Riverside 20: Another day, another disaster

[Shadowcaller]

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

"It's in the northmost section of westside. Like, right at the edge. Spooner street it was called, 40-something. Shouldn't be too hard to find." Irena claims as she crosses her arms over her chest. "You could reach it through the sewers. I might even be able to lead you there, uh, with your permission of course. I mean, the kid shouldn't even be home yet, right?"

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

He looks for the agents but it seems like one of the agents find him as he's suddenly being ordered to "halt".
The voice is coming from behind him, still quite a distance away. "Stay where you are, hands where I can see 'em. I'm with Malechenar and I'm afraid it's still illegal to move around here without permission. You got any?" The voice is coming closer, behind him he might catch a glimpse of someone slowly moving through the darkness unaided by any flashlights.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halea)]

Tarim accepts the chalk and nods. "We'll regroup down below then. Just don't go off chasing those things on your own. They'll lead you on a perilous chase." Tarim remarks before he goes to find another, larger, sewer entrance.

Halae will soon find herself alone in the dark and unlike Amalungak she won't find these sections of the sewers particularly empty. The rats seem to follow her wherever she goes. Seemingly moving through tiny passages that are unaccessible to her.

But as she reaches an section of the sewer that intersects with a much larger, more modern, tunnel, she can hear what sounds like a human scream in the distance. It's coming from further inside the intersecting tunnel.

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

The wall does indeed seem solid, until Fade's shadows reach right through the bottom leftmost section of it and find only air. It still appears as solid as ever but it's clear that this section of the wall is either an illusion or made out of air. The opening is not very big, just large enough for an adult human male to squeeze through.

[The Homeless Initiative]

Brahun seem to raise an scaley eyebrow. "You're interested in the disapperances, why? The police is allegedly already looking into them." Even Karl can tell that it doesn't sound like Brahun trusts the police with that case very much.

[Zefir]

[The Homeless Initiative]

Brahun seem to raise an scaley eyebrow. "You're interested in the disapperances, why? The police is allegedly already looking into them." Even Karl can tell that it doesn't sound like Brahun trusts the police with that case very much.

[The Homeless Initiative]

"With that chaos outside?" he asks pointing back at the door he came from. "I doubt they would try to reject any helping hand by now."
He then takes a moment trying to find the right words.
"It's hard to describe, but for me such things mean growth. Kind of an adventurer thing where I am from. Also I was a bit curiouse about the situation here. Things might go on, more people will disapear and at some point it happens to someone you know. I'm not waiting for that, neither are those currently missing are worthless. I guess it is right to help those in need whoever it may be."

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

Amalungak stops willingly enough, raising his hands slightly.

"I'm here with Tarim of the Burning Light. Or I was, but we were forced to split up. We're trying to find the source of the rat plague."

He seems to be pretty calm about being cornered this way.

[Gullara]

[Eastside Apartments]

Reinholdt heads to the address given to him in search of Korrina. He will even go so far as to knock on the door. Or ring the doorbell. Or hit the gong. The usual.

[Eastside Apartments]

Reinholdt will come up to the front entrance to the apartment. It has an outside door before he can even get to the apartment he's looking for, however. On the plus side, there's a buzzer. Next to the apartment number he's looking for, 223, is a name. 'Vridsugs'.

Unfortunately, if he presses the buzzer he gets no reply.

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

"It's in the northmost section of westside. Like, right at the edge. Spooner street it was called, 40-something. Shouldn't be too hard to find." Irena claims as she crosses her arms over her chest. "You could reach it through the sewers. I might even be able to lead you there, uh, with your permission of course. I mean, the kid shouldn't even be home yet, right?"

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

Archera purses her lips and struggles with her reply for a moment. "Okay, but you have to keep yourself covered and turn that voice thing back on. Until we're alone again, we don't know each other. Alright?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Homeless Initiative]

"Officially I don't support any lawless action. But if you really want to look into things, it's not like I can stop you, right?" Brahun grins, all those razorsharp teeth showing. "But there have already been a couple of people in here, besides the police, asking about the case. None of them seem to have had that much success in solving it yet, so how are you going to be any different?"

