Planeside 2

[Rebonack]

It was inevitable, honestly, that the Nexus would extend its tendrils once again into all the weird places beyond the material world that exist out there. Sure they showed up now and again in one of those plot threads or every now and again Outside if someone was really desperate, but at this point they really need a nice, cozy meta-location to call their own.

Planeside is all of those places that aren't the material plane we all known and love. Here you'll find the various realms of the dead, the hells, the disco infernos, the realms of madness, the twilight of the faeries, the plane of lost things, the geometry purgatory, the city of doors, the paraelemental plane of ranch dressing, and many, many more. If you plan on having a summer vacation in the Highest Heavens or really need to punch a devil in the snoot to assert authority, then this is the place to do it.

The usual forum and FFRP rules apply. Don't be a jerk, don't godmod without permission, spoiler any gratuitous fan-service taking place on the Plane of Busty Demonesses, have fun! If you want a plane added to the opening post then feel free to poke the thread creator with a stick and ask for an update.

The Presently Finite But Potentially Infinite List of Planes!

Spoiler: Reboplanes

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Spoiler: The Astral Wilds (Holidayscape)

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This is a realm of unfettered growth, life, birth, predation, and rebirth. Unearthly (and often deadly) plants overgrow everything, filling the plane to the point of choking with thick jungles of vegetation that seems to stretch into infinity above and below. The Wild is a vast, untamed and untamable thicket of intertwining vines, branches, and trunks acting as a nursery to innumerable ecosystems both tiny and expansive. All pervading radiance fills this realm, banishing all traces of shadow and lighting it in levels from blinding glory to soft twilight. Colors here are richer, scents sharper, sensations pulsing with intensity. Everything in this realm is simply more.

Including the dangers.

One might think that the fountain of positive energy and the engine of souls would be a nice place, but they would be wrong. The Astral Wilds are, above all else, wild. Magical predators both bizarre and alien stalk the infinite canopies for food. Creatures are constantly devoured and reborn, bursting forth from amniotic pods in the trunks of the trees mere minutes after having their spine broken and their flesh consumed. Nothing dead here remains for long. Many of the material plane's more horrifying magical beasts are predators that have escaped from the Wilds.

Undead that come here will find the Wilds supremely unpleasant. The ambient positive energy will quickly overwhelm the negative, reducing them to little more than a corpse, meat waiting to be consumed. The living mortals not native to the plane face an even more unusual fate. Positive energy pours into them until they quite literally burst, birthing a new and unique monster native to the Wilds. Though this new creature retains the soul, memories, and (to the best of its ability) the personality of its progenitor, it has become a wildling at heart and may feel uncomfortable returning to the drab and dreary material world It's possible to ward both the living and the undead against the overwhelming life of the Wilds, but the adaptive nature of the plane makes any such defense tenuous at best.

Reasons to visit abound, however. As the positively aligned contemporaneous plane, the Wilds are the primary route between the Empyrean Spheres, Midgard, and the Elemental Ring. Vast highways have been cut through the endless tangle, maintained by modrons from The Clockwork Fields of Easter for the purpose of maintaining orderly travel between the planes. What's more, the Wilds themselves are filled to the bursting with rare and valuable reagents and materials sought after all over reality. These simple facts have made the planes' ruler, Demogorgon, the great Demiurge, exceedingly influential in the economy of the planes.

So, enjoy your trip through the Wilds, traveler. Just remember your bug repellent.

Spoiler: The Beneficent Mountain of Christmas (Holidayscape)

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Christmas is the plane of joy, goodness, hope, and compassion. It is a mountain with neither base nor peak covered in snowy forests and workshops. Despite the seemingly cold appearance, the glow of joy pervades here, warming all of pure heart in spite of the snow. The lands are home to tomte, snowmen, and reindeer who serve in the production of all fashion of good gifts for mortals, working under the watchful eye of Santa Claus. Crystal decanters of hope and joy are the primary currencies in Christmas, both valued at the ounce.

