Skyside 8: Base Violence and Unnecessary Change

[Murkus]

[Searching for Truth]

"Well, I guess I'm in, then," Fettina says, scowling. She hadn't really been planning on it, but defeating Telly might make her feel a little better about her current condition. Unless Anika objects, Fettina will scoop all the junk out of the cabinet and into her arms. "What did you need from in here?"


"Actually, just-- hold that thought. Come on, let's go!" Fettina says, seeing what Ilpholin's doing and spying the advance of the pink mist. She will hop to join Ilpholin, and she'll do her one better - she starts to flap those enormous wings, pushing the clouds back with billowing gusts of air. But that will only work for so long before the room is just saturated. "We need to get out of here," says Tina. She looks around for the source of the voice. "Who's the freak?"

[Ironsmith]

[Abandoned Warehouse - some distance from Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man slinks into one of those abandoned warehouses, wondering on the way why no firefighters or the like have arrived to take care of the burning hotel. Civil order in this city leaves a lot to be desired. He wouldn't be surprised if the fire spreads to the warehouse and burns down a whole city block.

Once he's reasonably sure he's alone, he pulls out the flask Hazel's ghost is trapped in and holds it close to his face. "Bad news. Trust got away. I shot enough holes in him that it ought to be a piece of cake for the next Reaper in line to catch him. Sadly, I'm not sure there are any around. Should take him a while before he can do more than give people bad dreams."

He sets the flask down and takes a better look at his leg. "He did manage to stab me, though. With my own pen, out of all things. It will be slow, going forward. I lack energy to regenerate. I don't have a clue where your wife is, other than she's kept as a slave by someone in this city. Maybe I should just take you back to your body."

[Abandoned Warehouse]

For her part, Hazel is sort of just treading rum in the flask, looking up at Sandels as she's addressed. "We'll have ta deal wif Trust layda, I guess. But if we give up on findin' my wife now, dis whole trip willa come down to a waste. I can't accept dat."

Though she's not really in a great position to argue. Sandels literally holds her in the palm of his hand. If he decides to just take her back to Glass Lake, there's literally nothing she can do to stop him.

[Coming Up]

Raven tilts her head in thought. "Well I thought you meant torturing old people until they give up their senior citizen discount coupons or the heroes arrive, but I guess it can be used to stress test the mecha-zombies. I feel like that would be better handled at one of the other facilities. More room to work, more space for explosions, can be right near the factories. Just... seems to make more sense on a logistical level. But, uh, sure. Quality control right? Gotta make sure my babies won't squeal," Raven says going over to one and tracing its chest with a sigh. She's just kidding. She knows they would never betray her. Not unless someone forced them to.

And that person would pay dearly.

She turns back to Rose and smiles. "Well then, I suppose I should introduce you to our top acquisitions guy. He'll get you everything you could ever need. You probably saw him on your way up." If Rose is amenable to this, Raven will lead them both back down to the first floor.

[Coming Up]

"Ah, the old guys thing works too, I guess. Although if you already own everything, you could just not accept coupons and get the same effect." Rose shrugs. "Anyway... yeah. Acquisitions dude. I think I'm gonna want to get to know him... in a strictly professional sense, I mean. Well, you know, professional professional, not seductress professional." She grins and follows Raven down the stairs. "Unrelated, is that new lip gloss? Great taste on your part, in both senses of the word, heehee~♡"

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The dead cop is decapitated and collapses, both zombies slumping to the floor as the cop's head bounces and rolls and bites. Hana can't stay too focused on that, though, as the naked keyholder is close enough to try grabbing and biting at Hana.

The crawling zombie is also approaching, as is the fake Abbi. The builder and the bunnygirl are still quite a distance away, though the builder isn't too far behind the others.

Abandoned Warehouse Near (But Not Too Near) the Trust-Worthy Hotel

Fortunately, as the ability to circle the building proves, the Hotel wasn't immediately connected to another structure for the fire to spread to, and its concrete frame also helps the fire spreading. Nearby businesses are sending people to help out, however, though there's no actual fire brigade or fire engines or professional firefighters.

A rat in the warehouse crosses the floor, stops, turns to look at Sandals and cleans its whiskers, before scuttling off again and disappearing.

Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers

The Street is reasonably peaceful, well-patrolled and many of the individuals going about their business here are openly wealthy, quite unusual for Skyside. There's the standard shops, but also some information kiosks which might be what Michalson is looking for- unless he gets distracted, by the people walking around. Most of the shops selling people have some specimens outside to demonstrate their wares- the exception being the gloomy and fortified-looking Skyside Orphanage, with its spiked fence and narrow windows.

Some of the more notable individuals are a young human male with dark hair wearing a chainmail hauberk and denim jeans, a baton hanging at his belt. He's holding a bunch of bedraggled flowers. A tall woman with pale skin and blonde hair, wearing a long black dress and holding a silver chain, attached to the collar of a teenage boy holding a large parasol. An orc pushing a heated barrow and selling street food- including long pork sausages. A female drider is offering braided silk ropes and collars. A rhynoc wearing black body armour carries a mancatcher, the end hooked over the head of a struggling half-elf in ragged clothes, clutching in turn a fine handbag.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

"It's not about using the coupons, it's about taking the coupons. We clearly need to get you through some basic villain indoctrination courses. I can recommend a good place. Solid amount of indoctrination. 6.7 out of 8, would be brainwashed again." Raven daintily continues down the steps, not because she wants to walk daintily, but because these stairs are almost certainly not up to code and could collapse at any moment.

