"Hey is not my fault, the recoil of this revolver is terrible" Said while loading the gun with a different ammo. "Let's focus on removing the anti magic field, don't be mad, hatin' is bad". I mean, I'm here for a reason. Because I wield the most fucking powerful magic Thought while grinning. His face showed his usual dumb smile, yet Aeon couldn't wait to bury the cultist under the remains of this very village if needed
"Stay with the group if you dont want to wind up dead." Clayton didn't have the patience for this shit, especially not at a time like this. Eventually, Clayton opened a door to exit the crappy run down slaughterhouse, immediately being met with fog and a faint amount of light. He hoped coming outside would mean the mages could do what they did best. And it was true. Whatever caused the inability to perform magic was only effective within the walls of the makeshift prison. In fact, a mage once walking out back into the humid air of the swamp might feel an invigorating sensation, like a warm cup of coffee in the early morning. He decided to leave the magic killing device, as finding it could take forever and now that the cultists knew they were there time was probably of the essence. Still, with the kind of blood magic the leader had performed they would need some kind of edge, be it a plan, a high powered weapon, or a rare form of magic. The mage known as Joe seemed to have something up his sleeve but despite how clever Joe was Clayton didn't entirely have faith. "Alright, come on. Lets go. Before more show up."
Cheshire leaped up to the ceiling, and started crawling alongside it, a little ahead of everyone else. A few meters ahead, he jumped down from his perch and pressed something against the wall, glancing at the group, before jumping back up. He repeated this again a few more feet ahead before crawling back to the group. "There are two other people ahead, I think they're hostiles," he reported.
"You got it, boss." I walked outside and stretched my arms above my head, immediately a calming feeling began to fill the area as I felt . "A-Ah... sorry." I clutched my hands to my chest and concentrated. A silver glow enveloped my body momentarily and the aura disappeared. "There, no easy detection by our cultist friends." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - They hadn't been trapped for so long, yet it felt as it several days had passed, at least for some of them. A small glint of light welcome them before slowly vanishing into darkness. Then another figure revealed, it wasn't particularly tall, not intimidating enough, yet it wore the robe of the cultist. The group readied themselves yet the figure spoke with a female voice, not revealing her face. "It's okay. I don't plan to harm you, it's good that you are out the anti magic field so I can talk with you." She walked a few steps, getting closer to the group. "Trust me, I'm not your enemy, I...." Then an awkward silence as the female studied the group and her glance, covered by the robe met Joe's. In just an instant the girl cut the distance between her and Joe. She just moved or rather jumped incredible fast, yet it seemed as if she had just vanished from her previous spot and now was were Joe was and she was.... Hugging him... in the most cheesy of ways. "Joooooe!!! I missed you!!! What are you doing here? You weren't in my list!!!" Exclaimed excited. The second our gazes met, my eyes widened and a huge grin crossed my face, I immediately began running forward. "Hikaru!" She met me first, obviously, I quickly wrapped my arms around her and began twirling her around, I finally let go and grinned at her. "Cult bustin', someone's gotta do it after all." "Damn right! It had been... how many years since graduation? If you can call that a graduation" Stated the girl, revealing her a light face and red hair, this time short instead of long. "Is good to see something good coming out from today, seriously having to wear this thing sucks, it's itchy and stinks!" I put a hand on my cheek. "Yeah, one hell of a graduation. It's been a year, but it feels like it's been forever. So much has happened. I've been trying to shut down as many cults as I can as soon as I heard them popping up, and I've even set up my own chain of stores... but of course, I always end up with a ton of back orders whenever I move to a different one." I chuckled. "Oh well, I love the work, I get to make so much cool stuff and go to so many places..." I chuckled. "I'm guessing that you were to be our rescuer, eh? Or perhaps a contact within the cult to help us out?" "Nothing like that..." Said as she waved her hand. "Since <graduation>... I've been working with Eric to pay my debts, also been saving, I wanna meet this legendary white mage I've heard of, the rumors says, that he dominates the magic to bring back to life a dead corpse, but only once a month and if you pay him a huge fee. So thing is that I somehow ended infiltrating the cultists and help certain group to locate certain artifact as part of his jobs... I swear to you, he makes me work like a low profile chinese" I watched her, for a second, perhaps it was just a sudden glint of the sun's rays bursting through the canopy of trees... but my right eye's color flickered for a moment, from brown to silver. My face showed shock for a moment, then grew stern and then I suddenly gave her a concerned expression. "Oh, Hikaru, that sounds awful, I'll try to help as much as I can." The scene