TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (9/10) - The Creature of Choas

The metallic marbles were now streaming out of an open window and cascading onto the what looked like market below even though the stall coverings were in muted tones. There were screams and shouts  as the natural  order of the market was turned on its head. Merchants were trying to offload their goods with addition of their own coin, one or two people tried to use a hook line without attaching themselves first and servants were throwing tantrums when their masters wouldn't buy them an expensive item. The gathering bedlam down below mirrored that of the manor, and without hesitation, Eryn leapt out of the window assisted by his flaming hand, landing in the Grey Market. He looked up at the open window above him and the group staring out. None of them were able to get down safety unassisted and both Braxx and Raneaux were still unconscious. Reluctantly as a headache started to build, Eryn helped them one by one, as each was sprayed with Eryn's canister and were then lifted down. Raneaux was precariously perched on Braxx as they both descended and the extra weight nearly caused Eryn to lose control and drop them both. Although none of them had noticed that between being upstairs and lifted out, her hands were now resting on her lap, rather than behind her back.

As Danton landed, he spotted a figure that shimmered in the afternoon light and ran off after it before explaining his motives. Raneaux, still passed out, screamed out in pain before waking up. The drug that had separated her from the intrusions of the Guldspar had not worked, and she could feel something else trying to use her senses, trying to take control. She opened her eyes startled and tried to regain her breath. She turned to Braxx who had not woken up himself, although was still breathing. She felt as if being close to Braxx might be making her suspect able and so disappeared before anyone could argue. She explored the market by herself, taking in the strange and exotic sights, marred by chaos. Soon a merchant caught her attention with a small array of Numenera. He was not however offering his stock with extra incentives but Raneaux hoped she could prey on his obvious lack of understanding of what he was offering.

She approached him constantly observing, making mental notes on his appearance, behaviour and speech. She knew exactly what to say and what weak points she could exploit by the time she reached him. The merchants of Auspar usually had one weakness, the Numenera. The city was famed for its trade in personal luxuries but not in something like that. They however, idiotically prized any item that they believed to be a piece of the Numenera and would normally charge an extortionate price for an item that Raneaux knew was relatively worthless, or was selling a priceless artefact for next to nothing. She attempted to rummage in her satchel with her still bound hands and eventually laid down  bent crowbar that she found had also been warped by the magnetic storm.. The merchant looked at her and then down to what she was offering and was about to laugh when she pressed her finger to her lips. She told him that she worked for House Narrkonis and the item he saw in front of them was a prized item from their collection. The name Narrkonis, carried weight with the Metricious, the family and their associates were known for their intrinsic understanding of the Numenera, and the vast and priceless vaults of artefacts and oddities they kept hidden away. She tried to reveal as much about herself and her current predicament, hoping that her reputation would precede her. Of course she knew that the Metricious had heard of her and with a few choice words, the merchant was convinced of the crowbars rarity and its value. He offered her the most expensive thing he could sell. A windrider, on average an eight foot long metallic wing that is ridden as a platform, sailing a high speed through the air, and apparently once owned by a famous racer. She looked at him oddly, knowing full well that even he would not be foolish enough to leave something like that out in the open. His reply didn't really satisfy her fears. He told her that he would have the board delivered to the closest Narrkonis Atrium before abruptly excusing himself for feeling unwell.

Danton soon found himself in a similar position. The ever familiar fuzzy neon lights danced in his view, obstructing his pursuit of the shimmering figure. If he didn't take the drug soon, what had mutated his eyes, would start on the rest of him. He darted glances left and right, trying to find a safe spot to hunker down. The disorder in the market made it hard for him to predict where to rest. He eventually found an abandoned stall and tucked himself underneath its counter and swallowed the necessary pill, washed down with liquor. The lights soon took control of what he could see and he soon passed out. As ever, Jarvan had followed his master but keeping at a distance, thus allowing Danton to believe he was acting alone. He was accompanied by Isadora who was now constantly complaining about having to push the still unconscious Braxx instead of Jarvan.

Seeing the state Danton was in, she prodded him to try and wake him up. Jarvan told her it was the side effects of Nastrond if not taken regularly, to which he mentioned that she should at least have heard of. She nodded, wringing her gloved hands. Jarvan propped up his master into a more comfortable position before checking his supply of Nastrond. He now had only one pill left to which set off alarm bells within Jarvan. The next time this would strike, he would be fine but the next Jarvan didn't know what would happen. Te only place that had an abundance and easy to access supple of Nastrond was in Danton's on laboratories in Qi. To Jarvan's knowledge, the family in Auspar had outsourced the creation after the incident with Danton, as to stop anyone in the immediate family suffering the same fate. Jarvan wanted to turn to Isadora but felt it would not be appropriate and his master would prefer if they dealt with the situation themselves

The silvery figure was soon spotted by Eryn, along with a trail of metallic spheres in its wake. Without thinking he gave chase. The figure was still obstructed by the many market stalls and the panicked citizens all around. Within mere moments the figure had gone. He had had been chancing what he thought was a man but he ended up catching the tail end of a Seskii. He rested his hands on his thigh, regained his breath and breathed in the smell of alcohol. This reminded him of what Mavis had asked him to do while in Auspar, and with the mental state of the merchants turning the Grey market into a buyers paradise. He swiftly acquired a case of vintage wine and a liquor that was labelled to be over three hundred years old, all for the price of not being seen.

Xera on the other hand, was not having the same luck as Raneaux and Eryn. He had left the group after Raneaux in hopes of catching her but was eventually distracted by a book seller. He tried to convince the man to look back in his stock to find anything that Xera would be interested in, but the man only presented even more books on art and architecture, although extolling their virtues and rarities. Eventually Xera had pushed the merchant too far and he outright refused to serve him. He told Xera to go to another Metricious member, Bertram which he spat as he spoke. As Xera left, the merchant muttered curse words at Xera. It seemed that the Metricious guild was not doing favourably under Chancellor Regent Pheylor, as his name was used in many of the insults flung at Xera.

On the other side of the market. Raneaux walked away  pleased from the Metricious. The thought then dawned on her that he hadn't told her when it would be delivered.  She ran back to him but he still hadn't returned from feeling unwell. A searing pain blazed though her body as a terrify scream of man fell into gurgles. The pain faded  within her but her Guldspar veins stung a little. She cautiously jumped over the counter and pulled back the privacy curtain. In front of her was a twitching corpse sprawled against the crates. His body had been turned inside out and by what she could see, it had been instantaneous and violent. As she tried to find out what had happened she noticed a small blood trail that was leading away from the man, the width of a finger. She followed it away and deeper into the market. Soon she caught sight of Eryn and motioned for him to follow. Eventually the trail soon dried but the flicker of silver caught her eye, and  soon she was set upon by a Seskii that was unlike any other. It was comprised of shimmering dust and silver marbles with one in the creatures tail marred with blood. She screamed, alerting Danton and the others to her location.

Raneaux rolled to her side and under a table, with the creature fortunately missing her by a hairs breadth. As it regained its footing,  it shifted its form, changing from beast to armed humanoid. Out of nowhere, a bolt of energy caressed a small part of outer layer of the creature, turning the few marbles it touched and the market stall next to it in to crystal. Danton ordered Jarvan to stay back with Braxx and his sister while he and Xera joined in the fray while they looked on. Eryn conjured up his flaming hand and swiped at the creature. It shifted its mass allowing the hand to pass right through but for a moment it seemed to stumble and with that, Eryn left the hand in place, hoping to debilitate it further.  It lurched forward, swiping its malformed blade at Raneaux, fortunately missing her but showering her in spheres. From where Danton was stood, he could see that the heat from Eryn had permanently cracked the metal at its centre. He yelled over to him to blast the creature with fire and Soon the creature had been reduced by half, with the addition of an explosive blast from Xera. 

