Alyce's cheeks grow rosy as she suddenly realizes exactly who has offered to escort her to safety. "Well, Drake," she says breathily, gazing at him worshipfully with her big green eyes, "If you think we'll be safer up there, I'll give it a try."
She shoots a look at Cassie's clutch bag as if she'd like to retrieve it, then looks at Ysillith and quickly turns to clamber up the ornate decor surrounding the boxes, moving towards the stage to get to the raftered area where Drake says the Duchess is hiding.
Drake stands and stretches as he walks back to the trellis and winks at Ysillith, "Take care captain and have a great deal of fun. If you need something to hit someone with feel free to use the rum. I can always get more."
He chuckles as he starts up after Alyce, working his way to the rafters with her to keep the young lady safe.
Ysillith just shakes her head at Drake's antics,
"What? Waste good Rum?!" She exclaims in mock tones, "Whut sort'a gal d'ye take me for?" She grins, even as she extends an arm, pointing towards the cables, beams and other paraphernalia that are the working parts of the stage over head.
*Pafph*
Drake sighs in mock grievance as if he had not expected that answer, "I swear. You swashbucklers and your rum."
He gives her another wink then gets going making sure that Alyce gets on the closest beam safely then looks about calmly trying to figure out where exactly to go from here and the safest route to wherever they were going to hide out.
The Duchess is still crawling around on beams, looking downwards after Wowbagger's fall. "What a fool," she grumbles, before she notices people coming up into the rafters. She backs up a couple of paces, but upon seeing relatively friendly faces, she calms down. "What brings you up here?"
Alyce clings grimly to the bric-a-brac and then the beams above the stage. She starts at the helmetcat's greeting. "Oh, hello kitty. We're trying to get above the slaughter down there. Good kitty." Her voice shakes slightly and she deliberately does not look down.
"Ah Duchess. I was hoping to find your loveliness up here where I thought your voice had come from. This is Alyce and I've given my word to keep her as safe as I possibly can." He shrugs, "If you don't mind my saying, where safer than where a helmet cat would enjoy. In fact, an area I would not mind exploring if it weren't for the risk to my charge. Have you found any good huddle spots about?"
Kobolds are not easily understood by humans, and most likely these assassins didn't quite know what they were dealing with when they attempted to jump Clousuk. Currently, the erstwhile investigator was peering up at the assassins from one of the colorsteam service vents trying not to tremble.
The assassins were lightning quick and had managed to grab him when they ambushed him. But humans always seemed to forget that kobolds are all long claws and sharp teeth and slick scales. He had managed to slip through their grasp only to be pounced again quickly. The next time he had raked a sensitive area and escaped again. The assassins had been less than pleased and used some ninja powers or something to catch up with him again.
This ninja thing was very useful, Clousuk determined. He might have to look into learning some of it once he had brought these fiends to justice.
Where was Richard? Clousuk had thought he was right behind him before it had turned out to be the assassins.
Just then, the whole building shifted.
"Sacre bleu!" Clousuk hissed startled. The assassins' heads whipped around at the noise. At that moment, there was a creaking as pieces of the wall simply detached. Clousuk's squawk of surprise was much more audible this time, but the assassins were now much more busy as the clockwork and other apparatus began to attempt to grab them.
Clousuk noticed some movement to his left inside the vent. He saw a strange tendril of what appeared to be spirit gas drifting toward him. It seemed to be moving almost with a sentience. That unnerved the little kobold and he scampered further down the shaft. Suddenly, there was nothing below his claws, and the League Agent tumbled into the darkness.
"So you have come to join me in the place that is beneath everyone else? I assure you, you are not prepared for what you may find of yourselves. Unless you brought your towel of course."
A disembodied voice in the darkness under the stage seems to come from everywhere. The heroes who are under the stage can make out faint outlines of columns, cables and wires and many many clockwork and spiritek contraptions in the dimly lit shadows. Given the goings on upstairs, this machinery takes on a sinister appearance, and movement at the edge of vision starts to play tricks on the mind.
"No matter how low we fall, we could not descend to your level, assassin," Rashida's voice comes from somewhere in the gloom, "Now name your price and I'll arrange your payoff."
