World Tree MUSH

    The hamlet of Peacely is a small halfling settlement built around a rather large fortress, and is known for its mines and industry. Though the population numbers roughly around a hundred or so, the little town is famous and well loved by outsiders in the region, particularly humans and elves. Lately... There has been some tension between the races, with the local halflings becoming concerned with the increasing number of outsiders in their town. But also...
    There has been word of Peacely's other issue of late. The old well collapsed in on itself, so the town built a new one. This is normally nothing of note but... Word has it that the water smells of brimstone. The locals refuse to drink from it, but this has not stopped animals from drinking the water, and quickly turning into demonic creatures afterwards, hounding the population as a result. THAT is news of a little more note and hs begun to attract adventurers to the town as well. Naturally the halflings of Peacely aren't too happy about that either.
    Nevertheless, two ponies quietly make their way down the main road to Peacly; seated on one is a slight figure shrouded in a heavy brown cloak. Though the cloak doesn't do much to conceal the elegant and frilly dress she wears, the obviously noble girl keeps her head down, face shrouded in the dark shadows of the cloak's hood. Every now and then she says something in idle conversation to her companion, her tone soft, dignified, and quiet as they approach the small town's well.
    "This is it." Anna Primrose says as she leans over the lip of the well and draws in a breath, only to make a face. "The well in question... It does smell strongly of brimstone indeed."

    "Well look what we have here..." Valerian says, trailing off with a serious face as he looks at Anna. A stimstick hangs from the corner of his mouth, lightly smelling like a mixture of the chemical smell of a Red Bull with the fragrant odor of tobacco. He takes a long, serious draw from it before... grinning at Anna, "Get it? Because it's a Well?" 

    He fingerguns at Anna and makes a 'pew pew' noise with his mouth a couple times before peering over the edge, "What's up, Slaughter Daughter? Buzzin' Cousin. Cutty Buddy." He looks over the edge and down into it, "That where we're killin' stuff today?" 

    He does not have his massive bundle across his back today. Instead he has a laser pistol at his waist as he looks down into the well, squinting with his superhuman senses, "Definitely smell that brimstone. Some DBs down there for sure. Nasty ones. Good hunting."

>> SUMMARY[Valerian Railton] >> What's up Anna? It's me, your weird Berserker senpai

Holly doesn't seem to be too bothered by the smell of brimstone as she approaches with Servis and Lavaux floating alongside her. She's carrying several empty flasks. It seems there's already a couple of people gathered at the well but that doesn't stop the witch as she fills up one of the flasks full of water. It could be useful for research later on.

 "Holly, you're not going to drink that right?" Lavaux turns towards wondering what she's planning to do.

 "Nope, but it could provide useful later on, besides we're going to likely have to drain the well right?" She's trying to figure out the best way to do that quickly.

  Room and board isn't cheap if you have actual standards, like rooms free of bugs, or a kitchen that doesn't have rats. It's especially pricey when your travelling partner is a woman like nine feet tall. Innkeepers get nervous. Deposits are necessary. Something has to pay for all that money, and so Lucatiel of Mirrah had, with an exasperated sigh, snatched the nearest bill off the wall, crumpled it into a pocket, and spurred her horse towards this idyllic little hamlet of Peacely.

  Terrible name, she had grumbled to herself under her breath.

  A slight tug of a wrist brings the Elite Knight of Mirrah to rein up beside the two ponies and their poorly-disguised aristocrat. Lucatiel bends slightly in the saddle, light gleaming off the mask concealing her face, though the light reflects from her eyes beneath it. Whatever's under that is probably, reassuringly human! Maybe. A blonde braid trails down the figure's back -- probably a woman. Maybe. She wears light leather armour and silk, a fencer's garb, and carries two swords and a buckler.

  She watches both Anna and Valerian, but doesn't seem inclined to speak to them just yet. Maybe she's curious about what they're doing with the well in question. Or waiting to see if any monsters come howling out of the woods..

    The rider of the second pony is... very clearly not used to horseback riding, not even with something the size of a pony. Anna herself would have been witness to the difficulty involved in getting on top of the mount when the two left off, at that, if not outright getting to witness bordeline comedic stumbling and faceplanting before finally managing to mount the pony. To think he had willingly offered to accompany her like this.

    And as the two ponies approach the settlement, Shirou Emiya is *clearly* uncomfortable atop his mount, and it takes him a bit longer than the runaway princess to properly dismount. And he delays a bit afterwards, to give a soothing brush of his hand along the side of the pony, offering a murmured apology of "Sorry for being difficult."

