"I've cut something unworthy again."

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> Everyone rises just around dawn, after their unexpectedly eventful night. It's a cool morning, but the sun is already burning through the morning mist and the day promises to be a warm one. (OOC: ball is basically in your court, whether you want to discuss things IC/talk to other people or just move on)
<Yomi> "Did you have a dream of me last night, Rena?" Yomi simply has to ask.
<Nadia_Chekova> Her makeup looks a bit streaky after sleeping, rather ruining her disguise as an oriental girl, but at least it can easily be fixed. Before doing that, though, she has some theological questions which perhaps Erin can answer without getting quashed by Rena's coldly logical arguments this time! "Erin..." she begins, on seeing the Irishwoman roused as well, sitting on her futon. "What did you say your group believes happens to people when they die?"
<El-Cideon> Rena's still in bed, covered in blankets up to her shoulders. She sounds a little groggy still. "No. Should I have? I don't usually dream at all."
<Yomi> "I had a dream about you, so I wondered if we were having the same dream."
<Erin> "We don't have a complete understanding, but it's clear there is an existence after the death of the body," replies Erin, folding her legs beneath her and peering curiously at Nadia. "And there is evidence to suggest that our actions in life shape our after-life. What I believe is that virtuous people are offered a choice-"
<El-Cideon> "Did you? What was I doing in your dream? I don't think we shared it--as I said, I don't usually remember dreams. Last night was no different."
<Erin> "-between watching over the world from afar, perhaps at the shoulders of the Ascended Ones- or re-entering the cycle of reincarnation, giving their souls another chance to be shaped by life."
<Yomi> "You were acting very strange. Uh, just forget it?"
<El-Cideon> "Strange? What was I doing?" Rena presses.
* Yomi grimaces. "You were dressed as a schoolteacher and hit me with a ruler. See? It's strange!"
<El-Cideon> "Yes, it is. I don't understand. Why did I hit you? You're my friend."
<Nadia_Chekova> That... actually does sound a bit like what her mother described, watching over her and thinking that she might later decide to go 'elsewhere'. Although there was no mention of any ascended ones. "I think that's probably more likely than pearly gates and angels," Nadia tells Erin, of course not going to say she gets her theological insights from dreams. She can leave it at that, going now to get dressed and touch up her makeup.
<Yomi> "You wanted me to learn more about the monsters, but I didn't really understand the lesson. If you want to teach someone in a dream next time, try picking someone smarter?"
<Erin> "There is always a connection between this world and the next. I always thought the idea of 'heaven' was a bit presumptuous, you know?" wonders Erin as Nadia leaves, intending to do the same herself and then meet the others for breakfast.
<El-Cideon> "I don't know what I could teach you about monsters. I am sure you know more about them than I do. Next time I should teach you about something I actually know about?"
* Yomi considers that. "Sure, why not?"
<El-Cideon> Rena nods and gets up to get dressed. Soon enough, all four of you are packed up and back together outside.
<Erin> "I had the most amazing dream last night! It must have been a message from afar... it spoke of both doom and hope," states Erin, once the group is assembled.
<Yomi> "I think I've got a lead, if we head on to Tokyo," Yomi tells the others. "And we could stop by Fuji-san as well, and finally get to see that other world without the Germans beating us to it. How does that sound?"
<El-Cideon> "Yomi had a dream too. I hit her with a ruler."
* Erin blinks.
<Nadia_Chekova> "I had a dream as well," Nadia shrugs, not really wanting to elaborate. Yomi's sounds mundane enough, hers is only significant to herself... "Did your dream specify any doom and hope in particular, Erin?"
<Yomi> "That was your part in it. The other part showed me the thing possessing Elgin. It was terrible, made of many eyes and impossible angles, and I saw the cave where the ritual to unleash it was going to happen."
<Erin> "Well, not all dreams are prophetic, I should hope. Ah.. ah... I witnessed the world beginning to crack," replies Erin, grimacing. "What these seals- that Elgin was trying to break- what they hold is something so.. unimaginably vast. Something that would split the world apart in awakening..."
<Erin> "But then I was shown three people- three people who we must aid, and be aided by in turn to stop this fate coming to pass! I've never had such a vivid dream..."
<Nadia_Chekova> "Well... perhaps something here prompted us to have important dreams?" Nadia wonders, "I don't think we should ignore them."
<El-Cideon> "I didn't have a dream," Rena says, sounding left out.
<Yomi> "Maybe you need to try really hard next time. You said you don't dream often, right?"
<El-Cideon> She shakes her head. "I don't."
<Yomi> "You have to start small, then. First, normal dreams. Then, dreams of terrible cultists unleashing unspeakable evil. Alright?"
<Erin> "If you start imagining things during the day, maybe it will help you dream at night?" suggests Erin, uncertainly.
<El-Cideon> "Alright. I will have to concentrate on it before I go to bed."
<Erin> "Before we go, I must have a word with Wakihisa-san," states Erin, after a moment of stretched silence. "Then... to Tokyo?"
<Nadia_Chekova> "Yomi's plan suits me," Nadia agrees.
<El-Cideon> Suzume comes out to greet you before long. "Will you be leaving now, or do you desire breakfast first? It is not trouble. I always make it."
<Nadia_Chekova> "It's a long walk for an empty stomach," Nadia puts in her feelings.
<Erin> "Breakfast would be delightful," replies Erin, with a nod. "Might we speak with Wakahisa-san again before we depart?"
<El-Cideon> She nods politely, carefully acknowledging everyone but Rena. "I'm sure he will not object. Follow me, please." She leads you back inside, to the room from before. Kurou is here, picking at a plate of fish with chopsticks, along with another woman you haven't seen before. She looks European--somewhere along the Mediterranean, judging by her skin tone? Dark hair, pretty. Dressed in workman's clothes. "Ah, good morning," Kurou says.
<El-Cideon>  "Ah, good morning," Kurou says.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Good morning," Nadia replies, giving a polite little Japanese style bow.
<El-Cideon> "Sit down if you like. Suzume always makes plenty."
<Yomi> "Good morning," Yomi returns, bowing before accepting his invitation and sitting by the table.