Spoiler: The Bottomless Chasm of Krampusnat (Holidayscape)

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Krampusnat is an awful place, a realm of punishment, suffering, torment, torture, evil, and constant conflict. This plane is a bottomless pit formed by four sets of connected spiraling rings that lead ever deeper into the depths of darkness. Each set of rings is home to a different set of fiends who torment both each other and the opposing factions. The self-righteous khanafe of Tartarus, the hedonistic belial Pandemonium, the impulsively destructive iysh'dam of the Abyss, and the tyrannical dibbah of Gehenna. Krampus drags the souls of the wicked into the pit and casts them headlong into the darkness to be twisted and tormented for the allotted time. The favored currency within the jagged depths of Krampusnat is dollop of suffering, a substance not unlike molten glass.

Spoiler: The Clockwork Fields of Easter (Holidayscape)

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Easter is a plane of precision, purpose, order, obedience, and regimentation. It is a beautiful place of perfectly wrought clockwork and machinery overseen by modrons, clockwork rodents of various kinds each or which has a command gear, its shape and number of teeth denoting their rank. Modrons serve the Easter Hare, Master of the Clockwork Field and Orderer of Eggs. Units of obedience are the preferred currency here.

Spoiler: The Elemental Ring (Holidayscape)

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The Elemental Ring is more or less exactly what it sounds like, a torus-shaped plane containing the essence of the elements. In order, they are fire, metal, earth, wood, water, ice, air, lightning, and finally back to fire. The elements smoothly transition from one to the other, becoming more predominated by the major element of that region. The element of each region represents a majority of the elements that exist there, NOT an exclusive presence of that element to the exclusion of all others. However, you will never find an opposing element in a region (no liquid water in a majority fire region, for example.)

The elemental ring is ruled over by various Elemental Lords, each of which control their own regions of the ring. Elementals, beings of more 'pure' elements rather than the flesh and bone of mortals, are the natural inhabitants of the Ring. Many portions of the Ring are lethal to unwarded mortals, though prizes to be found in the depths of the Ring entice many travelers. Ingots of pure elemental essence are the preferred currency here.

Spoiler: The Gloom (Holidayscape)

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This is a realm of undeath and stagnation, a realm where the living are not welcome.

Endless dunes of bone-white sand stretch in all directions, punctuated by massive weathered bones of aeons dead titans. Pools of black necrotic bile sit stagnant and stinking in the low points between the dunes and in some places form vast lakes of rotten fluids which unseemly abominations writhe and wriggle within. Bleached, leafless trees dot the landscape, their surfaces crusted with salt and worn smooth by biting, merciless winds. Headstones, coffins, monuments, mausoleums, and tombs decorate the Gloom. And above it all the permanent blood moon shines down on the dreary landscape, casting everything in an unearthly pallor. Mindless undead wandering, thirsting for the life of the living and finding no reprieve.

There are villages here, echoes of ghost towns scoured clean by undead. There are whole necropolises teeming with the restless dead, testaments to atrocities of ages past committed on horrifying scales. In some places the sands burn as a continual funeral pyre. In others they are frozen and bleak and crawling with creatures of hard, icy hearts. Living creatures that enter the Gloom rarely remain living for long as the plane devours their vitality, rips their soul out as a wraith, melts their flesh into a bile ooze, and animates their bones as a hungry skeleton.

Enthroned deep in the icy depths of the plane, built high atop the colossal skull of a dead god, sits the frozen citadel of Papa Orcus, Punisher of Oath-breakers and Father of Undead. Orcus longs for the life and riches of the Astral Wilds and has launched countless undead incursions into the realm of the Demiurge, but thus far the attacks have proven unfruitful.

