[Nexus] Sencardia

[Reinholdt]

SHOOT IT! SHOOT THE VILE INK!

Or not. Reinholdt doesn't do that. He eyes the bones warily and motions at them for Deveric to notice, but otherwise ignores them and heads for the staircase. Center of room staircase. Don't see many of those. He'll peer up it for as far as he can, but suspecting that won't be particularly far, start ascending slowly, one careful step at a time.

[Time for Never]

SHOOT IT! SHOOT THE VILE INK!

Or not. Reinholdt doesn't do that. He eyes the bones warily and motions at them for Deveric to notice, but otherwise ignores them and heads for the staircase. Center of room staircase. Don't see many of those. He'll peer up it for as far as he can, but suspecting that won't be particularly far, start ascending slowly, one careful step at a time.

Deveric sees the skeleton and nods his head to signal that he had seen it.

Yeah, center-room staircases are certainly not the norm, but then again the empire had interesting standards of design. When Reinholdt peers above the only thing he will see it the bottom of the stairs circling above him. It is a spiral staircase after all. It is important to note that these stairs are enclosed in a cylinder wall that goes all the way to the top. Sort of like a tube in the middle of the tower if you will. Also, the stairs are made of stone so he won't have to worry about creakiness giving him away. So far so good!

Deveric will begin to walk around the bottom floor and examine the miscellaneous objects strewn about. He goes over to the desk and looks at the quill. It looks like it might have been used recently?

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt just presumes any place is packed with people using it as a home and he's robbing them. Makes it harder to get surprised.

Not impossible, just harder.

He's kind of glad for the walls, even if it makes jumping off the staircase harder. nice to have something solid at his back. Doesn't think this place was designed with traps in mind either so he just slowly ascends the staircase, crossbow pointed in front of him.

[Time for Never]

Reinholdt just presumes any place is packed with people using it as a home and he's robbing them. Makes it harder to get surprised.

Not impossible, just harder.

He's kind of glad for the walls, even if it makes jumping off the staircase harder. nice to have something solid at his back. Doesn't think this place was designed with traps in mind either so he just slowly ascends the staircase, crossbow pointed in front of him.

That's a sound way of going about business.

Deveric will continue to sift through the desk for anymore important signs. As he looks through it he will find a few balled up scraps of paper sitting in one of the drawers. He picks one up to open it. On it is written a message in an odd language that he was all too familiar with. It would take a few minutes for him to be able to decipher it though.

As Reinholdt continues to proceed up the staircase he might hear some quiet noises emitting from a few floors higher.

[Reinholdt]

Noise investigation is important, but so is making sure no surprises will catch you from behind. So Reinholdt will take it one floor at a time, making sure each floor gets at least a preliminary search.

However, his primary goal is the floor just below where he thinks the sounds are coming from.

[Time for Never]

Noise investigation is important, but so is making sure no surprises will catch you from behind. So Reinholdt will take it one floor at a time, making sure each floor gets at least a preliminary search.

However, his primary goal is the floor just below where he thinks the sounds are coming from.

((The floor below or above Reinholdt?))

Reinholdt's footfalls are quiet enough that nobody/nothing notices his presence. If he passes the second and third floors he won't notice anything of importance, just more random items littered everywhere. Some more skeletons of unfortunate guards can be seen on the stairwell though as he ascends. As he gets closer to the source of the noises it begins to sound like footsteps patrolling.

Down below, Deveric sustains his study of the odd letter. He's making progress on the message contained within. Written on it says: "Abandon this inquiry of yours and turn back now..."

That handwriting was familiar.

[Reinholdt]

He wants to be on the floor just below where the patrolling noises are coming from. Which I think is currently above Rein. Or roughly at his level. If that makes sense. Particularly he wants to scout from below. He doubts there are any holes to peer up through, but perhaps there's a pattern to the patrolling he could learn before moving up to the situation.

He's concerned about all those skeletons though. Particularly that they might stand up and attack him. He can't think of any immediate answer that doesn't cause noise, however, so just tries to stay out of their way.

