Realistic or Modern &nbsp; Mission 3

Tarmagon Mentioned:

Fable · Sep 9, 2019

Merged Group

baddervibes
(I've removed tags for players who are on hiatus for now, silly to tag them.)

The minotaur was still blinded by the light which gave Caddy many openings for him to take with his crossbow. It pierced the beast's hide and as it realized it couldn't remove the light from its face, its hands moved to pluck out the arrows, tossing the blood covered bolts. It heard Celena trotting over towards it and bellowed angrily at the all too familiar sound of hooves. "Σας ακούω, εσύ χτυπάς!" ["I hear you, you wretch" - Greek to Celena]

It turned towards the sound of Celena, temporarily ignoring Elora's attacks. The minotaur couldn't see what weapon the centaur was using, but it hunched slightly and used it's arms to cross in front of itself to block the attack that had been intended for his guts. The sharp edge of the blade sliced into the meaty flesh and muscle and blood streamed out of the wound, the minotaur used the opposing arm to grab the weapon from Celena with a harsh tug, intending to pull her towards him so he could crush her with his bare hands.

Tristan sighed openly when Jasper questioned about the 'mystery' figure. "That is Elora and where do you think they got inspired to make Venom? It's a rather long story which is not mine to tell." Tristan wasn't sure if Jasper heard him or not because as soon as he began to answer Jasper was calling out to Celena and it caused his eye to twitch. If the Minotaur took notice of Jasper's shouting he hoped he could move them fast enough out of the way if it came charging at them.

That worry was soon removed as he witnessed a frenzied Kirill madly charging at the Minotaur and proceed to grab the bull by its horns. It had been busy trying to swipe for Celena giving Kirill a chance while it was distracted. The problem was that Elora had a similar, but different idea with the bull's head. Elora had just grabbed the horns and pulled hard to jerk the minotaur's head upward, but then Kirill showed up and pulled it back forward and proceeded to headbutt it over and over.

Problem with that plan was the monster had his hands free and so used both to grab Kirill with its large and strong hands, it didn't try to pull Kirill off of it; no... it squeezed Kirill, breaking bones. Anyone close enough could hear them snap under the pressure and if this continued Kirill's torso was going to be crushed entirely. Even as Brass turned to return to the fight at last and assault the minotaur's legs it continued to squeeze. When Kirill went limp and released his grasp on the horns was when Elora jerked its head back upwards then maneuvered her hands to grasp the minotaur's upper teeth and began to pull upwards.

Qerres, instead of opting to take some free pistol shots at the best and try to shoot it somewhere vulnerable opted to charge in and toss what seemed to be a strangely on-hand mixture of sand and salt (wtf why does she have this?) into the garments around the beasts genitals. This honestly confused the minotaur as it released Kirill and tried to grab at Qerres, not sure what exactly just happened. The movement produced a very irritating sensation for its privates and it shimmied a bit at the discomfort.

It was enough of an additional distraction that Elora pulled so hard that she ripped the minotaur's skull from it's body, leaving the lower jaw attached. She flung it's head to the ground and let out a creepy and delighted giggle at the spurting blood as the beasts heart continued to pump blood, though without a head the body slumped and then crashed onto the ground; Elora jumping off just before it hit the floor.

It was then that Sang's distant voice could be heard as it echoed, "A-are we supposed to run? I don't think we can take this thing!"

Tristan cringed at the gore and mess and then worriedly glanced at Elora who was a bit... well she was still very predatory in this moment. "Elora love, playtime is over," he called out as he loaded the syringe into a peculiar gun. She turned toward him as he called her name took two steps, staggered, stopped and the exoskeleton retreated back into her body. "Good girl," Tristan sighed in relief.

"Can someone go check on Krill and see if he's still alive?" he called out as he moved to help Jasper up. This was not a good turn of events to have another agent down and Tristan wasn't sure the half-demon survived this fight. So much for being able to rest and recover, they were in worse shape than before they took this pit stop. They needed to find another place to rest and tend to their wounded without the risk of something else coming after them. He grimaced a bit as he released what he had to do.

"Elora, we're going to have to invoke."

"I won't argue with that decision," she managed to say. "We'll have to use Kirill's." She walked over to the downed half-demon and sighed, patting him down to find the green crystal he had hidden on his person. It took a bit of poking and prodding, but she managed to find it and pulled it out. They hadn't mentioned this little secret to the team because it was only for dire circumstances they should do this.

"What we are about to do should only ever be done in a truly awful emergency situation. You are not authorized to share this information with anyone, ever. If you use this knowledge for your own personal advantage you'll find yourself highly regretting that decision." Tristan had a very serious expression has he said this. "We are invoking for sanctuary by exchanging one of the crystals."

Elora sighed and stood up, holding out the crystal, "Malef, Guardian, we invoke the right or sanctuary for the participants in this room with this crystal offering."

A black shadowy mist formed before Elora's outstretched hand and a figure appeared in its place. "Your offering is accepted." The woman reached out and took the crystal without hesitation and in the next moment the group was in a large open cavern of sorts with multiple waterfalls flowing towards a small river and patches of grassy areas. The woman stayed only long enough to say, "You may rest hear for as long as you desire, should you leave this sanctuary you will be thrust back to the mercy of the maze. To leave simply follow the river upstream."

With that she vanished the same way she appeared, leaving the group to sort itself out from the aftermath of their battle with the minotaur. Elora knelt back down by Kirill and visually inspected him, "We should have brought a healer if we were going to bring a grunt."

DapperCat · Sep 10, 2019

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions:

Noble Scion

Tarmagon
music: x

Qerres almost felt an emotion. Almost. Almost that nostalgic memory of one of the rare moments she was in control. One of the very rare lights in the dark tunnel of her existence. Man, concocting this childish mixture of things cheap and easily available had been her savior multiple times on the streets.

But on the outside, she let out that emotion she wished she could truly feel with an excited; "How's that bull-brain?!" She laughed, but that quickly stopped when she nearly got squished by a falling half-demon and then felt the large claws of the Minotaur's hands swish past her skin, almost puncturing it, before there was a rain of blood.

...What?

Her normally brownish-red skin-tone turned even brighter than Red Red's, blood coating her from head to toe. Thank whatever didn't exist that the Minotaur fell back once it had apparently died, sparing herself and the half breed that'd just fallen-... speaking of-

"Oh shit."