<Erin> "Hello! Ah, so I see," replies Erin, taking a seat. "We're not interrupting anything, are we? I know it's just breakfast and it's a heady topic, but I wanted to continue our conversation from last night," she adds.
* Nadia_Chekova likewise takes a seat, happy to indulge. "Hello," she smiles at the stranger. "I'm Natsu."
<El-Cideon> "Lucia," she says brusquely. Not rude, but businesslike. "Of course," Kurou says, "not a problem at all. When else are you going to be taking a walk through my woods, after all? Say what's on your mind."
<Erin> "I touched on it the other day," states Erin. "I believe I mentioned the duality of what's considered sacred and profane. Now, of course, we both know that it's possible to exorcise or 'purify' a so-called unholy article- and that the reverse, in a way, is true for the sacred."
<El-Cideon> "Yes?" he says with a wave of chopsticks, obviously expecting some continuation.
<Erin> "Certain unsavory characters, however, have managed to find a way to use a purification and a- what would you call it, a desecration, of course- in conjunction with one another. The effect is nothing more than a vast release of energy- depending on the articles in question, anywhere from a square meter to a city block to... well, I can't really say if there's a limit."
<El-Cideon> "Forces in opposition seeking to destroy one another, hm?" He sets down his chopsticks, dabs his lips with a napkin, and shakes his head. "I must wonder at what sort of person would exploit the symbols of another's beliefs for their own benefit. It sounds quite insane. Has this been done, you say?"
<Erin> "It certainly has- and is still happening. I fear this power will be used for a great wrong in the near future," replies Erin, sighing. "I wanted to ask if you knew of any method to- well, to prevent or contain such a release. Aside from preventing it from occuring in the first place, which is of course where our efforts would be focused."
<El-Cideon> "I must admit that the idea is a new one to me. Which in a way is something to be thankful for, except insofar as it means that I do not have an obvious countermeasure prepared. I would have to research the subject." He frowns. "Hopefully without needing to indulge in any actual experimentation."
<Erin> "Could you do so? I can put you in touch with my order, but I believe this is a topic that suits your specialities," replies Erin, clasping her hands.
<El-Cideon> "Yes, I'll look into it as soon as I'm able. If you or your order need to reach me from afar for any reason, you may telegram or send a letter to the post office in Yamauchi. Lucia heads into town to check for messages twice a week."
<Yomi> "It would probably be easiest to keep in touch through Erin's order," Yomi agrees. "We'll try to check with them with at least that same frequency."
<El-Cideon> Everyone finishes eating, farewells are said, and you start the hike back out of the valley.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 99."12 [1d100=99]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 12."12 [1d100=12]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 2."12 [1d100=2]
<El-Cideon> After about an hour, you spot a disturbance on the road. About a hundred feet ahead of you, a black cloud hovers in the air, wide enough to block out the path ahead from your vision. It moves slightly, here and there, aimlessly.
<Nadia_Chekova> Cloud as in smoke or cloud as in insect swarm?
<El-Cideon> OOC: smoke.
* Nadia_Chekova sniffs and looks at the sides of the roads. "Fire?" she wonders.
<El-Cideon> It doesn't smell like fire, and you don't see anything to indicate such. It's like a miniature stormcloud is patrolling the road of its own volition.
<Erin> "It doesn't look right for it to be a fire," replies Erin, dubiously checking to see if they can go around.
<El-Cideon> OOC: K:A can also be rolled here
<Yomi> "And here I was hoping Rena wasn't serious about opponents I couldn't just behead," Yomi mutters to heself.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+8 sure
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+8 sure and gets 14."12 [1d20=6]
<El-Cideon> Going around would involve traipsing through the woods. You could do it, but it would cost you some time.
<Erin> roll 1d20+16
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+16 and gets 24."12 [1d20=8]
<Erin> "It's.. a nue," replies Erin, with faint disgust. "Where they go, disease is sure to spread."
<Yomi> "That's just prejudice!" Yomi protests.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Can we go around it or would it follow us?" Nadia asks, not really wanting to take her chances.
<Erin> "I don't think it will follow us through the forest," replies Erin, glancing curiously at Yomi. "
<Erin> "Do you think we can.. reason with it, or something like that?"
<Erin> "Because I don't," she quickly amends, coughing. "Let us go around it."
<Yomi> "I don't want to fight one if he doesn't like you for some reason, so we should just go around him."
* Nadia_Chekova sighs, shouldering her travel bag and walking off the road to the left to try and pick her way through the trees and undergrowth go get around the... nue.
<El-Cideon> OOC: what kind of distance are you keeping from it?
<Erin> OOC: I guess a couple hundred feet?
<Nadia_Chekova> OOC: a hundred will do, lets not get lost
<Nadia_Chekova> OOC: wait, you're the expert. withdrawn
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20-15
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20-15 and gets -10."12 [1d20=5]
<El-Cideon> It takes you some time to circle around through the woods, and everyone winds up with an array of small scratches from bushes and undergrowth, but by the time you circle back to the road you are safely past the cloud and can proceed without further interruption.
<Erin> "Another dress, ruined forever," mutters Erin, finding good reason to question her attire for these jaunts.
<El-Cideon> "All clothes get worn out," Rena observes. "It's just another reason not to bother with them."
<Erin> "Better the clothes than our bodies!"
<El-Cideon> From Yamauchi you're able to hitch a hide back to one of the larger towns, and from there rejoin Japan's train network. Down south, out of the mountains, and then along the seaside. You pass numerous small coastal towns, fishermen at work out on the water, before coming to the vicinity of the great mountain. (more)
<El-Cideon> The air is clear today and you can see it from miles off, so does it dominant the landscape. The peak is broken off at the top, the mountain an old volcano, crowned by snow. There are many small villages in the vicinity, most of them used to catering to pilgrims and other sightseers. There are plenty of places to stop and get something to eat before moving on.
<Erin> "Where are we going to investigate, Yomi?" asks Erin, shortly after making an executive decision to have lunch before proceeding.
* Yomi tries to think of the most ancient holy ground in the area to use as a starting point.
<Yomi> OOC: 10 for 21 on history, if I can?
<Yomi> "I think we'll need to climb it. I was hoping something else will spring to mind when I saw it again, but that's all I can think of."
