Ruins of Khazan - Part 1: All Things Among Fallen Leaves

[Postmania]

Useful information.

Jane's own scan complete, she considers for a moment, then simply stands up and walks to Krys and the boy.

"It's a human," she announces abruptly, her steps making no sound as she seems to simply be behind them with no warning, rifle away but both pistols in hand now. Still keeping her eyes on the skull-armored figure before them, she takes no notice of any potential reactions from either of the two as her eyes remain in their altered shape, skulls in her eye sockets with skulls in their eye sockets repeating.

"By enhancing my systems with ambient spirits in the vicinity I performed an inspection of that one, and it appears to be a human in a large and heavy suit of armor. It doesn't seem to register us as a threat however," she added, cocking her head to the side with interest.

"Many of its defensive and offensive capabilities which are not apparent to a cursory glance remain offline aside from the obvious," she rolls her head back to a normal angle. "I estimate that it is unlikely to attack, without provocation. This is an acceptable outcome, whether we face target or neutral figure, for now."

She turns back to the boy for a moment, eyeing him critically, seeing if she could detect anything of interest with him now that she was up close.

OOC: Jane using the same notice sweep of him.

"This...boy of..."

She frowned. She never was good at estimating certain biological characteristics.

"...9, appeared half dead. The figure over there appeared apparently less harmed or disoriented than ourselves. Useful to know. I would prefer if those guns weren't pointed at us."

At those last words, though Jane's tone remained mostly stoic, a small spark of annoyance entered her tone.

"For a moment, it seemed as if the situation was simplifying, but it continues to increase in complexity."

Her hands seemed to tighten slightly around her pistols although they remain lowered, before relaxing again.

[Nik Hasta]

She turns back to the boy for a moment, eyeing him critically, seeing if she could detect anything of interest with him now that she was up close.

OOC: Jane using the same notice sweep of him.

"This...boy of..."

She frowned. She never was good at estimating certain biological characteristics.

"...9, appeared half dead. The figure over there appeared apparently less harmed or disoriented than ourselves. Useful to know. I would prefer if those guns weren't pointed at us."

At those last words, though Jane's tone remained mostly stoic, a small spark of annoyance entered her tone.

"For a moment, it seemed as if the situation was simplifying, but it continues to increase in complexity."

Her hands seemed to tighten slightly around her pistols although they remain lowered, before relaxing again.

Unlike her scan of the mech, Jane's questing eye being passed over the boy yields her little beyond the superficial. The boy seems conventionally human as she would understand it. His muscle density seemed a fraction higher than normal, for a chid of his age and relative growth he seems in good shape. Suggesting perhaps a background in physical labour?

His heart rate is elevated, his breathing still ragged from exhaustion and stress. For the moment he is motionless, apparently looking Krys to confirm when it was safe for him to move and speak once more.

Jane notices a twitch of the brow and apparent suppression of a disagreement with her words when she designated him as 9 years old. He still follow Krys' instruction, but the objection was noted.

[Sharpandpointies]

Gratifyingly, the boy clamps his mouth shut...mostly. To the side, Ván appears prepared, but also prepared to wait, hand on hilt, tension in her frame but no fear. Jane remains out of sight, a comforting backup. Krys motions at the boy again, nodding their head, and watches the drone. It's scanning them, and Krys makes a small bet on what it finds out. Not...that they will likely ever know, but. Nothing special, here. Maybe some odd energies, or strange anomalies. But no massive source of existential power, no raging torrent of life-force, and no god.

Just Krys, damaged and finite.

~ 'No broken bones counts as amazing in my books.' ~

The wry memory makes their lips twitch, but the small grimace disappears as the drone disregards them, flickering back to a resting point in the...being? Armor? while another immediately launches, this one toward the far more interesting city. Krys breathes out a small sigh of relief, twitching in mild shock as Jane begins speaking behind themselves and the boy. So, this war machine is some kind of human-form in armor, then? And it's not so much of a danger...well, at least to them at this very moment. "Probably a good thing," Krys murmurs; they would likely break themselves trying to damage that armor, should things come to a confrontation. "My thanks, Jane." They blink again as memory reminds them of the other woman's first words. Ambient spirits to enhance their systems? Well, Jane had mentioned the use of necromantic energies and had described her connection to the dead. It made sense...from that bizarre perspective.

It's unsurprising, though, that the armored being managed the trip in better condition than they did; the suit appears tough enough to withstand an avalanche.

"If you could keep watch?" they whisper to Jane; Ván already does, but Krys is more comfortable with more eyes on that beweaponed armor than less. For themselves, they turn to the boy. Young, small knife, satchel, and golden locket at his adam's apple, very much out of place with the worn clothing. "You may talk now," they assure the youth, "but quietly. I think it might be a good idea to remain calm and not draw too much attention to ourselves." That said with a small smile as their eyes probe more deeply, searching the boy for other signs, clues and cues. After all, he arrived here still alive, if only barely; perhaps there is a great deal more than meets the eye?

"My name is Krys. This is Jane and Ván. And yourself?" they finish.

OOC - Will try to figure out more about the boy using Insight. Stacks shifting to BRA, SKI, RES and CHA (to keep that persuade going), giving an Insight of 38.

[MrSandman]

After so long in the same environment, it seemed almost laughably ironic that not enough an hour had passed since she had arrived and already the lack of a static local was beginning to slightly grate. Navigation should have been a literal cakewalk for someone with the memory capacity she possessed...but it counted for nothing when the streets decided to reassign on a whim.

