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  1. #181
    Legendary God of Pirates Nik Hasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    She'd seen the like of it in the Walled City in languages written to wring order from the chaos of nature. This was a bit less intricate, but there was no mistaking it for anything else by a magical mark.

    But what does it mean?
    GM Note: (Interpreting this as an Insight check request. I will note that Kinu's Insight is not great.)

    spoilers:
    The mark is indeed magical in origin, though not in any script that Kinu has seen before. It centres on a large jagged symbol burnt onto the back of her hand with smaller writings in the same style circling around and in a trail that flows from the circle and wraps around her wrist like a cuff.

    Kinu doesn't have the technical training codified magic to read the words or understand what the terms of this bargain she seems to have struck is. From her instincts, it seems like she is now holding the leash of this demonic creature.
    end of spoilers

    Flitting her gaze up to Jane and the others for a moment, she flicked her wrist a few times as if to fan out the burning sensation.

    "Heh, nothin' to it. All you gotta do is speak their language, and make sure they're listening!"

    Standing to her feet, she looked down at the back of her hand one last time before dusting her palms together.

    "Not...quite sure what happened, exactly. It's like, I willed for the little hound dog to stick around, and something passed through the both of us," Kinu continued, "Let's make sure it knows who's boss."

    With that, Kinu began to lift the stone column to give the hellhound a way to wiggle out.
    The hellhound staggers upright. Bolstered by Kinu's lifeforce, it is still very weak and makes it a few steps before collapsing down onto the damp ground to rest. Its gaze is focused on Kinu though, looking at its new master with an expression that could optimistically be described as curious.

    It is hard to read much humanity or personality into a creature whose appearance is best described as a the flesh of a flayed crocodile hung on the skeleton of a wolf but, for now at least, it seems peaceful and content to just rest.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Then the warrior-woman turns to the dying dog, and what transpires next drags a hiss of shocked surprise from Krys. They can only watch as Kinu comes to an understanding with the beast, imposing their will upon it in a most peculiar fashion...and the hellhound somehow accepts this. There's light, fire, and a curse form Kinu, then...what? A pact is forged between them? "I don't know if this is some ritual from her own land," Krys confesses to Jane, shaking their head in pure astonishment. "Or simple force of personality. But it seems the creature has caught the meaning of Kinu's words, and agreed." They shrug. "I hope revenge wasn't the plan, Jane, or that you've had enough of it for now; it seems the hound is Kinu's, now." They risk a quick glance toward Trevor, assessing his state of mind, before returning to Jane for a moment.
    Trevor is suitably shocked. He saw Kinu make some kind of pact with a demonic creature. Krys is able to see his generally positive impression of the brightly coloured warrior warring with his engrained fear and distaste for the occult. The creature itself seemed so diminished and weak in its present state that it was almost hard to connect it with something that was a threat.

    He reaches out and taps Kinu on the arm.

    "Mistress Kinu," he says slowly, clearly picking his words carefully, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Why did - why have you let it out? I don't - I don't know if we can trust it. It's an infernal creature, could be sneaky like,"

  2. #182
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Krys studies Jane for a long moment. Slowly, then, they nod their head. "I agree that you shouldn't be controlled. Is it not logical that in removing your emotions at the facility - your emotions - was equally control by the facility? They chose what emotions they considered 'unnecessary' and removed them from you. Or was this your desire, as well?" Their even tone belies the anger boiling within Krys, anger at this facility that possibly created then enslaved this clearly self-determining person. That stole their emotions, altering Jane's experiences. "If it was your choice, your desire from the beginning to have your emotions wiped away..." They shrug. "Tell me now, I will never speak of it again." There are signs of disquiet in the spiritual mechanoid; Krys cannot help but notice the twitching stimming and the feedback in Jane's tone. Clearly, the woman is under tremendous stress dealing with her novel feelings, feelings that until now have been curated and cleaned away by her 'handlers'. Krys strongly doubts Jane will answer in the affirmative, especially with her comment about it being her choice as to what she may feel. As for that... Well, she's going to need to learn at some point; would be so much easier if we could choose our feelings, but we can't.

    All we can do is choose how we deal with the ones that pop up.

    "For myself..." Krys turns to look at Trevor, cocking an eyebrow. "There are no lowly figures. Each of us holds a part of the universe in our experiences; those experiences stand of equal import." Everything is subjective, after all. "I understand you spoke from a particular perspective, and not to demean. And if you did..." Another shrug. "Your choice. But for me, because everything - everything - is impermanent, all experiences hold value." On a macro scale, in a billion years within entropy, two billion, ten billion, a hundred billion...All Things will have changed, changed again, and been forgotten. On the fundamental scale, there is little to no differentiation between anything - all is but foam upon the waves. And in Time out of Time, or the higher dimensions? All Things are already written and can be seen. The perspective of importance is only applicable to the singular scale of those living and perceiving, and is thus...illusory. But real, in its own way, to those transient beings.

    Therefore the only true worth is the experience.

    Now they grimace, studying Trevor and Kinu. "As for the specific experience...I don't think it was 'just' a technical glitch, as you put it. Certainly I perceived it in myself, as well as it affecting you. In short, whatever brobdingnagian energies washed over me, they passed me by. Perhaps I was too cracked a vessel to contain them. I felt an echo of the same from you, but with a critical difference: some of those forces remained within you, possibly becoming part of you. And I think...I think...it is connected with that feeling that draws all of you -" this said with a wide sweep of the arm toward those who have said as much "- toward the center of this city." A small moue of frustration follows. "I...whatever of that is within me is so weak I need to focus all of my attention to even notice it, and even then it's just the barest whisper within a hurricane." Krys snorts, amused at their own over-flowery language. Purple-prosing my way through this... "'Too cracked a vessel'," they quote themselves, irony twisting their tone. "Yeah. That might just sum it up."

    Nemo continues to discuss with the strange girl - they seem pleased, best not to interrupt them - and Trevor? Asking questions. This is good, Krys decides. Maybe Kinu can get through to him; if not, there's going to need to be some kind of discussion about perspectives and biases. We're going to meet a lot of 'strange' people, from his point of view.
    Last edited by Sharpandpointies; 03-20-2023 at 08:55 AM.
    Why are we here?

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  3. #183
    JUST DO IT?!?! Postmania's Avatar
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    Automatically, Jane began to answer.

