Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The orc nods in acceptance, and watches Hana. He grins as she strikes at the pendulum, knocking it towards him, and steps to one side. He's judged it well; it doesn't hit him, and he'll reach out and grab another pendulum, swinging it back before almost throwing it at Hana. His eyes don't leave her as he does it, so he might not be as accurate as he could be- but Hana probably won't be able to surprise him whilst he's distracted.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

"A... fire? We try to evacuate the managers, security and guests, that order. After they're all out, we wait for instruction from the highest-ranked person present. That might include coming back inside, for anyone or anything more valuable. Not the receptionists. We aren't trusted with keys, even if the building's on fire." So the receptionists, chained to the front desk by their ankles, are left to die- unless a manager or security guard decides to go back for them.

"They wass naked and beaten. Your wife esspecially, when sshe refussed to kneel." The snake-woman doesn't flinch as Hana goes on her rampage, though her attempt to pull the door is hampered by the fact this cleaning cupboard doesn't have a door. She can throw around the mops or brooms or disturb the cleaning supplies, though, push everything off a shelf or something. "Masster Trusst iss in the bassement, a room that tasstess of illnesss and bleach. I doubt he can leave it. With him iss a pregnant lady and posssibly ssome other maid. The elevator doessn't go that far, go to the bar. There'ss a sservicse door, with sstairss behind it. Hiss room hass a door, mosst don't. It hass wordss on it, but I can't read the barbaric glyphss. All angles and liness. I sstarted thiss morning, I can't give better directionss." It's hard to direct somebody to a room when you're still learning the layout, especially if you can't read English.

[bc56]

LaRouge Library
Jason is glad to see his joke about the wish (and also his non-joke asking Anri out) went over well, with no idea anything supernatural happened. "Oh yeah. That's understandable. What time do you get off, and do you know any good places to eat around here?"

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

"So a lot of people would... die", the bandaged man notes in reply to the maid. His slight pause is caused by him giving a nervous glance towards Hazel's general direction - he heard her throwing stuff around and that's no good. One, someone else might've heard it as well. Two, Hazel's emotional turmoil might be a sign of her getting close to becoming an evil spirit.

"Thanks. I think you've helped me enough." He nods to the maid, then peeks out of the room and towards the cupboard, trying to see Hazel's ghost. What's going on?

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

Hana frowns as the orc shows off that he, too, could exploit the pendulums to attack without getting close. Fortunately, Hana sees an easy way to use them defensively, as well.

She ducks under the one the orc hurled at her and slaps another to the side, so that it arcs into the pendulum's path when it invariably swings back around. This will cause the chains to wrap around each other, drawing them into a tighter and tighter circle until the two weights collide.

Hana smirks. "Bad news for you, Hazel and I played a lot of tetherball growing up."

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel has the patience to sit through the snake-lady's attempt at giving directions, but not much more than that. Hearing more about this "Mister Trust" who had abused her wife only made her want to hurt him more; the only mitigating news in the meantime was that Hana hadn't given him the satisfaction of submission, conjuring a momentary twinge of pride in Hazel. Attagirl.

Once she has an idea where she's going, Hazel turns and storms out of the cupboard, ignoring Sandels as she makes her way towards Trust's room. Anything that gets in her way will find itself quickly and violently removed; furniture, doors, people, basically anything that isn't bolted to the floor or a wall (and a few things that are). Hazel doesn't care about whether Trust gets any warning that some invisible thing is coming toward him; in her mind, terrifying him with the anticipation of a vengeful spirit would be a definite plus.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Oh boy and now Mina has a gunshot wound!
Thankfully it's not anywhere important but even a graze to your chest is a painful, bleeding injury. Don't worry, Mina. A lot of minotaurs consider scars attractive.
"...what friend? We're alone in here." Mina asks, voice streaked with pain. She can't let this turn into a straight fight. She doesn't have any practical experience against armed armored opponents. And that's not including the possibility of this turning into a seven-on-one.
Still she poses her question and lets Sai gather his charge. Maybe if she can get the cat monologuing Sai can charge up and just blast her.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The pendulums wrap around each other and twist. The orc grins at that, and does the same to several others, making other double-weights. "I've fought this arena before. Dunno what tetherball is, but I've got an idea of what I'm doing." He grins, and ducks under one as he walks towards Hana. He's stepping around them, taking moments to wait before continuing, but he's advancing rather quickly. Hana could stay where she is to swing a pendulum at him, or she could retreat; if she does neither, he's going to get close enough to swing that hammer soon.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

"At least two, the receptionists on duty. Maybe more, if the sprinklers or alarms don't work or something." And a lot of those people might be slaves, or nearly so. Could Sandals live with that, if he does it? He can see Hazel float down the stairs, and it's open enough he could follow.

