Inside 67: Shadow over Innside

[Murkus]

[The Streets]

"So I share your husband's taste in food and in companionship?" Lucy asks with a smirk. "I-I would hope there are places that can cater to someone having spicy tastes and someone, um, not." Not an unreasonable ask, right? Not that she really minds where they go at all. She's very much content just to be huddled up close beside Vivi, wherever they're going.

[The Streets]

"I am beginning to suspect you two would get along dangerously well," titters Vivi, leaning against her young lover and apparent ward with a contented sigh. Her eyes widen slightly at Lucy's suggestion, and she pouts, "I-I never said I did not! I want to eat whatever you want to eat. A centuries old lady like me should be able to eat enjoy all manner of things..."

[Tina's Car]

"Aha, okay. Sounds swell, doll," says Tina with a laugh. "I'll try anything at this point. What's this about a healing outfit...?"

[Cola]

Spoiler

Show

[Humanimal Meeting]

The foxgirl is startled by the voice calling to her, but not so much that she loses her hold and falls down. Instead, she climbs up some more until she's at the very top, then sits on the top of the building. "Why, stranger? Wanna join me?" She leans forward a bit, her perked-up ears leaning forward as well. "Would you like to be my Daddy?"

[Fox and Cat]

Smorre watches her ignore him at first and climb up to the very top. Seems like she knows what she's doing, but that doesn't stop him from still being on edge. But what she shouts down to him really catches the cat man far off guard. "Wha-at? I ww-w-waanna b-be your d-d-a-da..." So much so that his stutter gets so bad he can't even speak properly any more. He has to make a looong pause for a moment, to take a breather and order his thoughts. "Your... daddy. What? Why? A-are you from the orph-phanage there?" He points down the street. That was the best explanation he could come up with on the fly. And already he is laying a hand onto the scaffolding to see if it could possibly support his weight. Looks like it. He turns his concerned eyes back up at the girl. "Do you d-do-do this ooften?"

[Shadowcaller]

Shady Business

The gnoll does not have time to be confused about why the darn spear isn't breaking as effective as it thought it would be as its submission hold that surpasses even her players understanding!

It continues to struggle but can't quite get out even as its vicious jaws open and close with plenty of drool ending up on Violet's arm as a result.

But in the middle of the struggle a flare suddenly illuminates the night sky, possibly partly blinding anyone who turns to look directly at it. The light will reveal the fact that a ragtag group of people of different races with widely different armor styles charging towards them. Leading the charge is what appears to be a robot-man in adorned full-plate armor with a club and shield.

"Have no fear, fair maiden! VIGIL is here!" The steel-man declares as his blue cape dramatically flutters in the air.

"****, it's the buzz!" Someone from inside the car shouts as the black-op goblins that have remained there starts opening fire on the newcomers.
In response, the steel man throws himself in front of Violet and the gnoll (who they weren't shooting at) and holds out his large shield as cover. "Get yourself to safety! I will hold them off!"

~The Goblin Boat - Anika~

Those poor workers!
Their coworkers now open fire at Oma however and fortunately their guns do pack a lot more punch than modern guns but unfortunately they all miss as hitting moving targets isn't the easiest thing in the world, especially when everything was happening so fast.
Anika, perhaps knowing better, fires off a small arcane beam at a stationary target. Namely, a goblin (now turned into a mutant flesh growth) right in front of Oma as she coldly delivers a one-liner. "Stare at this, monster."
This wouldn't have done much if not for the fact that this particular goblin had been carrying a large amount of explosives to add to the pile Anika was going to get.

The results are, well, explosive as other nearby goblins had also been carrying explosives as well, so as the arcane blasts sets off one blast the others are soon triggered in a spectacular chain-reaction.

Like any cool person, Anika isn't staying around to look at this explosion though. Instead she will turn and run and leaps off the boat and into the air where she turns into a hawk to fly away just before the chain reaction is triggered. If Oma does manage to endure the first explosion she might be able to catch up with the druid but the following chain reaction might be too much for even a facestealer.

The chain reaction hadn't exactly been intentional on Anika's part but hopefully no uninfected goblins had been caught in that explosion. Regardless, the captain was probably pissed...

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

While Jaahlyn is patiently waiting for the rats and Muun to return she spends her time keeping an eye out for anything unusual, only occasionally looking at her cellphone.

~Sewer Scouting Rats~

Rats do have an uncanny ability of getting into places they aren't supposed to be in. However, barriers made of pulsing flesh made even them pause.
Already knowing the dangers involved, this is where they decide to turn back and report to their helper.

~Nearby - Blanche~

While Blanche is busy fighting an unfamiliar feminine voice suddenly addresses her through her ear piece when a new person joins their channel. "Preoccupied?"

[Rebonack]

[House Hunters]

No use waiting indeed.

More ghosts might occupy the house while the lollygag.

The gate is secured with a heavy iron padlock!

Oh no!

How will they get in?

"You know how to open one of these things?" Alexa inquires of Anatya.

The gal is an assassin, right? Maybe she'll no how to pick a lock?

Dusk Glow gives a little snort and just flies over the gate. Having wings is handy.

[Abrajin's Library]

On the other side of wall sits a human woman with a beehive hairdo, a brightly colored bee-themed dress. She's sitting in a chair reading a book to a number of children atop little pillows on the floor.

The children in question are giant grubs.

Probably bee larvae.

This is rather strange.

[Morning Glory's Bug Hunt]

"Well, usually I'm emptying pantries, but this was for a good cause!" Bubblegum replies. "Oh, hey! You wanna help me set up a 'Hooray Down Feather and Morning Glory Blew Up a Bunch of Monsters' party? Knowing you have a great party to come back to is a fantastic motivator to not get eaten by monsters!"

They'll just be over there, probably. Conspiring.

"Call it a really strong hunch," Morning Glory replies to Down. "I've learned a few things about the way the Nexus works, and the fact that they've been here before only to get soundly defeated is ringing some warning bells. Lead the way."

