A Lowly Wretch

The Hourglass Order

---

What words they had traded she shared not with the others, not yet at least. Wu Long had a plan and it seemed it was now set in motion. For now however she needed to keep those in her charge alive for the time being.

_

When the cold crept over them it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"It seems the hidden are being followed and the followers are also followed." Her eyes glanced conspiratorially over to the rest of the students still together.

"Those of us who are knowledgeable in moving unnoticed should follow the one who follows the followers, with stealth of course. The rest of us will follow you few, distantly but not so much so that we are unable to help should the ones we follow catch you following."

She glanced back and forth across the rest of the crew to see what they made of this plan. It wasn't a safe choice but she gathered it was extremely unlikely for these ones to opt for the safer choice here.

Even still, this far along into the brewing dispute of global powers over this territory the time for proactivity was nigh. If they didn't act now they would be acted upon instead.

Caution favors the strong and they were anything but.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

"On that, we are in agreement. They will need saving." The dragon's human form rushed forward and Trypano was already on the move herself. "We are in broad agreement and can table this for later." They emerged into the blinding light of the afternoon sun reflecting off of the stark white snow. Already, a massive chunk had broken off of the mountain's glacier and was sliding downwards.

_
So it was they set forth, Trypano the binder and Wu the Lung, to save the people trapped atop the perilous mountain.
As a result of the explosion much of core foundation was shaking, From the high up peaks much of the ice and rocks were now breaking.
It was decided that Trypano would catch any rubble that would slip through the barrier Wu Long would maintain.

She ran to and fro, saving many people on the extreme ends of the path.
From the old and weak to the young and strong Trypano saved many with great help from Wu Long.
They were well on their way to sparing these people the mountain's wrath.

One soul laid in the smoldering snow, crumpled in a heap with a smoking hole in his chest.
The young mage named Rikard was burnt from head to toe but that wasn't even the worst hit as his bones were crushed, his organs bled and his chest had a crown imbedded in it.
Trypano had a lot of work in store to save this one and little time to rest.

_
Examining his condition it appeared the heat that the crown underwent left it hot enough to cauterize the wound it left. He wouldn't bleed out, at least not from there. It was his insides that needed more luck as the force of the shockwave had ruptured a fair amount of the softer tissued organs. It was a miracle he was still alive really.

She began reconstruction of the cell walls while breaking down blockages and administering anesthetics directly into his system. Even if his manas wanted to stop her from doing what she wanted to him in the state he was in it would be struggle for them to even try. once his circulatory track was patched she considered defibrillation but figured he'd had enough electrocution and decided to inject him with adrenaline instead. With that kick to his system his heart got to beating again but there was another issue: The crown had punctured a lung.

Acting fast to make sure he didn't drown in his own blood she opened a pathway for his lung to drain. One functioning lung was better than two so long as the other one didn't start spitting blood back up into the respiratory system. The mountain was continuing to scatter forth rocks however so this would have to do. Her help might not of fixed what was wrong completely but he was now flush with enough opioids to make a poppy farmer's jaw drop.

_
What came after was little more than the tail-end of the avalanche, fewer rocks rolling at fewer people as most others were plucked from the snow by her hand and sent off while all others had fled. Once she was finished she had to return and finish the work she had started on Rikard. Finally removing the dented crown which was most surprisingly intact from the steaming hole in his chest she was able to seal the wound, getting to work returning his lung to working order. After that it was a simple matter of knitting his bones back together and running cleanup to make sure no embolisms start making their way up the stream.

Within a few minutes he was able to return to his feet, fueled largely with painkillers and adrenaline to make up for the overall battered condition of his body. She wrought crutches from some local branches together using her binding and continued on with Wu Long to go see what had become of the main dispatch crew that had accompanied them up here.

It appeared Ingrid and those in her company were alright, although they still appeared to be in something of an argument even though the mood wasn't terribly sour towards the focus of their topic.

Meanwhile in her purse a neat old trinket now sat, far from pristine, along with a couple of slimes of varying color and quality.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

@Force and Fury - I personally feel that Discord works well for ooc decision-making but I enjoy writing up forum posts more myself.

The Hourglass Order

---

Meanwhile during Trypano's interview.

"So that brings us to present time." She finished her recollection of the combat. " I note that some of the culprit's were killed before they could be interrogated. If at all possible I would be interested in investigating the corpses to determine the nature of their deaths."

Zihan's eyes narrowed. "It was a classic coverup imposed from above, but with extremists like these, I'd be surprised if they weren't prepared to die for the cause." She gave nothing away about her suspicions of this abnormally tall woman. If she was, indeed, working with the enemy, then it was a queer choice to employ someone who stood out so profoundly - who, by her very nature, was likely to draw undue amounts of suspicion. The Lieutenant shook her head. truth be told, she did not actually trust their own Red Menders, and the Watchful Eyes were known to be secretive. This could be a worthwhile test of loyalty and she could slip someone into the coroner's after hours easily enough. There was one problem.

"Translator," she said in Retanese, "leave us. My Avincian will suffice for this conversation." The mousy-looking woman bowed and removed herself immediately. Zihan lowered her voice, switching to a tongue she seldom used. "I be honest wiss you," she began, "You will get ze attention. I will like to work wiss you, but you need some...." She struggled to recall the word. "Illumion?" No, that wasn't right. "...Illustion?"