She smiles to herself. "Evil spice lip gloss. I knew you were coming so..." Raven blushes a little before pushing the door open to the first floor, heading over to one of the intact offices, winking at Rose and then slamming this door open as violently as she can.

Volus are not known for their abilities to jump, but Rose gets to see one do so anyways this day. "B-b-boss! What are you-"

"SILENCE!" The Volus falls quiet and Raven continues. "Right, so Rose this is... wait what was your name again?"

"It's-"

"You know what, it doesn't matter? This is our acquisitions guy. Acquisitions guy, this is Rose. My GIRLFRIEND. She's setting up the fifth floor so you're to get her anything she needs, understood?" Raven brushes some hair out of her face as she spends more time looking at Rose than the Volus.

"Kssh... Yes mis-"

"Oh yeah and she's also a spy who has been spying on us. She said she'd stop but she hasn't officially turned in her resignation on that yet so, you know, just keep that in mind and don't mess up."

"..."

Raven turns to Rose and claps her hands together gleefully. "Any questions?"

[Vahnavoi]

[Abandoned Warehouse Near (But Not Too Near) the Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The man leans back, weighing his options. "The lengths I go to for an assistant...", he mumbles to himself. If his assistant was here, he could just leave his body and hunt Trust down as easily as a rat. Though as he is right now, it would take some effort to catch even an actual rat. He gives a lazy look to the actual rodent scurrying away.

"... I'll give it one more shot before I head back down", he says, standing up. "Slavery is common and public in this city. That means there's some dedicated market place for them. I'll find it and then we'll see if there's any familiar faces there."

---

[Later: Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers]

In addition to the other fine folks, Michalson can spot a shady fellow in black leather boota, camo pants and a biker jacket with a prominent white emblem of snake biting its own tail on the back. His head and left hand are completely covered by bandages, while his right looks like it has been burned. He's waving around a silver flask and mumbling to himself. Even from a distance, the man reeks of smoke and toxic fumes.

"Well? See anything?", the bandaged man ask from Hazel's ghost. He's unstoppered the bottle so she can peek out and take a look around.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The dead cop is decapitated and collapses, both zombies slumping to the floor as the cop's head bounces and rolls and bites. Hana can't stay too focused on that, though, as the naked keyholder is close enough to try grabbing and biting at Hana.

The crawling zombie is also approaching, as is the fake Abbi. The builder and the bunnygirl are still quite a distance away, though the builder isn't too far behind the others.

[SSGTV]

Adrenaline keeps Hana on her feet as the keyholder lunged at her, allowing her the strength needed to make an upward slash toward his throat, as she brings her opposite foot around in an attempt to knock him off-balance. At this rate, all of her adversaries are going to be crawling... which works fine for her.

As for the other zombies, she might actually be about to be overwhelmed here. They're coming back-to-back and she's not sure how long she has before her energy runs out again. And this is only the second wave... what's going to come after her if she wins this one?

Abandoned Warehouse Near (But Not Too Near) the Trust-Worthy Hotel

Fortunately, as the ability to circle the building proves, the Hotel wasn't immediately connected to another structure for the fire to spread to, and its concrete frame also helps the fire spreading. Nearby businesses are sending people to help out, however, though there's no actual fire brigade or fire engines or professional firefighters.

A rat in the warehouse crosses the floor, stops, turns to look at Sandals and cleans its whiskers, before scuttling off again and disappearing.

Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers

The Street is reasonably peaceful, well-patrolled and many of the individuals going about their business here are openly wealthy, quite unusual for Skyside. There's the standard shops, but also some information kiosks which might be what Michalson is looking for- unless he gets distracted, by the people walking around. Most of the shops selling people have some specimens outside to demonstrate their wares- the exception being the gloomy and fortified-looking Skyside Orphanage, with its spiked fence and narrow windows.

Some of the more notable individuals are a young human male with dark hair wearing a chainmail hauberk and denim jeans, a baton hanging at his belt. He's holding a bunch of bedraggled flowers. A tall woman with pale skin and blonde hair, wearing a long black dress and holding a silver chain, attached to the collar of a teenage boy holding a large parasol. An orc pushing a heated barrow and selling street food- including long pork sausages. A female drider is offering braided silk ropes and collars. A rhynoc wearing black body armour carries a mancatcher, the end hooked over the head of a struggling half-elf in ragged clothes, clutching in turn a fine handbag.

[Abandoned Warehouse Near (But Not Too Near) the Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The man leans back, weighing his options. "The lengths I go to for an assistant...", he mumbles to himself. If his assistant was here, he could just leave his body and hunt Trust down as easily as a rat. Though as he is right now, it would take some effort to catch even an actual rat. He gives a lazy look to the actual rodent scurrying away.

"... I'll give it one more shot before I head back down", he says, standing up. "Slavery is common and public in this city. That means there's some dedicated market place for them. I'll find it and then we'll see if there's any familiar faces there."

