Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The nearest door is the wooden door, which after a few seconds bangs open as three more people run in. They're wearing identical red robes, and appear human-ish. The first is a very large dark-skinned man; he has augmented his robes with an old-fashioned blue naval jacket, and his mouth is too-wide and filled with teeth that look like steel, he carries a nine-barrelled volleygun. The second is a much smaller, pallid-skinned man with watery green eyes man with a tricorn hat perched atop his head, holding a cutlass in his one hand, as his left arm ends in a vicious serrated hook, and holds a ceremonial bronze dagger in the white scaled tail snaking out the back of his robes. The third is stumping on a pegleg and a crutch, with a bandoleer of pistols draped over his robes; he has a shaggy beard and moustache and he has drawn a pistol with his not-crutch hand, but as he's behind the others he doesn't have a clear shot.

The large man lowers the volleygun and fires it at Metalhead and his human shield from the hip, the recoil generated by the nine barrels nearly knocking him over. The nine bullets are really inaccurate, and the low muzzle velocity of flintlock weaponry mean they have little penetrating power, but the range is short enough he's just killed the human shield, and now the weapon is useless- unless he can reload all nine barrels, and that's going to take too long. He's dropping it and pulling out a bronze dagger and charging forward, followed by the smaller, tailed man whilst the peglegged man waits to get a shot off with his pistol.

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

Metalhead throws the dead body at the attacking man, and starts shooting at the others.

Metalhead uses a gun that shoots energy projectiles. Sort of similar to guns in Star Wars. Only lethal if it strikes a vital organ (up to you if it does or not) though it certainly knocks the target back a bit.

Metalhead is mostly aiming for the latter, but he won't shed any tears if he kills one (again, up to you).

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The large man knocks the body aside and continues running, until he's shot in the knee, which knocks him over. The tailed man jumps up and lands on the ceiling, running forward across the ceiling on three limbs- he's holding his good hand up to keep his grip on the cutlass, but the hook is serving as another foot. The one-legged man takes this opportunity to fire a shot at Metalhead, though his smoothbore pistol is inaccurate; he's aiming at Metalhead's torso, but the round probably won't penetrate modern body armour.

After a few moments, the big man stands up and starts running forward again, as the hook-handed man is shot in the torso (their hunched-over posture and the fact they're running on the ceiling make their limbs harder to hit) and falls to the floor, dead. The big man doesn't seem phased by the shot to the knee, though there's a hole blown in his robes and there's clearly an injury in his leg- Metalhead can see it bleeding.

[Leostales]

forlorn cave

The bullet tears a hole in his jacket and the sound of metal bouncing off metal is heard. He's a little dented, but Metalhead's not too injured.

He dives to the ground firing shots at the big man's head.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The big man's shot in the head and goes down again! The blast has seared the side of his face, removing an ear and a lot of cheek. Underneath, his bones are made of steel. That head shot has stunned him, but it doesn't seem to have penetrated his steel skull.

The peg-legged man has dropped his first pistol and drawn another, which he points and shoots in the vague direction of Metalhead, dropping that pistol and drawing another. He's got two more; after that, he's going to have to either reload, flee or try to make it to melee range. None of those options are very fast, given his disability and crude prosthetic.

And I've just remembered there's animals enclosed in here, so I'll assume they're panicking but on the other side of the room. Also, that scream followed by gunshots? If there's anyone else in here, they know something's up and either coming to investigate or hiding to ambush. Incidentally, how much noise does Metalhead's gun make?

[Leostales]

forlorn cave

The bullet grazes Metalhead's side. Causing some minor damage, but nothing too threatening.

He shifts to spread fire mode, trying to hit the one legged man, but mostly focusing on the big man.

His gun makes the same amount of noise as someone talking loudly. Though there is no way it could be mistaken for such.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The big man gets up, and goes down as he's hit several times by shots of Metalhead's gun. One of the hits has burnt a hole in his stomach, so it's pretty likely he's staying down, since there's no bones to block the shot from hitting something fatal.

The peg-legged man fires again, but he's also falling over as he pulls the trigger, following shots to both legs and his crutch, splintering the peg and snapping the crutch.

[Murkus]

[The Old Forest]

Adir comes a'walking here, his pack hanging loose from his shoulders, a huge leather coat hanging off him well past the seat of his faded old jeans. His ears flicker and fold against his head in the cold. He figures he won't have too long to walk one way or another. He certainly can't find his way back to the place he and the Old Man spoke before.

