Prickly

  To destroy something means to make a pce for something neower vacuum appeared not long after the death of Melthazar, and vultures jumped on the ce to strike. For a moment, Malencia had been locked in bat with... everyone. And Malencia wasn't the oo flinch first. Seeming politically withdrawn, no one dared stir the beast any further, even if the neeared Nightmare didn't seem to have the iion of officially bag them.

  Despite everything, despite all the death caused, dell is in a rather good mood. How could he not be? If anyone won the big war, he would certainly rank rather high on that list. All of Faerune is under Malen trol, and all of Malencia is under his. tracts on the 'employment' of demons and Beyonders is still ongoing, but their respective leaderships left Malencia, and the details to him. dell will shape it in a stable superpower on the world stage, maybe he should get a new national faith while he's at it? He think of a God in need of a temple and some loyal followers. The kobolds have been awfully loud as of te.

  Jesse doesn't have many tools, usually she just modifies her own body to create the ools, or better yet, modify the product directly. She inally wao set up an engineering shop to support her forest, but the Malen authority... which is just dell now... had a few better idea's. Jesse never cared much for the war, what was important was that people wanted what she had, and she wanted nd for her pnts iurn. When everyone came back victorious, Jesse got nervous, sure they would all live to see tomorrow, but now she will have to i hings to remain an important figure.

  The fungal radio's do well in transmitting sound, maybe it could be altered to transmit music? Maybe it could even act as its own instrument? Roots that slowly move throughout the day could be put in small wooden boxes behind gss to be able to more accurately tell the time of day, perhaps a device that aids merts in calg profits as well? The living trains could be used for public transport, the Zveno could also fill that role...

  Jesse looks at the small book left behind by Esstrey detailing her world's advas. All the stuff not pertaining to ons may be the basics using differehods, but if Jesse properly port it all to VegTech, the future would be in her hands...

  Zha'klos was ba the immaterial realm of The Infernal Host again, demons are a long-lived race like elves, and because of that have a tendency to look somewhat differently on the flow of time. In the case of elves, they tend to act slowly to new developments, while The Infernal Host actually does a lot more pnning than one would expect from a couple of demons. The higher-ups decided that while the assion of Nightmare was an overall positive development on the scale of things, that it would also be wise to be cautious of further as for now. The most signifit aade by Gods is always when they are newly born, and Nightmare's extradimensional capabilities could see it reag into the immaterial realm, something no demon would want. As for Zha'klos herself, she got promoted quite nicely, and there are now few demons with a greater influehan her.

  Even with all that, she won't get pt, after all she got a tle book detailing historical events from a world where mortals killed each other over tiny differences, a brutal world where there was no greater power mediating everything, rapary force to us people. Or in other words, a perfect record of what would happen if The Infernal Host successfully isotes a p. Something that has been happening naturally tely, as interferewees has bee somewhat of a taboo thanks to the efforts of Judgement and Nightmare. Still, that taboo has a reason to it, and The Infernal Host is not exempt from it. They would have to wait a couple of hundred years, or even a few thousand years, before making any big moves. Wrath is a universal trait, with universal targets, it would be a waste to bee a target like Melthazar was.

  The massive i squirms loudly in the slime's grip. It trashes uselessly, before being utterly pulped. Around the room, dwarves are clearing out other smaller is, destroying them with a variety of ons. A small bit further back is a mining team colleg the various goodies stored in the cave's walls. The entire force works like a mae, every miner is capable of fighting, everyone capable of fighting carries a pickaxe. As Sofia jumps on a group of smaller is roughly the size of cats, they all scatter in fear. The biggest one among them just died, and they were clearly losing.

  "Thanks for the help as usual, ma'am, today we'll be gettin' quite ane haul in." The dwarves excitedly carry all the ores onto the floating mis, they are slower than mis without tracks, but excel in the field of carrying ores to the main transport lines.