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

"Understood, babe. I'll lead you there and then eh, we'll see what happens I guess." She pauses. "One thing before we go back there though, what's up with those goons following you? Anything I need to know? You clearly don't trust them that much."

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

"You gotta do better than that, sir. 'Tarim' is not allowed down here either so I don't see any reason why you should be. We have enough trouble with the rats to keep track on all the 'rat-catchers' running around down here. I'm afraid I have to guide you back and you'll have to leave. The rules apply the same to everyone." The agent replies.

[Gullara]

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

"They're looking into the rats too, but they were also brawling with Merc in the streets. I don't have any real reason to trust them, but we have the same goal." Archera explains. "But it doesn't matter who they are, my identity needs to stay secret. So don't slip up, okay?"

[Reinholdt]

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein frowns. Was there more to this than skipping a work day? Rein understands skipping work days. He does it as often as he can.

He'll press the other buttons, slowly, one at a time. Each time he gets a reply, he'll say "Pizza." Somebody is probably bound to have ordered a pizza. Unless those rats he's seen around have understandably tanked the business. Maybe he should have gone with exterminator.

[Halae]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halea)]

Tarim accepts the chalk and nods. "We'll regroup down below then. Just don't go off chasing those things on your own. They'll lead you on a perilous chase." Tarim remarks before he goes to find another, larger, sewer entrance.

Halae will soon find herself alone in the dark and unlike Amalungak she won't find these sections of the sewers particularly empty. The rats seem to follow her wherever she goes. Seemingly moving through tiny passages that are unaccessible to her.

But as she reaches an section of the sewer that intersects with a much larger, more modern, tunnel, she can hear what sounds like a human scream in the distance. It's coming from further inside the intersecting tunnel.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halae)]

While Halae had intended to get some distance and then basically sit down as a lodestone for the attention of the fae, it seems fate has other plans in mind. She'll immediately start running in the direction the scream came from, drawing her bright tred blade along the way. She doesn't pay the rats much mind - if they're here, they're not watching Tarim and Amalungak, and that's enough for her at the moment.

[5a Violista]

[Tracking Rats - HollyxDena]

Dena smiles as Holly laughs. "Yeah, we got plenty of those. So why don't you grab one and I'll have Violet ready in that promised half-hour? You can take a break in the rest room meanwhile. Or do whatever you want, as long you don't leave the headquarters until I'm done." She shrugs. "Sounds good?"

[Tracking Rats - HollyxDena => HollyxBreakRoom]

"Okay, that's good."
"I'll be in the break room. See you in half an hour."

Holly waves Dena off, and then goes to ask an NPC about a two-way radio. After getting it, she heads to the break room.

Finally. Some time to relax. First time in...who knows how long. Days, maybe.
Of course, it's not perfect: somebody could just walk in at any time so she can't take a nap or do whatever, but it's better than nothing. The half-human half-lies on the couch in the break room, closing her eyes and doing her best to get as close to resting without actually falling unconscious.

[Gullara]

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein gets silence for a few of them, confused replies more often, but finally he finds what he's looking for. On apartment 132 he gets a reply from a woman's voice. "Already? Dang you guys are quick." Then there's the distinctive buzz and the door unlocks.

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

"I am hardly the same as the rabble trying to kill every rat they come across," Amalungak protests, even as he tries to peer beyond the physical world and see the agent's web of loyalties and connections as his ritual allowed him to. "I am trying to get to the source of this, and I believe I am on a trail."

[Reinholdt]

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein opens the door and slips inside. He considered elaborating about needing to go back for breadsticks, but 132 should be on a different floor than 223 and he doesn't want to make Mimi or whoever it is who answered the pizza call upset. More upset than they will be.

With a guilty conscience, Rein heads up to 223 to knock on the door there.

