Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 7

Rain squeezes her eyes shut. She lets out a pained roar as he only pushes forward, "You... aren't... god." She stares down at the snow, this time bracing for potential punishment.

Circi slowly moves to the edge of the forest and then freezes. She was in position, and she could see the position the party was in now. This wasn't very good, not at all. She waits for thenas response. The answer would surely captivate him for only a moment and she would know his mind wasn't on the Woman he just tried to kill. She would just have to very rudely interrupt in the middle of Thenas explanation. That would really piss him off, Circi surmised. She slowly moves both bottles now in each hand to each of her shoulders to not clank them together until she hits him. She carefully conciders a moment... where would her tendons grasp go? Before or after her attack? She quickly makes a decision and picks her moment, holding her breath.

"You're not part of the Glassglow Synergy are you?" she deflects his questions with her own "0.1% success wasn't really in my favor was it."

While that registers and the parasite forms a response Circi leaps, shooting off the tree like an arrow. With both bottles already drawn back she claps them together over the parasites temples.

When the bottles break and in the short moments of what is hopefully sudden and intense agony, she casts tendons grasp right into his back.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue, Circi, Rain, Jogan)

Rogue wrote:"Welp, got any bright ideas, Rolo?" Rogue thinks, not possessing any ability to control his descent.

"Cast a Level 1 Shield, manifest it horizontally, right under us!" Rolo hastily called "If its cast into space, it will hover, creating a de-facto platform! Some Witchers cast several Shields like this, creating a set of stairs! Its costly, but it does the job!
Make at least one Shield platform like this! It will at least stop us from crashing at terminal velocity and give us more options for a controlled descent!"

"Better than nothing" Rogue agrees, before casting a Shield below him to break his fall.

(Twilight)


"Witchers work under a military hyerarchy, so most roles are assigned upon enlistment. The team leader is usually the highest ranking Witcher in the group.

Some roles can be switched on the fly, depending on the situation, others can't. For example, if a Witcher dedicates most of his stats towards Mana and magic, his Health will be low, so its ill adviced to take on the close quarters combat roles, or tank roles." Viki said, pulling out a hair comb and trying to sort out her unruly locks with little success:


"Okay so lets get back to combat tactics, specific to Lieselottle Castle Town.

There's one very specific code phrase you need to be familiar with. If you hear it over the communication crystal, you'll have to act immediately, or disaster will follow. Please relay this info to the rest of the team okay? Its really important, if we'll be working in Lieselotte."

Viki said, becoming a bit more serious:
"There's an underground river of Shimmer, passing in close proximity to the city. Our best researchers managed to take limited control of it, and turn it into a defensive mechanism." She blinked, pausing:

"Our vast sewer and storm drain system under the city is our best humanitarian asset, but also our greatest weakness. Should a tremendous threat emerge in the tunnels, say, one of our Suppression Obelisks falls and parasites dig a hole into our tunnel system, they could potentially invade the city in droves, from underground, emerge anywhere in the city. It will be a massacre.

And so, our builders have coated the tunnels under the city in a Shimmer resistant polimer and connected the underground river of Shimmer, directly to our tunnels.

And so, should an existential threat appear in the tunnels, Zoy, or her inner circle of officers may give a special order, nicknamed the 'Black Rose'.


If you hear the words 'Black Rose' over the communication crystal, you and any Witcher close by, must immediately head for the ground level of Lieselotte Castle, enter the maintenance room and pull a black leaver with a rose on it.

This will seal off the tunnel exits and flush the tunnels with Shimmer. Every parasite inside them will die." Viki finally gave up trying to comb her hair and hid the comb on her belt:

"Remember this code word, you never know what might happen and it may fall onto you, to push that leaver."












(Thena, Rogue, Circi, Rain, Johan, Squiggles)



A teal transpatent shield materialized a meter below Rogue, its surface circular and flat. Landing on top of it wasn't particularly painful, as you've only fallen two meters by then, but its surface was only a meter in diameter and you almost slid off it, catching yourself when a third of your upper body had already slipped off the edge.

Below, a 20 meter drop awaited, filled with a rocky terrain and spiky bushes covered by snow.

"Close call." Rolo exhaled, as you slid back up to the center of the teal platform "The Shield will only remain active for 5 seconds, so we need to be gone by then. Find a way to the ground, fast."


Looking around, the only thing beside you are tree tops. Some more sturdy than others, some only a few centimeters in diameter at the top, others a bit thicker. Their branches below looked spiky and only got thicker toward the base of the trees.




Down below, the rotting man locked eyes with Thena. He was about to react to her in some way, but never got the chance.

The bottles broke over his temples, coating not only his entire scalp, but his face as well. Within miliseconds, the Sinner potion peeled off the skin from his skull, which became coated in dark sickly venom, that prevented regeneration.

A horrid blood curling shriek, filled with surprise, indescribable pain and savage fury, washed over the battlefield with such sudden force, you involuntarily flinched and froze up for a moment. It was the scream of a sleeping giant, that had just been insulted, humiliated and rudely awoken.


As the sickly black tendons burst through the earth and fuse with the rotting mans legs, Circi just manages to scoop up Thena and run off, before a red blade flew within an inch of her neck, just nearly beheading her.



"CIRIIIIIIIIIII, YOU FUCKING WHOOOOOOOOOOORE" a deafening, raspy voice shrieked behind you, as the rotting man grabbed his ravaged skull, trying to stop his rotting skin from peeling off, even as it melted through his fingers:

"I WILL EVISCERATE YOUR CHILD AND MAKE YOU FUCKING WAAAAAAAAAATCH!!!! WUUUUUAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaah......


His piercing shrieks were growing more frantic and pittiful, as he wildly thrashed in place, blind and trying to free himself from the tendons, with no effect.


