VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Hattish Thing]

"You're here to join. Great!"
Alice turns towards the training grounds and waves for the cactus to follow her.

"What can you do? It's not enough to just be enthusiastic."
Enthusiastic and strong, though...

The cactus man nods slowly before stomping forward, spines clattering to the ground here and there as he moves, leaving a small trail of spiky vegetative growths. Along the way, he burbles cheerfully, once more yammering on in some unusual, foreign tongue before shaking his head and continuing in the common tongue.

Still, he makes unusual sounds as he speaks. "Harum, bum-be-dum! There is not what can't be done! I run, and fight, and don't get tired! Barum, barum."

[Morty]

[Evening - Interior, Gantry]

"This is the best you can do? If we've met before, you should know I'm not as easily taunted."

As Wenomir approaches to make another attack and hopefully finish Harley off, her dust cloud manages to blind-side him both literally and figuratively. He swears but doesn't seem intent on backing down, ready to rely on his hearing to press his advantage... but then, perhaps, hears the telltale crack of a spark. With a reflex that seems to defy laws of motion and physics in general, he suddenly jumps backwards in a straight line, ending up in an ungainly crouch as the explosion singes his face but not much more. The combination of that and being unable to see anything right now will have bought Harley some valuable time.

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

Calm Reed is silent for a moment. Saint Lazarus has trusted her with a lot, hasn't she? And Calm Reed does know the ghoul's real name, though not from her directly.

"My brother, yes. He's the reason why I'm here, really. Why I joined the Order." She pauses on the other side of the dummy. "My... birth name is Peleps Lorana, of the Great House Peleps. But I'd ask you to keep calling me Calm Reed. My brother is Peleps Taling. He's older than I am, but when I Exalted, I became the heir." She says this as though it was obvious, but St. Laz might be confused as to why. "He's... he doesn't act like a Dragon should. He seeks power for power's sake and everything within his reach is his if he can grasp it. I did him a favour by joining the Order, but the alternative was becoming like him or forever feeling his daggers pointed at my back."

[5a Violista]

[Evening - Interior, Gantry]

Harley is nearly at the open spaces for the airships to park.

She deposits her sword into her stomach to hold it in place, and releases her hand's lock on it. This way, she can take advantage of this extra time to deal with the ropes. First, she starts the mending of the lowest damaged rib, using the sword to keep it in place. One of the ropes promptly goes around the sword, saved for later. She starts tying one end of the remaining rope into a lasso.

"Just trying to get you talking." Harley changes her voice again to mimic his, and this time the sound, cadence, and accent are much closer than they were before. "You revealed everything I wanted to know in the first thirty seconds, and since then, half the things you've said have told me were just a bonus: It's been pretty productive so far."

The other rope's end, she sticks into her wrist: it's like her wrist swallows the rope. Moments later, she pulls it out and...it's now attached to a large metal-coated bone hook, effectively turning it into a grappling hook-and-lasso. Using a third, newly-created quasi-hand by her waist, she holds onto the loops of the rope and starts spinning both the lasso-end and the hook-end. She backs up and looks out at the gantry's cantilever bars. If she was able to estimate him right, then he should be able to come forward about now...

"It seems like Watchtower had better security against shape-shifters, back when I was still part of AMEN."...her plan: if she can lure him out far enough and manages to loop him with the lasso, then she could get either him or that nasty weapon of his dangling over the open sky. That'll leave her free to escape without any difficulty. "Maybe look in to improving it before those skin-things walk all over you."

[Murkus]

[The Academy]

"No, no, I like this! Ilpholin magnet! I'm totally on board. It's just the kind of nonsense we need to pull this off without anybody getting hurt. And I think I've got the perfect thing to cover us when we get in," says the Stag as he launches into his description of the encounter with the King in Rags. When he's done, he goes on, "I vetted the guy as well as I could. It doesn't seem like he's gonna bone us once we're inside. And I managed to make him promise he's gonna help. He genuinely just wants Ilphy out of there. So when we start up the magnet... supposedly he's gonna make the life of any nearby AMENites very difficult."

