• Event • When Lightning Cracks the Sky [Ymiden Seasonal - Group 2]

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian scowled when the woman insulted Tobias, bristling at the affront to the dead squire. However, she remained silent, waiting for an opportunity. Unfortunately, Vivian was not as skilled a warrior as her gear might have one believe. She dodged out of the way of the new gout of flame, but her dodge was overzealous, carrying her through a flimsy wall. Unfortunately, all the other supports for the stall she had just dived into were already weakened, and it proceeded to collapse on top of her, rendering her unable to do anything but watch as Vega, who was far more capable than Vivian would have estimated, dealt with their opponent quite handily.

Swearing, Vivian clambered out from under the rubble she had created, then looked at the wreckage a bit sheepishly. Then she looked at Tobias's corpse and sighed sadly, before she walked over to join Vega, who was busy ranting at one of the knights. "Vega, you are aware that Rharne has a very hostile relationship with Sirothelle, the Aukari home city, yeah?" she asked the redhead, some slight amusement in her tone, before she helped Vega get over to where the priestess wanted her. Then she looked at the other knight and shrugged slightly. "I can't speak to whether all aukari are evil, though I doubt it, but she's at least right about the redheads." she said, before she suddenly turned to look at the banners. "No one in this city will forget us, not after what happens next..." she said, quietly repeating the last words of the mage.

Stepping forward, Vivian thought for a moment. "That was the last thing she said before Vega killed her. And some of the others climbed the banners into the Glass Quarter." she said, running through all the important locations in the Glass Quarter in her mind. She briefly thought that they might push past into the Sky Quarter, but that was where a lot of the knights and priestesses lived. Attacking the Sky Quarter would be suicide, even if Ilaren herself didn't get involved. "The Community Garden, Sarah's Silks, the dance academy, the market, the boutique, what are they after." she said, musing all the locations over in her mind. Then one sprung to mind, one she rarely used. "The bank." she said, before looking at the leader of the arrivals. "I think there's an attack on the bank." she said, before she looked around for the best way up to the Glass Quarter. If she could, she'd use the lightning jump to make her way up the same way the attackers had. If not, she'd bloody well take the stairs if she had too.

[Oracle]

The Knight stared at Vega, irritation and rage blossoming within her eyes before she took a slow step back from the woman.

“There’s a lot of anger in this city, and a lot of people dead to-trial. That anger is just gonna get worse. Pretty words aren’t going to solve this.” She said bitterly.

Vivian interjected right at that moment and the other Lightning Knight nodded firmly with approval. At least her comrade in arms understood the enemy they faced. Then as the priestess arrived to help Vega with her burns the dark haired Knight turned toward the woman who had been speaking to Vega.

“The bank…” The Lighting Knight said musingly to herself. “Only an idiot would attack that place, they’d have half the Knights bearing down on them in……” her voice faded out just as she turned to look at the dozens if not hundreds of Knights and Priestesses tending to the wounded within the Market. Nearly every active duty member had been called in except for a scant few.

The attack on Azurewind Market….had it just been a distraction?

Vivian had stepped toward the nearest exit to the market but just as she began to leave she felt a sharp crack on the back of her head and the world around her went black. She collapsed unconscious to the ground, and in the midst of the chaos, no one noticed that a figure separated from the crowd to heft up her body. Many would just assume that she was just another of the injured being carted off toward the Order of Adunih headquarters.

Vega on the other hand was doing her damnedest to find Arlo amid the cries and shouts for help. Noise was everywhere and her skin stung from the wounds that the Catalyst had inflicted upon her. She didn’t see it coming when something hard impacted the back of her skull and her vision was instantly swallowed by an abyss just as Vivian’s had been.
Within a single bit, the two women vanished from Azurewind Market.
Sometime later.....

It felt like they had been sleeping for hours when the two women awoke. Vivian came to her senses first and then within five bits Vega followed her into wakefulness. They both would taste a sickly sweet flavor coating their tongues, suggesting that they had somehow been drugged. A heaviness hung over their minds, making their movements feel slower than the world around them.

