13org

The Envenomed

Despite the rapidly approaching threat, the quick salvo of attacks, aimed at the priority targets stated by Salvator made quick work of critical components such as the antenna and the camera pod. Thanks to the salvo of heavy, autocannon rounds, Alice's rounds hitting it's wheels and Echo slamming on it's side, the ramming attempt from the heavy walker as also rendered ineffective as it's trajectory was radically changed, making it collide with a number of trees as it crashed into the ground. Despite the heavy damage suffered into a short span of time, it seemed the walker wasn't completely inoperative yet, as the noises of gears grinding through damaged components made it clear that it was still able to at least attempt to force itself upright.

"Acknowledged. Do we have an ETA for the extraction? Even with damaged components, that thing still probably has enough firepower to turn almost anything we can use as a cover around itself to rubble." Alice said as she reloaded, her rifle, taking a new mag from the pockets in her armor, one of the few she had left before running towards Echo's main body, just as it merged again with it, recommending them to board it.

"Boarding Echo. It's unlikely the mech will be able to stand up again and if it does, large part of it's mobility is done. Unless we absolutely have to, our best bet would probably be leaving it behind and heading to a somewhere we can more easily secure and defend for our extraction." Alice said through the comms as she climbed on Echo's main body and waited on the door, making sure all members boarded it... Not before making it clear how worried she was about Kleo's wounds after she ignored her recommendations, immediately going into the .50 call.

"Kleo, how are your wounds? Have any of them reopened? I don't think dealing with the recoil of a .50 cal is good for your body right now. Let me check them." Alice said as she approached Kleo, already moving in to check her while she glanced back and forth from Kleo, the remaining members that had not boarded Echo yet and the fallen mech.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Karina Frost

The idea Karina had to use Xrylos' power against himself by making use of the other crazed was quickly dismissed by the Nashep-Najier. Her explanation about the bond most of the Crazed shared with the position Xrylos occupied was quite simple to understand. Especially when she compared it to the very same bond they had with the 'Being'.

Despite being able to understand them, said bonds were still... tricky to deal and even to plan around, since they were bonded to concepts and ideals and not people or other things. Xrylos, of course, wasn't immune to said bond... But as Nashep-Najier said herself... A same ideal could be interpreted of many different ways.

Karina already had her mind full trying to include these bonds into her plans, so she didn't even realized that Nashep-Najier herself had one of her own... At least until Tayla asking her about it.

"Balance, in a certain way, isn't it?" Karina said to herself as she heard the Nashep-Najier's reply to Tayla's question.

Should her words be true, it was a very comforting answer. Regardless of the personal reasons for her bond or the current predicament the Nashep-Najier's people encountered themselves in, her ideal was one they could trust.

"Having this much power concentrated into a single artifact can only ever bring chaos to the world whenever said artifact is used." Karina asked, looking to Nashep-Najier.

"I assume destroying said artifact was never an option. Otherwise it would likely be one of your goals... If we take your 'ideal' into consideration, am I correct?" Karina asked.

---

With the arrival of Chres and the remaining of the group, Karina set her questions aside for a moment. Knowing the princess and Chres were safe were very good news... As it was the news that they had new allies... If they could trust them, that is.

"Nia and Pyter... I somehow have the feeling there is more to your story than just this, but for now, we have a bigger problem to solve." Karina said, glancing to Chres with a firm expression. Whether she was silently admonishing him for being too naive and believing whatever story those two told him or if she was demanding to know the full truth behind her new 'allies' was uncertain though.

Before Karina could even entertain the idea that the new arrivals might not be trustworthy yet, a blood curdling screech echoed through the foyer, immediately making Karina unsheathe her rapier and prepare for combat.

The moment her eyes met the creatures that arrived followed by said screech though, even Karina, despite all her training, felt impacted by the sight. Horribly twisted and disfigured creatures. Creatures that simply should not exist but yet, there they were.

