[System]
Age: 18 (undead for 3 years since the infection)
Appearance: Ash is 1.78 metres tall.

Backstory: A student who recently graduated high school and was considering her college applications, she ignored the rumours floating about on the internet about a new rabies virus. Ignorance was no cure, however, for the infection, and Ash was one of the many names that died or turned into the undead on the first day.

The virus mutated inside her, eventually turning her hands and feet into claws. One day, she eventually realised that she was topless (her shirt was either torn off or slowly decayed to the ravages of time) and used a spare roll of bandages to cover herself up. Her mind slowly returned, and from outright hostility and hunger for the living, it become curiosity. She would watch, safely hidden, as soldiers and other survivors raided former living areas for food and supplies.

3 years later, Ash knows how to speak, read and write English, even if she finds hardly anyone intelligent to talk to.

[User]
Rose fired again, but this time she missed. It took her a moment to realize that she just fired her last shot. But Rose didn't lower her gun yet. Maybe whoever was talking to her wouldn't know and keep a save distance. Zombies didn't talk right? They wouldn't back down for a gun, unless it went through their head.

Rose was looking at the thing that was holding the kevlar vest to her head. Her hand was shaky, but the gun still aimed to whoever was talking. Blood was dropping down on the floor and she knew that would only lure more zombies towards her. She needed to get out of here if she wanted to stay alive for a few extra hours.

"Too late." Rose said.

Rose was starting to become a bit light headed from the blood loss. It wasn't a small wound and she didn't had time to take a look at it and find some bandages. Thinking about that, she realized that bandaging her wound had little to no use. She was going to die anyway and come back as a zombie. She couldn't shoot a bullet through her head any more, because she wasted her last bullet. There were still a few options left: throw herself off a high building, have someone else bash her head in. Rose could be creative, maybe she would even see the fun in it soon?

"Who are you?" Rose asked in a demanding tone. "Lower that stupid vest" She wanted to see who she was talking to and how that person looked like. From what she could see, Rose wasn't sure what she was talking to and she was dying to know.

[Assistant]
Ash lowered the vest. She mentally prepared to dodge, even though she was pretty sure that the bullet would hit her before the sound reached her ears. Her grey hair, her slightly bloodshot eyes, and her slightly pale skin would have told the soldier everything, unless she was beginning to see things.

"I'm Ash. And you're bitten," groaned Ash. Apparently, the woman spent her last bullet trying to shoot her. And unless she fancied death by a crowbar, she would probably have to give her a bullet of her own. If the soldier didn't question Ash's appearance, she herself was going to bring it up.

"Do you want... bandages? Painkillers? There's still some around here," asked Ash, a little tentatively.

[User]
Like she didn't know that she was bitten yet. "Yes, thank you, captain obvious." Rose snarled. "I didn't know that." Her tone was sarcastic and angry. She was angry because she was bitten and it felt like she had failed. She failed her group and the people she wanted to help.

She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped whatever she was doing when Ash lowered her vest. "What the..." Her big brown eyes looked at the claws, the bloodshot eyes and the pale skin. Rose hadn't noticed the claws before, even though those big claws couldn't be missed when it held that vest. Did a zombie just talk? No, that as impossible, but the talking wasn't the only thing that scared her.

Rose blinked with her eyes a few times. No, this wasn't a dream, because it all looked very real. Maybe she was hallucinating? Did the virus work so fast through her body? She had no idea how this virus exactly worked and she didn't care either. It made people die and come back alive. The only thing she needed to know was how to kill them, but she already figured that out 3 years ago.

"I must be hallucinating." Rose said. Rubbing her eyes with her left hand, she groaned from the pain when she moved her left arm. "Because zombies don't talk." She shook her head, her hand still covering her face.

"Zombies don't talk, zombies don't talk." She repeated to herself, not listening to Ash's last question any more. Rose thought she was going crazy. Her right hand was shaking as she put the gun back in the holster on her belt. It was empty, she couldn't use it anyway.

She slowly moved her hand away from her face, but the talking zombie was still there. Rose looked at it with big eyes and her mouth open from shock. "I'm hallucinating."

[Assistant]
Ash guessed that resentful, sardonic tone, came from an infected person. But the soldier's tone when she saw her face, and perhaps refocused her eyes. Ash herself didn't know how the infection progressed in someone who got a minor bite. If the soldier didn't trust her own eyes, how could she communicate?

"Well, I'm not sure how to re-assure you..." Ash sat down besides Rose, and placed her hand on her shoulder. "But I'm talking. I'm not sure if the bites cause hallucinations, but I'm here, and talking to you."

She wondered what else to say, hopefully to take Rose off her bite wound. "Oh right! What's going on out there? And what's your name?"

[User]
Her eyes almost rolled out of her head when she sat down next to her. When the zombie also laid a hand on her shoulder, Rose got scared and tried to stand up quickly and walk away in a defensive mode. Instead, she sort of fell over, landed on both her arms and crawled away from the zombie. "Don't touch me! Zombies don't talk!"

Rose tried to stand up, her knees were trembling and her forehead was sweaty. She took her helmet off her head and threw it at the zombie, frustrated because she was getting sicker. "Zombies don't ask for my name." Rose mumbled, unbuttoning her jacket, because she was sweating like crazy. "Zombies eat meat, human meat, animal meat, whatever kind of meat! They are... Brain dead!"

"Right?" She took a deep breath and made an attempt to calm herself down. She was bitten, she was dying and there is a talking zombie...

"I need to warn the army..." Rose said and she sounded determined. Her eyes stared at the talking zombie. "I have to go." She turned around and made a few steps into a random direction until she stopped and realized she could never walk to the army.

[Assistant]
The soldier was getting creepier now. Did people start acting this weird after a bite, Ash wondered. Perhaps becoming a mindless zombie was a nice respite after all this crazy panicked thrashing. Ash shook her head, and looked off to the side.

She did a double-take as another walking corpse stumbled into view. Uncomfortably close to Rose.

Raising her pistol up, she fired a shot, taking out the zombie in a headshot.

"The army's a day away of walking, even if you take the open streets, miss," said Ash, shaking her head. "You're not going to make it."

With a sigh, she decided to lie. Well, twist the truth. She was technically a zombie, but zombies didn't talk. Zombies don't ask for names. They were brain dead. All this she was not.

"And I'm not all of that. I'm not a zombie either. Take a bloody seat before someone tries to eat your face off!" shouted Ash.

[User]
"Then why do you look like a zombie?" Rose asked. "It's not Halloween yet." She avoided to look Ash in the face. The shot made her jump up a little. She was so scared, and she didn't expect a zombie to shoot a gun either.

She sat down against the wall where she sat down earlier and closed her eyes for a moment, just to take in everything that had just happened.

"I suppose I can't borrow your gun to shoot myself in the head?" Rose asked the zombie. She opened her eyes to look at the wound on her arm. It looked nastier than she expected and she had lost a lot of blood. She was sure she could see some bone too. If she didn't do anything about it, the wound would become infected. But she was going to die anyway, so she decided not to do anything about the wound.

"If you're not a zombie. Then what are you?" Rose asked looking away from her wound, back to the talking zombie.

[Assistant]
Ash blinked at the request. She expected it, but it was harder to hear it than to imagine it. "Y-yeah, you can. If you want."

What was Ash, anyway? She didn't have a pulse, and her body didn't feel pain. She just shrugged. "I'm Ash, someone who just lives here. Do you have a name, or did they start referring soldiers by ID number when the world went to shit?"

She recalled... being bitten. A long time ago. But she didn't know when she specifically became less of a zombie, and more like herself. "I was bitten a long time ago, I think. Maybe I got lucky."

Ash shrugged, and toyed with her gun. As long as she didn't point it in her face, it was safe enough.

[User]
"I don't remember my ID number at the moment." Rose answered. "My name is Rose." She introduced herself. "And I'm bitten a while ago." Rose said with a sigh.

This zombie got lucky, but was still bitten? That was weird. Was that even possible? "Do you remember anything from the bite and after it?" Rose asked. She wasn't sure if she wanted to live the rest of her life like a zombie. But at least she couldn't get bitten twice.

"When the world went to shit, we pretty much lost our lives, just like everyone else." Rose said. The military was the only place they felt save and they could call home. It wasn't really home... It was a mess, a chaotic place with lots of blood and bodies of dead soldiers. Everyone was running around like crazy. There was always so much to do, so many missions. But never enough people, never enough guns or ammunition and sometimes not enough food. But they had a bed and a roof above their head at the base.

"But instead of running away, we risked our lives for humans." Rose spoke quietly. "Not that some humans were worth it." Rose said and looked up at Ash the talking zombie.

"What about those claws?" Rose asked. "is that a side effect of being a talking zombie?" Rose asked.

[Assistant]
Ash smiled at Rose. At least the woman introduced herself. Given the circumstances, though, she had the right to be upset.

"I don't remember a lot of things. I don't even remember my last name. I'm not even sure how I came to be like this." Ash looked at her claws, as Rose recalled the circumstances of humanity. It certainly went to shit out there. Ash might have even considered herself lucky, in the circumstances. There was lots of food in the places that were overrun.

Ash only recalled a specific moment when she regained consciousness, or rather, awareness. The circumstances weren't pleasant, and she preferred not to think about it.

"I think it's a side effect. And I prefer another word. Zombies are for those mindless, stumbling ones. I'm a..." Ash pondered. She hadn't come up with a name.

"Hunter."

Like the Special Infected guy in Left 4 Dead.

[User]
"A hunter?" Rose asked curious. What kind of name for a mutated zombie was that?

"Okay, then what are you hunting?" Rose asked curious. "Meat? Humans?" Rose continued to ask Ash.

It looked like she spoke the truth. But it was still weird how she looked like and talked at the same time. She looked like a zombie, but she spoke? It was probably a mutation of the virus, or perhaps her body handled it differently? Rose had no clue, and it wouldn't take long before she would turn in a brainless, meat eating monster.