"Ah, you mean some form of magical obfuscation so I can move undetected. Yes, that would be useful. Unfortunately none of the other students invited here are particularly skilled illusionists as far as I'm aware, nor do I believe they could execute a stealth mission consistently." It was an honest assessment of their qualities. With this group in particular subtlety was not their strong suit. The very fact that she's detected Yalen liberally using command magic, a closely kept secret of the church, was evidence enough of that truth.

"The only method I have of moving around hidden, more or less, would be this substance I was sold by a vendor in this city." She presented the powder to Zihan. "I know from practice that it is difficult to enact magic upon a subject with high RAS as the manas will contest outside influences. Either the killer struck from the outside, was so much stronger that their inherent protections couldn't resist it or there was something placed inside that detonated from within." She listed each possibility for her consideration. "Given the nature of the ovoid device Yalen discovered It's a possible consideration that something of a similar make could have been used to silence the prisoners."

Zihan took a moment to examine the small jar. She nodded and returned it. "I do not know what you saying. Afince is not to my first language, but zis is guǐ huā - ghost flower. It will to work." She then listened to Trypano's further analysis, unable to make very much sense of it, but she picked up on a handful of key words. It was not necessarily safe to use a translator. "Yes," she more or less guessed, "Zis is ze big problem. Maybe he is too strong. Maybe zere is some ozer way. I not to know. 1:00 late zis night. You come ze station, back door, wiss ze blue light." She put on a big smile and made a show of some quick pleasantries before the separated.

"1:00 past midnight. Understood." Seeing as her words came across largely piecemeal she kept her response brief, bidding her farewell and returning to the central room.

It was a plan. Not terribly sophisticated or airtight but something more than nothing.

Or it was a setup. No gain without risk after all.

It was a small walled compound not particularly far from the palace district. The stones were white, the pillars red, and roof greenish-black. There were two guards by the front gate and two more patrolling about. Trypano was somewhat sure that she could make out a faint blue glow from around the western side of the building, towards the back. That would likely be her entry point. The question was: try to sneak in unannounced, or check in at the gate. Zihan's instructions had not exactly been clear.

Trypano approached the compound in the dark of night. Having used her free time in the wait from the point the plan was made to now she had synthesized some more of the powder, keeping the original blend plentiful for the time so she can study it further back home. On top of that she replicated a hegelan mana potion using samples familiar to her such as the shot she was given and the stoneskin breed she's been cultivating. Just an emergency brew to give her a higher RAS should this all suddenly turn for the worse.

Given that Zihan could not trust even her own translator it was evident that she should keep the number of entities in the know to a minimum. After all, even if she announced her presence she would still be an intruder over in the morgue. With that in mind she had applied the dust before the compound was in view. It.... Worked? Sorta? It was a bit like wearing glitter that bent the light of surfaces it covered. Anyone who looked on at where she was standing would be able to tell something was there simply due to how messed up the image cast around it appeared, not to mention the difficulty in both covering herself completely in it and trying to keep it adhering to her meant that small bits and flecks would inevitably bleed through.

This wasn't meant to completely vanish her. This was a tool that would largely serve to conceal her from the eyes of people not looking for her. All the same she was no stranger to following the lackluster plans of the eager. If she was so foolish as to have complied with Desmonds ill-planned schemes then she had no right to call this one any worse in merit.

Sticking to the darkness and shadows she skirted around the periphery of the compound until the door she sought was in clear view. She kept distant, watching the patrol patterns of the guards around the building, getting a feel for their timing while also scanning for other nearby lifeforms in the facility ahead. No sense playing it safe just to walk in on the occupants.

With her preparation, equipment, and abundance of caution, it proved (perhaps) surprisingly elementary for Trypano to slip into the compound. She found the door beneath the blue lantern unlocked and the hallway beyond empty and white-walled. One of the doors was open, leading down into a basement. It was easy to feel the aura of cold emanating from it. This would be Trypano's final opportunity to rethink her calculated risk.

If she had second thoughts about the operation then it would have been before her trespass. She was in the lions mouth, so to speak, so it was time to poke about. She scanned the halls as she passed them, taking in the compositions of matter in her presence as she approached the open door to the basement. With one of the doors open the risk of there being someone currently inside grew higher. To reduce noise emissions she slipped off her red shoes and tucked them away into her purse. It would suffice for now, though there was more she could do to diminish her presence. There was also the cold to consider. She figured it was unlikely to be a result of enchantment which left either magic use as the source of the cold or the more likely probability of this location storing ice to keep the ambient temperature low for enhanced corpse preservation.

All things considered she quietly pressed on into the basement.

"Wasn't so hard, was?" came Zihan's voice, just above a whisper. She was in the morgue, below ground, kept cold both by its position and by large blocks of ice mixed with sawdust. Her magic was now helping cool those blocks. At signs of Trypano's investigation, she smiled. "You are curious. Yes, I use ze magic make cold again. Some people come do zis sing a few of time each day." She paused, as if sweeping for magical energies, and slid out four of the bodies on the shelves. All were missing their heads. "Now we use zis curious, right? We go to working."