---

[Later: Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers]

In addition to the other fine folks, Michalson can spot a shady fellow in black leather boota, camo pants and a biker jacket with a prominent white emblem of snake biting its own tail on the back. His head and left hand are completely covered by bandages, while his right looks like it has been burned. He's waving around a silver flask and mumbling to himself. Even from a distance, the man reeks of smoke and toxic fumes.

"Well? See anything?", the bandaged man ask from Hazel's ghost. He's unstoppered the bottle so she can peek out and take a look around.

[Street of Slavers]

"Nahthin' so fah." Hazel reports from inside the flask, looking out among the colorful cast of people wandering the street. "But dat might just be cuz I'm still stuck in da flask, heae. I know you'he leehy uv lettin' me owt, but I migh' be able ta see mohe if ya did."

Also? It's really cramped in there. The smell of rum isn't helping, either.

[Coming Up]

"It's not about using the coupons, it's about taking the coupons. We clearly need to get you through some basic villain indoctrination courses. I can recommend a good place. Solid amount of indoctrination. 6.7 out of 8, would be brainwashed again." Raven daintily continues down the steps, not because she wants to walk daintily, but because these stairs are almost certainly not up to code and could collapse at any moment.

She smiles to herself. "Evil spice lip gloss. I knew you were coming so..." Raven blushes a little before pushing the door open to the first floor, heading over to one of the intact offices, winking at Rose and then slamming this door open as violently as she can.

Volus are not known for their abilities to jump, but Rose gets to see one do so anyways this day. "B-b-boss! What are you-"

"SILENCE!" The Volus falls quiet and Raven continues. "Right, so Rose this is... wait what was your name again?"

"It's-"

"You know what, it doesn't matter? This is our acquisitions guy. Acquisitions guy, this is Rose. My GIRLFRIEND. She's setting up the fifth floor so you're to get her anything she needs, understood?" Raven brushes some hair out of her face as she spends more time looking at Rose than the Volus.

"Kssh... Yes mis-"

"Oh yeah and she's also a spy who has been spying on us. She said she'd stop but she hasn't officially turned in her resignation on that yet so, you know, just keep that in mind and don't mess up."

"..."

Raven turns to Rose and claps her hands together gleefully. "Any questions?"

[Coming Up]

Licorice, an evil spice? ...Eh, Rose had to admit Raven had a point on that one. And it seems to fit her either way.

Although that indoctrination thing earns a genuine, if small, frown from Rose. What's Raven implying there? That she herself git brainwashed at some point? That's actually kind of sad. And regardless, Rose wouldn't want to subject herself to it anyway.

When Raven introduces Rose to the Volus, she gives him a friendly little wave, in deliberate contrast to Raven getting her evil overlady on. It can't hurt to make the contrast obvious as soon as possible: cold ruthless tyrant, warm friendly subordinate. Got it, good.

At the bit about her being a spy, Rose just give an innocent shrug and a little giggle, playing it up for the Volus's benefit. What? Who's the spy? Little old her? Couldn't be! (But it obviously is. Raven's not going to be wrong about something like that.)

And finally, questions!

"Mm... nah, I think we're good. Acquis and I shouldn't have any problems coordinating from here on." She smiles and leans into Raven just a little bit. "Speaking of which, where could I find you around eight? Now that I'm out, there's a whole bunch of cool things I can show you."

[Morty]

[Later: Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers]

Michalson (or whatever cover name he's using here) has no real reason to notice the man yet and has no means of perceiving the spirit accompanying him. Or rather he does, but he's not using it right now. But the two will likely hear him asking various slave traders about a woman matching Hana's description.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Well, they doubled the last wave (and added a rather unfortunate keyholder who lowered his guard because the bunnygirl was hobbling so badly in her high heels), so hopefully round three isn't twelve zombies.

The keyholder collapses backwards, his knee popped out of his socket as the machete blade slashes up into the keyholder's lower jaw and slices through it, spraying teeth, gooey blood and chunks of tongue as it falls over backwards. The crawler is now the next closer zombie, reaching for Hana's ankle and pulling itself forwards using it as leverage. It might pull Hana over, which would be unfortunate with the imitation Abbi just behind, even if the crawler doesn't get to bite Hana's ankle.

Street of Slavers

One of the information kiosks can help, the pretty young woman behind the counter smiling at Michalson and turning on a television... showing Hana in an arena swinging a machete into a naked eunuch's jaw and knocking him off-balance whilst a legless corpse drags itself closer and grabs at her ankle. "Is this who you mean, sir? The Crazy Bat Lady, usually she uses a razorwire-wrapped bat, but this is a deathmatch. This is round two, she's killed or disabled five already. Would you be interested in hiring her for some... personal entertainment? It can be arranged. She's been quite prolific with regards to these matches; this is her third in the last day. She's won the last two, though this might be it. She fell over after the first round." Or about a day, she and Abbi haven't been gladiators for long, though Abbi's only had one fight.

[Vahnavoi]

[Street of slavers]

The bandaged man stops listening at "nahthin" and keeps wandering around. Part of it may be just bloodloss, but it's hard for him to stay focused - he's still not used to not being the weirdest living thing around. He stops to stare at the rhynoc for a moment, before moving on.

