Outside 45

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside]

Well.
That's gonna cause a panic.
Buildings suddenly being put on fire usually were, regardless if magic was involved or not.

People start to flee, screams of panic echos through the air as nearby cars suddenly stop, a terrorist attack? An accident? People couldn't be sure, but in the middle of rush hour, cars are still stuck in traffic so people simply have to abandon their vehicles and take to the streets on foot.

It all happens so very fast.

Anika blinks in shock, not really what she had in mind, she had thought more like turning some uppity police men into cute pigs for a short bit and then flee. But now...

"Uh, great. That..." Should teach them a lesson? Who would be taught a lesson exactly? "But I think we need to get out of here now, I think. Please tell me you got an escape plan." They were not going to be caught again.

[Ionbound]

[New Inside]

Illeria nods and says, "Right. Let's go." She takes a breath and focuses for a moment, then blinks forwards 30 meters towards the edge of the city and away from the response.

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside]

Anika shifts into the shape of a falcon and flies after Illeria as she blinks away. It won't be difficult for them to get out of the city this way but people will notice the large purple falcon and that elven mage that keeps appearing and disappearing in flashes of light.

Eventually the buildings are replaced by roads, fields and forests, it would seem that they're out of the city now where Anika shifts into her humanoid form. "Not sure if we should have done that. Innocent people might have gotten hurt. People who got nothing to do with the *******s." Illeria was still learning that they might have experimented on her, she should never have suggested vengeance.

She had been blaming herself for it even since they left the scene.

[Ionbound]

[New Inside]

Illeria shrugs and replies, "Feh. And? Just because they had nothing to do with what happened to me doesn't make them not servants of whatever...This..." She gestures at the city in the background, "Is. I don't feel sorry for them."

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside]

Anika sigh. "They're not servants..." She starts, but doesn't finish that sentence. It was hard to be tough on Illeria after what she had been through. She was the one that had suggested payback after all.
"Look, you have been through a lot. We should probably get to another and fix you up with a place to stay. Inside is the largest city in this world, but there is also Riverside which I know by reputation only and Skyside which is a pretty much lawless city. Any preferences?" She asks Illera, hoping to change the subject. She had always heard how cruel Sin'dorei could be, but Illeria didn't even consider herself one...

[Ionbound]

[New Inside]

Illeria shrugs again and says, "I dunno. Do any of them have undead?"

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside]

"I think there are some kind of vampires in Riverside, so I guess that crosses it off your list. But otherwise I don't think either Skyside or Inside have much in the way of undead." She had never even heard of undead ponies!

[Celticbear]

Undertower

The black bolt of lightning sears the monster's face, and its roar causes some of the nearby trees to shatter. It then yells with even more staggering force: YOU MORTALS KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO! THE SHADOWFLOWER IS NOT MEANT TO BE USED! WHAT DO YOU SEEK TO DO WITH IT?! GAIN POWER?! MURDER GODS?! WHY DO YOU SEEK THIS FLOWER?! WHY DOES ANYONE?!

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, A DEMON WHO CALLED ITSELF THE GOD DESPAIR MURDERED NEARLY EVERY MEMBER OF MY RACE! I SWORE AN OATH THAT WHILE I LIVED, NO ONE WOULD USE THE WRETCHED THING. I MAY DIE TODAY, BUT I SHALL NOT DIE WITHOUT KEEPING THE UNHOLY RELIC FROM YOUR EVIL HANDS!

The creature makes a bite at Cherie.

[Mee]

Undertower

The creature makes a bite at Cherie.

Undertower

Then she turns her head towards the others. "I do appreciate an audience, but perhaps one of you would like to go get what we came for?"

Undertower

"Aaaaalll righty. That's a good idea." Naku comments, standing up, stretching a bit, and popping a few of the vertebra in her back. "Shall we?" She asks of Devero, and then (presumably with him), begins walking around the creature once more, going to the orb-y thing. Unless stopped, she should reach it fairly quickly.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Practice Grounds]

Electra nods again.