before me had been turned bright red, crimson flowing from her body, chains ripping through her, centering around her heart. But, I knew, no one else would see a thing. "Just ignore it for now. I'll confront her later. Hikaru... why? Why do that to me...? Is it because of the others? Or... are you in trouble?" "Ehem, cough, cough.... " Aeon got close to the pair purposely trying to make them feel as much uncomfortable as he could. "So... what's going on here? Are you two like a couple or something?" Said while smiling. A huge grin formed on Hikaru's face as she hugged Joe even stronger. "Oh... It makes me blush when someone asks that, well we used to date on the campus at Gotha, people always remarked how much of lovely birds we were!" I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Nah, we're good old friends, and someone that I could trust with my life." "Uuugh!!! that hit me, right through the heart.... why are you so cruel Joe? Is because I'm not precisely alive or because I kinda went mad and tried to snipe you down once? Just tell me!!!" Said in the most dramatic way possible. I grinned easily. "I think it might've been when I head shot you with a cross, but the fact that I have no interest in the opposite sex definitely helps." I chuckled. "So you're nothing?" Asked Aeon "Well that means I have a chance, she is kinda my type" stated, yet Hikaru suddenly grabbed his arm as hard as she could and said with a menacing glance. "In no fucking way...." Aeon stood silent with a smile on his face. "Anyway, shall we get moving? It's getting dark and cultist are like roaches, they like dark..... Oh by the way, did you find the super magic whatever thing you were send to find?" Asked Hikaru "Yeah, we should probably get going. No super magic thing, mainly just here to bust this cult up, simple as that." I shrugged.
The moment the group arrived outside, Evangeline could feel her power returning. She took a deep breath of the awful, smelly swamp air and relished her restored superiority. Everything was so clear now. As her telekinetic senses reached out, she felt invincible, like she could touch the treetops. No, further. She could touch the clouds. She could snatch a fucking satellite out of orbit or rip the moon from the heavens and bring it crashing down and end the worthless lives of every one of these good-for-nothing pieces of shit who dared to imprison her and take away her- She took a pill and suddenly felt calm again. Think happy thoughts. Non-genocidal thoughts. The others were talking about leaving. Screw that. Somebody had to pay dearly for stripping her of her power. She wasn’t lying when she said she’d turn this swamp into a fucking parking lot. There would be nothing left. She would salt the earth with the dust of their bones and pave it with their shattered corpses. Oh, wait… this might be easier than she thought. Evangeline could feel something approaching at high speed. She guessed it was at an altitude of about 2,000 feet up and traveling at… oh, about Mach 2 or so. It had to be the missile strike. It was big and traveling too high and too fast for her to do anything about it, but she could still sense it. Maybe once it got closer, she’d snatch it out of the air and play fetch with the cultists. For now, she just stood still, staring up at the sky while everyone else was fixated on the idiot detective and his new idiot girlfriend who showed up out of nowhere. The missile, or whatever it was, suddenly began to ascend, gradually losing speed as it shot upward. It was still too far away to be seen, especially with the skies darkening, but she could feel everything it was doing and focused all of her power on keeping track of it. Then, it did something strange. The missile stalled out, ejected its warhead, and began to plummet toward the village. The rocket boosters exploded, but due to the fog and high altitude, no one could see or hear the blast. They only heard a dull rumble, like distant thunder. So, it’s some kind of stealth missile, Evangeline thought. With the rocket boosters disposed of, no one would see or hear it coming; it would quietly descend to the village, silent but deadly. And, based on the size of the warhead, it would be incredibly deadly. “We have a problem. Something’s coming,” Evangeline said and stretched her hands toward the sky, like an arcane sorceress. After a few seconds, the warhead came into view. It was huge and was zooming straight down toward them. Tiny wings popped out of its sides to guide it in, but Evangeline wiggled her fingers and the wings were immediately ripped off. You go where I tell you to go, she thought, taking control of the warhead. A parachute popped out the back and she tore that away too, then began dismantling the warhead bit by bit. By the time the warhead reached them, there was almost nothing left. She had stripped away all of its parts, leaving only a metal casing, about the size of a coffin. She figured this must be the bomb. I can’t wait to feed it to the first cultist I see, she thought as she held it in stasis, hovering about ten feet above their heads. She turned to the vampire in charge with a sadistic grin. “Well, boss, what shall I do with this? I could just leave it here, hovering a few feet shy of annihilation, as a monument to my awesomeness… or maybe detonate it and kill every cultist in a mile radius. Joey ought to love that, won’t you darling?” She winked at the detective. “I wonder if it’s nuclear. I