Outside 43: Where the sun hurts your eyes and burns your skin

[Abhorsen]

[Beach]

"You're right. Let's hope we can find some clues aboard," Tyrael agrees, and moves to climb into the boat.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Beach]

It certainly looks like people were definitely on the boat, and left. A set of planks have been lowered, creating a path from the interior to the beach, though any footprints on the beach have long since been washed away by the tide, obscuring the direction they went in. The boat has been cracked almost in half, and Tyrael will be able to use the planks to climb directly into an interior deck of the boat, through a large crack in the hull. From the looks of it, the crack seems to have been widened by axes. The interior of the boat is damp, and dark.

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

There's over a million species of real-world insect. That chainsword has plenty of wriggle room even before taking into account various unnatural ones that pop up in the Nexus. Like the colony of giant earwigs in one of the wardrobes, or a rust monster, or indeed a Tyranid, though those have their own mental control shtick so might not always listen.

I don't know what Hotaru thinks she's found, but it's a shrine to Sanguine, Daedric Prince of Hedonistic Revelry and Debauchery; that's His icon upon the banner, and the crimson-dyed water is supposed to evoke blood without creating a smell.

[Abhorsen]

[Beach]

Speaking a word, Tyrael conjures a Charter-light into existence near his head, shedding a torch-like glow over the darkened interior of the boat. He heads for the prow, casting his eyes along the floor and walls, and taking care to disturb any furnishings as little as possible, for the moment.

[Cyber Punk]

The Tower- Second Floor

Hotaru doesn't know who or what Sanguine is (she's not visited a Skyrim-like world, neither has she played the games, unlike Dunwall and Dishonored); she thinks she's found something funny. "Look, Phil! Red dye instead of blood! And not just any red dye, red food dye! I... ehehehe... I almost thought I was looking at something gruesome!"

In between giggles, she points to the banner. "What's that supposed to be? Looks like an altar to some deity... said deity is probably ashamed right now."

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

"It certainly is strange. I'd rather not ingest anything that might be related to Power magic, or whatever decorated this place. I don't deal much with deities, though I did study a bit about apotheosis. I've never heard of them having shrines. How do you know it's food dye?"

Phil flexes the... bone sword? Bug sword. Experimentally he tries to call out whatever bugs may be nearby. Was that an earwig infestation he felt?

[Murkus]

[Outside Outside]

"Hpfh." He lifts the fingers of his right hand, maybe half an inch apart. "I've seen 'em. A little thing about yay wide and so high, comes bubbling out 'ya mouth when you're dead an that's all of what you are. That's it. People make a fuss for it but it's not much more'n you are in living." Achka settles back in the seat, finding his place between the rumbling engine and the juddering spaces as the wheels climbs over the countless stones and falls of the lonely little path. He still winces, of course, and looks faintly green as the headlights turn and swing, but he can live. It's nothing but an overgrown carriage.
"An you may as well stop being such a mystery. I've made my mind up. Ain't gonna scare me back into the cold and the bare stone, waiting to turn into some long-neck goat, graze on grass all day. Not gonna have the next sap acolyte pokin' through me, lookin' to see if I've happened to chew up some wisdom." The monk plants his hooves against the partition, bracing himself against the shuddering ride. He folds his hands behind his head. "I'm going where you're going."

"You mistake what you see for what a thing is," explains Achka's driver in a curt voice. They tumble down, down, into the chasm below the edge of the world, where moonlit sky turns to utter black and the car struggles to light their way. Achka may notice here, in this evil place, the infernal lights of his coachman's eyes staining the dashboard.

Achka's declaration draws a glance in the rearview mirror. Just for a moment. A blinding flash of red.

"Alright," he sighs through his nose, eyes returning to the road. "Your benefactor is an eighty meter high god-thing and we're going to meet him at his place of manifest."

[Morty]

[Beach]

"Someone was 'ere, all right," Michalson remarks as they walk onto the boat. "An' they got out of the boat after it crashed 'ere. You did say the dead thing had minions with it, right?"