She heard Tristan ask if the man was okay, and Elora just walking up and searching him instead of looking him over.

And here I thought I was the stone-cold bitch.

The demon held a frown as she glanced at both Tristan- who helped up the injured-but-not-dying Jasper, and Elora, who only managed a sigh. Now, Qerres was a terrible leader. She'd had to take the position before and she was not cut out for it. But even she took care of her own. While the leaders did some magic mumbo-jumbo, she scooted over to the half-demon and checked his pulse.

Two fingers to the side of his neck, while the other hand pulled his shirt up to see the damage done. If there were no pressing outside-injuries and the man's skin did not turn a different shade, his breath still going, her fingers would begin to feel around with small pressures at the ribs to see which were broken or misplaced. Her touch was minimal to try and ensure she didn't puncture anything, but it would most definitely hurt like hell.

"Oi big guy. Stay with me."

June Verles · Sep 10, 2019

location: The Sanctuary
addresses/mentions:

Xemanorth ,

DapperCat
music: x

As the spear flew out of her hand and embedded itself in the arm of the Minotaur she was finally able to compute what the beast said to her earlier. Frowning as she was about to turn and imprint her hooves permanently on his chest she was quickly interrupted by everyone and their mother mounting the beast and trying to wrestle, the action being perhaps more successful for others.

Wiping the blood off her face, gushing out from the dismembered jaw of the beast. Looking down at the corpse of the defeated beast with a cold glare she would simply mumble out the words. "Paramoní nekrós ghastròdes" before taking a look at everyone else in the group.

It was true that most of them were in bad shape, luckily Elora and Tristan did some magic thing that brought them to a sanctuary, if they were able to do this in the previous missions it would've been really helpful. But they did seem rather serious about the whole never talk about this or you'll be murdered to preserve the peace, so she won't question it.

What she did question was her superior's attachment to her subordinates, looking over someone wounded with the same amount of empathy a painter looks at a spot on the wall with a different shade of white dye. Wherever it was true or not that Kirill was a reckless fool who got himself hurt too often he still needed the same amount of care the rest of the group got, perhaps she was looking into this too deeply however.

There were more pressing matters at hand, like actually treating the half-demon. Walking over to the over 80 kilograms of supplies she slugged here the entire way she was glad now that she did so, you can never be too prepared. Dragging it over to the rest of the group she would leave where it was accessible to everyone, hopefully they would take advantage of it.

Grabbing the medical supplies bag she trotted over to the unconscious Kirill, lifting his head carefully and putting it on a rock so it would be elevated above his body. Reaching in her pockets she would pull out a healing potion, healing being a subjective term at best since it was basically a pain killer. Carefully pouring the entire vial down his throat she would lay his head back down as she observed his breathing, it seems like his cracked rib cage didn't puncture his lungs so he would be fine, but probably incapable of further combat.

"He will live Miss Qurres." she'd say looking at the demon as she started bandaging the half-demons arms.

Noble Scion · Sep 10, 2019

The thing was... Dead? Sang was, needless to say, surprised at this newly received information, particularly considering the thing that had nearly killed her was no longer capable of killing her, and when less things were trying to kill her, she felt a little bit more like she'd actually survive this death trap. Sadly, however her pride was wounded by her own previous words that stung ever so much more now that the thing she'd considered fleeing from was dead, she'd disrespected the honour of her family and herself merely uttering the words. Releasing a saddened sigh, she gazed around at the others, who for the most part were alright, aside from the half-demon who seemed to be in critical condition after his risky attack, and although she didn't particularly like him, she hoped he got better and survived this if only for his valiance in protecting their lives.

The scene was a bloody one, a decapitation, a real one. The sight was unsettling, but she didn't display anything more than a grimace to those around her before turning away as the scenery around them changed and the voice of a new entity she was unfamiliar with spoke, chatting of a peaceful area for them to rest, and while she didn't trust anything within this maze, the sight of what appeared to be fresh water was welcoming.

The bumbling drunk was helping with Kirill along with the centaur and one of the captains, and while she felt somewhat responsible for his condition, she decided to leave it to others who could actually do something. Brawn and medicine didn't go well, and she didn't have anything on her person that could deal with internal injuries. The only thing she might be able to do was cut something open if needed, and even then, she couldn't guarantee precision, not to mention her presence would probably just bring discomfort to the man than anything else.

Kneeling down by the water's edge, she pulled off her glasses and placed them carefully beside her before washing her hands and scrubbing her arms before moving onto her face, and simply dunking her whole head under the cool and refreshing liquid and gulping in what could quite possibly be her last drink. Once she was done, she waited a moment for her face to dry before cleaning her glasses and replacing them before her eyes, sharp, yellow and alive, accentuated by the glass.

She rose and moved towards Jasper carefully and quietly, before sitting down and giving a reluctant yet thoughtful "... Are you alright?". She wasn't particularly great at social interactions, but perhaps she might be able to help Tiegs feel a little more comfortable, although she doubted it. Hopefully he'd simply tell her if he was better off alone. Reading more intimate emotions had never been her specialty, all she ever saw was anger and things to get annoyed about.

Tarmagon Mentions:

Tarmagon · Sep 10, 2019

Jasper managed to keep his composure as Kirill was nearly crushed to paste. He held onto it firmly as the Elora Thing, with a capital T, ripped the top off of the minotaur's head. Even as he watched Tristan prepare to shoot Thing Elora with some kind of, hell, he had no clue what was in the dart thing, he kept his cool. Then the team leads came to a decision, and ransacked Kirill's unconscious form for his Offering. Which they offered to empty air. Which suddenly wasn't empty. And just like that, poof, a safe place to rest and recover?

Jasper began to laugh, even as he shot what could best be described as a death glare at Tristan and no longer Thing Elora. It was a bit unhinged that laugh, but he got it under control as the centaur moved to help treat Kirill.

"Piss poor planning, yadda yadda yadda," he muttered as he sank to the grass. "Secrets within secrets, yadda yadda yadda. Threats of dire consequences, yadda yadda yadda."

Fortunately, his not so internal tirade was interrupted by the arrival of, a demon. This demon, Jasper at least knew.

