Inside 68: Dawn of a New Season (or two)

[Halae]

Palace

The large superhero waves it off, "Classic 'summoned into a person' situation, got it. Don't worry, I was always gonna chat first; if a fight starts, it won't be because I decided to skip diplomacy."

Emily will remain behind with the female to be guided, after the boyfriend has an opportunity to go ahead and talk to Veroni himself. As much as she'd like to be there for it, it'd likely be best to let him go first.

[Deathkeeper]

[Palace]

”Thanks.” Jace says both to the tailed lady and the tiny tailed guide.
”Your Lady has very nice taste in decor.” he says politely.

Too bad he might have to be taking her from him, if she is using Veronica.
He’s so cute. Like a Kobold.

[Leostales]

[House Hunters]

"I'm ordained as a priest," Dusk Glow comments.

Huh.

A tiny horse priest.

Probably not the weirdest thing.

"We need to gather as much of their remains as we can and transport them to a plot of consecrated ground," he explains. "Then I can perform the burial ritual."

"We deal with haunted houses all the time," Alexa adds.

"Aye, hate dealin' wit ghosties," Bjorn grouses. "Not a bit o flesh to sink me axe into."

"We don't really have time to start digging graves right now." she remarks. "Let's check out the rest of the house first, just in case there's something really nasty in here."

[bc56]

Spire Palace

"Girl... Friend?" Kothar looks puzzled. Achuak pops out of the shadows and says something to him in another language. The two then argue for a few minutes over something, then Kothar looks back at Jace. "Like mate, but not bearing children? My mate lived before. I understand. I not hurt your not-yet mate." Kothar's command of English/Common/whatever isn't very strong, he needs his son to translate some of the less familiar words, although he's loath to admit it.

Seeing no other option, Kothar starts to proceed down the hallway, moving in the odd, shuffling gait common to dungeoneers; lift your foot, press the floor in front of you, put it down, lift the other foot, repeat.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Industrial Strength Investigation]

The suggestion doesn't seem to be improving Misty's mood much.

"Yeah, that's another possibility. I guess we'll find out when we get there."

The factory itself isn't terribly far from the warehouse's offices, though Misty remains quiet through most of the trip to it. The scene is cordoned off once again by tape, though the officers by now know to let them through. One of the other techs finds them just inside the door, and starts leading them towards the security offices. The factory floor itself is completely barren; lighter areas of the floor show where machines stood just hours before. If Michalson has any sort of magical senses, he might be able to sense something, though even if not, there's a sense of something great and terrible having been here recently.

[The Docks - Ruined Tavern]

Quin watches as Calm pulls one of the service grates off, the expression his eyes giving one of an inquisitive raised eyebrow, which is kind of impressive, given how limited his facial expression range is.

"I will need to find a different ingress if I am to follow you. I don't think an access cover like that is meant for someone of my....bulk."

[Leostales]

[Spire/Palace]
Metalhead hears the announcement from a Robot Bar in Metropolis Square. It takes him awhile to get there, but he uses his rocket boots to get up to the entrance. He addresses the servants, "I'm putting together a team of washed-up would-be world conquerors. If your boss has any interest in applying, she could call off her conquest and skip the washed-up part. Otherwise..." he grabs a cookie and crushes it in his metallic hand. "You get the picture."

He waves at anyone else in the room. He is a robot wearing a blue military officer's uniform and big black boots. (Image is in my signature)

[Shadowcaller]

[Sunset Street - Day time]

Danial hit 'update' for what must have been the fourth time the last half hour as he was leaving the apartment complex.

Several murders, a massacre in action, arson, public nudity, and of course the sky palace at the spire. Same as the last time he had checked.
He had started to suspected that the NNN news-site couldn't even keep up with everything that was happening anymore yet he needed more clues at this point. The trail of patient zero had ran cold here and he wasn't sure where else to go.
He scrolled down, way down, they of anyone had to have reported the first incident. It was his only hope since apparently no one here knew who that damn ghoul have been in contact with the last week.

If only-

"Dani?"

He stopped and instinctively looked up from his phone as his nickname was called.
His sister was standing less than a dozen meters away just staring at him in puzzlement. "What are you doing here?"

Crap, ****, damn.

He froze, this had always been a risk and the reason they had told him to stay out but he had intended to meet her anyway. Just not this soon. Not now.
His eyes was drawn to hers, a little voice inside his head telling him that eyes shouldn't glow.

"Seriously, and what's with that getup?" But despite the fact she even lacked pupils, he knew that look in her eyes. She was already starting to suspect something...

He was so screwed.