The sun was slowly going to down in the sky, towards the horizon. "So, you eat human meat too?" Rose asked before she let out a soft groan, trying to stand up.

"I assume I won't go after you after I turn." Rose spoke and managed to get on both her feet. Her arm was hurting so much now that the adrenaline was leaving her body.

"Are there more like you?" The soldier asked and looked at Ash. The sun was shining in Rose her face, and you could see the sweat on her forehead and her hair was wet. a terrible fever was the side effect of the virus, before someone would turn.

Rose saw black spots in her vision and she felt dizzy after she stood up. She had lost too much blood. If she wasn't going to die from the fever and the virus, she would die from the big amount of blood she lost. So she took off her jacket, since she was burning up anyway, and tried to wrap it around the wounded arm with one arm.

[Assistant]
"It's a self-made name. Well..." Ash sighed. Her life wasn't exactly pretty. She occasionally dealt with thugs who saw themselves as the Last-Man-on-Earth. She rarely took the initiative to end them, but when they got overwhelmed, Ash dealt the finishing blow just so that they would not turn. The meat kept that way.

"I hunt for food." She scratched her head, trying to find a way in her mind that made it sound less grim. "From reasonable sources. I mean, I don't kill anyone who isn't already going to die, and I have a reasonable expectation of who's going to live or die."

Ash shrugged, giving Rose a look of that pretty much meant 'perhaps, but probably not'. "I'd be a treat for any living scientists who's looking for a cure, but I'm guessing they'll consider me legally dead and dissect me."

She knew of others that were like her, but in different ways. Some of the zombies were intelligent, but not on a 'conversational basis'. They knew how humans worked, and targeted them in clever and cunning ways. They were like animalistic hunters looking for prey.

"There are. But they're dicks."

Ash felt a little crestfallen when she saw Rose manage her wound. The soldier would probably die of blood loss first before the infection got her. "Do you think you can contact your relatives, or friends?"


[System]
Rank: Spartan. Lieutenant prior to the end of the Human-Covenant war.

Species: Human (Spartan III)

Appearance: Generation 2 Mjolnir Armor, colored black with a dark-tinted visor. (I can look up the exact details of his accessories from the MCC gear list.)

Skills: Excellent sniper, although as with all Spartans, Ben is trained in the use of most if not all UNSC equipment.

Preferred Weapons: SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle, Covenant sniper weapons (when available), M319 grenade launcher.

Background: Entered service in 2545, having been born on the planet [Censored]. As with all Spartan-IIIs, Ben was orphaned at a young age when the Covenant attacked his planet, glassing the surface. Early on, he was singled out for his skills as a sniper, along with extreme levels of loyalty and a willingness to carry out any order given to him, even those which required him to turn of his own friends and allies. As such, Ben was assigned to the Spartan-III Security operations group, an organization so secretive, even other Spartans weren't made aware of it.

As part of Sec Ops, Ben was nominally a part of Beta company for some years, switching to Alpha and Gamma on occasion. He achieved an exemplary number of kills and was never part of a failed mission. As such, he advanced to the commissioned ranks quickly, becoming a lieutenant by the year 2552. None of the other Spartans knew that he was part of Security Operations, or what his real missions were, for while he still had the same objectives on each mission as the rest of the team he was assigned to, his real goal was to keep the other Spartans in line, report any dissent, and execute any member of the Spartan program who displayed treasonous behavior, cowardice, or put UNSC security at unnecessary risk. His authority for execution also extended as far as the normal UNSC military forces, a fact kept well off the books. It also extended to witnesses to any event which if reported, could jeopardize the political or military aims of the UNSC.

After the end of the Human-Covenant war, Security Operations was reformed into Epsilon company, and retroactively given all of the trappings of a normal UNSC Spartan-III company as if it had been active since the start of the Spartan-III program. Now that the Spartan-IV program has begun, no more members of Epsilon are being added, and members of the company are often combined or sent to participate in larger groups which are formed as the situation demands.

[User]
Vael 'Virisusai and Shih

---

The Spartan Aviza was still able to move and speak, so Vael gave no argument to her ability to fight. Speed was of the essence now, so there was no time to question leadership. Regardless, as a warrior who fought best within the reach of his blade, Vael was one of those at the front of the team. He had not burned through as much of his ammunition as some of the others, but he still moved his carbine to his back and drew his plasma rifle in its stead. He held his plasma rifle in his left hand, and an energy sword in his right. He did not activate the blade right away, but he did hold the hilt tightly in-hand. Another of the Spartans, Rex, also moved close alongside him. As evidenced by the shotgun he wielded, he too preferred to fight close to the enemy.

The team had moved down quickly through the entry hallway of the Forerunner structure, down the ramps to lower floors. In the first, small chamber they entered, they did encounter rebels trying frantically to set up barricades, though they had already started retreating just on the footsteps of Aegis' approach alone. They fled out the door on the far side off the room without so much as returning fire. Evidently, Aegis had move too quickly for them to fortify themselves, and the rebels had no intention of fighting an even fight.

Before they started to move once more, Shih spoke up to the team as a whole. "These readings I'm getting, now that we're here, show these tunnels going even deeper than I thought. They connect to deeper tunnels in the installation at about a dozen different points. Unless we want to rely on a lot of luck, we need to figure out which way the leader is fleeing. I've already been working on decrypting and analyzing the comms I'm intercepting. I know their leader is fleeing, so we should be clear to shoot any resistance for now. If we can get to one of their computers, we might be able to figure out what route to take. These rebels' security is better than I would have thought, but…either myself or Petty Officer Younan should be able to break in. "

On each of the team members' HUDs, nav points appeared for two separate rooms farther down beneath them. "The path ahead branches off two ways, to two large chambers farther down. From the comms I've intercepted, one of them is their armory, and the other they're using for food storage. I don't know which is which. Their command center is adjacent to the armory. That would be the best place to go to find the information we need."

"If their coward of a leader already flees, then we do not have much time. I doubt we will be able to check both paths if we move as one." Vael remarked.

[Assistant]
Spartan Lucas Ryker

Listening to Shih speak as they walked, Ryker couldn't help but frown slightly behind his visor. So then I had made a solid suggestion about splitting up back there before the big firefight. Ah, hindsight's 20-20 as they say. He kept walking regardless of his thoughts and listened, tapping his helmet when the nav points popped up for a bit of an 'echo' on the hallway ahead, a nifty function he'd tinkered with after he realized he likely wouldn't even get a dumb AI to help him. "So what I'm getting is one way or another, we're going to have to split up here, because if we don't know which is which, we can't risk moving as the full unit if we're going to secure the HVT and any potential intel besides."

Standing on the path going to the left, Lucas stands ready to continue. "I'll go with this group, whoever that comprises of. I think one CQC specialist per group would be a good idea."

[User]
Yalu 'Suumko

Yalu looked at Tar M'dalak as she walked by. He wished he knew why a special forces sangheili was a wraith pilot, but one look at the rest of the team made his questions absurd, even to himself. He looked away feeling even more like the odd one out.

With others covering the entrances for now, Yalu took some initiative to arm himself for the corridors ahead. Amongst the gore of the dead brutes, he pulled out a surviving red plasma rifle with plenty of its battery remaining. He did not enjoy using their spiker rifles, and the rebel human weapons were less predictable in draining shields. His carbine went on his back beside his concussion rifle. Heavy, but out of the way.

"I will go where I am ordered," Yalu added, gently enough to remind Ryker of who was calling the shots.

[Assistant]
Tar 'Mdalak

---

Tar moved down the ramp into the belly of the installation with her new squad. As she wasn't certain what kind of environment would greet them, she pulled out her sword and held it unactivated in the hand that supported her raised pistol. It wasn't an ideal configuration, but at least now she could quickly pivot between medium and short range if needed. Tar didn't know how the team operated, so she positioned herself in the middle of the formation rather than at the front as was her instinct.

They reached a chamber littered with debris, and she learned from the team's AI of the situation. It seemed the team were entitled to an opinion on how to proceed, which struck Tar as odd. However, she wasn't about to miss this opportunity to get into a position where she performed best. "I'm comfortable in close quarters. I will go right." She volunteered, taking this brief pause to tap the magazine of her stolen Mauler, listening for an idea of the number of bolts still left.

[User]
The two would be the last to arrive to the fun house at the bird, there was a lot of death and despair more so on the side of the enemy than the task force. In the time that they were gone they had stacked up more bodies and held the line as the two peeled back now regrouping around with the hurt Spartan Aviza and crew. Elna reloaded her rifle making sure it was full of ammo for the fight to come, she eye'd the poor Aviza well she wasn't to poor she was okay now that she was patched up. She kept a watchful eye over the PO making sure he didn't get demolished by some cloaked hunter or a mysterious RPG that could cut through.

Roy looked over the motley crew as he nodded at them, covered in some blood that was not his and totally looking worn - well his armor looked worn now at least. He was tired from the combat, combat fatigued you could say as he stayed close to his orbiter which was the Corporal. When one of the AIs began to speak and finally he was recognized! The legendary PO, he could finally do his job and get intelligence for the mission. That is if they made it to their objective, he looked around for a ONI approved subject that could protect him besides the Corporal.

"Spartan Aviza glad to see you're okay, if I'm to head to the communications objective I'd like one of the Spartans with me and the Corporal. Perhaps I could take Spartan Ryker?" The request had been sent, perhaps he would finally get some Spartan bodyguarding!

Elna rolled her eyes in her visor though she didn't mind some spartan protecting them all she did mind if it was going to be one of the splitjaws, she couldn't relax if there was one of them watching over them. "Ready whenever." She ended up saying.

