[IC] Myriad AoW Chapter 1 - Rise from the Cinders

[Ragnar]

Jesse, Central Hotel

"Okay, Okay quit it! calm down!" Jesse repeatedly flinches as the bird on his shoulder goes ham on him. God, This is why i hate animals. first the mouse, then the cockatrices, now this eagle. No rest for the wary I suppose. the sniper thought to himself and sighed. "Thanks for the reminder" Jesse muttered and recompose himself from the attack, glaring at the bird perch at his shoulder.

" As you can see this is one of Lucy's, you know the blind girl in our team, a bit unfriendly and likes to be alone." Jesse said. "Anyways, they're guarding the criminal in an dark alley right now, along with Mr.Jorgen and Mr.Raziel. If you like i could take you there to see what the situation is there right now." Jesse said to Bargus.

((I forgot about that bird lol))

Edited September 14, 2016 by Ragnar

[IntSys]

Bargus

" As you can see this is one of Lucy's, you know the blind girl in our team, a bit unfriendly and likes to be alone."

"A bird, huh? We sure have all sorts of talent here."

"Anyways, they're guarding the criminal in an dark alley right now, along with Mr.Jorgen and Mr.Raziel. If you like i could take you there to see what the situation is there right now."

"Guarding a crimin- bah, tell me about it inside. I doubt if I'm going to be much of help when they got it under control." Bargus almost yelled the word out loud in public.

--

The way hotel rooms were booked was quite interesting: You stamp your hand on a magic ring, the clerk chants a string of arcane vocabularies, and suddenly the hand you used becomes an ID card or a key to your room.

The elevator opened...red carpet, marble walls. A circle of angelic runes glowed and faded on the carpet. The inner side of the elevator door showed a touch interface, listing the floor options and the features of the lower facility floors.

1...2...3...4...

Bargus's stomach grumbled quietly. He hadn't eaten food since this morning, and he skipped lunch on his way here. The room service seemed to be able to send food directly to the hotel rooms, so he decided to not stop at the restaurant at the second floor.

5...6...7.

The elevator doors opened. After a bit of walk, they arrived at the room. The door, quite interestingly, lacked a handle on the outward side. He gently pushed the door with his right hand, and it flashed in response and opened smoothly. A set of light switches sat on the foyer's wall, allowing easy control over the lights in different rooms. Bargus hit the switch for the living room.

The room looked quite comfortable. It came with a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The living room had a black couch and two white armchairs surrounding a granite table. A big glass panel was attached onto the wall, apparently a magical television. A thin instruction manual sat on a cabinet by the ceiling windows, containing the spellwords used to control the television. The ceiling windows were especially clean, showing the amount of work put into maintaining the hotel.

He sat on the couch and waited everyone to take a seat.

Edited September 14, 2016 by IntSys

[Ragnar]

Jesse, inside the team's fancy hotel room.

Jesse shrugs as the huge demon went inside to the fancy hotel and into the elevator. well, he sure is in a hurry, well let's get this over with. Jesse thought to himself. He nods his head, signaling Lisa to stay put.

With a little fast forwarding and skipping all the minor details on how the boy went inside this fancy hotel with an eagle on his shoulder and not giving a fucking damn about their no animal policy.

The sniper enters the rented room and sits on the elegant huge sofa with the eagle still glued on his shoulders. There was an awkward silence in the room as Jesse sighed before he musters the courage to speak up to Bargus. You can tell he wasn't comfortable around in this kind of luxury nor being in the same room with a huge demon that indulges himself in stylish living.

"Right, i'll start.." Jesse coughs and looks at the demon. "The criminal we apprehended back in the alley has this strange magical glove given to him by an unknown source. When activated, This enchanted glove has the ability to drain and steal anyone's magic with simple contact and can use the stolen magic as if it was their own." Jesse said and continues.

