To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine?

Sarah was slightly taken aback when Bakan reprimanded her for referring to him by a title rather than by his name, but when he said that he wanted her to do something she would bob her head quickly in affirmation, her bright curly hair rustling lightly before she brushed it back behind her eyes. "What do you need me to do?" she asked, slightly eager but also slightly hesitant, and then listened to his instruction carefully. "You can count on me, sir! Errrr, Mr. Jeru!" she replied quickly when he asked if he could count on her, "if I can make it so that you and Lady Orgrosh stay out of danger, it'll be more than reward enough for me!" Her hand left a tingling sensation against his skin, a decidedly pleasant one that would linger even after he had released her.

Invigorated with new purpose, Sarah curtsied when she and Bakan were ready to part ways when back in the city, with Sarah going with all due haste to Dove's mansion while Bakan set of for Artis' home. Baker street was still in the richer district of Cheydin, leaving Bakan often glared at for his inhuman wings by passersby, but it seemed to be an area more for wealthy merchants than for proper nobles. The houses were smaller, the guard patrols less frequent, and the people dressed a little bit more plainly than the finery worn by the Badarian nobles and their servants. A few beggars were visible along the way, dressed in badly worn clothes rather than rags but nonetheless appearing destitute, and some begged for coin from Bakan as he passed, each with a sob story and a plea to help feed their families if he stopped to listen long enough.

Once he had disengaged from the beggars, Bakan would find Baker street quickly enough, and upon it he would find the house where Artis lived. Out front was a large squad of city guards, clad in the navy blue overcoats that Bakan had come to know and distrust. One of them came forward as Bakan approached the house, and perhaps to his surprise given the general attitude towards the fairer sex in Badaria it was a woman, one with an officer's cap and a saber joining the two pistols at her belt instead of the cudgel wielded by most of Cheydin's guards. She was a grim looking woman with a strong jaw and sharp blue eyes, edges of platinum blond hair just barely visible beneath the rim of her cap. Her gaze swept over Bakan critically, her eyes narrowed, while one hand rested on her hip just beside her guns and the other rest on the black scabbard of her saber.

"You are the one sent by Dovikulus Alvarien, presumably?" she asked in a cold, commanding voice while taking another step forward, down from the porch of the (comparatively) modest residence which was his destination. "The one that sent the orc and the demon ahead of you?" she continued, mild distaste evident in her voice but not on the level that might lead Bakan to suspect the same level of hatred that he was used to from the people of Badaria. The house itself was large and mostly blue with white trim, a small tower and a balcony overlooking the street directly above the porch on which the six guardsmen were standing and an alley where two more were keeping watch on the right hand side approaching it. The houses in this area had no yards, at least not out front, but there were a few slightly sickly looking potted plants sitting out on the edge of the porch, the earth within showing a good number of cigarette butts of various ages. There was a small round table off on the left, surrounded by three wooden chairs and a single long wooden bench, and a hooded lantern with a lightstone inside hung on a hook right next to the thick, ornately decorated oak door which stood directly in the path of the wide stairs leading up to the porch. To the right of the door was a small square window, shaded, and to the left was a much larger rectangular one that was situated just behind the bench.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

"Just Bakan, the same thing everyone else calls me. It sounds weird when you call me by my last name." Bakan stated in reply to her insistence to refer to him in a formal manner. He bid her farewell following her courtesy, feeling a little charmed by her mannerisms as he no doubt had a blush on his cheeks upon their departure. Hopefully some of her polite mannerisms would rub off on Cory.

Then came the trip to Baker street. He ended up getting glares again, and this time the others weren't with him. Did these people have something against angel wings as well? It was in contrast to the reactions before, who looked only amazed at his white feathers. Or maybe it was the armor. It looked straight out of Hell. Come to think of it, Bakan was aware that strange things happen to armor when you enchant it too much, but this armor seems to have given no reaction despite him loading it with enchantments. Everything should be fine, it seems.

The beggars though, annoyed him. Not to say Bakan was cruel, it was how they wanted the money given to them. When Bakan was starving, his take at begging on the street was asking what he could do to earn the money. Asking for hand-outs just sounded selfish. Who knows if the sob stories being given were real or made-up, so that the person can be fed without having to put forth any kind of effort. To all the beggers who asked him for money, he'd give a simple response. "I'm protecting someone from being assassinated. If you want money, then help me." he'd offer. The few who'd likely accept, he'd interrogate to see what they could offer to help him. Otherwise, he could give nothing to someone who wanted something for nothing. It wasn't the nicest thing to do, but Bakan knew that he'd be accomplishing very little with the money he gave them. It would be spent, and they'd be back out on the street again, begging for more. It was even more cruel to support that way of life, degrading as it was. Better to offer them a chance to learn new skills, and find ways to pick themselves up off the street and provide for themselves. Bakan offered that, a chance to earn their keep so that they'd never have to beg again.

His attempts would likely be unsuccessful. Regardless, he found the house he was looking for and noted the appearance. It looked like just a normal house, albeit a very nice place for retirement. Having said that, it did not look defensible at all. Bakan's immediate analysis was that if Artis were to be protected here, there were many ways it could be invaded. No doubt as well, it would be at night. While Bakan stared at the house and pondered the look of it, one of the guards came forth, a woman with a firm jaw, and a critical look in her eye that sized him up. The distaste in her voice could either be seen as distaste for his association with the corruption, or distaste for her opinion on his worthiness. Perhaps both. Either way, Bakan already decided he wanted this conversation to finish quickly. There'd be no making friends with this woman, and likely not her associates as well. "Yes," Bakan replied flatly. "Bakan Jeru," he gave his name. "I want to meet with Artis and inspect the property as quickly as possible. Wasting time glaring at each other is pointless, so please allow me entry so that I can create a strategy." Bakan declared in a no-nonsense tone. The assassin could strike in the next minute for all they knew. While the new defenders were arriving and the security was only going to get tighter, the nightstalker might decide to strike while the iron's hot. Provided she allowed him in, he'd look around. "Speaking of which, where are my comrades I sent ahead of me? Their names are Orgrosh and Rhep by the way, not orc and demon." Bakan stated firmly to the woman, and he frankly didn't care if she didn't like it. The tone he gave and the expression on his face said that he hated her hatred, and would show her distaste for his comrades absolutely no respect.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine?

Sarah would simply nod and blush slightly in response to his request to refer to him by simply his first name, a thing that seemed to distress her sense of propriety for some reason, but nonetheless quickly took her leave.

Unsurprisingly, Bakan's offer would earn him no helpers, every one of the beggars backing away when he demanded that they help him deal with an assassin so blatantly. Most simply stared at him with mouth agape in shock for a second before hurriedly turning away, but at least two of them muttered something about him being crazy before they moved to ignore him.

Arriving at his destination alone and confronted by the potentially belligerent officer, Bakan's request to enter the house and inspect the area was met by a snort. "Indeed," she said slightly skeptically, but began to move aside only for his next question to cause her to pause and scowl a bit harder at him. "They didn't give their names, and I didn't care to ask since I didn't have any reason to let them in the house. I let them go in back to watch another door with the rest of my squad, which is about as much as any of you mercenaries are fit to do in the first place as far as I'm concerned."

She stepped aside, sweeping her hands into a mock gesture meant to offer him the opportunity to go ahead onto the porch, like a man holding a door for a lady. "Fortunately for you, it isn't up to me," she continued, "and you I actually had a description of. Your two companions aren't getting in without being checked first, nor are they to be allowed in armed until someone with authority says otherwise."

And with that, Bakan would be able to either go inside, or go around to the backyard. Another dozen soldiers were in back, along with a bored and frustrated looking Orgrosh and Rhep, all of them collected on opposite sides of a comfortable patio but occupying none of the chairs beneath the large canopy that was set up to provide shade. His two companions would shoot helpless apologetic looks at Bakan before going back to glaring at the guardsmen. With him they would be able to get in, albeit only through the front door, only if they agreed to be disarmed, and only if they submitted to an uncomfortable and invasive search from the two guards directly inside and the mage accompanying them.

If he just went straight in, he would pass through two doors placed one after another and enter a large hallway with stairs on the right and four more guards, one of whom glared at Bakan openly and was clad in a loose black robe, the symbol of the Imperial Eye marking the clean-shaven man as a graduate of the brutal Badarian school of magic, the Incantarium. Asking where Artis was, he would be pointed to a set of double doors on the left that would take him to a single large room, one that took up much of the house's first floor and contained a great number of mismatched seating areas, a few tables, and on the far wall past a doorway leading into another room, away from any of the windows, sat a large circular tub that stood some four feet of the ground and was filled with bubbling water, red hot stones beneath it providing the heat.

Yet another squad of guards were in the room with the hot tub, the right of the doorway opening up into an area with a bar, a counter, and a modest kitchen where servants were nervously preparing a meal. The man that Bakan was supposed to be guarding was in the tub, sitting in a comfortable manner in the water with a pretty young woman sitting next to him. For a man in danger of being murdered, Artis looked intensely relaxed, both arms on the rim of the tub as he relaxed against the back wall, and he spared only a glance for Bakan before giving a double take at his wings. Artis was not a muscular or a tall man, being about five and half feet at Bakan's estimate, though such would only be a rough one. He was fairly pale, moreso than one who was simply of Badarian heritage would be, and had long, shockingly red hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He had an easy grin and slightly pudgy cheeks, deeply set and very rounded green eyes, and a narrow cleft chin. What was visible of his torso gave him a bit of hair but little muscle or definition to suggest impressive physical strength. The girl, in the meantime, had long dark hair rather like Cory's and a pair of slightly gaudy but nonetheless expensive looking ears, the rest of her hidden beneath the water as she was nestled into Artis' side.

