[IC] Myriad AoW Chapter 1 - Rise from the Cinders

[Felicity]

Jorgen & Misara

Well, this was going to be a cheery encounter.

"Well, seeing a non-hostile face is comforting in this city so I figured I'd say hi, see if you were ok, made any progress etc, etc." Jorgen disregarded Misara's tone with an almost jovial manner. He didn't know why her shoulder was shivering but hey, magic. "I'm looking for some of the others myself, I believe we've set up a bit of a rendezvous place in case you need to rest up and knowing where that is would be. you know, nice." He really didn't know where he was, maybe orienteering wasn't really a skill of his. Sure, he had to use maps when in the army but he didn't actually have a map. Could he have asked for one? Maybe. Crap, add that to the to-do list.

[Cool Girl]

"Well, seeing a non-hostile face is comforting in this city so I figured I'd say hi, see if you were ok, made any progress etc, etc."

"Yeah, I'm fine. You do realize that us meeting here will make people look suspicious right?" Misara said

[Sutoratosu]

Lucille

Lucille hardly paid any attention to anything the angel said. Her mind was far too preoccupied soaking in the fact that it's mapping abilities were already starting to fail as most of the ultrasonic waves emitted were absorbed and muffled by the building's materials rather than reflected; artificial stone such as concrete did no where near as good a job at allowing echoes as the natural varieties, and neither did the vast myriad of other artificial materials that had to be the main components of the walls. Unlike the basement in the thousand... this place was high end, had spent top dollar in it's construction and hauled only the best manufactured building supplies, rather than simply carving out space from what already existed. Despereaux was quickly becoming the only force between her and total disorientation and panic as wavelengths either stayed longer than she calculated they should, came back from entirely different directions than she'd sent them out, or vanished altogether.

Not even her nose was much help in comparison... most of the scents here were foreign and off. There were a few she recognized though, leading off into the unknown of this artificial tomb waiting to swallow her whole and crush her... a Hell Spawn, Raziel, the Sniper...and her Aquila...

yes, the Aquila... she'd forgotten all about the mythical beast, given all that had happened.

"..." Without a word she wondered off as the glorified pigeon-man continued to prattle off directions to Gabriel...letting the mingled scents and her own sense of where the eagle was guide her... It was about all Desperuax could do to both keep her from knocking over anything expensive or from dwelling on the anxiety of her diminished navigation though.

[krim]

Raziel

"I don´t know... I can´t know. The runes for the stealing spell itself were drawn in the inside of the glove. The guy who gave it to me wouldn´t be careless enough to leave them in the open. The ones on the outside were...For self combustion, in case of removal or capture. I knew it all along, but thought no one would be able to catch me with that power."

"Figures." Raziel thought. Quickly he ran through his options and decided on the one he had reached earlier. "Well, I guess that leaves me to find out the identity of this mysterious benefactor, now doesn't it?" he said, while channeling ice into a sphere above his hand. "Tell me what you know. Now that the glove is off, there isn't anything holding you back. If he's placed some kind of cloak on your memories....or you lie to me...well. You'll see." he said with a smile that didn't meet his eyes.

[Notus]

Jesse

The ball flew past Jesse leaving a trail of sparks and crashed into the wall with full strenght. Too much strenght for the ellegant structure to hold, it seemed.

The wall burst into pieces as the rubber ball of death exploded from the impact, concrete and steel flying in all directions in the corridor. Luckily it seemed nobody was passing by in that moment, otherwise...

Cana crossed her arms with an annoyed expression. "No fair Mr. Angel! Look at what you did to the wall! You should try to grab the ball!" Then, returning to her usual cheerfull attitude, she conjured another ball and threw it - this time normally - to Jesse. "Now it´s your turn!"

Bargus

Haze started eating his appetizer, some kind of ellaborate (and as Bargus predicted, small) dish prepared with herbs and meat, apparently.

"The meeting will be held inside the mountain, although that´s a bit vague considering most of the city is inside it as well. They´ve prepared an area with rooms for the lectures, leisure areas and a hall for the bigger events. It´s good to see the angels, once so closed to the rest of the world, putting that much effort in being g

ood hos-"

Before he could finish, an explosion shook the hotel. Haze immediately got up and, without a word, started running out of the restaurant with a worried expression.