Well, that requires going down the stairs to the lobby, into the bar- where some tired-looking women are sitting around and chatting, occasionally ordering food- and the kitchen beyond (where she could get distracted; there's gas cookers, a walk-in freezer, rows of knives, and nine busy people running around washing plates and cutlery, preparing meals, and sorting out freshly-arrived food, though not too well- if Hazel takes the wrong turning and finds herself in the larder or freezer, there's vermin present and furry meat at the back of the freezer). Down the stairs, in the hotel's basement, it's a pretty labyrinthine place. Lots of corridors, and many rooms. At the bottom of the stairs beneath the kitchen there's a bunk room with eight beds, all of which are inhabited by people sleeping. There's no privacy here, not even a door between the bunk chamber and the communal shower next to it. There's four other communal rooms down here; one for valets, one for maids, one for receptionists- though that one at least has a privacy curtain down the middle, separating the two groups- and several doors with words on.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Your... talking weapon? You know. Wisecracking sidekick? You... you are friends, right?" Raven asks with some level of bafflement as if Mina's retort suggested otherwise. "Or are in a strictly professional relationship? Or no... something deeper. Ahhhn~ Something romantic!" Raven's puts one hand on her cheek and blushes while her voice takes on a lilting tone at the thought of the forbidden relationship between crime fighter and their sidekick.

She recalls herself and holds out her hand, shaking it. "I-I mean, I don't want to presume! But, uh... friends or no, surrender and he won't get hurt!"

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The pendulums wrap around each other and twist. The orc grins at that, and does the same to several others, making other double-weights. "I've fought this arena before. Dunno what tetherball is, but I've got an idea of what I'm doing." He grins, and ducks under one as he walks towards Hana. He's stepping around them, taking moments to wait before continuing, but he's advancing rather quickly. Hana could stay where she is to swing a pendulum at him, or she could retreat; if she does neither, he's going to get close enough to swing that hammer soon.

[SSGTV]

Hana lets out a grunt of effort as she hurls a pendulum at him, throwing just enough spin on it to cause it to drift off to one side. If he moves to evade it, like she suspects he will, the weight will continue in a narrow circle, wrapping around her opponent like an improvosed bolas. Not nearly enough to hold him for any length of time, certainly, but potentially giving her enough room for an opening.

Regardless of whether her gambit works or not, Hana will raise the bat in preparation to exchange blows. With all these doubled weights, there's not going to be too much room to dance around anymore; they're going to have to engage at some point.

Black Abyss Body Shop

Oh boy and now Mina has a gunshot wound!
Thankfully it's not anywhere important but even a graze to your chest is a painful, bleeding injury. Don't worry, Mina. A lot of minotaurs consider scars attractive.
"...what friend? We're alone in here." Mina asks, voice streaked with pain. She can't let this turn into a straight fight. She doesn't have any practical experience against armed armored opponents. And that's not including the possibility of this turning into a seven-on-one.
Still she poses her question and lets Sai gather his charge. Maybe if she can get the cat monologuing Sai can charge up and just blast her.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Your... talking weapon? You know. Wisecracking sidekick? You... you are friends, right?" Raven asks with some level of bafflement as if Mina's retort suggested otherwise. "Or are in a strictly professional relationship? Or no... something deeper. Ahhhn~ Something romantic!" Raven's puts one hand on her cheek and blushes while her voice takes on a lilting tone at the thought of the forbidden relationship between crime fighter and their sidekick.

She recalls herself and holds out her hand, shaking it. "I-I mean, I don't want to presume! But, uh... friends or no, surrender and he won't get hurt!"

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

...Uh-oh. I knew we were dealing with a crazy person, but I didn't think we were dealing with "ships-her-enemies" levels of crazy...

Fortunately, Sai responded to the inklings of strategy Mina was putting forth and has now built up an ideal charge for putting down Raven. It's been carefully selected to do enough damage to incapacitate her, after factoring in the distance between the two of them. Though, it should be noted, just to incapacitate her; Sai's trying to keep her from shooting at them so Mina can focus on her bodyguards, not cook her.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The orc doesn't notice the spin, and walks into the path of the chain where it wraps around him. He frowns as it does, before struggling free. He'll take a while to actually get himself out enough to swing, so Hana should probably strike first, whilst he's stuck. His torso has a breastplate, so winding him might be tricky; but his legs are bare. If she can break one, he might not be able to fight.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

"You're...threatening my magic talking sai. My sapient metal instrument forged by the gods themselves?" well and reforged by himself but that's complicated. Mina gesticulates with the sai in question, to make it look not so weird that she's waving it around.
"I mean he already died once when he was alive for a while so really I'm not sure what could phase him. Also he's like, ten thousand years too old for me. And I don't think he dates or he'd have settled down with a nice jitte by now. So we're not a thing but that shouldn't come as a-" Mina turns her hand in the middle of her conversational gesticulations to loose the bolt without giving Raven too much warning.
"-shock."

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

A building electrical charge isn't the most difficult thing to notice, with the lightning crackling around the prongs and all. Raven deftly pops open her umbrella, spinning it to diffuse the charge as it impacts. This... partially works, though perhaps not as well as Raven had hoped.

"Nyyyyoww!" Raven exclaims as the blast is enough to kick her off her feet and knock her back onto her throne, the static doing horrible things to her fur. Something over there's smoking.

