A shifting forest of illusion. Cool and comfortable, with plenty of food both dangerous and not, Hubris is a place where many a rite of passage has gotten brave souls turned into mushrooms and the like. One must pass the main road, which is safe, to get from one side of the country to the other. Recently, however, sightings of unreal creatures and tales of witches and incantations abound about this place.

---

Grimoire
Hamartia

Hubris I

---

When they reach where Red is waiting in the forest...Yin leans on her knees, gasping for breath. That was a long ass run to have been sprinting the whole time. "Adrenaline is so useful," she manages to murmur. Forces herself to stand up and sling her bag off of her shoulder, fiddling through it, and retrieves a smallish package from the bottom. Like the food provisions, it's not for her: a thin but effective survival blanket, vacuum sealed since it's never been used into a 5x5x2" parcel. Holds this out to Revilier, though her head's spinning from lack of oxygen. "Here...sorry I don't have something better, a jacket or anything, but you can wrap this around yourself, anyway."

Granted, he shows off occasionally, if the circumstances allow, but...there's no way he's going to be in the mood considering what just happened.

The wyvern leans against a tree, seeing stars from breathlessness. He's done military grunt work, of course, but this was something else entirely. 

"Thanks," he breathes, take the blanket and tying it carefully around his waist.

"Aww," Red sighs, "the first one I've seen in a year and a half, too. Are you two okay?"

"I think so..." Yin glances worriedly at the wyvern at this, without her direct consent, before back to red. "Just...really, really winded. So." Forces a small smile. "Red, Revilier. Revilier, Red. How did you just happen to be standing there at that exact moment?" Leans on something too. Is pretty sure she melts to it.

"My grandmother said I should come and wait for a show." Red chuckles. "I didn't know she meant a peep show. Did you find your friend?"

Expression fades. "Yes. Got her back home, too. But now the demons manipulating this are there, we're here, and I'm afraid it's outside our influence for the moment. Forces herself off the tree she's leaning against. "Right now Tragedy is really fucking pissed at me and 'away from the forest' is probably a good direction." Wry smile.

"Sure. But she probably won't come after you." Red gazes toward the mansion. "Might send Captain Hook, though. He comes out from time to time, but in the forest he's easy to get away from."

Yin nods. "Does he go beyond the forest, too?"

"Not outside of his ship. He's tied to something in that house." Red hands a bit of bread to Revilier, who eyes her cautiously.

"She's okay, I'm sure enough," Yin observes, smiling a little at her beau. "We fought the wolf together earlier, and she helped me find Alou in the first place, and retrieved supplies for me."

The general takes the bread then, nodding a little. "I see. Thank you." 

"Welcome. So. Does he often flee monsters flapping in the breeze?"

Yin shakes her head a little. "It's a long and demented story. Suffice it to say that there was a deeply disturbed demoness involved and he would still have clothes if it were up to him." Won't say more. It's not her story to tell, really, and he needs his pride intact. Looks to Revilier. "We should get moving if that thing can follow while we're still in the forest." Though still winded, the burn in her lungs is fading. She walks over and takes his arm gently, eyes softening. "Are you okay enough to walk some more...?"

Revilier almost shies away from her. He doesn't know if can ever tell her, but the effects of Lenocinant's powder hadn't gone unnoticed during the insanity in the chair.  Perhaps another day, far removed from all this, he'll tell her... when he's less sure that he is at fault.

"Sure." He hands over her pistol. "You have four left in the magazine, one in the chamber."

Yin smiles a bit...but does back off. He was just...well, raped, after all. "Keep it. I have another one. Looks through her bag, though, and retrieves a couple more clips to offer him. "Just in case."

He reaches for them, and is about to thank her when the crashing begins. 

"Goddammit, doesn't that thing every stop to breathe?"

"No talk, time for running. I hope neither of you are claustrophobic." Red takes off, heading down the path she'd taken when she left Yin before. Hook is only just at the edge of the mansion, so they have a solid ten to twelve second lead on it.

"Hell," Yin almost wheeses as they start off again. "Revilier, are you okay? No heart palpitations or anything?" With the exertion and the recent shock, it's a concern.

"I'm fine, fine." He's not fine. He can see God right now, he's sure of it, but he runs anyway. Hook follows less intently than before, as if watching its sides for threats.

"Down here," Red calls, waving them into a hollow tree. "There's a way down inside. The dwarves down there will help us."

Yin nods. Glances back to Revilier, who has her scared as hell right now, to make sure he's still with them, and then slips into the hallow tree first.

