Inside 67: Shadow over Innside

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

Renault blinks again, this time as if he were looking into the sun. "That's a very powerful artifact you have there." He says, lowering the lens. "It has a very strong enchantment of control." The elf looked a little uncomfortable about it. Idly he rubs the torc around his neck. "I have some things that protect against enchantments of the mind. Amulets and headbands and the like. I also have some things that would protect against the chaotic nature of the fey. Otherwise, I could construct something that combines qualities of the two."

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault's Shop]

"Yeah, I used it once to control Rey and make her release something she'd accidentally stolen from someone. It's useful but...it also belongs to the faerie who tried to corrupt me. I'm fine thanks to the Inari's folks but...I don't want it to get any worse from holding it.

An uh, that sounds nice but...I don't have a lot of money. How much do you uh, charge?" Grant asks bashfully.

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

"Ah." Renault seems to understand and thinks for a bit, cupping his hand in his chin. "Gold isn't as valuable to me as you might think, but someone with a strong back? That I could use. If you're not afraid of a little hard labor, I can write up a contract to make you something. How does that sound?"

[Mee]

[Digging up Weeds and Memories]

Ithuriel was never really one to think of someone as a "kindred spirit", but this? It's uncanny, just how many similarities there are. The vampyrism, the troubled pasts, finding peace in service to deities and seeking to bring a little good into the world.

The weeding can wait a moment longer. Ithuriel gets up and steps over to embrace this strange kindred spirit she's found.

Weeds n Stuffs

Naku is taken rather by surprise by the sudden hug. She doesn't object, but since she doesn't really expect it, holds onto her shovel so it might be a touch awkward.
But that's okay!
She releases it after a moment, and it thumps to the ground with a dense sort of thud, and cracks a bit as it smacks into a rock.
A moment later, and Naku's returning the hug, though it takes her a moment to wiggle her arms free.

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault's Shop]

Grant looks leery but doesn't have many other options.
"Depends on what kind of hard labor you're talkin' about." You never know what wizards mean by that. They might ask you to get them transport and then bam, you have to spend an afternoon as a horse or a car or something. Wizards.

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

"Heavy lifting, mostly." Renault replies. "I mine most of my own materials. Scrying for it is easy enough, but getting it out of the ground and getting it home again is difficult for one person. I don't usually hire people, because that cuts into my bottom line, but if we could work out a deal, I'd be glad to help you if you help me."

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault’s Shop]

”Well, I can carry stuff for you. But I don’t know the first thing about swinging pickaxes or whatever. And it better not be dangerous.” Grant says, trying to be reasonable. He doesn’t have much in the way of options here. Not many willing to not ask for money in the first place.

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

"I am confident I can keep you safe. And I can teach you to use a pick. It's not hard." Renault learned when he was very, very young, after all. "We shouldn't run into too much trouble. There's usually something exciting, but there's always a peaceful way around things, I find."

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault’s Shop]

Grant considers it, but eventually lets out a sigh and nods.
”Alright fine, I don’t have any better options. Just tell me the where and when.” he concedes.

[bc56]

Sewer Prison

"Interesting bet. How well can you take a fall?" Tethrik begins freeing Blackwall from his bonds, sizing the man up as he does so. "And are there any other surprises for you at the top landing?"

Semitaree

"Most of them probably wouldn't do any good for me. I'll pass " Tethrik pulls the door open, or attempts to at least. He's really strong, so even if the door is locked he stands a good chance of breaking it open anyway.

Abrajin's Library

Silly troll. A sample size of 3 isn't nearly large enough to concoct good threat metrics. Any effective measure needs to take a census of at least a few planets worth of people and objects.
While the warriors pummel the downed troll, the scout turns its attention to the other one, charging and using the staff to vault over the troll and strike it from behind.

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

"Well, how long can you be away?" Renault asks, "Sometimes my expeditions take a few days. Possibly weeks for difficult to find or mine materials." He frowns. "I think we'll start with something simple, however. There's a river near here that I know has gold in it. It'll take about half a day to get there. I'll bring a wagon. Do you know anything about horses?"

[Shadowcaller]

Violet will snag her spear from the ground and calmly try to run first the tied up goblin and then the face down goblin through with it, before gathering up a bunch of the red crystals and trying to strip the commandos of anything useful.

Jesus Christ Violet. You didn't have to kill them.

[Shady Business]

The two are in no condition to resist, but the tied up one still desperately squirms against their bonds and let's out a cry as Violet approaches with violent intent. "Please, no!"

