Sorana

Lena walked up the stairs. She looked around, finally pushed to door open. It was quiet here, to quiet. She had been here a few times, had spoken to the teachers, had made sure her son got a place to stay after Seb had killed her grandma. She had considered to give him to her brother, but then had decided against it. He was hers. And while she knew that she wasn’t able to care for him fulltime, she wanted to have a chance to meet him now and then, wanted for him to know his mother. She hastened through the empty hallways, her steps echoing eerily, her breath to loud in her ears. The tiles were partially destroyed, doors ripped out of the walls. And blood, everything was covered in blood. His classroom – empty. Head down again, out of the building, into another one. His dorm – empty. But his shoes were gone, his backpack as well. Turn around, head down again. The gym – empty. Her steps were faster, when she pushed open door after door, stared into one empty room after the next. They were gone, all of them. Then she saw it. A stuffed animal, a little bear. It was missing a leg, but she knew it, had selected it herself. Feeling cold she picked it up, continued in this direction. Another turn. A dead body, a woman. She’d teached maths, or physics. Lena wasn’t sure. She followed the hallway found a dead monster, its head smashed in, the wings broken. A heavy sand-filled ball was lying close to it on the ground. Lena started running again, rushed towards the door at the end of the hallway. Another dead adult. She wanted to push the door open and slammed against the glass and metal. Locked. “Hello?” She called out, knocked. “Is anybody here?” The door opened and she saw the pale face of another teacher, and behind him several children. Lena ignored him, pushed past him into the room, scanned the faces. Where, a girl, another girl, there. She ran towards him, closed Mart into her arms and pulled him close. Her arm protested the movement, remained where it was, and so she held him only with one arm. “Mart.” He clung to her and it felt good, so incredibly good that he was alive, that he was here. “Did you lead them here?” The man grabbed her shoulder and whirled around, stared at him. Her hand remained with Mart, she wouldn’t let go of him, not here, not now. “Nothing was here. Nothing living at least.” She replied and he nodded, nodded again and then a third time. His hand played nervously with his beard. Then he turned around to close the door. “Wait, we leave.” Lena stopped him and grabbed Mart’s hand. Staying here, in this trap? “The guilds are evacuating the city. They are working together. They can get you and the other children out.” He shook his head. “We are safe here. In this room. The monsters were here already, they won’t come back.” Shrugging Lena pulled Mart out of the room. It was his decision. But to stay here, for who knew how long? Without food or water. It was no chance she would take.

Spikes shot at him, but Mike had expected it. It seemed like this was the usual defense of that creature. He changed. Squirrel was small and fast. Most of the spikes missed squirrel as she placed her feet on the hilt of one of the knives and jumped up into the air. The others drew blood and squirrel shivvered in pain, but instinct had her jump anyways. She landed on a nearby windowsill and looked around. The she jumped again, used her tail to steer her towards his legs. He had't shot out any spikes out of them so far. As soon as she was below his upperbody Wolf pushed her aside and took her place. He went for the knee, or the place where a knee should have been, aimed to break, to bite. @Darth Woodrack =================== Zokora shrugged. "I am fine with both. We know, that there are some laboratories on the floors above us. But we don't know if they conducted their experiments below the ground as well." She quickly typed a message to Lusk. Do you have any information about the upper floors? Can we see something through the windows? "I will follow you. In the end we need to clean out the whole building, cellar and tower." @I think I am here. @Grey Knight @Darth Woodrack

I meant Melody... sorry no idea how that happened. Menolly is a character of mine

I'd like to sign up as Menolly. I was really looking forward to this round.

