[Nexus] Riverside 12

[Gullara]

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx135/oots12321/Other/Riverside2-1.png
By Darklord Bright

Riverside, a small, modern city outside the reach of Remnant control. The city has always been known by one defining factor, it's status as a hive of scum and villainy. A number of factions vie for footholds in the city, though they are largely peaceful at the moment. No doubt some would jump at the opportunity to expand their influence. Riverside sits on the edge of the Nexus, so while it's still prone to the strangeness common there, it's far more stable than other parts of the Nexus. Being the hive and scum and villainy that it is, the streets can be dangerous and shady deals and dark alleys are plenty. Welcome to Riverside.


Current Events:

The plague spread by AMEN is gradually being cured (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15565424&postcount=541) over the coming weeks.
Southside and its inhabitants have all mysteriously vanished. In their place, AMEN and other groups have moved in and are establishing themselves there.
An artificial sun (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14641796&postcount=786) has been erected in the skies of Westside, lifting the perpetual darkness in the area and restoring a natural day night cycle.
A new power generator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14517047&postcount=585) has been constructed by Evolution Industry. It provides new and extremely inexpensive power to those that choose to use it.



Northside:
Under revision
Northside, the richer part of Riverside. If you have money then you can get just about anything in Northside. That is if you know the right people. There is something odd about this part of Riverside though. Hardly a beggar or street urchin to be seen. In fact for a place of scum and villainy this place is too clean. Northside is the one that wears the best mask in Riverside. The best at covering up deaths and drug deals. The best at making everyone think that there is nothing wrong because everybody pays their protectors and rulers of Northside with what they ask for. This is Northside. A rich mask that hides the dirty city for what it is.
Eastside:
Eastside is mostly a middle-to-lower class, densely populated area. It's fairly multicultural, even by Nexus standards, and inhabited by a wide range of species and cultures.
Like the rest of Riverside, Eastside has been in the hands of either criminals or supernatural factions for a long time. Now it has changed - a democratic election organized by the Democracy Now movement led to the creation of the Eastside Parliament and a Mayor. They hold the power in Eastside now, and the Hunters enforce the law within it.
Southside:
The territory of the Court of One, Southside is an urban area heavily touched by magic. Based around the metaphorical and geomantic power of the river, the populated areas form a circle a distance around the river and its two tributaries. Within this circle is an area in which the normal laws of reality begin to alter, the changes becoming more profound the further one goes. In the very center is the Court of One itself, in a small region of primordial chaos and raw magical energies.

While the presence of such untamed magic presents danger to those who venture too far into it, the threat of crime in Southside is abnormally low due to the presence of the Devoured Legion. This knightly order has the dual purpose of administering justice and being the Court's punishment for capital crimes. Formed entirely of criminals 'reclaimed' by the magic of the Court, the Devoured Legion protects the populace as atonement for their crimes, using a series of crystalline pyramids to appear where they are needed.

The strangeness of Southside is offset for many by the promise it offers- it is not simply a place to live, but a place to change, and to move forward towards a new life. The Court of One offers power and purpose to those would take them, the ability to overcome the obstacles of poverty and despair, and the ability to let the river wash away the stains of the past.
Westside:
Under revision
Westside, where vampires walk openly on the street. Mostly because said vampires govern this part of the city. The city has been cloaked in a field of eternal night allowing the vampires to walk freely. Furthermore, each mortal citizen is required to donate blood to sustain the vampires. In exchange, the streets are kept clean, for the most part. Of course, the cover of darkness does attract criminals as well as less beneficent creatures of the night.
1
Factions:

Court of One: Southside
This faction represents the will and power of the fair folk queen, Genesis, each of its main members representing and acting on a facet of her nature. While often inhuman and sometimes fearful, the Court of One strives for the betterment of Riverside and the improvement of lives within its borders, offering power, purpose, and redemption to those who would join in its patterns and work harmoniously with the Court's vision.

Played by Vael or The Bushranger.
Followers of Scaal: Northside
The followers of Scaal are spoken of in hushed tones. When a black robed figure goes by people stop talking and give him the space he needs. These are the followers of Scaal. Not much is known about them besides they possess great magic, they protect this part of the city and its inhabitants for the right price, and rumors have it that Scaal is some sort of god or demon perhaps.

As of late, the followers of Scaal have been much less present in Northside. Most think they've gone underground for one reason or another, though nobody knows exactly what the truth is.

Played by ApeofLight.
Hunters: Eastside
The Hunters are built around the original organization with this name - a group of supernaturally-endowed human vigilantes. Now they recruit anyone willing to serve the people of Riverside. They act as the general police force in Eastside. Their uniform consists of a long blue coat with a stylized "H" on it. Their leader is Johann Pannewitz, one of the original Imbued Hunters. His title is Hunter Commander.

Played by Morty
People's Parliament: Eastside
The result of the Democracy Now movement among some members of Riverside, the People's Parliament is a democratically elected council that governs over Eastside.

Mayor:

Donncha O Donnail, played by Morty
Council:

Percival Obree-Banton, played by Earl of Purple
Sedrat Quelg, played by Lost_Deep
Brody, played by Slii Arhem
Andrea Infanti, played by Gulaghar
Vita Octavia, played by Happyturtle
Trind Calanolius Evenart, played by Wolfbane

The law is is enforced by the Hunters, once supernaturally-endowed vigilanties that have stepped in to serve the people of Eastside as law enforcement.
Sacred Order of Cunningham (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11067549&postcount=445): Citywide
The Sisters and Elders of the Sacred Order of Cunningham have a perspective based religion with a hodge-podge of beliefs pulled from science fiction and popular culture. They are not a celibate order, and in fact strongly promote marriage and sex (in that order) with the goal of having large families.

Except for the orphans and their caretakers, the members of the Order do not live in one location. Families have their own homes, and go to the Cathedral for holy services or group events. You know, sort of like people treat their RL churches.

Played by happyturtle.
Tenebras (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11187142&postcount=456): Westside
The vampires of Riverside came to the Nexus from the city of Gul-Thadar, a city where vampires and humans live in harmony. They took up the role of governing Westside after the city's leadership collapsed. Humans and vampires alike fill their ranks. They aren't above unsavory methods or shady deals, but they keep a good public face.

((All vampire NPCs associated with Tenebras should be assumed to be controlled by Gulaghar unless otherwise stated.))

Played by Gulaghar.

Places Within:
Northside

Moth Park:
About 100 acres, the moth park is approximately rectangular in shape, with a bandshell/performance stage at the north end, a soccer (football) field and softball diamond at the south and a forested area in the center.

It also holds two playgrounds (swing sets, slides, monkey bars) several fountains (most of which are nonfunctional) various statues and a network of walking paths.

Since the re-opening, Moth park is pretty popular with the local residents as well as those who come into the area to work or visit.
Police Station:
The police station is a large but simple brick building. All police activity is based out of this building. It's outfitted with interrogation rooms, a few offices, and other rooms that a police station would have.
Riverside Hospital:
This hospital is the only one currently in Riverside. It was built after the old hospital burned down some years ago. As a result, it's of fairly modern design. It works just like a normal, modern hospital would with the exception of magic being used along normal medical procedures to achieve better results.
Sawyer's Inn:
The inside of Sawyer's is beautiful, though humble. Whoever keeps the place, keeps it in fine condition.

The dark wooden floors are waxed and shiny. There are four wooden pillars that reach up to the ceiling. The four walls are painted in a brick red, with light grey accents.

Along the left wall there is a large hearth fire burning, with a dog and cat sleeping together. The dog raises it's head slightly to observe the newcomers, but doesn't rush to sniff them out.

Along the right wall is the customer service area, with a dining hall just past it. The smell of freshly baked bread and some kind of meat can be smelled eminating from beyond.

And then there is the back wall. There is a set of stairs leading up and another leading down. Both sets are made of the same wood as the pillars and floor.
Temple of Dalachrech: Earl of Purple
This building closely resembles all the other semi-detached houses along this road. The temple takes up both halves of the house, however; although the building has been designed such that the halves don't match to maintain the illusion of seperate owners. It has a red tile roof and is constructed from red brick, although the left half has been painted white. There's a pair of garages and two front doors, both of which work.

The temple is a private location. Please PM Earl of Purple before visiting.

Eastside

Cosiellio's Temple: Harnel
There's a small temple here that just finished construction last week. It's a fairly plain thing, more utilitarian than ostentatious, but it's made of marble and granite, giving it a glowing white appearance in the sun, with Cos' holy symbol in a large carved statue above the front door. It's a shield with feathered wings imposed along the front, giving it the impression of a heart. It's carved impeccably; it must have been done with magic.

The temple itself is relatively informal. There's a pair of priests here named Jules and Linette, though they don't wear anything like clergy vestments because Cosiellio doesn't have any sort of clergy vestments he'd prefer they wear. Jules is a half-elven man that appears to be approaching middle-age, while Linette is a teenage human; both were saved during the riverside riots, And Cos provides them with the things they need to live (money, healing, food, and rooms) as long as they maintain their functions as priests.

A few of Cos' faithful are here almost all the time - given the informal nature of the temple, everybody drifts in to say a few prayers whenever they're feeling like they should, or whenever they have the time. Cos himself regularly visits, of course, and answers prayers directly.
Fallow’s Furry & Feathered Friends: Earl of Purple
The shop is lit up with bright lights and neon advertising. Around the store is a secure, electrified fence and there's four watch towers in the corners. The gate is near a large, secure-looking building within which are three ogre guards. Inside lie four warehouses, a large collection of aquariums and gigantic tanks, a squat and ugly toilet block and three seperate bunkers for customers to evacuate into should something more dangerous escape, such as a smilodon from the Mammal House, a wyvern from the Reptile House, a giant carnivorous slug from the Invertebrate House or something worse. Patrolling the wide, open spaces are the occasional group of six uniformed humans armed with net-guns. Slaves can be bought here if one asks the right questions.
Golden Flagon Tavern:
The Golden Flagon Tavern was once the main hideout of the local mafia. It was destroyed, but recently it has been fully restored. It still tends to attract the unsavory sort, but the owner keeps things civil.

The tavern is very old fashioned. It's a stone building with polished, wooden supports. A fire always warms it's large hearth and the drinks always good. It makes for a comfortable atmosphere.
Hunter Lodge: Morty
The main administration building for the Hunter force. The Hunter Commander's office is located there, as well as the rest of the administrative staff.
Light's Heart: Shadowcaller
The citadel rises up like something taken from a sci-fi movie. The walls are golden colored, untainted by age and dirt. Like something that was just build just recently.
Five towers have been built into the wall, standing no less then 40 feet tall, looking like they have been cut out from the same stone.

Above the towers rises the citadel itself, completely square in form and made of the same golden stone it have numerous arrow slits carved out at the upper floors.

Leading around it's form is a wooden staircase going from the top of the citadel to the courtyard below.The only visible entrance is the massive gate made of obsidian colored wood which stands wide open, inviting anyone inside.
Parliament: Morty
Not far from the Town Hall, the small circular new building serves as the meeting place for the People's Parliament. It includes a large hall for meetings as well as offices for all the members.
Town Hall: Morty
Converted from several buildings in the middle of the district, it serves as the seat of the administration. The Mayor resides there.

Southside

Court of One: Vael
In the center of Southside is a clearing, its shape a perfect circle. It is relatively small in size, and the chaotic powers that surround the clearing and converge on it mean that it sees few visitors. Yet, here it is that the heart of the Court of One is found. Imbued with all the geomantic power of Southside, charged with the symbol power of the river, the Court of One has transcended a true form of shape, and so how it appears depends on the viewer. Some see it as a floating castle, flying above the clearing, while others see it as a pool of clear water.

One might assume that this area is the physical court, a place in which the members of the court meet- and while true, it is also the court itself. While its members may rove outward and touch other areas of Riverside, or even leave the city, the will of Genesis is always manifest there. As much as her body contains her, so too does the Court of One- yet here, she is not fettered by the laws of reality, here the world is raw and unshaped, and her power is at its highest.

So those few visitors who find their way here will find the power and presence of Genesis and the Court of One at their strongest. Here, the greatest and most improbable pleas can be answered, should they prove persuasive to the fey ruler.
Maelstrom Castle: Vael
Formed of circling, twisting walls and a labyrinth of gates, this proud and fae castle stands in the middle of a twist in a river, the currents of which churn and race around it, rising impossibly into the air to form new layers of the fort's walls out of running water.

Winding to the center of the structure, the river's flow partially hardens into mirror-like ice, forming a garrison in which the Devoured Legion resides. The polished ice that line the walls give views out of the crystalline pyramids in the centers of the most populated areas of Southside, and for the knights themselves, act as portals.
Radiant Ocean: Vael
Do not the waters of the river pour into the ocean? Though each comes from a different path, they join and merge, each mingling and sharing in the same world. Though some are vast and mighty, some weak and small, their nature is the same, and in coming together, their strength is as one. All are of the same family, each deserves the same kindness and share as another.
Let this court be an ocean. None who need its power will be turned away.

Radiant Ocean is a place of generosity and wealth, entertainment and exchange.

Home to the most populous portion of Southside, Radiant Ocean itself is a luxurious housing complex, its four petal-like wings of apartments separated by glass covered gardens. The central portion of the building is a market, in which imported goods and the products of the garden are sold and exchanged. The housing in Radiant Ocean is divided between those who most need it, and those willing to pay notable sums of money for a place in it, money which is then put into expanding the markets and buildings that have sprung up around Radiant Ocean.
Solemn Depths: Vael
At the city walls, where the river first passes into Riverside, there is a deep reserve. Carved deep into stone, it first appears as just a man-made lake, but once one enters the water, they will find that it is so much more. Buildings lost to time and the changes of Riverside reappear within beside more fantastic ones born from alien imagination, the lake's depths easily holding countless tall structures that glow eerily in the darkened water, while careful currents of water create an upwards clockwise gyre but leave the center of the reserve untouched.

At the still eye of the gyre and the bottom of the lake is a well lit with soft blue and green lights every so often, giving it a muted glow. Small streams of bubbles spiral out of it, their source a large number of spiraling side passages that lead into circular caverns with apparently self sustaining air pockets, and enough rocky surfaces for a human to draw themselves out of the water. Yet, going even deeper, one will encounter something even stranger- the water is easily breathable. Yet, at this depth there are also strange energies like those from the mists, capable of altering mortal form and reality around it. Still, they seem more constructed, more directed, manifesting in structured ways. From this point, however, what one encounters is no longer certain, changing readily for each new visitor.
Wellspring Tower: Vael
A tower of stone and glass with limbs that branch out like those of a tree, Wellspring Tower is positioned in nearly the center of Riverside, twisting the water of the river up into its hollow glass tubing in a manner that produces a quiet and beautiful song. Fountains, statues of ice and topiary, and small pools of water fill its courtyard, a vibrant and natural environment in the midst of the city.

On the inside, Wellspring Tower is much larger than it is without, its stretching limbs opening out into other planes of existence, containing entire worlds within its mighty arms.

Westside

Blood Donation Clinic:
A small clinic has been established in Westside for the purpose of collecting blood from those willing to donate. The blood is then distributed to those that require it. This is primarily Tenebras vampires, but any being that requires blood for sustenance can get it here. Some blood can be given to the hospital when needed as well.

The clinic itself is a small building. Inside there is a reception area, and a few different rooms for the actual procedure. There is usually one person on site twentyfour seven.
Cathedral of the Sacred Order of Cunningham: happyturtle
The Westside Cathedral is large enough to house people for emergency purposes, but in general, only the family of the pastor and the groundskeeper live there.

Pastor Rockwell is the Pastor
Sister Janice is the Pastor's wife, and a skilled hippiemancer.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Worcester_cathedral.jpg
Club Pulse: Shadowcaller
The club is quite easily noticed by the huge neon sign outside, Pulse was easily recognized as Riversides largest nightclub. Beyond the line and the bouncer outside is a classic club layout with a large dance floor with loud music and flashing lights.

In a slightly more calm area of the club is the bar run by an one-eyed bartender called Ryo.

There are two stairs leading up to the upper floor where it's easier to talk and drink.

The atmosphere is pretty heavy as you walk inside with techno music playing very loud.
Doctor Stroffelnburg's Psychiatric Clinic: Reinholdt
This rather unassuming white building contains the world's finest psychiatric doctor. After the setback at his hospital that caused the loss of the use of his legs, Doctor Stroffelnburg took his savings and set up a smaller clinic here in Riverside. Walk-ins are encouraged.
Enforcer HQ: Gulaghar
On the outside, this building almost looks like a bunker. It's a low, squat building constructed of stone. The only windows are on the front of the building and they are small. There is a fenced off area in the back that contains a number of vehicles.

The lobby area is fairly bare. There are a few different clearly labeled desks to approach, depending on the reason for being there. One is for general business with the Enforcers. The wall opposite the desks is lined with chairs.

Off to the left is a hallway that goes deeper into the building. An Enforcer guard stands at the entrance to this hallway at all times. At the end of the hall is a heavy steel door with a card based lock. Behind this door is an armoury that contains the Enforcer's weapons and armour.

On the opposite side of the lobby, there is a similar hallway, though it's not guarded on the lobby side. At the far end there is a door that leads to an area with a few holding cells and a desk for a guard to work at.

Halfway down the same hall is another hall intersecting it. This hall is lined with doors to a number of offices and other rooms.
Evolution Industries: Darkcomet
The Westside branch of EI. The main building is a fairly nondescript, tall (not a skyscraper or anything, but still with several floors) modern one, with a large Evolution Industries logo on it.
Evolution Industries Power Plant: Darkcomet
The Class 3 MACE unit offered by Evolution Industries is a large, static installation capable of generating enough power to supply all of Riverside with electricity, and it was Tenebras that commissioned the first of these installations from EI.

The installation is housed inside a large, reinforced building. The interior has multiple levels linked by elevators and stairs, all surrounding the roughly cylindrical silver crystalline structure that is the actual Class 3 unit. It's quite the view at the top for EI's employees and the occasional tourist, and naturally there are plenty of guard rails. Naturally, office space, bathrooms, and the like are all present in the building, though obviously away from the main spiral surrounding the installation itself. Many computers and other such pieces of equipment are present in the areas around the installation, perpetually monitoring and controlling its output.

The building itself is guarded and patrolled by Evolution Industries' corporate security division.

All that is known to the public, but given what Evolution Industries used to do, and the identity of its head, it's possible the place is far more guarded than it immediately seems...
Exbourne Manor: Gulaghar
Exbourne manor is rather old, though kept in excellent condition since it was restored when Tenebras moved in. The rooms are large and spacious, and most of the public areas have been painted in bright pastels and decorated with vases of flowers.

The ground floor largely consists of the lofty entrance hall, a comfortable living room, and the kitchen. Ramiro's office is also on the ground floor for easy access. The second and third floor have mostly bedrooms and attached washrooms. The basement serves as rooms for the servants primarily. In a separate part of the basement is a large vault as well as an Evolution Industries Class 2 MACE Unit which provides the building with electricity. Finally, the attic contains whatever it is that creates the darkness field within Westside.

The manor is surrounded by a courtyard. An iron fence surrounds it, and a number of trees provide privacy along the sides and behind the building. The courtyard is grassy and has a cobblestone trail leading to the front door. Behind the manor is a private garden. The courtyard's gate is almost always left open.
Light of Evolution/Control Center: Darkcomet
Once the Class 3 Installation was completed, the head of Evolution Industries approached the leader of Tenebras with an answer to a question that had been asked of him before-that of bringing light back to Westside.

The building at ground level is fairly normal-looking, wide but not overly tall. It is marked with Evolution Industries logos, and serves as the control and maintenance center for the site's true purpose.

The crystalline sphere that serves as Westside's artificial sun, known as the Light of Evolution, floats in the air far above the building, a bright blue beam linking it and the structure. This serves to power the Light. This beam is surrounded by a translucent, shimmering blue forcefield, to prevent anyone from interrupting it.

The beam is projected from a system usually at the roof of the building, and is taken in by a receiver panel at the bottom of the Light, which is how it powers it.

The Light brightens and dims as appropriate to simulate a natural day-night cycle, and the beam that powers it dims with it. After all, when it is dimmer, it requires less power. In the darkest times of the night, the beam projector deactivates and the forcefield drops. The former lowers itself down into the building, and the Light floats down on anti-gravity systems with their own onboard power. The Control Center's roof contains a hatch that, at this time, opens and allows the Light to land for maintenance. During the day, this hatch is normally sealed around the energy projector that powers the Light, preventing it from being used as a secondary entrance during this time as well.

Naturally, the site is heavily guarded by Evolution Security, and no tourists or civilians are allowed inside.

Interestingly, Evolution Industries has issued an official warning that it is not responsible for the results of anyone flying into the forcefield around the power beam, or the beam itself should those be somehow disabled. It is noted that death or serious injury is likely to occur.
MagMart: Lord Magtok
If the individual entering has any sort of familiarity with the other MagMart, back when it was its own building apart from Mallside, they'll probably notice that this Riverside one doesn't look anywhere near as glamorous as its predecessor. It's a modest purple brick building, the glass display windows aren't even properly bulletproof, and the smelly homeless people usually employed to wander around about the front of the store in a wacky MagMascot costume with an enormous cyborg head are mysteriously absent.

That said, you can still find just about everything here that you can at the Mallside store. Curtains to carpets, macaroni to monkeys on motorcycles, groceries to zombies garlic. The staff is always happy to help (or else), and if you aren't entirely satisfied with your shopping experience, you can pay a small fee to watch the MagMart employee of your choosing get fired out the MagMart complimentary employee morale cannon. Except in this store, the 'morale cannon' is really more of a morale bazooka, and while it's still fun to watch, it's nowhere near as charming.
Westside City Hall: Gulaghar
The newly constructed city hall is a towering, impressive building. It is crafted primarily out of a light stone. There is an old feel to it's design, but it is very much a modern building on the inside.

It opens up to a wide open lobby. The floor is a clean white and the room is brightly lit by florescent lights. Immediately to the right of the door is a reception desk where a receptionist can be found for direction during business hours. On the left of the entrance is a security desk where an Enforcer can be found. In the middle of the room is a small fountain with several chairs around it. On the far side of the room is an elevator and there are a number of other doors that lead out of the room.

On the second and third floor there are a number of offices. The mayor's office is on the third floor and there is an office for the Enforcer chief here as well.
History: by Lex-kat
Long, long ago, Riverside was a simple fishing village.

It was able to blossom into a city once trade begun, because of it's placement not only on the river, but between most of the other small villages within this area of the Nexus.

Of course, this means that the Merchants were able to take over the government of the city. But other than that, it remained quite peaceful.

Very few other cities attack Riverside, and it would remain neutral in conflicts. Though, due to the few that did try to attack it, the citizens of Riverside did develop a small military force. For protection purposes only, of course.

For years, Riverside grew in power, yet never exerted it over any of the other villages. That is, until a man named Johnny Duluth came to power.

At first, the people loved him. He was fair and just. And soon, he brought even more prosperity to Riverside.

Then a change. A small force of unknown marauders besieged the city. Mayor Johnny declared a state of emergency, reorganized the military, and with the help of some of his aides, transformed them into a offensive unit.

After a long 4 month battle, Riverside won a decisive victory. But they didn't stop there. Mayor Johnny declared that a nearby village was responsible for the attack.

He personally led the military and crushed the village with no resistance.

Some Merchants balked at this, and tried to warn the citizens of the dangers of allowing Mayor Johnny to take this power.

They were all silenced, one way or the other. Bought off, murdered, or their families kidnapped and held hostage.

By the time the residents realized what was happening, it was too late. They found themselves over run by the same marauders that they had "defeated" before.

Soon, the city was run by a Mafia-dictatorship, and Johnny Duluth was it's mayor.

What the citizens didn't know, was that Johnny Duluth was just a puppet. There was another man pulling his strings.

Ezekial Von Hookes, a prominent member of the Merchant class had employed Johnny for just this. He even arranged for his own daughter, Patricia, to be kidnapped, tortured, and finally returned to him a gibbering mess.

Mayor Johnny ruled Riverside for thirty years, before dying of a sudden heart attack at the age of 78.

A kinder, gentler man took his place, returning Riverside to a peaceful, defensive center of commerce it was before Johnny Duluth took over.

The citizens were happy. But deep within the dark corners, and under the city foundations, the Mafia still ruled. Ezekial passed his hidden empire to his son-in-law, Cameron.

Cameron and Patricia (yes that Patricia) had a son, Frederick Von Hookes. Cameron raised his son to be his successor. Slowly the citizens of Riverside became aware, yet intentionally ignorant, of the criminals that were truly in charge.

People would disappear, and the police did nothing. There were rumors of daughters from surrounding villages being kidnapped and sold to wealthy men, or held under the bar for the local prostitution ring.

By the time Frederick "retired", and Jonah took over, everyone in the city knew that the city was run by a mostly hidden group of men, maybe some women.

When Reinholdt came to town, and murdered Johan, and set the prostitutes free, business came to a screeching halt.

The Green Flagon Bar, where Johan ran his business out of, shut down for repairs. But has only just recently reopened.

There is rumors that Frederick has returned. ASnd people are afraid. Where Johan was cunning, Frederick was brutal.

++++++++++++++++++

The police are owned by the Mafia. Unless you wish to die, you turn a blind eye to any crime you see.

For the most part, the citizens are protected. Only those who try to reform or change the current system find themselves on the wrong end of the "law".

Otherwise, the victims are from the more rural villages surrounding Riverside.

The Mafia has dealings with people in other large cities, including the Empire run Inside. Though most of those are in deep hiding since the Empire took over.

More recently, SAINT, the Assassins guild has sprung up in the cities underworld. Since there has been no fighting between the guild and the Mafia, it is assumed that they have a peaceful agreement with each other.

Of course, in the most recent happenings, the Golden Flagon has been shot up recently when a human female and some blue girl came asking questions.

Soon after they disappeared, an earthquake struck the twon, felling many buildings. A strange man named Riv is reported to have been to blame. How that can be, the citizens do not know.

They are currently rebuilding.

Previous Threads:
Riverside 11 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262777)
Riverside X: Take a Walk on the Wildside (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253781)
Riverside IX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248824)
Riverside VIII: A New Side (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238369)
Riverside VII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226275)
Riverside VI (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218891)
Riverside V (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213952)
Riverside IV: Offside, 10 Yard Penalty (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207810)
Riverside III (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199842)
Riverside II (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183453)
Riverside I: The Beginning (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180396)

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yes, but look at you. It isn't even like in the animes." Irena replies, attempting to look away. It looked differently in the real world.

[Investigation]

Astrana nods grimly as they continue up towards the castle. As they reach the entrance however, Celestel is there to greet them. "Ah, the guard said you were coming. I need to speak to you. It involves your supposed crimes."

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia holds her hands firmly on Irena's face, not letting her look away just yet. "Well get it fixed. There's bound to be a way. Just please don't beat yourself up about it. This is nothing to worry about." She insists.

[Investigation]

Valente glances at Astrana before replying. "Um, sure. What about it?" He asks. It seems like this day is just getting more and more jam packed with things happening.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

Cole remains in the tree, rocking himself and humming until a squirrel goes to hop over him. He reaches out, snatches it with one hand, and breaks its neck.

[Lost_Deep]

[Streets]

Most people didn't seem to be all people at least. Regardless of the exact numbers, the dwenic nodded and crinkled the corners of its eyes again. "It feelx nixe having xomething one can do well, yex?" the thing said. "I have a.." here the alien thing stopped and began chittering to itself as a rather bright mix of olive and what looked rather akin to television static flickered on its shoulders and chest. "The word ix 'xibling' (sibling), yex? Gender pronounx are confuxing.. But they are a network adminixtrator or xomething like that. They don't xpeak much about their occupation xo I wax wondering if you might be able to tell me." the dwenic said.

"I don't have that xort of expertixe myxelf. You could call me a 'profexional tourix (tourist)' if that makex any xenxe." the alien said, looking off to the side as it had noted the waiter coming back, bearing their orders.

"Well, chances are that wherever your sibling works has some kind of network, either an internal network or one tied to a web page, and he goes about making sure it runs reliably and smoothly, and oversees updates and changes. The details vary a lot, but that's the basics of it." Kate thanks the waitress and then thinks a moment. "I'm not familiar with the idea of a 'professional tourist'. I understand that some people review tourist attractions for a living, but that doesn't sound quite right."

What do resort reviewers do on vacation, anyway?

[Shadowcaller]

Northside

Sometime, the veiled figure will pass a robed figure in the street. The robe is purple, and the large hood is pulled down over the eyes. The hood has the emblem of an eye on it in silver, and the way it is pulled forward gives the illusion of a cyclops.

The robed figure will try to brush up against the veiled one, and slip a thin radio into her pocket. She isn't worrying about not being noticed, but she is a fairly skilled reverse pickpocket.

Northside

The veiled figure seems too distraught to even notice it. It is as if she were in her own world, far away from this one. So she will just keep on walking. However after a while or so she will suddenly stop and pick up the radio, looking at it confused.

[Suncrest Manor]

"But I'm not sure it can get fixed Nadia. The patterns are all mumbled up now, it would be nearly impossible to straighten them up again." Irena starts explaining. "Now that you're a familiar your form is more transformable since you can like, uh, turn into energy. That's how I summoned you here and that's probably how that guy turned you into a cat so easily." She looks thoughtfully at Nadia. "Hey, I want you to try something. Try thinking yourself back into your original form. That might just work."

[Investigation]

"Yes, I had the fortune to speak to a certain mister Gasllo and we have arranged to do a trail of sort to prove you innocent of the crimes you have been accused of. Or at least the willing part. You need to give permission for Lord Harold to read your mind however. Is this acceptable?" Celestel asks with a smile.

[Lost_Deep]

Northside

*Skrk* "I understand you are interested in killing a god? No small feat. Nonetheless, I represent a group with an interest in discouraging gods with a appetite for conquest... and if you convince me that this is a big issue, the new god might... disappear."

The voice is fairly garbled by the radio, not so much that the words aren't understandable but enough that it would be very hard to recognize the voice.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Um, alright." Nadia closes her eyes and tries to think herself back to normal. It's kind of a weird thing to try and do. It might have been like her controlling water, but even that feels like it's some actual part of her.

Even so, it works. Her ears shift and change, her tail slips out of sight and vanishes, and her eyes change back to normal. Nadia touches the top of her head and looks rather surprised. "It actually worked?"

[Investigation]

"Oh, really? Um, well that sounds great. When do you want to do that?" Valente glances at Astrana again. If this is a real chance to clear his name, then it'd be very good in the long term. He still wants to get out of the city with Astrana on the short term, however.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

It took just a moment for the dwenic to feel like it had the gist of what Kate was talking about although the only real trip-up appeared to be the usage of gender pronouns. "I think.. It ix the.. The the the... Female ix it? Femalex which are called 'he?'" the creature asked. It appeared that this was just a subject that it found inherently confusing although it might be an aid for Kate to start figuring out what all the patterns signified given the same olive-and-static pattern starting to creep out past the jade hues again.

Letting that pass for the moment, though, the alien went on to better explain what it did for Kate. "Well.. Think of it like thix. There are xo many plaxex on xo many worldx that it can be mindboggling to try and imagine the xeer (sheer) number of culturex and workx to go and xee. Xo, ax xuch, I go out and xtudy a xertain area and itx highlightx, cuxomx (customs), landmarx, people, and xuch. I then tranxlate thexe experienxex into xomething that can be underxtood more readily and fluidly by my peoplex cultural lenxe. Uxually in the form of articlex or occaxionally in fully made guidebookx though there wax a time or two that I wax axed (asked) to xpeak on my imprexxionx on the growing cultural diverxity due to our firx xucxexxful (successful) extraxolar coloniex. We are a people that are in the unique poxition of having a highly homogenoux culture given our uplifted xtatux xo my available audienxe makex thix a rather profitable venture overall. Not bad for xomeone who wax in architextural xtudiex." the creature said as it punctured the top of what appeared to be a bright orange juice drink with numerous black little spheres at the bottom using a rather sharp looking finger. Kate might note that while it was certainly much more pointy than a human's finger, it wasn't necessarily sharp enough to cut without a good amount of force applied first.

Of course, that was assuming she was paying attention to it's fingers after a long, fleshy tube uncurled from behind it's chin and inserted itself into the hole that had just been made. If she was quick with her eyes, she would likely also take note of the apparently lamprey-like interior of the proboscis before it began draining the container; the black spheres gently distorting the tube as they were picked up one by one. If previous observations meant anything, though, the wisps and curls of royal blue and violet likely indicated enjoyment at least.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena smiles, looking slightly more optimistic. "Yeah, but your form is still stuck somewhere between cat and human though. Or lampade, whatever. So you can suddenly get cat features all of sudden if you stop thinking about it." She explains.

[Investigation]

"As soon as possible. I think both we and exbourne want to get this unfortunate misunderstanding out of the way so we can focus on dealing with the potential plague risking breaking out." Celestel replies. "We could call a representative from Exbourne right now."

