Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row Spaceport

They're all dead. One's on fire and punched off the shuttle, one's on fire and collapsed at Minerva's feet, and one's got a missing head.

This shuttle is too large for just three people to crew it; should have a crew of nearly ten people. I believe the Overseer said eight people, total. And Zee might be able to feel somebody on the ship beneath her feet, possibly another cultist but maybe not.

[Rebonack]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

Well.

That was brutish, violent, and short.

Zee always aims to end these sorts of things as quickly as she can manage. The longer a fight drags on the more likely you (or some innocent bystander) might get injured.

And speaking of other people!

"There's still someone inside the shuttle," Zee calls down to Minerva.

Though...

She can't get any more read on them other than that.

Should Minerva take her eyes off Zee the completely normal human female will drift off a few steps sideways in time, vanishing from reality.

It's a good vantage point to spy on people from. Especially people who are inside of things.

[Shadowcaller]

Tempest Row Spaceport

Minerva will take this lull in the action as an opportunity to reload.
She looks to Zee. "I figured. Can you tell how many? Where they are?" She inquires, thankfully looking back to the entrance of the ship soon. Giving Zee the chance to disappear for a few seconds.

[Tellysandra’s Manse]

Telly shakes her head. "You missunderstood. I said I was indirectly responsible. Since I did summon that demon, and I also brought it back here. But I didn't put it in that tape or anywhere near it. Not really a fan of gory solutions like that." She gestures at Anri. "Exactly. It could be possible that the demon was sitting hidden in one frame all that time, getting missed by everyone checking the tape. They don't really react violently until they notice that anyone sees it. But why did it start moving when they watched it then? Giving away it's position like that. Sounds kinda iffy, doesn't it?"

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row Spaceport

Zee can sense one human, an infestation of insectoid gutter-weevils in the air ducts, and five plant/rat hybrids the shuttle's picked up from Skyside. And possibly the potential life in the seeds packed in several large crates in the loading bay. One of the seed crates is mostly sand, because somebody wasn't trustworthy.

Inside the shuttle, it's reasonably large. She'll find the human near the engine room, in a chamber mostly dedicated to very important and sensitive technology; the cognis bank that evaluates the vessel's performance and logs any system errors, for one, and also the heart of the shuttle's nuclear reactor. The chamber has been welded shut from the outside, with a small slit cut in the door for delivery of food. The human is not very organic, with a magnetic impuse unit replacing its legs and hips, a pair of cybernetic arms, a row of mechadendrites plugged directly into their spine and cameras implanted into their eyesockets. They're bald and androgynous, due to hormone therapy to reduce bodily needs and desires, with a skull-and-cog tattooed on the side of their head. Genetically, they're female, though only by reading her chromosome could Zee tell. They're draped in a dirty and oil-stained red robe as they hum a little tune and work on calibrating an ornate arc pistol.

[Rebonack]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

Well! Sure is a cozy little ship. The presence of the vegirodents makes Yezekiel wonder how many different vermin species live on the average rogue trader vessel. Seems like a good way for adaptable, determined forms of life to spread to strange new worlds!

The crate of mostly sand is noticed as well. Someone is being dishonest. For shame.

And then there's the priest. Welded into her cloister. Probably because she isn't tainted by genestealerness! Good news! They should maybe let her out since the crew won't be around to slip food through the food slot.

...Yezekiel takes a few extra seconds to just stretch a bit. She gets kind of crampy after staying all folded in on herself for too long. People in the area may feel a vague sense of dread mingled awe rather inexplicably. As if there were something both beautiful and terrifying lurking nearby. The sort of feeling one gets watching a storm approaching across the sea.

Then Zee is back to normal space and walking out from around the side of the ship to meet Minerva.

"Hey! So, good news. It's just the tech priest locked in her cloister. Also good news, she isn't infected with alien organs and mutations."

Just the normal freaky tech priest mods.

