main plot Rivers of Blood

[I think I am here.]

2 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

Stormbreaker nodded, "Of course.  So when the shield flickers again, my team will be teleported in?"

Lusk nodded. “Yes.”

23 hours ago, Silva said:

Light raised an eyebrow. "Combat? I think you might be thinking of the wrong Atium Ferring." She hadn't seen Freedom in a while, but her PTSD didn't really seem like something that would go away any time soon. "How, exactly, is it that you know Freedom?"

Freedom. Lusk remembered. Yes, that was her name. “We met in a bar,” he said.

“Atium Feruchemy is rare, extremely rare. She’s probably the only person in the Alleyverse other than me with the ability. Not counting Full Feruchemists, of course.”

[kenod]

On 6/7/2019 at 7:00 PM, ZincAboutIt said:

Lita nodded. "Of course," she responded to Laurelai. She readied her tin inside her, then, on a last-minute impulse, she took the Coin out of her pocket and slipped it into her sock, feeling the metal press up tight against her ankle, pushed flat on her skin by her boot.

There, she thought, feeling a slight tremor move through her body as she contemplated the mission ahead. Now I won't need to take the Coin out of my pocket to tap Gold. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to tap at all, but if she did, she didn't want to worry about reaching into her pocket.

Lita looked down at her hands, which shook only slightly. No one else can see, she told herself, clenching her jaw.  It's the tin. No one else knows you're scared out of your rusting wits.

She put her Alleycant pen into her pocket, tightened her braid, and took off her spectacles. There would be no need for subtlety in that regard tonight, and there was absolutely no way she'd be turning off her tin until she was safely back in the Alleys. Lita tucked the spectacles into an interior coat pocket - it never hurt to be prepared - and uncorked one of her new tin vials, downing it in one go. The reserve of power within her bolstered her courage a little, and she thought of the Coin tucked against her skin.

Which face are you showing, then? She wondered darkly, stepping next to Laurelai and KanMien. Lita's hand strayed to her other pocket, where she had slipped the long, thin spike she'd brought to the PlasmaCore party. Just in case.

@kenod 

KanMien checked their guns, going through their magazines, making sure all were loaded and easily accessed. Focusing their senses inwards they checked on their spikes and their zinc stores. They nodded, everything as good as it would get.
Ready, they felt their blessings, and slowly breathed in and out, their face growing cold as their emotions faded away. They focused on what they should be right now, cold, focused, not distracted by emotions or concern. And then they felt the change come over them, first slow, then faster, their personality fading away, replaced by the one they needed right now.

They nodded to Lita. "I'm ready," they said in a cold tone. "Lets go."

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita focused on the memories of her old flat building, and the alley that ran just to the right of it - a dingy place full of bins and dirt and the occasional broken bottle. She recalled the way the shadows deepened the back of the alley into a vague dark smudge, almost as though anything could emerge from it out of the corner of one's eye. Lita took a deep breath, then Alleytravelled there, hoping Laurelai and KanMien would follow.

The alley was still there, looking much the same as it had a few days ago, though there were several noticeable changes. The first was the noise. Lita gritted her teeth as her tin-enhanced ears picked up every sound around her: her own footsteps as she moved further towards the alley's mouth, the crackle of a fire burning somewhere down the block, and, of course, the panicked screaming of a city breaking itself apart. She tuned out as much as she could, focusing on the closer sounds, those coming from just outside the alley. Two people hurried across her line of sight out in the main street beyond, though they were not pursued by anything immediately - which was good. They didn't seem to notice her - probably due to the darkness. It may have seemed well-lit to her, but Lita knew she was all in shadow. She edged right up to the entrance of the alley, pressing herself against the wall of her old boarding house and peering around the corner.

The street beyond looked so bright her eyes watered for a moment, but she blinked through the tears, getting her bearings. There was no sign of the bird-headed creatures, though she could see a vast haze up ahead a few blocks, shifting and swirling, much like the mists back in Elendel - though far more dangerous. Someone was calling to another person nearby - probably the next block over.

"--this way we--" The voice faded into the cacophony of sound thundering against her ears. Lita smelled smoke and gunpowder and the hot, iron tang of blood in the air. She took her pen out of her pocket and twirled it.

Immediate area clear, no sign of abominations. People one block over, mist about three blocks ahead toward PlasmaCore. She continued to lean against the wall and flicked her eyes from the street back to the end of the alley, waiting for Laurelai and KanMien to join her.

Safe for now, the little voice whispered to her. But for how much longer? She tapped her finger against her thigh, turned up the collar of her coat, and listened for the sounds of anyone attempting to help the people outside. The sooner they found the TUBAists, the sooner they could get back to the Alleys.

