The Shattered City: First Interlude

[Kaitou Kage]

You couldn't see Cyrus's eyes. However, the smoldering expression on his face suggested his eyes glowed like hot embers when he regarded his twin. The dommer's lips tightened into a deep frown. He opened his mouth several times to say something but got cut off by faster and louder people and then Darius walked upstairs. So he simply frowned.

"He will be fine," the snakelike Hazlani snapped and then turned toward Kerrian.

"I never wore a mask," he pointed out bluntly.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"We were at ground zero," Lia says. "Possibly there was a safe area around the sword, so whoever committed this atrocity could be certain they wouldn't be affected by the madness." She shrugs. "It is a common practice in arcane laboratory work," she explains. "The reason there are runes around the surface of those big laboratory tables is to create a safe area for the researcher to work in."

The wizard shakes her head. "We really need more information," she says. "But for the time being: if we are barricading ourselves in this house, I am willing to raise magical barriers against intrusion. I will require some reagents and paraphernalia ... Does anyone else have the power to raise such barriers, and where would they be best placed?"

[NeoTiamat]

Chateau Malchance, Quartier Marchand, Port-a-Lucine; March 11th, 770, 9:49 PM
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"Hello...? Lia? Tomas? Anyone...?"

A reedy little voice, tremulous and anxious, carried in from outside the chateau. It didn't sound like anything you could classify as "hostile" or "dangerous". Apparently Katja had thought so as well, since whomever was out there didn't start sprouting crossbow bolts. A quick glance out the windows could identify the newcomer instantly - there was only one man in all of Dementlieu who would willingly wear such a painful shade of purple. It seemed that while his wife had convinced him to change his wardrobe for the better, she hadn't convinced him to throw the old one out.

"I dropped my keys..." Charles Devereux said, peering hopelessly around in the dirt. "Is everyone... alright?"

"Officer," Darius says, performing a salute with the drawn sword to the captain of gendarmes, "I must report a mass murder performed by a supernatural entity in..."

"Captain." Agale began carefully. "As a responsible civic minded individual, I submit to your authority one of the perpetrators of the evening's excitements. Taking into consideration the state of the city at this time and the distance to a suitable holding facility, might I suggest retaining him in my custody until the situation can be rectified?"

Cedolin, having gone from confusion to having two such reports dropped in his lap in under a minute (while remaining confused), did the only thing he could reasonably do. He called for backup.

This involved Cedolin writing out a few words on a strip of pre-prepared paper. Then Cedolin struck a match and burned the strip of paper, which glowed red as it fell into ash. A brief period of meditation and magical chanting over the ash, and ten minutes later Cedolin spoke.

"Reinforcements should be coming. We'll get him somewhere safe soon, never fear M'sieur." Cedolin said, nodding towards Agale. He looked turned to Cyrus. "And... I'll have to ask your brother a few questions. Can you see that he's alright? He's had a bad shock."

"I'm glad that none of you seem affected. I think." Cedolin said, turning back to look at the rest of you. "But that still begs the question of what has been going on. Anything you can tell me? Anything at all? We need to stop this, and the sooner the better. Before more people are hurt."

"We've got some rope in the broom closet." Tomas instead says to one of the Reiners, "Might want to gag him in case he's trained to bite his tongue, too. This guy I knew who claimed to be Kar..." Tomas pauses, shakes his head, and pats the big kid's shoulder. "I turned der heater on when I got in, so there should be hot water in a few minutes."

"I'll get some rope, thank you." Christophe Renier said. He seemed almost the cheerful young man you'd seen earlier in the day, though he wasn't quite so cheerful any more. His clothing was burned and there was a mess of blood on the side of his head, but he seemed not much the worse for wear for all that. "I can't stay very long, I should go and find Uncle Sebastian. The Twins and Felise will be with him."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Charles!" Lia calls out, horrified. "You weren't out in the city in ... that, were you?" She gestures vaguely at the insanity devouring Dementlieu in the distance as she closes with Devereux. "Goodness me, are you quite alright? Oh, good grief ..." A horrible thought seems to have struck Lia as she urgently asks: "Where are your wife and daughter, Charles?"

