Th3King0fChaos

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Location:
Western Continent, Espia
NPDRE Outpost F-10
Date/Time:
18 April, 3030/0500 Hours
Interactions:
The Whole Crew vs. NPDRE Outpost
Gear:
SERE Kit- Tarak keeps a SERE(Survival Evasion Resistnace Escape) kit inside his cockpit incase he needs to eject and survive in the wilderness on his own for some time, he has a black hard polymer pack filled with MREs to last him a few days, a broken down Semi-automatic carbine with one 20 round magazine, a flash light, a canteen filled with 1L of water, a knife, a trauma kit to stabilize wounds and set broken bones, and a collapsible spade within it. This kit is attached to his seat to keep it from flying about and possibly causing damage while within the cockpit.

Combat gear- a white and grey camo clothing, a cooling vest able to take small arms fire and regulates his body temperature to allow for higher survivability inside and outside the cockpit, a pair of gloves, his boots, some light armoring across his body to more easily take impacts and dampen blows, and his Neurohelmet. He has a suppressed hand gun with one 20 round magazine holstered on his left leg, and on his right leg he has his Personal Cassette Player which has his "Flower's Favorites" cassette in it.

---

As Black Pheonix made its rush across firing lines, rounds flew by as its speed made most of the defense force miss their shots. As once Tarak felt the round fly by he began picking off shots with his laser weapons, melting many of the static arms quickly as he continued his maneuver. Once the rounds finally quieted down, Black Pheonix made its way around and assisted with clearing the last probable defenses. After which he made his way to the front gates where he saw the Buckshot boys were doing what they do best, scaring the shit out of anybody who is mortal. Tarak lightly nodded to himself as he saw them keeping people in line. Black Pheonix seemed to almost begin to look around, slowly scanning as almost looking for something, as the moment it saw what it was looking for, the large war machine moved towards a shipping container and went down to one knee as its hand pointed to one of the Outpost guards. Black Pheonix then gestured for the now fear stricken guard to open up the shipping container. Once it was open, the large mechanical beast began looking through as he pulls out some 'useless' items. As the Black Pheonix began going towards some of the vehicles that were not to be used, as he broke through the roofs of them and yanked out the dash boards and putting them into the shipping container, stray crates, and sometimes just larger things that he finds.

Yet the moment Desperado heard Family Man call out, Black Pheonix began moving at a speed much similar to a rushing man trying to pack as much possible into his suitcase before needing to leave for his flight he is later for. Once Desperado heard the missiles and guns fire, he looked towards the guard who is about to run and gestures to the container. The man looks to the container and then the mech kneeling next to it like a doe in head lights, as the mechs head tilts and gestures once again now with more emotion and emphasis as the man goes and closes the container. Black Pheonix gives the man a thumbs up afterward and light waves for him to shoo as the Mech begins to shift the container and drag it with him. The man watched the mech leave and ran like a child who was scared by the large biker who speaks in a near yelling voice. As the Black Pheonix moved, it made its way through and looked towards Reya and tossed her a thumbs up as he moved through the gate and out. They needed to begin their move out, they were getting passed over by aircraft, so they could possibly be expecting more force soon.

Desperado began scanning the landscape, they had much distance to cover, and things felt tense. There was no way this was it, they were just found, they needed to move, but what if they had an element patrolling. They couldn't hope this would be over with a few vehicles on a fly over going dark and then them getting away. This was a much more funded force, they would have more to work with than they do. As Desperado flicked his direct coms to Ramrod as he gave a quick, "Desperado ready, what's the move Lance Leader?"

O R I F L A M M E

---

Eye of the Storm

---

Mentions/Interaction: Vali, Twice Born @Wolfieh, Queen Astrid, Snorri, Ulf, Inga, Hrothgar the Black @Force and Fury

---

Kol watched the sea, the fog was strong and the air was cool upon the day they were to voyage. The waves in Parrence were calm and pleasant, much nicer and seemed much more giving than what Strumreef has had. Yet to him it connected Kol to his home. He sighed as he looked to the sea, it was nothing more than the sea, a home that he has known since he was able to remember. As Kol watched the sea, he saw the ebbs of the sea and knew, his home was going to be so close, yet so far, as they would pass it barely and move along the Meldheim. A reluctant sigh left Kol as he relegated himself to his task, he had to complete his mission and then make it back to the war front, his people were left to fight without him, and it made him nervous. He could feel the waves almost shake as he touched them, they were hiding their anger, and he was soon to feel them.

As they travelled, Kol knew the many things that were to come, the first few days were calm, upon nearing Strumreef, Kol felt the wave bare their teeth. And Kol felt trully at home, the Sea was unkind, it was angry, temperamental, she fickle, and Kol felt on edge when he was in calm waters. Upon reaching the shore for shelter against the rough storm, Kol saw the small fishing camp and made proper preperations to best compensate those who were here. Sadly they knew not who'd be here, but Kol made preperations of materials and other things. For the prisoners, Kol could do quite a bit for them, as his status amongst those here is the highest, he can quite easily make sure they were treated at least somewhat well. Yet he was unable to go against all things, if he were to do so he could be called out as a traitor and have to then defend himself in a court unfavorable to him at the moment. So he bided his time and did as he could, before they were to leave again.

Once they were to leave again, Kol left one final gift for the possible inhabitants of this island, if it was Móður's beloved Sea folk, Kol made some additional preperations. He did not think of the gods as the reason why they exist, yet Kol has heard stories since he was a young child of the Sea Folk, what to do with them, what gifts to give, and what precautions to take. As Kol left them beautiful cloths, gifts, and the flag of his Kingdom. As once given his offering, Kol made way, as they once again now headed towards Meldheim, Kol focused his powers to speed up their travel, as once they made it to the waters they all knew. Eskandish waters were something Kol has traversed all his life, and so following the currents, the winds, the stars, and even the clouds to guide them through the waves of Eskandrs very own sea.

Along their travel, Kol heard the many idle chats, many spoke of what they were to do with their new found gains. Many spoke of laying women, others spoke of gambling to maybe get enough to buy their own kingdom, others spoke of drinking themselves enough to look more like Father. While some spoke of the trio of ships they said they spotted on their time on the island, yet they did not respond to any form of communications. Kol felt a strange tinge in his stomach like he just saw something that would come to haunt him. As even when night fell and they saw land, this same looming feeling still held him.

Once they made it to dock Kol began seeing as the captain of the ship began barking orders and calling to the sailors to begin their work. As Kol watched the sailors his eyes landed on the face of a woman he had known for many years now, Queen Astrid. Her beauty was something to behold even after these years, Kol even remembered their wedding and remembered the gorgeous ceremony. The smiles on not only the face of everyone around, but of his old friend and his wife. Kol took steps to the edge of the boat and once he made it to the edge, he set his foot on the very edge of the ship he could and took a step and set his other foot onto the dock of Meldheim. Once he stepped off he looked to each those whos very eyes seemed almost asking him every question that could be conceived, yet the first he was to do was to make sure that everything was settled. He answered questions with a quick and swift order that he would answer more soon, yet he had buisness to attend to.

Once the ship was cleared of what he needed, he made his way to Queen Astrid, as he stood maybe 5 feet away to allow the height difference to not hurt her neck as he placed his hand over his chest and bowed his head. As she commanded to know of the news of the war, she also commanded to know everything. The news he was to tell and the news he was told to keep hidden. Kol raised his head and gave Queen Astrid a smile as he said in a calm voice, "Of course".

As Kol gave the news that he was told to, the words he was to say and make the fighting seem well fought yet more than winnable. It was going to be tough yet victory was within their grasps and new green lands were well within their grasps. He then gave the news of the 3 new Æresvaktr who were to be inducted, Arne'altan'jaros, Ufhild, and one he was least wishing The Skygge. After which now came the news she also wished to know, everythign left out. Kol was much more candid when speaking now. He had emotion in his voice, he had many things about what he believed were failures. The attack was much tougher than they imagined, they summoned many of their stronger forces, as they were unable to take Relouse. As with such forces, the reason they needed to induct new members into the Æresvaktr, was that Hrolf Bloodaxe, Olaf the Aged, and Horik the Golden all dying upon the battlefield. The very tough warriors, and the many yasoi who had sided with them.

Kol began to speak more, of the many things Hrothgar had tried to keep away form his people, yet from his Queen? Kol knew this woman for years, Queen Astrid, Kol knew her before even that, before the very many times they have met in meetings, the very many talks they have had, and the many times he had to speak with her about what Hrothgar wishes for his people to hear and what actually has happened. Even now, memories flowed, yet it felt almost distant, as they spoke of war, something that would not be easily changed. Something where loss would have been great, yet the reward could have been even more so. As Kol spoke, he was setting his heart out, everything he knew, and he felt, for the only time he can let this out, would be now.

The Hourglass Order

---

Collaboration of: @Th3King0fChaos, @A Lowly Wretch, @dragonpiece, and @Force and Fury

---

---

As everyone jumped into the hole, Trypano had created more and more room in the tunnel to accommodate everyone. The water had soaked everyone as they floundered through to get out to the other side to escape the dragons and the sight of the army.