"We manage to capture this rogue angel and just when he was about to rat out who he works for, his gauntlet self-destructs on command, thus leaving the angel in a catatonic state from the explosion and in the process, leaving no evidence behind of this magical glove. Clearly, this criminal is merely a disposable pawn by its employer." Jesse clenches his fist recalling this event.They were so close in find out the truth, yet their enemies are still one step ahead of them

"Raziel, Lucy and Jorgen are watching and treating him right now to find out more about who gave him his glove" Jesse explained and leans back on the soft elegant couch as he sighed."So.. that's our day in Marblegate, crazy am I right?" Jesse said. "So how about yours? got any leads or any connection to this glove." the blonde angel asked Bargus.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Ragnar

[Shamitako]

(How could you forget Aquila-senpai? D: )

Lisa followed Jesse inside, trying not to feel too nervous about his companions. She mostly just tried to stay quiet and out of the way, generally not being much help since just about everything that came out of her mouth was filtered through her fantasies. As instructed, she refrained from loudly proclaiming herself to his Angel Mafia friends... Who didn't seem very angel-mafia-like. But with all the talk of their foe she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Yeah, there was the guy with the glove and he made ugly bird things and I was all like whoosh and pow and kablammo and it was a super awesome fight." She gushed.

Immediately her excitement turned to embarrassment as she realized how childish she sounded, so she shut up again and visibly moved to shrink the physical area she was taking up so she'd feel less noticeable.

[IntSys]

Bargus

"Yeah, there was the guy with the glove and he made ugly bird things and I was all like whoosh and pow and kablammo and it was a super awesome fight."

"Hahaha...how I wish I had an actual fight today." Bargus shrugged.

"Well, we found ourselves almost fighting three lousy thugs, trying to kidnap a girl Misara found." Bargus sighed, "Just when we thought we can give them the good o' one-two, the girl's bodyguard, Haze, arrived and stopped the fight with his guns. He seemed to have some special privileges, allowing him to call off the guards that were just about to arrest us. Misara left shortly after, clearly showing no interest in tagging along. Strange, isn't it? After all, she was one of the major causes of the feud."

"If anything, we might be able to get some information about similar technologies from Haze, as he and the girl are staying in the same hotel as we are. Won't hurt to try, am I right?"

[Ragnar]

Jesse and Lucy's Aquila.

A demon causing some mischief and trouble, why am I not surprise? way to live up to your race's stereotype, Misara. Jesse thought to himself and snorted as he listens to the rest of Bargus's day at Marblegate. "Eh, sure why_not? This Haze guy seems like a pretty powerful guy and has a lot of influence in this city, calling the shots and all." The angelic sniper said. "So what do you propose? Do we spy on him or just shoot straight and ask like a normal person would about the mystical glove that we just saw?" Jesse asked Bargus on how to approach the situation. After all, he is the only grown adult in this conversation.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Ragnar

[Notus]

Gabriel

"So what about everyone else? Not everyone said what they were here for.."

"Well, we live here." Arael said smiling, referring to the angels "We are all apprentices under different crafters* - it just happens our masters´ ateliers are close to each other. I study energy healing, Nephilim is a summoner and Conah is trying to master arcane magic."

After Arael, it was Iceliste´s turn to speak, with the typical hissing in the end of her sentences.

"I come from Izdaz, a city in the base of the Desolation Peaks to the West. My specialty is magic items crafting, but I´m not doing any research on it right now. Actually, I´m kind of in the same situation of Lerodoch, trying to get some partnerships for the magic school we have over there, Izdaz Academy. I´m it´s principal, so I couldn´t let the opportunity slip."

"Heey, I heard of that place! It´s one of the few magic schools of the Monstrous Races, right? Ando you´re the principal? Talk about cool!"" The human Rian said cheerfully. "Well, me and Max here come from Jewel, the mining city to the north. We´re doing research about minerals with magical properties, but honestly we decided to come more because of the trip itself than anything else."

Raziel

"My shift has just started, so I´m staying here till 10pm. I´ll let my replacement know about your case if you don´t come until then, so don´t worry." the guard answered.

