The Clockwork Mansion

The bus ride, so far, has been fairly uneventful. While the countryside has been fairly beautiful, full of lush forests, jagged mountains, streams, and the occasional sight of some wildlife, your driver seems on edge. Not helping him is your employer, Leland, seems to find something to yell at the driver and argue about every ten minutes the last argument ended.

The bus itself is fairly clean, a bit old, but decently maintained. It has more then enough room for it's occupants. Radio works and your driver has been playing an eclectic range of songs. in this moment of silence between Leland and the driver, you can pick up a Spanish, with a partially English chorus about whatever the subjecting being a rather lovely place.

You know that your driver's name is Michael Harkonnen, and, by the wings and such, he's an angel. He adjusts his rear view mirror, his golden eyes gazing into it.

"Leland, sit down." He snapped. "I'm only going to tell you this once." The armadillo growled, and started making his way to the front of the bus to berate the creature for telling him what to do, only to nearly fall flat on his face as the bus hit the gravel road.

Michael chortled to himself. "Road hasn't been serviced since *I* was a kid." He told the party. "Most don't come up this way. Ever."

Zanfib had been sitting towards the front, with the driver. He chose that particular spot primarily because that obnoxious armadillo was towards the middle, and Zanfib could hardly stand the man. Always berating people, trying to act as if was something, which was a hilarious act for someone who was nothing. Zanfib sighed again as the scenery rolled past, having to remind himself for the umpteenth time why he was doing this. Oh well, at least some of the sights were nice.

What? No, not the scenery! The women! Zanfib turned slightly in his seat, and gazed back at a few of the lovelies..

Colo, for example, was all the way in the back, sort of hunched in her seat and keeping her gaze out the window. She was primarily hoping no one would even look at her, but she could already feel those violet eyes again. She hunched down a little further, and listened keenly to the squeaking coming from the bus's suspension. She occupied herself with the exact adjustments needed to repair it.

On the other side of the vehicle, there was Kallis, who took a seat right behind the driver, and alternated learning about the mating habits of cloudlice with the occasional gaze out of the window . There were important, crucial and involved reasons for this.
First of all, it just happens that sitting towards the front of a vehicle makes one experience a lot less of the shake and rake that comes from having a crappy suspension above a worse road. That said, given that the roads all over the Governorate were generally worse, if what remained could be called a road at all (despite stiff penalties for damaging public property, some citizens took it to themselves to steal paving stones), this wasn't the main reason.

Second of all, sitting about two rows behind, and one across from his seat, there was rather good view of both the driver, and the control panels of the vehicle. However, given that the angel behind the wheel wasn't her type, and the bus looked like a rather obsolete design, this wasn't the main reason either.

The main reason, as one might expect, was anger. Both flavourful waves periodically streaming from the amusing little armadillo (If only he shouted a little less. At least tentacles make for good earplugs) and intense, delicious pent up anger of the driver, ready to burst out at any moment. And of course, it paid off to sit right near the fount, especially since anywhere further, the emanations were corrupted by those coming from the rest of the crew. . . a mix of anxiety and curiosity from the cubi girl at the back (hmm, never seen her clan mark over at SAIA. Got to ask),  waves of lust from the ringtail to her left... (Busy drooling over the other succubus. Beings.)
She flipped a page, and immersed herself into the diagram of a cloudlouse egg, hydrogen sacs which allow it to float through the sky under the firm outer membrane, but often spout a leak ..  these in conjunction with mating season cause the so-called mayfires when the skies are ablaze with thousands of eggs...
The book almost flew out of her paws as the bus hit the elevation change between road and gravel, just as the angel began to talk.
"I have to admit, I'd have thought you were older." the cat smirked. "Unless the road was exceptionally well built, of course"

Jeremiah was sitting directly behind their employer, passing the man things from his luggage as they were shouted for periodically and otherwise trying to lose himself in his book. Lady Gearswoggle had just found out the source of the vicious plague of clockwork bats could actually be the doing of her romantic interest, Lord Largeshirt. The dramatic conclusion was upcoming, he was very excited for it-
THUMP.
Jeremiah muttered a service-industry-appropriate curse and leaned down to rummage beneath the seats to get his book back. He glanced around from near the floor of the bus; seeing as he'd gotten on with Leland, he hadn't had the chance to socialize or examine his fellow travellers, and thus the bus-floor landscape of furniture and feet was to be his first impression of his "coworkers."
Huh, lotta felines. He'd read, somewhere, that the most widespread species other than insectis was canines, but he seemed to see cats wherever he went. Two towards the front seemed well dressed for adventurers, and it looked like some smartalec had put one of those handwhittled dummies in one of the seats- or so he thought until it shifted position. Probably mythos. Or a spell?
Aw, another cursed fella? Maybe you have a friend in Freakdom.
Jeremiah murmured a smaller, less appropriate curse. Just for Bal.
Toward the back of the bus there were a few more felines; one of the adventurers seemed familiar from here, but he couldn't be sure. It wasn't exactly a police lineup.
Finally locating his book wedged behind one of the seat-supports, Jeremiah sat back up and began dusting it off and unbending the pages.

Only to be distracted again by the thump of Leland's face hitting the floor. He looked up only briefly.
"Band-aids are in your third bag sirrr," boredom drawled Jeremiah's answers out as if stretched in a taffy pull, the book neatly placed in his lap the only interruption to his impression of professionalism. "Will you be needing an ibuprofin?"

A few seats behind the frog, Ketefe was peacefully dozing as the bus bumped and rattled. The masked blue she-cat had never had any trouble falling asleep in the most uncomfortable places possible, and the long trip spent sitting had her itching with anticipation. So she had opted to avoid thinking about the trip by using her companion, a brown tom with white bandages wrapped around his eyes, as a pillow. She was contentedly pressing her head against his shoulder and occasionally mumbling incoherently as she snoozed.

Jarevei was occupying his time by staying still as he could for her, and trying and failing to read an old poetry anthology. Whenever the bus jumped, he'd miss a word and have to find his place again. Even with books printed normally, this would be difficult, but with a Braille book it was a near impossible task. Finally he put the book aside in exasperation, looking up when the bus driver addressed the crowd. He was surprised to smell feathers on the bus driver's back when he'd first gotten on the bus, but if the demons in Chae-Raki could be nice, surely angels could too.

"Well, she doesn't seem to mind," Jarevei said gamely, gesturing to the girl napping on him, "but I do wish she were awake to tell me what this place looks like. I'm told it's beautiful." The road jolted rather harshly in reply, jouncing the tom upward and nearly knocking Ketefe off his shoulder, as well as knocking the armadillo who'd hired them to the ground.

"Skznnks-hm-what?" The masked cat blinked into wakefulness. "Whas' goin' on? Did somethin' attack? Need me to kill it?"

"Assuming we didn't just run someone over, I think it was just a rock, Ketefe." Jarevei's laughter was more nervous than self-deprecating. Though they had no other options, he really hated public transportation; it was too unnerving for him. Gods be good, I almost wish we'd walked.

 Dhōngami sat near the back as well, so that people would be only minimally bothered with the open window.  The sensation of wind rustling through his leaves and grass was pleasant.  And it made the racial slurs from the armadillo cut less.  The main problem had been finding room for both him and his long tail; ultimately resolved by wrapping it around himself akin to a cloak.  He looked the traditional part of the Druid with his faux coat of leaves. and it made for excellent breathing, given air flow meant the open window was drawing the breath of the animals, laden with CO2 toward him due to so much air coming into the bus from the window.

There were many animals in this group.  Mostly Creatures, some Beings.   Dhōngami hoped that the employer did not cause one of them to kill him.  Then there would be no pay, and Dhōngami was hoping to buy some new pants with the new paycheck.  Nothing wrong with the ones he had, but having a spare always helped.

But that was enough musing.  The Druid went to work, pulling at strings in the biosphere, checking the incoming weather, and keeping storms at the fringes of his range.  It was better to have a storm ready to call down when needed, than to spend time making one from scratch.  Plus he always wanted to see a demon try fighting in a hailstorm.  Hardened skin did nothing to protect eyes, after all.

Michael laughed, then nodded at Javerei. The angel was on the overweight side of things, body type wise.Though Kallis recalled he could move faster then expected when he needed to. Earlier he had shown off a brand new bus, only to hide it when he heard Leland's voice enter the garage.

In retrospective, given the roads, it's little wonder the ferret shopkeep opted not to bring it.

"How old did you think I was?" He grinned at her through the mirror. "In seriousness, these were at one point exceptional roads. They only go up to the Steinbahg, though." he motioned at the recovering armadillo. "Say what you will about him, but his ancestor spared no expense with this hotel. Pity she wanted a mountain retreat." He sighed. "This area's been owned by my family for centuries, before even the Cubi-Dragon War. I've heard all the stories."

"Yes. retrieve it for me." Leland barked, pulling himself up and back into a seat, dusting himself off. "And a mirror."The would be entrepreneur glanced over the party. What a sorry bunch of...Creatures. The Beings weren't that much better. a cripple, a killer,a pervert,  and...the toad. Why wasn't the Guild willing to sell him a party?!At least a proper one, not this band of misfits and freaks.

The Dryad would notice the air seemed suddenly overcast, and that was *Certainly* not his doing. The air also seemed....off. No pollution, something just felt strange about this region.

As the bus passed by a cliff, someone might have seen a tall, thin, shadow figure watch from the trees, and yet, perhaps noticing the anomaly alerting it, any attempt to look at would only be met with looking into the brush.

(GAH. Mods, toss this post away please.)

Zanfib hardly noticed. Then again, unless he was actually looking for something, he tended to rely far too much on his psionic abilities to notify him of danger. He was also a bit preoccupied scoffing at their employer with an overly drawn roll of his eyes.

Colo, however, did see it. Just out of the corner of her eye (as she was dutiful staring at nothing and avoiding eye contact) and when she looked.. Nothing. But she knew she'd seen something, flicking both ears forward and watching out that way intently..

Jarevei noticed nothing, paying all his attention to the driver's story. However, leaned on Jarevei's shoulder as she was, Ketefe had the perfect vantage point for seeing the shadowy thing brush by the window. Or at least she thought she saw something. All her post-nap fuzzies went away in a single shocked heartbeat. She perked up her ears and looked again, but it looked as though nothing had gone by.

