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[Not Aman]

Robor grips the hilt of his blade. The ceo is gonna get it, one way or another.

[Drakilian]

What the hell was that?

What's this blood?

Why does it hurt so much? Lord what's happened?

Saint opens his mouth to answer Sarapheen but nothing comes out. He just nods then, looking both embarrassed and incredibly disoriented.

The thought then occurs to him - Where did my swarm go?

He magically reaches out to his swarm, commanding it to come back to him.

[BerkaZerka]

The Saint can still feel a connection to the swarm, though he doesn't know where they are, and has no way of communicating his will to them from here, without more knowledge of the space arcanum.

Sarapheen opens another portal - this time to the tower overlook - where Jack Eaton Jr., his manservant, and the tech op have now joined the sniper to await egress.

Something about the location of the exit creates a surge of paradox with the casting, clawing the angel's mind momentarily with deranged flashes of thought. Sarapheen grits her teeth and self-purges the paradox - feeling like someone just slugged her in the gut three or four times.

"Chopper in five minutes," The tech op says, consulting his tablet. "Some weird shit happening on the cameras - people disappearing in flashes of light... Got to be some sort of trick - - - HOLY MOTHER OF... THERE IT IS!!!"

The tech op gasps in disbelief at the sudden appearance of Sarapheen's portal behind Jack and the sniper. The rest are shocked when Beats tosses a teargas grenade into the midst of them and lunges for Jack.

The grenade goes off, spewing acrid white smoke into the air and obscuring vision - choking and gaging those without a mask.

Beats is stunned however, when a huge mastiff hound slams him off-course (from out of nowhere). The beast, every inch of six feet tall, is a black and red brindle colored thing with a neck and chest as thick as a bull! From the impact, and how far it threw Beats back, it has to weigh at least four hundred pounds.

Great strands of ichorous drool hang from its over-sized jowls and it snarls with sharp black teeth bared. Dried blood mats the fur around its mouth and talon-hooked paws. Muscles flex and tense over its entire body, which has a sulfurous odor and waters the eyes, almost as much as the tear gas now filling the tower overlook.

With the giant mastiff on Beats, Robor is able to maneuver past, to bring his sword down on Jack Eaton Jr. - as the tech op yells - "FREEZE! FBI!"

Not hesitating, Robor pulls the blade down hard! Slashing Jack's face open - deep into his sinus cavities - and lacerating his neck and chest in the process.

The man screams. It is a sound Robor will not soon forget - punctuated by the feel of the man's wet blood spattering all over Robor in the process.

Staggered and pouring blood, Jack tries to flee, stumbling toward the spiral stairs that he had just come up.

Sarapheen tries to open another portal under the sniper's feet, but the spell collapses in on itself and invokes an anomaly.

"We got a sleeper!" she alerts, pointing at the tech op, while trying to figure out what horrible effect she just pulled into the world from the Shadow.

Already freaking out, the tech op interprets Sarapheen's simple motion as a threat to his well being, and fires his .45 caliber sidearm. The bullet bounces off the angel's chest, leaving nary a smudge in her secretarial attire.

"Th... that's impossible..." the tech op stammers.

"Aw nuts," Sarapheen replies, feeling the man's disbelief begin to unravel her Organic Resilience spell.

"THREE ON THE NEST!" The sniper yells into his comms, shrugging off the teargas (as best he can) and firing his FN FNAR 308 rifle at Robor.

The shot rings out loud - but misses - passing through Robor's sleeve and chipping the tower's stone crenellations, as the bullet slams into them.

[BerkaZerka]

With everyone gone, the Saint realizes that he doesn't know how to get to the attic from here. He doesn't remember even being there.

Scanning the library, he sees the still open door in the bookshelves with a set of wooden stairs going up beyond.

Bingo.

Approaching the stairs, the Saint sees a red velvet rope stretched across, blocking the way up. Something moves from the shadows - the black silhouette of a large doorman - like some freaky animated paper cutout. It stands in the way, behind the rope, with arms folded and speaks with an eerie nebulous voice - "You're not on the list."

[BerkaZerka]

Looking around in the attic laboratory, Emend finds nothing that looks like a deed.

