Glayp'neir

Jack and the others move down the tunnels, generally walking into seemingly random directions. Occasionally Clarent stops them, pointing in another direction or directing them somewhere else. The air in the underground tunnels is rather thick and it doesn't smell particularly well. But not horrible either. Nobody seems to mind and the group walks down another path. The tunnel is rather long, and a bit thinner than the others. Clearly just made to combine two of the outlaying main tunnels to one another. As they get about halfway, a silhouette emerges from around the corner and stands before them, facing them good few meters away. It's followed by two more silhouettes that block the path forward. Clarent frowns, considering Jian's commend that nobody checks these tunnels. Not so much because she is worried of getting caught, but worried about not being found. She turns to confirm her suspicion and halts Jack. "Person." she says, trying to remember Jacks name and failing. Behind them there are more people on the other end, blocking the way back and slowly moving forward. One of the people in the back, Jian recognizes to be one of the men looking for him. He remembers seeing him a while back with that woman. The man is thin and lanky, wearing black and brown leather clothings and a jacket with a snow foxes furr tailored as its rim. He is throwing back and forth a knife between his hands, smiling as him and his goons approach the group. "Well well." he says, his voice a bit comical to Jians surprise. "Looks like the rat is caught in the trap..."




RD bursts through the door, sending it off the hinges. The room is dark, with the only light coming through the half open window, with one of the shutters closed and the other broken off the wall. At first he see's nothing. His eyes dart across the small room. A bed, the sheets hastily arranged and the pillows stacked to one side. A desk, with an emptied leather rucksack and what seem to be empty sheets of paper, or an empty book of sorts. Next to that is the slip for their mission from the bounty board. The chair of the desk is lying on the ground, one of the legs broken off, which is lying in the corner of the room with something wet on it. He walks into the room, listening for any signs of danger. Nobody is here. He moves up to check the window, but nearly stumbles over something in the half-dark of the room. An arm, sticking out from under the bed. It's a dead body of a man, with a huge wound in his side where splinters of bloodied wood are sticking out.



Doc and Mitsuki spy around the place for a bit, searching for any sort of hidden levers, buttons, or switches. Neither of them seem to find it, untill Mitsuki gestures to Atrium. "Doctor, here." she says and points at an open door she just emerged from. The two of them enter the next room and sure enough a simple set of stone stairs leads down below. "I guess it wasn't hidden afterall." she says and begins stepping down the stairs. Doc follows her, and the further down he goes the less of the stinging sensation he can feel, but also an unsettling feeling.

Sharpe stands off to the side as RD kicks in the door, and he draws his war knife as well. The room seems to look rather uncomfortable and completely deserted. He walks over to the desk and snatches up the mission slip, looking it over. It's the same slip he gave the woman. He looks around and notices the arm as well, though he isn't exactly taken aback by it.

"Oh, how lovely..." Sharpe says of certain sarcasm, and he kneels down next to the arm and pulls a bit on the body, bringing him out from under the bed.

"Poor sod, let's see if there's anything sensitive on him, shall we?" he says and he starts to pat down the body, first around the pockets, then in his shirt and legs, looking for anything, not just identification, but perhaps other causes of injury or contributors to his demise.

"Looks like our job's getting quite a bit hazier, eh Rich? The plot thickens, so we'd best be on our toes."

"Aww hell..." RD growls as he shifts his glance to the man's dead body. "I was hoping it wouldn't be something like this..." he says as he replaces his trench-spike in its sheath.

As Sharpe searches the body for any items of importance, Richard quickly does the same for the rest of the room, using his small knowledge of the arcane, he creates a flame in his hand. His skill with magic is lackluster, he cannot create anything spectacular, but a flame bright enough to light a fair portion of a room this size was easy enough. With his other hand he searches the knapsack and the stack of papers, deciding it may be a better idea to hold onto them, places the papers in the bag and slings it over his shoulder. He then searches the desk and corners of the room taking a closer look at the chair's broken leg and the unidentified liquid on it, which he could only guess was the deceased's blood.

"Yer definitely right Point-man. Damn shame this is. Is this the guy who answered the door earlier and shoo'd you away? And his wound, is it fresh?" He asks as he approaches the half-open window and carefully glances outside, not only to get a better idea and view of the area but hoping he could catch someone fleeing the scene, or attempting to hide nearby.