Jarevei turned to face her. "What's going on?" Ketefe had stiffened and her breath had sharpened. Normally that meant a threat was nearby.

The ex-murderer blinked. "...Nothing, Jarevei. I just ... thought I saw something out there. Looked weird for a second."

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

She shook her head. "No ... no, I really don't think I can. I could've just blinked." Her twitching tail suggested that she didn't think that was the case at all, though, and she kept her eyes out the window rather than scoff at their employer's rudeness.

Jeremiah sighed and rummaged through the bags. He knew the mirror Leland meant; the one with the silver inlay. Tacky, terrible thing. He'd worked for enough high-class establishments to take ostentatious displays of wealth in stride but he hated the mirror. Oh god and the handle was ivory, this thing used to be part of someone's mouth. Gross.
LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!
The frog caught the mirror just in time, one drop and two awkward grabs away from summary firing and a conniption from his otherwise-ex-employer.
Nex what the hell?
HOW ARE YOU THIS BLIND?!
Jeremiah looked out the window. Nothing. He sighed and fetched the headache pills and a bottle of water. "There you are sir. Will there be anything else-"

Hushed conversation from the back of the bus. This was typical. But he thought he recognized one of the voices... Jeremiah clambered up and leaned over the back of his seat, hoping Leland wouldn't need him for a moment.
Wait, was that...?
"Ketefe!"
Jeremiah leaned on his elbows and waved, "Ketefe, that you?"
He almost never ran into anyone he knew when he was traveling!

"Well in the middle age I suppose." the cat succubus grinned back. "You know, when one stops growing at the ends and starts growing in the middle"
She stashed away the book, half watching out for the driver's reaction to the jab, and half wondering about the rest of his words. Sure, this wasn't a goldmine, but still, there was something vaguely impressive about owning a sizable chunk of land for longer than her country existed (At least if we count the Day of Burning Banners as founding.). Who'd have said too - if anyone ever looked like they were born to drive a bus, it was Michael. Kallis briefly amused herself by the mental image of a little infant ferret with flecks of motor oil all over, clutching a ticket machine, and crying "terminus" instead of "ma-ma".
Before she could develop the thought line further, something interrupted her thoughts. Filters relaxed, she was still soaking up emotions from around her like a sponge, and suddenly, someone dipped the sponge in nitric acid.
For a brief flicker of time, she caught the faint presence of a mind somewhere outside. A mind whose emanations tasted wrong. It wasn't that she couldn't make out what emotions it was broadcasting, it wasn't even that they weren't any emotions she knew existed. No, it was. . . a feeling like tasting the colour yellow through one's pawpads.
Before she could ponder the potential influence of hallucinogens and means through which either their employer or the driver could have administered them to her, she heard a whisper from one of the being cats down behind.
"No, no,  you're right, I felt it. Something by that side, we passed it a few moments ago." the cat gestured with a tentacle., quite evidently agitated. "I . . it's hard to explain, it made no sense."

The Druid looked up to the sudden overcast sky.  Not his doing, and it lessened his intake of light for photosynthesis.  Not cut off entirely, but still.  He knew overcast days had their uses, providing shade, indicating rainfall, just generally being cloud movements. But this was...too sudden.  It was induced, and not by him.  So he was morally allowed to try and put a stop to it.

Dhōngami pushed the head of his staff out the window, and angled it to aim into the sky.  His leaves began to rustle slightly, and people looking out would see a mist of green energy heading from the staff up into the clouds.  It wasn't often that he needed to make Nature magic so visible, most of it was the plucking of strings to manipulate the world, but this time, he was feeding his own energy into the strings, trying to override whomever was telling the clouds to gather.

Having the feline Succubus corroborate with Ketefe's feeling helped her relax; at least she wasn't going insane, and though Cubi were notoriously unreliable, she had a feeling an emotion-sensing creature wouldn't lie about something interrupting the bus's ambient static. She really wished Jarevei had been paying attention, maybe he would have felt it too. Plainly, the poet was bothered by the inability of those who'd seen or felt it to describe it.

"It might help if you don't use sight-words to describe it," he advised the Succubus. "What did you feel?"

It was then that Ketefe heard a familiar voice. A friendly voice, with a bit of a croak behind it... It can't be!

"Jeremiah?!" she said excitedly, leaning up over the back of the seat in front of her to greet her old friend. That adventure had been ages ago; she'd never expected to see any of her friends from that castle again!

"Gods Underfoot, I haven't seen you in years!" Jeremiah grinned broadly, stuffy servile mannerisms reasserting themselves to briefly tell Leland he was taking his ten minute break, "Last I saw you we were parting company at the train after, you're still slumming it in the adventuring life," he snickered, "Or did that whole thing give you a taste for building assessment? A drive to save others from castles plainly not up-to-code." The one hand flew out to gesture, dramatically, "I can see it now; scarred by former experience, only one hero can prevent others from purchasing sub-par real estate. A mysterious masked cat," oh god both hands were involved now he was only going to get worse, "Ready to strike the MOMENT mold finds its way into a classic rococo-banister. A woman who scoffs in th' face a' spackle!" Annnnd there was the urban drawl. Class obliterated.

There was almost an edge of hope to the whole act; Jeremiah had always felt adventuring was no life for the young and hopeful. Such a high mortality rate, so many kids barely out of high school wasted thanks to lots of stories and a lack of funding for college. Adventuring, he felt, should be a line of work taken up after your first divorce but before you ran out of energy.

Hah, I remember her.
If you don't fuck off I swear.
Remember when she tried to stab you?
Most women end up wanting to stab me.
They usually miss.

"You been taking care of yourself? Who's yer friend?"

"Uh, and what in hell's armpit are 'sight-words' supposed to be? It's bad enough trying to think of a way to describe it to someone who can't feel, anyways. . ."  the cat frowned, turning her head backwards at an angle that would be frankly impossible for someone unable to shapeshift
"Actually, that isn't a bad start. It wasn't too different from when I first learned how to sense these things. Something  . . . new. Except this stuff felt wrong, like, tasting colours with your feet wrong, except with you not knowing what a colour is, on top of it. Definitely not anything like any mind I have ever been near, and one of my roommates had a summoning hobby, so I've been near a lot of things. I ... Saint Ilya's wing, if you were an empath, I could try to recall it for you to pick up, at least to get an idea, but that sort of goes down the bucket."

Michael laughed. Sure, it wasn't the best joke but Kallis at least seemed willing to make small talk. Plus He found it necessary to have a sense of humour in his rather odd line of work. "Yes, well, just means I have more experience."He chuckled.  He listened in on the party describing the thing. Looking...worried.

Leland, in the midst of repairing his own image, glared at Dhongami. "Put that thing back in the bus, firewood." Most of Leland's slurs seemed to be based on lumber or well, tossing the Druid into a fire pit. Occasionally he'd take a stab at his profession. "You can turn yourself into charcoal later, hippie." He grumbled, rolling his eyes at Jeremiah."...Fucking yokels..."

Turning the corner, the hotel was now visible. It was Scottish Baronial, something it's creator was quite fond of, and composed of multiple stories, smaller parts of the building having five stories at the least, with the corn being much larger, along with several towers. The stoners, masonwork, mountain range...it all came together to give the hotel a fairytale look. The armadillo gazed into it, smiling at his property, the Railway Baroness' Castle retreat. It was still hard to determined the full size, but the building was huge.

Jarevei smirked mirthlessly. "I actually do know what colors are, miss. I didn't go blind until I was about three, so I had just enough time to learn what sight was before the gods took it. I remember what colors look like, but not much else. You were doing well, though," he added kindly, shrugging off his annoyance. "So essentially, what you mean is you can't describe it, because what you sensed was too unusual to truly depict. That's about what my girlfriend said, you just helped it make more sense. Thank you."

His ears perked up suddenly; he'd heard himself addressed in Ketefe's conversation. "Excuse me a moment, please."

Ketefe was snickering into her hand at Jeremiah's dramatic re-imagining of her current career. The frog was being kinder with his description of that accursed castle than she would have been; half her memories of that place weren't even fully hers. Gods, I wonder if he's still upset about what I did when we both ended up getting possessed? I mean, I'm not still upset at him for when the spiders happened, so... When he asked what she was doing now, her smile fell a bit. She hated to disappoint him; he'd always worried about her and her story wasn't a happy one.

"Kind of a long story, how I ended up here. Also, kind of depressing," she gave a sheepish smile and gestured as well as she explained. "Key points: I found the guy I thought had killed my parents, he was hurting people in my town, I tried to kill him, and we both went to jail. But because I spared the guy's life, he got a friend to pull some strings to get my sentence reduced. The government back home wants me on a sort of city task force to deal with criminals before they get too far. It'll be a steady, legal job, they'll clear my name for me, and I'll have the time and money to find my family. A reliable source said they're alive somewhere." The last part made her smile a bit more honest. "I almost wish your version were true, that sounds like a way more awesome job. So how did you get here? Shouldn't you be teaching again instead of this? Haunted castles didn't do either of us any good the last time." 

She felt a tap on her arm, and turned to look at Jarevei. "Oh, right, come up here." She guided the other cat up to lean on the seat as well. "Jarevei, this is Jeremiah, he's a friend from when I was out looking for Mom and Dad. Jeremiah, this is my boyfriend Jarevei, he's here to keep me from going back to prison."

As Jarevei greeted Jeremiah and reached to shake hands, Ketefe stopped and raised an eyebrow at Leland's...interesting vocabulary. Her ears folded back in disgust. Oh, joy. I get to spend days and days around an asshole - a *racist* asshole, even - and I'm not allowed to stab him even a little or I go to jail.

"Not quite what I meant by that ... but yes. I mean .. languages, at least those I know about, are already rubbish at describing things beings can't do . . . and this would be a pain to describe even if it wasn't like that."
The cat turned forwards again, just in time to see the hotel rise from behind the mountain. The sheer size of the structure led her out of concept for a moment  - sure, she had seen drawings and plans of the place, but the actual sight of the place put it all into perspective.
Three above. . . taller than the keep of Fort Solig, and from here, the walls look just as sturdy. Only thing missing are cannon emplacements and gun ports. Hell, one could garrison an army here, and keep it fed and watered growing crops inside, with the help of a few choice spells. And behind it, just a bunch of beings. . ..
She looked over to Leland, apparently awestruck by the sight of his own property. "Impressive, but makes me wonder. Did your ancestor have many enemies, mister?"

