WYRDYSM GAMES

<+AirHippo> Funnily enough, folks who abide by the law and try to make something of their lives don't appreciate the rich kids of rich parents getting away with murder and skimming through life.

<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Morrighan approaches the Guildhouse, a pair of guards standing outside as she approaches. They eye her warily, arms crossed over their chest, the taller of the two grunting and lifting his chin, "Hey, you got an appointment, lady?" He asks, sneering, while the other just stares at her, then jabs his buddy in the arm and makes some lewd hip actions, grinning like an idiot.
<Morrighan> Morrighan rolls her eyes at the lewd hip movements (Disgusting) "Yes actually, I have an appointment with a man named Temeral."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Both men suddenly clear their throats and start acting more seriously, "An appointment with Temeral, you said?" The taller one asks, his tone far more restrained now, reaching a hand out the smack the one who'd been making the rude gestures on the head dismissively, "Right, well, go on inside, and straight down the stairs. First door on the left." He says, tapping on the front door in a distinct rhythm, a woman clad in unassuming, plain brown clothing opening the door and staring at Morrighan intently.
<Morrighan> "Thank you, have a good day." She stepped inside past the woman, wondering if she was supposed to just go on her own or wait for this woman to escort her, she walked towards the stairs anyway.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The woman closed the door behind Morrighan and follows her down the stairs, three paces behind her and slightly to her left. The woman had a strange feeling about her. Despite being small and rather plain in appearance, Morrighan got the nagging feeling that while the guards out front were more for show, this woman actually could pose a threat.
<Morrighan> Despite the odd feeling, Morrighan decided to just continue on as she was. She walked down the stairs, out and headed for the first door on the left, knocking cautiously.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> "Enter." Came a bored-sounding and rather imperious voice from within, and upon opening the door, Morrighan would see a man in his late sixties, with a long white beard and facial features seeming to indicate that he was of Dynast descent, perhaps a member of one of the more prominent families. Doubtful he was an Exalt though, balding and somewhat portly, with liverspots on his scalp and wrinkled hands, his face sagging slightly on one side, making him appear to have an almost perpetually raised brow, "Mrhm... Morrighan, yes?"
<Morrighan> "Indeed, I understand you could help me with somthing?"
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Temeral attempts to clear his throat and ends up coughing loudly, spraying spittle all over the parchment in front of him before regaining his breath and nodding to Morrighan, gesturing to the chair before his desk, "Yes, yes, of course. I am able to procure almost anything, of course, aruhm." He coughs again, "Drugs, weapons, prostitutes, slaves, information, what have you. But I'm afraid you'll need to be specific about what it is you... ahem... are looking for."
<Morrighan> Morrighan sat down and clasped her hands in front of her face (Gendopose). "My older sister Delen Liyamark. You see we lost contact ... 20 years ago when my family was attacked by a group of slavers. Now that I'm free of my current ... *ahem* occupation, I wish to find her."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The elderly man stares at Morrighan flatly, "You give me a name, you tell me you've not seen her in twenty years, and you expect me to be able to work from this information? Woman, have you any idea how large Creation is?" He asks with a grumble, raising a hand to stroke his bony fingers through his thick beard, "As it happens though, I may already know where to find this woman. You see, the reason I arranged this meeting is because someone hired our services to find you, Morrighan Liyamark." The woman was now standing directly behind Morrighan, hands on the back of her chair, the door closed behind them.
<Morrighan> "Hmm" She seemed calm still. "Lemme guess, the merc unit I was with?"
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Temeral shakes his head slightly, "Grrrm... no... they appear to be quite terrified of you, to be honest. From what I hear, they all tell their children horror stories about you." He mumbles with a sick little wheezing chuckle, the knowledge about Morrighan's past appears to not be news for him, "So, Morrighan, do you have any idea who else might wish to find you?"
<Morrighan> "Two, either the town I took part in the raid in ... or the immaculate. Though I wonder about both, the first wouldn't hunt down just one individual from the unit. The latter shouldn't know of my activities because I've been keeping a low profile."
<Morrighan> She raised an eyebrow "Unless my sister is looking for me."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The woman behind Morrighan tapped her shoulder lightly, and if Morrighan turned to face her, she would see the woman loosely holding a pair of Red Jade short daiklaves, her plain brown clothing having disappeared. It had been replaced with a simple, unadorned suit of Red Jade Lamellar, and her expression seems almost apologetic, "I'm afraid I must ask you to hand yourself over quietly."
<Morrighan> Morrighan set her hands flat on the table like she was about to stand ... and then attempted to shove her chair back against the dragonblood with all her might.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The woman's eyes shot wide open in shock, but she was able to catch her wits fast enough to step aside from the chair and as a result it tumbles backwards, Morrighan landing on her back. The woman levels one of her blades to Morrighan, the tip resting against her throat, "I'm not entirely certain you understand the situation. I am not Wyld Hunt. If I were Wyld Hunt, you would be dead. I'm under orders to take you alive and unharmed. Please do not make those orders more difficult, Miss Liyamark."
<Morrighan> "As far as I know the Wyld hunt aren't beyond sadism, you could just want me alive for a "fun" kill." Morrighan spat back.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The woman lets out an impatient sigh and sheaths the sword she has pointed at Morrighan's throat, reaching down to grab her by her shirt and pulling her to her feet, "Okay, I'm going to say this very politely. You've got five minutes to live if you don't come with me right now. This isn't a threat. People are after you. Other people want you alive. Guess which one I am?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan raised her eyebrow. "Hmm, fine, but you should know what will happen if you try to put chains on me ... lead the way."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The woman smiles, "Great. Come with me." She turns to Temeral, offering him a deep bow, "Thank you for sharing this information with my superiors, Lord Cathak. We are deeply indebted to you." He merely grunts and nods, waving a hand dismissively, and then the very clearly Dragonblooded woman opens the door and steps out into the hall, leading Roxann further down the hall instead of back up the stairs the way she came.
<Morrighan> Morrighan follows, albiet cautiously with a hand primed for grabbing her weapon. "So who the hell are you and your superiors, and why do they want me alive?"
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> "I'm Yuma Saorin, and that's not for me to tell. Sorry. I don't ask why they want an Anathema alive, I just carry out my orders." She says, taking a sudden turn and pushing through a door seemingly at random, which leads to another hall, "I was raised in the Bordermarches anyway, I don't really put much stock in the Immaculate Faith..."
<Morrighan> "I see ... so does that mean you don't see me as a demon ready to eat your children when you're not looking?" She followed down the next hall, peering over her shoulder to see if they were being followed.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> "What can I say? You don't strike me as the baby-eating type." She says, pausing in the middle of the dimly-lit hall and looking left and right, furrowing her brows, "Hum... which was was it? Oh, right." She turns to the wall on the left and pushes in a brick, the wall swinging open to reveal staircases leading up into what appears to be a warehouse.
<Morrighan> Morrighan followed inside "Can you at least say who's after me and where I'm going?"
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Yuma turns her head slightly to look at Morrighan and parts her lips slightly, then turns back, looking at what was waiting for them at the top of the staircase, "I'd say it would be these guys." She mumbles. A man wearing long, flowing blue robes with loose sleeves and a broad-rimmed hat stares at them, with six men wearing power armor standing on either side of him, "I think we should probably go back." Yuma says suddenly, pulling Morrighan after her back down the stairs as the Gunzosha-armored troops charge towards them.
<Morrighan> Morrighan followed with all due haste. "Well, you were right, I don't think I'd stand much of a chance against power armor."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The troops moved swiftly, quickly gaining upon the two. Yuma shoves Morrighan back out into the hallway and pulls out her daiklaves, slamming her fist on a brick, shattering it and turning to face the Gunzosha Commandos on her own as the stone wall closes between her and Morrighan, "Get out of here! I'll hold them off!" She yells out before the 'door' finally closes with a thump that rocks the floor beneath Morrighan's feet.
<Morrighan> Morrighan grimanced, "What a waste of a life, damn immaculates." she headed left since she came from the right, looking for a staircase, a door out, or another of those brick pannels.
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> Morrighan only finds a single door at the end of the hall when going to the left, and upon opening it she runs smack bam into a man standing about seven feet tall, his skin deeply tanned and covered in thick, unpleasant looking blotches, a thick black circle burning in the middle of your forehead, "Jeeze, girl. You're really popular today. Do you know how many people I had to kill to get here?" He asks, holding up his massive arms, which are soaked up to his elbows in thick, warm blood.
<Morrighan> "Um ... you're not immaculate and you haven't tried to kill me, I assume you must be who Yuma was taking me too, get me the hell out of here."
<SWS_SrsStoryteller> The man tilts his head slightly, "Okay." He says simply, smiling, with a nod of his head. Then he grabs Morrighan's head in both hands and slams his forehead into hers. She collapses to the floor. The last thing she remembers before finally losing consciousness is behind dragged along by one leg, while the Abyssal whistles out-of-tune. Damn, her head hurts.

<SWS_SortaStoryteller> Mirage approached the modestly sized city of Shadowclad Enkidu cautiously. The gates were wide open, and a couple of the guards on duty were talking with each other casually, trying to appear relaxed, though they're somewhat on-edge, eyes flitting occasionally towards the streets. Mirage was sent here by his mentor, apparently to meet someone, though he knew little more specific than that. All he had was a name. "Florivet".
* Mirage_ wanders carelessly through the gates, nodding to the guards in greeting. There didn't seem to be much in the way of customs for random travellers, which was a fortunate thing. Bringing weapons into the city might be a cause of trouble otherwise, even wrapped as they were.
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> One of the guards lifts his head, "Here on business, stranger?" He asks cautiously, "There's a... fellow in one of the Taverns. Says he's waiting for someone." The guard looks Mirage up and down, frowning slightly, "Goddamn freak he is, too. Comrade Tekil wouldn't have stood for it, but Grand Vizier Palpatine's gone mad, consorting wi-" One of the other Guards grabs his friend and covers his . mouth, "Don't mind him, traveller. We welcome all sorts here."
* Mirage_ bows politely to the guard. "Here on business indeed... I'm a courier, you see. I admit I was sent here a bit suddenly though, so... who is this person supposedly looking for me, and where can I find him?" He idly flips and catches a silver coin, as if it had nothing to do with the conversation.
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> The Guard eyes that silver coin and points down one of the larger streets, "Down that way. The Singing Falcon. Don't know the fellow's name, though." He replies, "Won't have any trouble finding the Inn. There was a small crowd standing outside it, last I checked."
* Mirage_ flicks the coin to the guard. "Popular place then, I assume? And, just to make sure of it, did the man say what his name is?"
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> The guard chuckles, "Well, it's certainly popular today. Didn't catch the fella's name." The first guard shoved his friend's hand off his mouth, "The freak said 'is name's Florivet. You'll know him when you see him."
* Mirage_ nods and turns to head down the indicated street. "Why thank you. I wish all guards were as helpful as you two." He smiles, then heads off down the street, looking for this supposed tavern...
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> It really didn't take Mirage long to find the Inn. There was a small crowd outside, some peeking in through windows, others speaking in urgent tones. More than once Mirage overhears people saying that they should call in the Immaculate Order.
* Mirage_ frowns... that's just such an encouraging situation to walk into. He moves in to mingle with the crowd a little, maybe try to get a peek through a window... and try to check out the premises for exits and enterances. As much as possible, anyway. After a few minutes he just shrugs and pushes his way in through the door.
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> Compared to the scene outside, the nside of the Tavern itself is practically deserted. Indeed, there appears to be only one customer, but he's definitely notable in appearance. With feathered wings, large, clawed arms, cloven hooves and the head of a wolf. And he's laughing boisterously, with a large tankard of ale in one hand and a very distressed-looking wench in the other.
* Mirage_ sighs to himself silently. Howling Winds certainly could have _mentioned_ this. But nooo, one damn message of one damn line of scribbled command. Atrocious handwriting, too. He pulls up a chair to the creature's table, turning it backwards and straddling it. "I should probably be grateful you're easy to find at least, Mr. Florivet."
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> Florivet looks towards Mirage and grins, patting the wench on the rump, "On with you, lass, go get us more ale, eh?" He says, before speaking to Mirage, "That you should, boy! I make quite a scene, don't I? Now, you be the boy Howling Winds sent, then?"
* Mirage_ gives the Wench a sympathetic look, and tries to keep his voice down. "No need to bandy names about, I'm sure. Regardless, yes, I am. She didn't say what I would be needed for, though. Hopefully nothing particularly covert." I must not be snarky to the demon, I must not be snarky to the demon...
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> "Ah! Yes, of course. Right. Well, I've got a piece of information I thought she might like. We know each other from way back. Crazy bat had a friend who summoned me, can you believe it? The gall!" He looks up as the wench returns with several more tankards of ale, shoving one towards Mirage, "Anyway, I've got this information, and a little toy she might be interested in, but... oh... that's not right." He lifts his head, looking towards the front door, and then looks back towards the kitchen, "Kid, did you invite any friends?"
* Mirage_ sips the beer nonchalantly. "Incredible," he agrees. "And, whether or not she did, there's a crowd of people outside saying 'Hmm, we oughta call the Wyld Hunt'. I wonder why they would do a thing like that?" He leans back and stretches, adjusting the package on his back keeping his sword and spear wrapped, looking around for convenient exits.
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> The front door opens and a woman steps inside, a black Caste Mark of the Day Caste burning on her forehead, dripping blood down her face. She looks to Florivet with a raised brow, and then points to Mirage, "You're coming with me," She coos, stepping towards him slowly, "My Master wants you, and I'm not one to deny him anything..."
* Mirage_ looks over his shoulder and raises an eyebrow at the lady, then shrugs his pack off and starts unwrapping his weapons. "Is this part of the plan?" he asks Florivet, pausing to get another sip of his beer. "I really hope you say "Yes", by the way."
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> Florivet grins sheepishly and laughs, "I don't really deal with Deathknights on a regular basis. Can't say I know what she's doing here. Well, looks like you've got bigger concerns than me, so we'll continue this later, eh?" He sets down his mug and stands up, "I'll deal with the lass here, you get out the back, hm?"
* Mirage_ nods and stands, bowing politely. "I would be very grateful, yes. Thank you for the beer as well." He looks around, hoping for stairs up... back door like hell, he wants a roof he can fly off of. If the back door's the only option though, so be it...
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> There do appear to be stairs leading up to a second floor, and there's also a back door out through the kitchen, as far as he can tell. Florivet casually approaches the Abyssal woman, swipping at her with a clawed fist. She dodged easily under the blow, only to be caught by a cloven hoof kicking her in the gut, sending her flying back out the front door. The demon storms out after her, "I do so hate resorting to violence..."
* Mirage_ just laughs and heads up the stairs, sword in hand. He makes a beeline for the nearest window that looks easily openable or breakable... really should learn a warform one of these days...
