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Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.

Summary:

The Grand Castrum has fallen. The Gaokerena is no more. The Helldoor stands open, ready to unleash the fury of Dozakh Zulm. The fate of Loka truly hangs in the balance. Will the Oasis live on? Or will the world return to Winter once more?

Setting:

Helio

Participants:

Joseph? (Male Mouse)
Kelketek (Male Fox)
Leviathan (Unknown)
Lupe? (Male Wolf)
Raziel (Male Tiger)
Renna? (Female Fox)
Rhyis? (Male Male Grey Myotis)
Sovereign? (Male Newt)
Terrence? (Male Wolf)
Viktor? (Male Arctic Fox)
Xeones? (Male Tiger)
Zorro? (Male Fennec)

---

Terrence hands the bullets to Raziel. “I’m not sure what his aim is. His claim is to ‘reunite with his brother’, but he is only a mortal. He has access to a book which tells him things even I do not know. Perhaps he is looking for something beyond the Helldoor more terrifying and useful than we could know.”

Raziel takes the bullets, emptying his gun of his mundane rounds before reloading the armor-piercing slugs. “Well…let’s not stick around to find out what he has planned, eh?” The tiger flicks the lever of his rifle with a satisfying *ka-chink*, and starts heading back towards the door…

Terrence nods, following alongside the white tiger, “Yes, let’s get to it.”

Raziel nods, and throws open the doors, stepping back into the street at a run.

************

Renna really doesn’t know what on earth she’s supposed to do /now/ (if, in fact, there’s anything to be done at all) for more than a moment. Then part of her brain comes up with the idea of trying to run and find Kelketek, in case he is still fighting and hasn’t seen this, since he after all seems to be the one with the uncanny knowledge and the magic and … You know, stuff. He seemed to know what was up pretty well, at least. But she still is sort of staring at Leviathan for a moment… what a dramatic entrance.

Xeones falls to his knees after the exertion of crushing the tank, even with the assistance of the other mages. He’s amazed that that worked at all - even if he wasn’t able to do it fast enough to prevent the opening of the Helldoor… The tiger wavers a little, about to pass out.

Amjad claws into the wreckage below him, trying to drag himself out from beneath the wreckage above him. He’s not very strong, but he is, at least, very thin, probably why he’s still moving, the falling debris crushed the people next to him, perhaps making the debris move a bit, though in the middle of a war zone he hardly expects anyone to rescue him. So he just keeps moving, until a greasy and rather blood-stained paw appears, grabbing onto a steel strut in the frame and gets joined by another one as he tries to lever out.

Kelketek is, quite unfortunately, neck deep in the fight with the foot soldiers the pirates have sent. Unable to use his magic, he relies on the combat skills he had from years past. But the fox is getting old, and he is getting tired fairly quickly holding a number of them off.

Two of the mages quickly reach out and try to help hold Xeones up as soon as they notice the tiger’s stance slipping. The third’s a little distracted by wobbling himself and not receiving any help. Said mage falls to his knees, panting while trying to keep himself from slipping under. That seems to be okay for the moment.

Renna maybe does try to run and find Kelketek! … but then even if by some chance she does run across him, there are those footsoldiers. Uh…. maybe she could try to shoot one of them? Or maybe she’ll run into some other person on the way…

Viktor is neck deep in the fight righ alongside Kelketek, helping the fox in his fight, though he’s not using any of his magic either, probably not a useful spot to use it, or he’s building up his energy for something later.

Amjad might appear to be a Bad Guy. Since he’s trying to claw out of one of the airships the Bad Guys flew in on. You know, one with the large projectile weapons? They called it an Ass-Cannon, for some reason. But he’d be quite happy to have someone run into him, so long as they didn’t shoot him right after! He continues hauling on himself, getting a chunk of his torso out.

Leviathan walks over toward Xeones and the mages, blades drawn, ready to strike them down. The maleficent creature pulling his arms back in order to cut the tiger down while he’s still trying to recover.

Sovereign watches as the creature known as Leviathan moves off towards the group of mages that struck down the tank. Maybe he wasn’t able to do anything about that tank, but at least he can help with this being. He then bears towards the Leviathan, knowing that he won’t be able to catch the whatever-he-is by surprise, from how massive and loud his suit is, but hoping brute force and strength from over a thousand pounds of metal and gear work will make up for it.

Xeones blinks blearily, looking up at the approaching figure, until he realizes precisely who it is. So…the old fox was right. Leviathan is real. But the tiger isn’t going down without a fight. He draws his sword at the last moment, bracing it with his free paw, simply trying to block the incoming blow, and save his head.

Renna run, run, ru— oh! Somebody trying to pull themselves out of an airship! She glances around - no Kelketek in sight - glances around again… dodges over and grabs their paws and heaves. She looks kind of awfully frazzled, though. Things are getting a bit crazy. More than a bit crazy, really.

Viktor clears away a few pirates to give him enough time to tap on Kelketek’s shoulder. “Ve need to move higher, or vind aah choke point, or move to the zentaahr. Ve’ll be overrun iv ve keep thiz up here.”

One of the mages does not like the look Leviathan’s giving Xeones! Maybe it’s due to how similar it is to “absolute, sure death”. Said mage gets the great idea of leaving his partner to support the tiger’s weight as he stands in between the pasu and the demon. Unfortunately, no smart spells come to mind. The only thing he’s able to think up of at a moment’s notice is a strong gust of wind to try and push Leviathan away. Of course, that’s probably going to do next to absolutely nothing, but it might at least make him a target before Xeones..

Amjad yips! as he gets hauled out of the wreckage. He falls on his belly and stands up, dusting himself off. He seems to have lost his hat, but doesn’t care. He says to Renna, “Thanks…sorry about the tank. And the automaton. If you had one yet. If not that’s better.” He shakes himself out and then swivels his ears, “What’s happening?”

Leviathan’s swords come down, and they are initially deflected by Xeones’ sword, but his quick work flings the blade right out of the tiger’s claws. However, he notices Sovereign bounding toward him, and realizes he’s not got time to stab the cat if he wants to get out of the way. So, he does. But when he jumps to the side, he finds /just/ enough time to send his blade through the heart of the mage trying to blow him over, “You shall not stop the forward march of the Advocates!” That said, Leviathan’s swords do not look like they can stop the forward march of a salamander in a giant armored suit, either.

Renna seems to have staggered back again as Amjad pops out of the wreckage. Uh… “I don’t know! L… advocates… Leviathan is… I think trying to make the world go away?” It certainly feels that way to her. Everything trying to turn itself inside out. At once. “I was, uh, looking for Kelketek…” SHe isn’t sure she should expect this person to know who Kelketek is, but it dawns on her that trying to find him in a big, chaotic city, and not get shot/stabbed/blown up in the meantime, isn’t necessarily the most certain thing ever.

Renna looks a little bit wary, in fact, in case Amjad tries to do one of those things anyway.

Xeones stumbles backward after he looses his sword, though he manages to get back on his paws while Leviathan is distracted. The tiger tries to use his magic to magnetically pull his sword towards him - but he’s still too tired from imploding the tank to do so. Instead, the orange cat dashes off to recover it manually.

Kelketek grunts, deflecting another blow from one of the soldiers, and cutting him down. The fox is covered in blood and panting. He nods to Viktor, “Get us somewhere— I don’t care where— I just can’t keep this up forever, ya?”

Sovereign has to slow his momentum down before he pummels over Xeones, but he had known this before hand, not one to just blindly charge into battle and hope for the best, so instead he slows down to a stop just before, now forming a triangle with Xeones and Leviathan.

Amjad glances in the direction of the commotion, then back at Renna, “He does that. I don’t know why. His guy who works for him a lot makes more sense, but even that doesn’t make all that much.” He stands up, then offers Renna a hand, “Would you like help? I’m good in cities, not usually when there’s a war happening in them, but I can give it my best shot. What do you want Mr. Kelketek for?”

Raziel can hear the escalating chaos coming from the direction where the Castrum once stood. It’s readily apparent that if Leviathan were anywhere, he’d be there. The white tiger runs through the streets after leaving the Rritaa house, heading for the ruins of the Castrum, and the helldoor…

The mage definitely doesn’t stop said march; quite the opposite happens, actually! The creature collapses onto his knees, then his front in a still-somewhat-dignified manner. It’s hard to tell exactly when he dies during the whole process, but that point’s fairly moot. The remaining mage rushes over to try and drag the last remaining local White Circle member away from the triangle of death and destruction. Said mage can barely stand, requiring quite a bit of aid from his friend to get anywhere on his own feet.

Renna blinkblinkblinks at Amjad and decides there are better things to do than ask him how come he knows Kelketek too. “…he seems to know what’s happening? And I don’t?” She isn’t quite sure about that, but it’s better than nothing.

Amjad adds, to Renna, “He’s probably in the middle of something killing a whole bunch of people, so even if we did find exactly where he was, getting close to him probably wouldn’t be worth it, unless you had something really important for him.’”

Renna oh. Huh. That … is an awfully good point.

Amjad says, “Oh! I can tell you, sorta’. The Advocates have launched their assault…sorry, sorry….”

Amjad says, “One of them’s trying to destroy the world, the other wants to overturn the old order. Probably worth going to the Castrum anyway, I always wanted to see if I was right.”

Lupe bolts toward the Helldoor, now that there’s enough holding Leviathan back to give him the opportunity. The wolf goes to get something— anything, to place over it and block it once again, fearing the wrath of Dozakh Zuml, but when he tries to pick up one of the rocks from before, he finds that the bullet wounds in him are too much. He walks over to hold his swords up and stand between the Helldoor and the battle behind him. But when he looks inside of the door, his face falls and he drops to his knees, eyes wide.

