A strange place, outside of time and space (too many characters to list, none of whom are important)

Olav Bluesword found himself sitting in a sort of void, separate from the standard afterlife, surrounded by his ancestors, all of whom had wielded the Sword before him, watching its current wielder.

"You know," his great grandfather Bodvarr said to him, "when Arnora took up the Sword, she swore to avenge you."

"I know," Olav said.

"I believe she specifically swore, on your soul no less, that Einarr Silverteeth would die for what he did."

"I know," Olav said again, impatiently.

"And now, she's using it to fight with a bush."

"I KNOW!"

The Forest (Arnora; Henry, Joseph, Bonnie, Carol, Lily, Mequoql, Morpho, Henry, Not-Chaos-Hunters, Matiu)

To be fair to Arnora, it had only looked like a thornbush until she got close to it, at which point the homunculus had lashed out and sunk its thorns into her leg. She had managed to pry it off, but now it kept thrusting more tendrils at her, and every time she cut one off, two more seemed to grow.

Against any other giant, or any other sword, it might have been an even match. But with this particular sword, Arnora had both the guidance and power of every ancestor who had wielded the Sword before her. She instinctively knew how to maneuver the sword, despite not having had much in the way of formal training, and the blue glow seemed to hurt the creature much more than it had expected. Arnora quickly found herself gaining ground on her assailant, which now seemed more fleshy and less vegetative than it originally had.

The homunculus tried to grab her by the wrist, but she parried its tendril and gave it a smack with the sword, sending it flying through the trees...

...and into a clearing where a bunch of smaller creatures were cooking and eating several moufreta. They would have had just enough time to register that something had happened before Arnora leapt from the forest, sword held high and glowing bright blue, a look of pure rage on her face.

"DIIIIIEEE!!!"

She landed with a THUD! that shook leaves from the nearby trees, and cleft the homunculus cleanly in two with her sword, sending whatever viscerae it contained splattering in all directions.

She stood there for several seconds, panting through gritted teeth, as she watched the bizarre creature. Only when she was confident it wasn't going to move again did she start to stand up straight and wipe the gore from her face. She was suddenly very glad she had started cutting her hair short when she was 190, because there was no way that stuff was going to wash out easily. Her clothes were another story. They would probably have to be burned.

She turned...and that was when she noticed she had an audience. Over a dozen creatures, all about the size of the human she and Ozurr had helped escape from Hromstgard, but in a wide variety of shapes and colors, and at least two that looked at least part animal. One of them, with red hair, was holding a weapon that, in her hands, was a polearm, but in Arnora's might pass for a knife.

"Um...hi. Sorry about the mess."

Parking lot - bikes

Cynthia and Diantha; Arilay, Shale, Murquoql and the Dragonhorses; Kaitlyn, Kris and James; Mark; Nui

"Mark Tanzer," he tries to make it sound friendly nevertheless. "I'm more of a rescuer than a traveler right now."

Incapacitate? Escape?

And then the girl wearing an eyepatch pulls out her sword on one of Murquoql's dragonhorses. Tanzer feels his neck muscles tense.

Escape. Fuck everything.

A small metal ball falls into Mark's palm from the insides of his sleeve. With a quick motion, he throws it on the ground. A crack - and the small crowd gathered at the parking lot is devoured by a thick black fetid cloud. Once the wind carries the cloud away, Fingers, as Farah calls him, is no more.

Wasteland, Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; Varla; David)

At Lerna and Nerea's next words, Varla's wrath redirected from the former to the latter. Varla sheathed her chastity dagger, ignoring the movement-triggered flares of pain, and let go of Lerna's head. Varla loosened the coil in her tail, reducing her height until she was at eye level with Lerna. "It's okay, I'm sorry. I have nothing against platonic hugs," Varla soothed, gently folding Lerna into a platonic hug with her uninjured arm as proof. Her injured arm lagged behind. "Just give me a little heads-up first, okay?"

Over Lerna's shoulder, Varla glared at Nerea. "Then why did you describe Lerna's hug as molesting? Were you framing her for sexual behavior? I do not like it when someone is framed."

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite

Mequoql looked confused, "But I thought the meat-purifying spell was already cast." She glanced at the liver she was holding and shrugged, "Oh well, Mayatans eat raw meat all the time, I'll probably be fine. But, just in case..." She paused in eating the liver.

The Not-Chaos-Hunters began freaking out over the approaching giantess. Morpho temporarily raised the volume of his voice and called, "Get a grip, all of you! This Is No Time to Panic!"

As Morpho shouted, Mequoql muttered, "Man, it's a good thing I mentioned this so early — give 'em a chance to calm down, before she arrives..." while she moved to stand on the truck's hood. Before she could speak, she got interrupted...

Mequoql nodded, "Ah, yes, thank you! That's just what I was going to say! My sister in orbit says the giantess is in mourning right now, and has not been intercepted by Mael. I'm pretty sure the giantess doesn't want to step on us on purpose, and I have a plan to stop it from happening by accident."

Mequoql hesitated and stood more alert, like she was listening to something. "And now a hostile shapeshifter just attacked her. I'm going to have to adjust the plan." More listening. "Okay, you're gonna have to trust me and not panic. Something's about to happen really fast and it won't be what it looks like."

Meanwhile, Morpho dropped all the meat and bones he was holding into the flatbed of the truck.

A shapeshifting mass of flesh was launched in their direction.

"Out of the way!" Mequoql warned, telepathically broadcasting ideal dodge directions to everyone who might be in the way of the landing shapeshifter and Arnora's sudden and alarming arrival immediately behind it. If Carol was in the way, Mequoql would resort to telekinetically pulling her arm.

Morpho lunged into position, spreading himself into a thin but extensive sheet of metal in between Arnora and the campsite. The viscerae splattered on him instead of everyone else in the campsite behind him. As soon as the gore stopped flying, Morpho shivered, shedding the gore while sounding like one of those sheets of metal used to make thunder sound effects. He folded back into his usual humanoid bodybuilder shape.

The giantess sheepishly said, "Um... hi. Sorry about the mess."

Mequoql smiled, "No problem, I'm a telepath. I foresaw your arrival and that gave me and my good friend Morpho more than enough time to react."

Morpho addressed the rest of the campers, "See? We told you there was nothing to worry about."

Murquoql was about to report to Mark that her sister had found Parthenia and Farah in the woods when Mark deployed a smoke bomb and fled. Murquoql's telepathy was unhindered, though she still had her hands full ensuring the dragonhorses wouldn't capitalize on the smoke bomb at Cynthia's expense. The dragonhorses immediately started echolocating, and after a moment spent swapping one eyeball, Arilay started echolocating as well. Shale's antennae were also mostly unhampered by Mark's smoke bomb. She used her microchip to check the battery charge rate on her hoverboard — as expected, the recharge rate faltered a little bit until the smoke dissipated. The smoke was only blocking the rainbow spectrum of light, the deployed solar panels were still absorbing infrared and below as well as ultraviolet and above.

When the smoke dispersed, Murquoql quipped, "Well, looks like he didn't want our help rescuing Farah that badly after all. Now what do we do?"

Arilay realized her eyes were mismatched and awkwardly covered the new eyeball with one hand, nervously grinning and hoping no one noticed.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Oct 17th 2018 at 8:32:29 AM

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Henry, Joseph; NCH; Arnora; Matiu; Mequoql, Morpho)

Lily found herself taken aback by the sudden arrival of a strange shrubbery. The giantess, much larger than expected, came screaming into the picture after it, wielding a brilliant blue sword. With one fell strike, the shrub exploded into gore, much to the flight mage's surprise.

Blinking a few times, she managed to say, "Is that a holy sword?!"

"I'mma gonna fight 'er!" said Carol, grinning ear-to-ear.

Lily and Bonnie both noticed this. "Carol, no!" the cried in unison.

"Carol, yes!"

With that, the dark elf started charging... only to be immediately tackled by Bonnie.

The pair went down, with Carol swearing.

