World Tree MUSH

    The City of Amaranthea is city on the larger side of the spectrum, with people who walk all paths of life. From humble adventurers to influential nobles and the city's big council, it's a cosmopolitan melting pot.
    Annnnd the city has a problem.
    A wizard simply going by the name of 'Pilenor' has sent a missive to the city council that he intends to destroy the city at precisely noon.
    The problem is that this missive was sent late the night previously and the whole city is in an uproar. Some people don't believe the city will be destroyed and continue their daily lives. Others flock to evacuate.
    The ominous second, red, sun looming over the city is also very, very, new.
    So we begin in medias res...
    The thieves guild of the city has put out a hit on the head of this Pilenor and his associates in hopes that killing the wizard will stop the spell or ritual or whatever he is doing to cause this looming second sun.
    This is bold considering the city's heavy laws and punishments about taking life of anyone sapient.
    
    The market isin full swing, guard squads tromp around in search of anyone performing suspicious magic, and Lether...
    Lether is skulking in an alley, a bloody dagger clasped in her hand.
    "Did that do it?" She mutters.
    "Nah nah, the big ball of fire is still in the sky." One of the kids with her, a boy, replies as she pokes the corpse of a robe-clad man, his blood staining the ground and the magic circle he had been working on while incanting 'suspicious magic'.
    Hoo boy.
    Cleaning off her dagger she shrugs.
    "Wrong magic man?"
    "Maybe?" Another girl replies. "But there was something... Off about his magic. It felt bad, like scary."
    "... More than ONE magic man, y'think?" Lether considers rubbing at her chin.
    It's probably gonna be awkward if anyone walks in on this crime scene but there could be more to learn or find out that she's oblivious to.

>> SUMMARY[Lether] >> That sure is a dead body in an alley. Not that Lether had anything to do with it. Totally.

Neviah Younger has done some things in her life that she regrets, at least a little. Threw away her career for a bad god. Blown up most of her friendships. Followed an obsession with the past down a road of self-destruction and misery.

Murdering a dude in cold blood, on the other hand? That just feels oddly... non-stylish. Not to mention the punishments.

With a sigh, she moves down the alley from behind Lether. "Let's make sure we get the right person, at least," she sighs as she flips her curls back. She's not exactly dressed subtly - it's her extravagant bronze ensemble with the half-cape, though if nothing else she's not visibly armed. With care, she sinks into a crouch, hand on her chin as she investigates the magic circle more closely.

"Well well," she remarks as she looks up at Lether. "It seems we may have gotten /one of/ the right people after all. This magic circle is connected to that second sun. Not causing it by itself, of course. It's part of a larger spell. Our friend Pilenor may have associates after all."

Neviah produces a gold coin from somewhere in the hammerspace proximal to her upper torso. She flips it to Lether with a wink.

    Boy. A street-rat who backstabs people, and Neviah, who is... let's just say morally flexible about things. Both in a city where killing is of course illegal, but SUPER illegal! Clearly, they need some guidance, a moral compass. Someone intimately familiar with the rules of chivalry and nobility. A knight in shining armor, to serve as an upright example.

    So, while the universe is looking for one of those, Saber is squinting at the sun, hand over her eyes. She's not in her armor right now, instead wearing short cutoffs and a tank top.

    "Well, somebody is trying to stop it..." she snorts, though she doesn't have as precise a sense of mana as a caster. So she mostly has to wander around near where the hidden murder has just occurred.

    Dante's anti-heroitude mostly amounts to partying asnd property damage. But really, who's judging? When he heard there was some wizard issuing terroristic threats, he figured kicking the guy's face in would solve things, so he took the guild's coinage without hesitation. It was that or wait with a thumb up his ass while the city possibly goes up in flames.

    "Don't think that worked, crocky." He says as he arrives, giving Neviah and the blonde woman a wave. He eyes Lether's dagger for a moment, and the corpse she likely left behind. There's also the circle, and he takes note of that. "But I think we're close."