"No Sang," he replied, "I'm not alright, although if you use Kirill as a base for measurement, I'm freaking peachy. I'm only borderline concussed, have the most important of my magical senses crippled, and don't have enough Power left to try and set the dumb ox's ribs. We're in a pocket dimension, inside a pocket dimension, and the magical implications of that would be enough to make my head spin without the concussion, and for some godforsaken reason, our team frakking leads seem to be worried that somehow, we'll find a way to use what we just saw for our personal benefit? At least worried enough to threaten us? I've been chewed on, screamed at by a banshee, blinded, smacked in the head, oh, and let's not forget our time limit. Not to mention that we seem to be working with a spawn of Tisiphone. If Alecto and Megarea put on an appearance, I think I might just go quietly nuts, or maybe loudly. Won't know until I try I suppose."

Jasper looked at the demoness he had been hoping to befriend, or at least help feel comfortable not so long ago, and his gaze was unnervingly bright.

"So, how are you enjoying our little jaunt down the frakking rabbit hole?"

Xemanorth · Sep 11, 2019

As the minotaur relinquished its grip, Kirill fell limp onto the floor, back-first with yet another low and heavy thud. He was motionless yet alive despite his injuries. Qerres was able to sense something strange in regards to the nature of the pulse, the first few were weak, but eventually began to grow stronger to the point where the half-demon's unconscious body jerked and shifted with each one even if only slightly. It was almost as if something was keeping Kirill's heart beating completely of its own volition. Likewise, the veins on the half-breed's face that had swollen and been pulled taut earlier, lingered in a similar state, presumably to accomodate for the abnormal increase in bloodflow.

His breathing was slow, ragged and shallow and both Qerres as well as Celena succesfully denoted the fact that, thankfully, the half-breed's lungs had not been punctured. That was not to say he was free from internal damage, far from it. An obvious sign of internal injury reared its head in the form of a sudden and abrupt splatter of blood that came rushing up Kirill's airways, accompanied by a cough or vice versa. Kirill's consciousness meanwhile had been whisked away into the same endless abyss it had been thrust into only moments prior after their encounter with the banshee and while the half-demon could not make a sound, another of sign of life about his figure was the fact that his facial expression continued to twist in perpetuity as a thin sheen of cold sweat slowly rose to the surface of his skin.

Kirill found himself unable to see, or even open his eyes, but even then he could sense a definite shift in his surroundings in comparison to last time. The endless foreboding whispers, murmurs and chanting lingered heavy in the air around him but heavier yet was the sensation of the cold chitin limbs that had wrapped themselves around him, littered with sharp points, ridges and serrations. The surface was like a harsh, unforgiving terrain, consisting completely of harsh, sharp stones and pitfalls, filled with draught. Yet at the same time, there was something strangely familiar about it all, perhaps even comforting. On the outside, things remained the same for the most part, save for the progress Celena had made in bandaging him up in the meanwhile.

As far as the half-demon's medical condition was concerned, he seemed at the very least stable, despite all odds. One thing was for certain, his ribcage had been crushed, and though it seemed to be back in place for now, another similar injury would likely mean that the weakened ribs would easily shift out of place and pierce right into his lungs. In short, while he'd this far made it out alive, if only barely, another similar encounter would surely put him at death's door again, and most likely beyond. Eventually, given enough time to heal, the half-breed's eyes would slowly open and a low, hoarse groan would escape the back of his throat. He'd likely be in far, far greater pain had it not been for Celena's potion however.

His exact condition would be clear to see for anyone who'd care so much as glance in his direction. It was as if the life had been squeezed right out of him. His eyes and cheeks were sunken and the half-demon almost looked emaciated in comparison to his usual self, as far as his facial features were concerned.
(

Fable ,

June Verles , @k o r o l ,

Tarmagon ,

Morzone ,

Hanarei , @Myriad )

DapperCat · Sep 12, 2019

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions:

Tarmagon
music: x

The sound of four hooves neared her, making her look over-shoulder with her hands remaining in place. But as soon as Celena began to treat the man, she removed her own hands and shuffled back. She wasn't best suited to take care of someone medically. She did know some first aid and field-attention- but that was it. And she wasn't great at it either.

"He will live Miss Qerres."

Q watched the Centaur bandage the man's arms, not questioning anything as she plopped onto her bum and crossed her legs into a turkish sit. There was mostly silence as Celena worked. The Demoness let her eyes wander, looking at the beautiful bubbling waterfalls around them. It was only when a crazed voice increased in volume that she turned her attention to it.

Jasper was laughing, Red Red beside him. She contemplated making a bad joke, but figured she'd possibly just aggravate him. It was logical for him to lose it a little. She figured the only reason she didn't, was that there wasn't much fear left in her. Just acceptance.

Her little white pupils shifted back to the man on the floor. He'd begun to show discomfort, sweating profusely before opening his eyes and looking... off. She didn't know if it was shock, delusions or something entirely different. But there was one thing that helped all of those things.

Qerres unfolded her legs, shifted to her knees and shuffled closer. While Celena was busy wrapping the man in well-practiced bandaging... she lifted her left hand, and slapped the half-breed so hard in the face that the sound echoed through the small cavern space.

That'd snap him out of it.

Xemanorth · Sep 12, 2019

Kirill had only just opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the sight of a kneeling Qerres above him with her hand raised. Before he knew it the raised hand had collided with his comparatively gaunt cheek with a mighty slap that echoed all throughout the sanctuary the group found themselves in, his response to it being a tired and breathless: "Ow.". Given his state, his head had flopped over to one side from the force of the slap, as well as the fact that he felt like he barely had the energy to keep his head upright. Thankfully the rock under it did most of that for him. "Fuck was that for?" The half-breed questioned, ordinarily he'd no doubt yelled at Qerres but fortunately for her as well as anyone else in the near vicinity, he was far too tuckered out and injured to muster up the effort right now.

