Golden Lore

[Chlegyr]

Kagrin felt a huge disconnect in attitudes towards him in this motley crew of receptionists, barmen, and what appeared to be hardened criminals threatening the rest of the surprisingly nonchalant group with death. As the goblin guided him at gunpoint down the staircase into the basement, a position a cop would soon rather not be facing. While the rest of the group seemed to match the concept of "wrong place, wrong time", the two... despicable men currently positioned in the chamber most certainly seemed like the kind of people Kagrin would enjoy seeing behind bar.

Sighing in frustration bordering on outright anger, but turned to face the woman whose name he still didn't quite remember. That she knew him was downright eerie, but he couldn't rightly turn down something resembling a friendly face down here where he might catch a bullet before seeing sunlight again. He tried to remember why he'd guided them down into the basement, but it failed to produce anything but "Lab".

"Ugh... I .... there's a ... lab down here, I think. We need to get down there for... some reason..." His eyes seemed to glaze over as his memory tried to take him to a time that no longer existed, a feeling of light headedness threatening to overtake him for a second. Putting a large hand on the wall, the coolness seemed to help bring him back. He shook his head, trying to keep an eye on the "bosstage". The goblin's apology still confused him, though he made no outward sign of it.

 

[Requiem]

Malone put a hand to her forehead, a very real surge of pain hitting her once more. It felt as though two different parts of her were colliding into one another, collapsing into various forms of existence inside her head. There was no way for her to voice this feeling, it was almost indescribable. By sheer force of will, upon hearing the word lab, Malone's body snapped to attention, one personality taking total control. Acting once again on her muscle memory, she reached towards the wall furthest from the stairs.

For all purposes, the basement was a dead end, a trap. The stairs were the only exit out and there was no telling how long the defenses she and the others had put in place inside the bar would keep the police at bay. Taking a hostage, even though he had come willingly, would keep them back, but Malone knew their time was short.

Everything was happening as it had last time.

She pressed her palm against a loose brick. A trick of the light or perhaps some sort of glamour within her mind briefly suggested she not touch the brick. She batted the idea away through the cobwebs of her mind and pressed hard onto the brick.

The wall slid open, allowing a slowly growing sliver of light to outshine even the orb of light she had placed in the basement. The wall eventually opened entirely to reveal not a blinding light, but a sickeningly white hallway, almost devoid of any character or life. It was the essence of clean, sterile.

She turned back towards the others, gesturing towards the hallway. "This is our only option. The tunnels are all going to be mostly collapsed within the next hour so heading out of here through those would be a death trap. The Emperor knows this city down to the dirt, but he doesn't know this lab.

"I come off as some crazy bitch liable to get some of you killed or thrown in prison, but believe me when I say with the police out there now, there's nowhere else to go but in here. I promise you all of this weird shit can be explained and I've got the mind to get us through it for now. Follow me or don't, but whatever happens from there is on you."

Malone snapped her fingers and a burst of light separated Fortune from Kagrin. "We're all part of the Last Iteration. Holding Kagrin hostage isn't going to do shit. If you don't want to be part of this, no one's going to force you, not now at least, but walking in here has got to be your own choices. All of you decide which direction your life goes from here. This lab is some wicked shit, fair warning. Come with me, take the tunnels, fight the cops, try to run, I've seen it all. It doesn't matter to me what you do, but you've gotta do it now."

 

[coolpool2]

Sacha slumped a bit as it thought to itself, there was nothing to decide on. Staying behind would surely result in either death or a life in prison. For a slime it had lived a fair life up until now, and had succeeded in avoiding the eye of the law. It let out a noiseless sigh, as it lost hope of going back to a normal life before it spoke up, “I don't trust you, but it's not like I have much of a choice. Well, I like to keep an open mind about people, it's so open it's even transparent.” Sacha emitted a dry chuckle and moved forward to get a better view of the hall. So much had happened in a short amount of time. However, Sacha's dread soon started to be replaced with anticipation. Even if it is located through a secret passage underneath a shady bar, labs are the perfect environment for science. What sort of knowledge and secrets awaited them at this lab? “Hey hey, mister bartender, what type of lab is it?”A smile found itself onto Sacha's face as it turned to the halfling.

