Patches (Open RP)

The prisoner inside the pebble had detected something - some form of life on this new world. The thought-signal was then amplified by the prisoner's desire to escape. Whatever form of life this was - was soon to be twisted and tortured as the prisoner lured the creature towards the pebble.

The armored carapace covered creature barreled towards the direction of the pebble. Soon, the prisoner would be free...

"Look God fellow. I don't care who or what you are but look around you. Those Lizard guys don't believe you they just see you as someone that looks like the humans they are sacrificing. However I know personally that saving those humans would get them to trust you." Rotten cracked his head as a spear flew into his chest he turned to look at the Gri'shil then had an odd look on it's face.

First the one godlike one in the sky stop a spear and now this one payed as much attention to a spear as if it was a fly. Har'thon was beside himself unsure what to do. "You not God! Gods are coming! YOU DIE LIKE ALL SOFT SKIN ONES!" Then Har'thon pulled a dagger and went rushing to the offered sacrifices.

Rotten went on the move and leaped the 30 yards in one leap and slamed his fist into Har'thon. The Gri'shil shook then slashed at Rotten with his dagger in near madness. The other Gri'shil in true pack mentality went on the attack as well leaping and slicing at Rotten with their claws.

Elven Forest

"Gre'shil." she repeated the word to herself and looked to Aineruda, "Those are the scaly people that like me, right? Okay. I'll go handle them. And you, the whistler - Durlap? You know, I don't care - you stay right here and get ready for a fight, because when I get back, I'm going to give you the beating of a lifetime."

Aineruda smiled and nodded "Take her where she needs to go Guardsman." The Guard nodded and then turned "Follow me please" With that he didn't walk he started running trusting that Akat could keep up but he did look behind him from time to time to be sure.

He lead her through the forest and then up the cliffs to the look out post. "Look there to the west you see the gathering." Sure enough even thought it was night the group of Gri'shil was seen moving for the forest. It was possible due to the torches being used to light the way and the two massive forms of the Thunder beasts. "it is hard to tell how many in the dark but that many torches isn't good."

Back at the Heart Tree

The tender bit her lip. "Ah...I think it would be best if we discussed that privately, my lady, away from, ah...dissenting voices." She gestured in a subtle fashion at Durlan.

Aineruda looked over at Durlan "Good thing we have powerful outside friends. After all we never let the Gri'shil in and if they can't be stopped... well I seen these people stop a Hunter Killer so I'm sure they can stop the Gri'shil."

She looked to the others there "Please excuse me. And if he tries to follow me please show him what Outsiders can do." Then she headed into the forest with the Tender.

Durlan grunted and his face was red "HOW DARE YOU AINERUDA! The Only reason your High elf here is because your the only one with High Elven blood! THE ONLY REASON YOU HEAR ME!" As he was yelling however his hand made an odd gesture a quick tap motion on his leg.

That was spotted by a figure in the woods dressed in black it moved then circling around to approach where Aineruda was located. The form was to lean to be human it had to be an elf but the Gun it carried was one brought in with the Human refugies. The plan was that the assassination would be blamed on the Human Outsiders. The Figure knelt down and took aim at Aineruda as she spoke to the Tender.

"Okay Tender what have you got to say?"

Tafari paused as he considered Rotten's words.

'Little ******* has a point...' He thought. There was one small problem however - The aforementioned humans were SACRIFICES. As in, HIS sacrifices. The Gri-Shil had, essentially, already sacrificed them. Tafari had direct and complete control over their mass, and would normally immediately convert all of it into an equivalent amount of energy. So by saving them, he would effectively be playing with his food. And the thought of being worshipped by them was somewhat wierd.

'Screw it.' Tafari thought. His day had gone downhill ever since the elf guard had fired the flashbang arrows at him. It was like somebody had grabbed the awesome dial and turned down the volume on it. Overall, losing one set of followers and gaining another was a relatively decent cleanup. And if everything went to hell, they were still sacrifices. He could absorb them a any time of his choosing...

'Oh and hey, the bones are still there for the taking. I can super-charge myself on those.'

Tafari raised a fist to the sky, and an orb of golden-orange energy formed. Lightning crackled along it before lashing out and striking the Drokar bones, instantly converting their mass into an equivalent amount of potential energy, which was then converted into Divine energy before being taken in by Tafari's conduit.

'Let's see the bastards withstand this.' Tafari thought smugly as he turned to the Gri'Shil. 'Time to show these ******** just who they've ****** with...'

"I Am Awe, the Roaring Sun." He spoke. He vanished. No rush of air, no pop, no teleport or phase effect. He was just GONE. There was a strange sense of built up power.

"...See how I Shine."

The air around Rotten detonated at Tafari shifted his conduit directly over the zombie-man, Tafari making sure to mentally tag him as an ally. Rotten found himself submerged in what looked like a SEA of golden energy saturating the air around him as he became a proverbial lightning rod For Tafari's power. He himself was entirely unharmed by the blast, the energy flowing around him almost gently.

The Gri'Shil were not so fortunate. The detonation, beyond the calm Rotten-shaped eye of the storm, was like the wrath of a god descending upon the land. The earth was glassed and the air seemed to shatter as all the hostile lizards too slow and without enough defensive ability to get out of range or otherwise evade the attack were assaulted by a massive energy detonation.

The smoke and errant energies cleared from the air, revealing Tafari standing side by side with Rotten. "Come, disbelievers. Allow me to show you just how big of a mistake you have made by defying me." He said, dropping into a combat stance as his lightning-like field of energy began to tear into any remaining Gri-Shil nearby, burning them and draining their energy if they failed to evade its crackling golden-orange tendrils.

***

Elven Forest

"It would be best if you just saw it for yourself." The tender said, gesturing at the Heart-Tree. From behind the massive structure, the alteration was clearly visible: Some kind of black spores were growing on the tree. They looked like black, fleshy sacs that seemed to ooze and squirm. Thorns grew freely on the plantlife surrounding them. Leading away from the Heart-Tree was a pathway of darkening but otherwise thriving plantlife that vanished into the forest.

"Those...THINGS appeared on the tree, and then the plants just started turning black in that one direction. As far as we can tell, the tree doesn't seem to think they are bad. It's like it doesn't notice them." The tender indicated, appearing to not see the assassin.

((Slow down there, Ky - we're not all fast posters, remember? ))

At

With his great speed, it wasn't long before Negative Rise reached the transition zone to the patch of Khelaris. Not that it was likely to stop the demon, him being a demon after all, but even he would probably note that the closer he got to the supervolcano's massive caldera, the hotter, and seemingly thinner, the air seemed to get. Well, not so much seemed, but the term did apply for the reason that to be accurate, eventually it wasn't air anymore.

Instead, the atmosphere in the transition zone slowly changed to the composition of its other side: a toxic, corrosive concoction of vile, sulphurous fumes with an average temperature of two hundred degrees Celsius and little more than one percent of the oxygen content of Earth's atmosphere. To complicate matters further, the local gravity hovered at around 3.7 times that of Earth, causing a steep increase in atmospheric pressure in tandem with the added weight. It was a truly hellish environment, but to a demon perhaps one he'd revel in just as much as its inhabitants.