    "Certainly, I wished my emotions removed," she replied, before halting. "For at least some of the them I desired this. For the rest, I did not find the process disagreeable. I-"

    And then Jane stops, silent for a moment, cycling through a new thought.

    "By the nature of the process," she said after a brief time, "I would not be able to recollect any emotional impressions that may have occurred prior to the removals."

    "However," she said suddenly, rebounding back to her original thought process with eager speed, "I am certain that I consented to these processes. The process is not intended for actual memory loss; one of my functions of the experiment which involves me is to record everything I experience. So I possess all memory: it is merely the emotional output that may be dimmed or not collected. Thus I know that I found the process to my agreement, because I did not resist. Excepting the times I became irrational, where I was not in the right state to make decisions then and was a harm to others around me. In such cases, one must think to the safety of the station."

    Her last few sentences were delivered with some measure of triumph, as if successfully solving a puzzle.

    "As for your other point," she continued with a frown. "I am unclear what to make of it. This woman died running, in a state where she was unable to defend herself. Her outcome was not of her own making. How can this experience be worthwhile; how can the subject of such not be rendered lowly? Pain, suffering, and her end being decided by others."

    Jane's gaze turned back to the hellhound now, her expression becoming unreadable again.

    "Such a fate I will not allow for myself."

    She cocked her head now, listening to Trevor.

    "With only experiences from his world, the young human will likely be confused for a while," she mused. "He does not understand the endless possibilities of the multiverse."

    "Although," her tone darkening now with concern, "if what you say is true one truly discomforting possibility may have opened up."

    She looks back at Krys.

    "What I felt was enormous, larger even than what I recall of being touched by Nekro. Certainly there are older gods than him, as I have mentioned, which could command a greater share of the universe and thus 'feel' larger, but why would they take an interest in myself? Or you? Or the group? Yet," and now Jane hesitates again.

    "The experience was not unpleasant. It is difficult to describe. It was akin to the experience when I was reliving that woman's death. The end approaching, in all its," she grimaced, "biological stickyness. But it was a mirror image of this feeling, an opposite. I cannot explain it."

    "In truth," Jane expanded, "although the experience may have been...better, I remain suspicious about being given guidance I did not ask for."
    “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
    -Stephen McCranie

  4. #184

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nik Hasta View Post
    GM Note: (Interpreting this as an Insight check request. I will note that Kinu's Insight is not great.)

    spoilers:
    The mark is indeed magical in origin, though not in any script that Kinu has seen before. It centres on a large jagged symbol burnt onto the back of her hand with smaller writings in the same style circling around and in a trail that flows from the circle and wraps around her wrist like a cuff.

    Kinu doesn't have the technical training codified magic to read the words or understand what the terms of this bargain she seems to have struck is. From her instincts, it seems like she is now holding the leash of this demonic creature.
    end of spoilers


    The hellhound staggers upright. Bolstered by Kinu's lifeforce, it is still very weak and makes it a few steps before collapsing down onto the damp ground to rest. Its gaze is focused on Kinu though, looking at its new master with an expression that could optimistically be described as curious.

    It is hard to read much humanity or personality into a creature whose appearance is best described as a the flesh of a flayed crocodile hung on the skeleton of a wolf but, for now at least, it seems peaceful and content to just rest.
    Kinu ground her heels into the dilapidated street, pursing her lips as she scooped up the pillar. Once the hellhound crawled out, she tossed it a short distance aside and sized up her new charge where it lay near her feet.

    "Ugly little lump, aren't ya?" Baring her teeth into a grin, a small, hollow pop sounded under the rainfall. Thin fissures crept up the corners of her mouth, threatening to extend the morbid smile past her features.

    Kinu glanced once more at the back of her left hand. The worst of the pain had passed in the initial manifestation of the brand, but there remained the problem that she was stuck with a brand at all. One curse was already far too many; but this time, this time, after the beating this thing took from Krys and Jane, she would be the one holding the leash.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Krys cocks an eyebrow at Kinu's description of the armored person. "Interesting. Sounds like this might be a bad place to try taking shortcuts," they muse. Either the armour is more damaged than it had appeared, or there are potential issues with using it to fly. Perhaps the city protects itself, in some ways. "I've a feeling we'll meet that one again. As for us..." They shrug. "Sometimes there IS no other choice than straight through, right? And if that needs to happen, it should probably go quick."
    "If I had to wager a guess," Kinu started - and that was effectively all she could do, "the force that's calling out on top of that tree got to the Mecha man, same as it did for me, and the lot of us. Maybe it's another kind of magic, or something...if we wanna ask him he went down somewhere beyond there."

    Raising a thumb, she cast it behind her to the building from where she leapt.

    "By the way, I concur. Shortcuts be damned, and bad idea to get separated as well. I had my eyes on you the whole time, didn't even go that far, either, until I looked down, and it was suddenly a lot more than a three-floor drop. Let's say I got a lot more than I bargained for than a change of view...like something was screwing with my head."

    She paused for a second, narrowing and rolling her eyes, kneading her thoughts.

    "...it's like I could still see where you all were, only the distance had changed."

    Quote Originally Posted by Nik Hasta View Post
    Trevor is suitably shocked. He saw Kinu make some kind of pact with a demonic creature. Krys is able to see his generally positive impression of the brightly coloured warrior warring with his engrained fear and distaste for the occult. The creature itself seemed so diminished and weak in its present state that it was almost hard to connect it with something that was a threat.

    He reaches out and taps Kinu on the arm.

    "Mistress Kinu," he says slowly, clearly picking his words carefully, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Why did - why have you let it out? I don't - I don't know if we can trust it. It's an infernal creature, could be sneaky like,"
    Snapped out of the bristling thoughts filled with strange measures and instinctive geometry, Kinu turned to Trevor, half-shut lids over amber eyes, laughter silenced, trembling behind her grin.

    "I've taken worse. This?" She flashed the back of her hand at him, "Nothing more than brass tacks and razor blades."

    Trevor was, if nothing else, an inquisitive kid. He'd certainly get a good look at the brand etched on her hand, and if he seemed to be struggling with understanding what went down, she'd have to be blunt.

    "To put it another way...in a death match it knows it's already licked. Heaven or Hell, Magic or Norm, none of that matters, only where you are and what you can do to survive!"

    The carcasses and shattered bricks that littered the courtyard spoke louder than anything.

