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

[Deathkeeper]

Sandy Beach

Zen straightens and gives the man a salute.
"Call me Zen, sir. Maybe when I get a little more proof of skill under my belt we'll talk about the titles I deserve." he says with a grin. Well, he might have a bit of an ego, but then, he's a fourteen year old with more magic than many in their twenties.

[The Alexandrian]

[Corrupted Chapel]

It is not for me to say whether or not El Cuervo can drink the tincture, but providing you with a description of what the tincture might do to El Cuervo if he does, in fact, quaff it is well within my unlimited power as the ogrelord a dm!

At first, nothing seems to have changed. Nicole looks like Nicole, that streak of blood across the floor looks like a streak of blood across the floor, and the dead woman covered only in a white nightgown lying upon the floor looks like -

Oh my word, what in the Seventh Edition of the D&D Monster Manual is that!

It's - well, I'll try to describe it for you.

Neither man nor beast but something different altogether lies motionless upon the floor, a heap of mangled flesh stretched taught over a bony frame. A vertical, lipless mouth surrounded by limp tendrils with veins protruding extends from the top of its head to the spot where its belly button would be. Eyes lie to the left and right of this maw of symmetry at seemingly random intervals. In place of legs, a malformed pair of arms twitch, stitched to the ungodly creatures hips with a thick, black thread. With claws where fingernails should be and an abundance of yellow eyes within the abomination's cavernous mouth, even El Cuervo should know that things like this should not exist.

"How many creatures from beyond the veil have you put down so far, El Cuervo?"

A curious Nicole inquires, leaning against a bloodied column to keep herself from falling over onto the ground.

"If you're not sure, tonight would be a good night to start counting because boy, I've got a job for you."

"I'm gonna cut to the chase - I need you to murder a lot of that thing's kin tonight, and by a lot I mean a lot. Do you prefer melee weapons or ranged weapons? Alsooo, modern weapons or antiques?"

[ThePhantom]

[Corrupted Chapel]

Well, it turns out that El Cuervo can, but there is a minor problem for it. The device that gives it speech doesn't like getting wet. And that thing on the floor just got ugly, way ugly. First time that it had seen something like that.

"I I I I I......had had not.....an an any."

El Cuervo looks somewhat annoyed by this malfunction, but it takes out a sword from its arm. Its clearly a cheap sword, but there's something extra sharp about it.

"Meleeeeeeee.....seems more like..likelikelike....to work."

[The Alexandrian]

[Corrupted Chapel]

Uh-oh! El Cuervo is malfunctioning! Time to shut him down and sell him for scrap break out the toolbox and put all of the sweet mechanical and electronic repair skills Nicole doesn't have to good use - which is to say, to pretend that everything is functioning as everything should!

"Remind me to take you sword shopping in the next few days."

Nicole kindly requests once she lays her eyes upon El Cuervo's cheap sword. It might be best if she reserves her judgement until a later date, but...

"I'll foot the bill for your new one. Consider it a token of my appreciation or a reward that came with your promotion, if you wish, because, if all goes according to plan tonight, you'll be AMEN's first quartermaster come morning."

A generous, intoxicated Nicole promises, walking over to El Cuervo and attempting to shake his hand.

"Anyway, this gods-forsaken hellhole is crawling with things that shouldn't exist. You haven't run away screaming yet, so I know you're up to the task of sending them back to the hell they crawled out of. Our goal is the artifact vault at the very bottom of this complex where they're storing a couple of trinkets I want to secure for AMEN. As quartermaster, you'll have the first pick of 'em and you'll distribute them to other AMENites as you see fit. If these rewards are satisfactory, I'll escort you to the path you'll be exploring today whenever you're ready."

[ThePhantom]

[Corrupted Chapel]

"No-no-noticed. But it....is nicer than....it books-nooks-looks....Specially treated. Shall...we-knee-tee go?"