Not that there was much of anything that he was capable of doing at the moment, he just sort of laid back and allowed his gaze to drift and wander around the area. He'd have asked exactly where they were but given that this was some sort of magical grove as opposed to a hospital room, he simply assumed that they were still somewhere within Pandora's Box. "And what're you doin' here?" He went onto grumble, half-lidded gaze falling back onto Celena, then drifting off to Qerres before proceeding to bounce between the two of them, thankful as always. That was to say that he appeared little more but annoyed at the pair's hospitality.
(

Fable ,

June Verles , @k o r o l ,

Tarmagon ,

Morzone ,

Hanarei , @Myriad )

June Verles · Sep 12, 2019

location: The Sanctuary
addresses/mentions:

Xemanorth ,

Tarmagon
music: x

Soon enough, the centaur managed to get the reckless's half-demon's arms bandaged. Someone who still seemed to be rather lively after being slapped back into consciousness despite looking like the victim of a car falling off a cliff. Well at least the slap itself did it's job. Which was, she assumed, to wake him up but if Querres just did it because she was annoyed at him that would be alright too, she doesn't get paid extra for acting as a couple counsellor anyways.

But she did reckon that she would be getting a sizeable pay cut if they didn't leave the labyrinth with all of the people they came in with, so with that in mind she left Querres and Kirill to sort out their problems like demon do and went off to figure out a way to carry the downed man along.

Going back to the supplies she carried here she would then start ripping some of the bags, stitching them together to make a make shift stretcher that she could tie to herself so she could drag him along, and even if he did somehow manage to garner enough strength in his legs Jasper would probably need it otherwise.

DapperCat · Sep 12, 2019

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions:

June Verles
music: x

Qerres grinned triumphantly as the slap did its job. With her strength, even a slap not intended to hurt too much was a mean one- and it showed.

"Fuck was that for?"

"Uhm, y'welcome," she uttered, feinting insult, "y'seemed to be weird and out of it or summin' so tada now yer back."

She smirked to Celena, as if asking her to back her point up- but the Centaur was already frantically making her escape from Qerres' bad choices in morning-greetings. As the half-demon asked what they did there, she seemed a little confused.

"Uh, makin' sure you weren't -dead-? Celena did th' work though I'm not really a healer or nothin'."

Q looked around. Seeing as people seemed to all be doing their own thing, she figured she'd keep the one that couldn't move company. Especially since he seemed to be a trouble-maker, and at the first sign of boredom or time to 'think', get up. Which would cause them to be in the Labyrinth longer because he'd have to recover more- causing her to run out of alcohol even quicker.

Speaking of...

She grabbed the second flask out of second mini flasks she'd packed. She was supposed to drink from this one on the third day, half of it- but Elora had ruined that. And what she'd calculated was already the bare minimum. The demon let out an exaggerated sigh. She resumed her lazy turkish sit and began to unscrew the cap.

Morzone · Sep 12, 2019

Hanarei

Theo collapsed onto the soft grass of the 'safe room' shivering slightly from the prolonged use of flames. All of his 'suns' had faded by now, the place seemed to be illuminated by its own mysterious light, for which the mage was grateful. Various thoughts and questions buzzed around his head, but for the moment Theo allowed himself to simply be glad they'd all made it out of that alive. Sure some were worse for wear -an understatement in the part-demon's case- but the danger had passed.

Several seconds passed by before Theo's sense of purpose returned to him, prompting his to sit up, and then stand up. This place was an enigma, having a safe haven inside of Pandora's box brought Irony to a new level. Sure, now that he knew the truth about how the box worked a safe haven seemed entirely possible, but why was it here? Why did Pandora even bother to allow such a thing? Clearly the secret lied in the truth about the magical seed they were delivering to Pandora. Elora and Tristan had both made it clear that giving the seed away, even in life or death situations, was a very serious matter. An item important enough for a goddess-like figure that control her own dimension to keep herself trapped inside this 'box,' but at the same time it was common enough that those at SMITED could give one to every one of their agents who took up Pandora's challenge. Perhaps he should be looking at it the other way around. This seed was an entity with importance of massive proportions, but the danger of Pandora and her 'box' were immeasurable, and therefore far more important to keep them locked away than to keep hold of the seeds. Perhaps he was overestimating the seeds. If, say, the seeds could be used to create and sustain a 'reality' then perhaps it wasn't Pandora who was ultimately keeping the 'box' closed, but rather the seeds. By that logic, whatever magic the seeds had was what was keeping this pocket dimension stable, and its collapse would lead to everything inside it being expelled into the real world. Pandora ruled this dimension, and the seeds gave her the power to keep it on her leash. As long as that leash stayed within this 'box' SMITED would be happy to give her some once in a while. It was a pretty shady notion, but Theo didn't like entertaining the idea of what would happen otherwise. And of course if agents wasted the seeds creating safe havens, assuming that they were useless after creating such a place, then that just raised the risk of Pandora not getting the seed and the whole thing collapsing that much higher.

"Or," he muttered to himself with a slight smile, "I'm just imagining things again."

In the end it was just a theory, and Theo would bet a good 10 bucks saying it was way above his pay-grade to know the truth of the matter. Right now he just needed to focus on doing his job as an agent, and right now that meant getting over himself and learning to work with all the other unfortunate souls stuck wading through this labyrinth. There was already a crowd around the half -demon, he'd go talk with them later if the chance presented itself. Instead Theo walked the short distance over to where Felicia and the wolf-folk were standing.

"Hey," Theo spoke to the wolf-folk, habitually rubbing his neck in an effort to calm his nerves, "I uh, I saw you running earlier and I'm pretty sure it was because of my flames. Just wanted to say sorry for firing them off without warning like that and scaring you."

Thatguynameded · Sep 12, 2019

Brass kept stabbing at the beats legs, he felt his body become wet and warm but continued. His body is covered covered in blood and as the body fell he continued to slash and cut tenderizing the meat of the area flicking blood at anyone around him. Suddenly he had the urge to bite, to take a large chunk of the meat and consume it, It was a hunt after all. As he digs his knife into the meat and cut it out, he grabs a handful of the raw bloody meat. His mouth began to water, the glory of the hunt, to feed and for victory.

Looking over he sees the rest of the team, none of them huddle around the beast but around krill, He began to realize he was not at home hunting a beast. He looks down at his hands and notice the meat and beast is gone but his hands are covered in blood. He stands there looking at his bloody hands and felt a hand rub his neck, it took alot out of him to not snap at the hand but in the end it did snap him out of his current mind set. "you fine, fire bad..." Brass accepted the neck rubbing for a bit. "need to rest now". He turns to Felicia with a less harsher growl than last time says "thanks for bring back".