[Time for Never]

He wants to be on the floor just below where the patrolling noises are coming from. Which I think is currently above Rein. Or roughly at his level. If that makes sense. Particularly he wants to scout from below. He doubts there are any holes to peer up through, but perhaps there's a pattern to the patrolling he could learn before moving up to the situation.

He's concerned about all those skeletons though. Particularly that they might stand up and attack him. He can't think of any immediate answer that doesn't cause noise, however, so just tries to stay out of their way.

For simplicity's sake let's say that Reinholdt is on level with the third floor and that he's hearing things coming from the fourth. There are seven stories in the tower all together. When Reinholdt listens closely to the footsteps after about a minute he might be able to recognize a pattern in this patrolling. To be exact it is making a simple walk from one side of the room to the other with a pace of about 30 steps there and back. What he will also notice is that the feet of whomever may be walking is clad in armored boots that make a faint clanking sound.

As for the scene below all of this - Deveric is still reading the message for the time being. At this point he has uncovered the entirety of the letter's contents. In all, it contains:

"Abandon this inquiry of yours and turn back now before you make things worse. For you there is very little to gain from your hounding and far too much to lose to risk pursing me a moment longer. I'd prefer not to have another confrontation after what happened last time and so demand you to cease from any further antics. We were friends once and because of this I stay my hand for now; but should you ignore my advice I will not be able to refrain myself from hostility any longer." - Delano.

Deveric crumples up the paper and throws it on the ground. It shouldn't be possible, yet it is. He had suspected but didn't quite believe it himself. This had interesting implications.

"How?"

[Reinholdt]

Hmm... Rein waits for a while to see if the pattern keeps up. If so, then it's probably too perfect and that indicates undead. Bloody fantasy robots with their tireless programming.

Either way, the route is clear. Wait until the patrol is going to pass the staircase and then move up it while (expected) backs are to the stairs, going past the patrolling creature without alerting it to Reinholdt's presence.

This is the plan at any rate.

[Time for Never]

Hmm... Rein waits for a while to see if the pattern keeps up. If so, then it's probably too perfect and that indicates undead. Bloody fantasy robots with their tireless programming.

Either way, the route is clear. Wait until the patrol is going to pass the staircase and then move up it while (expected) backs are to the stairs, going past the patrolling creature without alerting it to Reinholdt's presence.

This is the plan at any rate.

Reinholdt will notice that the pattern of the patrol is actually not flawless in it's steps. It will then stop moving.

[First Floor]

Deveric thinks over this revelation for a minute before reaching for the letter once more. He picks it up off the ground and unravels it before looking back over it for a second time. After a third and then a fourth time he was very certain that this was Delano's hand writing. The style of calligraphy solidifies his confidence.

If he was already down here then Deveric had less time than he had hoped. He had a good feeling where he would be located in Umalar. Now to wait for Reinholdt report back. Wait a minute. Reinholdt.

[Reinholdt]

... is secretly an anagram for Delano and has been stringing Deveric along this whole time!
Or... not.

Huh. Well that's worth investigating.
Reinholdt will mostly stick to the prior plan, except rather than passing when he thinks the patrol's back is turned, he'll peer in to try and see who it may be. Sneakily.

Crossbow pointed first of course.

Unless it's just stopped patrolling altogether. Then Rein needs a new plan.

[Time for Never]

... is secretly an anagram for Delano and has been stringing Deveric along this whole time!
Or... not.

Huh. Well that's worth investigating.
Reinholdt will mostly stick to the prior plan, except rather than passing when he thinks the patrol's back is turned, he'll peer in to try and see who it may be. Sneakily.

Crossbow pointed first of course.

Unless it's just stopped patrolling altogether. Then Rein needs a new plan.

Deveric would have been greatly surprised if that had been the case. No, as it happens he's more worried about what the cat will find at the top of the tower. He instinctively begins to climb up after Reinholdt.

When Reinholdt peers into the room the immediate thing that he will probably notice is, what appears to be, a soldier in full clockwork plate armor including a full face mask with four holes in the form of a diamond around where his eyes are. A long golden cloak hangs from its back and wields an especially nasty looking halberd.