The red sword had dissipated, vanishing from Rains back, allowing her spine to regenerate. Even before it did, Squiggles had scooped her up and flopped on his back, breaking into a wild sprint toward the city:


"EVERYONE GET AIRBORNE NOW!!!" Squiggles yelled "THE FUCKER CAN'T FLY!!!
RAIN, DE-SUMMON ME AND GET ROGUE!! CIRCI, SNAP JOHAN OUT OF THE STUPPOR AND GET HIM AIRBORNE!!!" He desperately yelled, as he galloped at 50 miles per hour toward the Suppression Field, raising giant plooms of snow in his wake.



"I'LL FUCKING FIND YOU!!! I'LL FUCKING FIND YOU!!! YOU FUCKING WHOOOOOORE!!!!!!!" The rotting mans shrieks were growing rapidly unhinged, as random explosions began to sound all around him, his hand hurling wild bursts of Dragonfire that detonated harder than the C-4 charge this morning:

"CIRCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiii........"

Rain growls as she forces herself to sit up on Squiggles back. Her own back roaring in protest. She flexes her wings and they open and close shakily as Rain regains her baring's. She pulls herself up on her speeding parasite, "Good shit buddy." she says with more then a hint of reservation. She gives her parasite a couple of pats on the side, and as you look into her eyes for a moment you see an odd emptiness, and you aren't too sure its towards you. Using Squiggles speed she easily takes off and makes way towards rogue, with a snap of her fingers she de-summons Squiggles.

As Squiggles reenters her mind, he understands her expressions now. That stab in the back, the feeling of paralysis in that way really put her in a daze, A harsh tingling assaults your spine, Like pin needles all over your body as nerves reconnect and signals begin flowing through them again. You feel a flurry of conflicting emotions, all terrible but your words are echoed in her mind, 'desummon, get Rogue, run." she repeats this over and over and over in her mind, like a broken record.



Circi

Impact. The sounds of Kaz's shreeks were like music to her ears. it warmed her vains like blissful adrenaline. The agonized screams of her hated enemy burning in hell.

It was heartwarming.

Circi drops Thena into the forest and points in the direction of the city, "Go go go! Dont wait up!"

Circi goes back for Johan, she practically launches herself at him and tackles him into the snow. She rears a hand back and strikes it across his cheek, "Run you idiot! GO!" she pulls him up and shoves him towards the forest, "Fly little bat fly!"

she takes a short moment in her retreat to drive her insults deeper. She flicks another tendons grasp at Kaz to keep him there for an extra turn, "YEEEAAAHHH!? JUST LIKE THAT WHORE AGATHA, HUH SINNER FUCKER? DO ME A FAVOR AND SEND HER MY REGUARDS WHEN YOU REACH THE SHIMMER!" She cackles like a crazy bitch as she books it into the forest.

With a cast of Wall Run Thena joins in the retreat. Leaping between trees, stones, fallen logs, and other hard points above the snow in order to keep her momentum up

"Any idea who that is?" Thena asks Rose "Sounds like you all have a history together."

Some Sinner wrote:Rain growls as she forces herself to sit up on Squiggles back. Her own back roaring in protest. She flexes her wings and they open and close shakily as Rain regains her baring's. She pulls herself up on her speeding parasite, "Good shit buddy." she says with more then a hint of reservation. She gives her parasite a couple of pats on the side, and as you look into her eyes for a moment you see an odd emptiness, and you aren't too sure its towards you. Using Squiggles speed she easily takes off and makes way towards rogue, with a snap of her fingers she de-summons Squiggles.

"Going my way?" Rogue asks Rain as she approaches his location, and he leaps as far as he can before the Shield vanishes.

(Thena, Rogue, Circi, Rain, Johan)



Catching Rogue, Rain's altitude dropped for a moment, as she strained to compensate, before her muscles in the wings strained and she stabilized her flight.

Down below, Johan woke up with a jolt, released a startled and confused shriek, eyes wildly looking around and comprehending nothing in his surroundings, before he reflexively grabbed Circi without thinking and took off, rising high over the tree tops. His flightpath was roughly taking you in the direction of the city, but his eyes were so wide, you had a feeling he was still completely out of it and just flying in a random direction on autopilot.


With Thena leaping between the trees, her bright glowing eyes seemingly leaving after-images in the darkness of the forest,  the retreat went underway. Even after passing the border of the suppression field, you didn't stop, the rotting man's blood curling shrieks still echoing behind you.



It was a 5 kilometer stretch of rocky terrain and snowdrifts, separating you from the city and as time stretched on, Johan slowly calmed down and lowered his flightpath, until he could pick up Thena as well. Flying with his outstretched arms, one holding Circi, one Thena his altitude was pretty low, you feet almost scraping the snow, but it was still faster than running. The little frail guy was hiding more muscles than you anticipated, under all that red and black colored winter gear. His eyes stopped looking confused and changed into a little unsettling frown, the kind Drasko used to have.


Rose released a breath she didn't know she was holding and you felt an urge from her to look over your shoulder:
"Dude, that was the Treasurer. Have you been living under a rock or something? He's been dogging humanity for a millennia, ever since they were exiled to this frozen rock. Everyone has a beef with him."


As your flightpath began curving upward toward the edge of the wall around the city, Squiggles faintly called in Rains head "When we get back... maybe we should talk with Lightning... she's been through the same thing you have, she'll understand. Maybe it will help... talking with her about what just happened."


Flying over the upper wall fortifications, you were met with over 30 Witchers, all armed to the teeth and watching you, shellshocked. You're not sure how much they saw from the wall, from so far away, but it must have been enough.

