Serious Plots 6: Srs bsns

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

Spako nods and takes flight again, going slow so Cleo can follow him. He has many questions about what she just said but she doesn't seem to want to talk about it, so he won't press her. He wouldn't want to make her feel bad before it's even been one day. What a terrible record that would be.

[Recaiden]

Oh. Well if he's just going to start flying again...
Cleo jumps, pulls her feet in close, and flies off after him, silently slipping up through the air with no apparent means of propulsion. There is a song, but it's silent. Most wouldn't notice it. Huh. Flying isn't so bad. Just like riding a bicycle, right? (No, you do forget, and this is kind of terrifying)

Now, where's he going?

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

Whoops. Spako had simply assumed that Cleo, master wizard that she is, would either be one of those dragons that could fly naturally or magic herself into the air. He'd feel bad for scaring her.

Either way, he'll touch down where he saw the hole.
"So...yeah. The stream was about a minute's walk that way, if you were interested in that."

[Recaiden]

Well, he was right. She can magic herself into the air. But usually doesn't.

Upon closer inspection, this hole appears to be a natural formation that doesn't lead anywhere interesting. But there is a rather neat ring of mushrooms around it.

Cleo takes a deep breath upon landing.

"Stream couldn't hurt. I think it was crossed on the way out from town, though where I couldn't say."

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

Spako doesn't really know the first thing about fairies and so misses the cultural association with fairy rings.
"Okay. So what's in this cave we're looking for anyway?" he asks, leading her to the stream next unless she comments at the hole some.

[Morty]

[The Nightmare]

Wenomir's punched, unable to avoid the blow after overextending himself in his attack. He's unable to stop the Demon Hunter from disengaging, and he takes a second or two to recover from being struck.

[FireFox]

Spoiler: Last round

Show

[The Daughters of Mother Nature - Upstairs]

It's really out there somewhere, painstakingly built from someone else's nightmares and only copied here by the shapeshifter. Of course, the cultist doesn't know that, and probably wouldn't be comforted if he did.

Now, the weapon isn't immediately familiar to Arlem. He certainly couldn't name it so quickly. So he wastes one of those seconds figuring it out. Hmm. Like 'this side up' on a package. But one certainly wouldn't want 'for enemy' pointed towards them whatever the case, and by the time he recognizes the mine for what it is specifically, he's already ducking and rolling down to the corner between the door and the floor, curled up and transforming back to the somewhat smaller human shape he had before. Less of a target.

Downstairs?

Quinn's player assumed it had gone out by that point!

"Here, let me help with that." Quinn reaches out and goes to Lay On Hands on Rein's tail.

How lewd.

When they reach downstairs, she's halfway down the staircase, frowning at the rotted wood, when BOOM! above them.

...and she doesn't hesitate, spinning around to start running back up the stairs, sword drawn.

Carrie doesn't like what he's doing. She doesn't like it at all. She objects most strongly, and unfortunately, her objection is conveyed with a good crack across the back of the head with her hammer-dahu.

She's lucky not to be in the hallway when the claymore goes off, but that doesn't stop some of the bearings from scything across her armor. This makes her even less happy, and her discordant shriek sends a bowel-knotting judder down the boards and foundations of the house. Any glass not yet broken is likely to leave the realm of unshattered objects, or at least hum itself to a cracked mess.

[First Floor -> Second Floor]

Rein puts up with Quinn's lewdness just this once. Not that he has the time to properly deal with the perverted paladin. Somebody's making an awful mess of this house, up to and including, acid, explosions, and glass shattering screams. He has to carefully dodge the brief influx of falling debris, slightly more dangerous to him than Quinn, he's sure. Still, better to have to deal with the fallout than whatever caused that mess in the first place.

Which doesn't make the prospect of going upstairs to the cause of all this very enticing. More of a necessity really, as he darts up ahead of Quinn, careful to keep from getting underfoot. He could try to remind these people this is a rescue mission or he could get in front of this thing and try to minimize the collateral damage before everything looks like the foyer does. Especially since the cat is not sure he could even hear anyone else anymore after that shriek. So it's time to try to rush to the end goal.

((Since Linda is outside the building working on objectives independently, I'm going to skip over Fenric for this round and hopefully catch him up when he can post next.))