However as the dust settled, the creature repositioned itself and had  towards Braxx. It caught both Jarvan and Isadora by surprise and Braxx was killed instantly. Between the metallic ball bearings as it jumped, an electrical energy  had built up in-between and like a lightning strike, had discharged into him. Eryn in rage used his flaming hand to dissipate the creature further, almost singing Braxx, Jarvan and Isadora in the process.  Another blast of energy raced towards the creature from the artefact in Xera's possession. It struck the creature as it was trying to reform, causing a cascading transmutation as tried to gain shape. Raneaux composed herself for a second, tiring to block out the numbing of her senses. She used what strength she had to distract the creature by trying to move portions of it away as it reformed with her mind. The more it tried to form, the quicker it was dissipated.

Eryn was now feeling weak himself  from over exertion, as his hand disappeared into smoke. He desperately looked around him for a weapon or anything he could use. He saw what he thought could help, but instead grabbed a pair of archaic goggles. It housed a single pane of dark red glass , a thin strip that barely covered his eyes.. With nothing left  else he could do, he put the goggles on and accidentally tapped the side. Without warning, a solid beam of light discharged from the goggles forcing his head back. The beam of light hit where Xera had turned the creature to crystal and shattered it.  In an instant the dust was dispersed and the metallic spheres dropped like hail to the floor and rolled away.  Raneaux felt as if she was about to be sick when as she retched, blue smoke poured out form her as the world span into black.

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (8) - Rising Bedlam

Meanwhile upstairs, Braxx was startled to find two people he had never met in his room. He asked Eryn if he and the girl were the specialists he had asked for, and if not, who were they. As Eryn tried to explain their situation again to Braxx, he noticed that Raneaux was also a Guldspar and asked her if she could sense a specific book from the shelf next to her. She nodded a little confused, and pointed to the red leather bound book on the table. She also highlighted the metallic marble next to it and Braxx seemed to nod knowingly. With a much more honest explanation from Eryn, Braxx brought up the subject of Melvile due to the method of transport he had arrived by. He told them he had something that might aid them. As a younger man, he knew Melvile from his Aeon Priest days, and his early research into the Flower Network. At the time, he was working on a machine that could interface with the plants themselves, allowing the transmission of words. Braxx nodded over to a small wooden box, made from the same wood as the transporting device with the crystal display.

Inside was another wooden box creation, this time much smaller. It was the size of a thimble goblet with barely enough room to fit a crystal screen. Throughout his explanation Braxx constantly insulted Melvile as an insufferable young man, with ideas above his station and a personality  that made him sick. But regardless of his own feelings, he had to congratulate Melvile on his work and in return was given one of his early devices, which was never removed from the box. Alongside were notes on the device. Eryn's experience with Melvile's writings made the parchments easy to read but no less easier to understand. As he thumbed through the vast number notes, the words themselves started to fall to the floor. Each page was slowly emptying its contents on the wooden floorboards, leaving the parchment blank. Eryn looked down in dismay as the chance of understanding what the device did had slipped away. With the final couple of words, a small metallic  ball fell from the pages of the text and thudded into the words on the floor. Within mere moments, the words turned back into ink and began to drip through the floor leaving only a now tarnished metal sphere.

There then was sudden bang from downstairs and the shouts of startled people. The office downstairs was now turned on his head. Not by an argument or by violence from either party, but from the furniture itself. Tables, chairs, bookcases and statue plinths all realigned themselves to mirror their position on the ceiling. Papers fluttered in the air as the fell, priceless antiques smashed to the ground as the floor turned into a dumping ground. Seemingly unfazed by the inversion of the furniture, Danton preceded to threaten his sisters life. Isadora quickly turned to her handmaiden and told her to secure Danton and his associates escape from the manor. Chianna quickly ran out, hoping that whatever she could do, would save the life of her mistress. Although she had said she would only need five minutes, close to double that had passed. Danton suspected that things were about to go awry for him when, following the sounds and the vibrations of small explosion, The blurred outline of Chianna dashed past the end of the hallway. She seemed to be pursued by two men bearing cleavers above their heads.   

Danton held Isadora a few seconds after seeing what was going on. He purposefully stopping Isadora from giving chase and rescuing her handmaiden. He told Isadora that she herself now had to escort them out. Isadora hesitated for a second and in response Danton pressed his karambit a fraction more on her skin. Without much choice, she escorted Danton Jarvan and Xera out of the room and down the corridor. At the end, they met up with Eryn and Raneaux coming out of the storage room. Raneaux was on Braxx's lap while his chair was being pushed by Eryn's flaming hand construct. Isadora nearly yelled out at the fact that the hand was about to set fire to Braxx and the furniture around him but Eryn stepped in a presented his foam canister. He told her that whatever this foam coated, was safe from his flames. She turned to Danton with a look that not only questioned Eryn's ability, but the man himself. Danton remained silent.

Raneaux soon cried out again but this time not in hunger. A pain that she had felt when she was first injected with Judgement by the Guldspar burned through her as fear spread through her. She knew someone else was using her senses and the burning sensation she felt soon turned into a violent jolt to her nervous system.  From her satchel she brought out a vial with the symbol of a path, splitting into multiple ways, overlaid by a gate. She pleaded with Eryn to help her presenting the vial to him. He accepted, although he didn't know how he was going to help. As she handed over the vial, Braxx too now complained of the same feeling but the jolt had left him weaker. She instructed Eryn to dip his fingers into the liquid and to heat the plates on his fingertips. This evaporated the liquid and turned the resulting powder into smoke which both Braxx and Raneaux inhaled and soon passed out.  

Danton pressed the blade edge up against his sisters back, so she would keep moving on. No sooner as they had started moving, they had to stop. Isadora knelt down to a man slumped against a wall, with a large cleaver in his hand. She tilted his face up by his chin to see who it was, but his facial features had been distorted, rearranged and whoever it was, was most definitely dead. She rapidly withdrew her gloved had in case she caught something; and as the head fell back down, a metallic marble fell from his open mouth and dropped to the floor. With it, came a slowly building roar of the same sound and within seconds, multiple spheres started to roll past them. The ones from upstairs bounced down the stairs before following a stream of exact copies of itself, joining the ones that had left the office. They were like insects swarming or a rampaging herd of beasts but all were heading in one direction, underneath the door at the far end of the corridor.

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (7) - The Unwanted Reunion

Chianna introduced the man in front of her as Uncle Braxx. She explained that this was the only place that he could find refuge, owing to the many empty floors and therefore the lack of psychic energy in the mansion. This of course was not common knowledge; nor was the fact that whatever had infected the Guldspar and had started killing them, was now coursing through Braxx's veins. His voice was spry, although his age was definitely audible. He seemed in his late seventies and with the way he was behaving, he might have been jumping around the room if he hadn't been tied to his wheelchair to prevent him eating. He seemed very surprised to see anyone else up with him and the look on face as he turned towards Chianna was full of anxious questions. She tried to lay those fears to rest, but a yell from downstairs by a woman calling her name, soon made her scarper. she accidentally bumped into Danton on her way out of the storage room, who was eagerly trying to listen to the conversation upstairs and  now, after hearing the same voice, realised that they were about to be discovered. 

