kenoslogs | vander's rescue

Entry tags:

vander's rescue

Who: Vander, his lovely and brave rescuers, and a whole lotta trouble
What: Vander was kidnapped by Aetós, so the people come to save him! OOC information and plotting can be found here.
Where: “The Zoo” in the Below
When: Sometime in between the TDM and March 17th OOC
Warnings: Violence, references to human experimentation/torture

It’s a long, winding way down into the Below, and you’re being led there by what seems like a girl, though at this point you’re also confident that she’s anything but. She’s fought with Shard-Bearers and held her own but was also captured by them to be questioned. And, in that, she eventually gave a piece of information in return. Her master, Aetós, had kidnapped Vander. If you don’t kill her, she can take you to where he’s being hidden. You can save him before her master makes him wrong.

So, a rescue effort was mounted. With many Shard-Bearers across factions here either to save Vander or simple for the allure of learning more about this mysterious figure, it at least gives you confidence that it can be handled. It’s disorienting down here so far below Springstar, but eventually, she comes to what looks like a sealed-up tunnel. She holds her hands against two particular bricks, and after a moment, they glow with teal light before all the bricks seem to shimmer. Like they all suddenly break, they become floating little motes of light, and a doorway lays before you.

It's a long corridor, but it doesn’t take long before you smell it before you see anything. There’s a largely animal smell here like a zoo, but it’s tinged more heavily with the smells of blood and rot. It’s enough to make a weak stomach heave a bit or at least get the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end. But still, the girl continues on until you can see the hallway spill out to a large room.

Laying on a dissecting table is some kind of strange animal, but standing over it is a similarly strange masked figure. Some of you know, it’s Aetós.

“Right on time, Adelfoúla,” is all they say as they stand and hold up a silver hand. A complex orb of light appears, and they crush it. In front of you, Adelfoúla only gives a dispassionate ah— that’s followed by the sound of shattering porcelain, and she simply crumbles at the waist. You can rush forward, try to meet Aetós, but calmly, they just say—

“This will be good data. Hopefully you’ll find Vander before he gets eaten.”

And with a tick like the movement of a watch’s hand, they’re simply… Gone. Those sensitive to such things will feel it, the pulse of intense, strong magic, but before you can fully process, you can hear it: the creaking of cage doors opening down the myriad of hallways that line this one large room, the rumble of growls and claws against stone. Vander is somewhere in this maze of a facility, and you have to find him. Or maybe you just have to find what Aetós left behind.

OOC Notes : This log is a catch-all for all efforts related to the Save Vander plot! Including Vander's no fun, very bad time itself! If you'd like to participate in this plot, please see the OOC post. While the text above describes the initial arrival, this log can also be used for pre/post plot Communion, planning beforehand, etc. along with the expected threads in the facility!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The intention had been to find Vander, and this team had followed Adelfoúla into the facility, for long enough to see a momentary vision of Aetós, before there was a moment of blinking, and they were gone. Something lingered on the air, and Akua's eyes tracked it, it fanned out in all directions, but as she looked it over, considered that path -- of following them -- she thought, no, he would not lead back to the scene of where their quarry was, would he? She could not follow the magic any further than this room, anyway, and she turned, and let her steps take them to the first path that opened before them, the one that moved deeper.

Moving through pathways and hallways was dangerous -- there were plenty of monsters, but that was what Amos and Hayame were best at, wasn't it? Her fingers tested the wall to their left, her feet cautious. Three or four times, she had to stop them, and disarm a trap -- one meant to crush them outright, and another to burn them alive -- Akua was quick to speak up, and even once in a rush, wove the air before them so tightly that they could not move forward, lest they stepped into the muck that would surely disintigrate Hayame's hooves.

Now though, they were at a spot, and her eyes searched a wall. Looking it over, her fingers on her mouth, tapping. She looked at the two, before a howling sounded down the hallway, creatures trying to draw them out, perhaps? This certainly felt wrong, this wall before them. After a moment, her gaze hardened, and her lips peeled back as she ripped the magic before her apart, revealing stairs downward -- the sight of a light at the end of it...

Could that be?

Her head snapped up, and looked over at Amos and Hayame, who were -- she expected -- going to want to go for the monsters. ]

Forget about those! I think they're meant to distract us.

[ She pointed at the stairs which had -- very obviously not been there before. ]

[It has been a trial to get this far.

