No Time for Arguing! Head for the Showdown! (2Gen, Invite)

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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Fri Mar 21, 2008 5:16 pm

Sorune considered his own role in this. On the one hand, he could help find survivors...and heal them along with Solis. On the other...Solis was a specialist, whereas Sorune was a dabbler. And the children seemed to be in good hands. That...left tracking down this man, Ahearn Osman.

"I'll find him, if he's run off. However, I'll need more than a name...if Redda can communicate with me, that'd be best. But if she's too weak to talk with anyone but Zea, it'll be...more than tricky. In fact, with the forest burned and no animals around to ask, I'd say it'd be near impossible."

Sorune looked at Zea expectantly for an answer to the problem-he was honestly hoping to take Redda onto himself, if for no other reason than to seperate her from Zea.

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Unread postby Kai » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:48 pm

Entering the house, Cerene found herself picking over a clay-plastered scorched mess. The house was probably not very safe anymore, and they'd likely gotten to it just before the air inside ran out and the fire finally exploded out into the night in the blast that would destroy the structure utterly.

The layout of the building was fairly simple. She stepped into a large foyer, and once inside she could go either right or left or forward. Forward led to the crumbling and blackened remains of a sitting room, while the left and right led to hallways. Each ended in a flight of stairs, the right leading up and the left leading down. On the ground floor she didn't see any corpses as she passed, so it was possible that the children outside were at least most of the population of the house.

When Michael knelt down in front of them and asked for their names, the children looked at one another somewhat anxiously. A couple of them cast a glance over to the blue-haired young woman who'd claimed association with Redda. The boy who spoke was probably about ten. "I'm Ezra, this is Juris, this is Laszlo, and the girls over there are Ngaio, Regina, and Joey," he said, pointing at various children in their turn. "The baby is Joella, and the boy holding her is Pétur, and over there are also Ibrahim, Ourania, and Jenn."

Ezra turned back to Michael. "Who're you?"

Zea frowned and absently bit one thumbnail at Sorune's request. "I don't think she has the energy to guide you. I don't think she could even...well..." She looked to the side of Sorune, and then up and around as if searching the ground and air for Redda. Finally Zea seemed to find her somewhere near the singed treeline. She shook her head. "She's too weak to do it on her own, but if you really want to do this... I can help her get to you."

She hesitated to explain how. Fact was the young necromancer was apprehensive about allowing some strange ghost to attach itself to her friend in any capacity. She looked from Redda to Sorune, trying to reconcile several conflicting urges in her mind. Did she want to help this ghost at the expense of Sorune's comfort? He didn't know what he was getting into if he started allowing things like this, but it was just a one-time thing after all, and he was essentially requesting it.

"Oh, all right," Zea said. She flicked her fingers at the ghost, beckoning her forward. "Now you hold on," the medium told the spirit. "When we're ready for you, you'll know." Zea closed her eyes a couple of times, trying to focus on Redda's aura, and Sorune's and the parts of her own that could span both boundaries. The connection between the astral and the plane of shadow was one bridge, and the connection between Zea's astral self and Sorune's was another.

Refusing to dwell on the potential awkwardness of it, Zea reached up to the taller man and placed both hands on either side of his face, the fingertips of both hands curling over his jaw. She forced back distractions, little ones. What she was doing. Why she was doing it. How warm his skin was compared to John, the only 'living' creature she touched with any regularity these days. With great care and a few long, even breaths, Zea started to open herself more cautiously to the presence and influence of this one specific spirit. At the same time she found the shifting planes of Sorune's aura that responded to her own, and forced the two to make contact.

As Redda forced her way through Zea and into Sorune, the girl grimaced at the uncomfortable straining and stretching that came with allowing a ghost to pass into and immediately out of her. Sorune sensed Redda driving into him from Zea, and it felt for a moment as though his body were not big enough for the two of them. Legs, fingers, eyes, all only built for one person. For a brief span it felt as though he could be squeezed out of his own body until Redda settled in with him somewhere around the edges. Not only was there another presence inside every part of his body, he could feel her lurking in his mind like a veneer over his own thoughts. From her he could glean many crudely-transferred emotions. Bitterness, anger, grief and even fear. While such things might be typical of the recently-dead, the way things had happened couldn't possibly have helped.

Sorune heard a faint whisper, as though one woman were trying to shout over a crowd of his own shouting thoughts. "East. Toward the sunrise."

Then he heard fainter words, as though he were picking a conversation out of a crowd. It was Zea, standing immediately before him. She was saying something to him, or to Redda. "--out of him when we're done, I won't help you anymore."

Sorune felt a silent assent from the ghost that twisted inside him, fear and frustration stretching down through his blood vessels and into the furthest reaches of his flesh. Redda's feelings were his feelings, but only to a certain extent. "I'll go," came those maddenly faint words inside his mind. Then a burst of anger. "But find him. You find him."

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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:01 am

Sorune was regretting it almost instantly, but he knew why he did it...he was just wondering how Zea handled it, like, ever. He was having to resist this urge to scratch at his arms until they bled, let some of the -pressure- out. But...he'd manage.

We'll find him, miss Redda. I'll make sure of it-I've got some skill at finding those that don't want to be found, especially if they ignore our little woodland friends.

"I'll come back safe, don't you worry. You take care of these children."

And with that, Sorune was off to the east in search of the mystery fire-starter, on his mound of dirt again. Not as fast as before, though...he was having to get used to sharing a brain.