Shaking off his ambivalence, he moved up and grabbed her shoulder. "We can't talk here."
Nodding, already catching up, she joined him as they walked off into an empty alley, far from prying eyes.
But as they walked, his gaze wandered down to her hands and felt his ambivalence slowly returning along with that voice. Fingers aren't supposed to be that long, or sharp...
"Don't tell me you're involved with all this somehow, Dani."

Her words brought him back to reality and with a horrible realization. He grabbed before her shoulders, nearly shaking her. "Faith, have you had headaches? Hallucinations? It's important."
She blinked as she stared back at him, her eyes and mouth widened in surprise at his rough treatment. Then came that frown he had learned to worry about. "No, now tell me what the hell is going on before I lose my patience."

Despite it all his first instinct was to hug her. "Thank the saints, Faith, there is this mind disease in Inside... you have to get out of the city. You're in danger."

He was thankfully that she immediately didn't shove him away, she just looked more confused than upset now. "Slow down, disease? How do you know this?"

"It's... a long story..."

{Plot Post 5}
Previously: Sunset Street - Night Time
Next: Faith's Apartment

[Morty]

[Industrial Strength Investigation]

Michalson is indeed tuned to magic, even if he has none himself. The feeling manifests as an odd sense of unease, with hair standing up on the back of his head.

"This place feels... somethin' rorty and passed through here with bad news written all over it. Let me catch a closer skeg 'ere before we check the cameras."

He reaches under his vest and produces a pair of heavy goggles. When he puts them on, the physical world around him becomes dim and hazy, but his eyes pick up traces of magic and other less substantial phenomena much more clearly.

[Earl of Purple]

Office of Horror

It seems he's not been heard, which is good. Great, even. It's getting fainter, whatever it is, but... Maybe it'll be safer to stay here a little longer, until it's further away and he can try to escape the building.

Spire/Palace

Jack's going to swipe a cookie, and then take another one to slip into her pocket for later. "I'm just here to investigate and look around, I wasn't really planning on fighting anyone or anything." Maybe do a little bit of theft, and possibly some minor vandalism, but really she's just nosy and curious as to what the 'Mother of Raptors' is like. "I'd say hi to the Mother of Raptors if I bump into her, but I'm not necessarily planning on meeting her." She's going to leave, following Emily but not really consciously. More as though she's going the same direction, rather than going with the giant crocodile-lady.

[bc56]

Office of Horror

The sounds continue to fade away, until Alfred can't hear them even if he strains to listen. Now might be a good time to make a run for it.

[Earl of Purple]

Office of Horror

Yes, that's the conclusion Alfred comes to, too. He unlocks the door and pushes it open, before stepping through and looking cautiously around, followed by his pets- one, a flower, light and dainty on its root-feet, the other even shorter but far heavier and nowhere near as stealthy. He closes the door behind him, but blocks it partly with a wooden wedge- doors always make a noise when they close properly, and he wants to not be heard.

He'll try sneaking away, knife in hand and accompanied by the steel/rock and grass/poison types.

[UncleWolf]

Palace - Jace & Kothar

The little green guide soldiers on, his feet still pitter-patting ahead of the pair as he guides them. He seems quite happy with his duty but stops for a moment to peer at the wall. A quick swipe of his sleeve on it gets ridge of a slight smudge, but the act seems to be enough for he nods before moving on. It'll take the trio a good ten minutes of straight walking to get to the other end of the grand hall, but when they do they'll find that it opens to a large circular enclosure filled with lush fruit trees, an indoor pond, and a giant dome above that is filled with gold tinted glass. In the very center of it all is a simple wooden throne with velvet padding.

Veronica, or perhaps Veroni lounges in the throne, looking quite happy as she holds up a baby one of the green guides above her. "An' whossa good lil' guy? You are!" She looks almost like Veronica, but her skin is as black as obsidian and her feathers have turned to shimmering gold and royal blue. She's a bit taller, a half foot more than Veronica at 5'11", and she has actual hands on the joints of her wings instead of just the pair of fingers. Her wings appear much larger as well, easily half again their original size. Those talons on her feet look quite a bit larger too...

It's almost as if this Harpy is a bit more primal than those Jace has met through Veronica.

When the two arrive though, she looks up and grins. "Jace! You made it! Sooooo....what do you think?" She asks, as if expecting approval. "I had no clue my people were once capable of constructing such a place!"

Palace - Tour Group 2

Emily, Metalhead, and Jack are all free to the cookies, but the moment Metalhead crushes one and gives a threat, the little green guide's eyes slowly turn gold. Literally palpable rage and hate radiates from her, oppressive and making the air thick while draining the light from the chamber. The tray is set down, a green hand put into her robe...