Thankfully, they had both brawn and brain on their side. Between Akua's expertise in magic and Hayame and Amos' use at disposing of more physical threats, it seemed as if perhaps they might just find their target... but it takes time. Just when Hayame is beginning to think that Aeteos might have taken Vander with him when he vanished, or he was never even hear in the first place...

There are stairs where there had not been a moment before. Once Akua clears them as safe, Hayame turns from the more obvious draw of monsters down the hall to awkwardly shuffle down the steps sized for more bipedal persons... only to be confronted with a door. Once the mage amongst them has removed the magic on it... still a solid door they don't have a key for. There isn't much room down there at the base of the stairs, but...]

Lend me your arms, Amos.

[Any issue between them, if they remained (and they... did), had been put aside in order to accomplish the task. Enough that now, she has little problem turning around to align rump towards the door, experimentally lifting a back hoof and blindly placing it against the metal until she finds the strike plate. Once she does, she puts both hooves back on the ground and instead takes Amos' arm for balance and ballast with her hands...

And then kicks, full-powered with both back legs, once, twice, thrice at the door's locked edge, the impact reverberating up her bones and sending out an ungodly aggressive noise...

Until it begins to give way and she has to stop kicking or risk turning a fetlock. Amos can have his arms back. Just give her a second to get turned back round again.]

[ It's interesting, who he's ended up with: two Meridian women he has wronged in some way, and yet two Meridian women he happens to share a common goal with in this moment.

Among everyone who had followed Adelfoúla to this place, though, he knows them. He knows their reasons for being here. He knows the Iconoclasts are headstrong and aren't going to fuck around, and despite any previous misgivings — and there are probably a lot of them, from some more than others (sorry(?), Hayame) — he can help, and they know he can.

So he does.

He's had to compartmentalize his fury at Adelfoúla's death, because she's dead and Vander might still be alive, so, priorities. He's less strong here, but he has his gun, and it makes killing these things around them a hell of a lot easier. So much so that he naturally would have gone down the wrong path had it not been for Akua's expertise, but at least he hasn't lost sight of the real mission: rescuing Vander, not clearing these things out.

So he follows them down the stairs. Acts as a stabilizing force for Hayame, ensuring she can utilize all of the strength she has at her disposal to kick the door down without hurting herself. There are no questions asked, no odd looks given — just silent acceptance that they need to get this shit done, now, so everything else is irrelevant.

Hayame weakens the thing. Doesn't hurt herself doing it. Lets go of him, and without a word he works his way around her to take a quick look through splintered and shattered wood. There's no immediate sign of threat, so he navigates the door's sharp remains — really wishes he had gloves down here right now — to get a grip of what's left of it, rip the remaining pieces off their hinges, toss them across the room to make a clear pathway for the three of them. Ignoring the remains of the door at their feet, the broken wood he's chucked to come to a rest against the wall at the other side of the room, Amos carefully walks in, gun drawn, sweeping the space before him.

He doesn't know what they're going to encounter here, after all... Better to take point and be ready to kill, just in case. ]

[Vander would be hard-pressed to ever think of a time where he felt worse than he does now. Maybe the state he’d been in when he’d first got thrown into a cage down here would be the obvious contender, but he can still barely remember those first few days as it is. Probably for the best. But while those old physical wounds had the time and attention to heal, right now he’s forced to fight off a bone-deep exhaustion, a fever so terrible that it almost felt like he was on fire, and a wrongness that felt almost like nausea sitting firmly in the pit of his stomach.

Needless to say, everything from the moment Aetós had finished with him to now was mostly lost to a haze as he fitfully tried to keep a faltering grip on consciousness. The bastard is sure to return to check on their handiwork, and Vander has no intention of letting them mess with him while he’s out cold.

Not that he has much of a fighting chance, still strapped to this damn table in this cramped lab space. He tries to focus on what little of his surroundings he can see to keep himself from drifting off—the slightly teal tinge to the lighting, the rough and thick cut of the stone walls, the set of shelves off to one side and the cart covered in various tools just below them. Across to the other side is a smaller door, slightly ajar, but giving no hints to what might lie beyond its shadow.

By the time he’s almost on the verge of dozing off, a commotion suddenly startles him into wakefulness. He can hear the echoes of all those beasts kept locked up in this place down the halls, some yelling voices joining them eventually. And then the slam, once, twice, three times somewhere behind him. Blearily, he strains to get a look at it, but it’s quickly evident that it’s no use. With a frustrated grunt, he tries again to pull against the restraints holding him down, but it’s practically futile work with how leaden his limbs feel.

