AMEN L: [Insert Ideas]

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Prison Infirmary]

Huh? Anika wasn't sure what Adir was babbling about. Was he trusting that spooky spirit thing? Well, either way the situation was pretty simple to her. They had to get out of this place now that had what they came for.

She moves for cover and changes back into her humanoid form for a few moments and starts casting every healing spell she knew without a casting time longer than half a second. "We'll deal with that later, now we get out of here!" She shouts to Adir. "Get her out of that chair and on to my back."

If nothing happened to her while she was casting spells, Anika will turn back into a bear, bite and tear off the straps that were keeping 'Ilpholin' in the chair. Then the other two with hands would have to do the unhooking medical parts. She knew nothing about equipment as fancy as this.

[Morty]

[Rescue - Prison Infirmary]

"She's right! We can't worry about that now."

Wenomir will indeed begin unplugging Ilpholin from the equipment. He has little idea what it does and he's not qualified to operate it, but they don't exactly have a lot of choice.

[5a Violista]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Requiem, who has been keeping track of where Vigil is inside the base, notices somebody moving from where Vigil was to the entrance. Who is it? It's not Wenomir, he's still with the other two...but it feels qualitatively different from a henchman so...maybe it's the boss? Or, more likely, somebody sent by the boss to check up what's going on here. That would explain why it's more difficult to notice than normal, but easier than that fae-lord's tricks. How does she communicate what's going on without giving away that someone's there? Sending a fourth body along to tell him is out of the question: she's barely handling three at the same time.

Anyway, she considers it. "Sure, that works," says the blonde woman. She shrugs. "Enforcing it is trivial. Breaking deals weakens people's spirits and opens them up to influence and since my power depends on that, if I break it then I'll be weaker." And that's all Raven really cares about, right? She wouldn't care about the dealmaker could do if Raven breaks the contract, since she's not planning on breaking it, right?

She stands up. "And then when Vigil arrives on their way out, you can join them or make out with them or whatever else you were planning on doing when they arrived. I'm sure they'll need help carrying people out, if that's your thing."

...Is that sufficient, she wonders? Between what Raven and Requiem said, does that adequately explain to any onlookers what's going on? "So, anything else, or we have a deal?"

[Purple Eagle]

[Shuyoru and Zefir]

Zefir doesn't seem to find this funny at all. His expression nearly appears like set in stone as he waits for Shuyoru outburst.

"Trust." he replies to his questions, thought he waits even after Shuyoru points out that he is no henchman. "You should know that blood contracts have been common business around here since forever. It's nothing new for members. I just don't do them mostly due to several facts." He then makes a short break. He speaks up befor Shuyoru will say something. "Unless you decline you are now a member, thought there are some restrictions for new members. Some places won't be available, but I assume you will understand the why. Is there anything else?"

[Shuyoru and Zefir]

Shuyoru looks like he wants to say something, but thinks better of it. Instead, he listens to what Zefir has to say, nodding in understanding. "Facts like it triggering by mistake, or not working for everyone? Besides, given my nature, a blood contract won't be safe for me." That's all he has to say on that subject, however.

"Magnificent!" He says thrice, clapping his hands. "I accept, and I understand the necessity for restriction. Thank you for having me, boss Zefir the zephyr." He says, with a grin and a friendly wink. "Now that the interview is over, lemme change out of my base form." He says, starting to transform into someone that could pass for Yewa's twin brother, a taller man with blue eyes, black sclera and poofy afro hair. "Hmm, should I act serious like you or not..." He says, suddenly turning his face into a stony expression.

"Right, boss. There's nothing else." He says in a deeper, more serious voice. "Might I leave now and meet the other members, asides Requiem, whom I've met? Perhaps helping you out with your little problem?"

Zefir might notice that he's as good as effecting personality changes as he is appearance changes. (though he's still a trickster at heart )

[Zefir]

[Shuyoru and Zefir]

Zefir doesn't replay to the contract thing. There are sure ways to make it work with him. They are just called blood contracts but they don't nesissary need blood due to creatures that have non.