Their hands where bound with a thick length of rope behind the backs of the chairs they were seated in. In front of them there was a single sputtering oil lantern hanging from a dark stone wall coated in a thick layer of moss. Their weapons were all stacked neatly in the back corner of the room, far out of their reach.

The gentle trickling of water could be heard in the background along with the occasional squeak of a mouse. It was clear that somehow they were now underground.
Nearest to Vivian there was a locked door made from iron bars to the left of the lantern and that there was a hallway outside. After only a few trills to gain their bearings, three voices could be heard whispering just outside their cell.

“How much do they know….” A cold feminine voice spoke.

Another woman replied, it was the same voice of the supposed Lightning Knight that had spoken with Vega and Vivian.

“The little knight knew enough to suspect the bank.”

“Did you see what that red headed lass did to Rhis?” came the third voice. This one was totally unfamiliar and clearly male. He had a thick Rharnian accent and a faint tremble to his speech.

“Not that she can do anything now; the dose I gave them should keep them quiet for a solid break.”

“What should we do with them boss?” The older female “Knight” asked, cutting though the man’s words. She clearly didn’t care for idle conversation.
There was a pregnant pause, water continued to drip softly in the distance.

“Kill them, dispose of the bodies. We can't afford to let them interfere.” The cold feminine voice said before her footsteps could be heard departing from the area.

“So be it.” The “Knight” replied.

!	Message from: Oracle
	Congrats you are now both captured, drugged and waiting for death! You have 2 minutes following waking up to act and 10 second following the kill order to escape. Use your time wisely.

[Vega]

When Vivian had asked her about the relationship between Rharne and Sirothelle, and the knight had replied, Vega was already half way to out of here. She was terrified, in shock and her all-white eyes would be a dead giveaway to anyone who knew her, but no one here did and so she did what she would always do - she went to find Arlo because he was all she could think of. I'm scared, Xiur, an' I don't like it. I don't. It's like I can't get out of that place, an' I'm just so afraid." She was in the middle of an internal dialogue with Xiur, adding in a an I know you're all about bravery, Qylios, an' I'm tryin' to be courageous. I am. But, thing is I'm so..."

And she thought no more as the world simply went black.

Vega had been afraid, terrified in fact. She had been functioning as much as she could on that fear and it had driven her to act but, as she woke in the cell, tied to a chair, she couldn't describe the terror which ripped through her. Where was she? Looking around, suddenly and wildly for Earth Mask or the others, Vega knew that there was a smell of burning. She could smell it. It was burning and it was flesh and it was her. They had her again and she was going to burn again. Her hands were tied and she was in a dark place.

Dark and tied up with a throbbing head and fear in her heart.

Vega's eyes landed on their equipment, flung into a corner and she looked at her sword. Melody with solid black eyes. As she heard the voices and recognised one of them, Vega felt her whole body start to shake, to tremble. But she had to be strong, now. She had to be, because if she wasn't strong they were going to come through the floor and drag her. Then, they'd burn her, she knew, and she felt her mind retreating to that trial, that moment on Scalvoris docks and, as she heard the noise, Vega simply allowed herself to fall limp and loose as she had been when she woke.

Because, like she had before, she was going to get out of here.

Arlo had saved her last time, scooped her up in his arms because her body was broken. Now, he wasn't here. But it wasn't her body that had broken, not her bones that had snapped. In this moment, fear became terror and terror fuelled her.

She waited.

She had to time it, she knew she did. The cell door opened and the Knight walked in. One step. Two steps, that was all she needed. Far enough in that she wouldn't be able to get back out and Vega snapped her gaze to her sword and then, she activated the power, March to Arms and a note reverberated around the room as the sword flew to her grasp. As it did, Vega stood and turned in one fluid motion, using her acrobatic skill to time it so that the sword slice through the ropes which held her hands together.

Then, once it was in her grasp, Vega did not think, did not feel, did not hesitate. She was going to kill this bitch and then all the others who were with her. Her aim was simple, to stab the "knight" through the throat. Or the eye, or whichever place it was that she could get access to. Screaming Arlo's name, Vega would stab and slice, not defending but simply attacking and attacking. Tears ran down her face and if she got to the point of having succeeded, she wouldn't stop until the woman was dead.

