AMEN L: [Insert Ideas]

[Zefir]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Whoever stands there in front of Vigil appears to be far enougth inside the base to avoid Raven. I also assume there are new henchman looking at the door since they know she is in there and get intel via cameras where she looks at.

The pillars appear more stable then Anika. They appear to be part of the ground without any sign of be different parts of it, what is strange. Still she can manage to break them, but maybe that was the plan all along? As she slams her weight against the stones, a small pillar of the size of a hand dodges her weight and aims for the rope they use to bind 'Illophen' on her back. A monment befor it will be close it's shape changes to a blade which should cut right through the rope/betsheed.

Wenomir sure manages to split one pillar in halv, but there are more in his way. Strangly those appear weaker like they aren't controlled like the one befor and just gro thrown at the swordsmen.

Adir would just see a bit clearer that there is a man standing in front of them close to the exit. His suit makes it a bit hard to spot with the bare eye and the thermal vision helps, but if he tries to shoot him he might feel the danger when something shoots right at his weapon trying to disarm him or at least damage the weapon.

Those who got vision of the man see that he focuses on something and he pulls out two tin cans which he pulls a trigger off and lazyly throws in front of himself.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Raven pulls her head back and tsks. Too far, huh? She glances at the rifle she pilfered earlier, staring at it and taking in its shape and weight. Shame she doesn't know how to use the darn thing. If she tried, she'd be much more likely to hurt herself or the wrong people. Same with grenades in this position. So she seems stuck there.

That doesn't sit well with Raven, so she whirls suddenly into the doorway, arm drawn back and hurls the rifle through the air like a makeshift spear with such force and speed that it whistles loudly through the air. The gun is aimed at his lower back and doesn't seem to have any trouble with accuracy despite the logistics of such a throw and the man's camouflage. Raven doesn't linger the half-second to see if it hits, darting to the other side of the doorway once the weapon is loosed. But she would be exceptionally happy if it broke the man's spine.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Anika is completely unaware that anything is trying to cut 'Ilpholin' loose as she is completely focused on getting through the pillars. Bashing through rock isn't exactly easy and not exactly comfortable either.
But she isn't going to let anything stop her, she had to keep up her speed to be able to rush through it all. But if the stone pillars don't manage to stop her, then this dude in front of the entrance wouldn't either. She's going to rush right over him with all her bearittude.

[Morty]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Instead of hacking away futilely, Wenomir tries to advance in front of Anika, smashing his axe into the rocks to make them easier for her to break through. They're too close to the exit to get bogged down now.

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Adir raises his heavy weapon... but thinks better of it, and starts to belt off blasts of lead at the pillars instead of at the half-glimpsed enemy. Essentially aiding Wenomir's efforts. Though he does notice those canisters being tossed out... and presumably they're quite visible.

"Heads up! Grenades!" He roars between shots, talking over the chak-chak of his weapon. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but he'd better draw attention to them all the same.

[Zefir]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

After nothing stops the hidden blade, the hostage they want to save will loose the improvised rope and fall of the bar as Anika charges futher. Since Wenomir wants to stay in front of Anika, only Adir will see it.

It's just good Zefir got an intel on what Raven does do to the cameras. That way he got the warning that she might shoot him with the gun, since the henchman can't tell that she uses it as a spear. So when Raven jumps in he already knows something will come from behind. He turns to the side, making himself smaller for Ravens attack, but that alone wouldn't save him. If Raven had take her time she would see the unnatural backstep Zefir takes. Like a moonwalk he slides away from his position and so dodges the thrown weapon. It's really strange if you looked at it since he hasn't made a step to back away.

The rifle-spear now likly will fly at Wenomir, thought it should loose a bit of the force with the distance.

The stone appear to suddendly stop coming, like the source was cut off. Instead they could notice the tin cans which go of befor any of them can reach them. At first they looks very normal causing a detonation and some smoke, but a moment later the sound changes. The new sound is familiar, but you never expected it in a place like this. It sounds like a waterfall. Out of the detonations and likly consuming the smoke comes a massive amount of water. It's not enougth to wash the vigilants away, but it sure fills the floor with a puddle of water. When they reach the water they will see it freezing, making their way a lot more slippy then they thought.

The person doing this seems to slowly retreat. The henchman will shoot at the vigil people making it hard to just run through without getting hit. Not that they do hit vital spots.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

The gun hits the wall and clatters harmlessly to the floor.

Since her opponent possesses what appears to be pre-cognitive level dodging skills, Raven doesn't collect anything else to throw, resuming focus of simply ensuring no one unwanted arrives from elsewhere.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

While Anika can't see 'Ilpholin' falling over, she can still feel someone falling off her back. Though her current form limits her means of communication she could still growl loudly to alert Wenomir and Adir that something was wrong. She had no doubt been able to tell that 'Ilpholin' was about to fall over before the fact so she could alert them before it came down to it.

