Realistic or Modern Mission 3

[Noble Scion]

"Your advice is purposeless." Sang scowled at the merfolk before following after their team leader, leaving Don with the sound of annoyance in his ears as she delved into the right set of stairs with the rest of her team, taking heed of the ambassador's words of climbing over the walls, shoving that little note of information into the back of her mind while taking one of the offered torches from a mage she didn't recognise ( Morzone ), not bothering to thank him before leaving with her group and wandering down the hallway in silence.

A strange sound was heard by the group, both what it was and its source being obscured by the length of the hallway, leaving the question of whether they should try and search it out or not in the mind of them all, Sang included. "We shouldn't follow it, sound means something moved, and if something moved, that means danger. Not that a fear a battle." she growled to group, only just managing to get her words out before the idiotic half-demon from before decided that sprinting on his own ahead of the group was wise.

"IDIOT!" she shouted, before launching herself after him in the hopes of catching up, considering herself amongst the faster of the group given that the rest didn't appear quite so physically imposing, the one exclusion being the centaur who had charged before even her, but if she met a corner the odds of her ramming face-first into it were much higher than Sang herself. "I'm chasing the moron!" she called back to the group, torch in hand as she flickered down the hallway after the demonkin and half-horse, and by extension, the noise that they heard.

Thankfully, the halls seemed to be dry, making them ideal for sprinting without slipping, but on the other hand, the demoness was quite knowing of the fact that if the halls behind them were to shut, the group would quite easily be split up. The ambassador had said something about the maze being a living thing, so Sang suppsed that she just had to trust herself to survive the place with whoever ended up getting stuck with her.

The elf at least seemed to understand the gravity of Kiril's deliberate attempt to split the group up, and while she very much wished that they all stuck together, the best option if they were to split up was to at least split up into even groups, not that she particularly wanted to spend her time in the darkness with company.
Fable Xemanorth June Verles r e i Tarmagon VioletShadow Myriad

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth

addresses: Thatguynameded

music: x

The drunk shook her head, hoping to shake off the magical sickness that had come with it. Internally she cursed at her own body. Then again, a part of it was only to blame on herself. She had willingly opened herself up to it. The dragonlady seemed to be excited about what was to come. Qerres straightened up and rubbed her palms over her face, pumping herself up for the experience about to come as well.

As the one before them continued to explain, that excitement was hard to keep down. Externally, at least. A wide grin spreading to her plump lips. Fear of death didn't seem present. Perhaps it was the alcohol, perhaps it was a lack of understanding. Perhaps it was something deeper.

"The Box is a Labyrinth, but you could also consider it a living thing. It shifts and moves as it pleases."
Q let her eyes scout the walls. Idly her hands fiddled with the straps of the brass knuckles, tightening them before flexing her large fingers within. If there was one thing she had confidence in, it was her ability to annihilate. When she heard the rustle of feathers, she craned her neck to see what was going on from the back of the group.

"Ohh. Fancy!" she commented, giving a grin to Tristan as she seemed to be on the same page of laughing in the face of fear. A few people spoke their perhaps final goodbyes. Qerres gave a thumbs-up to the man she hadn't seen before, a human, about his torches. She gave a little point to the black abysses within her eye sockets, a little white pupil the only thing visible in the eerie dark. Being a demon had its advantages at times.

These same eyes shifted towards the man who liked to give unwanted advice. She personally didn't care if he did it, though it seemed to annoy the woman she have lovingly dubbed Red Red. From experience this exchange did happen a lot, the most common responses to advice from a near-stranger were annoyance or sheer silence. The little white pupils traveled over the man's form. She had figured he wasn't human due to some of his behavior and the spots across his skin, but she couldn't be sure until now. It appeared he were Merfolk of some kind.

She gave a little wave to the other group, unsure if they would see it in the dark, then giving a definitely noticeable wink to Aqua. It was meant to be reassuring. She'd seemed worried throughout and though a lot of it seemed directed at other people, she probably could use a reassurance for her own sake.

Then their group branched off. Following Elora, Qerres had fallen silent. No quips, no drunken chortles. She was focused. But it was one of the new faces that destroyed that focus for her.

"If you are already dead, I suppose there is no reason you couldn't just check."

Qerres snorted, desperately holding back a chortle following it. It was clear she got the joke, and to be completely honest, the flat tone only helped it be funnier. But the lift in atmosphere was promptly slammed down, quite literally, by a set of spikes ramming into the ground behind them. The demoness let out a low whistle. "...Lucky us we didn' pause righ'?"

The little white pupils went to the water as her comrades studied it. It looked deep- but if there was something there and it moved, they should be able to see a ripple or two. "I think anyone wiv' good night vision should probably keep an eye on there throughout... We don't -have- to cross it righ', just stick together for now? No need t' tempt fate, or Pandora in this case."

She looked to the other new face, the human male, as he spoke. That sounded good. Then again, she didn't know if everything in here obeyed logic. But it was definitely worth a try. She looked to Elora as she awaited her instructions. All the while flexing her fingers, keeping them close to the pistol hanging from her hip.

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper kept his peace as the rather simplistic rules were explained. So far, things were about what he expected. He did notice one glaring admission in the 'ambassador's' spiel. He or Pandora would, or possibly even could, not attack unless attacked first. The glaring omission was 'deliberately'. He could quite easily see a scenario where either of the, entities, could simply make certain that they were too close to a legitimate target so as to be caught by the fringes of an attack. One slip and done. Then the figure was melting into the floor and it was time. The two team leads, conferred would be abusing a perfectly good verb, then his team was moving right.

Once the entire team had moved down the stairs after Tristan and entered the Labyrinth proper, Jasper was unsuprised when the opening they had entered through sealed itself with a loud grinding of stone on stone. Go figure. Tristan set out, pausing to mark the walls with chalk, though Jasper wasn't certain how useful that would be in a shifting maze. Unsheathing the blade of his staff, Jasper let the rest of the party move ahead, effectively assigning himself the rear cover position. He only glanced ahead occasionally, keeping most of his attention on their back-trail. Nothing moved in the darkness behind them that Jasper could identify, then suddenly Tristan called a halt.

Taking a knee, Jasper continued to watch behind the party as a faint sound echoed from somewhere ahead. Suddenly he heard pounding feet, clattering hooves, and angry shouting. It sounded like at least half their party was charging blindly ahead. Standing, Jasper backed towards what remained of their party until he saw Tristan out of the corner of one eye.

"Whiskey tango foxtrot boss?" he inquired. "Pursue or hold position? Oh, and no sign of activity behind us... yet. "

Fable Xemanorth June Verles r e i Noble Scion VioletShadow , Thatguynameded

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Satan's Slip N' Slide | Interactions: Fable DergTheDergon Myriad DapperCat Morzone Hanarei |Mentions: Thatguynameded
​

"Thanks, I hate it." Caddy commented as the walls crumbled, revealing the dark paths of the labyrinth before them. Such a dark and gloomy place. Would it kill the Queen to spruce her death maze up a little? A potted fern next to ever-burning pit of hellfire? Or some floor-to-ceiling curtains over the lost souls of the forever-damned? Paint the goddamn shifting walls an egg-shell white! That'll open the space right up.

Caddigan breathed a sigh of relief as the Ambassador fell into a pool of black feathers and angst: they were really dampening the mood. This was the signal to let the games begin. As the teams began to split ways, the dhampir waved goodbye to his fellow agents.
"Ya'll don't die now!" He chirped over his shoulder as the others lingered out of view.
"And don't forget to take Fido out for his walkies! You know how he gets!" And with that final quirk, Tristan's team was gone. Caddy silently hoped it wouldn't be the last joke they'd ever hear from him.