Eventually, he ends up overhearing Michalson-in-disguise asking around for Hana. This catches his attention and he sneaks closer. Events on the TV screen tell nothing to him, so he just points the flask at it so Hazel can see.

[Ironsmith]

[Later: Slaver's Guild- Street of Slavers]

Michalson (or whatever cover name he's using here) has no real reason to notice the man yet and has no means of perceiving the spirit accompanying him. Or rather he does, but he's not using it right now. But the two will likely hear him asking various slave traders about a woman matching Hana's description.

Street of Slavers

One of the information kiosks can help, the pretty young woman behind the counter smiling at Michalson and turning on a television... showing Hana in an arena swinging a machete into a naked eunuch's jaw and knocking him off-balance whilst a legless corpse drags itself closer and grabs at her ankle. "Is this who you mean, sir? The Crazy Bat Lady, usually she uses a razorwire-wrapped bat, but this is a deathmatch. This is round two, she's killed or disabled five already. Would you be interested in hiring her for some... personal entertainment? It can be arranged. She's been quite prolific with regards to these matches; this is her third in the last day. She's won the last two, though this might be it. She fell over after the first round." Or about a day, she and Abbi haven't been gladiators for long, though Abbi's only had one fight.

[Street of slavers]

The bandaged man stops listening at "nahthin" and keeps wandering around. Part of it may be just bloodloss, but it's hard for him to stay focused - he's still not used to not being the weirdest living thing around. He stops to stare at the rhynoc for a moment, before moving on.

Eventually, he ends up overhearing Michalson-in-disguise asking around for Hana. This catches his attention and he sneaks closer. Events on the TV screen tell nothing to him, so he just points the flask at it so Hazel can see.

[Street of Slavers]

"Uh... dude? You doin' allright?" Hazel looks over towards Sandels as best she can, not quite managing to get her head around the rim of the flask. "You don' sound like you'he doin' too h- wait wait wait, is that...?"

Hazel presses against the rim of the flask and stares out at the TV, watching her wife chop through a naked zombie's jaw. "Dat's her! Hana! She's-"

Oh.

Crap.

She's only a few minutes away from death. Less if this isn't a live broadcast.

That can't be good.

SSGTV
Well, they doubled the last wave (and added a rather unfortunate keyholder who lowered his guard because the bunnygirl was hobbling so badly in her high heels), so hopefully round three isn't twelve zombies.

The keyholder collapses backwards, his knee popped out of his socket as the machete blade slashes up into the keyholder's lower jaw and slices through it, spraying teeth, gooey blood and chunks of tongue as it falls over backwards. The crawler is now the next closer zombie, reaching for Hana's ankle and pulling itself forwards using it as leverage. It might pull Hana over, which would be unfortunate with the imitation Abbi just behind, even if the crawler doesn't get to bite Hana's ankle.

[SSGTV]

Oh, that's not good.

Hana knew she'd have to deal with the crawler eventually. But with it well below her eyeline, she'd almost lost track of it until it gets its fingers on her ankle.

Which presents a bit of a problem. She's not actually especially well-equipped to handle a zombie trying to take chunks out of her leg, save for the guards around her shins. Which might protect her from the immediate threat of biting, but not the dangers of having her foot caught in place while the other zombies approach her.

Fortunately, she sees the danger shortly after being grabbed and drops to one knee to respond quickly, slashing her machete at the zombie's wrist. She wants to cut herself free first and worry about finishing it off afterwards. If she kills it and it's still attached to her, she'll be hauling around disturbingly literal dead weight; not exactly an advantage in her current situation.

[Morty]

[Street of slavers]

Well, bugger this for a lark. There's the woman Michalson is looking for, but it looks like she's got one leg in the dead-book already. Just his luck, isn't it.

"Oh, aye. That's her. But it seems I might be just a tad late."

[Earl of Purple]

Street of Slavers

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. I don't know how many rounds there are; nobody does. If you can get to the warehouse and talk to the gladiatrix, and offer enough to hire her, they might end the match after this round. You want to go down the alleyway between the Orphanage and EXOTIC, the warehouse on the left. You want the small door with the bell; ring it, ask for Itotia. Who should I tell her is asking?" The woman in the information booth lifts up a telephone receiver and starts dialling a number.

The scene below continues to run on the screen.

SSGTV

Hana can dis-hand the crawler, which also serves to slow it down as the thing relied on its hands to pull itself around. It continues trying to grab and scratch Hana with its other hand, but if she moves a scant few steps she can get outside its reach and give herself a moment to catch her breathe (if she needs it) or otherwise a moment to ready herself before the Abbi imitation reaches for Hana and tries to grab and push her down so it can fall atop her and start to bite.

The builder with the row of heavy-duty nails in its torso is also lumbering up behind, not that far away- unlike the playboy bunnygirl, which has stumbled on its ludicrous heels and broken an ankle. It's stood up again, but now it drags its right foot behind it and totters even more unbalanced. The fresh injury doesn't bleed, despite the shards of bone poking through flesh.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

Great. The spy is peppy and warm and friendly. Great. Acquis cannot be seen closing his eyes to fight off a headache and the exasperated sigh is just part of his normal breathing. But then he has this kind of reaction every day! He should learn to love his new evil job more.