Raziel

"I- I don´t know either..." the captive started to say, clearly afraid of Raziel. "I met him by chance and never saw his face. What I can tell is that he was tall and wore a full body cloak. I was desperate because my rune magic wasn´t progressing at all, and I had been kicked out of the atelier where I studied. I was angry at the Crafters, always high and mighty, gathering their knowledge for themselves... And then he appeared offering me the ability to get their power for myself."

He would have gone farther with the explanation, but the room shook suddenly. Objects laying on the tables fell to the floor and the lights turned off for a second.

"...Wha-what was this? Are we under attack?" He said with an anguished expression. That clearly wasn´t his day...

[Ragnar]

Jesse

Jesse was stunned and was too fazed to catch the ball thrown at him by Cana after the wall exploded. He just stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face, jaws drop to the floor while gazing at the massive hole in the wall. I thought this game was called dodgeball not dodgebomb. Catch it she says, Is she trying to make me turn into my ethereal form permanently with that exploding orb? He thought to himself and continues to look at the huge crater. This is definitely a dodgeball game gone horribly wrong.

"Well. you got me, Lady Cana. Apperently, Dodgeball and conjuring exploding orbs isn't my thing." Jesse sighed, trying to figure out how he's gonna fix this whole mess and tries to maintain order in this chaotic situation he is in.The angel walks around the room despite this thick rubble on the floor and grabs one of the bodyguard's crude rifle.

"Now how about we go on an adventure instead and play a little game called: Let's go find the others before we're wrongfully labeled as bombing terrorist by Marblegate. The objectives of the game are simple really, just come with me and let's go find your guardian, Haze inside this hotel and avoid being seen by anyone we don't know along the way. think of it as Hide and seek and we're the ones who are hiding." Jesse said as he hops across the huge hole in the wall and the secures the corridor with a rifle at hand.

"so are you coming or are you gonna clean up this whole mess by yourself? cause I sure ain't." The sniper said to the troublesome mage.

[IntSys]

Bargus

"Damn! What's happening now?" Bargus looked outside the window, noticing chunks of debris falling from up above. "Upstairs...it can't be!" He hastily rushed out of the restaurant as well and followed Haze.

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza

"A traitor? Damn, I was hoping that wasn´t the case but... It makes perfect sense." His face contorted with anger. "The last unit I worked on was also trying to track the killers but... we got wiped out. I went to deliver a message to our superiors and, when I got back to base, everyone was dead. I´m the last that remained. No one outside the Alliance was supposed to know about us, but I still refused to believe that we´d been betrayed. How naive of me."

'Dead? All of them... this is serious then. Won't be getting any fire support on this then.'

"Ok, I´ll work with you. The target of this attack is most likely Lord Caspiel, the Archangel. His influence alone is what ended up convincing the angels to join the alliance, and if something were to happen with him they´d most likely exit in response. He´ll be present for the opening and the closing ceremonies of the Student Meeting, and if the attacker wants to make things public then that´s when they´ll strike."

" Well shit, this is bad...." Rhaeza said, slightly pacing in his spot in thought. "What do you know about Caspil, habits or anything, and more importantly about this Student meeting. If shit is going down, it will be there. And so will we."

[krim]

Raziel

Just as he was about to cast a light web, the room shook with a massive force. Almost stumbling into his prisoner, he cast light into the sphere gripped tightly in his hand to use as a lantern.

"...Wha-what was this? Are we under attack?"

"It appears so. Hmm. Convenient how this happens right as you reveal what you know, isn't it? Holding something back, is that the case?" he glared. "No matter. For now, we need to get out of here. Follow me. And don't even think about running." he said while dragging a finger across his neck. Readying a dagger in the opposite hand to the sphere, he pushed the prisoner out of the room and followed after.

[Chevaleresse]

Gabriel nodded at the directions, thanking the attendant politely for the assistance before walking off, his parasol from earlier tucked neatly under one arm. The explosion nearly knocked him off of his feet, though the vampire was quick to regain his poise. Damn. Have we been compromised already? No, that had to be a bomb, a spell would have been intercepted somehow before going off. . . I need to find the others. We need to ensure none of the VIPs have been harmed in this blast, but there's so many. . . ! Perhaps I'll have an opportunity to. . .No. He attempted to find Bargus as quickly as possible, remembering that he had been getting dinner.

