Legend Moon [IC/PG-13/Started/Always Accepting] *sequel*

[Lord JZ of the Enigma]

Noirlune Spire....

 

The various spirits danced and swirled, but no matter where they moved they all kept themselves high up, if Adrianna had not already looked below, she would notice only a few seemed to slowly move down, as if being dragged down. It was all up to the little girl to actually look down, but what she saw probably wouldn't shock the Shallowvow, she had probably already seen something as terrible as souls being devoured only floors below. At the base, a horrible black shade seemed to move about, yet restrained down, reaching out and eating at the spirits that were unfortunate enough to be caught in it's grasp.

 

However every spirit it seemed to absorb caused a bright glow to travel up the spire, powering it, keeping it in motion, keeping the tower active. The black shade looked up and stopped feeding for a moment, looking at the young girl, it was mis-shapen, a foggy mist that altered it's shape every moment, as if showing her a story, turning into the moon for a second before it showed the battle scene that would be appearing, the shape of a vampire and a werewolf clashing against each other before twisting into a black swirl, ending in a crooked smile to entertain her, it had been so long since someone had noticed him.

[Merci]

Stage 2: Night of the Crimson Moon

 

Claire went on ahead. Before Azami left the Spire, she took the opportunity to press a hidden button within the elevator, and it reacted immediately. Taking her down, it stopped before opening up to a dark room, and when the elevator doors closed, she was locked in absolute darkness. Even with her homunculus body, the rusty stench was horrible. The walls and floor were made mostly out of beryllium, and the air around her was filled with toxicity. The air was so poisonous that any living being that breathed it would have die instantaneously.

 

Holding her breath, the Doctor walked on until she reached the end of the room. There lay a dragonic armor...

 

-5:30 PM-

 

Noirlune Spire, front gate

 

"It seems that everyone made it here on time." A voice echoed, magenta hair flowing as the Doctor revealed herself in a black labcoat. Her skin looked paler than before in the sunset.

 

The gates opened up automatically to let Azami out, and once they shut, something in the lock clicked. The gate glowed. The Spire's defenses were back up again. It seemed that nothing was going to come in or out now without having to go through massive amounts of firepower. The Doctor faced her recruits with a cautious look, and then beckoned for them to follow as she suddenly began walking further into the street. She didn't seem to mind that a large group of warriors were walking together in public, but then again, there was hardly anyone around.

 

The population of Noirlune had been warned time and time again for months to stay within their homes at this time of night. After several years of raids and three months of utter carnage, this warning had finally been drilled into their heads. The only ones who were still out at this time were those that were closing down shop, those that were on their home, and those without a home. As advanced as Noirlune was compared to the rest of the world, there were still beggars and thieves all around. One was noticeably retreating into a sewer drain as he saw them.

 

"I hope you're ready, Resistance. Unfortunately, our enemies won't just be the werewolves." She warned them with a scowl, stopping by the drain. "The network we'll be going into will be infested with thieves and assassins. It's actually more of a marketplace than a city, but still large. Ironically, despite being thieves, the Guild has been the safest place for many years now...although tonight, that's going to change."

 

Kneeling down by it, she suddenly lunged out and ripped it off, before jumping in. It was followed seconds later by the loud cry of the guy who'd just escaped into it.

 

"Well, are you coming or not?" Azami's voice echoed out of the hole.

 

Without a choice, the others had to follow. While some of them may have been in the sewers before and knew what to expect, to the others, it would have appeared to be...abnormally large. Fairly large anyway, at least enough to allow for a man standing upright. But it was also dark, up until Azami turned on her flashlight, to reveal that the group was standing on a sidewalk. By it was a calm 'river' of disgusting water filled with so much nasty stuff and a nasty stench that it wasn't even worth mentioning. But noticeably, the guy from earlier was unconscious and lying within it as if he were taking a bath.

 

After blocking the top, the only source of light now came from the Doctor's flashlight, who was pointing it ahead of them. Apart from the beam of light, the Resistance was surrounded by darkness all around. While the stench was absolutely horrible, she didn't seem affected by it at all.