It was at the next crossroad however that it was made obvious she wasn't completely alone...and a variety of sounds, each more dangerous then the last, made themselves heard down nearly every avenue. However, it was the sounds of distress that caught her attention the most. Someone human(possibly) was in trouble nearby....perhaps someone lost like her, or a native to the city. Either way, it could not be ignored...perhaps the feint hope of a human who could answer her questions outweighed the obvious danger.

Ella took the path towards the cries, quickly but cautiously.

[Siriel]

With the other two having decided to take the matter of the wounded child into their hands, Ván is left with another dilemma. Or rather, with a new piece of information; the large figure wasn't some sort of automata, but rather a human wearing armor. She wasn't certain of what make the armor was, whether any cycle of her world had reached that level was something that her memories of those times were entirely too indistinct to determine, but the fact remained that the person was human, and by necessity of that fact had the ability to act according to their situation. Which made their current behavior far less forgivable. She couldn't blame a tool for only behaving in certain ways, but she could definitely blame its user.

Leaving the proximity of the other two, she walked toward the armored figure after removing her hand from her sword's handle, keeping her steps slow to make it obvious that she wasn't rushing toward it. Once she judged that she was close enough to be clearly heard, she spoke out loudly.

"My name is Ván. We can understand each other, so you should be able to understand me too, right?" She gestured in the mech's general direction. "I can forgive not disarming yourself in front of strangers in a strange situation, but not speaking out and introducing yourself if you're capable of speech is a breach of common etiquette."

[Nik Hasta]

"If you could keep watch?" they whisper to Jane; Ván already does, but Krys is more comfortable with more eyes on that beweaponed armor than less. For themselves, they turn to the boy. Young, small knife, satchel, and golden locket at his adam's apple, very much out of place with the worn clothing. "You may talk now," they assure the youth, "but quietly. I think it might be a good idea to remain calm and not draw too much attention to ourselves." That said with a small smile as their eyes probe more deeply, searching the boy for other signs, clues and cues. After all, he arrived here still alive, if only barely; perhaps there is a great deal more than meets the eye?

"My name is Krys. This is Jane and Ván. And yourself?" they finish.

OOC - Will try to figure out more about the boy using Insight. Stacks shifting to BRA, SKI, RES and CHA (to keep that persuade going), giving an Insight of 38.

The boy nods and lowers his dagger, putting it into his belt. He looks over at the mech, clearly somewhat awestruck and confused by it but Krys and Jane seem calm so he reflects that.

"I'm Trevor and I'm 13, less than a season off'f 14 really," he says, eyeing Jane slightly, "I'm here to find the... find the... greatest power in all the lands? The wizard Augusto Amadeo the Black sent me here. I gotta find it or... or Tildy - no not just her - all the ladies in the land are forfeit. H-he sent me here and, gave me this knife, because I was the only one to make it up his tower. All the others, well... they - they made it but he's got them as well now. He said he can't come to this place 'cause of - magic stuff or something but... but someone as... as - as normal and dull as me could make it where a - a whole army couldn't so..."

He takes a big breath, gabbling a little. His eyes are streaming a bit with repressed tears. It is obvious to Krys that he's been through a lot.

"So - so I don't what it is I'm looking for but he said that if I couldn't feel it then the knife would help but..." he pauses again and touches his chest over his heart, for a moment his eyes get a little distant, "I feel it. I know that it's - it's in there through them big doors. You all... erm... are you from here? Do you feel it as well?"

The trio, should they choose to feel for it, realise that the sense of the hook that seized into their soul and dragged them here on the journey itself through world after world, while faded from its original intensity, is still there. There is something pulling at them, a niggling feeling that calls to them from deep within the city, beckoning them in.

GM Note to Ván
spoilers:

Ván feels it strongly, like a thrumming heartbeat almost alongside her own. In those private moments, when she has reached internally to touch the energy and presence of her past lives, she has felt that omnipresent hunger for destruction that lives in her. Something about this pull suggests to her that "This is what you have been looking for,"

end of spoilers

GM Note to Jane
spoilers:

The pull is within her, her systems reacting strongly to the point where they are on the verge of establishing a new directive in her core programming to explore this. Analysing this impulse, she interprets as a feeling that "The source of this signal can make you free," As she feels this new growing call inside of her, she also detects another more sinister signal. A different call, but an energy much more familiar and a source of great fear for her. In this place of death and silence, she feels Nekro within the city, just for a moment and more potently than she's ever felt his presence before. She cannot tell if she has been perceived but she can feel something unspoken willing her to come closer. She can resist either impulse, her will remains her own, but both are drawing her into the city.

end of spoilers

GM note to Krys
spoilers:

When the boy comments on this sensation, Krys is initially puzzled. They have not felt some desire or mystic call. Instinctively, they dive deep into the well of their soul and spirit and then, after much searching that in realtime could only have seemed to take an instant, they hear the tiniest whisper of a ghost of a desire to go into the city. If they had to put words to it, it would be akin to "There is something here that can help you find what you seek," It is very "quiet" as far as such an impulse can be measured and not quiet in aid of some attempt at subtlety of influence as far as they can tell, for they had not felt any inkling of a compulsion influencing their behaviour toward going into the gates.

end of spoilers

Krys doesn't feel any sense of Trevor lying or attempting to mislead, he reads as a normal boy who is wildly out of his depth. They also don't think that he is the source of the influence that he highlighted to them. The key difference is perhaps that while they and their, for lack of a better term, comrades had all come here unintentionally. The boy was sent with a mission to fulfill.

