20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
Once Lily's leg got reattached, Alexander felt a lot, but not all of the tension leave his body. Once she was in one piece, he got to work patching up whatever other wounds she has, never letting her go. "Just who the hell is this Queenie bitch!?" Alexander spoke up "I mean, I heard from some crazy girl that she attacked Bolorton to use it as a staging point to take over Penrose, but that's about it. So does anyone else know who the hell she is, and more importantly; how are we going to kick her ass for this" He got to his feet while using a few tails to help hold and carry Lily, and moved to the side of the room to get out of the way of any of the workers "Because if that girl was right and not just some crazy nutjob; she's coming for us next. And I don't know about the rest of you; but I don't want to go through a chaotic civilian evacuation again, especially in my own home."
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
"That's everyone!"
Alexander wasn't sure who said that, and he didn't really care. For a brief moment, he forgot he was in the middle of a warzone and felt relief "Thank fuck" But it didn't last long, as a nearby explosion dragged him out of his peace "...fuck, that's right. Alright, what's next?" Due to having been on civilian rescue and evacuation the entire time, Alexander wasn't really sure about the status of the war(?). Was there any sort of organized counterattack, or anything like that 'Well, the civilians are out of here, and I don't have any real attachment to this place, so I'm fine with booking it.' And then he saw Lily, and that train of thought was thoroughly derailed
"LILY!" There she was crumpled on the ground with one of her legs blown off. Not having any time to think or plan, Alexander ran into action. Charging straight for her, and cutting down whatever monster got in his way. Once he reached her, he made a clone and tossed her to it, which then carried her back to the teleporter. Then, tapping into his Absolute Direction ability, he honed in on her missing leg. Luckily, it wasn't too far away, and while it was pretty messed up, it was still recognizable as a leg "Please let this work" he mumbled to himself as he grabbed it and made his way back to the teleporter himself. Lily didn't look like she had much juice left in her, and he was starting to run low too, so they wouldn't be able to do much to help even if they stayed 'Besides, we did enough...right?' he thought to himself as he reached the teleporter "Come on, we're done here" he told his clone, which had Lily completely covered in protective tails, as it followed him through the teleporter.
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
On the one hand, she had given him a straight answer. On the other hand, she was pretty insufferable about it. 'So some nutjob tried to take over Penrose, failed, and are now trying to take this place over to help in their next attempt. That's...actually a lot more simple then I expected to be honest' Alexander thought to himself. Wanting to get away from the clearly unhinged girl, he began to make his exit "Right, so, thanks for that doc-" And that's when Alexander noticed that the teleporter was completely open "Shit! When did that happen!?" He immediately broke out into a mad dash to the teleporter 'I was only talking to that nut job for about a minute, how could things have gotten so bad so quickly!?' He cut down the few enemy troops that got in his way
He managed to reach the teleporter before anything managed to attack it 'Alright, time to get to work. Why am I always responsible for this shit?' He mentally grumbled to himself. Working quickly, Alexander surrounded the teleporter (and himself) with a dome barrier, with a few person-sized holes in it. Said holes had a slightly larger barrier in front of them. This wouldn't stop human sized enemies from getting inside, but range foes wouldn't have a clear shot at the teleporter or anything/one inside. Once that was done, Alexander made a bunch of clones to guard the entrances. With basic defenses set up, he got to work on reinforcing the barriers 'This sucks so much. I hate being stuck on defense.'
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
Make no mistake; the sudden arrival of unexpected reinforcements was wonderful, especially since he had burned through most of his energy and Lily looked close to entering her berserk mode. On the other hand however..."Tanks? Fucking Tanks!? What is this bullshit!?" It was starting to feel like he was an extra in a WW2 movie written by someone who clearly didn't have enough oversight, and Alexander really didn't like that. And then there was the fact that the reinforcements were a bunch of high tech monster girls that he hadn't even heard of before 'Well...okay that actually kind of makes sense' he realized after thinking it over for a few seconds 'I hadn't even heard of this place before today, so of course I wouldn't know about any of the local factions'
Once there was a brief lull in the fighting, Alexander spotted an important looking girl among the newcomers. He hustled over to her before any more shells could be fired their way and addressed her "Hey, I'm from out of town, and all I really know about all this is that a bunch of monsters were attacking civilians. So I was wondering if you could tell me what the fuck is going on here!?"
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
The large amount of distractions that were currently plaguing the goons were really helping Alexander out. As what fire his defenses were taking weren't enough to break through his barriers before he could restore them. This made it much easier to tear through the invading soldiers 'This feels like it's getting me nowhere, but I can't go charging through to try and find where they're coming from, since I've got a building full of civilians to keep safe. Dammit, what's even the point of this; these things are way too organized and numerous to be just a random bunch of monsters. Somebody has to be leading them, but what are they even after!?'
His musing/brooding was broken when a larger than normal monster tried to jump him. In response, Alexander created a clone which he then flung right into the creature's face, while the clone unleashed every swear he knew at his original self. The sudden body in it's face threw it off enough for Alexander to get in there and bisect it. The clone managed to get off one last "Fuck you" before it popped.
'Although, it does feel like I'm packing a bit more power than normal, I wonder why. Bah, I guess it doesn't really matter all that much. With me being stuck here on defense, I guess the best I really can do is the keep killing these things and look for any important looking ones. Who knows, I just might luck out and take out a field commander or two, that should make this easier. I just hope that someone's out there working on fixing this while we're here holding them back.' He swung his sword and managed to cleave through two of the monsters at once 'Ohh, A double kill.'