Won't be able to put up any more resistance than that however and will be stabbed just as easily as the guy on the ground.

She can hear the sounds of the adventurers quickly grow fainter until they go completely silent, leaving Violet as the only person alive at the scene for the moment. The corpses of the gnoll and the two black-ops the only things keeping her company. That and the collection of crystals of course. She can feel her hands pleasantly tingle as she touches them.

As for the commandos, they both have body armor, helmets, gas-masks and head-pieces presumably used for communication. Though everything is of course made for someone a goblin's size, so how useful they will be to Violet can be questioned.

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault's Shop]

"Well, how long can you be away?" Renault asks, "Sometimes my expeditions take a few days. Possibly weeks for difficult to find or mine materials." He frowns. "I think we'll start with something simple, however. There's a river near here that I know has gold in it. It'll take about half a day to get there. I'll bring a wagon. Do you know anything about horses?"

[Renault’s Shop]

Grant snorts.
”I am familiar with horses, yes. I can be gone for the weekend after a phone call. They’re still sorting out my school situation anyway.”
Since the one he used to go to is now basically a hazmat zone full of faeries.

[Leostales]

Sewer Prison

"Not too well, I'm afraid. No surprises, but we'll have to find another way out then the way you came in, they'll never let us through."

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Industrial Park Spoils

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[Industrial Park]

Muun decides to assess whether or not it would be safe to go down there. Cold's no big deal, at least non-deadly cold is no big deal.

[Industrial Park]

Seeing that Muun is plagued by indecision, Jaahlyn grabs her whistle and lets out a silent tune only certain animals can hear. A group of rats will start approaching the building and start looking for a way or a door which could lead to a underground space underneath the building which doesn't require them to go down that hole.
"Sir, we might need to hurry..." She couldn't blame him for not wanting to go down there though, seemed pretty risky.

[Successful Princess Hunting]

All things considered?

Jezekiel is pretty darn okay with anticlimactic.

Her plan worked and a pretty major threat isn't a threat anymore. Unless of course the awful monster can survive getting tossed into the Dreamheart. That would be pretty surprising, but surprising things happen in the Nexus all the time.

That done, Zee steps fully out into view. Still normal. Still unremarkable. She isn't sure how the awful things were seeing through her disguise, but it is pretty apparent that a disguise won't help. She considers Down's earlier comments. Flight would be easier. But 'giant dragon' remains a little more conspicuous than she would like.

A minute or two later, Morning Glory trots out of the building with a few very apparent differences.

First?

She's smaller. More athletic.

Second?

She has wings.

Rather wobbly, the pegasus pony takes off and begins heading toward the tug of the stone she gave to Down. It's pretty obvious she isn't an accomplished flier, but she's figuring it out pretty fast. It'll take her a bit to reach the industrial site.

"Ugh, magical flight is weird," she grumbles as she bobs through the air. "Feels more like telling gravity and inertia to mind their own business than anything else."

While Zee learns how to fly pegasus-style (because there's no way they can properly fly with those wings), it looks like everyone else is continuing on.

First, those rats invading the plant:
Most of the workers aren't huge strangers to the rodents, though typically they stay out of this building. It's possible some shouting to "git outta here!" and tossed metal scrap occurs if they're sighted, but no one is going to prepare a huge murder hunt for them.
That's what pest control is paid for, not them.

The rats probably don't care about most of the building's floor-plan, beyond it being mostly wide and spacious, with rooms built along the side for the workers and control areas.
Most of the smelting equipment isn't running at the moment, so there's some more people out and about the main floor than there otherwise would be, for safety reasons. Makes being unnoticed in the side areas a little easier, perhaps.
If they're particularly quick, it shouldn't take extremely long to find a basement access. Said basement isn't very massive, as its just a central area for the various electrical, plumbing, and related infrastructure but it does exist. However! On the far end, on the ground near one of the circuit breakers, is a manhole cover socketed into the ground.

That's probably what they're looking for.


Meanwhile, up above, Down has come to a decision and that decision is to not be suicidally stupid.
Which is what Plan Dive Straight Into The Hole was. As terrible as life in general seems to be, there are a multitude of less awful ways to heroically sacrifice oneself and flying straight into the maw of a skinwalker is not one of them.
Reining in her still-drunk stupidity in favor of that discipline that's kept her alive so far, she watches the scene below more carefully.

