Outside 44: Baby it's cold outside

[Rebonack]

[Warm Spring]

The little bug-lizards all fall silent and look at Clara as one.

...which might be a little unnerving.

"Your father was a form-changer then?" they all ask in unison. "Ooooh, that's really neat! Is there any history to your family's ability? Now I'm curious!"

And she is, too!

Very curious.

Because this is a very curious revelation.

Sounds like it's exposition time!

Or maybe not.

Is spilling your life story to a faerie really wise?

[Earl of Purple]

Miller's Praise ((I was going to do that off-screen, if I could get away with it. If you want to RP it, go ahead.))

"Or maybe you'll have to follow me. I have the blood of demons, after all. Don't assume a conflict unless it's outright stated." There's several other vehicles parked already in the town, and Zither's jeep is parked alongside a battered old motor home, a wrecked Corvega Flea with the engine removed, a bright orange lightweight Land Rover fitted with a small repeating ion-cannon and a racing green Jaguar E-type with anti-grav pads replacing its wheels.

Zither's a little put out at Mirai's scorn of their pacifism; she doesn't share them, but remembers her visits to this town for the parties with fondness, even if she does also consider them slightly hypocritical. Vaylith smiles as she's stroked, and chomps on the ration. She's young, but her jaws are strong, so she'd have little trouble eating many things humans can eat.

[Lost_Deep]

Warm Spring

Gale seems mainly confused. She also has questions, but she can broach them more tactfully than the swarm. Also, at a later time.

With extensive noninvasive superscientific instruments. Might as well do it right the first time.

In any case, she lets Clara explain however much she wants right now.

[Deathkeeper]

A Warm Spring

Clara shakes her head.
"I don't know! Mom didn't really want to talk about it much until recently when I'd already found out. If she knows what he looked like naturally, she won't tell me. So I don't know how far back the line goes, or if my dad was the first. Either way, it's my problem now. 'Course they couldn't have told me about it before I signed a contract to the theater. Though, I suppose that really is part of the enchantment. It's the natural detriment, how it went for the original Players in Ascalon. You don't get to choose what gets dropped in your lap."

[Rebonack]

[Warm Spring]

"Haha, oh wow, that sounds like fun," the Drake swarm replies, sounding way more chipper than strictly necessary. "You'll have to tell me when your first performance is so I can come watch the show."

Do they let swarms of dragon bugs into theaters?

Would he count as one person, or would he have to buy a whole heap of tickets?

Life is filled with countless mysteries such as these.

[Recaiden]

Up on the plateaus the guardians are being broken apart with the magical assistance of a knife and the sword the angel just summoned to it's side. With their remaining tentacles they switch tactics and attack the dragons eyes and mouth instead, trying to bypass her scales. The angel simply moves too fast for them, dodging their every attack.

The dragon isn't as fast as the angel, and starts to get hit. This eye is blackened, that one closed and outlined in blood. She does her best to stay on the offensive - biting down on the tentacles near her mouth and hacking them off while they're occupied.

Cleo is reckless, not caring how much the claws harm her so long as she's hurting the guardians as well. She has every confidence in her healing spells (a most basic one of which is taking effect on her already, undoing the smallest of scratches) and Eternus's contingencies.

[Lost_Deep]

Warm Spring

"I don't know anything about theaters around here, but I doubt they'll be able to keep a swarm of bugs out if they're clever and sneaky enough," Gale points out.

[Lord Raziere]

Vampire Hunters Association Castle
"So lemme get this straight"
one of the hunters said
"You want us to hunt down and kill a kobold vampire adventurer who is immune to sunlight, super-fast and has taken on gods, based on this photo you taken of him killing an innocent man with no other evidence to support your claim?"
Agent Shane lifts an eyebrow in response. The hunters then said
"Deal!"
"Good enough for me!"
"Any excuse is a good excuse to kill vampires!"
Then Velara with her friends bursts in through a portal
"Don't believe him! Its a frame!"
The hunters consider this for a second. Exactly one second
"Vampire lover! Believing that any vampire is framed. All vamps are guilty!"
"Yeah, bloodsucking is wrong, everyone knows that!"
"And vamp-lovers are just as horrible! They are the potential next generation y'know, before they love em' too much and get bitten and become one of them! Gotta kill them to stop the plague."
".....You people are idiots or pure evil, and I don't care which. Your going down."
The hunters then open fire with modern firearms. There are lot of them in the castle, and its full of halls. Agent Shane of course starts running again. Velara draws two revolvers and begins open firing back, her bullets ricocheting off the walls to hit them at strange angle and not seeming to run out of ammo even though they are just revolvers.