The death maze certainly is dark, but Caddy is able to make out the shape of his teammates as they ventured down their chosen path. He keeps his eyes on Elora as she leads, flinching at the sound of the glow stick, and smiling as her figure is outlined in a faint shade of green. Though Caddy was able to see in the dark, the light gave him a little sense of comfort in this shit-hole. He's able to sense the water in the darkness, black and rotten, and follows Elora as she peers over the edge. The sound of bars slamming shut behind them made Caddy's heart fall into his stomach: a cheeky reminder of what awaited him if things didn't go right with SMITED.

That long stretch of stone across the pool and the inky-blackness of the waters was practically begging to be a trap. The dhampir nodded in agreement with Don, the esper, and the others. If it wasn't an ambush then it was going to be a game of fast tightrope: better safe than sorry.
"Before we make a mess of Satan's Slip N' Slide," Caddy starts, holding up a hand to the rest of the group "I'd just like to take in this lovely scenery."
He waits for that little moment of silence, opens up those "almost-vampire" senses, and breathes in deeply: hoping to hear, smell, and maybe even see any further signs of life, decay, or anything else that may prove useful to their search.

 

[DergTheDergon]

The Dragoness crossed her arms, tail swishing impatiently as she met the being’s eyes, showing no fear as she was addressed directly in a rather coy way, only narrowing her eyes at the Ambassador’s bravado. Doing so took some effort, but with enough concentration she managed to keep a stern look about her face as the strange feminine figure explained the rules. Admittedly, though, what the Ambassador, as she calls herself, had told the new Centaur agent regarding her gods not being able to help her here definitely sparked a bit more of the dread that had been welling up within Xaira’s psyche and was now at rather critical levels. She took a deep breath and placed her hand over the warm mark Jasper had left upon her chest, feeling further warmth beneath within her heart itself as she thought of his words, and the time they had shared over the last few weeks. The act calmed her enough to presently observe, reminding herself again that during this mission, she had promised him that she would not let her fondness for him get in between her and the mission.

She was honestly expecting the labyrinth to be completely closed in instead of open at the top, she thought as the place was revealed before her, but she was of course glad it wasn’t. She hadn’t thought of chancing a fly-over, though it was certainly good to keep in mind that nothing good would be in store for the Dragoness if she decided to cheat the game that way, a chill running down her spine as she took in the sight of the Ambassador’s monstrous rows of sharp teeth that rivaled her Draconic form, which she hoped she’d get a chance to use here in some way despite the narrow walls. Considering that both the Ambassador as well as her own superiors had made it clear that the labyrinth was ever-changing, however, she kept the possibility open in her mind that she may get a chance.

The wall opening in as otherworldly a manner as the Ambassador had entered the room proved a viable re-entry point to the present moment from Xaira’s thoughts. The Dragoness, taking another deep breath and looking over to Jasper one last time before setting her sights on the vastness underneath here, silently wishing him well as he watched he and his team go. Taking another deep breath to regain as much resolve as possible, the draconic woman then began to wordlessly follow her team for now, keeping both eyes peeled in every direction as much as possible. Normally, Tristan’s sarcastic joke before his group headed into the maze itself and out of sight would have at least made Xaira smirk a little, but due to the stresses and worries weighing upon her mind, she found herself unable at this moment to do so.

As the Dragoness moved into the left entrance with the group, she nodded at Elora’s apt instruction regarding light sources. “I have night vision too so I’ll try to keep an eye out for everyone,” Xaira added. “Also, in a pinch I can light something flammable with my Dragonfire, but I’ll be careful about that, of course.”

Going silent again after making her offer, Xaira tilted her head to the side as she heard the presence of water, and her eyes widened as she took in the dark pool of water and the very little room to walk.

“I’ll go last. My damn tail has a mind of its own and I’m not about to knock someone into that water.”

Xaira then stepped aside and let the others shuffle past her, then carefully proceeded along behind the others, sighing under her breath as she heard the tell tale sound of metal slamming against stone and looked back to see that the gate had indeed sealed them inside.

“Yeah, fun,” Xiara agreed, looking out in all directions as she carefully followed behind the rest of the group.

Observing each of the others as the group continued on, Xaira’s mind wandered. Don apparently had his own alternate form, and this one seemed quite defensible in the same way her dragon form was- thick scales. Considering the watery nature of this area, he may be of great use soon as well in some way. Just as she was thinking that, oddly enough, Don brings up the possibility of him investigating the waters by diving into them. It was a brave and proactive plan,but it didn’t seem advisable.

“I don’t know, Donald,” Xaira said, addressing the aquatic being from her position behind him and the others, calling out toward him while doing as best she could to meet his eyes in her position. “Seems way too risky for this early on… might be best to play it safe for now.”

Felcia, who had been assigned to the group so last minute that Xaira only knew her name from glancing at her badge just before they’d all set out, impressed Xaira a bit with her show of magic. The Dragoness had always been fascinated by magic, and felica’s display seemed to be that much grander because, even though she wouldn’t be in smited if she was a mundane, she certainly could pass as one among them. The same was true of Jasper, as well as Theo, the other mage currently traveling with this particular group.

The Esper’s blunt words to Don gave her pause, the Dragoness widening her eyes and feeling a bit more dread at them. Normally dry humor would be a bit funnier to her, but after her earlier exchange with Jasper just before going into a place that seemed to have a rather good chance to be the end of one or both of them, she found no humor in Felicia’s remark. Qerres did, however, and her chuckle funnily enough brought a bit of a smile to Xaira’s face in and of itself. As foolish as it might be, the musclebound Demoness’s clearly intact sense of humor and rather chipper-seeming mood despite it all did help Xaira to lighten up, if only a little.

Deciding to refocus and think of it as the woman’s way of expression, rationalizing that there was a very low chance she meant what she had said. Her suggestion to provide a distraction for the aquatic man might well be a good idea, though, Xaira thought, but instead of offering her comments on it which felt irrelevant at the current moment, she decided to instead see what Elora or Don himself had to say in response.

Theo’s added rationalization made Xaira’s eyes widen. “Well, if we see anything stirring in the water, you and I could just boil it alive in seconds I bet, working together. Don doesn’t have to risk it, that way.”

Qerres’s next statement was surprisingly cautious due to her previous bravado, though the gate slamming down behind them did seem to be a bit of a wake-up call for the Demoness. “I agree, Qerres… until there’s a threat right in our face, I suggest we don’t try to lure anything toward us early.” Noting that the Demoness had her hand near her firearm, Xaira had her talons bared and one hand reaching for the daggers she’d packed in the armory as well, sheathed at her sides, silver-coated in case that was any sort of weakness among the unsavory denizens of this place.

From her position behind the rest of the group, Xaira could see Caddigan’s distress at the resonating sound of slamming bars, likely reminding him of his past or perhaps what awaited him if he slipped back into it while in SMITED. Still, even so, the next words that the Dhampir uttered, as per usual, was another sarcastic crack at the situation. However, it seemed to be his way of asking for silence at this moment due to his raised hand, which Xaira obliged. Curiously observing the man, she sure enough noticed that he looked more poised and focused than she’d ever seen him, the sight reminding her to do the same as she perked up her own keen senses, courtesy of her Dragonblood, and scanned the room for signs of malicious hidden creatures.

Interactions: Fable Myriad Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

 

[Fable]

(Teams will each have their own section in the posts from this point.)

Tristan's Team

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Tarmagon VioletShadow June Verles r e i

When Tristan watched as Kirill took off after the direction he assumed the noise was coming from he glowered at the half-demon's back. He would have let him run to his foolish end, but then others went to give chase after Kirill and was resulting in the team splitting up. That was bad and the moment Tristan found Kirill again there would be some words and possibly a leash put on the half-demon.

First it was Celena who noisily galloped with hooves on stone after him. Tristan looked over at Calliea who muttered under her breath about the stupidity of Kirill's running alone into the unknown danger. At least they were on the same page, or so he thought until she too ran off after the suicidal idiot. He turned to Brass who looking ready to make a break for it as well. Tristan growled loudly, "Dammit he's going to get us killed, just chase after the moron and if he's still alive when you catch up to him tackle him to the ground and stop him. Go fetch!"