[Deathkeeper]

[Tellysandra's Manse]

Now Anri really isn't sure what's going on.
"Are you suggesting that someone else took a demon that you summoned and put it in the tape with orders to move then? What would that accomplish? Making you look bad?" Because really, if anything it made her sound absolutely terrifying. Which seems to be what the rumor mill always says about her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tellysandra's Manse]

"I'm not suggesting anything until I have all the information, but the circumstances are suspicious to say at least." She stands up. "What I do find curious however is that all this remind me a bit about your own situation. See, the demon that cursed you was also summoned by me at one point but was then stolen from me like the one in the video. I can recognize the curse it has burdened you with and it worries me that such things are allowed to roam free." She gestures at the screen. "Like this demon, it has to be brought back into the fold and I need your help to do it." The archwarlock pauses and nods to her. "I realize that you might have some hard feelings about this which is why I didn't tell you right away. But I do hope you'll still help me preventing it from causing further havoc."

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

Minerva's expression is unreadable underneath her helmet. "Small mercies." A techpriest of all people was the only one that remained pure, as far as any techpriests could be at least. It didn't mean that they hadn't been corrupted by the mental taint these people carried with them of course but the fact they were locked up was promising.
Assuming of course that she could trust the unsanctioned psyker, but so far Minerva had found enough reason to not put a bullet in her brain. She was outside the emperium and that meant she had to adapt and be open to odd bedfellows.

"Anything else?" She starts to walk towards the ramp. "This is only a small portion of them after all." There was an entire rogue trader flag ship waiting up there somewhere filled with these mutants. It would be impossible for her to take them down all by herself but there might be others heretics and heathens like Zee that would see the nessecity of eradicating these creatures. She'd prefer loyalists but she'd doubt she would find many of those here.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row Spaceport

Many, Zee. Many, many different species of vermin. Most are relatively harmless, like the gutter-weevils. Some, like the hullghast, are cannibalistic mutant abhumans unique to certain ancient vessels. Some, like the umbra, are harmless until provoked and then unstoppable. The vegerats, however, are reasonably common in Skyside; their limited ability to photosynthesise food means they outperform natural rats in areas with limited food.

The techpriestess, when feeling a bit of dread, stands up and loads her electricity-gun, pointing it at the door. She doesn't have any other weapons, except her mechanical fingers; most of them are tipped with different types of screwdriver head or alan keys. She really hopes they aren't on the Hammer of Finance as it engages its Warp drive with a dodgy Gellar field, because inexplicable dread is, she's been told, a symptom of imminent bad.

[Deathkeeper]

[Tellysandra's Manse]

"Well, Ma'am, I am personally against the concept of dangerous demons offering their services to common muggers and turning people they don't like into talking vending machines. I also swore an oath twenty minutes which prevents me from really saying no.
That said, as your resident talking vending machine, I am unsure of what you plan for me to do to it. I am quite unequipped to be dealing with demons and warlocks that might be stealing them from you." Anri says in that flat, artificial voice.

[Rebonack]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

The feeling of awe and dread quickly passes, unfulfilled like a building sneeze that never reaches fruition.

Zee considers the situation. A ship full of genestealers. Genestealers planetside. Only a few were with the ship. The rest are likely sowing their evil seed among the population in the fashion common to sailors with shore leave. That means Zee is probably going to want to check the local brothels, looking for their tell-tale genetic markers. Cleansing mutations this early would be a snap for her, thankfully. Something she could even accomplish subtly. Hopefully the people involved would never be the wiser.

Also Minerva trusts her!

...well.

Not quite trusts her.

Just doesn't distrust her enough to kill her on the spot. It's honestly pretty fortunate that Zee had purged all the anatomical weirdness Krax had saddled her with over the years and went with good old fashioned bog-standard human. It has made interaction with Minerva significantly less likely to end with Zee getting set on fire.

"Just some gutter-weevils and vegirats," Zee reports. "Normal ship pests. I would guess the rest of the crew are still gathering supplies or on shore leave. Knowing how genestealers roll, they're probably hitting up the brothels. Checking there might be a little harrowing for someone who has taken vows of chastity, but it's for the good of humanity."

For the Emprah and stuff?

Zee glances down at the corpses.

"...we should probably do something about these before we go. If any crew members come back while we're gone they'll get suspicions when they see how we've redecorated," she says, poking at one of the bodies with her foot.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

"Not a thing." Minerva remarks with a scoff and waves her armored hand dissmissively as Zee suggests looking at brothels. "Can't see why it would be needed." Most people didn't nearly meet their faith quota.