do so love the smell of radioactive fallout and the sight of a mushroom cloud backlit by the setting sun. Even at this range, I’m sure I can shield us from the explosion. Well…” she stared at Joe and her grin became far more sinister. “Most of us, anyway. Now, let’s have that talk about your-” The ’bomb’ suddenly burst open and a man leapt out. He looked like a soldier of some sort and had an assault rifle in his hands. He slowly backed away while aiming the weapon at them, clearly bewildered by what was going on. He had just fallen out of the sky, after all. But, after a few seconds of confusion, he calmed down and lowered the weapon. “Holy shit,” the soldier said, looking up toward the sky for a moment. “How did I… I mean, I was up there and then… wow…” He took a deep breath and composed himself. “So… ummm… hi, how you guys doing, today? Did someone call in reinforcements? Wow, there’s a lot of you.”
I looked at Eva and couldn't help but give her a sly grin. "I-I'm sorry, what was that about a missile strike?" I could barely hold back my snickering. "A nuclear fallout, was it? Annihilate every cultist around? Level the swamp?" I cupped one hand around my ear. "Mm... Nope, no explosions... But wait, it looks like you dragged a clueless man into this. Bravo, madame Eva, your expertise and genius knows no limits." I gave her a hollow round of applause. I gave an exasperated sigh and turned to the man, my smile turning friendlier. "Yeah, she did, but she was expecting a missile strike. I'm very sorry sir, but it would be best if you leave." I bowed apologetically. "It's very dangerous here, and it's best if you don't know what's going on. Trust me, it'll save you a lot of sleepless nights."
"..........." Slowly Hikaru moved toward Evangeline, took a deep breath and then. She grabbed her expensive looking attire and begun to shake her body. Hikaru's face reflected fear. "That... that was sooo scary!! Why would you do something like that! I felt as if my heart were to have left my body, grabbed a knife and commited suicide. Don't do that again!!!" She continued shaking her mindlessly while throwing several complaints.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir,” the soldier said to the man who had approached him. “I’m under orders to protect…” he stared at the woman in white, as if examining her. Long white hair, middle-aged, and dressed like she just stepped out of the office. Yup, she fit the description. “Her,” he said with a nod to who had to be Evangeline Albrite. He stowed his rifle and stood erect, addressing her as one might address a dignitary. “Lieutenant Quentin Cassel, ma’am. I was given strict orders to-” “Where’s my missile strike?” the woman said coldly, staring at him as if she wanted to rip his soul out and eat it. She was doing a hell of a job ignoring the girl who had latched on to her, but she was clearly annoyed by all of this. “Well, about that,” Quentin said nervously. “The general decided this would be the perfect opportunity to test out a prototype supersonic personnel delivery platform. It’s been in development since-“ “I don’t’ recall giving him the right do ‘decide,’” Miss Albrite said. “He owes me a favor. He failed to do as asked, therefore, he still owes me a goddamn favor!” There was a sudden gust of wind and the girl was blown off of her and sent tumbling backward. Even Quentin was staggered by it, even though he was standing a moderate distance away. “Next time I ask for a missile strike, it had better be nuclear!” Albrite declared. “And I want it delivered to-” She suddenly got very calm and turned to the guy in the trenchcoat. With a sweet smile on her face, she asked, “Detective Joe, darling, what’s the address of your nearest shop? I’m merely curious, is all. No relation to the current topic of discussion.” Quentin decided this would be a good time to go over to the girl and make sure she was okay. He offered a hand to help her up, which quickly made him a target. “If you’re here to protect me, why the hell are you helping that girl?” Albrite said. “She attacked me. You should be taking her into custody." Quentin sighed. “Look, I don’t really know what’s going on here,” he said. “I was told you guys are some kind of roleplayers’ guild or something and you like to sneak off into the woods and play wizards versus vampires or something.” She gave him that eat-your-soul look again and he quickly backpedaled. “And that’s fine! What adults do in the woods is their business. It’s cool,” he said nervously. “I was told to tag along and make sure no one gets hurt, okay. Mainly you, Miss Albrite, but everyone else, too.” She was still giving him that look. “Hey, it beats being cooped up in that secret training facility,” he said. “I’m just glad to be out, even if this mission is a little… weird.” He laughed good-naturedly. “That was a cool trick, by the way, how you made that missile levitate. You’d make a killing in Vegas.” “I’m thinking about making a killing right here… starting with you,” Albrite said. Quentin frowned. “Look, just tell me what to do and I’ll join in, alright. You’re a mage, he’s a vamp,” he said, with a nod to the nearest vampire. “Nice fangs, bro. That’s awesome. And I dig that scythe, dude,” he said to the man in the trench coat, the one she called Detective Joe. “I’ll be… I don’t know… a bard or something? Is that okay? I didn’t bring a sword or armor or a wand or anything, but I can beatbox like you wouldn’t believe.”