"Yeah, caliber refers to the size of the projectile. In conventional firearms, the rule tends to be that if it's a lower caliber, ie, a smaller projectile, that the felt recoil will be less. You'd probably do well with a thirty-eight, or a nine millimeter if you're thinking of carrying regularly. I was thinking more of something in the twenty-two range, though, for you to practice with, since ammo in that size is cheap and recoil is negligible. I can look for something in a larger range if you'd like, though."

[Peppered]

Slaver Camp

The hagspawn is reading an erotic novel about two young men and an older dominatrix. If Meredith realises what the words are as/before they leave her lips, she might get a bit embarrassed- he's at quite a raunchy bit, though seems pretty unaffected by the words.

None of the slavers have noticed the two adventurers lurking at the bottom of the hill. They're looking more for larger groups, confident in their numbers to defeat smaller groups and lone individuals. And they happen to assume that most smaller groups would be buyers, so whilst alert, they aren't looking for what they should be looking for. None of them stray too far from the camp, either, feeling safe where they are.

Meredith wants to respond to Orion, and tell him just how unpleasant having two brains squished together physically would be - a new larger skull needed to contain them, conflicting motor commands, loss of muscles and control for the creature, so likely lots of panic. But, she's currently speaking aloud the raunchy novel in a hushed erotic whisper, and can't reply to him.

Well, that's embarrassing. She does realize what the words are, and becomes rather uncomfortably aware of the knight kneeling right next her. But have to focus, have to focus. Can't mess up the control. Why can't he be reading a murder mystery or sci-fi book?

Meredith takes a deep breath, and starts to work on slowing the hagspawn's pace. He's still reading, only the words should be coming slower. She accesses the muscles in his eyes, trying to relax them, slow their movement across the page. And then, if it works, she will start introducing her own themes into the words as they flicker across his mind. Specifically, the theme of betrayal. She starts to weave her own story, cutting off the actual words and inserting her own. One of the young men betrays the other, killing him in a dramatic brawl, and then goes after the dominatrix too.

And if that works, she'll pry deeper into his mind, connecting the words to his hippocampus in an attempt to dredge up any old memories of betrayal and paranoia that may exist. At this point, anyone with a strong willpower may start questioning what is happening and if they are being tampered with. Meredith is hoping that either the hagspawn isn't particularly mentally strong, or that whatever memories she can pull up are distracting enough to keep him preoccupied.

[Ionbound]

[New Inside]

Illeria nods and replies, "Inside sounds fine then. Will you show me the way?"

[Shadowcaller]

[New Inside]

"I can show you, but keep in mind, things are not like in Azeroth. Did you see those machines driving around in that city? Like dwarf siege engines, but way faster, and far more common. Those are everywhere in Inside, there are even some that can fly." Anika attempts to explain. "However... do you have any money on you? That is probably important."

[Lazorath]

Undertower

"Aaaaalll righty. That's a good idea." Naku comments, standing up, stretching a bit, and popping a few of the vertebra in her back. "Shall we?" She asks of Devero, and then (presumably with him), begins walking around the creature once more, going to the orb-y thing. Unless stopped, she should reach it fairly quickly.

Undertower

"Alright," Devero agrees as he looks to Cherie facing the beast then to Naku, "I'll fly the long way around. It'll take longer, but with my speed the beast will have alot of difficulty facing Cherie while also trying to stop two targets approaching this so called shadowflower from two different directions."

With the plan set in his mind he was sure that one of them, at the very least, would be able to reach, and destroy the target.

If Naku goes onwards, Devero would extend his wings then shoot off at a rapid pace whilst keeping low to the ground to make it harder for any of the beasts attacks to make it in time.
In addition, he would choose to fly through the fiery forest as he made his way around which would grant him far more cover, and with the endless chaos of fire around them it would definitely be hard to catch a figure moving at such a fast pace.
If it does manage to catch Devero's fast movements, and diverts its attention to stop him he would defend himself accordingly, but Devero decides to put more faith in Cherie causing majority of his attention to shift towards the shadowflowery orb.

It's only as Devero flies through his way to the orb that his mind really begins to process the information the beast had just provided, "if the shadowflower is evil why hasn't the beast destroyed it already? Why would he choose to protect it instead? What ever it is, it sounds powerful. With power like that I'd be able to help my friends, and even save them from their deaths..."