[Zefir]

[The Homeless Initiative]

"Officially I don't support any lawless action. But if you really want to look into things, it's not like I can stop you, right?" Brahun grins, all those razorsharp teeth showing. "But there have already been a couple of people in here, besides the police, asking about the case. None of them seem to have had that much success in solving it yet, so how are you going to be any different?"

[The Homeless Initiative]

Karl feels a bit uneasy when he shows the teeth, but he can't help that right now.

"Well, I have been an adventurer for some time and at least a bit of experience with investigation, but I guess you heared that already. What should be the major difference is that I'm not bound to any of the factions around. This way I will ask the uncomfortable questions people avoid, since they rather belive it has been someone else then one of there own."

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

Fade doesn't appear much suprised at all, well on the other hand he isn't a guy to show any emotions either way. He takes a short moment to switch his shadow and use the see magic ability he can gain from it, just to confirm the illusion.

"There seems to be ahole here." he tells Ruby and pushes his hand through the illusion. "It might be not big enougth for you, but that is no problem at all. I just contact Dena. She should fokus the radar around here at best."

He will then immediatly use the communicator if there will be a signal down here.
"Dena?" he says as he got a connection. "We found a hole here. It's hidden under an illusion. From the size it appears even a grown up men could crawl through it. I will head down to confirm it has to do with the rats."

To slip through he can use his shadow which would also be able to take Ruby with him, while the space inside the shadow is enougth it may feel uncomfortable.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Homeless Initiative]

"The others that asked weren't aligned with any factions either and they were adventurer-types like you too, magical and all that jazz." He pauses for a moment. "I suppose I could tell you about the first one that came by. A goat-woman, satyr I think. She showed up just as the rat plague was starting and started asking a whole bunch of questions, just like you. Very polite, but I had my suspicions about her as she refused to tell me much about her reasons for asking. Kept insisting it was 'family business' and apologized." He narrows his eyes. "Does she sound familiar to you by any chance?"

[HollyxBreakRoom]

Yikes, if Dena had know that she'd send Holly home. Going that long without rest made you more suseptible to making mistakes which she definitly didn't want to happen in a operation like this.
But it seems like all that make-up do more than just cover up any un-elf-y-ness.

After about 25 minutes Holly can see Dena waiting outside the rest room. "You still got... 7 minutes to go if you want to use them." She remarks after a quick glance at her watch. "How're you feeling?"

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

The agent is clearly aligned with Malechenar and as he turns around he can see that he's wearing their colors too. They have other aligniances too, like with his family and unit, but what is more relevant is that the agent have a recent bond of partnership with someone nearby. Likely another agent he's working with.
The agent is aiming a strong flashlight in Amalungak's face however so he can't see all that much. "Then who are you exactly, mister important? Since I never heard of you. I'd be more than willing to let you track down whatever lead you're following, but I first I need the okay from the people upstairs." Amalungak can make out the agent pointing a thumb upwards.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halea)]

The entity's presence still haunts her no matter how fast she runs and she always get the feeling something or someone is standing in one of the many intersecting tunnels she passes, watching her. But following the voice she can eventually see two figures, with two more coming from around the corner of a intersecting tunnel further inside.
In the darkness she can't quite make out their features from this distance but she can still hear voices. There is now a strange echo as if the same person said two things at once yet she can't make out what the first set of voices are saying, instead she hears what seems to be their responding echo. "****, trouble!"
"Kill the intruder!"

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

Irena nods. "You got it, babe. You know you can trust me." Archera gets a feeling that Irena is winking at her underneath the helmet. One of the things she can just tell of a person after this long. "Activating the voice disorter now." A beat. "Testing? Good."

However, as they are returning to the others they can all hear someone else running through the tunnels from the way they came and soon they can see a woman running straight towards them, carrying a glowing blade with her.

[Recaiden]

[Breakthrough Day]

"I'm working to make it more 'normal' so people won't feel the difference." he says "Things like the limited movement we got.

With that he moves his arm up to the point where he got stuck just to show how.

"Something special you look for?"

"I'm actually looking for things that improve on 'normal' one way or another. Alice suggests. Her arms can move just fine, it looks like!

