Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]

[Rebonack]

[The Land Of Marble And Grass]

And so the great imp slaughter begins.

The imps don't seem very smart. And every single one of them behaves in exactly the same way.

Suicidally aggressive.

And each one, upon getting bopped by one of the rocks it had recently thrown, is promptly and soundly defeated. Each defeated imp yields another set of blocks. And each set of blocks touched creates more spiraling stairs growing closer and closer to the portal hanging in the sky.

And, oddly, with each imp she vanquishes Moira may notice that the weird dragon statue in her pack feels a little lighter.

Just another weird thing in a long litany of weird things.

Though maybe the weirdest thing happens after smacking her tenth imp...

[Deathkeeper]

[The Land Of Marble And Grass]

Something weird definitely happens.
The problem is that it’s awfully hard for Moira to describe it.

One second she’s wailing on the last of the imp’s projectiles and watching it crumble, the next she’s whiting out as she’s enveloped in a harsh silver light.
And then it’s over, and she’s all done.
Weird.
She trudges back to the portal to meet up with the farigiraf. The tall grass is almost up to her face now. How annoying. Good for hiding though, if something scarier than imps shows up. Her shirt and pants feel like they’re way too wide and way too long. And her hat just refuses to stay on no matter how many time she adjusts it between her ears. Yet the bat and the pack feel lighter, if too big. Though she feels like the pack isn’t even really hanging off her shoulders as much as it’s stuck on something.

Something is definitely up though when she meets back up with Kirinirik. They were always tall. But now she’s barely half their combined height.
”Hey Kirin? Is something up? Everything is weirder than normal.” says the dazed, little teal repto-mammal. Somehow despite looking completely different she gives off the strange impression of being exactly the same, if maybe a little bit more.

[Earl of Purple]

Old Wood

"No, I don't recognise them... Hold on." He reaches up before himself and sketches some white lines in the air before him, which seem to solidify into a lens. Peering through the lens, he'll try to read the glyphs; though the translation magic he's using won't work if the symbols are actively channelling magic, nor if they represent names of places or people, nor if they aren't actually a language.

One of the skeletons will, after being directed by Benedict's mind, will poke one of the fleshy protuberances, ideally as far from Benedict himself as possible.

[Rebonack]

[The Land Of Marble And Grass]

They noticed the flash.

Of course they noticed the flash.

The light of evolution is absolutely impossible to miss.

They had suspected that maybe Moira just needed a few battles to catalyze her growth, but when a nidorina ambles up to them.

"Uuh..." Kirin replies, staring blankly.

What.

How?

Did Moira's race just... randomly evolve into OTHER races? Like an evolution equivalent of Metronome? That would be pretty ground-breaking as far as discoveries go.

"You evolved, congrats," Nirik says. "But you got shorter. Weird."

Lots of weird things today.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

"Huh? You don't have to shout." says Moira. She looks down, her evolution-induced daze popping like a Bubble against a grass type. Her hands are strange little claws. And they're also teal. Just like her feet, which seem to have lost their shoes at some point. And her tail(?!?). And actually, almost everything about her, from her leathery hide to her absolutely enormous fuzzy ears.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" this goes on for a while.
"You have a mirror, right? Please tell me you have one." She tries to shrug off her bag, only to realize that the straps aren't doing anything at all- it's stuck on the spike on her back, which has gone clean through it. She appears to be having some trouble with getting it off.

[Rebonack]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

Ah yes.

Several seconds of existential horror.

With a reaction like this, it's pretty clear that Moira's race rarely, if ever, evolves.

Which Kirinirik just can't wrap their collective heads around.

Maybe they just have extremely restrictive, specific evolution requirements?

Like some of the eevees?

That's probably the most reasonable explanation.

"Sorry, no mirrors," Kirin replies apologetically. Then begins helping Moira with the pack. "Let me help you with that. Try not to wriggle around too much, okay? Your spikes are covered in cnidocytes, I don't want to get stung."

Because getting stung really sucks.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

"I have WHAT?" she asks. Kirin should probably tell him that that's normal for people to have.
At least poison type people.
On the plus side, she was really only lightening Kirinirik's load. She wasn't really helping all that much.
On the downside, she is just going to have to deal with her horribly ill-fitting clothes for now.
"So...like...what even am I?" she asks, unconsciously lashing her little tail, hopefully not nicking Kirin while he's back there.

[Rebonack]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

"Cnidocytes," Kirin replies as he finally manages to get the ruined pack off her.

What a shame, too.

It was a nice pack.

"Nidorans have cnidocytes."

"They're tiny harpoons full of venom," Nirik states bluntly.

