*squints*

Was debating on whether or not to post this today, but I guess I will. I might be slow though.

Hello there.

Hey Xeno!

Hoi I keep crashing so may be a little slow x'D

When you have a moment, could you bring over the last reply from Stella to Luxia (if there was one)? I can't access the last room, so I can't check.

Hey Alk! Don't worry about it. XD

I can get the replies! I after I get ready

X'D*

Colors ate my face,

Strange things happening, my family was trying to wake me up to go somewhere with them. I told them 'go with out me' and 'you should of told me ahead of timeeee'

It was very confusing, I think they wantef to go to a shrine/mass which infinitely confused me since I thought those things were still closed

And then something about booking hotels

Oh yea we might be getting some big thunder storms lemme check the weather :]

Ooh nice, I wish we had thunderstorms more often here.

Hold on, why the heck did they go out if that's happening x'D

We can get some bad storms, but we haven't had anything too serious in awhile. :0

Long time ago, gonna say? 8 years maybe? We had a few storms that took out the power for a few weeks ':P
Well they were hurricanes but yeah hehe

Not a few weeks a week

Radiant Raindragon
31 May, 2020, 12:26 pm
@Alk/ @Xeno

'Oh, what in the world is wrong with you?' huffed Luxia as she glanced across at Euterpe. Her tone dropped to a mutter. 'Silly fluffballs, this is why I don't like doing business with dragons, such temperamental creatures...'

Xenoceratops
31 May, 2020, 4:03 pm
@Rad

{As the car began to move, Stella engaged in conversation, hoping to keep Euterpe and Luxia's attention off each other.}

Stella: "So, Luxia, what can we expect to see in the...Beyond. What should we be most concerned about?"

@Rad/ @Xeno

"Tempermental?" Gasped Euterpe slightly offended. "What do you mean you old crone?"

@Alk/ @Xeno

Luxia flapped a hand at Euterpe. 'Oh, you know. You're so grumpy. I've only known you five minutes, and I can already tell you must be fun at parties,' she said sarcastically.

She then turned to Stella, letting out an abrupt cackling laugh. 'What should you be concerned about? Everything! The cave monsters, the forest dwellers, the sheer cliffs that you could fall down... The seas and lakes filled with creatures you wouldn't want to invite to your birthday party...' she mumbled, her mind clearly still stuck on the subject of parties.

@Rad
Althea took that chance in a hearbeat. While the monster fiddled around awkwardly with the darts, she took the long sharp part of her spear and swung it right at it's neck in hopes to decapitate it.

@Rad

"Well how on earth do you propose we do that?" Asked Shepherd. "Are portals like a natural accoring thing around her, do they just /show up/? Or does something here create them" He mumbled sounding slightly irritated.

@Alk

The creature let out an unearthly screech as the spear sliced through its neck. Black, tar-like blood oozed out. The blade hadn't managed to cut all the way through its neck - but had certainly cut deep enough to ensure the creature wouldn't survive.

Its legs folded and it collapsed at Althea's feet, twitching in its death throes.

@Rad
Den followed behind cautiosly occassionally peeking his head around to get a better look at the shop's surroundings.

(Ohhh it's booming now, the atmosphere here is so nice)

@Alk

'That's the problem; I have no idea why the portals appear, or what makes them appear,' said Loch. 'They just started materialising all over the city, by the looks of things... But if they keep appearing, then maybe we can find another one and use it to get home.'

'If we're very lucky...' Stal grumbled, looking just as unhappy as Shepherd.

@Alk

Mason quickly walked up to the shop counter. Moments later, the tall red-haired girl appeared from the back room. 'What do you want?' she asked, sounding annoyed.

'Ahem. We're looking for a witch, named Luxia I believe?' said Mason. 'It's rather urgent.'

'She ain't here,' the girl replied. 'Left five minutes ago with some customers. And no, I don't know when she'll be back.'

Mason's face fell. 'She's gone?' He glanced over his shoulder at Den. //So how are we supposed to rescue his friend, and my packmates?//

@Rad

Althea jumped back as the crearure landed on her feet. When the black ooze seeped from it's body onto her she yelped. "EWWW" And she frantically tried shaking of the muck while still stabbing the dead creature like it was some freaky bug.
This was mostly to make sure it stayed dead, but also it was a knee jerk reaction.

