[Nexus] Inside 53

[The Alexandrian]

[Red Zone - Thankfully Regular Angels, Not Angels Of The Weeping Variety]

Well, receiving a blinding coat of "Augh, it's on my face!" to the face is not as unpleasant as being given a boot to the head, at least, especially if Clarissa can isolate and identify the daring, derisive devil defying her's probably unique scent from that clothing item later on!

Hey! Where'd the world go! What gives!

Distracted by her new pretty coat-hat, Clarissa does not slow down as any logical creature would try to do before crashing headfirst into a sturdy brick wall, but glides out of her Bloodbowl-worthy tackle as best she can by power of wings, concentrating on not being a sitting duck or being chewed up by the pavement upon landing and venomously biting at the fabric that she hopes isn't alive on her face that she is wishes to rip to shreds after she isn't so preoccupied with recovering from whatever is going on! Her forward momentum and flow are thusly intact as she continues to foolishly accelerate, visually deprived as she is. It is then that she realizes that, having missed her target entirely, there's nothing semi-comfortable or otherwise to offer resistance to her charge and soften her inevitable demolition of the brick wall (with her guest starring as the wrecking ball) behind where her tricky foe was standing previously. She braces herself to plow straight through the wall into whatever awaits her on the other side. With the steep angle of the path that the light lances must follow in order to hit their target after their wielder has taken to the dark, chilly night skies, coupled with the distressed Clarissa's unpredictable, impulsive, utterly unstrategic and highly illogical acceleration to super ramming speed probably allows her to evade most of the incoming silvery hard light pikes, though one will probably lodge itself in her the back of her calf as she recklessly smashes through the wall, each of her crossed arms mutating into five-slender, elastic tendrils and anchoring to the sides of the wall a second before she bursts through it with as much force as she can muster. It hurts! Good gosh, it hurts, but it sets her up for an attack that will allow her to continue her attempt to inexorably assault the airborne devil without an even half-reasonable delay while concurrently the momentum of her reversal of direction tears the now burning disabling coat (as long as it isn't fireproof or something) from her furious eyes, pupils burning coals and irises the blue flames of hell, figuratively burning flesh and bone. O, if looks could kill, Clarissa's opponent would die a million deaths from this one!

Smashing through a wall is bad and it hurts a heckuva lot, but the vicious Clarissa has attempted to turn this unlucky series of events to her advantage.

Without an instant's delay but with a sinister smirk, Clarissa's less than flawless plan comes to fruition! In an instant, it is as if Clarissa were a human-sized and shaped wad of paper with a throwing spear of hard light lodged in her calf loaded into and fired from a humongous mega-slingshot straight at her opponent's body at breakneck speeds! She cartoonishly rockets back out of the building, slicing through the air, drag minimized with her wings folded up (but spinning slightly if the hard light spear is still stuck in her leg), and, expertly turning in midair, she attempts a brutal aerial body slam on the devil, tendrils sweeping forward in an attempt to weave a trapping net above and behind him (and to a lesser extent, to his sides) while two of them (one right, one left) attempt to bury themselves inside of her opponent's forearms. She could be hard light harpooned or otherwise counterattacked while performing this swaglicious, impetuous, and totally insane stunt, which might result in the net not being spun and/or the tendrils not attacking depending on the force of the impact and the area where it hits (you may decide if Clarissa is able to attempt to spin the net and whether or not the tendrils are able to attempt to attack in the next post, if you want, assuming that your char counterattacks Clarissa as she catapults herself at him)!

[Rebonack]

[Carousel Court - Peaceful Meadow]

"I'm not sure if you haven't noticed," Geneva points out. "But that weird zebra's hut looks like it has up and vanished. This area doesn't even have the same sort of feel that the forest near his home did."

At least twenty percent less creepy.

And Lydia's constant negativity it starting to grate on the hippogriff slightly.

"Well which will it be then? Ignore the obvious trap magical agreement and get slapped with dire curses or get the job done and maybe spring the trap?"