There are tiny shufflings in the dark as she steps warily around the barely-visible room, moving constantly but quietly.
Cassie pushes up off the floor, pain shoot through her hand as she accidentally applied pressure. Doing her best not to cry out the dancer leans into the handsome young man above her.
Scooting out she peers into the darkness looking for Rashida trying to locate her in the darkness. Pale wispy mist drifts across some of the lightly clunking machinery, crafting alien vista's in the imagination.
Softly; "Rashida, it's Cassie." her warm voice gently hangs upon the dour atmosphere whilst she locates the Goddess.
"I know." Rashida's voice is tense. "Spread out and keep moving. He can't get all of us at once." There's a scuffle as she jumps when something metallic skitters along the floor nearby.
Cassie rolls away, coming to a crouch before a pneumatic machine. It has a steam powered engine, the mechanic grabs a wench and contorts the pistons. Pssssh....Pssssh....Pssssh." It makes a regular expulsion of the steam, to confuse the stalker.
Whilst the French dancer movers back towards Ralph a worried look in her eye.
"'Rashida, it's Cassie,'" comes a mocking voice, Wowbagger's tone in falsetto. It seems to come from somewhere off to Rashida's right.
Returning to its normal infuriating sound, Wowbagger's voice continues. "And how do we know that for sure? Down here, here the spirits of the Clockwork Theater lie restless in wait." Something moves jerkily in the shadow, and a faint hiss of steam is heard but not seen meaning it is superheated. "Is there not another of you running wild in the world? And what of this fawning fangirl who goes to such great lengths to mimic the ever-so-adorable Cassie DuSollier? What guarantee we even know if you are the real Cassie? Perhaps the better question to ask is if it is indeed Rashida?" His voice chuckles.
Above on the stage the music swells and the performers once again sing. Their notes tinged with fear and strangely, some almost sound relieved.
Wowbagger's voice come from somewhere behind Rashida now, but on the left. Softer, a plaintive cry it seems.
"Oh dear Rashida, my dear Rashida. How it must pain you to know that your new found love, after all these years of sacrifice, knew that you were powerless to protect him. That for all your 'divine' powers, you can barely take care of yourself, and now must live the knowledge that he runs away...away from you because your love is so pathetic, there can surely be no reason to hold you close. Return to his family he does, as the Rorensons always do.
"You come here to bargain with me? You think this is about money?"
Mocking laughter bellows from all sides of the stage filling Ralph, Rashida, and Cassie's ears. The floor rumbles under their feet making standing difficult. The singing above them fades slightly as the movement catches them off guard. The table from the dinner scene abruptly slides and a leg falls into the open stagetrap and the resulting thud as the table edge catches on the sides of the opening resounds within the bowels of the understage.
"This was never about money, my dear. It is about winning. For what better insult to the galaxy than to destroy the heroes of this tale before they even have a change to win?"
Light floods the understage. Strange contraptions and clockwork machines which are clearly used for special effects seem to be filled with a roaming vapor of spirit gas, and their dials glow like malevolent rats in the darkness. They began to attempt to move or grasp or fling themselves. Amongst them are Serv-Bots. Their eyes glowing red as was seen at the end of the party...just as they were when Wowbagger escaped with his apprentice Ingilstadt. Producing small tools which they would normally use to do repairs on these machines, the small clockwork clanks appear like a tiny hostile army.
Wowbagger is nowhere to be seen, but his laughter echoes all around the room.
Ysillith, her grapnel secured to the lighting fixtures, swings down onto the stage.
As her steel spiked boots leave splinter, chipped furrows she fumbles a moment...finding that her device wont release its hold. As the stage, indeed the whole theater, rumbles to some unseen force, Ysillith's years at sea have her standing proud and unworried by the shifting timbers. With a casual shrug she flicks a switch upon the firing gun and the chord snicks free.
The tall Amazon seems uncaring that for the moment she fills the spotlight and the audience's full attention. Pocketing the gun with a deft motion, her other hand is already flicking and moving the segmented metal whip as if it were a living thing.
With the far end secure, she gives one glance out into the crowd before gracefully stepping into the dark maw of the stage trap-door.