[ThirdEmperor]

[Outside Outside]

"Now you're the one telling me what the thing looks like. What's he want with me, this mountainous-big god of a man?" Achka jabs a finger forward accusingly, although without much more than a chatty tone of his own. Gods, kings, devils. They all wander by sooner or later, trying to wheedle a word from the Grand High Llama in his pastoral court, none so impressive when their nose is bloody red and dripping icicles. He plucks at the jangle of teeth around his neck, letting them clack. "An I'll say it again, soul's nothing much."
"Nobody values the now enough, ask me. Soul's so much metaphysical bobble floating 'round into any body that's open. You wanna enjoy all the fleshy trappings while they're there, 'fore you end up somebody else. Eternity's for suckers to keep thinking, oh, it'll get better. It'll get better." His hand slaps his chest, a definite note in the rambling as he watches the night slide on by. They're farther than he's ever been now, beyond the last glimmer of light caught in the deep ice, snow rising up in great darkened waves. The silhouettes of the dripping crags above coming down sharp. Soon, his own reflection is the last thing on the frosted glass. "Not me. S'their own fault living suck lives for hopeful lil' idiots."

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

Gone back to check, and the earwigs are in the apartment with a shutter door, living under the sofa. There's twenty earwigs, three half a metre long, and the rest are juveniles that have yet to reach their full growth. The earwigs acknowledge Phil's control, but since he's just reaching out they don't do anything beyond stirring.

The dyed water starts to congeal, thickening and altering in nature. It's still mostly dyed water, but it is slowly turning into blood. Perhaps Sanguine is less embarrassed than Hotaru suspects.

[Gullara]

Back home, it was because humanity was confined to a single massive city and hid behind walls from the titans. My branch of the military, the Recon Corps, went outside the walls to slay titans and hopefully, one day, reclaim the vast tracts of land we'd lost. I still hunt them myself because I've seen how grisly an end a titan can give, and that there are few roaming colossi to fight against so there are few creatures im suited best to kill.
Sophia sighs.
Little beats the thrill of a good hunt, but few creatures ive seen can do that.

[Wir Sind Die Jaeger]

"Kinda makes me think of my home. There's all kinds of nasty huge things to deal with. No one's tougher than my tribe, though!' Mimi declares. "None of the other tribes around are brave enough to live where we do." Of course, not everyone can be as resilient as a Bloodfang pixie, even if Sophia looks like a pretty good fighter. "Sounds like the people where you're from should just go somewhere else if it's that bad, though."

[The Woods]

Well at least this much could be considered a 'victory' of some kind although the muse wasn't sure that was really what you would call convincing someone to be healed. "Right.. Well it will take a little while to put together but I can have something ready for when we or at least when Mimi next visits." Riss said, subtly adding emphasis to her last few words as she gently tightened her hold on Mimi. Of course, she was also a bit to blame for not inquiring more after her pixie's family than she did but.. Well.. She didn't exactly have the best track record with the term to where it would have felt worthwhile until quite recently.

Still, she understood now where Mimi got her stubborn streak from.

Though.. Well.. Now what? That was all she really had on the matter seeing how Lillian didn't really seem the type to care about the more technical aspects and Riss was unsure what topic to move onto next... Though really she wanted to wrap things up here soon and get going back home.. Or at least get a little time to start testing out the changes inflicted on her now that she was aware of them.

[The Woods]

Lillian smiles at that last comment. "Good, I appreciate it." Though more getting to see her daughter more often than the healing, in all honesty.

"We prob'ly need to go soon, though. We've been away a long time and I bet Imp is missing us and stuff." Mimi pauses uncertainly. "Uh, just me I guess. Anyway, we can totally visit again sometime." This has been a pretty good mom visit, but she doesn't want it to overstay its welcome.

[Arkhosia]

[Wir Sind Die Jaeger]

"Kinda makes me think of my home. There's all kinds of nasty huge things to deal with. No one's tougher than my tribe, though!' Mimi declares. "None of the other tribes around are brave enough to live where we do." Of course, not everyone can be as resilient as a Bloodfang pixie, even if Sophia looks like a pretty good fighter. "Sounds like the people where you're from should just go somewhere else if it's that bad, though."

