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

[Azlan]

The ringtail smiled taking her hand for a moment as a gentlecreature while he offered greeting, "Kiet'Jaer, and yes we should go.  There is a bit of distance to cover, not tremendously far, but we should be off."

He grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear, "don't look into the light."  Using his 'divine light' from earlier, he reached out to all those observing close enough to discern any details.  As part of the light, he revealed his back wings only making it as angelic as he could manage.

The light snaked into the minds of all those that observed his light, through their very eyes.  He manipulated their perceptions to see that of a divine angel who was also a fur.  Wrapping Isul'yate within them, he issued a mental distraction as the cubi used a burst of supernatural speed enhanced by the form he was borrowing.

To all of those he 'infected' he appeared to ascend with the lioness into the heavens, in reality he merely jumped a half-kilometer distance to the woods.  Quickly he made his way through the tree stands to the rendezvous point with the young girl in tow.

"Someone wishes to meet you, and has a proposal for you." 

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Hunched over the fire, arms held out in supplication to the heat. He had stopped channeling some time previously, getting annoyed with his inarticulate fingers too clumsy to bring out flame from flint and steel and tinder, so he reached into the well of power, called up just a little spark, battled himself for the control not to set the woods ablaze. He never liked trees much, blocking his vision. The best plans were all worthless without good data, and he could only see so far in woodland. Besides, they broke down rock, ground it up with their little green essences making that loose loamy garbage that allowed all those freaks to spawn and cavort in their little habitats. He'd bury them all, if he could, but for now, that wasn't an option.

His fingers were numb, although whether it was from an eddy of theurgy or from deadened nerves, he had trouble telling. Remembering was so difficult..... Like how he had gotten serrated bacon strips. He had hunted pigs, as a boy, he remembered taking out his uncle's rusty spear and standing in line while the others chased the boars, and a vision, later, him standing in some hot dark place, a tendril of Power-commanded gutrock wrapped around the thing's midsection, smashing its organs into paste, and then blood as he tore into the thing's neck with his teeth. But bacon? Bacon meant that he had traded at a town. He thought he still had some bonus pay from his last assignment..

He had taken command of a town's militia, saved them from brigands? Or had he been helping the brigands sack the town? There was something about a small town and bandits, he knew that.  He still had a handful of silver and a pair of, small, flawed sapphires.  On a whim, he withdrew one from his pouch, rolled it around in his left hand. He wasn't hungry, and the fire? It would die, along with the dead victuals. But he supposed he had better eat it before it burned to a crisp. He whistled an old, old tune, that a comrade taught him, to dance with the shadows, or something. He never had much of a memory for words, but the tune, so jaunty, for a song about death.

He reached out to the pan, burned his fingers, and withdrew, cursing. He glanced around for a way to get his food out without resorting to the Power. He had some odd presentiment about using it right now. Were those figures on the horizon?


EDITED to remove reference to snow

[techmaster-glitch]

Tunnels

   Karazkt continued to move forward, but didn't quite see anything yet. However, after a bit of distance, he mech stopped functioning, the gears grinding to a halt. Strange. Karazkt looked around and felt with his antennae, then got it, thousands of tiny little vibrations, barely perceptible. Then he saw them through the mech's dome. Thousands of little spiders, and the mech had gotten tangled in a massive collection of webs. Well. Karazkt and his mech were made for operating near magma chambers. He and his mech were fireproof.
   This nuisiance probably wasn't.
   He also suddenly began hearing a tapping on the rear of his mech...but he couldn't feel it's shape from the vibrations? Oh well. One thing at a time.
   Karazkt began summoning his magic yet again, sending it down his antennae into the two ports behind him. If something works, no reason not to repeat it. He angled the mech's own hands to point inward and up at the mech itself, and let the fire magic release from the amplifiers in the hands. The entire mech was engulfed in a blanket of fire for several moments.
   Once it let up, Karazkt looked and felt around for anything left. Both the webs and the spiders should have been incinerated to dust...

[Lisky]

Baseel watched in fascination as the frog seemed to disregard his questions in favor of opening the odd door.  A smell wafted in... the smell of food.  This was promising, something to eat meant he could spend some of his energy.  A hand to his chest, and he cast the healing spell, fixing the bruised muscles in his arm, the hyper-extension in his wing, and the scrapes and scractches along his body. 

He followed the frog through the door, sniffing carefully, getting a better feel on where-ever the cooking was coming from.  He spied the odd fellow.  Prodding what could not be mistaken for anything but the sweet smell of tender strips of flesh, sliced into thin strips then fried... high protein, and lots of energy.  Perhaps he'd share, perhaps not... By this point, the smell was starting to get to the demonic shepherd. 

He tried to get Jeremiah's attention yet again, "would you prefer to follow along, or would you like to talk with the strange man?"  Baseel's wings were folded back in a slightly less comfortable, yet less intimidating stance, he'd minimized his profile, and stood with a confident yet relaxed air to him.  "If you feel he might turn violent, don't forget that i am on your side, and i will protect you... you merely need to stay behind me, and try to avoid getting yourself hurt..."

