Open [Nyka Event] Elsewhere Is A Scary Place

[Rabbit]

Continuing his glaring, Rabbit hopped back a few steps as the man rose, to put some distance between them. He didn't really trust the guy... he sniffed at the 'rodent' comment, still feeling slightly insulted. He'd never really considered himself a rodent before. First, he wasn't. And second, rabbits never really seemed like a rodent to him... rats and mice and weasels, yes, but a rabbit? He shrugged mentally and continued watching the man. "I hit the wall... and a tiny opening appeared in it. I went through. I came here. If you really wanted to know, we're in the Tempered Anvil.... I think." The Pycon wasn't quite sure why he was giving out so much information, but a small part of him had come to a conclusion that in strange events like this... it was better for people to work together. Then he did something he almost never did. "I'm Rabbit. You?" It was unlike him to give out his name, though most people unintentionally said it anyways. Though he didn't really care about names in general, it was more... secretive to keep it to yourself, and it was a habit he'd picked up from the Nykans. Humans in general really. Rabbit was slightly shocked at the statement himself, but tried hard not to show it on his face. He gazed down the passage behind the man, wanting to see how much further it went. It obviously led to something... and the reigning curiosity was sorely tempted to just continue moving, exploring. But he couldn't really just leave the other person here... especially if he was a possible friend... or enemy. "I wonder what's down there..." He muttered quietly, continuing to look around the crouching figure. What he'd said earlier also resounded in his mind. Were they really still in the Anvil? The Pycon sure didn't think there were any passages like this in there... or random opening walls in purple obsidian. It was all so strange. But something inside him told Rabbit that things were sure to turn out exciting... dangerous, probably, but exciting too.

[Ximal]

Xi rose his tingers to his temples as he stood behind vysia. Great, now he was going to be with the one person he'd hoped to avoid for fear of him losing his temper, his rationale braking and him punching wren in the mouth at point blank range. No he'd have to hold off on that there were more pressing concerns, though having said that. Hi's memory didn't have wrenmae looking so cheery...Nor quite so...talkative. Xi shook his head lighly and glanced at ana. So he would be with both ana and wren...Fantastic. Xi just hoped that ana wouldn't be manipulated into stabbing him in the back after everything he'd done to help her...Then again Xi wan't entirely sure that she wasn't devoted to wren through a still almost fanatical and cultist belief in him. Xi took a slow breath to calm his mind and his nerves, his breathing had as of his time in the spires become a very good way to temper his anger to the point where it made no odds to him. At leastas the continued irritation didn't probe too far. At that point he'd be relying on sheer will power alone. Then there was the "burn victim quip" Xi simply closed his eye's are subconsciously rolled his left hand shoulder...No thanks to you, jackass. Xi's drak eye's lifted reflecting the dim glow of the fire of the torches looking almost ali ve with deep blue flame. They locked onto Wren and Xi spoke only one line before flicking the to ana. "Looks like i don't have much of a choice do I ?" When his eye's moved to ana he didn't say anything as his eye's should have said it all,he was trying to believe that she'd think things through, but after remembering her in the spires when he first mentioned Wren? Xi wanted to believe that she'd think her actions through...But as far as he could tell when it came to wren if he told her to jump off of a bridge...Odds were good that she would. Fantastic as if this nightmare could get any petching better...Just... brush it off and get along, it's a moment where the pro's of having him out weigh the cons....For the time being.