Jian can barely hold focus on anything right now, and being cornered like this really doesn't help at all. He hardly can keep his eyes open instead of closing them roughly in pain, looking at the men who cornered them. He can't really fight either, nor can Clarent. It's down to Jack at this point.

"T-this... can't be. H-how did they... they... find us?!", he simply stammers, not able to say much more. He's in a deep shock-like state, extremely scared and close to completely panicking. He shuffles a little while being held by Jack, not sure on what to do. Everything inside is coming to a freeze, his mind, his whole body seems to cramp up too bit by bit. It all feels too surreal, it might all end here. He wants to yell but he can't. He knows that nobody will hear him anyway, these tunnels are usually dead around this time. He... admits defeat to himself and simply stares at the man in as much disgust as he can express...

As Mitsuki and Dr. Atrium walk down the stairs, Doc cant help but notice how the air around them doesn't smell of the dead. He figured that since they are walking into a catacomb, it would reek of the dead. It doesn't take them long to make it to the bottom, once there Doc looks around. It doesn't take his eyes very long to adjust to the dark and he would put money that it took even less time for Mitsuki's eyes to adjust.

"Do you have any idea of where to go from here? You are doing a great job, it just looks like a maze down here."

"This whole time I've just been running...like a coward...only to find that the people I care about die instead. I'M NOT PUTTING UP WITH THIS ANY MORE DAMMIT"

Jack put Jian and his satchel down alongside one of the walls. He slowly walks towards the man with the knife as if to mock him. Jack face is seemingly calm, masking his rage.

"By your tone, I'm assuming your not here to sell us cookies, hehe... You look like you call the shots around here. Your here to kill one of us I assume? I'm giving you 2 options: run away or let me beat you to a bloody stump. I'm not giving you any other options because anything you could do involving talking would just be wasting my time."

Clarent sighs with a disgruntled expression on her face as the men approach. She see's jack walk up to what she can only assume is the leader of the bunch. The man looks somewhat surprised as Jack moves up closer, seeing his form. His face shows signs of intimidations but he puts himself in a more cautious pose instead. "What of it. You gunna stop us, freak?" he asks. And throws his knife back in his other hand. The goons behind him chuckle, one pulling out a baton and the other two pairs of brass knuckles. wrapped in cloth. Clarent turns back to the other 3 men who have come halfway down the other side. She backs up closer to Jian and Jack, biting her lip. "Person..." she whispers, trying to give him the go ahead nod as she slowly reaches her hand up to her chest, fiddling with her zipper. Suddenly, her hoodie flies into the air, catching the guys infront of jack off-guard. All three of them look up at it, totally ignoring Jack for the moment. Clarent tries to go for a dash but stumbles for a bit before jumping at one of the guys ahead of her. She knocks the guy over and rolls past as the other two pull out knives. She herself gets up and turns to them, having taken the first guy's slapjack from him. "Tch."



Mitsuki slides her hand along the cold stone walls as they move through the entrance of the catacombs. "Well Doctor, It's been quite a long while since I've last been here. I mean, a long while. I can't quite remember, but I think..." she looks at three different paths, leading to 3 additional paths each, who likely are leading to yet 3 more paths. "Hmm." she thinks to herself and raises her hand into the air. Small soft blue symbols flutter through the air like butterflies and evaporate once getting past a certain distance. A small blue ball of flame forms in the middle of the air. Doc can feel it drawing on their essence, but its more uncomforterable than painful. Like a slight tugg at his chest. "This should help." she says, and watches as the entity flies off in a direction. "It's a seeker's flame. You've likely heard of it. It was developed by a magus named... ... I forgot his name. A few years back in the east. It was made to find life as well as water in desert or dry enviroments. Maybe not the best place to use it, but it should be enough." She says and gives a slight bow, extending her arm towards the corner the magic entity flew past. "After you, Doctor." she says, and waits for him to take the lead after it.



Sharpe inspects the body for any sort of clues. The man doesn't show any resistances. He can tell immediately that the person who killed him was someone he had trusted. Given the lack of his Wife who was likely the woman to previously shoo Sharpe away, it would only make sense that it'd be her. Or maybe she discovered the man and was worried to be put to blame and fled. He continues to inspect the body. There is a big gash in his side where something forcefully moved appart his ribcage and then forced itself into his lungs. He likely died from suffocation rather than the wound, as there are scratch marks on the ground next to the bed, alongside a small puddle of blood, losely wiped up with some towel or cloth that is currently missing. He finds a small bundle hidden away in a satchel on his belt. Inside is an object wrapped in cloth. Sharpe unravels the cloth. A letter inside is wrapped around a miniature bronze dagger. The note itself is illegible. Likely some foreign language. It looks very eastern. This give's sharpe an idea, and for the first time he pulls the guy over on his back. Surely enough, the man also looks eastern.