But even if the words have been shocked out of her mouth, the samurai mecha-zombie and ninja mecha-zombie move forward instinctively to protect their mistress, swinging their weapons wildly and without finesse. Bladed weapons nonetheless.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Oops, well. Those mercs will sort it out soon enough, Bellana's sure. But she's not going to help them. She will look at the portraits a fair bit. Was Tellysandra's last name Tusumi? She never really cared to check before.

"What are those?" Bellana 'naively' asks the goblin about the drones, moving up closer to him and placing her hand on his shoulder as if he could protect her from those things that look mad.

Bellana looks at the break room skeptically. Ugh. "Yeah, not a chance," Bellana says, shaking her head and going to move the table to one side or out in the hall if need be. Just to give her some space. The floor will suffice for her dance. "You're the one who should be sitting down..." Bellana says, her voice moving back to a more seductive key.

[Searching for Truth]

The Tusumi name is well known in Skyside as Tellysandra is only the latest in line of the family running Tusumi industries which is one of the major companies in the city. They support KABAL with their vehicles apparently though aren't that open about their sponsorship.

That's at least what Ilpholin might know if she has done any research into the subject. All of this is relatively common knowledge (though 'common knowledge' can be rather uncommon in some parts of skyside).

"The 'bots? Just this place's excuse for maids."

"Yeah, its a real shame. When I first came here I thought this place was going to be filled with girls like you and boys... well, better looking than those things at least." A human mercenary agrees as they slip inside the common room.

At her suggestion of sitting down they casually flop down on what seems to be the favored seats inside the room. "Alright then." The goblin remarks as he leans back in his seat as to savor every moment of this. "You may begin whenever you feel ready."

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The orc doesn't notice the spin, and walks into the path of the chain where it wraps around him. He frowns as it does, before struggling free. He'll take a while to actually get himself out enough to swing, so Hana should probably strike first, whilst he's stuck. His torso has a breastplate, so winding him might be tricky; but his legs are bare. If she can break one, he might not be able to fight.

[SSGTV]

Hana raises her bat to make a swing at his face, reasoning that he can't fight if he can't see.

But then she decides against that. She could kill him that way. And hurting Abbi aside, he seems like a decent guy.

Hana brings the bat down, aiming to shatter the shoulder of his leading arm instead. If that works, the fight should be called there... she will effectively have disarmed and/or crippled him. If they don't call it there, it at least won't be too long before they do; one working arm is a significant disadvantage here.

Black Abyss Body Shop

"You're...threatening my magic talking sai. My sapient metal instrument forged by the gods themselves?" well and reforged by himself but that's complicated. Mina gesticulates with the sai in question, to make it look not so weird that she's waving it around.
"I mean he already died once when he was alive for a while so really I'm not sure what could phase him. Also he's like, ten thousand years too old for me. And I don't think he dates or he'd have settled down with a nice jitte by now. So we're not a thing but that shouldn't come as a-" Mina turns her hand in the middle of her conversational gesticulations to loose the bolt without giving Raven too much warning.
"-shock."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

A building electrical charge isn't the most difficult thing to notice, with the lightning crackling around the prongs and all. Raven deftly pops open her umbrella, spinning it to diffuse the charge as it impacts. This... partially works, though perhaps not as well as Raven had hoped.

"Nyyyyoww!" Raven exclaims as the blast is enough to kick her off her feet and knock her back onto her throne, the static doing horrible things to her fur. Something over there's smoking.

But even if the words have been shocked out of her mouth, the samurai mecha-zombie and ninja mecha-zombie move forward instinctively to protect their mistress, swinging their weapons wildly and without finesse. Bladed weapons nonetheless.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Well, that's more manageable at least. Sai's much more confident in Mina's ability to handle a pair of clumsy (if fancy) zombies than he is her ability to handle them plus Raven. She looks to be momentarily incapacitated, at least. Maybe she'll recover, but having the breathing room should give Mina the edge she needs to swing things back in her favor.

The pressure he's building up for a gust of wind can't really hurt matters, either.

I was always more of a naginata man, incidentally. Sai adds conversationally.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Well, the sword should be bladed. The sai should be blunt with possibly pointed ends unless Raven seriously misunderstood the purpose when arming her minion- which given her conversation with Mina might very well be possible.
"Huh, you know I always thought if I ended up doing stuff like this I'd have a polearm."
Mina hasn't had a ton of experience training but luckily Sai and his normal brethren are made for catching blades, and a clumsy target like a zombie is the best possible opponent to put her training to the test. She reaches out with Sai to bind the samurai's blade so she can use her free hand to deck him!
In the face!
It's going to be rough on her hands given that she's punching a helmet but that's kind of the case for all of the armored zombie. Hopefully Sai at least put padding on her knuckles. Or that she's more durable than she remembers.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man cringes and draws air through clenched teeth as he watches and listens to Hazel's rampage. At this rate, the hotel will get burned to the ground whether or not it's he who chooses to do it.

"You know, if I were you, I'd start checking if those alarms work. Maybe trip them just to be on the safe side", he says to the maid over his shoulder. "By now, it ought to be clear to other people too that things ain't going to be fine. So they can't even blame you for doing so for no reason."