Lily palmed her face before addressing the others, "I'm sorry, Carol can be bit too fight happy, sometimes."

Parking lot (Cynthia, Diantha; Nui; James, Kaitlyn, Kris; Arilay, Murquoql and the Dragonhorses, Shale)

Diantha was in the process of wheeling her military model motorcycle with a boxy, lightly armored, left mounted sidecar, a vehicle that wouldn't be terribly out of place in the 1920s, around when she noticed the dragonhorses. She stiffened. Dragons were extremely dangerous creatures that could reduce this entire area to a barren wasteland. Aaaand... they were the size of horses.

Dragons were never that small. Ever.

A dragon is still a dragon, no matter how big or small it is, Fiona told Diantha, her mental voice a bitter winter's gale, I shall imbue you with my Frostthorn Nixglaives, so that you may smite those fell creatures of chaos.

Diantha felt the bitter cold enter her, causing her to shiver.

Oh icy goddess, it seems you have allowed vengeance to cloud your judgment. If you had bothered to look past their exterior, you would have noticed that they are not a world-ending abomination capable of slaying gods.

...

Diantha shivered again.

Oh for the love of the goddess, they have saddles.

Gritting her teeth, she continued hauling her bike over, deciding that killing someone's ride was probably not a good idea.

Meanwhile, Cynthia blinked a few times at Arilay before sheathing her sword and dispersing her shield, "Oh, I'm so sorry about that!" she said.

And then Mark threw down a smoke bomb. Cynthia was left choking from the smell as Diantha approached.

"Is everyone alright?" the purple-and-white haired girl called out, still trying to shiver too much from Fiona's blessing, which the noble spirit had saw fit to not dispel after her daughter had decided to not go off and slay dragon(horse)s.

"I'll be fine soon enough, Diantha," Cynthia replied as the smoke cleared.

In the aftermath, she noticed Arilay had two different eyes, one of which she promptly covered. "Oh," she said to her, "you're a bit like me," she said, gesturing towards her eye patch.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Oct 17th 2018 at 10:02:49 AM

Rainforest (???; Plasma)

Plasma took quick stock of the situation. She could sustain the flame bracelet for hours, but her scales wouldn't last as long as that against the rasping. She still had some time to stop it. She was standing, but her flame bracelet had accidentally brushed against some leaf litter in the process, igniting it.

Plasma decided to kill two birds with one stone. She reared, flapping her wings three times to shift herself and her burden a little, in the process confirming that the predator was too heavy to fly off with. Plasma slammed the predator's upper body back down to the ground, right on top of the tiny stray flame where it would be smothered. Maybe the jarring would continue the work her head-slam had started.

For good measure, Plasma started nipping, striking like a snake at different points. She targeted first just above the collarbones, next just below the exposed ear. Maybe she couldn't make the involved neck muscles too sore to keep the predator's head turned, but it was worth a quick try. Then Plasma tried to bite a cheek or lip so she could grab hold, break the suction and peel the predator's mouth off.

Watching Fiddler emerge from the cave unharmed and unafraid did wonders for the wild mustangs' bravery. Fiddler walked among the herd, letting them cluster around her and sniff her. Whisper's tummy ache had faded, so the skvader hopped from Fiddler to Whisper, then the two of them led Fiddler back to the cave.

The cave was just similar enough to barns and stables to where Whisper, the Tame One, was fine with the idea of going inside. He explored with Fiddler, then they emerged and briefly rejoined the herd, long enough to share their history-scents of the cave. This time, Guardian Thunder accompanied them to inspect the cave. They exited with good news. Still no predators.

Three times, equine scouts had patrolled the cave and come to no harm. Lead Mare Flashfoot deemed the cave safe enough for the entire herd to hide from the sight of the Sabertooth Airbeast. The entire herd entered.

_{^< cont. from} Forest, Edge - Instability _{^> Henry, Joseph — Adam, Amy, Jackson, Marie, Maya, Nick — Arnora — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Mequoql, Morpho — Maitu}


"Lagokin? Thatha perth- ...persson with rabbit ears?" Joe wondered. He rolled his eyes and scoffed as Bonnie described the kind of people who would pull her ears. "You ssould pull on their earss in return. See how they like it. Jerkoffs."

He gave her a friendly smile as she offered her medical services if something went wrong, though the thought of what could go wrong in a scenario where he was trying to use magical gemstones to turn himself from lizard to human put him ill at ease. He had never seen The Fly, but his brother had given him the synopsis, and passing through the living-room while a guy's face was falling to bits had left its nightmarish impression on him for many long nights.

Suppressing a shudder, Joseph stared curiously at the gems in his lizardy hands. "Sth-Stho... what, I could think of a pot of gold, and bam, there it ith?"

Before he could get an answer, all attention was drawn to the rather casual announcement that a giantess was inbound. The teens fell into a big panic, while others talked plans-of-action, or reasoned that if the giantess seemed a threat, then Mequoql would have made it clear. Morpho raised his voice to try to settle the sweeping alarm, and Mequoql herself offered some more information—perhaps a little later than was convenient.

"Look," Henry piped up, "I think we're all forgetting an important question here. Just how giant is this giantess? Because, it seems to me we could be talking, uh, NBA women's league material, or we could be talking-"


"DIIIIIEEE!!!"


Everything went a little sideways after that. The very large woman cleaving her way into their campsite came as both a surprise and a given. The strange fleshy mass that preceded her, less so.

All Henry could think to do was futilely raise his bat in front of him in a defensive posture, and Joe, for whatever reason, found himself standing still, concerned with the matter of not dropping the gems he'd been handed.

Thankfully for their clothes and Henry's enduring appetite, Morpho stretched like Mister Fantastic and blocked the ensuing carnage from sweeping over them. The impact of the giantess's landing threatened to drop them to the ground, but they held fast. By some miracle Joseph even managed to cling onto the gems, without a single one dropped.

When things had settled, and the giantess apologized for the mess, Henry looked to Mequoql.

"So, um... what exactly was that supposed to look like?"

Joseph just stood where he was, not daring to make a move. His eyes darted from place to place, fixing on the giantess for a few seconds before he asked, "...d-d-ddid thomething juth exthplode?"

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Stability _{^> David — Varla — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara}


David watched in complete puzzlement as the tension slowly began resolve itself. He'd thought that he was averse to hugs, but he could never imagine himself pulling anything even resembling Varla's violent reaction. Things became all the more confusing when she claimed that the serpent girl's hug had been an act of sexual assault. Were the merfolk really so chaste that even a comforting hug was seen as some kind of sexual aggression? It might explain a few things about Varla's behavior, but he had a difficult time conceiving of a society that was so uptight.

All the while, he kept a hand beneath his unbuttoned shirt, pressing through the fur of his belly, feeling against his skin for abnormal movement. It roused the soreness of his bruises, but he held firm. He'd been so lost in his head that he had barely noticed the return of Nerea's water binding, but he offered a glance of recognition as she swiftly withdrew it.

As for what he felt in his waist, there was nothing quite as extreme as what had stirred moments before. But he couldn't shake the small panic that raced through his body with each beat of his tremulous heart.

The newcomer—turned from being on the defensive herself to being a hapless mediator—expressed an interest in David's condition. She was polite enough in asking, but David put up his hand and shook his head.

"It's a complicated and unpleasant tale. And there are more pressing matters at hand. I know that little... episode might have been troubling to witness, but I'm-" he closed his eyes and gave his head a quick rattle, "I'm fine now. ...I think."

As if the universe was out to contradict him, a distinct presence entered his mind, voicing itself between his own thoughts. It introduced itself as a telepath—nay, the telepath—who had rescued Joseph.

"Rescu-!" he began aloud, before shooting a quick glance around at his present company, and thinking better of it. Concentrating on forming clear sentences, he thought back, Rescued? He got away from that monstrosity? And he's unharmed? Although he was not speaking, his mouth trembled, and his mind briefly clouded over with emotions. Many were exploding, joyful emotions, but none were beyond the reach of a needling guilt.

