Alleyverse Sewer System

[Minato™]

Neo went to scout the perimeter. There wasn't really much to 'scout'. But he did anyways. He was reflecting on how he did. Neo and Max took that guy down pretty easily and Althea and Hellbent did good, despite Hellbent still scaring the hell out of Neo.

[Gancho Libre]

"No!" Frob insisted. "Not his hideout. I didn't do his hideout! Please! 4-8-6-0-9-1! 5-0-1-2-4-5! 8-8-9-3-4-2! 7-0-7-9-4-1! Please! I can feel you seeing me! STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

He would have cried if he had any tears left. Grom. Dead. Harj. Dead. Verk. Dead. Kerl. Dead. Treb. Dead. Dead, dead, DEAD!!!

All dead. Nobody to help Frob. Nobody. He couldn't help Frob! His eyes were blind. He could see nothing! His fingers wanted to strangle! He was entrapped! He couldn't breathe!

No, no, no, no! They were all gone. Frob wasn't gone. But Frob knew when he would be. Hellbent would kill him. Or one of the others. Frob was not going to survive!

"Four-Eight-Six-Three-Two-Seven-Three-Zero-Two-Four-One-Four-Nine-Four-Six-Three-EIGHT!" he babbled, his voice rising in volume. "I don't know the numbers! He told me them. I know them! Stop asking me if I know them! I DON'T!!"

@Sorana @Ark1002 @Nohadon @Minato™ @I think I am here.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Gancho Libre

[Darth Woodrack]

Dusk grabbed a cat from the sewer system to run tests on then left.

[+Ark1002]

He paused, stepping over to the head of the corpse, the body stone.
¨Mrs. Righthand? Do you have those numbers?¨

He approached Frob, holding the head by the hair, swinging in his hand.

@Gancho Libre

[+Sorana]

Althea nodded.

"I do, of course."

Her voice cold.

"The Ghostbloods will be watching you."

She told Frob, waved her hand, changed his cloths back and teleported him away. Her eyes rested on Hellbent.

"We need someone to live to tell the tale."

@Gancho Libre

Edited May 5, 2019 by Sorana

[+Ark1002]

Quote

12 hours ago, Sorana said:

"We need someone to live to tell the time."

I think Metronome has you covered there

He nodded. "I agree." The head dropped to the ground. "Not coordinates. So what could they be?"

[Minato™]

"Could be a passcode? Maybe there's a certain pattern to it, which will give us coordinates if we figure it out? I'm not really the thinking type," Neo added.

[+Sorana]

Althea leaned against the wall close to Max and pulled out something to write.

Numbers. Many numbers. Three times he'd talked about numbers and three times they were almost the same. Almost, but not quite.

4-6-8-0-9-1

4-8-6-0-9-1 5-0-1-2-4-5 8-8-9-3-4-2 7-0-7-9-4-1

4-8-6-3-2-7 3-0-2-4-1-4 9-4-6-3-8

Especially the last ones seemed like they didn't fit the rest. But Frob had been really frightened then. Maybe he had uttered nonsense in the end. She sighed, tried to concentrate, to find some calm within herself.

Pondering the tapped her finger against her notebook. Coordinates? Maybe the pipes were numbered? Maybe a map could help. Or they had to turn right with the even numbers and left for the uneven ones.

A number. To call someone?

Quote

I have no real idea, other than those above. And they are weak at best.

@Minato™

@Nohadon

@Ark1002

@I think I am here.

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

I've got one...

it's not good tho

Hellbent considered the numbers. "Letters of the alphabet?"

"A code?"

[+Sorana]

Althea tried it out.

"Maybe. But then we only end up with letters between a and g. And I'm not sure how to include the 0. There aren't enough 1s for later letters, or the 0 indicates, that afterwards we have to add ten to every single one."

She wrote for a while.

"I end up with useless letters. But I might do it wrong."

Quote

I tried it ooc. But I can miss something.

 

 

[Nohadon]

Devaan thought for a moment.

Are they directions through the tunnel system? maybe it means which tunnels to take and each turn. He suggested to Hellbent and Althea through the hive.

[+Sorana]

Althea mentally shied away from his voice, but her face and body posture didn't change.

"If it is about directions, we might need a map. Maybe the tunnels are numbered, like streets. Or it's about which direction to take, but without a starting point we could wander around endlessly."

"Maybe it is coordinates? Can someone organize a map? Then we could check this theory."

[Nohadon]

Mapping it out ourselves would take too long, and we don't know how big this system is. If we tried to bring in anyone else Vesuvius might find out and bolt. I could try mimic Benson's voice and get Vesuvius to come to us if we can't find him, we could also let Frob free and one of us, probably Hellbent and I with our stealth skills could tail him. No doubt he would be going back to Vesuvius if he was lying to us to warn him.