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Unread postby Kelne » Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:41 am

Cerene went right, towards the stairs leading up, checking rooms as she went. Her ears were pricked for any sound beyond the steady tink of slowly cooling clay, and her eyes swept for any auras, however faint. This brought back shades of Rivaran. So many dead, burned in the streets, in their homes.

The fact that this was on a much smaller scale didn't help. There would be at least one body in here, maybe more. But if there were survivors, she would find them.

Some people, she reflected, didn't deserve power over fire.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:59 am

"My name is Michael. Can anyone here tell me where the nearest town is?"

Again, he wanted to keep their minds busy for a little bit. More than that, though, he needed to figure out a place to take them where they would be taken in. Putting an orphanage in the middle of a forest by itself had been a questionable decision; He wondered idly how they get the supplies they needed on a regular basis.

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Unread postby Archmage » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:42 pm

"Yes ma'am!" Zeke had replied with a salute. When it really came down to it, as much of a free spirit as Zeke was, most of his work relied on other people being able to give him concrete tasks to perform. Granted, he liked to handle the details himself, but without a specific goal, the mercenary had a tendency to drift around aimlessly, philandering and carousing. It was rare that he chose his accomplishments to pursue, aside from the most general--make money, get laid, rinse and repeat.

It was interesting that Zea apparently needed his services as a mage, as he was more frequently enlisted as a hired gun or stealth operative. The idea of having someone specifically request his participation in some sort of mystical ritual was amusing, but also somewhat nerve-wrecking. He hoped that he could live up to Zea's expectations. Casting spells was actually somewhat difficult for Zeke; he was capable, of course, but he was not terrifically sensitive to the ebb and flow of the astral plane, which meant that casting spells beyond the rotes that he had practiced over and over was akin to pulling dragon's teeth in terms of difficulty. It required a great deal of focus for Zeke to pull together even the simplest of spells.

Zeke, as a result, had spent the last several minutes completely detached from the situation in something akin to a meditative state, working himself through the mental exercises that he needed to do in order to warp his aura to serve his needs. He hoped that Zea would give him adequate explanation--and warning--rather than suddenly grabbing his astral form by the coattails and yanking it around to serve her own needs.

Zea, he thought, whatever it is you plan to do, you'd better get it together before I lose my nerve.
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Unread postby Nakibe » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:11 am

Alright, look for survivors... I can do that. thought Solis, and he started mustering his willpower to the task. It would be MUCH easier going if he already knew where the children were, rather than running about a rickety building aimlessly in hopes of finding one. To that end, Solis closed his eyes and began to meditate on a picture of a silver flame. Though his body was worn and weary from the fear that awakened him in the fire, as well as from the spell that he had just worked on Zea, slipping into the proper receptive state was easy. Solis put this accustomed ease down to years of practice, as well as good teaching.

Opening his eyes, Solis focused on the astral plane, on seperating the life he knew about from the others he did not, the bright and burning silver flames from those bluish flames near extinction. A few of them were a little TOO far into other colors of the spectrum, of reds and blues. So, a few animals made it through the fire okay. A nice thought, but certainly not part of the current business. Concentrating harder, he finally felt... something. Saw a small spark in the darkness that he just had to examine closer. THERE! "I see one child on a higher floor, THAT way." he pointed, making a mental note of the patterns in the flame, getting a "feel" for whom he is looking at. "And... wait..." Another spark, this one different not just in feel, but in location as well. Underground? Well, Zea DID say this place had a basement, right? "I think there's one in the basement too. But is this building going to hold up while we search?"

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Unread postby Kai » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:17 am

Zea watched Sorune go, still dissatisfied with his plan, but knowing that they'd paired the two people with the best chance of finding their enemy. Sorune, for his part, heard little from the ghost riding with him. Just images that she shared with him, of an older man about average height. He had short-cropped grey hair and an alert, observant expression. Dark eyes and eyebrows lent him a vitality that belied what might have been prematurely grey hair.

Then the message came clear. Ahearn.

Cerene found no one in her quick survey of the hallway. Just a series of near-identical rooms whose unique features had mostly all been burned out. Now and again she could see a charred picture frame, or a wardrobe solid enough to have protected its contents for a while--leaving half-scorched clothes on the floor. The terracotta plant pots inside the house were mostly intact, though the plants that had grown there had been reduced to ashes. The floor on this storey had fallen out in a couple of places, but for the most part the solid old building had managed to retain a lot of its structural integrity.

Solis found the faint signs of life in the far corner of the basement, though the one left in the attic seemed to be a good deal weaker. Heat and smoke did rise, after all.

Back outside, where Michael was still talking to the self-appointed spokesman for the escaped children, Ezra told him, "Probably about a half day's walk that way." He pointed north. "What we don't grow over that way," he pointed east. "We have to pick up from the village up there. But I don't know the way.... Redda or Ahearn always took us." He looked for a moment like he wanted to ask about them, but he evidently didn't dare. "But the little ones can go there." Ezra didn't say what the older kids would do, since the odds of someone adopting them at the drop of a hat were slim at best. They'd probably have to apprentice themselves off to work their way, but it could certainly be worse.

Zea paid no mind to the conversation, satisfied that the children had been left with a competent and sympathetic grown person. Children were way out of her area, so she contented herself with the certainty that Michael could take care of it. When her father assented to her request with a salute, she couldn't help but smile. She wondered how many girls ever got a 'yes ma'am' out of their fathers. "All right, all right," she said, her driven and bossy demeanor cracking a bit. "I'll explain when we get in there. I'll probably just need someone to lend me some spare energy, but you never know."