    "You've seen it here for the first time, little man, with your own two eyes, yeah? They got slapped, shot and snagged by Krys, Jane and Nemo. No matter how sneaky-like it could be...when it came to the Great Kinu, it knew it should just give up!"

    Quote Originally Posted by Postmania View Post
    As the pillar was lifted from the robot, Jane watched in bemusement, processing the seeming new addition to the group.

    Her objectives still remained in her vision, flickering at the top right of her display: Kill dogs who killed you, and also Kill Sorcerer. As Kinu freed the dog, the Objective: Kill Dogs flickered to a Failed status. For a moment, her pistol, outstretched and pointed at the dog, trembled.

    "If we truly aren't going to kill this hound now," she said flatly, "I hope it can tell us about the sorcerer."

    Still, despite the failure, Jane was surprised to not feel more anger here. And then, contrary to this, she felt anger at not feeling more anger. It was very confusing for her. She realized somewhere through this thought process she had brought a hand up to her temple, and quickly let it fall.

    It did confirm something that she had suspected: her emotions were not wholly her own in this respect. Likely the dying strands of the woman's memory were what had clung to her from the experience and had driven her out here. It was small wonder the scientists had not done a complex test of her death sense, if it could lead to this state. Even bringing her hand up as a gesture was not something she did. Such a movement, she believed, was an organic gesture.
    "Heh, don't worry. You got the killshot on the pack leader. This one knows-"

    ...maybe not, it did take that parting shot on Krys, after all.

    "...should know better. But let's test that theory," she said, then called out to the creature with a voice pitched to half a snarl. "Oi! Come here, you!"

    The Hellhound lurched from where it lay from its side, and with a low, fatigued whine left it as it limped over. Kinu clasped it around the jowls and stared into its four eyes.

    "We've got work to do. Your master left you here, yeah?"

    Curling her fingers around the fleshy clumps of vestigial ears, she began to vigorously toussle it around its scaly, fire-fixed flesh.

    "And you still got his scent in your snout, yeah?! But you roll with me now, understand?"

    OOC: Kinu releases Squash Match, resets Stacks, and uses Kishi Kaisei on Small Hellhound
    Last edited by grampagen; 03-21-2023 at 01:04 AM.

  5. #185
    Legendary God of Pirates Nik Hasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Snapped out of the bristling thoughts filled with strange measures and instinctive geometry, Kinu turned to Trevor, half-shut lids over amber eyes, laughter silenced, trembling behind her grin.

    "I've taken worse. This?" She flashed the back of her hand at him, "Nothing more than brass tacks and razor blades."

    Trevor was, if nothing else, an inquisitive kid. He'd certainly get a good look at the brand etched on her hand, and if he seemed to be struggling with understanding what went down, she'd have to be blunt.

    "To put it another way...in a death match it knows it's already licked. Heaven or Hell, Magic or Norm, none of that matters, only where you are and what you can do to survive!"

    The carcasses and shattered bricks that littered the courtyard spoke louder than anything.

    "You've seen it here for the first time, little man, with your own two eyes, yeah? They got slapped, shot and snagged by Krys, Jane and Nemo. No matter how sneaky-like it could be...when it came to the Great Kinu, it knew it should just give up!"
    Trevor's face creases with a curious mix of emotions. On the one hand, Kinu's logical so simple as to be childish but on the other he could see the results. He is clearly aware that he is walking amongst powerful and very strange people so re-evaluating his expectations was only to be expected.

    But, that uncertainty remains as he looks at the wounded hellhound. Flayed skin, multiple eyes, occasionally breathing out golden smoke - it is a monster and the boy clearly has been taught, both by culture and perhaps by experience, to fear monsters.

    However, Kinu is larger than life, her form of animalistic charisma holds sway on the boy perhaps almost as much as it does on the demonic hound that she now holds an influence over. After a time, he nods slowly. Whatever his reservations, Kinu is an adult who seems to be in clear control of this monster. This perhaps is a distinction that illustrates why Nemo and Rae's more informal relationship renders him so uncomfortable.

    "I don't like it," he says, gesturing both at the hound and also at the situation itself, "But if you know what you're doing. We should find whatever master this beast has and put a stop to them from harming others. Makes sense. 'Sides... maybe they know more about what's going on in this place,"

    He wipes his nose with the back of his hand and awaits instruction. His eyes do not leave the hound save to occasionally flit to Rae, keeping a watch for anything untoward.

    "Heh, don't worry. You got the killshot on the pack leader. This one knows-"

    ...maybe not, it did take that parting shot on Krys, after all.

    "...should know better. But let's test that theory," she said, then called out to the creature with a voice pitched to half a snarl. "Oi! Come here, you!"

    The Hellhound lurched from where it lay from its side, and with a low, fatigued whine left it as it limped over. Kinu clasped it around the jowls and stared into its four eyes.

    "We've got work to do. Your master left you here, yeah?"

    Curling her fingers around the fleshy clumps of vestigial ears, she began to vigorously toussle it around its scaly, fire-fixed flesh.

    "And you still got his scent in your snout, yeah?! But you roll with me now, understand?"

    OOC: Kinu releases Squash Match, resets Stacks, and uses Kishi Kaisei on Small Hellhound
    GM note:

    - Kinu is now at 75/110 ENR (68%)

    - Small Hellhound is now at 48/50 ENR but remains at 11/184 HP (16%).

    The hellhound surges, its exposed muscles - while bloodied and bruised to an extreme degree - Kinu's galvanising words energise it and spur it to action. It trots off, heading back in the direction that the party had come previously. It isn't moving incredibly fast, with those wounds it is a wonder it is moving at all, but it seems keen to obey its master's instruction.

    GM Note to Kinu
    spoilers:
    As it moves away from her, Kinu can feel a small tug on the skin of her hand where the demonic brand sits. She feels that she now has an awareness of where the hound is, like the point on a compass. Except the compass is a bloody and raw brand on her hand.
    end of spoilers

  6. #186
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Krys listens attentively as Jane speaks, but neither nods nor shrugs. Instead, they maintain a neutral expression as Jane works her halting way through her rationalization. "If that is how you feel," Krys finally states, when the mechanoid assassin winds down, "then I will not bring it up again." There is no point; Jane has chosen the position she needs and further attempts to discuss it will likely only press her to justify it even more strongly. With no desire for a pointless argument, and no wish to attempt to force their own perspective upon another, Krys concludes the best possible course is to simply leave Jane to discover the truth within herself, one way or another. If she wishes to speak of it, no doubt she will, and at that point there might be room for discussion...or even just listening.