Leaving the proximity of the other two, she walked toward the armored figure after removing her hand from her sword's handle, keeping her steps slow to make it obvious that she wasn't rushing toward it. Once she judged that she was close enough to be clearly heard, she spoke out loudly.

"My name is Ván. We can understand each other, so you should be able to understand me too, right?" She gestured in the mech's general direction. "I can forgive not disarming yourself in front of strangers in a strange situation, but not speaking out and introducing yourself if you're capable of speech is a breach of common etiquette."

The mechanised figure turns slightly and regards her, the impassive black glass orb of the helm giving away little as to how her words have been received. There is a momentary pause and Ván notes that the shoulder cannons have momentarily ceased their metronomic switching between possible targets and have instead focused on her directly.

There's a crackle and sudden whine of feedback. A voice comes forth, distorted by a tinny speakers that give it a mechanical buzz that awkwardly truncates sections of the speech. The voice is notionally male, again the magic of Khazan apparently translating the words meaning to Ván as she hears them. She gets the air of someone opinionated, educated and used to the sound of their own voice.

"I am not required to *hssss* name myself to *hzzz* creatures such as you. This *hssffff* is a scientific expedition and *ssffffggg* there is much data to be gathered, collated *ghf* and sifted ahead of a report and subsequent *gsssfvvv* full incursion. Pleasantries with similar cosmonauts from underdeveloped continuums are not a part *ppgghghg* of that process. Therefore your presence here will be tolerated *kwwwrrrr* until such time that it is not,"

The mechanoid suit turned away once more, making a small gesture and the drone it had sent up toward the top of the walls begins its swift descent towards them.

[Sharpandpointies]

Krys throws an arched eyebrow glance toward Jane at the revelation of the boy's age, but nothing more; it would be rather unfair to do otherwise, given they, themselves, couldn't possibly judge Jane's own age from her physical form. The Fourth - Trevor - appears to be calming a little, but at the same time that allows time for him to think, to consider, to reflect on his situation...and he's fourteen and clearly forced into an impossible situation. It sounds like something out of a poorly-written fantasy novel Krys might have read...oh, an eternity ago. But after her experiences, then their experience outside All Things, then now? The multiverse holds infinite possibility, and every idea is real somewhere. As is the danger to this boy, Trevor, and to Tildy, the girl or woman that he knows. And for whom he cares deeply, in some way.

And equally clearly, the magus who drove him to come here - however that was accomplished - had been at least in some ways correct.

Within themselves, however, they feel no great pull, no magical link, no grand endpoint. There is only the whisper of a concept, the possibility of a culmination, the potential for assistance. Not, they consider, that there are any other roads to follow, here. Krys has no way to leave this place and can no longer simply step into Svātantrya, that state of perfect freedom beyond even the concept of rules. Trapped in this place, trapped in this body, they have little choice but to continue on the single path before themselves; they do not yet wish to leave this life, in whatever form it happens to be. And also...another glance to Jane follows, the woman a reminder of new responsibilities, new agreements. I did say I would help, right? And she needs it, I'm guessing.

They - carefully - place one arm onto one of Trevor's shoulders; more than a handclasp, less than an embrace, it offers comfort without intrusion. "This is probably pretty overwhelming for you." The poor boy has been through hell, given his clear lack of any kind of experience in this sort of thing; at least Krys, Jane, and perhaps Ván can say otherwise. "I'm sorry." A small smile quirks one corner of their mouth. "No, I'm not from around here; none of us are. We arrived, I guess, the same way you did, for different reasons - none of us were sent, like you were. But we're all here, now, and maybe there is something in the center of that city. I don't...feel a pull, but there could be something?" For an instant, their eyes are even more unfocused, drifting far away, struggling to piece together the broken puzzle-parts of their memories and impressions. "If we stick together, we might be able to work something out."

Fragments of memory drift through their thoughts.

~ 'If we do this, we do it prepared. Find out what we can do, and make damn sure we can make it out alive when things turn sour.' ~

Then their lips thin. "And I don't really like the sound of this Augusto Amadeo the Black." Their gaze flicks to Jane. "Yourself, Jane? Still interested in working together to figure this out?"

Ván has moved to the Fifth, and - rather bravely, in Krys' estimation - is attempting conversation. Krys sits a little far away, but it at least hasn't erupted into violence...though it doesn't appear to be proceeding in a completely positive fashion. Still, the being has actually noted Ván's existence, which is a step up from before.

[Postmania]

Jane listened to the boy's story idly while watching the figure. She noted, with some surprise, Van approaching the figure and feels a note of relief. After her assessment she was aware that there would likely be no reason for them not to approach the being, but did not especially wish to approach herself. This way at least somebody among the three of them would gather this information. She inclined her head, acknowledging the boy's correction and Krys' look but took a greater interest in what followed.

"All the ladies," she commented thoughtfully. "What an odd specification in a threat."