Decision time!

[Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way]

Weee philosophical rambling!

Raven opens her mouth to reply.

Then closes it again as she turns her attention to a brick wall and narrows her eyes at it.

"Please excuse me. I have pressing matters I must attend to," the teenager says as she picks up her backpack and then vanishes in a rush of black feathers.

Huh.

That brick wall must be serious business.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Red Zone - I dunno. There might be weeping soon.]

So... crazy chick tearing at his clothes and then charging at him while trying to make sure he doesn't escape? That's... a surprisingly familiar situation. Reluctant incubus woes. He gets this sort of thing a lot. Which means he knows exactly how to deal with it!

He doesn't throw any more magic lights at his opponent, instead focusing an actual physical object to the field! His sword! A slim, elegant little number, clearly intended to be used more with finesse, rather brute force. Also it's on fire and was made during the Fall specifically to slice through the essence other angels (and devils, and other related beings who may have once been part of heaven's ranks but have found other employ since). So there's that.

At first it looks like he's just content to hold that sucker out and let Clarissa impale herself comically on it, but that's far too lethal for her adversary's tastes. A thread snipped from the pattern is a thread that can't be tugged later, and while he's not terribly optimistic about finding a worthwhile use for something as monstrous and animalistic as Clarissa, there can be ways of directing such crude force.

Also it means intentionally putting himself directly in the path of a charging demon, and that's stupid.

So moments before Clarissa's foolhardy charge hits, he folds up his wings and calmly plummets in the direction yet available to him. Straight down. No counter attack as of yet, merely hitting the ground lightly and slipping into a defensive stance, flourishing his weapon at Clarissa in a taunting gesture.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"So the reason I like training with the staff is because one of the keys to fighting well with one is using it as an extension of your body. I always found that it was easy to take that for granted with a dagger. With the staff though you can really get a feel for it."

At least that was her experience. So she will run Reinholdt through some staff drills. How to hold it and a few basic stances and attacks. She will still focus heavily on keeping your balance, though this part of the training involves a lot less of being thrown to the ground. All in all it is a lot more relaxed of a pace, almost like Tai Chi.

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"Got it." Rein knows the extension of one self feel, even if it's been a while since he's felt it. Probably cause only one Rein has the rifle he feels connected to and he isn't it. But he gets the concept anyways.

He is oh so grateful to not be tossed on the ground, though admittedly his movements are a little stiff. As if sore. Can't imagine why.

[McBish]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Fourtently for Reinholdt the best way to stop being sore is to stretch out. Amelia knows enough about this to plan the lesson so it ends with the staff for this very reason. It's calm pace helps warm them down from all the previous exercise. Hopefully this will help him with the soreness and stiffness, or at least make it so it doesn't feel even worse tonight.

Still he should probably be nice and exhausted by the time they finish up. Amelia doesn't look too tired, but she did break a little bit of a sweat. "And I think that is enough for today."

[The Alexandrian]

[Red Zone - The Fiery And The Fiendish]

Pretty much, yeah! If our dandy, dashing devil hadn't ripped his shirt off, Clarissa might not be so motivated to engage in close quarters combat with him!

There's also the minor issue with impaling Clarissa on an essence hacking sword that without Clarissa actually controlling her body, as a slime-like organism, it might be impaled but then ooze around him mostly unharmed, and possibly envelop him which would be icky and gross and dangerous!

Clarissa was expecting this aerial dodge, but dang! Why can't she hit this guy! She barrels through another building, though she was prepared for that this time so it doesn't inflict much damage upon her, before screeching to a halt, arms morphing back into hands and six mawed tendrils erupting out of her back. Grr! This guy makes her so angry that she could just! She could just! Augh!

A change washes over Clarissa. In its wake, it leaves a beast nursed on boiling blood, feeding upon the rage within Clarissa. It is Wrath, and it doesn't appear to be pleased by its current situation.

Plucking the hard light spear out of its calf and casually discarding it upon the earth, Wrath soars onto the battlefield, body dripping with blood.

