Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

"Alright." Renault agrees and climbs down the rocks and wades into the pool. It's deep and cold, and the water's moving fast. He'll hold on the Grant, if he can, to avoid being swept away.

After a moment of soaking, the group will hear some giggling sounds coming from the waterfall itself.

[Deathkeeper]

[A River's Bed]

Grant puts a claw gently around Renault to keep him from being swept away. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he calls to the voices. Oh no, it's not more naiads is it? Grant can't handle more naiads.

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

A figure rises from the churning foam, made of pure riverwater. A bit of river grass and bleached driftwood form a crown on her head. Her eyes are two orbs of pure gold.

"Hehe, so you've come all this way have you, greedy little ones?"

[Deathkeeper]

[A River's Bed]

Oh, great. It is. Wonderful. Grant's eyes flicker a bit to those golden orbs. Shiny.
"Yes, in fact. We have. If you don't mind putting us back in our correct bodies we will happily be on our way and go somewhere else. Please." he says, trying to be polite but clearly irritated. He's not going to be outwitted by another water lady!

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

"Oh? And have you learned your lesson yet? Stealing a river's bounty without so much as a thank you?" The river spirit says petulantly.

"This is my fault." Renault calls out to her. "I brought them here in my search for gold. Please, what can we do to appease you?"

"You plan to take and take, but is there anything you can give?" The river spirit asks.

[Deathkeeper]

[A River's Bed]

Grant stares at her.
"Give? A River? Well, there is some power in...one of us. It's either in my body or my soul, one of the two. Water from the spring Pirene herself, of Greece. The naiad born from Pegasus. It's yours, if you can take it." What else could he give her? He doesn't know what sort of metaphysical things rivers want!

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

The River Spirit's eyes glitter. "Oh yes, I can sense it."

The water around Grant and Renault will bubble and twist, lifting the two up and apart. Grant will feel a tug on his very soul, very uncomfortable. Renault calls out, in surprise or pain. The waters swirl and then subside, and Grant will find himself back in his own body again, minus the Naiad's influence.

Renault, in his dragon form, reaches out to catch Grant and keep him from slipping down the river.

The kobolds on the shore chatter nervously, and Lariel looks worried.

[Deathkeeper]

[A River's Bed]

Grant latches onto Renault, shivering with the cold. "S-see? It all worked out, like I promised." he hisses, between chattering teeth.
"N-n-no problem."

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

Renault sets Grant on the shore by Lariel and the Kobolds and climbs out himself. In a glitter of golden light, he's back to his elfy self.

Lariel pulls Grant close to her. "You're freezing. We need a fire or something..."

"Just a moment." Renault says and he waves a hand in Grant's direction. A golden glow envelops him in warms and comfort for a moment, before he's completely dry.

The river spirit just laughs and disappears back into the waterfall, her little trick done.

[Deathkeeper]

[A River's Bed]

Grant blushes heavily as he's pulled against Lariel.
"See? All good. Everyone's in their proper body and not enchanted and with no serious repercussions. Like all good adventures."
Unlike his last one where his best friend got permanently made into a fox monster and he almost had the same thing done to him only horse themed.

[Recaiden]

The knife is a basic utility knife, which could serve as a dagger in a pinch. It's enchanted so it is very good at cutting through nonliving things, though only as good as any other blade at cutting through living ones. This actually makes it reasonably dangerous, as it can cut through many forms of armour- though that's not what it was enchanted for.

A good knife. Useful. A working tool.
I can use this. I strap it onto my harness - I'll get it a proper sheathe or case once I'm back home - and leave the pantry. Nothing else here but traces of flour anyway.

Now, going back through the kitchen, I find the door outlined in light, and open it.

[Rebonack]

[Darkness Falls]

Derelith releases the machine, allowing it to slump. That wasn't exactly what she was aiming for, but holding things in place so everyone else can whollop on them has been a pretty effective tactic with her friends in the past. It seems to work just as well here.

Her ears are ringing from the loud exploding weapon, though.

Something like that going off in an enclosed space was NOT pleasant.

Myriam scoots forward and prods at the deceased machine with the butt of her staff.

"Do you think these things killed everyone here?" she asks of the others, glancing around the ceiling to see if any of the hanging corpses look like the robot at all.

