kenod

Mizuki looked at the man who just sat down next to her. He looked normal, and he didn't immediately strike her as a bad person. "I don't really know," she hesitantly said. "I'm... kind of new to all of this." She tried to smile. "It does look... impressive, at least." She watched as the other gods started bickering. A few of them did agree to join up with Barbados, but the others just seemed to argue. It kind of reminded her of some of the old stories she had read as a kid, and she wasn't quite sure what to think about it. They talked about things that had happened centuries in the past as if they weren't more than a year ago, but at the same time they didn't have any of the presence she had expected a god to have, none of the wisdom she'd have expected. She looked at the man sitting next to her. "Do you think we should join this... pantheon?" She whispered to him. "It sounds useful, but what some of them said did make sense. I mean, I don't want to pick a fight with this God-Complex, and I'm not interested in worshippers or power or that kind of thing. Would they just leave me alone if I didn't do anything?"

Mizuki looked at him, trying to understand what he had said. Suddenly she remembered her manners, and that she was talking to what was apparently a god of death, and she gave a small, polite bow. "Um, thank you," she softly said, hoping that that would be enough. At the same time she continued trying to work through what he had said. According to him she had suddenly become a god? It made some form of sense, but she wasn't sure she fully understood yet. She wondered what that meant though. She had some idea of her powers, but she wasn't sure if it was enough to qualify her as a god. Still, maybe she simply didn't know how to use them yet? Barbados did mention that each god had multiple domains, and she didn't have her powers for that long. Still, his talk about this organization worried her the most. Apparently even the more experienced gods had difficulty dealing with her, and she didn't have any of the knowledge or power that they had. And he had talked about a weakness as well. She though about what hers could be. Was that the type of thing you were supposed to just know? She had figured out her strength depended on the moon, but she never had any point where she didn't have any power at all, so maybe that wasn't it? She softly shook her head, trying to focus. She could think about this later, after all this was over. She had a feeling that missing this would be a very bad idea. But still, one thing floated around in the back of her mind. After all, if she had suddenly become a god, why had she become one?

To me it feels rather unfinished. Raoden doesn't feel that interesting to me, and Sarene just plain annoys me. Of the Sel books I like TES much more, because of all the actual philosophy in it, and because the characters seem to have much more personality to me. I would really like a sequel to either of the books though, since the world itself is really interesting, especially with all the forms magic can have there.

Ugh, Elantris isn't bad, and the concept is good, but the actual writing is nowhere near as good as Brandon Sanderson's later work, at least in my opinion. The main reason I like it compared with his later work is because of Hrathen.

Mizuki watched other beings appear one by one, walking to the table and sitting down. One particularly scary looking being growled at her as it sat down, making her flinch. Looking around she quickly sat down down as well, trying to figure out what the beings around her were. At least a few of them looked human, which managed to calm her a bit, though the one looking like a child was scary in his own way, something about him feeling unnatural, like it was just something disguising itself as a child. Some of the beings started talking to each other, calm, despite all the bodies surrounding them, though some of them mentioned that they found it distasteful, asking why it had been done. She wasn't sure what to think of that. After all, the fact that they mentioned it meant that they at least cared about it, that they weren't complete monsters, but at the same time all they did was express distaste, and it didn't look as if they cared much more besides that. At that point the... being... hosting the gathering spoke up. She tried to follow what he was talking about, though she wasn't sure she understood him correctly. He talked about a certain organisation, how they had targeted him, and how they had already taken out multiple gods. That made her frown for a second, wondering if he simply considered himself a god, but then she remembered how everyone here looked, and her doubts vanished. These beings could certainly qualify for the title of god. That made her wonder why she was here though. She wasn't a god after all, she had normal parents, and she had only gained her abilities less than a year ago. Still, at least some of those here looked human... Noticing something, she raised her hand. "Um," she started, sounding nervous, "you said that they captured and killed some... gods, right? How did they do that? I mean..." She fell silent, and gestured to the bodies lying around, trying to hide her nausea. "How could they have defeated them?"