[NeoTiamat]

Chateau Malchance, Quartier Marchand, Port-a-Lucine; March 11th, 770, 9:51 PM
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"No, I... live out of the city, Lia," Charles replied, apparently abandoning his search for the keys. "They're... at home. Safe... I... smelled the fire from out there... I don't know what's going on... I just had..." Devereux trailed off in confusion, suddenly looking very lost. "I just... had to see if... everyone was alright..."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Illumine," Lia says, flicking her fingers at the earth where Charles was looking for his keys. Small spheres of light, hopefully too dim to be seen by anyone in the city, hover over the ground to facilitate Devereux' search.

"Thank you, Charles," Lia says to Devereux with apparent sincerity. "I deeply appreciate your concern, and I hope your famiy will be safe. Madness has been unleashed upon the city through a kind of desecration ritual, using the sword of Leon as its focus. Should we help you get back there safely?"

'Perhaps there is an area limit to this insanity as well,' she thinks to herself. 'A cheering thought, but it needs to be proved.'

[Nerit]

Nerit smiled at Tomas when she had the chance, and accepted his kind offer for supper. It was intriguing, though, how whenever he stepped close enough his presence caused a little charge in the air, like before a thunderstorm.

Meanwhile the nun was not so interested in theories. The night had been chaotic, and with a twinge of regret, she nearly wished she had stayed safely in her quarters at the Malchance.

Nerit focused back to the group. Where had the Blackwoods wandered off to again?

[Kaitou Kage]

"He'll be fine," Cyrus snapped at Cedolin. Then he seemed to remember who he was talking to. He stood upright and inclined his torso toward the captain in a sort of half-bow.

"I apologize, sir," he said, "I will go and see to my brother immediately."

He left to go upstairs. With any luck, everyone would ignore the loud noises that would ensue in the next few minutes.

[DocBeard]

"Here we go...!" Tomas exclaims, balancing a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, and other food designed to punch you in the throat. Tomas's theory here is that a little indigestion is a great cure for shock and hunger. Eisenwald trips, stumbles a few steps forward, and just manages to set the meal on the table before falling over. "Professor!"

Standing back up, the clumsy body of Tomas forces itself forward, grasping Charles in a one armed grip as if he were the one that barely survived a fire, warfare on the streets, and fancy party snacks. "Come on, come on, sit down..." Some part of him notes that smelling the fire is pretty strange, considering, but Tomas can't bring himself to question Devereaux's story while he's in such straights.

[NeoTiamat]

Chateau Malchance, Quartier Marchand, Port-a-Lucine; March 11th, 770, 9:57 PM
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"Come on, come on, sit down..."

"No, I..." Devereux stooped down to grasp his keys, finally visible, before starting to turn away, a heartrending expression on his face. "I can't... stay here. I... have to find everyone else. They might need help," he said, plaintively. "Were Remy and... Sebastian with you? And... I don't know where Andre is... I have to go... I have to make sure they're alright."

[yalenusveler]

"Remy and Sebastien were there...and the Blackwoods are too...they might be going to see if the Ezrans or the Halans are doing anything to help." Kerrian said, starting to well and truly pace now, after deciding that sitting down and calming down was rather ineffectual.

"We really need to discuss what we know...too many things are making that kind of sense things can only make when you're dreaming." Kerrian mused, before turning to his landlord.

"It might not be safe for you to go alone, do you want me to come with you?"

[The Whistler]

Celeste had started visibly when Agale and Christophe hauled their captive into the Chateau. Apparently (thankfully?), she was only able to react to one hair-raising event at a time, and seeing as Darius was upstairs and a sniper was right in front of her…well. She took a while to work up to it, but shortly after the Captain was finished with his ritual…

“Heavens! A veritable, dyed-in-the-wool Miscreant—and in our Chateau!” Mlle. Viardot eyed the man searchingly, as if expecting him to be some sort of clever forgery.