"I'll be up on the seventh floor tinkering probably. My office is up there. And workbench. And desk. They're both very sturdy." Raven smirks a little as she twirls to skip out of the room and back upstairs, hips swaying just a little more than usual. Tail twitches continue to give her away, though her emotions have never been very hard to read.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

"Well, I guess I'm in, then," Fettina says, scowling. She hadn't really been planning on it, but defeating Telly might make her feel a little better about her current condition. Unless Anika objects, Fettina will scoop all the junk out of the cabinet and into her arms. "What did you need from in here?"


"Actually, just-- hold that thought. Come on, let's go!" Fettina says, seeing what Ilpholin's doing and spying the advance of the pink mist. She will hop to join Ilpholin, and she'll do her one better - she starts to flap those enormous wings, pushing the clouds back with billowing gusts of air. But that will only work for so long before the room is just saturated. "We need to get out of here," says Tina. She looks around for the source of the voice. "Who's the freak?"

[Searching for Truth]

Huh. How did Anika and this angel know each other? Well, certainly something to ask when things were a little less exciting.

Ilpholin had honestly been expecting the zombie to throw itself at her earlier. Must have been a delayed response. Zombies are a little slow on the draw. It isn't particularly hard to duck to one side, the hand not holding Lumine turning into a blade looking to sever the zombie's head at the neck as she sidesteps it. If she can off this zombie and make Lumine feel real danger, that mini-horde just outside might break down the doors for them. Which would save her and Anika a lot of hassle later to be honest. So for now, Ilpholin will consider that the plan.

Hopefully that happens sooner than later too. A concerning pink mist was talking to them, promising them untold... well, it's untold. "Anika! Angel Chick! Don't let that demon mist touch you," Ilpholin recommends. She's not sure how well they can prevent that from happening, but she'll stall for as long as she can, starting by moving towards the door, away from where the mist was entering, ducking around the zombie a second time if she must. Secondly, her blade is going to shift up until it's practically two perpendicular blades. Blades that begin to turn. It's a fan! Well not as fast as a normal fan would be, this is really awkward for Ilpholin to do, especially for any extended time. But it's still generating some pushing wind. Back pink mist! Stay out of Ilpholin's body.

[Searching for Truth]

"You guess you're in?!" Anika starts as she sees the the room quickly filling up with that awful pink gas. She'd continue but stops herself. Not the time.
Gee, Tina. Were you considering just abandoning us here with this stupid gas demon?! Is left unsaid.

She then bolts towards the door and as she runs she raises her arms and forms her hands into cups which seem to cause green orbs to appear. The mercenaries and the zombie are immediately entangled as green vines just emerge out of nowhere. They seemingly sprouted from the floor but its actually undamaged so its probably just pure magic. Like summoning creatures out of nowhere.

Nonetheless, this does help Ilpholin as even as she manages to cut off the zombies head it still persists and was attempting to lunge for her again until the vines suddenly ensnared it. But it continues to struggle against them even as the pink mist completely engulfs it while Ilpholin retreats.

Lumine's screaming persists and it does sound like the skeletons outside are attempting to break in now. But the doors seemed pretty tough, likely made to contain the things summoned inside here, so its doubtful if they would be able to using only their skeletal fists and rackets.

"****, should have known it was too good to be true!" One of the entangled mercenaries swears.

"Shut up!" Anika quickly retorts before turning to Tina.
"And that's Ilpholin. She's awesome so you better be nice, okay?"

The gas has made a quick advance towards the group during this time but Tina and Ilpholin's combined efforts are pushing it back.
The issue is that it's also advancing towards them from above and below so while its enough for now its unlikely they will manage to keep it at bay forever. It's always at their feet it seems.

"So chaste." The voice sings in their ears, once again seemingly coming from everywhere at once. Tina's ears aren't as well trained as Ilpholin's but she can still tell that it sounds closer now. All too close.
"What about this, we'll all have some fun together and then I'll let you go? I've been so terribly lonely in here and you all make me wild from just looking at." It continues, its desires laid plain by the tone of its voice alone.

[Vahnavoi]

[Street of Slavers]

The bandaged man is about to bitingly retort that of course he's not fine, he's been stabbed thrice today already, but before he gets a word, Hazel's shocked reaction confirms they've found what they're looking for.

Good! But why is this old pointy-eared dude interested in her as well?

The man hastily re-stoppers the flask and shoves it in his pocket, preventing Hazel from seeing how the match is going. He then taps Michalson-in-disguise on the shoulder. "Excuse me. Couldn't help but overhear. I happen to be interested in that slave too. I'd be willing to split the cost required to spare them... if they just accept some of these." He pulls out what spheres (gem-embedded glass balls) remain in his possession and a shows them to Michalson.

[Ironsmith]

[Street of slavers]

Well, bugger this for a lark. There's the woman Michalson is looking for, but it looks like she's got one leg in the dead-book already. Just his luck, isn't it.

"Oh, aye. That's her. But it seems I might be just a tad late."