@Rad/ @Xeno

Euterpe mouth hung open too shook that this woman had already read her personality. "Well I never!" She snorted as to visibly show her irritation.

@Rad
"What about those mountains." Shepherd then pointed to direction of the mounatain range. "You did say they are similar." That last sentence was more quiet as he drifted of into pondering.

@Rad

Den walked up to the counter rather casually and placed his front to hooves on the counter. He looked at the red haired girl with big eyes saying. "But we need her! A portal took my friend!" He pleaded

@Alk

Loch's eyes narrowed as she observed the mountain range on the horizon. 'Yeah... maybe we should go check them out? It's definitely weird that they look like the mountains back home. I feel like that's important, somehow.'

'But they're /miles/ away,' said Stal. 'It would take us hours to walk there.'

Loch grinned at him. 'Better start now, then!' she said and immediately began to walk towards the mountains, not looking to see if the others were following.

@Alk/Rad

{Stella looks a bit nervous at that description.}

Stella: "W-well, it doesn't matter! We need to get our friends out."

@Alk

The girl eyed Den disparagingly. 'Weren't you listening? I just told you she's not here,' she scoffed. Then her expression shifted into something more thoughtful. 'Hang on, did you just say a /portal/ took your friend?'

@Alk

{Dianne watches from across the ravine with amusement. She raises her hand towards Althea, causing the dead creature to spring back to life with glowing blue eyes.}

@Xeno

'You'll die,' said Luxia, in a singsong voice. 'Die, die, die, die, die. Unless you have immense powers on your side. Do you have any friends or relatives? I can inform them of your untimely death for you, if you like. It's the least I can do,' she said cheerfully.

@Rad
"Hey wait up!" Called Shepherd as he blindly followed Loch. "You guys are all faster"

(I'm still working things out as I go along, but I'm trying to plan out some sort of trouble for Shep's group to get into soon. XD)

@Rad
Den nodded and began to explain. "Yeah it was this HUGE vortex. Made some aweful hissing noises then it it sucked in my friend's staff all on which she went in soon after. Then it closed"

@Alk/Rad

{Stella just pouts nervously.}

Stella: "Well....I suppose my...parents ought to know if I die..."

Dolorus: //Do they even know where you are?//

(ohno more hellspawns x'D)

@Alk

'Huh, OK. So more than a few people have been taken by these portals.' The girl seemed rather unconcerned by the whole thing. In fact, she sounded bored.

'Can you help us?' asked Mason. 'Clearly, you know something about this.'

'No, I'm human. Can't help with any problems that involve magic. All I can suggest is that you wait for Luxia to come back. I think she went out to help some other poor saps who got their friends sucked up by portals.'

@Xeno

As the voidspawn sprung back to life Althea immediatley scrambled back a good distance throwing another dart for good measure. She stood there gawking, unsure of what to do now. "Do these things just not die?" She growled

@Xeno/ @Alk

Luxia nodded enthusiastically, several times. 'Yes, of course. They should know. I'll try my best to contact them when you die. So, how many friends of yours have been lost to the portals?'

@Rad

"What did they look like?" Asked Den, //Maybe I can pick up their scent and we can track them before the portal closes//

@Alk
{Dianne watches as her minion ignores Althea and runs to her, leaping across the ravine.}

Dianne: "Oh, he's dead. He just belongs to me now."

@Alk/Rad

Stella: "My boss...Her (Euterpe's) friend, and her dog. That's all we know for now..."

@Xeno
Althea flinches once more before relaxing. "Ok whatever just keep that thing on your side." She said sounding annoyed

@Alk

The girl looked suspiciously at Den. 'Well, Luxia's just an old witch. Long silver hair, green eyes, about 5'2''. And there was some black-haired woman with her, probably human, and a weird fluffy dragon.'

Mason's mind was running down the same track as Den's. //If I shift into my beast form and follow the witch's scent, I might be able to find her and request her help...//

@Xeno/ @Alk

'Lovely, lovely,' said Luxia, nodding. Then she suddenly grinned. 'You're risking your life to save your /boss?/ Goodness me. She must pay you a lot.'

@Alk

As the group walked on, Loch took the lead again. She seemed quite comfortable being in charge.