And frankly, she probably wouldn't stop then.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian hadn't expected the crack in the back of the head at all, and when she woke, she sucked in a breath, listening as she heard someone talking. She recognized the knight she had spoken too and rolled her eyes. So, either a spy or a traitor. She looked around, noting Vega who was also awake, and their weapons in the corner. Trying to keep quiet, Vivian tested the bonds she was tied by, and was a little surprised at how simple they were. Surely this couldn't be that hard to get out of, could it?

After a moment, Vivian did the most obvious thing she could think of, just to see if it worked. She put her feet in the chair, moving slowly so as to try and avoid making noise. Then she stood up, rolling her eyes as the bindings did nothing to impede her. Still moving slowly to keep as quiet as she could, Vivian stepped down from the chair and started to make her way over to the weapon pile. Fortunately, she was able to make it to the pile before the door opened, and still moving slowly, dropped to a knee to try and get Shiryu. Unfortunately, she hadn't quite gotten the sword out of it's sheath when the door opened. Snarling, Vivian started to turn, but then Vega's sword started to lift out of the ground, and Vivian dropped to the ground completely to avoid the flying blade.

Looking over, Vivian saw Vega move to have the sword cut through her bindings and smiled a bit. She had assumed Vega had gone catatonic or hadn't woken up. Go figure the redhead had a plan. As for Vivian, she grabbed Shiryu by the handle and pulled the sheath off with her feet. Then she reversered her grip on her sword, stabbing through her bindings rather recklessly. If she had been using any other weapon, she'd have stabbed herself through the back of the neck, given she felt the point of her sword against the base of her neck. Thankfully, Shiryu still refused to injure her, but it had no problem with the ropes and freed her without issue. Rolling to her feet, Vivian reversed her grip on Shiryu so she was holding her sword in her dominant hand, then grabbed her shield off the floor and charged the "knight". Vega was ahead of her, due to having been able to start her charge sooner and from closer, but Vivian wasn't going to let the redhead act alone.

[Oracle]

The “Knight” stepped into the cell where they had stowed the two prisoners, her longsword gleaming darkly in her hand. The blade was drawn and ready to do as she had been commanded, however Vega and Vivian were already on their feet.

The red haired woman came hurtling toward the “knight”, the blue eyed woman raising her own blade up to catch Melody mid swing. The impact of the crystal sword was so powerful that it sent Vega’s opponent down to her knee and back a step simply to keep her footing. A powerful pure note rang out from the sea green crystal blade and the knights azure eyes were clouded with fear. Something about that sound unnerved her and the dread was clearly seen on her face as she looked up towards Vega.

“You bitch.” She snarled just as Vivian plowed into her with her shield raised. There was a resounding smack along with a brutal metallic thump. The “knight” tumbled down to the ground unconscious. Vega’s sword was knocked away by Vivian’s impact but it seemed that together they had managed to defeat their enemy.

The dark haired Lightning Knight lay crumbled on the ground with blood drippling from her nose and from her busted lip. She was alive, for now…

However as Vivian got a closer look at the woman, with her midnight black hair and scarred face that she recognized her as a true Lightning Knight. She was Meriam Vhasta, a Lieutenant of the city guard and an exemplary soldier. Lieutenant Vhasta was known to be loyal to Ilaren and especially to Rharne…so why the hell was she down here and potentially working for the Ring of Fire?

“Meri?” A trembling male voice called from outside the cell. It must be the voice of the man that they had heard earlier, the one that had clearly drugged them.

“Are you alright?” he said with a tittering Rharnian accent.

“Don’t tell that you can’t handle two sleeping ladies…What sort of knight would that make you?” he said with a nervous laugh as his footsteps came nearer and nearer, his feet audibly slapping through puddles of water.

The man emerged from around the corner. He was a stout fellow, with a balding head with a patch of scraggly hair arrayed around his ears. He looked very much like a monk or perhaps an alchemist; likely the latter given the array of vials and bottles that were hanging from a bandolier across his chest. His hand was resting worriedly on the hilt of a thin stiletto dagger that was stained with a dark purple hue, likely from some sort of chemical.
“Meri?” He asked once again just as his eyes alighted upon his unconscious compatriot and glanced up to take in the sight of Vega and Vivian; who were now both armed.

