Outside 46

[Deathkeeper]

The Spirit World


Ashley looks back, and grins at the little thing. "Yeah. It's a young one, though. Probably doesn't even know you're there." She looks ahead. "All my trips through here, and I'll still never understand where the spirits go. Some places there's none for miles, and in others you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one." She rounds around a corner and is right-side up once more, looking over. "See what I mean?" she says, pointing out a clump of many colors jumbling together.

[The Spirit World]

"Are they all like that? Just little blobs?" Willa asks, eyeing the colors. Most of the spirits she's interacted with are more...things. Animals, emotions. Never just...blobs.

[Luciana's Haven]

The goblin gives the offered bottle a lingering glance before she accepts it, though before drinking it, she types up a new line of text.

SHOOTING FIRST IS THE BEST WAY TO SURVIVE OUT HERE. NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES.
She seems to consider a moment, and then adds a new line.
AND YOU HAD A HOOD, JUST LIKE THE PERSON THAT ATTACKED US. FROM A DISTANCE, I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE SAME. OR MEMBERS OF THE SAME CULT.
OR SOMETHING.
ANYWAY, THE WOMAN, DAWN, IS MY OTHER 'COMPANION', SHE WAS THE ONE SUGGESTING LOOTING THIS PLACE IN THE FIRST PLACE, TO GET MORE OF THOSE MONSTERS OF HERS.

Meanwhile, the voice calls out again. "Hellooooo?"

There is nothing jumping him as he reaches the entrance, but the smell coming from inside is just awful. It smells like feces mixed with wet dog in there. The store windows are cracked, but not broken and the door is closed, but if he attempts to open it, not locked.

In addition, opening the door will alert the owner of the voice, which he still can't see. "I heard someone! Quick! Help me!" The store is a labyrinth of shelves filled with various pet toys and what appear to have once been snacks but has molded to the point that barely can be recognized as such. In addition, the floor is covered in a layer of mud for whatever reason.

[Luciana's Haven]

"Be nice, Khannie. Anyway, it sounds like you ought to gather up your group again and consider getting out of here if we've got a cult on our hands. I hate cults. Any idea which mad stain on reality they're worshiping this time?" Jace asks with a sigh. He'll take the bottle back if the goblin doesn't pocket it. Glassware is expensive!

Zebes can't answer because dragonites can't talk, so he simply heads in with a friendly "Dragooo~", using his wings to glide into the store. This allows him to sail over the yucky mud and hopefully put his head over the shelves to give him a better vantage point to see what's going on. Another goblin in need of rescue, perhaps?

[Morty]

[In the Woods]

"The threads were of reality, reshaping itself to the spell," Batu explains, trying to keep it simple and not to sound like he's bragging. Even though he is. "The words and gestures of the spell drew in and amplified light, then discharged it in a single blast."

[Earl of Purple]

Chapel

"And the Ferals? They aren't like raiders. They're sneaky. Don't have so many guns, or cars. Not as cruel as raiders, but possibly more dangerous." The raiders aren't very subtle, as Faudre saw earlier, with the big car chase and random gunfire. "Mind you, I guess your wyvern can keep them away, or smell them coming." He nods to Haar as he speaks.

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The bottle bounces off the ground and grabs the bronze-swordsman skeleton by the ankle. It's a beer bottle; it lacks the size, weight and leverage necessary to seriously hamper the skeleton. It ignores the bottle. Maybe if it lay down on its side and tried to interpose itself between the skeleton's foot and the ground as it takes a step, it'll be more effective.

Fayyaad shrouds the halberdier and the bronze-sword skeleton in smoke. They can't see through it, and continue advancing, missing Fayyaad's dodge. The broken-sword skeleton does and turns to face the tiefling as he swings his staff. The sword is moved to block, but there's not enough blade left and the swing goes unparried. It clonks into the skeleton's ribs and shatters them, continuing to the spine and breaking that, too. The skeleton collapses into a heap of disarticulated bones and the hilt of a shattered sword.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus charges the remaining skeleton, attempting a flying body slam from behind. The bottle rushes toward the cabin to look inside.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pitstop]

Fayyyaad waits for the skeletons to emerge from the smoke. Then he will rush one of them and once again clobber it with his staff, hoping that they won't see him coming in time.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Unfortunately for Erasmus, there's two skeletons left over. I'll say he charges the halberdier; that's better for the team. He crashes into the back of the halberd-wielder, knocking it over. The skeleton hits the ground, crashing into individual bones.

This leaves Fayyaad with the bronze-bladed skeleton to deal with, which is fortunate. The halberd has enough reach to effectively combat the staff. The staff hits the skeleton in the ribcage, and it shatters, more bones skittering across the ground.