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> Finding an easily openable window proves not not to be especially challenging, as he finds one already open the moment he reaches the top of the stairs, down a short hall. Unfortunately, he also spots a 7 foot giant of a man standing between him and that window, who approaches him slowly, "All this work is making me tired. You come along with me, right?"
* Mirage_ looks over the man and grimaces... His sword probably won't do much to a death knight, and it's hard to come up with a good trick when one has just about blundered right into him. Buy time, look for a chance to escape. "Oh, probably. May I at least ask where we're going?" He doesn't back away, trying not to give anything away...
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> The large Deathknight furrows his brows, seeming confused by the question, clearly not too bright, "We go to the Underworld. Take you to see boss. Master. He lookin' for you." A very large hand reaches out to rest on Mirage's shoulder, "We go." He says. Things are becoming rather noisy outside. Sounds like the fight between the Day Caste and the Demon is getting serious.
* Mirage_ nods. "Fair enough." He turns to follow the Abyssal... then suddenly shifts into his spirit shape, trying to wriggle free and dart for a dark corner to hide in.
<SWS_SortaStoryteller> "HEY!" The man grunts as Mirage transforms into an Ermine and wriggles free, and starts skittering away, "No RUN! RUN BAD!" As if to emphasise this point a large fist comes crashing down near Mirage. It misses him, but it manages to smash right through the floor. The last thing Mirage remembers is falling through the floor as the entire building begins to collapse around him.

<SilverWingedSeraph> Some of you have been here for in excess of a month. Others mere days. You're not entirely aware of the flow of time, however, and you're not exactly certain where "here" is, since much of that time has been spent unconscious. Flickers of awareness, punctuated by sharp bursts of pain, splashes of bright crimson, and voices. Always with the voices. Talk talk talk. And then one day it stops. Awareness blooms and you each find yourself to by lying clad only in loose gossamer gowns, lying on slabs of soulsteel in a very large room. There are many others. Dozens. Most appear dead.
* Melua sits up, rubbing her temples, and looks around.
* Mirage_ blinks and glances around, then does his best not to move, playing dead while listening.
* Lionel winces and reaches up to check his head for injury, before looking around nervously
* Morrighan sits up, looks around ... then down, shivers, and covers herself with her hands. (Ok this is not good, and what the fuck am I wearing ...) she looks towards the corpses and her stomach turns (What the fuck were they going to do to me!?)
* ArnoldLarsWillfort lays there, in pain, and listening. Not that it helps. Lol 'sup near deafness.
* Reyna raises herself to a half-sitting position, blinking rapidly and listening for signs of life.
* Erin`Marias grunts slightly as she heaves herself up to sit on the side of the slab, making something that might pass for a muffled growl and rubbing at her forehead slightly.
* AureusSila opens his eyes and blinks a few times, trying to recall where he is and what he's doing there. The last thing he could recall was a dull pain to his forehead, but nothing of his location. "Where... in the world am I?" He asks nobody in particular while slowly sitting up.
* Morrighan inspects her own body for damage or evidence of damage
<SilverWingedSeraph> "Not happy." Singer groans as she pushes herself up off a slab, raising a hand to rub her temples, "Gonna bust some heads for this..." There are no marks on any of your bodies, and indeed, any scars that your characters may have had before are no longer present either.
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> There... there were more people here...?
* Erin`Marias manages a half-annoyed, half-amused snort. "...ugh... guess that makes two of us, huh?" She looks up, and over at Singer, then around at the others. "Not even a traffic cone? Musta been a shit party."
* Melua climbs down off of the slab, shivering, but not caring about attire, and quietly walks through the morgue (?) looking for an exit
<Morrighan> Morrighan just remains quiet, casting her eyes for about ... 10 seconds on each person, looking them over, assessing them.
* Lionel sits up on the edge of his slab, before turning to watch the other awake people.
Mirage_ sits up and takes in the scene, then slides to his feet. "It started off okay, though the ending left something to be desired. I don't suppose anyone knows if we're still in Shadowclad Enkidu?"
<SilverWingedSeraph> There appears to be only one door leading in or out, a large, ornate stone affair that attempts to open would reveal is locked from the outside.
* Lionel laughs nervously. "I doubt that somewhat" he mutters under his breath
<Morrighan> Morrighan actually in fact, was remaining silent to cover the fact she felt terrified, she was weapon and armorless, and apprently had been possibly experimented on while she was out.
* Melua continues to avoid the people in the middle of the room while looking for alternative ways out
* Reyna swings her legs over the side of the slab, gripping the edge cautiously and standing up. "Great. Just great," she mutters under her breath, glancing around at the assembled crowd.
* AureusSila throws some hurried, slightly panicked glances at the sources of the voices around him, reaching for his neck and finding that he's lacking his Collar of Dawn's Cleansing Light. Oh that wasn't good, he hoped he didn't catch anything vile here.
* Lionel moves to examine the nearest dead person, to see if there is any evidence of how, or why it died
* ArnoldLarsWillfort stares in shock horror.
* Erin`Marias sits on the end of her slab, facing the door, watching the others intently. Memorizing faces.
* Mirage_ makes a circuit of the room, testing the door, then taking a look at the bench of unpleasant-looking instruments. Unpleasant or not, he selects one or two of whatever looks most useful as a weapon, then moving to lean beside the door.
* Morrighan stares back at erin
<Mirage_> So what's your guys' story, anyway?
* ArnoldLarsWillfort examines the door.
* Lionel tuts in confusion. "No visible cause of death" he mutters, before turning to the others and asking "Do you have any idea how long we have been here for? Last I remember I was following a man to help his trapped companion.. seems that was a ruse"
* AureusSila shys his eyes away from Erin's gaze while rubbing his neck at the uncomfortable lack of orichalcum.
* Melua wanders back to the door and waits for the man standing in front of it to finish looking at it
* Reyna wanders slowly and quietly towards a corner, pausing to examine the various, ah, sharp instruments. "...That's not promising."
* Erin`Marias meets Morri's eyes for a sec and smirks, then glances over at Lionel. "I got nothin'. But I'm guessin' someone wanted us alive for -somethin'-, or we'd be like the rest 'ere."
<SilverWingedSeraph> Lionel's examination finds nothing. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the body was obviously pale, immobile and lacking a pulse, he'd probably assume they were just sleeping. Singer sighs and crosses her arms, "This is nonsense." She mumbles, moving towards the door with Melua. Then a black caste mark begins bleeding on her forehead, "If there's anyone out there, so help me open this door right now."
* ArnoldLarsWillfort punches the door.
* Lionel narrows his eyes before backing away from Singer slightly
<Morrighan> Morrighan took note of the black mark ... much like the one who brought her here, she rememebered him the big bastard. She glared at her.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The door hurts Arnold's fist. He's not QUITE strong enough.
* Mirage_ just raises an eyebrow and watches Singer and Arnold. That's new.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort stares at the door.
* Melua leans against to the wall next to the door and just watches Singer and Arnold
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> OH REALLY NOW.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Singer's attempts also have little apparent effect, and she swears, snapping her gaze towards Morrighan, "What?"
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> OH REAAAALLY NOW
<AureusSila> While the group seemed to be gathering up at the door, Aureus moved the other way, slightly uncomfortable in his attire and company. He started walking along the variety of slicing, cutting and chopping devices, examining them in morbid fascination. "I don't even know what most of these are used for..."
* Erin`Marias watches Arnold, amusedly. Solar vs Magical Door. The fight of the century! And she has a front row seat. "Well this'll end well..."
* ArnoldLarsWillfort rips the gossamer fabric thing off him and begins glistening, muscles rippling. (INCREASING STRENGTH EXERCISE X2 YEAH THAT'S RIGHT STRENGTH 7)
<Morrighan> "You're a deathknight, why are you in here with us? It's because of one I'm in here in the first place."
* ArnoldLarsWillfort punches the door. Again.
* Reyna snaps her head around to stare at Arnold, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
* Mirage_ backs away slightly from the door, moving further along the wall to watch. "Oh snap."
* Lionel raises his eyebrow at Arnold, before chuckling and sitting on a slab to watch the theatrics
<Melua> Melua tilts her head, she's never heard the term "deathknight" before. However, she remains silent.
<AureusSila> Alarmed by the commotion at the door, Aurues glances over only to quickly avert his eyes and concentrate very hard on one particular slicy thing made out of bone.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The door remains standing. For about two seconds. Then a narrow crack runs down the middle of it, and the door collapses outwards, crashing to the ground with an incredibly loud rumble. Outside the door appears to be a dining room. An impeccably well-dressed gentleman with dark hair and eyes looks up from his meal, smiling faintly, "Oh heavens, awake already?" Singer would shrug in response to Morrighan's question, then look out the door, frowning.
<Morrighan> Morrighan responded to seeing the man by covering herself even more. This was god damned embarassing.
* Reyna edges closer to the door, peeking out around the naked muscleman.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort points a finger.
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE WE HERE.
* Lionel stands and moves to listen
* Erin`Marias stands up and wobbles a bit, a little unused to being out of her gear. She keeps a fair distance back from the crazy Solarman, but watches the gentleman closely. "Either that or we're all sleepwalkin', eh?"
* Melua keeps her back to the wall, passing the time by looking at her nails, though she bit her lip when the voice is heard from the doorway.
* Mirage_ applauds lightly! While thinking 'Oh crap, a Solar and a Deathknight, who knows what the fuck all the others are'. He glances at Aureus, then shrugs and peeks warily through the door.
* AureusSila reaches out and picks up a small thin blade out from among the slicy things on the table and licks his lips nervousely before hiding it in his hand and slowly moving over the the rest of the group and the now broken door.
* Siber (~go@Rizon-67DEE596.sta.embarqhsd.net) Quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
<SilverWingedSeraph> The gentleman slides his chair back and rises to his feet, gesturing toward the table, which is rather well laid out with a wide selection of foods that none of you are sure you want to eat. Oh, they look delicious. Steaks and chickens and a wide assortment of dishes. All meat. All dead. All still moving a little, "I wasn't expecting my dinner guests so soon, but please, take a seat."
<Morrighan> Morrighan said nothing, just stared flatly at air for now, maintaining her current position
* ArnoldLarsWillfort raises an eyebrow very, very high, which would disappear into his hairline if there were any hair left.
* Lionel looks at the food, feeling somewhat disquieted by its appearance. He stays where he is, waiting to see what happens.
* Melua sighs, and pushes past everyone in the doorway, walking into the room. "Excuse me sir, do you know where the lady's room is?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan started to regain her soldier's gut and decided to stand finnaly and stepped out with Melua, truth be told she was still terrified and the food sure didn't help. She decided to take the chair farthest from the man, putting about a foot's distance between her body and the table. She said nothing.
* Reyna edges a little farther out into the open, glancing back and forth between the edibles and their 'host.' On the one hand, kidnapping and creepy room with dead people. On the other, she is feeling a little peckish...
* Mirage_ turns and gives Aureus a friendly smile, beckoning him onward as he moves into the room and takes a seat. Tucking the blade under his leg where hopefully their host won't notice. "Why thank you. To what do we owe the pleasure of this audience, I wonder?"
* Erin`Marias brushes past Arnold casually, following the other two out, though she leans against the wall by the doorframe rather than taking a seat for now.
* Lionel walks haltingly into the room, before leaning on the back of one of the chairs, watching the "host" intently
<SilverWingedSeraph> The gentleman lofts a lofty brow at Melua's question, "You're joking." He says flatly, then looks to Morrighan as she claims a seat for herself. Then he watches the others come out. Finally he turns his attention to Mirage, smiling broadly and showing off rows of gnashing, shark-like teeth, "Why, I have a use for you! Why else would I send my minions traipsing about in Creation stealing Exalts if I did not have a use for them?"
<Morrighan> "Get to the point" morrighan stated flatly.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort stands somewhere.
<Morrighan> She also crosses her arms over her chest.
<Melua> Melua looked around at everyone again, unsure whether the trade in knowledge that everyone else was Exalted was worth the cost of having her own status told.
* Erin`Marias resists the urge to add 'he's got lots of points' after seeing that smile, and just watches the gentleman some more, occasionally glancing at the others.
* Lionel looks around at the others again, resting upon Aureus for a second before looking back at the "host"
* Mirage_ laughs and shrugs. "Well, of course. But if you will forgive me being blunt..." He glances at Morrighan. "...relatively... What use do you have for us? One that involves all of us remaining more or less alive, I hope." Rooms full of bodies? Kinda unsettling. Not his thing at all. Sitting at dinner trying to work information out of someone who might eat you? Just like dealing with his boss.
* AureusSila gives Mirage a quick smile in response before looking away from his face and walking out to take a seat somewhere with at least three empty chairs in a row.
* Reyna advances cautiously to the table, lowering herself into a corner seat far away from everything. Gingerly she takes a piece of chicken, looking it over while avoiding eye contact with anyone.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The gentleman takes his seat again, "Well, if everyone would take a seat, I'd be happy to discuss the matter civilly. Once that's dealt with, I can see about redressing any complaints you might have." He seems to smirk a little to himself as he says 'redressing'.
* Lionel watches Reyna out of the corner of his eye, looking for any ill effects from the food
* Lionel reluctantly sits
* ArnoldLarsWillfort blinks, frowns, then sits. His hands are on the table. Fuck modesty.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just narrowed her eyes at the man, she was aggrivated at the very least
<Melua> Shooting the man a small glare, Melua reluctantly sits far from him at his implied threat.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Singer's glare is the glare that will pierce the heavens. She appears utterly infuriated with this man. Moreso even than Morrighan. Very slowly she moves to claim a seat at the table, hands balled into fists.
* Erin`Marias meanders over and takes a seat as well, though she scans the room rather than the contents of the table, then the others, then back to The Gentleman, still silent.
* Mirage_ leans back. "Oh dear. Horrible torments of the Underworld? Fine, okay. But if you're going to inflict puns on us, I might have to end it now." He mimes cutting his throat. "But please, continue."
<Reyna> Slowly, cautiously, Reyna takes a small bite out of the bird, rolling it around in her mouth and chewing slowly. Frowning slightly she takes a second, more intense look at her chosen meal. "Well, it looks like chicken..."
<Morrighan> Morrighan noted the deathknight woman's anger ... she was clearly not here by her own will, maybe she was an ally then.
* AureusSila keeps semi-careful track of his surroundings while poking a piece of shivering... beef, maybe?
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman grunts, "Take away one of the few pleasures I have left in my unlife, will you?" He replies to Mirage, propping his elbows up on the table and lacing his fingers beneath his chin, "I'll make this very simple. I'll even talk slowly, just for those of you less quick-witted. Each of you has something special about you. Oh, I don't mean the Exalted bit. That's common enough. No, each one of you has... interesting effects upon the loom of fate." He gestures towards the room they came from, "Everyone in there did, actually. Sadly, it seems the Terrestrials reacted poorly to my probing. But the good news is, all of you work for me now."
