Decipio commented, saying that he seemed eager. To this, Lance smiled, "No matter how important one place is, it won't matter if no one's there." He then added, "If there's nothing you need to do, let's get on our way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next depth down was a lichenous lair, with an affinity towards electricity. Quicksilvers were darting around, looking for any prey they could feed on. The level itself was typical of lichenous lairs, filled with lamps left by recon teams to light up the simulated night.

Having been fully dressed and covered in the darkness of the power outage the small group who where sent to the Guild hall of the Spade's where sneaking across the endless gap of levels which sperated the Watch's 'upper' hall from the Spades' 'upper' hall. It was of course foolish to think they would have been unseen unless some one had on termal or infer-red vision goggles.

Each of the men who where assigned this mission were of the vets of sneaking missions as well as war's fought on behalf of the order (Veteran Knight: 7), meaning this was there kind of action. Skotino himself was heading the operation with assistance from there Operator of whom remained silent till he did a blackout cutting off any kind of sincers' they had for this kind of attack. Because they where fighting people who where new to the order (Noobs: 3) they felt they where going to be fine so long as they didn't get caught or seen when taking down some one.

The trick here is killing them when a loud noise or detraction pops up. That or they have some Vets on patrol with the new guys. To many variables to count we need some independent Variables to get a read.

Coming to the entrance of the hall Skotino watched as two of the ten men walked forth to the targets. Of course they where all wearing Infer-red Goggles to help see each other, as well as in the dark. Just before the attack was made the lights flickered and the communcations fell (Going to do a role here for how long the system goes down for. So what ever it is #*60s=Total Time down. [4]*60s=240s{roughly 4ish minutes})

With a buzz the Operator came to life in there comms. "Good news and bad news. I got their system down, but they seem to have updated it since last time I checked. You have less then four minutes before there system comes back to life. If you can connect to the main console of the guild I can shut it down for longer. Good luck."

Damnit, why couldn't have been longer.

Looking around the two soldiers shook their heads, clearly this had happened before and no alarm had been raised so they just went back to their posts. (Veterains: 7 vs Noobs: 3. Vet Wins by 4 point's into overkill) Uncloaking the Veterain's blade's sliced through the weak armor around the neck's of the two guards. They had a moment of life, just long enough to see the men who stole their lives. Covered in dark armor, with no gap in the helms. Letting the bodies go limp in the knights arms the vets quickly ushered off the two bodies before anything else could have been said, or they made too much noise.

Whispering to the woman who followed. "This is where the blood shed starts, do your best to hold your blade and remember that those men didn't deserve this, but it has come to them because they joined this guild. So do not attack just because they are Spades, but because they are in your way."

With that said Skotino pressed on under his cloak, keeping himself low and quiet.

"None at all."

Skotino said as he watched the men take the bodies away, cutting off the heads for the extra payment. If anything the Watch seemed key on getting every task done before them.

Uncloaking Skotino showed off that he was in Might Cobalt armor, nothing fancy but wiped of markings. Walking over he snatched one of the badges from the badge's from the dead men he attached it to his armor and quickly bolted into the checkpoint of the room. "Outside!" he yelled frantic, acting as if he had just seen a horrific sight, which he in a since he had, if he was normal. "The two guards Dead! I was on my way back from Bazaar and I saw the two guards outside dead!"

Looking back at him where a handful of knights. One looked to be a higher rank then the others, Knight at best. The Squires looked at there leader questioning what they should do. "Calm down, tell me what happened. You lot," He pointed to the four Squires', "Go outside and check out what happened. Thanks to these blasted Blackouts we can't get any messages through to central."

Nodding the Squires ran full paced swords drawn into the ambush waiting for them. (Squires/Noobs: 3. Vets 7. Overkill by 4.) Meanwhile Skotino sat down panting and shaking, as if he had seen something truly shaking to the core. Looking at him he must be the Knight in charge of the group. His gear doesn't look too far ahead of the others, Cobalt at best. Best take him down quickly.

Waiting for the man to turn around Skotino was relying on his quick actions to save his bacon here.

(The role. I am using Random.org So stat Used. Quick: 2 {Bounce +2 on roll} vs. Knight/Default: 4. [6]+2=8 Overkill by [4])

Taking the weapon from its holster Skotino pointed the weapon at the back of the mans head and pulled the trigger. Thanks to the surpression device on the end the sound of the shot was no louder then that if a hammer striking metal softly. After the small flash of light the Knight lay dead at his feet.

