054: She asked for my love and I gave her a dangerous mind

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> East of Hekubah's manor stretches a broad forest as described by the marilith--albeit a forest of no sort a mortal visitor should be familiar with. The trees, bleached white, count for their branches only a writhing array of serpents that watch hungrily for visitors with crimson eyes. A constant susurrus of hissing emanates from the wood even at a distance. There is a path of sorts heading east into the forest, perhaps just broad enough to avoid any serpentine grasp if you keep to the center of the road. Meanwhile, the rain continues to pound incessantly on the slippery, meatlike ground.
<Steph> "Fuck this! Fuck everything!" exclaims Stephanie. "This shit's getting in my boots. I can't keep it out. It's like walking on snails!"
<Julia> "You can sit on Battersby with me if you want?" Julia offers from her comfortable perch. Thing is also sat on the wyvern's head, as his skeleton ride has now been sent ahead to hopefully trip any traps or ambushes ahead of them.
<El-Cideon> "It must stop raining eventually," Rosemund insists. "It must! How can there be neverending rain? Where would it come from? Where would it all go?"
<Franceska> "Maybe it is composed of the tears of visitors and locals."
<El-Cideon> "I would hope there were not enough visitors for that!"
<Steph> "Demons can't cry!" mutters Stephanie, weighing up the relative merits of riding on a skeleton versus walking over a giant slab of greasy meat, and deciding that the bones win out. She walks over to the wyvern and tries to climb on.
<Franceska> "I would wager any soul ending in this horrible place would weep constantly."
<Julia> "Maybe it's all effluent from some other layer of the Abyss above us?" Julia supposes. Battersby stops briefly to let Stephanie climb more easily onto its ragged scaly surface, wounds providing plenty of drainage for the rain to slick off of him.
<El-Cideon> "Well, I am not crying yet," Rosemund says, "and I will not give anyone here the satisfaction of doing so, either!"
<Franceska> "What a bold declaration."
<Steph> "Maybe a wizard did it," mutters Stephanie, as she tries to find a comfortable position.
<El-Cideon> "Well, let us move on and get out of here so he can do it to someone else," Rosemund suggests, starting forward with a wary glance for the viper trees. They strain viciously to try and grab at her, but it seems there's a safe ten feet or so in the middle of the road where they can't quite reach.
* Franceska trudges miserably ahead.
<El-Cideon> Although visibility is poor indeed on this plane, an object does soon come to dominate the horizon forward--a pointed spire of black stone thrusting vigorously up through the forest some miles ahead. It must be an impressive monument to be visible this far off.
<Julia> "So that's what a monument to demonic virility looks like?" Julia says. "We have to go past it, don't we? I hope it's not a hangout for local women of ill repute."
<Steph> "It looks like someone tried to fuck the sky," remarks Stephanie.
<Franceska> "You just know it will be," Franceska says fatalistically.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund shudders. "I think we should not be surprised. In fact, perhaps it would be a surprise if it looked like anything else."
<Steph> "Surely it would have the men of ill-repute. Why would they go to a giant dick looking for feminine company?"
<Steph> "In fact, isn't it kinda inherently emasculating?" muses Stephanie. "I mean, most guys aren't going to be able to match this sort of compensation in any way."
<Franceska> "There might be a magical compulsion upon it to sway the hearts and minds of passer bys, of course."
<Julia> "The only ones that visit must have some confidence then," Julia surmises. "Which is surely what the abyssal ladies are hoping for."
<El-Cideon> "Is that not the point of building a monument to one's self?" Rosemund guesses.
<Franceska> "Remember, Rosemund, don't accept any food or drink!"
<El-Cideon> "I am not accepting anything from anyone!" Rosemund promises. "I will eat nothing but my own food while I am here. Or Julia's," she amends after a moment.
<Julia> "Well, you conjure I cook, isn't that how it goes?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods. "Just so long as we can keep the rain out of it! It feels like runoff from a barbecue..." Rosemund shudders again. A couple miles down the road and you find a branching path off to your right. It looks to wind a ways, but at the end of this avenue you can make out a stone archway bounding a roaring emerald fire.
<Julia> "Straight ahead to the monolith, yes?" Julia says, dismissing the temptation to explore for now.
<Steph> "Let's not get incinerated!" agrees Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> "Yes, let us wait to get incinerated until the appropriate time," Rosemund agrees solemnly.
