Scene #7128: *Wicked Northern Masques-3

Owner	Pose
Bloody Revelations	The situation gathered the day previous, settled by nightfall between several people and the mystery generic priestess Nerah who is definitely a shapeshifter, is as follows. Rather than some mysterious machination of the Fair Folk somehow infiltrating Whitewalls eponymous ancient perimeter sanctified against their kind through some secret means, they strongly suspect the Guild of kidnapping children within the city and smuggling them out to then sell to the Fair Folk, the nearest freehold of their kind especially favouring slowly consuming the souls of children above all others. It's been confirmed that the waterways under Whitewall run out hundreds of miles to the coast to the south, to a busy port town, and follow an aboveground road that can be accessed from beneath which is a major famous trading thoroughfare. A wagon, horses, and who look to be paid mercenaries, were discovered killing time in the largest of said tunnels, apparently waiting to be rejoined later at nightfall. Any local kid knows not to go outside alone, never mind at night, but for some reason, they keep leaving their homes voluntarily. Children of the poor with nowhere in particular to live seemingly aren't picked. Lastly, there is, secretly, a Solar Exalted camping out in the gigantic temple-tower at the city's heart, covered for and sponsored by the city gods, in the process of trying to restore its magical functions. He has been on the case separate of Nerah, and has restored power to several parts of the city, and planted arcane traps and spying equipment at various major intersections and thoroughfares, as well as a broader scrying network around the city, viewable from the tower. The Freehold itself to the west is a known location and known quantity, but is essentially near-impossible to walk up to due to the severe distortions of elemental chaos around it, which tend to either kill or warp travelers hundreds of miles away approaching it. Special protection would be needed, which would mean hypothetical slave traders would somehow have it, or are currently being let through on purpose. It's nighttime, when the children go missing. There is nobody on the streets but the veteran guard, heavily armed, tense, and trigger happy, posted where they'd be able to see anyone traveling around under ordinary circumstances. The most widely agreed plan raised so far: fake child decoy, right in the way of potential kidnappers, to then trace back to the source, and work from there.
Damocles	Huddled in the corner of a dark alley, a young girl, no more than 10 years old, sits curled with her knees to her chest. She wears a blue dress, nice yet simple, something the daughter of a successful shop owner or tradesman might wear. The dress is dirty however, the edges slightly tattered. The girl's condition is about the same, her face smudged and her hair a bit messy. In this dark, poor part of town, she looks quite lost and out of place, and given her condition, has likely been separated from her family for a day or two at this point. She sits curled behind some large crates, half hidden. Her face is reddened and a little puffy. In her right hand, she holds a blue ball, which she bounces gently against the ground, her eyes glazed over as she watches it bounce once before catching it, then dropping it again. At the same time, she sings a simple children's song, her voice quiet and raw, the song slow and quiet and comforting. /Three and three, Round the tree, Close your eyes and let them be/ Her eyes are glazed over a bit and she rocks back and forth as she sings, paying no attention to the world around her, save her ball and soft song.
Tomoe	The plan has been set up to make a decoy or two. With the intent to hopefully entice the kidnappers to go after them. With that, they can hopefully track things from there. It was a plan where she'd have to wait but that is how it went her primary skills were elsewhere. Still, they would be needed in time and she could fly to track the targets if they were needed. Either way Tomoe is going to let those who are the primary part of the bait operation do their thing without much hindrance from her. She's found a good spot to hide and has had the sense to put a cloak on, for what little good it will do. It should stop light sources from glinting off her armour or so she hopes. She will only move to keep up with the illusions if it's needed otherwise she's going to hunker down and wait to try to keep off the main roadway. She also will keep an eye out for one who might look to be their targets.
Tina Natsumi	This is the moment that Tina's been training for all her a couple of days ago. It's showtime, and she already sees that girl in the alley singing to herself. It's kind of hard for Tina to see through the glorified tarp draped over her head, but... Well. It's the price she has to pay to keep a low profile. Between leaning against a wall further away from that alley and having slightly better than rags covering her from head to toe, she's going for that disinterested hobo look even as the shadows of children running pass right by her and into that very alleyway. The shadows of the children don't appear often, only rushing by from the light passing torches showing those shadows once every minute or two. They all lead to the alley, though, as if trying to guide pursuers towards the lone singing girl in the alley.The lights on the walls outlining those children would be a bit brighter than a regular torch, but who's going to pay that much attention to the lighting compared to what the shadows hint at?
Tamamo	Tamamo has not been involved with the plan to find the slavers or lure the fae, having instead gone off on her own, eventually making it up to the top seat of the supposedly abandoned temple, only to find there a man named Rune, apparently possessed of a reincarnation of something at least slightly like the 'separated spirits' with which she is familiar. There she made roundabout offer of her help, on the condition that Rune bring her to familiarity with his plans. To his explanations, she was satisfied, setting aside his likely academically-minded interest in her nature to focus on the immediate matter of the city's defense, the kidnapped children and, most particularly, the anti-Wyld artifact he'd mentioned being partly-constructed. "A 'Sphere of Precious Stability,' is it? Even should the city be made safe, it would be best to see whether those taken children might be returned home, I am certain. This device would make such a far simpler matter for martially-minded allies to then accomplish, no? I shall render such aid as I am able, for this purpose, though I have had yet limited experience in crafting of this nation's style." This would then have occupied her time while others made their own preparations.
Staren	Decoy children are something Staren could supply -- robots with synthetic skin, designed even to provide humanlike heat signatures and weight and fake breathing, are quite possible. He can even load them with AIs that could pass for human for as long as a brief interaction. But the kidnappers aren't targeting any old children found wandering around, they're targeting ones with homes. So Staren's talked to the police and offered a plan, if the city has an empty apartment or two somewhere he can populate with fake families, perfect. If they don't, or don't approve of his plan... less perfect. Either way, Staren's presumably at least gotten a pass to stay in the city overnight, and monitors drones hovering over the streets from Nerah's temple. If he has a fake family or two as bait to remotely monitor as well, so much the better.