Trypano nodded. She went over to the four bodies and performed an initial sweep, scanning for materials both organic and otherwise present in their forms. Being able to identify unnatural materials present in their bodies might hint at what was used to remotely detonate their heads. "When the bodies were collected, did you have time to review their belongings?" She spoke quietly, just enough to be heard but no louder.

There did not appear to be anything manmade in the four bodies, but there was something odd about their manas. Trypano knew quite a bit about manas, after all. The colonies were starting to die off now - that process usually took a couple of days - but there were signs of agitation beforehand: the sort that usually appeared when they were fighting off invasive manas. All four of the corpses, despite the differences in their colonies' densities and types, showed near-identical signs. The precise nature of the disruption was less familiar to her, however.

"There are foreign manas in the bodies." She commented as she analyzed the dead. "It is possible they were injected with mana that allowed control from the exterior." With that said she cut into the body with binding, forming a perfect, traceless incision from which she extracted a sample of the dying manas, collecting it into a bottle. "I am going to try and revivify the foreign manas and identify their qualities. If we can learn what they are it might be possible to trace the magic they are receiving commands from through them." With that said she began the process of rejuvenating the blood, breaking down the dead cells and using the material to build up the remainder of the colony before necrosis can set in.

It did not take Trypano long to realize that the invasive manas were not normal. They were... yes, it was rather obvious now, but scientific diligence needed to be maintained. They were from a mana slime: an ingested one. She did not recognize the type upon cursory study but, once the rump colony was rebuilt, she was able to use some arcane magnification to observe its qualities: volatility in bonding with other manas, a reddish colour, and... glycerol... nitric acid... She could guess at it or she could ask Zihan, who had been leaning against the arch at the base of the stairs, arms crossed, but had now come up beside Trypano to lean in inquisitively.

It was an interesting specimen. Not a free mana but a mana slime. "This appears to be the remnants of a mana slime, one that appears volatile when bonded with other manas. There are also traces of glycerol and nitric acid, to count a few." She then turned to Zihan. "Are you familiar with mana slimes? Are there varieties local to this region perhaps?" With everything to consider this seemed to strike her as a possible suicide capsule setup. It would depend on the speed of the reaction but hypothetically a slime sealed in a capsule could have been broken free, resulting in the explosive reaction that took place in their head.

Just one of several working theories for her to consider.

As Trypano listed its qualities, Zihan's expression grew increasingly uneasy until she took a handful of steps back. "We have ze name for zis sing," She said cautiously, shaking her head. "红色杀手" She paused. "Like... ze red killer. It is very rare. It is not grow close wiss ze city." She continued to eye the reconstituting slime warily. "I would stop to put it back togezer. I am not ze scientist, but one small change, I sink it will to..." She didn't know the word, so she trailed off and mimicked an explosion with her hands and voice. She furrowed. "Strange..."

"Interesting..." Trypano commented, sealing the marked vial with the partial colony within, containing it for the time being. It would make for a useful sample to replicate back in the breeding chambers. "For the time being any known breeders or distributers of this slime colony should be interrogated to get a glimpse of who they've distributed these to. At least now we know what to look for next time we capture any agent of the traveler so we might be able to disable it before they can kill themselves."

Zihan blinked and nodded thoughtfully, reaching for the vial expectantly. "Zere is not need for zis," she clarified. "Zis slime is not allowed live in ze city." She shook her head. "If he is sell in ze city, is illegal. Zis slime come from BaiLong Shan or in ze Nors." She furrowed her brow. "We must to ask ze people who lives zere." She twisted and flashed a genuine smile Trypano's way, nodding. "Sank you for zis help. You are very skilled girl."

It seemed they expected to keep the sample. A shame, but alas it wouldn't be good business to get greedy and retain something purely out of scientific interest. She did break down and reassemble the sample already. With it fresh in her mind it wouldn't be impossible to simply recreate it once Zihan left. With that in mind she passed the vial over to her. "I'm happy to have proved our value. Do let me know if you find any more evidence to analyze. In the meantime I'll head back to our lodging and check for temporal disturbances. I suspect the agent of the traveler might be using more than just invisibility to disappear."

Zihan nodded sagely. "I sink you are right. We have some of our people to look for zis sing." She paused and considered. "We would not to refuse anozer. You come back tomorrow and I can to give you ze special..." she paused, trying to remember a word. Then, her eyes lit up. "permission. Like ze badge." Zihan began putting things away and glanced between Trypano and the stairs. "I sink you will to hear ze bell in one or two minute. Leave srough ze same door you come in and you be okay." With that, it was clear that they would part.

Trypano gave an affirmative nod. With the dust still active she only had to wait until the bell was sounded before making her way out. After that it seemed the next step would be to acquire her badge of operation.

With the bell sounded she scanned for bio-signatures before making her way out. Hopefully it would be as simple as that.

And, indeed, it was for once.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

For something that she was expecting it was surprising how little she accomplished. It was like reliving the battle against Brother Wolf's crew, herself just struggling to even keep even one person alive while people are cut down left and right. All these fatal wounds looked like easy fixes for someone who was on the scene but where was she? A question she herself struggles with.

