wierdw

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Cedar suddenly started fighting his sisters, trying desperately to turn back toward the side hall they had fled past.

"W..eh... Go.tta... 'elps 'im!" he rasped. "He.. dun know.. no be'er... Deys .. deys gun. kill'r fer sures..."

"Dis" (hack) "'at ladeh as wants ta roll ya" (bark, cough, wheeze) "da hay Cedah?" Chided Lily, just before her brother's claws dug into her arm and shoulder. She bellowed, dropped him, then looked at him in shock.

"Da Hell ya doin!? She got ya all fire' up AT bad bruh? Don' hurt US-- we's 'ere ta gits you out!"

"IT.. AIN'.. Funnneyh..." he protested indignantly before over-exerting himself, then slipping to the floor with his head bowed. "Uhs.... Seened a man.. git blowed up.. ... Fang..horn... No' 'ere tuh..... Please.. No' 'ere.. tuh.."

Lily and Rose looked at each other with their ears pulled back, then at Cedar with grimmaces of extreme displeasure. Lily sucked in a troubled breath, then coughed clear fluid onto the floor beside her before voicing her dissent.

"Cedah-- 'at SUMBITCH tried tuh rip muh throat ou'-- 'en rubbes muh nose in 'at fire back ere-- AN YOUS WANTS TUH SAVES IM!?"

"He a right ass, Cedah!"

"Sss...soos... Oaak.. .. He's.. MUH.. asshole.. bruthuh..." He looked down at the floor, and started crying. "..An uh. loves him.... " He looked back the twins, eyes wet with tears, but sharp, hard, and resolute. "Ted's.. MUH asshole... Tuh... We GOTS TA SAVE ... HER... Ta saves... HIM..."

"HE GOT A NAME?!"
"Yeah... Ted.."
"An' wutserface, as we gots to 'saves'?"

He waited an uncomfortable amount of time, just staring harshly into Rose's face with an expression that could curdle milk. (or at the very least, make village children wet themselves) then finally answered. One word. Harsh. Contempt filling every syllable. "..KAITLYN..."

The girls looked at their brother, then at each other a second time, as the sound of beating from the metal door continued.

"At' door's locked-- Gunna take 'skinless wonder' a righ' minute. We gunna help 'im, we bettah catch's ups."
"...Righ'..."
"You bettah be righ' 'bout dis, Cedah..."
"Uh hopes.. so.."

They rolled their eyes, as they scooped him back up again, then headed THE WRONG WAY toward the locked metal door leading up into the mansion, instead of the SANE, SENSIBLE, CLEAR, SAFE, and PROPER exit, the way they came in, shuffling up the stairs behind the bloody massacre of flesh that was Ted, the Gladiator Bear.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Lily shifted Cedar's weight over her shoulder, trying to keep him from pressing on where she had been burned, (or where Ted had savaged her), while Veronica passed the small ivory trinket to him. He looked at it confusedly and made a voiceless "how? with what?" expression. Her heart let out for her brother, as she fished in the fur in her neck for the small blue scarab, pulled it free of its fluffy prison, then slid the chain off her neck, and around his, and gave it a pat, silently. A look of stunned wonder crossed his face, before he nuzzled her silently. It was a weak, and pitiful nuzzle, but it radiated genuine love, affection, and thanks.

Without hesitation, the tall masked man had set to work, calling another ... being... from wherever he called them from. Her lungs hurt. It was hard to breathe. She looked at Rose, and she was all bristles, teeth, and eyes, but ready to throw in beside her carrying their brother, and quickly scooped up his other shoulder to carry him between them, in haste if needed. She could tell from the stifled cough, that she had the same problems from the fumes as she did, though maybe less, from not trying to fight the fire herself.

---

Cedar held the two charms, one in each hand--the chains having been slipped over his withered, balding head. He looked at the tiny blue stone insect in his haggard paw, remarking how incredible it was. ... What he would have done for this.. just a few days ago...