[Boog]

It was beautiful.
Well, admittedly, it was NATURE, but it was green and living and NORMAL and he'd felt like he hadn't seen pure honest daylight in years. And food! Oh god, he smelled food! Jeremiah thought back, on the advice his grandfather had given him many years ago, which was My boy, if you find yourself truly lost, you wont get nowhere blubberin' about it. Just suck it up and try to follow the smell of bacon, you'll see your own way out. Admittedly, by this point grandad had gone a touch funny, but that was neither here nor there. And it had to be one or the other, preferable Here. Because there appeared to be bacon here.
Thankfully, Baseel interrupted this line of thinking.
"Ah?" Jeremiah looked up in surprise, wiping away the beginning of a relieved tear. "No, no, it's okay, I can-"
And then the man offered his assistance. Jeremiah blinked. He wasn't really used to HAVING help. Oh, it happened, he could make friends, but the offer always threw him. Someone offering to essentially back him up if he was in trouble...
The frog smiled and clapped Baseel on the shoulder, "Thank you, I really appreciate that." He stepped through the door and gestured for him to follow. "But ah, I figure I should do the talking. Guy looks like a being, if he's all alone he'd probably be less comfortable talking to a demon. Come on." The smile extended its way to a grin, "Lets see if this guy can point us towards civilization, eh?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Relieved that the penguin-things weren't about to notice them--but feeling some pity for their plight--Rynkura pressed on with Gareeku through the dimly-lit tunnel.  She wondered just how far they'd gone, and how far they'd have to go before something worthwhile was found.  The white tigress didn't allow herself to think like that; they weren't looking for anything in particular, other than perhaps a sliver of civilization on that island and a way off, back to where they had been.

Becoming lost forever was going to ruin her agenda by quite a bit, after all.

After a few moments, they stopped and observed the fork in the cavern before them.  Two paths; one to the side, and one going in deeper.  With their highly acute senses, they could smell water in the deeper one.  An underground aquifer, it could be surmised.  Water after all crafted caves in the earth.  And if it was a river, it could lead out somewhere.

The tigress laid her paw on the wall and felt its damp surface, while Gareeku raised his firelight to better see in the darkness ahead.

"I am at loathe to suggest we split up, sir Manoko...but I think we could cover just a small distance in each and return if the paths break.  We can keep marking the walls with runes as I'd shown you to lead the way back," Rynkura whispered.

The wolf was inclined to agree; there was too much of the cave to be explored by only one individual, and Rynkura indeed wanted to investigate this water source.  Carefully, cautiously, they went their separate paths, and the tigress hoped that she hadn't made a mistake to do so in a strange place.  Aisha wouldn't forgive her if she didn't come back with the wolf.

[Cogidubnus]

 The girl had opened her red eyes as soon as they'd set down, approximately half a kilometer away from where they were. She was about to say something, and then stumbled as Kiet suddenly dashed forward, pulling her along. They were running through a stretch of woods that seemed deserted, save for the occasional bird and flowers.
"They...who? What! W...wait!" she said, pulling them both to a stop. "I...hold on a moment."

She panted, suddenly sitting down on the forest floor, and then scooting over to a tree to lean on that. She wrapped her arms around her knees. "Just let me rest a second." she said, closing her eyes and burying it between her arms. She was trembling.

There was nothing then but the silence of the woods around them. Birds chirped. A bluejay, and then what sounded like a cardinal. Kiet could see bugs crawling around on the forest floor. Of pursuit, he could hear nothing.

She sniffed, and her ears suddenly twitched. Her head rose. slightly.
"Do you smell that? Like...bacon?"

* * *

What the mad mage saw made him question his sanity.

A frog, leading what looked like a wolf with a barrel-head attached to his back, were walking through the forest. What's worse, they were walking towards him.

The frog looked like a ponce, and the other one had the air of some of the warlords that he'd met before. Arrogance mixed with physical prowess and a certain amount of actual danger.

Perhaps one of them had a fork.

* * *

"Erm, I think that perhaps it's best we skip the subtlety and go straight for running, my dear-" the undead began before being shoved into the cart behind him. With his face. "OOF!"

With that, Andrace started yelling, and then starting storming off. The jackal's mind raced as he felt his jaw for broken bones or dislocation. He listened for the townsfolk. Would they...
He heard snickering. Amazing. He grinned a feral grin to himself, and then started running after her.

"Baby! You got it all wrong!" he said, with the air of someone feigning sorrow. "Honeycat! C'mon don't be like that! I'm sorry!" he said, running after her.

He kept it up until they were out of earshot, and then starting running in earnest. A benefit of his undead state - he could run and run and run and never get tired. He'd gotten away from several bad scrapes just because he could run halfway across a country without stopping for even a bathroom break.

As soon as he was sure they weren't being followed, he slowed to a walk. "That was pretty clever." he said after a moment. "Although it could have backfired and just drawn attention to us. Although I think the yokels would have had trouble with your kind of fire." he said, grinning.
"Which, does somewhat bring us to our present predicament." he said as he sat down. "We could try catching up with that caravan when it leaves town, or we could try and go find Mr. Ti'Pallo and his new companion."

The sun was getting lower in the sky. Everything was taking on that red-golden hue of sunset.
He laid back, grinning, and crossed his legs. "Or, we could stay here, and I could shamelessly flirt with you some more, your call." somewhere he'd found a long piece of grass and stuck it between his teeth.

In the distance, there was suddenly the sound wagon wheels.

* * *

Jarita 'Rita' Sullivan had just finished bundling up to walk to class when she noticed that someone had opened up the portal in front of the gates to the main campus, and the tropical bird had resigned herself to wait until whoever it was had managed to get through.

Rita was not your typical student at what was jokingly referred to as "Dragon U", or "The Iceberg", or the thousand other names that the students had for cold. Among classes made up of mostly ice dragons, intelligent penguins, and creatures fortified with layers of warming magic, this relatively nonmagical being was just about in a class of her own on campus.
Her road here had been strange and treacherous, but her passion was engineering, specifically the sort of engineering that took place in supercold temperatures. Cryogenics. Professor Moil, a former-wizard-turned-academic, was the world's formost authority on how things worked when they were brought near-absolute zero. Including people, although he swore up and down he didn't do that sort of thing anymore.

It was in the middle of her musings, in between rubbing the frost off her goggles, that Rita noticed a large, happy face beaming at her. A giant gryphon's large, beaming, oh-so-happy face. Behind it, a less happy, smaller gryphon, running like mad towards her.
Her eyes widened.

"Chee!"