She beckoned Zeke to follow her inside, where she caught sight of Solis and Cerene on the ground floor. "Hey guys. We need to head upstairs. You guys find anyone?"

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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:26 am

Ahearn. That's him, eh? Seems easy enough to spot, if he's run to a town already...but if he's still in the forest, I can work that myself. Even panicked, predators notice everything-so do prey for that matter, but they probably wouldn't say more than a few words before running again. Tell me, if we do find him...what do you intend to do? Zea was going to help you, and I'm willing to on her behalf. However, I think we need this man alive for questioning...if nothing else.

Sorune's thoughts were calm enough, but he was starting to strain himself with running everywhere on that mound of his. Beads of sweat were popping up again, and the older Druid was feeling a little stretched between maintaining his focus and sharing a body with a ghost.

Redda could catch a few glimpses of thoughts he wasn't wanting to share, such as 'Getting too old for this.' and 'Will I still be able to channel the earth effectively against this man?'

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Unread postby Kai » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:42 am

Redda, still somewhat attached to physical expressions and conventions, gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. Find him, she said. If you can't stop him... chase him back. There weren't words for the general impression that came across, but Sorune was able to share Redda's understanding of Ahearn for just a moment. The feeling he got was of a very fastitious and controlling man, quite certain that if he could keep things in order they'd all realize that the universe can't be quite as chaotic as it seems.

Tell him what she's doing. She's going to ruin everything for him, and I think he'll want to stop her.

Seemed sensible enough, though it assumed the others could apprehend Ahearn in the event of Sorune's failure. It was certainly a good shot, but until they knew more about what Ahearn Osman was capable of, it would be by no means certain.

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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:00 pm

Sorune pondered this a moment, and then nodded. Sounds like a plan, then. Now...I just have to find which direction he would have headed in. If I can get a general direction, I'm sure I can narrow it down quickly.

Tracking. While not Sorune's best ability, he at least knew the basics...so he got to looking for some sort of trail. Once he had even a vague one from the man, he could question animals, and that would lead to him faster than anything else he could do.

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Unread postby Kelne » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:28 pm

Rooms checked, Cerene headed upstairs, continuing to check as she went and, in the end, making her way to the attic.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:00 pm

Michael nodded. Well, that was basic information now. He at least knew where, generally, to take them when this was all over. He would have taken the older ones to his extended family just to the west in the mountains, if not for the travel time involved. They were probably the most human like garoujin in Doma, in terms of their attitudes and culture, but that didn't negate that it was three days of walking or more, all while trying to feed a dozen or so mouths.

So now what? He had their undivided attention, how was he going to keep them occupied now? This is where he would have played a game with the cousins... But the cousins hadn't just escaped an inferno, watching people they knew and loved died. He was at a loss. But he had to offer them SOMETHING. So maybe it was time to stop thinking of bullshit ways to distract them.

"... Alright. You guys deserve to know what's going to happen. We're going to finish up what we're doing here, get anyone that's still inside out here. Then we're going to head to that town, and find new places for you guys to live. It's going to be a change, but you'll all probably still be neighbors, and see each other every day. It probably doesn't feel that way right now, but you're going to be alright. Does everyone understand?"

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Unread postby Kai » Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:38 pm

Ezra nodded to Michael. "I think so." He didn't sound entirely certain, but what else could he say? He looked back over his shoulder at the others for the hundredth time that night. "Hey mister," he asked. "How did you know to come?"

Sorune, still speeding through the woods to catch up with their new adversary, finally passed out of the region bereft of animal life. What animals could flee had done so, and many had stopped around this area. It left the zone crowded with panicky wildlife, but perhaps one of them had noticed a human coming through. It wasn't long before he reached an area where the undergrowth seemed to have been broken away, and unless something alarmingly large had come through this space, it was likely that Ahearn had been here.

Getting no response from Cerene, Zea assumed from their determined progress toward the attic that there was someone up there worth checking. Concerns about saving the victims of the fire aside, Zea didn't particularly want excessive numbers of living bystanders around interfering with her work, so it was best that they clear the attic first.

At the top of the stairs, in front of Cerene, was the attic door. It had been locked from the outside, which on the one hand meant she had no trouble getting in. On the other... who in the world would lock someone in the attic during a fire? They entered into the open attic floor, stepping first onto the landing at the top of the stairs. The air was thick with the stinging odor of woodsmoke, and it was still oppressively hot here. Though they had seen no bodies on the ground floor where they'd passed, up on the attic landing were two boys who couldn't have been more than ten. One was still clinging to life, but the other one was beyond any help they could give.

Further out into the main attic space, the charred floor was falling out in places. A large space of the floor had been taken up by what could only be a ritual circle, and Solis noted that it shared some of the patterns and symbols of the one he'd seen in Zea's living room the night she'd been taken nearly a year ago. Certain pieces of the circle were obviously missing where the floor had collapsed, but within the circle itself were nearly half a dozen smallish bodies in various stages of burning or decay. Difficult to tell who had died when, but it was no longer quite so clear that all of the casualties in this house had been killed in the fire.

"Oh, great," Zea said. "Those'll all have to be moved."

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Unread postby Kelne » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:14 pm

Cerene ignored the circle, Hastening to the side of the child. He was swiftly engulfed in flame, which might terrify him if he was conscious enough to be aware of it, but should see him fully healed in short order.