@Voidus @kenod

[MacThorstenson]

Mac sat in the Command room, watching screens showing scenes from all around the city, receiving reports from dozens of spies, and feeling through the alleys, watching all the chaos.

There's still hope. He thought. We might be able to save it again. 

He checked back in on Lita, she was an amazing agent, but still a rookie. It wouldn't do for her to be broken on the first city destruction of her career. She was by some old building or wait, no that was her old flat. Ok. She should still be looking for the TUBA fellows.

"Maq, Mack, and Makc, do we know where the TUBA's are?" Maq and Makc straightened up at his voice, Mack continued checking his phone until he was nudged by Makc.

"Uhh Do you mean the TUBAists?" Maq offered. "Last oral report was that they were have some kind of nut themed party? I couldn't tell they were speaking too quickly." 

Internally Mac groaned, why were his chief aides deaf dumb and blind? "I refuse to call them TUBAists, it's a ridiculous term. Can you poke Mack? He's been reading the reports." Mac sat down as he waited for them to sort out the information. Eventually he would need to get around to making internal communication more efficient.

Eventually, Maq spoke up. "Ok, so what I think has happened is that TUBA has evacuated into their tunnels. Do you want us to let the field Agents know?" 

"No," Mac said. "I can do it.  I'll go in person, get a view of things on the ground. Sudiov's out of commission for the moment, so I should be alright. Besides, all our operations are on the DL Right now." Mac walked to the back of the room and warped to the back of the Alley Lita was in.

As soon as he started breathing the air in the city, he started coughing. There goes subtlety. Forgot how dirty this place was. He walked up to Lita, "Lita . . . *Cough* Sorry I'm late to the Party. Uh, you might want to check underground, the TUBA members have these tunnels that they are evacuating people into." Mac bent over coughing. "Storms its dirty here."

@ZincAboutIt

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita looked over her shoulder as she heard someone step towards her, expecting to see Laurelai or KanMien, then jumped just a bit when she spotted Mac.

He said something, then began coughing, bending forward. Lita fished a handkerchief from a pocket and held it out to him, using the moment to replay his words in her head.

A tunnel network? My, that sounds useful.

”Good evening, sir. I... didn’t expect to see you out in the field, but thank you for the intel. Are there any known entrances to these tunnels?”

”Storms it’s dirty here,” Mac said between coughs.

Lita looked around, inspecting the alley, the street beyond, the overall level of relative squalor that surrounded her. It was filthy, if she thought about it, but it had been her life. Elendel has looked much this way too, at least the parts she’d lived in. This was what a city looked like - well, Lita supposed that the chaos and destruction raining down around them didn’t help the air quality. She stepped a bit closer with the handkerchief.

”Are you alright, sir?” Lita asked, peering at him, then back to the street, then back to the end of the alley. 

@MacThorstenson

[AonEne]

2 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

I refuse to call them TUBAists, it's a ridiculous term.

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Fight me

 

[MacThorstenson]

21 minutes ago, AonEne said:

 

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That's my point! Every time you call a member of TUBA a TUBAist you are either implying that they play the Tuba, or they play a TUBA member which is rather concerning, even for a man who steals souls for a living.

Also trumpets the best brass instrument.

”Are you alright, sir?” Lita asked, as she stepped forward with a handkerchief.

Mac waved it away and pressed a spike into his throat and started tapping a little Cadmium. "Yeah," He wheezed, "This apocalypse is disgusting. Bad for the city." He looked around the city sadly. "It used to be so beautiful. A Utopia by some standards. Now look at it, falling apart once a decade." He shook his head. "It'll be fixed one day, and peoples lives will get better. But as to the tunnels, I don't know their entrance, but if you can find civilians, the TUBAers are evacuating them. Once we find them, we can let them know whats happening." Mac looked around again. Sadly watching the destruction as a captain watches a sinking ship, wondering where it went wrong.

@ZincAboutIt

Edited June 9, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[AonEne]

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Not necessarily - you can use the same suffix for a word in different contexts.

 

[MacThorstenson]

10 minutes ago, AonEne said:

 

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Yes you can, but regardless of the technical possibilities, a word can be considered wrong in a language if it doesn't clearly express a certain concept. For example if you somehow used "buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" in an essay, there is no way that you would be able to get full marks for clarity on that sentence, even though it's technically correct.

OOC I will concede that TUBAists makes the most sense generally, mainly because Mac's alternative is to call them "People who deserve to be annihilated for their heresy."