Standing tall Skotino kicked aside the corps and looked at the others. They had already wasted Two minutes on this rouse. "Quickly get in here and start hacking into the console. The rest of you, get going to find the target. Remember Stealth at all times. Go."

Nodding the Stealth squad quickly spread out, thanks to the new blood on guard sneaking around was easy enough.

"As for you ms. Your with me, lets get to work. Go ahead and lead the way." Turning on his Stealth gear Skotino followed closely behind the woman, making sure that she never left his sight for fear she might try and turn back on their deal.

Takamura holds a finger up towards Alex as he rummages through his satchel, before procuring a pipe of a sort. He then takes out a chunk of Torchstone, and lights the pipe before taking a deep draw.

With a fiery smoke coming out of his mouth as he speaks, he takes on the aspect of a devilish person; his red eyes aren't helping.

"That's better...but.

You haven't answered my question yet. I won't answer yours until you tell me : What. Happened. To. The. Guards?"

"It should only be a few levels." Lance responded to Decipio's question, "By the way how good are you in combat, in case we run into trouble?" he asked as he led him down the path, making sure there was sufficient distance between them and the quicksilvers.

(Random.org roll: 1+ Lance's stealth stat of 1 vs. 2. tie.)

Lance's movement and conversation causes the quicksilvers to become aware that something is somewhere, they just aren't sure what or where.

Amber closed her eyes. But it was no use, Her body quaked and trembled.
'Come on, think. THINK.'
Amber's eyes opened again, and she grabbed a crossbow off of the ground.
"Let's get a move on. Whoever did this can't be too far."
Amber's brow furrowed as she slowly stomped across the hall.

This place is nice, kept clean and no one has tried to use some one's skill as a subsitute for a hammer. Maybe that guy didn't deserve that. Anyway backto the mission at hand.

Having gotten tired of the woman leading them nowhere Skotino took the lead, using his eye piece as a map to the console. It had taken them at least a few minutes to find it. No one was around thanks to the blackout. Got lucky since no one wants to work on a computer with the power out. Crouched and running Skotino bee lined to the Console.

"Alright I made it, what now?"

"Open up the underside of the frame and drop in the micro-chip into the drive slot. After that open up the program corresponding with the type of console. They seem to be working a newer model so use the code called 'Sink v4' located...wait some one just came into the main hall. Just hit the program and get back in stealth I will monitor the situation."

With the Operator gone silent Skotino rambled to himself as he launched the program. After a moment the screen went black with a skull like the banner used by the Lord of flames. The only difference was the background was black and the skull was made of numbers and symbles instead of a bone structure.

Tarting back to the woman Skotino turned off his Stealth gear and looked at her. "Incoming. Unknown if it's friend or foe. Treat them like hostiles until the Operator returns."

Pulling out his weapon, the suppressed Valiance, Skotino pointed in the direction of the main hall as the two teams called in.

"This is Alpha Team leader: The Target is not in the East Wing. All current guard are dead, no survivor's."

"This is Beta Team leader: The West Wing is clear, we have one person wounded still walking. The Target has not be located here we still have one hallway left to search."

Turning on the Radio Skotino spoke as he peaked around a corner. "Both teams meet up before searching the final hallway. We will keep search in the Main Wing. So far nothing has been found but the Operator has found new people, outside of that the Target is the primary objective."

"The whos?" Alexander asked. "What guards?" He pulled the tooth from his lower leg painfully. Alexander's leg oozed green poison. "Look, I don't know what happened. Now help me with this leg, or I might be the one inclined to more 'vicious' measures."

Allister crept through the corridor outside the main hall, listening to developments on his comm unit. The unit had been payment from a client, and while it couldn't join conversations, it could listen in just fine. However, the thing devoured power, and as such Allister could only use it a few minutes every once in a while. Then out of nowhere, the line went dead.
"Noctis..." Allister began, suprised.

'They were about to ping us, Allister. As smart as the comms are, they can't help but ping back. We're lucky to still be alive, for heaven's sake. Let's just find your damn sword and... Footsteps. Behind you. Get to cover.'

Allister did as he was told, sidling into a shadow, his Obsidian Silvermail blending in perfectly. A man rounded the corner, a Master Blaster in his hands and a sword by his thigh. To top it all off, the guard was wearing very, very high tier stealth gear. The marks of a very high-class merc.
Allister realised that he was way out of his depth.

'Allister, go for the comm unit. That way, we'll get a chance to take him out before his... Friends... Realise we're here.'

He nodded, tensing his body, preparing to strike when the guard came close.