<Nadia_Chekova> "Lets get a hotel room nearby and climb it tomorrow, then?" Nadia suggests, having spent all day travelling already and not really in the mood to climb a mountain.
* Erin nods her head, finding it difficult to see the flaw in being properly rested for engaging in strenuous physical activity.
<El-Cideon> Hotels proliferate in this area, and it's not at all difficult to find cheap lodging for the night. You emerge the next morning rested and ready to face the world! Getting to the foot of the mountain is easy; the common paths are well delineated, for all that it's still a long trek if one wishes to go to the summit.
<El-Cideon> "Do we really have to climb this?" Rena says with a frown. "It looks like a lot of work."
<Erin> "Well, we'd better roll up our sleeves and get to it, then!" declares Erin, striding off down the most obvious route.
<Yomi> "We can try it here, too," Yomi admits. "Nothing lost by the attempt."
<Erin> "-oh. Well, then..." mumbles Erin, only now choosing to roll up her sleeve before trying to active the bracelet.
<Nadia_Chekova> "It will keep your body in good shape so that men will enjoy looking at it," Nadia reassures Rena teasingly as she follows Erin.
<El-Cideon> Erin is gone in a blink! Apparently this was close enough. She finds herself in darkness again, much like the last time she used the bracelet successfully.
<El-Cideon> "...Where did Erin go?" Rena asks, not having been present for the last such experiment.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Ahh!" Nadia jumps as Erin vanishes!
<Erin> In no hurry to stick around there by herself, Erin soon reappears back in front of the others! "It looks like you're right- ahh!"
<Erin> "Don't startle me like that!"
<Nadia_Chekova> "You startled me!" Nadia fires back.
* Yomi laughs. "I guess it really was close enough."
<El-Cideon> "What just happened?" Rena presses. "Can Erin turn invisible now?"
<Yomi> "We have the means to travel to another world, that's all. And now, all together?"
* Yomi offers Erin her hand.
<Erin> "No, I never bothered learning that one," replies Erin, frowning. "It's far too mischievous- ah. Yes, that's it. It is very dark there. Did we pack torches?"
<El-Cideon> Rena shrugs and just mimics Yomi.
* Nadia_Chekova takes Rena's hand and then Yomi's. "I have mine," she tells Erin, nodding to her handbag.
<Erin> "Alright. One, two..." states Erin, before the group finds it's reality transposed!
<El-Cideon> Elsewhere! Without transition or warning, as before. All of you are surrounded by darkness. It is quite chilly in the absence of natural light.
* Nadia_Chekova lets go of her friends and fishes out her flashlight, flicking it on and scanning around.
<Erin> Erin opts to cast a spell of darkvision on herself, just in case something should happen to their current sources of light- not to mention a spell of armour upon Yomi.
<El-Cideon> Stone walls, uneven and high like a cavern. Dark stone, surrounding you on three sides, only one way to walk out, smooth but here and there bearing the marks of what might be past excavation. Like last time, you find yourself on a tiled platform.
<El-Cideon> "Where are we?" Rena wonders.
<Nadia_Chekova> "It's like some sort of hidden magic world that no one lives in anymore," Nadia tells Rena. "At least we think so. The Germans got to all the other entryways we've found before first, and I think they sometimes had to fight things there..."
<Erin> "We're still not exactly sure," explains Erin. "This is another world, somewhat spatially concurrent with our own, in which... some kind of great evil is sealed, I believe." She checks her handgun. "Actually, we might be very deep underground. These are sealing something in our planet, from what I could tell..."
<El-Cideon> Rena nods. "If something bothers us I will hit it with my sword."
<Yomi> "Since the Germans didn't visit here, the guards or natives might still be here," Yomi cautions.
<Nadia_Chekova> "I think we saw one that looked like he'd been mauled by a strange dog-like beast," Nadia recalls as she starts down the only available path, light swishing back adn forth ahead of her.
<El-Cideon> You walk for a couple hundred feet, nothing of note in this passageway and nothing getting in your way, before coming to a four-way intersection. Out here is a much broader thoroughfare, dozens of feet wide and tall. Something on the ground shines in the light--silver tracks of some sort, set into the floor.
<El-Cideon> they run to the left and to the right, out of sight, and also branch off to head down the passageway across from you.
* Erin kneels to check the tracks for a moment. "There seem to head in every direction," she states. "Except where we come from. Perhaps they're the sign of a guardians passing."
<El-Cideon> They look more like railroad lines than anything else.
<Erin> "Or what the guardians USE to get around. Or.. well, I don't know." Erin puts a hand to her ear and tries to listen for any oncoming traffic!
<Nadia_Chekova> "So, which way should we go?" Nadia shines her torch down each passage in turn as she stands at the intersection.
<Yomi> "Let's try heading forward?" Yomi suggests.
<El-Cideon> You don't hear anything. Up close, you notice the tracks are very clean and in good repair, despite the cavern around being strewn with scree. Nadia's light indicates the passage continues in similar fashion for some ways.
<El-Cideon> Rena shrugs. "Any direction is good. It's cold here."
<Erin> "It seems as good a direction as any."
<Nadia_Chekova> Shrugging, Nadia continues forward!
<El-Cideon> You walk for several minutes, following the tracks. Your exploration is thus far unopposed. After what seems like perhaps a thousand feet, the roof of the tunnel lowers somewhat. Off to your left, the flashlight illuminates the edge of something sitting on the track. Some kind of structure, or vehicle? It's large and rectangular, you can tell from here.
<Erin> No doubt, it must be the train for which these tracks were built! Erin heads forward to investigate more closely.
* Nadia_Chekova placidly walks along behind Erin, keeping her light on the object.
<El-Cideon> That's what it looks like. It's a single car, made from some white, polished material. There are dents here and there from fallen rocks, but it's in otherwise decent condition. There are rows of windows all around it, perhaps three feet up.
<Erin> "Let's try and get inside," suggests Erin, searching for a likely entrance.
<El-Cideon> When you're closer, you can also see a low building set into a depression in the wall. It's about thirty feet long, one floor.
<El-Cideon> The end of the car facing the direction you came from has a fairly obvious entrance. If there was a door here once, it's gone now. Steps lead up into the car itself.
* Erin heads inside.
<El-Cideon> Rows of seats extend towards the rear of the car. It's about twenty feet long. At the front is a tiled panel of some sort, with symbols in a language you've never seen before.
