Outside 45

[Gullara]

Home Sweet Home

A strange warlock throws salt over his shoulder, shuffling through a forgotten cattle ranch. Anyone who looked at him, who looked at his ragged orange robes, his patchy skin and chrome prosthetics soaked in petrol, the swirling vortex of color in his right eye, or the furiously snapping claws of unidentifiable pale-green crustaceans poking out from his neck, would surely understand that this magus is mad. Completely, irreversibly, spectacularly insane.

"The gingerbread man lives in a gingerbread house," he whispers to the empty field, tossing his salt with every step, causing the weed-choked fields to wither and fall in his wake. A symbol begins to form in the fallen grass, a strange image that looks somewhat like a swollen, rheumy eye with a horizontal, rectangular goat's pupil.

"Is the house made of meat, or is he made of house?" Needs asks, as a structure begins to rise up from the goat eye icon. You could call it a wizard's tower, if you were feeling generous. I mean, it's vaguely tower-shaped, if a little crooked, and a wizard did build it, right? Most such buildings are made of brick or granite, however. Enchanted glass is also equally valid. Hell, I'd even take an ice fortress, or a tower of skeletons. Line after line of magically-charged children's teeth and gums is not how this sort of thing is supposed to be done. As bad as this particular architectural design might be, it's probably even worse on the inside, though.

[Home Sweet Home]

Needs' particular brand of reality warping horror is certainly noteworthy. Horrific, yes, but also fascinating to those of the right disposition. The Fourth Tower has a habit of risking life and limb for the purposes of investigating these sorts of things. It's worth the risk to see what you can get out of it. So it's with that logic that a band of teal clad warlocks approaches the tower.

"Oh gods, what is that?" A young black man with hair that adds a head to his height questions in utter shock.

"I- I think it's a building. Look, that's the door. And there are windows." A likewise dark skinned woman, with the exception of a large white portion of her left cheek and temple, points them out. Her face falls when the implications of this being a building that they can go inside sinks in.

The third acolyte, a furred, ape like woman, only contributes by messily throwing up on the ground next to her.

Standing behind them, the carnivorous-plant-in-woman's-shape Vax looks up at the tower. "Go on then, Yaa. Knock." She's not very comforting about all this, but then again, this is what they all signed up for. The human woman very reluctantly steps forward to do as Vax instructs.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Dazed, reeling but not about to break just yet, Wenomir leans on his sword and gets to his feet. With his luck, what the demon just said that he couldn't hear was of vital importance.

His ears are ringing, his entire body aches and his head feels like it had been cracked open. So he's really in no fit state to dodge or rush the pit lord before the fireball is cast. Instead, he assumes a defensive posture, waiting for the spell to appear. The Answer becomes a bearded axe as he does so.

[Ruin]

Fayyaad frowns. Something doesn't add up here.

"And why do you need my permission for that? Can't you just come and get them yourself?"

[Lord Magtok]

Home Sweet Home

No matter what your eyes might suggest initially, the door knocker mounted to the front door isn't a set of human lungs. It's sculpted to look like lungs, yes, but it's not actually a set of human lungs. Lungs aren't made of bone, after all. It's not inhaling and exhaling whenever it thinks you're not looking directly at it, either. Of course not. Don't be absurd.

"Knock knock!" says the door knocker, regardless of whether or not it's used to knock on the door. It will be slightly miffed if the unfortunate acolyte chose to tap her knuckles against the doorframe instead, but it's no big deal. We'll live. The door knocker is so unimportant it doesn't even get a speech color; I'm sure nobody will care if its feelings are hurt.

"Who's there?" A voice from within asks, an unmistakably Pohnpeian accent dancing across its tongue. Well, an accent roughly 5,100 nautical miles from the actual island of Pohnpei, but close enough, right?

"Banana," whispers the door-knocker to the hopeless acolyte. "Tell him banana," it repeats again, with desperate urgency.

[Gullara]

[Home Sweet Home]

The acolyte stammers for a second, but manages to spit it out. "B-Banana?" What kind of game is this? It's not so strange, though. There are plenty of entities that like these kinds of little games. Most of those don't have horrific flesh towers, though.