Another clatter follows it, and now his struggling becomes more frenetic. The beastly howls resound again, louder now than before, and he can only assume that means all that noise was the sound of the door being torn down. The sudden spike of panic joins that burning in his chest.]

Shit, shit, come on!

[ Just because they found the room -- was that Vander's voice she heard back there? She's sure of it -- didn't mean they were done, and the howling sounds of beasts converging heightened the sense of danger in the moment. Amos slipped in the door, and Akua waited for Hayame to move first, holding the back line, watching for danger, and ready to take on anything that swung round the pass.

The howling down the halls certainly indicated that this wasn't going to be easy, and then there were further halls within.

Did she hear more echoes that way? She was no Ranger or Huntress, she had little competency in tracking sounds like that, and as much as Akua was skilled, she still had areas that she lacked. Tracking and placing beasts was one of them. Tactics? Great. Magic? Superb. Name Lore? Excellent. Skills like this? Middling, at best, and they were not demons for her to track, either.

She Slipped in once Hayame was in, and looked to the door they came through, the sight before them, and then down the halls. Her eyes find sight of Vander, and her lips pursed. ]

I don't think we're going to be alone. Can you keep the beasts off of us while I melt the locks?

[ Said to both Hayame and Amos, even as the howls and growls sounded louder, closer. ]

[It is Vander. She knows that voice.

It takes a second for her eyes to find him in the midst of the room, on the table strapped down, but she is distracted likewise by the howl of beasts brought crawling towards them by the sound of their activities. They have a choice, Akua is aware of it... and Hayame makes it for them.]

You two get working.

[They will need Akua for her magic to make sure no traps make last minute mince meat of them, and another pair of hands to deal with freeing Vander, potentially aiding him if he is weakened...]

I will hold the door.

[Hooves clatter on the cold floors of the now abandoned (but certainly not empty) lab as she turns back to fill the doorway with her body, arranging her bow to raise... and fire at the first skittering beast to show it's head at the top of the stairs. Another arrow winds up in the eye of the next, another in the lung of the next after that.

Her quiver, however, is not limitless.]

[ Amos holsters his weapon once he sees that the room is clear, save for one (1) Vander — still alive, awake and in need of rescuing. His first thought is to go to him, but for when he hears the sound of those beasts, and it leaves him torn on what to do — break Vander's restraints (if he even can, weakened as he is down here), or go back out to fight and buy them some time.

But the decision is made for them; Akua can handle the restraints herself, and Hayame is taking point (although unlike her weapon, Amos' gun is limitless. It'll cost him in discord to keep it going indefinitely, but he can do it).

So he takes the third option — go through the lab, see what else might be down here that can help them, while they've still got time.

What's out in the open is obvious (and mostly useless) (and kind of gross), so Amos wastes no time in throwing the doors open of what looks like some sort of closet or storage area — and ignores all of it as his eyes zero in on Adelfoúla. Everything else seems kind of secondary as he inspects her, not sure what to think or believe until he finds what looks like a shard fragment. He attempts communing; gets the stated response and nothing more; and figures... fuck it, someone's gotta save her too, so he works on freeing the shard from the unresponsive, immobile body.

Just give him a moment. He'll be back with the rest of you shortly. ]

[Thankfully there is more than just beasts waiting to storm into this room. The voices are startling, and it takes him a moment to recognize who they belonged to in his feverish haze. But it’s friends, at least two of them that he can hear—and he can feel the third through that ever-present hum of background Exalt empathy, now that he knows to pay attention.]

What are you—

[Voice hoarse, he cuts off whatever sort of disbelief or protest that is on his tongue as they storm into the room. He knows why they’re here—to get his ass out of trouble—and perhaps it’s a little bit of shame that’s robbing him of his voice here for the moment. But there’s a memory coming screaming to the surface of his mind that’s doing one hell of a job of distracting him from thinking properly.

This is not the first time he’s been exhausted and bloody, restrained and in need of rescue. At least this time it wasn’t his kids making an insane risk for him. But he can’t stop thinking about it nonetheless. Claggor trying to break down the wall to give them a path to escape. Mylo trying to keep his hands steady as he picked the locks on his restraints. Vi fighting off every thug Silco threw at them, all on her own. The explosion that—

His eyes dart to the old and worn out stuffed rabbit that sits on one of the nearby shelves, distinctly out of place amongst his captor’s collection of equipment.