He looks questioning at Shuyoru when he calls out his name. What does zephyr stand for? he asks himself in mins not really sure if he just misspelled his name. Thought that would be silly since he did spell it right 2 words before.

I'm not sure Zefir notice any personality changes. Since from what he heared it's just a deeper voice which only is voiceacting as far as he can say.

"Yes do that." he says. "If I need you I will give you a call. Otherwise you can try to gather resources for us. Best would be informations on Vigil or MERC. But any kind of currency or military goods are finde as well."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

As Zefir nears the front entrance, he's going to start running into lots of squads of henchmen, many of them tech henchmen. All of them are positioned to lay down heavy fire should anyone come down the halls from the front room where Requiem and Raven are, but they're not pressing any sort of attack, either. All of them seem to be ignoring him, focused on their objective of preventing the new intruder from making it further into the base. They'll allow him past, however, so he can listen in on the conversation without problems.

[Rescue - Prison Infirmary]

A second round of rushing boots can be heard faintly coming from the halls. Even more reinforcements are on their way, and by the sound of it, not just a single squad, either, but perhaps dozens of soldiers. VIGIL's window to escape seems to be closing, if the sound from the halls is to be believed.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Requiem says breaking deals weakens someone's spirit and allows for influence and she has powers regarding that. Raven can fill in the gaps of what would happen if she didn't uphold her end of the bargain.

"Deal," Raven says after a moment of consideration. She'll hop off the chair after a little past that and move closer to sign the contract. After she reviews it to make sure it's simple and what they've agreed upon. But if everything looks good and Requiem doesn't attempt a double cross, she will sign it.

Which means she'll have to explain why she's here. "I'm here to rescue VIGIL from your stupid trap. Which meant finding out if they were here for sure." Raven starts heading over to Tiffany while she talks, with the intent of cutting her free, though Raven's eyes are constantly looking around the room. "And once it was established that they were, clearing the front room. For now, I intend to hold their means of escape. But if it takes too long, then something's gone wrong and I'll have to go in and drag their sorry butts out myself." Too long has apparently been decided as 20 minutes.

[Recaiden]

[Rescue - Infirmary]

The newly-arrived henchmen press their attack, now hoping to keep Adir pinned down long enough that Omiko can retreat, the two that were attacking Wenomir refocusing their fire on the stag and whatever sort of makeshift cover he's managed to pull together. One of them reaches into a pouch on its side and withdraws a small canister, waiting for an opportunity to throw it. Obviously a grenade of some kind, though the bright blue markings suggest it's special somehow.

Adir does indeed pick up a metal gurney to defend himself with. Between it and his armor, he manages to keep most of the fire off him. Long enough to collect his thoughts... so he can lunge at the newly-arrived henchmen with surprising speed, turning the gurney into a makeshift club. He tries to take out the group of them in one fell sweep, simply clobbering them with bone crushing force and startling reach.

If he can manage to bash them all down, he'll hurl the dented gurney at the monster carrying Omiko's head. And... then he realizes what the King in Rags just said.

"Hey, the spooky fey that covered our entry just said this Ilpholin's a fake!" He shouts, if the gunfire is quieted. "Damn, shoulda known this was too simple!"

The group of henchmen is not expecting Adir to so quickly or forcefully recover, and as such, it only takes one or two swings of the gurney to send the lot of them flying into various parts of the architecture, considerably quieting the gunfire. The one hench who was holding the canister does drop it as he's batted into one of the walls, though, and the canister reveals itself to be a smoke grenade, as that end of the infirmary quickly begins filling with a thick, grey smoke.

And the mawsphere takes note when Adir yells his revelation that this is not the real Ilpholin, relaying this information back to Zenon and the entire Devourer entity. A cascade of decisions follows, and the sphere waits, watching to see what VIGIL will do now.

Huh? Anika wasn't sure what Adir was babbling about. Was he trusting that spooky spirit thing? Well, either way the situation was pretty simple to her. They had to get out of this place now that had what they came for.