As he roots around, ignoring the sheet-covered cage, whatever is inside continues to make noise and begins scratching at the bars. Emend can see the sheet moving where it paws through the gaps.

Then a child's voice is heard, calling through the locked oak door at the far end of the laboratory - a little girl, asking - "Hello? Mama? Are you there? Can I come out and play now?"

[Forge]

Beats knew that a sleeper was bad new and had to be dealt with. He wants to pull out the stun gun to try to knock the Sleeper out with it, being attacked by a demon dog came first though.

"Farking Demon dog!" He shouts as he tries to keep the thing off him by punching it in the face using 'knife punch' rote to make the damage more lethal.

[killa_robot]

Emend stops and looks at the door for a minute. If this is another one of those golems made by he witch, he'll have to proceed carefully. Emend walks over to the door and attempts to open it, using his Emotional Urging ring to make sure the being on the other side of the door is calm and trusting of him if he can in fact open it. If he can't, he'll first use the same spell he used on the previous door to tear it off (hopefully not flying backwards in the process this time).

[BerkaZerka]

"Focus on the thrall!" Sarapheen directs Robor and Beats.

"Don't let up! If we take him out, the guardian fiend should be released from its bond to him!"

'God, I hope so! This is getting hairy!' Sarapheen worries to herself.

[Drakilian]

Saint hesitates, then holds the cleaver up to the shadow - not in a threatening manner, he just displays it.

Sentient shadows. Spirit and Death, bound together. He likely won't let me pass, but...

"The one who wrote the list is dead."

[Forge]

Hearing the cry Beat changes his action and uses the stun gun to shoot at Jack, using evil eye on him as he does.

Gonna get bitten here... he thinks as he fires.

[BerkaZerka]

The huge mastiff snaps at Beats' neck - its jaws slamming closed with a thunderous crack! Beats turns away from the thing's snapping maw quick enough to avoid losing his head - but the thing's nasty drool splatters his skin and burns furrows into it with an evil hiss!

'Acid!' Beats realizes, hoping Sarapheen is right about its bond to Jack.

Sarapheen meanwhile, has removed her belt and set a silver bearing into it. Giving it a swing around her head reveals it to be a sling - and the 'stone' flies true - striking Jack Eaton Jr. in the back of the head!

The man is knocked unconscious and begins to tumble forward - towards the spiral staircase - but Robor reaches out to grab him and holds him back.

Robor, then running his sword through Jack's heart, ensures the man isn't going to wake up and severs the Guardian Fiend's bond to him with Jack's death.

As this goes on, the sniper takes better aim at the man slicing up his charge and fires - the bullet punching through Robor's torso, just above the kidney! Blood sprays out both front and rear, as the shot passes completely  through - leaving Robor with an unpleasant fiery burning sensation in his back and side.

With Jack no longer a target, Beats uses his stun-gun on the one doing the most damage to his friends, moving forward and pressing the electrodes into the sniper's throat.

The weapon clicks and snaps loudly, causing the man's muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily.

The tech op see this through the smoke, and fires his .45 at Beats, but can't get a good shot due to the effects of the gas.

[BerkaZerka]

"Get the body!" Sarapheen yells, focusing her Mana to mitigate the paradox being drawn by the tech op sleeper. She then flicks her magic prism again, opening a portal to the attic storage space.

The huge mastiff snorts at the death of Jack and then watches impassively, as the angel opens a portal for the group to escape into.

Robor drags Jack's body through, followed by Beats, and then Sarapheen.

The sniper, no longer being tased, swings his rifle around at the gate, but the shot fires through thin air - as the portal vanishes right before he pulls the trigger.

"WHAT THE FARK WAS THAT?!? WHAT THE FARK?!?" the tech op yells hysterically.

"WE LOST THE ASSET!" The sniper calls into his comms.

A grunt rushes up the spiral stairs onto the tower overlook from below - "Shit, what's going on up here?"

Nobody seems to notice the guardian fiend wander into the teargas and not come out - even as the gas slowly dissipates away in the open air.

---

Beats and Robor Continue in 'The Hell Are We?'

[BerkaZerka]

Saint hesitates, then holds the cleaver up to the shadow - not in a threatening manner, he just displays it.