Sophia chuckles darkly at that.
You can't survive living outside the walls As far as we know, there's nowhere with natural barriers blocking titans out of somewhere, and we don't know how the hell the walls were formed. Besides, a mass exodus of civilians would suffer so many casualties.

[Terumitsu]

[The Woods]

"Ah, yeah, she probably is wondering why her favorite hunting partner hasn't come around recently by now." Riss said, knowing for a fact that Imp had just been walked and was now being given a bath by two of her forms at the exact moment. It was an out, though, and she was going to take it with no questions asked.

"Um.. But I think I know where this is from where we stay so I figure it wouldn't be too difficult to find a quick way back and forth now." she said, giving credence to the whole 'visiting more often thing. "Oh and... This may sound strange at first but you might want to tell the folks on the western side that the high-pitched humming noise they'll hear in... Three hours, twenty-two minutes, and sixteen seconds is nothing to worry about. It's just attached to what we'll be using to go back home." she added. Sure, she could stay and explain just what the vehicle was and why it made the noises but if she could get away with just that oddly cryptic statement then she would be happy for the time being.

[Cyber Punk]

The Tower- Second Floor

"The chemical makeup is that of red... wait, hold on..." She watches as it congeals and thickens. "This can't be good."

Hotaru slowly steps back as the transformation occurs, a slightly shocked look on her face. "It's turning bloody, Phil."

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

"I'll go ahead and say I told you so," says Phil, calling the earwigs to come to him. "Can you guess what this thing is? I'm going to try something with it before we go on." In his mind he asks the earwigs who want to be bigger, stronger, or expand themselves to separate themselves from the group, though he calls them all. He knows that creatures like this may not understand much in the way of instructions, but he wants to work with what little will they have, when possible.

[Recaiden]

[Look, up in the sky]
Glorious Scene #3
A tiny speck, rapidly growing larger as it whirls down towards the world of the Nexus.
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a now-burning piece of space junk. Well, more a space hulk, a whole ship, or nearly so, really quite big.
It's not moving at the apocalyptic speeds something of its size might get up to. Either there's still some power in its engines or it has been slowly approaching at relatively minimal speeds.

But either way it's quickly going to land in a nice little doomed swamp unless something stops it.
And it'll be landing with a BIG splash. I hope no one and nothing important is down there.

[Deathkeeper]

Look, Up in the Sky

A warning call goes out quickly to the ship.
"Warning, unidentified ship. You are on a collision course with the ground. Please alter your course immediately if you are able. Over." crackles a hail.

[Recaiden]

[Up in the sky]

Surprisingly enough, there's an answer.
Something yelled distantly over and over. Sounds just like this looks.


The ship does not change its course.

[Deathkeeper]

Look, Up in the Sky

"I repeat. You are on a collision course. Avert course immediately." comes again, trying to turn on the universal translator that is usually so unnecessary in the Nexus it probably doesn't even do anything.

[Recaiden]

[Look, Up in the Sky]

The course continues unaverted.
The language is surprisingly hard to translate, but it comes through with difficulty.
It is some foreign version of an SOS.
'help''help''help''help''help''help'

An untranslateable screech and the sound of tearing metal comes.
Three more repetitions of the cry for help.
The communication ceases.

[Deathkeeper]

Look, Up in the Sky

Unfortunately, there are no Star Destroyers in the area to produce a tractor beam capable of diverting such a vessel. The most is a swamp, swamp trees, and a few magically created fluffy white clouds that form a feeble, last-ditch effort to cushion the fall of the great ship.

There's really nothing else to do.

[Recaiden]

[Look, down on the Ground]

The falling ship plows through the clouds, slowed just a tiny bit.

It crashes into the ground, starting to break apart, tremors racing through the ground, a terrible crashing and tearing filling the air...

There are several spectacular explosions, parts of the ship shearing off along the three long lines already broken into the hull.

What is left is a considerable wreck sinking into a flooded crater.

[Cyber Punk]

[Look, down on the Ground]

Suddenly, a portal opens! It's the 'hole-in-reality' version rather than the swirly vortex version.