<Nadia_Chekova> "How old is all of this supposed to be, again?" Nadia asks as she peers inside. Ancient magic she can perhaps buy, but ancient buses and trains?
<Yomi> "Beats me," Yomi admits. "I'll take a look at the building?"
<El-Cideon> Nothing here reminds you of conventional mechanical or electrical devices. The car looks made of a peice and the panel is very simple. You don't see anyone or anything occupying the car.
<Erin> "I've no idea," replies Erin, squinting at the writings and waving a hand, both enabling herself to read the texts in the area and to detect any magical forces about!
<El-Cideon> The building has one entrance; again, if there was a door here, it's gone. You can't see much of the interior from here. You can only catch a vague glimpse of broken furniture inside.
<Yomi> "Or I would, if I could see in the dark," Yomi amends.
* Nadia_Chekova takes the none too subtle hint and follows Yomi with her torch!
<El-Cideon> "This looks like a train," Rena observes for everyone's benefit. "Do you find many trains in this other world?"
<Erin> "We didn't. But.. I think I can make it work, if we find the, er, key," states Erin, glancing around the device. "Magic still permeates it," she adds, as she follows after the others.
<El-Cideon> OOC: heading into the building? Roll spot if so.
<Yomi> roll 1d20
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20 and gets 19."12 [1d20=19]
<Erin> roll 1d20+15 ninjas are no match
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+15 ninjas are no match and gets 35."12 [1d20=20]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20 and gets 13."12 [1d20=13]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20-1 Rena~
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20-1 Rena~ and gets 16."12 [1d20=17]
<El-Cideon> Everyone but Nadia can see...something...*what* is that? Something, lurking in a dark corner of the building, clinging to the ceiling. A tangle of lashlike appendages around a black carapace a foot in diameter. As soon as you step into the building, it launches itself at you!
<Erin> "My gods, it's hideous!"
<El-Cideon> OOC: init for surprise round. It rolled a 1 on hide, everyone but Nadia managed to be aware of it.
<Erin> roll 1d20+7
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+7 and gets 24."12 [1d20=17]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+4 ?!?
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+4 ?!? and gets 17."12 [1d20=13]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+1
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+1 and gets 21."12 [1d20=20]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20 Rena
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20 Rena and gets 12."12 [1d20=12]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+7 I'm clueless!
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+7 I'm clueless! and gets 21."12 [1d20=14]
* El-Cideon changes topic to '6Yomi: 63/63, Nadia: 58/58, Erin: 54/54, Rena: 60/60  Erin > Yomi > Nadia > Thing > Rena'
<Erin> Erin isn't about to extend her desire for universal acceptance and peace to such a horrible-looking alien *thing*, and her pistol makes her opinion on the matter quite clear!
<Erin> roll 1d20+8 bang bang
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+8 bang bang and gets 23."12 [1d20=15]
<Erin> roll 2d6 ?!
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 2d6 ?! and gets 7."12 [2d6=4, 3]
<El-Cideon> The bullet slams into the creature, tearing a hole through its body that gushes with unguessable fluids! OOC: Yomi. You're about twenty feet.
* Yomi steps to shield Erin after she discharges her weapon, ready to strike once the creature crosses the distance towards them.
<Yomi> OOC: I'll hold to go on his init
<El-Cideon> OOC: creature's turn since Nadia's not in on the surprise round.
<El-Cideon> The creature flings itself off its perch and hurls itself straight towards Yomi. OOC: I suppose a held turn interrupts it? It's tiny and has to enter your space to attack anyway, so you also get an AoO.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+14 I don't hold back for demons! AoO~
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+14 I don't hold back for demons! AoO~ and gets 23."12 [1d20=9]
<El-Cideon> OOC: hit
<Yomi> roll 1d20+14 my go!
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+14 my go! and gets 21."12 [1d20=7]
<El-Cideon> OOC: also hit
<Yomi> roll 2#2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2#2d6+9 and gets 35."12 [2#2d6+9 = 20, 15]
* Yomi skewers the critter on her sword, draws it swiftly back and slashes across it rapidly!
<El-Cideon> Yomi slices the monster in two, each half falling to one side of her and twitching spasmodically on the floor before it settles into being nothing more than a pile of stinking meat and goo! OOC: yeah, slaughtered.
* Nadia_Chekova blinks in surprise, not having seen that coming at all. She lines up her torch on the corpse. "What... is it?"
* Yomi takes a closer look!
* Erin peers at it for a moment. "I'm not sure I want to know," she confesses.
<El-Cideon> It's badly maimed, but there's some kind of stinger near what used to be the creature's underside.
<Yomi> "It looks like an evil spider-bee. But not a demon," Yomi says with resignation. "I've cut something unworthy again."
<El-Cideon> "Does this sort of thing always happen here?" Rena says, wrinkling her nose at the mess.
<Erin> "Possibly," replies Erin, looking anywhere, in fact everywhere else but that creature to see what's in the room.
<Nadia_Chekova> "I'm glad you cut it anyway," Nadia reassures Yomi happily, lighting up the rest of the room with her torch in search of anything interesting.
<El-Cideon> Most of what was once in the room has crumbled to dust, but some of the furniture looks cut from the stone of the wall and remains intact. Erin's arcane senses draw her towards a desk, on which sit a pair of narrow, square stone rods made from the same pale stone as the car outside.
* Erin makes to inspect the rods more closely! Perhaps they would fit into the slot back in the train?
<El-Cideon> They look like the same shape.
<Erin> But why are there two? They seem roughly identical, however, so Erin scoops them up. "These should make it go, I think," she suggests, glancing for any writings or the like left on the desk. It doesn't seem like the stony material would lend itself to having draws to search.
<Nadia_Chekova> "So we can ride the train instead of walking?" Nadia brightens, going back into the carriage and waiting for Erin to work her magic.
<El-Cideon> There's nothing like paper around the room. The layer of dust on everything suggests the fate of anything once written here.
<El-Cideon> "Riding would be easier," Rena agrees, climbing into the car and taking a seat expectantly.
<Erin> "Well, if it still works. I think it.. should... maybe..." suggests Erin, heading into the train and experimentally inserting one of the keys.