And it all stops when she pulls out a tiny broom and dust pan, holding it out to Metalhead.

Clean up your mess please. She asks nicely. Once it is clean I'll lead you all in.

[Halae]

Palace - Tour Group 2

"Dude. Not cool," Emily says flatly to Metalhead, somehow made more intense by the deep rumble of her voice, "If you aren't going to eat them, at least give them to someone else who will."

[Deathkeeper]

[Palace- Jace and Kothar]

Jace follows, having spent his ten minutes sending Heather a text message.
Dear Heather,

Does your grandmother who sent Veronica that book have a phone number? If so, pray send it to me. I might need advice.

In good health,
Jace
Then he puts on his adventuring gloves, and pulls out his rarely-seen staff from one palm: a tall, wooden thing, with a miniature golden orrery spinning at the top. He knocks the staff on the floor, a formal wizard's greeting.
Remember, Boss. Possible goddess. Bang. Manners. Bang.Maketh. Bang.The Man. Bang.
And then they enter. Jace sees the harpy with the baby and smiles, while his heart silently sinks. He can't tell what to feel. That's her all right. But how much? Heather said Veronica was acting strange. Those cookies were her recipe, but not hers. Something isn't right. Do they play the familial card, assume it's her under the influence of this being? Or do they play it cold, and address her as a stranger? What if Veroni is simply using her identity as a template? No, no Jace can't do that. He loves her too much to act bad cop. He has to be careful. So, so careful. If she kicks him out it's over. Those people will kill her. Or she could kill them, and she'll go to prison or whatever afterlife this goddess promises eventually. He has to do this.

So he smiles, though he wants to fight back tears, and approaches her throne. If she lets him he'll get very close. After all, she's acting like she's her old self, even if Jace suspects it might just be a mask.
"Veronica! I'm so proud of you. I'm so, so proud. I know that you take your magic seriously. I know that you've been trying so long, so hard to do it for yourself and your siblings. And look, you did all this. You did it!" he says proudly, extending his arms around.
"But I'm sorry. I'm sorry, you know what I'm going to say. I'm sorry I have to say it. But I do. Have you listened to yourself? Heather is worried sick, crying at home that you've left without a word and I find you lounging around up here, declaring yourself goddess-queen and playing with adorable reptilian servants (did they come with the summoning? They're adorable and Zebes loves them). Please tell me what's going on." he begs of her. Jace leans on his staff, not trying to look piteous but definitely as non-threatening as possible. He still doesn't know who he's dealing with.

[bc56]

Palace: Jace and Kothar

Kothar doesn't seem especially impressed. He's seen both of mad beings who believe themselves gods and elaborate magically constructed palaces before. He raises his shield into a defensive posture. His expression, to someone who can read nonhuman faces, says that he is more than willing to send would-be conquerors to their early graves, but he still holds back. Jace's impassioned plea falls upon ears too unfamiliar with the tongue to fully comprehend, and Kothar turns to Jace and asks a rather stupid question. "Your not-yet-mate? Girl-friend?"

Office of Horror

Lying outside the door are the mangled bodies of three guards, all brutally mutilated. One has his gun impaled in his forehead, another is crushed under a pair of heavy cabinets, and the third is messily beheaded. Their spilled blood is drying, and nothing appears immediately to try to stop Alfred.

[Leostales]

Spoiler: Palace quotes

Show

Palace - Tour Group 2

Emily, Metalhead, and Jack are all free to the cookies, but the moment Metalhead crushes one and gives a threat, the little green guide's eyes slowly turn gold. Literally palpable rage and hate radiates from her, oppressive and making the air thick while draining the light from the chamber. The tray is set down, a green hand put into her robe...

And it all stops when she pulls out a tiny broom and dust pan, holding it out to Metalhead.

Clean up your mess please. She asks nicely. Once it is clean I'll lead you all in.

Palace - Tour Group 2

"Dude. Not cool," Emily says flatly to Metalhead, somehow made more intense by the deep rumble of her voice, "If you aren't going to eat them, at least give them to someone else who will."

Metalhead doesn't want to humiliate himself by picking up the scraps, but doesn't want to get unnecessarily violent. "I apologize, I would think that actual THREATS would mean more than goshdarn COOKIES! But since you people want a clean house so badly, I might as well pick them up." He does.
"If you want em, you can have em." he says to Emily.

Metalhead realizes he is out of his element, but he's gone in too far to back out now.

[Leostales]

Sewer Prison

Tethrik rolls his eyes at Blackwall's words. Of all the people he gets paid to bust out of jail, it has to be an egomaniac. "Let's get moving. You built this place, which way's the nearest exit?"

