main plot Rivers of Blood

[AonEne he/him]

That's PlasmaCore? Storms. Deteca had to shake herself a little. My guild is busy trying to help civilians get to safety. I don't know who we can rally to help you. She glanced at Tena and Rial. "Who are our best-trained fighters?"

[+Ark1002]

Anthony poked his head inside. "Anything I can do?"

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

"Probably me," Tena said. Rial nodded.

[AonEne he/him]

"...best-trained fighters who don't have young children to take care of?" Deteca tried again.

[Voidus]

4 hours ago, kenod said:

Kumiko nodded and started typing a reply for KanMien when she heard a screech. Looking up she saw a creature swing a pan at her. Sighing she reached out and cut the tendons in its arm using her claws, and as it dropped the pan, screaming, she continued moving and sliced it's throat.
No spikes, she typed. Lots around, all over town probably. Slow, no special abilities. Haven't seen any different types. She paused. They seem kind of weak.
She send the message and then ran towards a creature that had gotten close to her, launching a drop kick at it's head.

***

KanMien looked at their phone, reading Kumiko's message. "They don't seem to have any abilities or spikes," they told Laurelai. "There are a lot of them, all over town, but they're supposed to be quite weak."
They tilted their head, thinking. "Something is off," they muttered. "Why would you unleash something like this? Even a basic cleanup team could deal with them in half an hour."

***

Fragarach smiled as a group of the creatures rushed at her. A powerful wind started gathering around her blade, making it heavy to control. She sliced her blade towards them, driving them back. One of them rushed at her, and the wind blew it away as she hit it with the flat of the blade, sending it careering through the other creatures. "Homerun!" She yelled, standing ready as the creatures got back up again. Just as they got up she smiled, blade held straight out to the side. "Fragarach!" She shouted as she swiped the blade forwards, an arc of air flying off it, cutting through the creatures, as well as the walls of the buildings in front of her.

Whisper landed lightly on her feet, using a nearby rooftop to take a break and glance around. The nearby creatures all seemed to be dealt with for the moment, others were still roaming around the streets but the area around her and Kumiko seemed clear for now.

Keep fighting? She asked, sending the message to Laurelai and Lita as well. Plenty more on streets. Clear here for now though. Or continue looking out?

Groups of people seemed to be gathering in the streets as well, forming large mobs that began roaming around. A coloured haze seemed to hang around these groups as they travelled, picking fights with others they met. None of those were nearby either for now, but they seemed to be spreading throughout the city.

Something else too. She sent. People attacking each other. Strange haze.

She leapt back down from the roof, next to Kumiko.

Or continue to building? She signed, looking up curiously.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laurelai frowned as she received the reports, trading a glance with KanMien.

"Why would you unleash something like this? Even a basic cleanup team could deal with them in half an hour." The Kandra asked.

It was unusual, creatures like that did little other than add to the chaos of the city. She'd heard about something similar happening in the seven days war but the intention then had simply been to warn off the invading armies. Was this Plasmacore trying to warn the guilds off from attacking? But the guilds already had a strong presence inside the city this time, chaos everywhere would do little other than distract their forces to deal with them before proceeding.

"Stalling for time?" She suggested. "Or possibly trying to frame us for it? Cause more conflict between the DA and other guilds. But to what end?"

She sent another report on towards Mac, including some speculation but trying mainly to keep to the facts.

"Can you ask them to continue with the infiltration?" She asked KanMien. "There are plenty of others who can handle the fighting in the city, they're the ones who are closest to PlasmaCore right now, we need intel."

Her mind was whirling, trying to connect the pieces and make sense of what the goal might be, but a sudden movement distracted her. A reply from Mac and Voidus.

Take those you have with you, need you to speak with someone in TUBA to let them know we haven't released anything yet. Don't want them to get jumpy and start distracting us. Stay out of combat. Keep safe.

She hesitated before repeating the message aloud for Lita and KanMien.

The tone had seemed a little unusual, in all her time with the DA she hadn't been told to keep safe before. She'd been told to be careful, be cautious, but that was generally to avoid ruining an experiment or operation, not out of concern for personal safety.

She dismissed the thought, spanreed signals couldn't be falsified after all, they could only send and receive to what they were connected to.