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
If there was one thing Alexander loved about his tails, it was how disposable they were. No amount of damage done to them could put his life in danger. Oh sure, it could hurt like a bitch, but that was all it really did. Fortunately, anger was a hell of a painkiller. "It just never fucking ends, does it?" he seethed as he quickly patched up the damaged tail with magic. While he wanted to charge into the incoming soldiers and fuck them up, he had noticed someone take some really nasty hits. As much as he wanted to just leave it to the other healers, he just couldn't get the sight of a dead body on the floor of a throne room out of his mind.
With a flare of magic, he was off to the girl who had gotten shot, and her friend who was keeping her up straight. Before anything else, Alexander threw up a barrier around them to keep them covered "Hold her still for me" he didn't actually need her still, but thought that letting the friend feel like she was helping would make her feel better...or something. Alexander got to work healing his patient, fixing the wounds in her shoulder and chest 'Geez, these look nasty' healing magic or no, Alexander wasn't a doctor. He couldn't tell for sure, but he thought that the chest wound looked lethal. But between the wound being partially covered up by clothing, and his lack of a medical degree, he could only guess. "There, she's not going to die" he said when he finished up.
With his conscience satisfied, he let the barrier down and let his magic run while through his body as red markings began to appear on his body. Swelling with power, he drew his weapons and let out even more tails, while layering his body with a forcefield. He charged into the oncoming solider, a murder blender made of fluff and rage.
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
They were pretty much done. They had managed to grab and heal all the civilians in the town, and brought them all to a single place, that would make defending them all (or better yet, moving them somewhere else) much easier. However, by the looks of it, it had clearly taken it's toll on Lily. The magic she used to speed up the rescue efforts had clearly worn her out, and since right now they were just waiting to decide their next move, he had time to do something to help her. He walked over to her, and with a sigh said "Come on" he dragged her over to somewhere out of the way, and sat both of them down. "Look, I know that spell was my idea, but that doesn't mean you have to burn yourself out" he then grew a series of tails that wrapped around her, cocooning her entire body below her head, which he then pulled into his lap (face looking away from him) to rest on an extra large tail he had grown out of his stomach. "You're no good to anyone if you just break down on the battlefield. So...just try and relax a bit" He told her as he rested his left hand on the side of her head, and through that contact, began sending gentle pules of healing magic to soothe her body
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
With the Time magic in place, Alexander and his clones redoubled their efforts. 'This is just fucking crazy! Who's even behind this mess!?' He wondered as he patched up a little girl and handed her off to one of his clones before moving onto her another child 'These are just a bunch of civilians that are getting bombed, what's even the point!? Are they just trying to rack up the highest kill count they can!?' A sudden chilling thought came to him '...I really fucking hope that this isn't just a mass sacrifice for some dark ritual.' Thinking back, he couldn't remember any markings that looked like they belonged to some kind of ritual circle or anything 'And it's not like I can waste any time looking for them. We're already coming down to the wire as is' He cleared some debris off a man and then began healing him 'Damnit! Somebody is really going to pay for this!' he seethed as he passed the man on to a clone, before moving on
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
'Is it just me, or are those explosions coming in quicker than before' Alexander thought to himself as he chucked a grown man at a newly created clone, who caught him effortlessly 'Dammit, there's still too many houses left. We just don't have enough time!' And that's when it hit him "Wait...'Time'! Holy shit, that might work!" As he tossed up a recently patched up women at another clone, he told them "Keep it up, I'm going to find Lily!" Switching his Absolute Direction to home in on Lily, he quickly made his way to her
"Lily!" He cried out as soon as he found her. Stopping once he was right in front of her "Listen, this is going to slow, at this rate people are going to die...so we need to cheat, and cheat hard. I'll make a couple of clones and pump magic into them so they can boost you. You need to use that boost to do some Time magic shit, anything that'll give or more time, or make us work faster...or something. I don't know, you're the Time magic expert between us" He quickly made two clones and put his hands on their backs, the clones in turn each placed a hand on one of Lily's shoulders, and began to amplify her magic
"Alright" One of the clones said "You're good to go"
Starring: "Violence is a question and the answer is Yes" Sanngridr "Comedic straight man" Alexander
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
It was weird for Alexander to be taking a bounty without Lily. However, he wanted to get involved with dragons, and neither of them could freely travel to the Overcity ‘Why is there even a limit on the amount of people who can take a bounty? I mean, I can understand not letting…say 20 people go on a goblin hunt in the sewer together. But limiting an infiltration of a robot protected Overcity base to just two people seems kind of nuts’ Alexander was currently waiting in a pre-arranged alleyway for his partner on this bounty; someone who could freely travel to the Overcity. He was currently in his Beast magic form, but his Disguise Artifact made him appear untransformed “Dammit, what time did the note say they’d be here again?”
“Huh, you look a little young to be a dealer”
A strange, raspy voice drew his attention. Turning his head, he saw an older looking scraggly teanager who smelled of weed “Dealer? I don’t have any drugs” he raised an eyebrow in confusion
“You don’t? Isn’t this five alleyways down from the Best Buy?”
Alexander face palmed “Best Buy is on the other side of city”
“Shit, really? Sorry little dude, I’m a little baked here.” The other boy chuckled embarrassed
“Yeah, I can smell”
He just laughed Alexander off as he walked away “Stay frosty little dude”
When he was out of sight, Alexander shook his head “Is there some kind of system in place for scheduling alleyways for meeting or something?”
“It’s called Glimmr.”
Sanngridr’s voice could be heard from the topside of a three story building, smiling widely, as she eyed the other person, not bothering to hide her monstrous wings from her valkyrie form.