Sang had also already taken off which meant more and more of their group could get split up. If they got separated there was no meeting point to regroup. They'd be on their own and that most likely would not go in their favor at all. Tristan turned to Jasper who had basically wasted too much time using NATO phonetic to express 'what the fuck.' "Follow, we've been left little choice at this point," Tristan ordered.

Now everyone was chasing after the rogue agent Kirill in order at this point to not get split up and make their mission all the more dangerous. Kirill would keep chasing the sound, but never reaching it, almost as if being teased by the maze and luring him away. At least until he went down what seemed to be an open path and then slammed full speed into a wall as it shot up and blocked him from progressing any further.

One of Kirill's feet had triggered something as a stone he had stepped on had sunk an inch. As the group catches up, with Celena probably nearly trampling over Kirill and also coming to a quick halt thanks to the wall a rumbling began as slits in the stone walls begin to open, numerous openings too small for any of them to fit through. From the tunnels come a skittering sound which sounded somewhat like a large amount of insects.

Tristan pointed angrily at Kirill, "I am going to shout at you later over this after we've dealt with whatever is coming." He turned to see if they could go back and turned a corner only to be greeted by another wall. "Fucking perfect!" He returned to the group and cracked his knuckles. "Jasper, see if you can find a way to open the path back up. The rest of you, we're fighting whatever is coming our way and covering Jasper."

The skittering seemed to pause a bit then something crawls out and along the wall. The moment anyone kills it, the openings are flooded by more of them as they either fall out of the tunnel, crawl out, or jump at the agents with a screech.

Elora's Team

Myriad Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes DergTheDergon Epiphany

Elora turned to Don as he knelt by the edge of the water, inquiring if he should check the water for something that could have been lurking there. The tunnel was too tight for them to fight it if there was something. "Stop," she ordered to Don. "If we're going to provoke something that may or may not be there, we need to get somewhere more open than this tunnel. You can continue to observe the water as we move for any change or disturbance from it as we get through this tunnel."

"Agent Caldwell, I suggest you stop glowing because you're making yourself a very tempting target. Save it for when we are fighting something and have to see. We are leaving the water be for now. We've only just started and while this may seem lax to just leave it be, stalling to check every little suspicious thing we will ultimately get nowhere because everything in this place is suspicious. Agent Myrsky, I'd also rather not roast or cook with whatever may be lurking in the water. While I do not doubt your control over your fire power, a tunnel is a fire death trap. The same for you Agent Werveyn, hold off on using fire in here."

"No Agent Q, we won't cross the water unless we absolutely have to. And yes, we do not want to provoke or tempt fate this early on, though the maze may have different plans. The Ambassador suggested to us to consider it a living thing which means so we simply have to consider everything a trap, and having our one exit closed off makes me consider we may have just triggered one."

As Caddigan expands his senses he'd notice just a stronger sense of the same scents and sounds along with the breathing, heartbeats, which was the only sound of life coming from his teammates. If there was something with them, it wasn't alive, moving, or making a sound. It would be the same for anyone who tried to sense something more.

"Enough, we're wasting time so we're moving on," Elora stated to the group and proceeded to move forward along the direction the path was taking them. There was a noticeable problem after a while though. The path never changed. It didn't split, bend, curve, or reveal an opening. There was no draft to hint at a hidden secret and Elora was becoming frustrated. They didn't seem to be walking in some large circle, no debris within the tunnel was exactly the same and the sound of the faint dripping water would fade away and a new one would eventually fade in with a different rhythm. It seemed as though they were moving while at the same time going nowhere.

She paused and sighed. "It feels like we've overlooked something. I wouldn't put it past this place to make us slowly go insane by having some infinite tunnel and trapping us within it, but perhaps we just missed a clue."

Elora glanced around, her hands sliding across the stone wall of the tunnel trying to feel for something; anything. The chances of them finding whatever they needed to get out of the tunnel was slim. It was dark and they had already walked a fair distance and if this wasn't some large loop they could have already missed whatever clue they needed. There had been no marking on the stone that Elora had noticed.

She glanced back at the water and mentally groaned as the thought crossed her mind that perhaps that was the actual way out. Though it could also just lead to their death. "Agent Alveron, if you are fine with investigating the water still now would be the time. Everyone else be prepared in case we have to fight something and rescue him."

The moment anyone causes ripples by touching the water, ripples from a different point appear and something partially emerges from the water; black hair, pale flesh, and gold glowing eyes. It doesn't rise any further and it doesn't attack. A whispering voice can be heard and seems to not come from any one direction, "How silly you all are, wandering aimlessly. I wondered how long it would take for you to finally notice you were going nowhere. Not back, not forward."

The whisper laughed.

"I'm sure you're amused, I suppose you want us to answer some sort of riddle for you to reveal the way," Elora impatiently replied.

"A riddle? How dull. I am not a bridge troll. There is a price to be paid, once paid you can be on your way."

"I assume you set the price then?"

"Of course. Though you can always attempt to negotiate."

"What is your price?"

The eyes slide over to Xaira and it's as though everyone could just feel the malicious grin as the whisper replied, "A precious memory from that one."

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth

addresses: Thatguynameded

music: x

Despite the smile Qerres kept plastered on those red lips of hers, the little white pupils never stopped scanning the environment. Fingers idly brushing across the straps within her palms. She gave off an air of carelessness, but for the practiced - and nightvisioned - eye it showed she perhaps knew more what she was doing than she let on. As the dragoness spoke to her, she turned her head halfway and nodded. No need to risk it until something came for -them-. Little did she know, that time would come soon enough.

As Elora eventually ordered them to proceed onwards, she resumed her scanning of the walls and surroundings, Q followed suit, making sure to glance to her feet every now and then. Water. Slippery. Big heavy muscular-chubby body. Not a good combination. The group paced onwards on what seemed to be a path unending. Though the demon had noticed, she simply followed Elora's orders and kept on walking.

"It feels like we've overlooked something. I wouldn't put it past this place to make us slowly go insane by having some infinite tunnel and trapping us within it, but perhaps we just missed a clue."

Qerres finally cleared her throat and spoke up. "Maybe we do need t' cross th' water boss. Or maybe there's a secret stone we gotta push either on this side or the other side or sum-" Before she could finish that sentence, her focus was taken by something moving from the corner of her eye. With a soft sound of rippling water, the first thing to appear was black floating hair. Out of sheer reflex and experience, Q's hand shot to the pistol on her hip and pulled it. The click of the hammer was heard, her finger resting on the trigger.

But she didn't shoot. Not unless it attacked or Elora told her to. She just stood completely still, feet parted in a firm stance as she had the barrel locked on whatever emerged after. She... didn't expect it to be a woman, that was for certain. No grotesque creature with countless tentacles, floating eyeballs or rotting flesh. Instead a pale woman, who now engaged in conversation with their group leader. Something about a price to be paid. Qerres could only hope it wasn't the price of a life. She didn't particularly care for the sentimental value, but they could use any pair of hands they had on them, preferably attached.

She didn't know what she expected exactly, but it wasn't what came out of the whispering mouth of the water-dweller. A... memory? The burly demon glanced shortly to Xaira, keeping her pistol aimed at the whisperer all the while. It wasn't rocket science that the dragoness had been practically glued to her human counterpart. And Qerres was all too experienced with these kind of mind-games.

And frankly, with love. Her eyes shifted back to the 'enemy', remaining silent. Xaira may have been as unlucky as she were when it came to finding someone. Or maybe, her own bad luck had just made her anticipate the worst for the poor dragoness...

 

[DergTheDergon]

The walk down this long and seemingly endless tunnel felt rather nerve-wracking to Xaira, and doubtless her team to some extent as well. Elora’s responses, further instructions nd overall her current outward demeanor suggested that even she, with more experience than likely all the agents she was currently in charge of combined, was becoming increasingly fed up with the featureless nature of this tunnel that seemed to extend as far as the eye could see no matter how many steps they might take in the same direction by now.