She then turns to look at the corpses and then back at the ship. If these had been ordinary heretics she would have just thrown them over the edge of the floating city. Everyone underneath it was either a heretic or a heathen so it didn't matter where they landed. But these people carried corrupted blood, they had to be utterly destroyed.

"But we'll drag all these in front of the ships engines and then start them up. If this techpriest isn't corrupted then it shouldn't be much of a problem." She had been on many voidships but she had never figured out how they functioned, but a tech-priest would at least know enough to start the engine up.

[Tellysandra's Manse]

"Aw, don't call yourself that now, you poor thing. All I need is some more information from you about who the demon was working with. I believe we can get to it through them." She starts walking up the aisle of the theater, her two drones following behind. "Just enough for a scrying spell. That shouldn't be hard, right?"

[Rebonack]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

Well!

Sounds like it's time to drag some bodies!

Zee will help. It isn't exactly a fun job, but it needs to be done. Once the cadavers are stacked Zee rubs her hands together, sending a few tongues of ethereal flame licking across them. That does a pretty great job of disinfecting any gross alien bits. She's mostly sure blood contact isn't sufficient for these guys to pass on their alien doom but better safe than sorry.

"C'mon, I'll lead you to the priest," she says as she heads into the ship.

It isn't THAT big.

And Zee has a pretty good spatial memory. She should be able to make her way to the priest's room without too much trouble.

And when she arrives?

She knocks on the door.

"Hello in there!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Tellysandra’s Manse]

Oh gods. Tellysandra is going to make her talk to that brute again, isn’t she? Anri is starting to question if maybe this really is going to be torture.
”Her name is Violet. She’s a mugger and an addict. She’s either a red haired human, or a purple Pegasus-pony with a tattoo of weaponry on her flank, depending on if she figured out how to dispel one of my wishes. I doubt she has, though. She’s very stupid.” Anri says flatly.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row Spaceport

The bodies don't resist being dragged.

The shuttle's corridors tend to be poorly lit, untidy and dirty. There's coiled wyrmform graffiti stencilled onto most of the walls and floor. Occasionally, a gutter-weevil skitters along the floor or wall before disappearing behind loose panelling, into a pile of rubbish or through an air vent. They're quite creepy, some of them are nearly thirty centimetres long and they resemble a cross between a silverfish and a millipede. They're also harmless, mostly; they'll bite through electrical wires to feed on the electricity.

The door is knocked, and it echoes hollowly. There's some panelling ripped off the wall nearby and welded over where the doorhandle should be, and a small slit has been cut into the bottom of the door. A cracked china plate is resting on the floor nearby, where a large rat with green, grass-like fur is eating a miscellaneous cube. The rat doesn't show any fear of the interlopers. Shortly after the knock, a slender mechadendrite slithers through the slit, a glass lens on the end swivelling up and examining the Sister and Zee before being rapidly pulled back. "Who are you? What do you want?" The voice is slightly mechanised, but still feminine. She's not totally replaced her vocal chords, or else has a personalised vocaliser.

[Arkhosia]

Welcome to J.C. Divinities

"...I mean, maybe it won't be too hard?" Fidelia posits, tilting her head in thought. "There's so many gods and churches in the Nexus, y'know? They're probably all fighting over getting followers, and I don't think a lot of the people here are even religious anyways. They can't be that picky about things, right?" A beat. "Plus, if there's so many, I bet a bunch of people have trouble choosing who to follow. Maybe someone wrote up a catalog or a guide or something." That's the sorta thing people use the internet before, right? Sharing important information and advice, helping each other figure things out? She wouldn't know herself, but it seems like people get a lot of utility out of it.

[Lord Magtok]

Gods R' Us

"I could ask around at VIGIL or the next big Nexus party. Someone probably knows how to get in contact with a god," Jenette says, before she pauses to really think about what she just said. She just naturally assumes people in VIGIL know how to get in contact with gods or god-like figures. Worse, she's probably right. Jeez, what did she get herself into with this whole ghoul thing? Her whole life was so simple and plain and quiet before gods, Exalted, VIGIL's lava-powers commander, skinwalkers, and an entire army of demons happened. Meanwhile, she's still just the dead chick who swings swords good. Maybe paladin powers is just what she needs.