Gawain	Gawain is in position. This is not near where the decoys are. He's on a higher point of the city, probably crouched on a rooftop, watching towards that direction, radio on. As the group sets their plan in motion, he looks for the thrum of magic, seeing if the Guild is using magical means at all to capture these children, or if it's more mundane. <"This is Callsign Golf-Alfa-Whiskey-Alfa-India-November. Radio when plan is a go, or if there's a hitch, and I'll be over there as fast as I can move, over!">
Song of Rainbows	The wisdom laid at the feet of the Knight of the Sun (no relation) by the Song of Rainbows (not actually music) had been, previously, that one must bait a hook to go fishing, and that bait must be something irresistable to the chosen prey. She had gone on to pull out a fantastical shawl of dreamspun gossamer, tossed it around said Knight's shoulders, and had reeled in... A priest. A totally normal woman! The Song of Rainbows had creeped on that priestess because the best way to find a fairy was to ask them weird questions and smell them. True story. Stake-outs, however, are not the wild pirate's forte. Seated on the roof next to Gawain, she works at a piece of silvered wood with a clawed finger, lathing off bits of wood to make what is obviously a stake. "Call-sign? Is that Sorcery? Are you shaping a spell, knight? It sounds like a bad spell." She complains lightly, before rolling her eyes at the goings-on below. "This is useless. Foolish, even! If there were fairies they'd have fallen upon your and your story like locusts. Instead, we wait at night like scared little children, huddled in from the storm." "You while away your night with this, Sorcerer Knight. I, meanwhile, am the storm." With that, she leaps off the roof and down onto the streets, making her way directly to the Solar's warded tower in the city -- to boot it open. "GOLDEN ONE, YOUR CHILD-STEALING DAYS ARE FEW AND NUMBERED!"
Bloody Revelations	Stakeouts are boring. Camping out all night isn't very exciting for most. Though inside the city's walls, the temperature is oddly warm, relative to the frigid spring of the North, feeling faintly sunlit even at night, it's still at least 'light gloves and jacket' weather. The odd street lamps keep the many paved roads lit well, between the many lights that shine from the myriad shuttered windows of spartan-faced houses, candles and lamps left on in great quantity, perhaps many to simply convince would-be prowlers that the occupants are still up. Anywhere between buildings, less inhabited parts of town, in the shadows of great spires further uptown, and in places where the grid works far less, this is not quite so the case. There certainly isn't any realistic way for anyone to cross the whole city in the dark, but there are plenty of stretches and shortcuts they could take from waterway holes to others. As best as could be hoped though, the night is not a total waste. Not by far. Fairly ordinary looking men, dressed in clothes that'd pin them at least as local labourers, follow the shadowy projections put up by Tina, in two groups of three at reasonably separate intervals. They go all the way to the alleyway, at least having a certain degree of plausible deniability, until, when they spot Damocles' particular fabrication, one group stops at the entry to talk to her, and the other breaks off to circle around back, visible to Gawain on the rooftops. It's not easy to make out what the man doing all the talking has to say between him and a little girl, leaning over and keeping a soft voice, but it's pretty much about what Tina and Tomoe would expect. The sort of usual 'can we take you home to your parents' and then 'okay well I can find you a place to stay' deal that certainly sounds perfectly innocent, especially in a culture far more communal and far less media paranoid than the modern day, only spoiled by the group loitering at the other end in the shadows to cut off an escape. Despite the guards' great discomfort at sprucing up a derelict house to put fake robot people in, that mostly turns out for naught. Nobody comes tap tap tapping on that windowsil at night. There are twenty different reasons that could be, given how much it hinges on someone being tricked by sight and sound into pulling off something really difficult on an occupied household from street level.
Bloody Revelations	Rune is, of course, still chilling out at the peak of the ancient manse, having gathered together even more of those floating crystal mirrors to check all his spots around town where he'd put down discrete sigils of far viewing. Tamamo is still a welcome guest this much later in the day, for repairing the bizarre, bleeding, geomantic damage to the tower he'd been unable to fix himself. The project of his half-assembled in the workshop is a topic he's fine with continuing to speak on. "If they plan to head west, then I suspect nothing would be more useful." he says, having already excused the impoliteness of not really looking at Tamamo while conversing, given his occupied attentions. "As long as you can arrange some means to carry it, the radius should be sufficient to protect perhaps a dozen men and two carts from the warping effects of that pocket of Wyld energy. Inside the Freehold proper, it'd only work against the direct meddling of the Fair Folk upon your bodies, but that'd be more the purview of a warrior to start with, once they're already inside." Song of Rainbows booting down the door finds the place still in a state of Indian Jones-esque death traps currently disabled to allow a guest to move around. The place is enormous, completely vacant except for the very top, thrumming with obscene amounts of Solar power, which is currently powering almost nothing but ancient 'hydroponic' gardens, city-wide weather and fertility regulators, and recharging magitech tools, as well as the remnants of the magical power grid under portions of the city."
Staren	Staren is disappointed that his EXTREMELY CREEPY PLAN didn't work, but if anyone else at all told him about their plans, he's got drones watching their decoys too -- and when Gawain announces there's a fish on the hook, Staren diverts his attention there, drones hovering near rooftops. He keeps the 'picture-in-picture' view in his HUD as he heads out to move closer so he can follow whatever happens. He's wearing a white cloak because it works for assassins and they must know what they're doing, over some local-looking clothes -- but the body underneath is a combat robot that can jump up to the rooftops and leap from one to the other with ease, at least!
Damocles	The little girl looks up nervously when approached, immediately curling up and clutching her ball to her chest. She looks nervously at the men, and shakes her head as she talks with them. She identifies herself as Misty, and refuses any offer of help, insisting that she'll go find her parents when it's light out again. She crawls backwards a little, pressing up against the boxes she was sheltering next to, though it doesn't do so much to hide her as much as trap her in the corner. When the man reaches out to grab her arm though, she finds a much more useful way to escape: Her body ripples and vanishes, replaced with a cloud of white smoke, like a bubble full of mist that just got popped. Meanwhile, on a rooftop above, Damocles had been watching via a mirror he placed on the edge of the roof to be as difficult to see as possible. Once the illusion is disturbed, he sends a telepathic message to the other members of their little ambush party: "Illusion's popped. Phase 2 time."
Tamamo	"There might be some among those with an interest in dispersing the fae threat as could carry the sphere without issue, yet the difficulty bears consideration, should the Fair Folk remain so dangerous. I shall think upon it." Tamamo has, naturally, forgiven Rune for being focused on the business at hand, as is she. "Knowing its intended purpose, I may now be able to discover something more of the matter of its completion. Before I excuse myself for this, might you tell me what these missing materials would be, and where its design, if any, is stored?" Once she has any information Rune can give her on finishing the Sphere, Tamamo is going right back downstairs to do work on that, even if it means making some substitutions in the design.