The frog frowned with concern through much of Ketefe's story, brightening up a little toward the end. "Police work!" Jeremiah's shoulders visibly sagged with relief, "Hell girl that's halfway respectable. And congrats about yer parents, too. It sounds like you got a job and a half with this one, fella," he shook Jarvei's hand with a grin, taking note of the man's apparent blindness. Shortly the deathtrap hotel crept into view, like some enormously fancy pop-up book paper sculpture rising from the wilderness. Jeremiah leaned over to look.
"I, ah, got fired." Jeremiah said sheepishly, "Sorta work related stress, to an extent. I still teach some classes at the local college back home, but I've felt compelled to travel lately." He absentmindedly cleaned his glasses on his shirt, "Servant work's pretty good for that; untrained, they're fine if you're temporary, and it usually includes free room and board. And it looks like the boarding's pretty class here."

Jeremiah tried to ignore Leland's commentary. It made him uncomfortable, sure, but there were creatures he didn't like either. He was going to be the one fetching and carrying and tidying for the group; he'd try to grab the guy some extra dessert or something later. Some little Sorry Our Boss Is Dumb gesture.

Zanfib just sighed. He hadn't spoken at any length to any of the folks aboard, so he was quiet, for the most part. He detested Leland quite a lot, for his character was far to close to Zanfib's parents, and that sort of thing never sat well with the ringtail cat. He p[reoccupied himself, instead, with the visage of the hotel.. and immediately thought about buying the charming place. Leland would try and oversell it, but a lawyer here, an inspector there, maybe some new drapes.. Zanfib got lost down that train of thought for a bit.

Colo was very intent upon the vista. She looked at every arch, every wall, every window, and kept running diagrams through her head. Strong points, weak points, places for improvement, it was all great and grand until.. She realized her choice of seating would mean she would have to walk past people. The dingo deflated noticeably.

Ketefe nodded happily at Jeremiah's assessment of her current career path. It seemed to have made up for his concern over where her life had been before then. She herself gave a concerned pout when Jeremiah revealed that his own career had gone twisted as well. "Well, as long as you're happy. I've been worried about everyone since then, but I've been so caught up with my own stuff that...that...that can't possibly be the hotel, it's huge. Wow."

Indeed it was. Ketefe was struck dumb by the sight of it, until Jarevei tugged her arm. "Not to interrupt the silence, but could you tell me what it looks like, Teff?"

"Oh, right." She shook her cobalt head and began, "It's at least twice the size of Khimara's castle, and not nearly as frightening. Where Khimara's castle was like a cold, black shattered piece of obsidian, this is more like a clay sculpture of your college, but much bigger. The spires are tall enough to scratch the clouds apart, and the mountains frame the building like a cardboard cutout. The roofs are a sort of smooth gray, like slate rocks. There are windows everywhere, like the keys on a typewriter, square and jutting out. The stonework is dusty-looking, but more in color than texture, and trees surround the building, like a fluffy green fence. It almost looks like the building has stubble," she smiled. Jarevei nodded eagerly, his face lighting up as if the bandages weren't even there.

"Is she doing it justice?" he asked the succubus and the bus driver. Their voices earlier had sounded as though they were as impressed as Ketefe with the place, though in Michael's case that could have been more like pride.

The clouds simply refused to part. Indeed, Dhogami's interference seemed to be making them darker, heavier. Did...he just hear the rumble of thunder?

Leland opened his mouth to speak to Kallis. But Micheal quickly shot in before he could speak. "Not that anyone knew off. All reports said Eleanor Steinbahg was a Saint. A eccentric, sure, and a technology advocate but she was said to be charming. Possibly a pacifist, but I can't confirm." Leland and Michael shot glares at each other, before Michael smiled at Kallis. "I also deal in information. That'll be six dollars please." He chuckled, winking at her, hoping she wouldn't really yank out her coin purse.

Hearing the pair of felines in the back, Michael chuckled looking back at them via one the mirrors, smiling. At least to the one who had eyesight. "Yes, my friend. She's dead on. I wish you could see it. It's amazing. Pity about it's reputation though."

Leland glanced back at Ketefe. "Just make sure he doesn't walk into any walls or off a cliff or something."

Leland didn't like the psion one bit, but was willing to hire him, still, he gave Zanfib a glare for a brief second. Perhaps Leland was beginning to see the ringtail as a threat.

The proud, affectionate glow from helping Jarevei and receiving praise from Michael snapped away the instant Leland opened his rich, stupid mouth. Ketefe whipped around to face the armadillo, white fury in her eyes and a snarl in her throat, when that same tug on her arm drew her attention away. Jarevei turned to face Leland as well, smiling with no joy at all as he replied to the man.

"Oh Mr. Steinbahg, I hate to embarrass you like this, but it's my EYES that don't work, not my ears. And I have a feeling our friend the spellcaster heard you earlier too." A bit of fang poked through the smile as he continued, sugary icicles dripping from his words, even with his manners at the forefront. "But please, don't worry about my well-being. I'm sure your ancestors had the forethought to install fences on their property...After all, they were well-known for holding onto what was theirs."

His two cents thrown in Leland's face, the poet gently tugged his love back to her seat, relishing the fact that Leland could see her grinning with amusement and pride, even if he couldn't.

"Eenteresting. I mean. . .the place is a fortress in all but name. Poorly accessible, sturdy walls. . . put a few howitzers into a few of those windows, a company of troops or two, two-three battlemages, and you can sit in there and grin 'till the cows come home at anything short of an army with siege engines and all." The cat succubus clearly seemed excited by the prospect, speaking rapidly and drawing gestures with both her hands and tentacles. At the mention of six dollars, she spread her paws in a dramatic gesture, poorly concealing laughter. "Oh my, information sure is expensive 'round these parts. Could it be because of the short supply?" With two of her tentacles, she drew out the approximate height of the angel, who stood at a not particularly imposing 5'8''. 

Dhōngami split his attention from the clouds, to the water sources in the air.  He would draw the heat from the water vapor rising up to form these clouds and fill them with rain, and so cast it down to earth.  He had to be exceedingly careful or risk creating fog, which would be more immediately dangerous than a rain storm.

Slightly.

The mythos spoke, voice creaking and sonorous: "Someone is trying to induce a storm here.  Due to the risk of flooding in this environment, I must attempt to stop them."  He hardly regarded the armadilllo's barbs at the moment, there was work to be done.  "Powerful nature magic is at work, because the caster is able to effect rapid change and resist outside interference..."  Dhōngami tugged at a breeze, bringing it close and speaking to it.  Speak to those winds who will listen, and tell them to be still for a while. Then released it to the air again.

Zanfib was snapped from his plans to spruce up the entryway when he felt eyes on him, and his eyes flickered over, just in time to see the end of the brief glare. And he grinned. He wanted Leland to be worried. He wanted to drive that little chip deep into the being's psyche, just to give him something he could wiggle to an advantage later on. And then Jarevei gave the armadillo a verbal broadside, and Zanfib guffawed, laughing loudly and shortly before just shaking his head.

"Right then." He said, standing up and straightening his clothes. "What say we get inside before this weather decides to get just as nasty as our host?" He says, and looks to the driver. "I hope there's a place to tuck our ride away, lest the rain wash it away."

Colo was, for the most part, doing a marvelous job of ignoring the conversation. Except for the mythos, the tree-man. Her eyes flickered over to Dhon (but only when he wasn't looking at her), and she pondered. If a storm came, the roads would be impassable...

The winds and the trees spoke to Dhongami.

bewarebewarebewareyouangertheblackenedonetheblackenedoneleavethisplacewhileyustillcanithungers

The storm continued to brew then stopped. Everything merely hung the air before beginning to subside...slightly. The threat of a storm had be stopped. Or perhaps only paused?

"Yeah. If it wasn't for the fact it and this entire woodland was cursed, I'm sure we'd be using it as a winter retreat." Michael chuckled, speaking of course about his family.  Michael grinned at the retort. "Well more like I currently hold a monopoly on information right now.

Michael motioned back to Leland then lowered his voice. "Aside from him. But do you trust a word out of his mouth?" Michael chortled quietly.

Leland's gaze completely ignored Zanfib. That...cripple had insulted him! His family's honour! How dare that ungrateful bastard-- For now though he sighed as the bus was parked. "Everyone off. Grab your things." the armadillo grumbled before shooting a glare at Jeremiah to unload his things for him.

The parking lot was in decent condition for something that was centuries old. Cracked and worn from the elements with weeds and other plants growing up in places. At least in areas far away from the hotel. Th closer to the hotel the newer it looked, much like the mountain hideaway itself. near the area was what appeared to be a train station, the forest however had appeared to reclaimed most of it, the building covered in vines, trees, moss, and collapsed in some areas. The tracks, or where tracks would be was covered in thick bush.

Jeremiah fought the urge to make a "zip it!" gesture at Jarvei. He had the impression the guy didn't work commercially much; it doesn't matter how right you are, when the employer's upset, everyone suffers. 'Sewage pours downward.' After all.
Wait, important information.
"The ENTIRE woodla-? Oh goodness," A bag Jeremiah had finally wrestled out of the overhead compartmet fell open, showering the frog in various entertainments and sundries. He managed to catch the jar of shell wax, once again grateful he'd long since mastered the service industry art of saying otherwise innocuous words as if they were profanity. It was about satisfying as diet coke and light rum, but to overextend the metaphor, it beat sobriety.
"Who on earth curses an entire woodland? Who has that kind of TIME?" The frog sputtered as he gathered up more bags than he, strictly speaking, had the carrying capacity for. "I mean what, did they want to teach the trees and bunnies a lesson in complacency? What's the point of keeping people out of your woods if you can't use the woods anymore?"

Yeah, he was nervous and babbling.

"It makes no sense to me. Does it make any sense to you?" He glanced at Colo, briefly, trying to find something he can fixate on other than 'cursed forest. Forest of curses. Curses in a forest. Treecurse. Cursewoods.' "Who just leaves a cursed forest lying around?"

