Terrel thought she heard Rua say something as she left, but she couldn't be sure and figured he'd send her a PM or something if it was important. So, for the time being, she lurked through the towering bookcases that surrounded the entry area like a dense wooded region. They weren't set up in nice rows, either, like in a more organized part of a library, and it added to the feeling of being trapped in some weird maze. She had the map, though, and before only a few minutes had passed she made it to her destination.

Her last job down here had been so bad they'd never really finished properly. A few of them had gotten out in the nick of time, but it was sloppy and they didn't even finish what they wanted to do. More importantly for her now, though, it also meant they had left some equipment down here. Standing by the outer wall of the eighth repository, she prodded the stone until she found what she was looking for. Satisfied, Terrel sent Rua a PM, dictating the message.

"Any luck finding those books yet?"

A quick glance to both her sides confirmed that she was still safe from any roaming guards, so she decided to simply wait out the rest right where she stood.

---

Luir looked at the woman curiously, not entirely sure what she was on about. "Even if you were going to hurt me, at least it'd be in the fresh air," she said, almost laughing a bit as she said it. In truth, she'd rather be the one being hurt that anyone else; at least she could come to terms with that.

Leaning a bit to gesture back to where they were fleeing from, she decided to ask another question. "How long did it take you to plan all of this?" Stamarians, while many things, were not what you would call 'lazy' when it came to defense.

Edited by Ribitta on January 20, 2014 at 16:24:44

Bekka's eyes danced with a touch of laughter at the girl's reply. It would seem Duff's young prison friend had a sense of humor.

She rested back against the jumpseat, still gazing to the girl. And now it seemed, away from the eyes of the three others on board. A slow tension seeped off her as she sighed. "Plan this? Duff and I have been saving each other's hides since we were both six in Jo'Burg. This. . . ehh." She waggled a hand, seeming tired. "Took me a day and a half to find out where they'd taken him, another two to find a ship. So whats'it . . .almot four days? How long you been in there?"

While benign in nature, Luir couldn't help but frown at the question. How long had it been? She had quickly lost count of the days while in there, not having access to sunlight or a clock. The Stamarians hadn't been too intent on keeping her up to speed with the outside world during her time with them.

"Has Gordin's Day come, yet?" she asked, trying to think of a good landmark for her time--she remembered the day she had left just fine.

The deckplating beneath their feet rumbled as the gunship thundered through the sky. "Gordi---" Bekka turned her head, calling out. "George, What the bloody hell is Gordin's day?"

The armored figure standing up by the pilots' seats cocked his head back, helmet still firmly attached. "Holiday for that Brit .. . Gordin what'shisface. The one who came up with that new wheat strain? Don't you remember? You did a report on him."

Bekka's mouth opened and closed .. . how had she forgotten? How . . .much else had she forgotten? "Oh. right." She mumbled. The information slowly coming back as though from a fog. "Gordin's day . . . what was it. . three weeks ago? something like that."

It was official: he was lost. Not lost, in the sense that he had no idea where he was, though there was that, too. Lost, more meaning that everything about his current situation was wrong. He shifted uncomfortably in the storage space, squeezing an arm up to scratch his face. This was one of the few times that he was truly glad to be vertically challenged.

Oh, he'd certainly tried to make his character taller. But every attempt had ended only with him stumbling and falling, unable to cope with having longer legs. So he was stuck with his same old height. He could not imagine how awful things would be, if he'd been trapped in the game in a body that he could barely even walk in.

"Right. Just gotta stay positive." He forced an awkward smile. It was boring, being stuck in a storage container, all on is own. It was difficult to stay happy, though, when it felt as if the world were been blown to smithereens; such were the horrible noises coming from the ship. That made it hard, as well as being surrounded by what he could only surmise were pirates of some sort. Or so he guessed from they way they spoke, and the explosions coming from outside the gunship.

"Take a ship to Allondell." they said. Board the safest looking ship, they said. You'll get there fine, in time to see Oracle, they said. Yes, that had worked terrifically; obviously, the ship with the biggest guns would be the safest, yes?

A hiss, and the door to the container opened, light blinding his eyes. "You there, I've been in here forever. Would you mind terribly, shifting this baggage for me?" the game was up. He imagined himself plummeting to his death. Hopefully he would wake up, back in his own body? Bec wondered if positive thinking was really going to help in this situation.