Like the Wilds, the Gloom is a plane between planes and it has many paths stretching from Midgard to all corners of planes. The souls of the dead all pass through here on their way to their rightful destination, though without a guide they are left lost, wandering, and likely to be ensnared by an undead spirit and bound once again to a coporeal undead body. Spirit shepherds, the headless dullahan, wander the wastes, carrying their skull as a lantern in one hand and staffs of vertebra in other, in search of lost souls to lead home. All but the most vile and powerful undead give these guides plenty of space. Within the many sealed tombs and crypts forgotten riches sit, just waiting for some brave soul to plumb the depths of the horrors and retrieve them. Are you brave enough to raid these lost treasures, adventurer? Are you strong enough to hang onto your own soul?

Spoiler: The Riotous Revelries of Carnival (Holidayscape)

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Carnival is one vast, never-ending party, a realm of fun, silliness, foolishness, indulgence, pleasure, and a general care-free attitude. Feasting, dancing, singing, parades, it has got it all. Carnival is a massive city of incomprehensible size where the revelry never ends overseen by The Carnival King, the King of Fools. The inhabitants of this place, jokers, are widely varied in their elaborate and festive costumes that at times are more than simply costumes. They exist both to have fun themselves and to help everyone else have fun. Flasks of pleasure are the primary means of exchange in Carnival; let the fun times flow!

Spoiler: The Sanctuary Fortress of Lent (Holidayscape)

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The plane of Lent is a singular cathedral on a scale unimaginable. It is a place of piety, seriousness, self-control, discipline, and somberness. The inhabitants of this place spend their time in quiet contemplation, prayer, and partaking in acts of asceticism. There is no laughter here, no gayety, no frivolous words or actions, only stern and serious business. The archons of Lent, beings as awe-inspiring as they are somber, aid the faithful in their tasks within the hallowed walls of Lent under the watchful eye of the Rose Father. Piety by the pound is the most common form of currency accepted within the walls of Lent.

Spoiler: The Spooky Town of Halloween (Holidayscape)

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Halloween is a sprawling rural village without end to its uncanny fields filled with creepy trees, glowing jack-o-lanterns, and spooky sheaves. Halloween is a land of surprise, mischief, whim, whimsy, funny fear, and the sheer chaos caused by innumerable unruly children prancing about in the dark. Every turning of the moon the costumes of the child-like guisers change, keeping the experience every whimsical and fresh. Pranks are common all around, the tricks to go with the treats. Evil actions, however, are frowned upon by Jack the Pumpkin King. Candy corn packed with whimsy in place of sugar is the favorite form of money here. After all, no one actually eats candy corn.

Spoiler: Tir na nog (Mythosverse)

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Tir na nog, Otherworld, the Faerie, the Hedge, the Briar Patch, a place known by many names, a twilight realm between sleeping and waking. Tir na nog appears to be a vast, misty, enchanted forest where everything seems vague and somehow unreal. It overlaps the physical world such that landmarks and man-made objects have woodland analogs. Great hollow trees or caves replace buildings, roads give way to rushing rivers of dark water, cars are replaced with massive boulders thick with lichen and scrawled with strange markings. Faeries frequent the mists of Tir na nog, but these are no tiny, playful creatures. No, the fae are cruel, spiteful creatures that were once mortals that wandered too far into the unknown and were taken, twisted by the surreal environment of the Otherworld. Those are the fortunate. The unfortunate are caught by the Daoine Sidhe, beings that never wore human flesh, and dragged into the Dreamlands where they are subjected to the capricious whims of their captors. It is said that on the high mountain tops of Tir na nog one can evoke the names of the Old Ones to call them up, but few have survived such foolhardy endeavors. Entering Tir na nog is simple enough, simply knock on on any archway or door thrice at twilight and ask aloud, 'May I please come in?'. Leaving, however, can be far more difficult...

Spoiler: FoxTails

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Shadow Kingdom of Orochi
On the Plane of Shadows, about a day's walk from shadow-Inside, is a small kingdom ruled by the eight-headed demon dragon Yamata no Orochi

Near the western border, facing inside, is the famous dragon's castle proper: a large and imposing structure built of inky black stone in the style of the great castle-fortresses of Japan's feudal period. TO the west, the highway to Inside stretches between relatively "tame" lands.