[Notus]

Jesse (The others in the hotel can join too)

"Now how about we go on an adventure instead and play a little game called: Let's go find the others before we're wrongfully labeled as bombing terrorist by Marblegate."

Cana clapped her hands and smiled "Yey, another game! Let´s go, let´s go!" She said, walking merily through the hole on the wall.

"Then we just need to find Mr. Haze, right? Ah, and not let anyone else see us, right?" She asked Jesse while he stepped out of the room.

"That won´t be needed, little miss."

Cana´s eyes widened and for the first time Jesse saw an expression of fear on her face. Haze was right behind her, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, as if expecting an explanation.

Cana slowly turned her head towards him, then looked again at the hole, just then realizing the trouble she was in. "M-Mr. Haze... Eh, I... Eh..."

"You went a bit overboard this time, my dear. Didn´t I tell you to wait calmly playing in your room?" Haze asked, keeping the same stance.

"I was doing just that! I was playing with Mr. Angel!" the girl answered, pointing at the appaled Jesse.

Haze looked at the sniper angel with a neutral look, then at the remainders of the wall, and then at Cana again. "... I see. Well, we´ll talk about this later. Right now you´re cleaning this mess, little miss."

Cana made a face, but didn´t complain. She then turned towards the wall and her eyes started glowing white again. All the rubble levitated in the air and stated going back to the original position. In less than a minute, the wall was back in it´s place like nothing had happened and Cana was panting from the effort.

Haze then kneeled beside her and put his hands in her shoulders. "Well done. Now go inside again and get some rest. I´ll handle everything from now."

Cana nodded with a yawn and went inside the room, stopping by Jesse for a moment to thank him for playing with her. The next the angel heard was Haze´s voice.

"So, I think you own me an explanation, Mr. Angel. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Rhaeza & Jarvis

"Well, I don´t know Caspiel in person, but I´ve heard a big deal about him. One of the founders of the alliance, probably within the top ten most powerful mages in Myriad, and for sure the most influent angel of our time. Oh yeah, and almost single handedly figured out how to control the Portals, which was a huge thing for everyone. The man is a genius and a pacifist, basically the symbol of the new era for the angels." Marcus said, raising an eyebrow.

"In one hand, if he died the angels would for sure be mad at the rest of the world, and potentially leave the Alliance for good. On the other, it´s hard to imagine someone good enough to be able to attack him, specially here."

"As for the meeting, it´s something Caspiel and Damian Brume themselves planned in order to 'promote friendship between the races, and launch the foundations of a cooperative future for researchers worldwide', or so say the folders. It´s focused in themes like health, development, building, and this kind of stuff. I´ve been through the sign ups earlier... And it looks like there are way too many good targets for a terrorist. Famous scholars and prodigy students from all around Myriad, and some from other worlds as well. But if you ask me, the only ones whose murder would generate an immediate answer are Caspiel and Brume themselves."


((Waiting for: Jory, Inno, Dobby and Strat))

[Sutoratosu]

Aquila Senpai

If the bird had the vocal cord structure required to curse in every language she knew, she'd be doing right about the time the wall burst into a mess of rubble and dust. Quite honestly, she didn't know what the hell to do... obviously there was going to be someone coming up to investigate. This no-brain little fucker here had quite effectively destroyed their cover, and well... even despite being ordered by his side, at this point she figured it would be best to you know... not be caught with the idiot.

She was already long out of the hole in the wall and flying down the hall before the other two got a move on. It wasn't easy soaring in such cramped quarters, but somehow she managed it well enough.

And she didn't have to go long before she noticed... her prescence.

Lucille & Des

She wouldn't move a step further. No matter what the mouse tried, she was like a statue as she crouched down low, her mind going frantic all over again at the other end of their link. It was only when the explosion came seconds later and the whole building shook that he understand why though- she'd sensed and anticipated the tremor blast long before it had actually reached them...perhaps it really was a mistake for him to push her like this. Especially if they were under attack now; he had no idea she'd be too consumed with phobia to fight or would hold nothing back, just as a cornered animal desperate for escape wouldn't.