When it had been decided that Don would investigate the water afterall, Xaira watched, listened, and waited carefully. The moment the water was disturbed in the smallest way, something began to surface.

The Dragoness found herself poised to defend herself, dagger in hand, the moment she’d begun to see a head of long black hair emerge from the water from the very corner of her peripheral vision, her gaze immediately snapping toward the anomalous object. The strange creature’s eyes were a glowing gold, and Xaira shivered to think what she may look like underneath the water, with only shining golden eyes, hair pale skin and her hair showing. However, Xaira’s ponderings as to the water-obscured portion of the unsettling (yet almost beautiful based on what she could see) creature were cut short after Elora was finally able to cut short her mocking and get to the point of what she wanted in order for them to pass.

Xaira’s world stood still as the woman, or whatever she was beneath the surface of the water, passed her gaze over each person present and settled upon her, causing her to freeze on the spot with widening eyes.

“A priceless memory from that one.”

Tears welled in her eyes as memories as Jasper flooded her mind, knowing they were the sorts the creature would take if she truly could take memories, which in a place like this surely had to be possible. They were at the moment her most prized memories, memories of a love unlike she’d ever experienced before. Fear of losing any of them began to swell within her as she glared at the eerie pale creature. Subconsciously, she placed her hand over the warmth in her chest, unable to think for a few moments as she tried, in vain at first, to process the decision she had to make.

Her mind began to race once she’d gained a bit of a foothold on the dilemma before her. She could negotiate, but… what? What could be acceptable? It had to be something else that was priceless, right? Was it even worth the negotiation? If someone else stepped up for her, she would be spared, but Perhaps, as long as it was one memory, and as long as they both survived just like they promised each other, this would be something she could certainly bear. If Jasper was here right now, he would be strong enough to take this for the team, as painful as it would be for him as well. Besides, as long as she had her hand upon her chest she would have a memory trigger for the man she loved right there, and the two of them had made numerous wondrous memories over these last few weeks, all still fresh in her mind.

Xaira noticed Qerres’ glance toward her, seeing concern in her eyes, and nodded at the woman, smiling, albeit nervously, as if to reassure her that she could handle this. Truth be told, she was rather certain the moment after that she hadn’t done a very convincing job of the expression given her now-in-duress mental state. The dragoness looked over everyone and realized that it would likely be best for the mission as a whole if she simply took the chance, as painful as it felt it would be to lose any reminder of the wonderful man she was still falling for even now that lay within her mind. A few of the memories as she recalled them caused a faint, brief, but fond smile to grace her lips as she considered her options, such as they were.

‘She said a memory… one memory… we’re both getting out of here alive, we promised, and after that, we can make as many memories as we want together. I have to believe that. I will. I’ve gotta put the mission first...’

After closing her eyes for a moment, and rubbing her temples with a sigh, Xaira then opened her eyes again, a fierce look in them that might remind the agents here that had seen her in action during the last mission of her dragonfire as it seared the army of creatures trying to overwhelm them alive. “Fine, do it. I won’t put everyone through the trouble of negotiating. No matter what you take from me… a memory can be replaced.” There was a slight hesitancy to her tone of voice as she spoke, and one fist was clenched at her side, but her other hand was placed delicately over the warm sigil on her chest that was the reminder of the promise she and Jasper had made together mere hours ago. As long as it remained, she had more than enough courage and drive to face the challenges before her. She knew it to be true.

“Unless… one of you has an offer you think she might like,” Xaira added, hesitance and hopefulness equally apparent in her tone. “If you all want to just continue on now, though, I… I can do it.” She looked to Elora first, then over the others in her group, her gaze determined, yet with a hint of great hope that one of them would step up with an offer they might be able to bear more than Xaira would be able to deal with losing still-fresh memories of Jasper.
Interactions: Fable DapperCat

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Satan's Slip N' Slide | Interactions: Fable DergTheDergon Myriad DapperCat Morzone Hanarei | Mentions: Tarmagon
​

The heartbeats and subtle breathing settled in as Caddy opened himself up to the environment. He sighs in relief, shoulders relaxing, as he turns to announce that the coast was clear.
"See! Nothing to be afraid of! Just the wind and our fears" he smiles to the group as Elora brushes past him. Caddy gestures for the others to go ahead as he takes up the rear: peering back into the darkness behind them every few moments in case they were being followed. Maybe they were being too cautious. Caddy just couldn't shake the feeling that this was just a little too easy. He was, unfortunately, right to assume such things.

"Haven't we past that rock before?" Caddy kids wearily, pointing to a large slab of stone that looked like every other. The tunnel was never-ending. The group had been trudging on for what seemed like forever and Caddy was finally glad to hear Elora acknowledge it. So he wasn't going completely insane? Fucking great.

Caddy pauses, waits for Don to make his assessment, and lays his hand over his crossbow: ready to deal with whatever they may face in the inky-black waters. Like Xaira and Qerres, he draws his weapon quickly at the figure lurking in the pool. His crossbow loads, clicks, and sits steady as the being made it's proposition. The dhampir's gut told him to fire and get it over with, but he knows that it wouldn't be that simple. His eyes flicker over towards the dragoness, watches as she takes a deep breath and accepts the proposition. All the red lights and sirens went blaring off in Caddy's head: bad idea. He thinks about all the times he's spotted her around HQ: all stolen glances and shy smiles around Sparkles. What would the poor kid even do if she came back without any recollection of him? Couldn't remember his name? His face? Any feelings or precious thoughts?

Caddy knew. He had been in love once.

“Unless… one of you has an offer you think she might like,” Xaira offers weakly and Caddy's heart sinks a little. He thinks, very hard, and wonders if he could offer anything. His thumb rubs along the cameo tied around his wrist, traces the ivory portrait, and he lets out a little sigh. Caddy didn't have many precious memories to begin with, though perhaps that's what makes it all the more valuable. 'What the fuck am I doing?' the man thinks to himself, clearing his throat as to bring attention to himself. This was a different kind of stupid for Caddigan: that 'good guy' kind of stupid.

"That one," He begins, motioning towards Xaira with his crossbow "she's young blood."
"I've lived for over a century longer than most of these kids. I'm chocked full of memories. I'm an all-you-can-eat buffet of memories." He continues to gloat, twirls his weapon and makes a show of it.
"So how about sucking one out of my head instead, hm? I can think of a real tasty one: just for you."

 

[June Verles]

Celena was getting more and more afraid as she followed the male demon into the labyrinth as she finally realized that what she was doing was somewhat stupid, but her legs were already moving and there's no way she could stop right now if she didn't want to end the entire train of people who decided to follow in pursuit of the rash Kirill.

Centaurs having only the bottom half of their body as horse didn't night vision, she wasn't even sure if horses had night vision but they must have something along those lines for these cases right? Nonetheless she just had enough time to spot the sharp turn and slow down before creating a equestrian accident. As she turned she was greeted with the sight of another wall.

Turning her torso around she saw their return being capped off as well, that paired with low visibility and the noises that were starting to come from the small holes in the walls. Celena reached back into her pack and pulled out 4 glow-sticks, before bending them and throwing them in the four corners of the passage in an attempt to better illuminate the area, only to show the first of skull crab whatever the fuck they were crawling out of their mangy holes.

The Centaur let out a girly scream as she jumped up with her frontal legs out of reflex, squashing a few of the critters before pulling out her swords and attempting to kill them before they tried to get on her. That's when she felt small legs creep up her back, at which she instinctively started kicking with her back in an attempt to throw them off, if someone didn't deal with those quickly whoever is behind her might get a hoof shaped scar on their upper body area.

Fable Noble Scion Tarmagon Thatguynameded VioletShadow r e i Xemanorth

 

[Xemanorth]

The half-demon continued to charge deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, the sound ahead of him serving as his only guide. He'd heard shouts behind him but didn't much seem to care for any of it. They might be angry now but they could thank him later, he knew best after all. How could he not, he was Kirill!

