[Roleplay - Drop-in] Murder-Free II: The City's Portaling Revengeance

[Florien]

Meanwhile, by the elevator shaft, (in the hotel, of course)

And the seven circles fall, partially. there are more of us. MORE! MORE! THE LIES OF THE LIGHT CANNOT WIN! We were called to arms by the caller, and WE RESPONDED! ALL HAIL! ALL PRAISE! FOR I AM THE HERALD OF THE SEVEN CIRCLES, AND... this isn't a triumphant return, is it?

A random, stereotypical-looking cultist sort mysteriously appears in the hotel, manically ranting.

Oh. Joy. One of these. How many tens of these sorts have to die before they stop popping up every other week? Look, my hands are full in a metaphorical sense negotiating with terrorists right now, could you keep your ritual sacrifices and insanity or whatever elsewhere before I get around to dealing with you in the name of Veltirississ, presumably bloodily? No? Yes? Good.

Kellensea has apparently been staring directly up the elevator shaft for several minutes, maybe even hours, without moving or saying anything. Her negotiation skills, as always, seem rather lacking. She doesn't even turn to look at Malakhiri as they appear, nor does she bother to wipe the dust off her lenses.

I SHALL NOT STAND NOR SIT FOR SUCH WORTHLESSNESS ON YOUR PART! YOU STAND AGAINST THE WILL OF THE SEVEN CIRCLES!

Mm. Someone grab that one and... do something with them? I don't have time, there's like a spider or something in the shaft, and I don't know how it got there considering this is a demiplane. Did one of you have spiders or something on you when you arrived? What is it eating to not die? Wait, wait, never mind, that's a bit of fuzz or something on my helmet. Crisis averted. Huh.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Elevator Shaft
Vivi rubs at her forehead, looking exasperated. "Welcome to the Murder-Free Hotel," she says to Malakhiri, "please be nice and don't summon any primals or I'll have to do something about it.

"Kellensea, I think Jones and Hydroxyl ran off somewhere." She tosses the other adventurer a linkpearl. "Call me on that if they do anything else destructive, I'm going to go... do literally anything other than just stand here indefinitely."

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
With a crackle of energy, a large blue dragon is ungently yeeted through the hotel's front doors.

[Florien]

Hotel

AAAA DRAGON GET THE SKYGUARD GET THE SKYGUARD I DIDN'T BRING MINE YOU HAVE ONE RIGHT YOU'D BETTER HAVE ONE

Kellensea switches from "essentially disconnected" to "battle stations" to "full-on panic" remarkably quickly as she scrambles for a weapon, knocking Malakhiri into the open elevator shaft where they hit the ground with an unpleasant crunching noise.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"Cool your jets, Kel, the dragon might not be hostile," Vivi says. "Oi, dragon. You speak?"

"Do I speak? I ... wait."

And in a blink, the blue dragon is replaced by a blue-haired half-elf. "... What?"

"Wild guess: you just died in a murdergame, didn't you?" Vivi says.

"... I guess it could be called a 'murdergame'," the half-elf mutters. "Fuckers didn't listen to a damn word I said, useless jerks..."

Vivi gestures broadly. "Welcome to the Murder-Free Hotel," she says.

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Oh yeah, the dragon might not be immediately hostile. But it's a dragon all the same. No shapeshifting trickery can hide the true nature of dragons. They're JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Also they're statistically more likely to hatch or be born adventurer than most other species, and their lifestyle is naturally conducive to developing into an adventurer. I'm sure we're all safe here and won't end up being shaken down every other week by an adventurer with all the natural arrogance of a dragon, because adventurers are known for their mercy, generosity, and lack of endless GOLDHUNGER.

Kellensea has apparently given up on searching for a heavy weapon, and has now pulled out one of her disturbingly wide array of axes.

...Not that elves are much better. You know, on average, over a thousand elves die in honor killings every day, and no elf has ever been known to die of natural causes because of that? And they're all too willing to include non-elves in their honor killings too, if you didn't realize. So if this is an elf pretending to be a dragon, that's just as bad, if not worse.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"Different worlds, different dragons, Kel," Vivi says. "The dragons from my home world are nothing like how you describe."

"Adventurer?" the half-elf says, sounding confused. "No, I was a legitimate businesswoman."

"So you were in organized crime," Vivi says.

"... Legitimate. Businesswoman." the half-elf repeats.