It wasn't really the way magic was 'supposed' to feel. Magic felt like excitement, energy, vitality, and life inside your veins, eager to get out and take on the world. It could also be calm, soothing and gentle, like the whirlings of a summer breeze through your fur. This was... Something else. This was like a blanket had been wrapped around him, warm and ready.. Something outside yourself, but standing passive, waiting for you to pull it in, and make it yours.

It was not how it was supposed to feel. But it was something.

---It was something.

The other though? He had no idea. He didn't have time to think about it long-- he was vaguely aware of Solomon and his latest summon snuffing out the hot glow from around the corner, as his sisters began to move in earnest like they meant it. --And he knew deep down they did. He tried to think what would best calm Ted-- Everything he had tried to say to him had only somehow made things worse between them. Made Ted even more jealous. More angry. More hateful... What could he possibly say to him? His mind wheeled and came up empty many times in the shortness of a heart's beating as he was carried forward and around the corner.

And then he saw him.

Saw Ted. ... What was left of him.

All at once, his heart and mind raced. Visions of Kaitlyn Stritzel, the woman who had forced herself on him more times now than he could count, erupted in his mind unbidden and unbridled. He could hear... He could FEEL the wailing horror of the woman, cloying and howling through his skin; Pounding in his heart-- imagining her reaction to what she would see had happened to her "boy", "Her Ted."

That phantasm of the imagination merged, and fused with his own horror at seeing him that way. Deep down, he knew he had fallen in love with Ted in his own way. It had been that love that had kept him alive down here in this hole of misery and suffering. That had given him the courage and will to keep on living, and to face the cruelties visited on him daily; with measured resolve.

Whenever he looked at Ted, he saw Oak. The brother that he had chased bugs with. That he had suckled their mother beside. That he had chased their father's legs and played tag with...

... And the one that wanted nothing more to do with him, and who's face only contorted with contempt when he came to visit.

... The touch of humans... can be so cruel...

The visions combined into a symphony of unexpressed passion and need. How he imagined Stritzel would feel. How he felt. How he imagined Ted must feel right now, and without even knowing it, he held the ivory trinket firmly in his left hand, closed his eyes, and DARED TO FEEL IT ALL, as it poured out and through him, sucking at the ephemeral magic surrounding him; giving substance to the pain and anguish he felt, and morphing into that women's voice. Thin. Wavering. Desperate, and fragile. It screamed of vulnerability and passion.

"Oh God---"

it called inside and through him, shrill and mortified.

"Teddy! My Teddy! What have they DONE!?"

Then breathy, broken, and full of despair.

"....No!..."

"Teddy, Not here! Not like THIS!"

Before becoming more forceful, even vindictive and pained.

"Teddy Please! Just RUN! Run! Don't die down here, Teddy! Don't waste it on THEM! Don't waste your LIFE Teddy, JUST RUN!"

The bravado of the passionate plea faded, consumed by the breathy desperation once more, before ending in a mere whisper.

"Come to ME! Come to ME Teddy! ....COME TO ME!..."

"...I can't bear to be without you ..."
"... I love you..."

Then, just as suddenly as it tore through him, the voice was gone, leaving him clutching the hateful ivory talisman, with a sour and sick pain in his stomach.

His sisters had not stalled even a single moment, and had been traversing the room the whole time he had been consumed by the emotional deluge that had just ripped through him. They were drawing close to where Ted was-- battling the flaming head thing that he remembered from the tower fight with the wizard Asevor... He really needed to have a trip away from home that did not end in fighting like this some day... Gods.. He hoped.

It was his own turn now, to use his own voice, as the pair rushed him past, and out of arm's reach.

He reached out anyway, clawing at the air.

"Come.. wit.. Us..."

he rasped, as his sisters rushed him through the hall, and pulled Ted out of his sight.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Cedar was not sure what the hell was going on, but the sounds of Ted screaming cut him to the bone.

"O...Oh.GaAwd.. Tehh..Ed.." he rasped, tugging at his straps as the cell door flew open.