    Realizing Anna's already gone ahead, he hurries after her -- and finding himself needing to cover up his mouth and nose as he nears the well, too. "I don't suppose there's a chance that the well happened to be dug into a sulfur vein or something?"

Bryllu heard of the plight of town earlier in the day, promised to come back later, and here she is. The synthetic human is flying back into town, likely unrecognizable to the locals. Instead of the three foot tall humanoid they saw, this Bryllu is much more of a mechanical monstrosity.

Seven feet tall, with a full two feet of that dedicated to a drill clearly meant for tunneling. Four shoulder-mounted propellors, and in addition to two humanoid arms she also has for arms that end in lengthy, sharp-looking blades. Her body is clearly segmented, and overall gives the impression of a mechanical bee or wasp, except in gunmetal blue and a pale white face.

She comes floating down near Anna, Valerian and Shirou she waves with all six arms. "Hello! Are you here to help, too? Good to see you again, Emiya Shirou. Who are your friends?"

    Slaughter Daughter? Buzzin' Cousin? Cutty Buddy?
    These terms of endearment bring a heat to Anna's cheeks under the brim of her hood. Thankfully as she clears her throat the shadows of said hood hide her face well enough to conceal the fluster.R    "Ah... Ser Railton. Were you brought here by the rumors as well?" She asks a little stiff and formal as she looks down into the shadows of the well and her reflection in the water deep down below.
    Holly acquires a flask of accursed water. This water will turn any animal that drinks it into a demonic creature within an hour of consuming it, as long as it is within the region of Peacely. Beyond the region of peacely it is just horrible smelling water with a bad feeling about it. Probably best not used for anything other than research purposes.
    To her credit, Anna was very... Patient with Shirou and his struggle with his pony and the discomfort involved. She probably had to help him into the saddle a bit, but nevertheless she she shakes her head.
    "I do not think so. Sulfur on its own does not make animals into monsters." She points out, "Usually some for of curse or demonic influence and taint are involved." She explains to the youth.
    Lucatiel gets a curious look, emerald eyes regarding the masked knight as the girl purses her lips. Another adventurer, Anna assumes, before she gets a bright idea.
    "I think it would be best if we all worked together on the matter." She says to the assembled group. "... I am not in need of much, when it comes to the reward so..." She trails off before Bryllu arrives, clearly ready to do some hardcore mining work. For a moment the girl stares, green eyes blinking, before she rallies. "A-ah... Well you will certainly be of great help I think." To Anna's credit, her world is so deeply integrated with the Tree that she knows about the concept of mechanical life forms. This is just her first time seeing a reall live synthetic human, is all. Not that she knows Bryllu is one. Ahem, introductions then. "Please, call me Anna." That's to those who do not know her. She's not giving her full name around here and outing herself as a missing princess, though, much as it pains her to be a little impolite.
    It's about now that one of the town guard, a halfling woman in chainmail with a spear approaches.
    "Oi! What are you lot all doing milling about? This well is off limits! No drinkin' from it, no loitering, no lollygagging about, pro-hee-bee-ta-do!" She says waggling her spear.

"Dude, I am not Ser Railton," Valerian says to Anna, "I'm just a grungy Juicer. You can call me Valerian with no formalities at all." He comments as he takes a long drag from his chemical stick and then exhales the smoke, "And I follow rumors about problematic worlds that may also be business opportunities." 

    When the giant robot wasp shows up, Valerian gives a thumbs up to it, "Valerian Railton. I run a trading company that works in exotic goods." He lets this serve as an introduction to anyone who didn't meet him last time he helped out Anna, which is pretty much everyone except Anna and Shirou. 

    When the guard comes and tries to shoo him away, he shoos her away right back, "Hey get out of here. We're working. You want your world to become a Thorn? Because this shit is how it starts. I'm out here on Gardener business, move along." His hand waves her away a few times and then he just kind of looks towards Anna, "Well. I'm going on ahead." 

    And then he straight up just puts both legs over the edge of the well and drops down into it.

>> SUMMARY[Valerian Railton] >> >Enter Well

    "Well, when you put it like that..." Shirou sheepishly concedes as Anna's explanation more or less refutes his guess altogether.

    Pushing away from the well, he nods to Anna's suggestion to everyone who has happened to gather here. "I'm already here to help you, so I don't really care about any reward either, so... so... Huh?"