Their commanding officer was about to ask something, when the communication crystals in your pockets suddenly turned on, and with their golden glow amplifying, a neutral, female voice called:

"Attention, attention. Machine World strike team, please report to Liselotte castle, sub level -3. Machine World strike team, please report to Liselotte castle, sub level -3." her unfamiliar voice continued to announce:

"Twelot Sporkolo, Renee Rainer, Rouge, Jorgan, Thena the Owl, Circi, Diana, ..." she continued to list all your party members for a pretty long moment, before she got on with it "-please report to sub level -3 for emergency debrief." you heard a sound akin to something being carelessly dropped on the table, before the unfamiliar womans voice echoed through again, only a lot more distant and barely audible:

"...-whats up with these Machine World names Lynn? I swear, how the heck do I pronounce them, we don't even have letters in the alphabet for half the sounds they're-... oh shit!!" the crystal transmission ended abruptly with a faint crackle.














(Twilight)


Before you were able to respond, the communication crystal in your pocket suddenly turned on, and with its golden glow amplifying, a neutral, female voice called:

"Attention, attention. Machine World strike team, please report to Liselotte castle, sub level -3. Machine World strike team, please report to Liselotte castle, sub level -3." her unfamiliar voice continued to announce:

"Twelot Sporkolo, Renee Rainer, Rouge, Jorgan, Thena the Owl, Circi, Diana, ..." she continued to list all your party members for a pretty long moment, before she got on with it "-please report to sub level -3 for emergency debrief." you heard a sound akin to something being carelessly dropped on the table, before the unfamiliar womans voice echoed through again, only a lot more distant and barely audible:

"...-whats up with these Machine World names Lynn? I swear, how the heck do I pronounce them, we don't even have letters in the alphabet for half the sounds they're-... oh shit!!" the crystal transmission ended abruptly with a faint crackle.


Viki bit both her lips for a moment, then sheepishly smiled:

"Ehehe... be patient with us, Soren names are difficult for Nifel folk to pronounce..."

Circi blinks and she picks up her communication crystal. She stares at it a moment, considering if she should even respond, "Yeeeaaah... We do have some things to talk about. A lot just happened." She pauses a moment, "We'll see you there..." As they pass over the Witchers she looks down at them with a wide smile, 'My deeds go witnessed... good.'

as they fly into the city Circi's head tilts up to the batpony carrying her, "That kind of anger..." she stares at him, "...You should be smarter with it." She isn't judging you, as a matter of fact she seems to be taking you very seriously, "You aren't the same person who was just there... I know that. I see it in your eyes, its written all over you. Even the way you fly is different." her gaze returns to the city as they pick out a landing, "...Multiple personality's is a hell of an issue Johan... or... Whatever your name is right now... That being said. What on earth did you think was going to happen when you faced Kaz head on like that?" She looks up at him. She genuinely wants to know.




Rain sighs quietly "Oh great. We can share our traumatic paralysis experience together." She responds back to squiggles, "How touching..." her voice oozes with "enthusiasm"

Rain stares off into the distance as they make their way back to the city and as the complete butchering of her name comes out she's struck, "Wha?- How the fuck did you-? Where-? How did the first part of my name get into my last?!" She pauses and squints as the names continue to get listed off, "Jorg- WHERE DID YOU GET THE G FROM!? I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE READING THIS!" Rain closes her eyes, and takes long, deep, breaths... But fumes when they get thenas name right though, "If you can say Thena... you can say Johan..." she mumbles angrily to herself.

Twilight first raised her eyebrow at how badly the named were butchered, before the tangent that followed made her actually a little amused.

"It's fine, we've all been there. To tell a little secret, part of why reading and writing goes well for me is because it too much effort to write my own name correctly when I was a kid." She had a small chuckle. "I'm pretty sure we mispronounced the Nifel names many times as well, so one public misnaming can't hurt. Nothing to get upset about."

She gets up. "Shall we?"

"Kind of yeah. And I just plain forgot in the commotion." Thena mentally shrugs "There's a lot of information floating around in my head. Get's mixed up sometimes."

Thena just visibly winces at the name pronunciations before pulling her hood up and retreating beneath the comfort and warmth of her cloak.

Some Sinner wrote:

Rain stares off into the distance as they make their way back to the city and as the complete butchering of her name comes out she's struck, "Wha?- How the fuck did you-? Where-? How did the first part of my name get into my last?!" She pauses and squints as the names continue to get listed off, "Jorg- WHERE DID YOU GET THE G FROM!? I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE READING THIS!" Rain closes her eyes, and takes long, deep, breaths... But fumes when they get thenas name right though, "If you can say Thena... you can say Johan..." she mumbles angrily to herself.

"I don't know what everyones' complaining about, mine sounds alright" Rogue jokes.

Circi wrote:"Multiple personality's is a hell of an issue Johan... or... Whatever your name is right now... That being said. What on earth did you think was going to happen when you faced Kaz head on like that?" She looks up at him. She genuinely wants to know.

"Multiple personalities... I don't know what you mean." Johan replied with a stone cold expression, still frowning into space "My brother's not here."

As you continued to fly over the city rooftops, toward the castle towers in the distance, the batpony became tense:

"That monster back there... I know his type. They don't value life. And if they get hold of power, they treat everyone below them as property. Like we owe them something, like we exist because they allow it, so we should gravel at their feet." He bared his jagged fangs in an ugly grimace:

"If I could just wipe that smug, disgusting smirk off his face for 1 second, it would have been worth it. They're always surprised when we lash back" his features became tense, you even think he spread his shoulders a little and stopped hunching, like he usually did.

Rain wrote:Rain sighs quietly "Oh great. We can share our traumatic paralysis experience together." She responds back to squiggles, "How touching..." her voice oozes with "enthusiasm"

"If anyone can understand how you feel, its her." Squiggles quietly said "Maybe talking with her can help.."

Rain wrote:"Wha?- How the fuck did you-? Where-? How did the first part of my name get into my last?!" She pauses and squints as the names continue to get listed off, "Jorg- WHERE DID YOU GET THE G FROM!? I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE READING THIS!"

Squiggles brust, laughing so hard, it became difficult to hear your surroundings. For some reason you imagined him rolling on his back, wiggling all six of his legs in spasms of laugher:
"They probably wrote the names wrong and then gave it to some other clerk to read. Machine World names are funny."