She moves for cover and changes back into her humanoid form for a few moments and starts casting every healing spell she knew without a casting time longer than half a second. "We'll deal with that later, now we get out of here!" She shouts to Adir. "Get her out of that chair and on to my back."

If nothing happened to her while she was casting spells, Anika will turn back into a bear, bite and tear off the straps that were keeping 'Ilpholin' in the chair. Then the other two with hands would have to do the unhooking medical parts. She knew nothing about equipment as fancy as this.

"She's right! We can't worry about that now."

Wenomir will indeed begin unplugging Ilpholin from the equipment. He has little idea what it does and he's not qualified to operate it, but they don't exactly have a lot of choice.

A second round of rushing boots can be heard faintly coming from the halls. Even more reinforcements are on their way, and by the sound of it, not just a single squad, either, but perhaps dozens of soldiers. VIGIL's window to escape seems to be closing, if the sound from the halls is to be believed.

The monster retracts its extra hand, swallowing up the severed head as if its skin were water.
"Okay, maybe not the-"
The voice is cut off as the monster dives to the floor to avoid a gurney flying overhead. That would have hurt.
She rolls back upright, not in the way someone is supposed to roll upright after a fall, but in a completely different way where the body rotates within its skin, momentum completely separate.

"What does he mean not Ilpholin?
"It's got to be a trick to confuse us. If that weren't really Ilpholin they'd leave her here. She obviously still needs medical attention, right? They wouldn't risk the life of some stranger who just looks like their friend." The voice with a mouth perhaps overstates itself. Wenomir disconnecting 'Ilpholin' probably won't put her in any immediate danger.

Now, Anika and Wenomir are in the cell, biting off straps and pulling out needles. The henchmen have been squished and scattered.
Somewhere on the other side of this smoke cloud is Adir, and behind him, the door out of the infirmary.
The monster charges into the smoke.

[Murkus]

[Infirmary - Rescue]

Adir growls in frustration, but he isn't going to argue the merit of rescuing her even if it isn't actually Ilpholin. The stag will dodge away from the entrance, no longer in the monster's way, and slip toward his allies. If he isn't nominated to carry her, he'll probably run point again, this time drawing the second long weapon from his back: an enormous scattergun. Time to go.

[Shadowcaller]

[Infirmary - Rescue]

Once Wenomir is done unplugging 'Ilpholin', Anika will turn to let Wenomir put her over her back. Though considering that she's unconcious they probably have to fasten her on it somehow or she's going to fall off as soon as Anika starts running.

That is going to require someone with opposable thumbs however which Anika was lacking at the moment. Otherwise Wenomir or Adir would have to carry her which would impede their fighting ability significantly. There was also the option of simply leaving her considering she might be a TRAP, but that was something Anika and Wenomir didn't want to consider apparently.

Either way, Anika will start to move towards the door leading out of the infirmary.

[Morty]

[Infirmary - Rescue]

Once Ilpholin - if it is her - is secured to Anika, Wenomir will take point alongside Adir, the druid suddenly turning from defending others to having to be defended. He'll try to cut down anything and anyone that gets in their way, but he's focused on leaving, not fighting.

[Purple Eagle]

Zefir doesn't replay to the contract thing. There are sure ways to make it work with him. They are just called blood contracts but they don't nesissary need blood due to creatures that have non.

He looks questioning at Shuyoru when he calls out his name. What does zephyr stand for? he asks himself in mins not really sure if he just misspelled his name. Thought that would be silly since he did spell it right 2 words before.

I'm not sure Zefir notice any personality changes. Since from what he heared it's just a deeper voice which only is voiceacting as far as he can say.

"Yes do that." he says. "If I need you I will give you a call. Otherwise you can try to gather resources for us. Best would be informations on Vigil or MERC. But any kind of currency or military goods are finde as well."