Bipeds doing their day-to-day. No running and screaming from terrible monsters.
Two skulkers over there by that pit though, which is...not really the tactically best place. Seem too hesitant to be the usual modus of the monsters...thieves perhaps?
She sniffs the air a bit and frowns, squinting at the hole again. Air smells like winter. Not the usual winter, but an ugly winter. Like a rampaging blizzard. New plan time.


Moments later, there's going to be a quiet set of clacks, as the black full-body-armored pegasus touches down behind Muun and Jahlynn. There's a small pilot light in front of a tube on the side of her body, clearly a flame weapon of some sort, pointed in their general direction.
"Hey guys. Wanna have the night of your lives?"

[Rebonack]

[Getting Closer to the Industrial Park]

Pegasus flight is weird.

The wings are, at first glance, cosmetic only. Something this tiny wouldn't be able to hold something that heavy aloft. They aren't for generating lift, they're for channeling magic. Magic that, near as Morning Glory can tell, focuses on force more so than anything else. Apply an acceleration here and there. Flying via force of will.

It isn't so different from what she does, really. Her wings shouldn't be able to hold her up, either.

But they do.

Because she wills it so.

The application is a bit different, however.

Which is why she's flying with all the grace of a drunk duck.

She'll probably reach the industrial park next round, though she'll crash at least three times on the way there.

"The ground is so much better..." she grumbles.

The ground seems to agree, since she just careened into it again.

[Abrajin's Library]

It should be quite clear that the troll has at no point taken a class on statistics and hasn't learned how important a representative sample is.

The other troll, meanwhile, is interrupted as it's reaching for a chair by a staff to the spine!

"Gruh," grunts the troll as it hefts the chair in question at the scout with considerable force. Getting hit by the flying chair probably wouldn't be healthy.

[House Hunters]

"Haven't found any remains yet," Dusk Glow replies. "Ghosts like these can usually be put to rest if you can find the remains and give them a proper burial."

Hmmm...

Maybe getting left in a fireplace's ash dump isn't considered a proper burial?

[bc56]

Sewer Prison

"Alright, let's get moving." Without waiting for a reply, Tethrik attempts to grab Blackwall and throw him up the stairs, then follow after.

Abrajin's Library

The scout is hit in the face with a chair. It stumbles backwards and falls onto its back. If the troll wants to deal any significant damage to it, it had better do it while the scout is still prone, it will expect that trick the next time.

[billtodamax]

Shady Business

Pleas for mercy don't work on Violet.

She'll methodically strip the goblins of their gear, working quickly and efficiently to try and make sure they don't have anything valuable in any hidden pockets, before taking her haul and clearing out. No reason to stick around for those weirdos to come back. She does seem a little bummed that the gas masks don't fit her.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Spoiler: Golden Flock Orphanage

Show

[The Golden Flock Orphanage]

~Ithuriel & Mo~

A wall is destroyed, by who is not immediately important, whether it ultimately ends up being Mo or Ithuriel.
Immediately on the other side of this wall is the orphanage's boiler room, or at least, some disturbed perversion of it.

It isn't a particularly large room, almost entirely filled by the two massive objects on either side (the boilers), encapsulated and faintly visible through gaps in the layers of twitching flesh wrapped tightly around them.
They pulse like enormous hearts, the motion carrying into the "skin" wrapped around connecting pipes and ventilation branching off up into the ceiling and walls, as well as the thin lines of connecting tissue stretching out like webbing across much of the room's air space.

Over towards the opposite wall they broke down, the flesh seems strangely gray and lethargic in its pulsing. Where it seems to have covered a door, it seems to be blackening and outright dying, no longer moving along with the rest of the entity consuming the room.

Advancing through the room poses no immediate danger, beyond that which the sight would present to anyone with a delicate constitution.
At least, until they get close to that opposite wall or door. At first, the air just seems to become stale and cold, but then it becomes...piercing. Like a strong gust of wind in the middle of winter, dragging the cold straight to your bones.
It is not cold, which presents itself here, however.

It is death.

Ithuriel, with her angelic heritage, should be able to pick out the divine presence in the energy, regardless of how dark it seems to be at the moment.
It isn't of the level to immediately end her or Mo's lives here, but it certainly seems like something that should not be spent within for any length of time more than strictly necessary.

They can break down this wall too, should they wish, or the door off to one side.
Doing so seems to immediately heighten the unpleasant bite of the air, but will give them the sight they've been looking for this whole time.