He turned his dark little gaze to the inward wasteland, to the cracked earth, the scattered rocks. He raised his eyes to the bright blue sky, pupils contracting as he tried in vain to spy the telepathic messenger.

Telepath, he thought, thank you. Thank you dearly. And no, you aren't interrupting anything. It was a half truth, as the sexual-hug quarrel continued on nearby, and snatches of the story David was in no mood to tell flitted in and out of his mind. Please, watch over him while I am away. And tell him I'm... a flurry of words and word fragments flew through his head, many of them more true than what he decided to focus on. I'll see him again soon.

With that, he drew in a long breath sea air, reeling himself back into his immediate surroundings. He smoothed the ruffled fur on the top of his head, brushed back his whiskers, blinked a few times, then turned to the irascible merworman.

"Varla, please. She meant 'molesting' as in bothering, or... pestering." he And Lerna was just being empathetic. See... this is why it would do you some good to read the situation before leaping to these extremes. Why she would go from expressing sympathy for your... plight, to trying to sexually assault you in a moment's time, with all of us," he turned his wrist, gesturing in a circle, "standing right here, is- well, it's beyond me."

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Temple Ruins - Mass Hallucination _{^> Joseph — Nasur — a pebble representing Maequoql}


"Three minutes..." Joseph hummed wearily, rubbing his head again. "No wonder everything hurts. Oh, and uh, thanks again for sending that message. I'll try not to use you as my personal mailperson too much."

He flashed a quick grin—turning to a wince as it tugged a sore muscle somewhere down the line—before jerking his head around at the sudden rising of the hooded figure. The gaunt face and wild look in the person's eyes almost had Joe scrambling back to his worn-out feet.

He scooted back a few inches before stopping as the figure spoke, presenting—in contrast to his appearance—a friendly greeting.

"...glll...lad to be awake," Joe said, glancing uncertainly from the figure to the pebble. "Oh, the voice said that I fell on you, so..." he smiled rather sheepishly for a lizard, "sorry about that."

He paused as the pebble bopped off of the hooded figure's head, and the voice threatened to escalate things if the figure did not accept that she was real.

As soon as the voice suggested ripping the roof off, Joe's eyes widened, and he interjected, "UH, I- hey, I- l-look, for what it's worth, I can hear it too." He looked up at the figure and tapped the side of his head for emphasis. "So, unless we're both hallucinating the same thing—and I don't think it works like that—then I'm pretty sure the voice is real. Also, there's the- the floating pebble."

Edited by Ryuhza on Oct 18th 2018 at 10:07:27 AM

[Forest or Not So Bad Times]

Nick glared at Lily, Morpho, and Mequqol.

"Oh, well, excuse-fucking-us for being human and never dealing with that kind of shit before!" He crossed his arms, "Keep rubbing it in, will ya? Sheesh, at least pretend to be slightly considerate."

The giantess soon arrived afterwards, wielding some kind of mystical sword..and some sort of weird, fleshy mass. Morpho managed to block the bulk of it before it got on any of them. It still wasn't a pleasant sight, though.

"Okay," Jackson said, "That's bloody disgusting."

Thankfully, the giantess was as harmless as Mequqol said she was. And since Mael was still MIA, her eyes were not silver, adding to the extra relief. Though Nick couldn't help but smirk at the idea of Mael trying to brainwash someone who would crush him with her foot.

"...Hi!" Amy said, waving happily, "I'm Amy! What's your name?"

Of course, Carol decided to almost make things worse by charging, only being stopped by Bonnie.

"Why do they even hang out with her?" Maya said. Since Amy was too busy trying to befriend the giantess, there was a chance nobody knew what her hands were signaling.

Adam, meanwhile, was more amazed he didn't piss himself. He stood back up, feeling his heart pace at a normal rate.

"Oh, thank God," he whispered, "Thank God, I was so not ready to fight a giant. We're not gonna die." He looked up at the giantess, quickly noticing her sword. His eyes widened in awe. "Whoa..."

Trying her best not to focus on that pile, Maria trotted back to Joseph. "Uh, a-are you okay? We can try to get back to what we were doing if you're still up to it..."

Edited by Masterofchaos on Oct 18th 2018 at 2:01:10 PM

Forest Campsite

Henry, Joseph, Bonnie, Carol, Lily, Mequoql, Morpho, Not-Chaos-Hunters, Matiu

Henry looked to Mequoql. "So, um... what exactly was that supposed to look like?"

Mequoql explained, "She wasn't talking to us when she yelled 'Die'. Given the freakout, I thought you'd think she was."

Morpho was befuddled at Nick's outburst, and asked, "What do you mean, you've never dealt with this kind of experience before?"

Mequoql warned, "Morpho..."

Morpho continued sticking his foot in his mouth, "You use those gems with skill, surely that means you've already been initiated to the supernatural side of the masquerade?"

"Morpho..." Mequoql warned again.

Oblivious to Hints, Morpho continued, "And are you blaming your humanity on your lack of experience? That's no excuse! There are panicky civilians who aren't humans on other planets too! And the human who founded the Web of Friendship was completely unfazed by all the weirdness — even the hazardous weirdness — she encountered when she crossed the masquerade."

"Morpho!" Mequoql raised her hand and slapped the back of Morpho's head, easily reaching despite his height. "That's enough!"

Morpho meekly said, "Shutting up."

"Why do they even hang out with her?" Maya asked. Since Amy was too busy trying to befriend the giantess, Mequoql noticed the situation, took a telepathic peek and relayed the translation instead.

Maequoql replied to David, "I'll try my best to help arrange the reunion, but the fellow whom Joseph is with is a bit reluctant to cooperate." She noticed David's stray thoughts on what Varla was up to, and started looking at all the different perspectives in turn.

Varla rolled her eyes at David's ignorance and educated, "It's called stealth, David, and it's a classic trick — closing the distance under the guise of sympathy and doing a deliberately ambiguous gesture. It leaves the public blind to the sexual intent and the perpetrator with a foundation for the next maneuver to be slightly easier."

It was at that moment that Maequoql finished investigating what Varla was up to. She privately advised the irritated mermaid, "David's right, Nerea used an archaeic definition. Now drop the issue, if you keep going, you'll sound like a loon."

Varla sighed and took the advice. "But anyway, I'm glad that's not what happened here. Nerea, you really need to choose your words more carefully."

Meanwhile, Maequoql returned her attention to below the trap door.

[Wasteland, Southeastern Coast]

A flash of light came and went. In it's place was someone wearing a gray hood, his eyes completely covered. Only those who removed the hood would be able to see what they looked like. In his hands was a hunting rifle, fully loaded and ready to shoot when necessary.

He set the rifle down for a brief moment and pressed something against his ear—again, it was covered by the hood, so no one would be able to see what it was unless the hood was removed.

"Now, you remember what I told you, right?" Mael said on the other line, "Find out where they are, and if you happen to find that robot or those blue aliens, you shoot them on sight. No questions. Got it?"

"Of course," the man said, his voice monotone, "Your instructions will be carried out."

"Good. I know I'm wanted for now, so I'll be staying in orbit watching your progress. If anything happens, I'll come for you immediately. Keep that bracelet on you."

"Of course."

Slowly and slightly sluggishly, the man began to walk forward. It seems that there were a group of people up ahead, though what they looked like, he couldn't completely tell. It didn't matter too much; whoever they are, he had to do his duty. Failing Mael was not an option.

To the two people that remember Ren Island/Character Inn will know who this is. Or to the nine thousand people that remember Frontier will definitely know who this is. Anyway he's not super close to the others, so only someone who noticed the flash will see him, or someone looking in that direction, or Maequoql.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Oct 20th 2018 at 8:00:19 AM

Rainforest (???; Plasma)

Between divine grand-parentage, barrier maiden training, housing a potentially world destroying eldritch space parasite, and being raised in the deep sea, the lamprey was natural a tough cookie.