Very little seemed to slow him down as he continued making his way ahead, rounding sharp turn after sharp turn with ease despite his considerable mass. That was until he felt the ground beneath his foot sink, it was just an inch but an odd sensation nonetheless, one that served to shift his balance enough for him to take note.

Kirill began slowing down, only to note all too late that he was already careening toward a wall right in front of him. With very little hope of stopping in time, he simply raised his forearms and braced himself. What occurred was less than graceful to put it mildly, Kirill smacked against the wall, audible before proceeding to bounce backward off of it on account of his braced arms, falling flat on his ass moments later.

He began picking himself up off the floor moments later, dusting himself off as he tried his utmost best to listen to what he was being told. He caught at least some of it, though the impact from moments earlier had served to rattle his small mind to say the least. "Hey, at least I made somethin' happen! That's progress in my book." He grumbled out in response before reflexively raising one of his arms to smack the leaping terror away from his features, midair no less.

"If we don't end up making enough noise, Pandora's just as likely to forget 'bout as and leave us starve as she is tryin' to stop our progress." It quickly became evident that, at least in his own mind, his plan made a whole lot of sense. As far as he knew, very little was known about Pandora's labyrinth as a whole, which in turn meant that his assumptions had just as much of a chance to be correct as anyone else's, regardless of intelligence.

( Fable , June Verles , r e i , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , VioletShadow )

 

[Thatguynameded]

Brass got the order and began to chase the Half demon, he was far behind due to him making a turn. Brass was never good with sharp turns and the ground wasn't soft enough for his claws to help out. Reaching the end he sees that everyone has stopped due to Krill hitting the wall. Brass didn't need to tackle him down because he was already down. everyone had caught up with the rest and his ears perk up. He could hear something, it was like sand moving but also something scratching, it was too hard to tell what exactly. The horse girl tossed the glow sticks and it made it very easy for brass to see what exactly what was coming. It was not a happy sight.

Bras began to swipe side to side with his claws to keep them from flooding one side of the of the room and he could sense a little panic from behind. He could hear Celena's clops against the floor become a little sporadic it sounds like the sign of an an animal thats about to the buck. Turning his head he can see some sort of movement going up her legs. He runs over and grabs the skull spiders by the skull and tosses them at the walls as hard as possible. Tossing the last spider off, brass yells while going back to his original position, "call brass when spiders".

( June Verles )

 

[Tarmagon]

"Well, this has deteriorated into one massive Charlie Foxtrot," Jasper muttered under his breath as he followed Tristan down the stone corridors. Thanks to the way the team was strung out in following the never to be sufficiently damned demon, they managed to keep contact with the impulsive demon as he charged headlong through the maze. Suddenly, the problem became one of avoiding contact as a smacking noise from around a corner announced that Kirill had met with something at least as tough and stubborn as he was. Celena managed to slow her headlong rush after Kirill, and make the turn, and judging by the lack of further impact sounds, she had managed to avoid whatever fate Kirill had met. The rest of the team navigated the turn, and Jasper could hear a furious Tristan, whose tirade was interrupted by a grinding noise.

"I am going to shout at you later over this after we've dealt with whatever is coming." Jasper heard Tristan shout, then the team lead appeared from around the corner, just as a louder grinding announced the rising of a wall to seal off the path they had just charged down.

"Fucking perfect!" Tristan snarled, moving back to the corner to address the team as a whole. "Jasper, see if you can find a way to open the path back up. The rest of you, we're fighting whatever is coming our way and covering Jasper."

Jasper moved up to the corner himself, just in time to see what looked like a skull scuttle out of a slit near the floor. The thing had dead, white eyes and far too many crab-like legs, which allowed it to move with startling rapidity. And jump it seemed, as the first of the things met with a serious mischief at the hands, or rather hooves, of Celena. Immediately a horde of the creatures exploded from the slits along the walls, swarming and leaping at the agents. Jasper couldn't see any mouth parts, but the chitinous legs of the skull-spiders appeared more than capable of inflicting damage on unprotected flesh. Jasper was vaguely aware of Kirill commenting that he had 'made something happen'. Jasper tuned him out, and the various noises of combat going on around him. He sheathed his blade, then put his staff into the holder on his back, opting to pull out one of the batons due to the confined space they were fighting in.

Paying just enough attention to the rest of the team so that he didn't blunder into someone, and swatting the occasional skull-spider away, Jasper began to examine the wall that had risen to cut off their retreat inch by inch, running his hands over the rough hewn stone. Nothing. Moving back to where the rest of the team was engaged in a vigorous round of 'The Monster Mash', Jasper moved along the left hand wall, keeping his hands well away from the slits that were still vomiting skull-spiders. Finally, he wound up at the wall that had stopped Kirill cold. The lowered section of the flagstone floor was painfully obvious, and he knelt to examine it. Nothing presented itself, though he had to interrupt his inspection several times to bat away overly aggressive skull-spiders. Rising, he turned his full attention to the wall. This one seemed devoid of spider slots, so Jasper began at the floor, checking every inch as he slowly worked his way up.

A couple of minutes, and a few scratches from skull-spiders he hadn't swatted away fast enough, later Jasper's questing fingers found a regular opening in the stone. Triggering his glyphs, Jasper enhanced his vision. A keyhole, carved directly into the stone, sprang into sharp contrast against the otherwise unbroken background. Grabbing a piece of chalk from his backpack, Jasper began to scribe a complicated series of glyphs around the keyhole. When he completed the last one, they flared into brilliant life, then guttered out of existence like a snuffed candle flame with no obvious effect.

"Fuck!" Jasper swore, then looked around. The skull-spider things were still pouring out of the slits in the wall, and it appeared he wasn't the only one sporting fresh scratches. This was a maze, a puzzle. After a moments thought, Jasper reached out with his chalk again, writing a completely different set of glyphs around the keyhole. Laying his hand over the glyphs, he sent a wave of his Power into the writing, which flared into silver life... and didn't fade away. A flash of silver caught Jasper's eye, and he turned, careful to keep his hand over the glyphs, just in time to see a skull-spider vanish into one of the wall slits, only to reappear out of another. This skull-spider's eyes weren't the dead white of the rest, they had a distinct silvery hue.

"The one with the silver eyes!" Jasper yelled. "Somehow, it's the key to getting us out of here! I'll keep this spell running as long as I can, but kill the damned thing before I run out of Power or we won't be able to identify it!"

Fable Xemanorth June Verles r e i Noble Scion VioletShadow , Thatguynameded

 

[Hanarei]

Felicia had kept otherwise quiet after her remark at least feeling some relief that Qerres seemed to get she had been joking. It was hard to say whether any of the others recognized it, she wasn't really all that familiar with any of them to understand their over-all mentality. Their words only could reveal so much with how little she knew about them, and the darkness made it difficult to make out much as far as facial detail. They were rather ragtag from what she could see from first impressions with the words being used showing at least not all of them being very serious. Caddigan in particular seemed to show much more bravado in particular.

Felicia turned her head in the direction of Elora hearing her speak directly to her. She nodded not saying anything as she slowly lowered to the ground the glow dissipating as she landed. She buckled briefly, the weight quickly working to her legs as if to feel a burden placed upon her once again. To say she lacked much stamina was likely an understatement. She tended to wear down from physical fatigue rather quickly, the cost of being so dependent on powers which took much of that burden away from her. None the less she regained her footing to walk once more. She had a temptation to ask Theo for a light, but given their leader was speaking up and how long since a light was offered she elected to not ask. If there was a need for her to handle a light source using her powers she would simple wait for such an order to be given. She had found simply 'going with the flow' to generally be the most beneficial for her even if it did make her feel shackled. Dealing with some restraint was far better then being left trapped within a single building all the time, she could deal with it.