"Heh.... You're the guy that Dove sent over, eh?" he said while sweeping his gaze up and down over Bakan, grinning in a slightly tipsy manner. "Taller than I thought... And I didn't expect the glasses. Drink? The bar's open, take what you like. Make yourself comfortable!" The merchant-noble's voice was even and actually fairly pleasant to the ear, possessing a strong, regular timbre and a charmingly friendly note that made it easy to find him trustworthy, though at the same time it possessed a note of care-freeness that in this particular situation might not be well appreciated. The guardsmen, if they had received the same offer, had all elected to stay away from the drink, and in this particular squad Bakan would note another woman in their ranks, another oddity among the soldiers clad in the garb of Cheydin's town guard.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

"So you want me to play your little game of policies? Fine. I'll get his permission to let my comrades in so we can better defend this... Fortification, because your mooks won't be laying their hands on them." Bakan declared, before stepping inside, past the guard, and heading straight inside. Likely catching sight of Rhep and Cory through a window as they sat in back, he'd wait to greet them until they could do more than stand outside as he headed straight for Artis himself. Coming into this room of pleasures and relaxation it seemed, he'd eventually find Artis after asking where the man was. Spotting him in a tub with only one girl, Bakan was shocked that there was only one girl in the tub. Though that didn't really matter, he had to get his options enabled if he were to better defend this place.

Though Bakan did notice a particular oddity. A lot of the guards in this place were female. Was that normal, or was it due to Artis? If Bakan was right, and the nightstalker was female, then this was actually a big window of opportunity. However, that fact alone couldn't be helped. The situation is what it is. Though his current business was to enable his allies to do more than stand outside. When he was looked over by Artis, Bakan arched an eyebrow at Artis' note of his height. Was that important? And his glasses? The hell kind of mental picture did Artis have? It felt odd that Artis had Bakan pictured to be some kind of ideal guard of some sort, but all he could do is write it off as an oddity of Artis' character at the moment. Bakan simply cleared his throat and began to speak of what he came for. "I came with some of my comrades to defend you, but your other guards won't let them through unless they are made subject to humiliation. Could you please tell them to stand down so that my allies and I can do more than stand outside?" Bakan requested first and foremost, and inwardly cursed. Why didn't Dove give information about his allies also coming? It was as if Dove didn't even acknowledge them.

Bakan would also look around the various rooms he saw. If he saw no room that had a lack of windows, then he'd inquire towards Artis. "As well, entryways are going to be a liability. Do you have a room in your house that only has one way in or out? The difference could mean whether or not you still have your head on your shoulders. Also, do you have candles? Or things that create light? Wherever we choose to defend you, we cannot allow darkness to be." Bakan stated.

If his friends were granted the freedom to come in and out as they pleased, Bakan would step outside and go greet them, with a sour look on his face. Twas ironic that he came to hate the guards more than who he thought he'd hate more. "Hey, Rhep, Orgrosh. Sorry for what the guards here put you through. I thought Dove would have been kind enough to include you as well as myself in the list of people to allow." He'd say, then break the news of whether or not Artis went through the trouble of allowing them entry without molestation.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine?

Though she had intended to let him go inside, Bakan's insult earned him a hand on his shoulder that not only stopped him, but roughly spun him around to face the captain regardless of any input on his part, a utilization of surprising strength and deft leverage that marked the officer as not only stronger than her frame implied but an experienced grappler. "Alright, listen you worthless pissant!" she spat angrily as Bakan found himself almost nose to nose with the angry officer instead of the men who were themselves bristling at his jab at their competence, "I don't give a damn who you think you are, who you work for, or how stupid you make your fancy armor look! One more insult and I'll have you off the premises no matter what some prissy nobleman says! I'll put up with no more disrespect from some pighead sellsword, especially not when I've a job to do, got it?" She released his shoulder and stepped away smoothly, but continued to scowl harshly at him, and should Bakan turn he would find that he hadn't made any friends among the other guard either.

Regardless of how that turned out, at least assuming that Bakan did nothing to escalate the situation further, he would be able to go inside and find Artis, the man that he was supposed to be defending. Hrm? Ahhhh, you mean the ones in my back yard..... Yeah, sure, tell the boys in back that I said they can come in. Little Aria's just being thorough, as always~" he said when Bakan asked him about having Orgrosh and Rhep let inside, speaking with apparent fondness for the guardswoman whom he had offended outside, "I suspect that my assassin won't be posing as an orc or a goblin tonight, and if they are... Well, the room's pretty crowded."

Having seen only the entrance hall, the sitting room, and the kitchen so far, Bakan had detected no rooms without windows, though there was a door to the right in the kitchen that stood slightly ajar, leading into a poorly lit servant's corridor that would take him back into the front hall, with flights of stairs going up and down as well. When questioned about potential places to keep him, Artis would cough inexplicably and keep silent for a moment before replying; "Well... Uhhh... Not that comes to mind. I guess there's the bedroom in the attic with the one window and then just the door, but... That's where my aunt sleeps, and she's... Well, a bit daft. I don't usually like to disturb her myself, usually it's just the servants who tend to her when she's not in one of her raving spells. I guess most of the rooms on the second story other than the servant's barracks only have a single entrance, not counting windows.... Ahhh, except for my study and my bedroom, there's a door between those... So, I guess just my aunt's room and the guest bedroom."

After rambling until he was red in the face, Artis cleared his throat awkwardly just before another figure suddenly emerged from beneath the bubbling water of the hot bath, a women with lanky brown hair and dark green skin. The texture of her skin and hair, even through the water dripping off of her, suggested that she was an alraune, and that she barely seemed short of breath despite having been entirely submerged only reinforced the idea. She flashed Bakan a brief smile showing the usual brand of brown-grey woodlike teeth, before settling under Artis' other arm while the human woman briefly giggled. The guards all either scowled, frowned, or simply looked away at the man's antics. "Eheh.... Anyway, what was your other question? Candles? Light? Well, yeah, there are probably candles lying around.... Somewhere," Artis continued brazenly, "you're afraid of the shadow magic stuff yeah? You needn't be, the house is warded. Nothing can go in or out with any transport but their own two legs. They try that, and it'll be a rough sell on whether they die in the attempt or end up going to the Incantarium boys who handle the magic types that end up in prison here in Cheydin, and that's saying something!"

The nobleman seemed fairly sure of that, and when Bakan had entered there had been a very subtle sensation against his skin, as if he'd been passing into a wall of fog or through a cobweb. It had been very hard to notice at the time, but such sensations usually signified magical defenses. Such things weren't built on any single source, but were worked into the very walls of the house, meaning that enough damage to create a hole in them would constitute a massive amount of structural damage in the first place.

With his allies given leave to enter, Bakan would be able to look through the back door, located in the kitchen, and after a brief argument with the guards in which Artis yelled at them from the tub, motion the two green-skinned warrior women inside. The other guards and the house servants looked warily at them at first, but after Rhep simply shrugged and Orgrosh nodded following his apology they mostly returned to watching the doors and windows or performing their expected tasks respectively. They weren't searched or disarmed thanks to Artis, and with the two of them inside he could try to formulate some sort of defense.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

"Do not touch me again." Bakan replied as he walked inside. Her desire to stare into his face met with his own scowl at her hatred while his wings turned bright red as if glowing red with fiery hatred. Her own disrespect would normally have earned her a boot to the ass, but Bakan had a task to perform, and she'd only get in the way if Bakan threatened her attempt at being some kind of tough guy. Bakan had passed beyond the abilities of the common soldier while defending against the demons, being one of the few who survived the worst attacks with scars and all to prove it. Against someone who only guarded a door for a noble, Bakan had little doubt which of them were more capable, so he only regarded the woman as far as when she decided to lay her hands on him. He'd burn his gaze into her, daring her to try to escalate her bullshit to her own detriment, and once she'd let go, he'd pay the ignorant bitch no more mind.

Then, with Artis and his antics in the tub, Bakan would pay less mind than the guards who seemed turned off from what was happening. If anything, Artis so far was a firm step up from what he'd usually seen from the citizens of this place. The alraune was a good sight, despite the circumstances. It meant he perhaps wasn't a racist. Definitely not as much a racist as the moron outside who was so adamantly determined to show him who was boss. Just in his stare alone, he let her know that he didn't care for her act. So, as the alraune smiled at Bakan from the tub, Bakan blushed and gave a tiny wave of greeting while averting his gaze. "To be fair, Artis, if you don't mind me calling you that, the individual we're dealing with has likely bypassed all manner of defenses before. So I'm of a mind to expect that no matter what we muster, it'll be something they've seen before, and have had experience in dealing with. Either they will ignore that defense entirely or they 'will' find a way through it." He declared.

With that, Bakan pardoned himself to go fetch his friends outside. After an argument with more guards that Bakan had to resist punching in the face, finally they were allowed inside. Bakan was at least glad he no longer looked fully human. He wouldn't want to be related to these bricks. He'd then return to Artis. "We need to take every measure possible, I'm afraid. The first problem I was worried that you would have with this plan is that you'd be opposed to it as a result of discomfort. I mean, what I had in mind was a far cry away from being... In a tub." Bakan cleared his throat. "No matter what, we need to make sure that you are always surrounded by light. I won't see it any other way so long as I'm on this task. Though in light of that, I suppose you'll need to ask yourself... Do you feel safe enough that you think my help isn't required?" Bakan asked. Depending on Artis' answer, it would greatly affect how much leverage they had to actually protect him. They literally needed to move Artis into a safer place that is more defensible, but that plan would go downhill if Artis himself wasn't keen on it.

Provided he would acknowledge Bakan, Bakan would nod. "If it's just a few windows, we can barricade them. One firm defense against an assassin would be to hold yourself up in a panic room of sorts, one that is difficult to get inside even by normal means. Past that, your food and water are means with which to try and poison you. Even if your other protectors detect nothing, they'll need to be taste tested in case of poison that goes undetected. With those essentials out of the way... I'm going to be honest. I'm hoping that I can encourage the assassin to at best, speak to me, or at worst, accept my counter offer. They're still a person, so I'd rather have an ally than an enemy, as silly as it may sound to try and befriend someone like that. It's earned me a lot of unlikely friends in the past, and I value them dearly." he explained.

"In the end, it all comes down to how much you respect the threat of this assassin. I myself, respect her very much. Enough so to not want to contest against them at all." Bakan declared, and if asked about the gender, Bakan would say the same thing he said to Dove. It was just a feeling.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine?

"I would appreciate it greatly if you gave me no need to," the captain woman countered coldly as Bakan walked away after she'd stepped away, "I dislike having to wash my hands as often as I'll need to if I have to interact with mercenary filth like you for too much longer."

"Not at all, not at all!" Artis replied absently when Bakan asked if it was alright to refer to him by his first name, though his confident expression deflated as Bakan suggested that there might be methods by which one could circumvent the defenses laid upon his house. It was with that expression that Bakan left Artis for a little while, while his confrontational attitude would continue to earn him the ire of the guards who had been put on Artis' protection duty, before coming inside with Rhep and Orgrosh now beside him.

