Outside 45

[Shadowcaller]

Steve says "My apologies, I didn't mean to ignore you. I simply wanted to get our heavier members of the assault team across the lake." Steve turns his horse to follow Wenomir.

[Temple Assault]

"I'll fall in, but I don't recall not listening, or you being the leader. But please don't get in an argument about it. It's not worth anything." He turns to Steve. "I'll bend the trees to make a sort of bridge. Give me just a second." He looks downward but toward the trees and reaches out a hand. The trees should start (unless anti magic is involved)
impossibly bending the trees at the feet of Steve to form a path.

[Temple Grounds]

Thariza spits.

"And you chose me to me your lab rat? If you plan to make me your slave, better kill me now and spare yourself the trouble."

[Ruins]

Fayyaad grabs a crystal. They're not what he's after here, but could be valuable. After that, he heads deeper into the ruins.

[Temple Assault]

"You signed up to a Vigil mission, so you listen to the commander of Vigil," Wenomir says, as he follows Felandria over the bent trees.

[Temple Assault]

Felandria nods in assention.

Sir, yes sir!

And she will float over the swamp, watching carefully for threats, her gun at the ready.

[Temple Assault]

The trees do indeed bend down to Luvon's will, yet as previously mentioned, they are not quite enough to make it across the swamp. They might have to let Felandria fly them over one by one, or come up with some other method.
Felandria won't see any obvious threats besides the thick mist (which is magical in case she attempts to detect that) but something inside the mist is seeing her.

[Temple Grounds]

Jaccalish glances down at the spit for a moment before looking back up at Thariza. "If I wanted you as a slave, or lab rat, i would have made you such. That was not my intention, I gave you free will for a good reason, and you might use it in any way you desire. I won't stop you."
While the being speaks it suddenly appears distracted, looking away at something in the distance.

"Invaders?" Sargon muses, apparently realizing what Jaccalish is distracted by.
"It is the giant magical humanoid I let go. She is likely here to disrupt my experiments, again. This is bothersome." It replies, staring at the same invisible point.

"That means I'm reliving you of your command of this temple, Sovgh. You are not fit to deal with a battle of this proportion. All you should do is making sure that mortal doesn't interrupt the defenses. So stay here." Then the demon walks out of the room.

[Recaiden]

Cloud nods.
"I had expected that."
He slides his visor back down and seals the helmet back up before proceeding back the way he was led earlier.

It probably doesn't make her much safer, but it gives Naftly peace of mind, and that's just as good since he's not plotting anything. Despite how unprofitable it is, he's really here to help.

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

The trees do indeed bend down to Luvon's will, yet as previously mentioned, they are not quite enough to make it across the swamp. They might have to let Felandria fly them over one by one, or come up with some other method.
Felandria won't see any obvious threats besides the thick mist (which is magical in case she attempts to detect that) but something inside the mist is seeing her.

Steve looks at the trees fail to make a path, but stays silent and falls in as Wenomir ordered.

[Green Elf]

[Temple Assault]

"You signed up to a Vigil mission, so you listen to the commander of Vigil," Wenomir says, as he follows Felandria over the bent trees.

"No actually. I didn't. I never signed on, and it's kind of me and Steve's mission. I recall recruiting you, but as I said, no need to argue." He says as he follows on the trees. ((Can I get a description of your character somewhere?))

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The elevator whirrs to life and descends for a long time. Ten minutes after he hit the button, the elevator finally whirs to a stop in a round alcove facing yet another long, wide hallway. The ceiling here is cathedral-like, several stories up, and there are side hallways that branch off of the main one, made immediately apparent, due to a pair of massive robots that seem to be patrolling them. Each is nearly the size of a house, and they move rather rapidly on their six stumpy legs, slamming their massive, hammer-like arms one after another into the floor as they move. Neither seems to have noticed Fayyaad yet; indeed it seems they don't deviate from their set patrol paths, though one always seems to be crossing the hall while the other is hidden from view, though Fayyaad can always hear the second slamming its arms away. The floors here must be nearly indestructible to put up with this sort of abuse for decades or even centuries.

Beyond the massive robots and their halls, Fayyaad might just be able to make out that the end of the hall opposite the elevator seems to open into a massive room that he won't be able to see to the other end of. Getting there might require some heavy firepower, though.

[Artemis97]

[Degenburg Castle]

Well, there was no turning back now. Dena will enter, wishing she had that stupid fey glamour charm to cover her face, sometimes it was just better to not look like you had snakes for hair.

[Degenburg Castle]

Oh choices choices. They could try sneaking up the stairs and exploring the castle for potential blackmail material to- oh. Dena's just going for the door. All right then. Reinholdt follows, but tries to listen in on the crowd to get a feel for if they're discussing one particular event or just a myriad of normal courtly things.

