@Terminal

Kael gets his bearings, looking at the new people...then at Donny. "Don't kill them...him...them any more...let's no one kill anyone. I've seen more people killed in the last hour than in my entire life, let's not try adding to it." He looks at the debris of their arrival and sighs. Life is being more confusing by the second.

"I don't know what twisted world you've dragged us into, but a lot of people died to get us here, your man included. So I beg of you, please, just tell us what we need to do to get out of here." Though monotone at first, her words were filled with anger by the time she fell silent.

@Holmishire
The prone man grasped at Ariett's arm as she dislodged the twisted wrack of ceramic that had been Hiecro from his body. "Hyperion's blessings upon you." He whispered hoarsely, losing his grip in the next moment and turning on his side, supporting himself with one arm. He looked badly shaken - and his features paled as he saw his compatriot's severed head drifting up and away through the air, having bounced lightly off the ground and now left drifting in the distorted gravity. The blood seeping from its stump and that of its former body, rather than forming up into globules, instead seemed to be taking every opportunity to diverge and spread in every direction. A small stream of it splattered itself across the still living man's cheek as he looked on in stunned silence.

"I'm kinda wondering the same thing," he said with a calm voice right after Ariett fell silent, frowning at the bodyless head. "Things went bad pretty much from the beginning and it has been going downhill ever since," he added and he looked at the man in the wheelchair, noticing the eyelid, the drip and the tubes. "Are you the one who called for us?"

Kael gets his bearings, looking at the new people...then at Donny. "Don't kill them...him...them any more...let's no one kill anyone. I've seen more people killed in the last hour than in my entire life, let's not try adding to it."

The man furrowed his eyebrows and turned back to look at the passengers with a pain expression as he drew in a deep and ragged breath. "I didn't..." He began weakly, his eyes still clouded over with confusion and horror. A brief instant passed, and then a spark flashed across his withered features before he recovered. His frame stiffered as he sat up straighter, his expression hardening somewhat. His eyes were still wide and wild, but he seemed more present than he had been a moment ago.

"I did not bring you here." He said crossly. "You were sent here. This whole mess is your doing. None of this would have happened if you lot just had just left well enough alone." Another brief pause as he motioned to the men on the left with a trembling hand, one of whom began moving to lend assistance to both Ariett and the man she had moved to free. The motion of his arm briefly pulled the fabric of his shirt even further off of his chest, revealing the full extent of his condition. A large swath of silver metal covered the surface of most of his chest, the metal conforming precisely to the haggard contour of his ribcage, and sprouting directly from the center of his sternum was a small starburst-shaped weed of silver, metallic spines. Surrounding it was an elaborate set of etched lines and shapes seemingly carved into the metal's surface, forming a rectangular portrait of linework across his upper chest centered around the flower of metal in the center. Up close, the design was not wholly dissimilar from the kind one might have found on an ornate silver platter. Apart from the jutting silver spines in the center of his chest, the linework was only broken in a few places by surgical tubing that punctured through the surface, most of them filled and thick with deep, carmine blood - weaving back down through the man's shirt, possibly to some unseen filtration device in the wheelchair.

"My name is Aesch. Not my given name you understand, given my line of work. I will make things simple for all of you. You need to go into the university and do what you were sent do do. Then you can all kindly leave..." The man paused again, his head sagging abruptly mid-speech. The second man to his left bent down and offered him a small handkerchief, which he meekly accepted and used to dab at his wet, red lips hidden within his scraggly beard. The cloth came away thoroughly stained through with blood, which Aesch then tucked away in a small zipper-bag hanging from the side of his wheelchair. Its side was emblazoned with a biohazard symbol, and a glimpse within revealed a multitude of bloodsoaked rags.

"...kindly leave-" Aesch began again, "and things will settle down again."

