Skyside 4

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Stormcloud Manor]

The cultists gets closer and the mercenaries are getting itchy, something that does not go unnoticed by all the cultists. A few of them stop and look closer at people who've gathered near the mansion, they didn't recognize any of these people, and this part of town was often pretty deserted.
But by then it is too late, and before any of the cultists can do much about it the mercenaries open fire. However, not all open fire at once, there is a brief delay between the first salvo and the second one as some of the mercenaries were just a bit too eager. As two cultists fall to the ground when a huge human woman shoots them down in a hail of automated fire, the rest of the cultists have just enough time to start pulling their weapons or seek cover before the rest of the mercenaries start shooting.

The second salvo, initiated by the gnoll and the closest to her, hits the most targets, spraying the manor walls with blood and bullet-holes.

This is followed by nearly everyone else who just starts firing at will now, spraying bullets all over the streets around them.

Some of the cultists have managed to seek protection behind the wall, but the majority lies bloody in the street, filled with bullets or scorched by energy blasts.

Inside the mansion, they can hear voices crying out, and how one of the mercenaries, the large human woman, gets her head blown clean off by a huge projectile. It doesn't appear like it was fired by any of the cultists.

[Recaiden]

A small smile spreads over Alni's face at the sudden outpouring of violence. There's a lot wrong with the situation, but plenty that's right. A massacre like this gets one's aura burning bright, reminds you overwhelmingly the value of life.

She darts out towards the manor, her spectral wings appear, and she soars up to the rooftop where they can make their entrance. If Nimix and Therese haven't shown appropriate roof-climbing of their own (probably he can just make a stairway with his ethereal-computer), she'll withdraw a coil of rope from her basket and toss one end down to them. Once they've ascended (one way or another) she'll set Pazuzu on her shoulder and slip inside.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Stormcloud Manor]

Nimix simply makes a platform that he and Therese can float up on as the fighting goes on outside. The cultists have started firing back now and have managed to close the gates to the manor, yet the mercenaries are about to blast through the gate too with their overwhelming firepower.

They will find the hole in the ceiling, but they will have to squeeze inside, especially Therese who is bigger than both the goblin and the elf.

In the addict its rather dark so they're going to need a light source of some kind. They can still hear the gun battle down below, it is still so loud that they will have problems hearing one another talk. This of course means that it is unlikely that they were heard when they were squeezing down in the attic though.

If they lit the room they will see that the attic is nearly completely empty besides some old moldy rugs standing rolled up in a corner. Just a lot of spiderwebs, dust and mold here as rainwater appears to have caused the woodwork to rot from the inside. The smell in here is hard to bear, the cultists have certainly avoided it considering the lack of repairs.
There is a hatch leading down though, but as Nimix attempts to open it, he has a conclusion. "It's locked. Should we blast it open?"

[Recaiden]

Alni squeezes into the attic, nose wrinkled at the rotting stink of the place.

Brushing away a spiderweb and looking down at the hatch, she nods.
"They're making enough of a noise down below. Break it open."
Actually, given the weakness of the wood, they might have just as much luck breaking through the attic floor.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Stormcloud Manor]

"Alright, give me a moment." Nimix takes up a blaster that most likely would be called tiny by his peers.
"Wait." Therese suddenly speaks up. "Let me do it." She declares, as she lifts her much larger gun.

Before Nimix can protest, she blows a large hole in the hatch, the energy blast fired in complete silence.
"W-whoa! You could have hit me with that thing!"

"S-sorry, but we have to be quick, right?" Therese replies, seemingly not wanting to be the first down.
Nimix gives her a glare, but then pulls the hatch open and starts to carefully climb down.

Alni might notice something though, or rather the lack of something, the sound of guns firing as there is a sudden silence hanging in the air.

[Recaiden]

Alni goes after the goblin, sliding carelessly down and looking around the place they've landed.

She holds up a hand to indicate that they should wait. "It's too quiet. The fight can't be over already, can it?"
Can she still hear herself talk? Maybe the manor is a quieting force.
Pazuzu, what's about to happen out front, in the very next moment?