He got his answer though, as the air began to warp and distort around them, waves of pure sonic energy layering overtop each other hundreds of thousands of times to create a virtually impregnable wall between them and the outside world. He knew what she was expecting. But he supposed he couldn't blame her; with the force they'd just felt, it was only logical to worry the place would come down and trap them-

oh fucking shit...

He sighed a single squeak from atop her shoulder. There was no getting her up after this, fucking hell. This was indeed a mistake, he saw that now... hopefully the others they were assigned with could handle themselves, if something was going down, he didn't think they'd get any assistance from the girl. His calls to her went unanswered... but there was something else that called to him. A signature he'd felt before, but was not that familiar with...

There was the Aquila, coming in to land but finding herself violently repulsed backwards by the shield of sound and promptly sent crashing into a nearby end table with a sickening crunch, wood shattering and her skull twisting 180 degrees the wrong way from the whiplash. Des couldn't help but wince at the impact...she didn't move for a few moments. He could've sworn she was incredibly dead, but soon enough, her body briefly engulfed itself in golden flame and she stirred as it died down, head facing the correct direction once more and burning eyes fixing them both with a glare of utter agitation and perplexity...she didn't have to ask what the hell was going on before the mouse launched into an explanation.

The bird seemed unmoved. Probably the whole thing about...well, being killed just now by the barrier. But she returned the favor by telling Des all about the motherfucker who had caused this mess to begin with; from how the idiot sniper had trespassed into the girl's room, to how he'd been involved in a game of Dodgeball:WMD edition that had triggered that blast just now... even sent him her own memories from where'd she'd watched.

And speaking of powerful magic...she wanted to know how to hell to drop that damn barrier that had cost her one of her resurrections, pointing out the now missing plume from her tail feathers with great indignation. Des though... he could only shrug. Lucille had gone from crouching to sitting on the floor with her legs pulled to her chest and her head buried in her knees, back pressed flush against the wall. He probed their link, tried to reach out. He saw it, the gray space, all over again, the vast corridors and shifting halls that led it's victims further into the darkness of that fiend's mind... long before sanctuary had partially burned during the assault of the elves, it's very existence had hinged on the outcome of a different war... one that both of them had been powerless to stop... one they both carried scars from.

Despereaux was simply much better at hiding his...

Regardless, he knew what was going on now. She was stuck there again, reliving the ordeal of such depraved scheming. Darkened halls that dripped with the fetid, decaying blood of the fallen, onyx and obsidian facades that muffled screams and distorted themselves like the mirrors of a madhouse. Eyes, eyes everywhere. Darkness so thick no light could penetrate it. And once again, he was powerless to help.

...

...

...

Like hell he was.

One way or another, he was ending this. If he had to find a way to destroy that memory, then so be it... there had to be a rune for it, somewhere, he'd seen countless of them from countless worlds. somehow, this would end here. he wouldn't stop till he found it. And if he couldn't find it, he would fucking create it from scratch using the components of others.

"Leave us." The command was so sudden and forceful over the link that the Aquila glared at him as the thought hammered home in her own mind. Such arrogance as to command her when she could easily gobble him for lunch...The burning white radiance of the mouse's eyes in response were enough to give her pause though. "Leave. You're no use to me here. Find the others. Be the eyes and ears like your damn job demands; there's still other work to be done. I won't bother to say it again, avian. Test my patience if you dare."

Aquila Senpai

Oh how she wanted to eat him... yet for some reason, she doubted she'd survive an all out duel with the rodent, as ridiculous as such a notion was- an eagle being felled by one of it's own prey... still, she didn't want to push her luck. She had no idea what Des could do with sufficient motivation, nor did she feel like testing the waters with any of her lives.

Reluctantly, she took off down the hall, back towards the way she came, as much she didn't want to return to the sniper, it was better than pissing off the rat by lingering a second longer. She turned the corner only to stop as the sniper was interrogated by the girl's guardian... and perched herself on an end table nearby without a sound, still wondering... just what the hell did that rodent intend to do?

"So, I think you own me an explanation, Mr. Angel. Who are you, and are you doing here?"

Though hell, perhaps the even more important question was how the hell would the sniper explain away all of this...

