The dark of the morgue didn’t bother its two sole occupants, one of which sat perched on a free standing coat pole which was home to several unused lab coats. They were for anyone who was foolish enough to visit the sub basement home of Zachary. It wasn’t actually the half breeds necromancer’s home it just happened to be where he spent the vast majority of his time. Zachary officially lived in one of the rooms within the Tower’s barracks but it was incredibly rare for him to spend time there other than to sleep which only happened a few times a week.

Vulture shifted on its perch as it waited patiently for its pupil to finish with that the autopsy it was performing. The constant companion to Zachary, the large ungainly bird had far too much intelligence in its beady eyes to be mistaken for normal. No one really asked about Vultures presence mostly because the few who had walked away with the distinct impression that the bird was in fact the God of Death himself. At Least Zachary seemed to think so and it was an unsettling thought that think that the man living in the Towers sub basement capable of calling the dead from across the Veil might be incredibly unhinged. That or he wasn’t crazy and Vulture was the God of Death itself.

Zachary himself sat on his haunched on the very right corner of the autopsy table balanced unnaturally in the semi darkness of the morgue. With his head cocked to the left the tower’s medical examiner peered at his own handy work. The corpse had been flayed open in a Y incision and then he’d removed its ribs to get at the squishy bits underneath. Rolling a scalpel over his fingers in much the same way that one rolls a pen in class when one is bored Zachary continued to peer at the corpse.

Lady Silver seemed to think that it was of the utmost importance. Zachary wasn’t one hundred percent sure why but given that the organs were neatly cooked and the skin had sloughed off easily as it was the color of charcoal Zachary had a pretty good idea of what had killed the bastard but Calrisa had been insistent. Reaching out into the air above the corpse Zachary plucked one of the shadowy silk thin threads attached to the body and part of the autopsy began to reverse itself. It was really too bad that the Tower wasn’t home to a Darkwarden, their expertise could reverse the corpse state to that of when it had been fully intact.

With a slow sigh Crow climbed down off the table, “Archive. Scan him. I need a full facial reconstruction. Open my dictations for me. Also turn the lights back on.” As the lighting in the morgue snapped up Zachary squinted slightly as he shrugged back into his lab coat which he’d left draped over his rolling chair. Hopping onto it and crossing his legs under himself, Zachary settled in, in front of his computer to dictate the report. It was clear what had killed the sorry bastard, electricity, the kind that turned people to a crisp before your eyes. There were many things that could produce such an effect but given Lady Silver’s interest in this particular charred corpse Crow could only think of one thing that she could possibly have on her mind. Maybe if he was through enough this might take them a step closer to being back to normal.

Archive pinged in his ear and Crow turned back around to see a man standing in front of him. Looking the individual up and down Zachary shuddered and went back to his dictations.

Stygian Blade

---

Ralrisk’s steps carried her out of the Mistress of Star’s office in an absolute huff. The Mistress of Shadow’s calf length skirt swished ominously as she cut through the few other Knights in the hall which had business in the top most levels of the Tower. Irritation rolled off the notoriously sweet and quick to anger woman. The Knights that knew her were quick to leap aside as she moved towards the elevator. What was Calrisa thinking? She’d dispatched a team to recover a corpse from Stygian Blade territory without a thought to the potential fall out. Without consulting Ris which really if she thought about it was what pissed her off. There were Knight Captains that Lady SIlver relied on more than the capricious Mistress of Shadow, even though Ris was the last of the remaining Mistresses and Masters. The others had slowly faded away over the years and the last three had left shortly after the disappearance of Christian. Urthar had claimed he had to take care of something, Ris had decent enough intel that said Kordus, the master of Steel had been murdered by a Talon of the Covenant of Shadow but Ris couldn’t prove the money had come from the remains of the Stygian High Command. Then there was Moory she’d simply up and left in the middle of the Knight, no doubt fleeing back to the Courts of Winter no doubt finding it safer that trying to occupy the massive boots left behind by Lady Akime and before her Thomas Pavaine. Ris almost wished that Christian had instituted a Master or Mistress of Fist before he’d left. That would have curtailed the rampant politicking and cowardice that the Tower was facing right now.

As if that were not enough now Ris had to collect up an inconspicuous enough group of Knights for her to send back into Stygian Blade held territory in Angel’s Landing to see if they could scrounge up evidence of what the hell had happened to the corpse the previous team had recovered. Ris was tempted to just go herself but she knew that it was not only not her place but that more than just her own talents were required. Best to start with Lilac, the woman’s nickname always made Ris giggle internally considering that she’d personally seen Adela bench press more than any human should be able to. Stepping into the elevator Ris hit the button for the training fields. “Senechal, locate Captain Laska for me. I need to speak with her.” The Tower’s second AI updated the Mistress of Shadow’s PDA as Ris flicked through the other on staff Knights. “Kirane, Crimson, Mal, Markus, Crow...Hmm” She continued to flick. Not lots of options which was becoming a theme for the Tower lately. Probably have to put Sirus on this detail too because of Kirane’s condition. That meant they could probably use a blade….her thumb hovered over his picture for a long moment before she tapped on Megelis profile. That ought to round the team out. Hopefully the fucker caught a bullet while he was out there. The thought made Ris grin like an angry teenager imagining the downfall of one of her school yard rivals.

The office was spacious and pathologically white, lacking any identity beyond that of a corporate cogwheel – desk, chair, one more – for visitors. Just one. A token plant attempted to bring in some pretense for comfort but it was too small and too easily overlooked. The room was also well-lit by an army of fluorescent lights built into the ceiling. The grand window behind the desk should have let in enough sunlight to render the lights excessive, but excess was a key message the owner of the office didn’t want to overlook. Such lights served two purposes. They made jewelry sparkle – a thought that pleased one of the room’s current occupants; and they revealed any imperfections in the walls, furniture or flooring. There weren’t any. The room was immaculate. The employees – slaves really – had done an outstanding job this time - as any.

Torus Rism, the suited man that sat behind the desk, was a good businessman. He knew how to buy people at least as well as he knew how to buy horses. The tower suspected, maybe even better. His calm and smug demeanor certainly suggested more life experience than the barely-there wrinkles on his young forehead did. And certain documents supported it.

Yet, despite some accusations, for now Torus was a free man.

In Kirane’s book he wasn’t the worst of the worst. Her attire – utterly boring black pencil-skirt and white blouse – was a small tribute to their good relations. The fan, held laxly in her left hand was her only weapon – or so she’d like him to think. On his end, he had let her in without an appointment and with Sirius Dylan in toe. Kirane wasn’t sure if her dark-haired senior had come to support her or keep an eye on her.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Mister Rism.” She greeted without a smile, hoping that by the door Sirius was smiling in a less menacing fashion than usual. The man across the desk smiled and nodded.

“Any time, Miss Maoru. You always book an appointment in advance so I assumed that today was an emergency. Because of which I apologize that I didn’t make any preparations.” Oh the show-off. ‘Pardon for the mess’, right?

“It is quite important.” Kirane nodded herself and stood by the chair. She didn’t have the habit of sitting in enemy territory. And although Rism was by all accounts as harmless as they came (he didn’t even employ bodyguards, that’s how certain he was in his ability to manipulate and threaten people), he was not her friend. His financial support of the Tower had come at a different sort of price, and not too long ago either. Kirane wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate a man’s damaged ego. “I see that you are quite busy at the moment,” she glanced at the paperwork on the desk “so if you’ll allow me, I’ll get right to the point.”

“Be my guest.”

Kirane cleared her throat (even though she didn’t need to) and began, adding just a tinge of uncertainty to her words. “You see, I’m facing a problem. For the past couple of months, I have been experiencing a certain physical discomfort.” Eyeing him brought no reaction. He already knew. But how much did he know? “Which can be attributed to someone in my professional life. I imagine you’ve heard about that already?”

His lips twitched a little there. “I have indeed. I am very sorry to hear that you are experiencing said… discomfort.” The man was almost smiling. “I will do whatever I can to help you find out who it was.”

“I’d greatly appreciate that.” She smiled. “You see, you have connections and skills that would be valuable in this little quest of mine. To start with, would you mind telling me whom you heard this information from and where I could find them?”