-Sneak attack!-

Allister's roll: 2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555724/) +3 stealth stat (I am supposed to do that, right?)
Guard's reaction time: 6! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555726/)

-Negative shift!-

Allister swung his sword at the mercenary's comm unit, only to be met by another blade. The guard didn't seem unfazed in the slightest, kicking Allister back into the wall, tapping the side of his comm unit, preparing to broadcast a message. Allister had to hit now. If he didn't, he would be uncovered.

-Attack!-

Allister's roll: 3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555942/)
Guard's attack: 3! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555943/)

-Shift! Tie!-

Allister swung again, knocking the merc's comm unit to the floor. The guard recovered incredibly quickly, and managed to get an attack in somehow.

[Vitality lost: 1. Remaining vitality: 4.]

Allister staggered backwards, the gash in his shoulder shooting pain up his nervous system. Thank goodness it was not his sword arm.
He had to find a way to end the fight quickly. 'Allister, knock him out!' Noctis yelled inside his mind.

-Second attack!-

Allister's second attack: 4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555944/)

Guard's counterattack: 5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555945/)

-Negative shift!-

Allister tried to hit the merc over the head with his sword's pommel, but the mercenary, sensing an opportunity, attacked down low, crippling Allister.

[Vitality lost: 1. Remaining vitality: 3]

-Third attack! (Edited, that's why the names don't match up.)-

Allister's third attempt: 6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555947/)

Guard's third counterattack: 3! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4555948/)

-Positive shift!-

Allister swung hard, Noctis assisting him. The mercenary was overwhelmed, taking a deep wound in his arm.
[enemy vitality lost: 1. Remaining enemy vitality: 6]
Allister began to pant. This mercenary had received far more experience than him or Noctis, and who knew how many of them were around the guild hall. Even if they had pulled off the attack, the mercenary would rectify his mistakes.
'Forget about the sword. If we survive this, we're getting out of here.' Noctis murmured inside Allister's head.

-fourth attack!-

Allister's attack: 1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556022/)

Merc's attack: 4! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556022/)

-Negative shift!-

The mercenary interrupted Allister's daydreaming, planting a severe hit on his sword arm. Allister gasped in pain, supporting his arm, trying to ignore the new pain erupting into his brain.

[vitality lost: 1. Remaining vitality: 2. (I really suck at this.)]

-fifth attack!-

Allister's attack: 1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556027/)

Mercenary's attack: 5! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556028/)

-the five bazillionth negative shift!-

The mercenary did not give Allister any time to recover. The other arm also received a wound. Allister was practically numb by now.
'Allister, focus! Come on!'
Noctis' voice sounded far away this time. The mercenary prepared for one last attack. Allister had to block this one. If he didn't..

[vitality lost: 1. Remaining vitality: 1.]

-sixth attack! (Well there goes my character.)-

Allister's puny attack: 6! (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556030/)

Mercenary's attack: 4!

-positive shift! (Finally.)-

Allister raised his sword as the mercenary swung his blade down, although, amazingly, the mercenary struck too hard. The mercenary felt the recoil of the sword, Allister using the opportunity to swipe him off his feet.

[enemy vitality lost: 1. Remaining vitality: 5]

-seventh attack! (Are you still reading this?)-

Allister's attack: 3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556030/)

Mercenary's attack: 5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4556035/)

-Negative shift!-

The merc stunned Allister with a sword blow, taking the opportunity to hit him over the head with his pommel. Allister felt faint as his vision began to fade, his last sight the mercenary picking up his comm unit.
'Allister, don't you dare give up on me... ALLISTER! So help me...' Noctris' voice was further away than ever, and Allister barely had time to say sorry before he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

And potentially a fatal one.

Takamura sheathes his blade, and looks around the cave.

"I wouldn't mind leaving you to the Wurms. With the poison in your leg, you might find yourself walking on a crutch not too long from now, if you can save yourself.

Unless you answer my question, I won't be inclined to help you with your leg."

''Retreat!'' She yelled as her enemies walked towards them. Three injured knights one still standing strong. She didn't fight per say, every move she did was a move to scare the undead threat away, to slow down its advance while her team mates were dragging each other away, this mission had gone so sour, yet it was so simple, gather the artifact and bring it back for study, who would've guessed that the artifact had the ability of bring the undead back to life. She could see in the distance their only chance. The elevator out of this hell hole.

That's when the shrieking began.

She heard the shriek. It was nothing new for her she had been here before, but she had been assigned rookies for the job, it was supposed to be an easy mission that she could've handled herself, take the recon recruits to a floor far away from the core and bring them back with the objective. Why were the monsters so strong, and so relentless, she even thought for a moment that her life was in danger. She kept looking around in front of her for the new found enemy but she couldn't find it, she kept pushing back the flow of enemies, ever stronger than before.

