Bloodlines: Control IC

[Fishy]

Krane gives Ssuril a death glare as she starts rambling, and apparently not going to the effort to make any of her lies sound even vaguely believable- then recoils in shock from the brutal murder taking place in front of her.

She is not in control of this situation. It's beginning to look like no one is.

"Straight up, then," she murmurs, and moves to stand by the wall. She lowers her weight, flexes her legs, perched on her toes: running on pure instinct, mentally preparing herself for... something-

And her body shifts in an impossible way- the heels of her feet stretch out to somewhere behind her knees. Thick, coarse hair sprouts all over her body, the same color as her rapidly disappearing gown. Muscles uncoil, she jumps, and the lean, catlike creature sinks its claws into the brick.

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ie, Shapeshift, Climb check. (1d20+11)[20]

[The_JJ]

Holy... uh. Such sublety. Yasmine sighs, shares a put upon glance with her partners in crime, looks up again, and calls out. Uh... Krane!? Uh... WE CAN'T DO THAT. Just so you know. She adds, almost to herself.
Yasmine twiddles her fingers, again as if spinning something not there. She looks at the four men. It's been a weird day for all of us. How about we all go our seperate ways before it gets any weirder, eh?

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Diplomacy: (1d20+9)[10]

[Whiplord]

As the bloody scene unfolds before her, far from being horrified, she can't help but feel...satisfied. As if a warm glow was now suffusing her entire body with joy and satisfaction. It wasn't the blood or the violence directly... Or, she didn't think it was. It was more the way everything came together. The blood and the violence yes, but other things too. The screaming, the panic, the uproar... The human suffering at the hands of something they couldn't control.

A pleased smile curved over her features. She would have to do this more often.

However, there were clearly more important things at hand. Zol seemed to be attempting to take care of the other thugs. They might have been abl to actually get past that way, but Krane seemed to have... Well, Krane seemed to have turned into some kind of crazy cat creature and scaled the side of a building.

That was annoying. Now how were they supposed to follow her? Ssurii scowled after the woman/cat creature/crazed abomination, and her tail made loud whipping noises as it swished back and forth in extreme annoyance.

"Well that's just great. Let me just turn into a bird and follow you. Oh wait, I can't do that!"

With a disgusted sigh she looks back at her other--still human, chaos be thanked!--comrades and addressed them. "Well?"

[OverWilliam]

He looked very sad at Yasmine's words. "But... We have to stay together. We're different. We're the only ones... like us." Of course there was no way he could know that for sure-- there could be dozens of perfectly built, good-looking, golden blonde people running around in shades of grey and getting into fights with homeless people, but somehow his deduction still seemed right. He looked at Ssurii, now his turn to answer a question. "...Well..." He walked over to the wall that Krane had just scaled. "...Up it is." He turned to offer a hand to Ssurii or Yasmine, or Zol as well if he wished, waiting to give them a boost up the wall for them to continue after Krane. Glancing at Brannon he asks quietly, "Will you be able to make it yourself? I'm not sure I'd be of much help..."

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Brannon has ranks in climb, so he'll probably be fine, everybody else has a bare minimum of +4 from ability mods and I'll roll to Aid Another for anyone who wills.

[The_JJ]

Yasmine looks at the climb. Then at the ramp. Err... ramp? Hello? I'd just rather not be forced to take the harder way out, even if it is now the easy way out. I choose my own path, damn it, whatever those bums at the top want to do about it.

[Diarmuid]

Brannon

Satisfied with the outcome if not the means, Brannon turns his back on the grisly scene. He is once again surprised at the strange words and motions made by one of the others...but not nearly as surprised as when Krane turned into.....something.

At discussions of climbing the wall began, he looked to the four shocked men standing between them and the much simpler ramp, trying to gauge if they still had any fight left in them, or if their small group would be able to pass without further incident.

Sense Motive - (1d20+8)[19]

[Jansviper]

What the **** man!

One of the bums shouts at Knifey, who jerks up from the corpse of his stoop-mate to glare at the other four. They all draw their clubs and charge down the alley, swinging wildly at anything in their way.

