Chaos Sonic

"Do you understand how outmatched you are yet, my dear?” Ordinarily, Trevor would've probably been worried about the skill and level of this magic user, and yet…the only thing this little bout was doing was making his heart excited. Aside from Fen and even Gregoriy, this was another magic user that he was facing that had quite the machinations in her form…and it was glorious and intriguing. To combat the five flaming skulls barreling towards him, he simple cast another Balloonra, watching the two opposing spells collide and create quite the large but elegant boom. As that was happening, Trevor took this moment and snapped his fingers, casting Thunder at the witch, while also surveying his allies. Not injured…or at least not injured enough for the healing…that's good. He thought, before turning his attention to Morgan who had created a canopy of roots to block the Thunder. “Smart work around…” he muttered, casting Firaga to burn away at the roots. "I have yet to see myself outmatched, Reaperson!" Trevor gave a smirk. "Quite the contrary, what I've been presented is a moment to see other magic users and how they work...to test myself to become stronger and better than I once was!” "You and that girl really are asking for it you know! I'm a kind lady and I don't want to bully a bunch of losers but if you're going to act like this perhaps it's what you deserve!” "Surely you jest. You seem like the kind of lady that will sooner scorch a man to ashes for simply looking at you wrong." Trevor snickered, firing off a few small Fire spells. She doesn't bother blocking these and the simply splash off her. "Perhaps I would yet that would be a simple matter just the same. Unless you think what you have seen so far is the extent?" She began to laugh, "Fufufu, I almost feel bad for you.” "Oho...you misunderstand me. I would be a fool to simply say that this is the extent of what you can do." Trevor simply tipped his hat. "For you, specifically, with magic such extraordinary and not solely reliant on being support for others...it would be a crime if this was all you could do.” "Well, you're right! But you're also still a fool because you're still standing there ticking me off!” "What can I say, perhaps it's all part of my charm." Trevor said, casting another Thundaga, this time having it aimed and directed upwards towards Morgan rather than having it strike from the heavens again.

Ziun found himself in quite the predicament, with Chris in the process of slashing a mummy's leg off and the other side was Lana being attacked by the skeleton. A bit further, was a crawling mummy and it was heading towards the closest coffin in order to right itself up. The bard took note of this and nodded. "Perhaps this will work then..." he muttered, before making a bee-line straight for the space between Chris and Lana's respective battles and he turned to deliver a strong ice spell right towards the skeleton. "This may get a bit cold for a moment, just bear with me!" he said in warning. The icicle strike immediately hit the skeleton's wrist and it broke it off...now Lana was free once more. "Perfect! Now...if you'll please...back up!" he shouted, delivering a shoulder check right at the skeleton, sending it stumbling back. Ironically it landed right on the mummy who had reached the coffin and was in mid motion to grab it. "Now...another set of acid on the both of you!" Ziun delivered another Acid Splash on top of the mummy and the skeleton. The mummy soon had it's head ate away and removed by the acid, while the skeleton was already banged up from the fall just ended up crumbling. "P-Perfect..." he said triumphantly, before noticing the coffin in the upper right corner slowly open up as another mummy began to rise. "O-Oh no you don't!" Ziun immediately cast another Acid Splash on the rising mummy, though at the same time, he was feeling the same feeling as before. It wasn't as bad, but he knew he needed to pace himself. "G-Goddess a-almighty...this is ridiculous..."