"Begging your pardon Platter, but I am going to be leaving now." The pavise knight interrupted. He seemed curiously unperturbed by his partner's gruesome death and by the detritus that had completely coated his armor - though, given it was slowly fading away as though being scoured by some unseen force, perhaps he had good reason not to care. "My debt is paid."

@Cruallassar
"It was paid up until you botched what was supposed to be a simple escort job you oaf." Aesch snarled. "Where in Hades' name is the golem technician? And you-" He turned his gaze towards Kael, though it would have been more accurate to say that he turned his gaze to stare at some distant patch of space behind Kael, whose head incidentally happened to be in the way. "...Who in the world are you? You are not supposed to be here..." His left arm twitched, as if he were about to raise it. The man standing to attention to Aesch's left was giving Kael a bug-eyed look, and his fingers twitched faintly.

@Terminal

Kael keeps his hands well away from his bow, or anything else weapon-like for the new man's benefit...a meaningless gesture of course, since he could access them just as quickly either way, but still. Friendliness. "I don't want to be here. My name is Kael, I'm the student of the Ranger Cruallassar, I don't know why I'm here or where here is, and only have a vague idea of how I got here...but I would really like to know these things, or to go home. Whichever comes first, I'm not picky. And if going home means doing whatever these other people are here to do, then that is fine by me. It's nice to meet you...I hope."

Medically spoken, this man was in a bad condition. Blood on the lips was never a good sign, but since Aesch clearly instructed he had to do what he was send here to do, Andy didn't give it much more attention. The man probably already had a doctor taking care of him, it would be rude to just barge in and meddle with something he didn't even have any background information about.

He listened to Keal's words, but he didn't feel like standing around and talking. From what the knight had told them in the slug, before they started their drop of death, it was the Duke he needed and since no-one had interrupted Aesch he assumed that man would be inside somewhere. And Aesch really needed to rest instead of exchanging pleasantries.

"Okay then," Andy said with an almost cheerful sound in his voice. "Into the university?" he asked as he pointed to the building behind Aesch. "That's fine with me." He started walking in that direction even before he finished the sentence. "I hope you have coffee there," he mentioned without looking at anyone. "I really need a cup of coffee before doing anything else." It didn't matter to him if people would follow him or remain behind for a chat. All he wanted was to find Tafans and go home, but not before he had a good cup of coffee. And the best chance of locating either was in the university.

While Fortune could respect the fact that the man before him appeared to be quite ill and the effect that being in such a condition could do to the mind, he was inclined to tilt his head towards one of the members of the group he was with that seemed to have been done with this situation and just wanted to get it over with. Truthfully he was inclined to agree.

With a glance towards the wheelchair man once more, Fortune decided to calmly take control of the situation before it got out of hand any further. "How about instead of fighting and arguing over things that we cannot change, we work with the cards that the goddesses have handed us and deal with the problem at hand." He commanded in a calm and surprisingly confident voice as he stepped forward. "I was informed that there were innocent people trapped in the university by a situation that has gone horribly wrong and it is my duty of a knight of the lady to try and rescue as many of them as possible... and failing that avenge their deaths. If you are not inclined to give us a more full picture of the warp blasted mess we are heading into, then please kindly point us towards our entry point and allow us to find out what is in there ourselves."

@Terminal@WiseDragonGirl

"Ayuh, coffee first, and a laundromat. If yuh ain' noticed, we went through a real double skunkin' jus' go get intah a position tah save yah hide. Ah wanna tawlk privately with yah as well Mistah Aesh. Ah'm thah kinda fella who don't move lessin' he knows what he's in for. A'course yah could say Ah shouldn't expect any unfahseen problems, but, well... Odd thing. Ah find mahself both drench'd in blood, an' not quite skippah tah take yah at your word, frahnd."

Ariett stood up to face Aesch. "The boy is dead; he was trying to save us when the… slug started spinning." She sighed, turning to the male pavise knight. "Does this mean you'll be coming with us? Though you've never given us your name."

