Anarchy Rising Book 2: A Hunted Wasteland

Leiv wrote:

Ghosty

Spoiler:

Team -M-

Now that the the threat level had somewhat lessened and also for the fact that she was denied to start the brawl; the feisty bird-lady had lost interest in the party in front, instead her mind had already become distracted with surveying the land that they had crashed upon. As part of being the team's navigator, it was her duty to lead her friends in and out of any place that they happened to travel to. Thus, it did not even register to Raven the fact that she was being watched upon, for if she did, past experiences would suggest that she would respond back with a fiercer gaze.

"Ah! Now isn't that some clever trick..." It was Maxwell who responded to the being in the Witch-Doctor mask. "You tell us not to bite, when dangling such a luscious bait.."

"Maxwell, it is the Witch of Thorns that we are talking about here." Surge confronted his leader to clarify that they were on the same page.

To which Maxwell continued, "Exactly !! It is the Witch of Thorns, that alone makes it so worthwhile." Turning back to face the multicolor scribbles which were what the painted designs on the mask seemed to appear to him, "I heard that this particular Witch, if you are one of her in crowd, then she is quite sweet and friendly, but only to her supporters. Though if one is to make an enemy out of her.. well, not to mind the crude language but, she'll be a major thorn up your arse."

Maxwell suddenly shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh. "Well let's hear this request of yours. I doubt it's going to be anything like going in and performing a genocide of some sorts.. or is it? You aren't sending me to carry out your wet work are you?" Maxwell asked off the militia leader, "Not planning to start a war are we?" the Magi paused for a second or less, "'Cause if you are, then that will be asking for quite a lot, for just simply clearing a small debt."

Chrys

The young weretigresss blinked a few times to adjust her vision; a bodily reflex, even though at the moment, she was just a soul... like the rest of the people in Fenix's head. Or at least that's how it looked to her. She did find it extremely disconcerting that there were no spirits outside. On the other end, she didn't expect more than one inside. At least they looked like spirits. This complicated things, to use an understatement. How was she supposed to even find him in here?

Of course, for a child, the answer to this question wasn't so difficult. "Fenix! Heeey, Fenix! Are you here?" she shouted on top of her ghostly lungs while eyeing the dark swirl on the sky. That didn't look good at all. Hopefully, there would be some kind of response to her call, preferably a non-violent one.

Meanwhile, Ray immediately started towards her when the fae pointed out her state. He suspected the cause, and was very worried. However he knew there was nothing he could do at this point. All the same, he intended to be as close as possible to Chrys, in case something happened and his help became necessary.

Jasmine

Ooc: Since her and Zhi are already outside, I guess they wouldn't see Dionysus returned. In any case, either Shayu or Silver should go first.

Zhi

"Actually the goal of Buddhism is to stop the cycle or reincarnation and attain nirvana, though i honestly i dont find it that bad, sure it's messy and full of suffering but it's also fun and full of enjoyment." Zhi replied to Rho before Dyonisus appeared evicting them basically.

Accepting the god's offer, Zhi would stock up on provision of both military and survival kind before turning towards rho joking about how they would no longer need a long range comunication method.
Once everything was settled, he would quietly leave, bidding the god farewell.

Carlos and Selena.

"You always trying to sound like a smartass or is this a special occasion? anyway if you're suggesting he's immortal then what kind: undead, eternal youth, regeneration or wahtever else there is?" Selena asked the Fae while pushing Carlos towards the kids to act as a bodyguard so he wouldn't get tempted to try and shoot the fae.

Carlos would try to focus on what the hell was going on with fenix while also keeping an out eye of the "borders" as to not think about the fae and get tempted into some target practice. He wasn't really sure what was going on insider fenix's head but he knew from earlier he shouldn't mess with them trough physical violence.

Chryse, Ray, Rover, Carlos, Selena
Upon Chryse yelling, all the translucent people floating around her stopped dead in their tracks and looked directly at her. Their black cavernous eyes gazing hungrily at the little sign of life they sensed. They began to drift towards her, slowly at first but they quickly picked up speed like a boulder rolling down a hillside, as the wave of souls crashed towards her. They were almost upon her, those dead black eyes gleaming in hunger as translucent grey hands reached out towards her.
Suddenly a hand was around her wrist dragging her down into the dirt which swallowed them both up. The little hallway Chryse now found herself in was lit by a lone candle, Fenix stood next to her, one hand had a finger pushed to his lips the other wrapped around her wrist. He looked somehow even more haggard than he had in reality. The shadows cast upon him by the candle darkend his features. His clothes were little more than tattered rags, his lips were broken and cracked and he seemed unable to stand up straight.