<Reyna> "...Probing?" Dear gods, what have I gotten into?
<Morrighan> Morrighan's eyes shot open. "... What did you just say!? What. Did. You. Do. To. Us."
<Melua> Melua spoke up quietly. "How much?"
<AureusSila> Probing..? Aureus felt strangely violated and very nauseous.
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> "Can you please let us know who we are?" He slams his fist on the table, slightly forgetting the fact he is now Strength 7.
<SilverWingedSeraph> (Yeah you should feel violated, Chii-kun... mmm, if I had you on a slab... *ahem* Moving on.)
* Mirage_ just nods, lacing his fingers. "And I can't wait to see the look on Winds's face when she hears that. From a safe distance, hopefully."
* Erin`Marias smirks. "Well, I suppose it beats being carved up by a bunch of uppity dragonbloods." She casts a glance at something on the table, raises a brow at it - and Arnold - then returns her focus. "I'm guessing you want us to do more than just run a few errands in return though, hmm?"
* Lionel looks down at himself. "..and what do you want of us" he says.
* Morrighan was first of all concerned with what this man did with their bodies and how it changed them if at all. 2ndly she was concerned with what he wanted them to do. If he asked her to kill another town ... she'd slice her own throat with her nails if she had too.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman laughs at Morrighan's fierce question, and the righteous indignation that burned on Singer's barely controlled features. He gestures towards Melua, "Here's your pay. I won't violate your souls and rip apart you identity until you're a mindless automaton. Because I'm a nice guy, and because mindless automatons don't make very useful employees for tasks short of simple manual labour. Suffice to say, I am now closer to all you than whichever worthless divine being's power you are imbued with. So! Shall we talk about how you can help me, or shall I make you dance naked while talking about how you can help me?"
<Melua> Staring straight at him, Melua stood up. "I refuse. I am not your property. If you do not wish to employ me, we have nothing to discuss."
<Morrighan> Morrighan backed down, but only a little. "Fine, what do you want us to do?" afterward she muttered under her breath "I still want to know what you did to us..."
* Lionel sighs and rests his head in his hands
<Morrighan> Unlike melua she knew it was better to coast along with this at least for awhile, or at least she didn't want him to make her dance naked.
* Reyna slowly takes another bite of her living tofu, opting for silence.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The living tofu tastes surprisingly delicious.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Except for not.
* Mirage_ just shrugs slightly. "I'm always willing to talk."
* AureusSila slowly raised his hand above his head and cleared his throat.
* Erin`Marias glances at the others momentarily, then goes back to watching their new 'boss', of sorts, and goes quiet again.
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman (goddamn that's a classy name, thanks to whichever one of you used it first) gestured at Melua, "Sit, Down." He said firmly, and like a puppet without any control over her own body she did just that, "Now, I'm willing to offer material rewards as well, but I thought I should make it clear. This isn't a request. This is me politely informing you of how things are now. Yes?" He asks, looking at Aureus.
<Erin`Marias> ((It was me, dammit. >:|))
<SilverWingedSeraph> ((I thought so. Good call Arca. ('-')b )
<Morrighan> Morrighan clenched her fists on the table (Why god damnit ... I ganed the power to become better, I have people to protect, and this BASTARD steals my fucking soul ... I should just cut my throat right here...)
<Morrighan> She looked for a food cutting knife.
<SilverWingedSeraph> There's one right next to her. Everyone has several knives, in fact, at least twelve forks, and five different spoons. Because this is a classy fuckin' meal. Honest.
<AureusSila> Aureus looked around nervously before standing up and speaking. "Among my possessions were several jars, bottles, scrolls books, plants, precious gems and various instruments. I want these back" He defiantly smiled right at The Gentleman. "Also, I'm not willing to devote all my precious time to helping you, but if we can come to an agreement that lets our goals intertwine I might consider it" -
<Melua> Melua blinked several times in confusion, then knits her brow, and kicks away her chair and bolts for the nearest exit in a fury.
<AureusSila> As he finished talking he lifted the bone blade against his throat and held it there.
* Lionel looks up in shock at the noise, half standing but stopping, helplessly
* Mirage_ raises an eyebrow at Aureus. "So drastic. I'm sure this Gentleman has a reasonable proposal for us. Let's at least finish hearing him out."
* Erin`Marias glances at Melua. (An offer we really can't refuse...) She muses to herself and eyes the display of cutlery. (...small and concealable weapons go to the far left of the place setting? Mmm.) A little detached? Maybe.
<AureusSila> "Oh this is just in case he tries to make me dance naked" Aurues smiled.
* Reyna blinks at Aureus, swallowing her current mouthful. "A bit drastic, don't you think?"
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman sighed and shook his head slightly, "You will all recieve back whatever items you had on your person once this is resolved. Stop." Melua would collapse to the floor as if all her strings had just been cut, "This is tiresome, I'm willing to be reasonable about this. I'm willing to offer you all more material wealth than you could ever possibly need, if that will encourage you. But I can't let such valuable tools run loose without any restraints. Now. The only thing I need right now is for the nine of you -- Yes, I still know you're there, Singer, you can stop glaring -- to travel to the port city of Juatra. From there, other arrangements will be made. And if all goes well, once this all over with, you'll never see me again."
<Morrighan> "You own our souls, I don't have to see you, your presence is still there." Morrighan glared indignant. "Also your an abyssal, if you know so much about us, you should know what I have a problem with ... and I will kill myself before I let you make me do that."
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman looks to Morrigan and grins, "Did I say I was a Deathknight? Singer knows better. That's why she's just wishing she could kill me instead of trying to kill me."
<Morrighan> "You're undead ... what are you then, a deathlord?"
<ArnoldLarsWillfort> Could you just please tell us who you are?
<SilverWingedSeraph> He snaps his fingers and points at Morrigan, "Give the girl a prize, she wins!"
<Melua> Melua curled up into the fetal position and began sobbing quietly.
* Mirage_ sighs mournfully and looks around for something to drink that doesn't look too horrible. "Never see you again? My, and we were getting on so well too... Still. I think it's fairly obvious that we don't have a choice about this... at least, not any good choice. So." Wait, Deathlord? Oh crap.
* Lionel moves over to check if Melua is okay
<Morrighan> Morrighan grabbed the nearest cutlery and attempted to slice her own throat, but was inable. "God ... damnit ...."
* AureusSila raised a skeptical eyebrow at The Gentleman. Deathlord, he wasn't familiar with the term.
* Reyna lays the chicken-thing on her plate, craning her neck to get a better look at Melua. Crying... Always an unpleasant sound.
<Morrighan> *infact her hand just froze
* Erin`Marias smirks slightly at Morri. "Deathlords aren't stupid." She turns back to The Gentleman, barely even noticing Melua. Compassion 1~ "After all, I imagine he's gone to quite a bit of effort to get us all in this state. An interesting balance... on the one hand, he saved our lives, after a fashion. On the other hand, he's done who knows what, and is making an offer we can't refuse." She shrugs lightly. "The sooner we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement, the better."
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman nods to Mirage, "Once you've completed the tasks I have set for you, to my satisfaction, I will loose my hold upon your souls. Singer here can make such an agreement rather binding. Would you trust her?" He asked, looking amused, "Or trust my word to be enough?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan breathed through her nose hard, this angered her incredibly, she escaped one nasty lot for another, but this one had her soul. It was disgusting, and she sure didn't trust either one.
* Mirage_ stands and bows slightly to the Gentleman, ignoring Melua. "Well then, I think that we understand," he says, nodding to Erin. "May we at least know your name, sir?" He glances at Singer, then shrugs. "I don't know the powers or character of either of you, so I can't say. I think I will take your word for it it." A binding agreement works both ways, of course.
<Morrighan> Serveral thoughts ran through her head, she was the only real defense of that village she was taking care of, what was going to happen for them while she was this man's bitch? What about her sister? She was still out there.
<Lionel> Seeing nothing actually wrong with Melua, Lionel leans back against a wall and says "Lets get this over and done with then. Quicker the better"
<AureusSila> Feeling a little silly standing around with a blade over his throat, Aureus dropped the bone slicy thing onto a plate full of undulating pork-like bits and looked around awkwardly.
<SilverWingedSeraph> ((The Gentleman waves a hand at Melua and makes her get up and start dancing while singing "I Can't Say No".))
<Morrighan> She however knew she couldn't make a request to this man for either one, she couldn't trust him, he was a deathlord and would probably kill them or use them against her.
* Erin`Marias stands up as well, slightly after Mirage, and nods back to him, having gone quiet again after her little speech.
* Reyna sighs, breaking her gaze away from the forced entertainment. "Is that really necessary, Mr...?"
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman grins broadly, "Just call me the Gentleman. It's easier. Now, if you'll head down that door there, you'll come to a room that contains all your belongings, and a map with directions to Juatra. Once you've left my little abode here, keep heading west for five miles, wait until daybreak, and then continue onwards, unless you want to be stuck wandering about aimlessly in the Underworld."
<Morrighan> "Fine" Morrighan spat. She just walked towards the door angrily.
* Lionel walks out t reclaim his possessions, glad to be out of the Gentlemans presence
* ArnoldLarsWillfort grunts. Fine. If it means getting out of here, making sense of things again, and eventually clearing his name, then it works well enough. There's nothing to do now but go with the flow of things.
* Mirage_ nods. "A pleasure doing business with you, I'm sure," he says, ironically. He turns to the door, helping pick up Melua on the way if necessary.
* Erin`Marias just nods again and goes to get her stuff. Reattuning time! That and time to get into something a bit warmer. The map and instructions are memorized quick enough. Equipment is in order... armour, pack, sword, staff, lance... all set. Now to wait for the others.
* Melua slowly gets to her feet, and stares daggers at The Gentleman. "Why?"
* Reyna scoots away from the table and stands up, casting a last glance at the food before wandering along after the others. Their host was too creepy for her tastes. Besides, maybe they'd find decent chickens soon.
* Mirage_ laughs, leaning down to whisper in Melua's ear. "That's what we're going to find out! Isn't it exciting?"
* ArnoldLarsWillfort proceeds to do the same.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Morrighan would be greeted by an unexpected sight once she reached the room where her belongings are. A female Abyssal stood there, one that Mirage would recognise from Shadowclad Enkidu. But Morrighan would recognise her too, although she's no longer wearing Red Jade, and her features seem amused, "Hey again, you."
* Melua spins around angrily. "Kill me, whoever you are. You'd be doing me a favor."
* AureusSila starts heading towards the door on a path converging with that of Mirage and Melua. "Miss, how're you doing?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan's eyes were wide with shock, then slowly narrowed into anger. "You ... why?"
<Morrighan> "...nevermind, don't answer that."
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Gentleman sighs and rises to his feet, moving to pat Melua lightly on her shoulder, "For the greater good of all Creation, pet! Why else? You're going to help me reshape the world, because you and your friends reshape the loom with your every footstep."
<Morrighan> She just decided to step past her and look for her gear. "I'll be glad to actually have some real clothes..."
<SilverWingedSeraph> The Abyssal woman who had claimed to be a Dragonblood named Yuma when last Morrighan saw her shrugged a little and smirked, "Sorry. I was just going my job. Sorry about the bump on the head my friend gave you. He isn't the sharpest tool in the shed."
* Mirage_ tries to sorta tug Melua towards the door. "I'd rather not, it'd piss him off, and pissing off your new boss isn't a way..." He trails off as the Gentleman moves closer, letting her go and trying to GTFO without looking like it.
<Morrighan> "And you're not sorry about the fact your master's fingers clutch my soul? I sure am." Morrighan shot back. "I guess I should thank you for saving me from the immaculates though. I guess I should be greatfull to be alive but I feel ... FILTHY."
<Melua> Melua began to shake with extreme anger when touched. She probably would have tried to just tear the man to death if she wasn't pulled away.
* Lionel finds his gear, and searches through his pack to check on the state of his herbs.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort dons robes, boots, and fists.
* Reyna does her very best to ignore the various sources of unpleasant noise, checking the straps securing her meager pack and equipment. "Really should figure out what this thing is someday" she mutters while checking her weapon.
* Melua sighs and leaves to find her gear in a state between ice cold anger and bottomless dispair
* Lionel sighs to find them ruined. More work to do later. With that he begins to don his clothing and armour, making sure the sleeves are tied properly as usual
<SilverWingedSeraph> "Hey, he needs you. I do what he tells me, and it's worked out fairly well for me so far." She says, shrugging her shoulders, "Anyway, I've got other business to attend to." She says, turning to slip out of the room. The Gentleman waves to Melua as she turns to leave, looking amused. Meanwhile, Singer, after having retrieved her rapier and getting dressed appears tempted to storm back in and trystabbing that damn Deathlord full of holes.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort stares at Singer, but no matter. Keeps to himself.
* Erin`Marias mills around, casually twirling her staff around a bit, getting used to the weight again. (Mundane weapons, so sluggish...) She ponders and sighs slightly. (...fairly subtle, at least.) She glances up to assess the group reformation, waiting patiently.
* Melua retrieves her gear and goes to find some place private to change.
<Lionel> "...I would say it would be a good idea for introductions no? We seem to be stuck with each other for a while. My name is Lionel.. I am a healer."
* Mirage_ gets into his clothes and gear, then scoops up the map and starts looking over it. He glances at Singer. "You know, for all the grand gestures of killing ourselves rather than submit and such, we are probably much harder for him to control alive than dead."
<Morrighan> Morrighan didn't take long to put on her clothes, which there was a lot of, a pastel yellow dress with white stripes here and there, a black cloke that wrapped around her neck almost like a scarf, a bronze breastplate, and steel boots. She also spun her weapon once, a long handled Orichalcum poleaxe.
<Morrighan> It was quite a brutal weapon, a dark red stone glowed in the center of it.
<Morrighan> "I feel ... slightly better now. Except for the whole soul rape thing..."
<Morrighan> *plain pastel yellow dress
* Melua returned subdued, wearing a simple tan tunic with a black tattered cloak and staying quiet.
* Mirage_ fiddles with his schmancy robes until he looks perfect, of course.
* AureusSila locates his stuff. The first thing he goes for is the thin orichalcum collar that helps keep his horrible health at bay and after that he wraps himself in dark robes and slips his arms into his hearthstone bracers.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Singer takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, nodding her head slowly at Mirage's words, "You're right, of course. As ghosts he could shape us into anything he wishes. I'd wager this control he has over us is less effective at a distance." She replies, sheathing her rapier at her hip. And then, oddly, she's the one to step towards Melua, a concerned expression on her face, "Are you alright?" She asks awkwardly, apparently unused to the whole... nice thing. But if she's going to travel with Solars and Lunars the diplomatic thing would seem to be to act like one of them and deal with the Resonance as it comes.