Benedetto yelled out when he came through, "Fuck!! You could have made the water not cold!!". Ismette came through the water with some grace while Penny made it through with less than any. With Penny's missing leg it made it difficult to get out of the water as others began helping her out of the water and retrieved her cane.

As once the hole had been established and they felt the Dragons flying off because of projectiles flying by, Penny asked the most obvious question, "Ismette, may I ask where we are?"

Ismette answered with a sigh, "We are somewhere called San Agustin, it is in the Torragonese High Desert"

Desmond and Benedetto both looked at Ismette like she was going to say something else as Desmond was the first to speak of the two, "Okay, and?"

Ingrid took a deep breath as she knew she was safe, even if it was just a moment. Ingrid chuckled a little as Benedetto complained about the water. "Ooh" Ingrid let out as she then scrambled to help Penny out of the water. Ingrid looked Penny up and down real quick and said, "You're alright, you're alright" as she gave Penny a solid pat or 2 on the shoulder. Penny had quickly asked Ismette where exactly were they. Ingrid already could deduce that was somewhere in Torragonese High Desert but to have an actual town is useful. Whatever the case, the more pressing issue for Ingrid was making sure the tunnel was supported. She quickly created solid stone pillars to support the sandstone. Ingrid wanted to wait to see if Ismette had any more to say but she didn't expect much.

"Don't worry, we won't be lacking in warmth out here in..."

Trypano paused, waiting for Ismette to fill everyone in as their team filed down her tunnel one by one. One of her eyebrows cocked as the destination was revealed unto them: San Agustin, all the way out in the middle of the bloody Torragonese Desert.

"And why were our coordinates set for the middle of a desert?" Trypano made little attempt to disguise her irritation with this seemingly random diversion when all she had been hoping to do was secure this lantern once and for all. The more chances they took with this thing the more opportunities they'd have to lose it somehow and that thought irritated her greatly. The Sirahhi provided some useful knowledge of the world and magic to a degree but that would benefit no one, especially not herself, if they all died shortly thereafter.

With so many things to research and so little time this little errand they seemed to have been stuck on was doing nothing save for wasting her precious time. Lighting up the lantern to give them some visibility in the secure basin she wrought for them she waiting with arms crossed, gun hung awkwardly from her back as she waited for anything approaching the semblance of an answer.

Ismette saw as everyone looked at her with indignation and a sense of hostility, she put her hands up as she said in a quick response, "H-hey, this was where Hugo was going to send us. He said when we used the key phrase we would be going here next to meet with one of the other groups to assist them".

Benedetto then snaps out as he says, "Okay, so you decided to send us to the middle of a desert, and now we are right next to an army! WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR!!! I am not going to just be cleaning up messes all day!!"

Penny stepped in as she said, "Yes, why are we here?" Penny looked at Ismette worried as they don't even understand why they were here for.

Ismette said in a quick exacerbation, "I don't know!" Ismette held herself slightly as she also seemed unsure and worried why they were even there. Yet she seemed to start feeling unease under the constant stares and slightly angered and frustrated looks.

Desmond said in a quick lash to keep people on track before a fight breaks out with Benedetto, "Alright, we get it. We don't know why we are here, so let's ask the next question: What are we going to do?"

Benedetto grumbled as his face contorted as if he was getting antsy and impatient with that actual army nearby.

As irritated and exhausted Ingrid was, she couldn't stand watching Ismette get ganged up on. Especially when it had to do with Hugo and his vague instructions. Ingrid was about to interject but Desmond cut in to try and correct the conversation. Ingrid tried to weigh the situation in full but with the limited information it was difficult.

We know from Ismette that this was where they were suppose to be sent off to by Hugo to help the situation. It could be that Hugo was going to teleport us into small settlement but as they went through Sirrahi portal. Knowing what I now know about the Sirrahi, it seems pretty likely that Ten would place us just outside San Agustin. Could we be here to fight the Army? No, with an army of that size they wouldn't face them head on from that settlement. They are too outnumbered. I can't think of why the army would be here if it wasn't for battle or just a show of force. If it was for battle their could be a large monster rampaging and it is affecting the lords finances or reputation. Maybe the students were here to assist in the slaying of the monster. Their is probably more going on with how our mission went. Either way, I know where we need to go at least.

Ingrid spoke up, "I believe Hugo wants us to be in the settlement and we would be a lot less confused. The Sirrahi have a minimal contact policy, if you can remember, so it explains why we are on this small plateau. So getting to the refuge would probably be our quickest way of returning to the academy. That or traversing the desert then the sea to get back. Any suggestions?"

Trypano's cold red eyes flitted from speaker to speaker as their conversation seemed to spiral around the same point fruitlessly like a tethered ant's march. After hearing out Ingrid's words on the matter she stepped back into the topic herself.

"Bold of you to assume what is wanted out of us from Hugo if he couldn't of even be bothered to disclose the purpose of this extraneous mission to us, let alone it's existence in the first place." Moving her glare which betrayed hints of her exhaustion with this endeavor she looked from Ingrid to the group as a whole.

"Now I'm fairly sure that I speak for the majority of us when I say provoking a conflict with an entire army complete with an unknown quantity of combat mages is the last thing we need right now. That being said since they seem to be probing the area moving openly in the daytime would just be invitation for them to stop and question us which-" She holds up her strange futuristic gun and artifact "- Could end very poorly."

She stopped and cradled her chin in thought as she considered their options.

"From the looks of things our present-most ideal options are to either travel underground by magically erecting a tunnel low enough that we lay outside their mage's senses or we wait until nighttime and skulk across the surface to our destination. Neither choice is entirely safe but circumstances appear to be, as usual, less than ideal."

Ismette saw as the upset nature shifted away from herself to the very idea of Hugo and his machinations and she let out a sigh of relief. As Ingrid and Trypano were the ones to come onto the scene with laying out their options with ease, she agreed that the best actions would possibly be towards sneaking into the Refuge. Ismette said in a quick agreeance with Trypano's initiative to go to the Refuge, "I believe the Refuge would be best approached from underground. It would allow us to start sneaking right now while they might be distracted with the Froabases".

Penny sighed out as she was worried about the plan, it was the best they could do, but they had no clue what they would be doing until they entered the Refuge. Yet they were right, they couldn't make any form of mistake with the army out there, no matter how good they were, an army would easily wipe them out. Penny took a quick swallow of the saliva that was building in her mouth as she says, "I believe digging underneath would be the best way to reach the Refuge as well".

Desmond looked around and saw Benedetto's face seem to tell, Get me the fuck out of here, or else. Desmond knew that meant it was a go as he tossed a head nod to Trypano and said, "I think digging is the best idea, they'll probably find us easily otherwise". Desmond then tossed her a thumbs up and said with a smile, "We'll be counting on you! You seem to be the best at this".

Seems like digging a tunnel under the army to stealthily enter the refuge was the plan for the moment. Not missing a beat Ingrid turned back over to Trypano, "Let me help with the tunneling Trypano. Like what was mentioned before we met the Sirrahi, I have a great deal of experience with mining and by extension, tunneling." Ingrid started her tunneling with a steep spiral to account for their elevation in reference to the refuge. Ingrid placed metal supports every 8ft or so to add additional structural integrity to their tunnel. Ingrid also created some light from the excess heat in the ground to provide light. She left things like air to the other folk. Ingrid looked towards Trypano for some input on how deep the tunnel should be. Ingrid understood that sensing could be and issue and wanted to here her input before they decided the depth.

As Trypano and Ingrid cross referenced their direction and distance, they begin to build the tunnel. Slowly but surely they made their way to their goal and possible reunion with their classmates. As they travelled some wished to talk, while others seemed to have almost felt like they wished to be as silent as possible. Some felt as if they even spoke a word then they could be found by the sound vibration within the stone and sand. Yet as they moved onward, the sense of fear slowly seemed to rise within the people within the tunnel. As time moved, it felt like an inevitability that they would be found. It was almost as if they would never see the sun, yet after some time, Ingrid finally said they should be near their destination.

As now was time to begin their ascent, it was originally going to be a staircase, yet the worry of the possible army finding them and them nabbing them before they made their escape from their earthen escape tunnel. So with the work of their combined efforts, the Crew who is right now underneath the Refuge is coming up with a plan. They would make a plate of stone to have everyone stand on, as the people who would not be tunneling would be using their energy to raise the plate and allow those who can tunnel to do their job. As they quickly rose from their depths all the way to the surface, the sun hit their eyes and made it difficult to see what is around them, as the moment their eyes had adjusted they saw a sight that could have been said to be expected.

They appeared in this large room that seemed to have been made for announcements as there was a main stage and many stone seats on an incline to better direct sound. At first they thought they were alone until they noticed the group that was formed in the area and realized that their once sneaky entrance was sadly seen by multiple different people. Some whom they knew about as they were the people that they were expecting to see once they entered, and then there was some others they never seen before. Many looked to them with incredulous stares as Desmond just let out a sound that seemed to come from a place of realization that they fucked up, "Ehe~". His smiling face looked like he was about to laugh something funny, but in honestly he was nervous.