Barely resembling a man, the creature with elongated hands and limbs, standing atop of a tangle of spider-like limbs approached the group. It's face, a grotesque mix of a human and an arachnid's face, complete with fangs and the ability to produce silk.

The second creature was a woman, or at least something resembling one. Sticking out of all her limbs, innumerable splinters of the most varied materials, ranging from wood to even stone and metal. Every step the creature took seemed to make her limbs fuse with the ground, taking part of it with them as it continued walking.

The last one was perhaps the most disturbing. A mass of fused limbs, bodies and people, crawling at their direction.

Despite how grotesque and disgusting the creatures were and even contradicting with the initial thoughts Karina herself felt, which caused her to step backwards, almost throwing up in disgust. Despite that, the thoughts that seemed to forcibly invade her mind somehow told them that those 'things' were normal.

"I see... So this is the power of the Cutlerware..." Karina said, trying to control her own thoughts and regain her composure. If it wasn't clear before, now she knew exactly how dangerous that artifact was.

Not only the sight of the creatures caught even Karina, a trained soldier by surprise, but the conflicting thoughts that were being forced upon her were hard to deal with. It took some time, but just as Nashep-Natjier said, the best course of action was to simply accept those thoughts. Even knowing that they clearly didn't belong to her.

"Such thing... should not exist." Karina said, still feeling her stomach turning a bit as she looked at the creatures and prepared herself to join Jen and Nashep-Natjier against them.

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

Normally, Faye would take the words of someone who was speaking highly about their own family with a grain of salt, but given Morgana's apparent 'troubled' relationship with her family, her words of warning did make Faye a bit worried. Old magic, especially the kind that was studied and improved upon by a generation of witches tended to be both powerful and treacherous... And according to Morgana's words, the spells and wards on her family's house seemed to be especially treacherous, even for a witch's standards. To make things even worse, Faye, being half-fae, was almost constantly in contact with magic. Her mere presence might be enough to trigger one of those wards Morgana mentioned.

"Should I just... wait outside? If even Morgana isn't totally sure her mother wouldn't hurt her, I don't think she would be any more gentler to us. Besides, I'm afraid my mere presence might be enough to trigger a few of those wards. You know... Being half-fae and all..." she mentioned, undeniably worried about what might happen.

While Faye didn't say it out loud, it was quite clear she didn't trust Morgana's previous declaration that much, that her family had never hunted or entered in conflict with the Fae. Even from outside, the magic weaved in the spells of that mansion both felt and looked VERY malicious, just as Morgana herself said.

Unfortunately, Faye's worries would quickly show to be very justified. In the very moment they decided to investigate the Faith manor a powerful magic pulse knocked Faye out. There was no time for reaction, even Faye who could feel and see magic, wasn't able to react in time. Whatever spell it was used, was one designed to be extremely effective at disabling it's target, leaving no time to reaction if they were caught by surprise.

Faye had no idea of how much time had passed nor of what had happened as she was being woken up by Amanda's voice calling her name. The moment she finally opened her eyes, Faye knew there was something very wrong. Her body felt heavy... So much that even lifting her head to look at Amanda proved to be difficult. Her very thoughts seemed to come to her so slowly that she took a minute to even realize that Amanda was asking if she was okay and a few more for her to realize that she was bound and chained. From the places the chains and shackles touched her, Faye felt a strange coldness to it. Almost as if the very heat from her body was being sucked out of her.

But what perhaps was the worst feeling for Faye was how... quiet, colorless and... 'silent' the world around her was. She couldn't feel any magic, the link she had with the magic permeating through all things was completely severed. For Faye, it was like having a part of her taken away from her. That horrible, terrible feeling from being cut off from magic was so bad that it was the only thing preventing Faye from closing her eyes and falling unconscious due to the weakness she felt.

"Amanda... Where... are we?" Faye said weakly as she slowly, and with great effort lifted her head to look at her.

"I feel... weak..." Faye replied.

