Silly Plots 3: With government backing we can make it very silly

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

Makuro turns her head sharply as she hears the bell ringing. "Careful, there's rain headed this way." And she doesn't want to have sudden rain everywhere. Hopefully they'll skip it, without it getting dark.

Still, there's not much she can do about it, except smile, watch the girl, ignore the bad resolution of the field and wait.

[5a Violista]

[Mindscapes]

Just as Makuro says that, the rain starts roaring like a waterfall and everything gets wet. Maybe she should skip ahead again once more?

Afternoon showers in this place, during this season, only last about an hour. They're regular, but they end quickly. That means it'll clear up and have clear skies in another fifteen minutes.

The girl, meanwhile, has run to under a particularly large tree and is holding her hands above her head to try to keep as much of the water out of her face as possible. "Hey, get out of the rain!" she shouts out to the two 'fairies'. "You'll get wet!"

Meanwhile, since it's darker out due to all the cloud cover, in the distance moving shadows can be seen. They're all pretty far away, and some of them are pretty small. Probably not a big deal. Since it's still relatively bright out, they seem pretty intangible.

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

"Here goes nothing," Thariza says to no one in particular. Then, to the hooded figure: "Things might get a bit crazy here in a minute. But I've got it under control and it might save us."

She takes up a position in the centre of the floor, kneels and reaches out with the power she woke up with after death. She tries to tap into the memories this tower carries, of war and battle. Channel the spirits of warriors who fell in its defence and rouse them again, to defend it. A white mist rises around her as she does so.

[An Epic Quest]

Willa groans, takes a deep breath, and downs the entirety of the liquid in a single long pull. Tastes like wind over a prairie in April. Ugh.
Willa gives a violent shudder, then her upper body fizzles down in size and shape until she appears like a very ordinary black mare.
”Hurry up. I hate every second of this.” she mutters at them, tossing her head irritably.

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus quickly gathers whatever Willa is unable to carry herself, and nods to their guide.

"Let's be off, then."

[Thariza's Journey]

The hooded figure stops what they're doing and glances at her. Turns out they're another reptilian-person. Their facial features are different from the others, a thinner, more enlonged snout and a smaller skull. Their reptilian eyes blink twice as they stare at Thariza and the white mist that's suddenly conjured around her.

Then is a sudden burst of movement, Eos is suddenly hiding behind the small outcrop housing the staircase and the door Thariza just went through. They stick out their head and then continues watching her from their new cover.

Thariza can feel a great deal of rage coming from the spirit of this place. They fought and died violent deaths against the alvar. Many times this tower was taken and many times it was taken back. Hundreds of spirits both defended and retook it in a seemingly never-ending circle of violence. There is quite a number of alvar spirits too, dying just like the humans did.

[An Epic Quest]

The guide nods, pleased with this outcome apparently. "This way then. If you need a moment to change clothing, take it." They remark with a look at Corvus as they gesture back into the stable.

Either way, eventually they will reach the same gate they entered city through and will be funneled through without too much hassle. Their guide seem rather relived once they can take off the heavy veils they had to wear to disguise their inhuman nature. "With gift like yours, you will be able to trade easssily. Any ritual, any creation, very valuable." They nod. "How you'd you learn all that?"

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

”I was taught by a warlock, as well as teaching myself from some old writings of a tribe I was accepted into. Earlier you made it sound like I wouldn’t be able to trade with these drow we’re looking for.” She’s hoping that they can just trade for this wood and go, despite their guide’s doubts.
Unfortunately, it will be another hour before the horse-potion wears off.

[Gullara]

[An Epic Quest]

The group may note there seems to be a bit more activity going on at the gate than there is normally. People loitering around and the guards are on high alert. Did something happen perhaps? It's true that they leave the settlement without issue, however.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus raises an eyebrow. He thinks the guide's maybe assuming a bit too much, but doesn't say anything. After all, it's Willa's magic, and it's best she explain any differences. He focuses for now on carrying the extra bits Willa isn't able to carry herself, and listening to the conversation.