The Hourglass Order

---

Location: Disskas' Underground Base -> San Agustin, Torragonese High Desert

---

Interactions: Trypano @A Lowly Wretch, Ingrid @dragonpiece, Benny, Ismet'ych'lahin'dichora, and the Disskas @Force and Fury

---

Desmond understood the consequences would be immense because of choosing to instead of turning back the hands of time they decided to move forward. It seemed the Disskas knew the many things that could happen, and it seemed they could make use of the variables. As it seemed that choosing to move forward might give a better chance, to what though? Desmond didn't know why he cared about the idea, he just wanted his memories, right?

As the Disskas talked they spoke they needed to move quickly, as it pulled Desmond out of his thoughts and back into action. The tunnels were like a tight labyrinth that constantly seemed to grow as they went, and even when they met the Sirrahi 'staircases', Desmond launched himself up them using kinetic energy to throw him up in a small heroic leap. While when they met 'staircases' going downwards, Desmond jumped down as he used magnetic energy and charged the bottom of his shoes to be repel the ground by using the same charge on both his shoes and the floor underneath him. As he began to use his kinetic energy to force him forward and began to slide down the 'staircase'. As Once he was to meet the floor, Desmond took back his charge as he continued to use the Gift to assist him forward. As they moved, Nine seemed to started to move as Nine said they were supposed to 'fail', Desmond wasn't out of breath even after all this running, yet he understood why she was nearly breathless as control of breath while talking is quite hard. Desmond took a breath as he said, "What do you mean by fail or succeed?"

As Nine continued, they began talking about lying and Desmond said in a quick lash, "Yeah we can see that". As Nine most likely looked towards him he stuck his tounge out and smiled with a laugh. Yet as they continued to speak it was something much more intense than what he was joking with. They were doing a report for some university they were a part of as they were trying to prove that Humans and Yasoi were unable to have emotions for beings who were not closely related with them in the Animal Kingdom. Desmond scoffed at the idea, he would have said in such a situations, 'Yeah we can humans love many things. We can feel empathy, sympathy, love for, and so much more feelings for creatures they can even find out in the forest. The creature needs to be friendly on first contact…or dead'. Yet before he could say this it seemed Seven had hushed them to set for her to open up a room that filled his mind with a buffet of energies. Magnetic energy akin to lightning, yet more…weakened and tamed. It felt strange as he felt it them becoming Chemical then Arcane, as Desmond felt the energies within the room his face bore a smile, he was confused as it did not make sense, but he knew one thing: 'This isn't magic itself. This has to be their Tech'.

As when they entered it seemed they had 4 minutes to choose a reward for themselves, yet it seemed they were unable to take Technology of a certain level. Desmond clicked his tongue until he heard Ismette ask something and get accepted: 'Their books on Temporal Magic?' As that was when Desmond smiled, he knew what he needed to ask, what he needed to look for. Books were going to be his best friend here, he can find much more of what he needs if he aimed for books rather than pieces of tech and equipment. Desmond was there with Nine as she seemed to assist him slightly but he said as he was looking, "I promise I won't take any tech, you should spend the little time you have left with your Girlfriend". Desmond spoke mostly in a joking manner as he whistled away as he searched. He was looking through some books, looking at their titles, flicking through them, he wondered what even he was looking for. Was he hoping to find some great book filled with inventions to make him some great inventor? Was he here to find some great book on weapons to make him the ultimate killer? Or was he here to find some book to lead his life? He had no clue anymore, yet when he hear the ticking occur, Desmond snatched up the nearest hefty book he could find and prepared to leave.

Yet Nine seemed to wish to give him and Ingrid one last goodbye, she went to him and took him into her embrace. She began to coil around him as a Desmond could do was stand there and allow her to do as she pleases. As she hugged him, she apologized for her deceit and said something about liking him. Desmond never thought his Avincian was bad, yet misconstruing such a refined form of it was very easy. Desmond just took it as she liked his personality and not her trying to get a kiss from him too. Yet as she moved away she grabbed a book from her bag and placed it on top of the book he also took. He now had a few books in his collection, the one he took that he doesn't really know what's in it, the one Nine gave him, and then the Encyclopedia that she spoke of. Asking him to open it when they left so he could maybe have a good memory return. As once she backed away Desmond said with a smile, "Yeah I swear I'll open it". Desmond snapped his finger and tossed a light pointing gesture to Nine as he then continued, "Hey don't worry about who taught who this go around. You just need to make sure you repay the favor next time".

As when they left to go to where ever they were meant to leave, it was a great large rectangle that seemed to be off. As last moment goodbyes occurred, Desmond felt a smile come onto his face more so than any other time as he said with a child like expression that seemed to say, 'Why are you sad, we'll see each other again'. As the portal opened up, it felt strange, similar to what he has seen before, yet different. Desmond looked for a moment or 2 before he stepped in he looked back to see as everyone else was beginning to follow. 'Forward onto dawn.'

Desmond had came to, his vision had finally came to as he looked and saw they were somewhere impossibly crazy. A desert and they were on a plateau over looking this great desert with what seemed to be thousands of soldiers walking forth to a small settlement. As he felt the others come through, Desmond looked back at their late arrival and said to her, "So, how was it a second time?" Desmond laughed as he looked to Ingrid and tossed her a smile.

Yet Desmond's face changed as before he could even look, his back tensed up and then there was a loud roar, he felt his blood boil and his eyes rose to the skies. It was either time to flee or fight, and Desmond knew not where to go, nor what to do. He was about to pull his gun, yet Trypano seemed to have taken the option to flee into a hole, yet it was one that could assist incase they would need a place to flee, which gave Desmond some hope. Desmond grabbed his rifle and aimed up, he thought about firing, but he was unsure if he could kill it fast enough for them to hide from the army. Desmond had no clue what was going on, yet he needed to play his cards the best he could, and fighting right now might be a bad idea.

Desmond looked to everyone as he yelled, "We need to move! Follow Trypano's lead and hide in the hole! We can't let that Army be aware we are here!" As Desmond began running to the hole, he was judging the time they had. If they were too slow they'd get drawn into a fight and also alert the Army, so they needed to get it right. As he pulled from the energy around him he converted it into kinetic energy and launched himself forward and right when he was about to near the hole, he jumped and began to convert the kinetic energy into magnetic energy and apply repelling forces on both the side of his body while also on the surface of the tunnel he was making contact with to soften his landing and slid on the tunnel walls and finally hit the water hole. As he began to convert the magnetic energy again back to kinetic energy and used it to assist him through the water to get through it and out as fast as he could to allow the next person to get through.

As the moment he made his way through, Desmond looked to Trypano and said, "Hey there, come here often?" Desmond tossed her a smile and a laugh, he was in a slightly good mood, it had been an interesting time and now they were running from Dragons. "What a life".

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Location:
Western Continent, Espia
NPDRE Outpost F-10
Date/Time:
18 April, 3030/0500 Hours
Interactions:
The Whole Crew vs. NPDRE Transport
Gear:
SERE Kit- Tarak keeps a SERE(Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) kit inside his cockpit in case he needs to eject and survive in the wilderness on his own for some time, he has a black hard polymer pack filled with MREs to last him a few days, a broken down Semi-automatic carbine with one 20 round magazine, a flashlight, a canteen filled with 1L of water, a knife, a trauma kit to stabilize wounds and set broken bones, and a collapsible spade within it. This kit is attached to his seat to keep it from flying about and possibly causing damage while within the cockpit.

Combat gear- a white and grey camo clothing, a cooling vest able to take small arms fire and regulates his body temperature to allow for higher survivability inside and outside the cockpit, a pair of gloves, his boots, some light armoring across his body to more easily take impacts and dampen blows, and his Neurohelmet. He has a suppressed hand gun with one 20-round magazine holstered on his left leg, and on his right leg he has his Personal Cassette Player which has his "Flower's Favorites" cassette in it.

---

Tarak was listening to the cacophony of noise that is within his Battlemech and felt calm. As he listened to the radio chatter, the hum of his Battlemech, the music within his helmet as his cassette player, Tarak was tapping on his controls, lightly getting himself charged up. He was riling himself up, as this was going to be a fast mission, they had 15 minutes to be in and out. Tarak was singing as he listened to the music as he was waiting for the plan to be made out.

Tarak heard Giggles singing and laughed, it was funny as Ziska had said what he was thinking and calling out her beautiful voice. Steel Rain is ready to start the congo line, while Raven quickly closes the distance with the front of the convoy to make sure they are unable to move back. While Tarak would push forward with Ziska and Ingrid to encircle the column and rip the fangs from the snake while they wrangle the neck. All the while Giggles holds the rear to keep them from running and support in case things go awry.