<El-Cideon> With some stuttering and effort, the car's unseen workings hum into life! Lights snap on around the interior of the roof (though a tile on the instrument panel tells Erin these can be deactivated), the car lurches a little and the settles into a hover about a foot off the ground.
<Yomi> "Huh."
* Nadia_Chekova leans out the back to take a look at the elevation, oooohing over the hovering. "It floats! Like a zeppelin!"
<Erin> "Alright, that's pretty simple! Now, let's see what this button does," continues Erin, letting loose a slight chuckle as she presses the 'accelerate' panel!
* Yomi holds on, staying near the front of the train!
<El-Cideon> It moves! Smoothly and without much in the way of noise, it floats gently down the passage you came from. It seems to stay centered over the tracks automatically, at least at this slow speed. Without any further instruction, it seems to default to a brisk walking pace.
<El-Cideon> "This is much quieter than real trains," Rena says. "I like it."
<Yomi> "You just want to take it home, don't you?" Yomi asks Rena with a grin.
<Erin> "I've got to study this thing!" declares Erin, sounding delighted. "It must be the tracks that give it energy, somehow- that's what I was thinking!"
<El-Cideon> "We wouldn't have to pay for airplanes anymore, would we?"
<Nadia_Chekova> "Only if it can work off the tracks," Nadia opines, taking a seat near the back.
<El-Cideon> Soon enough, you're back at the intersection. Unbidden, the car pauses at the branching tracks.
<Erin> "I find that unlikely, but if we can figure out how the tracks work... ah, alright, now.. this button." Erin hits the 'turn' button, before wondering why it wasn't split into a 'right' and 'left' button.
<El-Cideon> OOC: dur, it should have been.
<El-Cideon> OOC: if that wasn't clear before, my mistake
<Erin> OOC: Then we shall turn left!
<El-Cideon> The car obligingly heads left, floating silently down the passageway for several minutes before you catch sight of anything else. Stone walls flash by outside, barely seen from just the glow of the car's interior lights. Eventually it drifts alongside a long, low building similar to the last one. (more)
<El-Cideon> You can see several other buildings just at the edge of your circle of light, most of them low domed structures. This looks like some kind of settlement. The tracks continue through it.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Shall we get out and walk here?" Nadia asks, swishing her torch around their surroundings from the door.
<Yomi> "No reason not to examine everything, since we've got the time," Yomi agrees.
<El-Cideon> The buildings are fairly regular in organization, from what you can see, like a city grid. They are all seemingly made of stone. They look grown from the floor.
<Erin> "We should investigate this place," agrees Erin, removing the rod and powering down the train.
<El-Cideon> The car drifts back down to the ground, going quiescent.
* Nadia_Chekova hops out of the car and looks around for any doors on the nearby structures.
<El-Cideon> Most of them are missing doors, but a few do still have stone ones with long, flat handles. The entrances are lower than you'd see in a human house, but you shouldn't have to hunch over any to get in.
* Erin enters a random house and takes a look around inside. "Rather.. spartan abodes," she comments.
<El-Cideon> "It doesn't look like anyone lives here anymore," Rena observes. "I can't blame them. It's very cold and dark."
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 59."12 [1d100=59]
<Yomi> "Maybe they left something behind that would help us make sense of things?" Yomi suggests, deferring to Erin and her special sight here.
<El-Cideon> It looks to Erin like this might've been someone's home, once. The interior of the house is organized around a central pit; char marks suggest it was used for fire or cooking. Small rooms radiate out from the central circle. (more)
<El-Cideon> There are etchings on the walls, around a ledge that houses shattered pieces of stone that might once have been figures of some sort.
* Erin peers at the etchings, attempting to translate them! OOC: That spell lasts 50 minutes, so yeah.
<El-Cideon> Most of them are names--you could pronounce them with some effort, though it would involve a fair bit of whistling and strange wheezing noises--along with dates. Births, marriages, deaths. It's someone's family tree.
* Nadia_Chekova idly looks into all the surrounding rooms while Erin reads, hoping to find something shiny.
* Yomi can only remain on the lookout for the otherworldly, unable to truly aid in the examination.
<Erin> "It looks like whoever lived here kept geneological records. Judging by the tombstones in the last... zone, I'd suggest it's a common trait of their culture to keep extensive personal records," posits Erin. "Let's see if we can find some kind of town hall?"
<El-Cideon> Nadia finds shattered bedframes in most of them. Most of the signs of habitation that might have been here once--clothes, art, writing--seem long since dust, however.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 87."12 [1d100=87]
<Nadia_Chekova> "Maybe there'll be something more interesting there, yes," Nadia agrees after her fruitless exploration.
* Erin heads outside, and looks around for the largest building!
<El-Cideon> The city shows obvious signs of destruction as you move further in. Individual houses are blackened, caved in. There are craters in the cavern floor you have to step around. Eventually you come a great one, a hundred feet in diameter it looks like, that obliterates the aircar tracks further in. On the other side of the crater, its front face caved in, is a very large domed structure whose scale suggests civic architecture.
<El-Cideon> architecture.
<Nadia_Chekova> Is there a safe path around the crater to reach this structure?
<El-Cideon> The cavern has also opened up on your right as you progressed through the city. Beyond a low wall looms a great blackness. There is about twenty feet of intact floor between this wall and the edge of the crater, though. You can circle around.
* Erin resists the temptation to peer into the blackness, and instead opts to take the path to the important-looking structure beyond the crater.
* Nadia_Chekova circles around, keeping her torch mostly on the path but occasionally sweeping it down the crater as she passes.
<El-Cideon> The broken exterior allows easy access to the building's interior, what looks like a wide hall open to the air. There are desks and tables inside, most of them broken. At the far end of the hall is a doorway, though you can't see where it might lead from here.
<El-Cideon> The crater is deep, and dark, but at least Nadia doesn't spot any strange creatures emerging from it.
* Erin scans the area for both magic or etchings, but proceeds willfully towards the doorway.
<El-Cideon> What's left of the domed ceiling contains some kind of inscription, but its fragmented state gives Erin only tatters. You believe this building was some kind of armory for defense of the city, though.
* Nadia_Chekova easily follows along to the door, trusting Erin's lead here since she's so much more familiar with this stuff.