Astrana looks very pleased but is letting Valente talk, she knew what he was going to say next anyway.

Northside

"Veils are clouding my visions, I can barely see through the fogs of misery. Can I get a name of the voice I'm hearing? Or are you just another phantom coming to mock me for my failures?" The figure replies.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. I don't think it'll be too much trouble." Nadia thinks it'll be a bit more trouble than that, but she doesn't want Irena any more distressed.

[Malechenar]

"Yeah, that sounds like a great plan. Let's get it out of the way as soon as possible." Valente says, more than willingly. It'll be so nice to put this mess behind him. It'll make both his and Astrana's life so much easier.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"That sounds very interesting... I never thought about it that way. You're a kind of cultural analyst, I guess." She ponders that for a moment while sipping her own drink. "But, it's actually the female that's 'she.' Sorry I used a gender pronoun, English doesn't have very good gender-neutral pronouns."

Northside

"I represent an Illuminati. Do not try to find information, we are sealed against all divinatory magic. If you convince me that the god should not come into his own, I will pull what resources I can to make sure it does not."

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"You sure? It sounds like it be a lot trouble to me. What if you suddenly get fur or something?" Irena asks.

[Malechenar]

"Indeed. A representative from Exbourne will be present shortly. Meanwhile you might want to prepare yourself for a longer stay, or leave shortly. We will be closing off the castle from the rest of the world." Celestel says before wandering off. "Meet me at the forum in a hour and we will deal with this once and for all."

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"Ax I am finding out." the dwenic said with a hint of olive and a twitter of chittering. "I xuppoxe (suppose) that the root problem ix gender but not one that fault can be found in." it continued. "But if it helpx with pronoun axxoxiation, then juxt uxe the feminine wordx. They're the termx for the egg layerx after all." the alien said as it retracted it's proboscis from it's half-finished beverage.

Holding up the rather large coconut it (or was it she now?) had ordered, the shelled fruit received a very throurough examination before an arm was drawn back and pointed fingers were aimed at a seem in the shell. With a faint electrical popping noise and a blur of motion, the coconut suddenly sported a fresh new set of holes into which a proboscis was soon sinking and gleefully drinking away the necter inside.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"Allright," Kate answers. Hmm... that has interesting connotations. Logic states that dwenic males are probably very different from females, then... Kate watches the careful opening of the coconut. "That was really cool."

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

Kate may be surprised once she finds the answer to that line of thought.

"I xuppox it might be... Moxt fruit from our planet of origin wax contained in xellx much like thix. It makex for difficult eating without xome way to open them although the xofter fruit that I've found while traveling have prexented a nixe experience. Have become inordinately fond of mango and paxxion fruit xinxe my laxt time here but it ix nixe to have xomething ximilar to home." the dwenic said with a few shades of light red sneaking up in patches on it's body.

Apparently noticing this, the alien made an apparent effort to smooth out 'her' patterns into the congenial jade it was content with displaying. "But I think that the adaptation ix rather handy in another way too. Ax you may guex (guess). Our bodiex uxe more energy than moxe other xentiant creaturex and animal product ix not nearly ax rich in ximple xugarx or other chemical compoundx for extended exixtanxe ax plant matter. Ah but now I'm getting into a biology lexxon. I am not boring you with thix natter?" the alien said as it began 'gnawing' on the flesh of the innards of the coconut with the lamprey-like teeth it had. The sloshy, almost squelching sound of the coconut meat would be faint but still noticeable.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Well, maybe, but it's something I can deal with. And maybe we can track something down to make it easier to manage." Nadia says. Stop being pessimistic, Irena!

[Malechenar]

"Okay, thank you, Celestel." Valente says. He turns to Astrana, a grin on his face. "Did you hear that. No more hiding, and I'll be able to see my family again." He pulls Astrana closer for a brief kiss. "You'll have to finally meet them."

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"No! I find it quite fascinating," Kate replies between munching on shrimp. "Please continue."

[Shadowcaller]

Northside

"Why?" The bat-person speaks. "It's already too late now. The time of death have passed. I've seen it, the boy won't die. No matter what you or anyone else do." She explains confidently.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Mm... we should figure out what triggers it though before anything else." Irena says, being unusually reasonable.

[Malechenar]

Astrana returns the kiss. Smiling widely, finally some good news! "Maybe we could go to Gul-Thar when we leave the city then? I'd be great." She certainly seem enthusiastic about it.

[Lost_Deep]

Northside

"Oh. Because it's fated in the stars? Is that your angle? Fate?"

The voice seems to treat fate with no respect; like fate is no more than some fiction that someone made up, and uses it as an excuse.

"Will you bow to 'fate'?"

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yeah, we'll just keep an eye out." Nadia smiles and gives Irena a kiss on the cheek. "Now how about let's get me some clothes and go and see if we can get my stuff back. I had groceries and everything when this happened." Nadia is still completely naked after all. She's not exactly hopeful that her stuff is still sitting on the sidewalk after this long.

[Malechenar]

"That sounds like a great idea. My parents will want to see me after so long, and you can meet them. It'd be a lot easier than finding anywhere else to stay to top it off." Valente says, grinning at the thought.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Sure you need clothes? Can't you stay naked while you're in the home from now on? It'll save money if you keep transforming." Irena replies with a grin, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

[Malechenar]

"Do you think they'll accept me? They don't live in the nexus after all." Astrana replies, starting to walk towards the compound.

Northside

"Do what you want. I have seen what I have seen and it can never be changed. Not even by me." The figure speaks with conviction, the other voices skepticism not something it haven't encountered before. "If you want and can destroy the gods, there are many others that deserve their fate more then this one. Their fates have not been seen by me yet so there is still a chance."

[Lost_Deep]

Northside

"Bow to your fate, then."

SKORK! The internal parts of the radio fry, rendering it completely useless.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you." Nadia playfully sticks her tongue out at Irena. "I can't get used to not wearing clothes though. I don't want to traumatize poor Eliseo when he's older. Besides, if you want me naked you just have to ask." She winks.

[Malechenar]

"Well they'll probably think you're a bit strange at first. There's no one like you back home after all. I know they'll like you as soon as they get to know you, though." Valente says with absolute confidence.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"But you will still look really hot when he's older! It's not like he will have some grandma wandering around here."

That might actually be a really good reason to wear clothes. Just imagine his teens, poor boy. :smalleek:

Northside

Throwing it aside the wandered sets a different course, she had something different in mind now.

[Malechenar]

"That's good to hear. You know, suddenly I'm curious what they are like. My only parents were the fourth tower." Astrana replies.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Well yeah. Can you imagine how awkward that would be?" Nadia shudders at the thought. Ick ick ick! "Come on, think on the bright side. If I get some clothes on now, maybe I'll let you take them off later." Nadia gets to her feet and tries to pull Irena up with her.

[Malechenar]

"I think you'll like them. They're good parents. Mom can be a bit, um... Well she's always wanted me to go out and find a girlfriend. So she might be a little excited." He scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"I'm sure I can handle them." Astrana replies with a smile. "That they're too accomodating towards me is hardly my biggest worry."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Hey, you have been the one doing the undressing these latest days." Now it's Irena's turn to stick out her tongue. "I might be part daemon or something, but I think you're every bit of a sex addict as I am."

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

Valente laughs. "That's true. There could be worse things." They arrive at his room and he opens the door, leading the way in. "So we've got some time before the guy from Tenebras shows up. What do you want to do?" A sly grin spreads across his face.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Ah, but who can blame me with such a lovely temptress tugging at my heartstrings?" Nadia gives Irena's butt a little squeeze to get her walking. "Come on, my little devil. Let's get going."

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"We got one hour. I probably need to pack and..." Astrana starts before she realizes Valente is up to something. "What do you want to do Valente?" If he had any ideas, they could always pack afterwards.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I think you're supposed to be my little devil. Familiar and all that." Irena replies but keeps moving. Probably thanks to Nadia's butt squeeze. "Maybe you should turn yourself into a imp next time eh? I know you look hot in horns." Of course, Irena probably think Nadia looks hot in most things.

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Well I don't have that much stuff here, and we'll have to wait till after to get your stuff from Exbourne anyway..." Valente puts his hands on Astrana's hips and pulls her up against him. "Aaand I may be thinking that things might be a bit awkward at my parents' house." He blushes a bit.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I think you'd say I look hot in anything. I'm on to you." Nadia gives Irena a peck on the cheek as they head upstairs.

Once they're up there, the lampades grabs some clothes and slips them on. "Look at this, compromise." She says as she puts on a one of her few low cut tops.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"Awkward?" The tiefling asks as she's pulled close. It occurs to me that ever since Valente was turned human again, he probably have felt just how warm the tiefling's skin is to touch. It's not exactly an unpleasant feeling though. "I can handle awkward Val. Awkward is a great relief compared to all that I have been through my life. If your parents don't reject me the instance they see my horns and tail, they're better then most people of my homeworld and I will like them just for that." Her horns can be in the way when they kiss though. :smalltongue:

[Suncrest Manor]

"Woo!" Irena exclaims. "Boobies!" She adds, somewhat ironically. "But seriously, we need to see how this transformation thing works. Can you try thinking like... a cat maybe?"

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"It's not you I'm worried about. I don't doubt you'll handle it all just fine. It's me." He chuckles. "Making out with you in my parents' house is going to be totally awkward." Valente sounds like he's joking a little, but it's still true.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Think like a cat..." Nadia looks skeptical. It's a shame she really doesn't have any sort of feel for these changes. So she thinks. After a second, she starts to shrink and black fur sprouts over her skin. It stops when she realizes what's happening, leaving her partially changed, looking much like a 'realistic' catgirl.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"Then we don't make out in your parents house." Astrana replies with a smile. "It's as simple as that."

[Suncrest Manor]

"See? Now you got fur." Irena wasn't too interested in fur however. She can't help but to giggle though. "And you're shorter then me now too, you're positively tiny."

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Now that is just beyond unthinkable." Valente chuckles and slides his hands down over her rear. "Besides, if we're waiting out this plague thing, we might be there a while." As if he could rein in his libido for that long. <.<

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia puts her hands on her hips. "You're right, we'd better figure out this transforming thing asap. It's unacceptable." She focuses again, and returns to her normal self a moment later. "I wonder how well I could control it eventually..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"We don't need to stay in your parents house the entire time silly. I want to see your city Val, I'm sure there are places there we could spend time alone together in while I'm sight-seeing." Astrana says as she's holding on to his waist.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Why don't you try just getting just cat ears and a cat tail?" That was pretty hot after all even if she felt guilty about it. <.< Nadia didn't seem to mind too much after all...

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Oh, yeah. Good thinking." Valente smiles. Some time alone out of his parents' house sounds like a fantastic idea. "So we'll go, see my parents, take some nights out on the town. Maybe we could go dancing." He sways their hips back and forth and his smile turns into a grin.

[Suncrest Manor]

"How about this, we go find my stuff, and as a reward we can try that out." She says teasingly. "Now let's get going. Don't forget the keys." Nadia wiggles her butt for Irena as she walks out of the room.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"You like that?" Astrana asks with a smile. "It feels like it was years since we danced last time." It sounded like it could be fun though. But a thought occurs to her. "You sure it won't be awkward? I don't know if I'll fit in as well in your city as in the nexus." She'd be the only red person in a city of bleakness! Not to mention horns and tail.

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena is about to protest about something, but then she forgets what that something is as Nadia wiggles her butt. Damn that butt! Draining all her willpower!

Forgetting what she was about to say, she have no choice to follow along. "...alright."

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Well you might get some looks, but I don't think there's any reason anyone would be really hostile. I mean, know one knows anything about tieflings, let alone has any reason to have any issues with you." Valente chuckles. "And besides, if anyone has anything to say about you, they can take it up with me."

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia leads the way out to the car, and she'll give Irena directions to get them to where Nadia thinks it was she was abducted. When they get there, they'll find that all that' left of Nadia's belongings are her emptied out purse, her pants, and undergarments. "Well I guess I expected that. I'll need to cancel my credit cards, get a new phone, ugh."

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Don't worry. I'll buy you a even better cellphone and get you even more money on your credit cards. No fiancée of mine walks around poor." Irena promises as she kneels down and lifts up Nadia's discarded bra. "I'm surprised no one stole your underwear though. I know I would." That is thankfully a joke. :smalltongue:

[Malechenar]

"Oh, my brave knight is it?" Astrana asks with a raised eyebrow. Valente was hardly the most buff guy, but that was the way she liked him. "I bet people are going to stare though, but I'm pretty used to it."

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia snatches her bra out of Irena's hand. "Oh shush you." She picks up the rest of her stuff and brushes them off. "I guess it's not so bad. Losing my phone was the worst thing, but it'll be fine."

[Malechenar]

"Well I can try, even if I know you can take care of yourself just fine." Valente gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Are you sure they aren't just staring because your so gorgeous, though? It wouldn't surprise me."

[The Bushranger]

[Random Parks]

Here and there throughout Riverside, in parks around the town, usually behind bushes or in the tops of trees, small rips in the space-time continuum connecting to the Plane of Shadow open over the course of a few hours.

And, every time, a couple of squirrels come tumbling out of them, before the shadowspace window zips closed.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yeah, no use crying over spilled milk." Irena remarks. "Let's just go back to the manor and try to figure out how this curse works so you can control it until we can dispel it or something."

[Malechenar]

The tiefling rolls her eyes. "I'm fairly sure. People tend to notice the horns and the tail before anything else. I mean, admit it, it was the first thing you looked at the first time you saw me."

[Lost_Deep]

Suncrest Manor

At Suncrest manor, there will be a little robot knocking on the door. A simple head, spindly arms, and one wheel for movement. It has a big burlap bag over its shoulder, and it's knocking quite intently.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

The little robot, after a moment of knocking, will see a black sports car pull into the courtyard and park in front of the house. Nadia gets out of the passenger seat and looks at the robot. "Um, can we help you?" She calls out.

[Malechenar]

"Well, yeah. I guess that's true. I guess telling you what I think doesn't mean too much when I'm so obviously biased. I still think it'll be all okay, though." Valente says confidently.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"So you people don't have any devils or anything that might look like me? I know a few people have called me 'cow-girl'." It doesn't sound like she's insulted by such comments anymore though.

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena climbs out of the car as well, now sporting a pair of sun-glasses. "Be careful Nadia. It might be dangerous." She warns, not trusting robots anymore then people.

[Lost_Deep]

Suncrest Manor

The robot turns around. "Helloooooooo... Nadia Reezzoh? Things were found that belong to you!" The robot offers the bag eagerly.

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Not really, and none that people really believe in anymore. That's why I figure there shouldn't be any people reacting the same way as some people might have on your world." Valente says.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh." Nadia moves around the front of the car, though she pauses to look back at Irena. "It's okay, Irena." She closes the rest of the distance between her and the robot to grab the bag and look inside.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"Okay, if you're sure." Astrana says with a nod. "But tell me a bit about your parents. I'm curious."

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena is right behind her, giving the robot a suspicions look. What was this little thing doing here? Had it really saved Nadia's stuff?

[Lost_Deep]

Suncrest Manor

Yep, the groceries are in here, as are the contents of her purse and anything that was in her pockets... along with a few other things. Like various odds and ends, a kettle, a leather pouch full of flasks, and other miscellaneous objects that definitely are not Nadia's.

Before she can comment on this, however, the robot gives a friendly wave, says "Have a nice day!" and peels out with an audible squeal, zipping down the street and leaving the smell of burnt rubber and tire marks on the sidewalk.

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Okay, let's see... Dad's always been kind of a quiet guy. And big too; he could lift me with one arm easy. I took after my mom, if you never guessed. He works for a courier company in the city, so he's always hauling big loads of different stuff from one place to another all the time."

"Mom, well she's kind of embarrassing. Pretty sure she makes up for how quiet my dad is. She's pretty much the neighbourhood gossip. She's overly friendly too; she always has people over, especially on her days off. She works part time in a child care center."

s Valente speaks, he guides Astrana over so they can sit on the edge of the bed. "Um... got any more specific questions? Or did that satisfy your curiosity until you get to meet them?"

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh, thank you so much." Nadia starts to dig through the bag, but by the time she realizes some of the stuff isn't hers, the robot is already taking off. "Um..." Well then. "It found my stuff. Looks like I won't need to replace it all after all."

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar]

"Yeah, are there any siblings or other people living with you? Sounds like your mom would want a big family after all." Astrana asks.

[Suncrest Manor]

"That's odd." What an strange robot. "I'd check them for bugs and stuff though. You ever known." Irena remarks once they no longer can see the robot.

[Gullara]

[Malechenar]

"Nope, I'm an only child. I never really asked too much about why. I think mom might have had trouble having kids." Valente shrugs. He can't speak on the details.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh don't worry so much." Nadia shakes her head at Irena and walks back to the car. When they drive the rest of the way to the mansion, Nadia grabs the bag and gets out the car. "Could you get Eliseo out of the back?" She asks Irena.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Sure." Might as well get it over with. Irena will grab the infant (preferably the carriage since she don't really like touching him yet). If she have to hold him, she holds him away from her chest. She wasn't his mother after all.

"So uh, are we going to try all that out now?" Might be weird in front of the baby though.

[Malechenar]

"Ah... well they sound like really nice people. It's hard for me to imagine just growing up with only two people around though. I grew up with an house filled with people. You could never really get any time alone." She says.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Eliseo's car seat is strapped in, so Irena will have to tolerate holding the baby directly. When they're inside, Nadia gleans over to kiss Eliseo on the head, and then Irena on the lips. She puts just enough pressure so Irena will have to hold Eliseo against herself with the baby gently pressed against Nadia as well.

"Just one more minute." She looks lovingly between Irena and Eliseo with a little smile on her face. "Sorry, I just love to see you holding him." She admits a bit sheepishly.

[Malechenar]

"Haha, well it's hard to have any privacy with my mom, so maybe I understand a little bit." Valente chuckles. "Not to mention, our house is really small. Still, your upbringing sounds just bizarre to me too. We come from very different upbringings alright."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Riverside - Despair's Home]

The Tieflings, presumably accompanied by Lady Raenall (and dogs, I believe?), have, after a fair bit of travel to get there from the DFI, though nowhere near as much as it could have taken, what with the fluidity of time and distance in the Nexus, arrived at the house Despair was preparing for them, or at least its doorstep.

"So. What now?", Fear, whose hands are staying close to her knives at all times, though she doesn't seem to be aware of it, asks. "I know the dogs are to track her scent, but is there anything here you want to do first, or something of the sort?"

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

A gentle tone of burnt orange infected the current patterns of light and color but quickly faded. "Well I xuoppoxe.. If I am to talk about it then I can try to laxe in a few things that might be interexting." 'she' said, reaching in a finger to try and scrape out a stubborn bit of coconut meat. "There ix an animal you may be familiar with. Xome type of eel or a xerpantine fix (fish) or xomething like that. Anyway, it hax a xort of natural batteriex that it employex for xtunning prey or excaping danger. The conxept ix ximilar for ux but the effixienxy ax well ax our resxervex are more plentiful. Thix may xeem xtrange to you but thix xort of thing ix common on our birthing world. Xome common evolutionary anxextor found it uxeful and it wax never dixcarded. Likely refined ax time went on but we haven't the opportunity to make xertain for xome time. Uplifting only a xegment of a population hax itx own problemx. But that axide, xomething a bit more unique ix the ability to detect EM fieldx. I think the theory ix that it wax originally an adaptation to evade predatorx but again, cannot be xertain at thix time.

"Erm.. To cut thix ramble xhort, both of thexe have been turned towardx communication ax well ax xhort burxtx of muxcular enhanxement, the latter of which makex xhellx eaxy to deal with ax you've xeen. Thix control extendx to our... The word when tranxlated meanx xomething like 'gown or cloak of light.' Alternately 'of the xoul' Ix xynonimoux, either way. And while we can in theory produxe arching, the effort involved ix too draining for xo little effect. Ax xuch, it ix eaxier to commune when coupled with touch. For clarity moxly ax xenxory range ix larger than that. If allowed to touch, I can only jux detect the firing of larger neuron cluxterx although thix ix moxly a novelty ax there ix not much we can really do... Well, no, there are thoxe with EMT training who might uxe it to check for a pulxe or act ax a living de... De... Xtartx with that xound. Tool that can make a heart beat again. But I ramble again.

"Anyway, it ix thix part of our communication that ironically makex ux feel... 'Cut off?' when xpeaking with other xentiant formx. That ix to xay, xoxial contact ix not often ax readily done in other culturex among other thinx. Ix like... How to describe... Like taxting (tasting) xomething when your noxe ix blocked up... Axxuming I have that part about your biology correct. Thinx are very muted, yex? The general conxept ix clear but all the nuanxex (nuances) and flavorx are loxt. It ix like that only with communication. Thix mixed with our heavily communal culture, xomething I perxonally think ix the natural outcome of having xuch a touch language, leavex ux feeling ixolated. Which hixtorically createx rexentment; a xecond irony given how we xeem to be filling the niche of inter-xentiant relationx. I'd poxit (posit) that thix ix a logical extenxion of our cultural operarionx but thix ix not a xoxiological lecture... Ax much ax it xeemx to have turned into one. Anyway, it ix partly why I tranxlate thinx into our cultural lenxe; to combat thix feeling of ixolation." the dwenic said. With the time it had taken, from start to finish, the creature had finished with both its odd beverage as well as the coconut and was cleaning the tips of its fingers with its proboscis; curling it back up behind its chin once it was done. "But moxtly, I do it becauxe ix enjoyable." it said with a cerulean flush, a stark difference to the rather pale greens it had taken on during its little 'lecture.' Kate may have been able to pick out the occasional hint of yellow or red towards the end if she had been paying attention, though.

[LadyOfWar]

[Despair's Home]

((I don't remember where Lady Raennall was obtaining the dogs, so if there are no objections I'm going to say she got them from some friends who have recently arrived in the Nexus. I planned to have those characters show up sooner or later. If someone else remembers where she was obtaining their canine friends and it is important to you that she gets them from the originally planned source, just speak up and I'll edit :smallwink:))

Lady Raennall arrives as promised. The short, stocky woman is wearing her traveling boots and a simple outfit of grey cloth pants and top as opposed to her usual heavy cloak and skirts. Her sword hangs at her side as always. She glances frequently at the white-haired lad standing just behind her holding two dogs by their leashes.

The dogs are three feet high at the shoulders, lanky and covered in semi-curly grey fur. They are reminiscent of wolfhounds to anyone familiar with the breed.

"For anyone who does not already know, this is Thein, he has a gift with animals, so he will be handling our dogs. They were lent by a friend." She pauses to take stock of how many people are present to help with this task. "I believe all we need here is something to give the dogs a scent, unless there are likely to be any other clues present."

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

Kate listens to the lecture, interested the whole way. "That is very interesting," She replies, "And put that way your efforts to learn vocal languages should be lauded-er, that is, it's quite impressive. I'm familiar with the idea of biological electric charges and EM sensing; a lot of aquatic creatures from earth use them." Oh, hey, it could be that the reason she was hesitant about names is that her name wasn't translated into noises yet... or something like that.

"Well, is there anything you would like to know about humans? I'd be happy to share what I know."

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena sticks her tongue out. "You're weird, you know that?" What was her deal with babies? Crazy baby lady!

Irena will get into the manor and put Eliseo somewhere, wherever Nadia wants him. She doesn't want to carry him around for very long.

[Malechenar]

"Just how small? We're not going to stay door to door to them are we?" Astrana asks.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Just this baby. :smalltongue: "I know." Nadia gives Irena a peck on the cheek before she goes. Irena will be putting him n his play pen in the next room, and Nadia reminds her to make sure the baby monitor is on. Eliseo has enough toys there to entertain himself for a little bit.

When Irena returns, she'll find Nadia lounging on the couch. While Irena was gone, she's removed her pants so she's wearing nothing but her undergarments and that low cut top. "So I have no idea how to do this."

[Malechenar]

"Big enough that we had our space, but it probably would have been trouble if our family was any bigger. My room's not right next to my parent's, though." Valente says.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"I have more than a bit of help with the learning proxex. I won't try to take credit for effort that ix not wholly mine." she said, putting aside the hollow coconut shell. "Technology ix a wonderful thing, depending on how it ix uxed."

Pondering for a bit, the dwenic settled on a topic that was rather fascinating to it. "We are a people who find it incredibly difficult to hide our intent. It ix a byproduct of our luminexent communication being partially involuntary but the amount of energy it requirex for ux to forxe an untruth on all levelx ix prohibitive. Ax xuch, falxehood ix xomething that doex not come naturally to ux and ix very much a foreign conxept. Could you explain to me more about thix thing?" It was something that was rather fascinating to such a mind even though it had inquired after this subject multiple times in it's travels.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

Oh... this will be awkward. "Lying... okay. Let me think. I don't know enough about the human condition to get into the history or the origin of lies, really, but I can tell you some. Humans also have unconscious gives on falsehood, but they're less obvious. I don't remember what they all are... hmm... you know, in comparison to your species, humans probably seem very distant life forms. They primary method of communication is sound, with a secondary focus on sight, both ranged methods of communication. I bet that helps; and without the luminescent aspect of visual communication the visual tells are easier to hide if you're aware of them. I guess overall, it's easier for us and as such it has a much larger role in our culture."

"The basics behind lying is really less obscuring the truth and more making others think what you want them to think; manipulation. It's a very simplistic method of manipulation: give someone incorrect information to react to and they will react incorrectly. I'm making it sound a lot more complex than it is (I think) but that's about the basis for it. The trick is that it's also easily corrected for the most part: if the target gets information that contradicts with what they have, they have to decide which information to believe, and therefore the solution with the most evidence is often accepted, which is often the truth... unless a lot of effort has been put into the lie. Of course, as a general rule (often due to the emotional reaction to being misguided) the bigger the lie the worse the reaction when it is found out."

"On the other hand, I bet that more advanced methods of misdirection, especially half-truths and emotional misdirection, are probably more what you're thinking about. Telling too little amounts of information, and then leaving the target to fill in the missing information with probably incorrect conclusions. Again, there are unconscious tells but they can be hidden."

Kate stops to think for a minute. "However, I am going to go as far as to say that misdirection is not always bad. Without it we probably wouldn't have fiction."

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Umm..." Irena starts, trying not to be distracted by the nymph in the coach. "Maybe try in front of a mirror and picture yourself with cat ears?" She suggests.

[Malechenar]

"That's good to know at least. I'm sure it's going to turn out well however if everything you told me about your parents is true." Astrana replies with a smile. "In any case, maybe we should get packing. You probably need to take a shower too. Not that I'm saying you need one, but you need to get used to sweating now that you're alive again."

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Okay, let's give that a go." Nadia gets off the couch and grabs Irena's hand to lead her upstairs and into their bedroom. She goes and stands in front of the big mirror.

"Visualize myself with ears." She glances back at Irena. "This is so weird, you know? I mean, trying to change myself just by thinking about it. I have no... feel for it."

[Malechenar]

"So that's a no to making out then..?" Valente laughs and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Alright, I'll go take a shower. You can start piling things on the bed and I can help with packing once I'm out then?" With that sorted, Valente heads off to shower.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"Xoxial dixtanxe ix.. It hax been noted, yex." came the succinct reply with just a flutter of bronze. "I xuppox that the divide comex when a xtory ix told for entertainment and a xtory ix told for mixinformation. I would conxede that our xtoriex are... I xuppoxe there ix a reaxon why there ix xuch a faxination with fiction from other culturex with my xort." the dwenic said. "Though the art of inferenxe ix well known to ux, mixdirection is moxtly praxtixed in the manner of ximply not xpeaking on the xubject for ux. I xuppox the xoxial conditioning hax xomething to do with it. In that perxpective, it makex xenxe of xome of the xteriotypex I have heard."

Fiddling with the band on her wrist, the dwenic paid the bill accrued before turning back to Kate. "Or at leaxt the kinder onex." she added.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"In the Nexus, stereotypes are not your friends. You never know what to expect when meeting someone; I've learned that a lot of times." Kate gets up, and then awkwardly asks, "Did you want me to pay for my part?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[The Riverside Plague - The Beginning]

With the squirrels released across various squirrel-appropriate locations across Riverside, I suppose it is fair to say that AMEN's evil plan to spread plague across Riverside has well and truly begun.

See the cute furry little squirrels, their fur extra-thick to hide their yellowed skin.

See how friendly they are!

See how close they get to passers by, seemingly rather tame in comparison to your average squirrel.

...but you don't see the spores they're spreading, do you? Those poor unfortunate passers by don't see the spores landing on their skin, already starting to take root. Perhaps after a little while they may notice their skin looking a little red, feeling a little itchy. They might scratch it a little, serving only to drive the spores in deeper.

But this is only the beginning. The events occurring in each park, each tree-filled area, anywhere suitable for squirrels, a few minutes after their release. It will take a little while before things develop any further.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"It ix tradition that the initiator payx, yex?" Kate had been more or less dragged into this after all. It would be rude by any measure to expect her to pay for it as well with no extenuating circumstances. "And I wax xpeaking in referenxe to my xort but that ix good advixe." the dwenic said as she slid out of the harness and began cleaning up the area she had occupied.

Checking the bracelet and bringing up a flicker of strange characters set against the same sphere as before, the alien made a quiet chirping noise as a hint of olive trickled across its lower set of shoulders. "Do you xtill have time? Might I be able to get an excort to where I am xtaying, perhapx?" she said as the display quickly faded away and Kate was again made the main point of attention.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"I probably don't know where it is, but I like to walk and talk," Kate answers as she cleans up her part of the mess.

[Darkcomet]

[Message to Ramiro]

It seems DC's sending word.


The plague is being spread by infected squirrels via spores. Spread the word, and do what you can about it.

Plans to obtain the cure are proceeding.

[Gullara]

[Riverside]

Soon after the message is received, the word goes out to the other factions and the general public. Squirrels are being used to spread the plague and should be avoided at all costs.

[Westside]

In Westside specifically, the pest control efforts are being directed toward squirrels specifically. They are being shot and the bodies are burned.

A quarantine site has been set up as well for people that are exhibiting what are presumed to be signs of the plague. There are some false positives, but many that have the plague should be isolated.

That said, these measures can't stop the plague outright. People will still be affected.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"I at leaxt know he addrex xo it xould not be too difficult with a bit of xerching." she said as she began skittering along the sidewalk, keeping her pace somewhat slow so Kate wouldn't have much trouble just trying to keep up. "If I could inquire after the xubject xtill, could you tell me more about your family unit xtructurex? They are moxtly juxt groupingx baxed upon common lineage, yex?" the dwenic asked. Depending on how Kate answered, or if it was as close in length as her last answer on the subject of misdirection, then it was possible that they may reach the dwenic's dwelling by the time she had finished if they made all the right turns.

Or they might just be more lost at the end of it. Even with computer aided navigation systems, being unfamiliar with a new area was a bit taxing.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

Kate beings to talk, but unfortunately isn't quite sure what to talk about and as a result this explanation does not go as smoothly. "Um, yeah. A normal family...unit, I guess is generally considered to be parents, a mother and a father, and their children. One's parent's parents are called grandparents... um, I don't think I quite understand what you're asking. You mean like family trees? Last names are passed down from the father, traditionally, most places... I don't really know what to talk about here. How much do you know already?"

[ThirdEmperor]

144 Trebuchet House

"Oh. Huh. Nice of you." Looking a little shaky there, Ant. "Whew. I should... I should probably be going now..." Stumbling a little as he goes to leave, and laughing dumbly at his own weakness, the kid stops in the doorway.

There's something he's supposed to say... "Uh, not sure what I'll be going with. Blood or gold, whichever, y'know, whichever works. Guess it has to be human, right?" No, wait, that's not it. "Bye!" That's it.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

"Well, one thing that I alwayx gave me xome trouble wax the usage of xurnamex. Why ix there xo mux emphaxix plaxed on lineage in the firx plaxe?" While they might make identification somewhat easier for a communication method that was limited only to sounds, beyond that it seemed like it was rather superfluous. Maybe if it was used as an identification of something useful like occupation or perhaps social status then it wouldn't be so odd. Still, as it stood, she couldn't figure out why anything other than tradition would have preserved the practice.

"And you xaid it wax normally paxxed on from the...'Father' ix the male parent? Why ix that? Ix there xome tradition behind thix or ix there a more xubxtantial reaxon?"

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

"Ah, yes, those are both mainly lingering traditions. I'm not sure on the history of those, but last names were originally connected to one's social status, profession, who someone was the son of... I really don't know the details. As for why the father, which is the male, yes, I don't know that either. A lot of cultures just had males as the dominant gender for some reason."

Kate thinks a moment... "You know, a lot of stuff like that just is never changed because no one wants to go to the trouble of fixing it. You can overthrow a government, but there's only so much you can do to improve the naming scheme. Last names mainly attach you to your family anymore, and no one is bothered enough by them to try and refine the system. You would have to talk to a sociologist or something to get the details, though."

