Outside 45

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

"That I can work with I suppose." It makes Rein's initial plan to offer to take over the BDD on Sszy's behalf after Raril's impending death, complete with kickbacks, as a method of determining if Sszinyon actually did send the assassin slightly less appealing. "I've told you everything I already know about the guy back at the bar. You know as much as I do." Which is roughly nothing.

"Do we have anything to offer him? When dealing with lords it's always best to have either a gift or a proposal at the ready."

[Devixer]

Road Trip

"I. . . don't really have any money." Idun's face falls at that. She'd never really set out to get rich quick with her alchemy, but she had to eat somehow.

She blinks. Music? Was that the noise coming out of the speakers? It sounded kind of nice, and it was completely new to her. Idun just listens to what's currently playing for now.

[Mee]

Road Trip

"I. . . don't really have any money." Idun's face falls at that. She'd never really set out to get rich quick with her alchemy, but she had to eat somehow.

She blinks. Music? Was that the noise coming out of the speakers? It sounded kind of nice, and it was completely new to her. Idun just listens to what's currently playing for now.

Road Trip!

"Oh, that's no problem! I've got plenty, and this is for a great cause! Also I'm sure we can find ways of you making your own, if you want to?"

Currently, the music playing was just more stuff that Grace had on.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad makes a dash for the door, zig-zagging to avoid the missiles. He tries to close the door behind him once he reaches it.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Siege of VIGIL]

Thariza leans back as her arm stiffens, blinking away from the demon in a flurry of green smoke. When she reappears, the arm seems to be working fine, and she circles the demon menacingly.

[Ruins]

The robots turn to follow him in their plodding gate, firing more of those bombs after him, but he's easily able to evade them. Unfortunately, they seem to have locked onto him somehow, because hiding doesn't seem to deter their advance on his position. He can really only retreat to the room he came from; this room lacks any other doors. Still, the way to the door is relatively clear, at least, for the moment, and the door doesn't seem to be locked, either.

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra's irises stop glowing and she holds up a hand before interrupting quietly, looking to Dena.

"Sorry to interrupt, but in answer to your previous question, Dena, no, there's no shielding here. I think the redirect might have been due to certain minerals in the stone here causing interference with my system. It happens sometimes, and it requires some equipment I don't have to prevent. It's not dangerous, just annoying." She looks to Rein, and shrugs. "What Dena said is pretty much it, though I believe our end goal is to get him to recall his assassin and convince him to cancel the hit on Raril, if he indeed did send the assassin. If he didn't, then we need to find out who did, and do the same song and dance. Did I miss anything, Dena?"

[Degenburg Castle]

"I didn't really bring anything along." Dena admits, she didn't have much experience dealing with nobles. Not in this manner at least. She turns to her companion. "And I'm not giving away any of my gear to this guy. But if things do get rough, could you grapple Sszinyon and teleport him into the Riverside office, Electra? I'm sure Rein and I can get out of here on our own if it really comes down to that. Nonetheless, does anyone have anything to offer?"

[The Siege of VIGIL]

The demon watches her as she circles around and starts muttering a spell in some demonic language she does not understand. Whatever it is, it doesn't appear to be doing anything right now.

[Morty]

[The Siege of VIGIL]

Thariza backs away, slowly, and starts circling around the demon. She finally takes the time to look around, as well. Something here doesn't add up, and she's only just now trying to pick out what it might be.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The door closes automatically after him. Strange that it wasn't locked to keep him in so the sentries could catch him, but whatever this place is, obviously something isn't right with the systems. The robots don't follow him; apparently, they can't open doors, which is handy, if not a little odd in and of itself. Still, Fayyaad has made it back into the main room, in one piece, no less. Two unexplored doors remain, one now straight ahead, and one on his left.

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra shakes her head in the negative, frowning.

"There's a reason I told you to try not to fight it when I teleport you. My system has problems trying to lock on to targets when they're moving around too much, even when I'm touching them. It's a security feature, as much as anything else, and I don't think we really have time to go over the details, but the short of it is that if he's fighting back, I can't teleport him, even if I have him grappled." She looks between the two, and reaches into her gauntlet, pulling out the pouch she had earlier, then shake two more diamonds into her hand. "This is all I have. It was payment for another job I picked up, and I didn't have a chance to deposit it. If it will help get us in the door, let's use it." She offers the diamonds to the pair.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad decides to go straight ahead and explore the other side-room.

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

Rein frowns slightly and holds up his hand. "Nah, that's ok. I've got something that can work. I'll just save it for if we get to the point where we're trying to bargain to get the assassin called off." He'd rather not be handing out stuff from his now rather limited pool of nifty and interesting stolen items, but it's better than making Electra give up all she has.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir leads the other two through a swamp, following Cessie's directions. He takes the opportunity to give Felandria and Steve some tips.

"The demons will probably try to separate us. We must not let them. Also, don't get bogged down fighting minor demons. They like throwing a lot of cannon fodder at us, so we must punch through to the leaders."