Up on the surface the Fae was spinning his sword in the air and catching it, obviously already bored with waiting. His people despite their nigh immortality had never been ones for waiting around. “Oh look at that the mortal is forming sentences now. But, hmmmm, none.” Despite the nonchalant attitude it was apparent the Fae did not want to be there, and not due to simple boredom. Something was bothering him.

From in the woods two tiny pale hands rested on the thorns, as the two bright green eyes watched intently.


Ghosty.
“the Fae often are sweet when they want something and…volatile when they are crossed.” The man behind the mask still spoke so unnervingly calmly. He wasn’t even conducting a business meeting, he was asking the intern how his weekend had been.

“Wet work is exactly what I am asking you to carry out to clear the debt. Because if you hadn’t noticed there is already a war going on, it’s just the 1950s now.” The man waived his hand, and a tall thin man appeared with a silver tray in a tuxedo. The butler handed the tray down to the factions leader who pulled the silver top off. A small glass jar with runes worked into the glass itself sat there, a shining pale yellow light humming inside.
“Its rather simple as far as wet work goes, release this inside the hollow of the witches oldest tree.”

Cheon/Zarok/Arkhan/Mariana

"Where are they taking that elf?" Whispered Arkhan, "We don't know, but it's weird to see one... Thought they decided to shut themselves up from humanity completely.... Interesting development I must say..." Zarok replied. Three figures were watching from the shadows; about four people from the new order, that was created by Stein, were taking the elf with them. The elf was somewhat tied up with chains, was it ordinary chain? The three figures had no clue. "Well, we can't just stay here and do nothing about it..." Female voice expressed her opinion inside three males' heads. "You know... I really don't feel comfortable with this telepathy thing..." said Cheon quietly. "Get used to it, human." Female voiced it out with annoyance. The human, Cheon had been complaining such communication with Mariana, the female voice, for sometime and it seems like such argument could go forever. Zarok shook his head in disbelief that they were still in one group. Arkhan, who still had his attention to his foes, smiled; his cold eyes were fixed on the humans who were escorting the elf, and his eyes were not just cold, but it seems he wanted to tear them apart. "So shall we start with the rescue mission? And I smell blood... the humans had some rough time, they are weak." Zarok gave long sigh, "Alright, let's save the elf." And just like that the three males jumped out from the hiding.

Cheon fired his pistols as he came out from his hiding taking out two men with head shots; Arkhan quickly closed his gap with one of the two, who were not killed by Cheon, and burnt the poor guy with his flame sword; the last one survived and ran for his life. However, he didn't go far. Zarok suddenly appeared and chocked him to death.

All three males came together in front of the elf and Arkhan realizing it was female, quickly hid behind Zarok. Cheon summoned his sword, Genesis and cut the chain. He set her free.

Zarok asked the female elf, who got her freedom back, "My name is Zarok, I thought you elves have deserted humanity and all other races long time ago.... what are you doing here?"

Cheon shook his head, "Please, pardon my friend's tone. He has no intention of offending you. We are just surprised to see one of your kind and wish to know what happened."
Cheon said gently, hoping she would forgive Zarok's rudeness and be more co-operative.

Chrys

The calling out didn't work out quite as Chrys would have liked. The souls intruding in Fenix's head all turned towards her, obviously hostile. Chrys didn't intend to give up just like that; after all; Fenix was there just a few seconds ago, before he collapsed. So she would not run. Her spirit unconsciously shifting into the hybrid form, she crouched, ready to jump. The fur on her neck was standing and she hissed at the approaching spirits in a feline attempt to intimidate them. She was ready to fight. Luckily, it didn't come to that.

Just as she was about to slash her claws at the closest ghost, someone grabbed her and pulled her underground. Chrys quickly regained her balance and growled threateningly. When she had a chance to look around the small, candle-lit space, she realized she found who she was looking for. Fenix didn't look too well, and he was signalling to stay quiet. That meant direct communication. She nodded and connected to his soul "telepathically", using her skill to communicate with spirits. "I'm so glad I found you! What's going on here? So many strangers inside your head can't be good," she sent. It seemed they were aafe for now, so she tried to gather as much information as possible.

Meanwhile, Ray was crouching by the collapsed pair, his eyes darring from Carlos to Selena with the fae. He was worried. Clearly, Chrys won't come out until the problem witj Fenix is solved one way or another. However, it seemed that there was a problem with the teenager. Ray didn't really understand, but what the fae was saying sounded dangerous for his friend. For now, he kept quiet and closely observed Chrys and Fenix, looking for any changes in expression or otherwise; he desperately wished it would give him a chance to help somehow. As a result, he didn't notice the observer that watched them from the forest.

