Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

Dr. Atrium turns back to Jian.

"I figured you would have enough faith in me to think I wouldn't do anything with out having a reason behind it. But I am to flustered to think any more."

He turns to Sharpe. It is clear that he is angry.

"I am going to go knock on the front door to give the guards something to worry about while you go past them and go deeper in. we have wasted enough time with being tactical. You have the tracking devise so you can find Jack and Ayame. Best of luck to you my friend."

With that Doc rushes to the school that is in front of him. He brings up his glowing hands and the claws rise out of the ground and rips the doors out of the hinges. He walks into the building and waits for what is to come.

The guards who had been watching the door try to stop the Doc as he approaches the door, though he doesn't seem to pay their calls of authority any heed and simply walks up to the door and rips it appart. They then draw their swords, as well as two guards who are right on the other side of the door, startled and hostile through the sudden disappearance of the door. "Sir, Sir! I asked you to identify yourself!" says one of the guards before another pushes him aside roughly. "Don't you see? He's one of Them! The people we tried to quarantine here!" he says and readiest his short sword in a defensive position.

Clarent simply watches the whole ordeal go down. In all honesty, she can't help but be amused in some way, though she realizes how grave the situation is for these people. She suppresses a subtle smirk and nods. She takes a peek at the radar Sharpe is now holding, seeing a faint dot inside one of the buildings. It's hard for her to understand at first and given the sudden situation, but she gets the idea not too long after studying the device. "Alright, I'll go with either plan, though I do agree that going through the side is likely better, it seems like now we don't have much choice. It looks like he's further away from the side entrance than the main, but there are likely to be people inside and if we just rush in like that, no matter how cautious we're bound to be in trouble. Especially after having knocked out some people who before had no grudge against us, and that Officer from earlier might be held accountable for any issues should they turn up."

She looks back over to the radar. Jack seems to have been still for quite a while. Maybe they put him in a cell by this time as it is likely he would have gotten arrested back there.

Sharpe nods.

"Alright, plan in motion." He states, and he runs over to the fence, mantling it with ease and running to the door, stacking to the side. He waits for Clarent to follow as well as Jian. He can't help but sigh at Doc's choice of diversions.

"Fething hell, man, you really had to go and make noise like that?" He remarks, and he looks down to the radar, trying to figure out if there is a way to tell whether someone is above or below their current position. For now, all he can discern is that Jack's somewhere within the building, a respectable distance from where they are now, but a bit closer to the main door, like Clarent said.

He walks in through the open side door and looks around. Doc seems to be doing alright keeping them busy, so Sharpe takes this chance to pull the radar back out and look about the place. He quietly jogs to the part of the current floor where the dot would be, but sees no jail cell or secluded room that would hide him of any kind. He jogs back to the staircase and beckons the other two to follow him.

"Um, ok then," Airgetlam says with a disappointed look upon her face, "He's really going to go full-out assault on them?"

She looks to the side and sees the rest of the group sneaking in and she sighs.

"Well I guess at least it's just a diversion."

She opens the magazine and checks what bolts she has, and switches them all out in favor of the syringe bolts she has for Less-than-Lethal combat. She closes the canister and adjusts her aim, waiting in case a guard gets close to a window.

Jian's a bit baffled by how all this went. As long as it works at the given moment, it's fine with him. Even though there might've been an easier or more silent way approach this. He follows Sharpe past the little incident going down, having him lead the way as he tracks Jack with the radar.

Not being sure how to handle the reaction from the Doc earlier, he remains with staying neutral with him for now, his nasty remark left him with quite an impression.

"So... getting close here?", he asks Sharpe with his still kind of frustrated tone in his voice, "Or are things just getting worse at this point?"

Jian's getting more nervous, what if Jack's alone? That would just cause it being a waste of time having set up this. It would slow everything, increasing the risk of not seeing Ayame alive ever again.

"My name is Doctor Atrium, though some have come to call me the 'Good Doctor'."

Dr. Atrium tells the guard who questioned him. He then looks at the panicked guard. As he gets ready to talk, he noticed that the group has moved behind him.

"I am not from around here. I was let into this quarantined area. What were you guys trying to keep locked away here? While we are at it, why did you bring a girl who was just freed from being kidnapped in here?."

Doc sighs as he looks at the men. Are they going to answer him? He doesn't think so. He just came into this place like a monster with its claws out.

"I am sorry about your door..."

The glow around his hands fad. His anger has faded and now all he is left with is regret. He hopes his rash actions has not ruined their chances at completing there mission.