Yin slides down a short, clean grade and lands in a pile of immaculately clean sand. The passage below blazes brightly with white phosphorescence, and opens into what looks like a seven-home mushroom village a quarter mile down the way.

Revilier plops into the sand next to her, blinking at the light.

Yin does, too, squinting, hand above her eyes to shield them. Did she bring sunglasses? No. Stupid, stupid, they're basic equipment for a vampire.

Shakes this off as best she can, though still squinting as she slowly adjusts, and gets to her feet to gently help Revilier up.

He takes her assistance, grateful as ever. Red slides down just behind them, landing neatly -- of course, she'd expected the sand.

"Okay," she whispers. "There are seven dwarves here. We just have to..."

"Jesus Christ." Revilier hides his eyes against Yin's shoulder. "I am not doing chores."

The vampiress snickers a little, though sympathetic. Kisses his hair gently, hand reassuringly to his cheek. "Believe me when I say I know exactly how you feel." Looks to Red. "We need to do what now?"

"Give them something in exchange for passage. They like food, beer, and hats."

"I'm not really carrying in excess of what Revilier and I need...will they take silver? I've heard mentions that it's useful as a ward."

"Maybe," Red nods. "They're fickle, though. We'll ask. Are you two okay to go?"

Yin immediately looks back to the general. "Are you sure you're okay to move, Revilier...? It's at least a couple of hours' walk in my understanding, and my top secret you-don't-know-about-it girlfriend sense says that you're a lot worse off than you're telling me." Her hand is faintly golden again. It's getting tiring, but she doesn't really care.

"I'm fine. I feel like something is sitting on my shoulder, but I'm fine." The general takes a step forward. He's not really one to muscle about to preserve his pride, even though he is beginning to feel a little impotent today. "Let's go."

She nods a bit. "Right." Glances to Red, and starts walking.

The hall tapers off quickly enough, and before long the soft thud of feet sound along with theirs. A head pops up, dark and scaley like a gremlin, and then two.

"Hiyawhatchoo wan?"

"We need passage through towards Oszurial."

Another head pops up, this one bearded. "Sure. Gotta fee? Gotta gotta fee."

Yin reaches quietly through her bag for a few moments. Retrieves three silver coins, and holds them out. "Is this enough?"

"Nah. Something important." Another pops up, standing on a rock and swaying with long arms and clawed fingers. Red reaches for a knife, eyeing them. Hook's footsteps can still be heard above, and she's nervous.

Yin glances back. Damnit. Thinks. Replaces the silver, and reaches for something else. Holds out a small flashlight, and flips it on. "Instant light."

The dwarves blink. One of them holds up its middle finger, glowing with phosphorescence.

"Mine too."

Back teeth grit. Glances backward. Ponders offering them non-broken backs, they don't have time for this. "Great, I'm making an offering to ET," she murmurs just loudly enough for Revilier to hear. They don't have time for this. Grabs the packets of food--three standard one-day packs of two MREs each, pretty decent stuff, she takes two--and holds these out. "Food. Food work?"

"Now you're talking. Give!" The middle finger dwarf-thing hops into full sight-- a creature about three feet tall, scaly and ugly in a reptilian kind of way. The others are about as well, paying close attention.

Yin holds them out. Damnit...hurry it up now, please.

One of them reaches out, snags the meal, and dashes off. Pauses, and comes back.

"Here go," it says, dropping a pearl into Yin's hand. The dwarves vanish in a heartbeat.

"Great. The reflecting pool is this way." Red walks around the mushrooms, talking. "We drop that thing in, and it'll take us to the city."

"None too soon, it sounds like." Yin starts off after Red, still keeping an eye on Revilier. "I still have two MREs for you if we need them," she observes, grinning a bit. "Something about mens' hearts and proximity to stomachs or somesuch."

"Maybe later, love." The general follows Red most cautiously, still wary despite Yin's assurances. "I can't hear that thing's feet anymore," he notes as they reach the pool.

Red stands on one side of it, waiting, peering down into placid, murky waters surrounded by gargoyle and cherub reliefs carved right into the stone.

"Considering that the last time we couldn't hear it, it almost killed us, I'm thinking I'd like to move ahead more than ever. Yin gazes into the water, holds up the pearl a few moments, until she's sure Red had seen and had a chance to stop her if it's wrong to drop, and then lets it fall.

It falls through without breaking the surface, and taps down a set of stone stairs that reveal below the surface. Red smiles.

"See? Oszurial is right at the end of the stairs."