Sentient shadows. Spirit and Death, bound together. He likely won't let me pass, but...

"The one who wrote the list is dead."

"Not my problem," the deep baritone voice replies apathetically. "If you ain't on the list, then you ain't getting in."

From the shade's mannerisms and the way it speaks, the Saint suspects that (like many bouncers) the doorman's wits may take a back seat to its physical prowess.

[BerkaZerka]

Emend stops and looks at the door for a minute. If this is another one of those golems made by he witch, he'll have to proceed carefully. Emend walks over to the door and attempts to open it, using his Emotional Urging ring to make sure the being on the other side of the door is calm and trusting of him if he can in fact open it. If he can't, he'll first use the same spell he used on the previous door to tear it off (hopefully not flying backwards in the process this time).

The doorknob proves too secure, to simply rip off unassisted with magic, so Emend focuses his will once again, and uses telekinesis to combine both physical and mental efforts.

It works, but something goes wonky with the casting, and Emend feels a strange shock go up both forearms, as the knob pops off the door. Whatever it was, it leaves his arms feeling prickly, like when they fall asleep and are just getting circulation back into them.

After a few moments, the sensation goes away - and Emend opens the latching mechanism with his switchblade.

Beyond the door is a small room, made even smaller by the sloping attic ceiling. It is decorated like a child's nursery, with a small frilly bed, mirrored dresser, short round tea table, and matching chairs.

Propped up on the bed is a large child-sized doll, with long blond hair, wearing a white dress, black buckle shoes, and pink sash tied in a bow. It stares at Emend with glassy blue eyes and invokes a sense of unease - even revulsion - in the way it looks so realistic and fake all at the same time.

Something about the doll's face reminds Emend of the AMBER Alert he had seen a few weeks ago, about a girl abducted from the Fairfax area. The doll's face is too round - and perfectly doll-like - to be the same girl, but the resemblance is uncanny.

With his Scales of Thought and Supernal Vision going, Emend could tell that the doll had a sentient mind - in fact, it might be reading his mind in some fashion right now apparently - and that she was a golem, imbued by Mama Kark, much like Hans had been - only she somehow felt magically 'more real' than Hans had.

The doll's mouth then moves, almost puppet like - "You are naked..." it states accusingly, in the little girl's voice that Emend had heard before.

[killa_robot]

Emend takes a quick look down and confirms he is in fact still naked.

"... That's right," Emend replies, looking for something to cover himself up with. In the meantime, he'll cast Aura Perception to confirm what is going on with the girl (which mixed with Supernal Vision should also tell him her nature).

"My names Emend. What, may I ask, are you doing locked in this room?"

[BerkaZerka]

There are entire bolts of fabric among Mama Kark's sewing paraphernalia, which Emend commandeers to fashion a makeshift toga.

With that sorted, he scrutinizes the living doll closely, and sees an empty void where her aura should be - indicating that she has no soul of her own. However, there is a small self-contained aura inside her chest, that shows mottled, shifting colors, flickering between more solid patterns of white and light green.

If Emend remembers his aura studies, it means the doll itself is not really alive, but whatever that is, in her chest, is (or was) alive at some point. The colors indicate an innocent, who is currently confused and distrustful.

At his question, the doll answers back, "I am waiting for Mama Kark to play with me. She promised to give me a present when she gets back. Have you seen Mama Kark?"

[LadyZerka]

Meanwhile, the thing in the cage continues to whine and try to get Emend's attention. Hint hint. 

[Drakilian]

"Not my problem," the deep baritone voice replies apathetically. "If you ain't on the list, then you ain't getting in."

From the shade's mannerisms and the way it speaks, the Saint suspects that (like many bouncers) the doorman's wits may take a back seat to its physical prowess.

Saint shrugs then, and sits down, his back against the wall besides the door. Wasn't as if he could do much himself at the moment, and he didn't want to go outside - he might be seen by the cameras.

"Funny then, that you were fine with me being inside a few minutes ago. Or with my friend being in there right now. Say, i'm one of the ones that killed Mama Kark, you think that gives me the right to change what's on that list?"

[BerkaZerka]

"You can't just write your own name on the list and expect to get in," the spirit scoffs at the Saint's suggestion.