“If it isn’t the Lord of Beasts…It’s been a while. Does the word…dragon keep your blood pumping? I bet it does.”
With a single leap, she landed in front of Alexander, the wings obscuring the sight, as she chose to one sidedly close in the personal space. “No girlfriend this time? Mmm…?”
Alexander resisted the urge to groan and back away ‘Just fucking wonderful. It’s one of those people’ He settled for a simple sigh “Only two people can take a bounty at once, and neither of us can travel to the Overcity. And…well…I kind of wanted to see what was up with this dragon business” It was then that something clicked in Alexander’s mind “Wait…I remember you; you’re Tenebra’s friend” He winced ‘Wonderful, now I’m stuck with this nutjob’
“I brought her back, yes. I’m also a Chosen of a top god. Pappy Odin. I believe I told you this before.” She tilted her head. “So you reckon we need to get to the Overcity?” She smiled as she drew closer. “Well, there’s one way.” She was practically embracing Alex at this point.
“Does it involve you invading my personal space like this? Because if not, then please stop” Alexander requested as he tried to keep his breathing steady ‘Don’t punch her in the face Alexander, that only encourages girls like her.’
“Well, Overcity Shift has a limited range, you know. It’s that or having your face having a mouthful of my wings.” Sanngridr replied. “Well, Sann thinks it’s fitting for a Lord of the Beasts, everyone has their tastes…”
This time, he couldn’t hold back his groan “Just…just get it over with.” He didn’t believe for one second that Overcity Shift’s range was a tiny as she seemed to be implying ‘But I can tell that arguing about it isn’t going to get me anywhere’
As the Shift came to an end, the duo found themselves deposited in an alleyway near their destination. The collector the device had been sold to seemed to be one of those types that valued his privacy. Their first obstacle was a large wall that was around the compound, beyond which a large mansion could be seen. There was a gate, but that was likely to not be an easy method of entry. No doubt further defenses waited on the inside as well, but for now the wall was what they had to contend with.
"Hey nice place. We can break it down now." Sanngridr said, after extracting herself from Alex's embrace and readied her weapon…before sheathing it again and blowing a raspberry.
"Nah we need to go all stealthy. What can you do, beastlord? Sann thinks you have a good bag of tricks."
Alexander took a few moments to think “The first thing that comes to mind is to just make a staircase barrier over the wall. But I’m kind of worried that it’s not going to be that simple. Ah fuck it, not like I’ve got anything else that doesn’t involve breaking something.” With a shrug, Alexander crouched down and slammed the but of his wand on the ground. As he did, a sparkly spiral staircase materialized in front of him. One that led right to the top of the wall. “Well, here’s hoping this doesn’t blow up in our faces” With that, he began to make his way up, turning off his disguise artifact as he did ‘Almost forgot, I don’t need this anymore’
Sanngridr just tilted her head, before letting a small smile… and taking flight on her monstrous wings. "Hey… need a lift?" She added as she flew past him.
Alexander blinked “Oh, right…you have wings” He was just about to say yes…before he suddenly remembered who he was talking to “Thanks, but I’ll just walk. I already made the stairs, so I might as well use them” It was a weak excuse, but he didn’t really care,
Reaching the top in their varied manners, there was nothing stopping them from passing over it to the courtyard beyond. It was a well tended place, with coordinated pathways laid out through flower beds. Fountains bubbled nearby, with statues of gargoyles and dragons adorning them. It was standard rich mansion stuff.
From their perch they would be able to see that there were some inhabitants, possibly servants or other occupants besides their fancy collector. While a few were obviously guards with their set routes, there was a good chance that everyone had some ability to defend themselves due to being in the Overcity.
They had a few options right now. There was a small building near them, possibly a shed or a storage area. The main building laid across the open space of the courtyard, with two wings stretched towards in the shape of a U. There were multiple stories as well, allowing for many points of entry. It was just a matter of crossing that space without being noticed.
Alexander cringed at the sight before him “Eugh. This Place is even more tacky than I expected” Then he turned to his partner for this job “Okay, I just realized I should have asked this earlier; but what kind of magic are you packing? You clearly know what I have, based on the weird nickname you came up for me, but all I really know about you is that you have wings and can go in and out of the Overcity.”
"Sanngridr just took a look at Alexander, her smile grinning wide, before snapping her fingers as a tiny mallet materialized on top of Alexander's head, with the intention to bonk him.
"Reinforcement. But the Allfather trained me in Runic sorcery."
Alexander blinked in surprise “Huh, weird. I can work with runes too. Most of the ones I use are for supporting my magic. You wouldn’t happen to know any that could help with stealth, would you?”
"Sanngridr knows some obscuring runes. Sanngridr also knows she can just fly over them with Alexander on her arms. Like a moonlight date. Or you could let me do a little surprise or distraction."
The valkyrie said, hovering really close. "You are a fellow disciple of a top god, why the surprise?"
“Because we share a specialization and also work with runes. I’ve never met anyone else who used runes, so to find out that my random partner on a job also uses them, along with Reinforcement magic. Well…it seems kind of unlikely. Not an issue, just kind of weird.” Alexander explained “If we go over them, then I’d rather use my barrier than get carried. But personally, my vote is for obscuring runes. That sounds like it’ll be more useful once we get inside. Actually, give me a second” Remembering his tracking ability, Alexander activated Absolute Direction to try and home in on the dragon locater.
Utilizing his Absolute Direction, Alexander would pin down the Dragon Locator to the second floor of the mansion in the Western Wing, which was the one closest to them. It was about in the middle of the floor, but at least it would not be the most difficult place to reach, comparatively speaking.