Brass slowly walked to the river and began to strip his SMITED uniform and placed them at a safe distance. He wasn't sure why or how the surroundings changed but he needs to cool down and come back to his senses fully. His uniform is bloody but his fur will get sticky and nappy. He first cleans his hands with the water, cleaning all the blood from his hands but leaving some lightly colored stains of the blood, then he slowly walked into the river dipping his whole body into the water. Noticing the waterfall, that would be the better way to clean off his body rather than trying to rub off the blood off his fur. Making his way under he lets the water pour onto him. He sits under the water and began to think what went wrong.

Hanarei

Morzone

Hanarei · Sep 12, 2019

Felicia had arrived back not far behind Brass... though much to her chagrin he went charging in instead of heeding her advice. Given the situation though she could understand why seeing their companion being squeezed. It felt almost... wrong how little she felt emotionally about it despite how clearly devastating it seemed to be. Even if she wished to help though, there was little she could do. Attempting to use her power to restrain the minotaur could just as likely get Kirill caught up as well and ended up just aided in crushing him further on accident. She shifted instead to look for an object to use to bash at the minotaur or to at least use as a wedge to act as a barrier to block the beast should it go after someone else.

Felicia was a bit jarred as the offering was made suddenly shifting them all seemingly to someplace else... sanctuary as it was called. She lowered herself to the ground easing her use of her powers again seeing as it seemed to be safe. She looked over to watch as the others scrambled to Kirill, not being particularly rushed to go check him out as well. Perhaps a bit cold in her inaction, but seeing the others rush to his side made it seem like a pointless endeavor for her to engage in anyways. It would likely just cause her to get in the way if she just crowded in as well. Her attention shifted to Theo watching as he approached brass, herself not being very far away from him at that point electing to walk a bit closer.

The esper looked to Brass as he turned to her after accepting Theo's apology. She stared on blankly before giving a light nod in acceptance. It felt pointless for her to say anything else watching the wolf folk wander off towards the river. She shifted her attention to Theo being essentially 'alone' with her... at least in close speaking distance versus Brass and the rest of the group. She wasn't certain really what to say as she fumbled for some words wanting to create a bit of a conversation. It made her feel a bit builty how her wanting to interact socially worried her more then one of their companions being hurt. It was something of of neccesity though given how dangerous strong feelings of empathy could unintentionally sway her emotions and negatively effect her.

"Is he going to be alright?" She asked figuring it was a good jumping off point for a conversation. It perhaps sounded a bit disingenuous given her lack of ability to emphasize any worry in her voice when speaking. She didn't want anything bad happening to him even if she had that trouble connecting with his plight. She felt it was a bit better to shift the topic as to hopefully not make things come off a bit awkward.

"This place... it is called Sanctuary correct? Or perhaps that was just more of a descriptor for the place. It seems rather strange here... I suppose calming might be the correct way of describing it? Have you ever been here before?" She wasn't quite sure if changing the topic came off a bit too awkward, though hopefully it wasn't too much so. Her head tilted glancing about, looking to see it looked as if it was calming down a little over by the group, not able to make out Kirill at the distance having others blocking her vision to know if he was conscious or even alive. It seemed to make the most sense he was at the very least not dead given everyone's demeanor. Her eyes returned to Theo looking at him with some curiosity. Being one of the mages of the group made her feel a little more at ease given her exposure having lived around them for most of her life.

Location: Sanctuary
Mentioned:

Morzone

Noble Scion · Sep 14, 2019

The magician's little rant about their experiences together seemed to imply that he was upset, and to be fair to him, Sang felt like they all had the right to feel as such considering their lives had been on the line since entering. They'd only been through three trials and it felt like barely any progress had been made with how frequently they had come, and if the level of difficulty were to continue escalating upwards, she wasn't exactly excited for what their future held for them. A minotaur was terribly strong and had almost killed several of their members, including her! Who knew what was next?

"To be frank with you, Tiegs, I expect that we're going to die in the oncoming fights. No indication that we're even nearing our destination and we already have a mortally-wounded person on our hands, and the rest of us are beaten up, most notably being yourself. This expedition is both world-defining and a death sentence, but who knows, in the event that I do survive, I might even earn a drizzle of respect from my family. What is it that humans say? High rewards require high risks?" Sang grumbled at Jasper, her tone lacking any semblance of energy as she pulled her knees up to her head and rested upon them, scowling foully at the fresh water running through their little area of safety like it was the cause of all her suffering, and directing her mild rage into something that wasn't hissing at Jasper after feeling rather peeved from his tone.

"This 'rabbit hole' feels more like volcano that we leapt into with a lust for adventure, only to be met with pain." Sang elected to finish off her words with, answering his question as her topaz eyes flickered from their spot on the reflection of the water to her ally's face, analytical and hard, before diverting themselves once more.

Tarmagon

Xemanorth · Sep 14, 2019

Kirill laid back for a while and stared at the ceiling of the sanctuary. As Qerres had surmised however, it did not take long before he'd start stirring while both of Qerres' hands were occupied with her precious flask, the half-demon made his move and attempted to push himself up to a sit, surprisingly enough, he'd manage to at least support himself, if he was even allowed to make it upright. That did not mean the motion was painless, given that the half-breed's efforts were accompanied by strained, pained hisses and huffs and his ribcage or rather, entire torso was more than just a little bit tender after the whole ordeal. "Man..." Kirill began to mutter as he brought a hand up to massage the ends of his brows before slipping his finger and thumb over them to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "I feel like shit.".

Thankfully, he didn't seem to be making any further attempts at movement, not yet anyway. In fact, if allowed, he'd simply sit there, shoulders slumped and head hung as he primarily ones of immense pain and grogginess, given the painkiller he had been provided by Celena. The half-breed stayed still in empty thought for a while, simply assessing the damage as it were. "Hope you all don't mind but... I need a bit of a breather." He finally announced before lowering himself back into a laying position, the motion, once more accompanied by a series of pained grunts and hisses. Naturally it did not take very long until Kirill was bored once again, knowing how painful moving would be however, he opted to try and occupy himself with what was on hand and so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone.