[Second Floor]

Arlem's vantage point gives the best view into the room after the claymore knocks the door off its hinges. In the corner opposite him an adult woman dressed in the same militia style tactical gear as the last few men crouches with a shiny revolver aimed in the direction of the room's entrance. She's too busy flinching still, even after the smoke clears, to see him just yet. Her thoughts are probably the "loudest" to the mindreader right now, mostly about how she's totally going to ambush the first sucker to walk in with her enchanted pistol and save her Goddess' children that she's been entrusted to protect.

Carrie's scream damages just about everything left in this house that hasn't been already broken. Except in the room at the end of the hall. The powerful sound is magically dampened with a divine spell, like holding a pillow over a crying baby's face. If she steps out into the hall after the dust settles, after she brains the mook and knocks him out before he can pull the pin on a grenade, she'll have the next best view.

Reinholdt and Quinn have the worst view of the room at the end, with around 50 feet and potentially the heads of the two others between them and the person who stands in the middle of the room. But they're the ones most likely to see what the others don't all the same. To recognize parts of that face. To see the family resemblance she bears to Tony and Kevin.

A young woman stands defiant in the center of the last room in this murder mansion. Behind her is a solid wall of ice sealing off half of the room with the bed. It's one of those stupidly extravagant four poster deals with room for everyone and all their friends. Three people are on it now, but they're only taking up a fraction of the surface area. Someone slender and clad in what looks like black leather is lying immobile, tied up with rope and even bound magically. Two young elf girls dressed in white robes kneel on either side of their captive, heads bowed in prayer. The first lady, not the hiding cultist but the one all but inviting the rescue mission to take their best shot, is clad in full plate without a helmet and bears a rectangular shield decorated to look like the trunk of a huge oak tree. She holds a plain wooden baton in her right hand and points it down the hall as she makes her challenge. Murdering agents of the Betrayer, the fallen Druid, I doubt not your courage nor your competency. But your invasion of our home ends now. What threat were we to you? Is our family's happiness so hated by your master that he must poison all of it he can find? Leave. Now. Let me take my beloved sister, lost these so many years, back to our Mother. Try to interfere and I will bring you with, to be properly educated alongside her. Once you learn subservience the other lessons will quickly follow. I am Volesa Sciano, Knight Commander in Eternal Service to the Holy and Just Guardian Order of Boudica Resurgent. If you're determined to massacre my family, you'll have to go through me next.

[Recaiden]

[The Daughters of Mother Nature - Upstairs]

Zealot. Enchanted gun. Smoke cover. Bad combination.
"Lord of war, steel."
Arlem rolls up, stands, and steps into the room smoothly, brandishing his knife (like a cross, in a manner completely unconducive to cutting anyone) towards the loud-thinking militiawoman. A broad hail of conjured metal spikes speed towards her from just outside his grip. It works for fighting giant faerie snake-monsters, surely it will do something to a mere human.

"Despite what that may have looked like, we're not here to massacre anyone. This is a rescue mission."
"I must admit that I've never heard of the 'Holy and Just Guardian Order of Boudica Resurgent' and honestly it sounds like- well, perhaps you could slow down a bit and explain?"

[Forest]

"That's what we're going to find out!"
Cleo follows along. Once at the stream she slips back into human shape -perhaps it'll jog a memory - and hops over the flowing water a few times. Over, and back, and over. Was this the place?

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

Spako blinks, letting Cleo....what exactly is she doing, he wonders.
"Uh, anything?" he asks her.

[The Bushranger]

[Second Floor][/B]

Spoiler

Show

Arlem's vantage point gives the best view into the room after the claymore knocks the door off its hinges. In the corner opposite him an adult woman dressed in the same militia style tactical gear as the last few men crouches with a shiny revolver aimed in the direction of the room's entrance. She's too busy flinching still, even after the smoke clears, to see him just yet. Her thoughts are probably the "loudest" to the mindreader right now, mostly about how she's totally going to ambush the first sucker to walk in with her enchanted pistol and save her Goddess' children that she's been entrusted to protect.

Carrie's scream damages just about everything left in this house that hasn't been already broken. Except in the room at the end of the hall. The powerful sound is magically dampened with a divine spell, like holding a pillow over a crying baby's face. If she steps out into the hall after the dust settles, after she brains the mook and knocks him out before he can pull the pin on a grenade, she'll have the next best view.