* * *

Dragon University may have been a joke name once, but that's what it said on the accreditation forms, and that's what the big sign over the gate said too. Made up of large, impressive granite structures that looked like they'd been built five hundred years ago, interspersed with some more modern-looking buildings in between, it wouldn't have been out of place in some leafy New England town, except for the extreme cold and piles of snow. Keeping the place from being buried alive in snow was what kept the maintenance staff busy most of the time.

Today, a sudden influx of Gryphons was what was keeping them busy. At least twenty giant gryphons were...playing, it seemed, with everything. A ball, trees, snow, students, and one had even stolen the Chancellor's hat, breifly.
It was in this state that Mel met him. The large penguin had smoothed his coat and adjusted his lapels, but he was also shaking with rage. Granted, most of the time he was shaking with something. The chancellor didn't do well with stress.

"WARK!" the Chancellor said, cheeks red.
"The Chancellor would like to communicate that he is severely displeased." his hat said politely. "And additionally wonders where you found so many gryphons, or why you brought them here."

"WARK!"
"Ah, yes. He is also wondering when you will -remove- them from here."
"Wark."
"Of course! He also communicates that your presence is most odd. You have been gone for quite some time, Miss Melodie. Your Grandmother is worried sick."

* * *

Gareeku nodded at the Angel, drawing his sword slowly, and set out down one path, while Rynkura set down the other.
The slope soon became extreme, almost forty-five degrees, and slick. It was all she could do to keep her balance and not go tumbling down the rocky slope. The air was damp, and she smelled unpleasant, like something rancid being kept on ice.

The path soon leveled off, and she finally reached what could only be described as a shore. A lake stood in front of her, inky black. The walls of the cavern, visible almost to the other side, were carved.
They showed a city. Full of creatures she did not recognize, with architecture she could not identify. Beneath the water, it appeared.
It showed something else, too. An inky sphere. That was everywhere. It seemed...reverential, almost.

Water dripped. Was that...movement, she saw?"

* * *

Karazkt could feel the heat from inside his mech, and the screams as the small insects died. It would have appeared that his technique worked well enough, and soon he was plodding forward again.
He stopped short, however.

The way his footsteps rang, the echoes in the stone...there was a cavern beneath him. A few more steps forward, and the roof would collapse, and the mech would fall through.

[Lisky]

Baseel let the frog take the lead.  He held his shield low.  These opened spaces were the type of place where adventures liked to appear, usually with bows.  It gave them a clear line of sight, and it minimized the places a creature could ambush them.  As such, forests made the demon-lord uneasy.  He summoned an axe from seemingly out of thin air.  An ornate, double-edged weapon, clearly designed to have as brutal an upswing as down.  The head itself seemed to be a hawk, or some similar bird of prey, perched on the weapon's shaft.

As soon as the weapon had materialized, the demon slipped it through a small loop of leather hanging partially hidden in the folds of his loose pants.  The axe hung there, easily within his grasp, a far better reminder than just his appearance, for those who thought his head would make a pretty prize, that he was capable of biting back.  He wasn't just a prize to be claimed, and he wanted that to be obvious.  The last place he'd been proved to be hostile the moment he'd entered, that wasn't about to happen again, he'd be prepared this time around.

With sense tuned to searching for an ambush, he silently cursed his own hunger, and the fragrance of the bacon.  It's overpowering scent hiding or disguising the other, more normal scents of the woods, along with those odors of would be attackers.  "Lead on, Jeremiah, but keep yourself alert... something doesn't seem quite right about this place."

[Azlan]

The ringtail sniffed at the air, "Well, only one thing smells like bacon and that happens to be bacon." 

Kiet, waited, a slight concerned look across his face, "are you alright young lady?  Though I doubt the august villagers or your erstwhile captors will recover anytime soon to be giving chase and I would dread to hasten your rest, but it would be best if we moved on."

The incubus did gaze about with his more mundane senses, seeking the source that the lioness was smelling.

[techmaster-glitch]

Tunnels

   The swarm of spiders were easily toasted to no surprise of Karazkt. He continued forward again...but soon stopped again, sensing yet another cavern beneath the tunnel. One thing after another. Will it ever end? Should he investigate this anomaly, too? He did not have instructions for--
   Karazkt suddenly stopped mid-thought, backed up, and began rethinking. He was supposed to be making a secure shelter for his surrogate Queen. The breach had to be investigated, but it seemed unmanageably extensive in the continuous growth of its anomalies. It was getting near the point where he would have to just turn around and forget about all this, return to his Queen, and get to work on a new relocated shelter.
   Although, as an Engineer breed, he was naturally inquisitive... Karazkt made his diggermech kneel in a position that gave it the most surface area contact with the ground, just short of weak section of the ground. He then moved one of the mech's fingers to begin rhythimc tapping on the ground. The vibrations echoed around whatever was below the floor and returned. Though "muffled" and a little blurry from being "felt" through the mech, Karazkt should get a good idea of the dimensions of the cavern and any large objects within...

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Definitely figures, two of them. Without consciously thinking about it, he seized the Power, although kept the trickle to a minimum, the struggle against the inherent unruliness of the stuff second nature to him by long usage. Holding on gave some slight boost to sensory perceptions, and he could make out that they were both animal-men, one a wolf and one a frog. Wolf had large wings, which meant that if he wanted to kill them, he'd best do it from a distance.

But that was as yet, premature. After all, they were just walking, and the forest wasn't his, yet. He'd really have to see someone about that, he'd been wandering the woods for....... a season? More? It hardly mattered, he thought of them as his now. And so they were. The interlopers would be punished........ but he was hungry.