The patrolman is staring directly at where Reinholdt is located, standing motionless.

[Reinholdt]

Well so much for that plan. Reinholdt wonders if this thing even uses sight to see. Doesn't seem to have reacted. So far.

He'll go to work backwards, back down the stairs, crossbow aimed to shoot the soldier in the eye if it so much as twitches that halberd.

[Mr. Moon]

Meanwhile, outside the tower...

Kaleano Indres was not a man entirely used to traveling alone. In fact, when he'd first set out on this adventure - he insisted on calling it an adventure - he had a hired guard accompanying him. That had been four days ago. Well, almost five, now. It was getting rather late, and Kaleano had been traveling all day. Well, most of the day. If you didn't count his rather frequent stops to pull his sketchbook and a stick or charcoal from his backpack to make a quick impression.

All this traveling had been much more rigorous than he had anticipated. Thanks to the plague there were no beasts of labour to rely on, so he'd had to carry all his equipment himself. And all that walking had worked up a sweat. His mask didn't help matters any. But, he insisted to himself whenever fatigue reared, it was necessary. None of the best artists learned anything sitting in ivory towers, never seeing anything new. No, he had to go out there and experience. See strange and amazing things with his own eyes - and then capture them in the confines of a sheet of paper.

Noble purposes or not, however, it had been a very long day. Kaleano gazed up at the looming tower, relief washing over him. How nice would it be to spend the night under actual shelter! And certainly, before he settled down, the view from the top was a necessity!
Thus decided on his next course of action, the young man strode into the tower.

((I hope my intrusion is not unwelcome. This seems like quite an interesting setting, and I enjoyed reading the thread. Hopefully you won't mind my joining the adventure?))

[Reinholdt]

((I don't particularly mind if Time for Never doesn't. Two and a GM is probably the ideal number for a plot. But I haven't seen TfN for a while. Hope he's all right. ))

[Time for Never]

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Well so much for that plan. Reinholdt wonders if this thing even uses sight to see. Doesn't seem to have reacted. So far.

He'll go to work backwards, back down the stairs, crossbow aimed to shoot the soldier in the eye if it so much as twitches that halberd.

Meanwhile, outside the tower...

Kaleano Indres was not a man entirely used to traveling alone. In fact, when he'd first set out on this adventure - he insisted on calling it an adventure - he had a hired guard accompanying him. That had been four days ago. Well, almost five, now. It was getting rather late, and Kaleano had been traveling all day. Well, most of the day. If you didn't count his rather frequent stops to pull his sketchbook and a stick or charcoal from his backpack to make a quick impression.

All this traveling had been much more rigorous than he had anticipated. Thanks to the plague there were no beasts of labour to rely on, so he'd had to carry all his equipment himself. And all that walking had worked up a sweat. His mask didn't help matters any. But, he insisted to himself whenever fatigue reared, it was necessary. None of the best artists learned anything sitting in ivory towers, never seeing anything new. No, he had to go out there and experience. See strange and amazing things with his own eyes - and then capture them in the confines of a sheet of paper.

Noble purposes or not, however, it had been a very long day. Kaleano gazed up at the looming tower, relief washing over him. How nice would it be to spend the night under actual shelter! And certainly, before he settled down, the view from the top was a necessity!
Thus decided on his next course of action, the young man strode into the tower.

((I hope my intrusion is not unwelcome. This seems like quite an interesting setting, and I enjoyed reading the thread. Hopefully you won't mind my joining the adventure?))

Moon_Called, I think I came up with a great compromise by just adding spoilers to the quotes! Anyways, sorry for my 2 week absence absence, I've just been really busy lately. College is good at doing that unfortunately. Free time is often a luxury. And absolutely Moon, you're more than welcome to join us here. On to getting this plot on the road then!

The clockwork-armored soldier suddenly rushes forward at Reinholdt. For wearing such heavy armor it moves quickly. With its halberd pointed at Rein, he rushes him in an attempt to gain the advantage in the narrow stairway. Oh wait, spiral stairs make it difficult to use large polearms doesn't it?