Zokora paused, looked down. There was much down there, at least not that she could see it. "Are you sure we need to go down?" she asked and looked up again. "They are power-hungry, crazy. I think it would be more logical for them to place their tools high in the tower." Still she threw a glowing sphere into the shaft, to help them see what was down there. "And in general, I can take you with me, teleport where we need to go. It's easier when I know where I am heading though, But if I go first, I should be able to get you over to me." At least she hoped, that she was able to do this. Hearing steps she saw Silva approach them, and waved her over, gave her a quick summary of the situation. @Vargo Seldon @Grey Knight @Darth Woodrack =============================== The spike flew towards him and Mike yelped in surprise when it cut his arm open. Thankfully he wasn't that tall yet and the tattered one was a taller than he was. This was no ordinary spike, it was something else. Maybe he should have checked, before he attacked it. Mike looked around for the others, to see what they were doing, if any of them an idea what to do. Think, he told himself. Think. You are an assassin. You don't confront your enemy. Alright. He had messed that part up. What else could he do? Was there something he could do? He had no invested weapon, only his knifes. The thing seemed to ignore them. Think, think Mike. Nothing. With a frustrated groan he slammed both knifes down an the body of his enemy, aiming for the upper body. Maybe an idea would strike later. @Darth Woodrack

He laughed. "We are here to kill the old man. And maybe you as well." His face changed when the first chalkling reached him, started to gnaw at him, and he fired a bullet at it, but missed. "Kill them all." He commanded, drew his own knife and charge Atmose. ========= Attayl heard the shot, then Atmose started talking. Why there were here, what they were doing. They paused their attacked, stared at the white drawings in disgust and so she didn't attack as well. It was unwise to bloody her hands first. She perked up, when she felt a pulse, a strange one, she couldn't place immediatly. She had felt it before, but where? The thug in front of her charged and she sidestepped his attack, his knife only cutting her skin. Concentrating she let her body take over, her knife moving forward and into his stomach. He gasped and she smiled grimly, danced backwards out of his reach again. ========= The smaller one started to burn bendalloy, then they advanced on Jeb. Jeb screamed for help, used a kitchen knife to try to keep them at bay. He stood no chance against two enemies, that only lived because they fought better than those they killed. The old man was dead. Nobody would be here in time. He only didn't know it yet. They bound Jeb, pressed a gag into his mouth and held him tightly. The taller one laughed, drew his knife and looked in to dark, frightened eyes of his victim. He enjoyed what was about to come next. Killing people quickly was a feat everybody could achieve. Slowly was so much easier. Then they started to cut him up, made sure to leave their message. Blood covered the kitchen floor when they were finished, and the old man was lying liveless on the floor. Next to him was a single word, written in his blood. Traitor. The two men left the parlor quickly, their job done and vanished into the dark. @I think I am here. @Ax's Boyfriend

Zokora nodded a greeting at Storm and then turned around the room. A spire, the building was like a spire. “We have to go up. Maybe we can find someone’s office, if not the thing causing all this destruction.” She walked over to an elevator. Dead. Placing her hand on the door she felt for it’s structure, reached out for it, changed it. It was still metal, but when she inhaled stormlight, she was able to pry it open now. Looking inside, she saw the shaft go upwards, two or three floors maybe. The elevator itself was gone, but when she looked down, she saw it's bent and crushed structure, as well a steel cable, that had been ripped apart. “I hope the we can use the shaft to go upwards.” @Vargo Seldon @Grey Knight ============================= A monster with wings and sharp claws slashed at her arm and Lena screamed in pain. She had missed it, it had attacked her coming in from the sky and she slammed at it’s claw in a useless attempt to get free. A shot, and it was thrown backwards. A woman followed it, her weapon never leaving the monster. “Go to the car.” She told Lena, but Lena shook her head, pressed a hand on her bleeding arm. “I can’t. I need to go, find someone.” The woman shot the monster again, blasted a whole through its body with whatever weapon she was using and turned. For a moment she watched Lena silently, then she nodded. “Get into the car. I’ll drive you.” Without giving her a chance to reply she opened the door and pushed Lena towards the seat. For a moment Lena considered to turn and run, then she swallowed her pride and her urge to do anything but to follow a direct command. “Where do you need to go?” The woman asked and then added. “Tamara, Officer in the Ghostblood army.” Lena hesitated, then climbed into the car. “Cookie Drive.” Tamara nodded and started her car. Lena clung to the door, cars were strange. In all her years here, she hadn’t gotten used to them. They felt so insecure, swayed this way and that way. She hated them. She didn’t introduce herself, instead stared out of the window, upset with the situation. The woman drove aggressive, fast and Lena started to think about recipes, about her latest creations, about anything but that car. The woman stopped in front of the school, and gestured for her to get out. “Good luck.” She wished her, while Lena climbed out of the seat, carefully closed the door behind her again. “How did you know?” She asked and Tamara only waved her question away. “There aren’t that many reasons to run through the city and refuse any help right now.” Then she left her alone. Lena stood there, turned towards the building, saw the destruction, the blood running over the stairs. The same picture as in the rest of the city. Her eyes flicked down to her blood soaked pants and she gagged, leaned forward and vomited on the ground. Blood, sticky, red blood, on her, on her shoes, on the ground. With shaking fingers she held her hair back, it was red as well. She only stopped gagging when her stomach was empty, when she there wasn’t anything left. With shaking fingers she opened her bag, cleaned her mouth with some water and then drank some. Her eyes moved to the building again, tried to avoid the blood, focused on the stones. Quickly she grabbed a pill and swallowed it. It would calm her stomach. Then she smeared a paste on her arm to numb the pain and wrapped a bandage around the cut. It would have be sewed close late, but for now it was important to staunch the bleeding. Slowly she took a first step towards the entrance, hoped that she would find him, and at the same time hoped that she would find nothing at all.