To the north, a wide swath of somewhat sparse forest houses giant spiders which spin the precious shadowsilk. The silk is not adhesive, relying on its strength and the tangled nature of the webs to trap prey. This silk is the main product of the kingdom, collected at some risk by harvesting the webs while taking pains to not harm the spiders.

To the south, shadow analogues of farms quietly provide food for the kingdom.

To the east, the land gradually becomes fallow and fades into the wilds: a dangerous, untamed land of monsters and danger.

[Fenric]

[Wood Elf Village]

"Hot...chili...oil? Not a poison? Hurt enough is right."

Cleo pounces off towards the prisoner, and if he happens to have some dragon claws dig into him, well, that's too bad.

"What are you trying here?"

The shaman is left to his work fixing the dreadful goings-on. Wishing, Please let that work, is all Cleo can contribute.

Ce shakes his head

All I can smell is the oil... I don't think there's anything else.

Meanwhile, the dark elf yelps as the claws dig into his flesh, then scowls at Cleo. But a low rumbling growl from Pi loosens his tongue quite nicely

Mage interdiction: we don't need these peasants learning magic.

That sounds a little too simple, though.

[Lost_Deep]

Realm of Cats

Lee continues on, leaving his glamour hoofprints. For now, there isn't much else to do.

Lee and Cinnamon get to about under the flare! Success?

Realm of Cats

Gwen frowns and makes an annoyed raptor noise as she thinks about the problem. An idea strikes as she starts looking around, trying to find any corners she can maneuver the ball into.

There are suspiciously few dead-ends around here, while there are corners there's always at least one other direction the ball can go. The ball's movements aren't regular, either: They're erratic, less like it's rolling under it's own power and more like it's being kicked or something.

Realm of Cats

Huh. Well then. "Hey momento? Can you try stepping through this hedge? I gotta try something." She asks the little pokemon as she points at the area where the cat disappeared into. She needed to test every theory before she moved on.

Memento makes that noise like a hiccup, walks over, and pushes on the bush a little. It doesn't move. Memento then casually shreds some of the hedge with its psychic powers, making a little Memento-sized hole it can walk through. It then does so.

[Deathkeeper]

Realm of Cats

Lee looks around. What now?
"Tell me if you see anything, Cinnamon. There has to be another clue around here somewhere." he says as he peers at the ground and walls and sky around him.

[Shadowcaller]

Realm of Cats

Dena certainly didn't know that Espurr could learn cut!
Though apparently it can according to bulbapedia...

Either way, success! "Good job!" She praises the pokemon. "But do you think you can make the hole a bit bigger? Gotta get my butt inside there as well."

[Recaiden]

[Wood Elf Village]

"Thank you Ce. There are dangerous things without detectable scents though."

It would have been nicer not to remember that. He's more scared of the tiger than of the dragon? That's downright offensive! And so of course Cleo scowls back. And the claws dig in deeper. Not an intentional try to scare him more, but despite herself, she wants to hurt this elf.

"And that calls for assassins? Keep talking."

[Fenric]

[Wood Elf Village]

"Thank you Ce. There are dangerous things without detectable scents though."

It would have been nicer not to remember that. He's more scared of the tiger than of the dragon? That's downright offensive! And so of course Cleo scowls back. And the claws dig in deeper. Not an intentional try to scare him more, but despite herself, she wants to hurt this elf.

"And that calls for assassins? Keep talking."

The elf winces and gasps a tiny bit before regaining his composure.

Sometimes. In this case, our diviners knew the princes were coming here in the company of someone really important. We're going to kill them and capture her.

[Ionbound]

Realm of Cats

Gwen glares at the defiant ball, frowns, then smiles as an idea strikes her. This stupid maze was designed by cats, right? Maybe she has to pounce on the ball. Which she then attempts, hoping to catch it before it scurries off again.