[Slii Arhem]

[A Morning Stroll]

Sakura gasps as Lee does her work, and before long it's done. Suddenly the dissonance she was feeling just a moment before is totally gone. It's like the kami settled back into her place... but no. That's not right either. It's something more.

"What did you do?" Sakura gets to her feet and steps back uncertainly. She feels... strange.

A Morning Stroll

"I did what I said I would do. I changed the concept of the spirit living inside you and made it a more beneficial, symbiotic relationship. You two are stronger together now than you could have ever been as separate entities."

[Artemis97]

Sszinyon nods to Dena. "Very well."

When Reinholdt suggests looking at family records, the vampiric drow chuckles. "Any records would be in Menzoberranzan, and they'd be written in Drow script. I doubt such a blemish on our family would have been recorded, and if it had, it may have been surpressed. A foreigner would not be allowed access. I do not thing even I would be able to find such a thing, if it even exists."

[Lord Magtok]

[Home Sweet Home]

The acolyte stammers for a second, but manages to spit it out. "B-Banana?" What kind of game is this? It's not so strange, though. There are plenty of entities that like these kinds of little games. Most of those don't have horrific flesh towers, though.

"Banana wh-"
"KNOCK KNOCK!" the door knocker giddily interjects, slapping itself against the doorframe once again, rather than wait for the acolyte to do so herself.
"Who's there?" the man inside asks again, with a slight tinge of exasperation in his tone.
"Banana!" the door-knocker shouts, because of course it does. Quite the independent streak this object has. What if the magus inside blames her for all of this, though? Maybe he isn't in on the joke, or doesn't care for this kind of humor. Should she try to do something to stop it? If he can just conjure a tower of teeth and gumlines out of nothing, how would he treat an irksome stranger causing a ruckus outside his door?

"Banana who?" Needs asks.
"KNOC-" No. There is no more knocking. The knocker ceases to be. Yaa was almost certainly just imagining a door-knocker, because there is no knocker on this door, and never was. Now, if the banana would care to introduce itself properly, it may do so. If the banana will not properly introduce itself, it will not be welcomed into this domicile. "Banana who?" the sorcerer asked a moment ago, without any sort of interruptions or interjections from his door. The wind falls silent, the birds and insects in the trees and grass and soil stop their chirping, and time itself seems to slow.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruin]

The figure smiles in a friendly manner.

"Oh, I most definitely can, but I was under the impression you wanted to take one back to the surface. I don't need your permission, but I was offering to give you a hand in that task in exchange for the second refractor. You'd get your refractor back to the surface safely, and I would gain a nice meal. If you're still not interested, I understand, I'm merely offering my help, that's all."

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

"Ah well, it was a long shot. Your impressive library misled me." Reinholdt grins a little.

Seems like the best plan for now then was simply hear Raril's side of things. At the very least he was a witness of sorts.

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]

As Wenomir slowly gets up, his ears will likely still ring with the sound of the explosion. He can still see the illusion of the fiend he just attempt to kill though, its mouth is moving, but he can't hear what it is saying before it suddenly disappears.

However, now he can see two very real pit lords approaching him from the mist, one raising its hand to send a fireball, just like the one before, straight at him. Felandria will be able to see the two pit lords as well, and one of them even appear to spot her, letting out a low grunt.

Felandria does, in fact, see the pit lords, and whips out her Lightning gun, firing lightning at them, like a bunch.

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault]

The armored spirits don't seem all too eager to fight Steve one on one. Instead they all start to rain down curses on the two.

The following curses will be cast on Steve:

Slow: Basically makes him move in slow-motion.
Blindness: Makes him temporarily blind.
Ice Prison: Encases him in a thick shell of ice.

The following curses will be cast on Luvon:

Feebleness: Slowly saps all mental and physical strength.
Madness: Causes him to attack whoever is closest to him.

Each curse must be individually resisted.

