Oblitus Magia: Verse 1 - Fateful Encounter in the City of Fools

[MrSandman]

“What about inside? Would that be flooded with ruin as well?”

"No way to tell....but frankly, if the outside is that bad the inside likely ain't fairing any better. But that's the issue, we can't tell unless someone goes in.....and the admins would just as soon fry the place the risk it acting like a hive for the stuff." Mulvric nodded.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"No way to tell....but frankly, if the outside is that bad the inside likely ain't fairing any better. But that's the issue, we can't tell unless someone goes in.....and the admins would just as soon fry the place the risk it acting like a hive for the stuff." Mulvric nodded.

Owen pauses a moment, thinking.

“A few more questions: do you have any safety gear or equipment that would help someone survive inside even a bit longer, and is there any photograph or image or video of what the inside rooks like? Or anywhere near there?”

[Tami]

edited out per GM

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

“What about inside? Would that be flooded with ruin as well?”

"No way to tell....but frankly, if the outside is that bad the inside likely ain't fairing any better. But that's the issue, we can't tell unless someone goes in.....and the admins would just as soon fry the place the risk it acting like a hive for the stuff." Mulvric nodded.

Owen pauses a moment, thinking.

“A few more questions: do you have any safety gear or equipment that would help someone survive inside even a bit longer, and is there any photograph or image or video of what the inside rooks like? Or anywhere near there?”

"Ruin, eh?" Arx said cutting into the conversation. "Sounds fun. I'm in."

[grampagen]

Ange hadn't expected the girl to simply up and leave, and her parting words were not helping her disposition one bit....and yet before she could curse up a storm, something in the girls words stabbed a cold knife in her ribs......

"W..wait..." Ange moved to follow her just before..



Ange breath caught, her face...already confused and angry, nearly turned bright red. "Are you serious...." Ange slammed her fist against the bulkhead, causing En to flinch. "and what exactly did you do....nearly break my friends back and speech the administratum witches to death? I sure as hell don't know...I was too busy getting suckerpunched! But fine...fine....I'll say it one more time so you can hear me. In this place, we're all equal, and we all work for what we get.....and now that we have more then a hundred mouths to feed, we can't 'afford' to treat our talent special. Especially not when it'll be days before the city cools down enough for any extra supply runs. So no...I'm not calling you a mooch.....if you were a mooch I would have thrown you out before you even got here....and I'll damn well throw you out if you DO turn out to be one."

Ange turned to leave. "En, you and the chief handle the rest....I gotta go and catch up to the princess before she gets into trouble."

Kinu, standing opposite of Ange, leaned against the wall upon her elbow, the other hand resting on her hip over her one of her garters. Her lips spread thinly in a small grin that only grew wider.

"After your guy delivered a bomb to the people of A-11, Gee-Gee, he was pretty convinced I was the Witch, fuh fuh fuh...suppose you could call it a kind of magic. You couldn't get the crowd to listen with your popguns and your pyro that bounced off Big Viv. Couldn't get Mercer to sack up instead of pissin' himself- En, I know you heard the whole thing."

Kinu rasied her hand and waved off once in a mock salute. "You're welcome."

As the Grey Ghost made her threat, the Warrior of the Wasteland shook her head slowly, pursing her lips the instant Ange lost her cool.

"You think you can, huh, Red? I'd like to see you try."

Kinu's eyes widened. Deep, sadistic pools splayed over unblinking whites as a toothy smile flashed across her face.

"Anytime, anyplace."

A moment later....she had vanished through the door.

".....I.....Uhh..." En muttered. ".............please forgive Gee Gee.......She's our Provision Officer and.....she's a glass half empty kind of person." The Ai tried to smile. "And we'll still go ahead with the feast....don't worry....your our guests, you deserve one night of reward for what you've done."

Red faded out, and Kinu, looked to the floor idly.

"Heh, Looks like somethin' else is greying out, and it ain't her roots, yeah?"

Shrugging where she stood, propped against the wall, Kinu then replied to En.

"Heh, don't bother apologizin' for her. I got a feeling she already knows what she did. After all, you said you're not inherently against 'em. The Administration, I mean. Ain't much different either, from what Gumshoe uncovered about Little Meryl."

Nibbling pensively upon the edge of her mask, she continued.

"I wonder who else is lookin' for...gifted youngsters there, in the city's admin zone? When Bookworm gets back to the city, where else do ya think she's gonna turn to now that she's got noone left and ya pushed her away?"

