Spies and Bloodshed

[MM = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BbvCC0VI0&feature=youtu.be&t=61]

The Lawmen didn’t dare go down to fight Miles on the ground, but her leaps soon taught them to fear coming within three stories of the madwoman. In a single bound she was upon one of the crispy survivors of Tita’s initial ****; with a rake of her knuckles, she smashed the offending wrist the terrified guard held up to her. In the same motion, she grabbed onto the shattered joint and anchored herself to this victim as he tried, and failed, to fly upwards and away. Miles’ other hand smeared the blood of a Dorsin Lawman over the visor, blinding the fool who continued shooting upwards in a panic. She planted her feet onto his legs as she raised herself up and crawled onto him, shattering his other hand’s fingers with a quick elbow when he tried to wrestle her off.

Still largely naked and with a head of smoky flames, she looked over the rim of the blinded, screaming Lawman’s helmet… to grin madly at the two Lawmen previously out of her reach. They tried to fly away as they realized her plan, but Miles’ feet were already planted on her ride’s shoulders by then. With a collarbone-shattering leap, she launched herself onto the next one to die.

Tita had a far less difficult time earning admirers; her abilities were ranged, and so there was no way to defeat her strength except to engage her. The Lawmen, now a dozen strong, had reinforced after so many of them had perished or been wounded beyond any ability to fight… but Tita showed no sign of intimidation at the golden charge approaching her. In fact, she had only a sad frown at the prospect of being exposed to even more of this filthy blood of theirs… but orders were orders.

Tita casts Hallow.

While Miles saw only a red, glittering world of ****, Tita was shown a pure world of white… except for those black, horrid stains that marked any living alien creature within 300 feet of her. The Lawmen who first pierced this consecrated place were known to her senses immediately; another Lawman, squirming with broken wings and legs, was trying to live through mortal wounds in an alleyway just a hundred feet away; and so her sense of this blessed space informed her and, in small doses, healed her wounds.

Tita is healed by the Hallowed Space, healing 12HP of damage.

It would do so as long as she stayed inside it… and she had no intention of giving up any blessed spot in this Hell to the likes of the vermin flying at her.

Tita used Grow Appendage.
Tita used Enlarge Appendage on her grown appendage, increasing its size by 100%.
Tita is healed by the Hallowed Space, healing 12HP of damage.

A third tentacle, thicker than a human thigh and twelve feet long, now extended from her upper-back. Tita turned away from the oncoming attackers—within the hallowed zone, she no longer needed to see them to know exactly where they were—and lashed out at the first to come within range.

Tita used Hallowed Lash, empowered by Hallow, on the Lawman Hammer, dealing 500 radiant damage.
Lawman Hammer is slain!
Tita is healed by the Hallowed Space, healing 12HP of damage.

It was an inefficient use of her mana, but the fear caused by the spectacle, would buy her ample space to work. The tentacle’s fat tip had barely tapped the Lawman’s shoulder as he tried to evade, and that was all it needed; the lashing of that flesh upon armor burned the blue, holy moonlight of her people into the petty flesh within. Radiant damage was the true expression of the moon, as it was of angels and demons; this was her inheritance, whatever the truth of her bestial heritage, and her goddess’ power sang today in how the armor snapped apart over the expanding shoulder. The bloating shoulder swelled with an unnatural, azure glow underneath flesh stretched taut and continued to rapidly expand until it ruptured in a flash of blue flames that vanished with the sin they purified. The leftovers of armor and Dorsin fell to the earth.

All that remained of the horrifically murdered Lawman was the fear in his brothers-in-arms… but the Peak demanded loyalty, and so the Lawmen, screaming in a frenzied madness, continued their charge. “My Master orders your deaths… and my Goddess wishes it,” Tita whispered as she continued to feign ignorance of the foes behind her, “so who would I be… to spare such degenerate filth?”

The Lawmen circled around her carefully, avoiding being grouped too closely together; three of them failed this much, however, and Tita punished them for it.