[Recaiden]

The elf winces and gasps a tiny bit before regaining his composure.

Sometimes. In this case, our diviners knew the princes were coming here in the company of someone really important. We're going to kill them and capture her.

Cleo lets him go, stepping lightly away (which will put pressure on the dark elf for one more painful instant) and shaking her head.

"If you get hungry, Pi, feel free to eat him. We have the petrified two."

She goes back to pace nervously around Keiko and the shaman treating the arrow-wound.

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Sun Ce shakes his head

You thought you were going to kill us?

The elf snorts

Nothing of the sort! Our rangers led Prince Pi to where you were so he would kill you without knowing who you were. The Princess would in turn kill him, and then I was to capture her.

Pi narrows his eyes

Leading Sun Jian to declare war on my father. Well, elf: you have failed utterly and now your life is at an end.

But the elf vanishes: teleported away even as Cao Pi prepares to break his neck. The fact that he brought up Keiko's title is worrying.

Meanwhile... the shaman has been busy with Keiko: the arrow is out and her leg is bandaged. A bulge under the bandage speaks of something inside being pressed against the wound. The unfortunate vixen is still unconscious, though, and the old shaman shakes his head.

The wound is deep and too near the major sources of blood in her leg. I have seen too many times where one such as this seems to recover, only to fall dead once they walk again.

Blood clots... such fun.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"Well, I'll keep from from walking until she can get healing for that. With the arrow gone, and a bit of preparation, that's the sort of thing our magic can fix."

Cleo returns to her human shape and lingers near Keiko. Will she wake up soon? Surely. But then, she was bleeding a good bit. Probably shouldn't do anything much yet. And if something happened with the prisoner, well, they need one to go take a message back anyway, don't they? They can know next time to try to dimensionally lock them.

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Cao Pi and Sun Ce walk back, looking a little sheepish for having lost the prisoner.

The shaman nods

Very well. I imagine she will sleep for a while now...

Ce looks at Keiko thoughtfully

She is a princess?

The notion of a fox princess besides his sister is certainly intriguing to the little Kami.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"Yes. Thank you for helping her."

Cleo looks down at poor Keiko, mouth pressed into a frown, reassuring herself that she'll be fine.

"She is. One of nine princesses of the eight-tailed dragon's Kingdom. And you are a prince?"

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Sun Ce nods

I'm the oldest son of Sun Jian, king of the foxes.

Keiko stirs in her sleep and mumbles incoherently. Cao Pi looks around unhappily

So, these dark elves have been manipulating us and stirring up trouble - doubtless with the aim to make us the easier to conquer when they were ready to do so. As you can see, the people of this village are going to be of little value in facing a deadly enemy: we need to rouse our own people and put an end to this threat!

Ce is less convinced

If they can hide from sight, who is to say they cannot hide from scent as well? We may be just as badly infiltrated in our own homes. The Princess seemed to have a plan, I think we need to wait for her.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"That's like the fourth King of Foxes, now. "

Cleo shakes her head.
"No, if the dark elves are sneaking around your own people, that's all the more reason to go find that out. These people, with teaching ,they can help. Eventually. But as for right now, they're pretty unfit to fight off things like this. We'll need your clan to help right away, but neither of you are fit to save these mountains on your own."

She reaches into a pocket and pulls out a little figurine of a horned four-legged animal, and whispers something, causing it to be replaced by a full-size unicorn. Spindly and spiraling, white as snow, not quite like any proper creature.
"Keiko here has been shot, and we're in too much of a hurry to wait for me to heal her. Would you kindly?"
And it does, leaning down to touch the tip of his horn to the injured ninetails and thoroughly repair the damage, calling on all the power of a distant forest.

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Ce blinks in surprise

Four? There are other fox kings?!

So maybe he's not doomed to marry a cousin after all! This seems to please the little guy.