“Oh dear…” he said with a curse under his breath before freezing right in the doorway.

!	Message from: Oracle
	Sorry for the delay. Defenders: Vivian and Vega worked as a team to defeat the "Knight" There will be an extra reward at the end.

[Vega]

The false knight spoke, but Vega didn't hear the insult thrown at her and wouldn't have cared if she had. The half biqaj woman's eyes were jagged shards of black on a startling solid white background and she was moving on instinct and terror. Between her and Vivian, the false knight was soon laying on the ground, unconscious. Vega turned her sword with the full intention of embedding it in the woman's neck, but there was a noise.

Another one?

Vega lifted her head and shot a glance to Vivian, looking to make sure that her fellow captive was alright and hadn't been injured, but she seemed fine and that was good. Without speaking, Vega moved so that, when whoever it was came through the door, she would be off and to the side, out of immediate line of sight if she could manage it. Either way, she was ready.

She heard him talking and her frown darkened. The woman who had come in to kill them, Vega knew she was posing as a knight, because Vega had given her a mouthful not so long ago. But this? This whole thing was just too organized, too planned and Vega was just too shocked to be anywhere near logical. But this guy? One glance was enough to tell her that he was probably more dangerous than the knight who was no knight at all.

Because the alchemist, if that was what he was - and it seemed to be judging by his accoutrements - he would be a sight more dangerous than someone who fundamentally hit things. As a "fundamentally, I hit things" kind of girl, Vega knew this at an instinctual level and so, once more she swallowed down her fear and used it as an energising force - an impetus to move, to do.

Alchemy was magic and magic had been what Earth Mask and his cronies did, and it had been what had burned her, what had smashed her legs. It had been magic that had created the mirror which had allowed Arlo to watch her die, to see it happening. To hear her screams and watch her burn.

She hated it.

And he was someone who used it.

Fire and death and pain was what these people dealt and Vega would not allow it. So as he stepped, she struck. But Vega did not go for the flashy killing blow, she didn't aim for the throat or the heart, nor to slice him open. Because those gave him time - split seconds but time enough when one was someone like him. No, there was one target of Vega's mind-numbing fear and overwhelming rage.

His hand.

The one resting on the hilt of a dagger, coated in poison or death or pain. Vega let out an almighty cry which, to anyone who didn't know her would sound like rage, but was terror given voice to the obnoxious redhead. As she did, she aimed to slice off his hand with Melody.

Because if he didn't have a hand, he couldn't use the dagger, or the potions. If he didn't have the dagger or potions, then he was just a fat balding man who was already dead and just didn't have the sense to know it yet.

And if he was that?

Well, if he was that then maybe she'd stop being so afraid.

[Arlo Creede]

The little diri who Jesine had assigned when she marked him, was a companion and helpmate, a guide, a protector and an adviser. Lyova was also a friend, and one that Arlo remembered to always be grateful for. In this case, like it other instances before now, she'd prove to be a lifesaver due to her ability to go quickly unseen into places where he could not. at least he hoped so, and hoped he could get to wherever she was leading him, quickly enough.

If there were others in the square between him and where he was going, he ignored them, ducking round them where he could, and putting them aside when he couldn't. He moved even more quickly when Lyova shared with him what she was seeing and hearing. In through the door, weapon in hand he moved quickly but quietly as possible. Clearly, one of the two prisoners that the knight and her companion spoke about executing was Vega. It must be the case...Arlo figured as he sped his pace in response to Lyova's warnings.

He kept to shadows, off the beaten path and out of the pools of light where he could. But once he realized that violence was imminent, getting there in time was much more important than doing it quietly....Except that if he could, he'd like to maintain the element of surprise. Lyova was to warn him when he got close enough, but not so out in the open that he'd be seen, and when he got there, Arlo ducked behind a door frame, pillar or whatever he could find that was large enough to conceal him. His first impulse was to shout out to Vega but he reined it in and waited....holding his breath after taking account of the scene.

