Outside 45

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra chuckles.

"Well, at least you've got an extra layer of disguise going if any of them ever manage to find their way to the Nexus with ill intent." She offers Dena a wry grin.

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

"I like to think of it as such." Sszinyon agrees. "Werewolves who survive their first few full moons are, in most places, driven from their families and their homes. We welcome them, and give them a place to begin a new life among people who understand their condition. From us, they learn willpower and control, and with them the pack grows stronger." He doesn't say what happens to those who can't behave themselves.

[Degenburg Castle]

"I see. I'd say it sounds like a cult but you can spin absolutely any group endeavor like that. Consumer shopping rewards, police states, Magtoks." All cults. Cults EVERYWHERE.

"I think it's good they have somewhere safe to go. If I happen to run into any random werewolves out there, I'll be sure to send them your way."

[Felandria]

Temple Assault

Felandria nods in approval, and she will fly directly over the other three, acting as a fairly effective block from above attacks, she has her wand of magic missiles at the ready as she casts Gust of Wind to attempt to blow away the fog to better see the enemy.

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

Downstairs, the room is a continuation of the tower- same sturdy, circular walls of basalt, and wooden floors, with stairs descending again to a lower basement level. This level has some old barrels in it, suggesting originally it was used as a wine cellar, but most of the space is taken up by waist-high planters, lit by more of the glowing bottles. Growing in most of the planters are mushrooms and fungi. There's some Namira's Rot, White Cap, Cairn Bolete, and Luminous Russula, amongst others. There's also a large bag of fertiliser, a copper bucket hanging beneath a tap and a hat-stand with several aprons and a pair of goggles hanging on it. The goggles are slightly magic, though there's nothing unusual about the aprons. Oh, and amidst the mushrooms is another book, this one dirty and water-damaged.

The upstairs book, incidentally, is a copy of Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson; a near-future science fiction book based on real science, about the colonisation of Mars.

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir glares at Felandria over his shoulder. Didn't she notice a giant sheet of ice he had to break before they could go anywhere? But it's no time for arguing. As the compulsion to hide reaches his mind, it's transformed into an increased drive to finally reach the damn temple.

"Steve, Luvon! Move! Get to the temple, I'm with you! Felandria!" He turns back towards the giantess. "Follow us above and keep covering us! Do what it takes, but save your strength! The worst is still ahead of us!"

Once the orders are issued, he runs towards the temple. He doesn't break into his full speed, since he doesn't want to leave Steve and Luvon behind.

Steve runs to the temple, but also looks where the sound is coming from, raising his shield. He yells "Come face me, I am not afraid of you." I guess they don't know that paladins are immune to fear.

Luvon pulls out his swords as he runs behind Wenomir. "We'll face them in the temple Steve. There's no need to hold us up."

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra chuckles.

"Well, at least you've got an extra layer of disguise going if any of them ever manage to find their way to the Nexus with ill intent." She offers Dena a wry grin.

Temple Assault

Felandria nods in approval, and she will fly directly over the other three, acting as a fairly effective block from above attacks, she has her wand of magic missiles at the ready as she casts Gust of Wind to attempt to blow away the fog to better see the enemy.

[Temple Assault]

The demons do not know that paladins are immune to fear.

The group can make it to the temple without anything hindering them, yet they are being followed both beneath and above the surface that they are treading upon. Underneath them they can see a blue icy glow suggesting that magic is being worked there. Above Felandria's wand will reveal that there is a whole pack of bat-like demons following them in the air above. They are starting to dive down as they have been revealed, but aren't attacking just yet. It almost seems like they are waiting for something.

The temple itself seems more like a monolith than a building, a huge black stone, with a perfectly smooth surface, raising from the water without any visible windows or entrances that the group could enter through. As the gnoll said, the entrance is likely underneath the surface, unless they are planning to attempt to make a new one of course.

[Degenburg Castle]

Dena smiles back. "Doubt anyone care enough about me to give a ****, I was pretty much a non-entity back home. I was to be a body-guard for my cousin who held all the real power and I didn't want any of that so I just decided to do something else with my life." She looks at Electra. "What about you, were your parents nice? They were humans, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

Koshal, who can't sense any magic on things, looks around.
"Looks like just a cellar to me. Do you see anything?" he asks Cass idly.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Aelfisborough - Alchemist's Tower]

Converting a perfectly good wine cellar into a mushroom grow op. Clearly a cardinal sin. Cass will have to restore this room to its original function.

"No, not really," she says, though she'll check the book and attempt to Identify the goggles, just for completeness's sake. "Let's head down again."

