Realistic or Modern SMITED [Mission Two] [Always Open]

[Fable]

Lacily's Team - Exploring the Temple ( Epiphany StoneWolf18 r e i )
Lacily traced a finger across the marked walls wondering what this information would reveal. She already knew what Mara has said, that ancient Merfolk culture had long been forgotten and lost, leaving only their current modern society which were more like humans than the other races in how they lived day-to-day. It was a sad thing to lose one's culture. While Lacily's own race still had ties to their original roots, as the world changed and humans began to grow in population, it pushed all fantastical races into the shadows for so long that many simple faded out of existence entirely, or at least hadn't been seen or heard of for a long time and now existed only as words in a book within the Shadow Archives.

She turned her head as Mara called her name just in time to see her start wandering down some decrepit hallway. Calliea tried stop Mara, but Mara kept going. Lacily went to follow after Mara quietly as the merwoman was behaving oddly. "Mara, are you alright?"

Lacily pushed at the old stone wall curiously, causing it to crumble and collapse producing a temporary dusty cloud to obscure their vision. After a few moments the dust would clear revealing a spiral staircase carved into the stone of the cavern they were in going downward into darkness. The only way to know what was down there would be to go and so Lacily turned on a bright flashlight and stepped in front of Mara to begin their descent.

"Lacily here, we found some hidden stairs and will be going to investigate," she used the radio to inform the other teams. "Hopefully this doesn't go too deep or is blocked somewhere."

There were no words carved into the walls here and it took nearly ten minutes for them to reach the bottom of the stairs which revealed a strange room. At the center was a circular pool of water that seemed to be softly glowing. The pool itself seemed to not have a shallow bottom as the glow faded into pitch black. That was not the strangest thing in this room though. Floating chest high was a strange orb that had water flowing over it as it poured from the ceiling then drained into the pool.

To Mara this orb pulsed almost like a heartbeat, but not physically showing this pulse in any matter. Each pulse seemed to encourage Mara to touch the orb; to take hold of it. Protect it.

Si-woo's Team - Market ( Phayne Lexielai baddervibes )
Si-woo was opening scrolls and trying to determine which ones looked the most important. Hopefully Jasper's team could find some city leader's home and find some scrolls regarding government matters since Si-woo doubted any of the scrolls in here were of any actual importance. These were items that were to be sold to a customer, they probably didn't hold any truly interesting secrets, but he would take whatever he could to help the research team expand their knowledge, even if it ended up just being some recipe of some kind.

He carefully rolled up a few scrolls together and slid them into a slim plastic canister for protection from the water when they left. It was when he slid the slim stick of hollow plastic into his pack that he heard Caddy call over the radio that there was something in the storage room with him. It could have been a joke for all Si-woo knew, but he'd rather be sure that Caddy didn't die or be grievously injured, so if it was some prank he'd punish the felon later. He couldn't call back on the radio because the noise would alert whatever was inside, so Si-woo began to cautiously step into the storage room.

Whatever was in there with Caddy stopped chewing on whatever it had been when he had whispered into the radio. A faint hiss grew as the creature began to go into Caddy's direction. Something was stepping and sliding across the floor and the darkness didn't bother them one bit. Si-woo stepped behind Caddy before taking out a small marble looking thing and smashing it into the ground causing a bright light to flash and burn. The light revealed... not what Si-woo was expecting at all.

"I-It's.. kind of cute," he commented as the fifteen pound lizard-creature hissed and skittered away through the hole in the wall. "I wonder why it was in here." Si-woo turned on his flash light and explored the room further only to find an old pile of bones in the corner that had clearly been chewed on. The lizard had been gnawing on the bones of what was probably one of the merfolk that lived in this city.

Jasper's Team - Housing ( Tarmagon Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon )
Xaira's digging in the study to gather items as directed resulted in her at one point accidentally bumping into one of the bookcases within the room. Stepping away from the towering shelves the bookcase slowly creaked open revealing it was actually a false door. There was a windowless room on the other side of what appeared to be a secret room for experimentation of some kind. It would be hard to determine what exactly was being studied since any liquids in glass containers had long since dried and left only the faded colorings of their concoction.

Like the study the desk was a mess of papers that seemed to tell a story of someone frantically searching for something. The room wasn't torn up as though some burglar had broken in or some creature had gotten stuck inside. The person who had been responsible for this mess also had apparently died within this room as a there were humanoid bones on the floor.

"Understood, go ahead to the meet-up point for now. Have them rest and see if they improve. If no improvements within an hour or so, we'll be heading back your way," Si-woo replied to Jasper over the radio. "Also, keep an eye out for a lizard around the size of a small dog. Doesn't seem too aggressive, but better to be cautious."

 

[StoneWolf18]

Mara wasn’t sure how to respond to Lacily’s question, so she simply remained silent. Watching as she revealed the staircase and radioed in what they had found. In any other situation she knew that going inside of a crumbling stone structure that was already underground was a horrible idea, but the tug she felt made her forfeit any logic she could apply to the situation.

Following Lacily down, she was breathing shallowly as she tried to keep track the sensation. It was going stronger, but she couldn’t yet put words to it. So she continued her silence as they wound their way down the staircase.

When they finally reached the bottom Mara’s eyes widened. There it was. She took a couple of steps towards the pool before forcing herself to halt. “Lacily...” She spoke quietly, unable to tear her gaze from the orb. “It’s... throbbing.” Her brow furrowed as she tried to describe how she felt. “I feel urged to touch and protect it...” Mara figured based on the lack of a reaction from anyone else about this peculiar draw, which is what kept her from lunging to take hold of it right away. “I assume no one else is feeling this way, yes?”

Fable r e i Epiphany

 

[Tarmagon]

"Alright," Jasper said, placing his radio back onto his belt, "Time to make some... Hmm. Where's Xaira? Still exploring that first building? Never-mind. Everyone hang here and I'll go collect our wayward dragoness. If you, beings, can shake off the effects of that lower cavern a bit, we'll stay and explore some more, but if you don't feel better by the time I get back with Xaira, we're going to call this and head back to the egress point. Nothing we could learn here is worth anyone's health, physical or mental."