Rogue wrote:"I don't know what everyones' complaining about, mine sounds alright" Rogue jokes.

"Then I will hereby dub thee, Rouge The Bat!" Rolo ceremoniously proclaimed.

Thena wrote:"Kind of yeah. And I just plain forgot in the commotion." Thena mentally shrugs "There's a lot of information floating around in my head. Get's mixed up sometimes."

"Weeeelll don't worry. That prick can hold a grudge, we'll probably see him again, before long." Rose released a small sigh "Wouldn't mind if you take a pot shot at him, the next time we see him. The bastard tortured me once, wouldn't mind returning the favor"

Twilight wrote:
"It's fine, we've all been there. To tell a little secret, part of why reading and writing goes well for me is because it too much effort to write my own name correctly when I was a kid." She had a small chuckle. "I'm pretty sure we mispronounced the Nifel names many times as well, so one public misnaming can't hurt. Nothing to get upset about."

She gets up. "Shall we?"

"Mm." Viki excitedly nodded "You guys say 'Alstreim' funny." She giggled, getting up.













(Everyone)


It took some time, a lot of wierd glances from the citizens as several ponies flew by like acrobats, holding other ponies in theirs arms, and finally another visit to the hospital, before everyone was patched up, healed and assembled back at the castle.

You're not sure where you were headed or why Zoy decided to debrief there, but by the time you realized you had to enter the reinforced section of the building, specifically built to withstand bombardment and then descend 3 floors underground into a heavily reinforced dungeon, the creepy atmosphere had set in.


There was no decor here, like the rest of the castle, only empty, oppressive walls of stone, colored a dim orange by the burning torch lights and a low ceiling pressing above. With each step you took through the -3 level tunnel, you felt you were about to enter some torture chamber, with skeletons hanging im chains off the walks and laying in beds made of spikes.

When you finally reached a heavy metal door at the end of the tunnel and it loudly creeked as you pushed it open, you almost cringed at what you might find. And cringe you did, but for a different reason.


The room beyond was very large and lit up by red colored candles on the walls, no furniture. In the middle, Ryu and Sasha were crawling on the floor in circles, drawing a giant and intricate pentagram on the floor with red crayons, while Bastila sat in the middle and chanted in tongues, legs crosses and eyes closes, as if in deep meditation.


Under normal circumstances this could have looked creepy, but you couldn't help seeing them as children playing pretend on the playground.


After you squeezed into the room, soon Kaylee, Ursula, Adam and everyone else followed, until your entire party was full again.

Zoy was the last one to enter and closed the door behind her.



"oooOOOooo." Lightning excitedly cooed "What evil deeds are we doing today?"

"We will summon the Great Lord Mefisto, to go back in time and Terminate Kaznachey, before he was ever born!" Zoy replied in a deadpan.

"Terminators, nice." Viki nodded agreeably.


You heard a faint click of a mechanism behind you, and a thick stone plate slowly extended from the ceiling, blocking off the door - the only visible exit. Zoy subtly peeled off the wall she was leaning on. The metalic sound you heard earlier, came from her direction, but you don't see anything special on the wall she leaned on.

"...did you just lock us in?" Johan asked, calmly, his sight was still a bit tense and shoulders spread, to the point where he even looked a little more muscular and threatening.


"Yes, I did." Zoy non chalantly replied with a smile. Her eyes fell on Johan and she almost took a step back, giving him a double take, then looking him up and down in slight alarm. Johans body language and expression were so different, she blinked quietly, trying to ascertain what was happening:

"...who are you?" Zoy finally asked, standing almost a head shorter than him and looking up at him in alarm.

"Drasko." The batpony calmly replied, his eyes still looked pretty tense.

"I didn't know Johan had a twin brother.." Zoy quietly swallowed and looked away. You're not sure, but for a second, you thought she was blushing.




"...okay, so, why are we meeting down here?" Kaylee asked, crossing her arms and throwing a frown at Johan.


"We've done it! We've come up with a spell that can identify Red Witchers!!" Sasha excitedly called, rising her head from the pentagram.

"Once we realized that Red Witchers are created via a Curse, it became simply a matter of designing a spell that reveals those affected by said specific curse.

We've called the spell 'Torch'." Ryu said "You cast it on a suspect and it shines a torches light on their soul. Pefrectly painless." He excitedly beamed. For Ryu, that almost seemed like an alien expression:

"Your sight will become momentarily altered. All colors of the world will dim to black, allowing you a clear vision of the suspects soul. If you look directly at him and don't see any funny lights, then the suspect is curse free.
But! If you look at him and see a Red Flaaame, then the suspect has been Cursed and is already a Red Witcher. His parasite is actually in control, and the poor Witchers soul is locked deep within, helpless and only able to watch, as his parasite impersonates him."


"How sure are you of this spell working properly?" Zoy asked, skeptically crossing her arms.

Ryu gave a thumbs up "One hundred percent."

"We couldn't design a spell to Break the curse however." Bastila finally stopped chanting in tongues and opened one eye "To do that, we need to know the exact Words of the Curse. I have managed to translate the burned parchment you saved from the fireplace, back at the mansion in Lieselotte's noble district, but only fragmented words have survived, not enough to know what the full sentences were, or to reconstruct the paragraph fully."


"A lot of reports have also came in, from the autopsies at the hospital and the detailed analysis of the burned blueprints you found," Ryu began.


"However," Zoy deeply sighed "If you're going to be in charge of the Red Witcher investigation... and their plot to assassinate me..." she unwillingly and quietly added "we first need to make sure there isn't a Red Witcher among us already."

"Is that what the pentagram's for?" Ursula asked "Why we're meeting down here?"