Until a sleep spell puts them under like it was going out of style. Knifey continues towards them, passes all of you and begins stabbing the first one that he gets near.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Krane easily grabs hold of the wall and is able to head up it with some exertion. Its about eleven stories worth of brick, mortar, 'power' lines, and the occasional (closed) window.

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If you continue up the wall, make four climb checks. If you fail a DC20 make a DC15 reflex save to catch yourself or else you fall.

[Fishy]

Krane turns her head, feline features twisted into a contemptuous sneer. It's not her fault you suck. Focusing on the task at hand- which seems to take all of her strength and concentration, even in her enhanced body- she starts making her way across the wall to the nearest window.

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Setting myself up for spectacular failure:

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Climb 1: (1d20+11)[14]
Climb 2: (1d20+11)[26]
Climb 3: (1d20+11)[14]
Climb 4: (1d20+11)[25]

Reflex 1: (1d20+6)[8]
Reflex 2: (1d20+6)[18]
Reflex 3: (1d20+6)[12]
Reflex 4: (1d20+6)[19]

Tumble: (1d20+4)[15]

It would be really nice if the window had an empty room behind it. And bedsheets. Or, a convenient emergency rope-ladder.

EDIT: Yeah. Barely a few feet after her sneer, a brick gives way under her paws, and she plummets, flailing and scraping at the wall- and twists her body at the last second, landing mostly on her feet. She shifts, fur melting away as she returns to normal form. "Ow. I mean- I came back for you guys."

[The_JJ]

Yasmine, who had seen the sneer, smiles at the karmic justice, but offerers a hand up. Yeah, uh, I'm a better liar than you. Come on, before these fellows wake up, although... Yasmine walks over and hefts a dropped club. This is better.

Then she looks up. Alright, it's a long way, even with the ramp. Left foot right foot people, let's clear out.

[WhiteKnight777]

Zol

Zol laughed with an almost childish, unholy glee as the maddened bum tore into his comrades, enjoying the bright flow of blood onto the street. His smile was manic as he watched his 'comrade' plummet, and he likewise enjoyed the irony as he began to move in the chosen direction.

Now, now... no need for anger among us. I'm sure there'll be enough as want to spill our blood without us doing it to each other.

[Whiplord]

Ssuri raises an eyebrow at the fallen Krane, shakes her head in disgust, and turns away. "Right. Well, we should be able to just move past the Bum Defense Force. Let's take the ramp."

With that, she takes her own advice and heads in that direction.

[Diarmuid]

Brannon

"I dont know if that was necessary. They were likely to have let us pass without any further incident."

Moving past the sleeping group, careful to stay away from Knifey up the ramp.

[Jansviper]

As you move onto the ramp and begin upwards, it quickly becomes apparent that the city you are in is rather unconventional. The sloped walkway itself is seamless stone: Unlike the rough cobblestones of the alley you woke up in, what you walk on now could have been melted out of solid rock. Indeed, in some places the strange reddish mineral looks to have had a running, liquid quality before hardening into its current shape. This path of odd material ascends in drunken half circles and sinuous lines, almost doubling back on itself before wandering off in a new direction, to the point that you are sure you must have circled around to the other side of several buildings at any one time.

Speaking of buildings, they remain tall and uniform for the most part. Still reaching high above street level and casting perpetual shadows across your world. If anything, the humming wires and lines of clothing grow more numerous as you climb. Every twenty feet or so along the ramp a street similar to the one you had just left shoots off into the city, and as you go higher more and more people and shops are crowded into these minature market places. None of them look at small (or as dirty) as the one you started in, and the people are clearly a step up from the homeless bums you had left behind. House wives bustle from place to place, chatting with neighbors, haggling with vendors, or herding the occasional pack of small children. Men (a clear minority) walk around doing chores or lounge in the stools of one of the many bar stalls like the one where you had met the rat-like man. The children themselves, whether they be dirty urchins or well dressed brats, tend to travel in groups playing children's games while laughing, shouting and chanting some sort of nameless tune. The adults too seem to have picked up the song (or remember it from their own childhoods) and the steady hum of the beat always seems to be in the backround of countless throats.