"You evolved into a nidorina, a nidoran's second stage. Which is weird, since you weren't a nidoran before."

Unless she was secretly a weird poisonous shrew thing?

But somehow didn't notice?

"Is it normal for your race to evolve into other races? That's pretty unusual," Kirin points out.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

"Do you have to say it so loud?" Really, everything is so loud all of a sudden.
The pack can probably be salvaged with some patches, though the explorers might not be carrying those and a sewing kit around with them.
"No, we don't- I'm not- WHY IS TODAY SO WEIRD?" she yells, putting an arm around Kirinirik in a very frustrated sort of almost-hug. Luckily unlike Nidorino her spikes aren't on her front.
Still, the child is upset! Do something, Kirin, before she starts crying!

[bc56]

Old Wood

The glyphs seem to be simple readouts.

COMMUNICATIONS: NO SIGNAL
COLLECTORS: FUNCTIONAL
[UNTRANSLATABLE] CAPACITY: 70%
WIND SPEED: 6 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
INTERNAL TEMP: 35 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: TEMPERATURE LOW
INTERNAL HUMIDITY: 16 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: HUMIDITY LOW
EXTERNAL TEMP: 20 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
EXTERNAL HUMIDITY: 10 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. EVA CLOAK RECOMMENDED

Of course, Benedict may have bigger problems than a few readouts declaring low temperature. So will Moschu for that matter, because the room is not quite uninhabited. With a chittering sound, four insectoid creatures burst into view. Three come from the door to the next (and judging by the size of the structure, last) room, while one jumps down from its ambitious hiding place above the door the explorers entered through. They resemble colorful wasps, each six feet long, and balancing on one pair of its six legs. They are wrapped in silken garments, and hold weapons which resemble curved bone swords in their front legs. The one leaping down from above takes a swing at Benedict, buzzing its vestigial wings angrily at him, while the other three fan out and look for an opening.

[Rebonack]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

Do something.

Something!

Anything!

Kirinirik uses Awkward Head Pat!

It... uh... probably doesn't work great.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, okay?" Kirin says.

He doesn't sound super convincing.

"We still have no idea where we're going," Nirik points out.

What a ray of sunshine he is.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Land Of Marble And Grass]

Moira sniffles. The top of her head is soft and fuzzy. Slowly her pointy stabby bits start to retract.
”Let’s just go up the stupid stairs okay? Any place is better than here. And with all that gold we can buy some clothes that fit me. And ice cream. And somewhere to stay a while, I guess. I don’t think I’m getting home any time soon.” she says sadly.

[Rebonack]

[The Land of Marble and Grass]

"I could go for ice cream right about now," Kirin agrees. "Let's split!"

And with that said?

He'll lead Moira up the stairs and to the portal.

Who knows where it might lead?

It could lead absolutely anywhere!

And anywhen!

Any place what so ever!

Any world imaginable!

(it leads to the broom closet in Trog's Tavern)

[UncleWolf]

[The Triple B- Anri]

Anri frowns at Lydia, flinching as the woman approaches. She knows she's about to get herself into a bad situation, but what options does she really have right now?
"I will explore any and all options present before me. We both know that I'm desperate. But you must know that I would be of little use to you here without this horrible chassis and its 'features', and I will not prolong this even if it is to pay off a cure." Anri shudders, and her outfit returns to how it was before she entered: a short red robe over her top half. She'd almost forgotten she'd been dismissed for the day and she could do that.
"But I can already see that you have something else in mind than me serving drinks again."

The Triple B - Anri

"Prolong this? And here I thought this place had ultimately treated you well." Lydia frowns, apparently misunderstanding what Anri had meant or at the very least using it as an opportunity to help drive a harder bargain. "Yes, you are desperate, but more than that you aren't even willing to admit things to yourself. And more than that if you just want to keep dissing my place, then forget it. You might have been made uncomfortable here, but you were far from mistreated."

[Camping Trip]

Koshal is first to move, slowly raising a hand.
"Hello, friend. We are visiting this place. We hope we have not intruded on your territory. We do not wish to fight." he tells the enormous reptile, hoping that it's either sapient or he can rely on his innate ability to be understood by animals to get his message across.

[Camping Trip]

"This one's all you, Koshal," Wenomir says, with a strangely casual tone, given what he's looking at. "I have to say this is the first dragon I've seen that eats cheese."

Camping Trip

The beast seems placated for the moment, lowering the bladed tail back to the ground. Glavvy's eyes dart down to the weaponry the pair sport, obviously knowing what swords are at the very least, but instead of roaring decides to set the wheel of cheese down. The wheel is partially melted, and while it is certainly odd for a beast like this to be eating such, it probably had more than enough calories to sustain the monster for at least a day or two. The stamping on the rind betrays it as a trade good, likely taken off a merchant's caravan.