Mizuki walked through the indicated area, wondering who had called her here. She looked around nervously, wondering why she had never heard of this place, even when she had lived in this city all her life. Still, that alone showed that this place was different somehow, part of a world she didn't know of. Even then, she had to wonder if she wasn't making some horrible mistake. Feeling nervous, darkness started gathering around her, slightly obscuring her form, though she didn't notice it. Quietly she walked through the entrance to a large underground space, strange beings already sitting around a table in the centre. Looking around, she could see strange forms on the floor around them. She looked at them, curious at what they were. Corpses. She nearly turned and ran right there, and she only just managed to suppress her nausea. Trembling she walked forwards to the table, not sitting down yet, instead waiting for the beings there to notice her.

Vita nodded, grabbing her arm, careful of the wounds. Immediately her awareness expanded, knowledge about the woman's body flowing into her. Curiously, she didn't notice many spikes, other than what she assumed was the standard loyalty spike. She focused on her arm, dampening the nerves first to lessen the sensation of having your flesh regrow. It wasn't something she always did, but it made sense to extend at least some courtesy to a co-worker. Quickly she regrew the flesh, taking care to avoid leaving any scarring. It wouldn't do to leave anything that could easily identify her after all. When she finished she let out a quiet sigh of relief, and restored the nerves she had dampened before this. "Finished," she said in a professional tone, quickly releasing her. All in all it had taken only a few seconds, though as always it seemed to have taken a lot longer to her.

Vita examined the new woman, focusing her senses on her, paying special attention to the injury on her arm. Based on what she was told this was likely to be the operative that discovered the Atium, which would mean it was best to keep her... actual affiliation under wraps. Of course, those injuries on her arm were probably also what was making her skin crawl right now. "That's good to know," she softly answered. "Makes things easier." Which was true. Sure, they could easily deal with the team down here, but losing support of ACE would make it a lot harder to get their claim on the Atium to stick, as well as making exploration of these caverns a whole lot more difficult. "Can I..." She asked, holding out her hand a bit, looking at the woman's arm. "It's making my skin crawl right now."

Vita tilted her head slightly at man's question, thinking about it. It seemed like a decent idea. It wasn't that much Atium after all, at least not compared to what was still there, and getting the goodwill of these people could prove useful. Finally she nodded. "I don't see any trouble with that," she said. "Though, in return, I'd request that you keep the existence of all this a secret, at least for now. I assume at least some word has gotten out," she said, looking at the leader of the CoC, who according to her info hadn't been with this group when they left, "but I at least want to avoid a gold rush. It would be... annoying, and it would pose a good chance of destroying all the other interesting parts of these caverns."

Shade looked at her, trying to hide her nervousness, wishing she could simply hide herself. The other woman looked remarkably composed, not at all what you would expect from someone who had been caught sneaking around. She altered her stance, making herself ready to move. "I've trained a lot," Shade answered her. She wondered if the other woman had really expected her to tell a complete stranger about her abilities. She had heard some Epics tended to brag about them, but she felt sort of insulted that the other woman expected her to be that stupid. "Can you tell me who you are, and why you're here?" She asked, trying to sound confident. "I haven't seen you before, and I'm quite certain I know everybody who travels on these rooftops."