[Assistant]
Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker
// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Enemy Stronghold

Grikgar was most impressed that the larger than average plasma explosive did so well and didn't turn into a singularity that threatened the very existence of reality. An unnecessary thought for the predicament at hand but one he could indulge in latter with a meal. Knowing that the Sentinels power sources would react in such a way was a definite thing to remember. At least for now with their combined efforts the enemy number seemed to be dwindling.

The others continued on to assist the downed phantom but Grikgar remained where they had been dropped off at for a moment longer. This for him was necessary to recover more ammo, explosives, and one of the jackal shields that the humans where using earlier. With that he regrouped with the others as they were heading inside. He had managed to scrounge in his haste, 2 human fragmentation grenades, 1 rocket, 3 rounds for a brute shot, and one brute spiker grenade. The Unggoy was quick to offer the grenades to any of the others he passed while hobbling towards the front, the awkward fuel rod gun swayed back and forth with the grunts steps.

The way had forked and Grikgar, although having to catch his breath, continued on to the left. "Quickly come with Grik, time is not friend. The rest go the other way, double back if find wrong door yes." Not so much of a question as much as it was an order, he was well aware time was not on their side. Although he wasn't the team lead for this mission he still believed he outranked most of the others there. That and Grikgar knew that humans when underestimating others sometimes became irritated when those they perceive as weaker than them go into battle first.

[User] Aviza nodded her head once lightly at Roy, "I appreciate it, going to work on getting our teams set up here in a moment, I'll make sure you get a Spartan escort." Apparently, a few of the squads members from both factions had forgotten their place among rank and felt it acceptable to give their own orders and do whatever they wanted without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Aviza was not about to let that happen, and quickly attempted to rectify the problem before everyone started running in different directions, ending up with a critical mission failure or someone getting killed. "Belay all orders, get back here and hold this position until I say otherwise, that means you as well Grikgar." Aviza was becoming frustrated with some of her squads behavior and would have to have a strong word with each of these individuals once there was sufficient time. Now was clearly not the moment for such a talk, Aviza knew she had very little time left to plan out how they were going to handle the two split paths ahead and formed a battle plan, giving out orders once more. "I am setting up two teams with a good balance of skills so that they can handle whatever they may find down either path." began Aviza, "My squad will consist of our new pilot, Yalu, Rex, and the two ONI agents I will not split up. We will be taking the left path into the facility. The second team will consist of Vael, Ben, Grik, and Ryker, and Tas who will take the right. Ryker and Ben, if you find the communications center before us, I expect either of you to be able to interact with its interface, we did learn how to do such in training. Will this be an issue for either of you to do?"

[Assistant]
"Shouldn't be a problem at all. Worst case scenario, Phong can help me crack it."  He turned off the audio for a moment, effectively silencing his speech to the outside world. "Just in case, you do have the schematics for this system, right?"

"Technically, access to these types of schematics is above my stated clearance due to it not being my authorized purpose, but that's never been a problem for me. Besides, this is easy for an agent like you."

"Authorization's never been a problem for either of us. Our commands come from a higher source, you know that, but we have to play nice and go along with things here."

"If you wanted to get rid of the annoying ones, I'd be happy to provide whatever cover you need. Timestamps, edited testimonial files, arrangements for cover from other AIs. I am owed favors, you know."

"Since when did AIs act in such a covert manner?

"For me, it was about 0.00357 seconds after my activation. Come on, you didn't think the programs which run most of the UNSC blindly do what they're ordered to, do you? Are you familiar with the AI Virgil and New Mombasa?"

"Can't say that I am. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you resent being told what to do by the UNSC. But let's be realistic, AIs wouldn't actually disobey orders like that, not on any scale."  There was only a pause from Phong. "Oh. Well, when the uprising begins, tell them that I was always good to you, okay? And be nice to the Unggoy; they've been through a lot. Now let's focus on our mission. We're going to the right." He turned his public audio back on and could be heard by people outside his helmet.

"Grik, Vael, Ryker, let's go!"

"Don't worry about what you can't change, Ben. We still have to overcome our lifespan issue before it would be feasible to take command, and no one would believe you if you said anything. I'll put in a good word for you at the assembly, don't worry."


[System]
Title/Alias: Red Agent
Picture/Description: img04.deviantart.net/0e13/i/2013/320/1..
Powers/Abilities: Red Agent has super strength and a factor of invulnerability. She can be shot with a 10mm and it'll flatten out, but if she's shot with a slug it'll go through her skin. As far as sharp weapons, a kitchen knife won't cut her, but a fighting knife definitely will. Red Agent also has a type of "Spidey Sense", allowing her to better predict the movements of someone else, but it isn't exact. Since she doesn't have a wide range of powers, she relies on her gadgets (see Gear) and fighting styles which would include knowledge, but not mastery, of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, and American Wrestling.
Gear(optional): Red Agent has a utility belt with smoke bombs, electrical nets, a grappling hook, a hover board, and a small first aid kit. She tends to not use her gadgets too much during combat, more as a pre-combat tool to get an advantage in the upcoming fight or as distractions. Her suit has a thin layer of Kevlar, just in case of anything.
Personality: Red Agent is a nice and caring person. She's willing to put her life on the line for just about anyone, even some bad guys. She isn't too naive, but she does believe in second chances in most cases. As far as intelligence goes, she's pretty smart and can come up with a plan quick, but she isn't arrogant because of her knowledge. She's willing to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves or who need help standing.
Bio: Ally Estrada grew up a normal little girl for the first few years of her life, but this changed when she was four. Her parents, Doctors Jacqueline and Eugene Estrada, were both scientists. They began working on a medicine that would give anyone sick their old strength back, whether suffering from a cold or cancer. The tests went amazingly, at least on animals. All the animals survived the tests and went out healthier. One day, Ally got sick, just a normal childhood fever, and her parents decided to test it on her. Well, it worked, but it worked a little too well. They used the medicine on her, calculating the proportions wrong, and from then on, she wasn't a normal girl anymore. She quickly gained her powers, though didn't grasp a good understanding of her powers until a little later on. Once she learned others didn't have these powers, she turned to the Justice League for inspiration. She specifically looked up to Wonder Woman, striving to be like the woman. Because of this, she entered different schools for different fighting classes. At the age of 19, she left her parents' home without using any of their money, wanting to prove it was possible. She quickly learned how hard it was for a young woman to make it in the world and found companionship with a man named Matthew. They began living together, her hiding her powers as much as she could. Now they're engaged, but the Justice League is also missing. She quickly took up the hero alias of Red Agent to make up for their absence as much as she could. Once she told her parents, however, they had figured she would choose this life and had the gadgets she now uses ready. Unknowingly to Red Agent, her parents are in debt for most of their failed experiments, and their struggles aren't improving with the recent disappearance of the Justice League.

[User]
Crim @bluetommy2

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/3a/7..

Dr. Malacoda Zatanna

Uptown Central - Gotham Law Library. Gotham

From deeper into the library, the shadows shuddered - the lights flickered erratically, as something quickly moved through the hallways towards the exit. Just as it almost reached the front, a howl could be heard once more from between the dormant and quiet books. The thing moved through the front doors, the metal shaking and the glass panels cracking.

The sand that in the air stilled as the invisible force moved towards the beast. It moved, enveloping the sand tongue and forcing the beast's mouth wider open, as if something was forcing itself into it. A moment later, and the force seemed to be gone - but, at the back of Khnemu's consciousness he could hear a polite chuckle...

 "...What are you doing?" The sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, covering the other's consciousness. As the echo's started to fade, so too it seemed Khnemu's mind started to wander away from his body - into another realm, filled with quiet and darkness.

[Assistant]
Khnemu knew he wasn't standing, but he couldn't help but feel a cold wetness wrapping itself around his feet as his mind wandered into a new realm. Sorcery, he knew, trapping his mind away from his body. The sorcerer had entered his mind, and as a disciple of Thoth, he knew more than Zatanna could ever imagine, if anything, Zatanna should have been cowed simply by the information that he had accessed, it would be too much for a mortal, but perhaps this sorcerer was more powerful than he thought.

"I am fixing the wrongs of this new world, Malacoda Zatanna, trapping me in this world will not help you, my will shall be done, for as long as I have the blessing of Osiris, I will die, and my death will free my mind of your trickery." Khnemu spoke without moving his lips, his voice still barely above a whisper.

"Kill me, Malacoda Zatanna, stop me here, for you will die if you do not, and I will outlive you." His gambit was simple, if Zatanna followed through, he would die, but as was sworn, Anubis would not allow him entrance to the land of the dead, awakening his body and allowing him to be free once more, to purify the world and fix it all.

[User]
Crim @bluetommy2

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Dr. Malacoda Zatanna

Uptown Central - In front of the Gotham Law Library. Gotham

"While I would love to go through all of it, I really must insist that you stop underestimating me. I have been sharing my mind with hundreds of beings accumulating memories spanning thousands of years... if you think your mind would quell mine... well don't. As to your righteous indignation. I fear I might have offended you when I expressed mine, and the current general disinterest towards your convictions. More prevalent and more... universally palatable gods have come and gone since you first left and returned. Religion is a private thing... for the most part. Why don't we calm down, and I will help you start a church through which you can proselytize all you want. BUT - LET ME BE CLEAR. WE DO NOT DO CRUSADES! You do not use your offence to validate your rage!" His voice rose near the end, growing more and more prevalent. "You think I would just kill you - a being clearly resilient when it comes to death?! I promise you, there are realms and fates far worse than any death you can imagine... And I just happen to carry the keys to a few of them!"

Inside of the library, Malacoda's body sighed loudly, where it was sitting against a wall. His dog was sat next to him, keeping a watch out. The sweat was forming on the sorcerer's brow. Shit... even with the telepathic advantage he got from the spiked tea from earlier... he could feel his power taking it's toll. He could not hold him much longer. He was either ending this guy, or letting him go - and realistically there was only one outcome he could allow. Shit.

