[Nexus] Outside XXIX

[Hattish Thing]

Mine

Marciano speaks out, Wel'. I believe Ilpholin wil' agree with me when I start being able t' fund all of AMEN with th' profits. See, if I'm rich, AMEN is rich too. How d' I ge' rich? I steal things. Bu' bein' a petty pickpocke' wil' ge' me nowhere. So, I'm goin' t' start me a crime dynastia. A kind of Nexusian mafia if ya wil'. And we will help keep AMEN alive wit' a fraction of th' profits. So, If I profi', AMEN wil' too. Which is where Inside comes in. So many li'l innocent people t' rob. So li'l time. Which is where my clone comes in. An', 'opefully I c'n ge' some people t' 'elp me bring my mafia t' a height of power. Alongside AMEN, Remnant can't stop us. Or HALO. I made a deal...It wil' ge' fulfilled. Jus' ya wait. The mine shaft gets smaller until they come to an elevator into the lower areas.

[Terumitsu]

[North Forest]

Mimi looks down at Imp suspiciously. She? Oh well. It was a shot in the dark. You don't see many like Imp in these parts.

The pixies eyes dart back up to Riss. "It's a super dangerous part of the forest where there's a whole tonne of things that want to kill you." Like Mimi's friends and family. "You probably don't want to go that way."

It was likely a good thing that Imp-like creatures were rare. It simply sounded like a very dangerous thing to have more than a scant few of.

However, what may be to Mimi's chagrin is that her warning did not seem to have the full impact that was intended. "What things?" the muse asked, a note of curiosity in her voice. Short statements and questions were easier when there was a potential to gather some interesting information. Of course, this might also be due to Riss' general lack of knowledge about the members of the animal kingdom aside from humanoids. That said, which pocket did I put.. Not that one. No. Nope. Ah, that one. The muse did take a moment to check she had indeed picked up a countermeasure for dangerous situations on the way out. Given that she hardly ever used the thing, she often had trouble even remembering it was there even though she habitually kept it on her person whenever she left her workspace. Sure, she could always use her cyberbrain functions for 'perfect recall' to keep it in mind but that just sounded like a waste of resources to her.

[Gullara]

[North Forest]

"Faeries." Mimi says simply. It's not the animals that are the biggest concern. "Like me... except maybe a little bit scarier." She holds her fingers together to demonstrate how little. She may be greatly exaggerating her scariness. "And that's not even mentioning the animals and plants that want to eat you. And all the angry nature spirits."

[Mee]

Abandoned Lighthouse.

The dimaond just holds souls, it's Thenadier's wristwatch device button that teleports. She can use that but she'll have to rummage through his corpse. The demon looks around before his eyes switch to heat senses. It will see Hoffy's body heat if he has any.

Because Civvy totally can't teleport herself.

Though now that Mr. Toast is back, Civvy makes a heroic leap for him (as I assume she has the gem, since you didn't say she doesn't), and as soon as she touches him, she'll teleport them back to HALO.

Well, that's her plan, anyway. She could be stopped.

[Hattish Thing]

Abandoned Lighthouse

As soon as she touches the gem several voices erupt into her mind, Kill them all! I'm watching...always watching..... Marrawr! This...was an unrecoverable loss.... Then a voice she'll recognize!Let me go demon! Give me back my body! Then she'll teleport back to halo. Free at last. And then the lighthouse starts to catch on fire....Thenadier's corpse burning to dust. The demon wanders through the wreckage after they leave before teleporting to somewhere in The Nexus.

[Terumitsu]

[North Forest]

Maybe a bit of a shock at first but I'm not exactly certain that 'scary' is how I would describe you. Really, if it weren't for her own issues, Riss probably would be the sort of person who would gladly go gallivanting given even a glistening sliver of a chance. And now we're getting into 'might have been's.' None of that... Oh damn, think of something else something else something el- Ah! She said plants? There are carnivorous plants? But how does that even work? Is there an intelligence behind them? Quick, ask now and focus on the limestone formations over there now.

"Carnivorous plants? Possessing intellect or not?" the muse asked, rather grateful for the distraction this topic provided. As far as she understood, plants generally gathered their nutrients from the soil. A plant that consumed flesh indicated some interesting requirements at the least.

[captainspazam]

Hoffy does in fact warp back to HALO with Civvy.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

[Mee]

Hoffy does in fact warp back to HALO with Civvy.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Then back to HALO they go!

I shall go post first.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Outside Trog's]

Talnissa & co

Spoiler

Show

The lizardwoman tosses up her hands in a universal 'I surrender' gesture. If you're looking for a plan than look to ssomeone intelligent. The mage. Oh wait, she gestures to the dead girl who's blood is staining the snow a deep red, she'ss dead.

Wow, bitter.

Is she not even slightly concerned that she's talking to a cloud of steam?

Eh, she's seen a lot of weird things in the Pits. Wouldn't be surprised if this didn't even make her top ten.

She walks over and helps up a fellow slave, a young Elven woman wielding a scimitar across her back and an expression of fear in her eyes. But brushing down the frightened young lady and assuring her she'll live through this, it's all just something to buy her a little time as she thinks.