Meanwhile, whatever is down there in the depths is starting to move...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The pit lord didn't actually aim directly at Wenomir, instead it aimed the fireball on the ground near the warrior. So unless he moves, he won't be directly hit, but the blast wave will make it feel like he was. But now the demon is hit by the lighting gun and howls in pain. The other one manages to block the lighting with a quick force field it raises around itself. Fel will see that the mist is starting to shroud the two fiends, making her lose sight of them.

[Degenburg Castle]

"Alright, anywhere I can talk to Dipsnig in private? Going to make a call." Dena asks while looking around.

[Artemis97]

[Degenburg Castle]

"This library was mostly inherited from the previous owner of this castle." Sszinyon explains, but nods in thanks.

To Dena he says, "If you go up the stairs, there is an observatory at the top. You should receive a good signal from there."

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

The armored spirits don't seem all too eager to fight Steve one on one. Instead they all start to rain down curses on the two.

The following curses will be cast on Steve:

Slow: Basically makes him move in slow-motion.
Blindness: Makes him temporarily blind.
Ice Prison: Encases him in a thick shell of ice.

The following curses will be cast on Luvon:

Feebleness: Slowly saps all mental and physical strength.
Madness: Causes him to attack whoever is closest to him.

Each curse must be individually resisted.

Meanwhile, whatever is down there in the depths is starting to move...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The pit lord didn't actually aim directly at Wenomir, instead it aimed the fireball on the ground near the warrior. So unless he moves, he won't be directly hit, but the blast wave will make it feel like he was. But now the demon is hit by the lighting gun and howls in pain. The other one manages to block the lighting with a quick force field it raises around itself. Fel will see that the mist is starting to shroud the two fiends, making her lose sight of them.

[Degenburg Castle]

"Alright, anywhere I can talk to Dipsnig in private? Going to make a call." Dena asks while looking around.

After Steve realizes that he can now walk on water, he charges at the beings. Steve resists the freeze curse from resist energy and successfully resists the slow spell but is hit by the blindness one. He stops and yells "I can't see" Steve quickly prays "Great Healer, please remove this curse on your servant" (Remove Curse). If it works, Steve will glow temporarily and the curse will be lifted. It may look like the beings may have completely failed, but they did succeed in slowing Steve down temporarily.

[Green Elf]

The ranger struggles with both pain from the last hit and the curses. He breathes heavily, kneeling on the ground, and then yells and runs to tackle Steve although his physical strength is being slowly sapped. This attempt will most likely fail from any resistance.

[Morty]

[Ruin]

Fayyaad considers it. He can't complete his mission without this... person's... help, and it's not like he can stop him from taking the crystal in any case.

"Well... fine. Take one crystal and help me get the other one to the surface."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruin]

The figure's smile widens and he turns, striding towards Fayyaad. Despite his seemingly careless demeanor, his feet make almost no sound as he walks. Strange, but then, not the strangest thing about him by a long shot.

"Very well, then. Perhaps we should get better acquainted. My name is Zenon. Glad be of assistance, mister...?"


[Degenburg Castle]

Electra eyes Dena, raising an eyebrow in a quizzical manner, before looking to Sszinyon.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll accompany Dena. I have a call of my own I need to make." A rather simple twisting of the truth, but one that's rather innocuous, since she would be calling Dipsnig if Dena wasn't. Their host doesn't need to know this, however.

[Gullara]

A Morning Stroll

"I did what I said I would do. I changed the concept of the spirit living inside you and made it a more beneficial, symbiotic relationship. You two are stronger together now than you could have ever been as separate entities."

[A Morning Stroll]

Sakura looks at Lee uncertainly. Wasn't this all more than she agreed to? "I think I need to go talk to my husband now..." And maybe take some time to get a handle on all this during the walk back.

"Banana wh-"
"KNOCK KNOCK!" the door knocker giddily interjects, slapping itself against the doorframe once again, rather than wait for the acolyte to do so herself.
"Who's there?" the man inside asks again, with a slight tinge of exasperation in his tone.
"Banana!" the door-knocker shouts, because of course it does. Quite the independent streak this object has. What if the magus inside blames her for all of this, though? Maybe he isn't in on the joke, or doesn't care for this kind of humor. Should she try to do something to stop it? If he can just conjure a tower of teeth and gumlines out of nothing, how would he treat an irksome stranger causing a ruckus outside his door?