"It doesn't matter who leaves - only who gets in. And you're either on the list or you're not."

[Drakilian]

"How do you know what names are on the list?" Saint asks.

"I don't see any paper on you."

[BerkaZerka]

"Trust me buddy, I have seen the list and you ain't on it."

[killa_robot]

There are entire bolts of fabric among Mama Kark's sewing paraphernalia, which Emend commandeers to fashion a makeshift toga.

With that sorted, he scrutinizes the living doll closely, and sees an empty void where her aura should be - indicating that she has no soul of her own. However, there is a small self-contained aura inside her chest, that shows mottled, shifting colors, flickering between more solid patterns of white and light green.

If Emend remembers his aura studies, it means the doll itself is not really alive, but whatever that is, in her chest, is (or was) alive at some point. The colors indicate an innocent, who is currently confused and distrustful.

At his question, the doll answers back, "I am waiting for Mama Kark to play with me. She promised to give me a present when she gets back. Have you seen Mama Kark?"

"I actually did see her earlier," Emend replies. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment," he adds, attempting to use his magical item to calm the girl down for now. Once he does that, he'll walk over to the cage, and after making sure there's no magical trap on it with his mage sights, he'll take off the cloth to see what's been making all that dang racket.

[Drakilian]

Saint thinks for a seconds then cancels his body control spell.

He proceeds to hold his cross to his heart and begins praying, casting his self-healing spell while speaking words of power and spending a willpower point, steeling himself against the potential coming wave of paradox.

After completing the spell, he continues talking to the shade; "So what's your price? Never met a bouncer who couldn't be bribed."

After he says this he also casts his spatial map spell, hoping to find his hornets with it, so that he could call them back to him.

[BerkaZerka]

It proves very difficult for the Saint to heal any of the scar tissue and internal damage with his spell - but the distracting pain has been reduced to a more bearable level - meaning it did work to a small degree.

Casting Spacial Map, reveals the Saint's hornet swarm in the master bedroom, attacking someone on the floor there - either unconscious or dead.

The Saint also 'sees' the sniper and tech op on the tower overlook with Jack's manservant, launching two camera drones into the air.

As this goes on, a security grunt is making a sweep of the second floor, currently in the Pub, while two more do the same on the first floor and basement - in the garage and octagon room respectively.

The chef is still in the kitchen, and the Saint notes that he cannot see any of the rest of his team - though they are probably all in one of the warded areas that he cannot perceive into.

The doorman meanwhile, considers the Saint's query.

"You know, I'm not supposed to take bribes," he begins, chewing on his words as he goes, "but... with Mama Kark being gone... who would really know?"

He then looks around, as if checking to see who might be watching, then offers, leaning in to whisper - "Look, I can get you in places. Grant you access, you know? In exchange for helping you to have an 'air of belonging', you just need to focus a little more on the 'you'."

The shade points both fingers at the Saint and a broad cutout smile appears in its 'face'.

"Put yourself first. No big deal. What do you say?"

A pang of guilt washes over the Saint at the spirits words. Clearly, it was trying to tempt him with some kind of demonic pact. Power in exchange for his empathy towards others.

[BerkaZerka]

"I actually did see her earlier," Emend replies. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment," he adds, attempting to use his magical item to calm the girl down for now. Once he does that, he'll walk over to the cage, and after making sure there's no magical trap on it with his mage sights, he'll take off the cloth to see what's been making all that dang racket.

"These are not my feelings," the doll states flately, as Emend uses Emotional Urging on her - "But I guess they will do."

She then follows Emend out of her room to watch him pull the sheet off the kennel-cage.

Inside, Emend and Doll see a small black bear cub with a rusty iron collar pad-locked around its neck. It stands up at the 'unveiling' and begins to whine - pointing at the collar with its claws.

"My present!" Doll exclaims happily, "Oh I love it! Can you take it out now, so I can play with it?"

With his mage sight, Emend can tell that it is no ordinary bear cub. It appears to be some kind of animal/spirit hybrid and the magical collar around its neck is binding it in some way.

[Drakilian]

Saint hesitates, "I'll have to think about it. We've got time after all, don't we?"