After the first level, you are rarely alone on the ramp. People bustle forth from one street to another with nary a glance at the six clueless siblings in their midst. You don't stand out nearly as much as some of you thought you might. Your cloths, while drab, aren't too terribly different from the linen pants and tunics that look to be favored by the rest of the population. Splashes of color here and there indicate a better cut or an attempt to brighten one's surroundings. Once, about two minutes into your ascent, a group of men dressed in blue coveralls troops past you. They are carrying maintainance and cleaning equipment and looked terribly bored with whatever their work may be. They pass you without comment, heading down to the level you had just left.

So far, the city itself has been terribly confusing to your senses. By this point, you have no idea which way is which and have absolutely no way to orient yourself on... anything really. The ramp switches and winds so madly that you would be lost for sure if it lead in any direction but up. The information that bombards you doesn't help in the slightest as your mind provides input on what your eyes and ears observe. Words like male, female, children, shop, work, family and friends gain more definition as you acquire more examples of them. You find yourself wonder what that could be before simply knowing what a cart was and how they were used. The rush of knowledge is heady, but not terribly distracting. It seems more like information you always knew, but hadn't for a while, instead of something newly learned. The feelings themselves don't stop you though...

Up you go, pulled on by a strange sense of urgency. You bypass the people and the sights, catching brief glimpses into the daily lives of city folk as you walk by at a steady pace. It is by no means strenuous or physically compelling, but as you move you are overcome by an incredible sense of purpose, as if all your questions will be answered if only you can reach the top of this winding path. Finally, after what feels like eons (but couldn't have been more than an hour, as you now understand the reckoning of the passage of time), you can see sunlight ahead. The ramp upwards levels out with two terribly tall buildings on either side and exits from between.

Unfortunately, you will only find more questions at the top.

[Whiplord]

Ssuri stares around wildly, her tail waving slowly back and forth behind her. She had been hoping--just a little--that maybe some of the questions would be answered when they made it out of the alleyways, but she was more confused if anything.

And to her dismay, it seemed like most of the people around were wearing the same boring clothes. Oh, there was a splash of color here, a slightly modified cut there, but it was all still so incredibly boring. She hoped she could find something pretty...

Although better to figure out more of the situation first. Keep on climbing.

[Jansviper]

The city that streches before you is immense. A titanic metropolis that spans as far as the eye can see from your vantage point atop a small hill (also filled to capacity with building you find, with a glance behind you) that overlooks the rest of the city. Buildings far taller than the ones you have just emerged from pack the landscape, hundreds of feet tall and crowded together as if space was at a premium and all that was left to do was build upwards. But at the same time, you can see at least one neighborhood of small single story businesses doing a brisk noontime rush in the shadow of one of the larger sky scrapers.

It is all quite strange.

However, the more things change the more they stay the same. Hundreds of wires still criss-cross the gaps between buildings. Their ever-present crackle of energy fills the air with an almost subconcious hum. The people are still the same, varied and colorful going about their daily lives. New things include webs of bridges and walkways mixed in with the wires, connecting the monolyths for the brave as well. The people in the street directly in front of you seem to be more going somewhere than moving about their daily lives in a relatively familiar atmosphere. They crowd the streets and pay little attention to anyone else, lest they need to offer a curse or a threat. There is definately more color in this crowd as well, though mostly earth tones or the occasional vivid red.

The sun burns in the distance, slowly sinking towards the horizon as time marches on. The orange glow of that great star competes with the hundreds of thousands of artificial and magical lights that burn in the city. You get the impression that this sight would be even more impressive at night...

All the information making itself available to your brains rapidly overloads normal motor control. You stop for a moment simply to take in the sights while your mind fills in the gaps. It is a rapid fire process that involves very little comprehending and more knowing instantaneously. The rush stretches a moment into an hour, and hours into days, before snapping back elastically as you hit upon a name.

Zaratel.

