Inside 63

[ThirdEmperor]

Spoiler

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[Sarah's Apartment]

Dark wings flutter in the night

As night falls and the moon rises, and the various creatures of the night that inhabit the Nexus wake from their day-sleeps, a very particular bat begins it's flight towards Sarah's apartment. Once the bat reaches the apartment balcony, it lands, and, after a moment, reshapes in the form of Elizabeth, who knocks on the outside door, seeing if Sarah is home.

[Wailing Sirens Disturb the Stygian Night Where Sanguine Wings Flutter in a Wind That Stirs Through Darkened Alleyways and Streets Shrouded in Shadow, Darkly]


The brick face of the apartment complex goes blue, red, blue. Down the street, the sterile halogen glare of the gas station windows has been caved in, glass littering the rainslick asphalt. Little fires burn on the toppled shelves, overwhelmed by the roaring sirens of the cop cars pulled up against the curb. There's an overwhelming smell of cinnamon...

And a serenade of screams.

It is, like the title of this post, very obnoxious and hard to ignore.

[Recaiden]

[Bubbled Sewer]

There is a human term for it. This is my hive, and I am its mind.
The first demon leads Sarah on. A dim green bioluminescence starts to light the place, further in. Reflective red eyes watch her, here and there, in pairs or clusters of five.
You grew into it. We can use someone like you. Bring you, and us, closer to Perfection. Do you want to help?

There's something big moving up ahead, a patch of darkness slightly darker than the background. Or is it lighter? Did it uncover those tiny spots of light, or are they moving with it?

[Ionbound]

[Bubbled Sewer]

Sarah pauses as she listens to the voice's offer, almost haltingly afraid of what it might mean. Then she thinks about anything she has going for her in her life, and shakes her head, replying as she continues to follow the little demon towards the large...Thing... I...I'll help you. What do you want me to do?

Obnoxiously Dark and Gothic Title Here

As Bat-Elizabeth flutters past the crime scene, she winces at the loud noises, then battishly frowns. When she lands on Sarah's balcony, she shifts back to human form, and knocks, sounding rather urgent, hoping she wouldn't have to intervene on something happening by herself.

[Recaiden]

Find others like you

The thing skitters forward, and Sarah can probably tell it's the source of the voice. Very tall. Even longer. Twirling horns, twitching tentacles. She can clearly see only a hand extended towards her. Three clawed fingers offer a porcelain teacup to Sarah.
Drink. Become one of us.
The cup contains mostly muk, with a little bit of mutagenic spores and coffee mixed in. Good for you, but seriously hazardous to continued 'being-a-human'.

[Fenric]

[MagMart #621 Parking Lot]

The vampiress licks her lips of the remnants of her meal as she watches the fox change, then smiles and and says to the newborn vampire, "Welcome to the night, dear. What's your name? I figure we should at least get to know each other."

The newly-minted Kumiho straightens up and regards the vampire cooly. His voice is low and gravelly

Spare your emotional platitudes for the mortals so weak as to believe them. You may call me Drak, and unless we move swiftly then precious little time remains to us: the vampire hunters from the temple were trained on the Demiplane of Dread itself, and are among the most skilled in all the multiverse.

His expression darkens somewhat

And were you not now my greatest weakness, I would immobilize you and leave you to their tender ministrations in "gratitude" for your work.

---

[Carrie's Room]

Alas. They finally noticed that she was gone.
Becoming the very image of a slightly troublesome student of magic, Arlem paces along the halls somewhere else. Doesn't matter where. The celestial could have had any number of reasons to stay or ways to get distracted.
But for now, it's best to find the door out and follow the map. He can always backtrack here if nothing more likely turns up.

Leaving the school, the map now leads Arlem on a winding path past several of the treacherous parks of Inside, with the last being the infamous Park Park favored by agents of DART.

[Morty]

[Public Library]

Fayyaad has spent the better part of a day digging through archives and records in one of Inside's libraries. He's looking for two names: Mithras and Boudica. The alleged trickster god who convinced him to look for them didn't provide a lot of information, so he's trying to pinpoint just who he's looking for. He's focusing on violent and tragic events, given their supposed nature and goals.

[Murkus]

[Park of Seasons]

Well, I asumed that Adir isn't running around with a loaded and unlocked rifle. So i thought it's still in his truck.
"They don't even exist." Zefir replies and takes a deep breath befor he steps out of the hiding spot.