Tita casts Entropic Sphere, dealing 137 necrotic damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Entropic Sphere, dealing 137 necrotic damage to Lawman Hammer.
Lawman Hammer is slain!
Tita casts Entropic Sphere, dealing 137 necrotic damage to Lawman Hammer.

A sphere of darkness exploded outward from between the three and then retracted almost as quickly, leaving all three hobbled and rotting inside their armors and the third too dead to wail of the agony this caused. The remaining Lawmen, narrowed down to eight who were in any condition to be the vanguard here, found their spots and approached, their weapons raised and ready to parry the tentacle Tita brought closer to herself. The two Lawmen howling in their helms were still enough under the Peak’s control to join the charge as a second wave, even as their joints creaked and their flesh bubbled; they readied their weapons to strike, not parry, for they knew their time was limited.

But Tita didn’t lash out with her new appendage. She just had to wait… and the moment came as, nearby, Miles smashed into the floor of a road, letting a dead Lawman break her landing after she ripped the wings from his armor. She was now three dozen feet away… and safely out of range of Tita’s intended spell. “Thank the Goddess,” the Moon Elf sighed.

Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Brave.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Brave.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Lawman Hammer slain!
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Brave.
Tita casts Zenith Holocaust, dealing 90 fire damage to Lawman Hammer.
Lawman Hammer slain!

A massive fireball erupted to engulf Tita, the Lawmen above, and the building beneath her feet. Sixty feet wide and seemingly a solid ball of burning flames, the sight of it stopped Miles in her tracks just five feet short of running headlong into the inferno. This was the second time the Lawmen had seen this spell, though this time it engulfed the ground and buildings underneath Tita; as the flames receded, the black, charred ruins of the paved road marked its casting. The little records office Tita had been standing on was now a collapsed pile of ashes and broken walls from which two tentacles kept Tita aloft. The flames continued to recede… but not into its center, where Tita had once stood, but into just one of the Braves… and like one of his former allies, his nerves and mind ran far too hot to consider what it meant to be chosen as the zenith of her pyre.

Zenith Holocaust resolves, dealing an additional 367 fire damage to Lawman Brave.
Lawman Brave is slain!

Again the fire exploded out from the visor and every joint in the armor until, in a nova of golden bits and boiling, bloody mists, the Lawman Brave was exiled from life in every direction. The stunned, burning survivors of the attack meandered in the sky as the partially melted joints of their wings began to fail. The elf had a satisfied look about her… interrupted only by the graceless flight of the strange-haired woman she was meant to “protect.” With a flip and a merciless heel dug through helmet and skull, Miles killed one said survivor and, with no hint of stopping, rebounded off the corpse to finish off the next.

Wordlessly, Tita snapped her tentacle at the nearest surviving Brave to continue the extermination.

Lawmen from all over the Plate, and even a wave of reinforcements slowly being mobilized from the Ninth Disk, were now converging upon the First Station. Some hundreds, then thousands, would arrive to put down the Bitter Nines in what seemed to be their final stand… or so that’s how the Warden framed it in her broadcasted intel to her fellows in the upper-echelons.

Daedro heard this version of the facts and, as any loyal Lawman would do, chose not to refute them even as he watched the slaughter unfold. This was fine; the Lawmen of the Plate were barely better than the dregs they “protected,” after all. They even accepted Dorsins into their ranks! Disgraceful lack of good breeding, that.

But even with this attitude, Daedro was not a madman. He did not kill indiscriminately while patrolling the Plate, even if it was virtually his right—for who would challenge his word? Who could?—and though he was curious at the suspicious, robed figures below, he had no reason to attack them… yet.

“Bow your head when addressed,” Zalla instructed hastily while Daedro was still out of hearing range, “and let me do the talking.” These humans would have to obey her commands; they only even understood her thanks to her master’s tongue being **** onto her own; none of them could manage to speak Dorani if asked any pointed questions, and Tricia was in no place to try and create a translator without the Gorbachev language databases and algorithms.

They’d be a trio of mute entertainers, then, too stupefied and scared to know what to do. That was the cover story… and a piss-poor one, Zalla knew, but the crashing mayhem and sounds of ruinous magic emanating from the government block behind them would surely be enough of an exigency to ignore them and move on.