He leaves the room and heads towards the elevator. At this point, he doesn't care about being caught pn camera. He figures Hazel's rampage will draw all available attention. He just hopes the four security orcs will rush back down the stairs instead of having the same idea as him.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The orc is also wearing a helmet, so a blow to the head wouldn't kill him, but also isn't guaranteed to actually blind him either. The nasal should prevent Hana's razorwire-wrapped bat from reaching his eyes.

The orc grunts as Hana's bat thwacks into his shoulder, the blow deflected slightly by the chains he's wrapped in. It still hurt, the blades and weight of the bat doing a fair bit of damage to the orc's upper arm, which goes limp. He struggles free of the chains and picks up the hammer with his other hand, growling slightly before stepping forward and swinging at Hana's torso. The fight isn't over, because unfortunately for Hana, the orc is ambidextrous. First blood is hers, which is more than Abbi could say, given she didn't have first or last blood or any blood in between.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

"At least two, the receptionists on duty. Maybe more, if the sprinklers or alarms don't work or something." And a lot of those people might be slaves, or nearly so. Could Sandals live with that, if he does it? He can see Hazel float down the stairs, and it's open enough he could follow.

Well, that requires going down the stairs to the lobby, into the bar- where some tired-looking women are sitting around and chatting, occasionally ordering food- and the kitchen beyond (where she could get distracted; there's gas cookers, a walk-in freezer, rows of knives, and nine busy people running around washing plates and cutlery, preparing meals, and sorting out freshly-arrived food, though not too well- if Hazel takes the wrong turning and finds herself in the larder or freezer, there's vermin present and furry meat at the back of the freezer). Down the stairs, in the hotel's basement, it's a pretty labyrinthine place. Lots of corridors, and many rooms. At the bottom of the stairs beneath the kitchen there's a bunk room with eight beds, all of which are inhabited by people sleeping. There's no privacy here, not even a door between the bunk chamber and the communal shower next to it. There's four other communal rooms down here; one for valets, one for maids, one for receptionists- though that one at least has a privacy curtain down the middle, separating the two groups- and several doors with words on.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man cringes and draws air through clenched teeth as he watches and listens to Hazel's rampage. At this rate, the hotel will get burned to the ground whether or not it's he who chooses to do it.

"You know, if I were you, I'd start checking if those alarms work. Maybe trip them just to be on the safe side", he says to the maid over his shoulder. "By now, it ought to be clear to other people too that things ain't going to be fine. So they can't even blame you for doing so for no reason."

He leaves the room and heads towards the elevator. At this point, he doesn't care about being caught pn camera. He figures Hazel's rampage will draw all available attention. He just hopes the four security orcs will rush back down the stairs instead of having the same idea as him.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel does, in fact, make several wrong turns; they're clearly marked by the resulting messes of broken ceramics, scattered fruits and vegetables, upended appliances, doorless hinges, and of course the kitchen fire. This pattern continues even below the hotel, with the servant's quarters being thrown open, doors ripped violently off their hinges and tossed into the hallways. Hazel's on the active hunt for Trust, but he's hardly the only reason she's so angry; if she can free some slaves without going too far out of her way in the process, she'll do exactly that.

Fortunately for Sandels, this makes her easy to track, even if he somehow couldn't see her. Less fortunately, she seems to have forgotten how quickly a human is supposed to move, and she'll probably end up well ahead of him regardless, unless he gets to Trust first.

SSGTV

The orc is also wearing a helmet, so a blow to the head wouldn't kill him, but also isn't guaranteed to actually blind him either. The nasal should prevent Hana's razorwire-wrapped bat from reaching his eyes.

The orc grunts as Hana's bat thwacks into his shoulder, the blow deflected slightly by the chains he's wrapped in. It still hurt, the blades and weight of the bat doing a fair bit of damage to the orc's upper arm, which goes limp. He struggles free of the chains and picks up the hammer with his other hand, growling slightly before stepping forward and swinging at Hana's torso. The fight isn't over, because unfortunately for Hana, the orc is ambidextrous. First blood is hers, which is more than Abbi could say, given she didn't have first or last blood or any blood in between.

[SSGTV]

Hana steps back when the orc picks up his hammer, looking slightly alarmed. She was kind of hoping the fight would get called there; she doubts the orc will fall for that trick twice. He still recovered more quickly than she expected, and she can't step out of the way in time, so she gets as far as she can and switches into a defensive stance, holding her bat up to block the blow.

ker-snap

clatter

Hana looks at the wooden handle that used to have a baseball bat attached to it, then looks back up at the orc, suddenly acutely aware of all the martial advantages he would have in unarmed combat.

"...Fffffffff-"

Oh my. That's being censored for broadcast.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Fortunately for Sandals, the lift can go down to the basement, so he can get down there first. The guards also hurry down the stairs, their orders confused by the fact nobody can actually see or hear Hana- all they know is something is causing chaos and smashing things on the way down, and nobody knows if it's a poltergeist, a telekine, an air elemental or an intruder using magic or technology to achieve invisibility.