 

@kenod, @ZincAboutIt

[+Ark1002]

Lord Ajax watched as the Vortex expanded, almost filling the room. This time, what emerged was a massive red spren, or... he paused. It wasn't one spren, it was billions. Billions of small spren, like serpents, or maybe leeches. They moved as one, in a shape like a river. One scientist was in their way, and he was devoured, all but his blood, which splattered to the floor.

He grinned, eyes flashing. Another weapon.

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

Quote

I make a great psychopath. 

 

[AonEne he/him]

42 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

Anthony poked his head inside. "Anything I can do?"

Deteca glanced over. "The GBs want people to help them fight PlasmaCore - you're a Ghostblood yourself, aren't you?"

[+Ark1002]

He paused, then remembered the tattoo on his forehead. "Yes, I am."

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

1 hour ago, Voidus said:

Take those you have with you, need you to speak with someone in TUBA to let them know we haven't released anything yet. Don't want them to get jumpy and start distracting us. Stay out of combat. Keep safe.

She hesitated before repeating the message aloud for Lita and KanMien.

The tone had seemed a little unusual, in all her time with the DA she hadn't been told to keep safe before. She'd been told to be careful, be cautious, but that was generally to avoid ruining an experiment or operation, not out of concern for personal safety.

She dismissed the thought, spanreed signals couldn't be falsified after all, they could only send and receive to what they were connected to.

Lita frowned at Laurelai.

"'Keep safe'?" She asked. "That's... nice." Odd, that's what it was. Still, Lita wasn't one to wave away a well-wishing when offered. She downed the rest of her port and stuffed another two cookies into her pocket.

"Right, well, if we're about to leave the Alleys then I'll be needing more tin. There should be more in my old clothes back in my rooms, unless you have some?" Lita doubted it, but there was no harm in asking. 

The second vial in under a day? Came the little voice in her head.

Lita ran her tongue along her teeth, trying to ignore the feel of her clothing against her skin, the slight changes in temperature in the room, the small sounds of peoples' breathing, swallowing, shifting position. It didn't matter, she was almost out, and she'd need more. You're fine. Once this is over, you can take a rest. No more for a little bit. It's fine. You're fine.

[Voidus]

"Sorry." Laurelai replied, shaking her head. "I could make some, but it reverts back as soon as you start burning it."

It was something she'd experimented with when she first joined the DA, wondering if she could help with supplies for their allomancers. She'd read the previous research on the subject but replication studies were important after all, not enough researchers focused on confirming that previous findings were reproducible. But it had turned out that dissolving metal tended to interfere with the Stamp pretty quickly, unless it was kept outside the body. But that either meant swallowing a metal wire and leaving part of it exposed or stamping the person themselves. The former wasn't practical and the second was too difficult to maintain for any length of time.

"If you start running out let us know." She continued distractedly as she pulled out a map of the city to look over. "Tin isn't exactly expensive but it saves a trip to find a metallurgist."

She flattened out the map and began looking towards the areas around plasmacore, devoting as much of it to memory as she could.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita nodded and quickly stepped out of Laurelai's quarters, Alleytravelling to her own light blue door before stepping inside. She did a quick once-over of the room, taking in her now-cold cup of tea that she'd left on the kitchen table the day before and the spoon she'd been using to practice her Alleycant.

It can't have been two days. I've been here weeks. Months. It felt like she'd been in the tavern ages ago, but it was barely any time at all. She shook her head, then crossed back into the bedroom. Lita changed into the buttoned shirt and high-waisted trousers she'd found before, folding the dress she was wearing into a hurried bundle and setting it on the narrow bed - though not before removing the two cookies she'd taken earlier. She took care to make sure the Coin was safely tucked away as well. Then, she rifled through the pockets of her old skirt and fished out two vials of tin, which she quickly put into her new pockets. She lifted the soles of each of her boots and took out two more vials, one from each of the hollows of her boot heels, before putting on the boots.

Four vials of tin is more than enough, she thought. If she burned through even half that in the next few hours, she had bigger problems than where to get more. Lita did a final check of the rooms and found a suitable long coat in one of the closets, which she tugged on. Then, she Alleytraveled back to Laurelai's rooms. Laurelai was still poring over city maps, and KanMien seemed concentrated on receiving updates from Whisper and Kumiko out in the field.

"Right," Lita said. "Where are we headed?"

