[center][h3]Esaka, the Tiered City[/h3]
[b]Setting:[/b] Drizzly Friday Morning
Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (237/150) Level 11 Big Band (147/110)
Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] Pit’s [@Yankee] Sakura & Juri’s [@Zoey Boey] Captain Falcon’s [@Double] Yayama’s [@Chevaleresse] Grima’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 743 / 684[/center]

For a moment Band merely stood at the corner where he stopped, watching people go by as he awaited a response from the Seekers on his earpiece. Even on a drizzly, overcast day like today, there were still tons of people -and yokai- out and about. Either the Pools really were that important around here, or rain was simply such a common occurrence that Esaka’s citizens didn’t pay much mind to it. The detective’s idle gaze landed on a strange, [url=https://i.imgur.com/IymqLb4.png]furtive spirit[/url] with a froglike appearance, but the shell of a turtle. Atop its skull appeared to be a basin full of water, which the yokai was delighted to refill with the rainwater dripping down from above. He watched the kappa skulk around the threshold of a shop, wondering if it would attempt to steal something, only for the departure of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Kn7MGqq.png]burly Italian[/url] to scare it away.

It wasn’t long before Band’s allies called in, starting with Roland. The Fixer suggested a meetup spot on the Low Tier, mentioning rice and noodles. Those foods weren’t necessarily what Band thought of as breakfast, but even counting out the whole ‘tournament society’ thing, the culture of the Tiered City was just unlike he’d ever seen before. Better to just go with the flow. Although, for those who’d stayed in the High Tier, it would be a long trip down. When Pit chimed in, mentioning that he had ‘medium news’ for everyone but would be too busy to join them for now, Band felt obliged to say something. “Sounds like we don’t got anythin’ earth-shatterin’ to share. So let’s keep this pow-wow nice and informal. Attendance is not mandatory.” Band would go, though, as long as Roland’s destination wasn’t too far. The northern part of the Low Tier might not be that far from the southern part as the crow flies, but traipsing halfway around the donut-shaped district would take a lot of time and energy. With more Pools matches imminent, not everyone had time or energy to spare.

Going off of the name Roland provided and the directions offered by helpful locals, Big Band made his way from the hiding place of Lab 8 to the designated eatery. It didn’t look like anything special, just a hole-in-the-wall really, but that suited the detective just fine. With G-Corp still on the loose, and who knew how many more enemies spread throughout the city, it was best for everyone to keep a low profile and move in smaller groups. Plus, hole-in-the-wall-type joints often had the best food. Well, some did, while most offered dirt-cheap crap. Finding a diamond in the rough was rare but extremely valuable, so hopefully this was one such place.

Band scarcely had time to make small talk with the others before his food arrived. He had ordered jianbing, a sort of crepe fashioned from broomcorn flour folded a couple times, eggs, ham, chopped scallion, and hoisin sauce. It made for a strange breakfast dish, as the detective expected, but with an open mind to new foods Band found himself liking it. It came with cifantuan, a kind of sticky rice pouch stuffed with fried dough and salted egg yolk, and to wash it down Band tried a sweetened soy milk, although he didn’t end up liking that beverage too much. Overall the meal was pretty good, but being essentially street food it was overpriced fare in a restaurant, so paying for it ate through a chunk of the little stipend given by the Bogard twins last night as thanks for having their backs. It looked like money would still be a concern for the detective going forward. Fortunately, despite appearances, it didn’t take much fuel to fill him up

Once everyone’s meal had begun, and they digested the news about Harry and Kim, Band paused between bites to clear his throat. “Ahem. So…y’all might not be aware, but I’ve been outta the loop with the Seekers for a couple weeks. Stuck in Edinburgh MagicaPolis, way up north. I wasn’t exactly idle up there. Helped take one Consul outta the equation in fact, and got us a li’l tidbit of information that Miss Sandalphon’s team’s gonna put to good use real soon. But I dunno what the rest of y’all got up to. Just heardja paid a visit to Midgar and the Underground. Got any good stories?”