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

When worn, the goggles prevent magical affects from affecting the wearer's sight, meaning they can't be magically blinded, can see through magical darkness, and might be able to see through an illusion. They don't give any magical sight-type abilities, though; no x-ray vision or anything. The book is a journal, mostly containing notes on how to grow mushrooms, and with sections on preparing them and using them for alchemy. There's also several recipes for potions using the fungi in the room, and a section at the back contains incomplete and damaged notes on something called a 'Potion of Perfection', though there's not enough to determine what its function is, nor the full method of creating it.

Originally, the next floor down was a vault, possibly for treasure or maybe simply a larder, with a floor matching the walls. Now, three metal cages are resting in the room, one empty and unlocked. There's also a small shelf with a slim spiral-bound notebook and more glowing bottles. There's space for more books on the shelf, but it is empty. There's a pile of partially-burnt books and ashes in the unlocked cage, the year-dead corpse of a humanoid in another, and the third contains several piles of bones. The latter two cages are locked, but the keys are hanging on a hook near the stairs. This floor is darker than the previous ones; there's less bottles containing the light potion found elsewhere here.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Aelfisborough - Alchemist's Tower]

Cassandra pockets the goggles. The goggles, they do something! She'll let Koshal lead the way down as she takes the journal and opens it up.

"I spoke too soon, actually," says Cassandra, flicking through the book as they walk down the stairs. "The person who wrote this journal has notes about a 'Potion of Perfection'. Everything else is too damaged to read, but a concoction of that nature sounds like something we've heard of already, don't you think?"

"Oh, this looks promising." The 'promising' bit is said sarcastically. Cass is clearly disgusted by the implications of their current discovery.

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

The demons do not know that paladins are immune to fear.

The group can make it to the temple without anything hindering them, yet they are being followed both beneath and above the surface that they are treading upon. Underneath them they can see a blue icy glow suggesting that magic is being worked there. Above Felandria's wand will reveal that there is a whole pack of bat-like demons following them in the air above. They are starting to dive down as they have been revealed, but aren't attacking just yet. It almost seems like they are waiting for something.

The temple itself seems more like a monolith than a building, a huge black stone, with a perfectly smooth surface, raising from the water without any visible windows or entrances that the group could enter through. As the gnoll said, the entrance is likely underneath the surface, unless they are planning to attempt to make a new one of course.

Steve turns around with his back to the monolith, shield raised and in a fighting stance. He prays "Bringer of Justice, please give me the power of evil's bane" (Smite Evil). Steve's sword glows with a white light.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra nods once more.

"Yeah, they're human. My dad did my systems designs, and my mom was what they call a 'forms designer', which meant she was responsible for what I look like. She strived to try and make us as human as possible in our civilian forms without degrading our performance in the field, and she's very good at what she does. Mom and Dad are a team at the lab that built me, and they're also married. They're good people, just trying to practice their craft. Dad always loved to hear stories about what sort of trouble we'd get into when we weren't on duty, and Mom liked to hear about what sorts of assignments we were getting, all that we could share, anyways." She chuckles to herself. "I think Dad would be tickled pink if he could see where I am now, and Mom, too. Neither one would be able to guess that I'm in a magical dimension where dragons and werewolves can walk down the street next to stormtroopers and Trandoshans and griffins."

[Green Elf]

The ranger will decide to drop a shield at the door if everyone runs inside. Either way, he will go inside behind the paladin.

[Artemis97]

[Degenburg Castle]

"I see. I'd say it sounds like a cult but you can spin absolutely any group endeavor like that. Consumer shopping rewards, police states, Magtoks." All cults. Cults EVERYWHERE.

"I think it's good they have somewhere safe to go. If I happen to run into any random werewolves out there, I'll be sure to send them your way."

[Degenburg Castle]

Sszinyon scowls, his red eyes flashing. "No. I have seen cults in my life and the destruction they cause. This is no cult."

[Lord Magtok]

[Home Sweet Home]

There's a moment of stunned silence from the three remaining guests in the room as it sinks in that their final companion is absent. "Nsonowa!" The ape-like vanara woman cries. She rushes toward the screen and grasps it. She watches as Nsonowa struggles against the deer man's grip as blood rushes down his face. He's trying to get something out of his pocket. A weapon perhaps.

Vax's lips pinch just a bit as she watches the proceedings. This is rather immediately going wrong, isn't it. Perhaps a more challenging test for the acolytes than intended.

"Makena, stop!" Yaa grabs her shoulder and pulls her back. "Needs Food Badly, please." What a strange name. "We came here to deal, in peace. We can benefit one another."