For the first time, he realized that veronica was there. He looked at her with a look of pure despair, then at Widernia. "Wuh...Wuh.. Di..Did.. ya.." breathing was hard, the air was burning his lungs."Does tuh hims.... Gawds... Ya kill..killin...im... Noo....--SAVE.. IM!!"

Lily and Rose rounded the corner mere moments later, then shoved Widernia against the wall from behind to push her out of the way, and bolted into Cedar's cell.

"FUCKS SAKE! WHUT DEY DO TUH YOU!?" shrieked Lily, looking at her brother's wizened form strapped into the bed, before angrily fumbling in her bag for her cutting knife, then setting to work on his restraints. No time to unbuckle, just cut and fucking run.

Rose was equally distraught, ripping the tubing out of his arm, and sending a small spray of blood into the filthy room. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. Smelled like it too.

"Lih... Ros...... Noo... Yous.. Yous.. YOUS CAint.. CAINT BE.. Noh... Noh Here.."

The sound of Ted's approach intensified, as Lily scooped her brother up over her shoulder. He was ... So light...

Rose rounded on Widernia, Teeth bared, anger in every part of her sending all her fur standing on end. She reached out with scalded hands and grappled for Widernia's neck, but was prevented bodily by Veronica.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!" she bellowed at the mage defiantly all the same.

She was hung over, her hands felt like they were on fire, and her heart pounded in her chest. Lily had Cedar over her shoulder now, and carried him like a limp dead animal out of the cell towards her sister.

"We dun gots time Rosie!" she said, but just as she was passing, Cedar seemed to become possessed with some kind of deeply held resentment and rage, as his own shriveled paw, covered in sloughing fur and radically withdrawn cuticles around his claws reached out and grabbed Veronica's shoulder and held tightly, while staring Widernia in the face with eyes that could cut stone.

"MAKE.. IT... STOP!!" he demanded.

"He... HATES.. YOU... YOu knowww..." he rasped, as his hand slid off veronica's shoulder.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Rose watched in horror as the flaming menace paused, then grabbed her sister completely unprovoked, then began menacing her with a savage fire-imbued mauling, before dropping her suddenly as the "tin man" with the fireball for a head slammed an axe into his back, dropping her into the smoldering hot debris she had just prior been trying to extinguish.

Said flaming menace bounded across and through the threshold leading into the guard's barracks, just to their left.

She stood there blinking in disbelief, as her sister snarled, pushed herself up from amidst the burning ruin despite the sizzles and fumes of burned flesh and hair mingled with the acrid chemical reek of the fire, went back up on two feet, then turned to face her while clutching her neck where Ted had savaged her.

"DAT DO IT! ROSEH!! BOOS' MEH!"

She knew better than to question her sister when she got "Serious" like this-- Even though she was always afraid of seriously hurting her beloved sister doing this. It was always a risk, and always painful and harmful to both of them, but sometimes there was just no other way...

... And this time, it looked like that might indeed be just the case...

She did not relish the idea of what this would do to both of them, or how they would feel, possibly for days afterward... But they *NEEDED* to get Cedar out of here. If Lily had a plan, it was more than she did right now.

She hoped it was a good one.

She closed in safely behind her sister, as she stormed off the sizzling, rapidly drying, and in some places, scorched, blackened, and beginning to ignite blankets, and toward the threshold of the guard's barracks, facing Ted with deadly intent, where she stopped just out of arm's reach of the smoking, charred, and (curiously) "Fire dripping" bear man. She put her paws on her sister's shoulders, drew a deep breath, and did her best to focus on what Lily needed done...

---

Lily glared at Ted with a burned and bloodied face that framed bright white incisors, bared for all the world to see. She was beyond angry.

She was murderous.

If they were to get Cedar out of here, this mother-fucker (if only she knew how accurate that epithet actually was!) needed to be rendered incapable of stopping them. He had proven himself to be unnaturally durable, and the odds of ever dealing enough harm to him to actually subdue him that way were too long for her to contemplate. (of course, numbers bigger than the mid 100s were too high for her to properly consider anyway...) That left only a few options, and this was the best idea she could come up with.