[+Sorana]

 

If you want to follow him, you should hurry, I placed him outside of this room.

@Nohadon

 

[Nohadon]

Alright. I'll tail him for now, wait at least thirty seconds at least then tell the others. Don't let the kid screw me over.

You ok if I take over for a bit? We gotta tail the guy and I don't want you killing him before we find Vesuvius. I let you have your fun.

Devaan silently left the room, stalking Frob from the shadows. He cleared his thoughts as he tailed the man.

@Gancho Libre

[+Sorana]

I'm not your servant. I don't order you around and I would appreciate if you would stop doing it.

She replied coldly, ire leaking into her voice. She was right, looking at titles he had given up a lot when he had decided to take back command of the Canton. She didn't care if Max did what he told him, and it wasn't that he was wrong. It was about respect. He could have added a please somewhere, could have phrased it as a request, not a command. A small voice wished she would have swallowed her wounded her pride, simply did what he wanted her to do, the last thing she wanted was a conflict between them. Work changing her private life again. But Devaan was a professional, she could only hope that he was able to realize this was about work.

"Neo, why don't you take a look at this, maybe you have another idea."

She beckoned the kid over and showed him her notes.

@Minato™

 

[Nohadon]

13 minutes ago, Sorana said:

I'm not your servant. I don't order you around and I would appreciate if you would stop doing it.

Devaan bit back the retort that had came to his mind and thought about what he'd been saying to Althea. Had he been ordering her around?

Sorry. He thought back after a pause I've been so used to running things like this, I guess I have to get used to not being the one in charge, old habits die hard and all. 

[+Sorana]

1 hour ago, Nohadon said:

Devaan bit back the retort that had came to his mind and thought about what he'd been saying to Althea. Had he been ordering her around?

Sorry. He thought back after a pause I've been so used to running things like this, I guess I have to get used to not being the one in charge, old habits die hard and all. 

It's alright. I respect you, and you have more experience than me, when it comes to a fight. It would be illogical to not listen to your ideas.

She paused.

It's been a while since anybody gave me a direct order. Years. Let's do this as partners?

[Minato™]

Neo sighed "I'm bad with notes and stuff like that. I just don't want to sit around here doing nothing." Neo wasn't going to follow Devaan again like last time. Instead, he grew some flowers out of boredom and practiced with his growth surge, he had been getting better over the past few weeks. Neo eventually took out his monocle and decided to prank Max, when he wasn't looking Neo heavily focused on his hunger, and after about 30 seconds Neo felt a sense of less hunger and immediately put his monocle away when he realized it worked.

[I think I am here.]

Max looked at the code, leaning to see it written in Althea’s notebook. “No idea,” he mumbled, putting a hand to his stomach. He was starving. “Why would Vesuvius give Frob numbers? Frob said himself he wasn’t told any message, just numbers? So if we were really intimidating him as much as he let on, he would have told us the meaning. But he didn’t, so does that mean he didn’t know the meaning himself?”

[Nohadon]

6 hours ago, Sorana said:

It's been a while since anybody gave me a direct order. Years. Let's do this as partners?

Partners. Devaan agreed after a moment.

I won't be able to respond for a while. Clearing my mind helps with my stealth and using the hive takes some focus to find the right voice in my head. There are an annoying amount of them in here.

OUR head, Sheonar. Hellbent broke in

Fair point, good luck with the numbers, I'll let you know what's going on once It's clear Frob hasn't seen me.

[Gancho Libre]

On 5/6/2019 at 3:42 AM, Nohadon said:

Alright. I'll tail him for now, wait at least thirty seconds at least then tell the others. Don't let the kid screw me over.

You ok if I take over for a bit? We gotta tail the guy and I don't want you killing him before we find Vesuvius. I let you have your fun.

Devaan silently left the room, stalking Frob from the shadows. He cleared his thoughts as he tailed the man.

@Gancho Libre

Frob cried as he scurried away. He had told the numbers. Would Vesuvius kill him? He was useless.

The eyes watched from behind. Bumping, spiking, pulsing. He was being followed. Frob was an animal! Beaten down and sliced. Frob massaged his shirt sleeve. Not metal. Breathing. it let his sweat. Would Vesuvius kill him? Vesuvius lived in the sewers. Or would his tail kill him? He didn't want to die. He needed to live. That's what Vesuvius said. Even if Vesuvius would kill him in the end. Frob would obey! Frob would watch!