<El-Cideon> Further on, you come in time to the base of the monument. The spire is diamond-shaped, at least rendering the symbolic intent of the monument mercifully less than completely visually apt. About forty feet wide at the base, it must be hundreds of feet tall. Anyone capable of reading abyssal can discern that a plaque at the base proudly declares the monument to denote all conquests of the estimable ---- (the name has been scratched off the plaque). Elsewhere all over the monument are engraved a series of names demonstrating all variety of languages--but, for those you are familiar with, all female. Several of these have similarly been scratched off and all around the lower, easily-reached area of the monument have been scrawled all manner of childish demonic insults about overcompensation. A naked, redheaded succubus is busy doing just this as you arrive. Elsewhere, a shabbily dressed tiefling man with an umbrella hat leans against the stone and watches for visitors.
<Julia> "You know, this isn't as bad as I'd expected," Julia admits, pleased that demons are able to mock demons the way people mock people.
<Steph> "Hey! You! You there!" Stephanie rummages around in her pack, and throws an oversized coat at the naked demon. "Wear clothes!"
<El-Cideon> "In retrospect, it would be more of a surprise if it was not defaced," Rosemund agrees. "Should I not ask what any of it says?"
* Franceska is instantly wary at the sight of the naked demon.
<Steph> "It's a list of girls' names, Rosey," adds Stephanie, with a frown.
<Julia> "Really, it says exactly what you'd expect it to say if someone built such a monument back in Solata," Julia tells her happily. "You can't blame her Stephanie," she then adds, "The weather is rather ruinous to clothing after all."
<Steph> "Are you talking shit about my merchandise? That stuff lasts!" protests Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> The succubus grabs the coat and holds it to herself in eager gratitude. "Oh, thank you for taking pity on this poor benighted servant of darkness," she gushes, kneeling at Stephanie's feet and looking up at her with an eager gleam in her eyes. "Whatever can I do to repay you?"
<Julia> "Oh, my apologies. Didn't mean to interrupt your sale."
<Franceska> "Normally I would be making abrasive comments, but I really hate this place," Franceska confides tiredly in Rosemund.
<Steph> "You can tell me who else has come this way!" decides Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> "Ah, but I've only just arrived to destroy the eviden--that is to say, offer my minor contribution to this ongoing work of collective art." She laughs prettily. "But whoever it is you're looking for, I'm sure I can help," she adds, standing up and promising Stephanie seriously, "I can be anyone you like."
<Julia> "That's a good idea," Julia decides. "Worthless skeleton, go knock down that monolith!" Leaping into action, the skeleton rushes over to begin clawing and biting at the stone. Either someone will kill it or in a few hundred years the monolith will fall over. Either way, Julia doesn't have to care about it.
<Steph> "How come succubi never go for the classy approach?" mutters Stephanie. "You're so transparent! There's no mystery! No romance! Think about your life decisions!"
<El-Cideon> The tiefling man watches the skeleton go to work with some evident irritation. "You mind? This is a place of business," he complains, though he doesn't look inclined to do anything given the nigh eternal nature of the skeleton's task.
<Julia> "You don't like it you go kill it!" Thing yells in support of his mistress's decisions.
<Steph> "The business of what? Because if this is meant to be a brothel, you need to have a bed or something. Fuck, at least some curtains, maybe a lantern."
<Franceska> "Cover from the rain."
<El-Cideon> The stranger just offers Thing several elaborately obscene gestures in response. "No ma'am, she's not with me," he says with a derisive glance at the fawning succubus. "I got all different kinds of escape for a more discerning lass. Whatever your trip is, I can hook you up with something'll take you to a whole 'nother world." Meanwhile, the succubus is far from put off by Stephanie's remonstrations. "Mystery and romance take time," she concedes, nodding with a sudden realization. "Oh, I understand, you're just shy! Don't worry, I've known shy ladies in my time as well as bold ones."
<Steph> "What."
<Julia> "Anyway, shall we go on to the next furnace gate?" Julia asks. "You can climb aboard if you're coming with us," she tells the succubus before urging Battersby to start walking.
<Franceska> "What."
<El-Cideon> "What?" Rosemund echoes.
<Julia> "What?" Julia shrugs. "She's Stephanie's friend."
<Steph> "No, she's not!"
<Julia> "Customer?"
<Steph> "She hasn't paid me!"
<Julia> "I think she's getting to that."
<Steph> "I don't want her currency!"
<Steph> Stephanie grips her head for a moment. "I was just planning to mess with her a bit!" she hisses into Julia's ear.
<El-Cideon> "Such gallant strangers, so ready to offer clothing and transport both to any wayward soul!" the succubus gushes. Given invitation, she eagerly swoops up on top of Battersby behind Stephanie, whom she grasps around the waist for support. "Well, you figure out how you want me to pay you, hon, Xondra's right behind you."
* Franceska takes Rosemund's hand and leads them away from this terrible mess.
<Julia> "Oh, fine," Julia groans, addressing the succubus who has already climbed aboard. "I'm sorry there's been a misunderstanding, you'll have to stay behind after all."
