Home 24: A house in this market?

[Halae]

[Scaleback’s Apartment]

The crocodilian woman sighs, and hooks her thumb at another door, "My name's Emily. The bath and shower are in there - the tap on the left draws hot water, while the tap on the right draws cold water. I'll finish making dinner for us while you're in there washing up, since you're more than a little grimy right now. When you're done, Come back out, and I'll tell you what's going on and where you've ended up. I think I know what happened, and we can discuss it over food. Is there anything you can't eat? Fish, meat, vegetables?"

Regardless of when he gets there, Domhnall will find that the bathroom is sized for Emily - the sink, toilet, and tub are absolutely massive. The showerhead only covers maybe a third of the tub at best, and he'll find the taps helpfully labeled with a red "H" and a blue "C".

[Deathkeeper]

[Scaleback’s Apartment]

”I can only eat venison twice a month, and I’ve had it once already. But that’s it.”
He honestly didn’t really get any of that, but he knows what “Bath” means, and he loves touching shiny things, so after several minutes he figures out that the little shiny things make water come out, the big shiny things make lots of water come out into the little slippery room, and the nice smelling stuff is for cleaning and not eating.
And while Emily will have to put up with his singing, it helps that he’s good at it. Even if he takes an obscenely long time. And gets her brush covered in pony-hair. He needed it to reach!

Miraculously for her, the fact that she didn’t explain towels to him goes unpunished, as he re-enters the room perfectly dry and his hair tied up neat and proper.
”Your home is most wonderful, Cos. You’re blessed.” he tells her cheerily.

[Halae]

[Scaleback’s Apartment]

Domhnall, when he gets out of the bathroom, he'll find Emily sitting cross-legged in the living room with two very large bowls, both filled to the brim with a soup that looks and smells downright incredible. It's hard to tell with the kind of face Emily has, but one might think she's smiling, her large tail curled around in front of her legs, "Come over and eat, before it gets cold. If it isn't already. Don't worry about finishing everything - anything you don't eat, I can finish."

Seems she's held off on eating out of politeness; when Domhnall sits down, she'll pick up her bowl and start digging in with a spoon built for her size of meal, another of which is ready for Domhnall to use.

[Deathkeeper]

[Scalebound’s Apartment]

Domhnall trots over and plops down onto Emily’s floor. He’s gotten as much of the smell out as he’s realistically able to.
”You’re very generous, ‘Cos.”
He picks up his bowl, humming as he warms it up between his hands.
”I’m sorry you had to wait. Do you need some heat on it y’self?” he offers.

[Halae]

[Scaleback’s Apartment]

"I'm fine, thank you," The meal isn't actually cold - a bit lukewarm, certainly, but still edible. As she's digging in, she eventually asks, "Right, so, first question; do you know what a human is?"

He probably does, but this is most certainly worth asking.

[Deathkeeper]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

The teenager nods as he begins eating.
"Yeah, we got loads of 'em back home. More of those kinds of two-legs than anyone else. The elves are usually nicer but the humans have better stuff." he eyes the sword lying against his remaining pack in the corner.
"This is fantastic, Miss Emily. For the record."

[Reinholdt]

[Sagittarius Towers - Day]

"******* magic!" Fettina rants, leaning onto the kitchen counter as she seems to study the pattern there furiously. As Rein brings up a possible alternative, she raises her gaze to him again. "Rein... please, I'll try anything. You've got to help me fix this. If it's something weird or gross, well, it's worth hearing about at least."

[Sagittarius Towers - Day]

"It's no less abusable than technology," Rein rationalizes with terrible timing.

Even if he's uncertain how wise it might be, Rein's already brought it up. Might as well lay it out. "Fortunately, it's not particularly weird or gross. It's a place, called the Pool of Origins. I honestly think it's probably more of a spring than a pool, but I didn't name it. I haven't actually seen it either, so..." One glance at Tina says she needs more than that, so Rein continues. "Anyways, it is said that anything that bathes in its water will be returned to its original form. Since it's not exactly loot, I never really investigated it personally. I know the general area, but its exact location is hidden and surely guarded."

A dangerously dangerous adventure to be sure.

"I've found in personal experience that such blanket promises are sort of like monkey paws. The wish you desire absolutely comes true, but almost never in the way you envision it," Rein warns.

[Rebonack]

[Starting Quests]

To be fair, Khannie might have known what was going on if she watched the news like this guy has, since Faith explained everything in her broadcast.
”Hmmmm.” Commissar ponders. He goes over and sniffs at the display case. Probably too many people in here to pinpoint the smell of the culprit.

