Seaside 4: Where Every Week Is Shark Week

[UncleWolf]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will has been panicking ever since he heard TTN cry out. Abandoning the other crew members, he had made straight for the direction she had left in, but finds the voice reassuring, even if it sounds different.
"Titania? How did it g-OH DEAR GODS" Will swears, probably more than he should have, falling over.
"What the hell did she do??!" Certainly not what he had been expecting when the lich had said she'd be making a "golem." Those are supposed to be stone or something aren't they?
Will clears his throat.
"Um. But. I'm sorry, Titania. It's good to have you back, honest. Four arms, huh?" For some reason he feels a twinge of...something in the back of his head at that one.
He's hoping she can even hear him, though, given that he's still ant-sized.

Operation Sea Slug

Sargera and her group, which by now have managed to regroup and are tending to their wounded, are near Will and Tammy. Much of Sargera's shoulder have been patched up with bandage but some of the other gnolls have suffered far more severe injuries.
The gnoll leader simply turns to stare at Titania as she leaves, seemingly not completely convinced that it's her.

The demon is silent, as she has been for quite a while after her and Will's argument. But her presence is still felt through two glowing eyes which manifest as Titania emerges.

"I didn't do anything you panicked squirrel! That's demonic healing for you!" They can hear the lich shout from within the bunker.

Operation Sea Slug

"Now Will, be nice." TTN says, crouching down to look at him. "She fixed me. Or rather, put me into a new shell. See? I'm still here." She says, rapping her knuckles on a patch of metal plate making up part of her chest. "I might be a fair bit more organic than before, but that doesn't change who I am." Now that she's been gentle, she holds up a finger. "Beyond that, weren't you raised with manners? A gal likes to be told that she's pretty, not horrific beyond all reality." She sounded a fair bit displeased by that.

"Now, how do we get you back to normal size?"

[Deathkeeper]

Operation Sea Slug

Will pouts, offended.
”I am not a squirrel. A squirrel could swallow me whole right now.” Actually Will has never seen one, nor does he know what they look like, let alone their size. He’s just heard that dogs like to chase them, and he’s guessing their size from that. How does the lich even catch his comments from all the way over there? The demon must be relating what it hears to her.
With a sigh, Will goes over and sits down next to Titania’s toe, patting it.
”I’m sorry, Titania. You wouldn’t have needed a new shell if it wasn’t for me. You’re only here because I needed a job. I was hoping maybe I’d be able to arrange learning mechanics to help with your shell but I bet you have cool regeneration or something now. So I’m back to being useless.” he stares at the floor. And yet he smiles, if thinly.
”To be fair to me though, anything looks horrific while I’m at this size. If you twitch your foot right now you’ll kill me. I can see individual hairs on things that have them, and every little bit of dust. It’s pretty awful. Be glad we’re not swapped. No one would want to see my big gut in that much detail.” Actually, now that he’s not fighting for his life he can probably do with getting out of this restrictive thing. It’s not meant for someone round and it’s been restricting his breathing. Will clumsily gets out of his body armor, slinging it over his shoulder.

[Shadowcaller]

Operation Sea Slug

The ladder down into the bunker isn't actually that long and the lich, well, Lannefear appears in a puff of black smoke not far away from Will, staring right at him with her glowing orb-like eyes. "Which is why you better be respectful you little punk."

She laughs. Apparently that was her idea of a joke.

Sargera now speaks up, being the first of the gnolls to recover from the shock of the giant lich appearing out of nowhere. Will can tell she has been waiting for this. "Yes, as TNN said, I plead to you grand-warlock. Me and my comrades had no intentions of hurting your or your property. We didn't know this would contain an actual living ancestor. We are the reclamation league and we are simply trying to make use of what's left of our people and keep it out of the hands of others."

Lannefear looks down at the tiny gnoll. "Oh, is that so? The presence of a human, a goblin, and a human golem made me think otherwise. But I shall grant you your plea once I have a few moments to prepare. Though if you intentions are dishonest... well, let's hope they aren't shall we? For your sake." Her grin grows wider.

