World Tree MUSH

  A number of offworlders have been hired by Tohsaka Rin to meet in the countryside north of London, England. The ability to sneak around was stressed as an important skill. So was the ability to hold their own in combat. Third, but not forgotten, was to obey her orders, because she's not playing around with this nonsense.

  Humanity lost control of London when an enormous, spider-like creature took over the city. Webs drape between buildings. Smaller arachnids skitter freely through the streets. In the heart of the city, sunlight doesn't reach the avenues below. Even the city's outskirts are gloomy.

  A lot of people had to abandon this city. They had to do it in a hurry. Double-time; webs clinging at their heels. Things were left behind. Some of those things can still be salvaged. Potentially dangerous things, if left in the wrong hands. Things too valuable to leave lying in the rubble.

  The Mage's Association wants some of those things back.

  That's why Rin is here... but the others are here because Rin knows better than to go there alone.

  It's late evening. Clouds loom low over the region, damp and cold but not raining. A motorcycle leans against its kickstand beside a wooden fence line just in the border of London proper. A red helmet dangles from its left handlebar. The magus herself perches on the fence, dressed in red-accented black riding leathers. Raven-black hair is tied back in a loose braid, bangs left to shadow her eyes.

  Tohsaka Rin sits with her back hunched at such an angle that she can rest her elbows against her knees, watching the Vine nearby with bland disinterest. She smokes as she waits, all silence and tight-coiled nerves, patient in spite of that. London is dangerous. Even the outskirts aren't great. The feeling of being watched is maddening, but she forces herself to remain calm. To observe. She wouldn't even be here if not for direct orders, and she had strongly considered ignoring them.

  Rin grumbles to herself in irritation; flicks ash from the end of her cigarette into the cold mud. A thin streamer of smoke trails from her mouth and nose, stirred by a faint breeze. An air of impatience hangs about her, the irritable resignation of a woman who wants to get a most unpleasant task over with.

  ...That's exactly why this is going to go pear-shaped. She can practically taste the derailment of her plans. Nothing is ever easy.

    Spiders. Why on Earth did it have to be freakin' spiders?

    Dante trudges through the abandoned London streets with his sword in hand, slung across his shoulder as he leaves behind a trail of footprints covered in webbing and dirt. He grumbles under his breath as he hacks through a thick spiderweb, batting away one of the eight-legged fiends with his sword the size of a terrier before it skitters off to rebuild a new web, make a new nest, be a generally creepy annoyance to adventurers and eat rodents. Y'know, spider stuff.

    "You were not kidding at all about this place being Spider Country, lady." He says when he tracks down Rin. "Heard about the job, name's Dante." He says, peeling webbing from his sleeve and flicking it away. "So what are we lookin' for?"

    Paine heard 'money' and 'spiders', and that was pretty much it. Being separated from her world rather puts making money in the forefront of her priorities. And since she's pretty good at hitting threatening things until they stop being threats, the life of the sellsword is something she's settled into reasonably well.

    The Vine opens to admit her, dressed in her usual leathers, sword slung at her back as normal. She pauses, looking around, and catching sight of the motorcycle and its rider. Must be the client, she realizes. So she heads over in that direction.

    Once there, she offers a nod to Rin. "Name's Paine," she offers simply. "This your job?" Her words are clipped and dispassionate, but not rudely so. She's just being as efficient with her words as possible.

A giant spider and magical artifacts were certain to get Holly's attention. "You know I wonder how a giant spider would survive in London, it gets cold there during the winter. Is it magical?" Holly can't help but to wonder that. "I mean there's only so places it could stay warm," She smiles upon seeing Paine and Dante it was always good to see familar faces after all. The two ghosts floating alongside her only add to the abandoned atomsphere.

    Serrah is not at her best at the moment -- she yawns as she arrives with Dante -- but there isn't really much to be done about that, short of actually fixing her sleep schedule, and that's just not gonna happen.

    She carefully does not have an expression of concern as she regards Rin. "Hi again," she says. "I'm here with Dante. It, uh. Seemed like it's ..." Excuses fail her for a few seconds. "... well, definitely the price is right."

    She nods in greeting to Paine, whom she's seen before, then pauses to regard Holly. "I don't think you can have spiders that big without being magical," she says. "The square cube law, and all that. Gets in the way of non-magical biology. Right?"

Well this is quite a collection of offworlders. "Ara ara, you have a lovely gathering don't you?" A light and playful tone, all smiles and no problems whatsoever... right? A long-haired young lady with horns on her head, wearing and old-style kimono, alights after a short leap, landing daintily atop a wrecked car webbed up, her feet carefully avoiding the ugly and inelegant webs.