Rashida and Cassie move back to back as the now malevolent serving mechs begin to close in. With a soft 'plump' Cassies lap bag falls into her hands even as Ysillith arrives with a 'clang' to crouch upon the smashed light fitting that only seeming moments before had so inconvenienced the form of Wowbagger.
"Strewth! Doesn't that thing know when to shut the fek up?" The Captain asks rhetorically, not seeming to care that the theater's systems capture her irreverent comments and make them plainly audible to those watching above. As Cassie's hands instinctively move to the small silver weapon within its folds Ysillith's whip is sweeping out and slashing, carving ruin and destruction through the mob of mechanica.
"See? This is why I said we should have taken some time fer salvage. Mu kitten would have had a field day down here!" She declares standing tall and proud, even as she keeps the encroaching mod of menial mechanicals back. The clear space allowing Rashida and Cassie some room to breath, plan and act.
She glances at Rashida and Cassie, "So...what now, luv?" (^_~)
Ralph peers into the darkness towards Cassie as she gives him a worried look, then looks around to see if he can stop the blue creature in the dark. He crouches in a ready position listening to Wowbagger talk 'Another one of her? He must be referring to Kit as the fangirl... I hope she's ok.'
He doesn't really understand a lot of what Wowbagger says having never met Rashida or whoever this Rorensons person was, either way it seemed like bargaining with this freak was out of the question.
The young man steps back slightly as the area under the stage is illuminated. Looking towards the red glowing eyes they certainly don't seem very friendly, and Wowbagger's laughing certainly didn't bring any comfort. "Cripes... 'm used ta fightin off people not can op'ners"
As the lights come up, Rashida's eyes lock on Cassie's from across the expanse of the understage, a pool of Serv-Bots and several mechs between them, then her eyes dart to the dancer's dangling hand. "You are Cassie," she says softly, barely audible above the singing and the grinding of the clockworks that run the theater.
As the Serv-Bots advance, waving their small but dangerous tools menacingly, she pulls the long hem and train of her dress around her knees and aims a few solid kicks at those nearest, punting them across the room. Unfortunately, there are too many to handle in this manner, and a couple manage to stick her foot and ankle with nasty little implements. As the tiny rivulets of blood begin to trickle, several wisps of colorsteam congeal into a more solid thread snaking its way towards the warm lifeblood.
"Great. Piranhas or leeches," Rashida says grimly, dancing lightly back away from the dual menaces, almost into the clutches of a spiritmech loader which grasps in her direction, great cargo claws snapping.
Ysillith's sudden appearance sweeps a path clear, and Rashida bounds past Ysillith to Cassie and Ralph through the little sea of mechs. "Well, what now indeed?" she asks the three grimly, watching the spirit vapours wend between the pipes and ropes as the mechs advance.
Wowbaggers words draw a deep chill to her limbs, the hunter knew too much. And his accusation of Rashida....Cassie couldn't think.
Ysillith's arrival was very welcome along with her bag, which Cassie drops to her feet - ready for quick retrieval. The only think to take all the
The look from Rashida nearly made the tears start to fall again, her confidant and friend was here!
Tentatively Cassies hands reach back to softly find Rashida's and Ralphs. "Take my hand." her words hold a note of fear, though maybe not about the situation but what she is about to do. Her elegant fingers entwine with theirs, a warm pulse of pain as she ignores the breakages.
The link that she had forged between the two individuals’ reforms; a strong invisible thread holding a taste of her sorrow. She focuses upon her psychic abilities; drawing upon that reserve deep within.
Cassies eyes roll back and suddenly her head jerks back. Hair billowing in unseen wind, auburn streams flickering with hints of scarlet & gold.
"I AM CASSANDRA, hear ME and know ME!" she calls to the spirits demanding their obedience, the link with the pair providing her with the strength and sense of self required.
The mist moves away and the serv-bot's inside movements are slowed. It's barely perceptable, but they seem to move as through a viscous solution.
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“Oh!”