Perhaps to break the silence, the little bird chirps a little song as it examines the likely future.
The quietest sound it can normally discern is -10 dB, a ratio of 1/10 of the base point. The same ratio customarily asked by religious organizations as tithes. And here they are in a cult, a degenerate religion, likewise lacking that smallest part. This is not a coincidence.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Stormcloud Manor]

Alni can still hear herself talk, even better than before in fact due to how quiet everything suddenly got. She and Nimix are standing at the end of a corridor covered by a old blue carpet with ornate patterns. The walls are white, and actually look newly painted. A sharp contrast to the moldy attic.

But then she can hear more gunshots fire, though far less than before.

"There they go again." Nimix observes after a moment of listening. "Maybe they ordered a ceasefire?"

Thresea looks doubtful though, always making sure to keep a distance between herself and the others even as she is coming down the hole. "As if everyone would follow that order instantly. You guys are hardly disciplined."

Pazuzu get a brief glimpse of the front of the manor, and while there are a lot of dead cultists there, one of them stands out. Laying at the very threshold of the bullet filled door is a corpse that is filled with far more bullets than the others. He or she have been shot so many times that it has becoming impossible to tell what gender or race they were, or even what they were wearing. Yet in their hand they are still clutching what appears to be a goblin head made of jade with a facial expression that suggests only agony.

Pazuzu can also hear some mercenaries scream violently at the manor, they sound extremely upset and angry, some almost on the verge on tears. Inside the manor she get glimpses of cultists looking out the window, only to be shot at. She can't see what has happened to the mercenaries though, but there seems to be less of them now.

[Recaiden]

"What's this 'you guys', Therese? We're all in this together now."

Alni takes her own blaster out of her basket. Like Nimix's, it would probably (and accurately) be called 'tiny'. It's a second choice after exercising her powers, but a gun, even a little one, presents menace in the way her own adorable appearance doesn't. And that can be useful. She settles onto the ground and starts down the hallway, keeping close to the right wall.

"The attack's been slowed, in danger of being pushed back. It has something to do with a petrified jade head? We need to get downstairs and make an opening for them."

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

Therese does not reply to Alni's question, instead she jumps on to the new subject. "A petrified head? What use would that have?" She wasn't even going to question how Alni knew all this.

Nimix frowns and scratches the back of his huge ear. "Must be the remains of those jade massacre victims that they stole. Gotta to be some magic involved, no way those cultists managed to shoot up our crew by themselves."

As they creep down the corridor, they can see a staircase in the middle of the corridor and hear voices coming from below.

"-get a grip on it. She united with the highress before death. There is no greater glory than that."

Then there is a loud buzzing sound that starts up. Sounds like it is coming from further down, at the bottom floor.

[Recaiden]

"It was magic. Like maybe it was attracting the bullets? Couldn't tell exactly."

Alni approaches the staircase and slides down the banister (they have one, right? It'll be a little annoying if she has to fly as if there were a banister behind her in order to get the same effect. But she'll do it). At the bottom of the stairs she opens fire with her blaster pistol at the first person^* she sees.

Pazuzu concentrates. Put aside the portents and omens (the colors of jade represent-). They will strike without fear, and today the world will conform to their vision. People may be able to notice the buildup of energy around the tiny bird, and even start to see the ripples in the air.

^{* Yes, even goblins are considered people.}

[Zefir]

Rugged Warehouse

I'm going to need some place that is bigger than this if we're considering the virus option. says Jonas as he gestures around himself at the decrepit floorboards and the moldy ceiling.

Rugged Warehouse


If these creature's blood runs off carbon instead of iron, then we need some sort of illness that starts off by disrupting carbon, then reprogram it to go after the stuff in the blood stream. That, or we do an inquisition style thing and just proclaim it's Killdren hunting season. offers Jonas.

Rugged Warehouse

Arkant takes a look.
"That should be possible." he says pointing at the backwalls. "There should be some room over there. I will send someone to imrpoove this building as you need it."

"If you can do that." Arkant replies to the other statement. ((Sorry I can't really make much out of that. I myself don't know enougth, though my charakter would.))

Arkant's Lab

With cats and dogs the results are similar. It really doesn't take much of the monster's blood to have adverse effects; even a smear on a needle injected just right. The main differences is that, as their bodies are bigger, the resulting teratomas and tumours are larger. There are some exceptions; one of the cats on the middle dosage develops the ability to determine its 'down' and so walk on walls and ceilings, like the 'killdren' do. It also loses all its fur, and grows teeth down its throat and esophagus. They don't stop it breathing, but are mightily uncomfortable and prevent it from swallowing properly.

