The Mad God's Masque and Bellicose Ball (IC) (M)

[Cogidubnus]

Mina sipped her drink calmly, and raised an eyebrow, especially at Kiet's statement about dreamers and the edge of reality.
"Huh?"

She fell silent as he continued on, taking a slow sip of her apple brandy, and then snorted softly.
"They don't even have the decency to pretend to have power. No, they are merely townsfolk. But..."

She shifted. "I would rather them not be out for my blood, you see. You're getting out of here, but I have...business, in the province. They can't know that I even have her. And if you kill them, well, then there is a serious problem with militia and church inquisitors. Nobody wants that."

"But you're leaving the province, no?" She grinned, and her eyes sparkled. "So long as you bring her to me, tonight, say, at the lake three miles north of here? I guarantee you she'll be amenable."

Kiet's eyes strayed around the room, at the various magical sundries that had been promised him in exchange for this lioness. The bottle of the colors again attracted his eye, for he recognized them as the sentient color from the Far Realm, that sucked the life out of everything they touched, and left it a gray, withered shell. An extraplanar plague of unfathomable evil.
The implements fashioned from the shells of devils, expressions of wracked, torturous pain evident on their black and red metal. Knives, a small oven, and several symbols of an unsavory nature that he recognized.
Jars full of unrecognizable things - some surely cow fetuses, but some stranger yet - insects the size of a fist, crawling terrors out of nightmares, and something that looked like blood moving under it's own power, threaded through the preserving fluid like veins shot through marble.
A vial of what claimed to be the preserved essence of nine souls. A picture of a smiling dog playing cards. A book with the title in a strange, flowing script that was hard to follow. A silver key that hung upon the opposite wall, thrumming with hidden power.

* * *

The gryphons in attendance screeched in happiness, and a heretofor unnoticed fox sitting with his knees cross made a scribble on a clipboard he was holding.
"Wow! Reverse buckyball overhand with unintentional hilarity. That's 400 points! That puts him in the lead!"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Rover recovered his head, glanced over at the aforementioned fox, padded over, and looked over his shoulder.

He heaved a big sigh, then delicately hooked the very tip of one claw into the hole at the top of the clipboard, and turned it through 90 degrees. He sheathed his claws, patted the fox very gently on the back - or, at least, reasonably gently; you try patting someone gently with a paw the size and weight of a steam shovel - and bounded back into the game.


... sooner or later it might even make sense.

[Lisky]

Bas stood, mouth agape as they entered.  The sheer absurdity of the situation was getting worse.  It was as if he'd entered some bizarre dream-scape bent on breaking the demon's mind.  The fact that Jeremiah took the lead, sliding in front of Baseel made things far more easy.  Holding on to his bolt of energy Baseel simply nodded, and replied, "if that's the case, lead on."

He kept his shield covering his body, and the energy ready to explode anything they might encounter... he hoped the feline was a good enough leader and scout... just in case, Bas kept his skin hardened, he'd hate to get bitten by one of those things... especially with how much venom they seemed to release.

[Cogidubnus]

 "Hm? This? Be a Good Host, Jeremiah Ac'Gregor." he said, before closing the book with a snap and setting it on the side table, knocking over a lamp in doing so. He took a too-long step forward, and again cocked the pistol.
"Almost there, gents! Never fear man, nought's to dread, look neither left nor right", he said as he neared the door.

He opened the door wildly. There was nothing beyond it, except a single, translucent bridge of glowing violet suspended in air. The city could be seen all around it, and it plunged into the swirling vortex at the center of the city, and at the center of everything.
In all the endless road you tread, there's nothing but the night... he whistled, and started walking down it.

[Azlan]

Finishing off the apple brandy, he narrowed his eyes and focused them on Mina's own green orbs.

"If I free her and bring her to you, what do you intend to do with her exactly?"  Kiet gestures around the room at the various examples of dark and questionably sinister arts scattered about, "do you plan to add her to a collection?"

There was no ounce of judgment merely a pensive inquiry, the ringtail knew to keep carefully neutral during such negotiations.

[techmaster-glitch]

   As Karazkt's eyes adjusted to infravision mode, he began to see the dull image of....something. It had the same look as a surfacer's flesh, but it was exceptionally deformed. He had never seen such an abomination. It dragged a metal blade, though it looked as if rusted. It was hard to tell, but the thing was almost certainly hostile. At the very least, it was tresspassing. But even so...
   I...I am not a warrior! I cannot fight...but I must! I have a duty!
   Karazkt then began feeding fire magic into his diggermech, channeled from his antennae into the two ports behind his head. He directed one port to feed into the engine, and the diggermech began heating up to capabilities more suited to a fight as the mech backpeddled. The second port was diverted into one of the magic-amplifiers in the right arm. A gout of fire erupted from the hand, spreading out into a wave as opposed to being a focused or concussive blast. Enough to make this creature back off, hopefully...

[Aisha deCabre]

The cavern, while adequate shelter from the storm, still made for an interesting journey in itself.

The idea to leave bits of paper behind wasn't too bad for a while in the labyrinthine passageways at least.  Just in case they would run out, Gareeku also had the idea of stopping every little bit to scratch a distinctive marking in the rocky wall with his sword.  Rynkura was adamant on exploring...but even more so on making sure they weren't lost for all time.  Whatever time they were in.

Soon enough, their sensitive ears caught some very strange sounds, followed by some lumbering creatures.  Giant blind penguins, or what looked like penguins, were wandering about.  The two adventurers stopped and pressed their backs to the walls, wondering if these creatures were dangerous.  Rynkura in her studies had never known feral penguins to be aggressive.  But a cavern, or any passage underground with fresh water, was a different biome altogether.  Where things lived without the light of the sun.

"Let us try to sneak past," she told her young friend, looking past the creatures.  "See how far we get inside."