[Shuyoru and Zefir]

"It means gentle breeze." Shuyoru-as-adult replies, then the air around him changes back to his standard personality, but since Zefir seemingly doubts his abilities he changes his vocal chords so he sounds similar to the other man. "Okay, back in actual character since I have to explain further. Perhaps it's ironic character-wise, but boss-wise I think you're a good boss." Whether or not it's flattery, who can say?

Even though it totally is.

He scratches his chin. "VIGIL or MERC, eh? What form would be best for that?" As he thinks, he shapeshifts into a 15-year old Afro-German boy with dark skin, like a younger Ade Bantu, who's also clearly a normal-ish vampire. "I will call this form Armin. If you see this form, boss, it's me in disguise. A vampire investigator."

((I basically repurposed Brun for this persona.))

With a final nod, Shuyoru-As-Armin leaves.

[5a Violista]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

To be honest, there's no need for Raven to actually sign the document: a verbal contract is enough, and the sheet was mostly just a visual prop to get the idea across. However, if actually signing something will make Raven more willing to go along with it, Requiem sees no reason to stop her or tell her it's unnecessary. "You can keep that, if you want. It'll vanish when it expires."

...Hopefully Zefir or whoever actually came here could hear enough to get a picture of what's going on and why this intruder came here.

Tiffany is easily cut free and pulled back into the room. She's still in pain and trying to control her breath but she seems to understand what Raven taking her back means for her. She looks like she's relaxing. which makes it easier to stop hyperventilating and calm down.

In response to that, Requiem glares. She has no choice but to head out of the room. "That's pretty clever," she says. "I didn't think you'd catch on fast enough." She stands outside the front door. Now that she's outside, she has to raise her voice.
She looks back at Raven. "Considering how quickly you tore through our henchmen, I hope they get back here in time. Good help is hard to find." And people dying is such a waste, because then she can't use them to strengthen herself.

Now,
Requiem wanted Raven to have to stay in the room so that she couldn't chase her down until Requiem had enough time to get this body away to safety: that fae lord is still terrifying and Requiem needs to get far enough to be out of their radar. It's too bad that Raven noticed that and decided to change it, allowing Raven to leave the base.
...Requiem did say she left her grocery bags down at the bottom of the mountain, right? She quickly leaves the front entrance area and starts descending the mountain.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Infirmary - Rescue]

Adir will manage to knock out a few henchmen who arrived first on the team's way out, but the bulk of the forces being sent to the Infirmary are coming from further away, and won't arrive before the VIGILantes have a chance to get a head start on them. Still, the sound of boots isn't terribly far behind them by any stretch of the imagination, so the group had best not dally.

[Recaiden]

Well, if Adir isn't going to get in the way, I guess that's fine.

The monster heads the opposite direction from the VIGIL crew, away from the exit and towards the approaching henchmen. So that she can take a moment to put her head back on: the spidery legs finessing the bones and veins back into alignment, little pincers sewing the skin back together, lowering emergency controls one-by-one.

And it also fires an energy beam over its shoulder at the retreating bear, just to keep them on their toes.

[Murkus]

[Infirmary - Rescue]

Adir probably whirls around and whips one of his sidearms at Omiko's beam. He's had enough of that for one day - he fires off an odd looking canister, like an enormous bullet, at the mouth of the weapon. If it hits, it will explode in a cloud of rapidly hardening white foam, expanding over the weapon's mouth and plugging it up. The super-substance has the approximate consistency of granite, so though it might not stop the beam entirely, perhaps it can cause it to backfire or go off-target.

Other than this, Adir will run till something stops them, trying to keep an eye out for more traps on the way.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Raven Ebondark smirks at Requiem, who caught on that Raven rescued Tifanny at the height of Requiem's inability to react. "They had, like, better get here quick. The nerds." She glances around the room real quick to make sure Requiem isn't leaving any inky surprises. Raven is mostly satisfied with Requiem's end of the deal, though the goth does spend a moment of time glaring with narrowed eyes at the maw sphere up near the ceiling.

That's not the immediate issue though. "Like, stay down and don't go anywhere yet. She might be waiting for you outside," Raven tells Tiffany. Requiem could easily ambush Tiffany if the latter tried to make a run for it right now. It would be safer if they left together.