<El-Cideon> The large doorway is broken, shattered, large pieces lying as if blown inward by some great force. Erin finds herself in a hallway; there are several gutted and destroyed rooms, but one down to the left looks intact. Or at least accessible.
<Erin> There doesn't seem much point in rooting through every scrap when it's just the three of them, especially without knowing quite what to look for. "This is an armory of some kind, I believe. It's the biggest building here... perhaps this began as a military outpost?" suggests Erin, heading in that direction.
<Erin> "I think there are several weapons here."
<Yomi> "That's already something," Yomi notes, curious what the creatures that lived here used for defense.
<El-Cideon> There are scorchmarks on the floor and walls, smaller ones, as if some kind of conflict continued inside the building after the exterior was assaulted. One particularly prominent scar seems to have a creature fused into the wall.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Maybe we can find a magic sword for Rena?" Nadia wonders, grimacing at the fused creature.
<Erin> "Possibly. I'd like to know what they were fighting against, though. It's surely not just a few weird creatures..."
<El-Cideon> As for the room itself, Erin can see rows of stone tables and racks--anything of less hardy material hasn't really survived like elsewhere. There is equipment of some sort on some of them--much of it is broken, some racks are altogether empty, but several do draw Erin's attention with their contents.
* Erin inspects the store of archaic weapons!
* Yomi is inevitably drawn to the weapons that survived all this time!
<El-Cideon> The being in the wall--well, you can't make out it's entire body. The bones are all that's really left, and they look to have taken on the consistency of the wall around them. Raised arms, with long and spindly arms. It looks humanoid, but...the muzzle is longer, featuring sharper teeth, and the cranium is oddly shaped. Arcing horns jut vertically from what's left of the head.
* Nadia_Chekova doesn't really know much about weapons but she has a look after leaving the fused demon skeleton.
<El-Cideon> Much of the remaining equipment is mundane and falling to pieces, but the ones that draw Erin's attention for being enchanted are in remarkably good shape somehow. There is a long spear with a bladed end that reflects the torchlight brilliantly; some kind of articulated metal glove; and what looks very much like medieval armor, only made from some shimmering blue material.
* Nadia_Chekova ooohs at the shimmery metal and touches it!
<Erin> "I can identify the properties of one of these things," states Erin, after a brief moment of inspection. "They're all quite powerful, as far as I can tell. This whole society must have relied on magic to have stores of such weapons... but why are they here?" she wonders.
<Erin> "You'd think that if they were wiped out by something, they'd have gone down fighting..."
<Nadia_Chekova> "Maybe they had more equipment than able bodies to fight?" Nadia posits.
<Yomi> "That's what I was going to say," Yomi agrees. "It might not have been a single battle, but a series of them, and by the end too many of the able defenders already died."
<El-Cideon> The armor is very smooth; it doesn't feel like metal. It's slightly warm to the touch.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Doesn't feel like metal, and it's warm," Nadia comments, pinging the substance. "We can't really carry all this ourselves, anyway, though."
<El-Cideon> "Who won?" Rena wonders. "Where did they go?"
<Erin> "True enough. Perhaps I can get a team sent here to retrieve it later..." ponders Erin. For now, she waves a hand over the glove, intent on determining what it does. "I hope to find out just that."
<Yomi> "Shouldn't be that difficult to take what's magical away with the train, at least," Yomi muses. "And there's more we have to see at the other end."
<El-Cideon> "Shall we take the things and go, then?" Rena asks. "The dead thing in the wall is unpleasant."
* Nadia_Chekova shrugs. "Nothing too exciting around here. Maybe we can take the train down that other passage near where we started?"
<Erin> "We can't really carry it with us outside," points out Erin. "At least, we can't easily take the armour around. The glove has an electrical enchantment upon it, though, and punching someone with it will occasionally pack a real whallop." She clicks her tongue.
<Erin> "Actually, they might come in handy even if we don't use them," she suggests, shoving the gauntlet into her bag. "The people we need to deal with are collectors, aren't they?"
<Nadia_Chekova> "Good point," Nadia agrees, grabbing the spear and using it somewhat like a walking stick as she sets off back out of the building.
<El-Cideon> Rena shrugs, picks up the armor, and joins you in exiting the building.
<El-Cideon> OOC: heading back to the train?
<Yomi> OOC: Yes
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 19."12 [1d100=19]
<El-Cideon> There is a figure hovering at the entrance of the armory when you leave, trailing along the edge of the crater and eyeing the ground as if searching for something. It looks much like the figure trapped in the wall, but insubstantial, its large eyes just pale pools that blend in with the rest of its greenish essence. It floats a foot off the ground. (more)
<El-Cideon> Unfortunately, the fact that your vision is limited to a relatively small circle of light means you don't see it until it's close enough to see you, thirty feet away! It whistles something in an alien language, spreads its arms wide and flies forward!
<El-Cideon> OOC: init, it's not remotely friendly.
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+7
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+7 and gets 26."12 [1d20=19]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+1
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+1 and gets 9."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20 Rena
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20 Rena and gets 10."12 [1d20=10]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+5 ???
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+5 ??? and gets 22."12 [1d20=17]
* El-Cideon changes topic to '6Yomi: 63/63, Nadia: 58/58, Erin: 54/54, Rena: 60/60  Nadia (26) > Thing (22) > Rena (10) > Yomi (9)'
<Erin> roll 1d20+7 oh no
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+7 oh no and gets 14."12 [1d20=7]
* El-Cideon changes topic to '6Yomi: 63/63, Nadia: 58/58, Erin: 54/54, Rena: 60/60  Nadia (26) > Thing (22) > Erin (14) Rena (10) > Yomi (9)'
<El-Cideon> OOC: Nadia.
<Nadia_Chekova> Since she has a spear here in her hand, Nadia lets out a little cry of alarm at all the noise and hurls it forward to stab into the ghostly apparition!
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+4 (+8 for ranged, -4 nonproficiency, feel free to apply whatever mods the weapon has afterwards)
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+4 (+8 for ranged, -4 nonproficiency, feel free to apply whatever mods the weapon has afterwards) and gets 16."12 [1d20=12]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 2d6 action!