"Definitely looks fresh, but there's not enough blood to be from the wound - it punctured his lung, so lack of oxygen is the cause."

Sharpe takes another look at the dagger and then the man again. The knife really reminds him of Jian's, and then he connects the dots, that this indeed is now tied to Jian's situation.

"Looks like our business is starting to cross, old friend. This man must've been killed because he might have been a refugee, and this dagger is reminiscent of Jian's. If this is the case, and with increasing talk of this hunting of the Easterners, Jian might be in danger as we speak. We will have to notify him right away." Sharpe reasons, and he gets up from his kneel, walking out and down the stairs again, having grabbed whatever useful information he could, as well as the dagger.

"What else can you do besides that little flame also? I'd imagine not much, you were more combat-oriented. It would help to know though, I honestly don't know any protraction, I should have asked Ferrous to teach me a bit when I had the chance."

He remembers as well that RD bought him a drink.

"That beer, did you pay for it? I can't recall."

Finding nothing else of interest  in the room and seeing nothing that need concern his attention outside, RD turns back to Sharpe, who is giving his analysis on the information they had gathered here. "Yeah, this defintely doesn't bode well for Jian. I'm also starting to wonder if he knows a bit more about his situation than he's letting on. We might wanna ask him a few questions when we get back." He was wary of the trust Sharpe seemed to have for Jian but at times like this it couldn't hurt to be a bit skeptical.

RD followed Sharpe out of the room, putting out his flame and carefully setting the door somewhat lying next to it's frame. There wasn't much he could do to fix it at the moment but leaving it lying on the floor didn't feel right to him somehow. He then jogged a bit to catch up to Sharpe who was now asking Richard the extent of his arcane abilities with fire.

"Heh. Not much actually. You're right i'm terrible at protraction. Honestly i find relying on it a bit foolish, still i'll admit it has his uses. That tiny flame was something I learned when I was being tested for my arcane aptitude, It's very useful for dark places so i made sure i could do it whenever, though i suspect someone who actually uses protraction regularly could do it much faster, make it bigger, throw it..." He realizes he's rambling a bit and just cuts to the chase, "... All I can do is that little flame, a mild burst of fire from my hands that i don't have much control over, and i can also heat my hands..." He holds out and concentrates on his right hand and it bursts into sustained fire as RD turns the hand left and right, he then quickly disperses the flame. "... But i can't do that for long and i really have to focus on it, otherwise i get burned. There is this sword too.. "He gestures to the large blade which still rested in the sheath chained to his back, "I had tried to light it on fire before when I originally got it, thinking i could do it much the same way i do my hands, but Instead it seems to be able to use the energy i put into it and force it directly to its edge! Makes it cut through things like a hot knife thru' buttah'! But it takes me awhile to make it happen... bout 10 seconds i'd say. I can't throw fire, or make pillars of flame or anything special like that. All in all if ya want some advice on protraction, i'm sorry to say i'm not the man to ask." He shrugs and shakes his head as he says that last part in a rather defeated tone.

As they reach the bottom of the stair case Sharpe then mentions something a bit unexpected.

"The... the tab?" Richard pauses and stares at the man, a dumbfounded look on his face and silence between the men for a few moments as he honestly tries to remember. He hadn't! He then bursts out in laughter, on the edge of tears by the time he finishes. "AH HA! AH HAH HA! A- HEE-HEE-HEE! Ah-Ha! Ah... ohh man! Tha- Thats- Hee-hee... Ah... After all that and what we now know you're still worried about the bar tab?" He has a huge grin on his face; the situation was priceless, one of a kind in his eyes! "That's my Point-man, always on top of things no matter what goes down! Heh, you're right i hadn't paid the man yet. Lemme go get that off your mind right quick!" He walks to the bar and sets down a gold piece in front of the bartender, assuming that was more than enough for the two drinks and maybe enough to help with the door as well. "43 Left." He kept it in mind as he turned towards the door.

He then walks towards the door, beckoning Sharpe to follow him outside.