The screen was, as was to be expected, cracked in multiple places, going by the lack of reaction on the half-demon's features though, it was safe to assume that this was nothing out of the ordinary. "Work, damn it!" Kirill urged the device before finally, the screen illuminated, much to his apparent delight. It would not last however, since, as one might expect, Pandora's Box had no wi-fi or connection to speak of! "Someone remind me to tell that Pandora bitch to get some service here. No wonder she needs to do this to amuse herself, place fuckin' sucks." With that, Kirill outed a low sigh before stuffing his phone back into his pocket and turning his attention to whomever still remained nearby. "So..." Kirill started, his gaze wandering between the centaur and demoness. "You girls come here often?".
(

Fable ,

June Verles , @k o r o l ,

Tarmagon ,

Morzone ,

Hanarei , @Myriad )

Tarmagon · Sep 14, 2019

"That's, a pretty good analogy Sang," Jasper said. "Though I, for one, do not intend to be a sacrifice to any moldy old anything living in a volcano, pocket dimension, or anywhere for that matter. Speaking of our headstrong battering ram, maybe I can help patch him up. I'll be right back. Keep an eye on my pack for me?"

Jasper stood, shrugging out of his pack and rummaging inside for a moment, coming out with a sealed jar and a small paintbrush. Leaving the pack with Sang, he made his way over to where Kirill sat. He knelt by the grumbling demon and opened the jar, revealing a dark fluid inside.

"Hold very still," he said to Kirill, "This will tickle, but if you hold still, I should be able to at least set your ribs properly."

Without giving Kirill a chance to object, Jasper pulled up the demon's shirt to expose his ribcage. Dipping the brush into the henna ink, he began to carefully write runes around Kirill's body. It took several minutes, but he finally sat back and nodded.

"Here we go," he said, holding his hands over the runes which flared to blue white fire. "This might feel a little odd."

Noble Scion

(The end result, pending Fyuri's decision, will be to set and splint Kirill's ribs with magic. It will weaken Kirill a bit, since the runes use his energy, but he'll be mobile. )

Morzone · Sep 15, 2019

Hanarei

"I sure hope he'll be alright." Theo's eyes followed the retreating figure of the Wolf-folk. It relieved the Theo that his apology hadn't been met with any direct animosity, though the mage could tell he was still a fair ways away from making friends. Then again this was supposed to be work, making friends wasn't as much of a priority right now. Hopefully he'd have more chances in the future, after the mission was finished.

The future would sort itself out, at present Theo turned back toward Felicia, who was speaking to him about the sanctuary. "I've never been here before, no. I'd hazard a guess that only Elora and Tristan have been here before, or at least the only ones who knew this place existed before now. To be honest this is my very first mission, I only just became a fully fledged agent. This feels like a pretty off-the-deep-end mission to start out on though, I guess I'm just unlucky. Theo took a proper look around the sanctuary, taking in its apparent tranquility. It was a pretty calming place, even if it was coming off the end of a rather demanding fight. He really hoped he was right in saying this was an off-the-deep-end mission. If this sort of thing was par for the course... Well he'd have to keep his fingers crossed. Theo turned his attention back toward Felicia.

"Your name's Felicia right? Sorry, I'm not very good with names. How long have you been an agent for?"

baddervibes · Sep 16, 2019

Location: Sanctuary | Interactions:

Noble Scion | Mentions:

Tarmagon

Caddigan visibly flinched as Elora tore off the beast’s head, but found his lips curling to a smile as he watched the skull be flung across the cavern and land with a heavy ‘splat’. His teeth tingled again. Caddigan hadn’t had a proper meal in a bit: just whatever sad rations SMITED had to offer for the trip. There was that promise of letting his fangs sink in once the beast was dead, but a cloud of doubt fell over him as the rest of reality was sinking in.

Sparkles was pretty badly beaten up, Kirill had a near-death experience, and no doubt Elora was exhausted after…whatever that was. Morale was low, to say the least, and Caddy mulled over the thought of feeding in his head. Well, perhaps if he had a bit of blood in him then that would make up for some of their losses? Or would the minotaur blood be too corrupt? Caddy had only been taking the blood that SMITED was giving him after all. And if he got sick or weak then that would just slow things down even more. He turns his head to Sang to see what she could make out of all of this but bit his mouth shut after the look on her face: something like fear and shame all mixed into one. Caddy elects not to say anything: purses his lips together and looks back over to the rest of the group tending to Kirill. Maybe he’d ask Elora later.

He tries not to look so awe-struck at whatever magic the two leaders had cast to create such a sanctuary. Caddigan had certainly seen sanctuaries be summoned, but nothing on this scale. Usually, it was just dingy little magic barriers or an invisible hut: this was on a whole other level. The waterfalls were a nice touch too.

He follows Sang to the ravine with the intent to dip his head in the cool waters as opposed to bother her. Caddy had a feeling that she wasn’t much of an open book-type anyway: not for him at least. He brings the water to his mouth: rubs it over his lips and chin and down his neck. Sang and Jasper start talking and Caddy tries his best not to listen. It’s hard though. The conversation sharply contrasts the peaceful sound of the clean water running before them. Sang mentions her family and Caddy nods despite not even being a part of the conversation. Sang reminded him a little bit of himself: or at least a younger version of what he used to be. Caddy desperately wants to turn around and yell “Things could be a lot worse! We could…be dead!”, but his jokes rarely landed with this group. There’s a long sigh, then a twist and crack of the neck as Caddy runs a hand over his sore shoulders.
“Never thought I miss that stiff-ass cot back at base.” He mutters to himself.

Caddy tries to drown out the talking: dunking his whole head in the river and squeezing his eyes shut. The whole thing feels refreshing and cool: a nice contrast to this hell they’ve been living. He pops his eyes open with the hopes of seeing clear water and perfect river stones at the bottom. Instead, he sees streaks of red, bits of flesh and fur intertwined, and he goes into a fairly brief panic. Caddy gasps for air as he jolts out of the water: turning his head to see the rest of the group still alive and breathing for the most part. Jasper’s walking back up towards the group and Sang sits contemplatively by herself. A thoroughly confused Caddy turns his attention upstream, relief filling his chest as he sees Brass lurking his way up towards the waterfall. Caddy laughs to himself, washes away whatever dirt and grime remained on his person, and starts to make his way up the green grass towards the demoness.