"Hopefully this is gonna include Zenon, but oh boy, I have a plan B for him too," Adir says, hefting what looks like a short, stout grenade launcher with a single barrel and a foregrip. He holds up a canister sized for that barrel filled with what looks like white foam. The stag smirks, raising one eyebrow at the pair as he wiggles his strange ammunition. "I'm gonna cover him in my hot goo."

[Purple Eagle]

The fox is really enjoying all the attention. He becomes a little sad when Karasu stops and does push-ups instead.

Awen nods. "...yes," she confirms. The fox did say something like that.

In response to the language discussion...she shrugs. "I'm divided on whether I want to actually find out or if I should just leave it be," she says. Sure, finding out more about all these random mysteries would definitely make her more powerful...but Awen's read lots of stories about people looking for information and later regretting it.

Awen finishes stretching and, still not feeling in the mood to run, decides to join Karasu in push-ups. She can do a couple, but really slowly and not very well, and with bad form. It's almost like she's never done them before.

[Skybase training grounds - by the track]

"Hmm." Karasu looks to the sad fox. "Don't worry, fuzzy fella, I'll be back there soon. My brother and I say lewd stuff too." She says, winking at Rey.

Karasu notices Awen's difficulty pushing herself up, doing about 5 for every one the witch manages to do. "First time, huh? Try doing them with your knees on the ground, for starters." She says, offering some tips. "Knowledge is power. Can't ignore all knowledge due to fear. Could help you communicate with your fox better." She suggests, continuing to push-up till she reaches a hundred.

[Morty]

[Evening - Interior, Gantry]

Wenomir growls and... says nothing. Harley might get the impression that things just got a little more serious. He's not chatty in combat when he gets angry. Then his axe shimmers and blurs, becoming a long two-handed greatsword, compete with a wavy edge and spikes above the cross-guard. He then gets up and rushes Harley in what looks like two long steps that cross an unreasonable distance.

There are two things she ought to worry about, though. He approached her about a second or two before she thought he would... and his weapon now has a much longer reach than previously. He sweeps it in two flesh-rending scything curves, high and low.

[The Academy]

Wenomir listens to Anika's plan and Adir's assent to it with growing dismay. His mood doesn't improve when Adir mentions this... evil fey scarecrow thing.

"That's... can you even... let's take it from the top." He runs his hand through his hair. "But I'm not sure where the top is. An ancient lord of fairies wants to help us free Ilpholin and we're going to do it with a giant magnet? I suppose an Ilpholin detector could work, though, so we don't run around there like headless chickens. And now..." He sighs. "What's this 'hot goo'?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Academy]

Anika grins despite Wenomir's deepening frown, she must be pretty excited about her plan or maybe she's just smiling at Adir's joke. "Well, the magnet could work as both, like a compass but the only direction it points as is 'Ilpholin'. I would need to repurpose the stone from the moon well near here to make it, but I think my people would forgive me considering its for a good cause."
She looks between the two. "I mean, I'm totally not okay with ancient evil fey-lords but if he helps us..." She shrugs. "We can always kick his ass later, right? If he turns out to be a even more evil bad-guy than AMEN is."

[5a Violista]

[Skybase training grounds - by the track]

The fox just waits, then.

Awen, on the other hand, nods. Okay, if that's how she should do them, even though she'd rather do push-ups the same way as Karasu.

She puts her knees on the ground, and keeps on trying to do them.

"...probably," she concedes. Then, she promises: "I'll look into it." She doesn't really see all that many paths to finding out, though. Given that she gets her powers from a dead eldritch being with ties to fairies and the dreamland...she's not entirely sure how to find out anything or even what to look up.


[Evening - Interior, Gantry]

Turns out she didn't have enough time to finish talking before he showed up.

That sword...it'll cut through the rope much easier than that axe, due to how much more edge it has. Harley's eyes go a little wider as she realizes she'll have to slightly change the plan again. He's way too fast. She releases the grappling end of the rope and lets its momentum carry it up to the gantry's overhang. Her sword (and its accompanying rope) in her gut would just get in the way, so she releases it and lets it fall to the floor...and then kicks it backwards over the edge.