The pillars would make it extremely difficult to turn around to get Ilpholin again and without the ropes she wouldn't be able to carry an unconcious person on her back. Therefore, she will simply continue force her way forward towards the door and the figure standing in front of it. But as the pillars suddenly disappear she has a burst of speed only to end up in the middle of the smoke. She can't see much through it but she still remembered where the door was. Though then it all suddenly turns to water, drenching her fur and then freezing it as it all freezes over.
A chilling experience, but right now she was getting shot at so it wasn't anything she had to address right at this moment. Therefore she will simply continrue by ramming through the door and out of the base. Simply attempting to run the figure over.

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Adir wants to take some shots at the retreating, flickering figure, but there's too much going on right now for him to go on the offensive. Lucky for him, he knows something the enemy does not - namely that he bears the mantle of Winter Knight, and trying to slip him up with ice was about the most useless gesture one could imagine. He glides over it as if it were more dry ground.

The stag slows, letting his weapon hang so he can scoop 'Ilpholin' off the floor. He packs her tight against his body to shield her from the bullets, but the sustained gunfire is begin to wear on his armor. They need to get out of here. So... he does the only sensible thing. He will leap on top of the charging, slipping and sliding bear and careen out of the base along with her. Hanging onto her back-fur with one clenched fist.

[Morty]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Wenomir keeps running and doesn't stop. Having to make his way across the ice slows him down somewhat, but his steadfast focus sees him through. There's a lot about this situation that might not be what it seems, but they can deal with it outside. He heads right for the exit, trusting that this strange woman who seems to be helping them will follow.

[5a Violista]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Tiffany the teenager,
who has been waiting like Raven recommended, gets a little nervous when the fighting finally gets back into the front entrance. There's too much chaos and smoke and pillars and pain and everything to really get what's going on.

After the three from Vigil get out the front door, Tiffany looks back at Raven. "You coming too, right?" she asks. Then, she goes out the front door after the Vigil-crew.

Obviously, due to the closed-up wounds she received, she's not going so fast. She uses the walls to support her a little. And, most importantly, she stays back from the Vigil-people: while they did tell her to escape the base, one of them also threatened to shoot her. So she tries her best to not get close enough to be suspicious, because she doesn't want to get shot again.

Getting shot hurts.

...That whole final stretch was a lot more hectic than she had expected. Way too much happened, and it's taking a while to process all of what's going on.

[Zefir]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Pre-cognitive level dodging skills? No, but a spear thrown this way would allways kill him even if it just scratches him it should take away a lot with him.

The figure won't do anything more to stop them he steped to a side making it very hard to attack him as they run by. Since they fokus on getting out it should be fine that way.
So the Vigil people will enter the Main Room since the whole scene happened in a floor close to it, but there is nothing else to stop them from heading fot thee exit. The dead henchman they didn't slay might be of no intresst for them right now so they can just head out.

Zefir got some good informations with this whole thing. Mostly movment and fighting styles. He even found out that Adir can't be sliped by ice. It might not much, but usefull in the future when he might need it. He never hopes it will be nessesary.

As they leave he steps after them slowly. He is in no rush and it might be best now to just secure they go rather then fighting them. The ice that filled the room turns back into water which then follows Zefir like some kind of elemental in the form of a snake.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

The tiny mawsphere that has been watching the goings-on in the lobby follows the group out, phasing through the base's wall when they reach the front door like it isn't there. Unless any of them are actually looking for it, it's going to be difficult to spot. Gathering intel on this person who might or might not be Ilpholin comes first, and anything this group might share in the heat of the moment may prove useful indeed.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance -> Outside]

Raven Ebondark makes no move as the VIGIL members pass her except to nod at Tiffany. Only once they're clear does she follow them, moving to keep pace with them as they run. At first anyways. She has to slow for a moment and detour slightly to Tiffany. "Come on already!"

Raven doesn't intend to give Tiffany a choice in the matter, going to scoop her up bridal style and run away that way. Tiffany doesn't even slow her down once the more wounded girl is in her arms as she moves with a strength that didn't match the cute girl from before. Well neither did throwing a couch, so it's not that surprising for Tiffany most likely.

Having previously noticed the mawsphere, Raven may know it's following them, but she might also lose sight of that during the trek down the valcano. Knowing where it was once isn't quite the same as knowing where it is now. Regardless, she's not exactly shouting out anything either, content to wait for safer pastures far away from here.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Front Entrance -> Outside]

Anika has no interest in dead henchmen or other distractions. She just wanted to reach that darn exit.
Once she's finally outside and can feel the cold air against her face she let's out a triumphant roar while continuing down the hill.
They were finally free of that place!

Now all they had to do was to get to Adir's truck and ride it out into the sunset. Then they could deal with this "fake Ilpholin" business.

