[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 4

[Devixer]

[The Abbey]

Hildur lowers her hood as she walks into the abbey. She looks appreciative of the quiet. Almost like the other peaks she's stood at, except with prayers.

...And then she flinches a little when Agatha screams. She had to admit, she didn't see that coming. Somehow. Because of that, she'll probably be very shy, thinking it's partially her fault for breaking that serenity.

[Rebonack]

[The Abbey]

Agatha didn't mean to make Hildur bashful!

Hopefully it'll all work ou-

"Hello, Sister Agatha," comes a fairly quiet, reserved voice. The source of the voice is a rather petite Nun who certainly wasn't standing there a few moments prior. "And hello to you as well, friend. Blessings of the Emperor on you."

"Hiya Sister Clara!" Agatha replies with her characteristic exuberance. "This is Hildur! She's going to stay with us a while! Isn't that great?"

"Yes indeed. The Emperor has been kind to bless us with company for a season," Clara offers a small smile to Hildur. "Would you like me to show you to your room?"

[Devixer]

[The Abbey]

Hildur smiles a little herself. "Hello, Clara. I'd be happy to see where I'm staying." She follows Clara to where her room is. If Agatha doesn't follow, then she'll turn to wave at her friend.

[Rebonack]

[The Abbey]

Sister Agatha waves back!

Exuberantly!

Sister Clare just smiles softly and shakes her head. "You'll have to excuse Sister Agatha. Self-control isn't exactly her strongest of suits. But she's a wonderful person if you can stand her energy."

That's a lot of energy to stand.

Clare continues on down the hallway, random Nuns glancing at them as they walk along. Should Hildur try to keep count she should note six Sisters if Clare and Agatha are counted. Not that many people living here!

Especially considering how large the building is.

[Devixer]

[The Abbey]

"I don't mind. I deal with a lot of exuberance in my line of work." Which isn't really a line of work at all, but that's another story.

She does indeed keep a count of all the people she sees, and eventually says, "This is a very large place, how come there aren't more people here?"

[Rebonack]

[The Abbey]

"The patience to abide is quite a gift. Not everyone has it," the Sister replies softly. "And the size of the Abbey..."

Clare sighs a sad sigh...

"We had Sisters on missions beyond the walls of the Abbey when this place was uprooted from our homeworld and placed into the Nexus. They didn't accompany us here."

So...

Their home was stolen from them.

And they have no way to reach it.

That's pretty terrible.

[Devixer]

[The Abbey]

Hildur hesitates before replying. "Oh... I'm sorry..." Well that was depressing.

"Well, hopefully they're doing alright." She does her best to offer sympathy.

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

"They are under the Emperor's watchful eye," Clare replies before opening a door and gesturing into the room. "Here you are. You can feel free to use this room. Breakfast is at sunrise. You will have chores to perform, as does everyone else."

She then points down the hall.

"We perform the daily Rituals in the sanctuary. If you are planning on staying with us I suggest you join the other Sisters and myself. Discord will not show any preference toward you."

Something about the way she says Discord suggests that it's a really really bad thing.

"Now, if you have any questions?"

[Hattish Thing]

[Abandoned Louv're Mine - Grundlekrug's Lair]

Rot snarls as a spike skewers his left leg, but the vampire doesn't feel the pain a mortal man would and doesn't care for his limbs half as much. He swerves around the other spikes, one missing his wing by a hair's breadth. And in retaliation, the pale man swoops down and swipes at the Grundlekrug's tail with his sword, trying to chop it off with the keen enchanted blade. While working his aerial acrobatics, he wonders how he's supposed to stop this rampaging thing without killing it. A sword can only do so many things!

It growls as the tip of a tentacle is cut off! The tentacle bit wiggles on the ground creepily. The beast moves it's large maw around to jump with it's powerful legs. It tries to bite Rot's legs off. Marciano continues teleporting the crates of magical crystals.

[Adventure!]

I don't think Alfred has ever done so much crawling. Likely because he was artificially aged past that stage, but that's not the point. He hopes whatever sadei is doing helps when they finally reach the camp.

Sonnya just follows! She hadn't done anything like this either.

[Devixer]

[The Abbey]

Hildur looks into the room, then back at Clare. "Ah, yeah. What are the rituals? And for that matter, what exactly is Discord?" It sounded... well, bad. She did plan on partaking the rituals, but she wanted to have at least some advance knowledge.

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

"Discord is the disunity and disharmony between the Emperor and Azazel manifest in our world. And the Rituals were created to hold it at bay," Clare replies gently. "They're very simple. And the most important to you at least would be the Ritual of Feasting. It's a simple communal meal we hold in the evening at sunset."