Rynkura dimmed the light of her staff, just enough for the two of them to see, but also enough that it wouldn't be noticeable or painful to the things, whatever they were.

[Lisky]

taking a tentative step towards the bridge, Baseel watched as the apparent being feline wandered across the bridge towards the swirling vortex with apparently complete abandon for his current situation.  The larger demon saw the bridge, and immidiately unfurled his wings, holding then half opened, and tense.  They were ready to adjust at a moments notice, as the demon had seen magic bridges before... and ones that glowed had a horrible habit of either being booby-trapped, or provided just enough support for you to get to the middle, before it suddenly went from providing a force back, to only being an illusory bridge... IE, what looks like a bridge, but is, in actuality, a very long and painful fall.

As his foot hit the surface, he noted that it did provide a force back, on his first step.  Then he stepped forwards again.  Again and again.  He did his best to plant his feet in the same spots as the feline, hoping that his initial guess of the bridge was wrong, yet keeping his wings ready.  As he felt a slight tightness, just behind his left shoulder-blade, a little bit of a crap from keeping his wing too tense, Baseel could only feel sorry for either being... either they fell to their deaths... or they expected him to save them. 

[Cogidubnus]

 Mina smiled a private smile. "I'm sure that sir wouldn't much care what I do with her, but if you must know, I intend to help her."
...if she is as she claims...

The Cubi got mostly the same emotional readings that he had been so far - lust, tension, and a fair bit of uncertainty, and anticipation.
"She's a fledgling sorceress. The sundries you see around this cart are...perhaps unsavory, but you seem worldly enough to know that tools are tools, and the real end is their use."

She looked into Kiet's eyes with her own deep, dazzling green ones. "I'm sure that she'll find this situation much more amenable than the one that she faces. You shall do it, shall you not?"

He felt anticipation, now. And perhaps even a drop of guile.

* * *

In the blackness of that cave, even dimming the light to the flicker of a candle would have been a beacon in the darkness - but it seemed that it did not matter. The penguin wandered past them, blind and dumb.

As they snuck forward, they came to several forks in the path. One seemed to lead to the side somewhere, and the other, deeper into the cave. They could smell water - fresh water - drifting up from that particular path, the rocks wet with moisture.

* * *

The flamethrower definitely got the creatures attention, making it screech and flail backwards, it's twisted flesh now burning and flaming. It ran away, burning like a torch in the darkness and howling at the top of it's lungs, until it passed some turn or curve and disappeared from sight. He could still hear it howling for some time, getting every more distant.

The diggermech plodded forward without much more incident, until it arrived at what appeared to the the lair of the horrific creature. Rows of cages filled with broken skeletons lined the walls and hung from the ceilings - bits of rotted flesh and hair stuck in clumps on the bars, and most every single one had broken bones in what appeared to be horrific places. Shattered jaws, backs, skulls, even select ribs and wholesale amputations.

The inlet of rock went further, lined on both sides by cages and implements of torture - with his infravision, the insectis could see all the way to the deepest part of the hall. More recent bodies - tables, racks, flesh that showed signs of horrific, sadistic mutilation, and at the very farthest end, what appeared to be his latest victim. A woman, strapped to a table, with a small knife in both eyes, lying in a pool of blood. She did not move, or breathe, although his vision could still detect warmth.

[Azlan]

Kiet frowned, displaying a bit of distaste at what he was receiving, "yeesh, kids these days... I don't know how they can eat this stuff the way they do.  It's like mixing all the sodas from the dispensers into one and running it through the used coffee grounds.  Tossing the guile in there does not add flavor to the mix."

"Yes, I will free her though." Reaching into his pocket, the ringtail produced a worn, but fine leather fold-over cover.  His hand also subconsciously pulled out the mask as well, "er... geez, this thing is like my own personal hollow mask.  Just a pair of extra wings... why can't I have a bankai instead?"

Searching about the room, Kiet settled on a small bronze candlestick holder, "I'll need to use this." 

Using his index finger, he stirred the solid metal as if it were molten, shaping it into roughly a badge shape.  Risking no more than a mote of a wisp, Kiet imbued the medal with an odd illusionary quality, "there, see what they need to see.  No time to make paper psychic, metal works faster, if a bit more limited."

Fastening it to the leather cover, he gave the cat a bit of a smile, "I'm off.  We'll discuss more at the intended location later."

Dismissing himself from the wagon, Kiet walked purposefully to the town square.  He searched for the minds of religious fools and the machinations of the unjustly incarcerated.  Too many festival goers made such a thing impossible, so he tried the next best thing.

Kindly intercepting a motherly looking canine, he inquired with a bit of skeptical curiosity, "lass, I 'erd a small 'ost of 'oly types caught 'im selves a 'eretic?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's nose and ears told her who was walking up behind her a few seconds before he spoke. She half-turned towards the Undead jackal, most of a friendly smile on her face. She'd made sure, though, to stand so that Cerebus could see past her shoulder to the iron-collared lioness perched on the cart, and the soberly-dressed priests sitting nearby.

"No, everythin's not all right," she murmured, hopefully quietly enough only he could hear her. "Th' girl on th' cart, when we leave, she's comin' wi' us. Th' local god-botherers say she's a her'tic, they're goin' t' put her on trial. Not. Goin'. T'. Happen." The lioness kept her voice low, but her cheerful facade slipped for a moment, letting an implacable and dreadful determination show through.

"We'll need t' plan somethin' — an' I don't want t' tell th' fluff-brain what we're doin' till afterwards, likely he'll only mess things up an' blow up half th' town. I want t' do this quiet — no-one killed, no-one even hurt if we c'n do it, an' if possible, no-one c'ld even suspect it was us. Any ideas?" Andrace did have a few ideas already, but until she calmed down from her incandescent fury, many of them involved sticky dark stains on her fur, screams in the darkness, and a hot, coppery-salty taste in her mouth.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cerebus blinked a few times, and adjusted his tie, and then blinked again. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward and hissed in Andrace's ear.
"Have you gone completely daft!" he said, looking around sharply. He clapped a hand over Andrace's shoulder, making it look like he was drunk and needed the support. He sort-of fell closer to her body, stumbling just slightly to get closer, and whispered.