Tarak chuckled, it was a good plan, well as good as it goes. It was by the books, as was anything Ingrid did, yet that might be the best thing to do. Tarak switched his com on to give his ready, "Desperado, ready to rock. I'll take the long side". As his music lightly seeped through for a moment before it soon enough cut off. Tarak waited for the mark, as the song switched, Tarak felt his blood rise as Ramrod was counting them down, as the Black Pheonix began to lean forward. The Black Pheonix began to slowly shift into a lower stance and took the position of a runner ready to win a championship.

As the legs creaked and groaned, it was building tension in the legs and prepared to throw itself forward with tremendous forces. The moments before the call comes down ticked, the tension that was building up was palpable, and as the call was cast and the guns began to fire, the tension of the mission exploded. Black Pheonix began its' charge like a bat out of hell, with the ferocity that was being shown by the Black Pheonix, one might assume the pilot within was showing immense levels of excitement or anger.

Yet Tarak was far from excited.

Inside his cockpit, he seemed completely calm.

The Hourglass Order

---

Collaboration of: @Th3King0fChaos, @A Lowly Wretch, @dragonpiece, and @Force and Fury

---

---

As they continued towards their goal of revenge, Ingrid kept feeling a lump in her stomach about letting them go through with this. They were kind to us. They treated us well even though they believed that our kind had murdered their own blood. Now they look to us for help. Trypano asked some very important questions. If they had access to their magic, Ingrid knew that they wouldn't be able to stop them. So knowing what they look like was important. Since some questions were going around Ingrid had one last thing to say, hoping it may be able to persuade Nine and her siblings.

Ingrid got close to Nine and placed her hand on her arm, "I know what they did was wrong. If I found out someone had murdered my sibling, I would feel wrath like no other. I think I would be blinded by it. Nine if your world is advanced as you say it is, what will happen to your siblings? Your law obviously doesn't make exceptions for revenge. Your siblings can be held accountable for your actions!" Ingrid was desperate to reach out to her before Nine did something she could never take back. Ingrid squeezed Nine's arm slightly, "Think about the outcomes here. If we fail your siblings will most likely be murdered in the same way you are looking to do to them. If we win, you might never be able to see your siblings again, forced to be on the run with nowhere to go. No matter what, you are going to find yourself in a position that will hurt even more than now." Ingrid let go of Nine and took a few steps back. Not out of fear but believing that she may need space after this. Ingrid continued, knowing moments of confusion are the time she can plant a seed, "I know this is hard but if you go through with this you can hurt the ones you love. You're not the one to get revenge. It would be much easier for you to cover this up if we are the ones to do this."

Ingrid gestured to the group. She knew that Benedetto wouldn't care and that Desmond and Trypano might see this as their chance to have untethered access to their information and time to examine the materials and weaponry. Ingrid knew Ismette would probably look down on her for this but Ingrid would rather Nine and her siblings hold on to their values even if it is by a thread.

Nine blinked: both sets of eyelids. She tilted her head and held up a hand to stop the countdown. "Wait!" she called, eyes flashing in the others' direction. "At least two of you have now expresssed misgivings, but of a different sort." She looked, in particular, at Trypano and Ismette. "Does anyone wish to expresss them now?"

Desmond wasn't sure on how to bring it up to Nine and her siblings, to be frank until they were out Desmond wanted to keep his mouth shut as if they didn't tread carefully, they might have been left in the room as Penny was to be killed. But now with Ingrid stopping the train and starting a talk, this was the time to make the best of the situation. Once Nine asked them, Desmond said to Nine, "Yeah I do have some words about this. I'll need to agree with Ingrid here, you guys going in would be the worst move. In either success or failure, you and your own will be roped up into this. At that point you'll need to leave all you knew behind to get away from your people who might seek to dispose of you as they see you as a bad batch".

Desmond let out a sigh as he continued, "Let us handle this, I understand you want revenge, yet, you need to be smart about it. If blood is found on your hand then you will be to blame, no matter where the knife was hidden"

Desmond tilted his head as he pointed his finger from one side to the other as he said, "On the other hand if it was humans and a yasoi who did it, then it'd look as if they were raided for any known reason. There is some deniability there, and the weapons could be easily brushed away. we were in your capture, and when we were going to leave we took out one of your own, stole weapons, and then raided the other base to free the other humans captured. You have your cake and get to eat it too".

Desmond said again as he held both his hands out as he continued on, "You get your revenge on the people who wronged you-" Desmond closed his first hand as he continued, "-and you get to keep yourselves away from needing to bloody your hands and the possible backlash of your people from killing one of your own" as Desmond closed his other hand.

Desmond clapped his hands together as he then shrugged, "And besides as you said it yourself, you wanted to mimic a Human's lethality in the night. Why mimic it yourselves when you have the genuine article who can do it better?". Desmond wanted to keep the Disskas' out of the fighting. Not only would it be bad for them, but it could actually slow them down as they would need to make sure that their 3 inexperienced combatants don't get killed, as they were the only thing keeping them alive at the moment.

Trypano looked over from Nine to Ingrid then over to Desmond. Seemed he was suggesting that they take the blame for the deaths here, shifting blame from the Sirrahi here to themselves. Not great for Human to Sirathi relations but would keep tensions between their own kind from boiling over.

She stood there behind the cover she made, waiting. An awkward silence had crept over prompting her to look back only to see the snake woman's expectant stare. Didn't I already speak my piece? She wondered to herself.

"Um... I concur. Desmond's plan is sound." She agreed, more to fill the silence and more quickly pass this awkward pause. Another benefit she saw from this would be that if they were unsupervised in the enemy snake's territory that would give them the freedom to analyze their tech without supervision, an unintended benefit with the side cost of extra arms in the coming conflict.

"Revenge only begets more revenge," said Ismette, crossing her arms. "It sounds like a platitude, but it's true. If you have evidence and a robust legal system, then I think this is a fool's errand. If you have no connection or control over this group, then this problem is purely ours, and we should be the ones retrieving our errant teammate."

"Yeah, she's 'errant' an awful lot," added Benny. "Running off 'cause she didn't like her assignment, playing hero, running into danger she can't handle without luck." He shrugged. "I think it's stupid, she made her bed, and I don't wanna risk my life without magic. Call me a coward. I don't care. It's how I learned to defend myself. Either show me how to get the Gift back - how you're blocking it - or I'm out."

Nine looked at Benedetto, in particular, bemused. "You have it right now," she replied.

"Yeah, but the second we go in there, we don't," he retorted, "and, to be blunt, I don't really trust you. How many times have you lied to us? What? We should like you because you made our imprisonment comfortable?" He crossed his arms, skeptical at best, borderline hostile at worst.

"It was a sssafety precaution," Nine insisted, voice growing distressed, and her siblings echoed her urgently. "We didn' t know anything at firssst, and then it was only right we should feed you and let you recover before we let you leave."

"Get off it," growled Benny. "You're still sitting there like you're some kind of superior being holding the damned leash and we're all your little pets or test animals. Why are you still blocking the Gift if we're just guests and you trust us? Because we're 'simple' and 'violent'?" He let out a snort and stepped up to her, glaring up at the much larger being. "I'll tell you what the others are too polite to say: it's goddamn insulting and you're fuckin' hypocrites. You're good with killing, or pointing us in he right direction and pulling the trigger. Thing is, I can betcha that at least half the people here - probably gun nut and giant corpse girl - are gonna do the same thing I would the second they get in there: they're gonna copy or grab all the devices they can get their hands on, because they're people. They're curious and, because you haven't been treating them like people just the same as you, who deserve to know, they're just gonna do it their own way." He shrugged. "Read the room, snakeface".

"That is an incorrect assertion." Trypano bluntly stated, her tone as cool and unexpressive as it's almost always been during this dreadfully inconvenient mission.

"Most do not equip their test animals nor pets with weapons and set them with the task of killing units out of their rivalling faction's vase. As for the assertion that our first act would be to copy or grab all devices then you'd be correct but for reasons apart from what you've claimed." She turned from Benedetto to Nines, her expression unchanged as she tried to remain an uninflammatory element in this argument in order to not provoke either party nor lose her own balanced status amongst this current group.

"My purpose on this mission is to try and ensure the overall survival of all members sent to perform it. While the outcome has yielded sub-optimal results thus far I shall continue to look to the overall safety of our team which involves analyzing our situation and proposing approaches that optimize the highest likelihood of survival. Without magic there is only so much I can do to mitigate harm to my team and thus my interest is in expanding our zone of magical influence in order to improve our odds of success as opposed to the alternative: Our grizzly demise. I cannot confirm that our remaining member Penny is even alive currently so embarking on this operation puts this team at risk solely for the possibility of preserving an unknown variable."

With one arm folded behind her back she turned to her remaining team, gesturing to them as a whole.

"I leave the choice as to whether this operation is worth the risk with you all. I shall simply attempt to the best of my abilities to fulfill my role here regardless of the path we all take here."

"That would be an incorrect assumption," Benny mimicked, his voice tiny and mocking. He rolled his eyes. "Ah, sorry. They only equip their footsoldiers. Definitely not worthless pawns on their board. Gods, you ooze superiority complex. It's seriously -"

While Benedetto had been busy making an ass of himself for the umpteenth time, and Trypano employing some impressive mental gymnastics, Nine had looked increasingly pained: guilty, even. She shifted nervously and looked down at the ground. "I am sorry, outsssiders," she kept murmuring. "Truly, I am. It was... not sssupposed to go this way. It was not suposed to feel like thisss." Ten glanced at her and the others nervously.