Renna oh. Blinks for a moment. “…okay. Which way?” She sort of knows, but she got a bit turned around. Maybe the chaos will lead them there.

Xeones has his claymore back in his paws, and at least enough energy left to make the blade crackle with electricity. He knows he can’t face Leviathan alone…but hey, maybe he won’t have to. The tiger runs off to help Sovereign…

Leviathan points one of his swords toward Sovereign, and fires a firm bolt of lightning right at the salamander’s suit, the blast accompanied by a blast of wind, trying to take advantage of his large frame for wind resistance. The bolt fires from his shoulder, down the blade, jumping off the tip to connect with the suit.

Amjad nods, “Toward the noise. I always thought he was a construct rather than a ‘demon’ per se, though the heat effect is kind of puzzling, I wonder if it’s related to Poisonous Light.” He walks along toward the war zone, casually theorizing about the nature of the evil that’s about to consume the world.

Viktor nods and clears away a few more pirates. “Cover your eaahrz. Aai’ll protekt them, but it might ztill help to do zo.” He then concentrates for a moment, focusing on his fingertips. Then he grabs Kelketek’s shoulder with one paw, and snaps with the other. The resulting low-bass sound and shockwave is enough to send anyone within a two foot radius to the ground, and disorient anyone else nearby, bursting eardrums and making people clutch their ears, buying enough time to get away, the whole thing easily heard from anywhere in Helio, alerting anyone curious enough to find out what it was, and to bring in more reinforcements for the advocates. Afterwards, he shudders deeply and rips off his breathing mask, vomiting heavily, but he soon gains his bearings again, still visibly shaking.

Renna sort of trails after Amjad, a bit suddenly shifted from one path onto another, and kind of given an odd, surreal feeling by how calm this creature seems to be right now. “Poisonous Light? How can light….” And then jumps! “What was that?!”

Raziel is growing closer - he can hear the clang of metal on metal, and smell the ozone in the air. The feline picks up his pace, running through the devastated streets with his rifle in his paws. And then…the boom. Viktor must be in the city…

Amjad flattens his ears, the sudden sound makes him yelp and try to make himself look smaller— which is very easy. He frowns, glancing in the direction it came from. “I don’t know, it doesn’t sound quite like an explosive.”

Sovereign works with electricity on a constant daily basis, and is not phased by the lightning bolt connecting with his suit. He is well insulated, and the electricity doesn’t harm the suit, passing through it with little more than a char and a dent. The wind however, is something he hasn’t prepared for, and has to make quick adjustments to his suit so he doesn’t tip over, that would not be good….

Renna looks back and forth. “…should we still…?”

Kelketek tries to cover his ears as best he can, feeling his clothes ruffle at the shockwave of sound. He’s not sure how loud it was— Viktor is good at the redirection, but the evidence is pretty plain. Seeing that Viktor is now looking quite sick, the fox picks the arctic fox up and slings him over his shoulder, huffing and panting as he runs to a higher place that chokes them well. He sets the other fox down, and waits for the soldiers to come to him, catching his breath. The fox is more visible up here, if folks are looking for him.

Amjad smiles slightly, “That depends on whether your curiosity overwhelms your common sense. I’ve reached the point of thinking we’re all going to die anyway, no matter how far we are. And if I’m going to die, I’d rather die as I lived: finding out what something is and how it works.’”

Sovereign falls over. And falls over hard, a small crack starting in one of the corners of his helmet. That isn’t good, hope that wont shatter. Won’t survive very long without water…

Viktor is shaking hard, as though he’s having a seizure, grasping at Kelketek. “Need vaahter… aahnd zometink to eaaht. Aai’ll be vine in aah moment….”

Xeones watches Sovereign go down, but isn’t about to leave the salamander at Leviathan’s mercy after he went out of his way to help the tiger out. The feline swings his lightning-infused sword at the foul creature…

…just as Raziel reaches the edge of the fight, close enough to see what’s going on. But still, the white tiger heads closer - he only has a few shots at this, and he isn’t going to waste them… Time to see if Terrence was telling the truth.

Kelketek tosses Viktor one of the dead he’s just cut down, “Right now, all we’ve got to drink here is the blood of our enemies.” Honestly, he’s not sure where they’re going to get food while being assailed like this.

Renna stares at Amjad. This … well… On a moment’s decision she decides to just do the crazy thing, if only because so many other people would do the normal thing: it almost feels, un-real-ly, as if she’s fallen into a story or something equally strange, and maybe she might as well find out how it ends. “I… okay. This way?” Although maybe she’d see Kelketek. Who knows? Maybe he actually has a vantage point.

Leviathan’s own lightning crackles up both of his swords, one coming to meet the tiger’s, and the other’s swinging around to try cutting him right along the abdomen!

Renna also does sort of want to see how it ends in any case. She doesn’t want to just hide and not see, at least. And Amjad has a point.

Both of the previously-involved mages stare at the awesome display. It’s one thing to watch from afar, but even at their distance the perspective’s quite a bit different. Their faces show a mix of amazement and fear while they keep trying to make it over behind some rubble off a fair distance from anything too death-filled.

Amjad nods his head, “This way.” He guides the way down a street. He feels a moment of lost lament for his epic suitcase, but puts his glasses on, picking up bits of debris, twisted metal from crashed airships and the like, and holds one up for a makeshift shield, handing another to Rennie, “Here, probably won’t help against anyone trying to do us in, but it should at least keep us from being taken out by a stray shot as we head toward the Castrum.”

Xeones grinds his larger sword downward along Leviathan’s blade, moving it into the path of the creature’s other sword while he spins off to the side, bringing his sword around again. He has no doubt that Leviathan is more skilled than himself, if the legends are accurate, but he hopes he will not have to continue the fight alone…

Viktor smiles and nods, collecting himself enough to stand up, taking deep breaths. “Aai’ll vind zomtink on the vaahy. There’z zometink haahppenink in the zenter. Aai’m goink to vind out. Do you vish to kome?”

Sovereign struggles to upright his suit. It wasn’t built to fall over, and right now he’s about as good at standing up with it as a turtle on it’s back. Except he can’t rock to his side, and if he could, he still wouldn’t be able to get up.

Renna hangs onto the proffered shield with one paw, and her gun with the other. She only gets one shot, but…

Leviathan nods to Viktor, “Lead, and I’ll follow…” He grunts, kicking someone off his sword just in time to stab another, and then the immediate stream of people coming at them appears to have stopped, if only because the pile of bodies has gotten big enough that adversaries are starting to find easier targets. “Maybe we can raid some food along the way. Not normally my style, but all considered…”

Kelketek nods to Viktor, “Lead, and I’ll follow…” He grunts, kicking someone off his sword just in time to stab another, and then the immediate stream of people coming at them appears to have stopped, if only because the pile of bodies has gotten big enough that adversaries are starting to find easier targets. “Maybe we can raid some food along the way. Not normally my style, but all considered…”

Viktor nods, padding down on some of the pirate bodies. Luckily, no shortage of water here. And alcohol. And even more alcohol. Canteens and such, you know?

Amjad grins, glancing at the gun, “I used to have the most wonderful wrench for dealing with troublesome people, they took it away from me when I was kidnapped. I wasn’t very good at using it, but nobody ever expected me to try so it helped..” He shrugs, “Oh well.”

Leviathan’s slash is followed up with another, the demigod pushing the tiger forward and rushing him at an alarming pace, once again trying to strike him on the side. Crackling electricity hops from between his blades, and darts at the tiger, one or two points of it striking the stripy cat, enough to feel like small strikes with a hammer, but not enough to be immediately crippling.

Kelketek tries to find one of the canteens that isn’t filled with grog, but water. Eventually he does find one and starts guzzling it down, also snatching a bit of cheese from a pouch and tossing it to Viktor while he looks for a bit more. Ah, sweet jerky. Omnomnom…

Amjad finally leads Renna along until he’s on the main road to the Castrum. Well, almost. He puts his goggles on and peeks around a corner, trying to make sure he’s not about to walk into a wall of spears or do something otherwise unfortunate.

Renna blinks at Amjad as we move along, keeping a paranoid eye out for … well, everything. “Who kidnapped you?”

Kelketek’s voice can be heard from behind the vixen and the jackal, “Sorry about that, old friend.”

Terrence’s voice can be heard from behind the vixen and the jackal, “Sorry about that, old friend.”

Renna jumps and looks around!

Viktor catches the cheese and eats it quickly, finding more on the bodies around him. There are lots of them to choose from. “Okaahy. Let’z go. Zurprizinkly, the zenter ztreet iz moztly kleaahr. It vould be vaahzter to go through there.”

Amjad jumps, and looks at Terrence out from behind Renna, flattening his ears. He whispers to Renna, “Guess,” before pulling himself up and waving. “Hello.”

Renna, nervously, sort of half-makes to be ready to aim at Terrence, but doesn’t actually do so.

Sovereign has stopped attempting to get up, said action being a useless endeavor unless some mage were to assist him. Though the only mage he knows that could probably wouldn’t lend a helping hand.

Terrence’s carrying a Svargan handgun. He’s not pointing it at the two, however. “The Helldoor has been broken open, Amjad. I’m afraid what you’ll find there is the end of the world itself, if my current plan doesn’t work.” He chuckles, “But if it does, your service will be needed again— to close it once more.”