"I was angry and scared. There was no reason for me to act the way I did. As a doctor it is my job to help people. That is way I am here...Please allow me to help."

"Sir, this is a quarantined area." One of the guards says, shaken by the sudden scene. The guards seem rather unsure to apprehend the doctor, not because of his motives, but his presented powers. "Please, Sir, leave the district at the nearest outer checkpoint and return again once the quarantine has been lifted." The men keep eyeing the doctor, still unsure what to do, and occupied, hoping he will simply leave, or for a patrol to come by.



Clarent catches up with Sharpe and they find themselves going up the staircase. She takes a peak as they go up. It seems the building is rather straight forward. The hallways from what she can tell seem to go in a circle, with rooms lined both the outside and inside of the building. She figures there must be another stairway in the backsomewhere, where Jack is being held. Looking up one side, she sees two guards standing in the far hallway, both faced away from them and talking unheard words. In the other direction is a bunch of tables stacked in a door, blocking the access to the next room. "Seems like we can either take out those two... or not." she corrects herself as 2 other guards meet up with them down the hall. "Or we can try one of the doors and hope its one of those double rooms you tend to find in these buildings, that will lead to the other side. Alternatively we could always try another route, or maybe even the Doctors."



Airgetlam overlooks the situation. The guards seem extremely tense but unlike with Jack they don't seem to apprehend the doctor. A sudden rattle of chains catches her attention and she whips around to see a girl stand before her. "Hey," The girl whispers.
She's dressed in an odd cloak, with some light but definately strong looking armor showing underneeth. She wears a scarf and a witches hat, with a chain bound to the tip, causing it to sag quite a bit downwards. She is wearing some strange goggles on her eyes and there is fluff sticking out on each side of her hat, though its hard to distinguish some of the features. The only thing Airgetlam can easily make out is the amulet on the chain, swaying back and forth and glowing strongly in the dark night. She points her arm across to the roof of the building, where on the edge moments ago Airgetlam could see nothing, there are strangely moving shapes dashing back and forth along the edge. "They can't get to her..." the girl says. "They'll do horrible things to her to stop 'them' from reaching their goal." The girl sits down on the roof, not seeming to mind the dirt it has collected. "You're friends somehow always manage to get into trouble..." she then says. Suddenly Airgetlam feels that cold sensation of someone watching and once again looks to the roof, where she sees that man from earlier. He is a little easier to make out this time, wearing a lot of gear and equipment she's never seen, among the usual attire of an assassin of sorts. He once again stares back at her while pushing something heavy over the ledge of the building- But this time Airgetlam notices- It's a guard. A dead guard. The guard falls and falls and eventually lands on one of the other guards below, crushing him under its weight. Down below the guards look up in a panic and suddenly dash inside the building, disregarding the doctor entirely.

Sharpe peeks around the corner at the two guards, and then to the other side.

"Yeah, and I don't want to nail city guards honestly, as much as they're in our way. If the rooms aren't double rooms though, I have an idea though. There should be windows that we can climb out of, and maybe we can shimmy around and get to the other side that way." He says. He looks back to Jian, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think we're in a bad spot here, we just need to be cautious. As far as getting worse, I don't believe that's the case." He says to him.

He starts carefully walking around the hallway Clarent indicated, and opens the door, hoping it won't creak and alert the entire floor.

Airgetlam feels her heart skip a beat for a moment as the girl appears behind her.

"And I thought I was a stealthy one! So though... do you know who or what is behind the quarantine? I feel like it's definitely something extra-natural or something, and who are 'They' or 'Them' in this case?" She asks of the girl. She scratches her head and quickly looks up to the roof again, and she looks away, her stomach churning.

"I see... Not a bad spot... Sounds quite relieving for once", Jian whispers with a sigh.

It's been a while since he heard any good news regarding this, so he's a bit relieved. He's starting to get a bit tired from all the happenings though, so he thinks it's better to let others do the thinking a bit, as he can't risk being hasty about anything due to not having the energy or patience over it.

"Well, then what did you have in mind? I mean Clarent had a few ideas here, but what will it be?", he then adds, looking at Sharpe with a bit more relieving look on his face now. He's not sure if he's capable to fight in his state, but a good fight might aswell wake him up again if they really end up having to face them. Once again, he simply hopes that they didn't put Jack into a different place to hold him in custody, as that's one of the biggest concerns he's having right now.

Dr. Atrium is about to ask the guard in front of him something when he hears a thud behind him. He turns to look and sees a dead body on the ground and two guard crawling out from under it and running inside. He then turns to the guards.