Braxx started to question Eryn on what was going on outside. He had heard the shouting from servants downstairs and coupled with the disarray that Chianna spoke of, he still had no clue as to what was going on. After a brief explanation of the situation, Braxx remembered something important. Although he couldn't remember what it was, he knew that at one point he could sense a strong energy from one of the books but the affliction had taken a toll his abilities. He asked Raneaux, noticing she too was  Guldspar, to try and sense the book herself. A little unsure, she hopped off the bed and stood next to the bookcase, not really knowing what to do. All of sudden she felt a surge of fearful almost chaotic emotions and as she looked on, a book bound in red leather jumped out at her. With a little help from Eryn, the book was recovered, but as he grabbed for it, the book fell to the floor and with it, a silvery metal marble. Eryn picked the tome up and started to read for himself while Raneaux looked at the diagrams and pictures. It detailed various events of the same kind, villages, towns, outposts and cities falling into chaos before the death toll rose. It was said that a metal ball was found at every point of the chaos but none were ever recovered or documented elsewhere. Braxx explained that this was the book he had been looking for, as the disorder within the servants and with his niece’s mistress’ once meticulously ordered files and financial documents. In that realisation, he had remembered he had forgotten to ask why Eryn and Raneaux where in his chambers, to which he soon rectified. 

Eryn was prepared to divulge all information to Braxx about what had happened, until Braxx commented on something Dehart had said to him. It was a various list of insults to somebody bearing a halo of fire that he had heard from Dehart along with numerous misdeeds, and hoped that Eryn had never met the person in question. Eryn swallowed a little heavier, had to think on his feet, he couldn't be truthful with Braxx now incase he was caught. On the other hand couldn't outright lie to him because to fix what was going on there had to be at least some level of honesty. Eryn tried to give out as much personal information as he could but Braxx kept questioning him. Eventually he outright lied to Braxx, saying that the reason he was here, was that he and his associate had studied the effects of the Blue Famine. Braxx felt Raneaux’s uneasiness, there was something not quite right to Braxx, and even with his current state, could just about feel the sense of guilt from Raneaux and in turn, the guilt of Eryn. Braxx was about to question Eryn himself on his deception, when he was interrupted by the same woman who had shouted for his niece and was now was yelling for Danton and Jarvan. 

Downstairs in response, Danton told Xera to stay  Jarvan with him but at a distance, incase anything was to happen. Danton  brought out a vial of Khatt-Nipp and applied it to his karambit. Knowing what he was applying, Xera now assumed the worst about not only their situation, but of the person who was on the other side. Without uttering a world or observing any form of social convention, Danton burst through the ornate doors, sending loose parchments flying. From her desk, the woman Danton had recognised in the paintings Isadora, suddenly stood up to greet him. The woman briefly smiled, before her expression turned sour and asked if Danton had received her letter. He burst out laughing, unable to entertain the idea that the woman in front of him had tried to get in contact. He outright accused her  of lying and told her he wanted nothing to do with her, only a way out. With that Chianna moved away from the potentially volatile conversation and over to Jarvan. To which he soon went red, as Chianna purposefully leaned over a table to clean, posturing herself in a provocative manner before laughing at him.

With anger and bitterness in her voice, she told Danton that their family could have used his help after the Great Descent and that he had never responded to her plea for help with the family. This sent Danton into a blind rage, asking her where she was when he was exiled from the family as a child and dumped into Qi. She barked back at him that it wasn't her decision and that she had only been six years old when it had happened. To this end, she questioned him as to why he was travelling with who everyone believed to be to blame. He sidestepped the issue, trying to turn the focus back onto her. She told him that when she was younger, she had tried over and over again to see him but their parents wouldn't let her. He berated her for her conceited efforts, saying that even her words had no value. It soon, as both Danton and Chianna predicted, turned into a violent war of words, dragging up long dead history and pouring salt into each others’ now open wounds. Danton gave a quick look over to Jarvan who nodded back. He grabbed Xera who had been meekly observing the family feud and shoved him so his body was close to the table. Danton reached into his pocket and pulled out the pot of green paint that he kept on his person and threw it as cover so he could get closer to her. THe paint pot seemed to explode as hit the ground, owing to the small compound that Danton stuck to the pots surface.  Green paint flew through the air, covering any conceivable surface, and blinding Isadora. This distraction allowed him to get right behind her and with his Khatt-Nipp laced blade, caressed its edge against her throat.

x

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (6) - The Handmaiden's Uncle

After a reassuring push out of the room; Jarvan dusted himself down, made sure his hair was set correctly, and headed straight for the end of the corridor. In a couple of moments he returned, explaining that one of the guards had left, while the other refused outright due to that if he was caught leaving his post, he would most likely be killed. The thought of anyone who would do kill for that kill didn't settle well with the group. Danton sighed before deciding he needed to take control of the situation himself. He laced a dart with Khatt-Nipp and hoped that the guard would have a compelling sense to get him away from his duties. The guard soon scratched the puncture would where he had been hit by the dart knocking it to the floor as he reached around. Almost immediately the drug started to take effect. He adjusted his own clothing, ruffled his hand through his hair and could be heard checking his breath. He bowed to the air with a gentleman's grace and offered to escort whatever he saw, to their private quarters. His ears raised a little and Danton could see the back of his neck start to redden as he left.

Raneaux was still refusing to cooperate. The metallic thread that Xera had bound her with, was digging into her skin and she pleaded with the rest of the group to let her go. For a brief moment it was considered before the requests to be freed were peppered with requests for food and soon she could see the answer on their faces. As they walked down the this new corridor, it was almost exactly the same as the others, which was starting to become disorientating. Doors were dotted along the flanking walls, with two more heavier set doors at either end. Danton had hoped to follow the guard out but found the door he had gone through was barring them from a number of bickering servants. He desperately tried the other doors, in hopes that he would find an exit. Instead, he found a storage closet full of old vials and equipment, along with dusty tomes and faded robes. The only interesting part to it  were the vials, which soon found their way into Xera's possession.

Back in the hallway, the sound coming from the servants behind the door was getting louder and the group decided it was probably best to stay away from being seen and headed down to the other end. The door here as well was flanked by the sounds  servants in disarray. A door to the group's left had been left slightly ajar and opened into humble bedroom compared to where they had arrived. There was also a glass door leading to a balcony and perhaps the possibility of escape. Danton suggested that Eryn use his flaming hand, to take him and Raneaux away from here while the rest of them would leave on foot. This sparked an intense debate about the best course of action, which was soon interrupted by a woman coughing at the door.

She was dressed more fashionable attire, although not gilded like the woman in the portraiture. She laughed as the group turned around, mentioning that she would recognise one of the group's eyes anywhere. For a brief second, Danton thought she was looking at him before realising she was talking to a now bright red Jarvan. She was about  foot shorter than him but had a personality that stepped far beyond what was appropriate a servant. She was confident and cocky, inviting Danton and Jarvan to sit by name, before accusing Danton of having a secret child while pointing to the young girl. Raneaux looked up in confusion, as Danton nearly chocked at the suggestion. He rebuked her assertions, while all the time, the woman continued to smile. That same smile soon bore monstrous teeth, as she threatened to blackmail Danton and Jarvan with the very fact they were where they were. Danton would have normally given this threat a little more credence but owing to who she was, he drew his karambit and flashed its reflection at her. She soon backed down, although she kept her bladed words.

Raneaux, now even more confused and asked the woman who she was and why she would think Raneaux was Danton's child. With a hint of sarcasm, she said that she was appalled and offended by the fact Danton or Jarvan had not even mentioned her in passing. She slowly pronounced her name, with her face close to Raneaux's face, Chi-a-nna, in the most patronising of ways before ending it with a kiss. Now feeling uneasy about the woman calling herself Chianna, Raneaux tried to reach for some food to take her mind off the situation. only to be stopped by her restraints and Eryn forcibly parting her from her belongings. As Raneaux struggled to get her items back, Chianna noticed the blackening veins on her hands before her jaw dropped and an audible realisation soon brought everyone back to looking at her. Danton attempted to navigate her spiteful and venomous attitude and eventually relinquished his hopes for a civil conversation, in exchange for a surprising offer of help.