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

Spoiler: Previously

Show

Fade does indeed avoid the mess. His shadow sliding through the wall. I might note he doesn't need light here, having a normal sight even in the darkest places. While Ruby checks for cracks, Fade holds a hand against the cement and checks if it is moveabel Thought his shadow tests out even the cracks since i might be good to watch the other side to find the exit faster.

The wall does indeed seem solid, until Fade's shadows reach right through the bottom leftmost section of it and find only air. It still appears as solid as ever but it's clear that this section of the wall is either an illusion or made out of air. The opening is not very big, just large enough for an adult human male to squeeze through.

Fade doesn't appear much surprised at all, well on the other hand he isn't a guy to show any emotions either way. He takes a short moment to switch his shadow and use the see magic ability he can gain from it, just to confirm the illusion.

"There seems to be a hole here." he tells Ruby and pushes his hand through the illusion. "It might be not big enough for you, but that is no problem at all. I just contact Dena. She should focus the radar around here at best."

He will then immediately use the communicator if there will be a signal down here.
"Dena?" he says as he got a connection. "We found a hole here. It's hidden under an illusion. From the size it appears even a grown up men could crawl through it. I will head down to confirm it has to do with the rats."

To slip through he can use his shadow which would also be able to take Ruby with him; while the space inside the shadow is enough, it may feel uncomfortable.

Ruby reaches over to feel out the edge of the hole.
That's more than a little tunnel for rats to squirm through!
"And someone hid this on purpose. Whoever's behind the rats." Did Malechenar lie about this place, or did they just not look very closely themselves?

She looks at where her hands disappear into the illusion. Fade is probably right. Only the smallest nephil would fit through there, and Ruby is not the smallest. So instead, she scrunches herself into the shadow and, shivering, slips through that way. What a weird feeling.

Once on the other side, she makes a ball of fire appear at the tip of her claws, to light up the tunnel and get a better look.

[Earl of Purple]

Sewers- Rat Hunting, KABAL & Archera

When they see the glowing-sword lady approach, Flicker yells towards Archera and her companion. "Company headed this way! With a fire sword!" Flicker raises her shotgun at the figure, but won't fire; they're not being subtle, which means they probably aren't hostile. Spewer, meanwhile, turns the torch back on and spits at the wall, nodding when he sees the stuff that impacts the wall is yellow. Means the rage-pill has worn off, because the last thing he wants is to make somebody with a firey sword enraged to the point they can't think... And in the confined space of the sewers, his usual fear-effect might do that anyway.

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

"I am Amalungak, a mystic from a faraway frozen land," the elf says. "I am not important. What I am is capable. The rats are being directed from somewhere even below here."

[Shadowcaller]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

"You know what? I'm feeling generous today so I'm going to make a call upstairs and if you're lucky and they're not preoccupied with something far more important, they'll hear your case. But if they don't, you agree to leave. How about that?" The agent suggests.

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

As Fade attempts to call Dena here is an odd distortion on the line and he can't hear any response besides static. She likely got the call but there is no telling how much she actually heard of it.
He can confirm that it's an illusion though, and he won't have any problems shifting himself and Ruby down there either. They touch down on what feels like bare rock and are instantly meet by the sickly stench of decay. They just ventured through rat feces and yet this is at least as bad. Neither of them are a stranger to the smell of rottening bodies, but these must have been here for at the very least a week which only have amped up the odour.

Ruby's light reveals dozens, if not hundreds, dead rats laying scattered in-between stalagmites raising up from the cave floor. The bodies seem to be centered around a small opening in the cave wall which likely is where the passage they found earlier ends up. There are clear signs of a fight between the rats and whatever killed them. If they spend a moment examining the bodies they can see traces of black fur as well as blood in the rats mouths, neither which seem to be their own considering the coloration of the blood and the length of the hair.
There is also something rather out of place right next to the passage opening. A backpack and a plastic bag sitting right next to it, seemingly completely untouched by all the gore around them.