"That was rude..." Said Hikaru as she stood up with the help of the soldier. "Roleplaying, now that's my thing!!! So you'll be the bard right? That's so cool." She let herself fell only to be caught by the soldier. "I'm the princess, who had to escape home after a tyrant killed my father and took the throne. I joined in this quest to find a magical artifact able to cast away the machinations the tyrant had pulled upon my people. Oh! Dear bard, I would love if you were to lend your aid to us and find the artifact!" She played her role very theatrically yet accompanied by a wink directed to Joe
“Yes, milady,” Quentin said as he cradled the girl in his strong, but rather uncomfortable arms. His grip was warm, but too hard, as if he was wearing metal-plate under the sleeves of his coat. Even his chest was solid. He set the ‘princess’ on her feet and knelt before her. “I will do my utmost to serve you, though I am only a traveling bard, exiled from my nomadic tribe and forced to walk the land as atonement for the demon’s curse placed upon my-” A huge rock came flying at him and Quentin narrowly dodged it. He looked up to see Evangeline still glaring at him, with a dozen more rocks levitating around her, ready to launch at a moment’s notice. He slowly shook his head and returned his attention to the princess. “I see the royal witch doth disapprove of our union,” he said before breaking character. “But, seriously, how the hell is she doing that? I mean, are there hidden strings? Smoke and mirrors?”
"Oh my dear bard, I wish I could enlight you more, yet I fear I have not knowledge about what kind of trick does this Bitch... witch possesses." She stood up, cleaning the dust of her robe "Maybe magic is real!" Said as she waved her fingers ominously in front of Quentin. "My name is Hikaru Kurosawa, princess of the kingdom of uuum..... Account agency? and you are?"
"And you're a soldier of some kind? I would typically say you should go home if you're not trained for the type of business we're into. Even experienced mercs lose their shit dealing with it. Being that your kind of in the middle of all this shit though, I would actually advise you stick with us. For now at least." Clayton said to Quentin, before turning to Hikaru "And as a matter of fact, we are looking for a Maniacles Mercenary and a large amount of aglophoetis. I'm sure all mages know just how powerful that stuff can be..." Clayton turned away from the group, to a direction that he knew would lead back to the center of the village. "Anyway, we better go figure out where they have all this stuff stored away. And if anyone else shows up to help us, or protect us, or just happens to be in the area, they will just have to hook up." Clayton paused "As a matter of fact, this lady is some double agent. If you're really on our side, lead us to the Maniacles Agent and the aglophoetis. Should know where everything is aftef all" He said to Hikaru.