Strangely, she found herself calling up the image of a target from a world not dissimilar to the world this Trevor seemed to be from. He had worn gaudy clothing, many colors and layers of robes. Jane primarily recalled his rings. He had worn one on each finger, and they had each allowed for some form of combat capacity, such as flight, or more dangerously, the transformation of enemies into more harmless forms. For some reason she pictured him lounging on one of his oversized couches, surrounded by his servants, but in her new mental simulation, each one of those servants is identical, because each one of them is Jane.

She dismisses this imagining. He had been satisfying to kill, however, though his rings had proven just as troublesome in death as in life. Removing them and transporting them back to the lab had proven abnormally difficult.

"The greatest power in all the lands? If this power lies past that Gate," she replied to Krys, seeming doubtful, "I find it likely I could use it to evade his gaze. It may be worth investigating-"

She stops speaking abruptly, as twin sensations strike her swiftly and with heavy impact.

How? Is this what this wizard was referring to?

For some reason, she found herself inclined to speak, but also reluctant to. And for some reason this was familiar- ah. She had always been told to speak openly during the post-mission feedback sessions when her emotions required monitoring in the event that a patch would be required. She turned to look at the other for a moment.

"Krys," she stated seriously. "In that city, I sense there is something that can help me achieve real success in severing Nekro's bond. Yet-"

Once again her synthesized voice seems to experience corruption, distortion on that word, and she pauses to allow it to pass.

"Yet, I also sense he is within that city as well. I do not understand how this could be, but it must be why I was brought here."

She turned back to regarding the figure in the distance numbly. One of her background processes detects the figure speaking now, but she is not directing her thought processes to the content of this conversation currently. She speaks, growing animated as before when speculating on her thoughts on why they were alone, her words starting to gain speed. This time, however, a trace of something else is in them, a drive beyond simply the chase for information. Something doubtful or perhaps, a more self-preserving emotion.

"I cannot assess why others would be called here if it is truly his kingdom then. Perhaps, perhaps we are actually dead then? Perhaps I died to that knife on that distant planet of blood sand. No, no my systems still read nominal. Unless this is Nekro's lie as well?"

At this she seems to grow more erratic, her words starting to pass too quickly for clearer understanding, her pace accelerating, almost sounding like bursts of machine code.

"Unclear whether the shield outweighs the gun aimed at me, even if this not a trap. It must be a trap, however. I should relocate, retreat. Find another time, another space. There must be other chances. The risk-"

She had turned around completely, without realizing it at this point, and started to walk in the opposite direction of the Gate. But somehow, she found herself turning around again, twisting her upper body to gaze at the city, her tone returning to her standard, more measured pace.

"Yet, if the solution truly is within those walls, I might never get a clearer shot."

And so Jane remained there, completely still and silent in her half-turned position as a million thoughts played through her circuits, unable to come to a consensus. It seemed she could remain there for a long time, barring interruption.

[Sharkerbob]

NEMO and RAE Intro, Part 1

"Are we there yet?"

"Really? You're going with that as our opening line?"

"You got a better one?"

"Not especially."

"My other idea was 'remind me again why we've been spending a month trudging through the Float Lands?', but, you know, people could just read our character profile."

"I'm not sure we should be breaking the fourth wall this much right off the bat. It feels a bit... tacky."

"You're a bit tacky!"

"I could use a bath."

"Alright! A gratiutous shower scene already! Sala--I mean, Sharkerbob really hasn't change at all, has he?"

"Oh, hush." The tall redheaded rabbit-eared woman stopped and glanced around, assessing their current whereabouts. Out here in Flotsam, or the Float Lands as some called it, reality was a fractured mess of micro-Worlds, adrift in the Extraplanar Void. The cast-offs of the Imaginators' half-formed and rejected concepts coalesced and congealed into temporary bubble worlds, hovering on the edges of the Scribed Lands just as distant asteroids floated on the edges of a star's gravitational influence. It was a dangerous place, if only because it was so easy to get lost, and one wouldn't know what strange phenomenon or creatures might be prowling around every corner.

Hopping from Float to Float was easy enough. Simply step off the edge of one world, and you would be shunted to another. But it was only thanks to Nemo's numerous Magics that kept the two of them safe from fragment to fragment. Most of the Floats were hospitable enough, realities consisting of a city block, or a tiny cave, or single building, or a couple acres of forest, or a small lake, etc. But they had also appeared at the edge of a volcano, or in a pool of acid, or in a toxic cloud. Maybe only one out of every hundred jumps was actually dangerous environmentally, but all it would have taken was one misstep, without proper shielding, to be instantly vaporized or crushed or corroded.

The creatures out here were a bit more frequent a risk. Despite most Floats being empty, the two travelers were not the only traversers of the edges of reality. Relic Hunters, hostile nomads, and random monsters were always a danger. Like the time they appeared in the midst of a giant brown recluse nest. Or the time they encountered a wild headhunter weilding one of the Seventy-Seven Scythes. Or the time they stumbled into that zombie infested village.

"What a wacky and wild adventure we've been on! Why, a certain someone could write an entire series just about our travels through the Float Lands! Just think of the possibilities!"

Nemo pursed her lips. "Please don't antogonize our writer."

"He brings it on himself, making so many of us characters and never goddamned doing anything with us!"

"Yes, well, he's giving us a shot here, isn't he?"

Rae made a little ruffle across herself to express a huff. "I [I]guess[/]."