And those were most plentiful.

The towering rhino-like beasts the Gre'shil hunters spoke of far to the south roamed in impressive herds here, stamping slowly across the gargantuan slabs of slate and shale that almost seemed to float upon an ocean of magma that lay just beneath the surface, appearing on the surface in the form of lakes and rivers of lava between the slabs. This was an optical illusion of course, for though pervaded by molten rock, the crust wasn't quite that thin. The cragged mountains and spiked rock formations that jutted into the sky (sometimes rather high) made that clear enough. Still, it all looked pretty unstable.

But stable or not, that didn't seem to bother the sharp, tree-like spires of half-transparent, half-opaque whitish crystal that gnarled their way up from the ash-covered ground all over the place - not quite densely enough to form what would be called a forest, but still with good frequency - nor the 'worms' that looked to be made of lava jumping to and fro in the rivers and lakes thereof. There were numerous other forms of life about of course, but these would've been the most noticeable when traveling at great speed. But big or small, they had all adapted to here, a whole ecosystem living and thriving in an environment that most present-day human 'scientists' would declare hostile and unable to support life.

This was of course nonsense, as not only was there life, but intelligence as well...well, if one chose to call them intelligent. Right now, the scaleless, deep-green-skinned, quasi-reptilian beings that had gathered at the shore of a lava lake not far from the travel path of Negative Rise didn't look to be doing anything particularly smart. Or at all, for that matter. They just lay there on large slabs of somewhat smooth rocks (or were they glass? It was hard to tell), 'sunning' themselves in the sparse few rays of true light that fell through the dark clouds of brackish ash that nearly blotted out the sky all over here, creating an eerie sort of perpetual twilight.

Indeed, to the average human, the pack of Khelari probably didn't even look sentient. They carried no visible technology, not even spears or tools of bone as Earth's stone-age peoples had, wore not a shred of clothing, and weren't expressing any sort of culture, such as in the way of making music or the like. All they did was lie there (well, a few of them were eating the bones of something, but that was about the total extent of motion in the group), and be green. This in and if itself was notable in a landscape dominated by grays and reds, however. If nature gave a creature a color that stuck it out of the background, it was usually for a reason. It was either poisonous, a mimic, or something a lot more dangerous.

But though this pack bore no signs of civilization, the supervolcano certainly did. In its mile-wide caldera of bubbling, churning lava grew a crystal tree of immense proportion. Not only that, it both supported and was supported by what would've best been called a techno-dystopia that faintly resembled Grandville. True, the building style was pretty alien, curves just as plentiful as corners, and the place wasn't visible fortified, but there was no denying that those towers, domes, cubes, platforms, and whatever else hugged the oversized 'branches' of that tree was at least mostly made of metal. Blacks, oranges, and silver-grays gleamed in the light from the lava sea below, and the titanic pillars (or were they pipes) that reached down into the molten rock were without a doubt industrially manufactured. Indeed, though they were hard to see from the caldera's rim, small sparks of orange light here and there unquestionably showed the presence of energy and activity...
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Eleven Forest

'Who-what?" Jade claimed in surprise at Paxtera's reappearance, turning around toward her so quickly that he outright fell over. Of course, having been in his knees and with wings stretched out and up to catch the air with the expected first beat had a good bit to do with placing the Dragon on his rear.

"Oh no." he spoke tonelessly as he saw Bisys, up and off the ground in a snap of fingers, and rushed toward her. His arms reached for the metaloid satyr even as his wide eyes still sought Paxtera's with concern, "Oh no. Oh no no no. Is she going to be okay? What happened...?"
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Cliffside Outpost

"Not for me." Akat retorted to the elf in a displeased tone, though it was audibly not directed at the man, but rather that the gathered Gre'shil, "Artificial eye does come in useful every now and then. Still too many to count, though."

It was true. Even in the dense, oxygen-rich local atmosphere, which usually made Khelari nearsighted, Akat's replacement eye easily compensated and zoomed her vision all the way over to the gathering. Lots of sticks, some burning, some apparently sharpened. Didn't look like much of a threat.

"I'll be back soon." she told the elven guard dryly, then started to climb down the cliff in a manner somewhere between a Siberian tiger and a mountain goat. The rock had plenty of hold for her claws, and as a result, it didn't take her long to get down. Once there, she started walking. Just walking. Toward the Gre'shil.

And she did not look happy...

((Yeah, I know...and I could've posted the imprisoned post's into an earlier post - whoops. It just came to me at the time. Will try to slow it down a bit now.))

Negative Rise had to stop upon seeing the green skinned creatures just sunning themselves (well, they did appear to be lazing around in this volcanic atmosphere as a lizard would!) -'Nah,' he thought to himself. 'Best not to disturb them.'- Even if any of them happened to have spotted him, now they wouldn't, as Rise melted into the shadows of the volcano (of course, his black skin would definitely stand out in this environ...but makes it SO MUCH more easier for him to essentially disappear in any shadow of anything.) He kept moving, roaming around the base of the volcano, following it all around.
It was when he decided to look upwards that he noticed the crystal-like 'tree' that appeared to be 'growing' in the middle of the volcano. -'Interesting,' Negative Rise thought to himself.- He bent his knees, nearly crouching, then leapt straight up, landing on the rim of the volcano.-'Very interesting indeed!'- A crooked, evil smile tried to appear on the demon's face, yet it never came to fruition. Completely incapable of smiling, even upon such a discovery, the demon nevertheless felt a pleasing sensation run throughout his body.

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The galloping beast continued on its way, seemingly empowered to seek out its destination despite any obstacle: anything that tried to harm the creature would now be facing something slightly more fierce. The armored creature would now be nigh-indestructible as its very essence was being augmented by the prisoner's psionic infiltration, coupled with the being's extremely high will to be free. For Shortoth Graxin would be free at last, after 900 centillion, a new avatar of the dark god Graxus would once again terrorize a world.

Ildela grumbled quietly to herself as the text display instantly filled to overflowing with those resend messages. "Someday, someone will invent a machine capable of patience", she muttered, probably loud enough to be heard. Sound was one of the few things her cloak didn't outright block.

The fact that these things did appear to be for all intents and purposes mindless drones sparked the faint beginnings of an idea in the stalker's mind, though. After all, she'd never had her own personal robot army before... could these things be reprogrammed? Shame she was no good with computers, or she'd have a go at doing said reprogramming. As it was she'd have to ask Cassie, but Cassie was in another dimension as far as she knew so that idea was out.

Which left... the direct approach. Ildela hated the direct approach in anything other than a straight up fight, and even there she wasn't too fond of it. Still... desperate times. Standing up from where she was crouched beside a wall, she quietly decloaked. Then decidedly not so quietly yelled, "Hey! One of you that isn't a mindless drone, I want to talk!" Chances are this would achieve nothing other than getting her shot at, so she made ready to run like hell if necessary.