But before she goes...

"Hey Bubblegum?"

"Yuh huh?"

"Would you mind looking after these people for me? They're pretty exhausted, but I don't think they're actually hurt."

"Oh sure, you betcha! I'll take them over to Bleeding Heart's clinic! They'll be feeling better in a jiffy!" Bubblegum promises.

Alright.

Good.

Everything in order.

"Let's go."

[billtodamax]

Shady Business

Cool suit attached to someone too dense to keep it. Excellent. Angry gnoll still slobbering between her arms. Back-up for the moron. Not so great. Given that Plan A (steal things and hit people) is out of the question, Violet figures she might as well move to Plan B: spite.

Goblin in the sewers stole my gun. She says as she really leans into the submission, trying to knock to gnoll out or dislocate something important. Submit you friggin- Lady dressed up in black in there helped him.

[Halae]

[The Rooftops]

Zee's flurry of attacks seems to have cause the horror to go reeling, leaving it wide open to getting its face (which looks almost like a marble mask of a human, eyes closed. It's creepy) slashed off.

Unfortunately, it has extras.

"You are testing my patience," the angel booms as it rather explosively doubles in size, sending Zee tumbling head over heels and likely tossing Halae away as well. Its necrotic aura likewise increases in reach and strength, causing nearby buildings to begin rotting as otherworldly, iridescent bubbles begin burbling out of the ground like sea foam. Several screams of horror are quickly cut off, followed by low moans as more zombies begin shambling toward the angel. The rest of the gawkers standing at a distance quickly decide that now would be a great time to be way the hell over there instead of anywhere in the thing's proximity.

It isn't just people caught in its aura, either.

Plants reduced to malodorous black sludge begin slithering across the ground. The food in that burger joint Halae had visited appears to have amalgamated together with the patrons, now oozing out of the building in a grotesque slurry. Tendrils of rotting biomass sink into all the other poor souls ensnared by the angel, drawing them into a single truck-sized mess that lurches toward Zee. She quickly gathers herself to her feet and begins blasting at the mound of flesh while avoiding its whipping tendrils.

As for the angel... It spreads its wings, revealing four irregularly placed faces arranged on its head. One of the four is split in twin, thick fluid of impossible colors weeping from the wound. Several more, ranging from death-masks to grinning skulls, dot the horror's body. "You are proving to be a nuisance, little Watcher, but nothing more."

Then it gestures at Halae with five hands, palms splitting open into into leering eyes as tremendous telekinetic force comes crashing down upon the warrior. Not to swat her away, but to drive her into the pavement.

"Prostrate yourself before me, creature of dust, and know your place."

[The Rooftops]

Halae... manages to see it coming! She extends her swords upwards toward the incoming attack, and the Angel may find itself stopped. As the impact hits her, her legs hold firm, and her blade somehow creates a barrier against the telekinetic pressure. Her fiery aura starts up, blazing against it.

All the while, Halae is grinning, because if he's focused on her... well, there's another person here he's fighting.

Plus, the fiery anima should likely cook any undead creatures that get too close.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Weeding

Naku listens, watches, and tilts her head slightly at Ithuriel as she speak.
"Nothing is . . .
Not a pleasant alternative." Then she shakes her head. "That is . . . very unfortunate." Gee, Naku, you think? "I have been . . . been hit by a car a time or two myself.
It is unpleasant." While true, there's definitely a lot more she's not saying. "I begin to see.
You forget the damages you suffer?" Naku asks, wanting to clarify a point made. "Especially a rusty spike. I have lost friends to simple rust infections. I am glad that you are all right."

[Weeds and Woes]

"Hey, I'm an angel. Angels get to cheat." Ithuriel laughs, but it's hollow and empty. It's not something she'd ever really thought about before, but now that she has, it...it hurts. It really hurts, to know how much she's been hurt and forgotten. One hand instinctively goes to her chest - the indescribable pain she'd felt when she was slain as a vampire was certainly unforgetable. That, and-

She visibly shudders as her hand strays to her neck. Death, at least, is unforgettable. The cold feeling spreading from her neck across her body as she was drained, the feeling of her heartbeat slowing, the panic fading, her vision going blurry...

"I've forgotten a lot. A lot more than just my injuries. I've forgotten people, places, I even forgot my own self once. Some things remain, a few anchors to tie my memories together, just about. But even some of them feel faint and distant." She'd adopted a child once. A young girl, the victim of an unfortunate incident, with no one else to take care of her. The sheer effort it takes to remember that child's face causes a tear to come to Ithuriel's eyes.

What was her name?

What- what was her name?

You don't remember, do you? You don't remember your own child's name.

Ithuriel falls to her knees, openly sobbing, looking up at Naku with tearful eyes. "How do you deal with this?"

Spoiler: Golden Flock Orphanage

Show

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

Right as Red is whipping her head forward to launch the spell, she hears Mo leap through the air and smash into the floor right at the edge of her spell's reach.

"Are you mad get back!" she hisses, but it is simply too late to end what she's set in motion. Thankfully Mo was far enough away to avoid the worst of the arcane explosion that shredded the flesh eating ghost and did a number on the surrounding bits of the building. There's still a pretty wide area blasted to splinters and chunks of charcoal, though.

At the very least, it successfully disposed of the dread.

As for Red?

Well, normally she would be plummeting into the basement. But instead several blood tendrils ending in nasty looking semi-organic steel spikes are driven into several nearby surfaces to hold her in place. Apparently she has some degree of familiarity with the consequences of obliterating her surroundings. She looks a bit miffed about what just transpired, but at least the civilian didn't get disintegrated. With some effort she closes her eyes, focuses on the well of power within her, and then pushes it outward.

What follows is probably a somewhat unnerving experience for everyone nearby. Unless they happen to be warded against various types of scrying and divinations, they'll feel a nauseating tug on their animating principle toward Red Velvet. They'll be able to tell exactly where the gross pony is. BUT! More importantly? This will also allow Red to figure out approximately where they are. In addition to giving her a feel for their rough shape and how potent their life-force is. This is all rather important, since they're hoping to be able to find any survivors before they get eaten by awful abominations.