This is going to hurt...maybe she should disconnect all her pain receptors...no, there's not enough time.

Wenomir's sword connects both times. It slices through half her neck and into her gut. Harley winces - this seriously hurts. But she still needs to stick to the plan: she approaches him. Instead of running away, she comes right to him.
Harley wraps her arms around him in an embrace, and then puts the lasso around the both of them. She then falls backwards so they fall out into the open sky, only held up by the grappling hook and rope.

Before it's too late, she repairs her throat enough to whisper in a weak voice (as blood comes out of her mouth), "Finally decided you want to kill me, huh? To answer your question, I'm Harley Zorzo." She glances down at the falling sword. "Unfortunately, I'm already getting away. Better luck next time."

As soon as the sword gets far enough away, she loses control of her body and it starts to degrade into random stuff and melt away, leaving Wenomir alone in the rope, so he can do whatever he wants.

Meanwhile, down at the sword, she starts to reform herself from some of her own blood that she had on the sword. Wow, that was a new experience...Eventually, she'll hit the actual ground and then put herself together enough to start moving again.

[Earl of Purple]

Clinic

Makuro tilts her head and looks down at her strange, disproportionate body. "How could this possibly be anything but mutant? I don't know what a naginata is. And a scythe scaled to these limbs would be a nightmare to carry around. Plus... I have enhanced strength, I think. I would prefer to learn how to use my fists, if it's the same to you." There's always the possibility that Karasu's talking about a sickle, rather than a scythe, but even so Makuro would rather know how to use her fists. She worries she'd break something else, since she's not really had to unleash her full strength yet.

[Lord Magtok]

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

Calm Reed is silent for a moment. Saint Lazarus has trusted her with a lot, hasn't she? And Calm Reed does know the ghoul's real name, though not from her directly.

"My brother, yes. He's the reason why I'm here, really. Why I joined the Order." She pauses on the other side of the dummy. "My... birth name is Peleps Lorana, of the Great House Peleps. But I'd ask you to keep calling me Calm Reed. My brother is Peleps Taling. He's older than I am, but when I Exalted, I became the heir." She says this as though it was obvious, but St. Laz might be confused as to why. "He's... he doesn't act like a Dragon should. He seeks power for power's sake and everything within his reach is his if he can grasp it. I did him a favour by joining the Order, but the alternative was becoming like him or forever feeling his daggers pointed at my back."

"I'm Jenette d'Aubigny, but...same thing, stick to Saint Lazarus." At least in public, anyhow. What she has isn't exactly a secret identity, but it's still not a good idea to go blabbing her name anywhere the faceless NPCs of the world might hear it. Two of those NPCs are her parents, who already mourned and buried the memory of their daughter a year ago. If they find out someone with the name written on that tombstone is up and about, eating human flesh and taking names...anyway, we've been over this particular issue before, you get the idea. Saint Laz doesn't want her parents to know she's a ghoul, hence the face-concealing helm and name change and everything else. Let's get back to talking about Calm Reed and her story.

"So Exalting made you the heir, and then joining the Order renounced your claim so he could go back to playing politics and feuding for power?" the ghoul asks, pretty sure she's following along, but not a hundred percent certain yet.

[Murkus]

[Academy]

"I basically told him as much. I was about ready to start swingin' the moment the King showed up. I'd heard about 'im before," says Adir. "And he probably is worse than AMEN. Or at least a lot more active."

"As for my goo..." Adir turns on his heel and gestures showily toward Anika. "Miss Anika, would you so kindly assist me in a brief demonstration? Promise I'll be gentle."

And if she assents, Anika will promptly be shot in the chest with the canister-gun. It's barely a small thump, no more force than being hit with a very large foam dart. The canister explodes and expands, creating a spreading tide of sudsy white fluff that envelops Anika almost completely. In another second, the bizarre stuff transmutes into a hardened state, the structure porous yet incredibly dense. Anika will find herself completely immobilized without supernatural aid.