[Reinholdt]

Mindscapes

Makuro turns her head sharply as she hears the bell ringing. "Careful, there's rain headed this way." And she doesn't want to have sudden rain everywhere. Hopefully they'll skip it, without it getting dark.

Still, there's not much she can do about it, except smile, watch the girl, ignore the bad resolution of the field and wait.

[Mindscapes]

Just as Makuro says that, the rain starts roaring like a waterfall and everything gets wet. Maybe she should skip ahead again once more?

Afternoon showers in this place, during this season, only last about an hour. They're regular, but they end quickly. That means it'll clear up and have clear skies in another fifteen minutes.

The girl, meanwhile, has run to under a particularly large tree and is holding her hands above her head to try to keep as much of the water out of her face as possible. "Hey, get out of the rain!" she shouts out to the two 'fairies'. "You'll get wet!"

Meanwhile, since it's darker out due to all the cloud cover, in the distance moving shadows can be seen. They're all pretty far away, and some of them are pretty small. Probably not a big deal. Since it's still relatively bright out, they seem pretty intangible.

[Mindscapes]

Oh no, Rachel's not ringing this bell again. It got them in this mess! Time travel is actually the worst.

The catgirl runs after the girl. "I have to admit, I think I'm already wet." Rachel grumbles, most incredibly displeased with this. At least she has her black mage hat to keep some of the water off of her.

Once grouped under the tree, Rachel will pull the white mage staff out from where it was sheathed on her back and wave it overhead. Being a water bender, she has the ability to divert water away from the three of them. Being a catgirl, she hates water and is horribly undertrained in her water bending powers. So it may not be as effective as she'd like and she'll likely grow tired very quickly. But it does help at least.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

Surely disliking getting wet would provide more motivation in learning how to stop water getting closer, rather than less?

Makuro doesn't mind getting wet quite so much, though it can make her ability to grip onto surfaces trickier. She'll look around, trying to find somewhere she can point her face that doesn't make her eyes ache from the poor resolution. This does mean she spots the shadows, and she'll point at them. "What're those, over there?" Hopefully not something common knowledge to everyone, though the 'we're faeries' should fix that. Unless they're also faeries.

[5a Violista]

[Mindscapes]

The girl is also a little wet. There's still some water getting in through the trunk and branches and leaves, even though most of it gets blocked.

"What are..." The girl looks over where Makuro's pointing. "Oh. Right, I was told they don't have them where you're from." Fairies, after all, live in mirrors.
Arguably, they're not as terrifying as fairies because the worst they'll do is eat you.

"They're monsters. They'll be gone when the clouds leave and the sun comes back."
She looks around at the shadows gathering around them. They're all still pretty far away.
"We're safe," she declares to the two 'fairies', "but we should leave soon." The only question they need to decide on is, back to the house, or to the village?

[Reinholdt]

[Mindscapes]

Not when the training for such technique includes having water thrown at you. Repeatedly. Though this is certainly one of her better techniques. Which shows just how bad she is at water bending.

Rachel looks in the direction they're pointing out and frowns. Shadowy monsters that show up only when it rains does kind of fit the dream setting though. "I guess we have to head back, huh? What do you think?" Rachel asks them, largely leaving the decision in their hands on where to go. She needs to focus on getting the least wet possible.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

Thariza tries to focus on just the human spirits, as those are what she needs. With tremendous effort, she dredges up her own memories of the ghosts of Ascalon. The images of them cutting down her warband come unbidden, and she feels panic surge in. Breathing heavily, she does her best to sublimate it into purpose instead. This isn't Ascalon. Those are... other human ghosts who died defending their home. At least they weren't doomed to an eternal unlife by their mad sorcerer-king.

"Attention! The alvar come to take this tower once again! Come out and drive them back to where they come from!" She cries out in a booming, commanding voice.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

I guess that'd cause some issues.

Makuro's not sure this is properly a dream, like the last she thinks this is a memory. She hasn't seen any strange vistas of vast crystals and flashing lights, and that's what she usually sees in her dreams. "I think that'd be a good idea. Unless you want to go to the town?" Makuro realises she doesn't know the child's name, but that might be tricky to ask now. Faeries are supposed to know names, right?