With one foot already aboard the mecha-carriage, Alexia turns her head, looking back towards the opera house. She stares at it contently, as though expecting something to come out. Distracted, she does not seem to notice the damaged clockwork automaton pinned beneath the menacing vehicle’s leg, struggling to reach for the hem of her coat. Abruptly, a heavy boot descends on the machine’s head, crushing it in an instant.
“Something the matter, your Highness?” the Brigadier General asks gruffly as he sheaths his blade – though ornate, the sword was clearly more than ceremonial.
With a pout, the princess stays there for just a moment longer before looking away. “No… nothing at all. I must have imagined it,” she replies at last, before climbing into the carriage. Settling into her seat, she waits as Darkov follows suit. With the hiss of hydraulics, the carriage’s hatch closes and seals shut. The dark interior of the vehicle is immediately illuminated from every direction by a number of ambient lights. “A shame that we had to leave in such a hurry… it might have gotten fun.”
“It would have gotten fun a lot sooner had you not used your witchcraft on me,” the mercenary snarls, leaning against the hatch. The exterior viewports blink open, exposing the continuing violence unfolding around them, the air permeated by screams and gunfire. “It is certainly the most fun I’ve had at an opera.”
“You truly are an animal, Rabek,” Alexia muses with a hum, as she gestures to something before her. With the whir of motors and a plume of spirit energy, the mecha-carriage begins to move, standing from its boarding position. “That is why I had to keep you on a leash. I felt all the lust and hatred in you when you saw Cassandra. I did not even need to see the crazed look in your eyes. You would have eaten her all up had I allowed it. But you and I both know that that is not why we were here.”
“And what exactly did we gain from this nonsense?” Darkov asks with a scowl, glaring at the noble. “Why would he send us for something as pitiful as reconnaissance? And why in the blazes did that assassin show up!?”
“Because he is mad,” she answers with a roll of her eyes, not making it clear which question she is addressing. “Not even I know what he is thinking. Perhaps it would kill me if I even tried to get into his mind.” Leaning back in her seat, Alexia sighs with disappointment, looking outside as a militiaman opens fire on a crazed spiritek machine. “Besides, we at the very least have confirmation that Dr. McWhite is dead – his cortex bomb detonated. You know what that means.”
Silence fills the carriage when it suddenly reaches the Tesla field enveloping the opera house’s grounds. The vehicle moves on dauntlessly, its own distortion field in full effect. Electrical arcs stream across it ineffectually as is passes through, bending and turning unnaturally as they are deflected. Certainly never an outcome that Tesla himself ever predicted. Before long, the mecha-carriage passes through completely.
“So what now, then?” Darkov finally asks sternly.
“I have an appointment with the League,” the princess says, clearly annoyed by the matter. “Margrave Wolfkrone has been sticking his nose in matters that do not concern him again. He somehow found out about the Old Duke’s death – he is claiming that terrorists are responsible. How horrifically vague. If I am lucky the Duchess of Montresor will be unable to attend.”
“And you… you get to tell the Baron about this.”
Brigadier Darkov simply nods, not at all happy with the arrangement.
The beam shakes and Drake grabs a rope to keep steady feeling reassured that he'd made sure that Alyce was on the larger section of the beam so she shouldn't have trouble but his hand does reach out to the Duchess to make sure that she didn't off balance. Sure she had claws but it was quite a rough shaking.
"Are you two ok?"
The Duchess does not seem at all bothered by the shaking of the building. "You're looking for a place of safety, then?" she says, incredulous, "In the rafters? I'll find you both a safe place... I know this place as well as I know the flavour of my own paw." She starts off, trying to find another route down from the rafters on the other side.
Hair streaming behind her drops as the intangible breeze is cut, softly she lets the others hands go. Quickly she reaches down and draws her silver steam pistol and fires.
The harsh pop deadened by the mist, as through white eyes she sights a creature even before it leaps towards Rashida. The Serv-bot explodes on a shower of sprockets and springs before crashing back down to the deck. "We have to get out of here and help the audience." Cassies words come out in a hoarse tone.
"Aye, am on it!" Ysillith calls, her whip a living thing of razor shards which curl and scythe through the hordes surrounding them.
With her other hand she reaches into her coat and withdraws the brass staff. Again with a deft flick it expands to full length and she twirls up onto a shoulder. Turning to face back towards the stage front.