The endless journey had left her legs a bit worn down though it was not to the point of needing rest. She had a ways to go before that would happen though it didn't change the fact they bothered her, made worst simply by the fact she had to be cautious as she walked as to avoid slipping. As the voice could be heard Felicia looked up keeping quiet herself staring to see the gold glowing eyes as the rest of the features were much more muted in the dim light. Upon its request a sense of distrust immediately came upon Felicia. The creature's tone was clearly enough to make any deals it might want to make come off suspect, but what it asked for only made her that much more cautious. I's request sounded... almost harmless.. and that was what made it that much more suspicious.

She looked over towards Xaira not really knowing the dragonkin at all. She seemed to be very composed. Hearing her willing to give up a precious memory if there was no other ideas it left her a bit more cautious. Caddigan spoke up the rather flamboyant man seeming willing to give away one of his memories instead. While it was a nice gesture on his part, she doubted the creature was willing to accept a substitute. She looked on in thought before speaking up.

"A precious memory could be many things. Naturally it could be a moment in your life that you hold valuable, or it could be something you might not normally think of that holds value for you so as how to walk or how to even breath." She spoke up as a warning figuring it was likely a thought others had in their minds though she felt the need to mention it verbally. It was more then possible it was some sort of trick after all. It was better to be cautious about any deals and to understand the full extent as to what was being offered.

"How would the memory be taken? Something like grabbing the person and attempting to drown them would be an effective way of removing a precious memory." She added as to give in her mind two ways of which it might go wrong. It was possible she could give the creature ideas naturally saying it out loud, but she could only assume based off the intelligence the creature showed it would of likely thought about such things before. Anything that might have the power to take a memory would of likely thought of such a thing if it already had devious intent. It was quite possible Felicia was overthinking things and what the creature was offering as a deal as as simple as it sounded. Still it felt worth wild bringing it up.

Location: Into the Maze
Mentioned:
Fable Myriad DapperCat baddervibes DergTheDergon

 

[Noble Scion]

"You're part of the reasons demons have a bad name, you know!" Sang yelled at the half-demon with her torch in-hand as she stomped down on yet anther of the vile creatures, causing a revolting splatter of skull-spider bits to slither onto the ground, which was soon rendered invisible by yet another of the creatures. "You and those stupid blues, my dumb family that are too spineless to fight back, and that moron on the other team that couldn't even say a name four letters long! Now look at this mess!"

The things seemed strangely brittle, like what she imagined actual human skulls were like, but she shoved that out of her mind for the moment as just nothing more than some stupid box illusion

She didn't care about their appearance, although even she had to admit, it was a little unnerving. What bothered her most is that it was only the first problem they'd come across and already one of their members was freaking out, the male demon in their ranks just happened to be on her mind first.

The wizard pointed out a distinctly different looking one of the creatures, and finding herself both most mobile and closest to the creature, she lunged for it and just about grasped it by one of its disturbing slimy little legs, span around, and in one motion, threw it with all the force she had in the opposite direction of her momentum towards the wizard.

He knew what to do with it, right?

Now all she had to do was deal with the things she was surrounded by that had been defending the different one of their kind.

Using her torch as a club, she began swatting the things attempting to clamber up her legs as she hopped and stepped her way back towards the wizard to defend him for what was next. "Do what you need to. No dumb crab's ever killed me before, and it ain't gonna be one of these things. Do what you need to, Tiegs." she growled, and began trying her best to knock any that got close to him away, or crush those that she couldn't deal with any more effectively, leaving the centaur for someone else to deal with, which appeared to be brass. She faintly wondered if dogs liked skulls like they loved to chew bones. She'd ask later.
Fable Xemanorth June Verles Tarmagon r e i Thatguynameded VioletShadow

 

[Morzone]

Theo Myrsky
Fable Myriad DapperCat baddervibes DergTheDergon

Theo considered the strange, water dwelling creature that had rose out of the water with the air of one glad to watch their struggling. The long walk had bothered him sue, but the knowledge that this creature had been watching, and laughing, at them the entire time bothered him more. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised though. After all they'd all approached the water initially under the assumption something was living in it. He had imagined something more... wild though. With big blind fish eyes and lots of teeth. Ugh. He hated it when monsters had lots of teeth.

Then the monster made their offer. A way forward, at the price of a precious memory from Xaira. The first thing Theo did at hearing the request was thank his lucky stars it wasn't his memories that were threatened to be taken. He had few enough of them as it was after all, and no doubt this creature wanted the juiciest, most important memories in their minds. That thought brought him back to the problem at hand. Would xaira accept? Negotiate? Refuse and attack? He waited, it wasn't his decision to interfere with.

She accepted, open and out right. She made a plea to the others for alternate ideas, but Theo had a feeling that the monster was already thinking of what memories it wanted most from the dragoness. It sent a chill down the back of his spine. The others said some things but Theo had zoned out, a worry having stuck itself into his thoughts. What constituted as a memory? One incident? One person? One place? The first wouldn't be so bad, incidents were short and common, significantly less likely to result in a great loss. But what if Xaira lost all their memories connected to one person? Or one place? She could forget everything about SMITED, Or her family. Or some other loved one. Someone Irreplaceable...

"Hold on." Theo Suddenly spoke up. He stepped forward - as best he could with the limited space. The Fire in his hand broke apart, separating into a multitude of burning Embers that floated in the air between Xaira and the monster, ready to flare up if need be. He wasn't sure how this memory-stealing exactly worked, but it was still an underwater creature and would still dislike the Heat and light of the flames. "sorry, but I'm going to go through the trouble of negotiating anyway. If she's willing to give up a memory that's fine, but only if she gets to decide which memory gets taken. Memories are too important to hand are willy-nilly, what will be offered is the memory Xaira wants to give, not the memory you want to take." He then glanced back toward Xaira and added, "If the precious memory that gets taken is a memory of a person, it's quite likely that you'll lose everything related to that one person. It'd be best to only to offer a specific precious memory rather than letting it pick and choose."​

 

[Fable]

(Someone needs to save Xaira from her mistake here and offer up something, because the deal was made and unless given something better than Xaira's blank check for a precious memory... :\)

Tristan's Team

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Tarmagon June Verles r e i

The room began to quickly fill with the skullspiders. They probably seemed harmless enough, just a grotesque skull with too many legs, but the skulls were just the the mobile homes of what was inside; much like a hermit crab's shell. They wasted no time moving to crawl up and on all the agents within the enclosed space and should any of them managed to grasp tightly enough it could break bones, or even bite a chunk of flesh from a person to consume.

The bucking centaur was the one getting most swarmed seeing as she had move limbs for them to climb, though many of the skullspiders jumped and leapt onto people as well. One managing to jump from one of the holes and landing on Celena's human arm and began to attempt to crush the bones.

"Oh yes, good bloody fucking job making something bad happen. I'm sure you'll get a wonderful gold star sticker on a chart of 'Kirill's Royal Fuck Ups' and beam proudly at triggering a damn trap!" Tristan was clearly not pleased at all with Kirill in the slightest as he pulled out a dagger. He wasn't going to waste bullets here on small fry like this. He grabbed the things that tried to climb and bite him, stabbing into their tender parts that were not protected by the hard bone of the skull. "It's not progress to get your team in trouble!"

As Jasper inspected their current stone prison that seemed to be supplied with a never-ending horde skullspiders he would be bitten, scratched, but thankfully hadn't gotten grasped hard enough to break anything; yet. Just as he shouted information to seek out the spiderskull that wasn't like the others one jumps point blank onto his face; much like a facehugger from the film Aliens. It used its powerful limbs to tighten itself around his skull, but instead of trying to bite or crush him, it was trying to relocate into his skull, trying to force it's way into Jasper's mouth to take up residence there.

Sang was quick and managed to grab hold of one of the legs of the silver-eyed skullspider and moved to throw it at Jasper, but with him currently being face hugged it simply bounced off of him and skitters away once more towards Sang intent on also giving her a loving face hug and leapt to try and grasp her face and claim a new skull for its home.

There was a surge as another wave of the critters swarmed out of the holes, many of them jumped onto Kirill's large body grasping and biting where they could and for every one that was killed or ripped away from his person another would take its place in a new spot on his body.