Wrath isn't in the mood for a swordfight, not while the battlefield is nowhere close to being as slippery as its enemy. It sets about changing this (unless interrupted). With a bloodthirsty roar, pipelines begin to burst all throughout the neighborhood. A nearby fire hydrant explodes into a low orbit from the pressure of that which bubbles beneath. It is not water that flows from these metal vessels. It is blood. The pool's depth should increase until is is three inches at its lowest point, with waves rippling across the surface of the fluid of life (with extra iron added for reasons) as though it were a tumultuous ocean in a, well, violent storm.

Only after this deed is done, Wrath descends from its perch in the skies, landing in a crouched position. It snaps its fingers, summoning forth not a sword, but a charred, simple yet nigh immutable pair of gauntlets and forearm armor.

To the musical howling and screeching of people and beasts, Wrath calls to its (temporary) liberator across the sea of blood,

"May I have this dance?"

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Fourtently for Reinholdt the best way to stop being sore is to stretch out. Amelia knows enough about this to plan the lesson so it ends with the staff for this very reason. It's calm pace helps warm them down from all the previous exercise. Hopefully this will help him with the soreness and stiffness, or at least make it so it doesn't feel even worse tonight.

Still he should probably be nice and exhausted by the time they finish up. Amelia doesn't look too tired, but she did break a little bit of a sweat. "And I think that is enough for today."

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Tis true. Hooray for stretching.

Still, Reinholdt huffs a bit at the end. Even with all the adventuring he does, he could do a better job staying in shape. "Does magical powers... come with... unlimited stamina too?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Temple of the Thousand Faces of the Sun

See, problem here is, butting in on a conversation your not supposed to be hearing at all is a very bad way to prove you're not a creeper. So the Cat bites down the urge to protest his innocence.

In fact, he can probably be skipped until they get on with the actual robbery part.


Goblin Market

The salespixies abandon their respective pitches to take to the air in a huff, but many still flock around Arel and Rein with an air of beleaguered enthusiasm.
"Sure you do! You've got hair, memories, voices, lots of things you could trade!" A furry, moth-like sprite flits forward to suggest, before being elbowed out of the way by a duo with butterfly wings and tailored scarlet suits. "Erhem." "Alternatively to barbarian methods, we could extend you a line of credit?"

[Devixer]

[Red Zone - Somewhere]

Once the cages open, the previously trapped rodents rush out like a black stream out of a tap. Rommie/Becky can see them quickly spread out, desperate for food and space after being trapped so long together without any space to move.

But food and space are the least of these rats problems however as they have been infected by a highly infectious plague manufactured by AMEN and slightly modified by the demons. The modified version have a longer incubation period however and it will thus take up to two to four days for the victims to to reach the last stages of the infection.

The rats, as well as the other animals Rommie/Becky will release in Inside are all being guided by the will of a demon, making them seek out the places where people live so the disease spreads faster.

Unless this is somehow stopped a lot of people are likely to be infected soon enough and it's bound to get even worse from that point until preventative measures are taken.

Shortly after symptoms of the plague start showing up en force, some of the sick may come across a tent that's been hastily set up in a small park. Ashley heard of a bad sickness in Riverside, and she's seen the symptoms here, so she's willing to give alchemical and magical cures to any who need them.

[McBish]

Ashley's Tent

Shortly after symptoms of the plague start showing up en force, some of the sick may come across a tent that's been hastily set up in a small park. Ashley heard of a bad sickness in Riverside, and she's seen the symptoms here, so she's willing to give alchemical and magical cures to any who need them.

Not to long after Ashley has her tent set up she has some visitors. Well more visitors, ones that are not sick. 3 young men and a young woman, all human, come walking up with a small cart being pulled by a pony. Liza the young woman is quite obviously looking around for whoever is in charge while the boys watch the cart.

====================

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Tis true. Hooray for stretching.

Still, Reinholdt huffs a bit at the end. Even with all the adventuring he does, he could do a better job staying in shape. "Does magical powers... come with... unlimited stamina too?"