One of the dogs given a large dosage also avoids death; the biggest dog, in fact. Its tongue falls out, and its eyes burst; teeth grow from its eye sockets and its lips fuse together, starting at the edges. Its eyeless sockets bulge and swell, tubes of flesh extending and hanging flaccidly from its face, twitching disturbingly every few seconds. Blood dribbles from its mouth, where the lips aren't sealed, as teeth are forced into the gums of the jaw above to make the mouth smaller, and eyes peer out of the blood-stained depths. The dog won't die from the blood contaminating its flesh, but right now? It can't feed, and will starve without surgery to alter the most radical mutations.

Arkant's Lab

The results are not unexpected. It was just surising that most tests end up simular. The guys working for Arkant are greatful that they have called in the guards. They try to capture the two surviving creatures and place the dead bodies somewhere to inspect. For now they leave the dog as he is. It shouldn't starve in the next hours. The cat is another problem. Without cutting her open they can't really see the teeth. (They were inside if I read right) Yet they stop here for now, since starting things on human should only be done when the master is here.

In the mean time they take a closer look at the dead and living. Is there blood black, too? have they grown maggots inside? Are the teratomas and tumours really that or is theresomethign inside?

[Earl of Purple]

Rugged Warehouse

In order to find a disease that targets carbon-based blood, they'll need more of the things. Nothing else (to my knowledge) uses carbon in place of iron, so it's either that or try to create a new disease specifically.

Arkant's Lab

There's clumps of carbon-based junk floating through some of the animals' veins, looking like chunks of charcoal; but there's not much of it. Some of the cancers and teratomas are growing around deformed and partially formed maggots, but none of them are viable.

The cat is hard to catch- it favours the ceiling, and won't venture down unless it's very carefully goaded down or pinned into a corner and captured that way. If, whilst it's caught, they look in its mouth, the teeth are a little obvious; they start on the palate, and some are on the rearmost part of the tongue.

The dog's easier to catch and transport; it hasn't fully developed the necessary nerves to use the eyes growing in its mouth, so it's partially blind for now.

[Celticbear]

Rugged Warehouse

You know what might work? A variation of Sickle-Cell disease. The disease binds to the hemoglobin attached to the iron in a person's blood, and bends the connection causing incredible pain and eventual death. If this thing's blood runs off carbon instead of iron, all we have to do is "teach" the disease to go after hemoglobin-carbon compounds instead of hemoglobin-iron compounds. I. am. a. genius. says Jonas as he makes a gesture that looks like dropping a microphone.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

It is a fancy manor, so of course they have a banister. Down below are two orcs trying to look out the window as Alni comes sliding down. The two barely manage to turn before the elf fires at them, hitting the first one right in the chest. The other orc is caught in shock for a moment, long enough to get blasted in the chest by Therese who comes out from behind the corner.

As the dust settles, two orcs lay on the floor, unmoving.

"What was that?!" They can hear someone shout from below, even as bullets continue flying outside.

"It came from inside!"

Those are the only shouts they can make out though, but there is definitely activity going on below. Especially as the loud buzzing sound starts up again, drowning out all other sounds.

[Recaiden]

"Get to a door, t-" Hmm. It will be pointless to try to talk over than terrible racket. Alni will have to lead by example, crossing the room in search of a defensible corner closer to the front of the building.

Pazuzu continues powering up, the potential energy starting to bleed off into visible rings of light. The word 'Stormcloud' has interesting numerical correspondences, (including 'interesting' itself) hinting that it would be involved in this showdown. But those are unimportant. Cultists will come to challenge them, and will be literally and metaphorically crushed. The pokemon and its trainer will learn from the battle and grow stronger. That is the only future here.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

Through the infernal buzzing sound, which most likely comes from some sort of machine, they can hear children crying. Sounds like there weren't just adults in here.