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

The bullet catches Metalhead in the eye. It doesn't completely damage it, but he's going to have a blind spot for now. As the man falls, Metalhead rushes to him and attempts to disarms him of his remaining pistol, after which he will use the man as a human shield as he enters the door they came through.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The man throws his pistol aside and raises his hands in surrender when Metalhead charges towards him. He screams as he's hauled to his feet, neither leg able to support him, and he needs to be bundled forcefully through the door.

Beyond the door they entered through is a bedchamber. It has eight hammocks suspended between various pipes and cables, as this room once housed something technical- a boiler, maybe? Whatever it was, it's been removed and the room re-purposed. In addition to the eight hammocks, there's two chests, one a copper-bound wooden sea-chest, and the other is a more modern aluminium crate, three barrels and a pile of broken wood. There's no other way out of this room; and besides those three that left, nobody was here.

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

The man throws his pistol aside and raises his hands in surrender when Metalhead charges towards him. He screams as he's hauled to his feet, neither leg able to support him, and he needs to be bundled forcefully through the door.

Beyond the door they entered through is a bedchamber. It has eight hammocks suspended between various pipes and cables, as this room once housed something technical- a boiler, maybe? Whatever it was, it's been removed and the room re-purposed. In addition to the eight hammocks, there's two chests, one a copper-bound wooden sea-chest, and the other is a more modern aluminium crate, three barrels and a pile of broken wood. There's no other way out of this room; and besides those three that left, nobody was here.

Metalhead closes the door behind him. "Is anyone else in this cave?" he says forcefully.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

"Aye, aye! Please, don't kill me! Aye, there's others! Uh, fifteen of 'em, I think! Don't kill me please! Fifteen, fifteen! And the offerings for the Maw of Greed! Uh, don't know how many of 'em there are! Please, don't kill me!" 'Offerings for the Maw of Greed' being people doesn't sound too pleasant, but does perhaps explain the robes- they're cultists of some kind. This particular pirate is very focused on not being killed right now.

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave
Metalhead frowns. Fifteen people is a lot, the guard could be exaggerating, but he'd rather not take that risk. "Give me your robes and close your eyes," he demands. When the man closes his eyes, Metalhead sprays a strange spray on the man's face. It quickly hardens into a perfect mask of the man's face (including the beard). Metalhead puts it over his head. He takes off his returnable military coat (will magically return to him when needed) and puts on the man's robes.

Its a crude disguise, especially since he won't be able to replicate the peg leg, but hopefully it will fool the others in the cave long enough for him to get the drop on them.

He turns to the man and says, "I'm going to knock you out, try to remain calm" and with that, he brings down a metal fist at just the right strength to incapacitate without causing any brain damage.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

Under his robes, he's not wearing anything. But they are nice and soft, and he doesn't struggle as the mask is made. The one-legged cultist is also now unconscious, but unfortunately his crutch is broken.

Does Metalhead want to quickly search the room, or carry on with the exploration with the press of a button to open the next sliding door?

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

Metalhead decides to quickly search the room, though he also takes the time to hide the man, just in case someone enters the room.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

Two of the barrels are filled with rum, the third is half-empty. The metal chest has four pistols in it, plus a powder-horn and a bag of pistol balls. The wooden one is filled with coins, copper and silver mainly with a few gold mixed in- there's also a jade ring resting on the top.

The one-legged man could probably fit in the metal chest, particularly if the pistols are removed. Or he could be concealed in a hammock, though it'd probably be obvious who it is. But what about the other three cultists?

Also, did Metalhead take the one-legged man's bandoleer of pistols as well, or just the robes?

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave


Metalhead removes the coins and ring, stuffing them into his magical coat's pockets. He confiscates the pistols (including the ones the man had.) Metalhead then hides the man in the chest. As for the other men's bodies, Metalhead tries to hide them amongst the animals (if it fails, he just gives up). He then opens the sliding door to see what's behind it.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The animals don't like having dead bodies put in with them, and the big black guy with steel bones is understandably very heavy. The bodies can be concealed quite easily, though. There's plenty of animal-less enclosures.

Metalhead now has a total of nine flintlock pistols! And there's a bronze ceremonial dagger within an internal sheathe inside the robes he took. The ring is actually magical, though I'm not sure if Metalhead can tell that yet, but the coins... It'd probably take a long time emptying the chest into pockets. Might be better to leave it be and heave it with him when he leaves? The longer he takes now the more prepared the other cultists get.