"Not unlimited no, though it does help a bit. The rest comes from the hour of exercise I do every morning, and the 5 miles I run daily, and then whatever other exercise I can get in during the day. Which my schedule being as open as it is is quite a lot." Amelia keeps herself in excellent shape. As a perfectionist she is always pushing herself a bit harder, her training helped instill that in her. Also she is loves the feeling she gets after a god workout.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Tent

Right now, Ashley's the only one in this tent. The visitor's will be able to tell that she's a half-elf, if they know about that sort of thing. Her normal clothes have had gloves and a simple medical mask added to them - most of her actual protection from the plague is via magic.

"Yes? You need help?"

[McBish]

Ashley's Tent

Liza shakes her head smiling. "No actually, we were hoping we might be able to help you. We heard you set up to hand out medicine and were wondering if..." She bites her lip taking a second to figure out what she actually wants to say. "We think it is great you are helping people. Our church wants to help as well so we made some packages to give out and were hoping we could give them to people who come here for medicine." She motions over to the cart to show Ashley what kind of supplies they have.

Assuming Ashley is curious she will see that they have dozens of small boxes that are filled with a small loaf of bread, bottled water, a packet of butter, either a jam or a nut spread, some beef jerky, a small bottle of hand sanitizer, and a small bottle of aspirin.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"Yeesh. Do you sleep?" Reinholdt suspects maybe her powers give her extra energy that she has to burn off and the amount of exercise does that and helps her feel good rather than hyped up and jittery. But that's just a theory.

[McBish]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

An interesting theory at that, and perhaps true, who knows. "Like a baby. When I am awake though I like to keep busy." Amelia is rarely the lounging type. "Don't you work out to stay in shape for your treasure hunting?" She says trying not to sound like she is accusing him. Honestly there might be a bit of jealousy there, she always pushed herself hard when it came to her dungeon crawls.

[KerfuffleMach2]

(Red Zone) Run-Down Building

Jace tries to go in through the front door, keeping watch for any magic or mechanical traps.

Red Zone
Run-Down Building

Front door's kind of stuck. Takes a few tries, but Jace gets it open. Whoever lives here probably uses a different entrance.

No traps spring when he enters. Though, he sure made enough noise to alert anybody here to his presence.

Other than the energy that brought him here, Jace wouldn't really be able to feel anything.

Randii will follow Jace though the door, her bright blue eyes darting around the place.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Tent

Ashley perks up at the mention of the word "church," but she doesn't say anything yet. She looks over at the supplies loaded into the cart, considering for a few moments. "Alright, you all can get set up. What church did you say you were with?"

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

"I do, but Treasure Hunting has a lot more aspects than keeping in shape, so I have to train a lot of different things. Keeping fit won't solve the puzzle to stop the spiked ceiling from falling on your head, though it certainly doesn't hurt when it comes to jumping out of the way. I'm just not as fit as you. You're outright impressive." Probably in the top five fit people Rein's met. Not number one though. Number one belongs to JOHANNES.

[McBish]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Amelia smiles and manages to only blush a little bit. "Thanks. I was never very good at puzzles in dungeons, I always tended to find a way around them." Amelia seems to be shifting out of teacher mode and into fellow treasure hunter mode.

=====================

Ashley's Tent

"Thank you, we are from the Church of the Living Saint." She motions to the young men who quickly get the stuff set up to give out. Once it is all unloaded one of them takes the pony and cart and heads off.

The Church of the Living Saint is a fairly small and new church. Only a few years old there are maybe 500 or so followers. They have recently moved out of their old smaller building into a larger building more suiting their needs. Of course in Inside it would be hard to keep track of all the churches that come and go.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Tent

"You'll have to tell me about it when this is all over with," Ashley says, shortly before grabbing a few blocks of wood from her bag of holding, places them on the ground, and mutters a short arcane phrase. The newcomers may feel themselves being washed over by a simple force of magic that leaves them sterile.