[Degenburg Castle]

Reinholdt will hear various normal things from the crowd, just regular castle gossip and day to day talk. The crowd, mostly serious looking adult men, quieted when the doors were pushed open and the newcomers entered. The people move away from the center of the room, clearing the way from the door to the dais at the far end. The room was a large hall, arrayed with a few groupings of tables and chairs, and decorated with thick furs and other trophies from the hunt. The light was low, the room lit only by a few ensconced candles, with more set out on the tables. Braziers burned low, giving off warmth, but not much light.

Sitting in a well of shadow at the top of the dais was Sszinyon. The drow's blue-black skin had a touch of grey to it, and his white hair was cropped short. He was dressed in fine clothes in shades of black and grey, including a heavy cloak lined with white fur. He was armed, as well, twin swords hanging from his belt along side a matched set of repeating hand crossbows. A knife was tucked into one fur-lined boot, and it was doubtless he carried more than what could be seen.

The drow took in the newcomers and spread his hands wide, a smile crossing his face. Two rows of pointed teeth could be seen as he spoke. "Who are you and what has brought you to the hospitality of my hall?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Degenburg Castle]

Electra follows Dena and Rein in, watching the crowd carefully, her deep blue eyes conveying nothing but cold indifference to every gaze she meets. She quietly enables her first stage low-light vision enhancement so that she can see anyone lurking in the shadows of this cozily dark room. Her black armor gleams softly at points from the candles, and she moves carefully so that her boots don't make much noise on the stone floor as she walks. She says nothing when Sszinyon greets the trio, just looks him up and down, her face conveying the same cold indifference to him that greeted the members of his court. She expects Dena and Reinholdt to do most of the talking, but if they kneel or bow, she'll follow suit. No need to cause an incident due to overt rudeness, after all.

[McBish]

Naftly moves quickly through the ship, taking only about five minutes. She returns about five minutes later. She is balancing a heavy looking footlocker in one hand, has two duffel bags, one over each shoulder. The last hand is guiding a large crate on wheels. One might think she has stuffed her baby into the crate, they would be wrong. Behind her floating and following her is something that looks like a cross between a stroller and a Dalek. The top a clear hemisphere showing a baby who is quietly waking up. The whole contraption is about 4 feet tall and floats half an inch from the ground.

Her pressure suit looks less bulky. Nearly form fitting the life support fits into a attached backpack that is only 15 or so pounds. A small laser pistol different from her other gun strapped to her hip. If the shuttle hasn't arrived she will let Cloud back in.

[Recaiden]

During those minutes Naftly might detect the shuttle approaching. It's about 1.3 school buses in size, the shape of a spiky egg connected by a thick beam to a smaller, less-spiky egg. It pulls up alongside the ship, aligning the hatches and opening up. It doesn't have an airlock, per se. Just a shimmering force field holding the air in.
"We're ready." Cloud radios over to Naftly.

[8BitNinja]

"No actually. I didn't. I never signed on, and it's kind of me and Steve's mission. I recall recruiting you, but as I said, no need to argue." He says as he follows on the trees. ((Can I get a description of your character somewhere?))

"Hold your tongue and follow his orders, Luvon" Steve says in a rather aggressive tone. He then says to Wenomir "I am very sorry about my associate here. He means well, and genuinely concerned with the well being of others, but he has no filter."

[McBish]

The controls in the airlock will let Cloud open the exterior doors. Naftly motions for him to head over and she will follow. This airlock wouldn't fit both of them and all her stuff. She puts on her helmet which seems to be made of some sort of slimy transparent rubbery material that hardens into a clear dome as she pressurizes her suit.

She will follow through the airlock, moving gracefully in zero-g, obviously well practiced. She admires the force field, but is carefully avoiding letting anything touch it. She handles her cargo with a careful ease, moving slowly and precisely.

[Recaiden]

Out Cloud goes. He cycles the outer door, hops out, and in just a second grabs ahold of the shuttle near the hatch and slips through the force field to get inside.
The shuttle is not spacious, but there's no real load right now, just the pilot and copilot (a man and a woman, both more-or-less human) up at the front.

[McBish]

Naftly follows behind entering the strange shuttle looking around for a place to safely stow her gear. A very perceptive and keen minded person might notice the glint in her helmet and recognize a heads up display. One that is currently busy showing conditions in the shuttle, Eve's pod and Eve herself, and info on her ships automated routines she set up, waiting for the next command.

Meanwhile while her mother is busy with practicalities' and worrying about her Eveland is waking up. The small baby sits up putting both little hands on the transparent dome that tops her pod. Her hands show that she is only mostly human herself. Her thumb, index and middle finger each have an extra knuckle. She looks around with bright blue eyes that share little in common with her mothers dull brown ones. She seems extremely curious about this strange new ship and mom like things that are obviously not mom. She openly stares at Cloud.