[hr]

While Band and a few others chatted over breakfast in a remote corner of the Low Tier, Nadia continued to pitter-patter around the puddly streets of the Middle Tier in search of the New Meridian Order’s only male member. It did strike her as a little funny that a himbo like Beowulf would be the only guy to join the otherwise all-female dojo, though it was true they weren’t exactly a huge organization to begin with. Most ladies would have probably preferred an all-gal group, but either due to her upbringing or attitude, Nadia actually liked hanging out with dudes. They were simple, easy to get along with. Plus, most were totally unprepared for casual friendliness from a pretty girl. Nadia didn’t mean to lead anyone on or anything, but paw-sitive attention sure felt nice.

Wandering through the drizzle for half an hour didn’t feel great, though, and the tantalizing smells that wafted out of the half-dozen diners she checked sure didn’t help. Of course, Nadia knew that she could stop and help herself to breakfast whenever, but she’d already had Throw Loops this morning and couldn’t afford to overeat, in a metaphorical sense at least. Plus, she was a woman on a mission! There was someone out there in need of saving (after a fashion) and Nadia Fortune would oblige.

Eventually, the thief struck gold. When she stuck her head into a diner called Churning Butter, she found a restaurant offering the richest, unhealthiest, most protein-rich and carbo-loaded breakfast food around, and there she discovered Beowulf. True to Annie’s prediction, he sat over a giant, half-finished plate of steak and eggs, accompanied by a stack of pancakes with so many toppings that Nadia couldn’t even see the flapjacks. Of course, the gregarious goober wasn't totally focused on his meal, because he couldn’t resist striking up a conversation with the complete strangers at the table next to him. Fortunately, the [url=https://i.imgur.com/wZc1AdH.png]blond American[/url] in a Hawaiian shirt and ripped jeans seemed pretty outgoing, and the [url=https://i.imgur.com/8SiGBBo.png]Japanese girl[/url] Bob had met for breakfast was warming up to their natural camaraderie. Still, even the rather tactless Nadia could see that it would probably be best to leave Bob and Tsugumi to their date, so she marched in and put a hand on Beowulf’s shoulder. “Beo, buddy!”

The wrestler looked up and grew a toothy smile. “Fortune, hey! G’mornin’!” He waved for her to sit down. “Wanna bite to eat? Got plenty left! I was just tellin’ my friends here…”

“Actually, I’ve got somethin’ big to tell ya.” She flashed a sympathetic smile at the others as she stepped in between the two tables, blocking them off. “An im-purr-tant purr-oposition, if you’re willin’ to hear meowt,” Nadia told him. “Straight from the Girl of the Stars.”

Just as Nadia thought, Annie’s epithet was enough to make Beowulf get serious. “Oh yeah? Alright, alright. Uh, can it wait a couple minutes?” He glanced down at his food anxiously, clearly not wanting his hard-earned donations from yesterday to go to waste.

“You got five minutes!” Nadia declared, holding up five clawed fingers for emphasis. “Meet me up on the roof. And get your hairy butt in gear, cause I’m not kitten around!”

Beowulf grinned. “You got it!” Nadia turned to go before she could see the wrestler dig into the remains of his meal with gusto, tearing the pancakes and prime rib apart like a hungry wolf. Until he met with her up top, she’d try to remember what she’d seen of his fighting style yesterday. If he was half the wrestler he thought he was, Beowulf probably had a couple kinds of command grab under his belt, so she wouldn’t be sitting around blocking. [i]Oh, woe is me![/i]

After climbing up onto the roof, Nadia began to stretch. This bout ought to be a nice warm-up for her Pools matches today. Hopefully Churning Butter had a nice, strong roof, since she didn’t want to crash through any more ceilings this week.

