Investiture for a Better Life Foundation

[+Sorana]

@Ookla the spearman

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What material are his spikes made of? Can Althea see this, or any bind points used?

Althea walked over to the computer, not intending to pay Aurell a single chryst. She turned it on, and then took a look at the hardware, searching for something that maybe could read her card.

When a guy teleported into the room and immediatly spiked the justice- freak she tilted her head slightly to the left, observing. Five spikes in the chest, from criminals. Interesting. She tried to get a closer look where exactly he had shoved them into Galvris body, or to discern their material. Galvris introduced the man as Valdwen pointed at her with his finger. She met his eyes with a cold stare, didn't like to be pointed at like you would at an object. And he only told Valdwen her name, keeping her position secret. Another interesting fact.

"They are planning on how to bring down Solace, a worthy goal, wouldn't you say?"

He finished his introduction and Althea filed this information away, too. To bring down Solace. They didn't. They wanted to stop him, and there was a fundamental difference between those two. Maybe they would need to choose a place far away from them for their confrontation. Turning to Max, to judge his reaction, she found him staring at the spikes, then sharply turn away to face the door. She hesitated, unsure how to react, not really able to judge his emotions without looking at his eyes. Storms. She was supposed to do something, he just had told her he loved her. She was supposed to know if he was alright or not, if he could handle this or not, wasn't she?

Collect youself, she commanded herself. Think. He had told her, about Lusk, what he made him do. So probably he wasn't that well? Althea looked over at Brashen and her spren only shook his head. He didn't know either.

Max?

She finally asked.

Are you alright?

Inwardly cringing she observed him hold up the card. Are you alright? She could do better than that. She needed to do better than that. But - nothing. She could think of nothing better than are you alright. Only a lot of things even more awkward. Sighing quietly she looked down at the computer again.

[Lord Meeker]

Aurell sighed and pointed. "Max. The access control is over there." 

She then unholstered both of her revolvers and pointed them at the door.

[Vargo Seldon]

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Of course Sorana.  They are made of copper for mental fortitude in order to prevent someone like Max from taking control, though with his powerful rioting, he could probably do it without breaking a sweat as Galvris has upwards of fifty others.

Galvris held up a hand to forestall Aurell, "Allow me."  He held up a hand, and his brow beaded with concentration.  A moment later, a pale, molten, bar of pure fire shot from his hand, connecting with the door.  An instant after the balefire hit the door, it melted away as if it had never existed.  Galvris grinned like a madman, "Always wanted to use balefire in a social setting."

[old man moomba]

Rick laughed, 

"Now that, is what I call classy." He nodded towards Althea and Max "If you two would like to go first?"

[Lord Meeker]

Sephtis stood in the doorway. "Welcome friends, one and all."

"Yeah... remember when I said I activated the defenses..." Aurell laughed nervous.

[old man moomba]

Rick conitued laughing.

"Hey Stephtis. Good to see you."

[Lord Meeker]

"I will forgive you this once for saying my name wrong." He snarled. "Aurell kill them."

"With pleasure" Aurell smiled.

She turned and shot three bullets, each, at Rick, Galvris, Althea and Max.

[old man moomba]

Rick contiued laughing as the bullets melted to slag in front of him. He kept laughing as he pointed the sword at Solace, juding him as the larger threat. 

"Joke's on you, I don' know how to read."

Edited December 7, 2018 by Ookla the Benefactor

[Lord Meeker]

"I can teach you when you are but a tiny voice inside my head." Sephtis calmly said. "Now I will give you a chance to leave before I destroy you."

[Karnatheon]

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Plot twist

 

[+Ark1002]

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And now it is revealed: Solace had been Hellbent all along!

 

[old man moomba]

"Well, excuse me friend, but I would be big voice inside your tiny head." He winked. "For once, I'm not going to leave beore a battle."

[+Sorana]

Aurell turned towards her, pulled her weapon and shot. Thrice. Pure instinct let her breathe in stormlight, then her world exploded in pain. She couldn't even say where exactly Aurell hit, only that she had aimed well, not missing once. Not even having the breath to scream she stared at Aurell for a heartbeat, tried to follow what was happening. Not trusting the woman had been right, but in the end they had been too trusting at the same time.