She had helped keep one person alive, admittedly they stood against an overwhelming opponent but what more she could of done still lingers in the back of her mind.

For someone who was a doctor and a binder by profession she sure was terrible at her job.

_

Oh look, an interview!

Meanwhile during Trypano's interview.

"So that brings us to present time." She finished her recollection of the combat. " I note that some of the culprit's were killed before they could be interrogated. If at all possible I would be interested in investigating the corpses to determine the nature of their deaths."

Zihan's eyes narrowed. "It was a classic coverup imposed from above, but with extremists like these, I'd be surprised if they weren't prepared to die for the cause." She gave nothing away about her suspicions of this abnormally tall woman. If she was, indeed, working with the enemy, then it was a queer choice to employ someone who stood out so profoundly - who, by her very nature, was likely to draw undue amounts of suspicion. The Lieutenant shook her head. truth be told, she did not actually trust their own Red Menders, and the Watchful Eyes were known to be secretive. This could be a worthwhile test of loyalty and she could slip someone into the coroner's after hours easily enough. There was one problem.

"Translator," she said in Retanese, "leave us. My Avincian will suffice for this conversation." The mousy-looking woman bowed and removed herself immediately. Zihan lowered her voice, switching to a tongue she seldom used. "I be honest wiss you," she began, "You will get ze attention. I will like to work wiss you, but you need some...." She struggled to recall the word. "Illumion?" No, that wasn't right. "...Illustion?"

"Ah, you mean some form of magical obfuscation so I can move undetected. Yes, that would be useful. Unfortunately none of the other students invited here are particularly skilled illusionists as far as I'm aware, nor do I believe they could execute a stealth mission consistently." It was an honest assessment of their qualities. With this group in particular subtlety was not their strong suit. The very fact that she's detected Yalen liberally using command magic, a closely kept secret of the church, was evidence enough of that truth.

"The only method I have of moving around hidden, more or less, would be this substance I was sold by a vendor in this city." She presented the powder to Zihan. "I know from practice that it is difficult to enact magic upon a subject with high RAS as the manas will contest outside influences. Either the killer struck from the outside, was so much stronger that their inherent protections couldn't resist it or there was something placed inside that detonated from within." She listed each possibility for her consideration. "Given the nature of the ovoid device Yalen discovered It's a possible consideration that something of a similar make could have been used to silence the prisoners."

Zihan took a moment to examine the small jar. She nodded and returned it. "I do not know what you saying. Afince is not to my first language, but zis is guǐ huā - ghost flower. It will to work." She then listened to Trypano's further analysis, unable to make very much sense of it, but she picked up on a handful of key words. It was not necessarily safe to use a translator. "Yes," she more or less guessed, "Zis is ze big problem. Maybe he is too strong. Maybe zere is some ozer way. I not to know. 1:00 late zis night. You come ze station, back door, wiss ze blue light." She put on a big smile and made a show of some quick pleasantries before the separated.

"1:00 past midnight. Understood." Seeing as her words came across largely piecemeal she kept her response brief, bidding her farewell and returning to the central room.

It was a plan. Not terribly sophisticated or airtight but something more than nothing.

Or it was a setup. No gain without risk after all.

After they were finished she was returned to the main room where they waited until everyone had given their testimonies. From there they were told they would be waiting until tomorrow to head down to the constabulary tomorrow to follow up on the investigation.

She simply listened on to what the others had planned. Her task was to keep them alive after all and in order to do that she needed to be aware of where they were in the first place.

Which is why it was super convenient for both Kaurera and Rikard to announce they would be going in separate directions. Great.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

Meanwhile, the night before on the Metropolis mission...

---

Pointless... How utterly pointless.

So long they spent on pleasantries and yet nearly no time was spent in pursuit of this supposed agent of the Traveller that they were supposed to assist in catching. It seemed strange enough that a largely reclusive country would invite students to solve an internal dispute with agents of the Traveller. Any country with a self sufficient government would likely have mages of their own to take care of such matters so given how placid the state of matters was this was likely a political arrangement. As such Yalen's news came as no surprise to her.

"I suspect until the traveller's agent forces their hand our 'escort' is unlikely to afford us much freedom to pursue clues."

_
Such was as much as she had to say on the matter for that night. The food was sufficient. She ate not to taste but to absorb a sufficient amount of nutrients for her body to distribute. Needless to say her meal was terminated far earlier than most of the other students who went about pursuing other matters whilst she returned to her room to wait. It was annoying to feel as useless as she felt here. Without grounding in the culture or even the language she was mostly left to support the efforts of the others, keeping her magic use minimal to avoid exposing too much of her specialties preemptively. She kept to mystical forms of scanning exclusively, waiting for a moment where her skills might be required.

Perhaps there was an eagerness to validate her art, to prove that she can do more good than harm with what she's studied. On the other hand she was quite happy with the night passing without a bloodbath. Having to demonstrate her skills publicly would put her at risk of more scrutiny and she had underwent more than her desired share of that already.

---

Meanwhile, Metropolis mission, present day...

---

It was no mystery to her that some of her team members had gone out during the night to engage in extra-judicial activities. She had that particular matter already factored into this investigation plan. What bothered her was that she was unable to keep track of them. Without means of contacting them it would have been all to easy for any one of them to have been killed without any hope of interception from the main group body. Aside from that the main consequence appeared to be that their efforts over the night left them lacking in fervor for the daytime. Rookie behavior really.