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As soon as Paxtera brought Bisys back the ghostly faces faded away from view and the red static sputtered more normally, possibly before Jade had even seen them - busy as he was picking himself up and all. Had Paxtera still been watching the fate thread she would have seen the fraying almost completely repaired once rejoined with Jade and the borrowed Token, as had happened in the past. It was more disorientation from Paxtera's particular method of travel than lingering illness that kept her unresponsive a minute longer.

Thus it was a bit of a surprise for Bisys to find herself once more supine in Jade's arm rather than recouping on the couch she had been aiming for. "Oh! Hi, Jade. Did you come too after all?" Her head turned to look past his attentive face to see the forest beyond. "No, I guess we came back. Uhm, I can stand..."

Still in his arms or placed upright, Bisys again cantering her head at a painful-looking angle until she could see Paxtera, hopeful expectation evident in her echoing voice, "Did you find it? Can you help me get my Token?"

It was fairly evident that so fixated she was on this hope that Bisys had not realized how dangerous her separation had been, nor processed Paxtera, Jade, and Kethara concern.

The experience at Paxtera's examination room was for the satyr akin to having been handed her personal medical file where she understood that the identity was hers, but lacked the training to translate the six-syllable Latin names and technical jargon into layman terms. Bisys may have located the silver thread, but beyond recognizing it as her own knew nothing about what it had revealed to Paxtera.

((Tafari I'm going to let you handle the human Sacrifices! I got my hands full with an Army of Gri'shil and a Elven Murder plot! They are people the Gri'shil captured from Devious patch.))

The remaining Gri'shil didn't remain Idle. These ones were devoted to there leader and thought he was blasted by Tafari as well as many of the others they rushed in a group leaping slashing with their claws.

Rotten caught a claw to his arm and then he let out a growl. "You want to play rough Lizard boy." In a display of his own dark power it seemed every living thing around him wilted. The darkness avoided Tafari, Elizabeth and her minions and the Human sacrifice. Other then that it was if there was a sudden wave of death. Only two of the Gri'shil fell from having their Soul drained by Rotten.

They were the lucky ones as Rotten let loose a Shadow Maul attack enhanced by the soul energy he just absorbed. "I may be a Hero, but I'm far from a nice guy!"

Gri'shil Plans

"I'll be back soon." she told the elven guard dryly, then started to climb down the cliff in a manner somewhere between a Siberian tiger and a mountain goat. The rock had plenty of hold for her claws, and as a result, it didn't take her long to get down. Once there, she started walking. Just walking. Toward the Gre'shil.

And she did not look happy...

Perhaps she noticed the figure in the plan grasses perhaps not. It was after all the Gri'shil natural habitat and this particular Gri'shil had alot of need to become skilled at hiding. She had the simplest of animal hide covering the stitches were very poor. Much lower quality then even the Young Hunters Akat met before. She was also thin and had a few areas where she was recovering from wounds.

But she didn't stay hidden for long. lifting her head she spoke her voice shook with a mixture of grief and rage "Did you kill him? Did you kill my son?" Her son was alive and well watching the rest of the Young Gri'shil settle down to sleep.

Scar stood watch over them then turned to look at the Volcano in the distance. The air was odd a slight more mix of the toxic air of Khelaris. He figured it would be bad to get any closer. He settled down still awake tomorrow they will hunt their own Thick skin beast and earn their place in the Gri'shil adults.

Elven Forest

"It's good thing Durlan hasn't seen this. Go and find the most skilled Warriors who aren't Isolationists. I want to kno...." What Aineruda was about to say got cut off by the loud bang of gunfire and the sudden pain in her chest.

She fell to the ground her greenish blood pooling around her as her world went dark. The shooter wasn't quiet either. He knew the power of guns, he studied them, planned the attack and stolen the weapon. However he never fired the gun so had no way of preparing for the kickback.

The result was his arm being jerked enough to force it out of the socket. He dropped the rifle and rose up running into the woods. If the gun is found so much the better the goal was to frame the Human refugees anyway.

((Yeah I went Vulcan with the Green blood. Needed a reason the Machines didn't see them as human so figured copper based blood that is green would work. As well as some different internal organs. The machines scans could logical detect that thought humanoid they were different base elements and construction.))

If there was one thing that Tafari's powers were good for, it was crowd control.

"Come on, all of you!" He roared at the Gri'Shil as their claws slid across his energy shielding. "All of you together aren't as awesome as just me!" And though the words may have not made sense to the Gri'Shil, for some unknown reason it infuriated them. Tafari had put divine power into his words in order to taunt them.

Tafari struck the nearest Gri'Shil, jabbing him in the forehead with two fingers. The Gri'Shil's body flailed as it was wracked with a series of continuous energy detonations running throughout it, and then suddenly, a bolt of golden-energy erupted from his flailing form and leapt into the warrior next to him, who started to flail in a similar fashion as detonations started to wrack his body as well. This processes repeated itself as many as six times, the bolt of energy chain inducted to leap between multiple targets.

Tafari wasn't done yet though. Gathering an overcharge of divine energy into both hands, he brought both of them down in a massive haymaker upon one of the Gre'Shil, the impact breaking bones. The gathered energy then dispersed, resulting in a contained explosion of energy that spread out for seven feet, burning any other Gri'Shil caught in the attack and possibly knocking them on their backsides.


***

Elven Forest

The tender tapped Paxtera on the shoulder politely. Behind her were arrayed no less than 15 anxious-looking tenders.

"Thank you for your assistance, but your efforts are needed elsewhere. We shall tend to the Lady Aineruda." The tender said politely. Already, the rest of the tenders were descending upon Aineruda, focusing their magical talents to stop the bloodflow and stabilize her system. One of the tenders aministered a naturally procured extract that acted as a sedative, in order to make Aineruda's body relax and keep her asleep so she wouldn't panic and hurt herself.

"We need to take her to a more specialized healer who can remove the arrow-not-arrow inside her. I apologize, but if you're seen by the Lady's personal guard or any of Durlan's supporters, you may be attacked. We need you to go and find who is truly responsible for this."

Six of the tenders made as if to lift Aineruda off the ground.

The prisoner of the tiny pebble, the latest addition to the patchwork world, was growing impatient. Whatever manner of beast the prisoner's psyche had latched onto surely was a slow, lumbering creature. A wave of psychic energy seemed to lash out from the pebble, and suddenly, that lumbering beast, who had once been peacefully rumbling about the plains feeding on the grasses close to the volcano, was now barreling forward at an incredible pace. This desire to reach a specific destination was very new and strange for the beast, and it found itself unable to fight, let alone overcome that newfound desire. So it heeded the will of the imprisoned, twisted twin souls locked within the pebble, and by sunset (or what could be taken as sunset on this planet) found itself within just a mile or so of the pebble.