"I dunno if it'll help," says Adir, lowering the gun. "But it oughta slow him down. You can shapeshift, right, Anika? I've got an antidote but I'd rather save it, and a quick shift should bust right out. I, uh, would know."

[Shadowcaller]

[Academy]

"Ehh?" Anika raises one of her overly long eyebrows. He was making it way too easy. "Is that what you promise your wife every night, buddy? Since I feel like I'd have to ask her of consent before you spray me with your goo." She grins at what must be the jokes he was going for or he was missing out. But then she holds out her arms. "But fine, go ahead. My body is ready."

She had expected... well, a spray though. Not a tiny bullet. She is almost disappointed until the canister suddenly explodes and she is quickly and wide-eyed wrapped in the white fluff.
The druid soon falls over like a remarkably tall mummy. The fact that she suddenly couldn't see as it wrapped itself like a wool over her eyes was something that made her almost panic though. Being reminded of the time she was wrapped up by giant spider a few years ago.

Thus, before Adir can even say the word, bearnika breaks through the cocoon like a particularly furry wingless butterfly with a roar.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

Calm Reed looks confused, then shrugs. Maybe things work differently here...

"Being a woman made me the heir, since we were both Exalted. In the Scarlet Dynasty, women are first to inherit," she explains. Odd to meet someone for whom this isn't obvious. "He was to be married into another house. But he didn't accept it and kept trying to undermine me. It was... at one of our house's lavish galas when I felt it. He'd engaged me in pleasant conversation, where each word hid a barb. I gave as good as I got, but something in me changed that day. I couldn't picture myself doing it all my life."

[Academy]

Wenomir looks sceptical at Adir's proclamation, manages not to sigh when Anika makes jokes, then quickly becomes concerned when she's enveloped entirely. He settles down when she breaks through the cocoon with her bear-form.

"Are you alright, Anika?" Turning to Adir, he says: "This is impressive, but will it be enough to slow down Zenon and the Devourer, if Anika can break it with her shape-shifting?"

[Recaiden]

[Cactus]

The cactus man nods slowly before stomping forward, spines clattering to the ground here and there as he moves, leaving a small trail of spiky vegetative growths. Along the way, he burbles cheerfully, once more yammering on in some unusual, foreign tongue before shaking his head and continuing in the common tongue.

Still, he makes unusual sounds as he speaks. "Harum, bum-be-dum! There is not what can't be done! I run, and fight, and don't get tired! Barum, barum."

Alice listens to him yammering. Are those words? Should she-? Is he translating his own words as he goes along? Out loud?
Warning : Rhymes detected.
"Well, that's good news. Why don't you show me how you fight?"
She gestures to a bunch of training dummies.

[Lower Village - Alice's House]

"It wasn't magical." Mia replies. "As far as we saw, it was a chemical construction, but we couldn't repeat it. An unknown factor altered some of the used materials in a way so they mix up."

Mia starts to invastigae the drones futher. a machine that isn't finished can also live. Imagine a finished one is an adult human while those in work are children who grow. Thought this talk helps less since the 'childs' don't understand there purpose until finished.

"Power is allways an imprtant factor. In my world we have to keep the power level up to maintain our defence. We invented a lot of smaller devices who can alter energy like light, wind or movement, but our greatest resource are power cores. Stones with near infinit amount of energy since they seem to recharge themself. MDM got one of those adn they are extremly rare. If you have to guess, how long would those drones need to work before you are able to reach a recharge point?"

For the drones?
They can see and hear, listen to radio and temperature and other senses, but they've never run for very long at once. Imagine someone who just can't get out of bed; they keep falling asleep - whether or not they try!

"Well, I can recharge them, I think. But I'd like them to run for many minutes at least. And for example, during the Riverside battle my power supply got cut off, so in emergencies..." Alice leans over to peer at the partially-built drones, and then goes to brush her hair away from her glasses. "Do you know how the power cores work, or is it another unknown factor?"