Leaving the rest of the group to rest, Jasper moved towards the building Xaira had entered. As he entered, he heard sounds of rummaging, accompanied by happy little sounds, coming from a door down the hall. Moving up, he found Xaira gleefully rummaging around in what appeared to have been a study, quickly placing scrolls into packets for easy removal,

"Looks like you hit the jackpot," he said, startling the dragoness who turned quickly towards him. As she did so, her tail collided with the edge of a tall bookcase, causing the whole thing to begin to move, pivoting on a hidden mechanism and accompanied by the requisite creaking and groaning. Both Jasper and Xaira stared at the newly revealed opening before Jasper gestured towards it with an ironic bow. "Ladies first."

DergTheDergon

 

[Birdsie]

"Aye, aye, captain!" the Great One imitated a sound of human agreement, the everpresent eldritch hum of its voice adding to the terrific aura of milky-thick despair it released into its surroundings. Kind of like a teabag of horror dipping in the local leylines and corrupting them with alien nonsense and garbled noises of damned spirits intended to alert all lesser predators in the area that a superior lifeform was ready to consume their souls.

Left alone with Sang, Quinn reminisced with a finger tapping against its chin, "I haven't had raw meat in months. I wonder if the boss will let me eat that lizard if we come across it. What do you think?"

Tarmagon Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable

 

[DergTheDergon]

So invested had she been in her fervent collection of knowledge that Xaira had unknowingly been tuning out the radio from the very moment she discovered this room in until the present moment. In fact, she didn't even notice Jasper’s arrival until he spoke to her.

Standing from where she'd been crouching with a start whilst simultaneously whirling around to face the suddenly present mage, she let out a sharp cry of pain as her tail thumped rather hard against a nearby bookshelf due to her enthusiastic movements. As she winced and rubbed at the sore spot near the end of the wily appendage, she heard the rather loud creaking and groaning of whatever hidden mechanism she'd just unknowingly triggered. She turned once more to face it, staring in awe as it opened. Wresting her attention back from the sudden reveal, she turned back toward Jasper.

“I, uh, suppose I did, heh,” she said, straightening her shoulders and back as she recomposed herself. “Maybe two of them. I mean, whatever’s down there has to be important to whoever lived here, right?” She found herself grinning proudly for a moment before she realized that he’d come alone, perhaps to fetch her.

"Oh and, ah, sorry for the radio silence... got a bit carried away... again." The dragoness rubbed at the back of her neck, averting her eyes in embarrassment before getting a grip of the situation once more. She found herself smirking in response to Jasper's playful invitation, rolling her eyes a bit at the cliche` ‘ladies first’ line. "Smart move... can't have you going first so I have to save your ass from whatever's down here." She winked, before beginning to saunter confidently into the dark (or, as confidently as she could having seen all the disturbing evidence of something fishy ,no pun intended, going on down here). What the hell was that sweltering, heavily-aired cavern? Breathing in deeply, she continued in her forward march with more gusto than initially after trading in focus on those cautious, fear-laden thoughts with awareness of her surroundings.

As her eyes adjusted to the lighting beyond, she found herself tensing in preparation for possible combat, focusing on her footsteps and the sound of her breathing as she moved forward cautiously, ensuring she was also paying attention to every sound Jasper was making behind her as well. The mage might have noticed that her demeanor now was suddenly more focused and serious; she was going into some old secret passage in a likely even older ruin far beneath the sea that no one had ever seen before, which coupled with her slight lull in excitement after exploring this place a little, lended her toward an approach the others may be more favorable of than her more impulsive tendencies. Besides, it was just her and Jasper down here, and she had to be ready to protect him should it be necessary.
Fable Tarmagon

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper let Xaira get a couple of steps ahead of him before he began to follow her down the newly revealed corridor, reaching over his shoulder to pull his staff out of its sheath. He really didn't expect anything to jump out at them, but the report of something still alive down here made him cautious. Keeping most of his attention on the passage behind them, Jasper only glanced ahead occasionally, trusting Xaira to handle the job of being 'on point'. Jasper was glad Xaira was moving ahead of him, because he wasn't certain how she'd take the huge grin he was sporting. Despite the dragoness's serious demeanor, the tip of her tail was alternately flicking back and forth and curling slightly. All in all, it rather reminded Jasper of a cat he had once had. Spectre's tail had done exactly the same thing, usually right before he pounced on some unsuspecting prey. Jasper actually felt a little sorry for anything hostile they met, because Xaira certainly seemed ready to make certain they suffered a quick and violent mischief.

Jasper took one of his infrequent glances ahead just in time to see the passage starting to open out into what looked like a laboratory of some kind. Jasper could just make out a table with what appeared to be glass containers on it past Xaira's wings, along with another mass of papers.

"Xaira, freeze!" he snapped, just before the dragoness could step fully into the new room. Moving up beside her, Jasper placed one hand on Xaira's shoulder, holding her gently back as he examined the room more closely. Whatever the various bottles and flasks had contained, the contents had long ago evaporated, leaving behind colored dusts and powders that gave no clue to the original purposes. The papers were a mess, but not randomly scattered. It was more like someone had been searching frantically for something, but not to the point of destroying whatever was written. Jasper thought he saw something bleached white on the floor behind the table, but without moving into the room he couldn't be sure.

"Ok, we've got to be careful here," he said, turning to Xaira and gesturing to the room before them. "We don't know what was in those vials and flasks, and we certainly don't know what kind of potentially lethal residue could still be in them. I'd rather that we didn't find out, so before we go in, we're going to put on our emergency masks just in case something gets broken. Please keep your wings as tightly furled as possible, and keep that rather expressive and inquisitive tail of yours under control."