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

She can feel the spirits emassing around her, drawn closer by the sound of her voice. They are broken things, mere pieces of what once was living beings.
But there is one that is stronger than the others. There is the distinct sound of someone in heavy armor moving across the wooden floor.
While she can't actually see them, their presence serves as a focal point for the spirits. More than anyone else this spirits wish to defend this place even beyond death. Which begs the question how exactly Thariza can use these spirits with her abilities since this one is willing to offer its blade to serve her as long it means the death of its enemies.

[An Epic Quest]

"Of coursse not. The drow don't trade, the people I work with do. They have what you want and your magic is valuable to them. Everyone benefits, yess?"
They stop and start climbing up their horse. "But we need to be careful. Very careful. The humans of the town were riled up by something. I say we ride to sun peak, a hill nearby, and scout using my sspyglass. That way we'll sssee any threats in the area."

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

”Good, trading with your people sounds easier than dealing with these Drow. But remember that I’m still like this for another hour. So until then I’m fairly useless.” Willa grumbles, following closely behind their guide.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

Thariza isn't sure what to do now that she's tapped into the ghosts' power. Send them out at the Alvar? Ambrosia made it sound as though she had more of a plan than that. The Charr opts to wait for her companion, keeping the spirits awake with thoughts of revenge and combat.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus shrugs and follows along. He could shift into one of his bird shapes and scout the town from overhead, but he's still not keen on showing his abilities in front of their guide. Not yet, anyways.

"I suppose taking a peek won't hurt."

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

The ghosts are impatient, especially the major one, but they wait and Ambrosia does not dawdle. She soon comes out the door and looks around and quickly grabs her tome which floats up in the air and opens itself up.
It remains floating in the air behind the scholar as she approaches Thariza. "Seems like you got their attention." A beat. "Or so I'll assume."

Then comes a hissing voice from Eos. "What are you ssseeing? Where are the... sspirits?" The lizardpersons eyes blink rapidly, making them appear confused as they are looking around the tower. By the look of it, they can't hear the sound of someone in heavy armor moving around.
"They're... all around." Ambrosia briefly explains as she gestures as Thariza. "She will direct them towards the raiders."

[An Epic Quest]

"Even more reassson to go to the peak first." Their guide gestures once more at the horizon. "Thiss way."

And so they ride.
It will take them about two hours, not that they can tell the time, to reach the horizon and another half hour to make scale it. Sun peak has a path that is just wide enough for their horses to come along but it will still take a bit.

Once they've reached the peak their guide jumps off their horse and takes out a spyglass from their saddlebag and use it to look around. Willa and Corvus can see what seems to be a old watchtower in the distance but can't make out much more details unless they have special sight.
"We're dead." Their guide declares as they lower the spy glass. "Drow raiders at the camp. Looks like they're holding them off at the tower."

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

Willa takes great pleasure in returning to her natural form, but otherwise is uncharacteristically quiet during their journey.

Their guide’s proclamation makes her sweat, but she tries to look cool. She has been mostly a liability in a fight since all her Libra-given powers were taken away.
”Corvus, you’re up. I’ll stay out of harm’s way. But we need these people alive and preferably in our debt. So you don’t have to hold back too much on my image’s account.” She hasn’t actually seem Corvus ever going all out, but she’s well aware that at least one god has been intimidated by his presence.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

"Yeah..." Thariza's voice is a little strained. "And they're getting impatient. So if you've got something you want to do or tell me before I release them, now is the time. Otherwise I'll try to get them mad and point them at that rabble."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus chuckles to himself, as he allows the more leonine features of his Tell to show through again.

"I suppose it was a little much to hope I wouldn't need to make too much commotion. But I agree, now is not the time to be quiet." He removes his hat, and hands it to Willa, then looks to their guide.

"I will return once the raiders have been dealt with." With that, his body is suffused with a blue glow for a moment, before it shifts and changes, and he becomes a massive, white eagle. Even in this form, the bird's markings retain the essence of his tattoos, and there's an element of tiger mixed into the markings as well. He quickly takes flight, soaring high enough to be able to see both the camp and the tower, to ascertain where his strength will be best applied first.