"Survivors straight down the hall sixty feet ahead of you, Ithuriel," Red calls out to her partner for this mission. "There's a little one dashing about upstairs. I'll corral them and see them outside. I just vaporized a semi-corporeal phantom of some kind, so be aware that we may be tangling with more than just flesh and blood tonight."

That said, she'll rappel her way to the upper floor, retract the tendrils, and begin a brisk trot toward the child.

The child will get the distinct impression that something horrible and nauseatingly wrong is heading straight toward them.

This likely won't be comforting.

But at least Red has put away all her gross bits for the time being. She's simply holding her side sword and hatchet in her hazel green telekinetic grasp.

Orphanage Basement

Mo's systems are scrambled for just a couple seconds when she hits the ground and she groans before she finally gets to her knees. She had no idea who used explosives in this place, but she was going to slug them when they all get out of here. As for Red sensing her lifesigns...Mo doesn't have any. None at all. She as a power core, but no actual life in a biological sense. If she can still sense it still, that's another story.

Once she gets to her knees and then to her feet, she takes a look around for any recent signs of life. If she doesn't seen any of that, she'll look for any venting or wiring and start following it, avoiding the rainbow colored pools.

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

~Ithuriel~

There is resistance, as the angel tries to push the girl through her portal.
Some from the girl herself, who really doesn't want to go, but most of it is from those chains springing back into existence and fighting pretty hard to keep her here.
Applying some divine oomph of her own, however, is enough for Ithuriel to win the little pushing match and shove the girl through.

The chains around the girl, rather than snapping, seem to fade a bit and pass through the girl.
Wrapped up in the chains instead, as they are pulled away from the girl is a mass of twitching gray energy in a sort of vaguely human shape, though that is rapidly collapsing to a more general shapelessness.

This moment of peculiar separation lasts in peaceful stasis just long enough for Ithuriel to see the difference, before the yelling starts.
Yelling from the girl, as she grows pale and drained in time for the portal to close.
Yelling from the energy mass, as the chains snap off to some distant portion of the orphanage, in a monstrous howling noise.

In its wake, terrible cold and purity. There is no haze in its wake, even the snow vanishes, leaving a clear trail to mark its progress into the building. It flies in a straight line from where the girl was, towards that hole to the basement, then off through that doorless wall next to Mo.

~Mo~

There's quite a bit of piping and ventilation running around the ceiling above, along the edges of the walls. A good portion of the ventilation seems to be going over that doorless wall, in the general direction of the building's rear.

Doesn't seem to be a door leading straight there, but it's probably not those ones on the opposite wall. Perhaps one of the metal doors on the other ends of the hallway?
Around the time she'll have confirmed that there doesn't appear to be anything living in this particular area, that howling mass of enchained gray energy will come flying down from the ceiling and off through that empty wall.

As before, it leaves clear air in its wake. It even seems to remove a patch or two of that rainbow goop.

~Red~

She'll get to see the howling wave too, before she jumps upstairs.
Though, really, she gets to see a lot of things, doesn't she?

Gets to see that terrified woman fleeing from a room just above her, down the hall. Gets to see a young boy cowering under a bed in a far third floor room, while something that looks like a cross between a clown and a crocodile stalks mere feet away through the room.
A giant scorpion the size of a horse rummaging around through a patch of bloody snow two rooms behind. A zombie quietly pawing on the other side of a door at the end of the second floor. Some thing not unlike a bat with entirely too many crab-like legs lurking flat on the ceiling at the far end of the first floor.

A ring of children, a very short distance away from Mo, tendrils of living flesh wrapped around their heads and looping them together, surrounding another little boy floating in the air before a tall man in a crisp suit.
Several amorphous things, mounds of trembling flesh, scattered through the basement, lurking in dark corners of the rooms around Mo.

For a moment, every single of these things, save the children, focuses directly towards Red's location.

And then that central child jerks and screams.
The man steps back, the tendrils around the various children blackens and falls from their heads, and every monster in the building except for the flesh mounds abruptly disappears.

~The Orphanage~

Everyone near the orphanage can hear a young boy's cry of anguish, feel a pulse of necromantic cold, and then watch as all the snow and visual distortions abruptly disappears.

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

Well, Ithuriel was probably going to exchange some choice words with Mo before following Red's directions, but...oops. Looks like she did a pretty bad thing by trying to shuffle the child out of the way like that! Good going, officer!

Speaking of officers, there's a burst of chatter over the comms from the rest of Ithuriel's team as they all feel that pulse of cold (the one mage on the team even commenting that it's necromancy) and hear the boy's cry, all talking over each other as they clamour for a sitrep from Ithuriel until she silences them with a bark of "QUIET! Alright Red, I'm on it. Probably." She hasn't got time to deal with them now. She hasn't got time to deal with Mo. She needs to get after the weird grey howling energy immediately. And it just went through a wall. Hopefully that's the same direction Red was telling her to go.

Ithuriel backs up as best she can in the confined space to give herself a bit of a run up, then with a roar (with the comms off to spare Red's ears), she charges, putting her full angelic strength to work to bash straight through the walls, pipes, anything that gets in her way in pursuit of the howling energy, leaving a neatly angel-sized hole for Mo to follow if she so wishes. She'll probably be due a severe dressing down for the damage this is doing to her expensive Intersection equipment in the process, but something very bad just happened and she's got to fix it now. Caution's being thrown to the wind in favour of trying to make sure she doesn't miss the chance to undo whatever she just screwed up.

[Rebonack]

[The Rooftops]

It is very true that someone else is locked in combat here.

Unfortunately Zee is pretty busy with the giant awful necrotic flesh heap. It's lashing at her with tendrils studded with jagged bits of broken bone while sloughing ever closer. She's blasting the thing pretty good, but its rancid mass is absorbing quite a bit of punishment.