Jasmine

The vampire walked on in the direction of Coyote's stadium. From the sound of it, it seemed Dionysus was back - and kicking them out. Normally, she would be offended, but since she was already on the way out, she didn't care much. If anything, it worked out better for her. Should they find anything, there was a chance they're going to get more than just satisfaction out of it. When Zhi caught up with her, she glanced in gis direcion to check if he got anything useful from the god, but otherwise made no comments. Hopefully, they would get to the trickster's fiefdom quickly and without a hassle.

Carlos and Selena

Selena just shook her head at the fae, and want to reply before carlos cut it pointing out the omnious thing.
"On a scale of with everything i have to just saying hello, how many times do you think i should shoot that thing watching use from across the fence?"

Selena imediately turned around to see the thing pointed out by Carlos and moved to stop him from needlesly provoking the thing and most likely wasting bullets.
"Any idea about what that thing watching us is? Also we should move further away from the border, but we will need to find something to transport those two with" Selena spoke while looking around for anything they could use as a means of helping to drag the uncouncious fenix and chris further inside the graveyard, she just didn't feel comfterable with that thing staring at them.

Jasmine

The trip started out fine, nothing bothered the group for a while. Of course, such favourable state of matters could never last long. First, the sound of gunshots came. Then a ragged refugee group ran past them. Finally, two well-equipped hoodlums showed up. Jasmine couldn't care less about any of them. She was not hungry, and had no use for the items the armed men carried. As a result, she would completely ignore the whole situation and go on about her way, unless Zhi or Rho raised a valid argument in favour of dealing with them. In that case, she would grumble, but help by shooting two invisible blobs of sticky Dark Matter at the bandits' feet to stick them to the spot. Once they were dealt with, she would reabsorb the matter so it didn't go to waste. Her acrobatic skills and speed should make it nigh impossible to hit her for the miscreants.

Next stop on their way was a blocked street... blocked by fire. Jasmine had no idea where did the fire come from, but it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. She'd wait a bit for the others to examine it, just in case they had any ideas about how to deal with it, and then suggest they simply walk around it. It wasn't clear how big the affected area actually was, so she picked a direction at random. It happened to be south. She'd regret it later, when it seemed the fiery area keeps going and going, until they got to a familiar place. She remembered there was a small-time information broker, and since they were already there anyway, she figured they might as well try to find out what he knows. She would ask whether he knew anything about Stein's whereabouts, and the others could add whatever questions they had, as well, and worry about payment.

After this stop, the trio would continue on, the day already leaning towards dusk. The detour took quite some time. Jasmine, who was slowly getting annoyed by all the hold-ups, snapped at the sight of a closed gate. She was not going to take one more step. She'd point the other two to the houses likely to be the lairs of the ghouls, and sit down on a boulder by the gate. She was not going to bother actually killing the creatures either. If it came to it that they would pour out and attack, she'd defend herself and smash their heads in by the metal ball at the end of her walking stick, but otherwise she'd just wait until they were let in.

Zhi

As always, what looked to be as a boring simple trip, ended up turning into another even filled rolle coaster ride. First off, they would be meet by the violent gang members who used their superior firepower to scare away other scavangers. Zhi would actually suggest they rob the looters of anything valuable since he figured he wouldn't know how long they would be stuck on the road, nor would he suffer from some moral guilt, afterall it was not like the looters themselfs adhered to some strict moral code or other such nonsense, if they used the law of the jungle against others, they shouldn't complain when others did the same to them. If the group would indeed engage the looters, zhi would launch pieces of debris and rocks at them with powerful kicks or throws, though always from cover as to not get shoot, it would be quite laughable if he would end up taken down by a stray bullet after all the **** he had been trough.

Next up on the list of suprises would be area which was set ablaze, tough they had plenty of time to examine it since they wanted to try and find a way trough, but the examination would reveal this thing was a spawning pit for fire elementals so that option was a no go, forcing them to go around. Zhi didn't really mind about the fire elementals presence, elementals weren't inertly good nor evil, they were simply a force of nature, which ment that just avoiding them would work out perfectly and unless someone had business with that specific area they most likely wouldn't bother anyone. There were some potential problems that could arise from leaving the elementals unchecked, but that would be for a latter date to worry about. In concern to the broker, Zhi had no real questions for him, so he would just wait it out for the others to finish up.

"Really! you're just going to sulk here at the gates like a child?"
Zhi asked jasmine while letting out a sigh at her behaviour, tough he wouldn't really do anything either and just lean against the wall and wait for something to happen, be it either a change of mind, an attack or a random cat that shoots rainbows out of its ass fly trough the sky.