Despite that, being used to put out a brush fire caused the lamptey to ragdoll. Still, it clung steadfast by its mouth, too distracted by goings on to continue rasping. Then it was struck behind the eyes (it didn't have noticable external ears), right in its gills.

It reflexively gasped before releasing its grip with a "pop". It found itself once more within the grasp of the dragonhorse, hissing in annoyance at this turn of events.

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; David; Varla)

Nerea held a hand to her mouth, "Many apologies. I knew not that such an innocuous word would have gained such a dread-ful meaning." She then held up a hand, "Excuse me for one moment," she said, before walking up to and leaning beside David.

"Are there any words I should be wary of using that might have new, unpleasant meanings?" she asked the furry man.

Lerna hesitated at first upon being hugged by Varla. She soon relaxed, though, and fully returned the hug, "Okay, I'll make sure to do that from now on." Upon releasing herself from the violet mermaid, she took a step back, "I really like it when you're nice," she said with a smile.

Nerea straitened herself up and faced Varla once more, "Once again, many apologies for all of this." She held a hand to her chin, "I suppose allowing one-self to remain isolated from society for over half one's life might do that to one's vocabulary."

Neither Lerna nor her master noticed the flash of light, however, Nerea was quickly aware of the person approaching due to her aetheric resonance, which pointed out nothing out of the ordinary other than being apparently an otherworlder, which seemed to be expected considering the current gathering.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Oct 20th 2018 at 2:23:21 PM

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

Sallara shook her head, getting exasperated. "You don't understand what I meant. I'm saying that she seemed to have no ill intention, one or another..."

With the others explaining the same thing over, things eventually calmed down. The whole display seemed rather odd to Sallara. She and her people were not averse to physical affection, so seeing someone rejecting contact like that had left her a little shocked, even as she could understand the implications the mer-woman had mentioned.

"See? This was a poor choice of wording, no ulterior motive." She turned to the furry one, who had commented on his own nature. "I understand. Feel free to ask for help if you feel unwell."

That being said, there still seemed to be some tension between everyone. So Sallara tried to change the subject. "I believe we did not properly introduced ourselves. If we did, then I apologize, my mind was much too focused on another matter." She said, using a more polite tone. Again, she curtsied while grabbing the fins on her sides. "My name is Sallara. What are yours, if you happen to have one?"

Don't remember if all the characters introduced themselves already. So we can make presentations official now.

Wasteland

Nasur just smiled, and waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, no worries! I fall down all the time. It's not the first time someone has fallen over...ouch!"

He felt as if someone had trown a rock at the back of his head. "Who threw that!?" He exclaimed and turned around, but there was no one behind him. Turning again, he saw a pebble floating in front of him.

"Agh! Get out of my head! You're not real!" He grabbed his head and shook it as he heard it in his mind, unwilling to even listen to it. He was not going to allow losing himself to the madness, to the hunger...

The stranger pointed out the floating pebble, which Nasur quickly swatted away. "Agh, maybe... Maybe you're right. Then what is it? Maybe some kind of spell..." He mused, to himself and the friend. This seemed unlikely, though. Nasur smelled no magic coming from the pebble, which otherwise would have signalled a levitation spell.

"Well, if it's a spell, then whoever is communicating with us might be somewhere nearby. How about you show up then, voice?" He called out to the voice, wondering if they could actually introduce themselves in person. "I mean, using a mind-binding spell is not being very educated, you know?"

A Flurry of Activity

Maequoql fidgeted and flexed her fingers, trying to keep her claws sheathed. Her subconscious had set off an alarm bell — there was at least one problem. She checked the tractor beam. The blob was still in check. That wasn't the problem.

"David got the message. He says he'll see you again soon."

"That would be much appreciated, since I'm supposed to be keeping an eye out for danger," Maequoql exposited.

When Nasur swatted the pebble, it boomeranged back. Maequoql didn't hit Nasur this time. She mused, "This is just basic telepathy and telekinesis, can't you tell? Oh... you really can't... So you're hungry for magic and yet you can't access my energy? Oh dear, apparently you're cut off from feeding on the biological branch of magic. That's a problem."

"Actually, I'm not nearby. I have a very long telepathic and telekinetic range. I'm communicating with you from inside a machine that is currently flying above the clouds and below the stars. I could show up, but it would take a few minutes to make the journey and then just like you I'd be in danger of bumping into the mind-controller who's lurking around somewhere. From where I am now, I can search for him safely." Maequoql got an idea, a much better idea than ripping off the roof. "Alternatively, you can join me on this flying machine, once I help aim the teleporter. Then you'll be safe from my mind-controlling enemy, and able to teleport anywhere on this world... including the Crystal Caverns, once I find them."

"But in any case, at least I can identify myself. My name is Maequoql, and I am a Mayatan — a being who comes from a world located at a particular star."

And then the pebble wobbled in midair as her attention was called for elsewhere.

Nerea was enlightened, one word of her vocabulary updated. Lerna promised no more surprise hugs. With the case of the misidentified hug closed, Varla still had to enlighten David on a matter.

Varla briefly addressed Nerea, "And now you are enlightened," before announcing to the group at large in response to Lerna, "Nice is something I've been re-learning since my heart got crystallized." Ending the hug with Lerna jostled Varla's injured arm, sending another jolt of pain through it. Her inhale hitched, her exhale was partly a tiny irritated huff — the combat endorphins were wearing off. She brusquely repeated for Sallara's benefit, "My name is Varla."

Finally, she could pick that bone with David. "So, David, about that healing song... You've had your say, now you listen carefully to me. First of all, I do have an idea of how close I came to ending you — nowhere near as close as you evidently think. I learned to use my magic in an environment of active sabotage that makes this place look like a nursery and the Warpfields to the north look like a garden. It forced me to have that much more control over exactly what my power does. And as part of my healing song, I was drawing energy from the sea and using it to push the dangerous magic of the land away from you."

"Second of all, about the permission issue, I neither asked for nor wanted you flirting with me in the quicksand either. Sex is just as deadly a weapon as any other, and your words were brandishing that weapon just as recklessly as you accuse me of being reckless with my healing song." A trace of Black Speech accent accidentally slipped through, "So consider us even on the things done without permission score."

She thought for a second. "So, you have a complicated and unpleasant tale that you don't want to tell? Let me guess, you're under a curse. I know a cursebreaker, but she's already busy trying to find a missing kid who's under a life-draining curse."

Varla was distracted by a distant flash of light inland. "What was that?" she asked Maequoql.

Maequoql's attention was immediately caught. "What was what?" she asked, reviewing the selected memory and triangulating the position. She probed the new arrival's mind and... "Orange Alert! Someone under Mael's mind control just teleported in!" So that's why her claws were itching to extend. She suspected her rough probing might have hit a few mental tripwires connected to alarms, but Mael already knew that Mayatans were telepathic. Maequoql sounded her own alarm. "Good grief, I haven't seen mind-control this obvious since Sarquoql was a teenager!"

Well, that was just peachy. How was Varla supposed to break the news? She asked, "Do either of them know my affiliation?"

"I don't think so..."

An ominous smirk twitched across Varla's mouth, vanishing in a split second. "Good. That gives me more options."

The dragonhorses acknowledged Cynthia putting her sword and shield away and relaxed with sighs, slightly disappointed that they didn't get to play the minimum-force disarming game at a further escalation. Meanwhile, Shale rotated an antenna to scan Diantha.

Arilay giggled nervously at Cynthia's words, "Uh, maybe so, but me messing with my eyes tends to gross people out. Don't look at me!" She walked over to Zing and hand-signaled him to open one wing. As he did so, Arilay ducked behind the wing to use it as a privacy shield.

Meanwhile, Shale messaged Arilay via the microchips. "Did you know her body temperature dropped right right before she initiated conversation with you?"

Convenient timing, Arilay had just plucked out the echolocating eyeball. Now this she had to see. She grabbed a thermal imaging eyeball instead of the twin of the one still installed.