Not waiting for him to regain consciousness, Cerene gently picked him up and headed for the stairs, "Do what you need to, okay, Zea? I'm going to see the kid safely out and then check the rest of the house."

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Unread postby Nakibe » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:20 pm

So many children, apparently killed right here in this room.... it was too much to contemplate. Not now, and perhaps not EVER. He began shakily moving the bodies out of the way of Zea's work, trying not to think of how t his one must have smiled while he was at play, or to consider what this one might have done to get the scraped knee, or how...

"URK" Barely, he kept his feelings of sickness inside. For now. How long that would last one would never know. No, no, I can't be sick now. Zea needs me. Zea needs SOMEONE to help her at least. he thought. And to that end he realized that even with his help earlier, she might be weak. He'd paid for it the last time he'd been too free with his powers, but he was still fresh where she was not. And thus the man began his chant. "Oh stars in the heavens, please, listen to my plea, That all shall be resolved as in ancient law. Princess grant they power, thy gift and mastery, to make this power Archmage without flaw." A card appeared in his hand, one of that mysterious tarot he carried with him, and small shining motes of light spun around Zea and faded into the night. The part of Solis that was always interested in study was vaguely curious about whether or not this odd starry magic might finally find a magic that it was in disagreement with in her necromancy, but it hadn't had any adverse reactions yet.

It was about then that Solis' stomach finished its own adverse reaction. "BLEAAAARRRGH!" So much for self-control.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:37 pm

Well, that took Michael off guard. He froze for just a moment as he considered: How to answer? What had Zea told them before...? ... Redda. Yes, that was it. She was the friend of some woman named Redda.

"I came with Redda's friend. Why do you ask?"

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Unread postby Kai » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:27 pm

Zea frowned when Solis clearly reached the limits of his tolerance for piles of dead children. She should have thanked him for offering to assist; she didn't realize how much it was going to bother him. Yet another instance in which her lack of context for "normal" caused problems for her friends.

Her arcane reserves feeling much stronger than before, she stepped carefully over the charred floor to kneel by Solis. "Thank you. I can get the rest. I think you should go help Cerene, and make sure that no one gets up here to bother us. We'll be right down." The necromancer gave a brief anxious glance down to blasted-out holes in the hardwood floor. "One way or the other, I guess."

She picked up the last remaining body and simply moved it outside the circle. "I'll take care of you," she whispered. The little one was beyond saving now, but she could at least ensure that he had a chance to be whole again in spirit. "And we'll get him, don't you worry."

In the search for Ahearn, Sorune was far ahead of anyone else. He found a couple of tips from nearby animals that a very startling biped had come crashing through not long ago, and gradually he found the path bending back around... toward the orphanage. If this Ahearn Osman knew he was being followed, he was doing exactly as Redda had hoped.

Cerene, for her part, made it safely down the stairs, and when she emerged she found that Michael's conversation about Redda was continuing.The young boy to whom he was speaking gave a skeptical frown and looked toward the house. "I don't know who she is," he said of Zea. "But I guess she's probably all right. Where's Ahearn? He still-- I mean-- do you know where he is?"

Zea once again pulled together that aura of command that had carried her through this whole insane night. "Thanks again for your help, Solis. We'll be all right here. Zeke? We'd better get started before this place falls apart on us. If you'd come in here with me," she requested, stepping gingerly into the center of the circle.

"Gods this looks familiar," she said with a brief tense shiver. It took a lot to make a girl like Zea uneasy, but she knew what this circle was built to do, and she'd experienced something like it only a year or so earlier. "Let's get this done with."

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:57 pm

Michael shook his head. He had no idea where Ahearn was. Hell, he came in a bit late, and didn't know precisely who Ahearn was, either. Still, the children didn't seem like they needed to hear that right now. It probably wasn't going to sit well with their story of knowing this Redda person if they didn't also know Ahearn.

He waited to hear any more questions from them.

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Unread postby Kelne » Thu May 08, 2008 9:04 pm

Things seemed to be mostly under control out here, thank the gods. Cerene carried the boy over to the group and gently laid him down on the ground near Michael. "Keep an eye on him, but let him wake up in his own time, okay?" she said, before turning and heading back towards the house. She couldn't cope with questions about other survivors just now. Better to focus on getting anybody still in there out, and let reaction set in when there was time.

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Unread postby Archmage » Mon May 12, 2008 9:26 pm

"Sounds like a great idea," Zeke quipped. "I'd hate to have the roof collapse on me while I was chanting some ritual. Be a shitty way to go, really. I'd better die inebriated and spent, not collapsed by a falling beam."

It occurred to Zeke that he only had a slight idea as to how to go about a ritual of any sort. It was typically his lot to put bullets in mage's heads, not pour mana into their bodies by using his own astral form as a conduit. Advanced magical theory was way outside his field, but he had an idea fo what he had to do.

Zeke pictured the astral in the vague way he usually did whenever he was going to cast a spell. It was typical for him to pull energy from the plane with great force, violently ripping it free and forcing it to destroy or decieve rather than slowly and carefully guiding the magic to do his will. Magic was fire-and-forget for Zeke, quick effects and spurts of power that he wrested from the outer realms. To cast a spell was like ripping a beautiful girl's bodice to shreds and throwing the pieces across the room.

This time, he would carefully fiddle with the clasps and buttons.

A faint haze of shadow energy welled up around Zeke, wreathing his body in slowly moving wisps of smoke that started to extend vaporous tendrils toward his daughter. It was taking a great deal of concentration and patience for Zeke to maintain the effect without unleashing all the stored energy to an explosive end. He felt like a Solasian berserker who had stumbled into a Nekonian dojo and was being asked to engage in quiet meditation.