The man opened his mouth to respond -- but the only thing that came out was a muffled -whomp- as the air escaped him. His eyes widened and his ears probably took a fraction of a moment to detect the sound of the window shattering behind him. And his body probably took another fraction of a moment to detect the fact that it was freefalling – judging by the fact that he didn’t start screaming until he was already out of sight.

Sirius also took a moment to react. He had blinked so he hadn’t seen when the young paladin had pointed her fan at the now empty chair. Well, the ‘now missing chair’. Sirius glanced at the door behind him but couldn’t hear anything but scrambling on the other side. Apparently, albeit willing to sell their bodies to Mr.Rism, his employees weren’t quite so willing to risk their lives for him. “I bet he’ll want to hire guards after this one.” Sirius spoke over a chuckle. Kirane didn’t respond; bent over the desk with a pen in hand, he assumed she was leaving a note. Something like “Apologies for the window”, perhaps?

The scream cut off and the silence stretched for a few seconds. Another shard of glass used the time to break off from the window with a loud crack – and then a peculiar sound approached the window at high speed. The unmistakable beat of wings – Sirius and Kirane both recognized it before it reached – and neither reacted.

It was a griffin, of course. A huge white-and-grey-feathered animal roughly the size of a big stallion (pun unintended) with claws that could easily slice through a man’s face. Of course, it wasn't doing anything as exciting right now – instead it was clutching an unconscious, mildly bloodied businessman in a way that its talons were definitely not designed for. Mr.Rism would have some scars to boast about after this, if he was into that kind of thing. Well, if he remembered, anyway.

Sirius greeted the beast with a small wave while Kirane’s only reaction was a rather sincere eye-twitch. Dropping the man on the floor, Cole reverted in his usual human visage – albeit a bit angrier-looking.
“May I point out that this was extremely irresponsible?”

“You may.” Kirane said calmly.

“You just risked a man’s life.” He pointed out as if she wasn’t aware. “For what?”

“Personal matters.” Was the only explanation she offered. The silence stretched while she was considering going through Mr.Rism’s documents.

Evidently annoyed, Cole took out the big guns. “Your mother would be very disappointed in you.”

Kirane’s retort was almost instant. “But not in you. You’re starting to sound like Ibuki.”

Sirius could see the griffin twitch. But he didn’t fall for it. “And that man by the door? Did you expect him to intervene? Because he doesn’t seem to care anymore than you do.”

He just wouldn’t let it go, would he? “Cole.” Irritation finally bled into her tone, just enough to colour it a pale shade of pink. “You’ve been following me for days. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” Was he questioning her ability to keep herself safe? Of course he was. “This man is one of the Tower’s benefactors. Why would I want to kill him? I was counting on your to catch him. Sirius cannot be trusted to rush to save anyone – but one of my mother’s servants? Why, he could never allow himself to merely stand by.” She turned on her heel. “Send her my regards. And tell her to leave me alone.”

Just before they left, Sirius got the opportunity to approach the desk and read the note. It said “Please try to remember that man’s address and let me know if you hear anything new. I’m counting on you.” He grinned and hurried after her.

Cole didn’t follow, which was just as well because Sirius didn’t think his young subordinate would willingly talk about her strategy around him. The office was essentially deserted, as were the ones in the immediate vicinity of the unfortunate one. It was an easy and quick way to the elevator. “Going around and telling people that you’re sick? Are you sure that’s a wise idea?”

“Of course.” At least she sounded calm.

“Care to explain?”

She glanced at him for a moment and turned away again, calling the elevator. Of course she was sure it was a good idea. By revealing her weakness, she was sending a subtle invitation to her enemies. If the other Knights were anything to go by, her clients and enemies would reach either of two conclusions: a) she’s letting her emotions get the better of her or b) she’s at her most vulnerable. The ones who thought she was actually handling this very well would be a neglectable few. Thus the news spreading would make her curse a catalyst for what would eventually happen anyway. She dealt with a lot of vipers who were just lying in wait for a good opportunity and mere words or petty threats weren’t always enough to break the mask of their pretense. Now, a severely weakened enemy was a different story. “It lets me fish out future traitors.” She explained simply. The next part was more of a subject for discussion. “And based on who finds out next, we can tell which of our clients are connected to Rism. It’s information that will be valuable in the future. The Artisan department are quite amazing but they can only do so much; some people still use oral methods for transferring information.”

Sirius had to bite his lip to refrain from making a joke about “oral” and “transferring” and stay on track. “And some people are very good at tracking people’s movements. Say, the Masters and Mistresses of Sight? Can’t they basically spy on anyone they please?”

Kirane tuned mid-stride, forcing him to stop, her eyes boring into his. Even in the daylight their internal fire almost too painful to face openly, especially when she was angry. Or was it just his imagination? She was shorter than him but the danger that oozed from her aura was real. When she spoke her words were colder than any of his superiors’. After all, even in the Tower, most knights had hearts. He was really unsure about this one. “Mention her again and I’ll really hurt you.”

His eyebrow twitched up. Oh? More than usual?

“And I don’t mean in the pleasant way.” She finished and turned, getting into the taxi that was waiting outside. Sirius really wanted to grin – she was almost too fun to be true. Did she really think he enjoyed what they did at night? Well, of course he enjoyed her body but her attitude was the furthest thing from tender one could imagine. But then again, she was so high-strung recently that she probably wouldn’t have let him touch her if she didn’t need to vent. He could relate.

“See you tonight.” He said, closing the door behind her with a smile. Unsure if she’d see him, he mouthed “good job” before heading towards his favorite Chinese.

”Get the hell out of here! I'll slow it down!” Malakaus spoke to his party as he faced off against his toughest enemy yet: a large rolling boulder. Some my scoff at how such an inanimate object could be a foe, but evidentially they've never been task to cleave one in half as it rolled towards them. All Malakaus had to stop this thing was his axe, and even then he knew it might not be enough. But with two of his friends wounded, they couldn't run fast enough. He was the only one who was expendable enough to do this. The boulder came at Malakaus faster and faster. He braced himself for its advance. He had to put everything he got into this swing. Soon the moment of truth came. Wild magics flowed through his body as Malakaus swung his axe at the boulder, magic energy crackling through the air as the boulder and his blade clashed.

"WAAAAAAAARGH!"

Waaaaargh!

And with a solid smack Malakaus reached over and turned off his cellphone alarm. He laid in bed for a few minutes drifting between asleep and awake, opening his eyes only to occasionally check the time. He closed his eyes for what felt like just twelve seconds when his alarm went off again. It was his five minute buzzer. Groaning the half-orc crawled out from under his sheets, slipped his slippers on, and walked towards the bathroom. He did his morning ritual of purging his body of waste, purifying his mouth of foul stains, and cleansing his body of filth. As he stood in his shower waiting for the warm water to turn on Malakaus looked at his cellphone to catch up on the morning news.

It's been a few days since Malakaus had sent his application to the Tower of Stars. He had given them the information they asked for, but he has not been asked to come to any sort of interview or orientation. He hoped that maybe they just needed time to look through his application: he did see a lot of people at their tower. He hoped he could join as a Knight. Because not only did being called Knight Malakaus sound totally badass, it he was getting weary of the apprentice life. He had made a few friends and certainly learned a lot of magic, but he missed the company and camaraderie of a war band. He reminisced on his old crew in Krumpus Bay, how they ruled the streets and would ride on their enemies. Those were better days.

But enough dwelling on the past. Malakaus went to put on his street clothes, which largely consisted of thick dark green pants, leather black boots, arm wraps, and no shirt. This revealed his scars and tattoos for all to see, though understandably some establishments don't approve of this casual display of glory. So he also wore a jacket. The last thing he did was braid his long hair, which really is what what took the most time. Chances are those Knights at the Tower were going to make him cut his hair, so he wanted to enjoy them for as long as he could.

Once he was dressed Malakaus headed out. He'll need to grab breakfast for his busy day. To that end, there was a strip mall just across the street of the apartment he lived at. Plenty of food to pick from, mostly Asian dishes consisting of noodles, rice, and seafood. But it was a taste that reminded Malakaus of home. What also reminded him of home was the gangsters that hung out here. Krumpus Bay had its problems, but it wasn't the only place with gang influence. Malakaus lived in Paj Zoov Yaj territory: a predominantly human gang. Malakaus hasn't really run into any of them, but they're certainly more noticeable than the Goroshi Corporation. They openly flaunt their association with the gang, and use that to extort and threaten locals. That being said, compared to another gang trying to control this area, the Paj Zoov Yaj was a lesser of two evils.