Beyond the sliding door (which slides into the ceiling again) is a corridor with three doors- a sliding door at the end, and two metal swing-doors half-way down, opposite each other. This corridor is much poorly lit than the cave's prior areas; instead of ceiling-mounted tube lights, there's three whale-oil lamps emitting a foul stench and light in equal measures, one resting on a wooden crate next to the far door, one hanging on a peg in the wall near the two doors in the middle and the third resting on a barrel. Somebody's painted over the walls all the way down the corridor; the left wall is covered in a mural depicting sailing ships battering each other. Half the ships fly a flag of overlapped crosses on a blue background, whilst others fly flags with three stripes, a red at the top, then a white, then a blue. There's also a variety of black flags flying various skulls, crossed bones, swords, and musket symbols. The other wall's decorations consist of a massive, golden-eyed toad-like thing with a curling tail and a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth grinning as much smaller figures present it with corpses, gold and jewels.

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

The animals don't like having dead bodies put in with them, and the big black guy with steel bones is understandably very heavy. The bodies can be concealed quite easily, though. There's plenty of animal-less enclosures.

Metalhead now has a total of nine flintlock pistols! And there's a bronze ceremonial dagger within an internal sheathe inside the robes he took. The ring is actually magical, though I'm not sure if Metalhead can tell that yet, but the coins... It'd probably take a long time emptying the chest into pockets. Might be better to leave it be and heave it with him when he leaves? The longer he takes now the more prepared the other cultists get.

Beyond the sliding door (which slides into the ceiling again) is a corridor with three doors- a sliding door at the end, and two metal swing-doors half-way down, opposite each other. This corridor is much poorly lit than the cave's prior areas; instead of ceiling-mounted tube lights, there's three whale-oil lamps emitting a foul stench and light in equal measures, one resting on a wooden crate next to the far door, one hanging on a peg in the wall near the two doors in the middle and the third resting on a barrel. Somebody's painted over the walls all the way down the corridor; the left wall is covered in a mural depicting sailing ships battering each other. Half the ships fly a flag of overlapped crosses on a blue background, whilst others fly flags with three stripes, a red at the top, then a white, then a blue. There's also a variety of black flags flying various skulls, crossed bones, swords, and musket symbols. The other wall's decorations consist of a massive, golden-eyed toad-like thing with a curling tail and a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth grinning as much smaller figures present it with corpses, gold and jewels.

Metalhead grabs some of the more valuable looking coins and puts them in his pocket.

When he's in the hallway, he enters the right swing-door, his hand reaching into his robes for his gun, just in case someone is in the room.

[Deathkeeper]

[Neon Facility No More]

Two minutes and forty five seconds of frantic racing later, out heroes are on the surface again.

Fifteen seconds after that the ground rumbles under their feet, the forest floor bulging, before settling a good yard lower than it had been a few seconds ago. Khannie hardly manages to keep her balance!

And so?

The weird technological forest is still weird.

"That was fun!" Khannie cheers. "I guess I should have known better than trying to clear all dungeon all by myself, thanks for helping mister!"

And then?

She'll hug Morne on the leg.

D'aaww...

[Neon Facility]

Morne nods.
”A fireteam makes all the difference. Now then. Here’s your stuff. I don’t have use for this.” he drops her the suit and the parts.
”And do try to be careful. You’re strong, but you might do better thinking more.”
Presently a familiar canine face appears, bounding out of the trees. This time he has only a little gold collar, and none of the presence as before. Just a very doggy dog, trying to give dog smooches to the two adventurers.
”Oh, Anpu. There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

[Rebonack]

[Neon Facility]

Well!

That was fun.

Khannie will hug the dog, too, just for good measure.

Then she'll stuff all her neat loot into her pack, skip to the rest stop, hop onto her bike, and ride home.

She'll think long and hard on Morne's advice.

Thinking more.

She would do better if she thought more.

Maybe jump headlong into danger less?

But... but where would the fun in that be?

And thus, Khannie will ride her bike home.

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

The door swings open to reveal a large kitchen, with steel oven and sides, all very professional looking, or well it was. As it is, the stainless steel's dented and battered, the windows in the ovens are broken, and there's piles of dirty plates and cutlery, mould growing liberally on the oldest plates at the bottom of the pile. Nobody's here, though. The only signs someone visits regularly is the cast iron pot on one of the stoves under a smoke hood, with a pile of firewood next to it.

If Metalhead still has his infrared sensors on, something warm has touched a lot of the sides and is currently hiding in one of the cupboards.