The gnome immediatly spots him and makes the others aware of his appereance. The mages turns to them and line up. Zefir walks over to them, assumign Adir is right behind him.

"Didn't we tell you to come alone?" the purple robed figure in the middle asks as they reach hearing range.

"That's the deer person I told you" the woman in the blue robe says. "He was the one with the communication device. I guess he's his minion."

The purple robed man turns to the womaan with a nod then turns to Adir. "Why are you here? Is it your own desire to be here?"

[Park of Seasons]

Adir isn't carrying a rifle, thankfully. He's got a pistol hidden on him.

He seems a little offended at being called a minion, and he frowns when the purple man addresses him. "Sure is. I'm his friend, not his minion."

[Ionbound]

[Bubbled Sewer]

Sarah swallows as she looks at the cup, then shakes her head, dispelling any anxiety, and takes it, drinking the muk-concoction deeply as she thinks, I...I can't believe I'm doing this, but...Yes...I'll become like you...

[MagMart #621 Parking Lot]

The vampiress frowns at Drak, and mutters very quietly, almost thought, "I bet you were so much fun at parties..." then nods and says, "The Demi-Plane of Dread, huh...Wow. Inari takes this stuff seriously. I agree, we should go. Name's Serra, by the way." And then her voice takes a hard cast, unlike anything that she's sounded like before, as she continues, "And you ever threaten me again, or raise a finger to me, it will be the last mistake you ever regret. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it. Do not mistake my demeanor for weakness."

[Recaiden]

[Bubbled Sewer]

The stuff tastes terrible. But oddly delicious at the same time.
Changes will start. It might just take a few painful seconds, or it might take a month. How exactly she starts to change varies, but it will make Sarah more of whatever she is. Tough skin and tentacles are likely. If it takes her longer than a minute, worker demons will come to carry her away and wrap her up in a nice cuddly chrysalis.

[Carrie's Room=>Park Park]

Tsk, tsk. Did no one tell the spiders how dangerous the parks are!? If DART were still around, they would probably have problems with both celestials and giant spiders, much less the two in combination.

Arlem decides, given the danger, that the best thing to do is to stroll through the park, casing the place (if a bit hastily).

[Ionbound]

[Bubbled Sewer]

After the first few sips, which she retches at, Sarah gets accustomed to the taste, and drinks deeply from the cup, draining it in one more gulp. She then wobbles slightly and passes out, providing no resistance after a minute when the worker demons come to take her and put her in a chrysalis, signs of mutation already showing in thickening skin taking a greyish-purplish hue and fingers already sharpening into claws.

Within the chrysalis, the truly drastic changes to Sarah's body and mind begin. Her skin thickens and hardens, becoming a purple-grey and chitinous carapace. Her fore and middle fingers merge, as do her ring and pinky fingers, hands changing to three finger claws, still capable of gripping things. Her legs become digitigrade, toes gaining claws as well, though her toes remain in the same number. The most drastic changes, however, occur to her face and head, lower jaw splitting into two mandibles, teeth shifting into two fangs, tongue becoming long and rounded.

But in her mind, rather than hideous mutation, the image is more like a flower blooming. Connections that has the possibility to grow through training but were never reinforced grow in a flash, greatly enhancing the nascent demon's psionic abilities. Where once she had a simple, small bubble of psionic invisibility, now she has the ability to grow or shrink it at well, or generate a telekinetic pulse to push those out she would rather not have inside. And in addition to the bubble, she gains telepathic abilities, able to read the minds of others and mentally communicate, as well as scan them for possible latent or active psionic abilities.

Hours later, her changes are complete, and the newborn demon begins pushing her way out of her chrysalis and re-entering the world.

[Recaiden]

[Bubbled Sewer]

As she starts to push her way out, spidery worker demons are there to help Sarah back out into the world. She should be able to see more clearly in the dark now, seeing their wide spindly shapes peeling back the shell and offering one of their massive crushing claws to take her hand and help her to her feet. Further, one can feel their minds, simple solid things that are nevertheless eager to help their adopted sister.

There are minds all around - the dim plantlike awareness of the creep beneath their feet (which no longer moves away from Sarah, recognizing her), the tiny barely-animal awareness of the little three-tentacled cleaning-demon as they scoot here and there, the curious psi-sensitive minds of the scouts that brought her here. All connected by solid chains of thought to the owner of that voice she heard, can now hear clearly, the towering demon queen.
Awaken, my child, and see your new home. We have much to talk about.

