The Vertix

[Time Travelling Toaster]

"Can I help you, stranger?" an old man asks, walking towards Trent, "we don't get many visitors...especially any in armour..."

The group of thugs splits quickly, leaving only two members walking through the market.

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One of the drunks fall off their chair, clutching his head, muttering incoherently. Several dark eyes begin watching the outsider that appeared in the bar shortly before.

A door creaks closed at the back end of the bar, the bartender is walking away from the closing door.

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Tiles flake off the roofs, a light wind echoes over the roof. A skylight lies open a few roofs away, a thin wire is taunt across the gap. There is no voices coming from the room, a light flickers dimly inside though.

 

[Cinnonym]

After his search through the rooftops yields few results, Aurelius returns to the top of the building in which the princess will be appearing the following day to wait for Jon.

"He's late..." he says to no one in particular. The breeze answers, providing him some relief from his stifling clothing and armor. He notices the light coming from the open skylight and nimbly makes his way across to investigate it; it hadn't seemed important before, but in idleness curiosity could be satisfied.

Kneeling down next to the opening, he inspected the wire for its purpose but refrained from touching it. He gripped the edge and lowered his head down enough to see inside.

 

[NeoAC]

"Ah that was tasty!" Grace said to no one in particular as she finished up her food. She was pretty hungry so it went down quick. "Hmmmm, everyone else has gone off training." She sighed. "I guess I better do the same."

She left the mess hall and headed down to the open air garden in the back of the castle. At least it was a beautiful day out. Now that she was awake and full she could actually enjoy it.

She sat down on one of the benches outside. She could feel a nice cool breeze blowing through, and the chirps of birds filled the air. Grace looked up and saw one of the birds up on a tree, singing away. This is so nice...

Then a loud squawking noise came in. Grace turned her head the other way and saw a huge black crow entering the horizon, cawwing away. She pointed her index finger up, as blue flickers sparked from it. All of a sudden, a beam of blue light came flying from her finger and made a beeline towards the loud pest. It was a direct hit. The crow was quickly encased in ice and plummeted to the ground.

Hmmm, that's actually going to unthaw pretty quick today. Looks like I'll get quite a few practice shots at it.

 

[axle 19]

Kylar sighed from his position. The drunk knew nothing and the people were already sending glances his way which might explode into violence but he wasn't a member of the Vertix for nothing.

Exhaling Kylar glanced at the next man before beginning to sift through his recent memories the process made easy by the fact that the drunk man could barely resist his magic. I hope Trent is faring better than I

 

[AboveUp]

The search in the library had taken longer than Cygnus had expected, while yielding less results than he had hoped. Only 2 books - mostly a log of wars, brawls and incidents - and 3 near identical maps.

Cygnus studied the maps, they were identical to what the monitor had been looping on its screen previously. The cartography style was different for each as they all represented their own time period they were made, but they all came down the exact same image. The buildings must be quite old if nothing has ever changed in all those years.

The most recent map looked like it was made at least a decade or two ago. Cygnus started making copies of it to hand out to the rest later. If nothing has changed in the last 100 or so years, hopefully nothing will have changed since then. With a little luck one of the Guerillas can add the hot spots on these later.
He started working on the maps, deep in thought. Wondering why the princess was visiting Easterbank, a place they had so little information of or contact with.

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

"How's it going Cygnus?" Misa asks, wandering into the library, still in her armour.

"Any weaknesses in the town, or old ruins that may be hidden nearby?"

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A table lies in the middle of the room, a set of plates lie, set out and dirty from a previous meal. Several pieces of paper lie sprawled across a small unit set against the far wall. There is no visible area the wire extends to, but that doesn't mean it isn't linked up to anything.

 

[RavingPenguin]

Trent smiled up at the old man. "Please sir, I'm a lost traveler who's compiling stories for tales of adventure. This armor is all I have left. Please sir, would you know where I could here the rumors of this town?" Trent stood up, as the man offered to lead him. "Thank you sir, you are very kind."

 

[Cinnonym]

Under normal circumstances, Aurelius would hardly consider this worthy of investigation. A banker, perhaps, meeting clients. But after a quick glance showed him that Jon was still nowhere to be found, he decided he had no better lead than this.

The Guerrilla gauged the available distance between the edge of the skylight and the edge of the taut wire and slipped himself silently between them, landing softly on the floorboards below. He was confident that his mechanical arm could pull himself back up through the opening quickly enough to avoid detection should the owner of the home return. Aurelius pulled a pair of gloves over both hands and examined the papers.

 

[AboveUp]

Cygnus looked at Misa, almost completely perplexed. I could've sworn that girl hated me earlier today.

His gaze went back to the maps in front of him. "That's the strange thing actually. There's almost no information on the place. It's almost as if they went out of their way to try and make sure that whatever happens in the town stays in the town. Let's hope the princess doesn't do the same." he tried to make a weak smile at the last bit, despite the lack of humor in the statement.

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

"Sounds like it'll be fun for the Guerillas," Misa smiles thinly looking at the maps.

"I'd focus more on the route we're taking then, see if anything sticks out there?" she suggests to him, looking at the top of his head.

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No rumours around here, boy, the old man grins, not a special place to come looking for adventures, unless you're looking for a special kind of...'adventure'? he asks, slowing to a halt, his eyebrows raised.

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Several pieces of the paper are scrawled in various figures, mostly ending in 'ledra', indicating that they are funds, mostly small transactions.

One of the pieces of paper buried near the bottom is a detailed sketch of the town hall, several extra lines are dotted around the walls, forming shapes and patterns that do not exist inside the hall.