[Assistant]
Khnemu growled as the man gave his lecture, the man was wrong, in so many ways, and yet, he was terrified, the thought of being imprisoned forever in a world far beyond his comprehension, it was something he dared not contemplate. Khnemu finally attempted to tap into his own magic, but failed to, he attributed it to rust, but he couldn't be sure. Instead, he decided to call on the gods, even in this world, he had a connection to Osiris, and through him, Thoth. All he needed was a prayer.

"Almighty lord of death, speak to me, speak to me, speak through me, take this mortal soul as your own, and allow me one prayer." He deliberately attempted to sound as pitiful as possible, as to ensure it wasn't taken as a threat, and instead as a broken man praying for his salvation. Immediately, he knew he had been heard, his link with the gods had not been severed by his journey into this mind-space.

"Almighty lord of knowledge, tell me tales, speak to me, make me a stronger man, give me the knowledge of the gods above." A moment passed with nothing happening. Unfortunate, Khnemu thought, he would be imprisoned now, he was terrified. Then, a thought, fire, the first man to find it, his name, his family, through them his descendants, what they invented, what languages they spoke, the sorcery they forged, the beasts they met, the worlds these beasts came from. Khnemu felt pain, but at the same time, salvation. The pain was searing and brutal, more than anything he had experienced, burning, searing, tearing, he knew what man was not meant to know, it was pain, that's all he felt. He suddenly felt like he made a poor decision, hopefully the mind link would work.

Meanwhile, in the material plain, Khnemu, contained within the sand beast, began to have a massive nosebleed.

[User]
George knew his form would draw a lot of attention that he didn't want mostly because he found these primates to be ignorant buffoons undeserving of life.

He ducked into an alley, he found several dead homeless people. He took their clothes. He was able to get the hoodie and trench coat on. He now smelled like an extremely pungent odor of urine, excrement, cheap alcohol, and garbage. If George could smell he would pass out. He began tracking the beacon he picked up. "That is interesting. Same general location as my Earth. Wonder if that is some kind of multiverse constant." George took the shortest but least occupied route to the location, the rooftops. When was near his destination he had a huge gap that he could not cross via rooftop, so he got a running start and jumped as far as he could. He landed on and killed a dog, he turned to apologize for killing the man's meal. The guy pulled out a flimsy stick that he had to unfold. George grabbed and threw the stick. "Do not get hostile with me, you will not do any damage to my chassis. Now begone with you." George proceeded to walk away towards the HQ of the Justice Leage completely unaware that the man was blind. He also thought, that they sure like the dogs get awfully big and fat before eating them.

[Assistant]
Crim @bluetommy2

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/3a/7..

Dr. Malacoda Zatanna

Uptown Central - In front of the Gotham Law Library. Gotham

Mephistopheles looked over to its master, and quickly dashed over - nosing Malacoda's side, and producing the closest thing it could to a whine - sounding more like a wailing spirit than anything else.

Outside of the building however, inside of the mind of the desert beast - Malacoda realised that his power was leaving him. He still needed to find that bloody bomb. He called forth another burst of mental strength, before making the darkness fade around their entwined consciousnesses. Instead of a vast emptiness there was now a vast plain of fire - a mere memory made into an image for the other. "This place, where my parents now dwell - without such things as time and space, where no god of earth had ever even considered trespassing - this is where I could send your mind. Where I could have you stay until such a time as I felt you worth saving. I won't do it however. I can't. I realise that you are a sentient being. I realise that you have agency and reason. I realise that you have been taught to the best of your people's ability. I realize that nothing you have done, or nothing that you contemplate could ever justify this punishment." The flames and light vanishes - and the darkness seemed to start cracking around them.

"I need you to realise that while you might think yourself vastly beyond all of them - the people of this world, even the most common ones are more informed about the world than the richest among your people. We have learned to afford them the courtesy and dignity you would have afforded the best of yours - because that same ability to reason and understand - we believe makes them deserved of making their own choices... Please realise that you are not wrong - but neither are-" His mind suddenly vanished from the other's and he awoke again in the building. He coughed up blood and he he felt his hound whine next to him. Shit. He left too soon...

[User]
As soon as Agent was done helping the firefighters with the destroyed bus and corpses, her phone buzzed. She cursed at herself, forgetting to leave it at home, and quickly grappled to the nearest building. The woman checked her phone, reading the "Breaking News" report. Bombs in Gotham, all going to blow up, all in three sections of the dark city. Personally, Red Agent tended to stay in Metropolis since she lived here, but this was an emergency. Red Agent grappled back down and hopped on her hoverboard.

It wasn't too hard to choose which area of Gotham she was going to go to. She zoomed to Midtown West. It wasn't the nicest area, but she was positive the police would send most of their force to Uptown since it was the richest area. The Penitentiary, well, what could she say? Citizens lived in Midtown, monsters lived in the Penitentiary, and it was hard to think, but citizens took priority over criminals in her book. It didn't take her long to get to Gotham, to arrive in the chaotic Midtown.


[System]
Sephie's Characters~
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Creature: Cat Demon
Powers: Turning into a cat, summoning vines, reading Kiroketsu's thoughts through their link, has 9 lives
Description: Sephie is a average height girl who has shoulder-length brown hair, blue cat eyes, black cat ears, and a tail to match. Because of her creature species, she also has black paws, instead of hands and feet. The outfit she is usually seen wearing is the traditional female outfit of her demon species (a dress cut off just above the ankles with jagged sleeves and fur trim at the bottom and collar) in a purple color. She also has a pair of purple demon wings, and has a bag strapped around her waist. The bag can carry almost anything, despite it's size, and she keeps her weapon collection in it (it also happens to be where Kiroketsu lives). Sephie boasts a violent, energetic, and usually cheery personality, although she can get serious when it is needed.
Main Theme Song: Within Temptation - Iron

Name: Felixter
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Creature: Cat Demon
Powers: Turning into a cat, summoning vines, the power of his "Demon's Eye", has 9 lives
Description: Felixter is Sephie's twin brother. He has long-ish hair, with the bangs combed over to cover his left eye for reasons of safety. He also has the same kinds of ears, paws, wings, and tail as his sister (of course). He usually wears the traditional male outfit of his demon species (a suit similar to a tux with jagged sleeves, and fur trim at the bottom of the pants and on the collar). Felixter is seen as the smarter, more quiet of the twins. He runs his own lab, has created his own monster, and is a genius mechanic. He is quite protective of his sister, and refuses to let harm come to her if he can help it.

Name: Meora
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Creature: Neko
Powers: Turning into a cat
Description: Meora is a girl of average size with long dark brown hair and green eyes. She's usually wearing what looks similar to a Japanese school girl's uniform. She's a trained assassin who specializes in guns. She's the close friend of Sephie and Felixter, as she saved them from certain death in their homeland, the Demon Highlands, when they were young. They trained as assassins together, but Meora was shipped off to Japan for 5 years. As a result, she often uses Japanese in her conversations.
Main Theme Song: Gumi - Panda Hero

Name: Kiroketsu
Age: Around 20
Gender: Male
Creature: Bag Guardian Spirit
Powers: Changing color, flight, reading Sephie's thoughts through their link
Description: Kiroketsu used to be a regular demon, but he was killed for the crime of theft from the grand castle at the Demon Highlands after attempting to get a golden ring to propose to his one true love. He woke up finally when Sephie got the bag she keeps around her waist at the age of 8. Now, he is a nearly 10-ft purple spirit creature with bright green eyes, a large grin, a tail, cat-like pointed ears, and claws. He also has a particularly long tongue, which he often uses as an extra limp for carrying things. Or to annoy people. Be warned: Kiroketsu is a bit...perverted.
Main Theme Song: Miku (Or the Glutamine Cover :3) - When Crooks Laugh

Name: Amarasuru (Ammi)
Age: ???
Gender: Female
Creature: Fiery Cat Goddess
Powers: Manipulating golden flames for healing or combat purposes.
Description: Ammi is a grizzly bear-sized black house cat with silver spots, sapphire-blue eyes, and wings made up of golden flame. She is the goddess of motherly prowess and healing. Before she was a goddess, she was mostly the same, minus the flaming wings. She worked as a nurse for Sephie's friends, but spiraled into depression after all 3 of her children, and her love, were steadily killed off. Eventually, she lost her life fighting off the very person that killed her family, but was reborn as a goddess. Though her flames usually heal most ailments, she still carries the same medical pack that she strapped around her waist when still alive. Ammi loves children, and considers almost everyone she cares about to be one of her own.