Soon her motives were revealed, when she offered to take Raneaux to see her uncle. This uncle had been hidden behind the crates and shelving of the storage room. As they entered, Chianna turned a small statuette which started to pulse a low humming noise while it's eyes lit up with a ghostly blue. The wall next to it and the objects in front took on almost mirage like quality. To Raneaux's shock, Chianna walked straight though, even past the stone wall and disappeared to whatever was beyond as if nothing in front of her had any substance. Danton was unsure of Chianna's motives and given his familiarity with her and he old Xera to stay with him in case something was to happen although not explaining why. Chianna was soon followed by Eryn and Raneaux up in to a room hidden chamber under the roof supports. It was a tiny room with a dusty and dirty round lead window, a rusted wrought metal bed, a desk, a book case with a few shelves bucking to one side under the weight. Chianna told Eryn and Raneaux to wait while she went over to the desk and the man who was sat with his back to them, looking out the window. She turned the chair around to reveal and old man, scarred and wrinkled by a violent past and marred by black veins that throbbed all over his paling skin. If the man hadn't been as animated in his speech and in his head movements, he could have been mistaken for a killed by venom from  savage and brutal beast.

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (5) - The Mansion

Without uttering a single word, both Danton and Jarvan tried to usher everyone out of the room. Eryn looked towards them and could see their distress at where they were. On the other hand, this was probably the nicest place Eryn had ever ended up in after the execution and was more than happy to stay a little longer. Raneaux too had similar ideas, searching through the bookcase and side tables, next  to the king sized, four poster bed. Xera started to feel very out of place, his habitual sleeping arrangements in his lab in Darkperch made this bedroom feel exotic and uneasy. He was out of the room before Jarvan and Danton but didn't have any idea on which way to go. Danton turned to his butler to ask for directions but even Jarvan replied he had his limits. There was definite panic in his voice as he tried to ascertain which way they should go. He peered out of the bedroom; to the left, a wooden door and to the right the corridor extended to a right hand corner  and further still with servants running about like headless chickens, with some demanding to know where their servants were. The fact that there were servants would most likely mean they would alert the owner of this house to the groups presence, but the shouting and the insubordination in Danton's eyes, were far more worrying.

With a little coercion the group turned left, through the door and found themselves on a wrap around balcony overlooking the city. From what they could see, the building was intact and undamaged. In fact the building itself was so high from the city below that Eryn knew that there was only one place they could be. A set of connected spires, towers, courtyards and gardens that floated above the city; this wasn't the royal palace, or even a temple, it was the private holdings of House Ethis. The only family in Auspar that could afford to keep their buildings from even touching the ground. The fourteen or so floor drop from where they were made Raneaux a little queasy and thankfully eased her hunger pains. Eryn tried to press Danton for answers but he remained elusive and carried on to the other door at the end of the walkway rather than replying. With a little knowledge from Jarvan and a flash of something small and metallic, this next door was soon unlocked. It revealed a small chamber lined with books on three walls, with the fourth being a heavy curtained window and the door they had just come through. Opposite where they had entered was the door out framed the books, along with a single quilted chair, a pair of glasses with optional extra lenses, a candle set in a mirror like liquid and a plain wooden table, carved from a single piece of wood.  

Xera was now in his element and was rifling through someone else's books as if they were his own, much to the displeasure of Jarvan; who tidied them back away after they had been discarded due to their uninteresting nature. Tucked behind a set of fake books, was a small box containing aged scribed notes and a small metal attachment to some sort of device. They detailed that the metallic plate was once used in the reverence of the spirits and had somehow harnessed their energy into a weaponized format. The notes further detailed that the glasses that had seemed unsuspicious on the table, were actually designed to indentify all the Numenera in visual range and transfer the information directly to the wearer. By that point in the notes, Xera had grabbed the glasses along with the plate and had stuffed them on his person. Danton and Eryn meanwhile were scoping out the doorway and the hall that the room lead to. The choice again was simple; either left or right. To the left again there were doors but far heavier and lavishly decorated .The other choice, two guards who stood at the entrance to the hallway itself and presumably the carved doors as well.

Although everything about this situation was telling Danton to run he had no real idea where he was. He discussed possible tactics with Eryn before coming to the conclusion that it was in their best interests to find out who, if anyone, was behind those doors. If they were important or rich enough to need guards, they would possible be a help, or more than likely, the cause of their deaths. Danton slipped down the corridor a few feet, noting the paintings on the wall were again of the same woman from the bedroom. A wave of apprehension knotted in his stomach and his head started to pound. Danton rubbed his face with his palms before bending down to the keyhole. He had presumed that he might have to enter the room but the keyhole at least would provide some information.

The room beyond was a chaotic shambles of vast piles of parchment, books littered where they could balance and all seemed to have been marred by an ink well or two. Behind the paper landscape was a young woman, finely dressed. The refinement of her clothes only served to accentuate her unkempt hair and the darkness under her eyes. She brought a gloved hand to her face and pushed the hair from her eyes and for a moment Danton thought she was staring straight at him. He almost stumbled backwards, nearly forgetting the guards at the other end. He dove back into the reading room and briefed everyone on the current situation. When he had finished he told Jarvan to get rid of the guards anyway he sought fit. The idea seemed as terrifying to Jarvan as if he was about to be eaten by some grotesque creature from the Beyond. He protested over and over, emphasising that he would be recognised, a fact that Danton assured him would not be a problem. 

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (4) - Antethykera

The wooden box buzzed a couple more times, replaying the same message. Eryn had ignored it again and again, not wanting to get involved with Dehart and the Whisper Network. Valma on the other hand, had other ideas. It had woken up from Eryn's belt, much to the amazement of Raneaux, and was now projecting her regular aura of a deep fiery red. As Raneaux tapped Valma, it span on the spot dancing, before it demanded a secret. Raneaux, not fully understanding what the creature was, or what it would mean to divulge a secret to, had been about to speak before she stopped herself. An almost indescribable hunger gnawed at  her. It was as if she had been jolted by a spark of electricity. Her fingertips started to burn and  where she felt pain, she noticed her golden veins had darkened into an almost black blue.

She screamed out in terror not realising if it was Valma who had turned her fingers, or something larger at work. Valma explained over and over that it couldn't withstand Raneaux's behaviour and soon was silenced by a secret told by Eryn. In exchange, he tasked Valma to look into the flower transport network  under the suspicion that Dehart was up to something. Valma was connected in some way to everything that was going on, and hopefully her records would give him even a little piece of information. Now placated, Valma accepted it’s task before changing back into her more portable form away from Raneaux.

Eryn turned his full concern  now, over to Raneaux, who was already being cared for by both Jarvan and Danton. Eryn asked her about her connections to the Guldspar. Even the mention of the name seemed to cause her pain, as she outright refused to go back to them, or even be called one.  The only Guldspar Eryn had known were either under the employment of Dehart, or the unconfirmed leader, Braxx. The latter he had been to suspicious about contacting due to, who he assumed to be a man, their close proximity with the Neaves. He started to think long and hard about how to find the nearest Guldspar without alerting suspicion, when another thought popped into his head. The Neave he had known personally had told him a keyword that would allow direct communication to another Guldspar via the Guldspar themselves. He broached the subject with Raneaux, who needed quite a lot of calming down as well as a reluctantly given shot from the hipflask by Danton. She had never heard of of this ability but her lack of experience around them may be the only reason why she hadn’t heard of it. The word antethykera soon rang in her mind, echoing and reverberating till she could hear and speak no more.