Sandals arrives on the basement before Hana gets down here, due to her throwing tins of beans about the larder after taking a wrong turning. The lift is opposite a laundry room, with no door, and there's lots of people about. A naked bugbear woman with heavy scarring on her back is loading a washing machine with a heap of black dresses, with a bucket of white underwear next to her waiting to go in the next one. Several valets are limping around, most heading in the same direction. Nobody notices or comments on Sandals' arrival, though if he stops a valet and asks for directions, they'll give them.

The noises of Hana's own arrival come from elsewhere; she used stairs in the bar and kitchen, not the central lift. The central staircase doesn't extend to the basement, meaning that also the guards are following behind Hana as well. Sandals is closer to Trust's chamber, but it's a slight difference and Hana has a slightly more direct route- unless she gets lost, and tries one of the other doors first. From Hana's starting point, she has to go out of the chef's bedroom, left to a branch corridor, and left again, with Trust's room past three other doors. In order, DR. THYLMORE, SECURITY OFFICE, GUARD BUNKS 2 and then, finally, MASTER TRUST. Sandals, meanwhile, has shorter corridors but three turnings to reach the other end of the corridor, ending up outside Mister Trust's room.

SSGTV

The orc, seeing that Hana's lost her bat, tosses the hammer aside, adopting a one-sided boxing stance. His broken arm is held away from Hana, and he'll advance a few more steps before lashing out with one large fist at Hana's head. He's not as good barehanded as he is with weapons, so Hana might just have an advantage now, even if he has tossed his weapon aside to try and be more fair than continuing to use the hammer.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

While Mina is mentally quibbling, she seems to have forgotten that there were two attackers going for her at the same time. Block and punch the samurai in the face all she likes, the ninja appears to have had nothing but opportunity to drive its sai into her flesh, its cybernetic strength enhancements a solid match for her tough hide. Well, on the plus side Mina could always pretend it was an attempt to get closer to Sai, to understand him on the giving and receiving end. If she doesn't die, it'll be a good experience! And Sai doesn't seem the jealous type.

The samurai mecha-zombie's headband is not enough to protect it, even if half his head is made of metal and it reels backwards and crumples to the floor. The ninja mecha-zombie doesn't take particular offense to this, but it does try to stab Mina several more times.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin should have spent more time researching whether the Tusumi line had a jealous sister or petty brother she could turn against Tellysandra. Something to do later she supposes.

Somewhere in another part of the mansion, Butler B. Butler's ears twitch.

Bellana smiles, closing the door and locking it if she can. "Of course." She turns back towards the mercenaries and steps to the center of the room. Then, she begins to dance.

If these mercenaries who live on a flying sky island have never been to the Underdark, they'll find the dance particularly exotic. Bellana has chosen to use her cultural roots to perform a dance that she's betting they haven't seen. But this isn't just some drow pop culture reference or a traditional drow two-step backstab. This particular dance is one used by Lolth priestesses in a sacred mating ritual for the creation of a draegloth. Only a newly ordained high priestess was supposed to know and perform this dance, though that didn't stop a young Ilpholin convincing Nadas to help her steal an unholy text to read and study and practice the dance all on her own. Back when she had those kind of childish dreams.

Of course, she puts her own spin on it here and there in order to bounce between the individual mercs and even the big cat. Which probably doesn't make it any less blasphemous, but she's also incredibly rusty on the steps, having not practiced it in at least a decade. Perhaps her form's undulations and curves keep attention from her questionable technique, as well as the pheromones that are starting to build within the enclosed room. The lingering touches, the suggestive glances. A dance designed to seduce those within. It would be easy for things to escalate as she wrapped them all around her form, her figure, her finger.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man didn't hear everything the snake-eyed maid told Hazel, so he isn't sure where exactly she is going. For him, the lift taking him ahead of Hazel is a lucky coincidence. He coughs and claps his hands to raise attention of the bugbear and the valets. "Attention! A violent intruder has broken into the hotel! Please follow normal evacuation policies!" He stops to listen for noise created by Hazel, then heads to what he guesses is the right direction. "Case in point. Make way!"

He's hoping to get directly ahead of Hazel. He's not quite sure what he'll do then, but that's his step one.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Fortunately for Sandals, the lift can go down to the basement, so he can get down there first. The guards also hurry down the stairs, their orders confused by the fact nobody can actually see or hear Hana- all they know is something is causing chaos and smashing things on the way down, and nobody knows if it's a poltergeist, a telekine, an air elemental or an intruder using magic or technology to achieve invisibility.

Sandals arrives on the basement before Hana gets down here, due to her throwing tins of beans about the larder after taking a wrong turning. The lift is opposite a laundry room, with no door, and there's lots of people about. A naked bugbear woman with heavy scarring on her back is loading a washing machine with a heap of black dresses, with a bucket of white underwear next to her waiting to go in the next one. Several valets are limping around, most heading in the same direction. Nobody notices or comments on Sandals' arrival, though if he stops a valet and asks for directions, they'll give them.