Caddy pauses, smiles down at Sang, keeps on his feet until he knows it’s okay to sit with her.
“So, uh” he starts, peers up suddenly at a flash of Jasper’s magic appears.
“Having a rough time with your folks?”
Not the best small talk, but hey, it was something.

Fable · Sep 17, 2019

Merged Group

Tristan helped Jasper settle in a spot since they were no longer required to dodge a raging bull with an axe. Sang joined him and asked if he was alright and Tristan couldn't help but roll his eyes when the answer to that question was obvious. None of them were okay. He kept his smart mouth shut though, but Jasper had seemingly reached a breaking point as he ranted on the situation. "Oh don't concern yourselves with my presence and do feel free to file your complaints to HQ if we survive this mess," he scoffed out. He sat down with a small grunt from being tender all over, he wasn't going to take another step if he could avoid it.

"As for us being concerned you'll invoke sanctuary for personal benefit, it happens more often than you would think. You face terrifying things in this place, some people lose their sanity and don't come out the same if they survive. There are those when faced with odds not in their favor, who are lost in desperation, that will invoke sanctuary and hide there, even abandoning team mates to die.
More people die from others cowardice than you would think in this place."

Elora, having done her task of getting the team into sanctuary turned her attention to the downed Kirill. She was far from medically skilled which had been shown with her poor stitching of Jasper. She shook her head trying to regain control and focus. She couldn't set any broken bones and if his rib cage was highly damaged she would have to consider leaving him in sanctuary for his own safety, but she imagined the brute wouldn't listen and stay put if ordered to do so.

Celena thankfully brought some healing potions which could help stabilize the half-demon. They shouldn't move him since doing so would impact him negatively. Then Qerres did the unexpected and slapped Kirill across the face. Her mouth opened a bit in shock at the action. "Agent Qerres," she began in a stern and agitated tone. It was clear in her voice that she didn't approve of Qerres's abuse of the injured half-demon who was regaining consciousness.

When Kirill began to make an effort to sit up, Elora was having none of that. "Agent Kirill you will lay down and cease your futile and injurious movement." It seemed he realized his mistake of sitting up as soon enough he laid back down. He attempted to use his phone, why he even bothered to bring such a useless item she couldn't understand, before giving up and trying to strike up a conversation with a joke.

Elora's body went rigid suddenly as a sharp pain pulsed through her. She kept her face and voice as neutral as she could, "As you are conscious I'll leave you in their hands," she commented before turning and moving away from the group a fair distance, stepping around section of rocky wall that protruded just enough to obscure sight of her. She quickly grabbed something that looked similar to an epi-pen and jabbed it into her thigh with a pained groan and heavy breathing as she broke out into a cold sweat. Within seconds she slid down the rocky wall and closed her eyes as the powerful sedative took effect.

Tristan didn't join the conversation further between Sang and Jasper, though he did watch as Jasper got up and went to attend to Kirill. He watched as Jasper vandalized the half-demon's body and smirked, he wasted a good opportunity to draw a dick on the half-demon's face. He wasn't too sure what Jasper was doing, his file didn't indicate anything regarding healing abilities that would be able to help Kirill.

When Jasper activated the runes there was loud crackling as the bones shifted into proper place. This was sure to be excruciating since Kirill was awake for this process. Tristan winced at the sound and felt nauseous. While the runes did work properly and didn't injure Kirill further, it was probably enough to cause him to pass out once again. He shuddered slightly and remembered the horrors recounted in the reports of the last time it was required to make an offering to Pandora. No, he needed to not focus on the statistics right now.

"Everyone, rest up. Eat, drink, sleep. We'll recover here as much as we can," he announced, setting a timer on his watch to go off in four hours. He'd check the status of the team at that time and he and Elora would determine how to proceed at that time.

--- TIMESKIP 4 HOURS ---

Tristan's watch beeped loudly in an annoying pitch which stirred the demon awake. He rubbed his eyes and openly yawned. God he had needed that. He got up and went to the edge of the water and splashed his face and washed off the dirt, blood, and grime from their adventure in this hell thus far. He rinsed off his arms and hands as well, though it was probably only a matter of time before he got filthy once again.

Glancing around and noting Elora's absence he looked around for her and found her seated alone and still asleep, at least until he looked at the empty injector in her hand and sighed openly. He left here there for now, she'd wake up in an hour or so on her own. He took the injector and tossed it away out of sight. He went back to where the team was lingering and clapped his hands loudly to awaken those who had opted to catch up on sleep.

"Wakey wakey," he called out to try and stir them awake. Nap time is over." He made his way over to Kirill first to check on the half-demon who had been seriously injured. The idiot was too stupid to die, but if he wasn't able to move then he was a major liability. "Oi, how you feeling?"

Thatguynameded · Sep 17, 2019

Brass spent a good 30 minutes under the waterfall relaxing and regaining himself from his mental distress. The water washed away the blood that was slowly clumping into his fur, all the dirt collecting from each encounter washing away from his body to start a new set of encounters. He hadn't realized how bound his body felt in the SMITED uniform, it was considered "in o pro pre at" to not wear cloths. Hes never herd of this until joining SMITED, the only people who wore cloths in his pack were the elders or sages. Needing to relax he decided to keep his uniform off until it is time to leave the area. Feeling like a fresh new bestial in body and mind he returns to his cloths that he left laying next to his duffel bag missing a good amount of jerky and his bowl from the sudden change of scene. He grabs everything and shoves it into the bag, then he began to search for a spot near the group that was comfortable enough for brass to have a long and good rest. He noticed elora alone off to the side but decided against it due to the rocky nature of her area. He found a small patch of grass that was larger than the rest and starts to walk in circles to find the most comfortable position. Then lays into the shape of a large ball of full ready to just rest until it is time to leave.

His ears perk up once he hears Tristan yells for everyone to wake up, still out of uniform he gets up and stretches his body and watch as Tristan makes his way to the lone wolf(krill), He still notices Elora off to the side sleeping so brass decides to make his way to her. He lightly sniffs at her to get her scent, this was his first time being around her so he had to take the opportunity. Brass has secretly sniffed everyone hes encountered in the team so that he knew who was on his side and not an impostor of some sort. "wake, we leave soon".