[IntSys]

Bargus

"...Jesse." Bargus sighed. "You really don't want me to handle this alone, huh?" You can't just drag me out of dinner for THIS.

"I thought there were other guards..." Bargus walked inside, and almost immediately noticed the guards sleeping soundly on the floor. He knelt and pinched the guards' faces. "Wake up, you lazy bums!"

Edited October 22, 2016 by IntSys

[Ragnar]

Jesse

"Riiiiight.. an explanation.. well..uhmm.. would you believe this whole mess started over a game of dodgeball?" Jesse said awkwardly with a silly smile, lowering his gun away as soon as Bargus and Haze came to the scene. "Anyways, My name is Jesse, and I'm just here doing my own investigation and before you call the cops, let me just say I'm one of the good guys just like my friend Bargus over there." He said while glancing at the wall, in disbelief on how quickly Cana restore it like it wasn't blasted to smithereens.

"and you must be Haze, I heard stories about you," Jesse turns his attention to the man with a smirk on his face. "I suggest you don't leave that high mage unguarded, there are dangerous people out there and that noble child could be a primary target seeing how powerful she is. The fact that I easily infiltrated this room is a sign that you should upgrade your security and get more better guards." Jesse cockily said.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Ragnar

[krim]

Hotel Hallway Group

"....You mean to say that this was your doing?" Raziel said as he turned the corner. He had heard the commotion almost as soon as he left the room, but kept his dagger in hand anyways. Glancing back at the prisoner he said "This one is lucky then. I was very close to using certain methods if it happened to be a breakout attempt." Then he frowned. "I don't have much time for this you know. Reverse engineering that glove is going to be far...trickier than I initially thought. Unless you think you can get more information out of him."

[InnocentSerenity]

Karol

“Huh, really?” Karol inspected the card a bit more closely, not really bothering to have looked at it much beforehand. The gold plastic border and the black ink certainly made it look rather impressive.

Poking the center of the card, Karol watched the border light up. Since she didn’t say his name, the card must’ve not made a connection to try to contact Hesediel. An amazed grin appeared on Karol’s face as she looked at the lighting effects. “Man, that looks pretty cool. You gotta teach me how to do that someday.” Karol quickly realized her words. “Or, y’know, one of my friends that actually know how to use magic.”

“I’d better get going, it’s probably getting late. Bye, Hesediel, I’ll see you again!” Karol dashed off, waving to Hesediel with the card between her fingers. Karol was hoping to maybe find Misara before she got into trouble. Though, she had a feeling she was already in some. Whether or not she was, Karol would see once she found her.

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza

"Well out next course of action is pretty clear. We need to get to that school..." The werewolf said, almost forgetting something. "Though it would be good to contact the rest of my squad somehow... If we're lucky they'll have figured out what we have through some means. Should we talk to the security of the school, or perhaps go into the school under disguise first... We may want to try and contact Archangel Caspiel as well. We have a lot of options here."

Edited October 25, 2016 by M_Cowher

[Felicity]

Yeah, I'm fine. You do realize that us meeting here will make people look suspicious right?

"Which people? Those people?" Jorgen asked innocently, pointing at George and Meryl the innocent Angel couple who had no bearing on the situation whatsoever. "There's a myriad of reaons why that is largely irrelevant. One of which being I literally just wandered here with no goal in mind. At all. This is literally just a conversation." Jorgen had been chattering away merrily, heedless of staring onlookers. They would have been looking at the odd pair anyway so he didn't feel a need to be discreet, hands flailing wildly in approximations of emphatic gestures to pair with his words. "Did anything happen that you might wanna tell me or are you going to be brusque and fit yourself into the loner niche again?"

[Chevaleresse]

Gabriel rounded a corner to encounter Haze and Jesse. "I hate to interrupt, but do you happen to know what the source of that blast is? We need to move quickly if this is indeed an attack of some sort." He quickly scanned Haze and the girl visually, trying to ascertain if either represented a threat.

[Ragnar]

Jesse

Oh, great the gangs is all here. Jesse rolled his eyes as his little mishap is starting to catch up to him. He could just turn invisible and simply walk away from all this but that would unethical of him being an angel and all.