"You seem to be under attack. Please let me prove to you that I am not a monster looking for blood to spill! Where was that guard located? I will do look and see if i can find the person or people who did this to him!"

The girl stares at the school building, clearly focused on many thoughts. She absently holds her hand out flat to the side and explains; "You ask too many questions. 'They' are 'them'. To my own surprise I don't yet know who 'they' are, but I know that 'they' are trying to get the girl, and other subjects that haven't turned and put them under some sort of test. I overheard a talk while I snuck inside their 'base'. Apperantly the city guard isn't as clean as you'd think, to no surprise- Yes a few veterans who are loyal to the cause, but mostly people who need the money directing people who don't have the money. Puppets in a game. A race, if you so will. Secure the most people and see how many fit into each lab before the other is ready to attack. Hm?" She stops herself for a moment looking down at the main entrance. It seems the men are too busy to care about Dr. Atrium and simply flee inside, leaving their dead mate on the floor as they hurry for the nearest roof access. "Ah, yes. So... Those people you brought back, they were to be executed. A threat, what with being tampered and turned as they were. A brilliant man came up with a brilliant plan, to use them as test subjects, round them all up and turn them into fighters, for what reason? Unknown. But it looks like their little friends made for an escape and are roaming the central district- part of it anyway..." She pauses for a moment and then turns her head a little. "Mhh... what's that? Oh, right. You are right of course. I better leave." She says and turns back to Airgetlam. "I've got places to be and people to attend to, best you grab the girl and leave the guards to do their duty. They've only got eyes for securing as many of the tampered as they can before they are all taken down by the assassin. Well in any case..."

The girl waves her hand and bright shining runes written in some language Airgetlam had never seen flare to life one by one, the girl dissapearing in the process bit by bit. The runes disperse into the air, but not before Airs attention is caught by someone on the neighboring roofs. "Hey! It's one of them!" A guard yells as he beckons three of his companions who are stationed a couple of roofs away from the school building. Clearly the flashy lights attracted enough unwanting attention and they ready their crossbows as if they weren't going to ask any questions.



Clarent carefully moves through the hall and up to Sharpe. Her clumsy stature makes it clear she is not used to sneaking around at all. She goes up to the window and nudges it, to see if its open. It lifts up easily enough without making much noise and she pops her head outside, in time to see the guards rush inside, allowing the doctor entry. "It looks like the Doc made it in, chief." She says, pronouncing the title as mockery. "There is a ledge here, wide enough to fit a foot sideways, but it looks a bit unstable." She says and brings herself back into the hallway, staring over Sharpes shoulder as he carefully opens the room. It's dark. Incredibly so. But she carefully rests her hand on his arm, pausing him from opening the door as she is frozen in fear. She directs his attention, and in the corner of the room are a pair of glowing red eyes, followed by the now audible deep panting. Suddenly, muffled screams and the crashing of various tables and chairs surges through the hall. There seems to be a fight further up a few floors. The thing in the room screeches and leaps at the door, closing it, and causing a dent to break, alongside with Clarent stumbling back against the wall, leaving Sharpe at the broken door. The thing leaps against the door again, causing splinters to burst off of the door, but then crashes out the other side of the wall. Seperated from the group by stacked tables and chairs. It bounds out of the window, breaking the glass and dissapears into the night. As Jian makes his way up the stairs he sees the four guards. Two of them turning to rush his way. For a moment he thinks they will round the corner and catch them, but the other two shout after them, causing them to turn around. Then the four of them round the other corner and dissapear out of sight.

Sharpe backs away, a bit caught off-guard by the sudden assault.

"Shit... The feth was that?" He says. He pulls out his sword and keeps it at the ready in case another of those things tries to jump at him. He turns around and and places his hand her arm.

"You ok? Whatever that was, I don't think it'll be the last we see tonight."

His vision darts to Jian, and he answers his previous question.

"Well so far, there might be more of whatever those things are in the rooms, so going on the ledge might work, but Clarent says it looks unstable, so I'm now sure. Are the guards still there in that hallway? We might be able to go that way and get them to assist even." He hopes they would assist. If not, Jian can try and talk them down, or Sharpe could try and pull something himself.

"S-shit! You're just gonna leave me like that?!" Airgetlam exclaims, and she frantically looks for the stealth device she was given earlier.

"This looks timed, does it recharge?" she mumbles to herself. She looks up and sees the guards approaching. to make their way to her position She takes off in the western direction and turns on the stealth field, then jumping off the roof. When she is about to hit the ground, she rolls in a way that avoids any fall damage. It's tough to pull off, but once you get it, it's extremely useful for getting off of high places quickly. She runs into the large building and meets Doc. She turns off the device and looks at him

"So uh, now I apparently have some info, like last time I split off, so we should probably meet up with the others since now I've created yet another distraction!" She says.