They could communicate telepathically, Frob knew. He could feel it. that aura around them, a chain linking them, visible, as far as he knew, only to his eyes, to his pulses, to his bumps. frob was in the dark! He was scared. Telepathy. It was dangerous! Yellow! Bright! He needed to-

'I commend your efforts,' a voice in Frob's head whispered. 'But you really are useless to me now. You told the numbers. Nothing in your head is useful now.'

Frob froze. The voice. The voice of news. The voice of change. It hurt! The voice cut his mind!

'Come to think of it,' the voice continued, 'I should have had you captured myself. I would have gotten my information much faster that way. But at least I have it.'

Frob shivered as he walked. The water soaked into his shoes.

'You are being followed. You are useless. Goodbye. it is time for you to go.'

Suddenly, the burning in his mind began to sear, to scorch. He kept walking, staggering, while animals fought inside his skull, tearing, ripping, killing, stealing. Frob could feel the talons destroying him. The numbers were all he had! Why had he given them away?

Not even Vesuvius had been able to take the numbers from him. Frob shook his head, trying to restore his mind even as he lost it. Vesuvius must have sent the assassins, to take the numbers. He and Vesuvius were linked, weren't they? Wasn't it Vesuvius' mind that he heard?

No. That was a voice he had heard only once before.

He flared Bronze, Seeking as he had always been. A shield. A shield of insanity. It meant nothing now. Frob was going to die. His efforts meant nothing. But his mind cleared.

The Seeking illuminated his follower as if Frob had eyes on the back of his head. Even if the tail wasn't using investiture, Frob would still see him. That was the way of the mist. The edges of his vision dimmed away into beige coloring.

His thoughts were useless now. But now they were more shielded then they had ever been. the voice had severed itself form Frob. If Frob died, then the voice would too. The bond was strong. Now, Frob could think freely. Even as his mind was ripped to shreds.

Mental Speed. Everything slowed to a crawl. Frob thought as hard as he could. Vesuvius... Vesuvius knew nothing. Vesuvius didn't know what they were doing. All Vesuvius knew was Frob's madness.

A shield from the bond. Frob had survived as long as possible.

Now, he would die. But, now he was free to think about what he wished.

He was free to think as hard as he wished as well.

In slow motion, Frob fell to the sewer floor, the water soaking his knees. He didn't care. He searched through the remnants of his mind, searching for the information he had hidden there, the thing he must tell the others.

He found it. He thought it. and, for a split second, another consciousness opened into Frob's mind. A gentle, loving one. but also a careful one. It snatched up Frob's offered information and left immediately, leaving Frob alone to die. Frob didn't care. it was hard to care about anything. He was dying.

He had told the numbers, true. They would point the way to Vesuvius. They would point the way to Vesuvius' secrets. they would share Vesuvius' location. Frob had devised the code himself, in his insanity. In the moment of interrogation, it had been all he could think of.

But his mind held something even more dangerous, even more important. Frob would share that with his friends, in the moment of death. It was gone, out of Frob's memory. A second later, his Feruchemy ran out, and Mental Speed slowed to normal.

Frob died, his mind torn apart, his brain reduced to a grey lump of useless matter.

But the two things, the two pieces of information that Frob could offer, the two things that were of utmost importance, had been shared. Vesuvius' numbers. Those terrible, terrible numbers.

The second was Frob's secret. His goal. His successes. The thing Frob hid under his insanity, to keep Vesuvius form finding it. To keep the voice from digging out.

The secret to restoring Ioc.

Frob's eyes misted over with beige color for a second, hidden in the dark of the sewer, as Frob's life passed from his body. The color rose from his eyes in a mist, almost instantly dissipated in the open air, but for a second standing witness of Frob's sacrifice.

@Nohadon

Edited May 7, 2019 by Gancho Libre

[+Sorana]

Althea sighed and looked back at the numbers. She had no idea. Max leaned over, to take a look as well, placed a hand on his stomach as if he was hungry -

Closing her notebook she looked around.

"There is someone here."

She told Max and Neo in a quiet voice.

"We missed someone. They're influencing Max."

@Minato™

@I think I am here.

===================

Quote

I'm waiting for you're all clear Nohadon.

@Nohadon

[Nohadon]

Devaan watched as Frob died

He's... Dead. Someone killed him, he wasn't attacked or anything, just keeled over and died, I think Vesuvius didn't want him to return back. I'll search his body and then come back to you

Devaan searched Frob's body, rifling through his pockets with the expertise of a thief. He smiled to himself, remembering the days of the final empire as he did so. Those times were dangerous, but simpler, no time for justice, for dreams, just survival.

@Gancho Libre

@Sorana

 

[Minato™]

“Influencing? What do you mean, what’s happening?” Neo whispered. He wasn’t sure if she meant his hunger or something else. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Minato™