@kenod Silently Shade walked along the rooftop, looking at the people walking by on the ground below. Suddenly something made her perk up though, instincts from before she had come here, still ingrained from years of training. She looked around, quickly spotting what had set her off. A woman, walking across the rooftops as well. Curious, Shade hid in the shadow, slightly masking her presence, studying her. There were only a couple of people in the church who liked to stay in high places like the rooftops, though she had been careful to prevent them from noticing her, though she wasn't sure if she'd been successful. She didn't recognize this woman though, and she wasn't moving around as if she was just hanging around, instead looking as if she had some sort of goal in mind. Silently Shade left her hiding place, quietly moving in the direction of the newcomer. Based on her current direction she could guess where she was going to, and where she would be in a few minutes. And at the same time, Shade was certain she knew these roofs much better than her. It shouldn't be that hard to sneak up on her, and then... And then what? She thought. She noticed a weight in her right hand, and knew what was in it without having to look down, and she shuddered, scared that her first instinct was still to stab her, to kill her, even after all this time. I'll just walk up to her, she thought, just ask her why she's here. Talk about it. Yes, that's a good idea. And if she is dangerous I'll just tell the guards, and they can capture her. That way she won't die. She nodded to herself as she moved across the roofs. Yes, that seemed like a good idea to her. She nodded again, making up her mind. A few minutes later she silently climbed on the rooftop behind the woman. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and stopped masking her presence, instead enhancing it for a second, trying to draw the woman's attention to her. "Hello," she said, trying to sound confident but failing. "Could you tell me who you are?" @Ark1002

Vita nodded. "I'd suggest you head back to the main camp, or go explore in a different direction. As a word of advice, the DA will be mounting its own investigations soon too, so I suggest keeping an eye out to avoid incidents. We'd also appreciate being kept up to date with your discoveries. We'll be taking inventory of the Atium, as well assessing possibilities for extraction." Pausing, she tilted her head, sweeping her sight over the crowd in front of her, feeling rather uncomfortable. "You have wounded," she said, not bothering to make it a question. "I'll heal them. If they don't want that, I request that they leave. Having wounding people here is rather uncomfortable."

@kenod

Vita watched as the alleys warped in front of them, and as they walked through the opening they stepped out onto the base of a large crater, a small camp and digsite in front of them. Some people still manned it, though most seemed to have gone down into the caverns. One of them noticed their group, pointing at them and yelling at the rest. She sighed and walked towards them, the other denizens spreading out to cover the ACE employees and secure the lift and it's controls. One man angrily walked towards them. "What is the meaning of this?" He angrily demanded. "This is an ACE operation, sanctioned by the government. So what in Harmony's name is the DA doing here?" Vita sighed. "Play conversation 4," she whispered into a hidden microphone, the music of her earbuds changing accordingly. "Listen," she said to the man, "We're going to go down there. You can either let us and nobody will get in any trouble, or we'll get in our way." She paused, keeping track of everyone's locations. She didn't like this place, too sterile, difficult to see anything, she wanted to get down into the caverns, where there would be more life. She had her head turned away from the man as he tried to find something to say, some kind of objection. She flicked her wrist, cutting him off, twirling a butterfly knife in her hand. "So, what is it going to be?" She asked coldly. 10 minutes later the elevator touched down on the ground of the first cavern, and she hid a sigh of relief as the world flared up around her, fungi covering the various walls, with especially large samples in a column hanging down from the ceiling in the center of the cavern. "Play instrumental 6," she muttered as she studied the central growth, focusing on it, something seeming odd about it. "One of you get a sample from the central spire," she said. "I think it might be invested." "You mean those glowing mushrooms?" One of those with her asked. They glow? She wondered, feeling curious. "Yes, that one," she said. "Watch out for the water," she added when she noticed it. "It's a lot deeper than it seems, and it branches out. Deeper down there appear to be some rather large lifeforms. Intel suggests they're predators, and are invested." She paused for a bit. "Actually, if you can, lure a couple up and capture them, they would make nice research material." They continued on, past the areas Aylitha had mentioned, making sure to take some samples along the way, though she didn't spend much time there. They could always come back later after all. When they saw the base-camp in the distance they made sure to take a wide berth, avoiding it. They could take control of it later, but first they had to rendezvous with the agents already in place. Still, she detached a large contingent to stay there and keep and eye on things. It wouldn't do to have them go and cause trouble after all. Finally they reached the area the reports had talked about, the well of Atium. She could feel it, the nodes of Investure faintly visible to her sight. She could also sense the group, the ones that had found it. She also noticed the one Aylitha had told her about, and she was glad that she had mentioned it. She was accustomed to differentiating different biosignatures from her time in bioscience, but her signature was so similar to Aylitha's that she'd likely had thought it was her, and accidentally did something she shouldn't have done. She walked toward the group, remaining Denizens falling in behind her. "I'm sorry," she said, interrupting the current conversation on what to do with the Atium, "but that conversation has just become unnecessary. The DA will be taking over from here." @Sorana @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @ZincAboutIt @ElephantEarwax @Everyone I've missed