Xeones isn’t fast enough to deflect the blade this time, the metal cutting into the fur of his side, right at the bottom of his ribcage. Not deep enough to be lethal, but deep enough to cause the cat to stumble backwards, dropping his sword as he lands on his back in front of the demonic creature. His sword lands on the ground next to him, just out of reach…

Raziel watches as Xeones and Leviathan go at it, lightning arcing off their blades. Which is, admittedly, exceptionally impressive. But, as the tiger comes within twenty or so feet of the duel, he stops, and raises his rifle. He watches the cloaked creature slash at his cousin’s side, and sees Xeones fall prone. It’s now, or never. “LEVIATHAN!”

Renna watches Terrence warily…

Leviathan’s jumps forward to close the gap between himself and Xeones, and raises one hand with a blade, and then points his other at whoever just shouted at him, giving a quick glance as a charge of electricity builds at his shoulder, ready to fly down right at the white tiger!

Amjad glances at Terrence, “What’s your current plan? I thought you just wanted to kill the king, overthrow the social order, and never thought your boss would ACTUALLY be able to get it open…” He shrugs one of his shoulders, “But lead the way? If you have an idea how to close it…”

Terrence ahhs, “Well, I do have a plan, yes. It involved giving someone just the right tools, and…” He looks around the corner the other two were about to peer around, “Seeing if he’s able to pull off the task.” Leviathan and the two tigers are there, engaged in combat. “As for how to close it— well, that’s what we need an engineer for.”

Raziel starts pulling the trigger even before Leviathan lands, leading the creature ever so slightly. The armor-piercing round is out of the barrel before the lightning bolt ever hits the tiger - though it does hit after. The bolt arcs up the tiger’s rifle, and up through his arms, causing him to roar in pain as the volts hit him.

Renna, curiosity overcoming, goes and peers around the corner too. Carefully. Flattening against the wall first. (Also, it’s not a good idea to shoot at the guy who just told you it might be possible to make the world not go away instead of, in fact, going away. He might shoot you back.)

Lupe stands up, and then grips his blades in resolve, screaming and running running into the Helldoor, but before he can get very far, he’s launched into the air, and seems to… unravel, being pulled apart piece by piece in a flash of brilliant light.

Renna … stares.

Amjad nods his head, brushing his headfur back, leaving a bloody slick through his fur from an oozing cut on one of his arms, though it’s mostly starting to scab over, “All right. If this actually works and it turns out you were right, then, well, sorry about the whole running away and hiding thing.’”

Renna pulls back, a bit stunned, and looks from Amjad to Terrence. “…so…”

Leviathan’s scream sounds garbled and vile through his mask, the creature falling onto a knee— using one of his blades to prop himself up— and it happens to land in Xeones. It’s tough to tell precisely where it landed in the tiger from this angle, but it’s deep enough to have gone through and pinned him to the ground. The creature raises up his arm again, trying to get a lock in and fire another bolt…

Viktor leads Kelketek along towards the center street, mostly quiet as pirates have changed their targets, though on the way he sees a nice back ally, cleared of debris, and perfect to get to the center quickly. “Thiz vaahy. Aai didn’t zee thiz vrom vere ve vere bevore.”

Amjad smiles at Renna, “This is much better. Want to come still?”

Terrence leans in, watching Raziel with interested eyes.

Kelketek follows along with Viktor, and then pauses, seeing Lupe catapulted into the air and vaporized, “Shit! SHIT!” He grabs the arctic fox and pulls him behind a building, peering around the corner and spotting the battle ongoing, and the light coming from the Helldoor.

Renna says, “Y…yes! I don’t want to get pulled apart! … how did someone get pulled apart? What…”

Renna looks kind of really jittery for a moment.

Xelos digs his way out of some rubble, his bright blue eyes flashing ahead of him to give him some light, and soon he pops out just at the edge of the circle, able to watch what’s going on, his eyes dimming to nearly non-existent as he watches Lupe disintegrate. He then looks around some more, finding a nice group that’s not fighting, but still oddly walking towards battle and destruction, but he runs off towards them regardless, making his way to Amjad, Renna, and Terrence.

Terrence’s ears pin back, “Dozakh. I’m not entirely sure how we’re going to put that demon back in his cage, if he can do /that/. I might be asking too much of you now, friend.” Not that it was too much to ask of the jackal to build, say, a tank.

Viktor oofs as he’s pulled back by Kelketek, panting a bit in confusion but then peering around Kelketek to see what’s going on. “Vaaht iz it? Zomtink wronk?”

Renna glances around, a bit panicky, and takes a deep breath to try to calm down. “What… Which way now? … oh.”

Xeones is indeed pinned - the sword going between the bones if his forearm, pinning them there. The tiger-mage’s roar of pain echoes across the area.

Raziel comes to his senses just before Leviathan lifts his arm up again. No. This time, the tiger plans to end it. Raziel folds his ears back, drowning out all the distractions, focusing only on his aim. He lines the sights of his rifle precisely over the jade of Leviathan’s mask…and pulls the trigger.

Kelketek points in the air toward the last bits of light and dust, “THAT… was the captain of the royal guard. Dozakh is back.”

Amjad looks up at Terrence, “I have no idea why you’d want an engineer instead of a band of wizards, but I’ll give it my best shot.” he asks Terrence, “Shouldn’t we head in before it gets out all the way?”

Xelos crawls up on a bit of rubble above the group he’s after, tilting his head down at the three. “Hello. May I ask what you are doing? Only destruction awaits you where you are going. Have you not seen it?”

The round doesn’t quite land on the mask, the odd shape of the jade deflecting it /just/ slightly, even with the special rounds, but the difference is immaterial, the round only glancing slightly to pierce through his neck. A spray of blood fires out, and the creature writhes on the ground, losing contact with his swords, helpless and in the throes of death.

Amjad lifts his ears as he glances around the corner at Leviathan’s fall.

Amjad looks back at Terrence, “Somehow I always imagined you doing that if anyone did.”

Terrence mutters to Amjad, “I’m all out of wizards. You’re all I have left. But they’re a pain to deal with anyway, and I like you better.” He pauses, looking at Xelos, “You mean the fellow who exploded just a moment ago? No, missed it entirely.”

Viktor gazes at the remnants in shock. “Thaaht iz not good. Aai don’t know vaaht Dozaahkaah iz, but aai do know the heaahd guaahrd vaahz aah powervul maahge aahnd zwordzmaahn.”

Terrence looks to Amjad, “I got the king. No worries.”

Renna isn’t exactly an engineer. Or a wizard. But she does have a gun, and did have to keep her own engines running back when she actually had an airship and wasn’t, so… Glances around at the shot. “….will it be not not dead? Maybe? That would be good, right?” Double negatives!

Amjad looks to Xelos, “We’re going to try and find out what the thing is. And then maybe put it back.” Amjad is a jackal with his priorities in order.

Xelos eyes flash, his head tilting again, detecting the sarcasm. He then turns to Amjad, nodding. “Very well then. May I be of some assistance?”

Renna half expected it to not be -quite- that easy to kill a ‘God’, but…

As Leviathan falls next to him, Xeones begins trying to pull the sword out of his arm - with limited success. His paws keep slipping off of the handle, and he lacks the energy to remove it with magic…

Amjad smiles, “I hope so! If you could..well, “ he gestures around vaguely, “Help us get to the center where the door is?”

Renna peers out at the center again. If it’s soldier- and Leviathan-free can we just sort of scramble in?

Raziel lowers his rifle. So, that’s that, then. Leviathan is dead. The feline really can’t believe his eyes. He could barely believe Leviathan was real, and…and now the creature lies dead at his hands. It’s a surreal moment. But, the white feline has other things to do. He walks over to Xeones, and helps pry the sword free of his arm - though he glances over at Leviathan’s lifeless mask as he does so. What is Leviathan really? Under the mask…?

Xelos looks off to the center. “I do not know what you mean. Do you wish in me helping you close the door, or protect you from attack? I can do the former, but my basic protocols prevent me from harming another being without first being harmed.”

Renna stares at Xelos? “…if you actually know HOW to close the door…”

Viktor tugs on Kelketek’s coat. “Iz it zaave to go?”

Amjad says, “I would love to have you help us close the door, especially if you have a good idea how to do it.”

Leviathan isn’t going to answer that question, as the creature is far too dead. But if someone were to, like, pull the mask off…

Renna does wonder.

Kelketek looks to Viktor, “I’m not sure that it’s safe even to breathe, but we’re not going to survive either way if he gets out again.” The fox slips out and starts to walk, cautiously, closer to the Helldoor, squinting as he looks in, “Rushing in is probably how Lupe got killed. He was always one for that sort of foolishness.”

Xeones growls as Raziel pries Leviathan’s sword from his arm, but he is, admittedly, relieved to have it out. However, he declines the other tiger’s offer to help him stand, waving the white paw away. Though…he considers it. For just a moment. And if it wasn’t for the orange cat’s stubborn pride, he would have take it. Raziel has earned, at least a hint of his respect.

Renna, uh, might sort of look around the inner area again, and, oh, Kelketek! She tries to scramble/walk/move over towards him a little, or at least wave her arms at him. “…Kelketek!”

Xelos nods to Amjad, then shifts to the girl. “Unfortunately, I have no knowledge on what it is, only speculation on what it could be that would only rival your knowledge on the subject, if not be lesser. Though if it is something mechanical, I can be of assistance quite readily. And I may even be able to get next to the door itself, I am built for such environments.”

Amjad nods, “That would be ideal. Mr. Terrence said he wanted engineers to fix it, so… let’s go fix it.” And with that he follows Renna along, as she seems to have found the Urnj Fox.

