Assassin's Will

Assassin's Will
Date of Scene:	16 January 2013
Location:	Rabanastre Palace
Synopsis:	Luso finds a mysterious letter warning someone about the mysterious plans held for the royal palace. Not having a good feeling about this, he gets in contact with others to investigate...
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Will Sherman, Mercade Alexander, Cirra Constantine, Maximilien, Luso Clemens, Emi Dennou, Zelose

---

Luso Clemens has posed:
Night has long fallen over the capital city of Rabanastre. A natural occurrence. What's not natural however, are the various shadowed forms leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Their destination? The royal palace. Swift as the wind and supremely silent, these dark assassins make their way in through raised balconies, making quick work of any guards before they even knew what hit them. The plan was going smoothly.

Meanwhile, Luso Clemens, who had arrived in the city earlier that day was approaching the royal palace from the front, bloodied note still in his hand. There was literally no time at all to get this out to the proper channels. The best he could have done in the time he had was to put out an alert over the radio, which indeed, he had done.

No one had shown up for it so far though. Nevertheless, there was little time to waste. That note vaguely mentioned something about the royal palace! That mean that something bad was going to go down!

And Luso's assumption turned out to be spot on. The guards usually posted at the front gates were oddly missing. There was absolutely no trace of them at all. They just...vanished. "...Something's definitely not right here..." He mumbled, staring down at the bloodied letter in his hand again, trying to make sense of it. But alas, he couldn't.

A sigh was given then and the boy stared off at the palace gates, lingering for a bit and looking left and right before finally deciding to approach. He only came here to warn the authorities, but since the authorities weren't here to be warned...

...It was time to take matters into his own hands!

And so Luso began to test the gates, finding them to be slightly ajar. "Someone was here already...?" Even more suspicious! With a bit of a stronger push, he managed to create ample enough space to get into palace proper...

Will Sherman has posed:
A barrel in one of the storage areas had caused a bit of a small panic to the work crews in the kitchen. Haunted, they declared, there was a GHOST in the store room.

In reality it was the sound of a sleeping person. A hobo...or HOBO KING, had ducked into a barrel to try and hide from the heat and catch a quick nap. Apparently that same barrel was confused for a important barrel that had important beans in it...it felt the same weight.

The snoring could only be investigated by the bravest of the Judges.

Or whichever judge was given all the hard work because she just LOVES doing it.

Will, on the other hand, lays blissfully unaware in the barrel, sleeping peacefully.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Where are the guards...?

Cirra thinks as she walks up to the side entrance of te Palace, the one used for deliveries to the kitchen. She presses her back up to the wall and reaches out, opening the door to press it slowly open.

No kitchen staff either?

She steps inside, carefully stepping through the room until she can hear the barrel. Some sort of sleeping spell? She reache sout carefully...

And dumps the contents of it right out on to the floor.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
It was dark in Rabanastre. Dark and dry. The desert wind was cool, pulling away the heat of the day. Maybe it was a little too cold, bringing a chill to the soul. Maybe it was a little too dry, making a man seek the comfort of a good bottle of whiskey. Maybe it was a little too dark, hiding the the darkness that a man can do to another.

And that's why Mercade Alexander and the Twilight Detective Agency is there. "So word on the street is some thief is going to target the Dusk Shard." Mercade says, as he approaches the palace gates. "Apparently it's a priceless heirloom. We'll want to keep our eyes out. People have already died over this, let's keep there from being more."

He narrows his eyes as he looks around the surroundings. "No guards. Weird for an occupied city." He gestures to his companion. "Deidra, take the air and get us an eye. Emi, you're with me." He moves forward, catching up rapidly to Luso. "Hey. You." Mercade asks the mysterious kid entering the gates. He strides up and reaches out to grab him by the shoulder. "What are you up to?"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra was a creature of the night she found she perfed to be about and awake during such hours. With the way worlds had become undon it wasn't a bad thing to be up and about during the day, still night seemed to suit her far better now. She's here with Mercad and nods once she's kept a cloak about herself as she foes oftn when she travels to places like this, less questions hopefully right?

"Agreed there's been enough death over this thing as it is." She nods for a moment before removing the cloak, spreading her wings and taking flight.

Emi Dennou has posed:
A MYSTERY! Or rather, a thief is apparently targeting the Dusk Shard. Emi is not entirely sure whether or not the Dusk Shard is a World Shard or just some other kind of Shard but it is enough to make her wish people named these things more uniquely which is perhaps a bit hypocritical considering her sisters are named Ami, Imi, Umi, Omi and --- --- Shida. It's notable, is all.

"Understood." She tells Mercade, approaching Luso along with him. She is happy to be on the job with Mercade. THIS IS REAL DETECTIVE EXPERIENCE, probably the first job she gets to see THE MASTER at work. Okay maybe he's not THE MASTER but he's certainly superior.

"There's a letter in his hands." Emi tells Mercade, noting that pretty readily. She does not mention its state, however, even if this is also pretty obvious.

Maximilien has posed:
One of the surviving guards hurries up behind Cirra, his heavy bootfalls giving him away long before he ever actually shows up. He's wearing fairly heavy-looking metal armor, carrying a halberd, and looking fairly winded by the motion. He's a little tall to be a stormtrooper, but hey, some guards can be pretty tall!

"Ma'am, what's happening? I just got back on-duty, and it seems like everyone's gone! Where has everyone got to? And...who's that sleeping on the floor?"