Trypano ate little and spoke even less. Small talk was for small people. She had some respect for those who could pick through the broken language of these people and gather small hints of info from it but she had her suspicions that many of her schoolmates were not conversing tactically. Alas, it spared her the time to review the details around them while they were caught up in this theater of words.

_
The land was much like a wealthy lord's trophy wife, plenty of splendor and glitter. As they say however heavy makeup conceals the bruising. She looked not for all that was good with this land for a land that was good would have no need for their ilk around. Her eyes looked to the people around them. Their guides, their guards, possibly other things concealing themselves magically. Beneath all the gold, silver, silk and armor her attention was on the meat stuffed within. Who was weary, who's pulse was higher than resting, which guards were watching and which were otherwise occupied. As an outsider she studied them as an outsider might, peering at their little lives from above, perhaps literally given her height.

Only the folders on the details of the murders they were meant to be investigating took her attention away from this. She had made a request to see the bodies themselves but it seemed they would need to receive clearance first before they'd be authorized to inspect them. Something told her that they were unlikely to gleam anything useful from the evidence by the time it would be sanitized for their viewing. She'd need to wait for a fresher corpse to inspect, something she was sure would be showing up given these recent spikes in magic activity.

_
Much rhetoric was spoken by the Exemplar Wu Long as well as the captain in regards to their own land. She listened, but in lieu of response she kept her focus on the states of those around her. Words were plenty and cheap to trade but a bullet or well placed dark bolt could shift the dynamic of this conversation drastically should they be caught unawares. Out of politeness she ate alongside the others but she did not drink and her eating was purposefully slow, taking in little while her mind remained alert. The opportunity to wax philosophically on their culture was better spared for times when other's lives were not at stake.

It seemed an incident was taking place nearby. The guards seemed uneasy but the Exemplar thought it fit to let them spectate this, perhaps as a demonstration of sorts. A flexing of their power or even a subtle warning.

Of course Kaureerah, seemingly unaware of their own situation, exclaimed in righteous shock at this. One of the others would be better fit to de-escalate this situation, she would not weigh in on this matter.

She quietly hoped her team members had a single diplomatic bone in their bodies. Having to help them survive a blood-bath against Retan's many magi would be grueling and an international incident to say the least. All attention she definitely didn't need.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

So. This was her mission...

To be sent off to yet another foreign place who's language and customs were presently unknown to her. If Zenith Upta had given them a few days to study at least a rudimentary understanding of this locale it would have given them enough to work with. As it stood she was basically dependent on the few among them who actually studied this locale. While the Zenith had sold them on the idea that the country might be seeking to deepen trade relations what this really meant was it would benefit the Academy's relations. Ultimately, securing any kind of trade benefit from this was grim.

Ugh. Here she was absorbed with thoughts of trade and commercial progress again. It all reminded her of those gods-awful family dinners where her father would talk her ear off about the one thing that stayed at the forefront of his mind: Business.

_
Going through the motions one could mistake her for a statue. She moved as they moved but that was about it. Her eyes maintained a forward focus, leading towards the destinations they were shepherded to and fro, blinking infrequently. If she was breathing it was not overtly evident, virtually no rise or fall to her chest. Her other senses were the ones taking in the information she needed. Her ears searched not for words for there were few she could really use. No, they searched through the noise, picking out each element to add to the model of her surroundings she was mentally constructing. Her manas were the ones doing the real observations however. Taking in the density and geometry of surrounding materials, evaluating their compositions, tallying both in count and in overall mass.

She stood and went through the motions as they introduced what these people probably felt were important individuals. They might of held important social roles but the only measure she was making of them was of their magical potential and equipment. Picking out the magicians of their government would likely prove important in their task in rooting out the agent of the Traveler. The chances of their target hiding in plain sight was not zero.

_
Still mechanical as ever she moved with stony gravitas, their guide making chatter with the chattier of her group-members. Such was not the case with her however. She was neither interested in what the others were saying nor in the rough Avincian of their guide as they rattled on regarding tertiary matters. The first thing to visibly grab Trypano's attention thus far however was the fact that guards had separated from their group. This seemed to be non-standard behavior. Their guide tried to write it off but in these matters it was better to assume the worst and be wrong than to do otherwise.

Nonetheless she did not act, outside of continuing on the path laid out by their guide. She was the least suitable person to pursue the answer here, both because of how little depth she had in their culture and due to the fact she was a virtual giant in these lands. She was taller than even Ingrid and most of these people barely came up past her bust. If ordinary Revidians were short by comparison to them then these people were tiny.

Needless to say there wasn't a single thing she'd be doing that would go unnoticed in this city. Better to let the others get involved and standby to aid them when necessary.