Gawain	As Song tells him his plan is dumb and moves to kick in the door of the Manse, he's about to reach out and call 'wait!' because that, as far as he knows, has nothing to do with the kidnapping, until Damocles tells them that the plan's a go. Swallowing his nerves and summoning his armor, Gawain leaps off the roof in a cloud of dust, landing on another, and another, until he reaches the men who were covering an escape and cornering the 'girl'. Landing right to corner them in the alley, noticeable immediately, the armored knight sighs, sword summoned but not pointed at any of them. The absolutely superhuman warrior shakes a hand at them. "Now, why would honest laborers be trying to block off the escape for a child, hm? I am Sir Gawain, Knight of the Sun, and I suggest you surrender immediately." Hopefully, they don't move to attack, because if they do, he'll move to start subduing with the back of his blade.
Tomoe	Stakeout can be very boring, but it needs to be done. At least it's warm inside the walls so the cold isn't an issue for Tomoe. She will wait and watch trying to keep focused on the task at hand. She takes in some of the locals for the moment. She takes note of the various people moving by as it gets later and later. However, there is something she catches sight of. Sure she's from a version of Earth with a modern era. She'd almost buy it being a smaller more communal society just helping a kid if not for the group loitering in the shadows to cut off escape it's about time to get ready to move. She tenses waiting, just waiting for the right moment to strike then the call comes in her mind from Damocles. Its go time, off goes the cloak vanishing into her inventory as she reveals herself from hiding. As she nears the men she speaks. "My friends and I got some questions for you gentlemen." The towering Salamander woman moves in. She nods to Gawain as he makes himself known and she will move in. "Name's Tomoe The Iron Lily. So are you going to listen to my friend's generous offer here? Or will we do it the hard way?" If they don't attack she'll follow Gawain's lead, if not she'll move in to start in much the same way as Gawain using the flat of her sword to try and subdue them.
Tina Natsumi	Success! Tina can't make heads or tails of what's actually being said, but the information relayed by Gawain gives her some relief at their stakeout being a partial success already. She doesn't charge in to bust them then and there, though, instead opting to keep up the teetering hobo act as she heads towards the back end of the alleyway with pistol in hand and bagged bottle of ginger ale in the other. Time to cut off the escape route of the guys in position to cut off the fake girl's escape route. As Gawain lands to confront them from the front, Tina approaches them from behind and stands a fair distance away: Too far to get stabbed in a single conventional lunge and thrust, but just close enough that firing at them from under her tarp/cloak would be child's play. "Please. Please don't comply. I've been lookin' for an excuse." She puts on the most threatening and unhinged tone she can, apparently opting to play the 'bad cop' to make Gawain's request to surrender just that much more appealing. Should they actually try and flee, Tina won't have any qualms about shooting their legs out from under them.
Song of Rainbows	KICKING IN THE DOOR, DRAMATICALLY, the Song of Rainbows drops a foot into the Manse with her follow-through, a beam of cardinal red-color gripped in her hand threateningly, like a crusading adventurer stepping into the lair of a dragon. Eyes dart left -- TRAPS! Eyes dart right-- NERD STUFF! Her stance drops after a pointed moment of her eyes tracking back to the first set of traps, a narro-dramatic double take before heaving an enormous sigh. "Well if you're not going to ambush me with deathtraps I won't even bother..." She grumbles, her grip unclenching around the beam of red light. The motes of red dissipate and are drawn back into a fat ruby studded into a gold ring on her right index finger. Moving to one of the magical traps, Song flicks the aperture with thumb-braced finger with a loud 'p-TANG', before grumpily picking up a magitechnological marvel, snapping it in half, and pulling out the hearthstone within to pop into her mouth like a glowing golden jawbreaker. "Yoofleff traff." She slurs around the large magic rock in her face. The feeling of solar power is just off to her, as she kicks around some stands and holds books sideways by the cover to disinterestedly inspect them. "All this power, all this treasure, and wasting it on taming the tempest. Boring!" "YOU HAVE SMALL DICK DREAMS!" Song shouts from down below, before Tamamo comes down out of the top of the tower with her own means and methods. Tracking her over long moments, Song processes the situation, sniffs the air once, and then leaps from the ground level up the spiralling tower to the midpoint, looping a hand through the railing and into the staircase proper to bypass Tamamo - who does not seem to be the Solar Degenerate who is clearly at fault, much as she smells lowercase-s-solar, like fabric warmed under a sunbeam. So she storms up the tower. "There better not be CHILDREN up there! You've bored me, so now I demand treasure! This is, yes, extortion! A tithe to my patience!" She shouts all this as she bursts in to the Solar's study, at the top level of the tower.
Bloody Revelations	The second 'Misty' turns into so much smoke, the men realize they've been had. They also realize that nobody would set up an illusion unless they were in a position to see the illusion, and intended to draw someone to it. They don't need to communicate to know what to do. They book it on the instant, splitting up through the alleys so as not to all bunch up, and hit different covers and entrances into the waterways to lose the pursuers they can't even see yet. Between three people it's not tremendously practical to cut them all off. It takes a wide perimeter before the alleys split into several more forks, where the implication is more that someone running off to the side would be noticed and rushed immediately. They skid to a halt --nondescript men in nondescript clothes, who'd blend into plain sight-- when strange people with strange weapons jump in to greet them, one or two uttering a muffled curse at recognizing Gawain especially. Slowly, they put their hands up, not seeming to be armed themselves. One glances at the other wordlessly. The other tabs the heel of his boot against the cobblestone with a little metallic clink. Something silver gleams. Suddenly, the pavement warps and ripples, distorting like thin and watery clay, and all six of them drop straight through the ground and no doubt into a tunnel beneath them. They look like expendable nobody thugs the Guild would barely have to pay anything, but they have what must be rare and costly magical items to exilftrate immediately. Usually with nabbed children. It's a very considerable head start, though All-Seeing Eye had mapped the tunnels last time fairly comprehensively.