The guard peers around Cirra. There's the sense that he's blinking. "Is...is he the intruder responsible?" The guard stares for a really, really long moment at the contents of the barrel, tightening his grip on the halberd and fumbling with it.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Wha--!?" Luso exclaimed as he felt a hand clap onto his shoulder, preventing further entry into the palace. Maybe walking in through the front gate wasn't the best idea he's ever had. But hey-- He turned his head to look behind him, expecting a guard returning to duty.

Instead, what he got was a man in a trenchcoat and a girl with green hair.

"...Huh?" He deadpanned after that, giving the two a once over answering. "I was just about to go and--" It's at this point that Emi points out the letter. Crap. "Uh--! Look, I came here to help alright! I found this weird letter saying that the palace would be in trouble and I figured I could do something!"

The boy brushed off Mercade's hand then and sighed, raising the bloodied letter for him to check for himself. "I'm the one who put out that call on the radio earlier today. I didn't think anyone was coming, so...yeah! I was gonna check it out myself!" He took a quick look around then before adding on. "Because something is obviously wrong here."

Meanwhile, within the palace, several men garbed in black leap through the halls. First they are there...and then they are not. Fast as lightning, they make their way through, seeming to be heading for the treasury...

And up in the skies, Deidra flew, aerial serveillance is usually a smart move. And it seemed that someone else knew this too. From somewhere on one of the palace balconies, a single arrow is let loose, flying through the air with expert precision, aiming to strike the gargoyle.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will hits the ground.

Then he opens his eyes, shaking himself awake as he stares up towards Cirra.

"...Owwwwwww..." he complains, rubbing the back of his head and back. "What was that for? I was taking a na-.." he looks around. "Uh. Wait a minute...this isn't the streets." he blinks, looking back up at Cirra and the guy with a Halberd. He squints for a minute...and then looks back at Cirra.

"Where am I?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"All right." Mercade looks over the letter, and frowns. "This letter..." He says nothing more for the moment, glancing over at Emi at the comment and nodding, but he doesn't take it from Luso. "Okay, let's work together on this." He gestures. "Yeah, this is really wrong. Where are the guards?" He really hopes that the obvious answer isn't the right one, here. "Let's get in there and see what's up."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou smiles faintly at herself from some radio chatter. With a comment like that, she is sure Max is present but resolves to not worry about it so much--she doesn't want to draw attention to him. What it does make her worry, though, is that if it IS related--then the 'amateurs' may be on the move and in a sense amateurs can be more dangerous than any professional if circumstances allow.

"Agreed." Emi lowers a visor oer her eyes. The timing is unfortunate--she just misses the arrow as it is launched--though she might have caught sight of it had she not performed this seemingly minor gesture.

"Ready." She tells Mercade.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra glares over her shoulder at the gaurd, "Where were you?" then grabs his halberd and pulls it up, she ends over, pressing a finger to her lips as she shushes Will with a angery look. "I should have known you'd take a nap in a suasage barrel. Something strange is going on here, there are no guards anywhere, no kitchen staff."

Standing up again, the Judge turns and heads towards the door to the hallway, she cracks open the door and glances down the hall. "I'm going to find out what it is." she points at the guard, "Keep that man out of trouble." then slips through the door, she begins to make her way towards the most likely target, the treasurary. It's nearby other important locations like Lord Vayne's quarters, so it's probably the right way to go.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is keeping an eye on things below she pauses for a moment as she's coming under fire. Well it's not a gun, bows are deadly but she's got some time to try to dodge the incoming attack the Gargyole banks just getting missed by the arrow. She can only guess the tip being covered in some sort of toxin would not suprise her at all. She also calls in reporting there's a sniper.

Maximilien has posed:
"I wasn't on-duty, ma'am," the guard replies nervously as Cirra makes her demand; he reaches up and taps the back of his helmet awkwardly. "I was just suiting up a few minutes ago, and I heard a noise down this way and thought I should investigate..."

Cirra turns and heads towards the door; the guard follows her over, then looks back at Will. "Are you sure it's a good idea to go out alone, ma'am? Whatever...made everybody disappear could still be out there!" The guard asks, "I thought I saw something a moment ago...I'm not sure..."

She runs off. The guard looks back at Will, then after the Judge, then back at Will, then after the Judge. "...sh-she's going to need help. You're...not going to stay put if I tell you to, so..."

The guard sighs. "C-come on. Safest place to be is with a Judge." Then he takes off down the hall after her, halberd in one hand, hand on his helmet like it's about to fall off.

He's pretty fast, at least! "Ma'am! It's not safe for any of us to be alone right now...the best way to stay out of trouble is in a group, right?"

Zelose has posed:
Zelose walks towards the palace, really, he didn't know why, but towards it he wandered, until he saw three people in front of the palace... he stops for exactly two seconds, before walking over to them slowly "you've got to be the strangest guards I've ever seen, if you are guards..." he notice the blood covered note before adding "so, what's going on here?" he looks around a moment, noting a lack of anyone else, before watching the three, especially the one with multiple swords...

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks up...

"Uh yeah, I was going to go with her anyway." Will says, and shakes the cobwebs out of his eyes and runs after Cirra. He grins...okay, he can play along, for now.

He doesn't scream after her though, because silence was important.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Yeah, working together would be a good idea! My name's Luso Clemens by the way. Nice to meet you two!" With that said, the boy turned to enter into the palace proper, but then came another voice. "Huh?" He turned his head to look and see just who had addressed them.