 

Then, just as Azami went across a corner-

 

"Stop! What's your business here?" A man snarled in a menacing tone. Being around the corner, the Resistance couldn't get to see him yet, but judging by the beam of light that was pointing back at Azami, he was probably holding a flashlight of his own. "You're uh, the mayor, aren't you? What are you doing down here?!"

 

"I'm here to speak with Miles." He gave her a look of surprise, as if thinking How does she know that name?! But refusing to elaborate, she shone her beam onto a nearby wall. A flight of stairs was hidden within, leading down to the Guild.

 

"H- how do you know all this?"

 

"I'm the Doctor. To heal things, I have to know how to they work first. It's my job." Azami replied casually, shrugging as she whipped out a scalpel.

 

"Hmph. I don't know how you knew where the entrance was, but you were a fool to come alone..." As if responding to his ominous tone, more shadows began to appear around her, some dropping from the ceiling. She was surrounded, but instead of being worried or anything, she gave an amused look to the Resistance before throwing her flashlight high into the air.

 

For a passing moment, the entire area was covered in darkness as the beam flew upwards. The thieves here were suited to this darkness, knew how to move in it, and how to use it to their advantage. Not only that, but Azami was no combatant. It was obvious from the start that she had never bothered to learn the art of battle.

 

If this was all, she would be at an extreme disadvantage, but that wasn't the case. She was an enhanced vampire homunculus at peak physical state and with supersenses and quick reaction time, plus all of her opponents were humans. It was like pitting a bear against rabbits. Even in this situation, Azami had so many advantages that it would be unfair to say that what followed was a 'battle'. Rather, it was more like a slaughter.

 

With nothing more than a scalpel, she deflected each and every attack - going purely on instinct - before knocking each thief unconscious with a single strike from her free hand, throwing them into the sewer water before following on with the next. A mere five seconds later, the flashlight's beam flipped back down to reveal that there was only one thief remaining - which in itself was a miracle. Azami engaged this man - covered in a cloak - without hesitation, quickly overpowering his knife with the scalpel before throwing her fist into his stomach, sending him flying far off into the sewer network.

 

"Weaker than I thought." She commented, catching the flashlight right before it hit the ground. "Not all of them will be this easy though." The Resistance followed her around the corner, and she stopped in front of a wall. Then she touched it.

 

A boobytrap was triggered instantly, and something exploded right in her face.

 

But instead of blasting it right off and killing her at that very moment, the explosion appeared to recoil from her face. For a split second, her image flickered to reveal a full set of dragonic armor around her body before she reverted back to her normal appearance. To Clarice and Adrian, this armor would've looked uncannily like Alexi's own. A moment of silence passed between everyone.

 

"...You didn't see anything." Azami said to break the silence.

 

Then with a movement of her hand, a secret entrance opened up to reveal the stairwell, heading directly into the Thieves Guild. It was time to advance onwards.

 

 

----

 

 

Wylfred's Mansion

 

"We don't have much time until the crimson moon comes so I'll try to make this as simple as possible."

 

At last, everyone had been gathered. The sunset here was obscured by growing clouds, but it couldn't be helped. Sir Wyfred stood bravely in front of his pack of over seventy werewolves, all of them having readied themselves for this moment. He had no doubt that some of them were questioning his motives, so it was time to answer everything here. After all, tonight would be the night his plan would come to fruition. And so, he started his speech.

 

"I'm sure some of you are wondering why I've been leading you all into attacking buildings for the past few months. The truth is that these were all coordinated attacks, and I've been specifically targeting the defenses of the Spire, which is my only true goal." Wylfred explained in a charismatic voice. "The Spire holds the answer to my goal of giving you - and every werewolf - peace, and throughout all this time, I've dedicated my efforts to removing everything in its way. Tonight, we'll get rid of the last obstacle. It's a small device disguised as a red ruby, hidden within the headquarters of the Thieves Guild deep under Noirlune."

 

As the name of the place came out of his mouth, he turned to the city itself on instinct. The mist surrounded all of these werewolves, but they could easily see through it without problem to the point that Noirlune looked to be sitting right in front of them. Its walls had been torn through so many times now that repairs had been abandoned. From here, it looked like a disheveled perversion of its former state from several years ago. Only the Spire that towered above it all was unaffected by this gloominess.