The knight on the floor, the man who was facing Vega and Vivian with bottles all around on a belt. The man looked like a parody of an alchemist, he thought. Like the sort you saw in storybooks and they were never up to any good at all. Arlo had already put away his sword and drawn his pistol crossbow...knocking an arrow, loosing the safety on the thing. He raised it and took aim, at the man's throat, knowing he could drop the man before he ever knew what hit him. Then of course, as she always did, Vega leaped in.

He paused before firing when Vega stepped into the line of fire. She was fierce, magnificent, and he couldn't be prouder of her. She went for the hand, and whatever that outcome, as soon as she stepped back and was cleared out of the way, Arlo loosed his bow, aiming to send a bolt straight through the man's throat.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian heard the note from Vega's sword, but she didn't catch the knights response to it before she slammed into her. But once the woman was on the ground, Vivian paused in recognition the moment she got a good look at her face. "That miserable traitorous sow." she snarled, before she saw Vega about to bring her sword down. She was about to interrupt the redheads strike, she wanted answers and it was hard to get answers from dead people after all, when someone else came in. She didn't, at first, recognize the alchemist, but she didn't rightly care either. Vhasta would provide all the answers she could want, one way or another.

Still, as Vega charged, Vivian did the first thing that occurred to her and gathered lightning in the hand that held her shield, then threw it at the alchemist, aiming at his leg. She was hoping to throw him off his balance, but she needed to attack as well, so she followed her lightning bolt with her shield raised. Her aim was similar to Vega's, though they didn't co-ordinate on it. She aimed for the bandolier, to take his vials and bottles out of the picture. If she sliced through the leather belt and did no other damage, she could accept that just fine, but if she opened a chest wound that would take him out of the fight, even better.

Still though, she kept Vhasta in the back of her mind. The lieutenant wasn't someone she would have pegged for a traitor. Something more was going on here and she didn't like it at all. If Vhasta was a traitor, how many more were there? Was there a conspiracy, and if so, how deep did it run? And was Ilaren in danger? A grimness settled into the knight. Vhasta would have many questions to answer when she woke up, and Vivian would get her answers, no matter what she had to do to get them.

[Oracle]

The chubby balding man seemed to change the moment that he turned the corner and caught sight of Vega and Vivian at the door along with Arlo at the end of the hall. His beady little eyes sharpened and he moved just as the three individuals attacked. The alchemist’s hand snapped out to touch the nearby stone wall where a flare of ether flicked around his finger tips.

Just as Vega’s sword came toward his hand the wall ‘flexed’ and suddenly grew, stones building on stones as the alchemist employed transmutation to shape the material to his will.

He was a mage.

The stone wall shot out in the form of a solid fist of rock that blocked Vega’s blade and reached out to encircle her wrist in a thick band of solid rock. She was pinned there and trapped, her arm tied to the wall itself.

“What have you done?” The alchemist yelped upon sighting the unconscious Lieutenant Vhasta on the ground just as Arlo’s bolt whizzed past, the mage ducked but not quite in time as the arrow grazed his temple, leaving a long bloody gash. Crimson liquid streamed down his face and he stumbled back, frantically placing his hand on the opposite wall as Vivian shot a bolt of lightning toward him. The Transmuter galvanized the surface of the other stone wall ,attempting to quickly seal himself off from his attackers, however lightning was far swifter than his magic. Vivian’s lightning impacted the man squarely in the chest before he could finish transmuting the wall and escaping. The alchemist was thrown back with the force of the energy and knocked onto his back.

The man lay there groaning in pain, barely conscious as his body twitched and jerked with electricity.

“You….you don’t understand” he hissed wearily with watery eyes. Blood was smeared across his face and he couldn’t quite sit up with his body set alight with the power of Vivian’s Palenon mark.

“This is for her...and for Rharne.” He uttered almost reverently.

“We will save this city from them.” The man whispered.

“The ends justify the means.”

Just as he said those words the alchemist reached down to his bandolier of vials and grasped a large bottle containing a sickly green liquid that fogged the glass. Without hesitation he threw the vial to the ground where it shattered instantly, glass fragments flying as a cloud of emerald vapor expanded rapidly outwards,. The alchemist seemed to smile as he began gagging from the fumes. Blood began running from his nose and he was dead in only a scant few dozen trills.

