Re: Cats, Uncooperative Prisoners and Eight Technocrats IC Thread 37

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Steelhaven]

Anja's Post:

'We sure, sir? Nothing beats an explosion as a distraction for an attack...'

Colin's Post:

Colin would see Nicole had changed into an old, faded shirt proclaiming "Yes, I'm a Bitch" and cradling a carbine; clearly believing the explosion had been the start of some attack. Her eyes widened on hearing that at least one person had been dangerously close to the explosion.

Colin's Post:

'Shit... he was the Syndicate fucker, wasn't he? How did we capture him? Wait, not important...' dismissing her own question.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Rolls through the Chantry]

He grinned, "I might be able to teach you how it works, if you'd like. Perhaps if you could show me how you make your tracking app in return?"

"That seams fair, if you can understand my Paradigm and me yours then you got a deal Colin."
Jon said with a grin.

He smiled, "You're a brave girl, Cava. You'll be a fine Mage when you grow up."

"You really think so Sir?"
The little Solificato said and grinned her tears forgotten.
"I will try to be, brave I mean."

[Downstairs]

He frowned, "Well, son of a... That was certainly something we didn't know he had. Bugger... Not the sort of thing you'd expect from a Technocrat, is it?"

"Well the Union have familiars as well but often they are inside dreadful little machines, or created in a lab, this parrot though, no we did certainly not expect that."
Jeffry said and he followed up with some choice words in Greek.

He nodded, "Will do, Sir. And Miss Mar is in the storeroom; Miss Olsen went to check on her before calling for help... I don't know about her condition, but I believe she's still alive."

"Helena is injured? I...can't loose her...I can't loose another apprentice!"
Jeffry begun and great fear shone in his eyes before he managed to pull himself together.
"Ok...ok...but Master Nassa is down there assisting the injured?"
He asked, the Chief's worst fear was the death of another of his students and he was trying to remain in control of himself as he faced the possibility of that fear coming true.

He sighed, "Ah, right, the Chantry's children are in the care of your youngest apprentice and your grand-apprentice. I believe they'll be quite safe there; young Stephen is showing himself a credit to your House. With that out of the way, where do you want me?"

"That is good and yes young Stephen is a fine boy and Helena is doing a good job with her first student...she do me proud..."
He said and he looked concerned again for a moment then took a deep breath it would not help Helena if he started the fret.
"In the basement I want you to secure the prisoners, make sure they get care if they are injured and that they are restrained properly, then aid in getting the injured that can be moved out of the basement."
He ordered.
"And once we get the bird I want it interrogated immediately before anything else happens."

"Yes," he agreed. He focused on keeping his spell in order while the elder mage pulled it's Name from it - Telaris. It was not something done by ones like him or his pater lightly but this was an emergency and the creature had created a lot of destruction in its Master's employ. They had to control it and he stood ready to step in with further action if it was necessary.

Darrian moved over into more Traditional Hermetic magic, which he knew how to do but where not using as much as straight up alchemy but since the two paths where brothers, most knew how to use both, the spell the alchemist cast was a little different from yours, it was based in the Hermetic Corpus that the Solificati had used and shaped though the years to suit their own path, it was different but recognizable. The ritual bound the spirit inhabiting the parrot to Darrian's will, it was not kind to enslave a spirit in such a way, using the authority of a Crowned One, the authority of being like God, of having a shard of God as a crowning glory, to force the spirit into servitude but right now it was necessary. Once done Darrian turned to you.
"It is done, you can release her she will obey me."
The Master alchemist said sadly.
"You will come with us, not use any charms and answer questions asked."
He ordered of Telaris and the familiar just sat there..."yes" it finally said, it's spirit seamed broken from the loss of it's bondsmate and the binding.

"I'll be alright. Go and help the others." Serge lied. Truthfully he didn't want to be alone, but knew the chief was needed elsewhere.

"You will be alright Mr Yager but it is hard, but you will still be alright for you are your Mentor's student and you will make her proud."
Jeffry said as he tried to encourage the younger mage.
"And I will be right over there coordinating the efforts to deal with this mess."
He said and pointed.

"All right, all right." Serge said taking a few deep breaths and then walked to the entrance. As he walked he tried to focus his mind. To figure out what he needed to draw.

It was a challenge, to figure out a scenario in which people wouldn't be curious about the loud explosion. He couldn't rely on his illusion, since he needed to drive people away. An illusionary disaster would just provoke further investigation from the police.

He had an idea in his head, but whether it would work or not was something he was concerned about. But it was the first thing that came to his head so it was the one he went with.

He drew a homeless man, face down in the centre of the street, clearly in need of help, and a disinterested crowd of people circling around him. Whether it was because they didn't want to get involved, had something better to do, or just didn't care the crowd of people were avoiding him at all cost. It was something he commonly saw on his commutes in New York and that same apathy was what he wanted to invoke for this disaster.

You drew the disinterested crowd, and your picture was just about done when you started hearing sirens coming closer.
"Are your effect ready to go Mr Yager?"
Jeffry said as he came towards you again after he had directed Colin to the basement.
"For we need this to work kid!"
You saw deep pain and fear in the older mage, he hid it well but it was there, he remained calm and in charge but deep down he wanted to just run and help Helena, help her and stop any pain she might be in, protect her, that is all he wanted but he could not he had to do his duty as Security Chief and it pained him...pained him so badly but he would not let it show, though you still saw it in his nearly black eyes.

We sure, sir? Nothing beats an explosion as a distraction for an attack...'

