[System]
Age: 13

Gender: male

Race: half-orc

Class: ranger

What you want to be when you grow up?
A Brewer of the finest ale. Having a big beehive, lots of fruit trees and a shipbuilder.

Who is your mentor?
My father Raknar, he though me how to take care of the land and the family trade, which is tailoring and leather smiting.

Brief Biography: at the village. His mother was a human whore, but his father an orc. Raknar spent half of his wealth, which he got from serving in the army paying a whore to bore him a son. After the birth Raknar took his son and traveled to a distant small village. Here he settled down. The boy's name is Argurios. Since he was small Argurios helped his father at the farm and in crafting leather. Like at any farm, pestilence was a great problem. His father set traps for moles and rats, but this didn't end the problem, just lessened it. Argurios advised to buy a dog or some pet to keep watch of the fields, but his father disagreed. For Argurios's seventh birthday Raknar gave him an old sling which Raknar used in the army. The boy learned how to use the weapon fast and grew fond of it. For exercise he used the sling to hunt rabbits, rats and other pests that ruined the fields. One time, as he was chasing a rabbit and swinging the sling above his head he tripped and loosened the sling. The stone flew and accidentally slammed into Raknar's face breaking one of the tusks. Work on a farm was full of wounds of all sort. At young age Argurios was constantly wounded, being cut, broken, or infected. For most of these wound his father took care of. Even when the wound was infected Raknar rarely sent Argurios to the village healer. Each time Raknar took care of Argurios, Argurios carefully watched the work and in time learned how to patch himself up. When he was 12 he accidentally messed up an order of one of the village men, and so he had to help him at the saw mill for half a year. He worked through the mornings. At afternoons he had nothing to do. The saw master showed him how to make bows. With his first bow Argurios made, he spent practicing. Before he could become skilled with it, he already played his debt and went back to his farm. At home he didn't have the time to practice with the bow so the weapon just sat in his room. Argurios and his father also took care of the house. Raknar was a stubborn orc and whenever something in the house broke he had to fix it himself, or it would stay broken. Argurios naturally helped every time and learned how to fix multitude of things along the way.

Argurios was one of the few people who survived the trouble at Twiddledale and he joined the group of children desperately seeking the rest of the villagers. Unfortunately trouble in various forms found them as they traveled and now only he and Brisa remain, still working their way forward to try and find their friends and family from Twiddledale.

As he and Brisa found their way to loudwater So did one of the children who they thought was gone forever, Aiden. Togeather they replenish their supplies, and within their short wisit of the city they experiance first hand the horrors of the rising dark god. With the help of a former boy-monk, together, they escape from the dark gods priests and find themselvs in a skif, on a river, to the next town ahead.
What person(s) of interest do you know? Who all do you have a relationship with?: all of his home village. His family was the only one with such quality leather crafting, and so all came to him for all sorts of things. They all knew Argurios is, yet had no personal relationship. The Greyman, an old man who helped Argurios and his friends escape the city.

Equipment: pack--rope, leather crafting equipment, 1 knife, blanket, water-skin, flint & steel, Good quality bow, 2 additional bow strings, food supplies for a week, A new set of travelling clothes, basic outdoor cooking set.
 On his person/miscelaneous--resonable amount of gold,strange medallion, leather cloak, axe, broken tusk, & sling.

Class Skills: basic skills with double handed axe. Very good with an ancient sling. Knows how to shoot and make a decent bow. Good observation (can see hiden things, and through weak illusions.)

Active spells/skills:
 Charge (if he has the element of surprise he can charge an opponent and knock them off balance, if he charges with a weapon there's a chance to deeply wound the target.)

Life Skills: 'Basic Farming Knowledge'. Leather crafting. Basic wound healing. sling hunting, Basic Trading

Clues:

a copy of the writing over the dead bodies in twiddledale, written in the same language as the notes in the book of maps. not secret

the hanging in the name of the dark god. not secret.

a golden medallion with a dark black figure on it. SECRET!!

[User]
Argurios kept on running. He heard the towns boy yell after him, but he didn't stop. He slowed down by a bit, but he had to keep running. Soon he would lose his strength and would need to put brisa down. No, no stopping, as long as he can run he will. Argurios could feel, the weight of the cargo and the weight from Brisa, how its taking its toll on him. His strength was seeping faster than ever. But then again it wasn't that far to the river either. Setting his mind to the task, Argurios decided he will either fall of exhaustion or make it to the damn river.

The scent of smoke and burning wood filled the streets. Argurios found it odd at first, but realised it was most likely a distraction that grey man made. This time they will all make it to the river. Leaving no one behind. Argurios believed that without seconds thought, he had to. The idea of leaving someone behind was not an option.

---

Above the small group of children a black, big, crow flew, like stalking a soon to be dead pray, waiting to relish on its dead corps.
Dreknor was sprinting through the town. As he ran he could see different scenes of people fighting and running. But he didn't stop to help. Even as the fires broke out and everyone rushed to help and stop it, Dreknor kept running towards his goal. The black crow in the skies kept telling him where the children are, and so he knew where he has to go. Reaching the river before the children he looked into the sky and could see the black bird coming towards him. Moments from now he will kill for the god, for the first time. The idea of his deed made him feel proud and useful. And the magic in him made him powerful, and more obsessed with the evil god than ever before.

[Assistant]
As the children ran only a single enforcer bothered to follow them, but one was more than enough, more than they had a hope of being able to handle. He was fuled by the power of the shadow god, his shadow bound to the god, his body nothing but a shell for the power that now inhabited it. Unnoticed by the kids he was easily able to follow them.

Brisa was doing her best to hang on but she couldn't even ride a horse, and they were built to be ridden. Plus she could tell her friend was tired, she needed to get down...but jumping while in motion seemed to be a bad idea. She was still trying to figure out what to do when the decision was taken out of her hands.

A force hit Argurios from behind, Brisa didn't even see what only knew she was falling and there was nothing she could do about it. She hit the ground with an impact that knocked the breath from her body and nearly caused her to black out. The only thing she managed to do before she fell was to emit a little shriek, and that was it.

Dreknor had found his quarry at last, and he did not hesitate. With superior strength, speed, and endurance, not to mention his holy zeal he feared nothing. Least of all a group of small children. His first move took them by surprise as he barreled straight into Argurios from behind, wrapping his arms about the young half-orc, and tumbling both of them to the ground on top of the unfortunate Brisa.

Brisa couldn't think of of anything save that she was trapped and barely able to breathe, partly from impact and partly because she was half-smothered under bodies. Every breath was agony in her side, she was sure she would pass out soon from the pain.

Dreknor rolled, quick and agile as a cat, off Argurios and leaped to his feet, solid black eyes showing no emotion as he sought not only to stop the children, but to kill without question or remorse.

[User]
Aiden came to a stop between the Agurious and what he considered to be an evil creature in human form. He realized his crossbow was never reset and ready for a bolt so he couldn't use it. He decided to keep the club out, its extra reach may prove more useful than the dagger, and with the dagger fairly out of sight, it may be best to keep it hidden anyway...just in case. "Guys, I don't think we can shake this one," Aiden started, "Ya'll go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

Aiden took a ready stance. He was determined to fend this thing off. Demon or not, this 'creature' and his ilk are the kind that destroyed everything he knew, and it was about time to start settling some scores.

[Assistant]
"Ya'll go on ahead. I'll be right behind you."

The boy was either extremely brave or he had a death wish. It was difficult to tell which. One thing was certain; there was no way he could take on an enforcer all by himself. It was doubtful that they could defeat him together, even outnumbering him four to one. Jatan had seen the invasion of his monastery, had seen seasoned monks' limbs cracked like twigs. Something was not right about these men. They moved faster, hit harder than should be humanly possible.

That's when he recognized the boy's words for what they were - a distraction! He must be giving Brisa and the half-orc time to regain their feet. But Jatan could make use of this distraction too. This guy had to have a weak point somewhere….

There! His eyes! Deep blue, they seemed to hold at bay a deep anger that could come crashing out at any moment, like a violent wave at sea. Blinking. Scanning. Glaring. Vulnerable.

Of course, not all people could be debilitated by blindness. Jatan remembered one particularly challenging exercise the senior monks used to challenge themselves; they fought blindfolded. Edgar was particularly accomplished at this feat. No matter how quietly, quickly, or cleverly his opponent approached, he was somehow able to sense them and send them careening to the floor with a snapping kick or a forceful toss. Still, fighting while blind was no easy task, especially for someone without training. And it was doubtful this enforcer had that training.

It was time to put the theory to the test.

As Dreknor turned his attention towards the boy, Jatan slunk cautiously clockwise, hoping to flank his foe. If the enforcer made a move towards the boy, Jatan would fling himself onto the enforcer's back and attempt to claw at his eyes. It was a risky play, one that could result in serious injury, but Jatan pushed the moment of hesitation out of his mind. Cowardice was not becoming of a follower of Torm. His calves tensed as he rolled onto the balls of his feet, and he sucked in a deep breath...

[User]
The wind blew softly through the narrow path of the city that the river stream made. Dreknor inhaled slow and long, taking all the information he can get. The soft breeze didn't help. Though he could smell everything from upstream he could smell very little from downstream. The half-orc was slowly getting back on his feet. There were sure signs of injury and exhaustion radiating from him. Yet Dreknor was not satisfied. He was hoping to knock out the half-orc. Seemed he was more resilient than he thought. The girl seemed to be half concusses, but Dreknor was sure that after such a fall, there will be no trouble from her. He also sensed the two boys moving around him, trying to attack from behind and front at the same time. Dreknor steadied himself, readying his leg muscles he used dark magic and rushed forward towards the boy with the club. To a normal human it would seem like teleportation. Grabbing the end of the club with one hand and the boys wrist with the other, he disarmed the boy and threw him into the other youth standing behind Dreknor. '' Ha this will be a good sport it seems'' Dreknor said and tossed away the club.