<Morrighan> Morrighan finnaly found the wrap she used to conceal her weapon, and did so, before sticking it through the sling on her back.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort ponders for a bit, and looks for extra shirts. As to rip off more layers of shirt in battle.
<Morrighan> Morrighan wasn't really ignoring everyone else, she was just more concerned with sorting herself ... and pondering how to escape this.
* Erin`Marias looks mundane, but in that 'slightly out of place' way that travellers tend to. Browns and foresty greens, perhaps a little mottled for disguise. The staff is passable for a sturdy walking stick at a distance, though up close it's clearly quite capable of doing someone some serious mischief if they got caught on the business end. There's an odd cloth bundle strapped to the side of her pack too, something for a rainy day perhaps. "We ready, people?"
<Morrighan> "feh" morrighan spat.
<Melua> "I'm absolutely terrible, thank you. I will feel better as soon as he's dead and I have a bar to drown myself at. But uh...thanks." Melua gave a half smile without any warmth.
* ArnoldLarsWillfort nods at Erin. "Ready as you are. Time to go...?" he says, as if waiting for a name.
<Morrighan> Morrighan glanced at Melua "In that order? We're likely to find a bar first."
<SilverWingedSeraph> Singr offers an awkward smile of her own, "You're welcome. But you know... he died a few thousand years ago. Killing him again might prove difficult." She said, then looked toward the rest of the group, "We're ready to set off? I'll be able to tell when we're in a Shadowlands, which should make crossing back into Creation easier."
* AureusSila hoists his bag of things up on a shoulder, standing silent.
* Erin`Marias nods. "The sooner we get back there, the sooner we'll be in better spirits. This place..." She gestures outside with the staff. "...kinda eats at you around the edges, y'know?"
* Mirage_ shrugs and pockets the map. "I'm good, I suppose. Let's get back in Creation and figure out where we're heading next, I suppose."
* Reyna leans forward for just a second before shifting smoothly into her spirit form, pack and accessories disappearing from sight.
<Morrighan> Morrighan snorted. "There's a lot more things eating at me then just the fact we're in death's den."
* Lionel starts at the sudden transformation.. before moving towards the entrance. "shall we.. well.. get moving?"
* Erin`Marias rolls her eyes a bit. "Right. But one less weight on our shoulders and all."
<Melua> "I try not to drink on the job," Melua muttered.
<Morrighan> "Can we get going?"
<SilverWingedSeraph> I think it's safe to say the party set off on their Journey now, and that this is probably a good place for me to end the session.

* SWS|Storyteller changes topic to '[Exalted, 2nd Edition] Storyteller: SilverWingedSeraph | Campaign: The Broken Throne | Current Events: Session 2 begins. Welcome to Sijan, City of Tombs derp. | Total Exp: 19'
<SWS|Storyteller> The party has been back in Creation for more than a week now, traveling in a roughly eastward direction, occasionally veering slightly to the North or South to pass through towns for supplies and a decent bed to sleep in. It's early morning when the see Sijan on the horizon, and Singer actually stares as it comes into view. A massive, sprawling city made up of mausoleoms, crypts and tombs, some so ancient they appear to predate even the First Age, "Wow," Singer mumbles as they head towards the City, "This is eerie."
<Morrighan> Morrighan raised her eyebrow. "I thought you deathknight types love this kinda stuff."
<Lionel> "Morbid more like, not a place I would choose to visit"
<Mirage_> "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure it has a great night-life."
<Melua> "A city made to administer to the dead...Reminds me of things I've heard about Onyx." She shivered lightly.
<Lionel> "As much as a city built off of corpses would have.."
* Erin`Marias rolls her eyes a bit. "What's the matter doc? Scared of seeing dead people?"
* AureusSila was walking somewhere at the front of the party, not really participating in conversation but instead studying his surroundings.
* Morrighan wasn't really that stirred up by the sight, death wasn't a new thing to her
* Lionel grins "I prefer to keep people alive, I have nothing for the dead"
<SWS|Storyteller> "Feels like home." Singer mumbers with a small smile, and as they get closer to the city, she turns her eyes northward, "That forest... a Shadowland. A large one... ten times the size of Thorns." She mumbles. They're approaching the boards of the city now, and they can see that in spite of the large number of tombs, the city appears quite lively, though much of the activities are funeral processions.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just shrugged. "So what are we to do while we're here? I've got nobody to mourn."
<Reyna> "Hmm. Lively," Reyna mumbles, trotting along the side.
<Melua> "Shipping all your dead to one city, hmm...I'll never fully understand Easterners," Melua muttered.
<AureusSila> "It's probably not particularly cost efficient either" Aureus shrugged in response to Melua with a half-smile on his face.
<Morrighan> Morrighan shrugged again. "I dunno, the city probably makes good profit out of the deal."
* Mirage_ laughs. "I'm sure it's cost efficient to the people living here... one way or another. They're supposed to be the best at what they do, as well."
<Morrighan> "Stop that, it's creepy"
<AureusSila> "I don't imagine there's much difficulty in putting the dead to rest" Aureus muttered, seemingly lost in thougt wondering how it actually works.
* Erin`Marias smirks and meanders alongside the group. "Besides, it's probably traditional nowadays."
<Lionel> "It doesn't help that ghosts routinely rise here either"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer breaks out in a bright smile, "I know this place. Sijan. My Mistress speaks of it more often than not. She's sent some of her mortal servants here to be... um... well... altered." She mumbles, faltering a little as she remembers she's in 'polite' company. As the group comes to the edges of town, a slender, elegant woman with long black hair and silver robes approaches them, a placcid and serene smile upon her delicate features, "Welcome, travellers, you have business in Sijan?"
* Reyna looks up at Singer, cocking her head slightly.
* Lionel steps forward "We are passing through, hoping to find an inn before we resume our journey"
<Lionel> "Would you have any recomendations?"
<SWS|Storyteller> The woman turns her gaze to Lionel, her expression cooling slightly, "Passing through? Ah... well, you can find accomidations in the Lower City. I'm sure Blushing Spring's establishment could house you. But please, feel welcome to visit the museums and learn the history of Sijan, and that of some of its most honored inhabitants." She says with a little smile, turning her gaze to Singer, "Ahhh... actually, perhaps Wandering Heron's establishment might be more to your liking."
* Lionel smiles faintly, and bows slightly "Thank you. Good day."
* Mirage_ turns the charm up to 8 or so, smiling at the woman. "I'm sure we could stop a day or two to find time to explore the interests of the city. Thank you, my lady."
<AureusSila> Aureus lit up slightly. "I'm sure we have time to look at some museums. Please tell me we have time to look at some museums?" He summarily proceeded to give the whole party puppy-dog-eyes.
<Melua> Melua stepped forward to address the woman. "You mentioned museums? What sort might they be?"
* Lionel rolls his eyes then grins at Aureus "I'm sure we can make the time, there is more than enough time before sundown"
<AureusSila> "Yes!" Aureus exclaimed with a tiny victory dance including a full 360-spin.
<SWS|Storyteller> The woman blushes slightly under Mirage's gaze, biting her lower lip and giving a short bow, "If you've need of anything at all, I'll be leased to serve..." She murmurs, before looking to Aureus and Melua, laughing faintly at their enthusiasm before catching herself, returning to her solemn expression, "Sijan has many museams, most dedicated to notworthy items of those interred here. If your pursuits are more scholarly, there are also the libraries, but those are... slightly more expensive to gain entrance to."
<Morrighan> "What of us who are less scholarly"
* Lionel turns at the mention of libraries "Where might the libraries be located if I may ask"
<Morrighan> Morrighan left her eyebrow raised from earlier.
* Mirage_ returns the bow. "I wouldn't want to prevail on you of course, but I might enjoy a tour of the city after we find ourselves a place to stay...?"
<AureusSila> Libraries too?! Aureus was getting possitively excited about this place, grinning to himself while pulling his hood closer around his face and hurrying his steps slightly.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just rolls her eyes at the overwhelming enthusasim.
* Reyna is jumping on the inside with enthusiasm, honest!
<SWS|Storyteller> The woman blinks at the questions from all sides, addressing Morrighan first, "Um... Wandering Heron's establishment offers a wide variety of beverages, and the Lower City offers sources of entertainment for the living..." She then turns to Lionel, "There are many Libraries, and you should have little difficulty finding them, although I could offer you directions to the closest one..." Finally she looks to Mirage, smiling with a warmness that breaks through her serene calm, "Oh certainly, sir. I'd be honored to be your guide... but ah... well... I strongly recommend that your group visit Wandering Heron's establishment."
* Erin`Marias shakes her head a little at the others. Crazy lot, all of 'em.
<Morrighan> "I guess that's where we're going first then."
* Mirage_ nods, returning the smile. "Of course, if that is where you recommend. I'm sure it won't take me long to get settled in." Not a lot of luggage after all, with a change of clothes and some weapons.
<Erin`Marias> "Yeah, should probably drop our stuff off first. No point lugging it around, eh?"
<Morrighan> "I'd prefer to have it on my person, thank you."
* Erin`Marias rolls her eyes, and claaaarifiiiiiies~ "Non-essential stuff."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer approaches the woman and whispers something into her ear. There's a short, back-and-forth whispered conversation, before Singer takes a step back and nods her head slightly, offering a small bow to the woman.
<Morrighan> Morrighan was probably risking freezing her eyebrow in it's raised postion, she wonders what the hell that was all about.
<AureusSila> Aureus has managed to put a good ten yards between himself and the rest of the group, his head lost high in the dreamy clouds of ancient magic tomes and scrolls.
* Lionel calls out to Aureus "Don't wander off, don't want you getting lost" (grin)
<Morrighan> "Better yet, stay with the group or I'm dragging you by your heels"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer looks to the rest of the group, offering them a small smile, "I will meet with you all later, at Wandering Heron's? I need to go pay my respects to someone."
<Morrighan> "Have fun ... I guess litteraly considering..."
<Melua> "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to tag along, Singer."
<Lionel> "..Ok then." Lionel turns to the rest "Shall we get a move on, don't want to put down roots"
* Mirage_ nods. "Sure, we'll meet you up later." Might be interesting to tail her...
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer looks to Melua, suddenly a little awkward, "I... I'd rather go alone. It's... personal."
<Melua> Melua gently touches Singer's arm. "All the more reason to have a friend with you, I'd think... it can be painful alone."
<AureusSila> Aureus turned around and raised his voice. "You're all falling behind, hurry up! I'm sure the museums aren't open all day!"
<Morrighan> Morrighan just rolls her eyes
<Lionel> "We are going to the inn first.. I'm sure you can wait half an hour can't you. Its still morning"
<SWS|Storyteller> The woman smiles to the group, Mirage in particular, "Well, if the rest of you will follow me, I can lead you to Wandering Heron's establishment. I don't want you to get lost." Singer flinches slightly at Melua's touch, turning her gaze towards her, "I... well, okay." She mumbles, seeming uncomfortable. She seperates from the rest of the group and begins heading down a side alley, while the Guide leads the group to a large staircase leading downwards.
<Morrighan> "... underground"
<AureusSila> "But half an hour is just half an hour from being a whole hour!" Aureus groaned loudly in protest.
<Melua> Melua follows behind Singer calmly, waving to the other uh, eccentrics she travels with for now.
<Reyna> <...Stairs? Why'd it have to be stairs?> Reyna mentally grumbles, moving to the back.
* Mirage_ is perfectly okay underground! He walks along, talking/flirting with the guide, just playing the curious traveller. Melua can keep an eye on Singer, if Singer doesn't want her to be there.
* Erin`Marias follows onwards! Woo! Adventure and excitement await! Or not. You never know. "The more time you spend whining the less time you'll have to explore."
* Lionel grins "Learn some temperance"
<AureusSila> "Oh that's true huh" Aureus mused while closely inspecting the architecture.
<SWS|Storyteller> The Guide introduces herself as Pale Blossom, proving that yes, most people in Sijan have rather interesting, descriptive names, "The Upper City is for the dead. The Lower City has establishments for the living." She informs the group, blushing faintly as Mirage flirts with her, trying to remain serene and professional. The architecture below the ground appears to be from the First Age, though it could predate even that. It's much more lively underground, with people wandering about, talking loudly about all sorts of subjects, several groups of scholars moving from one museum and library to another. Pale Blossom wastes no time in pointing out various stores and establishments, not to mention museums and libraries, until she leads them to Wandering Heron's Inn, smiling. The Inn is very finely decorated, and the lingering scents of wine and food alone are intoxicating.
<Morrighan> "Nice place" Morrighan said flatly, while she was in fact impressed a bit, she didn't want to show it.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer meanwhile navigates back alleys and side-streets, looking back to Melua, "Why did you want to come with me?" She asks as she stops outside a small crypt, the door already appearing to be open for her, a single tomb and a simple but well cared for shrine within.
* Lionel gives the inn a disapproving look "A bit more ostentatious than what I'm used to." he mutters to himself. "Hope the smell of wine doesn't persist into the rooms too much"
* Reyna sneezes. "Stupidly smelly place..." she mumbles, looking around.
* Mirage_ grins at Blossom. "Thank you. Let's get checked in, shall we?" This is with a sort of we're-going-to-be-here-and-happy-about-it,-right-guys edge at everyone else.
<Morrighan> Morrighan suddenly felt a bit bad for the guide, considering how everyone else was reacting.
* Erin`Marias grumbles. 'Godyoupeoplearesopicky' may be muttered in there before ferretboy speaks up. "Yeah, let's get it over with. I need a lie down."
* Lionel grins at Mirage "Indeed, Aureus will explode if we don't hurry"
<Melua> Melua rubs her neck awkwardly. "Because I'm not sure I trust you, because I really am interested in what kind of people are important to you, and because you know things you're keeping quiet about. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable."
<AureusSila> Aureus, however, seemed to have gotten lost in studying the architecture in detail.
* Mirage_ nods at the group in general and heads into the inn to check in for a room, snagging Aureus by the collar if necessary.
* Morrighan just follows wordlessly
<SWS|Storyteller> Pale Blossom looks slightly panicked at the initial reactions made by the group, but appears mollified by Mirage's attitude, smiling and nodding, "Just ask after me if you need my help. Anyone else in robes like mine should be able to help you find me." She murmurs before excusing herself. Wandering Heron's establishment isn't the most active, but certainly appears to be the best in Sijan, and as the group enters, a gruff, bearded man in fine dress approaches them, "You'll be wanting rooms then, eh?" He asks with a grunt, rubbing his thick grey beard, "Food too, I guess. Well, you'll get that here, and the best in all Sijan too. But if you be expecting simpering, servile attendance here, you'll not find it. If you be wanting that, go see Blushing Spring and pay twice what you'd pay here."