[Deathkeeper]

A Warm Spring

Clara blinks, stepping into her tent to change back into normal clothes. This has gotten rather confusing.
"I doubt they'd keep you from entering, as long as you buy tickets and stick to that number of seats to take up."

[cavalieredraghi]

VHAC

Mal sees the scene, and just starts to shake. Soon it becomes violent, as it is clear he was laughing silently. Mal looked to Shane, his eyes seemed to change seeming to be more monstrous then Draconic. He looked to Shane as if seeing his blood.

"Val is that the real him?" Mal was not even caring about the hunters around him.

[KerfuffleMach2]

VHAC

Both Alysha and Stitch came through the portal. They took a brief moment to observe the scene in front of them. That was a lot of guns pointed their way.

Then the shooting starts. Alysha immediately brings up her Keyblade and casts Reflect, causing the bullets flying at her to bounce right back. Stitch, meanwhile, charges into the group of vampire hunters and starts tackling them. He'll use his strength to take away their guns and bend the weapons out of shape, rendering them unusable.

Alysha sees Agent Shane trying to run away, and she grows more angry. She chases after him, seeking to tackle him to the ground.

[Cyber Punk]

Phil looks at the metal plate prophecy again and nods. "You're right Zither, it only says seek the demon of Miller's Praise, not fight or kill it. Though later it says that the blood of demons shall paint the way. So I guess that makes plan A 'find the demon and ask it nicely for some of its blood?'"

Phil gives Vaylith's scaly back a reassuring stroke. "Want to go see the temple with me? I can make you some food or buy you some."

((I was going to do that off-screen, if I could get away with it. If you want to RP it, go ahead.))

"Or maybe you'll have to follow me. I have the blood of demons, after all. Don't assume a conflict unless it's outright stated." There's several other vehicles parked already in the town, and Zither's jeep is parked alongside a battered old motor home, a wrecked Corvega Flea with the engine removed, a bright orange lightweight Land Rover fitted with a small repeating ion-cannon and a racing green Jaguar E-type with anti-grav pads replacing its wheels.

Zither's a little put out at Mirai's scorn of their pacifism; she doesn't share them, but remembers her visits to this town for the parties with fondness, even if she does also consider them slightly hypocritical. Vaylith smiles as she's stroked, and chomps on the ration. She's young, but her jaws are strong, so she'd have little trouble eating many things humans can eat.

[Miller's Praise]

((Well, if you can still do it off-screen, then do so.))

Mirai lifts Vaylith off her and passes the dragonoid girl to Phil. "Don't worry about me, Zi. Besides, if Phil and Vaylith are together, I say it makes sense that we both are Team B."

She doesn't seem to notice Zither's feelings on Mirai's scorn, though. She's too focused on alternately ogling Phil, her new baby and the surroundings of Miller's Praise.

((Sorry about the short post. Flu.))

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B

The Triple B is an oddly out-of-place structure. It rests just outside of The Hunting Grounds, a lone two-story brick structure with no windows and a large gravel parking lot out front filled with vehicles of all shapes and sizes. The only indication of what the place is was given by the giant flickering neon sign saying B.B.B. above the ten foot tall double-doors that made up the entrance. No one waits outside except for a large suit of black armor with glowing red eyes and a greatsword on its back. The being lacks legs and instead stands on a small whirlwind of shadow.

The thing appears to be the bouncer of the club as when the party approaches, it simply floats aside and opens one of the doors to let them in.