She doesn't comment on the 'attack first ask questions never' attitude.

Her friends were like that sometimes, too.

[Earl of Purple]

Darkness Falls

Jack shrugs; she can't say much right now. She recognised the pistol and was able to get her head away from it, so whilst loud it wasn't quite going off in her ear.

She's a little interested in it; she's not too familiar with robots, which is unfortunate as it means she can't identify what the most valuable bits might be.

Temple of Shattered Swords

Beyond the light-rimmed door is a bedroom. There's a stone bunk carved into the wall, with a modern nylon sleeping bag on it. There's also a solid wooden wardrobe and a writing-desk with a folding chair made of aluminium and fabric up to it. It's lit by floating orbs of magical light, one in the centre of the room and another over the writing desk. Sat at the desk is a living person, a human wearing a navy blue suit, with long black hair tied into a ponytail. He's dark-skinned, with green eyes, and he's examining a collection of hand-drawn maps and blueprints. He's using a large revolver as a paperweight, and propped up next to him is an elephant gun, with mystic runes and symbols carved into the stock and barrel. "There must be a proper vault somewhere. I've searched through the crypts, but nothing. There's the corpse of a saint here, I know it, so where are they buried?"

[Recaiden]

[Darkness Falls]

Tao lets out the breath he was apparently holding. That worked!
He sets about reloading his gun before he forgets or another monster arrives.

"I don't think it could have. It wasn't very tough, was it? Even if there were a lot of them, there'd have been more signs of people struggling."

He does not even try to touch the fallen machine.

[Temple of Shattered Swords]

"Another explorer!" I announce myself, standing in the doorway.
"Did you bring those skeletons here?"
It's a risk talking to him, with those guns he has, but I think it's worth trying to get along.

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Shattered Swords

"What? Oh. I take it you destroyed some, then? No, I didn't bring them here. I found them in the crypts, and they weren't doing anything. So I thought I'd make them useful. I'm Benedict Beaulieu, Occultist and explorer. There should be a saint buried here, dedicated to some heathen religion. I wish to see if the corpse has retained its miraculous properties despite the death of the god that powered it. I've found many bodies in the crypts, and more urns of cremated remains, but none have the opulence or veneration that would be afforded the corpse of a saint." The man turns to face Yone, not disquieted by their strange and inhuman appearance. His surname's pronounced 'Bewley'. He does reach out to touch the pistol on the table, not picking it up but making sure he could do so quickly if he needed it.

[bc56]

Darkness Falls

There's still an alarm going off deeper in the building. It might not be wise to stay in one place for long, if there are other monsters, they might be expecting that one to return.

[Recaiden]

"Yes, they were in the way. The temple is still functioning, though at low power."

I sit down in the doorway, more or less nonthreatening.

"Yone. I'm investigating someone who used to come to this temple - before they died." At least, I surmise they're dead, given the situation and ages involved. "I'd expect the saint to be downstairs, but hidden."

[Rebonack]

[Darkness Falls]

She waffles at this point.

"Should we go deeper?" Myriam asks.

There will almost certainly be more danger-

-but it's the only way to learn what happened here.

She's pretty okay with the prospect of learning. But that prospect might be dangerous.

Risk and reward need to be weighed.

She looks to the others to see what they think.

[Earl of Purple]

Darkness Falls

Jack can't talk right now, her face is all beak. She shrugs; that thing wasn't too hard, and she's lucky in that she could still likely escape if necessary. Unless somebody's closed the door behind themselves, anyway.

Temple of Shattered Swords

"Gods never have the decency to die quickly. It's always drawn-out and painful. Nobody's worshipped here in centuries, yet still it lingers. Good, that means perhaps the saint's corpse remains." He shakes his head at the downstairs comment. "All the walls in the crypt are bedrock, bare and unadorned. Same goes for the ceiling, and the floor's dusty, but the same. I haven't sensed any power of the sort I'm after in the crypts themselves, and no magical hiding places. It must be here- it's referenced in the records seized by the Order of the Sacred Fist, who destroyed the pagan high temple. They can't have taken it with them, as none of their priests survived the purge, so it must be here somewhere."