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Anika turns to Blanche as she has nonchalantly thrown a screaming actor over her shoulder. As the confuded bear looks at her, then the shocked goblin crew in the distance and finally to something in the water, the actor lands in the water behind her with a splash.

Then she changes back into her humanoid form. "For real? They used the well as stage prop?!" It seems she has figured it out as well.
The druid reaches down into the water to pick something up. "See? They're even using fake ears!" She's holding in her hand what appears to be a very long pointy vax ear. "And my ears look nothing like this." She claims while pointing at the vax ear accusingly.

The actors are all still keeping their distance from her. Looking almost as afraid of the seven foot tall elf as they were of the giant bear that were throwing them all about a few moments ago.

By now the goblin crew is carefully approaching them. Blanche can hear loud swears from what could be assumed to be the director. "Just stay where you are! I'm so gonna file criminal charges for this!" He shouts through his megaphone.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

“Whoa, hey! Let’s not get too hasty here,” Blanche responds, raising her hands. “Look, this is all just a simple misunderstanding. We’ve been investigating moonwells for signs of demonic activity, and when we stumbled across all of this, we didn’t exactly realize it was a production and actual lives weren’t in danger here.” Her words are calmer than she feels; Blanche is visibly tense, and inwardly she’s feeling rather frustrated and annoyed. Mostly at herself.

“Now, I’m sorry about ruining the take and damaging your prop and all that, but we’re both professionals here, right? We both have jobs to do, I’m sure we could work something out here.” She gives Anika a light and subtle elbow to direct her attention to the goblin crew, trying to get her focus on the bigger issue than cultural desecration at the moment.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Anika crosses her arms over her chest and grunts as she steps out of the well. It is quite clear that the stone steps of the well were cut for of someone of her stature rather than any of the actors around it.

"Prove it." The director-goblin demands as she can see him being the first one of the crew up the stone steps.

However, right behind him is the other director...
"Ohmygosh, Anika?" A female goblin in a fashionable black outfit peeks out behind him. "And you must be Blanche!" She runs right up to Blanche and offers her hand to shake which will essentially like shaking hands with a child considering goblins stature. "Amy, Amy Zap. I've worked with VIGIL before! I'm a huge fan of your work!" She grins happilly.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Blanche's brow furrows in annoyance - and this time she doesn't have the mind to mask it in her voice. But before she can speak up and respond with some indignant words that would surely only anger him further, the other director steps forward and sets her completely off-guard. It takes a moment for her to return the handshake with a confused blink.

"Er, thanks. I, uh, appreciate the recognition?" Blanche clearly has no idea what she's done to earn this, let alone how to respond to it. She wasn't used to much beyond a simple "good work" and a pat on the back; being fawned over by some woman she'd never met before was entirely alien. So she attempts to change the subject, glancing over at Anika. "You two know each other?"

[Purple Eagle]

Amusement Beach

"You aren't the only one holding yourself to that, Kari. If you try leaving again, I'll nail you to a wall." She's smiling as she says it, though it's not as jokey as it could be.

Then off they go towards the rides! "I don't know, I'm not sure how many of the rides she could actually ride. Gnomes are small." And whilst she might be old enough for some of the rides, she's certainly too short for most of them. Unless there's a ride sized for gnomes/halflings/goblins/dwarfs, anyway. Since the height limits are usually for health and safety reasons, to prevent small children falling through the gap between seat and belt.

She blushes at the title slightly, but smiles wider and motions for some coconut mushrooms. "I think those, to start with. They're nice; you tried any?" Not exactly a fairground treat, but certainly an old-fashioned British sweet.

Amusement Beach

"Don't worry, my face hasn't forgotten, Talie. Bye Ari." Karasu smiles and squeezes Talie's hand, then leads her off. "They have stuff they put on the seats so littlefolk can ride without falling off, to make the space between it and the belt smaller. Or, smaller belts. They can choose. It's the giant kids that'd have problems if they tried." She explains in turn, and brightens at the suggestion. "I was gonna try those sometime. Give us some please!" She directs the last request to the server, a bored elven male in uniform, and gets them some of those in exchange for showing the food coupon, and perhaps a Fanta for Natalie and some iced tea for herself. "Especially since I like anything coconut." She quickly takes a bite while Natalie explains the taste.