Pff.

You expect a ten year old to watch the news?

What kind of crazy world do you live in?

As for the display case... The little sign on the broken display reading 'please do not touch the glass' means that relatively few people have been smearing their scent all over it. Which, in turn, means that Commissar will have a pretty good whiff of some spicy smelling guy.

He smells distinctly like badman.

"I guess we can help," Khannie says, a bit uncertain. "Have you got any leads, Commissar?"

Oh my gosh.

Is this the first time she's used his name?

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

"That makes this significantly easier," Emily says, eating a bit more of her bowl of food. Then, she reaches over to the counter of the kitchen, her arms stretching across the distance with ease, to pull a small sheet of folded paper, which she simply hands over to the horse boy. On the cover, it reads "Welcome to the Nexus!"

It's a pamphlet on the most basic things that we'd want to handle offscreen anyhow given how answering them tends to be pretty boring. Once he's done reading through it, she'll say, "Now, I'm sure you have questions. Go ahead and ask, and I'll answer what I can."

[Recaiden]

Oliver thinks a moment, then says, "Greedy thief turned good. Little bit more to it than that, but you said one sentence." This is true. Oliver has decided that he'll get further if he uses the truth to his advantage.

"Yeah, but damn, that's barely a sentence. You can use 'and', 'then', articles and whatnot. Try it again."
He says, cackling.
"Here's some examples for ya."
"'Kid escapes abusive cult, finds and loses love, then travels to the stars.'
'Mild-mannered secretary rebuilds society after terrorist attack.'
'Climate change refugee abandons family, disappears into the glaciers.'
'Local boy flies too close to the sun.'
If you say just 'turned good', well, he's good now, the story's over."

[Deathkeeper]

[Starting Quests]

Commissar nods. He goes straight and sits up as his name is called, as Khannie might have seen him do whenever Zebes calls his name. This time, he adds to it by putting a paw up to his face.
"Bad man smell!" he declares, and goes to follow it.

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Pony boy! If he was a horse he'd be much taller. And be a normal sized human from the waist up, instead of being somewhere between human and halfling.
Domhnall is not a fast reader, and Emily can probably notice him sounding out words as he goes through the pamphlet. He takes a very deep breath as he sets it down at last.
"One, give me my chances on getting home. Two, they aren't going to make me dress like that are they?" Emily can probably figure out his preferred fashion sense from his current fashion status of: actually nothing.

[Rebonack]

[Starting Quests]

"We'll get your rocks back for sure," Khannie says as she hurries off after Commissar.

She isn't totally sure of that.

BUT!

It seemed like the right thing to say.

The scent trail will lead our heroes on a winding quest through the neighborhood, and they'll have more than a few random encounters along the way. Beast folk, werecritters, undead, even humanoids like orcs are all being really rowdy! Whatever this malady is that has gripped the town, it's causing some problems! Thankfully Khannie was able to shake it off.

But...

Why?

It was after she evolved, sure. But why would evolving shake of a mental curse?

Mysteries aside, the distractions can all be thwarted or avoided without too much trouble. And that leaves our heroes standing outside of-

A club? That is advertising a casino inside?

That isn't suspicious at all.

Several rather imposing looking men in black suits are guarding the entrance.

"C'mon, Commissar, let's sneak around back," Khannie suggests. "Are you holding up okay? Those dancing skeletons were pretty rough."

[Deathkeeper]

[Starting Quests]

Maybe by becoming more pokemon Khannie has become more human than anyone else.
Or maybe ghost types are immune.
Or maybe this is all a dream anyway.

"Tired. Can't dance." Commissar tells Khannie. He's used a lot of flamethrowers today. If they keep going he'll have to rest, find a Poke-center, or some Ethers.
And he definitely could not dance no matter how much the skeletons tried.

On the plus side, dark types are often good at being sneaky, and Commissar is quite good himself. It's unsurprising perhaps, that stealth is an asset to a Commissar and a Ghost.

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

"Chances of getting home - reasonable. I know that there's some people around who make a habit of going between their home universe and the Nexus; I can take you to meet one of them sometime soon. How they make you dress, though? Most are just going to want you to keep your genitals covered. As long as you have that handled, you should be fine."

Emily looks over towards the bathroom for a moment, "You might not want to leave though. The bathroom you experienced here, the food? They aren't really anything special here. Technology is much higher tier here than in your homeland, if I don't miss my guess. There's a lot of small things that make it much easier to live in a place like this. On the other hand, no place like home, I suppose."