Reinholdt and Quinn have the worst view of the room at the end, with around 50 feet and potentially the heads of the two others between them and the person who stands in the middle of the room. But they're the ones most likely to see what the others don't all the same. To recognize parts of that face. To see the family resemblance she bears to Tony and Kevin.

A young woman stands defiant in the center of the last room in this murder mansion. Behind her is a solid wall of ice sealing off half of the room with the bed. It's one of those stupidly extravagant four poster deals with room for everyone and all their friends. Three people are on it now, but they're only taking up a fraction of the surface area. Someone slender and clad in what looks like black leather is lying immobile, tied up with rope and even bound magically. Two young elf girls dressed in white robes kneel on either side of their captive, heads bowed in prayer. The first lady, not the hiding cultist but the one all but inviting the rescue mission to take their best shot, is clad in full plate without a helmet and bears a rectangular shield decorated to look like the trunk of a huge oak tree. She holds a plain wooden baton in her right hand and points it down the hall as she makes her challenge. Murdering agents of the Betrayer, the fallen Druid, I doubt not your courage nor your competency. But your invasion of our home ends now. What threat were we to you? Is our family's happiness so hated by your master that he must poison all of it he can find? Leave. Now. Let me take my beloved sister, lost these so many years, back to our Mother. Try to interfere and I will bring you with, to be properly educated alongside her. Once you learn subservience the other lessons will quickly follow. I am Volesa Sciano, Knight Commander in Eternal Service to the Holy and Just Guardian Order of Boudica Resurgent. If you're determined to massacre my family, you'll have to go through me next.

Quinn wonders why 'Boudicia' sounds vaguely familiar, but as Arlem speaks up, the paladin simply sets her feet, her eyes following the young woman as she frowns, sword in one hand, the other held ready should she need to make a quick casting...and she waits for an answer.

[Ashen Lilies]

[The Nightmare]

Noticing that the bear is currently posturing defensively, the Demon Hunter picks his target and decides to press his advantage back into Wenomir, stepping forward and attempting to strike him with an overhead chop.

[Reinholdt]

[Second Floor]

It can be difficult seeing what's going on at such a low angle. Being deaf makes things worse, which is a shame cause he can appreciate an adversary who knows how to pronounce themselves. Too many these days are worried about super pragmatism and are just plain boring.

Once he moves forward and gets through the smoke, Rein stops. There's a lot of ice there, probably magical. He could melt it quickly, but the price to do so would be extremely high and the worst of his bad plans. More importantly though, is Volesa which causes him to gasp. "Holy Civ! Tony! Guys, that's Tony! What'd they do to... I call time out. Ten minutes, no fighting." It seems unlikely, but they haven't murdered each other in the last five seconds, so maybe they can last five hundred and ninety five more. Well technically Arlem just attempted murder. *resets the time since last attempted murder sign to zero*

It seems more logical to Reinholdt that Tony's assassination was faked or he was raised from the dead, kidnapped, genderbent, and brainwashed than the idea Tony and Volesa might just be related. No. It's definitely the former.

[Recaiden]

"It's changed a lot. This didn't used to run down to a waterfall at all, the way it does now. But I think I know the way from here."

Cleo nods and leads the way towards the one nearby feature Spako didn't mention, those small hills.

[Beans]

[Upstairs]

Carrie would like to shut this girl up. This pompous girl standing between them and Kyne, what right does she have to stand there, or breathe, or be anything other than pulp and fragments?
But Rein's words at least delay her fury. If discussion will get it over with sooner, that's fine too---but if they have to fight, she'll gladly fight.
For now, she contents herself with letting her eyes flick over Volesa, bitter and cold.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

"How long ago was this?" Spako asks as he follows Cleo. He can't tell if the Nexus is being the Nexus or Cleo is just that old.

[Recaiden]

"Hmm."
Cleo turns back to her natural dragon shape, easy as slipping off a coat.
"For me it's been, ah, twenty-nine years? Somewhere around there. Here, it may have been much longer. In a way. Or less, I suppose."

By the time they arrive, the beetles seem to have retreated. Cleo goes to one of the hillocks and at the touch of her claw the plants and dirt slide away, revealing the buried stone underneath, once smooth and circular, now rough and broken.
"Yeah, here we are. Look around; it shouldn't be hard to find."