Ismette was the one who went rogue, however. Deciding that she'd had enough of the bickering and that this was headed inevitably towards some form of the violence that she so abhorred, she'd slipped away and was now nearly at the armoured door. "I come unarmed," she called out to whoever was on the other side and, indeed, she had left her weapon behind. "I seek a diplomatic solution to this misunderstanding if you are willing to entertain one. I only wish to speak with you."

Nine whirled immediately. "Not again," she hissed.

"Sissster!" said Ten worriedly.

"What good comes of it?" Nine wailed. "What good ever comes of it?"

"But what about the tessst?" Ten demanded, eyes widening in alarm.

"What about it!?" snapped Nine. "Can you really watch that girl die again?"

Ten looked pained. Then, reality seemed to flicker and, when the group looked out, Nine, Ten, and their brother all seemed to be in very slightly different positions than before. Each member found a note in his or her hand.

Dear human/yasoi,

We will explain everything in a minute. For now, it is essential that you follow our lead. Benedetto is going to get angry and pretend to knock all four of you out. We are going to do the same to him. We need to fool those watching us. This is our best chance.

- Nine

Desmond listened to the talking of Benedetto and Trypano and just pinched the bridge of his nose. He was getting annoyed of Benedetto's antics, they could have gotten that information after they got them to agree with not coming. But now the situation arised that Benedetto is now taking his point and he might become antagonistic to the point of confrontation. Yet as the others were talking, things seemed to almost dull for Desmond, sounds began to dull, his heart beat rose, lights began to get brighter while colors became more clear, something was wrong as he felt danger approaching.

Desmond felt something off, he had his magic like Nine said, so he reached out to find someone had moved too far. His eyes flashed over to the door as there would be only one person so stupid to decide to try something with the other Sirrahi they were about to raid, Ismette. Desmond gritted his teeth as he was about to whirl around to grab Ismette as it seemed Nine was in the same mind, yet said something strange, 'Not Again'. As Desmond heard the conversation, he instantly knew something was off. As in that same moment the world seemed to flicker. Desmond felt this once before, he noticed when Onarr left them that note, his senses seemed to have comprehended something he didn't as instantly knew, something messed with the world in a strange way. As the moment Desmond looked back at the Disskas' he noticed their positions were different.

It was something slight at most, something most wouldn't even notice unless they were looking at them or were a trained fighter or Magusjaeger, and that could often just confuse someone. Yet for Desmond, just a slight detail was enough for him to pick out an invisible opponent, so this larger change was enough for him to notice something off. Their positioning was minorly changed at best, but it was apparent, it would be very easy to know when and how a Sirrahi moves, they are bound by the same physical limitations of locomotion that a snake has. Yet one seemed to have even shifted slightly to the side, which would only been seen if they side step, or that they moved much more to fully shift. 'They moved. Then tried to return to the same place but didn't fully know where they exactly were'.

Desmond felt the paper in his hand as he quickly flickered to it and saw what was needed, the Disskas were going to take the lead. Benedetto was to try and 'knock them out' as the rest of them were to do the same. They needed to fool those watching, Desmond didn't know what was happening, but he needed to at least follow. He had no plan and they were all in a situation that could lead into the minimum death of Penny, and worst, all of them.

Desmond used his best acting like he never saw the message as he said to Benedetto, "Yeah, I get it, you wanna be a big boy, but we need to move. Ismette is about to blow our entire plan like a dumbass!" As he looked as if he was about to close the distance between him and Ismette, but he prepared for what was to come, he prepared to take whatever fall was to come to make it as believable as possible.

Benedetto was getting heated and all she could do was watch. Maybe she should have not said anything. Panic was building for Ingrid and she was just taking account of the energy she had access too. She didn't know who might start the fight first but she had to take care of herself first.

Then a sudden shift. Ingrid had no idea what it was. Was it magic? Was it their technology? She couldn't know. All she knew was that there was a small note in her hand. She took a quick read and there wasn't anything to do except hope Benny doesn't make it hurt too much.

Benedetto stared at the note for a moment, and had the impulse - however briefly - to foul up their plan, but he was also shaken. What had just happened - how they were in slightly different positions, how he suddenly had a note in his hand, along with everyone else - could only be the work of Temporal magic. That these... snake people could use it was proof positive that they were something scary beyond their mere appearance. Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe, if he went rogue, they were stronger than him. That, more than anything else, made Benedetto recoil with dread. It reminded him of a time when he had not been the strongest, when others had filled him with fear.

Then, Desmond was in his face, getting another jab in under the cover of making his antagonism believable. Benny's first instinct was to squish him, but the snakes were watching and he had the sense they wouldn't take kindly to that. If only he had more information, he could deal with them too. "Ismette, you dumb shit!" he roared, drawing as quickly as he could: on past six, almost to seven, but this area had so little energy that it was hard to get more without hurting people. He watched the snakes carefully, to see if they reacted to magic, but Ten merely tilted her head, Five shouted for him to stop, and Nine looked nervous.

"You know what!?" Benedetto shouted, "Fuck this and fuck all of you!" Using about half of the energy he'd drawn, he let out a massive kinetic shove and everyone bar the snakes went down around him. He remembered to hit the 'eye device' too, like he'd been instructed in the note, and then there was gunfire. Sparks leapt from a spot on the ceiling of the cavern. Bullets sprayed walls away from where people were. Then, it all stopped. "Quickly!" Nine was hissing. "Get the trackers off them!"

Benny found himself grabbed from behind and had to override the instinct to punch a reptilian in the face. Five wrenched him around, flicked out a knife, and stabbed into his 'bulletproof vest'. The teen let out a yelp, but then there was a small, blinking device on the floor. Five crushed it with a smack from his tail and was already rushing towards Ismette while Nine and Ten did the same to the others.

"You can all talk now," one of the sirrahi women assured them, and Ismette was first to speak. "Okay, what in the five hells is going on here?" A couple of the others echoed... similar sentiments.

Nine took a deep breath and let it out unsteadily, her eyes trying but failing to meet the others'. "What's going on is that Benedetto is right: we've been lying to you. We've been your jailors and not your friends." Her shoulders slumped. "I cannot express how much I regret it. All that I can simply say is that I'm sorry."

"Jailors," echoed Five and Ten. "Benedetto is right."

"I'm sssorry," said the two other sirrahi.

"Thisss was an experiment," said Ten. "You were the fourth group."

"Experiment," echoed Nine. "Fourth group," said Five. The former picked up where her sister had left off. "Our species has a long history of violence with the Gift and it's one we've mostly, imperfectly left behind. Thing is, your ssspecies haven't. We fear you. We're raised to fear you as if you're sssome sort of wild animals who may bite."

"We were collecting data," said Five, "on human social interaction under duress."

"And threshold for use of violence, attitudes towards cooperation and coercion," Nine interjected. "A whole bunch of things really."

"Thisss was supposed to be a strictly ssscientific operation," Ten concluded, the three siblings coming together and grouping up out of, perhaps, some protective instinct. "We put variousss groups of humans and yasoi - thieves and cutthroats - through the same trials again and again, adjusting the variables."

"It was unethical and it was monstrous. You are sentient beings, we now see, not lesser beasts. You have thoughts, loves, hopes," Nine continued, "fears, and dreams, just like us." She shook her head. "You love and are loved."

"It was... awful," Five admitted.

Ismette did not know what to say. For a moment, she swayed in place, dumbstruck. "Sooo... what about Seven?" she asked, her voice accusatory. "Does she even exist?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than there was a clank of the blast door. "You could say that," another sirrahi interjected, emerging from it. With her was Penny: strangely dressed but very much unharmed. "I'm Seven," she announced, voice clipped and clinical, and her three siblings stumbled over each other to affirm her speech. "One is in charge of the base, but I'm the head researcher here." She nodded. "We owe you an apology, but that won't make you safe."

Penny hurried to join the other humans. She was wearing form-fitting tights with... some kind of mesh worked into them, and a hooded garment with a large pouch in the front. "Oh thank Oraphe!" she exclaimed. "You're okay! I went looking for you and..." she trailed off, realizing that there were more pressing matters.

"As I was saying," Seven picked back up, "Apologies won't make you safe. We need to get you out of here. For now, we have faked your deaths. You have two options and we will honour your wishes."

Nine nodded. "I want you to know that we can use what you refer to as 'temporal magic' to reset everything to the moment that you stepped into that cave. Only, this time, we will not meet. None of this mess will happen." She shot them a pained look, particularly Ingrid.

"Or," offered Five, "we can run." He glanced at his sisters. "There is an area, down that way, which contains a... means of transport that will allow you to escape, very far from here. You are, for now, believed dead, but not for long."

"You must decide," beseeched Ten.

"You must," echoed Nine and Seven.