Kallis's face froze half-way to a grin. Leland didn't have much of a reputation, sure, but his own employee plain out calling him a liar was a different matter altogether. Especially since his signature and word was all that guaranteed they'd get paid if all goes well. Eh, no matter. If he tries to backpedal . .  .with a bit of effort this place will go up like a bonfire. But, eh, drinking on a bear's skin . . .

"The frog's got a point." The cat appeared thoughtful for a moment, then gestured everyone to wait by means of a tentacle shifted into a large red stop sign.  "Cursing an area this large with even something as simple as instilling dread or weak bad luck curses would be a decidedly non-trivial undertaking. Sounds like someone with a hell of an axe to grind against your family - but then you said she had no enemies to speak of. Do you have any idea what sort of a curse is it? Best known before we actually step out and touch the tainted land."

Dhōngami ceased his efforts with a sharp crack, ending the stream of green energy.  That energy went instead, to thickening his hide to form weak armor.  "The plants and winds speak of 'The Blackened One', and how it hungers.  They advise us to flee."  The Druid breathed out a thin mist of green particles, which floated around the floor of the bus for a moment.  A ward against disease and poisons, all he could do on short notice. "Given the wind lacks sensory input, powerful magics would be needed to bind them thus.  The storm has stopped for a moment; not by my doing though.   Whatever wove the spell has paused."

Zanfib was quiet during the discussion of the cursed woodlands. He didn't show it in his face, and his mind was expertly shielded, but the thought of the sheer undertaking to curse an entire woodlands.. and the power involved.. unsettled him. He kept calm, for the most part. His tail, however, betrayed him as the tip flicked anxiously.

But he stood up, grabbing his duffel bag from the upper rack, and headed out the door to survey the grounds. His thoughts went back to trying to pry this from Leland again. Why, just a bit of groundwork would fix this lot up just fine...

Colo had been busily trying to pry her overstuffed backpack from the rack, but with its wires and tools poking from its pockets it kept getting stuck. She sighed, and turned her head slightly, catching Jeremiah's gaze. Mismatched eyes met his for a flicker of a second before the pack became miraculously unstuck and the cubi made a quick, quick exit of the bus.

Jarevei didn't EXACTLY regret what he'd said, but he knew he'd have to be careful from the way the other passengers reacted. Ketefe's likely-amphibious friend seemed nervous and grew stiff, and the fact that he'd made the perverted one laugh probably wasn't a good sign, seeing as their employer evidently disliked him. Why hire so many people he hates? Jarevei wondered. There's "any port in a storm" and then there's "completely and utterly desperate." But if he's this desperate he really shouldn't be so open with his prejudices – wait a cursed forest?

The bus jerked to a stop, and Jarevei instinctively grabbed his book and his cane. If it fell the words might flatten and then he'd never understand it. The cursed forest interested him most now, but he'd be damned if he'd lose even one book because of this trip. He picked up his things, waiting for Ketefe to stand and listening intently.

Ketefe was absorbing news of the cursed forest as well. Haunted, she could have gotten, but cursing an entire forest? "Oh good Gods...the 'Blackened One'? Was that one of the magic users, or is it...?" Something worse than a crazy wizard? She started to pick up her things, and stood up. "Why did it pause? Is it...going to let us leave the bus?"she asked the druid.

Michael stopped the bus, undid his safety belt, and opened the door, standing up himself. "Hell If I know who cursed this place." He said to Kallis. "This place has always been like this. Before we took possession. Wasn't until after my ancestors found it about the curse, so I doubt it was someone trying to get at us." he whispered to Kallis while Leland's back was turned. "To be fair, I can certainly see someone with enough time on their hands doing something crazy at his expense..." the overweight ferret chortled.

Leland turned around as Michael stepped off the bus, the vechile rocking a bit as he did so. "I told you, angel, I forbid you or your family from every stepping foot inside--"

Michael shoot back. "Relax, your majesty. I'm just stretching my legs before I have to turn home. And getting something." As much as he'd love to have Leland die, everyone else hardly deserved to suffer for one man's ego trip. He went to the side and opened a storage compartment, shuffling around for whatever he was looking for. "Ugh, shifted in transit. sunuva~" The overweight bus driver mumbled to himself as he climbed into compartment partially and yanked out a black case. "You know you can come out now." he called, Leland having already stepped out. "The curse doesn't seem to stick to people at least." He stood by the door and waited, mostly in case Jarevei needed a hand out of the bus. "Watch your footing. Ground's a bit uneven."

Leland was already staring at the hotel, a grin plastered on his face. The kind usually reserved for spoiled children on gift exchanging holidays.

The state of the weather seemed unchanging. It didn't get worse, certainly, but it refused to clear up.

Jeremiah scowled a little private scowl to himself as he hauled out more of the bags. The druid's words didn't worry him; start messing with spirits and nature and half what you say ends up ominous babble, he'd always figured. Once knew a girl who was majoring in ecothaumatology in college, she had a new Portent every other weekend. Half were wrong and the other half were trivial.
Leland's face is what started giving him a sinking feeling in his guts. A man that happy at the start of a project with THOSE prospects generally didn't understand the work ahead of him. He didn't think a single person in this group was a hexbreaker, they were going to be here for an age.
He had to say he loved the architecture though. So, there was that.

"Anything for the arts, I suppose." He groused to himself, halfway between a mutter and a whisper, lurching past Kallis' seat with his burden. "Perhaps they'll have those nice Victorian caskets..."

"Always cursed?" Jarevei mumbled. He'd known people weren't eager to take this job, and he'd learned all the stories he could about this building before accepting the job with Ketefe, but he'd had no idea people had cursed more than just the house. No wonder Leland had to hire what he saw as inferior people; besides his intolerable personality, there wouldn't be many experts willing to take on the job. There are no old bold adventurers, after all. Speaking of adventurers, he couldn't help wondering about Ketefe. He stood up to be ear-level with her and nudged her. The disabled have few ways to show subtlety, so sadly he couldn't offer a meaningful look to her.

Ketefe waited for the druid to reply, but didn't quite seem happy with his answer. "'Paused'? It hasn't stopped? How nice of it to INVITE us into its grasp." She rolled her eyes, then Jarevei stood and nudged her. "Oh, right, we should leave." She sighed. "Can't exactly stop the monsters if we don't walk up and say hello, I guess." She let Jarevei go ahead of her, and walked carefully behind him as he tapped his way down the aisle and off the bus.

"Soo... the curse doesn't stick to people? What sort of a curse is it? I mean, the most common ones have to do with fertility, but trees and grass are growing 'round here, unless it's one of those things which only hit crops. I mean, you had an analysis done by a geomancer before commencing construction, right?"  The cat scratched her chin, all while taking out the pocket thaum-meter and fiddling with the control knobs . "Paused, you say? Not many spells of this scale... Let's see... and this piece should let me know when it turns on again."
She dodged out of the way of the frog. "I'd prefer casks to caskets. You can't really use the latter while you're alive, and not many dead I have met had discerning taste. Besides, looking at the weather, we'll need a bit of warm-up by the time we get in."

Zanfib came off of the bus, and retriever his duffel bag with little fanfare. He walked over in time to hear the discussion concerning the curse. He snorted lightly in disdain. "This is one of the prevailing problems with magic, you see." He says with an air of authority, real or not. "You come up on an old piece of work, and damn all if you can tell what it does without researching it for the next few months." He says, and shrugs, looking towards the house. "Let's just hope that's the only magical malady we run into during our stay."

Colo had her ridiculously overstuffed pack already on her back, flattening her wings, but she was a ways away from the group, already near the building. She kept looking up at it curiously, examining the architecture, while occasionally glancing back at the group.

The cat got out of the bus herself in the meantime, and was busy trying to align the antennae on the portable thaummeter when one of the resident beings decided the time to be ripe for showcasing his ignorance, as beings are wont to do.
She turned towards him, and rolled her eyes.
"I see mister's an expert! Of course, how ridiculous, to actually make an effort at analyzing what's going on instead of rushing headlong into whatever's ahead, an approach that's been shown to work so well throughout history. Because it might *gasp* take a while!" She crossed her arms on her chest, and fluffed up her wings. "See, the thing about magic is that it doesn't go away just because you can't be arsed to examine it."

Zanfib looked over with a neutral expression.. that broke into a smug grin. "Your buttons? They are entirely too easy to press." He says, turning his expression towards the mansion. "This is going to be fun."

"Fun loving, aren't we?" the cat grinned.
She extended a tentacle towards the ringtail, tapped him on the muzzle, and whispered something under her breath.
Whoosh!
In front of him, floating in mid-air, and warming his face and paws, appeared a grey "board" with a bright red "button", composed of constantly shifting  smoke and flames.
"Playing with fire is a thing, you know."

Zanfib raised his eyebrows at the display. He actually appreciated the meshing of the phrases, but his grin only seemed to come back even stronger as he looked back at her again.

"Oh yes, fire is quite hot, so it's little wonder that I would delight in playing with it, don't you think?" He said, and then laughed out-loud. "I've waited for so long to use that line!!"

He concentrated just a little, and almost as if on queue, purple, glowing energy manifested near the button, formed into a hand with one outstretched finger... and made as if it were repeatedly pressing the button.

At the sight of the pokefinger, the cat chuckled into a handkerchief.
"Peerhaps, but you're forgetting hot things have a little tendency to burn"
At a wave of a tentacle, the button warped into a fiery palm, which impacted the purple hand with a resounding slap, sending a shower of sparks at Zanfib.

Jeremiah fell into step with Leland heading toward the hotel, rolling his eyes at the antics of two of the party's more psychically inclined. Girls, girls, you're both very pretty, but I believe our paychecks are THIS way athankew.
You need to learn to curb that judgemental streak.
Shut up Cab.
It's not good for you.
Worried I'm becoming bitter?
Gods no, but I've counted at least two sets of headwings in this group.
Ah, hm.
"Leland, sir," the frog folded the nearly forgotten honorific into his speech smoothly, "do you know if the hotel amenities are still functional? Gas, water and so on."

Zanfib's eyes lit up, the smug smirk becoming bemused. His first instinct was to block the sparks, or merely move out of the way.. But the cat was out of the bag and out on the town, so to speak.

He caught the sparks telekineticly, and instead of sending them off, he brought them up and around his hand, gathering in a small, match-sized flame at the tip of his finger. He then grinned to the succubus.