<El-Cideon> "Such coy lasses!" she exclaims with wounded dignity. "To toy with me so--such a tease!"
<Steph> Under her breath, Stephanie counts to ten, and then she pauses. "Actually, sure! You can come with us for a bit," she says, all smiles and faux-cheer. "Just wear the goddamn coat."
<Julia> "Alright fine, whatever we're doing, lets just go," Julia sighs, keeping her eyes fixed forward.
<El-Cideon> She does don the coat, though immediately thereafter resumes her friendly hold on Stephanie. "Oh, my savior! Where are we going?" Rosemund gives Franceska a baffled glance as you continue on through the woods. "What just happened? Why is this a thing we are permitting now?"
<Franceska> "I hate everything and I want everyone to die," Franceska gloomily responds, before forcing a smile for Rosemund's sake. "But not you."
<El-Cideon> Past the monument some miles, the road you're on terminates in another gate. Green flame roars merrily in a stone archway decorated with weathered reliefs of cavorting demons. The heat from the fire can be felt some ways away.
<Julia> roll 1d20+13 planes, do furnace gates hurt?
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+13 planes, do furnace gates hurt? and gets 25."12 [1d20=12]
<El-Cideon> "Ah, perhaps I should test this?" Rosemund offers. "Mr. Malaga did say some of the gates here are a trick...and Pelor protects me from flame!"
<Steph> "Here we are!" says Stephanie, jumping off of Battersby. "So, we're talking about repayment?" she says, glancing at Xondra. "How 'bout you lead the way?"
<Julia> "It's definitely going to sting even if it's not fake," Julia says wearily, preparing herself mentally for impending pain.
<El-Cideon> "Ah, we're going to the next layer!" Xondra brightens up. "Why didn't you say so? I trust you'll be right behind me~" She flounces on through the flames and vanishes from sight.
<El-Cideon> roll 2d6
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 2d6 and gets 11."12 [2d6=5, 6]
<El-Cideon> "Ah, I can offer protective magic to anyone who needs it?" Rosemund offers before crossing over.
<Steph> "I guess it's safe enough, then?" says Stephanie, glancing dubiously at the flames. "I'll be alright," she adds, as she follows.
<El-Cideon> roll 2d6 fire
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 2d6 fire and gets 11."12 [2d6=5, 6]
<Julia> "We'll just heal it," Julia says, gesturing to Thing and Battersby before she guides the wyvern through the fires.
* Franceska follows quietly herself.
<El-Cideon> roll 2d6 everybody else
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 2d6 everybody else and gets 6."12 [2d6=2, 4]
<El-Cideon> Fire crackles and roars all around you, and those without some supernatural resistance find themselves singed before reaching the other side--but there IS in fact another side, and it is mercifully dry and still. On this next layer of Azzagrat, the gloom takes a different form: white light emanates from the ground itself, whereas the sky is an oppressive canopy composed of columns of shadow cast by those on the ground. The road before you is mortared and composed of white, rounded objects which are, on a careful glance, skulls of all shapes and sizes.
<El-Cideon> Xondra is busy wringing out her coat when you arrive, though she does don it again eventually.
<Steph> "Ok, you can go home now," says Stephanie, brightly. "You have a home, right?"
* Julia takes a minute to heal her and Battersby from the flames. "I wish I could cast some sort of cleaning spell at times like these."
<El-Cideon> "Home is wherever I lay myself down for the night," she sing-songs, "and I hardly think I've adequately repaid your generosity yet."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks at the road with dawning horror, shifting her feet to try and find someplace where she won't be disrespecting someone's remains. "I--I know that Hekubah said it was a road of skulls, but seeing it is a different thing..."
* Franceska looks in horror between the skeletons in the ground and the flying undead mount.
<Julia> "I wonder what would happen if I tried to animate one?" Julia ponders, leaning over to get a look down at the skulls.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund shares the same miserable expression. "It is an awful thing to think they were all once people, with lives and families and, and now they are just parts of a road..."
<Julia> "They was bad people if that helps!" Thing chirps.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks disinclined to take Thing's word for factual truth.
<Steph> "Some of my best friends are bad people," notes Stephanie, ignoring Xondra.
<El-Cideon> Xondra smiles brightly at this disclosure!
* Franceska turns into a bird to escape this dilemma and that conversation both.
<Julia> Once more Battersby begins plodding along onwards. "Remember, we're looking for a green dome," Julia reminds everyone.
<Steph> Somehow, an endless road of skulls is easier for Stephanie to deal with than the disgusting rain and the meaty terrain, and she has no problem walking on the heads of the dead.