[Leostales]

Forlorn cave

Metalhead slowly approaches the cupboard with his gun in hand. He quickly throws the door open and looks inside.

[Morty]

[The Old Forest]

Adir comes a'walking here, his pack hanging loose from his shoulders, a huge leather coat hanging off him well past the seat of his faded old jeans. His ears flicker and fold against his head in the cold. He figures he won't have too long to walk one way or another. He certainly can't find his way back to the place he and the Old Man spoke before.

The forest is crispy orange and yellow this time of year, most of the leaves having fallen off by now. Everything is quiet and still, except for the burrowing of small animals under the leaves.

Adir needn't worry about finding his way to the Old Man Forest, as someone seems to have come out to greet him. A large animal that looks like a wolf, a bear and neither, strides through the wood, somehow making no sound. Once it reaches Adir, it seems to sink on itself until it's once again an old, blind man in a wide-brimmed hat and threadbare clothing. He bows to Adir slightly.

"Hunter," he says in the language of the Fair Folk. "You're... taller than the last time we met. And I feel winter's breath on you. Something has changed, hasn't it?"

[Earl of Purple]

Forlorn Cave

Inside the cabinet is a boy, about eleven years old, with green eyes, dense, curly brown hair and pale skin. He's wearing a tattered brown coat over a stained white vest and a pair of old brown trousers, with no shoes. The child gasps and looks away, shivering in fear. He seems to be unarmed, and unmarked by the mutations infecting some of the cultists. The boy sobs in fear, terrified of what the strange metal man might do to him.

[Shadowcaller]

[Crashed Castle]

Miles from Riverside, in the middle of nowhere, Malechenar castle have crash-landed in the middle of a field. Judging from the lack of a trail of destruction, it appears the castle simply stopped moving and fell straight down without any momentum to carry it even an inch forward.
Smoke raises from the building and most of the windows appears to have shattered due to the impact. Yet despite this, the main structure appears relatively unharmed.

Fiends are surveying the impact area, establishing a perimeter around Malechenar. Inside, the more scientifically aligned fiends were trying to keep the engine from exploding.
As for Sargon himself, he was arguing with his allies. Something that seemed happen all too frequently these days. "AMEN demanded her, they don't need a good reason, but we need allies."

Jaccalish was simply audible without any complex projection displaying their form, that way it was less risk of exposure. Simply talking to a 'traitor' like them might cause a rebellion at this point. "Any 'allies', apparently. These 'AMEN' of yours have already proven themselves to not be worth the trouble. They're as destruction as your soldiers, and that's saying something. Blindly lashing out at everything and everyone will end up getting you killed. Only gods can afford to have that sort of outlook forever, and I even believe they have a god-like being on their payroll."

"I'm aware. But since you weren't there, let me explain what happened to you. Every potential ally betrayed us, to the point that I would be cheered on if I broke the alliance with AMEN now. If I try to make more mortal allies at this point, I might lose my grip on this entire experiment. Everything we've fought so hard for would be gone, and just when we've gained so much. Therefore, each ally we have, no matter their quality, is worth a lot."

"Affirmative, but do not let them have the speciment. I can make a replacement. The ideal spy, a clone so perfect that no one would be able to tell the difference."

Sargon let a moment of silence pass between them before he nodded. "Go on."

"They take the clone and we keep the real deal, and most importantly, all the technology I've found on that specimen. It will make us gain some benefits from this otherwise utter waste of resources."

"Utter waste? You still have no idea what this castle will do for us. It was for the greater good of our species."

"The greater good... I find that hard to believe. However, I will go back to focusing on ensuring our species survival then, while you can go back to... whatever that invasion of yours was supposed to do."
And so the transmission cut. Things never turned out how he had planned them, did they? Hopefully jaccalish would at least be able to deliver on those promises. He needed to talk to Tellysandra now...

[Taurons Workshop]

Not too far from Inside Tauron has led the 'angels' to what looks more like a temple than a workshop. So blindingly white that it cut a sharp contrast to the world around it and its multitude of colors. But its color is not the only reason for its otherness, it looks like completely untouched by nature. No dirt, no pollen, no cracks, no decay, like it was an illusion.

The temple is indeed real though, opening its two doors as Tauron approaches and inside they get slightly more contrast as the windows, not visible from the direction they were approaching from, are tinted a faint blue and filters the natural colors of the world outside through their stylized panes.