Her magic was not exactly the greatest. She had figured out how to "Soften" rocks so that she could carve them with tools made of the same rock-- a very handy trick for rapidly cutting arrow-heads, fashioning knives, carving cups, bowls, plates, and other very useful domestic items with. On her own, the most she could manage was getting one soft enough to just "Squeeze" in her paw, like it was a lump of particularly hard cheese. Not really soft and pliable like putty or clay-- More like a hard cheese. That was plenty soft enough to cut with a stone tool, and was perfectly adequate for the vast majority of any and every need of that spell she could readily think of. This spell, plus one for heating stuff up or starting small fires (which was naturally, GREAT for getting the fireplace started so her sister could cook dinner) accounted for the entirety of her "Offensive" spell repertoire. Since this son of a bitch was already on fucking fire, the latter effect would surely just be a waste of her, and everyone else's time-- and besides, they had ENOUGH fire to deal with right now.

That only left "Soften stone"-- and she needed something MUCH softer than hard cheese. She needed "RUNNY AS ALL GET OUT, SLOPPY, STICKY, WET MUD" kinds of soft. And for that-- She *NEEDED* Rose.

She hated putting her sister through this. It left her with a headache that could last for days, burned both of them everywhere they were in contact with each other (and contact WAS required!), felt like liquid fire inside her, overwhelmed her senses, was near impossible to "correctly" control, and was generally "Not a thing they ever liked doing." It was only for emergencies, and last resorts.

Gods damnit, Cedar had better appreciate this.

All these thoughts blasted through her mind in less than the space of time it took for her to suck in a deep, resolute breath.

"NOW ROSIE!" she bellowed, then winced as the acrid smell of burning skin and hair erupted from her shoulders and from her sister's paws, at the same time a searing and unholy burning sensation burst through her and threatened to overwhelm her if she didn't focus and use it right away. It always stunned her "Just how ungodly powerful" her sister actually was-- If only she had the where-with-all to actually *USE* it.

She gritted her teeth, focused the spell through her right foot, then stomped the ground with it, where it immediately "Splooshed" from the impact, spreading forward in front of her like a quivering glob of jelly, then underneath Ted. "Gelatinous", but getting soupier and soupier the more she channeled that unholy force rocketing through her into it, culminating in the "Runny mud" consistency she had aimed for in just enough time to watch him barely register that his feet had sunk completely out of sight into the unnaturally goopy flooring, before she lifted her own out the spot she had made, sending the floor under (and around) Ted instantly firm again.

She gave her foot a shake, then shooed her sister off her shoulders and winced in pain, both where she had been touched, and in her poor aching head and chest. She doubled over onto the floor and vomited from the stress, while her sister leaned against the entry way on her shoulder, and whimpered, clutching her seared and smoldering paws in distress.

(pant) (--heave--) "..... Git... out... 'AT .. You .. SUM.. BITCH.." she coughed, both from the now increasingly acrid smoke pouring out behind her, and from the strain of her labors.

She flicked her foot, and felt the solidified "stone mud" clinging to it clack and scrape on the stone beneath it.

This was not going to be fun to clean off later.

This had BETTER hold that fucker.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Rose wasted no more time, as the fire quickly started spreading through the broken glass vials that had been in the cabinet, now demolished by the enraged, roaring, and blindly swiping man-bear.

"OH NOES YOU DON'TS YOUS SUMMBITCH!" she bellowed, bringing the hugely over-stuffed blanket full of heavy books to bear over her shoulder like a giant rucksack while rapidly sprinting over the intervening space, winding herself up to begin delivering a a truly brutal and relentless barrage of heavy blows with it, in percussive cadence with her now angry and forceful shouting, as she belligerently beat the ever loving, living shit out of him, knocking him brutally and forcefully out and away from the shelving and back toward the far wall, striking him across the swollen and infected part of his face several times in the exchange, whenever and where-ever the opportunity to strike him presented itself.

