[IC] The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

[Orpheus]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala

‘Snap out it.’

“Oh,” Lute blinked and watched Rose gracefully leave the dance floor, his face still as bright as a cherry. “How long was I staring?” He murmured before ducking his head and then walking towards the other Guilder, most of which were now gathered around Estelle and a blond partygoer. ‘Long enough to embarrass me, kid,’ Delilah’s disenchanted reply was, as always, enough to rock the virtuoso back to his senses. That’s right, his friends were making an awful lot of noise…

“Whoa whoa, no punching!” Lute came in exactly as Moira extended her offer and he waved his arms to try and get her attention away from the stranger, who was bleeding from the… nose? What? Did he do something perverted? The virtuoso cast a confused and slightly critical glance at the poor man before listening in as Amy piped in. Oh, now Trixie was going dance too. “Y-you know, maybe we should sit down for a while… S-sorry, I just meant that this isn’t the best time to…” He trailed off when Dalia came over. The look on her face was enough to make Lute cringe in secondhand embarrassment before Dylan interrupted the priestess, swigging what looked to be an empty glass.

“I can mute them all if you want, but they would probably-,” Lute said before the lights sputtered out, leaving them in complete darkness, “-punch me.” Well that was cinematic. “Oh-kay. Party’s over for the meantime. Let’s leave the dance floor!” The young man managed to adopt a happy-go-lucky tone of voice that he was anything but. “Uh…” The memory of earlier that he actually planted his face on a lady’s chest was enough to prevent Lute from moving blindly. “Does anyone have a light? Or we can wait quietly until electricity returns.”

[Rexcalibur]

Aliquam: Tobias' Gala - Dance Floor

Trixie's first instinct was to scream and set her guns ablaze. Who knew after all this time she and Xandra had been right!? No way that was any shortage, not here! This was the work of a criminal mastermind who found out the Wondergirl and her faithful metal-handed sidekick had been sniffing him/her out! But the sheer surprise of it all actually kept the prankster silent. She just stood there, hands to her side with a blank expression. "...I was right?"

In the meantime, Lute had approached the large group in hopes of calming everyone down. With the lights down, he asked if anyone had a light. It took a moment for the word to register in Amy's head, but it did soon enough. "I do, I do, hang on." She dug through the clutch under her armpit (it was always there; it felt too natural to her by now to really be noticeable) and whipped out her gem - "Oops." - only for it to drop to the floor, unharmed. Amy knelt down after it and sloppily scanned the floor with her hands until she felt it. Once her fingers made contact with the jewel, it lit up a brilliant white, acting as a torch in the middle of the dark.

Amy let out a sigh of relief as she slowly rose to her feet, gem in tow. Ohhh gods, her head pounded from the sudden movement. She was still on a drunken high from earlier for that ache to bother her though, and with a giggle she held out her shining gem in the middle of the group.

---

Aliquam: Tobias' Gala - Second Floor (Recreation Room)

"Hannah, Hannah dear, please, calm down. It's just a shortage."

"Oh! Oh my gods, oh my gods, I do not want to die tonight!"

"Hannah, Hannah dear, please, as comfortable as your breasts are, could you please not hold me... or touch me... at all... it's very uncomfortable." He felt a very soft hand smush against his face, though he quickly knocked it off with his own hand. If some monster of the dark didn't get them soon, he was sure he'd die of some combination of suffocation and scoliosis first. He waited until Hannah's screaming turned to rapid gasps for breaths before he spoke again. "The generators should kick in any time soon. ... I'm sure Mister Rich has generators of some sort to begin with. Just... stay calm. Oh gods, I cannot breathe."

[Bunanigans]

Tobias' Gala - Dance Floor
"What do you fuckin' mean, quietly?!" Moira exclaimed, as oblivious to the atmosphere as ever. It was only when she received a chorus of hushing noises in response that she quietened down. Okay. Okay. Maybe she should shut up.

She swayed a little on the spot, before recoiling when Amy let out her light. Urgh! "Do you reckon, right..." she started, actually managing to keep her voice down this time. By whispering. It was loud whispering, but it was better than before. "Do you reckon... it's whatsitface? You know..." she twirled her hands around on the spot as she tried to kick her brain into gear, "Don. He did this all the time. He did it in Clockwork Town, remember?"

"Don?" Syed whispered back, feeling somewhat comforted by Amy's light despite himself. "I dunno, I doubt it." As much as he did have a predecent of leaving then showing up shortly after, he doubted the man would leave Selan like that again quite this soon. "Just keep your guard up."

"You're being paranoid again," Moira grumbled. "It's just the lights."

Syed's eyes flicked around the area. Well, maybe he was being paranoid. But he had been a guilder long enough to know that if something can go wrong, it probably would. And as good as Amy's light was, it did little to illuminate the outer edges of the room. He did have his radar-like magic, but there were too many people about. He wouldn't be able to tell what was what. At most it would let him know if anyone went through any doors, but with the number of staff...

No, the priority should be to get the lights back up. It could just be a blown fuse after all. He turned to a waitress who was nearby, beckoning her towards him. "Do you need any help getting the lighting back up? I'm an electromage, I should be able to help if you need it," he whispered to her, still looking nervously around himself.