* Lionel chuckles "Ahh, excellent. Good day to you". Lionel grins warmly.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer nods slowly at Melua's words and smiles faintly, "I can understand that reasoning, at least... well..." She steps into the crypt and moves to kneel before the shrine, lighting some candles and setting some insense burning, closing her eyes and clasping her hands together, "It's me again, big brother. It's Julie." She murmurs, flinching a little as she uses her mortal name, appearing embarassed that Melua's witnessing this, but continuing, "I've been searching the Underworld so long now... I can only hope you've gone to Lethe, for the alternatives are so much worse... I'll always remember you, and I'll keep looking... you always looked after me. It's the least I can do." She whispers, then cuts off a small lock of hair, casting it into a bronze brazier and letting it burn.
* Mirage_ just bows to the man. "We'd rather have the best straight than the second-best with fancy manners," he assures the man. "Put the rooms under the name of Forbidden Singer of Thirteen Downfalls, please?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan just facepalms at Mirage. "Oh great."
<AureusSila> Aureus sinckered at Mirage's antics while inspecting more closely how the ceiling was being held up.
<SWS|Storyteller> The man doesn't appear to react oddly to the name at all, nodding his head slightly, "If that's the case, your room's already been paid for. Paid me extra too, so I figure that buys you a little courtesy as well." Wandering Heron says with a little grin, "If you'll follow me into the back, there's someone who wishes to speak with you."
<Morrighan> "All of us or just him?"
<SWS|Storyteller> "All of you. Got nine rooms paid for in advance.
<Morrighan> "kay then"
<Melua> Melua merely waited respectfully, averting her eyes and blushing faintly at this, and feeling like a bit of a bitch for imposing herself on Singer like this.
* Erin`Marias sighs and rolls her eyes a bit, nudging Mirage in the side. "If this all goes pear-shaped, I'm blamin' you."
* Lionel grins nervously at Erin
<AureusSila> Aureus poked Mirage in the side with his elbow while passing him. "I like the way you do things" He said, half-smiling.
* Mirage_ high-five's the next convenient NPC he sees, then just grins at Aureus and shrugs before following Heron into the back. Wait, people waiting to talk to him isn't necessarily good. _Carefully_ following Heron into the back.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just follows in step
<Lionel> likewise
* Reyna pads along too, bright-eyed and alert.
* Erin`Marias keeps a fair distance from Mirage - not too far though.
* SWS|Storyteller remains kneeling a moment longer before rising to her feet and blowing out the candles, wiping her cheeks and looking to Melua, "So, you're a Solar? I know the Gentleman said everyone was a Solar or a Lunar, and since I can't see any cat ears or tails or claws or anything, I'm guessing you're not a Lunar." She says, trying to pretend Melua hadn't just witnessed something personal and private. Then a man in black robes, with a shroud covering his face, approaches and hands Singer a package, which she accepts without a word, ignoring the man himself as if he were completely insubstantial.
<SWS|Storyteller> Waiting for Mirage and the rest of the group in the back room is a rather insubstantial man. That's not to say he's small or slender, no no. He's actually rather well-built. He is, however, also transparent. He looks up from trying and failing to grab at a chicken wing, narrowing his gaze at Mirage, "Where's the Deathknight? I thought she'd be with you."
<AureusSila> Aureus stared in interest at this transparent man.
<Melua> Watching the man walk away, Melua decides to not comment on it as a way of apologizing for intruding. She does, however, wait till the man walks quite a ways far away, and checks that there's no one else near, before nodding and closing her eyes, an empty ring flickering quietly on her forehead for a moment, before she moves her bangs to help conceal it. "...Yeah. I'm of the Sun. It's um... not something I try to call attention to."
<Reyna> Tilting her head in confusion, Reyna haltingly approaches the see-through person, sniffing for any trace of odor.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just sets and eyes the food she's sat in front of.
* Mirage_ sits across from the man and gendopose's. "She had to stop and meet a dead man," he says with a smirk. "She should be by soon enough, I would think. What can we do for you, mister...?"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer looks to Melua and smiles faintly, "Ah, Night Caste. Kin, then. Of a sort." She murmurs, before opening the package, withdrawing a Soulsteel Reaper Daiklave, hefting it slightly and testing its weight, "Hm. Mistress must be worried about me." She mumbles before withdrawing a note from the package as-well, tucking it into a pocket and looking to Melua, "Shall we go meet up with the rest of them?" She asks, sheathing the soulsteel weapon and smiling faintly.
* Erin`Marias rests her arms across the top of Mirage's chair and leans forward a bit - standing behind him, if that wasn't obvious. "Do at least try and be a little more respectful, hmm?"
* Lionel sits down at the table and smiles faintly
<Morrighan> "Perhaps mirage you should consider our current company"
<Melua> "By all means; I assume you know where the inn is already from being here so often."
<SWS|Storyteller> The ghost looks at the group and furrows his brows, tilting his gaze from one person to the other before letting his gaze fall upon Mirage, "Twilight Embrace. Goofy name, I know. I don't know what my parents were thinking. My frieds call me -- used to call me Rager, though, so go ahead and call me that. Visiting the dead, is she? Well and right enough. I can discuss this business with you anyway," He says, rubbing his forehead, "I'd flash my Caste Mark, except we lose that little trick after we die. Exalts have to be alive, apparently. Now, I need your help with something."
<Morrighan> "And that would be?" Morrighan tented her hands in front of her mouth, she spoke rather stright to the point.
* Reyna hops onto one of the remaining chairs, curling her tail around a leg.
* Mirage_ thoroughly ignores Erin! He's having too much fun to be respectful. "Please to meet you, Rager," he says... then his eyebrows go up as the man mentions Exalts, leaning back on the back legs of his chair and crossing his arms. "By all means. Anything for a fellow Chosen, of course... though, Chosen of whom, may I ask?"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer nods Melua and rubs her shoulder, "Yeah, I know where to find Heron's place..." She murmurs in response, leading the other woman through alleys and down into the Lower City, admiring the architecture as she goes.
* Melua follows, also checkin' stuff out
* Erin`Marias stays there, if only to be a pain. "With a name like that, probably a Dawn Caste, eh?" She shrugs lightly.
<Morrighan> Morrighan rolls her eyes "Or you know, a twilight."
<AureusSila> Aureus raised a curious hand. "Why are you transparent?"
<Erin`Marias> "Right, 'cause the name your parents gives you totally defines your caste."
<Morrighan> "He's a ghost, genuis"
* Erin`Marias shakes her head slightly.
* Lionel grins at Aureus
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager nods his head to Erin and laughs a little, "Aye, Dawn Caste. Chosen of the Unconquered Sun." He tips a non-existant hat, then looks to Aureus, laughing, "'Cause I'm dead, kid!" He says, and a short moment later, Singer arrives in the back room with Melua in tow, "Ah, here's the Deathknight. Good, everyone's here. Now, I assume most of you know what a manse is?"
<Morrighan> "I have one, not that it's anybody's business."
<AureusSila> "Well you don't know 'till you make sure" Aureus shrugged.
* Reyna nods emphatically, her gaze lingering a few seconds on the man's chicken wing.
* Lionel nods slowly, waiting for Rager to continue
<Morrighan> Morrighan also tilted her head in a hat tipping manner. "Also a dawn caste here too."
* Melua leans against the back of the room, picking up as much information from context as she can
<Morrighan> "If you don't mind I won't turn on my mark for you to see though. Don't have a headband to cover it."
* Erin`Marias nods lightly. "I know the basics well enough." She leans forward a bit more.
* Mirage_ shrugs. "Seen them a time or three, yes."
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager looks at Reyna and smirks, gesturing to the food on the table, roasted chicken, vegetables with a thick cheese sauce, other tasty treats, "Please, go on. I can't even touch the stuff, much to my dismay. It all tastes kind of ashen when I eat things anyway." He mumbles, then looks back to Mirage, "There's a Soulsteel Manse in the forests north of here, with a couple of Deathknights attuned to it. Rogues. Trying to awaken the dead Behemoth there. Got aspirations of making themselves a new Thorns here in Sijan. I was approached to help put a stop to them, but my efforts proved... inadequate. I think your group will be more up to the task." He pauses, "Doesn't matter how you do it. Negotiate with them, trick them, kill them, mince them into hamburgers and roast 'em over open flames. All that matters in the end is that you stop 'em from waking that thing, or stop them from attempting to conquor Sijan. Oh, I'm sure there's a Deathlord who'd reward you for killing them, but who gives a crap about those traitors, eh?"
<Melua> "Who approached you, ghost-boy?" Melua tilted her head, uneasy about this.
* Mirage_ just rocks in his chair and listens. That's actually a good question.
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager frowns, furrowing his brows slightly, "That's the strangest thing. I don't remember his name... or... her name... or what they looked like. But I remember being asked to deal with it. There were a two other Solar Exalts with me. Dunno if either of 'em survived."
* Lionel mutters " That doesn't sound too promising"
* Mirage_ raises an eyebrow. "They told you to expect us to come, though?"
<Morrighan> Morrighn raised a finger. "What I want to know is what is our timeframe on this? Any idea on how soon they'll get that thing operational?"
<Melua> "Also, any layouts, diagrams, or important details of the manse are vital."
<SWS|Storyteller> He shakes his head, "I got a message from some ghosts that you'd be coming this way. They said 'you survived, we didn't, avenge us'. I believe those were their words. Something to that effect. There were only a few of 'em. Seemed pretty ragged-looking. Twisted-like."
<Morrighan> Morrighan stared at the table. Pondering over the message.
<AureusSila> Aureus twitched slightly when remembering the dead people in the room where they all met at first.
<Morrighan> "Twisted you say?"
* Mirage_ gendoposes again, and considers picking up a pair of spectacles to make it more effective. "Well, if you see them again, by all means let them know we are working on it. Might take a while though."
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager winces a little at the memory, "Looked like someone had tried vivisecting their souls... they were definitely running from something. Can't imagine what..." He looks to Melua, "One of the libraries here has detailed layouts of the manse, but it's expensive to get into and well... I don't think that's the sort of thing they let you borrow out."
* Reyna raises a paw "Ah... Assuming we actually succeed, do you have any plans to keep anyone else from trying again?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan put her hand over her heart, she stared flatly at the table and shivered a little. (Was that what he did to us? Oh gods...)
<AureusSila> Aureus grinned widely at the mention of a library.
* Lionel listens impassively
<Melua> Melua almost chokes on a glass of wine at the word 'borrow,' but otherwise manages to keep her composure.
* Mirage_ is obviously more badass than those wussy dragonblooded. "Sounds like that might be useful, yes. We will certainly see what we can do about it, I think..."
<Morrighan> "What direction did the ghosts go after they departed? Do you remember? Just to satisfy my own curiosity."
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager shrugs, "Dunno, I wasn't that interested, and they were doing their best to avoid being easy to follow." He replies to Morrighan, crossing his arms, "So, will you do it? Those Abyssals are a threat to every person here in Sijan, living and dead."
<Melua> Coughing politely, Melua took a step foreward. "You still haven't mentioned what's in it for us."
* Mirage_ waves a hand admonishingly at Melua. "Surely we can do this out of the goodness of our hearts, as a favor to a fellow Exalt," he says. Surely.
* Reyna half-snorts, raising an eyebrow.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer smiles a little at Melua's words and pats her shoulder lightly, "It's a manse. Largely unspoiled too, if these Abyssals are new additions. There could be all sorts of treasures to... acquire." She murmurs, then looks to Mirage, "But of course, we'd do it even without a reward, because we're all saintly warriors for justice and that sort of thing. Yup."
<Lionel> "Honest!" Lionel says sarcasticly
<Melua> Melua has stars in her eyes "Consider the problem solved yesterday!"
* Reyna lays a paw over her eyes, saying nothing.
<Morrighan> "I have to concur with singer here, however I am also willing to do this just for the sake of it ... and for a little vengence if our fallen "comrades" if you'll call them that requested it of us"
* Lionel nods in agreement
* Mirage_ stands and lifts a glass in toast to nothing in particular. "All right. I think we will set out first thing tomorrow to see what we can do about these Abyssals, then."
<SWS|Storyteller> Rager chuckles a little and nods, "All right. Well, I have some business back in the underworld. I'll meet with you later. Hopefully by then the situation will be dealt with." He says, rising to his feet and leaving the room, fading away as he does.
<AureusSila> As soon as Rager disappeared, Aureus opened his mouth. "To the library!"
* Mirage_ says "Time to get ready for my date!" at the same time, then gives Aureus an 'are you crazy?' look.
<Morrighan> Morrighan just sets back and sighs, drumming her fingers. "And what am I to do in the meantime..."
<Lionel> "In any case, I need to go and obtain some supplies" says Lionel, before wandering out of the room and disappearing into the inns patrons
<Melua> "It seems the library isn't easy to get into, we should probably ask someone with connections first... Singer, do you know of anyone?"
* Reyna snaps up a bite of chicken. "I might go to talk to some of a museum's staff," she muses around the mouthful of food.
<AureusSila> "I'm sure there's a hole we can crawl in through somewhere, lets go!" Aureus sat off impatiently for the door.
* Mirage_ heads off into the distance muttering to himself about needing new shoes.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer shakes her head slightly, "No... but perhaps you could ask Mirage about that. He seems to be quick at making friends." Then she looks at Morrighan, "I'm going to meet with another Deathknight that's staying in Sijan. I plan on hitting them up for information, but I could use some back-up if things get unpleasant, and your big axe looks like very handy back-up."
<Morrighan> Morrighan stands up. "Alright, do keep in mind I'm more of a cannonball and less of a meatshield though."
* Reyna swallows the meat, shifting back to human and sliding seamlessly off her chair. "I'm off to find scholars," she announces to no-one in particular before disappearing out the door.
<Melua> Melua heads towards the door. "I think I might be interested in checking out the museums, and their exhibits, myself. Anyone care to join me?"
<AureusSila> "Can we go to the library after that?" Aureus asked Melua enthusiastically while grabbing on to her arm.
<Melua> Melua leaned away a tad, smiling nervously. "O-of course, I suppose we might be able to ask what it takes to get in..."
<AureusSila> "Awesome!" Aureus started dragging Melua along at a rather quick pace. "I have no idea where it is but I'm sure we'll find it!"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer leads Morrighan out and towards a more residential district.
* Lionel watches notices Melua being dragged past by Aureus and chuckles
<Melua> "Waiiiiit." Melua pulls back, bringing Aureus to a stop. "Do you even know which direction it is?"
<SWS|Storyteller> OKAY SESSION OVAR.
<SWS|Storyteller> DETAILS OF INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE SORTED OUT NEXT WEEK, SINGER AND MORRI WILL BE DONE PRIVATELY, AS WILL MELUA'S FUN THIEVERY SHE'S GOING TO GET YOU ALL BANNED FROM THE CITY LOL.