    This is NOT one of the ones hired, is it? She's all smiles though, fanning herself with a paper fan as she watches the gathering. "I doubt you are retaking the city with a group this small, hmm?"

"Well, it could be a giant robot spider. People make those right? It would be fun to ride around a giant robot spider. I wonder if there's a theme park with one of those!" Holly's going to have to look into that now.

 "Something tells me that wouldn't be very marketable, Besides, if it's a robot where would the smaller spiders come from?" Servis can't help but to comment

 "A factory! Maybe there's some mad scientist here like the one that made Iota! In fact that sounds like something he would do." Her attention turns Kiyohime, "Oh a yo-kai! I haven't met one of those before. Well, I could try taking control of the giant spider but we need to find it first!" The question is where is it could be hiding.

 "I don't think the odds of that working are that great, Holly." Lavaux joins in the conversation.

  For the most part the creatures have been staying away from where Rin waits with her motorcycle. If they get too brazen, their presence is strongly discouraged by way of Magecraft; a black bolt of corruption, fired from a forefinger at the offending arachnids. That's the other reason Rin's keeping a weather eye out.

  She's also keeping an eye out for their master. The creature that managed to kick humanity out of the city is not something she wants to tangle with, not at all. Something powerful enough to shrug off bullets and Magecraft is not to be taken so lightly.

  Rin exhales a forceful jet of smoke, blue eyes sliding sideways to Dante to look him over once or twice, watching as he divests himself of webbing. "Tohsaka. Tohsaka Rin. As to that, I'm waiting for information. I was told I'd receive an update from Clock Tower once the team was assembled." Of course, it's not really Clock Tower any more, but everyone still calls it that. "Lord El Melloi-II probably doesn't feel like repeating himself."

  Paine earns a curt nod. The young magus can appreciate straightforwardness, and being to-the-point. "That's right." Paine's sword earns a nod. "I'm hoping you won't have to use that, but I'd have it ready, just in case you do." Rin gestures at the city. It's a regular spider paradise. "Things have been like this since... well, a while, now."

  Blue eyes dart sidelong to Holly. "Nothing about it is natural." Her laugh is amused, but dark. "Nobody knows where the hell this thing came from, or what it wants. Not so far as I know. Staying warm is the least of its concerns."

  Serrah earns a salute with her cigarette. "Delany. Yeah, don't worry, you'll be compensated."

  Kiyohime's arrival draws an actual shudder, one Rin quickly stifles. Massive magical signature aside, it's always kind of creepy when someone just appears like that. So Rin merely feigns calm, snuffs out the cigarette in the cold mud. A soft word and a spark of Magecraft incinerates what's left. Kiyohime earns a long look--

  The cell phone buzzes, set to vibrate, and Rin opens the call and jabs the 'speaker' button with a quick and practised gesture, holding the phone up to address the gathering.

  "Shut it," she hisses, beckoning urgently for quiet. The voice is a man's, and it sounds almost pre-recorded.

  It crackles with static. "In the basement of the British Museum, there is a suitcase. Inside the suitcase, there are a number of small artifacts belonging to Lord Ethan Kensington of Clock Tower. He has offered a generous sum to have them back. The contents of the suitcase are not to be examined. The suitcase is not to be opened. Compensation will be rescinded if these conditions are broken."

  The line goes dead with a click.

  Rin stares at her phone for a moment before shoving it back into her pocket, and she swivels a look on Holly, white as a sheet. "No! No, no, no. We're absolutely not looking for that thing. Absolutely not! We're avoiding that thing. In fact, if it spots us, we're done. Mission off. Abort. If that thing spots us, I'm bailing out of the city and I'm not going back for any of you." Nothing personal. She's not made for fighting giant horrifying spiders, though. "Just so we're clear about it. This thing's resisted both major military efforts to oust it and also Magecraft. I'm not going to try my luck. Are we all clear?"

  She gestures toward the road leading south. "Well, try not to make too much noise, I guess. Off to the museum. It's near the centre of the city, so the longer we can avoid notice, the better. Rin withdraws her hands from her jacket pockets, leaving her gloves in them; something glints between the fingers of her right hand. Jewels. Those sensitive to the supernatural might feel the bright spark of power from them.

  Rin gestures at the road with a flourish. "After you."

    Paine does spare a nod of greeting to Serrah, so there's that -- she CAN be pleasant! Kiyohime's arrival draws a bit of tension, but when there's no immediate attack, Paine relaxes again. She raises an eyebrow at the mention of 'retaking the city'.