    His attention turns, slooowly to follow Anna's gaze, all the way to landing firmly upon... the multi-armed humanoid drill? "Wuh-- A drill-mecha?!" He blurts out first, before he gets a good look at the face atop the whole synthetic form, and hears the voice addressing him specifically. "Wait, no-- Bryllu-san?! How-- no, wait..." As if overloaded with mental stimuli all over again, the poor redhead actually has to pause to rub at the side of his face for a moment with all this. "I guess you did say you can change your body... Okay, this is fine, everything is fine..."

    The yell of the halfling woman probably drawing attention is when he decides to take the quick moment to just kind of... look around. Just in the most immediate vicinity, anyhow. He probably should have thought about this *before* they arrived in town, but he didn't, so... the stick left lying on the ground (probably a tree branch left behind by some playing children?) will just have to do. Picking up the length of wood, he turns it over in his hand a few times over and mutters, "Guess this'll do..." before returning back to the others...

    Juuuust in time to see someone straight up jump down the well. And he kind of just pauses in place right there over it. "...I mean. Okay. Oh, hey, Prreeerrr... Anna-san, wait..." Hurrying up to the Runaway Princess' side, he holds out his free hand and requests, "Can I have the axe for a second? I'll give it back right after."

    In the event he does, in fact, receive the axe? That's when the short chant of "Trace on," comes slipping from between his lips, a few glowing lines of green-blue momentarily spreading across the length of the wooden handle and the metal head both -- and once they disappear, he promptly hands the weapon back to her.

    "I'm not sure how long that will last out of my hands, but it should help with whatever's coming up ahead. Just, ah... be careful anyway, please?"

Holly smiles at Bryullu upon seeing her, "Hi there, are you another Euademon like Emily?" Her armor reminds me of her something that she would turn into. "Oh, I'm Holly Winn for all those who I haven't met before and they're Servis and Lavaux." She points to each one of the ghosts as she introduces them.

 "A juicer that works in exotic goods? So you make juice from rare fruit then? I'll have to try some of it sometime." She then watches him drop into the well. "Be careful not to drink any of the water! I wonder how deep it is?" She peers into the well to see if she can see the bottom.

>> SUMMARY[Shirou Emiya] >> Cast Magic Weapon on Anna's Axe.

  The mounted knight leans over her horse's neck. The animal is magnificent; a dappled grey probably worth a small kingdom all by himself.

  "I see no reason not to." To work together. The knight has a woman's voice, if an unusually low one.

  The guard earns a flat, masked look. "I am Lucatiel of Mirrah, and my sword is always ready. We are here to investigate the matter of these altered beasts."

  Half a glance is cast to Bryllu, but nah, it looks like the knight just doesn't have the mental bandwidth to even get into that right now.%r  Half a glance is also cast to Holly. "Nobody is going to drink that water. The stench alone is enough to turn the stomach." Yeah even the token zombie wouldn't drink that.

  She slides from the saddle, whacking the horse across the rump; he whistles, charging back down the road, just in case there's trouble. She turns in time to see Valerian drop in. Well, that sure was a thing that happened. She'll just... wait up here for the moment. No need to go that route just yet.

"I'm Bryllu Zibhu, 1457th of my line. A pleasure to meet you all." The space miner introduces herself, "Call me Bryllu or Bry." She stares at the guard, "I couldn't drink from it even if I didn't think it was a bad idea, miss, just trying to help. No need to point your implements of violence at me, I mean you no harm."

"No, I'm human." The large synthetic being answers Holly, "But I do know who you refer to." Valerian jumps into the well, and Bryllu follows suit, "If any of you want a ride, I can carry you down." She offers.