The next room seems to have been a storage room of some sort, lined with metal shelves filled with tools and gadgets. Blackened flesh sags from the walls and ceiling, covering the floor, and seems to be quite visibly crumbling with each passing second.
Floating near the middle appears to be a tall man with peculiarly unclear physical features, beyond the suit he wears. At present, he is wrapped in a transparent, dull green bubble with a very alarmed sense about him.
Stretching out to either side of him in a wide ring are other bubbles, each containing what looks to be a slumbering child. They do not appear to be obviously harmed, for better or worse.
Floating in the middle of the ring, the source of that malignant energy in the air: a little boy in his pajamas, curled up holding his stomach as if he were ill and silently screaming. Wild waves of gray energy crackle around his tiny frame, identical in appearance to that which Mo and Ithuriel followed through the wall.

He shudders, clutches himself tighter as his face contorts into some greater pain, and the energy flails ever more wildly.
The bubbles surrounding him erupt in sparks along their surfaces and the tall man seems to become strained as he presses his hands against the bubble around himself.
From where Mo and Ithuriel stand, the cold only seems to get slightly worse.

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

Ithuriel grits her teeth and takes a deep, shuddering breath as she quietly adjusts her comms setting to filter through to Red Velvet only, speaking out loud enough for Mo to hear her too. "So, turns out the kid the civilian rescued was apparently a demigod of death. Which would have been nice to know before I tried to shunt her to safety, because there was a ritual going on in the basement to, uh, steal her divinity I guess. Seems my actions brought the ritual to its conclusion prematurely, which I guess nobody was really expecting." She's talking quickly, she doesn't have time to spare talking this through properly. Hopefully her intuition is at least vaguely on the mark here. She does still make the time to pause, sigh and briefly hold a hand to her head as she surveys the scene. "Red, it's a mess down here. I don't want to call you away from saving other civilians, but we need you down here fast."

Death's cold embrace is a sadly familiar feeling for Ithuriel. Both something she's experienced in the act of dying before as well as that same cold emptiness that haunted her every day of her depressing parody of life as a vampire. Nothing ever made it go away, that horrible reminder that she was just a pretender at life for so long. But when you're so used to something, it becomes easier to resist it. "Stay here too long and you'll die." She states directly to Mo, the comms off once more. "And if those bubbles burst, all those children will be dead in an instant. I don't know what to suggest here, but try and stay in my light."

Tired wings raise up as the angel forces her aura to flare up, a small bubble of warming golden light in the grey sea of death. And then she starts walking towards the child at the centre of it all, calling out to him, her voice resonating in the air as a chorus of Ithuriels sing out in a sweet, comforting melody around her words, "Hush now, little one. Don't be afraid. I'll keep you safe. I won't let him hurt you or your friends any more. But I need you to let go of that power he's put inside of you. Can you do that for me?"

Weeds n Stuffs

Naku is taken rather by surprise by the sudden hug. She doesn't object, but since she doesn't really expect it, holds onto her shovel so it might be a touch awkward.
But that's okay!
She releases it after a moment, and it thumps to the ground with a dense sort of thud, and cracks a bit as it smacks into a rock.
A moment later, and Naku's returning the hug, though it takes her a moment to wiggle her arms free.

[Weeds...and awkward hugs]

Needless to say, Ithuriel has quite a strong embrace. Probably a bit more pressure being applied than intended since she just kind of flung herself at Naku like that, but Naku's a strong lady too so I'm sure she's fine.

A moment to adjust. A moment to relax. A moment to recognise that Naku is hugging back.

And then Ithuriel hurriedly recoils, blushing furiously and looking awkwardly away. Where did that come from? That was really just- just not like her at all to do something like that!

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

[Rebonack]

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

"A sound plan, darling, we'll take our leave, shall we?" Red replies to the boy with a wane smile. She kneels down on the floor, allowing the boy to climb onto her back.

She's pretty much the perfect size for it, too. What child doesn't enjoy pony rides?

Once he has climbed aboard, Red will begin heading back toward that lovely hole she made in the floor. Thankfully she's quite agile and sure-footed. It'll be a bumpy ride when she hops down, finding hoof-holds in places that have no business holding her weight, but down she goes all the same. She moves in a quick canter toward the door, glad to get at least one of the little ones out of this death-trap.

Right as she's crossing the threshold the message comes over her comes.

The unicorn's eyes narrow slightly, her lips pressing into a thin line.

"Lovely. I'll be there shortly," she replies to her commander before turning her attention to one of the officers outside. "See to him. Testing first, though I believe he's clean. The poor dear has been hiding under a bed in abject terror for Princess knows how long."