    Holly's flight of fancy regarding the robot spiders gets a flat look. "Ever heard the phrase 'the simplest explanation is usually the right one'?" she comments. "No point worrying about what MIGHT be in there if we haven't gone in yet."

    At Rin's words, Paine nods in confirmation. She looks to the city as Rin gestures towards it. "Not enough bug spray, huh?" she quips. Though more seriously, she notes, "Though I doubt there's enough in the whole World Tree for that."

    Rin asks for quiet, though, and Paine obliges so the message can be heard. Basement, suitcase, don't look inside. She nods, though it's only after the line goes dead that she speaks up. "Sounds simple enough," she remarks.

    Rin's vehemence regarding the big boss monster in there gets a raise of Paine's brow, but she's not about to refute it. The less danger she has to be in, the better. Hard to spend money when you're dead, right? In fact, she agrees, "We're not here to be heroes. Let's just get in, get the stuff, and get out."

    That said, she starts in the direction Rin indicates. Paine's a warrior, she's used to taking point. So she does just that, though listening for directions. She's never been here before, and doesn't know her way around.

    "No problem." Dante says. "If it DOES see us, I'll see if I can't drive it off." He says with way-too-much bravado about this, given Rin's fears. He gives Paine and Holly a grin and pat each, "Sup girls." He grins cheekily, and regards Kiyohime curiously for a brief moment.

    When bid, he begins to take point with Paine. They're both swordy fighty tanky types, this won't be an issue for him. "So how long's it been like this anyways?"

    Serrah rankles at Kiyohime's sudden arrival. "And who're you supposed to be?" she says, with the air of a cat puffing itself up aggressively. She settles down ever-so-slightly at Rin's relative non-reaction (she completely fails to notice anything more), but still.

    She side-eyes Holly, but Rin's handling that upbraiding.

    She's quiet as the mission is received. "Thiiiiis is starting to sound suspiciously like vampire politics," she says flatly. With another yawn and a stretch, she pulls a baseball out of the sports bag hanging from her shoulder, then transforms into a perfectly black silhouette -- even the bag and the ball in her hand turn black. She manages not to stumble with a misguided attempt to melt into shadowy mist, and starts strolling off into the side, where she'll hopefully be able to take any attackers by surprise.

Kiyohime hmms, fanning herself. "It probably would be best to avoid the larger one, these creatures require a coordinated and well-planned response to defeat. Ah well, perhaps this will help with such an assault." She lightly walks forward, her delicate look very different from the tough-girl look of Paine, whom she wanders along nearby. At least this means she is relatively quiet, yes?

"A Mage, hmm? From the Association, if I don't mis my guess." She tsks softly, with the faint sound of... disapproval?

"If Holly's involved with something, it's usually not that simple. She has a habit of attracting the weird," Lavaux's quick to point out. The witch has two ghosts with her after all. "Still, you think they could use a battleship or something to blow the spider up."

"Hi Dante, okay avoid the giant spider if possible. So did someone accidentally summon the giant spider here? I can't see it swimming across the English Channel? Oh and can we keep any magical artifacts we find not belonging to Mr.Keningston?" Holly was more interested than those than the money.

  "Yes. Good. We go in, we get the suitcase, we get out." Rin is quick to agree with Paine. Paine gets it, and Rin seems to sense that the woman knows her way around a sword, falling into step behind her. "Don't worry, I'll handle navigation. I'd been living here for a few years before this happened."

  Rin throws a look over her shoulder at Dante. She doesn't say anything at first, merely fixing him with a cold, hard look out of proportion to her relative youth.

  "I was here, when London fell," Rin murmurs. Her expression is quietly angry, though her stride is still loose. "You're not going to be able to do that by yourself. This city is a tomb, these days. Do you have any concept of how many people died trying to escape?" She shakes her head, with an annoyed exhalation too quiet to be a sigh. "Believe me when I say I know more about this than you do, outsider. I'm paying for your time. Don't forget that."

  Vampire politics? Rin glances sidelong to Serrah. "That's something I'm glad I don't have to deal with, but if I'm guessing right, you're probably not wrong. Clock Tower is politics all the way down." The baseball is also eyed, and the sports bag gestured at. "That a common thing, where you're from? Baseballs? I have a couple ideas some time that might give that a little more oomph... we should talk. Later."

  Once more Rin eyes Kiyohime, quietly suspicious. The Servant is right, though, and she shrugs expansively as she walks along. "She's right. It would take a masterwork of coordination and planning to actually threaten this thing." Her hands slip back into her coat pockets, and she eyes Kiyohime sidelong, frowning thoughtfully. Evidently she'd noted that disapproval, and her voice lowers. "If it's any consolation, Servant, I don't like it, either. Or do I miss my guess? You feel like a Servant," she adds, muttering.