"YOU. DO. NOT. GET. TO. STOP. ME. FROM. SAVING. MY. BROTHER. YOU. DIRTY. MANGY. UGLY. SMELLY. SON-- OF-- A--- BITCH!!"

Meanwhile, Lily looked mortified at the growing conflagration on that side of the room, then ducked behind her fully-committed sister, back into the far bedroom once more, looking for a solution. The bed in the room was quite nice, with a well made and pretty coverlet, a nice fluffy pillow, and a well made (in fact, surprisingly well made, as if for something or someone very heavy) wooden frame. The nearby spherical pot of blood now looked VERY useful to her.

One should not be confused by her, or her sister, when it comes to fire control. They grew up with a human parent, who made and used fire regularly, and lived in a forest FULL of flammable materials. How to extinguish a fire was a very important, and very early life lesson for the both of them-- She would have never thrown that jar full of alcohol at that incomprehensibly stupid, thuggish brute (no matter how handsome his butt was) if he had not decided to pick a fight, and then fail to comply with their initial plan to subdue him safely. Confronted with "Do not confront-- and sacrifice her brother" and "Confront unsafely, and see this through to the fucking end"-- she chose, and would always choose, the latter. End of discussion.

While her sister could be heard percussively and derisively pummeling the idiot behind her, she stripped the coverlet and sheets off the bed, threw them out onto the stone flooring, picked up the large crystalline looking container, and threw it down in the center against the hard floor as hard as she could, watching the contents explode onto the fabric, saturating them in the rank smell of her brother. It infuriated her the moment the smell hit her nostrils in a way that was impossible to put into words. The room seemed to go dark in the corners, time slowed to a crawl, her vision tunneled, sounds become muffled and indistinct, and she became aware of herself making a low, deep, guttural roaring.

She fought it back, and time resumed its normal cadence-- the sounds of her sister beating the shit out of that fucker returned to her ears, and she was never more happy to hear her sister beating a fucker to death in her life.

She looked at the blanket, and frowned. It was not wet enough for the job.
"FUCK DIS BITCH!!" she cursed, then squatted on the blanket, and pissed on it as hard as she could, with as much vendetta as she could muster, rapidly saturating it the rest of the way, before grabbing the soiled, rancid smelling, and sopping wet bedding in her arms.

Rapidly traversing the gap, she quickly began deploying the filthy fabric over the top of the burning fluids and cabinets, then began stomping on it to put it out.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"He aint goin fer it Rosie..."
"Uh kin sees 'at!"

The pair were vexed that the big lunkhead seemed angry enough to chew nails, but collected enough to not take the bait and rush them.

The elf man was now out of the picture as well. This was looking bad-- they needed to get Mr Tall Dark and Gruesome out of commission, so they could focus on that spell slinging bitch instead, before they ALL wound up caged in there.

"Covah meh!" Lily barked, then dove into the bedroom, rapidly looking for anything and everything even remotely useful, only to find books well beyond her understanding on various dry and uninteresting topics in the nearest cabinet, which she cast onto the foor irritably. Moving to the second one, there was a large container of sterilizer grade alcohol, for cleaning skin prior to performing surgery. THAT she eagerly grabbed up, dirty visions dancing through her head. In the far end of the room, was an odd crystal container filled with what looked like blood. Sadly, not very useful given the situation. Clutching the large container of alcohol tightly, she darted back through the threshold.

"What'd ya find?!"
"A buncha books-- an DIS!"

She opened the stopper to let the pungent odor out, but only for a moment.
"Dis aughta set hims worl' on fiyah!" She cackled.

"Good one Lil! Let 'im have it while i mess wit' em books!"
As Lily lined up and timed the throw, it was Rose's turn to dash into the now very untidy bedroom, where she quickly loaded as many of the heavy books into the center of the stolen blanket she could convince to fit, then tied it up into a nastly little bundle fit for bludgeoning.

She was just finishing up her hurried task as her sister wound up, and tossed the large specamine jar full of alcohol at the huge hairy hunk at the farvend of the room.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The twins looked with huge eyes at the creature that just erupted from the ground, completely dumbstruck. Rose especially, was having great difficulty processing what she just "saw". Seeing an entity's aura materialize out of another's, using drawn in 'lambent glow', was a thing she felt she would never even hear about, let alone witness directly.