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Please. You speak as if goldhunger isn't a defining trait of dragons interuniversally. And this dragon hasn't proved it's not from my world anyway. For all I know, she's part of the depthcaster brood and wants my head for killing Cousin Versilhovarasivan or some such thing, or is a rogue single, out on a rampage of blood and terror! And the organized crime implications certainly aren't helping her case! What if she's financing or financed by the Zhin? Or the Twelfth Company? I've burned a lot of bridges with the less legitimate elements, and only an adventurer or an outright imitator can be confidently sent against an adventurer!... turns out people do miss criminals when they're gone. Who'd have thought?

Kellensea ducks behind Vivi.

I may be frontline, but you're the one who wants to take this stupid risk. I move that you get mauled first when I get proven right. And I reserve the right to bleed all over you if I get cut apart.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"The world I'm originally from is called Elcenia, if that helps any," Loren says. "Square planet. Magic is commonplace except when it isn't. Largely peaceful, at least in Esmaar where I lived. Ryganaav less so. But I don't go there, they're not kind to non-humans, or women, or people who can do any kind of magic at all ever. Still don't know how they function without lights."

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Sounds terrible. "Peaceful" always implies something bad is on the horizon. But you aren't from my world, at least. I have... a list of powerful enemies that reaches a bit farther than most people's, I think. Elrai of Morvyn, Tivraiss Krakenbane, (why she blames ME for killing her mom I don't know. We weren't even involved in that.) I'm pretty sure I've burned my bridge with Azhi... ah, but you don't care, and that doesn't matter right now, since, according to you, you're not from mine, and I don't think anyone would come up with such outrageous lies as how you describe the shape of yours... how does that even work? The point is is that we have a dragon (or possibly an elf) connected to organized crime in our midst, and you're just okay with this?... Ah, I suppose you tolerate me, which is more than I can say for well-on half these people, but nonetheless!

Bizarre tangent about her enemies aside, Kellensea seems to have calmed down a bit with the statement of the shape of the world... when...

Wait, why would you bring up the shape of your world if you've not left it and been to others?

And she draws her axe again...

Oh wait, this whole "kidnapped across realities and kill-or-be-killed thing". Hm. I'll have you know that if you are going to backstab me you should do that because I am very vulnerable and weak to such things. This is not a trick and you should do it the first chance you get if that is your intent, because it will end very well for you.

She rehooks her axe with her enormous array of weapons concealed in between layers of armor.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"Cross-world travel is actually a whole field of study back home," Loren says. "Not that I know much about it personally. I never really got into wizardry beyond the basics literally everyone knows, like telling time.

"... Yeah, I'm just weirded out by ending up here after I died. No religion I know ever claimed the afterlife would be a city like this."

"Her ties to organized crime are likely meaningless here," Vivi points out. "Whoever she knew, they're back in the world she died in, not here.

"Wait. City?"

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Quite honestly I'm surprised no religion told you to expect this sort of insanity, but then, from what I hear from other people, no one else got a Vels-esque god sort. Your people's loss, really, she's fun. Also, city? Closest I've seen is the private facility through the portal, and even that's just a few large buildings in the middle of nowhere. Back home though. I really should find out what time it is there. Maybe I can go back.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"Have you never gone out the front door?" Loren snarks. "There's a whole city out there. You can't have a hotel without people, y'know, and that usually means a city."

"Yes, actually, I have been outside," Vivi says, marching up to the front door, "and there's only -"

She opens it, to reveal... yep, a whole damn city.

"... a city. Okay. That's new."

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Well, clearly this demiplane is either breaking down or metastabilizing... or it might have outright collapsed and dumped us somewhere. That's a pretty common... "feature" of such things.

[wingedcatgirl]

Hotel - Lobby
"Not... quite sure what those mean in this context," Vivi says. "But I imagine that's what the anchoring spell is for. Should we go out and explore the city? That seems like an appropriate thing to do."

[Florien]

Hotel: Lobby

Well, Alright then. I hope that if there's life out there, it's sane life. I'm tired of delusional idiots with their ideas of inherent value and other idiotic things.

And with that, Kellensea starts scouting around the city. Well, more just walks around, weapon out.

[Zanreo]

"So there IS something beyond the hotel? Well, I'm not gonna stand around here any longer!" "Kiryu" says as he exits, looking around.

[Caret]

Hotel: Lobby

[A Sylveon emerges from her room into the lobby to see what the commotion regarding this city is about.]

"Now, what did I miss this time... OK, that's new. That's very new. Why did that city just suddenly pop up from nowhere?"