 

[Easy]

Of course the female cop was bluffing, but Fortune wasn't. Whether or not she really had some kind of outside knowledge, it shouldn't really have been all too difficult for anyone there to foresee what came next - namely, Fortune turning to the woman who'd tried to mess with his hostage and, without hesitation, shooting her three times in the chest. Before anyone else could throw away their lives doing anything heroic, he had the gun back on Kagrin again.

"Now y'know I'm not bluff'n." He spat, looking angry as all hell. "Next one tries ssomething sstupid, I sshoot ssomeone else firsst, an' them ssecond, under sstand? Now, we're goin' through." He waved over to the laboratory with the barrel of the gun. "Firsst th' orc, the halflin', then th' tree, then th' golem, then me. Elf goess lasst. Move."

 

[Requiem]

Three bullets rang through the air, each of them hitting their mark. They buried their ways into the front of Malone's chest, knocking her flat to the ground, her skin and flesh meaning to be torn apart with nothing but holes left behind. Instead, the kinetic forces of the bullets were contained in a hard light structure shaped to the woman's body, a light armor of sorts.

"You know, when someone tells you they've seen some shit before it's happened, it's probably best to listen." Getting back to her feet, Malone flicked her wrist towards the Goblin, locking his hands and feet together with hardlight bindings. The gun fell from his hands. In a moment, she stepped towards the Goblin and picked him up, throwing him over her shoulder. She kicked the gun back to Kagrin.

"Clearly you wanna go into the lab. Glad to have you on the team." Malone stepped back into the lab entrance, but looked at her watch with casual worry. "Those of you who wanna take the tunnels don't have much more time to make that decision. In about... fifteen seconds you'll hear a loud crash. That's the closest exit out of the underground collapsing with the Emperor personally keeping watch. Again, make your own decision, it's on you right now. This guy already did." Malone tossed Fortune into a corner of the room, hoping he'd stay quiet, but not really planning on it. That was the only thing she hadn't seen already, all of the different things they'd say.

 

[Tirin]

Kanin's attention was very much focused on the woman's disjoint mind and thought processes as she ran her hands along the wall. It was... very strange, to him, to see someone so conflicted - in fact, it reminded him very much of himself before he had been convicted. She was dangerous and unpredictable, and would no doubt cause problems for the lot of them - but everything she said, she genuinely believed, and she was further supported by the suddenly-revealed passage. She thought that going into the lab was the best way for them all to get out alive, and perhaps the only one. The elf was but a moment from voicing what he thought and following the woman into the shockingly sanitary corridors of the laboratory when she made the foolish mistake of separating the hostage and the bosstage - and paid the requisite price, falling to the three bullet wounds. Stupid woman.

Or, given that she stood quite quickly, and seemingly unharmed, perhaps not. Fortune's handgun fell to the ground but a moment after she made it to her feet; though he couldn't stop the woman from kicking it to the cop, he could very much make her regret it. In a flash he drew his firearm from within his jacket, pointing it at Cassandra before sharply stepping behind the woman and pressing the gun to the back of her head. He didn't fire. "I'm sure you know you'd be dead if I wanted you to be. I believe you, and I'll follow you, but I recommend," said recommendation was spoken with a tone better befitting an order, "that you release Miles, quit throwing around your weight, and tell the cop to kick that gun back over here. Miles'll be coming with us - that is the decision he made, after all." Though he trusted the woman as far as knowing where to go was concerned, Kanin wasn't willing to die on a hunch, and so Malone's life was very much on the line - her hardlight armor wouldn't protect her head from blunt force trauma like that, and he wouldn't think twice about pulling the trigger if she made the wrong move.

 

[Easy]

If Malone thought Fortune was going to rant and rage, she clearly hadn't seen much of him before after all. Fortune undeniably had a strong belief in carrying out threats once he'd made them, but he certainly didn't believe in making threats that he wasn't positioned to carry out. Since his fangs had scraped uselessly over her throat, where they should have torn it out, and then again over various bits of her face, he sat and watched after being thrown down instead, thinking.

Obviously, it wasn't just as simple as her being a cop. He'd had his doubts before, but now it made sense.