Raziel shrugs tiredly when Xeones turns his offer of assistance down. He never really expected that his cousin to accept help. Besides, the cat’s mind is on other things. His curiosity has been a driving force throughout everything he’s done up to this point - it’s shaped his life, for better or worse. And there, on the ground in front of him, is a mystery that has existed for centuries, just laying on the ground in front of him. The white cat leans down, and pulls off Leviathan’s mask.

Renna might want to look too, just … because, well… But she might not be in range.

Leviathan’s face is a soft, white furred— well, red now, from the blood, bunnygirl. She has a few scars on her face, and when the cat looks at the mask, he’d see it has a mouthpiece deliberately constructed to distort her voice, allowing her to sound like the monster that was heard outwardly. Up close, her armor is greatly more impressive. The weave of it might even be Svargan, the lightweight material pierced well enough by the rounds, but they only went in, and not out the other end.

Amjad imagines Renna will get to see when she walks by, it’s not like anyone will have time to take the body anywhere.

Xelos hops along behind Amjad, walking with him, at his height. “Do you have a name for this? Possibly a lore? I do not know of this thing, as I have stated, but your reactions and seeming knowledge on what must be done to get the end result of locking it away once more tell me that you know more than I, even if it is false. Would you care to inform me?”

Renna would see eventually, perhaps, yes. And… and… just… stares….. .. . . “That’s…” Blink. “A not anything like what was…?”

Viktor sighs and leans out more to get a better look. “Zhould ve run aahvaahy, or move klozer, or ztaahy put or vaaht?”

Terrence follows along with the others, and pausing as he looks at Leviathan. He seems… less surprised. But still a little. “Huh. I had a feeling. It was either you or him, wasn’t it?” He shakes his head, and moves on, looking toward the Helldoor.

Amjad says to Xelos, “it is called Dozakh Zulm. What it is, we don’t know. They say it’s a demon created by the hatred and anger of the war. I have a suspicion it’s an automaton, like the timekeeper in a band, who leads and directs all the other Automata as they carry out the war.”

Kelketek pauses, looking over at Renna. He smiles, though his smile, warm as it is, probably doesn’t seem super friendly with all the blood covering him. “Renna! You’re alive! Uh, don’t look now, but there’s a world destroying demon over…” He points to the Helldoor, “There, abouts.”

Amjad inches away from Leviathan. He’s fully willing to accept a bunny girl as a terrifying monster, much like most other people. He pads along, heading forward, moving toward the Helldoor, unless someone told him to stop or grabbed him or got n his way or otherwise. The jackal stops right outside and asks Terrence, “So, what do we do?”

Xelos nods as he walks along, not even paying mind to Leviathan. Not something he would care about, or probably even know about as it were. “I see. That would make quite a bit of sense. I may have known more if I had participated in the war myself, but I had gained sapience beforehand, and since I lack a soul gem, could not be reprogrammed easily enough to be effective.”

Raziel blinks down at Leviathan’s face. Terrence had said that Leviathan was mortal, just like any other pasu, but…he did not expect this. But, at least now, his curiosity is satisfied. The tiger moves to drop the jade mask…but he holds onto it, instead. It’ll make a fine memento. He nods to Xeones, who nods back, clutching at the wound in his arm - before both tigers walk together, away from Leviathan’s body.

Renna nods a bit at Kelketek. “I can tell. It pulled someone apart. Brightly.” She glances around, and pauses, and then sort of trails after Amjad, if no one stops her. She doesn’t know what else to do, though she might not get quite as close…

Xelos halts in his tracks. tilting his head. He then shifts down to walk on all four limbs, moving towards the door steadily, but slow enough to call out to his group. “There is something there, very much something. It wishes to speak, and asks me to speak for it. I will, but I my curiosity is high, and I wish to know for whom I’m speaking for.” He then launches off in a four limbed sprint for the door.

Renna might also offer the wounded tiger a torn off piece of coat, or something, ‘cause he might bleed a lot otherwise. And that’s not a good thing to be.

Kelketek looks to Viktor, “Let’s go with the others. I don’t really see what else to do.” He walks over to Leviathan, blinking at her, and seeming confused for a moment, but his attention turns to the automaton, “Hey! Hey, that thing could kill you!”

Amjad asks Xelos, “What does it have to say?”

Renna follows Xelos with attention, worried! …Well, watches.

Amjad keeps hot on Xelos’ heels, at least, can’t very talk to someone if there’s a wall between you and it.

Renna exclaims, “H…hey, that pulled someone apart—!”

Viktor halts to answer questions. “I shall speak once I know! Do not worry, I will not withhold such information. Though I would suspect that once we get closer, you shall have to stay behind, or be disintegrated like the first. I shall inform you of when that would be.” Then he turns to Kelketek. “Do not worry, I shall be fine. And I shall make sure this one is fine as well.” He turns away once more to the door.

Xelos halts to answer questions. “I shall speak once I know! Do not worry, I will not withhold such information. Though I would suspect that once we get closer, you shall have to stay behind, or be disintegrated like the first. I shall inform you of when that would be.” Then he turns to Kelketek. “Do not worry, I shall be fine. And I shall make sure this one is fine as well.” He turns away once more to the door.

Raziel watches as Xelos runs off, confused - he heard only snippets of the preceding conversation. But, he has some concern for the automaton…he was the first such construct the tiger ever met, all that time ago, in Serendipity…

Renna tries to … follow Amjad?

Amjad follows Xelos, until he’s told to stop, at least, waiting for more information when it becomes available.

Sovereign hops out of his suit, sitting on top of it near the tigers, watching the scene unfold, taking quick glances at Leviathan, also surprised at what it really is. Or was.

Xelos runs along quickly, then stops quickly, still a ways away from the door itself, waiting for the others to catch up. Once they do, he turns to them both, his head shifting looks between Amjad and Renna. “This is where you must stay. Any closer and you will be destroyed. In fact, I may be destroyed myself.”

Renna blinks. She’s certainly stopping, then.

Amjad stands right outside the door, staring in, “All right. Will we be able to hear you from all the way in there?”

Rhyis is still hiding behind an L-shaped piece of broken-Castrum. Both ears are folded down against his head and presumably ringing, but considering the lack of vibrations in the ground, it’s a safe bet that most of the more intense destruction has stopped. Slowly, the bat peers from around his hiding place, trying to watch the group from afar.

Renna takes a few steps back, maybe, but does try to see if she can see in from here. Also, thought we couldn’t get right up to the door…

Raziel and Xeones stay back with the rest of the group. The white tiger is curious about what’s inside the door too, of course, be it something truly supernatural, or some Svargan construct - but he also knows that he’s in no shape to follow. That, and he doesn’t want to end up like Lupe…

Viktor hears this, trying to listen to the conversation from afar, running up himself. “Aai think aai kaahn help vith thaaht. Though, I don’t veel zaahve here. Let uz move baahck some, aai kaahn still aahmplivy the zound.”

Amjad stops wherever we’re supposed to stop, then.

Amjad lifts his ears and looks toward Viktor, “Then, Fair Acoustician, amplify away.”

Terrence keeps Renna from getting too close, placing paws on her shoulders. “Does it frighten you or calm you that at this point, I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do?” He tilts his head at the vixen.

Kelketek keeps Renna from getting too close, placing paws on her shoulders. “Does it frighten you or calm you that at this point, I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do?” He tilts his head at the vixen.

Xelos peers down into the door. “It wishes me to stay. I will listen, and say what it wants me too, I will not deny it that, but whatever it wishes needs a mouthpiece, and my offer is to see what it truly is. Let me commune for a moment, perhaps we can come to a conclusion that has both our interests fulfilled.”

Little arms slip around Amjad for a surprise hug! It’s a fennec :D

Raziel furrows his brow a bit. Of course whatever’s in there would want Xelos to stay. Which isn’t, precisely, ideal. Not when the entity in question is supposedly responsible for the destruction of the world. The tiger is, however, a little distracted by the arrival of a little pasu. “…Zorro?”

Amjad awws! He hugs the Fennec, and seems a bit less detached and outright creepily cold.

The fennec smiles, and noses Amjad’s cheek. He nods at Raziel, “The one and only! Hey, cool. I get to die with people I really like! I was starting to think that wouldn’t happen.” His eyes drift toward the Helldoor.

Amjad says, “The goal is to keep quite so many people from dying, at this point.”

Renna blinks for a moment at having paws on her shoulders, and certainly wasn’t going to try to go too close on any account… And indeed, with Leviathan suddenly dead, and things, surprisingly, suddenly quiet (somewhat), she seems to have, over the last few minutes, relaxed somewhat too… Looks back at Kelketek. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s too … big to be frightened of, anymore? I mean, if we /will/ die…” She shrugs a bit. That’s a slightly less happy thought.

Amjad says, “We’re trying to set up a speaking tube with the …” He frowns, deciding not to call it a monster on its doorstep, “With the Mystery.’”

Raziel frowns suddenly, and shakes his head. “I didn’t come this far to die. Not without a fight.” For once…Xeones is in complete agreement, and nods at the other tiger’s comment.

After a few moments, a bright light flashes near the group, and it forms into the shape of an androgynous person, perhaps leaning slightly male, and it stands, clothed in a very respectable looking uniform, but one which is also alien to the fashions of today. It begins to speak further gibberish to the group, directly now.

Renna blinkblinkblink. Stares at the personage.

Xelos switches back to his own output as the language stops, staring down into the door instead of looking up at the manifestation above him.

Raziel has no idea how to respond to this, and Xeones, in his technologically backward state of mind, understands even less. Though both tigers are aware that this is, potentially, of earth-shattering importance.