Jasper grinned at Xaira as he said the last to remove any hint of censure his words might engender, then pulled his mask and attached air supply from his belt, settling the mask over his face and starting the air.

"As soon as you're ready," he said, his voice muffled slightly by the mask.

DergTheDergon , Fable

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Storage Room (Book Shop) | Interactions: Fable
​

Caddy readied his crossbow as he heard the creature slithering in the darkness. His eyes began to adjust and he could make out the faint shape of something reptilian darting toward him: something with little claws, a wispy tail, and a-
"What?" was all Caddy could manage as the room was suddenly filled with a flashing bright light. He flinches instinctively, thinking of at least 10 different 'vampires vs sunlight' jokes he could make, before his eyes began to readjust again.

"I-it's...kind of cute." Says the familiar voice of his superior as the lizard-like creature came into full view.
"Sure. Very cute. Like a Scottish Terrier with scales." Caddy jests, grimacing as the creature hissed before making its dramatic exit.
"You know, I could've handled that myself." He continues, letting his crossbow fall to his side as he followed Si-Woo to investigate.
"Unless you were just gunning to impress me with that flashy..." Caddy's voice trails off as the two of them fell over the remains. Thin and delicate fin bones made Caddy initially think this could possibly be just a large fish, but his conclusion changed as his gaze traveled up the long spine to a human-shaped skull.

"Ah, poor son of a bitch." He sighs, squatting down to get a a better look at what remained of the merfolk. Despite some broken bones and a few hefty teeth-marks, the skeleton could still prove useful in the team's research. If they sent it back, maybe they'd even find out how the guy died. Caddy shrugs, turning towards the other with a playful smirk:
"Would you like a box for your leftovers, sir?"

 

[Noble Scion]

"You'll get food once we return to the ship, 'child'." Sang glared at the child that she had been relegated to watching over as the dragon that had become friendly with her wandered off, whilst the mage leader checked up on her. She wasn't a children's person, despite having numerous brothers and sisters in her ex-house. The most interaction she'd had with them had been showing them a lesson once they'd messed with either her things, or her. Needless to say, the house of Red had been lively with focus, training and combat, a strange contrast to the outlook the infamous daughter was portraying now.

"I... Suggest we hold our ground until they get back." The demoness glowered, lowering herself to the ground and taking a seat with grossed legs, her black hands stretching out to grasp the opposing elbow with a ferocious enough grip that would've killed a chicken, which could be seen through the stretch of the tough skin, should one attempt to look through the abyssal darkness of the area. If one pleasant thing was to come from being left alone with the child, Sang supposed it would be the fact that, as far as she knew, they were easily distracted, which usually meant that she wouldn't be asked many questions and get to enjoy the silence she had become so accustomed to over the past months since losing her rank amongst the demon hierarchy.

She closed her eyes and grimaced. Such thoughts caused an emotional pain that tore at her innards much more than any deep sea monster could ever do, yet all she could do was wait and survive, listening to the silence disturbed only by the ironically demonic creature that had taken the guise of a child.
Birdsie Tarmagon DergTheDergon

 

[DergTheDergon]

As she moved forward, taking in the room as it was revealed to her with wide, curious eyes, she suddenly froze, literally on command, tensing a bit as she felt Jasper’s hand upon her shoulder, turning to look at him confusedly, though soon afterward she found herself relaxing at his touch.

Upon the mage’s cautionary words, Xaira took another look around, her eyes widening further with realization and fear. She’d assumed upon first glance that nothing here would be dangerous after so long, but, well, that’s the thing; rushing in was a habit she only now was beginning to truly realize she had. It’d worked for her up until this first real mission, in fact. She was glad to have Jasper there to act as a voice of reason at such a critical time for such things. He inspired her to work to be more careful in future instead of deciding it was simply not her way of being, a stance she’d held quite firmly in the past, and that others had labeled her stubborn or hard-headed for.

Refocusing on the present, Xaira finally noticed a rather glaring detail in the room: the skeleton of a humanoid, most likely a Mer who lived here, assuming they didn’t accidentally discover this chamber the way she had. Maybe merfolk tails were wily too at times? Refocusing herself and shivering at the sight of the unfortunate mer, the Dragoness paled and shivered. “I wonder if… whatever chemicals that were in this vials killed them? Or maybe they were somehow trapped in here… or hiding from… whatever we found tracks of.” Xaira noted over the radio that some lizard-like creature was spotted nearby, but looking at those tracks from earlier, Xaira was rather certain something else made those.

Jasper’s grin was quickly returned and served to help a bit of the fear she was feeling now to be shaken off.

Xaira nodded at Jasper’s instructions and immediately followed suit, ensuring her wings were furled as tightly against her back as possible before she took her own ask and donned it just as Agent Tiegs did the same. “R-ready,” she said, mentally scolding herself for her voice shaking all of a sudden due to this possible close call. The main thing that was eating at her now was what could’ve possibly happened to all of these people, including the unfortunate soul whose skeleton lay right before her eyes. She felt, for their sakes, she needed to keep moving forward and finding out. Regaining a bit more resolve with that thought, she stepped forward and began to look closer at her surroundings, searching for anything that stood out.
Tarmagon Fable

 

[Phayne]

Cain Hawkins
-The Scarecrow-
​

It wasn't long before Cain found himself at the doorstep to what appeared to be a clothing store, the contents of the inside strewn about on the floor in a mess indicative of someone or something trying to get the hell outta there fast. The floor creaked as Cain forced open the door and took a step inside, the sudden gust of air from the outside causing a cloud of dust to float around the room. So much so that most people would have coughed on the spot just from the sheer amount of dust inside. Luckily for Cain, this didn't apply to him; the Scarecrow stepping further into the room as he scoured the mess for anything of value.