"So...people should be..."
*K-Zzzzt!* The scintillating green beam winks on and then off....leaving a hole within the front of the stage.
"There we go..." And Ysillith's voice is cut off by the sounding of...
Once again the lights in the understage drop plunging the area in darkness. Shafts of light shine through the various holes in the stage. The opening just made by Ysillith shows the orchestra in their pit as the final notes of the opera swell. It seems the opera is finally coming to an end.
The concluding ensemble delivers the moral of the opera – "Such is the end of the evildoer: the death of a sinner always reflects his life" ("Questo è il fin di chi fa mal, e de' perfidi la morte alla vita è sempre ugual").
Bright light suddenly flashes from what would be the back opposite the orchestra's chamber. A round opening has appeared and silhouetted in it is the blue-skinned alien stalker. With the light behind him, his expression is unseen, but his white eyes glow. He seems to look at Cassie, Ralph, Rashida, and Ysillith in turn. His eyes narrow as he eyes the last. Then he whirls and darts down the lighted passage.
A large airlock like door begins to slowly close.
"Don't follow him, it's an ambush!" She exclaims full of emotion as her eyes roll back and the mist laps at everyones feet again.
The connection with Rashida feels much weaker than it did at the party, barely a whisper of its old strength.
"Safer than here, and we won't be leading these little monsters into the audience," Rashida says, wrenching her hand from Cassie's. Colorful mists snatch at her feet and ankles where the blood flows as she jumps up and grabs the rigging and struts under the great stage of the Clockwork theater. Swinging hand-over-hand over the army of Serv-Bots, she dodges the big loader and launches herself toward the door with a huge swing, hitting the floor with both feet and letting her knees collapse to take the shock as she rolls through the door following the assassin.
Cassie's heart sinks, she knows Rashida is correct. 'I cannot beat him, but I must try.' Turning to give a wan smile to Ralph; "Follow me." her voice is low and bereft of her usually passion.
Dancing after the Goddess Cassie spins and twirls with a practised grace. Her pistol providing a staccato rhythm, in perfect syncopation with her movements. Bots explode in Ralph’s path, as she tries to remove them allowing him to follow.
Of course they still come after her; many are a hairs breath away as she gracefully spins. The dark dress billowing in the mist, the hem being torn ragged by the robots is a stark contrast to her soft skin. One jumps attaching itself to her calf as she whirls across the room to the door before diving through after Rashida.
The tendrils of spirit gas and the machines filled with it begin to retreat as Rashida and Cassie approach the airlock door. Removing themslves from interrupting the performance above seems to placate the wandering mist, and the stage machines begin to try and patch up the holes. In fact the machines begin to hassle the Serv-Bots a little, trying to encourage them to also make repairs. Some of the small clanks seem to stop for a moment, their eyes blinking before the red fades and they seem to return to normal. Others seem not to notice and continue harassing the humans under the stage.
Alyce wrinkles her nose at the dust on the beams, then swings her feet up to rise to a crouch atop one. "These are really wide, Drake. A lot wider than balance beams in school. Come on, or the kitty is going to leave us behind!"
She rises to her feet, eyes fixed on Kittington, and follows the noble feline, stepping lightly along the beam and carefully ducking low-hanging cross-supports, a slight smile flickering across her face as she recalls the bloody hole in Wowbagger. Strangely colored as it was, she was certain the green ichor was his blood.
Ralph isn't very clear on what's happening when Cassie takes his hand and starts yelling at the machines. He can feel the connection with seem to strengthen again. When she releases his hand he feels weary whether from loss of blood, or the toll the psychic activity has taken on him, possibly both.
Forcing himself to stay focused he nods as Cassie tells him to follow her and Rashida. Ralph chases after the lovely ladies dodging menacing bots, one catches him in the leg causing him to stumble. He recovers well, but Cassie has pulled ahead. Commanding reluctant legs to move he continues towards the airlock this was certainly going to be close. When the bot catches Cassie's calf Ralph reaches out as if he could pull it off despite being out of his reach "Stop!" He calls to the machine just as it disappears with the woman through the door. The bot loosens its grip ever so slightly, but otherwise it seems to ignore Ralph's plea.