He flexed his wrists against the unyielding shackles. Fortune hadn't had what could be called a classical education, but he was well aware that light didn't do that. He was sure he'd have noticed if it did. Nor did it make people bulletproof, for that matter. He'd seen particularly adept telekinetics master that sort of thing before, and for now ruled that this was the better explanation. Most probably this woman was the result of some kind of government experimentation, putting telekinesis, luxomancy, and probably telepathy into a single, human body. No wonder she'd known all their names. No wonder she was insane. No wonder there was all this babble about secret laboratories and being watched by the Emperor. He watched carefully to see if she had any reaction to his thoughts, and then let his mind go blank as he reached his shackled hands into a pocket. After some fiddling, he drew his cigar case out deliberately, and eventually fumbled one into his mouth.

 

[Requiem]

Malone wasn't too worried about Fortune. The fact that he managed to get the cigar into his mouth was more evidence of his good luck. Not that she needed more evidence, but it was still nice all the same. She stepped towards the bound Goblin and pointed her finger at the tip of the cigar. A small burst of light, what could only really be described as a laser, hit the cigar, simultaneously cutting off a small portion of it and lighting it in the process.

"Between you and me, every time you've attacked me in this basement had been more or less justified. Admittedly, there was that one time where you sucker punched me because I filled your beer up for you, but I don't hold that against you, it was a weird iteration. Anyways, I'm not a science experiment and I don't have telepathy, in case you're wondering those things. You usually do right about now, you like to ask me what made me. It's always fun going over the footage afterwards." She sighed contentedly to herself. "But anyways, enjoy! There's more cigars in the lab after all."

She stood next to Sacha in the hallway and smiled as though nothing strange were happening. For Malone, nothing was.

In a moment, rather expectedly, Kanin had moved behind Malone and put his gun to her head, demanding she release Fortune. She'd seen this one before as well and the headache that came from letting him shoot her was always not worth it, especially inside the lab during the process. That did always make things more interesting though. Never knew what she'd get after the process was finished inside.

"Kagrin, keep your gun, you got it issued to you for a reason. As for you Kanin, I could release him, but I've seen pretty much every way this happens. So I'm gonna call your bluff or watch you reveal your hand, whatever you think is the right option. Shoot me or don't, but the binds stay on."

 

[Easy]

Fortune drew deeply from the cigar, and said nothing. Why should he? It was certainly far easier to confirm his suspicions if he didn't tell her about them. For example, if she knew what he was thinking, but made completely off-base assumptions about how he'd usually act on it, that would be a definite clue. And it was.

So rather than speaking, he just cleared his throat and briefly indicated his bound feet to the woman, while exhaling a thick cloud of extraordinarily expensive cigar smoke. The message, of course, was that he wouldn't be walking much of anywhere with his ankles stuck together like that, a conundrum that he himself stoically resolved by fumbling again in a pocket to bring out his well-shined whiskey flask and twisting the cap off with his teeth.

 

[Tirin]

Mallone was silenced midsentence - the very instant that Kanin realized she was saying his name, in fact - by the crack of gunfire. Whether the bullet got clean through her armor and skull and killed her instantly, or merely caused a hell of a headache (he suspected it would just knock her unconscious - as far as he was concerned, that was enough for now), Kanin immediately dove for cover behind a stack of barrels and crates, hoping that the rotting wood and... whatever liquid or materials might be in them was enough to keep him from being gunned down. He kept his gun at the ready in case the cop tried going around the barrels - or, perhaps more fitting his style, through them - and started speaking. "Listen, cop. I don't wanna kill you. You've been cooperative, and I really appreciate that. But if you're gonna do what she did, and make it us or you, I will kill you, so don't make me. Put th' gun down, or at least away, and we can end this more peacably."

While everything the killer said was true, and communicated in a fairly passive, relaxed tone, Kagrin had no way to be sure of his sincerity - and the elf had other designs regardless. Kanin wasn't sure if the orc had been paying close enough attention to what the woman was saying to hear his name, or if his own trigger finger had been quick enough to keep the words from reaching his perceptive policeman ears. Regardless, he had to be certain, and so thoroughly probed Kagrin's thoughts for signs of his own name - even while keeping watch for any half-baked plans that he might try to spring instead of behaving sensibly. Getting pumped full of lead by some random cop had never been his intention, and he wasn't going to let it happen now by keeping his guard down.