Blood spilled...from behind.

She heard the noise of a knight defending himself back there. Then the ear shattering noise of pain. She glanced back and saw the red wraith with his sword in the rookies stomach. 'Why didn't he ask for help!' She thought to herself as she spun on her foot to charge the being but it ran away.

''Captain! HELP!'' She heard from behind as one of the two remaining knights was being dragged away into the flow of enemies, and the other one was no where to be seen. Time seemed to slow down her heart was pounding through her chest like a canonball on a fortress. This mission was a failure, she had failed the recon hard this time, she had gotten the recruits slaughtered. Even though she was on such a safe floor, she thought nothing could happen to them. Which only means that the core is getting that much more dangerous.

Another Shriek.

Kyrlian knew it was pointless to stay here and die herself, she would need to redeem herself before actually allowing herself to die. She turned tail and ran as fast as her legs allowed her to. Reaching the elevator and activating it for Haven straight away.

Reaching Haven.

She was supposed to come back with recruits ready to be deemed members. Medals were ready, speeches were set for each of them. Imagine the face on her superior when they saw her come back, alone and injured. ''They're dead!'' She said. ''They're dead...I got them killed, it's unacceptable'' She was about ready to leave when her follow captain took a heavy grip on her shoulder and spun her around to get a glance at her eyes, which were wavering in disorganized feelings.

''What happened soldier'' The follow captain looked at her straight into her eyes, trying to wake up the soldier within her so she could get over her emotions. ''Nothing about the mission went as planned, I've never faced monsters so strong, so many at once. I tried...I tried to protect them but there was nothing I could do.''

The other captains knew Kyrlian's strength and weaknesses, and the battle field wasn't a weakness for her to be sure, she was one of their most trusted and she has been carrying that mission for a while now, she even fought side by side with most of the higher ups when they weren't even so high, she went as far as refusing promotions because she wanted to remain on the field of honor.

The Commander walked up.

''You can take your leave captain. Wait for your next assignment''

Kyrlian knew that that meant, the case would be assessed and she would receive no new orders until it had been figured out, the only thing to be figured is that everything even near the surface is getting out of hand. Kyrlian slowly walked away from the cohort and straight to her house.

Time passed and she received mail, which would be her new orders, She opened the letter while getting ready to leave for the head quarters.

( I didn't put any dice rolls or anything because this was basically a way to introduce my character, so I kept her out of any awesome fights also!)

Stratios trailed after Lance, quietly acknowledging his concern.

"You will find my abilities to be plenteous for the situation at hand."

Their pace was slow and fairly unnerving, with the Quicksilvers nearly identifying them with every step.

Irritated at the unreasonably diminutive pace, Stratios turned towards Lance.

"I strongly advice increasing our advance."

Lance agrees to increse their pace, but as they continue on, a quicksilver draws near.

"Go away." Lance says forcefully, yet quitely, to the quicksilver as he draws his master blaster.

{ roll for forceful=6 vs 2.}

A shot that's been building up power for a while now shoots out, with more power than Lance expected. It devastates the quicksilver, killing it, but the sound of the blast fully alerts the other quicksilvers to their presence.

Skotino looked over at her then back at the group.

"Stay calm, they don't know where we are if we keep the Stealth gear on. Don't make any sudon or unneeded movements. From this point out we are going to have to make ever action, every breath count."

Taking a deep breath Skotino readied his Suppressed Argus just in case. He only had three reloads left followed by two energy packs. "Operations, get us access to the main control of the hall and unlock that door. Alpha and Beta teams, hurry up with getting the target our time just dropped some one sounded the alarm."

"Operator; I am doing my best. I believe they have a counter hacker in here with me. Give me time to work."

"Alpha leader, the door has been undone. We are proceeding to the target. Once we have it we will meet up at the main hall for extraction."

Looking over at the woman Skotino sighed as he turned to look at the people in the hall. "All we have to do is kill them, or buy enough time for my boys to get out with the target, is that understood?"

Skotino looked around for a moment as he tried to understand what was going on. In his mind he was studying the situation, but his body acted of its own accord.

Calling out loud he retorted, his voice distorted by a modulator build into his suite making him sound like a much older man. "My goal is to liberate the woman you are holding captive in this hall. Outside of tat I can not say much more, my job was payed in half."

Walking out of his hiding spot Skotino uncloaked, putting him in the danger zone for he knew his own risk was of little importance as he knew his men would soon be coming by with the woman in toe.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure of addressing?"