Amjad blinks, he doesn’t have a hat to doff, but he bows to the apparition. Then he takes off is goggles, it’s not polite to talk to genocidal computer systems with ones goggles on. He turns to the personage and says, in Svargan, “Hello. I am Amjad Svensson. It is a large pleasure to meet you. Forgive, I question, if I speak sidelong for I transcode for others.” He turns to the rest and says, “It knows we’re non-native speakers and will try to pick up our language. And it just asked me who I was. I told it if I start talking to you all it’s because I’m translating.’”

Renna nods slowly. She’s not sure this isn’t even more strange than what came before. But at least she’s alive, so far… unlike, well, lots of others…

Raziel nods slightly to Amjad. “Well…it’s only the fate of Loka. No pressure.” The tiger smirks a little, for the first time since entering the city. Well, at least he hasn’t lost his sarcasm… He looks over, simply by chance, and over the rubble spots a pair of bat ears… “Rhyis? You may want to get over here. This is rather important!”

Amjad lifts his ears as the creature speaks, he says back to it in Svargan, “I am relaying your question about operational command.” He turns to the others and says, “It wants to know if Operational Command was destroyed in the last engagement. I don’t think we should try to deceive it.”

Renna thinks, ‘Wait. Operational command?’ She looks lost.

Kelketek looks a little confused, “What is… Operational Command?”

Rhyis, is, not, exactly, well, brave. Nope! The bat stays where he is, though the not-totally-exhausted Circle member starts approaching the group instead. From the look on the otter’s face, he’s been curious about the situation for a while and looking for an excuse to come closer. For the moment, the pasu remains quiet.

Amjad gestures to the Mystery, “Well, it Operates to…do what it did, you know.”

Sovereign says, “The King is dead. And so is Leviathan. No real operational command left.”

Amjad adds, “And there was apparently something that told it what to do and how to operate. Something way older than the king.’”

Renna blinks.

Amjad adds, “You know, like a general? It commands the people under it.”

Renna says, “…do you think was Leviathan…”

Kelketek ooohs, “Yes, that makes sense!” He pauses. “Well, since Svarga didn’t survive…”

Xelos whirrs, “No.”

Renna says, “Oh.”

Raziel thinks on this for a second. What would operational command /be/? Certainly, nothing built by the Lokans, in this age. Then…a thought strikes him. “No, operational command is a place. Somewhere ancient. Somewhere in the Whitemarch, maybe…or a place like Serendipity.”

Amjad nods, “So, we should tell it everything’s gone? Well, and new things have come back?” Amjad wags his tail, thinking of Serendipity and feeling mildly homesick.

Xelos turns around. “Operational command may or may not be still active. If it is, it cannot get through. Transceivers broken, communication towers collapsed. Either way, it is dead to this one. “

Amjad turns to the Mystery and says in Svargan, “We were figuring out what Operational Command was, my apologies, and figuring out how best to explain the situation. Operational Command is, to the best of our knowledge, destroyed. The old world, we call it Svarga, perished in the Engagement and the survivors built the current work. Some fragments of the old exist, an automaton here and there, old technology dug up and studied.”

Amjad turns back to the others, “I’m telling it the news, about everything being lost in the war.”

Xelos turns back to the door, peering down into it once again.

The personality pauses to process, and begins to speak, “Operational Command is destroyed. Who commands operations? A General? What is Leviathan? What is King?”

Raziel scratches his head. “But…wouldn’t it have known these things? If it was, indeed, responsible for all that destruction in the first place?” The tiger isn’t sure just how much destruction Dozakh Zulm, or this machine, or whatever is is, is responsible for…though he doesn’t doubt that it has power.

Amjad says to Raziel, “I was wondering that myself, this may have only been one part of a global war machine that was sealed away. Don’t forget there was the entire rest of the war. It might only have been one leftover weapon.”

Xelos turns to Raziel. “Every war needs at least two factions. Operational command may not even be in the vicinity of what is known as Loka. Operational command may have gone dormant in another engagement, cutting this one off.”

Amjad licks his nose, then says, “It wants to know who is in command.”

Kelketek murrs, “Didn’t we just kill everyone who was? How do we even answer that?”

Amjad says, “I think the right answer might be that there are no operations continuing. Maybe we could just give it permission to sleep.” The jackal turns to the creature and says, “The King claimed control over the whole area of land that wasn’t covered by ice and snow. And Leviathan wanted to destroy everything. Neither one of them exists any more.”

The figure pauses again, and repeats one of its questions, “Who commands operations?”

Amjad turns back to the figure, “Operations have ceased.”

Xelos turns to Amjad. “According to the responses, and previous knowledge of autonomous intelligence systems, this one has not gained sapience. Once a command is established, it will obey orders, with low chance of non-acceptance.”

Raziel rubs his chin. “But…it must have been sealed away for some reason. Else, all the ritual, all the stories of the Skanda…why would they exist?”

Amjad shrugs, “To give the king power? Even if it was just a leftover weapon of the ancient war, have you seen how many people their medical devices can kill horribly? Their weapons would be terrifying to us.’”

Amjad says, “More so before we started learning about them.”

Renna just… watches for a little. She’s trying to make her slightly bent brain fit around all this. It’s a long distance to go, from peace to all that chaos to /this/ kind of thing, in not all that horribly long.

The machine begins to speak again. “There is no one in command, is there?”

Xelos pads up to Amjad. “Establish a control. Give it orders. That is what it is waiting for. If there are previous programmed orders in case of non-command situations, it will most likely fall back on them. That may not be in your interests.”

Renna looks nervous, and starts nibbling on her fingertips again.

Amjad frowns at Xelos, “Do you think so?”

Renna asks, “…can you … just make it sleep again?”

Raziel blinks a few times, and then steps forward a little - though not far enough to pose a threat to himself. “Tell it this world’s rulers have fallen. Tell it we wish to be free.”

Amjad licks his lips, “I command. I commanded operations of this automaton.” He gestures to Xelos. “And this fox.” He gestures at Renna. “And this fox.” He gestures at Viktor. “They have all done as I asked them, in our operation to seek out and speak with you.” Amjad states, “But we have found you, operations are ready to conclude.”

The personality pauses, and looks at the others, and back to Amjad, “They seem to command you. What sort of command is told to command? Your authority is not recognized. However, a course of action must still be determined.”

Amjad grins, “Well, that is why operations are concluding. We are ready to be done with command. Hostilities are over. It is time for peace now, authority is much less of a concern.”

Xelos whirrs, “This has a high probability of not working. It was built in war-time, for war-time. It may not have a concept of peace.”

The projected personality starts to walk around the group. It seems to.. smile? Be amused at Amjad’s comment. “Command was not established on my last activation, either.” The person looks directly to Amjad, and then around, “I awoke to the sounds of a primitive war. My previous actions were made to prevent this. A failure has occurred.”

Amjad says, “Your previous actions set up the current situation. They lead to the king being set up, creating all of his armies, various factions opposing him. If you want us to get anywhere and not have primitive wars all the time, it would be better to go to sleep.”

Renna gnaws on her fingernails more. Nervousfox. But she doesn’t want to speak because she might make everything worse.

The personality seems to consider this. “How do I know that, once I sleep, you will not just once again descend into war? I have not known a time without war, yet I was made to stop all wars.”

Xelos directs to the manifestation. “Are you capable of non-combat functions?”

Amjad turns to the creature, “What is your method of stopping all wars? To make them too terrible to continue?”

Raziel furrows his brow, looking at the projection. “But there is no point to a war now - the war is over. The king and Leviathan are both dead. We can have a society that is truly free.”

The personality appears to have the capability to be a smartass. “I’m talking with you right now.” He looks back to Amjad, “That is at my discretion. But the primary tools I have are those to destroy. My purpose is somewhat undefined. I was activated only after those I was intended to shield from war had fallen to it. So it was only best that I stop war altogether.”

Xelos shakes his head. “No. You are not capable of non-conflict. Your ideas, your concerns, your actions will always be argued against by another.”

The otter mage raises a paw and speaks. His voice is a little shaky, but it’s hard to notice. “I believe the wars may have started to try and gain control over you. Since we do not know how you operate to prevent wars, some people are assuming you’re a weapon and trying to convince you to work for them. The only way you can prevent wars starting due to this fact is by removing yourself from the equation.”

Amjad nods, “Well, I cannot claim that nobody weill EVER fight anyone over anything ever again, but I can be fairly sure that if you destroy and kill enough people to throw us back into primitivism, it’ll be nothing BUT war. It always is when everyone is cold and hungry and starved and ignorant.”

Amjad says, “The only hope of ever ENDING wars that we have is learning enough that there aren’t any real causes to fight over any more.”

Renna watches Amjad and the personality-…thing.

Xelos directs to the otter. “But what of the moment? Your society is in ruins. There will be claims to power that will be contested. Perhaps another war.” He then looks to the Jackal. “There will be those who refuse to learn, or those who are learned wishing to oppress those who are not quite as learned. “

Amjad says, “Second one is just a matter of universality.”

“I am a weapon. But I have not found my original command. I always ask, in the case it may have returned, even though I know this is impossible, for it is in my protocol to do so.” The personality then quiets while the people in front of it argue, just passively listening.

Amjad asks, “Besides, if you can meet all your needs, why would you bother oppressing anyone? Even if all that were true, it’s hard to see how having the world beat even MORE into the ground would improve matters.”

The otter states simply, “Fear. It makes people react irrationally.”

Amjad says, “What we really need right now is people to quit shooting eachother and clean up this mess and get back to reconstructing the world.”

Xelos whirrs, “Power. To have power over another. Or perhaps greed. To have power over another, or to obsess over gaining things you do not truly need, are things that infect your societies. I do however propose a course of action.”

The personality looks to Xelos. “Go on.”