"Wish I could close my eyes and... sleep... But when I do... I feel no magic... No connection to the world... I feel... Nothing... I wish I could close my eyes but I am afraid... Afraid of the darkness that comes with it..." Faye mumbled. Both thinking and speaking seemed to come at great cost to Faye due to the added effect of both the cold iron and the runes cutting her from magic. It seemed that both of them had such a great effect on her when used together that it took conscious effort from Faye's part to make her own words have any meaningful sense.

The light and sparkle that once were in her eyes was gone and her stare was fixed in the distance... Even as she looked towards Amanda, it was almost as if her stare went right through her. Faye could hear the voice of a woman on the background, someone else that wasn't Amanda. She could hear some familiar names, but they all seemed to be too far away, too blurred and difficult to distinguish for her to think about them at the moment.

A fae should always trust their instincts above everything else. A rule Faye had ignored when she decided to follow the others and enter the Faith Manor...

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

As Faye listened to Morgana and Micheal (or better... his friends, since Micheal was still exhausted from using too much of his power), one thing became worryingly clear for her. They had little to no information about Mr. X. Just as Morgana said, all the information they had was... scattered. The idea that Mr. X might be a deity was nothing more than that, an idea. Besides that, all the things they have faced until now could only be assumed as having a direct link to Mr. X and even when they did so, the purpose for his actions was still unknown.

Truth be told, it was... improbable that Mr. X was a deity. If he was though, it would be the worst case for them, but at least until now, every situation that was proved, or at least assumed to be linked to Mr. X could be done by a normal person... Assuming they were VERY influential and powerful though... Which would help them somewhat to try and discover his true identity.

Surprisingly enough, right in the middle of their conversation, Faye felt a strange magic coming from the table, just besides Morgana. While not anything that she could perceive as being harmful, it has a weird... 'pressure' to it. Not like a god's, but a pressure nonetheless. A brief moment later, a letter suddenly appeared on top of the desk.

"A letter?" Faye asked curiously as Amanda grabbed the letter, before quickly blinking behind Amanda, getting on the tip of her toes to look over Amanda's shoulders and trying to read it.

Amanda's words as she turned to Morgana made Faye a bit confused. Even though Faye herself had certain... circumstances regarding her relationship with her family, a letter from them asking to go back home, even if for a visit, wouldn't be something THAT bad. But both the tone of the letter and both Amanda and Morgana's reactions made Faye think that there was more to that letter than just a family reunion.

Faye's hypothesis would show itself to be true a bit later. It seemed like Morgana and her mother didn't really have the best relationship and in order to solve it, so they could continue their mission, they all would have to visit Morgana's family to try and solve the issue.

"No problem! Considered it's a witch's house, I would be honestly surprise if it didn't." Faye said as she began walking around the front of the mansion, searching for any magic, be it a trap or not that could be there.

"Witches can be quite... tricky and difficult to deal with. Very much like the Fae, to be fair!" Faye said, laughing a bit

"In a certain way, their relationship can either be very good or incredibly bad... Normally I would not fear being captured or restrained but... Witches, especially on this part of the world, are quite accustomed with dealing with Fae... Fae are attracted by magic after all. For a witch, not being able to appease Fae in order to avoid their 'playful' tricks... Or knowing a way to outright prevent them from approaching would mean she would most likely never be able to get anything done with the Fae's interference. In the other hand, should a Witch be able to appease them, she would likely be able to trade with them... or even receive gifts of some pretty rare magic reagents." Faye said after she heard Amanda's words, hoping they wouldn't be captured.

"In the other hand... There are those who prefer hunting and capturing Fae..." Faye said with a grim tone.

"Even if my powers can be very hard to restrain and deal with, given their origin, I wouldn't be too surprised if the witches here had a way to interfere on my abilities..." Faye finished in a bit more serious tone. It was easy to see Faye was indeed being quite careful. Normally she wouldn't hesitate in just blinking around and just going inside to check for stuff but instead of doing that, Faye seemed to be careful with every step she was taking. Lest she fell on some kind of trap.