"Alright, I think we're in a safe enough spot." Presently, the two were in what appeared to be a small coutryard in an empty city block. Like a facade for a movie set, only the first couple feet of the buildings around them existed. The two alleyway access points, one of which they had just come through, lead to walls of irridescent mist which denoted the borders of this particular Float. There didn't seem to be anyone else here.

With a flash of Water and Wind magic, Nemo cleaned the sweat and grime off herself and her parnter, and dried them both in a matter of seconds.

"Aw, how boring! That wasn't gratuitous at all!" With a giggle, Rae suddenly unraveled herself off of Nemo, undoing herself at the seams and flowing off her parnter in one deft motion! Nemo was left stark naked in the middle of the Float!

Not that anyone was around to enjoy the show, which undercut Rae's attempt at cheeky fanservice somewhat. Not that Nemo was complaining. She gave her partner an exasperated look, crossing her arms. "That bit wasn't funny in our old version, and I hope you will not be continuing it in this one."

"I always found it funny!"

"I know. Now knock it off, and get back on me. We don't really want to stay separated in the Float Lands."

Rae gave an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, yeah..." She quickly re-raveled herself onto her partner, plopping her hat onto Nemo's head to express a pout. "Stuffy bunny."

Nemo opened her mouth to respond, when something cut across her awareness. She heard something like a whisper in the back of her mind. She turned, and down the other alleyway, she saw something strange happening on the border of the Float.

Rae felt Nemo's muscles subtley tense, and immediately dropped the cheek. "What's up?"

"You hear that?"

"No. Wait... maybe? Is someone... whispering...?" A pause. "Kaz... Khazan?"

Nemo slowly approached the alleyway where the phenomenon was occuring. Just past the edges of the Float's border, a strange, rippling crack seemed to appear in the irridescent mist. Nemo could tell at once it was some kind of Reality Tear; she'd encountered several in her journeys, places where the veil of dimensions grew weak and wore thin until it briefly split open. But this... there was something different about it. She felt goosebumps on her skin. For a moment, Rae's threads shivered.

"I think this is it," said Nemo.

Rae gave a bit of a forced laugh. "Gee, what a coincidence! Just a few minutes on camera, and the plot kicks in!"

"Yes, very convenient. But I think this is what we were looking for nonethless."

They slowly made their way into the alley, until they were several feet from the Tear. Nemo reached out a hand to it. Despite searching for weeks across the Float Lands for this very opportunity, now that it was here, she felt a sense of forboding. If they stepped through this dubious portal, they would be beyond the complete influence of their Author. It was one thing to fantasize about the possibilities of the Realms Beyond, but to be faced with the risks of it, to be confronted with truly alien essence of it...

Rae shifted slightly, giving Nemo that gentle full-body squeeze she did as a comforting hug. "We, uh, don't really have to go through with this, you know."

Nemo returned the gesture, crossing her arms to hug herseflf, and Rae by extension. "I won't make you go through with me, if you're scared." There was a hint of a mirth on her lips.

"Pssssh, like you could go ten minutes without my help!"

The two steeled themselves. Nemo reached a hand out once more. "Alright... insert rabbit hole joke here." And then, they stepped through...

[Sharkerbob]

NEMO and RAE Intro, Part 2


The first thought through both of their minds was that this may have not been the wisest of trips. They thought, with all their experience crossing between Worlds, that they were ready for the whatever they might come across.

They didn't expect the first step to feel like getting slammed through a brick wall. This wasn't like taking the DimTunnels between the Scribed Lands. It wasn't even like making the precarious jumps between the Floats. This was the dimension-hopping equivalent to being dragged along gravel by an accelerating truck. They didn't so much step forward as they were hurled through the veils of multiple dimensions, smashed forward with relentless force.

Nemo burned her magic high attempting to protect them with a variety of barriers, as Rae re-enforced their physical bodies, clenching her threads as tight as she could to armor her parnter. With every impact, they could feel their power bleed away, draining Nemo's various gifts into the red. Rae had it worse, feeling the jagged shards of the shattered veils cutting into her, physically and metaphysically gauging through her threads. Both of them screamed, Rae continuously as she had no need of air to vocalize, Nemo's cries stuttering into short, hoarse gasps. But they held on nonetheless, until the strain rendered them both sick with mystic fatigue.

For a moment, they wondered if this was going to be their last journey. If their Author was going to just let them die out of spite, for having the hubris to try and escape him. They gave each other a final comforting squeeze, and a murmured apology, and they braced themselves to give their last drop of energy, until the shredding cascade finally cut them to pieces...

And then they were sent tumbling across a filthy shore, digging a shallow rut in the dead earth. Rae attempted to extend a roll-cage of hardened threads off herself to safely cushion Nemo's fall, but she buckled upon the first impact, letting out a final shout. The two came to a ragged stop against a crumbling lump of indeterminant debris.

Worn absolutely ragged, gasping, Nemo forced herself to sit up, pushing against the lump. Her hand sank deep into ashen leather, which flaked away to reveal a yellowed hard surface. Shaking the daze from her mind, she quickly took in her surroundings, and realized she was leaning her hand against the thigh bone of a dead giant. Scrambling to her feet, ignoring the ache in her whole body, she took in the scene with a mixture of horror and awe.

The land around her was a mess of scattered alien corpses. None of them seemed to stir, at least not yet. If this was another zombie-infested realm, they were in a very bad spot indeed. However, part of her was just as taken aback by the beauty of the landscape around her. Haunting in it's own way, the sea of stars, the aura overhead, and the strange, eldritch Gate that loomed in the near distance.