The door seems to make the briefest of hesitations perhaps thinking Ralph's request was for it, then again maybe the street urchin just imagined it. He manages to squeeze in just as the door closes, if he hadn't spent half his life maneuvering through tight spaces he probably wouldn't have made it.
That was too close...
With a weary gaze, Vorian looks down at the mess before him. Countless machine parts litter the floor, everything from gears and cogs to limbs and heads. Some of them still stirred, in some futile attempt to ignore the fact that their bodies were ruined. In the end, perhaps a dozen of the machines had attempted to 'detain' the noble.
Backing against the wall, he slips to the floor, panting in exhaustion. His cane sword slips from his fingers and clatters to the ground beside him. The gunfire and panicked screams persist elsewhere, but the corridor is now strangely quiet. The screaming nobles that were not dead or unconscious had reluctantly run back to their seats, heeding the warning that they had previously ignored. Now alone, Vorian sighs and retrieves his hipflask, knowing that he had already expended far too much stamina. He looks down the corridor in both directions before taking in a mouthful of his ichor, making sure to drink more than he normally would. After doing so, he gives the flask a shake and frowns. No… no time to worry about that right now…
“I have to help Cassie and the others,” he mumbles to no one as he stands, already feeling his strength returning. There are no doubt more of these machines around… I can’t afford to waste any more time on them… As if on cue, he suddenly hears the sound of mechanical footsteps down the hall, coming right his way. “Damn.”
Checking his surroundings once more, Vorian notices a ventilation grate on the lower wall behind him. Just large enough for me to fit… he thinks as he quickly retrieves his sword’s scabbard and sheathes the blade. Inserting the cane’s tip into one of the seams, he applies pressure, almost immediately popping the grate out. As the footsteps grow louder he makes haste, slipping into the ventilation shaft and pulling the grate back into place as best as he could.
“Just have to make my way down,” he murmurs as he makes the uncomfortable crawl through the dark ventilation shaft. Trying his best not to worry, he occupies himself by pondering on how to kill an immortal.
“Vorian.”
The noble quickly jerks his head to look behind him, very nearly slamming it into the side of the shaft. He remains still and listens carefully, but hears nothing.
What the…?
Shaking his head, he trundles forth intent on finding the alien assassin.
“Must have been my imagination…”
Drake smiles at Alyce as she is now showing a bit more interest in doing anything and follows the two females along making sure that nothing happens, as if he could do anything besides try to catch if they fell.
Rashida grab's Cassie's arm as the dancer spins through the doorway, heedless of the little clank, which drops off as the redness fades from its eyes. It begins puttering around looking for something to repair.
Rashida's gaze is fixed on the stone tunnel in which they find themselves, spirit-gas lamps lining the walls. "Look, Cassie," she breathes, "What does it remind you of? Look familiar? Remember the passages under Enigma Perfetto?"
Ahead in the distance, a blue figure passes through another doorway into a section of tunnel which appears as polished blackness from where they stand, with another airlock-style door.
Ysillith snaps her whip up and braces as the end curls around an over head beam (Something which holds up the stage above).
With a flexing of well muscled legs the Satyxis kicks out and swing after the other two women. As she sails into the doorway, a deft motion of her wrist has the whip unhooking and swirling in a sinuous trail of metal about their feet.
"Well..this looks interesting..." She says looking about.
Through reddened eyes Cassie looks to her friend; "Yes, below the Baron's castle. Though it's a derivative style." she says lightly as she tries to regain control.
"Please, I am coming with you Rashida. I know you don't need the help..." her voice on edge expecting rejection. Then she moves down into the dark tunnel, her motions lacking a slight fluidity with her damaged calf muscle.
"Against that thing? Everyone needs help," Rashida replies, slinging her dress's train over her arm to free her legs so she can trot after Cassie. "Do you have any idea what it is or how to kill it?"
The figure ahead has vanished into the dark tunnel. As they approach, the group can see that the tunnel changes at the next airlock, the walls no longer carved stone but something smooth and shining and very dark black or blue. It seems to be sectioned, with arched brass fittings at the junctures.