Bloody Revelations	"Ah, really? If you'd be so kind?" Rune responds very favourably to Tamamo's interest in finishing his work, difficult and time-consuming as it must be. Though a glance back gives her the feeling that he's not sure how much pseudo-technological prowess she has, he feels at least partially confident in the level of supreme magic she's already displayed. "You needn't worry about the design. I'd already recovered the near-complete blueprints from an ancient ruin some months ago, and filled in the remaining gaps myself. The bulk of the work left is securing the materials for the remaining Essence channels and radiator struts --discreetly. The components of jade, I've already fully stocked, as well as the more uncommon precious stones and alchemical components, but a large amount of raw orichalcum still blocks me from shaping the final pieces, and I dare not pry any from the geomantic machinery of this old and holy place." There is, indeed, a complete blueprint in his lab, albeit in several scattered poster-sized pages, with the annotations written in an unfamiliar language. Since it appears to be radially symmetrical, it seems fairly obvious what should go in the last quarter of the hollow shell, by looking at the other three. Though it isn't to the size of a full on exercise ball, Tamamo can take a guess why it'd be onerous to transport normally --it weighs half as much as a car, and is a smooth and gripless sphere. Of course Rune also straightaway notices Song of Rainbows bursting in and doing exactly what he said he very much doesn't want to do himself. "Excuse me a moment." he says, bringing up several mirrors of internal views with a gesture, distracting him from the activity outside. Doing perhaps the only sensible thing, with a few taps of golden glyphs, conduits of power palpably thrum to life around the Lunar Exalted, partway up the stairs. Gravity promptly orients itself down the slope. The wall behind her bristles with harpoon spikes. The landing above is blasted with brilliant lasers from gems studded all along the walls. The door is electrocuted. The hallway beyond is filled with glittering powder which promptly explodes. It sucks.
Damocles	Well well, wasn't that interesting? 'It certainly was. Now we simply must go ask them how they did it.' Damocles stands up on the roof he was crouched on, and gently taps the bottom of his staff against the ground. From the point of impact, a soft, violet flame wraps around the staff, coiling up along it, across his arm, and engulfing his entire body in an instant. A moment more, and Damocles is gone. Meanwhile, down below in the tunnel, a point of violet fire erupts in the air, and then is torn open, exploding outward without a sound, bursting open like a balloon and revealing Damocles, down in the tunnels below the street. His hood is up, and in the darkness of the tunnel he's little more than a looming shadow with dangerous, glowing violet eyes. If he can, he tries to pick the leader out of the gathered men immediately. He's only one man, so he can only follow one target. And stealth really isn't his thing, so he doesn't bother trying to hide. Instead, he tries to zero in on his primary target while he has surprise on his side, and if he can't, just any of them that he can. If he can't find anyone, he looks for a sign for where they've gone. Damocles then proceeds to casually stroll towards whatever target he's picked. He casually steps towards it, moving deceptively fast for how casually he's walking. One of the perks of being an Astartes if the unnatural speed you can move. As he strolls towards his target, he starts singing, soft and low, though loud enough for his voice to echo through the tunnels, /Three and three, Round the tree, Close your eyes and leave them be, Smoke and ash, all you see smoke and ash/
Staren	Staren gives chase across the roofs. His robot body is tireless, they'll eventually-- glitch through the floor. "Ugh, COME ON!" He had enough of that yesterday! Okay, this is clearly a magic item, but still. He leaps down to where the men disappeared and tries the matter manipulator on the street to see if he can dig through faster than he can reach it the long way -- if not he'll just have to run for a tunnel entrance (do they have manholes here?) Either way, once he's in the tunnels he heads towards the edge of the city while having drones sweep out to search other branches.
Tina Natsumi	As the men fall through the ground, Tina takes a single shot at them on reflex before cursing under her breath. "Crafty sons o' bitches..." Scowling briefly, the faux-bo shifts arund in her rags while stepping towards the spot where their culprits had disappeared into. "Don't suppose any of y'all are good at digging through the ground quick, are ya?" She stomps her heel against the ground once to see if she can mimic that movement sans the gleaming silver thing, glancing around afterwards and noticing the tail end of Damocles just fading through the fire. <<"Let us know if you see any entrances down there, big guy!">> She relays over the radio, then steps back to let Staren do his thing with the odd device. She whips her phone out to start taking notes in the meantime. <<"Silver things on their shoes... Tapped feet, fell through the floor... Looked like civvies in work gear... Anything else we need to keep track of?">> Should that hole lead to something useful, Tina dives right in and will prioritize pursuit of the slowest moderately suspicious person she sees!
Gawain	Well, they don't fight, that's good. What's bad is that they have artifacts that drop them into the tunnels below. They have a huge headstart. With only a few words, Gawain starts moving, after Damocles teleports. "I'll meet you in the tunnels!" All-Seeing Eye had mapped the tunnels out, so tapping at Paladins records, Gawain moves to find the nearest entrance and hopefully catch up with the kidnappers. He's extremely fast, though the fact it's night limits him from 'absurd speeds' to 'faster than a cheetah and able to maneuver through crowded streets simultaneously' when he's focusing on speed. Still fast, though.
Tamamo	"Orichalcum, is it? I have an excellent idea of how to acquire such as might be needed." Tamamo says. "Please excuse me, then." Excuse her for leaving Rune, potentially, alone with the intruder. Though she can tell that something is happening, and that something loud is approaching, more is difficult at a distance. It really should be concerning, but the Solar seems to be in less than a crisis, and she has her own work to accomplish. As planned, she goes down, bypassing the current trouble as best she is able while still taking a peek at what started setting off the traps, unafraid to leap her way ahead, and knowing that her own charms render a simple fall as less than fatally concerning. She makes her way to the workshop and promptly strides about, gathering in all the details that just hadn't been important before. No, she's not a technomagical worker, but she is a miracle worker, and that's typically enough. She gathers from each corner of the place the necessary designs, committing some to memory and taking others with her, seeing to the gathering of all those materials that are already there, and noting the necessary quatntities of those materials that are not. A sort of sun-purified gold that requires excessive heat, focused light, and magical attention? Now, however could a gold-alchemizing, mirror-wielding Sun-goddess procure that sort of material in adequate bulk? "Yes, just so. The real and pertinent issue, then, is... this weight. The design cannot bear for protrusions. Should it be given a shell, perhaps?" Something so inert as not to interfere with its functioning. Rings, perhaps, but... no, a geomantic design is always of its own specific shape, and she doesn't yet know the stress-limits of this effect. It's a bit too large to fit up her sleeve, for that matter. Having yet few other options (but for asking a particularly strong ally to carry it), Tamamo sits down with the designs, spreads fresh paper over a table, and begins charting out patterns in ink, stretching the three-dimensional shape over the two-dimensional surface in lines that only appear fanciful, but are as precise as her earlier work with the strangely damaged floor. She doesn't chart every detail, but the important parts, those aspects that are shape-dependent, the flows and circuits of power housed in the outermost layers of the sphere, she copies over in ink. Once she's satisfied that she understands that layer of 'how it should be,' she begins adding lines outside the first, finding those neutral areas she might make safe additions of mundane housing, anything that might improve its transportability, by chain, bar, or sledge.