Dr. Atrium smiles as she watches Mitsuki use her magic once again. She is truly a gifted magic user. He looks at the small blue flame and holds his hands up to it. He is shocked that it doesn't give off any heat, if anything, it is cold and chills the air around it a little.

"I have heard and read about the uses of the Seeker's Flame, I have never seen it until now. It is very pretty. You are very skilled, would you show me some of your spells sometime? Heck, I might be able to show you a thing or two."

Doc steps on and fallows the flame were ever it goes. After a few minutes he turns his head slightly back to talk to Mitsuki again.

"How long does the spell lest or are you consistently feeding it so it doesn't die out?"

At a lightening pace, Jack closed what ever distance remained between him and the boss. He immediately grabs the boss by the wrist of the hand holding the knife and throws him at two of the goons. Then he turns to the goons at the opposite side of the tunnel. The hoody was still in midair by the time he seemingly glided towards the foes and knocked them over with a violent flurry of punches, kicks, and jabs to pressure points. Just to show off, he caught the hoody just after he delivered the final blow.

"I just told you talking would just be wasting my time. Your lucky killing you would also waste it."

Before the boss could come up with a response, Jack grabbed Jian, Clarent, and his satchel in one swoop. He ran off as far as his legs would take him, outside the tunnel and into a nearby alley. He carefully laid Jian and Clarent down before finally collapsing. He changed back into his human form, his skin pale white. He placed a bandage to slow the bleeding earlier, but it has absorbed as much blood as it could. Eventually, he pushed him self upright into a relaxed sitting position.

"The reason I fled wasn't because of time. It was because I didn't have enough energy to knock them out. Hopefully  they didn't get right back up and fallow us"

His words were mixed with heavy breathing.

"Hehehehe, oh this is just hilarious. I was complaining about how you two were falling apart, now look at me. Hehehe *cough*,now Jian, you got quite a bi of esplaining on who those men were."

Clarent gasps as she is swooped up, but within moments finds herself resting in an alleyway. She's not too focused on the conversation going on and is rather trying to figure out their location based on what she can see to either side of the alley. "We're in the northern district already? How does one man run so far so fast..." she asks quietly but then shakes her head and waves off the non-issue. "I'm starting to feel a lot better." she remarks but then looks up and with sudden confusion looks at Jian. "Yeah, actually. Who were those guys?"




"Thank you doctor, perhaps." Mitsuki answers. The two follow the flame past various corridors lined with graves and bones and mold and dust. Each section looking just as confusing and with just as many intersections as the next. "Magic isn't something you find commonly among my people. They don't as much shun it as they think it gets in the way of 'real talent' and 'skill'. Oh, as for the flame, it should last at least until we get most of the way through this. It lasts quite long, but can be re-cast easily if needed. Though I've noticed through personal use that the more it is cast within the same area with the same objective in mind, the less accurate it becomes. So we'd better be wary." she says and smiles at Atrium. The two of them continue to walk and eventually make it to a more well lit portion of the catacombs. There is a fork with routes. One stairway leading up, one leading down, and between the two a hallway leading straight, and around the corner. The little flame gently flies down the stairs, but then suddenly runs itself against the wall and starts to back up, suddenly going up the other set of stairs and disappearing around a corner at the top. Mitsuki raises an eyebrow. "Well then." she remarks and leaves  the choosing up to the doctor.

Sharpe laughs a bit, but it's more honestly a chuckle than a full-on cackle.

"Yeeeah, I got you good there." He remarks and walks out after RD.

"So your claymore, I presume that is the kind of sword you have, you can set it ablazing? Sounds like Super-heating, but I doubt it's as strong as that process. You said it yourself you weren't exactly good - I also just meant that from observation, not as an offense - but at least you've found some way to augment your equipment. I've been considering an upgrade of my own in fact, but I'm still indecisive. Not to my sword, I don't think it would really need it. I'm thinking something else, something ranged. Anyway, I could go into it later." He says, making seemingly random gestures with his hands, but they have a fluidity to them and compliment his speech patterns.

"For now, I think we should go back to the house, I'm placing Jian's safety above our job. And yes, I have long suspected he knew things, but I haven't exactly been on the best of terms with Jian, I think it has something to do with me being of a military background, and Jian might have an aversion to people like myself. In any case, I've been patching up relations with him, but I don't know if we'll be able to get anything out of him. The best we can do is just have the guy stay safe and hunkered down for a while, at least until we know he won't be at risk."

