The Ward's Guard

Pior suddenly perked up with a smile on his face, "although if I were drunk, now that would be different thing."

Pior snorted as he adjusted his position, but still refusing to get up. "If I were a regular idiot, I'd take that as an insult to my pride, or honor, or whatever. However, I am a mercenary, so I'm not paid enough to care."

"If I weren't trying to nap, I'd take that as either an insult or a challenge."

"If you're not panting and wheezing like a dog, then it's pretty smart. Wouldn't you say?"

"Least it ain't dumb."

Pior nodded, seemingly to himself."Yep, running around, the pastime of the smart people."

"Still talking to the idiot?" Pior chuckled to himself, as if it were an inside joke. "As much as I want, I figure."

"You're right. After all, why would anyone want to get a reasonable amount of sleep now when he knows that he won't get a chance like this later. That's gotta be one heck of an idiot, eh?"

Pior shrugged his shoulders, "alright then, I won't spend time arguing with fools." Under the hat, Pior's face turned into a mischievous grin.

Kuno nodded, "more or less, yes. I can give you time to gather any equipment that you need as I have your target's likeness drawn up, use it wisely. I'll have Catorphia go with you as you gather your equipment to help if needed." Pior didn't move as he spoke, "I feel that you're turning down the obvious solution.'

The guardsmen shouted out in surprise as they tried to make a formation out of their chaotic mess. As soon as the suspect had hit the ground running, a small number broke off of the group to chase the target on their own.

Pior didn't even bother to look up, "suit yourselves."

Pior closed his eyes again, and he placed a hat over his eyes as he leaned back into a resting position."Takin' a nap, of course."

Pior nodded thoughtfully from his napping position, "both valid options, but you're missing the best option of 'em all."

Kuno chuckled softly. "Before a potter can finish their project, they must first place it into the fire to harden it, however, if the pot is imperfect, it will crack and shatter. If you believe this is something that you're ready for, then let this be a test of your resolve. If you're not ready, then I believe that I can find something else for you to prove yourself with." Kuno gestured to Catorphia, "there are times when the potter can stand by and watch over his work in the case that it needs correction or rescue. Since Catorphia is an extension of my own will, she will watch over you for me to be sure that you don't needlessly crack. Do you think that you can live with this?"

Perhaps in any other situation I'd agree with you, but we've seen the spears work on Stormlight at the very least, and they don't give off any appearance of using the tone of honor. At the very least, I didn't pick up on any of that while reading. While it wouldn't be necessary, I believe that it would be incredibly helpful in aiding the spear in its purpose. In fact, because Breaths have been previously described as "sticky," I believe that if you simply use a Ryasium weapon to try to drain someone's breath, then it will take longer than it would to drain someone of Stormlight, as Stormlight is constantly escaping from the body while Breaths keep hold. A few questions that occurred to me as I was considering this, can Breaths be stored in a sphere, and could you also take a Return's breath?

Kuno nodded, "excellent. I will share details with you two that you may keep to yourself, or you may share with this 'Tanda' individual, I will leave that choice to you. In all truth, you are after two individuals; however, my sources tell me that they are staying together at this moment, so if you find one of them, you'll find the other. She'll be tracking down an amal named 'Concerto,' he was the leader of our enemy, but he was recently ousted. The reason I'm sending you after him is because of the information that he holds is valuable to me. His companion is his own sister, it is vital that you retrieve both for me, alive. Do you understand?" @Blessing of Potency

Right off the bat, could one of the Fused Spears from RoW that has the power to drain investiture work on Breaths? I know that Breaths can only be given to someone willingly as far as we know, but seeing as it is investiture, could it be affected by this weapon? I can see arguments for both why and why not, as Stormlight seems to be constantly escaping the user anyways, while breaths remain with the holder until given up. However, breaths are described to "stick" to objects, and the more lifelike these objects are, the easier it is to stick breaths to them. I'm not entirely sure if the metal lining the spear is able to take investiture from inanimate objects, so correct me as you see fit, but it stands to reason that it would be theoretically possible to drain the breaths from an item that someone previously invested. So if this is theoretically possible, then what would it take for someone to use this weapon effectively against someone who's invested with breaths.

"I'm sure it will only take a brief moment, no worries my friend!" Kuno turned to Fie and 'Jane,' and spoke in a far more hushed voice. "You two want to be helpful with no small amount of excitement? Then this is what I need to be done right now. I wasn't considering sending you out on this mission at first because of a few limitations, but I feel that you'll mostly be keeping on eye on this one." He subtly nodded his head towards Tanda. "But to keep an eye on you, I intend to send Catorphia, my personal bodyguard. She comes off as a little tough, but you'll warm up to her. Now, do you two want to do this task?" @Blessing of Potency @Chasmgoat

"'Kidnapping' is such a strange term, I think that 'retrieval' fits this situation far better." "Excellent, simply give my companions a few moments to discuss how long it will take them to be prepared to leave."