    But best to leave it be.

    One eyebrow cracks upward, however, and Krys grimaces when Jane speaks of the woman. But they let it pass for the moment, focusing instead on Jane's description of her experience. "If you felt something," Krys muses, "then I wasn't just fooling myself with my own perceptions. Whatever it was is certainly linked to that feeling, given how it passed me by and sunk into you. I wonder if the others had a similar intrusion, and I missed it? Might consider inquiring." They bounce on their heels for a moment, drawing in air through locked teeth in consideration. "Not enough information at the moment, I guess. We'll need to ask around, then wait and see if something changes." Their lips purse in a thoughtful moue. "I'd rather not anyone be influenced by an outside force, either." Then the lips thin, tightening, and Krys' eyes narrow.

    "As for the woman..."

    Now a slight edge enters Krys' tone. "I imagine she felt her experiences to be worthwhile. Even fleeing. Even fighting for her life. Even dying." A razored smile flickers on her lips, devoid of true amusement. "Of course, one can still judge the woman 'lowly', state that her experiences lacked worth. But that is comparative, subjective. And if one takes that perspective, one must remember that there is always something greater than oneself as well, to whom one's own experiences may be judged worthless, to whom one would be 'lowly'. That is irrefutable. Hence, it is impossible not to be considered 'lowly', if one takes the comparative viewpoint."

    Turning away, they take a deep breath and let it out, slowly releasing the spark of anger.

    When Krys continues, their voice has regained its customary smooth, soft roll. "We may desire not to come to a lowly end, defeated by an enemy. We may state this will not come to pass, and work to grow more strong than 'this' enemy, or 'that' enemy. But all of us, from the most potent to the least, will eventually find ourselves fleeing our ends, desperately struggling against a force impossible to defeat, and losing that battle. Be it blade, bullet, spell...sickness, 'time', or the heat-death of the universe within which one resides, there will be an end that humbles us. And regardless of our power, All Things simply does not care - it notices the deaths of gods and conceptual beings no more than the loss of a single insect. No judge, no final arbiter, it merely continues." They roll their shoulders, sloughing off the last of their tension. "If that is lowly, then we are all rendered such; all are equal and all experiences are valid. Worthwhile. We can only hold to our own experiences and their worth to us, during our time." A real smile, this time.

    Now Krys does shrug. "Others may have a different view, of course. And likely do." Still more might feel this perspective depressing, or demotivating; Krys finds it liberating.

    They glance to Kinu as the warrior-woman first examines her hand, a smile breaking through the dreadful mask of her face, then explains her sighting of the armored being and her own experiences atop the buildings. Krys surveys the every-changing landscape with a jaundiced eye. "I doubt," they consider, "that it was all in your head. This place has its own rules, rules we have already encountered in part, rules our armored 'friend' has now stumbled across. We need to learn these rules, as much as one can." Learn them first, Krys decides.

    Then learn how to break them.

    Then Kinu begins to roughhouse with their new, potential follower, drawing an amused, eyebrows-raised smile from Krys. They take a quick glance at Trevor, concerned with how the boy is dealing with this shock to his world-view. He's managing, it seems; tenuously, but managing. Perhaps that perspective is more flexible than Krys earlier thought. Then Kinu issues a command and the hellhound breaks into movement, loping across the broken terrain, leaving Krys shaking their head in amazement. "She's actually done it. Fantastic." Their eyes toss a glance toward Jane. "Maybe you'll get a chance at the hand that guided those hounds, Jane," Krys muses before raising their voice. "Nemo? Rae? Kinu's hound has the scent of the one behind this attack." The mage is still in discussion with the curious person they've met and the group has not yet received any introductions, but the situation trumps politeness. They may have to move quickly.

    Again.
    Last edited by Sharpandpointies; 03-21-2023 at 06:14 AM.
    Why are we here?

    "Superboy Prime (the yelling guy if he needs clarification)..." - Postmania
    "...dropping an orca whale made of fire on your enemies is a pretty strong opening move." - Nik
    "Why throw punches when you can be making everyone around you sterile mutant corpses?" - Pendaran, regarding Dr. Fate

  7. #187
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    "I see," said Nemo, rubbing her chin a bit. "I do wonder if all those we encounter must pass through the Gate to get here, then. If this entire city were one great dimensional tear, we probably would be encountering a steady flood of newcomers blipping in and out of existence. Unless every rendition of the City we see is of an abandoned settlement." She shook her head, waving her own thoughts off. "Ah, well, not enough information yet for a solid speculation."
    "I do recall there being some bodies after I entered....insect looking ones that were wet even though there wasn't any water around. Maybe that gate isn't the only way in...its just the one with the least amount dying on entry. Just getting really banged up." Ella let out the audio equivalent of a sigh. It was a reminder that her core unit still had some wear and tear from the transit to...wherever this was...that she had yet to deal with.

    "Aw, you're so sweet and correct!" said Rae, wriggling her hat and making a happy flap of her shawl.

    "Nope, the ears are natural!" said Nemo, flicking them forward and back again. "The tail, too, though it's usually covered."

    "Usually!" Rae made a point to unravel a small hole to fit Nemo's cottontail through, and Nemo turned sideways enough to wiggle it, before turning back and letting Rae cover it again.
    "Hybrid creatures are not completely unheard of where I am from...at least the concept. There are all kinds of recorded documentaries about such things....humans have been crossed with just about every animal in recorded history. Usually manifesting in the ears, face and tail. Usually its from the application of radiation, or cosmic rays, or magic, genetic engineering....stuff like that. There is a hybrid awareness convention that was help yearly two cities over from mine according to someone who frequented the bar where multiple hybrids get together to advocate the creation of more hybrids.....I think he called it....furfest?" Ella tilted her head. "I don't know for sure, papa kicked him out of the bar when he started...uhhh...barking at a lady."

    Nemo grinned. "Neat!"

    "Hey, we're magic, too!" said Rae. "Well, I am, anyway. Nemo is magical."
    "Well I have a magic show I do every Wednesday at 8 pm....and I get high praise from all the drunks." Ella crossed her arms and smirked. "I'll show you next time I..." Ella paused. "....actually....my chronometer is broke...I uhh.....don't know what day it is......or the time...." Ella face began to sink. "Or the year...."