"I don't want to be here. My name is Kael, I'm the student of the Ranger Cruallassar, I don't know why I'm here or where here is, and only have a vague idea of how I got here...but I would really like to know these things, or to go home. Whichever comes first, I'm not picky. And if going home means doing whatever these other people are here to do, then that is fine by me. It's nice to meet you...I hope."

"What the lad meant to say was that he was evoked in order to lend assistance to Sir Fortune in rescuing the Duke." The pavise knight interjected, shooting a scowl at the young ranger. "I can vouch for him - but that is it. There is no way you are having me head into that death trap. I did not sign up for this - and I don't owe you that much."

"No, but you and your partner together did." Aesch said with pained twist of his head and a grimace aimed vaguely in the knight's direction. "Her debt still has yet to be paid back. The burden falls to you. If you do not like it, I can always have a word with the district attorney's office." The pavise knight grit his teeth, the fingers of his left hand clenching tightly - but he kept silent.

"I really need a cup of coffee before doing anything else." It didn't matter to him if people would follow him or remain behind for a chat. All he wanted was to find Tafans and go home, but not before he had a good cup of coffee. And the best chance of locating either was in the university.

@WiseDragonGirl
"Oh? And how do you plan to get inside? You have not been invited in and your biometric data is not in the registry." Aesch called back to Andreas' retreating form, without even turning his head to look at the departing doctor. "Get back here you pedant. I know pediatric care is not the most cerebral of medical studies, but one would expect you to have a modicum of common sense."

As Andreas distanced himself from the group, the tenuous finger of coherent space surrounding Aesch's personal entourage extended out further, following the doctor as a small spherical area of influence. With every step he took though, the distorted and hyper-compressed spatial disturbance surrounding them all encroached upon the slim thread of sanity between Aesch and Andreas. If he took but another step, the thread would be wholly severed. There was nothing stopping him from separating from the group were he to proceed - and though it was hard to make out admist the tangle of jumbled gothic architecture up ahead, Andreas swore he could see the dark outline of a vaguely humanoid form beckoning to him, obscured in many parts by intersections and overlays of stonework.

"I was informed that there were innocent people trapped in the university by a situation that has gone horribly wrong and it is my duty of a knight of the lady to try and rescue as many of them as possible... and failing that avenge their deaths. If you are not inclined to give us a more full picture of the warp blasted mess we are heading into, then please kindly point us towards our entry point and allow us to find out what is in there ourselves."

"Ayuh, coffee first, and a laundromat. If yuh ain' noticed, we went through a real double skunkin' jus' go get intah a position tah save yah hide. Ah wanna tawlk privately with yah as well Mistah Aesh. Ah'm thah kinda fella who don't move lessin' he knows what he's in for. A'course yah could say Ah shouldn't expect any unfahseen problems, but, well... Odd thing. Ah find mahself both drench'd in blood, an' not quite skippah tah take yah at your word, frahnd."

@Bright_Ops@Doc Doctor
"Yes, yes, I was just getting there." Aesch rolled his head again with the same pained expression - the motion seemed to one of habit. "You may well prefer your current clothes as they are rather than getting them cleaned, unless the thought of wiping off a stain before stepping into a septic pit appeals to you so much." Aesch sniffed scornfully to punctuate the statement. "It's all very simple. The University was hosting a symposium. One of the first presentations was to be made by one Leona Olypmia Cetona, doctor of theoretical physics and specifically of recently deregulated Allineation studies." Aesch idly raised his right hand and pointed straight up into the horribly twisted sky as he spoke, as though in reference. "Prematurely deregulated, as it turns out. She used her own presentation slot in order to stage her own ascension scheme. She apparently made something called a..." Aesch trailed off, and glanced meaningfully at the still-fallen man to his right, staring off into space where his comrade's head was busy drifting off. "Wilkins, boy, are you still there?"