There really aren't a whole lot of options actually. If you can dissrupt hiss sspell fasst enough... we should all be alright... maybe.

That's it? That's your plan?

Brilliant. But taking into account that she's scared out of her mind and trying not to show it, that someone's trying to kill her and that she's rebelling against the masters who've threatened this action with death for many years... well, then maybe you have to give her credit for being brave enough to give up her cover after all.

Normally, Talnissa would nod, showing she accepts the plan, and thus hopefully making people less likely to freak out when the that's keeping their brains from ending up splattered all over large chunks of ice stops doing so, before she cast the spell. Or something, anyway. But clouds of steam, even ones playing host to a ghost, aren't really well adapted for body language, at least when they're spread out to provide to cover, rather than being molded into a humanoid form, so instead, she simply flows back into her body as fast as she can manage.

Then, as soon as her body is running again, which only takes, once she's inside, a few seconds, she casts the spell. Which, really, is quite simple. A few Cryxian words, a gesture, and the activation of a couple of runes with what's left of the stored necromantic energy, and it's on its way, a poison-green bolt of smoke, twisting and writhing as it goes, flying from her hand towards the Gnoll mage.

If it hits - and though it's possible to evade it, especially by ducking behind someone or something when it doesn't have time to change course, it follows him to some extent - it should render him utterly unable to concentrate, partly through direct means, partly through it putting just about anything that can feel such in quite a bit of pain, as well as render him physically weaker. Of course, if he's magically shielded, it doesn't do any of those, unless the warding is rather weak, instead trying to eat through as many of his defenses as it can.

[Halae]

"Oh. Hey Stheno." At this point, Adir is not at all phased by a sentient motorcycle. He waves with his spatula. "Yeah, we're great. I think Laela found her new favorite thing." He points at Harnel. "Happy birthday man. How old are you now?"

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

"Today makes me twenty seven years old," He looks up at the sky for a moment, then closes his eyes and smells the food cooking, "And that smells delicious!"

Sakura will deliver a hug! Harnel is careful about the baby, of course, so while the hug might be a little awkward it still works.

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

"He's one year older then me now actually." Cessie says with a wide smile, glancing at her husband. "So when did we have to shrink down again? Or perhaps we should enlarge me this time." She comments with a laugh. She is here referencing to the fact half-dragons have several growth spurts during their lifetime, something Sakura and Adir would know by now.

[VampireRot]

Mine

Marciano speaks out, Wel'. I believe Ilpholin wil' agree with me when I start being able t' fund all of AMEN with th' profits. See, if I'm rich, AMEN is rich too. How d' I ge' rich? I steal things. Bu' bein' a petty pickpocke' wil' ge' me nowhere. So, I'm goin' t' start me a crime dynastia. A kind of Nexusian mafia if ya wil'. And we will help keep AMEN alive wit' a fraction of th' profits. So, If I profi', AMEN wil' too. Which is where Inside comes in. So many li'l innocent people t' rob. So li'l time. Which is where my clone comes in. An', 'opefully I c'n ge' some people t' 'elp me bring my mafia t' a height of power. Alongside AMEN, Remnant can't stop us. Or HALO. I made a deal...It wil' ge' fulfilled. Jus' ya wait. The mine shaft gets smaller until they come to an elevator into the lower areas.

[Abandoned Louv're Mine]

"Hm. Interesting. I'll wait until we get what we came here for and see your "profits" before making any promises, though."

Rot goes to, well, enter the elevator! And push button(s) to make it go down! Excitement.

[Hattish Thing]

Mineshaft Going into the Lower Mines

You'll see. just stick wit' me 'ere an' you'll be rewarded. Ye c'n trust me on tha'. Wel', if me beasty 'as gone free, ya c'n be' tha' it's down 'ere....Th' crystals seem t' attract th' ethereal...No' sure why they're 'ere...don't much care. That's wha' me scientists are paid for. I'd build me own clone, bu' I don't'ave th' materials ye'. Soon I wil'. They're bein' shipped. The mineshaft has some dried blood caked on it....maybe the monster somehow get trapped at the bottom and tried to claw it's way up? Either way, the temperature is getting colder. There's a lot of dried blood in the cave area below. In the walls....several of Marciano's guard men lie dead. Limbs torn off and strewn around...there's a path of blood like a body was dragged deeper. ....I see dead people Ro'.

[Gullara]

[North Forest]

"Um, I don't really know. It's kinda hard to ask, you know? And plants can't talk. There's this one kind of tree, it has a big, open mouth thing full of teeth on the top, but the tree can't move. So these vines grow on it, and they'll drag people into the mouth and drink the extra blood." Pleasant. Mimi doesn't seem at all disturbed by it. Probably lives with that sort of thing every day.

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Sakura giggles and lets Harnel go. "Nuh uh. I don't need to feel any more tiny. You all just stay the size you are." Laela laughs too and smiles at Harnel.

[VampireRot]

[Abandoned Louv're Mine]

"That's nothing new. I've been with you, haven't you?"