"Mmm... so, which ride should we go on first? I'd say the bumper cars."

[Earl of Purple]

Amusement Beach

"I guess that makes sense. I've not been to one in a while." And the ones of her homeland were usually human-scale, unless they were specifically not human-scale. "Dodgems are fun. Do you want to be together, or seperate?" If they're together, they can argue over who gets the steering wheel and go-pedal, if seperate they can whack into each other.

Well, it's a chewy cap covered in desiccated coconut, with a stalk made of white fondant. They're pretty small; two or three can go in at once, if you don't want to savour them. They're better eaten one at a time and whole, or maybe bite the cap off the stalk and eat separately.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Be careful, Blanche. She's with KABAL." Anika claims as she narrows her eyes at Amy. "They're a gang of backstabbing crooks."

"Oh. No, no, no!" Amy protests.
"I mean... I am technically employed there, but not right now. I'm working on my own side projects right now. But for the record, I am sorry for what KABAL did to you and to answer your question Blanche, I did interview Anika for a documentary on VIGIL. It... never really came through though."

The first director looks between the two. "Wait, VIGIL, as in Watchforce? I did see that while I was younger. It was a great show. I can't recall either of you being in it though."

"They're new members. Watchforce only covered the old guard, only a few of them even remain in today's VIGIL."

The director nods slowly. "Huh." Then he too offers his hand to Blanche as well. "Gimgrot Stormsurge. Upcoming master director." A beat. "Don't suppose either of you are interested in acting, are you?"

Anika shakes her head. "Dream on, pal. We're just here for the well." She gestures at the ground she's standing on. "So if you could-" By the tone of her voice, Anika is about to say something extremely undiplomatic. But Blanche has a chance to save it but she must seize the moment or it will all be lost.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

KABAL wasn't an organization that Blanche was familiar with, but Anika clearly distrusted it, and with a name like that it seemed fair to presume they weren't the most morally-upstanding residents of the Nexus. Even so, it wasn't enough for her to feel hostile, and Amy's explanation certainly seemed to explain why she would know of her.

"What my partner means to say," Blanche states, cutting Anika off, "is, er, we're not really suited for that sorta thing - we're warriors, and not exactly PR people. Besides, I doubt commander Cessie would approve of it." She shakes Gimgrot's hand, tension giving away to a more professional and businesslike demeanor.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Oh yeah, what's commander Cessie like? I heard she's very different in real life compared to the show." Grimgrot inquires as they shake hand.
Then he chuckles. "She was actually my favorite back when I watched the show. Quite, uh, impressive for a human."

"My favorite was KR. I was so sad to see that she wasn't around when I visited VIGIL."

"Well, Wenomir hates that show, and I'm pretty sure Cessie does as well. So it must be super-inaccurate and not like VIGIL at all." Anika remarks as she shakes her head.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

”Well, I, er, don’t really know the show either,” Blanche admits, “came here a little while after. But from what little I know of her, she’s fairly strict and reserved. An excellent leader.” Blanche speaks of these qualities favorably, which is probably a fair difference to however Anika reacts to them.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Oh, that's exactly how she is in the show!" Grimgrot remarks, now grinning.

Amy nods. "Well, the biggest difference from the show is of course how she-"

Anika interrupts however. "Yeah, yeah, can we stop talking about the stupid show and focus on the important things? Like, uh... how you're risking getting attacked by demons by being near this well? Yeah! That's what happened to the well we were at so it might happen here too." She points at the well. "So you should pack your things and get out of here as soon as possible!"

Grimgrot frowns. "Uh, excuse me? We're actually filming a movie here and I'm not leaving until we done this scene." He shrugs. "It's just one we wanted here anyway so it should just be half a day or so."

"Half a day? For one scene? That's craaaaazy!" Anika does not seem impressed.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Ugh, this is not helping. Diplomacy is hard, and Blanche isn't that great or knowledgeable about it, but she's pretty sure that if this insistent, flippant attitude is starting to get on her nerves, it's probably not endearing them very much. Not that she doesn't agree or empathize; that boat ride took a long time, and having to wait even longer to get done what they came here to do is mildly aggravating.