The huge commotion and action that kicks in all of the sudden really gives Jian a moment of panic that strikes through him, making him trip a little as he goes up the stairs. He regains his balance fast though, stepping upward in a normal pace until he hears steops approaching. He slows down, extremely scared and nervous for a moment. He shortly after then turns back around when the steps fade, with quite a sweat from this close call.

"Well... That was a bit too close for comfort there, good that they ran off... This place starts to give me quite the creeps..."

He's kind of hugging himself for a moment, shivering a bit, before he pulls it together following up to Sharpe which also seemed to be ready to fight something, getting an answer to his question.

"Well... I am good with people, but in this situation? I don't know too well if I can manage to talk them down. They might just go with the spur of the moment, striking me down or worse... Not saying I wouldn't give it a shot, just saying it's not the best... place? Situation too maybe?"

He's rather insecure, looking back once more to make sure that there really isn't anything behind them.

Dr. Atrium hears one of the guards shout from upstairs. He isn't able to make out what he has said but he sees the others guards from where he is start running up stairs. He is shocked that they just left him but then again it seems like people are dieing left and right. He fallows them up stairs, as he does he looks down one of the halls and sees three dead guards. He walks down the hall to the men and is shocked to see that their weapons are broken. He looks around to see if there was a clue of who could of done this but he sees nothing. He sighs and starts looking into each of the classroom but sees nothing of impotence. He keeps walking down the hall though, he hopes he can fine who is doing this. He then hopes the man or woman will explain their actions and reasons.

Dr. Atrium followed by Airgetlam make their way down a separate hallway, leaving the guards to storm the roof in hopes to find the intruder. They reach the three bodies, who seem to have died with no signs left on their bodies and their swords either broken in half or shattered as well as a protraction gun sliced clean into two parts and smoking in between. Around the corner to them they hear a man shout. "Ma'am... please put the gun down! Just, don't shoot. Okay? Put the gun down, I'll... mn... I'll let you out of here, if you leave me be, alright?" Curious, Atrium peaks around the corner, in time to see a man clad in a cloak break the neck of a guard standing down the hallway. As the guard drops, he gives view to Ayame pointing Jacks gun at the now deceased Guard and his murderer. "D-don't move!" she says as the man moves up to the bars keeping Ayame and Jack locked away- or in this case, safe. He growls in a low voice; "Give me... The girl......"




Clarent, on the other side of the complex a few stories below, shakes her head on the idea of having to facing more of whatever had just fled the building. "Quite frankly... I don't think we have much of an option anymore. The room does seem to be a double, but I don't want to mess with it, lest there be more of them inside. And the window seems like a bad idea, now that whatever was in there, is now out there." She says, pointing between the classroom and the window. She goes up to Jian, peaking around the corner to the hallway where the guards had been prior. "I think we should go Jian's way, it seems the most safe, for now. Should we notice anyone around the corner, we can always come back, or try backtracking to the main entrance alltogether." And with that Clarent jogs around the corner and down the hall. Stopping for a moment to check down the hallway. Nothing. Just a set of stairs leading up.

---

• The Assassin has joined Main Quest.
  
• Ayame has joined Main Quest.
  
• Jack has joined Main Quest.
  
• Quest Merged: Maid En Voyage
  - Find Ayame in the Southern District, Recudor.
  - Enter Central District, Recudor.
  - Find Information about Ayames whereabouts.
  - Find a Key or Alternate Route.
  

Sharpe nods.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be the case then. I'm just trying to measure out what we can do."

He jogs after Clarent, but stops at Jian.

"Don't worry about it man, I'll take this one. You've done your part in getting us into the zone, I guess I should have been more appreciative of that." He says to him, and keeps up his pace down the hall. He catches up to her and looks around the corner. He starts walking up the stairs, very cautiously, his sword in front of him. The guards seem to have rapidly executed a retreat, likely to the upstairs area or wherever the commotion appears to be.

"What do you see?" Airgetlam whispers. She moves closer to him and peaks around the corner to see Ayame and Jack there behind some bars... and a man who looks to be demanding something, maybe demanding her.

She looks down at the crossbow, which has sleep bolts still inside. However, now would not be the best time at all to open it up and change the ammunition. She keeps a hand on her short blade, but doesn't take it out. If she did and the man looked their way, it's glint might give them away.