[Shadowcaller]

[Degenburg Castle]

"Alright, sounds good. Then in case he turns on us, we'll try to use him as a hostage for safe passage out of the castle. Got some poison that will make him more agreeable if that happens." The poison she had intended for Adir. "But hopefully everything can stay civil, our primary goal is just talking after all. Yet before we go in there and introduce ourselves, do we claim that Raril died or not? I'd say we go with the truth and say that he's still alive, unless someone has another idea."

Just don't mention Raril's memory loss, Electra.

Then can probably be assumed to enter after this question has been answered.

[The Siege of VIGIL]

The static is gone, yet the VIGIL she was in is gone along with Cessie, the other demons, and the bodies of the VIGIL member. It has been replaced by a gothic version of it, the interior and exterior is now as black as coal, with a black foreboding sky hanging above it, as it a storm is about to break lose.

But before she has much more time to consider this, the demon gestures with its outstretched palm towards her and utters what sounds like a command-word. It is attempting to drain the active magical energy Thariza has charged up, potentially emptying whatever pool of magical resources she uses, as well as removing magical beneficial (as well as negative) effects from her.

[Temple Assault]

As Cessie indicated, the temple is located in a swamp which makes walking to it rather difficult. The ground is soft and muddy, easily giving away for the three as they attempt to move through it with armor and all. One can see why the demons would hide their base in such a place, no one would willingly want to be here. Except the insects of course, swarms of mosquitoes greet them as they traverse through the water, likely using this as some sort of breeding ground judging by how many they are.

But as they walk, they might hear a growling voice coming from what appears to be a extensive root-system. "Pst, pig-skins, you stupid? Come here and hide."

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir leads the other two through a swamp, following Cessie's directions. He takes the opportunity to give Felandria and Steve some tips.

"The demons will probably try to separate us. We must not let them. Also, don't get bogged down fighting minor demons. They like throwing a lot of cannon fodder at us, so we must punch through to the leaders."

[Temple Assault]

As Cessie indicated, the temple is located in a swamp which makes walking to it rather difficult. The ground is soft and muddy, easily giving away for the three as they attempt to move through it with armor and all. One can see why the demons would hide their base in such a place, no one would willingly want to be here. Except the insects of course, swarms of mosquitoes greet them as they traverse through the water, likely using this as some sort of breeding ground judging by how many they are.

But as they walk, they might hear a growling voice coming from what appears to be a extensive root-system. "Pst, pig-skins, you stupid? Come here and hide."

Steve rides in on his horse with his lance drawn. He says "Understood, Wenomir. Stay frosty everyone."

((I will put a link to my character sheet on here soon if someone needs to know about my character))

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad find himself in a long, relatively narrow hall that stretches back several hundred yards. There doesn't seem to be any chests in here, but he might be able to just make out a door at the other end of the hall, if his low-light vision is very good. More worrying is the presence of a number of smaller, floating robots in the same motif as the ones earlier, though these are shaped like an inverted hand fan, with a small spike on the tops of their heads. Each one is about as tall as Fayyaad's forearm, and they float silently overhead in groups of 5 or 10. They don't seem to have noticed him yet, and apparently, the robots from earlier can't communicate with them, either. They're floating high enough that if he's minded to, Fayyaad could probably try to sprint underneath them, though it's hard to tell how fast they can actually move, since each one is simply floating in place. If he takes the time to look around, he might also note that there are a couple more of the holes in the walls like what he saw in the main room: cracks that give way to a hole large enough to put one's hand and arm into. They are roughly half-way down the hall, one in each wall, though, so getting to them without dealing with the floating robots first might be an issue.

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra shrugs, placing the diamonds back into the pouch, and the pouch back into its hiding place in her gauntlet.

"Alright, I'll just hang onto them, then." She looks to Dena and raises an eyebrow at the question. "You said you tracked the assassin here. It stands to reason that he's probably already met with Sszinyon, or whoever hired him. If that's the case, there's no reason to try and claim anything but the truth: that Raril survived the attempt, and we're here on his behalf to negotiate to keep him that way. I don't see a reason in this instance to try and claim anything else, unless you've got a better idea, Reinholdt." She looks to the treasure-hunter, tilting her head slightly in a curious manner.

"I didn't intend to mention that. I may not say much once we get in there; I think you and Reinholdt are going to be better negotiators in this instance than I am, and I'll be trying to watch your backs, anyways."

[Morty]

[Ruins]

This is getting quite strange, in Fayyaad's opinion. Whatever happened here must have struck those machines dumb. That, or they normally rely on direct instructions from their creators, who are absent. He doesn't know much about technology. He hugs the wall on his left hand and moves quickly. If the robots react violently, at least they won't immediately surround him.

[The Siege of VIGIL]

Thariza feels her built-up energy from the Mists drain away, even though she never fully realized she'd been drawing on it. She snarls and charges the demon, attempting to very mundanely bludgeon it repeatedly with pure strength, muscle and training.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The robots don't seem to notice him as he hugs the left wall, at least at first. Once he reaches the center of the room, though, one of the ones up ahead catches a glimpse of his movement. Its eye glows, and like before, it makes an ominous double-beep before floating down towards him. He'll only have about 10 seconds to start running before it's on top of him.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad decides to try something else this time. He curls his fingers, causing a flame to come to life around his left hand. He waits for the robot to get closer, then lashes out with the hand, causing a whip of intense flame to strike at the thing.