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 2d6 action! and gets 5."12 [2d6=1, 4]
<El-Cideon> OOC: bwahaha, that actually hits flatfooted
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100 miss chance first
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 miss chance first and gets 58."12 [1d100=58]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d8+2 basic spear damage plus strength mod
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d8+2 basic spear damage plus strength mod and gets 4."12 [1d8=2]
<El-Cideon> OOC: it's actually a guisarme, so 2d4
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 2d4+2
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 2d4+2 and gets 8."12 [2d4=2, 4]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d6 electric
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d6 electric and gets 3."12 [1d6=3]
<El-Cideon> The spear flies through the apparition, ripples passing through it and waves of electric shocks distorting its form! It howls in rage and flies towards Nadia, swiping at her with its ghostly claw!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+13
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+13 and gets 23."12 [1d20=10]
<Nadia_Chekova> OOC: 22 defence, sadly
<El-Cideon> roll 1d8 cold
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d8 cold and gets 6."12 [1d8=6]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4 STR
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4 STR and gets 3."12 [1d4=3]
* Nadia_Chekova changes topic to '6Yomi: 63/63, Nadia: 52/58 -3str, Erin: 54/54, Rena: 60/60  Nadia (26) > Thing (22) > Erin (14) Rena (10) > Yomi (9)'
<El-Cideon> A deathly chill suffuses Nadia's body as the creature's arm passes through her, freezing her skin, deadening her strength! OOC: Erin
<Nadia_Chekova> "Ahhh! Yomi, help!" Nadia cries, knowing who's best to turn to in situations such as this!
<Yomi> "On it!" Yomi calls back, drawing her sword!
<Erin> "Oh, hell!" swears Erin, managing to pull on that gauntlet and take a wild swing at this ghostly apparition, against which bullets would surely do nothing...
<Erin> roll 1d20+6 erin punch!
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+6 erin punch! and gets 16."12 [1d20=10]
<El-Cideon> OOC: miss, alas.
<Erin> roll 2d6 lies
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 2d6 lies and gets 4."12 [2d6=2, 2]
<El-Cideon> OOC: still, miss.
<Erin> OOC: that makes it 20
<Yomi> OOC: Isn't it +2 for Erin?
<Erin> OOC: alasx2 :(
<El-Cideon> OOC: you need 22. more alas.
<Erin> OOC: Yeah, but I have to take the best of my two rolls
<Erin> OOC: so 2+2+16 = 20
<El-Cideon> Rena drops the armor and swings at it with her sword! Who's going to tell her that she can't kill a ghost?!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+10 totally fails to matter, but!
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+10 totally fails to matter, but! and gets 21."12 [1d20=11]
<El-Cideon> Rena's blade passes through air, the specter proving too quick for her! OOC: Yomi.
<Yomi> Yomi's drawn sword seeks to bisect the ghost, and then slice through each half in turn to bring the tortured spirit to rest!
<Yomi> roll 1d20+14
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+14 and gets 22."12 [1d20=8]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+14 surge
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+14 surge and gets 17."12 [1d20=3]
<El-Cideon> OOC: one hit~
<Yomi> roll 1d20+8
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+8 and gets 26."12 [1d20=18]
<El-Cideon> OOC: make that two
<Yomi> roll 2#2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2#2d6+9 and gets 32."12 [2#2d6+9 = 15, 17]
<El-Cideon> Yomi's blade reduces the spirit to wisps of ectoplasm in the air, the entity howling in frustration as it's rent apart into nothingness! OOC: free act. Hah, it had 31 left when you hit it.
<Yomi> "May you find peace as you pass on," Yomi tells the howling spirit, sheathing her blade.
* Nadia_Chekova shivers and hugs herself, rubbing her chilled body as best she can without dropping the precious torch. "I feel sick..."
<El-Cideon> "Was that a ghost? Or a demon? Or a ghost demon?" Rena wonders. "...Oh, Nadia. Are you alright?"
<Yomi> "A demon ghost," Yomi affirms for Rena's sake with a certainty only she can have.
<Nadia_Chekova> "It was like those things in Zanzibar, wasn't it?" Nadia asks, teeth-chattering. "I'm so cold!"
* Yomi places her arm across Nadia's shoulders, pressing closer to her. "Is this better?"
<Erin> "I believe it was a ghost," replies Erin, wincing. "Here, Nadia, put this on," she adds, pulling off a scarf and handing it to the younger girl.
<El-Cideon> "It's cold everywhere here. You are more cold now?" She nods. "Yomi has the right idea. Other people's bodies are warm, at least. We can warm you up?"
<Erin> "We could head back to the tourist town and rest, if you're not feeling up to continuing," adds Erin, her voice tinged with concern.
<Nadia_Chekova> Shivering, Nadia leans into Yomi and accepts the scarf as well. "Where it touched me, it feels frozen right to the bone!" she complains, rubbing herself in a very non-sensual manner. "I think I'll be okay once we start moving, but lets hurry things up?"
<El-Cideon> Rena picks up the armor again and starts off towards the edge of the city, and the car. "Yes. If things like that live here, we should leave."
<Erin> "Alright. Let's head back to the train," suggests Erin.
* Nadia_Chekova extricates herself from Yomi and briskly walks along with the rest, pulling the scarf tight and then grabbing up the spear in passing with her free hand.
<El-Cideon> Nothing else rises from the dead city to interrupt your flight. Soon you're back on the aircar, lights on, ready to move again.
<El-Cideon> There is a small roundabout circle of track that seems meant to let cars like yours turn around easily; using this, you are soon on your way again, whizzing silently through the dead caverns of this land. You pass the intersection from which you entered, and after several minutes of travel the cavern opens up. (more)
<El-Cideon> Suddenly you can't see walls in any direction, nor a ceiling--the interior space of this new cavern must be huge! Great stalagmites pass by you, barely seen from the light of your car. It goes on like this for some time, silent and still outside.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 68."12 [1d100=68]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 42."12 [1d100=42]
<El-Cideon> You think you can catch the scent of water from somewhere off in the distance. More immediately, you're able to see moving shapes outside your windows--or at least one moving shape. Some black, chitinous beast looming over a fallen white humanoid figure. Neither take any interest in your car as it starts to pass by.
* Nadia_Chekova shrinks back from the window at that sight, gone before she could really perceive it. "What was that?" she asks quietly.