 

"In other words, we'll be going underground, and it may be a little crowded...but as I always say, try not to kill anyone. You must all remain in control of your lycan self, just as I've taught you. Even with our increased numbers, we've managed to lower our death rate over the past months. I'm really proud of you all, so I don't want to see any of that dedicated effort wasted. Is this understood?"

 

Even though they were all monsters, infected abominations, he had united them all into a family. He never lost his trust in them even when they did snap and accidentally slaughter several citizens. In fact, this total 'death rate' he was talking about counted in the hundreds. It was understandable why Noirlune hated them and thought of them as monsters, but honestly, Sir Wylfed tried his very best to control and lead such a huge pack with the least amount of deaths. The efforts he'd gone through couldn't help but be admired.

 

"Now then..."

 

The sun was halfway over the horizon, and everything was beginning to get darker. Looking up at the sky, a lone cloud had separated from the rest and passed over where the crimson moon would appear.

 

"Jeremy, Serasvati, go now." He told the duo with a commanding look. "You have ten minutes. Don't fail me."

 

 

-----

 

-5:50-

Near Scarlet Legacy Mansion, just outside the mist

 

Everyone was ready. Standing in front of the mansion, Alsa's grip was firmly on his sword as he and the rest of his allies faced his cousin Verdanda with a completely serious look, although there was a slight hint of pain in it as well. His mind was still foggy, but it couldn't be helped. Clenching his hands tighter, all he could do was endure the illness. Five hours. That was all the time he needed. Just five hours to end the werewolf terrorists and save the city of Noirlune. Then he could leave and let himself be treated by the most professional of medics.

 

"Cousin, you said you could show a way through the mist."

 

From where they were, they were still outside the mist, but close enough that they could see the dense wall for what it was. Just walking into it was difficult to imagine.

 

"Then show us. I have a niece and a city to save. I can't waste any time just standing here...!"

 

 

----

 

Thieves Guild Headquarters, ???

 

Breathing slowly, the girl couldn't help but marvel that she'd managed to go through the entire day without getting caught once. It was an oddly relaxing feeling; she hadn't had to run for her life from anyone. She recalled how scared she was being chased by several guards, and again by some strange man with a sword. It was only a combination of a luck and being helped by others that she managed to make it here. It was an improvement.

 

Her name? She didn't remember her name. She didn't remember anything about her past. She'd spent so long just trying to survive that she had forgotten almost everything. The only thing important to her was her own life...no, that was a lie.

 

Huddling in a corner, the girl smiled to herself as she rubbed her cheek against a small, pretty ruby. It was her greatest prize, her greatest achievement. She remembered how she had managed to snatch it right out of the legendary Doctor's hands and escaped only moments later. That in itself made this very special. She treasured it so much that she hid it from the other members, and no matter how much she starved, she couldn't bring herself to sell the thing. It was just so beautiful. And shiny. And warm.

 

Whenever she held it close to her ear, it was like a spirit was trying to speak to her.

 

uoy illw ied otgihnt.

 

She liked to think of it as her best friend.

[Ren✧]

Brom recoiled at the smell of the sewer. He had been down there before, but it seemed that the smell got worse with each and every visit. The 'river' of sewage that passed beside the members of the Resistance was as disgusting as ever. He made sure to keep an eye on the Doctor, so as to make sure she didn't fall in. That would not bode well for their mission. "Stop! What's your business here?" Upon hearing the words, Brom's hand instantly went to his pistol. Unholstering it, he kept it pointed at the ground, concealed, but ready just in case this man proved to be trouble.

 

There was a brief conversation between the Doctor and this man before things started to go bad. A band of thieves appeared out of the shadows. Brom cursed to himself. If he had been less preoccupied with the smell and protecting the Doctor from clumsiness, he would have easily been able to spot these thieves before they ambushed the Resistance, but as it stood now, he was taken off guard and out numbered.

 

To his surprise, Azami did not startle at the sudden appearance of assailants. In fact, it seemed to amuse her. Casting her flashlight upward, darkness engulfed the group. There were sounds of various screams, grunts, and shouts, coupled with a number of sickly splashes, and when Azami's light returned, nearly every thief laid incapacitated in the river of sewage. Brom raised one eyebrow. That was unexpected.