He keeps walking and takes a turn up ahead back toward the house. He fixes his hat along the way, adjusting the brim. Sharpe will understand if Jian had something to had - people that hide sensitive things usually have a good reason for it. He'll be damned though if lack of information and foresight will be the cause of Jian's detainment... or death.

RD nods slowly at Sharpe's responses. "Yeah, I'll admit, when it comes to range i'm a bit weak as well, i definitely need to consider working on that a bit. Maybe buy some throwing knives or something..."

He mulled over the thought seriously, if he had one weakness in combat it was definitely range. In a fight he relied on his strength and speed to close gaps quickly, but there were times where a ranged attack would've made life easier, possibly saved him a few scars... He set the thought aside and opted to explain the Cleaver's special attributes a bit more thoroughly, so that his old combat buddy would better understand.

"...In relation to my blade though, Its even more advanced than just super heating! See, when i discovered 'Rock Cleaver' during an escort mission deep in the underground of Soiyam I knew something was special about it. I let the researchers there do a few tests on the weapon and they found out the platinum and crystals that help make up the weapon actually amplify protraction so my limited arcane abilities, which wouldn't be able to do anything so precise or masterful are powered up to such an extent that the weapon can cut through the arcane! So be it an attack or a barrier of some-kind, as long as i give it a charge it can cleave through nearly anything it seems, hence the name i affectionately gave it. And no offense taken mah man, I was just letting ya know, magic isn't my strong suit. So if ya were looking to pick up anything more useful than the simple flame i showed ya, sorry, i got nothin'."

Richard could see Sharpe's point in not being able to get much out of Jian, Honestly he didn't think they'd learn much from straight up asking him. If Jian honestly didn't know much about the relation between the two blades, they were basically back at square one, merely attempting to keep the younger man safe as they tried to shape out what's going on in the east and why the refugees were seemingly being silenced. "Good. I was hoping you'd say we were heading back, all that info we learned about his situation-"

He paused and look around to see if anyone had tailed them, realizing that it was entirely possible that they had been tailed by one of Tosh's many men. If so then they were divulging too much to anyone listening in. Either way, he decided to stop mentioning their current situation till they were behind closed doors, or at least in a more private setting.

"... Hm. Lets chat about whats-what more once we reach the house, eh Point-man?"

Jian leans against the wall and immidiately grabs his arm in extreme pain again, he tries to talk as good as he can, but yet, most of it is just painful grunting or yelping. His arm looks incredibly bad, an open cut with dried up flesh around, some of it inside also dried up slightly. A blue-violet colour is around the surrounding skin and lots of dried up blood has gathered. He needs to get this checked up immidiately, but he personally can't do this in his state and situation. Getting his grip for a short time he feels a bit pressured about the only concern of the two being the men chasing them. Yet, he tries to give an answer in the least.

"T-they... look for me... I... I am supposed to... be a... a... a dead man", he simply brings out before curling up a bit more in this stining pain. How could it get so bad in such a fast pace? He can't seem to understand how that was possible. It was there subtly and then kicked in so hard on him. Desperately he tries to fight the cruel pain in his arm, keeping his tone down as good as possible while being pretty empty when it comes to his mental state at the given moment.

Dr. Atrium looks at the flame in confusion as it switches directions like that. He thinks about what to do.

"Well it has yet to lead us astray so far, I say we still fallow it. These things aren't perfect so it is bound to make a hick up every now and again but it looks like it fixed its self."

Doc then walks up the stairs where the blue flame went without a hint of regret.

"I hope we get there soon....We are kinda in a hurry..."