Bored doodles, or plans, either way, it's something.

 

[Xero Scythe]

Spoiler: OOC

Dammit! Sorry, I haven't checked this in so long. Anyway, opening post!

Thanatos woke up. "Son of a *****, what happened to me?" Suddenly memories flashed in his mind. Chaos, metal, screaming. And the fire. All that fire. Everywhere, burning indiscriminately, with Thanatos right in the middle of it, unharmed and looking like an avenging demon. There he had earned the nickname "The Raging Inferno." Thanatos shook his head. "That's right, the Siege of Nephilim. God, what a mess that was." He swung himself out of bed, wincing slightly at his injuries. He walked into the courtyard and saw a woman there, standing above a crow frozen in ice. Thanatos snapped his fingers. The air heated up incredibly, and suddenly the crow was free from its icy prison. It immediately flew to Thanatos' shoulder, where there it perched. "Mind telling me why you froze an innocent bird?" Thanatos asked.

 

[RavingPenguin]

"Ah, you are a shrewd man. Though I suppose you don't make it very far in life without being knowledgeable in things that could get you killed. The fact of the matter is that I make my living off of information. I suppose someone as wise and versed as yourself would have cause to give me a great deal of space, though if I could get any information it could easily make your day or the day of any children you have."

Trent hoped his little speech would be enough to get something out of the man, he couldn't return empty handed, not while his sole duty was to the princess. Please, something, anything.... Trent thought to himself.

 

[Cinnonym]

Interesting. If he could apply this sketch to any sort of wicked scheme, he would expect to see quite a large sum passing through these financial reports. Still, it might be worth showing to the others or investigating himself. To give the homeowner the benefit of the doubt, these dotted lines could indicate added security rather than anything harmful.

But he wasn't in the business to be benevolent.

His curiosity got the better of him; Aurelius remained in the room, crossing to the door to listen for sounds of occupants. He wondered what kind of person was responsible for the suspiciously on-point doodle, and whether he could discern any feelings of malice towards the royal family.

 

[NeoAC]

"Target practice," Grace replied. "I mean, it's hot out, I figured it would dethaw. Plus you know, it's a crow, I didn't think anyone was going to was going to miss it."

She went back over to the bench and sat down.

"I have to do something, since everyone else is apparently so busy with training and stuff before the mission tomorrow."

 

[axle 19]

Kylar sighed in annoyance as he moved from mind to mind. These drunks seemed to be nothing but a waste of time and effort on his part and if he didn't know any better he thought the patrons were growing more suspicious of him the longer he stayed.

Furrowing his brow he stood and moved to the end of the bar in hopes of probing the bartender's mind for something useful. I hope Trent is faring better than me

 

[Xero Scythe]

Thanatos laid down on the grass, hands behind his head, staring up at the blue sky. The crow hopped off but stayed close by. "So? That's no excuse. It is still a living creature. It is innocent. That would be like me setting you on fire. Yeah, the practice might be useful, but you would still be running around, screaming, and doing the things people generally do when they are burning. I guess my point is this: Yes, it's a bird. However, it can still feel pain. Why unnecessarily inflict pain on others?"

 

[AboveUp]

"The route, huh?" Cygnus sighed. "As a hunter I'm really afraid the buildings are made the way they look they are based on these sketches... If they are, it's a sniping paradise."

He motioned Misa to come closer and pointed at several areas on the map. "See these buildings? They're connected, but not at ground level. There's a ton of small alleys, backdoors, and whatnot. What's worse is that with the connections the buildings have at upper levels, moving around at rooftop level is child's play. Keeping an eye on all of that is going to be hell."

Cygnus slowly got out of the chair and handed Misa a piece of paper. "Here's a copy of the map. I was going to give everyone their copy later, but you might as well have yours already. I made extra notes of the alleys and upper connections. I'll be in my quarters, keeping my focussing skills sharp."

 

[NeoAC]

Jeez, now this guy is getting all philosophical on me? I don't want to be thinking about life and stuff! That's hard!

"Well," Grace started. "The way I see it, I have to be ready to do it. I mean, if for some reason someone was able to get around the others, and I'm last one back, I have to be ready to take him out, no questions asked. He maybe just be an autograph hound or something, but if the threat comes in, he has to go down. This helps prepare me for that, just being able to like see the target, and think of it as nothing but. That was one of the hardest things for me to do practicing growing up, so this helps keep that practice intact."

She leaned back on the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Besides, what I was firing there is a flash freeze. They instantly are frozen, like poof. No pain, it's like pausing them. Believe me, if I wanted to kill that crow, it would be a permanent birdsicle right now."

 

[Xero Scythe]

Thanatos raised his head to stare at Grace. His eyes flashed. Something evil churned in those crimson depths. Something that made you think crossing this man was a bad idea. "And if it was a birdsicle, you would be thinking hellfire would be cool right now." His eyes changed back to normal as he laid himself back down to stare at the sky. "Even a flash freeze can cause damage. the skin necrotizes, the body gets hypothermia. the heart stops and the brain begins to die off. Even simple magik has devestating effects. Never cover your behavior with excuses. It only makes your mistakes worse when the excuses are stripped away." Thanatos sighed. "But enough depressive though for now. you mentioned a mission. What is it?"

 

[NeoAC]

Man I get a weird vibe off this guy. He knows way to much about this death stuff and now he's thinking of barbecuing me? Not cool. I don't like it.

"Um, yeah the mission. Minister said we had to accompany the princess to some town and make sure nothing crazy goes down." Grace answered. "We're heading out for it tomorrow, the Guerrillas and Kylar already headed out today."