Sweltering heat and crushing pressure assail the pavement around Halae, causing it to warp and bubble even as it begins cracking. Masses of asphalt and sent rolling across the ground as the Exalt is shoved into a crater. Seeing that it's direct attack isn't working out so well, the angel decides to take an indirect route. With a gesture of one of its too-many-arms a nearby station wagon abruptly goes hurtling through the air toward the blazing warrior.

"KNEEL!" the angel thunders.

In spite of her own struggle, Zee catches Halae's trouble out of the corner of her eye. With a shout that sounds more like a reverberating roar, she dives between the necrotic mass' grasping limbs and plants a tonfa-strike straight into its pulsing form. With a single, clear, crystalline note there's a flashing of golden light as the horror is launched away from her and smashes into the angel's face, sending the horror staggering back. The telekinetic pressure on Halae evaporates as the monster's concentration is broken.

"You're sounding a bit frustrated, Zuzimel," Zee quips.

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

"Whatever that dark magic is," Red calls over the coms. "It snapped back to a fellow in a tailored suit looming over the children. I suspect he may be our perpetrator. Be decisive, he will likely attack the little ones out of spite."

Up to the second floor she goes! Red will go galloping right past the fleeing woman, calling out a brief, "The way is clear, darling, Intersection will see to the children," without breaking her stride. She's heading straight toward the cowering child up on the third floor. Which... considering that the child will feel something awful and wrong rapidly getting closer to him this may not be comforting.

A fact she's well aware of.

By the time she's nearing the room on the third floor, assuming nothing pounces on her, she'll pull her magic inward again and the tugging sensation of nausea will abruptly cease. A quick application of telekinesis will open the door and in she strides. "Hello there, little one, my name is Red Velvet, I'm an Intersection office," she calls out in the best comforting voice she can manage. "We need to get you to safety, alright? There aren't anymore monsters between us and the front door."

[Halae]

[The Rooftops]

When the telekinetic pressure on her yields, Halae is free to, in a way, parry the incoming station wagon. Except in this case, it's more along the lines of attacking it back before it can actually hit her, as she cuts in in half.

How does she do that, anyways? Her sword isn't nearly long enough to go all the way through the station wagon, but there it is, in two cleanly cut pieces tumbling down the road, the cut part still glowing from the intense heat of her sword. Halae, for her part, gives no regard to her blatant ignoring of physics, and, instead launches herself at Zuzimel, staying low to the ground to keep him from batting her away again, her fiery aura scorching the road along her path.

If he doesn't figure out a good way to stop her, she's going to be right up in his business in just a moment and driving her sword right into his chest, where his heart aught to be if he was human. Given the kind of damage it was doing to the angel-thing before, that's not something he wants to have happen.

[Shadowcaller]

Shady Business

"I hear you, good lady! Do not worry, I won't let them lay a hand on you!" The robo-man replies without looking at her, somehow managing to block several bullets with his shield.

Once again the gnoll struggles, but not for long as suddenly someone fires off a whole round of shoots from the inside the sewer entrance. "Oh **** you, stop ruing everything!" She can hear the goblin scream. That will likely put a end to the gnolls struggles at the very least. Violet will get a chance to react though as the goblin was loudly swearing at her before shooting...

[Leostales]

[House Hunters]
Anatya does know a thing or two about picking locks, she's not as good as her husband, but should be able to pick the lock relatively quickly, although she will take a second or two to examine it for traps, wards etc.

~Jaahlyn & Muun~
Muun decides that the chain-link fence is the best option. He heads back to inform Jaahlyn.

Sewers

The door is electronically "locked", though could probably be moved with good strength or possibly magic. The guards can't see him through the waterfall and won't have much chance hitting him. After a few shots, one of them steps through the waterfall.

[bc56]

Sewers

Tethrik definitely doesn't have the ability to pick electronic locks. He does, however, have the ability to kick in doors. He will attempt that, being sure to kick on the side away from the hinges. He pays little attention to the guard. It's not like they could significantly hurt him, and since it seems all he has to do is poke one for it to go dead, he's not worried.

Abrajin's Library

Teaching. This is an Orderly thing to do, and it should remain undisturbed. The scout instead picks up a few books on bees and moves to the next room: Mead.

[Purple Eagle]

[Fox and Cat]

Smorre watches her ignore him at first and climb up to the very top. Seems like she knows what she's doing, but that doesn't stop him from still being on edge. But what she shouts down to him really catches the cat man far off guard. "Wha-at? I ww-w-waanna b-be your d-d-a-da..." So much so that his stutter gets so bad he can't even speak properly any more. He has to make a looong pause for a moment, to take a breather and order his thoughts. "Your... daddy. What? Why? A-are you from the orph-phanage there?" He points down the street. That was the best explanation he could come up with on the fly. And already he is laying a hand onto the scaffolding to see if it could possibly support his weight. Looks like it. He turns his concerned eyes back up at the girl. "Do you d-do-do this ooften?"

[Fox and Cat]

Brunhild giggles at Smorre's momentary inability to speak, her ears twitching along in time. By the time he's gotten himself, she's stopped, and nods twice when he inquires as to whether or not she's from the orphanage. "Ja! So, you gonna come up or whaaaat?" She asks, egging him on, seeing as he's taken to feeling the sturdiness of the scaffolding. "Double ja! My potential daddy must be able to keep up with me! Don't worry, it's safe, mister!" She announces proudly, puffing her chest out and her hands on her waist. When it seems like she'd slide off, she quickly balances herself.

[Rebonack]

[The Rooftops]

The angle actually has a really easy way avoid getting skewered.

It has wings.

Not that it needs them.

With pure force of will it lifts itself into the air, putting itself well out of Halae's reach and-

Oh, wait, no.

Zee just popped out of nowhere above the angel and spiked it like a volley ball into the pavement.

And then she unloaded a trio of bioplasma bolts into its back.