Tactile sensations always seemed to increase the most when he held the Power, and the pan almost seemed to sear against his flesh, even at arm's length away. He channeled, forming a mitt around his right hand, of insulating dirt, packed it tight and deep to keep the heat away, and then scooped up the pan, stuffing strips of bacon into his craw from the sizzling metal. He burned his left fingers, twice, as he reached, but that wasn't too bad. He ate about three quarters of the strips, and then replaced the metal back on the fire.

Crunching, he withdrew deeper into the woods, away from the campsite, to observe these intruders more closely.

[Boog]

Jeremiah truly thought things were looking up. The sun was shining, he could hear birds singing, and he could smell bacon. What could go wrong where you could smell bacon? Well fine, pigs didn't like it, but pigs were weird.
"HELLO!" Jeremiah waved one hand. Admittedly, his flashy skin tone usually served him poorly, but the bright orange webbing between his fingers meant he could wave to get noticed like nobody's business. "HEEEEEY! Who are-! Annnnnd he's running into the trees..."
The frog blinked a few times, then sighed and shook his head. "Ah, Baseel, can you still see 'im? You've probably got better eyes than I do." He sent a few tendrils of magic to his fingers, ready to cast some sort of illusion and high tail it. Distract and evade, much like the noble squid. Lions of the sea, to be sure.
However, he still smelled bacon, and thus kept making his way forward. Maybe the guy was gone? Maybe he was saying the could HAVE the bacon?

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel stared at the chancellor. He expected her to remove the gryphons? Each one was bigger than her rather petite size. She had always suspected that the giant penguin was completely insane and the hat was covering up for him. 

Turning away from the chancellor, Mel muttered under her breath that 20 years wasn't that long to be gone when the committee on what color to repaint the gym had been going for 110 years straight with only periodic recesses to order more color chips. She created a ball of magic, large and floating in midair. It glittered with all the colors of the rainbow, designed to catch the eye. When she thought the bright toy had gathered enough attention she shouted, "Hey gryphons, fetch!" before sending it shooting back through the portal. She hoped no one on Cog's side of the portal was standing too close.  She also hoped that their paws were cold enough that they were motivated to go home.

[Cogidubnus]

 Imagine, if you will, a desert.

Though bleak, and vast, this is no Saharan desert. There are no rolling dunes of sand here, but merely parched and cracked earth, with brown grasses and shrub brush clinging desperately to the ground, hunkered over to shelter against the sun.

The seeming lifelessness of this landscape is only broken by the apparition of a city in the distance. Great broken towers reach for the heavens, long collapsed into rubble. Great structures of glass and metal lie shattered and marred in the dirt. The sun hung motionless on the horizon, bathing the landscape and the city in an eternal, red twilight. The city, though broken, glimmered and shone in this light.

In the midst of this shining ruin, in the middle of its largest thoroughfare, five figures surrounded a green, felted table. They sat on chairs, rocks, buckets, even broken masonry, and they were playing cards. If one was to watch them, you would see they played different games - all varieties of poker and blackjack, but not just casino games. They played Euchre, War, Go Fish, and sometimes they played games of their own devising. They appeared to be playing some variety of poker, and none of them were interested. They flipped cards idly.
"I'm bored."

"Shaddap. You're always bored." a female voice said. She was dealing. "Nobody wants to hear you whine. God knows we've all heard enough of that to last us the next thousand years."
The group grumbled an assent. The voice continued. "It's not like we're having fun. There's nothing to -do- here. We can't even laugh at that one chap anymore. I wonder where he went. A bit funny in the head, but he always had a smile on his face."

"He was a lunatic, Nex."
"Oh, piss off. I liked him."
"You did not. He scared the shit out of all of us." The voice coughed. "Me, I'd like to know where our other lunatic got to."

The group quieted. They didn't seem to have much to say to that comment, or perhaps they were busy in thought.
"You think they'll figure it out soon? God, it feels like forever."
"Some of them have, surely. This sort of thing doesn't last forever."
"How do you stop it, anyhow?"

"How else?" another voice said, heretofore unheard. It rumbled like thunder. The group collectively looked towards the desert - there stood a creature of seemingly infinite power. Lighting arced from his eyes, and three wings adorned him. "Wake the dreamer."

* * *

Kiet'Jaer, like any good canid, was able to quickly determine the source of the smell of bacon with uncanny accuracy. Probably not a hundred and fifty yards from them, still frying in the pan. A cast iron skillet, over what must be an unnatural fire - he could see no smoke.

His newfound companion, however, still seemed somewhat emotional. Her eyes shone as she stood, and she looked at him with her strange, blood-red stare.
"I...I'm sorry." she said, taking a deep breath. "Thank you. I would have been killed. Things are... not the same as I remember."

She looked down a moment, in silence, and  then back up again, eying Kiet through her bangs. "Who is this person you speak of, who wishes to meet me?"

Her stomach growled. She frowned. "That smell is making me hungry. Tell me on the way." she said. She walked delicately, avoiding the moss-slick roots and rocks surrounding them.

* * *

The cavern beneath the diggermech was large, and hollow - impossibly so. The vibrations he was getting back from the rocks indicated that the cavern below him was huge beyond measure, huge beyond what its other dimensions should be able to support. That couldn't be right, unless...
Water. A lake of it, right beneath him. It was slowing down the vibrations, making it look larger than it should be. But even then, the cavern was massive, and so far there was nothing resembling a bottom that he could see - just an endless chasm of water...

He heard a sudden sussurus of voices - some laughing, some crying, speaking some incomprehensible language, echoing in the cave. He felt the metal of his mech grow chill.
It grew louder, and louder still, so loud it make the rocks shake with the noise, so loud that he could see the entire cavern perfectly, every nook, every cranny.
There was a massive, giant spider behind him. It's claws were just touching the top of his diggermech. As he saw it, it pushed, with hideous, insect strength.

The diggermech, overbalanced, tilted headfirst into the rock. He heard the crack of overburdened rock, and then the sudden, sickening of freefall.