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

A shift towards a light bluish green and a rhythmic chirping issued from the alien as Kate mentioned the possible and once practical uses of surnames. So they once had been useful and simply were never discarded... Really that made sense as it was inobtrusive enough in its own enviornment that it wouldn't necessitate being dropped. Really much like how evolution worked in that respect as it wasn't necessarily something that created a disadvantage so much as just something held onto. Like the appendix, really. Or was that the gallbladder? Human biology was not her strong suit although understanding the gist of such was surprisingly helpful for interaction.

"Might it be due to gender dimorphixm? Or-Oh, I think thix ix it." the dwenic said as they stopped at a rather vine-covered brick apartment complex. This was an area that bordered the Northside of the city so natural sunlight could still filter through but it did seem to still be somewhat stormy on the horizon. "Would you like to come in?"

[Slii Arhem]

Westside Orphanage

"I really enjoy tinkering with things, and if something gets broken I'll enjoy putting it back together and improving it, if I can figure out how." Although it is pretty much guaranteed that things will get broken around him because he can't wait for the chance to put it back together again. He can fix most of it so it's impossible to determine that it was broken most of the time, too.


[Westside Orphanage]

"I wanted to get to know all of you," Sophie says, smiling at the children.

Westside Orphanage

"Oh, so you're a new caretaker then? That sounds nice I guess." Caretakers come and go, not as often as children do, but it's just a fact of life. Lily doesn't seem to pay it any more mind than Michael did.


[Wildside]

A nod, a pause, and Affidavit is gone.

Blue stumbles slightly as it regains control of its own body. "Well, it would seem that I am your servant now. Would you believe that was Father trying his best to remain polite? He still managed to cause an outburst in your beekeeper though...I knew he'd end up angering someone, somehow." The creation sighs, shaking its head.

Meanwhile, in a suitably quiet part of the forest, another creation appears and knocks three times on the nearest tree.

This creation is white. Another one of the handful of uniquely coloured creations, and the one Affidavit has put in charge of carrying out the experiments.


Wildside

"I don't like it..." the drunken boy chants in sing-song from his tree. "Father will be angry." The latter is only projection. Cole has no special insight into what Wolfy might think of the issue.

Wildside

"If he disagrees with it, he can come give the word and the deal will be off. He has all the time in the world to disapprove of my decisions, but unless he is going to do something then I have to do what I think will save my trees and his blood from being ransacked by those that want his blood for even worse purposes." Lenai explains calmly as she tracks Affidavit's movements. She takes a moment to ensure nothing of importance is hidden where he wants his clearing before directing the trees and roots to withdraw from that area. The roots pulling back causes the ground to sink nearly a foot, as the thin layer of hibiscus flowers and topsoil loses the support of the massive net of wood that was just beneath the surface. He's left with a small but serviceable clearing to work with.

Only after this is done does she turn to Blue, "His presence agitated Kell more than his demeanor, I believe. Technology and civilization have been nearly exiled from this forest, and it has become a bastion for those that shun or fear those things. A man who has made himself into a series of machines would warrant more than caution, especially in the primal state the mead instills in you."

[happyturtle]

Wildside


Wildside

Cole remains in the tree, rocking himself and humming until a squirrel goes to hop over him. He reaches out, snatches it with one hand, and breaks its neck.

Cole takes out a small knife and slices the squirrel's skin down its midline, then uses his fingers and teeth to open it up and gnaw at the raw flesh. When Lenai speaks, he tilts his head and thinks, slowly turning the idea over in his mind.

"Good. I hope Father comes soon. Maybe He'll come today." he says, and then returns his attention to his meal.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

That's far enough for Kate, she realizes that this might be completely normal for his species (or even just highly personable people in general) but she isn't comfortable with it. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I will. I hope you find out a lot about the Nexus, and find someone who can help answer all your questions on humans."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

First thing first: prepare the test subject for experimentation. Once the clearing is formed, a single drone is brought in. Shorter, simpler, the most basic of Affidavit's creations, hopefully it will prove to be an ideal test subject for these experiments. With such a simple body to begin with, any changes brought about by the blood should be noticeable more quickly.

And with the drone come various pieces of equipment with which to examine it in as much detail as possible. White swiftly gets to work going over every part of the drone, noting down every little abnormality, anything unusual, ensuring it's all captured at the start to avoid generating false positives.

This may take a while...

*****

"Be careful not to use that word around Father. I doubt you'll have to speak to him directly again, but he gets furious when people label his creations as machines. We are living beings. He did not make himself into a series of creations, but was forced to transfer himself into us when he was killed. But as I said, hopefully you won't need to talk to him again anyway. It'll be quite a while before the experiments begin. He's first ensuring that the test subject is examined as thoroughly as possible so he can detect any changes accurately."

Best to keep them informed, right? Blue doesn't want Lenai thinking that Affidavit is deliberately stalling or wasting time or anything.

"But, I simply must ask you something. If this is a bastion of nature, free of civilisation and technology, does my presence here not corrupt that? Why do you want me to remain here?"

[Earl of Purple]

144 Trebuchet House

"It doesn't have to be human. It could be elf, dwarf, goblin, kobold, orc, and so on. Not cow, dog, horse or anything like that, though. You can affect non-humanoid blood, but virgin animal blood is no more effective than non-virgin animal blood. Blood or gold, both are as acceptable as the other. Now go; I need to refresh myself before my age catches up with me." Her dreadlocks seem to be slightly greyer than they were when Ant arrived.

Westside Orphanage

"Well, there's me, Lily, Michael and... ooh, I can use that cog to upgrade my radio. Put it there, and I can take that bit out. But... What can I use that bit for? Isn't it the battery?" Gemalphin's got a little bit distracted as he lists names, instead gazing into a mental blueprint of his radio and how he can upgrade it using a small cog. Even though it seems he isn't too sure what all the pieces he takes out are.

[Morty]

[Eastside]

The safety measures introduced in Eastside are quite similar to those in Westside - squirrels are culled, with regret, and people who exhibit symptoms of the plague are quarantained. Of course, it won't be enough to completely stop the plague and the safety measures as well as the spread of the disease cause unrest.

However, the Hunters do not kill all of the plague-bearing animals. They attempt to capture some of them and take them to hospitals for careful study.

[Terumitsu]

[Streets]

A few feathers of scarlet and bronze managed to break out along the dwenic's arms like a series of ripples but they were quickly washed out though not entirely hidden by a gentle surge of pear skin green. "Oh ix that not.. Well, no matter." she said, fidgeting about with her bracelet.

It appeared as if she was taking a moment to compose herself as the slightly turbulent currents and patterns slowed and came to a rest. "Well it was quite an enjoyable experienxe today. Xould (should) you be partial to converxing again, then I would be glad for your company." the alien said, calling up the sphere display again although now there were a few things there that Kate would be able to read now. It appeared to be contact information as well as what appeared to be a perfectly readable name although it lacked any indication of a second or surname. With the bending of its forelegs and the opening of its lower arms wide in what might be seen as a gesture of welcome, the dwenic went on to say: "My name ix Tethea and I wix (wish) you well" she said, becoming a whirling blend of color as she spoke her name. It was up to Kate to decide what she did but perhaps now it might make a little more sense as to why it avoided the subject in the first place.. Or maybe it might just confuse things further.

[Lost_Deep]

Streets

Kate gets out her phone and notes down the information. "It was nice to meet you, Tethea. I'm Kate Kyland." Kate will them share her contact information, and then bid her farewell.

[Slii Arhem]

[Wildside]

First thing first: prepare the test subject for experimentation. Once the clearing is formed, a single drone is brought in. Shorter, simpler, the most basic of Affidavit's creations, hopefully it will prove to be an ideal test subject for these experiments. With such a simple body to begin with, any changes brought about by the blood should be noticeable more quickly.

And with the drone come various pieces of equipment with which to examine it in as much detail as possible. White swiftly gets to work going over every part of the drone, noting down every little abnormality, anything unusual, ensuring it's all captured at the start to avoid generating false positives.

This may take a while...

*****

"Be careful not to use that word around Father. I doubt you'll have to speak to him directly again, but he gets furious when people label his creations as machines. We are living beings. He did not make himself into a series of creations, but was forced to transfer himself into us when he was killed. But as I said, hopefully you won't need to talk to him again anyway. It'll be quite a while before the experiments begin. He's first ensuring that the test subject is examined as thoroughly as possible so he can detect any changes accurately."

Best to keep them informed, right? Blue doesn't want Lenai thinking that Affidavit is deliberately stalling or wasting time or anything.

"But, I simply must ask you something. If this is a bastion of nature, free of civilisation and technology, does my presence here not corrupt that? Why do you want me to remain here?"


Wildside


Cole takes out a small knife and slices the squirrel's skin down its midline, then uses his fingers and teeth to open it up and gnaw at the raw flesh. When Lenai speaks, he tilts his head and thinks, slowly turning the idea over in his mind.

"Good. I hope Father comes soon. Maybe He'll come today." he says, and then returns his attention to his meal.

Wildside

"Because times change. If I can't keep the world out then I have to carefully pick and choose what parts I let in. Certain technologies, such as you creations, are less abhorrent than the belching smoke and bricked roads of cities. You did not come in here trampling roots and snapping branches wantonly. And if you are living creatures that are simply made differently than I'm used to, then so long as you don't act like a bumbling dunce then any discomfort I have is superficial."

"And I enjoyed our discussion. Which is more than I can say about most I've spoken with recently." Cole is too deferential when he's normal, and too temperamental when he's tasted the mead. And the less that's said about her "grand-daughters'" behavior the better.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

We'll get back to the experiments in a little while. It'll take some time yet before things really get started there.

"I suppose whether or not we count as living creatures depends on your definition of what a living creature is. We are different in many ways from your typical living creature. Many are just a result of Father's attempts to make us more efficient. The main one, I suppose, would be that we do not reproduce. Although again I suppose that depends on what you consider reproduction to be. Father created us initially, but now we create ourselves."

Lenai's words do not please Blue, however, that much is clear from the expression on its face. Within the Nexus, Affidavit has learned over time that one cannot simply trample roots and snap branches. Do anything with disregard for those around you and there is almost certainly someone around capable of punishing you for doing so.

Outside of the Nexus?

The same is rarely true.

There was plenty of trampling involved. There still is.

Affidavit is exactly the sort to crush a forest and build a vast city on its ruins.

*****

[The Riverside Plague]

A logical response, when word reaches parts of Riverside, to kill and burn the squirrels.

Also a reasonable precaution to quarantine those exhibiting signs of infection.

But what are those signs?

Well, by the time word reaches Riverside, the squirrels have already been loose for a few hours. It took a period of hours to release them all, and it was some time after that when Isabelle was captured and eventually forced to talk.

In the first areas the squirrels were released in, by this point it's probably been about eight hours.

Initial signs, beyond a little itchiness, develop within one hour. A yellowing of the skin, that spreads across the body as the spores multiply. The earliest victims will by the five to six hour point start feeling numbness in the area of their body initially affected, a numbness that will spread in the same manner.

By the time word spreads, nobody affected will have yet reached the half-day mark, by which point their skin would be completely yellow.

But there is a bigger problem caused by this delay.

Targeting squirrels and any people exhibiting signs of infection makes sense, sure.

But the modified squirrels are also rather attracted to warmth. Many of them will have already found ways into warm areas. Buildings tend to be warmer than the surrounding area, don't they? Unless the pest extermination effort is taken beyond the streets, they will not find all the affected squirrels.

That's one problem anyway.

The other, is their decision to target only squirrels and people. The squirrels have also spread the plague onto any other animals they've come in contact with. And those other animals are, in turn, capable of spreading the plague further.

Not immediately, mind you. After the five to six hour mark, when parts of the body first start to feel numb. And that applies to any people infected too. But since it's already taken quite a while for word to reach Riverside? Well, by the time people are exterminating squirrels, every animal that went anywhere near an infected squirrel could well already be capable of spreading the infection further.

Attempting to capture the infected squirrels will not be too difficult. They are modified to be tamer than normal, and therefore comparatively easy to capture. But bringing them to hospitals sounds risky. Those spores get everywhere, you know. Why, if the hunters themselves did not take appropriate precautions, they could easily get infected too.

In summary: Since the precautions taken are far too limited, they may well do little to stop the spread of disease. It goes far beyond people and squirrels, and the squirrels themselves are looking for nice warm places, meaning they're not exactly staying out in the open.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Riverside Plague]

Celestel, the stewardess of Malechenar steps out into the recording circle. Hopefully sending this message to the other factions would explain their actions. The lords didn't want to strain their relationships with the other sides at a time like this but this kind of situation needed firm, effective actions.

She looks into the green orb and smiles. "This is Celestel Arand, Stewardess of Malechenar speaking." She begins. "As you all know a plague have been unleashed upon our fair city and to protect our citizens we must take defensive actions to keep this plague from consuming us completely."

***

At the streets of northside people turn to look upwards as clouds darkness to pitch black. Turning the constant greyness into a sea of darkness.

***

"We are not sure from which worlds where you're from, but the one we came from is constantly trying to kill us. If not with monsters, then with plagues just like this one. We are therefore somewhat experienced in dealing with these kind of situation even if the plague itself is new to us. So we're going to fight this plague at a city level. Our methods simply won't work at our side only. We need to target the entire city, it's the only way."

***

The ominous black clouds starts to spread from the skies of northside to the rest of the city. Soon looming over the entire city like the top of a mushroom cloud.

***

"The plague is spread by squirrels, but is targeted to people. It's then reasonable it will spread not only to humans, but to other creatures as well. We can't be sure yet, but we can't take any risks. This plague must be fought at every price."

***

A rain starts, the black clouds unleashing their loud in the form water as thick as oil which soon drenches most of the city (unless certain places like say southside have protection against it of course). The rain seems harmless enough however. Not even drinking it seem to cause any harm.

But the blackness in the rain seem to have faded, swallowed by the ground and the streets. Running deep into the ground, giving birth to something deep underneath the city.

***

"So you must understand. We simply couldn't ask you for permission first. It would turn into a long discussion which we simply couldn't afford to have. We had to act first, we can discuss this once this is all over. I assure you we're willing to deal with the consequences for our actions once we defeated this plague."

***

A group of rats living in the sewers can suddenly smell something delicious. Cheese!
It's odd to smell something like this deep in the sewers, but the rats simply doesn't care. It doesn't even seem to be poisoned. It's not until black figures burst out of their stomachs the rats realize they probably shouldn't have eaten that particular cheese.

The same thing seems to happen through the sewers, rats all over the city being killed one way or another.

***

"Our solution might seem crude but we have tried to take every other step so far. We have attempted to seal off northside from the rest of the world so we possibly can keep the plague in or out depending on the circumstances. The hospital have been closed for now. We can't risk the disease spreading from there. Instead doctors and nurses with the proper disease protection will be deployed at outbreak zones which we then will try to seal off. But unlike people animals can't be so easily controlled. They might not even realize they're sick, unlike people. So by eliminating them, we believe that we buy the ones that really matter, the people, a second chance."

***

A group of doves sitting on a statue in riverside suddenly realizes their feet are simply stuck to it somehow. So as the statue comes to life and starts to devour them whole, they simply can't escape the carnage.

***

"Therefore all animals within the city walls must die to put it simple."

***

Miss Nora the third was enjoying a nap on the drying cabinet in the bathroom as something black came out the draining sink. Not even the cats sensitive ears could detect it until it pulled the screaming cat down from the cabinet by her tail.

After eating the cat whole, the creature dove down into the sink again, leaving little Sarah and her two fathers one cat poorer.

***

"You will start to notice animals of all kinds start... disappearing. The beings we sent out devouring them whole to reduce the chance of their dead bodies possibly spreading the plague. Don't think we're only targeting animals however, we're restricting how people can move all over the city. It's just that these beings have been specifically summoned to deal with the animals. They won't hurt anyone else, not even sapient animals."

***

In the skies a group of seagulls watches as they fly over a park how a squirrel is suddenly flattened like a literary pancake by something. It's like it was run over by a invisible bulldozer.

The birds, not caring especially much about a squashed rodent, flies on though. Not even noticing that something follows them from behind. That something opening it's wide mouth, eating one of the seagulls whole. The rest of the flock scatters but it's too late, the creature is already busy devouring the rest of them. Hunting them down to their nests, eating their eggs.

***

"It will take awhile to exterminate every animal in the city of course, even with these beings. Just rest assured, we are trying to target the animals people are most likely to come in contact with first. Then we'll move down to other animals. They have been instructed to stay out of wildside of course. We very much respect the inhabitants of the forest. and will leave them alone. In any case. Thank you for your time, I hope this message made things clearer for you what is happening right now. We're just trying to contain the plague the best way we can without hurting anyone. If you have have any further questions I'll be happy to answer them."

***

The beings seem to instinctively be able to tell sapient animals (such as wish-granting fishes) apart from normal animals and avoids killing them. It's also possible to defend against the creatures. For instance they avoid holy places such as churches and appears to be weak against holy magic as well. Your average Joe or Jane can chase them away by simply reading from some holy book or something else they believe strongly in. Faith alone seem to work just fine.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

As the plague recently have broken out Daeva comes wandering to the hunters headquarters followed by a large spider-like creature. Seeing people likely are coming in and out of the building all the time, she will simply attempt to get inside and try to talk with the secretary. "Excuse me? I have some information for the hunters."

[Suncrest Manor]

"That's since you're both a cat and a lampade at the same time. Sort of. Being a cat feels as natural as being human. Your body simply doesn't notice the difference anymore." Irena explains. "Think you can get a tail too?" A thought hits the lewdest parts of Irena's mind but she keeps that thought at bay... for now.

[AmberVael]

[Southside]

A plague begins to spread through Southside, the animals going largely unchecked. There had been no preparation, with the Devoured Legion taking no response, and the Queen having remained as reclusive and distant as she had been for some time. Even if the warnings had been heeded, there was little infrastructure in place that could effectively combat the incoming plague. The protection of Southside was its knights and its Queen- and what use was a sword against disease, and what could an absent monarch do? No matter her power, or her reasons, the Queen was not to be found or petitioned, and so the faction was leaderless and without direction, unable to come to a unified solution.

Even as ominous black clouds and its dark rain fall upon Southside, the only response seems to be general havoc and fear from the populace. The shades begin to flit through the streets, the Devoured Legion notable only in its sudden absence, vanishing into the crystal structures from whence they originate. The silence and inaction of the Queen begins to take on a more ominous tone in just how complete and deliberate it seems to be.

And then, finally, a reaction comes.

The river begins to glow, its brilliant light swiftly spreading outwards from the five central structures of Southside, swirling in strange patterns as it connects the entire section of the city. Racing down the great streets that form the main circle of Southside's borders, the verdant energy crackles and hisses like fire as it continues to build, radiating from the Court of One to cover all of its territory. The alien magic roars and blazes with such might that surely none within the city could miss it.

"It is enough." The long unheard voice of Genesis crackles from the river itself, enveloping her faction and as surely as her magic. Her words coil through the city as easily as the river, leaving none in doubt of what occurred. "I will allow no more transgressions against my sovereignty. My jealously demands that I allow no other to lay claim to what I have taken as my own, and that I suffer not those who would misuse and lead astray its patterns. As I said once, I shall say again- I set no boundaries on my rule. My territory claims nothing but those who claim me as their rightful Queen. So I have said, so shall be: Let no longer my domain be constrained by the mean clutches of earth, let it be set apart from all those unworthy who seek to alter its course. We will forsake these restrictions and ascend to what we were always meant to be."

Unleashed from its restraints, the strange working of the Queen of the Rings scours Southside, burning away the disease and shades that had threatened it. Yet this is but the least of its designs- every work and magic that flowed from the hands of Genesis is stripped away, every citizen who had pledged to her their allegiance, each man who had sought the refuge and blessings of her rule simply evaporating under the influence of her emerald light. Without satiation or satisfaction, the power consumes every scrap of Southside, from the greatest of its structures to the smallest insect. The land shudders as its very surface disintegrates, its ever dwindling remains drifting upwards into the light with everything else.

The seeming annihilation is complete and merciless. In the space of a few moments Southside is utterly removed, leaving nothing but a racing river, a flat plane of dirt, and a column of emerald light that swiftly narrows, then vanishes altogether. Southside as it was is no more.

See OOC explanation here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15029062&postcount=1172)

[Lord Magtok]

SouthsideMagside

"First!" Magtok proclaims, planting the first of many flags into the ground at the edge of where Southside used to be. He's not about to waste an opportunity like this, even if he has absolutely no idea what's going on or what he'd even begin to do with the land. That stuff can be figured out later, when he's not busy planting MagCorp banners in the soil.

[Lost_Deep]

Southside

A group of purple-robed individuals scrabble out into the new opening, near the center of the city. They begin to sketch some kind of ritual circle into the dirt, except for a few that set up simple shelters. What they're up to isn't clear, but right now they don't do anything more than set up.

[Darkcomet]

[Message (Northside, Westside, Eastside)]

A message is sent to the ruling factions. DC is acting again.


I am deploying Evolution Security to the land formerly known as Southside to prevent AMENite claims. Evolution Industries will not interfere with future territorial claims by the current ruling factions-though in the interest of peace between all of you, I'd suggest simply restoring borders to how they were before Southside's formation. I'd also be willing to mediate in any meeting to decide territorial claims.

[Southside]

The Evolution Security deployment isn't actually much, but it might look ominous to some, in that some old materiel only previously seen used by the Empire has been brought out of storage.

A pair of floating armored vehicles, EvTV-1 hover-IFVs, and a VTOL craft, an EvAV-1 gunship, simply drive/fly around Southside watching everything.

One of the IFVs tries to float above Magtok and deactivate its hover unit. On top of him. Naturally this is easily stopped by noticing the big ****ing armored hover-vehicle coming and moving. Let's see if Magtok feels oblivious today.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"That's since you're both a cat and a lampade at the same time. Sort of. Being a cat feels as natural as being human. Your body simply doesn't notice the difference anymore." Irena explains. "Think you can get a tail too?" A thought hits the lewdest parts of Irena's mind but she keeps that thought at bay... for now.

[Suncrest Manor]

What horrors will be wrought when that thought slips out from the dark depths of her mind?

"Okay, let me try." The lampades looks at the mirror again and focuses. It occurs to her to pull down her pants just enough to let the tail slip through. After a minute more a black furred tail suddenly grows. "That's so weird." Nadia says, looking at it in the mirror.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"It's cool I think. We're like mouse and cat now!" Irena exclaims, trying to entwine Nadia's new cat tail with her own.

[Lord Magtok]

Southside The Glorious Nation-State of Magtokistan

Oh hell no. You did not just try to use the wise and benevolent President-For-Life as a parking spot. Our Beloved Magarajah won't stand for this kind of impertinence, this insolence on his own sovereign city-state.

"Eyes on the ****ing road, ex-tyrant!"

He proudly displays the national obscene hand gesture, a single middle finger waving in the air, as if to evoke the waving fires and flames an enemy of the state might find themselves strongly encouraged to die in.

"Here, maybe this will help you to remember..."

He doesn't just stop there, though. Oh no, now that you've gone over the border without a visa or valid passport, you're officially an illegal immigrant, and as Magtok's long history with Cyban could tell you, we certainly don't approve of aliens in these parts. He takes one of his flags, and attempts to jam it right in the IFV's barrel, before continuing right on his way with a self-satisfied smirk.

[Darkcomet]

[Southside]

The flag will be jammed in the IFV's blaster turret's barrel well enough.

However...

First, a booming announcement comes from inside the thing. Apparently there's a speaker somewhere on the damn thing's hull. "Evolution Industries takes no responsibility for injuries sustained while being in front of its guns while being an AMENite. Have a nice day."

...before the gun opens up, swiftly vaporizing the flag and sending a barrage of hot blaster bolts Mag-ward.

[Recaiden]

[Southside]

A pair of figures approaches from Eastside. Looks like a ghost of a young woman and some sort of bipedal lizard creature. The ghost waves at the ground, and the lizard-person starts etching a wide circle into the dirt.

He stops when he notices the various flying machines. "The empire military? That can't be." He skitters back to the edge of eastside.

The ghost on the other hand, floats towards Magtok and the IFV. That looks entertaining. :smallamused:

[Lord Magtok]

Southside The People's Republic of Magside

"You're not seriously just going to-"

Oh ****, they are. MOVE! :smalleek:

"****! I hold grudges, you ****! This isn't a smart move!"

Yeah, you keep shouting things like that, Magtok. Yep, totally going to intimidate them with that kind of talk. I mean, it's not like they have ridiculously superior firepower to counter any threat you might make, right? And I'm sure you're armed with more right now than just a sack full of flags, aren't you?

Magtok swiftly tries to zip around to the IFV's backside. He should be safe there for a moment, right? Just needs some time to plan out his next move, figure out how he's going to survive this mess. Which he will, of course, because he's Magtok. I mean, there has to be a weakness to this thing somewhere, right?

[Darkcomet]

[Southside]

"AMENites are to be removed on sight. Leave now or be eliminated." More booming announcements!

The IFV hovers forward and turns left, reducing the amount of time needed to rotate its gun back towards Magtok. After it does that, of course, it starts shooting again.

[Lord Magtok]

Southside

"When this whole satellite thing blows over you're going to look like a humongous asshat! And when were you intending on allowing me to leave?"

Magtok hurls a burlap bag full of cute little goslings into the air over the IFV, and promptly heads straight up, hoping the vehicle's weapons won't be able to reorient and aim straight up before he finds some clouds or a flock of considerably less exotic birds to hide behind.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"It's cool I think. We're like mouse and cat now!" Irena exclaims, trying to entwine Nadia's new cat tail with her own.

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia giggles and bumps her hip into Irena's. "I should've guessed you wouldn't be at all weirded out by this after you cheered up. So that leaves just me then." It's kind of interesting when she's directing it like this, though. But if Irena's right and it does it on its own, that'd be another matter. "Let's try the ears." With a bit more effort, nadia will have cat ears again.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Southside]

Elsewhere...

To be precise, at the opposite end of what was once Southside from where all the MagNonsense is going on, there's rather a lot of activity.

Professor Affidavit also sees an opportunity here. But one must act quickly with such things.

And he also can't stand Magtok, hence why his drones are marking out an area as far away from the cyborg as possible.

There would appear to be several dozen of the drones at least. These simple creations looks...rather unimpressive really, standing about four feet tall with thin arms and legs, and a face entirely blank aside from a pair of glowing eyes. But there is more to these metal beings than meets the eye. Individually, a drone isn't anything much. But they are like the worker ants of a hive. Tireless, numerous, and capable of accomplishing a lot very quickly when used in large numbers.

As can be seen here.

To anyone observing it should only take a little while to notice that they don't appear to be trying to mark off any substantial section of what was once Southside. Well, it's a noticeable little chunk of territory they're marking off, but hopefully nothing so large as to be overly bothersome for anyone seeking to crown themselves king of new-Southside or the like.

Far more visually impressive than any individual drone, a creation standing almost twice as tall, seemingly clad in bright shining golden armour is overseeing their work. It rather seems to be lacking a head, mind you. Instead a bright, fantastically coloured orb hovers a few inches above where its head would be, covered by a golden helmet and visor.

[Zefir]

[Southside]

Somwhere close to the gate that leads from outside to Southside, a groupe of robots enter the area. They are leaded by Mia, using MDM as some kind of Space Marine Terminator suit to prevent beeing effected by the plague.

Mia and her robots pass through the area, until they find a good spot. There the robots beginn claiming the area for a new building. It can be seen , that the robots walk in and out, carry materials to build something.

[The Bushranger]

[Southside, Various Places]

The removal of Southside-that-Was exposed many places to the light of day that had not been exposed for some time, if ever.

Some of these looked to be cave entrances, some small, some larger, in places here and there.

And from some of these cave entrances, slowly and cautiously emerged beings. Tall and upright yet walking on four feet, and colored in mottled shades of green...

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena reaches out to scratch Nadia behind her new ears as the tip of her tail unwraps itself from cat tail to curve itself like one half of a symbolic heart. "You know, if you keep your tail at the wedding we could make a full heart with our tails as we kiss." She whispers in her fiancee's ear.

Of course, Irena's tail is probably a bit longer then Nadia's...

[Malechenar]

Eventually Valente will be called to "testify" which involves Lord Harold tapping into his mind. It will hurt, but he won't remember it, the vampire will look into far more than just that event, but he won't remember that either.But once it's over, Lord Harold knows everything there is to know about Valente, even things that he no longer remembers himself. That is the unknowing price he have to pay for his freedom.

The shadow vampire keeps his promise and tells the Tenebra representative what really happen, even defending Valente's actions. It is almost as if he experienced it himself through Valente's memories after all.

So if the representative accepts that, the former vampire is probably free to go home.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia smiles and leans against her fiancee. That feels nice... "That's tempting. I think we should practice a bit before, don't you?" Nadia's own tail completes the other half of the heart just as she starts to kiss Irena.

[Malechenar]

The representative records everything she learns and says that she feels confident that they can come to an acceptable resolution that they all can be happy with. Valente is instructed to wait at Malechenar for a couple hours for an official response.

Word comes right on time, and Valente's name is cleared. There is the condition that he cannot work for Tenebras ever again, and he should not, under any circumstance, find himself on any of Tenebras' property, with the exception of the public areas while he's on business, or if he wants to go to Exbourne to see Astrana for a temporary visit. Other than that, he's officially freed from his status as an outlaw.

[Recaiden]

[Southside]

Whoever's in that machine sounds like a humongous jerk. Who do they think they are coming into a clearly neutral wasteland and shooting at people?

The ghostly person floats carefully over towards the IFV, taking a look at what it is shooting. That might even be dangerous. Remember what happened with the lasers, now.

The lizard-being notes some strange things emerging from the ground near its circle, and approaches one in halting way, first quick, then slow. "Hellllo. What are you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Maybe you could have cat ears as well?" Irena suggests teasingly before returning the kiss, starting a make out. Not that she would mind having Nadia as that kind of cat-girl. <.<

[Malechenar]

Astrana had to return to Malechenar before the ceremony (so she could "visit Valente in Malechenar") since clearly this was the first time they meet after all this time.

So I should probably play that out before we move to after the ritual.

[Exbourne Manor]

As Tenebras prepare against the plague, a certain tiefling returns to the manor. She goes up to her room to pack, hoping she will also be approached by Eadaline.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain walks by her in the Hall, obviously noting her, but as she doesn't feel sick and doesn't know that Astrana was off hunting down information on her, will not specifically approach Astrana. She'll stop if Astrana wants to talk to her, though.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia giggles. "So greedy!" She kisses Irena back passionately. She ends up guiding them to the bed so they can get more comfortable, but she doesn't pull the curtain down.

Largely because she stops after a short while. "As much as I'd like to lie here all day, I need to feed Eliseo." Poor Irena has to share Nadia.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"What, with your boobs?" This wasn't the time to do breastfeeding Nadia! Irena was totally going to score! :smallfrown:

"Can't you give him regular food or something?" The witch asks, she didn't want to share her fiance's breasts with anyone else. <.<

Exbourne Manor

"Eadelain, I need to speak with you. I've done some research about your past now and I think I have figured out what happened. I'll explain everything in my room." It might take a bit to put all this across.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain seems... surprised, a little. She isn't sure how to react to this... par of her wants to be happy, but she doesn't really feel happy about it. She doesn't feel upset, but not happy, either. However, this does not change the fact that she really wants to hear it. "I... of course," She will reply, and head toward Astrana's room.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia chuckles and gives Irena a peck on the cheek. "Not when he's so young I can't. Come on, you can share these once in a while." She jokes." The lampades takes Irena's hand and tries to stand with her. "Let's go see how the little guy's doing."

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Alright..." Irena suppresses a sigh. Guess they had to play with the little guy again. Now if she only could remember his exact name. Elieso? Eliso? Eliseo? She was certain it was spelled in one of those ways. "I guess he'll be more fun when he's older."

Exbourne Manor

Astrana enters her room and gestures at the armchair Eadalain probably recognize from before as she takes a seat herself. "Alright, this is what happened..."

She will go on explaining everything that happened only leaving out the part of Valente (who didn't really contributed to anything beyond stating the obvious anyway. :smalltongue:) She will stop at the part where she found the brick monument and learned that Eadalain had been there before after what Penn told him.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain will listen carefully. She doesn't remember any of this. But still... in theory, some properly traumatic event might be able to cut through the Amnesia (which might have been caused by those 'darklings' changing her?) and the thing that sounds like it might have that kind of strength...

"Could I go see the graffiti, or will I have to wait until after this plague stops?"

[Morty]

[Eastside - Plague]

The Hunters will wear sealed suits when capturing the squirrels, and will transport them to sealed-off hospital buildings for study. All possible measures are taken to prevent infection.