"Most recent reports say that weird shit is happening northwest of here. Likely a Sojourner, you know how it is. Wooded area spawned around it, with reports of horrific screams and strange creatures! Sounds fun, yeah?" That was their heading, but even still...it was something that Jet wasn't too keen on. Horrific screams and strange creatures...that probably wouldn't end up being very good if anything specific were to happen. But at the same time, Jet had a belief that he and these other two could handle this situation, whatever it was. Following after Zeru with the others, however, Jet caught something about their esteemed benefactor. They never spoke, but kept foraging...and yet, the constant glancing around at the various intervals in the opposite direction of the foraging... Jet knew the signs of this: anxiety. Zeru was anxious about something, but what exactly that something was, he didn't know...yet. "I don't know exactly where we're headed, but I doubt it'll be easy to miss. Stuff has a way of being found here, so if we keep heading this way, well... We should find it. For now, let's set up camp. It's important for ya to eat something before we arrive, and it's probably been longer than ya think it has." Setting up camp was a perfectly fine idea, especially when it meant that Jet could... The young man took the opportunity to approach Zeru, whilst Sakura spoke up to Cade. Those two could talk for a while, he on the other hand, needed to figure out what was going on with Zeru. "P-Pardon my i-intrusion into y-y-your personal b-business if it is..." he spoke, getting up beside Zeru. "...w-why are you anxious, Zeru...?" The masked figure stood silent as they continued to survey, acting almost as if they hadn't heard the boy... but a soft sigh soon escaped their lips. "Hyper-vigilant, aren't ya? I guess that tracks with what ya said back there." Zeru threw a glance over their shoulder to make sure the others were out of earshot, contemplating what they should say. "... Didja notice anything weird at the end of our talk with Deneb?" "I-I take it...p-p-potentially the 'sounds fun' p-part?'" Jet asked puzzled, crossing his arms slightly, putting a hand to his chin. "...i-i-if not, w-what was it?" "Deneb mocked my mention of dragons appearing as fantastical. At the end, they mentioned a strange creature being seen around where we're headed." He paused. Jet closed his eyes for a moment...and clear as day, that portion rang in his ears... "Sometimes odd things like dragons or monsters show up. They don't, y'know, exist here, but they seem to show up around Sojourners. It's how many of ya end up being lost. At least, that's a standing theory." "You really believe that bullshit? I thought you of all people would know better." "...t-t-they did..." he nodded, recalling that portion of the conversation. "...y-you still t-t-think that t-this creature...i-is a dragon?" "I don't know what we're dealing with. But I... that's enough for now. Just... think on it. The conversation as a whole." Jet was a bit worried now, but simply nodded, letting Zeru ruminate and keep their watch, but at the same time...now he was going to be looking around. And not only that, he was going to think about the conversation that took place. Something was misplaced and something smelt strange with this situation...he just needed to figure that out. He figured this would be his goal for the time being, or at least a side quest for him.

Override was a bit shocked to notice that the computers start whirring to life out of nowhere. He couldn't tell if this was the result of Switchjack, but it really didn't fit his MO if anything...no, this had to be something else. But he'd had to deal with that a bit later...the blip on his radar was getting closer and closer. "Well...guess I have a dance partner of my own right now...Minos, you'll have to deal with whatever that is yourself..." he muttered, watching the blip get closer and closer...until he saw a mannequin...with knives. Switchjack was the obvious answer...but at the same time, things weren't adding up. This didn't seem to match the results P.I.X.E.L. provided on the database for this one...so why? "Switchjack, I...presume? Not going to lie, you seem nothing like your database entry says... new features and everything..." The mannequin simply cocked its head to the side and simply raise one of its hands for a casual wave. ...eerily creepy for sure. "Not much of a conversationalist, I take it. Works for me then." Override lifted his hands in front of him, immediately firing a pulse bolt at the mannequin. The mannequin stepped to one side and the pulse bolt caught it's on the shoulder. Its arm, already several different pieces, gets blown from its body, but even in the darkness you can tell it's starting to reattach itself. "Okay, so you reattach yourself...that's annoying..." he grumbled, before proceeding to fire off a few pulse bolts in rapid succession, first aiming for the head and secondly the shoulder. The mannequin ducked, so the chest shot hit it's head and scatters off, but it slowly moves to reassert itself on top. Still, quite the creepy visual to watch. One of the knives leapt from the mannequin's hand -- like, it threw itself without the throwing motion from the mannequin -- and flew towards Override. He immediately deployed a pulse shield, while taking note of that. It wasn't thrown by the mannequin there...telekinesis perhaps? "So...how're you fairing over there, Minos??" he shouted over his shoulder, his gaze still squarely focused on the mannequin. The knife stuck to the pulse shield and acted as a mild-to-medium power drain for as long as the shield remains up. That was annoying... "Oh, I'm doing great!" Minos says, as the sound of four different computers crunch against the ceiling. It's difficult to tell if she's frustrated or enjoying herself. "T-Tch...you wanna switch?" Override asked, moving slightly to the left, dropping the pulse shield and firing another pulse bolt at the mannequin. "Uhhh yeah!" Minos called back. "Yeah, here, swap with me and go break some stuff." After a few moments, Override felt a tap on his shoulder, to which the tech hero immediately swapped places with her. ...okay, seems there's more to this than we thought. No matter...I can probably get some information via the computers here...