[Fox of Spades]

"Oh, the boss is always like that. She's a blast to have at parties." He uttered in an attempt to hopefully not get them scolded.

Tobias continued staring at his friends and suddenly Moira began making her way towards Estelle and some random guy? Wait, wait, was he bleeding? What the heck was going on down there? The summoner rushed towards the railing, leaning as forward as much as he could. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the fumbling boy before Moira began yelling loudly again. He almost felt sorry for the poor boy. If the boss wanted to, she could easily snap him in half.

Thankfully, Dallia charged in, saving the boy.

Dylan followed after, completely wasted and Lucien watched with wide eyes before the entire place was submerged in darkness. "Hey Tobias, you wouldn't happen to have a generator would you?" He could hear hushed murmurs and worried chatter. Someone said something about light before Amy brightened up the room with her gem. "Oh good idea, Amy!" Lucien waved from where he stood, grinning at his friends below.



The first thing Xan felt when the lights died was relief.

With Moira irritating most of the crowd and Dylan making a scene, the sudden silence that followed after the lights died was nice. She stood in place, careful not to bump into anyone. A few of the guests were spooked by the sudden darkness and she heard someone in the crowd muttered a soft curse. It remained that way for a few moments until Amy lit up the room with her crystal.

"You okay, wondergirl?" Xan turned to give her partner in crime a reassuring smile before she looked around. Did the party cause a fuse? Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening, so it was probably just a blackout, nothing to be too worried about. "We should probably help Dylan, he looked a bit unwell." Though unwell was an understatement. Whatever he had, it looked as if it had destroyed him.

The metallurgist made her way towards Dylan and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you need any help finding a seat?" It wouldn't be good if he started another scene, and it looked like he had trouble standing up straight. It was pretty hard to make things out in the dark, but Amy's crystal illuminated the room enough for her to spot an empty table. "You looked like you could need a helping hand," she tapped his back reassuringly then helped the matter artist get into an empty seat.

[Pachamac]

Aliquam: Tobias' Gala - Second Floor (Recreation Room)

“Is… everyone alright?”

As the lights suddenly died and threw the entire mansion into darkness, Marcus and Angel’s pokergame had been in the moments before the revelatory card turns that would decide the current betting round. With the lights having coincidentally died just then, everyone was at a loss to know who would have won between Hannah and Sebastian.

Marcus scrunched his eyes, and turned his head about as he tried to adjust his sight to the full darkness about. He could make out the odd shapes of people and objects about him, but only their presence – the details were lost to him. His acute sense of hearing also picked up everybody’s worried, and almost panicking voices, from the shrieking of the terrified Hannah who threw herself over Angel for his protection (much to the sculpture student’s suffocating dismay), to Sebastian snorting grumpily, who knew he would have won if it wasn’t for this! There was the other worried murmurs and concerned gasps from the other students in the hall, as well as one woman screaming in exasperation after having spilt her drink down her fine dress, and a male student near the exit swearing angrily after banging his foot into a table.

The lights suddenly going off? Why?

“I think I’m going to go investigate,” Marcus said, scooting his chair backwards. Angel, meanwhile, let loose another heavy sigh as his breathed out in the time he had from Hannah’s bosom shifting off his face again just slightly.

“I’m sure it’ll be on again soon, umph!” Hannah fell on top of him again. With great difficulty and much wriggling, he managed to move Hannah off from his mouth again, just barely. “But getting the lights back on again quickly would be a good ideUMPH.”

Marcus uneasily stood up, and stumbled as carefully as he could towards the room’s entrance. He didn’t make it halfway across the room before he suddenly stopped – his ears picking up a most unusual sound. The sound of something shuffling, extraordinarily quickly, growing louder, and louder, and louder…

And then in the blink of an eye, Marcus was sure he had seen it - a shape suddenly darted from one side of the door frame to the other. Coupled with the particular sound that was being made, Marcus was almost positive that it was footsteps, and that that was a person. But… who could be able to run around in the darkness like this? And why?

Upon reaching the door to the second floor balcony outside, he looked down both aisles of the corridor, seeing it as black and devoid of light as the room he was just in before. And no sign, either sight or sound, of the person who had been running. What was going on?

---

Aliquam: Tobias' Gala - Second Floor - Balcony overlooking the Dance Floor

“Yes,” Tobias said, his eyes narrowing into a frown as his eyes looked up at the tall and wide ceilings above them, and the glorious chandeliers that should have been sparkling with light but were now home to an inky blackness. “We have a generator, down in the basement. But regardless, this shouldn’t be happening.” With a grumble, Tobias walked to the edge of the balcony besides Lucien, and peered down at the sudden light that had erupted from below, courtesy of Amy’s gem. He frowned somewhat as he looked at the glowing jewel, and then towards Amy herself, before focusing his attention on the light again. It bore a respectable light, almost enough to illuminate the floor below, but still leave a considerable amount of darken crevices from where the light couldn’t reach.

“You there!” Tobias pointed at the waitress besides Syed, pointing to her and addressing both her and the Pride. It was an almost difficult job thanks to the echoing chorus of voices below, but the waitress recognised her patron’s voice immediately, and the turn of her head helped guide Syed and the others’ gaze as well. “Go with them to the basement, and make sure these lights are turned back on, immediately!”