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[AonEne]

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Fair, but wouldn't it have to be "buffalo buffaloed in buffalo" or however that goes, not just the word repeated?

 

[MacThorstenson]

2 minutes ago, AonEne said:

 

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Not necessarily, it makes use of a couple of obscure grammatical concepts that remove the need for any punctuation or clarifying words. But the entire sentence is in present tense, and also its not saying that this happens in buffalo, but that the buffalo are from buffalo. 

 

[AonEne]

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Ohhh I think I get that now. Well, I get the first three, at least.

 

[MacThorstenson]

Just now, AonEne said:

 

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There's a wikipedia page for this actually:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

 

[AonEne]

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Is there one for police too?

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita nodded to Mac, lowering her burn of tin just a bit and sticking her head out into the street to look around again, listening for the sounds of an evacuation. 

It's hardly going to be that easy, she chided herself. You'll actually need to leave the alley eventually, you rusting coward.

The prospect was not a pleasant one, but it was the truth. Lita chewed her lip, then sighed a short, sharp little sigh.

"That's the plan," she said to Mac. "Once Laurelai and KanMien get here, we'll be looking for civilians, hopefully finding the TUBA members at the same time."

She twirled her pen again, sending her current location to the other two. I'm in the alley next to Cartwright's Boarding House, right off of 16th Street. Mac is here as well.

Lita looked over the street with a critical eye, trying to imagine it as Mac had said: a Utopia. 

"Elendel was supposed to be a paradise, sir," she said quietly. "Built for us by god. And somehow, we managed to ruin that too."

Her eyes strayed back to the blanket of mist that hung like an ominous curtain up ahead. "People like to say that life is cruel, sir," Lita mused, "but I don't think that's true. Life is extraordinary, it is unpredictable, it is terrifying, but cruel?" She shook her head. "People are cruel."

She closed her eyes, and saw Forian's pale face framed by his dark hair, lying in a puddle of poisoned brandy. Lita drew in a deep breath and tasted sulfur and blood and something else on the air - fear, perhaps? How much tin am I burning that I can taste the city's adrenaline?

"We claim to want the shine, but at the end of the day, what we crave is the rust," Lita went on, listening to someone screaming for their child two streets over. "I think, in our hearts, we know that we don't deserve paradise."

@MacThorstenson

[Vargo Seldon]

3 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

 

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I love this so much 

Stormbreaker solemnly nodded, handing his armor to his armored to be repaired.  He would lead this strike himself.  

He browsed Invincible Reason's inventory of weapons, choosing a suitable one.  Stombreaker was highly trained in almost every form of combat, so the only thing that he needed to consider was what weapon would be most effective for the coming mission.  

Preferably something small enough to carry stealthily, yet large enough to deal with a large amount of enemies.  The longsword would probably be most suitable, considering the perfect sword patterns, yet Stormbreaker was just slightly tired of swords.  

He perused them, noticing something on the far wall.  There were two of them.  They were large discs of metal, with a handle in the center.  The result was a handle with two curved scimitar-like blades curving around to form a near-perfect disc.  It was a rare Scadrian weapon, whose name had been lost to history.  Stormbreaker had been lucky enough to find an old man in Eastern Scadrial who'd taught him it's ways.  

He plucked one off the rack, spinning it deftly with one hand.  These would do nicely, and furthermore, they could be adapted to fit the perfect sword patterns.  

He returned to the bridge, donning his armor again, nodding to his Silent Lurker team.  He was ready.

 

[Darth Woodrack]

On 6/7/2019 at 9:15 PM, Sorana said:

Zokora saw her shoot some monsters and waited until she turned to try to catch her attention. The more people tried to get through, the better.

Silva saw Zokora and ran over saying, "Yeah? What do you need?"

@Sorana

The Tattered One got bored so he called his handler. He said, "Priest of Death, you said there would be challengers here! Where are they? All those here are weak space marines!"

@Ax's Boyfriend

[MacThorstenson]

5 hours ago, AonEne said:

 

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I'm sorry I don't really understand what you are saying.

 

5 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

"We claim to want the shine, but at the end of the day, what we crave is the rust," Lita went on, listening to someone screaming for their child two streets over. "I think, in our hearts, we know that we don't deserve paradise."

@MacThorstenson

Mac stopped for a moment, then started to talk slowly. "Respectfully, I would disagree. I think that no one wants the rust, but thats all they know." He hesitated, deciding if he should share more, then continued. "They are all on a path you see, and their time here is but a small piece of their journey. Carefully built by someone to prepare them for greater and greater things." He started to walk toward the edge of the alley, motioning for Lita to follow. "Everyone you meet has pieces of eternity in them. And those bits can't wait to reach the shine. Its what causes them to strive for more and more, to make and build greater and greater things."