Elora's Team

Myriad Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes DergTheDergon Epiphany

When Qerres jumped into action, prepping her gun to fire at the creature in the water, the creature's eyes remained on Xaira, waiting for her response to her price. As Xaira stood there pondering, it waited silently. Elora frowned at the thing, ready to slaughter it if it made an aggressive move towards any one of them. Yet there is waited still. What Elora hadn't expected from Xaira was for her to agree without any attempts at negotiating, and just as Xaira agreed Elora's shout of protest was interrupted by the hysterical laughter of the being.

"Dammit Xaira, you never give someone a blank check!" Elora chastised Xaira.

When Caddigan tried to offer up his memories the voice scoffed. "Your memories are bland, boring, tasteless compared to that young one's. You look back at only a few with a taste of bittersweetness, they have not matured like a fine wine as you have aged."

Its eyes turned towards Theo as his hand burning and the creature hissed unhappily at the threat. It didn't much care for fire and so it mildly retreated expecting to be attacked. "She agreed without stating the price, so unless one of you offer something as precious the deal will be struck and I will take what I want from her, per her own agreement."

 

[Myriad]

"Aye, ma'am."

And with that, Don waits patiently at the water's edge, palm hovering a few inches above the unbroken, eerily still water, staring into the dark depths without so much as blinking as the others discuss amongst themselves what to do. When permission finally arrives, Don doesn't hesitate; he slides his fingers into the water slowly, a faint glow steadily beginning to appear along his arm all the way down to his palm... then the creature slowly emerges with golden eyes glowing deep. Don's eyes lock onto it, still and silent, spare hand sliding backwards and taking a firm grip of one of his weapons, all too ready to face down the maze native creature. Of course... for all the things he could've been ready to expect, Xaira's sudden and hesitant acceptance of the deal was not one of them!

As the creature laughs hysterically, the deepborne's mind races as he stares at the laughing thing, running through options as quick as he can, and just as swiftly discarding them. He could attack, yield, shout, jump in... or...

“Unless… one of you has an offer you think she might like,”

And then It confirms what he had been thinking; Xaira's specific wording may have just saved her precious memories indeed, intentional or not.

With a slight glance to Xaira with eyes full of warning, and a nod to Elora, Don extends a hand out to the creature, peaceful and calm, voice ringing out without fear, only steel-hard resolve in his eyes as he looks to the water-hidden being.

"She offers a precious memory of her own choosing, which may well end with you missing out on something truly appetising. You refuse a selection of the man's memories, so allow me; I offer you any precious memory I have. Pick the sweetest moment of my life and let this bargain be struck without violence..." He glances to the magician, voice turning heavy with warning to him for a moment before he then continues. "Then, after, show us the way. This is the agreement I offer, which may well be the best you have; the choice of any single precious memory I have that appeals to you instead of the girl. Once paid, we go on our way, as agreed. Does this appeal to you, or will this require more negotiation?"

( Fable - A nod to Elora, discussion with the Creature. DergTheDergon - Operation: Meat Shield is a go. baddervibes - Old boii got a reference. Morzone - A warning glance. )

 

[Xemanorth]

"What? You don't like spiders? I hope you weren't expectin' anythin' good to happen in this labyrinth 'cause I got a feelin' you'll be left disappointed." Kirill replied to Tristan, trying his utmost best to keep his muscular, protected frame free of any critters. Unfortunately for him he was not making very good headway, with very little in the way of tools other than his arms and legs to deal with the swarming creatures.

That didn't mean that he was out of options however, and despite the fact that he felt more than a few of them pierce through his half-demon hide, he focused on the task at hand. Kirill launched himself forward before turning around on his heel, his aim being to slam his back into the wall in front of him in an effort to crush a good portion of the skull spiders, his hope was that the shock from his body ramming itself into the wall would serve as force enough to shake some of the ones crawling up his front as well.

The half-demon's golden eyes continued to whip around, eventually spotting the rather gruesome sight that was Jasper's face, or the facehugger trying to mate with it in particular. Immediately, the burly half-demon made his way forward and aimed to latch one of his large hands on and around the back of the eager facehugger, using one, or both hands if required to grasp it before he'd try and forcefully peel it off of Jasper's face.

"Just had to make this weird didn't you?" He asked, whether the question was posed to Jasper or the facehugger was anyone's guess, but one thing was clear, he did not approve of the swiftly developing physical bond between the two. This bought him the time he needed to reply to Sanguine's statement, and so he did. "Where'd you think I got it from? Sure as hell not my human half judgin' by your attitude!" The half-demon's reply was spoken through gritted teeth, and should he be able to remove the facehugger from Jasper's face, his first priority would be to raise it high before throwing it down to the ground and planting his boot on top if it with a heavy stomp of his heel, hopefully ending its life. "Still, gotta figure that whoever my demon half was, they were one tough S.O.B!".
( Fable , June Verles , r e i , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded )

 

[June Verles]

Celena would be cursing at Kirill, at the mission even at herself in heavy greek as she proceeded to slash and cut away what seemed like infinite swarms of skull crabs, in reality everyone was experiencing the same thing, but she was experiencing it more due to sheer body mass.

As another crawler gets on her arm she is too tired to scream and just stabs the thing through a eye socket, then attempting to pull out the sword. She then heard the call for looking for a spider. As she turned her torso around she saw the little bugger in the process of jumping at the female demon with the intent of non-consensual face hugging. The Centaur raised her other arm and proceeded to throw one of her swords at the thing;

"Demon duck!" she shouted, hopefully she hit it and they could still use if it was dead, if it didn't she just lost a weapon and there were probably more of these things from where they came from.
Fable Noble Scion Tarmagon Thatguynameded VioletShadow r e i Xemanorth

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper Tiegs, Magician in the employ of SMITED, currently inside a maze, itself located inside a pocket dimension, was PISSED OFF. Far too many things happened in the space of a few seconds after he shouted out to his fellow Agents to grab the skull-spider with the silver eyes. The most immediate concern was a skull-spider that took advantage of his turn to shout to leap up and attach itself to his head. The creature that lived inside the bony housing seemed hell-bent on vacating its current home and taking up residence inside Jasper's skull, but that wasn't the end of Jasper's troubles.

"Do what you need to. No dumb crab's ever killed me before, and it ain't gonna be one of these things. Do what you need to, Tiegs." Sang shouted, and Jasper immediately felt a blow to his back, like something had been thrown at him, hard. What little breath he had remaining was driven from his lungs in an explosive 'oof', raising the issue of the thing trying to force itself into his mouth from annoying to life-threatening, and still the challenges kept coming.

"Just had to make this weird didn't you?" a voice asked in Jasper's ear as someone grasped the skull-spider trying to burrow into his face and pulled, hard. The legs wrapped around his head tightened, resisting, and the pull increased, causing the legs to tighten further.

"Not gonna go out as a fuckin' extra in a cheap Alien's ripoff," Jasper thought grimly, triggering another set of glyphs with a thought. Silver fire exploded from his arms and shoulders as Jasper pulled his hand off of the glyphs on the wall, breaking the spell that identified the skull-spider they needed to capture/kill/whatever. Taking advantage of the little bit of space the mystery voice had made between his face and the skull-spider, Jasper shoved both of his hands between its body and his face, then sliced outwards, breaking the thing's legs and relieving the pressure on his skull. The mystery voice was revealed to be Kirill, who stood there holding the now legless skull spider in both hands. Before the demon could do anything with it, Jasper plucked it from Kirill's grasp and slammed it into the wall with all of his enhanced strength. Bits of skull, unidentifiable fragments of internal organs, and far too much viscous fluid exploded from the skull-spider, liberally spraying both Jasper and Kirill.

"No means NO!" Jasper shouted as the thing pulped on the wall. "And besides, I've already got a girlfriend, you reject from Aliens."

Turning to Kirill, Jasper swatted a few of the more aggressive specimens off of the demon before speaking.