[center][h3]The Midnight Walk - Winterhold College[/h3]
[b]Setting:[/b] Labyrinthine Friday Morning
Lvl 10 Sandalphon (5/100) Level 7 Heismay (45/70)
Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Blazermate & Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee] Roxas & Ganondorf’s [@Double] Ramattra and Tenna’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX] Mokou’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1075 / 1261[/center]

Despite the varying degrees of soreness that now accompanied her every movement thanks to her rapid-onset Petrification Disease, Sandalphon soon resolved to not merely hide out at the bottom floor of the Grand Archives and await rescue. There was no telling how many or what sorts of enemies infested this place, and she reasoned that if she kept moving, she could hopefully keep one step ahead of any forces that might detect and seek to converge on her. Furthermore, the immense doors on this bottom floor that she guessed formed the archives’ main entrance were not only crusted over with white candlewax, but sealed by portcullis. She would need to find an alternate exit, or at least a way to raise the metal bars. Even if she didn’t find a way out of this place, being closer to an exit would be better if anyone happened to come here.

Of course, maneuvering through the Grand Archives came with its own set of challenges. Those wax-headed mages weren’t leaving this area like Sandalphon hoped they would. With stealth impossible in her current state, it was time for a more direct approach.

Taking careful aim, Sandalphon held her breath, then fired. The purple magic ray emanated from her hexagun took the head off an archive scholar in a splatter of wax. Its headless body slumped to the floor. Unlike most sniper rifles, the archangel’s magic gun gave no ear-rattling report, making only a whimsical [i]whoosh[/i] when it fired. She took advantage of the other scholars’ confusion to mow them down, one headshot at a time. The third target triggered the hexagun’s special effect and got polymorphed into a chicken, but rather than waste a second to finish the bewildered bird off, Sandalphon sniped the fourth and final scholar. Now she had the whole first floor to herself.

Fiery lights in her peripheral vision warned her that the staircase to the second floor was another matter, though. She looked over just in time to see three more scholars with their candlesticks raised in the air before their fireballs accelerated toward her. Teeth clenched against the pain, Sandalphon hurriedly shrank back behind her bookcase, allowing the flame to splatter against its melted wax coating. Unable to detect life signs from these scholars, her scans had left her in the dark about this new patrol.

She peered out from cover and, to her surprise, saw something strange: a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Ff0zFyt.png]purplish gray cat[/url] with wax on her head, darting up the stairs. The scholars seemed to notice her, but rather than try to stop her at all they continued to sling fireballs at Sandalphon. Narrowing her good eye as its pupil became an inverted triangle, the archangel took cover for a moment, then cast her off hand forward the moment she showed herself. A Cerulean Mirage appeared on a stair among the scholars, and when Sandalphon shot it the next moment, the resulting diamond-shaped nitroblast scattered the three undead in a dozen directions.

Sandalphon examined the area, more carefully this time, but there appeared to be no more enemies. Nor any sign of that cat, for that matter. Slowly, gingerly, Sandalphon lowered her weapon and began to approach the stairs to the second later. On the way, her eye settled on the pool of wax, and her pupil became a loading ring. It was an uncharacteristically ridiculous idea, but maybe it would work. Carefully, the archangel stooped over the pool of wax. As she bent down, her halo continued to float above her as its light shone on the liquid wax, its orientation unchanged. Sandalphon took a deep breath, then inserted her head. It was warm, but not scalding. A quick wipe of her nose and good eye after removing her head left her vision and windpipe unobstructed, even as the wax hardened into a shell around her head. More had spattered her shoulders and chest, but she didn’t bother cleaning it off before she began to tackle the challenge of the stairs.

At the top, Sandalphon quickly found herself faced with another roving group of archive scholars, four strong, perhaps drawn by the explosion. She could feel their gaze on her, even if she couldn’t see any eyes within their waxen skulls. Yet, as she hastened to take aim with her hexagun, none attempted to attack. They continued on her way, content to walk past her. Sandalphon lowered, then dismissed her gun as she realized her gambit had worked, all thanks to that mysterious cat. Still, these threats needed to be neutralized. Shimmering wires spooled from her fingertips as she stepped forward, carefully brushing past the scholars as she moved through their group. A few strides later she stopped, raised her hands, and coldly tightened the wires.