"Maybe you could grab him? I don't know what he has on him, for all i know he's packing throwing knives or a firearm or something." she whispers to Doc.

Clarent and Sharpe jog past him and he's surprised with Sharpe stopping for a moment to talk to him. Even moreso Jian's surprised with what exactly he is saying, then turning the corner going up the stairs.

Jian simply tilts his head, following up with a bit of a track of thoughts in his head. He didn't expect Sharpe to change his mind like that, considering he was rather disgusted with the way Jian managed to get them all in.

Then arriving behind clarent, he simply looks back to make sure nobody's following up, still a bit in thoughts. Maybe Sharpe's not as bad of a person than Jian is picturing him as.

Dr. Atrium puts his finger up to his lips, to tell Airgetlam to be silent. He slowly raise his now glowing hands and he makes the assassin's shadow rise being him slowly, the shadow then changes into the claw. Doc then moves his hands and the claw grabs the assassin, pinning his or her arms to his or her side and lifts the assassin into the air a bit. Doc walks over to Jack and Ayame smiling.

"Hello, I am glad to see everything is working out. Also...Sorry about earlier Jack...I was going to turn myself in but you started acting the fool. But I am glad it all worked out in the end."

Doc then walks over to Ayame and looks her over.

"Are you ok? They didn't hurt you did they? I don't think Jian would be happy if they did. I will heal you if you are harmed, though I think that should wait a moment."

Doc then turns to the assassin who is still being lifted by the shadow claw.

"Who might you be? I am sure that you are the one that has been killing all the people in this place. May I ask why? What is the purposes of kill all to get to this young maid?"

Jack felt vastly more at ease. The horrid monster of Jack's imagination and paranoia that he assumed was stalking him was replaced by a lonesome assassin. Knowing he had back up only made feel more relieved.

"All is forgiven as long you promise me with that damn shadow claw of yours in the near or distant future"

He turns towards the figure, leaning casually against the wall

"Hmph, well good sir, when someone asks me to give them something, or in this case someone, I prefer a rational reason as to why before complying. I guess I am merely reiterating the question of my comrade, but I would prefer you respond to it merely for the sake of proper etiquette. I don't believe I am saying anything irrational at the moment."

Jack and the Doc speak to the captured man, and are suddenly both startled as doc is holding up the lifeless body of a guard instead of any other man. A noise directs their attention to the window, but nothing is there. The Assassin has escaped while in plain sight. A key falls out of the guards pocket as the Doc lets him down and rests him on the ground. Ayame sighs and lets her arms fall. Glad to not have to shoot anyone this day. She carefully hands the pistol back to Jack. "Thank you but... I don't feel comforterable with this on me." she says and brushes her hair aside a bit before whiping some dirt off her maids outfit she still has not been able to get out of. "I'll be glad once I can return home and get out of this miserable dress..." she says pouting a little as her racing heart slows to its regular pace. Just on cue, Sharpe comes up the stairs and sees Airgetlam leaning around the corner infront of them, followed by Clarent and lastly Jian as they make their way over.

---

• The Assassin has escaped.
  
• Quest Update: Maid En Voyage
  - Find Ayame in the Southern District, Recudor.
  - Enter Central District, Recudor.
  - Find Information about Ayames whereabouts.
  - Find a Key or Alternate Route.
  - Evacuate Ayame and bring her home safely.
  

Sharpe smiles a bit as he sees Airgetlam, and a tad bit more as he walks and finds the rest of the group, especially Ayame, safe and sound.

He turns to Jian.

"You're in luck, as it turns out, She is actually here." He says to him.

He leans in close to Jian and whispers in his ear.

"She's all fine, go give her a hug."

He walks a bit further and meets with Doc and Jack, putting on a more serious look.

"So then, We heard some commotion coming from up here. You guys see any beasts, maybe with red eyes?"

Airgetlam jumps a bit, startled, and then swiftly aims her crossbow to the nearby window, but all there is are some lights and blackness, no sign of the assailant. She sighs and looks back to find Sharpe and the others.

"B-beasts? All we found was that person."

She looks back to Doc.

"You should probably know why Ayame was apparently locked up: As it turns out, they were rounding up the people from the castle to use in an experiment, probably to be used for combat by the city guard, but several were abducted off the street, and those that they experimented on, I think, escaped. I know it's good we found her, but the faster we get out of the zone the better."

She gives Ayame a concerned look through the bars and she snatches up what must be the key to the cell. She walks over and unlocks the door, holding it open and looking back at Jian, this time with a warmer smile.