Alni is now standing on the foyer of the second floor, the stair leading down the the first floor being directly underneath the ones they just came down from, leading up the the third floor. There is a huge window, which overlooks the streets outside. From it Alni can see the mercenaries, that and a number of fallen over jade statues which similar expressions of suffering as the goblin head that cultist were holding. It appears that a lot of mercenaries have been petrified where they stood, aiming their weapons at the building.

To her right is a doorway without a door, leading into the hallway of the second floor. The children's cries are coming from that direction. The yells from the cultists came from the floor below.

Nimix have placed the energy blocked he used to get unto the roof near the stars leading to the first floor, effectively blocking that path. They still can't see any cultists though, just the two bleeding orcs.

[Recaiden]

Alni taps Therese on the arm and points down the hall. To Nimix, she gives a nod. He can keep doing what he's doing. If the cultists rush up the stairs and are stopped by the barrier, they'll be fish in a barrel for the mercenaries following in. But for the moment, they have the sound of crying children to deal with. Children of cultists? Prisoners to be sacrificed to the snake-god? Through the doorway she goes, towards the only sound rising over the mechanical buzz.

Pazuzu is, for the moment, the perfected ideal of the tiny fighting bird, every feather bristling with power. They are ready.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

Therese seems to be avoiding to look at the bodies as she is standing in the foyer and she seem more than eager to move out in the hallway.
As they will discover, the hallway is empty, there is a closed door immediately to the right and another slightly to the left. There is another doorway further to the left which appears to lead into some kind of study. There are more doors further until the corridor splits in two, one leading into a larger room and the other going left. The babies cries are coming from the larger room.

[Recaiden]

The hallway is empty, and these room seem empty. Who would stay in the study while a firefight is going on? Alni wants to throw open every door, but they'll have time to go through all this after the cultists are defeated. Hopefully. The crying children might be something that needs to be dealt with immediately. So she skips past the closed doors, quickly peeks into the study, and then turns right at the end of the hall to see what there is in the larger room.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

The study is empty and dark, it appears to have been used lately though with the number of books, closed and open, stacked upon the desk.

As she approaches the larger room with Therese not far behind, they can hear a voice coming from the larger room. "I'm coming out! We're surrendering! Please don't shoot! There are children in the room!" And sure enough, an elf dressed in simple white clothing reveal herself, carrying a crying elven baby in her arms. By the sound of it, there are more crying babies in the room behind her.

Therese aims her gun, but she does not fire.

[Recaiden]

Alni holsters her gun and holds out a hand in the universal symbol for 'give me that baby'. She has a personal obligation to care for at least one baby salvaged from her foes after a battle.
"I guess they're too young to really be part of the cult, so we can spare them? That sounds right, doesn't it?"
"But why are they here? And who are you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

Therese seems mostly disturbed by the presence of children, staring quietly at the baby the cultist elf is holding.
"The-they're ours." She replies. "I'm trying to take care of them while their parents are downstairs." She seems reluctant to hand over the child though, staring wide-eyed at them, scared out of her mind. "Just please don't hurt us. Please."

[Recaiden]

It would be a shame to kill a baby elf. Even if it's probably from a decadent city elf family.
But this cultist doesn't have to know that.
"What's your name? Who else is on this floor? Where's the jade? Answer quick or you're all getting shot to pieces~" Alni demands, turning to a sing-song voice at the end.
Since there's not a baby in her hand, she draws her tiny pistol again.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

Therese raises an eyebrow in Alni's direction, just what was wrong with these demi-humans? Elves were some sort of fey right?

"I- I'm Shae, and it is just me and Gron up here, taking care of the children. E-everyone else is downstairs." She gestures towards the larger room she came out of and then takes a deep breath. "The jade is downstairs too, we were going to connect to the highness with it tonight."

[Recaiden]

Alni narrows her eyes, suspicious. This is clearly a pack of lies and a trap.
Eh. Whatever. They can handle whatever silly thing Shae is planning.
"Okay. I'm not going to hurt you. You're not important to the mission."

She turns around and heads back towards the staircase. But Shae shouldn't think this gives her an opening; Pazuzu has turned around in a hop to keep watch on her while the KABALists walk away.
"No problem with that, right?" she asks Therese. It seems like a safe-enough question. Surely the human isn't going to come out in favor of killing babies merely because the opportunity presented itself.