Two of the scholars fell apart immediately and without ceremony, sliced into pieces. Sandalphon’s razor wire caught in the body of the third, however, and after the fourth beheld his stricken companion, he turned toward Sandalphon with his candlestick alike. Before it could immolate her, however, the archangel flicked her wrist and pulled. The scholar’s candles split apart, the slices scattered around, followed by his forearm and finally its head. As it slumped down, Sandalphon summoned her gunstaff to blast a hole through the stricken one and put it out of its misery. She watched its [url=https://i.imgur.com/K1QNxvm.png]dagger[/url] clatter to the floor, paused to pick it up, and then moved on.

Another scan revealed a small life sign climbing higher up through the archives, probably the cat that helped her out. She could also detect something else, something distant but strong. When Sandalphon peered up at the highest level, she could see a [url=https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Dark-Souls-3/dark_souls_3_crystal_sage.jpg]large, cloaked figure[/url] with an enormous hat staring down at her, a crystal orb between its wizened hands. That looked like some sort of ringleader, much more perceptive than the wax-headed underlings. It raised its orb as blue magic danced around it, and Sandalphon barely ducked into a side room before a homing crystal arrow smashed into the doorway. This would be more difficult than she expected, but if this duel was to be a shootout between snipers, Sandalphon was confident in her skills, given enough time. With unknowns lurking around every corner, though, time was a luxury the archangel didn’t have.

[hr]

Moments before Heismay would have reached up to try one of the worryingly heavy-looking doors for himself, the huge oaken slab began to swivel inward at a speed that testified the brute strength of the pusher. Suddenly alarmed, Heismay hopped backward and clamped his three-clawed hand around the hilt of his reinforced longsaber. Only the thought that more reasonably friendly people like the alchemist might be around prevented him from drawing his blade completely. When the door swung open, however, the familiar sight of thick coat and scarlet hair dispelled his eugief’s tension.

“Good hunter!” Heismay replied, releasing his grip on his sword. “You’re a welcome sight in this unfamiliar place.” As Ace stepped into the laboratory, Heismay glanced behind him to see if he came with company, but he saw nothing beyond Ace’s fuzzy new companion. He didn’t get much of a look at the room Ace came from either, other than a brief glimpse of stone brick and wooden furniture in firelight. “Separated from the others as well, I suppose? Twould seem we fell afoul of some magical trap.” As the hunter stopped at Heismay’s side to scope out the specimen shelves and work tables of the alchemical lab, the doors behind him swung shut with a heavy, groaning creak, falling right back into its original place.

Though naturally the noise distracted him for a brief moment, Heismay turned his attention back to Ace. “I’ve only seen this room so far. That man is friendly, albeit cursed with a hex that inhibits his power of speech. The purpose of his work, and this’alchemy lab’, is somewhat beyond me, and I’ve not the inclination to meddle.” The hermit pursed his lips. “He did, however, inform me that this building is ‘inconsistent’ and that rooms tend to shift around. No clues as to how we might quit the place, though. Tis quite the conundrum.”

Shrugging, Heismay turned back toward the door Ace came through and began to shuffle over. “Still, tis a relief to have you here. Two is better than one. And three shall be better than two. Once we find the others, we can put our heads together.” He reached up and plied his strength against the door. “I should like to examine the room you came from, to assemble my mental map.”

When Heismay pushed open the doors, however, a fundamental aspect of the Seekers’ reality quickly broke down. On the other side was not the banal dormitory that the monster hunter left behind.

[center][b]The Forgotten Commune[/b]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/4ErFip8.png[/img][/center]

The doorway opened directly into some kind of large octagonal shaft, its walls damp, mossy stone brick. A makeshift bridge of roped-together wooden logs, shaped like a plus sign, spanned the gap to connect this double doorway to four similar ones. A sickly green light bled down from above, and when Heismay looked upward, he could see only a dark, cloudy sky tinged the same unwell color for unknown reasons. Looking down, meanwhile, revealed an entire [url=https://remnant2.wiki.gg/images/The_Forgotten_Commune_02.jpg?be2697=&format=original]shantytown[/url] constructed within the space, a handful of ramshackle wooden towers composed of a dozen or so stacked hovels connected by plank and rope bridges. The steady drip of water droplets, amplified by the natural echo within this place, made Heismay’s ears twitch. Unwholesome smells crept, unwelcome into his offended nostrils, and after a moment a tormented, inhuman screen made him jump.