"Okay, calm down, first of all, let's just contain the situation shall we? that explosion you heard. it never happen, its already taken care of, it wasn't wasn't attack by some terrorist or something." He said, hesitated on what he's gonna say next.

"that blast came from a rubber ball that Cana throw at me whilst we were playing a game dodgeball" Jesse paused for a moment, realizing how stupid that sounds. "Anyways you gotta believe me, this child can do crazy thing., Her magic and skillset is quite diverse which make her a priority in the upcoming meeting." He said.

"Now what he doing here? Find anything useful that might help us track down his kind." Jesse said as he cocked his rifle and points it at the captive angel Raziel is dragging along with him.

[Notus]

Super Bomb Dodgeball Squad

" I suggest you don't leave that high mage unguarded, there are dangerous people out there and that noble child could be a primary target seeing how powerful she is. The fact that I easily infiltrated this room is a sign that you should upgrade your security and get more better guards."

" True, that was an unforgivable mistake. It won´t happen again." Haze said without even flinching. "...Although it would be more accurate to say we need to protect other people from Cana. So you´re the rest of Mr. Bargus´ team, right? Your sense of courtesy is quite interesting, breaking in an ally´s room undercover."

"As for a cover up..." Haze looked at the captive angel, noticing his burned hand. "Why don´t we say he´s done it? That´s the gloved angel Bargus told me about, right?"

While the conversation went on in the outside, the guards gave no response at all to Bargus. Cana was curled into a ball on a corner, looking at him with an annoyed face. Then she clapped her hands and the guards suddenly started waking up, taking quite the scare from seeing the huge demon in front of them.

Rhaeza & Jarvis

"Contacting Caspiel might be tricky if you´re not an oficial unit. I could try that, but not sure how long it will take. I´ve already checked the meeting area as well and didn´t find anything, but infiltrating the security is a good idea. Where´s the rest of your team is?"

[IntSys]

Bargus

A sleep spell...what a mage. Bargus shook his head, and stood up.

"Cana, you sure are making this difficult, huh?" He walked to Cana and knelt on one knee, face to face. "You seemed like you've had your fair share of fun with the nice angel over there."

"Considering you can just put your chaperones to sleep whenever you like, I suppose there's not really much point in having those lousy men in charge of you. Say, how's Mr. Haze? Do you treat him like those guards whenever you want to play?" He asked.

[krim]

Bomb Squad

"Works for me. He's out of useful information anyways. He couldn't provide me much but...depending on the research results I might still be able to get the glove working. Or maybe even a face if my idea works..." Raziel said with a hint of annoyance. "As long as I still have access to him, even in just a normal prison, use him for whatever facade you'd like." With a wink to the captive he added "The angels don't usually use the death sentence. Usually." Looking to Bargus he said "I trust that you'll take care of it well enough. Now I really must be off if we're ever going to figure anything out."

[Ragnar]

Jesse, SBDS

"...Although it would be more accurate to say we need to protect other people from Cana. So you´re the rest of Mr. Bargus´ team, right? Your sense of courtesy is quite interesting, breaking in an ally´s room undercover."

"Actually, trespassing in your room is mine alone, i got carried away in searching for information that i disregard your privacy and invaded your room. I can assure you it won't happen again" Jesse said without even looking at Haze, not much of an apology coming from the sniper but hey, it's the best thing he can do. The angel continues to ponder and vividly gaze at the repaired wall, like he was deducting something.

"Hold that thought, Raziel. I have an idea that might save us some time." He said and turns his attention to Haze. "Now about that restoration spell Cana use, how powerful is it? Can it restore something that's destroyed this earlier, like some where between in the afternoon. like a mystical glove per se"

Edited October 27, 2016 by Ragnar

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza

"With the exception of Jory here," He said, gesturing to his squad mate, "I haven't actually made contact with any of them since arriving in the city. They probably have stirred up some sort of trouble by now though." Rhaeza's original plan was to go solo for a while and try to find any information and make use of it, but news like this had enough priority to justify making contact with the rest of the group. The question was how though, they hadn't planned any sort of meeting place prior to entering the city.

"From what brief look of my squad that I had... I get the feeling that we'll end up running into them at some point. Besides, we've been here too long. We should move before we draw any unneeded suspicion."