The beasts words left Devero with so many questions, and with the shadowflower's power unknown a growing desire begun to bloom within Devero, a desire to know what it could do, and possibly pursue the path of using its power for good.
On the other hand, the lich had managed to attach apart of itself to the shadowflower. As badly as he might have wanted to use it for his own ambitions he knew that destroying it was the best thing to do.
Our entire plan to destroy the lich was based off of a source we couldn't trust. If he was lying, and this all somehow backfires they would be in an entire world of trouble.

The beast had knowledge that could clarify everything, but he knew that asking it would give away his position within the forest fire, and the fact that there was so much that was unknown to him left Devero feeling restless.

Meredith wants to respond to Orion, and tell him just how unpleasant having two brains squished together physically would be - a new larger skull needed to contain them, conflicting motor commands, loss of muscles and control for the creature, so likely lots of panic. But, she's currently speaking aloud the raunchy novel in a hushed erotic whisper, and can't reply to him.

Well, that's embarrassing. She does realize what the words are, and becomes rather uncomfortably aware of the knight kneeling right next her. But have to focus, have to focus. Can't mess up the control. Why can't he be reading a murder mystery or sci-fi book?

Meredith takes a deep breath, and starts to work on slowing the hagspawn's pace. He's still reading, only the words should be coming slower. She accesses the muscles in his eyes, trying to relax them, slow their movement across the page. And then, if it works, she will start introducing her own themes into the words as they flicker across his mind. Specifically, the theme of betrayal. She starts to weave her own story, cutting off the actual words and inserting her own. One of the young men betrays the other, killing him in a dramatic brawl, and then goes after the dominatrix too.

And if that works, she'll pry deeper into his mind, connecting the words to his hippocampus in an attempt to dredge up any old memories of betrayal and paranoia that may exist. At this point, anyone with a strong willpower may start questioning what is happening and if they are being tampered with. Meredith is hoping that either the hagspawn isn't particularly mentally strong, or that whatever memories she can pull up are distracting enough to keep him preoccupied.

Slaver Camp

Orion attempts to maintain his composure, focusing on every detail of his past that left him feeling lost in sorrow, and despair as he closes his eyes.

He finally manages to obtain some form of control over his emotions as he relives some of his most devastating experiences in his mind causing the flood gates of pain to swell into the surface.
If his mask wasn't on and his eyes were open they would reveal an odd mixture of orange, and blue.

After a few moments of Meredith beginning the recital Orion had drowned out her voice, but as the raunchy novel enters into a heated scene his thoughts gradually get cut out by Meredith's words causing his eyes to rip open in complete confusion, and slight embarrassment.

The scenario for Orion becomes very awkward, very quickly.

Orion understands the need for Meredith to whisper, but the fact that she does adds a sultry sensation to the scene the hagspawn is reading which makes the entire situation sound far more seductive than it should considering the task they would attempt to complete. He contemplates voicing out his confusion, but instantly decides that saying anything more would only make the situation less comfortable.

With his focus disrupted he feels that it'd be best to keep a look out, and wait till she's done before he attempts to master his emotions once more while trying to put her words out of his mind.

[Morty]

[Practice Grounds]

"I think a small one will do fine for a start," Fayyaad reaffirms. "I can think of larger calibers if I end up getting a taste for those weapons. I'm sort of taking the technology one piece at a time."

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Camp

As Meredith alters the scene and adjusts the book for her own ends, the hagspawn frowns. He's read the book before, and he can't remember Boy Two getting jealous enough to murder Boy One. The jealousy was there, slightly; Boy Two resents his lower position in the house hierarchy for a good two-thirds of the book. And he'd certainly remember either going after Misstrex, his favourite character. It works, though. He thinks that perhaps he's picked up a version of the book with the same title by the same author, but from a different world. It happens, and now he's really interested in how it's all going to go, and how Misstrex is going to put Boy Two in his proper place.