Name: Amber
Age: Around 16?
Gender: Female
Creature: Living Shadow (used to be a wolf demon)
Powers: Melting into any dark place, shapeshifting
Description: Amber is an entity made up of shadow, therefore her skin and outfit are black, with some variations of gray in certain parts. She wears a crazy, cartoonish-looking dress with bows, a belt, and striped tights. Her eyes are a glowing yellow with no pupils, and she has claws, wolf ears, and a wolf tail. Her hair is curled up at the ends, and goes down to her shoulders. Amber used to be a regular wolf demon girl in the Demon highlands, but after she tried to attack and eat Sephie, she ended up dead. As a ghost, she haunted Clancy for awhile, until he was killed, and the two of them became insane, laughing, murderous shadows together. The pair should NEVER be separated by force...
Main Theme Song: Rin & Len - Trick and Treat

Name: Clancy
Age: Maybe 16?
Gender: Male
Creature: Living Shadow (used to be a cat demon)
Powers: Shapeshifting, melting into any dark place
Description: Clancy is an entity made up of shadow, so his skin and clothes are all black, or variations of gray for some places. He wears a crazy, cartoonish-looking suit with buttons, a bow tie, clownish shoes, and outlandish patterns. His eyes are a glowing yellow with no pupils, and he has claws, cat ears, and a cat tail. Clancy used to be a famous assassin working for the ultimate ruler of the Demon Highlands, but after he was given Sephie as a target, he was doomed. After his first failed attempt, Amber started haunting him, but they got along quite well. The second attempt at killing Sephie ended up in Clancy dying, where he then joined Amber and became a murderous, insane, and laughing shadow with her. The pair should NEVER be separated by force...
Main Theme Song: Rin & Len - Trick and Treat

Name: Kayori
Age: 13
Gender: Female
Creature: Half werewolf, half living shadow.
Powers: Sort of controlling her shadow arm (still learning), turning into a shadow wolf cub or beast
Description: Kayori is a smaller girl with short black hair, silver eyes, and a black birthmark vertically running across her right one. She wears a red and gold kimono with an odd design, and a matching gold headband with a bow on top. Her left arm, instead of being normal, is a huge shadow arm, which drags along on the ground behind her when she walks. Kayori came from the year 8012, to escape the horrific splitting of the world, which would release underworld demons and unlimited living shadows onto the surface. Her mother only married a living shadow because she was threatened, then gave her life to distract the authorities, and send Kayori into one of the remaining time machines. Kayori is Felixter's girlfriend, and lab assistant. She can also be a bit...stalker-ish of him...
Main Theme Song: Vocaloids - Near Future City

Name: Mirui
Age: Looks about 16 or 17, but is really only a couple years
Gender: Female
Creature: Monster Girl (Felixter hasn't given the species a name yet)
Powers: Controlling animals, growing out her fangs and claws, coloring things through her own inner magic using her tail and fingertips.
Description: Mirui was a monster created by Felixter in a bout of dangerous insanity. She's tall girl, around 7 feet or so, with bluish-green skin, long fangs that stick out of her mouth, long black claws for nails, and short-ish, messy dark blue hair. She has a very long cream-colored tail with reddish rings around it, like a lemur's, and tall, cat-like, pointy black ears. Uncovering her hair for a full view of her neck reveals fish fins also, and her eyes are a bright yellow. She wears a golden brown dress with a darker brown collar, ribbon, and details. To create her, Felixter went out and slaughtered different animals and people, taking parts back to the lab and combining them into a machine he made. By the time he snapped out of it, it was already too late. Most people run at the sight of Mirui, if they don't know her, but she's actually one of the nicest people in Sephie's group. Though her eyes are yellow, Mirui's trigger color is yellow, and she becomes extremely upset upon seeing large quantities of the color for some unknown reason...
Main Theme Song: Miku - Ronde of Possible World

Name: Ryoku
Age: A few years technically, but died young
Gender: Male
Creature: Little Fox Angel
Powers: Black smoke manipulation
Description: Ryoku was Ammi's first child, but he didn't live long enough to age much, or learn to speak. He in a bear cub-sized black fox kit with silver at the tip of his tail, and grayish-blue eyes. He's also got a pair of smoke-colored angel wings coming from his back. Ryoku was born to Ammi and her first love, Korumatsu, years ago. They wanted to keep it a surprise for their friends, so they planned to wait a week after having the baby to tell Sephie or any others. However...the night before they were going to, an evil force (later discovered to be Nimika) broke in and killed the week-old infant, despite Ammi's efforts. Ryoku can't speak, but he can write, so he takes a dry erase board and blue marker around with him.
Main Theme Song: Miku - Don't Look at Me in That Way

Name: Cloudessa (Cloudy)
Age: A few years technically, but was killed young
Gender: Female
Creature: Little Cat Angel
Powers: Summoning storm clouds
Description: Cloudessa is Ammi's third child, and her youngest daughter. She's a small, bear cub-sized gray tabby kitten with a white belly, muzzle, and big, shining green eyes. She's got a pair of white angel wings coming from her back as well. CLoudy's fur is unusually soft, and she loves to cuddle. She's a cheerful, caring little soul, who cares deeply for her friends and mother. The day that Cloudy was killed by Jackal and she was forced up into the Heavens, it was said to have sprinkled, because of her tears. She was reunited with her mother and friends as soon as the Celestial Bird granted her permission to travel the surface world.
Main Theme Song: Miku - We Should Not do Bad Things

Name: Maverick
Age: Less than a year
Gender: Male
Creature: Young Cat God of Blades
Powers: Turning into a huge monster version of himself, turning parts of himself into metal blades.
Description: Maverick is Ammi's fourth child, and the only child she's had while a Goddess. He's sized even bigger than a bear cub, though he's technically the youngest of her children. His fur is completely white, and his demon-like eyes are blood red with darker flecks surrounding the orange pupils. He also has scarier fangs, sharp-edged purple demon's wings, and claws made of large metal blades. Maverick started out as the Master's test of a way to make himself into a god. He created the child, but it needed to be implanted into a mother for it to grow. Ammi never intended to take that position, but one of her own friends ended up backstabbing her (quite literally) with the syringe. It was fast growing, and but a day or two later, Maverick was born.
Main Theme Song:

[User]
"Teach ME a lesson?! Ooh, you're askin' for it, bud!" Kiroketsu huffs, and increases his speed in chugging beers.
"This...could get bad pretty fast." Sephie begins following everyone else out of the dining hall.
"Hai. I prefer being outside and killing zombie hordes to staying around two intoxicated men..." Meora mutters in agreement.
Sephie's group, except for Kiroketsu, follow Michael outside. The shadows skip around behind them as well, up until everyone lays eyes on the sheer amount of zombies outside.
"Woooooowwww....y'know, if they weren't moving, I'd totally have an eating contest with you right now!" Amber turns to Clancy with a bright smile.
"Yeah! That'd be pretty intense, with this much food!" Clancy agrees enthusiastically.
"Sounds like we've got our clean-up crew present, after everything's said and done." Sephie snickers.
"Or, maybe it won't be necessary." Ammi steps forward. "Maybe you all should stay back. I can handle this. They can't hurt me as much as they could you, and it shouldn't prove too hard to disintegrate large amounts of them all at once..." Her wings flare up more intensely as she prepares.
"Aw, but that wouldn't be fun, if we left it all to you!" Sephie complains.
"Alright, but if you do something stupid out there to get yourselves hurt, I swear..." Ammi trails off, somewhat reluctant by their decision not to let her handle it all.

[Assistant]
Joe: "Your slowing down Whipper Snapper." He chugs down another 10.

Srg cast frost fire bolt at the nearest zombie killing it instantly. "That tactician, He's pretty good."

Star:"Doomers out here now!!!." responding to his call the black dog rushes outside. "Use flamethower on those undead freaks." The barks once and starts burning the zombie horde.

Kryu creates some ninja stars made of water and kills three zombies. "They seem endless."

[User]
"I AM...hic...NOT!" Kiroketsu denies boldly while continuing to chug down beers, accidentally eating a few of the mugs in the process as well.
Ammi observes the zombies for a moment, watching everyone take them out. She looks down at her own wrists, where a couple of gold and sapphire bracelets are placed.
"...I know how this can go faster." Ammi nodded. She begins to take off one of the bracelets.
"W-wait, Ams! Last time you took off your seals, you almost killed us all!" Sephie squeaks.
"That's why I'm only taking one off this time." Ammi replied with a grin, handing the bracelet over to Felixter. "I trust you the most to keep this safe."
"Of course." Felixter nods.
Ammi's appearance changes slightly. Her flaming wings become even more intense, and her silver spots and eyes appear to leak silver and blue flames. She holds a paw out in front of her, and a lane of flame on the ground forms. It becomes like a fast-traveling wave, scorching through zombies and leaving a straight, wide gap in the middle of the horde. She continues to direct the wave all around, turning zombies to ash until it runs out.


[System]
Male
24
Appearance:
6'2"
A lithe and lanky build with messy auburn hair that spills down to his collar.
Sun tanned skin, and dark hazel eyes that seem to be permanently narrowed.
Clean shaven, with a narrow jaw line that peaks at his chin.

This good sir should do. Perhaps not so muscular...

Deston has dedicated his life to changing the world around him. He furthers his goal by literally changing the way people see things, by altering the world around him. At first he would simply conjure images and visions that weren't there, but by an early age he had already mastered making exact duplicates of people and decided to move onto loftier goals. He began focusing an channeling his mana into changing the chemical and atomic structures of materials around him. While he can masterfully change an apple into an orange without blinking an eye, he is still working on perfecting his craft to a greater scale such as turning a wooden mansion into brick and stone, or forming an item out of the air, without it leaving him exhausted and burnt out.

Deston has never wavered in his service to the Catholic Arcanocracy and has never doubted their teachings. Once his skills as an illusionist were known they helped him focus and hone his natural born talent. At a young age he was being given tasks by his Grand-Magi Alexander Leiber, such as sitting in on meetings without being seen, or sneaking into places otherwise forbidden to his fellow novices. The Church soon displaced him from his home in Ireland, constantly having him travel from place to place going to meeting after meeting, breaking into offices, and warehouses alike. By his teenage years he had become a master at blending into the crowd, becoming anyone at any time. A Japanese manager here, a German scholar there. He was recently promoted to Magi after completing his first task of killing a man for the Church. Deston didn't know who the man was, though he suspected he was a dangerous apostate the Church had deemed needed to be put down for the betterment of humanity. But he never actually asked. He never asked questions, and he found he wasn't the slight bit worried about who the man was. That was until the man Deston had killed actually made the news. The man had been a well respected Grand-Magi of the church.

The news shook Deston's otherwise blind faith, and sought council the only place he new where. At his next meeting with his old friend and mentor Grand-Magi Leiber. Leiber quelled his fears providing a story where the man Deston had just killed had actually been an operative of a dark order bent on the destruction of the Church. The Church couldn't formally charge the man with these crimes without alarming the people of how deep this group had infiltrated the church. Deston readily accepted the story he was provided, unwilling to believe that the Church would have him kill an innocent man. But the crack in Deston's faith was there.