El Cuervo shakes Nicole's hand, the metal cold from the night air. Hopefully when things dry out its voice will go back to normal.

[ImpSyndrome]

[PASTURE OF GENESIS]
[LUNAR INFLUENCE: Phase 3/8]

Sometimes even the best men must commit acts we see as wrong due to the trials nature thrusts them in.
Akane responds, nodding in understanding.

"...More or less, yeah," answers Coriolis. If there's more to it than that, the young man foregoes further debate; he doesn't seem very keen on discussing the philosophy of his behavior, which is probably understandable, all things considered. After a short pause, he relaxes his posture somewhat and tells Akane, "Anyway, thanks for the help. Always nice to know that someone has my back...but I think we ought to split up, at least for now. If Vijaya's still gunning for me, she'll probably send more wanna-be assassins, and one of them'll get lucky eventually...Probably better to lay low and stay out of trouble than to kick that particular hornet's nest."

As he says this, Coriolis scans the horizon, looking for hiding places. The outlines of Inside and Riverside are visible in the distance, and he makes mental note of their relative locations while waiting for Akane's response...

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

"I'm interested in learning more. Sharing is on the table... and bugs," Phil turned to the conglomerate arthropods. "Up the stairs," he commands, trying to see what they see at the same time.

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

"I'm getting bored, so I'm off. Party on, people!" Sanguine winks at Hotaru and vanishes in a burst of rose petals.

The Phillipedes head up the stairs. First they see on the mini-landing two large, boxy things; both are vending machines, but the Phillipedes' eyes are incredibly different from what Phil is used to; he can't read the writing on them, since the angle is wrong and the compound eyes refract it oddly, but one of the vending machines has been broken by looters. Not the other, however.

On the floor above, there are as always four apartments and a staircase further up. The doors of two apartments are closed, before something moves and there's a burst of light and a flash of... Not quite pain, since arthropod nerves lack the pain receptors found in vertebrates*, but certainly unpleasant discomfort as an automatic weapon sprays bullets through the poor Phillipedes. Phil finds their vision going dark shortly thereafter, but will find the movement and the light far easier to perceive than the surroundings.

*Crabs have structures nearly identical to human pain receptors, but last I heard scientists were still undecided as to what they were.

[The Alexandrian]

[Corrupted Chapel]

Ahh! C-c-cold metal hand!

"Sure."

An indifferent Nicole replies, thrusting a flashlight into El Cuervo's empty hand.

And with that, off they trot!

Drunk!Nicole steps over to an old but well-kept wooden podium in front of rows and rows of wooden benches. She picks up the podium, shrugs, and happily lobs it at the wooden benches. She faces a solid stone wall and rubs her chilly hands together to warm them.

"Alright. Just follow my lead and then head through the tunnel on your right."

What tunnel? I don't see any tunnels in here!

"See you on the other side."

Nicole what are you-

Nicole charges forward, sprinting through the solid stone wall as if it never really existed at all.

[ThePhantom]

[Corrupted Chapel]

"Allllllllright. Where is....fiss the funnel?"

And then Nicole makes it clear where the tunnel is. El Cuervo holds the flashlight tight and hops after Nicole, planning on following her directions.

[The Alexandrian]

[Corrupted Chapel]

> Look Tunnel
You're standing in a dark, humid tunnel. Blue, bio-luminescent mushrooms line the floor near the walls of this dirt-encrusted corridor. To the South is a "solid stone wall". To the North is a room that contains a treasure chest, a lever, a sacrificial altar, and a plaque.

You feel warm, moist air blowing on the back of your neck. If you turn around, you'll find yourself face-to-face with a man-spider, this dungeons first real enemy!

Man-spider is, as the name suggests, a spider-like creature stitched together from bits and pieces of different people. One arm is fair, another swarthy. The face is a patchwork mess, like a Mister Potato head assembled by a child with a strange fascination with eyes, none of which are of the same color.