Blackwall thinks about it a bit. "We need to get too the portal to the dimension these Ice Devils come from. The only way in is through a heavily guarded door. If you can fight off all the guards, I can hack the door and we can take the portal. Once we're in their dimension, you'll need to transport me to the Giant Ice Devil's palace so I can strike a bargain with him. Think you're up to that?"

[Earl of Purple]

Office of Horror

Well... This is bad, really bad. He heads towards the stairs to head down, carefully walking around the bodies and trying not to disturb anything. Ben's going up ahead, with Arnie hanging behind, because he's slower and heavier. Also hopefully strong enough to resist an attack, if one comes.

Palace- Jack, Emily, Metalhead

Jack backs away from the little reptile-thing as her eyes change colour. "I'll have 'em! They're lovely." Jack nods, and takes a few more. She's a little intimidated by the fact she's in the same room as a massive crocodile-lady and a robot. All she is, is a jackdaw that currently looks like a human.

[Slii Arhem]

Rambling Shop - Lum

Lum is perplexed at why she had to leave, but before she can even really argue about it she finds herself outside the little shop, poncho and scarf back in hand from when she instinctively grabbed it on the way out. She buzzes at the door, a bit angry, but eventually she pulls her poncho and scarf back on before sitting down with her arms crossed, back against the door. Even if it took all night she wasn't going to leave her tools behind!

Rambling Shop - Lum

The shopkeeper sighs as he latches the door behind Lum, knowing he'd have to work fast if that buzzing was any indication of her mood. This one, at least, he'd have to do on his own.

He unbuttons his longcoat and his faded white shirt, baring his chest as he fishes a small case from its hiding place under the counter. He lets his fingers whisper across it, and the seamless case hinges open, revealing a small knife made from bone. It's curved and meticulously sharpened, but the edge is jagged and uneven and glints faintly silver in the darkness despite being nothing but rib and marrow ground to a thin line.

And as he lifts it a shudder runs up his spine. How many more? Always at least one. At least one story, a least one narrative to live past a single mortal life. At least one awakening of a thought without a mind.

He bares his chest, pale and anemic... and scarred. And his work begins.

---

Later, Lum hears the door latch lift, and Fezziro's labored breathing, "Lum? It's alright now, you can come in. I've done the first one, the rest I'll need your help with." He's barely visible in the dark, but he has a rag hanging from his shirt, poking out between two buttons.

[5a Violista]

[the Spire]

((If you're still able to accept more people...))

Marin (a catgirl with purple hair) was curious what was going on.
Not really unusual - cats are known for being curious, after all.

From the bottom, she saw several people going up, and checking out what's going on is definitely worth a slight detour in her shopping trip. She hasn't bought too many things so far, so it all can fit into a single bag. She starts to head up the Spire, but she considers something important - how do they expect people wearing skirts or dresses to get up? Seriously. Floating magic temples and palaces never seem to take that into account.

Luckily, as she's wearing a broomstick skirt, there's probably not going to be a huge problem...that is, if she's allowed up in the first place. What if they stopped allowing visitors? she wonders. Like, maybe they only allow a few people at a time, that's a normal thing for open-houses.

Doubly lucky, it's probably cold up there. Most things up in the sky are, if only for the wind. And she just happened to wear her turtleneck today, so there should be no problem keeping her neck warm in case it's really cold and windy up there.

[bc56]

Sewer Prison

Tethrik stops. "Whoa, whoa. I'm being paid to get you out of here, not to negotiate with devils. If you can hack open one heavily guarded door, you can hack open another. The guards are pathetic, we can escape through the sewers." He's very much against extra risks in what should simple job.

Office of Horror

There won't be any trying to stop Alfred at first, but after a few moments, he'll hear footsteps from the floor above, heavy, methodical footsteps. They seem to be following his movement, as if their source can hear him moving around and is trying unsuccessfully to hide their steps within his.

[Leostales]

Sewer Prison
Blackwall feels the need to clarify further. “I never said that YOU had to deal with a devil, you just have to take me too him so I can bargain with him. Although you have taken my body out of my cell, my soul is still shackled there. Even if break me out of here, I’ll just wake up in my cell next time I fall asleep. The only solution is for me to bargain my soul back. Does that make more sense?”

[WarKitty]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

A wolf spider carrying a letter walks into the shop and climbs up on the counter. He sets the letter down and rings the bell for service.