As the bottle runs towards the cabin, a bolt of black magic is shot at it. The bolt is a dark purple, but it seems to glow black. If it hits the bottle, the energies animating it will be leeched away. Had it hit a living person, the bolt would have drained their life in the same way.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

The bottle's energy is drained, and its limbs suddenly vanish. Erasmus creeps toward the source of the attack. He whispers "Attend me," and a creature made of air appears next to him. The entity is impossible to see without magical or technological aid, and appears, if visible, as a humanoid figure of swirling air. Erasmus orders the unseen servant, "Go in there and make a ruckus. Bang cupboards, smash dishes, do anything choo can tew distract 'im." The unseen servant flies into the cabin with an intent to do just that.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pitstop]

"It seems we've got the attention of the person responsible for all this," Fayyaad remarks to Erasmus, keeping his staff ready and looking for more undead.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The unseen servant causes a ruckus. The necromancer assumes it's a poltergeist drawn by the death energies he's using, so he blasts out a blanket spell to quell spirits in an area, until he can devote the time and energy to binding the 'poltergeist' so it does something useful. The spell's more focused on undead spirits, not elemental ones, but it may still work. He doesn't usually deal with ghosts, but he's got some practice in ignoring them. Unless the unseen servant does something totally unexpected- try to knock the necromancer over, or pull his robes up over his head, or jog his arms- the necromancer doesn't react. He does send out another skeleton, a more elite skeleton this time. It carries a round wooden shield, slightly rotten, and a steel sword inscribed with runic symbols, and moves slightly oddly. The bones have been wired together to make the construct sturdier, and not every bone is human. The bones of its arms and legs are from a bull, a form of symbolic magic using them to grant the skeletal warrior increased strength. Its skull is a wolf's, looking strange perched atop the mostly-human skeleton, with sharpened teeth. A fine silver chain bearing some delicate charms hangs from the skeleton's pelvis.

The skeletal warrior charges forward, faster than the last ones, sword raised high in a slash at Fayyaad's cheek.

Upstairs in the shop, did the bottle close the door on the zombie?

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

The unseen servant is unaffected by the spell, but not aggressive enough to actually target the necromancer. It goes on with what it was previously ordered to do.

Upstairs, the door is left ajar, and the zombie is free to roam

Seeing the elite skeleton, Erasmus does not believe a body slam will work on it. He swings his beer bottle club at its head as it swipes at Fayaad, hoping to seriously damage it while it's distracted.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pitstop]

Fayyaad goes on the defensive as the skeleton comes charging. He slams his staff into the ground, causing it to erupt with fire, creating fissures and sending pieces of dirt flying around. Hopefully it will stop or stagger the undead, allowing it to be flanked.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The cabin is trashed, but the necromancer ignores it. He's more interested in the fight between his elite skeleton and the two mercenaries outside.

The skeleton stumbles slightly with Fayyaad's attack, but quickly catches its balance and turns to swing its sword at Erasmus. The bottle doesn't do much, except possibly break- the skeleton's bones are sturdier than the last ones, due to the wires holding them together. The runes prevent the sword from deteriorating, and enhance the blade's edge a little, but don't do anything incredible to the sword.

[Murkus]

[In the Woods]

"The threads were of reality, reshaping itself to the spell," Batu explains, trying to keep it simple and not to sound like he's bragging. Even though he is. "The words and gestures of the spell drew in and amplified light, then discharged it in a single blast."

This all looks like it goes a little over Divick's head. He gets up and approaches, frowning, leaning left to right as he tries to examine Batu's hand. "Reality is made of threads? Light is made of threads?" He waves his hand through a shaft of sunlight coming through the trees. Hm. "How can you see the threads? Is it a sorcical secret?"

[Morty]

[In the Woods]

Batu is silent for a moment, wondering how to explain it.

"Not quite. I mean, it's nod made of threads and I can't see those. But when I cast the spell, I sort of... pick it apart and put it back together the way I want. Briefly. The natural order of things comes back soon. Like..." he searches for an appropriate metaphor. "You can throw a rock into water to disturb it, but eventually it becomes clear again."

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus is nicked by the sword. "Yowch!" He angrily bites the skeleton in the leg, likely with little effect.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad moves his staff to his left hand, while his right hand reaches out. A small but intense beam of fire shoots from his finger, aiming for the wires that hold the skeleton together. It's not very precise, but Fayyaad hopes to melt at least some of them enough that the skeleton might be damaged.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Erasmus isn't very effective, but the skeleton has decided the dragon isn't much of a threat and swings at Fayyaad instead.

I don't know where Fayyaad is aiming, but if he wants to really cripple the skeleton, the legs are a good place. So I'll say he's blasted at the wolf-warrior's knee, melting the wire there and scorching the bone. Copper melts at just over 1,000 degrees Celsius, which is also the temperature used in crematoriums. So now the elite skeleton's knee is very brittle, and the wire is deforming.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus takes advantage of the damaged knee to bite again, targeting the section of melted wires and attempting to tear the leg off, shaking his head back and forth like a wolf tearing at its prey

[Shadowcaller]

[Mountain Temple]

The construct gets stared at. Damon's stare doesn't really amount to much though, what with his largely-featureless face and pale eyes. "I'm not particularly fond of being ssstudied."

Mengshi also gets stared at. "I can ssee the ressultss of my work. I can't ssee the ressultss of yourss. I think you might need to work on your sssocial sskillss a bit if you're trying to be encouraging, but then I'm a difficult persson, aren't I?" There's no sarcasm in that last statement. Damon is very much aware of his flaws. Well, this particular flaw anyway. He still wants to get set fire to hordes of demons so he's clearly not all right in the head.