* * *

Rynkura still stood before that dark shore, when she heard a rumble, and then the report of rocks cracking.  The meager light that she was casting made it hard to see, but her own tiger eyes still revealed that mech that belonged to the insect from before was falling from the roof, into the lake before her.

* * *

The snow and ice did not seem to have a very detrimental effect on many of the gryphons there. Many were busily engaged in playing new variations on their ball game from before - crude snowball fights, sliding along on icy walkways, and using the university architecture as an obstacle course.

Mel's big, sparkly ball of fun, did catch the attention of quite a few of them. They charged for the portal entrance. As Mel turned to survey how many had been distracted, and what to do about the stragglers, she felt the ball whack her on the back of the head.
Another group of gryphons charged through the portal, madly chasing this new toy.

The Chancellor sighed, inasmuch as a giant penguin could do so. The hat on his head shrugged with hatlike embarrassment.
"A good try. Perhaps another...oh. Your grandfather is here."

Like Melodie and Luna, Howell tended to take a anthropomorphic dragon form on most occasions, saving his true Draconic form for when he was in the wilderness, and his polar bear form when he was among beings. It was his dragon form that he was using today - unlike Luna's moon-like color, Howell was snow-white, and even in a snowstorm, carried the distinct smell of ozone.
He was walking from the administration building - one could tell because the large "Administration" sign hanging from it had not yet been pulled down by a rampaging gryphon - to where the chancellor and his granddaughter were standing. He walked with the aid of a cane - he had a noticeable limp in his left leg - and wore what appeared to be an badly fitting suit of raw silk, thundercloud-grey.

Despite his limp, it only took him a minute to get to where they were standing. In the meantime, a gryphon managed to get to the administration sign and steal the "Ad".

"Melodie." he said as he got to them, somewhat standoffishly. He looked around. "Are these your friends?"
His expression was stern, but his eyes spoke of great amusement. He raised his eyebrows, attempting to look shocked and judgmental.

[Aisha deCabre]

Rynkura at one point in walking through the caverns wanted to stop and pick the dirt and mud that was getting on her bare foot-claws.  Despite the strange things she has seen so far, walking underground in moisture wasn't her way to explore, especially in the garb she was wearing.  I was going to a BALL.  I did not think that I would have to pack hiking gear and whatever else, the tigress grumbled unintelligibly.  When I find out who or what is responsible for this, I WILL give them a good, firm piece of my mind.

Once the ground started to level, however, she was feeling a little more like her more curious self.  The white angel with hidden wings began to sense more than just a cavern before her.  And when she came upon the vast space...she was breathless.

Underground lakes were not impossible, but surely there were none like this.  From the light of her staff and what she could see with tiger's night vision, it seemed large enough to qualify for a small sea.  And on the other side, carvings of what seemed like a city.  Her head tilted in fascination.  I doubt that I have ever heard or seen anything like that in the books I have read...I might wish to take a closer look.  How to get across, though...?

Her eyes seemed to linger too long on the lake's surface.  Like ink out of a well, she heard dripping.  And something seemed to move below the surface, taking her gaze to it almost hypnotically.  She was reminded of the moving nothing at the ocean's horizon back above.

But what...?

Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a powerful noise, like rock breaking from above.  Craning her head upward, the ceiling far above exploded in rock and debris.  Falling towards the water, they carried with them something very familiar.  The digging machine used by the Insectis.  She had nearly forgotten about their third guest...by digging their shelter quite far in, he must have reached the place too.

"Oh, gods!" she murmured, gaping as it fell towards the black water and struck with a powerful splash.  She didn't know if Insectis could swim, but she figured, perhaps not all that well.  The thought of the surroundings vanished; she was concerned for Karazkt now.

Rynkura closed her eyes to concentrate and gripped her staff.  A loud tap of it on the ground sent out waves of light magic and sound that acted like sonar, pinpointing her to the closest piece of life on the water.

Then, if she could find the Insectis in the darkness, her emerald eyes opened and took on a bright glow.  Her arm, also glowing in intertwining colors of soothing blue and holy white, whipped out and extended over the waves.  A rope of magic summoned from that motion caused a bright line of reflection on it as it passed over.  Normally used as a restraining magic, hopefully this would reach out and grab on to Karazkt, the mech, or both, and pull them to shore before he drowned.

And hopefully, she could do it before whatever seemed to live in that lake made an appearance, if it was bigger than Karazkt himself.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Corgatha truly wished he were better at Folding Light, but alas, his talents lay in other directions. He could try kicking up enough dirt to obscure his position, but if he did that, he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes on the two intruders. What to do, what to do? They were slowly approaching his campsite, and while there wasn't really anything hugely valuable there, by the light, it was his. He increased his grip on the Power, to the point where he needed a little bit of concentration to keep his hold, wrapped Air around Fire, just so; two jagged electrical bolts bolts would be ready to fly, if he needed them. He kept his attention focused on the winged one, they tended to be more dangerous.

Bellowing, he hurled into their direction "Hail the travelers. This is a wide forest, and I'd like to know how you came by my camp. What is your business here?"

[Azlan]

Kiet'Jaer considered his words carefully, as he did not have a lot of information to impart, "the lady who wishes to meet you seeks to have you travel with her.  Her name is Mina, she says her journeys can be long and lonely.  I am not here to persuade you to accompany her, nor does she expect me to.  That is ultimately your decision and your rescue was not dependent on you agreeing to anything."

This time he followed her towards the smell of bacon, but as they got closer to the fire he took the lead.   

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel hadn't seen her grandfather coming, being distracted by rampaging gryphons and flying balls. When she heard his voice she did manage a laugh "I admit it is a bit worse than the time that yeti followed me home and I wanted to make a pet of it."