[Riverside - Animal Slaughter]

Unfortunately, people in Eastside aren't terribly eager to see the animals around and in their homes killed. The automatons sent by Malechenar will meet resistance from the populace and the Hunters. Whatever suspicions there might have been about the leaders of Northside have turned into outright hostility. There'll be a hell to pay once the plague is over.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"What is it? We're rather busy here these days."

[Darkcomet]

[Southside-Magtok]

"You're unleashing a plague on this city and you think we'll let you just waltz in!?" IFV guy has a point.

Unfortunately for Magtok, the thing about these hover-vehicles is that they're faster than their conventional analogues, meaning it really doesn't care to be under anything Magtok throws. This probably DOES give him time time to get away, though, as that burst of speed isn't all that great for aiming.

So he is spared blastering.

[Southside-Creations]

The OTHER IFV, though, approaches that place with all the Affidavit creations. "Please identify yourselves." Well, that's nicer than the treatment Magtok got.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Southside - Creations]

Someone was bound to bother them sooner or later...

The drones continue with their work.

Gold stretches its wings out and flies up to meet the IFV, hovering a little way in front of it.

"Whether we identify ourselves or not is entirely dependent on your intentions. As I'm sure everyone observed, this area was vacated. Everything in it. Gone. So nobody has any existing claim on this territory, leaving it free for anyone to move into. Our intentions are purely peaceful. We're marking off a small section of land for construction work. That is all. If your intentions are also peaceful, then we'll tell you who we are. If you can provide a good reason why we can't build here, then we'll move."

[Darkcomet]

[Southside-Creations]

The voice being projected from the vehicle replies, "We're Evolution Security, boss wants us to shoot up anything AMENite that shows up, you know, with the plague and all? Don't want 'em getting away with it."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Southside - Creations]

"Very well. We are Professor Affidavit's creations. Technically, AMEN once tried to force him into joining with paperwork that required signing in blood. However, they were not very thorough in checking that it was actually signed in blood. Our father has never willingly associated with, or aided in any AMEN schemes. And the event in question took place a long time ago. We believe he is no longer listed on their records at all."

Might as well be completely open and honest about this. Just in case.

[Reinholdt]

[Southside]

A New Challenger approaches!

In this case a man in dark red robes. Hanging from his neck is an amulet. It appears to be a triangle within a triangle. There is a hood to his outfit, but it is currently down, revealing what appears to be a human with blonde hair and blue eyes. At his side on his belt is a large mace and a book.

He stands in the middle of nowhere, holds up his holy book and proclaims. "I claim this land in the name of the Righteous and Just Terenti. Blessed are those who repent."

I don't think he means all of Southside. Especially being one man and all. More than likely he's just carving out a smaller area for a temple.
Probably.

Doubly so since he follows this up by kneeling on the ground and praying.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Alright..." Irena suppresses a sigh. Guess they had to play with the little guy again. Now if she only could remember his exact name. Elieso? Eliso? Eliseo? She was certain it was spelled in one of those ways. "I guess he'll be more fun when he's older."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yeah, he just kind of lays around now." And smiles at you! And laughs and looks around at the world with an adorable curiosity. Nadia knows well enough that Irena isn't so interested in that, though.

The lampades leads the way downstairs and scoops up the grumpy looking baby in her arms. "Oh sweetie, I shouldn't of left you alone so long." Nadia kisses the top of his head and takes a seat. Rather than muddle with her shirt too much, she just pulls it off to feed him.

[Earl of Purple]

Hotel

Charynrae is absolutely enamoured with the bacon. "Ooh, what kind of animal is this from? Do you know how to make it?" There's no point keeping pigs if you can't make bacon!

Area Around the Northside Temple of Dalachrech

The spell used to wipe out animals in Riverside will have difficulty effecting the invertebrates around this building. Dalachrech is protecting them with His power, though in so doing he's sterilising them of most disease-spreading organisms; the few exceptions are inevitably invertebrates themselves as well.

[Slii Arhem]

[Wildside]

We'll get back to the experiments in a little while. It'll take some time yet before things really get started there.

"I suppose whether or not we count as living creatures depends on your definition of what a living creature is. We are different in many ways from your typical living creature. Many are just a result of Father's attempts to make us more efficient. The main one, I suppose, would be that we do not reproduce. Although again I suppose that depends on what you consider reproduction to be. Father created us initially, but now we create ourselves."

Lenai's words do not please Blue, however, that much is clear from the expression on its face. Within the Nexus, Affidavit has learned over time that one cannot simply trample roots and snap branches. Do anything with disregard for those around you and there is almost certainly someone around capable of punishing you for doing so.

Outside of the Nexus?

The same is rarely true.

There was plenty of trampling involved. There still is.

Affidavit is exactly the sort to crush a forest and build a vast city on its ruins.

*****


Wildside

"Neither do I, not truly, and yet each tree here is my daughter, and I have grandchildren through them if you can believe that. Not plant children, actual living grand-daughters who vex me whenever I must speak with them." Truly, if it was revealed to her that Affidavit slaughtered countless forests to accomplish his work, she'd hardly bat an eye. It is her trees she's worried about, and so long as they're safe she cares very little about nature as a concept. Or rather, she's certain that nature in one form or another will survive the predations of man by virtue of outlasting them, and doesn't consider any extinct species or rare plant to be sacred or exempt from the passage of time.

It's just a shame Blue didn't raise its concerns, or she could have put them to rest.

"Are you still hoping to sample my mead?" She asks suddenly.

[Shadowcaller]

[Riverside - Animal Slaughter]

The creatures aren't exactly showing themselves, instead they try to sneak into the houses with their invisibility and size-changing powers. They appear to be able to possess objects which makes them very hard to detect.

Finally they are notoriously hard to kill, attacks against them just flattens them out or makes tiny holes. They seem to flee as soon as they're detected though which makes things easier.

Of course, the hunters might realize that churches and holy things (such as to bless the home in some way) makes the creatures stay away. They don't like holy people either and keeps away from them.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"I just thought you should know there is another group that recently arrived here who claim themselves to be from the burning light. Just like us. From what I have heard, they are attempting to cure plague victims but I haven't investigated it just yet. If this had been any other world, I would have considered strictly our business but we figured you might be interested." Daeva explains.

Exbourne Manor

"That's for you to decide Eadelain. I won't stop you if you do, but you might risk infection. I myself will get out of the city as soon as possible." Astrana replies.

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena resists the urge to stick out her tongue as Nadia starts breast feeding, while boobs were awesome at all, she just found it icky to drink from them. She didn't even like regular milk so human milk... :smallyuk::smallyuk::smallyuk:

What she can't resist is comment on Nadia's undressing. "Woo! Take it off!"

[Darkcomet]

[Southside - Creations]

"Very well. We are Professor Affidavit's creations. Technically, AMEN once tried to force him into joining with paperwork that required signing in blood. However, they were not very thorough in checking that it was actually signed in blood. Our father has never willingly associated with, or aided in any AMEN schemes. And the event in question took place a long time ago. We believe he is no longer listed on their records at all."

Might as well be completely open and honest about this. Just in case.

"...got it. If you can help with dealing with whatever they try to pull, it'd be appreciated." The IFV reverses and drives along, going back to its patrolling.

[The Alexandrian]

[Hotel]

Woah! Dude, I just learned something that blew my mind! I knew that there was Canadian bacon and regular, American bacon, but according to Wikipedia, there's a difference between regular UK and American bacon cuts and there's more than two types of bacon!

I must try them all!!!

"Bacon comesss from pigsss!"

Sylvia replies between mouthfuls of food. While she doesn't need to chew her food, she chooses to do so anyway because her plate of breakfast food is sooo scrumptious, super-duper delicious, and finger-licking good!

"I know how to make it. You jussst butcher a pig and cure and sssmoke the meat."

What kind of tiger-bunny-naga warrior would Sylvia be if she didn't know how to prepare the delectable animals she caught?

Charynrae could probably rake in a tidy sum of cash from farming in Underside if she wanted to. They've already got a hydroponics garden setup in the temple and now they might have a pig farm installed! Sylvia is super excited! :smallbiggrin:

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain considers for a minute. "I would like for you to be there when I see it. What's the plan?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Southside - Creations]

"We cannot make any promises. There are doubtless others better suited to dealing with the plague, and father would rather avoid conflict with anyone, if possible." That said, Gold returns to the site to resume directing the drones.

*****

[Wildside]

"Hmm? Oh, no, probably best that I do not sample the mead myself. Not until its effects on creations are tested on more expendable ones anyway. Father would not let my put myself at risk simply out of some foolish desire to feel what it's like to be drunk."

...

Blue turns suddenly and stares off towards Riverside.

It tilts its head slightly, frowns, and spins back round to face Lenai.

"The area of Riverside known as Southside is gone. A rather drastic response to the plague, to just remove itself entirely from Riverside. Father has already mobilised other creations to claim some of the now abandoned territory. Father has had his eyes set on Riverside for a little while, hoping to find a way to obtain the appropriate space for his plans through legitimate means. I was not expecting something quite like this to happen."

There's concern on Blue's face. This has the capacity to get quite messy...

And when Affidavit is seeking to avoid fighting people, that means words will be more necessary than usual.

"I hope I will not be needed. I think I'd rather remain here. But father did say he would call me away in an emergency, and with the amount of resources he's in the process of sinking into the place, he'd certainly claim that any threat to his creations there would be an emergency."

[The Bushranger]

[Southside]


The lizard-being notes some strange things emerging from the ground near its circle, and approaches one in halting way, first quick, then slow. "Hellllo. What are you?"

The creatures appear to be about six feet tall, and turn their heads torwards the approaching lizard-man. And two of them start moving torwards him, stubby legs moving deceptively quick, bobbing their heads as their colors brighten.

"SSSSSS...."

[Recaiden]

[Southside]

((Ahahahahahahah :smallbiggrin:))

The lizardman takes one moment, and then realizes that the creatures are probably dangerous. He spins and runs out over the plain, sprinting on all fours over the ground.

[The Bushranger]

[Southside]

:smallbiggrin:

The lizardman easily outruns the creepers, who watch him go as they return to their normal coloration, then resume their slow exploration of the area, spreading steadily further from their caves.

[Zefir]

[Southside]

Since nothing seems to go into their way, Mia and her robots start building. The robot she brought are quiet strong. Most of them will head away and retunr to bring materials for the bulding process. Those materials are different kinds of metal, coming from the church in inside and junkyards. Mia will take some of the material to create other robots with the help of her god. This way, the construction of the building process will be speed up. If nothing delays them, the building will be done in less then a week. Only Mia and a pair of the first robots keep a look at the other paries who claim places.

Mia observes the other religouse party on the ground while the other robots keep an eye on the lizard man and the creatures comeing from the cave.

[Lord Magtok]

Southside - Magside


[Southside-Magtok]

"You're unleashing a plague on this city and you think we'll let you just waltz in!?" IFV guy has a point.

Unfortunately for Magtok, the thing about these hover-vehicles is that they're faster than their conventional analogues, meaning it really doesn't care to be under anything Magtok throws. This probably DOES give him time time to get away, though, as that burst of speed isn't all that great for aiming.

So he is spared blastering.

"If I was here on AMEN business, I wouldn't be running around with MagCorp flags!"

The flags have 'M' on them, not 'AMEN', but even so, I hardly think that's going to be enough to stop them from killing you, Magtok. Anyways, since the IFV moved, the goslings detonate in the air below it, exploding in bright purple bursts of generic sci-fi weapon energy.

"Goddamn fascists..."

The cyborg takes off, flying higher into the air, to get a better vantage point of the area, and hopefully wait for the IFV to leave. He's not about to give up on Magside so easily, not when there's free, open land in an urban setting just waiting for people to jump out and claim it as their own. He might need reinforcements if he's to get past the barricade, though. Hrm...

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia laughs at Irena's comment and shakes her head. Her fiancée is ridiculous. "Oh shush you. You'd think me taking off my top wouldn't be so exciting after this long." She jokes.

[Westside - Animal Killing]

When Ramiro receives the message of what Malchenar is doing, he does nothing at first. He's not happy, no at all, but he does understand the practicality of what Malchendar is doing. So the beings will go unchecked in their slaughter at first, and Tenebras will only respond when they are actually called upon. It's hard to blame them for their lack of a quick response considering all that's happening right now, however.

[Southside/Westside Border]

Along the long border of Southside and Northside, Tenebras Enforcers are positioning people and some barricades. They know well enough that this area is going attract attention soon enough, and they don't have the manpower or resources to secure it, especially not right now. There's no doubt that the borders of Westside will be pushed outward somewhat, but the bulk of Southside is outside of their hands.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena grins and shrugs, "Hey, what can I say? Some things you never grow tired of."

Exbourne Manor

"I'm going to get packing but I shouldn't need much." She then is planning to go home with Valente when shock of all shocks, he's suddenly not a criminal anymore. "We could go and visit the place afterwards I guess. But we can't stay long. I want to get out of this city today. I think you should do the same Eadelain."

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

"Indeed, sounds like a good idea. Where?"

Astrana has plans for her own escape, but Eadelain's is going to be a greater issue.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia laughs again. "I think I know that feeling. That's why I never complain when you don't wear much clothing around the house." She gives Irena a lewd wink.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena gives the lampade a wide smile. "Not sure you're supposed to focus on me when someone is tugging at your chest though. Unless that person is me of course." She jokes.

Exbourne Manor

"Gul-tadar, where all these vampires originates from." Astrana explains. "It's bound to be safe and since I kinda work for them I figure I might get some work done as well. Just imagine how I could make money of selling things that don't even exist there."

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh I guess not." Nadia says with mock reluctance. She looks down at Eliseo as he hungrily suckles away. She runs her fingers through his wispy hair. "He's such a beautiful baby, isn't he." She says, not really posing it as an actual question.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain listens and nods. "But where should I go? I doubt I would be able to live among vampires as easily as you."

[Shadowcaller]

Exbourne Manor

"There won't just be vampires Eadelain, I imagine most of the population is still human. But if you don't want to go there, there is always Inside. Or maybe one of the other organizations will take you in?" Astrana suggests. "Then again, I think you will be protected from the plague thanks to your new masterhood." Heck, she wasn't sure if anything could really hurt this little girl.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yeah... he's cute." He would be cuter if wasn't doing that right now though. Ew. :smallyuk:

"But I'm going to watch TV in the next room until you're done, 'kay?" Irena isn't feeling all that comfortable watching this.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

Eadelain is quiet for a minute. "I'm... hesitant about leaving riverside at all. But leaving would be a better idea, safer, than staying here. I would prefer to go with you than without you."

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Okay, I'll be done in a minute." Nadia looks up to watch Irena go. A few minutes later, Nadia comes into the next room, dressed again and holding Eliseo. She sits down right next to Irena and leans into her. "There we go. All done."

[Exbourne Manor]

"Eadelain!" A certain demon calls from somewhere outside the room. Astrana and Eadelain will hear the thumping of little feet coming down the hall before Cynthia appears at the door. "Oh, hi Astrana! I never knew you were here." She walks right into the room, grinning at the both of them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Well, sure. If you want to I wouldn't be against it..." Astrana starts before a little demon girl suddenly enters. "Oh, hi Cynthia. Long time no see. I was just busy talking to Eadelain here, we're planning to go look at some things."

Suncrest Manor

"Great, my minion returns. So are you up for another day of doing nothing but watch TV and making out?" Irena says with a smile before the program ("Meet your Maker", a reality show about beings meeting the god that made them and complain how horrible everything in life is) is interrupted by a sudden live news broadcast. It's about the plague in Riverside.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

"Astrana found out about my past, and she's going to leave the city to be safe while the plague is in the city," Eadelain explains.

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

"...Oh." This is clearly serious business. She's not sure what to address first, really. "So what're you gonna do?" She asks, not specifying who.

[Suncrest Manor]

"That sounds like a great idea. Let's schedule the first making out for when Eliseo takes his nap." Nadia says. Her grin fades away when she sees what's on the news.

"Oh gods." She looks at Irena, horrified by what they just heard. "What are we going to do?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"First we're going to see what might be the remains of Eadalains home and then we're going to Gul-tadar, it's the city Tenebras is from." Astrana explains. "If you want, you could follow with us. I'm not sure how safe the city is right now."

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena stares at the television, her good mood completely gone. "We're leaving. I'm going to call in a helicopter or something." She turns to look at Nadia. "Where do you want to go? Inside? Outside? Anywhere you wish Nadia." She's already picking up her cellphone.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

"It's probably safer for us than it is for most people, but there's no reason to take unnecessary risks." Eadelain does think that she doesn't have to worry about the disease... but the people they will have to worry about.

[Darkcomet]

Southside - Magside

"If I was here on AMEN business, I wouldn't be running around with MagCorp flags!"

The flags have 'M' on them, not 'AMEN', but even so, I hardly think that's going to be enough to stop them from killing you, Magtok. Anyways, since the IFV moved, the goslings detonate in the air below it, exploding in bright purple bursts of generic sci-fi weapon energy.

"Goddamn fascists..."

The cyborg takes off, flying higher into the air, to get a better vantage point of the area, and hopefully wait for the IFV to leave. He's not about to give up on Magside so easily, not when there's free, open land in an urban setting just waiting for people to jump out and claim it as their own. He might need reinforcements if he's to get past the barricade, though. Hrm...

There is one tiny little problem with where Magtok has gone. Normally, he'd be pretty clear, since he's up there away from the IFVs.

But...

There's a gunship up here. Magtok will likely hear the loud hum of its high-tech engines coming from behind, the only warning he has of the impending barrage of blaster fire aimed at him. It's fairly similar to the IFV's, actually, but with a bit of a power boost because, y'know, gunship.

[Morty]

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"I just thought you should know there is another group that recently arrived here who claim themselves to be from the burning light. Just like us. From what I have heard, they are attempting to cure plague victims but I haven't investigated it just yet. If this had been any other world, I would have considered strictly our business but we figured you might be interested." Daeva explains.


"What methods do they use to cure the plague?" The Hunter asks, concerned. The last thing they want is someone making the plague worse by trying to cure it.

[Eastside/Southside Border]

The democracy of Eastside has little interest in the now empty patch of terrain. However, Hunters are stationed on the border to make sure noone starts any trouble.

[Reinholdt]

Riverside River

A submarine is traversing the river into Riverside. Since the river (from my understanding) runs from North to South, it is entering via Southside, though staying as low as it can for now to keep out of sight. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck for AMEN that Southside recently disappeared.

Ilpholin doesn't change the orders though. AMEN came to capture a piece of a city, not a ghost town with Population: Stragglers. Stopping to conquer Southside instead of going on to hopefully future Centerside would be a poor move in her mind.

Ilpholin contacts the aerial teams as they arrive, having timed their arrival in synch as best as possible under such conditions. Hopefully well enough. "Initiate an aerial assault. Keep them distracted and busy."

Hmm. A city facing a plague. An entire section disappearing. People getting quarantined for the slightest symptoms. Rain of death attacking animals. Leaders showing they'll go to any lengths. And soon plant people on the attack.
Ilpholin would think that Riverside had to be ripe on fear at this point. A push could possibly turn it into terror and riots.
Ilpholin turns to Clarissa and Cyrus. "Would either of you two be able to amplify the fear the city is experiencing?"

[Lost_Deep]

Southside: Purple-Robed People

The ritual circle is done, and the ritual begins. Trying to magically do something... trying to figure out what is nigh-useless. Divinatory magic is of no good, such spells pointed at the group will not work at all. Watching and taking notes won't reveal anything. Using magic to examine the magic, either by sense or by analysis spell, will feel like someone is humming "Waltzing Matilda."

Given the way that spells like that are supposed to work, this might be somewhat confusing. But for now, nothing actually comes of the spell... not yet.

[BladeofObliviom]

AMEN Sub

Cyrus considers a moment. Like any good evil sorcerer, he's dabbled in fear magic. However, those spells are really meant to be used on single or few targets at a time, rather than covering an entire city. He could use metamagic to expand the effect, but that would dilute the fear as well.

Of course, this place is probably on the verge of a riot anyway, so maybe that little bit of enhancement is all that is needed.

Looking back to Ilpholin, he grins like a madman.

"I'll see what I can do."

With that, he retires to a relatively quiet area, draws out a circle in chalk, and begins weaving together a mighty spell...

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

"First we're going to see what might be the remains of Eadalains home and then we're going to Gul-tadar, it's the city Tenebras is from." Astrana explains. "If you want, you could follow with us. I'm not sure how safe the city is right now."


Exbourne Manor

"It's probably safer for us than it is for most people, but there's no reason to take unnecessary risks." Eadelain does think that she doesn't have to worry about the disease... but the people they will have to worry about.

[Exbourne Manor]

"Oh. Okay, I'll come too." Cynthia says with a nod. She wouldn't want her friends to leave without her! "When are we going?"


[Suncrest Manor]

Irena stares at the television, her good mood completely gone. "We're leaving. I'm going to call in a helicopter or something." She turns to look at Nadia. "Where do you want to go? Inside? Outside? Anywhere you wish Nadia." She's already picking up her cellphone.

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia just stares at the screen for a moment longer... "Um, Inside. We can stay at a hotel or something. We've got to grab some things to go. Get some bags and meet me upstairs. I'll start grabbing some clothes." Nadia tucks Eliseo in her arm and stands. She pauses only to give Irena a peck on the lips before she hurries upstairs.

[happyturtle]

The River

"Fear? No problem. We got it." Moff says. A portal tears open to the Yellow Road, and the two Moffs salute and step through. It closes after they are gone.

Around the City

Tears in reality begin appearing all over the city. Some of them are small peepholes. Others are great roaring rifts. All of them open into a eye-twisting yellow void, full of eldritch madness. To even look upon it for long is to risk shattering one's mind. To step into it without a guide, is to risk getting lost forever.

And who knows what might come out of these new portals?

[Hattish Thing]

Streets

Javert undeadtimes! Of course, I'm going to refer to him further as Kael'Kanar, his real name. The drow shade looks about for Lintha, shaking off a years worth of deadtime goo. Hm? What is going on? Lintha, lovely...look! He points up at a large rift above. ...That...what is that? He moves close to her. Perhaps it's best to describe him once more! He looks like a typical drow, with red eyes and ebony skin. However, he has a lock of dark grey hair among the white flow of hair on his head. The hair reaches his back, the grey streak reaching down as well. His index finger on both hands is a dark red color, and about eight inches long, which he can re-size as he wishes. As he moves to Lintha, his aura of enhanced feelings with take effect. (Maybe)

[Recaiden]

Around the City

Tears in reality begin appearing all over the city. Some of them are small peepholes. Others are great roaring rifts. All of them open into a eye-twisting yellow void, full of eldritch madness. To even look upon it for long is to risk shattering one's mind. To step into it without a guide, is to risk getting lost forever.

And who knows what might come out of these new portals?

[Southside]

The ghost stops following the IFV. That guy with the geese should be okay. More centrally, that yellow portal down there looks pretty disturbing. It looks like home. But the ghost is curious, and braver than she was in her conversation earlier. She goes down to look in them. If it is her home on the other side, people need to be told. If not, it could be fun to explore.

[Earl of Purple]

Southside

The droning sound of aircraft engines announces the approach of thirteen biplanes, each slightly different in design and colouration, to the skies above. They will prioritise any non-AMENite aircraft in the skies, or better, on the ground, to shoot with their machine guns. Due to the position of said guns, they can fire in most directions- two guns are positioned on the lower wings, and a rear gunner has a pair of machine guns that can swivel to cover the rear and sides of the plane.

Outside the Temple of Dalachrech

Two figures are here, one wearing chainmail armour and the other in banded mail armour and a face-concealing helm. The figure in chainmail has a scimitar shaped like a scorpion's telson, and the other is carrying a mace with the face of a beautiful woman on both sides of its head. Any portals to the Yellow Road that open will attract the attention of one or the other, and they'll run over and try to close it with divine magic. Meanwhile, the mace is exuding an aura of confidence, boldness and bravery to counteract the low-levels of fear magic it senses.

Hotel

I did not know that about bacon.

"Do you know how to breed pigs? Because if so, then I think we might have to introduce some to our hydroponic garden thing." Charynrae smiles as she speaks.

She already makes a fair bit of money by selling spider silk and occasionally harvesting and selling spider venom, in addition to the standard donations for healing common to most supernaturally-empowered buildings of faith.

Riverside River- AMEN Sub

Dam'Bul is here, sitting comfortably and stroking the sharkskin scabbard of his steel sabre as he awaits his orders.

[The Bushranger]

[Southside]


Mia observes the other religouse party on the ground while the other robots keep an eye on the lizard man and the creatures comeing from the cave.
Some of the creatures, spotting the robots, turn their heads torwards them, then advance in their direction. Fairly rapidy.

***

Riverside River

Becky's on a boatthe sub. Looking slightly bored after her earlier excitement after being allowed along.

It's a lot more fun swimming than subbing, after all.

***


Tears in reality begin appearing all over the city. Some of them are small peepholes. Others are great roaring rifts. All of them open into a eye-twisting yellow void, full of eldritch madness. To even look upon it for long is to risk shattering one's mind. To step into it without a guide, is to risk getting lost forever.

And who knows what might come out of these new portals?

Some of the creepers happen to wander torwards one of the portals. :smalleek:

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor

"We're going to eastside, to the place Eadelain used to live. You're going to stay here though Cynthia. I don't want you endangering yourself. Astrana tells the little demon firmly. "Besides, we're just going to look around, nothing exciting will happen. You can come with us to Gul-Thadar once we're done though." She promises in a lighter once.

[Suncrest Manor

Irena nods, her emotionless expression not even changing as her fiance kisses her. Not now, not when she was unsafe. She focuses on the phone call instead, she wanted to be out of this city by the hour.

Once Nadia meets up with Irena she will see that her fiance seems to have armed herself with her sword and gun. She doesn't seem to have much else packed though. "Our transport will be here soon. Do you need anything else?"

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"I don't know, but from what I have heard, people claim it's working which makes it even more worth investigating closer." Daeva replies.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

"We'll be fast, Cynthia." Eadelain promises.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia puts the last of the bags next to Eliseo's carriage. She's been running around the house getting ready to leave. There's so much she wanted to grab, but she limited herself to the essentials.

"I'm ready. We just have to make sure the doors and outside gate are all locked up." Nadia worries that someone will get in and do some damage or steal what they leave behind.

[Exbourne Manor]

"Aw, but I wanna come. I wanna help Eadelain too!" Cynthia complains. Her aura may be trying to exert its influence over Astrana. You want to give the adorable little girl what she wants!

[Lord Magtok]

Southside


There is one tiny little problem with where Magtok has gone. Normally, he'd be pretty clear, since he's up there away from the IFVs.

But...

There's a gunship up here. Magtok will likely hear the loud hum of its high-tech engines coming from behind, the only warning he has of the impending barrage of blaster fire aimed at him. It's fairly similar to the IFV's, actually, but with a bit of a power boost because, y'know, gunship.

Oh dear. The IFV might be surprised to see Magtok drop by once more, his whole body crashing down against the front of their hovertank with a sort of wet splotch. Closer examination will reveal a number of holes punched into his body, holes that pretty much confirm that this clone won't be getting up anytime soon.

Riverside River


Riverside River

A submarine is traversing the river into Riverside. Since the river (from my understanding) runs from North to South, it is entering via Southside, though staying as low as it can for now to keep out of sight. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck for AMEN that Southside recently disappeared.

"Should've ducked," Magtok sighs, peering down at his hand as he rides in the submarine. Another clone bites the dust. A shame, that. Least that means he should be in the clear now, though.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Don't worry. No one is getting in here with all the security I installed." Irena assures her. "Anyway, we should get out and wait. It should be here any minute now."

[Exbourne Manor]

"I'm sorry Cynthia, but right now it's more important if you're safe here in the manor. We'll be back in an hour or so. You don't need to worry about us." Astrana replies, resisting the charm by caring about the little demon in another way.

[ThirdEmperor]

Riverside River

Near the back of the sub, a wavery voice pipes up: "Gee. I, uh, woulda brought a wetsuit and a mask if I'd known, maybe demolished the docks, if that's the sort of thing we're doing?" The Cat Burglar says, with a little laugh at the non-existent joke. "What're we supposed to be doing? I'm not very clear on that." Nobody tells him nothin'.

[Darkcomet]

[Southside]

No sooner has Magtok been dealt with, a bunch of biplanes of all things start flying in.

Biplanes.

The Evolution Security guys are probably going to be laughing it up about this one later.

The IFVs on the ground are quite heavily armored, being based on the same chassis as a hovertank, and are quick for such an armored thing besides, so they'll survive for now since these are biplane machine guns rather than actual anti-tank weapons. Those retaliate with rapid-fire blaster barrages at anything that tries to strafe them.

The gunship is just going to fly up and up and up until it's past the comparatively primitive biplanes' flight ceiling. Science marches on, apparently, especially when it's crazy superscience powered by impossible devices created by a psychic scientist of debatable sanity that was high on an intelligence-booster candy at the time. (That's the plan, anyway.)

Then something odd happens.

One of the biplanes may suddenly find that its wings are not in such great shape anymore, as a cloaked psychic in the air (no points for guessing who) tries to telekinetically rip them off.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Riverside Plague]

So at the stage where AMEN arrives, here's how the plague stands:

The earliest victims will have reached the point where all their skin has taken on a yellow colouration. Entire limbs may have gone numb by this stage, but they're still a few hours away from having their entire body go numb, effectively leaving them paralysed.

Those parts of Riverside in which the animal-killing beasties unleashed by Malechenar are allowed to do their work unhindered will see the plague effectively be halted. Some infected individuals may escape the quarantine, perhaps, but the spread of the plague has been slowed there substantially to the point where it could safely be considered to be under control.

Areas where said beasties meet resistance are likely going to suffer further. Wiping out most of the animal population is probably the best way of halting the spread of the plague, so if the animals are spared, it's likely only going to make things worse for the people in those areas...

But for the most part, Malechenar's actions, though drastic, have done a good job of halting the spread of the plague.

[The Alexandrian]

DC isn't the one and only cloaked weapon present and contriving to get his hands bloodied in this little aerial scuffle!

Two AMENite airborne machines of death constructed out of future! magitech opportunistically crash IE's AMENite killing party.

But an instant after Ilpholin issues her orders, if she continues to monitor the chatter of the ludicrously encoded AMENite airlines ("You either fly with us or you die from us!") frequency, she'll probably hear Roxanne zealously roar in what can only be likened to Enyo's battlecry! Merciless bloodshed on a grand-scale and the thrill of battle is a drug to Roxanne. She might've had the willpower to stave off her addiction for a time by substituting battle sims and video games for wartime funtime, but with death and destruction so close that she can taste it, the addiction has clearly manifested itself once more!

"Yes, ma'am!"

Ilpholin needn't tell her twice!

The brilliant tactician, who decided to give the biplanes a wide berth as she extrapolated that they could not cloak and likewise probably couldn't dish out much damage at all versus modern armor, bides her time, patiently waiting for the biplanes to make their move and the enemies to respond in turn before showing herself! Biplane Diversion! = Sneak Attack! + Enemy Vulnerabilities Exposure and Exploitation

As AMEN's enemies make their presence, strategy, and numbers known, she strikes like a lioness in the brush first stalking then pouncing on a zebra so engrossed in lapping up water at a refreshing watering hole that it pays little heed to its environment.

That imperialistic MagClone's death shall be avenged and then some!

Likely, these two vehicles decloak (and their cloaking devices rely on spacial distortion so they aren't exactly easy to detect unless one has instruments designed specifically to detect warped space not just masked energy emissions/signatures) behind the VTOL where they'd have tried to maneuver as soon as they detected the VTOL. If they are able to do so, one (a midnight black model of spacefighter (with prototype accelerators built into it allowing for the FTL travel) that appears to be designed kind of like a large A-wing with an extended, pointy front, a proper pilot's area, and a real weapons systems) opens fire without hesitation, a barrage of missiles attempting to stream toward the VTOL's engines and the accompanying heat sinks/dissipators. If they cannot approach from this angle for some reason, these missiles will be locked onto the pilot's pod where all of the important controls and the weakest armor are presumably located! These guided missiles aren't of the standard heat-seeking variety that most military and para-military units have access to but are instead guided by advanced targeting AI onboard the vehicle from which they have been fired. As is expected, the damage resulting from this attack should primarily be kinetic, but the dark, corrupt magic-energy the missiles spew out when they detonate might sap the energy being routed to certain critical systems of the vessel and may very well leak through (if the shields are not disabled shortly after contact with the contaminant) standard tech shielding due to their technomagical phasing properties.

The other vehicle, a modified Basilisk War Droid that's utilizing repulsor tech to fly (and plated in armor so heavy that it probably shouldn't be flying) harnesses and directs a sensor bank of the actual spacefighter, thereby augmenting its own senors while attempts to scan the area for the source of the energy being manipulated to clip the wings of the biplanes, by first attempting to trace the magic/energy back to its source and, if that doesn't work, systematically searching for deviations from the norm in terms of energy output (in the form of heat, electricity, magic/magic aura, life aura, and spatial distortion that might be used to mask energy signatures). If DC is detectable by any of these technomagical means, he will likely be fired at with powerful spread-pattern plasma cannons, if only to conclusively prove that he is in the location he has been tracked to and isn't a decoy while the more devastatingly fun murder weapons in the Basilisk's arsenal attempt to lock onto him and his energy signature.