"We are fairly sure due to the sensation of Paradox right after the explosion but you are right we can not afford not to make sure and assume an attack might come, either due to our enemies detecting the explosion and assume we are weakened and see their chance to strike or the chance that we are wrong and this was an attack. I am sending Mr Wainwright to check on our remaining prisoners I would like you to go with him Miss Bouchard and make sure the clean up attempts do not meet with anyone hostile."
Jeffry said and frowned.

(OOC: That is so sad, me and my husband saw exactly that once when we where visiting Oslo, you step of the bus at Oslo S at a bus terminal and there is this long hallway to get to a shopping mall connected to the terminal, we where at the end of this hallway near where the bus had let us off when we saw an man collapse, it took us at least 5 minutes to get through the hallway, and no one stopped to help him, he was a drug user or drunk and no one cared so he was still there, passed out called on the floor when we got to him and called for an ambulance, it is just so sad.)

[Jeremy Silverstein]

[Common Room]

"You will be alright Mr Yager but it is hard, but you will still be alright for you are your Mentor's student and you will make her proud."
Jeffry said as he tried to encourage the younger mage.
"And I will be right over there coordinating the efforts to deal with this mess."
He said and pointed.

You drew the disinterested crowd, and your picture was just about done when you started hearing sirens coming closer.
"Are your effect ready to go Mr Yager?"
Jeffry said as he came towards you again after he had directed Colin to the basement.
"For we need this to work kid!"
You saw deep pain and fear in the older mage, he hid it well but it was there, he remained calm and in charge but deep down he wanted to just run and help Helena, help her and stop any pain she might be in, protect her, that is all he wanted but he could not he had to do his duty as Security Chief and it pained him...pained him so badly but he would not let it show, though you still saw it in his nearly black eyes.

Serge didn't respond, all his focus was on the effect. On the heart-numbing apathy that he wished to invoke. His thoughts whirled in his head, creating a maelstrom of emotions and feelings that he wished to send into the world. Not just to one person, but release those thoughts to anyone curious about what had happened.

"Who cares if something happened? It was probably nothing after all. A noisy college student with his new amplifiers. A cooking experiment gone awry. Some asshole dad showing off his fireworks. If it didn't affect you so why should you care?

After all....you have better things to do......"

These were the thoughts Serge was attempting to invoke as he slipped into his altered mind state. In this state he saw the way people minds function. He fully understood the way a person's thoughts functioned. He could see the aspects of the human mind and could enforce that dark part society that no one would admit to. The one that caused people to be so busy with their own affairs they would ignore anything that didn't have to do with them.

As soon as the picture was finished and as the siren could be heard in the distance Serge mustered all of his strength, all of the things he had learned in his entire magickal lifespan, and focused it through the picture and into the Lakashim, knitting his imagination and will into the illusions of reality.

(OOC: Yeah I had a similar experience. First day of Uni I was walking through downtown and saw a homeless person passed out on the street with blood on their wrists. And everyone just passed by like it was a normal thing. Thankfully the ambulence came soon so somebody did evidently care but still a sad scene nonetheless.)

(OOC2:  Mind 3 + Corr 3 + Entropy 2 Effect. Creating an apathy field around steelhaven that causes anyone who's curious about the explosion to become disinterested and apathetic towards the whole thing and to simply ignore it and be more interested in going about their own business. Correspondece and Enteopy will help Serge effect the right people. Entropy 2 is also added so that people to increase the chances of people simply rationalizing the explosion on their own as well as to increase the chances of some event happening or remembering something important that'll cause them to leave.    

Spending two quintessence points to lower the difficulty and one willpower for one success because I don't want to disappoint Master Morgan. Also law of shade and all that....

Arete Roll (-2 difficulty + 1 auto success): 8, 3, 2, 4 - 3, 4, 7, 2 - 6, 5, 7 1 - 2, 5, 8, 3 - 8, 1, 2, 10)

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Common Room]

It was not a easy spell, creathing a field of apathy around the entire Chantry was complicated, even so you could feel your spell working, creating a feeling of meh around the Chantry, after all there where no smoke, there where no screaming so surely the services of the police and the fire department and they had better things to do, this nerigborhood was mostly collage students and the apartments where fairly low cost, probably just some prank or something blowling up on a stove, nothing to see here.

Adley you where still outside with Darrian taking down the kaka bird when you heard sirens, this was alarming until just as you started to see the fire truck and two police cars, then they sort of stopped, one of the police officers left his car and looked around for a moment, then he shrugged and got back into the car and the police cars and fire truck just drove away, as if the officers just decided to say meh...it was probably nothing, shrug and leave.

(OOC: Yeah it is so sad and show the ugliness of human nature, if someone is considered less then no one cares.)

[Jeremy Silverstein]

[Common Room]

It was not a easy spell, creathing a field of apathy around the entire Chantry was complicated, even so you could feel your spell working, creating a feeling of meh around the Chantry, after all there where no smoke, there where no screaming so surely the services of the police and the fire department and they had better things to do, this nerigborhood was mostly collage students and the apartments where fairly low cost, probably just some prank or something blowling up on a stove, nothing to see here.

Serge's arms fell to his sides and he glanced at the ceiling, taking in deep heavy breaths of air as he tried to ease his frantic mind.

"That....should...do it." he said in between gasps of air. He could feel the strength of his mind fading, gone to fuel the ward that surrounded the chantry. The spell taken quite a bit out of him, especially after an already magick heavy mission Serge was nearly spent. "That took...more out of me....than I thought. Didn't even know I could do that..."

Glancing at the Master's worried face and said the words he knew the chief wanted to hear. "It's fine now. No one will give a shit about anything happening at Steelhaven for a good while now. We can focus on other things now."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Common Room]

Jeffry looked away from Colin and Nicole to look at Stephen and he nodded.
"Good job kid."
He said giving rare praise, he still looked concerned though.
"That should take care of our sleeper problem, now to clean up the Chantry as well as we can, secure the remaining prisoners and help the injured."
He said.
"Thank you for your help young man."