[Ana Sol Starris]

She hardly remembered taking the dagger, let alone the coin which jingled in her pocket, and only when Wren took the dagger back did she cringe, freeze, paralyzed at what she had done. Stolen from him. She offered a smile back at him, guilt laden, and obviously trying to cover up any implication that she knew how that dagger got there in the first place. "Heh... heh... Yeah.." She agreed to his choice, following after hurridly. Best not to refer to the dagger if he wasn't going to accuse her of theft. Petch, she could even say that she had grabbed it for him knowing beforehand that this was exactly going to happen, and that he had been in the Hostel all along- which she didn't, of course, but he wouldn't have to know that smidgeon of information. The trip took nothing more than a few chimes, or what seemed to be just a few, for all Ana knew years could have passed by. The sky was dark, and something had devoured the Hostel, not to mention Wrenmae was here... and acting quite... Bubbly? The only side she had met that was this excited and confident was Weaver, but this didn't seem like the Tale Weaver to her. The side Ana was quite familliar with was slow, cautious, and manipulating, dark, cunning, with a mean side; a.k.a Shroud; and from what she could remember from the side that was actually called 'Wrenmae' seemed to be melancholic, broken, scared, but that might have just been her mind filling in the holes of her memory of him. What was this side? Was this really the unified whole known as Wrenmae? This... Is definitely a dream... It has to be. Ana stumbled after the over eager Wrenmae and the entourage of Monks, still very much trying to wrap her head around his behavior. That when they finally got to the meeting point, she almost died and came back to life at his response to Ximal. Burn victem?! What better a greeting than that...! It was as if lightning had struck her, brought the fine hairs on her neck and arms alive, and standing up. What... What is he...doing... Does he want to die?! Ana stared at him, a twitch forming unintentionally in her right eye, jaw slackening as she tried to utter out warnings. Eyes flicking over to Ximal, catching his side look, and then back to the rather bright Wrenmae despite current circumstances. "Ohhh dear..." This is going to be a very long night.. The thought came with the exhasperation when Wrenmae volunteered both himself, her, and Ximal for the 'Sacred Flame' when Xi had already specifically stated they should split up. It was only natural that her palm found her face in a sudden, and violent greeting, the light smack echoed daintily on its toes and wavered away into nothingness. He didn't even give them a chance to protest! Not like Ana would, but Ximal? Ohhh dear... What are we getting into? Have gotten into? She looked back over to Ximal and plodded towards him, a dead beat to her steps. "Right, sounds good, though may I speak with you for just a moment Ximal." It was not a question, it was a demand. She took him by the arm gently and turned him away from Wrenmae, leaning in towards him and motioning for him to lean down. Once he had done so, she began whispering. "I have no idea where this side came from... None, whatsoever, but heres your proof- a rather oddly acting Wrenmae... You remember that little deal we made back in.. I think last Spring? Well now you have to keep up your end of the bargain. No hostile actions towards him unless he displays hostility to you. I have no control over his actions, nor yours, but if I need to be... persuasive still..." She lowered her voice to a mere hushened tone, barely hearable, which only made her bring his ear closer to her mouth "Kill him, and you can kiss my arse goodbye forever, now that doesn't mean you can't beat the ever loving shyke out of him... As long as hes not a vegetable afterwards, or too impaired to live normally..." By that? Err.. Well, she wasn't all too sure what she meant by that. There was such a thing called 'compromising'. There had also been a time when Kreig attacked Wren, she had to threaten suicide if he didn't get off him. The threat worked, and she had been wholly prepared to go through with it if Kreig did indeed strangle Wren, or should she say 'Shroud', to death. "Do I make myself clear?" She added in at the end, louder as she would straighten up and give him her most dead serious expression that she could. Nodding ever so slightly, she turned to look back at Wrenmae with a smirk on her lips, a glint in her eyes, she was totally ready for this- if this was just a dream, she felt rather in control of it. "Right, well I have no idea how long you've been here Wren, but the Sacred Flame sells candles and other lightly goods, I bet once we sort the place out we can then disperse light sources around the city, give it a little hope in the dark... Is that why you picked it, Ximal? Smart choice." She inquired lightly, looking over to him as she would say his name, and then back to Wren, over to Vysia, "what caused the darkness in the first place?" Her eyes glanced over to Zandelia on the ground, groggy, she felt a tug in her chest to make sure the older woman was alright but she seemed to be coming to nicely.