[Murkus]

[Outside]

They made it! Hell yeah! Adir rides Anika the whole way, holding 'Ilpholin' close to him, and he ducks his head as they leave through the main door. He's parked quite a ways from the entrance, out of sight, but no doubt the three in-shape (not to mention superhuman) adventurers can reach the big pickup in no time. Adir leaps from Anika's back and lands behind the outcrop of dark stone on the slope of AMEN's mountain.

Then he has a look back. Are Tiffany and 'Raven' following them? The mawsphere? Do the two ladies look like they need a ride?

He might be inclined to give it to them if they can be convincing, but that might require some explanations.

[Morty]

[Outside]

Wenomir turns around to face Tiffany and Raven. They're far enough away from AMEN that some questions and explanations are in order.

"Before we ride again triumphantly and hopefully never see that hole again, who are you two?"

[5a Violista]

[Outside - Truck]

Oh, wow, being carried bridal-style is actually pretty nice. And...while it probably would be surprising that Raven can carry someone like that, after seeing what Raven did to the henchmen in AMEN, Tiffany has no doubt she could carry someone.

Since Raven is running and carrying someone, she probably doesn't have time to explain; regardless, Tiffany can probably explain better. She waves at Adir and calls out, "Can we get in too?"

Of course, Tiffany recognizes that explanations are necessary, especially since after Wenomir's question it becomes clear that they've forgotten about running into her already. Geez, that's frustrating: was it so stressful fighting everyone and rescuing Ilpholin that they can't remember the person they didn't kill? "We - I ran into you three and your ghost copies in the hallway." She points at Adir. "He wanted to shoot me. Remember? I escaped their dungeon in the chaos caused by you guys approaching?"

And then, she explains Raven, as well. "She," pointing at Raven, "came to the base looking for you guys and is the reason there were so many dead henchmen in the room you just ran through."

Is that a good enough explanation, she wonders? Well, if they want clarification, they can ask more questions, right? Being in pain from the stopped-up-injuries still is making it a little hard to think through everything clearly, but luckily because she's no longer as distracted, it's becoming a little easier. And maybe Raven could explain why she was there in the first place, since Tiffany can't remember - or maybe never got - the why. Still a little confused about that.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside]

The mawsphere is indeed following the group, but it's so small that Adir is going to have to really look hard for it in order to spot it. It stays near darker areas, shadows, or against black backgrounds to make itself more difficult to spot, and far enough away from the group that it can blend more easily into the background. After all, its goal is to learn, not to spark another confrontation now that the group is out of the base.

[Reinholdt]

[Outside - Truck]

"Sakura sent me. Sorta." Raven says, confidently walking past them to the back of the truck unless physically stopped. "And she almost made it out of the base before getting shot." Unceremoniously, she'll go to roughly deposit Tiffany in the back of the truck. Not outright dropped, but not even attempting to be gentle.

She'll turn back to the others. "I'm Ilpholin. I'd explain, but it's long and we don't have time." She nods to Ilphy with a mixed look on her face. "We need to get her to a hospital. I have a lot of questions for her that she can't answer if she's dead." Now that she mentions it, the similarities of body shape is there, but there's enough of a difference that it's hard to believe on face value alone. Eyyyyyyyy...

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside - Truck]

Ah, truck, sweet truck.

Anika stops in front of it but doesn't shift out of her bear shape right away. AMEN members might be hiding, waiting for them to let their guard down!

Though as she turns, she notices something. There were two other people here!
...and one of them was claiming to be Ilpholin. Wut.

Anika looks as confused as a bear can be. She did agree on getting this Ilpholin to the hospital though...
If the others get into the truck, she will shift back into her humanoid form and join in. She's going to keep an very close eye on those two though!

[Murkus]

[Outside - Truck]

The mawsphere escapes Adir's regard for the time being, but it might only be because he's distracted with the two women.

"Um... I never once said anything about shooting you. I suggested zip ties because you seemed sketchy as hell, but even I wasn't really fully cool with that," Adir says, frowning at Tiffany. His eyes flick to 'Raven' when she says his wife's name... and can't decide between a groan and a shocked gape when she says she's Ilpholin. "Man, what the hell is going on here. One Ilpholin is enough to handle, now there's two of you?"

The stag grimaces when he finally realizes how hurt Tiffany is. "Wenomir." He'll uncinch a first aid kit from the back of his belt and simply hold it out to the warrior. "You and Spiffy Tiff here up front with me. Everyone else in the back. Let's just boogie back to VIGIL for right now."

And boogie they will, if everyone's ready.

[Zefir]

[After Leaving]

Zefir makes sure the front door is closed and all the evidence of the attackers are gone, incusing the mist. Then he turns to a radio set speaking the the other members and some henchman.

"Good job all. It's just sad this other person came up. In the end it didn't went so well. The demons we worked together can now be counted as enemies.Let's clean up and see what we can do next."