Street of Slavers

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. I don't know how many rounds there are; nobody does. If you can get to the warehouse and talk to the gladiatrix, and offer enough to hire her, they might end the match after this round. You want to go down the alleyway between the Orphanage and EXOTIC, the warehouse on the left. You want the small door with the bell; ring it, ask for Itotia. Who should I tell her is asking?" The woman in the information booth lifts up a telephone receiver and starts dialling a number.

The scene below continues to run on the screen.

[Street of Slavers]

The bandaged man is about to bitingly retort that of course he's not fine, he's been stabbed thrice today already, but before he gets a word, Hazel's shocked reaction confirms they've found what they're looking for.

Good! But why is this old pointy-eared dude interested in her as well?

The man hastily re-stoppers the flask and shoves it in his pocket, preventing Hazel from seeing how the match is going. He then taps Michalson-in-disguise on the shoulder. "Excuse me. Couldn't help but overhear. I happen to be interested in that slave too. I'd be willing to split the cost required to spare them... if they just accept some of these." He pulls out what spheres (gem-embedded glass balls) remain in his possession and a shows them to Michalson.

[Street of Slavers]

"Hey! Not cool, dude!" Hazel protests from behind the stopper, but there's not really a whole lot else she can do about it. And Sandels is probably right to not walk into this encounter with her in full display like that. She can almost stomach it if she thinks of herself as the ace in the hole, so to speak.

But that still leaves her treading rum in a sealed container, with no way of seeing and very little way of hearing what's happening outside. She can only hang tight until Sandels decides to let her out.

SSGTV

Hana can dis-hand the crawler, which also serves to slow it down as the thing relied on its hands to pull itself around. It continues trying to grab and scratch Hana with its other hand, but if she moves a scant few steps she can get outside its reach and give herself a moment to catch her breathe (if she needs it) or otherwise a moment to ready herself before the Abbi imitation reaches for Hana and tries to grab and push her down so it can fall atop her and start to bite.

The builder with the row of heavy-duty nails in its torso is also lumbering up behind, not that far away- unlike the playboy bunnygirl, which has stumbled on its ludicrous heels and broken an ankle. It's stood up again, but now it drags its right foot behind it and totters even more unbalanced. The fresh injury doesn't bleed, despite the shards of bone poking through flesh.

[SSGTV]

Oh, that's unfortunate. Hana's just glad the real Abbi can't see this; she'd probably be a bit insulted by what comes next.

Hana lets herself get grabbed, extending her arms in front if her to seize the cheap knockoff's neck and prevent her from biting, twisting her weight around so that they'll fall on ther sides instead of on her back. From there, it's not much further until she can try to mount the zombie herself, holding the machete at either end as she attempts to guillotine the imitation Abbi's head off.

All while the other zombies are still approaching, of course.

[Coming Up]

Great. The spy is peppy and warm and friendly. Great. Acquis cannot be seen closing his eyes to fight off a headache and the exasperated sigh is just part of his normal breathing. But then he has this kind of reaction every day! He should learn to love his new evil job more.

"I'll be up on the seventh floor tinkering probably. My office is up there. And workbench. And desk. They're both very sturdy." Raven smirks a little as she twirls to skip out of the room and back upstairs, hips swaying just a little more than usual. Tail twitches continue to give her away, though her emotions have never been very hard to read.

[Coming Up]

Rose smirks and giggles to herself as Raven transparently flirts with her on the way out. Good to see she was comfortable saying such things around her minions; that would give Rose a lot more opportunity to do the same if she needs to.

With that thought in her head, she turns back to Acquis, crossing her arms and quickly switching into all-business mode. "Okay, buddy. I'm sorry to say I'm not about to make your job any easier, but do this right and I can hook you up with some proper benefits. Like, I dunno, what kinds of things does a guy like you want to see in the workplace?"

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

Lumine's screaming is getting all too tiresome. So Ilpholin squeezes down tight, cruelly so, hoping to crush the pixie's wings before flinging Lumine free directly into the mist demon. A sacrifice in the hopes to buy them time, or an experiment to see what'll happen if the mist does get them, or both.

Either way, it doesn't seem like the undead have any muscle behind their bones, other than the one zombie that just tried to devour her. So Ilpholin turns to the door, letting Tina take over wing flapping. "Feel free to holy smite it any time," the exotic dancer suggests. Holy smiting things would solve a lot of problems.

But in case it doesn't or Tina won't or can't, Bellana's arms join together to form a heavy looking two-handed fireman's axe that she starts swinging upon the door with excessive force. Maybe she can weaken it enough that a Bear can smash through. It's meant to hold a summon, but not necessarily three... maybe.

[Coming Up]

The Volus just stares at Rose for a moment then looks over beside her and up at the ceiling. A moment later a piece of plaster falls down and breaks right where he's looking, making a small mess on the floor.

"Kssh... I can't imagine. But rather than buying a nice place with her vast reserves and setting up shop there, the boss was adamant about this..." The Volus looks around making sure no one else is listening which is silly because it's a small office room and the walls or so thin right now everyone can hear him and Rose is a spy. Raven went over this. "Dump."

"But the question of the day seems to be what it is that YOU want Mrs. Rose. Kssh..." The Volus turns to the computer, prepared to take down Rose's requests so that he may begin collecting those things. Or at least telling his network to collect those things.