The massive flow of knowledge did not in fact take more than a few seconds, but the comprehension of the city before you stops dead in the forefront of your minds and forces you to comprehend what you are experiencing.

Zaratel.

The largest city in the world, the capital of the United Territories of the Synfuels Expedition, an industrial center nigh unmatched outside of Mechanus itself. Oddly enough, no information is forthcoming on the ideas of Synfuels or Mechanus (United, Territories and Expedition you understand well enough) except that those statements mean something. You can hear the capitals in your mind, and the words themselves carry a certain weight.

Or could that be gravity?

All in all, with the truly gargantuan amount of data assaulting your senses at the moment you can be forgiven for not noticing the sign sooner. It is rather small and a bit on the ratty side, but sitting in plain sight across the street is a piece of parchment with your face and those of the five people you woke up with on it, right below a single large print word.

MISSING

There seems to more information in smaller print, but the mass of bodies traveling the street in front of you make it impossible to read from this distance. You'll have to get closer.

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Spot checks and perception checks please

[OverWilliam]

As they walked, something changed in his mind. Instead of simply existing, waiting for new revelations to come to him, he found that he was eager to learn, hungry to find more. He began actively searching for new ways to tap into this mysterious knowledge that he seemed to be gifted with every time he saw something new to jolt the memory, and as they walked he only barely outweighed the urge to stop and keep watching, to keep learning everything with the anticipation of what he would find at the crest of the next hill. He was growing more autonomous, his mind even now still growing in strength from that first catalyst, but even still not to the level that he somehow knew that he could attain (perhaps the memory of being there before?). He was thinking faster, understanding more, regaining so many little pieces of himself that he never wanted to stop.

They reached the top of the little (in comparison to the rest of the city) hill, and he turned around... And was assaulted with awe the second he did. He had imagined that the city would be big, but not this big. Then he realized that even that was just a part of the city whole. He spent a few seconds completely adrift in the sea of hugeness that they were all set afloat in before other, more subtle triggers prompted the almost wave-like dream of revelation; his eyes danced against his eyelids, drinking up every image and every sound, every concept and every shred of knowledge that now loosed into his mind as though a floodgate had burst.

Zaratel.

[The_JJ]

Yasmine's mind boiled over in a mass of anxious dribbles and incoherent swearing. Too much, too fast. I can't... it's so... sh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*t... It was, happening, all of it, indepenent of herself, beyond her control. Her presense was irrelivent. It wouldn't matter if she dissappeared. Nevertheless, some small part of her... reveled in it. The people, the packed masses. The hustle and bustle. She wanted to be out there and soak it in, join the crowd and feel it's emotions, play her songs and let the exultations of the masses was over her.

And quietly, in the back end of her mind, some bit that twined the two together tasted the wind, sniffed the air. It smelled potential. It smelled...

Zaratel

[Whiplord]

Sunlight. The sky. Fresh air. A brain shattering surge of information. Great. just what she needed.

As the knowledge surges into her brain, Ssurii quite literally freezes in place. All movement stops as she stands in one place, not a single thing (even her tail) twitching. Her eyes roll back in her head, and even after the shockwave of information has passed, she stays like that for almost full minute.

Her eyes slowly roll back to their normal condition. Blink. Blink.

Zaratel....

Ssuri collapsed to the ground in a heap.

[Diarmuid]

Brannon

His nerves stayed on-edge for most of the walk up, continually looking over the group's shoulders. What was he even looking for...Knifey, anyone taking special notice of their passing?

Thus was it that he failed to notice the information that flitted around in his head at first. Eventually the inlux of data became to much to be ignored and demanded his attention.

The buildings...the power lines...the people....what does it all mean? Synfuels Expedition...Mechanus.........Zaratel?

He is stopped dead in his tracks as the line of reasoning asserts itself within him. He is jolted back to reality as a flash of color on a passerby catches his attention. Trying to focus on it, he instead sees something behind it...a sign with pictures...picture of them.

Focus established, he single-mindedly begins walking towards the sign, heedless of other passersby or other obstacles.