No wonder this ritual stuff never appealed to me, Zeke thought. It's excruciatingly boring.
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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 13, 2008 2:11 pm

When Cerene laid down the child she'd saved, the kids swarmed over to crowd around in a circle. Ezra swept them backward and leaned over. "No, he's okay. Ngaio, come here." A girl of about eight with black hair and large dark eyes stepped in front of the others. "Will you sit with him? Huynh's your brother." She nodded wordlessly and with a wary glance at Michael she walked over to sit cross-legged in the grass next to Huynh. For now things were okay, but Michael knew that eventually they were going to have to get these kids out of here.

Heading back inside, Cerene was able to easily locate the other lifesign in the house. Down in the basement, in the far corner, was the other. The lower levels were a little more stable than the upper ones, so Cerene had little to worry about as long as the ground floor didn't fall in.

In the large open room of the basement, Cerene found another great circle very much like the one in the attic. Thankfully there didn't seem to be the kind of body pileup they'd found before. Parts of the ceiling above her had fallen in, and Cerene could sense that the survivor she was looking for was somewhere beyond the cave-in. Odds were good that someone was trapped back there, but if they'd endured the collapse they would probably survive until she got there.

"You're not going to die," Zea told her father. It wasn't a reassurance; she'd checked when he first arrived. Zea hadn't been looking for details, but she knew that he had a while yet. That wasn't important now, though. They had work to do.

Zea stood in the circle with him and closed her eyes. She was fairly certain she knew which parts of the circle would be most helpful to her, which were only there to bind the pieces, and which she barely needed. She could do this. She whispered under her breath as she and Zeke both began drawing in arcane energy. He wasn't as good at this as James and she felt a brief pang of regret that he wasn't by her side, and might not be again.

"When spirits fly, when the dust steals,
When the memories fade and the whispers feel,"


There wasn't time to think about loss. This was a time for victory, and for vengeance. Ahearn Osman had sinned, and Zea intended to repair what he'd done and see him punished.

"When the holes aren't dug and wholes are lost,
Laws are broken and boundaries crossed."


The man Sorune was chasing skidded to a halt. He felt something happening, and he did not like it. Was it possible? He'd gotten their attention already! Just one more. They'd know he was serious when he eliminated this little pet of the gods who knew his plans. A new determination firing his steps, Ahearn Osman raced to the cabin. He saw that it was no longer burning, but it was not until he turned around to the front of it that he realized the scale of his opposition. The gods had sent him many enemies today.

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Unread postby Nakibe » Fri May 16, 2008 1:57 am

Solis staggered out of the way of the two dark mages to get downstairs and settle his stomach and mind. How could any person DO these horrible things? What kind of sick and twisted mind would even consider it? Part of his mind wanted him to find out. To make that bastard pay for what he'd done...

No. I couldn't do that. Not until I'm sure that the ones that survived are okay. His feet lead him over to Cerene and the others. THERE was where he was needed most right now, after all. If worst comes to worst, I can always hex that guy six ways to Ishmas if I have to. It would be too much to smile, but he could certainly at least support the others right now, if nothing else.

Part of him desperately hoped that he DIDN'T get to see this Ahern, so that he would never be tempted to do something he might regret.

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Unread postby Kai » Sun May 25, 2008 3:53 pm

Cerene, after a bit of digging through the basement rubble, found the first adult-sized corpse they'd come across so far. The body was human, and had been crushed rather than burned. It was a woman. She might have just found their friend Redda, but hopefully Cerene would have better luck getting through than she did.

Fortunately, most of what was going to collapse seemed to have done it, and she managed to pick her way back through the rubble by lifting it away and setting it in other parts of the basement room out of her way. As the sound of her working seemed to carry through, she heard a voice from beyond the cave-in. Sounded like a little girl, very young. "Hey," she began tentatively. "Is-- is someone there?"

When Cerene got to the child--Angela was her name--she was scared and dirty but largely unhurt. She was probably about five and while she didn't say much, the deathgrip she had on Cerene's made it pretty clear she wanted out. When they got out of the basement and left the house, Cerene saw Solis, Goren, and Michael over with the children, and an unfamiliar man emerging from the woods. Angela yelled out his name, "Ahearn!"

He gave the girl a little wave and asked, "The blazes is going on here? I was away today. Who the hell are all of you and what's going on in my house?" He sounded quite put out, but for a man whose orphanage had just burned down... he didn't seem quite upset enough. Something wasn't right.

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Unread postby Kelne » Sun May 25, 2008 7:20 pm

Cerene recognised the name as the person Zea had said was responsible for all this. She'd seen the bodies upstairs, killed for some unholy purpose. The urge to fireball the man right where he stood was very strong, but everybody concerned had seen far too much fire tonight.

"Angela, I need you to go over there with the others," she said quietly, positioning herself between Ahearn and the surviving children, "Can you do that for me?"

With Angela about as safe as she was going to get, Cerene drew the seldom-used rapier at her hip, "Ahearn Osman," she said formally, "I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of arson and murder."

Of course, she had no authority, but Ahearn didn't necessarily know that, and at the very least, everything was now out in the open.