Pi agrees along with Cleo up until the "not fit" part, which makes him bristle just a bit: the proud tiger is not pleased with being told he is overmatched by an opponent. Sun Ce, however, nods

Come now, Prince Pi: if we could deal with them on our own, we would have already noticed and dealt with their machinations.

Then, Magical Unicorn Healing Adventure! Keiko blinks and sits up woozily

Anybody get the license plate number for that truck?

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"And also kings who are foxes, but not the king of the foxes."

Cleo goes and pats the unicorn on the neck.
"Thank you. I think that will be all for the moment. You would, I'm afraid, trouble the poor elves."
And in another moment she's just holding the unicorn figurine in her hand again.

"Keiko. Do you even have trucks? The number was 'trying to run up and help before we got the arrow out of your leg'. You had me worried."

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Keiko looks at Cleo with mock indignation

Hey! I've lived in Inside for almost two years now!

this fades to a nonplussed sheepishness

I didn't run! It wasn't hurting so bad, so I tried to pull it out... that didn't work so well.

Pi shakes his head

You must never try to remove an arrow yourself, Princess.

Keiko sighs, but doesn't look particularly contrite

Fine, fine. I got it. Sorry I freaked you all out: next time I get shot, I'll just leave it there. Not that I plan to get shot again: it's time to start keeping Protection from Missiles up and running. And where did you get "Princess" from? I didn't say anything about...

She looks like she has more things to say, but a cigar abruptly appears in her hand with a blue ribbon proudly proclaiming "It's a boy!" wrapped around the middle.

Oh. Well... fine.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"Yeah, it wasn't hurting so bad because I'd given you a quick healing spell until we could take it out safely."

But she's smiling, joking, relieved and not particularly mad.

"They got 'princess' from the dark elves at least knowing who we were. One of them told us a bit of their plan, but managed to teleport away. The other two are petrified over that way. And speaking of protection from missiles..."

Cleo replaces the figurine in its pouch and draws a little electronic music player from the opposite pocket - her interface for managing persistent spells. Exploring playlist off, Play Protection from Arrows, Resist Chili Peppers, Darkvision.

"So you're still the youngest daughter. See?"

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Keiko brandishes the cigar

Yeah, yeah. No matter what I pick I'm gonna end up saying it wrong anyway: I've been introducing myself as "youngest of the Ninetails" for a really long time now, even if a bunch of that time doesn't exactly count. At least the court will all be busy now fussing over the new princekit and won't bug me anymore, so that's good.

Cao Pi and Sun Ce are utterly lost over the whole conversation. Keiko ignores them, looks at the cigar, and pulls a face

Smarmy know-it-all Frederick will get to meet him first. I hope Mom makes him babysit.

Finally, for lack of a better idea, she tucks the cigar away into a pouch hanging from her belt and stands up: stretching out her slightly cramped muscles (and providing entertainment for any onlookers as the sheer silk of her blouse leaves little to the imagination)

Ok, who do we visit first: Hu or Huli?

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

Cleo shakes her head with a laugh.

"You think so? They'll be reinterested in all of you!"

Cigars. How weird. She doesn't seem particularly entertained by Keiko's movement, just nodding and pointing out Sun Ce.

"Huli, of course. We met them first, they're also foxes, they're more likely to have misinformation spread by the dark elves already."

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Cao Pi looks similarly un-entertained. Sun Ce is grinning like a naughty schoolboy.

Ok, fox village it is. Goodbye, nature hippie elves: we'll teach you how to be useful later.

She spares a glance for the petrified dark elves, but shrugs and doesn't suggest anything. Pi grumbles at having to go to the fox village, but Ce is quite pleased.

Very good! It's not far: follow me!

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

Cleo gives Sun Ce a mildly disapproving look. But of course she follows.

"And Ce will be grumbling when we go to see the Hu, I'm sure."

She smiles cruelly as they pass by the petrified elves, but doesn't do anything to them. Maybe they have a way to escape from it. But for now, they're just stone.

"How do you all manage to have your village so close to here then?"