"Banana who?" Needs asks.
"KNOC-" No. There is no more knocking. The knocker ceases to be. Yaa was almost certainly just imagining a door-knocker, because there is no knocker on this door, and never was. Now, if the banana would care to introduce itself properly, it may do so. If the banana will not properly introduce itself, it will not be welcomed into this domicile. "Banana who?" the sorcerer asked a moment ago, without any sort of interruptions or interjections from his door. The wind falls silent, the birds and insects in the trees and grass and soil stop their chirping, and time itself seems to slow.

[Home Sweet Home]

The poor woman at the door opens and closes her mouth silently for a moment as her mind tries to cope with what she just experienced. She's gotta say something. This could go really bad if she doesn't. "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" No, that's not right. That one needs more setup and back and forth. Oh well, it'll have to do.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir realizes where the fireball would have landed, and steps forward to meet it. The awkward swing of his axe meets the ball of fire, cutting through it. The angle is imperfect, though, and the impact forces the warrior back, making him drop to his knees. Seeing that the demon is hurt by lightning, and throws a silver knife at it, hoping to hit it where it hurts while it's reeling. He can't really hope to aim for any specific weak point.

[Ruin]

"Fayyaad," the tiefling says, hoping he didn't just make a huge mistake. "Let's get this done quickly, shall we?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruin]

"Well met, then, Fayyaad. Indeed, let's." Zenon strides past Fayyaad comfortably, leading him back towards the generator room the tiefling just left. There's a second hall past the door to the generator room Fayyaad just came from, which the armored humanoid ambles down, moving quickly, but not seeming to.

If Fayyaad cares to follow him, Zenon will, in short order, lead him into another generator room where a smaller, red crystal still spins. This one lacks the shield the previous one had, but the control console is still evident. Zenon ignores it, instead pausing just inside the door, and opening his mouth wide. The black miasma from earlier roils out of his open maw, forming the same toothy sphere Fayyaad saw earlier. It drifts over the top of the refractor, then opens wide and drops on it, engulfing the crystal, and snapping its jaws shut over it, still spinning. A moment later, the sphere contracts once more with a sound like shattering glass, and flies back into Zenon's open mouth. He closes it, and his eyes, and seems to chew for a moment, obviously savoring something before swallowing loudly.

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

Reinholdt holds up empty hands. "I don't have anyone to call." Now he remembers why he didn't join Merc. No boss to report to when you're a freelancer. He'll just stay here and enjoy the comfiness of the chair.

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The pit lord didn't actually aim directly at Wenomir, instead it aimed the fireball on the ground near the warrior. So unless he moves, he won't be directly hit, but the blast wave will make it feel like he was. But now the demon is hit by the lighting gun and howls in pain. The other one manages to block the lighting with a quick force field it raises around itself. Fel will see that the mist is starting to shroud the two fiends, making her lose sight of them.

Fel flies towards the fiends, continuing to fire in a spray in their direction.

[Artemis97]

[Degenburg Castle]

Sszinyon gestures for Electra to go with Dena. To Reinholdt, he says, "You are welcome to remain here with me."

Dena and Electra will find a spiraling staircase outside of the door to the library, which winds its way up the north east tower of the castle. They'll pass several doors, all of which are locked, before exiting out onto what used to be the flat roof of the tower. Here, it had been expertly transformed into an observatory, with a glass and brass dome, marked with numbers to show elevation and angle. There were a few different types of telescopes pointing outwards and upwards. Up so high the wind whistled against the panes of glass. Drops of water from the oncoming storm sprinkled the roof. From here it was easy to see the storm would shortly be upon them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault]

Seeing Steve charging unto the water, the revenants decides to suddenly submerge, their armors sinking down underneath the murky waters and out of sight. But Steve won't be alone on the surface for long however as something suddenly attempts to sink its teeth into his foot. It's already sharp teeth carry a form of natural enchantment that makes them unnaturally sharp, capable of sinking into the thickest of armors without much difficulty. You would need something special to prevent that.
Luvon can see something fish-like emerging from the depths to bite Steve in the foot.