What niether the waitress, nor the Pride would have expected upon investigating the basement, was that both the fuse and generator for the mansion's lights and electricity had been sabotaged, and destroyed beyond repair...

[Bunanigans]

Tobias' Gala - Basement
"The generator room is just through this- aah!"

The poor waitress recoiled immediately after opening the door, stepping back to allow the pride to see inside. The room of course was as dark as the rest of the mansion... except for the generator which was sparking up blindly bright arcs of electricity around itself. Luckily there was nothing which could ignite anywhere near it.

"Keep behind me," Syed muttered, stepping forward into the room. Well, his magic affording him an immunity to shocks certainly proved useful sometimes. He fiddled with the machine for a moment, muttering under his breath the entire time, while Moira simply stood there shrugging and looking like a bit of a lemon. At least, until there was a loud bang, followed by a yell from the mage, and the sparks stopped entirely.

"Ey, you ain't dead or ewt, are you?" Moira called out into the darkness.

"Nah, afraid not. And it's broken," he coughed back. Amy directed some of her light into the room, revealing him looking fine, other than the hair stood on end and startled expression. Once he had done wafting the smoke from his face he gestured towards the fuse box the waitress was now messing with, to no avail. She turned to nod at him in confirmation. "It all is." His jaw set as he back up to his feet, although his concern and dread were pretty evident on his face. Oh gods, this really was serious! "Someone did it on purpose."

"You what? Really? Urgh!" Moira exclaimed a little too loudly. Well, it looked like the party was over. Nothing like drama to make you start to sober up a little. Not that it stopped her stumbling a little on the spot. And to think, they were blaming them for ruining this party! "So... what do we do?"

Syed cringed again, looking to the others in the group. It could be anything. A sole thug, an organised group. Armed, unarmed. They literally had no idea. They might not even be here anymore. If Tobias had made such an enemy of Dylan, it was possible someone else just had it in for him. Either way, they should probably be ready for the worst, as far as he was concerned. "I don't know, how big is this place? We should probably split into groups and search for anything suspicious? And it might be an idea if we escort this lady back to the others while we're at it," he gestured again towards the waitress. "She needs to let Tobias know what we've found."

"Why does this kind of shit always happen?!" Moira grumbled as she strode back through the door and towards the stairs, throwing her arms in the air. "And never when I got me sword on me!"

[Rexcalibur]

Aliquam: Tobias' Gala - Dance Floor

As they discussed split-up plans, Amy pulled back her gem-torch to the center of the ground, squinting as she looked at everyone's faces. It really had just occurred to her that the party was indeed over and now was the time to be serious. If only things were less than dizzying. "Hey," she said aloud, cutting someone off mid-sentence. "Where's Marcus?" Everyone else but that mage had joined along the Pride's trek to the generator. He tended to be absent when things like this happen with the rest of the group, funnily enough.



Trixie bounced. "I bet he's already on some bad guy's tail! Man, he makes a way better superhero than me." She watched Syed in all awe and wonder as he managed to tinker the busted machine without getting zapped, much less dying. She always thought that guy was too cool for school. "I wanna explore upstairs!" As she exclaimed this, she hooked her arms around Aria's and Lucien's. "Boss, Sparky! You guys should come with us too!"

Before the illusionist or summoner could protest, Trixie whirled around with the two in tow and out the door they had entered. When the prankster noticed the waitress still standing there, she called out to her - "Go tell the Blue Man that the machine's busted! And we gon' find the busta who did this." - before proceeding back to the dance floor. Surprisingly the prankster managed to weave her way up the stairs without tripping over or tripping everyone else over; thankfully most dancers had moved from the center so it was easy for the Pride to maneuver.

As soon as Trixie made it upstairs, she burst right into the parlor room they had entered much earlier. "All right, this is a stickup!" she cried, pointing her fingers like they were guns. The room was illuminated by the fireplace in the back. Two women there gasped, but most others just eyed the prankster incredulously. To this Trixie eased her cop-like expression and began laughing. "Ahaha, nahhh I'm just playin- no really which one of you suckas did it!?"

[Fox of Spades]

"Now isn't this spooky?" Lucien looked right and left, eyes narrowed in suspicion. The summoner would have cracked a joke if not for Xan smacking him in the back of the head. It wasn't the time to mess around. If someone had sabotaged the generator on purpose then they had to keep on their toes and make sure no one got hurt, it was their job as guilders after all.

Amy asked about Marcus and Xan narrowed her eyes at the people around them. In this darkness, it would be hard to find him. "We were looking for him, but we haven't had any luck." Trixie, yanked both Aria and Lucien away, running up the stairs as she did so. She had the right idea, if someone had broken into the party then they needed to get to the bottom of this quickly, before anyone got hurt or before anything else went wrong.

"It'll be difficult to find him in the dark, so it might be best if we search the place. We'll run into him eventually." From what Xan had seen Marcus was probably the most experienced member of the pride, he'd be able to handle himself. "Amy," she tapped the woman on the shoulder. "I guess you'll be our light," she turned to look at Estelle. "Leader, where should be look first?"



Everyone shot them a dirty look and Lucien gave Trixie a sympathetic pat on the head.