That was not even talking about the creature itself. Unnatural. Not properly alive, yet still living.

It was contrary to everything they had seen, heard, or learned.

The shock and awe of it lasted only moments as the creature boomed out its pleasure at facing what was in the next room. The doctor said it was... a bear?

The word had taken this long to register. Yes, they smelled a bear in the air, but with the reek of all the pungent smells down here, it was hard to tell one from another-- Maybe cedar just really needed a bath? It wasn't CEDAR over there, was it?!

Lily poked her head around the corner for only a split second, to verify that NO--THAT WAS NOT CEDAR over there. She only saw his butt, but whooooo.... What a butt! Too bad about the bloody slashes over it, soaking the fur like that, but with how that fellow was trying to turn that little blue elf man into a purple stain? She couldn't say they blamed the fellow for giving that handsome lunk a sore posterior. Any place you can safely strike.

She looked at her sister Rose, who was still struck with confusion, not in line of sight of the wonder just beyond. Wordlessly, she shook her head "no", as her sister nodded in understanding, then turned as if to leave.

"Where ya goin'!?" she hissed at her. "He's big as a house! It gonna take us both!"
"I HAS an IDEAR!" Rose hissed back, taking only moments to dart across the antechamber to snag off a blanket from the nearest bed, then scurry back. She had already begun furiously rolling the edge up.

"Up an' o'er?"
"You got it!"
"onleh one shot.."
"'En we bettah makes it caount!"

Rose had completed "half rolling" the blanket in such a way that it retained it's "long length", and over the short edge, was rolled up half way, in an overhand roll. She concealed it in over her shield-arm, behind the shield and nodded to her sister that she was ready.

Lily turned her head back around the corner and looked out once more. The strange metallic monster with the flaming orb where a head should be was laughing loudly, while swinging that brutal looking axe around like it owned the place. This time, the vantage of the man-bear in the room was face-on and she saw more. His chest had a livid bald spot that looked vaguely human-shaped, the center of which glowed menacingly from beneath the skin. His face was swollen and distorted over his muzzle, like had a raging infection inside it. It must be horrifically painful-- Spittle flew from his mouth, and he swung like he meant it. Even disfigured (and glowing) as he was, there was no arguing that he was a VERY. HANDSOME. BEAR.

AND BIG.

The momentary pause she had indulged for the eye-candy broke, and the seeming slow motion she had been watching rushed back to full speed, as that momentary glimpse sprang into full force-- The Bear-man and the Metal-monster swinging at each other; the former raging curses that would make their father blush, and the latter laughing in a deep baritone, while the elf-man slashed and darted about like mosquito, striking where and how he could.

"Damn he pretty..."
"NOT NAOW! We's can oogle 'im oncet he all tied up, NOT AFORE!"

Her sister was right of course-- That.. WOULD.. be the correct time to.. "Get a good look"... A dirty smile curled on her face, then she strolled out into the room, her sister in hot, close pursuit behind her.

"HEYA 'DERE FELLA!!"
"WOULDA NEVAH GUESSED YA'S INTA BOYS!!"
"WHY DON' YOU COMES PLAY WIT' US ASTEAD!?"
"--ER DOES TWO FINE LOOKIN' LADIES MAKES YA SCARED!?"

They quickly maneuvered themselves into position in the threshold of what appeared to be a nearby bedroom, and took up placements there, ready to each spin around, grab an end of the rolled up blanket, and haul it over his head while ducking to either side of the doorway when (or if) he should take the bait, and rush at them.

"C'MON AN' MEETS US IN DA BEDROOM!"
"YOU KNOW YOU WANNA!!"

Then in unison:

"COME GIT SOME!!"
"COME GIT SOME!!"