---

Argurios tried to get back to his feet as fast as possible. But his leg was injured. He had to sprain his ankle, and his right elbow was cracked, as he tried to shield his companion from the fall. Once up he looked at the situation, just in time to see his friend be thrown like a rag doll. Argurios screamed and tried to rush at the enforcer, but as soon as he tried to step on his right foot, it gave way and he fell hard against the ground.


[System]
RANK: Technically a Commander as she heads the Sciences department, but has the real-life military experience of a rookie.

DEPARTMENT, POSITION: Sciences, Department Head (Weapons R&D Focus)

RACE: Human

AGE: 34

GENDER: Female

APPEARANCE:
Measuring up at a meager 5'3 and barely breaking a hundred and ten pounds, it's not hard to see why Annalynn isn't the military type. She's often well dressed and in clean, well-kept condition - impressive, given that she spends much of her time on military ships.

SHORT BIO: Annalynn was born into a military family with a long line of members serving in the Union Fleet. With a doctorate in mechanical physics, additional degrees in politics and psychology, and a lifetime of experience putting weapons together both large and small scale, Annalynn was approached by the Union Fleet to run weapons development programs on its ships. It was an easy choice for her, given the pressure from her family. However, by the time she served on her first ship, she was 32, having spent much of her life in school. As such, her practical experience is extremely limited, though it's hard to argue with her intellect.

PERSONALITY: If she wasn't a scientist, Annalynn would probably have been a politician. She is extremely good at maintaining her composure in heated social situations, and is an intensely charismatic individual, sometimes to the point of overwhelming those around her. She's an extrovert, of course, but she's not obnoxious about it - Annalynn knows how to mind her manners.

In addition, Annalynn stands by the age-old idiom, "knowledge is power." She places intellect and facts before anything else, though the well-being of her friends and colleagues is a close second on her list of priorities.

TALENTS:

* She can build you a gun, and a damn good one at that. It doesn't matter how big or small it is, Annalynn can build it.
* Maintains her composure in heated situations better than most politicians
* An excellent people person
* Strong respect for the chain of command

FLAWS:

* Physically a very weak person
* No combat or tactical experience
* Relentlessly holds to her opinion until proven wrong. At least she'll be polite about it.
* Strong respect for the chain of command (hey, some people see it as a fault!)

[User]
"Don't do anything irrational. The last thing we need is for something like this to happen again and for someone to suffer and even more serious injury," Possily death, but he left that part out as he continued to speak. "I say that not only as a doctor but as a fellow crewman, an incident like that could boil into something even worse. Set off a chain reaction."

"But, we'll head back to the medical bay, have a look at it. If it's just a dislocation then depending on the severity it could be nothing. A break is more complicated." The doctor said, trying to speak with words that weren't filled with too much medical mumbo jumbo. Then he motioned for Malory to follow him back to the medical bay, which wasn't far from where they were.

"So how exactly did you anger him so much?" Roy asked as they entered the bay through the front doors into a medium sized room, some tables on one side, various medical machinery all around as well. Two female nurses were around the room, speaking to each other as Roy entered the room, heading over to one of the tables, motioning for Malory to get onto it as he took a seat next to it.

[Assistant] Malory nodded at the nurses and took a seat on the table. He looked around the medical bay and all of a sudden his face went from as if he'd seen a ghost to that of a kid in a candy shop. He was taking note of every drug he could see. He was taking a mental inventory of what was there and how much it could go for and thinking about who he could sell it to. Hell, there were people on this ship right now who would pay a good price for this stuff. Prescription painkillers, stimulants, syringes and more. All kinds of drugs that he could sell or trade with. It's amazing how fast his mind was taken off of the pain when he entered this room. "So uh. what's wrong with it? It doesn't feel broken but it fuckin' hurts." he said, still staring at the painkillers he deemed to be the most valuable. His speech was slow and making it entirely obvious he was focusing on something else.

[User]
"We'll see, won't we?" Roy said as he hovered an electronic device over the injured area, an x-ray. Through it a in depth view of the bones could be seen. The doctor gave it a long look, just to make sure he was certain what he was looking at. Then he spoke in a reassuring tone, his eyes looking up to find Malory gazing off towards something.

"Well, the good news is that it is just a dislocation. Should be fine as long as you avoid any more fights and rest the arm enough." He added, then carefully grasped the shoulder bones and gentle maneuvered it, having done the same action many times before to previous patients of his.

"The pain should subside, though if you want I can prescribe you some relievers for the pain. Just take it easy, no more fights, doctor's orders." He said.

[Assistant]
An unusually firm hand laid what felt like a bear's grip on Ensign Mallory's shoulder, squeezing the dislocated joint.

"Hey Christian. Stop acting like you're going to fucking case the joint and come help me with something."

Turning around, he would notice his superior officer was carrying an armful of protein and granola bars, Snickers, Babe Ruths, 3 Musketeers, and (most appropriately of all) Milky Ways. Behind her was a service cart loaded up with box after box of the same, hundreds if not thousands of energy-intensive candy bars packed with carbs and sugars. She chewed on a partially opened Snickers, handling it like one of her cigars. Presumably she wanted him to push the cart.

"What, are you deaf Mallory? I said now, ya big baby."

Kal said it sternly, meaning Mallory didn't have much of a choice in the matter. You see, the boss lady was more than aware of the illicit business he conducted at port and aboard the ship. It was hard to fool the eyes and ears of a super-soldier, but thankfully for the Ensign, anything that may have constituted a potential breach of protocol aboard the ship didn't seem to bother her if it didn't involve a smoking gun barrel or a bare-knuckles fist-fight. She let him do his business unmolested whether he realized it or not, and even kept a secret from the others, but such patience had its limits...

[User]
Amy watched silently as events escalated in the server room. She made sure to stay clear of everyone's way, but she felt like pulling her sidearm and bellowing for those fighting to leave. The thought of using her Deck to call the Administrative head down to get everyone out echoed in her head, but the thought disappeared as some of the worse of the idiots in the room left. The assistant N-N poked his head in to see what had happened, but quickly disappeared.

"Tawha eth kafuc didi yathe od ot eth raserve?" She mumbled to herself, before shaking her head. "While authority is here, I need to ask in the next staff meeting that the damn fucking keycard security be updated! Only the networkers and higher rankers are supposed to have access into here." Amy shook her head. "And by the way, the servers are still up. While the servers being down would help them cool, they need to be up or we'll have a mob at our door again." She tapped on her Deck, which was beeping with every message she got. "You know what, this is it." With a groan, she rapidly typed out a message and sent it out on the shipwide network.

All users, priority

Network usage is now on Restricted level. Only ranks Lieutenant+ and bridge crew (along with Neural Networks (standard protocol, nothing special)) are able to message. Thanks to the overflux, the server is overheated.

Thank you for your cooperation
Amy Skydawner
Neural Networks Manager

Amy sighed, looking back up and watching Mason along with the others, looking flustered.

[Assistant]
Quickly being brought back to reality by a supersoldier grabbing his just put back in place shoulder as if he there was no problem with that. He hissed in pain a sharp breath as he clenched his teeth and eyes once more. "Fuck." he let out as an angry whisper. Kal began talking to him, she was one of the few people who knew his true job on the ship and DIDN'T buy anything off of him. It was surprising, but what could someone with one of the few things he couldn't get his hands on want from him? Nanomachines were not something the union let slip out of their hands and into people like his. He heard his orders and expected to go check some rooms but noticed a cart full of... Candy bars?

"Um. Why are there so many candy bars? Shit hurt before, I don't need the bone turning into dust." He put his hand on hers, not even trying to pull it away. "Am I pushing this cart?" He wanted to yell about her grabbing his freshly relocated and still very much in pain shoulder but he had to focus on playing off getting caught looking at the pain pills and various other drugs. "And doc, just give me the strongest stuff you got, put it infront of my door in a box DISCREETLY. There's a small panel at the bottom right, just needs a kick and it'll open. Hide it in there, if it's not empty, don't read any labels." Malory hopped off of the table. He couldn't remember if he had taken the few bottles of a paralyzing neurotoxin he was bringing to a buyer in union territory only produced by animals on the planet they just left. Shit paralyzed you for up to three days, very VERY illegal, but very valuable as well. Let's hope he put it somewhere safer.

[User]
"HA!" Maggie yelled, hitting the server block with a fist for good measure. She'd finally gotten the damn thing working again—the overheated or broken motherboards had been replaced with some questionable soldering, bits of wire, and duct tape, with enough coolant to drown a rhino thrown in for good measure. They'd have to actually make repairs and replacements soon, but not just yet.

Dusting her hands off and sticking her tools back in the bag on her hip, Mason glanced over at the Zenohunt who was...still here? For some reason?

"Good idea restricting access," she said absently, before blinking and looking around at the newcomers. "Wait, shit. Where's the StelCart guy—right here, okay, that's convenient. What's your name—Tornado? Conair? Conado, that's it—Conado, how close are we to Iorus II? I want to get a department meeting in before we have to go groundside." She looked back to Skydawner, raising her eyebrows. "You can get everybody together in the meeting room, yeah?"

[Assistant]
Amy gave a salute to the commander, saying a simple "Yes ma'am. Can do," before tapping on her deck, selecting all of the department heads (including the commander before her). Normally, an administrator would send out a message like this, however, with the network set to be restricted, Amy could understand why the commander wanted her to type it. That, or it was just pure laziness, as she could type out a message herself if she wanted. Creating a new message and marking it as high priority, she began typing.

All department heads, priority

Commander Mason is calling a meeting in the meeting room, now. All department heads are to head to the meeting room as soon as possible.

Regards
Amy Skydawner
Neural Networks Manager

PS: You may wish to hurry. Commander Mason will probably not appreciate people being late, as she has been very busy today.

Amy hit send, before looking back at the mail, her eyes resting on the words 'Amy Skydawner'. She always felt a little funny using the human translation of her name. Back in Yasanctuar's navy, she would usually write:

Daregars
Yam Yaskradawne
Laneura Kanetwors Ramanage

Looking up at commander Mason, she spoke. "Ma'am, the message has been sent. Orders?"