It seems Reinholdt is about to be sandwiched between two bodies as Deveric comes up the stair case behind him.

"Oh how nice, you haven't died ye-"

...enemy!

[First Floor]

When Kaleano enters the building he will probably notice that the front door is ajar. Aside from that he may see a partially crumpled piece of paper a few feet away.

[Reinholdt]

Glad to hear you're doing well. College can be brutal, I know.

*thwap*
Reinholdt fires the second the soldier moves as promised.

He starts preparing to jump down the stairs, several steps at a time, doing some ridiculous kung-fu moves he doesn't actually know off the curved wall when Deveric's arrival makes all that impossible. And he can't risk shifting to cat form. "Could your timing be any worse?!"

Thank goodness polearms are having as much difficulty as he is.

He's not terribly capable of fighting in close quarters. Space is what he needs now. He switches out his crossbow for a ceramic staff and taps the wall nearby. It's supposed to break rock and stone that it touches so Rein's hoping to knock a section of wall so he can jump out back to the floor prior.

[Mr. Moon]

Haha, an excellent compromise! A method I often use myself.
Bluh, I remember college. Exaaaaaaaams. e.e

First Floor

Hmm. This was odd, Kaleano thinks to himself as he pushes the tower door open and steps inside. The door had to have been open recently, otherwise there would be dirt and animals and plants inside that had gotten in. Bird nests and the like. But a quick glance around the room told him that this was not the case. Someone had been there in the last few days, at least.

Shrugging off his backpack and stooping to place it on the floor under a table, Kaleano spots the piece of paper laying on the floor. Curious, the artist picks it up and unfolds it, holding it top and bottom with either hand as he reads it. And as he does, his eyes open quite wide and his heart rate accelerates. At the same time, an excited smile crinkles his eyes and dimples his cheeks. A mystery! Who was this Delano figure, and why did he leave this message? And for who? A friend turned enemy, it would seem, but for what reasons? What was this old acquaintance doing, what investigation was he perusing, that made such threats necessary? What had happened "last time?" A duel? A tense political battle? Could this be... espionage?

This was so intriguing! Carefully, Kaleano folds the letter. He reaches into a satchel hanging at his waist from around his shoulder and withdraws a leather-bound note-book. Thumbing it open to the latest page, where a blank page kissed yesterday's field notes. He slips the letter between these two pages, buckles the book shut, and returns it to its place next to his sketchbook.

Perhaps the man who had received the letter was still here? If so, perhaps he would allow Kaleano to travel with him. Oh, this was turning into a real adventure, like in books! Perhaps he was upstairs.
One hand on the rail, Kaleano picks his way up the dust-covered stairs. "Hello?" he calls up. "Is anyone there?

[Time for Never]

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Glad to hear you're doing well. College can be brutal, I know.

*thwap*
Reinholdt fires the second the soldier moves as promised.

He starts preparing to jump down the stairs, several steps at a time, doing some ridiculous kung-fu moves he doesn't actually know off the curved wall when Deveric's arrival makes all that impossible. And he can't risk shifting to cat form. "Could your timing be any worse?!"

Thank goodness polearms are having as much difficulty as he is.

He's not terribly capable of fighting in close quarters. Space is what he needs now. He switches out his crossbow for a ceramic staff and taps the wall nearby. It's supposed to break rock and stone that it touches so Rein's hoping to knock a section of wall so he can jump out back to the floor prior.

Haha, an excellent compromise! A method I often use myself.
Bluh, I remember college. Exaaaaaaaams. e.e

First Floor

Hmm. This was odd, Kaleano thinks to himself as he pushes the tower door open and steps inside. The door had to have been open recently, otherwise there would be dirt and animals and plants inside that had gotten in. Bird nests and the like. But a quick glance around the room told him that this was not the case. Someone had been there in the last few days, at least.

Shrugging off his backpack and stooping to place it on the floor under a table, Kaleano spots the piece of paper laying on the floor. Curious, the artist picks it up and unfolds it, holding it top and bottom with either hand as he reads it. And as he does, his eyes open quite wide and his heart rate accelerates. At the same time, an excited smile crinkles his eyes and dimples his cheeks. A mystery! Who was this Delano figure, and why did he leave this message? And for who? A friend turned enemy, it would seem, but for what reasons? What was this old acquaintance doing, what investigation was he perusing, that made such threats necessary? What had happened "last time?" A duel? A tense political battle? Could this be... espionage?