<El-Cideon> The trees you pass here are strange--spindly, bone-white and gnarled, with fleshy luminescent bulbs instead of leaves. In time, the road reaches a lake. The substance of the lake is opaque, preternaturally still, and colored a vicious green. The road in fact splits here, following the lakeshore along both directions. At the crossroads is a signpost...of sorts, of the most horrid, Abyssal sort. A human torso, limbless, has been nailed to a post upside down. A man's mutilated face retains enough function to address you as you approach, struggling somewhat with vowels and consonants requiring lips: "Greetings, tra'elers," the blind wreck of a man slobbers.
<Steph> "Do you want me to kill you?" asks Stephanie, immediately.
<Steph> "Because I think that would be best for both of us."
<El-Cideon> "Ahaha, I's not allo'd to entertain such requests," he says without really answering the question. "Just here to 'ro'ide travelers with directions, lass, just a hu'le ser'ant."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund is aghast for a long moment before whispering, "But I think it would be a mercy if Stephanie did it," to her friends.
<Julia> "Yes, that wasn't a no," Julia agrees.
<Steph> Stephanie grimaces, and then decides to put a merciful end to what is clearly a suffering abberation.
<El-Cideon> It's difficult to be sure once his throat is slit, but it appears that he might've been trying to mouth Thank You in his final moment. Xondra's response to this entire display is mere disdain: "He would've lied anyway," she says with a shrug.
<Steph> "Xondra, you're not being someone I want you to be~"
* Julia moves closer to the lake and looks in both directions to see if a green dome is visible.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, that poor maimed soul, pray us all that he's reached his proper final reward now and rests peaceably for all eternity!" the succubus gushes mournfully on her knees.
* Franceska tries to be helpful and looks from a higher vantage point.
<Steph> Stephanie cocks an eyebrow. "Yeah, that might make it on amateur night."
<El-Cideon> There's no such dome immediately in sight to either direction. To the south Franceska can see the lake and road both give way to a fetid swamp. To the north the landscape is mostly barren with here and there a run down shack or stray jut of stone.
* Franceska flies down and gestures to the north with a wing, before shrugging as only a large owl can.
<El-Cideon> Xondra stands up and smiles at Stephanie. "I begin to see it now, you prefer the saintly sort, don't you?" she guesses.
<Julia> Good enough. Turning Battersby around, Julia sets the wyvern off that way.
<Steph> "I like a person with a bit of heart," suggests Stephanie, ever-amiable.
<El-Cideon> You walk for several hours, passing several dreary shacks of hide tied round frames of bone, but otherwise this stretch of the lakeside seems sparse of abyssal inhabitants. The day's travails are starting to tell physically on those with mortal constitutions by the time you finally encounter some obvious sign of life, such as it is. Some ways down the road a gang of minor demons swarms--a gang of small, gnobbly, one-eyed wretches labors at some manner of statue while a quasit flits around shouting orders and occasionally jabbing laggard charges with a pitchfork. The statue, such as it is, bears the color of excrement (and based on the distance the overseer prefers to keep may be just that) and is vaguely in the shape of some great, winged demon lord, though slouches badly given its apparent composition.
<Julia> "One day me will be that quasit," Thing says wistfully.
<Steph> "I wish I had a fireball."
<El-Cideon> "Your familiar has strange aspirations," Rosemund says with a glance at Julia. "Although there are probably worse things for him to want to do.
<Julia> "Well, nobody wants to wallow in the same station for all eternity?" Julia shrugs. "He's still got a while to go as a familiar, though," she reassures, eliciting a small twitch from the quasit.
<El-Cideon> The construction in progress occupies a slight rise overlooking the road some twenty feet back. One could walk past it without obstruction, though potentially not past the smell.
<Steph> Stephanie snorts. "Does he know about your plans?"
<Julia> "Lets just keep walking?" Julia suggests, not seeing any need to stick around. "Yes, but even if death won't stop me, it'll stop him."
* Franceska flies a distance above the gang and the smell.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks undecided on whether this would in fact be a bad thing, but refrains from comment.
<El-Cideon> It's about an hour past the statue, as the landscape starts to assume hilly proportions, that your muscles begin to scream in protest at the day's continued exertions. (OOC: rest or make CON checks to press on?)
<Julia> OOC: I'm riding a tireless undead monster.
<El-Cideon> OOC: relevant those not riding the tireless undead monster, then!
<Steph> OOC: Riding is still tiring
<Steph> OOC: The bumping!
<Julia> OOC: he's more like a truck than a horse, but okay
<Julia> "Lets stop and rest now?" Julia suggests, feeling a bit worn.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods and halts with obvious relief, waiting for Franceska to provide her usual sort of safe habitation.
* Franceska circles down and eventually transforms into her human self with a sigh of relief, before summoning a comfortable hut!
<El-Cideon> Xondra happily accompanies the party inside without invitation. "We'll just huddle up for warmth until we know each other better," she primly promises Stephanie.