 

[coolpool2]

At the sound of gunshots Sacha dived to the nearest cover by a corner. It sank into itself further, as it tried to hide and remain inconspicuous. The strange lady seemed to trust it for the moment, she had a strange trust of everyone. Still, she seemed incredibly dangerous with how she commanded light powers. The slime could only think of one way to get past something like that, but if she reacted fast enough to stop bullets, it likely wouldn't work. Two thoughts initially came to Sacha, either the lady was telling the truth and she did know about everything that would happen, or she was some sort of spy. A psychic spy. Of course there were some things Sacha would never say aloud, especially when the people who the things are about are lying on the ground from bullets. Sacha's experiences from the wilderness helped it know when it was dealing with something too strong for it to take on. The lady and gunman definitely outclassed the slime, at least as ill prepared as it was. Not wanting to take a side and make enemies out of someone, Sacha hid behind a box, watching the scene with its vision.

 

[Easy]

Unflinching at the sound of the gunshot, the goblin leaned forward off of the wall, and sat up on his haunches, letting out another puff of cigar smoke. He tried tugging at the bindings again, but was disappointed by continued restraint. Well, that was two things for certain: she really didn't know his next move at all, and she really was either very insane or very stupid.

"G'n check 'er pulse" he grunted, without enthusiasm, and tipped a healthy portion of extremely prestigious brandy into his mouth before lowering the flask, keeping his left thumb over the opening to stop it in lieu of being able to get the cap on again, and two-foot hopping his way over to the fallen woman without bothering to see how anyone else reacted to him. After all, what was the cop going to do - shoot a bound and unarmed goblin in the back? Granted, Poria PD did that sort of thing all the time, in his experience... but this one didn't seem like the type.

Stopping clumsily in an awkward roll, on account of his inability to use his hands without banging the pricey flask against the cold linoleum of the basement floor, he ultimately hobbled his way over to Cassandra's head and, with his free (or, rather, unoccupied) hand, lifted her slightly by the collar, making a point of raising her torso up between himself and Kagrin. Drawing again on the cigar, expressionless, he stared into her eyes and rested a finger at the base of her neck, just by the throat.

 

[Chlegyr]

Kagrin tried his best to follow the train of thought that lead to the woman called Malone to press her hand against the wall. He watched, expressionless as the wall slid open to reveal the impossible pristine interior of this underground lab. His name was called again, and before he could think of a suitable response, he found himself forcefully displaced from his malign goblin bosstage, the abruptness of the action startling him more than he'd like to admit given his nerves were taught enough to hang clothes on.

Seeing the goblin bound, and his gun kicked towards him, his instinct took over and he dived over the dusted floor for the piece, hands wrapping around the grip as the bullets fired from the goblin pierced the relative quiet of the underground chamber and threatened to deafen all of it's occupants. Crying out in shock, acting purely on training and muscle memory, he raised his gun to the shooter and almost pulled the trigger, stopping only when he saw that Malone appeared entirely unharmed. Seeing the Elf draw his gun, the next words exploded almost without thought, as loud as his bellowing lungs would allow.

"DROP YOUR WEAPO-" Time seemed to contract as the elf pulled the trigger, and the bullet was spat into Malone's skull. Paying no attention to whatever words the elf had already tried to form, Kagrin aimed for center mass and fired.

 

[Requiem]

Kagrin fired at Kanin, hoping to kill the elf for committing murder. He upheld the law and protected the citizens of Poria and the Riordan Empire. For a moment, Kanin was an enemy. Instead of hitting the elf in the chest, his hand slipped, not enough to knock the gun entirely off balance, but changing the officer's target all the same. Instead of burning a hole through the contract killer's chest, Kagrin fired a round directly into Kanin's leg. Luckily, it didn't strike any major veins or arteries. It buried itself above Kanin's knee, away from major bone or tendon damage. The elf would walk with a limp for a few days, but he'd recover.

Before any unnecessary deaths could occur (starting the iteration over would be a pain, Malone knew), the human woman on the ground seemed to explode with light. A solid wall blocked Kagrin from the rest of the group, much more for their safety than for his. The flash would annoy Fortune momentarily as he was standing over her, but not hurt him.