"Oh...Well, you don't look like much of a guard yourself now either." Luso quipped, smirking at the new arrival. No answer was given to his question and instead, he just waved for the stranger to come along. "There's probably no time to explain, let's just get in there and get to the bottom of this!"

And with that, Luso strode in finally, leading the way for the others. It was then that they would all notice...

...Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Closer inspection would reveal that they were not dead at least. Just locked into a very deep sleep. No amount of prodding would awaken them. Whatever did this must have been some powerful stuff...

Meanwhile on ahead, the black robed men sensed that their course was being followed. A judge, a guard, and...a hobo. Intel from further out also stated that others were coming. This was a complication to the operation. They would need to get to the shard fast. And so they moved. Intending to press on and take care of their objective.

Meanwhile outside, the arrow that Deidra had dodged whizzed by harmlessly. Indeed though, if it had struck, she would have been assailed by strong poison. But it did not end there. From two separate locations, two arrows whistle through the air, attempting to strike her from different points. It seemed these men had lookouts well established for aerial interference...

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra stops as she hears the footsteps behind her and turns to glare at Will and the guard. It is much more glowery then her usual icy stare, like she's bordering on getting well and /truely/ angry. "What do you think your doing?" she eyeing the guard specificaly, not Will, as if he did something to deserve her ire. "I told you to-"

Bodies. She stops at the corner and presses her back to the wall. She frowns and looks back at the other two pointing a finger directly at their faces, "You do as I say, you go against what I say and I sentance you both. Stay behind me, and stay close. Someone is here and after something I don't know why but they're leaving people alive. Those bodies are all breathing, shallowly. Some sort of magic or poison so be carefull." She turns around the corner and advances, quickly. No so fast Will or the guard cna't keep up but it's very brisk.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Emi is READY FOR ACTION. Mercade smiles, appearing a little more confident as he moves forward, he looks over his shoulder at this new guy, Zelose. "There's an incident. Don't go in if you're not here to help."

He nod to Luso as he introduces himself. "I'm Mercade Alexander, of the Twilight Detective Agency. This is Emi Dennou, also of the Agency. The woman with the wings above is Deidra. We're here to help.

Unfortunately, no one has nearly enough Phoenix Downs for this crap. Mercade moves up to one of the bodies, looking it over with a dim expression... And then he blinks as he checks for a pulse. "Hey. They're still alive." He looks over to the others. "Some kind of poison or magic, I can't tell with this much." He looks up to the others. "They worked fast and hit hard. Look at where all of these guys are lying. They had no idea what hit them." He stands. "Assassins."

He points. "We need to hurry, I have no idea how long we've got. The fact that these guys are still alive is a small mercy."

Maximilien has posed:
The guard waves his hand at Will. "He was going to follow you anyway; I confirmed it first before I followed you. The only way to follow your orders was to follow him...uh, preemptively." He lowers his head a bit, then pauses, very nearly ramming into her as she puts her finger at his face. The guard nods.

"Yes ma'am." He confirms, tightening his grip on his spear nervously and following along behind her hurriedly. He's not making a whole lot of noise with that heavy armor, but it IS heavy armor, so it's clanking a little bit. "And..."

"Please be careful, ma'am? If you're on the vanguard and they're using poison...maybe I should go first? I'm expendable, you're a Judge..."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks at the guards for a moment...

The strings are revealed to him, a string, both glysomer and dark...the whispy darkness stains the bright string...he knows what this is. "Magic. Darkness based magic at that. And it's an active effect." he whispers to Cirra.

"I can follow it...I can even free them from it, but I think following the source is more important right now." he says to the Judge.

And then he points her in the right direction. He follows, not causing any trouble...he wants to repay her and Arcadia for what they did for Manhattan...or tried too. "Also, sorry...but my luck sometimes acts in unpredictable ways...such as waking up in a barrel in a castle." he scratches the back of his head.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi raises her hand to shoot these peoplew ith vast amounts of healing(?) lightning but then reconsiders and lets her hand drop. But she does have to consider WHY they are all alive. Did they simply prefer to move quickly or did they have some manner of reason? Someone must be maintaining the spell effect--Emi ducks down to slap one of the guards a bit to make sure they aren't gonna wake up from that. She straightens up and nods to Mercade. Hurrying is good.

"This one's name is Emi Dennou, The Network tells Luso Clemens while on the case. The Network notes their offensive capabilities primarily involves firearms and electrical manipulation. Please feel free to make use of us as you see fit."

Zelose has posed:
Zelose hilts his head to each side, popping his neck "sure, I can help..." he then goes silent as he follows along, looking at all the people a moment, noting the sheer number of them a moment, before asking a single question "what would an assassin want here that required everyone be unconscious, one trained well enough would simply kill the mark and be gone..." then he looks at the group "my names Zelose, if you need it..."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra uis going to try to take one last look at the simpers, she takes once last glance and she's then going to drop from the skies she thinks she's got an diea of where they are whe might even have an idea of what they look like but Emi is right it's time to get the heck out of the skies. So drops like a stone trying to get away she's clearly been recalled or driven off it seems. She's going to try to make for the otehrs if she avoids the incoming fire she avoids one and gets clipped by another on her way down. This could be bad but what can she do?

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Mercade, Emi, Zelose alright. Glad to have you on the case then" Luso nodded with a grin, watching as Mercade and Emi did a brief check of the bodies, which was surprising as all get out. Who the heck managed to take all these guards out? It was almost ridiculous really. But then, that only added to the urgency of the situation.