Oblivious to the unnatural replacement of the dormitory, Heismay narrowed his eyes as he focused on the decrepit shantytown below him. “I’d wager that was not one of us,” he ventured, drawing his blade. “And no friend of ours, either.” He looked to Ace for his opinion, scrutinizing the hunter’s expression as he hesitated. “Nevertheless, perhaps we should investigate? Twould not do to miss any clues that might aid in our egress.”

The Cadet glanced back at Heismay after peering down at the new area himself. 

[color=salmon]"Let's do it. Best case we find a clue on how to get out of here, worse case we just clean up something that might endanger someone else,"[/color] he said, and with a tight grin that might betray a bit of the confident front he was putting on Ace added, [color=salmon]"and this place really needs some janitors."[/color]

“Indeed.” Evidently more worried about making the decision than any of the danger that might accompany his choice, Heismay took the lead and jumped down to a wooden platform attached to a side wall. Going there gave him and Ace the chance to drop down to the uppermost level of the shantytown himself. When he approached the first hut, though, he hesitated. The whole thing, maybe thanks to its proximity to the light from above, looked massively overgrown by plants and mold alike. When he tentative pushed open the cracked, sagging door, Heismay caught sight of a few [url=https://remnant2.wiki.gg/wiki/Bloat#/media/File:Bloat.jpg]pustulent vermin[/url] feeding on the rot. With nothing but wet, slimy refuge in sight, the eugief shook his head and backed away.

As he descended a wood bridge and approached a second hovel, though, Heismay’s ears poked up at the sound of miserable moaning. “The shadow…the shadow…the shadow…the noise, so painful…” When he tried the door, it swung open to reveal a meager abode, featuring only a few items of poorly-made furniture and a couple racks where shriveled vegetables grew in soil-filled jars. Toward the back, near where the hut met the wall, a [url=https://remnant2.wiki.gg/images/Elowen.jpg?85184f&format=original]long-eared woman[/url] with gray skin and brown rags slumped without even raising her head.

Heismay swallowed and turned so that his body hid his sword. “Pardon me. Are you well?”

The woman raised her colorless, sunken eyes. "No... We’re on an island, surrounded by the blackness. Never meant to venture to distant shores.” Shakily she inhaled, her voice weak and weepy. "The voices...whispers, really... I can’t make out what they’re saying. Just quiet enough not to understand them. Loud enough that I can’t ignore them." For the first time she seemed to focus on the Seekers. "You... You’re not like us. You’re not from here."

Nothing she said filled Heismay with confidence, least of all that last observation. He hoped that it wouldn’t lead to hostility. “No, we are not. But we want to help. And to leave this place. What do we do?”

Unblinking, the woman shook her head. “There’s a darkness...inside me...trying to get out. It’s too late for me.” She chuckled, truly crestfallen. “Too late..." A rattling sigh escaped her.

“A darkness?” Heismay stepped back, taking a closer look at the hut’s interior. “Are you possessed?”

His words didn’t seem to register with her. "The blackness...I can hear it,” she muttered to herself. "It won’t stop. It can’t stop."

After another moment, Heismay stepped back out onto the deck. When he looked down, he counted three more stories before he and Ace would reach the bottom of this shaft. He could see brownish-green water down there, no doubt fetid, with unmentionable debris afloat within. To his shock, he also spotted a pair of [url=https://remnant2.wiki.gg/images/Sunken_Forgotten.jpg?ad0882=&format=original]putrid monstrosities[/url], their body deformed and bloated with unnatural cysts. They crawled about the shantytown aimlessly, and when one disappeared in a building, another soon appeared elsewhere. This would not be easy.