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Unread postby Nakibe » Sun May 25, 2008 8:59 pm

"Ahern...?" Solis is SURE he couldn't've heard that right. The man would be stupid enough to come back here. "I assume you work here, then. With the children." He finds himself mouthing a spell almost without thought as he tried not to glare over a nearby child. Princess of power, guardian of the veil, hide from this one your power. Show him in his weakness that true power must be earned, must be learned... The soft glow of a card and perhaps a stray thought of insecurity that lingered through the air was the only signs, signs that Solis was sure he could hide from the world.

"Yes, when we got here the place was burning to the ground. We were sort of wondering exactly what went on here" Give me an excuse, you bastard. All I need is one "As well as trying to get these children out. What do you know of the situation?" It would take a supreme effort of will to keep a straight face when the murderer of children was right in front of him, but ... somehow it felt important to see what was going through this man's mind. Did he really think he could get away with this atrocity?

Yes, it would be an effort to keep from glowing or sparking or otherwise letting off such visible signs of his anger, but the memory of those kids deserved BETTER than just the lightning strike Solis could mentally f eel himself gathering. One way or another, he would resolve this.

(Ahern, if he is indeed a mage, might suddenly find that spells are hugely unstable for him about now due to Solis' powers.

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Unread postby Kai » Sun May 25, 2008 9:21 pm

Angela walked over to the crowd of children, watching Ahearn and then casting a dubious glance over her shoulder at Cerene. Still, she did as she was told.

Osman raised his hands to shoulder level. "I beg your pardon, miss." He took a step sideways, closer to the orphanage--his orphanage. "But I think you've got this all wrong. These children are like my very own, whom the gods saw fit to take from me, sir," he added, including Solis now. He took another slow and careful step, all without lowering his hands. "Ever since the loss of my own dear wife and child, I've taken in those others whom the gods have--in their wisdom--left behind," he sneered.

His expression of affront faded into something much more nonchalant. He wavered the tips of his fingers briefly as though idly fidgeting. Something in his aura flexed and warped: he was a mage. "And besides, anyone here can tell you that ice is more my style." His hands remained raised, but he punctuated his words with a shower of ice from his palms, tiny sharp spindles of ice whistling through the air toward Cerene.

Unfortunately, the shards of ice exploded in the air between them, sending tiny spinning fragments toward both parties like snow. Ahearn threw his arms up defensively against the explosion. Cerene wasn't hurt, but it was a little hard to see. When Ahearn lowered his arms, he found that he'd still managed to create some kind of diversion. He'd have to worry about the magical misfire later.

Having thus distracted what seemed to be his most pressing threat, Ahearn bolted for the door to the orphanage. He didn't know who they were or how they knew what they did, but he wasn't about to be stopped. Whoever was responsible for this meddling could probably be found upstairs, and after all that he'd been through to make his point he was not going to be stopped by some sanctimonious servant of the gods.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Sun May 25, 2008 11:09 pm

Michael had been quiet so far. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on just yet, and accordingly he wasn't prepared to intervene. That was, until the man decided to try to smash Cerene with an ice spell. The Osman man was bolting for the door now, and if he got inside it would be very hard to catch him again; He knew the place better than they did, even if it was damaged at the moment; They'd have to comb the place for him, while he could casually slip about and get back out again after he'd done whatever it was he meant to do. And that wouldn't do at all.

Michael was up in a flash, and in front of the doorway. He planted on foot firmly into the ground, and performed a snap kick, impacting Osman's chest. Between the man's own momentum, and the force of the leg impacting his upper body, a few of his ribs cracked. He hit the ground hard, and as he lay there in extraordinary pain, instinctively trying to suck in air to refill lungs that were very suddenly vacated less than a moment ago... A young garoujin lost his balance and fell on top of him. It was typical Michael; Clumsy, laughable, but it had at least accomplished something.

As Michael tried to disentangle himself from the man, he yelled to Goren:

"He might not be finished yet! Get the kids away from here!"

In Michael's struggles to get back up, his arm with the blue spiral cam into contact with Ahearn, and it flashed gold, white and black, as though some image were running by just beneath the surface...

(Ahearn is cured, and Michael is under a mystery effect Shaun and I have discussed.)

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Unread postby Kelne » Mon May 26, 2008 6:30 am

Disoriented as she was by the whirling snow, Cerene knew perfectly well that Ahearn had intended much worse than distracting her. Those icicles would have hurt. She suspected she had Solis to thank for that save. By the time she'd made her way clear of the miniature blizzard, Ahearn was down, with Michael on top of him.

Cerene approached with some caution. He might be immobilised for now, but Ahearn had already proven himself dangerous and severely unbalanced. She kept herself squarely between him and the children. He might have broken for the house, but Cerene was prepared to risk him getting in there. She was not prepared to let him start taking hostages.

"Stay down, Ahearn," she advised, "One way or another, this is over."

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Unread postby Kai » Mon May 26, 2008 11:32 am

The children ran off with Goren at Michael's urging, since with Ahearn under control there was little Goren could do to help but ensure that the kids were out of the line of fire.

Ahearn dusted grass off his shoulder. "What," he snarled, "exactly do you think is over? If you don't get out of my way, nothing will be over. Everything will stay just the way it is." He sat up and rolled his shoulder with the air of a man attempting to salvage some dignity. "Not that I'd expect their pawns--people like you--to notice the difference."

Suddenly he was calm, even seeming gracious and patient with these meddling travellers. "You must release me so that I can finish this. You wouldn't understand. Which one are you from? Ashura? Reshtaha?" He turned his head and spat in the grass. "Who sent you."

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Mon May 26, 2008 12:33 pm

"Nakibe."