Tomoe	Tomoe knew things were not going to be easy and they might not get all of them, they just need enough to get the information to put an end to this operation, right. At first, it looks like some are giving up but they had another plan in mind as they sink through the ground. Tomoe will make a dive for thems this happens hoping to tackle them to the ground, this doesn't go so well. She does catch sight of Damocles porting away after them. "Looks like we're going to have to play catchup." She notes to Tina and Gawain. She will trust in the Paladin's intel by following after Gawain pushing herself as fast as she can, though likely not as fast as the round table knight? She's able to parkour her way past anything that might physically serve to slow down her pursuit.
Song of Rainbows	The Song of Rainbows felt bored, and a little insulted. She's wasn't very insulted, but she was off-put by the limpness of the entire affair. What she had expected, and what she actually got because so far this is a power-thrumming trophy room for the small dreams of someone scraping at the power of a degenerate god-king of a bygone era. A lost era. An era deemed unfit by fire. Then the stairs turn into a dead-drop into a bed of harpoons halfway up, gravity reorienting locally within the tower to drop the Song of Rainbows to a painful, terrible, pointy death. She even lets herself fall for a few moments! It's for show, but she does so because at least this is better than the terrible danger of stairs improperly spaced and shined: A true 1 on the 10-scale of danger. This is at least effort. The Song of Rainbows respects that she is finally being respected, even if 'spike trap with screen rotation' and 'laserbeams from the wall' aren't specifically more threatening than NORMAL STAAAAIRS. Her fall is halted as wet, sucker-tipped tentacles flow from where her fingers had been a blink before, wriggling around the bars of the railing - now a ladder - as Song swings among the bars like a rather tentacular monkey, essence blasting over her like a stiff downpour of rainwater from the laser beams. "Stop playing around!" She laughs, as her flesh blackens and bubbles like tar at the blazing assault where the beams connect. Still, she doesn't abate, until she enters the explosion corridor with a big beak-toothed grin. "Is that all you got?" The door closes behind her before the entire hallway fills with explosions, dully thudding outside the tower. MOMENTS LATER The black, tar-like ooze that had been dripping out of the Song of Rainbow's wounds bubbles and mucks through the floor of the Solar's observatory-deck, pooling. One squid-slanted eye opens in the muck, and then another, and it bubbles. "Youuuu can't keep me outttttt, small mannnn..." More and more muck gushes up, in spouts and spurts as tentacles spill through solid stone and heave themselves, with more of the tar, into the room. "So get my treasure ready!" The tentacles and muck and (multifold) eyes bubble and pop.
Bloody Revelations	Chasing the men down through the waterways, roughly the same temperature during the night as they had been during the day due to their insulation, isn't as difficult an affair as they'd wish it be. As much as they split up, knowing that any man who gets caught will be left behind, as much as they duck grates, take steep side passages, and use hubs of corridors as much as possible, the place is already charted by the Elites after them, and it affords them little help. Damocles can hear one repeatedly cussing in repeated panic ahead of him as he closes in. One turns and fires a heavy crossbow, apparently stashed somewhere in the tunnels, at Staren's drone that briefly corners him. Tina actually corners one, who reaches under a grating and draws out a sword with a scrape of steel, squaring himself and facing her down, sweating bullets. Gawain catches up with the furthest ahead, which is when, just before the hub leading to the largest, deeply overland tunnels that funnel winter meltwater to the ocean in lieu of a river, he hears the pounding of hooves, the rattling of wood and metal, and the scraping swerve of the covered wagon from before and its surreally obedient horses, almost toppling over as it drifts into view. It's more properly staffed with mercenaries this time, closer to ten in number, properly armoured and armed with further heavy crossbows. A couple lean down from the back, holding out their arms and yelling variants on 'come on come on!' and 'move your ass!', obviously the getaway ride, though a pair of horses won't likely escape Gawain. Instead, he's shot at with hardened steel quarrels in a hurried flurry, whine the driver yells 'where's the damn kids?! she's gonna be pissed if we don't have anything!' and snaps the reins forward. It's only when all the Elites are in the tunnels, closing in on the end, that something approaches them from behind. Though Tina is out of the way and has come to a dead stop with her quarry, the man Damocles is chasing is going straight towards the wagon destination, same as all the others, at the edge of the city Staren and Tomoe are chasing. When they're roughly gathered together, the floor breaks beneath them in several places. Scorched patterns sprawl across the stone where it fractures, pouring out smoke and ash. What look to be snakes, formed of glowing cinders burst free like weeds, surrounding each individual person in clusters of five, and immediately assault them with burning fangs, dripping with glowing, molten venom. From a far tunnel, hundreds of meters back in the dark, the screech of a predatory hawk echoes all the way down, and a streaking blur of fire races down the tunnel to explode like a rocket in their midst, the force and fire rebounding off the walls and focusing inward again. Following that, they can see the shape of some great, loping beast, charging down the tunnel at incredible speed from behind, the sound of claws and metal carving up the waterway floor audible from a great distance, as well as its slavering and panting. For whatever reason, the mercs don't seem even slightly alarmed, only redoubling their efforts to scoop up the couple of lackeys they can and gain a head start.