The noises of Hana's own arrival come from elsewhere; she used stairs in the bar and kitchen, not the central lift. The central staircase doesn't extend to the basement, meaning that also the guards are following behind Hana as well. Sandals is closer to Trust's chamber, but it's a slight difference and Hana has a slightly more direct route- unless she gets lost, and tries one of the other doors first. From Hana's starting point, she has to go out of the chef's bedroom, left to a branch corridor, and left again, with Trust's room past three other doors. In order, DR. THYLMORE, SECURITY OFFICE, GUARD BUNKS 2 and then, finally, MASTER TRUST. Sandals, meanwhile, has shorter corridors but three turnings to reach the other end of the corridor, ending up outside Mister Trust's room.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man didn't hear everything the snake-eyed maid told Hazel, so he isn't sure where exactly she is going. For him, the lift taking him ahead of Hazel is a lucky coincidence. He coughs and claps his hands to raise attention of the bugbear and the valets. "Attention! A violent intruder has broken into the hotel! Please follow normal evacuation policies!" He stops to listen for noise created by Hazel, then heads to what he guesses is the right direction. "Case in point. Make way!"

He's hoping to get directly ahead of Hazel. He's not quite sure what he'll do then, but that's his step one.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Once past the chef's bedroom, Hazel doesn't see any room she's particularly interested in. She makes a note of where the guards' bunks are, and to come back once she's dealt with Trust, since they're likely the ones that actually beat her wife, but Trust is the top priority. She tears down the hall toward his room as fast as she can, streaking through any obstacles in her way.

SSGTV

The orc, seeing that Hana's lost her bat, tosses the hammer aside, adopting a one-sided boxing stance. His broken arm is held away from Hana, and he'll advance a few more steps before lashing out with one large fist at Hana's head. He's not as good barehanded as he is with weapons, so Hana might just have an advantage now, even if he has tossed his weapon aside to try and be more fair than continuing to use the hammer.

[SSGTV]

That's.

That's damn decent of him.

When Hana sees what the orc is doing, she mirrors his stance, putting her other arm behind her back, giving him a reluctant smile that likely won't be caught on camera. No matter how the fight goes from here, he's earned her respect.

When the punch comes, Hana ducks under it, taking advantage of their height difference to try to sneak in a jab at his stomach, hoping that winding the massive orc might finally lead to bringing him down.

Black Abyss Body Shop

Well, the sword should be bladed. The sai should be blunt with possibly pointed ends unless Raven seriously misunderstood the purpose when arming her minion- which given her conversation with Mina might very well be possible.
"Huh, you know I always thought if I ended up doing stuff like this I'd have a polearm."
Mina hasn't had a ton of experience training but luckily Sai and his normal brethren are made for catching blades, and a clumsy target like a zombie is the best possible opponent to put her training to the test. She reaches out with Sai to bind the samurai's blade so she can use her free hand to deck him!
In the face!
It's going to be rough on her hands given that she's punching a helmet but that's kind of the case for all of the armored zombie. Hopefully Sai at least put padding on her knuckles. Or that she's more durable than she remembers.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

While Mina is mentally quibbling, she seems to have forgotten that there were two attackers going for her at the same time. Block and punch the samurai in the face all she likes, the ninja appears to have had nothing but opportunity to drive its sai into her flesh, its cybernetic strength enhancements a solid match for her tough hide. Well, on the plus side Mina could always pretend it was an attempt to get closer to Sai, to understand him on the giving and receiving end. If she doesn't die, it'll be a good experience! And Sai doesn't seem the jealous type.

The samurai mecha-zombie's headband is not enough to protect it, even if half his head is made of metal and it reels backwards and crumples to the floor. The ninja mecha-zombie doesn't take particular offense to this, but it does try to stab Mina several more times.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

What lousy technique.

Sai is thinking this about the both of them, of course. The zombie's obviously not a very refined fighter, but Mina has no such excuse. For the moment, Sai can only conclude she's in over her head.

With a sound like thunder, Sai releases the built-up pressure in a violent gust of wind, aimed at the zombie samurai. It should be strong enough to bowl him into the palanquin bearers behind him, unless he's much heavier, more stable, or more nimble than he looks.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Given their different directions of travel, they could arrive outside Trust's room at the same time- though Sandals is possibly a bit quicker. Though Sandals isn't going to be arriving alone; the valets he warned dropped what they were doing and have joined him, and one stays outside of the room whilst two others continue down, knocking on the other doors to alert the occupants that there's some kind of emergency and they need to evacuate.

It's at this moment that the fire alarm starts to sound, a brazen bell drumming away.

If Hazel goes through the door and ignores Sandals, she'll have more luck than if Sandals tried it- the door is locked, and quite sturdy. On the other side, is a luxuriant space, some dull, unlit neon tubes set into the ceiling. A thick, plush carpet covers the floor and there's an antique iron lung resting against the back wall. A large armchair sits in the middle of the room, a copper tub resting above an extinguished brazier. The iron lung is wheezing away, chunking and chundering, as somebody is lying inside using it. There's also a pregnant human woman wearing a brass collar, currently sleeping in a bed she's pulled down from the wall. She's not got any sheets or blankets, however, and she's slowly waking up and getting out of bed.