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir leads the other two through a swamp, following Cessie's directions. He takes the opportunity to give Felandria and Steve some tips.

"The demons will probably try to separate us. We must not let them. Also, don't get bogged down fighting minor demons. They like throwing a lot of cannon fodder at us, so we must punch through to the leaders."

If we need a path cleared, I'm your girl.

Hell, I'll just step over them if need be.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The flame whip strikes the robot square in its "face". It's a good thing he used an attack that kept some distance between himself and the robot, as it explodes rather violently in a vaporizing fireball that almost reaches Fayyaad, stopping just short of his position. It leaves no trace of the bot when it fades out. Unfortunately, the motion of the whip does alert one of the bots behind him, and it starts closing in on him as well, but the "alert" sound it makes will make it easy for him to deduce where it's coming from, as it's not close.

[Devixer]

Road Trip!

"Oh, that's no problem! I've got plenty, and this is for a great cause! Also I'm sure we can find ways of you making your own, if you want to?"

Currently, the music playing was just more stuff that Grace had on.

Idun smiles at Grace. "You'd really help me? Thank you!" Maybe she could get some sort of catalog of the region's plants. "Could we go to one of these bookstores? If you don't mind?"

[Mee]

Idun smiles at Grace. "You'd really help me? Thank you!" Maybe she could get some sort of catalog of the region's plants. "Could we go to one of these bookstores? If you don't mind?"

Road Trip!

"Yeah! Of course I would!" Grace replies cheerfully, grinning at Idun a bit. "Bookstore it is! I've been needing to pick up a few things!" With that, Grace takes the next exit, and drives them off to a happy little bookstore over in Inside!

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad keeps running down the hall. He'd rather not risk being caught in the blast when destroying another of the robots. Besides, those fireworks aren't as easy as he makes it look.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

Several more of the robots seem to notice him as he runs for the other end of the hall, but he manages to make it to and through the door before they can catch up with him. The room on the other side of the door is large and hexagonal, with a pair of chests along the back wall, and an elevator like the one he rode into the ruin on in the center. A faded plaque above the chests is engraved with strange writing. At least there are no robots here, a no doubt welcome reprieve.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad stops to catch his breath, and goes to search the room once he recovers. He starts by examining the chests. The elevator can wait.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The chests are identical to the ones he's been seeing, massive metal boxes that are painted a faded dark orange color. Neither appears to have been opened or touched in a long time.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

The only thing to do is open them, which Fayyaad proceeds to do.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The first chest contains a rather large, old book. Not quite a tome, but similar in size. The writing inside takes a bit of deciphering, but just by the numbers, it appears to be a log of some sort. Puzzling out the entries might take quite a bit of time, as the book isn't written in a very common language, though if Fayyaad has access to a magical means of translation, it would take considerably less time.

The second chest contains what appears to be the hilt of a sword. A black handle, with a very simple silver cross guard and hexagonally shaped pommel. No blade is present, but then, perhaps it doesn't need one, as at where the blade would meet the cross guard, there is a red crystal, and upon close examination, there's a hidden switch on the cross guard. Pressing it causes a red energy blade to spring to life from the crystal, with the whole apparatus thrumming ominously. It throws quite a bit of light, as well. Despite being an energy blade, the weapon is finely balanced and easy to wield. A fine addition, if one needs a sword.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Now this is a fine find. Fayyaad is used to metal swords, but this looks like it'll do nicely. He closes the chests and goes to examine the elevator. Does it go up, or down?

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The elevator seems to be in it upmost position; it has buttons for both up and down, but if the first one was an indicator of how these things work in this place, then it's already in its upmost position, as there's no hole in the ceiling for the platform to rise through. Pressing the up button confirms this, as the elevator doesn't move, though it will if the down button is pressed.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad considers it for a moment, before deciding to head down in the elevator. He'd rather not face those robots again unless he's sure he has to.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The elevator whirrs for awhile, and finally slowly grinds to a halt in a cavernous, irregularly shaped room, on top of what seems like a large "island" that's raised 10 feet above the lower floor. And it's a good thing, too, because no less than six large, roughly humanoid robots, made in the same style as the ones he's seen previously, are stomping around rather loudly on the floor below. Each is a different color, and their legs seem to connect at their shoulders, while their arms end in long, dangerous points. On occasion, one will leap into the air, not high enough to get onto the platform, but high enough that their pointed heads can be seen, as each is roughly 7 feet tall. None seem to have noticed Fayyaad yet. At the longest end of the room, on the lower level, there's another door, and in the space between the wall and the island he's on, also on the lower floor, is another chest. By the way these robots move, Fayyaad most likely won't be able to outrun them in a straight line, though they don't seem to be that dexterous, so he may be able to outmaneuver them, if they don't corner him first.