"Is your relationship with your mother really this bad? I mean... She's still your mother, right? She wouldn't harm you or your friends... I hope..." Faye said with an awkward chuckle to Morgana, adding to what Amanda asked regarding what Morgana's mother was capable and willing to do against them.

The Envenomed

"Yes, yes. I said I would only do so in case of an emergency, but I may have worried myself too much. You're definitely fine if you can snap at me like that." Alice said with a chuckle.

"Just don't overexert yourself, lest the stitches open again." Alice said as she grabbed her rifle, getting ready to return to battle again.

While her the shrapnel from the explosion was still lodged in her back, as long as she didn't move herself too quickly, she wouldn't feel much pain, thanks to the painkiller she took a while back. The fact that there was no internal injuries also helped her a lot to keep moving.

"Understood, Kleo is out of immediate danger. She'll support us from inside Echo. I'm returning to the battlefield." Alice said by the radio, just as Echo started moving himself, separating into it's Endoform.

At the same time, just as Kleo asked for a gun, the scavenged weaponry from the power trooper was dumped into the cargo hold together with them. It would definitely come in handy, considering the heavy walker they had to deal with.

"Alice. Please call me Alice." she said towards Kleo as she grabbed one of the scavenged weapons and handed to her.

"Remember, try doing more than you can handle right now. Stay inside Echo's cargo hold and use one of the weapons we got from the power trooper. I'm going back out." Alice replied to Kleo, nodding reassuringly towards her before getting out of Echo's cargo hold.

As Alice got out from Echo's cargo hold, the hot air hit her face as a grim reminder that the situation was getting much worse. The main culprit, the heavy walker, was still laying out rounds after rounds of heavy fire. While using Echo's main body as a cover would be a good option, Alice wasn't sure if the heavy walker's auto cannon was enough to pierce through Echo's hull or not and leaving that to be found out by surprise was a terrible choice. Besides, if they wanted to get out of that situation without any losses, they couldn't have Echo suffer heavy damages, considering it was an integral and central part of their plans and their overall fighting force.

"Do we have any information about weak spots on it's armor, joints or anything? My rifle excels in armor penetration but it's impact and destructive power aren't nearly as good." Alice said, peeking from behind Echo's main body and using her rifle's scope to take a closer look at the heavy walker.

Covered by heavy plates of armor, the heavy walker looked just as threatening as it was dangerous. Without any knowledge of it's internal workings and other vital information such as the exact thickness of it's armor and where it was less armored, Alice knew that shooting would only waste her ammo and attract the attention of the heavy walker. In the other hand, waiting seemed to be a terrible idea as well, as the heat coming out from it's thrusters meant that it was but a matter of time until it was able to use them again. The many weapons it seemed to have, each one with a different sensor, also meant that it probably had enough ammo to keep them pinned for a long time... Should it choose to do so instead of just rushing them head on by making use of it's armor and overwhelming firepower.

While the assault from Echo, Ilshar and Salvator seemed to be more effective than Alice had thought, being able to successfully take out some of it's sensors and making a noticeable dent on it's armor, the moment it's thrusters began charging, Alice knew that the heavy walker would most likely try to use it's size, weight and armor in a more aggressive manner. Something which would likely end really badly for them. The moment it's thrusters began heating and charging up, Alice lined up a shot, aiming at the leg mounted wheels that where being deployed. With a couple of shots in quick succession, Alice aimed to destroy as many wheels she could from just one side, trying as best she could to match the moment the heavy walker started it's charge. Hopefully, the destroyed wheels would be enough to send the walker to the ground the moment it's thrusters activated.

"Its thrusters are charging up! Aiming at it's wheels, stay clear from nearby it!" Alice said through the comms, just as she pressed the trigger.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

There was little to no time for the first archer, a female glen, to react to Nellara's attack. Cloaked by the wall of fire made by J'eon's fireball, the very impact as Nellara's claws plunged into the female Glen's throat was enough to make her lose balance, forcing her to drop their bow in surprise as Nellara. For a brief moment, her hands went towards Nellara's arm, trying to free herself, gasping for air in a final, desperate attempt to save her own life. Unfortunately, the final efforts of the archer were short lived as Nellara immediately plunged her other hand on the archer's side, her claws sliding between the archer's ribs and piercing her heart.