@Voidus

[+Sorana she/her]

Zokora received the coordinates of their troops in and around the city and took a moment to sort through them. Maybe half of them were still occupied with the evacuation, but the others were ready to fight. Some buildings over was PlasmaCore and she looked at it for a moment. A challege. She liked challenges.

Any information regarding the defenses of the building itself?

She asked Lusk and then turned to Storm.

"Lusk sends troops our way, they should be here soon. Then we can take care of the dragons. We can't have them flying around or they will destroy the operation."

Actually they were already approaching the building they were hiding on, some heavily armed, others ccasrrying no guns, but she doubted that they would be helpless. Investiture users probably.

A shadow caught her eyes and she turned around, saw a man standing there. He was bleeding violently, blood ran out of his neck, over his shoes, pooled on the ground. Guilt choked her, constricted her throat and she stood there, stared at him, knowing nobody else would see him, but her.

@I think I am here.

@Vargo Seldon

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Daa buzzed. "I can help with whatever you are trying, I think."

@AonEne

Edahs entered the Plasmacore building, looking around for someone he could steal information from.

Nekorb, he thought. Where is Nekorb?

@Ark1002

Edited June 3, 2019 by xinoehp512

[+Ark1002]

A helicopter lifted off the roof of the building, flying away.

Within, knocked out, was Nekorb.

@xinoehp512

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Edahs stepped outside of the building and growled. He'd been unable to find anyone on the first floor with even an idea of where Nekorb might be. And there was no way onto the second floor, either, so he couldn't search there.

Desperate, he reached out to the mist. Do you have any ideas? he asked in exasperation.

@Ark1002

Edited June 3, 2019 by xinoehp512

[+Ark1002]

It swirled. Look up. The mist opened, revealing the helicopter.

@xinoehp512

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Edahs looked at in confusion. Why?

@Ark1002

[+Ark1002]

The mist swirled back, covering it. Inside. Nekorb.

@xinoehp512

[Grey Knight]

The Invincible Reason fired on PlasmaCore. 

It was a pinpoint bombardment, conducted with all the skill and precision of an Astartes. Lances of energy burned through the sky. Burning slugs of metal the size of small buildings plowed their way through the atmosphere on a trajectory towards PlasmaCore. These were weapons designed to slay monstrous bio-titans and pierce hundreds of meters of armor plating. They were the most horrifically powerful things on the planet.

 

PlasmaCore’s shields activated, absorbing the Reason’s punishment with barely a flicker. But the sustained bombardment forced them to stay on. They couldn’t lower the shields, even to allow passage in and out, without risking total annihilation. They were, in essence, trapped.

 

It was then that the real assault began. Drop pods fired from the Invincible Reason, streaking through the blue mists that covered the city. They impacted in an abandoned district unmolested, one with radiation levels too high for normal humans to survive. Columns of green-armored Space Marines marched from the ruins even as more drop pods rained from the sky. Massive Dreadnoughts marched among them, along with teams of heavy weaponry and assault squads equipped with jump packs.

 

The Dark Angels had finally arrived.

@Ark1002 @I think I am here. @Sorana

[kenod]

1 hour ago, Grey Knight said:

The Invincible Reason fired on PlasmaCore. 

It was a pinpoint bombardment, conducted with all the skill and precision of an Astartes. Lances of energy burned through the sky. Burning slugs of metal the size of small buildings plowed their way through the atmosphere on a trajectory towards PlasmaCore. These were weapons designed to slay monstrous bio-titans and pierce hundreds of meters of armor plating. They were the most horrifically powerful things on the planet.

 

PlasmaCore’s shields activated, absorbing the Reason’s punishment with barely a flicker. But the sustained bombardment forced them to stay on. They couldn’t lower the shields, even to allow passage in and out, without risking total annihilation. They were, in essence, trapped.

 

It was then that the real assault began. Drop pods fired from the Invincible Reason, streaking through the blue mists that covered the city. They impacted in an abandoned district unmolested, one with radiation levels too high for normal humans to survive. Columns of green-armored Space Marines marched from the ruins even as more drop pods rained from the sky. Massive Dreadnoughts marched among them, along with teams of heavy weaponry and assault squads equipped with jump packs.

 

The Dark Angels had finally arrived.

@Ark1002 @I think I am here. @Sorana

Quote

How close are the Dark Angels to the building?

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

2 hours ago, Grey Knight said:

The Invincible Reason fired on PlasmaCore. 