Ingrid expected to be punched in the face, maybe even have her head slammed into a wall. A kinetic shove wasn't what she expected. It would have been so much gentler if she saw it coming. Her nerves were running high as she just wondered what was going one. Were they using time magic? Who among them? All of them? Either way Ingrid was left wincing from the pain of getting shoved.

One of them cut into her skin to remove something. Something Ingrid hadn't felt there before. Ingrid could deal with the pain but she was more shocked they put something in her body. It was inhumane. She looked towards them. She knew they weren't being truthful but to what extent Ingrid was unsure.

Ingrid listened to them describe the situation much the same way she did when they first met. She didn't want to judge them until she heard a more complete story. With each truth they revealed, Ingrid felt herself get more and more conflicted. They were researching us. They didn't even see us as sentient. Great. Ingrid could understand there view. It seems there ability with magic is superior, superior enough to make Benedetto fear. Strangely Ingrid didn't fear them. As much as they set us into an experiment like we were wild animals, they aren't trying to wield that power over us unlike Benedetto. Maybe they were so strong they didn't even need to show strength, that we were so insignificant that we don't even deserve to be recognized.

Like waiting for a cue, Seven appeared just as Ismette was accusing them if Seven was ever real. With her was Penny, though in odd clothing, was safe. Ingrid looked genuinely relieved and wanted to show it but there was too much going on for Ingrid to focus on that. But for what it's worth, seeing an alive Penny an alive Seven lightened Ingrid's heart. Even if they had tricked her, she still felt relieved that no one had died. Seven kept the conversation going, Seven's demeanor made Ingrid believe that her and Trypano would just be best friends. They had a similar level of clinical sterility in their voice.

They had finally made it to the grand question. Do we get our memories erased and this never happens or do we run and remember them and this whole experience. The pained look Nine sent Ingrid's way stung as Ingrid was trying to keep the idea of what was manufactured friendship and what was genuine far from her mind. But that look had her examining if this friendship even was real. How many times did they run this experiment. How many times had she kissed me. How easy was it for Nine and them to manipulate me. Were these feelings just fabricated to begin with. Ingrid felt herself spiraling down this infinite loop of questioning if anything that happened was genuine. Panic was setting in, it felt similar to when she thought of the unknown. Ingrid had a conclusion though, What is the point? It doesn't matter if they repeated this 100 times, that doesn't invalidate my thoughts of her. It doesn't invalidate that before meeting them I was willing to let myself just get married off. I'm going to believe her even if it hurts me in the end. Ingrid knew what she wanted, she wanted to remember her first kiss and the time she had. But she needed to know something. Ingrid looked at the Sirrahi, "Are you going to be okay. If I can believe what you guys have said then letting us go is against your roles. I want to remember you, Nine, but I don't want to if this can get you hurt."

The moment Desmond felt an intense pain in the center of his back, he knew what was to come as Benedetto yelled. Yet Desmond couldn't make it look like he just took it with ease. Desmond gritted his teeth as he felt the kinetic push occur, he drew in energy the moment upon impact to make it more a shove rather than a toss as Desmond lightly hopped from his toes to make himself fly. The moment before Desmond was to make an impact with another surface, he pulled more energy from himself to reduce the momentum and roll from the landing.

Desmond laid there for a moment as he felt one of the snakes go over and grab him. Desmond gritted his teeth and fought every urge to use the energy within him and fire it off at the thing grabbing him from behind. Yet once they had him they stabbed into his vest, Desmond tensed up as if he was about to do something yet he held it in as they took out the device and smashed it.

Once this was done, Ismette asked the question everyone was curious about, what is going on. As it was explained, Desmond listened as he started piecing together everything that was happening. They used them as test subjects, testing things, human nature, and all that, yet the thing that Desmond still didn't understand was how they were doing it. When he was about to start asking more questions they met the hidden Seven, who is apparently the head researcher and the one who seemed to have found Penny as she comes closing in quite quickly after.

Desmond sighed as he saw her, it meant that this entire situation was going to be able to end. Yet Seven seemed to have more to say as they were given 2 options: to run, or have magic used on them to never have this happen. Desmond then had a click happen in his head, Temporal magic, Desmond did not know what it exactly was, but he assumed it was based upon manipulation of time.

'They were unable to make all that food even with 30 minutes or hell even an hour, but 20 minutes is absurd. The manipulation of placement, they must have stopped time to place the notes in our hands, there was probably many questions they asked and we asked, but they reversed time knowing the outcomes of them being unfavorable.'

Desmond began having more thoughts, yet they needed to wait, it was time to answer the question, to run away with all their memories intact and the Sirrahi with them as they would then become fugitives. Desmond drew in a breath as he thought, it was a very tough idea to even think about. Yet it seemed Ingrid made her choice, she wanted to remember yet if it hurt them then she couldn't. Desmond could agree in some way as he said, "I'd prefer to remember this. I don't remember much as it is, so I'd prefer to keep what I have. Even if it hurts, I wanna keep what I remember here".

Desmond said this with a straight face, maybe one they have seen multiple times, one that showed his feelings much more than a smile ever will. An expression that might have been seen more often by them than anyone else. Desmond didn't know how much of him they knew, yet it didn't matter, they would probably know what he meant with what he said.

The subtlest of changes. She found herself located at a point separate from whence she stood, her point of view altered just enough to be noticeable. Even more noticeable was the change in the position of her own hand, now clutching a note.

Aha, we're faking our own deaths then. She concluded, looking first over to Ismette making some loud proclamation then over to the irate Benedetto. While ordinarily she wouldn't trust him with something even as simple as boiling an egg without suspecting he'd scatter or flash-fry the thing in this case he looked like he was on the same page. Given his glances to the surrounding Sirrahi his temper was tempered by their presence alone. Even he must have clued in by this point that their hosts hadn't let them out of their control by taking them down into this brief recess from their magic-dampening effects.

The next part was simple. Faking her own death. As he emitted the kinetic wave she was thrown, perhaps not as violently as some certain others but tossed nonetheless. She continued to feign defeat until it was clear they were no longer being surveilled. At that point she administered roughly 2.5 milliliters of morphine into the blood stream surrounding the effected tissue where her head hit the stone wall behind her.

Rising from her prone position she found the mastermind behind all this was none other than Nine's reportedly 'dead' sister Seven. It was made clear that this was all just a simulation, a test to try and examine their behavior under specific conditions. Like rats in a maze.

She was neither dismayed nor discombobulated with this however. It was interesting to happen upon this taking place under such an unassuming place. She wasn't surprised the Sirrahi only now saw them as beings fit to liken to themselves in thought process. All their other test subjects were pirates, violent social outcasts who would give their fellow man and woman a bad name with how basic their trains of thought were. Then again it was actually remarkable they hadn't terminated their group with fellows like Benedetto amongst them.

Thus it came to the crux of this conversation: Whether to leave manually at their own peril or allow them to erase what happened here temporally. While Trypano's expression remained even she folded her arms behind her back and gave a simple negatory shake of the head.

"While I'm uncertain of how the procedure for this event is meant to go nor the ramifications of it's alteration I would want to keep my memory of this event. Every experience, both positive and negative, help to shape us sapient beings. While our base mold personality may vary who we are is shaped by what we see, experience and decide from the information present. To remove what we've learned would be strike this version of us from existence as we are now much different people from who we were prior to this expedition. Whether this experience has bettered me or not is not for me to decide but I welcome the discovery of all truths, both for good and for ill. To stumble and falter is no less an important step in learning."

While perhaps a bit wordy it got her point across well enough. It was simply time to receive their judgement at the hands of these researchers of theirs.

O R I F L A M M E

---

Aftermath

---

Location: On the coast near Port Morilles

---

Mentions/Interaction: None

---

Roars of victory and anguish, smoke of campfires and funeral pyres, food filling bellies or rotting with the dead, duality is what war is. One side wins and the other loses, one side finds victory the other finds defeat, yet that is never true and today was a perfect example. The Eskandr horde had broken out onto the Parrench soil, yet they did not take Relouse, the Parrench keeps their city, yet they did not push the Horde back into the sea. Each side lost many men, each side lost fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters. This was the first battle, so the war was far from over, yet Kol already felt the toil. His mind was always going back to his people, those fathers who have aged far more than Kol has and now wishes to take a seat at the Visitor's Table. Those sons who wished to seek glory for themselves, those fathers who wished to make a greater life for their children, and those who listen to the calls of the gods against those who try to convert them and challenge their way of life.

As Kol walked the camps, he spoke to people much the same as he always does, as he joined them in very feeling they had. He mourned with them as they reminisced, he celebrated in the lives who made it to the Visitor's Table and the glory many came back with. He offered what he could, words to strengthen the resolve of those he could, or stabilize those who were to crumble at these losses. Kol did what he could for his people, yet everything began to weigh upon him when he looked into their eyes. Many who had survived are but those young enough to fight yet not old enough to have understood the weight of war. Many heard the stories that were told from word to mouth, the stories that followed Kol, and the stories that their very religion not only justified but glorified it. Many looked as if they had lost something, had seen combat as it is, and faced against what could be considered Gods to those who were not gifted by the Gods who gifted those Gods power.