This was so intriguing! Carefully, Kaleano folds the letter. He reaches into a satchel hanging at his waist from around his shoulder and withdraws a leather-bound note-book. Thumbing it open to the latest page, where a blank page kissed yesterday's field notes. He slips the letter between these two pages, buckles the book shut, and returns it to its place next to his sketchbook.

Perhaps the man who had received the letter was still here? If so, perhaps he would allow Kaleano to travel with him. Oh, this was turning into a real adventure, like in books! Perhaps he was upstairs.
One hand on the rail, Kaleano picks his way up the dust-covered stairs. "Hello?" he calls up. "Is anyone there?

[The Spiral Staircase]

The bolt lands squarely in the chest of the soldier who proceeds to briefly stagger. Looking down, it grabs a hold of it and breaks it in two. It appears to have taken no damage and instead just seems to be irked now.

Hm. Crossbows are supposed to be the bane of heavy armor with their puncturing abilities. That must be some pretty good defense then. Well at least the shot succeeded in making him stop for a second or two, right?

"Oh, well then, I do apologize for trying to warn you from being attacked by our belligerent friend here. It looks like its too late for that now, though."

And then Reindholt jumps down to the nearest floor leaving Deveric with the enemy.

"..........."

A stab by the halberd is aimed at the temporarily distracted Deveric. He avoids it easily enough by jumping down a few stairs and out of sight behind the center column.

"At least your not very quick in any case. It's all that armor you're wearing, gent. Slows you down."

The assailant grunts in annoyance. It moves down the stairs in pursuit but finds an armed chronomancer ready when it rounds the corner.

"No, no, you already made your move and blundered. Give me a go." Deveric holds his scythe in an upside down fashion and swings it in an upward motion which catches the thing on the bottom of its helmet. He then brings the scythe over his head and flings the soldier down the stairs behind him, in which it rolls down before getting back up.

"Now you may have the lower ground."

[First Floor]

Kaleano's question will be promptly answered by a loud thud coming from the stairs a couple of floors above as the soldier rolls downwards. Nobody can hear him though as the commotion overpowers the sound of his voice.

[Reinholdt]

[The Spiral Staircase]

I imagine knocking out a stone wall makes a fair bit of noise as well.

Reinholdt peers down the staircase after the rolling soldier. Well for the brief period that he can with the curves.
"Time to take a nap.
...Pelor that was weak. Ah!
They see me rollin', they hatin'..."
Much better.

He just lost one of his infinite crossbow bolts though. That's annoying.

Well since noise seems to no longer be an issue, Reinholdt switches out for a shotgun. He's not sure what it'd do against that armor though. Hopefully he won't have to find out for a while as he doesn't see a reason to chase it down.

[Mr. Moon]

Going Up

Crash! Bang! Thud!

...

Not the usual method of replying to a hello. Good heavens, wonders Kaleano, what ever was going on up there? At the very least, though, one of his questions had been answered. He wasn't alone.
Although now he wasn't quite as sure if he should be encouraged by that.

"Um, I hope I'm not intruding?" the artist calls up as he makes his way up to the second floor. "The door was open so I let myself in. If you're busy I can find somewhere else to sleep?"

[Time for Never]

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[The Spiral Staircase]

I imagine knocking out a stone wall makes a fair bit of noise as well.

Reinholdt peers down the staircase after the rolling soldier. Well for the brief period that he can with the curves.
"Time to take a nap.
...Pelor that was weak. Ah!
They see me rollin', they hatin'..."
Much better.

He just lost one of his infinite crossbow bolts though. That's annoying.

Well since noise seems to no longer be an issue, Reinholdt switches out for a shotgun. He's not sure what it'd do against that armor though. Hopefully he won't have to find out for a while as he doesn't see a reason to chase it down.

Going Up

Crash! Bang! Thud!