<Franceska> "No demon whores inside."
<Julia> "Battersby, kill anything looks at the hut badly. Leslie, you kill anything that causes trouble inside the hut. Thing, you just shout a warning before you turn invisible and run away," Julia orders her various minions before going to find something soft to lie down on.
<Steph> "Or within a hundred yards," muses Stephanie.
<Julia> Well, she'll take off her awful smelly and drenched clothes to hang outside a window or something as well. Sleeping in them would be pretty bad.
<El-Cideon> "I do not want that thing inside with us either!" Rosemund exclaims rather violently. Xondra's wings droop with wounded pride. "Oh very well, I'll go outside and meditate on how I might best serve my chaste benefactor," the succubus concludes, vanishing.
<Julia> "Leslie would have killed her if she'd tried anything," Julia reassures as she unbuttons her clothing.
* Franceska lies down on the ground after the demon disappears, slightly less miserable.
<Steph> Stephanie clutches her head. "I think I'm losing it. Dad always said the first rule is to avoid attention."
<El-Cideon> And so the party settles down to spend a night in the Abyss-- (OOC: moment here)
<El-Cideon> Rosemund wakes up the next morning looking flushed and disoriented, perhaps relieved to be awake again despite her surroundings?
<Franceska> "I had a terrible time," Franceska announces come morning, as she washes up.
<Julia> "Really, I slept fine," Julia says. "It's not that tree nightmare again, is it?"
<Steph> Stephanie's eyes are bloodshot, and her hands are grasping for her arming belt as she wakes up. "Dreamed of killing." She pulls up her knees. "Dunno who."
<El-Cideon> "They were not the worst dreams that I have ever had," Rosemund admits. "Actually, they were rather--well, I am glad that I am awake again, let us just say that." She looks somewhat embarrassed in that characteristic, impossible to hide Rosemund manner.
<Franceska> "No, they just tortured devils over and over again, in a sexual way. I hate this plane."
<Julia> "Anyway, lets make breakfast first and then we can get on with our day!" Julia says briskly, deciding it best to move past perverse dreams.
<Steph> "Rosey, can you make some cold water and dump it on my head?"
<El-Cideon> "It is truly the worst place that we have ever been!" Rosemund announces, before helpfully obliging Stephanie's request.
<El-Cideon> Xondra happily greets Stephanie outside with a friendly--yet carefully chaste--embrace. "Good morning, my dear! I trust everyone slept well?" Somehow she found time overnight to clean out her hair and bathe; she's a more radiant beauty now than the grimy thing found by the monument.
<Franceska> "No."
<Julia> "Yes, it was very restful," Julia says, humming a moment. "Battersby, go and pull a branch off that tree. We'll see how well it burns," she says, her wyvern ambling off to tear a tree apart and drag a branch back like a grisly puppy while she begins organising her other cooking supplies.
* Franceska gives Julia a betrayed look.
<Julia> "What? I never had any strange dreams. Never had any at all for that," she says, catching Franceska's look.
<Franceska> "Never?"
<El-Cideon> Xondra endeavors to pout and smile at the same time. "Well, rest assured I am here to ensure a properly restful evening should you ever have such difficulty sleeping again!" she sings.
<Steph> Stephanie grasps at her hilt for a moment and starts counting to ten.
<Julia> "Not last night. I have dreams other times," Julia clarifies, breaking off some strange wood to build a small fire which she proceeds to try and light.
<El-Cideon> Xondra wisely continues to refrain from acting overtly upon any of her promises. Meanwhile Julia finds the wood somewhat reluctant to burn. It takes some effort to start a proper fire.
<Franceska> "Maybe my dreams will improve if I kill a demon before bedtime?" Franceska muses hopefully.
<Steph> Stephanie decides to drag Rosemund away from prying ears for a moment. "What do I do?" she says, sounding panicked. "Just kill her?"
<Julia> "Next time we should bring some proper firewood from home," Julia says. "Or get some ever-heated pots." In any case she works with what she has, sticking a pan over the fire. "Rosemund, could you conjure some eggs and butter? I'll add pepper and some dried meat for taste and scramble them."
<El-Cideon> "Um." Rosemund casts an awkward glance back. "Maybe she will become bored eventually if you just ignore her long enough? But, ah, if she tries anything then I do not see much other choice."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund is ready as ever to provide sustenance for the team, though it's never quite so flavorful as homegrown ingredients.
<Julia> That's just why you have to add some non-perishable yet flavourful stuff to it to balance things out! And being the excellent chef that she is, Julia has an ample supply to work with. Soon she's doling out plates of fluffy scrambled egg doted with pepper and small chunks of pork for everyone to eat.