Michael looked dazed for a moment, getting to his feet... and then confused. Nakibe? What? What was THAT foolishness about? His whole family despised Nakibe as a concept, and Michael himself... well, he wasn't inclined to favor any one deity, though if he'd been told to choose he would have probably picked Ishtar; It was hard not to like the godess who created everything, after all.

"No... that's..."

He shook his head, trying to clear it. Maybe he'd hit it when he fell? It didn't hurt, but none of that just now made sense... best to ignore it for now.

"What are you doing, anyway? You're not making any sense."

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Unread postby Nakibe » Mon May 26, 2008 5:09 pm

Solis looked at Ahern, not sure why his spell didn't seem to be affecting him anymore. The slight discordance that only he really seemed to notice was gone. And Michael... mentioned Nakibe... Why would he have even said THAT?

...but that didn't matter to Solis right now. He would concentrate on those questions in a minute. He didn't even hesitate. He could've KILLED those kids and he just plain didn't CARE. He set this place on fire, killed all those OTHER children... and for what? Power? Influence? Some PLAN or something? "I don't have to work for any Gods for this. What makes you think you have the RIGHT to kill children? What makes you think you're that much BETTER than they are, HUH?" There was a moment where Solis could feel something in the back of his mind, a pressure building up to levels he normally didn't allow. Just this once, he allowed the pressure to seemingly explode behind his eyes without holding it back. The fierce glow that bled off of the mage right then stirred not a thought in his head.

"How DARE YOU." A ball of that light swooshed in Ahern's direction, a spell that seemed to be made more of solidified light.

(Sticking to The Plan, yay!)

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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 27, 2008 1:45 pm

The globe of energy broke over their capture enemy, but when it became clear he hadn't actually been hurt, Ahearn hissed through his teeth. "You'll question me about a few loose unnoticed orphans, but you don't question the gods who took their parents and who take all those other children that you can't blame me for. Let me tell you something." He started to get up, but hit against the barrier Solis had cast. He had enough room to sit where he was, but actually getting up wasn't an option.

"Cute," he replied. "Anyway. Do you ever wonder why it's a terrible thing for a mortal to take life, but the gods... the gods who are supposed to be our models and our guides kill indiscriminately, often taking the good and the helpless but leaving their own corrupt and hypocritical servants? Why do you tolerate from them what you would tolerate from no mortal king? Is it just fear?"

Unfortunately for Ahearn, the one among them most given to spontaneous theological discussion was elsewhere, trying to undo some of what he'd done. Upstairs, Zea continued whispering quietly to herself. The words came from nowhere identifiable. They came from her, they came from the divine powers that claimed her as their own, they came from the spirits themselves. Zea didn't know. But the words came, and they carried truth.

"Slaves will laugh in pride's blind eye
And the lost will dance as Ahearn dies."


Zea opened her mouth and took a long deep draw of air into her lungs. She could feel Zeke nearby, and as the circle's energy began to wind inward and inward and inward, it began to know her. It knew what energy was hers, it knew what energy she had to claim. Slowly it leeched the arcane power she could command and Zea closed her eyes. They were crowding. They could sense her, sense her attention. Their voices spilled out urgently, louder and louder as the ritual circle diffused Zea's energy among them. Zeke was beginning to hear them, the toneless wordless distant shouting and crying.

She could feel his contribution creeping toward her like smoke rolling through the air. "Zeke. The damage is bad. Circle's overloading," she said, her tone cautioning. "This is probably going to hurt." Zea turned and extended one palm toward her father. "Hold on." Zea curled her fingers into claws, gripping the mana coming her way and brutally sucking the current through Zeke into herself to fuel the transformative process drawing her down into it. The skin on her hands and arms turned a pale grey, and then black at the fingertips.

While they were connected, Zeke could see things he hadn't before. Crowding around the circle were a good dozen children of various ages, and even one adult. Redda, having peeled herself away from Sorune, had found her way back. The woman looked solid enough, but the children were little more than shifting blurs, seeming to blink in Zeke's vision from one place to the next. Most were not in one piece, and some looked as though they'd dragged themselves from very old graves. Sometimes there was so little left that the only way to tell they were humanoid children at all was by their size.

They watched hungrily, many stretching out their hands for the energy being drawn from the two mages within the circle. Zea's own resources had run out by this point, and all she could do was draw whatever energy Zeke had down into her own aching aura. She couldn't hold it forever. The connection was already beginning to strain, and if she let it snap back on them... she wasn't entirely sure what would happen. If the backlash hit the ghosts in addition to Zea and her father, there was a high probability their latent powers would backfire, and Zea always hated that.

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Unread postby Archmage » Tue May 27, 2008 3:46 pm

Kazeros, swore Zeke inwardly, panic surging through him with energy at least as frantic as the mana that Zea was sucking through him. Being her conduit was certainly a learning experience. The faces and bodies swirling around him...were they ghosts, begging for some spare spark of life, crowding against those who still walked, hoping to absorb some speck of their vitality through diffusion? Was that possible? Or was this simply the reaction of hundreds of lonely, neglected spirits, reaching out to make human contact, desperate to avoid becoming lost in the sea of entropy that lay between dimensions?

All of this was entirely too weird for the mercenary. He knew for certain now that there was a good reason why he didn't generally screw with magic. And he definitely knew why he didn't involve himself with the dead.

She said I wasn't gonna die here, mused Zeke. Somehow, I think she knows that for certain. But what about her? She can't...I've got to give her more power!