The skeleton wasn't going to just give up with that, no...Trevor knew that better. And even as it rushed towards them, he was prepared to attack once again to make sure it stayed down. However, it stopped before it reached him. The culprit eventually revealed themselves...quite quickly after that. "Ooooohohohoho!" Before Trevor's eyes was this...witch...Morgan Reaperson, by name. It was intriguing to see someone like this, and not even the fiery skulls she sent out deterred him. Of course, he wasn't going to be out done by Fen nor Melissa at this point...and he wanted to have a bit of fun with this new sorceress. "Beyond comprehension you say? My dear, magic is my whole livelihood." Trevor smirked, removing his hat and bowing slightly. If Fen introduced herself before the attack, then why shouldn't he. "As for someone half as exciting, perhaps this shall sate your search. I am the apprentice to Balthazar Blake, sorcerer to the 777th degree! My name...is Trevor Masters, now allow me to show you what I can do!" He flipped his hat a bit, before casting Balloonra as balloons started pouring out of his hat and heading towards Morgan. She laughed. "Are you kidding me? A party magician? She's REALLY stretching the definition of worthy now." Morgan flicked a finger up and then down and summoned several more skulls that she flung at the balloons. "A simple party magician? My dear, that's real cute." Trevor laughed in return, flipping his hat back on his head before snapping his fingers and launching another Thundaga at Morgan. "My master was trained by the great wizard Merlin. FAR from a simple parlor trick magician." Her broom suddenly moved to avoid the attack and she laughed. "Merlin? Who's that? Sounds like some doddering old goat to me!" She then snapped her fingers and thick roots erupted from underneath Trevor and began to wrap around him. "Shameful, I suppose your world never had the greatest wizard and sorcerer who's ever lived." He chuckled, immediately casting a Firaga on the thick roots. "But you got my curiosity...who trained you? It's impressive magic to say the least, befitting a sorceress as yourself." "Only the most powerful being there is, the great and powerful lich, and my father, Grimsley Reaperson!" A Lich?! Now things were really getting interesting to Trevor. He hadn't been this excited in a while...a new magic user and perhaps potential rival...he could barely keep himself from grinning. "Seems like we have a new goal to strive towards, wouldn't you say?" he asked, watching the grimoire float beside him. What's more... she's never heard of the master's name? This is quite the curious oddity... "My thoughts exactly...this may prove to be more fun than I was anticipating!" the sorcerer smirked, cracking his knuckles a bit.

"The plan is the same as it ever was. We find the leader and take him down. If anything tries to stop us we take them down too! If you guys got a plan then say it, otherwise I plan to go find my way to the person we're here to fight and fight him. And win!" Gene didn't immediately voice his concern about this, namely because he already knew this was going to be the end result. Part of him wished that he could actually convince them to see reason in it all but, alas, he knew this bunch by now and that they were going to not see reason in this regard. He sighed, already just accepting his fate and following after the rest of the group. However, this was something that did keep playing in his mind. Sabrina's words right then... she seemed so...so...confident. How was it that she could've been so confident about it all? She had this bravado and confidence since they arrived, so what was her secret about this. As they kept going, about to reach a door...but before they reached it, Gene decided to spark up a small conversation. "Sabrina, c-can I ask you...a question?" "Uhhh I guess?" she gave Gene an uncertain look as he stammered. He took a moment, exhaling slowly and just shook his head. "...how do you do it?" Gene asked bluntly, rubbing his arm some. "...h-how do you have such a strong confidence about this...? A-About any of this...?" She froze in place a moment before moving forward and replying without looking at Gene. "It is only natural for one so steeped in power as I am!" "So you...you've always had this confidence...?" he asked. "...guess you h-had it even b-before you came here, didn't you?" "Um, of course! I always knew I was destined for greatness..." "...guess...guess I wasn't ever privy to that...u-unless they were my dreams..." Gene sighed. Unlike her, he wasn't really born and destined for greatness, least not in his own living life. No, he wasn't like that... Gene shook his head before sighing again. "...d-does it ever get easier to gain over time? Like...if I envision myself the way I dreamt of myself before...w-will that help?" She didn't respond for a while, nor did she look back at him, then she simply said, "I guess...it depends on the person but...but if you're here that means you, too, must have great power! Er, right?" He paused, lulling this over for a moment or two. "...I guess you're right." a small smile began to appear on his face. "Thanks..." She muttered out a simple: "You're welcome or something..." “...Right. You two will have an easier time dodging enemies and reacting in time-- I suggest you take point, while Abby and I follow behind, given the cumbersome nature of our weapons.” The door here was their next step...and now both he and Sabrina had to take point, which made sense. Like Marshall said, both he and Sabrina were the quickest with dodging enemies and reacting in time. He felt a slight lump in his throat as he swallowed, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. ...focus Eric...do what Sabrina said...envision it...just imagine that version...keep envisioning it... Gene took a moment, before nodding and moved past Marshall before looking at Sabrina. "...t-trusting you to have my back..." he simply said, before cautiously walking through the door. The door led outside on a raised platform with stairs on either end. Both sets of stairs end in landings, with further staircases that lead to the streets below. Before them, though, was the building, a large tower, that Gene was almost for certain was housing a lot of Accursed. Now for the issues he had to deal with now... To the right of him, there was a small squad of Drengr...a total of three...relaxing on the landing. Meanwhile, on the left, there was a patrol of Drengr and a large monster that resembled a coyote...it reminded Gene of a Worg specifically, but it was more than enough information. Neither group seemed to notice them yet, which worked in their favor. Now...what was the play? The ones on the right are blissfully unaware...Sabrina can definitely take them out in an instant... Gene thought, rubbing his chin. ...the group on the left...that's gonna be the hard one, but...I think I can manage that. C'mon...confidence...confidence! With a slow exhale, Gene called forth his weapon and made his move. He rushed to the left, and began to make his descent down the stairs. They were in a manner of two Drengr, one Drengr and then two of them with the Worg-like creature. A simple two-one-three type of pattern. He could easily deal with this, especially with his speed the way it was. Though he was mindful of his tactics right now...he needed things to go smoothly. With the element of surprise on his side, Gene rushed the middle Drengr and performed an immediate Weapon Art: Quick Strike on it. The strike made it fall a bit in the process and with that, it couldn't act immediately. It worked in his favor after all. The surprise did hit the group in stride, but Gene was able to disengage with ease. Speed was on his side, he could do this. "Okay, don't quit now..." Gene muttered, before immediately casting an Overcharged Water Wall which separated the two Drengr with the Worg-like creature from the other three. He then took to the closest Drengr and immediately just struck at it. It wasn't a Quick Strike this time, but he needed to at least save his Arts and when to do them. The strike hit the Drengr's leg, but it wasn't like the Quick Strike...so that meant it wasn't going to work as well as the...but it wasn't enough. The Drengr already was preparing a retaliating strike at his side with it's sword. ...shit...