    "Alright, Valerian." Anna concedes as he straight up leaps into the well like some kind of badass. We'll get to what he sees in a moment.
    "What is a Eudaemon?" She does ask, turning to Holly as the witch introduces herself and her phantasmal companions. But her lips purse when Shirou seems to actually know the drill-bee in question.
    "An acquaintance, Ser Emiya?" She asks right before the youth requests her axe. Oh she gives him a look when he allllmost calls her princess, but he catches himself, and curiously she unslings her axe from her back to hand it over. When che gets it back, magically enhanced into a +1 Woodcutter's Axe she blinks, checking the sharpness- and finding it more than approvable.
    "... That is... Quite the useful trick. You did something similar with the pipe back at... The village, didn't you?"
    "I don't think he's that kind of juicer." Anna does aside to Holly as she looks down the well. It's fairly deep. And dark.
    Lucatiel dismounts, and Anna dips into a stiff curtsey to the knight out of formality as Bryllu follows suit into the well.
    Boy that guard is flummoxed, sputtering as Valerian namedrops himself as a Gardener and the possible threat to the world becoming a Thorn.
    "... I didn't see a thing." Myria High-Hill of the local guard mutters as she turns to see herself off.
    Now it's Anna's turn to climb over the lip of the well, using the bucket rope to rappel down and control her fall.
    "... You are human?" This is an earnest question to Bryllu on the way down. "... I can't say I've seen a human quite like you before." It's not skeptical, she's legitimately curious.
    SO. Valerian is the first to splash down in the water below. It's deep and cold, and the well opens up into a medium sized cavern that smells of sulfur and nastiness.
    What no one bothered to do when digging this well was, apparently check the bottom, because there's a platform in the darkness that can be climbed onto. ... with a crack in the wall cave-mouth leading deeper into the earth where the smell of brimstone is strongest.

"Well, I'm not sure how deep the well is, you might have to dive underwater down there. I'm guessing you would likely throw up first though. The 1457th? Is that a model number or do you have a really huge family tree? I've been doing research on mine, but for some reason I can't find any further back then my parents...The only part of you that looks human is your head though, maybe a dullahan then?"

 "Holly, I don't think you want the kind of juice he's taking. It can really mess your body trust me on this." Lavaux figures he's referring to PEDs.

 "Okay, if you say so, Lavaux! A euademon is an artifically created person who's a fusion of magic and technology. You would have to ask Emily for more details." The witch then answers Anna's question the best she can before climbing down the rope after the girl. Hopefully, it's strong that she doesn't rip it out while descending.

    "More people need to climb down wells." Valerian says to himself as he grabs a fistful of wish coins and stuffs them into his pocket in true fashion before grumbling a bit as he climbs up onto the platform, "Okay, either these people were blind as hell when they dug this or someone added this after to infect the well." He internally weighs these as equally likely possibilities. 

    He reaches up onto his head and pulls down his goggles over his eyes, which then glow red and look more feline than human as he peers into the darkness, "Yep. Foundational damage. This thing's not up to code at all." He jokes as he knocks on the wall near the crack. 

    When Holly starts descending the rope, he finally answers her, "No. The Juicer and the Import Thing are two separate gimmicks." He explains briefly, "Your compansion is right. You don't want any of what I put in my body. Well... maybe you do if you're a wizard, but who knows." He shrugs a bit and then gives her a thumbs up, "The Import/Export business is something I do to fund my free time. I specialize in..." He thinks about a way to phrase this, "Sustainable magic component acquisition."

>> SUMMARY[Valerian Railton] >> <S> Stealing</s> Finding coins at the bottom of the well. Chatting to Holly. Inspecting the wall crack.

    "She, uh... looked quite different last time I saw her, but we've met, yes," Shirou explains to Anna on the matter of Bryllu, giving another brief, curious (and somewhat wary) look to the synthetic human-slash-drill. As for the trick with the axe? "Yeah, more or less," he offers, pointedly avoiding talking more on the subject of the goblin village itself. "It's much more effective with things that were weapons to begin with, but I can at least use something like this in a pinch too--" He makes a vague gesture to the stick in his hand. Welp. He'll just have to do his best with what he's got.

    And everyone else is starting to go down the well, too. So in spite of his horrible unpreparedness, Shirou is promptly hopping over and setting to a slide down the rope as well. He has half the mind to pour some mana into his eyes in an effort to help him see better in the dark, but-- they hardly know what's down there yet. For all he knows they might end up in some kind of torchlight-lit dungeon like in some of those videogames he played, and jumping right into that with improvised night vision would be painful.

"Our ancestors chose to abandon organic existence." Bryllu answers Anna and Holly both, "So my body is modular and replaceable, and I chose this setup to try to match the task at hand." She activates her sonar to keep track of the area, and makes sure to map infrared light onto her vision.

The cracked wall gets her attention, and she places one hand to track vibrations there as she begins to drill an opening for people pass through, trying to make sure she doesn't cause structural integrity issues. "Did I tell you, Emiya Shirou, that in my home universe I am a miner?"