[Jeremy Silverstein]

[Common Room]

Jeffry looked away from Colin and Nicole to look at Stephen and he nodded.
"Good job kid."
He said giving rare praise, he still looked concerned though.
"That should take care of our sleeper problem, now to clean up the Chantry as well as we can, secure the remaining prisoners and help the injured."
He said.
"Thank you for your help young man."

"No problem. Happy to help." Serge said with a weary smile, too tired to fully appreciate the praise given by the chief. "Darn...I suppose with an explosion like that there would be injured so I shouldn't be too surprised. I'll head down and see if I can help out."

Serge would then begin to head downstairs to the basement where he had heard the explosion, nervously wondering what kind of damage it had caused.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Common room and basement]

Jeffry just nodded when you said you where glad to help, when you where heading to the basement though he gave you a concerned look.
"Very well but be careful Mr Yager, there are prisoners down there, we do not know if they are still properly restrained and some of the walls might be unstable."
The Chief then gave Nicole and Colin a look as Serge headed for towards the basement.
"Please make sure Mr Yager do not get hurt down there."
The old Hermetic requested.

You down to the basement, there where dust from the walls and roof everywhere after it had gotten a good shake, in the corridor with the storage room, wash room and hobby room everything was a complete mess. The door and much of the wall facing the hallway of Steelhaven's only cell had been blown out and was littering the hallway. Amadeus was on his knees desperatly carving into his arms and trying to heal someone caught in the rubble, and there where blood everywhere, so much blood, the incide of the cell was painted by it and bits of bone and it had stained the hallway floor as well.

Next to the rubble sat Helena, she was awake but just barely, she was bleeding from her head and her scalp was split, one arm just hung limp down to the floor and she looked waxen pale, covered in her own blood. Beside her was Ingmar Rush, the Verbena was drawing runes in his own blood on the floor around Helena clearly trying to heal her.

Alexis was awake, she had a gaping wound in her shoulder and a bit of sharp wall where on the floor next to her, the ghoul had stopped screaming but she looked rather shell shocked. Richard where tending to her, quickly moving his hands in simple, quick fire hand gestures which did not look any like the ones the Hermetics used and then tapping several places on Alexis' body, causing her shoulder wound to slowly close up. The ghoul was still bound and she looked rather confused and out of it, the sedative would still be in her system even if she had been rudely awakened.

The wall between the cell and the storage room Alexis had probably been kept in was blown in, adding to the rubble anywhere. You did not see Vera Milliner or her crate though so she might be safe in another room, and you had seen Bruce with FruFru upstairs so the cat was fine even if Bruce himself had been bumped around a bit as was getting helped by Allison White.

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Steelhaven]

Anja's Post:

A rather confused look to this part, clearly at a loss on how you'd interrogate a bird.

Anja's Post:

A nod to this, giving a "let's go" gesture.

Anja's Post:

Nicole took the head of the little group, clearly expecting trouble. A sharp intake of breath on seeing this sight, but Nicole said nothing; simply moved deeper into the hallway, to check the floor for any possible invaders.

[The human ability to ignore things it doesn't wish to see never ceases to grimly impress me...]

[Warpmind]

[Rolls through the Chantry]

"That seams fair, if you can understand my Paradigm and me yours then you got a deal Colin."
Jon said with a grin.

Colin nodded, "I think we might be able to figure out something. Ah, you'll probably have to remind me, though."

"You really think so Sir?"
The little Solificato said and grinned her tears forgotten.
"I will try to be, brave I mean."

He nodded, "You're a clever child, and I think you've got a brilliant future ahead."

[Downstairs]

'Shit... he was the Syndicate fucker, wasn't he? How did we capture him? Wait, not important...' dismissing her own question.

He smiled wryly, "Anna and I were looking for Yu Die. We got lucky and found Dahl trying his shit. Master Nassa was able to retrieve both, after I... disabled Dahl for a bit."

"Well the Union have familiars as well but often they are inside dreadful little machines, or created in a lab, this parrot though, no we did certainly not expect that."
Jeffry said and he followed up with some choice words in Greek.

He frowned, "Hum, perhaps it can be interrogated yet..."

"Helena is injured? I...can't loose her...I can't loose another apprentice!"
Jeffry begun and great fear shone in his eyes before he managed to pull himself together.
"Ok...ok...but Master Nassa is down there assisting the injured?"
He asked, the Chief's worst fear was the death of another of his students and he was trying to remain in control of himself as he faced the possibility of that fear coming true.

He shook his head, "I believe her injuries are little more than superficial - a bit banged about in the storeroom. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"That is good and yes young Stephen is a fine boy and Helena is doing a good job with her first student...she do me proud..."
He said and he looked concerned again for a moment then took a deep breath it would not help Helena if he started the fret.
"In the basement I want you to secure the prisoners, make sure they get care if they are injured and that they are restrained properly, then aid in getting the injured that can be moved out of the basement."
He ordered.
"And once we get the bird I want it interrogated immediately before anything else happens."

He nodded and pocketed his phone, heading for the stairs, "Very well... Check on the vampire, too, I presume? Wouldn't want to find the stake had been knocked loose... I'm guessing we won't move her until sundown, if she's already in a windowless room."

"We are fairly sure due to the sensation of Paradox right after the explosion but you are right we can not afford not to make sure and assume an attack might come, either due to our enemies detecting the explosion and assume we are weakened and see their chance to strike or the chance that we are wrong and this was an attack. I am sending Mr Wainwright to check on our remaining prisoners I would like you to go with him Miss Bouchard and make sure the clean up attempts do not meet with anyone hostile."
Jeffry said and frowned.