Inside, the scene is vastly different than the rather plain picture it seemed to paint on the outside. Stairs lead down into an above-room-temperature pit filled with heavy techno and hard bass. Dark blue and black lighting illuminates most of it, revealing that the center and back of the room is crowded with dancers and the right side is made into a dozen couch lined pits with tables in the middle. The left of the room has a bar staffed by a pair of devils, one blue and one red.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the club is that there doesn't seem to be many humans, if any. In fact, it'll take a long look at the crowd of goblinoids, part-dragons, demons, fey, and other motley bestial races before their eyes find the one human woman that seems to be enjoying herself here. She stands at roughly five and a half feet tall though her cherry red Doc Martens make her a little taller. Apart from her shoes, she's wearing rather little, just a black leather miniskirt and a white blouse so sheer and short that it would be useless anywhere else. Her hair, cut like a pixie's, is completely pitch black except for a neon blue stripe along her right temple.

The woman's skin is pale as snow and utterly covered in tattoos. The largest one is that of a skydragon, blue and black in coloring with it's head on her right bicep while the body winds around her arm, shoulder, over her front and then to coil around her right thigh before the tail tapers off at her calf. She's currently caught between a male minotaur and a female satyr but she doesn't seem to care about whom she's dancing with at all. Tina might catch the glimpse of a piece of familiar red cloth dangling from the pierced and tattooed woman's left wrist.

[Murkus]

[The Triple B]

If Fettina has anything to say about it, she'll be the second 'human' woman to enjoy herself at this establishment. She leads Kirk and Dena into the thrumming rhythmic people-pump that is the Triple B.

"Found 'er," Fettina says, pointing for the sake of her companions at the little lady in the middle of the dance floor. "She's gonna treat us all to drinks for that little stunt on the radio."

She doesn't quite notice her... stolen article that Lydia possesses, but she does start to wade through the crowd in the other woman's direction. She'll definitely be tapping her on the shoulder momentarily... or more likely, taking the place of one of her dance partners to slip her arms around Lydia's belly.

[Nalix]

Miller's Praise

"Come on Vaylith, let's go see the temple," says Phil as he takes the dragon girl in his arms. Is she heavier than she looks? Phil is interested in how she managed to learn so much language so quickly. Her development in general has been remarkably rapid. She's also a huge cutie.

He waves to Mirai as he begins walking by the row of vehicles, returning her ogle by eyeing her curves.

[Gullara]

[The Triple B]

Kirk's eyes wander appreciatively, as always. How interesting. "Now that's surprising. I'm surprised you recovered so quickly from how embarrassed you were earlier, Tina." He gives her a smug little smirk. He thinks he's funny, doesn't he.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Triple B]

Dena's first thought when she saw the place was who the heck would build something like this so close to the hunting grounds. Where these people finding it thrilling that monsters at any time could destroy the building they were in? As an adventurer that suicidal thrill were long gone. Safe boredom was much more preferable in her line of work considering how dangerous it was.
Party places should be in the middle of civilization, not in the middle of outside next to an arena of death. Yet still this place seemed pretty popular with... non-humans? Was there a racial thing going on here? Odd.
At least people seemed to enjoying themselves and hey, the only human here turns out to be Tina's friend. Interesting.
Dena stands back for now, finding it better to observe and listen for the moment. Let's see what Tina and her "friend" have to say to one another.

[Earl of Purple]

Miller's Praise

Vaylith was born the equivalent of eight years old. She knows language instinctively, and hasn't actually 'developed' much since she hatched. She's lighter than she would be where she human; her semi-draconic anatomy includes hollow bird-like bones, and a specialist hydrogen-storing organ (though she's still too young to make active use of it).

The Temple fits in with the rest of the town externally, but inside its doors there's a black marble floor with white veins, Doric columns along the central aisle, pews of ebony and a white marble altar with striking blue veins. The only person currently in the Temple is a priestess wearing a floor-length pale green skirt and a matching sleeveless top that scoops up to show her belly. She has gold rings upon her arms and swings a censer releasing lavender-scented incense.

Zither is currently distracted by the vehicles around her, especially the Corvega Flea. She's a little alarmed at the vehicle's power source, until she discovers that the actual fuel supply has been removed. She still doesn't actually touch any of the irradiated metal that housed the nuclear material, however.

[Cyber Punk]

"Come on Vaylith, let's go see the temple," says Phil as he takes the dragon girl in his arms. Is she heavier than she looks? Phil is interested in how she managed to learn so much language so quickly. Her development in general has been remarkably rapid. She's also a huge cutie.