Let's give 'em a show!

-------
[Riverside River]

Welp, looks like the Moffs and Cyrus have that raise the fear levels across all of Riverside task covered! That's for the best! Fear magic isn't something Clarissa is infamous for or particularly fond of. Still, Clarissa thinks that she could add one or two more thematic elements to Riverside that will induce panic in the populace and set the mood for AMEN's dramatic landing.

"Can do, boss."

Cutting the power and water would work wonders on the inhabitants of Riverside, but Clarissa figures it'd be best to try to pull that out of her bag of tricks after they land just in case things go terribly wrong. For now, while she's stuck in the confines of this sub, she'll have to settle for conjuring up a humongous, ominous, black, death vortex to blot out the suns! :smallbiggrin:

It won't hurt anyone, nor does it have any negative magical effects associated with it whatsoever. It'll just blot out the sun, if it works.

-------
[Riverside General]

Out of nowhere, a massive, ominous, black, death vortex swirls into existence and attempts to menacingly blot out the suns! It should be completely harmless, apart from depriving people of a trivial quantity of vitamin D (most of which comes from milk nowadays anyhow). It is a frightening sight to behold, but I'd rather stare at it than the Yellow Brick Road portals. It shouldn't be too difficult to get rid of and, under better circumstances, some people might even consider the vortex pretty! Those people might be a little bit insane, but hey, to each person his/her own, right?

--------
[Hotel]

Wha? Sylvia is a fearsome warrior-princess, not common farmer! She doesn't know how to breed pigs! >.< Well, it can't be too difficult, right? If pigs didn't breed on their own, they wouldn't have survived for as long as they have...right?

[S]"Of course! All that you have to do is right click on two of them with wheat equipped and suddenly a baby pig is spawned in front of you."

"Um..."

"No. I don't. Not exactly, but...how hard could it be? I mean, there'sss probably a book I can on the sssubject I can pick up and read and then I'll know everything I need to know about pig farming."

Famous last words. :smalltongue:

-------
[Not!Streets]

Nope!

Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!

Lintha would never ever ever ever ever run around outside while a plague is spreading throughout the city! Nope! She's no fool! She's locked inside of her place of residence and has locked herself in her personal bunker reinforced panic room.

She'd let Javert/Kael know that his finger looks really weird and gross currently (it had always been normal-sized in the past, as far as I can remember) were she around. She's probably been trying to convince him to dye his hair for the past week too. :smalltongue:

Javert/Kael can probably call Lintha's cell to speak with her and send her pics of the madness and terror that is taking hold of Riverside. She's already surfing the web, reading blogs, and watching live feeds on what's happening all across Riverside at this time, so suffice to say, she's pretty dang freaked out right about now.

[Lost_Deep]

Exbourne Manor

"It isn't safe out there, Cynthia. You should pack a bag or two; we won't be long, but we have to be ready to go soon." Eadelain says. Cynthia's charm doesn't work on her anymore, so there is nothing stopping her from doing the right thing.

Southside-Ritual

A few more people begin to arrive, dressed in black robes this time. They are hauling large metal boxes. The ritual here begins to glow, and things that look like wisps of white light begin to streak out of the circle and into the sky. They ricochet in the clouds, but don't do anything for a second or two, when they streak back to earth.

Some head towards the tears in reality, the magical wisps trying to seal them. Some head into the black vortex, spinning against it, trying to undo that. If Cyrus didn't go inside to do his spell, a wisp or two may try to mess up his magical circle.

However, these anti-spell wisps are going to only try to disrupt magic made with ill intent toward riverside. Normal healing attempts are going to go undisturbed, and while the magic looks somewhat intimidating once people figure out it is working against the intimidating magic it should be accepted as... well, at least not as a bad thing.

[happyturtle]

Rifts in Reality

Since the Moffs are leaving the rifts unattended, attempts to close them should automatically succeed. (Assuming those attempts have some sort of basis in magic or tech or whatever. Just wishing them closed won't work.)

The ghost probably didn't come from the Yellow Road, but I can't say. Either way, it doesn't look like a fun place to explore. The ghost will need to be able to save vs insanity if she's examining it closely.

The creepers are free to approach.

Fortunately for the city, unattended children are unlikely to wander into rifts - they're much more likely to run away. But there are the occasional children who are immune to insanity or already there who might be drawn by the mind-breaking colours.

[Recaiden]

[Rifts in Reality]

Save succeeded! It's familiar, but not the same place. Good.

The ghost vanishes from sight, and a few moments later reappears, and sets a sign on the ground next to the rift. "Stay Away" That's about all she can do here, so she walks off

[Morty]

[Southside/Eastside Border]

The A-Wing-lookalike will be the target of four attacks from the Eastside buildings. Two powerful anti-aircraft rocket launchers and two equally powerful ground-to-air lasers lock onto it and fire. It should be noted that the lasers are being manned by Hunters who use an ability that provides a momentary, precise precognition. In other words, they know exactly where to hit for maximum damage and the ship's pilot might find it difficult or impossible to evade them as two lethal laser beams try to shear into it with keen precision.

[Eastside]

Unfortunately for the AMENites, the founders of Eastside's police force know exactly how to deal with mind-affecting magic. Hunters are placed in strategic positions of the district, using newly developed techniques to spread their Second Sight around a large area, shielding the inhabitants from the fear as well as the insanity caused by the Yellow Road rifts. It's taxing, but they're making shifts to keep it up as consistently as possible. As a result, AMEN's attempts to incite fear among the populace of Eastside meet very little success.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"They might be AMENite agents. We'll dispatch a team immediately," the Hunter says.

[Hattish Thing]

Riverside Streets

Kael stands there, looking around. This was all very new. Some part of him wanted to do something and get involved, but his more intelligent (Or cowardly) thoughts tell him running would be the best idea here. He forces his red index fingers to shrink down to normal, and now his hands are regular. He does take out his cell and begins to call Lintha. Hmm....Lintha? Er...I'm in Roverside, something strange is going on, there are rifts opening everywhere and the suns been blotted out. The police seem to be attempting to handle things. I don't know what's going on. I'm going to take a few videos, then I need to find you. Where are you?

He looks about, and wonders if he could possibly find a powerful character...In all the chaos, no one would notice a leader missing most likely. However, this idea is put away. He needed to put stuff like that on hold, Lintha was his ticket.

[Gullara]

((I will post for plague stuff after school.))


[Suncrest Manor]

"Don't worry. No one is getting in here with all the security I installed." Irena assures her. "Anyway, we should get out and wait. It should be here any minute now."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Alright. Here, grab this bag." Nadia grabs one bag and hands it off to Irena. Then she grabs the other and pushes Eliseo's carriage with her free hand. She'll follow Irena outside.


[Exbourne Manor]

"I'm sorry Cynthia, but right now it's more important if you're safe here in the manor. We'll be back in an hour or so. You don't need to worry about us." Astrana replies, resisting the charm by caring about the little demon in another way.


Exbourne Manor

"It isn't safe out there, Cynthia. You should pack a bag or two; we won't be long, but we have to be ready to go soon." Eadelain says. Cynthia's charm doesn't work on her anymore, so there is nothing stopping her from doing the right thing.

Exbourne Manor

Cynthia crosses her arms and pouts. She wants to go! "Fine. I'll just stay here then." She doesn't sound the least bit happy about this. She's used to getting her way.

[Zefir]

[Riverside River]

Zefir just leans back and yawns in his char, causing 'fear' to the people really sounds like a job for the magic user. Nothing he can help or even wants to help. He still stares at CB waiting for an answer. The question was asked at AMEN. It's about the treasure promised to him.

"And?"

[Southside]
Creeper

The two robots draw their weapon. They shake their arms and suddendly they become machine guns. They point with their weapons against the dtrange creatures, but befor they are able to fire one of them get's shot from the biplanes machineguns and falls forward. The other one turns around to the thread in the air ignoring the creatures now.

Biplanes

As Mia notice the first of her robots die through the fire of the biplanes, she press a button inside her suit. The robot next to the creeper and two others turn their attention to the biplans. All three are armed with machineguns and start fire at the attacking airplans.

Mia in her MDM suit draws her weapon as well, but instead of a machinegun she got two Lasercaoneons. It needs a bit until they got loaded, but then she fires at the airpanes as well.

[Eastside]

Jeu, the angle with a replaced wing helps in the streets as well. Everywhere he appears, the bravery of hunters as well as townspeolpe should rise, allowing them to withstand the insanity a bit more and stand guard with better senses. This only cheers up a bit, but everything is welcome right now.

[Reinholdt]

Westside

There's an interesting thing about the plague over here. Primarily in that there's a group of people affected very differently from anyone else. That's not to say they don't get sick. But they don't have any of the same symptoms as those actually suffering from the plague.

Rather Doctor Stroffelnburg's patients get fever, chills, sweating, vomiting, and some other classic symptoms. Treated, even without the cure, they have a decent chance of fighting it off. Untreated, as I'm sure a few end up going for whatever reasons (their own or outside forces), some will die. Fortunately I believe that number is particularly small and almost negligible if not for the inherent tragedy of death at the hands of another person's power play.

Doctor Stroffelnburg himself is sick and unlikely to make it through this ordeal due to his old age.

AMEN Sub

Huh. Hadn't expected the Moffs to... well... be useful. Ilpholin will never again underestimate the power of the srs bsns suits. She does shiver a little though. Even she's wary of the Yellow Road.

No one expected the biplanes to do any damage at all. They're there to die, nothing more. Now if they do manage to pull something off above and beyond what they've already done, Ilpholin will be impressed and pleasantly surprised.

Ilpholin is keeping all communication frequencies that she has with AMENites open at this point in time. It's... difficult, particularly with Roxanne screaming in her ear, but she'll make do for now.

"We are making our way to here." Ilpholin explains to Cat Burglar and everyone else on the sub, pointing at a point just past where the river enters Northside and to the left (west). "There we will find warehouses pre-prepped for us to build our base of operations, with the help of Megan's engineering. Most of you will be covering me and securing the area as this occurs. Zefir will be likely finding a sewer entrance to get his mines into to spread the plague some more." Now that the animal factor is getting murdered. "Some of our allies already in the city should be meeting us there as well, so don't shoot them on sight. Cat Burglar should be able to help point them out to anyone who needs that."

"Once we're established, I'll concentrate on opening negotiations while the rest of you will be working to defend the place or securing more ground. Anyone in the nearby area that willingly surrenders to us is to be brought to safety and protected. They have to be shown that giving in to our relatively minor demands to end this madness is a far better option than dragging this out."

"Kill anyone who resists."

The sub is getting rather close to the Northside/Southside border line now. It should arrive at the designation point and surface next post.

[BladeofObliviom]

[AMEN Sub]

Cyrus is inside a (hopefully sealed) submarine, so the anti-magic wisps do very little to affect him. The circle lights up and disappears in a burst of heatless fire, and the sorcerer stands as a red mist exudes off of him.

Then the spell begins in earnest.

Sensing resistance in Southside and Eastside that he doubts he could break, he focuses his spell on the sectors of Northside and Westside, effectively doubling its intensity. The magic travels along the eddies and currents of the planes, spread somewhat unevenly across the affected areas but unblocked by walls and mere physical barriers. It is a weak and subtle but definitely insidious effect, carrying not only normal fear, but a host of other emotions that it attempts to massage into the minds of all it touches. After all, while Fear magic is hardly his specialty, that doesn't stop him from producing a cocktail of effects worth at least the sum of its parts.

Fear is included, yes, but also agitation, unrest, hopelessness, and even despair, but most significant is a sense of paranoia, and maybe, just maybe, a mob could do something to stop this madness.

[Earl of Purple]

Southside

The biplanes will remain over Southside unless they chase an enemy craft over the border.

The gunship will be surprised at how high the biplanes can go; they are a primitive design, but they were built in a realm with no ground. The planes are magically enhanced to ensure they can cope with all sorts of air pressures. They target the cockpits, vents and any swivelling gun mounts, especially when those guns are pointed elsewhere. Regardless, three fall to its cannons and five more divert their sole attention to the gunship.

The ground-based IFVs will find the biplanes are expertly piloted, turning at the last minute and rolling to dodge the return fire. Two more biplanes are taken down.

DC rips the wings off a biplane! It maintains most of its momentum, but lacks the ability to create more lift or turn. The pilot wedges the acceleration control, ensuring that it will continue flying for as long as possible (and possibly attract more fire until it's realised it's crashing anyway).

The machine guns of Mia's robots fail to destroy any of the aeroplanes. As I am assuming they are humanoid robots designed for ground-to-ground combat, this is to be expected. If they had proper anti-aircraft mountings for their machine guns, they may do better.

Of the thirteen Pazuzite biplanes that arrived, six have been destroyed. Seven remain, five focussing their fire on the gunship, whilst the others are strafing the ground, aiming primarily for anything soldier-like. The twelve succubi that have had their aeroplanes destroyed are flying to the ground, drawing revolvers to continue fighting.

Hotel

"Then let's not get pigs just yet, to ensure that we do the proper research and know what we're getting ourselves into before we begin. Hopefully the spiders don't like bacon. Otherwise, we might not have many pigs for long. Could you make bacon out of animals besides pigs?" I think the process can be used but the product will be different. I'm not sure.

[Slii Arhem]

[Southside - Creations]

"We cannot make any promises. There are doubtless others better suited to dealing with the plague, and father would rather avoid conflict with anyone, if possible." That said, Gold returns to the site to resume directing the drones.

*****

[Wildside]

"Hmm? Oh, no, probably best that I do not sample the mead myself. Not until its effects on creations are tested on more expendable ones anyway. Father would not let my put myself at risk simply out of some foolish desire to feel what it's like to be drunk."

...

Blue turns suddenly and stares off towards Riverside.

It tilts its head slightly, frowns, and spins back round to face Lenai.

"The area of Riverside known as Southside is gone. A rather drastic response to the plague, to just remove itself entirely from Riverside. Father has already mobilised other creations to claim some of the now abandoned territory. Father has had his eyes set on Riverside for a little while, hoping to find a way to obtain the appropriate space for his plans through legitimate means. I was not expecting something quite like this to happen."

There's concern on Blue's face. This has the capacity to get quite messy...

And when Affidavit is seeking to avoid fighting people, that means words will be more necessary than usual.

"I hope I will not be needed. I think I'd rather remain here. But father did say he would call me away in an emergency, and with the amount of resources he's in the process of sinking into the place, he'd certainly claim that any threat to his creations there would be an emergency."

Wildside

Lenai stops moving aside from the slight swaying of the branch she's sitting on, her face becoming pale for a moment before she collects herself enough to speak again. It's obvious some of the nearby bees sense her agitation, if their increased pitch of buzzing is any indication, "Southside is gone? If your father has need of you, go immediately and do what you can. For now, I want to know everything you can tell me of what happened there. How it left, what this plague you mentioned is, if the plague might spill out of Riverside's borders and affect this forest, everything. Southside was one of my largest and most trusted allies, and their deciding to leave troubles me even more than losing them as trade partners. It could be a whim of their absentee monarch, or a sign of worse things to come."

Tenebras Phone Line

Someone is calling the Tenebras police department's public landline. That someone is Shayan, from a Satellite phone, in the middle of the sea.

[Darkcomet]

[Riverside-General]

As the fear spreads, Evolution Industries announces that anyone running off EI's power will have their electricity cut if they try to subvert allied efforts against the plague and AMEN, or if they submit to any AMENite demands.

[Southside]

Now things get interesting. And explosive. And generally deadly.

First, the gunship.

The gunship is distracted by shooting at biplanes, and as such, is unable to do much when a barrage of missiles fly screaming into its repulsor drives. That has about the results one would expect, ripping through the hull and into the craft's power core.

The result is a pretty nasty explosion. Let's hope none of the biplanes were too close to it, or that could be painful. The craft that destroyed that gunship is going to have its own problems, though, what with the Hunters opening up.

Next comes the Basilisk's attempts at detecting where the biplane-ripper is. As it turns out, there is a sizable energy spike coming from a particular spot, which is soon opened up on by plasma cannons.

The plasma blasts hit something, but sensors likely detect that the energy spike is still there, albeit lessened, as if the blasts broke something. Smoke obscures DC's position in the air, before something very odd happens.

A tiny object flies toward the Basilisk at high speed, propelled by the evidently-surviving psychic's telekinesis. That object happening to be a very, very sharp dagger that will likely embed itself in the Basilisk's armor without doing much of anything. I'm not even sure the Basilisk would really pick up on something so insignificant as anything more than a chunk of debris blown off armor or something, or if they did, they'd probably ignore it as something minor not worth jeopardizing target locks. That's just my guess, though, not controlling the Basilisk's reaction here.

Should that dagger find its mark, the Basilisk will detect another energy spike, this one quite large and pretty much right on it, as energy channels through the dagger into its tip, and explodes outward in a titanic wave of force. That ought to be nasty.

The ripped-off biplane wings, meanwhile, will be hurled at the same plane they were ripped off of. Ow.

DC's condition and whatever the hell he's equipped with at the moment are unknown, but it's obvious he's still in there, obscured by the smoke.

And finally, there's just the IFVs left. As the biplanes continue their attack, the IFVs continue their darting about and shooting into the air at them. The well-armored vehicles can take quite the beating, though one takes a hit to the turret that seems to disable it. Four Evolution Security troops climb out of the hatch and begin firing at the biplanes that come near with blaster rifles...and one laser cannon much like what the Hunters are using against the A-Wing-alike. The very same model, in fact, but turned on the biplanes instead.

EI comes prepared, it seems.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Southside - Creations]

Amid all the chaos going on, the drones continue their work in silence. Digging, laying the foundations of the building to come.

Sensing that its workers may soon come under threat, Gold sends a request through the mental network of creations for aid and takes to the skies. It would seem the VTOLs and the gunship are distracting the AMEN forces in the air for the time being, but it's best to take no chances. So Gold positions itself directly above the creations' construction site and readies its spear. Yes, it has a spear. No, that is not all it has in terms of weaponry, but that's the only visible thing for now.

Meanwhile, the reinforcements arrive. All, um, one of them.

Mounted on four legs, with a large bulbous body and a floating brightly coloured orb coated in a sort segmented red armour, the Red creation has arrived to ensure the safety of the drones. The orb's armour is rather peculiar, individual segments rapidly opening and closing to ensure it still has effective 360 degree vision without leaving its orb completely vulnerable.

Red's body is fairly bristling with weaponry, its arms ending in some sort of gatling cannon-like weaponry, a pair of mortars or potentially missile launchers of some sort mounted on its back, its legs covered in spikes, easily flexible enough to be of use in melee...and several visible segments on its body that probably slide back to reveal more means of spewing death at its foes. Red is a creation built purely for war.

Any creepers on the ground that come too close will find themselves targeted by a stream of bullets from one gatling cannon...

For now they would appear to be the only immediate threat. But better to be safe than sorry.

*****

[Wildside]

"For the time being I am free to remain and inform you of the situation. There is little to say about Southside, I'm afraid. There was a statement made by its ruler, and then it was...gone. The exact means by which it was removed are unknown to us. It was too sudden. A number of groups have moved into the now unclaimed territory. There was some sort of peacekeeping force moved in, but their purpose is purely to ensure no AMENite lays claim to the territory."

It's almost like Blue is reading things off from a script. But, well, Lenai requested that it inform her of everything it knows about what happened in Southside. Opinions can wait.

"AMEN are the ones responsible for unleashing the plague. Whether it will spread to your forest, I cannot say. Some unknown entity or entities presumably released by one of the other major powers in Riverside is systematically destroying all animal life throughout Riverside, so it's logical to conclude that plague-carrying animals were introduced to Riverside, and that the plague has then spread to other animals. It's possible some animals might be driven into your forest by all of this, and the plague could then spread. This could also lead to these unknown entities coming here and killing off all animals here too. I don't know if that would break any trade agreements you've made, though."

Some emotion does creep in there, though. Blue doesn't want this place to come to any harm. It's nice here. Lenai seems to appreciate its company. It's been a long time since it last felt appreciated...

"There is currently a battle in the air over Southside. The peacekeeping force I mentioned earlier has come to blows with what I assume is AMEN's air force, meaning AMEN itself is probably in the area now. Some Eastside elements on the border of Southside have also opened fire on AMEN's air force. That's about all I have to say for the time being. I can try and provide more details on something if you wish. I-"

Blue pauses, sighs, and lowers its gaze.

Of course Father would try and take advantage of this. This is exactly the sort of opportunity he'd jump on.

Still, Blue has no choice but to obey Father's commands.

"Father wonders if you'd like to...extend our agreement. He can ensure no wildlife comes into your forest from Riverside, guaranteeing that your forest will remain plague-free."

[Slii Arhem]

[Southside - Creations]

Amid all the chaos going on, the drones continue their work in silence. Digging, laying the foundations of the building to come.

Sensing that its workers may soon come under threat, Gold sends a request through the mental network of creations for aid and takes to the skies. It would seem the VTOLs and the gunship are distracting the AMEN forces in the air for the time being, but it's best to take no chances. So Gold positions itself directly above the creations' construction site and readies its spear. Yes, it has a spear. No, that is not all it has in terms of weaponry, but that's the only visible thing for now.

Meanwhile, the reinforcements arrive. All, um, one of them.

Mounted on four legs, with a large bulbous body and a floating brightly coloured orb coated in a sort segmented red armour, the Red creation has arrived to ensure the safety of the drones. The orb's armour is rather peculiar, individual segments rapidly opening and closing to ensure it still has effective 360 degree vision without leaving its orb completely vulnerable.

Red's body is fairly bristling with weaponry, its arms ending in some sort of gatling cannon-like weaponry, a pair of mortars or potentially missile launchers of some sort mounted on its back, its legs covered in spikes, easily flexible enough to be of use in melee...and several visible segments on its body that probably slide back to reveal more means of spewing death at its foes. Red is a creation built purely for war.

Any creepers on the ground that come too close will find themselves targeted by a stream of bullets from one gatling cannon...

For now they would appear to be the only immediate threat. But better to be safe than sorry.

*****

[Wildside]

"For the time being I am free to remain and inform you of the situation. There is little to say about Southside, I'm afraid. There was a statement made by its ruler, and then it was...gone. The exact means by which it was removed are unknown to us. It was too sudden. A number of groups have moved into the now unclaimed territory. There was some sort of peacekeeping force moved in, but their purpose is purely to ensure no AMENite lays claim to the territory."

It's almost like Blue is reading things off from a script. But, well, Lenai requested that it inform her of everything it knows about what happened in Southside. Opinions can wait.

"AMEN are the ones responsible for unleashing the plague. Whether it will spread to your forest, I cannot say. Some unknown entity or entities presumably released by one of the other major powers in Riverside is systematically destroying all animal life throughout Riverside, so it's logical to conclude that plague-carrying animals were introduced to Riverside, and that the plague has then spread to other animals. It's possible some animals might be driven into your forest by all of this, and the plague could then spread. This could also lead to these unknown entities coming here and killing off all animals here too. I don't know if that would break any trade agreements you've made, though."

Some emotion does creep in there, though. Blue doesn't want this place to come to any harm. It's nice here. Lenai seems to appreciate its company. It's been a long time since it last felt appreciated...

"There is currently a battle in the air over Southside. The peacekeeping force I mentioned earlier has come to blows with what I assume is AMEN's air force, meaning AMEN itself is probably in the area now. Some Eastside elements on the border of Southside have also opened fire on AMEN's air force. That's about all I have to say for the time being. I can try and provide more details on something if you wish. I-"

Blue pauses, sighs, and lowers its gaze.

Of course Father would try and take advantage of this. This is exactly the sort of opportunity he'd jump on.

Still, Blue has no choice but to obey Father's commands.

"Father wonders if you'd like to...extend our agreement. He can ensure no wildlife comes into your forest from Riverside, guaranteeing that your forest will remain plague-free."

Wildside

Lenai waves off the suggestion of an extended agreement even as it comes, "There is no need of that. Now that you've made me aware of the plague animals, my trees can destroy anything trying to slip among them from the outside and bury them all far beneath the earth where the will do no harm to the beings here. However, with Southside gone I am ill at ease. Relay to your father that if the forces of Riverside do come here to sweep for lingering elements of this plague and don't accept my sovereignty, I would gladly accept his aid in dealing with them and be willing to trade more for it, as I agreed to with Southside previously." That seems to be what she has been focusing on, her lack of allies against a united Riverside assault if it came to that.

"Tell me about this AMEN. What is their purpose spreading toxins and disease around the city? My father attempted something similar once not too long ago, and it went quite poorly. Although he still considers it a success for some unknown reason."

[Gullara]

[Westside - General]

The citizens of Westside are no doubt fearful at this time. Their home is under attack, and all manner of frightful things are happening. Many feel helpless in the face of a foe with the vile reputation AMEN has. The reaction of the people isn't to rise up for the most part. Some panic and try to get out of the city, but those are moving away from the conflict. The largest type of reaction is to bunker down. Get somewhere safe and stay out of the crossfire. There are some scuffles and the like, but no one wants to be out and in the open when no one knows what AMEN is going to do next.

[Westside - Portals]

There is one lone vehicle making its way rapidly around Riverside. It stops where it has been informed there are portals to the Yellow Road. When it does, a door opens and someone inside does something that causes the unresisting portals to close.

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

The phone is promptly answered despite the barrage of phone calls the HQ has been receiving all day. "You've reached the Westside Enforcers. What can I help you with?" A strained voice answers.

[Westside/Southside Border]

On the border of Westside and Southside, the Enforcers here aren't just watching the conflict. No, much like EI and the Hunters, they have their own laser cannons that they're putting to use. The rate of fire is fairly high here. They possess more soldier who possess the strength to use these weapons effectively with less bracing than others might require. It also means that they are more mobile. They are supported by regular Enforcers with EI blasters.

There is an intelligence network in place here as well. Scouts that are looking for any sign of what AMEN might plan to do next, where they're going, etc. They can't move around effectively in Southside, but the river does near Westside, and it's very possible they could see the sub in time to warn their superiours of its existence and the direction it's going.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malchenar - Planning Room]

Ryhe wasn't looking especially pleased as he sat down in the throne. Celestel knew that he wanted to spend most of his time experimenting but now he had other duties to attend to as chaos quickly had spread over Riverside.

"Can anyone tell me briefly of what's going on within the city right now? I don't want any unnecessary details. Just the big picture."

The commander, Javos stood up. He wasn't a tall man, but he made up for it in bulk and guts. While he didn't have any etheric argumentations as far as she knew, he was a man she was glad was on their side. "Southside have literally disappeared from the map you eminens, buildings, people, everything. Now AMEN and a group of other factions are fighting over it as far as we can tell. Meanwhile panic have broken out all over the city, we have reports of portals opening and the sun bloating out in eastside. We have every guard and erathun trying to keep people inside but I don't think it's only natural fear here. Something is effecting them."

"I can explain that lord Ryhe." Sekai, a woman with skin as grey as ash spoke up. She was the new leader of the fourth tower compound within the castle, dressed in their teal robes. Unlike her and Javos, she was surely augmented. There were few of the fourth towers members that weren't.

"As I'm sure you already know, people are throwing out a great deal of magic right now. The portals, the sun, the fear, the efforts to disturb those effects... We're dealing with some very powerful magic here."

"Can you track it down?"

"I can attempt to. But as I said, very powerful magic. There is a chance the person whose casting it can hide their presence. But I will try the best way I can."

"So let's say we do track it down, then what? If this is AMEN, they're likely very powerful. I'm not sure we can keep order and fight AMEN at the same time. I'm just glad we evacuated first, such a small population can't riot at the very least."

Celestel wanted to say something, to contribute to the discussion, but looking at Ryhe's expression, she knew she wasn't needed right now. He already had a plan. "We need more information about the situation I feel. We need to find out where AMEN is. The force in Southside is likely just a distraction along with everything else they're throwing at us. What we must focus on here is first to find what AMEN is distracting us from and then strike. Thankfully their efforts are giving me an idea." He turned to Celestel. "My pet, I will put you in charge of finding AMEN." He gestured towards Sekai. "Sekai can surely lend you some of her acolytes to track the energy flooding in."

Celestel rose from her seat and bowed deeply. "Of course master."

The shadow vampire gestured to Javos. "Meanwhile you keep people inside but I want you to encourage the fear in the civilians. Not fight it. As long as they're kept under check, I want them trapped in their homes, frightened for what's going on outside."

Celestel spotted a moment of hesitation and she knew the vampire did that as well. "Yes your eminess." He replied with an unnecessarily deep bow, most likely trying to make up for his doubt.

"Finally, I want to talk with about something Sekai. In private." He gestured towards the door. "You others, go and do your jobs."

Celestel nodded and Javos followed suit. This was going to be a change of peace certainly. But at least she had it better than those diseased ridden people down there. Malechenar would always be safe.

[Suncrest Manor]

"You really need all this stuff?" Irena asks. "We can buy things once we're there you know, it's not like we're moving out into the wilderness or something." She never stops moving though, carrying the bag with ease. So unless Nadia decides to stop at some point, there is a car waiting outside the manor to drive them to inside.

Exbourne Manor

"Good, let's go then." She glances at Eadelain. "But remember we can't stay there for long." Astrana will then grab her bag and head out once Eadelain follows her.

[Northside General]

The sun bloating effect would likely have been more effective if northside wasn't permanently covered in a cloud cover. It's inhabitants can't even see it.

Not that many of them even are outside right now, Malechenar keeping the people that choose to stay inside their own homes. Effectively sealing them inside, nearly turning them into prison cells. Food and water are still being supplied even if the guards are feelings the effects of the fear magic coming over the city.

The gargoyles are flying high above the city, avoiding all physical contact with humans or animals for now due to the plague. Instead their job is to survey the city, attempting to find where all this magic is coming from.

Underneath the ground the earth vampires are patrolling, sensing vibrations, trying to determine if there are any unusual seismic activity underneath the city. They are also patrolling the borders of Southside in case AMEN would attempt to full anything.

In the air there are also what appears to be mutated human heads flying around. They don't seem to be much, but there is a lot of them, spying all over northside. Apparently they're from another sort of vampire that is serving Malechenar.

[AMEN Sub]

The fourth tower is attempting to track whose casting the spells causing the fear and the sun disappearing and pin point from where they are being cast.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"If you do, I would humbly request coming with you. If these people really are from the burning light. I need to talk to them. If they aren't, that's a serious crime and I have to bring them in... with your permission of course." Dave requests.

[Eastside - Streets]

"This one is surprised you're back Tarim. It thought you were gone forever." The large armored eagle asked.

"Hrmph, the battle have been taken here and I have sworn to defend this city, from demons or the servants of them." The pit lord wasn't exactly in a good mood after his AMEN attack plans had been voted down. But at least he could attack them now, just in a different way.

"Tarim believes AMEN to be servant of dark ones?" Falcon always had a rather cryptic way of speaking. It was the way of his people apparently, before they had all turned to demons that is.

"Of course, it's obvious. Daeva said their leader was a demon, what more evidence do you need? They are controlling her to do all this. To weaken us before they strike." The two servants were patrolling eastside for AMEN agents, Tarim on the ground and Falcon flying just above.

"This one will consider Tarim's wisdom. Meanwhile it should take to the skies. It's eyes will reveal more the higher the winds lets it carry itself upwards." Falcon took a few wing beats, lifting himself high into the air, his sharp eyes letting him see the world below at an amazing detail as he tried to spot any signs for AMEN intrusion way down below.

Tarim just shook his head. Falcon was right about one thing though, he would be able to tell if AMEN were here far earlier than he was. The servants eyes were basically made to help them detect these things.

[Lost_Deep]

Southside-Ritual

The people in black robes watch the fight. One of them throws the robe aside dramatically, revealing some kind of steam punk power armor. He retrieves from one of the containers a heavy machine gun, which he intends to use on any ground forces that look like they will attack the group.

Another figure also takes off his robe, revealing finely-crafted full plate armor. He's armed with a heavy shield and a large, flanged mace.

The third black robed figure is quite happy with his robes, and keeps them on for now.

The magical wisps that the ritual is generating do notice the fear effect, but without any solid target they just loop-de-loop around ineffectually. They're kind of pretty, though!

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

"I don't think the people of Riverside would be so foolish. Neither does Father, and he rarely has a high opinion of anyone. But worry not. If anything should happen, he is quite capable of rapid response to ensure the safety of your forest. For the time being our only concern is setting up our facility in part of what was once Southside. Just as it is important to you to have allies to aid you, so is it important to us. There will be a power struggle among the various groups vying for territory. It's likely that some sort of New Southside will emerge from it, consisting of a number of small groups with a figurehead leader of some sort. I imagine there will be a lot of backstabbing and vying for power and control behind the scenes. We don't care for any of that, as long as we are allowed the space we have claimed as our own. If you are willing to support our claims to but a small portion of Southside, we will rally to your defense at a moment's notice, and do whatever possible to ensure none of the new factions emerging take any aggressive action towards you."