He hesitates a moment. "Somebody who used to come here? You found the diary of a worshipper? May I see it?" Alas, the record Yone has is less the diary of a worshipper and more the directions of a geography student who found it by accident when investigating the box canyon.

[Recaiden]

[Darkness Falls]

"Yeah. I think the chance to get away cleanly is gone. And that thing wasn't so bad." Tao is saying that last part mainly to himself.
He starts down the passage in the direction the robot came from.
Though hopefully Derelith will keep ahead of him, like before.

[Temple of the Shattered Sword]

"I didn't bring it with me. Just the map." I say, flourishing a page with the temple's location marked on it. This guy is starting to seem a little sinister.
I'm not sure how that works, but Yone does have such a map in her tentacle now. I guess she made a copy on the way here?
"Could they have taken it away before the Order arrived, and lost it somewhere else?" I suggest, wondering myself. There weren't a lot of hiding spaces in the temple, were there? I need to go take another look around.

[bc56]

Darkness Falls

The passage continues, turning to the right after a short distance. Beyond that corner is a flight of stairs leading down to an open door, through which light is visible, a flickering blue light from a source that is out of view. There is another antlike robot in here. This one looks larger and more durable, and one of its pairs of arms end in strange, bushlike appendages, thickets of tiny metal limbs. It's currently pressing these unusual devices against the wall, and they seem to be eating through the brick rapidly, leaving deep gouges in their wake. It does not seem to have noticed the adventurers yet.

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Shattered Swords

"Oh, that's... Less useful." He'll still take the map and look it over, though. He doesn't keep it long; there's nothing on there he doesn't already know. "I don't think so. They weren't expecting attack. This bunch were pacifists, the idea of violence was abhorrent to them. They didn't see the Order's movement against them coming, and didn't run either. It's why the faith died. They were too stupid to fight, too proud to run and too devout to hide. The moment the Order looked at them, their fate was sealed." He's very dismissive of pacifism, this man. And why would a militant order want to wipe out a sect of pacifists? It's not like the pacifists are going to fight back.

There's not many hiding places visible, no. A hiding place isn't very useful if it's immediately obvious, however.

[Recaiden]

I am offended on the behalf of the dead saints! I'm not much for violence, you see. I try not to hurt people. Animals and buildings, that's a different story.
I expect the pacifists didn't fall in line with the militantism, and that was that.
"Well, I still want to take a look downstairs. It's hidden, right? Can you have the skeletons let me by?"

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Shattered Swords

"Ah, right. Take... This. It's a key, of sorts. They'll ignore you if you have it. Just my skeletons, however. It's a way to host a party without the guests getting slain by the defence." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out an ornate chess piece carved from bone- elf, if Yone can tell- in the shape of a roaring werewolf. "It's a simple thing, really. They don't need to see it, but you can pass them- so long as they don't have other orders." So it'll give Yone a moment's warning, if he decides to stab her in the back; he'll have to order the skeletons differently.

[Murkus]

[Lost Grotto]

It happens that a hunter comes to check his traps, down in a secluded place beneath a hillside, where a clean springwater pool sparkles in what few shafts of sunlight reach this forlorn locale.

And what an ingenious trap it was - tendrils of animated kelp, already so naturally adept at ensnaring, meant to catch passersby or animals brave enough to swim in the pool. The slim man in the half-cloak and helm expects to find a few cave fish, a turtle, perhaps an otter caught for him... His food for offering so he could get back to things he considered important.

[Arkhosia]

Lost Grotto

The hunter will find the trap to be a resounding success! Although perhaps a little too resounding, for it seems to have caught a quarry much larger than he intended, and an angry one at that.

"God [Ice Road Trucking] damn it!" Blanche states in frustration, struggling to tear her limbs out of their leafy confines. Everything about this was absolutely infuriating. The fact that it was pinning her down face-first in the dirt, giving her a fairly hard time checking her surroundings. The fact that she wasn't smart enough to double-check the pond's edge for lurking predators when trying to get a drink of water while in a known area of vicious monsters. The fact that the plant wasn't even doing the courtesy of killing and eating her, thus sparing her from wallowing in disappointment and self-loathing. And most of all, the fact that her knife was right there, barely a foot from her face! Well, at least she'd worn her mimetic armor for this hunt. Her clothing taking on the same color and pattern as the kelp and the dirt probably helped with preventing any inquisitive beasts from gaining an easy meal, though the rifle slung over her shoulder might be a bit of a giveaway.