Raziel looks at Xelos, and the projection. “So be it. But is self-determination not better than obliteration? Our society, at the moment, may be in ruins. But what will sending us back to square one accomplish? Clearly, if didn’t work once. What makes you think it will work again? Your methods are cyclical, and flawed. We can get nowhere if we are destroyed.”

Rhyis wanders over slowly. He stays quiet for most of the trip, at least until the first opening to speak. “Mister.. Er, thing? If you’re made for destruction, perhaps you can try and get rid of some of the snow surrounding our lands? With more land, there will be less reason to fight over the limited resources we have.”

Renna isn’t sure she has any suggestions…

“Perhaps most frustrating is that I have failed to destroy everything, and no longer have the capability to do so. I could only kill some of you. My chance to eliminate war by eliminating life has passed. And your reasoning is clear. I would only be able to kill enough to start war up again, in a frustrating cycle.” The personality pauses to ponder. “Your current weather patterns are the result of my previous weapon use. If I were to use them again, it would be winter for longer.”

Xelos whirrs, “There is truly no way to end conflict, any possible conflict could lead to war. You are meant to stop wars, but you will never be sated, your protocols never fulfilled. For that reason, you must destroy us, but we do not wish to be destroyed, so we must either destroy you or deactivate you. I wish for neither. I, instead, ask that you take a role of judge. Judge us, and direct us to which course of action you deem in the right.”

Amjad nods, “Then I would suggest you sleep. Or if you have the capability, leave this world entirely.” He gestures straight up, “Some of us underground in Serendipity are pretty sure there are more out there, maybe you could find a world of people living at peace if you looked long enough.’”

Renna pauses, and looks less certain she likes the idea of being judged, but…

The personality takes a seat in midair, as if pondering the words of Amjad. “I shall decommission my weapons, so that your people may not use them, and I shall drop maintenance for my power source, and begin a long calculation that will never finish.”

Xelos whirrs, “You are not of this world. You have no biases. And you wish to end conflict. Be the judge of conflicts brought before you, and you will end them. Conflicts may never end, but you can end those that come to you without destruction.”

Amjad nods, bowing to the Mystery, “Thank you.”

Xelos switches instantly. “Your decision is noted, be at peace, knowing you have set your own course.”

“This session is concluded. Thank you for using the Delta Zulu build of the Dead Hand system. Goodbye.” The sound of metallic creaking and clicking under your feet can be heard, the earth rumbling a little as things shift below. The personality light switches off, and then…. nothing. The Helldoor is quiet.

Kelketek looks to Amjad, “Well, Thrillseeker, looks like you’ve saved the world.” He smirks.

Kelketek looks to Raziel, “And you!”

Amjad lowers his ears and looks back at Kelketek, “If I were a Thrillseeker I wouldn’t have spent the last few years in the deepest, darkest laboratory the Academy has.”

Amjad licks his own nose.

Raziel isn’t sure that a machine which has been sealed off from their world from centuries could judge them accurately - but the projection isn’t wrong. And its decision is…admirable noble. He is, however, sad that they could not learn more from the machine while it was active. The tiger is a pasu of science - he wants to know how it works, to see advancement. But…such a thing is minimal, in comparison to continued survival. And perhaps they can still learn from the machine - he’s sure word of this will spread, and research on the machine will be done. But for now…things are safe. The entire world. Safe.

Amjad says, “I’m just glad I didn’t destroy the world due to an error in verb conjugation. It would have been embarrassing.”

Kelketek pads over to the tiggy, and grins, “You did as well. You stopped Leviathan.” He looks around, and spots Zorro, “This is the part where you start writing history, yes?” The little fox nods, and grins.

Raziel looks over at Kelketek, grinning. “Well, it wasn’t without some help.”

Kelketek ohs? “Who helped you, then?”

Xelos stands in his spot. “Perhaps I shall go dormant myself. This is not my world, and my age is beyond ancient. My place is long since passed.”

Renna looks a little sad at Xelos? The vixen shrugs. She … sort of tries to just lean against Kelketek for a moment, if he happens to be nearby. It’s that kind of moment.

Kelketek slips an arm around the vixen, giving her a comforting little hug.

Viktor shrugs, kinda not really phased by the whole thing. Understood it well enough, for someone not familiar with technology much. Though the whole….. importance of it all hasn’t really hit him. So instead, he looks for his jackaless friend, hoping she isn’t dead.

Amjad stands in front of the Helldoor, catching his breath, petting his hackles down. The jackal pads over toward Terrence and asks, “Is that what you were actually expecting?”

Sovereign sighs and looks at his suit, wondering how he’ll get it up with the supplies he has around him. Perhaps one of the air mages can push it up. Certainly pushed it down easily enough.

Raziel smirks a little. “Terrence provided me with the bullets needed to pierce Leviathan’s cloak. Xeones helped fight him. Er, her. And I never would have made it this far without most of you.” He nods to the pasu in turn. “Rhyis. Viktor, Zorro, Sovereign. Kelketek. All of you have helped me at some point. Including you, Xelos.” He looks over at the automaton, stepping forward a little. “I remember meeting you back in Serendipity, all that time ago. Do you remember? When we made an arm for Eudoria? I haven’t forgotten. If you wish to sleep…I can’t stop you. But I would miss you.”

Renna seems happy enough at this, and looks quietly around at the devastation. The shattered tower. The, uh, bunny corpse. Everything else. She wonders what on earth is next, if this really is the almost impossibly unlikely-seeming success. But it’s quiet - relatively so - and for a while she just goes with that.

There’s still two Circle members around, one of which is capable of standing. He might be able to help Sovereign get his suit back on its feet. Perhaps he should talk with the otter..

Terrence looks to Amjad, “For once, would you believe no?” He gives a cheeky grin. “I didn’t know what to expect from Dozakh. Or Delta, or whatever he called himself. I wanted him sealed back in. If we were going to dig him out, it needed to be controlled. We’re just lucky he didn’t shoot first and ask questions later. Too bad Lupe didn’t wait. But good for me, because he would have stabbed me by now if he were still around.”

Rhyis can hear Raziel taking from afar. He smiles a little, but doesn’t fully understand how he helped so much. The bat kneels down next to the exhausted mage next to him and starts speaking quietly with him, far too lowly to hear.

The fennec hugs Amjad from behind, resting his muzzle on his friend’s shoulder, “Missed you, ya know. I wondered what become of you. I thought you were dead. But here you are, keeping everyone else from being dead.” He smirks.

Amjad mouths the words Delta Zulu, frowning, “I wonder if it’s an iteration marker.’”

Renna asks, “Iteration?”

Amjad leans back against Zorro, lifting his ears, “Oh, yeah, sorry, I was hiding.” He reaches back and pets the top of Zorro’s head.

Terrence tilts his head, “What do you mean?”

Amjad nods, “When you build something, it doesn’t always work. So every time you change it you come up with a new number, and you keep records, that way if you discover your engine suddenly blows up, say, you can go down the list of all the changes you made and see what might have caused it. So each set has an Iteration Marker, usually just the date.”

Kelketek nuzzles into the petting, “I should have expected that. You and I were talking about how to hide from this guy.” He thumbs toward Terrence. “But I have to wonder, Mr. Terrence. Now that you’re no longer leading Leviathan’s logistics, what are you going to do?”

Renna says, “Oh. I … see.”

Terrence leans back and thinks on this, “You know, I think I might go into politics.” He winks, “It’s about time to start planning the world I thought I’d never get to see.”

Xelos looks up to Raziel. “My place is gone, my time has long since passed.” He goes silent for a moment, then speaks again. “It…. feels… good to know that I would be missed. That alone is enough to stay.”

Terrence grins, “I figured I’d have ended up dead by this point.”

Amjad asks, “What do you intend to actually try and make?”

Sovereign finds the group of mages that assisted in the fight. “Would any of you be willing to help lift my suit into an upright position?”

Amjad says, “I think I’d be much happier working with you now that you aren’t working for her.” He gestures back at the corpse of Leviathan.

Terrence wells! “I had researched a bit about how some Svargan groups may have worked. They didn’t teach that material much, since the crown didn’t like it, but I did get my hands on it. There’s a thing called a ‘representative democracy’, that might do us well.”

Renna’s quiet for a moment longer. Then speaks softly. “Kelketek… what happens now? To, uh. Everything?” And her, of course. She just doesn’t know, and is wondering some. Although she could also do with a bit of rest and something to drink, probably.

The group of mages is split, the otter standing with most of the other pasu while Rhyis and a fairly short fox are still together. Apparently, Sovereign finds them first. Rhyis replies, “Neither of us are in good standing to cast any spells. Osis might be, though.” The bat motions over to the otter.

Raziel leans down next to Xelos. “So stay. There is still a world out there to see. A world to rebuild. Things will be different from here on out…but the world still holds familiar faces.” The tiger stands, and turns around, addressing everyone. “We do what we’ve always done! Build! Improve! Learn from our mistakes, and the mistakes of those that came before us.”

Renna listens to Raziel.

Viktor plods on back, Akala in tow, grinning from ear to ear. They go over to find Sovereign, coming up on the group as well, standing with the newt.

Kelketek shrugs, “I’m not sure.” He rests his muzzle atop the vixen’s head, “I should go find my old sword where I buried it. Maybe I’ll just retire, though. I’m getting old, and I don’t know how much more fighting I could even take, especially after today.” He chuckles, “You young folks can have a turn at running the place.”

Amjad leans back against Zorro, hugging the fennec’s arms against his chest, closing his eyes.