Her next concious thought was when her body hit the floor, the pain of the impact jolting her mind out of whereever it had gone for a few seconds. Black spots danced in front of her eyes, but slowly a part of the pain was subsiding, the stormlight healing her body. She saw Aurell turn, fire again. Thrice. Mentally reaching out for the weapon she tested if her investiture would get a grip on it, tried to turn it to water.

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It's probably at least partially made of aluminium, but I felt like Althea would try.

 

[I think I am here.]

Solace was here.

Immediatly, Aurell turned and fired three bullets at each person here. The bullets tinged off of Max’s armour before he could even react and the air shimmered green as a forcefield went over him.

He looked to the side. Althea was on the ground. He quickly expanded the forcefield until it covered her too, and was by her side. She seemed to be in pain, but was healing. Max cursed, wishing he could do something for somebody who’d only earlier he’d admitted he loved. His armour didn’t have any healing magics.

Well, maybe one.

His helmet was turquoise in colour, Aons for calming stretched along its surface. Max hadn’t taken it off in a while, but ever since Solace had healed him, he hadn’t needed it. Still, he took precaution.

But now, what else could he do? Shutting his eyes and hovering his hands over the helmet, he pressed and felt it unclasp, lifting it up very slowly. Any moment he expected the screams to return, any moment now.

A bead of sweat formed out of his anxiety, and in one swift motion he took the helmet off of his head. Nothing happened. For once in a while Max felt the cool air hit his face, his sight no longer restricted by the visor. He was free.

Carefully, he placed the helmet over Althea’s head. The helmet could combat Max’s insanity, hopefully it would numb the pain Althea felt.

Turning to Solace, Max talked through the forcefield. “Solace!” He said. “We need to talk!”

[Lord Meeker]

Solace sighed and walked to the force field. He proceeded to teleport inside. "You don't understand I can teleport into these things." He said amused. 

Solace enhanced his physical strength and punched Max in the side of the head. "We will talk on my terms." Sephtis said. "Also never take you armor off in battle it may be your down fall."

[I think I am here.]

Watching as Solace teleported into the forcefield, Max stood his ground. “You don’t understand I can teleport into these things,” Solace said. He was right. At least it was some sort of protection from Aurell, though.

Suddenly, Solace’s fist was at Max’s face and Max collapsed to the ground, clutching where he’d hit. It burned, and Max’s vision swam, like Solace had knocked his eyes out of working order too.

“We will talk on my terms,” Solace said, and Max couldn’t find the strength to get a response. He was in so much pain, he almost didn’t hear the next thing Solace said. Something about armour?

Still on the floor, Max outstretched his hand, and considered summoning Sethramir. A deadly weapon even among the deadliest of foes. He stopped himself, though. They weren’t here to kill Solace.

“We... can save you.” He said to Solace through the pain. It was hard to believe, through all of this, Solace was still the victim. “We can help you.”

[Lord Meeker]

"We can help you.” Max said.

Sephtis laughed. "I don't need your help."

He took the helm off of Althea and crushed it in the palm of his hand. Sephtis touched the minds of Althea and Max and willed them to sleep.

[old man moomba]

Rick smiled a big smile, his Blade glowing with Investiture. 

"I forgot to mention, friend, that I have a unlimited supply of Investiture at my fingertips. Most of the time, I can't control it. Yes, it protects me, but to use the Blade's full potential, I need someone more powerful. Someone like you." 

[I think I am here.]

“I don’t need your help.”

Solace took Max’s helm from Althea and crushed it. A show of power. Suddenly, Max felt tired, exhausted, way more so than he should have been.

Trying to fight back against the sleep, he Rioted Althea’s alertness, as well as almost every other emotion. Hopefully while Max was drifting away, his Rioting could counter Solace’s and Althea could stay conscious.

He couldn’t go yet. They needed to test out the weakness.

Before he went unconscious, he looked to Solace. “Look into my mind,” he said. “Look into our minds. See the pain we’ve been through. We’re like you. We understand.”

And with that Max fell asleep.

[old man moomba]

Rick turned around, saw Max falling asleep, and rammed the Tenth Blade into the ground in front of him. He then proceeded to slap Max repeatedly across the face.

[I think I am here.]

“Ow, jeez,” Max said, briefly regaining consciousness by getting slapped repeatedly across the face.

“Dude, you realise this is like a psychic induced sleep, right? So as soon as you stop slapping me I’m going to sleep again. And I’m not to keen on being slapped more.”