Just walking in from the opposite side of the courtyard was another gang. They were the 40K; a multiracial gang. One would think that a gang that used so many different races together would be a far more accepting one, but looks were deceiving. Taking from the bottom rung of society, the 40K took the worse the city had to offer and gave them the power and authority to terrorize anyone they could outmuscle or outnumber. This group looked mostly fae, with an two orcs and some sort of flaming elemental in the mix. Malakaus just got his breakfast when that group and the local toughs confronted one another.

While it was a bit earlier than usual, Malakaus knew exactly what was going to happen. People started to clear out or turn away, shops started closing their doors. Usually things didn't get violent. This was not one of those times. One of the orcs threw a punch and all hell broke loose. Bystanders quickly left the scene while the two gangs brawled it out, using everything from tables, chairs, decorative plants, and silverware to kill each other.

Malakaus stayed so he could finish his noodles.

The fight was brutal and short. Police came within five minutes but by then the fighters were already gone, taking their wounded before anyone could get arrested. At least one guy got killed from what Malakaus could tell. At least, people people don't survive getting a ficus shoved through their eye. Part of him wished he could've jumped into that fight, but that's just make him the enemy of both gangs. The Paj Zoov Yaj didn't like “Muties” (I.e. Other races) and the 40K were dishonorable scum who have sold their family and morals away. What he wished was that the Goroshi Corperation extended their influence to this place, make it into a proper night market. But for now he could only dream.

Malakaus paid for his breakfast and grabbed a bottle of water to wash it down with. Malakaus figured that he'd ought to do some window shopping for weapons and armor if he was going to be a knight. All he had for weapons was his rifle and his Anytool. He wouldn't mind a nice set of protection, or maybe even power armor. Though he didn't exactly have the funds for something that advanced. As he was daydreaming Malakaus turned into a hallway bumped into someone.

”Sorry. Scuzi.”

Malakaus tried to walk around but then a hand grabbed him. Looking at the fool, it was those 40K goons from before. They seemed no worse for wear despite the thrashing they gotten, however the elemental they were with seemed to be using magic to patch up their wounds.

“What's this? A little brother lost?” Said one of the orcs. He was a pure blood orc, and bigger than Malakaus.

”I ain't your brother. Get out of my way.”

This got Malakaus shoved against the wall as the other goons got to their feet. One of the Ogeron’s started talking. ”I bet you saw that fight. So you're pretty fucking retarded if you think you can talk to us with that kind of attitude.” With a quick glance Malakaus counted eight total. Five Ogerons, two orcs, and their flaming healer. Good odds.

”I saw you clowns get your shit handed to you. Let me go, I got stuff to do today!”

The orc pinning Malakaus to the wall grabbed Malakaus by the threat and lifted him up against the wall. It actually hurt. Malakaus reached up and started to pry his fingers off from around his neck, forcing the orc to use both hands as he tried to squeeze tighter.

“And what's a little fucker like you got that's so important?”

Malakaus smirked, and when he had enough air he said a one liner he's always wanted to say in a situation like this. ”Taking out the trash!” Slamming his free hand against the wall behind him, magic crackled from the point of contact. Suddenly four pairs of stone fists shot out from the wall and pummeled the orc, freeing Malakaus and causing the others to back up. Standing back to his feet the half-orc thug cracked his knuckles and loosed the joints in his neck. Malakaus smiled at the thugs as the orc he sent flying got back to his feet. “I guess I'll go easy on y'all. I got a busy day.” Malakaus turned his fists into stone as the 40K gang charged at him.

"Markus."

Markus groaned.

"Markus, it is time for you to wake up."

"You can't let me have a lie-in just once, can you?" he mumbled into his pillow.

"Comparing data from the last month, you have slept until afternoon every day. That is more than once."

"Fine, fine, I'm up."

Grabbing his headset on the way out, he fired up the visor. Instantly, a news report ran past his eye. Something about a businessman falling out of his own office window. Reasons unknown.

"Somehow I don't agree with that."

---

After travelling several floors, he sat down at his station. The screens hummed to life, and Zoe began running programs.

"Sentinel, any cyber-attacks last night? I've been itching to bust out the new Trojan."

A negative was transmitted through, to which Markus tutted. He wouldn't get any good jobs today then. He'd hacked into the Tower, and sure, he'd gotten caught, but at least he'd tried! And Sentinel trusted him by now, surely.

"Fine." He leaned back in his chair. "Zoe, fire up the console. If there's no work, then at least I can do something fun. My new gamechip should have installed by now."

The coding programs closed, and a familiar tune began to play. Maybe his Tower hack hadn't really failed at all.

The hall was empty, being on the far end of the tower and still early enough in the morning, well excluding the two knights wandering down it's length. One was Ayala, who usually wore her normal long skirt, button-cross shirt, fingerless gloves which she all dubbed her knight uniform and then the other was Henry. He was a bit shorter, obviously human compared to the ethereal-like aura Ayala gave, sporting dirty brown hair, round glasses, and a combination of a shirt and shorts that looked more professional. He didn't get out as much though since he was one of the hackers employed by the Tower of Stars, but even without that excuse, he dressed nice. Ayala used to even consider him cute, that was before they became like brother and sister though and been friends ever since - besides, he didn't like women.

"So, what do they have you doing next? I mean, do you have another free period of time? Maybe we could play Empires Three later?" Henry looked up to his Sidhe friend, carrying a laptop in his arm causally. His boots softly clicked against the hard floor of the tower, which Ayala always loved to listen to. For some reason it gave her some level of comfort.

Ayala shrugged in response, offering her friend a slight smile. "Yeah, they don't have me doing much right now.. so yeah, Empires Three would be amazing to play right now! Been wanting to continue the campaign we started - I'm curious what will happen to, uh.. what was her name?... Evelyn? Yeah, her. The archer?" The woman continued to lazily walk down the hall, feeling no hurry as she had just returned from an assignment.

Henry seemed to ponder the response for a few moments before nodding, pointing to her briefly. "Yeah, I remember now.. you seemed to have a thing for that character," he teased, smirking lightly. "Anyways, it might have to be a little later though. I know I kind of kidnapped you, but we're on the way to my site. Markus is probably there already - overachiever. Figured I'd ha-"

"Hey!" Suddenly a voice rang out behind them, forcing them to glance back as one of the other knights caught up to them. Neither of them knew the guy, but he seemed to recognize them somehow, by the evidence of his smile. Quickly catching up, he took a moment to walk beside the two. "You two are a couple, right?" he asked, bluntly. Ayala personally found it a bit rude of him to ask something so personal, but the guy seemed completely unaware of her discomfort and even less phased by Henry's discomfort.

"We-.. uh.. well, I- .. I'm.." Henry started to stammer, the wave of confidence washing away to nervousness. Ayala knew exactly what was up and quickly turned her attention to the strange.

"I'm a lesbian," she blurted out to the guy. Despite the flush across Henry's cheeks, the guy blinked and stared at Ayala for a moment. "So, no, we're not really together - a lot of people just seem to assume that we are. Just besties, really." For some reason or another, it caused the guy to back off slowly and turn the other way, looking extremely embarrassed. 'He should be,' she thought, scoffing and looking back to Henry.

Quickly composing himself, he just smiled at her for several moments before walking with confidence again and lightly bumping into her. "Says the girl that has admitted to finding my crushes cute.."

Ayala smirked, nudging him back and shrugging. ".. eh, so maybe I like girls and boys. So sue me." They both shared a chuckle. She knew he wasn't exactly ready to admit to the world that he liked the same gender and that was perfectly okay by her.

---

Nathan sat in his office, his feet perched on his table. He stared blankly out the window, which was conveniently stationed in front of his desk. He was sipping his morning coffee, as usual. An untouched loaf of french toast sat on a small plate placed on top of his table.

He was having a bad day. A terrible day.

He had just woken up from a brief sleep. The first thing he had noticed when he entered the bathroom was the sink. The faucet was leaking.

"Damn it. They're going to charge me for that. I never liked the canned tuna they sold at Marty's, but I guess I'll have to be eating just that for the week. My taste buds will have to wait..."