"This is a bad idea on many levels! We have no advantages here! We're outnumbered, and while the people are...friendly, I suppose, they're pious common folk. There's nothing worse than trying to trick a true believer. I...we...agh!"

He sighed, and sort-of guided Andrace to walk them both a little farther away from the stalls. "Why, exactly, do you want to do this? It's none of our concern. Asking for trouble is how you end up somewhat like me, but less talkative or good looking."

* * *

Mina merely gave Kiet a jovial wave as he exited her wagon, and the canine mother whom he intercepted looked around once, and then gave him a conspiratorial whisper.
"Oi! They say she's an evil witch, they did - claimin' to be a goddess of the crops. A blasphemy against God. They've got her in that cart over there, and isn't she shameless! Not a stitch of remorse on her face. It'll be the stake for her, and no mistake." She pointed. "Just over there, by the brewer's stall. You can't miss them smoothskins over there."

* * *

Tom walked farther out over the bridge, until he was at the very center - and stopped. Wind from the violet hurricane whipped at his clothing, and blew his hat off his head. He had to shout to make himself heard.
"I CAN GO NO FARTHER-" he yelled over the torrent of wind. "ONLY THE MASTER OF THIS PLACE MAY OPEN THE WAY." he said, and looked straight at Jeremiah.

[Boog]

"... Wait, what?" Jeremiah grabbed at the book. There it was, his name in gold embossed script on the cover, looping and curling as if the pen that wrote it had its brake line cut. He remembered, when he was little, before he took to art, he'd rather wanted to write. He leafed through it, curiously...
Squinching his eyes shut and promising them that he was REALLY sorry and he shouldn't have done that, he slammed the book shut and hurled it away. Thankfully he was already blocking out what he'd seen, as he moved to follow the cat.
What the HELL was this place? He knew he shouldn't have left the dumpster. The dumpster was safe. It was warm, comfortable, and that smiley face was the best goddamn roommate he'd ever had. Now there were spiders. And whoever had bought the books, or made them or WHATEVER, had known his goddamn NAME!
Abstract, unthinking danger was a lot less scary than one that knew who you were.
In all the endless road you tread, there's nothing but the night... There was that goddamn cat again. Walking across on lights. Briefly he saw it as one of those broadway red carpets. The cat was some new celebrity, fresh out of rehab, glittering with undeserved love, cocaine and the finest in recreational plastics. On his way to make the tabloids and get the award and send the town a-buzz.
"The hell are you doing!?" Jeremiah's words were whipped away by the wind as he started to follow, the wind catching at his coat. He yelped once and sank to his knees, the gale almost carrying him off by his flapping tweed coat. He thought of the spiders inside. Didn't baby spiders get to new places that way? Put out some silk and let it carry them off...? "This is going to KILL us, get back here!" WHY was he still crawling foward on this thing? He focused on his hands, saw the ground far below through the shimmering light of the bridge, fought the urge to vomit. A hat whipped past, below him, and Jeremiah looked up into the one good eye of that fucking jackass goddamn cat.
"I CAN GO NO FARTHER-" he yelled over the torrent of wind. "ONLY THE MASTER OF THIS PLACE MAY OPEN THE WAY." he said, and looked straight at Jeremiah.
"THEN GET HIM OVER HERE!" Jeremiah screamed against the gale. Another powerful gust moved the frog a half inch. He couldn't look away from the ground... Below him...
...
Far below was a building slung and adorned with neon tubes, some of which were shattered. And through one top floor window was a room, where he'd dealt cards...
"Oh my god..." Jeremiah mouthed, eyes widening.
Master? I haven't been the MASTER of this place in years. But I know it my god I know it...
Jeremiah stood up. The winds nearly sent him spiraling off into the permenent night of this place. But his feet stayed firmly affixed to the bridge of light as he started strolling across it.

[Azlan]

Trying out his routine, Kiet smiled, "the church thanks ya kindly lass, tis time I did the good work."  Giving a polite bow, the ringtail turned and headed for the brewers stall.  As he traveled the distance in-between, his manner of dress altered a bit becoming a bit more pious.

Approaching the parishioners, Kiet held his hands open and palms up.  He called out calmly and respectfully, using his Voice to command emotions, subtly.  "Fair thee well Faithful!  It is by God's will that has brought me to this town on my way home from work abroad I am sure of it!  To hear that a heretic has been discovered is proof that by His Will an Inquisitor's work is never done!  Aye?"

The light from the distant fires shone upon his glasses obscuring his eyes from their sight, he held his white gloved hands, still with palms open, at his sides awaiting a reaction.     

[Lisky]

The rippling vortex pulled at the demon's wings, ears, horns, and fur.  It seemed to cut through the baggy pants as if they weren't there.  A biting chill rippled through his body.  This seemed to be a bad place... and yet, here he was, going along.  Folding his wings tightly against his back, the shepherd attempted to dig his toe-claws into the bridge.

At the mention of Jeremiah being the one to lead, he simply stood aside, and let the being pass.  Who was he to question a pair of individuals whom both seemed a little soft in the head.  If he had to rescue one... it'd be the frog.  He followed along, walking on the balls of his feet, attempting to keep himself ready as he watched Jeremiah crawl steadily forwards.  Baseel had no place here, he liked the frog, and would do his best to keep him alive... the cat, less so... but still, he had no reason, nor will to be here.  He muttered under his breath, in a very sarcastic tone, "oh, you'll have a great time representing the family.  Drink some of the finest wines, meet fellow well off families, many of whom will be sending their eligible daughters... You'll fit right in..."   Cover his face for a moment with a clawed hand, the demon added, "Thanks, dad, that's a fuckin' lot..."