"Kid, that's not how you handle a stickup." He yanked himself free then began strolling towards the guests. Lucien put on his most serious expression "okay, we know one of you broke the generator, yeah?" He narrowed his eyes at an offended looking lady. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way." In response he got a handbag to the face and Lucien fell on his backside his hands gripping onto his nose.

For a handbag, that thing was pretty solid! What did she carry around in it? Bricks?

One of the women shot an icy glare at the trio, lips pulled back into a scowl. "How dare you, this is something we've been looking forward to for a long time now...so before you go accusing people you better get your facts straight!" She marched towards Aria and Trixie, pointing a finger right into their faces, eyes narrowed and voice dripping with venom. "Who even invited the likes of you people?"

Lucien was scrambling to his feet. "Now, now, let's not get all murderous, please?" He popped up between the woman and both Trixie and Aria only for her to give him a disgusted look. "Accusing us! I've been preparing for this for so long. Do you even know how long it took me to pick out this dress?" She let out a frustrated yell before she began clobbering him with her handbag.

"Wondergirl--ack! Aria, requesting backup please--SAVE ME!" The summoner pleaded as he tried to fend off the woman's attacks.

[Orpheus]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala - Basement

Hmm, a busted generator. Lute frowned from his place in the sidelines where he was able to see sparks bursting out of everywhere from the machine thanks to Amy’s gem. He immediately switched to worst case scenario and assumed that this was the work of a group of people. Finding the persons responsible for this property damage was their next priority, and although the virtuoso was worried that said culprits may aim to cook up more trouble while the electricity was out, he stayed behind with Estelle to await her orders.

The light that came from the intermittent sparks hurt his eyes and Lute turned away from the generator, only to bump against Dylan. The matter artist looked fine, if not still inebriated, and he swayed from side to side. “Um, do you need a hand?” Lute steadied him by the elbow and then let go, but the young man immediately bumped against Dalia next. He sighed and gave the priestess a worried smile before listening in to Xandra’s suggestion, still staying behind the matter artist in case he fell down.

“And I could walk ahead and tell you guys if you’re going to bump against something! Kind of. I don’t reckon we could use much noise though, so my sight would be pretty limited too, sorry,” Lute ducked his head and waited for Estelle to say where they were going next. Once she decided, he’d stay near the head of the group, feeling for any disturbances… He’d just have to spot a running person, right?

[Pachamac]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala - Basement

"Psh, it's probably not even anything bar a prank," A swaying Dylan rolled his eyes condescendingly as his body swayed from side to side, his eyes resting on the destroyed generator from what little he could see thanks to Amy's light. In truth it looked more like two, or even three generators to Dylan, not that it helped much since all three of them were equally destroyed.

"Dylan?" Dalia looked to her brother with an expression of concern.

Estelle nodded after Trixie led Aria, Lucien, Moira and Syed away from the basement, the electromage using his own gifts to help illuminate their group to ascend to the second floor and the room where they had met Rose, however his light in comparison to their group and Amy's gem being duller in comparison. She then turned back to her companions including the two Sanders siblings, Lute, Amy and Xandra, and rested her eyes on the Matter Artist after Xandra asked for the swordswoman's orders. In truth, she didn't really know what to do, given they had such little here to work on other then a destroyed generator at the home of Tobias Smith. Tobias was an incredibly wealthy socialite, so it was possible that what was happening here was the work of something, or someone devious... perhaps a thief intent on robbing from the rich, but...

"Dylan," Estelle began, one finger raised to her lips as she tried to raffle through the possibilities. "Do you know of anyone who might do something like this? At Tobias' party?"

"Know someone?" Dylan replied. His speech was less slurred then it was before, but his faculties were still disoriented. "Estelle, I could give you an entire list of people who might do something like this. Aislin knows Tobias' deserves it. That man likes to play around with people and hurt them. Something like this happening at his party... he'd deserve it." Dylan rolled his eyes again as he rubbed one of his arms. "It's probably just a prank done from one of the other guests here."

"Dylan..." Dalia frowned, and Dylan, upon catching his sister's look, shook his head from side to side and frowned.

"Before you start even thinking it was me, I was upstairs in the main hall getting drunk with Amy and Moira the entire time!" Dylan scoffed. "At the same time, though... after being with Tobias and my friends in the Pride... travelling around as a Guilder... I've learnt not to take things at face value and undermine things. It probably is a prank, but... it could be something else."

"Something dangerous," Estelle added with a nod. "We should get back upstairs. See if we can find anything up there, or anyone who might know something. Rose and Simon said they were going to talk to and control the crowd on the main hall, right? We should see if anyone's learnt anything... and talk to Tobias too. A fancy rich place like this... it wouldn't surprise me if someone planned to steal from here."

"Talk to Tobias?" Dylan sputtered with disgust. "Oh joy."

[Bunanigans]

Tobias’ Gala - First Second floor
"Wondergirl--ack! Aria, requesting backup please--SAVE ME!"

"So you run off without us and then get into a fight? Atta boy." Moira wooped as she entered the room somewhat clumsily. Of course, Trixie's speed and Moira's lack thereof meant they arrived a little later than the others. "I'm pissed you didn't wait!" She didn't make any move to help him, however.