[McBish]

Ashley's Tent

"I would love to." Liza says with a smile. She watches curiously as Ashley casts her spell. "I assume that is something to help keep us healthy? If so thank you."

They will stay here helping and handing out the supplies they brought. Occasionally they are visited by someone coming to see if they need any more supplies. It seems like this might be part of a bigger effort to help.

[Reinholdt]

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

Amelia smiles and manages to only blush a little bit. "Thanks. I was never very good at puzzles in dungeons, I always tended to find a way around them." Amelia seems to be shifting out of teacher mode and into fellow treasure hunter mode.

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

I thought she was a knife fighter/monk type lacking a job?

"You been in a lot of dungeons then?"

[5a Violista]

[Down the street from a church, and also a graveyard]

It's a good thing that Crustella isn't weak to fire! Though that impact is quite nasty still. The stone shell absorb the brunt of the blow, but Crustella still feels the impact inside. But that doesn't mean she wastes an opportunity where Evil Doll is actually close. Before the voltorb can rebound too far away, Crustella's claws lsh out of the shell and try and grab hold of it. If she can managed that, she'll try to smash the voltorb into the pavement a few times.

[Down the street from a church and also a graveyard]

Evil Doll is grabbed, and is beat against the pavement. Every time it hits, a crack is formed in the Evil Doll's body.

Soon, the cracks grow tremendously fast and energy begins to leak out. But the energy inside Evil Doll can't leak out quickly enough, and it mercilessly explodes.

Too bad it happened too quickly for Alvilda to tell it to end. Now, there's just a massive explosion (likely even destroying some of the pavement).

[GrandDM]

[HLabs, Inside Division]

Amelia might notice more about the muscles if she wasn't busy trying not to get motion sick. In the end she does get the impression that he is more muscular then she first thought.

"Who said I was joking. Ever had any attendents try to dress you, akward as heck."

She puts on the suit and tries to stretch and bend to see how the suit moves with her in it. She also keeps the helmet off for now.

The suit moves easily, allowing her to exercise her full range of movement. The plates, though thick and close together, don't grind or hit each other. Although warm inside, it isn't uncomfortable, and is climate-controlled.

"I know. I had to program an exemption into Mastermind to stop him doing it to me. It took seven hours to find the right bit of code. AI might be the pinnacle of computer technology, but when they're broken, they're way more broken than a laptop."

[Devixer]

Ashley's Tent

Ashley nods. "It should keep the sickness from hitting us," before getting to work preparing the things she'll need to give treatment to the sick people that come in. She'll treat them to the best of her magical ability, which happens to be pretty darn good.

[Gullara]

Goblin Market

The salespixies abandon their respective pitches to take to the air in a huff, but many still flock around Arel and Rein with an air of beleaguered enthusiasm.
"Sure you do! You've got hair, memories, voices, lots of things you could trade!" A furry, moth-like sprite flits forward to suggest, before being elbowed out of the way by a duo with butterfly wings and tailored scarlet suits. "Erhem." "Alternatively to barbarian methods, we could extend you a line of credit?"

[Goblin Market]

"If we want something from you we will come around and take a look ourselves." Arel says firmly. She really doesn't appreciate being hassled like this and wants it to stop.

[The Bushranger]

((I had a reply to everything last night...apparently, the board ate it. ))

[Below the TV Tower]

"...ah?" Hikari lets Mikani work her magic, surprised. She glances down at her wounds, then carefully begins to pull out the foreign shards of bone. "Thank you... that's quite a nice little power you've got there."

"So where would something like that have come from? Certainly you'd expect the necromancer to be nearby, right?"

"Well, it doesn't heal or anything...but it'll help. And yeah, unless he just sent them out to fetch stuff, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" Mikani observes, looking around with concern.

***

Red Zone Street

Um... Alysha folds one arm across her chest, rests her other elbow on the arm, and places a finger on her lip as she thinks about that question. Romulans? Romulans...hm...