Bits of flesh and feathers are left disintegrating in a contrail behind it as it streaks into the ground and hits with the force of a thunderclap, sending cracks racing through the asphalt. The horror begins lifting itself from the ground, seething with rage, only to get a sword straight through the sternum. It makes a strangled sound, more fury and frustration than pain, as it lashes out with a pair of arms to physically smash Halae.

Geeze.

This thing can take a beating, can't it?

[House Hunters]

By all appearances this home appears to have born from a mundane world. Traps of the arcane sort are pretty unlikely.

Regardless!

The lock is opened!

Bjorn looks little disappointed.

He was hoping to get the chance to smash it open with his dwarven lock pick hammer.

Anywho!

Up the hill to the house they go. Past that creepy dead tree with branches that look disquietingly like octopus tentacles. Past those stones etched with otherworldly sigils. Past that mausoleum with a scarcely visible specter hovering in front of it, pointing back toward the gate ominously.

Yep.

Totally mundane.

No signs of anything weird here!

[Abrajin's Library]

Just a quick in and out.

And on to the next room!

It is.

Of course.

A mead hall.

Because what ELSE would it be, honestly?

Big, wooden building that looks to have a roof of thatch. A roaring fire. Massive barrels of alcohol. Long wooden tables. And revelers! Drinking, fighting, laughing, singing, telling stories. And... oddly enough, there don't appear to be any books here?

Just stone tablets.

LOTS of stone tablets.

Stone tablets with all manner of information about mead written on them in runes.

A skald over there is singing tales of heroes of old while a nearby scribe dutifully inscribes the story into a tablet.

Several burly warriors over yonder are having a wrestling contest with two hideous, massive trolls of some kind. They don't appear to be doing so well...

A skin of mead sits atop a pedestal nearby, radiating soft golden light. Being close to it makes one feel more scholarly.

There only appear to be two doors leading out of this room.

Fermentation
Spices

[Cola]

Spoiler

Show

[Fox and Cat]

Brunhild giggles at Smorre's momentary inability to speak, her ears twitching along in time. By the time he's gotten himself, she's stopped, and nods twice when he inquires as to whether or not she's from the orphanage. "Ja! So, you gonna come up or whaaaat?" She asks, egging him on, seeing as he's taken to feeling the sturdiness of the scaffolding. "Double ja! My potential daddy must be able to keep up with me! Don't worry, it's safe, mister!" She announces proudly, puffing her chest out and her hands on her waist. When it seems like she'd slide off, she quickly balances herself.

[Fox and Cat]

Smorre just stares up at her for a long moment. He doesn't quite know what to do in this situation, with this daredevil child who apparently wants to find a daddy really bad. Should he just walk away? That was one choice. But maybe there was more to this child, to this whole situation? Eh, there won't be any risk in looking into this.
The catman takes off his shoes and socks, ties the laces together and hangs them around his neck. Then he begins climbing, at a fairly quick pace even. Although he doesn't climb too often, he's still a cat, and one with opposable thumbs at that. Soon he reaches to top as well. "Is this g-good enough for you?" He sits down on the ledge as well and looks down onto the empty street. "D-do you ca-all every man da-d-daddy? Every woman m-mmommy?"

[billtodamax]

Shady Business

Was this guy always this dense? Go frick with the - oh, the goblin, right. As the goblin swears at Violet she'll try to haul the gnoll further into the line of fire of the bullets, using him as a bullet sponge even as she winces, a pair of bullets cutting gouges in the side of her legs as they fly past. She grins anyway as she hears what the goblin has to say. Suck turds, idiot. Violet wins again. Better not taunt him, dumbass in the suit might get the wrong idea.

[Morty]

[The Docks]

When the tendril comes towards her, Calm Reed decides that letting it touch her would be a very poor idea. She decides to retreat further up the angel's arm, closer to her shoulder and neck. Once there, she picks up some speed and suddenly slams her right foot down with furious purpose. It creates a mighty shockwave erupting from it. If she was on the ground, the cracks and vibrations would be enough to knock anyone around off their feet. Now that she's standing on someone? Let's see what happens.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[The Streets]

"I am beginning to suspect you two would get along dangerously well," titters Vivi, leaning against her young lover and apparent ward with a contented sigh. Her eyes widen slightly at Lucy's suggestion, and she pouts, "I-I never said I did not! I want to eat whatever you want to eat. A centuries old lady like me should be able to eat enjoy all manner of things..."

[The Streets]

"Hmm. Whateeever I want to eat?" Lucy asks with a mischievous grin, letting one hand wander slowly over Vivi's form, gently tracing the curves of her "goddess" as she contemplates just how awful a dish she could order to see if Vivi can back those words up. "Hmm. Only centuries old and not millenia? I guess that makes you quite a young goddess?" Your average goddess has a few thousand years to her name, right? That's how these things work, isn't it? "And would it really be so dangerous if I got along with him? But you needn't worry. I won't intrude where you don't want me to."

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Industrial Spoils

Show

[Morning Glory's Bug Hunt]

"Well, usually I'm emptying pantries, but this was for a good cause!" Bubblegum replies. "Oh, hey! You wanna help me set up a 'Hooray Down Feather and Morning Glory Blew Up a Bunch of Monsters' party? Knowing you have a great party to come back to is a fantastic motivator to not get eaten by monsters!"

They'll just be over there, probably. Conspiring.

"Call it a really strong hunch," Morning Glory replies to Down. "I've learned a few things about the way the Nexus works, and the fact that they've been here before only to get soundly defeated is ringing some warning bells. Lead the way."

But before she goes...

"Hey Bubblegum?"

"Yuh huh?"

"Would you mind looking after these people for me? They're pretty exhausted, but I don't think they're actually hurt."

"Oh sure, you betcha! I'll take them over to Bleeding Heart's clinic! They'll be feeling better in a jiffy!" Bubblegum promises.

Alright.

Good.

Everything in order.

"Let's go."

~Jaahlyn & Muun~
Muun decides that the chain-link fence is the best option. He heads back to inform Jaahlyn.