Heedless of the fleeing alien, Rashida stops and taps a long, gold fingernail on the wall, then cups her hand around her eyes and presses her face against the smooth surface, hand shielding her eyes from the light of the tunnel. "Cassie... I think this is glass! And it's dark outside."
'So this is the Rashida Minx has been talking about.' Ralph looks towards the woman in question 'The girl she's been worried about is actually a Massri?' His thoughts are cut short as Cassie starts to move away down the darkened tunnel.
"Guess I am too den, 'less yer 'tendin ta leave me here." The weary young man's voice could be heard from where he leaned against the door. He tried to move to follow, but found something was holding him back. "Erk" A second attempt revealed that his jacket was caught in the door. With a grimace at the pain in his shoulder Ralph started trying to squirm out of the restraining garment and not be left behind.
The darkness beyond the glass seems odd and as the party moves forward spirit gas lamps begin to glow at the junctions between glass and metal arches. Odd looking creatures fly through the murky dark. They seem to resemble...wait...are they fish?
"Oh Squirrel, I didn't mean to leave you behind." Cassie says softly, a touch of melancholy colouring her voice. For the first time she really notices the bloody wound of his shoulder, the scarlet blossom stark against the pure white shirt. "Oh my."
Placing her good hand upon Rashida's bare back; she can really see the amazing dress close-up for the first time. "Beautiful." she looks to her friend. Then the French woman leans into the glass, it's cold surface drawing a gasp as she realises the flimsy material of her own dress.
Looking into the darkness, her stomach sinks. "That was Wowbagger, remember! He's an immortal alien....and this...could this lead to his ship? I don't want to go into space." her words are small like a lost child. Softly her shoulders shiver.
Rashida moves back to the door they just all came through and gives it a tug, nodding at Ysillith in greeting. "Is this all of us who made it? Who else came tonight? I saw Vorian, and that other young man you had at the ship earlier, Cassie, as well as that Princess and her date. Are they coming?" She pulls harder. "I can't get this open. Should we try to wait for them or just go? I'm afraid we'll lose him completely if we wait."
She looks to Cassie in a little confusion. "Yes, I know who he is, but not what he is. He's obviously alien. I was hoping you'd seen his kind before, or dealt with them. Why is he immortal, I wonder? That's unnatural." She tugs gently at the jacket caught in the door. 'This door is made to be watertight. It's not going to open readily. I'm afraid your jacket is stuck." Turning to Ralph, she holds out a long hand. "Hello. I'm Rashida Massri."
"Yes, Vorian's here with his Nanny or someone. A rude lady, she thought I...." Cassie is quiet; "Dr Drake is upstairs with a young girl. I hope they are both fine." she adds bleakly 'Why was she afraid of me? Am I a monster.'
"Whether they are heading this way? I know not." Cassie leans against the cold glass slightly despondent.
"The Princess, well she's a member of the league. The Baron sent Darkov to assassinate her." she adds. "Wowbagger, well I had heard he was taking a tour of the world insulting everyone he could find. That like a cockroach, even if you killed him he would return..."
Putting her hand on the tunnel she pushes away; "I did hear one rumour that he was vulnerable to... what was it." The dark silken gown hangs softly against her skin as she bites a knuckle trying to remember the gossip.
Ysillith saunters upto the door, seeming heedless of the potential view of 'outside'.
"Okay, first rule..." And she again retract her staff and tucks it away securely in a coat pocket.
"Best t'put temptation out'a me reach..." She adds, though seeming more to herself that the others. She examines the door and then the small panel besides the hatch. "Hmm...Um-hmmm...And this might mean..."
She jabs a finger at one of the small studs...and is rewarded after a short time with a small green glow from said panel.
"Ah HA! Jus' like them tech-tinkers of Cyriss!" She exclaims ambiguously. She winks to her companions "It all looks complicated...but th' todgers actually keep things simple behind all th' flashing lights an' ticking stuff." She opens another panel and grins when she sees the lever there, which she proceeds to move up and down.
"Emergency..uff..over-ride...huff...system...huff..." She explains between motions, as the door begins to wind open by fractions each time...soon having enough space for both Ralph o get their jacket out of the gap and for those of nimble persuasions to slip through.