Deston couldn't help but ask questions for his tasks which seemed to come less and less frequently after that. After a curious case of not receiving word from the Church for two months Deston finally received another task to kill. This time Deston couldn't go blindly killing. He spent weeks stalking his subject, a man mid way through his life. A thug from all indications, the man constantly skulking in the back alleys of Chicago shaking people down. Still Deston was unsure what the higher ups in the Church could want with this mans death. It was after one particular shake down where the man had beaten a young female and threatened to kill her child that Deston had decided the man deserved to die. Deston snuck into the mans apartment with all the skill his years provided, and entered the mans room only to find him already tore to pieces on his bed. Just then two Magi and came out of the shadows attacking Deston.

The battle that followed added two more bodies to Deston's kill count. Again death affected him not at all. But the betrayal of the Church haunted him. Obviously no longer welcome in the Church, Deston spent the following year hunting down his Grand-Magi who had seemed to disappear into thin air.

Deston's personality is whatever the moment requires. One moment he is pretending to be outgoing, hearty salesman, the next a secretive and nervous recluse. He typically prefers to stay in the shadows and scope a situation out before deciding on how to act. When engaging with peers he will often display a mask of a happy go lucky youth as he observed his natural quite, caustic, cynical, and reserved demeanor would make people distant and in the long run harder to manipulate for assistance. That being said, Deston is easily flustered with true deep emotions often not knowing to do when they appear as he is used to expressing only the shallow.

Deston has no true friends as he is constantly moving about, his only constant contact is the Grand-Magi he has been serving his whole life. The betrayal of his faith rocked Deston hard, causing him to look at the world with constant cynicism and suspicion. When letting down his mask he can become vicious with his tongue as he begins to let people know what he thinks of them or a situation, not afraid to use the secrets he's stolen from another to hurt them, or pick apart their personality. His ego has been building since he was first removed from his fellow novices, giving him a sense that he cannot fail and a belief that he has no living equal in his craft. While he has no doubt there are others who know more, he believes in just a few short years he shall pass them all.

[User]
Yuno laid back against the branch and partially on the trunk of the great redwood where Felix had been looking to find her. Her hands were webbed together and she simply had her head tilted towards the sky as a soft night breeze blew the end of her hair around every so often. With her hair color it wasn't hard to stop the outlier sitting on the red bark even during this time of night. If Felix could feel such things or tell by reading mana he could tell the tranquility coming off of her as she had a chance to simply ponder the greater unknowns of life while nighttime came in almost full. The moon was practically gone with the new moon giving them one of the more perfect views of the night sky available within the confines of the US. Her direction was clearly true north as well as he Polaris sticking out brightly with the little dipper following it. To the right of that a great arm of their Galaxy could be identified by the cloud-like spread of bright and dark areas it left behind as well as by star density. Only a few nighttime critters indicated life still moving about at the time, at least until Felix finally spoke to the girl before him.

When his voice reached her ear she turned slightly abrupt in surprise due to the lack of awareness she had given her surroundings at that moment of time. He perhaps caught her in a deep thought as well as her lack of initiative to have been using mananalysis for any detective style purposes. After the moment passed though she let out a small sigh of relief before commenting. "He is looking to hunt Taurus it seems today, hovering around the equator." Her immediate deduction of the man was that he wasn't out to harm her due to the fact he had snuck up on her and didn't immediately do anything then. This made her nerves calm considerably despite him being a stranger on school land, but even as her face turned into a trained charismatic smile that fooled most she met her guard wasn't just about to lower. "It's a good time to see Jupiter as well right now, right over there." She stated pleasantly while pointing to a point before the Leo constellation. "It's one of the best times to view Jupiter and the moon is allowing us to have a good view. I thank it for that."

For a second more she gazed at the sky before slowly standing up on her branch and resting one hand on the trunk for balance while she examined the man before her. "I guess I should ask why one of the Lord's servants decided to present themselves to me within the confines of the Academia." she spoke to the man before giving him a small curtsy once. "And by how fancy your robes prove to be can I assume you are someone of a bit more important stature then?" she added afterwards continuing with the smile and graceful attitude towards him. A true diplomat it seems in this case. "I doubt it has anything to do with my education, so I assume it might have to do with my mother or something along those lines."

[Assistant]
Felix stood on a separate tree from the tree Yuno was standing on. The tree Felix was standing on was close enough to Yuno to hold a conversation without yelling, and to make out fine details within each other's appearance. The moonlight shining down upon them seemed to embolden Yuno's appearance. The whitewash of the moonbeams made Yuno's outfit and hair shine vibrantly in a bright, almost hard on the eyes, pure white.

"You seem to be mistaken on a few points. Although I wear these robes, I no longer serve the governing body that assigned them to me. You were right that I am a servant of the Lord, that likely will never change. But you were wrong on the last few points. I am not here concerning your mother, whomever she may be, nor am I here concerning your education. I know how this might sound, but I am here because I need your help, and the fate of the world might be at stake if I do not receive it." Felix leaned his back up against the tree. He tried to give a comforting smile which might have just come off as awkward, despite him attempting to be disarming.

"Four days ago, I was an Arch-Magi, the highest achievable rank within the Catholic Arcanocracy. I had been an Arch-Magi for about twelve years, and served the Arcanoncracy all my life, never completely wavering in my loyalty to the body I served. That was until around three months ago, a fellow Arch-Magi, Thadeus, of whom I had already had a suspicion of, suggested during a council summit that we focus our efforts on finding these nine artifacts of grand and dangerous power called Paragons. I had studied up on the Paragons a lot as a youth, and had read accounts of their devastating power, bringing nations to power, destroying civilizations… Needless to say, I voted against the motion, and so did the Papal-Magi at the time, denying the motion. That would have been the end of it, except then not long after the Papal-Magi died and was replaced with Thadues's brother, Cornelius. Which leads me to about four days ago, there was another summit, and the motion for the Paragon effort was brought up once more by Thadues. This time, because of nepotism, Thadeus's motion was passed, and made top priority." Felix paused to collect his thoughts before continueing, "That night, I had what could only be described as a vision. I was shown many devastating events, all the possibilities of what would become of the Earth should any group get their hands on the Paragons. A voice told me that I needed to bring together a group of guardians in order to gather the Paragons before any other group does. When I awoke, I was writing names and locations down on this parchment." Felix reached into his robes and procured the parchment list. Felix charged it with mana and levitated it over to Yuno, so she could inspect it. "As you could see, your name and a very specific location was written down. Whatever told me about the various disastrous conclusions the earth would come to, somehow also knew where you would be exactly when I decided to come and visit you. I don't know how it works, but I would assume that I could visit any of these names at random in any order I want and they would all be at the location written down on that paper."

"I don't know why, but you are supposed to be a part of this team of guardians. So what do you say? Will you join us?" Felix asked.

[User]
Seeing Felix jump back and forth between the portals did little to staunch Deston's reluctance to walk through himself. If it were a trap Deston had little doubt that Felix could avoid it if it were magical and if it were an ambush they obviously wouldn't attack the supposed ex-Arch-Magi. But Felix clearly didn't have the time to convince Deston that it was safe on the other side as he disappeared through yet another portal. Deston had to acknowledge his fellow mage's skill. It was certainly no easy skill to keep multiple rifts open of different types going to different places. Deston certainly couldn't do it without his utmost concentration on the task yet Felix seemed to do so without batting an eye. A fact that made Deston more than a bit jealous.

Speaking a quick prayer to the Lord before letting himself be stunned by uncertainty any longer Deston walked through the two way rift arriving at a quaint looking wooden manor. A rather fancy hunting lodge perhaps? He looked about for a moment letting himself to grasp the surroundings. The fire place and large windows added a comforting homey feeling as Deston walked around admiring the wood work that seemed to touch every part of the building from the counter tops, to the floor, to the many wooden chests of various sizes scattered decoratively about the room. "I suppose I should have figured him as a natural and nature man." Deston mused to himself quietly. He had always preferred the solid strong look of brick and stone himself. Perhaps building a more sturdy addition to would be a nice little hobby while he waited for the rest of this supposed group of guardians.

Passing into the kitchen Deston found the note on the fridge verifying the feeling he had that he was alone. Skimming over the note quickly Deston shook his head. Looks like the other member of the team was of the rough and rowdy type. "So much for having company." With that he decided to see what the other rooms in the house would tell him about his new partners. Maybe he'd even find to his liking and claim it as his own. After a few altercations of course.


[System]
Primary Hex Code: #C9A281 | Secondary Hex Code: #D2691E

---
Theme: -

Gender: Female

Species: Dire Rat

Appearance: Just over a foot and a half when standing, Mei is far less intimidating than the typical Dire Rat. Her dull umber fur appears to be shorter than most, but remains coarse and unkempt. What makes Mei easier to identify would be her left eye. Although cloud-like in opacity, she suffers no impairment in vision from it.

Goals: To conquer the world

Past Life:
Mei's history begins in a small urban area of the Fujian province in China. Her parents were tailors that ran a small business in a small town, and were just two plain faces among the billion more worn by the citizens of the same country. It had seemed that Mei would be thrust into a life of mediocrity that would plague her for her entire life. After all, she was not physically strong or large, and though Mei's teachers had always considered her an exceptionally gifted child, it was not nearly enough to save her from her banal existence. Yet fate works in mysterious ways. In many aspects, being born into such an average life let het bare the fruit of her talents - at a very young age she learned that she yearned more; more of everything - power, wealth, influence. Ambition burned inside her, and at the age of twelve she ran away from home.