[Evening - Clinic]

There's actually one last obstacle before the healing: Awen's natural magic resistance.
...
And it doesn't kick in! The venom is completely counteracted!
It wasn't luck that made it fail to prevent the healing, however. Because the venom weakened her, her resistance was less effective and was unable to stand up against the force of the power.

Fortunately, any stabbings she received had somehow missed every single important bit other than a single vein (presumably where the venom was injected) so there's no need to worry about severe blood loss, just patching up the holes.
Maybe Awen's just really lucky.

Now that her breathing muscles are working again, now she says, "Thanks" in a still-weak-but-not-so-bad-now voice.

Meanwhile, the fox curls up on the floor nearby.

They should really have that magic resistance stuff listed. Like allergies to medicine.

"Well, hold on. We still need to patch up the cuts themselves."
But it doesn't look bad. A few moments with disinfectant and bandages and Awen will be nearly good as new.

Maybe she'd like her fox? He looks between the two of them.
No, it seems happy where it is.

[5a Violista]

[Evening - Clinic]

Yes, they should. Knowing someone's magic resistance is critical and could matter in a life-or-death situation.
Or!
Imagine someone who was allergic to certain kinds of magic? "Can't have any red-colored magic; otherwise, breaks out in hives."

Luckily, Awen's not allergic to magic. However, this whole 'resistance to magic' is, in fact, a relatively new thing for Awen, only cropping up recently. So it's kind-of understandable she hasn't bothered to do all the necessary paperwork related to it.
Maybe she should update her medical file for magical resistance.

She nods, listening to the instructions of the doctor-person. "Okay."

And then she's good! But tired. Fighting, getting stabbed, getting poisoned, being helpless...it really takes something out of a girl.

She can't wait to get to sleep. She'll probably be better in the morning.

[Lord Magtok]

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

"So it was either inherit and play the game of thrones with him all your life, or bow out, let him make a mess of his own inheritance, and do something meaningful and adventurous with your life?" Calm Reed might get a sense that Laz doesn't exactly disagree with Calm Reed's decision, nor is she a huge fan of dynasties, empires, and the like. Inside is so much quieter under Intersection these days, and the royalty up in Skyside...well, if a reduced powerbase wasn't forcing them to mind their own business, they'd probably be just as terrifying and brutal as the Empire was. I mean, make no mistake, everyone who ever crossed Inside's Empire had it coming, but all it really did was perpetuate an endless cycle of violence, and gave demented psychos with something to prove a convenient target. Adventurers are cool, though. Saint Lazarus is all about the heroes and heroines of VIGIL, HALO, Watch, and GLoG, who've saved the world from catastrophe countless times before. After all, when did adventurers ever do anything wrong and publicly get blamed for it?

[Murkus]

[Academy]

Adir laughs at Anika's comments, and then again at their reactions. "Oh my Gods! Your faces!" He shoulders the weapon. "Hell, I don't know. Slowing him down is all we need, right? And I have more than one canister for him. If it doesn't work, well... Guess we'll run!"

He also points out, "The nice thing about this is that I could aim at Anika's limbs, as well. Even when she's as big and strong as a bear. Shifting might break it, but raw strength alone? It would take a hell of a lot. I can't account for things like zipping around with magic and whatnot, but..." He ponders. "Hm. Maybe I just need to get my goo enchanted..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Academy]

The bear attempts to pat Adir on the head, right in-between his antlers with its paw. Eventually running its bear claws through his hair, is the bear flirting or trying to intimidate him? It's kinda hard to tell, but those claws do feel awfully sharp...

[Morty]

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

"That's the long and short of it," Calm Reed says. "I've preached, taught, disciplined unruly gods and fought a Lunar Anathema. Now the Realm is spiralling into civil war and House Peleps is trying to stave off bankruptcy. I'm not sure if that makes me feel vindicated or not."

[Academy]

Wenomir looks at Anika with uncertainty. Even know, determining what she thinks can be difficult while in her bear form.