Jeffry just nodded when you said you where glad to help, when you where heading to the basement though he gave you a concerned look.
"Very well but be careful Mr Yager, there are prisoners down there, we do not know if they are still properly restrained and some of the walls might be unstable."
The Chief then gave Nicole and Colin a look as Serge headed for towards the basement.
"Please make sure Mr Yager do not get hurt down there."
The old Hermetic requested.

A nod to this, giving a "let's go" gesture.

He frowned, but nodded, "Very well, you two, mind the step, Dahl made a bit of a mess when he died."

You down to the basement, there where dust from the walls and roof everywhere after it had gotten a good shake, in the corridor with the storage room, wash room and hobby room everything was a complete mess. The door and much of the wall facing the hallway of Steelhaven's only cell had been blown out and was littering the hallway. Amadeus was on his knees desperatly carving into his arms and trying to heal someone caught in the rubble, and there where blood everywhere, so much blood, the incide of the cell was painted by it and bits of bone and it had stained the hallway floor as well.

Next to the rubble sat Helena, she was awake but just barely, she was bleeding from her head and her scalp was split, one arm just hung limp down to the floor and she looked waxen pale, covered in her own blood. Beside her was Ingmar Rush, the Verbena was drawing runes in his own blood on the floor around Helena clearly trying to heal her.

Alexis was awake, she had a gaping wound in her shoulder and a bit of sharp wall where on the floor next to her, the ghoul had stopped screaming but she looked rather shell shocked. Richard where tending to her, quickly moving his hands in simple, quick fire hand gestures which did not look any like the ones the Hermetics used and then tapping several places on Alexis' body, causing her shoulder wound to slowly close up. The ghoul was still bound and she looked rather confused and out of it, the sedative would still be in her system even if she had been rudely awakened.

The wall between the cell and the storage room Alexis had probably been kept in was blown in, adding to the rubble anywhere. You did not see Vera Milliner or her crate though so she might be safe in another room, and you had seen Bruce with FruFru upstairs so the cat was fine even if Bruce himself had been bumped around a bit as was getting helped by Allison White.

Nicole took the head of the little group, clearly expecting trouble. A sharp intake of breath on seeing this sight, but Nicole said nothing; simply moved deeper into the hallway, to check the floor for any possible invaders.

He frowned a bit at the sight, then quickly took stock of the situation and sighed, "Mr. Y... Serge, would you kindly assist Master Nassa? If you can try to help convince Miss Rozzo to cling to life while he works without interrupting him, that would be great help..."
He carefully made his way (trying to avoid stepping in too much Dahl) toward the laundry room, where the map and Jon's footage had shown the vampire lay boxed up, "Miss Bouchard, while we make our way to Miss Milliner, why don't you summarize your report for me? I've already heard from Mr. Sherman, so I have a rough idea of the events."

((OOC: Jackson Pollock indeed. There's going to be interesting sights if someone takes a blacklight down to the basement for a looooooong time...))

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Steelhaven]

Colin's Post:

'Not much to report. Plan went without a hitch, eight Mirrorshades turned up just as we were pulling out. Did a couple of tricks to get away, lost the tail.' Nicole replied. 'The main thing which worries me is that the Mirrorshades turned up in the first place.'

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Rolls through the Chantry]

Colin nodded, "I think we might be able to figure out something. Ah, you'll probably have to remind me, though."

"Yeah I probably will have to do that."
Jon said with a sigh.

He nodded, "You're a clever child, and I think you've got a brilliant future ahead."

Cava grinned at this and gave you a proud smile before she headed into Kyle's room.

[Common Room]

He frowned, "Hum, perhaps it can be interrogated yet..."

"If it can be captured alive then yes."
The old Hermetic agreed.

He shook his head, "I believe her injuries are little more than superficial - a bit banged about in the storeroom. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I hope you are right Mr Wainwright...I have buried five apprentices I do not want to bury another."
Jeffry said sadly but he did seam a bit reassured by your words.

A rather confused look to this part, clearly at a loss on how you'd interrogate a bird.

"The bird is an familiar, a spirit inhabiting the form of a parrot, it can both understand speech and reply."
Jeffry quickly explained.

He nodded and pocketed his phone, heading for the stairs, "Very well... Check on the vampire, too, I presume? Wouldn't want to find the stake had been knocked loose... I'm guessing we won't move her until sundown, if she's already in a windowless room."

"The entire basement are under ground Mr Wainwright so I would assume the Massassa is quite safe, if possible though I would like her woken up and interrogated before nightfall, we do not have the luxury of time to wait for her to wake on her own, but yes by all means check on her to make sure she is well restrained and off course chain her down before you attempt removing the stake to talk with her."
Jeffry replied.

He frowned, but nodded, "Very well, you two, mind the step, Dahl made a bit of a mess when he died."

Jeffry nodded back.
"Thank you Mr Wainwright."

[Basement]

Nicole took the head of the little group, clearly expecting trouble. A sharp intake of breath on seeing this sight, but Nicole said nothing; simply moved deeper into the hallway, to check the floor for any possible invaders.

None of the rooms in the practical part of the basement held any invaders and Vera Milliner was still in her crate, still sleeping soundly it seamed for her eyes did not move (if you open the crate to check.) Other than the wounded and those helping them there was no one you did not know there.
"What...happened where am I?"
Alexis asked sounding confused, she would have gone to sleep and then she woke up in the middle of a ruined basement injured, her confusion and fear was evident on her face.

He carefully made his way (trying to avoid stepping in too much Dahl) toward the laundry room, where the map and Jon's footage had shown the vampire lay boxed up, "Miss Bouchard, while we make our way to Miss Milliner, why don't you summarize your report for me? I've already heard from Mr. Sherman, so I have a rough idea of the events."