The chalklings moved towards the man, and he pushed her away. Attayl stumbled over some chairs and a table, before she caught her balance again. The decive was still making strange noises and her attacker turned towards Garth and Atmose. He looked at them for a moment, then he hefted his gun, aimed and fired at Atmose. The other three spread out, one coming for her and she quickly readied her knife again, distributed her weight equally between her feet. The remaining two focused on Atmose and Garth. @Emperor Stick @I think I am here. @Ax's Boyfriend The entered the house through the back door. A gun was fired, but the taller one, lifted a hand. The kitchen. There were sounds coming out of the kitchen. A cruel smile spread on his face and opened the door. His smile widened when he saw, that they had found their target. Stepping inside he hefted his gun, heard his friend lock the door behind him. “The traitor.” He announced and smiled again. Jeb was staring at them with wide eyes, his face pale. He wanted to scream, but no sound left his throat. “Don’t try to soothe us.” The man told him. “We came prepared.”

Mike followed the battle with wide eyes, trying to decide what to do. When the Tattered One turned around, his back to him, focussing on those rushing through the door he had an idea. Quietly he followed as well, made sure to keep out of his line of sight, his feet leaving almost no sound on the ground. Close, he needed to be close. If he sneaked up behind him, maybhe he could pull one of the spikes out. He would notice, the moment he started pulling, but if he took a blow, if he held on, then the movement of the Tattered One would only help with his effort. @Darth Woodrack

The door was thrown open and a man stepped into the room. He stared at her, then at the strange device, then a devilish smile crossed his face. "The little playtool." He greeted her and she grit her teeth, hoped Jeb had the sense to hear what was going on, to hide. "I'll never forget that scar of yours. Daddy is dead, I hear he got smashed to pulp yesterday. How sad. I'd planned to borrow you one day." It helped. Somehow the familiar taunts helped, and she looked at the man, at the three standing behind him. He would leave her alone. She knew him. He was a killer, no rapist. And he had his team under control. Her hand closed around her knife and he gave a short laugh. "Tell me, where is the owner, of this beautiful place?" Sauntering over he raised an eyebrow at the device. "And what is this?" "I don't know." Her voice was strong, firm, just as she had practiced for years. Be strong, appear strong, then they wil respect you. "The owner is gone, he's not here anymore." Hopefully Jeb would take the clue. A pulse and then he was there, his weapon beneath her chin. "Where is the owner? Tell me, or I'll add another scar to your ugly face."