...

Not the usual method of replying to a hello. Good heavens, wonders Kaleano, what ever was going on up there? At the very least, though, one of his questions had been answered. He wasn't alone.
Although now he wasn't quite as sure if he should be encouraged by that.

"Um, I hope I'm not intruding?" the artist calls up as he makes his way up to the second floor. "The door was open so I let myself in. If you're busy I can find somewhere else to sleep?"

[The Spiral Staircase]

Now that you mention it, stone debris raining down would probably cause a slight disturbance. So yeah, there's also that.

Meanwhile, Deveric's pretty sure he just heard a voice that wasn't Reinholdt's calling out. If so, that would then mean that there are potentially more enemies lurking around to deal with. That would be very odd though, because who in their right mind would be way out in the middle of Venreth, a land so infamous for its mortality rate that adventuring in it was essentially considered a death sentence?

..........Aside from Deveric and Reindholt that is.

The sentry turns his head towards the direction of the sound and then looks back at Deveric. It then renews its attack on the scythe wielding intruder. Again it will make a jab with the weapon since swinging is a bit limited here. Deveric casts a melee ward which looks like a simmering field around him. The halberd hits a transparent magic field instead of soft, unprotected skin. It seems that he'll be too distracted to answer the voice for now.

"Always with the stabbing. Don't you do anything else?"

Deveric then retaliates with a top-right to bottom-left diagonal strike with his weapon which lands where shoulder meets neck. He then further pushes downward, slowly forcing the sentry to one of its knees. It makes a pointless effort to try and grab the scythe by its shaft and lift it upwards. If the armor wasn't so thick this person would be dead.

"I need to ask you some questions now. I'd appreciate it if you would just answer them instead of resisting. If you do, I might just spare you from death's embrace."

It continues to struggle.

"How did you get a hold of that armor? That design hasn't been used since the organization's disbandment."

The sentry continues to push back. It meets even more pain when Deveric pushes down even harder.

"Tell me where he is. I already know he's here."

More silence.

"Fine."

Deveric will then pull off the person's helmet and grab them by their neck with his bronze metallic arm. It rolls down the stairs a bit before stopping against a wall. A gaunt ashen skinned face stares aggressively at Deveric with disturbingly pure white pupils.

[Reinholdt]

[The Spiral Staircase]

Well I guess I thought the armor was falling down further than he was. Ah well.

Either way it seems Deveric's handling it fine. He definitely heard someone else shouting about intruding and sleeping.

Things are worse in this town than he thought!
"How can you sleep with all this racket going on?" Reinholdt calls down from the third floor to the artist.

[Mr. Moon]

Second Floor

Well, whatever was going on up there, they sure were making a terrible racket. The closer he got, the clearer it became. Metal on metal, something crashing down the stairs (again?). And, barely intelligible from here, someone speaking? To who? Kaleano couldn't make out a reply. He climbs further up the stairs, reaching the second floor, and keeps going.

It's about then, as Kaleano prepares to call up again, that a voice reaches him!
"Certainly, I could not! I still have things to do before resting my head. However if you'd rather not be bothered," whoever you are, anyway, "then I'd be more than happy to move on. I'd hate to be a bother."

[Time for Never]

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[The Spiral Staircase]

Well I guess I thought the armor was falling down further than he was. Ah well.

Either way it seems Deveric's handling it fine. He definitely heard someone else shouting about intruding and sleeping.

Things are worse in this town than he thought!
"How can you sleep with all this racket going on?" Reinholdt calls down from the third floor to the artist.

Second Floor

Well, whatever was going on up there, they sure were making a terrible racket. The closer he got, the clearer it became. Metal on metal, something crashing down the stairs (again?). And, barely intelligible from here, someone speaking? To who? Kaleano couldn't make out a reply. He climbs further up the stairs, reaching the second floor, and keeps going.

It's about then, as Kaleano prepares to call up again, that a voice reaches him!
"Certainly, I could not! I still have things to do before resting my head. However if you'd rather not be bothered," whoever you are, anyway, "then I'd be more than happy to move on. I'd hate to be a bother."