Then she noticed there were others near the Gate. And she noticed that as soon as she looked towards them, something about the Gate flickered in her peripheral vision, drawing her eye again. As she saw the figures move, though, her eyes were drawn away, and she swore it flickered again.

"Ugh..."

Keeping her eyes on the Gateway and the figures, who seemed to be engaged in a tense gathering, Nemo hugged herself to give Rae a comforting embrace. "You okay?"

"I feel pretty... fucked up... not gunna lie..."

Nemo judged that she was about two hundred yards from the others. They had certainly noticed her, but they seemed distracted with their own affairs. She wasn't going to approach them until she'd assessed her own standing. "How bad is it?"

She felt Rae ruffle herself, but something about her motion was decidedly unenergetic. She felt the circuit of String Magic that always thrummed between them had been reduced to a cold ebb. Immediately, she tried to pushed some of her power to her partner, realizing with a grimace how low her own reserves were. She gave Rae a few hearty gulps anyway, and felt the circuit warm up again.

"Whew... ugh... well... this is a fine start, huh? Think the door must have... hit us on the ass... on the way out..."

"Just rest for now." She was eyeing the gathering. There didn't seem to be a fight going on. Her hearing was good enough to pick up fragments of conversation, but low enough she couldn't pick up more than a few words at a time.

She took another account of the corpses strewn around them, though. Most of them were old, long decayed, so the group ahead surely couldn't have been responsible. Had they just arrived as well? Were they strangers to one another or were they already a party? There didn't seem to be a safe place to retreat to, and she had to assume they had already spotted her. They weren't approaching yet, and they weren't making any hostile moves. Thankfully, neither were the corpses. If they were zombies, surely they would have started shambling after them all by now.

"You don't... seem like you're doing... too hot yourself..." Rae flexed slightly against her, the most she seemed able to move. "You're so drained... you're almost cold... Also, you're bleeding in me..."

Nemo really didn't want to confront the group in such a weakened state, but she wasn't seeing that it could be avoided. Besides, there was something about the Gate that refused to let her leave it be. Something about it was practically beckoning her forward, and to reach it, she'd have to approach them.

Still keeping her gaze forward, Nemo went down on one knee, her arms still clasping herself, as she took a quick mental assessment.

It was bad. It was really, really bad. Multiple Magics were just... gone. Not merely depleted, it was as if her Spark had completely lost their resonance. What Magic she did have was crippled to the barest parlor tricks. The only Magic that seemed anywhere close to even half strength was String. If she had to guess, only her connection to Rae had saved her that much.

After that, she still sensed the embers of Fire Magic. After that... Flesh? Maybe? Maybe... Yes... she could feel it, the sensation of pulse, faint but still present. She drew upon it to repair herself. It was an uncomfortable feeling as ever, like termites crawling through her wounds and working them shut from the inside out. But it did the trick. Thankfully, the cuts were shallower than they first seemed. Rae had taken the brunt of the physical damage. Just as thankfully, the living cloth was still able to stitch herself back together, slower than usual, but nonetheless with practiced efficiency.

OOC: Nemo uses Flesh Magic: Repair on herself.

She stood back up. The people in the distance all seemed pre-occupied, but she still figured she'd been spotted, so there was no point trying to hide. "Well, no time like present to get to know the probably-not-locals."

"Hey, if we're lucky, they might be our new destined companions," quipped Rae.

"Maybe," said Nemo. "At the very least, I get the feeling they might be in the same boat as us. Still, let's proceed with caution."

"Yes, ma'am, that's me! Caution is my middle name!" Rae's voice had a bit more spirit to it, but it was clearly somewhat forced.

"For real this time," said Nemo. "Just rest up. Or at least let me do some actual talking before you start snarking." She glanced around the terrain again, to see if there was a clearer way through the corpses. Although there was some space between each one, she seemed to have a landed in the midst of a thicker grouping, and she had no desire to take the scenic route picking her way through them. Nemo drew upon the Sky Magic that let her fly at will... and she stayed on the ground. She tried again, felt the strain, but all she managed was a little puff of air escaping from under her feet.

"Heck," said Nemo. She drew upon that sliver of Sky Magic again. There was just a bit of it left to work with, but it wasn't completely unusable. She'd gotten used to being able to fly indefinitely with it, but the earliest movement-assist spell she'd learned for it had been a simple little burst of directional force. She tensed her body, charged the power at her feet, and launched into the air with a burst of wind behind her. She was going to fall short of her intended trajectory, but a few jumps ought to get her most of the distance.

OOC: Nemo attempts Sky Magic: Air Jump twice in a row to test out her range limit.

[Nik Hasta]

After that, she still sensed the embers of Fire Magic. After that... Flesh? Maybe? Maybe... Yes... she could feel it, the sensation of pulse, faint but still present. She drew upon it to repair herself. It was an uncomfortable feeling as ever, like termites crawling through her wounds and working them shut from the inside out. But it did the trick. Thankfully, the cuts were shallower than they first seemed. Rae had taken the brunt of the physical damage. Just as thankfully, the living cloth was still able to stitch herself back together, slower than usual, but nonetheless with practiced efficiency.

OOC: Nemo uses Flesh Magic: Repair on herself.

OOC: Nemo attempts Sky Magic: Air Jump twice in a row to test out her range limit.