"Indeed." Zoy nodded "Ryu will cast Torch in Area of Effect, engulfing the entire room. If there is a Red Witcher here, he will be locked in with us. This is a Safe Room, essentially a bunker, meant to house either prisoners, suspects or VIP's, in case of emergencies. No one knows how to get in or out of this room except me. So the Red Witcher will have nowhere to run. We'll have to capture him."

Zoy somberly blinked, uneasily lifting her gaze up to you "I wish to cast the spell now."

"Uhh.. do you have any questions before we begin?" Sasha awkwardly asked "We'll provide everyone with the bluerints for the spell later, so you'll be able to cast it. It will fit in the Utility spell slot."

Circi squints at drasko as they land, "That cant be the first time you've heard that question. And I know thats not the first time you've used that excuse." She stares at him, "Otherwise where have YOU been all this time. If i've met you before, I dont remember you and the fact you know who he is at all tells me your watching from the sidelines." She stares at him a moment, even in those black eyes you sense pity... but only for a moment.


As they step into the bunker vault and listens to Zoys whole explaination, Circi quitely raises her hand.
"I think I just permanently blinded Kaz." She stares at Zoy, the look on her face is that of ever so slight concern. She follows up her remark, "i'm not joking." She clears her throat, "I broke a sinner potion and a vial of mantacore venom over his head after he ambushed us in the forest with thena." She cocks her head with a cocky smile, "I watched his face melt." She throws a small punch into Draskos shoulder, "Wont have to worry about that smirk anymore I suppose." She cackles evily, before falling deathly silent, "Did you just say... Among Us?" she whispers as if deathly afraid, "One of us might be a... Imposter?" she begins hyperventilating... you feel as though she is being overdramatic.

Rain glares at Circi for a long moment before taking a deep breath, "Please do not encourage him." As she walks past drasko she throws him a glare, "And your best idea was to just... rush at him? An enemy far more powerful then you, with YOUR skillset?" She shakes her head slightly and sighs.

She steps up next to lightning after moving past Drasko. Theres a tired, knowing looking her eyes, "Hay... I uh..." she looks down and swallows heavily, "I just had... an experience..." she chuckles nervously, "I think you'll find it... relitive to your recent events, and I... Really think I need some advice... or-or..." she begins tearing up slightly, "...I aaaaaah... i-i dont know." She presses her back against the wall, "You were paralized for so long..." she throws a nervous glance at her, "...Kaz... Impaled me with his sword, and I lost all feeling in my body for that short moment. I... actually dont think i've ever felt so vulnerable in my life." She stares down at her hands and lets out a laugh of disbelief, "I mean... I'M Rain Runner right? The storm!? Woooo! Right?" Her eyes flick to the other side of the room, staring through everyone, "You know... I... I'm really not even sure about that anymore." She rests her palm on her head, trying to push away a headache.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Indeed." Zoy nodded "Ryu will cast Torch in Area of Effect, engulfing the entire room. If there is a Red Witcher here, he will be locked in with us. This is a Safe Room, essentially a bunker, meant to house either prisoners, suspects or VIP's, in case of emergencies. No one knows how to get in or out of this room except me. So the Red Witcher will have nowhere to run. We'll have to capture him."

Zoy somberly blinked, uneasily lifting her gaze up to you "I wish to cast the spell now."

"Uhh.. do you have any questions before we begin?" Sasha awkwardly asked "We'll provide everyone with the bluerints for the spell later, so you'll be able to cast it. It will fit in the Utility spell slot."

"That all sounds fine, as long as you aren't a Red Witcher" Rogue says to Zoy, "If that were the case, you could trap us all here while you escape, and there would be nothing any of us could do about it?

How about one other person is told how to get out of here, chosen at random, just as insurance?"

"I have one question about the spell." Twilight says, raising her hand. "It's about the targetting when you cast it spontaneously."

She folded her arms. "If I'm not mistaken, there are two ways it could go. One, it's like heightened senses, where the effect is cast on you to change your perception. In this state, you could look around a crowd and spot all people there."

She frowned a little. "However, it sounds like it's more of a scan spell, where the target feels the spell wash over them and the state of the soul is revealed at that time. This makes the spell more understandable, but less practical when searching a whole city, since we have to reserve our uses of torch for those that are acting oddly, and they will be alarmed of this spell when struck by it."

She shook her head. "Forgive me, I don't mean to be negative, I was just weighting the possibilities of this. The fact that you actually made something like this is already impressive enough."

She then looked at those that went out. "What happened out there?"

Twilight wrote:However, it sounds like it's more of a scan spell, where the target feels the spell wash over them and the state of the soul is revealed at that time. This makes the spell more understandable, but less practical when searching a whole city, since we have to reserve our uses of torch for those that are acting oddly, and they will be alarmed of this spell when struck by it."

"Ehh..." Ryu raised his finger and lowered it again "...I actually don't know if the target will feel anything, once the spell hits them... we ehh... haven't tested.. it.. yet.."

"Seriously??" Zoy exhaled.

"That's why we're here right?" Ryu sheepishly smiled.

"Hold on to your helmet.." Lightning murmured "..maybe he's wrong about it being painless as well.."


"The spell works as a projectile, more like an offensive spell than anything. If you get hit by it, any Witcher who looks at you, will be able to see into your soul, for a limited time." Ryu said, somewhat uneasily "Its costly in terms of Mana, but we're hoping Red Witchers are also difficult to create. So there shouldn't be that many of them."


"Its a start." Zoy shuffled in place, looking down "Until now, we had no defense against them."

Rain wrote:"...Kaz... Impaled me with his sword, and I lost all feeling in my body for that short moment. I... actually dont think i've ever felt so vulnerable in my life." She stares down at her hands and lets out a laugh of disbelief, "I mean... I'M Rain Runner right? The storm!? Woooo! Right?" Her eyes flick to the other side of the room, staring through everyone, "You know... I... I'm really not even sure about that anymore."

Lightning looked down, studying the dirty snow on her shoes "...yeah... I know what you mean." She quietly sighed "One moment, you're perfectly healthy, then next, the entire world just, collapses without warning. It feels like there's no hope anymore, no future, but..."