Calm as he could be Skotino, dressed in Azure Armor, helm as well. His hand rested on the side where his Suppressed Valiance was holstered. On his back rested no shield but a simple chuck of Obsidian. This is right dumb. If they chose to fire right now there is no way I can dodge them all. Best bet now is to stall for time.

"Call me Galfost." He said looking up, through the eye ports a red flash was seen followed by a rather loud electronic clicking noise before it died out with him looking directly in the eye of the woman who yelled.

Taking his weapon from its resting place he looked at her with a concealed expression. No, not is not the time to ask those questions. The team is currently making their way here. I need at least ten more minutes.

"I have a better idea, how about you tell me who I am. That way we both know, because I am many things."

Slowly he with drew his gun and held it at his side looking at her as he tossed it over to his other hand. Off-hand aiming was not something he was good at, but that was not his aim. With his free hand he removed from his shoulder a piece of Obsidian which was stuck on his back. After a second a strong purple glow emitted as larger chucks of Obsidian came and formed a blade, not long but at the same time nothing to turn your eye from.

The sound of the Electronic clicking was heard as he looked at her, followed by the red glow.

"Ladies first."

Skotino started to chuckle to himself as he looked at the woman with a more morbid expression, at a point he started to caught holding his hand up to his mouth. The fake armor falling off at this point dissipating revealing what he really had on. Full Dread Skelly armor, a dark myst starting to flow off him.

"What gave me away? Was it my Cologne? No, give me a good reason why I should wait. On a second thought don't tell me, I will figure it out shortly."

Reaching Skotino tapped the side of his helm twice, followed by the Operator's voice coming across the communications of him and the woman.

"Operator; The backup systems are on line. It has taken me longer then I would have liked but the patch has been made. Enjoy your private conversation. Out."

Skotino smiled as he started speaking in a tone only she could hear over the Communication device.

"Do me a favor will you. Tell me what is going on here, or do I have to order my men to do more digging. Sorry about your men, can't replace life but at the same time they are lining my pockets so I can't say I didn't enjoy the moment. Now down to business. We just walked in here, barely any resistance and now you finally show yourself so I can ask a few questions. If it was this hard to get you I would have just bombed the place as I originally wanted. So, tell me; who is that woman really?"

Looking up Skotino looked around the room. Thankfully his eye piece was giving him a better understanding of his status then his body was telling him.

"Do make it quick though, I need my medication soon."

"Truth of the matter is this, the people who hired us are weak if they had to use an outside source for this. Remember one importent then, I am in this for the money right? Wrong. I am truly after something else my dear. How about this, we take her off your hands, you take the woman who came with us in her place. Have fun, pillage and what ever you want with her, and I do my research on this person. Dirty work taken care of. I never intended on handing this woman over or back till I fully understand what is going on. I am not stupid as you might thing."

Skotino started coughting once more dropping to one knee. For a moment dark crimson liquid came from under his helm before he stood back up.

"Damn, wasted too much time here. Operator have the units move quickly to the extraction zone. As for you ms. I have no qural and personally like I said, I want to understand what is going on. You all asked for me to capture a target of interest which we are currently doing so that is still on the docit. Outside of that I need more information before I will just stop in the middle of a job. People don't normally pay this much for a simple extraction of a VIP."

A frown creased across Stratios's face, as his eyes darted across the landscape.

(Rolling 4 + 3 in Cleverness vs 4 default, with +3 shift.)

"Follow."

Stratios immediately dashed ahead of Lance, whipping his Final Flourish's blade across the pulverized Quicksilver's remains. Cerulean sparks crackled across its length, now coated with silver gel.

A Quicksilver squirmed up upon Stratios's left, and his blade shot out, squelching, as it deflected the slime. In a burst of blue, the electrical energy surged, and the Quicksilver darted away, following its initial momentum.

In minutes, Stratios had diverted every attacking Quicksilver and made his way to the elevator. Stratios sheathed his sword, and advanced onto the elevator before turning around.

"You will do nothing, thats what it looks like you alot do best."

Skotino chuckled for a moment at his own bad humor as he waited for his men to remove the child.

"Besides, you have a new mess to clean up. Do you have any questions you want to ask, because at this point I am more then happy to answer."

"Drugging yourself won't change what is already happening kid. Its best to just deal with it in the present."

Reaching up Skotino started to wipe the darkened blood from his mouth as he looked it over.

"As for this, well I know my problem and it could have been far worse. Just keep taking your pills and live in your little bubble. I myself will keep living in the real world were my death has a little to no concern on others."