She turned to give her grandfather a hug and stopped, absolutely stunned. Her grandfather was wearing an ill-fitting suit. She looked around, expecting to find herself in some sort of hidden camera prank show. No one in the family ever wore ill-fitting clothing. Even those with no taste knew the correct use of a tailor. "What kind of insult do you have to give Phillipe to be punished with a mess like that?"

[Lisky]

The demon tensed as the man started moving away.  His grip around the shield's handle tightened, as did his bicep.  He was already on edge, his skin was stronger than most non-magical armors, but even that was little consolation... whatever that thing was, he hadn't gotten a clear look where he'd gone.  "Don't go too far forward Jeremiah... i don't like this... at all."

Baseel approached in a stalk, walking on the balls of his feel, his wings tense, ready to assist in launching him in whichever direction he might need.  He kept his shoulders hunched over, his shield mostly at his side, though the edge started to cover his torso.  Behind the shield, a bolt of darkness collected in his hand, it's visible effects concealed by the great buckler in his hand.  His other hung loosely around the handle of the double-sided axe, holding the weapon just under the head.

The pinkish... thing... appeared again, a hairless ape?  No... it didn't smell right, too deformed... too... off.  His eyes furrowed as he recognized the shape a bit better... HUMAN!

He crouched a little lower, eyes growing more suspicious.  Humans were supposedly extinct, at least, that's what the academy had said.  Couldn't survive in such a hostile world.  And yet, here one stood, right there, in the demon's face.  He quickly flicked his wrist as he cast a barrier spell around himself, not very strong, but enough to at least slow down an ambush to the point that his hide would take the rest of the blow.  Humans meant trouble, usually.  To make matters even more bizarre, the human -spoke-.  And not just that, in a language Bassel understood, he was speaking in common.  Perplexing to say the least.

Trying to keep some decorum of neutrality, lest they kill each-other where they stood, The Basilisk replied, "We came by your camp through the smell, really.  Can you not taste the sweet roasted flesh on the air?  It's as easy to track as the sun itself.  As for what we should be doing, what our business is... survival really... and figuring out what is going on... Why are you alone in the forest, -human-"

He added a bit to the bite to the name, making it seem as if the name were something, taboo, strange where he was from... which would be about right, anyways.

[techmaster-glitch]

Underground Lake

   As  Karazkt sensed the cavern below him, a short time later he had determined with a small amount of surprise that it was an underground lake. Well, that wasn't very good. Insectis could build near magma easily enough, but building near underground bodies of water was often disastrous.
   All of a sudden, there was another series of audible anomalies. Where did they keep coming from? The anomalies were accompanies by yet againsomething that somehow evaded Karazkt's senses until the last moment. As Karazkt finally "felt" the giant spider behind him--By the Queen, how does this keep happening?--it pushed on Karazkt's diggermech, pitching the overbalanced machine forward...and straight through the floor.
   Karazkt had never fallen before. Living underground, there wasn't much to fall off of. Yet, today seemed to be a day of new experiences.
   Just not good ones.
   The Insectis began emitting a horrific buzzing screech unheard by anything else as he felt the truly sickening feeling of weightlessness. He felt like climbing out of his very carapace and turning into a mass of writhing internal organs.
   From a distance, there was an almighty *ka-LOOSH* and a colossal torrent of water; an impressive scaling-up of a decently sized stone being tossed into a pond, as befitting a very dense multi-ton metal behemoth being dropped in.
   Within the mech itself, Karazkt's world was imperceptible chaos, aside from pain and an all-consuming metallic *KRRRRNCH* sound as the mech struck the water. With zero hesitation, the mech sunk like the rock it was, and the breif crunch sound was replaced by a constant spray.
   Moments later, Karazkt stirred, feeling something he usually shouldn't, and he oriented himself as best as he could. Water was spraying in the cockpit of the submerged mech, and presumably the enitre mech's structure, at a quick rate. His carapace was cracked, and he was leaking his own fluids with the water. And the crunch sound was almost certainly a limb or few of the mech taking heavy damage. He couldn't swim, and the mech was taking him down too fast anyway. But before he could even conclude that he was going to die as the mech constinued to sink, he felt something else. The entire mech suddenly lurched...and revered direction. It started to rise.
   Despite belong to a race of Creatures focused into very narrow forms of magic, the Insectis were still creatures and still had a rudimentry sense of most obvious magic. Karazkt felt some kind of magical forc that was attached to his mech...and almost certainly responsible for drawing it from the depths.
   Karazkt couldn't bother thinking of who or what was resonsible. Even though it was rising, water was still seeping into the entire mech, and if too much got on the boiler while it was still active, the boilder's shell could fail and release the massive buildup of steam pressure that powered the mech, which would be a terrible explosion. So instead, he quickly accessed the mech's internal engine and shut down the fire-enchanted steam boiler...and waited to see wherever the magic was pulling him.

[Boog]

Jeremiah wasn't any master mage. He'd probably go so far as to say he was a rank amateur. But lately his magic seemed to be getting better and better, and even he was sensitive enough to sense the spells charging on both sides. He sighed and, for the second time today, interposed himself between two crazy people about to shoot each other.
"No, no..." He gestured in what he hoped was a calming manner at both sides, "Gentlemen, please." He sighed. The frog had nothing in particular against humans, as he'd only met one. He remembered his grandfather wasn't fond of them; 'good luck to have around, but trustworthy as an overweight demon.' Jeremiah could see very little they had that the man could want, though.
"To summarize... We're lost. Something magic happened and we... THINK we got teleported." Out of my brain and into a forest. If we're even out of there at all. Gods, I have to stop thinking these things. Focus on the immediate problem and get existential later. "We mean no harm, and would appreciate the guidance of someone who knows the area better than we do if you can spare the time."

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Corgatha absolutely hated trying to keep track of two people speaking to him at once. Words always swam together, and he had to eat the glut and digest them, separate who said what in the threshing-room of his memory. Still, this one wasn't too hard, he thought. Odd, that their stories conflicted. Difference in fact was less likely than difference in perception, but odd, that they'd sojourn together if they were so dissimilar.