Eryn called out the name of the Guldspar he knew by name, Braxx. There was an uncomfortable silence as the girl stood with her head tilted back and her mouth open but unable to do anything. A voice soon spluttered out of her mouth of an old man, seemingly hard of hearing and a little bit more than just eccentric. Eryn cautiously introduced himself and was immediately interrupted by Braxx's fears for Neave's children.  Eryn lied to him without any thought and to his luck, Braxx had bought it. Eryn quickly moved the conversation over to Raneaux before Braxx could start asking questions. He asked about the blue veins infecting Raneaux. Braxx's voice suddenly became calmer and tinged with sadness and bitterness. He told Eryn to take her to a Guldspar, and to make sure she doesn't eat, otherwise she will die. I no uncertain terms, that was all Eryn needed to do.  Braxx explained further that had requested the assistance of an unsavoury character to find specialists. Their field of expertise were to do with what Braxx believed to be the cause, the Blue Famine. He explained to Eryn that his contact had already sent out requests and so situation already in hand and there was nothing more to be done. With that, Braxx cut himself off from Raneaux, in turn she collapsed to the floor, trying to scrape his voice off her tongue with her fingers.

Danton turned to Xera, who turned to Eryn, all bar Danton were obviously uncomfortable. Danton pressed both Xera and Eryn for any information they knew but both were apparently clueless to the existence of the Blue Famine although their body language said otherwise. From the other side of the room, Raneaux shouted at Jarvan. The group turned sharply around to notice that Jarvan had plucked a chunk of bread out of Raneaux hand and was now holding it above her head out of reach. Within moments Xera pulled out a cord from the spider trapped in his ring and bound her hands behind her for her own good. Her struggling and protesting made two things clear. She was starting to become ever more hungry, and the idea of visiting another Guldspar was worse than death. This made the walk back to the Undercroft a little more ‘interesting’, as at every opportunity she was either trying to eat, or escape.

Dehart by now was wandering the market with two guards when he was spotted by Eryn. There was a brief moment of humility from Eryn, while Dehart took pleasure in the opportunity. That was until he noticed the fingertips of Raneaux and he suddenly became concerned for her welfare, offering the help of his own Guldspar if necessary. This confirmed to Eryn that Dehart was the unsavoury character that Braxx had employed and the letter he had sent requesting his help, was concerning Black Sunshine. Eryn mentioned that he needed to see Braxx in person and put Dehart on the back foot. He stammered over his words for a second or two before explaining the situation although still unsure how Eryn would know of his plans. As soon as Dehart started to repeat what Braxx had told them, Eryn interrupted and asked for the quickest way to find him.

Dehart, now a little sour; explained that after the unfortunate incidents in the city, some of the more valuable pieces and trinkets from well guarded families had been acquired. In a thin metal box, Dehart brought out a flower with its roots wrapped around an almost imperceptible light. He explained that the plant was called Nostradidium and it was taken from a plant nursery from house Lyathra; along with a few wooden boxes that somehow allowed the user to move between flowers.  With the little time he had, he had gained an infantile understanding of the flower network. To this extend Braxx had told Dehart that if needed, he could be accessed by the network, specifically the Nostradidium as it was favoured by the family he was staying with. He handed Danton and Jarvan over a wooden box and carefully considered giving Raneaux one before looking down at her fingertips and giving in. He tried to give a brief explanation but Eryn soon overshadowed him with his own, are far more detailed instructions. In the end Xera, Eryn and Raneaux  all eventually connected to the flower network but both Danton and Jarvan were hesitant and apprehensive. They looked at each other, neither wanted to go. If it hadn't been for Dehart coercing them, they perhaps would never have gone. Danton's apprehension and suspicions about the family Braxx was staying with was soon confirmed. The group had found themselves in a luxurious bedroom, filled with opulent fabrics, multiple flower arrangements, the sweet scent of perfume and detailed portraiture of one woman; a woman Danton wished he would never see again, at least not alive.    

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (3) - Opportunity

Inside was charred beyond recognition, although the ceiling above seemed to have fared better. Xera presumed that that was due to Dehart's intervention.  The only thing that hadn't been burned were the vines growing from the broken pots around the room. For the amount of time he had been away, it was noticeable, even to a chemist like himself, that the growth was not natural. He looked over to where the vast majority of the Black Sunshine had been stored. It's burnt shadow was darker than its surroundings but had also given the vines more vigour than the rest. It was these vines sprouting from here, that dotted the room with metallic blue flowers that hung from the ceiling. As he sniffed one of the flowers, he felt the compulsion to be sick and had to be held back by Danton for a moment. Although he hadn't eaten since earlier before the magnetic storm, the thought turned his stomach. 

When he regained his footing he took a specimen of the flower along with what he presumed to be a pod of seeds. With his back turned, Danton seized the opportunity to harvest some seeds for himself, primarily the ones that could grow equipment. There was a brief moment where Danton heard Xera stop cutting and his feet shuffling behind him. He could feel he had been spotted and turned around to apologise. His first few words stammered out, only to fall onto Xera's back. He barely turned at Danton's explanation, and told him that if he wanted to take the seeds he was more than welcome to, although the reason behind intrigued him.  Danton turned to Jarvan and nodded. His butler preceded to take out a small case containing a supply of what Xera presumed to be Khatt-Nipp. Intrigued, Xera asked what he was doing with such a quantity of the drug. The reply was a simple offer of employment. In Qi, Danton manufactured the drug in commercial quantities but he had nobody in Auspar start a second operation. Now that the Shadow Guard had taken over entry and exit out of the city and the caldera walls loomed over most of the city, he also needed someone who was a citizen as well. Xera looked at the vials in the case, over to Jarvan and his finely polished suit,  over the high fashion of Danton and then to his own arms. Without hesitation, he agreed.

In the market, the crowd that Eryn and the girl had hid behind in observation, were slowly leaving. The orator had turned his back and was deliberately walking slowly down the steps towards a small trunk. There had been familiar tones in the speakers voice to Eryn but it was the young girl who tugged away at his clothing in the opposite direction. He ignored her and continued onwards, to which she soon clung to his side again. As Eryn approached the figure, they was taking off their hood. Eryn sighed as he realised who he was about to talk to and before he started speaking, reached into a pocket to bring out a letter. He coughed, startling Dehart, who was now changing into his Silver Palm attire. He too reacted in a similar disappointed fashion when he saw Eryn, but that all changed when he saw the girl. Reneaux he shouted, before breaking into a fit of laughter. He told them both he didn't know who to feel more sorry for, Eryn for travelling with her, or vice-versa. After the hilarity of the situation had finally worn off, Dehart's tone turned aggressive, demanding to know why she was in the city. Before she could even answer he again poked fun at her, realising she had been hiding out in Darkperch during the evacuation, and hence not responding to his invitations.

 Eryn looked at Dehart, then back down to Reneaux and for a second or two, allowed them both to verbally assault each other. He had never heard he speak before and the language she knew certainly betrayed her visible years, almost to the point where it was edging towards territory even he wasn't comfortable with.  The words however soon gave into their bladed counterparts and Eryn quickly had to intervene, dragging Reneaux away from Dehart. As they both left Eryn shouted to him that regardless of what he had wanted Eryn for, he was not interested anymore and threw the letter to the ground. As they walked away, Eryn tried to get an explanation out of Raneaux but she had returned to her silent self. Although she did start to murmur when they approached the vast gap between them and the entrance to Xera's lab.

They had caught Danton and Xera a little off guard in the middle of discussing business, which they quickly covered up. Reneaux soon took an interest in the plants growing around the room and Xera ended up trying to keep her away from, as he wasn't sure what the plants would do to her.  Danton had turned to his butler meanwhile and had broken out an ornate hipflask. They were both, unbeknownst to the group, celebrating. That was until the drink turned into a crux for dealing with the irrational. Eryn's wooden box that had used to connect to the flower network spurted into life bleeping at him and alerting the group to its existence. He realised that he would have to explain what it was if he was to get it out and thought it might be best not to even look and ignore the situation. However curiosity soon got the better of him and so then explained his experiences to Danton, Jarvan and Raneaux. 

Both the gentlemen seemed to need more than just words to process the information, while the girl was now even more fascinated with Eryn.  He looked down at the box Incoming connection, do you wish to connect? He shook his head at the phrase and fumbled around with the box and eventually connected. It was a message, something that Eryn didn't know the device could transmit or receive. It was an apology from Dehart. Eryn was now intrigued and concerned, it wasn't the fact that Dehart was apologising to him, it was the fact that he had Whisper Network technology on him. 

