Egg Hunt

Mage of Mist · #31

Lurking on the outside of the Corrupted Forest, what appeared to be an ordinary white wolf was lurking about, pacing in thought, head and tail held low in concern... She could clearly see that the forest was affected, and thus... She must not be the only one affected by this event. This was weird and deeply concerning.

The white wolf backed off from the forest, eyeing up a clearing... Before making a running jump towards it, hopping between the patches to get further into the forest, last thing she wanted was to get corrupted or mauled by some beast when like this, eventually coming across the group panting, examining the situation and seeing that luckily other than scratches, she was- Is... Is That a black unicorn? The white wolf just stood there staring in silence, an ear twitching in confusion.

Jent · #32

For as keen of hearing assisted the figure in understanding the current events without departing his seat, Zerexe sure made him regret listening in so closely. Damn it! The seemingly normal villager fell backwards from his chair upon one of the recent arrival's shout. Human in appearance, despite how rare the 'normies' were in Pax these days, he weakly pulled himself to his knees.

"So... You all need an extra pair of hands then?" the man addressed no one in particular, though his general focus stared at mortalized Alignment in the building. "... I imagine I can do something to help... Especially since the 'Temple likely in trouble as well..."

After straightening to two feet, the man brushed back his hair, shimmering from solid black to a blue-ish green hue in his pained state.

#33

As that all happened, a shaking Mitsuko walked into the H&H...well moved through a window. She slowly, quietly, moved to a corner, laid down on a larger chair, and proceeded to stare off with an expression somewhere between shock, panic, and nausea. The stellar goddess was not taking any of it well, her entire being naturally being made of faith and nothing but, and her panic and confusion about it all rendered her barely functional when combined with the shock to her system. She had even lost her wings out of it, holding a few handfuls of jet black feathers close to her in hopes of fixing this all. She wouldn't move much from her spot once there, and ignored everything not directed to her.

#34

Tom took all of this in. Another immortal floated in and wasn't taking things well. Four people had volunteered to help with defense. Damian had agreed to help round up more eggs. And all of this within a few minutes. Making up his mind towards a plan, he started handing out orders.

"You four, we need to start a patrol on the town's border. Try to stop anything predatory or unsavoury from getting in, and if you can't, come back here to sound the alarm. Remember, hurt any civilians and I will find a way to hurt you back. Damian, we need to gather all the eggs. Recruit local kids and friends to help. Tala, you know the dieties here as well as anyone. We need to bring the missing ones here for triage. Some are obviously in worse shape than others. Remember, lives are our concern."

With that Tom went over to Tala.

"I left my house without my gear this morning, with Grandma over there and all. While you're out, can you do me a solid and pick it up for me?"

#35

Zerexe and her two nodded, heading out and spreading out. Zerexe and Aggrex stayed o the ground, Zerexe jumping between rooftops to look at things around and Aggrex circling the ground around the most likely locations, leaving a trail of sticky oil to trap things coming in to be investigated. Xemnex, being a flight capable beings, and a very fast one at that, flew around the sky, constantly scanning for anything trying to enter or leave the town, as well as anything moving around the town of note.

As Tom organized the people, Mitsuko moved slightly before throwing up what little water was on her stomach, then went back to laying quietly in her spot.

Lulubelle · #36

With that, the tiny vampire exited the H&H in pursuit of more eggs, smiling and waving to Tom as stepped out the door. From there, he slowly but steadily, weighed down by the eggs, made his way over to the storehouse on the edge of the village. He took the eggs he had and deposited them, making sure that he had gotten every last one safely tucked away before he had left. He plucked them from the basket and pried them from his bunny costume. He felt much lighter now without the eggs he had been carrying. Not as bogged down as before. Now free of the many eggs-- At least for now-- He went off to search the Encampment for more of the strange but beautiful eggs, the ones that had caused Nero and other immortals so much pain.

Tom had told him to get his friends to help him in his search. It was at times like this that Damian missed his twin the most; it was nice to have someone to depend on. But right now, Tom was depending on him. So he shook those thoughts off and went out his business. For a bit, he continued to work along, picking up any colorful eggs he spotted and stopping only for a few moments to admire the scenery. He picked a flower and tucked it in his hair. Eventually, he was able to spot Grog in town. Damian's face lit up at the sight of the barbarian, and he happily rushed toward him.

"Grog!!!!!!"

#37

Talas ears pricked up metaphorically from where she'd been standing, metaphorically since she was in her human form right now, when her name was mentioned. The werewolf nodded her willingness to try to fnd the other deities and bring them back when asked, but had turned to go when the man walked up to her to ask her to retrieve his gear.

"Of course I can do that, no problem. I'll be a minute" she answered, before sprinting out of the doorway to get to Toms cabin, transforming into her Were and then silver wolf form along the way to speed up her travel time considerably.

She was there in less than a minute.

<hr />

Meanwhile, Russel approached 'Grandma' and squatted next to her, examining the mortalised immortal like you would an exhibition.

"... I wonder if you can hear me... Mad God..."