“…He does not look overly black-hearted…but then, I suppose, one cannot expect a true Rapscallion to conform to one’s expectations.” Drawing herself up to her full height, she met the sniper’s eyes, taking a few moments to compose herself.

“…Sir. …Sir, I find your recent behavior to be both intemperate and distressingly inconsiderate… and… and I am very disappointed in you!”

Heaven help her, she even waved her fan scoldingly at him.

“Ooh! I feel as if one must exert one’s fullest censure when such dastardly behavior presents itself… Burning a gallery! Why, it is simply not done.” This last was said in a quiet aside to Cedolin, in a tone as serious as if she had just passed the sniper’s death sentence. Overall, Celeste may not have been adequately arguing the case for her continued sanity.

It might not be safe for you to go alone, do you want me to come with you?"

“Would that I could accompany you as well!” Celeste was not insensible to Devereux’s situation, having been favoring the professor with one of her most sympathetic looks. “But alas: I am engaged with Mlles. Rondelet and Zweibach, in the service of our noble Chateau’s defense. Oh, but I wish you every luck!”

[DocBeard]

Tomas just sort of looks at Celeste.

...

...

"Have a muffin." Tomas concludes, shoving one into Celeste's hands before turning around and seeing Charles's attempted exit. He thinks, quickly. "But Professor...we need your help!"

Tomas blinks, trying to think of a reason to keep Devereaux here where he can't get shanked. "I mean, who's going to...going to..." A pause. "Going to read the sleepover crew a story before bed?"

[NeoTiamat]

Chateau Malchance, Quartier Marchand, Port-a-Lucine; March 11th, 770, 10:02 PM
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“…Sir. …Sir, I find your recent behavior to be both intemperate and distressingly inconsiderate… and… and I am very disappointed in you!”

Heaven help her, she even waved her fan scoldingly at him.

The ruffian did not have the decency to look ashamed, being soundly unconscious.

"I think I broke his jaw in the fight," Christophe said, with a bit of a shrug. He didn't seem terribly sorry about it.

"Maybe we'd better join Kat upstairs," Cerise suggested, with a slightly pained grin. "C'mon, you can help me keep Grimmalken out of trouble. With all this wickedness afoot he's sure to get into mischief if we don't keep an eye on him."

The room upstairs was... cluttered. Every inch of the wall was covered with bookshelves, closets, or dressers of some sort or another; every inch of those was covered with books, jewelry, or random mystic looking stuff. The cat in question, Grimmalken, was not getting into mischief - he was mostly cowering in his little cat nest, looking terrified. Katja was sitting on the bed, her crossbow at the ready. The window was necessarily open, letting the thick smell of fire and ash into the room.

"Hey, did you happen to know where Thierri got off to?" Cerise asked as she lit a stick of incense, trying to clear the smell. "I lost track of him in the gallery, I think you and I were the last to see him."

"It might not be safe for you to go alone, do you want me to come with you?"

Tomas blinks, trying to think of a reason to keep Devereaux here where he can't get shanked. "I mean, who's going to...going to..." A pause. "Going to read the sleepover crew a story before bed?"

"I'll... be alright." Devereux gave Kerrian a small smile. "I... can take care of myself... and... I couldn't put any of my tenants in danger... with this house's reputation... I'd never be able to replace them," he joked slightly.

"I guess... you'll have to come through for me... like you always do," Devereux replied to Tomas, warmly, but sadly looking un-dissuaded. "You always do such a nice job with the voices... when you read for Estelle."

In truth, Devereux seemed to enjoy them more than his daughter did, but that only added to his argument at the moment.

[DocBeard]

Tomas takes a breath. It was worth a shot.

"Professor." Tomas tries again, "I think you've been effected by whatever's driven the city mad. While some people are subject to their baser impulses, others are pushed to nobility-often dangerously so. Is going out in...that really going to help anyone?"