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Vito took the lead once more and did the heavy lifting to move the table and open the door while Aya stood aside and watched. He warned her that they were moving into close quarters, and that they weren't far behind their target. When he told Aya to keep her guard up, Aya nodded in agreement and let Vito take a couple extra steps before following.  He pulled out a rather brutish looking staff that Aya found herself somewhat interested in. As it was drawn, it lit itself ablaze, providing warmth and light to the surrounding area. Aya was more interested in it, seeing the beautiful flame flickering about. This warmth, however, wouldn't last for long. Not far down, the air became frigid, and ice began forming over the steps and walls. Vito warned Aya of it, stating he wasn't sure where it was coming from. "I suppose it would be boring if things went smoothly." Aya said in regards to Vito's comment about the hospitality of their target. Their footsteps got louder as they descended into through a constantly echoing chamber, they arrived at what appeared to be a natural cave system. Despite caves normally being quite warm, these ones retained the frigid air from up above. Other than Vito's glaive, the room was entirely dark. Stepping forward through the blackness, Aya could tell the ground was frozen solid. Vito informed Aya of what he was seeing, a pair of doors at the other side of the cavern. Vito used a very handy technique to create a flame that lingered in multiple areas, giving Aya the ability to see beyond a foot or five.  "What an absurdly large door... Do you suppose the architects are compensating for something? Perhaps they were quite short?" Aya stated while approaching the door that was easily six times her height, maybe a bit taller. When they got near it, Aya placed her hand on the seam between the two door halves and looked up at it with a little bit of awe. "Regardless, it is quite impressive." she commented, adding to her earlier comment. Aya closed her eyes and her staff glowed slightly. "Good. You brought him along. I was worried you'd have left him somewhere discrete." the voice of a hooded woman said. She was standing not far from where Aya was, and speaking to the guard who was seen killing his fellow guardsman up above. "You were pretty adamant about me draggin' him down here. So, you wanna tell me why a corpse is needed?" the guard replied. The woman raised her hand, putting a finger to her lip. "Hmmmmm.... No." she said and approached the door. In her other hand was a type of orb that was held out, giving off an energy that seemed to resonate with the door, causing it to open. The women and guard went through, and the vision ended. "I'll need a moment please." Aya said while keeping her hand on the door. It would be the first time Aya used her abilities to open a door that she wasn't supposed to open. Her habit of doing that was actually the reason why the Shrine Mother beefed up security for her personal library. "How annoying..." Aya commented, seemingly out of the blue. While the world around them was no longer a vision, Aya was viewing the history of the door from the beginning, when it was built. After a minute, Vito would hear grinding from inside the door, as well as some clicking as the mechanisms were being activated. The door cracked open and Aya took her hand off it, opened her eyes to reveal the maroon orbs and stepped back. "This door was designed with several redundancies to prevent it from being opened with external magic. Unfortunately, I am unsure of what's on the other side." she informed Vito. "Ruhig, Stille, Dämpfen." Vito would see the light from his fires fade completely to black for a brief moment before returning, much like a power outage. Aya would then say "Your movements have been silenced. I am unable to cast blessings on myself, but if we encounter an opponent, they'll only hear one set of footsteps. The element of surprise is still with us." If Vito had done something to test Aya's blessing, such as stomping the ground, or using his swordstaff to slash the wall, he'd notice not a single sound was produced. Aya would gesture to the now opening door, as though telling Vito that he was still their point-man.   @Rabbit OOC: Sorry about the long wait. I was working on lore for Aya's shrine.     

One of the thousand white robed supplicants was a woman named Sarah Wilhem. Supposedly a native of the land, her heart long since belonged to another, to duty, to an organisation known as the Order of Force Majeure. She was not compliant to the madness that was going to unfold. Sarah needed to get out. She had a partner in crime, a fellow Seeker with whom she had taken responsiblity for infiltrating for this night. If she did not return she was sure he would send warning, but the woman needed more details. Her hands felt clammy and she paled with fear, holding herself still through sheer will. She had to get more information to pass on, on this clone of Cain, the god Alignak they attempted to harness, and any potential weaknesses in the ritual. A thought came to her, of only she had her bow and throwing daggers. Ten paces distance might have been enough to end the threat before it even began. No, she dismissedthe thought. Such beings had ample protections in place against an ambush like that. 