---

Involved - @dragonpiece,@Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@pantothenic,@McKennaJ71,@Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

Returning to her domicile she moved to her seat and simply sat down. The last several weeks had been a blur of activity, not even considering the events of The Trials themselves. Having only narrowly achieved her aim of accessing the tower seemed so minor after getting flung into the distant future only to witness what she could only assume was this world's demise, exposed to a wealth of different races as she was judged by a sort of time regulation service, returned to her own time, entering the tower and managing to summon forth three of the Pentad, deities in the flesh. She was made aware of a great number of truths about the world, that their world was embroiled in a sort of shadowy conflict with a race of cephalopods and a being older than even the gods. She studied much, taking that many more steps towards her breakthrough.

Sitting forward at her desk she crossed her fingers, dwelling on her plans for the coming days. Hugo's death highlighted a definite imminent pressure on her timeline. If even the most eminent mages of their time wasn't safe then no-one was. For all the time she could have spent in the tower the amount of time she was given felt as though mere seconds comparatively. Alas, it would have to suffice. In the meanwhile she needed to set herself up a lab, somewhere outside the tower that would let her practice her more advanced work in peace. Ingrid had mentioned a suitable location in the catacombs.

_
Reaching into the stone wall behind her desk, the wall's solid surface giving as though it were loose mud as she altered it's structure, she produced another vial of Yulia's blood. The time authorities had robbed her of her sample before she had the opportunity to utilize it, leaving her to believe all the more that it held significant potential. The woman had to expose some of her secrets before the gods during their meeting as well, giving more illumination regarding what it could hold.

Trypano poured a portion of the blood sample into a spare vial, marking it with another preservation mark and replenishing both samples with simple binding before returning the original sample back into it's earthen vault. She then returned the bricks to their prior state, sliding the new vial into her purse. It was foolhardy to keep the original blood samples on her person. What if she got hit by a spell and was sent to the ground, her belongings clashing with the surroundings? That would be disastrous were she so foolish as to not keep spares.

Producing a block of stone she got to work shaping a model of her workshop, a design which will see use in the near future over in her underground lair. After all, she really needed a place to keep her new mana slime acquisitions, the grounds-keeping definitely didn't appreciate having something of a mobile high-yield explosive up on campus grounds.

The Hourglass Order

---

"Just the general knowledge regarding him. Goes by Brother Lamb, blonde hair, subject to rumor of supernatural events surrounding him, things likely involving free-casting." Trypano answered back to Desmond. While he was fishing out the drawn portrait of their target Trypano delicately fished the vial they would be using out from the satchel. Her eyes had been trained on the sigil printed on the side of the vial since the moment it was seen. Now, leaning back against a lantern post she studied it with keen interest.

It was going to be a puzzle indeed, devising a way of separating this target from a sample without accruing suspicion and perhaps even resistance.

"I wonder what his personal feelings regarding Varrene's mood towards Revidia is. It has potential to inform our approach." She idly inquired, brain storming with her fellow agents, all of whom she was already acquainted with in one way or another. Given how well his last plan went she was hoping for Carmillia or Silas to take up more of the backbone in regards to forming a strategy. In the dim light she casually awaited their input, studying this lovely example of a container all the while.

---

Directly Involved: @Animus, @Tackytaff, @Th3King0fChaos.

The Hourglass Order

---

It was not an easy competition. There were scarce few with the magical skill necessary to oppose her and fewer still with any semblance of competence. That still meant that there were some that had both, a troublesome event it was.

Their pick for this leg of the race was largely irrelevant. Thankfully they were no obstacle for her, largely cooperating for the most part instead of trying to act of their own free will and inviting more trouble. She went alone for there was no need for any security in numbers. She would never have held onto a melon of any importance for any length of time in which other mages could interfere significantly.

Early on she secured the fire melon. From there she continued to hunt, her path eventually intersecting with the blind one and the timewalker. She gave them a scare, her real purpose being to secretly mark their melon for extraction later while they were distracted by her attempt at theft. With that done she left after their escape, returning to base.

During that time the supreme melon had been triggered. With Jocasta's aid she dropped down through a portal to aid Carmillia in her escape. In the chaos the melon exchanged many hands before ending up back in hers wherein then she was portalled out with surgical timing.

With that she remained at base, shoring up their melon defenses for the final hour. As anticipated others began to arrive and make attempts to breach their base, all rebuffed. Jocasta's influence seemed to wane a bit which resulted in Trypano taking on a bit of the workload but when the attackers were puppets it was off little concern. Even peasants with clubs would pose more danger to her than these lifeless husks, her magic bending their matter with little more than a whim.

Then a visitor showed up.

_
Climbing up the stairs she already knew who had turned up in their reading room. It was The Ice King, the enigmatic figure who brought the temperature down across the whole building. His presence weighed heavy, the sheer amount of magic emanating from him strong enough to make lesser mages ill. She was strong but it still weighed upon her no less.

She was a professional however. If it brought her any discomfort it was not shown as she approached and... Set up some chairs.

There was no sense in beating her head against a wall of RAS that large. Better to reason with him she figured than to strike up aggression right away.

"Ah, The Ice King, I see you've decided to come and visit. Would this be in regards to this game of fruit or perhaps a simple invitation to chat?" With that she offered him a seat.

The Ice King took a seat across from Trypano, flipping the chair around backwards and settling onto it. He did not take his eyes off of her even as Benedetto came streaking inn through the window, brimming with force and fury. In fact, he waited a full second before turning his head ever so slightly and nodding at the new arrival.
"Where are you little Jojo!" the Revidian hollered. "You can't run!" he taunted. "Haha! Literally. Time for your beating!" He stood on the spot, roiling with atomic energy and a pugnacious attitude. He narrowed his eyes in the Ice King's direction and scowled.