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Negative Rise stared down into the caldera of the volcano, looking up and down the impressive, crystalline structure that seemed to be attached to something below. -'What is that, anyways...?' the dark minion queried to himself, '...Some sort of city, a spaceship...Are there any souls living in this stark, deadly to human environment?'- The demon decided to leap down a bit, to a seemingly stable outcrop of rock inside the caldera, in order to get a closer look and keep observing it. If anything should happen to be living in this thing and actually exit it, he would spot it, since his demonic power to sense nearby souls seemed to be suddenly cut off. The effects of being corporeal were taking their toll on his powers, but that effect was well-known to all demonkind and would slowly dissapate, and he knew how to deal with it. Besides, he would maintain a vast portion of his demonic power, another trick all demons knew of and he seemingly mastered that trick long ago.

At

Unfortunately for the prisoner, 'close' in this case was a relative term. While not exactly large in planetary terms, the patch of Khelaris Patches had acquired wasn't exactly small either. The supervolcano had that 'super' in its name for a reason, and the area around it was, for all intents and purposes, the Khelari homeworld for a very decent amount of kilometers. No grasses grew here. Grasses couldn't survive on a world this molten, or toxic, and definitely not both, though they had been found growing in 3.7 g before.

In other words, the animal the prisoner had chosen came from another patch - and unless his modifications allowed it to survive the gravity, pressure, and normally deadly atmospheric composition (not to mention the severe of oxygen), it'd be dead long before it got truly near the supervolcano. If of course they sufficed, the only real obstacle would be the lava rivers, which most of the natives could swim through without much trouble, so Graxus' mutations would probably be able to compensate.

The obstacle for Negative Rise, however, was a little more daunting. The expanse of lava before him was that of a small ocean. True, the 'stilt city' took up a good percentage of the 'sea', but considering New York City could've fit inside the Yellowstone caldera more than five times over, and this place was a little bigger, the sheer scale of all this made some trouble in and of itself. Of course, if the demon had the equivalent of a zoom lens, he may just have been able to make out the four-limbed forms moving near those sparks of orange light he'd seen earlier. If his ability to sense souls returned soon, he'd quickly be able to tell those didn't have any. They were machines.

The scaleless reptilian down by the 'shore' of the lava expanse, however, was most certainly not. And he was hungry. Thus he was hunting. Well, preparing to at least. The sharpness of the spear (or was it a javelin) he held in his hands was getting to about where he wanted it to be, but he dipped it into the bubbling rock once more and gave it a few more strokes of the file stone just for good measure. Then he stood tall and smiled, satisfied at his work, not to mention eagerly anticipating the delicious taste of what he had in mind for dinner...
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Gre'shil Plains

"Nope." Akat answered the female dryly upon stopping, her scent similar enough to Scar's for her to know who she was talking about, "But you're in bad shape. If you fight with me, I will kill you. So I'll give you a chance to back down from your challenge. In fact, someone's already challenged me today, and I really want to tear a limb or two off him, so I'll extend that offer to your whole bunch over there: leave now, leave the funny-looking pink people alone, or so help me I'll take your challenge in their place..."
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Elven Forest

The sound of a gunshot was not unfamiliar to Jade. In fact, it was the one sound he'd never forget. A gripping cold clutched his chest as the memory of the that had killed him flashed through his mind. The chill of that metal piercing the hide of his back and rending his flesh, tearing meat, organs, and the very life form his body, the soulless cold he'd felt then and for so long after...

No!

The Drokar bared his teeth in a snarl. No! He would not succumb to that again! Grabbing Bisys gently by a hand, then Durlan forcefully about his waist (along with giving him a glare that decidedly stated that no, he did not get a say in the matter), he pushed past the memory and followed the others at speed, arriving just after the tenders.

"Oh c'mon, like you don't already know." he growled at their naivete as he approached the Lady, Duslan still struggling under his arm, "Burlap here's only been threatening her ever since he showed up, and the second she doesn't feel like putting up with his bull anymore, someone mysteriously shoots her? Yeah, that's a Scooby Doo for sure. Honestly."

He then turned to Bisys, "Can you get the bullet out of her? And can you stay with her to make sure she's okay? I remember you were able to be far from me back when I inadvertently wished for pizza. Can you do that again - um, the far I mean, not get pizza - or do you have to stay near me at all times to be okay...?"
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'Twin City'

Oddly enough, Ildela's decision did have a consequence that wasn't her getting shot at. Namely, nothing. While there were a great many machines that could be considered autonomous mobile drones operating in the expanse of the 'city', the place wasn't exactly dense with them due to its sheer size. Humans tended to like imagining the concept of a 'machine city' as something that looked a lot like a human city, only the skyscrapers were connected by giant pipes and cables, and there were oodles of robots of all shapes and sizes running around everywhere.

The reality however, at least in this case, was radically different.

There were tall buildings, yes, But they were mostly abandoned. There were giant pipes and cables. But those were designed into the giant 'plate' that supported everything here. There were also oodles of robots. But they sat in their hangars and storage stations on standby, waiting for a signal to tell them that their services were required somewhere - just like the maintenance 'bot that was presently on its way to Ildela's location had been.

Indeed, nearly all of the activity here was in the form of signals, of energy, being routed here, there, and everywhere at ludicrous speeds (for a human, at least). The place was for all intents and purposes very much like a gargantuan desktop computer that someone had left running on the last program executed. Now, this didn't mean Ildela was safe. Once the machine tasked with repairing her found out the supposed defective machine it had been dispatched to was organic, it would try to kill her and all hell would break loose. Until then however, she wasn't in much danger unless she got within the sensor range of a turret...

Gre'shil Plans

She looked at Akat then sniffing her scent. "You no smell like you speak lies you look like Gre'shil but not look like us. I will accept your words as true. He lives my heart is lifted for that. I am not with the tribe." Motions to the Gre'shil forces. "I am Outcast, a Kaja, disgraced one. I mated with out permission from Head Mother of Family. I been cast out for all of Scar's life his sire was able to get enough tribute for High Mother to allow Scar to go on Hunting Rite."

"If scar lives then I have no need to fight. He only offspring that lived others died when beasts attacked the nest. He was just a hatching but he fought back with just wound on face. So I named him scar."

She looked to the Forces "They think all youngsters were killed but for the three that returned. Then God of thunder and lighting fell from sky. God like ones are in Pointy ear forest so they attack. Thought High Mother always wanted Forest place."

"Oh my name is Tila."

Sacrifice location

Rotten bashed the last of the Gre'shil then went over and picked up a spear braking off the tip and moved to the Human offerings. The reacted in fear till he started cutting the ropes.

"Relax people we just saved your ****. This God fellow could have accepted you as an offering but chose not to. I think you should show some respect."

Elven forest

Paxtera indeed saved her life but Aineruda was still not well. The wound still needed more healing and as the Tender said the bullet was dangerously close to her heart. Besides this she opened her eyes and grabbed Paxtera's arm.

"More... Important then... me" She pointed in the direction of the mutated plants. "...Must... stop..." then she passed out again.

Durlan was not quiet as he was being dragged by Jade. "LET ME GO! Help I'm being assaulted by this Outsider!" Then he also got quiet as he saw what Aineruda and the Tender purposely moved away from him so he wouldn't know. The Dark Mutated plants. "No... See I Was right! You outsiders brought a Poison into our forest! Don't you see you over grown Dragonet! Your destroying our way of life!"