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

"I'll make it brief then. Different species have different levels of, ah, spirit susceptibility. I'd venture by your reaction that charr's has about the same level as humans which means you can hint the spirits, but not fully see them. Heliots like Eos however have none which means they're unable to detect them at all." She gestures towards the confused lizard-person. "Alvar on the other hand have much higher susceptibility which means they can likely see the spirits you're summoning but also that that influence that the spirits exert has much greater effect on them." She glances at Eos. "Is there any reaction from the raiders?"

The lizard-person blinks once more as they're suddenly addressed. "...they ssseemed uneasy. They kept looking up here, talking among one another." Their eyes narrow. "Ssee sspirits?"

Ambrosia nods. "Indeed, in that case I suspect that only a few of them are using any significant protection or they would have been unable to see what's going on." The scholar turns back to Thariza. "Tell the spirits to focus on those who appear to be able to disceern them. Even if some use protection they won't stand their ground once the rest of their forces flee."

[An Epic Quest]

Their guide catiously back away from Corvus as he starts to change, their eyes nervously flicking between him and Willa. They don't seem to have any commentry to this other than a faint hissing-sound that they're now making.

From the sky Corvus can see that the tower is positioned on a cliff-side which means it has natural protection from all sides except from the plateue it stands on. The drow raiders has gathered on it in the remains of what looks like a base camp with torn tents and the remains of a fire place.
It doesn't appear like the raiders have barricaded themselves here or are intending to stay all that long. Most of them are still on their horses and he can see what seems to be scouts patrolling the area underneath the plateau.

Many of the raiders gathered near the tower seem nervous and uneasy, likely since there seem to be something going on at the top of the building. Corvus can see faint shapes of what seems to be ghosts gathering up there.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

Willa waves Corvus off and gets to dancing. She's trying to be quiet about it, though there's only so much she can do to hide her half-ton body moving like it is. Once she finds herself with a proper-sized spirit, she can send it off towards the raiders. The bear spirit won't be able to do much, but she's hoping it will slow them down by subtly influencing their minds, making it easier for the defenders and Corvus to beat on them.
Winter is near. Almost time for sleep. Aren't you tired?
Well, usually it makes people sleepy. She's also had bear spirits cause people to gorge themselves this time of year instead. Animal spirits can be so unreliable.

[Dark Forest]

Faeries are so inconvenient.
Finding a body of water around shouldn't have been hard. Just go out of town with a map, find a pond, ten minutes and get your proper shape back. Of course the map just couldn't be bothered to be accurate. And the clouds kept Kray waiting three hours to break so it counted as under the light of the full moon. Krayger is himself again, but he's himself again in woods at near-midnight following light from a heavy-duty torch. He's glad he bought this one. Some people have odd ideas about how well minotaurs can see in the dark. He didn't come prepared for a full camping excursion, so he'll just have to find his way back to town or some other shelter for the night...

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

Thariza nods, then focuses on channelling the spirits of the dead again.

"Alright, listen up! The invaders have come for this place again, and you must not let them! Focus on those who can see you and hit them hard!"

With that, she tenses in a titanic effort of will and sends the spirits out, her power making them visible and almost tangible, stoking and directing their anger towards the raiders.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dark Forest]

Fortunately (probably) for Krayger, he's not alone in this forest. "Oh. Hullo there!"

See?

Should he shine his torch in the direction of the voice, which has a peculiarly hollow, echoing note to it, he'll shed light on what at first looks to be a perfectly normal human-ish person in the gloom.

He's wearing a floppy hat, he's got thick leather boots on, heavy gloves, and generally looks dressed for a hard day's (or night's) physical labour.

And then he takes a step forward, with an audible clatter of bones, a little more light revealing that he's a rather smartly dressed skeleton. He's got a shotgun slung over his back and a shovel in one hand.

"Bit lost, are we? You're rather far off the path out here. Awfully late for a minotaur to be wandering around."