Well...

That doesn't sound so bad, right?

"The Ritual of Cleansing would be important as well. You would be anointed with a small amount of holy water to cleanse any sin you've committed."

That doesn't sound too terrible either.

"Both of these Rituals would protect you from various harmful Discordant spirits."

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

"Okay. Sounds simple enough, I suppose. Especially for protection from dark spirits." Hildur thinks of that Huldra again, and shivers involuntarily.

"I think that's all, then. If you don't mind, I think I'll rest here for a time. It was a long walk up here, haven't done anything like that for awhile."

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

Huldra are pretty darn terrible creatures. Especially if one decides that it feels inclined to eat you. Getting devoured in your sleep is by no means a nice way to go.

Clare responds with a short bow.

"Of course. The hike up the mountain is quite taxing. I recall my first time..."

That was some years ago, of course.

"We've already had the evening Rituals. Though I'll be sure someone wakes you in the morning well before breakfast."

Another bow.

"Sleep well, friend."

And once a reply is given the Nun will be off!

[Murkus]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Cessie can't help to roll her eyes at Harnel's question but still smiles knowingly at Sakura's and Adir's kiss. She knew the feeling all too well.
"Don't get too cuddly you two, it's Adir's turn to ask a question." She says with a smile.

((It might be best if once you answered the question or performed the dare, you directly ask truth or dare to someone in turn. This would go much smoother then.))

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Oh Harnel. Now Sakura is all emotional.

She squeezes Adir's hand, but decides that's not enough. She guides his face down to kiss him passionately, but won't do so for too long. Best not forget their friends sitting right there. "Love you."

Adir kisses back, but breaks it off quick enough that the others won't get uncomfortable. Hearing Cessie, he smiles at Sakura. "Love you too honey." Then, bluntly and with a barely straight face, "Now truth or dare?"

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

Hildur nods to Clare. "I will. And I should thank you and everyone else here for letting me stay." Once Clare heads off, Hildur closes the door to her room and starts to get a little more comfortable, and gets ready to sleep.

We can probably timeskip to the next really early morning.

[Gullara]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Sakura giggles. Time to mix it up then. "Dare." She replies a bit eagerly.

[Murkus]

Harnel's Birthday Party

"I dare you..." Adir taps his chin, glancing toward the resident mage. This ought to be good. "To give Cessie a kiss." Well, so much for Adir maturing a bit. Of course, they are a bunch of adults playing truth or dare.

[Shadowcaller]

Harnel's Birthday Party

Adir have all the right to be childish, this is a game which is supposed to be a bunch of childish fun for adults.

"What." Cessie states with a stare at the stag. Of course she hadn't expected much else from him then these kind of things.

The sorceress rolls her eyes, not really getting it. "Very well, go ahead." She says with a dismissive gesture.

[Murkus]

Harnel's Birthday Party

"Oh, and no friendly ones either. On the mouth," Adir crosses his arms and looks at Sakura expectantly.

[Gullara]

Sakura blinks, then swats Adir's arm. "You're terrible, you know that?" The dryad laughs a little and shakes her head at her husband. She stands and goes to sit by Cessie.

"Okay. So, um..." This is so terribly awkward. "You ready?" And provided Cessie doesn't back down, Sakura leans in and gives Cessie a quick kiss on the lips. Just long enough that Adir can verify she did it. Immediately after Sakura pulls away, regardless of the outcome, she erupts into a fit of giggles.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Harnel can't help but laugh at all this, and shake his head at Adir, "You're crazy, you know that?"

[Rebonack]

[Abbey]

One uneventful night of sleeping later!

"GOOD MORNING!" comes the very loud voice of Sister Agatha roughly an hour or so before the sun rises. It's still fairly dark outside and the abbey is lit only by a few stray candles.

Bit cold, too.

Certainly one of those times when most people would rather roll over and go back to sleep.

Sadly Sister Agatha is far more persistent than your average alarm clock.

"Did you sleep well? Did you like your room? You should get up and then you can tell me all about it!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Adventure!]

The two thugs laugh in a fairly mean-spirited sort of way as they approach the knight in a threatening fashion! "Yeah, those robbers sound like they must be a real nasty bunch."

...

Yeah.

They're probably planning on killing her and looting her corpse.

...possibly doing other things as well which won't be mentioned here.

Hopefully they'll be stopped!

[Adventure!]