[Recaiden]

Now that they're safe inside, the hatch swings shut and screws itself into place, with Cloud going to double-check that it's in place.

The obvious place for Naftly to put things would be the little rack where extra pressure suits and emergency supplies rest, just forward of this hatch.

Cloud turns to wave at Eveland in her little dome as the shuttle starts to accelerate, turn, and begin the trip downwards.

[McBish]

Eveland ducks down like she is going to hide when she is waved to. But her eyes visible in the glass not wanting to look away completely. She know this game though, so she raises her hand in something that sort of resembles a wave in return. Maybe a little too much "give me" fingers like she was trying to grab at him.

Naftly quickly stores her items in a neat little cube on the rack. She would play a great game of moving truck Tetris. "Nice shuttle."

[Recaiden]

That's probably just a side effect of having so many joints.
Cloud smiles and puts a hand up near the outside of the dome.

The copilot calls back a "thanks!" to Naftly and then asks "Any particular sort of place you want to be let off?"

[McBish]

"Cloud had said there were two cities nearby with spaceports. So how about the more reputable one of those. And my first stop will probably be a place where I could sell some metals for local currency. That would be great."

Eveland tries to stand up to be closer to Cloud bit doesn't quite make it. Flopping back down she decides this is fine. She can still see Cloud and Mom from here. She is mostly focusing on Cloud now. She has to rub her eyes after staring too long at the halo.

[Recaiden]

"That's the city of Inside, by the way. Oh!"

Cloud reaches up, takes off his halo, and hangs it on a belt-hook.

"She's never met anyone but you?"

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir's a tall, muscular man in a mail shirt, with a surcoat over it and a padded coat underneath. His skin is light brown, and covered in a mess of scars. His dark hair is kept in a ponytail.

Spoiler

Show

His sword looks different now, though - like this.

He waves his hand to set the matter at rest. As long as they follow orders, there's no need to stand around and argue.

"Felandria is flying, and Luvon and I travel light, but you're going to have trouble with your horse and armour," he tells Steve. "Do you have any magic to keep him from sinking, Felandria?"

[Temple Grounds]

Thariza's tail swishes quickly and she grins.

"You're under attack? Good. I hope they leave you as greasy smears all over this filthy place."

[Ruins]

At least the fact that he's seeing increasingly large robots must mean he's moving in the right direction. Hard to say how he's going to get through this corridor without being squished like an ant, though. Even the weapons he's picked up won't do much against those things... besides, he doesn't know how to use one of them. The tiefling opts to take a look around the alcove first. Maybe there's something here of use...

[McBish]

"Odd name, but sounds good to me." Naftly looks over at her little girl, her most sincere smile she has worn today. "No one that looks like us. We meet some aliens but they were shaped more like wolves than humans. Intelligent and could sort of communicate but she was really young then.

Eveland claps and laughs at Clouds magic trick with his halo. She pats the top of her head with both hands wanting her own halo.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

Unfortunately, there's not much to the alcove: it's just a rounded recess set back into the wall so the elevator will be largely out of the way of the larger central hallway it faces. At least the big bots seem to be largely oblivious to Fayyaad so far, though that probably won't last should he get too close to their patrol paths. Closer examination of the floor leading from the elevator towards the halls where the sentries patrol reveals that what appears to just be an accumulation of dust is actually faint scorch marks, suggesting some sort of wide fire or energy-based weapon was once fired straight down the hall past the sentries, perhaps at them, or to block them in; it's difficult to tell. Perhaps there is something in an unopened chest in one of the rooms he was unable to fully explore due to the other sentry robots?

[Shadowcaller]

[Degenburg Castle]

Reinholdt will hear various normal things from the crowd, just regular castle gossip and day to day talk. The crowd, mostly serious looking adult men, quieted when the doors were pushed open and the newcomers entered. The people move away from the center of the room, clearing the way from the door to the dais at the far end. The room was a large hall, arrayed with a few groupings of tables and chairs, and decorated with thick furs and other trophies from the hunt. The light was low, the room lit only by a few ensconced candles, with more set out on the tables. Braziers burned low, giving off warmth, but not much light.

Sitting in a well of shadow at the top of the dais was Sszinyon. The drow's blue-black skin had a touch of grey to it, and his white hair was cropped short. He was dressed in fine clothes in shades of black and grey, including a heavy cloak lined with white fur. He was armed, as well, twin swords hanging from his belt along side a matched set of repeating hand crossbows. A knife was tucked into one fur-lined boot, and it was doubtless he carried more than what could be seen.

The drow took in the newcomers and spread his hands wide, a smile crossing his face. Two rows of pointed teeth could be seen as he spoke. "Who are you and what has brought you to the hospitality of my hall?"