It was impossible to traverse the basement floor and not step on to much Dahl. Vera Milliner was still boxed up, her box had been jostled about a bit but if you opened it and check on her, you would find a beautiful, blond woman still staked and apparently sleeping from how her eyes was sort of rolled up into her skull, the explosion had not woken her or if it had she had gone right back to sleep.

[Jeremy Silverstein]

[Common room and basement]

Jeffry just nodded when you said you where glad to help, when you where heading to the basement though he gave you a concerned look.
"Very well but be careful Mr Yager, there are prisoners down there, we do not know if they are still properly restrained and some of the walls might be unstable."
The Chief then gave Nicole and Colin a look as Serge headed for towards the basement.
"Please make sure Mr Yager do not get hurt down there."
The old Hermetic requested.

He frowned, but nodded, "Very well, you two, mind the step, Dahl made a bit of a mess when he died."

"Dahl? The syndicate guy? Man I think I missed most of the explanations." Serge said looking confused on hearing the name. He had been so preoccupied by the spell he hadn't even noticed his two cabalmates appearing in the common room let alone any explanation of what had happened.

You down to the basement, there where dust from the walls and roof everywhere after it had gotten a good shake, in the corridor with the storage room, wash room and hobby room everything was a complete mess. The door and much of the wall facing the hallway of Steelhaven's only cell had been blown out and was littering the hallway. Amadeus was on his knees desperatly carving into his arms and trying to heal someone caught in the rubble, and there where blood everywhere, so much blood, the incide of the cell was painted by it and bits of bone and it had stained the hallway floor as well.

Next to the rubble sat Helena, she was awake but just barely, she was bleeding from her head and her scalp was split, one arm just hung limp down to the floor and she looked waxen pale, covered in her own blood. Beside her was Ingmar Rush, the Verbena was drawing runes in his own blood on the floor around Helena clearly trying to heal her.

Alexis was awake, she had a gaping wound in her shoulder and a bit of sharp wall where on the floor next to her, the ghoul had stopped screaming but she looked rather shell shocked. Richard where tending to her, quickly moving his hands in simple, quick fire hand gestures which did not look any like the ones the Hermetics used and then tapping several places on Alexis' body, causing her shoulder wound to slowly close up. The ghoul was still bound and she looked rather confused and out of it, the sedative would still be in her system even if she had been rudely awakened.

The wall between the cell and the storage room Alexis had probably been kept in was blown in, adding to the rubble anywhere. You did not see Vera Milliner or her crate though so she might be safe in another room, and you had seen Bruce with FruFru upstairs so the cat was fine even if Bruce himself had been bumped around a bit as was getting helped by Allison White.

Serge looked at the room with both horror and morbid curiosity. Glancing around at what the explosion had done to the walls, like an artist taking in a reference from real life for his art, before snapping back to grim reality and trying to find some way of helping.

He frowned a bit at the sight, then quickly took stock of the situation and sighed, "Mr. Y... Serge, would you kindly assist Master Nassa? If you can try to help convince Miss Rozzo to cling to life while he works without interrupting him, that would be great help..."
He carefully made his way (trying to avoid stepping in too much Dahl) toward the laundry room, where the map and Jon's footage had shown the vampire lay boxed up, "Miss Bouchard, while we make our way to Miss Milliner, why don't you summarize your report for me? I've already heard from Mr. Sherman, so I have a rough idea of the events."

The sudden use of his first name surprised Serge but he didn't let it show as it wasn't the time or place. "Sure thing." he said with a nod as he did as asked and went towards Master Nassa and Miss Rozzo to see if he could help.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Common room and basement]

"Dahl? The syndicate guy? Man I think I missed most of the explanations." Serge said looking confused on hearing the name. He had been so preoccupied by the spell he hadn't even noticed his two cabalmates appearing in the common room let alone any explanation of what had happened.

"The Nephandus Eric Dahl was captured, it is his familiar who killed him with Paradox and caused our current problem."
Jeffry said simply making it clear you would have to ask someone else for more details as he was already on his way over to Nico to discuss where to put the Chantry's Tass reserves until the basement was safe again.

The sudden use of his first name surprised Serge but he didn't let it show as it wasn't the time or place. "Sure thing." he said with a nod as he did as asked and went towards Master Nassa and Miss Rozzo to see if he could help.

You got over to Master Nassa and Bianca, the old Verbena did not speak to you or really notice you where there, he had ripped his shirt of and all of his arms and most of his chest was filled with deeply cut symbols, blood ran in little rivers down from his cuts to create a circle around him, though it blended with all the other blood on the floor. Bianca was in a terrible condition, one side of her torso and both of her legs was crushed and the back of her head was caved in from the force she was thrown against the wall with when the Nephandus exploded, only her former Mentor's magick was keeping her alive now and her body was completely still, only magick could save her, modern medicine would not be able to do much for these massive injuries but perhaps the Master of Life could create a miracle and restore the hedge witch's body.

[Adley]

[Steelhaven grounds]

"It is done, you can release her she will obey me."
The Master alchemist said sadly.
"You will come with us, not use any charms and answer questions asked."
He ordered of Telaris and the familiar just sat there..."yes" it finally said, it's spirit seamed broken from the loss of it's bondsmate and the binding.

"Will you please tell it not to attack us or to escape, as well?" he requested, just in case the bird decided to go for the letter of the order rather than the spirit of it, before he released it from the air press spell. All they needed was it to 'go with them' a bit, try to gouge their eyes out, then try to fly off.