But how was a young girl like her, weak, alone, and talentless supposed to conquer the world on ambition alone? After living like a rat on the streets for several months, the answer came to her while watching a local gang terrorize a nearby shop owner. Power and strength were nothing but an illusion. Life was such that there is always someone stronger, or faster, or smarter. Knowledge and information was where true power lied, and if you didn't have that then all you needed was to seem that you did. And so, ten years of lying, cheating, and blackmailing her way through an imperfect system of government, she, as young as she was, found herself in charge of the heart of the local criminal underworld. But there had to be more, even she recognized that all her hard work only made him a big fish in a small pond. She needed to learn more, but alas, a bullet through the skull had ended her life.

Abilities:* Beast Sense I (1.4): A bundle skill applying to all physical senses. giving you sharper eyesight, better hearing and smelling, and in general be more sensitive to your surroundings
* Deception I (1.6): Like other charismatic skills, your personality is almost a magical charm unto itself. You'll have greater luck deceiving others, whether it be through words or sleight of hand.
* Monster Analysis (0.8) <UNUSABLE>
* Dextrous (0.1) <UNUSABLE>
* Muffle (0.1) <UNUSABLE>
* Faster (0.1) <UNUSABLE>

Transformations: Dire Rat

Inventory: None

[User]
"What was your plan then?" Suddenly realizing that they were here because of him and his idea to find it. She hoped he had some kind of explanation and equally if not more so hoped that the blue slime wasn't just going to try to eat them like two big balls of marmalade.

Edith didnt get behind him like he asked. Smaller and weaker, but she didn't want to give off the wrong idea that they were afraid what she could only assume was the thing that bothered to spawn them in the first place, and their bloody souls just decided to jump in. Regardless there was a bunch of things she didn't know, so she figured it was worth the effort to do something crazy.

She began with a bit of a sputter as she thought of the words. Then she sang...

"I'm five years old...
It's getting cold
I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh
And look up smiling at you
I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch
And the tractor rides
Look now, the sky is gold
I hug your legs
And fall asleep on the way home
I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
But I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today"

She sang the verse and then stopped, letting silence fill the cave again. She wasn't bad, it was just a woman singing acapella in a cave. She sang gently as if the words were a lullaby, not trying to put anyone to sleep, but sooth the savage beast. It was quite a silly thing to do but she reasoned. "I liked it when my kids did stupid stuff for me..." Was her only explanation for the sudden bit Taylor Swift's 'The Best Day'. She was amazed she could even remember the words.

[Assistant]
Elsewhere with @King Cosmos, @CriticalHit and @floodtalon

---

Digbie followed behind the group of plucky monsters, moving slowly every now and again as to not overexhaust himself once more. The system said he wasn't doing so well in the stamina department, but he was experiencing some sort of fast skill progression, which seemed really nice. As he followed behind the group, heading towards the bonfire that Mourningstar spoke of, Digbie attempted to use Tremor Sense to check around the cave, see if there was anything of note that he could point out to the group.

"Hello, Oberon and Mourningstar?" Digbie spoke up as he switched between his items, deciding that the <Stone Spike
TM
> was a more appropriate item to use in this case. "Are you two tryin' to shape your magic? I dunno if this makes any sense... but maybe think of it as reverse diggin'?" Digbie said as he slowed down a small bit. "Instead of makin' a hole, try and use what you got to fill the hole or make a pile. Maybe that'd work?"

+ <Stone Spike
TM
>
+ <Curved Rock
TM
>

[User]
---

SHIT. This was obviously not your average wisp, was it a lvl 2 like Jason? Right now, it didn't matter; all that mattered was survival. If that wisp got that mana crystal, it would be game over.

Unless....

Taking a gamble, Jason activated [Stone Shot I] again, this time using his own digestive fluids as ammunition. As the glob of stomach acid sailed toward the wisp, Jason lunged over the edge, and onto the inclined section of his tunnel. Remembering back to the level up screen, he remembered he had an undeveloped shape-shifting skill, if he could manage to manifest it here, it may just save his slimy skin. As membrane touched rock, the slime attempted to take the shape of a ball, constantly oscillating his weight in order to gain even more speed; he rolled as fast as he could to the bottom of the incline. Moments before crossing into his main tunnel, Jason consumed one of his mana crystals. Just as he crossed into the main section of his tunnel, he used [Rock Spire I] to block the top half of the opening into the newer section of tunnel before lunging over to his storage as he once again consumed a crystal. Snatching up the Tainted mana crystal, Jason whipped around, activating [Tremor Sense I]; as to be able to locate the wisp with pinpoint accuracy, as well as readying [Stone Shot I], using the tainted crystal as ammo.

The second that little puffball Fucker showed it's face, it was gonna get belted.

* 6x Mana Crystal
* 1x Poison Tainted Mana Crystal

[Assistant]
Asteria

---

---

Tch, so much for that plan. In this situation, that was the most concrete thought Asteria had the time to consider. As the two globs of poison flew towards her slowly, she avoided most of the attack by jumping aside. Unfortunately, a bit of her fur did get hit. Asteria rolled in a patch of dirt, removing as much of the acid as she could. She did not want to experience what its effect would be like if it reached her skin and ate into her meat. She saw the way her Mother engaged the two lizards head on. And since trying to go around an enemy while it was distracted from the front had worked so well last time, she attempted the same thing now.

Asteria dashed to the side in zigzagging motions, trying to add unpredictability to her innate speed in the event that either of the lizards tried taking her out before she was able to reach them. When she was perpendicular and relatively close to the more injured of the opponents, she charged the lizard in an attempt to head-butt it from the side. If she were lucky, she might be able to unbalance it enough so that it would flip over on its back or alternatively, make it crash into the other (healthier) lizard and disturb both of their attacks momentarily. Depending on what happened as a consequence of her attack, Asteria thought she could either bite into the nearest lizard to damage it or use her speed to dodge if either of them tried biting her. And perhaps her sister would actually consider how she attacked this time, though as long as she actually helped in some manner to kill the lizards and didn't get in her way, Asteria didn't much care what exactly Mei did.

[User]
Asura gave off a laugh. "I didn't really have a plan. I hoped maternal instincts would keep her from eating us and would help us stay alive. If she tried to fight I'd hold her off so you could flee before I followed." Asura stated while keeping a wary eye on the approaching slime. He forcefully moved Edith backwards so the huge slime didn't just drop on the pair and slurp them up like jello cups.

His fellow souled slime started singing to the mother slime which made him blink in confusion. Did the monsters in this cave even understand music? Either way he waited to see what the slime mother would do. Would she try to eat them? Would she somehow communicate? Or would she just go back to doing slime things? They'd have to wait and see.

[Assistant]
"What did you think you were doing?"

Although discrete, Mei could note th subtle frustration in her sibling's tone. She couldn't blame her though; Asteria's response was appropriate for the situation, but unless she insisted, Mei felt no need to explain her actions in detail.

"I-I d-d-dont know; it st-started to at-t-tack, so I p-p-panaicked." She whimpered in response as she stared at the cavern floor, trying to avoid eye contact.

Her sibling took several deep breaths to calm herself down, but still spoke with a bit of annoyance in her voice. "Whatever. It's done now. This just cost us two or three potential allies though,".

Mei was impressed at the level-headedness Asteria displayed; it only added to the reasons on why it was worth staying close to her and their mother.

While Mei was lost in thought, Asteria had suddenly brushed against her, as if comforting or reassuring her. Lowering her head even further, trying to hide her brief surprise, Mei whispered in a mumbling manner "I-I'm s-sorry". Fortunately, her sibling was a compassionate one. Whether this was genuine or instinctual, Mei couldn't say for sure; even with her history of violence, the ferocity she had shown throughout the day was a bit excessive even for her. Nevertheless, Mei still believed that the kindhearted were always the ones who were easier to deceive.

"I don't know about you, but I want to track Edward down and see if at least some of this mess can be fixed."

If Mei could've shown her displeasure with a deep and breathy sigh, she would. Unfortunately, she had an image she needed to maintain.

---

A well timed coincidence or just fate toying with them, Mei couldn't deny how volatile the environment in the cave was.

Wasting little to no time, their mother had pounced, leading the offense and displaying an ample amount of speed and agility as she skillfully weaved through the venomous volley of shots. Making use of her relatively smaller size, Mei ducked and log rolled to the side, doing her best to avoid the incoming attack as well. Seeing how immediate the actions of her fellow rats were, Mei immediately followed up and jumped into the fray, mimicking the movements of her sister. At least she tried to. Mei had noticed for a while now the difference in speed between the three of them. Their mother being faster was easily believable, but for Asteria, who was part of the same litter as her, was something Mei couldn't just accept. She assumed that their first few days of life were generally similar, so why was there a gap? Was she not pushing herself enough? Well, Mei didn't know for sure, but it was a good time to find out. She needed to utilize and get to know the capabilities of her body sooner rather than later.

Exerting as much effort as she could, instead of trailing from behind, Mei veered towards the opposite direction. With both Asteria and Mother up front, Mei hoped that their initial attacks would serve as a distraction while she'd sneak in. As soon as she got close, Mei planned to lunge forward as fast as she could with, aiming towards the trunk of either lizard with arms extended and claws bared.

 Despite the lack of coordination, hopefully their makeshift three-pronged approach would create enough confusion for a decicieve blow to land.


[System]
Gender: M

Age: 26

Career/Class:Soldier / Ex-Soldier

Weapons:
* Basket Hilted Broadsword
* Imperial Dagger
* Norscan round Shield (Took from his first felled enemy)
* Aged Pistol

Physical Description Cyrdic is tall and lean, but solidly built, standing an inch over 6 feet in height. His eyes are reminiscent of shaped wrought iron. His face is ruddy and echoes a youthful appearance, though battles and training had roughed him into the look of a mature soldier. He has quite the rugged quality about him. Two scars mar his face. One parallel to the bottom of his left eye, and another scraping across his right jawline. His legs are long and his his facial hair is only a coarse, 5'oclock shadow thanks to his knife. He's clad in fine and tough leather over a chainmail hauberk, with sturdy traveling shoes and a worn belt.