Hikaru sulked "You really are the party pooper aren't you?" Said disgusted. "And, I have no idea where they are. I may be a double agent, but even after infiltrating the cultists I have no idea. My original task was to provide different intel to the group and join them in the search of the objective." She produced several rolls of paper from within her robes and exclaimed "Taaaa-daaa!" "Here is a complete map and I bothered to pinpoint the locations of several guards I've found. I would say the safest route is here" Said as she passed her finger through the map. "We turn here and go through the woods and stinky swamps. Taking advantage of the night we advance slowly. Then we reach these big buildings at the end. I hadn't checked them yet, but if I'm correct, these are storage houses. There is a chance the aer...areem... aaam the glyphs are there. Problem is that they're heavily guarded, I suggest we hid within the woods and carefully get rid of a few guards all while we send a couple of skillful guys to steal them." She gave the map to Clayton who seemed to be the leader of the squad. "Regarding the merc, I have no idea" "Oh yeah, I forgot about this..." Said as she produced a photograph. The picture was taken at distance yet it was clear enough to reveal the figure of an old man." "That man gives me the shivers, I made sure I didn't got close to him. He was within the patrol around one of the storehouses."
I put my hand on my cheek. "...I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense." I looked at the two. "If I were to store something important, I wouldn't put it in an above ground storage area. That's where I'd store food, clothing, and weaponry. No, if I were to put something important, I would hide it along with any religious artifacts, meaning somewhere near the room where they perform their rituals. Furthermore, I can't really see that man going on patrols. He seems more like he was in charge of this operation." I tilted my head and put my index finger to my chin. "I would probably have my ritual room below ground, and I'd probably protect the room by illusions in the event someone manages to infiltrate my cult, to prevent them from stopping a sacrifice, or to prevent the theft of religious artifacts."
“Interesting theory,” Quentin said to Joe. “Problem is, the terrain. It’s hard to build underground in a swamp and I doubt this place was purpose-built for this cult. It looks like they just commandeered an existing town… or what’s left of one. I think the princess is right: they’re storing the stuff above ground. “That also explains the heavy guards,” he said after a pause. “You don’t put that many men on guard duty to protect food and weapons. If you need someone to infiltrate the storehouse, I’m game, but I’ll need a guide because I don’t know what agg… agloro… ummm, that stuff is. I wouldn’t even know what to look for.”
I looked at him and gave him a patient smile. "I would agree with you, if we weren't dealing with magic. It makes the impossible possible. Changing the terrain to make it suitable to build underground, or even creating a natural cavern is very much possible. Furthermore, if you think about it, it makes sense to have heavy guards if those storehouses are in close proximity to their place of worship, if not right next to it or flanking it. I mean, using cultist logic, it would be a higher priority to protect their artifacts and place of worship, than their supplies, supplies can easily be replaced, considering they may have a wealthy benefactor backing them, but religious artifacts cannot, nor what they consider to be sacred ground." I put my hand on my cheek. "Simple, no?" I looked at the map and pointed to the church that was rather close to the storehouses. "There, that seems to fit the description, no? It may also be a slap to major religions, so it's a bonus for them." I tilted my head as I heard footsteps coming towards us. "Oh, right, forgot about those two." I turned toward the sound of the footsteps and pulled the rapier from my belt loop and slid it back into the pouch. "That'll just be a bother." I pressed the button on the outside of the box and my scythe quickly unfolded. "Eheh... I guess it's my turn to deal with these guys." Two cultists stepped out from hiding, immediately aiming their guns at me. "Hello~" I waved pleasantly. They opened fire, I immediately thrust my hand out, a bright silver glyph appearing in front of me, the bullets ricocheting off of it. "Well that's just rude." I placed my hand in the center of the glyph, several beams shot out from the glyph, focusing on the two. They managed to get out of the way as the beams smashed into the ground where they had been, leaving small craters. "Missed." I snapped my fingers. The cultists had gotten close together and resumed fire at me. The glyph in front of me disappeared, allowing the bullets to hit me full force, one digging into my abdomen, another lodging itself into my left shoulder, my blood quickly dying my shirt red. I put my uninjured arm out and a barrier appeared around the two, the top still open. "How about a sweet treat? I think it's time for a pumpkin bomb!" I quickly pulled a small jack-o-lantern, about the size of my fist from my bag. I pulled the stem from it and threw over the top of the barrier, it landed between the two as it began making a mad cackle. Suddenly, it exploded, letting out a brilliant shower of sparks, resembling a black cat with bright yellow eyes, a bat in flight, and a jack-o-lantern. Along with the sparks, tons of candy also showered out from the center of the explosion, acting as sweet shrapnel. Rock candy of various colors had embedded itself into the barrier... I caught a sucker out from the air and stuck it in my mouth. "Haha~ Tastes like victory! Oh, and watermelon, my favorite~" I let down the barrier and watched as a rather large puddle of sweets cascaded outward. My wounds glowed silver for a few seconds before completely sealing up. I walked up to the two bodies in the center of the sweet mess and checked their pulses. They were pretty badly wounded, but still living. "I'm sure these guys aren't going to ever look at candy the same ever again." I chuckled. I held my hands above the two, a small glyph spinning around beneath the palms of my hand, their wounds glowed silver before sealing enough to ensure that they would still be far too incapacitated to do anything more, but not enough for them to bleed out.