With rage partially subsided, he followed along, and tried to pick out the sounds of anything unfriendly amongst the howling wind, and the rippling and drumming of his own loose clothing.

[Cogidubnus]

 The wind continued to howl dementedly as Jeremiah walked forward, seemingly determined to sweep all of them off the bridge and into the endless chasm of nothingness below them. Tom stood seemingly unaffected, his hair whipping about wildly and giving him something of a mad look. The demon kept his balance.

As did the frog. As he walked closer, he felt the wind grow less. Thoughts, feelings, rose unbidden to his mind.
His first work of art. His first kiss. The first time he felt inspired. The first time he felt like he could kill someone in anger. Ah, now that memory resonated...

The wind died, and just as suddenly the torrent of violet-colored wind did as well. A door, suspended simply in mid-air, hung at the end of the bridge, expectantly.
  Ahahaa.
Jeremiah turned around to see Tom, grinning ear to ear. He looked...happy? Tom's one good eye was focused unpleasantly hard on him.

HahahahahahaoOOOEHEHEHEEHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAA.

Tom's mouth split wide, like bloody cracks that spread down his entire body before his flesh collapsed in on itself, like a rotting pumpkin in fast-forward, and formed what appeared to be a mass of eyeballs. A single mass of eyeballs, glutinous and white. Ten thousand irises focused on Jeremiah, and on Baseel. Tentacles where none were appeared, twenty, thirty at once, and every one of them moved to swat the both of them off the bridge, moved to drill into both of their eyesockets, rip them limb from limb and devour them in a maw of seething eyes.
HAAAAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAAAAH

* * *

The goodwife simply looked strangely at Kiet, giving him a feeling of confusion, and also of fear, before she nodded at him piously.
...doesn't look anything like one o'them...

The three men sitting and drinking, however, looked at Kiet with merely a smile and a grin amongst the three of them.
"Blessing's betide, stranger, of whom we've never seen around these parts, before? You hold the good Lord in high esteem for a traveler. It is evidence of the providence of the Lord, and of the piousness of his flock, that she was found when she was, given up by a pagan people who could stand their blasphemy no more. Praytell, how did you hear of such an event?"

[Boog]

For a second Jeremiah was four years old, sticking a mash of macaroni and glue on cardboard to a refridgerator with little magnets that looked like ladybugs, his mother standing over him. He was also behind a wall in an abandoned building, a girl from his class in his arms. It was a relationship he'd been somewhat bullied into, but the moment was still special. He wondered where she was, now. He was looking at an otter eating a fish, hunkered in an old tire at the edge of a pond in the woods. His hands were trying to fumble through his pockets, looking for lead and paper or a bit of charcoal and a dollar bill or SOMETHING to draw with and draw on. And then he was in an old, broken down but still inhabited mansion, standing over someone he alternately loathed and felt he'd let down, a blackjack in his hand... All at once. The moments blurred together. He had the person he loathed in his arms behind a building made of macaroni. He was a four year old holding a blackjack. He was being kissed, his fingertips still covered with glue and ladybugs. He was curled up in an old tire, eating a raw fish, while the person he loathed and let down fumbled for charcoal...
Ahahaa.
The frog returned to the present, blinking and confused. Slowly, things slotted into place. This place. Who he was dealing with. What was happening.
"... Ap, wait... What? I-" He fumbled for words. "... You?"
A tentacle caught Jeremiah right in the solar plexus, knocking him to the ground. That is to say, the hardened violet light some distance above the ground. The frog wheezed and coughed, getting up again, curling fingers around dirt and grit that had settled on the bridge when the whirlwind had died. He stood up...
"You!"
Lips curled back from Jeremiah's teeth, into what could only be called a snarl.
"YOU!"
He stood up and started walking forward, faster now. Purposeful. Like he was on his way to give someone the sternest talking to of their lives.
"You know, out of all of them you've always been the biggest PRICK?"  He sidestepped a swipe from a tentacle, ducked under another, stepped around a third. He wasn't moving particularly fast or erratically. He just kept managing to be where the tentacles weren't. His eyes rolled from one point to another quickly, tracking the tentacles. He was thinking fast. Much faster than usual. He felt like his thoughts had so much more SPACE now. "At least the others TALK. They let me know what they WANT. I can bargain with them, reason with them, threaten them with SOMETHING. You just keep fucking with things and giggling about it! Not even the other VOICES like you!" He reached into his coat and pulled out the knife, snarl deepening. "So what is it now, huh? You gonna tell me what's behind that door? Or are you just gonna keep FUCKING laughing!?"

HahahahahahaoOOOEHEHEHEEHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAA.

Jeremiah got closer to the gibbering madness, moving more erratically as the attacks came faster. "Yes, we get it! You're laughing! What's the joke!? Tell us the fucking punchline you bastard! WHAT! DO! YOU! WANT!?" His voice breaking on the last word, a scream into the face of these swarming eyes...
Another tentacle lashed out at the frog, he finally slashed with the knife. That seemed to do something. The swarming tendrils held off, just a little bit, from the outward held blade. He held it before him like a talisman, keeping the myriad limbs at bay. It had slowed down, where he was. Things were standing still, a deep silence in the wake of the shout. And then, finally...

HAAAAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAAAAH

"GRAGH!" Jeremiah almost reached out to stab it, sputtered in incoherent RAGE. He ground his teeth, he clenched his fist, he glared at the monster from under his hat.
And slowly, finally, he began to regain his composure. "Fine. You know what? That's just goddamn fine. Totally peachy."
He let the hand with the knife fall to his side and raised one hand, now clenched into such a tight fist the knuckles were white. The nearby tentacles rose up, as if to smash him into the very place he stood.
"Fuck you."
Jeremiah opened his hand, and blew a fistful of dirt and grit right into the creature's multitude of eyes.