That was her hope, at least. Master, Daedro, the Purifier, he is here! John’s instructions demanded that his attention be brought here… but how would he proceed? How would he instruct her?

“How will we know when we are addressed?” Tricia nervously asked.

“Shit, isn’t this… the guy?” Travolta suddenly realized.

“How astute of you,” Zalla hissed, “now bow your heads and say nothing!”

With no small amount of grumbling, Rave complied last after Tricia and Travolta were quick to play along.

<Are the others with you safe?> John did not hide his worry in that thought.

They might not be; Daedro is coming near, but he has not attacked yet.

Daedro made no motion to his escort of Braves; by mental command, they swept past him and overhead to support their brothers. Daedro himself, on the glittering, blue wings of energy emanating from his back, would wait for his Shapers before swooping in to finally kill Miles “the Human,” Golgon the Fool, and the rest of this wretched resistance… but until then, he had a moment’s reprieve to investigate this curiosity.

“Citizen,” he all but commanded, the metallic tinge in his voice still familiar to Zalla. As he spoke, bits of ashen bok, burned from some disaster or another, began to trickle over the scene.

The others did not understand the word but bowed their heads in polite unison with Zalla. “Honorable Bringer of Law, thank the Peak that you have arrived!” she exclaimed in her best impression of a panicked citizen. Her head was mostly covered, but she dared not try and cover her face as the others did; it was already too suspicious that they hid their identities. Moreover, how would he recognize me? I have never met this creature this close… no, this ruse must work, or we’re dead!

Daedro was unimpressed. “You are near the prohibited area. Tell me why unless you wish to be disciplined.” Of course, “discipline” had but one conclusion on the Plate.

Rave dared a peek at his armor while her hood hid her eyes from his. As John had described, it was all in black and form-fitting if, as it suggested, Daedro’s form was something of a bodybuilder in his swollen prime. The plates were segmented into rectangular bindings that joined to a single, circular plate over his abs and chest, and his weapon, a sinister-looking halberd that ended in an ethereal blade of blue, sat lazily on its butt as he held it upright. She caught sight of a thick wad of ash drifting down to his arm… and then bouncing and tapping along just over the armor there. It was nearly an inch off, but it rolled off all the same as if compelled by some invisible layer of protection. A… forcefield? Rave almost clicked her tongue in frustration. A surprise attack might not go well… well, except for her…

Tricia’s eyes wandered too… except they wandered to consider the man’s leg which, along with the segmented armor, seemed covered entirely in uncolored runes. How many spells had been carved into this man’s pants? Were they all over his armor, just as small, nearly invisible indents? But she didn’t dare look up and consider the rest of him as Daedro began to eye the silent “citizens.”

Peak preserve me, but if I’m not convincing… “W-We were attempting to hold a throat concert, wise and mighty Lawman, when-”

“Zalla the Insatiable,” Daedro suddenly declared, stunning Zalla into silence.

“H-How… excuse me?”

“You are Zalla the Insatiable,” he explained, his metallic voice too flat to discern his intention, “the ‘missing’ Keeper. I recognize you from the briefing.”

But there were thousands of us there! How could he possibly pick me out of-?!

His black gauntlet suddenly reached out and softly lifted Zalla’s chin, offering him a better view of her surprised face. Rave and the others flinched visibly enough to earn a glance from the Purifier, but none dared to move. “I made inquiries after you, curious to see why you were posted here despite your obvious bloodline superiority, your talents… and your stunning beauty.” His mutilated mouth managed its best grin, turning Zalla’s stomach; so that’s how she had stood out… and now that’s why she’d die? “And yet… I found nothing but bureaucratic nonsense and petty rivalries.”

Zalla swallowed hard. She had no story to explain lying to a Purifier, so now he was just toying with her.

Daedro looked hard into her beautiful eyes… and his hard gaze softened around those gray orbs as he came to what he was sure was the truth. “Of course… the spy in the Bitter Nines. A new face, but still someone the Peak would trust with the task; a Keeper… and even then, only the most beautiful of them,” he sighed.