Correl draws her/his sword which now is illuminated by a blinding light and stands her/his ground. The blade itself looks almost as if it was made of glass but is obviously sturdier then that. "I'm giving you a fair warning here gentlemen, I'm sir Correl the wanderer and you will find me no easy prey." Of course, if they continue to advance the light coming from the sword suddenly changes into all the colors of the rainbow, trying to overpower the senses of the two thugs.

If this succeeds the knight makes a quick slash against one of the thug's throat. Quite a dirty way to fight for a knight.

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Cessie just smiles and shakes her head, she didn't know why they made such a big deal out of this. "I believe it's Sakura's turn now isn't?"

[Murkus]

Harnel's Birthday Party

Adir grins mirthfully when Sakura swats his arm, and can only chuckle at the swift, awkward kiss. "Crazy and terrible, yeah yeah. You guys are small time." Gotta get some real embarrassing stuff going. "Yeah, it's Sakura." He looks to his wife, raising his brows a bit.

[Halae]

"Nothing. I'll have work for you, though. Some tasks. And we're going to have some interesting talks about this... magic." Naitiri says, pulling up a holographic display above her desk and turning her attention on it. "Go on. Just don't teach them too much, Evan."

[Clinic]

Evan nods, "Later then." and he'll leave Naitiri's office, standing and heading towards... wait, did he specify where to train to the drones?

Uh oh.

He goes to try and find them.

Abandoned Mine

Furt stiffens when he hears the roar, and every hair on his mangy back bristles angrily.

A low grumble starts deep in the rat-ogre's throat, and builds up until...!

"HrrourrrgrrRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOUURRRRRRRRRHHHH!!! !"

The sixteen foot long rat lets out a bellow of challenge of his own. There's something deeper in the tunnels for him to fightriptearkillmaimeatgnawchew, and nothing fights in tunnels better than a rat.

Jakus might find Furt tugging on the chain a bit more urgently from now on. Let him free, big one, and he will killmaim whatever is ahead.

"Right," Jakus says, and then He'll try to pick Dipsnig up to deposit the goblin onto the back of his neck, where he can get a good handhold of hair or something. the reason for this is because immediately afterwards, he releases Furt, and then starts running after him - the half-ogre moves of all fours as well, much like a gorilla, and he knows that given Dipsnig's small size there's a good possibility the boss won't be able to keep up. Best to remedy that quickly.

[Morty]

[Abandoned Mine]

Dipsnig is picked up and deposited on Jakus' neck, where he holds on. It takes a considerable amount of restraint on his part not to struggle and shout profanity. They are in a hurry, after all, so he lets this severe injury to his dignity slide.
Once Jakus and Furt start running, Kullervo breaks into a run as well, easily keeping up with them.

[Devixer]

[Abbey]

Agatha wakes Hildur up pretty darn easily, and her face scrunches up as she rolls over. How early was it? She definitely wants to go back to sleep, but can guess that Agatha won't have that. So, with more than just some reluctance, she sits up and rubs at her eyes.

"I ah, I slept fine, Agatha." Hildur reaches for her jacket to put it on. "And it's a good room. Better than most of the hotel rooms I've stayed in before." Her voice is a little sluggish right now.

[Gullara]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

"Okay... Cessie! Truth or dare?" Sakura says, grinning like a fool. This game has certainly been fun so far.

[Murkus]

[Clinic]

Evan nods, "Later then." and he'll leave Naitiri's office, standing and heading towards... wait, did he specify where to train to the drones?

Uh oh.

He goes to try and find them.

Evan makes his way back down the hall. Windows along one side face the street, and if he looks, Evan might spot the drones 'sparring' with one another out in front of the clinic. Spilling out onto the street, in some cases. Though they're certainly trading blows, they don't seem to have seriously injured each-other. Yet. By the looks of the cracked asphalt and cracked visors on some helmets, they don't know their own strength. Heck, they don't know much about pain or 'bruises' as Evan described either.

[Rebonack]

[Adventure!]

That IS a pretty dirty way to fight for a knight.

One guy gurgles as his throat is slashed.

And the other?

He begins to flail around in a blind panic whilst screaming about spiders crawling all over him.

Sadei, meanwhile, is humming a familiar tune to anyone who ever went to kindergarten. One about very small arachnids that like to climb drain-pipes.

The guy covered in illusionary spiders will eventually collapse on the ground, twitching in the fetal position.

Poor guy. Better than being dead though.

[Abbey]

"Great! Hehe, you usually don't get up this early, do you?" Sister Agatha laughs. "I noticed that when I was in that big city. Most people were really sleepy when the sun still wasn't up yet!"