[Lisky]

As soon as the creature began to split open from the cat being, Baseel launched himself backwards, and skywards with a powerful, wing flap-assisted jump.  The tentacles that lashed out at the demon would find themselves gripping at the air.  The wind had died down, enough so to make flying a possibility.  Bas took advantage of this fact, at the apex of his jump, he rolled his body over, and used his wings to glide.  He flapped, once, gaining a little speed, twice, moving faster still.  A few moments of hard worked paid off, the demon could see himself starting to gain a little altitude. 

God damned, fuckin' freakshow... the hell is that thing?  AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT FROG DOING?!  The demon thought to himself, watching the scene unfold between jeremiah and the eyeballed and tentacled beast.  "Has he completely lost it?  And better question... how the hell is the little green bugger still alive? Still on the bridge for that matter?!"

The shepherd demon circled the bridge, ducking and weaving, giving the many-eyed monster a distant and difficult target to hit.  Suddenly, he cut back the other way, flapping when necessary to maintain his speed and height.  He suddenly halted himself in flight, flaring his wings wide to act as massive sails.  He collected the ball of energy from his hand, summoning  from seemingly no where, a swirling blade of dark energy, a shuriken shaped shadow, as large as the shield the demon held in his other arm, he flew a little closer, then sent the blade spinning towards the horror.  Cutting out, and flapping backwards, he wasn't completely watching where he was going, as the demon wanted to see what the shadowy disk of death did to the creature.  He looked over his body, while loosely banking.  He rolled his body, and continued to glide, giving himself a better view while circling the bridge again.

[Azlan]

"A traveler I am as my work was done for the good Lord as instructed by the order."  He bowed slightly before them and produced his small metal, "I am a mediator of God. I am the instrument that delivers the punishment of heaven. I am the Inquisitor Anderson and through the holy, sanctioned theurgy am I empowered to judge the enemies of God."

Gesturing to the town behind him, "it was these folk who revealed such news.  A contemptible creature such as this can ne'er be tried by a court ah men, but by the High Court of God itself.  I canna be tellin ye yer duties as men, but in matters ecclesiastic..."

Pausing, Inquisitor Anderson (Kiet) smiled knowingly, "I dun think ye wish to interfere with the work of an Inquisitor?  Ye know where I intend to take this blasphemer, aye?"

Summoning the menace of his picture of an Inquisitor, Inquisitor Anderson (Kiet) spoke focusing his voice on the speaker and apparent leader, "Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He grow angry, and ye perish in the way for His wrath may quickly kindle."

Despite his menacing demeanor, Kiet did not take any aggressive action.

[techmaster-glitch]

   The busrt of flame was satisfyingly effective, sending the creature running off down the tunnel. Karazkt started to kick the mech foward--
   Wait.
   That tunnel was not there before!
   Karazkt sat there, slightly paralyzed at the impossibility before him. He had just dug this cavern out of solid ground himself only a short time ago, to be shelter for his Queen. There was no tunnel leading off anywhere else, and in his mind, he should have felt anything digging beneath him with his vibration sense.
   It must be more impossible magic, like what brought him here in the first place.
   Either way, this shelter had to be kept secure for the Queen, which meant investigating this anomaly. Karazkt continued moving the diggermech forward down the tunnel...
   And was greeted with truly horrific sights. Well, they would have been more horrific if Karazkt fully understood what he was looking at. There were vauge, stick-like figures in the shape of surfacers inside metal cages. Karazkt puzzled at the sight, until he remembered something said in a basic briefing on surfacers, once. They obviously don't have eny kind of exoskeleton, so they were supported by a rigid internal core, an endoskeleton. It would seem that all these things were the non-biodegradeable remains of dead surfacers, like how his own kind leave their chitin exoskeletons behind when they die.
   As he continued further, he saw more bodies, this time with flesh mostly still on them, except they had been apparently...dissected? Karazkt couldn't be sure of what all this was supposed to mean, but they were as cold as death as well. Wait...there was one, at the very end. It did not seem to move, yet it still glowed with warmth in his infravision. And indeed, this one also looked to have been partially dissected as well. But, there were two blades stuck in the surfacer's eyes...what was the purpose of that?
   While he was hardly one to care about surfacers (surrogate Queen excepted, of course) considering he had never really seen them before, Karazkt felt strangely compelled to find out if this one was still alive. The massive steam-mech lumbered up to the table. Karazkt retracted the dome slightly, and called down to the surfacer experimentally. "Kan you hear me and rezpond, zurfazer?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel weighed the options for a moment, "If there is time I think I should look for my grandfather. You know my idea of a fight is paniced flailing around with magic. Grandfather has millennia of military experience, if I can find him he can at least give advice, if not actual help. And if we put him to looking for grandmother it might cure other problems as well."

She thought for a moment, she would look for her grandfather first at the University. She didn't want to start at the Fort. If by any chance Cog was right and she was the last Icewing she didn't want to see her home empty. Going to the University and asking if Professor Bleakstone was teaching would delay going home.

"I will need to go back to that big deck we started on. I want to teleport into ice dragon territory via an established gate, and those gates are huge, dragon huge. I need a big open space to call one."

[Cogidubnus]

 Despite Karazkt's internal protests, the tunnel was there, all the same. This was not the tunnel he dug, and looking back from out the side tunnel he was in a moment, neither was that the way he came. Solid darkness, without end, greeted him both ways.

Was that a symbol, in the rock? Were those flames, flickering in the darkness, just beyond his sight?
The lady laying on the slab said nothing, bleeding silently as her body dimmed from his infravision. A slight breeze through the cavern rattled the implements of butchery hanging from the ceiling, like some horrific windchime.