GM Note:

With the above Technique uses, Nemo is now at Full HP and has 160/410 Mastered ENR (39%) remaining.

[Nik Hasta]

They - carefully - place one arm onto one of Trevor's shoulders; more than a handclasp, less than an embrace, it offers comfort without intrusion. "This is probably pretty overwhelming for you." The poor boy has been through hell, given his clear lack of any kind of experience in this sort of thing; at least Krys, Jane, and perhaps Ván can say otherwise. "I'm sorry." A small smile quirks one corner of their mouth. "No, I'm not from around here; none of us are. We arrived, I guess, the same way you did, for different reasons - none of us were sent, like you were. But we're all here, now, and maybe there is something in the center of that city. I don't...feel a pull, but there could be something?" For an instant, their eyes are even more unfocused, drifting far away, struggling to piece together the broken puzzle-parts of their memories and impressions. "If we stick together, we might be able to work something out."

Trevor smiles, a little sadly truth be told. He's clearly glad to have found friendly enough faces in this strange and desolate place but the near death experience and the growing scale of his mission weighs heavily upon him.

He opens his mouth to respond but is almost cut-off by Jane's near-spasm of indecision.

"Is it... she...? The shiny one... Jane? Sorry, Jane. Are they okay?" he asks Krys, clearly unsure if he should approach. Krys doesn't miss that his hand strays towards his dagger in a nervous twitch.

[Sharpandpointies]

Trevor, to Krys, looks too young for the weight of the world - and that's essentially what it is, for him - to be sitting on his shoulders. We were young, as well, they remind themselves. That Fate...Ashen Death! The memory is sour with old anger and disgust they thought shed...oh, outside of Eternity, within Time out of Time. But this body, its chemistries, its links to entropic time and limitations, they've brought all of the old emotions back; dulled, to be sure, their edges rusted and aged, but still enough to cut. Breathing out slowly, they give the youth a small - very small - shake, more of an acknowledgement of their situation than any attempt to cheer them up or 'shake sense' into them.

There's no sense in this situation, none at all.

But Jane...Jane has gone somewhere within herself, it seems. She has - had? had - begun to speak before cutting herself off, perhaps some kind of judgement upon the wizard overlord of Trevor's world. But now, her eyes fall directly upon Krys and her tone becomes oddly grave. And, like the boy, she has sensed something within the city, clear, present, and important to her future freedom as compared to Krys' vague grasp that perhaps...oh, but there's more, more for Jane. Her tone twists with feedback for the barest instant before she continues, and when she does her words carry a dreadful revelation.

Nekro.

That her 'god' is somehow here, Krys has no cause for doubt; Jane's connection to that god is established already. If the woman states it is here, within the city, well...as Jane turns away, studying the Fifth as it speaks with Ván, Krys' lips thin. If Nekro is here, that is danger. But if Nekro is here...it is also opportunity, for a fine sword possesses two edges. Their breathing tightens for an instant before they relax, shoulders rolling back. Nekro...and something else, something which might provide freedom for the chained woman. "Seems like we might have found a way to break that chain, Jane."

~ "We've all got to start somewhere." ~

But Jane continues, her voice quickening, more emotion entering into it. Krys follows through the concern of this being an illusion, that Jane is already dead. They shake their head, but remain silence. I think...I would know if I were dead. That thought brings a wry smile, but it quickly fades as Jane grows increasingly disturbed, her voice shifting to bursts of speech almost too swift to follow. Focusing, Krys barely manages...it's not easy, not at all. And then?

Then Jane freezes, caught in a decision with no clear route.

Krys glances toward Trevor as he speaks, and slowly nods. "She's having a rough time as well." It's good of him to be worried, despite his own situation, but some of that may be fear. Krys shakes her head at his motion toward the dagger. "I think she's just...trapped. Between choices, so to speak." They offer the boy a small smile. "Maybe we can help her?"

In the corner of her eye, something shimmers in the distance - another entry, another traveler arriving at this broken, colossal city, this empty shore. Krys marks them, blinks as they surge high into the air. Towards us, they consider. Likely the newcomer - the Sixth - will arrive soon. But for now, their concern is Jane. Rising, they move to stand behind Jane as she stares at the city, and carefully - with some noise, just to make certain - lays a hand on her hardened shoulder. "No good opportunity is without risk," they quietly note. "And few risks carry no opportunity. Jane, there is an advantage here perhaps you have not considered." And why would she?

For how long has Jane struggled in her solitary fashion?

That corner of their lips twitches up again. "Us. Myself, Ván, Trevor...perhaps others. Nekro is accustomed to hunting you, but that is not the case now." Her tone tightens, just a hair; still smooth, still clear, but now with a edge of steel. "For you are not alone."

[Postmania]

Jane had remained still as different currents of thought warred within her circuits. As the conflicting subroutines played out in her mind, each proposing different scenarios, different calculations, she remains still, except for the transparent, finely made crystals that formed her eyes. At this distance, Krys could see that when Jane moved her eyes alone, these crystals did not, in fact move, but merely the light that symbolized her pupils simply shifted around, lighting up different parts of the crystals to provide the impression of a moving eye as in an organic being. It was only this part of Jane that moved now, the glowing green illumination of the crystals seeming to drift ponderously to Krys' hand on her shoulder.

"Strange," she said slowly, after a moment. "It wasn't one of my main thought processes, but one of the conclusions I had just come to was, 'I've never been more alone.'"