Nathan slipped on his longcoat and his helmet. He then proceeded to trot towards the security station. It was only a couple of steps away from his apartment. Upon entering his office, he checked his e-mail. He had only received one message, and he found it outrageous.

---

Dear Mr. McDonald,

I have a small favor to ask from you. Our department is currently having a serious shortage of armaments. I've been asking the higher-ups for a skilled Artisan, and they referred me to you.

I will be placing an order of 10 Railguns, 20 45-caliber handguns, and 5 Vibroswords. I will need all of these next week, for we are going to placing a raid on one of the Stygian Blade's supposed warehouses. If our raid does not succeed, we will take the blame. However, you will have a share in it, too.

I also have a personal request of you. We will need the design of your so-called "Runic Revolver". I've heard that you have invented a unique way of spellcasting, and I would love to spread your design. You will be accredited with the original design, and we will take charge of the mass production of the model.

Deepest Regards,

General Dino

---

Ridiculous

Nathan would need to contract a warehouse to produce that much high-powered arms. Sure, he could design intricate weapons using a 3D printer, but this was serious business. Moreover, General Dino wanted to "spread" his design. Sure, he would mass produce the weapon, but he would steal all the credit. The "request" was plain baloney. Just as he was thinking to himself, another person had just walked into his office. He did not wear a helmet, but he was in uniform.

"Hey, Nathan!"

Oh, great. It was this guy again. Michael Solis, from the Order of Blades. He was simply a knight, but he had a Greater Will Level. People like those were often referred to as heroes, like Nathan's mother. However, this guy chose to slack off at the security station.

"Geez, Michael, what do you want?"

"Well, you looked kinda pissed off about something. Open up, brother. There's no problem in being downright truthful sometimes"

"First off, there's my leaky faucet. And then there's this General Dino shitnick."

"What's with General Dino?"

"Ten railguns, twenty handguns, and five virboswords! He's making a factory out of me!"

"Okay, okay, calm down..."

"Hey, want a fun fact?"

"Okay?"

"When General Dino filled out his application form, they asked him what his sex was. There was a blank for that. General Dino, being the birdbrained blockhead he is, misinterpreted it. He wrote "3 times a day"! "

"What..."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Everybody in the Order of Steel hated General Dino. It was an unspoken fact. When somebody invented something new and handy, General Dino would offer to mass-produce the innovation. However, he would steal the entire right for himself. This was why the Order of Steel was filled with geniuses, hidden in the disguise of pitiful workers or soldiers sent out on the field to die. There were the innovators that either evaded or did not get noticed by General Dino.

Unfortunately, Nathan wasn't one of them.

Megelis stood outside in the center courtyard of the Tower. It was a massive practice field that was half way up the Tower itself and open to the sky. Sweet beaded on his brow as his left hand rest casually on the paired straight swords on his left hip. More narrow than a Hand and a half sword the two he wore were closer to that of a Jewel Coast straight sword.

Sipping from the water bottle he’d brought with him the morning had been about as straightforward as they came. Ever since he’d left Korvan the routine had been the same, wake up, train, eat, study, train, sleep. The addition of periodic missions fought the boredom. It was a much better life than before running his hand through his hair the swordsman picked up his tablet off a table next to his gear. Pushing his earbud back in he began the process of picking up his gear only to have Senechal ping through. Tapping the tablet he opened the directive.

Megelis almost spit out his water at the name on the directive. Ris.

At least she wasn't running the operation. It was Adela, he could work with her. No magic, no bullshit, shitty past, the two were practically peas in a pod, except for the fact that they never worked together and he knew almost nothing about her besides the fact that she was ex Stygian Blade.

Packing away the rest of his gear took but a moment. He needed a shower before he collected up the other four in the list: Crow, Ayala, Nathan and Markus. The two spooks and then...Nathan, he was never sure what to make of the gun wielding wizard. Markus was sort of a non starter for Megelis since they rarely had cause to actually work together, Artisans were rarely sent on the missions he was sent on.

Walking into one of the elevators Megelis slung his bag and hit the button for the barracks floor. Might as well find Markus, no doubt he could be found in his room as the hacker was no doubt allergic to things like fresh air and sunshine. The ride down to the barrack level was uneventful and with purposeful strides the swordsman approached the annex following Seneschals directions to Markus room. With a balled fist the swordsman rapped on the solid metal door. Megelis had always wondered about the doors, they always struck him as bulkhead or prison doors but he’d never had cause to question them beyond his own musings.

“Markus, I don’t know if you’ve looked at your comms but we’ve got a job, mate.”

Folding his arms Megelis settled in to wait, hopefully not long. Crow wouldn’t be a problem but the other two would actually need to be located given that Nathan was no doubt out and about while Ayala was the sort that avoided open scrutiny.

---

Stepping off the elevator near the Captain’s Quarters Ralrisk made a beeline for Adela’s room. The Captain was still in her quarters as far as Senechal could tell. One of the perks of being a Mistress, you got to know where everyone in the Tower was. With the exception of Lady Silver but Ris could live without that piece of info. Besides if she really needed to Calrisa it was just a matter of getting Sentinel to send her the Tower’s feeds.

Approaching the door to Adela’s room, Ralrisk rapped on it loudly. The ex Stygian Blade muscle was perfect for this mission since the district they were sending the team into should been part of the Captain’s old stomping ground. Though hopefully the mission would be quick and uneventful. Ris still wasn't sure why Lady silver had sent the team to grab the corpse she’d brought back but it was clear on its own the body hadn't been enough. It was unusual for the Tower to send Artisans into the field like this. Let alone Crow, not that the necromancer couldn't handle himself it was just rare for them to need his specific capabilities as the Towers pathologist outside of the Tower’s Lab.

Ris waited patiently for Adela to answer her door. Hopefully Megelis wasn't going to be a jerk and ignore her message. As far as Ralrisk was concerned there was no low he would not stoop to. With a decided sniff she pushed the thoughts away. Jerk


@CollectorOfMyst@Monochromatic Rainbow

The trigger sounded unexpectedly, causing Markus to jolt. Bringing up the camera feed, he saw someone he was completely unprepared for. Megelis, Knight Examplar. Thank the gods he'd decided to install that hidden motion sensor.

But before he could react, there came a knock at his door.

“Markus, I don’t know if you’ve looked at your comms but we’ve got a job, mate.”

"Shoot!" he cursed quietly, and closed the game - Empires 3 would have to wait. He might have been given leave to 'work from home' in the barracks, but that didn't mean he was allowed to skip during his hours. Once he did, he nearly slapped himself - there, on the screen was a blinking red light that indicated a message had been sent.

"Uh, yeah! I just got it!" he replied. "Give me a minute, need to sort out some stuff."

Then, glancing around, he hissed at his virtual companion. "Zoe?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was trying my best. However, it seems you were unable to hear me over your game."

...Right. Of course. "Well, then, remind me to give you permission to override my headset's output in the future."

Pressing out the wrinkles in his jacket, he swept some of the untidier things out of sight. Then, darting up to the door, he opened it.

"So, what's the job? The message I got wasn't exactly clear - must've gotten scrambled on its way through my network."

@Themerlinhawk

Adela raised an eyebrow at the loud knocking that came without warning at her door. She currently lay in her bed, lazily flipping through a book. She had seen the notification, of course, and had taken some steps to prepare, but today was a lazy day and she hadn't felt like going to the point of actually changing into mission appropriate attire. Still clad in a thin nightgown, she pushed herself out of bed, taking a moment to straighten her hair and attempt to make herself somewhat presentable before pulling the door ajar. Not waiting for Ralrisk to begin, she murmured a greeting before straightening, folding her arms, "I don't suppose corpse retrieval duty could have waited until the end of the chapter?"

A moment later, she let the act fall, letting a small smile forward. "Anything else I need to know before we head out? If I'm changing out of my comfy clothes, you owe me that much." After a moment, she added, "In all honesty, was there anything else? I've got my gear prepped and ready, before you say anything."

"Late Firith Sparrow,"

"Crimson Sparrow, Paladin of Sight, access granted, now online." A feminine voice in her head solidified as light blue transparent lines framed the assassin`s vision. Just thinking about what to do next was all she had to do and looking at the scene in front of her she was more than ready for action. It would save this subpar day anyway. The Tower had sent her to scope out the area and report back on anything “suspicious”. In this city everything was a bit suspicious, from the food to the people living in it.