The assassin was not as careful as he could be, however he was still an elf and skilled at moving fast in the forest. His direction was for the Human Refugees.

Thought the flying Kethara was faster so he had to stop and turn drawing a sword. His right arm hung limp but that didn't matter to him he was skilled at fighting with his left hand as well.

On his way to the Heart Tree was the Guard Commander he heard the gun shot as well and knew there was no reason for such things to be so near the Heart of the forest.

She had almost died? But she had just felt that she needed rest. Just rest. Had she really almost died?

A stunned Bisys was pulled along by Jade, trailing from his hand. Her thoughts were in such turmoil they rivaled the Voices for threatening to overwhelm. At Jade's direct question there was an extra surge of red static, her version of jumping from being startled.

"I will try to remove the bullet. I can stay with her until she says she is okay." There was the faintest hint of strain in her voice, but now was not the time for either of them to explore its cause. Truth be told, Bisys was grateful for the opportunity to do something active rather than focus on the turmoil caused by Paxtera's statement.

"Shall I tell you when she is okay? Or if being far away is bad?" Bisys silently inquired on their private channel. How an electrical signal reached Jade's organic ears, and his ears only, well... such was a paradox of the techno-magic that was Bisys.

As Jade got the assurances he needed to be off on his separate errand, Bisys approached Lady Aineruda. She had her command from Jade, and the Lady being unconscious gave permission by default.

Stopping a couple yards away, Bisys held her arms out palm down while focusing, then repositioned her hands together in a close approximation of a shallow bowl. Without a word the magic was unleashed, aiming to relocate the bullet directly to her hands without passing through the intervening space. Some would call the process a teleport, though it wasn't quite such. Semantics aside, the bullet, and any bullet slivers broken off inside Aineruda, would be removed unless Aineruda managed to become conscious prior and actively will it not to happen.

Should the attempt be successful, Bisys would immediately close her hands around the shard and redirect energies as she lowered herself to a kneeling position. There wouldn't be much potential energy left in the spent bullet, but what there was would be redirected into a general healing aura.

That source would be quickly exhausted, and Bisys would go into communion with the forest and Heart Tree. Once more the satyr would plead for energy she might redirect to heal the elfin leader, another who wished the success of the Heart Tree's new seed ships.

It would have been more effective to be positioned next to Aineruda while she worked as she had with Akat. But even Bisys was able to recognize that convincing the gathered assembled to let her assist directly would risk refusal and take too much time, when time was critical. Her metaloid form was too much the embodiment of everything feared and Outsider, even though the Heart Tree had accepted her into its sheltering care. It was a 'better to beg forgiveness than ask permission' situation.

((OK - just to clarify things here a bit - didn't know where these damned armored creatures were coming from. Thought they were someone else's little piece of this patchwork puzzle of a world and was just using what is readily available. The prisoner locked in the pebble landed in some odd mountainous patch on one side of the volcano, but not within the Khelaris patch, and I coulda swore there was some sort of area near, but not exactly within, the Khelaris patch these beasts roamed in. Negative Rise's chunk of a planet landed elsewhere - I think it crushed some ancient, dilapitaded city, but also near the volcano.))

The Imprisoned
The lumbering hulk kept going, even when the sun set below the horizon, so near to this impending destination. The creature was weary, but something had kept it moving - and right now all it wanted to do was lay down and sleep.
The prisoner wasn't about to let anything like this happen, and kept their intentions from the beast very well hidden and most definitely obscured. Besides, images and promises of a great feast with many potential mates around this area were a great lure for the creature, even more so now as it got even closer to the pebble. Just a little closer...
The primitive mind of the armored beast would've been astonished, if it were capable of such. As it closed in on the source of it's misguided quest - there was an abrupt, savage change within the beast...it's four legs were not cooperating with it's simple mind to move forward. Indeed, there was greatness in this area, but it didn't take the form of food and female - the prisoner's powers were at that moment suddenly amplified: the beast lowered it's head, and found itself walking on two legs.
'Yes, keep moving forward, over here,' the prisoner slipped into the mind of the creature, 'Now, bend down. Extend your forearm, what used to be your front, right leg. Yes. Now, open your new found hand, what used to be the paw of that leg. Yes, very good. Place it onto the pebble here, oh very good. You're a quick study. Very good with instructions. Now, close your hand, let your new fingers wrap around the pebble. Oh, if the others could see you now! They would be so envious, jealous even! Oh, the alpha of your herd? He wouldn't stand a chance against you now! Yes, now stand back up. Go ahead, lift your head up into the sky!'
Suddenly, the beast received one final instruction: 'Now crush the pebble within your hand! Use all your newfound strength to do so!'
It was the last thought the beast would ever have...

The brilliance released from the pebble spread all across the Patchwork World, almost as if a new sun had arose in its sky.
"Muwhahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! I AM FREEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shortoth Graxin shouted out, as the entwined souls of the prisoner of the pebble suddenly found themselves residing within a newly acquired, naturally armored (and quite well armored at that), incredibly strong and vigourous body. The fiend, using its vast magical arsenal, had twisted the body of the creature: the lumbering shelled creature had now taken bipedal form, it's very skeletal structure had morphed to accept this new form. Of course, this transformation didn't go without it's price: many, many of the bones, if not all, were now broken, and even as Shortoth Graxin stood now, he would not be much longer. His power was also quickly diminishing. Before it all drained away, however - he quickly chanted an ancient, surely long forgotten spell, and with another flash of light, the healing process would begin, quickly mending the bones of the new body, reparing muscle and tissue damage, redirecting blood flow as necessary, especially since all the vital organs had been rearranged. As soon as the spell had worked its course through the newly acquired avatar of the Dark One, the body collapsed with a loud, audible thud, arms splayed out, legs buckled under and bent.
As he lay there on the ground, Shortoth could only help but to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! All that time...all those eons...only to be free once more! HAHAHAHA! Those fools thought they could keep me locked away...yet they also knew it could only last for a specific amount of time..." at this, Shoroth willed his new appendage to bend, extending the digits out to scratch at his new chin. "How long has it truly been? What is this strange area I now find myself in? Oh, I suppose it doesn't matter - whatever manner of place I find myself in- it will only be a matter of time and perserverance before I find myself as triumphant over Carderon and his pathetic pack of miscreant gods! I WILL extend my hand, and my shadow will once again cover all of Kalderi!" ((Yes, he kinda still thinks he's on Kalderi...even though, deep down he knows he's not there anymore!))
His new body obviously physically exhausted, Shortoth Graxin allowed it to rest, even though he, the new mind of said body, could not. Hopefully it would only take until daybreak for this new body to recover to its full potential.
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At
Negative Rise peered into the cavernous, lava-lit caldera, gazing upon the structure before him. -'A truly magnificent marvel indeed,' he mused to himself, 'What manner of life would be capable of such a thing?'- He stood up from his new perch, looking up into the sky. It was getting dark out there, on whatever world this was. Then - the flash of light - -
What in the NINE HELLS was that? No, forget about it. I know what that is. An evil more ancient than anyone would be able to tell me about...well except for Him Below,' he reminded himself not to be so damn impulsive as he looked back upon the structure.- Of course, Negative Rise didn't have any exceptional, zoom-in type vision, but he was still very perceptive. Yes, he did possess augmented vision, such as being able to notice 'evil light' when he saw it. His ability to sense souls was very dulled, especially on this planet. -'That one ability, oh how useful it would be, but I know it can't be relied upon,' he emphasized this fact to himself. 'Well, if there's anything operating on that thing, I'm sure I'll be able to see SOMETHING eventually. Damn this volcanic ash & smoke!'- It was when he decided to pick up a piece of crumbling, molten rock to give it a toss that he noticed it.
"Extreme gravity here," he said aloud. "Makes sense now. Why it took two leaps to get to the top of this volcano, and why I seemed to run just a bit slower around the base. While beforehand, I was travelling at my fastest. Well, huh - what's that?" The question leapt out of his mouth as he spotted the machine. From his vantage point, it appeared as some odd, four legged thing. The brilliant lighting in the place gave away it's mechanical origin, however. "Bah, machines. Those are no fun at all!" he yelled out, hoping the machine at least had some audible sensory attachment to hear it. He really was disappointed: For perhaps the couple centuries that machines had risen to prominence on Earth, machinery had posed little to no significant problem for the forces of Hell - every single demon could easily possess a machine, could readily overwrite any base programming of any machine - but that was on Earth, in languages demons could readily understand. Wait - the forces of Hell were universal, even spanning across the multiverse! Yet his ability to detect nearby souls had been diminished to near non-existence, so why would the same not hold true with his demonic dominance over machinery? Without a further thought, he crouched once again, leaping back to the top of the volcanic caldera. He had no desire to play with toys, even if these toys were unfamiliar and new. Hell, even if these toys turned out to be sentient, and seemingly inhabited by some strange new form of machine-soul. The One Below would have a great addition to his armies, but Negative Rise just wasn't in the mood. He wanted to have some FUN on this odd, mysterious planet, and he wanted his victims to KNOW he was thoroughly enjoying himself at THEIR expense!