Soft echoes of screams, destruction, and anarchy rained upon them along with the ash, but not a sound came from Zalla until she hesitantly managed, “I-I’m… sorry?”

“You needn’t worry,” he explained, his voice eager, “it finally makes sense. The poor-quality stories about how or why you were posted here, I mean, they finally have an explanation…”

Zalla’s reasons for being ousted here were petty… but they were true, as far as she knew them. She remained unsure of Daedro’s meaning, however.

“But what of these?” He nodded towards the three as they remained frozen. “Your backup for the operation? False recruits for the Bitter Nines to promote your cover, or are they truly…?”

<I’m ready to swap places with you all->

Wait, Master! Something is wrong here… he thinks I’m still… with the Lawmen, somehow! Her confusion was earnest; a spy? If only that was her mission, if only that was how she ended up-

His halberd suddenly lifted an inch from where it rested. His grip tightened. “Are they with the Bitter Nines… in truth? Or are they other Lawmen in disguise?”

The alleged plot finally clicked into place… No, not alleged… he spoke of a spy as if it had already come to pass…! Then... did we… did they... really infiltrate the Bitter Nines-? “Pardon my cover, sir,” Zalla suddenly declared with her back straightened, “I can never be absolutely sure the terrorists aren’t hiding spies to follow us, even in this operation. These are my fellow operatives, yes; Lawman loyal and trained.”

The halberd came to rest once more and now floated horizontally in Daedro’s relaxed grip. His hideous face split into a grin. “So this is why you are disconnected from the Network… then your reported casualty, a farse-? Ah, but the battle at hand.” His eloquence here was disarming to Zalla; he had seemed almost simple-minded in the harsh, short words he had for them at the briefing, but he had obviously been “dumbing down” his presentation; now his nobility, his vocabulary, and even how he carried himself with a body rife with artifice and a face mutilated by progress… to Zalla, he was an immaculate sampling of that noble, First Disk breeding that she could only aspire to. “Are they not all here, then? Golgon the Fool and his other terrorists? Tell me their plan... and I will help extinguish it.”

<Zalla, report!>

Master, he thinks I’m a spy among the Bitter Nines and wants me to give away our mission. We can be safe if I do… but if I don’t, I have no excuse-!

“The Peak…” Zalla hesitated to attribute anything to the Peak; brainwashing or no, it hurt her very heart to so betray the values she grew up with. Would the Purifier believe the Peak demanded secrecy? Even towards him?

Daedro searched her conflicted expression with his own confusion. “Has the Peak instructed you as to… No, nevermind. If you cannot tell me, then such is our fate; the Peak’s wisdom is not to be questioned,” he humbly offered.

Zalla nearly sighed with relief… until John transmitted back orders that nearly made her cry out in fury. But his orders could not be disobeyed.

“They have an assassin, one who uses runes I cannot comprehend,” she hastily explained as she offered a description of John, “and he is going to attack the Warden directly! The Peak’s will is that I not interfere until ordered, lest my cover be blown, but… but you can stop the assassin, can’t you, sir?”

Daedro was taken aback by the revelation. “Runes you cannot comprehend?”

“He knocks **** several Lawmen at a time with single blows, can get into spaces thought impossible to infiltrate, and kills without any visible rune. He is… something strange, sir, and dangerous. I do not know that we could stop him if we tried… but I can promise he is the most dangerous member of the Bitter Nines.” For the most part, the narrative was true… but the fact that John wanted the Purifier to come to him while he was in the First Station was madness. Never mind the lying, never mind all the blasphemies of falsifying orders from the Peak… this was insane! Did John think he could take the Warden on and the Purifier at the same time?! She almost wished it wouldn’t work-

“What is this villain’s name?” Daedro whispered.

“He is John the Newman,” she replied.