The suited man turned to look at Aesch blankly for a moment, his face still chalk-white in pallor. "Sir?" He inquired hoarsely.

"The gizmo the doctor made." Aesch rolled his head again with another grimace.

"Oh. A fractal analogue iteration transistor, sir." The man said, fully righting himself and assuming a kneeling stance, facing both Ariett and his deceased's associates body. "More colloquially referred to as an Allineator."

"Yes, that." Aesch continued impatiently. "Intelligence is limited, but Leona somehow used the Allineator whatsit to hijack the symposium. She started by killing the hundred or so visitors attending her presentation. Then the guards. The the university staff. She kept on going - apparently the University's security measures have not been able to stop her. All the good they've done is stop her from getting out, but they've also trapped everyone still alive inside with her. Including," Aesch turned his gaze to Fortune with a wary expression. "One Duke Aldric De Palenbergo of many other names I do not have the reverence to recite in full. We know he's still alive, for the moment, due to his guest pass and biometric data having been used little more than fifteen minutes ago."

@Holmishire
"Your jobs are as follows." He looked to Ariett. "You, Ms. Deveca, are the only person who has a guest pass and biometric data registered with the university. Your little team will need you to stand by and open any locked doors for them - at least, those you can find which your limited privileges can open at all."

He turned then to look at Donny. "You need to find Dr. Leona and deal with her, and shut down the Allineator. Preferably, destroy it once that's done. Do not destroy it before turning it off, my techies inform me that would be bad." He waved irritably before addressing Fortune.

"Finally, you and Dr. Bansing will be responsible for locating and rescuing the Duke, whatever condition he might be in. As a secondary priority, you are to provide medical assistance to any wounded you find inside. I understand one of Dr. Bansing's patients is currently inside, some...uh..."

"A Kanuri boy sir. He's the one who called out using the emergency line before it was cut." The suited man to Aesch's left said. "Tafans was his name. He claimed to have observed Leona's use of the Allineator first hand."

"Right, so he's also a priority as the only confirmed survivor of her initial massacre." Aesch carried on. "Find and rescue him too. If he can't be saved, try to pump him for anything useful at least."

"The boy is dead; he was trying to save us when the… slug started spinning." She sighed, turning to the male pavise knight. "Does this mean you'll be coming with us? Though you've never given us your name."

"Then unless your evoked help happens to know anything about molecular golem interfaces, I suppose you're rather in a spot of trouble." Aesch replied dryly. "Make do."

"This whole thing is utter trash." The pavise knight complained loudly, seeming to ignore the inquiry as to his name. "I mean, I'll go in if only for the sake of covering Hiecro's debt - and helping out these poor bastards - but do you honestly expect us to make any difference? How come you don't just send in the army or something? Now that Deveca is here, you should have access through that one wing, right?"

"Well in case you had not all noticed, certain other powers have taken advantage of Dr. Leona's power play." Aesch replied sourly. "All of my men are currently busy keeping the university grounds secure, and my influence with the militia has been...curtailed." He drummed his fingers in irritation. "Certain other parties want Leona to escape the university. Hence why your limousine was intercepted. And why if I send anybody else with you, certain busybodies will slip through the cracks - and then we all lose. So yes, it is just you five. And if you fail, I will cut my losses and just burn the whole university to the ground."

Andy narrowed his eyes when he made out the figure, but the question how he thought he would enter the university made him slow down and stop.

"Pedant?" Andy murmured with an amused look on his face, but that amused look melted away when his specialisation was insulted. He turned around, ready to give the man a piece of his mind, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. The man obviously didn't know any better and needed insults to try and stay in control.

Standing somewhere behind Aesch, he folded his arms in front of his chest and listened to what the man had to say. By the sound of it coffee wasn't even going to be an option and he let out a disappointed sigh. When he heard what his job was he looked at the knight he would be teaming up with and nodded to him.