[WhiteKnight777]

Zol

The beast roared, caged in a prison of thought and word and memory. Zol growled, panting hard as sweat dripped down his brow, his immaculate, adonisian face creased in lines of thought as his brain tried to keep from drowning under the assault of knowledge. He growled deep in his chest, clutching at his head with both hands, rubbing his temples furiously to stimulate the flow of thought. After what might have been only an eternity, he started to breathe more normally as his senses started to return, and Zol found himself able to breathe again.

[OverWilliam]

He made a startled noise when Ssurii collapsed under the weight of this new explosion of knowledge. It was a guttural sound born of wanting to exclaim her name and frustration at realizing that he did not know it. He dove for her as quickly as he could, wanting to catch her before she hit the ground, but not quite fast enough. "What happened?" He asked urgently, only realizing after he said it that no one who could hear him actually knew. He rolled her over gently, untangling her arms from each other and rubbing her shoulder to wake her up. "Are you ok?" He asks when she comes to.

[Fishy]

The simple walk through the city is a powerfully humbling experience for Krane. So many people, leading lives that she will never be a part of and keeping secrets that she will never understand- simply by numbers alone. In the grand, cosmic scheme of things, she simply doesn't matter. She will never amount to anything, it's not even worth...

Aaarghn... ow-ow-ow... Zaratel?

The sudden rush of fragmented memory snaps Krane out of her black mood. It's barely a few words, like table scraps tossed to a stray cat, but something inside her devours it, hungry for more. Somehow, even if nothing else makes sense, knowing is better than not knowing, and that's enough to keep her going.

And that's when she sees the sign. Krane fixes her eyes on it, striding through the crowd, completely ignoring Ssurii's pain.

[Jansviper]

Its like you're in a different world.

The streets of Zaratel are packed with people, and none of them care about your problems. Below, a few simple words turned men into beasts. Up here, no one even looks twice as two of you fall to the ground.

Pushing through the crowded street isn't a problem, and within moment you're in front of the sign. There isn't much to it, but its far more than you had before. The paper looks old, but the pictures could have been taken just moment before. Its you, down to the almost identical features and small quirks that can be seen from the shoulders up.

MISSING

The heirs to the Calhan family (pictured above) have been missing since the third week of June when their ancestral manor burnt down on the outskirts of the city. The bodies of the Lord and Lady Calhan, as well as several servants, were found in the wreckage but no evidence of the heirs have been discovered at this time.

If you have any information concerning the Heirs of Calhan or the circumstances which led to this tragedy, please contact Captain Micahl with City Watch Investigations.

[The_JJ]

Yasmine stares at the sign for a few seconds. Then she speaks, voice laced with doubt. Yeeeeeaaaaaah. A phrase springs to mind. "Mysterious circumstances." Her gaze wanders over the sign again. It is not a happy phrase. Every fiber of my being is saying, 'that is not a happy phrase.'

[Whiplord]

A few seconds later, a tail twitches. To be specific, Ssurii's tail twitches. Although it's unlikely there were many other twitching tails in the area. Ssurii springs up, quite unlike the slow awakening she had had only earlier today. Truth be told, it was rather unladylike.

But spring up she did, and made her way over to stand near the others, looking over the sign. Survey says: That's creepy.

Thoroughly weirded out, Ssurii reacts in the only way she knows. She nudges Yasmine. "Psst, Yas. That girl looks just like you! What a coincedence, right?"

If there the previous gesture might have been unladylike, there was no question when she rudely stuck out her tongue in jest.

[WhiteKnight777]

Zol

Zol's hackles were up. The strange sensation, the shift in circumstances... the beast, trammelled for the moment but still hungry, whispered now... like an imp on his shoulder, or a cat in dark and haunted jungles, spoke in soft, purring tones of the joys of spilled blood and the sensous pleasure of rent flesh - Mmm, but to show these arrogant fops the price of their unwariness, of the dangers of nod heeding him.

The beast was caged, however, and its desires held at bay - another force. A watchman, key-holder to the beast's pen. Thought it beat upon the bars of iron will, the bars held. For the moment.