"If you can't take the heat, get out of the bedroom." He says, the smugness returning in force.

Colo just watched, a safe distance away with a confused look on her tilted face. People are weird!

Jarevei waited for the magic users (oh, pardon, magic user and psion) to finish their little catfight (haha). He didn't want to leave the bus until all the heated spells were done flying past his face. Ketefe waited a bit less patiently behind him. Once the ringtail made his comment, she rolled her eyes. Something about this guy reminded her of Khimara, but she wasn't going to take one pervy joke against him. Just remember, this is still better than prison. Once they were done, she spoke up.

"You guys done whipping 'em out? Can we get out WITHOUT catching fire now? Taking the heat is one thing, but if we're gonna get through here alive we need to at least pretend to like each other, and that'll be easier if we're all intact BEFORE we enter the hotel." She nudged Jarevei again; now that the hotel was so close she was itching to go start their work.

Jarevei grinned, reaching carefully down with his cane before taking the steps down from the bus. "You know, Teff, you say things like that, and you still don't understand why they want you in the military." He looked in the driver's direction. "I appreciate the offer, but it's really only the last step that gives me trouble."

And with some token grumbling from Ketefe, they made it down the stairs and joined the rest of the party.

"Well, if the only hot thing you can manage in there is a heated argument, I guess you have no other option."
The cat flicked her tentacle, and tossed a match-head sized flame towards Zanfib's hand, where it began orbiting the bigger flame he held.
Before she could add anything  (such as a few more orbiting bodies) , a complaintful voice from inside the bus interrupted her thoughts.
"No." she said, a mask of seriousness on her face. "I absolutely forbid you from leaving without at least a lit cigarette."
She chuckled.

Michael dropped a medium sized case by the rest of Leland's luggage. "MageNet Emergency Radio." The angel declared sternly. "I already set in frequencies for my shop, my home, and the local rangers. if shit hits the fan." He points at the case.

"Ladies, you're both pretty." He muttered at Zanfib and Kallis, handing another case to Jeremiah. "You'll probably need this, my friend."

Leland watched as Michael climbed back on his bus and started the engine. "Well, you coming?" he addressed his employees, he glanced at Jeremiah's question. "How should I know. Should be easy enough to turn the water on anyways."

Colo might have caught the glimpse of something moving in the windows. A curtain shaking the wind? Or something else entirely?

The smug smirk never left Zanfib's face, a seemingly impenetrable mask of arrogance. "Sorry, my dear." He said, as the flame and sparks in his hand turned as violet as his eyes. "But cigarettes make for a terrible kisser." He continued as the flames suddenly vanished in a rush of wind, kinetic energy becoming another form of kinetic energy. "Wouldn't you rather order a pizza instead?" He said with a lecherous wink, before he turned, and headed up to the front door.

"My dear man, I do believe we are waiting on you! Come on now, I'm sure you need to unlock the door, don't you?" He called as he hefted his duffel bag onto his shoulder.

Colo just kept watching with an exasperated and confused expression on her face. She understood physics, mathematics, machinery and even things that many beings and creatures in this world had not even begun to theorize upon, but PEOPLE? Regular enigma, them. She sighed, idly beating her headwings as she took a glance at the house and then looked back.. and then jerked her head right back in a sudden double-take.

Did that move? Wait, what moved? The curtains? But the air flow would be shut off.. What...

She kept watching for a while longer.

Jeremiah sighed. Water would work? He foresaw a lot of being yelled at; he wasn't an amazing cook to begin with, but it was at least passable as long as he had access to, y'know, fire.
The man could probably do with swapping out one of those daily roast quails for the occasional salad.
Thank, you, Cab. That's very helpful.
The frog grunted as Micheal handed him the case, and reached to pick up the radio as well. "Ghn, what's in it?"
Magic bricks!
The rest of the hotel!
A full suit of armor!
More quails!
Oh my god if you all don't shut up while I'm working I am going to WATERBOARD you with absinthe. Recently, Nex and Plic had been trying their hand at being funny. Jeremiah had reached the conclusion that they were terrible at it. Bal, of course, had encouraged them excessively.

[[OoC: Charging...CLEAR! *BZZT*]]

Jarevei laughed good-naturedly at Kallis' remark, noting that the fight had finally calmed down. "Well, as long as people's tempers aren't flaring on the outside, let's get going, hm?" He began to tap his way towards the building, following the general direction of the footsteps and the scent of the quiet girl from the bus. She seemed more nervous now than when she'd gotten off the bus, but he wasn't close enough yet to place why. Something about the girl pulled on his more nosily-helpful instincts. Shouldn't pry until I have to, though. Pretty sure she's a magic user too; Leland hired a lot of them, and considering how little she's been doing it would add up.

Ketefe, meanwhile, had stopped to help Jeremiah. "Need some help? I travel light, I can carry some of the heavier stuff if you like."

"Drugs. Michael answered the toad. He wasn't joking. If Jeremiah opened the case he'd find full cartoon of reefers. The ferret angel returne dto his bus.

The engine of Michael's bus roared to life, as he began it's trek back into town.

Leland unlocked the front doors. "Well, I suppose we should get ourselves comfy while we wait for the next bus to arrive. He grinned waiting for everyone to gather before showing them the Hotel's lobby.

Zanfib hefted his duffel bag over his shoulder and headed in with little fanfare, though he gave the inside a very scrutinizing look over.

Colo, however, seemed to determined to be the last one in, even though she was closer to the main group than she had been before. She kept looking back in a distracted manner at the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of.. whatever that had been.

Pizza. . .
The mention of this rather unusual foodstuff led Kallis down a path of thoughts through one of the first parties at SAIA she seen one on, ("So you put lecsó on a piece of flat bread and roast it?") towards the general food supply of the party. There was a lot of beings here, and from what she recalled, beings needed lots of food, and if they run short of supply they might get starving and violent... Violent allies isn't a good thing, is it? I should check. . .
Looking up, she noticed Zanfib was well gone, with, as she realized, the last word in the little spar. Eh. He's amusing, anyhow, and not getting eaten by a bunch of half-mad, starving beings takes priority.
With a concerned look and a mental image of her fellow adventurers dressed in tattered Kebrean prison uniforms drooling in her direction, the cat cornered Michael.
"Drugs? But is there any food? Does anyone have any food with them? Does the mansion have any food in it? And water, don't forget water!"

Before Michael left town he glanced at Kallis, the motioned to their employer. "I'd ask him."

The doorway to the hotel swung open, Leland strolling in still grinning. The floor was marble with red carpets leading to a large oak reception desk, behind the desk two stairways leading up further into the lobby. Blinding white marble pillars, electrical lightning, chandeliers, the hotel was pristine!


Far too pristi8ne for building that had been abandoned for centuries, allegedly. The hotel looked as new as the day it opened on the faithful gala. The armadillo rushed for the desk at breakneck pace, searching the keys for something. Above the desk, ona balcony was strange, green red plant. It was huge, spanning the entire balcony, and appeared over grown.  Other then the plant the lobby was devoid of any signs of life.

Zanfib only took a step or two inside, and then froze with a paranoid and puzzled look on his face. He turned about, looking all around with a wary, cross look. "Allright, let me get this straight. The outside is disheveled and dilapidated, especially the pavement, but the inside is immaculate?" He says incredulously, and then his eyes linger upon the large plant. "And apparently incredibly well fertilized." He said with a hint of tired sarcasm, "Really Leland, this deserves at least an explanation."

Colo was peeking in from the entrance. She noted the electrical lightning first and foremost. Everything seemed to be working fine. Now she couldn't ponder why she was here..

Kallis  looked around only to see her employer already making a beeline for the entrance to the mansion. Spitting out a "Thanksbye" at Michael, she rushed off in his direction in a mode that could (if the armadillo's own pace was breakneck) only be described as "arse over head" - wrapping a pair of her tentacles around herself to keep the stuff in her pockets still, and using the rest of them to bounce off the ground and stabilize herself.

"SIR? Do we-saintilyaswing-"

*CRASH*

Failing to notice the ringtail emerging in the doorway, Kallis promptly proved the description of her pace true by smashing into him like a cannonball into an unlucky sailor, if the cannonball had flailing tentacles, a face, and a terrified look on it. The pair carried on en masse for several metres more, rolling along and sweeping the still surprisingly polished floor until the stand of a table put a stop to their advance.

Zanfib lay there in a heap, tangled up with the succubus in a most ungratifying manner. The impact had caught the usually aware psion completely by surprise, owing to the fact he had been concentrating on this very out of place, immaculate scene.

"You know.." He said, as his tail finally began to reduce its apparent mass back down to normal, "I could make some crack about you being ever so eager to be all over me, but really now?" He says, dis-tangling himself and picking himself off the ground, before engaging in a feeble attempt to readjust his disheveled clothing. Then he looked down at the succubus with a level glare. "Do pay a bit more attention, won't you?"

On Kallis's side, the situation was somewhat worse, though a bit of conscious effort towards thinning and stream-lining the tentacles allowed her to untangle herself with relative ease. Ignoring the ringtail, she went through her pockets, accounting for a somewhat unlikely array of items at a frantic pace.

The silver's fine.. and if the other one broke, I'd feel it. Mirror, good...

In the end, the only thing to emerge with damage was a chipped magnifying glass, and a broken pipette, but the second and a minute or so worth of transformation magic worked wonders to fix the first.

"Sorry! It was.. is urgent! The future of this expedition is at stake!" She looked around, localizing Leland once again. "Also, an old bit of wisdom goes "Whoever keeps his face at the door will soon get a door in the face.". I'm pretty sure you keeping it in mind would make this happen a lot less often."

"Quite alright, Ketefe," Jeremiah grinned at the cat, in his usual manner. "I'm officially on waitstaff for this job. That means I do the carrying and you do the exploring."
It was peculiar though. Not that he didn't APPRECIATE such gifts (he had, after all, been an art teacher), why would the fellow have said they would NEED them? Nonetheless, one neatly rolled joint disappeared into his sleeve.