"Assassins...sounds about right. No one else would be able to pull off something on this scale without any sort of detection." And he was speaking from experience. Khamja had their ways after all. It was a wonder he managed to survive their ruthless ordeals now...

"Well, think about it! Blood is kind of messy...and it's more of an eye catcher than...well, putting them to sleep." Luso mused as he moved things along, walking through the palace halls and just following the fallen bodies. "They've gotta be after something without drawing too much attention to themselves."

It was then that they turned the corner, Cirra, Will, and the guard were further up ahead from there. They should be able to meet up soon. "Hey, I think I see people up ahead..." The boy spoke plainly as he moved briskly, squinting to try and make them out, to no avail.

Meanwhile out in the air, as Deidra is assailed by arrows, her attempt to catch sight of one of the snipers will reveal to her a man dressed in black, his mouth covered and his eyes visible. Like a ninja. Seeing that the gargoyle was falling back, he and whoever else was out there stopped their attack, allowing her to escape to the ground...

It is at this time that three of the black garbed assassins arrived at the treasury, looking to locate the Dusk Shard...

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra only moves on ahead as Will directs her, she doesn't slow down for the possibility of others joining up. "This is towards the reassuary." she confirms outloud.

THe only time she slows down is when the guard calls himself expendable, this time she looks at him with a truely fierce expression, moving to get in his face. "You do not say that. /I/ can take far more damage then you, and if I fall it's your job to get people out of here. Do you understand?"

A turn on her heel and she advances upstairs. "Will. It's not your responsability to be here, don't force yourself just because I defended Manhattan." She leaps over a railing up to the next floor and turns down the main hall. She needs to break the advantadge these intruders have, their stealth, thier calm.

"HALT!" her vice echos down the hallway. "I am Cirra Cosntantine, Judge of Wrath! Give yourselves in and I will consider leaneancy in your sentancing. Stay hidden, and I will Judge you Guilty!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"They left them unconscious so we'd waste time helping them. Also, mass murder tends to get a lot of attention, not the same as knocking everyone out." Mercade explains to Zelose, adding to Luso's own explanation as they move quickly though the palace. "So they're after the Dusk Shard, right? Do we know where it's kept?"

He nods to Emi. Introductions are important! "Do we know anything about these guys? I'm not familiar with the area." He looks to Luso, hoping he can explain. Deidra falls like a rock (ha ha) behind them and he looks back. "Deidra! Are you all right?" He asks, then looks up. "They must have snipers prepared. Emi, do you have any other resources in the area? Maybe we can get a bead on them and neutralize."

They turn the corner, and Mercade blinks as Cirra's voice cracks through the hall like a whip. "Oh hell, Judge Constantin!" He looks up at Cirra and waves. "HEY CIRRA! WE'RE HERE TO HELP!" pleasedon'tjudgeme pleasedon'tjudgeme pleasedon'tjudgeme pleasedon'tjudgeme

Will Sherman has posed:
Will pauses as Cirra turns to the guard. Will smiles a bit, it's nice to know she's serious like that, despite the cold exterior. However, she turns to him, informing him he does not have to be here, and he shakes his head, but before he can respond, she moves up and over ahead of him. He pauses, looking at the guard for a moment...and shrugs.

"Yeah...well.." And then he was gone, litterally jumping straight up, and running up the banister, aiming to flip from it and right behind Cirra. His hand's move out to grasp at the strings of fate, his, Cirra's and the guards. Fate is reenforced, as he channel's his own power through it.

"I am here because you are my friend, not just because you helped us. It might not be my responsibility, but I'd be a horrible friend if I left you here by yourself..." he smiles. "Besides, I'm good luck, don't just leave me behind."

Maximilien has posed:
The guard actually pauses as she stops him. He stands there, looking at her from behind his helmet, and then nods. "Y-yes ma'am." He certainly sounds...impressed, more than cowed. He nods fiercely at her. "But...please be careful nonetheless."

The guard has to run up the stairs, because he doesn't have magic super Judge powers. He just hurries on up after her - he's fast, but not much faster than an athletic man ought to be anyway. He skids to a halt behind her, bracing his halberd and readying to support her immediately in case things go wrong.

His voice is nervous at first, as he belts out his cry. "Halt, thieves! I'm...not a judge, or anyone important, really, and this is my first time doing something like this, but..."

As he goes on, he sounds more sure of himself. He stands a little closer to Cirra, bracing his halberd and levelling it at the thieves. "But I'll still fight you to protect what you're trying to take!"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Legion rarely goes anywhere by themselves. It's not really in their nature. Emi smiles faintly as Mercade, being someone who apparently knows them rather well--he just brings it up right there and then, the fact that Emi is probably not actually here by herself. She can't help herself. It's nice, you know, when someone knows who you are. What you are. What you're like. Feeling known, and understood. "You are correct." She tells Mercade quietly. "The request has already been sent." Her smile widens--just a touch--as she says those words.

VERY FAR AWAY FROM HERE.

Deidra gives position information. Omi, meanwhile, is looking through a scope as she crouches on top of a rooftop. Next to her a small laptop that is informing her, steadily, of various facts like the wind speed--and other fun facts!! She guides the scope around, adjusting her position once Deidra tells her where to look. She gets a bead, adjusts trajectory for the wind speed, trajectory, and so on.

And then she pulls the trigger, intending to turn that fellow's head inside out!