Meanwhile, Pyre fell into step beside Shepherd and tried to engage the boy in conversation, most likely to keep their minds off how much danger they were in. 'So, you're Shepherd, right?' he said brightly. 'Weren't you living at the Serpent's Tomb or something?'

@Alk/Rad

Stella: "Well...It's more than that...When I first came to this city, she kinda...took me in....Gave me a job...She's more of a close friend than a boss..."

@Xeno

'A close friend, hmmm? Well, in that case, I can see why you'd want to help her.'

Luxia continued to stare quite intensely at Stella.

'So, what exactly is going on with your head? I can sense something, something very powerful indeed, living within you. I might not know what it is, but I know it's there,' she said, eyes narrowing.

@Alk/Rad

{Stella stiffens and looks a little frightened at that.}

Stella: "W-what do you mean?"

Dolorus: //Wait, she knows I'm here? But...Wait, can she hear me? Hey, old hag, you smell like butts.//

@Alk

Dianne: "Whatever...."

{She then looks around again.}

Dianne: "Also, there's this big lizard thing in the ravine, so you might want to steer clear of it."

@Xeno

'Oh, don't play stupid,' said Luxia impatiently. 'I have veeerrry strong magic; I can tell there's something off about you. You're certainly not a normal human. Do you have some kind of parasite?'

Despite all her rambling, Luxia genuinely seemed to have not heard Dolorus.

@Rad

Den hopped off the counter and began to start wandering. He began to carefully attempt to pick up a scent while Mason was still at the counter with the girl.

@Alk

'Why do you want to know all this, anyway? Are you - hey, where the hell are you going?' asked the girl, as she saw Den starting to walk away.

Mason quickly followed Den's lead. 'Thank you for your help,' he said to the girl, before hurrying after Den.

'Let's go outside,' he murmured. 'See if you can pick up any trace of witch scent - or dragon.'

@Rad
"Yeah, well Dianne is letting us stay awhile." Began Shepherd. "It's a good job better than anything I've had."

@Alk

'She's letting you stay? Oh, that's nice of her,' said Pyre. He then blinked in surprise. 'Hey wait, did we ever introduce ourselves properly? I'm Pyre, the lady up the front is Loch, and the grumpy guy is Stal,' he said cheerfully.

@Xeno

"Heh. Thanks" Althea warily muttered as she eyed the ravine. She still needed to find some shelter though, and after the appearance of three montsers she wasn't comfortable enough to hang around.

Slowly she slinked into the tall grass and began to move from there.

@Rad/Alk

Stella: "Ummm...Well...."

Dolorus: //B ! T C H who you callin' parasite?! Stella, move over, I'm gonna give this old hag a piece of my mind!//

{Stella just ignores Dolorus.}

Stella: "He's not a parasite. He's a...Actually, I don't know what he is...He a...spirit, I think? I hear him in my head. I have since I was little. That caused me a bit of trouble but...That's a story for another time..."

@Alk/ @Xeno

Following the disappearance of the giant lizard and the death of the humanoid monster, the area seemed quiet. The dark grass waved gently in the breeze, and there was no immediate sign of any creatures.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shepherd and this is my dog Marco Polo." The greeting seemed forced though, Shepherd had been in a good mood since their arrival in Caelum, but the whole thing was starting to grow tirsome. Almost like back home.

No he couldn't equate that experience to this, even if they were stuck in an ashy volcano land, the people here seemed to be at least more gracious and caring.

oops @Rad

@Xeno

'Since you were little, hmm?' Luxia leaned forwards in her seat, peering at Stella with an intense scientific interest. 'Is he intelligent? Can he do anything?'

@Rad
Den stopped from what he was doing and followed Mason around outback. "I think I did pick up a hint of dragon, it was kind of sandy smelling too."

@Alk

{Dianne just shrugs, then shifts. Her humanoid draugrs climb onto the wyvern and they take off. Dianne circles Althea a few times before flying off towards the distance.}

Dianne: //Yup, she's going to die...//

@Alk

'That flea-infested rat has a name?' grumbled Stal audibly from a short distance away.

Pyre ignored him. 'Well, it's nice to make your acquaintance, Shepherd,' he said. 'I wish we weren't meeting in a horrible place like this... but hopefully we'll all be home soon.'