Fable

Tarmagon · Sep 18, 2019

Jasper breathed a quiet sigh of relief as his spell worked as intended. He wasn't a healer, but apparently the ability to manipulate bones back into their proper places and hold them there fell within his ability to affect the physical. He was going to have to learn more than basic first aid and have some lessons with real healers. Maybe there would be a way for him to pre-load spells... That was for another day. Satisfied that he had done all he could for their meat-shield, Jasper went and reclaimed his pack from Sang.

"Thanks for watching that," he told the demoness with a crooked grin. "Not that there's anything really interesting inside."

He pulled out a couple of meal bars, offering one to Sang then unwrapping one for himself and munching his way through the tasteless, well they kind of did taste like pressed cardboard, lump of concentrated calories. Rather than use any of the water packs, Jasper moved to a point well upstream of where they were and used one of his Lifestraws to take a drink. He rather doubted that the water was contaminated, but in this hellscape, he was taking no chances. Moving back to where his pack was, he arranged it into a makeshift pillow and passed out. Probably not the best idea with a possible concussion, but he was too tired to care. He'd wake up, or he wouldn't.

Far, far too soon Jasper did wake up to Tristan's voice. He sat up with a groan, but was pleased to notice that the world, or what was currently masquerading as the world, didn't choose to spin wildly around him. He felt dried blood pulling at the edge of his eyes, and after a minute, he moved towards the downstream side of the water, taking care not to contaminate their drinking spot as he cleaned up as best he could. Once he was relatively clean, he settled cross-legged to the ground and took inventory. His Power had recovered, but just as he remembered, his mage-sight was out of commission. His other boosts could still be activated though, so that had to count for something. Maybe it was time to just forget the enhancements and just concentrate on hitting things with his staff.

He noticed Tristan moving over to Kirill, and levered himself to his feet, moving up to within earshot of the team leader.

"I managed to set his ribs," Jasper said. "And the spell will draw on his energy to act as a flexible splinting for them. It won't do shit if he takes another shot like he did, but for the purposes of movement and ordinary activities, it should keep everything in the right place. That means being CAREFUL Kirill. If you damage the runes I wrote, the spell breaks and you probably break with it."

Noble Scion

Hanarei · Sep 19, 2019

Felicia listened intently to Theo giving a light nod in acknowledgement. She wasn't all that familiar with anything of the agency to begin with though it became clear to her that Theo was in very much the same boat. She couldn't help but share the same opinion about the mission, it seemed to be a bit above and beyond what a first mission should be. It was rather hard to tell if missions tended to be as perilous as the one they are in now. She placed her hand on her chin as if in thought trying to reason it out in her head.

"It could be a mission of this level of danger is ripe for new recruits which might be disposable in the agencies eyes due to a general lack of training making their loss being far less valuable for the agency itself to lose. Higher ranked agents would have a lot more training and time invested that would make sending them on a more suicidal mission a general waste. That or it could just be due to being low on staff able to take on this mission... or its just a typical mission." She spoke quite matter of fact with her casual implying of them being 'more disposable'. It made it perhaps a little easier to see her callous mindset on things even went so far as to extending to herself. She removed her hand from her chin looking at him tilting her head to the side.

"Oh... and correct, my name is Felicia while your name is Theo, a Magician by trait although I suppose given all those employeed in this organization its possible there is more to you then that. I've been part of the organization for... well this is my first mission as well." She spoke seeming to pause briefly attempting to figure out how long she had been there before giving up. She was terrible at keeping track of days, figuring it was best to just go by it being her first mission. Having been cooped up in the same place all the time for so long tended to make it harder for her to recognize different days, given she didn't even get the chance to see sunlight on many of them at all. It didn't help that she tended to have... rather odd sleep patterns herself.

Four Hours Later...

Felicia's red glow lingered around her as she floated in the air with her legs and arms both crossed in a sitting position... albeit hovering over the ground about a foot with her eyes shut. She wasn't asleep... being very much alert of the area though being much more in a daze. The position itself wasn't needed for her to get in the state as much as she had on many occations been awkwardly approached by others who caught her floating in rather odd ways in the air in such a state. She figured the gesture itself would at least make people realize what she was doing better over stumbling into a girl floating upside down seemingly unconscious. Hearing the words 'wakey wakey' caused her to open her eyes slowly as she floated up higher to get onto her feet. The glow around her dissipated as she felt fully rejuvenated. It only took an hour or two for her to rest that way to recover... granted she could only do it so many times before she had to fall into a deep sleep... having effectively 'hibernated' before for several days before in the process.

Location: Sanctuary
Mentioned:

Morzone

Noble Scion · Sep 21, 2019

The demon with a rather foul mood begrudgingly took the food bar from Jasper after returning from his efforts to help Kirill. She gave him a small grunt of appreciation before pondering if he brought any possessions close to him, unlike her, and simply let the curious thought rest in her mind as she ate slowly and quietly after not checking the bag. about as refined and noble as one could after facing their several times in a matter of hours, sang chewed noiselessly and thoughtfully on the bar. Even hours later, her hands were still shaking from the experience, not that she would complain. As far as she knew, everyone here had almost died, and at least she'd contributed to their survival in some meaningful way, not that it would matter if they didn't deliver the gem soon enough.

Sang didn't, or couldn't, sleep during their resting period. Too on-edge and distrustful of everything in the maze, despite that creature's words of comfort about this being a safe-area. As expected, no threats made an appearance, and all it had done was leave Sang a little more tired that she would've been otherwise, but a little anxiety was a good stay alive. You couldn't exactly be too jumpy now, could you? The only thing she did during the resting period was open up her bag and pull out a water bottle, which she drank over the duration.

Sang stood up upon watching her group leader moving to wake the other up, taking it that they'd be moving soon. She almost welcomed the idea, the longer she sat there, the worse she felt about the whole situation.

Treading over to the river yet again, she popped open her bag for the second time since entry, refilled her bottle, and stored it once more. She still had a number of small home-made sandwiches cut into triangles to eat if she got the chance, but her stomach hadn't exactly been willing to let her eat any more after the small bar she'd been given. If they had another resting period, she intended to share them with in, seeing it only as fair considering he'd already shared his stock of consumables with her.

"Ready." she grunted somewhat quietly to Tristan, trying not to wake those still resting and let them have their last few seconds of peaceful bliss.