Sounds fair, right?

"But we can discuss that more later. AMEN is the Association of the Malicious, Evil, and Nefarious. They are, simply put, an organisation consisting of many of the villains that are present in the Nexus. Many of them are minor villains, incapable of achieving any great success on their own. Among their ranks, there are several key figures that are noteworthy on their own. Their leader, Ilpholin, is an ambitious and dangerous individual. And Magtok, their second in command, has considerable resources of his own. Why he remains with AMEN at all is a mystery to me. While any single AMENite may be dangerous, they are not individually much of a threat. Much of the time they lack direction and accomplish little. But when their leader gives them a purpose and they work together, the results can be quite terrifying. As villains I imagine they need little reason to unleash a plague upon a city. Though...something on this scale would not be done for the sake of causing havoc. They have a plan, or their leader does anyway. A safe bet is that it involves the acquisition of power in some way. They either seek something in Riverside or seek Riverside itself. This is something they've been planning for a while. I doubt the events in Southside were predicted, nor is it likely that the free space in Southside is their intended target...though they may try to claim part of it now that it is available.

It all sounds rather troublesome, doesn't it?

"Father is reluctant to move against them without good reason. He has no desire for conflict here. But if AMEN were to establish a permanent presence in Riverside, it would be...unfortunate." Blue certainly looks quite concerned by all this. It tilts its head a little as it sends out a request to the mental network, seeking any further information its fellow creations may have obtained.

And then it looks rather terrified at the reply it receives.

"Oh...oh my. Father has decided to call Red in to ensure no one is foolish enough to attack our construction site in Southside. I...I do not like Red. It speaks volumes to how volatile the situation is that he would bring Red in."

[Slii Arhem]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

The phone is promptly answered despite the barrage of phone calls the HQ has been receiving all day. "You've reached the Westside Enforcers. What can I help you with?" A strained voice answers.


Westside - Enforcer HQ

"Ah, hello there. I have a deal to make with the leader of Westside, or at a minimum the leader of the Enforcers if you can't get me through to the former. It involves AMEN's plot, and a potential solution to at least part of it." That's about as specific as she's willing to get with a desk clerk.


[Wildside]

"I don't think the people of Riverside would be so foolish. Neither does Father, and he rarely has a high opinion of anyone. But worry not. If anything should happen, he is quite capable of rapid response to ensure the safety of your forest. For the time being our only concern is setting up our facility in part of what was once Southside. Just as it is important to you to have allies to aid you, so is it important to us. There will be a power struggle among the various groups vying for territory. It's likely that some sort of New Southside will emerge from it, consisting of a number of small groups with a figurehead leader of some sort. I imagine there will be a lot of backstabbing and vying for power and control behind the scenes. We don't care for any of that, as long as we are allowed the space we have claimed as our own. If you are willing to support our claims to but a small portion of Southside, we will rally to your defense at a moment's notice, and do whatever possible to ensure none of the new factions emerging take any aggressive action towards you."

Sounds fair, right?

"But we can discuss that more later. AMEN is the Association of the Malicious, Evil, and Nefarious. They are, simply put, an organisation consisting of many of the villains that are present in the Nexus. Many of them are minor villains, incapable of achieving any great success on their own. Among their ranks, there are several key figures that are noteworthy on their own. Their leader, Ilpholin, is an ambitious and dangerous individual. And Magtok, their second in command, has considerable resources of his own. Why he remains with AMEN at all is a mystery to me. While any single AMENite may be dangerous, they are not individually much of a threat. Much of the time they lack direction and accomplish little. But when their leader gives them a purpose and they work together, the results can be quite terrifying. As villains I imagine they need little reason to unleash a plague upon a city. Though...something on this scale would not be done for the sake of causing havoc. They have a plan, or their leader does anyway. A safe bet is that it involves the acquisition of power in some way. They either seek something in Riverside or seek Riverside itself. This is something they've been planning for a while. I doubt the events in Southside were predicted, nor is it likely that the free space in Southside is their intended target...though they may try to claim part of it now that it is available.

It all sounds rather troublesome, doesn't it?

"Father is reluctant to move against them without good reason. He has no desire for conflict here. But if AMEN were to establish a permanent presence in Riverside, it would be...unfortunate." Blue certainly looks quite concerned by all this. It tilts its head a little as it sends out a request to the mental network, seeking any further information its fellow creations may have obtained.

And then it looks rather terrified at the reply it receives.

"Oh...oh my. Father has decided to call Red in to ensure no one is foolish enough to attack our construction site in Southside. I...I do not like Red. It speaks volumes to how volatile the situation is that he would bring Red in."

Wildside

"So this AMEN is largely comprised of idiots then? Apart from the two you mentioned by name, there seems to be little reason to provoke such a large city into even worse acts of violence with these actions, or commit other such villainy. Either they are idiots for antagonizing with no clear goal or they are idiots for thinking they will get away scot free with their nefarious plans. In either case, it speaks very poorly of their mental capacity." The orchard nymph taps a hand to her chin in thought before letting it drop to her side, done considering the why's of this unenviable situation.

"What of this land you have claimed? Is it close to Southside's walls? If so, it would be easy to extend the reach of my forest under the wall's foundations and grow some hardier plants surrounding this land of your father's. My trees here are not meant to deter trespass, but they serve that purpose. There are plants that nymphs know how to grow to keep all living things at bay, even though few nymphs could do it alone in the time you're asking for. After raising my forest within less than a week, I feel up to the challenge.

If it's a bit farther from the walls, then I suppose I will have to take a trip there myself to accomplish the same task. Unfortunate, but I won't refuse the offer of mutual aid when it's within my power to grant what you ask."

She does not comment on Red, or Blue's fear of it. Better to let those little reactions slide until she can make sense of them.

[Gullara]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

Shayan is transferred to Ramiro with all haste, but not before someone sets about trying to triangulate where the call is coming from. No doubt the information they get is less than useful.

"You have information about AMEN?" Ramiro asks when he answers the phone. Normally he's all for the niceties and being polite, but he gets right to the chase this time. There's no time to waste.

[Suncrest Manor]

"It's mostly clothes and toiletries. We might as well carry what we can." Nadia doesn't have much more to say. She just puts the bags in the back and makes sure Eliseo is buckled in safely. She wants to get out of the city as soon as possible. No doubt traffic will be hell after that announcement.

[Exbourne Manor]

When they go, Cynthia heads off to go pout in her room. They better feel guilty!

[happyturtle]

Portals

Portals can be closed, but more keep opening, at a rate of one every two or three minutes. Those trying to track the source of it, will find the source keeps moving - only popping into this dimension for a few seconds every two or three minutes.

Wildside

While Blue and Lenai talk, Kell drops out of his tree, tossing aside the half eaten squirrel (which his dog quickly snaps up). He looks a fright, with blood all over his mouth and chin, torso and hands. He goes from his landing crouch into a kneel, placing his ear against the earth and digging his hands into the soil. He's listening to the forest, and the earth, and the creatures within the soil, and the life force known to some as 'Nature' and others as 'Gaia', to find out if any sick animals have already entered.

Amen Sub

A single Moff reports back. "We're opening portals all over the city. Shall we continue that, or do you want us elsewhere?"

[The Bushranger]

[Southside]
[Portals]

And so creepers head into the Yellow Road... :smalleek:


[Southside]
Creeper

The two robots draw their weapon. They shake their arms and suddendly they become machine guns. They point with their weapons against the dtrange creatures, but befor they are able to fire one of them get's shot from the biplanes machineguns and falls forward. The other one turns around to the thread in the air ignoring the creatures now.

The creatures start bobbing their heads as they grow close to the robots, their greenish mottling growing markedly brighter...

"SSSSS!"

Poor robots. They were Nice Everything.

*BOOM*
*BOOM*

[Lost_Deep]

Leaving Exbourne Manor

Eadelain will follow Astrana closely, working to keep up with her. Unless something goes wrong, the pair should get there fast enough.

Tracking Magic

The disruptive magic is odd to track. Usage of conventional divination magic is going to be ineffective; such spells get nothing. Spells or magical senses that are made to examine and track magic itself (instead of simply getting answers) will be more useful. However, looking out a window is what might be most useful of all: because while the magic wisps are coming down all over Riverside, they are only going up from a spot near the northern tip of Southside.

[Zefir]

[Southside]

Creeper
Well then both robots seem to be killed, since the explosion suprise them. Now there isn't any robot close to the Creeper hole anymore. Still some of the working robots keep an eye on them, now knowing how dangerouse they are.

Biplanes

Well the robot with the machine guns aren't build for anti air, but they stop their attemp as they see it has no result. The two robots head down to Mia. When they arrive, Mia will cast a spell to merge the robots for stronger weapons. Still Mia's suit will shoot with her lasercoanons at the biplans, the aiming is good.

AMEN Sub

Zefir just prepares himself.

[BladeofObliviom]

Tracking Magic

Cyrus magic is difficult to track for a few reasons; It's widely and unevenly spread, which means that it probably isn't originating from its own center, but isn't being projected from anywhere else, which means that it's coming from inside the effect somewhere. It's also a highly unstable red spell at its core, only having any discernable control at all due to the threads of Black mana laced through it.

Tracking it becomes even more difficult when the effect seems to spontaneously disappear entirely, almost for no reason at all.


AMEN Sub

"Welp, I'm bored.", the Sorcerer says, releasing his grip on the spell. Whatever damage he's likely to do with it has already been done, and there's no real point in continuing.

He stands, and walks toward AMEN's Glorious Leader.

"By the way, Ilpholin, I'm getting the impression that they knew we were coming. There are far too few souls here for such a large city, implying an evacuation, and there are already heavy magical defenses in place that I doubt were enacted in the last few hours. I even got a glimpse of what could be a tracking spell, trying to find us.

I've taken a more direct interest here, so which front do you think most needs magical support?"

[The Alexandrian]

Agatha Kvatch AMEN!!!]

Eastside and Westside's meddling shall cost them dearly! The sheer quantity of projectiles they can put downrange is more than the AMENite airforce can handle! Be that as it may, everything that has transpired has done so according to Roxanne's design! With Eastside, Westside, and EI thus distracted and possibly reassigning and funneling troops to the Southern front, their resistance elsewhere might be, hypothetically, weakened as troop concentrations fall in areas that are deemed "safe" or "nonessential".

But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about how well Riverside's resistance is faring, namely in terms of the damage dealt to the vehicles of my two AMENites.

The Hunters open fire on Roxanne's spacefighter as she is starting to dart lower to the ground to strafe IE's IFVs. Assuming that the hail of laser fire and the launch of rockets is coordinated so that they are shoot at the A-Wing-esque vehicle concurrently, the lasers score two hits (five hits are required to disable them) against Roxanne's aft shields, right over her spacefighter's thrumming engines. This does not shatter the shields as, if a spacefighter's shield broke after it deflected only two Splaser blasts, it would be a useless shield in major, decisive space battles, a shield unworthy to protect a multi-million dollar prototype spacefighter. It does significantly weaken the shields, but more firepower will be required to put this baby (of death!) down. But the laser beam's magical adventure doesn't end there!

Most sci-fi shields absorb energy-based rays, beams, and etc directly. They are pretty inefficient, in my book. They perform adequately in their role (and inordinately well as personal shields), as torpedos that would otherwise rend the hull of the ship are largely ineffectual as long as the shields are up, but the they're flawed in that the energy they absorb is wasted! Roxanne had something more combat-oriented and practical (if not more so, as it enables FTL travel (without inertial dampeners even, if the need for an FTL jump is that dire)) when she assembled this little beauty!

The trick isn't to move through space, as most sci-fi movies and series suggest. The trick is to move space around your ship! Einstein theorized that mass curves space-time resulting in gravity. Gravity can bend energy and redirect matter, as is observed in gigantic celestial bodies and at the range, respectively. FTL travel could be achieved through wormholes created by controlled distortion of space-time. While some physicists hypothesize that entering a wormhole might destabilize it, by introducing anti-gravity and negative energy to the wormhole, they might conceivably be utilized for spatial and time-travel!

Science, how I love thee!!!

Space-time manipulation is the foundation on which Roxanne's spacefighter was built. It's shields manipulate space-time. It's engines manipulate space-time. Some of the weapons at its disposal manipulate space-time. It's a revolutionary, unique death machine that I've never even heard of in any sci-fi universe!

As such, the energy of the Hunters' lasers, while damaging Roxanne's gravitronic shields by disrupting the process by which she generates and maintains them, will likely sling around her ship and zap the ground near one of Mia's robots as the A-Wing-esque spacefighter veers sharply up and to the left, thinking that it'd be a good idea to let the biplanes worry about the IFVs while she engages the bigger threats.

As for the guided (I'm guessing energy-seeking(?)) anti-air rockets, Roxanne ejects two small, orb-shaped countermeasures that will attempt to intercept and detonate the rockets (by crashing into them) before they close the distance between themselves and her shields. She needs those so that she doesn't exploderate!

Roxanne knows she's fighting a battle that she cannot win.

But she can win the war. Every defender that perishes in this conflict is one less that can fire a gun in the next.

She launches a single biiiig fat missile at the Westside border, where most of the defenders shooting at the AMENite airforce have holed up, from what I gather, before she punches the FTL button and retreats...in the wrong direction.

This missile will create, but for a moment, a short-range AoE gravity well when it detonates. The gravity well is short-lived and it destabilizes and vanishes a second after it is created. It, in and of itself, is dangerous. It could potentially rip chunks out of a building or two around its epicenter all on its lonesome.

Coupled with glass, tables, chairs, and pipelines, it is transformed from a deadly weapon into a somewhat devastating one! Westside's nearby forces (within 2-3 building's range depending on where the missile does hit and how wide the buildings are) might feel the well jerk them toward it (the intensity should vary), perhaps forcing some of them to anchor themselves to the structure they're taking cover in and discard their weapons or be defenestrated on the spot (if they are close to the epicenter, otherwise it may just pull them down, up, or to the side a little). Glass shards likely shred things, tables and chairs that aren't nailed to the ground possibly batter the soldiers, appliances are torn out of and flung through walls, which could cause gas leaks or water to meet uninsulated electric cable, bullets don't hit what they're aimed at (the lasers probably will be as accurate as ever), and miscellaneous other problems/hazards could be encountered around the epicenter of the gravity well.

Meanwhile, in the Basilisk...

The Basilisk too is equipped with shields! Sadly, they are conventional shields that directly absorb damage, not the super shields that the A-Wing-esque fighter craft had access to. They'll probably stop the dagger, unless its one of those enchanted daggers forged out of an exotic material, from lodging itself in the Basilisk's armor plating, but they're not gonna be able to do that for very much long-

Kaboom!

Explosion!

-er. Shielding discontinued!

While the shields absorbed the brunt of the explosive damage of the dagger, the kinetic energy is another story entirely. Basilisk droids are designed to plummet from orbit to the surface of a planet unscathed, but the modifications The Hatter made to this Basilisk droid are going to be wrecked.

The Basilisk droid hurtles downward and plows into the ground (perhaps barely missing the already damaged IFV on the ground) leaving a huge rut in its wake. The extra armor, the flight stabilizers, shield generator, and other apparatus modifying the Basilisk droid are nothing more than smoldering chunks of metal buried in moist dirt now! Now nobody has to deal with a Super!Basilisk, just a Regular(Unmodified)!Basilisk! A regular Basilisk that has been grounded until repairs to it are made (The Hatter knew that those redundant flight systems would come in handy! >.< He should have used another roll of duct tape when he attached extra thingies! :smalltongue:). It isn't broken, but it isn't a Heavy Basilisk Droid anymore, nor can it fly. And look at that, the joint of its left foreleg is damaged! That'll definitely impair its balance and decrease its speed on the ground! :smallfrown:

And it'll also need to allocate its time units for this turn to righting itself and recovering from the blow! Today just isn't The Hatter's unbirthday day! :smalltongue:

-------
[Westside - EI's Power Plant]

The A-Wing-esque spacefighter will rocket here at insane speeds, if possible. Once here, it will attempt to drop a payload of bombs on anything that looks like it might be powering or regulating Westside's artificial sun or, if nothing that looks like that can be identified or is in sight, she'll attempt to directly bomb the power plant itself. Energy is in high demand these days, especially in times of crisis and war! Without energy there's no/limited communications and modern conveniences which could potentially stir up unrest and terror in the populace and make coordinating troop movements and supplying troops a little bit more challenging. Best of all (or worst of all, depending on who you're allied with and where your physical location is), nobody (and I do mean nobody) wants it to malfunction and explode as it might wipe out most of the city if it does so. Defenders should rush to protect this area, so it's the perfect place to strike! A high value target! Roxanne might as well be painting a big, red target sign on her back, but that's kinda the point. Heck, if she plays her cards right, nobody who isn't or wasn't an AMENite will be able to even implicate her in the attack on Riverside with any scrap of proof supporting their "unfounded" accusations whatsoever!

This one goes out to you, the Magtok who wanted to be king!

Bombs away!!!

-------
[Riverside River - Tracking Magic]

It would be no mean feat to track Clarissa's magic back to its source. Not much magic went into weaving the spell and no magic at all is going into maintaining it. It is as if reality simply conformed to her will. It didn't take much doing as, for the most part, the dark clouds from which the vortex was born were already there to begin with. Clarissa's magical signal is probably further obfuscated by whatever magic is being hurled about in the Southside battle supplemented by the presumably large amount of magic that went into the Southside Ritual too.

It isn't impossible to track, but it'd be rather hard to track and pinpoint.

-------
[Black Vortex of Doom!]

The wisps successfully close up the doom vortex! That...really doesn't do very much to stop the sun from being blotted out by cloud coverage, but it seems that only Eastside likes the sun, so that's not much of a problem, right?

-------
[Hotel]

Aw! Sylvia was looking forward to eating piggies with Charynrae for the rest of their lives! :smallfrown:

"You could butcher turkeysss and ussse their flesh to make bacon."

Sylvia! Stop making bacon sound gross and violent!

-------
[Not!Riverside Streets]

Lintha is his ticket to what exactly?

Javert/Kael can probably hear the distinct noise of a head slamming against a table on the other end of the line before Lintha picks up her phone again and responds.

"Oh, nothing important is happening. There's just a plague going around that's infecting everyone! Seriously, Javert, do you ever listen to the news? You need to get off of the streets asap. I'm at my house. You can stay here until this all blows over if you want."

"Oh, and if you see any animals along the way, don't pet them. Just run. Fast."

[Gnrlshrimp]

Wildside

"So this AMEN is largely comprised of idiots then? Apart from the two you mentioned by name, there seems to be little reason to provoke such a large city into even worse acts of violence with these actions, or commit other such villainy. Either they are idiots for antagonizing with no clear goal or they are idiots for thinking they will get away scot free with their nefarious plans. In either case, it speaks very poorly of their mental capacity." The orchard nymph taps a hand to her chin in thought before letting it drop to her side, done considering the why's of this unenviable situation.

"What of this land you have claimed? Is it close to Southside's walls? If so, it would be easy to extend the reach of my forest under the wall's foundations and grow some hardier plants surrounding this land of your father's. My trees here are not meant to deter trespass, but they serve that purpose. There are plants that nymphs know how to grow to keep all living things at bay, even though few nymphs could do it alone in the time you're asking for. After raising my forest within less than a week, I feel up to the challenge.

If it's a bit farther from the walls, then I suppose I will have to take a trip there myself to accomplish the same task. Unfortunate, but I won't refuse the offer of mutual aid when it's within my power to grant what you ask."

She does not comment on Red, or Blue's fear of it. Better to let those little reactions slide until she can make sense of them.

It takes Blue a moment or two to stop, calm down, and respond. "Uh, sorry. Red is a creation built for war. It carries a lot of weaponry. Some...quite powerful weaponry. It is not often that Father deploys Red. Its presence suggests that AMEN has the potential, at least, to cause quite a lot of damage. I...am not very fond of Red. I can't shake the feeling that it enjoys killing. I don't think it's meant to, but...we were all an experiment. We are probably all a little flawed."

Blue is quite flawed itself, after all. By the tone in its voice, it's probably quite aware that it did not turn out quite right.

"Perhaps AMEN are idiots, I don't know. The plague has provoked some very drastic responses already. If AMEN alone holds the cure, then they may have a stronger grip on Riverside than you think. It's hard to say for sure. Blue's information is quite limited, after all. "...hmm. The territory we claimed is not that near the walls. Well, not particularly near. We took a small patch of land relatively close to Eastside, though not right on its borders. However there are not so many people vying for territory that we couldn't adjust our marked out area a little..."

The suggestion is fed through to the network, and Affidavit's response comes moments later. Pushing the boundaries of their area so it nicely borders Eastside and the wall would not be unreasonable.

*****

[Southside - Creations]

So on the orders of their master, the drones extend the marked out area so it borders Eastside and extends as far back as the Southside wall. It does not stretch right along the border between Southside and Eastside, perhaps a quarter of the distance at most. Nor does it stretch particularly far along the wall. It is still, all in all, a fairly small patch of land.

[Earl of Purple]

Southside Dogfight

The biplane that had its wings ripped off is smashed by said wings and explodes. Looks like it's not going to cause more damage by crashing and exploding somewhere more vital.

The biplanes were not damaged by the exploding gunship, and scatter in different directions. The pilots are experts, and two will join the attack upon the IFVs whilst the other three will attack the Gulthadar Enforcers.

The IFVs cripple another biplane, damaging a wing so it cannot do much beyond crash. The pilot remains in place, steering it towards the IFV that did so damage it. She'll jump out at the last minute and morph her wings back to fly away, but for now it's on a collision course with an IFV.

The Gulthadar Enforcers also destroy a biplane, though until they were fired upon these AMENite aeroplanes were staying in Southside.

There are five biplanes left. Eight have been destroyed so far.

Southside- Ground

Twelve members of the biplane crews have hit the ground now, and are making their way towards an IFV. They are approaching from several different directions, and each carries a heavy revolver and a sword. They'll look for the IFV with the smallest escort and six of the succubi will charge the escort and start attacking with powerful pistols, unnatural strength and swords. The other half will approach the IFV itself whilst the escort is distracted and try to force their way in by hacking at hatches.

Hotel

"What's a 'turkey'?" Charynrae has a vague notion of what a pig is due to the fact that there are pig-like creatures dwelling underground; turkeys, not so much.

[Reinholdt]

AMEN Sub

It is entirely possible to spot the sub, yes. Hence a few posts of arrival time. So Westside should have a good heads up at least.

"Continue that for a few more minutes. Keep them busy. They can't bother us as much if they're dodging portals left and right." Ilpholin replies to Moff as the sub starts to rise.

"Prepare yourself to provide magical defenses to our base of operations." She tells Cyrus. Ilpholin can't really say beyond that which front most needs magical attention. She does have some information, but she's not nearly omniscient enough to know all of what's going on out there. Most of it even.

It's roughly at this time that Ilpholin attempts to contact Shayan through the channel listed on the note Shayan provided. "Hello? Hello? This is Ilpholin. Where are you and what's your ETA?" Presume an Over is in there if you wish.

Northside doesn't particularly need to track the magic, given their eyes in the sky should be spotting the AMEN sub as it surfaces now, a little bit inside their border. The hatch will open momentarily and some of the basic henchmen will be climbing out from it.

Ilpholin heads over to the side of the sub and places that ridiculous ball cap on that Megan provided and opens the crate, letting the nanobots out. Their mission simple: to eat a large, wide hole in the left side of the sub and turn it into a ramp down to the ground. Although it's less turn one thing into another thing than it is just bending the metal a different direction and out of the way. This makes the job considerably faster. The point is to not funnel everyone out the top and a possible kill zone/choke point. Rather, this allows more people to get out faster and have some mild protection from one direction. Darn PCs always get the preferential VIP exit.

"The warehouse is close. Go and secure the area. Becky. My side all times." Ilpholin orders, the way now at least open for AMENites to get into Riverside to do things. Try not to get shot on your way out.

[Darkcomet]

[Southside]

First off, some context.

IFV #1, AKA the one with the disabled turret, is being swarmed by succubi. The EvSec troopers, for their part, scatter, wanting to avoid getting mobbed by the demonic hordes whores hordes you know what, either works.

IFV #1, however, is having none of this 'getting swarmed' thing itself, and boosts toward the succubi charging the troopers, trying to splatter them. The high-speed chunk of armor and repulsor drives will prove quite horrendously painful to be hit by if it impacts. Naturally, this kinda makes it harder for the others to jump on.

IFV #2, seeing as I doubt the biplanes are gunning at IFV #1 while the succubi are going after it, bears the brunt of the assault and boosts toward the crash site of the Basilisk War Droid for some reason. This will likely lure them that way. This also means that, since it was the one that shot down the last biplane, it's probably going to avoid being crashed into.

This happens to be the prelude to what DC is doing now. The psychic drops out of the sky to land near the downed Basilisk, finally making himself visible. A backpack of some kind falls behind him, likely the source of whatever shield blocked the plasma blasts. It's smoking now, likely shorted out.

"Time to wrap this up."

DC raises a hand swathed in a dark red aura into the air, reaching out with telekinesis to try and grab...creepers. As many creepers as he can get.

Wait, what?

Creepers that he will then throw into the air toward the biplanes attacking IFV #2, if the grabbing is successful.

That is probably why the IFV getting gunned for wanted them drawn in this direction.

And where'd DC's dagger go?

That question is answered as it falls out of the sky right on top of the Basilisk, in all likelihood. Should it embed itself in the hull this time, another shockwave will ensue.

Explosions. Everywhere..

[Westside - Power Plant]

The problem with attacking this place is twofold.

One, DC definitely wanted to make sure this thing was protected when setting the place up. The building containing the reactor is reinforced, and your standard shimmering blue energy shield flares to life around it after the first bomb impacts the structure, rendering the rest of the bombs on this pass useless. The shield flickers slightly, though, showing it's not invincible. It's still up for now.

Two, the building is by no means unguarded, and no less than six EvSec troopers on the ground with laser cannons (yes, the very same type) fire up at the spacecraft attacking the plant. That could be painful.

[The Bushranger]

[Southside]



"Time to wrap this up."

DC raises a hand swathed in a dark red aura into the air, reaching out with telekinesis to try and grab...creepers. As many creepers as he can get.

Wait, what?

Creepers that he will then throw into the air toward the biplanes attacking IFV #2, if the grabbing is successful.

That is probably why the IFV getting gunned for wanted them drawn in this direction.

And so about a dozen creepers, maybe two, suddenly find themselves becoming Flying Creepers!

And they don't even need invisible bats as mounts!

Of course, when a creeper is confused, it resorts to default behavior.
And thus, when they approach the Very Nice Biplanes...

"SSSSSS!!"

Creeper Flak!

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar - Planning Room]

Celestel entered the room once again. This time Lord Ryhe were alone, only his two thrulls keeping him company. "Master, I think we have found AMEN. Our eyes in the sky have reported in some sort of underwater vehicle rising from the river. It's heading for the center of riverside. The magic most likely orginates from there even if we can't properly track it."

"Excellent, broadcast this information to the other factions. Just to be sure though, send a swarm of heads to it, we need to make sure it isn't an illusion or some sort of new distraction."

"Of course." Celestel replied with a bow. "Our eyes have also found the location of the disruptive ritual, the wisps appears to be originating from Southside."

"I see. Send a gargoyle there to communicate with them. We need to know more about what they're doing. As for this underwater vehicle, it's likely to be AMEN so I want every erath heading towards that location right now. The human forces must stay to keep everyone inside their homes however."

"Master, about that, our forces suffer, shall we say, morality issues. I have heard people speaking about paranoia and fear among the troops."

"Is the castle itself affected? Are the erath?"

"No, but in their human form-"

Ryhe rose his hand to silence her. "Then it's a non-issue. Just make sure the erath are ready to fight once we confirmed AMEN's presence."

"I will master. Anything else?"

"Make sure to prepare the castle to fire upon anything that enters our airspace unless we know it's an ally. The gargoyles and the heads won't be of much use in a air fight against those things so make sure they just serve as our eyes rather then join into any fights. It could be useful to have the gargoyles attacking AMEN from above, but until we know anything about their firepower, have them stay away from the center. Unlike the heads they aren't replaceable. Instead let them keep an eye on those strange portals, we still have no idea what they do yet after all." He lowered his hand. "But that's it for now. Just do what you're told my pet."

Celestel bowed and backed out of the room, the doors closing by themselves.

[Northside - General]

The earth vampires stops patrolling the area and instead starts to head towards the location where AMEN's submachine was seen, traveling quickly underneath the earth. The (mostly)human regiment of guards stay behind though to make sure people don't do anything crazy while everyone was fighting AMEN. They were the ones they were supposed to do all this for right? The civilians.

[Eastside - Streets]

Falcon flew down to greet an anxious Tarim. The fights in the skies made him all too aware that he hadn't helped riverside in any way so far. He was stuck on the ground without any way of attacking back. Hopefully that would change soon. "What did you see?"

The large eagle shook it's head. "Death, destruction and chaos. There are many more wings above then this one. Grey wings, black wings, small skulls of death bound by magic. They were all looking for something. There were fire-eagles flying to drop fire on the west of sides but they fired back."

That sounded ominous. "So what were those things looking for? Cut the dark speak, just tell me."

"This one couldn't see, but a group of skulls are heading for the center. Found what they were looking for perhaps?"

"Likely. Fly over there and have a look, but be careful."

"This one will." And then he was gone again, leaving Tarim to slowly head towards the same location. He didn't have anything better to do right now.

[Eastside - Hospital]

((OOC Note: This would originally take place after the A-wings had bombed the hospital but I changed it when the Alexandrian changed his post.))

"Think that bird creature saw us?" Michael asked, turning his large owl-like eyes to look at Cassandra.

She looked up from their cover near the hospital. "Hopefully not. I just don't understand why we're hiding though. We are helping the city right? Yet we're here dressed in civilian clothing as we were infiltrating it." The cultist said, gesturing at her jeans.

"We are, but some people simply don't understand some sacrifices have to be made. Those hunter-guys saw red when the grief demons were starting to kill their pets." He explained before taking another peek outside. His owl-eyes, granted to him by the spirit of black feathers made him a perfect lookout.

"Yeah, I guess. I do feel kinda worried about this one to be honest. This entire area feels... wrong. This isn't some lesser demons we're dealing with is it?"

"No. We wouldn't be here otherwise. But we do what we have to do."

Cassandra would normally have agreed, but even after spending years dealing with otherworldly entities, even letting some of them "bless" her, the feeling of sheer feeling of dread coming from the old hospital building made her hesitate. "Do we? We don't even know how powerful AMEN is and we're already dealing with a really powerful evil entity? That doesn't sit right with me."

Michael didn't reply as usual when he didn't want to argue something. Just typical. Now she had to sit here in silence while the others were dealing with whatever evil entity that inhabited this place. Then again, judging by her gut feeling, maybe boredom wasn't so bad compared to what was going on inside the hospital right now?

After another twenty minutes of silence Sekai suddenly head out the door. Alone. Her grey skin somehow more white then Cassandra ever remembered it being. She'd use the phrase "like she had seen a ghost" but considering how many times that really happened, it was likely something far worse. Even Michael looked shocked over her appearance.

"Where are the others? Kimmie? Ragul?" She asked.

Sekai shoot a glare at her, telling her everything she needed to know. Cassandra gasped, holding her hands over her mouth. It couldn't be.

"You can't be serious, what the hell happened in there?!"

Sekai didn't reply, she kept heading away from the hospital, never stopping. The way she moved, almost breaking into a jog at points told Cassandra it probably was wise to head after her. Despite wanting turn back to find out what happened getting as far away from this place as possible seemed to be the wisest choice. Michael didn't disagree.

Finally as they rounded a street corner into an empty alleyway Sekai sunk down into a corner, taking deep breaths like she just run a marathon. Cassandra had never seen their leader so shocked. Like she had been completely taken out of her element.

She sunk down next to her Michael staring at the cult leader in disbelief. "They're all dead? How the **** could you let this happen you hag?!" He shouted, Cassandra not really able to fully grasp the situation as fully as her colleague just yet. They had all been alive just a hour ago when they entered. How could they all be dead now?

"I didn't. I tried using every protection imaginable but this wasn't a summoning circle Michael, it was it's domain. Nothing could have protected them in here, nothing." She spat back, looking at him in cold rage. Cassandra noticing her hands were shaking. "They knew the risks and so did you." She paused as Michael slammed the nearest wall in anger and grief. "But... a deal was made. Their sacrifice was a... part of the payment." Sekai continued in a increasingly shaky voice.

Meanwhile Cassandra still couldn't find grief in her heart yet. It was just too much to grasp at the same time. Instead she looked at her leader. "What was the rest of the payment?"