"So...huff...how many...uff...are we...huff...expecting...?" She asks -strong arms, back and legs flexing as Ysillith works the mechanism- the portal opening ever slightly wider. Once she's happy with the space between door and rim she again fishes through her coat pockets, bringing forth what appears to be some sort of brass weapon. She expertly adjusts some small controls on the large cylinder which is projecting from the handle, with a soft 'puff' a pale blue flame appears at the gun's nozzle-d end.
"Grundel's patented flash welder torch!" She exclaims happily. "I never leave home with out one." And she begins to simply cut the lever from it's mounting. After a few short moments she turns the torch off and pulls the rod from the wall and walks down the tunnel to the far door.
"First rule, always inconvenience the todger yer chasin'." She begins to look carefully at the inner door.
(^_^)
"I don't know how many more we'll have... but we'd better be certain not to break that glass, or the fish will be in here. And now that you've disabled the sealed door, it'll go right through to the opera house. Gods only know what that will do. At least the door between the tunnels is still functional." Rashida looks around a bit and arranges some debris into an arrow pointing to the jammed-open door. "There. If Lord Ritter gets down here, he'll be able to follow. We'd better go after Wowbagger now."
And Rashida fits her actions to her words, grabbing Cassie's hand and trotting into the long glass passageway under the lake. She looks at the fish outside with some interest. "I wonder what those are. This is a view not many people get."
Having only been accompanied by the sounds of his own movement for the past several minutes, Vorian halts immediately when he hears the strange, violent sounds coming from ahead. The noble hesitates, knowing that there was very little he could do if he were forced into a fight in such an enclosed space. And surely enough, the darkness was simply too thick for him to see properly. After a moment however he grins, before crawling onward - it was not as though he could just go back the other way.
Besides, I've been in darker places before...
Coming to the top of the sloped vent, Vorian peers down, attempting to catch a glimpse of what was making all the noise.
"Hello?"
A happy smile breaks across her face as Rashida grabs her hand. 'Maybe she isn't upset with me anymore.' a little voice says hopefully in the back of her mind.
Her vision is drawn down the dark glazed corridor; "Unless you find yourself at the bottom of a lake." her voice is light, with a hint of mystery.
"Does this lead to the island? Van Der Graaf facility shrouded in mists." with a flick of her hips to Ralph nods for him to get closer; "I'll protect you, let's meet up with that...." she swallows down the emotions as she cannot bring herself to mention the aliens name.
Ralph smiles towards Cassie when she says she wasn't meaning to leave him behind she seems to notice his wounded shoulder, but Rashida's dress quickly distracts her, apparently it was more important.
He nods to Rashida when she tells him the door is meant to be watertight, and his jacket is stuck "Yeah I'll be outta it inna sec. Jus' ha'der wit dis shoulda." He looks at the hand offered and nods "Nice ta meecha I'll giva ya a shake soon 's I'm outta here sweethart."
In another moment the young man is free of his jacket, the white shirt underneath stained red from his wound. He looks over at Ysillith as she stats working something in the wall, and takes takes Rashida's hand "Good ta see yer alright... er at least as well as any o' us. Minx wuz worried 'boutcha."
Seeing Ysillith break open the door and cut off the controls "Tanks fer gettin da door open cap'n... but uhh I don' tink we's chasin a todger..."
Ralph follows along with the others as Rashida takes Cassie's hand and starts down the passage. "Maybe he's vulnerable to me bleeding on him" With a smile towards Cassie he moves closer as she beckons "An' here I tought I wuz gonna try ta protect you. I guess I ain't done such a good job so far dough I jus' managed ta get shot an' stuck inna door..."
Leaning her head upon Ralph's uninjured shoulder; she looks into his eyes. "Sorry, it's just he really got to me. And I don't mean my hand, here..." she gets a small bottle of pills from her clutch.
Passing it over; "Take a couple for the pain." she tries to put on a smile. "Oh, I'm not paying you to fight. Wouldn't want to spoil your beautiful features." They carry on down the dark corridor, the heavy pressure of the lake above them causing the French-woman to shiver at what could go wrong.