The hagspawn is quite loyal, and grew up being told to respect and obey his mother in all things. He has witnessed betrayal, however; on his tenth birthday, his father broke out of his mother's spell and attempted to kill her with the cake knife. She slit his throat with her fingernail. He remembers his mother telling him to join a bandit group when he was fifteen to 'acquire a new father' and performed a betrayal of his own when he was sixteen and kidnapped his friend to be that father. After that, he was told to join the slavers, as his mother was working on a new son. The slavers throw anyone who betrays them off the side of Skyside, chained to a rock; he's seen it once, to a dealer who cheated the Guild of their cut. The memories, and the book, are keeping him distracted, for now at least. But part of him knows something is up, and mental blocks and defences are going up. Meredith's hopes for a weak mind are in vain; these defences are quite strong.

One of the slavers is headed down the slope, not directly at the adventurers, but he's still headed towards the bushes. One of the sentries calls after him "Hey, man. Where ya goin'?"
Without stopping, the other slaver turns and calls back up. "I need to water the bushes, y'get me?" The sentry, appeased by this answer, nods and resumes his patrol, quickly disappearing behind one of the buses.

[Devixer]

Undertower

"It's about time I got some explanation of what you do." Cherie jumps up above the creature's head, aiming to land on top of its head. Regardless of whether or not she does, she casts another spell the moment she lands. Unlike the last spell, this one is ready in an instant. Red magic energy surrounds the creature before surging inwards. If the spell is successful, the creature will find itself unable to move for a short time.

"Why do I seek that flower, you ask? For the same reason I have sought countless other dangerous weapons and artifacts that others meant to use to harm the innocent. I am going to destroy it. Really, if you had asked instead of making that ghastly noise when you first saw us, we could have avoided a lot of trouble."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Practice Grounds]

Electra smiles at him.

"Ok. Ready for another magazine, or shall we do some experiments?"

[Celticbear]

Tower Precipice

OWCH cries Nimnarath. The dark lich starts to cough up some sort of dark liquid on the floor.

I take it surrender is not an option? asks the Lich.

Undertower

Destroy? The Shadowflower? But then why do you... wait.

The creature's eyes glow as it looks at each of the strange party members that have ventured into the Undertower.

None of you detect as evil. I apologize for assuming, but you must understand how you all look. I have guarded the flower for many thousands of years, hoping every second that someone would come to destroy it. People with black hearts and demons are all that came though, and I had lost hope that the flower could ever be destroyed. I do not have the power to destroy the flower, but you might.

Naku makes it to the orb, the beast was too busy giving exposition, and what she sees on a closer inspection of it is a black flower which bears some resemblance to an orchid of some sort.

Spoiler: Mee

Show

Another one? Hmm, a vampire. I've never made a deal with a vampire before. You have made it past the guardian beast, so you have some cleverness about you. I respect that. I am Siriothrax, giver of power. You are? says a feminine voice in your head.

[Morty]

[Practice Grounds]

Fayyaad smiles, and his tail swishes.

"I wouldn't mind some experimenting. Hopefully the other magazines for the big gun won't level the whole countryside."

[8BitNinja]

Tower Precipice

OWCH cries Nimnarath. The dark lich starts to cough up some sort of dark liquid on the floor.

I take it surrender is not an option? asks the Lich

Steve takes another swing of his sword at Nimnarath and says "The only thing that surrender will result in is your execution."

[Mee]

Undertower

Destroy? The Shadowflower? But then why do you... wait.

The creature's eyes glow as it looks at each of the strange party members that have ventured into the Undertower.

None of you detect as evil. I apologize for assuming, but you must understand how you all look. I have guarded the flower for many thousands of years, hoping every second that someone would come to destroy it. People with black hearts and demons are all that came though, and I had lost hope that the flower could ever be destroyed. I do not have the power to destroy the flower, but you might.

Naku makes it to the orb, the beast was too busy giving exposition, and what she sees on a closer inspection of it is a black flower which bears some resemblance to an orchid of some sort.

Spoiler: Mee

Show

Another one? Hmm, a vampire. I've never made a deal with a vampire before. You have made it past the guardian beast, so you have some cleverness about you. I respect that. I am Siriothrax, giver of power. You are? says a feminine voice in your head.

Undertower

Well. The detection of evil, just like earlier, actually fails to pick up on Naku at all. As far as the spell can tell there's just . . . nothing there. There's nothing, where she's standing, to check the alignment of.