Shale scooted to Blackthorn's side and laid a hand on Murquoql's knee, burrowing her fingertips through the Mayatan's fur to her skin, and got Murquoql's news.

Soon afterwards, Maequoql sounded orange alert. Arilay listened to the reason why and made an announcement throughout the spaceship.

Back down on the ground, Arilay emerged from behind Zing's folding wing, and addressed Diantha. "Goodness, are you okay? You're colder than the surrounding air!" Arilay tapped the eye socket with her obviously mechanical-looking eyeball and explained, "Thermal imaging."

Murquoql announced, "All right, let's just go around the circle and state our names, affiliations, and intended missions. My name is Murquoql, member of the Web of Friendship, and I'm seeking volunteers to help search for a missing kid in the rainforest. There's a chance that volunteers might get attacked by vampires along the way, but the Web has plenty of experience fending them off. The gray lady on the hoverboard is Shale, she doesn't have vocal cords. She's a member of the Web of Friendship, searching for a mind-controller on the loose. The dragonhorse I'm riding is Blackthorn, the other dragonhorses are Zip and Zing, they're all pets of the Web of Friendship and currently helping my mission — Zip and Zing will transport whoever wants to look for the missing kid, while obviously Blackthorn continues carrying me."

Arilay introduced herself, "My name is Arilay, leader of the Web of Friendship. I'm a cyborg, and currently that spaceship up there is an extension of my body. I'm searching for the mind-controller on the loose."

Fortunately for Unit 09's growing limbs, the medical pod had quickly dialed down the artificial gravity to float her out of the constricting computer casing so she could have more room. Meanwhile, Moquoql's telekinesis on autopilot began tracing every physical connection holding Unit 09 to the casing. Now that the anti-magic bolts were no longer in the way, disencumbering Unit 09 so she could walk without dragging hardware behind her was a cinch. It didn't require much brainpower, it was just time-consuming.

Moquoql listened to the tidbit of history. She blinked twice at the word 'computational'. "Okay, seriously, this secrecy spell is still battering at my mental shields even though the secret I think it was set to guard has long since been busted, and it's getting really annoying. I learned a few diagnostic tricks from a cursebreaker, so..." She turned to the casing, overrode the translator field, and started rattling off a list of specific nouns from all the languages she knew, all variants of the word "computer", each with a slightly different definition adding up to capture a lot of conceptually similar ideas. She measured the impact on her mental shields from the secrecy spell reacting to each word, then when she ran out of vocabulary, she let the translator field settle again.

"Well, that was enlightening. The secrecy spell is definitely dictionary-based..."

Moquoql was interrupted as Arilay's voice announced, "Attention all passengers. We are now at orange alert. A victim of mind-control has been sighted."

Something occured to Moquoql. "E-eiyah!" She quickly took apart what she'd been about to say and wove it in with this new info. "I don't think the mind-controller would dare set foot on this spaceship, but nevertheless, if for some contrived reason we happen to bump into him... I'm sorry, Unit 09, but you really need to know something about yourself because it poses a security risk. Listen to me. You are NOT mechanical. You're biological. That means the mind-controller can hack you if you look into his eyes. Do you understand?"

Nyorla had all the moufreta meat scanned and decontaminated, most of the meat moved to deep cold storage, and a few servings of muscle cooking. While she watched the meat cook, she ate a moufreta brain from out of its cracked-open skull.

Halfway through eating, she got the announcement and muttered, "Well, I'd better make sure Maequoql doesn't forget to eat..."

The flames on Plasma's bitten foreleg briefly flared, then filled in the bite mark as the predator's mouth released. Plasma quickly ignited her other foreleg before the same hassle could repeat. She cast a glance at her damage through the flames. Yep, some obvious scrapes, but no scales broken or removed. Then she tried to assess how badly burned the predator's face was. Seenarnha might be annoyed if it turned out this predator couldn't heal as fast from flame damage as other vampires that Plasma had subdued in the past.

Over the microchip communicator, Orange Alert was called for a far away place that was not her business. Plasma had her orders. All right, now to figure out how to mobilize and get back to Seenarnha. Plasma tried nickering, hoping to soothe the agitation out with what her equine genetics told her was a comforting sound, or at least get the predator wondering why Plasma dropped the fight so quickly.

Could the predator recognize Plasma's cleverness, which did not include the kinds of strange thoughts her sentient owners thought? Plasma had no idea how clever the predator was. With her owners distant and Maequoql busy, Plasma couldn't easily ask for help finding out.

Alert level was set to Orange, a victim of Mael's mind control had been spotted. Seenarnha remembered the report said that Mael could teleport, so to prepare for the slightest chance that he might turn up here, she idly started double-checking a compartment in her mind that she'd previously set up for Sarquoql. A computer programmer would call the equivalent tactic for computers a honeypot. Seenarnha hung another bauble from a tree branch to mark her trail.

Orange Alert! A mind-control victim! This was more exciting than the scheme the twins had cooked up. They shelved the scheme — they had some traveling to do. The hunt was on!

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Oct 21st 2018 at 6:44:34 AM

[Location Unknown] (Oseru aq'Xueral, Mael, fragment of the Eyes and Teeth)

Oseru sensed something. Perhaps it was her powers detecting Mael, perhaps it was truly just the will of fate that she find him. Either way, she followed the thread to a mind she sensed could be a worthy, and suitably permissive, ally.

She was a tall, lean, and dark woman in her mid-thirties, with vibrant green eyes and straight hair dyed blood-red, and despite her noble bearing, she dressed as a soldier. She wore a ballistic vest over a tunic and loose pants, all colored with dark camouflage for the swampland she'd been raised in.

And weapons. Weapons. Immediately visible were an imposing, high-caliber Kykzavi assault rifle slung over her back, plenty of clips for the thing, and a machete-like sword sheathed at her side. Hidden on her person were three small knives, a hold-out pistol, and plenty of ammo. Sure, her magic could eliminate most threats, but a Moon Hawk was always prepared.

"I do apologize," she said as she approached, hands raised, "for my intrusion." Her voice was low and elegant, and her refined High Yothic accent was translated into the something like that of a Southern Belle. "But the Spirits guided me to you for a reason — they believe we can help one another." She brought a fist to her chest in a slow, refined motion. "Oseru aq'Xueral, of the Moon Hawks." She then thumped the fist against her vest, hard enough to make the clips rattle. "I will of course tell you my business, but first... the spirits were unclear on yours. What brings you to this curious land?"

Then she raised a hand and added, "wait, but first. Just so there is no unfortunate misunderstanding, I have heard something of your powers." From the wanted poster in town, of course. "Nothing personal, and I do hope this won't come between us making a mutually beneficial alliance. But if you attempt to control my mind..." and as she began her speech, at no point did her voice change from sweetly polite, "even your greatest enemies shall pity you for the horrors which I will visit upon your body and psyche before releasing the poor, shattered thing you will become to wander, babbling incoherently, as a warning to any others who so rudely assault the mind of a Moon Hawk. But of course, you surely wouldn't be so rude as that?" She fixed Mael with a sweet, fetching smile.

This was not an empty threat. Behind Oseru's mind was another: Vast. Ancient. Empty. A few drops drawn from an ocean of hatred and hunger had infected Oseru's mind. Somewhere between a parasite, a god, and an idea, the shining darkness — or was it shadowy light? — granted her power and slowly, slowly siphoned her mind to do the thinking it could not.

Mael would sense this, because Oseru quite deliberately permitted him to. Most others would not; her magic was deliberately well-hidden. Anti-Magic was a real threat where she came from, and the weapons race between her kind and those who opposed them had gotten very sophisticated over the years. Those sensitive to the arcane one would have to focus on her directly to know what she was; passive scans wouldn't pick her out from a gun-toting muggle if she didn't start wielding her powers. Which, conveniently, would keep her (and thus Mael) from being found too easily.

Edited by KillerClowns on Oct 23rd 2018 at 8:38:07 AM

[???]