From the moment the first archer's body went limp, Nellara's soldiers came soon after, their spear and blades breaking the fire wall, skewering and ripping those who were unfortunate enough to be caught by surprise. Together with them, surprisingly enough, Nellara saw Seeker Kareet.

"It seems seekers are quite a bit tougher than I had initially thought they were. Good to see you well and in combat, Seeker Kareet." Nellara said with a satisfied expression and a nod as she dashed past her.

With the first line of archers being quickly decimated by Nellara's soldiers, who charged together with Kareet, the element of surprise was soon gone and after the initial shock, the remaining enemies finally regained their composure and started to react. Or at least they would, until a number of fireballs fell in an arch, behind the remaining enemies, trapping them together with Nellara's soldiers.

Just as Nellara was about to go for the next one, a sudden wind opened the fire wall that was trapping the remaining enemies. The very second Nellara saw that happening, she immediately started seeking for the mage responsible for it through the opening in the wall of fire. It didn't take long until she spotted a suspicious figure. An elder Glen, draped in tattered clothes.

"We have an enemy mage! Capture at least one of the archers alive!" Nellara shouted as she immediately began dashing towards the mage, ignoring the other enemies that were running away from her forces. At the same time she dashed towards the mage, Nellara grabbed the pouch she used to store the metal spheres and the iron sand, immediately throwing them up as both the spheres and the iron sand began swirling around her as she ran with arcs of electricity crackling between them, both to block projectiles or attacks the remaining enemies might throw at her and using one of them as a projectile to hit the mage.

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

While Faye was still feeling a bit bad and guilty about the outcome of the mission, Amanda's words were still very comforting to her, helping to at least take some of the guilt from Faye's shoulders.

"I'm glad to see you are fine... Although... It might still take me a while to get used to seeing such procedure being performed..." Faye said with a nervous smile to Amanda. Even after hearing Amanda's own confirmation that she was fine and didn't feel pain while her parts were being changed, it was still a rather disturbing procedure to watch. At least for Faye.

"Still... Thank you for your words. I just felt I should have done more... I froze when that creature was about to hit me... Even though I could have done something and It caused you to be... damaged." Faye said, searching for the proper words to say.

"I-I will. Thank you, Amanda." Faye replied as Amanda told her to rest, with a warm smile before going to her room to get some well deserved rest.

---

Taking the rest of the day to rest and almost the entire flight back to Frankfurt, which Faye mostly slept through, seemed to have done wonders both to her mood and her body. By the end of the flight, Faye had returned to her usual, bubbly and cheerful self.

"Hi~! It took us a bit but we're finally back! You won't believe what we had to go through! It was honestly such a-" Faye said, waving towards Madeleine, Xaviron and Morgana with a smile before she excitedly began talking about the stuff they went through on their mission, just before Amanda spoke up.

"Sorry~ Please continue." Faye said with a playful expression as Amanda asked for silence. sitting down and paying attention to Amanda's words.

When Amanda gave the news that the Frankfurt office was calling the staff to both process and organize their findings, Faye was honestly surprised. She honestly didn't expect them to be so effective. The identity and location of the infamous 'Mr. X' was still unknown, although it would likely not remain so for too long. If they were lucky, the information they had already gathered would most likely, after it was properly organized by the office, start giving them some good leads to finally shed tome light on that particular mystery.

Amanda's reminder of how widespread the use of eldritch magic was by My. X and it's associates was a disturbing reminder to Faye of what she would still have to go through. While definitely a threat that should be dealt with, it was still very uncomfortable for Faye to be near focuses of Eldritch magic.

"The idea of this Mr. X being a deity doesn't sound that impossible now... I mean... This guy has both knowledge about some rather obscure magical knowledge and enough connections to gather weapons and resources from lots of places, doesn't it?" Faye said, thinking about Amanda's words.