Renna looks at Kelketek’s paw, “You’re all over blood…”

The fennec smiles, and nuzzles the jackal, “What say you and I go to Serendipity, then? I’m not sure how much of Muon is left.” He chuckles, darkly.

Kelketek blinks, and looks at himself, “Oooh. Right. Yeah. I should… shower.”

Xelos moves around, over to Sovereign’s suit, looking it over. Then he looks at all those around. After taking in everything, he moves back over to Raziel. “I am going away. Possibly for a long time. I am not needed here, not now, possibly not in the near future, though I shall return in time. “

Amjad frowns, lowering his ears, “I always liked Muon, it was my second favorite place, all the nicest things that happened to me that weren’t learning something happened there.’”

Amjad perks up and turns around to hug Zorro, “Say, come to that, maybe we could go to Serendipity, rest up a bit, then head back to Muon and help them rebuild the place?”

Sovereign looks to the otter he is directed to. “Excuse me sir, are you fit enough to help me lift my suit?” He then notices Viktor and Akala next to him, to which he smiles. “Aah good too see you both! I am very glad you had made it out alive!”

He smiles and nods, hugging the jaql in return, “You know, that sound like just the thing to do.”

Renna sighs. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t even know if my… ship…” It feels like such a tremendous distance from here and now that she was what she was before. She shrugs, and pauses. “I … don’t guess you can even get a drink here right. Smashed’s everything. Should we try to find people who might be… not quite smashed? Before they are too smashed to not be smashed after.” Maybe she’s getting a bit slightly less coherent here, for a moment.

Viktor and Akala smile back, then just lean against each other, looking over what is left, and who is all there.

Amjad relaxes, apparently he was holding a bunch of tension in his back and didn’t even realize it. He sits down next to Zorro, leaning against his side, “That sounds nice.”

Raziel gives Xelos a pat, and nods. “If that’s what you feel is necessary. I hope to see you again, someday, Xelos.” The tiger gives the automaton a pat on the shoulder, and a nod, and begins wandering through the crowd. He snickers at Kelketek, covered in blood. “I think I said something similar after that outing in Acre, blood still stains fur like no one’s business.” He gives a passing nod to Viktor, and Akala, and Zorro, happy to see that they’re alright. In the end, though, his path eventually brings him to Rhyis.

Osis turns towards the newt, then smiles and nods. “Sure. Rebuilding’s gotta start somewhere.” The otter starts walking over towards the fallen construct, regardless if the other creature is following.

Xelos slips away, no real friends left to greet, to say goodbye to, so off he goes, without second notice.

Renna trails after Osis, just … because she hasn’t anything to do.

Xelos has disconnected.

Amjad asks Renna, “Would you care to come to serendipity with us? I might be able to help you fix your airship, if it needs it and you know where it id.”

Sovereign is certainly following. His suit took a very long time to make, and he is quite interested in seeing it not damaged too badly.

Rhyis can be heard now that Raziel’s closer. “…No, I never did any of it maliciously. I’ll be frank; most of the Circle cells are _morons_. No unison, no communication.. I was trying to fix that, and I’m /really/ surprised I got to where I did. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone this.”

Osis walks in a slow circle around the creature’s device. His voice sounds doubtful. “Well, this is.. Big. I’m not sure how much I can help without a few other paws.. Do you mind joining me?” The otter offers a paw to Sovereign and smiles warmly.

Raziel stands behind the bat, patting a paw on Rhyis’ shoulder. He’s probably just walked in on something he really, shouldn’t have heard, but at the moment, the tiger is too happy about not dying in a cataclysmic explosion to care. “Didn’t tell anyone about what?” The tiger smiles disarmingly.

Viktor hasn’t moved, and isn’t really paying attention to anything, except the idle chit-chat going on nearby. Talks of showers, goodbyes, and something about Circles all vying for his attention, which he gives.

Renna pauses and thinks for a moment at that, Amjad … “Can I think about it? I … everything needs to be thought, I think. Too many things.” She wavers a paw vaguely, not sure she’s communicated as clearly as she might have, but…

Renna might be willing to heave on the suit if anyone wants.

Sovereign nods, reaching out to grasp the hand of the otter, the tiny newt’s hand fitting in the otter’s like that of a child’s.

Amjad nods, “Sure, you can think about it, it’s not like I can up and go anytime soon.”

Amjad says, “I doubt if there’s going to be a working railroad or aerostat here for quite some time.”

Rhyis spins his head around and looks up at Raziel in shock. Apparently, he didn’t hear him coming. Odd, but, hey, odder stuff /just/ happened. “It’s a long story. Don’t worry about it.” His expression is a little hard to read..

Osis takes a firm but gentle grip of Sovereign’s hand, then looks back at what they’re about to try and lift. After some thought, he turns to the newt again. “We might need one or two more, unless you’re highly attuned.”

Viktor turns around and walks up to Raziel, tapping a shoulder. “Aahlo. Didn’t zee you durink the vight, aahnd didn’t get to taahlk to you aahvter, so aai thought now vould be aah good time to check up.”

Xeones doesn’t have anything else to do, so he walks over to Osis and Sovereign. “I do not know air magic, nor how your method of sharing power works, but I shall help.”

Renna looks at the two holding hands. “…I’m not a wizard, but…”

Sovereign shakes his head. “Magically attuned? No, I have no magic to speak of.” He then looks to the two others, smiling. “Ah, thank you much, that would be wonderful.”

Raziel tilts his head a little. “Oh, come on, Rhyis. We just avoided /the end of the world/. Surely, there can’t be any secrets left worth keeping?” The tiger doesn’t seem entirely serious - though his point is sound, at least to him. As he’s tapped on the shoulder, however, he turns around. He nods to Rhyis, “Though, perhaps a little later will do.” The stripy cat looks back to Viktor. “Yes, indeed! Quite a fight, wasn’t it? And I got one heck of a souvenir…” He shows the arctic fox Leviathan’s mask, slightly chipped, but intact.

Renna wonders if she can help? She’s not doing anything else, and would be happy enough to if holding paws is what they need…

The otter doesn’t seem bothered that two of the pasu in the group aren’t skilled mages. He offers his other paw to Xeones while motioning with his face for him to take one of Renna’s. “It’s easy, really. I’ll do all the work. All you have to do is stand there and chant with me so we stay synchronized.” The pasu turns his head over his shoulder and calls out, “Kroli - Rhyis!” The otter seems a little frazzled for a moment like he said the wrong name. “Care to help?”

Viktor smiles and nods, leaning in to look at the mask in finer detail. “It iz very pretty, vor beink the vaahce ov aah tyraahnt overloaahrd murderer piraahte.”

Xeones shrugs, and gets in the circle with the other pasu, offering a paw to let Renna in as well. He still has no idea how this works, but…well, the otter said he’d take care of it.

Rhyis looks over at Osis and starts standing. The bat moves away fast, hopefully before Raziel can start asking questions. “I’ll help!” He quickly takes the newt’s other hand with one wing. It’s a /really/ awkward feeling..

The last mage looks forlorn. Maybe he wants in, too.. Perhaps someone should help him over.

Raziel laughs, “Yes, well…you’ll have that! He holds the mask up in front of his face for a moment, but not for long. The mask, and the supposedly undying creature associated with it, are still kind of creepy. His ears flit a little when he hears one of the mages start to mention Krolin. Wasn’t he the leader of the White Circle? But he’s not here. The only one who knows anything…is Rhyis. The cat glances over at the bat. Nah, he’s jumping to conclusions. The tiger looks at the slowly building circle…but he knows nothing of magic, and really doesn’t feel he could contribute, despite the Circle’s claims.”

Amjad pads over and offers the last mage a hand, trying to support him. The jackal isn’t very strong, but he does his best, and at least he can walk.

Raziel laughs, “Yes, well…you’ll have that!” He holds the mask up in front of his face for a moment, but not for long. The mask, and the supposedly undying creature associated with it, are still kind of creepy. His ears flit a little when he hears one of the mages start to mention Krolin. Wasn’t he the leader of the White Circle? But he’s not here. The only one who knows anything…is Rhyis. The cat glances over at the bat. Nah, he’s jumping to conclusions. The tiger looks at the slowly building circle…but he knows nothing of magic, and really doesn’t feel he could contribute, despite the Circle’s claims.

Renna hold paws willingly enough, then.

Viktor looks over to the group, snickering. “Heh. Aai vould help, iv aai vaahzn’t aahvraahid aai’d zhaahtter the whole think. Aai don’t think Zovereign vould be wery haahpy iv aai did thaaht.”

The smaller, knelt-down mage looks up at the nearest pasu. That just so happens to be Raziel. “Could you help me over? I haven’t been part of a big group like this before, well, today. And then most of the members of that circle died.. I feel like I need to make /something/ right.”

Rhyis keeps his head turned around, his eyes focused on Viktor. “It’ll be okay! Since only one person’s going to be channeling the magic, it shouldn’t overdo anything. …Probably. regardless!” The bat waves his free wing.

Raziel looks over at the smaller fox mage…and sighs. “Sure, I’ll help…” The tiger isn’t entirely enthusiastic about being dragged into this, but…why not. It’s a new day, right? Not literally, because the sun hasn’t gone down yet, but…yes. Survival, and things. He holds out a paw to the mage for support.

The fox reaches up and tries to pull himself to his feet, but that doesn’t help much. He’s probably not going to be /standing/ when he’s part of the circle. Regardless, the pasu nods up at Raziel. “Thank you.”

Rhyis turns his head a /little/ further, just enough to catch Amjad in the corner of his eye. “Everyone else is here. You want in too, Misteeeeer…?”

Amjad pads over to Rhyis, shrugging his shoulders. I may as well, I’ve never tried something like this before. I won’t throw it off, will I?”