    "Humans and Rats?" said Nemo. "Must have been an interesting cafe!" She wondered if the rat essence she'd sensed had anything to do with the girl, but she didn't feel anything directly now. Chances were, if any rats had come through with her, they were now lost among the streets. "I should be alright, thanks. I can eat a human diet, and Rae's powered by her own magic. And no, carrots aren't my favorite food."

    Nemo glanced to the others, where it seemed they were trying to coax the surviving monstrous hound into surrendering. "Well, the lot of us have just formed a little traveling group, at least for the moment. All of us just arrived very recently ourselves, and we all seem to be from different worlds. If you're interested, I'll introduce you, and if you're not already committed to another path, maybe you could join us? I get the feeling there's going to be a lot more where those hounds came from."
    "....No....I don't really know where I'm going anyways. The more intelligent option is safety in numbers...right?" Ella visibly cringed at the latter indication of future combat....or maybe just the dogs. "You certainly have quite the....assortment.....Oh right!" Ella quickly turned around to the T posing robot laying on the ground behind her. "Hey you! Get up...your coming with us...before you start offering assistance to the next brute that wanders through."

    Perhaps it was nothing, but Nemo would notice Ella was certainly a lot more assertive when speaking to other robots.

  8. #188
    Legendary God of Pirates Nik Hasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrSandman View Post
    "....No....I don't really know where I'm going anyways. The more intelligent option is safety in numbers...right?" Ella visibly cringed at the latter indication of future combat....or maybe just the dogs. "You certainly have quite the....assortment.....Oh right!" Ella quickly turned around to the T posing robot laying on the ground behind her. "Hey you! Get up...your coming with us...before you start offering assistance to the next brute that wanders through."

    Perhaps it was nothing, but Nemo would notice Ella was certainly a lot more assertive when speaking to other robots.
    At her voice, the robot sits up once more in a manner that would be unsettling in a human. Looking at it, neither Nemo or Ella can detect a rudimentary facsimile of a muscular structure. The machine seems to almost flow upright with that strange heavy-liquid aspect it displayed before. The blank face looks at Ella, possibly considering obedience.

    "[HARD_LIGHT_CONSTRUCT]. Assistance will be offered. However, [THIS_UNIT] must attend to its core purpose. [THIS_UNIT] is designed to [<DATA_NOT_FOUND>] and deliver itself to [<DATA_NOT_FOUND>]. Sensors detect a force or pull that [<FILE_CORRUPTED>] *gggssshhshhs* must be [<FATAL_MEMORY_ERROR>],"

    The robot is silent for a moment, its attempt at explaining itself seemingly confusing or short-circuiting its brain. Then it jerks and resumes speaking.

    "Greetings [HARD_LIGHT_CONSTRUCT]. Do you require assistance?" it says. It stands upright from a seated position without using its arms to assist itself getting up. It looks off into the distance for moment, to the West (if the great tree were to lie to the North) and bleeps softly for a moment.

    "[WAYPOINT_MARKER] detected," it says, more to itself than anything else, before turning back to Ella, "Please outline the assistance required," it says.

  9. #189
    JUST DO IT?!?! Postmania's Avatar
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    As Krys responded, Jane was pleased at having gotten her point across. However, as she continued Jane's thought processes sobered somewhat. She leaned in closer at times, trying to catch every word, at times seeming about to interject but stopping herself as she took in further aspects of the train of logic Krys was bringing to her. Finally as she wound down, Jane wore an expression more disgruntled, her slight smile having faded as she seemed to be trying to work out elements of disagreement and being not quite able to affix them to an appropriate response.

    "I do not think," she murmured, "that she thought it was a worthwhile end for her. Yet," Jane continued, words coming as if dragged from her, "I cannot fault the rest of your logic. If one accepts the principles you've put forth regarding everything finding an end to potential upgrades."

    As she speaks, her form bends slightly, seeming to release pent up energy.

    OOC: I forgot to do this, so I might as well do it now, Jane drops her Stacks here and returns to base stats.

    For a moment, Jane was silent, her eyes flickering as she consulted her internal workings via saved manual files.

    "There are many upgrades yet to be unlocked in this form, I have been told, and some that I am aware of."

    Jane's attention returned fully and she looked back at Krys.

    "However, you've been accurate on numerous aspects of this place and have been...generally observant in my time meeting you. Perhaps your words have some merit here as well. A great deal of my time here has been confusing and strange. Among this time, the experience of what it might be to truly lose. To lose as she did, completely...", Jane's voice took on a tone of distaste.

    "I have been dismantled before, in combat, or ambushes, but I always knew the Facility would fix me."

    Jane gazed out over the shifting, shimmering skyline before she speaks again.

    "They fixed everything."

    After a moment, Jane cocked her head, a thought occurring to her.

    "It occurs to me," she mused thoughtfully, "that with less time spent on mission after mission I will have more time to review my recordings. Aspects of our prior conversation has reminded me of times I have not devoted active attention to in many processing cycles. I have been kept on-mission for such a continuous period of time," Jane paused, calculating, "it has been only through happenstance and the occasional reboot and sleep mode activation that I would have moments to truly spend time recollecting. Of course, since I am always recording information, even, as I should note, when I appear to be powered down, there is a great deal of data with limited search engine capabilities on board my system. However, it may prove diverting to look back on several of my fonder memories, when time allows."

    Jane frowns as Krys mentions the armored figure.

    "Hopefully one of those rules is not that the Tree cannot be reached. I know that you have said that all ends may indeed be lowly, but I have no wish to die because my processors wear out and my parts are eroded away as I walk endlessly towards a Tree that never becomes any closer. Such a fate may not be out of hand for whatever force may have influenced here."

    As Kinu seems to finish taming the hound, Jane's posture takes on a more attentive slant.

    "Now that," she remarks with some more eagerness, "may be a start."

    Jane starts forward, then stops.

    "Standby," she replied, "It seems that some of the systems that were temporarily recharging may have just come online."

    Jane steps away, and holds her hand out.

    In a curiously soundless effect, a ball of emerald lightning suffuses her hand, speaking and striking, which Jane carefully angles away from any of the others. After a few seconds of this, she is holding a skull with a partial spinal cord as the ball of lightning vanishes.