All of this was besides the point however. Currently in front of the scarlet haired assassin was a fight in the alleyway below. ”Let`s see here,” the icon in her vision shifted from person to person searching identities and criminal history along with any notable details such as fighting style and known abilities. ” Malakaus, half-blood, welcome to the club mate.” She said to herself as she studied them all with her left hand under her chin. Currently she was perched on the edge of the rooftop above. It was giving her a great view of the overcompensation happening below her.

This Malakaus was known on record for playing a bit dirty in the past. This being said there wasn`t anything about magic in his data and this is why Crimson nearly lost her shit in a good way when he literally handed the orc in front of him`s ass to him, using magic! A street fighter who learned Will, this wasn`t an every day event friends. Most street fighters either chose to use magic at first or chose not too, not many changed so drastically in style. She couldn`t help but laugh to herself.

This was going to be fun!

Looking to the others she calculated a fire healer, five ogerons, and two, well one orc. The other one was out like a light on the ground. She knew getting into a fight was probably not the best thing to do in her position, she probably should just report it right? Well they had attacked an innocent civilian, one that could actually defend themselves granted, but why leave that part in.

With that she stood up and jumped down from the roof landing gracefully on the ground behind the fire healer.

“Why not let a local have some fun, after all I`m sure you really could use the help.” Crimson commented sarcastically to Malakaus looking at him with a playful but dead confident look on her face. She wasn`t vein, just confident in her own abilities, after all she was over 200 years in age, there was a LOT of time to practice.

He really didn`t need the help.

But she was bored, impressed, and overall intrigued.

Raising her foot up she landed a blow straight to the fire healer`s head with no hesitation. This signaled the continuation of the fight as now they were mad at him and now her for interrupting said fight.

“Not corpse retrieval, babysitting.” A grin curled the corners of Ralrisk's mouth. For all the people who had looked down there nose at Adela and questioned Christian’s will when he’d brought in her into the fold there were others who'd seen it as a step towards finding an end to a conflict which had started several centuries earlier. Ris had been firmly in Lord Shard’s camp on the matter which was why Adela had been the obvious choice.

“I need you to take a team I to your old stomping grounds. Lady Silversun sent in a on order of sight retrieval team about a day ago to collect a corpse I suspect she thinks is connected to Christian’s disappearance. The problem is all they got was the corpse before they had to make a break for it. Crow got everything he could from the body but we need to see if we can get more from the scene. I'm giving you Markus, Crow and Ayala. Markus can rip through all of the street level security and pull footage, audio and anything else he can find for the last 48 hours. He has to be on site though.” Ris paused because she knew Adela wasn't going to like the next part.

“It's in the Narrows”

The Narrows were a testament to the phrase urban decay. They were a blighted segment of the city that had never really been rebuilt after the second Stygian blade. Fittingly the disease ridden, poverty stricken, desolate section of the city was also home to the more militant segment of the Stygian Blade.

“The outer edge right where it hits high rises, call it the suburban portion of the Narrows.” It was still incredibly dangerous to send a team even to the edge of the Narrows. The Lawbringers of Exandar that patrolled the Narrows did so with some of the heaviest weaponry that Ralrisk had ever seen their kind operate with. Understandably so. Even with the incredible fire power, Lawbringer precincts and check points within the Narrows much of the decrepit city blocks still managed to run amok, there was not much they could do without leveling the Narrows and that was not something the Church of Exandar had the authority to do. Angel’s Landing had its own internal problems so the Narrows remained a bastion for the Stygian Blade. One of far too many in Ralrisk’s opinion.

“I sent Megelis to get Crow, Ayala, Nathan and Markus. Megelis can run intercept on anything well armed that looks at you funny, you get to go recover Kirane, Sirius, Crimson and Malakaus. Get Crow, Ayala and Markus in, have them rip everything. Data feeds, street cameras, make sure Crow peels back the veil. We need to know what happened to the corpse the retrieval team brought back and the answers are in that alley somewhere. You should have more than enough firepower though it's probably best if you avoid a fight.”

Pausing to take in Adela’s expression Ralrisk quirked an eyebrow. “Questions?”

@Monochromatic Rainbow

---

Waiting patiently for the Hacker to get himself situated Megelis just chuckled at the sudden change from frantic to cool. “It's a data retrieval mission. Mistress of Shadows wants everything we can find from a particular intersection in the Narrows. Yes that part of town. Now get your shit, make sure you have a gun and some sort of vest. Don’t want you catching a bullet before we have what we need. Let’s go. I have to go find Nathan, man is going to run intercept on anything metal and quick moving.”

With that Megelis didn’t wait on Markus to get his stuff. Turning the swordsman started off down the hallway. Tapping his earpiece as he walked Megelis swiped his PDA before bringing up Crow's contact. Thumbing the contact he continued his walk, slow enough for Markus to catch up. There was a click from the other end.

“What.”

Grinning at the decidedly irritated question Megelis pushed ahead though Crow’s constantly drap demeanor. “Ris wants us out on a mission. That corpse you butchered isn’t good enough for Lady Silver she wants the details and your report to Archive said you needed to be on site. Seems like it's your lucky day.”

The long pause on the other end of the comm told Megelis everything he needed to know. Crow had clearly meant the report as a deterrent to pursuing the line of investigation. A heavy sigh followed. “Fine.”

This time Megelis actually let out a cuckle at the spooks discomfort. “Gee tell me how you really feel. Go get Ayala, she’s you new best friend for this mission. Also bring your gear. We’re headed into the Narrows.” There was another longer pause on the other end of the Comm and it was all Megelis could do to not burst out laughing at the Necromancer’s discomfort.

“Fuck.” With that the line clicked dead as Crow disconnected it.

The walk through the Tower brought them up on one of the guard stations within the Tower. Nathan was standing talking with the individual on duty. This would be good, Nathan was what most people called: an acquired taste.

“Nathan, we got a job mate.”

@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki

---

In his lab Crow opened one of the lockers he kept the vast majority of his gear in. Removing a gun belt he strapped it around his waist and fitted the semi auto handgun to his right though with a tight strap. With a quick lift Crow pulled a breast plate composed of interlocking plates shot through with circuitry out of the closet. Pressing it to his chest over the shirt he was wearing the breastplate expanded into a flexible metal vest before extending down his sides and over his shoulders slightly to give him a light metal t shirt with a heavier breastplate to soak shots to his center of mass. With that the necromancer pulled on a black high collared jacket before taking a folding submachine gun from the locker and checking it smoothly before folding it and fitting it to a catch on his lower back.

Adding a black satchel that included his laptop and the tools of his trade Crow reached in for the last item. Removing the ash grey skull with black inked writing crawling across it he attached it to his belt under the jacket. Turning Crow held out his left arm and Vulture alighted on it.

Cuing up Senechal Crow started to make his way to the elevator. The ride up was uneventful as he stepped out on the floor Senechal had indicated that Ayala was on. It would appear she was finishing some sort of exchange with a pair of knights who quickly left her and her companion be. Waiting politely Crow shifted Vulture to his left shoulder as he waited for the two to approach down the hallway.

“Ayala.” It was largely statement but it was also part question. The medical examiner wasn’t familiar with her companion but Megelis had not asked for him so Crow didn’t bother to ask his name. It wasn’t rudeness simple efficiency. No doubt whoever the team leader was would want them ready to go in a timely fashion.

@Lyla

Giving a quiet sigh of relief, Markus turned back into the room. So it was just a field mission. He could deal with that... as long as he was there for hacking, and not fighting. 'Data retrieval' sounded like something they needed him for, at least.

"Are you sure about this, Markus?" Zoe asked. "You have not actively worked in the field for quite some time."

"It's an order, Zoe. Not a request. So ready or not, here I go. Hold down the fort while I'm gone. Flirt with Archive for a bit or something."

Then, snapping on his wristbands and pulling on his jacket - the best protection he had - he ran after the knight.