Selena, Carlos, Rey, Rover
The fae rubbed his temples, irritated by Carlos’ most recent blunder. “When your being hunted the worst thing to do is to point out the predator you know they are…” Before the Fairy could finish his words roots sprang from the ground, writhing up as a mass of tentacles from the ripped apart earth. Dirt rained down upon the group as the roops bore all except Chryse and Fenix to the ground. Coiling around their legs and snaking along their arms and waists.

The explosion of movement came in an instant and all was still again almost as quick. “That was sort of my point” the annoyed fairy said coughing up dirt with a gasp for air as he was pinned to a grave stone with his arms forced behind his back.

A gentle melody drifted across the still graveyard, a gentle child’s humming reverberating off the stones. A small girl appeared, her porcelain skin unblemished and her dark curls wild and standing out against her leaf green dress and bare feet. Carlos, Selena, Rover and Ray could all audibly hear the previously unfazed fairy gulp. “Hi honey.” He managed to spit out sheepishly.

Chrys, Fenix.
Chrys intended the words to be silent between her and Fenix, the simple trick of telepathy that by now came second nature to her. However they seemed to boom across the world they were in like the explosion of an angry thunderstorm, radiating through their very bones. Fenix blanched, his eyes going wide with fear as he instinctively clapped a hand across Chrys’s mouth though it didn’t seem to do any good. “What are you doing” the sallow youth hissed in a harsh whisper, as the moans and screams of the spirits seemed to grow closer, the booming voice Chrys had projected seeming to alert them to at least the general presence if not their exact location. “Nee to wake up.” He whispered in Chrys’s ear as he began to guide her through the tunnels.

As the made their way silently through the tunnels Chrys began to notice that the walls were not made of rock or dirt, but a shiny black glass, and the deeper she looked in the more she could see, like and endless real of movie screens. At one point she was seeing the golden image of a smiling women with brown bangs and the next a large cake with a pair of birthday candles. A few steps along there was a snarling werewolf and the sound of strained breathing and feet thumping against the ground as they ran through a snowy forest at night. And even further along was the smell of singed hair and a toppled over desk with a metal glove sitting on it.

Finall they stopped in a small room and Fenix turned to her “how are you here?”

Ghosty

The man in the tribal mask gave a casual shrug of his shoulders “I do believe that you failing would make your particular tribe and god lose face with my peers as opposed to myself. After all the point in contracting an outside consultant is to keep my hands directly out of it.” The eyes inside the mask narrowed with an overt hint of malice “I did say it is a cold war didn’t I boy?”

The man in the tribal mask dug around in the breast pocket of his suit for a moment and tossed a needled and a spool of thread to surge. “ That should point you in the right direction. Now gentleman I would love to stay and chat but I have other appointments to keep. I expect this done by this time tomorrow or I will consider the deal void and I will return you to wear I found you. I am certain Mammon would be most appreciative. “ With that and a gesture the masked man got up and left the little clearing in the park followed by his armed retinue.

“Is there anything else Sirs and Madam will be requiring” The butler said politely.

Cheon/Zarok/Arkhan/Mariana
“No Humans just stopped seeing the Fae Folk, much different than desertion. But My Lady requires our presence in the skeleton remains of his city and thus we are hear. However it is scarily reassuring to see some things never change with your mortals.” The elf said with a nod of her head in the direction of the slain captors. Her tone left it completely up to interpretation whether she meant the killing to the kidnapping.


“What happened is that I was set upon and bound in cold iron while out scouting for My Lady’s retinue. I have no idea why these humans assaulted me as we have not declared hostility with their faction.”

Leiv2 wrote:

Ghosty

Spoiler:

Team-M-

As the Masked leader began to walk off, Maxwell tailed his departure with his eyes, for a short time before turning to face the left behind attendant. Slightly shrugging his shoulder, Maxwell lowly mumbled to himself, “Tch, here I thought, doing this “on-his-behalf” meant I could freely use his authority. Oh well…”

“Ooh Shiny!!” A chirp emitted from beside of Maxwell, which was quickly followed by Raven, further cutting him off as he himself had begun to reach for the silver platter.

Grabbing the small flask with the glowing yellow liquid inside, Raven began twirling it in her human hands, all the while fascination glimmering in her bright blue eyes, which were reflecting the yellow shimmer of the Potion.


“That is not for drinking.” Maxwell took the glass with the embedded runes on it from his lady partner’s fidgety hand.