Clarent eyes down Jack, completely ignoring the fact that Jian is in pain, or maybe not noticing, or lost in thought. She raises an eyebrow at him, even though she's aware he isn't looking at her. Her face sets once more and she gets up and walks over to Jian, still looking at Jack as she does so. "We better keep moving, just in case they come back." Finally she turns her attention to Jian who seems to be in a lot of pain. "Can you stand? I don't think I'm strong enough to carry you..." she asks, and steps about a bit, hesitant of whether she should just leave and follow that feeling tugging her or stay and help out. She sighs. "What a miserable situation we've gotten in to."
Jack and Clarent are suddenly distracted as they notice the silhouette of someone standing in the dark alley way. The person moves closer, and Jack recognizes it to be Avelle. The woman stood before them in the same fine blue and golden robes as she had when he first met her at the main gates of the southern district. "I thought I recognized you." she says, with a warm yet distant smile on her face. She directs her attention to Jian and then back to Jack and Clarent. "My, did something happen?" she asks and crouches down to Jian who through her blurred image faintly recalls a feverish dream in which she came to him and eased him of his pain. "Shhh... Relax." She commands in a soft tone and rests her hands on Jian's arm. Immediately he feels a surge of energy. At first painful like a thousand sword cuts, but then the pain melts away, giving way to a warm sensation. Jian faints. The woman gets up again and looks at Jack who still looks unnaturally pale from his blood loss. "Is something the matter?" She asks, in concern for their situation. "If you require the protection of the Guild you are welcome to stay at our company hall-"
"Ms. Keil. Ms Keil!" a boy yells down the alley. "Ms. Keil where have you been...?"
The small kid, maybe age 14 or so beckons the woman from down the alley. "We're late, Ms. Keil, please let us hurry!" the child says and dissapears around the corner.
Avelle turns to Jack and Clarent, the latter of which is staring at her in both awe and a mild sense of distrust... or is that disgust in her expression? "My apologies, we will have to discuss this another time. Please be safe." she says and makes her way down the alley and around the corner.
Jian awakens softly from his short slumber, feeling exhausted, but not in pain. Jack inspects his arm and notices the wound is completely healed, leaving little more than a bright and newly healed scar in its stead.




The Doc and Mitsuki follow the little flame up the stairs. Doc notices it growing dimmer and dimmer as they move down a very long and narrow hallway. As they move the air gets heavy and it almost feels like the corridor is getting smaller and smaller. Not that this would be the case, but it feels that way none the less. The flame arrives at a cross section and immediately turns to the left. The two follow. A few steps down the flame suddenly jerks the other direction and goes back the way they came from. "Hmmm..." Mitsuki thinks out loud. "This is unusual behaviour, even for a prototype spell like this..." she mutters and begins following back down the hallway. For whatever reason, the second time through the hallway feels even more uncomforterable, and sticky, and filled with hot air carrying a soft tangy smell with it. "Ah." she exclaims and continues to follow the little flame. "A Memory Eater. It's a recent development in demon society... a creature that consumes the thoughts that fill the short term part of the brain until no memories can be built while in its presence... we best move fast." she states as fact, more so to herself than to Atrium. "Doctor, be ready for a fight at the end of this hallway... I'm more the pacifist type..."

Sharpe nods to RD, putting up an "O" sign with his fingers, choosing not to say anything at all, which would be even safer than a whisper. He keeps walking, his hands in his coat pockets, his sword bumping against his hip every second step. They keep their stride throughout the southern district until they reach the house. He doesn't forget his refund, or the second job either, but those will have to wait until after they at least make sure Jian is secure.

Sharpe knocks on the door.

"Hey? You guys still home I hope? We need to talk!" He yells, but nobody answers. He opens the door and finds there's nobody home at all.

He walks up to Clarent's room and opens that door as well, and sees that the girl isn't even in her bed.

"Something's awry, Clarent's not in bed... That leaves some really grim thoughts in my mind." He says to RD, descending the staircase.

"And I don't think this is one of those 'Wait and they'll come back or else we end up orbiting' kinds of things. We'd best go search for them, maybe take care of business along the way. Sorry to basically just drag you along, man, but this really merits our attention." He says, and walks back out looking both ways, deciding between them.

"You want me to go towards the Docs and you can go the opposite way? I honestly don't have much of an idea where they might have gone, so if we cover a lot of ground that might increase the chances of finding them. Or, we could stick together and maybe that'll make us easier for them to find us, since we do kind of stand out." He says, and gives RD a moment to think so he can share his input.

As Sharpe checks the house for any occupants, Richard ops to wait outside, merely to keep an eye out and see if any of the group were nearby. "Crap, seems like everyone left. That's no good."

Sharpe comes back out of the house and explains that no one is within, worried about the fact that even Clarent is gone. "Huh? She's gone too? Hmm. That is a bit worrying..."

RD checks the house quickly, merely glancing around for signs of a struggle or any kind of evidence towards having to leave in a hurry. He walks into Doc/Clarent's room and hears a slight murmur and some scuffling. He looks underneath the bed and sees Hitomi sleeping underneath there "Hm. Other than the bed not being made, and leaving Hitomi alone, nothing seems out of place. I'm guessing they left for something concerning Clarent, hopefully they're not in danger and her condition hasn't gotten much worse. Either way you're right."