    OOC: Jane is using her SkullSeeker skill here and it will follow the dog, looking for danger or anything interesting.

    Her curiosity routine freed to roam, Jane sends it out, flying high overhead in the same direction the dog lopes off towards, scouting for anything of interest.

    Before she continues, Jane once again replenishes her energy, her torso peeling back to display her heart and attaching veiny strands of yellow energy to her head.

    OOC: Jane uses Heart of Darkness here on herself, restoring ENR.


    She turns back to Krys.

    "SkullSeeker will be look ahead as well. Whenever we're ready."
    “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
    -Stephen McCranie

  10. #190
    Legendary God of Pirates Nik Hasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Postmania View Post
    She turns back to Krys.

    "SkullSeeker will be look ahead as well. Whenever we're ready."
    GM Note:

    - After all that Jane is now at 200/200 ENR (100%)

    Skullseeker has been summoned at a Magnitude 11 level as it's only operating to extend Jane's ambient Notice that falls under the "Easy" bracket.

  11. #191
    Spectacularly Neurotic Sharkerbob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrSandman View Post
    "I do recall there being some bodies after I entered....insect looking ones that were wet even though there wasn't any water around. Maybe that gate isn't the only way in...its just the one with the least amount dying on entry. Just getting really banged up." Ella let out the audio equivalent of a sigh. It was a reminder that her core unit still had some wear and tear from the transit to...wherever this was...that she had yet to deal with.
    "Interesting," said Nemo, rubbing her chin. "So we may keep running into immediate new arrivals after all."


    "Hybrid creatures are not completely unheard of where I am from...at least the concept. There are all kinds of recorded documentaries about such things....humans have been crossed with just about every animal in recorded history. Usually manifesting in the ears, face and tail. Usually its from the application of radiation, or cosmic rays, or magic, genetic engineering....stuff like that. There is a hybrid awareness convention that was help yearly two cities over from mine according to someone who frequented the bar where multiple hybrids get together to advocate the creation of more hybrids.....I think he called it....furfest?" Ella tilted her head. "I don't know for sure, papa kicked him out of the bar when he started...uhhh...barking at a lady."
    "Man, your World sounds almost as wacky as ours!" said Rae.


    "Well I have a magic show I do every Wednesday at 8 pm....and I get high praise from all the drunks." Ella crossed her arms and smirked. "I'll show you next time I..." Ella paused. "....actually....my chronometer is broke...I uhh.....don't know what day it is......or the time...." Ella face began to sink. "Or the year...."
    "I'm not sure, given how space seems to be in perpetual warp, that time is particularly stable here, either," said Nemo. "Not that we've been here long enough to confirm timeflow alterations yet, but I'm not ruling it out for the moment."


    "....No....I don't really know where I'm going anyways. The more intelligent option is safety in numbers...right?" Ella visibly cringed at the latter indication of future combat....or maybe just the dogs. "You certainly have quite the....assortment.....Oh right!" Ella quickly turned around to the T posing robot laying on the ground behind her. "Hey you! Get up...your coming with us...before you start offering assistance to the next brute that wanders through."

    Perhaps it was nothing, but Nemo would notice Ella was certainly a lot more assertive when speaking to other robots.
    "I love when number go up," said Rae. "Except when it's for the other side!"

    Nemo did not the attitude shift, but did not feel she knew enough about the hologram girl to comment on it.


    Quote Originally Posted by Nik Hasta View Post
    At her voice, the robot sits up once more in a manner that would be unsettling in a human. Looking at it, neither Nemo or Ella can detect a rudimentary facsimile of a muscular structure. The machine seems to almost flow upright with that strange heavy-liquid aspect it displayed before. The blank face looks at Ella, possibly considering obedience.

    "[HARD_LIGHT_CONSTRUCT]. Assistance will be offered. However, [THIS_UNIT] must attend to its core purpose. [THIS_UNIT] is designed to [<DATA_NOT_FOUND>] and deliver itself to [<DATA_NOT_FOUND>]. Sensors detect a force or pull that [<FILE_CORRUPTED>] *gggssshhshhs* must be [<FATAL_MEMORY_ERROR>],"

    The robot is silent for a moment, its attempt at explaining itself seemingly confusing or short-circuiting its brain. Then it jerks and resumes speaking.

    "Greetings [HARD_LIGHT_CONSTRUCT]. Do you require assistance?" it says. It stands upright from a seated position without using its arms to assist itself getting up. It looks off into the distance for moment, to the West (if the great tree were to lie to the North) and bleeps softly for a moment.

    "[WAYPOINT_MARKER] detected," it says, more to itself than anything else, before turning back to Ella, "Please outline the assistance required," it says.
    Possibly Ella was so assertive with this other robot because it seemed ready and willing to take orders, and also seemed like it's processor or memory banks were partly corrupted. She really wasn't much of a computer person, despite having used them before. Technopathy sure would be a handy power to have right about now, but alas, she'd never gone through with the cyborg surgeries necessary to acquire it back on Axallia.

    Nemo eyed the others, not wanting to interrupt what seemed a serious discussion, but not wanting to speak for them either, as to plans. "Well, a Waypoint sounds interesting, but I'm not quite sure where we're headed. Towards the Great Tree seems the most natural, but I'm not sure how set we are on it." She looked to the robot. "Do you have any information about what it points to? Or is it just a general signal?"
    Last edited by Sharkerbob; 03-21-2023 at 04:35 PM.

  12. #192

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nik Hasta View Post
    Trevor's face creases with a curious mix of emotions. On the one hand, Kinu's logical so simple as to be childish but on the other he could see the results. He is clearly aware that he is walking amongst powerful and very strange people so re-evaluating his expectations was only to be expected.

    But, that uncertainty remains as he looks at the wounded hellhound. Flayed skin, multiple eyes, occasionally breathing out golden smoke - it is a monster and the boy clearly has been taught, both by culture and perhaps by experience, to fear monsters.

    However, Kinu is larger than life, her form of animalistic charisma holds sway on the boy perhaps almost as much as it does on the demonic hound that she now holds an influence over. After a time, he nods slowly. Whatever his reservations, Kinu is an adult who seems to be in clear control of this monster. This perhaps is a distinction that illustrates why Nemo and Rae's more informal relationship renders him so uncomfortable.