When asked whether or not he wanted Bakan's help, if he felt safe enough, Artis' frown only deepened, and for a moment he kept his silence. "Well... More people on watch doesn't hurt, does it?" he reason noncommittally, "I mean, even if there are a lot of guards, I guess more precautions... Can only help, right? I don't know about any of this light business, but I guess Dove has told you more than he told me about whoever was hired to kill me."

He seemed curious when Bakan spoke of how he wanted to guard him from the assassin, and the others listened intently, though when food was mentioned the nobleman would smile slyly for a second or two. When he went over his desire to meet with the assassin, however, the reactions in the room were anything but positive. Rhep and Orgrosh, though his attention wasn't on them at the time, exchanged a dubious look quickly before quickly shifting back to appearing neutral. The guards exchanged looks, and as Bakan finished playing out his hopes for how the assassin might be thwarted by diplomacy one of them walked out of the room entirely through the darkened corridor leading to the front hall. The servants and the whores, likewise, seemed to not think much of this plan, and even Artis didn't seem entirely sure of the idea, though he at least looked optimistic about it. "Why?" the human woman asked in blatant confusion, apparently before she could help herself.

Eyes looked to her, and she blushed slightly before continuing; "Why would an assassin... I don't know, meet with someone trying to protect their mark? I mean, that just seems.... Counter intuitive. Won't they be frightened off with so many guards around?" She seemed unsure but hopeful of that prospect, but before Bakan could voice his disdain for the mortal protectors set around Artis the nobleman would ask; "She? What makes you think it's a woman?" Bakan's limited explanation, that it was simply a hunch, would earn a blank look from Artis and an eventual shrug, "fair enough then."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

The moment she said mercenary, Bakan rolled his eyes in disbelief. "I'm not even being paid to do this, for fuck's sake. It's a favor for Dove. Do a god damned fact check." Bakan growled. There were truly some amazing morons in the world, and that's coming from a confirmed moron.

Then inside. "It's less what Dove told me, and more how I've seen dark powers work." Bakan explained, before waving his hand. Everyone seemed rather skeptical, even rather confident in all the guards. He had to address this idea they had about their situation. "A better way to think about what I'm talking about, is to look at it in two possible cases. If the guards are enough, then they are enough. If all that's here currently is more than enough to stop the assassin, or just enough, then yes. Everything will be fine. But you have to imagine a world where it's not enough, and ask, 'why is it not enough'?" he began. "That's the world I'm imagining, so we may be on two different levels of thought. Worst case scenario, even all these precautions I speak of won't be enough to stop that assassin. Even if we kept you in a box and sat on that box, Artis, there's still a chance the defenders will get slaughtered and you as well. So, if we're dealing with someone who is beyond all of our capabilities, if it's possible to pay them off and they accept it, then we can avoid a possibly grim situation... After all, this assassin is supposedly very infamous. It's my belief that such a reputation isn't acquired by being unable to overcome defenses such as this." he explained his reasoning.

As well, it wasn't so much disdain for the guards because of his thoughts on their abilities, it was disdain for them as people that had Bakan angry at them. Perhaps it was a bit unfair to lump them in with the rest of the racist and hateful population, but they didn't give him reason to like them while providing a large number of reasons to dislike them.

The note the girl brought up did Bakan the favor of wondering how the assassin would go about contacting him should they wish to make an arrangement. "Most likely, I don't believe the assassin will care for my offer. I'm aware of that likelihood." Bakan replied to the girl, speaking to her just as he did to Artis. There was no shift in tone or respect from Bakan, as if he was just talking to another person. So despite her position and situation, Bakan didn't treat her differently. "There are multiple ways I can go about it. The best way would be to promise a fine payment and provide it when the moment passes that you must be assassinated... Speaking of which, since someone wants you dead..." Bakan just thought of it. He didn't know how long Artis needed to be defended for. Most likely, he needed to die before something happened in regards to women's rights, so Artis needs to do something. What is it? "What do you need to do?" he inquired. "If we know the timeframe of when the assassin needs to kill you, we can determine when the attack will come with more accuracy. I certainly hope that you aren't going to be in constant danger. I imagine you have to pass a bill of some sort into law, and should you accomplish this, then the assassin would have failed their contract, yes? After all, there's no point in you being dead if you already did what you need to." Bakan declared.

"If that's the case, the offer could be laid out, and delivered to the assassin after the time passes. The method, which you asked about..." He looked at the girl. "I'm not sure how I'd arrange for it. It would have to ensure that the assassin wouldn't be led into a trap. If it was a trap, it wouldn't end well. Then again, this assassin is at best, a neutral force. Much like a mercenary, which everyone thinks I am for some reason. Taking them down doesn't accomplish much unless we're in danger, and if they agree to meet, then we certainly aren't in danger. But then, there's the issue of them learning about my offer to begin with..." Bakan shook his head. "I know you all don't really approve of the idea, but anything we can do to prevent murder under the current threat should be taken. After all, the worst case scenario... Is where you're dead, Artis." Bakan explained. "If the assassin's reputation holds, then I only have a slight danger of being killed. I might still be killed, but the only one in true danger is you."

"That is why I want to bargain with the assassin, because I'm told she can evade everyone on this property and murder you and escape like a breath on the wind. I don't want to fight with someone like that." Bakan declared. "The best way to protect your life is to convince the threat to look elsewhere, wouldn't you agree?" Bakan asked Artis. "Failing that, we still have to prepare as much as possible. As focused as I am on the idea of buying the assassin off, you won't find me shocked to find they refused... To that end, the most we can do is hold you in the safest room in the house, monitor your food and beverages for poison, make sure shadows are cast away, and block entryways to your location, which the guards here are already currently doing to some degree." Bakan declared. It was a simple matter to bunker down and hope for the best while remaining diligent. With that said, Bakan turned to Orgrosh and Rhep.

"With that being said, suggestions are welcome. And yes, I'm aware no one is a fan of the diplomacy with the assassin plan. It's just there in case the assassin is willing to take it. After all, I'm pretty sure they're not out to kill you because they want to. If it's money, we can give money. Would make this a lot easier."

After all that was said, they were welcome to converse about the topic with Bakan, who'd be willing to hear their thoughts. Regardless, Bakan would do as much to protect Artis as the man was willing. If he didn't mind being held up in the aunt's room or a servant's quarter, Bakan would encourage him to rest there while barricading the windows with the best they could muster, as if preparing for the apocalypse. It was all out of respect for the assassin, whom Bakan was convinced was far more skilled than he could imagine.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine

Bakan's retort to the captain calling him a mercenary only earned a snort of derisive laughter, and as he walked past the rest of them and entered the house the other guardsmen were trading grins.

Later, his reasoning would cause Artis to nod in understanding, and even the guards wouldn't seem to find fault in that logic. When he reasoned that the assassin was on some sort of time limit, however, Artis looked uncertain and eventually shook his head. "I don't... Need to do anything! That's why this surprises me. All I've done besides mind my own business is provide a bit of funding and put in a few good words! I'm not on any council that decides the laws or how they're enforced! I mean, the only big thing that I've done for the movement is push for women to be accepted into the guard, and that was almost ten years ago." Shaking his head again, Artis continued; "I'm only a damn merchant! I sell food! Clothes! Pottery! Spices! Whatever I can to take a profit without making what people need cost too much! I'm only... Trying to make things better."

His impassioned outcry of frustration seemed to earn sympathy, at least from the women in the room and the servants, though some of the guards would also nod in approval. When Bakan went over the countermeasures besides trying to buy off the assassin, no one would argue, but one of the guards would say; "We're not movin 'im yet. The upper floors haven't been cleared and reinforced." The speaker, a tall and well built man with greying salt and pepper hair and a bristly mustache, would continue; "The bottom floor walls and windows have taken added wards to resist gunfire and magic. It isn't only the famous assassin that might be coming for 'im sometime soon, we actually suspect that the major threat is going to wait for a smaller player to make their move before taking advantage of the distraction. As for the entrances; We've got sniper teams on a couple houses keeping watch, and those inside have got every door and window's either been protected, alarmed, or under surveillance. There's even protection down in the sewers under the house. No one's gettin in before the rest of the house is sealed unless they bring an army to back 'em up."

After that, when he turned to Rhep and Orgrosh, the orc would offer him a stalwart frown and said; "I doubt this... Assassin will respond to such an offer. It stinks of a trap. Still, it doesn't hurt to try and extend the offer, at worst it is refused and exposes the most dangerous of our foes. If what this... Man.... Says is true, that might be one less major problem on our hands." The way that Orgrosh spat the word "man" didn't seem to earn her any friends, though the man who'd spoken simply frowned flatly at her for an instant before looking back to Bakan, the obvious leader of his section of the group trying to protect Artis. "Assassin's.... Feh," Rhep added in open distaste, "dealt with sneaks in Hell. Dealt with sneaks in Ackkeron. Went across Crolia with Cory. They not get past Rhep! When we catch, we squish!" Her enthusiasm was received with some amusement from the guards, at least, and the girl and the whores giggled as she waved her club in the air. "Yes.... Well, I think your plan is sound, Commander," Orgrosh said, "if the mage here is capable of producing a counterlight, the assassin won't even be able to conjure darkness like I know some of them can. Secluding their target where they cannot be reached is the best plan."

The guard who had spoken, an apparent officer inside, nodded. "That was the plan all along. The only reason we're down here is because this operation got a little rushed, and we ended up sealing up the bottom floor first since it was easier to get to for anyone who wanted in that didn't have wings." He blinked once after his dry comment about wings, and hastily added; "Not that that's, uhhh, a problem. Yeah.... Anyway, they should be finishing up in a little bit, so why don't you put your shorts back on?" His latter comment was directed at Artis, who blushed briefly and hastily reached down beneath the bubbling water and shifted something. The two prostitutes did the same, including their tops, and then the three got out of the water before Artis went to a panel on the side of the tub and stopped whatever devices caused the water to bubble and warm, the water dripping from them falling upon a smooth tile floor that seemed made to let the drips seep in while they dried off and got properly dressed, Artis clad only in a thong that prompted Orgrosh and the female guardswoman to look away while Rhep and some of the male guards stared incredulously. The servants seemed to consider this par for the course. As they got out, however, Bakan would notice one other odd thing; the human prostitute displayed many scars across her back, long healed ones that looked as if they had been caused by a whip. Such blemishes normally kept one out of the sex trade unless they were at the very bottom of it, where the aged and battered sold themselves for the barest of subsistence, and that even one as otherwise pretty as the dark haired one could acquire Artis as a client said something... Though what it might be would be up to Bakan to guess at.