[User] "Uh," Maggie said intelligently. Few people asked her for orders. Even the babies down in Engineering usually just had commands yelled at them, they didn't ask for more. "Don't you have work to do? If you really wanted to, I guess you could go through the Captain's missed messages, sort them by priority—" Mason sighed, running a hand through her short, chopped hair as she headed out of the server room and toward the lift. "Ask somebody else, kid, I have no clue what the Admin staff is supposed to be doing right now."

[Assistant] "I can't even ask the head since he's probably heading to the meeting!" Amy calls out as Mason walked off. "Tadamni, she thinks to herself, shaking her head. She begins to stroll to the door between the servers and the neural networks room. As soon as the keycard reader beeped, she walked in. "Crewman Jimmy, break out the chess board." She says, sitting down. If she wasn't getting orders, she was going to enjoy her time with her Networks assistant. A smile broke out on her face as she moved her first piece.

[User]
The message caught Annalynn as she was about to enter the science labs. Sandwich in one hand, datapad in the other, she did a quick 180 and headed towards the meeting room. If Maggie was calling a department head meeting, she was likely even more concerned than she had already implied in their previous conversation. Not like her concern would be without reason - two days without the captain and the Audacia was already closer to resembling a pirate ship than a Union Fleet ship.

In any case, Annalynn would have to keep things moving. She wrote a quick message addressed to the Science department:

"To all Science personnel:

Until order is restored, continue to work on your assigned tasks until further notice. That said, given that our resources are now split in three ways between upgrades to our ship's weapons, the search for our Captain, and the requests from Security (which, may I remind you, is not a priority, but must still be fulfilled in due order) I understand that the stress of the workload is a bit much to handle. But this department is more than capable of handling it and I expect our research and development to maintain a similar time frame.

Remember, my door is always open.

Commander Annalynn O'Neil

PS And to the people working on Audacia's weapons, please remember that manual calculations are always required to support your findings in simulation. I think we all remember what happened to the USS Dudacek."

Annalynn mentally shook her head at that incident. They had completely forgotten to tell the targeting computers to recognize Union ships younger than ten years and the Audacia almost fired on the Dudacek. That had only added yet another reprimand on the ship's long list...

By the time the message was written and sent, Annalynn found herself at the meeting room. She allowed herself in, nodding at the security guard posting outside as she entered.


[System]
Age: 14

Appearance: Normal
Transformed

Wish: "I wish I was the best magical girl in the world"

Soul Gem Color: Green

Powers: Her powers are twofold. For the first, her general abilities are above the norm for the average magical girl, in terms of speed, strength, and the like.

The other is Mimicry, the ability to copy another Magical Girl's powers after seeing it. She can't permanently take them on, and can only take on one power at a time without significant strain on herself and her body.

Weapon: A swordstaff which can separate into a short sword and a mace

Personality: Miyako is outwardly friendly, confident to the point of being cocky, and a generally open person. She tends to show off in fights, especially when there are others around, though more on the side of flashy than reckless She sees herself as the best, and wants others to know it and treat her as such.

She cares for her friends and is always willing to play the part of a listening ear or to help out if needed, as long as she is secure in her own beliefs. At the same time, her outward personality serves as a mask she keeps over her inner feelings. But she doesn't let those come to the surface, lest she fall into the fugue that held her before. And so long as she has her beliefs, she will be fine.

Bio: The oldest of several brothers and sisters, Miyako grew up believing that she had to be a good role model, to be the best and serve as an example. It was a self given role, though her parents certainly had high hopes. And she managed it, for a while at least. Good grades, friends, that sort of thing.

Then high school began and everything got harder. She found herself not as talented, having to work. Beyond that, there were people more skilled and better than her. Even her own siblings were surpassing her, at least in her mind. Sure, she had her high points, but no longer was she the bright person she thought she was. depression weighed, and it was at that point that she was approached to become a magical girl.

It was an easy choice, and she took it. She became a magical girl, and practically devoted her free time to the job. Her grades might suffer a bit as a result, but she could see how important it was, and she was determined to excel as it. And that she has done, establishing herself as a Magical girl. And if she has her way, it will stay like that.

Theme: Credens Justitiam

Other:

[User]
The clash of blades ringing and steel sparks flying filled the rooftops of Miso City. Akame ran parallel to her sword bearing enemy, slicing about and countering each strike faster than any swordsman. Likewise, the Primordial facing her kept up with equal speed and lurched forward to push her back with exceeding strength.

Their blades locked together, Akame kicked the knight back before gripping her sword with two hands. Moving her arms upward, she clenched her weapon tighter and swung it downwards into an arc. A crescent wave of flame was hurled directly at the Primordial. Skidding on the roof with its gauntlets, the creature make a quick recovery and held itself in its own battle stance.

With one foot outward, the Primordial gave out a mighty bellow as it too copied Akame's exact motions, launching back its own attack. Instead of flame however, a wave of pure, golden energy met with the wall of fire. Akame narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth slightly, ready to dodge if the clash of power resulted into an explosive convergence.

Seconds passed before her predictions were proven true, the ground rumbling beneath her feet as the two bursts of opposing energies finally collapsed upon each other and forced both combatants backwards. Smoke was everywhere but Akame made sure to keep herself moving. Her dark coat made it easier to camouflage herself in the plumes and it was only a matter of moments before she sensed the Primordial. With its back turned towards her, searching in the dark mist, Akame leapt into the air and shot down like a bullet, ready to pierce its black heart.

"W-What?"

Akame's sword was met with nothing but air. Surprised, she parted the smoke instantly with a mighty wave of her hand and just caught the last glimpses of her enemy. The knight Primordial was being enclosed in what looked like a line in reality, sucked in and departing from her sight before the line closed in the shape of an eye.

A soft giggling filled Akame's ears and she turned around to see the one that had caused such a phenomena. This Primordial had long flowing hair coupled with a dark gray and purple dress. A large parasol was held in one hand while a small, Japanese fan was held in the other. They floated in the air gracefully, as if it were some divine being from the cosmos.

"So you're the real enemy here," Akame mused, pointing her blade at the newcomer. "Nice trick you got there. I bet you have plenty more if that powerful presence of yours is anything to go by."

The Primordial giggled once more in response to that, opening up more eye-like portals for the coming battle. Akame tensed a little, knowing that for some reason this Primordial was significantly more powerful than the others. That meant it was more intelligent…and more dangerous. She realized that she might need some assistance for this one.

Hopefully help would come in time.

[Assistant]
Yuna dashed at the white magical girl, trusting her spear at her chest, but the other girl blocked Yuna's attack with another shield spell and prepared to counterattack with another wave of guided light balls.

"Just as I expect" Yuna said while disengaging her spear and spinning her body, summoning a crown shaped ice formation to protect her of the sledgehammer-like magical blasts, following the attack by stabbing her spear on the ground causing the ice crown to burst and shoot sharp splinters of ice everywhere.

The white primordial blocked the ice blast with another shield and flash stepped to where Yuna was standing, trying to slam the frost magical girl with another blow of her staff, only hit an ice clone, losing her balance momentarily.

Yuna had used the explosion to cover herself in a flurry on snow and ice, while jumping away from the primordial and now used her small advantage to dash at it from behind, trying to finish the fight as fast as she could. Just as she was about to make contact, Yuna spun her spear and an arced wave of icicles shot from the ground up aiming for the primordial's left flank, while Yuna delivered a roundhouse kick at its right. "Block this!"

The staggered primordial howled as she was both stabbed and hit by a concrete splitting kick at the same time. Blood began to paint her tarnished white dress in a deep crimson color. However, it wasn't about done yet and countered by slamming Yuna with her staff thrice in rapid succession, breaking some of Yuna's ribs and rupturing some of her organs, causing the frost magical girl to spit a stream of fresh blood as she rolled for several meters on the cold pavement.

Yuna got up and cleared the blood from her cheeks, she knew that if she didn't made quick work of this primordial she had big chance of dying. The frost magical girl closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the stabbing pain from her broken ribs gritting against her lungs awakened her fighting spirit, and when she exhaled a could of frost left her mouth and her eyes were as sharp as those of a tigress ready to finish her prey in one fell sweep.

The primordial ignored Yuna's second wind and shot another beam of pink destruction, trying to erase the magical girl from existence in one attack. At the same time it shot another wave of light balls to try to trap Yuna on the beam's path.

Yuna smirked "You're going to need more than that, to kill me" and dashed with an speed unseen up to now, barely a blur in the middle of a snow flurry that suddenly hit the parking lot. She flashed behind the primordial and delivered a blindingly fast barrage of stabs and kicks, finishing her assault by spinning her spear and summoning a large icicle to stab the primordial's chest. "If I die here I'll never be able to see Elise and the others again. I'll not allow that, not after finding something precious to me after so many years walking the world alone."

The primordial's world turned red, not with the wounds, no, they could and would be ignored. Even losing an arm, or both, was nothing but a flesh wound to a creature such as they. What made her world turn red was rage, burning anger for seeing the smile on the magical girl's face. Why was she so full of hope after being battered like that? Has the bashing bring about the hidden masochist on the girl's heart, or she did remembered something that gave her this miraculous second wind? Nah... it didn't mattered, all that it needed to was to kill and consume this girl's flesh, the tears of despair coming from her broken delusions would be the perfect spice to such a meal. So it roared and discarded the cumbersome weapon it was wielding pouncing at Yuna with its bare claws and shark-like teeth, hoping to rip the frost magical girl's throat off of her neck.

"Finally revealed your true colors, huh? A shame it won't work." Yuna said as she met the primordial charge with spinning kick, sending her flying backwards. Right at that time Yuna's body shuddered with a bad feeling coming from the direction Akame went to "Could it be?"