“John the Newman…” Daedro said the alien name slowly, as if tasting it. “Then they would suffer a terrible loss if I were to go to him… more, we cannot afford disarray…” The hesitation was obvious on Daedro’s tongue; hunting this assassin would mean leaving the grand prize--Golgon the Fool--to the incompetent Braves and Hammers of the Plate. Should he attempt to contact the Speaker directly for guidance? No, this plot went directly to the Peak Herself… and not even the Speaker knew the spy’s identity. Indeed, he never even mentioned the spy having cohorts! Who hid under those hoods, he wondered? But Daedro snuffed out that curiosity; it was not his place to wonder. Daedro found himself interfering with a grand conspiracy, one only whispered of by the Speaker in their meeting a month ago… so the only wise course of action was to play along with it.

Zalla held her tongue as she waited to see whether these falsehoods played out. If Daedro reached out above his rank and discovered she was lying, then they’d be dead, probably before her Master could react. Paranoid, she thought to reach out-

“Stay clear of the prohibited area, citizen,” Daedro loudly declared so the spies of the Bitter Nines might be satisfied, “and take your selves away from here!” With nothing more, he took to the skies while the sounds of a raging war continued… and as if to mark his departure, greater mounds of ash had begun to fall from the sky.

It worked… somehow, it worked. He’s heading to the First Station, Master, Zalla mentally sighed, and there’s something else: the way he spoke, it was as if a spy had joined the Bitter Nines already… and now he thinks it’s me.

If John had a reaction to that, he didn’t make it known.

“Is he… going to leave us alone?” Tricia whispered over a rising noise of screams and crumbling buildings.

“Yes,” Zalla explained, “but only so he can go to the First Station.”

“W-What? We should’ve stopped him-!” Rave began.

“My master wanted this,” Zalla interrupted, “and he wants us to continue to remain safe. I agree with this, especially now that you’re all alleged members of my conspiracy. We cannot afford being seen attacking Lawmen, now.” A beat passed… and Zalla remembered that none of the wise, ever-knowing Humans had even understood the conversation. Their blank stares confirmed this. “Right: I will explain, but first we must escape.”

The wounds on Durr began to regenerate as the green halo appeared behind his head. Green fissures ran down his arms as he contemplated the approaching trio of Hammers; his strength redoubled, almost reluctantly, but still he held back his spells. “A shame,” Durr sighed as he stepped out from the ring of broken bodies and bulbous suits of armor at his feet, “that they did not prepare mages for me as the Order did… but they do wear masks, so I suppose they’ve accidentally warded against me in some sense.”

Fairy had no time to smartly remark on the hesitant ogre: a Lawman’s club had finally scored a hit on her head as she continued to whip, constrain, and burn the offending troops. One of the Lawman Keepers, finally thinking she had an opening on this enemy, had also come in and set off a blinding rune in front of Fairy’s eyes; the primitive magic proved itself effective as Fairy barely resisted being stunned outright, never mind being blinded now.

But she didn’t need to see when so many of her enemies were this close.

Fairy: -104HP
Fairy casts Hellfireball, dealing 55 fire damage and 51 radiant damage to Lawman Brave.
Fairy casts Hellfireball, dealing 55 fire damage and 51 radiant damage to Lawman Brave.
Lawman Brave slain!
Fairy casts Hellfireball, dealing 55 fire damage and 51 radiant damage to Lawman Keeper.
Fairy casts Hellfireball, dealing 55 fire damage and 51 radiant damage to Lawman Brave.

Fairy crushed the orb of crimson fire against her own chest, igniting it to engulf her, her chains, and the four Lawmen swarming nearest to her. The heat and melting shrapnel spared her and only her as the offending enemies dispersed.

Below this scene, John was working quickly with his portals, relaying orders, and trying to bring chaos to counter the order brought by the Lawmen… and with the Purifier finally delayed to some degree, he found a task for one of his flying minions. Fairy and Yulie: look for blue wings and tell me what that Lawman is doing!

Both minions gave their victims a moment’s reprieve to seek, and quickly spot, the highly visible path of the Purifier: unerringly, he was heading for the First Station. Fairy, who could only barely make him out as her vision cleared, yelled back, “There’s even more of them coming! How much longer do we have to keep this up?!”