The interior does hint of a more practical side to the 'workshop' as its dominated by open flat surfaces which machines could move through freely one could imagine. The only exceptions are two separated stairs leading up to the same balcony where a white altar stands, illuminated by the sun outside as its filtered through the windows which all seem to be angled to focus the light on it.
Between the two stairs is a third one leading downwards to a large door to the basement, or perhaps a crypt if one assumed this was a temple. But considering what Tauron called it, that underground space might have another purpose.

"And we're here. Beautiful, isn't it? Pure, refined. Perhaps not your taste though..." Tauron let's out a weak laugh. "Either way, my actual workshop is downstairs. But before we begin, I was thinking that you should get something from me if you trust me enough to offer one of your people to me." The artifact creature gestures into the air and a hidden hatch in the floor slides open. From it a small artificial creature emerges and then stops, freezing in a upright position before them. "I know you don't work with metal, but I've seen metal and flesh being united indeed, my faction seemed to idealize it. Well, at least not caring enough to keep the flesh from showing in all their constructs. Though my taste in aesthetics aside, I believe you could improve this simple creature, make it into something grander. What say you?"

[Leostales]

Forlorn Cave

Inside the cabinet is a boy, about eleven years old, with green eyes, dense, curly brown hair and pale skin. He's wearing a tattered brown coat over a stained white vest and a pair of old brown trousers, with no shoes. The child gasps and looks away, shivering in fear. He seems to be unarmed, and unmarked by the mutations infecting some of the cultists. The boy sobs in fear, terrified of what the strange metal man might do to him.

Metalhead withdraws from the cabinet slowly. He doesn't want to leave the kid there, but he doesn't want to risk blowing his disguise. He sticks his head back in the cabinet. "I'm not gonna hurt you, but I need to know who you are before I can help you."

[Rebonack]

[Yellow Sands Waste]

The wind is howling.

High above, the sky is painted a lurid, rusty yellow. The sun is all but invisible, reducing the light level to a heartbeat from nightfall even at mid day. But here, down on the ground, our heroes are sheltered from the worst of it. They trek now through a twisted network of sandstone arches, hoodoos, and thick hedges of spiny desert plants. It's like a maze down here, easy to turn around. And if one watches carefully, they can see a subtle warp to the terrain. It changes. Twists. Boxes them in. Thankfully there's a road of polished flint that seems immune to the dream-like quality of the rest of the canyon.

"All this wasn't here before, honored champion," one of the kobolds, Meepa, explains in draconic. She seems to be the speaker for the group. The kobolds are all dressed in desert attire. Swaddled, dark cloth to keep the worst of the sun and driving sand off. Kothar will be offered some cloth to protect his eyes and nose, as well. "It grew in as the deceivers worked their foul magic." She gestures at the strange, eldritch terrain. "There were sandstone fins before, yes. And canyons. But not like this. Not with this sickness twisting them about. Nightmares lurk in the shadows here. We lost four of our kin while we fled."

Oh.

Swell.

Probably a good idea to keep an eye out for slinking shapes, then.

[Recaiden]

The angels follow Tauron into the temple, Fay looking at it all in wonder, the nameless scout watching warily.

Not really their taste at all.
Purple. Curved surfaces. Cozy spaces.
Not this blank artificial white.

It's impressive. Not something we'd have built, though."

Fay writes out.
When Tauron reveals the machine, she looks puzzled. They don't work with metal. They can't mutate this. They can't even eat it.

The volunteer goes to grab the artificial creature in their tentacles and pick it up, examining it. There is something here, isn't there? Power. Intelligence. Is this a test? Is Tauron only interested in those who can accept metal in some manner? Is it really just a gift? Can they actually do something with the machine after all? What a conundrum. Fay sets the myr back down and writes some more.

It is interesting.
No flesh at all. A puzzle.
Would have to take it back to the hive can't improve it here.

Their spiritual augmentations can certainly apply to it, but it would never really be one of them. Would it?
That doesn't make it useless though.

Thanks

That done, they can descend into the basement workshop. The scout will carry the myr, hefted onto its back and secured with its little hands.

[bc56]

Yellow Sands Waste

Kothar doesn't need eye protection. He has goggles which he pulls down over his eyes against the blowing sands. As they move through the twisting lands, he has one hand on his axe hilt. He doesn't trust this, not one bit. "It is not right. I have not seen anything like this in a long time." Not since he was working with the Three. Not since they encountered the Hunter, Dunstag, and caught a glimpse through the Far Realm portal he used for travel. The weird, fleshy tunnel looked like this, like at any moment, it would shift and lock behind an unwary traveler.