  Lavaux is eyed a moment. "This world is made of the weird, so I guess she's in the right place, huh?" Rin shakes her head.

  The sky darkens as they head south; not because the clouds loom any lower, but because the webs are spun more thickly. What strands are at ground level are strong and incredibly sticky. "Try not to touch the webbing," Rin advises, in a tone of disgust. It's gross. She's showering for days after this. "Aside from the obvious mess, they sense the vibrations. We don't know what'll come running." She reaches into a pocket and produces a cigarette lighter, flicking it to produce a tiny flame. "I can burn them if we need to get through." That? To burn all this? Rin's mouth curls. "Magecraft." The smile fades. "But not unless we need to."

  Holly earns a long look, and Rin makes a thoughtful sound. How'd the giant spider get here? "I don't know. I'm not sure if anybody does. There's something... wrong with this world. I think it may have something to do with that." There's a longer pause at the question. "If you find something, let me look at it before you all leave. If it's safe, I'll let you keep it. If it's going to get me into trouble, it's going back to Clock Tower with me, and I'll compensate you for it. Deal?"

    Paine returns Dante's greeting with an 'up-nod'. She can recognize a fellow swordy fighty tanky type, yes. So when he moves to take point alongside her, she makes no complaint. Someone to share the 'piss enemies off' duties with is never a bad thing.

    She's also not complaining at the presence of Kiyohime near her; Paine just assumes she can also take care of herself too, or she wouldn't be walking at the front. The apparent note of disapproval for Rin's possibly being a mage is noted, but not responded to -- Paine has no idea of the politics in this world. And it's not really her business.

    She listens to Rin as the group makes their way through the city. And she offers a reassuring glance over her shoulder at Rin. "Don't worry too much," she offers, her voice surprisingly warm. "I'm not planning on letting you watch another person die here." Though whether she means herself or the rest of the group, she doesn't say...

    Paine's definitely avoiding the webs. Not only are they gross, but she doesn't want to give their position away by cutting them. She's got fire abilities too, but they're still physical abilities, so they'd probably send vibrations through the webs either way. So yeah, totally not touching those things. Rin can deal with them if they end up having to go through any to get where they're going.

Kiyohime glances at Rin when she makes that guess. "Not a Servant, but close. From the Throne of Heroes? Oh yes. And if you need something burned, I am quite good at that." Her tone is less playful there, as she moves forward with light steps, doing a quick scout ahead while the others talk.

She backs up what Rin said though. "One in this world wanted to reduce the number of humans in it, so they used pieces of other worlds. THREATS from other worlds. Threats like this. Rather than fight it head on, some clue to its world of origin would be even better."

She glances back at Rin. "It is very likely the one at fault was part of the Mage's Association, but I think that most of them would not want to go that far for power."

    Dante doesn't bother protesting when Kiyohime begins to take point as well. They're a pretty stacked tip of the spear, here. "What's up?" He says casually, letting Kiyo slip past. If she's willing to begin scouting, she can clearly handle herself.

    "Yeah, people can do fucked up things for power." He says cynically, thinking back to Arkham, that psychopath. Vergil too, much as he hates to admit it, his brother was culpable in that mess with the tower.

    "You think they wanna cover up their mistakes here?" He ventures a guess.

"There's a lot of spiritual activity here, they're going to need to need to be put to rest if people ever do return here. I'll do that after I become a great witch." Holly's more serious for a moment. "I'm sorry that you had to see all that." She sounds sympathetic towards Rin. She's fairly tanky for a mage, but there's no telling what might be lurking here besides spiders. "Yeah, maybe we can find a way to send back to where it came from if fighting isn't an option." She nods at Kiyohime.

    That black silhouette ducks under a web -- careful not to touch them, but for less-sensible reasons. "I've been dead before, and I'm not planning on dying again any time soon myself," Serrah quips in response to Paine as she moves closer to the group again.

    Kiyohime says most people in the mage's association wouldn't summon the spider. "Most, huh," she says. "All it takes is one. Or, uh ... I dunno if ..." Another yawn. "... if only one, but as long as it isn't 'all' of them ..." She slightly stumbles over her words.

    She glances back at Rin. "Oh right, uh ..." She gestures with the only-partially-visible baseball. "Not common, I just used to use 'em sometimes when I was ... when I was fully human. And now I'm just strong enough to throw 'em hard enough to hurt. Works great with Stop the World." She starts to drift further away again, then realizes that not everyone here necessarily knows what that is. "... which is, uh, my power to stop time," she adds hurriedly.