Naku, who had just begun reaching her hand out towards the . . . flower. Orb. Thing. Recoils her hand a bit, and looks at the thing with an almost fearful expression on her face.
"W-what?" She asks quietly, looking around to see if there was anything else nearby. "G-giver of power? Deal?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Practice Grounds]

Electra chuckles as she ejects the spent shell from the larger weapon and looks to Fayyaad.

"What would you like for me to try first, then? No guarantees on how destructive any of these are, but we'll try and keep the collateral to a minimum." There are a number of different shell types and colors that he acquired with the weapon, including red, blue, green and an ominous black, though there were only about 5 of that last color. Presuming they brought one of each type, there are a number to choose from.

[Morty]

[Practice Grounds]

"The black one gives the impression of being... well, there's only five of those," Fayyaad says. "Let's just start with green."

[Green Elf]

Tower Precipice

OWCH cries Nimnarath. The dark lich starts to cough up some sort of dark liquid on the floor.

I take it surrender is not an option? asks the Lich.

Steve takes another swing of his sword at Nimnarath and says "The only thing that surrender will result in is your execution."

"Him surrendering sounds good to me. The easier the kill, the better." Says the ranger as he fires an arrow towards the lich's head.

[Celticbear]

The Overtower

The arrow strikes the place where the Lich's eyes should have been, if he had eyes.

Don't you know anything about a person with a phylactery? They're really hard to kil- Nimnarath is interrupted as the paladin strikes the Lich down the middle.

The dark creature then discorporiates into the black liquid he was coughing.

[Peppered]

Slaver's Camp

As the defenses go up, Meredith starts to panic. Something primal wants to force her way in through the blockade, ripping and burning and who cares what happened to him? But, luckily for them both, she's too far away for any spell more powerful than the simple suggestions and links she had been trying already. She slips quickly out of his mind and back to her kneeling position in the bushes.

The glow fades from her lips and she brushes away the wetness on her cheeks quickly. "I couldn't do it, Orion," she whispers to him, "I may have just put us in danger." When she sees the approaching slaver though, she realizes she may have a second shot. This man is closer. "I can keep him quiet," she says, "if you can take care of him." She will need to touch him though, or get him to look at her. It kind of depends on what Orion does.

[8BitNinja]

The Overtower

The arrow strikes the place where the Lich's eyes should have been, if he had eyes.

Don't you know anything about a person with a phylactery? They're really hard to kil- Nimnarath is interrupted as the paladin strikes the Lich down the middle.

The dark creature then discorporiates into the black liquid he was coughing.

Steve starts looking around him, shield up and says to Luvon "Where in the world has he gone? Do you think that he's dead? Is he playing a trick on us? Or has he crawled back to the hells where he belongs?"

[Green Elf]

Steve starts looking around him, shield up and says to Luvon "Where in the world has he gone? Do you think that he's dead? Is he playing a trick on us? Or has he crawled back to the hells where he belongs?"

The ranger replies, "We're going to assume it's a trap for our own safety. I'll try to see if the orb is destroyed." The ranger will attempt to use his powers to call a bird. If one comes, he will speak to it saying "I want you to fly down to below the tower. You will come upon a beast that may be dead or alive. Other people will be there. I want you to tell me if a magic orb is destroyed or still alive."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Practice Grounds]

The spent shell Electra just ejected was one of the plain green ones; she loads another with a symbol on the base that Fayyaad might recall meaning some sort of spread effect, if he remembers what he read in the book he found in the same facility as the weapon. His memory might get a bit of a jog a moment later as she raises and fire the weapon in one smooth, continuous movement. The gun doesn't seem to jump in her hands the way it did in his, but the effect is rather impressive. This shell unleashes three beams, one straight forward from the weapon's barrel, and one to the left and right at 30 degree angles from the straight beam, forming a wide, v-shaped swath of destruction. Curiously, while the beams are the same size as the one from the first shell, they seem to barely make it to the trees a hundred yards away, their light dwindling and fizzling out just as they reach the treeline. When the effect fades, Electra whistles slightly, and lowers the weapon.

"That is one nasty effect."