Honestly speaking, the majority of fabric in this first room had been damaged; claw marks of some unknown creature evident among several of the larger pieces of fabric, stains of all kinds visible on others; either the excrement of the creature(s) which had torn the fabric or the blood of those injured during whatever the hell it was that had caused this city to become a ghost town. There was also the chance that the natural fauna of this ecosystem were territorial and it was their blood that had dried upon the floor and fabric... perhaps that itself would be useful for the agency... as would the dried out excrement on the floor.

Sighing and heavily reluctant, Cain bagged some of the dried excrement from the floor as well as a few of the larger bloodied fabrics, before moving on into the back room where thankfully a few rolls of fabric had seemingly remained un-damaged... aside from the coating of dust.

"I believe I have enough examples of this ancient societies clothing and fabric.. as well as a sample of excrement which I believe to be from some kind of local fauna" radioed Cain.

Interaction: baddervibes Fable​

 

[Birdsie]

"Oookay~!" The diabolical elder thing agreed with the proposition.

The skittish tentacle-monster disguised as a little boy-girl sat down on the ground, next to the demoness, humming alien tunes in a quiet voice. Quinn watched her environment with anticipation, seeing as droplets of cave water went down from the ceiling and hit the ground, watching the hypnotizing patterns of city stone on the terrain, and eventually, Quinn watched as what looked like a cockroach move through.

The eldritch great one's eyes locked on the small insectoid, watching it move across the ground. Almost immediately sensing the gaze of an ancient evil, the cockroach began to run away at a brisk pace.

But not before its carcass was penetrated by a sharpened spear of white bone, attached to a black tendril that sprung from Quinn's open hand. Quinn retrieved the tentacle, with the insect still attached, and held it in its hand, watching the corpse of the suffering insect as it struggled to live and run.

In a rare philosophical moment, Quinn said, "Life is so interesting. This little bug is so similar to my kind - enduring, long-lived, can survive without a head - and yet, it does not share our vast consciousness and power. Was its birth unlucky itself, or is the creature at fault for its weakness? Truly, life is interesting."

Quinn crushed the insect in its palm, then discarded the corpse, before returning to humming.

Tarmagon DergTheDergon Noble Scion Fable

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper watched as Xaira put on her mask, then, checking to make certain her wings were as tightly furled as she could manage, enter the laboratory. As he followed, Jasper could see that the bleached looking thing was a humanoid skeleton, though from where he was, he couldn't tell if there were any indications of damage.

"This might take a while," he thought to himself, then triggered his radio.

"Agents Sanguine and Quinn," he said, taking care to speak loudly and clearly to compensate for the muffling effects of his breathing mask. "If you two are in shape to move, we could use some help in this building. Xaira discovered a very large cache of written materials, and we are currently examining a hidden laboratory containing more written materials. This room also contains glass items with possibly hazardous residue inside, so if you choose to enter it, please don your breathing masks for safety. Be advised, we have confirmed evidence of at least one humanoid skeleton in the hidden room. So far we have not determined a cause of death due to the skeletal condition of the remains. I would welcome your insight and opinions."

Switching over to the command channel, Jasper took a moment to report their findings to the other teams.

"Housing team. We have discovered a large cache of written materials, as well as a concealed laboratory. The laboratory contains further written materials, as well as what appears to be chemical or maybe alchemical apparatus. We also have a humanoid skeleton, cause of death unknown. Initial observations do not indicate hostile activity as cause of death, but we will make a detailed examination and document the position of the bones prior to moving them."

"Xaira, photograph everything. Once we're certain we've gotten images of absolutely everything, we'll start bagging and tagging. It looks like this might all have been written by the same hand that wrote the notes you found out in that library."

Suiting actions to words, Jasper began to slowly and carefully move into the room, heading left. Step and photograph, step and photograph, making sure he got multiple angles on everything he saw.

DergTheDergon , Fable , Noble Scion , Birdsie

 

[Fable]

Lacily's Team - Exploring the Temple ( Epiphany StoneWolf18 r e i )
Lacily looked over to Mara with a serious expression before looking back at the strange orb. "Throbbing? No I don't feel anything from it, but it's safe to say that is it clearly some kind of magical object." She wasn't one to go around encouraging people to touch unknown magical items because there were many cursed ones that were created along with the good ones. You didn't know what you got until either you touched it and it was too late or you had it secured and examined by the Magicians.

"Its strange though," she muttered to herself. "Usually cursed items will try to appeal to anyone in its vicinity, but it's only appealing to you. Still, we don't know what it is or what it does, so touching it without a plan would be a bad idea. We don't have much time or the tools to figure out a good one anyway, so we'll just have to leave this here for now for the next team to recover."

Lacily felt like leaving it here was a bad idea as there was the risk this whole place could become inaccessible with the right tremor force and then it would never be recovered. Just as she lifted the radio and was about to press the button to inform the other teams there was a loud echoing guttural howlish noise. Instead of using the radio to inform the other teams they were heading back, Lacily asked if any of them also heard that worrisome sound.

The orb's throbbing increased in frequency and strength causing the water in the room to vibrate. It desperately called out to Mara with an irritable command; "Touch." This was a command that could not be ignored and as soon as Mara would touch the item there would be one last pulse before it seemed to liquefy itself and enter Mara's body. Lacily hadn't been watching as she reached for her radio to respond to Si-woo's orders for them to get to the entrance for them to make a hasty retreat.

"We've got to go, now and fast. We're running agents," Lacily ordered before turning to look at Mara and then noticing the orb was gone. "Where did it go?! Ugh, we don't have the time for this." Lacily grabbed Mara's hand and began to pull her out of the room, up the stairs, back down the hallway and then let go once they were back at the main floor. "Go, I'll be following behind," she ordered.