[Earl of Purple]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

The shop's a small warehouse, with twelve massive statues on display, most very realistic. Bronze, granite, marble, jade, steel, brass, mahogany, willow, silver, pewter, oak and clay. After the bell has been rung, a double door to the workshop at the back opens and a chair walks out. It's a comfortable-looking armchair on four long articulated legs, with four more limbs emerging from the chair's back. Sat in the chair is a middle-aged gnome, balding and obese. He's wearing a spotless white toga. His nose is very large, his eyes comparatively small and beady, with brown irises. Sat on his lap is a polished brass and steel construct, designed to represent a cat without looking much like a cat. "Yes? Hello? Oh, who on earth... If this is a prank, I'll make you regret it!" He glares impotently at the apparently empty room, before the nearest statue- an elegant marble lady- turns and points at the spider. "I apologise, I did not see you, um, there." He was going to say 'sir' then, but realised he can't tell the spider's gender, and corrected himself. "Is the letter for me?" One of the arms at the back reaches forward and picks it up regardless, passing it to the gnome who opens it to read the contents.

Office of Horror

Well... That's actually horrifying. Alfred stops being slow and sneaky and starts to run, hoping desperately to make it to a lift. He'd go for the stairs, but if that's following him on the floor above, going to the stairs will lead it to the way down. The lift, on the other hand, might have been stopped due to the emergency. In that case, he can unlock it and climb down the maintenance ladder. He shouldn't really have the key needed to unlock the lift, but it was on the ring he was handed when he started and nobody cared when he tried handing it in.

[WarKitty]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

The spider bows politely as the letter is taken and opened. Inside the missive reads:

My Dear Pontius,

I am writing because I have been informed of your talents. I am hosting a garden masque and require some particularly specialized constructs to assist in the entertainment. I would of course provide any materials necessary and you would be able to keep the results after the festivities are complete. I would like to speak to you in person. If you are interested, please press firmly on the blue circle below to meet me:

The letter does indeed end with a glowing blue circle, the ink swirling on the paper.

[Earl of Purple]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

Hmm, that's interesting. The cat-construct jumps off his lap onto the counter, springs in its legs briefly visible- likely it can jump much further than it just did. He presses the blue circle, expecting the author to appear before him- though it's odd that they didn't deliver the letter themselves, and worked through what Pontius assumes is a familiar. He's a savant when it comes to building, designing and animated constructs and golems, but his wider knowledge of magical practices is spotty at best. If this is a teleportation, he's not expecting it.

His 'cat' will bend down and seems to sniff at the spider, tilting its pointed, featureless head as it does.

[WarKitty]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

The circle is in fact a teleportation device, and Pontius will find himself landing - chair and all - on a tiled area behind what appears to be a large victorian-style house. He is perched expertly at a small wrought iron table in front of what appears to be a hedge made entirely out of metal vines, with a metal briar gate to it. Despite being metal, the vines are swaying very slightly in the wind, the evening sun reflecting off of the silvery metal.

A small peacock spider that was sitting on the table jumps up slightly as he appears, waves at him, and then jumps down and runs off to the house.

[Earl of Purple]

Pontius' Custom Constructs

It's a good thing the chair was brought; he's paralysed from just above the hips down, and can't move his legs. His chair walks over to the table and sets itself down at it, the legs collapsing and folding underneath as the arms at the rear also fold away and disappear. He looks around at his surroundings, very interested in the metal of the table- and especially that gate. It'd be quite rude to go over and have a look, he thinks, when he's a guest. He's familiar with metallurgy, not enough to figure out exact percentages but he should be able to roughly determine what metal the table's made of- if it's one he's familiar with, which isn't all that likely.

Pontius' speciality in creating golems and constructs requires a decent understanding of different materials to figure out what's the best for any given purpose- he's got a pretty basic understanding of metallurgy, geology and carpentry, amongst other things.

[bc56]

Office of Horror

As Alfred begins to run, so do the footsteps above. Then the ceiling begins to break apart. A clawed, green hand with leathery skin smashes through in a spray of plaster, tearing the hole it made wider. Snarling sounds resound from the gap. A second fist quickly smashes through beside the first; it won't take long for the monster to break all the way through.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Hotel]

”Well I was thinking clothes? I think I need a coat or something more protective than this weird trinket the space guys gave me. It doesn’t always work.” Sam suggests to Lucy. She’s the more fashionable of the two anyway.
”Maybe you could help me figure out what looks I can pull off.” It’s easier when your friend can literally turn into you when necessary.

[Hotel]

"Oooh, clooothes?" Lucy pauses, puts a finger on her chin and stares thoughtfully at Sam. "Coat, yeah, we definitely need to get you into a trenchcoat, make you look all Sam Noir. And I dunno, we could prooooobably get it lead-lined or something if you think you need more protection. Just don't lick it. Lead isn't good for you. Doesn't taste nice either. Uh, don't ask how I know that."