He waves to Mirai as he begins walking by the row of vehicles, returning her ogle by eyeing her curves.

Vaylith was born the equivalent of eight years old. She knows language instinctively, and hasn't actually 'developed' much since she hatched. She's lighter than she would be where she human; her semi-draconic anatomy includes hollow bird-like bones, and a specialist hydrogen-storing organ (though she's still too young to make active use of it).

The Temple fits in with the rest of the town externally, but inside its doors there's a black marble floor with white veins, Doric columns along the central aisle, pews of ebony and a white marble altar with striking blue veins. The only person currently in the Temple is a priestess wearing a floor-length pale green skirt and a matching sleeveless top that scoops up to show her belly. She has gold rings upon her arms and swings a censer releasing lavender-scented incense.

Zither is currently distracted by the vehicles around her, especially the Corvega Flea. She's a little alarmed at the vehicle's power source, until she discovers that the actual fuel supply has been removed. She still doesn't actually touch any of the irradiated metal that housed the nuclear material, however.

Miller's Praise

Mirai places her arm on Zither's shoulder. "Well, let's get going, then. I've taken a snapshot of the vehicle that we can go through later. General store first?" She smiles, gesturing there with a head motion.

"And while we're at it, tell me all the things Vaylith's done so far."

[Nalix]

Miller's Praise

Phil enters the temple still holding Vaylith and admiring the architecture. "Hello," he greets the priestess. "I just arrived in Miller's Praise and I was told you could help us with some answers. I'd also like to know about this temple, if you don't mind. I'm not from around here and I find that my knowledge of gods and religion where I come from don't apply very well in this world." He jiggles Vaylith, assuming she likes it, and also to get a better feel for her light frame.

[Earl of Purple]

Miller's Praise- Temple

Vaylith doesn't seem to mind being jiggled, but that's not quite the same as liking it.

"But of course. I am Sister Abstinence, and Ephara, Goddess of Civilisation, is always willing to help." She stops swinging her censer and walks over to where she can help better.

Miller's Praise- Store

"Um, she's not done much you haven't seen. You met her five minutes after her egg hatched, after all." Though the unusual things she did whilst Hotaru was at the party will be detailed, I'm just not sure what they would be.

The store's interior is roomy, slightly more so than the exterior would suggest, and divided into two halves. One half is clean, tidy and dominated by a Pokemon Healing Machine, which is operated by a bearded male half-orc with dark green skin and greasy orange hair in a slightly-too-small pink dress and white apron, the uniform of the Nurse Joys. Floating behind him is a purple balloon with a big X on its front. He's currently occupied playing on a classic Nintendo DS.

The other half is messy, and dominated by three shelving units with all sorts of things stacked upon them- there's weapons, armour, jewellery, food, travelling supplies and also a variety of tools. An old-fashioned mechanical shop till sits upon a table in front of a halfling woman, the equivalent of mid-twenties, with short blonde hair. She's wearing a green shirt and a pair of red joggers that make it clear her left leg ends just above her knee. She's sat in a human-sized wheelchair, propped up on a stack of cushions, as she plays on a Nintendo DSi.

[Cyber Punk]

Miller's Praise- Store

I could help with the unusual things. Like walking and looking around identifying things, and imprinting to all of them, or maybe playing with something she shouldn't be, like weapons laying around. And Zither + Phil attempting to distract her.

"I didn't see her playing with stuff until I came back. There, that's new!" Mirai declares proudly, then follows Zither. She's the one that knows the way, after all.

Mirai marches straight to the messier side of the shop. "Hey. You got customers, lady." She says, smiling.

[UncleWolf]

[The Triple B]

If Fettina has anything to say about it, she'll be the second 'human' woman to enjoy herself at this establishment. She leads Kirk and Dena into the thrumming rhythmic people-pump that is the Triple B.

"Found 'er," Fettina says, pointing for the sake of her companions at the little lady in the middle of the dance floor. "She's gonna treat us all to drinks for that little stunt on the radio."

She doesn't quite notice her... stolen article that Lydia possesses, but she does start to wade through the crowd in the other woman's direction. She'll definitely be tapping her on the shoulder momentarily... or more likely, taking the place of one of her dance partners to slip her arms around Lydia's belly.