Until then, Raven cautiously makes her way to a dead henchman and strips him of his weapons, looking to use the gun and any grenades she can find as she takes position purely to cover the three exits leading deeper into the base.
...
Though it'd help if she knew how to use a gun. She doesn't really. Maybe just the grenades then. Those are easy. Pull pin, throw, don't let them throw back.

[Zefir]

[Infirmary Prison - Rescue -> Hallways -Rescue]

There aren't many more traps on the way for now, just the same pit as befor, but this time without the bridge or at least a very weak one?

[Rescue - Close to Front Entrance]

With that time gap of 20 minutes he is not really happy. It would have been more usefull tohave her dead. At least he won't force her unless it seems the Vigil guys won't come intime. Zefir still got the intel from the cameras so he has at least the overview to know what the enemies do. In silence he gives the henchman and the new ones orders to scatter around. This way the grenades picked up by 'Raven' won't be as effectiv. Also the other exits should be closed, vehicle armed and such. Vigil wouldn't try to go for the tanks if there is the risk of them been armed. After all the illusions from the king of rags caused the henchman to be there. Why not use them?

He will then hide himself , too. taking a close look at the door and the hallway Vigil will come from.

[Shuyoru and Zefir]

Zefir doesn't speak it out, but he appears mad when he copys his voice or at least tries since Zefir isn't really sure how he sounds. Ever tried to and recorded your own voice? On top, voice acting isn't a personality change for him. Changing from the funny "it will be fine" guy to a rather depressed " we all die" person appears to me as personality change. Unless things go off in the translation. Zefir nods as the other guy leaves. the hologramm disapears as the door closes.

[Shadowcaller]

[Prison - Rescue -> Hallways -Rescue]

At this point Anika is just going to run as fast as she can and hope she can find her way back to the exit. She had tried to memorize the layout but she had heard that the base could shift around at times so she just have to hope that they can get out before that happens.

Bears are pretty fast when they pick up speed even while carrying someone on their back so Wenomir and Adir will have to make sure they can keep up. She wouldn't be able to do much dodging or trap avoiding now so Adir and Wenomir would have to do that for her too. If they wanted her to slow down, they should probably ask her to before she runs ahead too far.

[Morty]

[Prison - Rescue -> Hallways -Rescue]

With Adir taking care of Omiko's blast, Wenomir brings up the rear of the escaping party, his sword ready to parry any incoming missiles. He's also on lookout for any traps that might be waiting for them.

[5a Violista]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

There doesn't appear to be any traps left behind by Requiem.
The whole thing was off-the-cuff and she had little time to think through what she was doing. She was afraid that everything would fall apart at any moment and that the intruder would change her mind again and start attacking. If she had thought it through, she probably would have left some present behind.

Speaking of poorly-thought-through plans, Tiffany is really regretting her decision to get shot so many times. A stab wound and a single pistol gunshot would have probably been enough. It seriously distracted Requiem throughout the entire encounter, leading to other decisions she'd regret later. And she'd been trying to suppress the sensory overload from the pain for so long that Tiffany will need a couple minutes to recover from the backlash of that suppression.

Tiffany looks like she's going to say something in response to Raven, but instead winces from the pain.
Yup, regretting those decisions already.
In the end, she decides to just nod.

Give her a few moments, and she'll be able to say 'thanks'.

[Recaiden]

The flash of the gun meets a bunch of quickly expanding stone foam and though it burns through it, there's no energy left to harm the VIGIL members.
Shame Omiko didn't see that with her own eyes. It was so cool of Adir. The quick thinking, the timing, the neat little granite-gel-canister gun. What a perfect moment.

The monster retreats, letting itself get lost in the hallways.
Should they check ion the decoy? Or maybe it would be interesting to beat them to the door?
But for now, they need to get away.

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Hallways]

I suppose the VIGILites get close to the front room, then. What happens then depends on the people around. Adir is definitely flagging a little bit from the wound on his leg. He probably covers anyone he can see with his sidearm, his shooting arm as level and steady as ever.