His face fell as he stopped at the edge of the alley. "Everyone wants the shine, but right now, all they know is the Rust. So willingly or not, everything that they make rusts away to nothing. I can only wait, learn what I can, and rejoice when someone comes along who seems to remember their determination to reach the shine and keep it. Who does the best to help others and try to give them a hope of what is to come." He listened to someone scream for their child. "So in a way, you are right. You don't deserve paradise, because you can't keep it. But one day, one day you will be able to keep paradise, and then you will deserve it."

He took a deep breath, then tried to find the women who was looking for her child. "Sorry for waxing philosophical, the seemingly impending doom does that to me." He lowered his voice and muttered something about hearing him when he was losing at Uno. "In the meantime, it seems that someone has lost their child. While we are waiting for the other agents to arrive, it might be good to try and help them find it. Remind them that there is hope in the world."

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita listened to Mac speak, surprised at the level of surety in his voice, at his hope.

Pretty words for a man who makes a hobby of stealing bits of souls, she mused, careful to keep her face carefully blank and attentive. She followed him to the mouth of the alley, holding her tongue between her teeth with a practiced patience. Mac was her superior, and it would do her no good to vex him, so she let him carry on, nodding slightly.

He wishes to make himself a god, and yet he himself speaks of an even higher power? A fascinating fellow, even if Lita doubted his philosophy. If there was anything waiting for her beyond death, it was nothing good.

"In the meantime, it seems that someone has lost their child. While we are waiting for the other agents to arrive, it might be good to try and help them find it. Remind them that there is hope in the world" Mac said.

Lita couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that - it was subtle, and she quickly smoothed her features again, pressing her lips together to stop the nearly-automatic response of 'That's hardly my job, sir,' from squeaking out between her teeth.

"Of course, sir," she said instead, pushing her irritation into the back of her mind and closing her eyes, flaring tin and letting the sounds of the city flood in. 

The woman was two blocks over, screaming her child's name with the raw, ferocious terror only a mother could manage. Lita tuned her out, instead focusing on the smaller sounds: a smoldering timber finally caving into ash three houses away, the frenzied whine of electric wiring above her head, a feral cat hissing in rage or fear, and one soft, sniffling whimper.

Lita moved her head a quarter-turn to the right and opened her eyes again, slitted against the dim light until her sight adjusted. There, just at the end of the street, a girl no older than seven huddled in the crawlspace beneath a rickety tenement that was just at the border of the mist-wall. Lita pointed.

"There, sir," she said, tin letting her catch the girl's paralyzed, wide-eyed gaze, the staccato beat of her heart, her panicked breathing as each exhale moved a strand of her dirty brown hair. "Under the tenement building at the end of the street."

@MacThorstenson

[MacThorstenson]

Mac watched Lita as she located the child, noticing her brief hesitation and filing it away for the future. "There's hope for you yet," He muttered, fully aware to the degree that she was burning tin. "Thank you."

Carefully, he made his way over to her and looked at her in the eye, "Hey," He said in a cheerful tone, "Do you need to find your mother?" The girl quickly nodded, petrified with fear and confusion. "Well, I think she's over there," He pointed down the street, "Can you hear her?" Soundlessly, she shook her head. Of course, no tin. "Well, I think I can help with that. take this coin, and tap it? No, you don't know what that means? OK." He placed the coin carefully on the ground, and stepped back to allow her to pick it up. Hesitantly, she reached forward and grasped it. "Now, try to listen for your mom, very carefully." Mac watched her face rise as she instinctively tapped the coin and heard her mother.

"Let's go find her," He said, holding out his hand, she reached up to grab it and he pulled her carefully out from underneath the tenement. Then they walked down the street, trying to find the mom. You need to love them, when you can love them, you aren't spying or a scientist observing, you are one of them. You are them. And that is all the more valuable. Mac stopped her, and pointed down the side alley to the mom who had stopped screaming and was now kneeling down, sobbing. "Is that her?" He asked. Instead of responding, the little girl ran toward her and hugged her. Mac stood, then backed away, knowing that the inscription on the back of the coin would be enough of a reminder. There is always hope. People need that. Otherwise they lose what makes them special.

He made his way back to where Lita was watching the entire exchange. Probably with extreme confusion. When he reached her he looked her in the eye and said: "Now it's time for the lesson. Why did I do that?"