    Sometimes... Sometimes you just gotta backstab.
    The coin flipped Lether's way is snatched out of the air and the ebony-skinned lizardfolk is already lightly nipping the coin with those razor teeth before she's satisfied it's good and tucks it away.
    The kids with her go scampering though at the first sign of people, breaking into a sprint and parkour-climbing over a nearby low wall to get away.
    "Rina said his magic felt 'bad'. She's got more magical-sense than me. I believed her." Lether explains as to why she just casually offed the robe-clad caster.
    "Feels like it worked." She says when Dante is another person she recognizes, so she doesn't think twice about sticking around until Saber shows up.
    Lether bristles at the unknown Servant and considers bolting but when it doesn't appear that Saber's going to run off yelling to the heavens about a murder, she doesn't bail YET, herself.
    "Who're you?" She does ask though.
    That's about when Lether pokes at the magic circle a bit with the tip of her dagger, causing it to fizzle a bit.
    "Mn... If there's more'n one.. They'll prolly wanna put these thingies out of the way where most folk don't wander often. I know a few places. There's one by the market, another by the city hall, and a third at the old aqueduct."

"I should have known you'd turn up, Dante." Neviah doesn't sound displeased about it, anyway. "The question is, can we kill this person without anyone noticing? I'm not eager to commit a murder in broad daylight, much less rot in prison for it."

Says Neviah, kneeling next to a body.

Looking back over to Lether, the former professor folds her arms across her thighs, remaining in a crouch on her heels with knees together. The little lizardgirl begins identifying locations, and Neviah takes mental notes before looking back towards the other three. "What do you think?" she questions. "Shall we split up? I can take any one of those three locations with little difficulty, I think. If we can draw the others away, we can deal with them one by one, out of sight and out of mind."

She holds up a finger with a Cupid's-bow smile, winking. "I have a trick for doing this without being seen."

    There's a moment as Dante studies Saber. He wonders for a moment if she's gonna run off to get the city guard, screaming about murder. He doesn't know if he has it in him to kill someone in cold blood just for crying for help. But then Saber does nothing, so Dante releasaes the grip he had on his pistol. This is a gamble but Dante doesn't shy from those, so he'll let her tag along. "How 'bout it, Watson? Wanna go help us wack some wizards?" He asks Saber with a weird drawl that doesn't sound anything like a real rural drawl, and grins at her for a moment.

    "Dunno about broad daylight, but accidents do happen." Dante asides to Neviah, looking to her with interest for what the mage has planned.

    Saber just looks curiously at the tension, but then it clicks. "Oh, you think I'm gonna go get the guards? Nah, screw those guys, I wanna find out what's going on with the wizard!" She snorts, crossing her arms. "Can't trust wizards. Always making enigmatic comments, or doing weird stuff so kings can have heirs, or throwing flowers everywhere all the time..."

    Ahem. She thumbs toward her sternum. "Call me Saber. I'm called that because I sword things. And a Saber's a sword. It's kind of my thing. I'm a knight and all that. Now who else is there that we can kill? One of these mumbling old guys has to be the right wizard, right?"

    Paragon of knightly virtue.

    Lether kind of... Stares at Saber. She says she's a knight but...
    The 'gator-girl points at her with a single finger.
    "Where's yer armor?" She's asking the important questions here. Knights wear armor after all! But that's about as far as she questions the blonde about that as she tilts her head curiously.
    "... Yeah wizards are weird." She does concede.
    The hell is that about having heirs?
    Lether however does nod to Neviah.
    "Prolly a good idea." Splitting up means covering more ground, though sticking together would have benefits as well. It's a matter of choice.
    "... Accidents, yep." The 'gator mutters.
    So moving on.
    Lether purses her lips and blows a sharp whistle, prompting one of the children to come back-- Rina, a sandy haired tiefling girl with one horn filed shorter than the other comes back.
    "Rina'll help find any more bad magic."
    The girl nods and goes to follow Dante and. Saber as they head to...

    The market isn't too far off from the original stabbing-alley and it's bustling now even with doomsday looming overhead. People are trying to get the last supplies to head out of town, or such. But that doesn't stop vendors from hawking their wares.
    Or the mime from prancing about the town square.
    Finding something here is gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but the mime at least seems to be having a good time being trapped in an invisble box.

    Meanwhile Lether and Neviah split off as well, headed for the town hall.
    It's in the noble quarter of the city so Lether keeps out of sight followinf Neviah from rooftops and alleys, and no one seems to be paying any attention to the town crier reciting his cries in a foreign language.
    It's a cosmopolitan city after all.
    

The party splits up. Neviah gets the movie theatre in the settlement.