<El-Cideon> It's about half a days walk down the road after breakfast before you find something of note. A narrow spit of land, a natural bridge some twenty feet wide at its thinnest, thrusts out into the acid lake, and sitting upon the low island at its tip is a green dome. It's difficult to discern the manner of construction from this distance, but it certainly looks too small to hold any proper labyrinth. Near the land bridge a modest hill rises above the countryside. Atop this hill can be seen several figures--specific details are difficult in the shifting gloom of Azzagrat, but at least one is properly human-sized, flanked by two notably taller companions.
<Julia> "Ahh, finally," Julia says in relief. "Shall we go straight for the dome or do something about the obvious lookouts first?"
<El-Cideon> "Oh, were you here for the labyrinth?" Xondra realizes. "You should've said!"
<Steph> "You know your way around it?"
<El-Cideon> She shakes her head. "Oh, I've never been. It'll be a journey of discovery for both of us, I'm sure!"
<Julia> "Did you know a shortcut that would've saved us time getting here then?"
<Steph> Stephanie shakes her head for a moment, and turns to Franceska. "Can you owl up see if they're the ones we're looking for?"
<El-Cideon> She puts her hands on her hips. "Well, if you'd trusted me enough to tell me your plans, I certainly would've told you if you were going the wrong way. Like that awful swamp! Oh, you don't want to know what would happen to you in there."
<Franceska> With a shrug, Franceska follows the request and puts some distance between herself and the demon whore.
<Julia> "Really it just didn't seem to matter," Julia shrugs. "But yes, that's where we're going."
* Franceska lands a short distance away from the group, and stares at the large cat for a moment before addressing the woman, "Would you be Miss Granville of Azure?"
<El-Cideon> Up close, she presents less the image of a globetrotting rebel and more that of a stern governess: her dress is plain and austere, brown hair shot through with gray is wrangled into a bun at the back of her head and under a wide-brimmed hat, expression sharp and serially humorless. "I am," she says simply. "Who asks?"
<El-Cideon> For its own part, the cat--a spotted lynx with pointed ears--eyes Franceska's avian form with undisguised feline interest.
* Franceska transforms into her human form, saying, "We just missed one another at your other residence on Earth, where you might be happy to hear slavery had been firmly abolished. I am Franceska Durant, Miss Granville."
<El-Cideon> Seeing from afar Franceska is engaged in casual conversation atop the hill, Rosemund decides to lead the rest of the group up after her. Aria's bodyguards are massive iron golems; sitting at rest behind her is a clockwork horse. "It pleases me to learn the citizens made good on my example," Aria is saying as the rest of the gang arrives. "But you go to extreme lengths to find me, Miss Durant. What is our business?"
<Franceska> "Oh, I know, this is the worst plane ever, isn't it? The absolute worst!" Franceska complains. "While we did want to exchange greetings while visiting Azure, one of your friends asked us to look in on you to make sure that you were alright."
<Julia> "Mercurius Deliveries sent us to back you up," Julia volunteers as Battersby ambles over.
<El-Cideon> "Myrie sent you?" She sounds almost amused. "She should know I can look after myself, though I suppose I should consider myself flattered. But here, if you sought me out in Azure, you must have other concerns," she observes, seizing on that little detail. She glances over the group, not seeming at all perturbed by Battersby but evidencing some disapproval for Thing and Xondra (who continues to loiter as close to Stephanie as she seems permitted).
<Franceska> Following her gaze Franceska sags. "Yes, I just don't know what happened there or why or how to stop it," she admits.
<Steph> Stephanie looks gracelessly ashamed of herself. "I can't hurt someone who hasn't done anything," she says, plaintively.
<El-Cideon> "Yes, it's much better to wait 'til after she's stolen your will to oppose her," Aria notes drily.
<Julia> "Thing's my familiar," Julia pats the quasit on the head. "Xorna's just following us around. Oh, and I'm Julia Astin. At your service."
<El-Cideon> "She is not with us!" Rosemund insists. "She just started tagging along."
<El-Cideon> "I was invited!" Xondra insists defensively.
<Steph> "Magic like that doesn't work one me," mutters Stephanie.
<Franceska> "Demon whores aside, we did have some interest in your past exploits," Franceska says, gritting her teeth.
<Julia> "I didn't think it would last so long," Julia admits carelessly.
<El-Cideon> "I should expect so if you've been to Peridot and Azure," Aria says. "I'll not be at a disadvantage. Explain your interest."
<Steph> Stephanie rubs her head. "We were wondering if you had any connection with the paladin known as Polaris," she explains.
<El-Cideon> Aria narrows her gaze on Stephanie. "Describe this person," she insists.
<Steph> Stephanie taps her foot for a moment. "Xondra? Fuck off."