The cult leader looked up at her, looking remarkably calm all of sudden. "Northside."

[Suncrest Manor]

((OOC note, this is taking place before the AMEN invasion.))

Actually, as Nadia and Eliseo enters the car, she can see that what on the outside looks like any other car looks very futuristic on the inside. Possibly reminding Nadia of the seats in a airplane rather than a car.
"Strap yourself in, there isn't any seats for children but you can hold the little guy right? This shouldn't take long." Seems Irena have been hiding something!

And sure enough, instead of driving, the car rises from the ground and takes to the skies once everyone is inside. The witch leans back in her seat, looking rather satisfied with herself. "Didn't think I would let us leave the city slowly did ya? Nope, we can afford to travel in style."

[Leaving Exbourne Manor]

((OOC note: This is taking place before the AMEN invasion.))

Astrana will lead Eadelain to the brick monument. "Here it is, does it make you recall anything? You're the one that written that text apparently." She gestures at the creepy graffiti on the bricks.



The hunters and the westside vampires will get a message from Celestel. [B]"A underwater vehicle have been sighted rising from the river and docking near the center of the city at [exact street]. We are sending forces to intercept it but we might need assistance."

[AMEN Sub]

As Ilpholin and the other AMEN members walk outside the submachine they can see that the skies all over northside are filled with gargoyles flying around. They do seem to be flying away from their position however.

But there appears to be other things in the skies as well, a swarm of small beings quickly approaching them. A closer look reveals them to look a lot like... purple fruits? Or more exactly, purple fruits shaped like deformed human heads. They do appear to have sharp black teeth though.

[Gullara]

((The posts in response to AMEN will, of course, be coming later when I have more time.))


[Suncrest Manor]

((OOC note, this is taking place before the AMEN invasion.))

Actually, as Nadia and Eliseo enters the car, she can see that what on the outside looks like any other car looks very futuristic on the inside. Possibly reminding Nadia of the seats in a airplane rather than a car.
"Strap yourself in, there isn't any seats for children but you can hold the little guy right? This shouldn't take long." Seems Irena have been hiding something!

And sure enough, instead of driving, the car rises from the ground and takes to the skies once everyone is inside. The witch leans back in her seat, looking rather satisfied with herself. "Didn't think I would let us leave the city slowly did ya? Nope, we can afford to travel in style."

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia looks pretty surprised about the interiour of the car. She hadn't expected that at all. "What kind of car is this?" She asks as she sits down with Eliseo. Her question is answered soon enough, though, and she can't help but grin at her fiancée despite the situation. "A flying car? Okay, that's pretty cool."

[Gullara]

[Southside/Westside Border]

When the gravity well goes off among the Enforcer lines, there's little those in the direct line of fire can do against such an attack. It's to their benefit that their forces are so spread out. None the less, it's still a damaging attack.

"I want to know who's alive and who's dead now. Get me radio contact with Corti and get a squad over to where that missile went off. We need any survivors rounded up as quickly as possible." Magro barks at his men. "Rest of you with me. We've got AMENites in a sub to take care of."

As for the rest of the Westside line, many back up and set about shifting further North, making sure they're out of the line of fire from Southside. A number remain, including five of the seven remaining laser cannons. They continue to fire on the biplanes, though the ship that bombed them will be given much more priority as soon as it's in a position to be fired at. Those on the ground will receive fire from the Enforcers with blaster rifles.

[Amen Sub / City Center]

AMEN won't get a clear exit from their sub. There are some Enforcers not far away, and they're taking shots at the sub and it's inhabitants. Their exit point does provide some cover, however.

That is, until an anti vehicle laser cannon gets pointed at the sub. It's wielded by one power armoured vampire, wielded easily with his enhanced strength. This will be the greatest threat to the departing AMENites.

All this fire is coming from a ways away, however, and it could suffer for that.

[Westside - Power Plant]

Contact will be made both here and the EI building if possible. There's one question. Does EI need help securing the power plant, or can Tenebras focus their attentions elsewhere?

[Westside - Portals]

When it's seen that the portals are appearing faster than they can be dealt with, the small measures to stop them cease. They don't seem to be doing much, so they can just be observed for now.

[Other Places in Westside]

"Don't you feel it. Oh gods, it's terrible." Estella Lobono kneels on the street, surrounded by the Enforcers that had been escorting her. None of them know what happened. One moment they were moving to their pickup point, and then the next thing she's dropped to the ground moaning about something. As if things weren't tense enough without this nonsense.

"Northside, Northside. It stirs." Estella rocks back and forth. She can't breathe. She's got to get this damn helmet off.

She struggles to pull off the headpiece of her envirosuit, but one of the Enforcers stops her. "We don't have time for this. We carry her." The same Enforcer tosses her over his shoulder and the group gets moving again.


In another part of Westside, a car is speeding toward the Enforcer HQ. It sqeals to a stop and its passengers get out. Most notable is the chief of the Enforcers, Durin Baenurden. The drow elf is decked out in his personal armour and armed tot he teeth. Next is Amone Donati, unarmed and wearing an envirosuit. Another two Enforcers accompany them.

"Get him suited up." Durin orders as soon as they step inside. The group heads into the armoury and grab some of the best equipment Tenebas has access to. The two Enforcers with them have strange devices attached to their armour. There's a window in them, and inside whirls a smokey darkness.

[Morty]

[Soutshsie/Eastside Border]

The rockets hit the decoys Roxanne drops and explode. As the spaceship moves out of the range of their weapons, the Hunters cease fire and reload, waiting for more targets to appear.

[Lost_Deep]

Southside-Ritual

The ritual guards will not attack any approaching gargoyle (having presumably done their research and knowing that Malchenar uses them) but the one in clockwork power armor does point at it, letting it know that he knows it's there. If it does land, he will immediately head toward it.

Leaving Exbourne Manor

Eadelain will see the graffiti, and tilt her head at it. She walks up to it, and traces it with her finger. The whole thing, all the way to the end.

She then leans forward into the wall, shuddering slightly.

She remembers. Just a little, but she wants to remember more. She can feel the darkness now, fighting to keep her memories away from her. But she fights back. She wants to know. She wants to know!

Her hands turn black, and she begins to cry ink tears. She's shaking, she's fighting.

She then says, barely a whisper, "Give them to me."

This darkness is apparently supposed to serve her. She wants it to give her back the memories, she knows they're in there, she KNOWS it has them. Give them to me. Give them to me!

She falls over, not looking well. She's shaking violently, her face is stained with black streaks. Gah.. her hair is leaking ink, too. Why is it doing that?

[Morty]

[AMEN Sub/City Center]

This player isn't terribly sure about the layout of the whole area, but if the Westside Enforcers are taking shots at AMEN, those in Eastside probably don't have a clear line of fire at them, for now at least. They do, however, take positions along the river bank. They appear to be carrying mostly small arms.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

"We will see," the Hunter says and sends a message to start assembling a team.

((Anyone with a Hunter PC is free to join either of the two scenes.))

[happyturtle]

AMEN sub

A Moff pops back in. "We've got heavy resistance. How about taking a back route?"

The Yellow Road

Who knows what might happen to the creepers? Perhaps they'll get eaten by eldritch gribblies. Perhaps they'll mutate and adapt to this world. Perhaps they'll open up a taco stand and flourish.

It's a mystery!

[Lost_Deep]

AMEN Sub/City Center

Standing with the more human hunters is a large beast in heavy armor. His weapons of choice, a large shotgun with a bayonet and a heavy assault rifle, are a bit bigger than those that the humans are using.

Markot Kragx, the krogan that joined the hunters, eyes the far shore. Part of him wishes he had a sniper rifle right now... well, he'll be patient.

[Slii Arhem]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

Shayan is transferred to Ramiro with all haste, but not before someone sets about trying to triangulate where the call is coming from. No doubt the information they get is less than useful.

"You have information about AMEN?" Ramiro asks when he answers the phone. Normally he's all for the niceties and being polite, but he gets right to the chase this time. There's no time to waste.

Westside - Enforcer HQ

"I have something better. A captured Enforcer in pristine condition held as a hostage, who can confirm I have not treated him poorly and was not responsible for any mistreatment or his capture, details of AMEN's plans as far as I was privy to them, and AMEN's entire stock of the cure to the plague they unleashed. In return for all of that, I would request amnesty from retribution for my part in Riverside's current troubles, and enough lab space to fit three specialized scientists, one of which is a mage. And of course, protection from retribution by AMEN members for giving up the cure. Of course, if you had further need of my services now that you've seen how effective they can be against you, neither I nor my two colleagues would be averse to job opportunities among your people, the details of which could be worked out separately from this deal. The cure is definitely enough to secure all of Westside from the plague, and it would be trivial for me to make more if you wished to sell it to your allies in the other quadrants for your own benefit. I've come to you first with this offer, because I understand you are somewhat more lenient in accepting people of less pristine backgrounds." Shayan can't help but spell it all out for Ramiro now that she's finally taken the last step in betraying AMEN. It's actually fairly liberating to stop speaking in veiled words and minding what she says at last.


It takes Blue a moment or two to stop, calm down, and respond. "Uh, sorry. Red is a creation built for war. It carries a lot of weaponry. Some...quite powerful weaponry. It is not often that Father deploys Red. Its presence suggests that AMEN has the potential, at least, to cause quite a lot of damage. I...am not very fond of Red. I can't shake the feeling that it enjoys killing. I don't think it's meant to, but...we were all an experiment. We are probably all a little flawed."

Blue is quite flawed itself, after all. By the tone in its voice, it's probably quite aware that it did not turn out quite right.

"Perhaps AMEN are idiots, I don't know. The plague has provoked some very drastic responses already. If AMEN alone holds the cure, then they may have a stronger grip on Riverside than you think. It's hard to say for sure. Blue's information is quite limited, after all. "...hmm. The territory we claimed is not that near the walls. Well, not particularly near. We took a small patch of land relatively close to Eastside, though not right on its borders. However there are not so many people vying for territory that we couldn't adjust our marked out area a little..."

The suggestion is fed through to the network, and Affidavit's response comes moments later. Pushing the boundaries of their area so it nicely borders Eastside and the wall would not be unreasonable.

*****

[Southside - Creations]

So on the orders of their master, the drones extend the marked out area so it borders Eastside and extends as far back as the Southside wall. It does not stretch right along the border between Southside and Eastside, perhaps a quarter of the distance at most. Nor does it stretch particularly far along the wall. It is still, all in all, a fairly small patch of land.

Wildside

"If they are the only ones with a cure, then others will either develop one or steal it from them somehow. It's not hard to imagine it happening. But it is of little consequence. On the topic of creations and their flaws... well, everything in existence must have flaws, if there was something perfect then there would be nothing to strive for. At least I've never seen any proof to the contrary." Even divine blood can be further refined into something more potent through her humble methods, which was the ultimate proof of that concept to her.

"So, when would you like me to extend what protection I can to this area you've claimed? I doubt it will be ready for any conflicts happening before the sun falls if you need it that soon, as plants need time to grow, but I can work swiftly if necessary."

[Gullara]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

There's a moment of delay before Ramiro responds. "Agreed. We will arrange further details when this crisis is over, but your terms are acceptable. The city is in a dangerous, chaotic state at the moment. We could arrange a pickup for you."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

"Well...yes. We are all flawed in some way. But steps on the way to perfection that Father seeks. Something we all seek, really. What better purpose can there be for us than to constantly strive to improve ourselves? However, the unique group of us created by that experiment are both a great step forward, and a step back. Beyond the limitations of our bodies, most of us have displayed...quirks of some sort. The conclusion we came to is that the creations used in the experiment that were transformed into us were in some way mentally affected by the transformation, leading to the quirks we now possess."

It was quite a sudden and dramatic transformation, after all.

But under more controlled conditions, perhaps...

Speaking of which, White is just about done with its inspection of the test subject. They'll be proceeding to the next stage shortly.

"The air battle in Southside is reaching its end, by the looks of things. It would seem AMEN's air forces will be defeated, though they have caused quite a bit of damage. However many of their pilots have survived and a second battle on the ground is developing as a result. Father does not think it'd be wise to spread your plants while all this is going on. It could easily be misinterpreted as an aggressive action. Best to wait until the current battle in Southside has reached its conclusion. If that means waiting until tomorrow, so be it."

[Hattish Thing]

[Not!Riverside Streets]

Lintha is his ticket to what exactly?

Javert/Kael can probably hear the distinct noise of a head slamming against a table on the other end of the line before Lintha picks up her phone again and responds.

"Oh, nothing important is happening. There's just a plague going around that's infecting everyone! Seriously, Javert, do you ever listen to the news? You need to get off of the streets asap. I'm at my house. You can stay here until this all blows over if you want."

"Oh, and if you see any animals along the way, don't pet them. Just run. Fast."

His ticket to some kind of power! He'll be Lord of Curator! Yeah....totally. >.>

Kael speaks to her quickly. What?! Plague, oh dear. Um...Alright, I will be there as soon as possible. How do you get there? He looks at a black corvette parked in front of a very large house. Alright, there's a car outside this house. I'll be there soon, give me directions? He steps into the vehicle and creates a key of shadow, which inserts itself into the key and the vehicle turns on.

[Zefir]

[Southside]


It's good that the biplanes and succubi ignore the robots. This allows Mia to complete her spell on the two robots. The robots merge together, creating a much bigger one. The new one got four legs and instead of the arms with the machine gun, there are now two big railguns. A loud noise appears as they start to turn around. The robot starts aiming at the remaining biplanes. This weapon seems to be made to shot down airplanes, but the accuraccy is low due to the high firing rate. Mia in her suit will rest for a while. MDM will continue to fire as well, still he needs time to recharge.

[AMEN Sub]

Well Zefir got his cube, which he tries toe drag/pull. This way it should give him some cover against the sudden fire.

[Eastside - Hunter Headquarters]

Jeu will be here, waiting for orders.

[BladeofObliviom]

[AMEN Sub]

Cyrus shrugs at the order. It's not what he would have chosen himself to do, given that he's a lot better at breaking things than protecting them, but he supposes that somebody needs to do it.

He strides out confidently as the nanobots breach the side of the Sub, and begins wantonly firing bolts of Blightning at the cloud of flying heads while cackling maniacally.

The anti-magic wisps soften the effects of his bolts marginally when they hit, but even they can't counter the magic! He's no conjurer of cheap tricks, after all: He's Cyrus Ahu! Archmage! Seventh Flame of the Arcane Order! Ringleader of the Rakdos! He's torched entire planes for giggles, and incinerated dragons alive! He survived three years of the worst tortures the Dimir could devise, and walked away intact! He's bargained with Demons and Devils alike, and came out on top!

The point being, it takes a whole lot more than a widely-spread magic-dampening effect to stop him or even to slow him down, really.

[FireFox]

[AMEN Sub]

Greg steps out of the hole in the sub and tries to look for the warehouse he's supposed to be securing while still keeping his head down. Then he sees the laser cannon being pointed in his direction. Hopefully the psychic's pyrokinesis can deflect the attack away from the sub. Otherwise, he'll scramble for better cover and hope he's lucky enough not to get hit.

[Slii Arhem]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

There's a moment of delay before Ramiro responds. "Agreed. We will arrange further details when this crisis is over, but your terms are acceptable. The city is in a dangerous, chaotic state at the moment. We could arrange a pickup for you."

Westside - Enforcer HQ

"If you have aerial craft available to you, or sea craft, I can remain where I am for the pick up, as I've acquired a sea vessel that I'm currently on board and using to hide from AMEN. If you don't have anything like that, I could likely come in by the river, but I would rather stop outside the city walls and unload there instead of risk running into the subs the other AMENites are using to invade."


[Wildside]

"Well...yes. We are all flawed in some way. But steps on the way to perfection that Father seeks. Something we all seek, really. What better purpose can there be for us than to constantly strive to improve ourselves? However, the unique group of us created by that experiment are both a great step forward, and a step back. Beyond the limitations of our bodies, most of us have displayed...quirks of some sort. The conclusion we came to is that the creations used in the experiment that were transformed into us were in some way mentally affected by the transformation, leading to the quirks we now possess."

It was quite a sudden and dramatic transformation, after all.

But under more controlled conditions, perhaps...

Speaking of which, White is just about done with its inspection of the test subject. They'll be proceeding to the next stage shortly.

"The air battle in Southside is reaching its end, by the looks of things. It would seem AMEN's air forces will be defeated, though they have caused quite a bit of damage. However many of their pilots have survived and a second battle on the ground is developing as a result. Father does not think it'd be wise to spread your plants while all this is going on. It could easily be misinterpreted as an aggressive action. Best to wait until the current battle in Southside has reached its conclusion. If that means waiting until tomorrow, so be it."

Wildside

"Actually, the ones I have in mind are rather non-threatening at first glance, but not having to begin growing them means I can work on my own needs for the time being. Would you like to explore the forest a while? I'm afraid what I have to do will leave me too occupied to talk unless I'm needed." She has to make absolutely sure that the consequences of Southside leaving won't reach her forest, while everyone is preoccupied with AMEN's conflict and not looking outwards.


AMEN Sub

It's roughly at this time that Ilpholin attempts to contact Shayan through the channel listed on the note Shayan provided. "Hello? Hello? This is Ilpholin. Where are you and what's your ETA?" Presume an Over is in there if you wish.

AMEN Sub Radio

"In an undisclosed location on the sea, and roughly never. I'm sorry Ilpholin, but I'm not coming back to AMEN. I wish I could, but I'd be killed in an unspecified but very nasty way if I did. I'm sure you'll understand self-preservation enough to only make the minimal effort necessary to kill me, I did enjoy working for you as much as I enjoyed anything lately."

[Shadowcaller]

Leaving Exbourne Manor

Eadelain will see the graffiti, and tilt her head at it. She walks up to it, and traces it with her finger. The whole thing, all the way to the end.

She then leans forward into the wall, shuddering slightly.

She remembers. Just a little, but she wants to remember more. She can feel the darkness now, fighting to keep her memories away from her. But she fights back. She wants to know. She wants to know!

Her hands turn black, and she begins to cry ink tears. She's shaking, she's fighting.

She then says, barely a whisper, "Give them to me."

This darkness is apparently supposed to serve her. She wants it to give her back the memories, she knows they're in there, she KNOWS it has them. Give them to me. Give them to me!

She falls over, not looking well. She's shaking violently, her face is stained with black streaks. Gah.. her hair is leaking ink, too. Why is it doing that?

[Inky Memories]

Astrana walks up to Eadelain and removes her own coat in an attempt to put it over the girls shoulders. Sure it would get inky but she could always buy a new one. Right now she just wanted to comfort the girl. She gives her shoulders a light squeeze, waiting for Eadelain to speak up. She would tell her when she was ready.

[Lost_Deep]

Inky Memories

Eadelain is shaking violently, and after a moment she begins to grow a bit, gaining a few years. She isn't too old, probably in her early teens at the most, but it is a sudden jump.

She begins to try and stand up, but that will probably take a bit if Astrana doesn't help her. She doesn't look well; she looks tired and maybe a little sick.

[Reinholdt]

[AMEN Radio - We All Live in a Yellow Submarine]

There's some silence before her response. Not much though, things need doing and happening things are occurring.
"You should have come to me first. Are you sending someone with the cure or do we need to pick it up?" Immediate issues first.

[AMEN Sub]

Dang that's a lot of heads. Sure they don't look very strong, but for all we know, they're the fireball throwing variety. Best to try and sweep them out of the way. "Any air forces not preoccupied make your way here and give us air support." Ilpholin says across the com. If there's any left.

And they're being fired upon already. Drats. Ilpholin had hoped the distraction would buy more time. Six seconds, ten seconds, a minute, three seconds. Whatever a round is nowadays. Fortunately she hasn't personally left the sub yet.

She scoops up the crate as the nanobots return and considers Moff's proposal. On one hand, she really doesn't like the idea of the Yellow Road. Not to mention *GROANCREAKWHOOOSH*
On the other hand, an anti-vehicular weapon is attacking the sub. Now it's pretty sturdy in and of itself, but it takes a fair bit of damage anyways and can't suffer another hit like that. After checking, Greg's pyrokinesis doesn't work on the laser.

Ilpholin stumbles about on her feet, sparks flying randomly. "Yes. Back door now." She tells Moff.
"Fall back in! Henchmen keep them busy!" She shouts to anyone (Mostly Greg, Zefir, and Cyrus) who can hear over this din. She won't live down relying on Moff to save AMEN, but now's not the time for pride. That kind anyways.

*****

http://zecarioca.net/Imagens2010/AMEMSoldier.png

Whee! These guys.
Let's see. The few that climbed out the top are actually fairly lucky. I mean, besides that one blast that sent a pair tumbling into the river. The other three fire disorganized, one up in the air, one at the vamps to the west, and one at the Hunters to the East though those seem to be the farthest and least likely to get hit.

The rest are jumping out of the sub and concentrating fire on the things firing back. Several prove quite capable of absorbing shots on their own. In the die from it sort of way. But at least they give the PCs a reasonable excuse for their waltzing about. Briefly, as I assure you it won't last. Some of the smarter ones note that the flying heads of teeth should probably not be allowed to chomp on their face and fire at those ahead of time. The really smart ones let their buddies do the shooting and just run for cover. But those are few.

[happyturtle]

AMEN sub

"I've scouted an alley a bit away from all the action. Everyone. Line up, put a hand on the shoulder in front of you, and close your eyes. Most of you can probably handle what you'll see in there, but if anyone's eyeballs explode, you'll just become a liability." Moff says.

Once there's a rough semblance of people complying, Moff rips open the portal and leads the congo line in. The feel under their feet is like walking on flesh. The scent is of spices that can't quite be identified but do not smell pleasant. And the sounds... well, it's a shame that the AMENites aren't equipped with earlids as well as eyelids. It isn't anything as wholesome as screams of terror. It's sounds of squelching and snatches of almost speech and almost songs. There's a very strong feeling of trespassing somewhere that they shouldn't be, and that if they get caught there, they will suffer far more than if they'd simply remained to be blown up in their sub.

The journey lasts for hours. Days. Aeons. Time means nothing here. There aren't even breaths or heartbeats to count.

They may begin to forget the existence of a material world when its existence is suddenly thrust about them with the feel of feet on asphalt, the sounds of warfare in the distance, the smell of garbage and river and rotting fish. "You can open your eyes now," Moff says.

The AMENites who survived the journey will find themselves in an empty alley a quarter mile away from the sub, about one heartbeat after they left.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

Blue nods, "Yes, I suppose I'll walk around for a little while. I...assume the forest isn't likely to attack me if I accidentally step on something? I'll try and be careful, but...well...I am quite heavy compared to a human or something similar."

If a small rodent or the like runs beneath Blue's feet, it's gonna get squished.

"Oh, um, is there some easy way I can contact you? Just in case something major happens in Riverside..."

[Slii Arhem]

[AMEN Radio - We All Live in a Yellow Submarine]

There's some silence before her response. Not much though, things need doing and happening things are occurring.
"You should have come to me first. Are you sending someone with the cure or do we need to pick it up?" Immediate issues first.


AMEN Sub Radio - (A Yellow Submarine, A Yellow Submarine)

"Would you have believed me if I had said that I had a vision of my own death if I stayed? If so, I apologize, but I felt I couldn't risk my life on you being reasonable. As for the cure, it's my insurance. If I let you come get it I would have nothing to buy my freedom with someone else, and you might take the opportunity to try and bring me back unwillingly, which is as good as signing my death warrant. I'm sorry, I did hold it off as long as I could, but in the end I didn't see any other way."


[Wildside]

Blue nods, "Yes, I suppose I'll walk around for a little while. I...assume the forest isn't likely to attack me if I accidentally step on something? I'll try and be careful, but...well...I am quite heavy compared to a human or something similar."

If a small rodent or the like runs beneath Blue's feet, it's gonna get squished.

"Oh, um, is there some easy way I can contact you? Just in case something major happens in Riverside..."

Wildside

"The rule of this forest is those that can survive will. If you attack anything maliciously for reasons other than furthering your own survival, I will be displeased. Careless mistakes happen though, and the smaller animals of the forest are much hardier than you would think." The saber-squirrels, for instance. They don't look like much, but Lenai has taken to calling them tree-piranha after watching them strip several larger animals to the bone.

"Knock thrice on any tree if you need me. I'll know where you are by the vibrations of your feet, and deliberate knocking will let me know you need something. I might not come immediately, but I will come."

[Gullara]

Westside - Enforcer HQ

"If you have aerial craft available to you, or sea craft, I can remain where I am for the pick up, as I've acquired a sea vessel that I'm currently on board and using to hide from AMEN. If you don't have anything like that, I could likely come in by the river, but I would rather stop outside the city walls and unload there instead of risk running into the subs the other AMENites are using to invade."

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

"We do not have any such vehicles, so I will arrange for a squad of my Enforcers to escort you here from outside the city. I would prefer if the meeting place was some ways out of the city, for the very reasons you stated. Is that acceptable?" No doubt she and Ramiro can work out the exact meeting place without it being specifically played out.

[Shadowcaller]

Inky Memories

Eadelain is shaking violently, and after a moment she begins to grow a bit, gaining a few years. She isn't too old, probably in her early teens at the most, but it is a sudden jump.

She begins to try and stand up, but that will probably take a bit if Astrana doesn't help her. She doesn't look well; she looks tired and maybe a little sick.

Inky Memories

Huh, thought not entirely unexpected. Astrana had wondered where that "really intelligent" bit came from. Not that it really made her much less of a wonder child though.

She helps Eadelain up from her seat and will slowly help her sit down at a nearby bench. After all that she really looked like she needed a rest. "Do you need anything? Water? Food?" She asks gently.

[Lost_Deep]

Inky Memories

"I don't know... either might be nice. I think what I really need is a rest."

Eadelain is very sad... about something... presumably her memories.

[Morty]

[AMEN Sub/City Centre]

Some of the Hunters, those with longer-range weapons, begin to fire at the henchmen. Some of the henchmen's bullets also hit them for varying degrees of injury. If they noticed AMEN's escape through the Yellow Road, they do not show it.

[Shadowcaller]

Inky Memories

"Let's go back to the manor then. You have a nice warm bed there you can rest up in. I will be here for you if you need anything." Astrana says before attempting to help Eadelain up.

[Lost_Deep]

Inky Memories

"We have to pack to leave, remember?" Eadelain doesn't think Astrana forgot... it's more that Eadelain isn't going to let this pull her friends into danger.

[Shadowcaller]

Inky Memories

"I can't leave right now Eadelain. It's something I have to take care of first." More like, waiting for Valente to get his name cleared. "Besides, I already have most of my things packed. You can ask Cynthia to pack yours while you rest." Then she could rest in the car, or whatever form of transportation they use to get to Gul-thadar.

[Earl of Purple]

AMEN Sub

Dam'Bul will accompany the Moffs and everybody else through the Yellow Road. He keeps his eyes closed; whilst he's certain that he can survive seeing whatever it is that's out there, he's not so certain about his host. By the time he's left, there's a trickle of blood slowly leaking from his left ear.

[Lost_Deep]

Inky Memories

Eadelain will nod, but not say more. Presumably she's ready to go back to the manor now.

[Lord Magtok]

AMEN Sub => Yellow Road => Somewhere Else

Magtok manages to escape with the others, which feels like nothing short of a miracle. Dear gods, why would the Moffs ever use anything as completely awful as this? What is wrong with them?!

"Man, what is DC even doing here? This doesn't have anything to do with him, and killing me was just rude."

Uh-oh, looks like Magtok's going to be holding a grudge about that. Best watch yourself, EI, the cyborg doesn't shed grudges easily.

[BladeofObliviom]

AMEN Sub => Yellow Road => Somewhere Else

Hearing the call, Cyrus retreats as ordered, though he still flings a number of bolts around as he backs up. He's remarkably quiet and calm on the Yellow Road itself, too.

After they leave, though...

"Well, that was deeply uncomfortable. Next time, I'm just going to teleport the normal way. Much better."

[FireFox]

AMEN Sub => Yellow Road => Somewhere Else

Greg scrambles back into the sub and is quick to step into the Yellow Road. Anywhere is better than being shot at here, right? Once they finally make it into the alley, he falls to his knees and retches. Nope. Nope nope nope.

[Zefir]

AMEN Sub => Yellow Road => Somewhere Else

Well, due to the fact, that the boss called for this way, Zefir will follow as well. Just a question in case, can he take the box with him or not?

[The Alexandrian]

[Southside - Metal Gear!]

Well, it's kinda like a metal gear...sorta!

Killing people! DC does what we're all thinking!

This time, the dagger does successfully lodge itself in the Basilisk Droid's heavy armor. It proceeds to channel energy and...

Boom! That's quite a spectacular explosion indeed! On the dagger's part, that is.

While the Basilisk has sustained heavy damage, one of its legs being torn off and flying off gracefully into the distance like a leg-shaped swan failing to transport an oil tanker through the skies above, armor plating being blown sky high and scattered here and there with appropriate amounts of accompanying shrapnel of varying velocities, dented, and cracked, and the shockwave cannons mounted on the nose of the giant mechanical beast smashing open and malfunctioning with zaps of energy for a single moment before all of the energy of the battered husk of a war machine drains away and dissipates, it miraculously hasn't blown up completely. In fact, some of it is intact (support structure-wise), if heavily damaged and offline.

Not a nanosecond elapses before a metallic orb launches out of the top of the death machine and attempts to rocket away to another sector of Riverside. The retreating AMENite pilot aboard the orb knows full well that this maneuver probably wouldn't work, what with DC being a dangerous psycho psion and all, but he has a devious plan for escaping capture/death and surviving against all odds! He's a liver! A liver, I tell you! His orb, first of all, is designed to act as exclusively in-flight armor, disintegrating femtoseconds after it loses its momentum. Second, he left a surprise on the ground for DC to deal with! It's a distraction within a distraction. Surreal, isn't it!

No doubt DC's attention will be ensnared by this escape pod's flight as it thrusts away, but when the Basilisk Droid, which seemingly was not functional anymore, suddenly roars back to life after feigning death, its energy systems restarting and most of its energy being routed to weapons, DC will probably realize that he has more pressing problems to deal with. It is firing everything it has got at DC and trying to close the distance between itself and him. It is unloading its missiles, auto-lasers, and pulse cannons in DC's general direction (though its targeting system is malfunctioning, so a number of projectiles are almost guaranteed not to hit their mark), even if the explosions of the missiles are causing it to damage itself. The loyal, wounded, and cornered mechanical beast seems hellbent on inflicting as much damage as it can possibly dish out to DC before it dies, which is only a matter of time. The only question that remains is of how much damage can it pump out before someone puts it down permanently. A jolt of electricity zaps across its armor as a chemical fire ignites within its back forearm. The machine trudges forward in heavy, unsteady, massively agonizing lurches, determined to fight its enemy to the bitter end and drag him to his doom with it if it can! It probably can't. It's on it's last leg *Badumtish!*! But, seriously, it will violently explode if it takes even light damage from anything.

-------
[Westside - EI's Power Plant]

Assuming that the firing of the EvSec troopers is coordinated so that they all fire at approximately the same time, they score two (or three, your choice) additional hits against the spacefighter's shields, though these two beams that hit their mark likely sling around and end up hitting the shielding of the power plant as they do so. While the operator of the spacefighter does hear Ilpholin's command to regroup and support the AMENite ground teams, she cannot comply with them as her FTL unit needs a little more time to recharge before she can jump to lightspeed again. She instead attempts to dodge three-four of the lasers with a barrel roll and maneuver her craft toward the ground in a downward spiral so that it ends up hovering feet above it, the gravitronic shielding kicking up dust and debris as she attempts to blast the EI troopers with her ship's laser turrets' sustained fire mode and follow that up by ramming them (likely catapulting those her shields collide with upward spinning into the sky if that is possible) before she pulls up at the last possible second before crashing into the power plants shields so that her ship gains altitude right on top of 'em (if she has the time units in reserve to do so). Now if EI's soldiers fire their laser cannons at her ship, they might run the risk of damaging the shielding of the structure they have been assigned to defend with their lives. It's a cunning, dishonorable tactic daring the guards to turn their weapons on what's their first priority to defend, eh?

-------
[AMEN Sub -to- Yellow Brick Road -to- Empty Alleyway]

WHEEEEE!!! :smallbiggrin:

Clarissa was probably one of the only AMENites who thoroughly enjoyed that short/long journey through the realm/plane/domain of the Yellow Brick Road! And she didn't just enjoy it! She loved it! It reminded her of home! The whispers of insanity. The stench. The squishy flesh-like substance under her feet. Y'know, she kinda misses that place... Being able to walk the streets where everyone treated you as an equal as all of you were monsters to some extent was nice.

But now isn't the time for reminiscing about the past, now is the time to shape the future in their own image! Clarissa shall not tarry. Instead, she will attempt to scout out the street/streets the alleyway leads into, searching for signs of enemy activity!