( omg
yes, I love that insult x'D )

@Alk

Once they were both outside, Mason turned to Den. 'Let's try to track the scents. We must follow Luxia to wherever she went. That is the only way we'll be able to get your friend back.' He then shifted into his beast form and sniffed the air, immediately catching a whiff of dragon, like Den had described. It was mingled with the herbal scent of a witch.

@Rad/Alk

{Stella leans back, looking unnerved}

Stella: "H-how exactly is this important right now?"

Dolorus: //Yeah, don't tell that nosey hag anything.//

@Xeno

Luxia cackled and grinned, showing yellow teeth. 'Important? Of course it's not important! But I'm not going to sit here in silence, and you don't have anything more interesting to talk about, do you?'

@Rad
"Well he is a bit dirty" Said Shepherd not really taking much offence to it. "I rescued him from a slaughter house" He didn't think much of that last statement grim as their situation was.

( unrelated

but has anyone here read slaughter house 5? That book was weird)

@Alk

Pyre's eyes widened at that last statement. 'What, /what?/ A slaughterhouse? What does that mean? Were people going to... eat him or something?'

( @Alk - Nope, never heard of it.)

(I have not.)

@Rad/Alk

Stella: "No, but...That's really personal information...I'm not comfortable discussing this with a complete stranger."

(Shepherd's statment reminded me of the book x'D

It's a sciene fiction novel by Kurt Vonnnegut, supposedly anti-war as well?
I was somewhat confused while reading it because the main character is a time traveler. I didn't get that at first though and was wondering why the settings changed so drastically x'D

The alien human zoo thing was also cursed)

@Xeno/ @Alk

'Hmph.' Luxia shook her head disapprovingly. 'Personal means nothing. I'm much too old to care whether something is 'personal' or not. We're all going to die someday, so why does it matter if I find out your secrets?'

After this small ramble, she turned to address Euterpe instead.

'I'll talk to /you/ then. Who is this friend you're trying to rescue? Tell me about them.'

( @Alk - Sounds spooky. XD)

@Rad/ @Xeno

Most of the banter between the two Euterpe had blocked out. Though when she was adressed her eyes narrowed. "Hey's a boy, with a dog." She hissed not wanting to go into details.

(It's gruesome I'll say, the way the writer descibes a lot of his scenes can be uncomfortable.
I did not appreciate the sex ones and mostly glossed over them as much as I could HGDJDYD

His other book Cat's Cradle seemed nicer? In description, though everyone died in that one.)

@Rad/Alk

{Stella sighs, content that this pushy old woman dropped the subject.}

Dolorus: //You do realize that once we get to Dianne's house, I'll need to be in control in order to give the override code, right?//

Stella: "..."

(Bleh, I don't like depressing books.

I go through all the time it takes to read it, only to get punched in the feels.

Not cool, bro.)

@Rad
Mason's transformation caught him a little off guard. He gulped and acknowledged the werewolf though a little intimidated
"Right" Said Den before trotting off in the direction of the scent.

(I don't like books where /everyone/ dies, I avoid tragedy type stuff.
Though some gruesome scenes, gore and sexual stuff I'm usually fine with.
Just don't make it too depressing. XD)

@Alk/ @Xeno

'A boy and his dog? Sounds like the protagonists of some silly children's novel,' Luxia chortled in response. 'Well, I hate to be a downer, but I don't think a boy and a dog will last very long in Beyond.'

@Rad
"Well a slaughterhouse implies that yes." Answered Shepherd.
"You guys don't eat dogs here do you?" Shepherd said curiosly.

@Alk

Mason was amused by Den's reaction. He'd already told the youngster that he was a werewolf. He made a huffing noise that sounded somewhat like a laugh, and decided to let Den take the lead. As the little dragon trotted off, Mason followed behind him, keeping track of the scent trail.

(I kind of like tragedies a bit, it depends x'D

my boi Macebeth, yes.
Cat's Cradle had some interesting things in it. Though dude when everyone died I was like. "Welp, that happened" x'D
)

@Alk

'No!' said Pyre, still shocked by the very mention of slaughterhouses. 'Dogs are pets, eating pets is illegal. Wasn't it like that where you come from?'

(I don't like tragedies, I don't see the point in reading a book and getting invested in the characters if I know they're all going to die. XD)

( well everyone dying could get boring quickly, though pulling off good deaths, I generally like seeing some meaning behind it.