"What's going on?" Syed asked with concern, his face uplit by the brilliant light he held. The other constantly moved in tiny, discreet movements above the lightsource. It was lightbulb taken from one of the wall lamps on the way up, the bottom wrapped in his tie to protect himself from the heat. Just as long as he was careful with the amount of electricity he fed into it, this should fair pretty well. Even if it was just a cheap knock-off of Amy's ability.

"These... these imbiciles are accusing us of being common vandals!" the woman screeched, still smacking Lucien around with her bag. And by heck, did that bag hit hard. It looked heavy as hell, and the expressions of the others in the room which were visible were mostly cringes. "What would any of us be doing in the basement?!"

Syed cringed. He looked down to Trixie, with her hands still poised like guns, then to poor, battered Lucien. Ah. If his hands were free, he would be making calming gestures at her. But since he was just keeping up his cast he had to do without. "I'm sorry for the hassle," he said with a quick bow of his head. "We can be a bit too enthusiastic sometimes. Please... please just stop hitting my friend, yeah?" He then began to pace around Moira a little, trying to view as much of the room as he could with the poor lighting and his short leash.

However as he passed Trixie, he paused for a second to bend down and speak quietly into her ear. "These people might still be witnesses, you know?" He gave her a quick smile, before standing back up straight.

Moira decided to stand by the door. Partly to guard it and keep an eye out, and partly because the fire in the room made her feel far too hot. She sighed heavily, leaning against the small podium which sat beside the doorway. How the fuck they were supposed to find anything suspicious in a place like this, she didn't know.

[Rexcalibur]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala - Basement

Amy's brows contorted as Dylan spoke. She may have been a bit too drunk for any proper investigations or exploration, but Dylan's outward hate for this man was beginning to bug even her at this state. While she knew a hefty amount of pigs she could make similar comments about, she never knew Dylan to be that type of person. Yes he had his freak-out moments, but she never thought there'd be another person in the Pride with nearly as much irrational hate towards someone or anyone, as much as she had.

Because of this momentary distraught, the light within her gem flickered a few times to match her dizzying focus, though it brightened steadily again once she caught herself. She coughed. "I'll lead us out of here, then." No longer wanting to wait around any longer, Amy eased her way back to the basement entrance (using the walls as her guide) and led what remained of the Pride out of the room.

With the door of the parlor room upstairs wide open, the screams and shouts going on were easily audible once Amy and co reached the dance floor again. Not that it bugged the cleric. They made their way back towards the tables outlining the bar room, and once Tobias was back in sight Amy stopped walking. She twisted her lips, and held her gem so that both parties were equally visible to one another. But like hell she was going to be the one to speak to him. Or to anyone else, for that matter. She eyed the guests that stood by, too illuminated by her gem, as the spoke to one another in hushed voices and looked back to the Pride warily. From the onset it seemed like none of them were aware of what was going on either.

[Crescendo]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala

Somehow Aria managed to make her way up the staircase without tripping and falling while being dragged by a very enthusiastic Trixie, a rather impressive feat considering it was both pitch black and that she was very much drunk off her feet. She could barely discern who the other person with them was, but eventually made out the outline of a panda hat through the gloom that revealed it to be Lucien.

She watched with a drunken smile as Trixie held up the room, supported by Lucien whose efforts were quickly rewarded by a handbag to the face. She winced along with the other guests in the room at the resounding smack that echoed- what on earth was the woman carrying in her handbag?

Moira and Syed followed in shortly, the latter carrying a light, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be a lightbulb. The handbag wielding woman didn’t seem to hear Syed over her own shrieks about being falsely accused by someone who would wear a panda to a gala, and instead Aria stepped up, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder with a smile and trying hard not to slur her words.

“Assault’s hardly a good way of proving innocence, no?”

The woman turned back to glare at whoever had dared to touch her, only to reel back with a scream at the sight of a tall faceless mass leering down at her. Another blink and the figure was gone, replaced by a giggling Aria who tugged Lucien back to safety.

“I’ve rescued the princess!” She struck a victorious pose, before eyeing the gasping woman with a wide smirk on her face. “Aaaaanyways, do any of you know anything about the blackout? Seen any suspicious creepers? Or funny looking people with pliers or wire-cutters or whatever weird things can break generators?”

[Orpheus]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala – Second Floor

As the lot of them was exiting the basement Xandra approached Lute and suggested that the two of them be the ones to explain what had happened to Tobias, so they separated from the group whose remaining members headed back to the dance floor. Even if Amy and Dylan were tipsy, Estelle and Dalia would have enough help from Simon and Rose gathering potential testimonies and keeping the crowd under control.

“Careful there. Uh, excuse me?” Although it was quiet near the staircase, Lute managed to employ his abilities so that he and the metallurgist found their way to Tobias. He could see Amy’s light from below the balcony, and the cleric herself had a steely expression on her face as she stared up at them. The virtuoso gave the woman an awkward salute as if to say ‘we’ll do the talking’ before turning towards the aristocrat. Murmurs rose from the crowd of curious onlookers that gathered near the two members of the Pride, each and every one obviously hoping to hear what they had to say about the incident.