Tafari approached Rotten.

"Thanks for the assistance. I need to awe the crowd before sending them on their way, so stick around. Afterwards, I need to thank you properly."

He then turned around and approached the sacrifices, who were surveying him with looks of terror and wonder alike. All except one.

Rotten felt somebody tap him on the shoulder. Behind him, one of the sacrifices he had rescued was standing. He was a scraggly man, wearing simple baggy clothing with a tangled mess of hair, but otherwise clean shaven and looking to be in his early twenties.

"Um. Hey." He said akwardly. "That glowing...guy was really impressive, what with the explosions and light and all of that, but ah. You were pretty amazing too. Are you also a god?"

In the distance, Tafari was shooting off fireworks. An energy field replicating the nature of a tesla coil started producing obnoxiously loud hard rock. Tafari waved a hand over one of the sacrifices and suddenly he had death ray eyes.

***

Elven Forest

A few minutes after following the trail, Paxtera became aware something was seriously wrong. It was like space was being warped and distorted, and the longer she followed the path, the more she got the feeling she was being watched and misled. It was as if there was a "Lost Woods" kind of thing going on - Which was to be expected if something ill-willed had taken control of the innately magical flora. It may have occured to her that a native might have been able to guide her more effectively, but at this point, just about everyone was going to either run away from her or attack her.

Gre'shil Plains

For a long few seconds, Akat just stood there, staring blankly. More than half the concepts Tila had just thrown at her she was having trouble digesting. What was a tribe? How did mating disgrace you? What was this thing called tribute? Did these people really lay eggs? Why would beasts attack their young? It was supposed to be the other way around.

"You're very strange." the Khelari commented with audible curiosity. She really wished things weren't so hectic right now. She would've loved to take this chance to learn more and sate her curiosity, "I'd like to talk some more with you later. Will you come with me?"

If Tila agreed, the scaleless reptilian would tell the Gre'shil her name, then lead the way toward the approaching army. If not, she'd just go alone. One way or another though, she kept on walking right toward their front, neither in a hurry nor dawdling her time. She had intent, and this was just the pace to show it to any and all.

Especially to the Thunder Beasts.

If they were unintelligent creatures guided solely by their instincts, they'd know first. Heck, even if they weren't and were just moderately in touch with them, they'd know first. What was this they'd know? That an apex predator was coming their way. That this creature that sort-of-resembled a Gre'shil was anything but and could and would eat them if she so desired. On Khelaris, the intelligent inhabitants were the pointy tip of the food chain.

Akat was about to let the Gre'shil know why.

She stopped.

"I know why you're here!" she stated loudly to the army as soon as they came close enough to hear her clearly, "Your young are alive! Well, last I saw them they were at least, so I'd assume they still are! If you still want to challenge the people in the weird forest back there, know I'll be taking your challenge in their place! So bring it! I've got a ton of anger just begging to get loose on someone! Who's first?!"

Her tone wasn't just loud, it was downright aggressive. She wanted them to challenge her. Of course, she expected it to be how Khelari did it - one on one. She didn't understand the concept of actually waging a war. She'd never needed to before...
__________________

The Desert

One of the captive humans (or to be technically correct, Hetrar) grumbled a short string of muttered obscenities under his breath as Rotten Luck cut the grizzled-looking fellow loose. By the look of his uniform (or more accurately, the ragged mess that he managed to somehow pass off as one), he was of the opinion that he had every right to at this point. People dealt with terror in all sorts of ways. His personal choice was anger.

"Respect." the soldier spat, glancing at Tafari wandering off to perform his display while he regarded the zombie, "Maybe if your pal there didn't refer to us as 'the crowd'. And you, kid, get your head outta the pipes. They're not gods. Do appreciate the rescue, though. I hate to admit it, but I'd given up. My thanks to..."

He cocked an eyebrow at Tafari's lightshow, the music causing his sneer to become a scowl, "Well, you at least. I think your 'friend' there's got some circuits fried. You find him in one of the old cities? I always did hear stories about the EMPs just screwing some up real bad instead of killing them."

If Tafari heard him over his display, his jaw may very well have hit the ground at that. This guy thought he was a mere robot - and a malfunctioning one to boot...
__________________

Elven Forest

"Either." Jade answered Bisys curtly, the division of his attention between the struggling Durlan, the sedated Aineruda, the tenders, the plants, the assassins, the drums, "Neither! I mean...argh!"

The Dragon stomped forward with a snarl, his free arm snatching Lady Aineruda from those of the tenders, "You all need to take Tactics 101 again! If there's more snipers around, the safest place right now is Akat's ship. I'm taking her there. No buts! You guys find some co-er, pol-hrh...soldiers, whatever! Find people who know how to fight. Tell them about the thorn trail and to find out where it goes and what's at the end of it. Also tell them to bring their best weapons, not to split up, and come back when they find something. I'll be back soon."

Wit an about-face, he left it at that, now carrying two elves under his arms and a furrow in his brow. One thing at a time, he kept reminding himself, one thing at a time.