I also admire a lot of morbid writings/ authors x'D )

(I admire a well-written death scene, one that really makes you feel something. They're not easy to do.)

@Rad
Shepherd looked almost confused. "I don't know? There are a lot of things that are different here, I suppose that's a good thing though. Euterpe is still sceptical though."

( b l o o d )

@Alk

'It does seem like Aether is pretty different to where you're from... whatever that is.' Pyre rubbed his head thoughtfully. 'Is that why you and Euterpe decided to come here? Because things are really bad where you used to live?'

@Rad
"Yeah, I don't know about Euterpe, but things weren't the greatest." Shepherd had started to grow a bit silent and began to wander into thought.

@Alk

Pyre opened his mouth to pry further, but Stal - showing an unusual amount of tact - nudged him to make him shut up. The vampire immediately changed track.

'Geez, now I feel really bad that you got pulled into this horrible world,' he said instead. 'You came from a place that's kinda bad, and now you're stuck here. I promise stuff like this doesn't happen in Aether normally.'

@Rad
"It's alright, at least I'm with some nice people who care." Shepherd said smiling. "Yeah! I hope so, it'll be hard to explain this to Eu. She's so stubborn and grumpy."

@Rad
"And YOU sound like you came straight from looney gnome town!" Snorted Euterpe again, as always, equating all her situations to gnomes.

@Alk

'When we get home, maybe we can help you and Euterpe get settled in. There's lots of fun stuff to do around Caelum,' said Pyre brightly.

'They wouldn't appreciate the fun stuff,' said Stal grumpily. 'They don't even understand rock music, they think we're just people who make loud noises.'

@Rad
Den began to hurry down the street searching high and low for the source of the sense. Though the smell of tar, asphalt and overall gas from cars proved to make things difficult.

@Alk

Luxia immediately looked interested. 'Gnomes are real? I've researched them but I didn't know if they actually existed, despite my great intelligence,' she said, squinting at Euterpe.

@Xeno / @Rad

Whilst Dianne was circling in the skies above Althea managed to make her way towards a top of a hill to gather a sense of the landscape in the Beyond.

(Ohno Eu you dug yourself deeper into the conversation x'D )

@Rad / @Xeno
"Yeah, and they're annoying- you don't want to meet them" Grumbled Euterpe, unhappy that that didn't shut the old lady up.

@Alk/ @Xeno

'But that's fascinating! Gnomes are real? You /have/ to tell me more about them.' Luxia smiled, but it wasn't a particularly reassuring smile. 'Consider it payment for me helping your friend.'

(Alright, I'm gonna leave this for now. I'll continue to reply tomorrow if anyone else does.)

(Alrighty)

(I'll see you around! :D)

(K, bye! Also, I don't know when to have the group reach their destination. Lol)

(Stella's group? That can happen anytime. XD)

(Euterpe will probably be happy to get there and not have to talk to Luxia anymore.)

(Ok, I'll do that tomorrow.)

(I was going to almost repare an entire essay on the gnome x'D )

( @Alk Dew it XD)

(I think I'll have to x'D )

(I'm probably going to wait till they set up the portal before I move Den any further ':P )

(He gotta sneak after 'em)

(The rescue group's gonna have a hard time, everyone is so scattered in Beyond now. XD)

(They are gonna be stuck for awhile x'D )

(Well, Dianne's headed towards Stal and Co, but Althea might be in trouble lol.)

@Rad/Alk

Bufo: "We're here."

Stella: "Thank GOD..."

{Stella hops off as quick as she could. Their destination was a spacious manor in central Caelum. Bufo had driven them up the dirt path and parked at a shed about twenty meters from the house. Around them was a spacious, vibrant garden, consisting of flowers and fruit trees.}

@Alk/ @Xeno

'Oh, we're here? Lovely,' said Luxia. She made no attempt to get out of the car, merely staring out of the window at the flowery garden. 'Lovely place. Lovely scenery. Lovely manor. Assuming there's no dead bodies in it, of course.'

(Euterpe has been saved from having to talk about gnomes)

(I've been trying to plan out some things to happen in the RP; it's a messy patchwork of ideas right now, but I sorta have something in mind.
It's possible I might skip the next session while I try to figure things out, but I'm more likely to just go ahead and do it.)

(Alright, just let us know.)