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (2) - Colours of the Regent

The lightning strikes became their footsteps as they ran. The young girl was far swifter than the others; out pacing them with every step. Soon it was only her that hadn't felt the wrath of the storm above. It lasted for around thirty more minutes, which eventually got them into sight of the city. It's once proud towers had sunk and the obsidian spire was nowhere in sight.  If you weren't able to peer over the edge of the caldera, you wouldn't see the twelve or so floors below the lip. Some of the towers were slightly askew, and there was obvious signs of bridges and other connections either broken or being repaired. There was one major change however that transformed the city at a glance. The once opulent and jubilant bunting and flags and decorations had all gone. Along with the fall of the rock gardens and waterfall, so too did the colours that accented the buildings. There were all replaced with single plain black flags that had now been attached to the top of the surviving spires.

As they approached closer, the change had affected Eryn. He no longer saw the city as a home of sorts. He was apprehensive, he hadn't told anyone else why they were travelling to the city but now with a newly fortified entrance gate and two broad sword wielding guards coming into view, he thought to himself perhaps it was best if they turned back. In his thoughts, he became lost again and was only aroused by Danton approaching the he guards himself, alone. They were wearing heavily modified Grapnel armour, along with thicker cloth and sharper steel. With a few quick words and money exchanging hands, one of the guards opened the lift cage that lay behind them.

The Guldspar girl had noticed that Danton had given the guards a trinket of some sort and  with her head turned away, handed over a screwdriver from her satchel to one of the guards. The guard looked down at his hand and patted the young girl on the head. He turned to Danton and slowly his expression changed. His eyes widened  as he scratched his chin. He whispered to the other guard before pointing at Danton and mentioning to him that he looked very similar to members of House Ethis. Before anything could be said, Xera calmly walked up to both of the guards and implanted a suggestion that when asked, everyone in the group were researchers from House Ethis, to which Danton swallowed heavily.

The guards both shook their head for a second before apologising to the group and stepping aside for them to enter. The lift itself was a metal cage on a set of pulleys and ropes, that were attached to some sort of machine which one of the guards was operating. The guard waved at them as they started to descend although nobody returned the gesture. The cage was literally that, a small metal construct that left little room to move with two three bodies, let alone five. Traveling down was slow and the evidence of The Great Decent littered the lower levels. The merchant district was slowly being fixed but it was akin to the speed of The Foundations, not to those with money. It was only further down that the group saw why.

The eventual destination of the lift was in close proximity to the Undercroft market. And as they descended they could see that here, defiance was celebrated. Bright bunting hung from every possible hook and the market stalls had even seemed to refresh their vibrant awnings. The sculptures and decorations that had adorned the space above the market had fallen, but in their place were enormous balloons and other objects that could happily float on their own. The construction crews around here were the same in the merchant district, something Eryn had never seen before. They were dressed plainly with a spot of colour in the form of a rag tied around the wrist or peaking out  back pocket. They also shared a similar crest that was embroidered onto their clothes although hardly ever in the same spot.

From the cage Eryn could see a robed figure standing in the main performance area of the Undercroft, with his arms outstretched and a massing crowd around him. He also shared the same crest as the builders but it was emblazoned on his back. There was no telling who the figure was but Eryn was keen to see who had captured everyone's attention. Although Danton had kept quiet after Xera had enquired about his connection to Ethis, he perked up as they were approaching the bottom, asking Xera if he had any place to go. He replied that he did have a laboratory of sorts, although he did not know what state it would be in. A sly smile crept across Danton's face.

The cage jerked to a stop, forcing all of them up against the cage walls as they braced.THe cage door slid open and the group were finally able to breath easy. Xera told Eryn they would meet up at the Undercroft performance area but didn;'t explain why he was leaving. THe fact that he had left with Danton raised suspicion and more questions to Eryn but held his tongue for the time being.  The walk to the lab was devoid of people, although punctuated by the sound of building work overhead. The hole that Eryn had made outside of Xera lab had seemed to have stopped looters from coming in. That however, did not stop things coming out. The plants that Xera had grown to harvest his lab equipment had been left unchecked. Although they were not bearing any fruit, they were flowering, and were slowly prying apart the walls of the laboratory. Danton commented on the charred wood of crates outside as well as the crater in front of his door; to which the only answer was Eryn.

TSW - Chapter 3: Disruption (1) - The Girl and the Storm

To travel from Darkperch to Auspar; it would usually take a couple of hours through the woods and into the open plains and fields around the caldera. Along this road, heavy cart tracks have gullied the sides between the mines and the city; but for its distance and the mines importance, the route was normally unguarded. That was until Chancellor Pheylor became Chancellor Regent. With the uncertainty of the princess' existence and disappearance of the King following The Great Descent, Pheylor had taken control of the royal court and in essence crowned himself King.  With his new power, he had increased what most citizens of Thaemor protested against with the old king, the Shadow Tax.

Holva the First had created this tax under the proviso to the people that it was for their benefit. His subjects on the other hand, had other ideas. His infamous insanity left no quarter for chances, and every action was left  full of doubt and suspicion by his people. They believed that his madness had caused innumerable and unforgiving laws and so nearly all his proclamations were ignored. The first and foremost example of that was the Shadow Tax. Under Pheylor, the people had no choice but to accept the Chancellor regent's laws, as they perceived Pheylor to be sound of mind.  Along with the money, there needed to be a guarantee that the wealth would not only be collected but also returned to the crown in safety. The Grapnel Guard, like the citizens of Thaemor, had ignored the old king however but had no objection to Pheylor and became his loyal guard. Although nobody any real idea what the Shadow Tax was really for it seemed in part go to towards Pheylor's newly coined Shadow Guard. The old Grapnel Guard had never left the city and had left most of the jurisdiction to Ferral Hawkson purpose but they were now venturing out in the Steadfast, requisitioning supplies for outposts along the road towards Jyrek. The  first of these was now between Eryn, Xera, Danton and his butler. Chance was nowhere to be seen. In fact he had received a mysterious letter some days ago calling him back to Qi. WHatever was in that letter he had taken up the opportunity without delay although he did not notice the penmanship similar to that of Eryn.

The outpost was nothing more than a shack at appearances, made out of refuse wood and metal. The construction was sturdy enough for the shack to stand up  adorned with bladed or powered defences. There was no sign of anyone around and the open plains around the building were to deserted. From the tree line Eryn noticed that darkening clouds were heading his way, but luckily it wasn't the Iron Wind, at least from appearances he hoped. He turned around to the group to consult on their best course of action, when a branch gave way under the dark canopy of leaves a small distance away. A slight figure fell to the ground before scurrying behind a tree.

He told the group to stand back while he went over to investigate, with Danton ignoring him completely. Eryn called out to behind the tree. Eyes with a faint golden glow, peered out from the shadows before darting back. His constant reassurance, crossed with Danton's interventions, slowly brought the figure out. Eryn ignited his halo as to illuminate who was approaching him. She, was a young girl, not much older than sixteen. She meekly stepped into the light with shuffling feet. She seemed utterly taken by the fire and by the same token, did not answer any questions. It was plain for all to see, that the girl was malnourished and also and more importantly a Guldspar. This fact was barely noticeable on her marred skin. Her clothes were torn and muddied and her hair was in a similar, knotted and dry. The group had encountered the golden veins before but not how she had in some part embodied the golden colour. Not only did her eyes have it’s tint, so too did her skin and the tips of her dark brown hair.