The Glavenus doesn't take his eyes off of the pair as it moves around the camp towards the river, but at the very least it makes sure the tail doesn't cut anything or anyone down. Koshal can tell that the beast isn't hungry at the moment despite carrying its food, nor is it looking for prey. Instead, it simply wanted water...but now it was also curious about the pair and what they were doing here.

[Treehouses]

Treeisa narrows her eyes. "You're being really weird." She decides to just come out with it. She can't figure Leap out. "Most people aren't this calm when they find someone in their house." She points out.

Treehouses

"What use is it being upset?" Leap asks with a shrug. "I've looted my own fair share of abandoned houses before and I'm not surprised to find that my own place has been rummaged around in as well. At least it's someone cute doing it rather than the normal unwashed adventurer types." She points out before deciding to skitter down the wall in order to get back to a more normal orientation. Unless stopped, she's going to grab the chest and just hurl it out the front door so it'll crash open on the ground below.

[Deathkeeper]

The Triple B- Anri

Anri frowns.
”I meant prolonging this.” she says irritably, rapping her knuckles against her cold, nerveless chest.
”Your establishment is far better run than the parties I’ve been forced to the past week, and I’m sure is the highest quality around for what it does. The fact that I hate loud music and drunkenness has no bearing on that, merely the amount of time I would prefer to be here. So as I repeat, I will not prolong having this curse if I can shorten it by any span.” It seems she is still willing to talk. She would be a fool not to, if what she’s surmised about Lydia’s wealth and power is correct.

Camping Trip

”He’s just after water, Sir. But I don’t think he’s a dragon.” It’s not the right shape at all to be a dragon! No wings or anything.
Koshal lets the Glavenous pass, though he keeps pretty still. He takes note of its interest in his sword; if it recognizes weaponry it must have some measure of intelligence at minimum.

[Gullara]

[Treehouses]

"Well I guess s-" She might have completed that thought, and went on to remark about how most people get upset in this situation. Then again, she doesn't know what it's like to own property, so maybe she's off abse. Instead Leap throws the chest through the room and Treeisa screeches at the sudden movement. "What'd you do that for?!"

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

That can't help but get a snort of amusement out of Lydia. "A bit of all the above, but mostly just boredom. When you're as large as I am, there are entire worlds you never get to experience or could ever dream of since you simply can't fit in them. I always loathed the thought of becoming jsut another one of those slumbering dragons that sleep through the centuries until someone rouses them from their sleep or kills them. What kind of life is that? So I chose to do what I could to change it. Nor was it by any means easy to do so. I am far from the brightest of dragons out there. Dangle something sparkly in front of my face and I'll undoubtedly stare at it."

The Triple B - Ambrosia

"Is sleeping that long common and the fascinating with shiny metals common among your species of dragons?" Ambrosia continues as she folds her hands together thoughtfully. "Oh, something I forget to ask earlier, miss Lydia. I wanted to get in to further details regarding your shapeshifting. Could you change your shapeshifted forms in any manner such as hair-color, body shape, etcetera. Or are you locked into one form that is somehow based on your true form? Those are the two most common types of shapeshifting I've seen among dragons."

[Recaiden]

Spoiler: Previously

Show

"No, I don't recognise them... Hold on." He reaches up before himself and sketches some white lines in the air before him, which seem to solidify into a lens. Peering through the lens, he'll try to read the glyphs; though the translation magic he's using won't work if the symbols are actively channelling magic, nor if they represent names of places or people, nor if they aren't actually a language.

One of the skeletons will, after being directed by Benedict's mind, will poke one of the fleshy protuberances, ideally as far from Benedict himself as possible.

The glyphs seem to be simple readouts.

COMMUNICATIONS: NO SIGNAL
COLLECTORS: FUNCTIONAL
[UNTRANSLATABLE] CAPACITY: 70%
WIND SPEED: 6 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
INTERNAL TEMP: 35 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: TEMPERATURE LOW
INTERNAL HUMIDITY: 16 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: HUMIDITY LOW
EXTERNAL TEMP: 20 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
EXTERNAL HUMIDITY: 10 [UNTRANSLATABLE]
WARNING: EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. EVA CLOAK RECOMMENDED

Of course, Benedict may have bigger problems than a few readouts declaring low temperature. So will Moschu for that matter, because the room is not quite uninhabited. With a chittering sound, four insectoid creatures burst into view. Three come from the door to the next (and judging by the size of the structure, last) room, while one jumps down from its ambitious hiding place above the door the explorers entered through. They resemble colorful wasps, each six feet long, and balancing on one pair of its six legs. They are wrapped in silken garments, and hold weapons which resemble curved bone swords in their front legs. The one leaping down from above takes a swing at Benedict, buzzing its vestigial wings angrily at him, while the other three fan out and look for an opening.