[Ionbound]

[Bubbled Sewer]

Sarah smiles as she lets the workers help her emerge from the chrysalis, standing unsteadily on new feet, but quickly getting her new balance. Her smile widens as she feels the minds of her new hive, lower jaw splitting slightly as she listens to the queen's words, looking around the area with slitted, violet eyes. She nods, and starts walking towards the queen, replying, Yes, my queen...I thank you for taking me into your hive. What do we need to talk about?

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street]

It takes a little while. Probably an hour or so of pensive silence and any queries of 'did you find her yet?' answered in the negative. But eventually, one of the little pixie drakes gives his wings a buzz.

"I found her! I think. She looks like she's in a pretty bad way, though. And scratched up," Drake says as the members of his little swarm begin darting off to the north before zipping back over to the gal looking for her friend. "She's over in Dunwich Park. And it looks like she's been wandering in circles. Do you want me to lead you to her?"

That's a silly question, Drake.

That's why she asked for your help to begin with.

"Okay, yeah, dumb question. Follow me! I'll make sure you don't lose sight of me."

And with that?

Off the little swarm goes.

[Zefir]

[Park of Seasons]

Adir isn't carrying a rifle, thankfully. He's got a pistol hidden on him.

He seems a little offended at being called a minion, and he frowns when the purple man addresses him. "Sure is. I'm his friend, not his minion."

[Park of Seasons]

The robed figures don't seem to care if it offended him or not.

"As far as we know him, he would have killed your kind rather then 'be friend'" The green robed gnome says.

"Oh quit it." Zefir replies "We are not here to talk things out, or do you Adir?" he says and turns a bit to him.

[Fenric]

[MagMart #621 Parking Lot]

The vampiress frowns at Drak, and mutters very quietly, almost thought, "I bet you were so much fun at parties..." then nods and says, "The Demi-Plane of Dread, huh...Wow. Inari takes this stuff seriously. I agree, we should go. Name's Serra, by the way." And then her voice takes a hard cast, unlike anything that she's sounded like before, as she continues, "And you ever threaten me again, or raise a finger to me, it will be the last mistake you ever regret. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it. Do not mistake my demeanor for weakness."

Drak snorts, utterly unimpressed by Serra's counter-threat, but already the mixed rumble and whine of a large turbocharged diesel engine can be heard rapidly approaching.

As entertaining as exchanging unpleasantries is, time has run out!

He shifts abruptly into a mangy and wretched-looking fox, and darts off at an astonishing pace.

---

[Carrie's Room=>Park Park]

Tsk, tsk. Did no one tell the spiders how dangerous the parks are!? If DART were still around, they would probably have problems with both celestials and giant spiders, much less the two in combination.

Arlem decides, given the danger, that the best thing to do is to stroll through the park, casing the place (if a bit hastily).

The most lawful of parks is as tidy and orderly as ever. And by some miracle, there is a distinct lack of be-sunglassed people in expensive, dark gray suits today. Unfortunately, the fastidious nature of the place means that there are no signs of much of anything to be seen: any disruption to the perfect order of the place is corrected nearly instantly by miscellaneous minor spirits.

[Recaiden]

[Bubbled Hive]

"Our place in this universe, our goals, your calling."
The area Sarah is looking around is cozy. Claustrophobic, perhaps. Not terribly large, is the point. Behind her are a pair of rounded cocoon not completely unlike what she came out of, the demons within still taking on their new shape. A cluster of tubes and teeth and tentacles protrudes from the nearest wall - a living structure that's the heart of this place. Sarah should simply know that it's meant to be bigger, and has no room to grow. The minuscule cleaning-demons slither all around, breaking down the empty chrysalis. On the far side of the chamber is a faintly glowing pool of liquid demonic energy, with a few sleeping scout demons on its edge.

"Your talent revolves around remaining hidden, safe. To pass unseen is a great advantage. You should gather other humans like yourself."
The queen shifts on her six legs to face Sarah.
"There are many dangers. Many intelligent beings will not wish to be perfected. There are others gives of us, but foreign, with mad ideas on what we ought to be. There are monsters that possess the same spiritual energy that transformed us, but without pure essence."

[Park Park]

This place is terrible. Clean, yes, but so precisely organized. Terrible.
Arlem scowls during the walk, getting quicker and quicker. What a sad imitation of a green place.