[Deathkeeper]

[Scalebound's Apartment]

"Wha?! I certainly ain't wearin' one of those horse-dresses the humans put on their steeds." he insists. People are usually less likely to lecture quadrupeds on nudity, and plenty of centaurs get a free pass.
"But. I. um. I s'pose it sounds nice but a little ah,..." he gazes out the window and at the huge concrete buildings.
"Intimidating?"

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

"Nobody's asking you to put on drapes," Emily says, and the pony boy can hear the amusement in her voice. She sets her bowl aside, having finished the meal within, "But I understand. So, do you want to meet that person I mentioned that'd know how to help you get home? Can't promise they'll know how to help you, or that they'll even meet with us, but still."

[Deathkeeper]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Domhnall looks at Emily, thinking about it as he swiftly drains his soup. He can eat quite quickly for someone with a normal human mouth. But then, he is feeding a double-size body.
"Uh, yeah, sure. They magic? I do like meetin' new magic folks."

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

"Yes, they're magic. Crossing dimensional boundaries generally takes either high technology or magic to accomplish, after all," She'll stand up and begin plodding towards the door, "Whenever you're ready to go."

[Deathkeeper]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Domhnall grins wide.
"Excellent!" he says, hopping up back onto his hooves and getting his stuff.
"Ready any time, 'Cos.
Uh, if this doesn't work though, can ya spot me a bad?" he asks, eyeing the position of the sun.

[Rebonack]

[Starting Quests]

It couldn't be that ghosts are immune, though.

It was working on those skeletons and skeletons are ghosts, right?

Khannie is at least MOSTLY sure that skeletons count as ghosts. They're dead(ish) and they move around. Ghosts!

Wait. Does that mean she's technically dead? She doesn't feel very dead. She feels alive! And definitely stronger than before. Maybe ghost types are only ghost-like?

Why do pokemon have to be so weird... why can't they just be normal like humans?

Bluh.

Anyway!

Sneaking around back doesn't prove to be terribly difficult. No one is guarding the landing dock!

"I'll be right back," Khannie says as she walks right through the door and unlocks it from the other side. "C'mon, let's go."

Thankfully the warehouse section appears to be mostly empty right now. Just a few folks taking inventory. But there are so many shelves and boxes sneaking past them shouldn't be hard, right? Commissar will be able to smell the scent of the badman somewhere deeper in the building.

[Deathkeeper]

[Starting Quests]

Yes, humans are very normal. Like Jace! What a normal guy.

Commissar continues to follow the trail, keeping low to the ground and silent. Being the color he is does make him hard to spot at a glance. Especially in dim light.
Their success will be up to Khannie to help guide him around and keep quiet herself. He doesn’t have the best sense of direction. Like when the scent goes up against a big pile of boxes and Commissar just sort of sits there, trying to figure out a new route.

[CosmicHobbit]

Oliver chuckles. "I suppose you have a point! Alright, here's another one: 'Pickpocket and maker of heists gets caught, only to be convinced to use his sneakiness for good.' Is that one good?" Oliver is starting to genuinely like this stranger, even if he is on a mission.

[Felandria]

"You have very good taste and design sense." Rosalind continues, taking a seat on the long couch and crossing her legs. She subtly pats the spot beside her, as if inviting the redhead to take a seat. "So, crimefighter. Tell me some of your adventures, Fel." The harpy asks, removing her glasses in anticipation of something happening.

Felandria comes back into the living room with Rose’s rum and coke and her own glass of wine, she settles onto the couch and hands Rose her drink.

Where do I even start, there was the big invasion of Riverside, fought a couple of big scary monsters, scared the rest of them off.

And then of course, there was the giant robot one time.........

- - - Updated - - -

Fel's House

Violet pushes the last bit of her steak into her mouth as Fel talks about her hands. Damn those were large. She ruminates for a moment before standing up.

Ok, hangovers gone. Weird frog guy I'm gonna need you to be gone by the time we're done so I can pretend you didn't listen to anything. Violet walks over to Fel, reaching up to try and grab her hand and start towing her to where she thinks the bedroom is. Now you, we gotta make up for lost time. Come on.

Fel’s hand is grabbed by Violet, though Fel barely notices the attempt to be pulled upstairs as she responds to Neverest.

Well, of course, make yourself at home while you wait, if you need anything, just ask Reginald.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something upstairs.

And Fel will casually head upstairs towards her bedroom, absentmindedly bringing Violet along.

Hopefully Violet can keep up, lest she get dragged upstairs.

[Rebonack]

[Starting Quests]

Sneaky sneak. Just sneaking through storage area isn't too difficult. Khannie's pretty great at being quiet. No stomping around or anything. The soles of her boots are padded, after all, and make virtually no sound to speak of. She'll direct Commissar around those dastardly boxes and before long they'll find a flight of stairs leading down into a cellar!