He looked at the back of head of Aesch as he ended his briefing. "Seeing how well you though everything through I'm sure you'll have some additional medical supplies for me." Andy said. "I would have packed more if I had known I had to do some heroic stuff today." His eyes moved from the wheelchair to Fortune and rested on Ariett. "Other than that I'm ready to go. Are you people ready too?"

@Terminal

Kael considers the information. Of course, he had no idea what a Fractel Allineator whatsit was, but chances were slim that he'd get a description now, and high that someone else would know it when they saw it. Otherwise, this job seemed...well, more in line with his talents than walking the streets did, anyway. He also has a feeling that Aesch's knight seemed like a decent fellow, a rare thing around here it seemed. Even if he was less experienced with those "slugs" than his sadly and violently departed partner. Which brought to mind...he hadn't seen the girl with the magic orbs anywhere since they landed...or the self-sacrificial boy. Oh. Blood everywhere...and it isn't just Hiecro's. Kael elected to not think about that too much. At all.
"Sir, are there any other hostiles currently inside the university besides Dr. Leona, and can you guarantee the security of the perimeter?"
A map might also be good...he'll ask for that next.

"I have some first aid materials in my pack," Ariett started, addressing Andy before taking on a more bitter tone. "Though my impression is that any injured we'll find inside will need far more than that." She then stepped over to stand by the doctor, but looked back at the pavise knight as if for guidance. "I'm ready to move on."

Aesch craned his head back to gape in silence at the passengers, seemingly at an abrupt loss for words. In that moment of silence as he stared at them, the world came undone.

A fine line wove its way across the breadth of the world where the sky met the land, and all of the works of mankind fell away as darkness spilled forth, stretching across the land like a veil, each mangled and contorted structure in the near distance slowly losing all depth and falling into a featureless morass of angry pitch. Twelve fine lines of jet split their way across the apex of the sky, enclosing the whole of the universe in a cage of ink. The triangular patches of the dawncast sky grew brittle, an iridescent radiance shearing through their fragile veneer and erupting in an ultraviolet cascade of light that shone an empyrean blaze. The light quickly grew beyond what mere human vision could espy, and vanished from all living memory, leaving naught but the cold and alien sun alone in the void casting a frigid light.

The man who choked on his own mettle and his coterie changed in the new light before those who were fated to die. Aesch was briefly wracked by perturbations across the whole of his body, his flesh bulging and surging in every direction like a broiling cyst. The wheelchair he was ensconced in shuddered violently, emitting a constant clattering noise of fine silver platters falling to the ground. The tubing and the I.V. drip connected to the man elongated and were reduced to fine silver wires that rearranged themselves, animating in the air without any motive force to guide them, Aech's blood coursing along them like surging worms.

Radiance bloomed around his form - the cold light of the sun banishing the morass of hideous black cast across the ground and air, as though now detail was cast by that which obstructed the sun as shade. In that small halo of detail, those fated to die saw as Aesch underwent a most curious transformation - he levitated in the air, his skin splitting across his back and the coils of his pretense unwinding from his body in a stream of burgundy vitriol, the mass pooling across the ground to form a puddle of his mortal foibles in the visage of his shadow. It was many times larger than the man himself, its two-dimensional features brimming with barely-contained power that rippled in surges and waves. The visceral shadow bore a crown, and in the center of its naval was an iridescent star that shone in wet and gleaming colors mixed of bile, phlegm, and marrow. The twisting, animated cords of silver that had been woven from the man's tubing strung themselves to the shadow's form by its arms, legs, and head - connecting to the emptied husk that now drifted in the air before those fated to die. The husk itself deteriorated as the shadow waxed in strength, the whole of its lower body withering and then putrefying before dissolving to ashes, followed by most of its chest, leaving only the husks's collar, shoulders, arms, and head intact. Extending down from the feeble facade was a warped and fractured mass of sinew and bone supporting a slowly-beating heart, the arteries and capillaries severed - kept suspended only by a webbing of silvery metal that grew from it like a weed, keeping it connected to the rest of the body even as spines and spires of metal cut greedily into the cardiac muscle. Aesch's face grew in size, its mouth increasing in volume until it took up a good half of his face, his eyes and brow horribly shrunken and flattened just above it. From within the darkness of his maw, a single centipede wriggled forth, wings sprouting from its back with a small pop and a spray of tar, coursing outwards until it reached nearly a meter in length. It wavered from side to side in the air wildly.