[Vladimir Balsam]

Vladimir was surprised that there was hands on him and hauling him away. But he did not fight, as he did not know who or what taking him away, so Vladimir just let himself be led away. Before Vladimir knew it he was thrown or more like tossed into a group with other people. Vladimir looked around himself and realized that he didn't know anyone that was there, but he did realize that no one really cared that he was a Sym. Well that could be a good thing. Vladimir thought to himself.

Vladimir than snapped out of his thoughts. Vladimir was still pretty scared because now not only was there darkness consuming the whole city but now he was stuck in a circle of people that he had no clue who they were, and all that could take him down in mere seconds, by the looks of them.
Vladimir sighed to himself and then listened as the woman in the middle started to speak.

"So we're drafting you. We're going to find out what the petch ate my hostel, and the other things. Three other things, to be exact. The monks of Xannos want to do their own headquarters, so that leaves us with three groups. We've got the Hostel, the Sharp Tongue pub, and the Sacred Flame. I'd really rather not have more of you than monks, so do try not to all pile into one place, okay? Two or three a team should do it just fine. Hostel to my left, pub to my right, and the Sacred Flame behind me. Savvy? Savvy."

"I don't care who is on my team, as long as they can deal with being partners with a Sym and I would like to take the Sharp Tongue Pub."
Vladimir said to the group and then walked to the woman's right.

Vladimir stood there by himself as he surveyed everyone and stood to the woman's right by himself. Vladimir had visited the Pub frequently and knew quite a bit about it, and the other two places not so much. So Vladimir felt safe with picking the Pub.

The man who was talking first looked like he was pleased that he got to pick who is team was going to be and where they were going. Without even asking the others if they even wanted to be on his team. The woman that he called Ana looked like she was pleased to be on a team with him but the other man that he called "X" did not look pleased at all. This was going to be interested
Vladimir thought to himself. Personally Vladimir was glad that he wasn't going to be teamed up with them, or so he hoped.

Vladimir sighed once more and impatiently waited for everyone else to decide on where they were going to go, so they could figure out what the Frig was going on in this city. Never EVER EVER before has he seen anything as bad as this.

[Ximal]

Before Xi could respond to what was going on he'd more or less been stolen by ana and yanked to the side as she started to run through things with him. Beginning with the basics, she'd never seen him like that, which meant this was possibly a new side to him. And now she was bringing up the promise last spring, it'd been a full year almost since then and he hadn't needed or even been given a chance to act upon it until now. Now she's seen wren she's presuming to order me about again? Xi shook his head. His gaze now searing towards her, the fire light catching in his black blue eyes, making them look alive with liquid fire. X spoke back in a simple and plan tone with a cold edge to it. "I keep my promises, i said i wouldn't kill him and that's my word. Right now it' more beneficial to everyone to let him live...Unscathed...But if he comes after me, do not stand in my way...And no that's not a threat..." I mean it's not as if i haven't been looking out for you and trying to help you for the last three seasons or anything. The bastard who more or less broke you turns up after so long and you cast aside the one whose been trying to fix you...That's fine...At least i know where your loyalties lie. "Just know...If he gives me reason to kill him. I am, and no force besides the gods themselves is stopping me." Xi now gave her a glare that brooked no argument, if she tried to stop him he'd knock her out and get on with it. Xi nodded as ana decided to spill why he'd chosen to go there first. "Ana's right, the place is a candle and "light source" supplier. If we can get there then perhaps we can get some light within the darkness. And as ana says it's the best choice to go for first. Mostly as without light were screwed...Unless wren you have some way to see in the dark which we don't." Show me just how much you taught ana with the "morphing" Can you see in the dark? Fly? Just what are the limits of this magic? Having said that... Xi lifted his head lightly and drew djed down into his muscles keeping it there and ready for any event. If he needed to get out of the way quickly he had his escape route. Xi then shot a look at ana as she asked about what had made the darkness. "Summoning gone wrong. The monks got a something out of that meteorite that "landed" in the nyshela quarries, I head about it whilst i was working down there. They sought to use this " summoning" to do something with it. So essentially, this is all a massive summoned thing...Which according to zand...All of the darkness...Is alive." Xi's eyes turned and now his voice raised a little as he spoke with a firm and resolute tone. "Bear that in mind, nothing in this darkness is safe...I don't even know what the hack is going on, so the sooner we get some light on the situation...The saver we'll all be." Xi slipped his hand into each of his pockets checking on the smooth stones that lie there. He'd need them, but he'd need his speed first. Experience with them was telling him he'd need to learn about his opponents before using those and landing blows.