And then suddenly Akua slips into view, Amos not far behind. He can hear the familiar sounds of Hayame’s bow firing and the beasts howling as her arrows find their mark. He can focus on the present again, take deep breaths to calm the thunderous pace of his heart thudding in his chest.

He forces himself to find his words, find that calm that got him through this the last time and in much more dire circumstances.]

Be careful. [A breath. He clears his throat.] Don’t know… what might be lying in wait here.

[ It's with a narrowed eye that Akua neared him -- when Vander looks so unfocused at first, and she can put together the small details. The deep breaths, the way he stared into the distance, she wonders what has happened to this man to make him panic so? Yes, this is dangerous, she concedes to herself, but it is hardly the sort of thing that would instill a panic quite yet. After all, she is here, and though she can feel her power diminished...

Well. To say that Akua has a high opinion of herself is putting it mildly.

She offered him an over-confident smile, sharp under the lights in the lab, and she tipped her head, to look around. ]

Don't fret so much, Vander. [ She says, the picture of Praesi villainy and confidence. It should surprise nobody that she wore black, a chevalier's outfit again for battle, but her lacquered fingers find the restraints easily enough, and it starts to grow cold under her touch. ]

It may take a moment for me to get you free, but I think we can trust Hayame to deal with them. [ A beat, and golden eyes took stock of Amos, who had moved to the remains of...something. ] And Amos. [ A beat. ]

Hopefully, hm?

[ Last time they met, he had attacked her. Perhaps Vander had something he wanted? Perhaps there was a reason why he had come along? She would puzzle at it later. For now, weak, slippery letters appeared over the first restraint, as it became colder and colder. ]

I will keep it from burning your skin, but it will be cold, before it breaks.

[Hayame will deal with them because she had said that she would, and she was a woman of her word. The beasts that come skittering down the hall towards the sound of their intrusion and aim to come down the stairs are not terribly strong as individuals, but there are a lot of them, twisted and ugly like large felines that have had other beastly parts grafted on in attempts to make them more deadly. Thankfully they are not armored (except for one that had some sort of chiton on it), and arrows make quick enough work of them, one after the other after the other-

Until there are too many at once for arrows to make work of, and though her quiver is still half full Hayame flicks her wrist to magically transform the six foot long bow into the much more manageable six inch grip that she can thrust back into her pouch and exchange for a six inch-

Oh, no, that one extends, too, into a bladed polearm that Hayame drives into one's chest before using the weight to slam the body into another one lunging for her throat, grunting out as she does-]

Take your time- !

[... She does actually mean it. Mostly. Never mind the sudden curse as one of the creatures tries to scramble past her, and she barely manages to drive her weapon into it's leg and pin it to the ground for her to stomp with her hooves instead, snarling as it's teeth dig into one of her own legs in the process.]

[ He's here because Vander is his friend, but that all kind of goes out the window the second a child is involved.

Amos hadn't expected to come down here needing to rescue a kid. Even as Adelfoúla had led them all down, he hadn't thought too much of it — until she had been murdered, and then he'd been able to put that aside, because Vander was (probably) still alive and therefore the priority. Seeing Adelfoúla again, knowing she was still alive in some fashion...

He does need the prompting to get back on task, because kids are just more important to him. Always will be.

Amos swears under his breath as he finally manages to free the fragment of Adelfoúla's shard; it was the kind of thing he couldn't rush, so the side remarks were unappreciated. And he really wishes he had something to carry it in, but a pocket is going to have to do.

That settled, he straightens back up, withdrawing his gun from his holster once again. ]

I'm coming, I'm coming.

[ Yes, he understands the urgency of the situation, but he was fucking busy with something more important, okay? Scowl on his face as he turns back to the doorway where Hayame is occupied with those creatures, he spots another one skitter out and into the room from under her, and promptly shoots it, killing it with a single blast.

Holy fuck is he happy to have a gun again.

There isn't exactly time to see to Hayame's leg — that'll have to come later — so he does the next best thing he can and joins her, taking his place in the doorway's remaining space. Looking up at the steps he sees just what she's been saving their asses from, creature upon creature piling themselves together along steps, and fires at the masses of bodies, over and over and over. Anywhere where they're grouped together, anywhere where he has the highest likelihood of hitting them, in a dispassionate attempt to thin the herd. ]

[The sound of fighting is worrying, but at least it’s something to tether his focus to. Gotta keep his thoughts on the present, not what had once happened or might still happen. The here and now.