"There are many of them, unfortunately, it seems." She says.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra isn't feeling so well as she been glanced by the arrow it wasnt' a direct hit thankfully but well? She's not going to be flying any time soons he's now going to give Emi a heads u on the sniper's location while she tries to catch up woth Mercade and the others, hopefully it won't be that hard.

"They were prepared for flyers..." She knew the empire had airships but didn't expect them to be prepared for something like her.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Pretty much!" Luso nodded, backing up Mercade's words regarding the finer workings of good assassination. Wait a second, why the heck were they talking about that anyway? They weren't assassins!

"The Dusk Shard though...never heard of it! But if they're going through this much trouble then it's got to be worth something now." And then came Deidra. He had gotten her name earlier. "Whoa! What the--" He frowned at the mention of snipers, shaking his head. "So they had snipers all this time? Wonder why they didn't shoot us when we were approaching..."

How curious.

Luso didn't stop to wonder just what Emi was up to. And maybe it was better that way. No need to bother with the messy specifics now. They just needed to get in there and get the job done! And it was at that point that Cirra's loud bellow echoed through the halls of the palace, throwing his focus off kilter. "Sheesh! All the yelling isn't helping I don't think!" Luso called back out to the judge rather snarkily. After all, assassins surely wouldn't be moved by the ravings of a single judge, right?

It would seem that way too. Cirra's loud proclamation was met with silence. Not a single response. Just...the wind. Wait, that's not just the wind, a sharp eye would place that sound as figures moving through the halls, unfazed by the earlier yelling!

"Guys? Let's quit the yelling and move along! Something's up and we're not gonna find out here!" And with that said, Luso broke out into a run, intending to close the distance at a much faster rate. "Let's go!"

Zelose has posed:
Zelose rolls his eyes and says "I meant, if they were here for a single target to kill, they wouldn't need to knock everyone out, they'd just be in, get the kill, and then be out before anyone took notice..." he then looks at Mercade "dusk shard?" then he looks ahead as someone yells out, remaining silent, then Luso broke into a ran, zelose quickly followed...

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Good work." Mercade says to Emi. And then he hears the crack of a sniper rifle. Welp. Life just got interesting for /those/ guys. "Just be careful, Deidra. Stick with us until the enemy snipers are cleared out."

Mercade talks about the techniques of assassins because to catch an assassin you have to know how they work.

"I'll explain later." Mercade promises. He might or might not actually explain later. He does, however, launch himself down the hall, chasing after the assassins now that they have... sort of shown themselves. He pulls his gun, a pearl-handled stage revolver (loaded with real bullets) and he spins it up into his hand as he levels it, trying to get a bead on the fleeing infiltrators. "Halt!" Mercade says. And then he shoots. Because they never listen anyway.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra judges everyone, silently.

Mercade's shouting however makes her look over and down at him, "The Dusk Shard? Then they're in for a disapointment."

"It was never found."

Cirra looks down at Luso with a frown, "I don' think you realize where you are. This is a province of Archadia-"

At the sound of something moving, Cirra picks up a vase from a hallway table and flings it in the direction of movement, the same place MErcade fires at.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will rolls his eyes at Luso.

"Her? Judge. You. Dumb." he says rolling his eyes as he...

There!

Will moves, like a bat out of hell as he runs right for the movement. Right behind Cirra's vase and Mercade's shot, Will is surprisingly fast, as luck seems to twist to help him catch up.

Quickly, he aims to try and strike one of the assassins, aiming to try and drive him into the ground, aiming for the one who casted the enchantment on the palace...

And litterally try and break it with his fate severing strike.

Maximilien has posed:
The guard just tromps along behind Cirra, holding his halberd, silent and uninteresting, because he's a pretty mundane guardsman. He does shake his head at Luso. "She can pretty much kill you on sight if you do something wrong...you should probably have more situational awareness."

Then the guard resumes following closely behind Cirra. "M-ma'am, just in case I don't make it out of this...it's been an honor, and you're really pretty when you're angry."

He tightens his grip on his halberd, wringing it nervously.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Omi scans around for the next target, loading another shot. This is more or less what she'll be doing for the rest of the night until she runs out of targets or can't find any more. She's ruthless, efficient, professional--and that's why she always gets this job. Imagine if Umi was trying this ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. It's fun to joke!

Emi doesn't react to being judged. She looks around, trying to see if she can recognize Max. She does not, however, open fire because she is not as experienced as Mercade and wants to give them a chance to surrender! Unlike the snipers. But to be fair they shot at a noble gargoyle--they really deserved whatever they got after that. They're the nicest people, and they're always rock solid friends!

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou after the guard says that one comment, Emi is suddenly absolutely certain which one is Max.

Luso Clemens has posed:
The vase and bullet impact with a wall, striking no bodies, but the action itself does exactly what it should. Bring those interlopers out into the open. At the entrance of the treasury, three assassins land softly, a could feet ahead of Will's striking range and looking unharmed. They block the way and look to be none too bothered with the gathering of heroes before them.

"...So you are the ones that have been disturbing our operation." One of them comments. Another one, standing in the back vaguely radiated a purple aura. Will in particular would be able to see that the dark magic holding this palace over would be converging on him from all points. It seemed that he was the one behind the countless sleeping bodies.

"You cannot stop us at this juncture." Another one comments calmly, his eyes locked onto the group. "Our victory is assured."

The one radiating the magic then raised his arm, a black jewel in his hand. "Demon Wall. Come!" And then the first was clenched, shattering the jewel. Dark magic flared outwards then, tendrils attaching to the walls and connecting and intertwining, forming a...wall. How astute. But not just any wall. This wall bore a single demonic being embedded into the middle. And it looked like it meant business.