Odd.

As far as Mael knew, this place was only accessible by someone with a gem like his, just so intruders wouldn't try to break down the door and disrupt his work. On top of that, the spinel surrounding the ship blocked off any radar or tracking device, making it impossible for anyone, no matter the means, to find him. So when Oseru somehow got inside and spoke to him, he almost jumped.

Great, he thought, More magic users. I need to update my security.

Fortunately, she looked nowhere near like the blue aliens that were no doubt hunting him down like a wild animal. Or that strange goddess that was working for them. She did, however, have some sort of wild and primal energy surrounding her. Trying to mind control her would be downright suicidal. Besides, it would seem a little ungrateful to try that trick on someone who wants his help, right?

Mael stood up from his chair and faced the strange woman. "I'm a wise man. I'm not foolish enough to try to control almost everyone I meet, especially, as I learned, those with a supernatural powers like yours. And since I do not wish to provoke you, I may as well come clean."

He bowed. "Mael Leory. I've been hired by a good friend of mine to find six teenagers who have, time and time again, escaped his grasp. Many methods were tested, but all failed, so I'm a last resort. I nearly succeeded...but unfortunately, I was not equipped to deal with supernatural beings, and in my moment of arrogance, I was derailed." He sighed, "No doubt they're on high alert and searching for me, so until they give up or go elsewhere, I will remain hidden here. I've sent someone else to do the deed for me, as you can see."

He pointed to the screen, where the hooded figure was still walking towards the group, his rifle gripped tightly in his hands. He still had some ways to go, unless someone was willing to go to him first.

"Now, Ms. Oseru," he continued, "I believe it's your turn to explain your business, as you said before. How can I help you?"

[???]

Mael was proving a reasonable host, given the circumstances. She supposed she couldn't expect him to offer her a drink, this was clearly a practical operation, but otherwise, so far, so good.

"Of course," Oseru said. She stood a bit more upright and folded her arms behind her back — maintaining proper posture was expected for a woman of her standing — and began to explain. "Wouldn't be proper to keep it a secret, would it? An insufferable woman, Alice Winters was poking around here a bit ago. She sent her fanatical pets here, a full military squad... though," she chuckled, "they had to withdraw thanks to, well, politics." A dismissive wave of her hands. "I won't bore you with the details unless you want me to, the whims of theocratic monotheists aren't all that interesting. Luckily for us, an agent of hers my people captured knew a bit about it and was convinced to tell us about it." Again, the fair, winning smile. "Now, as we gather it, there's a very interesting something in an abandoned ghost town that Alice wanted blown apart. Alice is the sort of woman who destroys anything she can't control. It's her nature. And as my people have no interest in being controlled by the likes of her..." she drifted off, letting the thought finish in Mael's mind.

She then made a slight bow and said, "as for how we can help one another? Well I am, if nothing else, an unknown element. Those who'd know your face don't know mine, and I'm hard to pick out. And as for you? In addition to your own capabilities, which I'm sure are plentiful..." she took a look around her. "Well, this is a truly fine vessel. Nearest thing I've seen to Songtech, and it's not even tried to eat me. You are clearly a man of resources and skill; combined with what I bring to the table, I'm sure we can deal with both of our little problems. Now, when you say 'find'...?"

Oseru was not above hollow flattery... but she was being quite sincere here. Mael's base of operations was impressive, and the man himself emanated both significant mental energy and the simple competence that the followers of Xeqa regarded as a virtue above any other. She looked over at the screen Mael indicated, curious to see how his pawn would do.

Edited by KillerClowns on Oct 24th 2018 at 8:46:13 AM

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Gut Lead _{^> David — Varla — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara}


David shook his head slowly, staring at Varla with an expression of genuine confusion as the mermaid elucidated the practical concepts of disguising a sexual public hug as a regular public hug.

"So that's how it is?" he said, folding his arms. "Everyone is out to get you, huh?" He sighed. He lowered his eyes to the sandy beach before his feet. He shook his head again.

Nerea approached, asking for advice on what other old-fashioned words she might avoid using. He let out his breath in a puff and shrugged, murmuring, "Normally I would say the context is enough; most people would realize that you didn't mean to offend, but..." he gave a sidelong glance at Varla and lowered his voice further, "there are some types who would try stabbing a rock to death if they got the notion it was looking at them funny. In any case, nothing springs immediately to mind, so... oh! If we're ever collecting wood for whatever purpose, and someone has a bundle of them, just... just call it a bundle of sticks or a bundle of wood."

The newcomer pressed no further with her questions, moving to finally introduce herself instead. Turning to the others, David scolded, "Now, look at us, so busy fussing about over what was largely a great deal of nothing at all that we didn't even get the name of the poor girl who washed up bleeding on the beach." He shifted to face the newly-named Sallara again. "Sorry for all of the drama. Things have been... not great, lately." He straightened his open shirt, puffed up his chest a bit, and smiled, "I happen to have three names, actually, but I think two will do for now. David Harkness. Distraughtness aside, consider me at. your. service."

Varla then called for his attention, having more to say. His smile lasted for about two sentences, but although his breathing quickened and stilled a few times throughout her rebuttal, his expression remained more-or-less passive.

When she had finished, he paused for a moment, raised his snout to the sky and allowed a slow breath to pass through him.

"First," he said, lowering his head to look at Varla directly, "allow me to apologize for my earlier behavior. I had no idea that you were deathly allergic to flirtatiously-tinged 'thank yous'. I promise you, had I known that when I was moments from drowning in quicksand, the words would have never left my mouth. I never intended you any harm, let alone to risk sending you beyond the brink of sanity into a pit where you have no concept of self, no memory of who you were, just an enduring, horrible sense of being gone. No, I hadn't the faintest idea of the impressive gravity of your situation, and for my actions I am sorry. Thank you for bringing to light how equal these things are."

After descending from something that almost resembled sincerity to a near monotone, David finally let bitterness flow into his voice. "Second, if your friend enjoys wasting time, then by all means she can step right up and be the next in line to fail at breaking this curse. But I'm sure you know all about that. You seem to know about everything that's going on with me; all the sea energies and land magic, and ohh, am I ever glad to have such an expert here who can act on so little information. Oh thank you, Varla. Thank you."

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Temple Ruins - Head Full of Stars _{^> Joseph — Nasur — a pebble representing Maequoql}


When the voice returned with David's response, Joseph closed his eyes let out a sigh, some long-tensed part in his belly finally relaxing. Meanwhile, Nasur fumbled for an explanation as to where the voice was coming from, and how it was doing what it was doing with the pebble.

"Well uh, the pebble is actually someone up in orbit," Joe explained, "you know, like, in space, floating around the globe. They're telepathic, which... I don't know if that's more of a science thing or a magical thing, but it's like having a walkie-talkie straight to your brain. And- oh..."

He trailed off as the voice explained the rest, and much more, finally identifying herself as Maequoql; a proper space-alien from the sound of it.

"A mind-controller?" he repeated, wincing at the very thought. "No offense, but just knowing you can poke around in there has me nervous enough. But a mind-controller... Jesus." He flopped onto his back, letting out a groan that carried at once both his weariness and a sense of relief. He laid like that for a moment, going over what he'd just been told, until...

"Wait, did I read you right? You said you can, like... beam us up there? Into your space-ship?" He opened his eyes wide as the idea really hit him, then looked at the hooded, wondering how the frail man would react to the prospect.

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

Unit 09 blinked her silver eyes a few times. She had noticed that one of the wards placed on her former housing had practically fallen apart at Moquoql's probing. "Impressive," she stated monotonously, now working on wrapping her left hand around the speaker still wired up to her for safekeeping, "you would make a fine mage in the Empire."

She then locked eyes with Moquoql. What the off-white alien was saying to her about her nature flew counter to basic science. She was an artificially created entity based off of a Silver Witch, a mineral-type lifeform. Using the word "biological" to describe a mineral was a bit... strange.