<Yomi> "Do you want to stop the car and take a closer look?"
<Nadia_Chekova> "No!"
<El-Cideon> "Everything else we've met here only attacked us," Rena says with a frown.
<Yomi> "Then let's just go with 'demons' and move on?"
<Erin> "Yes, and now that thing is attacking that man!" declares Erin, producing her gun and levelling it through one of the train's windows.
<El-Cideon> OOC: you can take a free shot if you want, sure. Should really be some penalty for firing from a moving vehicle, I'd think.
<Erin> OOC: I'll do just that, and a +2 mod is the usual thing?
<Erin> OOC: or -2, whichever
<El-Cideon> OOC: I was just gonna call it -2, yeah.
<Erin> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+6 and gets 21."12 [1d20=15]
<El-Cideon> OOC: hit
<Erin> roll 2d6
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 2d6 and gets 8."12 [2d6=6, 2]
<El-Cideon> You can hear the *crack* of a bullet splintering carapace, through the vast echoes of the gun's retort. There is a monstrous chittering sound from out in the void; it moves away from you rapidly, though your car has moved on now and it's hard to say if the creature fled or if your passage took it out of sight.
<Yomi> "Now we have to stop," Yomi states, holding her sword at the ready.
<Erin> Erin takes a moment to decellerate the car, and squints into the darkness with her darkvision to get a good look around.
<El-Cideon> You don't see anything in the immediate vicinity. Just a few stray stalagmites that reach up into darkness.
* Nadia_Chekova doesn't like this, holding her spear warily towards the door at the back.
<Erin> OOC: Can I see the humanoid?
<El-Cideon> OOC: say just at the edge of your vision. Looks alone now.
<Yomi> "The one being attacked feels like a demon, so be cautious," Yomi warns, dismounting the car.
* Erin taps Yomi on the shoulder, granting her darkness-penetrating eyesight similar to her own, and then further enhancing that with a strength-boosting enchantment. "Let's see if we can get him back here," she suggests, following suit.
<Erin> OOC: +5 str!
* Nadia_Chekova warily follows Yomi, reasoning that being close to her is the safest place to be.
<El-Cideon> Your feet crunch lightly on something as you step down--there is some kind of lichenous growth on the ground and, you see, some of the nearby stalagmites. The air is slightly moist here; nevertheless, the aircar tracks are free of growth or debris of any kind.
* Yomi approaches the downed figure, holding her sword ready but still sheathed.
<El-Cideon> It's not moving actively--it's breathing, though. There are several nasty punctures in its abdomen that ooze something black and sticky. It looks very much like the figure from the wall, or the ghost. It's skin is very pale, tight, drawn and gnarled on its spindly frame.
<El-Cideon> Whatever the predator was, it is not immediately in view.
<Yomi> "How could someone had remained alive?" Yomi can't help but wonder out loud, kneeling next to the wounded demon.
<Nadia_Chekova> "Eating moss and bugs?" Nadia suggests queasily, keeping well back and occassionalyl flashing her torch around their surroundings.
<Erin> "A ghost is one thing, but this man is still alive," states Erin, frowning and reaching for a potion in her back. "They have an intimidating appearance, but..."
<El-Cideon> It's clinging to life at best--but it IS alive, at least.
<Erin> *back pocket.
<Yomi> "If their possessions disintegrated from the passing of time, then it had to be more than one's lifetime," Yomi says with a frown, checking what the demon has on him, if anything.
<El-Cideon> There is a primitive spear on the ground not far from him. Simple stone head, haft made from something light and chitinous. He has no other possessions. He wears nothing on his torso, only a pair of pants made from something like tanned hide.
* Erin uncorks the vial and dribbles it down the victim's throat once Yomi is (hopefully quickly) done canvassing him.
<Erin> OOC: CLW, yeah.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d8+1
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d8+1 and gets 7."12 [1d8=6]
<Yomi> "Do you have a spell for talking to him?" Yomi asks Erin.
<Erin> "No... I can understand what he says, but I can't talk back," replies Erin, sounding frustrated. "I know one exists, but the only place I could learn it is back in London, now..."
* Yomi picks the demons up, and heads back towards the train car, where there's both light and better air.
<El-Cideon> Its eyes open; the irises are a deep blue that reflect the light and seem iridescant as they do so, and are so wide in the dim light as to take up almost all of the already-large sockets.
<Yomi> "Can you understand me?" Yomi says in her native tongue on the off chance that he can comprehend them.
<El-Cideon> The elongated maw of its mouth moves a little, but no words come out. It's an obvious struggle for him to move for some reason.
<Yomi> "Could he be poisoned?" Yomi wonders, placing the demon on a bench in the car.
<Erin> "Perhaps he's been poisoned, or crippled beyond the potion's ability to heal," replies Erin, grimacing. Identifying the wounds on an alien creature is something she feels might be a bit beyond her.
* Nadia_Chekova has no clue and doesn't really want to get too close to the thing.
<El-Cideon> "I don't understand," Rena says. She doesn't seem bothered by the creature, but Rena isn't obviously bothered by most things. "We help demons now?"
<Erin> Having rescued this fellow, Erin finds herself at a loss as to what to actually do with him; clearly they can't take him back to Japan, unless they want to start a panic... "His appearance is fearsome, but he's like no demon I recognize. No... his appearance is the same, or close enough to- one of the figures I saw in my dream."
<Nadia_Chekova> "The good ones or the bad ones?" Nadia asks pertinently.
<Yomi> "In my dream, you said a horned servant of a fallen god will cross my path," Yomi tells her. "While he clearly feels demonic, maybe he's not actually bad."
<El-Cideon> "It sounds like I said a lot of silly things. Are dreams really useful for telling us the future? Mine are all very normal, like walking down the street, when I have them at all." She shrugs. "Anyway, he doesn't look dangerous right now, at least."
<Erin> "The good ones," replies Erin. "This train is probably the safest place around- we can run away from anything that threatens us," she opines. "If there is one, though, perhaps there are more?"
<Yomi> "It depends on the dream. When it tells you things you don't know yet, it might be a special dream!" She nods at Erin afterwards. "Let's try and get the train to its destination for now? I'll look over him."
<El-Cideon> ~