He will then head bak to his office or rather one of them.

[5a Violista]

[=> Zefir's office]

After a suitable amount of time, the redheaded Requiem that was in the cloning tanks room decides to head to Zefir's office, because she still has a lot of questions about what happened and no idea what it means.

She knocks on his door and then enters. "Hey. That was...weird. Did you know what was going on?"

[Zefir]

[=> Zefir's office]

The door will be opened

"Mostly yes." Zefir replies and offers a chair.
"To sum it up. Some entity caused the illusion thing to allow the vigil people to enter and assist. Not sure what is was, but I guess they had to pay a price. The person who came after and introduced herself as 'Raven' was the real Ilpholin."

That is quiet short.

[5a Violista]

[Zefir's Office]

Requiem nods. She sits. She kind-of gathered most of that, with the other one of her - Tiffany. She's actually never been this far away from herself, so it feels weird - like the connection is fuzzy and disjointed. It's even hard to know what the other of her is feeling or thinking...but she's sure she's heard something along those lines before they got too far away. "So the Ilpholin we had - not even the VIGIL guys knew she wasn't real until the real one showed up."

What does this mean? she wonders. Requiem has never met those demons, so she doesn't know enough about them to make a judgment. "Like, I don't think those demons ever had the real one in the first place. So...did they create a fake Ilpholin as a bargaining chip or distraction or something else? Or were even the demons tricked?"

Again, Requiem doesn't know enough about them to deduce which is true.

Anyway. The main reason she's here: "So, another of me is with them right now as they're driving away. I actually have a much weaker connection with her than I thought I would, but is there anything specific you want me to do or find out?" Like, at the moment for all intents and purposes, Tiffany is currently a separate person who just thinks she's the same person.

[Zefir]

[Zefir's Office]

Zefir puts his elbows on the desk, folding his hands. He has no concern to tell all this since it isn't something he could have done anything against it. He would tell all this to everyone, but not everyone is intressed in this just looking at who was there during the attack.

"I did some tests, but this Version, let's call her 'Copyolin' was to identical. Maybe a spellcaster could have seen something, but I can't tell for sure." he says then shackes the head. "I think the demons got Ilpholin for real, but they didn't expected me to want her over a piece of land in Riverside. I am amazed how fast they managed to create her."

"If you can find out what happened to Ilpholin by the demons. We can set up a camp near the vigil base if it helps the connection. There base still isn't moving or at least not very fast. Anything else, like weaknesses or something of the Vigil member might be usefull. "

[5a Violista]

[Zefir's Office]

Requiem nods. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Don't worry about setting up a base, in case they find it: it's not necessary."

She explains why: "After all, she's still me, just..." How can she describe it? she wonders. It's her first time experiencing this, so she doesn't even know how to put it into words. "...she's just not me and also me at the same time? Like, um, her thoughts are separate or whatever? But still mine? Sorry, I honestly have no idea how to describe this." Maybe she should hang out with Magtok or a hivemind or someone like that to figure out what it's like.

"...Okay, I think I get what I need to do." If he's got nothing else to add, she'll take her leave.

[Zefir]

[Zefir's Office]

"Maybe she is a copy of you for as long as you aren't connected?" Kind of hard for him to understand as well since in most hive minds have less a problem with that. Not that he knows much cases where a hivemind seperates a single unit from it whicch then acts without the hivemind but still like the hivemind. or is this a bit to far taken? Just so confusing.

He will nod at her as she leaves and then turn to his own stuff, looking up the damage and maybe other reports from other members.

[Zefir]

[Zefir's Office] - Time after the attack

Zefir is sitting in his office. The table in front of him is filled with variouse papers, which include different reports from the recent event. Stack by Sack he reads through them. He writes down some of the informations, especially those that repeat themself. On a screen nerby he can watch the security cameras of the incedent, the sound is switched off. The paperwork doesn't seem to end soon, because from time to time a henchman arrives and leaves some papers befor he leaves without a word.

"BOOOooooooring!" a voice, seemingly from nowhere appears. Zefir looks up and through the room. Nothing. The door is closed the TV still muted. He stands up looking over his table to proof none is hiding behind it. Which is the case. He sits back, watching the room for a moment. He didn't felt any magic around so there can't be anyone hidden. He returns to his work.

After a while something catches his attention again. Someone is talking in the far distance. He can't understand a word, but one voice seems to be mad while the other is totally cool. He stands up and heads for the door since this is the only way the sound can come from. As he gets closer to the door the sound does not increase, which he pays no attention to. He opens the door. None around! He tries to hear into the distance to get where the sound is coming from, but it appears to come from both sides. Right then he recognices that the sound didn't get louder. Was it walking away? Suddendly the voices disapear like someone caught them off guard.. He shrugs and returns back inside the office.