Trypano, seated nearby, broke the burgeoning silence. "Oh, hello Benedetto." She gave a small wave to yet another intruder. "Ice King, this is Benedetto. Benedetto, this here is Ice King. I hear he comes from very far south."

It was then that Jocasta appeared among them, out of thin air, chin resting just above her chest. She raised her head. "Ciano," she acknowledged, nodding in Benedetto's direction. "Ice King. How nice of you both to visit." She began drawing, and it was a truly massive amount of energy.

"You won't think so once I'm done with you," Benedetto replied with real venom. "I'm gonna break your legs."

As Jocasta manifested Trypano offered a courteous bowing of the head. "Ah, Jocasta. I've been entertaining some new guests." She greeted her.

"I suppose we don't have coffee brewing?" She then turned to the Ice King "I gather you'd probably want yours with ice shavings?"

With that, a triangle was formed, with Trypano seated in the center. "Trypano, my good friend," said Jocasta, "perhaps you should go see to the coffee for our guests. I have a feeling that our friend Benedict might be quite worn out by the end of our proceedings today."

The late afternoon sun blazed through the broken window, sharpened shards of glass glimmering about the floor.

For an immense moment, the four of them stood or sat there, eyes and sixth senses alike darting from one to the other.

"Of course." She gives another courteous bow to Jocasta as she stands. As she leaves the room she gives Benedetto a light pat of encouragement on the shoulder. "Don't tire yourself out now~" She winks, heading downstairs. Little does he realize (She hopes) she placed her experimental Curse of The Serpent on him, one that would grow longer the more energy gets drawn. The receiver? None other than Jocasta.

Then, all at once, Benedetto launched himself at Jocasta like a thunderbolt, closing the distance in a fraction of a second.

She saw it coming, drawing ever more from, slowing him, and effortlessly floating to the side. All that he cause was her trailing skirts. "Seems a lot like use of deadly force, Benedict," she observed. But that energy of his went to good use. If he wouldn't hold back, then neither would she.

Her Chemical attack slammed into his brain, but Benedetto was already anticipating it, countering its effects. She was predictable. He was not.

The Ice King sat on his chair, gaze darting back and forth between the combatants. His tongue flicked out for a moment, wetting his lips, but the only thing that moved was his eyes.

Benedetto brushed off Jocasta's attack and attempted to grab her ankles in a kinetic grasp and slam her into the floor.

Trypano moves back over to the Ice King. "Seems like somebody can't keep their cool."

Jocasta saw it coming. Of course he would go for her legs. Her disability was always cruel sport for his taunts. Why would it be any different for his attacks? Instead, she tried something sneaky.

Seizing the fabric of spacetime, she rushed up and grabbed him, and both of them disappeared.

_
With both of them disappeared she simply accepted that with her boon Jocasta probably had this in the bag so she went downstairs to put some coffee on.

The Ice King rose in one smooth motion. While Trypano had attempted to make conversation with him, he had been statuelike the entire time. Now he stood and stretched. He yawned and rolled his neck, going from automaton to human, and walked down the stairs.

"Your melons," he said simply. "Hand them over."

Having entered the building during the confusion Zarina heard that, just looked around, recognized any potential threats and went about her intended business. "Well, you heard the man, Melon time." she clapped her hands together and shot a grin toward Yuliya, "Does the little shit sniff anything particularly yummy?"

The cold intensified, spreading to every room available and out onto the street with crackling veins of ice. The Ice King's smile grew along with it, taking in the people on the lower floor. Justice. It echoed through his mind, such as it was. "You heard the woman.... Unless you would like to fight for them." His head tilted to one side. His teeth seemed, for a moment, far too many and impossibly small and sharp.

"Ah, still sour over that one melon you tried to steal from Carmillia?" Trypano commented, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.
"If you want that one, go ahead. The one we got away with wasn't really the supreme melon."

Yuli smiled back as she felt the cold roll in and the ice kings voice boom through the house. Oh, how sweet it was. The darkness of the home, the familiar cold of her country, and the supreme melon within reach. Through the suffering of the day, she was finally able to kick loose.

"Go, Kalyna. Sniff it out." She spoke softly to the fat raspberry in her bag, before setting her down and turning to the rest of the people in the home. Oh, how she was itching for them to refuse..

"Sour? Nah, the score's been settled." she paid close attention to Kalyna's reactions and movements, "Although it was interesting to see that your friend didn't activate the beacon when touching it!" she exclaimed with light enthusiasm, "How did she do that?"

"Actually." Trypano was putting the finishing touches on the coffee, using binding to create marshmallows sweetened with spratz instead of sugar.
"It did go off. When they found the melon they destroyed it. The melons you were all chasing were fakes." She came out into the main room with a plate, several cups of coffee with spratzmallows floating in them. "It doesn't take high RAS to outwit someone." With that she handed a cup over to Yalen and a couple of her Weggosi teammates, bringing one over to the Ice King. "Care for a cup?"