Adley you where still outside with Darrian taking down the kaka bird when you heard sirens, this was alarming until just as you started to see the fire truck and two police cars, then they sort of stopped, one of the police officers left his car and looked around for a moment, then he shrugged and got back into the car and the police cars and fire truck just drove away, as if the officers just decided to say meh...it was probably nothing, shrug and leave.

"Fucking A," he muttered as he heard the emergency vehicles arrive. He turned, trying to think of some good cover stories as to what had happened. Surely they'd think they had a meth lab in the basement or something. That's all they needed...as he was trying to decide if a pressure cooker exploding would be enough to put them off, or maybe a water heater, he saw the police escort roll up, and then....leave? Clearly someone had done something, and he released a breath. One less thing to worry about, he turned back to Darrian and Telaris - the bird was going to answer their questions.

// I have heard several stories of people who work in retail, grocery stores like me, saying a person had a heart attack in the store and other customers yelled at the workers to get back to the registers, step over the person who was laying on the floor dying to get stuff from a case where they fell, etc. Seeing how people treat each other during a flash sale or something like Boxing Day or Black Friday or even on a general basis, I can believe it. I have more stories too.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Steelhaven grounds]

"Will you please tell it not to attack us or to escape, as well?" he requested, just in case the bird decided to go for the letter of the order rather than the spirit of it, before he released it from the air press spell. All they needed was it to 'go with them' a bit, try to gouge their eyes out, then try to fly off.

"Telaris, you will obey my commands, you will not attack anyone and you will not try to escape."
Darrian commanded and the bird gave him a defeated look.
"Yes."
She confirmed sadly.

"Fucking A," he muttered as he heard the emergency vehicles arrive. He turned, trying to think of some good cover stories as to what had happened. Surely they'd think they had a meth lab in the basement or something. That's all they needed...as he was trying to decide if a pressure cooker exploding would be enough to put them off, or maybe a water heater, he saw the police escort roll up, and then....leave? Clearly someone had done something, and he released a breath. One less thing to worry about, he turned back to Darrian and Telaris - the bird was going to answer their questions.

"Whoever made sure the authorities turned around and did not bother us saved our bacon Sodalis."
Darrian whispered to you drawing a sigh of relief.
"Let us get our new...friend here inside and start asking some questions."
The alchemist said glumly as he started to head towards the entrance to Steelhaven.
"Come along Telaris."
He said and the bird reluctantly jumped up onto his shoulder when you released your magickal grip on her, if you did so. Anger still burned in her little black bead eyes though, Telaris was not a happy parrot.

(OOC: Yeah sometimes people suck, many are so selfish they just do not care about the suffering of others and just live in their own little world, caring about their own rat race.)

[Adley]

[Steelhaven grounds]

"Telaris, you will obey my commands, you will not attack anyone and you will not try to escape."
Darrian commanded and the bird gave him a defeated look.
"Yes."
She confirmed sadly.

"Are you able to sense if it has any other defenses or surprises hidden under its wings or should we check?"

"Let us get our new...friend here inside and start asking some questions."
The alchemist said glumly as he started to head towards the entrance to Steelhaven.
"Come along Telaris."

He was not particularly well disposed to the bird either, but it wasn't especially its choice, probably, that it had been bonded to Dhal and he kept that in mind. Though blowing the chantry in, hurting people and calling him derogatory names to boot had not done much for his opinion of it. "Very well, sir," he agreed. "Perhaps we should find a cage of sorts?"

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Steelhaven grounds]

Are you able to sense if it has any other defenses or surprises hidden under its wings or should we check?"

"It is hard to know for sure, it will have some charms though that is a given, but it should be forced to obey us now."
Darrian said and he scowled at the bird.

He was not particularly well disposed to the bird either, but it wasn't especially its choice, probably, that it had been bonded to Dhal and he kept that in mind. Though blowing the chantry in, hurting people and calling him derogatory names to boot had not done much for his opinion of it. "Very well, sir," he agreed. "Perhaps we should find a cage of sorts?"

"We can lock the bird in one of the kitchen cabinets once we are done questioning it."
The alchemist said.
"First of all we need to know what our feathery friend here knows, then we can decide how to keep it captive and what to do with it, though final decision on that will probably fall to your Mentor."
He commented as he entered the front door and headed towards the kitchen area, the parrot did not reply it just sat on the Solificato's shoulder looking defeated.

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Steelhaven]

Anja's Post:

A small sigh of relief on seeing that the primary cargo was still secure, a little surprised that they'd be able to sleep through an explosion that large. Unconsciously, the Etherite's mind was filing that grain of information in the mental folder labelled "Vampires: How To Kill".

'There was an explosion. You're here 'cos we saved you from being snatched, tortured and I suspect killed.' Nicole replied in a no-nonsense manner, still clutching her carbine.

['Living in own little world' may in fact be partly a self-defence mechanism done unconsciously by our own minds. There's enough nastiness about that you could easily end up wallowing in it all, drifting over the "Despair Event Horizon" and then doing yourself in otherwise. It might also be a human trait from when we were in small groups of hunter-gatherers - the 'Ingroups and Outgroups' theory - that we're more likely to assist someone who is either 'familiar to us' and/or 'is like us'.]

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

[Steelhaven Basement]

There was an explosion. You're here 'cos we saved you from being snatched, tortured and I suspect killed.' Nicole replied in a no-nonsense manner, still clutching her carbine.