[Zandelia]

Oh the bittersweet comfort of self-denial… she thought to herself as, her sight now fully returned for the most part, she cast her emerald eye across the assembled saviors of the city.

The last scattering of chimes had been filled with hectic, unexpected and unavoidable motion. Stolen from the streets, dragged into the interior of what she could only have made out as a battered den of fuzzed color upon her journey and now asked to help save a city that had plunged itself into pure chaos. The fact that they were foreigners that were usually treated like vermin seemed not to matter when they were the last line of defense was something that could not help but amuse. The irony was bittersweet for her – it offered her opportunity for her schemes only if she survived. It was a chance that was slim at best perhaps and she could not stop the laughter that rippled out of her chest – dark and filled with long repressed hate and depression. The majority of those around her were given pause, eyeing her with various types of gaze. She cared not, the situation was so strangely dire that she had passed beyond the waters of panic and into the depths of ambivalence.

“The muckers ask the rats for help and hope they don’t succumb to disease” she spoke to herself, forehead coming to rest upon the backs of her hands, bridged across her knees as they were.

She regressed for a few more chimes into silent chuckles, chest heaving by the end as she wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled up at Ximal with her newly found perspective, a look that would perhaps given him cause for concern. She pushed herself upwards and staggered a little before managing to take a deep breath to clam herself and come fully to standing aright. She shook her head and wondered, briefly, where it had all gone wrong. Even her network was compromised now, likely dead already for the most part. A good season’s work ruined by the stupidity of others. She pulled her robes from her body then, for the first time revealing her armored form for battle – the robe would do her no good in a mist which was alive, it would only restrict her movements. Tilting her head, as the others began to slowly ignore her in favor of their own plans, she pulled a dagger from its sheath in her right boot and began to cut away at the fabric.

It took a few chimes more but she managed to shear it all away into the semblance of a cloak, enough to gain some benefit from her garb but not enough to stop her fluidity. She threw it around her shoulders and tied it there with a few tattered strands she had left for just that purpose. It fell loosely around her, enfolding her but able to be thrown off if needed. She knew not what monstrosities might await them all but she would take no chances.

If this is to be my last petching day then I’ll die able to fight…whatever this is she thought to herself as she checked her gear and found it acceptable.

“Dopey eyed Vysia…a good one,” she stated to the female monk softly as she came to stand next to the other woman, “especially seeing as it was the Monk’s work that almost blinded me. The damned thing is alive you know. You’re asking foreigners to stand for a city that treats them poorly, offering nothing but death. Desperate” she continued.

“I hope, if we make it through, that it will be remembered” she turned then from her words and paced over to Ana, Ximal and…Wrenmae.

“Looks like you have your team. Don’t get yourselves killed, be smart and I swear to the gods Shroud if you get these two killed I will kill you myself,” she placed her hand upon Neilles’ shoulder and wondered if it would be the last time she would ever see her and tried to smile despite the darkness she was feeling within, “look after the big ox” was all she said before she chose her position.

“I’ll get your Haven back Vysia, it’s the closest to the center of the city and therefore the most important. If we can break it free of whatever it is then people can take refuge there for the rest of this cursed debacle,” she told the other woman, patting her shoulder once, “look after them. I don’t want to have any more of my people die” she finished, joining the group headed for the Safe Haven afterwards.