"Uh... well, it's better than nothing. It could buy us enough time to get away. And we should be able to deal with what's left of other AMEN members the old-fashioned away, especially with this scarecrow helping us."

[Arkhosia]

Moon Well Grove

"It was her snake ritual that corrupted the moon well just so she could make a stupid snake-baby." She glances at Blanche, suddenly frowning. "Who bit me by the way. I was tripping balls for like an hour before I fell asleep. Should have given that stupid kid a piece of my mind afterwards, but I don't hit kids. That's a rule." A beat. "Nor do I want to but she was, like, really annoying, is my point."

The druid stops and points upwards. Towards a strange structure which seem to have been carved out of a fossilized tree standing in the middle of the grove. "So the well, and all the snakes, are up there at the top of that tree-thing. So the plan is that I place branches in a circle around the well and perform the ritual while you keep the snakes away. Just try not to damage the well itself or throw any explosives into it. That would probably be bad."

Moon Well Grove

"...You're going to have to run all of that by me again at some point, because that sounds like one hell of a tale." The catgirl responds after a moment, trying to process this sudden burst of information. She had so many questions - why use a moon well for a snake ritual? How is a snake baby both that poisonous and that nonlethal? Why did her sister even want a snake-baby in the first place?

Blanche follows Anika's gesture, and she takes a second to marvel at the carved-out structure. It was very different from anything she had ever seen before; few people still dwelt in the forests where Blanche came from, and none of the trees were as looming as this! "Sounds like a plan!" she answers, flashing Anika a smile. "Don't worry, I didn't pack anything crazy like that. We'll stick to buckshot and light rounds."

[Hattish Thing]

Training Room:

The cactus man lumbers forward, beating his fists against his chest when Alice mentions fighting. "Hurrah, bum-be! Lend me a spear, a sword, or a hammer, I show you my fight, I show you my answer! Ba-dum, harum!" Looking around the training room, the figure stomps about, looking for a suitable weapon with a stern look upon his face.

"You do not mean, harum, harum, to test my mettle on this man?"

[Lord Magtok]

Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon

"The decline probably started a few generations back. Nothing you could've done, even if you had put yourself through all those veiled insults and hidden daggers," Saint Lazarus guesses based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, as she grabs her sword and tries mixing some of what Calm Reed taught her into her usual assault, starting off with her blade at first and then transitioning to striking with her arms and elbows once she's closed in and the zweihander is no longer as practical. It's a start, I guess, but there's still plenty of room for refinement and more advanced techniques.

[Zefir]

[Lower Village - Alice's House]


For the drones?
They can see and hear, listen to radio and temperature and other senses, but they've never run for very long at once. Imagine someone who just can't get out of bed; they keep falling asleep - whether or not they try!

"Well, I can recharge them, I think. But I'd like them to run for many minutes at least. And for example, during the Riverside battle my power supply got cut off, so in emergencies..." Alice leans over to peer at the partially-built drones, and then goes to brush her hair away from her glasses. "Do you know how the power cores work, or is it another unknown factor?"

[Lower Village - Alice's House]

"Can i?" Mia asks as she lifts one of the drohnes on a nearby free table. Assuming the answer is a yes Mia will start to open the drone and futher examine the inner organs of the machine. Her skills are extremly good and taken into account this is made by someone else Mia seems to know exactly what to do. She checks on every detal like cable and what tools the drone contains. She migth even do smaller improvements like noting that a cable is to long which results in a small loss of energy or something alike. While doing that she will answer the question,

"We know. The cores appear to transmute any kind of energy into electrical energy. Light, Wind, movement, magic and even life. That is the reason why they are so rare. Working with a finished one is easy since you can controll what they transmute, but creating them is the problem. The cores feed on energy so every force or magic used to create them got sucked in during the process. That means you need 100 times the power to do the same thing. On top they also feed on your life energy so you will die if you work for to long on them."

As she works she looks up. "A normal power cell from my world should keep them running for an hour depending on what they use. A shield drone might run out faster if they got attacked often or so. An advanced power cell could do more, but they are heavy which would need some improvements in the material, designe and engine."