The death fog was slow moving but it advanced steadily toward Vega, Vivian and Arlo. Reunions would have to wait, as Vega was still trapped by the transmuted wall. Given a break or so the material would dissolve naturally from flaws created by the magic, but they didn’t have the luxury of time. Then there was the issue of the unconscious Lieutenant Vhasta. She was helpless and a valuable source of information, would they simply leave her to die?

!	Message from: Oracle
	Impacts Team work makes the dream work!:Everyone worked in tandem to quickly bring down the alchemist. There will be an extra reward at the end. Trapped: Vega's arm is trapped in the wall, you all have roughly 15-20 seconds to free her and save Lieutenant Vhasta if you so choose.

[Vega]

She struck at him and the wall itself flexed, reaching out and grabbing her, pinning her and holding her, pulling her in. Stopping her from moving and holding her in place, encased in stone and Vega felt it wrapping around the skin of her arm in the same way that, back in Scalvoris, the earth had reached out and pulled her in. Then, there was Arlo and Vega looked up, wildly. Her eyes were pure, solid black - the colour of fear for her. Tears ran down her face and she was pulling, tugging, "Arlo!" She was just this side of hysteria, almost fully in the grip of terror.

It was all so similar. She'd been burned, tied up, drugged and now, the earth around her was pulling her in. Sharp, splintering pain shot through her legs in an entirely psychosomatic response to the situation. Up till now, she'd kept going on adrenaline and fear, but this was too much for her and she felt her whole body start to shake in physical response to the memories and the circumstances now, all mingling together. "Not again, no... no... gerroff!" She pulled, twisted her arm frantically and she didn't hear or see the alchemist, pretty much from the moment the earth (as she experienced it) reached out and grabbed her once more.

All she managed to achieve was to rip and tear the skin on her hand and wrist and she was tugging, pulling and sobbing. "Not again, I can't. Please... gerroff! Get it OFF!" The young woman felt herself descending into hysteria, her legs were on fire with pain, her arm was being pulled into the wall and then, there was Arlo. Just the sight of him was enough to calm her a little, but the situation was dire and she knew that he was panicked too, just by the look on his face. That caused her to look around and to see the noxious fumes as they started to creep towards them.

He wouldn't leave. She knew that. If she begged him, he wouldn't leave. He wouldn't do it and Vega Lei'nox was thrice damned if she was going to let him watch her die again. Not again, not ever again. So, she gulped in her terror and she more or less barked at Vivian. "Get her, get out. We'll get me out. The authorities need to know and she needs to be questioned. Now, GO!" Rharne needed her and Vega thought that would be the right thing for getting Vivian, and the false knight, out of here.

Once she'd said that, however, Vega's attention turned entirely to Arlo. They didn't have time for her to say what she wanted to say - but looking at him, she knew that he had no out for her, no snazzy miracle to pull out of his hat and so Vega looked at him with her solid black eyes and she did her best to smile.

"Qau’malu, qy’akot

, always. Don't look, please don't look. Help me pull it out?" Then, she leaned forward and took the sword out of her trapped hand. With her opposite hand, she turned her sword around, so that it was pommel first and she folded her trapped hand, bending her thumb to touch her smallest finger. Still, when she did that, the joint of the thumb stuck out too much for her to get it past her restraint.

With a roar of what sounded like fury but was a channelled cry of terror, Vega brought the pommel of her sword down on that joint, aiming to break her thumb, knowing that it would likely break her whole hand but she did it with the aim of then, quickly and ignoring the pain which she knew would come, dragging her arm out. Because a broken hand she could live with, but Arlo Creede wasn't watching her die again.

Her aim, her intention, was to do it as quickly as she could, before the swelling began which would negate her move and render it useless. Once she'd done it, her roar of determination turned into a cry of pain as she felt her hand shatter, but she just had to keep her focus for a little while so, through sheer grit, she'd pull back, hard and fast and rely on Arlo to help her do so because the pain was incredible and even with her level of endurance, she found it hard to focus.