It was a pinpoint bombardment, conducted with all the skill and precision of an Astartes. Lances of energy burned through the sky. Burning slugs of metal the size of small buildings plowed their way through the atmosphere on a trajectory towards PlasmaCore. These were weapons designed to slay monstrous bio-titans and pierce hundreds of meters of armor plating. They were the most horrifically powerful things on the planet.

 

PlasmaCore’s shields activated, absorbing the Reason’s punishment with barely a flicker. But the sustained bombardment forced them to stay on. They couldn’t lower the shields, even to allow passage in and out, without risking total annihilation. They were, in essence, trapped.

 

It was then that the real assault began. Drop pods fired from the Invincible Reason, streaking through the blue mists that covered the city. They impacted in an abandoned district unmolested, one with radiation levels too high for normal humans to survive. Columns of green-armored Space Marines marched from the ruins even as more drop pods rained from the sky. Massive Dreadnoughts marched among them, along with teams of heavy weaponry and assault squads equipped with jump packs.

 

The Dark Angels had finally arrived.

@Ark1002 @I think I am here. @Sorana

Please don't make assumptions about PlasmaCore defenses.

A deep roar echoed from the building, and a red river rushed out. It screeched, and rushed toward the chaos marines.  Each space marine that it touched was ripped to pieces, it's very spiritweb absorbed. With each death, hundreds more small red spren were added to the river.

[Gancho Libre he/him]

Xena knelt down beside the red stream, ignoring all of the chaos marines. She wasn't scared of them... very much.

She turned to one, knocking on its chest to get its attention.

"Excuse me," Xena asked, "Do you know what that is?"

@Grey Knight

[kenod]

Kumiko read the message KanMien had sent, asking her to infiltrate the building. They want us to infiltrate, she signed to Whisper, wondering how they should do that with the barrier in place. Sighing they send a message to KanMien. Barrier around the building, it read. Haven't found any openings yet.
Just as she hit send a deafening barrage of sound erupted from the building, blowing her of her feet, and flashes of light burned through the mists, blinding her. Out of reflex she switched to Turtle, trying desperately to figure out what was happening. As the bombardment continued she slowly regained her bearings, and figured out what was happening. Someone's bombarding the building! She send to KanMien. Barriers are holding, damage doesn't seem to be spreading. She looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. Soldiers seem to be coming, something is coming out of the building, killing them. No clue what, just a flood of red. She quickly send a picture of what she could see, though the quality wasn't great.
She looked around, trying to find Whisper. You alright? She signed.

***

KanMien looked at their phone. "Rust and Ruin," they cursed. She tossed the phone at Laurelai. "They're in trouble," they said. "Are we going to get them out? Or at least have them get some distance?" They felt angry. They wanted to help Kumiko and Whisper, but couldn't find anything they could do.

***

22 hours ago, Ark1002 said:

A hellish light glowed on Seth's face as he tore apart the woman, slash by slash. Blood splattered his clothing, and screams and wailing could be heard in the distance. Purple-red haze swirled around him, and the mist had retracted. He cut her into a thousands of small gory bits, then walked away. He had left five others like her in the streets.  Many like him prowled, delighting in the bloodlust, the Thrill. Seth smiled as he saw his next target. She held a sword. Another Hunter then. He screamed, sprinting at her, a long dagger in one hand, a katana in the other. Seconds before he reached her, she shouted "Homerun!" Then "Fragarach!" That was the name of this Hunter then.

He swung the katana at her back, the blade whistling through the air.

@kenod

Fragarach heard someone screaming behind her, and moving on pure instinct she conjured a blast of wind at her back, launching her forwards, feeling a blade slice through her clothing as she went. She hit the ground, rolling along it, blade gripped tight, a bruises and scratches forming on her shoulders. Conjuring more wind she blasted herself upwards, then another to rotate herself. Landing on her feet she looked at the person who attacked her and smiled. "Finally," she said. "I was starting to feel bored."

Quote

Can you give me the basics on Seth Ark? That way I can get a better idea of how Fragarach would react.

 

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

18 hours ago, AonEne said:

Deteca glanced over. "The GBs want people to help them fight PlasmaCore - you're a Ghostblood yourself, aren't you?"

"Ma'am, I have my husband to take care of Sol," Tena said to Deteca.