Fairy: -45HP
Lawman Keeper casts Rune of Binding on Fairy, but it fails!

Fairy spun through the air and barely escaped a blue ring of light that attempted to encircle her in its shrinking collapse; the Keeper had poorly cast it while also clubbing Fairy on the leather of her wing.

“Asshole!” the infernal fey shrieked before she grew another loop of chain around the offending Keeper’s head.

Fairy uses Summon Chain. Fairy uses Command Chain.

The chain grew spikes and began to chew through the armor around the Keeper’s neck. Fairy planted her feet on the bitch’s armored chest and pulled as she tried to messily saw the head from its body. The other Lawmen began their approach, to try and save their ally, only to get webbed and pulled towards Alysha as she straddled a tight alleyway. Beneath her, a number of dead Lawmen caught in balls of webbing were making a humble mound.

“Hhrrrrraaah!”

The Keeper was too panicked to try and reach for her runes… right up until her neck popped underneath the pressure of the chains.

Lawman Keeper slain!

John delayed his answer as he began exploring the First Station with his portals. “Easy,” he grumbled as he tried to give her an answer. Alysha and Fairy, go back up Rosa and her group; Yulie, go fly over and help Tita and Miles.

“And who the fuck,” Fairy shot back aloud as she brought the same spiked whip of chains to bear on a nearing Hammer, “will protect you, you stupid-!”

But John had already blinked into the Warden’s office.

The Lawman Warden of the Plate was perhaps the most thankless job someone of Botuk the Observant’s lineage had ever held. By her will and command, some teeming millions of the worst of the world were kept in line; by her training and reputation, some thousands of Lawmen patrolled in a manner that maximized efficiency while minimizing exposure to danger; and by her experience and determination, the varied crops grown on the Plate, the metals dug up from Violet-poisoned bok, and so much of the wealth of the Disks was all lifted from this Hell and into Vantage. So why did the other Wardens address her as if she belonged down here? As if she did not hold residence in the Third Disk? As if she were not their better in the case of the Seventh and Ninth Wardens? These were the thoughts that bothered Botuk the Observant on most days…

… but her First Station’s surrounding area was not under siege on most days.

There’s no way to summarize the entire flow of information that ran through her carefully focused mind; she was a living conduit of data, feeding it into the officers nearby that charted information independently and between themselves before feeding analyses or cross-references back to her or else to their inferiors. As confusing as it might’ve been for most minds, Botuk was able to carry this on with a focused intent; none bothered her during this task, nor were there many more to be a bother as wave after wave of the Lawmen inside the building were rushing to get out and put an end to the Bitter Nines.

The reports had mostly confirmed that such was what they faced—one saw Golgon the Fool plainly—but unknown, powerful enemies had also joined their lot, each ranging in appearance between Human imposters to Dorbins of the most preposterous dimensions or horrific mutations. The reports on the Purifier were the most alarming: why was he heading towards the First Station when none of the reported terrorists had even attempted to breach it yet?

Her hands waited politely at her sides in balled, black-gloved fists; the clothing on those fists stretched into sleeves that vanished into the angular and stylized black-and-gray tunic that protected her from runic attacks. Her tattooed head was painted black on her lips and eyes in a style that raged so popular on the Third Disk that even the Warden of the Plate could not afford to be seen not wearing it. It made her expression ghoulish, and thinned her succulent lips, but it was a small joy she kept from civilian life as she worked here in the pit of Vantage.

The Warden’s office was largely invisible to her as she worked, but the present Braves and Guardians had long memorized its every inch. White, glowing runes cast light from each of the four walls that stood between the four entrances, and under each torch waited a vigilant guard: either one of the strongest Braves under the Warden’s command or one of her assigned Guardians, the Lawmen trained in runes of shielding and detection. Each was vigilant now and had active wards that could warn of approaching, offensive runic effects or of the warmth of unwelcome bodies; none set the Guardians off as they shrugged inside their elite, narrowly-fitted suits of silver armor. The Braves, still in the bulbous gear of the standard Lawmen, did their best to look ready and sharp in the event the Warden ordered them into the field to support their allies. The rest of the office was sparse, blue-gray, and lifeless: the semi-circle table around the Warden was covered in a layer of documents printed on thin stone and glass tablets upon which reports were written and, with careful runic recycling, erased once read.