Returning outside, he looks both ways as well and tries to remember anything that might be a clue as to their whereabouts. "Dang. I wish they left some kinda note or something... Wait a sec. The Doc still has Clarent's Soul Trap right? Well, yanno how were talking about the trap being the key to helping her get better, but i wasn't sure it was safe for her to wear, maybe Doc found a lead on how to make it safe again! Geeze, cant believe i didn't think of it earlier..."

He begins to pace a bit, letting Point-man know everything he's thinking, "IF the trap is connected to her the way i think it is,  she's probably is begging for it at this point... So, maybe they went to get it from him, we find the Doc we probably find them too."

He then turns back to Sharpe, his right hand stroking his chin, "As for whether we should split up or not... Honestly I think it might be better to split up. The Doc unfortunately gave us no grounds to start on in regards to his whereabouts so i'll start at central, someone may have seen something in an area that populated... Gotta be careful about asking them though seeing as Jian and Jack are on the lam for something or other..." Richard pauses and mulls that fact over for a bit, "... If ya know of any underground or out of the way areas that would help a person get from place to place in this city without being seen, we might want to start there, otherwise, Ya wanna join up and split off when we reach central, find a better way to search for them once we reach that area?"

Offhandedly he mentions, "Oh and no worries about 'dragging me along', Sharpe. If I didn't want to come I wouldn't come, I just don't like seeing people in trouble when I feel I can do somethin' about it. I've never really been a passive guy... Just lead on Point-man, ya know I've got yer back, and I'll be sure to let ya know when I feel bothered following yer lead, or I've got something of my own to handle."

He smirked a bit at the man. "Good to know I'm following someone who actually cares what his associates think... Its been awhile since I've been this comfortable working with anyone..." As that thought crosses his mind so do thoughts of his more... non-social side. He closes his eyes seemingly in thought, but silently praying he isn't forced to reveal that side of his personality soon, then slowly reaches inside his light chest armor and pulling out his own soul-trap. Its a dulling grey, he... or any other unfortunate souls nearby... are not in any real danger yet, as long as he stays calm it hopefully won't get much darker anytime soon.

Opening his eyes slowly, a bit confused of what happened before, he is aking a look around spotting Clarent and Jack being with him. He then looks at his arm that Jack seems to inspect, just seeing a scar of where his wound originally was. He can't understand what could've happened for the wound to disappear, but he recalls the woman that helped him when he was struck down back then aswell.

He rubs his forehead, then leaning against the wall again for a moment. He feels quite worn out and kind of lost track of what their original goal was. Some events he also can't recall.

"What is going on..? Why are we here again? How did my wound disappear and how much time has passed since?", he asks both of them, hoping to get some vital answers to the stream of questions. Then slowly shifting around a bit to get up. Once he stands, he sighs, things feel just as chaotic as they felt a bit ago, no rest for him it seems.

Dr. Atrium raises a brow at the motion of a demon. He then moves so his body is protecting Mitsuki. He cant help but find it odd that she wouldn't be willing to defend herself, but this isn't the time nor the place to ask her about such thinks.

"A memory eater?" He chuckles. "I could use a few memories eaten...Is there any chance of I could talk to it an show we mean no harm?" He sighs and raises one hand and pulls out a scalpel in the other. "I would prefer NOT to kill this thing but I will if it means protecting you. By the way, if it becomes hostel, do you know of any tips to take it down?"

"Giving us the house, now healing Jian's arm instantaneously without him even knowing. That Ms. Keil seems to be quite generous, a little too generous. Also a bit, suprising I never noticed she had magic. Ohohoho, how cynical I've become. Well, no one would get hurt if I pay a bit more attention to her the next time we meet."

"Ms. Keil, the lady who gave us the house came, healed your wound, and left. So your fine, Clarent's fine, I lost a considerable amount of blood, and we didn't find the doctor in after all this chaos, making the entire fiasco seem somewhat pointless. So, since we're outside here, I guess we might as well check up on the quarantine."

Clarent sighs. Weighing her options. "You guys can go ahead. I have more important things to do than to waste my life on something that will not affect me in the future." It was a uncharacteristic thing for her to say, but given nobody really knows her at all its not like the other two can tell. Somewhat surprisingly frustrated Clarent turns to the other side of the alley way. It's a dead end but there is a thin balcony alongside a roof. She sighs in her sudden frustration and takes a step back, leaning down a bit into a ready position. "Thank you for your help so far." she says and takes a bit of a running start, jumping at the corner of one of the buildings. Luck is in her favor and so she pushes off a brick that was jutting out slightly and latches on to the balcony, pulling herself up and climbing onto the roof. She stumbles a bit after her clumsy climb and then disappears off the other end.