"What...I do not understand? Why am I bound? Why are my head so groggy? Where is here? Who are you people? Who would take me and torture and kill me? Where is Vera my ehm...roommate and our cat?"
Alexis' questions came one after another rapid fire and she sort of just jerked her hands free of the bindings, they had cut into her flesh a bit when she ripped herself loose but other that that she just looked at the broken restraints.
"It look like whoever you are lady you and your friends here snatched me as well are you going to torture me and kill me as well? And what the hell happened did something blow up?"
The confused ghoul asked still looking down at her wrists, she seamed far more confused than hostile she just did not feel like being bound any longer and had ripped herself free because she could, she begun to massage her wrists with a wince.
"Is there another person here? My roommate...Vera is she here?"
Alexis asked sounding worried.
"What on earth is going on?"

(OOC: Yes this is true, however while I also tune out the news at times, I can not allow myself to get upset over every horrible news story or I would go nuts, especially since I can not do anything about it, but if a person collapse right in front of me that is something else, off course I will help them, not doing so is pretty cold.)

[Adley]

[Steelhaven grounds]

"It is hard to know for sure, it will have some charms though that is a given, but it should be forced to obey us now."
Darrian said and he scowled at the bird.

"Shall I check for spells on it?" he offered.

"We can lock the bird in one of the kitchen cabinets once we are done questioning it."
The alchemist said.
"First of all we need to know what our feathery friend here knows, then we can decide how to keep it captive and what to do with it, though final decision on that will probably fall to your Mentor."

He nodded and then walked along with them to keep an eye on Telaris. "Perhaps we should tell it not to harm itself, either..." he suggested, seeing as how it was quite willing to blow up its bondsmate; there were a lot of things that could happen when a spirit did not want to be bound and was trying to be uncooperative. Though it could be thought of as 'trying to escape'...

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Steelhaven]

Anja's Post:

A short silence as Nicole mulled over what to say to all of these questions; the ghoul would see that she'd thrown this large armed woman by asking them. When she broke through the restraints, Nicole immediately pointed the carbine directly at the ghoul's head.

'Do not move unless I say so. Let's cut the crap and get it out now that we know Vera is a vampire, you're a blood-slave, yes I have killed vampires before and so have most of the others in this room... so don't fucking bother with the threats, okay? Vera's... clan, isn't it? has attacked us and people in general with a plague. "Us" being "Mages". That's how we captured you - magic. And we want to chat with Vera... before a full-scale vampire-mage war breaks out.'

[You are like me, Great One - we don't think like "normal" people.]

[Warpmind]

[Common Room]

"I hope you are right Mr Wainwright...I have buried five apprentices I do not want to bury another."
Jeffry said sadly but he did seam a bit reassured by your words.

Colin nodded, "I'm quite sure she'll pull through."

"The entire basement are under ground Mr Wainwright so I would assume the Massassa is quite safe, if possible though I would like her woken up and interrogated before nightfall, we do not have the luxury of time to wait for her to wake on her own, but yes by all means check on her to make sure she is well restrained and off course chain her down before you attempt removing the stake to talk with her."
Jeffry replied.

He nodded, "Securing the ones in the basement first, though, interrogation after... If the ghoul can give us the answers we require, though, we may not need to wake up the vampire at all."

"Dahl? The syndicate guy? Man I think I missed most of the explanations." Serge said looking confused on hearing the name. He had been so preoccupied by the spell he hadn't even noticed his two cabalmates appearing in the common room let alone any explanation of what had happened.

"The Nephandus Eric Dahl was captured, it is his familiar who killed him with Paradox and caused our current problem."
Jeffry said simply making it clear you would have to ask someone else for more details as he was already on his way over to Nico to discuss where to put the Chantry's Tass reserves until the basement was safe again.

He frowned, "We had a stroke of luck, and that turned out... less lucky for everyone involved."

[Basement]

The sudden use of his first name surprised Serge but he didn't let it show as it wasn't the time or place. "Sure thing." he said with a nod as he did as asked and went towards Master Nassa and Miss Rozzo to see if he could help.

He nodded, "Thank you, son. Try... not to look too hard at the carnage."

'Not much to report. Plan went without a hitch, eight Mirrorshades turned up just as we were pulling out. Did a couple of tricks to get away, lost the tail.' Nicole replied. 'The main thing which worries me is that the Mirrorshades turned up in the first place.'

He frowned, "Hum, hazarding a guess, they kept some measure of surveillance at all known residences of vampires in town, and responded as soon as some of our... kind of Deviants showed up. Word of advice, though - and this is not a critique of your ideals or opinions - try to keep political debates to between missions; they can cause frustrations and distractions you don't want in battle."

None of the rooms in the practical part of the basement held any invaders and Vera Milliner was still in her crate, still sleeping soundly it seamed for her eyes did not move (if you open the crate to check.) Other than the wounded and those helping them there was no one you did not know there.
"What...happened where am I?"
Alexis asked sounding confused, she would have gone to sleep and then she woke up in the middle of a ruined basement injured, her confusion and fear was evident on her face.

A small sigh of relief on seeing that the primary cargo was still secure, a little surprised that they'd be able to sleep through an explosion that large. Unconsciously, the Etherite's mind was filing that grain of information in the mental folder labelled "Vampires: How To Kill".

'There was an explosion. You're here 'cos we saved you from being snatched, tortured and I suspect killed.' Nicole replied in a no-nonsense manner, still clutching her carbine.

"What...I do not understand? Why am I bound? Why are my head so groggy? Where is here? Who are you people? Who would take me and torture and kill me? Where is Vera my ehm...roommate and our cat?"
Alexis' questions came one after another rapid fire and she sort of just jerked her hands free of the bindings, they had cut into her flesh a bit when she ripped herself loose but other that that she just looked at the broken restraints.
"It look like whoever you are lady you and your friends here snatched me as well are you going to torture me and kill me as well? And what the hell happened did something blow up?"
The confused ghoul asked still looking down at her wrists, she seamed far more confused than hostile she just did not feel like being bound any longer and had ripped herself free because she could, she begun to massage her wrists with a wince.
"Is there another person here? My roommate...Vera is she here?"
Alexis asked sounding worried.
"What on earth is going on?"