Nonetheless, there was the possibility that Moquoql was correct.

Plus, there was the matter of the mind controller.

Unit 09 nodded, "Affirmitive."

[???]

Mael chuckled.

"Well, find is a much nicer term that hunt them down, bring them to my employer, and have them deal with the kids." He waved his hand, "I've been paid very handsomely for it, so I can't complain. The children have been proven to be a pain in the ass, though, so my paitence with them is starting to wear thin."

Listening to her Orseru's story, he simply nodded his head and crossed his arms. "Ah. That makes sense. No wonder you sought me out." He rubbed his chin, "Very well, I'll try to do the best I can, but I'm going to need make sure I'm off any radar so this won't be derailed. Thankfully, I'm equipped with that."

Opening a nearby drawer, he pulled out a necklace with a small spinel attached to it and put it around his neck.

"This will make me practically untraceable, so we won't have to worry about anyone finding us immediately. And before we go..." He looked up at the monitor, "I need to do something important for a second. It will only be a moment."

[Wasteland]

The traveler was still a good distance away from the group, but now he could see them a bit more clearly. Notably, what got his attention the most was the well dressed talking otter. Well, relatively; he seem to be covered in sand for some reason. Nonetheless, his very presence was enough for the man to press the mysterious object on his ear,

"My lord," he said, "There's some sort of...otter thing in the distance. Is he one of the people who wronged you? Do you wish for me to shoot him?"

"No," Mael said, "Don't waste your bullets. You're going to need them to deal with the actual threats later on. For now, just try to approach them normally. You still have the picture I gave you?"

"Yes."

"Good. You need it. Tell them the story I gave you, alright? I'm going to be running an errand, so I trust you'll be able to handle this. Contact me as soon as you're able to."

"Of course."

With that, the conversation ended, and the stranger continued his walk.

[???]

Mael refaced Oresu. "Now, with that out the way, we can begin your search whenever you're ready. Thank you for the compliment, by the way. I've worked hard for years to get to where I am now."

Edited by Masterofchaos on Oct 28th 2018 at 2:39:46 PM

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; Varla; David)

Nerea raised an eyebrow, "You use the energy of the sea for healing? Fascinating. I assumed all healing spells for living creatures were tied to life aether."

Crossing her arms and cupping her chin, she "stared" at Varla. "Some-one hurt you, did they not?" A quick breath, "I can sympathize some-what, how-ever, some-times tripang is just tripang, no-thing more, no-thing less."

Listening to David, the abyssal empress eventually nodded. It made sense to call a bundle of sticks a bundle. Though, apparently, to the man, there were other words with other meanings related to that. "Right..."

The empress placed a hand on her chest, "My name is Nerea;" she then gestured to the serpentine girl, "my servant's name is Lerna." She closed the brief introduction with a small bow of her head, while Lerna performed a deeper one.

Rainforest (???; Plasma)

Annoyance, hunger, and confusion were swirling around the lamprey's head. Its lips were in pain from the flames, with superficial burns of the skin. As a bloodsucking fish person, these wounds would take a while to heal, due to lacking supernaturally fast healing.

Letting off a softer hiss, it glared at the dragonhorse as it worked on wrangling its nigh-insatiable hunger under control. It was aware that attempting to feed again would only result in more burns; it would have to wait for easier prey.

It also noticed that the horse hadn't caved its head in for the whole "gnawing on its wrist" routine it had just pulled. Instead, the beast was making odd noises at it. It blinked, and tilted its head.

Forest

Matiu looked up again in time to see the sudden arrival of something vaguely plant-like but definitely wrong with an enraged woman carrying a glowing blue sword in hot pursuit.

As Morpho launched himself towards the new arrivals, Matiu dropped his hand to the pistol on his hip, ready to deal with whatever threat presented itself, but the kerfuffle was over quicky - the strange fleshy shrubbery landed, the huge woman screamed "DIE" and swung the sword at the shrub thing and sliced it in half, sending bits of its guts flying. Morpho changed into some sort of shield that prevented the guts from spattering everything.

Carol launched herself in the direction of the giantess only to be tackled by Bonnie, adding Carol's swearing to the confusion, even as Morpho resumed his silver-human form.

Despite the sudden flurry of activity, the giantess just stood still, panting and staring at the rendered shrub-thing as if daring it to move - as the fleshiness and internal organs suggested it might. Then she seemed to notice the group.

"Um...hi. Sorry about the mess."

It was so casual in the wake of the sudden drama that Matiu found it faintly amusing. The giantess seemed friendly enough and the only object of her rage seemed to be the now-bisected shrub-thing, which didn't seem to be moving, so Matiu took his hand off his pistol grip.

Mequoql greeted the giantess and Morpho gave an 'I-told-you-so' to the group at large while Lily apologised for Carol's scrap-happy attitude.

Henry and Joseph seemed fine, if a little perplexed and the teens seem to be quite relieved that they weren't in danger.

A delicious smell reminded Matiu that he had meat in danger of burning so he turned back to the fire and carefully slid the plate off the flames and onto the ground with a stick. He took out a bandanna and wadded it in his hand so he could pick up the hot metal plate without searing his own fingers and placed the plate with it's cargo of freshly cooked meat onto the bed of the truck.

Once the meat was safe, he turned back to the group and hollered out to the giantess. "Hey, sis. You hungry? We got plenty-a meat - I c'n throw a few pieces on t'cook if y'want."

Forest (Arnora; Henry, Joseph, Bonnie, Carol, Lily, Mequoql, Morpho, Henry, Not-Chaos-Hunters, Matiu)

Well. That was a much calmer reaction than she had anticipated from such small creatures.

"I'mma gonna fight 'er!" the red-haired one said, almost gleefully.

I'd like to see you try, Arnora thought, as she lowered her sword to point it at her new assailant...and before she could even complete that action, the red-haired woman was tackled by the one with...rabbit ears?

"I'm sorry," one of the others said. "Carol can be bit too fight happy, sometimes."

"Heh," Arnora said. "Sounds like most of my friends." She slid the sword back into its...what was it, exactly? It certainly wasn't a scabbard. It couldn't even be said to be leather, since she hadn't had an opportunity to tan or cure it. It was basically just a strip of saber-bear skin tied into a loop, hanging off a longer strip of saber-bear skin tied around her waist.

"Hi!" another one of the small creatures said cherrfully, running up to her and waving. "I'm Amy! What's your name?"

Arnora was taken aback by how forward this Amy was. Up until Thassilae had arrived in Hromstgard, every bipedal creature this size she had encountered had tried to kill her on sight. But then, she thought as she looked around at the assembled party, every being that small she had encountered before Thassilae had been Fae. Granted, Fae using Glamour to disguise their appearance was a common practice, especially near Hromstgard, but usually they preferred to disguise themselves as rocks or trees, not to change the color of their hair or skin.

"...Arnora," she eventually said to Amy. "Arnora Olav..." her voice caught in her throat, and her eyes were unconsciously drawn to the sword at her waist. "Arnora Bluesword."

Then one of them stepped forward and offered her food. Well, that settled it. No Fae would ever be that generous to a Frost Giant. Well, unless they were trying to trick her into becoming indebted to them...

The smell of the meat reached Arnora's nose, and her stomach made the call for her.

"Can I say 'yes' strongly enough?"

[???] (Oseru, Mael, fragment of the Eyes and Teeth)

Oseru gave a nod and said, "of course, of course. Wouldn't expect anyone to go out unprepared. Now, this thing." She pulled a smartphone from her person and placed it on the nearest flat surface. Fiddling with it — she was surprisingly comfortable with the Terran technology — she a recording. "Here's all the information I've got for us right now. Sorry it isn't much, but we'll have to make due."

[Recording] (Oseru, unknown victim)

A man's voice. "I... I'll tell you... then... please, just let me die."

"Now that's more like it." Oseru's voice came in smooth from the recording.