[Artemis97]

[A River's Bed]

Grant blushes heavily as he's pulled against Lariel.
"See? All good. Everyone's in their proper body and not enchanted and with no serious repercussions. Like all good adventures."
Unlike his last one where his best friend got permanently made into a fox monster and he almost had the same thing done to him only horse themed.

[A River's Bed]

"Good." Lariel says, releasing Grant. "I'm glad you're alright." She says to him saeriously. "That you're both alright."

"So am I." Renault agrees. "And while I'd love to stay here celebrating, we should probably try to get back before dark."

[UncleWolf]

[Rein's Hold]

Rein considers that for a while. What a sticky situation. Still, there should be a diplomatic solution available. "I can certainly appreciate the bind you're in, but I still think she should be allowed to give her consent before that happens. You're in luck now that you're in the Nexus. There are quite a lot of people around who would be willing to help you, despite the esoteric nature of your problem. I certainly have contacts across a number of organizations I can start asking if they would be willing to accept such a task. How much time do you have left?"

Rein's Hold

"I have one month before I am forced to begin the process." Leap explains, arms still crossed and frowning. "If you can swear that you know someone who is able to volunteer within that time, I'll accept it. But otherwise she's mine. It's not like anyone would miss her anyway." She explains, reaching out to set a possessive hand on her bundle. "Remember, she was one who helped capture and imprison me. I am not partial to showing mercy towards such people to begin with."

[Murkus]

Lost Grotto

The hunter will find the trap to be a resounding success! Although perhaps a little too resounding, for it seems to have caught a quarry much larger than he intended, and an angry one at that.

"God [Ice Road Trucking] damn it!" Blanche states in frustration, struggling to tear her limbs out of their leafy confines. Everything about this was absolutely infuriating. The fact that it was pinning her down face-first in the dirt, giving her a fairly hard time checking her surroundings. The fact that she wasn't smart enough to double-check the pond's edge for lurking predators when trying to get a drink of water while in a known area of vicious monsters. The fact that the plant wasn't even doing the courtesy of killing and eating her, thus sparing her from wallowing in disappointment and self-loathing. And most of all, the fact that her knife was right there, barely a foot from her face! Well, at least she'd worn her mimetic armor for this hunt. Her clothing taking on the same color and pattern as the kelp and the dirt probably helped with preventing any inquisitive beasts from gaining an easy meal, though the rifle slung over her shoulder might be a bit of a giveaway.

[Lost Grotto]

Blanche will definitely hear the stranger approaching. And see him, before long, if only the toes of his boots. They seem to be quite well made, squared and made from black iron at the tips, heeled with small spikes that seem to serve the purpose of spurs.

The hunter scratches his head. He utters in a soft, thoughtful tone of voice, "This isn't something that's happened before." He drops to one knee and takes Blanche's knife, twirling it through his spread fingers. Then, with a few hard stabs, he cuts the plant matter away and frees the girl. Though... he takes that rifle away first. It's entirely possible she's been wounded, as the trap could even break bones and even if it was only her pride...

[Recaiden]

"Ah, right. Take... This. It's a key, of sorts. They'll ignore you if you have it. Just my skeletons, however. It's a way to host a party without the guests getting slain by the defence." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out an ornate chess piece carved from bone- elf, if Yone can tell- in the shape of a roaring werewolf. "It's a simple thing, really. They don't need to see it, but you can pass them- so long as they don't have other orders." So it'll give Yone a moment's warning, if he decides to stab her in the back; he'll have to order the skeletons differently.

"Thanks." I reach over and take the bone chess piece key. "Who knows, maybe I'll find the saint for you." I'm not sure I'd tell him if I did. What kind of bone this is, I can't really tell. honestly, I'm not sure what chess piece it's supposed to be either. THat's the trouble with these theme sets. Is it a knight? A rook?

Anyway, I twirl around and head back downstairs, heading into the room that was still patrolled by skeletons and taking a left.