With a big, burly looking dude in a black uniform guarding the stairs.

Judging from the pokeballs on his belt, he's expecting to pokemon battle any children that come sneaking around here and then quietly surrender when his Zubat and Ekans get beaten up.

Khannie considers what to do here.

She could go the traditional pokemon battle route.

OR!

She could sneak through the wall, grab that guy by the face, and mash his face into the wall. She's found that usually works pretty great against guards. Commissar is given an appraising look. What does he want to do?

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Domhnall grins wide.
"Excellent!" he says, hopping up back onto his hooves and getting his stuff.
"Ready any time, 'Cos.
Uh, if this doesn't work though, can ya spot me a bad?" he asks, eyeing the position of the sun.

[Scaleback's Apartment]

"Sure," the large 'gator woman says, "I've got a spare room. I mostly use it for storage, so we'll have to clear you a space if it comes to that. for now, though, let's see what we can do about your situation," and she'll lead the way out of the building and off towards the VIGIL thread!

[Deathkeeper]

[Starting Quests]

Commissar sits down at looks at Khannie.
Then he scowls. Dourly.
Then he makes...a whacking motion? Maybe he's chopping? Really, hand motions are hard enough, and now he's trying to do it without hands. Hopefully Khannie gets his meaning. Whatever it is.

[Halae]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Since they left it, Emily's apartment (Described here, in case you missed it before) likely hasn't had any changes to it. Uno is currently lounging in the entryway, and as she comes in Emily will scoop the cat up into her arms and, in a practiced motion, deposit him onto the hump of her back, where the surface is flat and stable enough that he can sit down even as Emily is walking. It's a comfortable place for him, and gets him out of the way of the four-legged creatures entering her home.

The large gator woman will motion for Geneva and Domhnall to follow her over to the closet where the pony boy had originally appeared. Those with animal-like senses of smell should still be able to scent the pine smell clinging to it, "Domhnall, why don't you go over everything that happened before you appeared in my closet? Small details are important in an investigation, and Geneva is clearly looking for as much information as possible."

[Deathkeeper]

[Scaleback's Apartment]

Domhnall thinks hard as the question is asked of him.
"Well, I was in the woods, comin' home from seein' a buddy of mine, and I decided to take a nap 'cause I had a wee bit of a hungover. Then I woke up. Innnn your closet." he shrugs.
"Sorry, 'Cos. I wasn't awake at the time. Know it ain't ideal." It might even be downright bad. But it's the best he's got.

[Rebonack]

[Starting Quests]

Oh yeah.

Khannie's got that one loud and clear!

She hops toward the wall, suddenly going misty and indistinct, allowing her to pass through unimpeded. The guard is rather surprised when she pops out right next to him, grabs him by the fact, and thwacks the back of his head into the wall with a thump. Down he goes. Out like a light.

That probably isn't a legal pokemon move.

But right now Khannie has more important business to see to. Bad guys!

She motions for Commissar to follow her while she pulls a key card out of the downed guard's pocket. Evil bases like this always use key cards!


[Scaleback's Apartment]

"Okay, that's a start. Lapse in consciousness and crossing a threshold are two of the most common phenomena for triggering a bridge to the Nexus," Geneva says as she trots over to the closet. "Let's just open this up and see what we're working with!"

And with that she'll reach out and open the closet to reveal-!

[Earl of Purple]

Scaleback's Apartment

Inside the closet, pushing clothing and coathangers away, are six dwarfs and an elf. The dwarfs are universally short, broad, and hairy, with thick, tangled dark blue beards and hair, not quite proper black. They all wear dakr leather jackets, thick trousers and heavy boots. They appear unarmed, or mostly unarmed; they've got large knives, but no axes or hammers. The elf, meanwhile, is asleep. She's young, female, with dark green hair and deep brown skin the colour of an oak's bark. She's wearing a diaphanous white gown and a tiara of fresh hops. She's being held rather carelessly by two of the dwarfs, whilst another two are just starting to collapse a brass tripod, on which sits a brass sphere set with inlaid runes of silver, gold and iron. One of the remaining dwarfs falls over, as he was about to open the closet and was leaning too much on a door that is no longer there, whilst the sixth, way in the back, has started to rummage in the pockets of the hanging clothing.

Surrounding all seven figures is a pungent mix of lilac perfume, wood polish, chloroform and ozone. None of the dwarfs say anything, looking rather shocked at Geneva and the others.