He is so damn tired and his head is pounding, but the adrenaline is helping him keep alert for the moment. Akua’s explanation gets a wordless nod from him and he holds the limb under the restraint she’s working on as still as he can so as not to distract. His attention drifts to Amos for a moment, but it’s hard to see what he’s getting up to at this angle, just that he’s riffling around with something in that small closet off to the side.

But he’s up and joining Hayame in keeping the door secure before long, and by the increasing sounds of bedlam and the abrupt halt of the familiar thrum of a bowstring firing in succession, he’s probably just in time.

The moment Akua manages to get the first of the restraints brittle enough through the intensely sharp cold of her spell, Vander’s now-freed hand immediately flies up to press against his neck where he can still feel an echo of the bite of a needle in his flesh. It feels like his skin is on fire, a sharp contrast to the lingering cold of Akua’s magic on his wrist.]

Don’t suppose you all ran into the one responsible for all of this on your way here?

[He half hopes his rescuers got the drop on them. The other half still hopes he can get the chance to wring Aetós’ neck himself.]

[ Akua is trying to create the ice necessary to chill the restraints, but the more she tries, the more she tried to wrest the chill of her magic against the restraint, the more she realized that it's a trick rather than a flood. It takes forever for the metal to become as cold as she wishes. It gets there, but it feels like she is a mere novice as opposed to the expert she is.

Her lips thin, because Amos and Hayame are fighting as hard as they can, against those monsters, and her magic is Very nearly gone.

Something is dampening her magic down here. Worse than even before. The sounds of their fight sounds more and more frantic, and they need to hurry, but she wants to know what is happening just as much as she wants to get Vander out of here.

With a grunt of frustration, she moved to the other, and slapped her hand on it, as if the touch will help. (It doesn't.) ]

Thus far, it has only been monsters.

[ The ice crept along the surface of the metal, but it's even slower on this side. She turned her head, to narrow her eyes at the runes. ]

This is taking too long, give me a moment. One of you must take out the other restraint, there's something here.

[ She stands, before she strode across the room -- heading right for the center of what could only be his work -- she stares, for long enough that she memorizes it, before she pressed her hands to it, and started to tear the magic down, piece by piece. ]

[Hayame is glad that Amos has his gun back, too- especially because it fires far more rapidly and accurately than the matchlock rifles her own world considers the most breaking edge technology. Thankfully, with the two of them working in tandem, the monsters thin much faster, her polearm handling those closer as she gladly leaves more varied range to Amos...

When Akua calls for aid from within the room... Hayame looks between the few remaining monsters and what she can see over her shoulder of the bindings, thinking just a moment before-]

I'll leave the rest to you.

[And that gun. Hayame awkwardly backs up a few paces rear-first into the room before she can get her larger frame free of the doorway to turn around, but once she does she reveals streaks of strange colored blood on her skin and hide, her polearm dripping before she flicks the monster viscera off it and moves to Vander's side, eyeing Akua. She must be doing something magic, so...]

Vander. Pull your arm free the moment you are able.

[Jinba were strong enough to carry multiple men on their back, and even a mare could crush a man's skull in her hand... but the angle of his restraint was difficult for her to get leverage on. With a grunt, she puts away her polearm and curls her foreleg until she can awkwardly get it on top of the table holding the prisoner, bearing her weight down... and providing contrast to the grip she has on the strap with her hands. Gritting her teeth, she stops supporting her weight on her other foreleg to put it all on the table, pulling up on the brace until it's anchoring begins to give, squealing and creaking until-

Finally, it snaps and comes undone, freeing room for Vander to wrest his arm out.]

[ Amos only catches snippets of what's going on behind him, eyes trained on the stairs that led them down here and the creatures scrambling along them. There are some smaller ones that it takes multiple shots to hit properly, and while he'd think that maybe if they slipped past their size would mean they'd do less damage, he isn't willing to risk it.

He nods when Hayame hands things off to him, taking up the apparent mantle to finish freeing Vander, before another creature catches his eye by skittering along the wall. The first shot misses; the second blows out the middle of the body, creating two halves that lifelessly fall to the steps. Another pokes its head out from the top of the entranceway, and that one's easier to get on first try.