SSGTV

The orc's abs are pretty hard, though not as hard as his breastplate. He grunts, but he's not winded, and kicks out with a leg. He's overbalanced as he kicks out, since he's not really trained in brawling and doesn't have much experience either.

[Deathkeeper]

LaRouge Library
Jason is glad to see his joke about the wish (and also his non-joke asking Anri out) went over well, with no idea anything supernatural happened. "Oh yeah. That's understandable. What time do you get off, and do you know any good places to eat around here?"

LaRouge Library

"I said maybe, Jason. And for the record, since I'm the only non-guard employee here, I never get off." Anri does her best to be polite about this. She doesn't get many serious requests, but she's also never been quite sure if she's interested in getting them anyway.
"Someone with your experience probably wouldn't have too much trouble scoping out the eateries here. If any of them make you feel like you shouldn't go in, don't." The food tends to be good in the district when it isn't shady.

Black Abyss Body Shop

Wow Sai, it's almost like you sent someone with one week of training into a life threatening situation! Frankly if she didn't have some cheating with Libra's wish she'd probably just be dead right about now. And that parry and riposte was textbook, thank you very much.
Though for the record she had been planning on using that wind to fend off the second zombie but she'll just have to fend for herself. Before either of them has any time to react to the burst of wind Mina steps back, grabbing the zombie's thrusting arms by curling her own around them. With both their arms pinned, Mina delivers a headbutt to her foe and attempts to give it a proper throw across the room into the hard floor.
Sai, notably, did not teach her that.

[bc56]

LaRouge Library
"Oh, I see," Jason looks disappointed, but he'll live. At least Anri didn't say yes and then skip the date like the last girl he asked out. "Sorry. I should probably be going now." He doesn't want to hang around after that. "Thanks for the hospitality, at least." He heads for the door, leaving the book he was reading sitting on the arm of a chair.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The mecha-zombie samurai having crumpled to the floor is not particularly nimble. Might be heavier and more stable though. He nevertheless is easily flung into the palanquin bearers, who shift under the impact, but do not fold. They are much sturdier than they look. Also, it helps that there's two of them to distribute the blow as the body hits those in the front.

The ninja doesn't much like that Mina is capable of moving and dodging, let alone doing so and using her superior reach to stop his weapons. Unlike the katana, sais are rather close weapons. It doesn't much like anything for too much longer as Mina displays why you should never accept a headbutt from a minotaur and get tossed into the far end of a room.

These loud, thundering disturbances is enough to rouse Raven from her electrified stupor. Her fur's a mess and she glares at them for that, but the fact that her two weapons have been dispatched is not lost on her. "So you've gotten this far, have you hero? Thinking yourself worthy to face the Raven Ebondark!" Raven brushes her hair over her shoulder, except the static makes it cling to her hand so she has to fight it for a moment.

N-no matter! Raven brandishes her umbrella menacingly as she stands, seemingly about to come down and take on Mina herself. "You have courage, I'll give you that. Foiling my nefarious schemes, you must be an accomplished and experienced warrior. Tis merely a setback! Nothing can stop Raven Ebondark, Empress of the Earth!"

That's when Mina gets ambushed by Brent, coming in from behind, jumping at her back in an effort to grab the minotaur's arms and legs in an unwelcome hug. No killing blow, or even anything particularly damaging. But Raven is willing to bet it is incredibly distracting as the four mecha-zombies start hoofing it quite quickly, carrying Raven towards the open exit and the morgue truck whose engines just started. A hasty retreat in action.

[Ironsmith]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Wow Sai, it's almost like you sent someone with one week of training into a life threatening situation! Frankly if she didn't have some cheating with Libra's wish she'd probably just be dead right about now. And that parry and riposte was textbook, thank you very much.
Though for the record she had been planning on using that wind to fend off the second zombie but she'll just have to fend for herself. Before either of them has any time to react to the burst of wind Mina steps back, grabbing the zombie's thrusting arms by curling her own around them. With both their arms pinned, Mina delivers a headbutt to her foe and attempts to give it a proper throw across the room into the hard floor.
Sai, notably, did not teach her that.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The mecha-zombie samurai having crumpled to the floor is not particularly nimble. Might be heavier and more stable though. He nevertheless is easily flung into the palanquin bearers, who shift under the impact, but do not fold. They are much sturdier than they look. Also, it helps that there's two of them to distribute the blow as the body hits those in the front.

The ninja doesn't much like that Mina is capable of moving and dodging, let alone doing so and using her superior reach to stop his weapons. Unlike the katana, sais are rather close weapons. It doesn't much like anything for too much longer as Mina displays why you should never accept a headbutt from a minotaur and get tossed into the far end of a room.

These loud, thundering disturbances is enough to rouse Raven from her electrified stupor. Her fur's a mess and she glares at them for that, but the fact that her two weapons have been dispatched is not lost on her. "So you've gotten this far, have you hero? Thinking yourself worthy to face the Raven Ebondark!" Raven brushes her hair over her shoulder, except the static makes it cling to her hand so she has to fight it for a moment.