The coterie of the man who choked on his own mettle fared somewhat more favorable fates, merely being diminished in essence and depth - flattening and imploding into tree-like towers of thin, cylindrical lines joined together in a vaguely humanoid shape. Reduced to little more than coordinate impressions of personages against the true void of the world.

The passengers remained unchanged - at least, as to their own minds and impressions of themselves. Whether their forms had twisted from each others' relative perspectives was to be seen. The one who accompanied them, who felt no loss, had barely changed at all - naught but his eyes, which now shone a brilliant golden-orange hue with an explosive captivation, obscuring the rest of his now effectively featureless face with their shine.

"Seeing how well you though everything through I'm sure you'll have some additional medical supplies for me." Andy said. "I would have packed more if I had known I had to do some heroic stuff today." His eyes moved from the wheelchair to Fortune and rested on Ariett. "Other than that I'm ready to go. Are you people ready too?"

"I have some first aid materials in my pack," Ariett started, addressing Andy before taking on a more bitter tone. "Though my impression is that any injured we'll find inside will need far more than that." She then stepped over to stand by the doctor, but looked back at the pavise knight as if for guidance. "I'm ready to move on."

@WiseDragonGirl@Holmishire
"Don't look at me, Ms. You're the one with the visitor pass." The one who felt no loss said in response, holding his left hand up in a placating gesture. "I know that we're supposed to head for the burnt-out wing though - the one right over there, with the billowing smoke and such. If Mr. Aesch has no more imperatives and if none of you all have any more questions, we should probably get moving..." He pointed vaguely in the indicated direction - somewhere behind the man who choked on his own mettle, where there was naught but angry, hideous darkness as the world fell away from the tenuous shores of reality cast by those assembled.

The winged centipede extending from the depths of the mouth of the man who choked on his own mettle wriggled excitedly in response, wringing its many legs together in order to create the many-layered, seething semblance of Aesch's voice.

"How do you intend to bind questions without answers, if truth dost bleed? Nobility has proven worthless, only heroism can shield you."

The ectomorph felt their backpack suddenly gain several stones of weight and partly dislodge itself as several unseen but felt objects appeared within its interior. If the ectomorph is the first to check and examines the contents in the first stable branch, they discover several compact, specialized field-triage kits - including bottles of spray-solvent akin to what the one who felt no loss had provided to one of those who were fated to die earlier. If the ectomorph is not the first to check and examine the contents in the first stable branch, they instead discover the shrunken heads of the boy who was an egregore, the child who drowned others in open space, the boy who both lived and died, and the servitor whose death was not foretold.

"Sir, are there any other hostiles currently inside the university besides Dr. Leona, and can you guarantee the security of the perimeter?"

@Cruallassar
"They will only ask you three questions. It might seem like they might ask more, but they will only ask three. Then you will die." The wriggling centipede echoed helpfully.

Andy stared at the sky in disbelieve as it turned ink-black until only the cold sun remained, but not before there was an impressive display of light. If this was how it turned night here, it certainly was spectacular. A look around him almost made him think reality had vanished except for where they stood. Was there even a world to go back to? Was this perhaps a strange dream and did he still have to land in New Nemea? Taking everything in consideration, this being a very lively dream seemed to be the best explanation. He looked towards where the university was as the transformation began behind him, he hoped Tafans was okay.

The clattering noise caught his attention and he looked back. His jaw dropped as he stared at what happened, unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. Scratch dream, this was an event worthy of a nightmare.