    Lucatiel decides to remain behind in the event the town is beset by demonic animals that had drank the well water. This leaves Valerian, Anna, Shirou, Holly, and Bryllu to descend into the well. Valerian gets some copper and even a few silver pieces from the bottom, it's a pretty decent haul and should get him a night's lodging with food at a local inn if he decides to stay around a bit longer.
    The hole at the bottom of the well is small... Large enough for a small human like say, Anna, or perhaps... A halfling. But not someone like Valerian or Shirou.
    THIS however is easily rectified as Bryllu widens the path into the next chamber.
    It's not torch lit. There are torches in the wall sconces, but none of them are currently on fire at the moment, though anyone can change this if they so choose. The smell of sulfur hangs heavily in the air as the party makes their way into the chamber, which seems to be a laboratory of some kind; vials and vessels and beakers and flasks containing all manners of horrible smelling components. The fact that some of the beakers are simmering means that someone has been here recently.
    There's a soft rustle at first. And then an echoing cackle resounds through the chamber-- followed by a WHUNK as a magical axe bisects the imp that descended from the shadows, Anna already cracking her knuckles as she pulls her axe from the wall, because...
    That imp wasn't alone.
    There's a swarm of them, descending from the stalactites above.
    Fun fact, Valerian. Imps have poison stingers, that they will try to use in combat, that sell for a moderate penny when harvested properly.

"Well, I am a witch." If Holly's clothing didn't make that already clear. "You can change your body at will? Do you have any magical parts? Or is it all robotic?" She can't help but to wonder now,

 "Holly, I don't think it's a good idea to test what happens if you replace your body parts with magical ones." Servis figures her magic is unstable enough as it is.

 "Imps? Are they the one creating the brimstone? Maybe I can summon some of my own to help clean up!" She grabs her lollpop shaped staff and points them at the creatures. "Conjure Kabouter!" The staff glows oranges and there's a poof of smoke. Which she summons aren't imps, but geese, 6 of them in fact. They seem intent on causing all kinds of chaos by sabotaging the operations of the laboratory.

    "Witch. Nice." Valerian says with an approving nod, "I'll give you my business card later in case you ever want to buy spell components." 

    With his laser pistol clutched in one hand, Valerian kinda dips into the room, giving Bryllu a nod and a, "Thanks for opening up the way." As he passes her by. Each shot from his laser pistol is a lance of light that cuts through the room, either scorching a wall or hitting an imp. For the sake of relative comparison, they're about as strong as a 'Firebolt' cantrip or something similar, but not fire-alligned. 

    His main focus is on getting to the lab table so he can inspect the spell components and see what kind of stuff the lab owner was hoarding down here. That's usually a good hint of A) Their funding level, and B) their experience level.

    Shirou gave Bryllu an... akward kind of smile. "It, uh... it didn't come up, but it... sure makes sense now, all things considered..."

    Since there's not much in way of light to be offered on the other side of the created hole, Shirou does, in fact, end up Reinforcing his own eyes in the end. Helps see better. And his gaze immediately turns to the worktables and vials and everything once they've reached the end of the chamber, eyes narrowing. "It's... a Workshop...?" A workshop in the sense that magi in his world would understand it, anyhow. Maybe doesn't mean the exact same thing here.

    The sudden THUNK of an axe hitting the wall after bisecting a demon prompts a surprised "Wagh?!" from the redhead, though, before he's spinning around in place to facing Anna, and... the remains of an imp. "Where did that even come fro-..." He doesn't get to finish that thought. No. Because between Anna visibly getting ready to rumble, and the sheer sense of dread he's suddenly getting, Shirou does, in fact, think to look up. At the horde of imps following their late advance scout.

    "Oh hell."

    The stick in his hand might be Reinforced, but it's still not *much*-- so instead of even considering the option of charging at the swarm, he instead backs up towards Anna, creating at least some illusion of a perimeter... not that it probably will last for very long, considering Anna's, uh, most likely mood. Still, he holds the stick up as much like a sword or a club as he can, digging his heels in as he even offers over his shoulder to Anna, "I have your back." NOt that she probably will need the help, but...

"Where I come from we respect the laws of physics." Bryllu is clearly joking when she gives that answer, "And not at will, I do need to fabricate and install replacement parts, and the facilities for that are in Just A Matter of Time, my mining ship. Speaking of, Valerian Railton, do you carry spaceship parts?" She notices the imps and flies upwards, and begins to try to swipe at the imps with her bladed arms. It's obvious she's never done anything like that before, she's practically just flailing.