Both Serra and Keenan stayed back during the sudden introduction of two more members of the group as well as most of the theatrics that followed, with the occasional chuckle from Keenan. Though after Joe dealt with the two cultists Serra smirked in the direction of the lieutenant, tipping her fingers of her head in a casual salute "Well at least I'm not the only boring one here anymore right?" Keenan, however, drew a Kama in his left hand and walked over to the unconscious cultists looking down at them "I wonder why they didn't try any magic" he knelt down and brought the kama up, then brought it down into one of the cultist's chest and pulled it back out again, letting it absorb whatever magic the cultist might have had. He examined the blade as he did. "hmmm" Serra spoke up again "Someone might of heard those gunshots, we should figure out our next move quickly"
“Understood,” Quentin said with a respectful nod after the detective explained his reasoning. It still didn’t make any sense to him but… magic, right? Why use magic to dig a hidden cave, and then use more magic to keep said cave from flooding --because this is a swamp, after all-- and then put heavy guards around it, thus negating the fact that you’ve built a hidden cave, right next to some perfectly good storehouses, in the swamp you chose to make your secret base? The MO was so erratic, it made no sense. But magic, of course! Pumpkin magic, no less. Ow, my brain hurts. "Well at least I'm not the only boring one here anymore right?" someone said. Quentin almost didn’t catch that. He blinked twice, cleared his noggin, and returned the half-salute with a friendly smile. A fellow soldier, here? Damn, I wish I’d noticed that before I chose to be the bard, he thought. Then again, being the bard could be fun. No one will judge me if I suddenly break into rhyme. "Someone might of heard those gunshots, we should figure out our next move quickly," the female soldier said. “Agreed,” Quentin said as he took his rifle into his hands and went to stand near Evangeline, whom he was supposed to be protecting. “Not so close,” she said with a frown. An invisible force gently nudged him back until there were about ten feet of space between them. Gently, eh? Well, she didn’t send him flying or telekinetically hurl a rock at his head, so that was progress, right? “We’re gonna be best friends soon, Miss Albrite,” Quentin said with a smile. “The bestest.” “You’re going to be dead soon,” she replied. “I just don’t want your blood on my shoes when it happens.” Speaking of which, her clothes had been dirty a moment ago, but were perfectly white again. Magic, of course. Everything is magic Quentin didn’t realize he was staring until she folded her arms, cleared her throat and said, “Clayton, darling, would you please give this ape something to shoot at, so he’ll stop ogling me like a lovesick puppy?” “W-what?” Quentin stammered. “I wasn’t…” “Poor boy, I know I’m the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen,” Evangeline remarked, “but please, show some class.” Quentin sighed and turned to the vampire. “Your orders, sir? The storehouses or the church?”
I watched as the vampire stabbed his kama into the man's abdomen. "Are you insane!?" I walked up to him and pulled him away. The thing was, the men had no magic. They were humans, not mages. I knelt down and put pressure over the wound. "Dammit, don't you die on me." My hands glowed silver, the wound quickly sealed, the man was just barely breathing, if he took anymore, then he would likely die. "What were you thinking?!" I turned on the vampire. "They were defenseless, they no longer posed a threat! What are you? A coward that has to feel big by harming humans that can't defend themselves!?" I got right up to his face, I had quickly deduced that they were human by the fact that they hadn't used magic. Which, actually wasn't that uncommon within these cults. I gestured to the men lying on the ground. "These people are sick. They've been driven insane. They likely cannot differentiate between right and wrong, reality and fantasy. It's best if we try to incapacitate them and try to help them! You want more crazy mages, more people being driven insane? Then just kill them all. You want to put a stop to mages and humans suddenly going berserk and killing people, try to keep them alive!" I clenched my fists. "If we don't... then this will continue to be the fate of all. Humans, mages, vampires, everyone. Everyone will be driven insane, everyone will kill one another, friend, family, lover, ally, it doesn't matter. Even you, one day, will kill the ones most dear to you, that is, if you don't die first. The more you kill, the less people there are to try and help. The less chance of finding some way of ending this cruel fate."