Si-woo's Team - Market ( Phayne Lexielai baddervibes )
"Poor bastard indeed," Si-woo agreed. Si-woo squatted down to get a closer look at the remains that had clearly been chewed on and recently, most likely by that lizard creature. He looked up at Caddy who asked in his seemingly usual way - through sarcastic humor - if he wanted to take the remains with them. "Take the skull. As much as I dislike disturbing the remains of the dead of my kin we need to know more. Maybe take a chewed on bone too so they can analyze the bite marks. I don't doubt that little has been nomming on our friend here, but there are bigger teeth marks as well. Much bigger."

Si-woo pointed to a femur that had seemed to be bitten in half with large scratches and divots in the bone. Then he pointed to another bone with had fresh lizard drool and the teeth marks were much smaller. There was something bigger in here they had to worry about, something strong enough to bite through bone. "I don't want to find out what broke that bone because it might see us as a meal."

Cain radioed in with news of collecting samples causing Si-woo to nearly jump out of his skin. He cleared his throat and stood up as he calmed down just in time to hear an echoing guttural howlish noise followed by Lacily's voice coming over the radio asking if anyone else heard that foreboding sound. "Uh yeah, we heard it here in the market. Everyone, I think it's about time we left. Get to the meet-up point and don't stop for any other tourist attractions please."

Si-woo secured his radio, hastily swiped up the skull and another bone and stuffed them into his bag before turning to Caddy, "We need to get back to the entrance and get ready for a possible fight." After that he looked at Caddy and with a serious glance before moving out.

Jasper's Team - Housing ( Tarmagon Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon )
The room had once been organized most likely as the bookcase for the most part in areas that had been untouched in the mystery creature's rush in their search. They books were dusty and aged, but they had been well-cared for and safe to assume there had been some sort of organization system for the vast amount that was shelved along the walls. It was unknown if the person had found what they had been looking for, but they had died hidden away in this room. Surely after whatever strange event had occurred they would have sought out supplies to sustain themselves, though the only way to know their story would be to take some bones of the remains to hopefully try and determine a cause of death. Had they drank a concoction of poison in a hopeless situation? Had they used this room to hide from whatever dangers awaited them till they starved? Or did they perhaps survive alone or in a small group and died after sickness, injury, or starvation?

In this mess it was hard to determine what was the object they had been looking for or if they ever found it. There was a story here in the ways the books were piled, the papers strewn, and the ancient vials left. The largest book that was left open on the desk in this tucked away room was a thick tome with words and illustrations that looked perhaps it could be some sort of encyclopedia.

As the team examined the room there was an echoing guttural howlish noise followed by Lacily and Si-woo's voices coming over the radio.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Lacily inquired with a stiffness in her tone.

"Uh yeah, we heard it here in the market. Everyone, I think it's about time we left. Get to the meet-up point and don't stop for any other tourist attractions please." Si-woo ordered.

For Jasper's team, the howl sounded close, coming from the crystal caverns where they had followed the mystery tracks to. Whatever had gone down in there was coming back up and didn't sound friendly.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Mara became deaf to the world around her as the orb’s intensity increased. She needed to touch it despite Lacily explaining how another team could be sent to retrieve the potentially cursed object.

There was no resistance. Her breath was held as she took a couple steps away from Lacily and reached out to touch the orb. The final pulse it gave resonated potently before it liquified and entered her.

What the fuck.

Mara stumbled back with a surprised cry, trying to find words other than the obvious to explain how the damn thing just absorbed into her. Of course she couldn’t speak before she heard the distance horrific sounds of something that noticed them. Instead of trying to answer Lacily’s question now, she elected to keep her mouth shut and begin to rush up the stairs with her not far behind her.

“Maybe this is why I shouldn’t go on missions...” she mumbled to herself, unable to shake the strange sensation she now felt. Her mind was racing as she knew this wasn’t good... hopefully she wouldn’t spontaneously combust while they were trying to leave this place.

Fable Epiphany r e i

 

[Noble Scion]

"You know, there's a human saying that you've probably heard of that is very applicable right here." The red demoness bristled in response to the child, her face shifting from the one of discomfort and pain back to its more stern, unsmiling aesthetic. "'Silence is a virtue'. Also there was no need to kill that thing, the science people probably could've researched it and learned how it survived given the obvious absence of life." she spat, turning her head away from the disturbing creature and attempting to ignore its sinister presence.

"'course I get stuck with babysitting the nightmare child.." Sang muttered under her breath before the rest of the team decided to make contact with them via radio. Sang simply turned to Quinn saying "You heard them, let's go." with little sense of relief, allowing her words to answer their leader's suggestion as she stood up and approached the laboratory, not paying too much attention to the elder being and expecting it to heed her words given its current visage.

Her movement into the building was impeded by the sudden sound of a ferocious roar, followed soon by an order from their leaders of the mission. Sang held no fear for creatures, however the chill of being underwater did not particularly boost her confidence in combat, particularly in the skin-tight suit of hers that was making her talons feel particularly blunt. "Child, I think it best we start running." she growled, charging into the building to regroup with the rest of the group, hopefully with Quinn in tow, her meekness being replaced with a rush of adrenaline, relieving her of the sense of sickness from the ocean briefly as she sprinted into the room featuring the magician and the dragon and some large book lying open. The princess of Red hurried over, shut the book, raised it with relative ease and held it to her chest gently, hoping that it would contain something useful and make their expedition mean more than to just show her in such a weak and despairing light, her physical strength lending to the arguments against this.

Hopefully, this artefact would prove that even at her worst, she was still useful.

"Let's go." growled the demoness before sprinting off in the direction of the designated regrouping spot, hopefully to avoid the confrontation and return with this large and heavy book, holding it gently so as to avoid ripping it. Even if she didn't care much for whatever ancient history she was holding on to, it couldn't hurt to at least hand it in in a good condition.
Birdsie Tarmagon DergTheDergon Fable

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper and Xaira had been carefully working their way through the laboratory, trying to figure out the underlying order of the place. It had been well organized, that much was obvious, but with the chaos... Jasper's train of thought was rather violently derailed by a guttural howl that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. It was close, coming from the direction of the cavern entrance that they had discovered. Nothing had triggered his alarm wards yet, but whatever had made the noise was obviously pissed off and on the move. In moments Jasper's radio had crackled to life.