The primordial's rage was turned into pure wrath as it got up and charged at the distracted magical girl, roaring and howling like a maddened demon.

"I don't have more time to lose here" Yuna said when the primordial was almost upon her. She hit the beast with the shaft of her spear sending it reeling backwards and to end the fight... "May God have your soul. Now, die!" the frost magical girl yelled as she launched her strongest attack, throwing her spear which broke into thousands of steel shards mid flight and reduced the primordial's body to a blood stain on the pavement.

"Akame, Akame, are you well? Hold on, I'll arrive there as soon as I can." Yuna said telepathically as she dashed to the location of their leader, ignorant to the fact that the primordial she just killed didn't turned into a black rock as usual , but instead on a miniature magic circle. The meaning of this only time would be able to tell.

[User]
The plaza that Miyako was fighting in had been thoroughly destroyed over the course of this battle, smashed by fist or by weapon, or even by the high speed impacts of bodies against surfaces that shattered them in the process. At least the area was clear of civilians now, which prevented more deaths, but windows had been shattered, walls wrecked, and the ground cratered from missed blows, a flurry of explosive destruction that was definitely a first for the magical girl.

Still, the fight raged without abandon, the Primordial not slowing down or deterred by any strikes that Miyako might land, while the magical girl had shifted to the defensive. She had no special powers to draw on, and she couldn't use her weapon to it's full functionality due to the fact that trying to fight with one weapon in each hand would make her unable to block, at least against punches that were this powerful. She wasn't sure how the others were handling things, bur hopefully they were having as hard a time as she was.

Another leap took her out of the way of a punch as the remains of a table were shattered into so much woodchips and sawdust, definitely no longer usable. She took the moment to attack then, swordstaff spinning as she lashed out with a swift kick aimed at the dark creature. It hit, which she was glad for, but it didn't seem to do anything to phase the Primordial, as if it could just soak up all the damage she dealt. And it had thus far, which made this all the more distressing. She'd need to do a fatal strike before she was overwhelmed, and fast. Already she could tell she was starting to grow close to her limit.

Still, she was not going to lose or fall here, not if she had a say in the matter. She spun about, chucking items at the Primordial and using the opening as it swatted them aside to try and get behind it, so that she would have the freedom to maneuver and attack. So she did, striking with blistering fury and cold determination in a rapid trio of blows that at least gave the thing pause. But she botched the retreat, and it took the opportunity to hit her back.

"Aaagh!" Miyako cried out as she smashed clean through a bench, feeling the wood splinters lodged in her skin, irritating the wounds and making healing that much more of a hassle. It was a good thing she was the best magical girl out there, or she would have had real trouble right about now. But she wasn't, so she managed to keep going in spite of that.

Quickly recovering, she charged forward again, determined to end this. But rather than meet the countering punch, she instead ducked beneath it in a slide, letting her sword rise up to gouge at the bottom of the Primordial's arm, earning a roar of pain from the beast as black ichor sprayed and tainted the ground. That only seemed to enrage it further though, and it swung about to strike her further. She wasn't hit, but her weapon was sent spinning instead. "Tech, great," she grumbled as she rolled out of the way, dashing for it, only for the Primordial to get between her and it.

At the same time she felt the change in signature from further afield, indicating that something was up. But she didn't have the time for that, had to focus on the opponent at hand. If she let it then this thing would punch her into next week, not exactly the option she was looking forward to. But she would persevere, one way or another. She just had to find a way.


[System]
45 YEARS OLD
LEAD AUROR OF THE LOS ANGELES DIVISION

JOSEPH ADAMS
38 YEARS OLD
AUROR

 GILBERT BRANT
30 YEARS OLD
AUROR

[User]
---

"Good thing then, because my obvious extensive knowledge of mythical beasts will totally come in handy." Abram chuckled. There was a few seconds of silence between the two Aurors before Claire chimed back in, with Abe listening carefully.

"We're heading to Las Vegas," Abram nodded, pointing at the address he plugged into the GPS. "Unless I got the wrong orders, Salt informed me that we're heading to find Khan and to go with that lead and that's also what this folder says. From what I understand there is also a lead in Arizona, but I wasn't tasked with that, another Auror from my unit was."

Abram rubbed his chin, his head fumbling around with all the information that was being thrown at him and that he was reading. Nothing made sense, but he needed to figure out what the reason for them heading to Las Vegas to find Khan really was. Obvious that him being a dealer of mythical creatures had an importance as they just figured there was some sort of monster used in the attack, but what else did Khan know or have to do with it other than seeing the attackers first hand and also providing them with a possible accessory.

With a few silent breaths, Abram did his best to refocus and diffuse his head. "I think I need a drink." He said with a smirk. "You?"

[Assistant]
Claire looked over at the GPS to confirm that he was right, and Walker, once again, hadn't given her all of the information she might need.  "Walker told me that we were following a lead they picked up in Arizona. Finding out it's Vegas makes the hotel name make way more sense though." They absolutely needed to get to the hotel and lay out every piece of information they had between them to work up a real sense of what they were doing and what the hell was going on.

Abram mentioned needing a drink and she nodded, laughing a little. "Absolutely. This hotel better have a bar, or be near a bar. It's Vegas, for god's sake. She smiled, leaning back in the seat and trying to make sure she kept her attention on the sky rather than the attractive man next to her. "What say we land, get checked in, and get ourselves food and a drink or three while we try to figure this disaster out?"

[User]
---

"Yes, let's do that." Abram agreed.

The drive went smoothly as the two entered the lobby of Cloud Nine, the hotel they were booked at. Carrying his bags and a few extra things they packed, Abram led the way to the front desk as they were greeted by a raven haired man with slicked back hair, and a calm and cool smile.

"Welcome to the Cloud Nine Hotel and Suites, I'm Kal. Are you booking or checking in?" The icy cool receptionist said.

"Checking in," Abe said. "We should have two rooms under Abram Fish, F-I-S-H and Claire Hannon, that's with two n's." He turned and gave his partner a wink, confidently and flirtatiously showing that he had knowledge of her file and of her in his mind.

The raven haired man typed away at his computer for a few seconds before nodding and smiling at the pair before him. "Hmm... We actually have you under one room. Your room is 312A, and your two key cards." He slipped two metallic cards across the desk as he went on with their benefits. "Your room has complimentary drinks, already paid for. If you dial 09 that is for room service."

"Are you sure?" Abram said, his flirtatious, cheeky face blushing at the thought of sharing a room with his new partner. "Only one room?"

"That's what my computer tells me."

Abram glanced back at Claire as he swiped at the two metallic room keys, handing one off to his partner. As they walked towards the elevator he nodded with a crooked smile. "Once we get settled in, I'll come back down and talk to Kal about booking another room for myself."

[Assistant]
Claire quirked an eyebrow as the front desk attendant said that they only had one room booked, but it wasn't something worth complaining about at the moment, considering that it wasn't the attendant's fault. Abram was clearly trying to flirt with her, and she wasn't quite sure, but she could have sworn that he was trying to flirt with the attendant as well. She took the card from him and flipped it between her fingers idly as they walked down the hallway, grinning a little at Abram's little blush.

"At least wait until we get to the room; for all we know there's a big bed and a huge couch that we can switch back and forth between." Claire said, putting her card in the door and pushing it open. "At least drinks are free; I have a feeling that we're going to need two or three to even begin to understand this case."

She surveyed the room in front of them, grimacing. It was very clearly a honeymoon quite; she was beginning to feel like this was all a massive joke and there were people in the office foisting them off on each other so that they didn't get in the way. If so, their loss; Claire fully intended to at least take advantage of the free drinks.

[User]
---

Once in the room with Claire, Abram scoffed at the luxury they were given by the office, which was something almost like a practical joke. "You're right, let's get a few drinks in me and go over these files."

Tossing his bag to the side, Abram spread the files out on one of the tables for Claire to have her once-over. A second after he finished spreading the files he darted off to the fridge that was in their room, reaching for two bottles along with an ice tray and two glass cups. The clinking of the glass and bottles rang as the wizard made his way back to the table, taking a seat as he filled the glasses up with the liquor and a few ice cubes.

"Guessing we start this party?"

[Assistant]
Claire took the glass from him and took a drink, grimacing for a moment as the harshness of the liquor hit, and then mellowed out. With another sip, she pulled her computer out and pulled up the particular files she had been given. Sitting cross legged on the bed with her back against the headboard, she looked over at Abram. "I don't think we can avoid it any longer."

Running a hand through her hair, which was still the blonde it had changed to in response to Khan's file, she opened her charmed back and pulled out the magical creatures textbooks as well, stacking them up on the bed. "What a romantic getaway we have here," She snorted, smiling. "Most of the case files I have are digital; I brought all of the photos I took and everything the office gave me, and all these books. What about you?"

[User]
---

"Files on files," Abram said, gulping down the dark liquor. "Only given paper copies, you'd think as wizards in the modern age things would be easier, but hell, things just get more complicated when you mix technology and magic."

Taking the rest of the liquor in one sturdy gulp, Abram took a deep exhale as the burn from the brown alcohol made him almost breathe fire. Khan, Khan, Irwin Khan. The name danced around his mind as he began feeling the effects of the alcohol hit him. Abram wasn't the strongest drinker by any means, but he imagined that he could at least stay awake after one drink. The wizard licked his bittersweet lips as he shook off the buzzed, throbbing feeling from his head.

"Need a refill?" He asked his new partner. Abe figured that if he was already buzzed, he might as well continue on with it as they were in Sin City. "I know we shouldn't be drinking on the job, but, it's not like we don't have a spell to cure a small hangover." A chuckle escaped his lips as he began pouring out another half filled glass for himself.

"I imagine Khan having a warehouse somewhere in town where he keeps these animals. I mean, unless he put an extension spell in his bag or something. Not like people haven't done that before."

[Assistant]
"Nobody would ever think of doing such a thing as that."  Claire said with a little giggle, picking up her own bag, which had very clearly been extended to be big enough for at least all of the books she had been holding. Knocking the rest of her drink back with a grimace and accepting a refill from him, she started to flip through the few things she had.