Kol looked to the see, longing home once more, his people had put so much out to this war, they depleted their forests, they had their best craftsmen focused solely on ship craft than anything else. The provisions were hoarded for this moment and now the land will be depleted for some time, all abled bodies had come to do something greater than themselves. And all that work, all that time, was set ablaze, many Eskandr were stuck here, including Kol's very own people. They could not leave, there was nowhere to go except forward. Kol winced, he knew something like this could happen, yet it felt too harsh too quickly, Kol knew these boats, his people did too as they put everything they had and produce additional boats for other armies, they shouldn't have all been wiped out so easily, especially to a force who would have been in defense and then chased after some time, someone had to have been on the inside to do it.

Kol could not figure who would sell their own people out like this, yet Kol knew that it would not stand. He would not allow such a thing to stand, as this could be the thing to kill his people. All the able-bodied men and women Strumreef has to offer were now here, away from their home, and with no foreseeable way of returning. Kol's blood boiled, it could be years until they even finish this war, and then once that is done, making it back home could take longer. Kol thought of his home, how much could it change in a half decade if not more. He thought would he still be able to lead as he has always done, he had already reached some of his peak, and now he felt his body was getting older. He felt it as even after the healing the aches were still there, battle tears one apart, and the form of battle it seemed the gods have chosen him for would tear him more apart. He was unsure if he could continue, but he had to, he had no choice. He needed to, he had yet to have bared an heir, he had yet to have taken a wife, something Kol had slightly regretted, yet now was not the time to dwell, he was called once more to do more work.

Kol had boarded a boat and was ready to set sail, Kol took some of his men with him to travel, he wished for them to come and maybe think once more to go home. Maybe they could save a few of his people, even just a little. Kol gave all he could, and Strumreef would all too willing to do the same, but he could not bear it, he could not watch his people to crumble because of this war. Maybe this was the only way, maybe…

The Hourglass Order

---

Location: Dissskas' Underground Base

---

Interactions: Trypano @A Lowly Wretch, Ingrid @dragonpiece, Benedetto, Ismet'ych'lahin'dichora, and the Dissskas @Force and Fury

---

Once One had backed down like it was some misunderstanding, it made Desmond nervous, how long had they been out, and is Penny already searching for them. Desmond thought they shouldn't be caught like them, it would make no sense to have 2 groups of researchers so close to each other. Desmond was very wary of the situation, yet hid his worry like he always did, never showing his thoughts on his face, just a smirk, and some laughs.

Desmond asked a few more questions yet they seemed to try and dodge them, maybe out of some form of uncomforting knowledge or maybe trying to hide something. Desmond noticed when he asked some of them, Nine blinked her second set of eyelids and almost spoke before talking to someone else. It almost felt like she tried to dodge the entire interaction. Desmond felt something off.

The Other Questions

"What do you do for fun down here?"

"How long have you been down here?"

"Do you all follow each other everywhere you go, including if you guys work? Would you all get work in the same field or adjacent fields to be near each other?"

"Is this place where you guys were born and you guys live here? Is that why you all are here together?"

Yet as the night came to the end, Desmond and his group was left to sleep in the room they had never left. A large bed was in the center now and they were thought to sleep in it. Ismette called the bed and Desmond said with a little laugh, "Yeah it's all you". As Desmond found a place to lay, as he laid back on the floor, he put both his hands underneath his head as he closed his eyes, as he began to calm his heart. He began to pretend he was asleep, while he actually was trying to stay awake. Well staying awake is easy in a hostile situation, Desmond just laid there as he heard everyone make some small talk before sleep found them. Minutes, seconds, hours, Desmond did his best to keep track yet in this place disconnected from the sky unless you keep count you will lose your time. Desmond kept count of seconds, every ten seconds he ticked up a mental counter, it was a way to keep himself from sleeping. After sometime, Desmond heard the door open as he opened one eye slightly and saw Nine come in and starting to head to Ismette. Desmond quietly watched as he was waiting, tensing for anything, as she seemed to sit down and begin to talk to Ismette.

Revenge was the theme of the conversation, Desmond didn't mind revenge, he was a man who lived by the code of eye for an eye. Yet this felt strange, Nine seemed hot blooded about this, yet this is not the right time for her. If things go as they are, the Disskas could lose everything to this. Laws even of Enth were pretty strict with murder, as accomplices could be also those who procured weapons or hides them. Yet with a people who abhorred violence, this could be a death sentence for the whole family. Yet Desmond held his tounge, he wanted to wait until they had left, he didn't want to leave Penny, in all her idiocy, Desmond has a responsibility to get her home.

Once they made up their mind to the raid, the group began to make their way through the hall ways, Desmond listened to the Disskas' and learned some things, they will be facing about 20 combatants, they have the skills to increase their numbers past the number normally expected. Yet that was another thing, right now they were to arm themselves, Desmond was interested in what weapons they had, as the moment they entered, Desmond knew they were full of shit with the 'violence stick' shit. They tried to play themselves as a superior being who doesn't practice violence and arms, yet in this room filled with weapons far beyond the mind could think, obviously they practiced it more extensively than they had. Yet Desmond was quite happy about this as he had a bit of time to absorb as much information as he could. As Desmond grabbed weapons, he messed with them for moments, asking how they were to be loaded, and then he began to slowly understand a bit of them. As his hand landed upon the rifle, this was the weapon he wanted to know the most, it would make his skills proportionally better. The metal working that designed the trigger, the handle that is attached to some kind of metal object to seal the gun before firing. Desmond also noticed the ammunition, such strange design, along and pointed bullet seated into a metal casing. It must hold the powder to fire the bullet, yet there had to be some way it was to ignite. Desmond can't exactly figure that out through just looking, yet after a few shots, he can probably figure out what happened. The next weapon that interested him was the Shotgun, it was apparently able to fire smaller projectiles like what would be found in a cannon when they used grape shot. He was curious as the bullet looked even stranger, a waxy exterior that upon inspection seemed to hold multiple smaller projectiles.

Desmond sighed once he grabbed his weapons as he looked to everyone, "Everyone knows how to use their stuff?" Desmond wasn't 100% sure how each thing was made, but he understood their uses, he helped people get their bulletproof vests on, putting the equipment on in a way to minimize noise that they produce and even made sure that each person understood the basics of their weapons, how to control the recoil so their weapon doesn't going flying, and with some of them able to fire multiple shots, means that the gun could just fly out of their control and could kill one of them. As once people were finally ready, given a five minute crash course, it was time to get out of here and save Penny.

P A T H I A: THE CERULEAN ORDER [closed]

I am very interested

O R I F L A M M E

&

---

The Final Chain

---

Location: The Walls or Relouse

---

Collaberation: Eliis'Qarmena'Luunetar @Suicharte

---

Within the walls of Relouse, roars of a monster could be heard bellowing through the walls. Stone begins to melt, the walls seem to crack as an image begins to appear from the direction of the roar appears to be coming from. A dark visage appears as if a towering monster was appearing.

As once the raiders neared the area, what could be seen is a man in the center of the waves of heat and force energy. As a roar happened again as his once contorted legs were righted back in place but no blood magic was used force seemed to have been solely used.

Many called out to the man, "My King!!", "King Kol!!!", all of them called to him as they seemed to have fallen on deft ears as many even attempted to try and step closer, but the heat he is producing seemed to force them back.

As once his legs were set to a usable position he began to lower himself as if he was to ram into the wall.

What a sorry sight she had come upon. And how regretful she'd arrived when the fight was over, for maybe she could have stopped what she saw in front of her from happening. A man easily her height and twice her weight covered in hulking black armour that had clearly suffered damage in the fight was continuing to crawl, using every bit of his Gift to keep his body together and moving, roaring cries of rage and pain all the while. A beautiful but saddening sight, she decided she would remedy the issue before he threw his life away. Such a powerful spirit had more to fight for, and he would surely kill more of the Greenlanders. She increased her pace, hoping to arrive in front of him before the behemoth could complete his charge. But as she got closer and closer, the heat was obscene. Even the screaming crowds could not bear to get closer as the walking blast furnace began to prepare their advance. She would have to act fast and so, she began to draw the heat from the armor, preparing to use the vast amounts of energy to stitch together the bones and mend the broken flesh. Yet, she was being careful. The man would certainly die if she wasn't cautious, with her tendency to overdraw and the severity of his current condition. With a decent reserve of energy, she tapped her nails against his still scalding hot armour, avoiding contact of the flesh as she spoke in a an eerie yet soft spoken tone:

"Hold still. Let me fix your wounds. You won't finish the job with broken bones and bleeding flesh."

As Kol was preparing his charge, his senses ran wild as he felt energy interacting with him as his head flicked to the side where he saw a person touching him. His head twitched violently as he saw her, visions of the Sapling that killed Horik, the Sapling he spared running away seemingly unharmed after Vali followed her, and then the Spider pushing him to this, all Kol saw was red.