"Why don't you two be off? It's only going to get more dangerous here," Artis said as he reached for a coin pouch at his belt. The alraune simply nodded, a look of relief crossing her features, but the scarred human woman hesitated and ultimately shook her head. "No," she said, "I... I want to stay. I can keep you comfortable while you ride this out!" Artis seemed ready to argue that, as did pretty much everyone else in the room with the potential exception of Bakan, but before any argument could be made she passionately said; "I won't leave! Even if I have to lurk across the street after you kick me out! Besides, these people should be more than enough to protect you from anything!" That seemed to melt Artis' resistance almost instantly, and before any advice could be given he nodded and said; "Yes... Alright, fine. It'll certainly make this more bearable until the situation can be resolved."

The guardsman, frowning, would open his mouth to speak only for a voice from the outer hall to call out; "Second floor and attic are clear and ready!" The mustachioed man sighed audibly and rose from his sitting position at the counter. "Alright then, come on sir. It's up to your aunt's chambers," he said, prompting Artis to moan in feigned pain. "Must I? What if I'd rather go outside and face the assassin's myself?" he asked in a half-serious tone, but despite bearing an amused look he was ushered out by the guard, possibly with Bakan doing the same. Half of the squad would form up to watch their backs while the others preceded them, and Bakan and his companions would be able to take whatever positions they liked. A brief glance through the glass of the front doors would show the guards outside on high alert, forming a wall in front of the glass with their own bodies, and up the stairs they would go. Another window on the stairs was blacked out, but it was around a bend to the left and then onto a second narrow hallway. They went right, towards the back of the house, and entered the last door on the left into a small room that was dusty and seemingly neglected. In it was a bed, a desk, a seamstress's wheel that had had many parts that might be dangerous replaced with harmless ones or removed entirely, and a single window that had iron bars over it. Motes of light floated about, dancing between them, and no corner of the room was left cast in shadow, a feat that had been replicated out in the halls on their journey up the stairs.

A woman sat on the chair in front of the desk, and by the time Bakan entered she was glaring at the sudden intrusion of so many bodies into her abode. "What's this? Strangers!? Get out of my bedroom at once! The scandal!" she called frantically, and as Bakan beheld her he would get the image of a particularly wretched woman. Wrinkled and bent before age ought to have done either, her eyes were almost unnaturally wide, like big brown and white saucers that only added to her maddened appearance, and her clothes were old and almost tattered, though they had obviously once been fine and expensive. She began to rock back and forth as more entered, and as she spotted Bakan, Rhep, and Orgrosh amid the crowd that entered she cried; "Foulness! Mutants! Demons! Monsters!" Her eyes narrowed upon Artis, and she jabbed a crooked wrinkly finger at him, what tomfoolery is this Arty!? I'll not have it!" Though it was obvious that he took some distaste in being here, Artis still had a note of familial fondness and a definite softness in his voice when he said; "It's alright nana. These are my friends, we'll all be staying here with you a while. It'll be just like when I was a boy, you remember that don't you?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she coldly said; "Of course I remember! But I'll not have so many crowding my study! Tracking mud all over the place!" Artis sighed quietly, and turned to the guards. "Why don't you send some to watch the halls and other rooms? There's no use arguing with her, she'll have her way regardless." The guardsman who had done the brunt of the talking considered for a moment before saying; "We could just gag her." Artis gave a bark of laughter as the woman in question appeared scandalized and started mumbling incoherently. "I'd wish you good luck with that, it'd be more dangerous than facing the Nightstalker!" he said jokingly, and the guardsman simply sighed and said; "Fine. Rebecca, you're in here with us, the rest of you watch the rest of the house. Keep alert." The majority of the guards who'd seen them upstairs, including two had been in the woman's room already, tromped out, but one figure, an older woman in a robe like the man downstairs who had been standing next to the window and ignoring the exchange that had taken place entirely, also stayed and was ignored by the guardsmen. Once the door was shut behind them, the guard sighed, the dusty room far less cramped, and moved to lean against the wall next to the door. The female guardswoman, apparently named Rebecca, moved to stand near the window opposite the other woman, and Artis and the whore he'd brought up with him sat on the edge of the expansive bed that sat near the center of the chamber. Rhep took up a spot near the door, and Orgrosh moved to the wall beside the bed and leaned against it, her eyes shifting to the window, leaving Bakan to do as he thought best.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Bakan was surprised at the laughter, stopping for a moment to wonder if there was any specific reason that he was being ridiculed. "You wouldn't put yourself in danger for a friend? Or for a good cause? I was right about you." Bakan said in disgust, but before he left, he regarded the guards. "Oh, my apologies to those among you who don't share her viewpoints. I had assumed automatically that she was speaking for all of you when I insulted you, and that was uncalled for. I am sorry." He said with a bow to them, before leaning up and heading inside. "Though I don't care if you forgive me. It doesn't actually matter, if you think about it." Bakan said flatly at their immediate looks of doubt.

In the house, Bakan sighed at Artis' response. That was truly the worst thing he could have heard. More over, he didn't even have any idea why he was being targeted. The hell was up with that? Perhaps it was because Artis was a supporter? That had to be it. The only other alternative was that Dove or someone was wrong or lying, and there was some phantom assassin on the loose, straight from the imagination. While that was a possibility, there was more realistic propositions to consider. Artis was desired to become a corpse, that much was established. However, the timing was off. First question, straight to Artis himself. "Have you ever been targeted before?" That seemed like a good question to get by. Perhaps it was a rival merchant? There was a chance that another merchant out there wanted to snuff out the competition and charge higher prices. Perhaps a big merchant. This kind of information would no doubt be valuable to Sarah, but if Sarah went back to Dove, then Dove would no doubt have this information for her should she be wise enough to ask. He imagined she would be, as she seemed adventurous and smart enough for it. It would help to narrow down who that merchant was, if one existed.

Second question. "Is there any competition for your business around here that might want you gone badly enough to pay a high quality assassin? It'd have to be someone rich." Bakan stated. It was an obvious answer, and perhaps there was someone like that. It was an all-too-likely possibility. That would also mean that the timing could vary greatly. They could decide to hire an assassin at any time that they could afford it. Such an idea destroyed his plans to pay off the assassin almost entirely, and he said as much to them. If it was not due to something about to happen, then his plan could easily be flopped if the assassin chose to accept the bribe, and choose to kill the target anyway. It became a false hope rather than a desperate one. "Still, ten years is a long time to wait to enact hatred upon you for allowing women into the guard, which I also approve of by the way. Good on you." Bakan nodded. "So, I highly doubt that you're being killed for something you did ten years ago. It's a possibility, but that would just mean whoever wants you dead is either bad with information, or can never get anything done in a timely fashion." He stated.

Which lead to question three: "Is it possible that you aren't the main target that someone would seek to harm?" he asked Artis. "You're already friends with Dove, right? As well, you said yourself that you try to do things to help. What kind of things? Artis, if you're supporting someone who has enemies, it's logical to say that you'd be targeted so as to cut off support to that person. I'd imagine you give money to people? Who? And why? If you answer these questions, we might be able to deduce the sudden reason you're being targeted. Perhaps it's not something you have to do, but what the person you're helping has to do, and your death will help bring their efforts to a halt. If such is the case, then we truly might have the assassin on a time limit, which would help us greatly towards both possibly paying them off, and knowing when we need no longer fear them should that plan likely fail. It will be easier to remain vigilant knowing that there's an end to this... That, and uh..." Bakan cleared his throat. "I kind of have to go looking for my brother eventually... So I cannot protect you forever, or even for months, I'm afraid. I was actually kind of hoping that this would get resolved quickly as a favor for Dove." Bakan said with honesty.

Though those questions were best reserved for their answers after they relocated. "Hold off till we're upstairs." Bakan would say to Artis to keep his answers until they were in a new spot. But there was also Orgrosh and Rhep, who gave their replies. Orgrosh of course didn't like it. By itself, it was of course a silly plan, but the good thing about such a plan was that if the assassin was on a time limit, it had merit with little to no downsides. Though, Rhep need to understand the situation a little better. For that, he took a knee and held her shoulders. "Rhep, this sneak in particular is apparently worthy enough to put all the other sneaks you squished to shame. Enough to kill me and Orgrosh, even you." he made sure to put Rhep in the brightest light. He wasn't sure why he did that, it was just instinctual. "Remember, if you encounter the assassin, do not try to win that fight. Call for help and preserve your own life as best you can. We will beat the assassin if we can manage to work together, as assassins are notoriously good at one on one combat, or so I've been told. But they're terrible at fighting uneven odds. Such is why they stick to the shadows." he explained. Rhep needed to survive, not be brave and get herself killed. He didn't say it, but he put the lives of Orgrosh and Rhep above that of Artis.

Though, he did take a moment to step close to Orgrosh and whisper to her. "I know you hate mages, but you aren't bothered now, right? Forgive me if I'm overreacting... I just..." He blushed a little. "I don't know much about you, all things considered... And... Thanks." he said. "And... sorry, and... I'll stop whispering now." he said in a fluster, before backing away from Orgrosh looking ashamed and flustered. He just wanted to establish where Orgrosh was with the whole mage thing. Hopefully, she'd only go with the idea of killing mages in something other than a zealous or religious manner. Though it was just a minor fear in the back of his mind. He didn't make a big deal of it other than the whispers. Not that Orgrosh was wholly into the idea of arguing about the murder of mages before, either. Still, she made it clear that she wasn't down with the mages. Likely, he really was thinking too much into it, and Orgrosh just would tolerate the mage due to the situation. She was no moron, but Bakan had seen a couple intelligent people go a little crazy over religion. Not to say Orgrosh's hatred of mages was religion, but it felt like an apple from the same tree.