"Thanks for the help getting that thing off me," he said calmly. "But the next time you charge off headlong and bring down a shitstorm like this, I'll rip off your leg and beat you to death with it."

With that, Jasper snapped open his second baton and began to lay into the mass of creatures, breaking legs and splitting brain cases with nearly every blow.

"We need to clear this area so I can reset the spell," he shouted. "I've only got enough power to do it once more, then we're screwed, so group up and smash like our lives depend on it, which they do!"

Fable Xemanorth June Verles r e i Noble Scion Thatguynameded

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Satan's Slip N' Slide | Interactions: Fable DergTheDergon Myriad DapperCat Morzone Hanarei
​

"Ouch." Caddy hisses, dramatically clutching at his chest and pretending to topple over on to the nearest agent.
"She got me! The damned hag! How could I even imagine going through with the rest of my bland existence after such a series of awful, ego-crushing, truly terrible-okay I'm over it." He stops, already bored, and immediately straightens himself up off of whoever had to endure whatever that act was.

Caddy couldn't say he didn't try: being the hero for a second was fun. He couldn't let go the fact that, intentionally or not, the being did mention he looked like a fine bottle of wine. There was a consideration, about a second's worth, of a good jab at whether or not the lurking creature was single: though a fierce look from Elora kept Caddigan's sharp tongue at bay for at least a moment longer. Where'd SMITED got all these fiery women from? Caddy didn't know, but he surely would like to find out soon...for his own sake.

Caddigan listens to what Don has to say, rolls it around in his head for a minutes, and thinks that it was really the same bargain Caddy had offered in the first place. She, assumedly, wasn't going to take it. This was no offense on Don's part of course! Shape of Water surely had a vault full of fun and interesting memories, but Caddy felt this wasn't enough to sway the being. He leans, opens his terrible mouth, and hopes to sweeten the deal:

"Of course, we can also have a little more fun with this, don't you think? All these offers of memories, precious or not, it's a bit dull. Our heads are on the line, madam! We can make this a little more interesting, yeah? How's about...hm...maybe a game? Perhaps? Something to really get all of our blood pumping!" He laughs, baring his fangs a little, and looks to his fellow teammates.

If there was even a the slimmest chance of them winning, nah, outsmarting this thing then maybe they could all leave with their heads still attached to their necks. Here's to hoping at least...
"So! Which one of you brought UNO cards to the death mission? Or how about Clue? Othello? Yahtzee? Whiskey ( DapperCat ), my darling, help this old man find a rock. Maybe a good, old-fashioned game of tic-tac-toe will amuse the creature. "

 

[Hanarei]

Felicia looked at Xaira taken back, stiffling her own shock quickly and supressing it away not wanting to risk getting herself overly emotional about it. It wasn't likely it would be detrimental to her control over her power that badly, but it was still something she tended to be overly cautious about. It was far better in her mind to keep composed then to take any unnecessary risks. While truthfully she had a feeling bneing a new member her words might fall of deaf ears, she hadn't expected the girl to be so willing to give into the deal without making any attempt to negotiate. It wasn't as if the creature was trustworthy to begin with, with Elora bringing up exactly the thing Felicia thought, though put in much simpler terms then the Esper would of came up with.

Sure enough, the creature seemed to revel in the willingness of the girl, quick to dismiss Caddigan's attempt as it was clearly focused upon Xaira. It seemed unlikely it was going to be willing to make another offer only expecting some rediculous deal from someone else to outdo Xaira's complete willingness to go along with it's demands. It was at that point Don spoke up seeming in an attempt to offer his own memory up instead. Felicia looked on her gaze blank showing no emotion though in her own mind she held doubt it would ever entice the creature. It seemed unlikely it would make any such deal with someone actually willing to part with their memory... at the very least it wouldn't consider it to be making a much more appealing deal. She likely wouldn't be able to fathom what would spark the creatures interest to make it sway its mind.

What she hadn't expected was Caddigan's response as he seemed quick to cut of Don's offer attempting to provoke the creature to play a game. It seemed a little hasty to try and change things up before the creature might accept Don's deal though she was still left convinced it wouldn't of worked anyways. Caddigan's light hearted remarks almost seemed to sabotage his own attempt recognizing at least a few of the games he mentioned helping to set the tone he was going for. If she barely knew about most of the things he was talking about it was likely the creature hadn't the slightest clue what he was even talking about. It was still at least something to attempt to smooth talk the creature and buy some time. The young woman kept quiet, opting to not say a word not having much she could contribute and not wishing to murky the waters further to possibly sway the creature away from being willing to negotiate a better deal. There were still others who could have a better idea... ideally one that avoided fighting.

Location: Near a Watery Grave of a Precious Memory.
Mentioned:
Fable Myriad baddervibes DergTheDergon

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth

addresses/mentions: Thatguynameded

music:

Car Radio

​

code by Fable

.

Qerres' pistol remained trained on the water-dweller. Her little white pupils were fixated on the threat, only glancing away when some of her companions were making offers. She began to think- but before she could get far, she let out a sudden sneeze.

Now, if Q believed in superstition, she'd think someone was speaking of her. But that was silly! Superstition was for silly people. Rubbing her nose on the inside of her bicep, she made sure to keep the barrel pointed and her index-finger ready to fire. With a few sniffles she considered the offers of those around her. And then she saw the hopeful look of Xaira. The Demoness' inside was cold and rotten- some may say heartless if they were to know her, but it did make her heart twinge.

The woman narrowed her eyes, her brain working over-time. Would He allow it? She would have to be careful. Would He find it beneficial if that those three years were gone from her mind? She thought He would- and thus, she decided. Her expression had gone cold, emotion slipping from her features by each passing minute in her silence. Luckily people were busy with other matters.

"...tzee? Whiskey, my darling, help this old man find a rock. Maybe a good, old-fashioned game of tic-tac-toe will amuse the creature. "

Her shineless black orbs, dulled in contemplation, suddenly regained their shine as she glanced Caddy's way. "Whiskey? I love th' nickname. I mean I prefer Rum- but this sounds a lil' more fancy." She winked swiftly before looking back to the creature. She assumed Caddigan was merely joking about getting that rock, but she appreciated what he said either way. It helped her ground herself. Yes. These memories would be best left gone.

"I dunno if one specific time in my life counts. Full of memories," she put on her usual cheerful voice. Internally she tried to transfer it through telepathy- but of course, that was stupid to expect to work. So she continued. "I'd say it's all juicy, but precious depends on how y'look at it. Very precious at the time, an' impacted m'life. I dunno, sound appetizin'?"

She didn't know how it would impact her. He had always said it was bad for her job- she held on to those memories. In good ways, bad ways. But she knew He would love those to be gone. And maybe? Maybe she would too.

 

[Thatguynameded]

As the swarm gets larger and seem to be endless, brass pulls out his knife and begins to swipe at the legs of the skulls. He would prefer to use his claws because they are ready to use on a moments notice but his blade was much sharper. From using his claws the entire time his arms where showing signs of damage from the legs trying to attach to him. The blade seemed to do a better job than his claws, at least for slowing down the ones he swiped at. The Knife felt awkward for him, it was uncomfortable and if the situation doesn't end soon hes going to lose his grip on the handle.

This isn't very fun brass thought, games are supposed to be fun, competitive and challenging. Well, its challenging for sure but just not the other two things. In the midst of thinking how we could do the games better. Then Brass noticed the red woman jump into the crowed of skulls and toss it at jasper. He gets closer to sang to help get the spiders surrounding her off of her. As hes swiping he sees the different colored spider scatter closer to Sang and was obviously about to leap at her. Brass jumps in at the spider and grabs it by the skull. Its legs began to cut at his writs, Brass begins to squeeze the skull trying to crush it but not being strong enough to crush a human like skull he yells at Sang "red woman crush!" he leans a little forward to show what Brass is talking about.

Fable Tarmagon June Verles Xemanorth VioletShadow r e i (interaction Noble Scion )