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

While Jaahlyn is patiently waiting for the rats and Muun to return she spends her time keeping an eye out for anything unusual, only occasionally looking at her cellphone.

~Sewer Scouting Rats~

Rats do have an uncanny ability of getting into places they aren't supposed to be in. However, barriers made of pulsing flesh made even them pause.
Already knowing the dangers involved, this is where they decide to turn back and report to their helper.

[Industrial Park]

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

The rats are unmolested on their return trip here. Really, nothing exciting seems to happen.
Getting kind of chilly out though.

A few of the plant workers beyond the fence comment on a particularly cold gust of wind, one of them tells a joke, and they all move into the building with a laugh.
No monsters are making themselves apparent.

~A Ways Out, Morning Glory & Down~

Persimmon was given a pretty hard choice here.
Hang out with Bubblegum and plan a party, or go galivanting off on another horribly exciting deathventure with Down.

That is somehow actually a difficult choice.
At least up until Down rolls her eyes and waves him on with a hoof.
It seems to make the skin-sack happy.

"Okay, Bubblegum, I'm all over this party planning business! Uh, after the clinic business! Although, knowing Down, it might be safer to plan the party at the clinic..."
They'll have a good time, probably.

Down isn't going to concern herself with it further, at this point. Time to get down to apocalyptic business.
Without further ado, she launches herself up a good several feet into the air and immediately picks a brisk flight pace, presuming that Morning can keep up at a run below. If not, she'll grumble and slow down, but she's hoping she won't have to.
At some point, she'll get down to what she wanted to do earlier: interrogating.

"What's your deal? Who am I jumping into this mess with?"

[Rebonack]

[The Docks]

Y'know.

If Geneva were a bit more of a warrior, she would probably have the presence of mind to realize that just accelerating really fast upward would probably peel the weird baby monsters off her.

But she isn't.

She is an engineer who was thrust into horrifically life threatening situations and simply lacks the kind of snap decision making needed to make a good solider. She hesitates. She panics.

She flails around and tries to dislodge annoying baby monsters.

"Get off!"

They probably don't listen, do they?

[Toward the Industrial Park]

Bubblegum bounces off, chatting excitedly about her ideas for making this the best 'Yay you guys saved the City from evil pod ponies' party ever. One might think that there wouldn't be much competition for this title, but one would be wrong.

We'll leave Persimmon and Bubblegum to their nonsense.

As for Morning Glory?

She takes off in a gallop.

Fliers just have an easier time, don't they?

Sure, she could build a new equestrian form, but she likes this one. Normal, down to earth bodies are her preference. And you don't get much more down to earth than an earth pony.

"I'm the barmaid slash cook slash bouncer over at Trog's Tavern," Morning Glory replies. "I've been gone several years. Long story. But I got back a few months ago and when I was out doing some errands I noticed the first signs of these pod-ponies. They were infecting meat with worms that would eat people from the inside out and then replace them. I immediately suspected malicious intent."

She's a real sleuth.

"So I get home and one of the first things I discover is that awful monsters are trying to murder everyone in my home Town. I take umbrage with this and start causing trouble for them. They try making trouble for me in turn. And now here we are, blowing up hotels and setting horrors on fire."

Pretty good summary.

"More literally, I'm a seraphim of the Host of Glory. Which means the 'real me' is a celestial dragon that clocks in somewhere in the category of 'really big'. I haven't found a long enough tape measure for an accurate scale."

Big dragon disguised as a pony.

Got it.

[bc56]

Abrajin's Library

The scout looks around. This environment is disorienting. It's systems begin gradually blocking out the noise of the rowdy feasters. It finds itself drawn toward the vat of mead without knowing why, it can't feel the scholarship radiating from it, but the effect resonates with its mission objectives on a level it can't detect.

[Arkhosia]

The Docks - Blanche

Blanche didn't expect much more than a few moments. They were shapeshifters after all. But moments were all she needed to single out the other and apply a devastating helping of red-hot promethium, coating the abomination in relentless flame that clings like napalm to ensure they burn completely.

Now, onto the next target. Taking great care to maintain a healthy distance in case of any death-throes or last-ditch attempts to strike her (and also to avoid the horrid stench), Blanche approaches the boxes carefully, before tossing a flashbang over after a couple seconds to limit the time to react. Sure, it could probably shapeshift to use echolocation or more, un-blinded eyes or something, but it was still a manner to distract or disorient for a brief amount, right? Regardless, she directs the drones with a hand signal to circle around and attack from one side, hoping to draw it out into a position for her to light the foe up.

"Yes, hold on a second." is all she answers with to the unfamiliar voice, saving all questions as to how they gained access and who they were for when she wasn't in combat.

[Shadowcaller]

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

They don't even make face-stealer in-jokes?
Jaahlyn could do a few, like what do you call a facestealer cat? A copycat!
Why are all facestealers perverts? Since they keep unzipping everyone's genes.
Why are all facestealer jokes so bad? Since it comes with the territory.

If only they were as vulnerable to bad jokes as they were to fire...

Jaahlyn gets up as the rats return with their information. A wall made of flesh, huh? Yeah, they were down there for sure. The question was how they were going to get through there. There was this sewer trick she knew but that would take way too long and time seemed to be of the essence here.

"Found anything, sir?" She asks Muun as he returns. "The rats found a small passage leading to a wall of flesh in the tunnels underneath this area. It's too small for us to crawl through unless we widen the passage however. It will be difficult to say at least. Did you find anything?"

Shady Business

The windscreen of the car comes down, revealing another goblin in the driver seat with her mouth wide open as she screams furiously at the sewer entrance. "Are you crazy, Jill?! ****!"

The gnoll is hit multiple times just as the black-op goblins are forced to engage with the adventurers in close combat even as more shots ring out.

But Violet might miss all of this as something peculiar happens when the gnoll seems to be drawing its last breath.

It suddenly gets all warm as it appears to be catching fire. Like its in the middle of spontaneously combusting. Its entire body starting to twitch.