At the regards to wings, Bakan just shrugged at the man. "I'm not self-conscious about my wings, don't worry about it. They're nothing but useful." he replied, before waiting to Artis to rise and leave the tub. Though as they got out of the tub, Bakan mentally censored Artis while looking at the prostitute. There was likely various reasons why she would have such scars. Obviously none of them good. The best case would be that they're wounds from a battle, but she looked like no fighter of the traditional sense. No doubt she was a slave. Perhaps she still is? Artis was ready to give her money and send her on her way. Was that truly her lot in life? Bakan couldn't speak because he was drowning in pure ignorance on the matter. Should he even ask? And why did she have such conviction to stay with Artis? Why did he seem fine with it? Multiple answers to those questions. Most were harmless, but one stood out as possibly irrational and insane: "Possible Assassin?" The accusation would make everyone furious at Bakan no doubt, so he said nothing on the matter. He himself didn't even support the idea, but considering their possible relationship, they likely didn't know each other for terribly long unless Artis was a repeat client of hers, giving her the the money she otherwise wouldn't get on the street. That scenario would explain her apparent desire to stay. However, the worst case scenario, the thought always on his mind, began to consistently bother him about that woman. If there was anyone who was just enough of an outsider to be best fit to vanish and never be seen again, it was without a doubt, her. The main obstacles presented by the guards and the mages were already bypassed. She was inside. She was right next to the target. But that's insane, right? But what if it's not? What if it is? What if it's not?

How would he react to this? Is Artis better off because Bakan partly expects it? No. The assassin could likely just kill him and vanish using a technique that Bakan isn't knowledgeable to comprehend and thusly cannot expect. Or perhaps that even if Bakan expects it, it doesn't matter. Everyone in the room with her might be walking dead men in her eyes. That might explain why occasionally few would have to die when the assassin's target is killed. Alas, Bakan took a deep breath. Fairly, he couldn't suspect this woman given the position she was in. All he could do was fear her in the back of his mind. She deserved no harassment. Still... Something had to be done. Perhaps she was just a girl wanting to comfort a man in danger, whom took care of her. Looking at it that way, it would be completely unfair to her. In the end, Bakan realized that no matter what conclusion he would come to, there was no getting that woman away. So immediately, he accepted her presence even if it was because of how inevitable it was. Instead, he pondered about what he'd do as they went upstairs.

Once inside the dusty room, Bakan lost his track of thought. He forgot what he was thinking about on the way up. He let out a sigh at the sight of the room. "Honestly, why is your nana living in such conditions? I'd be crazy too." Bakan said, before moving forth and asking for a rag, tending to the dusty areas to try and tidy the place up. Like that, Bakan would clean up a little while trying to regain his process of thought. Yes, it was about what he'd like to do about the whore, whose name he would honestly like to know at that point. "If I may ask, what are your names?" he said, giving a look to the whore in particular. After everyone gave their names, he'd respond in kind with his own. Bakan Jeru. With that, he'd wait until it looked a bit more respectable after his cleaning, making sure to pay mind to Artis' nana and what she wanted him to be careful with. Or he'd not do anything at all if she demanded he not clean. "Artis, Mara, if you don't mind me being so rude, would you mind telling me how you two met?" he'd ask the pair. It would be informative, and allow Bakan to best determine what he should do with Mara Enneth, the name of the whore.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine

"Have you ever been targeted before?"

"No! Nothing like this has ever happened before!"

"Is there any competition for your business around here that might want you gone badly enough to pay a high quality assassin? It'd have to be someone rich."

"No one that I can think of.... I mean, sure I have plenty of wealthy competitors, but any that would want me killed? And willing to pay to do it? I can't imagine a famous assassin being cheap... Who would even do that? I can try and come up with a list, but Dove would probably know who they are too, and he didn't seem to think it related to money."

"Still, ten years is a long time to wait to enact hatred upon you for allowing women into the guard, which I also approve of by the way. Good on you." Bakan nodded. "So, I highly doubt that you're being killed for something you did ten years ago. It's a possibility, but that would just mean whoever wants you dead is either bad with information, or can never get anything done in a timely fashion." He stated.

"Or just wants revenge," the alraune prostitute suggested by reflex, apparently before she could think better than to not speak. Her words prompted Artis to frown, but after a moment he shook his head. "I can't see that. Why now? Why even care after all this time? It's not like I've done anything recently."

Which lead to question three: "Is it possible that you aren't the main target that someone would seek to harm?" he asked Artis. "You're already friends with Dove, right? As well, you said yourself that you try to do things to help. What kind of things? Artis, if you're supporting someone who has enemies, it's logical to say that you'd be targeted so as to cut off support to that person. I'd imagine you give money to people? Who? And why? If you answer these questions, we might be able to deduce the sudden reason you're being targeted. Perhaps it's not something you have to do, but what the person you're helping has to do, and your death will help bring their efforts to a halt. If such is the case, then we truly might have the assassin on a time limit, which would help us greatly towards both possibly paying them off, and knowing when we need no longer fear them should that plan likely fail. It will be easier to remain vigilant knowing that there's an end to this... That, and uh..." Bakan cleared his throat. "I kind of have to go looking for my brother eventually... So I cannot protect you forever, or even for months, I'm afraid. I was actually kind of hoping that this would get resolved quickly as a favor for Dove." Bakan said with honesty.

"I... I guess that's possible? I mean, I'm not... Harboring anyone, but I do make deals with people that some might not like. I'm one of the only traders in Cheydin who sends caravans North, and one of the only ones this far up who also trades in Acheron. Maybe that's it? Other than that..... I put money into the city guard and a few charities, those are just a couple orphanages and a veterans fund. That's not even unheard of though.... I mean, almost all of the nobles donate to places like that from time to time, and none of the ones I give to are ones that only I go to. I don't know who else would be the target.... Maybe Dove? That doesn't make sense though... He's one of the only people that I have ties with that's really important."

He sighed softly and shook his head, "I know eventually you'll have to go on... I can't pay you forever, and even if I could people need to go on with their lives."

Stuff to Rhep

Bakan's instructions to be cautious caused Rhep to pout unhappily, the loss of her confident thunder no small thing. "Pah, Rhep not scared of sneaks in human world!" she grumbled, but would boast no more, and nodded to Bakan's request, "Rhep only squish them if they let get squished. Otherwise, call for help. Fine!"

Stuff to Orgrosh

Orgrosh actually seemed slightly perplexed when Bakan came up to speak to her while they were going up the stairs, his words causing her to blink repeatedly in confusion. "Why would I have a problem?" she asked in open confusion, keeping to whispers until he awkwardly stepped away.

Nana....

Artis frowned at Bakan when he asked about the old woman's living situation, an explanation ready on his lips, but when he grabbed a rag and started cleaning up some of the dust a look of startled warning crossed his features. The older woman shrieked and leaped to her feet with surprising agility, taking up a sharp looking golden comb and advancing on Bakan. "Don't you dare touch my things! Roughian! Scoundrel!" she cried, but before she could reach Bakan Artis got to her and stopped her, putting his arms around her and carefully grabbing the wrist of the hand holding the sharp golden comb. "Because she does that when people try to clean things!" he said loudly as he tried to wrestle the woman back to her chair. The guards moved to help, but Artis gave them a warning look as he steered the old woman back to her chair, and if she got to her seat again and Bakan had stopped touching things she would remain in place, staring at no one in particular and rocking back and forth while muttering to herself and clutching her only remaining treasure.

Artis would relax, sighing, and then Bakan asked for introductions. "I... Guess everyone knows who I am," the merchant said with a brief mirthless laugh, "Artis Lardye... Trader and idiot extraordinaire! Dumb and unlucky enough to be murdered for something he doesn't know he did!"

The guardsman with the bushy mustache gave a grin that was as mirthless as Artis' laugh before saying; "Sergeant Kenneth Raffolk. Technically, I'm the one with rank in here, but considering who else is in the room..." The man trailed off without finishing, and the other member of the guard quickly said; "Private Rebecca Tyrsdale... Nice to meet you! Thank you for trying to help!" She directed her comment at Bakan, but looked at Rhep and Orgrosh as well, including all three of them.

"Audrey," the woman in robes grunted as she continued staring out the window, "Incantress of the Third Circle." She spoke her title as if it mattered, in contrast to how she revealed her name, and didn't turn to face the rest of the group as Orgrosh, Rhep, and Bakan gave their names as well.

"I'm Mara," the scarred prostitute said, "Mara... Ennith." The question that Bakan directed at her and Artis earned a slightly uncomfortable look from both of them, and they glanced at one another and shared a look for a moment before Artis looked back at Bakan and said; "Well, I am not married, and... Uhhh..." He paused and walked closer to Bakan, so as to whisper the rest under his breath; "I, uhhh, frequent a few brothels. Well to do establishments. I met Mara at one of them... And found out how the owner really treated his people. That place got closed down and the owner was arrested after I pulled a few strings, but there had... Already been a bit of damage done. She's got a different job now, but we... Kind of started a thing after that, I guess, so she's been over every once in a while. I... Kinda figured that I wouldn't be living for too long, so I called her over and hired an... Extra. That... Probably doesn't matter, so..... Yeah." He stepped away, frowning in obvious discomfort, while Mara continued sitting on the bed.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Nothing like this happened before, Dove didn't think it related to money, suggested not to be revenge... Though, "Pay me?" Bakan inquired in confusion, before letting that question be that. "Dove is who I'm thinking of, yes. Also considering his concern for your safety, I think that helps me to understand, for lack of being told, why you're wanted dead. Though... A part of me also thinks that it could be fanatics. Both you and Dove don't seem to harbor the kind of hatred and racism abound in this city, whereas there's plenty of it around elsewhere. Another theory of mine is that perhaps you're wanted dead because Dove is leaning in a direction they don't favor. Unable to target Dove themselves, they choose to instead target his support, which I'm coming to find is you."

Bakan's instructions to be cautious caused Rhep to pout unhappily, the loss of her confident thunder no small thing. "Pah, Rhep not scared of sneaks in human world!" she grumbled, but would boast no more, and nodded to Bakan's request, "Rhep only squish them if they let get squished. Otherwise, call for help. Fine!"

Bakan smiled, and rubbed Rhep's head. "Between you defeating the assassin and you living to share food and stories with me, I'd be far more pleased if you lived, Rhep." Bakan declared. "Tell you what, if you do a good job defending and surviving, I'll make it worth your while. I'll get you a treat, or give you a shoulder massage, or whatever reward you want." he declared, giving her a wink. There's nothing like inspiration with incentive.