It wasn't hard to spot the pale-skinned Djinn-half breed from a distance, easily closing it as Ayala heard her name, forcing a soft, "hm?" response from her lips. Henry and her stopped, only for the girl to catch the gaze of the vulture-like creature. To Ayala it seemed as if they were staring at each other for ages, something stirring within her stomach and chest, as if calling to her something long forgotten. In a strange way she almost felt like she was somewhere else, visions of meadows flashing for brief moments in her mind - in truth though, it was only but for a brief second before her eyes found Crow once more.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Henry asked, patting his friend's shoulder before moving towards the elevator without an answer, though Ayala nodded softly with a slight smile. Ayala had some experience with others in the tower, though she never really spent her free time among any of them outside of Henry and she had never physically met Crow, though she had heard of him several times.

Tilting her head slightly, she moved her hands to slip into her skirt pockets and offered a polite smile. "What's up? A mission, I presume?" she asked. It wasn't hard to guess it must've been because frankly no one else visited her for social chit-chat, though many times she wished they would. Henry would sometimes encourage her, but seeing how people treated the enigma, Henry hardly ever truly pushed her to do much of anything. Either way, by simple default, Crow must've wanted her for some task or another. Unlike a lot of others, she didn't carry around any communication devices to check her messages outside of her room since the A.I. always knew was she was anyways - people always managed to find her one way or another. "We can walk and talk if you prefer.."

---

Nathan sat on his chair, his elbows perched on his table. He was eating a microwaved meal of Mac'n Cheese. He was short on money, and he had to do with the cheap food they sold at the nearby convenience store. Michael, his ever-as-annoying workmate, sat in a chair not far away. His rank was rather low, so he did not have his own office to maintain. He was examining the railgun Nathan had crafted yesterday. Nathan needed it as a model for the weapons that he was going to produce for General Dino and his merry men.

"This is high-level technology. You know, stuff like these cost a fortune at the malls..."

"I'm not letting you have it. You'll just fire it at your annoying orc neighbor or something."

"Why?"

The tone of Michael's voice did not echo his disappointment. In fact, he followed it up with one of his signature shit-eating grins.



"Cut it out. Don't even think of leaving my office with that piece of art."

"Hey, do you remember when you cast an illusion of the door and made me walk into it? You could give the railgun to me, and we'll be even."

"I did that in retaliation. Didn't you put wasabi in my coffee prior to that?"

"Oh, yeah! Hahahahahahaha!"

Just then, Nathan heard a knock on the door. He opened it to reveal the figure of a tall and robust man. He wore a neatly-shaved beard, and his slightly long hair was draped gracefully behind his face. A slight glance from him inspired respect from the other workers.

Megelis Altoris, Ex-Ranger Captain of The Korvan Striders. He began to speak:

"Nathan, we got a job, mate."

"Well, I've got to supply our fellow soldiers with weapons for the upcoming raid on Stygian Blade foothold. I've got a cramped schedule, but I do know somebody who doesn't."

Nathan turned towards Michael. Michael's smile had vanished, and he was seen to be examining the railgun in great detail.

"This guy."

Michael, having heard Nathan, turned to face Megelis. His smile reappeared, and he raised his left hand to salute the swordsman.

"Michael Solis, from the Order of Blades. He doesn't even have a schedule, so I strongly suggest that you send him."

"I haven't eaten breakfast yet."

"No excuses!"

On the way to the Tower Kirane received a message, notifying her that she was selected for some sort of investigation in the Narrows. Not a lot of details were provided and the message didn’t specify the capacity she was attending in. Given the location and that she was to be part of a team, Kirane suspected that what would be needed were her physical and not interpersonal skills – after all, although it was quite persuading to have a team of Knights knock on your door, it’s hardly a way to establish good relations. Then again, this was the Narrows and any sort of negotiation sounded highly unlikely to begin with.

Naturally, she could be wrong. Her ‘condition’ was hardly a secret and whoever had selected her to attend was surely aware of her current… ‘disadvantage’. …Even just thinking of the word made the young woman grimace. Whatever her role, she didn’t want to be a burden. It was bad enough that she already needed regular check-ups to make sure the nanobots were doing their job (“do you really think I wouldn’t notice if they weren’t?”; “better to be safe than sorry.”) ‘Pampered.’ Another word that made her grimace.

Either way, she had some time until she had to meet up with the rest and she was planning on using it wisely. Back in the Tower, Kirane opened the large wooden chest by the side of the window of her bedroom and took but a moment to glance over the items inside. She already knew exactly what she wanted, having made her mind up on the way here. It was a three-piece platinum bo-staff, heavy and, of course, elaborately engraved throughout with motifs of the Kyotan empire. It was a beautiful weapon and a nice memento of bygone days when life was simpler and could easily revolve around sleep, meditation and training. She loved wielding the bo, weaving it through the air, feeling the invisible waves ripple along its length… but sadly, medium ranged weapons served the least purpose in her current position and so were left as a rare treat between missions – and a pleasant way to preserve her reflexes and muscle-mass whenever she had the time.

There was another bo among the other weapons in the chest, a very similar but bronze-coloured one that filled the entire length of the chest. That one was lighter, quicker, single-piece and generally easier to use for Kirane. It suited her better in weight and could thus follow the flow of her body more effortlessly, landing more and quicker hits.

Being a collapsible weapon, the platinum bo she had chosen for today’s session was likely to break at the joints under extreme stress but for that to happen she’d have to strike it directly against a high-quality power-armour which would be rather stupid anyway if she could thrust it in somebody instead. Crucially, it was heavy enough to deal a very heavy blow to someone’s head, powerful enough to knock them out with a single hit. Also, it was a good choice right now because it would exhaust her quicker.

Some people would have given the sibling weapons names, probably ones that befitted a brother and sister, but Kirane wasn’t that sentimental. Besides, it’s not like she would ever need to ask anybody to pass her “Moonlit Serpent” and boasting about the weapon she’d used to break someone’s leg was even more unlikely.

“Senenchal, please find me an unoccupied training hall on the ground level and list it as occupied for the next half hour. Keep my location public.”
“Understood. Room 12-A booked until 11:40.”
“Thank you.” Kirane said, standing with her bo and a few other weapons in hand that she was either going to distribute on her body or leave in her locker, the woman closed the chest and locked it. She took another look at herself in the mirror, checking to confirm she had all the equipment she deemed necessary for the mission so she didn’t have to stall the group once they were ready to go. Tights, ¾ length sleeved tight-fitting shirt over a protective vest, a bandana to keep the hair off her face should she need to use her wind magic, boots, gloves, knives, revolver…. The communication earrings, no watch, no wallet, no sources of any personal or work-related information in case the worst should transpire. Good. Time to check how long she would last in a fight.



When sparring, Kirane preferred training with people over androids for multiple reasons. The main one was because the latter were often too rational to give a clear indication of one’s skill. Kirane thought living species’ decisions were far less predictable, and so, usually, a much better challenge.

Well, not today. And not soon either, probably, she thought grimly. Since she got cursed, she dropped all regular training that involved groups and stopped sparring with the other Knights as well. She didn’t want anyone but the medics finding out how much the curse was actually affecting her. It would be mortifyingly embarrassing to have to do push-ups with the rest of the Tower and not be able to complete the full routine.

Training room 12-A was on the ground level, close to the exit and affording quick mobilisation. The space was rather small, windowless, with a simple wooden floor that was always clean and shiny. It had an in-built sound and motion system which used a variety of signals to demarcate how clean and effective each hit was – a short beep for non-fatal hits, a short buzz for an ineffective one, a short wail for a lethal hit to a human, etc. Essentially, it was trying to substitute a living instructor by providing real-time assessment.

Usually Kirane would have meditated before the session but she didn’t feel she had the time to indulge so she simply keyed in the parameters of the fight in the android. Human, short or no weapon, using both arms and legs, 230% speed and agility, and 260% strength, average intelligence and experience. Someone you could (and would hope not to) meet in the Narrows.

Kirane left her weapons on the shelf by the door and moved to the other end of the room to assembled her bo. It fell comfortable in her hands even though she hadn’t used it in months. The engravings on its length weren’t merely decorative but provided a better grip than polished platinum would. Having it in matt would have been best, but the shiny surface was an advantage for someone using light magic. It was her favourite weapon growing up and had a special meaning in her heart.

Without going into kamae, Kirane gave the android the command to start and drew as quick as possible. The first blow was easy to land, she simply had to twist the staff slightly to meet the android’s fist, deflect it and use the inertia of the movement to strike its throat with the bottom end of the bo. A short wail was triggered but the android was programmed not to collapse. Without attempting another strike, Kirane stepped back so she was out of reach and let the machine rush her again. The next few attempts it made on her all ended in her favour, awarding the woman a small surge in adrenaline and dopamine levels.