He stopped, however, when he saw the pictures, his rational mind, the cooler, detached part of him - Moreso even than the watchman- the voice of the scholar, the learned, intelligent spellcaster - the librarian, as it were. It directed him to the pictures, and for once, all three of them were in agreement.

Mmmm.. how... convenient... so.. perhaps we are these... heirs... and perhaps not. It sounds too neat. Too nice. Too tempting. A trap set to catch the unwary. But then, it seems so obvious. Too obvious to be a trap? Or a trap within a trap?

[Fishy]

Krane looks out into the crowd as something catches her eye- something bad. Fighting the urge to investigate further, she turns slightly, keeping up her stride, as if she had somewhere important to go and her path just coincidentally brought her past the poster. As she passes her sisters, she grits her teeth, and her voice is somewhere between a mumble and a growl. "Don't stand next to the sign." Her eyespots flicker, as she subconsciously tries- and fails- to look completely unlike the suspected arsonist on the poster. "Unless you're tearing it down. Someone's watching." And then she's past them, working her way into the crowd on the off chance that she'll catch another glimpse.

Spoiler

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Because sometimes lightning strikes twice, Spot: (1d20+9)[20]

[Diarmuid]

Brannon

Krane voiced Brannon's thoughts almost perfectly. Their group, standing next to a sign with pictures of them was certainly going to make the dots easy to connect for some interested passerby.

Reaching up to the sign, Brannon fought the urge to tear it from it's mounting place, worried such an impulsive action would bring yet more unwanted attention. Instead, he squirmed his fingers underneath the material and slid them to the corners to ease the separation process. Hands at opposite corners, he eased the two corners from the attachments (be it adhesive, or more literal like a nail/staple), tearing the sign slightly if necessary. Two corners free, he slid his hands to the remaining attached corners and similarly freed them from their attachment.

Rolling the sign up and sticking it under his arm, he addressed the rest of the group,

"While this does indeed seem too convenient, we really do not have much else to go on. If we keep asking locals, eventually someone is going to recognize us from this sign, or a copy that likely hangs elsewhere. That will bring the authorities. We essentially have two choices: Go to the authorites, or go to these people who claim we are their missing heirs."

He begins to move off in the direction that Krane headed,

"Either way, we should not tarry here further."

As he walks away, a shiver comes over his shoulders and he turns over his shoulder to look at the ramp the group had recently finished climbing.

Spot - (1d20+6)[18]

[The_JJ]

Yasmine bumps Ssuri back. ANd that one looks like you, but prettier. She grins a crooked grin. I agree with Brannon that it should be removed, if only for the sake of your ego. Yasmine starts trying to twirl the looted club through her fingers, stops when it doesn't work, and settles for beating out a nervous rhythm on the cobblestones. Now, planning is a good thing. Puts you in the saddle, gives you the reins. It's... control. I don't like the sign because it hints to me that whatever happened, it's a bad thing. The people who put it up? Maybe good, maybe bad. But I need to sleep, eat, find a flute, dye my hair black and cut it short, and Ssuri wants a new dress. Hm... now there's an idea. Disguises. Anyway, we won't be gettng that if we just wander around this town lost. Yasmine pauses, nods once in satisfaction at her speech, and then goes back to drumming.

[OverWilliam]

Ssurii jumped up, and for a moment he was left behind, but he stood simply and looked around. He noticed the sign, feeling a momentary swell of hope that someone in this place knew who they were. However, Zol's cryptic, muttered words gave him pause for thought-- what if there were people in this place that they did not want to be known by? He didn't know. He reproved himself mentally. He was... naive. It certainly was a good thing that there were others who had re-adapted more quickly than he-- until he learned these things for himself, he could be in danger.

Then it was that he began to think of danger. His eyes combed through the crowd, and slowly it dawned on him that they must stand out-- their matching crowns of golden blonde were sure to be noticable in a crowd, maybe not one or two at a time, but six all together...?

Finally, he thought of defense. "We need to get off the streets. Fast." He began looking around for an inn, or a tavern, or a large shop, preferably of clothing, anywhere that they could disappear into and collect their thoughts for a couple hours...