<El-Cideon> "Best the fiend departs before we discuss anything of significance," Aria agrees. "We know not who she reports to." She gives Xondra a shooing motion. The succubus gives Stephanie a wounded look but insists with commendable sincerity, "I'll be right down the hill if you need me," before vanishing.
* Franceska breathes a sigh of relief.
<Steph> Stephanie shakes her head. "Fucking *code*," she swears. "Anyway, you might know her as Galina Merowyn? Paladin of Solata, fought in a big war a while back. We've seen evidence that she's been kidnapping mages and using them in some sort of magical gestalt experiment. Looks like she's decided to slide down the slope and turn to pretty drastic measures to... well, change the game, I guess
<Steph> you could say? We're not exactly sure what her aim is."
<Franceska> "So we've been looking into her, and ended up freeing some of her past companions," Franceska adds.
<Julia> "It all started because she stole a holy weapon from the church of Pelor," Julia chimes in. Just say weapon. Doesn't matter if it was a sword or a mace or whatever.
<El-Cideon> She nods curtly. "Merowyn, yes. I claim to be no acquaintance of hers, but witnessed her work in Azure as a much younger woman. Commendable work, but I gave her little further thought until she invaded my home on Peridot and attempted to assault me. I may admit that it was plainly her and her cadre's intent to take me alive, else we would not likely be having this conversation."
<Franceska> "Ah, was that it? We thought it more likely the snake people or their mercenaries were behind that."
<Julia> "She wanted to turn you into a magical battery," Julia says with a small shudder, knowing a similar fate could await her if things go badly when they confront Polaris themselves.
<El-Cideon> She raises an eyebrow. "I should hope that lot turned their ire towards more deserving targets," Aria says to Franceska. She addresses Julia with sharp interest: "For what purpose?"
<Steph> "The timing was like that," muses Stephanie. "We believe she's been working with modrons, and we've seen them hanging around your premises as well. I guess she may not have given up..."
<Franceska> "So they did, but they were a touch indiscriminate...."
<Julia> "To power some sort of weapon I'd guess? The only live example we saw was what the Duchess used it for in Azure, and I expect Polaris has a much grander vision."
<El-Cideon> A nod to Stephanie. "Oh yes. They loitered around Peridot for some time before the attack. I disregarded this until they appeared again in Azure. I don't need a third incident to acknowledge a conspiracy. If this 'Polaris' and her cronies still wish my unwilling assistance, I decided they could damn well come find me somewhere even more disadvantageous to themselves than to myself."
<Steph> "You mean to stay here long-term?" says Stephanie, in alarm.
<El-Cideon> Aria doesn't appear too perturbed by Franceska's disclaimer, answering Julia in turn: "If she intends to continue the Duchess's work in any way than she is madder than I could have suspected." To Stephanie: "Only so long as it takes to conclude my own business here." She nods to the dome across the way.
<Steph> "What's your plan after that? 'cos we could use some help! She's not exactly weak to start with, but just tracking her down is pretty daunting."
<Julia> "Well, that's what Mercurius is paying us to help you with!" Julia says brightly.
<El-Cideon> "If the intent and scope of her activities is as dire as you suggest, then it is in more than passing interest for me to oppose any so bent on constraining the freewill of others," she says to Stephanie. "But I must admit to this priority: my home is threatened, and this *cancer* must be excised before I can resume my work anywhere else. I'll not turn aside assistance offered at such expense as to brave the Abyss in finding me," she acknowledges.
<Steph> "I'm sold! So what're you trying to do here?"
<El-Cideon> "Kill this fallen angel, Maeandar, that calls that jade excrescence his home," she answers, pointing towards the dome.
<Steph> "I see, I see. And how come you're just standing out here instead of going in there?"
<El-Cideon> "Ultimately," she adds, "I endeavor in the process to uproot whatever mortal pawns of his may remain in Azure." To Stephanie's query: "Observing. I'd not go in ignorant of the hazards if possible. I've seen an adventuring party enter, as well as some minor demons. I had hoped to learn more of the structure within, this 'Labyrinth of Desire' Maeandar's one servant I've interrogated spoke of, but all entrants mortal or fiendish have yet to reemerge."
<Julia> "Probably all dead."
<El-Cideon> "Or worse," a possibility Aria seems obliged to acknowledge.
<Steph> "Or just entrapped by succubi," mutters Stephanie.
<Franceska> "Wouldn't a demon labyrinth change constantly?"
<Julia> "Good thing we have a volunteer succubus to fight off the competition?" Julia suggests with a smile.
<El-Cideon> She raises an eyebrow to Stephanie's comment. "I do not necessarily take the moniker with such literal physicality. Fostering mere lust hardly reflects the sectarian violence evident of late in Azure. Whatever its architect wants is I suspect of a more complicated nature."