[Degenburg Castle]

Dena does not bow, she found no reason to. She had never dealt with royalty much, and she had yet to see a reason to treat them differently than everyone else. Wasn't that a form of... -ism thing? Treating people differently like that? Whatever.
She does respectfully nod once he has finished speaking however. "I'm afraid we come bearing grave news, your brother, Raril, has been the victim of a assassination attempt. Thankfully we managed to save him, yet the assassin still remains at large. I am Dena Xifhara, lieutenant of MERC, and I am leading the investigation of this foul crime." If the other two wanted to introduce themselves, Dena pauses to let them.

[Temple Grounds]

Jaccalish looks away. "I have you know that I don't care for it, the violence I mean. Those I guide only bring me corpses which in turn brings people like you. Not exactly ideal for finding out the greater truths." It turns to look at her. "But speaking of which, I need to get you out of here. Sargon will want to have you killed once he is done dealing with the invaders."

[Recaiden]

"Oh, that's not so bad then. So there are peaceful places to stop out there."

Cloud snaps and a little dim halo appears over Eve's head. It will follow her hand, but there's nothing to really grab though; in this case it is just a magic trick.

[McBish]

"Yeah a few here and there I guess. Though pretty much everywhere has its problems. We weren't always stuck on the ship. Hey would it be ok for me to pull her out. I wasn't sure about reentry with her. The pod has inertial dampeners' but if it is a gentle ride I think she would like to come out.. The dampers were installed in case her plan of crash landing had been necessary. She was going to make sure Eveland was going to be safe.

Eveland gasps in surprise and tries to grab it several times laughing as her hand flies through it. She rams her head into a pillow playing with it.

[Recaiden]

Cloud shakes his head.
"You should probably keep her in there. It's not always a smooth ride."
Just look at how he's still in his suit.

[Reinholdt]

[Degenburg Castle]

Reinholdt glances sideways at Dena. She suspects this man of hiring the assassin and she opens up with praise of its failure and condemnation of the act? Well alright, he guesses. Let's just see where she's going with this.

In the meantime, Rein believes you don't walk into another person's domain and not show them the proper deference, so he does bow while providing his trademark flourish. "Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire and non-partisan party."

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir's a tall, muscular man in a mail shirt, with a surcoat over it and a padded coat underneath. His skin is light brown, and covered in a mess of scars. His dark hair is kept in a ponytail.

Spoiler

Show

His sword looks different now, though - like this.

He waves his hand to set the matter at rest. As long as they follow orders, there's no need to stand around and argue.

"Felandria is flying, and Luvon and I travel light, but you're going to have trouble with your horse and armour," he tells Steve. "Do you have any magic to keep him from sinking, Felandria?"

Felandria stops and ponders.

Well, aside from the obvious, where I grow bigger and carry them, I could alternatively shrink them for the same result.

A fly spell would work for Steve, but I don't think the horse would be able to fly, he wouldn't know how.

I might be able to turn the horse into a stone figurine until we get across, but there's always the minimal risk of something going awry on the reversal.

Feather Fall is a possibility........

.
.
.
Ooh, let me check my bag.

She checks her bag of holding.

Well, I have a scroll of Tenser's Floating Disk, but it doesn't carry that much weight.

That's about all I got, at least right now.

[McBish]

Naftly nods and opens a panel under the dome. There seems to be a lot of machinery packed into the base of this stroller. Life support, propulsion, sensors for both in the pod and out, and several inertial dampeners that seem to have recently been added wherever they could fit. Those dampeners are what she checks for heaven knows how many time (13th).

Eveland has forgotten all about Cloud now and keeps trying to play with the halo. Sometimes she seems to be getting upset about not being able to grab it, but is quickly laughing at the joke it keeps playing on her.

"So magic that is real, a world that only sometimes makes sense, and a city called Inside. Anything else I should know?"

[Recaiden]

Cloud admires all the machinery packed into the stroller. No idea what it does, but there's clearly a lot of care taken here.

"Uh,what do you want to know?"
"Inside's a decrepit fascist hellhole. Stay on the main streets. Don't visit the parks. Local currency is mainly precious metal coins."
"The other major port is in Skyside, a chaotic hive of scum and villainy."
"The other big city is Riverside, which is lower tech and partly ruined and always fighting, but kinda okay. We're in the West if you need help."
"Pretty much every species you've heard of has got some presence here, and plenty more you haven't."
"There's some really powerful things walking around. Be careful what you agree to, and don't assume those guns are going to keep you safe."

[McBish]

Naftly frowns, none of those cities sound great. Riverside probably the best but also the one without a space port. Plus the news that her laser gun is lacking stings. Pretty much everywhere she has been that gun has been one of the most advanced and deadly weapon. She is glad she kept her bow in the footlocker rather than wearing it.

"Ok then sounds like I should expect to be overloaded. I think I may just have to wing it once I am down there. So last question, can I repay all your help in some way?"