“Alright, awesome. I got a bead on it; It’s on the second floor, right over there.” He pointed where Absolute Direction told him to. “So I’m thinking that we use that stealth rune of yours and take the aerial path over there. With any luck, we’ll be able to slip in undetected.”
Sanngridr just took her finger and bit it without flinching,dabbing a rune with blood upon Alexander's face, before doing the same and drawing the same rune upon her face.
"Now let us embrace and become one… to cross." She would say as she activated the rune. "Perthro, rune of secrets." She would whisper as she took Alexander to fly away. "Are you a good dancer?"
Alexander had to bite back the urge to yell at her, since that would definitely give away their position “I was planning on walk in mid air with my barriers.” he growled at her ‘Dammit, just what is with this girl? Well, at least this should get us there without making a fuss.’
With stealth runes in place, the duo took to the skies as they made their way towards the nearby mansion. With the glyphs active and no one in the particular habit of looking upwards for sustained periods of time, they soon reached their destination. on one of the mansion's balconies.
Like many homes, the door on the second floor seemed to have a simple lock. As long as they weren't too loud about it, it wouldn't be much trouble getting through. If the lock proved to be too much trouble, they might be able to get through a window too.
“Right, this looks like a weirdly simple lock for a place this extravagant. Hopefully I can get this open.” Alexander whispered as he made a tiny tail that he used to work on picking the lock “This makes it so much easier” He mumbled as he got to work
The lock was fairly straightforward in its mechanisms, and someone like Alex would have little trouble in cracking it. That allowed them access to a well furnished hallway, with a nice carpet, decorations lining the wall, basically more of the stuff you’d expect to find in some rich guy’s mansion.
“...Anddddd there!” Alexander declared as finished picking the lock, and opened the door. “Well the coast looks clear.” Alexander slowly made his way inside, as he followed Absolute Direction to the tracker “This way.” he waved over Sanngridr.
“Hehehe Tentacles.” Sanngridr would chuckle, before she herself found in a bit of an awkward position as her wings got stuck in the door. After a brief curse, she wrapped the feathery limbs around herself. One of her eyes glowed ominously as she deployed her Evil Eye.
Moving along, the most obvious thing Sanngridr would see was that the lights were magical, fed by their own internal spells rather than actual electricity. Other spells maintained the temperature and environment, ensuring that they were tailored to preserve the artifacts on display. They passed by vases and pottery, as well as old portraits of people and landscapes. But the beauty therein was probably lost on these two.
More important to them were the traps she spotted along the path. They seemed to be randomly placed, far enough away from the entrances where someone would let their guard down. They were looking for some kind of magical key, and would deploy barrier magic to trap them in place if the traps were activated. This would be the first challenge to surmount, as the area in question stretched the width of the hallway.
“Traps. Someone’s being naughty.” Sanngridr whispered. “Why don’t you call one of your mice thralls, beast lord. Those traps won’t activate if we have the right kind of key…”
“What a shame, I left all my mice at home.” Alexander replied as dryly as he possibly could “Let me give something a try” He said as he tried to switch the target of his Absolute Direction to the closest magical key.
Using Absolute Direction would unfortunately not give Alexander much in the way of solution. The nearest key in this case happened to be beyond the barrier that they needed to move past. The other option was one of the people walking downbelow, but that carried the obvious problem of it being out in the open. They might need to get creative to surmount this problem.
“Well shit, that’s a bust.” Alexander groaned, before turning to Sanngridr “I don’t suppose you have any way of disarming this? I can’t see the traps, so there’s not much I can do. Well…maybe we could try going around. They might not trigger if we can cut a hole through a wall or the ceiling.”
“Does anyone want to have a second go?” Sanngridr would ask, while grinning. Calling forth the deceased, an otherwise otherwordly chill engulfing Alexander as she used her Spirit magic to call forth the Fallen and the deceased poltergeist.
Spectres rose at Sanngridr’s call, both human and otherworldly creatures that did not walk their own native plane. She was left with a handful for the moment, as more were likely not needed with the confined space they were in.
“Fetch that key for me. Surely you have more freedom of movement than flesh creatures.” Sanngridr would add.
Without a word the spectres floated off to carry out Sanngridr’s command, moving through the nearby walls as spectres tend to do. It was several minutes before they returned, leaving one to anxiously look about, lest someone abruptly come around a corner or through a doorway and spot them.
Eventually they did return, carrying with them a single bronze signet ring. Coming to a stop, the object was held out for Sanngridr to take. They had their key, and a way past this obstacle. No doubt more waited for them on the path ahead.
“I might have left out a thing… or two…teeheh.” The valkyrie giggled softly as she eyed the Ring before kneeling in front of Alex. “With this ring, I declare you as my husbando. Will you be my bed warmer?”
Alexander’s eye twitched as he stared at Sanngridr for a few seconds before making a sound that was half sigh and half groan “Let’s just get that damn tracker and get out before we get caught.”
“You’re no fun.” Sanngridr would sigh too, before employing the signet ring to defuse the trap, keeping on the lookout. “I wanna fight a dragon…can’t find it without thingamajig.” She muttered.
“Now that I can understand” he said in response to her mutterings. He then set his Absolute Direction back to locate the tracker ‘A tracking power to find a tracker. The irony isn’t lost on me.’
Moving along, they were witness to more of what had been collected here in this manor. Different portraits, pottery, stuff like that. They did pass some rooms along the way which seemed to harbor display cases of various items, but none of them were the one the duo was looking for.