"Okay, new plan." he told Bisys as he walked back toward the range runner, heedless of any protest directed his way, "If you can stay with these two for now, I'd be very grateful. Do whatever you can to help. I need to go check out where those drums were coming from. Maybe I can still save someone. From what I saw, Akat was telling the ship what to do with voice commands and touch, so it probably picks up the user's thoughts or something like that. See if you can get it to help you. Is that going to be okay...?"
__________________

At

The Khelari with the spear blinked. Why was that creature over there yelling into the air here? More to the point, what the heck was that thing? It talked, so it obviously wasn't food - too bad, too; it looked kind of appetizing - but if it was a visitor, why did it just turn around and leap back up to the caldera's rim...unless it'd come out of the lava and he missed, it of course, but then there probably wouldn't have beeeeeeyeah, he was overcomplicating things. Better to just go ask.

Laying claws to stone, the scaleless reptilian started to climb up after Negative Rise. Of course, climbing wasn't nearly as fast as jumping, so his progress was much slower than the demon's...
__________________

'Twin City'

The next turret didn't need to be asked twice. The moment its sensors picked up Ildela, its servos started to turn the emplacement about. Less than a second later, it opened fire with the same munitions that had been deployed against her mother...

At
Negative Rise stood atop the caldera for what seemed to be quite some time. Just merely observing the surrounding areas took quite some time, especially when everything appeared so strange and new to him. As soon as he was given the opportunity, Negative Rise took every available chance to seek out new planets, but it never seemed to fail: Those chances were few and far between, while many of his "assignments" landed him directly back on Earth. -'Heh - Earth,' his mind muttered to itself, 'A mere speck on the cosmic scale of things...yet such a marvel in its own right. HA! Humanity would be crushed by a few of the species I've encountered! Especially if those beings struck Earth RIGHT now. They are all weak, fools every last one of them...'- wherever his mind was going with that trail of thought was cut short as he heard the scampering of something scaling up the volcano. Nothing was approaching from the outside, so he turned around to look down inside the volcano. -'Ah, one of them approaches me. Very well.'- With that, he decided to make himself completely visible - a shadowy cloak that had enveloped him suddenly dissapated, but it would still be a couple minutes before his form phased in from the ethereal to corporeal.
This time, the not-smile was closest to turning into an actual smile from what he could remember. "This should prove very interesting indeed."

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The strange moutains
While events all across Patches continued to unfold, Shortoth Graxin slept for what seemed to be an eternity, but in all reality, the newest acquisition of the powerful being, an avatar in the form of an armored shell beast, only needed one good night's sleep to recuperate from the wounds inflicted upon it from Shortoth's transformation magics. Albeit the healing process was sped up by Shortoth's own healing magic.
Fully awake the entire time the body took to recover, Shortoth couldn't help but let numerous scenarios run through his head. Each and every scenario had been discarded as soon as it came; he had no clue where he actually was, or when he actually was. He peered into the pre-dawn sky - the skies here were siginficantly different from Kalderi.
'Could it be they imprisoned me on Keltosen?' the questioned he posed to himself would be a boon. 'They would truly be fools then. No, this is not Keltosen even. That is not the Oronobi star.' As he finished his thought, his hand instinctively pointed into the distance, at a sky still locked between night and day, straight at where the star for this strange world would appear. He then found himself look all about, any attempt to gage where he was at soon proved to be futile. There was what appeared to be a city off to the south of his position, vast plains beyond the mountains to his west, a massive, supervolcanic structure to his east, and far north: a vast expanse of forest. His senses proved to be quite strong. Where this being came from, vast expanses truly exsisted, and he truly comprehended the massive size of this planet. 'Well, nothing like a nice invigorating walk to get one's day going, is there?' his mind laughed. He picked up a pebble of this strange new world, flattened it out, and marked one side of it in the process. 'Mark, I head toward the volcano, no mark, toward the forest,' giving the flattened stone a flip in the air, his choices now clearly defined. He revealed the outcome of his game to himself, looked around once more, and took his first step in his newfound body. The first step of his newfound freedom. His journey would take him to the forest.
"Wonder what secrets that place holds," he said aloud, indifferent to any dangers this planet posed to him. "Maybe there's some elves there. Wouldn't surprise me whatever was in there." As he continued to walk, the sensation of hunger began to distract him. Looking around for whatever wildlife could be in the area, a quick, well-aimed psionic lance would drop whatever creature he could find to turn into a quick meal. After enjoying a quick breakfast, his journey continued.

Bisys had not been fully aware of Jade's outburst until he stormed past, so deeply had she been focused on the critically injured leader. Jade's instruction caused her the halt beside him in the range runner, dumbfounded.

Well, he certainly didn't do things by halves. For the longest time Jade had resisted her abilities. Now in a 180 he expected her to heal an injured while also keeping an Outsider-phobic, one who may have been responsible for the injury, pacified at the same time.

Abruptly the solution became so evident, that had Bisys the features and nature to do her face would have split into a Cheshire cat's grin. "Yes, Jade," came her deceptively mild confirmation.

However she hardly uttered this when new factors in the form of the elfin captain and his guards arrived, demanding answers. Plan B, then. Pity, Plan A was going to have solved a lot of problems all at once.

It was also puzzling how Jade was thwarted at every turn. When he had finally decided what he wanted for himself was to save the Hetrar from the Harvester oppression, a dozen other things had happened, almost simultaneously, to detour him. That his most recent goal to investigate the drums was again being delayed was almost to be expected at this point. It was baffling why karma would flow so erratically for him, when he was doing everything in his power to be good, noble, and helpful.

Part of her recognized she herself had been more a problem than solution in helping Jade focus on his goals. Bisys would try all the harder to help Jade accomplish his objectives. That was her first priority over her own concerns as long as he was her Master. More, as long as he was her friend, and she his.

So most of the magic spells were readied with a thought, but put on hold before actually executing. Much like the five arrows aimed towards the occupants of the range runner.

Calmly Bisys addressed the captain, speaking as if making introduction over crumpets. Her double tone of rustling spring leaves overlayed by an echoing bell was competent and soothing, even slightly hypnotic. The effect might have been slightly spoiled with her uneven movements, but she was still as regal as any queen. This was a side of the satyr not seen before. Especially the points of information she could not have directly know.

"It is good to see you, sirrah. Your promptness demonstrates a great sense of duty and respect for those that are charged to your care.

"This is Durlan. He erroneously has accused us of harming this forest which seeks to shelter us as we it. He is here to be kept under observation as he belittled Lady Aineruda right before she was attacked. All the 'Outsiders', as he calls those of our group, were accounted for. Thus he is held as a prime suspect until Lady Aineruda recovers and can judge him.

"This is Jade. He seeks to protect all he comes across, and even those he only suspects are in danger. He saw a threat to the Lady Aineruda and sought to fortify her in the nearest safe hold. That safe hold is here, in the same range runner that shot down the Hunter Killer which threatened this forest abode. It is thanks to Jade working with Akat to arrange to have this protection here. So great is its potential, the Heart Tree itself has mimicked the range runner to protect the forest and all within, residents and 'Outsiders' alike.