Jorgen

A few minutes later, they had arrived at the guard station. It was located in the ground floor of the angelic army´s building, a huge and imposing skyscraper covered in mirrors. The officer that brought Jorgen left him in a waiting room and went to talk with his superior. Moments later, he got back with an older looking angel, tipical blond hair and blue eyes, but strong for one of his race.

"Ah, so that´s him." he said raising an eyebrow. "Take him to the interrogation room, I´ll just have to handle something before."

Jorgen was taken to a clean, empty and totally white room were waited again, though it didn´t take long for the chief to appear again, apologizing for the delay. He asked again the standard questions about Jorgen´s background, what had happened, how the attacker looked like and such - all in all, the whole process was faster than Jorgen expected.

"And that will be all for the moment." the boss angel said while getting up. "We might need to question you again though, depending on how the investigation goes. Where can we find you if we need to, sir?"

Lucille

After a bit of walking, Lucille heard a groan coming from Bora´s back - more specifically, the prisoner lying over it´s back. The angel opened his eyes slowly, seeming completely disoriented. "...What... Where am I...?"

*((The term "Crafter" for angels refers to master mages who are focused on research and the creation of new spells and magic techniques. Marblegate is filled with crafters´ ateliers))

[IntSys]

Bargus, Central Hotel F7, Hotel Room

"Spying?! That's not how you treat a potential ally, my friend! And besides, if we get caught spying, we'd get in big trouble! We- no, I'll ask him personally about the matter, no worries."

Bargus rose from the couch. "You three, er...four, can relax in meantime, go to the restaurant on the second floor, or just call the room service to deliver you snacks and drinks." He quickly recalled the information on the pamphlet he picked up back in the lobby, the details were all food, though...must have been due to the hunger. "Oh, I might take awhile, so here's the 'key'." He walked to a small panel of glass stuck on the wall, and pressed his right hand against it, making it glow a gentle blue. "Just use your hand to siphon it."

He picked up the room's telephone and asked for Haze's room number, acting like he was a guest. Looks can be intimidating, but take that out and Bargus would just feel like a human in his mid forties.

--

Central Hotel 5F

Here it is. He knocked the door, then leaned on the wall to wait for the gunman to open the door.

[Sutoratosu]

Lucille

"You are wherever I decide you are." Came lucille's cryptic response to the groan, eyes still focused ahead despite the fact they did nothing to help navigate. She simply didn't feel like giving the criminal any sense of visual acknowledgement. "and right now, you're going to see one of our friends from earlier... we aren't quite done with you, bird boy. So far I've restrained from injuring you anymore than you already were...but you try to run, and I break your legs. Cry for help, and I take your voice right out of your throat, and then I break your legs. Continue asking questions you're in no place to ask... and I break your legs."

She finally did look at him, gaze ornery with scorn as Bora continued plodding along, snorting a single puff at the conversation. "Try and cast any sigil magic, and you'll find it won't respond...and that I'll break your legs."

[krim]

Raziel nodded to the guard in thanks, and looked towards the sky. "Not long now." he thought. He wondered if his captive had woken up as he took wing, and soon found himself at the bell tower where he perched himself in waiting. He thought it strange that there weren't many lights on in the city, but chalked it up to wariness about the killings. Then, he took out a book from the pocket in his robes and began to wait.

[Felicity]

Jorgen shook his head. "I'm afraid I haven't found a place to stay yet. A few, uh, colleagues of mine should have been finding a place to stay but I don't know where they actually are right now." First he'd have find his bag, then maybe he'd explore the city at night. He didn't need too much sleep, obviously it was a necessity for his mental state but physically he could go without stopping for a long, long time.

[Jory]

Jarvis

The butler came back around the corner with the water and looked at Rhaeza. "So, what are we doing with him?"

[Ragnar]

Jesse and Lucy's Aquila still perch to his damn shoulder like some pirate's parrot. The Team's Hotel Room.

"You three, er...four, can relax in meantime, go to the restaurant on the second floor, or just call the room service to deliver you snacks and drinks. Oh, I might take awhile, so here's the 'key'. Just use your hand to siphon it."