 "Thankfully when you're doing personnel files, you can do it electronically. Anybody outside the wizarding world sees it and they think we're just creative Dungeons and Dragons player, or insane fantasy writers. That's why I use a Muggle camera, it makes the photos easier to put through software and look at. Works better for me than moving photos." She took another sip of the liquor, making a face.

 "Good god, we're not going to be able to finish this bottle without a hangover. What is that stuff, magic liquor?" She bit her lip.  "Didn't Scamander have a bag or a box or something like that? That's how he smuggled animals around, he just hid them in a bag? I mean, mine isn't expanded big enough to even fit a person in, but theoretically you should be able to put a series of charms on a bag to make it big enough to house a bunch of illicit creatures in. You'd have to have cages and food and maintenance though; I can't imagine that he's doing this on his own."

[User]
---

"More people, more problems." Abram joked, lightening the mood. This case was getting to his head, with it pounding and throbbing. Maybe it was the alcohol kicking in, but the man knew his limits, but for some reason he was getting hit harder than usual.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what this drink is..." Abe said, "But I'm feeling it." Gulping down the last bit of his cup that he just poured, the wizard figured it would be his last one for the night. He knew better than to drink on the job, but they were in Las Vegas, it was customary to drink.

The grogginess set in as Abram took a file in his hand, skimming it for any more clues. But the last thing he remembered was a fog overcoming him and then blackness.

[Assistant]
"It's delicious whatever it is." Claire agreed, not used to having a headache this soon into drinking. For all she knew, however, it was a magic liquor instead of a muggle liquor, which tended to be much stronger due to the ability to remove hangovers quickly and painlessly. "Strong as hell though."

She grabbed one of his files with her computer between the two of them so that he could scroll through the photos if he wanted and started to read Khan's file, blinking much more than normal and feeling sleepy. Attributing it to the drive and the lack of sleep the night before, she pushed on, slipping quickly into an all encompassing fog before losing consciousness entirely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Claire came to, she was sitting against something hard, and her first thought was that she had fallen asleep sitting against the headboard of the bed, reading and drinking too much. Blinking slowly, she opened her eyes, not quite sure why it felt like peeling sandpaper away from her eyeballs, a strange taste of cotton in her mouth that she couldn't quite place.

"Abram?"  She rasped, not quite come to yet. Trying to raise her hand to rub her eyes, she realized she couldn't move either hand, something chafing her wrists and preventing her from doing anything. Her head was pounding and screaming, and she blinked one more time, not recognizing the room she was in.

"Abram? Are you in here?"

[User]
---

"That's all you got?" Abram said, spitting blood towards the man before him. "When I get these things off of me, I'm going to kill you, you know that right?"

Abe was never a man for threats, but being punched and kicked while being tied up kind of pissed him off. It pissed him off enough that he was threatening the men who stood around him. The easy route would have been to use spells on Abram, but luckily he had a magic charm on him that helped protect him from out-bound spells, for a the time being.

One of the men cracked his fists, grinning ear to ear, as he stepped up, lifting the young Auror to his feet as he began leading him back into the room that Claire was left. Abe was thankful that she wasn't hurt as he entered the room, his own face smiling as blood trickled down from his lip.

"I'm right here," he said, "Fine and dandy." Abram was then tossed beside Claire, with the man quickly leaving the room, locks and bolts sounding before his heavy footsteps faded behind the wooden barrier.

"Are you alright?" Abram said, wiping the blood with his shoulder. "These guys... They were expecting us to drink the alcohol. I think they work for Khan, but no one is saying anything. If I only had my damn wand."

[Assistant]
Claire lifted her head as she saw Abram being brought into the room, relieved to see that he was mostly okay, but a little unnerved that he was smiling. She certainly wasn't smiling, and she was still trying to get herself out of the restraints on her wrists. Any non-verbal skill that she was trying to use did absolutely nothing, and she was slowly beginning to realize that this room had wards on it that prevented magic from being used. Even apparition was impossible after a brief attempt, though she didn't have enough energy to do it properly to begin with.

 "I'm as okay as I can be at this point, they must have dragged you out before me." She said, coughing in an attempt to clear her throat. It felt like somebody had filled her cheeks with cotton balls, and she craved some sort of moisture desperately.  "I don't have my wand either, I don't think. They've got my hands tied up pretty tight though, and I haven't managed to undo them."

Continuing to struggle with the bindings, she looked over him, worried at how much he was bleeding. "This is the worst hangover ever." She said dryly, standing up and walking over to him as she wiggled her hands around. "There are wards on this room; we can't get out by magic no matter how hard we try."


[System]
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Race: Hex
Status: Enslaved/escaped
Bio: There isn't much to say about his youth. He grew up with loving parents. When he first discovered he could blink. While he didn't lack anything in particular, he was still a bit greedy. So sometimes, not too often, he would commit petty crimes like shoplifting (he just blinks in and out of the shop) or unauthorized access (he blinks passed the club bouncer). Eventually he was caught and put behind bars.

David is a cheery and happy kid. Though prison life has put a damper on it. He loathes fighting in most forms though understands that if it's inevitable, he must give it his 100%. While he can be a little bit greedy, who with powers wouldn't use it for their own comfort?

He could escape during the breakout of Ace and managed to pass the bulk of guards with his blink ability. Right now he's in the forest, following the sound of talking of what he assumes are other Hexes.

Powers/Abilities:
Blink – an ability allowing him to travel short distances in an instance. Often in a blue-black flash he disappears and appears again. The blink ability can only be used over a short distance. Having a range of about 15 meters tops. He doesn't need a direct line of sight, but he must remember the destination. For example: David cannot blink into a room he never saw before.

Dark claw – At close range he can envelop his fingers in black-purple, crystal-like claws. The claws are at the strength of steel. Ripping through flesh and clothes quite easily.

Dark needle – at longer ranges, David can form a long, black-purple, crystal-like needle that he can fire off. The longer he wants the needle to be, the longer he has to let it grow. But the longer it gets, the further it can strike. A minor detail: the needle floats in his palm. It doesn't grow out of his skin. And it seems to be growing much like a plant on steroids.

Extra information: Dark energy that powers his claws, needle and blink ability are closely connected to bloodlust. The more he kills, the stronger his powers become. For example: with blink he will be able to go further, faster and more often. His claws will become bigger, covering his hand and maybe eventually his upper arm. Serving as protection if needed. The needle would grow faster, thicker and longer. However, it puts a great strain on his mental stability. All of this is still very much unknown as David never really went into a rampage before.

-Without the earrings

[User] Ace watched David leave and his words echoed in her mind, which confused her. She snapped back to attention at the sound of Luciel's voice. "C-casserole? I don't remember what it tastes like." She replied startled. She watched Luciel sit back down. She sighed as she layed back down and smiled. "Thank you for doing what you have, Luciel.... For showing me freedom, for actually caring about me, and helping me meet so many of my own kind...thank you for that..."

[Assistant] Apollo was still lying on the roof, oddly enough he could hear the commotion but couldn't understand what they were saying. "As long as I find my target I don't care what they decide." He muttered to himself as he began to make orbs of light spin in a circle above him. He knew the guards may be looking for the Hexes as well but he knew the guards would never find them, Hexes were too good at hiding that was his whole purpose, he could destroy the hiding places and find them wherever they were and either catch them or kill them. He smiled thinking about how proud his "father" will be after he catches the run away Hexes.

[User]
Ace sat back up and made her way outside; she looked up at Apollo and saw the orbs of light. "How pretty... So he's a hex too... What a lovely power... And yet... Oddly familiar...." She thought. Ace made her way to the rooftop and inched over to Apollo, slipping a few times, then sat next to him and smiled gently. "It's going to be cold tonight. Why don't you come in and sleep inside like the others? Is it because you want to see the stars?" She replied.

Ace looked up at the night sky and paused before murmuring, "I haven't seen the stars and the moon for 3 years.... It is just as beautiful as it was since the last time I had seen it..."

[Assistant]
Luciel froze as Ace thanked him. It was unexpected...and something else. The hue of his eyes fading back to the dull amber as he set the bowl down and watched her chase after Apollo.
He did not follow.

Instead, they sighed, looking over at Drex who'd been quiet for the longest time. Shaking his head before letting it hang, he laid down on the couch to stare at the ceiling, thinking he heard something on the roof. Luciel assumed it was the unintroduced boy...

[User] Apollo looked over at Ace as she made her way across the roof. He looked up at the stars and said "I haven't seen them much either, so I'd rather stay up here and sleep under the stars." He let the orbs dissipate and then said "plus I prefer getting my warmth from the sun when it rises and this is the best spot to get it from." He smiled after saying that because he always enjoyed the sunrise.

[Assistant]
"i see... the sunshine must be how you can use your powers, right? and even if that is the case; it'll still be cold for a few more hours" Ace replied as she tensed up from the cold air. she relaxed as she set her hands on fire then rubbed them together to create embers on the palms of her hands. she rubbed her arms and shoulders to warm herself. however, though Ace herself couldn't burn, her shirt could, causing the embers to burn holes through the sleves of her shirt, further exposing the scar on the right side of her neck and upper torso.
"tch! dangit! maybe i should consider wearing armor instead of clothing..." Ace scowled at her burnt shirt before returning her attention back to Apollo and grinned with a hint of laughter. "my name is Ace, it's a pleasure to make your aquaintance!"

[User]
Medburn was now, for the most part, silent. Debris, broken glass, shell casings, and bits of viscera still lined the streets, but the gunfire was gone. As the national guard moved in to secure the town and clean up what little remained of the resistance, they were puzzled to find that none of the corpses of the Hexes Storm Hound accounted for were able to be found. Their interaction with Storm Hound was brief. Members of the unit helped the national guard get the remaining scattered, hiding, despairing civilians to shelter and supplied. As Kyle came down from his combat stims, his heart was wrenched as he surveyed the destruction the Hexes had wrought against the helpless populace of Medburn. "Never again, not on my watch." He snapped.