    She glances at Dante, then slips forward to scout ahead, more-or-less echoing Kiyohime's actions.

  A brief look is shot at Paine, but Rin doesn't grace the reassurance with a response. Her expression is smoothed into a carefully neutral set. "Thanks," she finally manages.

  "I'll just leave controlled burn duty to you, then," Rin offers to Kiyohime. "No point wasting my resources... and for what it's worth, I may be a magus, but I don't agree with what Archiveldt did." The magus' voice drops as Kiyohime speaks on the limits most magi would abide by. Her next statement is soft; so soft. "No. I think a lot of them would, if they had the means."

  Her eyes narrow as she glances around them. The mist is descending, and it's getting hard to see too far down the avenues. So far everything is quiet. The city is as it was left: Cars parked in the street, shrouded in webbing. Buses in the middle of the avenue, abandoned by their commuters and tourists. Some of them have strange shapes webbed into the corners or the sides. They aren't moving. Best not look at those too hard.

  Rin stifles a shiver and continues on. "The Association wants to do whatever makes it look best at the end of the day," she aside to Dante, "or whatever course happens to be most advantageous to them. They're not in this for anybody but themselves." In that, Kiyohime's disdain is more than understandable, and something Rin shares. "I actually hate working for them like this, but I don't have a choice, for the moment. I can't afford to make an enemy of them right now."

  "I appreciate the thought, but... let us take care of the spiders, first. One thing at a time," Rin mutters, to Holly. She flips the lid of her cigarette lighter, all nerves and restlessness. Nobody likes spiders. Definitely nobody likes spiders the size of men, trolley-cars, or buildings.

  Rin glances back to Serrah. "Huh. Well, nail a spider with one of those things, I'll buy you some coffee. Like a really crappy carnival game." Flick goes the lighter. Careful up there," she calls softly, as Serrah splits off to scout ahead.

  Ahead is the vast sweep of London's urban streets, as they draw closer to the river and the museum. Spiderwebs are thick about the building itself, spanning the columns at its entrance. The raven-haired magus wrinkles her nose in clear disgust. "Ugh. Okay, c'mon, this way. There should be a way down around here..." She beckons for the others to follow.

  Is that the sound of skittering? Or is it just nerves?

  "There should be a basement entrance around here, somewhere." She frowns, standing on the balls of her feet and craning to see. "Hard to tell where it's got to, with all this webbing..."

    "Or this WAS their mistake," Paine ventures to Dante's supposition. A frown here. "...Nobody in power ever wants to admit they're wrong..." From her tone, she's clearly been on the receiving end of people in power being shits to people who aren't...

    Serrah's words get a smirk. "Not fun, is it?" she quips back, regarding being dead. She's not dead -- or undead -- but she seems to at least know what it's like to be REALLY CLOSE.

    Rin's words basically confirm it, and she nods. "...Figures," she replies, her tone rough. It's not angry at anyone in particular, at least not anyone currently in attendance.

    Okay, so the way down is nearby? Paine will start to look around the area, then, being careful to not shuffle any webs around. Though she pauses at that skittering sound, turning her head in that direction. She stares in the direction for a moment. "...What was that?"

    Dante grunts at Rin, "Yeah, ain't that the freakin' truth?" He says with an annoyed sigh. Seems like everyone wants to play scout today, as Serrah moves past him.

    Chopping some webs, he notices the sounds of skittering and looks around alertly. "Heads on a swivel, we're on their turf." He says uncharacteristically quietly, tense as he gazes in a dark corner. "I don't like this one bit."

    Serrah glances between Rin and Kiyohime. "Oh yeah," she says. "Definitely like the politics back home."

    She can't help but chortle at Rin's offer of coffee. "Okay, sure, you're on," she says. "I should warn you, though, Stop the World lets me cheat~"

    She reverts from being a silhouette and shoots Paine a smirk. "At least I was unconscious for the worst of it," she says. "Or at least, the worst of the 'dying' part." She shrugs, nodding to Paine and Dante in turn. "People in power never have anyone's best interests in mind except their own."

    She tenses up at that skittering, peering in the same direction as Paine. Now, there's adrenaline pushing away some of her sleep-fog. "Damn city's worse than Angel Island when Baroness Spider took over," she mutters under her breath.