"Did anyone else hear that?"

"Uh yeah, we heard it here in the market. Everyone, I think it's about time we left. Get to the meet-up point and don't stop for any other tourist attractions please."

"Yeah," Jasper replied, his tone acerbic. "We heard it. Danger goddamned close we heard it. It seemed to be coming from the cavern we couldn't finish exploring due to the heat. My wards haven't been tripped yet, and I don't intend to wait until they are. Housing team is doing the mogadishu mile. See you at the egress point."

As Jasper finished, Red erupted into the room, sans mask, and scooped the large book up off the desk with one fluid motion.

"Let's go." she growled out, turning and heading out of the building at a run.

"Got to hand it to Red, " Jasper said, removing his mask and grabbing the skull from the skeleton before gesturing Xaira out of the room. "In this instance, I'd say her instincts are spot on. Take this."

Jasper flipped the skull to Quinn and drew his staff, unsheathing the blade. The runes etched on the blade flared into blue life for just an instant before fading into dim outlines glittering against the steel.

"Quinn, Xaira... It's time to emulate the actions of our scarlet friend and... RUN AWAY!"

Jasper shooed the two agents out of the room and out of the building at just short of a dead run. Once they were clear and oriented, he gestured for them to pick up the pace.

"Agents," he said between breaths, "We are LEAVING!"

Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable

 

[Birdsie]

Quinn scratched her scalp in confusion when Sang suddenly ran off in fear of a growl.

Some kind of local predator? Sheesh, what a bother. It should just bend to the Great Old Ones, already. The sea was a domain of Dagon, Hydra, and Cthulhu. This monster either belonged to a servitor race for either of the trinity, or it was a meaningless lifeform useful only for entertainment.

Perhaps Quinn wasn't afraid due to her alien instincts - Great Old Ones of a certain age emitted psionic waves to inform their inferiors and subordinates of their presence. If grandpa Cthulhu was nearby, Quinn would know he was here. And so would mortals, who would likely start going insane.

And also feel an urge to bow and welcome him. Or fight him for dominance. Brains are weird. And they tend to go haywire when subject to psionically-induced neuron activity.

In any case, since Quinn wasn't afraid, because nothing about this situation fitted her foreign worldview of 'scary situation.' Maybe a Shantak would scare her, but nothing less than that.

Quinn sighed and stood upright, brushing her thighs from the faint gray cave dust. She followed the demoness at a calm pace and walked in, only to be greeted by Jasper who gave her a suspicious skull. Quinn accepted the mortal's tribute, though he gave it at a bizarre time and place.

"What's this? Does it sing?" Quinn shook the skull, expecting it to rattle, only for it to stay quiet. She almost sagged in disappointment, but then Jasper shooed her away from the room and they all started running.

Quinn followed, running after Jasper and the rest of the mortal group in confusion. Though she heard the roar, she didn't see anything threatening about it. A civilization-destroying monster? What about it? That's basically all of her relatives.

"Can't we just kill that thing if it's so problematic?!" Quinn asked, but in spite of her words, she kept running, following after orders like a good eldritch horror.

Tarmagon Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable

 

[DergTheDergon]

As Jasper radioed the others, Xaira found herself thankful that the two of them would assumably be arriving soon. There was a good bit of area to cover and quite a few objects that would certainly qualify as artifacts. Besides, admittedly, being in here with the bones of a being who likely died here in a rather agonizing manner made her appreciate the company of as many of her comrades as possible that much more.

Xaira began to photograph as much as possible starting from the other side of the room as per Jasper’s request, and as the others arrived, she waved at the girls then continued working to document the place efficiently.

“Oooookay, whatever that is sounds very alive, very big, and very angry…” She found herself muttering shakily, hearing that roaring nearby. “I uh… I know I said I was hoping for some action here but that thing sounds like a bit too much for me… down here without dragon form, a-anyway.” Despite her best efforts to act confident she could take it on under different circumstances, she knew she wasn’t fooling anyone.

When Sang suddenly bolted off with the only book in this room that Xaira hadn't gotten to yet, she found herself smiling at her for a second. There was a certain air of determination around her now that things were clearly getting rather dire down here. Either way, the Dragoness was glad that a little push like that seemed like all Sang needed to get out of her previous aquaphobia-induced funk. Jasper's comment cause Xaira to turn to him with a raised eyebrow. “Wait, I thought ‘Red’ was your nickname for me. I mean, it is her last name and all but- ” catching herself being jealous over a rather petty little detail, Xaira shook her head, a slight blush to her face. “N-nevermind, but yeah, that book’s probably vital. Glad to see her in a clearer-headed state now anyway, 'cause I think she'll need it.”

Even as sang darted out, Xaira waited for Jasper to make the call first. No way in hell was she going to risk leaving anyone behind. Not even Quinn, as… utterly enigmatic in a disturbing and borderline terrifying way the creature was to her. Besides, she didn't have to wait long for the Mage to decide it was time. Her reaction to Jasper's proclamation to get the heck out of dodge as it were was to simply follow suit immediately in his and Quinn's doing so.

As Xaira heard Quinn's question during their escape, she found herself turning toward the odd Eldritch creature and speaking once more "Much as part of me would like to, we don't know how powerful that thing is or even what the hell it is. Plus, this place might collapse soon. Not a problem for you, maybe, but definitely for about everyone else, especially us three."

She then continued gunning it. "If anyone starts falling behind, let me know, I can carry you.”

