We Are Our Avatars VIII: Interdimensional Jaunt. (Closed up, thanks for playing.)

[DotSlash]

The boy blinked twice as Seras spoke to him, but he nodded twice in response. He seemed to have no difficulty understanding as he stood up to his full height of 4 feet. Looking over to Navi, he nodded as well, staring at her with his glowing eyes. Danielle looked a little shaken by the appearance of the boy as well but stepped toward the other large hole that was behind the boy.

The faint sound of skittering feet would slowly begin to be audible.

[hr]

As the two women slowly came back into view, Reginald seemed to be a small bit preoccupied with his own thoughts, leaning up against a wall with a hand on his chin. Once he noticed the two girls walking forward, he smiled and gave them a wave.

 

[Outisakanobody]

"Why are you down here?" Seras asked the boy.

Axton looked around as he though he heard something.

 

[Demonjazz]

Link decided to just sit back and let the others do the talking. Navi thought the same too.

 

[DotSlash]

The boy looked toward Seras blankly before shaking his head and shrugging in response. The sound of skittering feet would begin to get louder and would be coming from the side of the cavern the group had just left.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Samus didn't really know what to say either, so she decided to hang back with Link.

 

[Outisakanobody]

Axton materialized his assault rifle and looked toward the cavern.

Seras turned her head to look back at the noises.

OOC: Can I roll a dungeonering check to identify the skittering

 

[Demonjazz]

Link turned towards the skittering sounds. He kept his hand near his sword but did nothing otherwise. He then turned towards Samus and smiled at her.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Samus raised her cannon as she heard the skittering, looking around. Catching Link smiling at her, she returned it, though he wouldn't be able to see it through the blank green plate of her visor.

 

[Drakmorg]

Finding Reginald, Jess waved back to him and walked over. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wad of bills that he had given her and handed them back to Reginald, assuming he had expected to get his change back.

 

[DotSlash]

Eventually a small group of what looked like spiders began to file out of the hallways the group had originally come from. These spiders were large and looked to be somewhat armored, hard looking plates covering over their massive abdomens. They were also large enough that it looked like they could easily devour anything. About 7 or so filed out and began to make a beeline for the boy the group had just woken up. The boy seemed to know this and slowly took a few steps back.

[hr]

Reginald blinked as Jess walked over and handed him back the same wad of bills as before. He raised an eyebrow as he counted it all back up. "...Was nothing there to your liking?" He asked, a small hint of disappointment in his voice. "Well, there was something... but it wasn't exactly cheap..." Ness explained as she walked closely behind.

The paladin hummed to himself and nodded. "I see... I'm glad to hear that you've got your eyes set on something. Now then, let us continue." With a grin, he began his proud march through the crowded streets, heading toward a large building with what looked like floating crystals flying around it.

 

[Outisakanobody]

Axton tossed a grenade at in the midst of the spiders. When it went off a second after landing, it would pull the spiders closer, then explode in a large fireball.

Seras drew her gun crouched to one knee with her revolver ready to fire.

 

[Drakmorg]

Seeing Reginald begin moving again, Jess made to follow after them. The building with the floating crystals seemed to catch her attention, as when she saw it her ears twitched alertly and her tail standing up straight.

 

[DotSlash]

As Axton tossed out the singularity, the collection of spiders were sucked in and began to let out loud, ear-piercing screeches as they began to burn. Danielle grunted and buckled down onto one knee, covering her ears as the shrillness caused her inner lobes quite a bit of pain. The fact they were in a cavern and the sound was bouncing around the area didn't help much either.

Despite being on fire, all seven spiders continued to rush toward the boy, small bits of venom dripping from their appendages.

[hr]

As the trio continued onward, the booths decorating the streets would be selling things of a more magical nature, but most things seemed to be mundane and geared toward menial tasks or basic survivability. Other booths seemed to be selling scams and others were in the streets performing small magic tricks for a few children crowding around them. As Ness walked, she smiled a bit toward the scene with the kids, but otherwise seemed indifferent to most of the items around her.

Reginald continued onward proudly until he stopped at the steps of the object of the crystal's orbit. "I would be remiss to only show you the technological side of the market. This is the Magic Emporium..."