Holly's not afraid of spiders, even giant ones. Though all the webs make it kind of difficult to move around, she decides it's best to stay on the ground flying around and getting stuck wouldn't the best idea. She tries to navigate her way through but one of her arms grazes a web. To her credit she doesn't panic and uses all of her strength to pry herself free but there's a rather loud ripping sound as she does so.

Serrah scouting ahead is fine with Kiyohime. She will report back to Paine, listening to everyone and sighing, "Perhaps..." Perhaps they would be so greedy as to do this again, her face grimacing. Whomever she is, the young woman seems to be getting along fine with everyone, for now.

"Mm..." Then the building comes into view. "I will try to find an opening to slither into and see if it widens. Perhaps that will help." She hops forward again, pausing near the thickening webbing and considering where a likely hole would be, then drops down... no, wait, she just sort of falls over, her clothing merging into her body.

A few moments later, a gleaming and very large serpent is winding its way toward the building to look. Large enough to wrap around a man several times, but much narrower than a human, the snake begins to hunt for an entrance she can squeeze through.

  The magus' blue eyes dart between Paine and Serrah, rapidly, a quick back-and-forth that seems a little unsettled. Bravado is one thing, but when these people casually talk about being dead, somehow she believes it. That's creepy. Their surroundings only make it feel even more creepy.

  Conversation over coffee is bound to be interesting. Interesting and weird.

  "I don't really care as long as you hit the target," Rin snorts, but before she can elabourate, the sound of skittering brings her to turn. She holds the cigarette lighter like it were a deadly weapon, still closed, thumb placed so she can open it fast. Her other arm is straight out ahead of her, and building power thrums around it in a visible, weirdly-distorted darklight; a bizarre blot of darkness so complete it seems to absorb the light around it.

  She stares. She bares her teeth. She curses, softly, and narrows her eyes.

  False alarm. The lighter is lowered and the power dismissed; Rin lowers her arm, and she nods to the others. "Yeah. Try this side of the building. I think we're in the right place for it, but it's hard to tell under all this disgusting stuff." A hand is flicked at the webbing.

  She blinks.

  Kiyohime just--

  "Uhhhhhh..." Rin blanches. She soldiers on like she hadn't seen it. Don't ask too many questions. It's bad for life expectancy. "That would be helpful, actually. Be careful."

  As Kiyohime slithers away, the thought occurs to Rin that she should have asked for a name, because 'hey Servant' sounds kind of rude.

  Oh well. Doing her best.

  It's not too long to find the entrance, and the webbing is just enough to get through. Once Kiyohime finds the way, it's a matter of easing around corded webs and shimmying through a stuck doorway. The storage vaults of the British Museum lie beyond, collections of humanity's treasures filed away in neat little collections with neat little labels. Some of them are quite old. This place has been hunting treasures for a very long time.

  They're not here for the old-as-dirt stuff, though. They're here for something else.

  "Man, I always hated this basement," Rin mutters to herself as they walk. Flick goes the lighter. Her face glows in the light, and she holds it up to better illuminate the way. It's very dark, and the going is very slow. "It's kind of creepy even on the best of days. I never really cared about spiders, before this, but this is just too much."

  It doesn't take long to head towards the offices. As the party walks, the sound of legs in the darkness is audible, and it sends a shiver up her spine. The wavering light of her cigarette lighter lances out to the side as she turns to stare into the shadows.

  "I'm really starting to hate spiders," Rin says, conversationally.

    Paine is more than a little startled when Kiyohime 'falls over', and more than a little surprised when she suddenly turns into a serpent. But, well. That'll make things easier, right? Hopefully? Paine merely nods. "Be careful," she offers.

    It's only then that Paine notices Holly's mishap, and gives a quiet hiss of dread. "...Great," she mutters. Between that and the skittering, that's probably going to spell trouble. Fortunately there seems to be a way into the building now, so Paine quickly heads for that, to get away from the skittering sounds.

    She heads down carefully, avoiding any webs. And she doesn't really look too much at any of the old stuff here. She doesn't have magical senses, so there's nothing to distract her from the mission.

    Except these DAMN WEBS!

Holly winces in pain a bit, but keeps walking. Getting caught by the spiders would be much worse after all. She doesn't seem to be bothered by Kiyohome's transformation at all, "I'm kind of surprised Rue hasn't transformed me into a snake yet. Then again she might think I'll accidently eat Lumeria or something." She does her best to try and not get caught in the webs again but it looks like someone's already beat them inside. All the magic present easily gets her attention though and she starts to curiously look around. Maybe there's something inside that will help her with her magic.

    Serrah winces at the noise Holly makes. "Uh, careful, Holly," she says softly. "That's, uh ... we really don't want to get caught. Especially in the webs."