Hell, the place didn't even seem that bad! Walking in Jeremiah marveled at the well-preserved decor. And marble! Well carved, classical marble! Why the fact that it wasn't scuffed or chipped after all this time alone was a pretty good start!
He did find it strange that the place was so well put together but Jeremiah was quite adamantly hiding behind his title of waitstaff, most importantly from himself. Yes, he had every reason to KNOW it was a peculiar sign, but it was like running off a cliff in a cartoon. If he didn't look down, maybe he wouldn't fall.

He sidestepped the abrupt pile of Zanfib and Kallis, with a softly chortled "Huh, Cubi."

[[UPDATE: Edited by your friendly neighborhood co-GM to add the new recruit(s) on! Be sure to read thoroughly.]]

Ketefe's ears flickered when she learned what was in the suitcases. I guess the job IS going to be that bad, she mused. Still, Peter had made it clear before she left that if she wasn't good as gold during this job, she'd lose her chance at a real career. Even if he was partially bluffing, she didn't want to risk it. Shrugging at Jeremiah's refusal of help, she walked to catch up with the others. Jarevei had already gotten well ahead of her, though he was still one of the stragglers of the group.

Both of them had to pause, though, when they reached the door. The hall was beautiful, if some of the architecture was a little out-of-place. Ketefe didn't even need to describe it; Jarevei could practically smell how clean it was. They stood in awe of the place for a few seconds.

It would have stayed an impressive sight if Leland hadn't taken off like a shot into the building, and one of the succubi hadn't barreled headfirst into the ringtail she'd been bickering with earlier. Ketefe did a marvelous job of trying to keep a straight face until Jarevei spoke up, at which point she let herself double over and cackle.

"...Okay, someone fill in the blind guy...was that a living tumbleweed-monster that hit the ringtail, or the woman I was talking to earlier?" He sniffed the air. "Also, why does it smell like pollen and theater props in here?"

Once she was done laughing, Ketefe looked around, noticing first a hanging tendril of the plant. She followed it with her eyes, her gold irises widening the more she followed. Her laugh quickly died from curiosity. "It was the woman, and that smell is the... giant... fucking... plant on the balcony - what is that?" She looked back down for Leland, but he was still gone, so her attention went back to the massive plant.

Before he could truly appreciate the plant's monstrosity, Jarevei's ears perked up. He tapped his way hurriedly back to the door. Ketefe blinked and turned to watch him go; she had barely heard him leave, even with the cane. "Sweetie, what-? Where are you going?"

"Someone's here," he said, barely turning back. She hadn't heard it due to her distraction, and he had almost missed it himself due to the heavy door muffling all outside noise, but the sound of a bus braking to a stop was unmistakable. He opened the door, slipped out and watched as a new bus pulled up.

The bus's door opened with a hiss, and a rather tubby bobcat in the same style of uniform Michael had been wearing stepped out of it first. He glanced up at the hotel, then did a double-take when he saw the cat standing outside.

"Oh shit, we're not already late are we?" he mumbled as the cat walked closer. Before Jarevei reached them, he turned back to the bus. "A'right, all two of ya, get out here and meet your coworkers before the boss has my hide!" When he turned to Jarevei again, his shoulders slumped in relief. No, the blind brunet tomcat was not a black-haired douchebag armadillo. Sometimes there was mercy in the world.

Slowly heading down the steps of the bus was a young looking coyote, a big grin on her face and an acoustic guitar upon her back as well as a large pair of grey feathered wings.  Hazel eyes look over the frames of her emerald lensed glasses and tilts her head. One thing quite noticable about her besides the wings was her long midnight blue hair. Moving aside to get ready to unpack her bags from the bus itself. She giving a friendly wave to those who glance upon her idly tapping her foot on the ground, she begins to take a quick look around, this is when folks would probably take note she was merely wearing a simple two-tone t-shirt and some black leather jeans. "Well, this place is quieter than i thought it'd be..." She said runming a gloved hand through her hair. hough she was soon rummaging through one of he bags she had on her with a happy grin still spread across her muzzle whilst she waited for her bags to be unloaded.  (Not the best opening post but i hope it'll suffice. )

Harmond waits until everyone is off of the bus before getting off himself. It had taken time to get to this place but he knew it would prove to be worth the trouble. Closing his book, he stepped off the bus and pulled back his hood to get a better look around.  His mismatched eyes had a look of mild disinterest and he scratched his coal black hair while wandering around.

After being satisfied with looking around, he dug into his knapsack to make sure all of the tools he needed were there before drawing a sword from its scabbard on his back. One would hope that there would be no use for it but he knew otherwise. Realistically, he would definitely use it at least once and it was always good to make sure it was still sharp. After all, it was the stories of the bloodshed in this place that caught his interest in the first place. Well..that and the prospect of finding something of magical value to him (money was trivial, it was the magical items that did you the most good in the long run).

Glancing breifly at the mess that was Zanfib and Kallis, he stepped into the shadow of the balcony and pulled out the book he had been reading on the bus, 'The Essentials of Understanding A Murderer's Mind'. Harmond then sheathed his sword once more, and pulled his hood over his head, leaving only his muzzle and a few bangs visible. Reading a  psychiatrist's misguided rambles was a pleasant way to pass time and wait for a guide of some sort to arrive. If there was one anyway.

Jeremiah's poking and prodding about the foyer had yielded nothing of note thus far; including, most disappointingly, a map. Productive rummaging had given way to curiosity, and he was just creeping up the stairs to the balcony to examine the plant when the other car showed up. Turning back, he saw the newcomers enter.
A guitar? Did Leland hire a musician? The impracticality of such a decision aside, Jeremiah had a soft spot for live music. It was something about how instruments looked, he thought. Seeing the players hands work in time with the sound. It was charming.
"Ah, there are a lot of us. Sir?!" The frog looked around for Leland. "Sir, I believe I should probably see to arranging rooms for the group. The property is safe to explore, I assume?"
Cursed. Forest.
Right.
"Safe enough, at any rate?"

Zanfib watches the newcomers with only a mild interest, before looking for the obese employer of this lot. "Just how many did he hire? And what else is he not telling us?" He says, and then sighs in an annoyed fashion.

However, on a second examination he found a newcomer he was interested in, the coyote. Well. He thought to himself, They say artists make great lovers, though I can't say I approve of those silly glasses.

The second bus sped off, should anyone take a look at it they would see what could very well be their last glimpse of civilization on the back: A sign for Michael's company, complete with the ferret's heft face grinning like a Cheshire cat on Valium. As the ferret's face finally vanished, the bus hurrying off, the clouds cracked loudly, a storm threatening to hit any second now for anyone hapless enough to be caught right outside.

Inside, Leland grinned, the armadillo finding precisely the key he was looking for. "I'll be taking the royal suite in the main tower." he glanced at Jeremiah,. " *you* will be taking the Servants quarters of that suite." He said plainly. You will escort me up there and once everything is set up, then you may pick your lodgings."

The ledger on the table seems new, with names of guests from that fateful night written on it in fresh ink. And did that over hanging plant just move on it's own?

Leland  quickly scanned the front desk's office, but otherwise left the door wide open.

When the new hires completely ignored him, Jarevei only smiled. He was very used to this by now, though he could feel the bus driver snort in indignation at their rudeness.

"Right, welp, seems you're all set here. I'll let you folks get back to work. And, uh...good luck," the bobcat added, before clambering back into the driver's seat and starting the bus up again.

Jarevei got out of the way before the bus turned, following the new recruits up the walk to the hotel again and examining them as subtly as he could. One was female, winged and canine, and he could smell hair dye on her, though he couldn't tell the color (he was not that skilled yet). There was something strapped to her back; the subtle noise of notes when a breeze blew by told him the item had guitar strings. Ketefe would like that; though she wouldn't admit it often, she enjoyed music. The other was also canine, but a different species, and Jarevei could smell paper on him. He smiled again at the presence of a fellow book lover. He wondered if he'd be willing to share a few titles; Ketefe could use a few more books, and she'd happily read non-Braille writing to him when he was curious.

Ketefe, meanwhile, was busy watching the massive plant, refusing to approach it for the time being as she waited for Leland to direct them to their rooms. Jeremiah was, for once, a bit bolder than her about approaching the danger. Since his paycheck wasn't partially comprised of a revoked prison sentence, it made sense. Then she heard the sound of oak tapping on marble.

"The new recruits are here, Mr. Steinbahg," Jarevei said, speaking for the first time since he'd walked to the bus. "I assume there's enough room for all of us? From the echo in here, I'm guessing all of us could sleep in the front lobby quite comfortably."

Zanfib darted his eyes back to their employer, as they narrowed in annoyance. "And not a single question answered. How splendid. Well then, I suppose our only concern right now is sorting out our rooms." He says. hefting his duffel bag again as he readied to follow the others. He kept a wary eye on the plant from earlier that remained a mystery, thanks to their selfish employer.

Harmond's ears twitch as he catches what seems to be a blind gentleman's reference to the rooms they would be assigned.

"Enough room..." he muttered to himself. Now that he looked around more, this place WAS odd. The state of the inside and outside of the building was one thing but the range and diversity of the group had him worried. It was expected that there would be some element of magic involved but with this many magical scents wafting around, it might as well have putting up a neon sign that said, 'MAGICAL HAZARD HERE'.

Seemed like he would need to rely upon his...other...abilities.  it would obviously get him noticed if used carelessly but Harmond had no intention of that. Besides, all his other skills had helped him before...then again, that plant near him gave him an odd feeling. Never hurt to be a bit paranoid. Too many near-death experiences to not take everything into account.

With that, he strode over to Jarevei and Mr. Steinbahg, coughing slightly to make himself noticed. Once he was sure that he was acknowledged, Harmond spoke in a slightly monotone voice. "Pardon...I agree in terms of space but I get the feeling that some...items...would be only too happy for us to stay here longer than necessary. I think it would be best to start the room assignments; everyone is ready to ready themselves for tonight....at least I am." He looked at the both of them with a slightly dry smile while listening for  any potential problems in the lobby.

"Mr... Steinbahg?"
The armadillo completely ignored her query with such a natural, matter of course manner that for a moment, the succubus wasn't even sure if she had asked him anything, at least until he completely ignored her for a second time.
Very well... but don't come to me when there'll be starving beings gnawing on your bones... Wait, he's a being too
She stared at his back as he left, pondering whether he'd be the one gnawing, gnawed on, or both, until something in her field of view took her attention.