"Look, lots can happen in just half a day. And your group doesn't seem to have any means of defending itself, does it?" The woman quirks an eyebrow and begins to continue, before something clicks. She turns to look at Anika, and one can almost see the gears turning behind those eyes. "Er, how big of a deal are these wells to your people? Like, in terms of culture?"

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Super-important." Anika is quick to reply. "Many have given their lives to defend them, if they get in the wrong hands the results could be catastrophic."

"We should listen to them." Amy remarks. "What if we just do the scene one more time and leave? This sounds pretty serious."

Grimgrot still seem a bit skeptical though.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Power and danger aside, don't you think using this thing as a setting prop might be a little unwise?" Blanche suggests, gesturing to the moonwell. "I mean, I don't know how large the night elf population is in the Nexus, but if those folks see you've been using an extremely important site of cultural significance as a simple bathing area in your film, you might have some very upset people." Not that Blanche knows this for certain; she's just assuming that if Anika is so clearly annoyed by it, then the rest of her kin probably would too.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"What, as in opposed to 'day elves'? I haven't seen either my entire life. Or 'dawn' or 'dusk' for that matter. Heard there are all types." He grins at his own little joke.
Anika doesn't seem all that amused though. "Kaldo'rei actually." She insists. "But yeah! Everyone I know would be suuuuper-pissed if they knew about this!"

Grimgrot frowns. "Hey, this whole island is owned by my aunt and she let me and my crew be here for a day so don't accuse me of anything illegal. We got every right to be here." He insists, but then glances at Amy. "But if my co-director thinks you have a point, then fine. We do one more take and then we get out." He shrugs. "My aunt won't be happy if you or some 'elves' try to claim this island for your own though."

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Blanche frowns. "I'm not accusing you of anything illegal, just saying you might be taking a bit of a risk here, in more ways than one. And we're not here to claim anyone's land or take anything away here. We're just making sure these places are safe and that no one gets terribly hurt or worse." The suggestion that the pair are trying to just show up and take whatever they want because they can seems to hit a nerve, although she keeps the aggravation out of her voice for the most part.

"We'll be happy to sit off on the side and make sure nothing happens during that, if it helps at all," she offers, looking towards Amy. "But we can't exactly spend half a day doing that."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Alright, alright... I'll give." Grimgrot assures them with his palms displayed. "But I warn you, my aunt is not as reasonable as me. In fact, she's infamous for being anything but. I won't tell that you were here but don't let any of her guards see you. They patrol the beaches so you probably managed to slip them by already."
He glances at the actors in the background. "But if that was everything, I want to nail that last take now, if you don't mind?" He looks between the two.

"Sure, sure, as long you leave afterwards. And you also better tell your aunt that if demons show up here, she better contact VIGIL. We're trained to handle that." Anika nods, looking quite confident in her demon ass-kicking skills.

Amy smiles widely. "Great, I'm glad we could figure this out then. Will you stay and watch or are you, uh, just going to leave now?"

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

”Probably best for us to watch,” Blanche answers, “just in case anything nasty shows up. Wouldn’t want to hear anything bad happened to you folks, and we’ve got to stay behind and check something afterwards anyways.”

A brief note of concern flickers across her face. Patrolling the beaches means they definitely could have spotted their boat, and that sort of attention is something she wants to avoid at all costs. The last thing either of them need is Cessie hearing about this and possibly chewing them out.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Yep! Those demons can just appear out of nowhere so we better stay until you're gone. Just to be sure."

Amy nods. "Makes sense. If it's the same creatures that's been attacking people around here then I certainly wouldn't want to be without protection around them." She chuckles nervously.

"Alright then, we'll take it from the top then." He turns to the actors. "The rest of you will get back to our outlook together with these two troublemakers. I want no mistakes this time. You should have had plenty of time to recover from that shock now..."

---

Anika and Blanche will have to sit and watch the shoot with the rest of the goblin filming crew. As it turns out, the wisps they saw at the well were apparently part of an experimental filming technique that Grimgrot uses. Each wisp essentially works as a camera as what they see can then be projected like a form of illusion. The limitations with this technique is of course that this projection can't be mass-produced which is why Grimgrot wants to film the projections with ordinary cameras later and hopefully get as good results as if they had been filming the actual thing.