"Why would I have a problem?"

Bakan did not awkwardly slipped away, as narration would have it be. He'd sigh and continue just a little more. "Well, I'm glad that you don't, at least. Though chalk this up on the list of things I need to learn about your people... And about you... Your instruction willing." Bakan declared, before shifting away.

The sudden screaming made Bakan throw his hands up into the air in alarm, thinking at first that the Nana's things were actually armed and dangerous with magic. Though when that turned out not to be the case, Bakan turned around and looked back at the scene with confusion. "Right... Well... If she doesn't trust anyone else to do it, does that include you as well?" Bakan inquired. If it didn't, then Bakan would quietly hand Artis the rag he intended to use.

Then came the introductions, Bakan made sure to say their names to perhaps remember them better. "Nice to meet you, Kenneth, Rebecca, Mara and... Audrey as well!" Bakan said nervously, though Rebecca's name made him chuckle. "It's funny, you've the same name as a little raccoon friend I have! Poor thing was lost and alone in the forest, as well as hungry. I just had to lend my aid." Bakan chuckled at the memories.

Then Artis' story came of his string pulling skills. Such a story made Bakan clear his throat and turn to Artis with a business-like expression. "Artis... I do believe that the man you had arrested is no doubt a possibly huge enemy of yours. I can't imagine he'd take what you did lightly... So in light of that story... Are there truly no people whom you have reason to be hated by? Because it sounds like I heard of one more than you told me there were." Bakan stated, sounding a little irked, and he was. Artis fed him misinformation, even if he didn't think that the one he got arrested would be able to afford an assassin. Some people always manage to find a way.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine

To Artis

"Uhhh, well, you are getting paid for this. You... You knew that, right? Dove told you?" Artis said, seemingly surprised that Bakan was questioning that fact. "Hmmm.... That actually sounds... plausible. Which is worrying.... Dove has other friends, some in low places, and not all of them can afford the sort of protection that I can," he replied when Bakan went over another theory, "if someone's going after Dove's friends... A lot of innocent people might be killed."

To Rhep

When Rhep was offered whatever reward she wanted, her face became frighteningly mischievous, so much so that her visage was briefly almost..... Feline. She said nothing further, merely smirking at him and waiting.

To Orgrosh

"Ooookay then," the orc replied, still slightly confused.

To lots of people

"She'll put up with me," Artis said, glancing towards the woman in question. She returned his look with a glower, and when Bakan thrust the cloth into his hand Artis stared at it for a moment before letting out a pronounced sigh. "Might as well while I'm here," he muttered under his breath, wiping down some of his nana's belongings in order to clear them of dust.

When Bakan replied about Rebecca's name, she blinked at him but didn't reply, leaving an awkward silence to settle after he spoke so fondly of a raccoon.

When another potential enemy was revealed and Bakan sought to point it out, it was Kenneth who replied; "That's unlikely, considering that the guy he got arrested swung a month after he was caught. We've got people on his leftover associates already, but none of them have the kind of money to fund this kind of hit. Trying to have a noble killed, even just a merchant, ain't cheap."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Bakan shrugged. "I'm sure Dove didn't send me here without intentions on paying me. He's been rather generous about that. However, I did not come here with the objective of being paid, if you'll understand. I'm half here to protect you with all I've got, and half hoping to figure out more of what's going on behind the scenes here. I've got my own troubles to be sure, but I'm sure I'll be forgiven for trying to do some good along the way." Bakan stated.

What Kenneth said made Bakan adjust his jaw and think. It felt like all his pondering ended up with him at square one again, especially with Artis claiming to know nothing. Even Bakan could think of one or two people who would want him dead. The Demon Lady from the tower came to mind... But that was ridiculous, because she was definitely dead... Right? Then Bakan began to fear because he didn't have a chance to check the body... No, no that's crazy. There's no way she would find him if she were alive. It's fine. Probably.

With a sigh, Bakan would lean against the wall, checking to see if Audrey would get angry about that too before making himself comfortable. "Other than the issue of shadows and light, I can't think of anything off-hand that the assassin might employ. That doesn't mean there's nothing though. We'll have to be vigilant though. Normally I'd prefer life over murder, but if we're dealing with someone with a reputation like this, hesitation for the sake of it could lead to death." Bakan stated. Indeed, it'd be nice if no one had to die, but there will likely be no holding back against this unknown killer... Even if it's a woman. To that thought, Bakan let out a sigh. He'd be lying if he said he could eliminate his hesitation entirely. He wasn't without bias either. Most of all, he wished he could grasp what the reasons were. He doesn't even know the opponent he faces, or what their beliefs are. So he cannot imagine how he can face them with malice. A part of him wondered as well, if he was making a mistake, acting so carelessly. Defending a man whom he didn't know, ready to kill an assassin who he didn't understand.

He let out a growl of frustration. "It keeps bugging me... What does it say about an assassin who leaves almost no victims other than their target? I can't believe that it's a display of arrogant skill and nothing more. A true professional once told me that skill and experience comes from minimizing the risks so that you almost never fail. Someone who is arrogant and unprofessional would ignore minor risks they could easily fix simply because the chances of them coming to bite them are small. That is what makes them appear as fools, when that tiny chance comes back and indeed bites them. Is this assassin such a person?" Bakan wondered aloud, before shrugging. "I don't know..." he said with a sigh of defeat. Common was the idea that the assassin was just that good. Twas no risk at all to leave so many survivors, in their minds. Bakan folded his arms. 'I'll always be treated like an idiot, but I still think there's something going on that no one is thinking about. There's something someone knows that we don't about this. Perhaps Dove knows, truly. I get the feeling he won't answer me with the absolute truth, but I'll have to ask anyway, how he knew about the coming of this assassin...'

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine

"Eheh.... No good deed goes unpunished, right?" Artis remarked dryly, wiping his brow slightly. "Well, rest assured that you'll be compensated for your time one way or another, even if that isn't one of your primary concerns."

Once upstairs and Bakan's supposition was answered, the mad aunt continued rocking back and forth while glaring at Artis as he cleaned up some of the dust, leaving Bakan to lean against the wall in peace. "Yeah... At the very least it'd be nice to ask 'em who hired 'em, right? I don't think it's gonna be so easy though," the guardsman answered dryly when Bakan lamented that they might need to kill the assassin. "It's not exactly an ideal situation, but.... Hey, someone's about to slit your throat, not like you'll have much in the way of choice, am I right?" he continued, to which both Rhep and Orgrosh would nod in agreement.

Bakan's rumination about the assassin's strange reputation would earn Bakan a soft sigh, not only from Kenneth but from more or less everyone in the room besides the prostitute and Artis' nana. "That is a bit of a pickle, ain't it? Like there's something more going on," Kenneth remarked, "I mean, everyone says they're probably just that good, but hey... Who knows, right? Not like everyone gets into that sort of life because they want to, and some of those just happen to end up being good at it. Course, that assumes a bit of sanity on the part of our killer, which is never something you can guarantee in my experience."

The older guardsman would fall silent, leaving the room to go quiet with him unless Bakan had anything else that he wanted to say.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Bakan thought about it. The room fell into silence, and he continued to think about it. He thought longer, and harder. He tried to push his brain to the limit to figure this out. He pictured the possible future, trying to think of an event where Artis died and he had failed. The main thing that would be on his mind is how the assassin succeeded. This place had defenses, guards, and even hired someone such as him to help. So how could the assassin win to bring about that future?

"What if we're expecting too much?" Bakan wondered, his final take on the matter. "What if we're expecting the assassin to show up and kill Artis, when the assassin might find a way to kill him without even having to set foot near this property?" Bakan theorized. "Trying to picture a future where we failed, it's hard to picture one where the assassin slipped by all the defenses, got into this room, killed no one, and yet left Artis dead on the floor. So... Would it be so far fetched to presume the assassin would make use of another assassin?" Bakan pondered, before looking to Artis. "Sir, who do you trust most in this room, no, this building, to defend your life?" he inquired. "I'm not saying anyone should leave the room, but your choice defender should be in this room, and act as a barrier between themselves, and everyone else standing here. The only future I can think of where the assassin succeeds is where they have someone on the inside." He declared.

"The reason I suggest you pick someone whom you absolutely trust, is because someone here might be under the effects of mind magic. In my experience, the more ferocious the passion of the afflicted person, the more easily they are to break the spell. So someone who feels strongly for you is no doubt your best defender, beyond even myself and what my armor or hammer could bring. Such a result would also fulfill the quota that the assassin is famed for. If someone in here suddenly turned and killed you, then you'd be the only one to die after we apprehend them. It fits the fame that this assassin is known for."

Bakan, tense with the possibilities the assassin could take for an attack, began to wait patiently. "Everyone, prepare yourselves for even the strangest of possibilities."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 120/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Fine

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Fine
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: Fine

"With what? A bomb?" Kenneth remarked skeptically, "they don't even necessarily know where he is in the house exactly, and the house is warded against magic, surrounded by guards, and covered by snipers. Unless they blow up the whole block... Hrm. We were actually worried about them using someone else, maybe as a distraction or a lure to soften us up." He trailed off, allowing Bakan to turn to Artis while Kenneth seemed to be openly pondering that possibility, and when Bakan asked who he trusted most in the building to defend him Artis' answer was quite prompt; "Aria. Without a doubt, the person I'd trust most is Commander Aria."

How Bakan might feel about having that particular woman in the room for an extended period could change what he suggested next, but if it didn't, looks of alarm would spread across the room as he suggested that one of them might be a tool for the assassin, the weapon used to kill Artis in a manner of speaking. "That... But... People can... Can actually do that?" the merchant asked, sweating visibly now, "people can do that? I thought... I thought that that kind of stuff was all just a myth! Just... Stories that people used to scare their kids!" Artis' nana would glare at him, seemingly about to say something, but before she could Mara would suddenly say; "I'm sorry... I... I think that I need to use the restroom. May I... Be excused for a moment?"