“Hey I know that!!” she protested, but followed it instantaneously with, “But just a little drop. I want to taste it for just a little bit.” She gazed hungrily at the swaying liquid, which to Maxwell was not clear as to if it was posing a magical effect onto her or Raven was just being.. Raven.


“Thank you for the offer but we will take it from here.” Surge politely answered the patiently waiting butler. Tuning back to face his team members, “We really should get a move on if this needs to be done quickly.”


Maxwell waited for the butler to leave the vicinity however he so wished to do so. Once they could have the park, all to themselves, Maxwell would turn to his friends.

“Yes, back to business.” Maxwell quickly took on a commanding role.

“Surge, make that thing work.” He pointed Dragniir towards the items that Surge had accepted from their contractor. Maxwell then turned to Raven. “Get ready to move. It’ll be a long journey.”

With that said, Maxwell planted Dragniir onto the ground. After clasping the rod with both hands, one underneath the other, he shut his eyes while bowing his head low. Soon after, his robes, ever so slightly, began to flutter about his ankles.


“On it!!” Surge and Raven responded in unison as the two took on their respective roles.


Red mist began pouring out through Raven’s sleeves and from under the black leather Jacket at her back. It began covering the surrounding area around her in a small circular formation before beginning to swirl about her like a snake coiling around its prey.


After analyzing the Golden thread, wrapped around the black spool, Surge noticed a distinct energy emitting from it all. He let escape a smirk, followed by a jolt of spark released from his eyes, breaching the space in front of his face. Like branches sprouting out of a tree, energy surged through his arms to his wrists and into his right palm which held the item given to him. The steel needle made a connection with the little outburst from his palm. As if it suddenly got life jolted into it; the needle sprung up into the air, followed by the connected thread to gleam brightly with its own energy, as it too reached up, beginning to create some form of art project in the air; all the while led on by the thin needle which acted as its point. The black spool which was vertically hovering just above Surge’s cupped palm rolled in tandem to the thread which was uncoiling itself. Reminiscent to the red cloud snake which was covering Raven in a conical form; the Golden thread too created a swirling pattern with the needle always positioned facing the stars.


“We seek The-Tree-of-Thorn.” Surge commented in a monotonous voice. Liquid like Energy was overflowing in place of his eyes within his eye-sockets as he projected his thoughts into the mystic thread.


As if a sentient being, the Golden Cone reacted to its wielder’s call. Like the strings of a puppet being clipped off, the conical form dropped to its base and a ripple like that in a water basin, spread about over Surge’s hand. The needle that remained hooked to the thread, continued to vibrate for a few seconds, creating the ripple effect which mysteriously kept inbound the fixed diameter. In the next instant, it would have appeared as if time itself had stood still, like the vibrant life the thread and needle held was abruptly plucked out. But that was not the case, for the very next second albeit in a slowed motion, the border distorted and the swirled thread inside began to take some kind of shape. It did not take long for it to become apparent that the shape wasn’t a single outline of one but in fact, rather a complex an overall map of their location, not without various contortions spread about in an otherwise straightforward thread. Like a witch’s amulet hovering over a spell book, which without any physical contact be flipping through its pages in search of a special incantation; the needle too snaked its way above the map. Not taking a single position till the threaded map’s completion, the magnetized needle would then only halt above the located point for a second, before piercing the location like a dagger jammed onto its mark into a wooden table.


“I have, the location!!” Surge exclaimed to his friends.

As soon he acknowledged the mark, the map made out of the Golden thread instantly shredded apart into finer threads of varied sizes, dispersing into the space like shimmering star dust, which sparkled with its energy till there was nothing to visually discern if there had ever once been anything held in Surge’s hand.


Following queue, there was a loud “KAAW~” as the Red mist too disappeared, leaving behind on the ground, a dark toned bird with Midnight Purple feathered remiges and Dark Electric Blue for its rectrices. Raven spread her wings, stretching them out as if flexing one’s muscles before any strenuous exercise.


The atmosphere around the three began to bristle with some uncanny energy followed quickly with a rapid drop in temperature as a spotlight of dark shadow beginning from beneath Maxwell expanded exponentially, till the entire park was covered in darkness. The frost covered lampposts posed no help in keeping the shadows at bay.


“Thanks partner, I’ll take it from here.”

Clasping his hands together, Purplish hue energy could be seen escaping out from between the Lightning elemental’s palm as he steadily spread them out. Floating in midair in-between his hands was the crimson Archistaff. Lightning energy sparked and crackled all around it. As Surge grabbed the Staff; the robes he had on him began to dissolve in the same energy which had begun to visually emit throughout his self.