The Valthi's muscles burned violently as shadow magic ripped through his body. The strain on his aura was starting to manifest itself physically, leaving Zeke gasping as though he were drowning. He felt starved for air, but he resisted the urge to scream. He had the faint sensation that his daughter did this all the time, and the last thing he was going to do was let his little girl take more punishment than he did.

"Definitely...Quinn's girl", Zeke murmured under his breath, gritting his teeth to blot out the pain.
Image

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Tue May 27, 2008 8:42 pm

Michael felt a little weird. It was hard to say how or why he felt weird, but he did. He'd felt a little strange like this the first time he'd cast a spell in his life, but it was more significant now... The awkwardness, the feel of his aura, somethign he had not ever been conciously aware of previously, shifting around him. Right now it was as if his aura were dancing... But it wasn't actually producing an effect, or wearing on him any so far. So, when he spoke, it was with very little confidence.

"We shouldn't be arguing with a mad man... let's just clonk him over the head and get him to some guards in the next town or something."

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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 27, 2008 8:53 pm

"Just because you don't have an answer, boy, doesn't mean that I'm mad," Ahearn replied. "Any of you! Do any of you know why you're doing this?" He cast a wrathful glance toward the house, his gaze angled up toward the attic. Ahearn, like the rest of them, could sense that something was going on up there. He did not look pleased. "Your turn will come. Someday you'll understand why I did this, and you'll wish you hadn't stopped me. Because then you'll be the one standing alone, telling them no." He sneered. "I hope someone gets in your way, too."

Back in the orphanage, Zea's hands turned a darker grey and the black spread from her fingertips up to her wrists to disappear under her sleeves. He was a tough man, her father. She should have known. He didn't even have anything to distract him from it, from the effort. Zea had plenty. Struggling to hear her own thoughts under the voices, her mind gripped the pain like a drowning man to driftwood. This was her body, this was her aura, this was her self. None of the others were her, and she couldn't let them in. They weren't her. Even if they said they were, even if they spoke with her thoughts and in her own voice, they weren't her. This was her pain, and it belonged to no one else.

The necromancer closed her eyes, and what she blocked out was the clear sign that her hijacked circle couldn't hold all the energy it was supposed to hold. It was leaking out and flooding the room with too much power. It was reacting with the ghosts, and what they didn't absorb instinctively began sparking off randomly. The blackened edge of the floor all around the wall began to bleed. Up. Dark thick gory sludge oozed from the wooden panels up the vertical surface of the wall to reach the ceiling.

It began to pool there.

Soon, it began to drop down like rain, and the once-white lines on the floor delineating the circle turned to writhing maggots, tiny fat larvae wriggling and pushing hungry mouths into the blood.

As the circle began to slip out of Zea's control, some of the burden of carrying it all was eased a bit. "Normal," was all she could get out, the word twisted and strained. "Is normal." Sadly, this was. But unlike her usual operations, she wasn't alone. Still more rare, the person assisting was alive. Really alive. She should have been more careful. They were going to find him. Before things went too far, she severed the connection with Zeke and let this self-sustaining magical process pull out of her what was left from both of them.

The others outside could sense the feverish intensity of the shadow energy pulsing from the ritual circle in the attic. Ahearn cursed under his breath. "It'll all be for nothing."

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Unread postby Kelne » Tue May 27, 2008 9:09 pm

"So, what, when the gods allow people to die, it's because they're all oppressive evil bastards, but when you actively go around killing children, it's all justified by the Cause?" Cerene was, to say the least, incensed. "You're everything you accuse them of being, but with a bloody... =Napoleon complex.="

Cerene visibly reined herself in after this outburst, "You know what, Michael? You're right. Somebody knock him out." Cerene would do it herself, but simply didn't have the necessary musculature to do it.

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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 27, 2008 9:15 pm

"I'm everything they are except powerful. And that makes all the difference to people like you. If I had the power the gods have, you'd be ready to trust me with your fate to the ends of the world. But the same things coming from a mortal man seem to make you ill," He growled. "You'd best remember your outrage, because there are entities that deserve it more than I do. And they'd know it by now if you hadn't thrown your lots in with them without thinking!"

He pointed toward the attic. "Who is that? One of Nakibe's? The hell does Nakibe care what anyone does? You trust the god of chaos over me?" He banged his fist against the barrier Solis had thrown around him. "The gods don't know what injustice means, and if you don't let me out of here they never will!"

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Unread postby Nakibe » Tue May 27, 2008 9:33 pm

"SHUT. UP." Having heard enough of this man's insane ranting, Solis fought down stray thoughts of seeing if he could SQUEEZE his new coherent light bubble. "Just because you feel the gods OWE you something doesn't give you the RIGHT to kill anything. As for 'THAT ONE UPSTAIRS', SHE probably has more right to be angry at your ignorance than any of us here you fucktard."

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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 27, 2008 9:38 pm

His eyes widened. "So it's a girl." He chuckled. "She'll learn, as will the rest of you. You'll learn what happens when you trust the gods." He jabbed his index finger toward Solis for emphasis. "She was an Ashuran, y'see. Did everything she could for everybody, especially our Sophia. But for all the talk about being good and the favor of the gods, they didn't stop it. They--" He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead.

After a moment, Ahearn began again. "They think they can get away with anything, with lying to anyone and destroying anything they like. They think they're untouchable. But they're not. There are things mortals can do, and someday you'll wish you hadn't worked so hard to stop me. I could have shown them what it means to lose!" he suddenly shouted. "See if they take us lightly THEN!"

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