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

The Volus just stares at Rose for a moment then looks over beside her and up at the ceiling. A moment later a piece of plaster falls down and breaks right where he's looking, making a small mess on the floor.

"Kssh... I can't imagine. But rather than buying a nice place with her vast reserves and setting up shop there, the boss was adamant about this..." The Volus looks around making sure no one else is listening which is silly because it's a small office room and the walls or so thin right now everyone can hear him and Rose is a spy. Raven went over this. "Dump."

"But the question of the day seems to be what it is that YOU want Mrs. Rose. Kssh..." The Volus turns to the computer, prepared to take down Rose's requests so that he may begin collecting those things. Or at least telling his network to collect those things.

[Coming Up]

"It's a bit of a fixer-upper, yeah." Rose concedes, nodding her head back and forth. "But you can't put a price on sentimental value. I mean, you can, and it's usually worthwhile because that's a very high value, so I guess it's really more 'the sentimental value made it a steal'." She shrugs and gives the Volus a little hug around the shoulders. "Besides, fixing this place up is why she's got you, right? And when we're all done, you'll be able to look around at what used to be a dump and think 'yeah, I helped build that'." She smiles. "Speaking of which, here's what I'm going to need..."

Oh.

Wow.

Whatever she's got in mind is pretty elaborate. Her wishlist reads like it's for the unholy cross between a gym, a chemistry laboratory, and a zoo. The contractors are probably going to be able to retire when they're done, if Raven or Rose wouldn't prefer to kill or wipe them to keep the layout of the building secret.

"Oh, and one more thing." She smiles. "It's just a little nitpick, but my name is either Miss Verdoyant or just Rose. Missus Verdoyant was my mother. Don't get it mixed up again, okay?"

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

Michalson turns around, slowly, then looks at the man who just caught his attention. Someone else wants to buy her? Is it for the professed reason of "personal use" (Powers, his skin is crawling just thinking about it) or is this berk also running a peel? He needs to play along either way.

"Aye. Reckon it might be cheaper. And I reckon they accept just any kind of jink around 'ere. But we best hurry before she's written in the dead-book."

[Vahnavoi]

[Street of Slavers]

"Yeah, would be a real shame if she got eaten by zombies when we aren't even watching", the bandaged man responds laconically, looking at the TV screen. He takes the smallest value sphere and flicks it towards the woman running the kiosk. "Thanks for the tip. You can tell Itotia that General Sandels and associates are asking." He then turns to Michalson-in-disguise. "I hope you know which place is the orphanage and so forth, because I don't."

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

"Name's Garrick," Michalson says. After some deliberation he decided to use a fake name while up in Skyside. Back in the day he often used his real name in such situations, since using a fake one can cause hesitation in the wrong moment. But it's different now. "She said the warehouse on the left, so that's where we ought to go, I think."

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

"Sentimentality is best sold, not bought." Classic Volus mentality. Acquis is not interested in the pride that comes with fixing up a building! There are better things to be proud about. Well, whatever. That's the job of the mecha-zombies anyways. He's just to make sure they have the materials they need.

Such as "... a two hundred pound barbell, elephant tranquilizers, and four Bunsen burners. Got it... Miss Verdoyant." Not exactly Sunday shopping, but nothing that can't be handled easily enough in this city. The Volus can't fault Skyside's trade potential. There's rumors of a new shipping company floating out there too. Magzon Prime? It's been surprisingly hard to find information on, so Acquis can't imagine it a very good shipping company.

"You're looking at two to three days before we can get all of that here, but it'll get done."

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The imitation Abbi is pulled over, and Hana is able to move it around, onto the corpse's back. It reaches up to scratch and tear at Hana's torso, possibly damaging her top, the head biting- until the machete crunches through the spine. Then the arms go limp and the head rolls away, still biting at air.

The builder is crunching forward in his steel-toed boots, reaching down for Hana's hair to pull her up as the zombie bends down, a large spike driven through its forearm weakening its grip but making close combat a trickier proposition, especially with grappling.

Street of Slavers

The kiosk's occupant catches the clearchip and pockets it. "You won't be able to buy. Gladiators are never sold. But you could rent her, for whatever task, so long as she's returned alive. If you want a pleasure slave, GIRLS is over there- or MALE over there, depending on your taste." She points at two shops that are opposite each other.

Off they go to the warehouse, as the informant behind them talks on the telephone. It's down the alleyway between the orphanage and EXOTIC, a blank warehouse with a large radio antennae sticking from the roof. It has several doors, though one does in fact have the bell that was specified. There's also a pile of rubbish nearby; rusted chains, broken manacles, the broken haft of a spear, and similar junk just dumped in the alleyway out of sight.

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

Michalson almost feels at home in this place. The dirty, trash-filled underbelly more "respectable" citizens don't want to look at. There's such a place everywhere in the multiverse. "Garrick" rings the bell and waits.

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

"Sentimentality is best sold, not bought." Classic Volus mentality. Acquis is not interested in the pride that comes with fixing up a building! There are better things to be proud about. Well, whatever. That's the job of the mecha-zombies anyways. He's just to make sure they have the materials they need.