[Tue 20] [21:27:20] <Chiiro> I need to hurry up and sleep with the unconquered sun.

<+AirHippo> Funnily enough, folks who abide by the law and try to make something of their lives don't appreciate the rich kids of rich parents getting away with murder and skimming through life.

<SWS|Storyteller> Singer leads Morrighan out of the Inn, smiling a little to herself and turning her gaze to Morrighan, "You sure you're okay coming with me? I'm going to meet another Deathknight, and odds are we probably won't need to violence her. Probably."
<Morrighan> Morrighan just shrugged. "Dealing with deathknights is somthing new to me, I may as well just get used to it since I'm chained to a deathlord now and all..." Her face fell a little with that last line.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer reaches out to pat Morrighan's shoulder lightly, "It'll be all right. As loathe as I am to admit it, you were lucky to be caught in the Gentleman's web. He's... well, he's a twisted son of a bitch, but many of the Deathlords are more blatantly so than he." She says as she leads Morrighan through the Lower City. Finally she stops at a small eatery. Not far away a woman dressed elegantly in black, wearing an ornate plague mask, preaches to a group of people solemnly. Singer takes a seat at a table and looks to Morrighan, "She'll be at that for a while. In the meantime, we could get something to eat?"
<Morrighan> Morrighan was somewhat interested in what the woman was preaching but broke away from her staring to speak to Singer. "Yeah, so long as it's cooked and not twitching, I still can't get the image of that dinner table out of my damned head..."
<Morrighan> Morrighan shuddered a little.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer flags down a waiter, offering him the sort of smile that make men weak in the knees and in the head, tilting her head a little to one side and tossing her dark hair a little, "Hi there..." She coos, "I've never much been one for menus. What do you recommend?" The man gulps and stammers a little, raising a hand to rub his head, "I... er... recommend? Um..." Singer laughs softly shakes her head, "Nevermind. I've decided. We want something sweet. Sweet and fruity. Go. Shoo. Fetch." The waiter quickly scampers off, and Singer's expression shifts slightly from amusement to weariness, "That's just not fun anymore..."
<Morrighan> Morrighan snorts. "Betcha he'll forget what you ordered before he gets back. I was never much to play with men though, I'm more ... direct with my business."
<Morrighan> She then sat back and looked towards the preacher again. "You know, I guess this isn't all bad, it's certainly a learning experiance I probably wouldn't have otherwise."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer lofts her brow a little, giving Morrighan a little smirk, "I've noticed that. Direct with words, direct with that axe too, I'm betting. Subtlty would be wasted on you, wouldn't it? And yet you're dressed so conservatively. Hm." She turns her gaze towards the Priest as well, who's informing the crowd of the joys awaiting them in the Underworld, and how the worship they offer the dead allows their ancestors to live in a veritable paradise. She snorts and shakes her head, "Garbage..."
<Morrighan> "I'm not beyond talking with people if that's what I think is the best choice of action. But yes once the axe comes out whatever I'm pointing it at is going to die. What does my choice of dress have to do with this though?"
<Morrighan> She tapped her finger on the table.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer laughs softly and shakes her head a little, "I just find it curious that such a natural beauty would hide behind so much clothing. Ah, here we are..." A waitress comes to their table with a nervous little smile, carrying a tray with two desserts, consisting of cream and sweet berries. She sets down the desserts, mumbling something inaudiable and then quickly scampering off again, looking terribly nervous. Singer smiles at Morrighan, "This suit you?"
<Morrighan> "Yeah this works." Morrighan took a bite. "I have no comment on my looks, I guess I was just lucky as far as my development went. As for my clothes, well that's just a matter of being raised by wolves I guess, metaphorically speaking. I was a soldier for hire since I was 10, working with a whole company. I left 5 years ago after I exalted."
<SWS|Storyteller> "I see. A mercenary? That's cold work. Bloody work. No wonder you have so many rough edges." She observes, plucking up a silver spoon and prodding idly at the cream-covered berries, rolling them around, just looking at them, "You must have seen some terrible things in your time."
<Morrighan> "Not just seen. I've particpated in a few. One in particular stood out though, and it opened my eyes. I couldn't do that work anymore after that. I tried to leave but they had a rule about people who ran away."
<SWS|Storyteller> "Ah..." Singer murmurs, looking up at Morrighan, seeming a little sad, "You've innocent blood on your hands then. I know that feeling. Perhaps another time we could talk about this more privately. It sometimes helps to talk about these things, I hear." She murmurs, still toying with her dessert but otherwise not eating a bite. She lifts her eyes and looks towards the Ancestor-Cultist, who appears to be dismissing her followers now and preparing to leave, "Well then, looks like we can go say hello now..."
<Morrighan> Morrighan stood up at that then. "I'm making up for my crime, doesn't stop it from keeping me up at night though. And the gentleman intercepting me sure puts a roadblock in front of all my previous plans..."
<Morrighan> "But that's a rant for later if you'll hear it."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer nods her head slightly, "It disrupts my own plans as well. But alas, one does not always have complete control over their destiny." She murmurs, moving to approach the Midnight Caste, smiling warmly, "Whispers. We need to talk." The woman takes off her mask, revealing a deathly pale face with sharp, elegant features, ice-blue eyes staring intently at the two women, "Singer," She observes coldly, "What an unexpected and undesired surprise. Come along then." She turns and leads them towards a small building completely lacking windows, unlocking the door and stepping inside, expecting them both to follow. Singer does, albiet warily.
<Morrighan> Morighan does also in a rather careful manner (No windows, great, just like my visit to the guild.) She steps inside.
<SWS|Storyteller> Unlike the room at the guild, this building is small and simple, the front door leading into a sitting area, only two other doors, both of which appear to lead to small bedrooms. As soon as the door is closed, the Midnight-Caste woman spins and grabs Singer by the neck with one hand, slamming her against the wall and choking her, "You little bitch, Singer." She growls, leaning in closer, while Singer struggles weakly, gasping for breath, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me? Mistress was furious when you disappeared, and I was the one blamed."
<Morrighan> "Oi" Morrighan tapped Whispers on the shoulder.
<SWS|Storyteller> Whispers holds Singer firmly to the wall with one hand wrapped around her throat, turning her ice-cold gaze to Morrighan, pale lips curling into a contemptuous scowl, "And who are you to think of touching me, girl?" She asks, while Singer's pale skin starts to become rather blue.
<Morrighan> "Someone with a big axe and a really short temper, don't call me girl." *Call the blade* Her axe unwraps itself rather quickly and flies into her hand. "Besides spooky, I'm pretty sure you're in for even more shit if you show up with Singer in a body bag, if your mistress is so worried about her."
<Morrighan> (I used personal essence, just for the chatlogs)
<Icefox> ((Morrighan is a jedi!)
<SWS|Storyteller> Whispers releases Singer's neck, letting her drop to the ground like a ragdoll, wheezing for breath, the Midnight turning her a full attention to Morrighan, gaze running over the Grimcleaver, "Orichalcum. Oh my, a Solar." She observes, stepping towards Morrighan, "Put away the axe, girl." Black Caste Mark burns and bleeds upon her forehead.
<Morrighan> Morrighan twitched a bit but stood her ground. "How about no" she stared right back at the abyssal, not budging a inch.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer slowly starts to rise to her feet, and Whispers whips back a stiletto-clad foot to kick her in the ribs, sending her back to the floor, the Midnight keeping her cold gaze on Morrighan the whole time, "This is between me and Singer. But let me guess, she brought you for protection. How cute. Please, try to protect her." She says, grinding a three-inch heel harshly into Singer's ribs, below her left breast with a look of sadistic pleasure upon her face.
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer's barely restrained whimpers of pain seem genuine, and she manages to gasp out, "N-need her alive... don't kill her..." Whispers lofts a brow, "Wasn't planning on killing her." To which Singer replies, "Ahhh! Wasn't... talking to you..."
<SWS|Storyteller> (*lofts a brow)
<Morrighan> "Looks more like I'm protecting -you-. I'm going to take a guess that like all other exaltations, abyssals are a major investiment. I'm also going to take a guess that Singer is your master's pet. I doubt she'll be very happy to know that you damaged and/or killed her." Morrighan cocked her head to the side and placed her hand on her hip. "Now you may kill singer, you could possibly try to blame it on me even, I already suspect you'd try to do that, but I'm fairly confident I can kill you afterward. How does your master tourturing your soul for the rest of eternity for failing to protect her pet sound?
<SWS|Storyteller> Whispers smirks at Morrighan and presses her heel down more firmly, this time drawing forth a loud scream of pain from Singer, who writhes on the floor, "Girl, you have no idea what you're talking about. I don't intend on killing Singer. But I will hurt her. And Mistress would no sooner punish me for that than she would punish me for killing you. You really should have put away your axe." She flings her left hand at Morrighan, a bolt of sickly black energy erupting from her fingertips and flying towards the Solar. However, her aim appears to be horribly off, because it flies wide, hitting the wall behind Morrighan.
<Morrighan> "Then words end here." Morrighan stepped forward, stomped even, her steel boot thumping loudly against the floor. She quickly brought her axe over her shoulder and flipped it, then brought the blunt end down towards the abyssal's face.
<SWS|Storyteller> Whispers lets out a surprised cry as her face gets introduced to the blunt side of Morrighan's Grimcleaver, staggering back and scowling, "Oh you little whore!" She spits, a deep bruise forming on her pale features, and she flings another bolt of black light towards Morrighan.
<Morrighan> Morrighan got hit squarely in the ribs, the bolt seared through her clothes and burned her flesh. The pain was unbleavible. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! That's it, playtime's over. Embrace the death you so love" Her axe at that moment exploded into a fury of white and purple flame. And she took another hard step forward, flipping her axe around so it's blade was facing the abyssal. She swung hard.
<SWS|Storyteller> Whispers' eyes go wide at the sight of that anima banner flaring to life, the axe igniting with essence imbued flames. She tries to dodge aside from the axe, but it catches her shoulder squarely, tearing down over her chest and sending her collapsing to the ground, bleeding and too weak to move, but still alive. Singer sits up slowly, groaning and rubbing her bruised ribs, "That might have been a little excessive... It was incredible." She murmurs with a little grin, pushing herself to her feet.
<Morrighan> Morrighan stiffly walked over to the abyssal, each breath was was a hard one. "I fucking told you I tell EVERYONE and they never listen to me." She stomped her steel boot on one of the abyssal's hands hard, hoping for a satisfying crunch. "Fucking bitch, I try to be civil and she attacks me."
<Morrighan> She then turned her head towards Singer. "Excessive though it may be, she was about to kill me."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer nods her head a little and smiles at Morrighan fondly, "You did good." She murmurs, and then suddenly doubles over, letting out an ear-splitting scream. All the fires in the room suddenly flicker and extinguish, and Morrighan feels a chill run up her spine as everything in a 40 yard radius becomes enveloped within a Shadowland, and Singer begins bleeding from her eyes and ears, open wounds forming on her face.
<Morrighan> Morrighan rushed over to singer. "Shit! What's wrong with you? Talk to me!"
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer gasps and curls into a ball, panting, "It's... nothing..." She wheezes, wiping blood from her eyes and wrapping her arms around herself, panting for breath.
<Morrighan> "Come on damnit, I'm already injured, I'd rather not have to carry you out of here if I can help it."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer looks up at Morrighan, her face looking like something had raked it open with claws, "I'll be fine..." She whispers a little more calmly, rising to her feet and stepping towards Morrighan, cupping her cheeks in her hands and kissing her lips lightly, "Thank you for protecting me. Now go back to the Inn. I need to ask Whispers some questions, and I can't go out in public right now..."
<Morrighan> "Mph!" She backed away a little after breaking away from the kiss rather immediately. "We're not that friendly yet!" She coughed. "Besides actually I can't leave either if you havn't noticed I'm kinda glowing like any good solar should after they just layed the beatdown on somebody."
<SWS|Storyteller> Singer laughs softly at Morrighan's reaction to the kiss, shaking her head a little and turning her gaze down to Whispers, "Well then, I have some questions for you, dear. Let's get to business, shall we?" (Scene End)
* SWS|Storyteller is now known as SilverWingedSeraph
* Morrighan is now known as _Lizzie_
<Siber> resonsonsce?
<Icefox> Singer hit resonence 11.
* Siber only just woke up from a little power nap
<Icefox> Every non-magical fire in 400 yards is now extinguished, every pregnant being in that radius is now no longer pregnant, and for the next 4 days it will kill mortals to be near her.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Well, hurt them.
<Siber> Oh.
<Latooni> also we're easier to track
<Siber> Ow.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Also it created a 40 yard wide Shadowlands, and destroyed every holy symbol in 400 yards.
<Icefox> I think SWS rolled 5 successes on 4 dice.
<Latooni> yes
<Icefox> Pretty goddamn epic.
<Siber> and how much more resonance did she get back for giving Morri that peck? Or is that too insignificant?
<Icefox> That was a skeezy charm, I believe.
* SilverWingedSeraph changes topic to '[Exalted, 2nd Edition] Storyteller: SilverWingedSeraph | Campaign: The Broken Throne | Current Events: Fiery Axes and Resonance Explosions | Total Exp: 23'

<Chiiro> lets hope we stumble over awesome 5-dot artifacts..!
<SilverWingedSeraph> Heh. Speaking of which, before we get this started... Sijan has numerous Museums and the like. I assume Melua investigates and asks questions around to try and determine which Museum(s) would have the best stuff to steal, and would then scout out said museums to plan for the robbery. Is this correct, Muug?
<Latooni> Well the basic plan is find a museum that intrigues her, then attend it like a normal person, not looking very interested while she's there (but still checking shit out)
<SilverWingedSeraph> So... she picks a museum more or less at random and then scopes the place out?
<Chiiro> We should probably ask.
<Latooni> Yes, asking about kinds of museums is good
<Latooni> The one that interests her the most (not a random thing!) would be what she'd check out
* _Autochthon_ (~Zion@primordial.in.charge) has joined #Exalted
* ChanServ sets mode: +qo _Autochthon_ _Autochthon_
<Chiiro> The one that interests her the most is the one that has most 5-dot artifacts! \o/
<SilverWingedSeraph> Arright. Roll Manipulation or Charisma + Investigation for me.
<Latooni> hurdurpdurp gotta pull up sheet
<Chiiro> watch him botch and we don't find any museums
<Cynsye> thats not seeing trees in a forest :P
<SilverWingedSeraph> Need to determine the kinda stuff Melua finds out and what kinda museum she goes after before I can fully plan things out, after all. :3
<Latooni> !roll 3
<_Autochthon_> Latooni : Successes 2 Damage 2 ( 5 8 7 )
<Latooni> woo
<Chiiro> ok watch him botch and we find the museum of wyld hunts!