It's blasphemous shape, for everything here is blasphemous in one way or another, is not as much of a challenge to describe as I first thought. It is a torso with its "ribs" exposed and its "ribs" replaced by a row of misaligned, mismatched, slimy teeth all of which slope inwards and, oh, a head, described above, attached. Four human arms have been stitched to either side (the thumbs of which have been removed). Thick, black thread binds its reeking and quite possibly decaying flesh together.

When it spots El Cuervo, man-spider drools from its chest cavity, a gush of black bile welcoming El Cuervo to this nighmarish subterranean hell.

[ThePhantom]

[Corrupted Chapel]

Well, that is ugly. As for El Cuervo's response to this man-spider, its trying to use its high frequency blade to slice the arms off of it. Given that a high frequency blade can cut through concrete like a knife through hot butter, this stands a good chance of working. That's the weapon's main usefulness, but if it comes across something that it couldn't cut through it has a good chance of breaking, the downside of having a cheap sword for the base.

[Cyber Punk]

[The Tower - Second Floor]

If Hotaru can, she'll grab one rose petal as a memento.

"Whaddya see, Phil?" She'll look for any electrical boxes she can travel through, if only to tap into any cameras and whatnot.

If she can hear the gunshots, she'll nod to Phil and leave the bathroom, staying put by the stairs for a bit, in case anyone decides to investigate. Then they'll get a face full of lightning.

[Arkhosia]

[PASTURE OF GENESIS]
[LUNAR INFLUENCE: Phase 3/8]



"...More or less, yeah," answers Coriolis. If there's more to it than that, the young man foregoes further debate; he doesn't seem very keen on discussing the philosophy of his behavior, which is probably understandable, all things considered. After a short pause, he relaxes his posture somewhat and tells Akane, "Anyway, thanks for the help. Always nice to know that someone has my back...but I think we ought to split up, at least for now. If Vijaya's still gunning for me, she'll probably send more wanna-be assassins, and one of them'll get lucky eventually...Probably better to lay low and stay out of trouble than to kick that particular hornet's nest."

As he says this, Coriolis scans the horizon, looking for hiding places. The outlines of Inside and Riverside are visible in the distance, and he makes mental note of their relative locations while waiting for Akane's response...

The woman nods in understanding.
That's probably the best course of action. You can work to gain power and allies to aid against as well.
Akane suggests

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

"I see that I need to work on weaponizing these critters. And I'll get to see how well my revive works in this world. Guys with guns, just like this floor. I think I'll try something else while we're at it. Bug swarm." [cockroaches] Phil points the charge at any convenient object that no one will miss. He prefers working from live source material because it seems sturdier to him, but this should be more than enough.

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

The sofa's convenient, and chances are no one will miss it. Anybody that moves in and wants one shall have to find their own sofa and move it up two flights of stairs.

The sofa explodes into a pile of cockroaches, though alas the material they are made of doesn't change. Some are made of wood, others of the padding from the cushions, others of the old, worn leather of the sofa's cover, and a few are made of metal from the strings. None of the cockroaches are alive, but due to the state the sofa was in, some are mouldy.

[Cyber Punk]

[The Tower - Second Floor]

"Aw, crud." Hotaru says on seeing the dead cockroaches made of couch materials.

Now, Phil should know that Hotaru loves keeping pets. He should also know that suggesting Hotaru give up one of her pets wouldn't be wise.

With that in mind, what she says next should surprise him all the more. "Fine, you can use Lenny." Her eyes glow as an inventory screen appears in front of her. She makes her selection and in a matter of seconds, the swampotaur is in front of the three of them.

"Go ahead." She doesn't smile.

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

Phil frowns. "That's... never happened before. This world is weird, but who am I to judge? No, we probably don't need them. Still this makes me curious... alive," Phil casts.