@Ark1002

Nimari sat on a nearby roof, watching the duel, nodding. The fellow was surprisingly good, though that weapon would be horrible in combat against the Voidbringers, or against Radiants. It would likely just shatter on any armor, and the long length would make precisely aiming any stabs a lot more difficult than with a shorter blade. Still, she guessed it worked against unarmored opponents, and it might even be useful against inexperienced Knights, those who hadn't received their plate yet, and were stupid enough not to use their surges, though she suspected that quite a few of those who had surges might find themselves hard-pressed against him. Those weaklings that were the Lightweavers certainly would, at least! Shaking her head she looked at the other Radiant, curious about his talk about the law. Definitely not a Windrunner, in that case. Good, she hated those bleeding hearts. Of course, most Skybreakers weren't that much better, with their insistence on laws. Still, this one had proclaimed himself king, which meant he was at least a magnitude more intelligent and realistic than the rest of his order. Smiling she relaxed, a small knife twirling between her fingers, wondering how he'd react to the loser claiming he had cheated. Talking about an idiot! Trying to continue a duel when the other was better than you, the only way that would end with was with him being killed, as he deserved. She was curious to what the winner would do. She just tell the other to continue, and kill him for his arrogance and stupidity. Of course, she wouldn't have let some inferior idiot challenge her to a duel anyway, she'd have just killed them for offering such an insult. Still, she could understand humiliating them first. It always made dealing with them taste just that bit sweeter.

KanMien watched as a flash of light shone from the Woodwyrd. She tsk'd when she realized they had gotten away. Firing a quick shot at one of the cultists who was still fighting she grabbed her guns and started running towards the remnants of the battle. Stop the assault, she sent, focus on captives. Kumiko had already pulled back towards the center, getting a few Denizens to get back control over the abominations to stop them from rampaging. When she reached the center she smiled and nodded to Kumiko. "Nice job," she said. She turned to the nearest Denizen. "Get some people searching those bodies," she said. "I want anyone still alive found. I've they're one of ours, try to get them gold. If they're an enemy, try to stabilize them, but immediately send for me so I can question them. Any of our dead, make sure to get their spikes and put them in storage. No sense in wasting any." She looked towards the Woodwyrd. "Get some others to investigate that thing as well," she added. "If we lack people with the necessary expertise, contact the alleys and get R&D to send someone. I want to know why they were here and what they did to it." As they turned away to execute her orders she sighed, slumping slightly as exhaustion made it felt. Kumiko grinned to her, and she sent a tired smile back. "I need some tea once we get back," she said. "Better pick something with caffeine," Kumiko joked. "You probably won't be getting any sleep for the next few weeks." "And neither will you," KanMien answered with a wry smile. "I'll need a field agent after all when I start researching this." Just as Kumiko's expression sunk a Denizen ran up to her. "We found one that's still alive," they said in a grinning tone. KanMien nodded, standing taller, trying to hide her exhaustion. "Lead me to them," she said. The Denizen started walking, KanMien and Kumiko following. "Hey," the Denizen said in a hopeful tone, "can we keep them when you're done? These cultists are always so... interesting, don't you think? I could use a new experiment, or maybe a pet?" KanMien looked at him, then at the slaughter around them. "I'd say that will depend on what answers they give us," she said, her voice and expression cold as ice.