<Steph> "I don't suppose we can't just knock it all down from the outside, somehow? What about that earthquake spell?"
<El-Cideon> "Are-are we sure it is an angel in there?" Rosemund feels it necessary to wonder with evident discomfort. "This is hardly the proper place for one..."
<El-Cideon> "It is within consideration," Aria says to Stephanie with a backwards nod to her hulking metal bodyguards.
<Julia> "Fallen," Julia reminds Rosemund. "That makes him even worse than any demon."
<Steph> "Funny thing, you never hear about risen demons. I guess once you go down you never get up?"
<El-Cideon> "I find sufficient comfort without either such association," Aria admits with a shrug.
<Steph> Stephanie grunts, and then glances at the labyrinth. "So we can try hacking our way through one of these fucked-up places filled to the brim with traps and sentinels that none have left alive, or just punch a hole through it until the boss comes out- yeah I like option two."
<El-Cideon> She nods curtly. "The most straightforward plans often have much to recommend them."
<Steph> "I've got my winged boots! Even an angel can't escape!" She cracks her knuckles. "Guys, any other ideas?"
<Franceska> "Kill everything."
<Julia> "I could send Leslie in to make more shadows out of any surviving human adventurers and overrun the place?" Julia offers.
* Franceska looks uneasy at the prospect of multiple shadows.
<El-Cideon> Aria raises an eyebrow at Julia's plan. "I'd rather not kill needlessly," she says without quite abolishing the plan.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund merely nods vigorously in agreement with Franceska's preference. "The sooner that we can get away from this awful world and never look back, the better we shall be!"
<Julia> "Alright, Battersby can join your golems in knocking the walls down," Julia concedes, climbing off the wyvern.
<Steph> "Let's spread out, and get ready to swoop on anything that emerges," suggests Stephanie, glancing at the labyrinth. "How long do you think it'll take them?" she asks.
<Julia> "Probably a lot sooner than that skeleton back there will take to knock down the monolith."
<El-Cideon> Aria mounts her clockwork horse, evidently wearing skirts divided for riding. "Difficult to say," she admits. "I'm not wholly certain of the structure's composition. It looks almost organic."
<Steph> Stephanie frowns. "It might grow back," she says, darkly. "Well, it won't hurt to try, I think. Frankly, if the walls are a deadly obstacle in themselves..."
<Franceska> "We can wait and see if it fails, first."
<El-Cideon> A nod, then she gestures to her golems to march forward. "Brutus, Cassius: demolish that dome and any fiends that emerge from it." With a heavy, earthshaking tread, the constructs plod down the causeway towards the dome and begin to beat at it with their metal fists.
<Julia> "Battersby, demolish the dome and anything that gives you trouble," Julia says, causing her wyvern to lumber after the golems and start clawing and biting at the green stuff.
<El-Cideon> It's evident even from afar that the knotty, green surface of the dome does in fact regenerate beneath the many assaults directed towards it--but with two metal golems and a monstrous undead wyvern all hacking at it, it doesn't regrow fast enough. After about half an hour the collective has destroyed enough of the dome to demonstrate that it is not in fact hollow and that the shadowy gateway at the front of the dome can stand free in the air even without any surrounding structure. "It's a portal," Aria realizes eventually.
<Steph> "Of course. It was all a trick. Ha ha, got me there, Abyss!"
<Julia> "Well, it was either that or a pit to an underground labyrinth," Julia shrugs, "Or just a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. Anyway, shall we go through?"
<El-Cideon> Aria frowns. "He is in there nevertheless," she states with certainty. "The servant I interrogated was not left any means of deception. I suppose we have no choice but to play along," she concedes, urging her horse forward.
* Julia catches up with Battersby, climbing aboard him before braving the portal.
* Franceska follows on foot.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund heaves a deep, unsettled sigh before steeling herself against whatever unpleasantness is to come and walking through. Xondra quietly rejoins and trails behind Stephanie.
<Steph> Stephanie pats Rosemund on the shoulder, and then... decides to hide behind the undead monstrosity instead of taking the lead.
<El-Cideon> There's a moment of blackness--how long? It must be instantaneous, but one could perhaps be forgiven for wondering whether she might have been unconscious given her circumstances upon arriving on the other side. Franceska, Stephanie, and Julia each find themselves at the terminus of a different dead-end corridor. The walls around you are a deep, verdant green, with the fissured look of massed vegetation or brain tissue; sparsely, every couple dozen feet or so, eyes mar the composition of the walls, eyes of all color, size, and shape, watching the new arrivals with detached interest. Each of you is also, you cannot help but note, unarmed, naked and alone (save for the comforting(?) presence of an equally bewildered Thing beside Julia). There is no immediately obvious way to progress but forward.
<El-Cideon> ~