    "I don't like it," he says, gesturing both at the hound and also at the situation itself, "But if you know what you're doing. We should find whatever master this beast has and put a stop to them from harming others. Makes sense. 'Sides... maybe they know more about what's going on in this place,"

    He wipes his nose with the back of his hand and awaits instruction. His eyes do not leave the hound save to occasionally flit to Rae, keeping a watch for anything untoward.
    Kinu laughed to herself as if there were some private joke in her mind as Trevor slowly came around.

    "You're getting it, there's a pecking order to this business, and our first step to rising to the top starts there," she declared, punching her right hand into her branded left. "Who knows, maybe even a little beastie like this one can manage to do a little good, yeah?"

    GM note:

    - Kinu is now at 75/110 ENR (68%)

    - Small Hellhound is now at 48/50 ENR but remains at 11/184 HP (16%).

    The hellhound surges, its exposed muscles - while bloodied and bruised to an extreme degree - Kinu's galvanising words energise it and spur it to action. It trots off, heading back in the direction that the party had come previously. It isn't moving incredibly fast, with those wounds it is a wonder it is moving at all, but it seems keen to obey its master's instruction.

    GM Note to Kinu
    spoilers:
    As it moves away from her, Kinu can feel a small tug on the skin of her hand where the demonic brand sits. She feels that she now has an awareness of where the hound is, like the point on a compass. Except the compass is a bloody and raw brand on her hand.
    end of spoilers
    Just lke that the critter sprung to life and began moving. With every step, she felt the pulse raise in the veins of her hand; when she closed her eyes, she could almost...feel, where the thing pointed its nose at. Skittering paws meant it had found something back the way they came.

    "Great, it's found our prey, heh heh heh..."

    Then, clapping Trevor firmly on the back, she ruggedly bid him forth. Nudging him ahead draped before her shoulder, playfully she set the kid between herself and the hellhound.

    "And I wager you got some skills, too." If he heard it same as me, why else would he be here, unless it's some kinda sick joke? "Walk with me, you might learn something."

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    They glance to Kinu as the warrior-woman first examines her hand, a smile breaking through the dreadful mask of her face, then explains her sighting of the armored being and her own experiences atop the buildings. Krys surveys the every-changing landscape with a jaundiced eye. "I doubt," they consider, "that it was all in your head. This place has its own rules, rules we have already encountered in part, rules our armored 'friend' has now stumbled across. We need to learn these rules, as much as one can." Learn them first, Krys decides.

    Then learn how to break them.

    Then Kinu begins to roughhouse with their new, potential follower, drawing an amused, eyebrows-raised smile from Krys. They take a quick glance at Trevor, concerned with how the boy is dealing with this shock to his world-view. He's managing, it seems; tenuously, but managing. Perhaps that perspective is more flexible than Krys earlier thought. Then Kinu issues a command and the hellhound breaks into movement, loping across the broken terrain, leaving Krys shaking their head in amazement. "She's actually done it. Fantastic." Their eyes toss a glance toward Jane. "Maybe you'll get a chance at the hand that guided those hounds, Jane," Krys muses before raising their voice. "Nemo? Rae? Kinu's hound has the scent of the one behind this attack." The mage is still in discussion with the curious person they've met and the group has not yet received any introductions, but the situation trumps politeness. They may have to move quickly.

    Again.
    "Hmm...," Kinu - mercifully - slowed her pace, and with a 'tsk', kept their new companion from getting too far ahead. "...yeah, you got a point there. Usually I'd prefer to dive in and figure it out, but trying to go your on way'll only get you lost and killed here. Guess we start with a direction, finishing up this unfinished business, but as for finding the way there...I ain't got an eye for that sorta thing."

    If these roads stayed in fixed laned between the buildings, and the sky didn't expand the closer you got to it, maybe there'd be some chance of winging it. If there was any sort of fixed point, it'd only that big tree and that echo in her head that clawed at her insides and left them burning for something more.

    Been down that road before. If we're going again, this time it'll be on my terms.

    "...so, uh, the Bucket (Robot) and the Glowworm (Ella) over there gonna come with?"

    Quote Originally Posted by Postmania View Post
    Jane frowns as Krys mentions the armored figure.

    "Hopefully one of those rules is not that the Tree cannot be reached. I know that you have said that all ends may indeed be lowly, but I have no wish to die because my processors wear out and my parts are eroded away as I walk endlessly towards a Tree that never becomes any closer. Such a fate may not be out of hand for whatever force may have influenced here."

    As Kinu seems to finish taming the hound, Jane's posture takes on a more attentive slant.

    "Now that," she remarks with some more eagerness, "may be a start."

    Jane starts forward, then stops.

    "Standby," she replied, "It seems that some of the systems that were temporarily recharging may have just come online."

    Jane steps away, and holds her hand out.

    In a curiously soundless effect, a ball of emerald lightning suffuses her hand, speaking and striking, which Jane carefully angles away from any of the others. After a few seconds of this, she is holding a skull with a partial spinal cord as the ball of lightning vanishes.

    OOC: Jane is using her SkullSeeker skill here and it will follow the dog, looking for danger or anything interesting.

    Her curiosity routine freed to roam, Jane sends it out, flying high overhead in the same direction the dog lopes off towards, scouting for anything of interest.

    Before she continues, Jane once again replenishes her energy, her torso peeling back to display her heart and attaching veiny strands of yellow energy to her head.

    OOC: Jane uses Heart of Darkness here on herself, restoring ENR.


    She turns back to Krys.

    "SkullSeeker will be look ahead as well. Whenever we're ready."
    "Aw yeah? Looks like the little beastie will have some company-"

    Whipping her head over to look at Jane, Kinu seemed to have caught her in the middle of some kind of gear-shifting molt, exposed heart and glowing strands of what she assumed were wires pulsing with energy before the more familiar shell reset itself to a precise rhythm.

    "...uh, Skullseeker, gotcha," she nodded, knitting her brow for a moment. "It'll give Trevor here some insurance for the hound's tracking. Better yet, Jane got the jump on these fools on the first place, so wherever we go, at least one of us won't be going in blind."