Such as "... a two hundred pound barbell, elephant tranquilizers, and four Bunsen burners. Got it... Miss Verdoyant." Not exactly Sunday shopping, but nothing that can't be handled easily enough in this city. The Volus can't fault Skyside's trade potential. There's rumors of a new shipping company floating out there too. Magzon Prime? It's been surprisingly hard to find information on, so Acquis can't imagine it a very good shipping company.

"You're looking at two to three days before we can get all of that here, but it'll get done."

[Coming Up]

Rose raises an eyebrow. "Acquis, if you can manage to get all of that upstairs in two or three days, you're an actual wizard." She grins and gives the Volus an affectionate peck on the forehead. "Get it done in time and there's more where that came from." She adds flirtily, giving him a coy little wave as she retreats up the stairs.

She doubts he needs the motivation. She also doubts that will count as motivation. The Volus probably likes living too much to fool around with Raven's girlfriend. But if this buys more time for Rose to figure out what she actually wants to do, so much the better.

SSGTV

The imitation Abbi is pulled over, and Hana is able to move it around, onto the corpse's back. It reaches up to scratch and tear at Hana's torso, possibly damaging her top, the head biting- until the machete crunches through the spine. Then the arms go limp and the head rolls away, still biting at air.

The builder is crunching forward in his steel-toed boots, reaching down for Hana's hair to pull her up as the zombie bends down, a large spike driven through its forearm weakening its grip but making close combat a trickier proposition, especially with grappling.

[SSGTV]

Before today, Hana had no idea what being dragged up by her hair by a zombie construction worker felt like. The short version is "unpleasant". The longer version involves a short yelp of pain, followed by a horizontal swing at the zombie's wrist.

Meanwhile, her top (as it is) is torn to tatters by the pseudo-Abbi, leaving her exposed from the waist up. If she were someone else and her circumstances were different, the sudden exposure in front of a crowd might be her biggest worry, but here, Hana's finding herself disconcerted at the amount of bitable surface area this leaves available to the remaining zombies. Not good.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

"I am second to none when it comes to the matter of logistics," the Volus replies proudly. He definitely a hundred percent did not want Rose to give him any more kisses. There's no way he's going to flirt with death like that. Well... more so than he's already being forced to do. But when it comes to what he does, he does it well and enjoys the praise.

Rose can find Raven in the 'Executive Suite', Raven's office being large and unfinished. There, Raven is working some complex mathematical equation on the fourth whiteboard in a line of six. The whiteboard with all her evil schemes that Rose took a picture of is still in the room, just over in the far corner, tilted at an angle on the floor with some papers. If whiteboards could feel, this one would feel discarded, at least, momentarily. There is also a mahogany desk and a workbench as Raven claimed, both covered in tools.

[Vahnavoi]

[Street of Slavers]

Michalson almost feels at home in this place. The dirty, trash-filled underbelly more "respectable" citizens don't want to look at. There's such a place everywhere in the multiverse. "Garrick" rings the bell and waits.

"General Sandels" is also reminded of home by this place, but not of any parts of said home that he ever actually liked. While they wait for someone to answer the bell, he gives the disguised detective a better look. "So, Garlic... what do you want to do with that girl? Sounds like they'll only lend her to us on a temporary basis. A bummer, I was hoping for one-and-done deal. Really have no interest coming here frequently." Though with Trust's miserable spirit on the loose, zombies on the TV and general misery, this city might deserve a few more exorcisms and buildings burning down.

[Murkus]

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah, I guess!" Fettina squawks back at Anika. "I'm not exactly flush with options here! What, you want me to be happy about it? I don't like that bitch Telly, but I'm not obsessed with revenge either! I'm not a crazy person! Maybe we oughta just think about getting the hell out of here, instead?"

"Hi," Tina grumps offhandedly to Ilpholin as magic flies around and the three of them settle into position. She glowers into the mist, trying to ignore the sultry presence behind it. "I'm not exactly too experienced with the whole smiting thing. And what little I can do, I need to be able to see something to smite at it. I can't see anything in all this pink garbage!"

She glances behind her once, twice. "Okay, if we're going through the door, I'm gonna turn and smite that on three. Gonna have to be fast!"

If the ladies don't have any better ideas, Fettina is going to shout 'Three!' in a couple of seconds and whirl to shoulder charge the door. Aiming herself squarely at where a lock would be, using her strength and durability to crush it open.

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

Michalson really hates what he's about to say. But he has to stick to his cover story.

"Nothin' special. She's a scrappy muscular type. I like to see such girls bein' humble, if you know what I mean," he says. It's... not quite authentic. He's laying the an act of a smarmy creep on just a bit too thick. "What do you want with her?"

[Vahnavoi]

[Street of Slavers]

"Keep her from immediate and short-term peril of death", Sandels says, deadpan. He lazily scans the detective from head to toe, before losing interest and turning to look at the door. "For which what you'll do will work just fine. Whatever gets it up for you, I'm pretty sure is pretty soft compared to a deathmatch against living dead."

The man leans heavily against the building wall, arms crossed. Michalson might notice there are small holes and bloodstains on his pants, as well as one hole through his boot. The stains aren't expanding and the blood's drying, so his injuries have been treated, but the stains are fresh enough that it's clear he was stabbed recently and hasn't had a chance to change clothes.