"gee, Thanks, dad." Jesse sarcastically mumbles, slouching back in his couch as soon as the huge demon left, sounding like a parent, leaving the three young members of the alliance behind. And why do I need touch that blue thing for? Jesse scoffs inside his thoughts at the very idea of using a door. The angel of silent doesn't use any doors! I can do whatever I want and roam wherever I please! I can transform into an ethereal being for crying out loud. Jesse crosses his arms and lazily leans back in his sofa, burying and slouching his body even deeper. Jesse looks at the digital clock on the wall and sighed, impatiently waiting for Bargus to come back. Time isn't going any faster...ugh.

"Ok, I'm bored already." Jesse yawned, stretching his arms and stands up.

"I'm going after Mr.Bargus and meet this Haze guy in person, you're welcome to come if you like, or lollygag around the hotel. Anyway, It's up to you girls." He said, walking past Lisa and Karol.He makes it through the door and touches the fancy blue touchpad like so and exits the room.

5th floor

He and lucy's eagle uses the hotel's elevator and went straight to the fifth floor. As soon as they got there, He made a shushing gesture to the bird on his shoulder and briskly sneaks around the corner. Jesse peeks right around the corner and saw Bargus leaning on a wall, waiting for the door to be open. Well, i'm not gonna wait for that. He thought to himself. Jesse concentrates and activates his high-level camouflage and shift his density into something lighter, something air-like that can bypass solid matter.

being attach to the sniper, The eagle acquires this ability as well. Both him and the Aquila slowly fades from existence and vanish like a ghost.Jesse freely roams around the corridor unseen and uses his x-ray vision to track down the other side of the wall to see where the hell this guy's room is.

Inside Haze's and Orphan girl's room.

The ghostlike angel went past the bodyguards of the girl with ease as he went inside Haze's hotel room through a wall. both he and the bird silently monitor them from the inside their room to investigate (like a creep) even tho Bargus forbids it to spy on this guy.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Ragnar

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza

Rhaeza loosened his grip around the man's throat after he nodded at let Rhaeza take over, before Rhaeza could think of anything to ask Jarvis had returned.

"So, what are we doing with him?"

"Well naturally we ask our friend here a few questions." Rhaeza said, as he crouched down to eye level with the man whose back was against the wall, with the cloaking umbrella beside him, blocking a street view of him. If anyone were to look down that alleyway they would probably be rather confused. "Who are you?"

[InnocentSerenity]

Karol, Team Hotel Room

“You’d think this place would have some security against people that can pass through walls.” Karol said to herself. “Probably not something common, but surely Angels are good enough at magic to make some seals for that or something.”

Karol was seated in an armchair, having kept silent while the ‘adults’ were discussing their next move. All that was left in the room was her, and the fancy television. She could turn it on to look for something entertaining, but she was never a fan of movies. Television was never good these days, anyways.

Tired of sitting around in the room, Karol picked up her bag with a Sniper Rifle inside and walked off. “Bargus doesn’t need two Sniper Rifles backing him up, so I might as well go people watching.” Karol put her hand to the blue panel, and locked the door behind her.

-----

Karol made her way out of the hotel, straying into the streets. While she didn’t plan to, she was maybe hoping to run into one of the others in her group. Returning to where she had seen Misara earlier, Karol roamed the streets in hopes of finding the Cambion.

Edited September 19, 2016 by InnocentBoy

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm just here to meet all the different people practicing magic and hopefully learn some stuff from them." Like why someone would be going about murdering people in an effort to break up the Alliance, or perhaps some ways to alleviate some more personal issues. . . I wonder if this Lerodoch would be understanding. Blood magic could very well be the answer to the question - though in all likelihood it would be just another dead end. "What do you guys do at Izdaz?"