The words of the centipede made him think about Alice in Wonderland, wasn't there a smoking caterpillar there who spoke in riddles all the time? Suddenly he felt his backpack get heavier and he stumbled back, surprised by the sudden weight. He lowered the backpack and put on the ground so he could open it and see what was there.
"Oh hey, look, field-triage kits," he said as he rummaged through it, he could live with this 'you ask, we serve instantly' aspect of this world, reality, dream, whatever. He lifted a spray-bottle to examine it. "And this looks like that metal-dissolving spray. Cool." He put it back, but before he closed the backpack he took a small piece of licorice and put it in his mouth.

@Terminal

Kael...really isn't sure how to react here. Having nothing better to do under the circumstances, he decides to use his Ethereal Sight, his eyes glowing green as the magic of the world is lain bare before him. It feels an awful lot like someone took reality and made it into a five-dimensional maze...

Ariett shivered in horror as Aesch was transformed into some unearthly form. That the centipede spoke with his voice—odd and out of place—was little comfort, though it did ground her somewhat.

Pale as a ghost, she turned to the direction the pavise knight had pointed and began shuffling stiffly away. As she passed Andy, she muttered something about needing meds to take the edge off, but she did neither stopped nor hesitated; her gaze was fixed ahead, unblinking and empty.

Donny blinked. His perception of Andy had indeed taken to reality. A year previous Donny had given anime a try. Who exactly did he picture every time he saw Andy?

@Doc Doctor
Simon shook his head with an exasperated sigh, and stuck both his hands in his pockets before glancing warily into the angry black void above them.

"There aren't any heavens to dig to anymore." He said, his voice plaintive in tone. He glanced back down at Donny. "You're all going to die here Donny. You're kind of a dick, but Ariett, Andy, Kael - that's gonna be pretty sad." He gave Donny an exhausted smile. "But it's not your fault, you know? You're kind of the victim here. How can you help but believe in the one who believes in you?" He shook his head ruefully before staring right through Donny with a hard stare, a faint stream of tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

"Who the hell..." He whispered, his whole face crunching down in anger. "do you think you are?" His eyes wavered again, affixing on Donny properly. "Keep moving forward. Bit by bit." He said. "Maybe you'll find a way out of this place - and even then, don't stop. Find whoever did this to you and go right through them. Then maybe..."

Simon smiled faintly as his body began to evaporate in spiraling streamers of red and blue smoke. "Maybe...nobody else will have to suffer."

A moment later, he was gone, the smoke dissolving into the void beyond those who were fated to die and their small sphere of personal space. The ectomorph was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh hey, look, field-triage kits," he said as he rummaged through it, he could live with this 'you ask, we serve instantly' aspect of this world, reality, dream, whatever. He lifted a spray-bottle to examine it. "And this looks like that metal-dissolving spray. Cool." He put it back, but before he closed the backpack he took a small piece of licorice and put it in his mouth.

@WiseDragonGirl
The licorice, somewhere between his hand and lips, transmuted from a pleasantly malleable lump of bitter-tasting goodness into a hard, crunchy stone of some loose and salty material. VERY salty. In fact, it probably WAS salt - it was burning the whole of his tongue, and the rest of his mouth immediately turned numb.

There must have been an odd look on his face as a result, because the trouble shooter was giving him a look.

Kael...really isn't sure how to react here. Having nothing better to do under the circumstances, he decides to use his Ethereal Sight, his eyes glowing green as the magic of the world is lain bare before him. It feels an awful lot like someone took reality and made it into a five-dimensional maze...

@Cruallassar
This world was dead.

With his ethereal sight, the boy who was both live and dead could see that there had been magic here, once - but it was gone now. Not merely absent or sealed - it was as if the magical forces underpinning the whole of creation had choked and died. This became all the more evident when his vision burst with an aching pain, as though filled with swarming spiders so packed thick that his eyes were about to burst like egg sacs. It was as though some invasive force had stabbed into his eyes - using his own magic as a channel to attack him.