"However," she continued, her voice taking on a tone of an emotion she did not often register, that of genuine astonishment, "you're serious. Serious about helping me fight a god, possibly directly."

Jane finally moved, turning her head to look over at Trevor, and then Van even though she was not a part of the conversation, as if to reconfirm her surprise. Her body remained half-turned however, resulting in her head turning in ways that onlookers might be uncertain would be possible with standard human anatomy.

"If this is some form of directive, based purely out of what was stated before," Jane stated. She stopped speaking, seeming to recollect herself.

"If you change your mind," she continued instead, "at any time, for any reason, I will not assume you bound by previous statements. The same goes for any of you," she looked over at Trevor, and Van again. "A mission so dangerous would be one I would not take unless forced to by the Facility."

"However," she said, her lips turning up in a small smile, "I am...glad to have your assistance."

"You must truly be a great warrior," Jane added to Krys, "to oppose a god so casually. I look forward to seeing you demonstrate."

She then turned back to Trevor, looking him over.

"Although I am unclear about the combat capacities of a...child? My databanks are unclear whether a human aged 14 still classifies as a child. In some cultures, 13 is the beginning of becoming an adult, and in others, notably older ones are still growing. Either way," she concluded, looking dubiously at Trevor's knife. "I must express positive aspirations that you can use that."

"Either way, we may not have all the capacities of the Facility at our disposal, but your assessment is correct at the moment. Not all aspects of this situation are guns to my head. There are perhaps," her gaze turns here and there to include Trevor, Van, and Krys, "three assets that can help me."

Although, her curiosity subroutine whispered to her, newly revived with the chaos clearing from her thought processes, would the Facility truly have provided aid in this scenario? They serve Nekro too.

Quiet, she demanded of it in her mind. Fetch. Seek information on possibly any other area of interest at the moment.

At this thought crossed her mind though, her smile fell from her face, and she cocked her head to the side, glancing down at her body for a moment, and then finally the rest of her body moved, turning around to face the Gate as one.

"I must apologize for my irrational behavior. If I were at the Facility, a software engineer would be arriving shortly to patch out the basis for this corruption in my protocols. However," Jane's gaze slid to the side in the way the ones closer would recognize, emerald light shifting in immobile crystal, "It has been a long time since my last servicing."

"I appreciate your work on my chassis earlier," she said, looking over at Krys, "but software maintenance seems unlikely to be your domain. It was...improper for me to force you to perform a function that was unrelated to your previously stated cause of," Jane's head uncocks, now perfectly, unmovingly vertical as she stood in a more normal fashion, "Combatting slavery."

With these last few sentences Jane's tone had tgaken on a general tone of disappointment, although the subject of which remained unclear. However, when she spoke the word "improper" with the slight hesitation, another note entered her voice, a note that signaled something deeper than disappointment.

Jane's focus settles back on the large armored figure that Van speaks to, seeming to grow quieter again, but a relatively peaceful quiet compared to her stillness a moment prior as she returns to sentry duty.

[Siriel]

The mechanised figure turns slightly and regards her, the impassive black glass orb of the helm giving away little as to how her words have been received. There is a momentary pause and Ván notes that the shoulder cannons have momentarily ceased their metronomic switching between possible targets and have instead focused on her directly.

There's a crackle and sudden whine of feedback. A voice comes forth, distorted by a tinny speakers that give it a mechanical buzz that awkwardly truncates sections of the speech. The voice is notionally male, again the magic of Khazan apparently translating the words meaning to Ván as she hears them. She gets the air of someone opinionated, educated and used to the sound of their own voice.

"I am not required to *hssss* name myself to *hzzz* creatures such as you. This *hssffff* is a scientific expedition and *ssffffggg* there is much data to be gathered, collated *ghf* and sifted ahead of a report and subsequent *gsssfvvv* full incursion. Pleasantries with similar cosmonauts from underdeveloped continuums are not a part *ppgghghg* of that process. Therefore your presence here will be tolerated *kwwwrrrr* until such time that it is not,"

The mechanoid suit turned away once more, making a small gesture and the drone it had sent up toward the top of the walls begins its swift descent towards them.

The words reach her ironically a second too late, by which time she pays almost as little attention to the figure as it pays to her. Making her somewhat of a hypocrite perhaps, but her attention has moved beyond that kind of self-awareness to a more pressing concern.

"I see." Just a few moments before she might have been offended, but there was no place for that kind of thing now. She settled instead of a light barb in return to the insult. "I would have expected a world that reaches the level of creating something like your armor would have figured out that common decency is something performed for one's own dignity rather than simply benefiting others, but it looks like advancement follows different branches."

She turned around and started walking away, trying to keep her motions as carefree as when she'd approached. It was a pretense more for herself than for anyone else, trying to keep up the pretense of her own civility. She sent a glance at the others just to make sure nothing bad had occurred, then headed right for the doors without another word. She'd already shared what little she knew about the place with them, which would hopefully be enough to repay Krys for the help granted. And if not... Well, it would hardly be the first time she proved an ungrateful wretch. Following the whimsy of her being was much more important at the moment, before she chained herself down with more friendships or obligations. She was free of such niceties for the first time in her current life, and she didn't intend to pick them up again so soon after escaping them.

To the doors, then, and whatever invisible thing it was that was beckoning her further.