vander's rescue

[beleos]

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

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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.

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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!

Comments

[baltimores]

[ 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. ]

[exhound]

[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.]

[wolof]

[ 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?

[warmare]

[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?]

[baltimores]

[ 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? ]

[exhound]

[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.]

[wolof]

[ 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?

[warmare]

[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.]