"Long ago in a distant land, I, Needs Food, the shape shifting master of eldritch, unleashed an UNSPEAKABLE MADNESS. But a foolish academy sorcerer wielding a magic word stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in space, and flung him into the produce aisle, where my cabbage is law! Now the fool seeks to return to his friends and undo the spinach that is NEEDS FOOD," the voice exclaims, misquoting another children's cartoon. He's trying his best to speak their language, but the grammar laws are so painfully rigid, and none of its pronouns account for seventh dimensional space. What kind of life form still talks in sounds? Mouth sounds limited to just 20 to 20,000 Hz, of all things. At least throw in some tetrachromatic light and unstable time loops, for gods' sakes.

Speaking of gods and primitive life forms, Not-Adir reels back, as if Nsonowa's feeble attempt at fighting back had already struck. His face drips right off the bone, likely forming a damp puddle on Nsonowa's chest, which is both thicker, colder, and more translucent than dissolved flesh ought to be. Stranger still, now there's a horrible deer skull where Not-Adir's head was, one that really shouldn't have been able to fit underneath that face. It's far too narrow in some places, and too wide in others. The arms are the next to go, replaced with the zygodactyl feet and talons of a parrot. These aren't the best forelimbs for such a creature to have, and it seems aware of this, as it drops down to all fours and runs away from the fortunate acolyte, mouthing soundless screams as it hurries away, knocking over a display of rotten meat in its desperate flight to escape its former prey.

"Come. Your friends are waiting," Needs says, finally appearing in person once again, his orange-robed back turned away from Nsonowa as he tries to lead the way towards an emergency exit door. It leads back to Makena, Yaa, and Vax, casually defying the fact that most emergency exits lead one outside a building, not upstairs, in a reality-distorting manner that completely skips over the stairs one ought to have seen along the way.

"Come. Your friends are waiting, Иƨonowɒ," Needs urges again, mispronouncing the man's way in a manner I can't quite put into coherent words. It's still clearly Nsonowa's name, but...wrong, somehow. Like someone learned to speak from watching a reflection in a mirror, mixing up not only their lefts and their rights, but the very essence of words and speech and what is real.

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

Sszinyon scowls, his red eyes flashing. "No. I have seen cults in my life and the destruction they cause. This is no cult."

[Degenburg Castle]

Rein tilts his head slightly. "Yeees, I think I implied that you weren't actually?" The OoC joke to the contrary might have been misleading though. The cat's fault for bringing it up in the first place though.

He clears his throat a little. "Anyways, are you full on classic werewolf or some special variety? For instance, are you forced to transform on Full Moons? That rule always seemed a little hazy."

[Deathkeeper]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

Koshal gulps.
"Well, unless those are cow bones I think we've got our missing people. Case closed I guess, but it doesn't hurt to be thorough and search the rest." he says.
He's hoping Cass suggests something to do with the bodies that isn't carrying them.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Aelfisborough - Alchemist's Tower]

Cass picks up and flips through the spiral-bound notebook, and also pokes at the pile of partially burned books, trying to see if there happen to be any intact enough that useful information could be retrieved from within. Dealing with the bones doesn't seem to have entered her mind as of yet.

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

There's three skeletons in the cage, which is locked. The bones are piled haphazardly, so it's not immediately clear how many skeletons there are, nor how complete they are.

The notebook contains a list of subjects and then a name of the formula that was tried, and the results. Formulae one to three, and five, killed their subject; two, six, and seven were partially successful, but still killed. Eight and nine were partially successful, but drove the subjects mad- eight was catatonic whilst nine rambled endlessly about clouds. Ten to twelve are also partially successful, but left the recipient without the ability to speak. Thirteen has been skipped. Fourteen is described as the 'most successful yet', and the subject is listed as 'terminated following escape attempt'. Fifteen was 'self administered; risky, but I could not afford to wait for new slaves. So far, it has been beyond my wildest dreams- I am Perfect.' There is a recipe, right at the back of the book, for the potions of light littering this tower.

The fire was quite successful in destroying the information; snippets remain, detailing partial lists of ingredients, incomplete recipes and other laboratory notes. Deep in the pile, covered in ash and partially burnt, is a book which is mostly legible. It's a treatise on cockroaches, advancing the idea that they are the perfect life form. It doesn't contain any direct mystical knowledge, but is the alchemist's source of inspiration.

[Artemis97]

[Degenburg Castle]

Rein tilts his head slightly. "Yeees, I think I implied that you weren't actually?" The OoC joke to the contrary might have been misleading though. The cat's fault for bringing it up in the first place though.