Shit, this would have been exhausting with traditional weapons like Hayame's. As it stands he just has to keep his arms steady and hands level, and that's no problem for him. A part of him really did miss this.

Without taking his eyes off the doorway, he calls back out to the rest of them, ] Think they're starting to clear out. Don't know if it's because they finally figured out trying to come down here was a stupid idea or if we've just gotten rid of most of them, but path should be clear when we go up, at least.

[ Though given a spare moment, he sweeps his eyes over their way out for any signs of movement. ]

Might have to watch our steps, though. This place is fucking littered with these things.

[ Litter that he and Hayame technically created... Parts of the walk upstairs might be squishy, is all.

A beat, because now that he's had the chance to catch a breather, he can feel something off with his fellow Exalt. Isn't sure what it is, just that something's wrong. ]

Vander, you gonna be good to make your way out of here, or is one of us going to have to carry you?

[ It's actually a serious question, a faint worry coming off of him before he snuffs it out, turning his attention — and all of his emotions — to a creature that had leapt halfway down the stairs in a sudden burst of speed before he blows a hole in its head. Jesus. The sooner they're gone the better. ]

[Vander’s knowledge of magic is still bare-bones enough that he doesn’t quite realize there’s something amiss until Akua’s frustrations become increasingly apparent. His gaze follows her as she hurries over to the other side of the room, unsure of what’s to be found there, but certain that if it has to do with magic, she can no doubt take care of it with her expertise.

And luckily, they’ve got other methods at their disposal, and an expert at brute strength to come resume the job of breaking him free. Hayame’s instructions prompt a silent nod—one both grateful and understanding. He half-sits up as best as he can, ready to pull his arm back the moment the table he’s on begins to creak with the strain. And in the next moment he’s another step closer to freedom, pulling his arm close and gingerly rubbing at his wrist where the restraint had bit into him when he had strained against it prior to their arrival.

There’s only one to go, a broad strap over both lower legs and weaker for it; it is already somewhat askew from his earlier struggles. He sits up fully now, reaching out with shaky hands to try to help work himself free.

That shakiness gives him a moment of pause when Amos shoots that question at him.]

I… think I can manage. At least enough to get out of this place.

[Probably. He still feels utterly like shit, but it’ll be hard to really gauge it until he can get on his feet.]

[ Akua's focus turns wholly to the work before her.

It gives her a picture of whom Aetós is. Clearly intelligent, with a precise grasp of magic -- his magic is similar enough to hers that she can almost -- almost imagine that she could work a theorem or two out from the work. She wants to. Oh, she wished she could spend hours down here, combing through this. Her magic being a bit of a sacrifice to spend the time looking it over, combing through the work and truly peeling back the layers of his work.

There are mathematics involved, a theory. Her lips peel back as she took the pieces of the magic apart, bit by bit. The restraint and hold on her magic felt closer to a dam against the pressure of her gift, holding back a part of her, with the flood of her rising tide crashing against high stone walls that she pulled apart piece by piece.

When it crumbled fully, it was not gentle, and nor was it slow.

Hayame, Amos -- and if he doesn't have enough going on already -- and Vander can feel it when it falls. The power of their abilities comes back in a wave.

The runes are still there, and Akua hopes she will have more time to decipher them, and spend her time picking them apart. This Aetós had stolen one of theirs, but there was nothing that said that his work needed to go to waste. ]

Good. We will want to leave soon, I think. I assume some of these creatures have abilities as well?

[As Amos and Akua work their respective specialties, Hayame turns her attention to the last binding on the table holding Amos, using the same method as she had on his arm. A near half-ton of jinba muscle was useful for leveraging against the strong material used in the labs, and with an awful creaking and a final pop, the last strap is ripped free with a heavy grunt and bulge of archer's muscles knit differently beneath a deceptively human looking upper back.

Something happens because Akua said it did... but Hayame barely notices. For all she has Harmonized with Meridian, she has stubbornly refused their spells, and she had no magical properties to begin with. There is only the faintest sense... but the words the sorceress speaks makes it clear. They should go.

So to Vander, she clips quickly through the offer,]

If you cannot move quickly, I will carry you.

[- She doesn't say "ride", because she doesn't mean it. How does she plan to carry him, then, when he is as large as he is?

She has withers to sling him over, doesn't she?]