She heavily sighed, then looked up, across all the faces in the room "The one thing I learned from my experience is that no matter how much your life shatters, how much it hurts, you can't just give up.

That would be the easiest thing, but you can't. You have to keep going. And if its too much, focus on just getting through the week. And if that's too much, focus on getting through the day. And if that's too much, focus on getting through the Hour.

And if That's too much, focus on getting through the Minute. Just, one small minute at a time. One small victory, at a time. Something small, that you can manage. And keep going.


You have to. Because, that's the whole meaning for why we're here. We survived this long on Nifelheim, because we never gave up. Our race didn't go extinct. We kept going, even when it hurt.."

She looked at the faces around her, before settling her eyes on Rain and smiled "..and if that's too much.. maybe, your friends, your loved ones, your family, maybe they can help you, get through the next minute, until you can do it on your own. And you can. You, like all of us, have infinite potential." She gently slapped you on the back and smiled.

Circi wrote:"That can't be the first time you've heard that question. And I know thats not the first time you've used that excuse." She stares at him, "Otherwise where have YOU been all this time. If i've met you before, I dont remember you and the fact you know who he is at all tells me your watching from the sidelines."

"Don't know what you're on about." Johan said, frowning into space "...I get gaps in my memory sometimes. My little brother isn't here." You hear a hint of annoyance starting to seep into his voice, as he frowned into space. You get the feeling he's avoiding direct eye contact.

Circi wrote:Circi quitely raises her hand.
"I think I just permanently blinded Kaz." She stares at Zoy, the look on her face is that of ever so slight concern. She follows up her remark, "i'm not joking." She clears her throat, "I broke a sinner potion and a vial of mantacore venom over his head after he ambushed us in the forest with thena."

Zoy gave you a very strange look and  quietly asked "...you serious?"


"Dude, she totally threw a flask of Manticore Venom, IN HIS FACE!!" Johan elbowed Zoy in the shoulder and broke into a brief cackle.

Zoy gave you and even stranger look and slowly inched away.


"Wha- wher.. where you going?" Adam asked, slightly smiling.


"Yeaaaahh..." Zoy audibly cringed and looked at Circi with pity "...you and your son should... probably stay inside Lieselotte's Suppression field, for the rest of your lives... or at least until the Migration... because the Treasurer is an immortal fuck, and he has a lot of time on his hands so he's very patient. And he's known to be vindictive and holds a grudge... and he's very insane and vicious with his vengence soo... yeaaaahhh..." she patted Circi on the shoulder, still cringing "...you should... probably stay in the city forever..."


"Nice knowing you." Johan said in a deadpan, trying not to smile.


"Seriously though, you threw Manticore Venom in his face?" Ursula asked, clearly amazed "That's some nice improvisation! It will definitely leave him horribly injured and disfigured. But if the poison was in liquid form, it will eventually flush out of his system.
If I had to estimate, taking his freaking regeneration into account," she fell into thought:
"I'd say, we put him out of comission for a month. Longer, if we're lucky."



"How did you get close enough to dump acid in his face, without getting killed?" Zoy asked, suddenly growing alarmed.


"Ah, the idiot got cocky." Johan waved his hand with a smirk "Started slowly strolling across the field like he owned the place, talking smack, you know."


"He slowed down? In the middle of the battle?" Zoy became really grim and exchanged glances with Ryu, Viki and Bastila. None of them said anything but the mood changed pretty drastically. Then, they all slowly looked at Rain, Rogue, Thena and Johan in turn.


"...what?" Johan quietly asked. The tension was starting to become palpable.


"...he let you go." Viki quietly said. You just realized she's looking at you with suspicion, even alarm, like she's expecting you to attack at any moment.


"Oh bullshit! I've never seen him fight so hard before." Johan waved his hand in protest "He was punting us through trees! He almost murdered Circi, if she hadn't been alert, she'd be dead."



"A logical move, since she's the only one who can't be turned into a Red Witcher." Zoy grimly said, before looking at you "If he stopped, anywhere during the battle, if he even slowed down, even if for a second, he was holding back.

He Wanted to let you go. He Needed to let you go." Zoy frowned grimly "I was wondering how you faced Kaznachey with such a small strike force and survived with Zero casualties.

Its because there's at least One Red Witcher among you, and he needed your escape to look real, so he left himself open." Zoy took hold of the bridge of her nose "I doubt he planned to be splashed in the face with Manticore acid, but he wanted to be jumped and pummeled, hard enough, to make his tardiness seem genuine, allowing you a plausible escape. With his Health bar, he figured he could take it. That's why he left himself open."



"No way. He pushed us to our limit, we almost died!" Johan gritted his teeth.

Zoy looked at him seriously, almost with pitty "If Kaznachey was serious, we wouldn't be talking right now. There would be no survivors... he let you go." She sighed "He doesn't go into battle without Heightened Senses, with his Mana pool, there's no reason not to. There's no way he didn't hear Circi approach, but he stood there and waited... wasted time? Said something smug?" Zoy shook her head "One of you is a Red Witcher, or all of you. I don't have another explanation."

Circi wrote:"Did you just say... Among Us?" she whispers as if deathly afraid, "One of us might be a... Imposter?" she begins hyperventilating... you feel as though she is being overdramatic.

"..for fucks sake." Zoy sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose "Can't believe I was actually worried about you guys for a minute.

Viki suppressed a giggle, covering her mouth.

"I guess they were old enough to get aquainted with Kepler memes" Kaylee quietly smirked.

Rogue wrote:"That all sounds fine, as long as you aren't a Red Witcher" Rogue says to Zoy, "If that were the case, you could trap us all here while you escape, and there would be nothing any of us could do about it?

How about one other person is told how to get out of here, chosen at random, just as insurance?"

