landing over there before we end up in an even worse universe!"
They tip and angle and otherwise swerve through the air to reorient, heading for the south side of the rock-mound.

The passenger doesn't bother trying to talk over the propeller and the storm.
They might manage to land with only mild electrification, and the less conductive landing gear should handle most of that.
Alex doesn't like the looks of those wind-speeds though.

[Enter the Helix Corporation]

Upon noticing the scan, the centaur bolts away from the ship. Nothing good can come from interacting with these beings. Maybe it can be avoided.
She'll just run waaaaay over there and observe them from a distance.

[Earl of Purple]

Greater Littlewood

This mayor has no intention of entering politics again because life as a slaver was much easier.

Fixing it is pretty easy, it's just realigning the glass discs and shards. Don't ask me how that does anything, but there you have it. "There, it's back on line. Microwave dampener fully operational. There's still holes in the shield, but if it's clear for us to evacuate that don't matter."

[Cyber Punk]

Greater Littlewood - Tower

Hotaru sighs in relief. "That was close. I could almost hear a Geiger counter ticking in my head." She gets up and looks at the shield generator with sad eyes.

"That's too bad. It could have been useful. Unless we were to somehow make a new one out of spare parts, I don't see how we can mini-fy this shield gen a bit more." Hotaru caresses the machine and plants a kiss on it. "I'm so sorry, dear." She taps the girl. "Say the word, and we can scrap it for spare parts. When we're leaving, that is." She reverts her hands back to normal.

She turns to Phil and notices his look. "You don't come from a place with technology or gods, do you?" She asks, one eyebrow raised. What a strange one.

[Deathkeeper]

Desert

Belisarius nods and gestures at the calculations. "Am...scholar." He admits with a sheepish smile. "Good warrior, but prefer this." He explains before standing up and stretching. "We meet General now if you like."

Lyn smiles.
"How very respectable. Sure, if you think now would be a good time, lead the way." she says, stepping back so he has room to stand up and take the lead.

[Nalix]

Greater Littlewood

"Actually there are plenty of gods where I come from," says Phil. "I may have even met a few of them that like to mingle unknown among the rest of us. Most of the gods don't interact much with people. I've heard of gods that have worshipers or who have priests, things like that, but they're always from other planes. Gods from and for my world don't have priests or followers and as far as I know they don't provide any kind of afterlife, though some of the death gods might."

Phil glances at the shield generator. "As for technology, I know what it is in theory. In practice I have almost no contact with it. Most of what I know about technology I learned from a goddess I accidentally summoned over a year ago. She even looked human, though guaranteed me that she was from a universe totally different from mine, where magic as I know it doesn't exist. She said that she wasn't even really a goddess at all, not in the way I thought at least. As far as I'm concerned technology is magic that works through the precise combination of elements, particularly lightning, and uses logic much like fate magic does to focus its effects." Programming, to use a word that Phil doesn't know.

"I'm a bit disappointing that this was just a bandit raid after all," he continues. "I was hoping to catch the trail of something a bit more grandiose. Not world shattering, but maybe a revolution or monster mutated with a shard of power." Phil laughs to himself. "But I have no right to complain. I should be happy that all of my spells worked out without causing problems bigger than they were supposed to solve."

[Earl of Purple]

Greater Littlewood

"We don't have any spare parts for it. Otherwise we'd have swapped out the worst of it to repair it. They're based near by, in Sandy Oaks. There's more than this, lots more. We didn't have many defences, so they thought us vulnerable." They were right, as it happens, but only because they'd been careful and waited until the town's own defence forces had just left.

[Cyber Punk]

[Greater Littlewood]

Hotaru blinks as Phil talks. "Oookay then. She was probably from my universe, or a similar one. Magic doesn't exist in my world, for instance."

Hotaru frowns at Phil. "Yes, you have absolutely no right to complain. We get to help these people, doesn't that count for something? Plus, adventure isn't over yet."

"So, honey, I guess that means we're going to Sandy Oaks?" She turns from the girl to the Mayor. "Before we leave for Skyside, how about a few of us infiltrate Sandy Oaks and see what we can bring back."