Two similarly-clad figures land on the ground on their faces. They seem to be covered in some dust. They are clad in a orange jumpsuits, with yellow, white and red stripes running through it. They look to be young adults.

"Oof, that was painful, sister." The male one says. His voice is rather crispy.
The female grunts, then pulls herself up and looks around. The 'eep' that escapes from her lips prompts her brother to look up, as well.

"What the crud?" is all that manages to escape his lips as they gaze at flooded crater right in front of them.

The female moves takes a step forward, in an attempt to touch it. She stops and instead tries pulling it out of the hole with her force powers. "Nnngh!"

[Deathkeeper]

Look Down on the Ground

A dark shape descends onto the opposite side of the wreck, clad in black mesh. Four quick slices, powered by magic, attempt to cut a door into the side.
"Come in. Repeat, come in. If there are survivors, please respond."

[Recaiden]

[Look, down on the Ground]

A few ripples go through the water, but the ship is not easily moved. She manages to pull a lone ceramic heat-shielding plate off the hull.

---

A hole is cut in the hull of the ship. The wall falls in. Inside, dim orange emergency light strips are shining. A few are dead where conduits in the wall were cut through.
There's various distant sounds echoing here and there. Scrapes and screams and crackling fire.

The hall stretches away with a slight curve left and right.
There's no response to his radio signal.

[Cyber Punk]

[Look, down on the Ground]

Throwing the plate aside, the girl gestures to her brother and wills him to come. He does, and they both stare at the wreckage.

They turn to look at each other, then a grin slowly crosses their faces as they telepathically share what a good idea it would be to get into this thing. Seriously, the size of this thing! There has got to be some loot here they could sell! Their first big break after spending 14 years in a research facility, against their will!

They hold hands and begin to scan the surface of the wreck, looking for any hole or fault that can be exploited. Should they find any thing, they'll try and pull it/push it/open it/press it, anything that would reveal the waiting piles of loot they expect to see inside the ship.

[Deathkeeper]

Look, Down on the Ground

Nick frowns and lopes toward the bodies to examine them. Species? Uniform? Cause of death? These questions are important before he can continue.

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

The dyed water continues its transfiguration into blood, mostly human with a bit of elf and some crocodile mixed in.

Three earwigs leave their lair under the sofa and head towards Phil, squeezing under the metal shutter and making their way towards him. Earwigs are good parents, and look after their young; that is why there are so many under the sofa. The others are either parents, staying with their offspring, or too young to leave. They'll arrive next post, however, since they feel no urgency and are naturally cautious.

[Recaiden]

[Look, down on the Ground]

Well there's several huge and obvious holes torn in the side of the ship. Only slightly on fire, the lowest maybe twenty feet up from the surface of the swamp. The twins could just climb in.

Or they could make for an airlock way over near the front, the part most wedged into the ground. Might be a bit disappointed on the loot front; this probably wasn't a treasure ship.

---

Two species, roughly humanoid.

All but one of the bodies are a small feline-esque humanoid with a coat of spotted fur and long tufted ears, bearing a remarkable resemblance to a certain animal that can't be directly named.
They're dressed in light tan uniforms with red trim and and a human skull motif within four interlocking circles on the shirt piece. The cause of death is almost certainly the many round organic spikes stabbed through their bodies. There are clearly places where they had other equipment, but it was stripped from them after death.

The other is a very human-looking golen-skinned man, nude, with those same spikes growing out of him, replacing his hair, extending down his back, and extending from his nails like claws. He seems to have a hole burned through his abdomen and probably a lot of important organs.

[Cyber Punk]

[The Tower- Second Floor]

Even with the situation, Hotaru still finds it easy to stick her tongue out at Phil.

She sits and watches. "Phil, wanna use your magic on this? Turn it into water or something before it turns fully into blood!"

[Look, down on the Ground]

The twins choose the hole and help each other climb in.

"Maybe there's some coin farther in the ship, Dixie." The boy says
"There bloody well better be, Currant." The girl replies.

They look around once they get in, observing their surroundings as they move forward.