"If I'm a Red Witcher, you guys are already fucked, so... oops." Zoy shrugged with a smile, then thought for a moment.

"I'll tell Circi. She can't be infected by Parasites so she's immune to the curse by default."


"Am I immune?" Adam innocently piped up.

Zoy looked at him in thought for a moment "Honestly, I don't know. I don't think anyone knows. If I didn't know you, I wouldn't think you're a Sinner, Agatha made sure you could blend in perfectly. Maybe it means you can be infected by Parasites as well, even estalish a Glasgow Synergy - without killing the Parasite. I don't think we should take any chances."


"But he's not infected right now," Ursula tilted her head slightly.


"No, but a Red Witcher can spawn a new Parasite by mitosis and infect Adam in seconds." Zoy persisted, crossing her arms again:
"I'm only telling Circi and she'll keep it a secret, until the spell is cast." Zoy meaningfully looked at the Sinner, then slowly approached and whispered something in her ear. You couldn't really  hear her and couldn't read her lips, as she covered her mouth with a palm.

Circi frowns, "If what he did was on purpose then he's capable of mistakes too Zoyah." She stares at her a moment, "I'm not saying I dont believe you... But I think you're giving him too much credit. I defintely have the gull to leave the city after what happened." She suddenly pauses as Zoy reaches out for her. Her eyes are calm for a moment, almost like shes about to listen.

Circi suddenly grabs Zoys hand away from her by the wrist and points it away from her. Circi's eyes are wide open, "...Zoyah..." she stares at her wide eyed, "...Why dont I believe you...?" Her face slowly falls into a scowl, "You lock us in a room, with all of our children, to find a red witcher among us." She glares at her, "I think thats you... I think your setting up a trap right in front of us under the idea that we trust you unconditionally..." she pushes Zoy back and a spinal chain begins worming its way up her arm, "Your the one whos been surounded by red witchers this whole time. You could have been comprimized since the moment we've arrived..." she growls quietly, "That pentagram could paralyze all of us... I already know the way out."

Rain stares wide eyed at Circi, "Woah, Woah! Slow down! Hold on!"

Circis stance is ready, "Hold on?! 'One of you is a red witcher' thats what she said! How the FUCK would she know that outright!? She doesnt! Unless its her! This kind of stunt is right up Zoyahs ally and im positive her parasite has learned her tricks."

Zoy looks at you, quite emotionlessly, before non chalantly pulling her hand back:

"...well... first off, thank you? I'm glad you think I'm such a brilliant tactician. After I pulled a fast one on you, with that paralysis spell under the carpet, during the chess match a few months ago, I understand how you'd be suspicious now.

However." She intently looked you in the eye:


"There are several inconsistencies in your version.

First of, Rose told you that Kaznachey plans to assassinate me, just like he did every other Lieselotte king before me. So making me a Red Witcher wouldn't make sense.

Second, you came to me, and Demanded, that I trust you guys, and Only you, with my safety. Because Red Witchers are coming to assassinate me. And when I made a fuss, you insisted. So how can I trust you guys exclusively with my protection, if I can't vet you all for Red Witchers?

Third, if I wanted to assassinate you, or otherwise take you out, I probably wouldn't lock myself in here, with all of you. As a king of the castle, I could have made up a series of phony errands, split up your party in five different ways and have you picked off in the streets, when you're alone and vulnerable to attack. Or send assassins after you. Or set up booby traps at every location. I wouldn't lock myself in here with you, its too much of a risk, since if my cover gets blown, I'm alone with no backup.


Fourth, ask my siblings, ask any seasoned Witcher." She shook her head "You don't survive a fight with the Treasurer. You just don't. It doesn't happen!
And if you do, you're either disfigured, dismembered and most of your friends are dead! That's how those fights go!

Yet your team managed to spar with him... how many... 5? 10 times by now? And you survived, Each and Every time? With NO casualties whatsoever?" She is shaking her head pretty heavily, and you're starting to notice uneasily glances from Viki, Ryu and Bastila. It looks like they're all thinking along the same lines, now that she brought it up.



"He let you go." Zoy firmly said "Over. And Over. And Over again!
He used every excuse and loop hole in the book, to make it look genuine every time, but he let you go. And now I know why."

She frowned "There is a Red Witcher among you, he will try to murder me before the day is done. And I'm going to find out who it is. Ryu!" She impatiently waved her hand at her brother.


Ryu nodded, but looked at you in slight alarm.


"Weapons out. Everyone." Zoy quietly said "This might get ugly once the imposter's exposed."

"I knew we got off too easy against him." Twilight says with a sigh.

She drew her weapon, then frowned. "Wait a minute..." She rubbed her chin. "How did our confrontations with him go again... This has gone on for too many times, as..." Her eyes widen. "As far as our first arrival on here..."

She looked around the group, with a stoic face. She had a gut feeling, a nasty gut feeling. It was the conspiracy theorist in her coming alive again, trying to seek what was truely the case. She tried to hold it back, but the thoughts still seeped in.

She grit her teeth. "This might not get ugly... this WILL get ugly..." she said to mostly herself.

On the way...

"I think I can manage that. I thought he'd be stronger to be honsest. But, I mean stories about people from Keplar and the ability to spell has been wrong. So who's to say this guy just isn't all bark and less worse bite" Mind Thena responds to Rose. Within her mind she conjures up a lounge with filled book shelves, a crackling fireplace, two high back soft leather chairs and a table with a pot of tea and two already poured fragrantly steaming cups. She takes a seat and gestures for Rose to sit as well

---------------------------------------------------------------------
In the room

"Did it cross your mind that he let us go in order to orchistrate what is happening in this room? I mean forcing a confrontation between a histortically hated group and a General who only just recently took down the wanted status would be quite literally the easiest thing to nudge into what is happening right now."

Thena begins to charge Strength Sap at 2nd Level "But, like the missing Sinners I'm assuming you've already made up your mind until physical proof is presented. I'm not going to out right attack whomever is deemed guilty, but I will slow them down."