    Imps may come in masse, but they are... More of a nuisance than a legitimate threat. Sure their poison can be VERY bad, but they're demons of the lowest level. Valerian's laser pistol makes quick work of any imps he hits, and Anna hacks several out of the air, murder blazing quietly in her eyes as Shirou moves to back her up with his stick. For all the imps try, though, they just can't seem to puncture Bryllu's mechanical body with their stingers as they flit about.
    It's quick work, which means Valerian is free to learn that a lot of the materials are either demonic parts or... Humanoid in nature. There's even a jar with a still-beating demon heart in it, preserved in some form of fluid.
    And then...
    Holly summons geese.
    "... Uh." Anna is taken aback by the summoning spell, watching a little cluelessly as the geese tear up the lab and start to ruin the ... Well... Everything of whoever set all this up.
    So moving on, because there's a path ahead; there are several points where the 'corridor' gets too small and Bryllu will likely have to open them up for the group, especially when some of the chambers ahead have collapsed walls entirely. But eventually they might start to hear the sounds of an organ playing in the darkness.
    Passing through a kitchen like room, and another chamber full of complete junk, trash, and an oddly out of place pristine bed, the party eventually finds their way to a set of double doors, where the music seems to be coming from on the other side.
    "... We're not alone down here." Anna whispers. Aside from the imps she means as she puts a hand on the doorknob and waits for the party to ready up and face whatever is on the other side.

    Valerian holds up the jar with the Demon Heart in it, "Hey you can consider this my pay for the day," He comments as he slips the entire jar into a pouch on his apron that seems to function as some sort of bag of holding, "That said, this isn't some rookie setup. Getting Demon Hearts is a bitch, and preserving them this way takes serious knowhow." 

    He looks towards Anna, "I think you might be looking at the same party that wiped out your tribe a few days ago. Maybe not the same exact person, but like..." He tries to think of the way to phrase it, "You see this shit sometimes. Demon cults. They infect worlds. Start creeping into political figures, local leaders, church members. It's like when you get a wound and it gets really infected, you gotta cut out all the dead flesh for it to heal or it just keeps infecting stuff. Makes the world septic." 

    He sighs and wipes a hand on his apron, "Of course, this is all just speculation." 

    He looks towards Bryllu as she asks him, "Ah... sorry. I do monster parts. You need a Unicorn Horn, Dragon Scales, griffon feathers, that is the kinda stuff I deal in. I can't get ahold of spaceship parts." He pauses for a second, "Well, that's not true. I CAN get ahold of them, but it's like asking your local baker to appraise a gemstone for you. I can't tell real or fake. I can't tell if something is an old piece of shit or a gem that needs cleaning. I can't tell if something new is well-made or shoddy."

>> SUMMARY[Valerian Railton] >> Taking the Demon Heart and putting it in his 'pocket'. Talking to Anna about this setup. Answering Bryllu pretty honestly about how had he is at high tech stuff.

"Man, I hope we don't have to deal with demonic geese now at some point?" Lavaux's thinking Holly just might have made things worse.

 The geese stop upon the group reaching the kitchen and begin searching for bread or any other grain to feed on. They seem intent on gorging themselves until Holly's spell wear off. "If a Kirin shows up and starts asking questions, we didn't see you." Servis figures Valerian's likely upset more than one mythological creature over the years.

 "Well, you could likely build a spaceship out of monster parts, but I don't think the monsters would be too happy about it." Holly doesn't think that would be the best solution for the problem..."Wait, Anna's tribe was wiped out?" The witch gets serious all of a sudden.

"I'm hearing music." Brylly announces as soon as she hears it, before it would reach levels audible to human ears. Otherwise, she just drills her way through whenever necessary to get people a path. She nods to Valerian, "That's fair. I could tell you how to plot an energy efficient route to visit multiple mining sites and make it back with enough matter to justify the investment, but I couldn't tell you how to make it a short enough trip for you to survive." She doesn't get into the whole demon cult or tribe wiping out thing, she doesn't understand it.

    "Uh..." Shirou ends up echoing with Anna over the vision of geese just going... well, all geese all over the lab equipment. "This... This is fine, right...?" He asks, with an uncertain glance to Anna, first, and then to Holly.

    He quickly decides it's best not to let his thoughts linger too much on the matter of geese. Better to just move on.