After a couple of minutes, she shakes her head. Nope. Absolutely nothing.

"Well, don't call them elves, make references to green blood and/or pointy ears, and especially don't wish them 'live long and prosper' when you leave their company," Red says, keeping a remarkably straight face...right up until the grin breaks out again. "Or, if you're me, do all of those things, because I enjoy laughing in the face of danger and like to see the commander's blood vessels throb."

***

[Carousel Court - Peaceful Meadow]

"Well, I suppose that, when you put it that way, it would be better to spring the trap," Lydia observes. It's totally her place to be Negative Nancy! Nobody else will!

***

[Red Zone - Somewhere and There]

Rommie (appearing as Becky) will continue to release animals here and there until all the cages are empty, not caring if anyone sees!

She does wish she was herself showing off, but nothing's perfect.

[Hawkflight]

[404 Snail Way]
Once she's back to sleep, N'lyzsa tucks Erin into bed again and returns to her own mattress, hoping she'll be okay.

Erin would proceed to sleep through the rest of the night, albeit fitfully.

[End scene?]

[Deathkeeper]

Red Zone
Run-Down Building

Front door's kind of stuck. Takes a few tries, but Jace gets it open. Whoever lives here probably uses a different entrance.

No traps spring when he enters. Though, he sure made enough noise to alert anybody here to his presence.

Other than the energy that brought him here, Jace wouldn't really be able to feel anything.

Randii will follow Jace though the door, her bright blue eyes darting around the place.

Run-Down Building

Let them come! No one would expect the man in sandals and swim trunks is an archmage!
Well, they might after he pauses to cast a spell on himself since he's without his cloak. Moving on, Jace moves slowly into the place, heading towards the magic signature, his familiar still looking around.
"Watch our backs, okay?"

[McBish]

[HLabs, Inside Division]

The suit moves easily, allowing her to exercise her full range of movement. The plates, though thick and close together, don't grind or hit each other. Although warm inside, it isn't uncomfortable, and is climate-controlled.

"I know. I had to program an exemption into Mastermind to stop him doing it to me. It took seven hours to find the right bit of code. AI might be the pinnacle of computer technology, but when they're broken, they're way more broken than a laptop."

"I am assuming Mastermind is some sort of AI. I've never had any experience with one of those. The world I come from didn't have any, but there were plenty of stories about them gone bad. I wouldn't want to have to deal with a broken AI."

She is impressed with the flexibility of the suit. She looks ready to go however they are getting wherever they are going.

================

[Grassy Yard outside DFI]

I thought she was a knife fighter/monk type lacking a job?

"You been in a lot of dungeons then?"

What kind of jobs do you think fighter/monk types get. Unfortunately she doesn't have many good contacts to find the dungeons to go into. The last one she did ended up nearly getting her killed, by the person hiring her to go into the dungeon. Since then word has spread that she betrayed her employer not the other way around. So new jobs are rare in coming.

"A few times. My skill set doesn't lend itself to many jobs. Dungeon delving was one that I did for awhile."

=========================

Ashley's Tent

Ashley nods. "It should keep the sickness from hitting us," before getting to work preparing the things she'll need to give treatment to the sick people that come in. She'll treat them to the best of her magical ability, which happens to be pretty darn good.

Yay for sickness avoiding. The men and Liza are all polite and helpful. When they are about to run out of supplies more are delivered. They will leave before sundown and will continue to come back to help as long as the plauge is spreading.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Red Zone
Run-Down Building

Randii nods to Jace, then turns around so she can watch behind the group.

The makeshift living area isn't much. There's a cot with a pillow and a thin blanket. A crate being used as a table, with a kerosene lamp on it. A little camp stove sits under the cot. There's also a pile of ragged looking clothes next to the stove. Something metal shines from the pile.

Jace can tell that the energy is definitely coming from here, but he won't be able to pick out exactly where. Guess he's gonna have to search the old fashioned way.

Robo-Crew

Alysha grins. I'll be sure to let you be the one to bug them, then.