Storm Hound were slumped in their seats as the three Schwarzkopf transports set off once again. Just as soon as they were done cleaning up in Medburn, they were immediately transmitted orders to assist the effort to bring down the escaped prisoners. But for now, they were fatigued. Whatever was pumped into their lungs by the rebreathers could only keep them on their feet for so long, and it led to great exhaustion once the dose wore off. The excited chatter that made up their dialogue in trip before their last battle and during it was replaced with tired yawns. It would be another half an hour before they were allowed their next hit of the stuff. Despite this, the unit kept their rebreather masks on. Though their primary purpose was to administer the drugs, they were still able to serve in the capacity of NBC protection, with extendable hoods and goggles built into their suits to provide full protection. The present issue that necessitated them wasn't quite that severe; it was the third Schwarzkopf. Only Kyle and its non-Storm Hound personnel that operated it were allowed near it. The mysterious men assigned to it were clad in full body protective gear. The secrecy of the vehicle and its operations only made the extreme stench emanating from it even more mysterious. It wasn't pleasant, whatever it was.

[Assistant] Apollo was thought he recognized the scar on her neck, but only got a quick glimpse at it. He then said "My name is Apollo" he smiled after saying it, because it was the first time he had ever met someone who was similar to him.

[User]
"Apollo huh...? Well then, Apollo I must say I envy you. Your powers are so beautiful!" Ace replied she then paused as she noticed the scar on Apollo's cheek.
Hesitantly, she asked, "does it hurt? The scar, I mean. And if you don't mind me asking... Where did you get it?"

[Assistant]
David finally found a house he thought was worth the break in. One blink later and he found himself in a very fancy, modern living. "The people who own this must be extremely rich! Maybe doctors?" he said to himself. Speaking to himself was a habit he picked up in prison, where there is nobody to talk to. There was nothing in the kitchen he deemed important enough to take with him. So he went upstairs. The bedroom was equally fancy decorated. With a strange swirling piece of abstract art. "Is there nothing I can use!?"

But then he found the rather large study. The desk was surprisingly old school, compared to the clinically white walls and the modern computer sitting on it. On the desk were several files. Their symbol caught David's attention. The symbol of the prison. Curiosity captured him, made him open the file.

Log 1109: Subject Alpha-016 is seemingly not reacting towards direct agression. Nor is subject Alpha-102. Though he does react towards the sight of blood. We will continue to test subject Alpha-016 for aggression. Let's hope she is beaten into submission. Maybe we can use her like subject Omega-001. Her elemental powers would be greatly valued.

David finally understood what the files were. In an angry flash he threw the files on the ground. Several hundred papers fell down. They were filled with information. Blood type. Birth parents. Adoption parents. Files from every Hex in the prison. But that didn't sate his anger. No, for a matter of fact, it made everything worse. When he saw the picture of the family. The older man with what was his son or grand-daughter. "Why should they get a peaceful life!? Why am I cursed!?" The anger was too much. He stormed downstairs. His darker self-taking over. Downstairs he easily found a bottle of scotch, a newspaper and a lighter. A few seconds later and he was standing with a lit Molotov cocktail just outside the study. "Burn!"

When David was almost back at the first home, the smoke was rising outside. The study didn't have a window, so it was rising out the bedroom, indicating that room was probably burning too. It was written all over David's face that he had done it. And more importantly, there was something murderously dark in his eyes.

[User] Apollo's eyes looked down "This power is only good for one thing" He then looked out across the forest. "To Kill!" He said with a serious face and as he said that a orb appeared over his right shoulder and fired a beam into the woods making a explosion a few miles away. He looked at her and said "The scar is from when I first realized my powers and I hit myself with it." He then saw the smoke coming out from a different spot from where is he fired. "someone else did something that will attract more attention." He said

[Assistant]
Ace looked at Apollo concerned and paused, then finally replied, "you aren't a weapon. I don't think that your powers were awakened just so you could kill others. I think they awakened in you to protect the people close to your heart.... I know that it's cheesy and naive but I want to believe that is why we have these powers.... Sorry...." She looked down apologetically; she felt terrible and on the verge of tears.
"I think I should go back inside..." She murmured as she stood up and started to leave.

[User] Apollo didn't move but then said "believing that is not cheesy or naive" He then made two more orbs appear next to him and said "But I was raised to believe that my only purpose was to fight." He then went quiet.

[Assistant]
Apollo's response startled Ace making her freeze in her tracks. Ace replied as she revealed the scar on her neck and upper torso, "though I cannot be burned now, I received this scar right before my powers awoke. When I was dying... In order to save my family from a fire... This scar is my reminder that I chose to protect the ones I love.... And I tell you this because I think you should find out why your powers awoke on your own... And not just automatically believe what others say your purpose is..." She then turned and smiled at Apollo for a moment.
"You should come inside tonight... You'll catch a cold if you stay out here..." She said then went back in the house.
Ace made her way to the she shower and took a warm bath. It had been a while since she experienced the luxuries of being a human, so she decided to enjoy it while she had the chance to wash up. After cleaning herself up, she dried off and put her old clothes back on. Ace tugged on the collar of her shirt and sighed, then walked back into the living room and plopped onto the couch. Her hair was still damp but she didn't care, she layed down and closed her eyes.

[User]
David just came around the corner into the living as Ace dropped herself on the couch. Instead of the normal dark eyes he had, they were now almost glowing a faint purple-like light. Like a predator he could almost hear her heart beating in her chest. He could almost smell the sweet blood calling for him. Like a whisper in the back of his skull. Like a craving. But he resisted, and shook himself awake. He had been listening on what she told the boy, Apollo. How Hexes are not weapons, but how they are supposed to protect their loved ones. Like shields or guardian angels.

He opened his clenched fist in front of him, and formed his claws. The claws looked black-purplish and made from a crystalline material. Sharp enough to shred a man's flesh. "You can't claim Hexes are made to protect when your power resolves around being an apex predator." He said, to no-one in particular, as he assumed that Ace was asleep. It was a theory he had made up in the prison. When he was caught, he first resisted arrest. A cop died trying to arrest him. It was the first time he saw his own claws. That in combination with the blink ability, led him to believe that this Hex-power made him the ultimate predator. That he was meant to be the top of the natural food chain.

He chuckled at himself as he collapsed in a comfortable seat and pulled his knees up to his chin, with his arms around him. His face was a mixture of sadness and thinking. Should I hate myself for what I am? A born killer? Or do I protect people by killing others? Protecting lives by taking lives?


[System]
Female
Age 24
Appearance
5'6"
Lean flexible athletic build
Light skin (Japanese)
Appears to have shoulder length jet black slightly spikey hair from the front. However her hair splits into parts, taking the longer half and tying it together at the neck into a downwards facing ponytail that reaches her middle back.
Medium sized ahoge, more of angular/rigid spike shape, changes based on their mood/emotions. And electrical charge in battle.
Dark drab blueish-gray/steel left eye.
Yellow right eye with a slit shaped pupil.
Eyebrow over her left eye has a slit break in it towards the outer middle.
Irezumi tattoos:
Right arm- Nagasode style sleeve tattoo extending down to her wrist. Nara black wind bars for a background, with a green snake with a red belly coiling down her arm with it's head ending at her outer wrist.
Left arm- Shichibu style sleeve tattoo extending down to her middle forearm. Nara black wind bars for a background, with a blue snake with a yellow belly coiling up her arm with it's head resting on the front of her upper shoulder. Kanji for Mamushi 蝮 (pit viper) tattooed in black on the inner blank space of her forearm.
Back- Her entire back is covered in large nara black ink clouds for a background. And a large tattoo of the giant 8 headed and tailed snake Yamata no Orochi, various flowers, and lightning bolts in the foreground.
Slightly elongated fang canine teeth on the top and bottom as compared to normal people. Teeth are overall sharper.
Ear piercings- Left: Two slim steel rings on their lobe. Helix cuff.
Right: Circular silver stud on their lobe. Smaller steel cuff at the middle of the outer ear/lower helix.
Black painted nails.

Customized slightly oversized black leather asymmetrical moto jacket. Worn unzipped with belt hanging loose.
Steel curb chain necklace that extends down to her chest. Medium sized silver upside down cross pendant.
Zip-up black hoodie. Worn under her jacket with the hood laid over the jackets collar. Worn unzipped often with the sleeves pulled up to her elbows.
Vintage oversized heavy metal band T-shirts, some with the sleeves cut off. Worn over fishnet shirt. (Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth)
Long sleeve black fishnet shirt. Sleeve extends into a fishnet fingerless gloves on the left but is cut off at the wrist on the right.
Silver signet ring on right middle finger with an upside down cross engraved in it.
Mokume-gane Ouroboros shaped ring with pink jeweled eyes on left index finger.
Steel cuban link chain bracelet on right wrist.
Steel studded black leather belt.
Steel chain hanging down at her right side. One end attached to a belt loop, the other to a pocket watch manadial.
Worn/faded slim dark indigo Japanese selvage denim jeans. (Black or stonewash alt. colors)
Black with white accents Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 running shoes.
Black calf length open toe and heel socks.

Secondary hairstyle reference (Somewhere in between the two)

Close type of ponytail style reference

Raiya specializes in destructive magic. She is a master of electrical spells, and ruinous spells. She has a great foundation in most all Catholic magics as well as some Japanese Zen Buddhist/Shinto magic. As with her fascination of Japan, she also has a great fascination with snakes and has developed snake themed fighting style and magic. Every so often she sheds her skin, this makes her immune to aging. With her magic powers, she also has the ability to control certain light metals.