[Notus]

Gabriel

Iceliste sat straight in her chair and smiled, clearly happy to speak of her academy. "Oh, lots of things! We have classes on many different magic areas, divided by practical application. We are also implementing a research facility inside the school, and trying to promote exchanges with other schools. I actually based much of our structure on Avalon´s, with the one difference that we don´t offer military oriented magic courses."

Around then Shelly climbed the stairs with a tray filled with cups of chocolate. The sweet scent soon filled the area as she distributed the cups by the students. "That´s good to hear! That should be the mindset of these new times: focus on peace, coexistance, and building a brighter for our kids." Shelly commented, having heard what Iceliste said. Then she looked over her shoulder on Gabriel´s direction. "Right Hannah?"

Behind Gabriel was a little girl, probably a bit younger than what he looked. She had blond hair, purple eyes, the tipical elven pointy ears and (even more surprising than how she got there undetected) two little white wings on her back. Half angels were pretty rare, considering how closed their civilization in Myriad was, but Shelly´s daughter was clearly one such case.

When adressed, she ran all the way back to the stairs and disappeared on the first floor, making her mother giggle. "I´m sorry, she´s really shy." Shelly apologized, still half laughing. "But she looks like she´s taken a liking to you, it´s not that easy for her to get close to other people, even if in a sneaky way like that." she said to Gabriel.

((You can wrap it up now or keep developing Murdoc, up to you.))

Bargus

A bit later, Haze opened the door. "Oh Mr. Bargus, good to see you." He said, stepping into the corridor and closing the door behind him. "The little miss is finishing her bath now, but nothing that my subordinates can´t handle. Hopefully. How can I help you?"

Jesse

Haze closed the door right after Jesse entered the room, leaving it to his three employees. They were looking kind of gloomy - probably they´ve heard a word or two from Haze about attacking people on the streets without understanding the situation fully. The bathroom´s door was closed, and the sound of the shower had just died inside there.

The room was pretty standard, just like theirs. One of the lockers was open, and the thugs´ weapons were stored there. There was also another one with a big trunk overflowing with books - and some toys as well - but no sign of Haze´s guns.

The bathroom door opened suddenly, and an angry looking Cana stepped out of it, wrapped in a pink robe that did nothing to add to that look. She mumbled something about her butler´s fixation for baths and then, suddenly, looked straight at Jesse with a surprised and happy, look. "Ooooi, hey Mr. Angel! Have you come here to play?" That just made the thugs look around, then at each other, and shrug, seeing no one else in the room.

Karol, Misara

As Misara wandered through the city she eventually ended up in an entrance for the part of it inside the mountain, a complex archway carved in the blueish white stone. There was a constant flux of workers coming in and out of the passage, and a sign on the wall indicated the Marblegate Magic Studies Meeting complex. Before she could enter though, Karol appeared from another street, apparently looking for someone.

Jarvis, Rhaeza

The captured man spat on the floor and kept the challenging look in his eyes, despite the situation. "Someone tasked with stopping you rebels. You think you can get away with what you´re doing? Well, Marblegate won´t be as easy as Shadowveil and The Thousand. We won´t stand by idly while you keep your futile attempts to break the Alliance, you murderers!"

Lucille

The captive angel gulped, realizing Lucille was serious about braking his legs. The way she spoke would be frightening enough even without the huge Dire Bear under her command. He looked to his own hand, or what was left of it, with a pained expression and was about to say something, but reconsidered and quieted down again.

((Strat, you and Krim can handle your meeting.))

Jorgen

"No problem at all. Just take this card, there´s a spell in it that will allow me to contact you in case I need." he said, handing Jorgen a blue card with the Marblegate City Guard´s emblem engraved, an archway with two spears crossed in front of it. "It works the other way around as well, so if you´re ever assaulted again don´t exitate to call us."

After that another officer took Jorgen to the exit, leaving him free to go.

[Felicity]

"Well, shit. What now?" Jorgen muttered under his breath. First bet was to go get his shit back. He started by trying to find part of the destruction he had wrought throughout the city during his escapade. He had trashed some of this stuff, why was he let off the hook? Some special circumstances? It may pay to use this card. Jorgen examined it carefully as he walked, he'd get a mage to check and see if there was some tracking on it. If you can do it with GPS, why not spells?