Mind Thena sips her tea with slightly trembling hands then looks over to Rose "You've known them longer than I have. Any thoughts?"

Circi stares at her a moment, "But you did split us up... and the areas we went to were full of your guard, and they were booby trapped." She sighs pressing her fingers against the bridge of her nose, "What you just described was nearly what happened..." she lowers her nose at her, "Ok... ok... how about-"

Rain interupts, "Yeah Zoy. We noticed it too. We dont know why he's leaving us alive." She frowns, "Alder had plans to kill us and Ksz murdered his entire team to protect us." She shakes her head, "You already know its not me because you know... how do I ready for battle?" She pulls herself up and calls squiggles to her side.

Circi frowns at Rain and then back at Zoy, "Im not drawing my dagger on you." She says quitely, "You know how I fight already... its unnecessary, im not killing or severely wounding anyone in this room."

Thena wrote:So who's to say this guy just isn't all bark and less worse bite

"...you probably shouldn't say that next to Zoy.." Rose quietly said, as she watched with curiosity how the lounge materialized around her:

"Kaznachey has successfully orchestrated the assassination of over a dozen Witcher Kings in the past three decades alone, one of them was Zoy's adopted father, Berinhart Alstreim, believed to be the strongest Witcher on Nifelheim at the time. He was a Level 5 mage."

Rose slowly took a seat in the empty chair and crossed her legs, leaning back "Those who don't learn from history, are deemed to repeat it. A keeper of memories such as yourself should heed those words more than others."

She fully turned to look at you "Everything you know about Kaznachey has been painstakingly gathered by sacrifices of Witchers over the past millennia. Our knowledge about him is paved in blood. You would do well to heed their warning."

Rose slightly frowned "Kaznachey is a monster. A freak of nature. An abomination. Vindictive, very old, very powerful, and those who crossed him, those who underestimated him, were eviscerated, savagely and without mercy. The fate of Alder was to be your fate tonight.

It wasn't."

Rose frowned harder "There was no reason for him to keep us alive Thena. He should have snapped your neck, the moment he locked his fingers over it. He didn't. And if you don't know why that is, it should worry you... very much indeed." Rose's demeanor was changing, it seemed as if her entire skin became covered in goose bumps, like a cat growing agitated for a fight.

Rain wrote:But you did split us up... and the areas we went to were full of your guard, and they were booby trapped

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have set up a hit squad, just next to that shed with the C-4." Zoy calmly replied "The moment you got blasted by the explosion, they would have jumped you and killed the survivors, while you were unconscious. Or at the very least took you prisoner, agreed?"

Thena wrote:"Did it cross your mind that he let us go in order to orchistrate what is happening in this room? I mean forcing a confrontation between a histortically hated group and a General who only just recently took down the wanted status would be quite literally the easiest thing to nudge into what is happening right now."

"I would agree with you, if the result of our current situation wasn't so unpredictable." Zoy calmly replied, her yellow eyes faintly glowing "There's too many ways this predicament can go, and Kaznachey doesn't like uncertainty. Too much is left to chance.
No. No, he let you go, time and time again. Something is up. And I want to know what it is!"


"What if the Torch spell leaves us Paralyzed?" Squiggles asked, materializing in a gust of orange sparks.


"Does this look like a Paralysis pentagram to you?!" Zoy impatiently waved at the strange drawing on the floor. Colored red and faintly glowing, it didn't look familiar. It wasn't a spell you've seen before.

"I had nothing to do with the design of this spell! I wasn't even there during its development!" Zoy energetically articulated:
"Ryu, Bastila and Sasha designed it! I didn't even see the blueprints! So unless you think one of them is a Red Witcher, there's no reason Not to use the spell!"

Thena wrote:Thena begins to charge Strength Sap at 2nd Level "But, like the missing Sinners I'm assuming you've already made up your mind until physical proof is presented. I'm not going to out right attack whomever is deemed guilty, but I will slow them down."

"Yes, I need physical proof before I make my decisions. I'm difficult like that." Zoy pointed at the purple gust of wind in your hand "Put out that spell. Nothing above Level 1. If you're a Red Witcher, I don't want it flying in my face."

She looked toward the center of the room "...whoever the Red Witcher is, don't kill them... remember, the human soul is still very much alive, deep inside. We don't have a method of breaking the Curse yet, but we may in the future." She firmly blinked "Capture the Red Witcher, at any cost."



"...are we doing this?" Ryu awkwardly asked, he's still sitting on the pentagram, charging it with his Mana.

Johan slightly inched towards Zoy, showing a part of his back to her. It looks like a protective gesture. Squiggles loudly swallowed. Kaylee took a step back, materializing her flaming katana, pointing its edge down.

"...Rogue and I.. might need new weapons later..." Johan quietly murmured "Kaz broke ours."

"No new weapons until I know who's on our side." Zoy said, growing tense.

Circi looks at Zoy hesitantly, "Forgive my paranoia." Circi steps to the side and walks around the pentagram gazing over it suspiciously, "This... feels similar to what was taking place in the mansion." She begins circling around the pentagram, "Bastila..." she stares at her as she rounds the pentagram, "...I seriously am not comfortable with this." She shakes her head, "This whole situation is making my skin crawl..." she growls in frustration, "You know Zoy! You certainly have a way of presenting your plans."

Circi looks to Sasha a moment without moving her head, she would never even know Circis gaze was on her as far as she knew her attention was on Bastila. How does she seem to be reacting to all this?

Rain quietly summons her mace and her eyes flick to Twilight, she seems to be trying to figure out if its you before the spell is cast but shakes her head, dismissing the thought. Her eyes fall onto Ursula... her separation from her and how often it was... she'd be lying if she wasn't the at least a little suspicious.

Then she looks to Ryu and Bastille. She carefully considers something, "Let me cast the spell!" She calls.