No answer is forthcoming about what elves are. It's not like she's reading the woman's mind. But Alni would like to be counted in the 'advanced precursor race' category and not 'mystical nature people'.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

"I'm not going to perform war crimes." Therese replies with a frown as she follows Alni. "But if we have their children up here..." She doesn't want to openly suggest it, so she lets her silence do the talking for her. They could force the cult surrender if they had their children.

Behind them the elf slowly backs away. She doesn't appear to have any intention to attack them.

Outside they can hear more shoots being fired, this time they're likely coming from inside. It sounds like the cultists are firing back at the mercenaries. If Alni would look through the window in the foyer, she can see that the mercenaries are attempting to advance, now hiding behind the wall surrounding the manor.

[Recaiden]

"Good. Me neither. But they don't know that we don't have more people upstairs, holding the kids hostage."

Alni literally skips down the hall.

"Okay, Nimix, we're going down the stairs to catch the cultists from behind. That'll give the rest of people out front some breathing room to get around the wall and inside. Use that platform to give us some cover going down the stairs, kay?" Going down stairs is a vulnerable time. Almost as bad as going up stairs!

Those poor guys out front really need some help.
Pazuzu hops back around, ready.

[Zefir]

Rugged Warehouse

In order to find a disease that targets carbon-based blood, they'll need more of the things. Nothing else (to my knowledge) uses carbon in place of iron, so it's either that or try to create a new disease specifically.

Arkant's Lab

There's clumps of carbon-based junk floating through some of the animals' veins, looking like chunks of charcoal; but there's not much of it. Some of the cancers and teratomas are growing around deformed and partially formed maggots, but none of them are viable.

The cat is hard to catch- it favours the ceiling, and won't venture down unless it's very carefully goaded down or pinned into a corner and captured that way. If, whilst it's caught, they look in its mouth, the teeth are a little obvious; they start on the palate, and some are on the rearmost part of the tongue.

The dog's easier to catch and transport; it hasn't fully developed the necessary nerves to use the eyes growing in its mouth, so it's partially blind for now.

Rugged Warehouse

You know what might work? A variation of Sickle-Cell disease. The disease binds to the hemoglobin attached to the iron in a person's blood, and bends the connection causing incredible pain and eventual death. If this thing's blood runs off carbon instead of iron, all we have to do is "teach" the disease to go after hemoglobin-carbon compounds instead of hemoglobin-iron compounds. I. am. a. genius. says Jonas as he makes a gesture that looks like dropping a microphone.

Rugged Warehouse

Arkant watches Jonas confused and even more when he is doing some weird gesture.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not so much into this stuff to be impressed. Your Idea just replaced a word, unless you can make it it's nothing special."

Arkant's Lab

The doctors make all kind of annalysis with the maggots. first of making sure they are really dead. Can't know.

The cat might be cornered then since the guys send in are not really kind or smart, so they will just use their size and mass.

They will prepare the results so their master can take a look.

[Earl of Purple]

Rugged Warehouse

Sickle-cell disease is also genetic, meaning it's not contagious. Jonas'd have to figure out how to mutate the creatures in the way that they develop the condition independently of humanity. Then get them to stay still long enough to make the process work.

Arkant's Lab

They are dead. Most are badly deformed, and autopsies confirm none of them have all the internal structures present in the original maggots. Specifically, heart-analogues, brain-analogues and other, weirder organs.

If the men capturing the cat aren't kind, at least to an extent, it'll make a distorted hiss and fight, striking out blindly with teeth and claws. It can't do enough to kill, it's only a cat, but its claws and teeth are far sharper as a result of its alterations, and the teeth are coated in a new substance the original killdren lacked- a neurotoxin that amplifies pain signals.

[Shadowcaller]

[Inside Stormcloud Manor]

"Ya' got it." Nimix replies as he slowly starts to descend down the stairs.
Therese takes the rear. "Shouldn't someone watch those cultists guarding the children?" She asks hesitantly.

Yet before Alni can reply, huge roots, seemingly made up of solid green energy have appeared out of nowhere and have started to ensnare Nimix. "Noo! Not death by hentai!" The goblin squeaks as he tries to get free.

Then shoots are fired at them, through the base of the stairs. None of the bullets hit, but they're forcing Therese to back away as Nimix screams for help.