He could hear things, come from the darkness, deeper in the cavern. His insectis sense could hear the earth thrum beneath him, as though some engine of great power was turning far, far beneath him and these rocks.
He almost didn't notice the giant spider crawling up from the way the horrific creature had run down until it was nearly upon him. Bulbous and fat, with needle legs and hideous speed, it skittered, crawling up a wall and into crevice there, invisible to sight yet again.

* * *

The three men looked at Kiet like he was crazy. The lioness behind them looked at him as though he were stupid.
He could feel the fear roiling off the three men, though. Each one of them stood up, although they did not approach him, or reach for any sort of weapon - for they had none.

"Stranger...we don't allow furs in the clergy. I'm not sure where you found that symbol you got."
At this point several more people were taking notice, Kiet's grand proclomations drawing attention from the crowd. Most everyone was looking at him fearfully, although a few put on a brave face to mask their apprehension.

"There ain't no reason this needs to get ugly." the man on the left said. He was wearing black, with red hair and green eyes. The other two, a black haired man wearing a red shirt and beige pants, and the last fellow bald, but wearing green and blue, moved just slightly to the left and right. The red haired man put his hands up in a peaceful gesture.
"No reason at all. You tell us where you got that, I'll give it back to the right inquisitor. Not saying you stole it. He probably dropped it somewhere."

The crowd was forming a circle at this point. The three men were clearly stalling for something.
...wait until he's surrounded, tie him down...
...the Hell!? Foreigners -are- crazy, mom was right...
...can you help me?

Kiet caught the Lioness's eyes. They were ruby red, staring straight at him.

* * *

Baseel's instant response was a credit to his training. A true warrior, he capitalized on his advantages and attempted to pelt his enemy from afar, going where they could not follow.
A tentacle caught the disk of death, and instead of exploding as it should, it gingerly threw it back. It spun lazily through the air before running out of momentum, and exploding nothing. Another tentacle, instead of trying to slap the fleeing Demon down, stretched impossibly far, and chased the dodging and weaving viking prince until it caught him by the ankle.
It then dragged him back through the exact opposite path, and as it hurtled back to the bridge it looped around it once, and slammed the demon facefirst into the violet energy.

* * *

The Lunacy was still laughing when Jeremiah blew the dust from his hand. It swirled in the air, looped, and then the frog noticed that it was leaving a trail. Like cinders. Red colored dust that even he could suddenly feel the heat from. It touched that gibbering mass of eyes and burst into a dazzling ruby flame, flash-boiling the jellied mass even as red lines like inflammation raced down each tentacle.

Eyes popped open as the mass began to slough into nothingness. The laughter stopped, grew silent as the giant gibbering monster shrank quickly, eyes being boiled off it at an incredible rate. The mass pulled in on itself, until only two eyes were left, burning in the midst of that red flame.
They pulled roughly together, and then formed what looked like a little mockery of Jeremiah. A little frog made from eye jelly and boiled sclera tried to stand, and collapsed in on itself again, as the fried egg consistency of its legs failed to support it.

It was quiet for a moment, burning in that silent, crimson fire. And without warning, the Lunacy spoke.
"You think you can kill me?"

Despite speaking so clearly, hearing the Lunacy's speech was almost as unnerving as it's laughter. It's voice was hateful - so full of rage as to be white-hot. It's two remaining eyes grew progressively more bloodshot.
"I AM YOU!" it screamed. "ALL THE OTHERS SHE PUT THERE, BUT I AM YOU. YOU THINK SHE MADE YOU THIS WAY? I WAS THERE BEFORE YOU EVER GOT THE OTHERS. I AM YOU, YOU CAN'T KILL ME, I AM YOU"

The eyes started to melt. The puddle was growing smaller now, but the hate burning in its voice only grew, as though being distilled by this fire. "You want to know what makes me laugh?" it snickered hatefully. "It's the look on your face."

Ahahahhahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA, HHAHAAAAA...Haa.....

The Lunacy shrank, boiling down until nothing was left. The two eyes - the last two eyes, with red irises, crumbled into ash, and blew away.

* * *

"Of course." Cog said, standing. "I'll go with you. I have to say, I'll miss you while you're gone, Mels. You're like the only link I've got to those times, so long ago." he smiled wistfully. "Sometimes I wonder if all that every really happened, in that castle. Ah, well." he shook his head, opening the door for the dragoness and following her though. "Perhaps your grandfather can help, as you say."

It didn't take them too long to get back to the lower launching deck.

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" Cog asked, as they waited for the gryphons to be shooed out of place to make room. "Perhaps you ought to take someone along. I can't go myself. I'm somewhat needed here. Those two you came with seem like they could use some company as well..."

[Azlan]

Kiet sighed and sternly addressed the three men like they were atrocious fools adding a stare of malice, "beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam, novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.  God does not need your permission to appoint his chosen."  He began the deepening of surrounding shadows, unseen to all a shadowy tendril extended from his shadow into those of each of the three men.  Into their shadow, into them and snaking into their brains.

The ringtail hangs the badge where it then holding his hands in a reverent position speaks softly, "Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.  Thou doubts an inquisitor?  Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting!"  He struck the ground with his staff, one that all find to have always been there without question as to how, and a resounding crack could be heard as a white glow became evident.  A white glow that appeared warm and divine, but warped the perceptions of the three humans.  Kiet, as Inquisitor Anderson, loomed before them imagery appropriate to his Inquisitorial disguise flew about, slowly restricting the thinking, logical and will related portions of their minds into small cages of swirling scripture.  These portions of their minds were continually bathed with howling holy phrases laced with Kiet's mind controlling poison.

"I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame."  Kiet again struck the ground, tightening the cage and increasing the strength of his mental assault.  Locking the cage on the parts of the mind he wanted out of the way, Kiet constructed his duplicates of their personalities with the added obedience to his will alone.

He struck the ground again, "tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito!"  The cubi continued to strengthen the construct he placed in each mind, while intensifying the whirlwind of laced scriptures that caged the true portions of the mind.