[Murkus]

[Academy]

"Hahaha-- oop," says Adir, the paw on his head giving him a little jolt. He blinks and looks at the bear, flashing her a grin. "Okay, okay! Sorry! I should have said what it was!" He fluffs the hair on the top of Bearnika's head. "We're cool, right?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty confident at least. Let's go get 'er, huh? When do we leave?"

[Morty]

[Academy]

"I'm as really as I'll ever be, if not thrilled about trying to get inside AMEN again," Wenomir says. "Let's hope we don't have to deal with them for some time after this."

[Training Grounds - Enter the Dragon]

"Yes, I suppose that's true," Calm Reed admits, observing St. Laz's technique. "When the Empress granted the control of the merchant fleet to another Great House, it dealt the Peleps a crushing blow. Then she vanished and everything went even more poorly." She circles the dummy. "I think it might be easier for you to borrow the tetsubo at first. You have the right instinct to use your arms and legs up close, though."

[Shadowcaller]

Moon Well Grove

"Not that much of a tale. My crazy sister worships some snake-thing and it wanted her to create a snake-baby, like, a baby with snakes for hair." Anika makes a gesture at her own hair as she starts walking again. "But anyway, since you're doing the shooting and stuff, is there anything I should do? Like, where should I stand when I'm doing the magic-spell-thing? The well is carved completely in stone with some glow-y stones around it. Can't go too near to the water since its corrupted and all."

[Academy]

The bear nods and grins toothily at Adir.
She looks ready to leave too!

[5a Violista]

[Skybase Academy - Library]

Awen has been in here for several hours now. Her fox has grown bored and walked out of the building.

...
That's actually not something surprising. She likes books. What's surprising is what she's trying to research, and how frustrated she's getting.

She has dozens of books spread out on the table in front of her, from a wide variety of topics. Magic theory, dreams, pacts, gods, languages...
See, not too long ago she had a discussion with someone and they brought up the question of how Awen gets her magic and what the source is. She didn't really care, but it's been nagging at her for a while.

She doesn't really seem to be making much progress. She's never done any research on magic before, so she honestly has no idea if she's doing it right or not. All she really did was wander around, looking for books whose title seemed somewhat relevant and, upon discovering they weren't, looking for another one that was sort-of related. As a result, she's now spread out in a million different directions and still made no progress.

[Halae]

[Airship Gantry]

Stepping off of one of the skyferries is a massive, scaly woman dressed in a wig, a top meant to preserve her modesty, and a large sheet of red cloth over a pair of athletic shorts that'd be massive on anybody else; she's left the strike-plates of her costume at home today, leaving her hands and feet exposed, but no less dangerous for the lack. When she speaks, her voice is clearly feminine in intonation, despite being scratchy and deep, "Hope you didn't get airsick. The person we're looking for should be here."

[Deathkeeper]

[Airship Gantry]

Following after the enormous lady is a small red-headed and red-coated lad shaped like a centaur only smaller. The muscular pony-boy is notably not preserving his modesty, and is carrying just a bag and a sword in a scabbard.
"Frankly I feel more sick than I ever had in my life, but that ain't the least important. Why didn't ya say ya folk had things that could fly? It's just, well it's just impressive is what it is." he says, having talked her ear off on this particular subject the entire trip up.

[Halae]

[Airship Gantry]

Scaleback lets out a sound that's approximately like a warbling hiss. Domhnall has likely heard it enough times by now to know that it's her version of a laugh - not a full belly laugh, but something more like a chuckle.

"Yes, so you've said. It's the sort of thing you get used to after a while," she says, amused. She turns to one of the NPC members of Vigil (Shut up, they have those) and says "Hey, could you alert someone that we're here? We're looking for an audience with Cessie Mithar, but we'll take anybody familiar with other worlds and getting to them."

The NPC will nod and run off to alert whatever member they can find to the presence of the animal people. This is basically an opening for interaction with anybody that's at the Vigil skybase right now.