Once the boy is taken off her back, she'll turn and begin charging toward the basement! Well endowed with both strength and agility, it shouldn't be that long of a trip.

"I'm inbound now."

[CosmicHobbit]

Semitaree

"Most of them probably wouldn't do any good for me. I'll pass " Tethrik pulls the door open, or attempts to at least. He's really strong, so even if the door is locked he stands a good chance of breaking it open anyway.

[Gold! Adventure! Mostly Gold Though!]

Shrugging, Lynx says, "Suit yourself." He begins muttering incantations as he passes the cane over his body. Namely, he's protecting himself from any curses and draining effects.

The door does have a lock, but it's rusty and breaks open easily for Tethrik. Beyond the door is a set of stairs going down into the darkness. Lining the walls are torch sconces, but none have torches in them.

[Arkhosia]

The Docks - Dawn of the Third Day

"Be at peace"

A cold terror runs down Blanche's spine as those words resonate, a terror that she's only felt once before in what she has long thought of as her darkest hour. This was it, she failed. That thing is going to do something terrible and kill a bunch of people and it will be all her goddamn fault... No, not now. Blanche's gaze hardens as she wills that loathsome inner voice silent, diving for cover behind a flung-about crate and reloading her rifle as she forces herself to go back into the mentality of combat and leave her feelings behind. Those can wait, survival comes first.

"Everybody be careful of that [firetruck]in' sphere! I don't know what it'll do when it hits but it can't be good!" She barks. "Geneva, we'll need to keep that angel busy!" With that stated, she'll fire a couple three-round bursts at the angel, aiming for it's head and chest

[bc56]

Into the dungeon!

Tethrik raises one hand and a flickering flame dances above his fingertips to provide a little light. "I can take a hit, I should go first." He certainly looks like he can take a hit. He's a big tough monster. He starts down the stairs.

[CosmicHobbit]

[Into The Dungeon!]

Nodding, Lynx says, "Definitely seems like it." There's a moment of silence from him, before he starts talking again. "So is there any particular reason you took up this job? I know some people, like me, just like the thrill, others are all about the loot, but some people have genuine stories. Those, I love to hear."

[Shadowcaller]

Shady Business

No one else is arriving at the scene, but considering what just took place here the adventurers or intersection might arrive at the location soon enough. That or more of that smuggling gang.

But at least she got something from this.

The crystals she picked up are unusual. If she exposes them to heat, like holding them in her hand for a extended period of time, licking them, put them in her mouth, etc. She will find that they melt into a red drinkable liquid. If she drinks any of this, she will reach a fantastic high as they seem to have been a very potent drug. A single crystal could last for an hour where she will absolutely ecstatic.

[bc56]

Into the Dungeon

"I'm in it for the excitement. This is what I was spawned to do." Yes, Tethrik said spawned instead of born. He heads down the stairs, his footfalls heavy on the steps. He holds his rifle in an unconcerned manner, he clearly isn't worried about defenders here.

[Artemis97]

[Renault’s Shop]

Grant snorts.
”I am familiar with horses, yes. I can be gone for the weekend after a phone call. They’re still sorting out my school situation anyway.”
Since the one he used to go to is now basically a hazmat zone full of faeries.

[Renault's Shop]

"Good." Renault nods. "Meet me here early saturday morning. We'll get out there by lunch time, do some panning and the like, get to bed early, do another half day's work after breakfast, pack up and be home by dark." The elf's reckoning of time was a little...wibbley, but accurate enough for the Nexus. "Do you have a tent and such? I can provide food for us both, and the horses will get us there and back with the wagon. I'll have equipment as well. I can pick up a tent before the weekend if you don't have one." Never hurt to have a spare, he supposed.

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault's Shop]

Grant waves him off.
"I have a tent and sleeping bag lying around somewhere. If that's all there is to it I'll just meet you back here later." he says. And if that's all there is, that's what will happen. This sure sounds like an easy job for a magic charm.

[Artemis97]

[Renault's Shop]

And so when Saturday morning rolls around, Renault is waiting outside the shop with a wagon and a pair of horses. He's left the robes behind today for thick pants and a quilted jacket. He leans on a wooden staff as he waits.

[Deathkeeper]

[Renault's Shop]

Grant arrives five minutes past the appointed time, with a backpack and carrying a medium cardboard box. He's wearing practical clothes, at least.
"Ok I found a tent in our basement, I'll just pack this with the rest." h says, and will haul it into the wagon.