"Lenny has a bond with you, he's been unchanged for most of this year," says Phil, turning to Hotaru with what he hopes is a compassionate expression. "I'm not going to turn him into a pile of bugs to be used for scouting. And you should know that I fully intend to revive the other bugs and send them back to their families. Principle of balance and all that. There will always be more bugs, but they'll work better for me if I respect their wills, small as they may be." Phil considered mentioning some principles he'd gleaned from his necromancy classes about static spirits used for animating small objects, but thinks that he's already said enough.

[Living clothing of the blue city. The table gave that to me as new modifier for the roaches, with living being the part that Phil added. I swear I wasn't thinking of a certain bastion of goodness that was recently overrun by goblins.]

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

The cockroaches come alive, scuttling away for the darkest corners of the room. They're all wearing little blue jumpers with sleeves for their legs. The Blue City is a name for Jodhpur, but I don't know what clothing they wear. They are no longer made of wood, or padding, or whatever else, instead of the chitin and flesh of natural cockroaches.

There's three coins left behind, formerly trapped beneath the sofa's cushions- a copper coin coated in verdigris, with a vulture on one side and the number 3 on the other, a British two-pound coin with its silvery centre and copper coloured edge, and a Dwarven silver coin with an axe on one side and a dwarf glyph upon the other.

[Cyber Punk]

The Tower - Second Floor

((Due to certain recent happenings I'm not even sure she has a boyfriend anymore. To portray that, instead of changing the established canon in this scene, her 'wayward' side will instead begin to show.))

Hotaru smiles, takes Lenny back into her inventory and gives Phil a big hug, complete with a peck on the cheek. Gazing approvingly into his eyes, she speaks once more. "You're a good guy, Phil." Then she plants (or at least tries to plant) a two-second kiss on his lips and skips away, leaving Phil to process what just happened.

"Hmm, these might be useful, though I'd like to keep one as a group memento..." She tries scanning the coins in order to determine more about them via her secure connection to NexusNet, particularly the British two-pound coin. "The pound, an ancient currency in my world."

[Nalix]

The Tower - Second Floor

Phil hesitates a moment, then accepts Hotaru's extended kiss. He seems to enjoy the kiss, though his eyes seem distant, as his focus is still on the new roaches and trying to send them upstairs through the roof, stairs, and or any holes they can find.

"We can definitely talk about that later," says Phil with a grin. "I guess I'm ready when you are. My world had currency once as well. Parts of it still do. It changes from city to city."

[UncleWolf]

The Cavern of Steel

For there to be a more desolate place on this world than this would be hard to believe. The legendary cavern that Wenomir heard about is in a valley full of dust, sand, and sun-baked clay. It was likely that this place hadn't seen a drop of water for as long as it existed, eroded only by the hot scorching wind. The valley's walls were smooth and polished from the constantly blowing sand. This place was a good week of travel away from Inside but it felt even further away than that. The nights had stopped coming and even though it had to have been three or four days since he'd entered the realm darkness hadn't fallen once in that time.

He'll feel the heat under his feet, rising up through the ground as if it were on top of a furnace even through thick soled boots if he wore them. The cavern entrance itself was plain and simple, an arch of worked stone in the side of the valley, but surrounding it were countless blades of all shapes and sizes, stabbed into the ground to be left as offerings towards the guardians that lay within. Perhaps they were meant as good luck charms, but from what he'd heard not a single person had been able to achieve their goal of attaining the rumored sword within.

A blade simply known as The Answer. The Answer to the Riddle of Steel itself.

[Morty]

[The Cavern of Steel]

The Answer. Even a suggestion of such a thing was enough for Wenomir to cross a red-hot desert. The fall of Vigil's old base, the loss of his weapon, the seeming loss of his love, the gnawing feeling of personal failure and DC's taunting all combined into a single-minded drive to know. To find out if the Riddle of Steel is a real thing, of if he's just been fooling himself this whole time. And so he braved the long, arduous way that taxed even his prodigious endurance. He took the last part of the journey slowly, to conserve his strength.