#38

"A... unicorn?"

Now it was CP's turn to stare, at the woman in the torn suit, her brush, and choice of fantasy creature. He was expecting her to turn herself into Lili, a great black mirrored Dragon, to mow through the wolves with her big scary claws and teeth.

"How... exactly-?" He hopped onto the Equine, then scurried up the Collector's back, to hang onto her shoulder. "I was kind of hoping you would give one of us some big sharp jaws, or maybe just turn those wolves into rubber..."

He was also scared of that outcome too, but it was better than being immediately torn to shreds by corrupted wolves.

"We should be able to swing him onto the Unicorn's back, If you grab him. We have to hurry though..." CP pointed to the white wolf. "... There are more wolves showing up."

Mage of Mist · #39

The white wolf continued to stare, thinking... She glanced at the corrupted wolves stalking about and understood their concern regarding her presence. The white wolf lowered her head in a submissive manner to show she wasn't a threat, keeping her body low and she went to check on the man laying among the rocks in concern.

#40

Encampment

Grog had just bent down to pick up another of the pretty rocks when Damian called his name - causing him to spill all his pretty rocks all over the ground.

"Hi little boy. Grog gotta pick up pretty rocks again. Grog got to be careful, pretty rocks break easily!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corrupted forest

The man started to come to, groaning. However, it was very clear he wasn't about to move anywhere under his own power.

Lulubelle · #41

Damian rushed to give Grog a big hug, wrapping his arms around the barbarian's leg before letting go. He watched as Grog's "pretty rocks" spilled on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Grog! I didn't mean to startle you." He got down on the ground and started picking up the eggs that Grog had dropped. He then showed his Easter basket to Grog.

"Would you like to put your pretty rocks in here? I'll help you collect them! They're very special, so they need to be kept safe."

Jent · #42

Hello, are you there? ... Yes... Did you get the relay? ... Good, then inform the others.

Whilst recovering from the migraine, the man tilted his head back to the exiting party. They were not exactly the folk he enjoy cooperating along with. Not necessarily due to their immense strength they possessed, but of how well acquainted to one another already. "Understood, Tom." Somehow aware of the Earthling's name, he followed after the three outside of the exhausted Horn 'n Halo.

The deceptively peaceful atmosphere would not lower his guard. Instead, the figure leaped to the nearest rooftop with agile ease. Tension of being so close to either of the brutes waned significantly as he observed their scouting tactics. At most, he imagined that interacting with the 'golden woman' who caused that irritating ear-ache will likely be the one he need to interact so far.

---

The Temple of Insanity

Bulky and gray, the laconic Knight opened his eye up once again in the communications room. Grathon heard little of this associate in recent months, though knew the connection to him was secure and the information not misplaced.

"Fellow Knights, Squires, and colleagues. Au'Marui and Nero are stuck in mortal form, as well another immortal. Likely assume all gods at the time being are impaired likewise," the ageless Knight informed all those at the HQ and the Temple above through the speakers.

#43

Temple of Insanity

Except the speakers didn't replay the message. In fact the entire communications Console was dead. The trapdoor hang halfway open, unpowered. In fact it could be pushed open rather easily. Probably most troubling of all was the alter. Both the flaming anvils were out, and the Golden statue of Shalim was gone....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

H&H

Tom went over and kneeled next to Russel.

"I'm not saying they don't deserve this - I have seen the atrocities they were apart of. But this poor woman is obviously suffering. Please don't bother her."

Ariel's ever shifting eyes never seemed to be able to meet Tom's or Russels.

Tom then stood and went over to Mitsuko.

"I don't know how to help you - or why you haven't turned human like the others. But I need you to sit very still. If I had to say it looks like you're in your equivalent to shock, but I don't know what would pass as blood for you, nor how I could give you a transfusion."

The Collector · #44

"How do you think a horse can get you out of anywhere?" Abi asked, puzzled at why CP was even asking. "As for the teeth thing... If I touch those things, I'll get Corrupted. If I get Corrupted in this mortal body, the currently mindless substance will overtake me. Do you want to have a Corrupted version of one of my Dragons wandering around mindless, goalless and aggressive? Besides, the brush doesn't work on the Corruption itself since that was, well me"

The mortalised immortal then spurred the black unicorn forwards, plowing straight through the pack who parted reluctantly, snarling and jumping up at the equines bounds but managing only to make it a bit nervous. Oddly, the tendrils that went to grasp it slipped off before it stepped into the patch of purity containing Blackfoot and the white wolf.

"Did you not ever wonder why one of my anchors had to specifically involve a dead unicorn, or my rituals-Shiri is that you?!"

#45

She slowly looked up and spoke softly, still clutching the feathers to her chest. "I'm m-Mitsuko...God-dess of celest-stial and stellar f-flames. I'm a...n-natural goddess. I'm...like...made of f-faith. I think that's likely i-it." She took a slow breath. "I c-can't feel it...All gone...No...no more...connec-ction to it. I...I want to wake up..." She stopped after that, speaking softly to herself in an old dialect of Japanese.