While Clayton wasn't actually officially in charge, and felt no pleasure at everyone acting like he was, telling everyone he wasn't in charge could lead to a catastrophe. People would argue with who was in charge, what the mission was, and the best plan of strategy. "You're obviously better with a gun than a demon lightning staff." Clayton said, the last part about the staff to humor Quentin's idea about this all being some fantasy role play. "They will be expecting a frontal assault. I'm thinking this princess should get in close first and create some type of distraction." He turned to Hikaru. "Distract or sabatogue the guards the best you can. I am not aware of what weapons you're most proficient with, but explosives would help a great deal so long as you mind the possibility the aglophoetis might be in these store rooms." Clayton look at the map "Hmm, so if there are guards here, then this will be the second safest path there." He ran his finger along a path that included a couple guard patrols, but still relatively light on security "We should split into two groups. A smaller, but more powerful group should take this other path. Everyone else should take the safe route. The goal will then be to surround the storage area. Attack from all around." He only suggested a split up because he didn't trust Hikaru yet. The thought of one group going MIA just like the Maniacles mercenaries would screw up the plan. "Anyway, I will elaborate in a minute but right now we should get going before more cultists come." He started off to a busted up and partially sunken old bowling alley a bit away from the slaughterhouse but still far enough away from the storage area that there wouldn't be too many guards. He put the map on a counter. Regardless of who followed to the bowling alley, Clayton assumed they would all soon be in attendance. "The run of the mill human soldiers should take this safest path. Thomas should go with them, as should Aeon and Pam. I will go with Joe, Keenan, and Evangeline along the more guarded path. Being that it is night, we will need to be especially careful of ambushes." Clayton noticed the church was, for some reason, more heavily guarded than the store houses. "Maybe afterwards, we can move to the church, just to scout it and see what they have going on."
Rue gave a heavy sigh as she trudged along spying a few people. She picked up what looked like candy off the ground and looked confused for a moment before shrugging her shoulders making her way over to the people she saw. She walked along somewhat near Joe. "Well that was hectic. What I miss action? Damn, oh well. Also did the group get some new faces or something." She looked around quietly popping some of the candy in her mouth. "Oh hey Joe. Long time no see." Rue said with a smile. "So you here for the action too, I'm assuming at least."
I blinked a few times as someone joined the group. "No. Way." My eyes went as wide as dinner plates. I looked over at Rue, and blinked a few times. "...Ruuuuuuuuuuue!" I quickly shoved Keenan out of the way, my anger quickly dissipating. I grabbed her and gave her a bear hug, twirling her around rapidly before finally letting her go. "It's great to see you again, how've you been? Where've you been? What've you been up to? Why're you here?" I spoke quickly, clearly elated to see an old friend again. Two in one day... that's one heck of a coincidence.
Rue gasps upon suddenly being hugged and span around. She looks around dizzily a moment before shaking her head. "Ugh woah. Joe....calm down a sec. Please." She smiles a bit. "It's honestly good to see you again too. To answer your questions, I've been fine, been working for r.o.s.e, and probably here for the same thing you're doing. Maybe. Not sure, what are you here for exactly?" Rue says scratching the back of her head in thought as she caught her breath from the surprise.
"Cult busting of course. I do have an obligation to try and do everything in my power, as limited as it may be, to try and prevent another tragedy." I smiled. "Otherwise, usually I'll be investigating a case, gathering ingredients, or working in my atelier. Oh, speaking of which, I've got a whole chain! I've got workshops all over the place." I grinned. "O-Oh, but we should probably get going, we don't want to hold anyone up, we've gotta catch up after all of this is over though, definitely." I began walking toward the abandoned bowling alley again.
"That's really impressive Joe. And yeah more than likely. We'll make sure to catch up. Make sure to exchange contact info too." Rue says happily walking after them. "Welp now back to business. I'll just go along the ride with you guys if that's alright with everyone." She says happily. "Who know maybe a trick of the eye could be useful. The name's Rue."