    She doesn't seem remotely fazed by Kiyohime's transformation. In fact, she gives Rin and Paine a funny look at their obvious discomfiture. Sure, it's unexpected, but a magical being of an unknown type ... and then her brain catches up with her, and she pauses. "Tell me again what a Servant is?" she says, as if she's ever known in the first place.

    Skitter, skitter.

    Serrah furrows her brow. "... actually, y'know what, let's wait before we know we're gonna have time for casual conversation," she says. "I mean ... until. You know what I mean."

Once the door is opened and people can get through, Kiyohime returns to her human form, fanning herself as if nothing strange happened. "Many people dislike spiders. I of course dislike that they are offworlders, no offense to those offworld." She glances back at the rest of the group, worrying a little at Holly's sleeve but leaving her alone. She's also speaking even more softly than before.

"There are quite a few objects here, but they are all after my time," she murmurs. "Be careful, the alarms may still be active, if they are magical in nature. The place is too choked with magic for me to be able to tell."

There truly isn't time for much conversation, so Kiyohime summarizes in simple terms. "A spirit of a long-dead being of significance. My particular legend is that of Kiyohime, the girl who turned into a dragon."

Yes, that's a good summary! Just don't mention why.

    "Huh, explains the horns and..stuff." Dante ways with a cocked eyebrow at Kiyohime's story. He bats away some more freakin' webs with his sword, slicing through them easily. "None taken." He says to the Servant. At this rate nothing's going to get much of a reaction out of him, it's just how Dante is.

    "You guys get the feeling we're being watched?" He wonders aloud.

  Rin glances over her shoulder at the sound of more skittering, following with her tiny flame. She stays close to Paine, though she seems mindful to give the woman more than enough space to draw her sword and use it. That blade won't be any use if there isn't room to manoeuvre it, right?

  "Don't get too sticky-fingered," she mutters to Holly. "This stuff is probably booby-trapped six ways to Sunday, and I expect I'll be held accountable for it, too, if anything goes missing. Try not to get me in too much trouble, please? I'm the one paying you, today, after all."

  Rin doesn't bother explaining anything to Serrah, because Kiyohime does it so much better.

  Sort of.

  "Uhm." So Kiyohime is who that is. The magus makes a thoughtful sound in the back of her throat. She's going to have to brush up on her mythology later. "Nice to meet you, Miss Kiyohime." One is still wise to pay respect to historical and mythological figures. So Rin decides to be smart and not piss off the dragon.

  "That's because we are being watched," Rin points out to Dante. "You don't see them? They're down the corridor a little, but they've been pacing us since we came underground. I think they're curious. Curious is okay, as long as they're not trying to eat us." She grins, but the expression is hard-edged. "We're pretty much done like dinner if the Grand Lord Attercop himself decides to show up to this party. These things are smart. Too smart."

  "I hate this place and I want to go home," Rin mutters, cheerfully. Flick goes the cigarette lighter. "C'mon. Over here. That office there is Kensington's, so the suitcase should be in there. If something's waiting in there I'm going to get mauled, so I'll just have one of you open the door and bring the suitcase out."

"That's amazing Kiyohime! I mean becoming a dragon to protect people!" Poor Holly usually expects the best of people. Also she isn't exactly the best person to take on a stealth mission, she's likely going to get distracted by something or make a bunch of noise.

 "Sounds like my ex-wife..." Lavaux can't help but to bring that up

 "Attercop? Is that the name of the giant spider? What a strange name, I would call him Archanos or something like that." She makes it sounds like a pet or something. It's likely best not for the witch to grab the suitcase she would likely drop it or something.

    Paine's mostly keeping quiet for the conversation around her; she has nothing to add here. But she's definitely listening. This information could be of use later. Rin's mention that they're being watched draws Paine to tense. "...They're not attacking?" he inquires. "Who are they?" Pause. "Maybe 'what' are they, is a better question..."

    They're at the door, it seems, so Paine looks to Dante. "Ready?" She's assuming the swaggering guy is going to be the other meat shield, of course.

    Serrah nods to Kiyohime. "Okay, got it, cool," she says, matching the low voice. "Dragon, huh? Not too common where I'm from." ... She decides not to specify why they aren't common. The vampires who rule the Hartford Empire have historically tended to object to beings with more power than they can feasibly deal with.

    She chuckles at Holly's comments. "It's an insulting name for spiders, Holly," she says. "Tohsaka's being a jerk to something that deserves a bit of jerkishness directed at it."