"I guesss I'm ready to go, whenever the map isss done."

[Mountain Temple]

"Not encouraging precisely, simply a lack of discouragement?" Mengshi suggests. "Either way, I shall not argue this point further. Do your work as you please."

"Progress is being made." The constructs are now trying to piece together the map again, they appear to have some difficulty though and it might just be his imagination, but they seem to be giving him the evil eye from time to time as they work.
"You should shift into a demonic form while we wait to make the gating process easier."

[Devixer]

The Spirit World

"Are they all like that? Just little blobs?" Willa asks, eyeing the colors. Most of the spirits she's interacted with are more...things. Animals, emotions. Never just...blobs.

Ashley shakes her head. "The way I've come to understand it, the colors are spirits that haven't come into our world. Some eventually have the power to travel across worlds, and they imprint on the first thing they perceive. There's a spirit of me somewhere around here, but I don't run into it very often anymore."

Chapel

"And the Ferals? They aren't like raiders. They're sneaky. Don't have so many guns, or cars. Not as cruel as raiders, but possibly more dangerous." The raiders aren't very subtle, as Faudre saw earlier, with the big car chase and random gunfire. "Mind you, I guess your wyvern can keep them away, or smell them coming." He nods to Haar as he speaks.

"Hmph. Stealth and subterfuge will be found wanting against any warrior of the steppe." Haar makes a loud snort as Faudre speaks, almost in agreement.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad can't maintain such an intense flame for long, so after a few moments he extinguishes it and attacks the skeleton's head with his staff. Hopefully it gives Erasmus the distraction he needs to target the weakened wires and bones.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The elite skeleton moves its shield up to block Fayyaad's staff. Flakes of rotting wood fly free form the impact, but the rot is mostly surface-level, and the shield is surprisingly sturdy. That does mean it's not watching for Erasmus, and the dragon shatters the wolf-headed skeleton's knee, brittle scorched bone and warped copper wire proving no competition when compared to the little dragon's bite. Erasmus doesn't pull the leg off, but does get a mouth of red-hot metal, flaky bone and bits of ash. As the skeleton falls, it swings its sword at Fayyaad again, though it's a unlikely to hit.

Chapel

"If you say so. Anyway, it's closing time for me. I need to get some water to filter overnight, cook my supper, lock up and sort my defences." It should also be getting dark, because I'm looking forward to morning, and the helicopter's arrival.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus spits out the burning metal and bites at the falling skeleton's neck, attempting to behead it.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

The sword gashes Fayyaad's arm before he can get away from the swing. He curses, but gets away from the falling skeleton and watches for more threats.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The skeleton's neck is pretty sturdy- wolf skulls don't naturally fit on human skeletons, so there's quite a lot of wire around the neck. It responds to Erasmus' attack by trying to bite back, with its sharpened teeth. It'll also try to sit up, into a more upright position where it can continue to attack with its sword and teeth.

The zombie from the shop wanders out of the store, stumbling as it exits via the smashed window.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus is getting somewhat desperate. He jumps back from the biting skeleton and levels his wand at it. He loudly recites an incantation and a burst of light flies from the wand. The light envelopes the skeleton and attempts to transform it into a lizard. Mentally, Erasmus calls to his unseen servant to return to him.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad shifts his staff to be supported more by his uninjured arm, before stepping forward and trying to bring it down at the skeleton's head. It doesn't have much finesse and intends to simply beat the undead down, back on the ground.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The skeleton resists the magic, but not the blow to the skull. The skull cracks straight down the middle, the jaw detaches, and enough force is directed at the skeleton's spine that several important discs either fracture or slip free, and the skeleton is destroyed. Amongst the bones are the wolf-headed warrior's slightly enchanted sword, the rotten shield, a lot of copper wire and a silver chain with little silver charms on it.

Nothing stops the unseen servant from returning, and it closes the door behind it. This hampers the necromancer, who was staying inside. The zombie lady is wandering around, near the shop. It doesn't seem to have noticed the intruders yet, and doesn't pose an immediate threat.

[Murkus]

[In the Woods]

Batu is silent for a moment, wondering how to explain it.

"Not quite. I mean, it's nod made of threads and I can't see those. But when I cast the spell, I sort of... pick it apart and put it back together the way I want. Briefly. The natural order of things comes back soon. Like..." he searches for an appropriate metaphor. "You can throw a rock into water to disturb it, but eventually it becomes clear again."

"Ooh," Divick seems somehow impressed, raising his eyes to Batu's. His ears stand straight up, and there's a brief moment of awkward silence from Div. Spots of darker color appear high in his cheeks. He laughs - nearly a giggle. "That sounded like it could be poetry, with some work!" he jests. "Is it wearisome work, picking apart reality? Are you hungered, maybe? I have food with me, if you want some."

[Morty]

[In the Woods]

Batu's ears dip. No one has ever called him poetic before. That was just a comparison that made sense. Feels nice, though.

"Well, uh. I just tried to find a way to describe it that'd work. But I wouldn't mind some food."