He clears his throat a little. "Anyways, are you full on classic werewolf or some special variety? For instance, are you forced to transform on Full Moons? That rule always seemed a little hazy."

[Degenburg Castle]

"Most are forced to change, and some can only change on the full moon. I have mastered my form, however. I change when and how it pleases me. The full moon makes it easier, of course." Sszinyon explains.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

"Of course the entrance is underwater," Wenomir says with a sigh. "We need to get there quickly, and preferably without drowning. Does anyone have anything that'll do the trick?" He supposes he could cooperate with Felandria to simply blow a hole in the wall above the water. But that'd take a while.

[Shadowcaller]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra nods once more.

"Yeah, they're human. My dad did my systems designs, and my mom was what they call a 'forms designer', which meant she was responsible for what I look like. She strived to try and make us as human as possible in our civilian forms without degrading our performance in the field, and she's very good at what she does. Mom and Dad are a team at the lab that built me, and they're also married. They're good people, just trying to practice their craft. Dad always loved to hear stories about what sort of trouble we'd get into when we weren't on duty, and Mom liked to hear about what sorts of assignments we were getting, all that we could share, anyways." She chuckles to herself. "I think Dad would be tickled pink if he could see where I am now, and Mom, too. Neither one would be able to guess that I'm in a magical dimension where dragons and werewolves can walk down the street next to stormtroopers and Trandoshans and griffins."

[Degenburg Castle]

Dena raises an eyebrow. "I don't even know what the first two of your latter examples are, but its a weird mix for sure. Yet speaking of weird, your family sounds pretty cool, but it just feels weird knowing that your parents decided how you would look like and work. I mean, my mom tried to mold me, but at least she didn't decide what I would look like. That is something I rather not want to leave in the hands of... anyone really."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra shrugs. She's never really considered it before, but she's probably actually pretty lucky she's not some sort of anthropomorphic animal. Perhaps that information might temper the weirdness...or make it worse. She ponders for a moment, then shakes her head, smiling.

"Well, you don't really have much choice, and neither do your parents. You look like what your parents' genetics dictate you look like, to an extent, at least. You can choose to modify it later through surgery, or one of a hundred other procedures, but in the end, you're still stuck within the limitations imposed at birth. For us, yeah, we didn't get an initial choice in what we looked like, but we could always ask to be modified later, and when my mom was designing this body, she had me choose what I wanted to look like. I could have asked to be put into the body of an anthropomorphic squid, if I had really wanted that sort of body." She chuckles. "But if you're curious what my old body looked like, it was mostly like this one, just a bit shorter and with a slightly younger face. And somewhat shorter hair, but that's easily changeable."

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]

"Of course the entrance is underwater," Wenomir says with a sigh. "We need to get there quickly, and preferably without drowning. Does anyone have anything that'll do the trick?" He supposes he could cooperate with Felandria to simply blow a hole in the wall above the water. But that'd take a while.

Felandria is eyeing the wall, strongly desiring to simply knock a hole through the wall, but might have a better idea.

Maybe, just maybe, I could lift the whole damn thing enough to where the entrance is above the surface.

[Ashen Lilies]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

There's three skeletons in the cage, which is locked. The bones are piled haphazardly, so it's not immediately clear how many skeletons there are, nor how complete they are.

The notebook contains a list of subjects and then a name of the formula that was tried, and the results. Formulae one to three, and five, killed their subject; two, six, and seven were partially successful, but still killed. Eight and nine were partially successful, but drove the subjects mad- eight was catatonic whilst nine rambled endlessly about clouds. Ten to twelve are also partially successful, but left the recipient without the ability to speak. Thirteen has been skipped. Fourteen is described as the 'most successful yet', and the subject is listed as 'terminated following escape attempt'. Fifteen was 'self administered; risky, but I could not afford to wait for new slaves. So far, it has been beyond my wildest dreams- I am Perfect.' There is a recipe, right at the back of the book, for the potions of light littering this tower.

The fire was quite successful in destroying the information; snippets remain, detailing partial lists of ingredients, incomplete recipes and other laboratory notes. Deep in the pile, covered in ash and partially burnt, is a book which is mostly legible. It's a treatise on cockroaches, advancing the idea that they are the perfect life form. It doesn't contain any direct mystical knowledge, but is the alchemist's source of inspiration.

[Aelfisborough - Alchemists Tower]

"Well, it appears the issue is mostly resolved. Our friendly neighbourhood spider-obsessed-man 'disposed' of most of his 'experiments' before going full Verwandlung and drinking the potion himself. I believe we killed the result." Self experimentation is just irresponsible practice.

