DeviousMe

At

"I do?" the elder Khelari retorted curiously, rolling back over onto his stomach, "Why? Should I be doing something else...?"
__________________

Elven Forest

In a human who'd not eaten in a while, the mention of food had a tendency to seek the most direct line to the brain, and from there on notify the stomach. In a hungry Dragon on the other hand, it tended to bypass the brain entirely, Jade's stomach quickly and efficiently voicing its opinion with a noisy gurgle before he could say anything in response.

"Erm...sorry." he looked about sheepishly, feeling bad that his instincts identified just about everything around here as 'edible' in reaction to Cerelassion's query, "That'd...yeah, that'd be good. I guess you'd not really like it if I just chased something down here, right...?"

((Ear, Ky. It was his ear that was cut off and put back, not his back. ))

Elven Forest

"Oh...okay." Jade gave the little fae a nod, even though he still didn't quite understand the details. He headed to the stirring Kethara, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to get her awake, "Hey. Hey, wake up please."

If he succeeded, he wouldn't waste any time explaining the situation to her and asking if she could perform this sending back in time that the fairy had outlined - or if she couldn't whether she could call her mother here. If he didn't...well, he'd just try and shake harder...
__________________

At - Caldera's Rim

"Probe says within tolerance." the foremost armored trooper's electo-modded voice crackled as he withdrew the rod he'd stuck into the lava lake from the molten rock, looking to his superior, "The APC won't take it for long, but it should be enough to get us across."

The CO nodded. She wasn't happy about it, but their antigravs were already working overtime just keeping them up and moving in this murderous gravity. Hovering the vehicle across was simply out of the question. Its power plant just didn't have enough juice.

"Work with what you have, I suppose." she stated, then swept her arm over to the vehicle, "Everybody up. We're going for a boat ride..."
__________________

At - At

"I'm afraid I don't follow." the black Khelari inquired of Negative Rise, Vetdjat looking rather confused, "What's one have to do with the other? Did you want me to switch languages? There's not much point to that here, you know. The planet translates everything..."

Don't you get more inf when you turn off xp, though? I've never done it myself, so I don't know, but if that's the case, that'd still be a good reward, no?

[Derail]

"Um, yeah." Jade answered with a nod as he climbed gradually back down to the ground, "But uh...why do we have to send that stuff back? Can't we just use it here once we get it all together?"

Meanwhile, a zombie hobbled into the elven dwelling in which the Blood Countess had made her domicile. Not that she needed to sleep, being undead and all, but she was after all nobility, and as such accustomed to certain accommodations. As her minion entered, she looked to the creature with an air of regal dispassion, patiently taking in what it had overheard.

With a gentle sigh, she rose. It wouldn't take much effort to help out a bit, she supposed, and having these people in her debt could be of advantage in the future. Better yet, perhaps this Rotten Luck fellow would be there to lend aid as well, giving her further chance to study the strange man up close...

Shouldn't this be in the bugs forum? >_>

Well as long as there's a suggestion thread about it, since I personally enjoy this bug while at the same time knowing that there are many others who do not, how about this: make it an option. Add an option for this 'boss spawns mode' to the difficulty adjuster NPCs. I think that's something that just about everyone would like to see, yes?

Eleven Forest

Jade's brow furrowed at the silver wolf's words, the Dragon directing a grumpy snort at the spirit, "No. It's because we care for one another. Not being mortal has nothing to do with it. I should know."

He turned his eyes back to the little fae, stating with a decisive nod, "Yes. Yes I do. What do I need to do...?"
__________________

At - Caldera's Rim

"Stay alert." the harsh, electronically crackled tone of the commanding officer came over their helmet comms, "Tactical says we have less than an hour, so we cannot afford any delays."

The rest of the power-armored troop confirmed with silence, the barrels of their PZ plasma rifles sweeping back and forth through the smoky atmosphere. Even now, the stuff was already eating away at their weapons and suits, the toxic mixture so corrosive it even attacked the hull of the armored personnel carrier behind them.

But that didn't matter. At least not yet. They had a mission to complete.

"By the Sovereign...!" the first of them to crest the ridge ahead gasped as she beheld the massive lake of lava on the other side. It hadn't looked that big from orbit...
__________________

At - At

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no." Vetdjat answered with a shrug and rolled onto his back, eyes now directed at the cloudy sky above, a hand reaching for a wispy window of faintly twinkling stars, "We picked it up...somewhere. Back when I was very young. It was a world of...people that resembled you in a way. And there was this one of them that wasn't like the others...or anyone I've seen since. Always so gentle, always forgave everyone, even when they hurt him."

"I wonder whatever became of him." the elder Khelari glanced 'up' at Negative Rise, "I remember they had ears that looked much like yours, and he put someone's back on after a friend of his cut it off in retribution for...something. I never understood that. I wanted to eat it..."

((Aww. Well, take care and have a good vacation. Hope to see you again soon. ))

"Urm..." the Dragon looked about with uncertainty, trying to connect the dots on just when 'his' treebranch had become such a popular attraction. True, it was a big, gnarledly thick thing, but still, "That, uh...I don't think ten words is enough. It's...it's a pretty long story."