Ziun was a bit disappointed his summoned creature went out the way it did, but he was still happy that it at least did a bit of damage on the way out. But at the same time, he was worried. He was getting more fatigued because of the over exertion of his magic. He thought of it like a muscle...the conjuration magic was a muscle he didn't flex all too much until just recently...meaning of course he was getting more tired with how much energy he was using. Nevertheless, he was standing there, huffing slightly as he witnessed Lana saving him...again... he was going to have to give her a lot just for the constant saving of his hide, wasn't he? "You still good? there's others that still need softening up." "I-I'll live...working on...flexing this stuff more than I have...takes a bit to get acclimated to again." Ziun nodded, looking at the mummy that was now on the ground...it was basically defenseless at this point. "Now, let's finish this one off, shall we?" he moved slightly and cast another Acid Splash on the creature. With it being on the ground and just laying there not moving a whole lot, this time it was so much easier to melt. Further and further it went until it was nothing but smoldering piles of ash...or whatever mummies turned into when they melt. "T-There we go..." he said, before turning to look in the direction of Chris, who was dealing with a few undead himself. He got near Lana and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "I may not be able to physically attack them like the two of you...however..." Ziun paused, as a slight, mostly, transparent armor began to piece itself around her. "...I believe I can at least make things better. This should help you in the long run, Lana."

As a follow up to the article earlier this creature has been sighted multiple times in growing frequency. Please head to this cemetery and check it out ASAP. That was the message provided to the group as night fell. And although Trevor, who had basically been chided by both his teammates for drinking that heavily (not on purpose mind you), would've loved to stay home and try to rest a bit, a Champion's work was never done. He swallowed his desire of not wanting to go and help this time and followed suit. He did want to help, make no mistake... but it was more of a... why wait until now? Questions for another time, he figured... Nevertheless, the graveyard was within sight now and there was...a skeleton. A GIANT skeleton, about 12 feet tall with a femur bone as a weapon. "Curious, I wonder...the skeleton of an ancient Japanese Oni, perhaps?" "You worry about that stuff at the wrong time..." Trevor grumbled, already preparing to get into the groove of this battle. Melissa attacked first with an opening singular beam salvo, while Fen sent forth a volley of ice arrows. The young sorcerer, however, did the following for his opening move. "Aeroga..." he muttered, as a windy shield swept around not just him...but the other two as well, almost in an instant. "We can't have you both getting hurt right now...so these will keep you protected for a while." He then took a deep breath, as he flipped the pages of the Cabanomicon and got one specific spell ready. "Let's try this...Magnet!" Trevor was unfortunately realizing, that apparently Magnet did not slow down the Skeleton, not like the few times he had used it against other foes. A mental note taken, but he did not let it stop him. "Very well then..." He lifted his left hand upward, the yellow gemmed ring he wore glowing ever so slightly as it seemed like overhead, storm clouds gathered around the skeleton. "Let's keep this up, shall we? Thundaga..." he said, smirking widely. At this moment, a powerful lightning bolt struck the boney creature and as it was hit by a total of three different attacks, it was already looking badly damaged, though still lumbered forward. "A resistant creature you are...but no matter." he said, pointing his index finger at the lumbering boned figure and watched as the red gemmed ring began to glow. "Try this one...Firaga!" he fired off the powerful fire spell and it hit the target true, right in the ribs. However, it still lumbered onward. "Persistent isn't it..."