[Deathkeeper]

[Dark Forest]

Krayger might stare a little, but he recovers quickly enough. With any luck, he'll be covered by the fact that lots of human-shaped folks don't know how to read the facial expressions of people with muzzles as well as their own.
"Hope you don't mind me wanderin' through. Had to take care of a little thing, unfortunately required it to be night-time. Just have to get back, now. Don't suppose you can give me directions? Map they gave me turned out to be pretty much junk." he says hopefully.

[5a Violista]

[Mindscapes]

The problem with fairies is that everybody has a different idea of what they are and what they should be.
But if there's something everyone can agree on, it's that Rachel should learn how to be better at water-bending.

"No, we can just go straight back," the girl states, figuring that if she can spare the town the terror of fairies then it's her moral duty to ensure they don't go there. The girl takes them back through the forest in the direction of the house.

About halfway back, the rain stops, the clouds quickly go away, and the warmth of the sun returns. The air is pretty humid, however, so it takes a while to dry off.
Any shadowy creatures dissolve into mist once the sunlight strikes them.
And things slowly return to focus.
The flowers that were put into their hair are still fuzzy and out-of-focus because they originated from somewhere out-of-focus, but there's no problem because there's no mirrors around for them to see what's in their own hair.

....
Roughly fifteen minutes pass in this dreamworld. However, that brings up a relevant question - while they're in this dreamworld, does the time passing here correlate to time passing in the real world? Sometimes time passes normally in dreams but sometimes it doesn't...

Anyway, they arrive back to the house.
Or, rather, where the house was. In its place is a dungeon that looks like it was turned inside-out so there's still the open sky instead of a roof, and stairs leading to nowhere, and so on. Not, like, the 'let's go hunting for treasure' kind of dungeon but rather the 'This is where they imprison and torture people' kind of dungeon. There's only one person inside each cell, in various states of wellness. Most of the people in the cells are men, chained to the wall, with various instruments and devices and whips and sometimes weapons attached to the wall.

The little girl, of course, doesn't seem to notice that this isn't her house. "We're back!" she says to Rachel and Makuro. "You two want to get back to your mirror, now, or...?" She leaves the question open-ended just in case they find offense to being told what to do.

[Reinholdt]

[Mindscapes]

They'll figure out how long it takes after they wake up. That's the best way to measure it.

Rachel is relieved the rain stops and the shadows go away. They were spooky. She is decidedly less relieved when she finds out the little girl's house is a dungeon. In fact, she looks more horrified than relieved.

"What's going on here?!" She asks the girl rather than answering her question. The catgirl steps forward and immediately starts looking around for keys to the cages.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

Well. Well, this is odd. It wasn't like this when they left, was it? No, there was a window and Makuro jumped out of it.

She's going to walk to the closest cage and pull on the bars. She's got enhanced strength, as a side-effect of her reinforced bones, though it might not be enough to do anything about the cells. She doesn't say anything, and is a little worried they might be releasing dangerous prisoners or something, but... Well, she's going to free them anyway.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dark Forest]

"Oh, don't worry, everyone's surprised first time they see me. Not many skeletons look like this. Or talk." The skeleton gives a whistling chuckle. It sounds very strange. Seems he did pick up on Krayger's initial reaction. Or maybe he's just so used to it from people that he's assuming as much from the minotaur.

"Afraid I can't help with directions, though. Been a long time since I went out anywhere." The skeleton shifts his hat up slightly and scratches the top of his skull. "Sorry. Felix and I- ah, name's Lucas by the way, we don't leave the tower for much any more. Not the safest forest at night either. Not elsewhere anyway. Our little patch is alright. Honestly, I wouldn't advise walking around there if you don't know the way."

The skeleton pauses and looks thoughtfully over his shoulder.

"If you'd like, I could offer you shelter for the night. And I'm sure Felix can point out the way home for you tomorrow."

[Deathkeeper]

[Dark Forest]

Krayger remembers that he didn't pack his own hat. He's going to miss it in the morning. He didn't bother to bring a full outfit, just his usual set of pants, the necessities, and his hoodie for if it got really cold. Not much, really...
"If you have room, I would be grateful for a place to sleep. Call me Krayger." He looks around for some form of tower, but in the dark and with the trees he can't see any such structure.