If she could read the glyphs, she might surmise that these creatures don't mean to be here, and are in the middle of a disaster scenario of their own. And they've got clothes and weapons, so they're probably people.
But she can't read the glyphs. And they're obviously hostile. And they're winged insectoids so they automatically look like food and/or threats.

They don't look so tough.
But they could be.
Caution is a habit.

Moschu tugs on the invisible threads that connect everything. Others will see the spider flicker out of view for just an instant, and perhaps notice a surge of magic.
Pause. Accelerate. Shield. Resume.
A very fast giant spider with the air blurring around her lunges at one of the wasp-people, aiming to sweep it off its feet with her front legs and then sink her fangs into it while it's on the ground.

[Earl of Purple]

Old Wood

Benedict shrieks when he's attacked, and his skeletons move in to defend their creator. He sketches the same shape in black as he used against the eels, sending out a host of magical needles out to penetrate and hopefully explode and disable or kill the wasp. It's a pretty brutal attack, and can be messy.

The four skeletons he's got are clumsy swordsmen, but they're hard to put down; stabbing doesn't work, and there's a lot of bones they can lose before they can no longer fight- and Benedict's skeletons can still see through their skulls even if they're decapitated, though they do get a little clumsier after and can't move their heads to focus on their opponents.

[bc56]

Old Wood

Moschu is fast. The wasp-people are fast too. The spider's target crouches down, attempting to use Moschu's momentum against her to throw her over its shoulder and into the wall.

Benedict's assailant sidesteps the needle barrage, but is thrown off balance, getting off a clumsy stab at the necromancer. The tip of the bone blade drips with a yellowish fluid; it looks like the weapon is envenomed.

The other two wasps engage the skeletons, their fighting style graceful and highly mobile. They swing their blades in wide sweeps rather than stabbing at victims without vital organs.

[Recaiden]

A throw? Oh no, this is so early in the battle-
Things twist around each other.
Moschu goes flying over the wasp's shoulder, tumbling leg-over-leg in the air.
And right behind her in her charge, one finds a second giant spider, exactly identical to the first, still in the process of trying to tackle the crouching wasp.

The copy of Moschu that hits the wall flickers and disappears.
The one that's still here thinks how embarrassing that must have been to be caught by such a counter. Now she can't use that trick to avoid an actually dangerous attack.

[Morty]

[Camping Trip]

"I wouldn't know. I'm not exactly a dragon expert," Wenomir says, watching the Glavenus closely. "They seem to be extinct on my homeworld, so I don't really know when a dragon stops counting as one. This would certainly be the first dragon I've heard of to eat cheese, though. But have you noticed that it's watching our weapons?"

[Earl of Purple]

Old Wood

The needles mix and explode harmlessly in the air, but they gave Benedict time to pull his pistol from beneath his robes. He'll fire at the wasp-person's torso, the pistol enchanted so the slug can penetrate armour better. The bone sword is deflected by Benedict's robes, the defensive enchantment upon them stiffening the human leather as the blade hits to turn the weapon aside.

The skeletons struggle with the wasps, the wide sweeps decapitating one of the skeletons and taking another's sword arm off. The headless skeleton starts to swing a little wildly, unable to see where its opponents are, whilst the skeleton with the missing arm proves unable to defend itself effectively as it stoops to retrieve its weapon; if given a firm kick, it will fall over and collapse. If either wasp tries to finish one of those two off, however, the undamaged skeletons will take advantage of the distraction and stab at the wasp's backs.

[Murkus]

[Votsona's Cabin]

"I dunno, I feel like I'd be pretty disappointed in myself if my aim was that poor," Blanche jests, failing to realize that perhaps her quip could sound more like a threat than a joke about accidentally hitting him. She'll allow him to help her up, slipping a crutch under her arm and testing its ability to support her with a satisfied look.

"Well... I'm definitely not much of a partygoer, but I'm down for giving it a shot." Getting there early means less chaos and anxiety from the crowd, and she'd always heard that things like these were good places to meet people. Maybe it'll help her get to know the community a bit better, assess who else she could find aid and learn from, whether during her stay or after her return.

[Votsona's Cabin]

Votsona's sense of humor is dark enough that he has a good laugh instead of quailing at the thought. She picked the right thing to say. He steps away from her, glances down at the crutch himself, and nods. "Well? Come. I'll let you keep up with me. Best we don't stray too far apart, my siblings are relentless."