"Get out! Let's meet up on the other side!" The other goblin screams back from the sewer entrance before running deeper inside while reloading her gun.

[Leostales]

~Jaahlyn & Muun~
"I found a fence we could go through. That's about it."

[House Hunters]

Anatya shudders. She's really not dressed properly for this. Ah well...she's gotten by with worse. Like the time she ran away from a were-cheetah in high heels and a tight skirt. Hopefully it won't get that bad though. "I guess we should just go in," she says. She pulls a silver dagger out of her boot.

Sewers
((I'm assuming that Tethrik has demonic strength.))

If he does, the doors swing open to reveal a hexagonal room with two guards behind a desk. There are three hexagonal passages each attached to the three sides farthest from the door. "Hello sir, who would you like to see today." one of them asks, just before the two guards behind him open fire.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Docks - Quin]

Quin ignites his beam saber as the shots from his chest cannons strike home, the weapon in his hand thrumming to life once more, and leaps, firing his thrusters to get clear of the rubble and gain some distance. Any cherub that draws too close will be met with a mighty arcing slash, the aim to neatly cleave any such creature in twain. Perhaps not his most powerful blade, but Excalibur comes with its own limitations, and he needs stay mobile for the moment. The beam saber should be more than enough for these creatures at any rate. He focuses on pulling back far enough to get clear, so that he has a better view of the battlefield.

[Zefir]

[Citywide]

The city hasn't suffered from many attacks latly, but something new is coming to town. No, don't worry thats not an invading army, at least non of the kill all living beeing type.
Instead people will soon see that the Arkant company has reached Inside. many new supermarkets rise up out of nowhere stocked with cheap daily stuff and even some adventure items. Those supermarkets will be near everywhere. Its like you can't pass one of them if you want to go anywhere.

People might wonder why the stuff their is so cheap and still got some quality.

[Purple Eagle]

[Fox and Cat]

Smorre just stares up at her for a long moment. He doesn't quite know what to do in this situation, with this daredevil child who apparently wants to find a daddy really bad. Should he just walk away? That was one choice. But maybe there was more to this child, to this whole situation? Eh, there won't be any risk in looking into this.

The catman takes off his shoes and socks, ties the laces together and hangs them around his neck. Then he begins climbing, at a fairly quick pace even. Although he doesn't climb too often, he's still a cat, and one with opposable thumbs at that. Soon he reaches to top as well. "Is this g-good enough for you?" He sits down on the ledge as well and looks down onto the empty street. "D-do you ca-all every man da-d-daddy? Every woman m-mmommy?"

[Fox and Cat]

The foxgirl grins, then giggles and claps her hands: first once he starts climbing, and again when he's all the way up top. "Yaaay, wunderbar!" She jubilates, beaming at him. "Ja, you're alright Herr Cat. I thought you were a scaredy cat with that voice, but you're cool. Just like your look, you look like some sort of old-timey gangster." She observes in her lightly German-accented voice, saying what's on her mind without thinking of the consequences.

When she's asked that question, she's quick to reply. "Nein, nein..." She pauses a bit, her face turning a bit sad. "My vati died 2 years ago today, und I miss him. I've had to be in that orphanage but I miss having a vati. Climbing and being high-up feels good, and I knew no one would disturb me here. Except you, apparently, Herr Cat."

Immediately, she takes a deep breath and appears to shake herself out of her sadness. "Okay! My name is Brun! Let's be friends! But don't try anything funny, I'm the strongest girl in the orphanage!" She declares, once again looking proud of a fact she's stated.

[Shadowcaller]

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

"I would try the sewers, but I don't think I have anything that could get us through there. So unless you have a tool or weapon that could get us through the barrier, we probably will have to through the fence or I could use a spell to force us through. It wouldn't be very subtle however." Jaahlyn replies. "It's up to you, sir. You are more subtle than I." Was he? We'll see.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Docks Spoils

Show

~The Goblin Boat - Anika~

Those poor workers!
Their coworkers now open fire at Oma however and fortunately their guns do pack a lot more punch than modern guns but unfortunately they all miss as hitting moving targets isn't the easiest thing in the world, especially when everything was happening so fast.
Anika, perhaps knowing better, fires off a small arcane beam at a stationary target. Namely, a goblin (now turned into a mutant flesh growth) right in front of Oma as she coldly delivers a one-liner. "Stare at this, monster."
This wouldn't have done much if not for the fact that this particular goblin had been carrying a large amount of explosives to add to the pile Anika was going to get.

The results are, well, explosive as other nearby goblins had also been carrying explosives as well, so as the arcane blasts sets off one blast the others are soon triggered in a spectacular chain-reaction.

Like any cool person, Anika isn't staying around to look at this explosion though. Instead she will turn and run and leaps off the boat and into the air where she turns into a hawk to fly away just before the chain reaction is triggered. If Oma does manage to endure the first explosion she might be able to catch up with the druid but the following chain reaction might be too much for even a facestealer.

The chain reaction hadn't exactly been intentional on Anika's part but hopefully no uninfected goblins had been caught in that explosion. Regardless, the captain was probably pissed...

~Nearby - Blanche~

While Blanche is busy fighting an unfamiliar feminine voice suddenly addresses her through her ear piece when a new person joins their channel. "Preoccupied?"

[The Docks]

When the tendril comes towards her, Calm Reed decides that letting it touch her would be a very poor idea. She decides to retreat further up the angel's arm, closer to her shoulder and neck. Once there, she picks up some speed and suddenly slams her right foot down with furious purpose. It creates a mighty shockwave erupting from it. If she was on the ground, the cracks and vibrations would be enough to knock anyone around off their feet. Now that she's standing on someone? Let's see what happens.

[The Docks]

Y'know.

If Geneva were a bit more of a warrior, she would probably have the presence of mind to realize that just accelerating really fast upward would probably peel the weird baby monsters off her.

But she isn't.

She is an engineer who was thrust into horrifically life threatening situations and simply lacks the kind of snap decision making needed to make a good solider. She hesitates. She panics.