[Earl of Purple]

Skyside Orphanage- Early Afternoon

A plump halfling matron, with brown hair and large green eyes and wearing a home-made brown wool dress is marching along, dragging an eight-year-old human girl behind her. In her other hand the halfling holds an electrified prod. The girl has pale brown skin, green eyes and long black hair, and despite being slightly taller than the halfling, she's not as strong and her attempts at struggling aren't working. She's wearing a simple white cotton dress without sleeves, which is probably quite cold.

The halfling drags the girl down some stairs into the basement, a large room dominated by rows of heavy wooden boxes, standing tall and with open doors on one side. The girl is pushed inside the closest, then the halfling pushes the door closed and snaps the padlock shut. "In you go, Arsay. You're staying in there to... meditate on why you shouldn't insult the dancing instructor. He's just trying to make you more desirable for possible parents. I'll come get you for supper. Tomorrow." With that, the halfling marches off, muttering about how Arsay doesn't learn. She'll turn the lights off, shut the door and bolt it shut, making sure that even if Arsay gets out of her box somehow she can't escape the basement.

Inside, the box doesn't have enough space for her to lie down, and the box is lined with large rivets that make leaning against the sides uncomfortable. Arsay's left alone, to think about what she said and who she said it to, and why it was a bad idea. Now, she's got another twenty four hours in this uncomfortable box, which is cold and dark and cramped.

[Rebonack]

[Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning]

It's been hours already.

Long enough for exhaustion to set in, certainly.

Maybe not quite long enough for the sensory deprivation hallucinations, though.

Which might strike Arsay a bit confused when she hears the sound of three sharp knocks coming from the empty box next to her own.

*Tok! Tok! Tok!*

Followed by the sound of a door being pushed open. Which is odd, since all the other doors were open to begin with, weren't they?

Then comes the sensation of fear.

A nebulous sort of fear, the sort of fear that bites at the heart in the dark, lonely hours of the night. There's reason for this fear, though. There are footsteps.

Big.

Heavy.

Footsteps.

The sound of something sharp running along the wood outside of the box.

There had always been rumors in the orphanage. If you were bad enough, if you got in trouble enough, if you got locked away often enough...

The bugbear would get you.

It was used to scare dumb kids into obedience, of course. That's what stories like that are always for. But in a place like this? Maybe, just maybe, the bugbear was better than what awaited them.

[Shadowcaller]

Tempest Row Spaceport

"We're here to free you." Minerva starts slowly. "Since you have been kept imprisoned here, correct? By the crew. I am Minerva Livius, a sister in His service." She doesn't introduce Zee apparently.

[Tellysandra’s Manse]

"If she's as awful as your describe her, finding her shouldn't be too difficult. Does she have any special skills or powerful friends? Anything that would make her difficult to... invite." The exit the theater, Telly starting to slowly walk along the corridor.

[Rebonack]

[Tempest Row Spaceport]

"And I'm an inconsequential heathen helping her holiness since no one else around here wanted to," Zee adds cheerfully.

She has no real problem with being an inconsequential heathen.

Maybe Minerva could convince Zee to worship the Emperor properly?

Then she could be sacrificed to the Golden Throne!

It would be great, no doubt.

"Did you know the crew were a bunch of xeno-tainted mutants?" Zee asks, putting a bit of emphasis on 'were'.

It would be pretty clear what this implies.

"'cuz they were. We're trying to figure out how bad the infestation is back on... umm... something of Commerce?" Zee says, not quite remembering the name of the ship.

[Deathkeeper]

[Tellysandra’s Manse]

Anri skitters after the warlock.
”I saw her in Skyside and the Black Dragon’s Den, mugging me and drinking, respectively. I can’t tell you if she has any friends besides the demon that answered her call by name.” Anri says truthfully.
”She is likely physically dangerous. If I recall the marks on the equestrians indicates what they’re best at.”