One could tell from the tone of that sentence words alone that her fear was gradually turning into the adrenaline to carry her, and at least one other person, she was certain, maybe two if needed, to the rendezvous point. She found herself hoping the others were safe, as well, and was mentally preparing herself even now to fight whatever beast had sent that ear-piercing roar up from wherever it was down in the depths of those sweltering lower chambers if need be. This was the sort of situation she excelled in; the more pressure, the more she could do. She felt like a klutz and a ditz at most other times, but her father always said that he was afraid for anyone that had it in mind to kill her or anyone she was trying to protect. She just hoped his words would prove right when they were needed, because even if not today, she had a gut feeling that this job would end up throwing quite a few life-threatening situations her way. You’d think that’s a given, but in her experience, you really only fully realize these kinds of things when they’re rearing their ugly heads, like right now, for example.
Tarmagon Noble Scion Birdsie Fable

 

[Tarmagon]

Despite the gravity of the situation, Jasper found himself grinning as the team hoofed it away from whatever had let its displeasure at intruders into its cavern be known.

“Wait, I thought ‘Red’ was your nickname for me. I mean, it is her last name and all but- ” Xaira had sputtered as they headed out of the secret lab, turning an interesting shade of pink as she tried to cover with comments about Sang's improved condition.

"Do I detect a note of, jealousy there Red?" Jasper asked, his tone innocent even as he grinned wickedly. "It IS her name, and her condition, just as it's a nickname for you my little dragoness. Although, right now your coloration is starting to match Sang's."

As they exited the building and began to pick up speed, Jasper couldn't help but pour a little fuel on the fire.

"It's a rather pretty blush," he said, his voice low. "Might be fun to find out what else might make it happen."

Agent Quinn's casual comment about killing the whatever-it-was made Jasper realize just how alien the little being was, as though her Eldritch aura wasn't bad enough.

"We kill when we must Agent Quinn," he said as they ran. "We do not kill for convenience's sake. If attacked, defend yourself and your fellow agents, otherwise avoid contact."

Xaira seemed to be coming into her element. The prospect of battle seemed to be energizing her.

"That goes for you too Xaira," he added. "Defend with all due force if required, but avoidance is preferred. For all we know, that critter could be a descendant of whomever built this place, and I'd just as soon not have to end something or someone who's managed to survive down here. If we even could. remember those cavern conditions. Whatever it is, lived down there, and we couldn't even make it to the bottom."



Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable

 

[Fable]

(We'll be doing a bit of a jump here to get to the combat. Epiphany StoneWolf18 r e i | Phayne Lexielai baddervibes | Tarmagon Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon )

Each team upon hearing the threatening sound and upon the orders of Si-woo made their way back to the city entrance and the official point they had agreed to rendezvous when they first entered. Si-woo's team was the first to reach this destination as they had been the closest. This gave the agents on his team to throw on their diving gear if they had taken it off as well as prepare to possibly engage in a battle. Si-woo pulled out a pistol and stood ready for any movement.

"Keep a sharp eye out and please don't get trigger happy and hurt a fellow agent," he warned lowly as his eyes scanned their surroundings as a new howl resounded.

Jasper's team would reach the rendezvous next, though just before that point Jasper's wards would alert him to the presence of creatures - what seemed to be a pack of them - coming their way. Whatever was coming wasn't friendly and was on the hunt; for them. Lacily's team - being the furthest from the rendezvous point - reached about half-way before the newest howl echoed in the cavern and sounding much closer (as close as an echo could actually mislead you to think).

"Pick up the pace," Lacily shouted. She didn't want to tire herself out of mana by trying to slow down whatever was gaining on them, all she could do right now was push for her team to flee as fast as they could before finding out what exactly was pursuing them. "Don't link behind you, keep your focus ahead so you don't trip over yourself to try and sneak a peek,"she warned. Rookie mistake 101; looking back while running would guarantee someone would fall and possibly trip others.

Lacily's team was just clearing the market when the pack of beasts had gotten close enough to nearly nip at her heels. She could hear them right behind her and had no desire to look back, instead she looked ahead to Si-woo who lifted his gun to aim in her direction just as she felt hot breath brush past her neck. Si-woo fired a shot and a spray of warm dark blue blood hit Lacily's back, but still she ran and urged her team forward. "Cover us!"

There was a large pack of twelve lizard-like beasts chasing after Lacily, the one hot on her heels that had been shot collapsed to the ground from the shot that pierced its neck and the rest of the pack continued to surge forward. There were more howls, but they didn't come from the twelve that could be seen. There were more coming.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Mara was a little out of sorts... but I suppose that was warranted. They were now being chased by God-knows-what after she had been glomped by something that was likely dangerous and shouldn’t have been touched.

When they finally were regrouped with the others, she couldn’t hide the stress that crept onto her face as she immediately began to rummage through her bag to search for a weapon.

“No, no, no, no... god dammit.” Mara hissed as she ended up dropping it to the cavern floor with disgust. Wonderful, no weapon either. She swore she had grabbed one before they departed but apparently that wasn’t true.

Not wanting to be at risk of either the creatures or the other agents as they prepared to fight, she took a few steps back, trying to keep out of the way.

 

[Birdsie]

Quinn stopped running near the rendezvous point and looked back to see Lacily's team being chased. The little eldritch horror turned to Jasper, saying, "I'll go help them out."

Quinn walked in the direction of the market, its flesh distorting as if some little animals were running underneath its skin. Soon, tumors sprouted across its body and even clothing, like bubbles of flesh, before exploding into dry blood, revealing expanses of black meat beneath with ropey muscles. Its eyes stopped moving, and its head exploded, revealing a prolix tentacle, which began to stretch outward like a spring until it was over a dozen meters long. Soon, the entire human-looking body was gone, replaced by some brown-black creature from nightmares that could make a disciplined soldier pause to re-check if he was sane and not dreaming, which began to rapidly increase in size like a sponge that was being forcefully squished right until this moment.

Spoiler: For Reference

The creature, Kqyhnn, was easily nine-feet-tall, towering even above the tallest man.

"Ah'mglw'nafh!" it called, in a language far too alien to decode or recognize.