In an instant, the facade of her smile dropped as she locked eyes with the Fairy of the Ferry.

"Think she would be better off joining the Witches? She was on the fence for a minute, 'cause she's got no place else to go. I talked her out of it, but now it looks like that might actually happen. Oh yeah...she knows where ya been, and she has a big-ass, three-clawed hammer that hit Little Meryl hard enough to make her flinch."

"Wonder what happens if she finds someone else to point it at, yeah?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Ignore please

[Tami]

edited out per GM

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"Wonder what happens if she finds someone else to point it at, yeah?"

Arx caught this, and recalled vaguely a hammer that descended from on high that caused that Witch... Meryl, to flinch. Was it the girl she'd spied scribbling in the book? Hearing that she might turn traitor however, the Dragon stared at the mask wielding woman. There was a lull, and then the Dragon grinned.

"If she turns Witch... you know what I'll do."

Arx's point of no return.

[Yun Lao]

There's something beautiful about despair...

It's the waterfall of emotions; everything is racing and coursing, building up and then... nothing, just... hollow relief.

I will admit that my behavior after the ruin of A-9 was childish, in a way. The death of my family and the destruction of my home had been accepted, but I stubbornly refused to move on and without a clear enemy, I chose to attack anyone who might have inconvenienced me. My tragedy was unique, no one else understood this pain; those were the comforting thoughts that I chose to believe in, even if, at the back of my mind, I knew otherwise. Knowledge of Tekeli-li had made me bolder when I might have once been meek, but it also made me reckless.

In the river of emotions, I was clinging to the edge of the waterfall that was despair, unable to climb back up, but too stubborn to let go.

Despite the thoughts of some of the others, Sigourney did not try to run back to the urban center, but instead, she remained within the mountainous villages that lined the headquarter's rocky pedestals. The choice of freedom was often crippled by the indecision of those who had never had true freedom. The girl would eventually be found seated upon a large boulder, watching the villagers as they went about their lives. Although different in surroundings, there was a familiar comfort in people-watching, one that eased her mind if only for a few, brief moments.

[MrSandman]

Owen pauses a moment, thinking.

“A few more questions: do you have any safety gear or equipment that would help someone survive inside even a bit longer, and is there any photograph or image or video of what the inside rooks like? Or anywhere near there?”

"Typical Safety gear is useless.....Ruin is like an infection, but it doesn't use typical vectors." Mulvric shook his head. "It'll bypass at best, infect your clothes at worse....wouldn't take long after that."

"Now...that doesn't mean protection is impossible. But its gonna take more then a suit.......which is something we've been working on." Mulvric nodded. "...Last resort mind you....untested..."

[The Dog]

Ange breath caught, her face...already confused and angry, nearly turned bright red. "Are you serious...." Ange slammed her fist against the bulkhead, causing En to flinch. "and what exactly did you do....nearly break my friends back and speech the administratum witches to death? I sure as hell don't know...I was too busy getting suckerpunched! But fine...fine....I'll say it one more time so you can hear me. In this place, we're all equal, and we all work for what we get.....and now that we have more then a hundred mouths to feed, we can't 'afford' to treat our talent special. Especially not when it'll be days before the city cools down enough for any extra supply runs. So no...I'm not calling you a mooch.....if you were a mooch I would have thrown you out before you even got here....and I'll damn well throw you out if you DO turn out to be one."

Ange turned to leave. "En, you and the chief handle the rest....I gotta go and catch up to the princess before she gets into trouble."

A moment later....she had vanished through the door.

".....I.....Uhh..." En muttered. ".............please forgive Gee Gee.......She's our Provision Officer and.....she's a glass half empty kind of person." The Ai tried to smile. "And we'll still go ahead with the feast....don't worry....your our guests, you deserve one night of reward for what you've done."

Selma watched her go, then let out a bitter chuckle as she said "Don't apologize for the woman who'd rather sacrifice those hundred innocents down there for the chance to kill one, maybe two Administratum Witches instead of trying to talk the situation down. Because I know that a few deaths don't mean a goddamn thing to them, and they certainly don't mean a goddamn thing to the world."

"And let's not forget, she and her motley crew were the entire reason the Witches showed up in the first place, if not for the terrorist-style attack, then certainly for blowing up a bridge loaded with innocent people! Then, after putting their lives in danger several different times because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, drags them all the way out here and starts pissing and moaning about possibly feeding them after what can be factually proven as the worst day of their goddamn lives!"