“I’ll light up the way. Try to keep up, little bird.”

Surge threw the rod up into the thick dark clouds. As the lightning rod pierced the sky, Purple light ripped through the heavens. A booming thunder was heard, quickly followed by a lightning strike which was connected to Surge’s raised arm, which was still pointed towards the heavens above. Surge disintegrated into purplish energy flowing up, similar to how earlier, the golden thread had ripped out of existence.


“KAAW~” Raven beckoned to Maxwell as she too took flight.


Maxwell smiled as spread out parts of the connected heavy clouds flickered purple from time to time.


“Alright. Grab onto this and don’t let go.”

Raven took the Rune-Flask into her clawed feet and tightly hung onto it as she flapped her wings to increase her altitude.


“Exhaling a couple of shots, Maxwell readied for the transfer. Could never really get fully used to doing this. But here goes.”

Following his energized friend’s example of departure, Maxwell entered Corporeal Displacement, which in a way disintegrates his body, but in return, gain a spirit like form, enabling him to abandon his current shell to pocket dimension of sorts and enter into another vessel of choice.

An Icy Blue dragon motif insignia, aptly glowing with some kind of residual energy, resembling the winged creature perched on top of the Mage’s weapon of choice named Dragniir, emerged on Raven’s forehead as she continued to fly into the storm clouds.


With Surge, encompassing the Lightning Storm, leading the way towards the location of the Elder-Tree; Raven simply had to stay inside the cloud and use the bright, close to purplish, lightning strikes that streaked throughout the clouds in an erratic pattern. They acted as her guiding light house, aiding her to keep on the intended track; due to the world around her would have been otherwise void of any visible markers.

Spoiler:

Cheon/Zarok/Arkhan/Mariana

"Well, this group is not completely made up with what you call 'mortals', elf." Zarok curved his mouth, "And let's be honest, it's not only humans who couldn't see you. You hide yourself from other races as well." Cheon stared at Zarok, Zarok stared at the human "What?" said Zarok, shrugging his shoulder. Cheon sighed, "Just like what she said it's not because they deserted the mortal realms. It was more like us, the mortals decided to ignore the existence of their realm. Thus, making their realm self-invisible..." Cheon's eyes gently looked at the elf, "But, of course, that could be wrong as well... It is unproven theory that was made by humans....a theory to explain why elves suddenly disappeared from their sight.." Arkhan, still standing behind Zarok, wiggling some of his own hair spoke with care. "Well, I don't know about you people, but I believed in fairies..... Even now.... well, coyote was the first one I came across with..." Zarok shook his head, sighing. Cheon smiled at the male vampire's comment. Even though, this vampire fought fearlessly, he had some soft side. "In any case, miss..... ah.... where are my manners. I am Cheon, that little grumpy fellow with red eyes is Zarok and behind him is Arkhan. One of our member is living inside one of our shadow due to her condition. And her name is Mariana. May I ask what is your name?" Cheon asked politely, however, Zarok eyes carefully rested on the elf. He was not convinced that the elf won't do anything against them.

After elf gives them the short introduction of herself(if she does not, Cheon would simply say "That's fine, if you do not wish to share your name"), Cheon would ask her gently, "If we help get you back to your people or whatever quest you were doing, could you give us a place to rest? My companions are weary, we are seeking a place to gather our strength back. And I believe I have story to tell to your people... I have a feeling what I saw might bring some light to this chaos..."

Rho
In the first lively situation the group would run across in their long journey, Rho's reaction would be almost immediate. "Scythe", she would say before her lumbering companion, with the swollen bag for a head, would lift it's large tungsten scythe off of the ground. The familiar would then pull the scythe back, as Rho stood with her arms crossed, and swing it with incredible force before letting it go, sending the giant superheavy metal scythe flying through the air towards the bandits. If the blade happened to hit one of the two, it would have no problem slicing them in two, but it would otherwise strike them with incredible force, either killing or grievously wounding the two of them before smashing through/into the walls of the alleyway. Rho would then grab her favorite axe and casually walk over to the two bandits; she would finish them off if they weren't dead and did not quickly beg for their lives. If they did beg, she would offer to receive their souls, if they refused, she'd put them out of their misery, after all there wouldn't be much hope for them in the state they were in if they'd been hit by the scythe. After the bandits were dealt with, Rho would move over to help the wounded refugees, if the one shot in the throat was not beyond saving, she would try and see if she could patch up the wound with her Blac; if he was beyond saving, she would offer to receive his, and the other refugees, souls; she would then offer the surviving refugees who refused, some vital supplies. After those had been distributed she would keep the rest of the scavenged loot for her group and move on. If either of her two companions had a problem with her taking the time to offer the wounded aid, Rho would likely ignore their complaints and offer her aid anyway, if they wanted to move on ahead, that was fine.