Whatever was through here seems to have headed further down this tunnel and judging by the way some of the rats have been crushed its likely quite large and have hooves. The tunnels are anything but inviting though. There are no traces of support beams or other artificial means of supporting them or provide light. Yet they don't seem fully natural either despite the stalagmite and stalacite formations. The reason being that they're oddly rounded as if they had been been dugged out with a giant drill that must have come from below and then simply stopped here for whatever reason.

Either way, besides Ruby's light utter darkness regins down here and the staleness of the air further down suggests that this place likely hasn't been in any contact with the world above for a very long time. They might be the first intelligent topside beings to thread upon these cold cave floors for centuries.

[Halae]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halea)]

The entity's presence still haunts her no matter how fast she runs and she always get the feeling something or someone is standing in one of the many intersecting tunnels she passes, watching her. But following the voice she can eventually see two figures, with two more coming from around the corner of a intersecting tunnel further inside.
In the darkness she can't quite make out their features from this distance but she can still hear voices. There is now a strange echo as if the same person said two things at once yet she can't make out what the first set of voices are saying, instead she hears what seems to be their responding echo. "****, trouble!"
"Kill the intruder!"

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halae)]

The exalt brings her curved blade up into a ready stance. These two likely aren't up to par with the kind of swordsmanship she's capable of, but that's no reason to let your guard down - there's nothing that stops her from getting injured if a swing gets past her guard. She'll charge forward and, in a sudden and powerful move, sweep her blade down towards one of the fighters, her blade trailing blue sparks as it does, and Halae's body is suddenly limned with a red fiery glow, the beginnings of her anima igniting around her and illuminating the tunnels immediately around her.

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

Amalungak sighs inwardly. Damnation. He just had to run into this obstructive official and there's no way to dispose of him quickly.

"This... sounds acceptable, but time's wasting."

[5a Violista]

[HollyxBreakRoom]

It's okay.
She's used to it by now.
It comes with the territory when juggling more double-lives and identities than you care to count. Besides, when it comes down to it, Holly can forcibly make herself concentrate and/or give herself a shot of adrenaline, among other things. It's not exactly the best in the long run but it does wonders in the short-term.
Besides, just sending her home wouldn't really solve anything. She'd just go out and find something else to do: she's still sharing her house with her neighbors after their house was destroyed during that demon invasion, and they're too poor to just move out. She has killed people in her sleep before and she's afraid that if she doesn't keep herself busy then everything will fall apart around her. (And that's not even getting into that unknown corruption-mutagen she carelessly got onto herself, or how afraid she is of what might happen if the meme disease mutates and can infect her in spite of convincing herself that she's immune, or...)

"I'm fine," she says, not opening her eyes. She waves to demonstrate that she's fine. "Had a long day at work today-" since she's only a MERC licensee and not a MERC member she still has other unrelated jobs "-and that was not including all this rat business. Gonna be really happy when all these weird plagues and invasions and fairy nonsense in the Nexus finally get put on pause."

Holly pauses, thinks a bit, then reverses the question back at Dena. "What about you? I'm sure it's been pretty annoying having to be in charge of stopping a rat invasion."

[Gullara]

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein opens the door and slips inside. He considered elaborating about needing to go back for breadsticks, but 132 should be on a different floor than 223 and he doesn't want to make Mimi or whoever it is who answered the pizza call upset. More upset than they will be.

With a guilty conscience, Rein heads up to 223 to knock on the door there.

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein can just barely hear what he thinks are voices coming from inside the apartment. When he knocks they quiet. He waits a moment, but there's no sign anyone is going to come answer the door.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halea)]

The entity's presence still haunts her no matter how fast she runs and she always get the feeling something or someone is standing in one of the many intersecting tunnels she passes, watching her. But following the voice she can eventually see two figures, with two more coming from around the corner of a intersecting tunnel further inside.
In the darkness she can't quite make out their features from this distance but she can still hear voices. There is now a strange echo as if the same person said two things at once yet she can't make out what the first set of voices are saying, instead she hears what seems to be their responding echo. "****, trouble!"
"Kill the intruder!"