    He hears the music inevitably as well, when they near the doubledoors. And he seems to agree wtih Anna's whispered statement, as his grip tightens on the stick-turned-weapon. He even steps right up besides her, with his free hand going to the other doorknob of the set, nodding his head slowly. "With you."

    There's plenty of stale bread for Holly's geese to gorge on until the spell wears off. But once at the double doors with the ominous music. Shirou takes to the other door. The party readies.
    "Mn... I was raised by goblins." She keeps the story simple for Holly and Bryllu's sake. "Demons... They... They..." She trails off.

    'I think you might be looking at the same party that wiped out your tribe a few days ago. Maybe not the same exact person, but like...'

    The girl goes silent. Her hand trembles on the door as her pupils rapidly dilate, emerald eyes turning a bloodshot scarlet. Her blood pressure rises, a scarlet haze clouds her vision...
    There it is. There's tht fury peeking out once again as her other hand goes white knuckled on the grip of her enchanted axe.
    With a BANG she kicks the doors in, causing the music to abruptly stop as she rushes in screaming bloody murder.
    The six-armed woman playing the organ certainly is taken by surprise as she whips around. Her lower body is that of a snake, and in an instant she draws six wickedly curved swords. It is as Anna reaches her that-- she teleports, suddenly gone as the girl's axe whiffs through the air with a murderous chop that shatters the organ in half, the Marilith suddenly in the midst of the rest of the group with her blades flashing as she lashes out with six powerful blows followed up by a sweep of her tail.

"Oh they should eventually get full, and be summoned back where they came from." Holly nods at that. Some post-apocalyptic version of Canada might not have to worry about feral geese for a few days, that's a story for another time though.

 "I'm so sorry! The witch sounds sincerely upset upon hearing that. Upon seeing the serpetine creature, sadness turns to rage "You can't go slithering around ruining people's families like that!" She reaches over where the demon was standing moments before and effortlessly lifts up half of the organ that Anna cleaved in two before repeatedly slamming it at the Marilith.

    Where Anna trails off, Valerian fills in, "It was an ambush. Someone opened portals right inside the village. Poison gas, mass invasion. There were a LOT of casualties." 

    Valerian keeps it basic, simple, factual. 

    "My guess is Demon Cult Infesting the Cracks of Society." He guesses, "Usually you track this back to either your local pope, a shadowy new vizier, or a merchant lord. Every once in a while, they make it really interesting and it's a small beggar child that keeps showing up places after the fact. So if you see any crippled kids around, lemme know." 

    "I appreciate that!" He says to Holly when she says that she won't tip anyone off to where he lives, "But if any dragons come looking for me, do the opposite. Tell them exactly where you found me and give them my business card." He does not elaborate on why she should do that. 

    "Anyway." He turns towards the Marilith, "Anna wants you dead, so I'm going to kill you now. No games." He holsters the pistol at his side and then cracks his knuckles. 

    Weirdly, Valerian actually had the same idea as Holly. Since he picks up the OTHER half of the organ, lifts it over his head, and starts beat the demon woman with it like a club.

Bryllu clearly feels out of her depth. The large mechanical flying is taking deep cuts from one of the blows aimed at her, and loses one of her lade arms. After adjusting for the change in weight distribution, she asks, "Is everything always going to turn violent?" And tentatively, almost like she's not sure what it it'll do, tries to stab the Marilith with one of her arms.

    Needless to say... The Marilith did not' expect to have the cleaved organ used as weapons as a very angry Holly starts to pummel her on one side and Valerian almost clinically picks up the other half and lays into her with that, their superhuman strength quickly overpowering the demon and stunning her enough for Bryllu to simply stab her with that hesitant blow.
    This is when Anna wheels around, herself, crossing the gap between her and the group, axe raised high. With a raging cry of fury and woe she brings the axe down, and between the savage organ beating, getting stabbed, and Anna's axe coming down hard enough to cleave skull, the demon is brought low... Pretty fast.
    Panting heavily, Anna draws in ragged breaths as her fury recedes, hiding away back in the secret place behind her heart once again until such a time as it needs ot wants to rise once again.
    "With demons..." She whispers to the 'young' space miner. "Always."
    That leaves the chamber quiet though and now that in the silence of the room everyone can feel the slight wave of pressure emanating from behind where the organ was...
    Due to the fact that the organ had been hiding a gateway behind it; a fiery red plane of pain and despair visible through the shimmering, arched, doorway into the Abyss.
    "... That. ... That's a problem." Anna mutters, clenching her grip on her axe.