“How many times does that work, anyway?” “Not the point!!!” Override shouted back at Minos, still dealing with the fact the knives were thrown and also merged with the floor…again. “P.I.X.E.L., how's that update?” “One moment, sir…” the A.I. spoke, before finally had the information. “We have the information. It appears to be…Switchjack.” Override accessed the information via his H.U.D. and nodded. It was what he was hoping wasn't the case. He knew the name…who didn't? Switchjack was one of the Gibbons' founding members. There wasn't a lot of images of Switchjack himself because of his power, so what he looked like was a mystery. He could, according to the file, meld into his own knives and throw himself, basically. He can also have the knives merge with material they come in contact with. That already was a scary thought. He checked more into the file and noticed some other things. He wasn't too thrilled to hear that THIS was the villain he was up against this time. “Yeah, definitely don’t get hit by those knives. I’ve heard things. They’ll ruin you worse than they did that elevator.” “Agreed…then I…” “We need to get off this floor.” “I couldn't agree more.” He nodded, a little upset that he was interrupted like that, but at least they were on the same page. “Suggestions on switching floors, rather than just attempting to follow after Aeon?” "I was gonna suggest the same thing we did at the casino," Minos said. Bust a hole through the floor, a bit barbaric, but drastic times called for drastic measures. "Then by all means, go for it...I'll keep an eye and scanner open for Switchjack.” Override said as he opened a radar on his H.U.D. and prepared to scan and search for any movement of any kind. It didn't take long for Minos to open a hole in the floor right in front of her and Override. It was a dark level down, but he could can distinctly hear the sound of two knives hitting the floor. Perfect, that stopped Switchjack for now. “After you. I'll cover the rear.” Override simply said, watching her make the jump. There was very little light, but Minos still was comfortable making an accurate guess as to how far down the floor is. Once they made it through the hole, they found themselves in an elevator waiting area. The employees would use the elevator from this floor, according to the floor plans. The Tech Hero looked at his radar, no movement…nothing. In any case, Minos was already making a hole in the wall opposite of the elevators. He watched her beckon to him. “What’s up?” "Yeah, I want to get as far away from knife guy as possible, thanks.” "I don't blame you one bit there..." Override nodded, keeping an eye on the scanner. "We should be meeting up with Aeon soon, I'd venture a guess. But aside from that, I'm wondering why Switchjack was doing what he was doing...on top of...the light situation…” The two went through the wall, finding themselves in an office now, little, half-height cubicle walls marking individual computer spaces. The light was little better here, thankfully. "Well, if we want to get to Caesar, he's a couple more floors down," Minos said. "Switchjack's probably just keeping us from taking the easy way down. If there's some Legion hair wrapped on one of those knives Caesar will know where we are too. So two reasons, right?” "Sounds plausible, if I'm honest." he nodded. "At this point, the man has thought of almost everything from the looks of it.” That's about the time Override got a hit on his radar. …they were being followed, by who, he didn't know. "Minos...we got company...we're being followed." he immediately turned the opposite direction, prepping an attack just in case.