[The Spiral Staircase - 4th Floor]

Deveric technically hears the conversation between Reinholdt and Kaleano but he's not really listening. At the moment he's way too preoccupied to be distracted. His grip slightly loosens as he's taken aback by this new sight, to which the creature takes advantage of. It musters enough energy to throw a punch at Deveric's rib cage, which is luckily deadened by an underlying plate armor as equally hearty as the creature's own. The chronomancer recovers from his surprise and then proceeds to further crush the thing's neck in his steel-like vice. In return the ashen-skinned creature tries to relief the grasp by placing its own hands on Deveric's arm.

"A... a Netherial? I thought your kind had left this world. How are you even here right now?"

Suddenly Deveric grows angry. This wasn't right, they shouldn't be back after the final war had seen them off into the distant cosmos. He must have been deceived somehow.

"Why won't you just leave?!"

The Netherial's eyes turns from hostility to fear as its windpipes are crushed. Suddenly Deveric removes the scythe from its shoulder and slams the thing into the wall.

"Once more I ask: Where. Is. He." He loosens his grip so that it can speak. Gasping for breath, it attempts to talk but to no avail. Deveric gives the Netherial a second or two to catch its breath.

"Umalar... in Umalar...." the voice that emits from its mouth is aside from being raspy, very disjointed and alien sounding.

Deveric nods as if his suspicions had been confirmed. He thinks over the consequences of this revelation. Directing his attention back to the Netherial he gives off a smirk hidden by the plague mask.

"I was never going to let you live."

He snaps the creature's neck. Its lifeless body falls down and rolls a little way where it lands by the helmet. Walking over, Deveric picks up the helmet and examines it. It sort of looks like:

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http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2011/10/untitled-9.jpg

minus the rectangles sticking out on top, and instead of the dozen of so small holes, there are 4 glass circles arranged in a diamond in the center of the mask. It had been a while since he had seen this famous design of armor. Not only was it an effective piece of armor but it could also be used as a type of plague mask.

[Reinholdt]

Third Floor

"Oh no! We're more than happy to have guests! You just caught us unprepared is all. Please come in, I'll try to tidy up." Reinholdt says shuffling off around the corner so that he can try to catch the artist off guard when he arrives on the third floor. By catch the artist off guard, I mean put a pistol to the back of the artist's head with one hand and a knife at the small of the artist's back with the other. Or forehead and throat should a back attack prove impossible.

If he's successful, he'll tell the artist not to move or he'll take it as an act of aggression.

If he's not, well we'll just have to roll from there won't we?

[Mr. Moon]

Third Floor

Tidy up? That is somewhat odd. This tower didn't exactly look very lived in. Did these people live here? That seemed unlikely. Oh well. Whatever it was, he'd find out soon.

"Why thank-you. You can't imagine how surprised I am to find som-"
Kaleano's sharp cutoff is prompted by the rather unusual sensation of something sharp and pointy sticking into his back. The gun isn't quite as recognizable to the young artist, since I'm not really sure if they exist in this setting yet.

Reinholdt's new captive is a young fellow, probably barely twenty years old. His black hair is worn long and curly, spilling messily out of a feathered red cap. His chin is dusted with stubble garnered from the day's travel. His fingers are dirty with charcoal, smudges of it rubbed onto his soft face and inexpensive clothing. Worn around his shoulder is a quite full leather satchel that rests against his hip. Resting against his other hip is a long saber, which he reaches for with shaking fingers, but stops when instructed to.
"Um. No, no aggression here!" he blurts, holding his hands in the air in front of him. "I don't have money! I'm just an artist! Oh gods please don't kill me!"

[Time for Never]

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Third Floor

"Oh no! We're more than happy to have guests! You just caught us unprepared is all. Please come in, I'll try to tidy up." Reinholdt says shuffling off around the corner so that he can try to catch the artist off guard when he arrives on the third floor. By catch the artist off guard, I mean put a pistol to the back of the artist's head with one hand and a knife at the small of the artist's back with the other. Or forehead and throat should a back attack prove impossible.