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

It only took half a second after hearing the men on the other side of the now locked door, for the implications to click into place. There was no need whatsoever to try to block this door; those men would not be joining them. Moreover, there was clearly something very suspicious-- something very important-- upstairs that they were trying to protect from them. Whatever it was though, it was NOT her brother, and that was more important right now.

Wasting no more of her precious time, she bolted back down the stairs as fast as her short hairy legs could safely convey her over such dangerous terrain, before rocking back up on 2 feet, snatching the "shield" she had laid aside, and catching up to her sister with a faint scuff on the stone flooring as she slowed herself to avoid making noise, or being carried out into the lab by inertia. She looked wild-eyed at her sister, who nonverbally plied her with questions that she just silently indicated "not now" to.

She and her sister just waited for the inevitable to happen.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The sisters watched with wonder and amusement at how ... incredibly naive... the defense of the basement was, and how quickly and easily Solomon subdued the last sleeping guard.

However, the immediate rounding of Veronica toward the source of the reek further down in the basement after asserting they had a bear to save, triggered a moment of small crisis for the pair.

Sure, they wanted to save their brother alright, but the idea of being caught between that killer bitch downstairs, and the idiot guards returning once the noise starts, was just unacceptable. They hesitated for half a second, then immediately addressed each other, as Veronica just plowed down the hallway.

"She gonna go wit'out us Rosie, we gotta go!"
"--Em barstards'll jus' come righ' back down agin'st us Lil! Go on ahead, Uh'll catch up tuh ya!"
"Make it quick sis, we ain't got much time!"

Rose quickly patted her sister on the shoulder forcefully and proudly along with a nod, then set her shield down near the entrance to the hall, then bounded up the other hall, and up toward the stair.

Lily sucked in a breath, and continued with Veronica, Solomon, and varya down toward what must surely be where her brother was being held-- adrenaline and worry tinging her senses, and putting everything in her body on high alert-- She HATED being separated from her sister-- especially in THIS place.

She moved along with the rest of the infiltration team, while Rose worked.

--

In the antechamber, Rose dashed up to the stairs, careful not to overtake the guards, listening carefully for the sounds of men and the clatter of armor in the hall to stop before proceeding, hugging the corner of the hall to remain out of sight until then...

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The sisters let out a deep, somber, and dejected sigh, as they set the men down with gentle thuds, propped up against one of the walls of the small antechamber.

(sigh)
"Wuteveh ya says ma'am..."
".. Seem a shame tuh let such... eager.. young fellas jus' sit it out 'dou."
"--'specially see'n as they COULDA gone wit US--"
"--An' at ain't nevah a dull moment!"

The two busied themselves looking at the indicated crate lids, and finding that-- true to their purpose, meant only for being secured to the top of a wooden crate with some iron nails-- they lacked any intrinsic means of being secured to an arm, or carried easily. However, due to their ephemeral nature for such an inglorious purpose, they were not the most well crafted, and there were subtle gaps between the boards that they were made from, suggesting that a lashing or fastener could be passed through, making them fit for service, if un-ideal.

Almost in unison, they paused their work, looked at each other cheekily, smiled broadly, then sauntered back over to the unconscious guards, where they began unfastening their belts amid perverted giggles.

"Well miss-- Ain't no part 'a havin' loose pants gunna hurt d'ese boys none!"
"--Mebbeh keep em' from runnin' off, if'n deys wakes up earleh!"

They looked at each other and giggled again, each finishing the belt removal from their selected 'victim' with a cheeky pull.

"dey gunna fall all ovah 'emselves --AG'IN!"
"dey gunna fall all ovah 'emselves --AG'IN!"

"--Jus' caint helps it!"
"--Jus' caint helps it!"

They returned to their crate lids, then fed the belt straps through the gaps in the boards, then buckled them tightly, creating the needed arm-holds that would render them serviceable, loaded them onto their respective dominant arms, then following behind, ready for action.

"When you's grows up likes we done did, ya learns tuh be ruhsourceful!"
"Ain't let NUTHIN goes tuh waste!"
"Righ' hard tuh leave em boy's 'ahind...."
"E'en if dey IS dumb as rocks!"