He has two longswords with him - both custom-made and paid for with his own money from the mine shares. Replacements, but they work well enough as such. He thrusts one of them into the sand like all the others before him did. It's a long, narrow straight blade with a slightly reddish tint to it. He doesn't know if there's any real reason to do it, but he won't take any chances. Having done so, he enters the mouth of the cavern to face whatever lies within.

[UncleWolf]

The Cavern of Steel

After he places the sword, letters light up around the archway. At first they're of a foreign script but they shift for several seconds until they are written in Frontier Imperial. There is just a single phrase but it is one that will begin the whole journey ahead of him.

Only the might of Mortal Man may enter in their search for The Riddle of Steel

Should Wenomir still enter the archway, he'll feel as if he's walking through a thin membrane as everything magical or supernatural is stripped from him and what he carries. He is made aware that such a thing is happening to him as he crosses, leaving just the strength of his body, the wit of his mind, and the edge of his steel at his disposal from this point onward.

The hallway on the other side of the portal is carved from the same stone as the entrance and extends down into the entrance with small recesses every twenty feet or so that ignite the moment he enters. Skulls are the sources of light, candles placed within them, and a good hundred feet or so down the hall stands a large wooden door with an iron bar placed on the outside with even more written upon it.

[Morty]

[The Cavern of Steel]

Wenomir left behind the plasma gauntlet behind in any event - he has no use for gadgets on this quest. The other two items he had were destroyed in the battle. It's just as well; he would have eschewed them anyway. The warrior walks down the hallway and examines the door, and the writing upon it.

It does puzzle him that the writing took shape of his mother tongue. Is it magic, or just the Riddle transcending the limitations of language? Where does one draw a line? In the end, he supposes it's not important.

[Earl of Purple]

The Tower- Second Floor

The cockroaches go, stampeding up the stairs, past the vending machines. There's no other obvious routes; they could leave through a crack in the window, scale the side of the building, and enter through a window on the next floor, but cockroaches are leaf-litter scavengers. They evolved to find food in the decomposing detritus of the forest floor, not climb walls; they could, but their grip is not as good as that of a fly's, or a spider's. Also, they use scent and taste more than sight, and can't detect the cracked window.

The individual upstairs with the assault rifle screams, wishes for a flamethrower, and then opens fire, attracting others on that floor who also open fire with two pistols, a shotgun and a crossbow.

The dwarfen coin was minted during the reign of King Ingrild the Cursed. They're relatively rare, since King Ingrild ruled for just sixteen years before his court wizard usurped control, sealing King Ingrild into his father's tomb whilst the dwarf was still alive. According to legend, King Ingrild was cursed with undeath before being trapped, and continues to demand freedom eight centuries since his rule. Few are willing to put an ear against the tomb to test the legend.

The vulture coin was made in the necropolis of Reammu, worth three pints of virgin's blood and issued by the central slave-market, which controlled the blood supply consumed by the city's vampires, and used as currency by those necromancers, dark priests and miscellaneous intelligent undead that also called Reammu home. The city was razed by an organised assault by eight paladin orders devoted to three seperate deities, assisted by tribes of escaped slaves and, some sources suggest, a bored elvish lich.

Both coins are, therefore, worth more to a collector than they are to a bank.

[UncleWolf]

The Cavern of Steel

Once again the letters slowly shift into Frontier Imperial, turning philosophical and supposing things that many he's encountered likely have spoken of.

Which is superior? Steel or Flesh? Is it Steel that makes the Flesh strong or Flesh that makes the Steel mighty? Answer this within.

With that question in mind, he'll be able to open the door, revealing a large room that lightens up like the hallway. The floor is littered with scraps of armor, broken blades, and cracked bone. Entire mounds are placed in the corners of the room that he can see. Hundreds of people of all types must have been killed to create such piles and he'll spot everything from a giant's skeleton to those of a pixie. The bones appear to have been cleaved right through and the same can be said of the blades and armor. The chamber itself is about a hundred feet by a hundred feet with a low ceiling only ten feet or so above him. There's only one other exit, laying across the room, blocked by a single figure.