As they neared a corner, an odd and worrying sound reached their ears. It was footsteps, but there was also something like stone scraping together? Whatever it was, it was going to round the corner ahead of them in a few moments. They could try to duck into one of the nearby rooms, fight it, or find some other method. Whatever they did, it would need to be fast.
Acting on instinct, Alexander focused magic into his legs as he grabbed Sanngridr’s arm. He quickly jumped up to the ceiling, dragging Sanngridr along with him, and at the apex of his jump, made a flat barrier beneath them. They both landed without a sound, and Alexander looked down to see what was making that noise.
Sanngridr, for her part, was about to summon her sword and cut Alexander into pieces, but she relented quickly upon realizing what was happening. “My how forceful.” She said, while embracing Alexander again with her arms and wings. “A little rat huh.” She whispered to Alexander’s ear. “Spirits.” She said, calling her wraith helpers to spy the source of the sound from their ethereal unseen existence.
“How inappropriate to butt in our little raid.” She added in low whisper, not before nibbling Alexander’s ear.
Safely hidden on the ceiling, Sanngridr and Alex didn’t need to wait long to find the source of the noise. They didn’t even need the spirits to do it. A stone being rounded the corner, feet thudding against the carpet with each steps. It was bulky and took up much of the hallway with its mass, but luckily for them it made the classic mistake of many guards and did not look up.
Without pausing, it moved further down the hallway. It did not appear to have seen them, though there was a good chance more of these things would be between them and their target.
With the guard away, Alexander quickly made some space between him and Sanngridr “What is wrong with you? You don’t just…bite someone’s ear out of nowhere” He started extending the barrier walkway and followed it “Ugh…I miss Lily already.” he grumbled.
"But beasts playbite all the time, beast lord. Or would you rather have the electric girl bite your ear?" Sanngridr added. "Golems, maybe on predetermined patterns. How classic." She would add, before activating her Evil Third Eye to see if these things had weak points or if there were more alarms.
Utilizing her Third Eye, Sanngridr was able to see that the golem was animated by a rock with symbols engraved on it, embedded in the torso of the creature. The weak points were the elbows, knees, and shoulders, where the limbs met and needed to be more flexible in their movement. Beyond that there did not seem to be any other alarms, at least on their ceiling position as they continued towards their target.
Soon they arrived outside the room that contained their prize. Once the coast was clear they could approach the door, which looked like a pretty standard wooden door. It had a normal key lock, and no dangerous booby traps visible. Whether that was the case inside the room, they’d either need to take the risk or find another way to look inside.
Alexander hopped down to the ground to get a better look at the door, but he couldn’t notice anything strange ‘Which is actually kind of strange itself. If this door leads to a room where really valuable stuff is stored, then you’d think it would be defended by something better than a simple wooden door. Hell, I could probably punch this thing down…or just a hole in it. It really depends on whether the door is stronger than it’s hinges or not.’ Looking over to Sanngridr, he asked “Do you have anything that can take a peek inside?”
"Just my friends". Sanngridr would then add, cajoling spirits to look further.
Floating through the walls, the spirits quickly returned. It was a modestly sized room, with a couple suits of armor along both sides. Spaced through the room were several items on pedestals, protected behind glass. It was a display room for the collectors trophies, and no doubt the Dragon Locator (™) was one of those. Unfortunately the spirits didn’t have much else, but there were no visible defenses at least.
"Nothing of worth besides the glass. Let's plunder, beast Lord." Sanngridr would then add, smirking.
Alexander nodded as he kneeled down to begin picking the lock “This still doesn’t feel right.” He began talking “I mean, it’s not impossible that security is just lighter on the inside, because they don’t expect anyone to sneak this far in…but…I don’t know, something just feels off. Get ready to book it if this triggers an alarm or something. I’ll rush in and grab the thing, if you can use Overcity Shift in here, then do it. If not, then we’ll have to break out a little more forcefully”
"Okay." Sann would smile as she would stand by.
With skill and the liberal use of magic, Alex succeeded in opening the door. That allowed them both to see what the spirits had told them. There were indeed a couple suits of armor against the wall, some paintings, and display cases with various items. This room seemed to be more of a technical nature, gizmos with spinning orbs and flickering diodes.
Their particular target was on the far side of the room, sitting securely in its display case. It was a handheld device with a small screen, and the main focus was a tooth protruding from the top of the device with some prongs connected to it. Presumably that was how it did its dragon detecting. Now they just had to acquire it.
Alexander let out a sigh of relief at the lack of any kind of response to the door opening ‘So far so good…I think.’ Getting back to his feet he carefully made his way over to the target. Once he reached it he looked around for a way to open it.
Looking over the case, he was able to locate a small plaque that said ‘Dragon Locator’ on it, confirming that it was their target. However, there did not appear to be an obvious way of opening the case. The new owner did not intend for it to be removed once it was part of his collection, perhaps. Sanngridr noticed more as she looked around with her Third Eye though. The glass of the display cases was enchanted with protection magic and environmental sealing, to keep the objects inside safe and make it more difficult to actually access the glass. She also saw a trigger similar to the one they had encountered before, though not fitted for this key.
She’d also notice that the suits of armor on the walls were also imbued with dormant magic, presumably to animate them. That may not affect her choice at all, but it would be worth noting.
‘Well crap.’ Alexander fought the urge to sigh ‘I could just smash it open, but that might make too much noise.’ Calling up his sword, he rested the blade on the top of the case, and with a flex of Reinforcement and Beast magic to strengthen himself, started trying to saw an opening into the case.