"Somehow... They seem to have a hand on almost everything we end up stumbling in. Both weapons, magic and even seemed to have a mole inside the Minsk office... Even for powerful people, having this degree of magic knowledge and such widespread influence would be considerably hard... But for a deity... it might not be THAT impossible." Faye said. It was just a theory, of course but it was one Faye did think had quite the possibility of being true.

"If we consider this Mr. X really being a Deity, it would help us a lot to narrow down the suspects. We would just need to know who among the known deities would have reasons and knowledge to mess with Eldritch magic..." Faye said, looking to the rest of the team, wanting to hear their thoughts about her theory.

The Envenomed

"Unfortunately, we don't have many options at the moment." Alice replied as she heard Kleo grumbling as she handed her a bag with medical supplies.

Soon after, with the warning of the arrival of more enemy units, Echo approached them, suggesting for Alice to load Kleo into the unit carrier section of his warform and continue the treatment inside.

"Will do, thank you, Echo." Alice said, quickly getting up, putting the bag of medical supplies inside Echo and preparing to carry Kleo.

"I would like to avoid injecting any more stims... But considering extraction is not an option at the moment..." Alice said to Ilshar with a heavy sigh as she began carrying Kleo to the back of the warform, albeit with a bit of difficulty.

"We will see. Depending on how the treatment goes, I might be forced to use more stims." She said, replying to Ilshar just as she finished loading Kleo and getting herself into Echo's back.

"We're good, Echo. Please take care of us, for the time being." Alice said as she turned to Kleo in order to begin the treatment.

She knew things were about to get real hot outside once again, but considering Kleo's state, she would have to trust that her teammates would be able to deal with it. At least until Kleo was properly treated and out of immediate danger, then she might be able to go out and help. Her wound were minor and superficial when compared to Kleo's, after all...

"As I said previously, I would like to avoid using any more stims... But tell me if the pain is truly unbearable and I'll try to inject just a little bit more." Alice said as she opened the medical bag and began taking off the old, improvised bandage in order to properly treat Kleo's wounds. Including trying to take off any fragments that might be lodged inside, with Kleo's help, of course and closing the wound afterwards.

The Envenomed

Having the team's confirmation that they had control of the artillery piece was definitely a good thing. In the other hand... Kleo's instructions were... strange at best. Regardless, she was the one with proper medical knowledge... So Alice was sure she had a reason for mixing rum with the IV. Still, with no proper resources, the best Alice could do for now was to staunch any bleeding and bandage Kleo as best as she could. At least until they were extracted or somehow found some medical supplies.

"Well... I don't know how to say this but... Cigarettes and rum might be easier to find right now than proper medical supplies. Regardless, we still need to staunch the bleeding and bandage you." Alice said, before she stood up, went to one of the tents scattered through the enemy encampment and quickly ripped a strip of the material they were made of, to use as an improvised bandage.

"I don't really want to give you any more painkillers or adrenaline unless it's absolutely necessary, but I still have a few of them remaining if we fail to find medical supplies in time." Alice said as she bandaged Kleo.

"Hold your breath for a second Kleo, this might hurt a bit." She said as she got ready to dress her wounds.

It definitely wasn't pleasant for Kleo, due both to her wounds and the fact that Alice had to bandage her quite tightly in order to staunch the bleeding, but still, Alice tried her best to not cause more pain to Kleo than it was necessary.

It was at that moment that Ilshar approached them, asking if everything was under control. While the answer to that first question wasn't exactly a positive one, receiving the news that they would soon be extracted was definitely something that Alice was looking forward to.

"No medical supplies. We are doing the best I can with improvised bandages but we need more... IV bags, O positive blood and... well... Rum and cigarettes, right, Kleo?" Alice said, confirming her previous instructions.

"My wounds aren't grave. It seems the shrapnel didn't hit any organs or anything vital. Pain is manageable as well due to the stimulants I took. As I said before, I want to avoid giving any more stims to Kleo but if we really need it, I can give her another dose to buy us time until we get extracted... or somehow find proper medical supplies." Alice finished, looking to Ilshar after she was done bandaging Kleo.