He crouched, letting his knuckles drag on the ground, replied to the more hostile of the pair. "This is my forest, and my campsite. I am alone because I do not now wish company. My contract is up, I was paid, and that is that. But perhaps. Yes. Yes." He stood, straight as a Sheinarian lance, and addressed the other.

"Guidance is useless, unless you have a destination. But I have nothing better to do at the moment, and truth be told, this forest depresses me. I can show you a path out, although it leads only to a sacked town these days, or I can Travel, but I'd need to know a destination fairly well to arrive there safely. Come, I don't bite."

Although there was that one Ebou Dari madman, but it wasn't my fault, Light preserve me. I was blocked and still, and my hands had turned to worms; I can't fight with worms.

[Lisky]

The demon cocked his head to the side.  The pink thing perplexed him, almost as much as the frog.  Jeremiah was far too trusting.  How he wasn't dead already seemed a mystery at this point.  He replied with a mellow, flat tone,  "hmm... perhaps somewhere else would be agreeable... However, don't wander too far ahead.... I'd rather not get lost for the 3rd time today"

He took a deep sniff, trying to see if he could detect for anyone else around.  His ears were swivelling, searching for the unnatural sounds of movement, of cloth against bark... any sign that this whole thing was a trap.  He hung the axe by a leather strap on his belt.  Carefully approaching the human, while keeping the spell ready.  Something seemed oh so off about everything.  It was just too easy.  Help wasn't supposed to be that easy to find...

[Cogidubnus]

"Hmph. Such a way to talk to your elders." Howell said, giving Melodie a frown. "When I was your age, it was all 'Yes, elder', and 'No, elder' and 'Three bags of skulls, elder.'" he said, and then coughed.
"Well, I suppose some things have gotten better." Howell motioned for Melodie to follow him. "Come on, they'll send someone around to take care of the birds, I'm sure. I need to speak with you."

His words were pleasant, but it was apparent he expected them to be obeyed. The chancellor huffed for a moment, and then waddled off, presumably to get the groundskeepers, if they hadn't already been alerted.

Snow crunched as Melodie walked with her Grandfather.

"So, let me guess. You need some help. And answers, if I'm not mistaken." he said, looking at Mel while he walked. He leaned heavily on the cane. "'My Grandpa will know what to do', I think it was. I'm sorry if I'm being dramatic, but I think that's what us oracles are supposed to do."

They arrived at the administration building. It was warmer inside than outside, but only just. Howell hobbled over to the nearest elevator, and clicked the down arrow. The best rooms and offices were usually basement level, here.
"I think, that, unfortunately, what I do here doesn't so much matter as what -you- do. You see, none of this is real."

* * *

There were  a few more faces at the poker table. A six-winged individual, a bat, a succubus, and several dragons. They all were bored looking. Those who were there before - ragged, scruffy looking things, at once human-looking but monstrous all the same, also sat at the table. Someone had found a vending machine and physically transported it next to their poker table, where it sat supported by rubble. It glowed, advertising liquid refreshment for money none of them had.
They played cards.

"Shouldn't be long now." one of the monstrous ones said. It was wearing a tweed coat. "These sort of traps only last so long against people like this. Still, bought some time. Surprised none of them have died in their sleep."

Though they had nothing to bet, they each had a pile of rocks. The thin looking dragon in the corner was rapidly piling up a stack of them. The short dragon with the cigar had bought in for her third time. A cloud of cigar smoke hung over her darkly.
The Tri-Wing wasn't really looking at them, but merely staring at the horizon, hungrily.

* * *

Kiet'Jear saw them before they saw him. Two individuals - a demon, and what looked like a being frog, talking to what appeared to be a human. A cook fire lay smouldering near them - the source of the smell.
His companions small figure stood next to him. "Um...you think they're...friendly?"

* * *

Rynkura, with her expertise and power, did succeed and freeing the mech, and was pulling it from the depths, when the horror of the cavern revealed itself.
Something was rising from the opposite side of the lake - a shiny, black sphere, larger than the diggermech, as big around as a building, floating on the air itself. It was featureless, smooth as silk and deceptively fast. One side of it split open, and a massive, bloodshot eye stared out of it, fixating on the only light in the room.
In the reflection of its iris, Rynkura could see dark magic writhing. Eldritch  runes danced across its surface. The eye closed, and the sphere reconformed, and it began moving swiftly for the both of them.

[Azlan]

Kiet eyed the demon and sighed, an expression of experienced mental exhaustion, "friendly?  That would certainly be the least likely scenario, but there is always hope."

Whispering even lower to Isul'yate, the ringtail seemed far more cautious and business-like then at any point she had known him in their short little relationship, "Stay near me, but do not show fear... especially to that human."  Kiet did like the taste of fear, but more practical things need be considered.

Careful to keep his hands in plain sight and walking with a confident demeanor that held no fear or aggression, the incubus moved towards the fire.  He was careful to be seen before getting too close and avoided approaching towards anyone's rear or obvious blind spots.

"A convergence of the dreamers I see.  I do hope that hostilities are not in ones future here, though I was always rather bad at predicting the future."

[Aisha deCabre]

Rynkura let out a sigh of relief, finding that the machine and the Insectis within would hopefully and quickly be safe as it was easy enough to pull with her magic and keep it from sinking into the depths.  The light of her conjured rope still shone like an unnatural beacon in natural darkness.

Karazkt was just about at the shore and she made to speak and reveal herself when, suddenly, her sensitive ears caught something else making ripples in the water.  And her glowing eyes searched through the darkness until it fell on the thing hovering above the lake.  Her breath caught in her throat in curiosity.