<Chiiro> wat
<Chiiro> 3?
<Chiiro> what in the world kind of stats are you rolling.
<Latooni> what, you think I put starting xp in investigation?
* Chiiro has 2 :[
<Latooni> yes but it's your caste ability
<Cynsye> i have 3 :)
<Chiiro> haha true :D
<SilverWingedSeraph> Investigation is a fairly essential skill for a thief, really...
<Latooni> yes it is
<Chiiro> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> Chiiro : Successes 3 Damage 2 ( 10 3 1 8 4 )
<Chiiro> See I win
<Chiiro> :D
<Latooni> but she's not a very experienced one and I only have so much xp
<Chiiro> 'I only have so much xp'
<Chiiro> true words ;.;
<Cynsye> you do have crazy goals though :D
<Chiiro> just a little
<Latooni> I guess I need to allocate 5xp to investigation at some point
<SilverWingedSeraph> Okay, Melua finds out about a fairly large museum dedicated to long-dead inventors and innovators, and apparently contains more than a few magitech devices, some First Age goodies, and other treasures. I take it Melua then takes a tour of said Museum?
<Latooni> Yes, let us go with that
<Chiiro> Damn straight
<SilverWingedSeraph> All right. The reality doesn't quite seem to match up with the rumours. There are quite a few magitech devices on display, but many are broken or unfunctional due to age and lack of care. However, there are still a fair number of genuinely valuable items.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Roll Perception + Investigation!
<Latooni> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> Latooni : Successes 2 Damage 1 ( 5 5 4 10 2 )
* Latooni pats dice
<Icefox> C'mon, where are your excellencies man?
<Latooni> ...
<Latooni> uhh
<Latooni> yes I'll get my excellency for an ability I have no dots in out
<SilverWingedSeraph> He doesn't even have a single dot in Investigation. XD
<Icefox> ...
<Icefox> OH.
<Icefox> I see.
<Chiiro> I should be doing this really.
<Icefox> Well he has perception 5! That's good! :D
<Chiiro> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> Chiiro : Successes 2 Damage 1 ( 6 5 6 5 10 )
<Chiiro> ok maybe not D<
<Cynsye> !roll 7
<_Autochthon_> Cynsye : Successes 3 Damage 2 ( 3 7 2 3 3 6 10 )
<Cynsye> im not much better ¬_¬
<Chiiro> snkkt
<Icefox> !roll 4
<Latooni> 2 is a decent roll from 5
<_Autochthon_> Icefox : Successes 2 Damage 2 ( 6 3 8 8 )
<Icefox> Yeah.
<Chiiro> autobot is fucking with us today
<SilverWingedSeraph> At first while Melua's investigating it seems to her that the security is rather lacking, but after a while she realises that many of the other people at the museum are paying more attention to the people than the exhibits, and that some of the apparently magitech "displays" are in themselves security devices. Most importantly, she overhears two of the tourguides quietly discussing the fact that most of the more valuable pieces the museum owns are only put on display for special events, and are usually safely locked away in the east wing.
<Chiiro> To east wing we go
<Chiiro> onwardds! o/
* Latooni whacks chii
<Chiiro> I figure you can deal with some locks. D:
<SilverWingedSeraph> Okay, are Aureus and Melua actually teaming up and working together at this point, or will they bump into each other during the robbery attempt or while scouting the place out?
<Latooni> We can go to the museum together
<Chiiro> I think we're scouting together.
<Latooni> I don't really think he'll be very useful in the theft :x
<Chiiro> I might surprise you. >:D
<SilverWingedSeraph> Alright. Heh. Finally, both roll Perception + Occult.
<Chiiro> yes
<Chiiro> !roll 8
<_Autochthon_> Chiiro : Successes 2 Damage 1 ( 6 3 6 3 10 6 4 4 )
<Chiiro> ...
<Latooni> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> Latooni : BOTCH! ( 1 5 3 4 1 )
<Latooni> qq
<Chiiro> FUCK YOU AUTOBOY
* Cynsye snerks
<Latooni> oh this'll be fun
<Chiiro> This isn't going to end well.
<Chiiro> 2 on a roll of 8 dammit ;.;
<SilverWingedSeraph> There doesn't appear to be anything else especially out of the ordinary, but Melua's gaze falls upon one of the exhibits, to a pair of intricate white jade bracelets inlaid with starmetal stones. Those bracelets call to her, and she feels compelled to take them.
<Latooni> yeah I figured as much
<Chiiro> ;.;
<SilverWingedSeraph> Roll Temperance.
<SilverWingedSeraph> Plz
<Icefox> Hey, just don't get caught.
<Latooni> !roll 3
<_Autochthon_> Latooni : Successes 1 Damage 1 ( 7 6 3 )
<Latooni> yay
<Cynsye> i think autochthon is stuck on HATE today
<Latooni> no 1's all I wanted
* Chiiro is now known as AureusSila
<AureusSila> might as well get that over with
<SilverWingedSeraph> Melua manages to resist the urge to grab them right away, but afterwards the urge to possess them lingers with her, and those bracelets remain in her thoughts above all the other exhibits she saw.
<Melua> preciousssssss
<SilverWingedSeraph> Okay, so after scouting the place out, Melua is undoubtedly fairly confident in her ability to rob the place. Night falls, and Melua and Aureus get together to plan, drawn together by their mutual desire for magic stuffs, and mutual disregard for property laws.
* SilverWingedSeraph is now known as SWS|Storyteller
<Melua> Melua sighs and idly taps the crudely drawn diagram of the museum between them. "Why I agreed to let you help I'll never know... Alright, so exactly what would your approach be?"

--OOC--

<AureusSila> can we get some details on teh architecture?
<AureusSila> the*
<Melua> I'm mostly curious on how the hell he plans to assist in any way
* Lizzie_GAMING is now known as Lizzie_AFK
<AureusSila> that depends on the floor plans
<Melua> how
<AureusSila> I'll better be able to plan something after I know how the place looks.
<AureusSila> I might not be able to help much at all, but that remains to be seen.
<SWS|Storyteller> Most of the museum's architecture appears to predate the first age. There's a large central hall that rivals a ballroom in size, with three flights of stairs leading up to walkways looking down upon the large central room. Each of these levels has doors leading off to smaller exhibit rooms. The entire east wing of the building is kept tightly locked away.
<AureusSila> How about windows?
<SWS|Storyteller> No windows. You're underground.
<AureusSila> ...
<AureusSila> oh right
<AureusSila> haha
<SWS|Storyteller> There are, however, several ways in and out of the Museum.
<AureusSila> yeah I'd hope so
<AureusSila> how many of them are relatively easy to access but also relatively hidden?
<Melua> Hmmm
<SWS|Storyteller> Well, the most hidden ways in are through the service entrances for staff, but those appear to have more security than most. After scouting the outside, the two would have discovered an old entrance partially hidden behind a statue that appears to lead down to a long unused basement.
<AureusSila> Basement sounds good
<AureusSila> any staff leaving at around this moment?
<SWS|Storyteller> Roll Wits + Investigation
<AureusSila> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> AureusSila : Successes 3 Damage 2 ( 10 1 9 6 6 )
<AureusSila> hey not bad
<AureusSila> I might just forgive you yet, autobot.
<SWS|Storyteller> You're fairly certain from your scouting of the building that most of the staff would have already left before your planned robbery. Only the Curator and a handful of scholars remain so late.
<AureusSila> ffffff
<AureusSila> basement it is then
<AureusSila> lets see
<Melua> I'll be going in by old entrance then, but I'll be using my anima ability I think
<Melua> which means 10 motes of peripheral essence (that don't make me glow)
<SWS|Storyteller> Finally, please both make another Perception + Occult roll.
<AureusSila> I have 19 motes of personal \o/
<Melua> both of us?
<SWS|Storyteller> Yes.
<Melua> !roll 5
<_Autochthon_> Melua : Successes 5 Damage 3 ( 6 8 10 5 10 )
<AureusSila> !roll 8
<_Autochthon_> AureusSila : Successes 2 Damage 2 ( 6 1 9 4 9 4 4 1 )
<AureusSila> >:|
* Melua kisses _Autochthon_
<AureusSila> that's just not right
<SWS|Storyteller> You both manage to determine that there are magical wards on most of the entrances that, while primitive, would still prove a hindrance for Melua to tackle alone. Even the old entrance has such magical wards, but Aureus could likely assist in Melua bypassing them.
<Melua> Splendid
<Melua> Can I tell of what nature they are?
<SWS|Storyteller> Thanks to your stupidly high roll, you're able to determine that the wards are designed to set off glowing beacons that make an incredible racket. Except for the one on the Old Entrance, which instead is designed to trigger a smaller version of the Death of Obsidian Butterflies spell. The warding appears damaged and prone to being set off prematurely, probably why the entrance has been ...
<SWS|Storyteller> ... abandoned, but Aureus is confident in his abilities to render the wards inert and harmless.
<Melua> I'll be standing over there, make with the dispelling ritual or whatever pretty boy chii. You seem to know more about magic stuff than me.
<AureusSila> oh god
<AureusSila> death of obsidian butterflies hurts
<Melua> That is why I'll be standing over there
<SWS|Storyteller> Alrighty, well... um... can we take this back IC now? XD
<AureusSila> :3
<Melua> Okay so uh magically whisk us there grand poobah

--IC--

<AureusSila> Aureus taps his jaw for a while, a sly grin developping on his face. "The back door, the one that looks like it hasn't been used for ages?" He points it out on the diagram. "That's your entrance, and I'm your ticket"
<SWS|Storyteller> After a great deal of planning and discussion (almost all of which occured in the OOC channel, so I'll have to dig it out from there to include in the logs), Melua and Aureus gather together outside the museum, heading towards the hidden and long-unused entrance leading down to the basement. The wards are strong enough that they send a tingle up Aureus's spine, and one wrong move could trigger an ungodly explosion of black shards.
<SWS|Storyteller> Luckily, no one appears to have noticed either of you, at least as far as you can tell.
<AureusSila> "This... shouldn't be too difficult" Aureus looked closely at the wards. "I hope"
<Melua> Melua whispers to Aureus, "I think it's magically guarded, and it feels dangerous, but I don't know too much about magic. Do you know of any way to dispel it?"
<SWS|Storyteller> Aureus is fairly certain he can remove the wards on the door, but it will be a touchy proceedure that could take up to 30 minutes.
<AureusSila> Aureus looked over his shoulder at Melua with his head twisted at a slightly odd angle. "And you were wondering why I'm here. I should be able to deal with it. It might take a while though, one wrong move and someone could lose an eye... or a head" He started performing the initial steps of the procedure.
<Melua> Melua sighed. "Alright. I'll keep a look out."
<SWS|Storyteller> The proceedure take even less time than Aureus originally thought it would, only ten minutes in all, and while there is a potentially dangerous flare of essence at one point, Aureus is able to restrain it and render the wards inert before the wards are set off and detonate. Now there's just the lock to deal with.
<AureusSila> "Well, that should do it" Aureus took a step back, admiring his handywork. "I'm guessing you're rather handy with a lockpick?"
<Melua> Melua laughs nervously. "A-actually, I have not been able to acquire or afford any yet, but uh...I think I can take care of it anyway."
<AureusSila> "Just don't break anything" Aureus shrugged.
<SWS|Storyteller> The old door sits there, looking doorish.
<Melua> Melua smiles half-heartedly and kneels before the door, holding up a finger, a small golden rod extending from under her fingernail. She shields the tiny light it emits as best she can and slides it into the door.
<SWS|Storyteller> The door is made of very old iron and has threads of enchanted jade running through it, but it's weak-ass mojo that Solar Charms easily overcome. The old lock stands no chance against Melua's lock opening touch, and after mere moments she hears a satisfying click and the door opens inwards half an inch.
<Melua> Melua withdraws her hand, winking at Aureus. "I have a way with locks." She slowly opens the door, her anima helping muffle any sounds it might cause when opening
<AureusSila> "Just tread carefully, I'd rather none of us lose a leg to a trap" Aureus half-smiled at Melua. "Ladies first"
<SWS|Storyteller> That muffling is quite handy, since the hinges haven't aged as well as the door itself, making quite a lot of noise due to poor maintenance. Through the door is an old staircase leading down into a dark, unlit basement, the air musty and stale, though there's a strange lack of dirt or cobwebs.
<Melua> Melua grabbed Aureus' arm and held him for a second, peering closely at him. "So you -are- a guy! Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Releasing him, she let him go, taking careful steps down into the basement, using any natural light she could to make sure she didn't misplace a step
<AureusSila> Aureus grit his teeth just a little. "Yeah, I am. It's apparently not as obvious as I'd hope really, but I try and use that fact to my advantage" He whispers while following Melua on light feet. "We'd better close the door, think you can deal with a bit more darkness?"
<Melua> She signals an affirmative with her hand, making her way down to the basement proper, and looking around carefully.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua almost stumbles at the base of the stairs, with less and less light available the further down she goes. She ends up in a fairly large room filled with several very busted-up looking pieces of magitech, though in the darkness it's difficult to make out any details.
<AureusSila> Aureus closed the door behind them and carefully followed Melua down the stairs, making sure not to trip or kick something over.
<Melua> Using one mote from her peripheral pool, Melua's forehead emits a little light, concealing almost as much as it revealed with a shadowy glow, befitting one of the Hidden Suns.
<SWS|Storyteller> The first thing Melua sees upon bringing that small light into existance is a terrifying metal face crafted of soulsteel.
<Melua> Melua lets out a surprisingly feminine shriek before clamping her hand over her mouth, turning bright red
<SWS|Storyteller> After a moment and after getting a better look at the thing, it's revealed to be a very busted up suit of old soulsteel power armor. That shriek from Melua, fortunately, appears to go unnoticed, though it echoes unpleasantly off the walls.
<AureusSila> Caught by surprise, Aureus stumbles just a little in the stairs before letting out a muffled "Shit!" from his clenched teeth. He quickly made his way down to see what was wrong. "... Really?"
<Melua> Melua is clearly flustered and embarassed as hell. "I...um...well...it...it um...it scared me, okay?"
<AureusSila> "That much would seem obvious" Aureus muttered. "I thought you were good at this"
<SWS|Storyteller> Apparently the shriek didn't go entirely unnoticed. On the other side of the room, some indeterminate wreckage flickers a glows a little, Essence visibly streaming from and around an orb within the wreckage.
<Melua> "And I thought you were a girl, shut up." Melua is red to her eartips as she glances around the room. "Uh-oh..." Naturally, the lady moves closer to the shiny thing to look at it, instead of away from potential danger.