It stretched its vile arms outward, like a priest welcoming his disciples, as further tentacles sprouted from its foul body, tipped with bone to act as spears. Each appendage was like an individual rope, moving with its own mind and will, aiming for a different enemy over a dozen meters away from where the monster stood its ground.

These tentacles lashed out at the lizard beasts, slashing and trying to stab through their armor.

Epiphany StoneWolf18 r e i Phayne Lexielai baddervibes Tarmagon Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable
Eldritch science is the best in the world because it lets you use tentacles as weapons. Now, let's just hope these lizards don't breathe fire or acid. If they do, I'm done for.

 

[Epiphany]

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[/div][div class=statusText]Location: Running for her life!
Interaction: None (mentioned Quinn)
Tags: Fable Birdsie [/div][/div][div class=title]Maia Sarif[/div][div class=text]
Agent training had been thorough, something appreciated by a Gorgon who'd spent most of the past several decades teaching, raising kids and taking care of a house. Certainly, she wouldn't have been able to keep up the pace the rest of the team set, nor would she have been as effective at running for her life. For all the good it'd done them. The other teams drew near but the monsters, whatever they were, came right on her heels. In her youth, she'd been practiced at 'seeing' through the eyes of her snakes but her years of extensive research and study had sharpened the eyes in her face while attenuating her attentiveness to her snakes. Something perhaps to make up for. In training. Later.

"What on earth is that?" Maia asked her team, as the strange figure she'd known as Quinn turned into a horrific monster that surely had to be worse than what was behind them. She sprinted around one of abomination's tentacles and hoped it would slow the monsters behind down a bit. As she ran past to join ranks with the other agents, the Gorgon at last fished her pistol out from its waterproofed holster and aimed it at the impending horde. Her 'hair' having fully shaken free of the diving hood she'd worn, Maia's head became haloed by a cloud of tendrils ending in hissing venomous snakes.

Anything that got past their guns would learn why men had once feared the Gorgons.

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[Noble Scion]

"Blegh, you can have the name 'Red' if you're so smitten with it for all I care." Sang growled sternly as they sprinted back to the meeting grounds, tongue dripping with liquid venom that managed to pierce through the stagnating air simply via her words as she didn't even bothering to turn her head around to address the dragon. "All it is now is a reminder of my failures. You two might as well just kiss and get on with it.", and with that, the demoness returned to her steely silence, emanating a cold absence of approachability as her mind focused in on what it had grown so accustomed to over the years. Fighting. The apparent threat of violence appeared to have reminded the angry woman of who she was, and she'd fallen back down into the pit of self-inflicted seclusion once more.

Reaching the rendezvous point and looking towards the loud cacophony of noise emanating for the direction that the other groups had taken, Sang did what she thought was appropriate and moved off to the side, placing the hefty book she'd been carrying next to the wall, hopefully out-of-the-way and safe from harm to give Sang back her arms for the obviously approaching battle.

The glimpse she caught of the creatures through the shadows startled her slightly, yet her stern face didn't even flicker as she moved into a better position, alongside the disgusting creature that the unnatural child had become. She didn't bother looking, merely grimaced slightly at the hints of what her peripheral vision were giving, taking a sharp breath as the adrenaline rushing through her body caused her to stretch her talons just that bit more. They couldn't be that bad if a single gunshot dealt with them, but from the sounds of it, there was most certainly a large hoard of them coming their way.

How they survived down here so long was beyond Sang's stretches of imagination, so she didn't bother thinking about it too much as she lunged towards one of the beings that had gotten a little too close, aiming straight for its neck, evading the gnashing fangs of the creature and attempting to crush its throat. After attempting that method of briefly, yielding success, she opted for the much messier approach which she'd much rather have avoided and began slashing at the throat flesh until it stopped moving, all the while attempting to hold the being's head away from her and receiving various scratches and gashes as it flailed its own claws at her. She wasn't particularly used to fighting things like these, and the fact that it had hurt so much dealing with one was quite... Bothersome. Scowling, Sang simply waited to see if any of the other creatures would try rushing on her after seeing the fate of their friend.
Birdsie Tarmagon DergTheDergon Fable StoneWolf18 Epiphany

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper didn't comment as Sang's biting words drifted back to them as they ran. If it broke the demoness out of her funk, he could live with a little, intemperate language. Ahead, Si-woo's team came into view, just as Jasper felt the alarm ward he had set at the mouth of the cavern go.

"Whatever it is, it's out of the lower cavern! LOTS of them!" he shouted as his team skidded to a halt to take up positions beside Si-woo's. The senior agent had his pistol drawn, and didn't seem to be in the non-confrontational mood. After a bit, the final team came into view, and a pack of loosely lizard looking things were hot on their heels. Just one seemed about to reach out and pull Lacily down, Si-woo's pistol barked and the lead creature went down in a spray of blue blood. There were at least a dozen still charging forward, and Jasper's eyebrows made the acquaintance of his hairline as agent Quinn moved forward, the child's form twisting and growing into a creature out of nightmare. Tentacles began to lash about, causing the creatures to slow a bit as they attempted to dodge. One dodged straight into Sang. After a brief scuffle, the creature lay in a heap with its throat torn out, and the demoness bled freely from various scratches, though none of her wounds appeared serious.

"Xaira!" Jasper shouted. "High cover! It sounds like there are a lot more of these things on the way, and we need to know how close they're getting. Weapons free."

Suiting actions to words, Jasper charged forward, aiming a swing at a beast that seemed to find Mara's existence offensive. The mere-woman seemed to have lost her weapon and would be easy meat if anything managed to get within arms length of her. As his staff connected, Jasper sent a surge of power racing down the haft and the creature flew at least twenty feet backwards as the explosive force he had triggered blasted out of the blade with an ear splitting crack.

"Don't have too many more of those in me," Jasper said as he stepped forward, staff twirling in a defensive pattern, the glittering blade flashing in the odd light.

Birdsie Noble Scion DergTheDergon Fable