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

Spako nods and holds his sceptre in front of him like a metal detector. He draws an Air rune with its tip, causing air to be attracted to the rod. He's hoping that if he waves it around enough he'll find the covered-up entrance they're looking for when the air from the cave gets sucked towards him.

[Morty]

[The Nightmare]

Wenomir has no time to properly defend himself from his current stance. Only his quick reflexes save him from having his head cracked open like a melon. He ducks and twists his body backwards, making a half-step, which manages to turn the attack into a graze to the side of his head. He's still on his back foot, and will be in trouble unless Anika intervenes.

[Recaiden]

The dowsing vacuum will soon uncover a gap behind two of the overgrown pillars. Brushing aside the greenery there reveals the opening to a deep dark cave, crudely carved but clearly not a natural formation. This is the place!

[Deathkeeper]

Forest

"It's here!" Spako declares, heading inside.
"So what happened to you here?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

"I almost but did not quite die. And I saw something inexplicable. I'm afraid I can't tell you more. Inexplicable. Literally."
Cleo follows him in. The gem between her horns starts to glow, casting the place in dawn-light.

Inside, it's the sort of place that sets your teeth and bones on-edge, like a room covered with too much tile.
The floor is clean - water or many feet sweep away the dust regularly. Probably both. Boulders jut out here and there, where whatever shaped this place didn't bother clearing them or was afraid of disturbing the stones above. Distantly, water can be heard dripping.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest Cave

Spako shakes his head and draws the little tube that was on his belt.
"Should've brought my scarf." he grumbles, shaking his sceptre which causes the little orb to orbit the head, glowing warmly.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Nightmare]

Noticing that the bear is currently posturing defensively, the Demon Hunter picks his target and decides to press his advantage back into Wenomir, stepping forward and attempting to strike him with an overhead chop.

[The Nightmare]

Wenomir has no time to properly defend himself from his current stance. Only his quick reflexes save him from having his head cracked open like a melon. He ducks and twists his body backwards, making a half-step, which manages to turn the attack into a graze to the side of his head. He's still on his back foot, and will be in trouble unless Anika intervenes.

[The Nightmare]

Anika falls forward and attempts to ram Evilomir in the back with her head as her momentum carry her forward as she can't quite reach him with her paws.

[Recaiden]

"Are you cold, or is it special?" Either because of its scarf powers or because it has personal significance to Spako, really.

Going around the first bend in the cave, there's a raised ledge which, unlike the cave floor, is covered in dust. There's a discarded pocketwatch lying in the dust. Very nice, but long-ago run down. You can also see small cut marks in the stone, slashed randomly or unintentionally.

Down, and inland, one might hear the skittering feet of more of those giant beetles. Was Spako's family the sort to raise giant arthropods and ride them into battle? Either way, these ones are not tame.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest Cave

Spako's clan didn't have any animals, though Spako has a pack lizard nowadays.
Spako picks up the watch. Shiny.
"Cold." he mutters to answer the question.

[Recaiden]

Cleo didn't bring a blanket to give to the poor cold kobold.

The next thing of interest they come upon is a door. Large and wide and made of stone. Runes and carved curves show that it was once enchanted to stay tightly-closed. But these days it's cracked and weathered, full of holes, with the floor underneath it worn down. Anyone could get through.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest Cave

"Well, just let me know if we're going the right way..." Spako muses as he pushes his way through the door and onwards.

[Recaiden]

Cleo doesn't tell him that she wouldn't know if they were going the right way or not.

She follows him through the broken door.

On the other side one finds a large, formerly rectangular, thoroughly ruined room with a staircase at the far end and a fixture overhead where lights once hung. The space contains easily a dozen upset giant beetles, waggling their antennae and clicking their mandibles at the intruders. The closest one, perhaps the angriest, charges at Spako, jaws snapping.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest Cave

Spako moves smoothly, swinging his hand with the little crystal tube around and flicking his wrist, causing a magically sharp whip of water and wind to materialize and fling itself at the bug.

[Recaiden]

The water and wind slice the beetle right in half. This seriously inhibits its ability to continue walking and threatening Spako.

"This is the right way." Almost certainly.

The other ones charge forward, too stupid or unaware to be afraid of dying the same way. Cleo waves at one of them and a green ray jumps out from her claws to transfigure it into a polished stone statue of a giant man-eating beetle. Marble, is it? Another bug stumbles over its petrified comrade and is, for the moment, upside down.