Eventually Jorgen found the end of his trail and made his way up the interior of the building, finding the floor he had put the bag on and going door to door to get Sasha the shotgun back in her duffel bag. From there he decided a stroll through the city couldn't really hurt, he didn't know where any of the others were now so leaving it to chance was his best bet.

[IntSys]

Bargus

"I want to ask you about a bizarre piece of technology. It's a glove that can steal and use others' magic, have you seen or heard of anything with similar descriptions?"

[Notus]

Bargus

Haze frowned upon hearing the glove´s description. "No, I haven´t heard about any such thing. I did find about the cases concerning 'magic theft' in the city when I was researching about possible threats to the little miss, but that´s the first time I hear about the device used for that. Were did you get this information?"

[Chevaleresse]

He bowed his head politely with a "Thank you" as he accepted the beverage from Shelly. He smiled at Hannah's appearance, which drooped slightly when she ran off. He affected a childish giggle when her mother mentioned that she rarely approached people. "I wonder why she picked me?" She shouldn't. I am not a good person to grow close to. He took a small sip of his chocolate to be polite. He supposed it tasted good enough, but he hadn't truly enjoyed any food or drink in centuries; to him, it felt much like having a piece of cloth or something similar in his mouth. Not unpleasant, really, but not something that would be described as enjoyable.

[IntSys]

Bargus

"Well, some of my friends were attacked by a thug with such glove today. Apparently, the glove self-destructed and immobilized the thug completely, preventing possible interrogation."

[Ragnar]

Jesse, Inside Cana's playroom

"Ooooi, hey Mr. Angel! Have you come here to play?"

Jesse was flabbergasted and has a deer caught in headlights look as the girl directly talks to him. As if he is visible to her eyes like she has some freaking sixth sense or something.He briefly looks at the eagle on his shoulder with a dumbfounded look his face and stares right back at the child. Jesse wasn't convinced at all as he scans area from left to right, searching another angel inside the room. Is she referring to me? cause I am the only angel here. Well, Shiiit. He thought to himself stating the obvious.

This girl seems overly protected and pampered judging by guards she has. and no wonder, she appears to have a strange gift if she can detect me like that. Hmmm..judging by the guard's reaction. it seems they have no clue that i'm here. maybe my cover isn't blown just yet. Jesse plotted.

Jesse smiles back at her and makes a shushing gesture to the little girl. The ghost-like angel sneaks past her room and went straight towards the worded toy blocks quickly arranged them, subtly spelling out. "Make them leave, I want to play" hoping to get his message to the child. Clearly, this girl is something special and Jesse wants to know what her connection to this Haze fellow.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Ragnar

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza

"Someone tasked with stopping you rebels. You think you can get away with what you´re doing? Well, Marblegate won´t be as easy as Shadowveil and The Thousand. We won´t stand by idly while you keep your futile attempts to break the Alliance, you murderers!"

Rhaeza chuckled a bit, instantly realizing the situation. "Sorry to disappoint your interests, but we're on your side. And yes, there are some monsters that disagree with other monsters. Regardless we're looking for those 'rebels' to stop their next attack, and if I get my way, to end their activity permanently... Anything that you know about them could be useful." Rhaeza said, offering his hand to the man.

[Cool Girl]

As Misara wandered through the city she eventually ended up in an entrance for the part of it inside the mountain, a complex archway carved in the blueish white stone. There was a constant flux of workers coming in and out of the passage, and a sign on the wall indicated the Marblegate Magic Studies Meeting complex. Before she could enter though, Karol appeared from another street, apparently looking for someone.

As Misara walked through the city, she thought: He has got to be the killer or at least a suspect for sure.Then, as Misara observes the entrance to Marblegate Magic Studies, she notices Karol: "What are you doing here?! Did you follow me?! Get out, now!!!!! Us meeting like this will look suspicious!!!"