"Well f***", Rho'd say at their next obstacle. "The road's on f***ing fire...". Her tone would be an odd blend of irritation and amusment; she chuckled as she talked out a conversation between herself and some imaginary person whom would apparently be waiting for them at... wherever they were going. "What took you so long to get here?" "It was on fire." "What... was on fire?" "The road to get here." "The road to get here was on fire?" "Yep. All of it. On fire." "Why, h-how?" "I dunno, it was just on f***ing fire. You'd think there'd have to be some kind of large fuel source for the fire to continue burning, but you know, f*** it, probably magic or somethin', screw logic right?". In the end Rho would just go along and follow Jasmine and Zhi, whichever way they decided to go. Either way they would have to move slow enough for Rho's lumbering companion to keep up, and if the walk was getting too long, Rho could always make her beast carry her so she could rest; she thought of offering that service to the other two, but she had a feeling they wouldn't be interested, considering how "disgusting" her familiar probably was to them, particularly the monk. When they stopped by the information broker, Rho would be sure to tune into the conversation between Jasmine and the man, particularly in the case of Stein. She would follow up Jasmines questions by asking about any big players in the city, and about anyone collecting dangerous old world technology; although the lack of apparent context in the second question may have surprised the other two. Once she was done with her questions, Rho would drop a hint about the strange fire burning back where they had come from and she would then pay the man in gold coins, if that didn't suffice she would offer to barter with some of the supplies she had gotten off of the previous bandits.

Rho would jest with the other two for a moment. "Huh... a locked door... I mean I know I'm pretty much a hedonist Jehovah's witness... well you know, without the whole worshipping Sauron part... but you didn't have to slam the door and lock me out before I could even give my spiel." When she was finished chuckling and satisfied with herself, she would then peer into the fiefdom as best she could from outside and give a little time to the other two so that they could figure out what they were going to do; when neither of them came up with any ideas, she sighed and released a few of her butterflies, which fluttered out from beneath her robes. She sent them to scout the ruined buildings to confirm which house(s) the ghouls were hiding in. If the other two were just going to sulk about their luck, she supposed she would take the time to go ghoul hunting.

"Yeah actually, workin' on that at the moment, I can't stand the competition." Rho chuckled briefly. "I jest. But really, you wouldn't happen to have heard anything about any valuable old world technology would you? I've seen and heard strange things out in the wastes; and I may find myself hunting after another deity soon after all." Rho folded her arms and waited for Coyote's response, she had felt that disaster was brewing in the air; although it wasn't immediate, she knew something was impending.

She looked back over at her two latest companions, she wondered what their responses would be.

Cheon/Zarok/Arkhan/Mariana
The elf gace a derisive little chuckle “other races? You mean you vampires an lycanthropes. You aren’t other races you are just corrupted version of the original species. You are all mortals in the eyes of the Fae despite what warped blood you have coursing through your veins.” She stood up and stretched all four feet of her, and while her golden hair was frayed and her dress was in tatters she moved with an otherworldly grace and ease which certainly helped to identify the difference between her and her saviors.

“My name is Tianna” She said shortening the last syllabul and cutting the word off before it was done. True names were powerful and even more important to supernatural races like the Fae who lived the laws of magic instead of abiding by them. “I also believe if we don’t get out of here those things will be back in force.” She said pointing to the melting bodies of the slain Stein legion.

Spoiler:

Cheon/Zarok/Arkhan/Mariana

"Why you-" Zarok was about to say something more offensive, fortunately, Cheon stopped him from uttering another word; Cheon's hand tapped on Zarok's shoulder, and shook his head, giving him a sign to stop. Zarok tighten his jaws, yes, they needed elves help for this coming threat, but that elf had just offended his tribe. Zarok's tribe was special; their origin was not like other lycans. No one in his tribe were ever real human. The human form was what they called transformation; his tribe was one of very few lycan tribes that survived ever changing world by obtaining human form. The reason why they were called 'Freaks' by other lycans was one of them. It was also the reason why he could speak in his lion form as well. 'That overconfident...'However, he quickly let his anger disappear as it was not the time for them to have argument.

Arkhan, who never thought about his origin seriously, muttered quietly, "Corrupted version of human...huh?" Arkhan had been told he was an impossible abomination created by the taboo magic. 'What makes me then... I wonder....' Arkhan thought to himself, feeling little sad as he recalled his old nickname, 'Unwanted Child'. In any case, he shook his head as his group couldn't spare any mere seconds to stand still or dazed by their own past.