Bloody Revelations	The manse temple is huge. It's not even a little bit difficult for Tamamo to take an alternate route away from the chaos and commotion, and Rune has enough mastery of the place to only selectively activate relevant sectors of traps. He also doesn't have anything really prepared for someone just ploughing right through them. That really shouldn't be possible. He hadn't tested them on anyone, as evidenced by his look of unmissable shock when Song successfully bursts into the heart room at the peak, discarding the mirrors and drawing himself up in a hurry, but there's still no way that it shouldn't have at least slowed down a determined invader for a while. He's only just begun gathering up a concentration of sorcerous energy around himself before he's interrupted long before he can cast a spell. "What treasure?! Who are you?! Are you with the Guild? Or some madwoman who cast her lot in with the Raksha? Answer me!" He's managing to be awfully bold for a guy caught alarmingly unprepared, in the face of someone so obviously deranged and physically obscene. Tamamo has a peaceful time in the manufactory, though. There is, obviously, a formula for creationg the gold-beyond-gold substance known as orichalcum, as, given by the crossed of maps and sheets left by Rune, he'd deemed the prospect of getting at known deposits guarded by the Realm extremely unfeasible. It actually looks perfectly possible by an ordinary nobody with a lot of free time, stamina, and very expensive and esoteric occult mirrors and access to molten lava. A good estimate is that it'd take her, at most, most of a waking day, rather than the stated full week. At the very least, the sheer geometric design of the Sphere doesn't seem to be very important outside its inner components. The spherical shape is mostly to maintain perfect symmetry, and the shell itself is relevant for the many, many runes scrawled across its surface, from top to bottom. It'd be impossible to mount any kind of significant handles or straps, but something like fine gauge wires, small enough to fit between rows of runes, could be used in significant number. It could be lugged around in a cart of course, but would probably just tear a backpack. Finding something to stick to it that'd negate its weight or provide a way to pull it without defacing the runes would be fine, even if it covered them up a little.
Damocles	Damocles continues hounding his prey through the tunnels, singing as he stalks through the tunnels. There's no reason to hurry, no urgency in catching them before a certain time, and trailing them as they go makes things more educational for him. He starts to see hints of the others, and smiles a little. Well now, that seems to be going well enough. As long as they catch the leader, they should be fine. Of course, then things turn out not so easy, as smoke and ash rise up from the ground and attack him. His armor is thick and reinforced with magic, but the burning poison from those fangs still doesn't look particularly fun, and nothing he wants to deal with if he can help it. Gripping his staff tightly, he uses all his strength to fold his arms over his chest, and focus briefly to channel energy into him. It only takes a brief moment before the energy reaches the critical mass he was waiting for, and he throws open his arms wide as he releases the stored power in a massive, short-range shockwave, radiating out in all directions with him as the origin point, intended to blast away the grappling power. "This is a distraction! Don't let them escape!"
Staren	Once the kidnappers are sighted, Staren alters his path through the tunnels to meet up with them -- but before he can catch them, the FIRE SNAKES attack! His cloak is burned away, revealing a military-style coat that seems to be more damage resistant. Venom, at least, he doesn't have to worry about -- except that it's molten, but he doesn't have to worry about incapacitating pain either! He'll have full use of his body until the heat physically melts something important. The catman growls in annoyance and draws an energy sword to try and cut the snakes, but as they're FIRE SNAKES that might not work -- if so, he flails about for a few seconds before remembering that he's a robot with at least some amount of super strength, and stands calmly and still trying to grab the snakes and either crush them or pull them off -- in the latter case, he follows up with a revolver that shoots something more like shotgun shells. So much for being quiet. Once free of the snakes, he dashes to the wagon faster than most cars and tries to make it impractical as an escape method -- seeking to cut wheels, sever reins, even stun horses if need be to stop them from being ridden away.
Tamamo	As she works, Tamamo considers what might be capable of moving the artifact with minimal issue. Accordingly, she asks. <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "As little more than musing, are there those here who might find the weight of... hm, ten men, shall we say, a simple matter to lift and carry, without concern of balance?" <J-IC-Scene> Gawain says, "That should be easy enough!" <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Oh, that is most reassuring." The geometry of the device proves less cumberesome than expected, but the outward-facing runes leave little space. Fortunately, she has prepared something light and strong, and in greater quantity than she'd needed it for other purposes. Unfortunately, this will also take time to prepare. Fine wires, too, take significant time to prepare, but she will first see if the same can't be accomplished through a very detail-oriented application of silk 'gifted' to her by a jorogumo. If only sticky spider silk were easier to transport... but no matter. If Gawain does not likewise consent to assaulting the place of the Fair Folk and no similarly strong-as-a-hundred-men substitute can be found, she'll work that problem when it comes to it, along with any other. All of the visible problems being solved, though with none of the work completed, Tamamo spends a little time looking about the manufactory out of sheer curiosity more so than a need for further useful devices, though she is looking for those, too. She can't take too long sight-seeing. No, she'll go and see Rune, first, to let him know that she'll take care of the orichalcum problem, and be returning later, in a day or so. Maybe they can complete the device together, which would be far easier and more engaging than finishing the foreign work on her own. He did seem like a pleasant young man, if certainly bookish. Tamamo makes her way back up.
Gawain	Heavy steel bolts fly at Gawain, who reacts with a sword to slice through one of them, the second grazing his face and catching him off-guard ever so slightly, allowing them to get a lead ahead. As the fire snakes come forth, Gawain's blade moves to slice through them, though these actually burn his armor better, being made of magma. Once they're off him, there's two problems. An unknown beast, which may or may not be Nerah, but hell if he has a clue and he doesn't want to chance it, which he sets Tina to dealing with, and the cart. Gawain's already up front, so he starts sprinting towards the cart. As they fire bolts, he's ready now, even if his face is bleeding, and burning, and venom stinging him. He moves to leap once more, and land on top of the cart, sword pointed down at the driver, using the backside to smack into any who keep attacking him. "If it is safe to do so, I recommend pulling over. Otherwise, keep driving, but away from the Freehold or any Guild headquarters where you'll have reinforcements. I'm commandeering this wagon, you understand. If you cooperate, we'll be able to protect you." And he means it. These men are lower-level. They might be able to be redeemed.