If there are henchmen around, they're definitely getting blasted. I don't see good odds of more ordinary henchmen stopping any of the people from VIGIL.

[Zefir]

[Rescue - Hallways]

Getting out might be easier then expected. Going back the path they cleared by following the destruction is rather easy. Also when they pass sideways they hear the steps of more henchman coming. only one or two managed to get on the path, but Adir and Wenomir kill them befor they got even a chance to aim. Then finally they reach the hallway leading to the main room.

On their way they will meet the new henchman already prepared , but something is off. Another person is there even thought it is hard to see him. When the vigil people still head for the door, there will suddenly see the ground bowing as if a wave is send to them, right before it will hit the Vigil people it breaks and instead of a wave there will be stone pillars trying to smash them or pushing them back unless they can push themself really close to the walls or somehow break the stones instead.

[Reinholdt]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Raven listens carefully for a while and when she hears the sound of approaching bear, she reacts. "Get up and ready to run. As soon as they're here, we're retreating," Raven tells Tiffany while pulling the pins on a pair of grenades. She tosses each just past the doorways of the other halls leading deeper into the base. The goal is simply to deter anyone else trying to come in from another angle. Explosions tend to make good deterrents.

Raven herself fluidly darts to one side of the doorway VIGIL is headed towards and carefully peeks down the hall in their direction. What she can do from here is limited by her contract, but only Intel can determine that.

[5a Violista]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Tiffany nods. "Okay," she says. makes her way to the wall to help herself stand.
She's still got those weird purple handcuffs Requiem put on her, right? Luckily she doesn't need her hands to run. She presses them against the remnants of the couch, as if testing to see if they can break. "I-I can move on my own, you won't have to worry about me."

Everything's not out of the woods, however: Tiffany still remembers that one of those Vigil people wanted to 'shoot her just in case' or something like that. She's got to appear non-threatening but still strong enough that it's better to not just leave her behind. Part of these handcuffs cracks and so it breaks open, allowing her hands free.

She looks down at her own closed-up wounds, that were filled in by Requiem's inky-purple stuff. "I'll keep an eye on these, just in case she can still control them from this far away."
'cause wouldn't that be a nasty trap? Requiem left the building but left something behind on the teenager's wounds that can attack the Vigil people when they're least expecting it. I wouldn't put it beneath her to do that. Requiem seems like the type who could plan out something that far in advance, and then attack after she's gotten to safety.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

The henchmen watching the front entrance from the halls Raven throws the grenades down duck for cover as she throws them. None of them make a move to attack her, however, and when the smoke clears, they don't reappear. Perhaps they've been recalled deeper into the base? Or perhaps they're hiding down secret passages, waiting to a spring a trap should Raven decide to use to the explosions as a distraction to try and get further into the base....

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Seriously? Just when they were about to-
No.

Anika roars and will attempt to power through these blasted rocks. The pillars shot upwards which meant there was less chance that they'd hit 'Ilpholin'. The stone pillars could smash into her, she didn't care. She could take the damage. It would be a lot better than being stuck inside AMEN. She will attempt to use the fact that the rocks just appeared (and thus can't be particularly stable) and her sheer weight and mess to try to crash through the pillars.

[Morty]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Wenomir doesn't slow down when the pillars come at him... in fact, he speeds up. His brisk pace towards the exit turns into a burst of motion that seems to slow down near the pillar, as all the momentum flows into the Answer, which has turned into its axe form along the way. The edge of the axe strikes the weakest point of the pillar, spotted by Wenomir in a split-second, with enough force to hopefully split it in half vertically and allows him to jump between the halves.

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Adir... has nothing to do against this except run the other direction, so it's a relief when Wenomir and Anika start to clear a path. He'll follow his friends through, his movement entirely dependent on their success. He starts to take aim at the henchmen... but he considers that strange, familiar scent again as they advance. He starts to dig a thermal imaging sight out of his kit, attaching it to the other long weapon on his back...