"Lady Aineruda," she straightened the elfin leader to be more comfortable, "was attacked and injured so badly she was rendered unconscious. Yet she awoke momentarily, so great above herself was her love and concern for those she leads. Her last words were directions to investigate and stop an encroaching mutation in the forest plants, claiming it more important than herself.

"There is disagreement over this, naturally. Lady Aineruda is a uniquely qualified leader and irreplaceable. So we split. One of us, called Paxtera, has followed the path of mutation trying to find its origin but we have not yet heard back from her. Others have equally scattered, trying to head off other forces that directly and indirectly threaten this forest Lady Aineruda holds so dear.

"Jade is one of those. He will now head to investigate the drums. Once more he seeks to save others as he has saved you. He will return soon to share knowledge of what, if any, threat he finds.

"In you Jade, as Lady Aineruda did, trusts to take charge of Lady Aineruda's orders to investigate the forest mutation of the thorn trail to find out where it goes and what is at the end of it. Your best weapons, including not splitting up and coming back when you find something to report to Lady Aineruda, are needed to assess this threat.

"I, Bisys, will stay here to put my efforts into healing Lady Aineruda. I will also keep Durlan here in the safest spot known until the larger threats are gone and his accusations can be given proper trial by Lady Aineruda. A couple of your guardsmen would be greatly welcomed to help in this second task." The latter, of course, an opening for the captain to rest his fears by leaving behind some who could give a first-hand account of what happened while he followed orders elsewhere.

With a slow, respectful bow, Bisys put actions to words. She knelt down by Lady Aineruda and renewed her internal pleas with the Heart Tree on behalf of the wounded. Her efforts were made doubly effective now that she was in close proximity.

"Go," Bisys encouraged Jade on their private channel. "Either way they respond I can work on healing Lady Aineruda. Her recovery to vouch for us is key to their support and trust. Give them one less target to focus their suspicions on. I will ask the range runner to close if there becomes too much danger."

Not that Bisys was relying on the captain's sudden support. Should things trigger into a firefight, her readied spells would execute. All the Voices kept in check by Bisys would be released into various states of corporal: Three given a temporary invulnerable form to last several minutes would circle Durlan, keeping both him safe and immobile. Another silent phantom would guard her back, drawing fire and acting as a shield for the two locking in a healing state. The rest would for a wall cutting the three living within from the soldiers without. They would be the most unnerving, half faces frozen in silent complaint and half moans of those who dead whose resentment over an unfulfilled life, to freeze in fear all wishing battle.

The trump, however, would be if Durlan sought to personally interfere with more than words. Any hostile action on his part would justify Bisys in slowing his actions by siphoning his energy to heal Lady Aineruda. That, as far as Bisys was concerned, would be the best possibility because it would virtually immobilize Durlan while allowing such a boost that Lady Aineruda could be expected to make a full recovery instantly.

Tafari's focused accuracy and perception did in fact enhance his base senses, including hearing. The din from the tesla effect (that stuff is really, really loud) actually garbled his wording sufficiently that Tafari didn't get the whole picture. So he didn't explode in rage.

"...And now it is time to send you to a place of safety. I require nothing of you, save simply for your aknowledgement of my power. Farewell, and don't cause trouble in your new home."

Every individual turned into a golden-orange beam of light, shot into the sky, and then rocketed in the direction of Paragon City. Tafari then walked back over to trio. As he approached, he wound down. His lightning-like field faded, his glowing aura dissapated, and his eyes reverted to normal.

"I am a god." He said simply as he approached. "I don't mind all that much if you don't think much of me and don't worship me. Frankly, I'm too young to have a following yet, so this came as a bit of a surprise. But make no mistake, insect." He glared at the soldier. "You were sacrificed to me. I have complete control over your mass. All I need to do to *prove* I am a god is make your limbs vanish one by one. Unless you want to go down that road, don't you DARE disrespect or deride me."

At

The words of Negative Rise were greatly mirrored in the Khelari. Of course, the reptilian was already very interested, but that was a technical distinction. Crouching there on the rock he'd climbed after scaling the caldera wall, clawed toes against the stone in tandem with the palm of his left hand and the spear held vertically in the right, one end on the ground, his eyes held exactly that: interest.

For a few seconds, he simply remained there, long, whiplike tail gradually swaying to and fro as he studied this strange creature and tried to place it. To no avail, of course. But that didn't stop him from trying. Eventually he gave up however, thinking the best way to approach this was to simply ask.

"You know, you're hard to figure out." he said, "You move fast, but you also wait. You smell great, but you also talk. What are you? Where did you come from...?"
__________________

'Twin City'

Within moments, the whole place was on full alert. The more turrets got Ildela into sensor range, the more fire came her way. Hunter-killers emerged from opening hangar bays and joined in the fray. Surprisingly enough, there didn't seem to be any conflicting crossfire. Either these things didn't shoot when something friendly was in the way, or their munitions themselves were smart enough to avoid friendly fire incidents. Either way, it probably caught Ildela between a rock and a hard place.

Fortunately, said place was hard enough to take the shells and missiles without really caring. The material used in the construction of this place had been savagely overengineered, (in this respect, at least; its original purpose had required the specifications), and flying behind obstacles like buildings and walls would keep her safe from the assault. Well, until something came at her from the other side, of course.

Another option was of course the route her mother had taken - into the plate instead of atop it. The turrets and hunter-killers couldn't go there simply due to being immobile and large, respectively. Of course, there may have been other things down there that were just as deadly. However, there were also the disguised doors Paxtera hadn't made it past...
__________________

Gre'shil Plains

"Oh, they will, will they?" Akat retorted with a look and a snort to Tila, then turned back toward the Gre'shil army and set her feet apart, lowering her center of gravity like a linebacker expecting to catch a charge. She shouted at them, "You all want to challenge me?! Fine! Here I am! Are you coming over here, or am I coming over there...?!"
__________________

Elven Forest

Jade blinked. A scant few seconds ago, he'd been ready to go ahead and throw Durlan at someone. Now he was at a loss for words. Even as Bisys spoke her last sentence, even as he noted out of the corner of an eye that the holograms that illuminated the interior of the range runner were now all orange, he was still digesting his surprise. That had been refreshingly direct...but also very unexpected.

"Um...what she said." was all he could think of just then, carefully releasing Lady Ainderuda and Durlan (well, the second not so carefully), and spreading his wings to depart, "Okay. I'll be back soon."

With that, he took off. He didn't even really realize that Bisys hadn't actually spoken those last few words to him, the bulk of his attention on other things. It'd probably dawn on him eventually, but right now he focused on gaining speed and altitude, foregoing the convenience of gliding in lieu of powerful wingstrokes that propelled him in the direction from which he'd heard the drums...

((Waiting for Liz a bit more before I post for the sacrifice site. If you really need him to do or say something, feel free to grab the soldier NPC. He's your standard surly, crotchety, seen-it-all-before old war coot who'd just as soon smack you as look at you.))