"So no, don't apologize for her En. You're wasting your non-existent breath on that one."

[grampagen]

"Just because the conflux is still operation doesn't mean anyone is at the controls...." Mulvric responded. "Lights are on, yes....but that could just mean the power is still going. We haven't heard a peep of communication coming out of there since the event. In all honestly.....you'd never get a better chance to examine Admin tech unsupervised....save all the poison and monsters."



"Nope, ruin has formed a bank of gas as fall as the tower near the center of the city. Only reason we know its on is the light coming from inside..." Mercer exclaimed.

"Hmm...you have a point there," Kinu responded.

"The monsters ain't so much a problem. The ones that can breathe our air, I mean." She brushed the edge of her hand over the multihued fur trim of her coat.

"What else can you tell us about the Mist? You said your people were looking into it."

Arx caught this, and recalled vaguely a hammer that descended from on high that caused that Witch... Meryl, to flinch. Was it the girl she'd spied scribbling in the book? Hearing that she might turn traitor however, the Dragon stared at the mask wielding woman. There was a lull, and then the Dragon grinned.

"If she turns Witch... you know what I'll do."

Arx's point of no return.

Craning her neck up and looking back across the room, Kinu side-eyed the blood-crusted dragon, holding her tongue for a moment between parted teeth.

"You'd like that, wouldn't ya, Chopperface? Haven't even started one meal and you're already drooling over the next one."

The rags that had once served as Morgen's compresses only hours ago, dangling there at Arx's sides, did not escape her notice.

"Yeah. Mouthwatering. Might be all you're able to do by the time that thing catches you upside the head," she smirked. "But if Red's good for anything, it ain't gonna happen."

[MrSandman]

Red faded out, and Kinu, looked to the floor idly.

"Heh, Looks like somethin' else is greying out, and it ain't her roots, yeah?"

Shrugging where she stood, propped against the wall, Kinu then replied to En.

"Heh, don't bother apologizin' for her. I got a feeling she already knows what she did. After all, you said you're not inherently against 'em. The Administration, I mean. Ain't much different either, from what Gumshoe uncovered about Little Meryl."

Nibbling pensively upon the edge of her mask, she continued.

"I wonder who else is lookin' for...gifted youngsters there, in the city's admin zone? When Bookworm gets back to the city, where else do ya think she's gonna turn to now that she's got noone left and ya pushed her away?"

In an instant, the facade of her smile dropped as she locked eyes with the Fairy of the Ferry.

"Think she would be better off joining the Witches? She was on the fence for a minute, 'cause she's got no place else to go. I talked her out of it, but now it looks like that might actually happen. Oh yeah...she knows where ya been, and she has a big-ass, three-clawed hammer that hit Little Meryl hard enough to make her flinch."

"Wonder what happens if she finds someone else to point it at, yeah?"

"More important then that.....the wilds are no place for a child to be at night." En fluttered resolutely. "No matter her intentions now, we shouldn't let her just run off....especially in the state she's in. If she's really resolute I can have her escorted to any city she wants.....its too dangerous to go back to A11 for the time being."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Typical Safety gear is useless.....Ruin is like an infection, but it doesn't use typical vectors." Mulvric shook his head. "It'll bypass at best, infect your clothes at worse....wouldn't take long after that."

"Now...that doesn't mean protection is impossible. But its gonna take more then a suit.......which is something we've been working on." Mulvric nodded. "...Last resort mind you....untested..."

Owen nods.

“How long can the average person last would you say?”

[MrSandman]

Selma watched her go, then let out a bitter chuckle as she said "Don't apologize for the woman who'd rather sacrifice those hundred innocents down there for the chance to kill one, maybe two Administratum Witches instead of trying to talk the situation down. Because I know that a few deaths don't mean a goddamn thing to them, and they certainly don't mean a goddamn thing to the world."

"And let's not forget, she and her motley crew were the entire reason the Witches showed up in the first place, if not for the terrorist-style attack, then certainly for blowing up a bridge loaded with innocent people! Then, after putting their lives in danger several different times because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, drags them all the way out here and starts pissing and moaning about possibly feeding them after what can be factually proven as the worst day of their goddamn lives!"

"So no, don't apologize for her En. You're wasting your non-existent breath on that one."

"Your Wrong!" En suddenly rattled her tiny arms. "Gee Gee wouldn't sacrifice innocent lives for something so cruel....She did everything we could to minimize loss of life. She.....she's not being that way for her own sake......She just needs time to warm up to more people here.....thats all..."