 

And it seemed as if the sewers would continue to surprise Brom. A brief explosion lit the air, but unlike before, Brom was ready for trouble. Seeing the explosion, he ducked and rolled towards the Doctor, in attempts to save his employer from the blast. But before he could, the explosion reached the female vampire. But, it seemed not to hurt, in fact the flames seemed to be frightened of her. Recoiling, the explosion withdrew. There was a brief flicker around Azami, revealing a set of armor before returning back to her black lab coat. 

 

"...You didn't see anything." Brom only nodded. It was best to never upset your employer. Although, Azami would definitely be paying Brom a heavy sum at the end of this. Too much of this wasn't in his job description. 

[Aqua Girl]

[Wylfreds Mansion]

 

Serasvati sneered at the 'former' Assassin. "As if I need to reveal my intentions to you..." She said in reply to his inquiry. "You must put past your petty squabble with me for the Leader. Remember I Serasvati am nothing but his shadow I am loyal to him not you." Her words just as sharp as his. Her bace dark but this a twisted sense of enjoyment at the wolf assassin's in ability to reply before Wylfred began to talk. She was snide but her words true.

 

After the speech she moved next to her partner and awaited orders, as wylfred waved them off she in a flurry of speed rushed off most likely followed by the Assassin.

 

[HR]

 

[Scarlet mansion]

 

Alexandria glared at the woman she could feel the power she held and it made her shiver. Slowly she reminisced over the training her and her elf mentor did for the last hour. He crammed months worth of swordsmanship training in to the girl in only an hour, if it had been anyone else they would have broke.

 

[Courtyard 1 hour ago]

 

"Hahhh ahhh Dammit! I said take me seriously!" Alexandria said trying to understand the words of the elf. You must learn to feel your natural energy. You must know your own strength. "Just tell me straight out!" she rushes him with the dull practice sword.

 

(Sorry at work I'll make another post after work.)

[Love of Ghibli]

Noirlune City Journey

 

It seemed as if the family was going to come together for the second leg of this journey. It was particularly painful for Adrian and Clarian to walk through the sewer with their hypersensitive smell. The women were just annoyed at the smell though. As their journey continued the group reached the point where it seemed as they were at the entrance to the underground market place. Clarice was impressed that this woman had this much influence over her city. Surely this was role model material. Unfortunately it seemed as if the group was set up for an ambush. The women of the group had rolled their eyes. First, all of these fighters were capable of fighting in the dark. One has to be when they are married or related to vampires. Second Claire was fully making a flame with which to illuminate this place, but that didn't seem to be needed. 

 

The doctor herself was more than capable of defeating these low level minions. Clarice had already sized Dr. Azami up when they first met and she never came across as a fighter. This meant that those had to be the lowest level minions. But it was fun to notice that the doctor had some skills in combat though. It didn't seem like there was much to think about after all and the group proceeded onward down what appeared to be more treacherous amounts of sewers. It was honestly quite nauseating till the explosions lit the air. Claire had shielded the family for the explosions but everyone saw the flash of armor. Clarice immediately recognized the armor as the dragon mage with the female's  name. Adrian barely had vague recollections of it. It's not like he got that many chances to see it. Adrian just marvelled at its shininess then he went back to being disturbed by the smell. 

 

Noirlune Spire

 

Adrianna had gotten her change of clothes from her brother and was busy enjoying the company of the spirits. It was fun for her to have companions though to the outside world it would look like she was simply talking to herself. She eventually noticed this shadow construct eating spirits. She kept looking around and she noticed that this thing was powering the tower. But it was bittersweet she realized the importance of the spirits powering the spire, but she did like spirits she was playing with and this was almost the same as murder. When the shadowy beast started to put on a show for Adrianna she clapped her hands and was thankful for the entertainment. Funny though as though this shadow didn't speak he could emode. In her naivety she didn't want to be rude with questions so she just applauded and had an ecstatic smile on her face.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Noirlune City; En Route to Thieves' Den

 

"Schowoff..." Claudia mused in a scoffing manner after watching Azami deliberately fall into an explosive trap, only to be rendered unharmed from said explosion thanks entirely to her dragonic armour. But as Claudia took a look at her surroundings, she'd noticed that Shanna was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she lagged behind... or done the unspeakable thing and begun to turn back. That was something that needed to be checked out immediately, but Claudia needed to make sure Azami was notified of her departure. So, just before she left, Claudia decided she'd best address the nearest person; Richard.