Lena ran through the streets. Blood was slickening the stones, turning the earth to mud in other places. A man grabber her arm, tried to pull her towards a vehicle, but she snarled at him, and he backed away. A Ghostblood, judging his uniform. She rounded a corner, saw a monster and turned back, continued on the street leading away from the forge. A woman waved to her, gestured towards a tunnel, TUBA, but she ignored her as well, continued to run, her feet pounding a fast rhythm on the stones beneath her feet. Usually Lena was satisfied with who she was, what she was doing. She'd never aimed for power, as long as she could brew poisons and try them out, she was satisfied. Money meant nothing to her, it was usefull to buy incredients, but nothing more. A smile touched her lips when she remembered Laurelai, her few sentences with someone who finally, finally understood the beauty, the magnificence of a poison. Another turn, another monster. Lena continued to ran, grabbed a man, pushed him towards the thing, to buy some time to get away. A part of her knew, that it was suicide. She had no weapon, nor did she know how to fight, and she doubted, that a poison would have any effect on whatever these things were. Here, with her pants wet from blood, with the screams of creatures all around, she wished that she had aimed for power, had spend her money for some abilities, something like those in her stories did. But she hadn't. She couldn't fly, or vanish, throw fireballs, or shoot a gun. Lena could cook and more importantly, Lena could run. It was strange to follow the streets that were so busy usually, to wave away troops trying to help her, to get her out. How could she explain, that she had to go in, deeper and deeper into the city, that she had to find someone. Find someone in this chaos, in this confused panic. Another corner. Thankfully the street was empty. Her side was starting to hurt, but she continued to run. Maybe she could distract the monsters with her remaining pancakes. They were special, but that didn't matter. She had to arrive, had to make sure they had found him, that he had gotten out. Everything else, was just a bonus.

"Scarlets." She replied without walking over to him. his hands shook, but he seemed to have found the trapdor. Fear, of course. He had been afraid all the time. Maybe a weapon would comfort him. Taking an eating knife she slid it over to him. "You should be safe down there. I will check on Jeb. I can't let him face them alone." She stated and finally started to burn bronze. Nothing. But that didn't mean anything. Only that they weren't using any allomancy right now. Quickly she turned her head and smiled at him. "It's not your conflict. Don't feel bad about hiding." The strange device on a table started maing noises and she jumped in surprise. From outside the door she heard a voice, confusion.

It was pay day. Then men approached the Parlor. The had waited until most of those that had spend the night there left, had carefully observed where they went. Their protector had left his spot on the roof as well. A mistake, and one he would pay for. There were few rules, but one was to protect those that paid you and the second one to punish those, that betrayed you. And the old man leading the parlor had decided to betray the Scarlets. They had observed, waited to see how the parlor would decide. That they switched sides wasn’t surprising, they were one of the firsts, but not the only ones. And in the end, that only meant one thing. They needed to show everybody, that the Scarlets were still strong, that they didn’t take betrayal lightly. And that meant, the old man had to die. They had left him behind, alone, another mistake. He would die, they would send a clear and easy message. He opened the door to the parlor and stepped inside. Nobody was there to greet him, hardly a surprise. There were noises coming out of the main parlor room, and he gestured for two of his men to circle around. The old man wasn’t alone, probably more guards. The Farriers knew, that this was a critical moment. Good thing they had come prepared. He pulled a gun out of his belt and made sure it was ready to fire. Attayl continued to clear the floor, when she heard a noise. The front door opening, a gun readied. Fear surged and she whirled around, started at the door. “There is a trap door. Nerin told me, in case anything goes wrong.” She told Brillin and gestured towards where the door should be, then looked around for Jeb. Gone, but she could hear noises coming out of the kitchen. Her hand slowly reached for the handle of her knife. Probably nothing. Only someone dropping some mail. With a gun. But maybe it was nothing. @I think I am here.