A red-green tendril, slowly flapping about in the air currents. As a quick glance told her, it extended down from the balcony, ending in a roughly barrel-shaped stem alongside a few dozen similar appendages.  Her eyes widened, and she slowly approached closer, her magnifying glass in a tentacle.

"This thing looks just like the Kalpakstani manyvine! I... wow. Never would have guessed to see a real one, not after the Kalpakstani khanate ran an eradication campaign. Come have a look, folks! You probably won't see this again." She thought for a moment. "At least if I'm right, the thorns look kinda off, to what I remembered... but in any case don't touch it and don't make sudden movements nearby, just to be sure."

"An EXCELLENT idea." Jeremiah insinuated himself next to Harmond with an almost audible 'pop' of service industry selective noticeability. This had two functions; one, it caught the attentions of the nearby members of the group, and two, it made it look like Harmond was agreeing with Leland. Distasteful though the idea was, the better they got at mollifying the man the easier everyone's lives would be.
The frog took two steps back and conjured up a light with a flick of his wrist. Who said illusion magic was useless?
"Everybody, hup-two! The electricity isn't on, the building is old and frankly I don't much like the look of the flora. No offense," he shot up to the plant on the balcony with an apologetic grin. This job already seemed like a crapshoot, best cope with some comedy, "Stick close to one another. Ketefe, Zanfib, would you two be so kind as to help me with Leland's luggage?" Jeremiah, noticeably, had grabbed the suitcase that had been a gift from the prior bus driver. Three guesses whose room that was ending up in, and the first two didn't count. The frog grabbed the clipboard off the desk with a flourish and scanned over the names; strange the document had been left, but maybe the room numbers listed could help them keep track of where they were.
"Going by what we saw outside the tower should be a straight shot down this hallway and to the left; the sooner we get the luggage set aside the sooner I can find us all rooms that aren't seventy percent black mold yet." He lobbed the illusionary light up to bob over his shoulder and gave a sweeping bow, gesturing down the dark halls into the hotel. "Whenever you're all ready, of course."

It took some effort not to pull out his weapons and attack when this other person appeared without warning.  If there was something he truly hated, it was being snuck up on. More than once, he'd nearly killed someone because of it.

With an almost inaudible sigh, Harmond made sure that his things were in place and began to mentally check all of his protection spells. It wasn't the black mold he was worried about, but the fact that the plant was acting suspicious told him all he needed to know.

The frog said it perfectly: this place was OLD. That menat that there were magicks embedded deep in the walls and made EVERYTHING lethal. The first thing he'd do in his room, was identify as many spells that were lingering as possible. Hopefully that would give him a small chance of surviving.  That's if everyone started moving first.

Zanfib just sighed, and with a brief bit of focus, much of Leland's luggage lifted off the ground of its own accord, and began to drift along. Thus the tall-tale glow of the ringtail's eyes.

"I sincerely hope that electricity is high on our list of priorities?" He asks dryly.

"I don't mind if there's no electricity personally, but I'm sure our host has something figured out," Jarevei said, grinning as he mentally berated himself for his own terrible joke. Better to beat Leland to it, he rationalized. Once he heard the voice of the succubus again, he tapped his way over to the stairs, following the smell of pollen to where it was strongest. "You know this species? Was it moving earlier?"

Ketefe picked up the luggage that Zanfib wasn't carrying, feeling the back of her neck prick a little as she watched the psion's eyes glow. The cases that weren't full of drugs were quite heavy, but she didn't feel too encumbered. She glanced over at Jeremiah, who was apparently addressing the plant.

"I know SOME people talk to plants, but... not to be rude, but can this one hear us?" She also glanced at one of the new arrivals, and how he'd jumped when Jeremiah had snuck up on him. She knew the signs of highly-tuned survival instinct all too well. So she sidled a bit closer and making sure he noticed her before speaking quietly.

"Relax a little. I'm sure whatever is here isn't going to try to kill us yet. And there's not that much risk of it being one of us, I think." She knew better, at this point, than to offer false assurances. Realistic assurances were just as risky, but more honest.

He mentally gave a groan as he heard the joke. Was it REALLY that important to say it? Then again, it WAS just sitting there. Better that man said it the way he did than some other sap.

Harmond looked over and gave Ketefe a dry smile before talking. "I'm sure it can, considering the age of some of this building's magicks. And thanks for the assurance.  I'd rather not have anything take us out at all...but that's just the way some things go I suppose."

Looking at her, it seemed like she was all too aware of the possible dangers here..and she was no stranger to survival. Mabye she would be a good person to befriend in case things got messy; which undoubtedly, it would. "If it was one of us, I would hope it wouldn't be you. The name's Harmond." He held out his hand before speaking again. "Want some help? I've got free hands."

"It can hear you."
The cat slowly turned her head towards Ketefe, while two of her tentacles formed, equally slowly, a loop around the tendril.
"Well, sort of. Not in a way you think. See, they have this thing about picking up air and soil vibrations. Body heat, too." The tendril began to probingly edge towards one of her tentacles. She widened the loop.
"It's why I said don't make sudden movements. It generally hunts by creatures bumping into and getting accidentally stuck to the red sticky bits, lunging at them before they can get  unstuck -" the cat pointed at somewhere on the surface of the tendril, "or  ones that are noisy or hot enough that the plant thinks they're closer than they are, which works out often enough not to be bred out of the gene pool. It's probably why the mansion's owner chose to plant some near  the entrance - helps with intruders trying to run in or out, or firing guns. When I think of it, bringing torches nearby would not be a clever idea either."
She turned back towards the plant.
"It also has beautifully scented flowers, when in season."  

"It can hear you."
Jeremiah stiffened, having wandered within to feet of one of the plants tendrils. He took one smart step back, trying to convince himself that the twitch it gave in his direction was a draft. He edged around the others into the hallway and continued, little light bobbing.
"Ah, how delightfully eccentric of the old owners." He gave a forced grin, "When it's in season, you say? When would that be?"
Distractedly nattering on, if only to distract himself from his near brush with death, the frog didn't really seem to notice he'd taken the lead into the dark. "I rather like gardening myself, actually! My grandmother grew mandrakes, sold them by the bushel to local mages. Lovely woman. Deaf as a log. Actually you could say it runs in the family!" His gesturing with the hand not carrying the luggage made his light bob and shake about, casting dramatic and peculiar shadows in short bursts along with his speech, "My aunt-" A piece of floor crumbled under his heel, and the light bobbed again as he righted himself, "whoop, that's not good. My aunt was rather fond of apple trees, and kept trying to plant them on her property. Managed to get pears, oranges, dragonfruit, olives, and bananas to take, but never apples. Her ex husband was a druid, they truck in oddly specific curses some days..."
Babbling on, the frog faded further into the dark. If folks didn't catch up, they could very well lose the light.

"It's funny how eccentric and pragmatic overlap, right?"  The cat slowly, purposefully shifted away from the plant, and bent backwards to stretch her back for a bit.
"The flowers... actually it's gonna be in a few months. See that little dark patch on the stem, up there? That's where the flower bud will grow from. And grow I mean." She spread her paws outwards. "The thing's about a pound! With the unripe seed pod below, of course."
Her voice dropped to a slightly mischievous-sounding half-whisper. "I don't know about you but if we make it through, I'm gonna take one of those as a salary supplement. And if you know the right people the seed should bring in a hefty sum-"
She noticed her fellow's voice ringing somewhat more distant out of a sudden.
"Hey, wait for me!"
In an attempt to reconcile the group's advancement with the plant's nutritional habits, Kallis engaged in what was probably the slowest dash ever, moving deliberately slowly in steps as long as she could manage. In fact, Jeremiah could almost see her legs elongate somewhat, if he watched, though to be honest about the extent of her shapeshifting ability she likely didn't do that on purpose.
"Ah, here. Anyhow.. why didn't she try to pay an enchanter to fix it? I mean, I have removed a good deal of curses, and in general the only ones that you can't with some elbow grease involve rituals nasty enough to have the one who did it grabbed by the militia. Who usually force them to remove it too - it's a wonder what sort of a deal you can wring out of people when you promise them they won't be executed for something that'd definitely warrant it." She grinned. "Don't look like that, my uncle was a militionary and I listened to a lot of his work stories!"   

Ketefe turned in surprise to Kallis. The plant certainly did sound impressive, the way she described it. She made a mental note to look it up in Jarevei's books later. "Oh, it flowers? Well, that sounds nice, at least. I hope it doesn't think of us as intruders, for now." Then she turned back to the wolf with a smile.

"I'm Ketefe, and near the stairs is Jarevei. Nice to meet you," Ketefe responded. "I appreciate the offer, but I can handle these. Hey honey?" she called to Jarevei ... who was tapping closer to the plant again. Jeremiah was already moving farther away, babbling nervously. Ketefe decided she'd make it easier on her friend, but clearly Jarevei was too curious to care. "Um, when she said that, she wasn't inviting you to move closer to the guard-plant. Come here and help me find the rooms?"

"Just a second, Teff," the tom called back. What the succubus had said about the plant intrigued him. It was a rare chance for him to meet a creature that experienced the world the same way he did. However, she was already moving away from it too, trying to talk to the frog, and she knew the most about it. Jarevei was curious, not stupid. So he followed her instead, resolving to go back to the plant later and picking up his pace. He could hear Ketefe breathe a sigh of relief.

"If it can hear us, will it respond, miss...?" He hesitated, realizing he had never gotten the woman's name.

"Kallis of clan Ja'Krath. Kallis will do. Anything asides from Klumsy McCrosseye or variations thereof will do, in fact." the cat responded with a serious tone, and a wide grin. "Anyhow... I don't think we're being quite loud enough or close enough for it to respond in the way it tends to... I mean, it's more picking up where prey is than real hearing, since not much is being said in a forest, and even if it was, the plants would probably wilt from sheer boredom before learning anything remotely useful."

"Klumsey McCrosseye?" The ringtailed cat asks incredulously with a small grin. "Really now, if that's what your friends call you, I have to wonder what lovers make to be your pet names!"

After a brief chuckle, he looks at the bags, and then up at the collection of begins and creatures. "So are we fixing the gardening first, or are we actually going to make this place habitable some time this week?" He asks in a sarcastic tone while that bushy tail of his flicks about irritably.