She had had refused not only to speak, but now to move as she was transfixed on Eryn's flames. Danton had tried to lure her with food but without saying a word, she opened up her satchel and showed a set of rations while still maintaining eye contact with the flames.  As Eryn tried to take the bread Danton was offering, the girl crawled forward from where she sat, following him. In the shadow cast by Eryn’s halo, the veins had extended beyond her flesh and now gilded her shadow. The new fact allowed him to bring her back to Jarvan and Xera, who were now more concerned about the looming storm. They both told Eryn and Danton they could taste iron in the air, and the hairs on their arms were now standing on end. Even the young girl nodded along showing off her tongue and arms, inadvertently showing her forearm blade.

The sensations intensified as lightning struck the ground in the distance. The wind was now picking up and the shack beyond the tree line was on the edge of being shaken apart. As the clouds gathered overhead,lhe strikes of lightning increased in number. Metal objects, such as Danton's karambit and Jarvan's letter opening started to curl on their person. In a blink, the small metal objects from the shack that had been shaken free by the wind; were now floating upwards towards the sky, in what looked like a vortex.  

From out of nowhere the young girl cried out in pain as her forearm blade had twisted and lodged itself in a deep cut that it had slashed into her arm. Although she was not bleeding she was crying in pain for a minute or two with both Danton and Jarvan rushing to help her. She, in turn, bit her lip and rebuked them. She scrunched her eyes while feeling around her satchel for a glove. It was made from rings and finger tip coverings along with a back plate and a central gemstone  setting in the palm connecting the separate pieces by chains and wires. The material looked like synth while the gemstone was unidentifiable, even to Danton. She placed her glove on the opposite hand to the wound, breathed in deeply and clenched her teeth.

A small red light emanated from the jewel that bathed her forearm blade and her skin.  She moved her hand into a more claw like position over the metal, as if going to grab it. Slowly but surely, alongside screams and watery bloodshot eyes, the metal was slowly pulled out of her flesh. The light continued to bathe her skin with the metal removed, closing the wound. She tossed the glove to the ground after the jewel shattered and looked up to the sky. It was dark and bubbling with electricity, that was now striking more and more often. A bolt struck the shack sending a shockwave out along with debris. The trees behind them were slowly being  felled by bolts from the storm. There was nothing left to do but run.

TSW - Chapter 2: The Heart of the House (8) - The Dining Room

Back in the room with Lavinia and Randall, a pale leathery face peered out form the hole in the floor. It stared with it gaping mouths that whispered and chattered and giggled. Randall could see  the face in the corner of his eye. He slowly forced Lavinia out of the room as so they would not attract attention. Without any clear intent, Randall shoved her into a room full of mirrors. Some of the mirrors were freestanding, some were mounted on the wall while others were frameless. There were also a few rare mirrors with ornate scrawled frames, much like the paintings in the house. It was these mirrors that showed signs of cracking. By the light from the chandelier above them,  the hairline fractures that spread out from the frames were easily seen.

There was a dart of red in one of the mirrors that caused Randall to look back behind him. He saw nothing but part of his reflection in another mirror. As he looked however, he slowly saw the reflection of what of in front of himself. There was another dash of red before blood started to ooze out from the fracture that the blob had passed over. Without even turning his head, he decided it was time to prove to Lavinia that these things were not real and took out his rapier. He thrust it forward towards into the glass expecting it to pass right through; in fact the mirror shattered, causing Lavinia to jump out her skin.

The red blob was soon spotted again and again by Randall, jumping from mirror to mirror. It seemed to catch itself on the cracks, causing itself to bleed. One by one, each mirror was frantically smashed down as Randall gave chase. The last mirror refused to crack however. The red blob was now more distinct. It was a writhing mass of flesh that lashed out with bloodied growths at the glass and at the reflection of Randall. Before it darted away, Randall could make out a singular giant orange eye. He was prepared to not tell Lavinia for fear of causing her to panic even further but she had already witnessed it and had fallen to her knees in sobs.

Randall now took the bow from his back and desperately fired at the last mirror. He shot again and again with each arrow only slightly cracking the mirror before bouncing off. It took almost his entire remaining ammunition to destroy the mirror. When it was achieved however, it accompanied by the sounds of children's laughter. As the laughter fell silent, the candles of the chandelier were blown out and both felt their eyes and head becoming heavy as stone.

Upon hearing the laughter and seeing nothing happening to himself, Danton rushed to where thought Lavina and Randall would be. He saw the door to the room down the hall to where they had just been swing shut. He quickly ran for it, and desperately grabbed onto the handle. Xera could only watch on as the metal from it quickly covered his entire body, swallowing him like a serpent until all that remained was the handle. As Xera looked on in stunned dismay, he  he felt a sharp sting in his neck before a leathery hand covered his face and eyes.

***

 The group eventually awoke to find  themselves all around a dining table. Eryn, Zeigev and Chail were all still unconscious for any number of reasons. Lavinia cried out to Randall while Xera noticed there were four pale leathery skinned creatures sat with them. Just as Danton had seen, they were hairless and featureless creatures, save for mouths that adorned the surface of their head. Chance pleaded with them to let the group go before he saw that they too were retrained like he was. This fact now left group squirming in their seats as they had on some level expected these creatures to be their assailants. The restraints themselves that bound them all seemed to be like serpents to Danton, and although he looked high and low for fuzzy neon lights, there were none and panic set in.

The pressure in the air changed for a second, causing everyone's ears to pop, that was apart from Randall and Chance. Within seconds Lavinia was screaming again, pointing wildly around the room and accusing everyone of being less worthy and therefore should be eaten. Danton yelled out for Jarvan expecting to be freed by his butler. Xera looked confused, and before acknowledging his restraints, asked the group when he had left his laboratory in Auspar.

Randall now with a broken heart, tried to mend Lavinia's memories as she lashed out at him. His words however were experienced, carefully chosen and honeyed. She was slowly calmed down and was brought around to his way of thinking, which caused the memories she had lost to be regained. With those memories, she also now saw her stuffed Seskii from her childhood on the plate in front of her. A voice, licked her ear and asked her if she was hungry. Without questioning, she leant her head over the toy and tore into it with her teeth, revealing flesh and bone underneath the fake fur, rather than the stuffing she expected. Although she initially thought to recoil she forced herself to continue.

On Danton's plate molten gold, dripped over cases of pills and vials of drugs and needles, Lavinia's head was served up to Randall, while Chance saw a pair of hands with bloodied carved  designs in the flesh. Chance turned towards Danton and Randall, who were at the other end of the table and who both had both refused their meal, and saw something unexpected. There were Three purple skinned humanoids, around three foot tall, with no facial features save for what looked like their brains protruding the surface of their skulls. Both their feet and hands had tapered into a points and the end of their limbs but they were still able to operate what looked like medical equipment.  

Chance shouted to group about their existence, to which Randall, who had consciously been trying to see through any illusion, now also saw. This fact now also ended the illusion of memory loss within the group. As both Randall and Chance's eyes fixed on the creatures, the creatures themselves seemed startled and the room went black. The candles were somehow quickly relit, only to illuminate the now un-restrained creatures, bearing teeth and claw.

Lavina stared intently at the creature coming for her. Some of its lips were salivating, while others chattered of her death. She forced an image into the creatures mind that caused it so much pain that it collapsed and curled up in to a ball on the floor, muttering incoherently. Chance, only two seats away, had managed for free himself, much like Randall had now done. Another leather faced creature lunged at Xera but he managed to dodge by falling over while still restrained in his chair. The distraction of him falling over, had allowed Danton to free himself before he ran to the double doors and into the hallway.

Chance upon noticing Xera on the floor, ignored the hostile creatures and went to his aid, freeing him and helping him out of the room. In the chaos, Randall was setting up what had attacked Lavinia upstairs. He had no real clue what to do apart from what he understood from Xera's loud and frantic instructions. Time was needed to change it from a large perimeter to one of close quarters and time was running out. Chance saw an opportunity to distract their enemies with a violin and dancers, who now twirled around the room keeping the attention of the creatures.