For someone dressed like the villainess in a '90s JRPG, Neviah moves with surprising stealth and ease through the back alleys of the city. Rooftops are out of the question; she's in heels and not in any hurry to climb. Soon enough, she slides into the mouth of an alleyway within sight of the town hall. The town crier's saying his piece, yet --

The once and former professor narrows her eyes and pulls out her notebook, flipping through. "Abyssal," she murmurs. "As I suspected."

With a look up to the roof, she gestures to Lether. She points to the town crier with one hand, then holds up the other. Wait. Then she reaches into hammerspace one more time, and comes out with...

...two pairs of big, round sunglasses. She tosses one pair up to Lether, then puts the other pair on.

Aw yeah. This adventure just got cool.

Neviah turns them from cool to hot. Keeping out of sight, she begins weaving her fingers together, wording a spell under her breath... and as she releases the spell, the light of the double suns seems to grow... brighter. Imperceptibly at first, but in the radius of space around the town crier, the light is brilliant, mingling with two other suns to create a shimmering haze that rolls off the cobblestones like a mirage. Seeing anything clearly through that is all but impossible.

Neviah gestures up at Lether, and points at the town crier.

>> SUMMARY[Neviah Younger] >> This man's future is so bright, Neviah and Lether gots to wear shades.

    "Check that mime, he could be hiding something in the box," Saber says absently while looking around. She is being serious though, as she tries to figure out where the next part of a magecraft circle would be. "Never thought I'd wish that annoying wizard were here," she mutters.

    "Anyway..." She leaps up on top of a stall, balancing on one pole while holding on to the side of the building next to it. Obviously looking for anything out of place, without a care to drawing attention to herself! Maybe she's a distraction so Dante could work in secret!

    No she really just doesn't care. Stealth isn't in her vocabulary.

    "Saber, huh? Woman after my own heart." Dante gives the blonde a grin and wink, "Name's Dante. I too like swords." He says, jerking a thumb at Rebellion as it sits on his back.

    When he heads to the market, he chuckles as Saber does his thing, while he goes to hunt for the wizard. Dante's not at all a subtle guy himself, expect his idea of a stealthy kill to be absurd. He keeps his eyes peeled, looking for anybody shaped vaguely like a dark wizard of sorts.

    This may be difficult.

    We'll start with Saber and Dante at the market, because as the knight points out the mime and goes to balance atop a stall... Well.
    Naturally a blonde in cutoffs and a tanktop taking to a high place is going to draw some attention and stares.
    No one tries to STOP her though which works out well enough. This gives her a perfect vantage of the whole market and there doesn't seem to be anything out of place except...
    Why WOULD a mime be mime-ing with impending doom looming overhead?
    So Dante begins a wizard hunt.
    Funny how the mime seems to be... A little tense. Dante walks by him and he SLAMS an invisible door shut in Dante's face.
    This is about as effective as a barrier of uh... Well no barrier at all as he resumes his mime-ing.
    He's sweating though. How odd.

    Meanwhile outside town hall.
    Lether snatches up the dark glasses tossed up at her and she blinks... Sideways.
    It's a nictitating membrane- the kind that alligators and some birds have to protect their eyes from water and wind. She tilts her head curiously before she gets the idea and puts the glasses on.
    Then it gets bright...
    Lether drops down from the rooftop behind the town crier and covers his mouth with one hand to stifle him.
    One jab to the kidneys... Yeah that feels right.
    And then she's dragging his limp body back into the alley~.

Neviah holds the spell for a little while. The heat haze is particularly bright around the town hall today. Could be anyone walking around out there.

Only once Lether has slid past her with the body does she let it go. The haze slowly, slowly, slowly abates, leaving just two suns to illuminate the surrounds. There is no more town cryer. Must've gone to get a drink.

Neviah pulls a bottle of beer from her pack. She pops it open, splashes some on the dead wizard, then puts the bottle in his hand. "Sir, that serves you right for drinking on the job," she chides in a murmur. "You could get kidney failure and die."

With a look back up, the professor smiles neatly up at Lether before flipping another gold coin her way. "Very nicely done. Would you like to take care of the aqueduct now, or shall we let Dante and his swordy friend handle it?"

    The mime looks awfully sus, and Dante approaches with intent for a moment. "Hey, buddy. You sure you got a permit for...Mime Stuff?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at the performer. "Can't go around doing mime stuff without one, y'know? It's very important."