Sann for her part, just whistled, before unsheathing her sword, the Valkyrie's Tear. Concentrating, she enhanced her weapon and attempted to parry Alex's attempt.
"Case is enchanted. You need to go nuts."
Alexander sighed “Well so much for doing this quietly.” He then raised his blade up, and quickly brought it back down with all the force he could muster, making sure to not hit the detector
The first blow rang and bounced off the glass. The second caused a small crack to appear. Then the third and the fourth fell, and soon it shattered under the force of Alexander’s blows. The Dragon Locatoe was theirs for the taking now that it was out of the way.
Unfortunately, the glass breaking triggered something. Sann could see magic flaring, and moments later the suits of armor to the sides of the room raised their swords into ready stances and began marching towards the duo. Outside of the immediate threat they posed, it was probably not a good sign for their hidden presence within the estate.
“Shit, they move”” Alexander grabbed the locator and stowed it away. “Alright, got it. Do the thing!”
Sann would blow a raspberry at the armors, and then her wings would cover both Alexander and the detector, activating her Overcity Shift.
Overcity Shift was triggered…only for nothing to happen. Moments later swords stabbed at her wings, striking at the more delicate contents within. Using her Third Eye, Sann could see that wards had kicked in at some point after the alarm had turned on. Bound to objects somewhere else, it prevented anyone from shifting out of the Overcity within the confines of the ward. That left them in quite the precarious position as the guards sought to make their visit a short one
Sann just let a moan as she was stabbed. “Figures.” She said, panting. “Well no use in holding back now..” She smiled in a cruel way. “Beast lord… hold on to me if you want to leave and don’t step from here.”
Sanngridr focused all her might and fury, barriers appearing on her surroundings, seemingly unimpeded thanks to her Soul Jar. “EINHERJAR… IT IS TIME TO PLUNDER. RAZE, KILL, AND BURN!” She said, summoning the spirits of long undead vikings. Odin’s champions.
Here and there the grins and heckles of ghostly beings were heard. Shields banging, swords clattering.
Truly a time for fighting.
Alexander sighed “I had a feeling it was too easy, but I still had hope” Deciding to follow Sanngridr’s lead, Alexander spawned a bunch of clones. They grew tails out of the palms of their hands, ready to lash out. He then threw his own barriers over the ones Sanngridr put up “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Though these were not the foes of the sort that VIkings were used to fighting, the spirits answered Sanngridr’s call all the same as they began to appear. By the same token these foes were a bit more difficult to take out than the average soldier, lacking much of the physical body that could be easily slain. These suits had to be dismembered.
The melee spread, swords clashing against spectral axes and shields. Suits of armor were swarmed and torn apart, but that only bought the duo a short reprieve. The sound of heavy footsteps grew steadily nearer, most likely belonging to the guards they had passed earlier. And it was probably too much to expect that there was only one or two on their way.
"Well. Now that these nuisances are gone… let us undo the overcity sealing. The cause of this is somewhere else. EINJERHAR, search and destroy!" Sanngridr would command, readying the sword in glee.
“And maybe do it quickly. I can hear the reinforcements getting closer” Alexander said as his clones joined the Einjerhar in wrecking the place. “And this was going so well too.” He sighed to himself
THe vikings surged out of the room, spreading out to locate the artifacts binding them to this plane. That said, it did look like there was more than one artifact, so it might take a bit.
Fighting quickly erupted down the halls, golems shouldering through spectres and smashing as ethereal blades bit at their tough skin. As one might expect the vikings were also not the most discerning when it came to what they smashed, a cost Saangridr would feel like a punch to the gut as they broke something that reflected back upon the magic user.
Moments later one of those golems slammed through the open doorway, sending ghost Vikings flying. It’s exterior was chipped and battered, but it was still functional as it charged towards them like a bull. A bull made of solid rock.
“Aaah… I felt that one…” Sanngridr said, spitting some blood. She readied her sword and third eye… and with a deft display of swordmanship, attempted to slash the core of the golem.
Alexander grew some long tails out of his arms to try and hold the golem in place to make it an easier target “I don’t think this is working! We’re probably just going to have to break out to somewhere else where you can do your teleport thing!”
The golem growled, a low rumble that emanated from some deep source. Alex found that trying to bind it in place was easier said than done. It used its immense strength to tug him to and fro, slamming him into broken pedestals and yanking him off his feet. Only Sanngridr’s expert swordsmanship provided a reprieve, stabbing at the core that laid within. Yet the golem was tough, and with Alex being pulled about it was hard to get in a clean blow at the weak spot rather than bouncing off its arms and chest.
Sanngridr grunted. "This pile of rock…" She added, taking note of Alexander's struggle. "I need to reveal more cards… shit." She said in a gravely voice. Alexander could notice she had dropped the playful tone of her voice, as well as her third person talk. One by one, the Einherjar disappeared as Sanngridr was saving her energy for something else.
Alexander would feel a chill at his back…as Sanngridr raised her blade, creating clones of herself by using her Copycat ability. Now instead of Vikings there were valkyries. All poised with blades, who dogpiled the Golem with numbers expecting one of them to make a clean hit at the spot.
Realizing that this wasn’t actually helping, Alexander dismissed his tails, and was flung into a wall. “Gah!” taking a few seconds to patch himself up ‘Wait, why are we even fighting this thing!? All we need is to get out of here now.’ He realized “Sanngridr, fuck the rock boy. Let’s just get out of here!” He said as he got to his feet.
The golem roared as Sanngridr duplicated herself, her blade biting and stabbing through superior numbers. It swayed and smashed, taking out one copy and then another in isolated numbers. But as she had planned the onslaught was overwhelming, and the beast brought down.