[Sewers - Kabal & Archera Rat Hunt]

Irena nods. "You got it, babe. You know you can trust me." Archera gets a feeling that Irena is winking at her underneath the helmet. One of the things she can just tell of a person after this long. "Activating the voice disorter now." A beat. "Testing? Good."

However, as they are returning to the others they can all hear someone else running through the tunnels from the way they came and soon they can see a woman running straight towards them, carrying a glowing blade with her.

Sewers- Rat Hunting, KABAL & Archera

When they see the glowing-sword lady approach, Flicker yells towards Archera and her companion. "Company headed this way! With a fire sword!" Flicker raises her shotgun at the figure, but won't fire; they're not being subtle, which means they probably aren't hostile. Spewer, meanwhile, turns the torch back on and spits at the wall, nodding when he sees the stuff that impacts the wall is yellow. Means the rage-pill has worn off, because the last thing he wants is to make somebody with a firey sword enraged to the point they can't think... And in the confined space of the sewers, his usual fear-effect might do that anyway.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Halae)]

The exalt brings her curved blade up into a ready stance. These two likely aren't up to par with the kind of swordsmanship she's capable of, but that's no reason to let your guard down - there's nothing that stops her from getting injured if a swing gets past her guard. She'll charge forward and, in a sudden and powerful move, sweep her blade down towards one of the fighters, her blade trailing blue sparks as it does, and Halae's body is suddenly limned with a red fiery glow, the beginnings of her anima igniting around her and illuminating the tunnels immediately around her.

[Sewers - Rat Hunting, KABAL & Archera]

Archera curses and starts moving toward the other two. When the stranger approaches and swings her sword, Archera acts fast. She makes and upward sweeping motion and the water on the ground in between the two sides of the fight shoots up. The water freezes into a thick sheet of ice in an instant and Halae's blade will embed into it before it can make contact with Spewer or Flicker.

[Shadowcaller]

[Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae]

Irena stays close to Archera for now, preparing to block any attack that comes her way. She's holding back any attacks until she sees what their opponents next move is.

[HollyxBreakRoom]

Dena shrugs. "It's not so bad. I mean, I'm not hunting the rats personally so it's not like I need to do the dirty work. Not to mention that having some pressure on you makes the whole thing feel more relevant than what I do here on a daily basis which is usually paperwork." She gestures at herself. "To give you some context, I come from a line of work where danger is pretty natural. While that was the reason I quit it has also made it hard for to adjust to more mundane types of jobs. I suppose you could call me a thrill junkie."

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

The agent puts the flashlight in a holder on his shoulder and pulls out a cellphone.
If he isn't interrupted he will make a call to someone, seemingly getting reception even down here in the sewers. However, after a few minutes of talking the agent sounds surprised and turns to Amalungak. "Eh, Lord Ryhe wishes to speak to you. Just catch the cellphone, okay?"

He will then throw it to the shaman.
If he does answer the call, he will hear an amused voice at the other hand. "Lord Ryhe here, and I will make this brief as I assume you value your time as much as I value mine. I will grant you full privileges to tour our beautiful sewers and in exchange you visit me once this is all over and hear out a little offer of mine. No pressure to accept it, simply to hear me out."

[Earl of Purple]

Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae

Flicker doesn't fire; she's too busy using her power to get away from that flaming sword. Spewer will use his, regurgitating a spray of yellow liquid in Halae's direction. If the liquid makes contact with the Exalt, it should trigger her fight-or-flight fear response, though he's never used it on an Exalt before and he has an unfortunate record of getting 'fight' when he most wants 'flight'. It also washes off quite easily, even if it does make contact and prove effective.

[5a Violista]

[HollyxBreakRoom]

Holly laughs.

"Oh? That's gotta be interesting," she says, before adding, "I guess I'm the opposite. Settling down is my life-goal. I'd be okay with a boring life as a boring housewife."

Earlier she said there was...seven minutes, or something? How much time has passed? How much longer? she wonders. Should've kept track of the time passing.
"It's about time to go, right?" the half-human asks, looking for confirmation.