N-no matter! Raven brandishes her umbrella menacingly as she stands, seemingly about to come down and take on Mina herself. "You have courage, I'll give you that. Foiling my nefarious schemes, you must be an accomplished and experienced warrior. Tis merely a setback! Nothing can stop Raven Ebondark, Empress of the Earth!"

That's when Mina gets ambushed by Brent, coming in from behind, jumping at her back in an effort to grab the minotaur's arms and legs in an unwelcome hug. No killing blow, or even anything particularly damaging. But Raven is willing to bet it is incredibly distracting as the four mecha-zombies start hoofing it quite quickly, carrying Raven towards the open exit and the morgue truck whose engines just started. A hasty retreat in action.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Ha! Now that's using your... no, no, that's too cheesy even for me." Sai prepares an electric charge for Mina, in case she doesn't remember how to break this particular hold. "When you're done here, baddie's getting away. You might want to do something about that."

SSGTV

The orc's abs are pretty hard, though not as hard as his breastplate. He grunts, but he's not winded, and kicks out with a leg. He's overbalanced as he kicks out, since he's not really trained in brawling and doesn't have much experience either.

[SSGTV]

Unfortunately for him, Hana is trained in hand-to-hand combat, and knows exactly what sort of weakness he's presenting here. She steps out of the way, letting him stumble past her and making a quick chop at his knee, in an attempt to undermine his balance even further and cause him to fall to the floor.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina lets out a strained groan as the zombie gives her a hug right on the spot that's currently bleeding. Ooooww.
Mina swings her arms up to break the hold and perform another of her basic throws on the zombie to get him out of her hair. Should it be "out of her mane" now since her hair is technically almost everywhere?
She levels Sai to fire on the palanquin again. And fire she does! Though something occurs to her.
"Sai? Um. What am I supposed to do with a villain in a lawless city?" Because frankly with a bleeding bullet wound she isn't going to be able to chase down an escape van. And she's not going to if there isn't even anyone to arrest Raven! It's not like Mina's going to kill her.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

On one hand, the bandaged man would be happy to wait and see how the people behind the door will react to frantic knocking by the valets. On the other, by following him the valets have placed themselves on the path of angry Hazel. "Oh, this is going to get ugly...", the man mutters, trying to hold a hand out towards Hazel amidst the crowd. "Stop! What do you think you're doing?" People who can't see Hazel might think he's addressing the crowd, but the words are directed to her.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The orc falls over and starts climbing to his feet, slower than he'd like due to his broken arm, so Hana could probably hit him again before he gets up.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Given their different directions of travel, they could arrive outside Trust's room at the same time- though Sandals is possibly a bit quicker. Though Sandals isn't going to be arriving alone; the valets he warned dropped what they were doing and have joined him, and one stays outside of the room whilst two others continue down, knocking on the other doors to alert the occupants that there's some kind of emergency and they need to evacuate.

It's at this moment that the fire alarm starts to sound, a brazen bell drumming away.

If Hazel goes through the door and ignores Sandals, she'll have more luck than if Sandals tried it- the door is locked, and quite sturdy. On the other side, is a luxuriant space, some dull, unlit neon tubes set into the ceiling. A thick, plush carpet covers the floor and there's an antique iron lung resting against the back wall. A large armchair sits in the middle of the room, a copper tub resting above an extinguished brazier. The iron lung is wheezing away, chunking and chundering, as somebody is lying inside using it. There's also a pregnant human woman wearing a brass collar, currently sleeping in a bed she's pulled down from the wall. She's not got any sheets or blankets, however, and she's slowly waking up and getting out of bed.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

On one hand, the bandaged man would be happy to wait and see how the people behind the door will react to frantic knocking by the valets. On the other, by following him the valets have placed themselves on the path of angry Hazel. "Oh, this is going to get ugly...", the man mutters, trying to hold a hand out towards Hazel amidst the crowd. "Stop! What do you think you're doing?" People who can't see Hazel might think he's addressing the crowd, but the words are directed to her.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel doesn't care. She's found the object of her wrath and Sandels isn't going to distract her now.

On seeing that there's a bystander in the room with them, Hazel kicks open the door (or tries to; the lock might put up enough resistance to stop her) and shrieks out the only warning the woman is going to recieve. "GET OUT!" Her voice tears through the air like a wild dog mauling a carcass.

Then she turns her attention back to the iron lung, kicking it over in the hopes of spilling out its contents. "Think youhe all dat, do ya?" She demands. "Tink ya can just take whateva da hell ya want? Huht whoeva ya want? Tink nobody was watchin', nobody would cahe? THINK AGAIN!" She screams, grabbing the nearest heavy object (probably the brazier) and hurling it in a fit of rage. "YOU HURT MY WIFE, YOU SONUVA BITCH!"

SSGTV

The orc falls over and starts climbing to his feet, slower than he'd like due to his broken arm, so Hana could probably hit him again before he gets up.

[SSGTV]

Hana capitalizes on this and leaps onto him, her arm going to his throat. She won't apply any pressure yet, but it should be obvious to onlookers that her plan now is to choke him out.

Not that she really wants it to come to that.

"Come on. Tap out." She advises him quietly.