From behind the demon wall, the assassin's voices echoed. "This should keep you busy." And then they disappeared into the treasury...

But it was there that they would notice something was wrong.

The shard was gone.



Inside the treasury, propped up in a thoroughly visible and incredibly obvious place - in fact, exactly on whatever altar the Dusk Shard was formerly stored on - is a card. A simple business card, nothing more; nice, immaculately white with a golden border and a fancy red emblem in the center. The emblem is made up of four embossed letters - M. A. R. S.

The 'A' has been replaced with the actual symbol for the planet Mars. The M, R, and S are quite handsomely stylized.

The card is stuck to the pedestal by a rose, driven through the mars-symbol and into the rock itself.

".........." Pure silence was all the assassins had to offer to this outrage. One of them finally found the mental capacity to raise their radio device to contact someone. "Ewen. The mission is a failure. We are moving out."

"But what about the Demon Wall?" Another one asked, glancing back to the treasury entrance with a frown.

"Leave it. Whether or not it is defeated, the Demon Wall will cover our escape. We leave now!" And so the assassins began to escape, though looking calm, filled with pure outrage at this upstaging by some...thief!

Like they weren't thieves themselves.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"....Guys? Nevermind the judge thing now." Luso spoke with a humorous lilt to his voice as he pointed up at the all encompassing DEMONIC WALL towering over them. "Maybe we should worry more about THAT THING!"

Christ! This was not a part of the plan! Luso swore mentally, reaching behind himself and drawing Luabreaker to bear. "Oh well! Let's do this!" He grinned then, staring at the wall. "It's simple! We break through and stop those thieves!

But of course, a thief already upstaged the thieves.

How ironic.

Or not.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks at the Demon wall.

He looks at the thieves behind it.

"Alright. You know what...SCREW you." he says, and with a bout of anger he brings his fist back, aiming to litterally PUNCH the demon wall in the nose. "BAD DEMON WALL! BAD! YOU DON'T BLOCK THE WAY OF CRIMINALS! NOW GO INTO THE CORNER AND FEEL BAD ABOUT YOURSELF!" he shouts, before aiming to flip kick it once, and then grabs at the monster's strings of fate, aiming to TEAR them down.

"BAD!"

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra Has decided to ignore Luso's attitude as the thieves appear, summon a demon wall, and then fail to find the dusk shard. She looks at the Guard, "No, I am not."

She then opens a door at the side of the hall and enters the room beyond.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra has managed to catch up with the group at this point just back in time to catch up to the group to face the DEMON WALL! Seriously sjeu just gapes at it for a moment and stares. "...Oh for the love of. Out of the way wall we have hoods to go after!" She's got her spell book in hand now and ai already casting sening a burst of ice shards at the wall prehaps she's going to try to freeze it.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Ewen, a name. Emi files it away. Of course they'll also have a body to search later, hopefully. They'll worry about that when there isn't a DEMON WALL. Because really--DEMON WALL.

Fighting a wall is a strange idea. Even if it is a demon wall. The card is especially notable, even with the demon wall in the way apparently, probably because of its SMARMY GLOW. Nevertheless, once Emi has an idea of what happened, she giggles into her hand. Oh Max. You are a stinker.

Will starts pummeling the wall and after breathing out a long breath, Emi glances towards Cirra, who seems to be departing--after the thieves? Then they can handle clean up. It's not good mojo to leave a demon wall hanging about.

She shoots electricity at it, and also--shoots at it with bullet?

Helpful bullet. Hopefully it hasn't got REFLECT up yet.

Maximilien has posed:
The guard shakes his head. "S-sorry.Nerves." Cirra opens the door; the guard wavers for a minute, then goes the other way. Mostly because this is a GREAT time to get the hell out of dodge.

Nobody would question a nervous guard running the hell away from the giant demon wall, right? After all the nervousness he's been apparently feeling?

The guard just takes off down the hallway. He was totally prepared to fight for Rabanastre, but...!

...but the object of Max's affection is gone, and he'd rather not tempt fate by waiting for her to show up and ask him if he knew who was responsible for that. So he just peels off while he has the chance. Not that he even had the shard ON him, of course; he'd not be stupid enough to /walk back into the place/ with evidence on him.

No, today was just about enjoying himself...and, perhaps, admiring his own handiwork just a little tiny bit.

Zelose has posed:
Zelose takes out his sword, sliding it off his back as he sees that movement, but he does not run forward to attack, a thrown object and a gunshot, running in front of either would be idiotic... instead he simply gets into position for when the fight starts in earnest, holding his blade at the ready, as a demon wall appears, he just stands there, watching the others a moment, he waits for the wall to go down, conserving his strength for the real targets, then he watches Max run, noting it, just in case, before looking back at the demon wall now.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks over the trip of assassins with a flat stare. "You guys must really love your work. I'm not going to let you guys keep this up. You have a lot to answer for." He looks to his allies to each side. and smiles. "Let's do this." He raises his gun, and fires! Just in time for the bullet to glance off of the Demon Wall. "What the hell!" Mercade yells, reeling. "WHAT DARK SORCERY IS THIS?" He pauses, and then asides to Emi. "I've always wanted to say that."

He looks back, approrpriately furious as he... bravely puts some distance between himself and the deadly wall. Seriously, it's a giant wall, what's it going to do, wall at him?