"I'll see what I can do. As you can see, I'm not exactly busy with how people around here are, so I need entertainment. Tell you what- You three tell me something about where you come from, and I'll cough up the info Zeru here wants. Deal?" Zeru ended up bringing them before Deneb...and he brought forth an interesting question. Tell them about where they come from and they'd help...but...what else could he remember from his past life. Maybe the feeling he had before Zeru took them out to meet Deneb, but he thought that there could be more than that he could do. He rubbed the back of his neck, exhaling slowly as he started to close his eyes and think. Alright Hoshimi...what can you remember...? It hurt a bit to remember anything, as it normally would. But eventually, something did come to the surface...small fragments once again, but in more chunks than he usually had. Though...he wasn't...he wasn't too happy about what he had seen and remembered from these fragments of memory. What was felt...seen...relived... Pain... anguish... strife... loneliness... It was a run-down looking building he could see...though most the words he couldn't make out, all except one: "Orphanage". The sounds of children's teasing and even the sounds of assault, it rang in his ears. Even the sounds of crying...he knew what it was. This was a memory of his, though why this of all things would escape into his mind like this, he knew not...but this was what came forth to him. He could see a boy...crying, holding something close to his chest...though he could not make out what it was. At the same time...he could notice the child talking to something, but he couldn't make it out clearly...it seemed...foggy...blurry...but... Jet opened his eyes and adjusted his glasses slightly, exhaling again. "...I-I can't...r-r-remember too much...b-but..." he paused, before sighing. "...I-I apparently...w-w-was an o-o-orphan..." He went silent for a few moments, his hands slowly sliding into his pockets some. "...a-a-a-and...I was a-abused...m-m-mentally, p-p-p-physically...e-emotionally....I was a-a-alone for so long..." Jet paused, removing his glasses as he rubbed the bridge of his nose slightly, trying not to tear up or anything. "...I-I think...I h-had some friends...I-I don't remember them..." he sighed, putting the glasses back on before shaking his head. "But...i-it hurts m-m-my heart...t-t-to think I-I forgot a-a-a-about them..."

His bearings got back to him in time to see Chris take out the mummy, or rather...remove a leg from it, in front of him. Ziun took this moment to roll out of the way of the impending strike that was coming from the other mummy. "O-Once again...you have my thanks, Chris." he nodded, getting to his feet again. Chris saved him...twice...today, was this really the guy that group from the Kalo family had been looking for and swearing he had committed crimes? He couldn't see it, but at the moment he needed to focus on the mummies that were currently needing to be dealt with. The mummy that had hit him, the one with the obvious hole in it's chest, that was the one Ziun needed to deal with presently. Taking careful aim at the hole in the chest, he cast another Acid Splash at it. The acid, while it may not be able to make the hole larger, it was planned to make the area surrounding the hole weaker. From the looks of it, it was doing just that. Thank the goddess. Now, he needed to move back nearby Chris, after all, they needed to get back in the direction of Lana. Ziun proceeded to cast another flurry of ice in the direction of the mummy, watching it slow the creature down, whilst also tear more pieces off it. Once this was done, Ziun took his place to cover Chris' flank. Though the mummy still persisted. This wasn't a good look at all for it, that was for sure. ...curses...so what else am I supposed to be able to do right now? he thought, rubbing his chin. He had toyed with the idea of casting something to produce an Unseen Servant to crush it...but alas, it wouldn't be able to attack. Then...an idea arose from that thought. Conjuration...a series of spells that bring physical materials to the caster...but that wasn't the only thing this school of magic could bring forth. No, there was the potential of summoning ethereal creatures to aid oneself. That would work! Ziun shut his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what he could do in order to beat the mummy. A giant fire beetle came to his mind, it could burn the creature without a thought...IF that was what it did...unfortunately, it was not. They simple bit and gave light...not so much in the fire providing side of things. Next best thing... "Alright...let's see if I still got this..." Ziun exhaled slowly... "Hear the verse and rhyme that I sing... Come forth and assist thy master..." After speaking this, Ziun watched as before him materialized and formed a slightly blue glowing canine. The bard smiled, seeing the celestial dog appear near him, to the point where he moved and slightly pet the summon. "Alright, I need you to attack and stall the mummy for me. Aim for it's legs. Can you handle that?" he asked, seeing the dog nod slightly, before rushing forward and started biting down and tearing into the mummy's leg. The mummy simply proceeded to try and attack the dog. "No you don't! You will not touch it!" he said, firing off more ice at the creature. But it did not stop...the punch connected and it practically ended the summon's time free. "D-Damnit..." he said, breathing heavily some. ...wait...heavily? Ziun was surprised to feel himself breathing as hard as he was, but he realized that he had potentially been over casting. They hadn't even left the first room for this venture and he was already feeling like he did at the end of their last venture. "...s-s-still not enough..." he muttered.