The woman looked positively green and was sweating nearly as hard as Artis. Kenneth would nod slightly without seemingly thinking about it too much, "yeah... It's right across the hall." She would rise from the bed, giving Artis a brief peck on the top of his head while the man touched her lower back comfortingly before heading out of the room. After the door closed, they heard a brief conversation with the guards, a door open, and a door close again. Hearing such things when one hadn't been exposed to them as often as Bakan had was seemingly quite shocking, as the only ones in the room who seemed unaffected were the mage still standing against the window, and Rhep who looked as if mind magic was par for the course. Orgrosh at least looked more pensive than frightened, having clearly not considered the possibility. "Everyone in this room was examined for the influence of mind magic," the mage said suddenly, for the first time turning away from the window and settling her hands behind her back. The woman had a cold, stern visage, as if she wore a scowl more often than a smile, and it utterly ruined what would otherwise have been a quite pretty face for a woman her apparent age.

"Twice," she continued coldly, "once by my colleagues at the doors, and once by me. The only exceptions to the first.... Are your two companions here, since they refused to submit to the checks." She flicked a cold gaze over Orgrosh and Rhep, both of whom frowned back at her, before looking back at Bakan and continuing; "I find it oddly convenient, how eager you are to help, being a mutant and thus likely despised in this city." There was nothing but ice in her tone, neither disdain nor empathy, and it mostly seemed as if she didn't care on way or another. "And how eager you are to suggest theories," she added after a momentary pause in which she sized him up.

"Awww, come on? Really?" Kenneth said in frustration, "we don't need this kind of... Witch hunt paranoia!" Turning to the only subordinate left in the room, Rebecca, he continued; "Becca, go and get the captain. If anyone here isn't going to be under mind control, it's her." Rebecca nodded, and then departed the room through the same door. The magus, Audrey, said nothing until the girl was gone, at which point she nodded her head at Bakan and continued; "The... Witch hunt paranoia, as you put it, is appropriate in this situation. We are under threat from a witch, after all, a being capable of sorcery of an unknown potency and adaptability. He is not wrong. We must be prepared for the strangest of possibilities." The robed woman settled her back against the window, shifting to fold her arms over her chest, ready to wait things out like the rest of them.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Bakan nodded at Artis. "There is little doubt that such a possibility exists. I didn't think about the explosion thing either, which would kill Artis and everyone else here if successful. However, I suppose I didn't consider it because I'm expecting the assassin to hold up their reputation. Mind control seemed to me like the only thing I could think of that she could do to get to you."

Bakan figured the girl in the room was getting upset over the conversation, and thought nothing of it as she left. According to Artis' story, she was among those who would be likely to resist the mind control, so Bakan tried to trust her as much as Artis did. Though, what the mage in the room suggested about Bakan's allegiance and his 'mutant' behavior. "I'm here to help because Dove asked me to, and the lack of submission to the tests is because I trust them to risk their lives for mine. Not out of loyalty or obligation, but because they're my close friends. I would do the same for them." Bakan declared, looking to Rhep and Orgrosh, "They both know I'd never forgive them if they let themselves become cold blooded murderers because of some assassin trickery. We aren't bound loosely by the idea of money, we're bound with each other." Bakan said, before chuckling. "Besides, this 'mutant' this city hates so much was raised by an angel in the lands of the fey to respect and honor the code of a Knight. I am soul bound to angels, fey knights, and even a sphinx as well. They'd be the first to know if I turned evil, and I'd never see the light of day again." Bakan wasn't entirely sure about that. He didn't know how the whole soul thing worked, but it did always feel like his gruff friends, and unfortunately Janne, were always just one step away and ready to show up to help him. That, and they sometimes seemed to show up even when he didn't call for them. He just assumed that was how it worked.

"If you know of a way to test my words for lies, do it. You'll find my faith in my friends unwavering." Bakan challenged the mage. "However, they also have their pride. If they don't want to be disarmed and molested from head to toe, then I support them unconditionally. Someone like you can call that 'mutant pride', but rest assured, I'm just like you, but with wings." Bakan declared, and for the last moment of his speech, his wings turned gold without him realizing it. Though at that thought, Bakan looked to Rhep and Orgrosh with a smaller tone of voice, though the others in the room could no doubt hear him. "What color were my wings?" If they said gold, Bakan would grin. "Awesome~ I guess my emotions control the color of my wings after all." Though as he said that, his wings became a color of purple. Pride.

"But yeah, if that's not good enough for you, then your paranoia and hatred of mutants beats out my good faith and desire to help. I'll leave, if you want. I'm not completely ignorant to your words, I understand them completely. It's a legitimate fear when dealing with strangers. I don't care if you search me or check me for mind magic, personally. If something happened to me that was as a result of the work of Dove's own people inside this city, I think my good friend would avenge me." Bakan declared. Though then the thought came of the female mage molesting him. A blush hit his cheeks. "... Though I'm not asking you to do it... You'll obviously have to call in a male mage to search me..." Bakan said, the thought of her groping him for hidden things a bit unnerving.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

Spoiler

Bakan: HP = 50/120, PP = 45/45, EP = 85/85, Status = Wounded, Armor at 26/50 TP

NPC Stats
Samarta: HP = 54, PP = 67, EP = 67, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Inka: HP = 51, PP = 61, EP = 44, Status = Fine
Rebecca: A coon. A fluffy fluffy coon.
Orgrosh: HP = 85/97, PP = 49, EP = 72, Lightly Wounded
Sarah: Fine
Cory: Pregnant
Rhep: HP = 42/99 PP = 43 EP = 44, Status = Wounded

Kenneth: Taken 91 damage, dying, Stunned for 1 round. (40/10/10 Sniper/HardHitter/3xSkill/Resilient/PainRes)
Aria: Taken 20/95 damage (50/10/20 Resilient/PainResx2/Duel/HardtoHitx2/Sniper/2xSkill/Fencer/LightStrik/Knight)
Guard 1: Fine
Guard 2: Fine
Artis: Stunned for 2 rounds, taken 16 damage.

Rolls

Spoiler

Perception: ???

The side if the building explodes. The mage, Rhep, nana, and Kenneth are caught in the primary blast radius. Everyone else in the room is hit by the shockwave in the secondary radius. Those in the primary take both, and it counts as one damage source.
Attack: All hit.
Damage (Primary) : 50 ignoring 4 AV.
Damage (Blast Wave) : 16 ignoring worn AV.

Spoiler

Bakan takes 4 from the shockwave and 32 from the primary, for a total of 36 damage.
Artis takes 16 damage.
Nana takes 66 damage.
Kenneth takes 49 damage.
Audrey takes 58 damage.
Rhep takes 57 damage.
Orgrosh takes 12 damage.

Nana and Audrey are both dead.

Resistance: 39 vs DC 50, Bakan is Stunned for one round plus one round per 10 by which he fails for a total of 2 rounds.
44 for Rhep, she is Stunned for 1 round.
47 for Orgrosh, she is Stunned for 1 round.
26 for Kenneth, he is Stunned for 3 rounds.
18 for Artis, he is Stunned for 4 rounds.

Four dudes float into the room.

Everyone is Stunned Bonus Round!
One of the dudes shoots Bakan in the chest with both barrels from a shotgun.
Attacks: Both hit.
Damage: 47 - 30 = 17 damage, twice, for a total of 34. Also 24 off of his armor.

The next one puts both barrels into Kenneth.
Attacks: Both hit.
Damage: 42 - 21 = 21 damage per hit, for a total of 42. Kenneth is down, possibly dead.

One is about to put both barrels into Rhep when the door slams open, and Aria takes a shot at him with her gun.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 10 + 9 + 8 + 4 + 19 = 50 damage, ignoring his armor. He dies.

The next guy shoots at her instead of Artis.
Attacks: Miss and hit.
Damage: 46 - 26 = 20 damage.

Next round, Orgrosh, Rhep, and Aria fight dudes in melee.

Rhep just uses lightning strikes.
Attacks: All three hit.
Damage: 43 per hit. The dude is down.

Orgrosh uses Slay.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 69 * 2 = 138 damage. Minus 1. He dead.

Aria uses defensive fighting for 20 more Dodge and Lightning Strikes the last guy.
Attacks: All three hit.
Damage: 7 + 27 - 1 = 33 per hit for a total of 99 damage. He dead too.

All the dudes are dead, but something is happening outside.

"Gold," Orgrosh answered when Bakan asked what color his wings were.

"None of which would matter against a competent psyker," the magus countered calmly after Bakan had professed his faith in his companions and was gleeful over the color of his wings. "Regardless of your beliefs regarding how much they might react should they betray the cause you have agreed to, they are the largest threat in this room because of your petulant refusal to follow protocol," she continued, and then calmly looked at Orgrosh and Rhep, "I do not know if they have been controlled by some outside force, of course.... But if they have, and I am made to choose between their lives and his, I do hope you don't imagine that I will hesitate before ending their lives." She turned slowly back to Bakan, "or yours, if it becomes necessary. Have whatever pride you like for your deviancy and your ties to the unnatural, and whatever faith in yourself and your associates that you like. If it serves to prompt you to better defend Artis, then all the better. I need no magic to believe that you are telling the truth, as you see it. But none of it matters in the slightest here, especially if your associates are the tools of the assassin we are wary of.... And that you have brought them in fully armed and without any protective precautions, simply because our host is more trusting of those he does not know than he should be."

She glanced at Artis briefly, who withered despite that there was no trace of malice in her voice when she had spoken of him. Indeed, there had been no trace of emotion one way or another in her speech, and when he suggested that it was her hatred of mutants that caused her to distrust him and his companions she shook her head. "So easy for your kind to whine about being oppressed based on your appearance," she said calmly, "I could care less what you look like. Do you think I would be here, on an all volunteer assignment, if I believed in oppression based on physical characteristics? Your actions, and those of the pair you have brought with you, have brought an unknown element into an already dangerous situation because of meaningless pride."

Then, her look flattened, "physically searching you is unnecessary and holds no appeal for me. The same goes for them. You have readily apparent weapons, I don't intend to disarm you of those, so searching for hidden ones wouldn't matter. You were already searched for signs of mental tampering when you came in, so that would likewise be irrelevant. It is your associates who are the problem."

At that point Kenneth, who had been rubbing his head in apparent pain at the exchange, sighed and said; "Where is the captain? How long does it take to walk up a frickin flight of stairs?" The man's frustrated outcry was the only sound for a moment, allowing everyone in the room to hear a loud pop followed by a whoosh come from outside. "What in the hell was-" Kenneth began, never to finish his question.

The side of the house exploded, and the rest of it shuddered.