The apt distraction allowed Chance to grab Chail in his arms, for Danton to throw Eryn over his shoulder and for Xera to hobble out while propping up Zeigev. Danton however quickly pointed out that the door in the ground floor corridor, as they already knew, had had gone and had yet to return. He told them that the only other door they hadn't tried was back in the room they had just left. Randall at the same time had noticed that the dancers were slowing down, and alerted Chance. He knew this meant that the creatures were soon to have their wits again and told the group of this fact. Danton broadened his shoulders before picking up Eryn again and charged into the room and out the other door.

Randall took this as a sign to activate the device and ran out of the room following the others. The device let off salvo after salvo of red light that blasted into the creatures again and again. Discharge after blast was heard thudding into the creatures as their many voices cried out in pain. As soon as everyone was in the room Danton slammed the door shut and kept it held fast, waiting for the desperate scratching of the creatures to stop. Lavinia hurried to the other door in the room, to which Danton was thankful for its existence. She let out an audible scream as she breathed in the fresh air and fell to the ground, clutching the grass in her hands.

***

A few hours later the group returned. Chial was handed over to Jarvan, who was still attending the wounded after the Iron Wind had ripped through the caravan. Eryn was put laid on his bed in his room to rest while the others waited downstairs in the bar while Mavis went to fetch Froge.

Zeigev had taken quite a few shots of some of the strongest stuff behind the bar, which made the rest of them a little nervous. None of them were huge enthusiasts of alcohol and they knew that those that drank that much at taverns had deep running reasons to. It wasn't long before they were given their answer as Mavis returned with Froge.

The second Froge's wheelchair had moved past the threshold of the Drunken Tallon, Zeigev launched at him with a knife and incoherent rage. Froge instinctively stood up from his chair and darted for the door while Zeigev screamed about Froge leaving him for dead, for discrediting him, and for penning atrocities under his name to promote his own work.

The group was left stunned as Froge ran out of the inn. The fight had now spilled out in to main road. Froge was forced to doge around a few carts and a large boulder. It afforded Randall enough time to take aim at his leg and to pin his leg to impair him. Danton, taking Randall's lead, shot Frog with a Khatt-Nipp dosed dart. Froge's eyes widened as he could hear adulation and adoration for his novels. It distracted him long enough for the poison Lavina and just infected him with to work. A third arm burst from his chest, causing him to shout out in pain as the third first started pummelling into him, eventually leaving him bloodied, bruised and lifeless.  

Zeigev could only look on in horror to what had just happened, He turned to the group to ask why but was instead hit with a tranquiliser by Xera and fell to the floor before anything more could be asked. Danton instructed Jarvan to take both bodies inside while he offering Lavinia and Randall a means to contact him. Although Ren had been an odorous creature, he had at least been able to pick mostly capable mercenaries. 

TSW - Chapter 2: The Heart of the House (7) - Prior

Whatever the creatures saw, they scattered almost instantaneously. As the cloud dispersed, the three seemed relatively shaken by what they had seen but Randall could offer no explanation. Lavinia had decided that everything she would see from now on needed to be physically inspected for its reality. So, she leant over the hole the creatures had come through and dropped her torch down expecting it to fall into the room below. Instead it fell into the crawl space between the floorboards, illuminating a construct made of  metal.

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a sturdy tripod with that supported a large red ball. As Lavinia lent down to take a better look at the finer details, she was blasted by a force of energy that knocked her back and winded her, causing shooting pains on her left side. Randall immediately dived over to Lavinia to support her. Xera on the other hand, knowing he didn't need to help her, had become intrigued the object and used every last ounce of knowledge he had to try and understand what he had attacked Lavinia. After a while, Xera was able to gleam information on what he had found. It was a device that mostly likely could be used to set up a large parameter defence from a central point. A fact the other two had missed as they had both had gone downstairs while Xera had rambled about the possibilities of it .   

Lavinia and Randall had passed Chance on their way down, but did not stop to tell him of what had happened. They both had quickly ushered themselves, as well as Danton, back into the room where Zeigev had changed. Although Danton protested, they were forcefully persuasive and he eventually relented.  He found to his confusion, only scratch marks where Zeigev had been. Outside the corridor, Xera had followed them downstairs, ignoring Chance as well, trying to now get into a better position to hear the conversation. Without warning Lavinia burst into apologies before Randall offered clarity. They spoke of their contract to a man named Ren, who they believed was under Danton's employment. This sparked apprehension and curiosity in him as they explained the vision of the man upstairs. The alluded to the fact that this had been a man Danton had wanted to Ren to 'keep silent' and had obviously found someone to do it for him. Danton was now curious as to why this person, if they were telling the truth, would even be up there and not under lock and key. There was a few moments pause before Danton raised his eyebrow. Lavinia turned her head and looked to the floor as Randall shifted his eyes sideways away from Danton's. He explained that the man had escaped and they had not been able to stop him. His tone changed, Randall was now fearful and almost stumbled over his words. He stressed to Danton that with the connections the prisoner had, his return to them would mean all their lives were under threat. They said that they had intended after getting to the truth of the letter to warn him. They had tried to get in contact with him through Ren, but Ren had been already been murdered

Upstairs Chance had been drawn by the smell of fire and went into the empty room that had presented itself as a playroom from Lavinia's past. To Chance, it was the perfect empty room. There was a small amount of cloth and shards of broken wooden furniture. As he had walked up the stairs he could feel the paint from the paintings he had tied to his back, drip and bleed onto his clothes. They had ran down his back and his legs to which they had dripped onto the floor leaving dark trails behind him. As he had tried to wipe it off his person, he found that the paint was more like blood than the oils used. He had desperately tried to keep himself under control going up the stairs. He by now had realised the every piece of art here was cursed, and that no matter what the value of them, they could only cause pain. In anger at the situation, he threw the paintings into the middle of the room with the scraps of cloth and pieces of wood before he took a torch to them and watched them burn.

Danton below had paced up and down the room a few times before he demanded he see the room for himself. They marched upstairs with Xera, sheepishly following, as Danton quickly made it obvious that he had been seen. There again was laughter as they trod upstair while the paintings in front of Chance slowly smouldered in changing hues. Danton ignored Chance and headed straight for the door Lavinia pointed too from behind him. As he tried the handle, it too showed resistance like it had to Xera. Before he could be warned, the door gave way, causing Danton to fall and for more laughter to follow. The room was empty. There was not even a sign of where the candles would have been held that  Randall and Lavinia had seen earlier. Danton questioned them again on their reliability, and what they knew of Ren. They explained he was a man who adored violence and food, and would stuff money with his sweaty greasy hands into his pocket as easily as gristle into his mouth. 

Danton swallowed for a second, Ren had always made him feel a little queasy, and an accurate description did as much as seeing him in person. Before he could give them a proper response, he heard shouting from across the landing by Chance. He was yelling about a fire in the room going out of control. Randall stopped Lavinia before she could rush out, pointing out to her that the last fire in that room had not been real. Danton however went to investigate and found an empty room apart from a torch to one side and a pile of burning wood in the centre. There was also two footprints made of ash, a few feet away from the painting within arm's reach of the torch. The fire soon snuffed itself out and through the ash Danton could see there were fragments of something that hadn't burned.

Xera cleared his throat behind Danton and startled him. Xera had followed Danton in cautiously, after Danton had proved the room was empty. He too looked down at the ash pile and saw what hadn't been burned and took a closer eye to it. Upon inspection, Xera told Danton that the shards that hadn't burned, were either shavings or splinters of some kind of underknown wood. He told him this fact almost disbelieving. Neither of them could understand why the wood hadn't burned while the rest had. They both decided it was best if they took a samples back with them for further analysis, although Danton walked away smiling.