He wanted to flee. Lena looked at Alask for a moment, wondered if he would come along, if she asked him to, and then lowered her eyes. She wouldn’t ask him, because then he would feel like he had to follow her. And despite everything, if he wanted to flee, it was his decision. And Lena valued only a few things more, than respecting ones decisions. “I can’t come along. If you use the tunnels, if you flee, I mean.” She stated and grabbed her bag. Her fingers tapped her wallet, hoped Alask would understand, that she had to check on her son, had to make sure that he was safe. Grabbing a taco she quickly filled it. No use to weaken her body by not eating enough. Walking over to the door she turned around again, looked at the four faces there, wondered if she should say something, wish them luck. It was polite, wasn’t it? The polite way. But then she had never been polite and she doubted she would see them again. So she simply looked at them for a moment, listened to the sounds outside. Some calling for people to head into the tunnels, others helping them into vehicles. The guilds were working together, at least it seemed like this. But as long as there was a chance, that they had missed him - @Silva

Attayl's fear vanished when Nerin soothed her and when they continued to talk, Nerin seemed to accept all the stuff about another world. Attayl was more with Brillin in that regard, destroying a table didn't prove anyting, but if Nerin went along with it, she could as well. She stepped back from her, they would only plan how to go there, what to do and as she wasn't going along. Silently she started to remove the pieces of the table and to clean the floor. The other tables would have to be rearranged to cover the gap.

The spren didn't reply and she sighed. "Just stay here, and I'll find a way to get you back." His hand was dripping some liquid on the stones and she amended. "Or rather, I will ask someone who can get you back to normal and then help you go home." She saw Azrael push past a group of people standing around the door and turned around, looked for Silva. She saw her walking towards her and so she gestured to the door of the building and then headed inside. She hadn't been here before, and she had expected a lot of things, but not something like this. Something had broken the elevator doors open. A problem. Yes, they might have a problem. "Do you have any information what this could have been?" She asked Azrael and looked around, corpses, now and then a noise as if something was crawling around. "I suppose we have to go and search the whole building. For whoever is left, for the place where they create all these things." @Grey Knight @xinoehp512 @Darth Woodrack =============================================== Mike took a step back when Maxwell pulled out the dynamite. Thankfully the problem solved itself, when some Space Marines simply walked through the door. A girl stepped up to them, afte rsomething shrieked and spoke of Lusk, that she was a friend of his. Rust and Ruin a friend of Lusk's. That was bad. He would have prefered to work on their own, without one of Lusk's overseers close by, but alas it couldn't be helped. He was about to reply, to tell her that she could come along and to ask which thing she meant, when she was attacked. Mike grabbed his knifes, hurled one at the tattered one and then drew another one out of his pocket. He moved towards the skinny figure, one kinfe stabbing at the stomach, the other one going for the head. @Silva @Darth Woodrack @Ark's Boyfriend @Clyde Froggins @I think I am here. @Vargo Seldon

Zokora saw a dark, spren like being watch her, observe her. Her approached her, but stayed silent. Probably he couldn't talk. "Do you want to return to Shadesmar?" She asked it, tilting her head to the side. ============================== Mike waved at the squad and then continued towards the building. The door was locked, an Aon drawn over it. All the windows were covered by Aons as well. Strange. You really needed to be paranoid to fortify your building like that. He pushed against the door, it was locked. Then he knelt down and took a closer look at the lock. Maybe they could break the door open. While the door was strengthed by the Aon, the lock itself had been replaced a few days ago, he could still see the marks. A smile spread over his face. With some luck, this could work. "Can any of you break a door open? If we're lucky the bolt isn't part of it yet. So maybe the Aon only influences the door, and not the bolt." @I think I am here. @Ark's Boyfriend @Clyde Froggins @Vargo Seldon

Lizanne nodded thoughtfully and then turned around, towards the hut. The eye was here. It was hunting her. It was coming closer and closer, hidden from her view, but it was there. She almost hastened, when she started to limp towards the door, her leg hurting, but her fear of the eye spruning her on. They had to give it a try. They had to. Otherwise she would die, the eye would eat her, it would control her. Her heart beat a fast rhythm in her chest, fast than her steps, as fast as she wished she could go. Survive. There was no other option, but to survive. The hut. When she was inside, the eye maybe would stay outside of it, she would be safe from it's view, if only for a few minutes. Every heartbeat out of its glance was a good one. Ignoring the horses she lifted a hand and knocked on the door, her eyes darting behind her, above her, next to her. Nothing. But it was here, she knew it. It was following her, reaching for her. If only they would open the door soon. Maybe they could fight it, maybe they knew who it was. @Voidus