There was hardly any color otherwise… until a Human imposter suddenly popped into existence at the western entrance.

Lawman Warden
<The Lawmen of Vantage>
Level 31 Commander
HP: 4,820/4,820
MP: 2,401/2,401
Stats: Str 42 Agi 36 End 33 Int 76 Wis 54 Cha 49 Lib 11
Status Effects: Lawman Network (Access Level: Warden), Network Focus, Rune-Etched (Binding, Flame, Stun), Rune-Warded (Illusion Breaker, Network Adept, Regeneration)
Qualities: Networking Brain
R/S: -190
A Dorani named Botuk the Observant who is 61 years old. A Third Disk native and the daughter of the retired Warden there, she did not wait for a better promotion to open among the current Wardens and instead took the Plate position once it was offered. She is a genius among the Lawmen, but carries great prejudices against Dorsins and Dorani of lesser breeding, accepting them into her ranks solely to provide meat for the Plate.

John only verified the Warden’s identity before he got to work on the Guardians.

Your Serpent’s Lunge deals 744 damage to the Lawman Guardian.
Your Quickcasted Serpent’s Lunge deals 744 damage to the Lawman Guardian.
Lawman Guardian slain!
Your Quickcasted Serpent’s Lunge deals 744 damage to the Lawman Guardian.
Your Quickcasted Serpent’s Lunge deals 744 damage to the Lawman Guardian.
Lawman Guardian slain!

Their bodies twisted and broke under John’s ****; his hands, no longer reserved to subdual damage, smashed dents into the armor and divots into the broken flesh and bone where he slew these two men.

He had told himself this had to be done: that Golgon and the others were right, that these people were killers and criminals in their own right, denizens of an Abyssal barrier no different from the others he had killed for XP, or soldiers who would never back down; if left alone, they’d be back to hurt those John sought to protect in the coming battles… but it didn’t make the Gamer hesitate any less as he stood there, looking down at his hands, after so quickly snuffing life out with them.

Tita casts Entropic Touch on Lawman Brave.
Lawman Brave slain!

No… I’ve been killing for awhile now, haven’t I…?

“I-Intruder!” one of the gawking Braves finally managed. The Warden briefly suspended her communication with the army to open her eyes and see what merited the interruption… only to see her Braves twist and scream as they were killed by unseen blows on their backs.

CRIT! Your Serpent’s Lunge deals 2,302 damage to the Lawman Brave.
Lawman Brave slain!
Your Quickcasted Serpent’s Lunge deals 754 damage to the Lawman Brave.
Your Quickcasted Serpent’s Lunge deals 754 damage to the Lawman Brave.
Lawman Brave slain!

Again, John had paused in reaction to their panicked cries. Now the Warden was focused on him; acquisition would be more difficult without directly killing her… Or capturing her... John checked her level and considered her impressive stats. He had captured Zalla out of need… and this was need as well, wasn’t it? But like with Zalla, the Warden’s near-human face gave John pause: although hairless and with arms just a bit too long for a normal human, her features were startlingly close to being just another human woman of modest chest and puffy, welcoming lips. Long, head-framing black lines or bars were tattooed onto either side of her pale, gray head and seemed more stylish than functional until, with a wave of her hands to either side of her skull, runes glowed white within the black.

The Lawman Warden casts the Runes of Binding, Flames, and Stun on you!

A blue ring of light suddenly encircled John’s chest and forearms where his semi-guard had been held. He thought to dodge it too late after breaking his train of thought; it shrunk violently fast, pinning his arms to his chest before he could evade. The Warden seemed unphased by his displacement illusion, as her status effects foretold; with the ring locked over his body, he was then submitted to an eruption of fire that started beneath his feet, engulfed him and his armor, and created a square pillar of consuming, orange flames.