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Okay! Here I go!" Luso announced, running forward and unleashing his own flurry of elemental slashes. "Ice! Fire! Lighting! Let's see if you can handle this!" Well. He was spirited at the very least.
5r The volley of attacks from the others meanwhile mostly strike their mark, but the demonic entity protruding form the wall weaves about, avoiding some of the damage. Following that, the entire wall shifted forward a bit and then the being attached to the wall let out a loud bellow, summoning forth several gargoyle minions.

Aha, so that was how this wall attacked. The minions dove forward, claws extended to tear away at those present.

Zelose has posed:
Zelose doesn't react fast enough as he's hit, only to get back up "okay, time for some demolition." he then swings his sword at the wall multiple times in a row.

Will Sherman has posed:
GARGOYLES.

Will moves, randomly, and every time a gargoyle slashed, he was simply somewhere else. The things were TOTALLY swinging at him... but he was just not there.

tThe wall simply ignores him, so he punches it repeatedly again. This will totally probably and eventually beat down the wall.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Gargoyles! NO!!!!! Gargoyles are supposed to be noble souls, not dire minions of evil! Legion doesn't attack the minions, gargoyles are friends not food even if they're trying to kill you? Well, she's a bit hesitant to deal with minions when the wall can clearly summon as many as it likes. For the moment she'd rather try to destroy it and THEN try to deal with the gargoyles flitting about. She can't call for Omi back up here so instead she unleashes a pair of electric blasts and then...

...another electric blast! Okay, she's pretty focused on the one thing. She could shoot at it with bullet too, but for the moment--NAY! Electricity.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Hey, it's a wall. What could it possibly do?

and then it moves. "Wait. It's moving forward? THAT'S CHEATING!" Mercade yells, moments befor he gets snagged, drawn back close to the Wall, and ravaged by the deadly claws of itself and its stony minions. Mercade staggers, wounded significantly, as he looks at the thing. "All right. I'm not going to let you get away with this. WILL! SHOTGUN!" He calls, and holds out a hand as he launches. Will tosses him the Shotgun of Justice (Name Pending) as he spins it around him and unleashes one blast, then two from the powerful pump-action Remington double-barreled street sweeper. He tosses it back over to Hobo Lad, and switches back to the pistol as he engages in running battle, leaping off of the pillars to get some air and propel him away from the enemies.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is starting to get quite skilled with her barrier spells. The attack from the wall is just over powered by her protective wards. She looks at the wards for a long moment she starts to focus as she gets an idea. She chants long for she's got a plan, but as she chants she seems to be chanting and the winds pick up about her as she slams into the wall with a barrage of ice lances which will freeze the wall on concta ad focused high powered winds.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Holy cra--"

THUD.

Luso wasn't prepared for the array of summoned gargoyles. He met their charge head on and went flying back, landing on his back momentarily before hopping back up to his feet. "Okay! Let's try that again!" He announced, gripping Luabreaker with both hands before charging forward again, swinging with the blade charged with holy light.

Meanwhile, the Demon Wall is assailed by electricity, punches, kicks, cutting wind, and volleys of ice. The gargoyle minions weave about, avoiding Mercade's bullet spray for the most part. Some are destroyed, but many simply avoid the projectiles.

Again, the wall shifts forward a bit more, but does nothing more. It's minions however are more than willing to take up the slack in clawing away at these righteous interlopers!

Will Sherman has posed:
Will throws the Shotgun back at Mercade, who unleashes it to great effectiveness against the Demon Wall.

Unfortinately the Demon wall is a jerk.

The hobo held up a hand, "SHOTGUN!" he calls back, and as he takes it...

Will runs right up to the face of the Demon wall once more, One hand swiping at strings as he points the weapon right into the face of the demon wall.

"You're looking a bit Emasonraited!" and then fires the shotgun, after giving the bad one liner.

Zelose has posed:
Zelose turns his blade as a gargoyle attacks him, knocking away the attack, before swinging at the wall again, the last swing of the sword harder than the others, then he looks over at the others a moment, before looking back at his Target.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
They're dodging. Mercade's world is DESTROYED. DESTROYED, I TELL YOU. When big rocky walls and gargoyles can dodge bullets... Well, Clearly this is a case of accuracy in this world gone soft.

The Wall gets closer, and Mercade has less room to move and more problems. Mostly in tthe form of getting dogpiled by the gargoyles. These are not the Manhattanite Gargoyles, no. these are EVIL AND MEAN GARGOYLES. Mercade barely wins free, pulling a series of potions he picked up earlier out and drinking them one after the other. "Oooh. Strawberry." He comments absently as his hideous wounds begin to close up. The joking is a way to distract himself form the absurd levels of pain and suffering being inflicted.

Once again. Mercade works to get some distance, and speed-loads in a series of mythril-tipped bullets, special-made by Cid and his Moogle associates. He levels the gun, and begins firing. While the bullets might not have any more penetration power, they /do/ break off and strip away active magical defenses. A detective should be prepared!

Emi Dennou has posed:
WALL IS WALL. Maybe they should ... flee? But really, how tough can a wall be?! It's a wall! And Emi may not be Wreck it Ralph but they've got...electricity? And... Electricity? Wait! There's one more thing besides bullet and electriciy that the Legion has and, indeed, it's something of Emi's specialty.

She reaches into her pocket. Does she have a coin? Unfortunately no, she did not bring a coin with her. She frowns faintly and digs into her other pocket. She digs in deep and then withdraws...

A thumbtack.