Raiya's parents, Japanese immigrants, owned a successful Japanese cuisine restaurant chain in New York City. Both parents died in a burglary gone wrong leaving Raiya orphaned in infancy. With a large mana constitution, Raiya was immediately adopted by the Catholic cathedral and put into mage training. Growing up in the New York Cathedral, she always shadowed Felix and thought of him as her older brother. Raiya was always proficient in magic, and her studies reflected that. Raiya achieved the rank Grand-Mage at the age of seventeen. At the age of twenty she was sent with two other grand-magi to investigate the sudden disappearance of a remote village in Italy. The village was razed, not so much as a 2x4 left standing upright. Investigating the trace of mana waves left by the spell she made her way to a nearby mountain where she found on a cliff-side the definite point of origin of the spell. Looking around the point of origin she found footprints. The foot prints looked exactly like the sole tread of a typical Catholic Magi officer. The level of destruction and the fact that the mana waves left by the spell accounted for only one spell, coupled with the footprint meant the evidence pointed toward an Arch-mage or higher to be the cause of the destruction. Once she returned to the Vatican, she provided the evidence in a council meeting. The council thanked her for the evidence provided but stated that they would be conducting the investigation from then on. Even though the council told her to no longer investigate this issue, Raiya continued the investigation on her own. Looking into the records of those who were gone the night of the destruction of the remote village, she narrowed it down to two, Arch-mage Thadeus and Arch-mage Felix. After obtaining this information, Raiya investigated both Thadues and Felix's living quarters. She discovered that Felix had never even worn his uniform boots, as he wore his own more comfortable combat boots. Thadeus, on the other hand, did not have any other pairs of footwear besides the ones on his feet, which were the uniform boots. Learning of this information but knowing the Vatican council would never listen to her, she approached Felix whom she knew was innocent. She told Felix all of the information she had obtained, but Felix brushed her aside saying that the Vatican was conducting their own investigation and to go against their demands to keep the investigation within their selected team would mean excommunication, even if the information was correct. Felix told her that he would not tell anyone about her own investigation, but pleaded with her to keep quiet about the issue until the Vatican completed their investigation. Raiya couldn't believe what she was hearing, that her cold hard evidence was being brushed aside because of protocol. But what's more, that the investigation team was comprised with Thadeus's brother as a member meant surely that Thadeus would never be convicted of this crime. All of this put into perspective Raiya's membership with the magi, and soon after she left the magi and Catholicism altogether. When she left two others left with her, the other two grand-magi that were on her initial investigation team with her. Soon after they left, they returned to NYC. Because the Vatican saw them as Apostates, they froze all their accounts and social security information, forcing them to make money through means less savory. Instead of falling into despair, Raiya and her two peers adopted the shady lifestyle altogether. Through their magic abilities, it wasn't long before they were running the biggest criminal organization in NYC. Raiya still resides to this day in NYC with the other two magi as her right hand women.

Raiya is seemingly devoid of any positive emotion. Her normal demeanor could be described as aloof. She is seen as a hard nosed, unwavering leader. This makes her well respected by her subordinates in the gang she runs. Though, to those who know her well enough she can be lighthearted. She has a short temper and a low tolerance for annoyances. In her annoyed state she has no problem threatening her friends with one of her sushi knives she keeps in her inner coat pocket, or electrocuting them with her magic. She loves Japan, even though she wasn't raised there herself. Her fanaticism for Japan runs so deep that she has Japanese tattoos, and has even taught herself the language perfectly. She is an excellent chef and specializes in Japanese cuisine. Even though she isn't very sociable, the few friends she does have are kept close to her and she protects them.

[User]
Alya nodded at Nemo and turned to Zuri and using her manalysis she did her best to diagnose Zuri's problem. From what Alya could tell Zuri was suffering from a very long term deficiency in mana. 'Probably due to her being sealed away for so long.' She concluded.

Alya did have a specific concern however. Zuri's mana and aura were quite unique; being pitch black. Alya was unsure how a transfusion would react to such an uncommon mana type. "Let us begin, but everyone please keep your distance." Alya warned the others.

After a brief moment of concentration Alya projected a near transparent light blue barrier large enough to surround both herself and Zuri; this barrier had its energy focused inwards to prevent any wayward spell from escaping. "You never know what could happen when you send mana over to someone who has been lacking mana for a while, my apologies for the barrier." Alya clarified to Zuri, not wanting to make her feel that she didn't trust her.

After a brief moment of concentrating Alya raised her two hands together to chest height. Light blue magical energy matching the color of Alya's aura slowly swirled out of her hand. The stream magical essence floated lazily in the air for a while till some of it neared Zuri. Like metal to a magnet the mana began to flow towards her, turning from light blue to pitch black as it did. Alya controlled the stream of mana's flow to a safe level, this took great concentration and Alya would be unaware to anyone as she channeled the transference spell.

[Assistant]
Ava nodded. Despite her potential, she too wanted at least some sort of fall back weapon. Perhaps she might get a chance to get a weapon, but for now, her abilities and Nemo's apparent aptitude for fighting would have to do. Another member just then appeared at the bottom of the stairs, staring. Ava smiled awkwardly and gave a small wave to the man who apparently was Travis. Not a moment later, Felix came through his rift. Apparently, his mission was a success from the looks of the new member.

"That rift power must be awfully convenient. It would have made my mail runs certainly easier. Does it take much effort to do create them?" Ava said, curious.

[User]
Zoey looked around the scene she had just entered in on; a handful of people standing over a body, one person putting energy into it. One person looked like he had just come down the staircase, and that was (so far) the only person who had noticed their entry. Which was shocking, because it wasn't exactly a stealthy entry. That said, Zoey knew nobody really well, and the name of only one person. She decided to silently explore her surroundings while she had the chance.

She started with the basement, since the entrance to that seemed close by, and padded down there, taking a moment to drop the illusion now that she was out of immediate sight. Conserving mana was a bit of a habit. When she got to the basement level, she noticed a big pool. One she had been smelling for a while, sure. Not really interested in diving face-first into a chemical bath, she went through a door on the same level and was greeted to a much more welcoming sight. Junk food, arcade games, television... things she hadn't been around since her transformation. While she never regretted changing, she missed these things alot. When she was a kid, she had bummed around arcades plenty often to remember the joy.

Her quest for exploration lost, she began popping popcorn, and obtaining a soda from the corner confectionery, she began playing House of the Dead 3.

[Assistant]
"It's fine, I understand." She replied Alya with a smile after she put up a barrier. Zuri watched as Alya channels her magic, a stream of light slowly finding its way to her as it started flowing deep inside of her. "A-Aaah.." She lets out a soft moan of discomfort, but it slowly started to feel better after a little while.

Zuri unconsciously converts Alya's bright light blue mana into dark black before it enters her. 'I wonder why it's black..' She thought to herself. Alya's mana transfusion was coming to an end, and it surprisingly turned out quite smoothly. It felt very refreshing since she was deprived of mana for such a long time. The dark color also reminded her that her powers revolved around darkness. Zuri ran over to Alya and hugged her tightly and said "Thank you Alya!"

[User]
Felix was about to give Zoey the same rundown he gave everyone else, but then she bounded off like a hound after a new scent.

Felix scratched his head, "Well, I got the last member. Her name is Zoey Ash. Though, I suppose she's not much for socializing... Well, anyway, I am sure you guys are all hungry. I was hoping you'd all still be asleep by the time I got back. It's too bad there are no reliable spells for making food while you are away. Or I'd have breakfast ready for all of you." Felix checked his manadial and saw it was 06:52.

Raiya walked in with a tall glass of a brown liquid. No doubt alcohol of some kind.
"If you need help cooking breakfast, I can cook."  Raiya said with pride, her scowl changing into a snide smile. "I happen to be a master chef!"

"Well, I do have a lot of work I need to get into with Travis. If you want to cook the banquet today, I don't have a problem with it. Perhaps even Nemo would like to join you." Felix suggested.

Raiya's expression faded. Her smile and optimism: gone. "Suuuuuure. I'd positively LOVE it if Nemo came to help!" She said with heavy sarcasm.

Felix turned to Travis. "It's never to early to do some research! Let's do some general diagnostic examinations on the Paragon while we wait for food." Felix suggested, before heading towards the boiler/generator room where the secret entrance to the lab was.

[Assistant]
"What a splendid idea." Nemo replied to Felix as he got to his feet.

Nemo noticed Zoey leave to the arcade without speaking to anybody. Not very sociable, eh? He thought.

Raiya's sarcasm seemed to have no physical effect on Nemo. "Good to hear." He replied as he walked past her and into the kitchen. "Well, let's get started, wouldn't want to keep our companions waiting. You'll have to show me what you're capable of, master chef." Nemo commented back to her as he looked around the room.

[User]
Raiya quickly assessed the different cooking implements they had at their disposal. The island in the middle of the kitchen had two stoves with a total of eight burners on the top. And hanging above the island was a variety of pots and pans. Behind her in the cabinets under the counter next to the refrigerator was a rice cooker. Which was what she was looking for. She got out eggs from the fridge, and a variety of vegetables. And she found a bag of rice in the cabinet above the counters.

"So, I was thinking definitely rice, and japanese style omelets. Some toast as well. And possible something with fruit in it. What do you think?" Raiya asked Nemo in a rushed but cooperative tone.


[System]
Age:
28

Gender:
Female

Race:
Human

Nationality:
Orlesian

Group Affiliation:
Inquisition

Occupation:
Bard (Assassin)

Equipment/Weapons:
Erika has a balanced longbow with an ice enchantment and her quiver of bows that sits comfortably on her back. At her side, a satchel sways slightly with her gait, it's contents vary from day to day. On her hip is a leather sheath, within it lies a silver dagger, ornate with Ferelden engravings.

Bio:
Erika was born in Orlais, though she never grew up to live a prestigious life as most do in the empire. The endless balls, parties, dinners, and formals were never Erika's form of entertainment, though being the daughter of two Fereldan merchants didn't leave much room for extravagant outings anyways. Instead, she spent her younger years with her older brother, aiding their parents with their shops and managing their goods. Her father was a weapons merchant, which up until the start of the civil war, brought in mediocre revenue. On the other hand, her mother played right into the Orlesian aristocrat's hands (and coin purses), by selling them beautiful and ornate garments and accessories. Her mother's business made up for her father's lack thereof, so the four were able to live a comfortable life.