 

"Hey, if sat Azami voman asks vere I am, tell her I need to check on somevon," Claudia told him, "I'll kom bak as soon as I kan,"

 

On a practical stand-point, Richard would've only had time to acknowledge Claudia's request, before she took off running after Shanna.

 

...

 

(OOC: I plan to expand on this section, but I'm running low on time atm. So I'll just get any potential interactions over and done with and move on.)

 

Wylfred's Mansion; Courtyard

 

Warwick was just standing around listening to Wylfred's speech, before Wylfred sent Jeremy and Serasvati on a mission. Warwick was disappointed that he wasn't selected to participate in said mission, but if it was supposed to be a stealth mission, he'd understand; after all, he'd serve much better in the front-lines. However, one question was on Warwick's mind. If Wylfred had only sent two werewolves on one mission... what was he expecting all the others to do?

 

...

 

"So where are you sending them to?" Warwick asked Wylfred, having decided to at least try and get more information on this mission.

[Merci]

Wylfred's Mansion, Courtyard

With a sigh, Sir Wylfred shook his head at Warwick's question. "Isn't it obvious? To secure a safe passage into the Thieves Guild headquarters. There are tons of explosives down there, and this pack might end up killing a lot of people if we try to blindly find an entrance into it. This way, it's much easier, and the casualties less. Once they're done, we'll be heading off. This is - after all - our final night."


----


En Route to Thieves Guild

Slowly, as the Resistance went down the stairs together, the smell began to subside. It wouldn't permanently go away even after they reached their destination, but it would be just enough to ignore. Azami calmly walked down the steps in lead, carrying her flashlight with her. It was starting to get a little hot as they went deeper and deeper underground. Finally, she came to a halt and held out her hand for everyone else.

"I have a confession to make before we start this." Azami began. "It's definitely in here, but I have no idea where the failsafe is. It should look like a ten-thousand carat ruby, and might be in the possession of a little girl. Knowing Sir Wylfred, he'll kill everyone down here in his search for it."

With that said, she switched off her flashlight and pushed open the doors.

Then the Resistance came face-to-face with a surprisingly large area, less like a guild and more like a marketplace, something similar to http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Budapest_great_market_hall.jpg]this[/url], only narrower in both dimensions and less organized. There were multiple 'stalls' for different contract types, with alcoves leading to smaller side rooms for underlings to talk to their masters, a brothel towards the outer-edge, a casino somewhere along the western wall, a dark, church-like opening for the darker section of the guild, and a small door right at the back of the northern wall. There was no sunlight penetrating down in here, the only light provided by lamps attached to the various ceilings and stalls, giving off an overall ominous vibe.

The Resistance appeared to have entered from the west.

Most of the people down here were wearing dark clouds to hide their identities, and just about everyone appeared to be highly dangerous, armed, trained. Thieves, mercenaries, assassins, alongside hired guards standing around the edges of the massive hall, aAll going about their business as usual. There were also quite a few various innocents about, either cradling in corners in beggars or having bought rooms with tons of money, having sought the safety of the underground den to hide from the werewolves - if only that was to protect them now.

In total, there could be up to three hundred people down here.

If the werewolves were to end up fighting down here, it would be extremely easy for all those people to be caught in the crossfire. There weren't many places to seek shelter down here, after all.

"We still have ten minutes before the crimson moon. I'm off to meet with the Snake, leader of the Thieves Guild. Try not to be suspicious, and try to avoid fights with the, uh...'populace'. Gather information on the ruby if you can."

That said, her image flickered suddenly, and now her black labcoat had transformed into a hooded cloak. It didn't seem like she was inclined to do the same for the rest, as she then walked off into the bustling crowd unsuspected, heading towards the small door at the northern wall. Inside this small door was a narrow corridor that linked towards a simple set of rooms. Azami feared nothing as she walked through it undisturbed, went up to a particular room, and casually knocked on it.

"Jimmy Miles, are you in there?" Her voice called out.