Doctor Mayfield was led roughly down several corridors, with Agent Lyllac taking the led. He quickly glanced at the figures printed with precision on the wall, which read only as 03. He turned his eyes back towards the ground, trying his best not to make eye contact with the few personal they encountered on their way to where ever they were headed. He wasn't cleared for this level, and yet Agent Lyllac pulled him along determinedly. Mayfield had asked her twice now about where they were headed, and he barely got anything out of her. Why the secrecy? Why did she even need to bring him along in the first place? She had always done these excursions without him, so why did she need him now? He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as they stopped before a door that was clearly marked as a level of 04 clearance, and even though he checked his badge again, it still only said 02. Mayfield took a deep breath to settle his stomach as agent Lyllac quickly got both of them cleared for the door. The breath helped, but only marginally as Mayfield entered the room that appeared at first to go along with the concrete militaristic build of the rest of the facility, but then there seemed to be a shift in decor, as it looked to be more of a small and sparsely furnished study. There were two bookshelves on the walls to Mayfield's left and right directly across from each other with an armchair next to each of them. On the wall across from Mayfield were a set of twenty small screens arranged in a grid pattern while being mounted on the wall. Out of all twenty of them, only two were active. Displayed on one screen was an older military woman with quite a number of medals on her uniform, although Mayfield wasn't familiar enough with the ranking system of the military to identify where she was on the hierarchy, he could only guess that she was influential. On the other screen, there was only a vague silhouette with a large and bold letter "K" right on the individual's chest. Agent Lyllac saluted as she entered the room and it was the military woman who spoke first. "This had better be good agent." Lyllac nodded, "it's crucial to the current situation General." The General sneered, "then speak agent, I have little time for screwing around." Lyllac glanced at Mayfield, "tell them what you told me." Mayfield swallowed nervously, "I uh, well you see . . ." The General rolled her eyes, but audio came from the "K" monitor. The voice was distorted, but it was distinguishable as masculine. "Go on, researcher." Mayfield cleared his throat, "my instruments have picked up many anomalies, an-" The General scoffed, "how is that news? Literally everything is picking up anomalies right now!" K cut her off, "General, silence!" The General closed her mouth, but she glared at the screen. Mayfield cleared his throat once again, "I'm picking up anomalies similar to the Tempus Incident a few years ago, the only issue is that it's far more intense and concentrated, not to mention far more numerous, uh, sir." K sounded thoughtful, "when did this first begin?" "Earlier today sir, I can pull up the report if needed." "No need, researcher. Just tell me if it happened simultaneously with the current crisis." Mayfield hesitated before shaking his head slightly, "no sir, I picked up the anomalies before the crisis began. Although they were fairly close together in terms of timing." The General scoffed again, "you don't actually believe that there's a connection, do you Director?" Director K seemed to ponder this for a moment, "General, I didn't ask you to come in order for you to play Devil's Advocate." "Then could you kindly explain to me why you have me here." Director K's attention seemed to turn back to Mayfield, "are you able to locate where these anomalies are currently, researcher?" Mayfield nodded, "yes sir." Director K sounded satisfied, "well then General, move local units to create a perimeter around the anomalies' location while our ATG forces try to subdue them. Capture if possible General, but kill if necessary. They could very well be the anomalies that task group Kappa was wiped out by, so the Foundation will not be taking any more chances." The General nodded, "of course, Director K." Director K spoke just after the General's screen blinked off. "Researcher, this is now going to be your top priority. I'll have a team assembled to help you in this specific field, bring up anyone you might believe to be valuable to this project to your Agent." Mayfield nodded, "yes Director." Director K sounded thoughtful for a moment, "perhaps these can explain what the other could not. Keep up the good work my friend, for we have a long night ahead." The Director's screen blinked off and all Mayfield could see was his own reflection next to Agent Lyllac's, who promptly released a breath as if she were holding it in. "Well, that went well. C'mon Field-Boy, let's get your team together."

Kuno chuckled, "a sense of humor? Not enough of that going around these days if you ask me, my friend. I think that this mission will have to move into action fast, so I believe the best choice would be to send my current companions with you, including Catorphia. Don't you all agree?" As Kuno stated that last name, the woman in desert garb looked slightly panicked at this statement, although she didn't say anything as she stood protectively near Kuno. @Chasmgoat @Blessing of Potency