<AureusSila> Aureus was going from feeling refreshed by the night caste's charming attitude to getting increasingly annoyed by the comments on his appearance. "Hold on, stay away from that thing, you don't know what it does"
<SWS|Storyteller> As Melua gets closer the orb glows brighter and brighter, the essence developing a bright blue glow and flaring brightly enough to temporarily blind both Melua and Aureus. When their vision clears they're greated by the flickering, transluscent image of a woman of indeterminate age, with features looking like those of a sculpture, sharp angles and inhuman but delicate beauty. Glowing blue eyes turn to Melua and then to Aureus, "-This unit has awakened in reactivated in response to nearby Solar Essence sources. Internal chronometer damaged. Internal memory files damaged. Internal power supply damaged but stable. This unit... this unit...-" She looks down at herself, "-Requires a name.-"
<Melua> Thinking for a moment, Melua looks at Aureus as if asking permission, then shrugs. "How about Sapphire?"
<AureusSila> Aureus lets out a low whistle. "Well, that probably works as well as anything else" He steps towards the unit, slowly at first, but then with increasing speed.
<Melua> Meanwhile, Melua is, of course, squealing with delight inside her head, but is not showing any external signs of it besides a vague sense of awe behind her eyes.
<SWS|Storyteller> The newly named A.I. smiles slightly, image flickering again, "Then this unit will now address herself as such. I am Sapphire, Servant of the Lawgivers." Her voice becomes more muted, sounding less mechanical and more human in nature now. She turns around to look at herself, only to make a small sound of dismay, "Oh my... I am... gone." With the light given off by her luminscent form, it's plain to see that the wreckage she came from is about 1/6th of a completely and utterly destroyed Orichalcum Warstrider.
<Melua> Melua circles the animated intelligence, peering at it. "You're still you, Sapphire. What do you know about...well, anything?"
<AureusSila> "Well I doubt repairing the frame would be plausible..." Aureus muttered to himself more than anyone else. "Finding a new frame sounds like a better idea, but might not be very likely"
<SWS|Storyteller> She lifts her head and turns towards Melua, seeming slightly distressed at seeing the once mighty machine she was a part of now in ruins, "What happened in the War? Did we prevail over the traitors? How long has it been? Who are you? Where am I?" She asks the questions at rapid-fire speed, then sinks her face into her hands, appearing to be shaking.
<Melua> Melua shuffles awkwardly and puts a hand on the magical material arm. "From what I've been able to tell about the High First Age/Shogunate transition...I think all the Solars died, except one or two every hundred years, or something. I'm not real sure. The Scarlet Empire has been around for over 760 years...so...1200 years? more? I'm sorry Sapphire, we've lost so much history... O-Oh. My name is Melua. Melua Meia Mala. And I guess after you...lost, you were put in a museum."
<AureusSila> Aureus raised a skeptical eyebrow at Melua's apparently extensive knowledge. "And I'm Sureus Síla. Seems like they've been keeping you down here for a while, we should probably get you out of here"
<SWS|Storyteller> Sapphire just stares at Melua with a stunned expression on her face, looking surprisingly human in that moment. There are no tears. She probably can't even make tears, but her bright eyes dim, their flickering becoming slower, "We... lost... I see. So long..." She murmurs, "I..." She orb she came from flickers a little, "You are here to steal from this place." She observes suddenly, "Please, take me with you. -Please-. Don't leave me here. Aureus. Melua. Please." With that, the orb flickers again and dims, and her image begins fading, "I require time to... repair. Process information. Sapphire shutting down." Her image vanishes, and the orb stops glowing. After a few moments, a few catches are released and the Orichalcum sphere rolls out from the wreckage, roughly 8 inches in diameter.
<Melua> Melua stops the ball, and looks around for a good-sized box it'd fit in. "Aureus, can you help me check the rest of the basement before we get out of here?"
<AureusSila> "I can carry the orb too if you want me to, should fit snugly in my hood" Aureus shrugged.
<Melua> "...alright. I don't think it's worth risking ourselves any further than this now, but do you see anything else here of value?"
<SWS|Storyteller> Even a cursory glance around the rest of the basement is enough to reveal that there is nothing else of real value here. Oh, certainly quite a few objects are made of magical materials, but all appear to be damaged beyond all repair, and not one of them is even close to functional.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua once again remembers the bracelets she saw. She absolutely must have them. The urge to continue until she can get them is almost overwhelming.
<Melua> "...Tch, now I remember. Aureus, if you want, you can leave, there's at least one bauble in those cases I had my eye on. It's up to you, I guess."
<AureusSila> "Those bracelets huh? I saw you eyeing them even from across the museum" Aureus shrugged. "Personally I feel like we've been blessed already, and that going further inside seems risky. Do you have any idea of what they are?"
<Melua> Melua smiled charmingly. "Is 'pretty' an acceptable answer? Because it is to me!"
<AureusSila> Aureus just stared blankly at her for a while and then he broke down in rather agressive chuckles. "Alright, fine" He said while trying to keep from laughing. "We'll get you your bracelets"
<SWS|Storyteller> There's only one door out of the basement. It's locked, but the lock appears to be rather old and would no doubt prove easy to bypass, even for someone without Melua's considerable talents.
<Melua> "Tch. Really?" Melua drew a fighting needle from her backpack and attempted to jimmy the lock.
<SWS|Storyteller> The lock pops open with a click, offering up less resistance than even she expected. Upon pulling the door open, Melua sees... a brick wall. Well that can't be right.
<Melua> "...cute." Melua feels the brick wall for illusions, loose bricks, catches, etc
<AureusSila> "Well, I guess that sort of makes things more difficult" Aureus places a hand against the brick wall.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua's hand goes right through the "brick wall" as though it's not even there. This has the disturbing effect of making it look like Melua's forearm has disappeared. The same thing happens for Aureus.
<AureusSila> "You know, they could've at least tried" Aureus shrugged and pulled his hand back.
<Melua> Suppressing a giggle, she quickly steps through, alert.
<SWS|Storyteller> "I think they just didn't want people seeing it from this side." Observes a tall man dressed in loose brown robes, tipping his broad-rimmed hat to them slightly, "Pleasant night, eh?"
<AureusSila> Aureus froze in his tracks while stepping through the fake wall. Things might be going to hell in a handbasket from here on.
<Melua> Melua returns the gesture with a polite bow. "Does seem to be so, yes. How may I help you?"
<SWS|Storyteller> "Actually, you helped me quite a bit. I've been looking for a good way out..." He waves his hand through the illusion. Upon looking around, Aureus and Melua find themselves in a fairly well-lit stairwell, with stairs leading up towards the main exhibit hall, and another smaller pair of stairs leading down to what appears to be a very mundane storage area. The man then looks back to them, "Anyway, my work here is done. I'll leave you two to whatever business brings you here." He steps through the wall and out of sight.
<Melua> Melua checks to see if Aureus still has Sapphire
<SWS|Storyteller> Aureus does indeed still have Sapphire.
<AureusSila> "Right... I wonder what that was about" Aureus eyed the fake wall.
<Melua> Giving Aureus a puzzled look, Melua shrugs. "You may want to check out the other storage room, I don't want to be surrounded. Getting those bracelets shouldn't take long." then resumes her stealthy approach to the exhibit hall.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua's stealthy approach goes entirely uninterrupted. In fact, the whole place seems entirely abandoned. There isn't a sound to be heard other than Melua's on very quiet footsteps.
<AureusSila> "Will do" Aureus nods and heads for the storage room.
<Melua> Melua slinks along to the relevant storage case, staying quiet anyway.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua is no doubt careful to avoid any of the "exhibits" that herself or Aureus had determined to actually be security devices, and reaches the storage case containing the Jade and Starmetal bracelets in no time at all. It is far too quiet. More quiet than it should be. But Melua wouldn't care about that. As soon as she sees those bracelets again, she wants them, a desire so powerful and overwhelming that she can hardly restrain it. After a few minutes of searching the storage room, Aureus comes across something... disconcerting. Bodies. Ten very fresh bodies, dumped out of sight behind a crate full of janitorial products.
<AureusSila> "Fuck" Aureus turns around and starts running up the stairs to get to Melua.
* Melua examines the display case
<SWS|Storyteller> The display case appears to already be unlocked, as if the bracelets had been waiting there for someone to come along and claim them.
* Melua attempts to open the case quietly
<AureusSila> "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck something's not right about this" Aureus flies up the stairs at the very highest speed his sickly little body is capable of.
<SWS|Storyteller> The case opens easily, without any resistance.
* Melua yoinks the bracelets and turns to head back
<AureusSila> "Melua!" Aureus burts out into the exhibit hall. "Something's terribly wrong about all this!"
<SWS|Storyteller> Upon grabbing the bracelets, they suddenly affix themselves onto Melua's wrists, and she feels a moment of blinding pain as they drain a portion of her Essence to empower themselves, glowing in rainbow hues around her wrists.
<Melua> Melua swore loudly, and held up her hands. Oh boy, and apparently even more things were wrong. She dashed over to Aureus. "I know, they totally don't match my outfit, let's get out of here!"
<AureusSila> Aureus grabbed Melua's hand and turned around to run down the stairs and escape through the fake wall, more or less dragging her along.
<SWS|Storyteller> The moment after Melua says that, however, the bracelets cease glowing and Melua feels a warm sensation. These bracelets are powerful. She just knows it. And they're HERS. As they begin running towards the stairs, the door bursts open and several men run in, aiming crossbows and firewands, "Stop!" The leader of the group yells, brandishing his weapon.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua feels the bracelets singing out to her, encouraging her to kill these men who would try to remove the bracelets, coaxing her. Telling her that she can kill these men with the bracelets.
<Melua> Melua pushes Aureus towards the door and spins around, dropping into a battle posture
<AureusSila> "Melua?!" Aureus stops and turns around, confused be her choice of actions. "Are you crazy?!"
<Melua> Confused for a second, Melua blinks. "Uh...yes?"
<SWS|Storyteller> The leader of the group fires a warning shot, "I said stop! Drop your weapons and whatever stolen property you may be in possession of and come out quietly!"
<Melua> Melua backs away nervously. "This is obviously a misunderstanding..."
<SWS|Storyteller> The bracelets shimmer around Melua's wrists, and a three-foot long blade made of white light forms in her hand.
<Melua> Melua looks at the blade, looks at the leader, looks at the blade. "Awesome. Here, catch!" She then twirls and throws it at the leader.
<AureusSila> "Shit" Aureus attempts to push Melua in behind cover afther the blade goes flying.
<SWS|Storyteller> The blade of light flies with amazing speed, shifting from white to red to purple to blue to green to-- then it slashes across his arm and disappears. He swears loudly and his men start opening fire. Fortunately, Aureus manages to tackle her behind the cover before crossbow bolts and flames lash across them.
<Melua> "Ow! Hey! You could be more gentle!" Melua rubs her head and frowns at the boy on top of her.
<AureusSila> "I might just have saved your life, you know!" Aureus exclaims. "We need to get the hell away from here, the storage room was full of bodies and we'll be taking the blame for it!"
<Melua> "...that could be bad. What if they get a good look at your face?!"
<SWS|Storyteller> The firing stops, "Come out now! This is your last warning!" The leader yells, "Turn yourselves over and you won't be harmed!"
<AureusSila> Aureus grins. "How fast can you get out of here while carrying Sapphire?"
<Melua> "If you give me a few seconds to get ready, really really fast." Melua pauses. "Oh, and thanks for saving me."
<AureusSila> "You're welcome, now get going" Aureus pushed himself off of the girl and the floor and sat with his back against the cover and raised his hands up over the edge.
<SWS|Storyteller> A sudden explosion rocks the Museum, and on the third-floor walkway, an ancient-looking Red Jade automaton has smashed through a wall, essence cannon blasting down, "-TzTCH THREAT DETECTED-ED-ED LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED. SURRENDEeeEeeER AND YOUR DE-MISE WILL BE SW-SW-SWIFT, FOUL ANATHEMA.-"
<SWS|Storyteller> Its random blasts miss both Aureus and Melua, though its by a close margin, and it blasts away their cover in the process. It also manages to scatter the soldiers who had come to arrest them, however, sending them leaping for cover.
<Melua> Melua's caste mark glows a murky gold, swirling with darkness, as Jade alloy skeletal wings unfold from under her cloak, and suddenly the wings glimmer with the fabric of essence. Jumping through the air on a diagonal between the automaton and the exit, Melua throws a large spear of light from the bracelet that splits into three at the machine. "Aureus! Run!"
<AureusSila> "Gods fucking damnit couldn't you just have stuck to the plan?!" Aureus went from sitting on his ass to running full speed in less than two seconds, heading straight for the stairs down.
<SWS|Storyteller> The large Automoton staggers back under the assault as three swords of light the shift through the colour spectrum at rapid speed pierce through its armour plating, grating against its chassis, "-D-D-DAMAGE MINIIIIIIIIIIII--MAL. TARGETS WILL CEASE ATTEMPTS TO FLEE OR SUFFER IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.-" It locks both weapon arms onto Melua, firing another blast from its essence cannon. The guards are still staggering to their feet and Aureus manages to reach the stairwell safely.
<SWS|Storyteller> Melua is hit with the full force of the Concussive Essence Cannon and thrown violently to the ground. The blast and the impact with the ground are more than enough to knock her completely immobilise her, leaving her wounded and bleeding. The automaton then turns its attention to the guards then, blasting at them indiscriminately.
<Melua> Melua struggles to get up, spitting up blood, then collapses unconcious and bleeding on the floor.
<AureusSila> Aureus skids to a stop and almost topples over while turning 180 degrees, setting off in the other direction to drag Melua off the floor and with him back down the stairs.
<SWS|Storyteller> Upon seeing Aureus run out and move towards Melua, the automaton immediately turns its attention towards him, firing another blast of its essence cannon. Fortunately the weapon only grazes Aureus, and though it hurts like a bitch, he's still able to drag Melua to safety while the Jade Automaton continues on its mad rampage.
<AureusSila> Aureus props Melua up against his shoulder and drags her down the stairs and out through the fake wall. "Come on, we're gonna make it, hang in there!"
<Melua> Melua just groaned incoherently, for the most part. There was also quite a bit of limpness involved.
<SWS|Storyteller> They escape without any further difficulties. Aureus is in a lot of pain. Melua is in even more. It's not very fun.
<SWS|Storyteller> The Automaton can still be heard, rampaging recklessly, blasting away priceless artifacts and annihilating all in its path.
<SWS|Storyteller> (End of session then?)
<AureusSila> (Aye, I'm just about collapsing xD)
* SWS|Storyteller is now known as SilverWingedSeraph
* SilverWingedSeraph changes topic to '[Exalted, 2nd Edition] Storyteller: SilverWingedSeraph | Campaign: The Broken Throne | Current Events: SHIT FUCKING EXPLODES EVERYWHERE! In this scene SWS exposes PCs to far too many lethal situations. | Total Exp: 23'