The ringtail took a step towards the men, "Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

When he was standing in front of them he struck his staff one final time, ending the white light.  The staff was also gone, but to all those watching, there never was a staff.  To all those around, the men merely stood in awe.

"You three lads shall release this lady to my care with the cart and horses.  Ye all shall travel far and wide, spread word of the equally holy nature of... furs... as you put it.  Begone."   

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace actually giggled and leaned against Cerebus for support, staggering a little bit under the apparent influence of too many visits to the ale wagon. Only the Undead jackal was likely to notice her extended claws pressing into his stomach and the back of his neck as she clung to him. Andrace knew it wouldn't actually hurt Cerebus if she ripped his guts out and tied them in a bow around his slashed-open throat, but hopefully the not-very-implied threat would annoy and inconvenience him enough to encourage him to behave. If not, she remembered his uneasiness about her Death-sword.

"I got m' reasons," she murmured enticingly into his ear, "an' I wasn't askin' y', I was tellin' y' — th' girl comes wi' us. I'm not worried 'bout any o' th' local talent bein' good 'nough t' take me out, if we c'n just avoid —"

Andrace's voice cut off as if she'd been kicked in the throat (again). She'd glanced back towards the cart, and spotted the unmistakable figure of Ti'Paollo approach and begin his preposterous routine. Her grip on Cerebus clamped briefly vise-tight as her breath hissed through clenched fangs. Fortunately for the jackal, he wasn't in any great need of the ability to breathe, or of having an intact spine. The lioness swore viciously under her breath, her ears laid back and her tail lashed once from root to tuft before she got her reactions back under control. "Aw, th' friggin' fluffbrained idiot!" she muttered in mingled disbelief and horror. "What's he think he's doin', 'part from about t' get us all killed?"

[Lisky]

It wasn't every day that one is able to catch a demon in flight.  Especially after that demon sent a spell meant to dismember and destroy you out in front of them.  However, such was this strange place, where nothing worked as it should.  He felt himself violently yanked backwards, his wings folded to avoid from being yanked from their sockets.  He watched the bride quickly approaching, and barely managed to get an arm up to partially protect his muzzle and horns from the sudden impact.  His body hurt, as he was yanked onto the bridge.  A burning sensation rippled through his ankle, as the demon was rather unceremoniously dropped against the violet surface of the bridge.

Dazed in disorients, the demon rolled backwards, and brought his shield up as quickly as he could.  He knelt behind the metal and wood, trying to cover himself for the follow-on assault the creature was sure to launch.  A second passed... nothing... then 5, then 10.  Peeking out from behind his shield, Baseel managed to sneak a glance, just in time to see the remnants of the beast dissolve into ash, and blow away.

He was puzzled... what had the frog done?... what had the cat done? Where were they? The thoughts suddenly left as the pain from the sudden drag came over him.  His leg hurt, his shoulders, back, and especially his wings hurt.  He was worried about draining too much stamina, casting still more magic.  Would he actually get a chance to eat something?  He couldn't afford to waste his energy, simply sorting out some minor pain issues.  He stretched his wings, flapped them loosely, the rested them behind his back.

"Uh, my new good friend, Jeremiah, i believe it was... Do you have any idea what the hell is going on? and, possibly explain as to why our guide just attempted to kill us?  Delving a little deeper, perhaps you're enlightened enough to know where we're supposed to go from here?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and shoulder while talking.  Giving a bit of a sheepish or shy look... He simply wasn't paying attention to his body at this point, simply trying to keep his muscles from stiffening after the abuse they'd just undergone.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel found her way back to the big landing deck that she had arrived at. The gryphons were charging around in an alarming manner after a ball but she managed to find a corner with less action. Taking what appeared to be a glass pencil out of her pocket she began making marks that weren't marks on the wall. As each mark was finished it took on a soft blue glow. After a few moments of work there was a circle of magical markings floating an inch away from the wall that shimmered and twisted as if it didn't want to be looked at directly. The dragon's wings glowed with a similar tracery.

She stepped back and surveyed her work. After a moment she nodded to herself approvingly and put the pencil back in her pocket. A few words were spoken that seemed to vibrate in a strange way causing the circle to spin outward, growing to form a giant arch. With a click the blue glow was replaced by a rather portentous looking pale granite doorway with alien words deeply carved across it. Although if anyone present could read dragon it merely said "Welcome to Dragon University North." A cold fog rolled out of the doorway and when it cleared a compound of mismatched buildings appeared to be a short distance away.

Mel turned to look for Cog to give him instructions regarding not erasing the blue circle so she could return to the airship when she was done with her mission.

[Boog]

Jeremiah stood in place, shaking, somewhere between the extremes of anger and terror.

I AM YOU!

A pink tongue darted out, ran over his lips once. He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyelids and tried to rub until the little colored shapes became something more pleasant than these harsh realities.


I AM YOU!

Suddenly exhausted, he tucked the knife back into his belt and let his hands hang at his sides. The damn thing had to have been lying, they lied, it happened plenty...

I AM YOU!

It really would figure, though.
"Guy must've been crazy." Jeremiah laughed bitterly, stepped forward and opened the door hanging before him.

[techmaster-glitch]

The tunnels

   There was no response from the surfacer to Karazkt's inquiry. It seemed the surfacer was either dead or unconcious, but it made no difference to Karazkt. But wait...somthing in the distance caught his eye. Some kind of glowing symbol? Karazkt puzzled at it for a moment, then began to feel something, deep beneath the ground...some kind of powerful humming  energy... and then was promptly startled by something jumping out from around the corner where the blob-thing had gone.
   Blast it, how did that keep happening?
   Karazkt jerked back in his cockpit, automatically hitting several levers to make the mech do the saem. However, this spider-ish beast didn't seem to be looking for a fight, and instead scuttled up into a crack and out of sight.
   Karazkt looked after it for a moment, then resealed the cockpit. He decided to move down the tunnel again, the one the blob-thing from earlier had gone down, to continue investigating this strange place...