Despite not much understanding what was going on, or even what was being spoken of for that matter, Jade began to recount to the best of his recollection, trying to remain curt when he could, but quite often failing to do so...

"My...my what?" Jade inquired with confusion, looking himself up and down. All he had on him were his pants, the open, sleeveless leather jacket, and his necklace of teeth. Did this little creature, attractive though she was, really want him to...?

"Oh!" slipped over the Dragon's lips as he recalled the little acorn he'd stuck into one of his jacket's chest pockets, digging the tiny thing out, "Um...you mean this...?"

Calendar Man.

So what's a glitterbug then?

Elven Forest

Jade snorted and snurfled multiple times before the nerves of his nose finally managed to poke his brain into a sufficiently awakened state for his eyelids to twitch. Slowly, heavily, inexorably they rose, opening horizontal slits just barely wide enough to let in the morning light.

The next moment, they shot wide open. Then they blinked. The rest of the Dragon's body remained perfectly still, only his pupils fidgeting about, looking up, down, and all around the little thing draped around the horn on his snout like that. Was this real? Was it a dream? Was he still asleep and only thought he was awake?

Only one way to find out.

"Um..." he eventually spoke, "Hi...?"
__________________

At

"A most intriguing world." Vetdjat smiled in response, looking very satisfied upon the crystal 'branch' he'd chosen as his listening post. He'd laid there for the past several hours, turning periodically, and was currently on his stomach, jaw resting on his forearms, "Still sounds very cold, however. I've seen it time and again now, but I nevertheless always have trouble believing life evolves in such frozen wastes...from my point of view."

"Oh, look." the Khelari's smile directed itself upwards, "We have meteorites this morning."

Looking back to Negative Rise, he inquired, "Tell me, do your people believe that a wish made in the presence of a meteorite will come true?"

His attention thus redirected, the black elder never even noticed that these 'meteorites' didn't burn up as they went overhead. Instead, they went on their trajectories and right onto the other side of the caldera wall somewhere behind Vetdjat - and while the Khelari city experienced not a single perturbation, the earth at the impact site rocked and rolled, scattered in massive plumes of ejecta. Smoke and fire billowed right along, jagged cracks in the thin slate that was the supposedly solid ground disgorging volatile gases that found just enough oxygen to combust, producing the thick and biting clouds as a result of the incomplete process.

Humans would've chosen to describe it as hell. But then, these invaders were not human, and as the flames died down, they emerged from their capsules, armed and ready, the thick soles of their combat armor crushing the soft ash beneath their feet against the rough, jagged rock below...

Already on this page then, huh? M'kay...

8 ball, corner pocket.

I'll take the pen is mightier for 20.

Elven Forest

Jade mumbled something unintelligible at the touch of the tiny fey, shifting his body around and a little ways up the thick tree branch he'd chosen as his bed, trying to turn away from whatever was tickling his face, making his lips twitch.

He wasn't nearly in a sleep as deep as had overcome him after his return to the flesh, but this being the first night he'd slept in about 400 years, he still wasn't ready to give it up quite this easily...
__________________

Patches
High Orbit

The debris field that encircled patches at great altitude had seen quite much. From the first efforts of the Builders to the rise and fall of the civilizations that came after. Today, however, came something new. Today, a bright-white detonation vaporized one of its fragments.

Today, it was under attack.

VFSSR 3rd Fleet
Uncharted Star System

The KAGO and the other ships that comprised the fleet wasted no time blasting a path into the fragment cocoon about the patchwork planet, unseen beams of terrible force cutting through the vacuum of space and into their targets at the speed of light, tearing them apart in complete and utter silence.

At the same time, several flashes of light pulsed from the ventral hull of the KAGO, and a number of small, sleek, green-gray objects torpedoed their way through the orbital barrier, covered by the fire of the backing vessels. Penetrating the resultingly weakened field easily, they barreled toward the surface.

Toward At.

Where shooting stars greeted the dim, black-cloud-shrouded twilight of the 'morning sun'...

No comment. >_>

I created an evil muse.

Well, maybe not quite so evil. He just happens to have a mean streak.

Oh, I don't bother explaining it beyond a few lines like those - and the teams I've played him on sure seem to walk away with fond memories of the bumbling necromancer who keeps messing up his spells. But like I said, YMMV.

Jade didn't say anything to that, though his thoughts were very much concerned with it. Too bad Ildela had passed out. He'd had quite a few questions for her, foremost of all what this city was that she had...found for him? He didn't remember asking anyone to find a city, but then there were a lot of things he no longer remembered. Either way, it loooked like it would have to wait until morning.

"Okay." he finally nodded with a sigh as he stood again, turning to look toward Cerelassion, "I'd just like to take a look at those notes of yours first, though. Would you show me...?"

((Okay then, anyone still got something they need to post before people go to sleep? If not, feel free to scootch time to morning. ))