Emi sighs lightly. IT will have to do. She flicks the coin into the air, preparing her shot when suddenly--

Gargoyles! They crash into Legion and send her crashing to the ground. The thumbtack, in slow motion, tumbles to the floor! No! The ultimate technique!!

Groaning lightly, she rolls onto her feet and fans both her hands forward, intending to send two sweeping waves of electricity from her arms and into the wall! Her ultimate technique will have to wait for another day...

BUT THERE IS A THUMBTACK TACK UP ON THE GROUND. WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING!!

Deidra has posed:
Deidra doesn't like the the other grgyoles those are not really Gargyoles far as she's concerned. She's however torn up pretty badly buy it and she's forced back from all the hits she's taking. "THESE THINGS ARE NOT RELATED TO ME AT ALL!" She yells before anyone makes a witty comments. Given who her friends are it could happen. She however om the other hand keeps upt he chain of ice attacts ont he wall hoping to finish it.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Hah! How'd you like tha--WHOA!"

LIke Deja vu, the same thing happened again as Luso is bowled over by a gargoyle. They didn't even give him time to finish his gloating! Stupid things! "Why can't these things be more like you!?" He called over to Deidra as he returned Luabreaker to it's sheath.

He then grasped Excalibur's handle, pulling the blade out without hesitation. "Time to put an end to this!" At that, the holy sword began to radiate light, emanating in an aura of power as the boy raised the sword to the air. "Everything I've got! ...Plus I'm getting real tired of those gargoyles!" Breaking his usual heroic spiel, he added in his annoyance with the wall's minions.

The holy energy spiraled upwards, forming into a massive phantom blade. With that, Luso ran forward, leaping into the air and then coming down hard, swinging the phantom sword down into the wall. "Take this! And take your gargoyles with you!"

Someone was having a bad night.

In the meanwhile, the Demon Wall shifted forward yet again. But this time, the entity embedded into the wall let out a loud bellow of anger before exerting a crushing force. It seemed like this is what the demon wall was building up to.

As this was happening, the gargoyle minions flew back, getting out of the way of the wall's destructive attack.

Zelose has posed:
Zelose moves his sword to block, while it does work to soften the blow, it didn't stop it, he then swings his sword, twice, before jumping back, and taking something small out of his jacket, a second later he tosses it at the wall, where it goes BOOM on contact, turns out it was a GRENADE!

Will Sherman has posed:
Flipping into the air as the monsters came down again, landing back away from the wall he watches as it comes at them once more...

And then Emi pelts it with electricty.

Will nods once, and just walks away.

Emi Dennou has posed:
MORE GARGOYLES. This time Emi unleashes a small electromagnetic pulse to knock them back and away from her body. She is about to launch an almighty and epic technique against the wall but then--then--

Her thumbtack?!?!! She reaches out for it and snags it before someone accidentall steps on it. This is important because thumbtacks can really hurt your foot if you step on one. She looks towards the Demon Wall. It has a mouth. Maybe...Maybe she knows what she's supposed to do.

"I shall free the noble gargoyles from your evil control, The Network vows." Emi says before she runs up to it and throws the thumbtack in the Demon Wall's mouth!

Cirra Constantine has posed:
As the world explodes into electricity and grenades, another door opens from the hallway. HTe Judge has aparently returned having chased the wouldbe thieves as far as she can and lost them. She looks pretty upset at that.

She picks up an objects and holds it over her shoulder as she points it down the hallway.

"Clear."

THe flash of fire streaks down the hallway, the self propelled projectile seaking to smash into the wall and complete it's obliteration. Cirra is very serious about renovation you see.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is battered is hurt but is still able to move even with the posion, that's going to ahve to be handled later. For now however she's just going to launch what little magic she can at the wall.

"Why don't you just go down!"

Seriously this thing is like nothing she's read about in her lore hunting of creatures of the night. Seriously there are no demon walls int he myths of her world and she's happy for that at this moment. As fort the creature it gets a face full of ... ICE

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi watches Cirra blow the monster up with a rocket launcher.

RESPECT +1

Luso Clemens has posed:
The combination of attacks strike the wall, eventually causing it to begin crumbling down.

But then here came Cirra with...

...Is that a rocket launcher?

Barely landed from his own strike, Luso sheathed Excalibur before glancing back in time to see the firearm being aimed for the wall. "Okay! Time to GET OUT OF THE WAY!" He scrambled aside, steering far clear of the blast zone.

The rockets fire, veering through the air towards the wall. If anything would destroy this wall for good, it would be that, but...

...The demon embedded into the wall, in one last act of defiance, slapped the rockets away, veering their courses off to the side walls as it then crumbled into dust and wisps of darkness. The resulting explosions rocked that particular wing of the palace, causing way more damage than Khamja did; which was actually none at all. They just knocked a lot of people out.

Speaking of that, with the Demon Wall crumbled to nothing, the dark hold being held over the sleeping occupants would fade away.

Zelose has posed:
Zelose sheathes his sword again, watching the wall crumble into dust, ignoring the explosion from the missile... before looking at Cirra "overkill?"

Will Sherman has posed:
Will watches Cirra blow the wall up with a rocket Launcher.

Respect +1.

Fear +1.

"HOLY <GOOSEHONK>!"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou .oO(<3)

Emi observes Cirra with a blank expression in her eyes.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will moves to poke Emi. Poooooooooooooke.

God she's doing the blank eye thing again. Every single time.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra lowers the missile launcher to the ground as she walks forewards.

"Summoning demon walls in the palace is strictly against the law."