The rumble in its chest faded as a blade speared its core. It was motionless for a few moments before it began to crumble, becoming a pile of rocks on the nice carpet. Still, they could not rest easily just yet. Not when they were still in the middle of hostile territory.
“Mm..” The Sanngrids pondered, as they began to flee with Alexander, ready to use the Shift when they could…
With Sanngrids in tow, Alexander made his way to the closest window, planning to break through it in hopes that whatever was blocking Overcity Shift wouldn’t work outside. ‘I really don’t want to have to fight through everything in here!’
Having decided on their path Alexander moved for the nearest window. It shattered under his Reinforced blows, and he made his way outside with Sann. From what she could see Overcity Shift would not work just yet. They needed to make it beyond the walls of the compound. And that was easier said than done as the outside defenses began to target them. Fireballs, bolts of lighting, shards of ice spat out from emplaced positions hovering in the air. They did not intend to make escaping easy.
Sanngridr would follow, the valkyries then attempting to fly into the air. The doubles would draw fire from the defenses, leaving the real one and Alexander free to flee.
As they ran, Alexander threw up barriers hovering in the air to soak up incoming fire “Is it still not working!?” he inquired about Overcity Shift “Just how big is the stupid null field thing anyway!?” That last question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, and was just him complaining.
Fire roared, blossoming into impressive explosions that pushed against the barriers and flowed outwards away from them. Lightning crackled and ice hissed, fragments sent flying away from the impact zones on those barriers like shotgun blasts. The doubles were not so fortunate as the barriers, but it succeeded in drawing the focus away from the real deal at least.
Crossing the wall, Sanngridr found that her Overcity Shift was no longer being blocked by the Field that had been present on the property. Given that it was likely their angered targets would pursue within the Overcity proper, a quick shift was advised.
And so they found themselves back in their world, with their mission seemingly complete.
"I wonder if that thing works. That was wonderful." Sanngridr said, before kissing Alexander and seeing about her reward.
“Gah!” Alexander cried out as he pushed her away “Cut it out!” Once she was no longer kissing him, he sighed “I’m just glad that it’s over. Let’s never do this again.”
As if to answer Sanngridr’s question, the screen of the device lit up as a beeping sound filled the air. From what it was saying, not only was it still functional but it seemed there was a dragon nearby too. It’d be a shame to come so far and not even see it. Before they turned in their completed bounty.
“Dragon.” Sanngridr said, as she tried to find the beast.
Alexander blinked in confusion “Huh, I wasn’t expecting that. Eh, might as well” He shrugged as he began to follow the directions the device gave
Following the Dragon Locator, the directions provided by the device led them into the industrial section of Penrose. They were guided along to a warehouse, nestled in amidst other similar looking warehouses. It did not appear to be much, but Sann could see through the use of her Evil Eye that the place was layered with enchantments to make it appear that way to the average pedestrian. A normal person would simply look at it and move on, thinking it no different than any other warehouse here.
But this was where the Dragon Locator pointed, and it was a decent place to hide a dragon’s stash. Given the magic in place, it was probably a bit more than it seemed on the surface.
Sanngridr pointed out the entrance of the warehouse, a cat smile forming on her face."There." She said.
Alexander looked at the warehouse, then back at the Dragon Locator. He shrugged and made a quick clone “Go make sure it’s safe.”
The clone sighed and slumped in place “Fine” it groaned as it made it’s way to the warehouse.
While there was a main opening for bigger vehicles to enter, it was locked and likely wouldn’t open without force. There was a side-door that was easier to open with a lesser amount of force, albeit it was still locked. Something would need to be broken or picked in order to get inside the warehouse. One way or another the clone would be able to go inside.
In the middle of the warehouse a large amount of the various shelves had been cleared out to give space. For in the center of it slumbered a massive creature. It’s color was a slight shade of golden, a large amount of spiked scales extended along its body. It’s massive wings lay folded onto its body, it’s great tail curled around where it lay, breathing slowly, heavily, mightly.
Some oddities lay around it. A horde of cushions. Some giant bones that had clearly been gnawed on. A positively enormous, beat-up and burned tennis-ball. Around a grocery store’s worth of emptied plastic containers that once contained meat. A couple fire extinguishers. A giant blanket. Various scatterings of burn-marks across the area. The floor had been torn up here and there, like there’d been a battle here at some point.
The dragon was currently sleeping.
Sanngridr seemed incensed at the sight. "I kinda wanna fight it. Do we fight it, Beast Lord? I wanna wanna wanna."
“That’s kind of an assholish thing to do” Alexander replied “I mean, imagine some idiots broke into your home when you were sleeping to beat you up. It would be one thing if they were a clear threat to the city…” he turned his gaze to the plastic trash “but it’s clear that they’re eating literal takeout, and not any of the locals. Unless there’s some underground Soylent Green bullshit going on, but that’s a rabbit hole I do not want to go down.”
He shook his head “Look, we know where they live now, so if you decided to come back later when they were awake and pick a fight, I sure as hell wouldn’t stop you. I’m not your keeper. But as things stand; I’d feel like an ashole if started something like this”
“...” Sanngridr tilted her head. “Well, i guess fighting solo has merit. So long then, dragon. You owe me a death.” The valkyrie blew a kiss, before leaving alongside Alexander.
The two turned around to leave…
Then they heard something. There was a sound coming from the direction they were leaving in. A girl was whistling happily, prancing this way while holding her arms around a giant mountain of meat-products from a variety of different stores, much like the plastic lying spread around the sleeping dragon. The girl came numerous steps before coming to a sudden and immediate halt in front of the two, numerous meat-products falling off the tower she was carrying.