[Nalix]

Greater Littlewood

"I've got no problem with helping people," said Phil, "otherwise I wouldn't be here. Helping people, even without any apparent benefit to myself is a basic principle of universal power, and I'd be a fool to ignore it."

Phil listens to Hotaru's question to the mayor. "Either of those options makes sense," he says, "though I'm all for learning more before taking on an entire well armed town. And if supplies are what you need, there's a good chance I could conjure something up for you at considerably less risk. In either case, you can consider me at your disposal for the time being."

[Fenric]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

It can be pretty fast in a dive, but generally no. 30-45mph is the sort of speed we're looking at. This was going to be a long trip even with the aircraft, and it just got longer.

"We'll deal with that when it happens. We're landing over there before we end up in an even worse universe!"
They tip and angle and otherwise swerve through the air to reorient, heading for the south side of the rock-mound.

The passenger doesn't bother trying to talk over the propeller and the storm.
They might manage to land with only mild electrification, and the less conductive landing gear should handle most of that.
Alex doesn't like the looks of those wind-speeds though.

And now a distant chugging rumble rather like a steam engine can be heard even over the terrible treble hiss of the sand and the crashes of thunder. Turbulence kicks up as well, now that the front of the storm is racing toward them at prodigious speed: the winds pushing a hundred twenty miles per hour.

[Earl of Purple]

Greater Littlewood

"I'll drive you to the town, if you'd like. But I'll not go with you. I'd just get in the way." Five people against twenty and three walking machines, and all they killed were two people despite having superior weaponry and firing far more rounds of ammunition.

"I have no issue with that, but I'll not order my people to go with you. Take some weapons from our armoury and some ammunition if you like. We've got plenty to spare." The mayor would offer some armour as well, but it's all currently in use- they've got less of that.

When the mayor gives them access to the town's armoury, one of the elves bends down and opens the crate, revealing three assault rifles, one with a silencer, a Tommy-gun, five 10mm submachine guns and six different automatic pistols. The other opens the ammo boxes, which are packed with ammunition for all the different guns available.

[Cyber Punk]

Greater Littlewood

"Yeahhhhh... no. I don't use guns, unless you have something that shoots Tranquilizer rounds." No killing for Hotaru. "I don't know about Phil here, but I'm guessing he won't need 'em, or won't be able to use 'em." Unless this is a world where someone who has never used guns before can hit the on button on a washing machine from a thousand yards on his first try, that is.

"Armor, on the other hand... I could scrap it and use it to give my nanotech a slight boost... but the agility cost, while negligible... is it worth it?" Hotaru pauses. "What do you think, Phil?"

[Nalix]

Greater Littlewood

Phil agrees. "I think I know what a gun is now, or at least vaguely how it works, but just like someone picking up a sword for the first time, I think I'd be more likely to hurt myself with it than anyone else. As for armor, I can create my own if I'm in a bind, though something light I can wear under these robes might be nice. My road to adventure is calling though, so I'm ready to go on searching for a real plot hook." In Phil's universe "story" is a real physical force, and he's seen evidence that it might be here as well. There's even a type of magic, fate magic, that is designed to manipulate the elements of story and plot.

[Recaiden]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

And now a distant chugging rumble rather like a steam engine can be heard even over the terrible treble hiss of the sand and the crashes of thunder. Turbulence kicks up as well, now that the front of the storm is racing toward them at prodigious speed: the winds pushing a hundred twenty miles per hour.

Or you know what, they could land now. That sounds more survivable.
Although that crunching and splintering noise as they jolt into the ground at what can't possibly be the right angle probably isn't good. She flops against the controls for a few seconds, stunned.
Archangel scrambles to get out of the aircraft and get everything with her, while her passenger is more leisurely about it, though even he helps grab all the gear from the hold.
"This isn't going to fly again, you know."
She doesn't hear over the winds, or pretends not to.

In a few moments they're ready and running (stumbling, really) towards the rocks.

[Fenric]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

Above the storm, a chilling voice states calmly and clearly

Let those who defile the sacred images of the Sun become the next victims of Simoom.