The whole thing seems to go well and despite the recent set backs and the limitations Blanche and Anika put on them, Grimgrot looks rather pleased once the shot is done.
"Alright, we should start packing up now. What will you two do?" Amy asks as Grimgrot is up talking to the actors.

Anika have had to resorted to sitting on the ground as none of the foldable chairs are large enough for her. She looks at Amy thoughfully. "We were going to take a bath in the well actually. Right, Blanche?" She eyes the catgirl.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

”Er, yes,” Blanche agrees, ears folding back slightly as a tinge of embarrassment glows in her cheeks. ”It’s, er, originally why we started looking for moonwells, but the first one we found had been corrupted and demons attacked us there, seemingly believing we’d made some sort of great weapon at one, so we had hoped to sneak in that original purpose while performing our duties and ensuring no others had been claimed or otherwise used for nefarious purposes. I also brought a surveillance camera or two so we could keep tabs after we leave.” She gestures towards her pack.

“But that’s not quite as important right now. You mentioned something about attacks?” Blanche’s ears perks up eagerly. This sounded like something very important to note, and possibly valuable information to relay to the commanders.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Amy raises an eyebrow at Anika's statement. Weren't they...

Her attention shifts to Blanche when she starts explaining. "Can't imagine the guards would be thrilled if they find a bunch of survelliance equipment around this well." She observes as she puts her hands on her hips. "But yeah, it's not exactly a secret that creatures have appeared out of nowhere and attacked settlements all over the place. Most of my family moved to the central islands just because of that. It was a huge hassel but I'm glad that they're safe." Amy explains. "The media claims they're demons but I recently read an article claiming that they're not? So I dunno what to call them really. It was an opinion-piece in Clocks by some warlock that I can't recall the name of so take that as you will. Anyhow, the army did defeat them at one point but they only seemed to have slowed down the attacks. Apparently they supposedly have some base far north. They published images of it recently and it looks terrifying. Now they're talking about bombing it..." She shrugs helplessly.

Suddenly, Anika addresses Blanche as she seem to have realized something. "Wait, wasn't that the base you saw when you were almost teleported by that demon?" The druid doesn't really have enough to base that on as Blanche didn't get into details regarding what she saw. But it was a lot of snow there however.

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Wait, full-on organized attacks? How long has this been going on?" Blanche looks rather surprised at this news. She's never been the best at staying up on current events - both back home and here in the Nexus - but that feels like such a big going-on to have missed hearing about! Had she seriously been that poor about keeping tabs on things to miss the starting salvos of what sounds to be a full-on war? That sort of thing was supposed to be her specialty!

"It totally could be - not that I had much time to get a good look around," she states. "We'll need to report this to the commanders as soon as possible, assuming they aren't aware of it already." She rubs her neck unconsciously. This is the sort of thing VIGIL did, right? Kicked demon ass and ripped their nigh-pronounceable abyssal nametags off their size 50 armored carapaces?

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"Uh, like a year now? Maybe more? VIGIL knows about it. I know since the attacks started shortly before I came to your new base for the first time. I even told them myself. But then there was the whole Riverside invasion that got focused on. But the mainland and seaside are pretty much different worlds anyway. The organizations there don't come here much so we've learned to defend ourselves. I think VIGIL have been monotoring the situation though at least. It's difficult to attack an enemy that can appear anywhere and disappear just as quick." Amy explains with a shrug. "There is also HALO but I think it's the same situation there. They're just monotoring until they can come up with a way to help."

Anika rubs her chin thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, that's back when you interviewed me. I remember you mentioning something about that." So pretty much everyone knew except Blanche apparently. VIGIL was seemingly not very fortcoming with communicating this to some members.
But suddenly Anika points an accusing finger at Amy. "But- yeah! KABAL is totally in league with those demons! We captured an, uh, wisp-pix-little woman that totally was with KABAL in Riverside!"

Amy blinks. "Wha- no, I know that KABAL can do morally questionable things but Kelligan would never work with the creatures that are attacking his own people so ruthlessly. They're not even people, they're just monsters. Maybe some other parts of KABAL is involved, but mister Kelligan would never allow it if he knew."