Sooooooooooo, they were face to face with a scaled girl with fire for hair, tail hanging behind her and wearing basically nothing because all of her is part-dragon. Her eyes widened as she saw them.
‘WHA-!?’ The mountain of meat-products were scent flying as the girl waved her arms into the air, skipping backwards as they came raining down upon them once again as she took a combat stance, her eyes panicky.
‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?’ she called so loudly… that the dragon on the opposite side of them grumbled and started stirring from its sleep. The girl’s eyes, now no longer clouded by the mountain she was carrying, locked onto Sann.
‘You…!’ Mayra called, her voice a mixture of amazement and still the shock of having encountered people where she absolutely didn’t expect them. Then, her fists clenched, and with a blast of fire she tried to run right around them in a half-circle to place herself in-between them and the dragon, a trail of fire left behind her.
‘YOU CAN’T HAVE MY GEORGIE!’ she shouted, legs bent and arms raised in a fighting stance. She was mostly shouting this at Sann. “Georgie” was stirring behind her, opening his great dragon eyes to start glaring at them. Partly also at Mayra from behind.
Sanngridr raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s Maymay.” She said, tilting her head. “This makes it different. Maybe Sann should not kill Georgie. Because if Georgie is with Maymay, it can be fun to just roughhouse. Dragon hearts are yummy, but friends are better?” Sanngridr would then giggle.
‘I really wish Lily was here right now. I’m shit at stuff like this Alexander groaned “Listen, we’re not playing on taking away your…’Georgie’. Personally, I don’t give a shit as long as he isn’t causing trouble and killing people, which it looks like he isn’t. And you!” He turned to Sanngridr “Don’t talk about killing dragons and eating their hearts! That is not a good way to deescalate the situation!”
‘Huh? Kill?’ Mayra first sounded really confused by Sanngridr’s statement. Like, the contents of the words were positive, but she was confused that she would have killed him in the first place.
‘Oooh, so that’s why you were here. To kill him. I thought you were going to steal him and have as your mate. I wouldn’t blame you, he’s a handsome one, isn’t he?’ Mayra said with an excited grin. For some reason she didn’t seem to think being here to kill him was as bad. ‘But nope, he’s mine. I’m keeping him a secret. We can totally be secret-keeping-friends! Also, we can totally roughhouse!’ Since both of them made sure to tell her they didn’t want to kill Georgie anymore, everything was fine!
The dragon behind her grunted and turned his head to look away, laying his head down to try to rest. He didn’t look particularly happy. Also, Alex’s beast-magic that allowed him to read the body language of animals… Georgie appeared to be unwell. Sick, maybe in pain. Definitely miserable. Mayra didn’t seem to realize, smiling so widely. Sann could maybe also tell, depending on how perceptive she is.
Sanngridr rolled her eyes at Alex's outburst, before pointing a hand at the Dragon. "Deescalate. Okay, Beast Lord. Why do you keep making everything so unfunny? Here's your deescalation!" Sanngridr said, angered, before a healing wave hit the dragon.
"Happy now? Also I won't roughhouse with people who can't even see their friends' sorry state.!"
Alexander was surprised; not only that Sanngridr noticed ‘Georgie’s’ condition, but that she actually did something to help “’Happy’ is a strong word, but I’m pretty okay with the direction this is going now.” he said, choosing to ignore the implication that Mayra might be dating an actual dragon.
‘Wha-’ Mayra by sheer instinct stepped out of the way to let fire that healing wave at Georgie. The dragon’s eyes shot open, and the giant beast suddenly extended its wings as it felt its energy returning, pressing its limbs down and thrusting itself up on all fours.
‘Wait, you healed him? But, then he’s going to-’ Mayra was idly saying, before Georgie lifted and brought down a giant claw upon her position, seemingly intending to utterly crush her! Mayra survived with a skip aside, but even then the wind of the attack blew her aside! ‘AAH, WAIT, GEORGIE! I’M NOT READY!’
As Mayra scrambled to get her bearings, Georgie suddenly blasted a stream of fire at her from his mouth, and Mayra held her hands out and used her Fire magic to stop it as if with a barrier right in front of her. The fire scorched the floor where she stood, creating a burn-mark quite alike many others that were spread across the area. Also, Georgie’s claw into the floor where Mayra had been standing had torn up another area, making it look just like some other places on the floor in the vicinity… clearly it wasn’t the first battle to take place here.
‘Hahaha! You got your energy back and you want to play-fight immediately? Usually it’s not until after you’ve had dinner!’ Mayra laughed. ‘Fine by me! We have an audience and all! I’ll win again!’ the dragon-girl said with a grin, ready to do battle…
Georgie did not seem like he was play-fighting. Rather, he seemed like he wanted to utterly obliterate her. But seemingly, Mayra had won all their previous battles… and left Georgie injured and contained in the process. That about sums it up.
Alexander facepalmed “Now I’m starting to feel bad for the dragon. Isn’t this technically animal abuse?”
Sanngridr eyed the battle with a raised eyebrow, “Should we help Georgie? Or just call others to deal with this? Sann is hungry and grumpy.”
As they spoke, Georgie brought down a claw to attempt to crush Mayra again, but she dodged under him with a blast of fire rocketing her below him. She excitedly delivered a series of punches at him from below, causing Georgie to grunt. It didn’t seem like it did particularly much damage… but it DID damage, unlike Georgie’s attack at Mayra that had completely missed. He then proceeded to swing his tail, which Mayra jumped clean over…