Bakan was hurled aside violently, coming to a stop after smashing through the spinning wheel and hitting the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him, and in the daze that followed he would be dimly aware of daylight and something warm and red splattering his face, and of Artis flying through the air to land on the other side of the bed from the window. His ears were ringing and feeding him nothing else, and his glasses lay smashed on the floor next to him. Dimly, through his normally hazy vision and the bleariness leftover from the explosion, Bakan saw figures appearing in the light created by the massive hole that had suddenly appeared in the wall. There was no sign of Audrey, the mage that he had been arguing with, or of Artis' nana, but Rhep was lying in a small pile of rubble near the bed and Kenneth was on his back on the floor next to the hole, slowly stirring.

As his vision cleared, Bakan realized that the figures who had appeared in the hole were.... Floating, as if by magic, but when they hovered to the ground they did not rise again. The four fanned out from the hole, revealing themselves as men clad mostly in black except for slits in their eyes and clutching two barreled shotguns. He couldn't hear anything other than a dull ringing and a soft banging from his right, but it seemed as if he could at least hear the bootfalls of the masked men as he felt their soft thuds through the floor. The men approached the downed figures, one of them being Bakan, and as if in a slow motion he watched the gun rise and fire stream from both barrels. Dull thuds thundered through Bakan's chest as sharp pain exploded across his torso, the two spreads of shotgun pellets making his body shudder, but as the man who'd shot him turned away seemingly satisfied that Bakan had been dealt with, the downed warrior would realize that he wasn't dead. His armor had saved him this time, the enchanted metal slowing the pellets enough that when they started boring into his flesh they were stopped by flesh and bone before they could reach his vitals.

The explosion had been so sudden and had shocked his system so badly that adrenaline hadn't had time to kick in yet, but as he watched the other figures pick their targets it began to flood his system, albeit not fast enough to let him move yet. One moved over Kenneth and squeezed the triggers, the bark of his gun muted by Bakan's momentary deafness. The man, who had been trying to shake off the effects of the explosion just like Bakan and had his face covered in blood already from a line of shrapnel that had torn up his brow, jerked violently and fell back onto his side, giving another shudder and then going still as blood began to ooze from his mouth, his eyes fixated on Bakan. There was no sign of Orgrosh anywhere, and Artis was momentarily safe as he lay stunned behind the bed, but Rhep was out in the open. Helplessly, Bakan was forced to watched as one of the men aimed his shotgun at the downed goblin's head just as she was starting to stir, seeing again as if in slow motion as his finger shifted to the trigger in preparation for an easy kill.

Then sound came back just as the door was smashed open to Bakan's right, and the guardswoman with whom he had argued so vehemently stepped in with a look of frosty hatred, raised a single shot heavy pistol just as the man about to execute Rhep looked up at her with eyes widened in surprise, and squeezed the trigger. His head exploded like a red and pink flower as the bullet hit im between the eyes, and he crumpled to the floor like a sack of old potatoes. The last man who had been looking for a target spun on her with the shotgun clutched in his arms held at hip level, and at that range it seemed like it should be impossible to miss.... But he did. Once. The guard captain twisted just as he squeezed the first of his two triggers, turning her torso so that the scattergun's pellets slammed into wood rather than her. She righted herself to close on him, dropping her gun and drawing a saber, but just as she was stepping over a still prone and stunned Bakan's legs he fired his second shot. She took it full in the stomach, and hard enough to double over with her face briefly twisted in pain, but she did not fall. Her head tilted back up, rage replacing pain so fast that she might have never been hit at all, and the man quietly grunted one word; "Shit!"

Then the room exploded into motion in front of him as Bakan's lungs began to work again, life giving air letting his head clear a little bit faster that he might join in the battle.... But then it was over. The man who had shot the guardswoman dropped his gun and drew a long knife, holding it in reverse and lunging with a highly telegraphed attack that the woman ducked under with ease. She jabbed her blade under his armpit in revenge, and for good measure slashed out the back of his knee and then lopped off the hand that had held the knife at the wrist. Rhep, in the meantime, suddenly leaped into a crouch just as the other two men drew revolvers and aimed them at the guardswoman. One noticed her and one didn't, but the one who hadn't was closer, and for his lack of awareness he paid dearly. The goblin leaped at him and smashed her club into the back of his knee, causing it to twist into an odd angle with a sickening crack. He dropped to his knees while screaming in pain, his gun arm turning only for Rhep's club to hit it bat the elbow, leaving that joint just as badly broken as his knee and causing the gun to tumble from his fingers. His cry of pain briefly grew louder, enough to drown out the crunch produced by the blow from his elbow, but it died out a heartbeat later when Rhep spun in place with a fierce grin and smashed her club into the back of his head, leaving it indented enough to suggest that his skull had probably just been crushed.

The last man in the room was now starting to panic, facing two opponents and with only a pistol and perhaps a knife to defend himself with. He raised it nonetheless, however, targeting Rhep and leaving the goblin once more unaware as a gun was aimed at her head while she was unaware. Thankfully, he never got to fire it. Orgrosh appeared from the rubble behind him with a roar nearly as deafening as the explosion, her greatsword held in both hands and sweeping down at the last masked man while ablaze with magical flame. It swept through his body as easily as the air, propelled by the orc's bulging muscles, and he didn't even have time to look surprised before the two halves of him tumbled to the floor at her feet.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't have time to celebrate their victory. Just as his senses came back to him and Bakan felt as if he could move again, a sense of dread unlike any that he had ever experienced before overwhelmed him. It was not isolated to him either, as he saw everyone left in the room turned in the direction of the hole left in the wall by the explosion that had started all this. His vision focused suddenly, though Bakan would realize that it was not his physical eyes that allowed him to see the four figures standing on the roof of the neighboring house. All were clad in black like the men who had floated into the room, two of them smaller and fitting the profile of women rather than man standing back to back and holding their hands up. The cracking reports of rifles being fired at them from the soldiers stationed below seeming to do nothing as gusts of wind tore the bullets out of their paths before they could strike their targets. One of the other figures was seemingly male, and was holding a long metal tube with handles on it, but it was the last that stood out most prominently.

A tall figure with a masculine body shape, they held their right hand out in front of them with fingers curled halfway inwards. Black fire had appeared in his palm, and spread out until it was all the way down to his wrist. Bakan could feel the currents of energy in the air being drawn in toward him, fueling the flame growing in his palm, and as it grew Bakan felt something opening there in the heart of the black fire, some rip in reality that threatened to open wider and let something in as the scent of the dark flame drew it towards the forming portal. Faintly, as if from a great distance but growing ever closer, Bakan heard an ear splitting roar unlike any he'd ever heard, one so innately terrifying that even he would be chilled to the bone. It was a roar that spoke of something that he could not hope to face, that could rend through steel and magic to rip the soul from his body while reducing it to naught but a cynder.

The guard captain looked at Bakan, her face ashen, and said; "Get him out of here!" She flung her hand at Artis, who was still obviously dazed from the explosion, "Go! We need to move, now!" Then she rushed for Kenneth, trying to haul the badly wounded man over her shoulder while Orgrosh and Rhep both scrambled for the door, where two guardsmen had just appeared, neither looking like they had any idea what was going on but looking in on the devastation in horror. Whether Bakan would listen to the woman and get Artis up and out of the room that seemed like it was about to be demolished by whatever power the man on the rooftop was conjuring was up to him, but there was no telling how long he had before the incoming attack was unleashed, and with the hole in the house's wall the warding most likely wouldn't do anything to protect anyone left in the room when it hit regardless of how good it had been.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: To Find a Way Home (Mamono Assault Force)

(Insert various paragraphs of Bakan griping about how terrible he is at doing his only job. I don't feel like writing more stuff about how absolutely depressed Bakan is getting over his inability to do anything well as I've already done it several times and more close calls with his friend's lives means I need to decide how Bakan feels like with symptoms of Major Depression. So, that's why this is so short compared to the large post above. Anything I would write would just be reactions of Bakan being depressed.)

It all made sense, and Bakan did somewhat see it coming in a way. However, he was too focused on the idea of a single assassin rather than what was to come.

The explosion happened. He was thrown back. The blast was enough to knock him flat on his back, where he laid. A black robed someone walked over him, and shot him in the chest. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't dead. It took him a moment to realize Kenneth was being murdered in front of him. It took him a moment to realize Rhep was going to die too. That was about to be the end. Bakan's mind went silent, rather than scream in fear. He wasn't getting up. Of course. Naturally, someone like him should be able to get right up and save the little goblin, just as he had before. But he couldn't. He gave up. There was no point in caring anymore. This was the ultimatum. There was no forgiving himself anymore. This was the last straw.

His wings turned black.

The arrogant woman rushed in. Rhep was saved. It didn't matter to Bakan, surprisingly. He felt no joy at the sight. He felt numb. He couldn't feel the pain in his chest. He felt dead. Somewhere deep within, the feelings he had moaned and despaired, fueling this dead feeling he felt overcome with while tears would flow from his eyes at the sight of Rhep's survival. Though he wouldn't notice the tears himself. Everything was shoved into the back of his mind. Raising his fists, he pounded the floor, pushing himself up. He moved like a machine with a single directive. Rhep was moving, Orgrosh was moving, and the black figure above was conjuring his magic. He gave the masculine figure credit. He certainly was a lucky man. He would not suffer the things Bakan wanted to do to him in that moment. To shove his hand inside the figure's body, and clutch his heart while ripping off a limb and brutalizing him so that Bakan could feel his life disappear in his hands, before crushing the heart so that it could never come back, and turning the body into paste with a final stroke of his hammer. If only.

Bakan grabbed Artis, and moved swiftly. If he had the chance as well, he would cast a spirit wall blocking the space between him and the figure, though it wasn't a priority. It'd likely fail, like everything else. Moving through the door Rhep and Orgrosh waited for, Bakan moved as fast as his legs would carry, while accepting doom in his heart. That blast coming up looked powerful. They were surely going to die, he was convinced. It wasn't all bad, when he thought about it. The kind of feelings he felt were enough to make him desire death. The wall he summoned was as black as his wings were, if he could summon it. Otherwise, he did the only thing he could. Simply put, he just ran with Artis over his shoulder. He briefly noticed how much he himself was bleeding. Strange, it still didn't hurt mind the initial sharp pain.

(Mostly filler. Bakan grabs Artis, runs. Summons a wall if he can, boosting it two times so it has +40 resistance in addition to his 38. Cost: 12. Upkeep: 7)