[ He feels the strength he's grown accustomed to over the months return to him, feels his connection to gravity come back. He actually hasn't missed either too much in their time here — because he has his gun, and it's doing everything he needs it to — but shit, he's not going to object to everything else coming back, too. Who knows when he'll need it all, especially considering Akua's musing. ]

I dunno if any of them have abilities. They all seem pretty mindless. [ A pause as he takes a second to aim, fire, kill another creature that's caught his eye, the shot punctuating his point. ] But we should probably be getting out of here ASAP.

[ Not just because of the threat of danger, but because Vander still sounds a little out of it. Feels out of it. And because Amos doesn't want to spend a whole lot more time down here, anyway. ]

Don't anyone go thinking they can be a hero. [ Vander, the name implied but left unsaid. Just take the help if you need it, buddy. ] If we're ready to go, I can take point up the steps. Might want to switch to bringing up the rear when we're back in open hallways, though. In case anything tries to come at us from behind.

[ Since he's just has a bit more maneuverability than Hayame; with that polearm of hers she'd do well taking the lead once they're back on level ground.

That and, if she does end up carrying Vander... Well. He'd be safer closer to the front, anyway.

Amos risks a glance back into the room behind him, tilting his head towards the stairs. They ready to get out of here or what? ]

[The feeling of the magic in the room becoming as unfettered as he is now is… odd. Truth be told, he’d hardly noticed it had been dampened, considering everything he’d been going through here and how relatively unaccustomed he still was to making note of it at all. But it is noticeable if he focuses, and he takes it as a good thing, considering his company.

Hayame gets another silent nod of thanks now that he’s fully free. As for the offer… He slips from the table that had held him, carefully, a steadying hand pressed against it as tries to gauge his strength now that he’s standing. He doesn’t know about “quickly,” but he should be able to move.]

I should be alright on my own.

[For now. And as if to prove it, he moves over to the side of the room where the cart of Aetós’ supplies sits, grabbing the worn out stuffed rabbit that is sitting out of place atop it. He takes a moment to look it over. There’s a swell of emotions at the sight of it again, but there’s no time to contend with it. He sighs and tucks it away into a pocket, then turns back to the group with a determined set to his jaw.]

Let’s get out of here.

[And despite the aching in every inch of his body, he pushes himself forward to meet Amos at the stairs, taking in the grisly sight of the monsters he and Hayame had busied themselves with.]

[ Akua turned from the runes, though she looked back over her shoulder at them, as if she was trying to memorize them, figure them out, and in a way, she was. She could sense the...similarities to her own magic, and she can feel the... drive to make it make sense. There's a mathematical component here that she wants to break down, study, and see if the theorems would be at all similar to her own. Perhaps if they were... it could be changed, added to, or even just... altered.

Though she does not let her steps slow too much. Not at the moment, but instead, she turned, somewhat wistful in expression.

Look, she likes you Vander, but sometimes a sorceress who builds superweapons really just wants to spend time down here investigating it. She can't help it, she's a simple woman at heart. ]

Very well. Now that we have the full range of our abilities as well... [ She said, with a brush at her dress, before she looked to the door. ] I think if any get close, I should be able to dispose of them quickly enough. You're right, they seem mindless.

Then again, the mindless beasts so often do surprise.

Shall we?

[If Vander can walk unaided, then Hayame will let him. As long as he doesn't slow them down, independence is a dignity a man should be allowed. Though she watches him move about the room and grab some sort of toy (for some reason), he seems to pass whatever test she has for him. The weapon she had put away comes back out, and with a flick of her wrist the polearm extends back to its full length.

Enchanted weapons were... useful, as much as she hated to admit it. When your weapons were as correspondingly large as you were.

When Akua pulls away, Hayame is ready to nod sternly, agreeing with a,]

Let's be free of this foul place.

[She returns to the doorway, to the staircase. For a brief moment she lingers, calculating, surveying the work she'd left Amos to finish. Once she is done, she gives him a nod likewise.]

We will move as you suggested.

[Whatever might have happened between them the last time they'd met, this was a mission, and his logic was sound. He has point until they reach the more even halls, and then they would exchange positions. There may be more monsters between them and the exit, more traps for Akua to dismantle...

But as long as they reach the surface again with Vander rescued, it will count as a success.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

vander's rescue

team go get dad!! (Amos, Hayame, Akua, and Vander!)

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