[Zefir]

Spoiler

Show

[Breakthrough Day]


"I'm actually looking for things that improve on 'normal' one way or another. Alice suggests. Her arms can move just fine, it looks like!

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

Spoiler: Previously

Show

Ruby reaches over to feel out the edge of the hole.
That's more than a little tunnel for rats to squirm through!
"And someone hid this on purpose. Whoever's behind the rats." Did Malechenar lie about this place, or did they just not look very closely themselves?

She looks at where her hands disappear into the illusion. Fade is probably right. Only the smallest nephil would fit through there, and Ruby is not the smallest. So instead, she scrunches herself into the shadow and, shivering, slips through that way. What a weird feeling.

Once on the other side, she makes a ball of fire appear at the tip of her claws, to light up the tunnel and get a better look.

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

"You know what? I'm feeling generous today so I'm going to make a call upstairs and if you're lucky and they're not preoccupied with something far more important, they'll hear your case. But if they don't, you agree to leave. How about that?" The agent suggests.

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

As Fade attempts to call Dena here is an odd distortion on the line and he can't hear any response besides static. She likely got the call but there is no telling how much she actually heard of it.
He can confirm that it's an illusion though, and he won't have any problems shifting himself and Ruby down there either. They touch down on what feels like bare rock and are instantly meet by the sickly stench of decay. They just ventured through rat feces and yet this is at least as bad. Neither of them are a stranger to the smell of rottening bodies, but these must have been here for at the very least a week which only have amped up the odour.

Ruby's light reveals dozens, if not hundreds, dead rats laying scattered in-between stalagmites raising up from the cave floor. The bodies seem to be centered around a small opening in the cave wall which likely is where the passage they found earlier ends up. There are clear signs of a fight between the rats and whatever killed them. If they spend a moment examining the bodies they can see traces of black fur as well as blood in the rats mouths, neither which seem to be their own considering the coloration of the blood and the length of the hair.
There is also something rather out of place right next to the passage opening. A backpack and a plastic bag sitting right next to it, seemingly completely untouched by all the gore around them.

Whatever was through here seems to have headed further down this tunnel and judging by the way some of the rats have been crushed its likely quite large and have hooves. The tunnels are anything but inviting though. There are no traces of support beams or other artificial means of supporting them or provide light. Yet they don't seem fully natural either despite the stalagmite and stalacite formations. The reason being that they're oddly rounded as if they had been been dugged out with a giant drill that must have come from below and then simply stopped here for whatever reason.

Either way, besides Ruby's light utter darkness regins down here and the staleness of the air further down suggests that this place likely hasn't been in any contact with the world above for a very long time. They might be the first intelligent topside beings to thread upon these cold cave floors for centuries.

[Breakthrough Day]

"Aye." he replies. "I do that ,too. It's just not so statisfiing as to have people feel an arm like the one they lost. What exactly do you wanna improve?"

[The Homeless Initiative]

"Nop, didn't hear that befor." Karl says. There is no sign of lying as he tells the truth. "In my world Satyr are related to Demons, maybe it has to do with the demon attack a while ago. Not that it has to be the same demons, since people won't make much difference." It was known that demonlike people get looks around here due to the attack?

"Can you tell me what you told her exacly? It sounds like she got some directions from it and that she is involved in some way."

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

Well, bad story, but he isn't someone needing help fast. He rather confirms things are related then wait. Also he is not so firm with technologie so he assumes she was just not replying.

For the record. The shadow transport works following:
Fade got a pocket dimension at his hands which he can enter through his shadow. The size is not big the more shadows he owns the bigger it is right now it's just big enougth for two people. Since Ruby is bigger then a standard human that makes the place smaller. He misses a few right now.

Fade has normaly no problem with darkness, coming from a world that has no light he got a normal view in total darkness, but with a lightsource he has the same limits as a human.

Fade will take a look over the dead rats. The smell doesn't seem to bother him muche, at least he doesn't show any sign. When he discovers the hoove like injuries he got an idea.