The figure is a suit of dusty black plate armor, kneeling in front of a small pillar where a crude dagger lay upon it. It is shabby, barely usable and looks like it could break at any moment, but the figure seems to revere it. which is it The figure asks, the hollow voice somehow able to reach his ears despite it being at the level of a whisper. As it asks the question the figure stands and turns to face Wenomir, revealing just a pair of glowing red-orange eyes under the helm and a blackened saber in its right hand. is steel or flesh the origin of The Riddle

[Morty]

The Cavern of Steel

Wenomir strides across the bone-covered hall. Are the skeletons remains of whose who tried, and failed, to get through? Or are they just a creation of this place, to make him think about the question it poses? The symbolism is clear in either case.

He stops before the armour-clad figure as it asks its question. Before the siege of Vigil, Wenomir's answer would have been clear - steel is stronger. The flesh is weak, and yields to it. Steel may mark flesh, but flesh cannot mark steel. By making your spirit and mind into steel, your flesh can overcome its limitations and reach supreme excellence. Prehistoric, primordial humans triumphed over the chaotic, hostile world by mastering steel to supplement their weak bodies.

There seems to be a flaw in this reasoning, however. There must be. It didn't lead him to the Riddle. It didn't stem the tide of attackers that overwhelmed his home. It couldn't save the love of his life. It couldn't stop an old ally's descent into madness and selfishness. So where did it go wrong? Did he become narrow-minded and stubbornly focused on a dogmatic view? Complacent, even?

"It's neither and both," he finally says, slowly. Realization dawns upon him. "The Riddle is a union between them. The flesh is weak without steel. But without flesh to forge it and guide it, steel is nothing but an inert lump of metal. Supreme excellence lies in a hand of flesh holding a weapon of steel. When they become one, each an extension of the other... then the Riddle is in sight."

[UncleWolf]

The Cavern of Steel

The armored figure doesn't respond right away, seeming to mull over Wenomir's answer to the question for a while. Eventually it gestures around the room with its saber. "many hundreds, possibly thousands, have come to me over the centuries, Wenomir of Raven's Ford. all have sought to challenge me, to prove their mettle and their skills. I have slain nearly all whom have come here during my tenure from the strongest of warriors to the most cunning of rogues. even philosophers have come seeking The Answer and every single one of them has answered that question one way or another. some choose flesh, others chose steel. many answered as you have while some supposed that it was all a great hoax. regardless of what they said or how well they could fight or reason, all those you see fallen in here lacked something they thought they already achieved." It says, finally lowering the blade as it looked back at Wenomir.

"simple conviction. no matter what they chose to answer with, they didn't say what was in their souls. tell me, Wenomir of Raven's Ford. do you truly believe your words or are they merely what you expect me to believe?" it asks, raising the blade to point at Wenomir once more.

[Morty]

[The Cavern of Steel]

Wenomir closes his eyes briefly, then opens them again.

"I do," he says, his voice clear and strong. "I doubted, yes. When I recently suffered the greatest defeat of my life, I despaired over the Riddle even being real. How could it be real if it couldn't save me from losing all that I did? But I was wrong. I had become complacent. I had embraced the Riddle as if it were... religion. A set of beliefs that elevated me above the ignorant. I said that Riddle wasn't anything of the sort, but that's what I believed, deep down." He stares at the guardian. "If I had come to you before that battle, I would have told you that steel is the stronger, and I would have been like all those fools whose bones are strewn here.

But I passed through fire. And, like steel, I was purified and hardened by it. But steel is rigid and unchanging, without the guidance of the flesh. And something unchanging has no place on the field of battle, which changes in a heartbeat. Likewise, beliefs are only worth anything if they're challenged, and adapt. You can believe something with all your heart all your life, but only when you stare into the heart of war will you find out if that belief is worth anything."