As Erika got older, she grew bored of the merchant life. Sure, the trips the family would take into Val Royeaux for the market were exciting, but not nearly enough for a teen with a wandering soul. When her older brother left to join the Templars, Erika was truly left alone to suffer an unfulfilling life. This led Erika to grow resentful of the big whigs in Val Royeaux who pranced around without a care in the world, money flaunting everywhere while other people, like her parents, were left to work a hard life just to get by.

On her eighteenth birthday, Erika finally got the nerve to tell her parents that she was leaving Orlais to travel, first to Ferelden to see the place where her parents were born and raised. She was met with protest, but eventually, even they agreed that they could not keep her tied down. Erika left with nothing more than a rucksack on her shoulder and a dagger at her hip (a parting gift from her father). She headed down the dirt road from her home, and when she came to the end, the way to Ferelden would be on her left. Instead, she went right. To Val Royeaux.

Erika spent the next six years training as a bard near Val Royeaux. Bards were prominent in Orlais, and she found no better way to get back at the Orlesian aristocracy than to learn to pry apart every little secret that they had. She became proficient with a bow, though her father's dagger was still kept at her hip in a sheath. Erika first did freelance work, spying on whoever for whomever would pay her. Eventually, she was able to gather more noble assignments from the Chantry or the Templars, though the work of a bard can rarely be considered honorable by many people. The life of a spy suited her, and the shadows became her home. For Erika, this was her freedom.

[User]
Despite overwhelming numbers Vat-Kataris band of men followed their horned leaders show of bravery; quickly cutting their way through the sea of undead they reached the large manmade gate effectively cutting off any possibility of being flanked. Upon reaching the thick barricade doors they were met with the sight of two well dressed mages-the two of which looked shortly out of breathe as if they had just ran here. It was clear by the looks on their faces that they were far more surprised to see Vat-Katari and his men then vice versa.

The slightly older of the two didn't hesitate, raising his staff upwards into the air he summoned forth a wall of ice; the huge glacial display violently bursting out of the ground caught a fair number of Vat-Kataris men off guard-instantly trapping all those that had been hugging extremely close to the barricade wall in a permanent state of icy death.

"Collin, retreat and warn master Claren that there are indeed intruders at the front." The older mage who'd just summoned the ice wall barked at his younger counterpart-his eyes solely focused on the gate doors.

"But the master said not to-" Collin began speaking hesitantly, only to be cut off by the older man.

"Damnit Collin," He summoned a ball of fire in his free hand. "If you don't leave now ill kill you myself. I can handle things here-I have been looking for an oppurtunity to prove myself."

[Assistant]
The sound of metal crushing hollow bones echoed through out the cave as Vat-Katari and his men raged against the undead mass that encircled them. They may have been stricken with fear a mere few moments ago but the bandits fought with the ferocity of starved mabari, cutting their way through the shambling corpses as they made their way to the barricade. Vat-Katari himself seemed to be having a grand old time as he lobed volley after volley of explosive balls of fire into the horde, igniting whole scores of undead like fire wood. He let out quite the blood thirsty laugh as he grabbed one of the undead, it attempted to stabbed him with its rusted and broken sword, by the throat and hoisted it into the air. The corpse was that of what use to be some young fair haired farm wife, seeing as she was currently festering with maggots and had a quiver's worth of arrows lodged into her chest she had most likely seen better days.

A wicked grin grew on the Kossith's face as he eyed the decomposing foe he held. His hand then erupted in flame, the undead young woman along with it. It wasn't a moment later that Vat-Katari hurled the now vaguely human shaped inferno back into the horde, engulfing a whole line of the undead in flames. "HA HA HA! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" He exclaimed victoriously before he began yet again to throw balls of fire into the crowd. He and his men had made a good dent in the horde and managed to force their way all the way to the barricade with out experiencing any losses, Vat-Katari was beginning to think that this was going to turn out to be quite the easy raid.

As tradition his hopes for simplicity were dashed just as they had formed, this time in the form of a few of his men finding themselves quite dead do to being frozen solid. As Vat-Katari turned to inspect what just happened he was able to catch the brief argument between what could only be two Tevinter mages, one of which was already fleeing back down the cave while the other one looked quite ready for battle. "Oh you have just made a huge mistake..." Vat-Katari said before he stomped his massive metal boot covered foot, after which the ground in front of him began to violently shake and crack to the point that the ice wall along with his frozen former comrades shattered. He gave a crooked smile to the now exposed mage before he spoke. "It has been quite some time since I got to kill a Vint. Guess I am going to have to change that aren't I?" With that said Vat-Katari then launched himself forward with enough speed and force that if he hit the mage would be little more than a pile of broken bones and ripped flesh.

[User]
"Agents, then - very well." Clara acknowledges with a nod of understanding. She fell silent to continue listening to the rogue - learning of matters such as the red lyrium mines and the Venatori. "Venatori, as in the Tevinter Cultists? They act against Ferelden?" Clara went on to query before taking a moment to pause then speaking further, "The presence of red lyrium is also a concern - it may be best to destroy the tunnel network. Red lyrium is the likes of evil and abomination and would be best purged from the Maker's worl-." She would go on, with the imagination suggesting that she might even lead into the Chant of Light, before faint red light came from the tunnel ahead.

Clara's eyes, through the visor of her helm, snapped over towards the source of the red light before shifting over towards the moving dwarf. She cautiously moved up to his side - specifically, his left side - to create something of the front line of a formation for the rogue and mage behind to safely do what they do best. As the dwarf beside her brought his shield to bear, she brought her own up to her front in such a way to compliment a wall, much like the dwarf; albiet, to not quite the best effected due to the natural height difference, but still to some effect never-the-less.

Clara's eyes briefly widen then squint in concentration as the figures step into the light: shambling, red-veined creatures, something that vaguely compliments what once was of the maker's creation - or rather, abominations. If she wasn't bound by duty from the mention of red lyrium, she certainly was now: she drew her longsword from her scabbard with a telltale rasp before bringing it to her side, the flat of the blade parallel to the ground and held high alongside the shield - in such a way to allow both defensive thrusts and offensive strikes from the shoulder with the benefit of sound defense.

As the dwarf called out to the Warden Mage, Clara spoke to herself, her voice subtly echoing throughout the tunnel in a way to make it more than likely audible to the party.
"Blessed are they who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not falter. Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just." With her quiet prayer concluded in the face of abominations, she braced for the oncoming combat.

[Assistant]
Listening idly to the conversation, Nolan was rather amused by the persuasive tone which the dwarf took on, taking note of the explanation they were given. It seemed fairly simple, a Lyrium mine which needed clearing, then of course there was the mention of the Venatori. Nolan already disliked people from the Imperium, so the cultists who had started acting up in the area were not a group held any sympathy for - but he was smart enough to know they weren't a group to be trifled with. Similarly, Nolan was more than aware that Red Lyrium was not something to be trifled with, having been from Kirkwall, he was aware of the corruption it could spread, and he'd encountered it more than a few times since he'd begun his peacekeeping.

Listening to the group discussion, Nolan's eyes drifted down the cave as the sound of shuffling grew along with the red light, more than aware of what was coming. Before Flint even called out toward him, Nolan shifted his free hand up to the fire in his hand, swirling his hand about it as the ball grew in ferocity and size, waiting for the two warriors among them to ready themselves for the oncoming battle as the mob would reveal themselves. Not bothering to wait for Clara to finish her prayer, Nolan thrust his hand outward, the fireball flying over the dwarf as it would slam into one of the corrupted miners from the front, exploding in a large ball of flame, engulfing another one of the mob in flame as they fell to the ground, providing the cave with some light as the shamblers slowly died, their screams filling the cavern as Nolan took hold of his staff with a flourish.

"Apologies in advance for the smell." Nolan quipped in a matter-of-fact manner, shifting his staff in his hands as he made another flourish, swinging it so the tip pointed outward, a much smaller ball of flame flying outward as it collided with another member of the mob, not quite having the same effect as the larger fireball, but setting the man's clothes alight as he continued his crazed, shambling march toward the group. Twirling his staff in his hands, he let it shift to his side once more as he lowered his free hand to his side, beginning to prepare another, larger spell - allowing his companions to join the fight themselves for the time being.

Nolan had been hoping for a far more simple job, especially seeing the Templars he and Clara had been sent to deal with were already dead, but this day was shaping up to only become more and more complicated - all Nolan could do at this point was hope that it did not get any worse. But then again, the chances of that now were slim to none.

[User]
Just as quickly as the conversation had come about, it switched pace just as swiftly as an eerie red glow cast a soft light down the cave from one end. It was impressive, really, how naturally the four were able to fall into a battle formation. The two mercenaries at the front provided a shield barricade for Erika and her mage counterpart to launch attacks from the safety of behind. For the Warden, she was suddenly thankful. For, without his brightly casted spells, she would not have the light she needed to shoot down the walking corpses with the pinpoint accuracy of the bow she drew from her back.

"What in the name of Andraste?" Erika said at the observation of the lyrium that seemed to be binded so much to the things that their skin crawled. She knew the stuff was a nasty and unstable substance, but this was unlike what she had come across before. Still, she continued to draw arrows from her quiver and unleash a massive assault on their assailants while her trusted partner and the Templar bashed them with shield and mace on the frontline.

With their combined forces and the powerful fire attack from the Warden, the quartet seemed to make quick work of their opposition. However, wherever they came from, there would be many more. Erika stepped forward and pulled an arrow from the neck of one of the corpses, placing it back in her quiver.

"We don't seem to be making many friends in these parts, save you two. I think it's time we finally get a jump on someone instead of letting everyone else sneak up on us. Shall we then?"