    She considers the door a moment, and shrugs. "Well," she says. "I'm not a fan of getting mauled, either." Having said that, she strides forward right past Paine to the door. "So I'm gonna Stop ..." She swings the door open. "... the World!"

    And then --

    (She gingerly steps into the room while time is stopped. She reaches for the suitcase ... and hesitates.)

    (For a brief subjective moment, she's tempted to open it up to see what the fuss is about. But then she recalls Rin's dire warnings about booby traps, and, well. She's being paid not to stick her out like that. Curiosity loses; she simply grabs the suitcase and goes.)

    -- she's abruptly facing away from the door, suitcase in hand. One instant, she was facing the door; the next, she's in the second configuration. The change is as abrupt as a video skipping ahead. "All clear," she announces with a lopsided smile, gesturing with the suitcase.

    Dante's about to cover Serrah, or whoever enters the room, but it seems Serrah has it covered! He stows his sword and smirks as Serrah does THE THING. "Showoff." He says with a cheeky grin. "So, that it then?"

  "Yeah, no, Serrah's right." Rin's mouth twists in amusement. "Just venting a little steam at the thing that rules London. Anyway, Attercop started it. We were all just minding our own business, and then suddenly London turned into actual hell for an arachnophobe. Well, speaking as a non-arachnophobe, it's not really great for everybody else, either."

  "Scouts," she says simply, to Paine's question. Before she can say something back to Serrah, she turns to look--

  "Wait you were just--"

  Rin draws a finger from the doorway to where she's standing with the suitcase. The aggravated question marks are almost visible.

  "Never mind. Let's get the hell out of here, folks. Quick but quiet. We're being watched, and we're not going to borrow any trouble, are we?"

  Rin moves to shepherd the party along, turned right back around the way they came in. "We can stop to chat, but not until we're back up at World's End. Time to get gone, folks. Let's go. C'mon~"

"Perhaps they are merely being cautious. We ARE a larger group than most with unknown abilities." Kiyohime blushes faintly at what Holly suggests of her though, opening her mouth, then shutting it.

"... I suppose I HAVE used my dragon transformation to protect people, but that is not what my legend is about," she admits, face flushed. This whole mess thoroughly distracts her from Serrah grabbing the suitcase, leaving her wondering what she missed.

    Serrah chuckles. "I can't help it, man," she answers Dante. "It's, I'm still part-vampire. It's the one thing that was harmless, so I didn't bother to try to stop it."

    She smiles faintly back at Rin and Kiyohime. "I stopped time," she explains. "Great for getting in 'n' out. For throwing a bunch of baseballs at once, too." She looks curious at Kiyohime's self-explanation, then shrugs and simply resolves to look up the legend later when she has a chance and they're not in a city full of fucking spiders.

    Paine blinks as Serrah returns with the suitcase. And then shrugs. "Good, let's get outta here," she comments simply. And she nods to Rin's words, heading out the way they came. Though she's going to make absolutely certain that nobody's getting left behind. She wants to make certain they leave the place with as many people as they came in with.

    "I'm kinda in the middle. I got a thing about spiders." Dante says with a grimace. "Right, well I guess that's that then." He doesn't have any issues with leaving, the idea of having to fight spiders isn't too terribly appealing to him. Not since a childhood incident involving a ravine and a cave out back of the Sparda estate.

Holly would like to look around more, but even she knows that not a good idea right now. "I guess this place wouldn't be full of magical artifacts if there weren't spiders around." She sounds a bit disappointed but it's better than being eaten by spiders. "It seems like when you're powerful enough to visit dangerous places, you don't need the treasure that's there." It was a catch-22.

  "That's my guess," Rin throws over her shoulder, to Kiyohime. "That's why I'm unwilling to start anything." Don't kick the hornet's nest. Or the spider's nest. Either one results in a bad end.

  ...The magus does snicker at Kiyohime's discomfort, though, Servant or not. She's at least loosely familiar with the legend.

  I stopped time, Serrah says.

  "Oh."

  "Yeah no that still doesn't--whatever. Later." A finger jabs at Serrah. "After this, coffee. Explanations." To Holly, she flicks a sidelong glance, blue eyes illuminated by the half-light glare of a cloudy day. "Power, huh? That has a way of using you, no matter how good your intentions are." The magus grunts, unhappily. "Take care that it doesn't use you, Miss Winn."

  For now, it's time to get out of Dodge, because Dodge has a spider problem.

  Fortunately for everyone involved, nothing terrible happens to anybody on the way out. In fact, it's all quite anticlimactic for the amount of caution involved. Payment is dispensed and grudging thanks are given to all and sundry once they're back to Rin's motorcycle at World's End.