He would've grabbed the water to nurse on it...but it was still clutched by the girl. Luckily, he was able to prevent it falling...thank goodness for that. Once it was prevented, Trevor started to nurse on it... "That woman again...she keeps coming here to try and 'interview' Tegur. Apparently she thinks that him and Miss Mauvache...Why am I telling you this? Hey if you're friends with that woman tell her to lay off...if you're not friends tell her too. But less nicely. Unless...you didn't tell her anything that could be used against him right? You know you're the one who asked for the drink it isn't his fault you're like this." "F-Fret not..." he groaned, shaking his head slightly while he kept nursing on the water. "Tegur wasn't brought up in our conversations...simply just myself...and unfortunately, I believe the way I happened to find myself now...would be used against myself. So, that'll need some explaining to do." Trevor continued to sip the water, understanding the general desire that this waitress had to protect her employer. It was noble for sure. "Nevertheless, I'll probably finish this...and once I'm not as inebriated...I'll take my leave. Thank you." he said with a weak smile. It was a few hours...few long hours to be exact...but Trevor eventually felt good to go. A little buzzed, but not like he once was. He was able to make his way back to the home base, about the time the others eventually arrived. The young sorcerer walked in through the door a bit after Melissa, taking a long drawn out sigh. "...I may need you all to remind me...if and when I decide to visit Tegur's bar again..." he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a groan. "...to not have him choose what drink I'll be having. When I tell you that dark mead will turn your world upside down...I do indeed mean it..."

“Glad we found you when we did. In the other direction, we found… A lot. Of course, we ran into our own resistance, three Drengr in total, but had no trouble dispatching them with a bit of careful strategy,” Gene felt...a bit proud at being nodded at by Marshall like this. He could only smile (though while it was supposed to be a normal smile to him, probably looked like one doofy looking one to the others) and have a bit of a bashful red colored his face, his hand only rubbing the back of his neck. This being appreciated and acknowledged thing...it felt...kind of nice. “As for what we found after, when we realized you had not gone that way: a large, massive compound, crawling with Drengr patrols. That is to say…We’re walking into the belly of the beast, and will need to be careful not to alert too many of them at once,” "Y-Yeah...like Marshall said, w-we were lucky in a sense to take out the resistance we had..." he chimed in. "Same time, w-with this being a massive compound, are we really equipped to take on a full army like this?" Worry did start to seep into his tone, as he went from rubbing his neck to his arm slightly. "T-That is to say, w-we aren't...just more like..." He paused, trying to figure out what words to say in this situation. ...how can I best put this into words? C'mon Eric...think!! Finally it came to him. "L-Like Marshall mentioned, we had some careful strategy...along with a bit of luck...but w-what if we aren't supposed to be here yet?" he asked, doing his best to explain. "Like...okay...most of us are gamers, from what I remember of our chats...so I'll use that. Take something akin to an open world game, free to go wherever we please despite being of a low level." he paused, catching his breath. "But, what if this stronghold and compound happen to be like...of a higher level than we are? A-Again, in an open world style game, while the player is free to choose wherever they want to go, it's sometimes in the player's best interest to start small and then work up to the big things. They could skip ahead...but sometimes the results are disastrous." Gene sighed heavily, scratching his head slightly. "...I-I know we're already here...a-and probably talking you guys out of this is out the window at the present...but I-I wanted to try and l-let you know this so we can properly figure out a plan of attack. So...that being said...d-do we have a plan of attack available...?"

While Aeon was being...well, Aeon and basically going through the elevator...Override was dealing with other things. Namely...the knives... Sure, the lights going on and off were a bit of an issue, but not for the tech hero. The HUD accessed it's night vision mode helped in the interim. The knives were basically flung back and forth across the room, strangely enough fusing into the walls and elevator panels. It was weird...very weird. "P.I.X.E.L., give me a list of Capes by weaponry...try to isolate the knife wielders as best you can." Override spoke, seeing a list of data scroll past his vision. "At once sir, though this will take time." He got about as far as sorting the list of registered Capes by weaponry and isolating the knife wielders before Minos yelled out to him. "Look out!" Immediately, she pushed him to the ground, just in time for two more knives to come out of the darkness and embed themselves in the elevator control panel as well. "...damnit...okay, bit more of a warning next time..." Override grumbled, getting on one knee for the time being. "Always doing this at the worst times...okay, so the knives are embedded in the control panel, so that's a bonus..." The knives were embedded in the same way the first one was, melding with the material in the elevator panel with sparks are flying out. Quite interesting to say the least. "Hey, no problem," Minos said. "Next time I see knives flying at someone doing analysis work I won't do anything." "...not what I meant...just meant more or less let me know a bit quicker." he sighed heavily, noticing the melding of the knives and the elevator panel material. "So they meld to material like that, eh? That should narrow the search down further. P.I.X.E.L., new search criteria...go!" The analysis continued, narrowing down to just Gibbons and possible Renegade mercenaries willing to work with Caesar. In an interesting statistical blip, there were more knife-wielding capes than non-knife-wielders. It turns out that even if your superpower does not involve edged weaponry, and with the limited availability of firearms, a knife is still a perfectly reasonable item to have on hand. Truly some interesting information to be had for sure, but he needed to focus. However, Override gets as far as eliminating all those sorts of people from the search before the enemy cape strikes again. The first knife popped out of the elevator panel and flung itself towards the tech hero's kneeling leg. "Damn...not this time!" Override shouted, immediately firing a pulse bolt at the flung knife. "At this point, save me the trouble of identifying you and just come on out." The first knife was deflected successfully into the floor and started to meld with that. Override's identification request, however, was simply met with the other two knives flying at him. "A simple no would've sufficed!!" he shouted, firing off two more pulse bolts at the oncoming knives. He immediately stood up, trying to prepare a counterattack.