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Sun Ce chuckles softly

Just a little bit, yes. Less so in the company of yourself and Princess Keiko.

Keiko snorts

Enough with the title-dropping: I don't introduce myself like that because I don't want the baggage that goes with it, thanks.

Ce shrink down a little.

Sorry. Anyway, to answer the question: when the elves came here and we awoke from our wild state, we tried to be friends with them. Overall, our two societies don't really match up all that well, but we stay near them and are on good terms.

Pi yawns

Where we find them tedious and juvenile, and have little to do with them at all.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"You can call one 'princess' at most once in a conversation."

Cleo laughs and shakes her head.

"Not sure why, if befriending them didn't really work out."

She tries to keep her eyes open. All sorts of terrible things could happen on the way or as they arrive.

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Sun Ce sighs

There's a big gulf between "ideal" and "actual" - we still gain quite a lot from our association, to the point we've started feeling the need to help them

Keiko snorts

Well, yeah! They're elves, for goodness' sake! And it's nothing special to them, so don't listen to any garbage of that sort: you would have woken up as soon as any sentient folk showed up. As Nature spirits, you reflect your environment: as it changes, so do you...

then she looks worried

Oh... crap...

[Lost_Deep]

Realm of Cats

Lee looks around. What now?
"Tell me if you see anything, Cinnamon. There has to be another clue around here somewhere." he says as he peers at the ground and walls and sky around him.

Cinnamon looks around. "I... don't see anything. For that matter, this doesn't seem terribly... catlike."

Realm of Cats

Dena certainly didn't know that Espurr could learn cut!
Though apparently it can according to bulbapedia...

Either way, success! "Good job!" She praises the pokemon. "But do you think you can make the hole a bit bigger? Gotta get my butt inside there as well."

Memento makes a noise, and the hole is ripped wider for Dena to fit through. Easy enough! Even if the hole in the wall is painfully obvious.

Realm of Cats

Gwen glares at the defiant ball, frowns, then smiles as an idea strikes her. This stupid maze was designed by cats, right? Maybe she has to pounce on the ball. Which she then attempts, hoping to catch it before it scurries off again.

She gets closer this time, but it seems to be knocked out from under her. Her body just... isn't proportioned for leaping and pouncing.

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village]

"That's good of you, but don't get carried away with it."
We don't want a weird reversed place where foxes keep elves as pets. That would be just as bad.

Cleo smiles, but then-
"What is it you're worried about? What war will do to the spirits here? Or what'll already have happened?"

[Fenric]

[Elf Village]

Keiko shakes her head

It's the dork elves. I bet the reason they're infiltrating quietly is that they're trying to influence the development of the Kami here - bend them evil. For whatever reason they aren't quite strong enough to outright attack yet... And it's already working: for what the wood elves bring to the table, these guys shouldn't even know the concept of war yet - yet Pi's tribe is not only familiar with the idea, they're actively fighting.

And Ce just said they're already progressed beyond what the wood elves know. That shouldn't be possible this early in their development: they should be solidly behind the wood elves for hundreds of years yet. I'll grant that our records from that long ago aren't very good and our stories are probably full of gaps and misunderstandings, probably even some stuff completely made up... but this feels really wrong.

She shakes her head again

We need to keep an eye out for stuff that doesn't belong. Anachronisms. I dunno how blatant the dark elves would be yet, but I have a bad feeling about the whole thing. If they really are trying to bend this place into a hellish den of evil spirits...

[Recaiden]

[Elf Village -> Fox Village]

"Is it just a matter of there being more of them, or are the dark elves that much more complicated than the villagers back there?"

Cleo shakes her head; not meaning anything in particular by it; but this is all so strange.

"So we can't let that happen, for so many reasons. That means keeping the balance of people here not, uh, completely monstrous? And they will change, more or less. The question is why. Do they just want a place that suits them more? I don't think it matters whether it's intentional or not; it could just be a consequence of their monitoring and sneaking and secret controls and violent plotting. They need to go either way."