Pale as a ghost, she turned to the direction the pavise knight had pointed and began shuffling stiffly away. As she passed Andy, she muttered something about needing meds to take the edge off, but she did neither stopped nor hesitated; her gaze was fixed ahead, unblinking and empty.

@Holmishire
The last visitor did not have far to go. The angry black curtain of the world drew back before she had taken three steps, revealing the burnt-out shell of what had probably once been a hallway of some kind. The carcass of layered wooden paneling over old brickwork formed ruinous, fence-height spires to the left and right, the stone having been subjected to a heat so intense that it had crumbled into ashes, leaving only cinder blocks behind. The floor seemed relatively intact at first - blackened stone rhombitrihexagonal tiling - but at contact the small, fine shapes disintegrated and blew away in the cold light of the sun, leaving naught but flat, featureless, pockmarked concrete behind. With every step, the clouds of ash and dust were flung up into the vestiges of the burnt passage, threatening to choke those who were fated to die and the one who felt no loss.

Straight ahead though, set into the one wall still standing, was a door. A gleaming contrivance of seamlessly cast metal, a black frame with brass trimming surrounding a handsome arrangement of carved pewter with a softly glowing computer screen recessed in its upper panel. It displayed a simple green text against a black background.


The unblemished door slid open, retracting into the wall as she approached - though the area behind it was still obscured by the veil of hideous darkness that had consumed the whole world, for the moment.

The man who choked on his own mettle had turned to watch her approach the entrance. He called out to those who were fated to die in farewell.

"Your hero will regret their choice! You wear betrayal on your fifth finger!"

Andy spit it out when he felt the burning sensation, but not soon enough to avoid his mouth feeling numb. So no coffee and no licorice, he sighed, that was disappointing. He frowned at the leftovers in the grass, the somewhat disappointed look quickly turning into worry. He didn't even dare drinking at this point. If this would happen to all the food, that could be a problem. He counted back to the last time he had eaten. At the airport, before going into the limousine. It would have to do.

He rose to his feet and hoisted the heavier backpack on his back. He looked towards Arriet, remembering her muttered remark before he was pre-occupied with the changed licorice, and smiled a bit. If he had something that would take the edge off everything without influencing the decision making process or other cognitive abilities, he would hand them out like candy. So to speak.

As he took in the details of the destruction he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket so he could put it over his nose and mouth to protect his lungs from the ashes when it was needed. He knew he should probably turn around and leave, but where to? And he couldn't ignore the possible casualties inside. And Tafans. That boy was a weakness, he couldn't leave without checking on him first.

He joined Arriet with a grim expression and his eyes moved to the display that welcomed her.
"I wish I had some words of encouragement for you, Arriet," he said to her, ignoring the odd farewell, "but I don't. I wish I could say everything would be fine, but I'd rather speak the truth. Just try to hang in there and I'll try to get you out of this alive. I won't promise, but I'll do my best." As long as he had something to focus on he felt he could manage, as long as he had people needing him he could go forward. It helped that he was almost certain the world couldn't get any weirder.

The woman hovered at the edge of the entrance, wavering as if the slightest breeze would send her tumbling inside. She looked down at her hands. No rings. Just a watch—she could still trust herself.

Her focus returned when Andy spoke to her, and a faint smile of appreciation touched her face momentarily. "Don't you worry about me," she said, waving at the computer screen. "I have immunity. But if you ever see any security systems, you hide and tell me—I don't know whether it can tell the difference between the intruders and you." A thought crossed her mind, and she turned to face the others not yet approached. Her face blanched at the sight of the centipede again, but she forced herself to ignore her hallucinations. "If any of you find weapons on one of the bodies, bring it to me, please. I'll probably need something to break any security systems acting weird."