  "Naturally, it would be hard to face my former associates if I wasn't able to do something as pedestrian as proteg a mining crew, but regardless of the ease with which I do it, I expect my pensation to be the usual." Sofia has taken up Esstrey's roundabout way of speaking, which to the dwarves make them think of her as some sort of noble's daughter. When she first arrived she was in the form of a fourteen-year-old child, but after sistent years of w in the prosperous mines of Brynya, she mao look like a fifteen-year-old child.

  "O-of course ma'am, adamantine may be a preineral, but it was always far more valued by the surface races. Here in the underground, thick steel pting c every side is far more useful than some bde, and your cooperation is more valuable thahick steel pting." The dwarf says as much, but his mining crew isn't g in the armor department thanks to their work with the slime, a 24/7 operational apex predator has eheir success where other miners have to be far more cautious.

  Asahi wakes up in a cold sweat, heart beating incredibly fast as he does so. Anhtmare st night, he hasn't been able to sleep properly sihe death of his rades, and ever sihe assion of Nightmare they have only gotten worse. The priests at the local temple referred to it as 'God-touched', a sario where one has caught the attention of a deity, whether good or bad. So far he hasn't been killed by the God, but the priest also mentiohat it isn't unheard of for a deity to sciously ignod-touched, but subsciously affect them. Had Nightmare taken actual notice of him, he would probably be dead already.

  A kno the door... who is it? Liquidators in a firing line? Demons ready to tear apart everything here? Beyonders hiding in the shadows? Asahi opens the door and... nothing. No one is at the door, but a presence did slip into his house.

  Multiple assassins bck jump at him, and all are struck down instantly by Asahi as he bisects them all. They all go to the ground motionless, but he still cleaves apart their skulls food measure. Elves, all of them. Not Malen forces as most elves work as maists for the VegTech onry, figures, if they came for him they wouldn't knock, they would probably blow up his house with demons, have the firing li outside waiting to get a bead on him, while the surveilnce forces torment him if he mao stay in cover. Something as sloppy as a few elven assassins 't kill him.

  Still, Asahi dreads going back to sleep, he'll just wake up in a cold sweat again. He scratches at his head, and more strands of hair g to his hand than usual, he'll probably be bald before forty...

  "Pleasssure doing bussinesss with you... may we meet again sssomeday." The Mazurian isn't pletely familiar with how to use their serpeo, but a speech impediment isn't something Cathy fusses over. She simply gives a curt bow, before returning to the ritual. She offered Mazurians across world aid in being in tact with each other in exge for a LOT of bodies, some living, some dead. Normally, Mazurians would never give the living to ao be 'wasted', but plenty remember Cathy as being the sed in and of the one who sent them.

  The ritual lights up, and the living pos scream their hearts out... literally, and their lives are offered frand spell. With it, Cathy opens a portal to a different realm, one where everything feels unreal, and sharp. A realm Cathy is quite knowledgeable about as an interdimensional traveler, one where the collective sciousness of thinking beings gathers, a world of dreams, a world of nightmares. She steps through it fidently, carrying a pte with tea ientacle, and a pte with fearies in another.

  It doesn't take long for her to find the reizable figure in this realm, Nightmare has taken a habit of tormenting specifidividuals, but rarely seems to go beyond tormenting them in their sleep. There are also plenty affected by her without her diretervention, but the ones deserving of her primary attention are usually svers.

  The specific sver Nightmare is w on is endlessly tormented by his sves, whether living or dead, tearing at him and asking him for help as they slowly pick him apart.

  Cathy is a little jealous of the attention, but she offers Nightmare a cup of tea anyway. The God doesn't know who it previously was, nor does it seem too ied, but it seems tolerant of Cathy's presence, if it's a remnant of her previous self, or because Cathy herself is nightmare fuel remains a mystery.

  "What is the purpose of your presence, slimy one? We are curious as to what would bring you here." The words of Nightmare whisper directly into one's brain, something Cathy doesn't really mind as a booming voice would be far more difficult to uand.

  "Us interdimensionals should [stick/hang/stay] together, acc to a dear friend."

  Prickly