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row Spaceport

"Really? What gave you that idea, was it the fact I've been welded in from the outside?" Her voice is dripping with sarcasm. "I apologise. I have not spoken to anybody for one thousand, one hundred and eighty-three days. I knew they were heretics, not that they were xenos-tainted or mutants. The Hammer of Finance? It's pretty deep up there. It started in the ratings, before I joined the crew. I didn't pay much attention, none of us did. Until... The Enginemaster died. Something ripped his head off. His replacement glossed it over. Any who asked too many questions were reassigned to the bilges. I reassigned myself to a shuttle, hoping I'd be able to alert the authorities the next time we made planetfall. Instead, I was welded in. I don't even know what planet this is." 'Us' being the Mechanicum aboard the ship.

Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning

The thumps manage to wake up Arsay, who- as usual- is surprised she even managed to fall asleep, slumped into a corner so she's not leaning too hard on either her back or her side. She groans a little and stands up, to relieve the pressure from her bruises. She gulps, and calls out. "Hello? Who's there?" Was someone put in here after her, when she was asleep? Then why didn't she wake up then? But... Those footprints sound too big to be anyone she can think of, and she slowly backs up against the rear wall of the box. Her heart's beating fast, and she hears what sounds like a knife against the wood. Oh, no. It's the bugbear, come to peel my skin and wear my face, so it can be human again.

[Rebonack]

[Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning]

There's a sound outside the box.

A snuffling sound. Like the sniffing of a great big dog.

...or a bear.

It ends in one, looooong breath followed by an airy sigh. Like someone really enjoyed the scent of a fresh cup of hot chocolate.

"Aaah..." comes a voice. It sounds like a big voice, but very feminine. Almost motherly? "How many times this month, Arsay?"

The voice sounds... almost nice? Kind of concerned? Not like the stern voice of the headmistress.

"How many times have I smelled you in here, full of delicious terror?" the voice asks, still sounding just as nice as before. The words clash sharply with the tone.

That is absolutely the bugbear. It has to be.

"Don't scream, now. It won't help. Tell me. How many times have you been put in here? Why are you trying so hard to get punished? Did you want to meet little ol' Battsy?"

[Earl of Purple]

Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning

Arsay gulps and is briefly glad she's not had a drink since yesterday at the snuffling, but then the voice. It sounds... nice. Like Arsay imagines her mother spoke, before her dad sold his wife to pay off gambling debts. "Th-three. Three times this month. M-maybe four." She was put in the box at the end of November, and taken out very early on the first of December. She's not sure how that counts. She doesn't scream; she knows it won't help. It didn't help the first time she was trapped in this box. "I'm... I'm not trying to get punished. It just... happens. My mouth says something and my brain doesn't catch up. I... I'm sorry, miss. I didn't think you really existed." But... Battsy sounds nicer than Matron Jellybubbles, so it can't be all bad, can it? If she meets the bugbear?

[Rebonack]

[Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning]

There's a laugh. A deep, hearty laugh.

"Maybe I don't? Maybe I'm just a bad dream," Bats replies from outside the box. "I've heard the stories about me. You remember Eustace? I bet the matron said he ran away. He didn't. I took him to come live with me. I don't eat children. Or peel their skin. I don't have any need or want for wearing your names and faces. I take children who are lost, forgotten, abused, and unloved. I take them to live in my home. You'll get training. How to be strong and fearless and full of guile. I'll teach you to be canny in the ways of the Dreamlands. And when you're ready, you'll be sold to the service of the greatest Lords and Ladies of the Sidhe Courts."

A rattling sound.

Someone fiddling with the lock.

"How's that for a deal? It'll be tough. I'm a hard teacher. I can't promise there won't be beatings or punishments. But they'll make you strong. And when they're all done you'll work in the court of a prince or a princess instead of... whatever scum Jellybubbles might sell you to."

It still sounds like a difficult life. Still technically a slave...

"Oh, hehe, one more thing. The matron doesn't give two shakes about you. Me? I'm here because you've been treated like garbage. Kids like you, I can give you something better than the raw deal the Waking World dealt you. Let me help. You deserve more than a box in a basement."