"A pleasure to meet you both..." Harmond trailed off in mid-sentence as he looked at Kallis. She seemed to know the plant well...so there was a good chance that she was well informed in many things. And that clan name...it sounded vaguely familiar.

Looking around, he noticed that there was one person that was missing...or seemed missing anyway. That frog had vanished somewhere but the sound of nervous chatter was easy to pick up on. There was nothing worse than a nervous guide; particularly this once since he was trying to get away from the plant so fast. "Well, as much fun as we're having talking I agree; we need to go. Our nervous guide is already on the run."

He followed the sound of nattering, taking care to watch where he stepped. This place was OLD. It would stand to reason that it wasn't just the spells and creatures guests would have to be careful for, it was the overall state of the place. It really felt like this place was intent on killing and never allowing escape; if not death, then serious injury. Just that thought alone made his fur bristle.

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Kallis shifted her gaze towards the ever-present ever-pervy ringtail being. "Though, I can probably hazard a guess at yours, Mr. Speed Racer."
She rummaged through her robe, bringing up one of the notebooks and a pencil.
"Though, good point. We should set up base camp somewhere near here so that leaving in case of need isn't such a nightmare, and then make a plan on exploring, mapping and cleaning the place up. I'm thinking paired groups."

"They never found the source of the blasted thing, spell was triple layered and worked into the lawn itself." Jeremiah chuckled, "not much of a mage myself, just what the guy from the hextidying company said. Big bovine fella in overalls, charged an arm and a leg too..." he shot Ketefe an anxious, appreciative smile as she approached, but then Kallis suggested small groups...
"Ohhhh no!" The frog whirled toward the cubi as if struck, eyes bugging. "Absolutely not. I have been in enough abandoned CASTLES," the frog raised a finger, "apartment complexes," another finger went up, "mountain villages, forests, and boats," the particular emphasis on the final entry seemed to indicate some level of insult, as if he had taken the boat instance rather personally, "to say right now that I do not truck with any 'lets split up gang' shenanigans. It always ends with me and probably him," he jerked a thumb at Zanfib, "falling down an elevator shaft, finding the one stove that still leaks gas, or being chased through the halls by something with more teeth than brain cells. Getting chased aint like in the cartoons, friend. Yakkity sax doesnt play in the background, you just sprint for your life and hope you dont die." The frog blinked, and then took a deep breath. "Sorry, it's not like it's even certain there is anything here, besides the topiary. But I've seen that go awry much too many times." He nodded to Ketefe, "remember the castle? Folks would just wander off and vanish."
"Besides, the heat and water may still work!" Jeremiah grinned, "We're surrounded by luxury hotel rooms, with beds! Big beds, maybe a minibar!" He reached out and opened a hallway door, "I doubt we'll neet to establish a-"
The floor of the room had almost completely fallen away into a basement storage room, creating a pit of jagged, splintered boards immediately after the edge of the doorframe. The butler paused with one foot in midair, about to step in.
On the other side of the pit, half damaged but with a recognizable,  mostly intact mattress, was the bed. A skilled long jumper MIGHT reach it safely.
Jeremiah slowly closed the door and paused a long moment, staring blankly. He then took out the clipboard from the lobby and a pen, looked up the room number, and crossed it out.
"... we were heading for the tower because it was mostly intact, so maybe we get a little closer first, but tell me more about this camp idea!"

Harmond shook his head as the guide freaked out. From what he could make out from his long rant, it seemed that Jeremiah had been through his own share of problems. "I agree with the frog....at least when it comes to small groups. It's too easy to get picked off in a place like this. At the same time, Kallis is right about mapping and exploring. We need to know exactly what we're up against...cleaning though, is a bit dangerous. Some things should be left alone...it's far too easy to leave a death trap in a mess like this."

He watched as the frog nearly dropped into what looked like the basement when he opened the door. Far across the pit, was a bed that looked intact...which was incredibly suspicious. That was all he needed to see; everything around was a complete death trap. "Luxury hotel, hmm? That room said otherwise...and going to a TOWER of all places is a HORRIBLE idea. That's usually where people get trapped easily and killed even easier." He sighed and looked at Kallis nervously. "We really should assess our strengths as well. First that plant, then the floor of that room...nobody should let their guard down."

"Oh come now." The being said, with his smug mask firmly in place, "I'm sure someone has had you in the nude quicker than I could! Perhaps the same one who gave you that adorable nickname?"

Regardless, he clapped the frog on the shoulder (not to knock him into the pit, mind you) and said, "Bit of a problem there. If our tree friend, wherever he may be, is to be believed? The forest appears full of hate, malice, and certain death because magic. So, camping could be trouble. Has anyone even seen the tree man about?" He asks the group.

Then he looks to Harmond. "Bit of a problem there too. See, apparently the tower is the only place, thus far, that isn't receiving the same time-applied interior redecorating as this lovely room right here. So, it's tower or bust, it seems." He says with a shrug. "But, at the very least, you've got me, a psionic specialist, someone with the powerful abilities of the mind, instead of the fickle and unreliable dabbling of magic." He says in a tone that need not be named...

The cat smirked, reminiscing a couple chases she's seen in SAIA where yakkety sax actually was the background, courtesy of a mythos capable of emitting saxxy sounds from their beak's nostrils. It usually were Tauns and Owonas, chasing after people that pissed them off, but at least once she seen an excited Nact'larn chase about their target of interest, terrified enough to provide lunches for dozens of Kish'ta bystanders.
"You're getting it off. I didn't say, wander off alone - but traveling everywhere in this place as a glued-together bunch makes for its own set of troubles. Like, there are corridors we'd likely occupy from beginning to end, never mind rooms. At any rate, that massive hole in the floor seems just SO luxurious."
Before she could add something about relative merits of towers when one has wings, the rather perv-sistent ringtail from before spoke again.
"It was actually Roxanne, my roommate. Though you are actually right about something this time."  She waved her tentacle about the room. "Absolutely everyone could have me in the nude before you would, including that handsome plank poking out from under the bed."
Three above, he went towards magic again.. but at least the verbal sparring was fun.
"Oh powerful, redolent psion, I bow before thine confabulatory aptitude. 'Fickle and unreliable'." A rub of chin in a theatrically thoughtful way. "Hmm, I guess that description suggests that there really is magic down your pants."

"Wonderful. Just...wonderful. I'm ALMOST tempted to take my chances in the forest, if I couldn't smell the age-old blood of others who went in there before. And thank you, but I'm aware of what a psionic specialist is. Hopefully, we can do a check on the tower as we make our way there...just in case there are other guests waiting for us to arrive. I have some mind-skills myself."

He reached into his knapsack, pulling out a pair of dented and dusty gauntlets, along with a small leather book. As he pulled the gauntlets on, and skimmed through the book, he chuckled at the verbal abuse being thrown at the ringtail. It was rude to laugh, but there was nothing that could've been done to redirect those comments. Also, it seemed wiser NOT to throw himself into a situation like that; Kallis was very blunt and to the point with her statements. That was a force better left alone.

Jeremiah gave a tiny smirk and brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his lapel at the "everyone" remark, deciding to chalk it up as a compliment (take 'em where you can get 'em, I always say) "Sounds like something to resolve AFTER seeing to the essentials. Tower. Beds. Possibly running water. And structural stability. C'mon gents, ladies, shake a leg." With a looping gesture of his wrist Jeremiah sent the light bobbing ahead and followed it.

Colo heard something. Three neat scratches, sounded like they came from her left. Like someone toying with the wallpaper.

"Jarevei Iterassi, and my girlfriend over there is Ketefe Solowynd. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kallis." Introductions should be safe enough, Jarevei decided; Peter had promised to have all of Ketefe's wanted posters removed, and she'd already been turned in once before. He tried to pick up his pace a little, keeping his focus on Ketefe, who was walking near Jeremiah and the lupine newcomer.

When Kallis mentioned splitting up, Ketefe's fur bristled with active survival instincts. She shook her head fervently at the succubus, and then sighed in commiseration at Jeremiah's tirade. "I was hoping that this experience would be VERY unlike that damned castle, yes; so please, let's all stick together as often as possible."

Then she saw the interior of the first room. The castle, while haunted and cursed, had at least had rooms with floors. And beds you didn't need to long-jump into like a terrified child in the dark. She backed away with the rest, not wanting to fall into the hole. Jarevei walked a little closer, stopping when his cane tapped into nothing; he could also feel the warmth of Ketefe's hand reaching for his tail to yank him away from the edge.

"It's okay, Teff, I can feel it now." And smell it. Harmond was right; the stink of old blood was all over the room. What the hell HAD happened in this hotel? His sources had told him a lot, but the worst stories were always bathed in innuendo rather than real detail. Eh, maybe he could listen to Leland mumbling angrily and get the real story that way. For now, he needed to learn more about their fellow party members, so Ketefe and he could help plan for the worst a little more easily.

When the psionic started bantering with Kallis again, the poet turned his attention to the fellow writer at last (it was hard to hide the smell of pencil dust and late deadlines). "How are magic and psionics really all that different? I mean, they feel a little different when you two fight, but the power seems similar..."

Skrch – skrch – skrch.

Jarevei's ear flickered. Had he heard that, or was he just imagining it? In a building so long untended, surely there would be rats. He waited to see if anyone else had heard it before bringing it up.

Meanwhile, Ketefe questioned Harmond a little more, trying to keep her eyes on Jeremiah as well. Jarevei liked to remind her that it was useful to have two sets of ears when in a large group; otherwise you could miss something important. "Is that why you were acting strange earlier? Did you sense something, like the druid on our bus did?"

Glancing at the light, he closed the book and placed it back into his bag with some annoyance. Something like this was too conveniently set up. It was like the place itself was guiding them to the tower on purpose...and being led by an unknown power was something that he HATED.

"Hm? Sense something? Well, I suppose you could say that......but it was more like instinct. I've seen a lot of places, and dealt with my fair share of death...but this place? This is completely different. It reeks of some kind of...murderous intent." Harmond adjusted the gauntlets on his hands, causing them to briefly glow blue, before looking at Ketefe questioningly. "Did you hear that? As much as I hate to go into an obvious trap, it might be better than staying here too long...." With his fur starting to stand on end, he gave a small nod to her and began to follow after Jeremiah.