  13. #193
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Apparently Krys hasn't utterly offended Jane; that's a good thing, they don't want to destroy any nascent friendship. It seems they've given some food for thought; it's only Krys' perspective, mind, and while they feel it's correct - based on a seemingly objective study of the multiverse from a different set of scales - subjective reality is important as well. "Nothing is forever," Krys muses. "And if all ends are lowly, then no end is truly lowly, for all of them are equal. They simply are what they are, an end to the single important thing we bring to this existence: our experiences."

    Then they grin. "I'm glad to hear you're still full of upgrades waiting to happen; that's good news, both for you and us. I figure we'll need everything we can get to thrive in this place." 'Survival' is good enough, but Krys wants more; they want answers, they want some security, and they want Jane free from Nekro. Krys then shrugs, the smile still flickering around the corners of their mouth, not-quite gone. "And doubly glad to hear I've been 'generally observant'. I'd like to be of use, for more than just tossing out my two-cents-worth of perspective. Since we don't have the Facility here - "

    Cursed good thing.

    " - maybe I can help keep from you getting dismantled again, as well. That little trick I pulled before, that kind of thing." And that, in essence, is what it was - a trick of perspective, of coaxing, nothing more. Krys holds no mighty magic, no great stores of energy, no vast powers of spirit; they only have their perspective, their senses, and the capacity to lightly nudge things on specific, fundamental levels.

    'They fixed everything', Jane states of the Facility. Krys has no doubt they did, the words taking on a more ominous meaning to them. And Jane once again demonstrates curiosity, an interest in growth, in review of herself and her experiences, things that might lead to change in the woman. Change, and potential freedom from whatever chains bind her; Krys can only guess at those chains, locked onto the assassin by her Facility, but for all they know the chains are a different sort. Who are they to judge, after all? Perhaps Jane's perspective on her former handlers is the correct one for her.

    Krys does not believe so, but that decision is not theirs.

    "I rather want to reach the Tree myself, and not die of..." Their lips thin, and they catch a lock of hair blowing freely, holding it before their eyes. A shadow passes over their face. "...old age," Krys finishes in a whisper, before rallying. "Nothing is truly impossible, but it might be impossible for us; if that's the case, then we'll find a different answer. And we have something that needs to be dealt with, here. Somehow."

    Nekro.

    As the hound moves off, and Kinu moves to follow, Jane pauses in the middle of the newly-shattered ruins. An orb of that nacreous emerald energy appears about one hand, coalescing into an ugly image of death: a skull with a hanging tail of vertebrae. Krys winces. Looks a little like a decayed manananggal, they note with no distaste; images of death hold no horror for Krys. Instead, there's a curious fascination toward the manipulation of the woman's inner energies. She can create actual devices from energy; is it tech? Or is merely a seeming, a physical manifestation of her own energies sent outward? Finished, Jane once again enters her macabre state of recovery, lurid green energies flowing from her 'heart' to the rest of her body before it once again seals itself away.

    "Skullseeker. Seems useful," Krys admits. They, themselves, are limited to their own eyes and ears, here. Then they're off, following the hound with the others, hoping Nemo might encourage the girl - and the mechanoid accompanying her, now sitting up and joining their conversation - to follow. "Nemo, Rae - are you coming? With your new friend?"

    They glance to Kinu as the fearsome warrior agrees to some discretion, and nods as well. "Oh, I'm sure there's going to be some diving in and figuring it out. I doubt this place -" a gesture sketches the city "- is going to just open up and tell us everything. But the more we learn...the more we can be ready." Or make it work for us. "As for having an eye for getting to the tree..." Their voice drops, more thoughtful now. "I might be able to give a hand with that." Then Krys grins, hopping over a small pile of detritus as they jog. "I hope that we pick up some more people - that robot and girl certainly don't seem hostile, so..."

    OOC - I suppose at least part of the group is now heading off after the hound.
    Why are we here?

    "Superboy Prime (the yelling guy if he needs clarification)..." - Postmania
    "...dropping an orca whale made of fire on your enemies is a pretty strong opening move." - Nik
    "Why throw punches when you can be making everyone around you sterile mutant corpses?" - Pendaran, regarding Dr. Fate

  14. #194
    JUST DO IT?!?! Postmania's Avatar
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    "Thrive," echoed Jane thoughtfully. "Interesting word to use here. Do you intend to stay here when, if, this all gets resolved?"

    They do seem acclimated to the impossible geometries of a place like this.

    "Well, I'll be glad to have you for as long as I must remain here."

    Jane then nods as Kinu mentions SkullSeeker.

    "I must apologize for my somewhat ill advised rushing off," she calls to the warrior as Kinu and her newfound pet began to head off. "Usually I prefer a slower approach."

    True to her words, as the group begins to move she simply opts for a walking speed, which with her enhanced movement puts her somewhere around near the rear of the pack, by Krys.

    As she walks off she glances back in the direction of Nemo, Rae, and the two new arrivals, before continuing her sweep with her more rear guard attentiveness, confident the others will be able to respond to any threats, and more importantly, that she will be able to Reach Out and touch anything from a distance if necessary.
    “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
    -Stephen McCranie

  15. #195
    Spectacularly Neurotic Sharkerbob's Avatar
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    ~~OOC: Was kind of waiting to see if Sandman or someone else would start talking to Ella, but to not hold anything up, I'll push things along a bit.~~

    Nemo introduced Ella to the others, and, not entirely sure where things stood with the robot, opted to let Ella decide if the possibly-glitched machine was worth following along or not. She also informed them of the robot's Waypoint announcement.

    ~~OOC: Insert those dialogues here.~~



    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    "Nemo? Rae? Kinu's hound has the scent of the one behind this attack." The mage is still in discussion with the curious person they've met and the group has not yet received any introductions, but the situation trumps politeness. They may have to move quickly.

    Again.
    "Seems we've got another lead," said Nemo. She bowed to Ella. "I've pledged to follow this group for the time being. You are welcome to join us."


    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    They glance to Kinu as the fearsome warrior agrees to some discretion, and nods as well. "Oh, I'm sure there's going to be some diving in and figuring it out. I doubt this place -" a gesture sketches the city "- is going to just open up and tell us everything. But the more we learn...the more we can be ready." Or make it work for us. "As for having an eye for getting to the tree..." Their voice drops, more thoughtful now. "I might be able to give a hand with that." Then Krys grins, hopping over a small pile of detritus as they jog. "I hope that we pick up some more people - that robot and girl certainly don't seem hostile, so..."
    "Coming!" said Nemo, being to stride after them.

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