[The Triple B]

Kirk's eyes wander appreciatively, as always. How interesting. "Now that's surprising. I'm surprised you recovered so quickly from how embarrassed you were earlier, Tina." He gives her a smug little smirk. He thinks he's funny, doesn't he.

[The Triple B]

Dena's first thought when she saw the place was who the heck would build something like this so close to the hunting grounds. Where these people finding it thrilling that monsters at any time could destroy the building they were in? As an adventurer that suicidal thrill were long gone. Safe boredom was much more preferable in her line of work considering how dangerous it was.
Party places should be in the middle of civilization, not in the middle of outside next to an arena of death. Yet still this place seemed pretty popular with... non-humans? Was there a racial thing going on here? Odd.
At least people seemed to enjoying themselves and hey, the only human here turns out to be Tina's friend. Interesting.
Dena stands back for now, finding it better to observe and listen for the moment. Let's see what Tina and her "friend" have to say to one another.

The Triple B

The moment Tina's hand touches Lydia, the woman spins around with a smile to slip her arms around the chocolate-skinned woman. "Well, hello there Hershey-Butt." She teases with a squeeze of said nickname. "I'm glad you could make it. Who're your friends?" The tattooed woman asks as she slips out from the dance floor, dragging Tina with her if possible before holding up her wrist with the red scrap of cloth hanging from it. "And I hope you came to trade." She teases, sticking out her tongue at her.

Kirk and Dena, if they are particularly watchful, might notice a handful of things happening when the woman moves off the dance floor. The first is that even without looking, she seems to know precisely where to move and when in order to avoid bumping into anyone, making all of her movements seem rather fluid. The other thing they might notice is that some of the other dancers, despite being creatures generally known to be far stronger and scarier than a human, seem wary of her, watching her from the corner of their eyes every so often.

Of course, that's if Kirk and Dena aren't distracted by the blue demon behind the bar giving them a quick whistle to attract their attention before gesturing at the rather well stocked shelves behind him, wordlessly asking what they'd like to drink.

[Nalix]

Miller's Praise - The Temple

"I'm part of a family of adventurers looking for something, and I was told that you might know something that would help. I hear you have had a strange creature or something appear here lately, and I suspect that it may be the creature we're looking for." Phil pauses to gently set down Vaylith. "I'm also interested in anything you'd like to tell me about this Temple, as gods of some sort probably had a hand in why we're here, and frankly I don't know much about gods."

[Earl of Purple]

Miller's Praise- The Temple ((I appear to have accidentally deleted the PM of rumours, Nalix. I do apologise, but could you please re-send it?))

"There's a demon in the forest, tempting people to sin. If you'd be so kind to go and destroy it, the Temple will reward you. We cannot allow Phenax to spread His lies amongst us." She is very much opposed to Phenax, though Phil likely doesn't recognise the name. "The Temple is devoted to Ephara, the Lady of the City, Goddess of Civilisation. She doesn't play a large part in prophecy, as that is the purview of Kruphix the Unseen and Keranos of Storms. Mostly Keranos, as He is the God of sudden insight, too." She smiles at Vaylith, and reaches out to pat the dragongirl's head. Vaylith backs away, so the priestess gives up.

Miller's Praise- The Store

"No, I have visitors. I don't have customers until the visitors decide to buy something. Go, find something you like, and let my Eevee beat his Magcargo." She doesn't look up from her game as she speaks, and Zither's already looking around.

[Lord Raziere]

VHAC

Mal sees the scene, and just starts to shake. Soon it becomes violent, as it is clear he was laughing silently. Mal looked to Shane, his eyes seemed to change seeming to be more monstrous then Draconic. He looked to Shane as if seeing his blood.

"Val is that the real him?" Mal was not even caring about the hunters around him.

VHAC

Both Alysha and Stitch came through the portal. They took a brief moment to observe the scene in front of them. That was a lot of guns pointed their way.

Then the shooting starts. Alysha immediately brings up her Keyblade and casts Reflect, causing the bullets flying at her to bounce right back. Stitch, meanwhile, charges into the group of vampire hunters and starts tackling them. He'll use his strength to take away their guns and bend the weapons out of shape, rendering them unusable.

Alysha sees Agent Shane trying to run away, and she grows more angry. She chases after him, seeking to tackle him to the ground.