-402HP

Somewhere in the flash of flames came a quick flash of white light followed by a bellowing howl of shrieking steel or tearing iron; a magical flashbang had essentially blown up atop John’s face. More, with that noise, everyone on the floor still in the First Station now knew the Warden or the Guardians had initiated an attack, and John, if he were not more well-protected than most, might’ve been knocked ****, blind, and/or deaf by the barrage of sensations.

But as it were, he remained the Gamer. He blinked out of the flames to end up behind the Warden… and against his expectation, the bindings came with him.

With his arms bound, he could not manage the Serpent’s Bite or Lunge; he had to free himself quickly; he applied Kinetic Condensor to his right arm and tried his best to straighten it out and break the ring… except it did nothing except strain the limits of his flesh. What the Hell is this ring?!

Rune of Binding Level 33, Effect: A ring of blue light is formed around a target and, if it connects, lasts for (16) rounds.

Sovereignty: You tried to claim Sovereignty in Vantage with the Eye of the King, but the Sovereignty of Vantage cannot be claimed without first taking the Throne of Vantage.

Even just a Lawman’s rune?! How such a trap hadn’t thwarted him earlier was a mystery to John; he had managed to blink out of grasps or bindings before, but somehow this magical one was just primitive enough to stay with him and still apply despite his immunities. It was a dilemma for him or Tricia to contemplate later; for now, he was a bit more limited in his options and still faced the highest-leveled Lawman he had seen yet.

The Warden suddenly shot her open hand, and its too-long fingers, over John’s surprised face. “Begone,” she commanded as runes activated again on either side of her head.

CRIT! -804HP

Fire filled his vision and senses, leading his mind to just one alternative, deadly as it might prove. With his arms still pinned and his head trapped in a pillar of fire now emanating from the Warden’s hand, he offered a swift kick to her shin and most of his remaining mana. His boot tagged the Warden before she could keep her leg from him; with his remaining mana, he blinked behind her anew.

You cast Ruin on Lawman Warden, dealing 2,019 unaspected damage to her.

Crap, it’s still not worth a damn if I don’t take the time to charge it first!

But “not worth a damn” was a short-lived assessment. Where his foot had tapped her leg, she had withdrawn to step back… and collapsed on the boneless limb as the enchanted lines on her tunic and pants flickered and died. The pants around the offended leg exploded outward, and green cracks of energy sang through the flesh of her shin until it melted in a black, bubbling pool of viscera and pureed bone. The horror and agony of it traveled up until it robbed her of consciousness and immediately set her to begin dying; the runes of healing meant to save her from this had been struck by microscopic fissures of Ruin, breaking their mystic lines and preventing their magic until all the runes of her outfit had been broken.

Lawman Warden has been rendered ****!

Lawman Warden (CAPTURABLE)

Her clothes and possessions hadn’t yet vanished into John’s possession; the “fight” he and all his minions were in was still raging, after all. But there was at least one other way to resolve his need… and he carefully did so by opening a tunnel just in front of his pinned hand and, with a thought and a tap upon her forehead, setting his brand there on her cool, gray flesh.

Botuk has been captured!

With their source of power gone, the flaming pyre snuffed out and the binding circle around John vanished. He looked around the office, now covered in corpses and missing its owner, before beginning his summoning.

You are now summoning Botuk…

The two rounds of casting felt exceptionally long while in the heart of the enemy’s base, and now he had the odor of emptied bowels emanating from somewhere in those suits of armor. The disgusting pool of ruined flesh, at least, had left with its previous owner; as had been the case with all his captures, she returned fully healed and restored… save the addition to her head tattoos: the glowing, purple sigil of his Temple. She stared, bewildered and angry, at the intruder who had made her lose her focus for long enough to suffer brief, inexplicable “hallucinations”… but despite her hands rising to activate her runes, she could not will them into being against the Human imposter daring to step foot in her First Station.

“There’s a lot to cover,” he explained as she glared at him in confused fury, “but that’ll be later.”