Meanwhile, back at Felandria and Wenomir, the two of them can see the injured pitlord fall to the ground with a loud groan as it is hit by both the warriors silver knives and Felandria's lighting attacks. The other one is still shielding itself, but it approaching its fallen friend.
Then the mist suddenly swallows them both up, becoming so thick that they become impossible to see even up close.

[Degenburg Castle]

Dena do intend to call Dipsnig, already dialing the number as they walk to the refurbished observatory. She will now make a call to Dipsnig. Let's see if he picks up.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra walks alongside Dena quietly as the lieutenant dials Dipsnig's number and tries to collect her thoughts as to what else might be prudent to ask Sszinyon about. She absent-mindedly places a hand to her own auditory sensor to feign making a call just in case Sszinyon has hidden means of observing the pair. Hopefully she'll have a chance to talk to Dena before they go back down, but for now, she'll stay quiet.

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

Seeing Steve charging unto the water, the revenants decides to suddenly submerge, their armors sinking down underneath the murky waters and out of sight. But Steve won't be alone on the surface for long however as something suddenly attempts to sink its teeth into his foot. It's already sharp teeth carry a form of natural enchantment that makes them unnaturally sharp, capable of sinking into the thickest of armors without much difficulty. You would need something special to prevent that.
Luvon can see something fish-like emerging from the depths to bite Steve in the foot.

Meanwhile, back at Felandria and Wenomir, the two of them can see the injured pitlord fall to the ground with a loud groan as it is hit by both the warriors silver knives and Felandria's lighting attacks. The other one is still shielding itself, but it approaching its fallen friend.
Then the mist suddenly swallows them both up, becoming so thick that they become impossible to see even up close.

Since Steve is on the surface of the water, the fish did bite him. But when it does, it's head would have to be exposed, so Steve stabs at the creature with his sword.

[Green Elf]

The ranger stumbles as he runs and hits the water like it's solid ground. He starts to look around rationally and sees Steve. He runs towards Steve to help him with his fight.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir uses the brief moment of respite to catch his breath. His ears are still ringing, but he's getting a grip on the pain and bruising. He moves forward at a quick pace, but far from his best combat speed. With his hearing impaired, there's too much risk of running into something if he goes fast.

[Ruin]

Well, that's not disturbing at all. Fayyaad waits for the meal to be over. He really wants to get out of this place, and away from this... person.

[Degenburg Castle]

Dipsnig responds quite quickly.

"Any updates, Dena?"

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough

The settler's car (an old pick up truck with caterpillar tracks) pulls up here! It's a collection of ten stout stone houses, looking particularly small as they are partially underground. Each house has a slate roof and walls of well-crafted granite, and are arrayed in a circle, with the town hall in the centre. The town hall is a larger building, two storeys, and clad with white marble and roofed with red clay tiles. Visible on a hill overlooking the town is a basalt tower, four storeys tall and looking slightly neglected, though it's far enough away that details aren't obvious. Surrounding the town are fields, many dominated by herds of small cattle, with black, red or white fur and small horns. The fields closest to the tower, and those neighbouring the closest fields, are fallow.

There's several farms and farm-buildings set away from the main cluster of the community, though due to current circumstance many have been abandoned or are temporarily deserted. "That tower up there is where the wizard lives, and the barn where the creature has made its lair is down the side there. The mayor and his team are in the town hall, they might have more evidence or news if you want it. There's a general store in the hall too, if you discover you forgot something."

[Shadowcaller]

[Degenburg Castle]

"We need to get Raril's memories back, stat. We got ourselves involved in a little family feud you see, and now his brother Sszinyon, who admitted hiring the assassin, wants to talk it over with Raril." Dena explains.

[Morty]

[Degenburg Castle]

"I just love it when you try to solve a problem and step in a big heap of family drama," Dipsnig says. "I remember that one time... never mind. Raril is still here, safe and sound. The assassin is dead. So there's no obstacles on this end."