The fourth time she evaded her attacker by side-stepping it in a crescent. The bo came down, reaching for the back of its head but hitting it in the face as it was already turning towards her. A sharp sound alerted her of an effective but messy strike but Kira didn’t have the time to think about it. The android was far from dead and its hand shot out, fingers latching onto the bo. Not letting go of the staff, Kirane brought her leg up to kick the machine in the chest and she succeeded but not before she received a breath-catching hit to the side of her abdomen from its other hand.

Pain shot through the woman faster and more severe than the android was capable of ‘feeling’. With slower recovery time, there was no time for her to dwell on it as the thing was already preparing to rush her again. Kirane planted her feet firmly and spun the bo around her violently, building up its speed and power, intending to side-step the machine again and floor it from behind. She saw the android pause and immediately changed her plan, running towards it, smashing the staff into the side of its neck with a loud crack and an alert for a non-human fatality.

Things were going well so far. She had won five rounds without getting hit more than once. However, there was no pause between rounds so the machine charged her almost instantly after she had moved away. This round, Kirane decided to keep her opponent at a distance with more offensive attacks. The range of her weapon was a natural advantage and it was rather easy to keep the android away while also landing some nice blows. However, as the rounds progressed she was getting more alerts for messy strikes and could feel the weight of the bo more acutely. The android was also programmed to mimic fatigue but every time it was “killed”, it was regaining its vitality, essentially imitating a fight with multiple opponents.

Kirane was only one. And that took its toll. The hits the machine had landed, along with the weight of the staff and the physical exertion of her moving weren’t doing her any favours. She received more hits to her own body, although she managed to partially deflect them and receive less damage. Still, if she took a moment to assess every ache and bruise, she would have probably agreed that it was time to stop. But the woman didn’t forget where she was going. The Narrows were hostile territory where you could expect a steady stream of trouble if things got really bad. The Knights had very few friends there and way too many enemies.

So, she stubbornly continued round after round, giving it her all in short 2-3 minute bursts. Sadly, she could also feel that her discipline was waning as time progressed. With the pressure of the fight mounting, her mind started drifting back to old, familiar habits. Air, light… her body was reacting to them, attuned to reaching out for them instinctively when things got rough. ‘No magic’ she had to remind herself and stepped back, narrowly missing the android’s incoming punch.

“Increase power and agility to 300%, add three more years of experience.” She ordered between steps, curious about how she would fare against her usual opponent. She clearly saw the android’s movements becoming instantly faster and prepared herself. As it rushed her, Kirane’s back foot twisted sideways, her front foot and her body following suit like a wave in the ocean. The metal body flew past her, notably closer to her own speed. She attempted a hit but the android dodged effortlessly and spun, rearing to kick her in the face. Kirane parried with a huff and twisted the bo only to meet the resistance of the android’s blocking hand. Pushing the staff away with nigh-doubled strength, the android swung at her again, forcing her to let go of the staff with one hand to parry. The next attempt forced her to jump back, once, twice, and again until she was finally out of reach.

Her next attack was unsuccessful, followed by a block. It had only taken a couple of minutes to put her on the defensive. She was stepping back, evading, parrying, quickly running out of breath and the android didn’t give her a clean opening, easily recovering from any blow she landed. Finally! Seeing a weakness, she instantly leapt back and thrust at its throat, getting a good hit. Sadly, the virtual judge notified her that she couldn’t muster the strength to make it deadly. Worse, the strike had left her open. The world shook as the android knocked her off her feet with what was probably a punch straight to the face. Blood gushed out of the woman’s nose as her body reeled back, her world spinning violently. Not having enough breath to stop the machine, she took a nasty kick to the torso – and another one was coming!

Kirane barely caught the incoming foot and rasped out a “halt”, instantly turning the android off. She pushed it off and remained curled up for another second, struggling to take a proper breath over the curse and the pain. Finally, after a few moments, she uncoiled and squeezed her nose with a hiss.
“Time.” She ordered nasally, receiving the answer from the virtual judge. Just under twenty minutes. Ten fatal blows, some incapacitating injuries, floored one time, injured at least three more... Pathetic. She could last at least forty minutes two months ago, and with the settings both on 300%. So, her stamina was at least halved.

She could hold her ground with ten opponents coming in sequence but probably no more than three at a time with an unsuitable weapon and no magic. And that is assuming they were all medium to close-range melee fighters. And close to human. She would probably do better in an actual fight where she was using more appropriate weapons and magic, and could (probably) rely on the group to watch her back but that was of little consolation. She still felt crippled and the pain in her chest didn’t do much to deny that.

Whoever the bastard was that placed this fucking curse on her, he had to pay. The throbbing pain in her chest, stomach and shoulder was his fault, as was the freshly bloodied face and shirt. At least one thing made her smile. The fact that the medics had underestimated how long she would last… and the fact they had believed her when she said she wouldn’t do this.

“Nanopatch and Isoaid.” She ordered, pushing herself up while pinching her nose, hoping it would stop the world from spinning and her shirt from getting any bloodier. Sitting with her legs crossed she accepted the items from the android now turned butler. Kirane stuck the patch on her nose before opening the isotonic drink. “Archive, how long until mobilisation of team “Narrows”?”
“An estimated seven to twenty-three minutes. No precise time available yet.”

“Okay.” Kirane nodded to herself, taking another huffed sip of the drink. Plenty of time to recover. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started meditating. She had the room for another five minutes, after which she would collect her weapons and wait for the others in the ground floor café.

Malakaus was no fool, but sometimes he underestimates his enemies. Knocking out the first orc was easy enough with a sneak attack, and shortly after the others wised up and started fighting defensively. Malakaus's fists were heavy, forcing the thugs to have to parry swings instead of blocking them. They may have been low level thugs, but Malakaus had to admit they were at least decent brawlers; they knew how to jab and deflect, which was a lot more than most street fighters could admit.

Not that they managed to do much harm to Malakaus. He actually opened up his defenses purposrly to try and bait the thugs, but only one of the bigger ogeron took the bait. He got a broke jaw for his trouble. However that healer they had in the back was going to be the most annoying. Every time Malakaus clocked one of the thugs he ran to the back to get patched up. Malakaus knew he could eliminate these fools easily with magic, but he didn't really want to go waste energy.

A new challenger appeared and knocked out the fire elemental in the back. This surprised everyone, even Malakaus, but he quickly recovered to take out the last orc and ogeron. Malakaus kicked in the knee of the orc just as he elbowed him right in the sternum. With the or reeling Malakaus opened his hand and gave the orc a violent palm strike to the chin, hitting him so hard that he broke the orc's tusks.

For the Ogeron Malakaus placed a foot on the orc, using him as a springboard to flick a jab at the ogeron's face. The big lug barely registered the fact that Malakaus broke his nose before the half-orc got the big guy into a headlock. While the ogre was bigger than Malakaus, the half-orc was a heavy weight too. And he used that weight to drop the ogreon head to the pavement, cutting off his air to make his face pop like a glass jar full of blood.

Quickly getting to jos feet Malakaus looked at the new fighter, trying to figure who's side she was on. Obviously the enemy of an enemy was a friend, but Malakaus was more concerned if she was part of the Paj Zoov Yaj. Malakaus would rather not be indebted to another gang in this city. That bein said, she looked like an elf and something about her smile told Malakaus she wasn't just your average delinquent. For now he'll just have to focus on winning this fight. With the enemies attention divided they should have no problems clean this place up of these pieces of garbage. Malakaus roared and charged into the fight with a sliding kick towards one of the ogreons.

"Don't get cocky!"

@Lyla

Crow watched Lyla’s friend pass. The man was an Artisan, Crow had seen him in passing. Or perhaps he just knew him from a list or a form. The Tower had not had a Mistress or Master of Breath since just after the first Stygian War so it was possible that he’d reviewed a medical file for the man. It had fallen to Crow of late to handle a portion of the Tower’s medical needs. The responsibility was spread out through several of the Tower’s members and then largely handled through their central infirmary which was in desperate need of a steady hand at the moment. Dismissing his thoughts on the matter, Crow nodded to Ayala as she suggested they walk and talk.