Jack and Jian look up the pathway Clarent just took off with and decide that neither of them would be able to follow. Jack is to weak currently to use his angel form, and neither of them feel confident enough to recreate that bit of an act to get there.



Mitsuki walks behind Doc as they move down the hallway. The presence of the demon becoming more and more noticeable. "The only help I can give you is to tell you not to lose sight of what youre... umm..." she pauses in her step for a moment. "Not to lose sight of something..." she says curiously "Nevermind, I'm sorry Doctor." she says and continues with him." as they move, the hallway seems to go on and on forever, untill the Doctor finally realizes they have in fact never fully walked through the hallway to begin with nor have they ever turned around to go down the same hallway. For a moment he feels like he has simply been standing in place but then he only vaguely remembers where they are to begin with. In the distance he can hear a crude rasping breath. The slow and steady breathing becoming louder as Doc notices he is moving once again. He arrives at a big sort of antechamber with gloomy lights and a light fog creeping through the room. It's suddenly colder than it was before, or maybe it had been cold here this whole time. On top of that Atrium finally senses the undead he had sensed this whole time, but forgot about. In the room, there are various- long dead- skeletons standing about with rusted weapons. Swords, axes. The usual. In the far center of the antechamber stands a very tall but thin man, hunched over a dark shining amulet around his neck. Atrium recognizes this to be the Demon that Mitsuki was talking about a while ago. The demon himself doesn't seem to have realized that Doc arrived at the antechamber, but the skeletons turn their heads unnaturally towards him, rattling their bones and clacking their jaws in anticipation for a new victim to slay.

Sharpe keeps his attention fixed on RD, even though at times he'll be fiddling with something on his garb or repositioning his hat. He nods at what he proposes, thinking that he'd probably have offered to say that anyway, but he figures it'll give him some practice in being a more generally hospitable person.

"Yeah, I guess splitting up would be ok. They left Hitomi home though? I was in a such a hurry that I didn't even notice, should we take her with? On second though, we might run into trouble, I don't want her to be in the line of fire. I'll be right back." He says, then goes up to the room Hitomi is in, and approaches her.

"Hey um, I know you can't understand what I'm saying, but..." He begins, and he tries to sign to her what he means, perhaps making what looks like physical actions would work. He tries to sign to her that they are going out, and that she needs to stay there, and if anyone who isn't someone she knows gets near the door, to keep them out.

"I hope you got what I meant kiddo." He says, and he pats her head. He takes his flight downstairs and out the door, when he stops and finds RD holding a soul trap, though it is greyed out for whatever reason, compared to the one Clarent had.

"What? You have a soul trap? Or is that some other gem and I'm mistaken? It was just the first thing that came to mind."

RD Glances up from his soul-trap. "Ah. This is just an old keep-sake of mine. " He tucks the trap away. He's still not sure he should let them know about his condition yet. He's still a bit uncomfortable with it himself, he was sure others would be less than hospitable once they found out. "I was kinda making a bit of a wish that's everyone is ok upon it. " He turns and looks back down the paths into the city as he says this.

A moment of silence passes between Sharpe and himself before Richard off-handedly states, "Actually it may be a better idea if we take the 'girl' with us." RD still doesn't trust her and is having trouble relating her to a person when he knows what she really is, but he told the doc he'd try to get along with her. In Richard's mind that was a non-spoken vow to protect her for his old friend's sake when he wasn't around to do so. "At this point i kinda want to keep everyone as close as possible, added she may have an ability we can use to get this done a bit faster. May not even have to split up." He walks back into the house and up the stairs, into the room he found Hitomi in and gently wakes the 'girl' crouching down to her level so they're face-to-face.

"Sorry about this lil' one, but i need a bit of help." He's not sure if she understands so he tries to keep it short and sweet. "See, the good Doctor is missing and i could use your help finding him. I think you two have an unseen connection, maybe something spiritual. But to get to the point, could you please help me find him?" He waits for the girl to respond in any way, shape, or form, if she couldn't help; then they could just go with their original plan, and he would take her with him regardless.