Tina Natsumi	As Tina corners one of the men, she too is actually sweating a bit. Not just from the heat of wearing those shitty rags or from the exertion, but with the fact that she's actually cornered someone now and might have a chance to get them to back down /without/ having to shoot them in the face. Instead, she just shoots him in the foot. "You hear all that back there, right? Those'll be my pardners taking the rest of yours down." She chuckles lightly to keep up that bad cop act while keeping her distance, leveling the gun at the man again and watching him for sudden movements. There's some audible anxiety in her words, though, being rather on edge herself. "Two ways this can go. You put the sword down and stay down, maybe get hounded a bit back at the station, put this shit behind ya afterwards. Other way is I double tap, and we grill everyone else. Your call, bud." Of course, it just had to be snakes and a giant... Whatever it is she can't quite put her finger on yet. "Your call." She repeats, then whips out her phone to snap a quick selfie and call out her red-white-and-blue mechanical Persona. "Alright, Uncle Sam.. Back to work!" Stomping on ashen snakes and facing down angry monsters is much easier than dealing with people. Almost sounding relieved, Tina holds onto Uncle Sam's back as they charge for the great beast, moving to intercept it via hosing the thing down with excessive gunfire from a pair of Thompson SMGs, each sized to their respective holders.
Tomoe	This wasn't going to be easy, then again it never was going to be that easy. This operation had survived in Whitewall for some time. The team is closing in on them there seem to be more of them now as they close in on the wagon. It's looking like they are going to have quite the brawl here. "Well now we have ..." Tomoe is cut off from anything else she was going to say, as suddenly there are strange ash snakes the horrible things are attacking her and a good deal of the party. Tomoe will move to hack and slash at the things with her sword, and even the odd spell but she's facing five at once and she can't cover all directions, she gets bit at least once and the venom is one painful and two has effects she has no idea about. She will keep fighting though as the sounds of something else big. "Someone's got to keep them from getting away!" The big thing is going to have to be delayed, or taken out. "Damn it what the heck did these things inject into me?!"
Song of Rainbows	Certainly, somewhere in the grand scheme of things, the tarry sludge that gooped through the walls and magical conduits of a Solar Manse had been slowed - deterred - by the defenses. Ineffable levels of health filled in with strikes, various penalties stacking up internally and exterally, and intimacies to various pacifistically monastic goals to be quashed later all stack up, but the defenses are tuned for a party of 2-5 plucky color coded adventure pals of levels 7 to 15 for a romping good time. They are not tuned for a formless mass of civilization destruction deciding that she wanted to be past them. Blobbing and pooling and spooling together, snaking and twisting up into a shape, and then a clothed humanoid form, with two rainbow-speckled orange lemniscate-pupil'ed eyes and a third, vertically oriented and lit from within by a silver light. She sits on a flat, sprawling throne with wooden legs 'carved' to look like octopus suckers and the L-shape made out of a single contiguous piece of nacre-shimmering aphotic blue-green jade. "I am the Song of Rainbows! Since I don't seeeee-" Her eyes rotate around like a lizard's, swiveling all about the room while the central silver one just orbits within her skull, spinning all about in a 360 degree wobbling sworl. "-any stolen children, or smell them, or hear them, you're not the degenerate fairy who has decided to cause trouble. So why, little golden man, are you not prepared to tithe? Don't you live in a society? You understand it as 'taxes'." She extends a ring-studded hand, palm out and up, as if graciously accepting payment from the Solar in the middle of his manse. "Oh, you asked what I was - I'm the ultimate, unrestrained, perfect apex predator of this world. I'm here to find all there is to find of worth and wonder, take the former, and plunder the latter." Tamamo bursts in to the staredown and outstretched hand, which is totally normal and cool beyond the obvious extortion. "So, pay... your 'taxes'."
Bloody Revelations	The summoned snakes are not individually durable. They are overlarge snakes, shaped like cobras but more the size of pythons, that are extremely aggressive, red hot, numerous, and already surrounding anyone the moment they're summoned. Blades and blasts cleave through them easily, leaving behind stump spines of coal and spurting blood of burning slag. Their fangs are like steel fresh from the forge, but as hard as if it were finished, injecting venom that burns horrendously from within, but they don't infinitely regenerate or anything of the sort; clearing them out swiftly leaves one free to continue. Still, even as the monster approaches, another shriek sounds out. A flare of light races down the tunnel. A brilliant falcon of flaming diamond races through the air and seeks out Gawain's back at a truly absurd speed, exploding furiously enough to catch the others around him as well. Continuing the theme of animal-themed attacks, a swarm of glittering black butterflies follows, gushing through the confined space, becoming partially blinding, their razor sharp obsidian wings carving the walls and floor up with innumerable shallow cashes, to say little of the people caught in the wave. Yet, when the loping, sprinting, teeth-gnashing beast is nearly upon the group, the moment Tina intercepts it from the side, it goes tumbling sideways as its flank is riddled with bullets, splattering red blood across the walls under the hail of fire. It rolls on its side into another passage, springs back up again, rounds the corner, and . . . abruptly disappears. The wagon doesn't have enough of a head start. It gained a big one while people were engaged, but it's half a mile away at best, from people who can outpace horses along a straight line path without issue. The next accessway that leads to the road above is still two miles away, by the map's reckoning, so without a giant monster keeping the pursuers pinned down, the escape has fallen short (excepting Tina's particular choice, who's been limping off into the ducts cursing and swearing over and over with every fifth step). They surrender immediately, of course. Like hell they're going to fight any of the people here.
Bloody Revelations	Mythical Japanese monster spider silk is more than up to the task for the orb. Spider silk in of itself has almost high enough tensile strength already. If Tamamo can find a way of adhering it without actually damaging the runes, or covering up less than a percentile of them, it should work just fine. Of course the brave and chivalrous knight will have to lug it around instead of her delicate ladylike self. That's just how it works. Meanwhile, Rune's question very swiftly shifts from 'who are you' to "What are you?!", in about the space of a heartbeat. The best he has on hand is one of those short, cut down daiklaves, gold as expected, which as weapons go, would be respectable enough to cause some harm to the Song of Rainbows if it were being wielded by a veteral Solar of martial bent with highly refined power. For the no doubt more scholastic and arcane type of man in front of her, it's more of a reassurance than anything. He manages to laugh, nervously. "You came here of all places in search of creatures of Chaos? Just look at you! I'm not sure what I'm supposed to make of that." His weight shifts uneasily from toe to toe while he mentally crunches out all possible sorcerous methods at his disposal and all possible defenses he could still activate, and correctly estimating that none of them will work in time if the abomination wants to cross the room and throttle him in the meantime. "So, if you're in search of fairies to hunt, why take ordinary treasure instead? In fact, why would a 'perfect, unrestrained apex predator' want taxes at all? Aren't taxes levied by nobles --satraps, dynasts, merchant kings and the like. That sounds awfully civilized." "Would you rather walk away with some golden trinket or another, or something less tangible, but far more altogether useful?"