    Hmm. Not a whole lot going on. Well, Saber watches for a little bit, but when Dante starts interrogating the mime, she stares at what's going on. Like... really?

    "Eh, might as well have a little fun with it," Saber mutters, leaping down with a little huff. She wanders over, hands in her pockets, to watch the 'show' with Dante and the mime. Either the mime is guilty of something and she can be backup...

    Or she gets to watch this Dante dude make a fool of himself.

    It's win-win, really.

    First off, people might start to notice something now. The second, red, sun in the sky? It's diminisihng.
    Lether killing the first wizard in the alley and then the teamwork thanks to Neviah taking out the 'town crier' causes the doomsday sun to fade slightly a bit more.
    Lether is wiping her dagger clean and shrugs at Neviah.
    "Should probably wait for the others. Backup and whatnot."

    Meanwhile the mime is uh.
    He puts on a smile when Dante asks his question and then...
    HE LOCKS THE INVISIBLE DOOR.
    THAT results in a solid 'wall' that Dante is going to have to bust through while Saber comes down from her perch.
    "... It's totally the mime." Rina, the tiefling girl Lether sent with them points out. "He's performing the somatic components of a spell."
    Throwing on an invisible backpack, the mime starts to try and make a break for it.

Sliding her shades off and tucking them safely away under her capelet, Neviah looks up towards the sky, only to have to shield her eyes with one hand anyway. She winces, but soon lowers her gaze back to Lether. "The second sun is a little dimmer now. This wizard is quite clever. He divided the spell components up among his associates."

Lether makes a recommendation, and Neviah considers for a few seconds. "Let's do that," she agrees, then. "On one condition.

"We do it away from the body," she finishes as she proceeds to usher Lether back into the alley network and away from the scene of this particular murder.

    Dante lets out a curse as he finds himself stopped cold by a wall, an invisible one no less! He kicks and kicks until he smashes through like the Kool-AId man, "Stop!" He rushes after the mime, tripping over an invisible crate! Dante starts to really hate this, but he just decides to hell with it, he's going to play by the mime's rules. With swiftness and agility Dante ducks dives and dodges all over the place while chasing the mime, like an invisible obstacle course in some kind of platformer game. Eventually Dante reaches out with a finger pointed at the mime, and then... "BANG BANG!"

    Yes seriously, Dante's got an invisible revovler.

    Saber starts laughing as Dante plays along... and then slowly realizes that Dante isn't playing around, as there's prana around. That makes the Servant curse under her breath, as the cobblestones shatter beneath her feet and she does a quick mana burst to the side.

    Obviously trying to go around the building and cut off the rear entrance so the Mime can't escape.

    Lether nods. She and Neviah can wait for the others.
    Away from the body.
    Good plan, Neviah.

    Dante finds himself having to navigate a maze of invisible bullshit at first, but it seems that playing along helps in doing so as he draws his 'gun'.
    Bang... Bang...
    Two shots 'ring out' in the sense that Dante yelled 'bang bang' and the mime staggers, clutching his arm, apparently hit in the shoulder, he stumbles and...
    Yeah Saber felt magic in the air. It's definitely the mime, who looks back to see if Dante is still following him--... Only to bump headfirst into Saber waiting for him.
    "..." He looks so dejected as the second sun winks out of existence in the sky with three out of four parts of the spell no longer active.
    Looks like the day is saved.

    Dante mimes spinning his pistol around on his fingers, then blowing smoke off the barrel with his finger to his lips and then stows the gun like a proper gunslinger. "Jackpot." Yeah, day's saved for now. Just one to go. They can bust him later.

For lack of a better place to wait, Neviah finds a spot with Lether in a back alley somewhere. She settles to a seat on top of a trash can.

...She crinkles her nose. "Somehow sitting on a throne of trash feels symbolic in a way I don't really like."

    Saber is petite, like five-two, but she is still like a brick wall that is visible instead of invisible when the mime runs into her. She snags at the mime's wrist with a grin. "Got 'im! Thanks for the assist, Dante! You're pretty handy with an invisible gun! I could almost see the cylinder turning!"

    After giving the mime a good shake, she huffs and heads back to join the others. "Come on, let's see what they've found."

    Dante grins and tips a hat at Saber. "Oh, ain't nothin'. Just comes naturally, y'know?" Truth be told, Dante wasn't expecting this to work.