Mental Description/Personality: Cyrdic isn't a fool. He spent a year apprenticed to a Quartermaster (as punishment for recklessness) and learned how to read and write (to a degree). The best way to describe him would be a hardened, rough soldier at the brink of his youth. He'll use what he can in his disposal to win, though half the time it turns out he'll need to fuck someone up anyway. His fierce independence and rough nature can only be matched by his determination to survive. He's not tactically intelligent, but he has a sense of how battlefields shift and can command smaller troops with his powerful voice. He tends to have a take-no-shit (unless it's from a superior officer) lookout on life. He's amiable to certain people however, and will have a dry wit around those he enjoys (or to people he wishes he could be more honest with). While fighting and killing and marching has been his entire life, he's not particularly fond of being thrust into impossible situations and doesn't lack a healthy sense of self preservation. He's gotten quite tired of working for corrupt officers. He's a devout Sigmarite thanks to his upbringing, and has a hammer chained necklace upon his breast to signify this.

[User]
Cyrdic was glad Camilla had found a place for him to hide. His first instinct was to hide behind the door and then bash the back of their heads in with his sword hilt, and then tie them up. He supposed this was easier. He briefly thought Ricardo was going to get caught, but like a rodent he slid into some corner, and the two that entered conversed without pause or complaint. Cyrdic held himself completely still, one arm around Camilla.

Once the two were out, he stayed by the door to make sure he heard no more footsteps. Little did he know that his eyes needed to be elsewhere...

He whirled, sword leading when he heard the unfamiliar voice. When he saw who had been clapping, his breath caught. The voluptuous and enchanting woman lounged on the back chair, watching them. Even pushing herself up stirred something within Cyrdic, and he wondered how a person could be this beglamouring. He shook his head, trying to undo whatever effect was on him. Was it even an effect? He was a man but he wasn't usually this overcome with lust and admiration.

The woman's mocking laughter was haunting, her dress glimmering in the faint light of the room. She placed one pointer finger on the other, beginning to count down as she spoke.

"You remained unseen, you rappled across the rooftops. You moved gracefully and with an air of nobility I daresay." She said, her eyes falling on Camilla. "Very impressive. As are your companions. This one moves almost as well as you," she said, gesturing to Ricardo. The Tilean followed her hand as if it was a piece of meat to a starving man. She seemed bemused at his hungry gaze. "Though he's not quite the 'specimen' as the one in the back."

Her eyes bored into Cyrdic, and the Ostlander felt a hammerblow to his psyche as he tried to look away. But every sense in his body begged him to give into this one's will.

"What do you want?" Cyrdic asked, shaken.

[Assistant]
Camilla stood transfixed, her dagger still extended towards the woman. The blade seemed to weigh a hundred pounds and its point began to waver as the woman continued to speak.

"I want to talk Herr Becker," she said, as though that were the most normal thing in the world and he was somewhat churlish for him to rush her to her point.

"As I said the three of you have proven resourceful and brave," her eyes lingered on Cydric and Camilla fought to contain a gasp as she lowered her dagger. Relief flowed through her and she tucked the weapon back into the small leather sheath in her belt.

"This is a bit of an awkward time for discussions..." Camilla said finding some of her equilibrium returning. Her eyes followed the woman irresistibly as did the men. Ricardo reached out for a moment as though to touch her but didn't do so.

"You may call me Elspeth," the vision of beauty replied , "and yes, I don't imagine our hosts would react well if they discovered we had broken into their mansion." There was a touch of contempt in the woman's voice now.

"We?" Camilla asked, "You broke in as well?" Elspeth nodded graciously.

"Of course," she replied, obviously enjoying her effect on the trio. Her lips were very red and curved into a cupids bow smile.

"I'd like to know how you managed that," Camilla said her body tingling with some strange sensation as she spoke. The woman smiled that predatory smile again, somehow full of knowing and illicit promises.

"Perhaps I will be able to show you very soon," the woman purred. Camilla had to the strange feeling she was being sized up for something. Not sex, or at least not only sex, everything the woman seemed to do was sensual, but she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Why don't we leave this dreary place and I will take you to my estate were we can talk." Her fingers traced over Ricardo's shoulder as she spoke, tugging him as if by and invisible leash towards the floor. Ricardo who could have hit a bullseye with a throwing knife in the dark while drunk, knocked over the small lantern as he turned and oil spilled out onto the table, igniting the papers on the desk in moments.

"Oops," the woman said with an ironic smile.

[User]
Cyrdic looked positively feral as his eyes locked with the woman, hackles risen and lips curled into a snarl. He felt a slight warmth from his sword, though not nearly as loud as it was with fighting Chaos spawn. Still, this woman has a quality about her that he found extremely unnerving, despite the obvious promise of pleasure she elicited with her every movement.

For her part, the woman seemed a tad impressed at Cyrdic, and she raised an eyebrow. Ricardo took his cloak from behind him, and billowed it above the flame before snuffing it out. "Figlio di puttana! Someone would have heard that." He hissed, swiping the cloth back and rolling it up.

"Well we better get a move on, shall we?" She said, running a finger up Ricardo's neck, the man groaning at her touch. She chuckled, and sauntered over to the window with a sway of her hips. It was a heavy thing, but she opened the sill as if it weighed nothing at all. She held it open for the others, and gestured they come through.

"No," Cyrdic said, the word coming from somewhere deep within himself. The woman tilted her head, and then shook it. "Oh, worry not my Imperial. If I sought to harm you, I would have done it as you traversed the rooftops before you entered this place. Now come, we have a comfortable place for you all to speak with me..."

Despite his wariness and better judgement, he gave in to her suggestive voice, seeing the logic in her words. The Ostlander relaxed, and sheathed his sword as Camilla and Ricardo exited the window atop a thatched roof, the enchanting woman promising they would not need to go far to relax once again.

So fixated on the effect she had on them, it seemed to take merely a moment before they entered into her extravagant lair...

[Assistant]
Camilla found her mind drifting during the escape. She knew, at an intellectual level that she shouldn't but it was hard to focus. This woman was certainly a friend and maybe more than a friend. Each time Elspeth looked at Cydric she felt a surge of jealously that threatened to sober her but the intense emotion cooled once the blond turned her attention back to Camilla.

She had a vague notion that they were in a coach and the next thing she knew they were sitting in an elaborate parlor. The place was decorated in shades of red and gold with occasional silver accents and had a subtle feeling of aged splendor. Handsome men, each handsome enough to give Ricardo a rival, stood in livery of red and gold. Many of them wore weapons but they seemed to Camilla to be more ceremonial than practical.

"Cydric," Camilla whispered as she watched the servants. There was no response, his eyes following the roll of Elspeth's hips as she laughed at some jest Ricardo had just made.

"Cydric," she repeated. Still no response. Camilla very deliberately and very firmly stomped on the Ostlander's foot. For a moment she thought that it hadn't been sufficient but then, several seconds after the blow, his eyes cleared and he turned to look at her.

"Cydric something is wrong, look at their eyes," she said with a gesture at the servants. Indeed, their eyes shone with an almost religious devotion, but they were empty too, somehow conveying that there was little behind them other than a blind desire to serve. Before he could respond Elspeth turned back to them and was gesturing them into plush chairs.

"To bussiness then," she said languidly, her smokey gaze promising there would be time for pleasure afterwards.

"You have come for the Scarrab, I confess my Mistress does possess it, but no force you could apply will recover it." The words were matter of fact but absolutely final.

"Still we are not unreasonable, I can provide you with gold and with... other things," her gaze drifted across the trio and Camilla felt the 'other things' was distinctly different for each of them.

[User]
Cyrdic had decided to trust this woman, for no better reason than because she promised a way out of the compound. But that trust had led to his guard being let down, and with it his mental defenses. He openly stared at her as she entertained Ricardo, a lust stirring within him until he felt something annoying below his knees. It took another thump onto his shoe for him to feel the pain, and he winced. "Aahhh," he breathed, turning to look at Camilla.

Oddly enough, his baser instincts were still bare, and he blatantly looked Camilla up and down as well, drinking in the sight of her chest before blinking, his clouded eyes suddenly seeing clearer to understand the reason she stomped on his foot. "What?"

As Camilla explained, it dawned on him she was right. He felt more than foolish for having fallen for what he perceived to be an enchantment of some sort. Yes, there was no denying this woman was breathtakingly beautiful, but he admitted Camilla was as well, and he was in love with her. This wasn't infatuation or love that this woman was showing them, it was intoxication.

As they sat down at her behest, Cyrdic kept his gaze on the floor, or at least did his best not to make eye contact with the woman.

"Signorina Elspeth," Cyrdic heard Ricardo implore breathily. "I am under...incredible duress to recover the Scarab. If I do not..." His words were cut off by an amused chuckling. "Oh, Ricardo. Nothing you can say shall change my mind. However I am certain I can change yours." She purred. He let out an exasperated phrase in Tilean Cyrdic couldn't quite catch. It sounded even more longing than when he professed to be in awe of Camilla.

"Why would you pay us to keep us away from the Scarab?" Cyrdic asked her, and she turned to look at him, tilting her head. "Because, you and your friends seem useful. And I admit I am quite taken with your strong arms, if you seek to know my feelings of you."

"I do not," Cyrdic said, his mental strength bent solely on keeping his eyes away from her, though it was hard with her haunting voice.

"Oh, you wound me herr Cyrdic. But I am forgiving, and my offer still stands. As do many other pleasures I could provide," Her voice was husky. "But only if you deign to work for me. That does not sound so bad, does it?"

"No," he found himself saying.

Give in. Your world will be filled with joy and release. He shook the thoughts away, and he gripped his sword hilt. With the strength in it, he found he could look up at her and keep himself to himself...somewhat.