(apologies this has been so long in coming, I've had a rough few days)

Velara eye's flash for a moment
"Yes, he can only pull that trick once per week for weird esoteric reasons I can't get into right now, and I can't see any other fate thing going on."
She aims her pistols to fire off a few shots that ricochet in a way to clear out the rest of the room of thugs
Shane does a expert flip away from the tackle
"Ha! such artless combat will never take out a master martial artist such as I! Your kung fu is weak! Behold REAL combat!"
He begins a whirring flurry of staff strikes at Alysha, alternate and parallel strikes from parallel universes adding to the multitude of his flurry at her

[cavalieredraghi]

VHAC
(IT IS okay I understand.)

Mal appeared to be shaking more viciously. A menacing chuckle could be heard. Then the chuckle rose to a blood chilling laugh. A laugh so dark it suggested something, beyond evil. Beyond age. Mal laughed as little chimes Of metal hit the ground around him. For as the bullets hit him His wounds seemed to near instantly heal.

He looks to his new friend Velara fighting with fist and foot against the other one Shane. He watched as he drew closer. The chiming ring of bullets hiting the floor continue to sound. He watched finding their movements a simple mockery of the arts he knew. The arts he worked into his body.

When Mal was upon Shane he twirled, his tail sweeping and his wings catching. Mals moves were not to drop Shane, but to simply throw him off his stance. Enough of an advantage to give Mal an opening to enter the melee.

[Cyber Punk]

Miller's Praise- The Store

Though still smiling as she walks away, Mirai grits her teeth. She keeps talking like that and she'll soon wish her legs were working enough to greet customers.

She walks over to Zither, enjoying the look of her tail swishing around, and does some looking around herself, searching for anything of interest.

[Nalix]

Miller's Praise- The Temple
"There's a demon in the forest, tempting people to sin. If you'd be so kind to go and destroy it, the Temple will reward you. We cannot allow Phenax to spread His lies amongst us." She is very much opposed to Phenax, though Phil likely doesn't recognise the name. "The Temple is devoted to Ephara, the Lady of the City, Goddess of Civilisation. She doesn't play a large part in prophecy, as that is the purview of Kruphix the Unseen and Keranos of Storms. Mostly Keranos, as He is the God of sudden insight, too." She smiles at Vaylith, and reaches out to pat the dragongirl's head. Vaylith backs away, so the priestess gives up.

Miller's Praise - Temple

"Yes, a god of prophecies. A prophecy brought us here, and it even mentions something about storms. Do you think Keranos may be sending us a message?" asks Phil. He gives Vaylith a pat on the head, assuming she accepts it. "We know nothing about this demon, except that the prophecy we found says that it has something we need. Anything you can tell me about it would be appreciated, and also, I'm happy to help, if you have anything other problems."

[Earl of Purple]

Miller's Praise- Temple to Ephara

"Was lightning involved in the prophecy? I don't know much of Keranos- His followers reside elsewhere- but I know He's mighty fond of blasting things with electricity." Sister Abstinence rubs her chin as she thinks. "Well, I haven't seen it myself, and don't want to either. Since it arrived some months ago, there's been a curfew inside the town itself from dusk. It roams the streets, then, talking to the Meowth and scaring off the Poochyena. They even refuse to leave their pokeballs, most of the time. I'll get you and your friends an exception, though I doubt anybody will notice. How many of you are there?" I think, since the group's split up in the town, posting order isn't so important right now.

Miller's Praise- The Store

She wishes she could greet customers properly anyway. She doesn't particularly enjoy having one leg.

There's a PipBoy wrist-mounted computer in a box of circuit boards, wires and miscellaneous electronic components, though it's buried rather deep. A rack of flintlock, wheel-lock, and matchlock muskets and early rifles contains a Tau pulse rifle, and a triple-barrelled shotgun. There's a shelf of alcoholic drinks, including Honeybrew Mead, Black-Briar mead, rum, Argonian Ale, grog and the mildly hallucinogenic mushroom beer. A pile of books contains spellbooks, fantasy novels, and an annotated copy of Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Zither is mostly interested in a collection of spare mechanical parts and tools, and has found a broken sonic screwdriver which she is examining to figure out if it works.