[Earl of Purple]

Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning

Arsay nods when she's asked about Eustace. Bats probably can't tell, though. And she doesn't think to speak, too busy considering the offer she's made. "That... I think I like the sound of that." She's been told all the time how she's not a slave in the orphanage, how none of them are. But only the stupid believe it. Matron Jellybubbles might not use chains and whips, and they have more space to move around, but she's a slave-mistress all the same. "I want something better. I'll go with you, please. Take me with you." Arsay's sounding a little desperate, now. She's really hoping this isn't a dream, that this really is real. Oh, if it's a dream it'll be so cruel.

[Rebonack]

[Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning]

"Done and done. Three times done," Bats replies. Arsay will feel... something. A connection formed. A link as firm and binding as any chain. Her life belongs to the bugbear now.

There's a click as the padlock pops open. A creak as the door swings on its hinges.

The basement is still black.

And yet, in spite of that, Bats can be seen looming in the darkness.

A wide, fang-filled grin on her ursine face reaches up to her ears, teeth glowing the color of the full moon. Huge eyes smoulder like orange embers in her sockets. Two little cow horns stick out of the long, human looking black hair on her head. She's at once the shape of a black bear and a human woman. Though it's hard to say which she's more like. She stands atop great black cow's hooves with a cow's tail trailing behind her. She has long claws like a mole's or an owl's, leaving one to wonder how she could manipulate something as fine as a padlock.

She's clad in a long, elegant, white overcoat with little bits of gold jewelry hanging from her ears and horns. Everything about her subtly glows, casting the basement in an eerie half-light.

"Good choice, Arsay. You're mine now," the bugbear says as she reaches out with those horrible claws of hers and-!

-scoops the girl up into a warm, surprisingly gentle bear-hug.

"And I jealously protect those who're mine," she whispers in that wholly unfitting, motherly voice of hers. The girl will be set down outside the box as Bats takes a few steps toward the Threshold she had created to enter the Dreamlands She pauses briefly, pondering, then makes a gesture at the cellar door.

With a *pop* the latch springs open of its own accord. The matron won't know how, but she'll probably assume that Arsay somehow got the doors open and escaped.

"Alright, just through the door and down the stairs," Bats says, gesturing at the open Threshold. Arsay will be able to see stairs descending down to a road made of yellow bricks surrounded on all sides by a chestnut forest cast in perpetual twilight. Grass grows between the trees, peppered with little yellow and white wildflowers along with the odd moss covered boulder. It also looks like there's... a wagon? One of those fancy, decorated wagons that traveling merchants have sometimes. "Don't stray from the path."

That last bit carries the weight of a command.

Under no circumstances is Arsay to step off the yellow brick road.

[Reinholdt]

[Tellysandra’s Manse]

Butler returns around this time, approaching Tellysandra and Anri and bowing low, while also waiting for a pause in the conversation. "Madame Larouge's room is ready ma'ams," He informs them.

[Earl of Purple]

Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning

Arsay's eyes widen as she sees Bats despite the darkness, and she gulps and tries to step back- though there's nowhere to go, and she's picked up easily. The hug... Feels nice. She hasn't had a hug like this for three years, since her father bet her mother on a gladiator match. She's starting to calm down, though she's still scared a little.

The hug ends too soon and not soon enough, and Arsay gives one last look to the basement door, towards the dormitories where she's stayed since she arrived last year... or was it the year before? Arsay can't remember. It's not like she was given much on her birthday; an extra portion of porridge. She turns away, and heads through the Threshold, keeping to the path. She's barefoot, and she's never seen so many trees before. She's never even left Skyside.

[Rebonack]

[Skyside Orphanage- Very Early Morning]

Bats follows close behind.

She'll probably visit this place again.

This misery and terror in the hearts of these children is like a sweet balm to her. She can't get enough of it.

The matron is really fortunate that she doesn't use a whip and chains.

Or other even more terrible punishments.

If she did, then Bats might visit her too. And not to take her on an adventure.

No doubt there will be quite a bit of hubbub in the morning. How had Arsay escaped?

Or maybe she didn't escape.

Maybe the bugbear go her.