A short silence as Nicole mulled over what to say to all of these questions; the ghoul would see that she'd thrown this large armed woman by asking them. When she broke through the restraints, Nicole immediately pointed the carbine directly at the ghoul's head.

'Do not move unless I say so. Let's cut the crap and get it out now that we know Vera is a vampire, you're a blood-slave, yes I have killed vampires before and so have most of the others in this room... so don't fucking bother with the threats, okay? Vera's... clan, isn't it? has attacked us and people in general with a plague. "Us" being "Mages". That's how we captured you - magic. And we want to chat with Vera... before a full-scale vampire-mage war breaks out.'

He gave Nicole a quick sideways look, "You are Vera Milliner's ghoul, are you not? We know what you are, just not precisely whose... The man who hired the Milliners to do his dirty work is the one who... just met a grisly end here, which makes interrogating him a little harder than it had to be. Not impossible, but it will require a little more effort. The same thing won't happen to you and Miss Milliner, though, but we will require the location of Francis Milliner... If you can answer our questions, we may be able to let Miss Milliner sleep undisturbed until our investigations are done. Now, please sit yourself down and let our physician tend your injuries - your cat is safe and sound, and I can assure you, we have no reason to harm you or it. Any attempt to escape, however, will be... unfortunately quite immediately and permanently fatal."

It was impossible to traverse the basement floor and not step on to much Dahl. Vera Milliner was still boxed up, her box had been jostled about a bit but if you opened it and check on her, you would find a beautiful, blond woman still staked and apparently sleeping from how her eyes was sort of rolled up into her skull, the explosion had not woken her or if it had she had gone right back to sleep.

He gave the stake a quick visual inspection - looking for any signs of blood spatter to indicate it had shifted in the blast, then nodded, "Small favours... Right, let us let sleeping vampires lie until the worst of the mess here is sorted out. Miss Bouchard, can you help assess damage and start stacking up fallen bricks and whatnot in the passageway, to free up elbowroom for the healers and movers?"

((OOC: Part of it is a phenomenon called the "Monkeysphere", or Dunbar's Number. Basically, humans can recognize and identify approximately 150 other individuals as "their people", and anyone else becomes more of a non-person, not worthy of care or the expenditure of time or resources... Living in a world of over seven billion people, that's a lot of folks who fall outside anyone's Monkeysphere...))

[Nicole Bouchard]

[Basement]

Colin's Post:

'That's a lot of folk to monitor, like.' she replied, a shade uncertain. 'Occam says target was simply tagged as "RD: Vampire (Giovanni)" and they came to do what we did.'

Colin's Post:

'She started it. What am I to do, say "oh sorry, my own damn experiences must be a hallucination simply because you say it is"? The only way folk learn that they're wrong is when they're called out on it.'

Colin's Post:

The ghoul would see Nicole simply staring at her with cold eyes, weapon at the ready.

Colin's Post:

'After the prisoner has been secured again, yes?'

[I'd say less 'non-person', more 'stranger danger'. Outsiders are unknown quantities; in almost all adults, this instantly puts up our 'protective screen' of suspicion towards them. Humans have an interesting habit of under-estimating the threats from 'within' and exaggerating the threats from 'outside'. Two examples can be child abuse and affinity fraud.]

[Jeremy Silverstein]

[Common room and basement]

"The Nephandus Eric Dahl was captured, it is his familiar who killed him with Paradox and caused our current problem."
Jeffry said simply making it clear you would have to ask someone else for more details as he was already on his way over to Nico to discuss where to put the Chantry's Tass reserves until the basement was safe again.

He frowned, "We had a stroke of luck, and that turned out... less lucky for everyone involved."

"But why would his fami-...." Serge said before Master Morgan had left abruptly, leaving Serge with more questions gained than answered.

You got over to Master Nassa and Bianca, the old Verbena did not speak to you or really notice you where there, he had ripped his shirt of and all of his arms and most of his chest was filled with deeply cut symbols, blood ran in little rivers down from his cuts to create a circle around him, though it blended with all the other blood on the floor. Bianca was in a terrible condition, one side of her torso and both of her legs was crushed and the back of her head was caved in from the force she was thrown against the wall with when the Nephandus exploded, only her former Mentor's magick was keeping her alive now and her body was completely still, only magick could save her, modern medicine would not be able to do much for these massive injuries but perhaps the Master of Life could create a miracle and restore the hedge witch's body.

Serge bent down onto one knee to get closer to Bianca's face. He made sure to avoid Master Nassa and not disturb him or his magick at all costs.

He wondered what he should do. If he should do anything. If he could do anything. Mr. Wainwright had told him to help Bianca 'cling to life'. So he tried his best to do just that.

"Hey Bianca." he whispered softly to her still broken body. "Don't worry, Master Nassa's got you. Your gonna be watering your plants and baking cookies in no time. Just hang in there. You'll be all right. Just follow the sound of my voice...."

He infused his soft words with his magick to stir Bianca's addled mind into action. A desire for life, remembering all the things she cared about in the world. To help empower herself and keep her fighting against her injuries. In Serge's mind, he hoped it would make it easier for her body to respond to Master Nassa's magick.

(OOC: Mind 3 effect to help Bianca 'cling to life' by reminding her of all of her favorite things. As well as giving her a mental boost to help fight against the pain and prevent her from succumbing to her wounds to hopefully help Master Nassa [by either giving him more time or making his magick easier] heal Bianca.

Arete Roll: 2, 2, 8, 6 - 2, 3, 8, 2 - 7, 2, 5, 1)

[Sponsored content]