“Hope your family jewels are under the traditional lock and key. Someone bashed your trusty generator to bits, so we can’t get it working. Sorry,” Lute glanced at the crowd and smiled. “Oh, and don’t worry. They won’t hear a thing,” He smiled apologetically when Xandra affixed him with a critical stare at having divulged those information so ‘carelessly’.

[Fox of Spades]

Dylan and Amy didn't seem to like the thought of talking to Tobias, but Estelle's suggestion made a lot of sense. If anyone was after Tobias or his riches, then it would be best to inform him before anything bad happened. The prevention was always better than the cure.

Xan nodded her head at the wobbly matter artist and grouchy looking cleric. "Don't worry, we'll handle it." She gave Estelle a salute, then disappeared up the stairs with the virtuoso. Whatever he was doing, they managed to avoid stepping on people's toes, and it was very useful. The duo finally made their way to Tobias and Lute began to explain the situation. She nodded her head before focusing on Tobias. "Someone did it on purpose, but what we don't know is the motive behind it." Xan was straight to the point and business-like. "It could range from anything to a prank, someone out for revenge, or something a lot more dangerous."

Her eyes flitted to the guests below, "do you have any guards? We don't know how dangerous the person who did this could be, so it'd be best to have someone looking out for the guests." One of the worst case scenarios that plagued the metallurgist's mind was the chance of a hostage taking. That didn't seem to be the case, since they hadn't struck yet, but it was always good to have one's guard up. "The person could be after you as well. I suggest you stay in crowded areas with people you trust." She pointed towards the guilders below. "Also, would you mind telling us if you knew anyone who possibly wanted to get even with you? That's our leader down there, and any information you could provide would really help us out."

---

Syed managed to calm one of the women down and Aria managed to scare off the other one.

The summoner sprang to his feet and practically rushed behind the illusionist, turning her into a human barricade. He gave both Aria and Syed a thankful look. Thank the gods for friends like them. "Thank you, that bag weighed like bricks." Aria struck a silly pose and Lucien took the opportunity to catch his breath. "I-I'll just hang back with the boss." Surely, none of those women would attack them now. The boss was the toughest person he knew so rushing towards her with nothing but a handbag sounded like a suicide mission.

"Boss, it looked like you were having a blast." He grinned from ear to ear. "You had all the eyes one the dance floor on you." He nodded his head enthusiastically. "You'll need to pass some of your skills on to me sometime." Lucien was sincerely impressed. Then again, almost everything Moira did impressed him.

Aria began asking questions and one of the guests spoke up. "Nothing suspicious here," he frowned. "We were just talking about our latest projects when the lights died. Whoever did this is pretty terrible. We've all been waiting for this for a long time."

[Bunanigans]

Second Floor - Parlour Room
"Course everyone was lookin' at me," Moira smirked at the summoner, actually doing a decent job of keeping her voice down for once. "I got the moves, kid! I'll show you when we sorted this shit out. All the kids are doing the arse shaking one, you know-"

Syed was stuck in that awkward position where he wanted to laugh at Aria's princess comment, but the situation deemed such a move pretty much unacceptable. As such he wore an odd expression on his face, like he was really desperate for the toilet. He was quite thankful for Moira and Lucien to give him something to put his mind off it. "Focus, you two," he interrupted quietly, nudging Moira with his foot in lieu of his hands.

"Nothing suspicious here. We were just talking about our latest projects when the lights died. Whoever did this is pretty terrible. We've all been waiting for this for a long time."

Nice to see their priorities were straight - something had been vandalised and their first thought was how it inconvenienced them. Nonetheless the lightbulb dimmed a little to mirror Syed's dissapointment. Well, if they were all in the room the whole time, perhaps it wasn't a suprise that none of them knew anything. Not to mention the chance that the perpetrator might have never went up to their floor. It would have been increadibly difficult for them to make their way from the basement all the way up here...

This would all be a lot easier if they knew why.

"I did hear something," came a new voice. Another man sat close to the door, who seemed to be enjoying the view of a certain illusionist. "I'm not entirely sure what it was. A rapid shuffling noise, I suppose, from the balcony." He gestured towards the doorway, which lead back where they had come from. "I'm quite afraid I didn't catch a glimpse of whatever it was."

"What the fuck...?" Moira grumbled, looking very much confused. Shuffling? Syed similarly exchanged looks with the others, his eyebrows creased slightly in thought and a good helping on concern. What an odd description. It sounded very bizarre indeed.

What the hell were they supposed to be looking for?!

"Well, it ain't gonna catch itself," Moira said finally, grasping a hold of a small table to help her keep steady. A vase on top of it wobbled about dangerously as she did so. "Fuckin' hell I'm too drunk for this..."

[Pachamac]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala – Second Floor: Balcony overlooking the Ground Floor/Dance Hall

Tobias’ eyes rose grimly from his perch against the balcony, raising another glass of his favourite champagne to taste. His irritation at the inconvenience this blackout was causing to his party was palpable, and the fact that it hadn’t even yet been resolved was grating worse. Why on Ddaear hadn’t his servants fixed this yet? Why had this even be allowed to happen!