Max fell asleep again, this time he snored a little bit.

[Vargo Seldon]

As soon as Sephtis appeared, Valdwen began tapping mental speed.  When Aurell fired the bullets, Valdwen was ready.  He tapped speed, and jumped in front of the bullet on it's course to Galvris.  The bullet took him in the side and he looked towards Galvris. 

Galvris barely had time to react.  He was almost able to make out Valdwen jumping in the path of the bullet, but he did see Valdwen collapse to the ground.  His face contorted in pain and fury.  I don't care how insane you are Solace, he thought, you don't kill my friends.  I'm going to kill you Solace.  The thought came to him unbidden, and he instantly regretted it.  Justice wasn't dictated by one man.  It was an ideal.  Even still, he seized saidin, channeling more powerfully then he ever had before.  For women, the relationship to the true source was an embrace, welcoming a friend.  To men, it was a battle to the death.  He channeled flows of air, and shaped a kind of shield.  He then thrust it outward, tearing the room to pieces and flinging the walls twenty meters away.  It didn't touch the men inside, though.  Too much investiture.  He carefully wove a ring of fire, earth and air.  The result was a solid ring of fire surrounding him.  He expanded it quickly and flung it towards Sephtis.  It probably wouldn't kill him, but it would incapitate him long enough for captivity.  He prepared flows of air to bind him.

[old man moomba]

"Huh" Rick mused, turning around. He looked at Solace. "Well, buddy, what are you waiting for? Do as the sleeping man says."

Edited December 8, 2018 by Ookla the Benefactor

[+Sorana]

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This covers everything I missed while sleeping, until Althea falls asleep. So nothing really happens, apart from her last two sentences to Solace.

Althea lay there, breathing in and out, in and out. The pain continued to subside, but still, it hurt. She heard Max step up next to her, kneeling down and he lifted her head, then he placed his helmet over her face. Immediatly the pain lessened and she took a deep steadying breath, then rolled on her side to push herself up. The helmet cleared her thoughts, let her think easily, calmed her. Their plan, they had a plan. Blood was running down her chest, and her thig protested as soon as she put some weight on it. Looking around she saw exactly one bullet lying around. Meaning that two were buried somewhere in her body, her flesh knitting itself together around them. Making a mental note to get them out, once this was over, she slowly got to her feet, just in time to see Solace punch Max in the face, so hard he fell to the ground. She turned towards Solace, but he stepped to her, plucked the helmet from her head and crushed it with a single motion of his hand. This was bad. As in, this wasn't going to end well for them. Immediatly the pain was back, thankfully bearable this time and she heard Max offer help and solace declined. For a moment she wondered if Max was rioting some of Solace emotions, or if he tried without it, when she felt a great weight settle onto her. Tired she tried to kep her eyes open, when the feeling got supressed, when she suddenly felt alert and fearful, happy and desperate. Everything that was swirling around in her mind suddenly was there, dominated her thoughts, made it difficult to think logically, to resort to reason. And yet it was better than to immediatly fall asleep.

“Look into my mind,” she heard Max say “Look into our minds. See the pain we’ve been through. We’re like you. We understand.”

His voice was tired, and when she looked down she saw him fast asleep on the floor. Turning to Solace she looked at him.

"He's right. We know pain. But more importantly we know how to handle pain and fear. How to not give in. To go on. To find a reason to get up in the morning and to live..."
her voice trailed of when she forgot what she wanted to say next. Max grip on her emotions vanished and sleep grabbed her, tried to push her down. Sinking to her knees, she shook her head. There was a reason, he didn't simply kill them. He had a plan, he wanted to do something. Her thoughts turned sluggish, and she couldn't follow that idea, really think about it. But she needed to, there was one thing she needed to tell him.

"Whatever you want to do. Leave Max alone. Take me instead."

Her hands hit the ground and she tried to push herself upright again, but instead she felt her arms give way, her body slump on the ground as she fell asleep.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Ookla the Clueless

[Lord Meeker]

"I don't want to kill you." Sephtis told Galvris and Rick. "You saw how fast I took down Max and Althea. I was lenient with them. You will perish if you do not leave. If you knew anything of the man called Ioc. Then you know of his powers. He currently resides in my head. You are nowhere near as strong as he. Are you sure you want to go up against one of the most powerful high epics the world has ever seen?"