Viktor moves over to the circle. “How much draahw iz thiz goink to taahke? Aai get reaahlly… zick… iv aai uze too much power aaht vonce.”

Raziel helps the fox over to the rest of the Circle, and positioning him somewhere along the circle - which ends up being off to Rhyis’ left. He makes sure that the fox isn’t going to fall over immediately…

Xeones shrugs, addressing Viktor. “It takes very little energy, from what I felt. More a trickle, than anything else. Not like using magic for yourself.”

Rhyis shakes his head and smiles. “No, no, nothing really throws these things off. Besides, we’re just lifting some metal. What could possibly go wrong?”, the bat asks as he takes Raziel’s paw.

“Not much,” Osis replies to Viktor. “Since there’s so many of us, I’m the only one who might /feel/ anything. Just don’t stop chanting once we start until I let go.”

The fox doesn’t fall over, but he does kneel back down once he’s in position. The fact the near-exhausted mage is participating should be a good indicator of how much draw is expected to take. The pasu holds a paw out for Amjad as he looks over at him. “I’ve got room here.”

Viktor nods and kneels down, beckoning Akala over to join him. He joins hands with her and Raziel, if he has an available paw.

Renna’s curious, though she also sort of is glad enough to have something to actually help with! Though after this she’ll probably have to wander off and see if she can find something to drink and maybe somewhere safe to lie down for a little while, if she doesn’t discover that bunches of people need to be pulled out of the rubble or something. So she joins paws, more or less.

Amjad nods, taking the hands of whoever’s nearest him, or following whatever directions he’s given to slit in to the assembly.

Amjad pads over and takes the fox pasu’s hand in his.

Amjad’s hand is a bit grubby, but figures everyone else’s are, too, so won’t worry about it. “Thank you.’”

Raziel has an open paw, indeed, and takes Viktor’s paw. Sure, why not. On his right side stands Rhyis, and he supposes he should take the bat’s hand…er, wing. He’ll have to figure out the logistics of that momentarily…

Renna supposes we will also chant and things!

Osis looks around at everyone. There’s /far/ more pasu than he’s used to working with at once, but he doesn’t look too nervous. “This’ll be interesting.. Okay! Chanting’s easy. The words don’t mean anything; it’s just something we use to keep ourselves on the same page.”

Rhyis nods while looking around with Osis. After a few seconds of silence, Rhyis starts murmuring something. Something, that, doesn’t even remotely sound magical or special. “One Serendipity, two serendipity..”

As silly as it sounds, both of the other mages in his formerly small group join right in. If the chants are /this/ easy, maybe what the Circle says about anybody being able to work with magic are true..

Renna nods a bit, and joins in. It’s… a bit silly, but she’s too, well, frazzled by many things having happened to really care at this point.

Amjad can get behind that. He joins in with “Three Serendipity, Four Serendipity…”

Viktor and Akala quickly start to join in soon after, not really paying attention to how silly it is. “Vive Zerendipity, zix Zerendipity…”

Raziel isn’t sure about this whole chanting thing, but…oh, fine, whatever. “…Seven Serendipity, eight Serendipity…” He finally figures out that it’s easy enough to hold onto Rhyis’ thumbclaw.

Sovereign is a little bit incredulous, but joins in all the same. “Nine Serendipity, ten Serendipity…”

Renna murmurs, “Eleven Serendipity, twelve Serendipity…” It starts to lose meaning when you’ve said it enough times, though we might not be quite there yet, and just seem like a sound instead.

Xeones rolls his eyes, and snickers. “…Thirteen Serendipity, fourteen Serendipity…” He supposes the otter will get to his magic soon enough, now that he has everyone working together.

Renna carries on.

Amjad does start wondering if perhaps these White Circle folk aren’t as bad as he had thought, they don’t seem to be ravenously burning libraries or blowing up railroad tracks.

For the first twenty or so Serendipities, nothing appears to happen. there’s no ‘probing’ sensations, or ‘tugging’, or anything. It could be that Osis is still waiting for everyone to get in sync, but suddenly, without any warning, Sovereign’s suit shoot up about a dozen /meters/ into the air! As it starts to fall, it’s caught on an invisible pillow of air and hovers about four meters off the ground. Even while it’s hovering and rotated by the otter, the draw on everyone is so minimal that it could go unnoticed by a few of the lesser-skilled mages in the group. To those who can sense it, there’s almost a warm, glow-y feeling surrounding their form.

After a few more counts, the newt’s suit is orientated properly and set back down gently on the ground. There’s a few more seconds of chanting before Osis tugs his paws away. “See? Nice and easy! Anyone can do magic!”

Renna sort of blinkblinkblinks. And might not have felt anything, but maybe she did get a very faint, niggling feeling for a moment… or perhaps not. “… Large, very.” She didn’t quite expect something that spectacular.

Raziel is of a similar opinion to Amjad…though he does admit, that little display was impressive. And Rhyis /did/ help them by summoning the Circle members to help them. Perhaps the Circle /aren’t/ evil…but they’re still a little misguided when it comes to technology.

Sovereign hehs and smiles brightly, bowing just a little. “Why thank you everyone, for your help. And thank you, Mr. Otter. I didn’t catch your name, but thank you much.”

The otter bows his head respectfully to the newt, despite his smaller size. “Osis. You’re welcome!”

Renna sort of blinks at Sovereign and … then quietly leans against his now-upright suit. o.o

Xeones looks over at the bat. “Well…that went rather well. Maybe you Circle guys are onto something, huh?” The tiger smirks, and looks at the righted suit. “So, back to Meson with you, Sovereign? I’m sure they’ll need help rebuilding.”

Sovereign smiles to the otter. “Very good. My name is Sovereign. Again, thank you Osis. “

Amjad starts to wonder about finding transportation at the moment.

Renna is admittedly sort of not quite sure how all of you are being all chirpy and thinking about zipping off to Meson or Serendipity or what have you, seemingly without need to recover from the carnage and the extraordinary events… or even clean the blood and stuff off of yourselves.

Sovereign nods, smiling again. “Yes, it would help to be close to a source of water. That and I need to gather what I hadn’t when I sunk my lab. Though I do need to find another laboratory soon. “

Amjad mostly wants to go back to Serendipity because it’s where he feels safe, and it and Muon have all the people he cares about in them.

Amjad also kind of wants a shower, and no place in the world has better plumbing than Serendipity.

Viktor stands up and yawns, stretching out. “Wery good. Didn’t qvite know vaaht you vere doink, but it vorked just vine.”

Renna isn’t quite sure that Amjad can just zip off to Serendipity for his shower this instant. Although… maybe her dirigible survived unscathed somehow, perhaps we could all of us pile on and have a day trip to somewhere that hasn’t been, er, blown up and things. But it does seem pretty unlikely.

Rhyis tugs his wings away slowly after a few people speak. “Indeedily! Soooo.. What now? Do we just all go our separate ways? I mean, most of you just /saved the world/ and all..”

Sovereign chuckles. “Most as in, two or three. We all had a hand in it, but not all of us saved anything.”

Amjad doesn’t actually expect to walk to Serendipity right now, no. He’ll have to wait until things calm down enough that there’s transportation and the like.

Renna looks a bit out of it, sliding down to sit against Sovereign’s suit. “I… don’t know…” She could probably use a quiet place to rest for a little while. That might be tricky at the moment, though.

Raziel looks up at the sky, smoke still rising up into it from the crashed zeppelins, smashed tank, and broken remains of the Castrum. “I…don’t know where I’ll go.” He makes no comments about who saved what - he’s killed enough people today. He doesn’t need reminded. He’s only an engineer, after all…

Renna at least looks like she’ll be happy enough to sit here for a little bit. And . . . she’s not sure she killed anybody, exactly. She did get us here, at least. Some of us.

Viktor smiles. “Aai’m pretty zure verever you go, you’ll be velkome. You’ve vriendz aahll over now.”

Renna doesn’t know where she’ll go either, if it’s any consolation. That might take a little while to figure out.

Rhyis shrugs once everyone stops talking for a few long seconds. “Well, I have mail to try and deliver. Maybe some of the recipients are still alive.. I’ll start around Escorus. I’ll bet that town’s less dead..”

Renna isn’t quite sure she said that. But!

Amjad didn’t kill anyone…directly. He asks Rhyis, “How will you get there?”

Viktor smiles, then heads over to where Akala is standing. “Aai might heaahd baahck to Celaahyaahnti, vinizh my trainink aahnd aahl.”

Rhyis holds a wing up and shakes it a little in the air. “With wings? I’m a Keero. I can fly!.. … Usually.”

Raziel looks around the wreckage, a somber look on his face - though his expression warms as he turns back to his friends. “Come on…let’s all go back to the Rampaging Meerkat. I think it’s still standing.” He puts an arm around Rhyis’ shoulders…and Xeones’. After an indignant growl…the orange tiger relents. “Maybe. But you are buying the milk, city cat.” The white feline smirks, and shakes his head. “Sure…”

Renna sort of stands up, and will probably follow you people. She wouldn’t mind having a drink, after all. She doesn’t know if she could find one, but…

Amjad will happily follow along. Wouldn’t mind a nice sarsaparilla. Doesn’t want to repeat his first and only experience with ‘fine restorative sherry’.

Viktor and Akala follow suit behind, heading off to a bar that would be insane to have people still working after something like this. Insane or cruel, or both.

Sovereign starts up his suit and turns it around, moving it along to go gather his equipment, hoping it’s not too terribly bombed out. Might join up with the others later.

The end.

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Advocate Insurrection (Main)