"Ugh, fuck me." Malone's body shimmered with light, her armor fading slowly out of view, but nevertheless intact. "The orc went and shot someone this go around." She said. "Figured he might."

Malone popped her neck and straightened out her back as she stood up. Turning towards Kagrin, she seemed to frown. It was a look of disappointment. She didn't know how to tell him that, so she settled for a quick shake of the head.

"Dude, like... invincible! Not invincible!!" She gestured with both hands to herself and then back at Kanin. "Sorry, I just... there's only so many times you can see something happen before you get a little fed up with it, that's all. Just... keep your gun in your pants man."

She knew she was being unreasonable, but that was something they could deal with later, outside. She turned back towards Kanin, the one who had shot her.

"Hey, so there's medical supplies in the lab. Better than the expired and non-sterile stuff upstairs, plus, you know, no cops or whatever." She looked around, aware that Kanin would still most likely feel angry, regardless of the fact that she wasn't dead (and probably because of it). Close by, more sounds of tunnels collapsing greeted their ears.

"Well, so much for taking the tunnels. If any of you wanna chance it with the cops, be my guest, but it's either them or the spooky, white lab. I take the lab." She stepped towards Kanin and stared at his gunshot wound. As she did so, she snapped her fingers and the bindings holding Fortune disappeared.

"Those of you going into the lab, get in here. As for you," She pointed at Kagrin. "If you want in here, that wall is staying up. It's like... time out or something. Yeah..." Malone made sure the orc could move, but would remain separated from the others, even if his gun was holstered.

OOC: Okay, so we're taking way too long. Riyant, buddy, come on. Just a little post. And Tolvan, did you get kidnapped or something? Anyways, we're moving on. Everyone gets a day or two to make one single post, finish this scene up for your characters, and then we go into the lab as well as start any scenes with anyone who chooses to go the cop route. The tunnels were a timed option and I figure anyone who wanted to take them had all the time in the world to do so. Hell, the tunnels were even a viable option. But anyways, lab time. Finish things up and let's move on.

 

[Jeroth]

Diarmuid is shocked by the events and shrugs, allowing them into the laboratory, considering that is the only choice.

 

[Tirin]

In the brief moment between the bullet piercing his leg and reaching cover, Kanin didn't feel any pain - nor anything save relief that the most recent thing in his mind wasn't a quarter-ounce of lead. When it reached him, he growled through gritted teeth, cursing the cop in his mind, and did still more of the same when the woman stood a second time. Why wasn't she dead!? He took aim at her again, but didn't bother firing. By now, he was convinced that there was no point in doing so while she was expecting it; he could take his chance later, without giving her any warning, and hopefully with more firepower.

Kanin then lowered his weapon, taking only the briefest look from his cover to ensure he was safe, and shakily stood, inhaling sharply but otherwise remaining stoic and silent, before walking to the entrance to the laboratory. Having been shot on a few unfortunate occasions before, he managed to fight through the agony of standing on his injured leg, staying steady enough that he could be mistaken for an unharmed man were it not for the hole in the back of his leg and the blood flowing down from it. He didn't say a word between standing and entering the pristine white hallway, but shot Kagrin a vicious glare. The orc didn't need to be a telepath to understand what it meant - he was nothing but a pig, and soon enough Kanin would butcher him.

 

[Easy]

Fortune resisted the urge to swear as the sudden flash blinded him. Did she really know what he was going to do, after all? He'd thought that her lighting the cigar for him was definite proof to the contrary, but...

All doubts were dispelled along with the bindings, especially once she'd removed the cop from the picture. She had no idea after all, of course. Without warning, he lept onto her back, grabbing on to her shoulder with one hand and with his legs around her midriff. The brandy that he'd swigged, but never swallowed, was spat out all over her shirt and hair.

One thing that most people never learned, that career criminals often did, was that it was nearly impossible to light gasoline with mere burning tobacco. Strong alcohol was much easier. He stuck the lit end of his cigar into her booze-soaked hair and drew deeply, drawing in fumes and causing it to burn hotter and brighter all the while.

At the same time, because he now could, he lit the shirt beneath the hair with the prized gold box lighter in his other hand.

 

[Requiem]

Malone dies. Everyone enters the lab.

Chapter 1 end.