Yin nods. "Fancy." Glances back to Revilier. Smiles a bit, and starts down the stairs. If something does go wrong, she doesn't want him to be first in line.

The path leads them safely to the emerald-colored gates of the city.

---

The next day, they come walking right back in. Yin folds her hands behind her head, smiling a bit...though this belies how alert she actually is. It's just one in a long, long list of quirks she has from her career. "You know, this forest would actually be pretty nice without the assorted raging kill you dead features."

"Forests lack elegance," Yue puts in, looking totally out of place tramping through greenery in a catsuit. "Naturists who argue nature's sophistication simply have no taste for what a civilized mind can do." When Revilier looks at him, he smiles a heart-melting smile. "I prefer silk."

"I'll bet," he half-grumbles. He doesn't care for foofy chicks. Revilier enjoys women who have a at least an even shot of kicking his ass.

Only when he asks nicely. "I would love to be a silkworm for a day," Yin muses. "Then I could abruptly end a conversation with 'hey! You're wearing something that came out of my ass!'"

"Looking at you, I would think your outfitter could say that every day, darling."

Yin's eyes actually flash a touch at this. She and Yue have more in common than she'd care to admit. "You haven't seen how I dress on a daily basis, thank you. 'Queer army boy' functions, and I didn't have time or brain cells to spare to dig out a better suit."

"Just so you know, that--"

Hoom, hoom, hoom...

Yue freezes, digging into the ground so suddenly that he nearly topples forward. He knows that sound.

"Hm. Judging from Yue's reaction, I'm thinking that would be our dear Cap'n?" Yin inquires. Rhetorically, as a few spires of ice jerking out from a tree's side let her skip up to a straight branch for a better view. Her rifle case comes out as she does, and the thing's snapping together scarily fast. Special forces, after all.

Revilier pulls one of the cocktails from his backpack. "Hey," he urges at Yue, who isn't moving. "Standing still is not a good idea right now."

The incubus just peers around, looking for the monster...

... which thunders along the path towards them, hook in hand, about a thousand feet out.

"About a three hundred yards the way I'm pointing," with a rifle, "and coming fast. Yue, if you don't think you're up to fighting this thing, this is the time to start moving the other way, fast." There is nothing derisive about this...just crisp, and military. If Yue's experiences with these things, which she doesn't know, cause her to freeze, it's dangerous to all of them. Sets the rifle, getting the thing in her sights...looks for a weak spot through the scope, face quietly calm.

Right now, the monster's head is closed. It has scented them, and the openings lie sealed. Yue shakes his head, twice to clear it. 

"The only weakness these monsters have is inside that bulb atop its shoulders," the incubus calls up to Yin. "It is filled with nasty sense organs, olfactory I believe. What an ugly word."

"Oh, really?" Yin smiles a bit. "Both of you should probably fall back, then. She quickly straps a mask over her mouth and nose, and takes out the tear gas grenade Kaz had sent.

Revilier steps back, but keeps the cocktail in hand. Yue flaps his wings to a swooping sound, lifting into a nearby tree to watch. 

Hook continues to approach, closing fast.

Yin stands, fading back a careful step on the branch, pulls the pin, and then pitches the tear gas in an arc as far as she can towards Hook. Immediately drops to a knee, eye in the sight. She's hoping for a momentary opening of that head to try to smell for what the hell's going on.

The grenade plinks along the trail, rolls just far enough to plunk against a stump. Hook does pause, and the bulb does split open, sensors flailing, but tries to shut almost immediately.

The instant there's a hint of a split, before they're even fully open, Yin is firing. Repeatedly, at several different areas wherever available since she doesn't know the anatomy.

One bullet sinks into the pinkish membrane within the shell, and it snaps shut. The monster wavers, paw to its head, and wails that hoom wail over and over again. Yue trembles so badly he ends up clinging to the tree.

"Best to relocate," he warns, "the monster will take out its anger on this area."

"Aw, damnit." Yin sighs. Jumps out of the tree, and sets to running...though of course glancing to make sure Revilier and Yue are with her. "Right then!" Mind's racing, eyes searching for the next strategy. She's still pretty calm, almost more than before, except in something that seriously looks like excitement and enjoyment at the adrenaline.

Revilier springs after his lover - wondering what Yue had meant, of course - but is slow to catch up. Yin's fast, and he's still tired. He turns his head at the sound of wood cracking and trees falling coupled with the hiss of gas being sucked into a vacuum, but Yue warns him not to look.

"The vortex in its torso will suck you in," she shouts at them, "just keep running!"

Hamartia already looms near.