Cheon smiled at the elf who had finally introduced herself, and he also noticed unnatural sound in her name. As the elf stated the danger that lingering around the melting bodies of their slain enemies, Cheon nodded. "Miss Tianna, please lead the way." Implying that they could follow her without troubles.

Ghosty
The sky was an endless sea of quickly darkening grey, the steady misty rain of the early morning had given way to a steady drizzle and the thunder in the distance promised more to come. The city was cold and no matter what methods seemed to be used by its inhabitants, everything was soaked.
The dim grey light streaming through the clouds made it easy to miss the random old growth forest which had seemingly sprung up out of nowhere and was now home to the witch of thorns. The storm the group of magi was hiding in began to fizzle and die the closer it got to the forest, and by the time they had reached the threshold it was all but impossible to maintain their altitude. And so the forest loomed forebodingly in front of them. The throny twisted trees standing like a wall before the magi.

Nex.
The shadows around the small band began to darken, the air feeling as if it was fleeing the allyway. Event eh rain which had begun to fall steadily in soaking the ground around it seemed to shy away from the ally they now stood in.
The darkness itself seemed to laugh, a cold chuckle which sounded like ice breaking, as the darkness slowly began to spin around them.

Leiv wrote:

Nex.
The shadows around the small band began to darken, the air feeling as if it was fleeing the allyway. Event eh rain which had begun to fall steadily in soaking the ground around it seemed to shy away from the ally they now stood in.
The darkness itself seemed to laugh, a cold chuckle which sounded  like ice breaking, as the darkness slowly began to spin around them.

Zarok/Mariana/Cheon/Arkhan

The forest was deep, and thick. The shades were thick enough to make Mariana starts to feel comfortable, however, she did not let her guard down. Even though they were making the steady progress in travelling through the forest, she did not like how easy it was.

Arkhan, Zarok and Cheon were following the elf, keeping up to her pace. Even though, they couldn't get rid of the uncomfortable feeling surrounding them. 'We do not know what is here and we do not know if the elf is leading us to the right way... ' Zarok whispered through the power of female vampire, Mariana. The connection was not connected with the elf, however, Zarok was being careful as he remembered elves as magical and cunning creatures.

However, the human did not act carefully as Zarok did. Cheon voiced it out. "I can feel something is awfully going wrong here. Do you know what is happening?" Cheon asked the elf as he caught up with her.

Zarok was ready to to use his shadow walk with his group if it was too slow for them to outrun the threat. As the shadow walk could now transfer several people at once, it shouldn't be a problem, but he would have to trust the elf. 'Dammit, human...' he complained in his head.

Zarok and Arkhan waited for Tianna's answer as they follow the elf without any troubles. Cheon was following the elf, right behind her with caution.

Chrys

The weretigress jumped in surprise when her "voice" resounded through the inner world of Fenix. "Sorry," she whispered an apology, this time speaking normally. "I didn't expect that to happen, " she explained as they ran.

She noticed the peculiar walls, but as of yet, there wasn't much else to do than remember them in cade she needed them later. When they finally stopped, Fenix's question indicated it was the time to clear up some matters. "What do you mean, how. I projected my soul into you after you blacked out. I came here to wake you up," she explained matter-of-factly, as if it was a natural thing to do.

"Anyway, what happened to you? Where did you disappear to after that fight on the yacht? And who are all those people?" she then added a few questions of her own.

Ray

Suddenly, everything went wrong. Carlos mentioned that someone was watching them, and the next thing he knew, he was tied up by wines and some sytange little girl, presumably a fae, was walking up to them. There was only one positive thing about the situation, that is, Chrys was still safe. What was less reassuring was the fact that the male fae from earlier seemed to know this newcomer intimately... and didn't seem happy to see her.

Selena and Carlos

Immediately after being grasped by the roots, the lycan pair began testing how much mobility they actually had left, if they could atleast move their bodies/limbs even a little bit they might be able to claw,bite.cut.shoot.etc their way out of the bind.

As Carlos and Selena was testing how tight the vines grasp was on them, they overheard their fae "friend" address the newcomer as "honey", bot of the lycans imediately having the same thought, "you have to be joking". With the momentary shock from this new information, the lycans stopped their movements staring bewildered at the scene confused as hell.

They wouldn't pay much attention to Chrys since she was still out of it, but kept her position in check with the corner of their eyes since there were no roots grasping her, which might be needed if this lover squabble would end up ugly.

For now both Carlos and Selena would watch the scene quietly but their minds were still focused on how to break free.