Rot rolls his eyes. He's a dead person! He's just one that walks and talks and makes snarky comments. The vampire looks at the scene with what looks like admiration.

"I must say, I'm impressed. A true butcher at work here. It's just a shame it wasted all this blood."

Rot is not daunted by the massacre, though. He'll continue on, as unflinching in the face of danger as always!

[Hattish Thing]

Mineshaft Leading to the Crystal Room/Grundlekrug Lair

Marciano takes out some cologne and starts spraying the air around him. Blech. Hate thi' smell. Disgustin'. Hate i'. Oy, the crystal mine is just up ahead. You're goin' t' 'ave t' defend me an' Grantaire though, while I operate the cutter. I jus' need enough crystals t' use a s a core....Still, it'll take me abou' five minutes. The creatuyre is most likeley 'ere. By th' way. Try no' t' kill i'. I can still set it loose on th' populace later.

[VampireRot]

[Abandoned Louv're Mine]

Rot makes a face at the cologne. Bleh. The vampire prefers the smell of death and rot. Hehe. Rot.

"I can make no promises about not killing it."

Killing is sorta what he does!

[Hattish Thing]

Path Leading to Grundlekrug's Lair

Ok...Whateva' ya 'ave t' do...I meant t' starve it, an' then release i'....Seems like i' was too stupid t' ge' ou' though.....Lead th' way. Don't le' it cut ya. Poisonous. Th' thing is a killing machine. Abomination. It's the perfect thin' for me plans.

[Murkus]

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

"Today makes me twenty seven years old," He looks up at the sky for a moment, then closes his eyes and smells the food cooking, "And that smells delicious!"

Sakura will deliver a hug! Harnel is careful about the baby, of course, so while the hug might be a little awkward it still works.

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

"He's one year older then me now actually." Cessie says with a wide smile, glancing at her husband. "So when did we have to shrink down again? Or perhaps we should enlarge me this time." She comments with a laugh. She is here referencing to the fact half-dragons have several growth spurts during their lifetime, something Sakura and Adir would know by now.

[Harnel's Birthday Party]

Sakura giggles and lets Harnel go. "Nuh uh. I don't need to feel any more tiny. You all just stay the size you are." Laela laughs too and smiles at Harnel.

"You mean you're all younger than me? Does that mean I'm in charge?" Adir grins at the lot of them.

"And burgers're ready, if you guys want them. I have some other stuff for grillin' later," The stag flips another set.

[Rebonack]

[Adventure!]

Thankfully it doesn't take our heroes too long to track down the bandits and brigands!

Mostly because their hideout appears to be situated at the only really noticeable landmark around. A rather large basalt spire sticking out of the ground! Can't miss the thing.

Though...

Probably best to be careful with the approach.

After all, they have a nice vantage point to spot anyone sneaking up on them!

What shall our heroes do?

[OrchestraHc]

[Adventure!]

Alfred does the only sensible thing. When he sees the bandit's at the large basalt he drops to his belly and begins crawling commando style. It's going to get his night wear very dirty, but should let him sneak around to a better vantage point.

[Hattish Thing]

Adventure

Sonnya turns invisible! She'll then follow Alfred, Hi! I'm here. Invisible.

[FireFox]

Abandoned Lighthouse

Tobias teleports here and looks around for the demon or any indication of where it is now.

[Hattish Thing]

Burned Lighthouse

The Lighthouse has been burned to a pile of stone and broken wood. The demon has disappeared. Thenadiers gory, burned, and almost indistinguishable corpse lies on the ground nearby, Civvy blew up my cgest...then the demon broke the rest of me ut seems...

[FireFox]

Burned Lighthouse.

Fascinating. Tobias yawns. All right. What do I need to do in order to draw the demon back here? Flare up my power like a giant beacon?

[Hattish Thing]

Burned Lighthouse

Possibly...that would work. Can you perhaps raise me? I'm just as eader to kill it as you...I've been trapped in this gem for a long time...

[FireFox]

Burned Lighthouse

The fox-eyed druid walks out into an open space and releases a great deal of energy. Anything sensitive to such esoteric disturbances should be able to sense it easily. And anything with eyes should be able to see the giant pillar of fire blasting down from the heavens right onto Thenadier's corpse.

[Hattish Thing]

Burned Lighthouse

Thenadier would be most likely wearing an awfully unhappy look. That is if Toby didn't burn his corpse to ashes. That...is not...a raise dead spell... Up above them, the demon flies scowering the area for witnesses. It sees the fire and is statled. It hovers above, thinking about what the best course of action is.

[FireFox]

Burned Lighthouse.

I'm glad you're able to tell the difference between those two spells. Next we'll work on determining the difference between truly Evil murderers and the good people you need to leave the Hell alone. Black storm clouds begin to gather, forming a curtain to censor out the image of Tobias' gigantic column of flame penetrating the sky.

[Hattish Thing]

Lighthouse

Thenadier growls,That wasn't me! I hunt dangerous murderers. Not people like Reinholdt. The creature controlled me. And you just incinerated my body. The demon looks down. It wonders if the caster could somehow be related to Civvy?