“Uh, excuse me?” A voice called from over his shoulder, and the patron turned slowly to look, his arms still resting on the banister. Before him was Lute and Xandra, illuminated gloomily by the bare light a floor below by Amy’s gem. As Lute and Xandra approached him, Amy, Estelle, Dylan and Dalia crossed the dance floor towards Rose and Simon, who began to relay what information they had gleamed from the party goers to the Guilders. The information being… nothing of merit.

“Hope your family jewels are under the traditional lock and key. Someone bashed your trusty generator to bits, so we can’t get it working. Sorry,” Lute explained, and Tobias’ brow twitched. This man thought it was an appropriate time for jokes?

"Someone did it on purpose, but what we don't know is the motive behind it." Xan was straight to the point and business-like. "It could range from anything to a prank, someone out for revenge, or something a lot more dangerous. Do you have any guards? We don't know how dangerous the person who did this could be, so it'd be best to have someone looking out for the guests."

"The person could be after you as well. I suggest you stay in crowded areas with people you trust." She pointed towards the guilders below. "Also, would you mind telling us if you knew anyone who possibly wanted to get even with you? That's our leader down there, and any information you could provide would really help us out."

“Excuse me?” Tobias finally pulled back from his perch, and walked towards the pair, his eyes narrowing as he towered over them and looked down. His lips curled into a snarl at both Lute and Xandra, not certain on whom to focus his irritation on first. The nerve of these strangers, to impose suggestions on him! Who even were they? “What do you think you’re doing or saying? Who are you, to think you may take charge of my mansion and party, or to make suggestions of me? You’re Dylan’s friends, right? ‘Guilders’? That does not give you permission to butt your nose into anything you like, and as I recall I did not give any of you permission to do anything.”

His frown grew larger.

“As far as I know, *this*” His hands dramatically outstretched to emphasise the darkness surrounding them. “Could be because of you all. I know every other guest here, and well enough to know they wouldn’t dare have the telemetry to try something like this. But you people…” His thoughts flashed back to their embarrassing and interruptive display on the dance floor. And now, this group of preposterous children and their nerve to force themselves in charge of this blackout…

He tsked and turned without finishing what he was saying, and walked away from the pair, heading towards his private rooms, his interest in talking to either Guilder now since departed. The effort to do so too great to be spent utilised on arrogant people such as them. Saying that, the blonde haired blasé youth had mentioned something that was worth considering, and that was his fortune. What if this blackout was the work of thieves? It would not surprise him. Being one of the most wealthy men in Aliquam, he had attracted numerous instances of aspiring break-ins and robberies. Nothing to have ever occurred during a gala, however, or involve a blackout. He passed several servants, and ordered them to be on the lookout and to inform his guards to patrol the perimeter.

But he didn’t walk further then twenty feet away from Lute or Xandra, or take more then one foot up the next flight of stairs to the third floor, when suddenly a tinkering sound echoed beside his feet. The sound of something being dropped and rolling, a sound repeated throughout the Mansion. Tobias angrily looked down, his eyes widening at the peculiar blurred shape rolling to his feet. His eyes squinted, trying to make it out, when suddenly his entire vision was enveloped in white.

Bright flashes repeated one after the other. A chorus of startled, panicking and blinded screams shrieked from every patron and guest of Tobias’ infamous gala, the darkness rescinding into white, blinding light.

A figure darted past the swearing Tobias, across the room where Trixie and Moira’s group was in, snaking around the dizzy Lute and Xandra, to effortlessly jump up onto the edge of the balcony’s barrister, and hop off it, leaping with no effort at all across the distance to one of Tobias’ magnificent chandeliers and gripping onto it, the priceless heirloom swaying side to side until it grew accustomed to the figure’s weight. The strange figure’s hands reached into its coat, pulling out two small, thin rods that he snapped the ends of upon, and dropped them to the ground below. Compared to the earlier flash grenades, these two devices retained a constant light slightly brighter then Amy’s gem, enough to illuminate most of the Main Hall, but still allow deep shadows to submerge great parts of it.

The figure looked down over its confused, hapless and panicking audience, and a low muffled laugh of delight escaped its mirthful head.

This was so exciting!

[Bunanigans]

Tobias' Gala - 2F Parlour Room
Clink clink clink.

Moira was the first to notice it, positioned where she was and halfway through heaving herself away from the table and towards the door. It rolled through Syed's shadow and under his feet, before finally coming to a rest in the middle of the room, well illuminated by his light.

"What the fuck is-" she started, while Syed could do nothing but widen his eyes in suprise.

There was a muted bang as the flash grenade detonated, and suddenly screams erupted pretty much everywhere. The noise in the room pretty much drowned out any chance to hear the footsteps of the figure shooting past outside. Fuck! The flash was so bright she could still feel it burning her retenas. She pushed her fists against her eyelids in an attempt to lessen the pain. She couldn't see jack shit! She heard the sound of breaking glass as Syed must have dropped the bulb in shock, but as for everyone else...

She felt something touch her, and immediately swung out. She felt her fist collide with an arm wait shit that was Lucien, judging by the yelp. Woops. "Shit! Urgh!" she exclaimed in place of actually apologising. "What's going on?!"

"Lucien? What happened?" Syed called out, similarly recognising his voice. Syed's own voice sounded strained as he attempted to keep his own panic under control. "Trixie?! Aria? You two okay?"