"More hands on deck, easier to cover a wider area. The lot of ya likely brought some useful magicks or abilities with you. May as well ask for some help, ya know? Maybe y'all are the type to help people for no reason, maybe ya think it's mutually beneficial, maybe ya feel indebted. I'm not picky." It seemed easy enough for Jet to understand, not much but enough. Perhaps his little summoning ability he had did happen to be one to help others...the question, for now, was how? For the moment, it was time hear the other Sojourners and their takes on things. First was Cade. "Presumably you'll be wanting us to help with your recon work. I can imagine that it would be a lot of work for one individual... But why fresh arrivals who hardly know a thing about this place? Surely there are locals who could be of more help? Knowing the area well enough seems like a boon that we don't have the luxury of, after all." Now this question brought up a new one issue that Jet wasn't expecting and it was somewhat worrying the young man. From what Zeru explained, it was more stranger than it happened to be here on Equinox. And it was expounded upon specifically when the other Sojourner, Sakura, said a few things here and there. "The locals are... not the most willing. Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly kind and helpful, at least in these parts. But have ya talked to them much? Surely ya have in the past week, right, Laurent?" "...The librarian, I suppose. I've been rather distracted, with everything that has happened, you understand. Interacting with the locals hasn't been urgent." “Don’t they seem a bit like… ya know… not all there?” "Never payed enough attention to them to notice." Then it seemed to be the best time to ask Zeru more about this. "I-If they aren't a-a-all there...a-and according to her a-a-a-assessment...w-we need to h-h-help them...and fill the blanks h-h-however we can? O-Or am I misunderstanding...? Help t-them become...t-t-themselves?" “Mmm… not exactly. I’m unsure we can ‘help’ them. The people of Equinox are a mix of those who are fully there, those who are going through the motions, and Sojourners. The former category is sparse. We can help the Sojourners, help those who are still there, and just… don’t treat the rest badly.” "...t-then I guess I'm n-not understanding. Are t-those on E-Equinox are...f-for lack of a better t-term, complacent, i-in their motions...? The g-goal is the Sojourners, t-though...t-that part I get...b-but i-if the locals aren't w-w-willing to help...how do we g-go about this?" This was getting a bit confusing in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately. But Jet was determined to get some sort of answer for this. “Think of them like… characters in a game. I’m not sure if y’all would remember video games, so I’ll also say like… extras in a movie. Side characters in a book. The locals who are stuck in their flow aren’t going to hinder us. The inn y’all stayed at was run by them. They’ll be helpful, but they won’t go out of their way, just follow their invisible script.” Background characters in a sense...extras...that didn't sound particularly good to Jet. But, perhaps that was just how this world worked. "S-So...treat them normally...b-but let them r-run in the background? Hmm...t-that sounds simple enough...a b-bit harsh to think that...b-but simple. A-Ask the right questions, potentially g-get answers...otherwise b-b-business as usual for them..." “Aye, yer getting it. We can help any people along the way that we can, but there are some we can’t. I even know some locals across the cities who are willing to help, they’re just busy with their own ruts.” "I-I see...i-is there specifically a way t-to separate or d-d-differentiate who's a b-background extra...and w-who's a Sojourner?" "Can ya tell the difference with me?" "...I suppose n-n-not..." "Well there ya go." So they had their work cut out for them, not sure who'd be the regulars and the Sojourners, but Jet had a feeling...wait...this was a different feeling. It was a flicker almost, Figures in his vision...he counted...eleven...no, about ten of them. No facial features, no recognizable things in vision with these individuals. No, it was more of just faint echoes...VERY faint echoes. And it seemed...familiar to him. And he had this feeling that...in any situation, they'd be able to find each other and even recognize one another. It was a fleeting feeling, but it was also one he really didn't understand in this moment, but he figured he would one day. "...w-well...in any case...I-I-I'll do my best to help." Jet simply said, though he felt a bit of deja vu in this moment by saying this.