The man might recognize her voice as she'd been a client of his several years ago. Or at least, that was one way of putting it. Even before they met, she somehow knew pretty much everything about his real name and identity despite the impossibility, arrived at his doorstep on foot without any blindfolds, and offered a large sum of money to.....poison a senile old man in a creaking house and steal a badly-made wooden trinket from his desk. Seriously. That was all. It was probably one of the easiest missions he'd ever done, yet she seemed to think of it as something only he could've accomplished.

In other words, Azami Yamada was weird.

"Hello?"

-5:51 PM-

[Ren✧]

Brom felt a bit of nostalgia wash over him as he entered the Thieves Guild. This is where he had started. A low-time thief with nothing to lose. The memory made him sick. He quickly pushed it to the side. No mercenary wanted to be reminded of the fact that they were once a petty thief. Brom watched as the hooded Azami disappeared into the crowd. Even after he saw her take out the band of thieves before, he didn't quite trust her on her own. There were a number of dangerous people down here, some that Brom didn't even want to get tangled up with. The Doctor really shouldn't be going alone. Tipping his head in farewell to the rest of the resistance, he discretely followed the Doctor. He wouldn't intrude upon her business, just wait for her and listen to the locals. 

 

It was his job to protect her, and if she got caught up in something dangerous and died, he wouldn't get paid. 

[Love of Ghibli]

Thief City

 

It seemed as if the group had some leeway and were left to fend for themselves for a while. So what was ten spare minutes between the five of them. The five as a group decided that they might as well take a tour of the place. With nothing but seamless chit-chat and nonsense the group just walked around looking at different booths seeing what goods were for sale. Adrian and Clarian couldn't help but notice that some cloaked men were staring at their swords. Surely the men's blades would have some worth, but every thief that looked down at the blade would look up to make eye contact with the one of the two boys. Needless to say none were foolhardy enough to try and take on two gentlemen vampires. Clarice ended up unleashing her more girlish side as she wanted to go shopping. There were swords, knives, and jewelry it was just a litany of decisions to be made. Unfortunately she didn't have money on hand she naturally thought they were going straight into war and who needs money on the battlefield. Well in truth she could make something deadly with some coins but that is beside the point.

Clarice looked at the person who had the who was handling the booth and it seemed to be a young lad in his 30's but he just kept staring at her. Can I help you? She asked with a slight sign of concern seeing as she didn't want to be the one to get the group in trouble. It would look awkward if she couldn't stay out of trouble for ten minutes. I know you this man said looking completely puzzled. Clarice was confused because she clearly didn't know him. Then the man had an epiphany. PIES! You were at the pie shop in Nuvieda. Clarice kept calm but the air around hero got tense, akin to a tiger about to attack its prey. Upon closer inspection this young man was actually a vampire meaning that he could still look young for an event that happened 20 years ago. Afterwards the man revealed how he had missed her pies and he seemed to be a big fan. Luckily he didn't know the truth about the pie shop, which gave Clarice an idea of a way to generate family income. In the end Clarice worked out a deal for a sole investor in exchange for the weapons at this man's booth. What a happy way to spend time.

[Reinforce]

Kate and Lyon wandered back down at the required time, both having carefully prepared for the possible battle to come. Lyon arrived first, looking down upon the gathering group with a critical eye, trying to identify possible strengths and weaknesses as he did. As he'd been earlier, he was in his full metal armour, helmet on but not covering his face yet, and ice-hewn sword sheathed so only the metal hilt is visible, but the frosted magic slowly radiating from it may also be so. To those who looked closely at the armour, they would also notice a thin sheen starting to build over the top of it, his usual ice reinforcement over the armour freezing ready for a battle. Slightly behind him as he walked down, Kate followed, her eyes darting around, evaluating the area they were in as she did, though more out of instinct than anything else. Her tight-fitting clothes were starting to dampen as well, the results of the water defences she uses forming. Her dagger and pistol were both present in their usual spots, pistol on the left and dagger on the right hip, and the bottom of her scythe was just visible over her shoulder. To the casual onlooker looking at them both, she would appear to be a hunter, as opposed to the larger warrior beside her. As they reached the group along with everyone and Alsa finished speaking, both of them just looked over at Verdana expectantly, waiting for her to make her move and give them their passage through the mist.