If he's successful, he'll tell the artist not to move or he'll take it as an act of aggression.

If he's not, well we'll just have to roll from there won't we?

Third Floor

Tidy up? That is somewhat odd. This tower didn't exactly look very lived in. Did these people live here? That seemed unlikely. Oh well. Whatever it was, he'd find out soon.

"Why thank-you. You can't imagine how surprised I am to find som-"
Kaleano's sharp cutoff is prompted by the rather unusual sensation of something sharp and pointy sticking into his back. The gun isn't quite as recognizable to the young artist, since I'm not really sure if they exist in this setting yet.

Reinholdt's new captive is a young fellow, probably barely twenty years old. His black hair is worn long and curly, spilling messily out of a feathered red cap. His chin is dusted with stubble garnered from the day's travel. His fingers are dirty with charcoal, smudges of it rubbed onto his soft face and inexpensive clothing. Worn around his shoulder is a quite full leather satchel that rests against his hip. Resting against his other hip is a long saber, which he reaches for with shaking fingers, but stops when instructed to.
"Um. No, no aggression here!" he blurts, holding his hands in the air in front of him. "I don't have money! I'm just an artist! Oh gods please don't kill me!"

[The Spiral Staircase]

Deveric removes his current mask and carefully places it in one of his fancy inter-space bags. Everybody needs to get one of those at some point. He then puts down his hood and slowly puts on the Netherial's helmet in place of it. Once satisfied with the headpiece's adjustment he pulls the crimson hood back up. Looking down at the Netherial, Deveric chuckles at the creature's corpse. There was no point in letting the armor go to waste, and Deveric's own was a bit dated after all. Imagine the aforementioned link except that instead of the randomly jutting rectangles, there are more gears, clocks, studs, bolts, motors, and a handful of illuminating red lights. Like I said, very clockworky.

Deveric begins to remove pieces of his older armor and store them the same way as with the plague mask. After a couple of minutes, he has put on this newer, sturdier set with his crimson/ivory cloak still draped over the underlying plate armor. This design was much better than his own ever was. Now where was he? Oh right, an unknown person had followed in after them. He should probably look into that.

The chronomancer descends the staircase until he comes to where Reinholdt is holding Kaleano captive. He was taking even more of a liking to Reinholdt now than ever before. The cat was certainly resourceful and a good partner too. Deveric was fairly confident that he had his back. Still though, this new man didn't appear to be that much of a threat. Perhaps Reinholdt was overreacting a tad bit.

Deveric looks directly at Kaleano.

"You have about a minute to tell me who you and why you are out in the middle of this gods-forsaken hell."

Try not to blame Deveric too much, he has a point to be cautious down in this part of the world.

*Edit - Primitive flintlock pistols and arquebuses have made an appearance in the last decade or so. So a firearm wouldn't be too surprising unless it looked like a modern 21st century one, but a person may still recognize it for what it is.

[Reinholdt]

[The Spiral Staircase]

Reinholdt's only mildly psychotic. It's... lovable?
Probably not for the artist.

He had figured as much with the gun too, which is why he went the awkward dual wielding route. Though admittedly, Rein's gun shifts when he first sees Deveric. And indeed, sort of lingers on Deveric too. He couldn't really see who won the fight and now a guy dressed in both outfits shows up. It's disconcerting. If the soldier was smarter and had the ability to imitate voices...

Hmm, best just to keep the artist positioned between them for now, slowly returning the gun to the artist.
"What sort of artist comes here? A blood artist perhaps? Specializing in the art of undead creation?"

[Mr. Moon]

"Wh-what? Undead!?" Kaleano's eyes grow wide as he stammeringly repeats the accusation. And his eyes go even wider as an armoured man walks down and starts pointing his scythe at him.

"Oh gods. Oh gods oh gods. I-I'm not a blood artist I swear! I don't even like blood!" protests the shaking artist, all colour gone from his skin. "I j-just came here to sketch th-the ruins!"

Oh sweet gods he was going to die. He was surrounded by crazed axe-murderers and they were going to kill him and eat his skin and wear his skull as a hat.
...
Kaleano has a very active imagination.