A gargantuan sphere, black as death, and according to its movements, swift.  Appearing larger than the machine she had pulled from the water...much larger.  The angel in her over 900 years of life had never seen nor heard of such a thing, and she wondered what it could possibly be.  Protective dark magic?  Someone conjuring a spell?

But no...when it split open to reveal an eye; iris, pupil, veins turning the whites a painful red, the white tigress nearly reeled back at the sight.  Right...some kind of Mythos, then? The scholarly part of her brain still questioned its make.

But she didn't have to wonder for long.  Her keen eyesight spotted runes flashing across the surface of the eye.  And it just seethed with dark magic.  It made her--a Creature of the elements of light, healing, and holy power--shudder involuntarily.  She did not like the sight of it at all.  And it had focused on her as she was emitting that light.

And it had made straight for them after closing itself up once again.

"By the Powers...!" Rynkura growled, giving the mech a tug back onto land as hard as she could.  "Karazkt, if you can hear me, stay hidden!" she commanded and stood on the breach of the water.

If the Insectis had looked out to see her, he would see that the tigress had without a second thought unleashed herself.  Her bejeweled, enchanted upper sleeves were gone, thus allowing her heritage to be shown as two broad, white and black-striped feathered wings erupted from her back.  Her staff was floating as if by itself right behind her, giving her the room and the extra energy needed to power her spells.

With a slight sneer on her lip from the distaste of the darkness she sensed from the thing, she conjured a defensive, luminous barrier around herself and her arms crackled with finely-crafted electrical currents.

"What are you!?" she called out, quite ready to defend herself and her charge when necessary.  "Speak if you are able!"

The thing looked fast, and troublesome, but she had the fine reflexes.  If it attacked, then she would.

[Lisky]

Baseel was already annoyed with surprises.  He was tired, starting to get hungry, and shirtless, thanks to a thankless succubus.  His fur bristled as the voice of the approaching figure filled the large demon's ears.  His ears flickered like radar dishes, and his other senses plucked at the wind for signs of more surprises.  His eyes narrowed slightly, as confidence oozed from the approaching fellow, and his companion.

In response, the Shepherd turned to face the pair directly, his left hand  covered by the massive round shield.  His right hand rested lightly on the handle of the axe.  He wasn't acting threatening, per-se, however, he was obviously prepared for the possibility.  His long hair jingled lightly as he stepped forward to assess the newcomers.  He replied, "I have no intention of hostility, unless it is to prevent harm upon myself or my compatriots.  What business brings you here?  Why were -you- wandering these woods?"

His voice was level, though commanding.  A deep tenor, filled with no sign of fear nor hostility.

[Azlan]

Kiet gave the demon an innocent smile, one the demon would probably not believe, but he tried anyways, "well, my temporary ward here was hungry... a thing I have a passing familiarity with, and the smell of bacon was a bit much for her."

The lioness attempted to appear stoic, but an audible growl of her stomach broke that rote and she blushed a little before glaring about as if daring anyone to challenge her on her stomach acting out of turn.

Kiet sweat dropped, "yes, well punctuated and relevant... I could not have asked for better had I scripted that ahead of time.  As to why we are in the woods, we were here to meet someone."

Concentrating on the surface thoughts of those around him, the incubus tossed a pertinent point into the fray, "so, does the 'Scarlet Masque' mean anything to any of you?"

[Boog]

Bal clinked his pile of rocks nervously, fidgeting. He'd been holding STILL. For a WHILE. He didn't like doing that. He clinked another wager of Three Rocks into the pile, raising by one Kinda Shiny Green Beetle (skewered with a tentacle, to keep his bet from wandering off). He glanced at the tri-wing.
Bal only LOOKED like an incubus. The wings, both sets, were essentially a metaphor for something (although what, he didn't know), assigned by the deeper associations of a diseased mind. He had no overwhelming reason to take an interest in such an entity. But an interest he took.
"Pebble for your thoughts, old man?" He wheezed, smirking. He always smirked. When half your face looked like an experiment in blunt force trauma, you didn't have much choice. It seemed smirkier than usual, though.

--

Jeremiah winced at Baseel's manner, promising himself he'd take the boy aside and talk to him about subtlety later.. This place was awful crowded, for a forest. This guy seemed like a ponce, too much so to traipse through the woods on his own. He seemed like the sort to have people for that. What he had to say, however, caught his attention.
"I'd say it rings a bell... Mister." He added, noting how the man was dressed. When it came to nobles of any kind, you made the noises they wanted to hear until they either left or finished paying you. This had his mind working furiously though. Were his thoughts coming easier lately? Clearer, freer of interruptions, he could almost hear them echo in his skull.
This is either very good or very bad...

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Corgatha's cursing was kept low, but still audible to people within a few feet of him. Quiet was never really his strong suit. More strangers, two more. Light burn their bones to ash. At least the other strangers didn't seem to know them, and had both turned away to talk. More wings. Bloody walking talking animals. Should cut them up and wear them, that'd show them for disturbing him. But they had made no hostile move, not yet. It would be rude to flay them.

Of course, the first two are rude for ignoring me like this. And the dog-one was hostile. Maybe just him.

Clearing his throat loudly, he addressed the dog-man. "Do you want me to lead you out, or talk to this new one?  He and his are welcome to my food, if he's truly so intent. He traveled in, from far and away, you can see it on his mien. Well help yourself to it, and take your mother's milk in a cup with it, only I don't have any, so there. Let it not be said the Sons of the Border are inhospitable."

But we are also cautious. Earth and fire, spun around a few of the stones between him and the second party. Not triggered, but on a hairpin latch. To be honest, Corgatha didn't think something so simple would destroy them, but it would probably distract them long enough to Skim somewhere safe.  He also made sure to watch Dog and Frog as they danced with words. They were still the older threat, or at least oddity. And what was this scarlet mask the ringtail was talking about?