"The d-device. It's... ah, she refused to tell us what it was. But it's being held by a bandit in this town. Ghost town. The orders were Abigail protocols."

"What are 'Abigail protocols'?"

"Exterminatus. Hit it with as much firepower as possible, no regards to collateral damage, then sweep the area, purging any potentially infected material. We didn't have a nuke, so we were planning to make due with mercenary heavy artillery bombardment."

"And what," Oseru said, "could justify that level of response? My patron?"

"N-no, ma'am, no offense. The Eyes and Teeth isn't scary enough for that. It's a known issue, we have, ah, never mind, you've seen. It would have to be a true AI, or another, similar existential threat of unknown potential."

"Tell me more," Oseru said, "about the target."

"It's called the HeDGe," the man said, "and it's some sort of device. Alice wasn't clear on what, but I think she was worried it would tempt us somehow. Apparently small, enough that some bandit lord has it and doesn't understand what it is..."

[???] (Oseru, Mael, fragment of the Eyes and Teeth)

Oseru shut off the playback here. "So," Oseru said. "All we have to do is put down a rabid hyena and take away the bone its been gnawing on. At least, that's what I'd like to think, but," she gave a rather sardonic smile, "if I thought that was all, I wouldn't be asking you for help, now would I?" Then, with a bow, she added, "of course, if you need a hand or see an opportunity for your own problems, now or in the future, I will happily assist. It's only fair. And I am quite ready to begin."

Though she's unlikely to "follow" Mael, per se, feel free to move them off to a new locale if Mael is ready to head out.

Edited by KillerClowns on Oct 28th 2018 at 11:45:25 AM

_{^< cont. from} Forest - Within Reason _{^> Henry, Joseph — Adam, Amy, Jackson, Marie, Maya, Nick — Arnora — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Maitu — Mequoql, Morpho}


Glancing rapidly between the giantess and Mequoql Henry stuttered, "Okay, I-I-I see. Yeah, 'cause- 'cause the way it looked was... well with, with... with uh—Morpho—with him blocking it, it kind of looked like one of you all might have been..." he closed his eyes and made a face, caught somewhere between thinking and trying to force words out. After two seconds or so, he managed, "...you know, cleaved into bits. Let me just say that I am glad that isn't the case. Really... really glad."

He drew in a deep breath, nervously turning and turning the bat in his hands.

Joseph still hadn't budged from his spot. No one answered his question directly, and no one really needed to; the evidence was all over the ground and in the chatter of those around him. There was this extraordinarily large woman with a sword with them now, and he didn't really know what to feel about that. He supposed he could file that away alongside 'magic is real', 'sci-fi aliens are real', and 'woke up as a lizard'.

As things settled as much as they could reasonably be expected to, Marie walked back over to him, and asked if he wanted to proceed with the gems.

Forcing his attention away from the sight of the giantess, he raised his cupped hands—still holding the gems he'd been given—and explained, "Oh, uh, I th-thiddent count them before, but I thon- I don' think I dropped any."

He stepped from side to side, shooting a few glances at the ground, lifting each foot and even his tail out of the way of any potentially misplaced gems. "How many do we need?"

Meanwhile Henry felt a strange surge of confidence, even in the shadow of a woman who could probably crush him with one off step. Maybe it was the bat in his hands, or maybe he just wanted to settle the uneasy churning in his stomach, but he stepped a little closer and spoke up.

"Arnora Olav Arnora Bluesword? Is that right?" He leaned on the bat like he was doing a Charlie Chaplin routine, and tapped his chest, "I'm Henry Bensen, myself. Now listen, if you don't mind my asking... and, well given your explosive entrance, I don't think it's too much to ask, uh... what brings you to this... leg of the woods? What on earth was that thing?"

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Henry, Joseph; NCH; Mequoql, Morpho; Matiu; Arnora)

Lily stared at the remains for a moment before replying to inquiries about... whatever it was. "I think it was a bush," she said, "a rather meaty bush judging from the— uh— remains," she gestured towards the gore radiating from around Arnora'a landing spot. "Wasn't very sturdy," she quipped.

Bonnie hauled herself off of Carol and dusted herself off. Upon receiving Mequoql's relay of Maya's message, the lagokin frowned, "Sure, she's crass, reckless, and a bit stubborn, but I can count on her having my back."

Carol sat up, "Aye, and I can count on ya t'patch me up."

"Very reckless," Bonnie amended, before continuing, "She also made a rather lasting first impression on me—"

Carol stood and patted her stomach, "Aye, took a knife for ya, didn't I?"

Bonnie sighed, nodding, "That you did, Carol, that you did."

Lily turned and craned her head upwards to address Arnora, "Anyway, My name is Lily, and those two are my comrades, Bonnie and Carol," she said, gesturing with her arm towards each in turn. Blinking a few times, the flight mage continued, "To be honest, when I heard that a giantess was going to show up, I wasn't expecting someone so tall. Nonetheless, it's a pleasure to meet you, Arnora."

Carol waved the giantess off with a smirk, noting the growl emanating from Arnora's stomach, "Feel free t'help yourself to a moufreta or two. I can probably round up a few more if need be."

[Forest]

Nick glared at Morpho. "Thanks for proving my point, dick." He turned to Mequoql. "Tell your robot friend to stay away."

With that, he rejoined his friends. The giant introduced herself as Arnora Olav Arnora Bluesword. It was a rather...odd name. Then again, so was Riverson, so he wasn't one to judge. Since this giantess was friendly, there was no need for him to be cautious, so he decided to talk to her like he talks to everyone else.

"Well, I'm Nick," he said, "Over there is Adam—"

"Hi..." Adam said nervously, still trying to calm his nerves.

"—Jackson, Maria, Maya, and Amy already introduced herself."

"Maya's deaf and mute!" Amy said, "So she uses sign language. I'll translate almost everything she says."

"Or these Web Of Friendship peeps," Maya said, "since they translated my sign already." She shrugged at Lily and Bonnie, "I mean...that's a good point. But make sure your girlfriend doesn't get any of us killed."

"Wait, I thought you said Lily and Bonnie were girlfriends." Jackson said, blinking "Or are you saying all three of them are?"

Maya slapped her forehead. "It doesn't matter, I'm fucking with them. Now since we're all not going to kill each other, let's eat." She looked at her friends, "I'm hungry as hell."

Nick grabbed a piece of the Moufreta and took a small bite. To his surprise...it wasn't all that bad! It actually tasted better than he expected. Though, it could use some Cajun seasoning and corn on the side.

"Hey, this is actually pretty good!" he said, turning to his friends, "Try some, guys!"

Sure enough, the other Not-Chaos-Hunters grabbed some Moufreta and dug in. Amy's eyes widened, practically sparkling.

"Wow! Amazing!" She nearly squealed, "I gotta tell my uncle when I go back home!"

Maya, however, looked unimpressed. "This taste like unseasoned chicken." She looked over at Carol and the others, "Do y'all even have seasonings where you live?"

Marie gently closed Joseph's hand. "It doesn't really matter how many we need. These will do. Again, this is new to us, but we'll do everything we can to help you. Now, close your eyes...and think of what you want. What you really want." She smiled gently, "Take as much time as you need, ok sweetie?"

[???]

The tape was disturbing, to say the least, and Mael cringed as he listened to it. He only hoped that they actually put that poor bastard out of his misery.

Still, information was information, and it was nice to know the didn't have to travel aimlessly. That, and mind controlling a bandit would be the easiest shit in the world. With this Spinel, no one will be able to tell that he was doing it.

"Hold on tight," he said, "I'm not sure how well you can handle teleportation, but I'll do my best to make sure you don't become too ill. Now, ghost town awaits."

With a snap of his fingers, and bright light appeared, transporting Mael away from his ship...

[Ghost Town]

...and in the middle of an abandoned town.

Well, it wasn't called Ghost Town for nothing, he supposed. Now to find that bandit, wherever he could be. He waited until Oresu instructed what else they needed to do.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Oct 28th 2018 at 10:22:32 AM