"I think I know who did that. We already looked for that person. Let's see what she left here."

he points at the bagpack and plastic bag. When ruby brings the light over he will investigate them. He is sure that they aren't the first ones in centuries, maybe just in two weeks.

[Halae]

[Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae]

A frown paints the features of the Exalt as she looks over the group. Something's off here. The fire around the sword lets out a flare for a moment, which is meant to flash-melt the sheet of ice immediately around the blade, and she pulls it back, holding the blade in a ready stance. Hmm... shotgun, that might be annoying, but it's unlikely even modern shotgun pellets will do much to her if she takes it on the armor. Those with magical senses will be able to tell that her armor and weapon are damned impressive, which might be intimidating when they realize that those incredible armaments are being powered directly by her.

"Who screamed, and why?" she demands, her voice resonant and powerful even down in the sewers, and the piercing red of her eyes watches the group carefully. She's looking at them hard, with a focus one usually reserves for an interrogation room, the glowing aura of energy around her strong enough to illuminate the group and their immediate surroundings if there's no shrouding magic at play. Her next action depends on their answer.

[Reinholdt]

[Eastside Apartments]

Rein can just barely hear what he thinks are voices coming from inside the apartment. When he knocks they quiet. He waits a moment, but there's no sign anyone is going to come answer the door.

[Eastside Apartments]

Reinholdt knocks again, frowning. What is up with this girl? Won't answer her phone, the door, nothing. Was she up to mischief, being lazy, or actually in real danger? What level of response should Rein employ here?

Practically growling, he walks away from the door, heading down the hall with loud footsteps. Then shapeshifts into a cat and returns, padding silently back to where he was, staying under any peepholes. There he puts his ear to the door and listens. His sense of hearing is much better as a cat.

[Gullara]

Spoiler: Quotes

Show

[Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae]

Irena stays close to Archera for now, preparing to block any attack that comes her way. She's holding back any attacks until she sees what their opponents next move is.

Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae

Flicker doesn't fire; she's too busy using her power to get away from that flaming sword. Spewer will use his, regurgitating a spray of yellow liquid in Halae's direction. If the liquid makes contact with the Exalt, it should trigger her fight-or-flight fear response, though he's never used it on an Exalt before and he has an unfortunate record of getting 'fight' when he most wants 'flight'. It also washes off quite easily, even if it does make contact and prove effective.

[Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae]

A frown paints the features of the Exalt as she looks over the group. Something's off here. The fire around the sword lets out a flare for a moment, which is meant to flash-melt the sheet of ice immediately around the blade, and she pulls it back, holding the blade in a ready stance. Hmm... shotgun, that might be annoying, but it's unlikely even modern shotgun pellets will do much to her if she takes it on the armor. Those with magical senses will be able to tell that her armor and weapon are damned impressive, which might be intimidating when they realize that those incredible armaments are being powered directly by her.

"Who screamed, and why?" she demands, her voice resonant and powerful even down in the sewers, and the piercing red of her eyes watches the group carefully. She's looking at them hard, with a focus one usually reserves for an interrogation room, the glowing aura of energy around her strong enough to illuminate the group and their immediate surroundings if there's no shrouding magic at play. Her next action depends on their answer.

[Descending into Darkness - Archera, KABAL & Halae]

Archera marches forward, imposing herself between Halae and the others. "Back up and put that away." She warns, her tone broaching no argument. "No one screamed. You attacked us without provocation."

[Eastside Apartments]

With his enhanced hearing, Reinholdt can pretty quickly figure out the missing context. He hears some giggling first, unmistakably female. That's promising. What he hears next is the rhythmic creaking of wood... and then sounds that are best left behind a curtain.

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Descending into Darkness (Amalungak)]

Amalungak has dealt with fey long enough to recognize the thread hiding in this innocent-sounding offer. And yet, does he have a choice? If he's escorted out he might not find another way. Or it would take him too long. If he is to delve into this mystery for the King, he has to accept and deal with the consequences later. He wonders, though. How much does this Lord Ryhe know about him? Is he simply intrigued by his magic or is there more?

"Very well. I accept."