She tosses the journal on to the pile of burned books.

"There might be one unaccounted for, however. He didn't record what happened to it." An unfortunate lapse in standards. "The good news is that he was apparently coocoo for cocoa puffs before turning himself into a giant bug, that wasn't a result of the potion in itself."

They could still search the rest of the tower if Koshal thinks they should.

[Deathkeeper]

Aelfisborough

"Okay. We should check the other rooms, though. Maybe he had a basilisk in the attic or something." the minotaur suggests. He was expecting another chance at heroics, but he supposes this small a space isn't really good for swordfighting anyway.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Aelfisborough]

Cassandra nods. "Yes. A basilisk seems unlikely, but making sure the tower is completely safe is a good idea." Back up the stairs! To the second floor!

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

The second floor is a study area. It has three work areas, and a large counter. There's also a bookshelf, filled with journals and diaries. The work areas are very similar, with mortars, pestles, alembics and other glassware, and occasional potions. The first, nearest the stairs up, has a space where a large book has been removed, shattered glassware and various ingredients, primarily insectoid in nature. The second has been used in the production of light potions, and there's three glowing bottles nearby- one blue, like all the others, a green one and one that is fading. There's notes as well. The third is more interesting, where the alchemist created his other potions. There's four bottles, two filled and one partially completed, and two gun magazines, and a rune-carved brass sphere with several glass windows showing a glowing green gas within.

On the counter, there's a glass tank filled with dead Bloodflies, a large Radscorpion egg, a human hand imbued with slight necromancy, and a pair of thick orange gloves. More of the glowing bottles are littering every surface, and there's another staircase hugging the wall upwards.

[Deathkeeper]

Aelfisborough

Koshal eyes the magazines, checking if they're rifle rounds or pistol rounds.
"Well, if we find his gun I can use these, and I might take one of these neat lanterns for the road, but I can't make head or tail from the rest of this stuff. Anything you see?" he asks the sorceress.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Aelfisborough - Alchemist's Tower]

"I'm not much for alchemy," says Cassandra, poking through the potions first, in case they can be identified. "Too much mucking about with mushrooms and diving into caves and swamps to collect magic grass. I can use sorcery or enchant an item to do most of the same stuff anyway."

She makes the glass chunk in her staff glow with the same color and intensity as the lantern potions to demonstrate, then pulls the light out with her hand and sticks it to a spot in the air just above her shoulder. "Less clutter, too." The light orb remains in the air for a few moments longer, before disappearing. "I did read the recipe for these lanterns in the journal in the basement, though. If you want it I can write it down for you again."

She'll attempt to determine what kind of necromancy has been done to the hand, if she can. The brass sphere is the last object of her inspection, both the runes and the gas, if either is magical. Cassandra is familiar with the varieties of Draconic, Elven, and Dwarven scripts most commonly found in the Nexus, as well as several typical varieties of shorthand, ciphers, and inscribing runes most commonly used by mages. If the script is a little more esoteric, but still frequently connected to magical study and practice in the Nexus, like Infernal, Daedric, Celestial, or Coptic, she could probably identify it, though not translate it without her reference materials on hand.

[Earl of Purple]

Aelfisborough- Alchemist's Tower

The potions include an incomplete potion of water breathing; it's probably spoilt by now. The sealed bottles include a potion of invisibility and a potion of resilience, which will briefly make the person who drinks it nearly bulletproof. Something the Aberrant Researcher should have packed in the barn. The hand is a magical replacement; the necromancy partially animates it and prevents it from rotting. Affixing it to a stump will cause it to permanently bind to the stump. It won't be as sensitive as a natural hand, but it will be stronger. Underneath is a note saying it was created as an experiment, to see if the alchemist had the skills to do it.

The brass orb is a geistbomb; pump it with a bit of magic and throw it, and it'll explode, releasing the trapped spirits within. The spirits will dissipate quickly, but will leave a deathly chill and drain life from those nearby. The device was designed on Innistrad, and the runes and glyphs are magical symbols for binding spirits. The gas within is the bodies of the spirits trapped within; occasionally a face appears in one of the windows. Basically, it's a necromantic bomb working through trapped ghosts.

The magazines are pretty common designs; one is filled with nine-millimetre pistol rounds, charged with necromantic energy to make slightly cursed wounds that aren't easily healed. Notably, they don't have gunpowder; in its place, is powdered human bone. The other is a rifle magazine, .303, and inscribed with runes of containment, making the magazine larger on the inside- it holds twice as many as it looks. A note nearby says they were made by commission, as a favour for an unidentified individual who hasn't come to collect.