"So... not much of a partygoer?" Vots prompts her to continue as they walk, hands stuffed into the pockets of a hand-sown coat. They can see the light spilling forth from one of the huge lodge's side entrances ahead, penetrating the twilight gloom. Votsona's fellow huntsmen now crouch much more obviously around the clearing from points of clear tactical advantage, eyes flashing in the dark. Though they can only beg the question: how many are there that she can't see?

[bc56]

Old Wood

Moschu's tackle takes the wasp down. One does not usually expect your foes to change positions rapidly like that. Lighter than the giant spider, the wasp has little chance of escaping from beneath its foe. It uses a free arm to pull off a part of its garment, revealing a sharp, foot-long hollow stinger protruding from its abdomen, which it then jabs upwards at its assailant.

Benedict's opponent twists, taking the bullet in the lower shoulder. It swings its blade at him again, but this time it is a feint, replaced by a jumping kick towards the occultist's chest at the last second.

The other two do attempt to finish the skeletons off. One of them, when the backstab comes, is ready, lashing out with a pair of its fists at the attacking skeleton. The other isn't, taking the blade through the thorax. Clear haemolymph spills out of the wound, and the wasp staggers, weakly raising its blade in a defensive posture.

[Recaiden]

A foot long?

Moschu's shield spell stops the sting just before it touches her shell, scattering the stabbing force across a thousand directions, but the aura around her visibly lessens, expending a large chunk of its energy to do so.

Meanwhile, she shifts a pair of legs to try to restrain the wasp further and sweeps her fangs down, expecting that her venom will quickly paralyze the wasp. Or kill it; she's not really familiar with this creatures, and it's better to use too much venom than too little, just in case.

[Earl of Purple]

Old Wood

Benedict ducks the blade, dodging into the kick and being knocked back, yelping and landing on his backside. He raises his pistol and fires again, though he's barely aiming since he's feeling quite vulnerable right now.

One skeleton is punched, though it doesn't seem very effective, swaying back a little but it doesn't stagger or fall over. In response it thrusts its sword at the wasp-person, as the one that had already stabbed its opponent moves up to swing at the wasp-person's neck in a decapitating strike.

[Rebonack]

[Crater Lake]

It was just a lake before. Probably a lake with a different name.

But when a meteor impacted in the middle of the lake, creating bull's-eye island in the process, the name changed pretty quickly. The area is still a park of sorts, with a little gravel trail leading from the train station down to a well kept area with picnic tables, bathrooms, and free-standing barbecues. There are a few sandy spots for setting up a volley ball net and even some posts driven into the ground for playing horse-shoes.

But that isn't the main attraction, of course.

Beyond the park the grass grows tall, waving in the wind. And beyond the grass are little wooden foot-bridges leading out across the shallow, marshy lake where reeds and cattails abound.

There at the edge of the park stands a number of signs. One detailing the impact, and the other warning of the danger of wild pokemon. Apparently the wildlife in this park used to be the normal, mundane sort. But after the meteor impact all the native fauna was quickly replaced with the unnaturally ferocious pokemon. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this place is popular among pokemon trainers. Just look out for any who are standing around aimlessly staring off into space. They might challenge you to a battle.

Kirnirik stand near the edge of the tall grass, gazing out across it.

Drake has landed on a nearby table where he's busy grooming his wings. "Cool looking place, right? Every time I went past the sign I got swarmed."

[Deathkeeper]

[Crater Lake]

Moira chuckles. ”Heh. Swarmed.
Ahem. Uh. Well, I guess you have the best chance of seeing if something is sneaking up on us, Drake. Unless all the feral Pokémon here can fly.” They probably can if he couldn’t get away without his little bugs getting eaten.
”Do we just...go in and start swinging at anything that comes at us?” she asks, tightly clutching her bat.

[Rebonack]

[Crater Lake]

"There were a couple that could. Some of them are crazy-fast, too," Drake reports.

Probably got eaten by a pidgeotto or something.

"I'll keep my eyes open, though. I don't really have a heap of crazy magical powers to defend myself with like pokemon-"

"Science powers."

"-whatever. Crazy science powers like pokemon do. I can bite something, I can sting something, and I've got a breath weapon that can cause hallucinations and sometimes makes people pass out. I can't shoot psychic brain beams or spit fireballs or anything particularly flashy. So if something decides to murder me I'm going to need some help."

"Alright, we head in. Keep your eyes peeled and be ready," Nirik says as he and his brother head into the grass.

Drake takes to the air and begins following perhaps ten feet above our heroes.