She flails around and tries to dislodge annoying baby monsters.

"Get off!"

They probably don't listen, do they?

[Toward the Industrial Park]

Bubblegum bounces off, chatting excitedly about her ideas for making this the best 'Yay you guys saved the City from evil pod ponies' party ever. One might think that there wouldn't be much competition for this title, but one would be wrong.

We'll leave Persimmon and Bubblegum to their nonsense.

As for Morning Glory?

She takes off in a gallop.

Fliers just have an easier time, don't they?

Sure, she could build a new equestrian form, but she likes this one. Normal, down to earth bodies are her preference. And you don't get much more down to earth than an earth pony.

"I'm the barmaid slash cook slash bouncer over at Trog's Tavern," Morning Glory replies. "I've been gone several years. Long story. But I got back a few months ago and when I was out doing some errands I noticed the first signs of these pod-ponies. They were infecting meat with worms that would eat people from the inside out and then replace them. I immediately suspected malicious intent."

She's a real sleuth.

"So I get home and one of the first things I discover is that awful monsters are trying to murder everyone in my home Town. I take umbrage with this and start causing trouble for them. They try making trouble for me in turn. And now here we are, blowing up hotels and setting horrors on fire."

Pretty good summary.

"More literally, I'm a seraphim of the Host of Glory. Which means the 'real me' is a celestial dragon that clocks in somewhere in the category of 'really big'. I haven't found a long enough tape measure for an accurate scale."

Big dragon disguised as a pony.

Got it.

The Docks - Blanche

Blanche didn't expect much more than a few moments. They were shapeshifters after all. But moments were all she needed to single out the other and apply a devastating helping of red-hot promethium, coating the abomination in relentless flame that clings like napalm to ensure they burn completely.

Now, onto the next target. Taking great care to maintain a healthy distance in case of any death-throes or last-ditch attempts to strike her (and also to avoid the horrid stench), Blanche approaches the boxes carefully, before tossing a flashbang over after a couple seconds to limit the time to react. Sure, it could probably shapeshift to use echolocation or more, un-blinded eyes or something, but it was still a manner to distract or disorient for a brief amount, right? Regardless, she directs the drones with a hand signal to circle around and attack from one side, hoping to draw it out into a position for her to light the foe up.

"Yes, hold on a second." is all she answers with to the unfamiliar voice, saving all questions as to how they gained access and who they were for when she wasn't in combat.

[The Docks - Quin]

Quin ignites his beam saber as the shots from his chest cannons strike home, the weapon in his hand thrumming to life once more, and leaps, firing his thrusters to get clear of the rubble and gain some distance. Any cherub that draws too close will be met with a mighty arcing slash, the aim to neatly cleave any such creature in twain. Perhaps not his most powerful blade, but Excalibur comes with its own limitations, and he needs stay mobile for the moment. The beam saber should be more than enough for these creatures at any rate. He focuses on pulling back far enough to get clear, so that he has a better view of the battlefield.

[The Docks]

~Angel Fight - Geneva, Calm, and Quin~

Looks like pretty much everyone but Geneva here had a good response to their cherubs.
The two by Quin do put in a good effort to evade the sword, but it's really only a matter of time with them. They can't take a hit from it. One of the two even tries that mentally disrupting song just a little bit louder, in case that helps!
It probably doesn't.

Backing away from everything will give Quin a fairly good view of quite a few things.

That boat exploding down there, that Anika is flying away from.

That flaming thing down by Blanche, as she struggles with some non-angelic opponents.

Geneva flailing vainly at the things crawling around her back, even as their song changes. Instead of simply trying to zone her out, as before, that bleached color effect begins to emanate from their mouths around her. The effect of staying within this? It's going to start draining out her emotions.

A similar effect, likely, to what that reaching tendril of colorlessness was hoping to do to Calm before she moved away.
Which is probably a good thing, since the angel itself seems less content to let Calm continue having the run of its body. Despite still being hunched over a bit from being shot in the back, having a finger broken, and a wing zapped, it seems to have dredged up some amount of magical oomph again over the course of all this.
Nothing quite like it had been preparing originally, thanks to Calm's damming effect, but enough to probably give her a bad time instead of breaking its shoulder.

As she runs up along its arm, that glow on its skin brightens underneath her feet, up until she makes that slight pause to crack down...and then the light flares outwards, in a geyser of force seeking to introduce Calm to the wonders of flight.
Interestingly, afterwards, the glow then completely disappears from the angel's shoulder and arm. It must have decided that using its protective aura for emergency power was worth it.

~Goblin Boat - Anika~

No, setting off that kind of explosion is a pretty solid way to ensure one of these monsters dies.
Really, the first explosion was going to ruin Oma's day pretty effectively. The others...well, it's hard to say anything is really overkill in this situation, but that might have been close.

It is likely to have some pretty detrimental effects on that boat, though.
And her plans for the explosives towards the angel probably.

~Nearby - Blanche~

Sticky fire is better than a normal fire for ensuring a quick expiration, not that this stops the monster from trying to run into Blanche anyway.
Fortunately for her, it seems only capable of running in a straight line as it burns further and further away, so she has to do little beyond side stepping away from it.

Sure, it'll probably bump into some other flammable things, but who cares!

The bigger problem is the second monster, which seems far less inclined to play by Blanche's rules. It all starts when, instead of running around into the open as expected, it instead slams into and flings the boxes at the woman.
Most of them are filled with grains, so they're a little on the heavier side, enough so she probably doesn't want to remain in their trajectory.

From there, it takes a moment to sprout a couple of tentacles from the vicinity of its shoulder blades, to be flailed around with the intent of putting those drones out of commission.
At some point, it'll resume closing that gap with its original target.


(Industrial Park to come when I can focus better)

[Leostales]

~Jaahlyn & Muun~

"I don't like the sound of that barrier. I think we may want to go down there at some point, but first I want to get a better look at this place. Also, I'm worried that destroying the barrier would alert them to our presence."