Okay, next on the map?
Can't get there quick enough.

[Mee]

Red Zone Parking Garage

(Closed Scene)

Uninhabited buildings actually aren't that common around Inside. They tend to either become an impromptu shelter, or they disappear entirely, to make room for whatever thing the Nexus decides it wants in that spot next. In this case, a parking garage has been dragged into the city, along with its inhabitants.

A woman dashes in between cars, dodging plasma fire before taking cover behind a van. Rather than the rifle on her back, she draws the pistol on her hip and crouches low, glancing out at her pursuers. The sight of the green-armored biped gorillas closing in on her is enough to make her duck back into cover and tighten her grip on her weapon as her breath quickens. "Okay, you just need to get some distance, find a signal and call for evac. It can't be that hard, right?" Another bolt of plasma whizzes by the van, making her yelp and take another mad dash for another vehicle.

Parking Garage

Naku, who had been just trying to enjoy her nightly run in peace, hears the plasma fire and blinks. Sure sounds like weapons. Naku runs off in the direction of the fire, the sound filling her with determination.

She arrives at the garage a few moments later, sprinting at the wall. She leaps at the wall, kicks off of it, and flings herself up the outside onto the second floor, where the plasma fire had been happening. At some point during her jump, her katana materialized in her hand, and she calls out to the green gorilla things.
"Hey! What are you doing?" She asks, as two dozen shadow swords come into existence behind her. They're all perfect replicas of her own katana, just made of solidified shadow, and a dozen to either side symmetrically over her shoulders. Her own blade is held low, tip just off the ground, as she faces the gorilla-things.

[Murkus]

[Park of Seasons]

"Wh-- Do I what?" Adir asks back, seeming confused. "I'm still not even sure what we're all doing here."

[Zefir]

[Park of Seasons]

"I meant past things." Zefir corrects himself. It's just like he has missed a word while talking. "Either way, if he is here or not shouldn't matter, unless the reason I'm here is different from what you told me. So what is it you wanted me here."

"Well, straith to the point it is." the purple robed figure says.
"We warned you antler man." The gnome adds. "Just saying."

"You don't really know us and that's not really a suprise. after all we never met in our homeworld. Still we know much about you, since you have made yourself a name back home. Not really in a pleasent way. You where known as an assasin back then and to make things quick, we would like you to continue that work, but this time your going to work for us."

"What if I refuse your 'kind' request?"

"In that case, we might need to make sure you can't work for the other side ever again." the purple robed man says.

The other mages start moving slowly to surround Adir and Zefir, while he is thinking about an answer. He looks at Adir, not sure if he is still with him.

[Fenric]

[Spider Tracking]

And at length Arlem is led back to the technicolor insanity of Carousel Court. Here at last he gets a clear lead: yes, a cute fuzzy spider had been there! She hung around with the new guy a lot.

[Recaiden]

[Spider Tracking]

"The new guy?"
This seems like great news! And this is a great place, if silly. So brightly colored! So many curious creatures.
"But where has she gone now?"

[Fenric]

[Carousel Court Revisited]

Yes, one of the exotic ponies from the crystal kingdom! A purple crystal pony named Deep Reflections.

Actually... neither he or the spider have been seen for nearly a week, now that they think of it...

[Recaiden]

[Carousel Court Revisited]

They have some idea what he looks like. A mark like an Ioun Stone?
And they disappeared together...? Well, the supposition had been that something terrible happened to their spider. This is just evidence.

Arlem inquires about where Deep Reflections had been staying. Perhaps he can pick up a trace of where they've gone.

[Fenric]

[Carousel Court Revisited]

The ponies don't know what an Ioun stone is... he did have an even darker purple crystal for his cutie mark

Arlem is led to a small cottage not far from Izanami's house. Residues of Anak's psychic signature are all over the place around here, decaying only slowly and obscuring any signs of whether or not this Deep Reflections might be him.

The cottage is clean and tidy... and a trifle anonymous: there's a distinct lack of personal effects. No photos, keepsakes, weird crystal plants, or other homey touches one might normally expect.