And with that, the storm is upon them: whipping the sand around at intense velocities. But that is truly the secondary danger - the temperature within the storm is higher yet than the burning desert was before, with the baking sand pulled into the violent air and spun around with vigor. The temperature tops a hundred thirty Fahrenheit and the relative humidity plummets into the high single digits. This combined with the convection of the swirling wind is astonishingly desiccating, even as the sand seeks to strip away any covering of cloth or flesh that would shield the precious moisture of life. Truly the "poison wind" is well named...

[Recaiden]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

The sand stings and cuts, but that's survivable.

Ordinarily, Archangel would be quite embarrassed if something caused her armor and clothing to quite literally evaporate. Cold weather gear made of charmed water and light air-catching materials, it wasn't intended for anything like this at all, and dissolves into strips and fluff carried away by the wind. She's left with just the technological marvels of her gauntlet and the harness for her wings, the straps that held her weapons and tools and little else.
Right now of course, she's more concerned about the heat. It's like an oven; not even the danger of overexposure to the sun that she's familiar with, but the air itself hot enough to burn. Also about the voice. Booming proclamations of doom. She should be honored to have such attention if it weren't trying to kill her.
Skin turning red, struggling to breathe.
Trying to continue forward (Winds is helping her along, doesn't seem nearly as effected, yet), think of a way to stop this.
Her stims would only heat her up further. She could construct a bubble of some sort, but there's only shifting sands around here, nothing solid enough.
Blades, missiles, darts? You can't cut the wind. They drank all the water back at lunchtime.

There's nothing to try but to keep going, to hope that the rocks provide some shelter and the heat wave passes them. More likely, if nothing changes, is that Archangel falls into the sand a fair distance short of even that intermediate destination.

[goto124]

[Drow Temple - Spider Cave]

(reposting from the old thread)

Specifically, interrupted by another horrible screech from the Handmaiden and a razor-edged leg being slammed through the webbing less than an inch from her face, the Queen's mandibles clacking horribly against each other, nearly catching Kelcey each time. "You bore spider-blood upon you, from a priestess, yes - but your lies are fool's words here, no priestess would order spiders harmed, and we came here with Her blessing, and the favor of Llolth herself!"

As the Queen rages, the smaller spiders start to skitter forward in a wave, though Kelcey's still unharmed; angry as she is, the Queen has a hard time believing that anyone would be so silly as to lie in that particular fashion, and the fact that she had the blood is a point in her favor too... Which is probably the main reason that that didn't go through her throat.

(Bleh. Not great, but... 'S late and I need to get something done with it given how long it's been.)

Kelcey's mind was racing. No priestess would order spiders harmed? But wasn't that what that priestess had asked her to do? Kelcey tries to dig into her memories, which isn't really easy when 2 killer spiders are breathing down your neck. Spiders... kobolds... we came here with Her blessing... only then did realization slam into her as hard as the Handmaiden's sharp claw.

'Crap! I can't remember what exactly the high priestess said, but she didn't ask me to kill the spiders! I think I get it! Why am I so stupid! She wanted the kobolds dead, not the spiders! I'm sorry, so sorry, I'm such a forgetful idiot!'

Kelcey bites her tongue for a moment again.

'...I could help clear the kobolds for you, if you would like that.'

[Earl of Purple]

Greater Littlewood

"We don't have armour to spare. You want any, go search the dead. They might have some. Might be an idea to take their coats and masks too." The girl, Zither, has already started down the ladder to prepare one of the surviving vans.

[Fenric]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

Violent and horrible, but mercifully brief: the Simoom departs as quickly as it came, leaving the air considerably cooler than before. The rocks can surely be reached, but what then?

[Recaiden]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

Burning Winds drags a sad, overheated, not quite dead Archangel to the rocks.
"A terrible world indeed. You cool on down."

Then they have rocks! What else could you need?
He grabs a number of her tools; the blade and a wand, and sets to work. Carve the rock-formation with the knife, zap it with the wand to set it moving.

In short order he has constructed a spinning fan to cool her off, a small boat, and a small hole in the rock to hopefully shelter people from lightning and rain. A pair of big, lumpy, vaguely humanoid figures are helping him slice out cubey bricks and building a little wall.

[Fenric]

[Dwarven Portal Quest]

There's nothing more to hinder them at this time...

A soaring scavenger bird of some sort circles a few times before departing in disappointment.