Who is that? What the hell happened out there?

Saint tries to direct the swarm out towards the sniper. If those drones managed to get to him... Things weren't going to be pretty.

[BerkaZerka]

The swarm is still unresponsive.

The thought crosses the Saint's mind, that he must need to be seen by the swarm in order to control or instruct it. With the grunt moving through the pub into the drawing room, there's no way the Saint can make it to the master bedroom before him - especially without being seen.

It should be interesting however, to see how the grunt reacts when he finds the swarm.

"Time... right," the shade answers the Saint.

It remains quiet for a few moments, as if thinking, then adds, "With Mama Kark gone, I'm going to be out of a job soon. I would hate for such talents, as my own, to go to waste."

"What say you hook me up with a position afterwards? You know, some place to guard and keep the riff-raff out (no offense to your present circumstance)."

[killa_robot]

Emend attempts to ignore the creepiness of the doll while deciding what to do next.

"Bears normally aren't supposed to be played with. Are you sure this is the present you were supposed to get?" He asks, as he casts read aura to find the nature of the bear out. He'll also glance around the room to see if he can see the key for the collar.

[Drakilian]

A bit frustrated, Saint relinquishes his control over the swarm - but not the transfered features. Hopefully the naturally aggressive Hornets would turn their attention towards the grunt, drawing the focus of the rest of the security team.

The thought occurs to Saint that such a guardian could be used to help protect Faith, if it came to it. Or, at the very least, he could continue to protect this castle.

"I have a few ideas. How long till your old contract expires, do you think?"

[BerkaZerka]

"I'm here, until the place changes hands," the doorman replies with a shrug.

[Drakilian]

Saint puts on his gas mask and readies a tear gas grenade. He starts looking around the room for somewhere he could hide, or a corner where he could manipulate the shadows into making more discreet.

"Well, my friend up there is searching for the deed to the place right now. I don't suppose you'll be freed once he finds it?"

[BerkaZerka]

"Bears normally aren't supposed to be played with. Are you sure this is the present you were supposed to get?"

"Oh yes!" Doll replies with excitement, "Let him out!"

Looking around, Emend does not see any keys.

It occurs to him that Mama Kark probably still has them on her body, down in the basement, as no one bothered to search her after...

'ACK!' Emend immediately halts his train of thought - remembering that Doll has an unexplained Mind connection of some kind to him.

For her part, Doll doesn't seem to notice the stray thoughts, and remains enthralled about the bear.

[BerkaZerka]

Saint puts on his gas mask and readies a tear gas grenade. He starts looking around the room for somewhere he could hide, or a corner where he could manipulate the shadows into making more discreet.

"Well, my friend up there is searching for the deed to the place right now. I don't suppose you'll be freed once he finds it?"

With his Spacial Map going, the Saint can simply hide behind the large couches in the library and creep around them, as the grunt walks through, to remain hidden. And that's if any even bother to come in here, once they find the hornets.

He should probably close the secret door in the bookcase however, so as not to draw their attention with it.

"No," the spirit answers from the staircase, "I'm always the last to leave, once the rest have closed up shop."

[Drakilian]

A good idea. Though I wonder what would happen if I just left the bookcase open and the guards tried to go through? Would the shade stop them? Perhaps they could take care of it for me? Though then I'd have bigger problems to deal with... and the shade might kill them. No, better to leave it closed.

"So what are your working conditions? I suppose you have certain standards, a pay and all that?"

[BerkaZerka]

"The job is its own reward," the spirit replies, "I mean, I'm the one who gets to enforce the list."

[Drakilian]

"Huh. What are you anyway? I thought you were just a spirit given substance by some shadows Kark conjured, but i'm starting to get the feeling you're something else."

[BerkaZerka]

"What? No man," the spirit answers, "Mama Kark didn't create me."

"I used to work a very discriminating little establishment down in Georgetown, long before I started working here."

[Drakilian]

"Were you human? Alive?"

[LadyZerka]

"Oh yes!" Doll replies with excitement, "Let him out!"

The little bear looks at the doll with terror in its eyes. It then reaches out of the cage and claws the letters "S.O.S." into the tabletop.

[killa_robot]

"Oh yes!" Doll replies with excitement, "Let him out!"