-------
[Hotel]

Oooo. Okay, now that's a difficult question for Sylvia to answer. How does she describe a turkey? Words were never her strong suit.

"A turkey isss a...a..."

"Well, it'sss an animal. It'sss like a big, fat bird that makesss thisss sssound."

Sylvia does her best turkey impression!

"Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!"

It isn't very good.

"We can eat one for lunch if you want!"

-------
[Not!Riverside Streets]

Being the lord of a dead org makes one about as powerful as the king of the dodo birds. :smalltongue:

"..."

"Javert, are you hotwiring someone's car?"

Lintha questions. Judging by her tone, she doesn't disagree with this decision morally, but she does disagree with it from a safety standpoint.

"You can't drive and talk on your cell phone at the same time, Javert! It's dangerous! You'll crash! Just use a GPS or something! You know where I live!"

Javert could know where she lives, in any case. Maybe her address is stored on his phone somewhere? If he still doesn't know where she lives, she'll tell him, but she'll be somewhat irritated about having to do so. He shouldn't worry about that, though. She's just stressed out about everything that's going on (but with good reason)!

"Aaaand AMEN is invading the city. That's just great." :smallannoyed:

[Earl of Purple]

Southside

IFV #1 will find that the succubi are as graceful with their wings as they were with aircraft and most manage to dodge in various directions. One gets hit and splattered, however, dissolving into a slightly-acidic mush that quickly evaporates into Abyssal essence and returning to its home plane. As they dodge, they'll grab anything that seems grab-able- pipes, gun barrels, door handles, etc, and hold on so they can work on finding a way in to hijack the machine.

The crashing biplane misses its target, it seems. Regretable, but hardly unexpected. The biplane's crew fly towards the nearest roof, seeking cover away from the ground.

The creepers are unexpected, and destroy the first three biplanes. The last two are saved only because they saw what happened to their companions which did not dodge, and are taking advantage of their surprising aerial agility to dodge creepers. They try to shoot as many as possible before they hit, though I don't know if that causes them to explode. They are too tied up to do much else at the moment.

The creepers also take out two succubi- one, a rear gunner, was struck by a creeper as she escaped the wrecked vehicle, the other was the pilot of a plane hit at the base of a wing, where she was too close to avoid the blast.

Mia's anti-aircraft railgun manages to take out the penultimate biplane- it was too busy dodging creepers to take other threats into account and flew into the course of fire.

The last biplane is keeping as far away from the borders as it can, and will try to lose the creepers by flying low, along roads, away from the IFVs. It's risky, as it may stumble upon some other group and it's low enough that there's a chance of hitting it with a standard rifle, but it's hoping that if DC can't see it the creepers can't follow. It will try shooting any movement in front of it as it races along.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Wildside]

"Okay, that's reasonable." Blue shrugs and decides to start a'wandering, wondering just how hardy lil' creatures can be.

Being stomped by something heavy and metal would usually result in their spine snapping immediately.

But assuming they don't get underfoot, they'll be fine!

Does also leave Blue faintly concerned that if they're hardy enough to survive being stepped on, they might try and attack it or something. Hopefully not. That'd be...awkward.

[The Bushranger]

[Creeper Flak]

Creepers who are shot don't explode. Oddly, however, small sacks of gunpowder start plummeting out of the sky from where the slain creepers had been...

[AMEN Sub]

Becky nods, sticking close to Ilpholin's side, and keeping a sharp eye out...

...and then suddenly, gribblies.

...huh. Where'd she get that dagger from?
She decides it's best to stay between Ilpholin and the threat; it seems she's willing to sacrifice herself for the nymphdrowdemonother woman.

Is it selflessness? Loyalty? Mind wibbly-wobbly from being her demonspawn?
Either way, she stumbles back, ready to open shadowspace windows at any moment to try and suck in attacks, and hav them emerge from the shadowy realm back at their attackers.

[Slii Arhem]

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]

"We do not have any such vehicles, so I will arrange for a squad of my Enforcers to escort you here from outside the city. I would prefer if the meeting place was some ways out of the city, for the very reasons you stated. Is that acceptable?" No doubt she and Ramiro can work out the exact meeting place without it being specifically played out.

Westsidge - Enforcer HQ

"It is. Say about 50 Standard Nexus Leagues upriver from the city, if you fire a flare of sorts into the air and wait, I'll raise the submarine. If you don't arrive, I'll have to move on before the day is over, but I'll leave this line open for further contact later if such a thing happens." Speaking of which, the data on the phone trace should be coming in now, somewhat muddled by the fact that the phone on the other end is deep underwater. It appears to be pretty far off any maps, up in a high northern sea.

[Shadowcaller]

[Malechenar - Planning Room]

Celestel was starting to get tried wandering back and forth the planning room and every other place she needed to be at. This dress of hers wasn't exactly making it easier either, it was hardly made for combat or any other vaguely physical activity. Yet the masters insisted on her wearing it like her appearance were more important than the duties she performed around her.

She paused for breath as she once again reached the door. At least she was getting some exercise, but this was really killing her. Were really all the remaining carriers busy elsewhere? But she couldn't pause for long, she shoot such thoughts to the side and opened the door, entering the planning room once again.

This time Lord Ryhe were surrounded by heads of one of the wirath with his palm firmly pressed against one of the heads ear. She didn't know what wirath though as she didn't recognize any of the heads. As she closed the door behind her, he turned to her however. "Ah, my pet. Do you have some news for me?"

"Yes, as you probably know by now, AMEN is escaping somewhere. Their minions are covering their escape." Now her visit felt rather useless if he already was watching everything the heads were seeing live through that mindlink.

"Indeed. Using one of those portals, it's useless to pursue them right now We'll just our allies deal with whatever remains, we need to focus on other things. Now they wouldn't be retreating as if the portals worked as such distances, why use a sub to invade the city and not simply teleport here? So I suspect that there might be some sort of limit in how they can be used. Distance perhaps? In any case AMEN most likely choose to get as close to their intended goal as possible before they revealed themselves like that. That's why they likely used the portal to get somewhere nearby." The shadow vampire argued. "Does that make sense my pet?"

"Yes master. It does."

"Hmph, you aren't talking to Harold right now. I don't want a 'yes', I want your opinion. I need your insight. Why do you think I'm keeping you around?"

"But... I do agree with you master." She wasn't sure what else to say. It did make a lot of sense.

"Good enough. So does Lihana." He moved his free hand to touch one of the other heads, causing all of them to suddenly turn to face Celestel with a grin plastered on their deformed faces. "I do. My eyes see a lot of portals all over the city but none of them have AMENites coming out of them though."

"Yes, either it takes time to travel between them or they are emerging from a portal we haven't set eyes on. New portals are opening as we speak, correct?"

The heads all nodded. "Yes, all mysterious, I have been ordered not to approach."

The shadow vampire nodded in turn, Celestel starting to feel left out of this conversation. Maybe she could be of more use somewhere else?

"Still, it's likely nearby which is why want all the erath, gargoyles and heads to spread out into a half circle centered towards northside from the river to scout for AMEN. If they went into our quarters, we simply must find them." Ah, that was something she could handle.

"I will tell the beastmasters that master, but what will they do once they find them?" The heads fell silent, as she understood it, even talking was a effort once you controlled so many entities at once so it was no surprise Lihana didn't talk unless ordered to right now. There must be hundreds of her heads flying around in the city at the moment.

"Stay away, just observe them. Let the erath and our allied forces deal with them once we've found them out. Meanwhile I like you to order our cultists to attempt to trace the portal energy signatures over the city. If we somehow could translate that into a map we could keep a check of where these portals are so we know just where AMEN might appear if they decide to use the portals again."

"As you wish." She said and was about to made her farewells when she remembered something. "Ah, one more thing. There seems to be two lone civilians running across northside, breaking curfew. They don't seem to be related to AMEN but you can never know and they might be diseased."

Ryhe just waved dismissively at this information however. "Ignore them, just focus all your attention on AMEN and let the guards remain where they are. I'll make sure we won't lose these two civilians."

"Very well master. I shall take my leave then unless there is something else." As her master didn't reply Celestel bowed and headed out again. Hopefully those AMEN fools wouldn't last long, she needed a long hot bath after all this running...

[AMEN Sub]

The heads are quite easy to dispatch for Cyrus, but it looks like they haven't come here to fight at all. Instead their efforts are into dodging him and the henchmen's fire. Merely trying to observe what AMEN is doing. Once it becomes clear they are retreating they start to retreat as well, letting the hunters and vampires deal with the remaining minions.

[Northside General]

The earth vampies, gargoyles and heads divide into teams, all flying in a half circle centered towards northside from the river to scout for AMEN. Their numbers and their leverage position should provide them a good chance of spotting AMEN as they move further and further away from the sub.
If not the gargoyles and the heads can spot them, perhaps the earth vampires can as they use their earth sense to track anything that moves above. There was a reason the human regiment wasn't sent here, without their presence it will become easier to track anyone hiding in northside. They are simply looking for footsteps where they aren't supposed to be any.

[Northside Streets]

"So you're saying we got to help the creature that just murdered our friends by giving it northside? Are you out of your mind?!" Michael's words still echoed within Cassandra's mind as she hurried down the now empty streets. The whole city would feel like a ghost town if not for the heads and gargoyles flying overhead. All looking for something.

She wasn't sure why they ignored her but she suspected they had special orders to ignore whatever secret operation she was involved in. Michael had already left so it was just her and Sekai now. All the others were dead and now they were supposed to help the creature that murdered them.

If she had just trusted her original gut-feeling she wouldn't be in this mess, but it was too late now. If she didn't do this her friends would have died for nothing and AMEN would rule this city with an iron fist. Yes, because that would be so much worse than Malechenar ruling northside with the help of a elder demon, right?

Malechenar is better than AMEN and they have a plan, they're trying to protect people. Not kill them with plagues, and it's just a part of the city, not the entire city.

She looked up and noticed northside hospital in the distance. The building had been evacuated already which made things much easier. As far as defiling demonic rituals went at the very least. The ritual itself was the least of her troubles though, it was what would come after it that really worried her. Would she ever be able to live with herself after this?

Southside-Ritual

A rider gets off the gargoyle and slowly approaches the guards with her hands raised, palms showing. "I'm an emissary from Malechenar, the flying castle over northside. As I understand it, you're trying to help the city against AMEN. We like to aid those efforts, it's our city as well after all." She claims.

Somewhere where AMEN is

Someone is trying to get a reading from the energy signals of the portals. Trying to pinpoint the location of every portal within the city and where new portals appear.

Clarisa likely won't see any troop movement on the streets but there are a lot of gargoyles and heads flying around overhead...

[Hattish Thing]

[Not!Riverside Streets]

Being the lord of a dead org makes one about as powerful as the king of the dodo birds. :smalltongue:

"..."

"Javert, are you hotwiring someone's car?"

Lintha questions. Judging by her tone, she doesn't disagree with this decision morally, but she does disagree with it from a safety standpoint.

"You can't drive and talk on your cell phone at the same time, Javert! It's dangerous! You'll crash! Just use a GPS or something! You know where I live!"

Javert could know where she lives, in any case. Maybe her address is stored on his phone somewhere? If he still doesn't know where she lives, she'll tell him, but she'll be somewhat irritated about having to do so. He shouldn't worry about that, though. She's just stressed out about everything that's going on (but with good reason)!

"Aaaand AMEN is invading the city. That's just great." :smallannoyed:

Javert sits in his new vehicle and looks around for a bit. Wonderful ride. Anyway, he does indeed have her address, and a GPS at the ready! Well, Kael just want to be the king of something! Hotwiring? Er...Possibly. Technically yes.

I can drive, and call yes. I have a wooonderful thing called speakerphone. Anyway, I'll be there in about twenty minutes or so. AMEN is invading?! What the hell is going on? This is not supposed to be happening. He starts the car and grins at the purr of the vehicles engine. I might just keep this car...

He begins driving way over the speed limit, getting away from the sounds of bombs in Southside. Unfortunately, right as he's driving, there's a nasty bump and a small rabbit is crushed under the wheels. He moves on unphased, pulling out a cigarette, sticking it in his mouth, and turning on the radio to "Putting on the Ritz", that old Taco song. His cigarette lights spontaneously and he's on the way to Lintha's house.

Should we just time shift to wherever Lintha is?

[Darkcomet]

[Southside - Metal Gear!]

Well, it's kinda like a metal gear...sorta!

Killing people! DC does what we're all thinking!

This time, the dagger does successfully lodge itself in the Basilisk Droid's heavy armor. It proceeds to channel energy and...

Boom! That's quite a spectacular explosion indeed! On the dagger's part, that is.

While the Basilisk has sustained heavy damage, one of its legs being torn off and flying off gracefully into the distance like a leg-shaped swan failing to transport an oil tanker through the skies above, armor plating being blown sky high and scattered here and there with appropriate amounts of accompanying shrapnel of varying velocities, dented, and cracked, and the shockwave cannons mounted on the nose of the giant mechanical beast smashing open and malfunctioning with zaps of energy for a single moment before all of the energy of the battered husk of a war machine drains away and dissipates, it miraculously hasn't blown up completely. In fact, some of it is intact (support structure-wise), if heavily damaged and offline.

Not a nanosecond elapses before a metallic orb launches out of the top of the death machine and attempts to rocket away to another sector of Riverside. The retreating AMENite pilot aboard the orb knows full well that this maneuver probably wouldn't work, what with DC being a dangerous psycho psion and all, but he has a devious plan for escaping capture/death and surviving against all odds! He's a liver! A liver, I tell you! His orb, first of all, is designed to act as exclusively in-flight armor, disintegrating femtoseconds after it loses its momentum. Second, he left a surprise on the ground for DC to deal with! It's a distraction within a distraction. Surreal, isn't it!

No doubt DC's attention will be ensnared by this escape pod's flight as it thrusts away, but when the Basilisk Droid, which seemingly was not functional anymore, suddenly roars back to life after feigning death, its energy systems restarting and most of its energy being routed to weapons, DC will probably realize that he has more pressing problems to deal with. It is firing everything it has got at DC and trying to close the distance between itself and him. It is unloading its missiles, auto-lasers, and pulse cannons in DC's general direction (though its targeting system is malfunctioning, so a number of projectiles are almost guaranteed not to hit their mark), even if the explosions of the missiles are causing it to damage itself. The loyal, wounded, and cornered mechanical beast seems hellbent on inflicting as much damage as it can possibly dish out to DC before it dies, which is only a matter of time. The only question that remains is of how much damage can it pump out before someone puts it down permanently. A jolt of electricity zaps across its armor as a chemical fire ignites within its back forearm. The machine trudges forward in heavy, unsteady, massively agonizing lurches, determined to fight its enemy to the bitter end and drag him to his doom with it if it can! It probably can't. It's on it's last leg *Badumtish!*! But, seriously, it will violently explode if it takes even light damage from anything.

-------
[Westside - EI's Power Plant]

Assuming that the firing of the EvSec troopers is coordinated so that they all fire at approximately the same time, they score two (or three, your choice) additional hits against the spacefighter's shields, though these two beams that hit their mark likely sling around and end up hitting the shielding of the power plant as they do so. While the operator of the spacefighter does hear Ilpholin's command to regroup and support the AMENite ground teams, she cannot comply with them as her FTL unit needs a little more time to recharge before she can jump to lightspeed again. She instead attempts to dodge three-four of the lasers with a barrel roll and maneuver her craft toward the ground in a downward spiral so that it ends up hovering feet above it, the gravitronic shielding kicking up dust and debris as she attempts to blast the EI troopers with her ship's laser turrets' sustained fire mode and follow that up by ramming them (likely catapulting those her shields collide with upward spinning into the sky if that is possible) before she pulls up at the last possible second before crashing into the power plants shields so that her ship gains altitude right on top of 'em (if she has the time units in reserve to do so). Now if EI's soldiers fire their laser cannons at her ship, they might run the risk of damaging the shielding of the structure they have been assigned to defend with their lives. It's a cunning, dishonorable tactic daring the guards to turn their weapons on what's their first priority to defend, eh?


Southside

IFV #1 will find that the succubi are as graceful with their wings as they were with aircraft and most manage to dodge in various directions. One gets hit and splattered, however, dissolving into a slightly-acidic mush that quickly evaporates into Abyssal essence and returning to its home plane. As they dodge, they'll grab anything that seems grab-able- pipes, gun barrels, door handles, etc, and hold on so they can work on finding a way in to hijack the machine.

The crashing biplane misses its target, it seems. Regretable, but hardly unexpected. The biplane's crew fly towards the nearest roof, seeking cover away from the ground.

The creepers are unexpected, and destroy the first three biplanes. The last two are saved only because they saw what happened to their companions which did not dodge, and are taking advantage of their surprising aerial agility to dodge creepers. They try to shoot as many as possible before they hit, though I don't know if that causes them to explode. They are too tied up to do much else at the moment.

The creepers also take out two succubi- one, a rear gunner, was struck by a creeper as she escaped the wrecked vehicle, the other was the pilot of a plane hit at the base of a wing, where she was too close to avoid the blast.

Mia's anti-aircraft railgun manages to take out the penultimate biplane- it was too busy dodging creepers to take other threats into account and flew into the course of fire.

The last biplane is keeping as far away from the borders as it can, and will try to lose the creepers by flying low, along roads, away from the IFVs. It's risky, as it may stumble upon some other group and it's low enough that there's a chance of hitting it with a standard rifle, but it's hoping that if DC can't see it the creepers can't follow. It will try shooting any movement in front of it as it races along.

[Southside - DC]

As it happens, distracting the psychic whose specialty is basically wanton destruction who happens to be in a place where wanton destruction will not cause any meaningful collateral damage turns out to be a really good idea.

DC knows that even with his own ability to project forcefields, a barrage of vehicular weaponry like that is not something he can survive on his own if he stays put, thus why he was using that shield pack in the first place. So he is indeed very much distracted by the Basilisk War Droid reactivating and going berserk in his general direction, which also happens to spare the final biplane any further creeper bombardment.

The Basilisk is helping! Yaaay.

A translucent red forcefield flares to life around the psychic as he once again takes to the skies, even glancing hits from that kind of weaponry making it a fleeting defense alone. Had he tried to hold his ground, DC would be dead right now.

Instead, as that reddish ball of forcefield soars into the air, the man within summons something that has not been seen in his use for a very long time. Something that was once his own signature weapon, despite that fact. That weapon?

Is a personal ion cannon. Yes, that kind of personal ion cannon. This is a weapon of the same kind (probably not the exact same one, DC's cannons have a tendency to explode for some reason) that once felled an insane psychic dragon via a shot to the head that ended in head-explosion, and that thing wasn't even the ideal kind of target! (DC thought it was pretty cool at the time. That actually happened IC, by the way.)

The Basilisk, however? Is. Because, again, it is the very same kind of ion cannon from the very same kind of place the Basilisk comes from.

DC can't keep his forcefield up and make another psychokinetic-shockwave attack with the dagger again at the same time, so instead he leaves that weapon to float about and fires at the explosion-wracked Basilisk War Droid, briefly dropping his forcefield to do so. THOOM. The blast is aimed at, well, the spot left most exposed by the daggersplosion.

He's probably going to remember why he liked this gun so much before after this. He's probably also going to beeline for the power plant after he's done being distracted, but now is not that time.

[Southside - EvSec]

IFV #1 is being swarmed by succubi! It boosts about in an effort to at least force them to hold on tight instead of get into it, but they can certainly get a hold on it now, considering it, you know, charged into them.

The troops on the ground continue fleeing the demonic biplane pilot swarm. They do not get paid to fight demons.

IFV #2, however, is suddenly freed up since DC no longer needs that trick, and since the last remaining biplane is busy running after the creeper stunt. Meaning, it immediately turns and heads closer to IFV #1, its blaster turret opening up on the poor swarmed thing and trying to shoot the succubi off of it. It's not especially precise, so it's a really good thing for IFV #1 that the blaster isn't very effective against well-armored vehicles.

[Westside - EI Power Plant]

Inside the building, the EI engineers are panicking. The one that seems to be in charge yells, "We can't keep the shield up with all this firepower being slung around! Extra power to the shields, I don't care how many people you have to cut off!"

Power is diverted to the shields, keeping them up for now, but with all the heavy weaponry and bombs getting thrown around, it's not certain how long it can last.

As for the situation outside, evasive maneuvers are easy enough, but it's hard to maneuver so close to the ground in a city without hitting something, so the ramming and subsequent pulling up probably aren't going to happen. Again, really hard to do that right next to a building in a city. So that probably leaves the spacefighter open to three hits there.

The lasers, though? The lasers work quite well, and two of EI's anti-vehicle guards are practically vaporized, their light armor worth about as much as paper against spacecraft-mounted weapons. The others in different positions, though, keep on shootin'. It's also likely that this is not all EI would guard this place with, considering the risks, so that's something to consider.


[Westside/Eastside]

As Westside and Eastside are the most likely to have people supplied by EI, some people in their homes may be surprised when the power abruptly cuts out. Nothing is cut to any vital infrastructure or anything, but one gets the impression EI really needs to stop this soon.

[Gullara]

[AMEN Sub]

One Enforcer goes down when the return fire comes, but the others get behind cover before they suffer any additional casualties. They fire back at the henchmen, but are kept thoroughly distracted by their efforts. A second shot of the laser cannon fires at the sub before they realize something's wrong. "AMEN might have escaped the sub, keep an eye out for them." One enforcer says over her radio.

[Northside/City Center]

A few squads patrol here, looking for any signs of AMEN. There's too much area for them to cover, but hopefully coupled with other efforts it'll do the trick.

[Westside - Enforcer HQ]
Ramiro

"Someone will be there." Ramiro assures her. If they screwed that up, there would be consequences. "We will speak again soon." And if there's nothing else, he will end the conversation.

Very soon after a vehicle is sent speeding out of Riverside with a small squad of Enforcers in it. They head to the agreed upon meeting place with all haste.

Maria

"What do you mean we have only one squad to spare?" Maria demands over her comm. This day just gets worse and worse. Word had quickly arrived that power failures were happening. Coupled with the attack on the power plant, that's bad news.

"Despite our preparations, our forces were still depleted by the plague. Between the people we have at Southside and the ones patrolling around AmEN's drop point, we're running low on personal to direct anywhere else." Comes the reply.

"Just send whoever you can there now. If the plant goes up, there won't be a city left to defend."

[Southside/Westside Border]

Magro receives his new orders, and curses the fact that they need to leave. It is just clean up duty here at this point, but they need to go after that damn ship. "Two laser cannon squads, with me. That ship is attacking the power plant and we need to take it out." The squads move to do just that.

Now that the biplanes are mostly dealt with, the remaining Enforcers turn their attention to the targets on the ground. Blaster fire is directed at the succubi on the IFV, though the distance is too far to aim reliably. The remaining four laser cannons are directed at the Basilisk. Open fire!

[Reinholdt]

AMEN Sub Radio - (A Yellow Submarine, A Yellow Submarine)

"Would you have believed me if I had said that I had a vision of my own death if I stayed? If so, I apologize, but I felt I couldn't risk my life on you being reasonable. As for the cure, it's my insurance. If I let you come get it I would have nothing to buy my freedom with someone else, and you might take the opportunity to try and bring me back unwillingly, which is as good as signing my death warrant. I'm sorry, I did hold it off as long as I could, but in the end I didn't see any other way."

[AMEN Radio - Not actually on the sub]

"... You sold us out." Not a question.

Shayan's risk assessment is very poor.
"When I'm done you'll be deader than anyone in the Nexus has ever been or has any right to be."
Very poor indeed.

*click*
Radio connection turns off.


AMEN sub

"I've scouted an alley a bit away from all the action. Everyone. Line up, put a hand on the shoulder in front of you, and close your eyes. Most of you can probably handle what you'll see in there, but if anyone's eyeballs explode, you'll just become a liability." Moff says.

Once there's a rough semblance of people complying, Moff rips open the portal and leads the congo line in. The feel under their feet is like walking on flesh. The scent is of spices that can't quite be identified but do not smell pleasant. And the sounds... well, it's a shame that the AMENites aren't equipped with earlids as well as eyelids. It isn't anything as wholesome as screams of terror. It's sounds of squelching and snatches of almost speech and almost songs. There's a very strong feeling of trespassing somewhere that they shouldn't be, and that if they get caught there, they will suffer far more than if they'd simply remained to be blown up in their sub.

The journey lasts for hours. Days. Aeons. Time means nothing here. There aren't even breaths or heartbeats to count.

They may begin to forget the existence of a material world when its existence is suddenly thrust about them with the feel of feet on asphalt, the sounds of warfare in the distance, the smell of garbage and river and rotting fish. "You can open your eyes now," Moff says.

The AMENites who survived the journey will find themselves in an empty alley a quarter mile away from the sub, about one heartbeat after they left.

AMEN Warehouse Alley

Oh Lolth Oh Lolth Oh Lolth. Ilpholin wishes she could go back in time and offer herself up to be shot before ever accepting that sort of help from Moff.
"O-Ok. We're ok." Fortunately at least there was discussion beforehand about the warehouse location, so near as I can tell they've arrived. Ilpholin steps up to the door and opens it, heading inside. The rest of the members are left to come inside or stay outside to protect from those who will no doubt find them soon enough, be it footsteps, fliers, or patrols. Except Becky and Magtok who Ilpholin drags inside because she needs to speak to them. There may yet be time to intercept the cure and Ilpholin would be terribly remiss to not at least explore the option and see if it's available to pursue.

Not that it's particularly exciting inside the warehouse. There's just a bunch of metals. Ilpholin dumps the Megan crate in the middle to let the nanobots do their work and start building and turning it into a proper defensible location.

[AMEN Sub]

Eastside is indeed in the worst position to notice anything about AMEN's actions. The sub's holes are facing the other direction. I imagine they'll be informed soon enough though. Well, or presume victory when the sub explodes dangerously from the second heavy laser attack. The henchmen do attempt to take out heavy laser guy while he's pulling off his second shot though. Watch for falling shrapnel.

Henchmen fall, their worst enemies in this situation being the Hunters with long range accurate weapons. It's difficult to take cover from both the Enforcers and the Hunters. Though admittedly a good number of them fall from the exploding sub as well. There's now about half the original number left, but those are better dug in to the surroundings now.

[happyturtle]

AMEN Warehouse

There's a Moff inside and a Moff outside, awaiting orders.

[The Bushranger]

[AMEN Warehouse Alley]

Becky, having followed Ilpholin through the bizzarely twisting and mega-cool portal, squeaks as she's grabbed and dragged inside the warehouse. She quickly recovers her composure, though, straightening up, studiously ignoring Magtok, and looking to Ilpholin with...concern?

"...are you OK?"

[The Alexandrian]

[Southside - Perfect Annihilation]

:smalleek:

DC summoning his personal super ion cannon to him and firing on the heavily damaged Basilisk War Droid would've been overkill in and of itself. That beam coupled with those of no less than four laser cannon is beyond overkill, it's ultra-mega-uberkill, giving rise to absolute, unadulterated destruction!

The operator of the former machine would be more than glad that he bailed when he did if he had stuck around to witness the ensuing light show! :smalleek:

The Basilisk War Droid explodes with one final enraged and sustained roar quickly drowned out by the deafening boom of the amazing detonation! This ultimate explosion would make Kevin Bay green with envy. It's beautiful in an odd sort of way, the components and chemicals within the machine combusting in vivid ripples of blue, red, and green like a gigantic firework on the fourth of July. When the smoke clears, they valiant guardsmen and guardswomen of Riverside find that they obliterated the metal beast to the extreme! There's nothing more than teensy-tiny shavings of the once great, intimidating, and powerful metal beast left raining from above. Aside from the leg that broke off earlier and was subsequently thrown away from the Basilisk and the mods that are buried in the war machine's impact crater-rut, they've completely wiped it off of the face of the earth! That was some marvelous work! I'd think a mini-celebration for unit morale would be in order if not for those pesky succubi charging the IFVs with the unabating courage and fierceness of invincible madwarriors defending a mountain pass!

-------
[Westside - EI's Power Plant]

It'd only be logical and tactically sound to guard a high-priority target with a force more impressive than six men, however heavily armed they may very well be. And you never know how close you can get to the ground in a city (in a fictional universe, of course). A facility as critical and potentially lethal as this one that is probably is secured by tanks, turrets, aircraft, and/or mechs in addition to whatever ground forces may show themselves could have an elegant promenade leading up to it instead of hugging the street. It was certainly worth a shot, but the objective of the maneuver wasn't to attempt to dodge the hits racked up against it last round. The maneuver was actually designed to test the strategic value EI places in (and provide the pilot with an indication of the remaining strength of) their shields this round.

Speaking of shields, the spacefighter's are nearly depleted - they're down to their final hitpoint - which is reflected by the red flashing lights and warning klaxons currently bombarding the pilot of the spacefighter. Shortly thereafter, she is informed on a private com-line by her alt-verse self (who was operating the Basilisk War Droid) that a very angry superhuman/metahuman popped out of nowhere and simply wrecked his death machine with kinetic energy in no time flat convinces her that she needs to bail now.

And so the ship swings around for one final pass over the soldiers, lasers pounding away at the shields, for the most part, never targeting the soldiers unless the soldiers expose themselves to its fire by making themselves more vulnerable targets by jumping out from behind the cover which I'm guessing they're grabbing or something along those lines. The ship is probably hit by a laser at some point, reducing it's shield charge to a grand total of zero points. The pilot ejects herself from the vessel seconds before the start of the final pass, riding a very small and very, very lightly armored hoverbike outfitted with a only single undermounted minigun and nothing more as it is a compact escape vehicle built with a focus on running away fast speed not combat. This hoverbike attempts to jet away to another area of Riverside (anywhere but here) while the ship attempts to kamikaze into the power plant's shields, which could result in a powerful yet concentrated explosion (what with all of the special missiles and spacetime bending equipment it is carrying) that, even if it did crack the building's shields open and possibly do some damage to the outermost layer of the building probably couldn't even come close to, due to its small blast radius, breaching/destroying any of the main reactor's vital systems. It could even potentially be shot down by a skilled marksman before it reaches the building (I leave the exact smallness of the blast radius and the fate of the ship (whether it explodes near/on the shields or is shot down first) to you to decide).

-------
[Not!Riverside Streets]

"You can say that again."

Timeskip away to Lintha's generic and boring to describe house!

-------
[Above Riverside - Blasting Off Again! *Ding!*]

((Recently edited. Forces now scouting/testing Northside's defenses.))

Anyone tracking the movement of AMENites in Riverside might notice that the operator of the annihilated Basilisk War Droid is flying around up here riding a very, very lightly armored and exceptionally fast hoverbike outfitted with an undermounted minigun as his defensive metallic bubble lost too much momentum and disintegrated! His destination isn't clear yet, but if his alt-verse self manages to successfully retreat from the EI power plant battle scene, people might be able to determine that, judging by their trajectories, they're aiming to continue to kick the hornet's nest by converging on Northside's Police Station so that they can scout and test Northside's defenses, attempting to steer clear of everything but trying to shoot down anything that they can't possibly steer clear of with a stream of bullets. The pair of pilots would really, really, really like to hastily retreat to AMEN's base in lieu of scouting Northside, but since AMEN doesn't have their perimeter secured yet, it's probably safer staying on the move really, really high up in the air than it is holding a position on the ground against all of Riverside's defenders.

-------
[New AMENite Base]

Clarissa shall lurk in the shadows of the alleyway outside of the building where she shall prepare to defend it from attackers if the need to do so arises!

[Hattish Thing]

Northside Number 144

Marty walks across the streets, clothed in a magical black cloak that covers his body and face. Best no one see him, he's easily recognizable, and this was a bad place to be when you are one of the living. He eventually makes it to the door of the haemomancer he spoke with. He knocks with his right hand. H-Hello? Anybody th-there? It is m-me, the pinkish t-text from the w-wall.

[Lord Magtok]

AMEN Warehouse

Magtok keeps a terribly neutral and apathetic expression on his face as he's dragged in, doing his best to hide his fear, doubt, and nagging sense that he shouldn't be here. His home is under threat of invasion; what the hell is he even doing participating in this chaos and mayhem when his very MagCave could be sieged at any moment? He's so caught up in his own turmoil that he hardly even notices something is amiss with Ilpholin, and doesn't stop to actually consider the possibility until Becky brings it up herself. Hey yeah, Ilpholin has been acting a bit strangely, hasn't she?

[BladeofObliviom]

AMEN Warehouse

Cyrus shrugs as he enters the warehouse proper, and begins drawing an uncomfortably large summoning circle. Anyone familar with planeswalker magic would know that he could very easily summon up things without any kind of aid like this, so what could he possibly be doing?

Whatever it is, it probably isn't good for any non-AMENites.

At any rate, he's not paying any attention to Ilpholin/Becky/Magtok/anyone else's foibles, because he's working MAGIC! Unspeakably Evil, uncomfortably powerful magic that's probably making this place shine like a beacon to anyone who's looking for it.