As if marking the success of their mission, the blinding white-blue light and the noises of the cannon firing punctuated Alice's conversation with Kleo and Ilshar. The way the light illuminated the sky would be beautiful... If Alice didn't know exactly what it was and the reason for it's construction and almost as if only to confirm that thought, the sound of a big explosion, marking the target being successfully hit came soon after.

Still, the relief and the celebration of victory were short lived, as they soon received a very concerning message. Something armored and very fast, was approaching their position.

Worried, especially as she heard Salvator's orders through the comms, Alice quickly looked to Ilshar with a worried expression before talking through comms herself. She was well aware that hoping the armored forces weren't hostile and taking a diplomatic approach was a naive and foolish thing to do but still, they had wounded members and entering into another conflict right now was the last thing they needed.

"Salvator, Kleo needs proper medical supplies. The best we can do with what we have at hand is improvised bandages to staunch the bleeding. We need to ask for extraction... Or at least to be air-dropped some proper medical supplies." Alice reported, hoping the new ongoing situation with the unknown armored unit wouldn't devolve into a lengthy conflict.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Karina Frost

Upon hearing Tayla's reply as she pointed towards where Sil went, Karina was almost getting ready to leave, when she heard a strange voice coming from the center of the guest room. Almost at the same time as Tayla, Karina immediately drew her rapier, turning around to face the stranger, surprised by not having noticed them there earlier.

Much to her surprise, the stranger was no one other than one of the servants whom they had seen in the mansion. In fact, she was the very first servant who greeted them as they arrived. While Karina was unsure if she should trust the servant or not, the information she brought them were definitely good ones. Although the reason for her doing so... If she was on the side of whoever was responsible for the trap they fell into or not was something that remained to be seen.

"Good news as those might be, is there a particular reason why we should trust you?" Karina asked, her sharp eyes watching every movement the servant made.

"I hope you understand how bad this situation looks. For us, everything, even being invited to this mansion sounds like a huge trap." Karina completed, her sharp eyes still watching the servant.

The moment she mentioned a word Karina know very well... and hated, Karina opened her eyes wide, surprised...

'Pactmakers'...

"Where have you heard this damn word...?" Karina asked in a very hostile tone.

The servant's next words were sharp ones. Words that would normally made Karina kill her on the very spot if they were on any other situation. But she needed information. Not only about the whole 'pact' thing, but about the entire situation they were in and exactly who were the groups they, as 'pactmakers' were against.

Karina was in silence as the servant talked, but she noticed Tayla's stare and Tayla would definitely notice how Karina's hand was tightening around her rapier.

Whether it was just by pure luck or just part of the mysterious servant's plans, they were offered help to get out of that situation. Not much information or even time for questions was given them as the servant immediately told them to follow them in order to take off the bracelets and telling them how her 'followers' were distracting the ambushers.

"As much as i hate this entire situation... We have no choice but to follow her." Karina said in a low tone to Tayla as she began following the woman. With that said, Karina still didn't sheathe her rapier and had it ready on her hand as she did so.

"I am sure you do not expect us to stay silent. I am quite aware you would prefer not to answer any questions, but whatever was your reason to help us, you used your chips on this bet and it would be on your best interest to get something for them..." Karina said with a serious tone.

"There are many questions I need to make... But just to start... Who exactly are you, how do you know about the pact and most importantly... You mentioned 'shattering' it..." Karina said, still paying attention to every reaction the mysterious woman might have.

"Most of us weren't exactly willing volunteers to be pactmakers... Some of us were... less than willing..." She completed.

It was a bet. Karina knew that well, but it was a bet worth taking. The way the servant spoke made it look as if she wasn't exactly on the pactmakers side nor on... whatever 'other' side there was and instead, was just on her own side. Such... neutrality was, right now, the closest thing of being trustworthy Karina could have from anyone that knew about the pact and what was happening.