The pain lessened fairly quickly thankfully, although her eyes were now watering like no tomorrow. Moira fumbled blindly, attempting to locate the wall to give her at least some bearing as to where she was. What she got was a second smashing noise, this time of pottery. Oh, um. Double woops.

That was when she felt the all-too-familiar sensation of the hair on her arms and the back of her neck standing on end with static. Clever boy, that one. It was brief, however, before she heard the sound of hesitant footsteps as Syed attempted to locate the two girls. He had managed to locate Trixie at least, and held her hand as he guided them both towards where he hoped Aria was. "Aria?"

Moira blinked rapidly. Well, the white was just beginning to fade to the point where she was starting to be able to tell the difference between light and dark again, but since the room was so dark she still couldn't see shit beyone a couple of vague shapes. They needed to get on the balcony, if something was happening they needed to be there. It was pretty unlikely anything would happen in this room after all. "Come on!" she exclaimed, turning around and walking smack into a wall next to the door with a loud thud, nearly tugging Syed over with their bond as she did so.

[Fox of Spades]

Tobias didn't take their suggestions well, but there was no time for any of this.

"We don't mean to disrespect you or stall the celebration, but your guests and everyone here could be in danger." Xan turned to Lute, hoping the virtuoso would back her up and try to make Tobias understand the gravity of the situation. However, the young man didn't like their suggestions and grew even more upset. "It's our job to look out for people," her eyebrows creased in irritation when Tobias suggested that this was their fault, and Xan decided to keep her mouth shut. They didn't have time for this.

The young man began walking away and Xan sighed, "I guess we'll need to find information somewhere else, Lute."

A clinking sound filled the room as something rolled past their feet. "What--?" Before she could get a closer look, the world went white and ringing filled her ears. There was the sound of flash bangs going off throughout the mansion followed by a chorus of frantic screaming. Xan stumbled around blindly, pressing the palm of her hands into her eyes. If felt like she had been smacked upside the head. "Lute?" She felt around for her fellow guilder before pretty much stumbling into the railing. Xan blinked repeatedly until the whiteness faded away, her eyes felt hot and the people around her appeared as if nothing but dark smudges.

The dance floor was now illuminated by thin rods, but she couldn't see anyone suspicious down below. Her mind began going through all the possible things that could go wrong just as the chandelier began to creak, and she prayed to the gods it hadn't been rigged to fall.

---

First there was a blinding flash of light, and after that there was a yell followed by a heavy fist to the shoulder.

Lucien crashed into the wall, disoriented and sore. His head pounded, he was blind, and his ears rang. He felt the urge to throw up before falling onto the floor. The room had erupted into screams and a part of him wondered if they were being attacked by Terrorists. He could hear Syed and Moira yelling. The young man blinked over and over, his eyes stung badly and it was impossible to tell anything apart in the darkness so he remained on the ground for a good thirty seconds, eyes screwed shut and hands over his head."Something attacked me," he grumbled. In his confusion he didn't really know it was Moira, though he heard her yelling.

The summoner pushed himself to his feet staggering like he was drunk. "What's going on?" He rushed towards the blurry figures that seemed to be Moira and Syed. It was good those two always managed to stand out. He followed them out the door only to hear even more screaming.

[Orpheus]

Aliquam: Tobias’ Gala – 2F Balcony

Tobias was a snooty boobclump and Lute didn’t like him.

Both the virtuoso and the metallurgist wore the same straight-faced, tight-lipped expression as the man railed about the blackout, even going to far as to imply that he believed the Pride had something to do with it. When he finally walked away the Guilders shared a look and Lute nodded. There wasn’t anything else for them to do here, so he let go of the soundproof barrier surrounding the two of them before… Wait. “Do you hear that?” The virtuoso’s eyes were unfocused as he listened to a strange muffled sound emanating from different points in the adjacent room. Xandra seemed to notice it too, so when she tilted her head to look at something on the floor Lute followed suit and knelt down to inspect it, and that was when…

“Oh for the love of-!” Lute’s howls were an involuntary addition to the cacophony of screams and hysteria that was caused by the flashbangs. However, he regained his bearings and stayed still, gathering the noise from all around to check for any suspicious activity. The people in the adjacent room were panicking and several pairs of heels kept clacking against the floor, which made his tracking efforts more difficult than it should be. However, he picked up a trail- wait, it was gone- but there it was again! How fast could this creature be?! Lute ‘saw’ something move about, its steps faster and more precise than those of the crowd inside. However, a large mass crashed down and the noise it caused washed over the already elusive trail Lute was following, causing the virtuoso to scowl before trying again. Before the virtuoso could expend any more effort, the owner of the light feet had zipped past him and over the balcony but he was too disoriented to react.

Xandra tottered away from the virtuoso and he followed her in alarm. Lute managed to grab her arm before she tipped against the railing and then up too, feeling a teeny bit better now that the colors underneath his eyelids were starting to fade away. “Can you see what’s happening, miss Xandra?” The man wiped his eyes and blinked. “Because I can’t. I shouldn’t have knelt down, ugh,” Lute spat the last part out after squinting at the floor below. Looks like he was still out.