[Recaiden]

[Carousel Court - Anonymous and Tidy]

Nothing and nothing. Arlem looks through the cottage slowly and deliberately. Is there any indication that anyone even lived here? Perhaps a hair of spider-fur, lying in a corner somewhere? Yes, the dragon king was here, but long ago, and it's still ringing from the fight and his vile spells. It will probably stay this noisy for a good while.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens Park]

Nexus' taste can be fickle at times. It was apparently tired of having just another alabaster apartment building in this place about this time last month, and decided a little greenery could do the residents of Skyway some good. The park, with its perfectly cut crystal spire fences and lush trees and bushes was a welcome relief from the austere chrome and white walls typical of Skyway. Unfortunately, Nexus' fickle taste is about to strike once more...

The morning sun darkens as a roiling purple cloud forms over Crystal Gardens Park. A moment later, a flash of lightning rips a hole through space-time, perpendicular to the ground, as a black-armored humanoid comes flying through the portal backwards, obviously having been thrown by an impact of great force. It slams into the lush, green grass once, and bounces up, rolling pell-mell through the air for a split second, before bouncing down once again to slam into one of the park's iconic crystal spires. The portal roils as a sheet of flame and smoke spews from it, before it explodes with a tremendous bang, showering the being that just came through with purple lightning before dissipating.

As the dust clears, onlookers can see that the new arrival is a platinum blonde woman in high-tech armor. Her hair is long, a thick braid laying roughly over her shoulder as she lies on her back, resting against the now cratered-in spire. The armor itself is black, trimmed around the breastplate in blue, with gold accents on the slim gauntlets. The pauldrons are rather large and vaguely hexagonal, with what appear to be panels set in the front of each. The boots and greaves are integrated together, with blue trim on the black armor, and multiple small nozzles and vents on the back side and at the ankles. She is held out slightly by the backpack of her armor, which has still more thruster nozzles mounted to it. Despite the force of her impact, the armor seems little more than scraped in places. Her hands, still clenched, even in unconciousness, each hold what appears to be a rather large, high-tech blaster with a square barrel. Violet lightning from the portal races over her body for a moment, then dissipates. Her head lolls, and finally thunks back against the pillar as she cracks one deep blue eye and groans.

"Urgh...ow...wha...."

She sits quiet for a few minutes, dazedly looking up through one eye as the dust around her clears.

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway- Crystal Gardens Park

Within two minutes, a great leonine shape glides down from the morning air. Its body is coated in a sleek suit of black and grey armormesh weave, though its wide black wings and the feathery fan of its tail are left exposed. A sleek pistol is strapped to its shoulder and a heavier rifle sits in a harness between its wings. The griffin's claws make very little noise as it lands on the busted street and pads over to the fallen woman. The mask of its full helmet folds down into its collar, leaving only a normal military helmet and goggles to cover the avian face looking at her. It has surprisingly human looking green eyes.
"Hello, Ma'am. Can you hear me? " asks the griffin, strangely with the voice of a perfectly normal human man in his late twenties.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens Park]

She blinks, both eyes this time, data flowing through her field of vision. She misses the griffin's aerial approach as her mind slowly, automatically tallies damage reports from her body's subsystems. His words a few minutes later seem to wake her, though. She rolls her head down and shakes it slightly, clearing alerts from her internal HUD, before looking to the griffin. She blinks in surprise, before finding her voice.

"Er, hello. Yes, I can hear you." She sits forwards slightly and blinks, shaking her head again, as though she doesn't quite believe her eyes. "Wh...where -am- I?"

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway- Crystal Garden Park

"Crystal Gardens, Skyway, City of Inside. You're, ah, new to our city, aren't you Ma'am?" asks the griffin knowingly, sitting up onto his haunches.
"Are you injured?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens Park]


"...City of Inside?" She cringes for a moment, as though some has hit her in the head, releasing one of her pistols to wipe her face with her hand.


"Oh, I get it now...yeah, I'm, er, new here." She blinks hard again, and shakes her head a final time, clearing it. "I've been hit harder. Auto-repair is working already. I think the...transfer...may have scrambled a few circuits here and there, but nothing that won't be fixed in an hour or two." She wipes her face again, and flips her braid back over her shoulder, mumbling to herself. "...said contact with an open portal would be deadly...stupid Mavs not knowing what they're messing with..."

She reaches over and picks up the weapon she let go of earlier, pulling her legs in and under her, then uses the spire behind her to steady herself as she gets to her feet. Once she's steady, she turns back to the griffin, as both of her weapons' barrels retract into themselves and certain panels move, making them more compact. She makes a holstering motion, and the weapons seem to attach themselves to her hips. She seems more aware now, more awake.

"I take it arrivals like mine are...common here?"