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt]

20 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

"There's hope for you yet," He muttered, fully aware to the degree that she was burning tin. "Thank you."

Hope? Lita thought, this time allowing both of her eyebrows to raise as she watched Mac coax the girl out from beneath the building. Hope is not what I came here for.

She watched the girl begin tapping something from the coin - likely tin. Her eyes went wide. Power. That is what Lita wanted, the power that came from secrets.

Don't lie to yourself, the voice cooed. You want the power that comes through blood, too. 

True enough. Lita backed off her tin flare, but still kept it burning hard, watching as the girl and her mother were reunited. Memories battered against the gates of her mind, threatening to break through...

The cool, verdant shade beckoning to her, trees taller than tenements arching overhead like a great cathedral roof, sunlight dappling her face. She'd done her hair in two braids that hung down each shoulder, and starched her own collar. It had been a week since she'd sent the letter - surely, surely they had received it. She wore her two brass arm bracers openly; they caught the soft, green light as the wind rustled through the leaves. Lita smiled. She'd polished them especially. Surely, they would take her to her mother. It had all been some kind of mistake, Lita knew it in her heart. Her mother had to be worried sick - it had been eight years since she'd seen her daughter. Two tall men walked towards her, robes a bright pattern of overlapping v-shapes. Lita almost danced in place, smiling up at them...

 "Now it's time for the lesson. Why did I do that?"

Lita blinked, the memory shredding before her eyes like the last whispers of a dream. Mac stood before her expectantly.

Right, Lita thought, curling her hands into fists, concentrating on the pinpricks of pain that her nails made on her palms. Focus.

She stared back into Mac's eyes, trying to read him. Again, she was struck by how human he seemed, how much nearer to mortality than either of the other two DA leaders. I've been staring at that rusting Coin for too long, she thought, irritated at herself. There are more people to impress in the Alleys than the Stranger. So, what did Mac want from her?

"You want the people of this city to see the Dark Alley as more than a den of horrors and villains?" Lita ventured, pointedly avoiding looking at the mother and her daughter. "You don't just want to rule these people, do you sir? You want to lead them."

[+Ark1002]

The Vortex. A giant ball of Investiture, swirling and moving around and around, not intelligent and spitting creatures out in the open. Some were able to move, some were strong, some even intelligent. Most of the monsters roaming the city had their origin here, in this room, in the Vortex.

Ripples covered the surface of the ball, like a storm raging on the surface of the sun, investiture jumping here and there, a half finished monster landing on the ground next to it. And the Vortex pulled on the Investiture around him again, drew in as much as he could. Needed it. To sustain itself, to go on with its creations, to fullfill its purpose, like a mad machine striving to go on and on, following a purpose whose need was long gone. The shield flickered again, less than a heartbeat, went up again, and then vanished completely. For a second. For another second. Then it was back in place again, flickering.

Lord Ajax stood high above the city, a satisfied smile on his face. The Vortex was growing, out of control, just as he had planned. The guilds would invade soon, and the vortex, turned into the Rift, would stall them, give him the time for his next move. He had enough creations ready to destroy them all.

And the River reigned, all throughout the city.

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Feel free to enter the building. The shield will continue to flicker, so if anybody misses this post, you can move your character into the building, whenever fits you. We will let you know, should this change (which depends solely on the actions of those heading inside the building).

We included descriptions of the inside in our previous write up, please use that if you want to walk through the building. You can move around freely, apart from the Vortext-chamber. We will do a separate write up for that one, once a character finds it/ step into that room. If you need more information please let us know.

 

[Vargo Seldon]

Stormbreaker stood on the platform with his Lurker team.  He'd covered his armor in oil to prevent the luster to give away his position.  He'd also dampened the joints with cloth to prevent clanking.  

The operator's hand hovered over the button, eyes drilled to the monitor.  It flickered.  The operator just barely missed it.  The shield went down.  The operator hammered the button with his hand, and Stormbreaker's team was teleported in.  Seconds later, it was back up and flickering.  It wouldn't be long before the Invincible Reason's artillery could demolish the building.  

———

All was silent in the confines of the building.  Stormbreaker and his team moved towards the core of the building, silently dealing guards on their way.  

@Ax's Boyfriend

[AonEne]

16 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

I'm sorry I don't really understand what you are saying.

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I thought you could do the buffalo thing with the word police and wondered if there was a Wiki page for that too. Never mind

 

[MacThorstenson]

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I will be locking this page in a couple of hours at arms request. Anyone who sees this can use this time to wrap up any arks that are based off of this thread, if you are going to invade a building or do something that can’t be wrapped up in a single post please don’t post here.