[Cogidubnus]

 Kiet's speech rang out with holy fire and divine fervor, accentuating the sudden, surreal silence that had descended around the festival ground. The three humans - farmer's sons, each one - had no way to defend against the strange, eldritch power that Kiet had brought to bear. They saw not magic, which they had been brought up to despise, but the Will of God.

Despite their status as members of the clergy, none of them could have been said to have been true believers. No longer.

Each one of them fell to their knees and buried their faces in the ground, wringing their hands in front of them. They said nothing, but nothing needed to be said. They were converts.

The crowd was silent.

* * *

The red-eyed lioness stepped down from the cart gingerly, her lack of height making it difficult for her to not lose her balance, and walked up to Kiet somewhat hesitantly. Her eyes looked around at the crowd, who still stared in silence. Most of them seemed to be shuffling from one foot to another. Several had removed their caps.
"Isul'yate." she said, offering her hand breifly. "Perhaps we should go, Mr. Prophet?" Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Before everyone wakes up?"

* * *

If Cerebus noticed Andrace's claws poised at his gut and throat, he didn't show it. He was about to start arguing with her again about the wisdom of trying to fight three dozen odd folks in the middle of nowhere when Kiet began his own attempt to rescue the captured lioness.
He gaped.

As soon as the three black-clothed humans dropped to their knees, he started pulling on Andrace's shoulder and backing up, whispering in her ear.
"Perhaps it's best if we leave now. Before they remember who showed up with him..."

* * *

Cog nodded at Melodie's instructions, unsurprised by her grasp of what seemingly appeared to be high magic. "We'll make sure and do it, Mel. Just hurry back-"

Over the wolf's head, a three-foot sphere plowed past him and knocked his hat off, rolling directly through the portal and into what appeared to be a snowy wasteland. Cogidubnus's eyes flew open wide.
"No-!" was all he managed to get out before he was drowned out by the collective cries of gryphon curiosity.

"CHI!"

* * *

The attendant was just bringing Tim back into the larger hanger bay to check on Rover, when she saw him, along with about thirty other very large gryphons, pouring through what appeared to be a large door to a very big freezer. A freezer with what appeared to be a university in it.

They were chasing a ball. One of them batted it over a large brick wall, and they were over the fence. Through it too.

* * *

The door was, unsurprisingly, unlocked.

It swung open on well-oiled hinges, not making a sound. A warm breeze blew through the open doorway, pleasant and refreshing. It was outside, somewhere - green hills, a forest, and what appeared to be a lake. The sun was setting though it.
He was pretty sure he could see some fellow out there too. Camping, perhaps? He smelled food.

* * *

The mad mage was currently engaged in cooking bacon. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten any in the middle of the woods, but when he'd stopped to make a fire, there it was all the same. It wasn't as though he was hungry, either - bacon was for cooking, so that's was he was doing with it. Stood to reason. Just like lakes were for swimming and boats for sinking. Although they could also be for oars. Or boars. Or yours, or mine, come to think of it...

* * *

The mech's footsteps echoed hollowly in the darkness. Infravision detected nothing in front of him, and the path began to descend sharply. The diggermech kept its balance, however, and things went smoothly until gears whined and the mech suddenly stopped moving.
It took a moment's examination to see it. Spiderwebs. Infravision functioned off heat. The spiderweb had long since cooled enough to blend with the rocks nicely. Very strong stuff, too.

As he was looking, one, two, and then dozens and dozens of extremely small spiders started crawling over his viewport, a veritable carpet of the small arachnids. Then, a sound. Like something tapping the rear of the mech. Faintly, yet insistently...

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's fake drunk-and-cheerful grin looked a bit more fake and slightly forced as she let Cerebus pull her away. She sat firmly on her natural reaction to his hand on her shoulder — apart from not wanting to make a scene, the nerve punch that left Beings (and more than a few Creatures) curled up on the ground in paralysing agony just wouldn't work on an Undead. "Y' got that right," she muttered quietly, "an' now I've seen that friggin' loony stunt, I wish we had th' time t' stop f'r a drink or three."

The lioness sauntered (apparently) casually and unhurriedly with Cerebus around the edge of the cluster of carts. She was looking for a way to leave town unnoticed, but the same wide clearing that made the place hard to sneak up on also made it hard to sneak away from. And she didn't want to linger, in case the torches and pitchforks Ti'Paollo seemed to have avoided were about to play a part in their immediate future. What decided her was a subdued flash of light, then a faint noise off in the distance that she recognised as a lot of people muttering, not all of them happily. That made up her mind: if there wasn't any way to hide their escape, then disguise it as something obvious and completely different.

Andrace glanced around for a moment. A few of the passing townsfolk were watching them: good. She leaned towards Cerebus for a moment and whispered into his ear, "play along", then she turned, stopped him with a smile on her muzzle, and draped her arms over his shoulders. Anyone too far away to hear would only see a playful and friendly lioness exchanging whispered sweet nothings with her friend, her ears and whiskers perked alertly and her tail swishing gently back and forth. Cerebus heard something different. "Looks like it's all about t' hit th' fan," she whispered. "Sorry 'bout this — wait a few seconds, then follow me, apol'gising nice an' loud."

Suddenly the friendly lioness turned into a hellcat, snarling viciously and pushing the jackal away to arm's length. "Y' want t' do WHAT?" she yelled in a voice full of drunken outrage. "What kind o' girl d' y' take me for? Go play in a volcano full o' alligators!" With that thoroughly mixed metaphor, and with no telegraphing at all, Andrace's right fist lashed out at the side of the jackal's muzzle, with all her strength behind it. The furious lioness spun round on one paw without waiting to see his reaction and stamped away, towards the edge of town and the path leading back out to the woods.