"Alright, but let me see it for a minute first," Emend replies, opening the cage. He'll then reach into it, and attempt to use telekinesis to break the collar off.

[BerkaZerka]

Emend successfully casts his spell, without drawing down any paradox, but the lock on the collar does not budge.

He does however, notice that the cage door can be unlocked from the outside - simply by sliding a latching bar that cannot be reached by the bear cub from the inside.

[killa_robot]

Concluding that the only way to unlock the collar will be with the key that's well beyond his grasp, Emend opens the door to the cage so the girl can play with the bear cub for now.

"There you go. Now if you'll excuse me I'm looking for something," Emend says, heading back into the doll room to look for the deed to the castle.

[BerkaZerka]

Doll squeals with excitement and hurries over to take the bear cub out of the cage. She holds it in her arms as if it were a baby doll.

UsdiYona (the bear cub) notices how strong the false girl's grip is. She could probably get out of Doll's arms if she struggled, but then what? Something tells her that she doesn't want to make Doll mad however. Whatever happens though, she can't let the Awakened man leave her alone with the creepy thing.

Besides, he probably has lots and lots of mouth wateringly delicious human food back in his man den. No way she's going to pass up on that!

Just need to get rid of this stupid collar!

"What should we name him?" Doll asks Emend, rocking the small bear in her arms.

Emend meanwhile, finds a section of loose floorboards in the lower corner of Doll's room, under the foot of her frilly little bed.

[BerkaZerka]

"Were you human? Alive?"

"I don't know," the shade answers, "I became alive at some point though."

By this time, the grunt sweeping the second floor moves from the drawing room and into the master bedroom, where he encounters Saint's hornet swarm.

"AHHG! WHAT? AAAHHGH!"

The Saint can 'see' them attacking with his spacial map, but they do not follow after the grunt, when he flees the room and shuts the door behind him.

"KILLER FREAKIN HORNETS!" He yells into his comms.

"What?!?" comes back a reply.

The grunt takes a second to calm himself down, before answering back.

"They got Maverick! I think he's dead! A whole swarm of them. Shit these stings farking hurt like a son of a bitch!"

"Any sign of the intruder or asset?" the other voice asks.

"Negative. Continuing the sweep," the grunt replies, rubbing the nasty red welts on his forearms and the side of his neck. "GAWD DAMN THAT SMARTS!!!"

He then heads into Bedroom 2 for a quick look.

Next stop, the Sitting Room and Library.

[Drakilian]

"On second thought, we'll have to continue this conversation later, it would seem that I will very shortly have company."

Saint closes the hidden door and prepares himself for the terrifyingly tense ordeal that will be maneuvering himself around the room so that the guard doesn't see him. He keeps an eye out for any plant-life in the room that he could use to his advantage if he is seen.

Lord, please don't make me hurt this man. I still don't know... I don't understand what i've done.

[killa_robot]

"How about Mr.Snugglefluff?" Emend suggests, attempting to pull up some of the loose boards.

[LadyZerka]

'Mr. Snugglefluff'?!?' the bear cub thinks in disgust, 'Who said I was a 'mr.'? Don't they know basic anatomy?'

The bear makes gaging motions with a claw in its mouth.

[BerkaZerka]

"I don't think he likes that," Doll remarks at the suggestion; then ask the cub "what about 'Beary'?"

Emend meanwhile, moves the end of the bed, to pry up the floorboards with his knife.

Sure enough, the original deed is under there, rolled up like a scroll, secured with an elastic band, and covered in dust.

[BerkaZerka]

Saint closes the hidden door and prepares himself for the terrifyingly tense ordeal that will be maneuvering himself around the room so that the guard doesn't see him.

The Saint makes a mental note of the large rubber tree plant in the sitting room, and then ducks down behind the couch.

When the grunt walks in, he doesn't even circle the couch - just making a cursory glance around and then leaving to continue his sweep down the hall.

[Drakilian]

Huh, that was easy

Saint waits for the guard to get a comfortable distance away before going over and re-opening the secret door.

"Seems the guard was uninterested in finding me at the moment. Hey, can you see anything past this staircase? Something like the spatial map effect I have active right now?"