He waved a hand to signal the castle-like building standing before them. The bricks making up the large four-story building were purple and near the top, the building began to branch out into small towers, each with roofs made of different colored tiles, giving the very top area of the castle a vibrant and chaotic look. The crystals orbited around the castle slowly but surely. One might even see a witch or two flying around, some cackling stereotypically, others just barely holding onto their hats as they zoomed along.

"There are other, more specialized shops and teachers in the market, but almost anything you'd think of is either purchasable or taught here." He held out the same wad of 100 pounds to the duo. "If you find anything of worth here, try to keep the price in this range."

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Samus stopped for a moment, debilitated by the sound produced by Axton's grenade and the shrieking spiders. Bringing her hand up to her helmet, she sealed up her suit and cut the audio receptors, though the sounds would still ring in her ears for a while. After a second to compose herself, she ran toward the spiders, aiming at the one closest to the boy and firing at it repeatedly with the Power Beam as she moved.

 

[Outisakanobody]

Axton is, frankly, partially deaf due to all his extensive time spent around gunfire and explosions, so he wasn't very affected by the spider cries. Seras didn't fare so well, with her ears being more sensitive than normal, so she wasn't able to do anything while Axton shot at the spiders.

 

[DotSlash]

The spider Samus took aim toward didn't take the hits of plasma well and eventually dropped to the floor, dropping in a pool of its blood. Axton's shots hit the plates of two other spiders. They were slowed, but still looking to sink their teeth into the child. Speaking of, the child began to make his way toward the other end of the cavern, somehow picking the still stunned Danielle up along with way.

The other six spiders kept spidering after the boy, four slowly gaining ground on him while the two injured ones lagged behind.

 

[Drakmorg]

Now this is more my speed... Jess thought to herself as she excitedly glanced around at all the various attractions. She looked up and down the emporium with a sparkle in her eye. It's just like the Keep back home!... For the most part anyway... Noticing Reginald holding out money to her once again, Jess had to take a moment to remind herself that she was an adult to keep from grabbing the cash and skipping into the store. She nodded to Reginald and pocketed the money again, then headed into the castle in an excited hustle.

 

[DotSlash]

Ness blinked a small bit as she noticed Jess rushing into the store before smiling to herself. [color=666666] Hehe... Looks like someone's having fun! [/color] She thought before moving swiftly to keep pace with the catwoman. As the duo stepped inside, they'd see tons of people milling about the area. There would be a large holographic map standing in the middle of the hallway the two found themselves in and if they looked they'd see that the ground floor of the castle was laid out like a department store, small shops going as far as the eye could see with a few larger ones strewn about.

From the center of the castle, the hallways would branch into four hallways and each one was more or less dedicated to a basic element: earth, water, wind or fire. There would be a pair of platforms in glass tubes with an attendant on each one, presumably operating them. Some crystals similar to the ones outside floated within the hallways as well and a few witches, denoted by their large brimmed hats stood by them. Oddly enough, their hats had large question marks on them.

Ness looked around, scratching behind her ear a small bit as she looked the map over. [color=666666] ...This place is really big... Maybe I'll actually be able to pick something up if it's not too advanced... or more likely brush up on my alchemy... "So.... where are we headed first...?" [/color]

 

[Drakmorg]

Once inside the presumably quieter confines of the building, Jess placed her hands over her ears and shut her eyes once again. After opening her eyes back up and letting her hands fall to her sides, she glanced around in awe at all the various stores there were. "I dunno... I can't even think of where to begin." She commented in reply to Ness. Noticing the large map, she walked over it to take a look, checking the legend to try and figure out what each of the stores were for.

 

[DotSlash]

As Jess looked, the legend would show that most stores were marked as 'tome vendors' and were also ranked by average difficulty. Most vendors on this floor sold things for novices and true beginners with things for slightly more adept practitioners near the ends of each hallway. Some of the larger stores were marked as schools or lesson halls, also predominantly geared toward beginners.

Ness nodded a small bit as she looked over the map as well. [color=666666] "...Yeah... this place is huuuuuge..." [/color]