SM-6366-472 "Illyrian Expedition Infiltration" Mission Log: Day [1] Assessment: Bluff successful, current safety assessed as yellow Joker's too smart to not allow the only source of Luz's 'cure' to be killed, so he kept smiling under the mask, even as the cat's claws scrape the surface of the fabric covering. The child is proving to be quite a nuisance though, a rather annoying diversion from the important matters at hand, even if he proves to hold the most power.   "You may be gifted with power, but you have much to learn young one." He said, "The explosion was a distraction, I required you off my tracks before I could establish a... "hostage" situation if you may, with your dear captain.".   He was mostly unfazed with the rather disgusting form of affection Joker shared, but he knew what he was trying to do. Decades of experienced turned his body a living weapon, one that could feel even the slightest changes, including something as obvious as an object leaving his person. "You are welcome to try, I assure you. As advanced as Illyria and as smart as you are, your resources are limited in these 24 hours compared to what an international organization can do.".   He grinned as he continued;   "You must be a fool to think I wouldn't expect someone who can turn to air and simply reappear anywhere around me to not take the cure. It doesn't matter that you have the vials, each one would take more than 10 hours to analyze, even with Renovation technology, and I doubt you'll get the first two so luckily. I shouldn't be too harsh on you though, you are but a child. Your little pets are but a mere insect compared to the threats I've been through. Now hush young one, the adults are talking," he spoke rather condescendingly to Joker before diverting his attention to Luz.  "My terms are simple, you are a powerful person in Illyrian politics. Once this entire situation has settled, I will require all data that you have collected on this ancient being be given over to me or a representative of the organization that employs me, along with the capability of said representatives to be able to enter negotiations with your Light. Directly. These things were not granted before, hence if you give me these, I will be more of an assistance than a hindrance to your little expedition." He continued. As he walked. He walked like there weren't dozens of beasts trained to kill him if they so wished or dozens of armed guards with guns that would tear him to shreds, no less an extremely frustrated Baiden. No, he walked until he was but a few meters away from the sickly Luz and stood his ground. "I'd rather not let such a lovely lady such as yourself fall to such a trivial matter. I can tell you're getting weaker, your movements slower. Soon you may not be able to walk alone yourself. Let us help each other and give each other what we need, yes?" Directed: @Dolor Aeternum @ticklefarte @HollowCipher

Maybe it was the complicated cocktail of hormones that currently coursed through her pregnant body, or the memories that were conjured by the small stuffed animal that still smelled of Philippe’s sweet baby breath -- or maybe it was just a sliver of who Gabriela use to be, before all of the ugliness -- whatever the case, the Black Queen found herself struggling with a thick lump of emotion in her throat the moment that Shanna returned the embrace. The need that suddenly radiated from Shanna, which felt like borderline desperation, caused so many mixed emotions to claw at the inside of Gabriela’s rib cage. Her ability for love, compassion, and more importantly, for nurturing was a very tough beast to break, and no matter what Raphael did, he had not completely killed off who Gabriela truly was. He loathed her for taking in, as he called them, strays, and yet he could have been accused of the same thing -- save that it was obvious that he did not care for the things that he tamed, he did not feel himself responsible for the well being of those who claimed as his own. And it was through the way that Shanna pressed into the Black Queen, her body small and trembling -- aching for the kindness that was so clearly a rarity for the young woman -- that Gabriela was utterly won over.    She ached for her lost child, but there was nothing that could be done about it -- at least not here or now. However, God in his infinite wisdom, saw fit to place before her a child in equal need, if not more dire circumstances. So no, Gabriela did not pull away and did not struggle from the embrace. Instead, her stone-like body softened, and her arms became lax so that they would not become objects of discomfort. She held onto Shanna with a loose but protective grip, especially as the young woman sought out the comfort she so desperately needed.    “Sorry,” said Shanna with a wince crossing her pretty face -- though it appeared to be rippling like the surface of water. Gabriela did not falter in her embrace, nor did she seek to end the proximity with words or subtle facial expressions. She remained firmly set, a pillar for the young woman to support herself against. Sometimes, a vampyre’s strength could be a startling thing, especially when it came from such a slight, and waif like embodiment.    “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Gabriela replied, smiling kindly and genuinely at the girl. And with that being said, she drew her bleeding finger up and toward her face, preparing to do something that would probably be considered just about as disgusting as it was odd. “Ah, but wait! Isn’t that against the rules? I don’t know that I’m worth that…”   The smile slowly dropped from Gabriela’s face as she saw Shanna’s own expressions fall away into doubt and a hint of self-loathing -- it was well hidden, it was subtle and quick.   “Dear child…”   “I mean… it’s royal blood and I’m just… a nobody.”   The dark brows on the crown of her brow pinched in concern. To hear the young woman speak in regards to herself in such a lowly way did more than just worry Gabriela, it saddened her.    “Right here and right now, Shanna… you mean the world to me.”   With the slight nod of approval, Gabriela would complete what she had set out to do. Her bloody finger pressed into Shanna’s wounded ear. She wanted to be careful, but like it or not there would be pain. Not only was there internal damage, but her fingernail and the pad of her finger were cold like ice. She held Shanna a little tighter for when the pain caused her to jolt, in order to keep her from further injuring herself. From there, it was just a matter of Gabriela’s black blood seeping down into the damaged parts of her inner ear, and the awful ache that came from cellular reconstruction being forced to happen immediately as opposed to over a set of days.    “I am sorry,” she said quietly, knowing that when her hearing returned it would be sharper and perhaps louder than Shanna recalled, and would remain so, until her black blood was fully out of her system. “There will be some discomfort…”

After two hours of careful planning and preparation, Noah and Aelene set off to the Gypsy Market to acquire more information. A scheme had been hatched, one so simple and mundane that it was absolutely fool proof. They had figured out that since the mobsters demanded tolls from the various individuals who roamed the market, locating one of their hideouts was a simple matter of hooking a tracker up to a purse, and ‘convincing’ one of the mobsters to forcefully acquire it. From there, they hoped that the hideout would give them more information to work with. The alternative was to go in guns blazing, but that would be an outright violation of the law and Aelene wanted to avoid murdering anybody unnecessarily.   As they approached the Market, her hands tightened around the trap purse and adrenaline began to course through her veins.   “Do you see anything?” she asked Noah, who could apparently figure out information about anyone through his highly sophisticated data readers.