As the heat seemingly subsided as it built up inside of him as for a flash of a moment, a light appeared from the mouth area of the blackened visor, 3 dots of light could be seen where the eyes and mouth would be. As immense energy concentrated at the point over the mouth and was ready to explode out, aiming right at the Tree Dweller in front of him.

And just as soon as she'd begun to ready to heal him, the berserker had lashed out. How troublesome did he have to be! She didn't have much time to think about it. Not yet. Using the energy she'd leeched off the armour, she began to twist and turn the absorbed heat into solid matter. Being roasted alive was not desirable after all. A wall of stone was materialized in front of her in a rush, soaking the vast majority of the heat, though she could still feel the roasting temperature through her barrier. It was thin, and wouldn't hold for long, but it'd spare her immediate damage. She'd definitely gotten singed by the initial blast, but avoided serious injury due to having the energy ready.

Eliis knew that this 'king' wasn't in his right mind, but to be unable to distinguish friend from foe was something she didn't seem to quite understand And here, she'd gone through the effort of actually trying to help a human for once. Even if said human was on her side, it was still astonishingly generous and far more than they likely deserved. She'd scold him after the job was done, for now, she had to neutralize the threat. Quickly and efficiently, so that an enemy couldn't take advantage of the confusion. She spun around the wall with a flourish, and placed a leg firmly behind his, before attempting to throw him onto the ground. He was still far too heated to handle for long and heavy to boot, but she could use that weight against him. Especially in his current unbalanced condition. She converted what little she had left from the drawing into force to amplify the hopeful fall

"Cool down, fleshbag. I'm not a patient woman, so if you don't let me work, your men here will be down a monarch." she spoke, the same gentle whispering tone, but it was far more sinister than prior. Maybe violence would make him worse, but she needed this idiot to see reason.

As the flames burst out from Kol's mouth, the funnel of flames quickly dissipated so Kol could press the attack, yet in that moment he began being flung and then falling onto his back. Yet with the incredible reflexes offered to the Mooncaster, even mid-fall he was able to twist and distribute the fall to allow him to roll perfectly out of the throw, almost, as when he was rolling from the throw, the roll was to lead to him standing up, as his instincts seemed to not remember his condition as once he made it to his feet one of his legs snapped under his weight as his body kept moving and slammed his head into the ground.

As his head hit the ground, a large instability could be felt within his mind. As the energy within it seemed to waver and shake for a moment, it was finally then it could be seen, there is so much out-of-control Essence energy! As Kol pushed himself up with his arms, he used Force energy to instantly snap his leg back into place, not worrying about the bones and flesh he might have ripped or pulverized with it. As with such liberal use of energy, it could be felt that his heat is starting to lower.

As once he fully rose from his hands and knees, it seemed his force energy finally stabilized around his legs as he was finally able to stand as he roared, "SsSpPIDAAAAAAA!!!"

What a bother. She'd managed to throw him, but he was a certainly capable fighter even in this state of insanity and chaos, and were it not for his existing injury, he would have came out unscathed. His cry confirmed her suspicion about his delusions, and Eliis knew that if she didn't shut this brute up quick, the Parrench might be inclined to jump back over the walls and do it themselves permanently. Alas, when she spotted the Essence energy practically brimming out of his head, she figured that'd be the next step. The heat was dissipating, so once she removed this, she'd be able to operate.. She just had to draw and defend herself against the behemoth, at least for a little while. And so she began to, getting her wiry frame in a wider stance to counter the charge that was eventually coming, while simultaneously stealing the abundance of Essence energy. Eliis grimaced and braced for the coming counterattack, gesturing for him to charge.

As Kol looked to the 'Spider' his eyes were a complete haze, everything looked like blending colors as he felt energy get tugged away from him. As the haze in one of his eyes disappears, Kol felt himself awaken slowly yet his body still moved. As Kol took a single step forward as he used every ounce of kinetic energy he had to launch himself forward at his opponent, leaving almost a trail of heat, yet the moment he was to about to meet his target, he instantly stopped inches in front of her. Standing there he met eye to eye with Eliis as he almost inspected her for a moment.

The bulbs of light that were his eyes are now gone as heat started to dissipate from around him. Within Kol's mind he was defeating the beasts and monsters let loose, as after a few moments his energies started to deplete. As all he did was look at the Tree Dweller in front of him.

Eliis was ready, and she prepared, for a charge, yet the man stopped maybe a foot away from her. How surprising! She thought this would take longer, but he was clearly of excellent potential to regain control of himself so fast. She let out a small chuckle in response, glad that she wouldn't have to waste more time throwing the supposed king around. Alas, it was good timing. She'd drew a large amount of the essence, and began once again converting it, preparing to use it to heal his now quite severe wounds. It would take her a little while, but thankfully he'd managed to regain control before he'd caused damage that would have taken much more energy to fix. She looked back at him, assessing the results of the battle one final time before kneeling down, and putting a hand on his mangled legs.

"Hold still. Bite a rag if you have to, remember the pain, and pay them back tenfold." she spoke calmly and clearly, the gentleness lost from her voice as she began to focus with great intensity. It was not easy to heal wounds, let alone ones as severe as these, but as long as she wasn't disturbed, it would be done. And however painful his bones being restructured in his leg was, she'd need this "Kol" to bear with it for a moment.

Once Kol had managed himself enough, he was finally able to hear that around him. He heard the yelling, the people, and the calmness of the voice of the woman standing in front of him.

As finally Kol had let himself fall, his large body slamming to the floor as he landed on his ass with his legs out in front of him for the woman to do what she will.

As she went to kneel to look to his legs and she spoke out to him, all Kol gave was a nod. Pain was a temporary things, nothing that would keep him down.

As the healer began, his legs began to slowly twist and twine back into proper place, even with his magic putting his legs back into place, it operated more like a hammer than a knife. Yet the healing done reconstructed the pulverized bones, mended the ripped flesh, and reunification his once dead nerves back into use. As that was when the pain ran through him, Kol flexed his arms in qn instant response yet nothing further. Slight twitching from the beginning yet nothing further.

As the Tree Dweller continued her healing Kol said to her with focus to make sure his voice was steady, "Thank you kindly". Kol knew it would take time to heal his wounds, so he was in the hands of this woman until it was done.

As other Eskandr began to surround them and near the walls. As they let out roars of triumph against them, all Kol could think of was his people, and his Brother and Sister.

For a lesser binder, this process would have taken a vast amount of time. Eliis was not a lesser binder, and so it was that the process was quick. It took maybe 2 and a half minutes, of which Parrenchmen frantically manned the walls, and Kol's troupe surrounded them. And once again, she was amazed at the ability of this hulking Eskandr, for lesser men wept and begged for death at times when being healed in this way, but he simply bared with it. Admirable. She would forgive him for his insanity, but not for the weakness apparent in his eyes as he looked around. He may have been strong of body, but it was clear that he was soft. Softer than the other commanders that she'd seen on the battlefield. While he had been mindless in his rage, Eliis didn't sense that Kol had the ability to commit pure evil like Hrothgar did. She had a lot to learn socially but this much was clear.

"I didn't fix you for thanks, 'King' Kol. I incurred a debt upon you, and I expect you to repay it when the time is right." she quipped with sincerity in her voice as she stood up, wiping the mud from her legs and admiring the handiwork she'd done. It wasn't her fastest, but she'd done a pretty good job in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough to alter the state of the battlefield. The Parrench had fell back behind the walls of Relouse, and the Eskandr were in no position to immediately pursue. It was clear that both side needed to lick their wounds, however the outcome may have appeared immediately. In the distance, she even saw the remnants of a fight coming to a close between two talented arcane casters, keeping the fires alight even in the pouring rain.

"There is not much left of a battle to be fought anymore, unless you fancy throwing yourself at the walls again. What'll it be?" she spoke, waiting for an answer. She was no strategist, but maybe he was. And she didn't mind listening to him if it meant that they'd get inside the city.

Once Kol was healed, he began to stand again. The Tree Dweller spoke she did not heal him for nothing, Kol said in a calm voice as he looked to her, "Yes, as all deeds carry weight. So too does the Healer's Hands. I shall remember this".

Kol began scanning the battlefield as he inspected the state of affairs. As he saw the fighting had started to die down, as the Perranch had hid behind their walls to fight, Kol could only think what could be done. A complete victory might stop the Eskandr force here as their forces would be ground against each other. Even with a full victory here, the army would crumple to the other forces lying in wait.

Kol thought for a moment as he said, "To instill fear in the enemy and purchase us more time, smaller breakthroughs will need to occur. Let us start with a few simple wall breaks, the notion that a hole existing that could let Eskandr in would divert resources and mages to trying to close the holes and break throughs. Then we leave, total victory in this battle would lead to our total defeat in the large scale war". Kol began towards the wall, as he pulled from the eminent heat that he produce not much earlier. As he focused, he put all of the energy then to Force energy within his fist blows as he planned to blow a hole through the stone wall before him, it was his mission now to make entrances for the horde to enter, and buy them time to start their exit.