Damocles	First snakes, and now butterflies. Damocles is starting to sense a pattern. Something to keep in mind as they continue on. Still, Damocles has one big advantage with the butterflies, in that he can see these ones coming. No ambush this time. He waits until the swarm of butterflies are reasonably close, but not on top of him, and then swings his staff forward again, slamming it down onto the ground. As he does, another shockwave of energy blasts forth. This time, the energy surges forward like a knife, aiming directly in the middle of the butterflies headed towards him. The wave of energy cuts through the center of the tunnel, and blasts everything caught in its wake to the sides, aimed to smash the fluttering constructs against the walls of the tunnel with, hopefully, enough force to shatter them. A quick glance towards the wagon, and he sees just in time to see they stopped as well. That makes things easier. Still, something doesn't feel right. Their host, Nerah, didn't show. And their prey had their escape route all mapped out, complete with elaborate magical traps. And monsters. Or were the magic and monsters from a third party? There's still a piece that doesn't fit. Damocles doubts he's required here any longer, in any case. Time to chase a suspicion. "Well, the situation seems in hand now. Unless I'm needed further?"
Tina Natsumi	"Hah! Got that sucker!" Tina cheers for herself as the loping beast is diverted from its course, allowing the wagon crew to chase down their quarry and prevent the escape. Satisfied with her own handiwork, she lets out a relieved sigh before turning back towards the... Where the hell is that guy. Even with All Seeing Eye's intel, she can't exactly track one person down the multitude of paths he could have gone through, and she gives up on trying to find him after about a minute of searching. <<"Dang it... Uh. My guy bailed. Y'all get the rest of 'em, at least?">> She relays over the radio while reloading her SMG just in case. With the immediate danger put aside, though, she adds a few more notes to her phone. "Foot injury escaped... Big hairy boy disappeared..." That's actually all she has in mind at the moment.
Tamamo	Tamamo arrives to find a second throne has appeared, and some strange person is sitting on it. All ready to let Rune know what she'd planned, or else to ask about 'the intruder,' she opens her mouth to say-- Nothing. Nothing at all. She moves around Song of Rainbows and gives her an utterly inscrutable look, but otherwise remains, politely, silent, waiting for the two to finish their conversation. She's not in so much of a hurry that she would really need to deal with her business first, given that Gawain had just made it clear that his end of the plan had finished.
Staren	Whoever's doing this just isn't done! Staren takes aim at the falcon but it explodes before he can shoot, and then... The butterflies. THE BUTTERFLIES. Noone warned Staren that butterflies were sharp! Staren shouts in surprise when they cut him and ducks to expose less of himself, and starts deploying plasma grenades to melt them if necessary... by the time he's through though his clothes are in tatters, revealing the (now heavily-scored) metal skin beneath. At least the big monster is handled surprisingly quickly when it shows up! When he finally catches up with the escaping kidnappers he tries to control his expression to a frown. "Start talking." There are no promises of life and freedom in exchange for information -- these people are abducting children and selling them to rakshas. It's hard to paint yourself as more irredeemably evil than that. Their only value is the information they may have, and Staren's not letting them go -- but even in this circumstance, he's reticent to lie. Hopefully they'll talk before any awkward bargaining attempts and then he can kill them quickly, no promises broken. Staren considers how this could go, actually. Especially with Gawain here. He supposes he'd be okay with the Paladins throwing them in jail for life, so perhaps that can be a bargaining chip. There's a range of outcomes here. Paladin Jail, Concord Jail where they can be earmarked as test subjects the next time they need to do dangerous human experiments, or a quick death. Staren's not sure which of the last two someone would actually prefer.
Tomoe	The snakes thankfully do not last long and after the first Bite Tomoe keeps them from landing another hit. It is not long before the last one has been cleaved. Though it's clear from her blows being a bit sluggish she's in pain from the venom she did get dosed with and the pained look on her face. Thankfully the effect of the venom does not last too long as she's able to purge it from her body. With that out of the way, she's after the wagon going at her top speed. Until the thing crashing in from behind. Tomoe's caught in the hail of razor ship black butterflies she's cut up. There's also a rarity as she's bleeding from some of the wounds showing how deep they went. Along with the normal wireframe damage she suffers. thankful there's not a second salve and the pained Tomoe gets back on the hunt, catching up with the wagon along with the others. She will help to get the captured thugs ready to move once they have given up. "So we are going to have those questions...."
Gawain	Gawain is injured further by the attacks, but once all is said and done, he's doing pretty well - he has strong armor and regeneration, after all. Once the men surrender, Gawain moves to speak. "Sir Gawain, Paladin Warden. Under the power I have, you're all under arrest for trafficking and kidnapping...but if you cooperate, things may turn out better for you, as would any possible extenuating circumstances. You don't seem like the brains of this operation, just muscle trying to make your way, but what you have done is reprehensible." Staren is a wild card, so Gawain speaks up again. "Don't worry, though. We have no plans to kill you, or torture you, or any such thing. However...if you refuse to cooperate, things will be much, much worse. You must understand." But, there's a pause. "But I know you have the ability to change. Help us find those children, and then we can talk!"
Song of Rainbows	Song of Rainbows clicks her tongue, which for now sounds like how a clicking tongue ought to click, as Rune rebuffs her lightly, her too-curved smile revealing an overage of sharp teeth with two long canines and a centrally jutting beak tooth. "I'm speaking t'you like you're people, savvy?" Her tone is syrupy, layered on rich and thick. "Like you didn't piss away all your power believing that makin' things like they were before you all got killed is a grand ol' plan. In the /language/ you /understand/." She spits on his floor, the slime a bit too viscous for comfort, and gestures with her outstretched hand. "I don't negotiate. Render unto me whatever it is your smart little mind thinks is worth my time, and that must be good enough, yes? Good." Her smile is far more serene and downright normal to Tamamo. "He doesn't understand, gorgeous. This'll be over quickly, then I'll be out of your business, yeah?"
Staren	Staren nods at Gawain's words. He's at least reasonably certain the Paladin justice system won't go easy on these guys. "Torture is off the table. It was never on the table. Even for child-fey-slave-traders. "If you can actually help us get the children back... I guess that's something."