“The mistress of Shadows has requested our service for finding out what happened to an individual who we recovered from the Narrows earlier today. I couldn't determine from the body so I suspect his spirit is still in the Narrows somewhere. Though it is stygia blade territory so we are being sent with a lot of people that carry large weapons. Do you need anything before we meet them?”

Crow paused at the elevator to give her a moment to think before they stepped onto the elevator. The social interaction thing was becoming a bit easier. It had been hard to convert to living in society and now living around so many people in the Tower made it harder still. Beyond that his lineage still pushed him in ways he disliked greatly. Once more coming up from his mental introspection he favored Ayala with less than his usual grimace.

@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki-

Megelis nodded as though considering the idea of simply taking someone other than Nathan before he seemed to settle on a conclusion. “Great, Michael. You're going. Come on Nathan you too. Both of you are going, thanks for volunteering.

It wasn’t as though Megelis actually had an authority but it would probably give Ralrisk a reason to kick him from the team if he showed up with an extra warm body. The swordsman really had no problem with being on the mission but Ralrisk had been touchy of late and there was no reason to poke the bull so to speak. Though not being on the mission put him in the Tower which was closer than Ris wanted him and she made it clear regularly.

Turning to the door Megelis gestured with a slight bow and a gesture with his left hand. The Tower had been a change from the usual pace of things with the Korvan Rangers. It was still unusual for him to be questioned. It often reminded him that he was among mercenaries now, not soldiers. At one time perhaps the Knights had been soldiers but those days were long gone and no doubt they had barely existed to begin with. The impression of Christian, Megelis had gotten was that for all the man’s graces, all his appearance and all his strange quirks; it seemed to Megelis that everyone sort of forgot that they were working for quite literally working for a mortal force of nature.
With a shake of his head Megelis pushed the thought away. At first he had felt bad for Lady Calrisa until he’d seen her in action. That was the point at which he had to wonder what their child would be like. What was the child of a force of nature and the quasi divine? The shudder of the earth and the flap of wings that should not move the air as they did would stay with him till the day he died. With Christian at least the Dragon’s wings made sense, with Lady Silver...it never ceased to amaze him when she took to the field.

“Let’s go gentleman. Meet Markus. He is infinitely more valuable than you on this mission.” Megelis gave Michael a look. “If he gets shot, you’re responsible...for both of them.” Ris wanted Nathan incase there were any unusual problems that came up. It was strange to have more than a single Artisan in the field but it also explained the fire power she was calling in for this one.

Hannya
Day 1, Morning

---

Umemoto Eiishii did not have ‘friends’.

Not in the way that most people would mean it, at least, and with good reason. He was not afraid of losing people or hurting them so much as people were understandably hesitant to put themselves in a position to be hurt or lost. Everything in Eiishii’s life was expendable in his pursuit of excellence and, almost by definition, that precluded most forms of significant social relationships. That Alexander Temple, who had long ago assumed a cheery ‘Fuck it!’ sentiment towards his own mortality, had managed something remarkably close with the master swordsman was both surprising and unexpectedly pleasant. It helped that the two worked in very different fields and had avoided any sense of competition, but more importantly the gunner was the social butterfly that Eiishii would never be. Having shared a local haunt and bonded over an appreciation for fine whiskey, their meetings were infrequent but pleasant occasions of compromise between their two very different temperaments.

It was fitting that their last would be far more to Alex’s preference than Eiishii’s. It was, after all, his funeral.

Revelry was not a natural expression for Eiishii, let alone one so fueled and inebriated as this. Brightlance, as he had been known professionally, had been well loved by many. Having started late last night and continued early into the morning, the funerary hall was filled with the lingering remnants of Alex Temple's wake. The ground was sticky with poured out liquor, the air thick with smoke that even the filters of the room couldn’t quite choke down, and someone was throwing up behind one of the exotic-but-tasteful Korvanian Mourning Lilies ( which only bloomed in the presence of a corpse) that had been placed there in the false expectation of a more subdued affair. The funerary hall of the Temple of Stars had seen wilder parties but not by much, its otherwise sterile expanse well and trashed, but this was the first rager that Eiishii had deigned to attend. He was largely ignored as could be expected of a wallflower in such company, taking residence in a corner with a folding chair and a bottle of whiskey late last night. He indulged in neither the weeping recollection of (exaggerated) daring deeds or in the forced exuberance (also exaggerated) that many of the man’s comrades seemed to insist was the proper affirmation of life in the face of death. Dressed in black without even his usual splash of red or white, the master had instead worked his way without haste through his aged liquor one cooled tumbler at a time until a bit more than half remained. Willing to call Alex well and mourned, by this point, he set the remains of the bottle neatly to the floor beside him and ground out what was left of his cigar into the moist earth around the mourning lily.

“Hey,” the woman with the half-shaved head who had just relieved the contents of her stomach behind said flower growled, wiping her chin with her non-prosthetic arm, “you better finish that, motherfucker! Alex never walked away from anything halfway through, he lived life—“

“To the fullest, yes.” Eiishii was already on his feet as he finished the platitude, synthetic fingers rubbing themselves free of any lingering particulates of tobacco. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Perhaps she really had known the man, cared about him intimately and deeply, but Eiishii doubted it. It wasn’t particularly important either way, and certainly not to her—he doubted she would remember their conversation, given the sounds of expulsion and dry heaving she had returned to making.

Alex and Eiishii had maintained their good standing with one another by compromise, a carefully struck balance. With every intention of honoring that agreement in their final interaction, Eiishii had mourned Alex as he would like to have been mourned. As he left the hall with a final tug of his cuffs into place, it was time to do things his way.

Revenge was a much better parting gift than vomit behind a lily.

"Nope," she replied simply, following him into the elevator and leaning herself against the back end, hands still lazily resting in her pockets. She glanced over, more so seeming to inspect the man, not seeming all that phased by his presence like many of the others. Though her eyes glanced to the vulture once more, noticeably so, before addressing him again. For a few moments, she seemed to consider something, wondering how much the man really knew about her. In truth, not many people did actually know what she was capable of, but not many people stuck around long enough to figure it out.

Her eyes went back to the elevator doors before sighing and closing her eyes for but a brief moment. "Yeah, spirits have a habit of doing that.. kind of makes things difficult.. all the loops, fractured memories.." With a light shrug, she continued, "kind of forces you to play detective. It really sucks though when you just don't get it. Hope one of us will anyways. Hopefully it's one of those aware spirits, that kind of knows what's going on." Seeing as the man clued himself into knowing about spirits, it wasn't much of a leap to conclude he could also communicate with them on some level. Ayala, well, she saw them all the time. She heard others had to do magic to peer into the spirit world, but it was second nature to the woman, though she had yet to figure out why.

Guy had moves, that was to be expected from someone of his history though. No one survives long without knowing how to fight. This being said she could analyze all she wanted after these guys were out of the way. The tower would come looking for her if she wasn`t back in a few hours or so. She wanted to know what his deal was before she went back.

Leaning back she dodged a punched aimed to her gut by an ogreon, using the momentum to flip her legs up to tangle around his neck. In less than two seconds his head smashed into the ground and she stood up to handle the next one. The screen was showing her momentums and strength behind the attacks but Crimson has learned to never really listen to her computer in combat. It was more of an assistant and alarm of danger she couldn`t account for.

The elf ran at the two remaining ogreons getting between them. Each punch they tried to land she redirected to a different angle. When the moment arrived she hit pressure points on each of them before dodging one head shot. The ogreon to her left took the hit and the last one she round house kicked into the asphalt. The adrenaline of a fight done caused her to smirk in satisfaction. Her heart was racing and her breathing was elevated, that feeling of power was why she loved her profession. The ability to push your body past what it wanted to accomplish, now that was truly an amazing feeling.

"Sign off, Crimson elfman." Crimson thought to herself before turning to her companion in the fight as the screen disappeared from her vision and her computer shut off.

"Not cocky, just confident."

Strolling forward until she stood a few feet in front of him she looked him up and down before nodding. "Do you have any affiliation to the Tower because you certainly have high potential. You can certainly color me impressed." She asked as she folded her arms leaning back on her right hip. "Also I`m not apart of any gangs or vigilantes, in case you were wondering. So no need to look at me as if I`m a potential threat."