While Trypano was delivering a most excellent hero/villain monologue, the energetic little dragons had been hard at work. They showed some interest in the floor, but once again seemed indecisive, as they had back in the Cathedral District a couple of hours earlier. The dragons were inconsistent, confused. They pointed upstairs for a moment. They pointed towards the back of the house or behind it where any number of other melons could've been. They pointed at the floorboards as well. The Ice King looked at them for a moment and disassembled those. The dragons were, in general, anxious and not doing particularly well Beneath the floorboards were a couple of melon grenades, some tens, a couple of hundreds, and three terramelons. Perhaps a minute remained.

"I know where the Firemelon is if you want that one." Trypano, remarked, pulling some grapes out of the drawer Carmillia left them in.
"It's just a ways out of town. If you rush you might just be able to get back with it. Just" She took a sip of coffee. Refreshing.

"Uh-huh." Zarina absently responds, her full attention on the melons and the Ice King.

Yuli, seeing the smug satisfied look on the face of the woman who had fucked her over ever so slightly in the chase for the supreme, now attempting to distract her dragons from the search, felt her blood rush. She immediately leapt across the room in an attempt to deck the tall woman in the jaw.

Trypano simply lets the punch go through. Sinching her jaw, the pain was so mild she didn't even wince.
"... Are you done?" She sets the grapes down next to the dragon this woman nearly tripped over. "If it would please you you're free to hit me to your hearts content. It won't win you this competition however." Her expression was as cool as ever. A face no less icy than the frost on the windows.

The Ice King lifted the three terramelons into the air with kinetic magic, a triumphant look upon his face, but something odd took place: not a single one glowed, not in the slightest.

"Did I lie?" Trypano turns to the Ice King as he observed the lack of Supreme Melons in his grasp. He turns toward her and nods, a small smile creasing his lips.

Zarina, paying close attention to the red dragon, immediately marched toward the indicated route whilst the Ice King came to the sad realization that Justice wouldn't be found under the floorboards, "Here." she called out, turning back to the King and eyeing Yuliya.

Yuli breathed, the rage being only slightly softened by the frost that was now creeping in. The nerve of this cocky bitch.. how dare she? No, she didn't care about the rules at this point. A small penalty wouldn't matter if they had the supreme, and that still needed to be resolved. But with the little time she had left, she would teach her a lesson. Turning her own hearing off with her sensemaster abilities, and smiling a most vile fashion, she amplified her kinetic for just a second as she snapped her fingers in the hand she still had close to the woman's head, seeking to knock her out with the sheer force of the sound, or cause as much pain as possible. . It's a move she'd tried in the chase for the watermelon, and she felt confident in it now.

Trypano only realized shortly before it happened what the woman was trying to do. In defense she drew apart her own eardrums, letting the force rattle her head to some extent before reforming the tissue back in place.

"Ow."

Trypano used chemistry to apply morphine to the area impacted, a formula soothing the growing headache as she prepared to counter this crazy person's next attack.

Yuli was not satisfied with that response. No, she wanted to see this woman groveling on the floor. So, she'd make it happen. Drawing up to capacity, she would attempt to shove Trypano to the floor with her kinetic magic at full force.

Instead, Trypano ends up sliding on her feet, landing softly against a bed of spongy Gift of The Frog conjured behind her.
"I hope after the tournament is over you'll stop before the Zeno's come by for inspection."

Meanwhile, Zarina was rushing for the back door, the Ice King teleporting before her. Her dragons strained at their leashes. "Justice" he growled.

Carmillia stepped onto the lawn, along with Dante. The former held a single terramelon in her hands, smiling beatifically. Then, the Ice King was there. He placed his hands around the melon. "Justice," he said

In the distance was Silas. "It's her!" he shouted. "She has the supreme!"

Zarina, panicked, dashed toward the voice that called out, "Justice!" she huffed!

The Tall, frosty figure looked Silas' way. He nodded. He looked Zarina's way, meeting her eyes. He nodded. "Strength alone does not win this game." He took the melon from her hands. There was nothing that she could realistically do. He stood there as the bells began to chime.

Zarina simply nodded. She understood. "If that is what you see as just." she approached the King and then flashed a wink at Carmillia, "Good game." Then, she struck a quick, dramatic pose, "Justice!"

Yuliya breathed once more. She wanted more.. but a moment of clarity struck her as the bells begun to chime. She realized she was in front of others. She returned her hearing, and let out an awkward but obviously bitter laugh, attempting to brush off the previously violent interaction. She shouted in response to Zazzy from the lawn.

"Justice."

Trypano walks out onto the lawn, small bruise on her cheek and a cup of coffee in her hands. "Care to stay for a cup?" She wore the rare small smile.

Was her smile out of genuine appreciation for them to be able to have a civil and honest tournament amidst all this skullduggery? Perhaps.

Or perhaps it was simply due to her being impressed with Carmillia's proactiveness, going out and retrieving the ultimate herself instead of waiting on Jocasta to portal it home. Speaking of Jocasta, it was quite odd that she hadn't returned before the bell's chime.

Had she been too confident in her ability to outplay Benedetto?

---

- Directly involved: @Force and Fury,@YummyYummy,@Suicharte,@Tackytaff.