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"You'd be surprised what some people will do to fulfill their own wealth or sense of importance," Blanche states bitterly. Feeling so out of the loop from what's going on, both in general and as a member of VIGIL, leaves her a little annoyed, but it's not the cause of her tone. Such cold antagonism reminded her vaguely of the way the Ascendancy operated. The dynamic was different - they ruled over their people imperiously and ground unaffiliated factions underfoot to satisfy their own entitled senses of superiority and the right to take what they wanted, rather than sell out their own kin for wealth or favors - but she saw the same disregard for countless lives in both, and it angered her deeply.

"We aren't accusing you of the atrocities those you affiliate with might be responsible for. But whether or not you believe he's capable of something so callous, I think you should take a long, hard look at the friends you keep. Even if it's just some rogue faction, it's going to be a fairly black mark. I wouldn't want to see you get caught up in the aftermath by association."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

Blanche's speculations only seem to encourage Anika's own. She waves her hand wildly as if wanting attention from a teacher in class. "Oh! Oh! And that, that demon piece thingy he gave us in exchange for those interviews! The demons stole it from VIGIL while we were distracted by the invasion despite there being no way they'd know where we had hidden it!" She looks quite enthusiastic as things seemed to be coming together in her mind. "Only the commanders knew where it was, unless the demons had some other way to locate it and only your boss had had it before us. Not to mention that he had even invited the demon leader to the same auction we got the staff at!"

Amy looked shocked when Blanche came with her accusations, but with Anika's speculations she looks positively crestfallen. "Tha-that was before..."

Anika seems too caught up in her train of thought to notice the goblins reaction however. "So maybe to get as much out of it as possible, he pretended that VIGIL had won the auction so they'd paid him. But then also gave the demons what they wanted, a way to get the staff from VIGIL whenever they pleased. That way he would make twice the profit off the whole deal."

The goblin is now completely silent, showing no reaction to the "revelation" Anika has delivered nor Blanche's insights into things. She just stares down at the ground, clutching what seems to be her cellphone.

Thus, the druid turns to her cat girl friend instead. "Eh... that makes sense right, Blanche? Should probably have told you about this before..." Anika remarks as she rubs the back of her head. "Just never really came up."

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

The catgirl blinks in surprise as she digests all of this, attempting to simultaneously absorb all these current events and follow along with Anika's speculations and conclusions. It seems fairly sound to her, as far as she knows. "That's, er, quite comprehensive," She nods in agreement, raising a hand to her chin. "Though it doesn't explain why they chose to provide it-"

Blanche halts herself before saying anything more as she finally notices just how crushed everything seems to have left Amy. Trying to conjecture what purpose Kelligan actually had behind the interviews can wait for a place where the poor woman's not in earshot to have some helpings of unwitting guilt heaped upon her.

"Hey, er, is there- hm, can I give you my number, in case anything comes up for you?" Comforting people wasn't Blanche's strong suit. "You've been, er, super helpful to us, and we're glad to return the favor if you need us."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"I... need to talk to him. Maybe he can explain all this." Amy mumbles as she then gives Blanche her phone number. "I'll call you."

"Uh, sorry? As she said, super-helpful. We'll get you back at some point." Anika remarks with a apologetic look at Amy. But her attention is quickly drawn back to Blanche again. "Provide what? The demon-piece? Since I figure that would be a deal between the demons and uh..." She glances quickly at Amy. "I mean, they couldn't let VIGIL think they were helping the demons. Plus, then they'd get more winnings." She shrugs. "I mean, I wasn't actually at the auction. I just heard about it later and pressed people on information since I was curious. So I dunno what exactly went down there."

[Arkhosia]

Anika and Blanche in... The Moonwell of Mysteries

"No, I'm thinking of something else. I'll explain later," Blanche answers as numbers are exchanged. She turns towards Anika. "Now, uh, we should probably get started setting up the equipment and stuff. I'd rather we keep the risk of running into patrols at a minimum. Do you know any rituals that might help as far as keeping tabs on this place or keeping demons at bay?"