Edited by WillowtheWhisp on January 21, 2014 at 6:45:13

Edited by WillowtheWhisp on January 21, 2014 at 6:47:33

He'd opened the container expecting to find a Mk 44 Thompson and Kish Repeater and ammo.

Suffice it to say, Duff's rummage into the equipment locker set off from the side of the pilot's raised deck was not proving quite as fruitful as he'd surmised, seconds before.

The wiry, bearded man with the intense eyes tilted his head to the side. "Hallo, maat." He muttered with an amused smirk. "You're a long way from 'ome, yes? If you have any guns, say so now." All the while he kept his voice low, his body blocking the view of anyone else on the gunship.

Edited by Ajax on January 21, 2014 at 7:01:52

Bec stretched his arms and legs, short though they were. He looked up at the man, who was decidedly gruff. Frightening, even. It would be best not to keep him waiting. "Evening to you, sir. Or is it morning? One can never be too sure, stuck in a locker. But yes, I am a long way from home, but I was looking to travel anyways... A strange place for a vacation, no? As for any guns..." he turned around, grabbing some sort of rifle. What was it, even? In any case, it took significant effort on his part to lift it, largely due to it being nearly as tall as he was. He turned about, proffering it to the man.

"If there's anything else, sir?" Bec saluted smartly. The man hadn't outright shot him. That was a good sign. Perhaps he wasn't as terrifying as he appeared, or the sounds of the cannons had suggested.

Edited by WillowtheWhisp on January 21, 2014 at 7:06:43

Rua had just caught up to his pet when he received Terrel's private message, and opened it up to read while he waved Relayia over to cancel her search. He tapped out his response--"Not yet, still looking. You find what you need?"--and sent it her way as Relayia settled down on his shoulder and chirped again.

There, between the rows, Rua began his own search. He examined the shelved books, taking in the titles, before shaking his head in confusion. He made his way back to the start of the row, and looked for any sign as to how these were organized. He soon found it, and slowly made out the text in the darkened room. Looks like genre first, he noted with mild irritation.

If it had just been in alphabetical order, it'd be easier to find them. He quickly snapped off another PM to Terrel explaining as such; that they'd need to find the appropriate genre shelf before they could hope to find the book.

"Well," Duff said simply. Taking the rifle from the small man's outstretched hand. "What's yer name?"

He still stood there, blocking any view from the others. Curiously looking over their stowaway.

Edited by Ajax on January 26, 2014 at 5:14:46

Bec couldn't say that he expected this, but he was glad nonetheless that he wasn't dead yet. Dead, in a permanent sense, he had to remind himself. He missed those precious few days when he'd had a respawn timer.

He took the gruff man's hand with his own, his small hand looking more fit to grasp a finger. "My tag is Agamemnon, but call me Bec." What did it matter if someone knew his real name? It wasn't like it mattered much, in his current situation.

Terrel listened to both the PMs, frowning that he hadn't found anything yet. It took her a minute to think of what to do, but she finally decided to simply stay put, PMing him back.

"I'm not going to be much help finding those titles. Just let me know if something goes south, otherwise I'll wait here for you, all right?"

Besides the fact that the books would be mostly just gibberish to her, she had some less than fond memories of accidentally knocking over an entire bookshelf while down here last time. Probably best to sit this one out.


---


Luir couldn't help but grimace, putting the dates together in her head. Three weeks ago? It had been longer than she had thought.

"They took me about two months before Gordin's Day. So almost three months, then?"

Duff shook the small man's hand. "Tag's. Name's. Al die dieselfde aan my." He paused, rolling his eyes. "All the Same to me." He amended a moment later.

"Now me boss . .. well, she's a different matter. Could find a lot with just yer name." He tossed the rifle to the figure behind him. "Lancy, we got us a stowaway. His name is Bec. What should 'e do with him?"

He turned a cold gaze back to Bec, smiling wildly as he gestured for the small man to come out of the compartment.

----

Bekka whistled softly. "Damn, girl. I'm liking you more and more. Three months from those oortreder----uh . .scumbags." She smiled brightly to the young girl, though her gaze flashed up to Duff for a moment, he seemed to be having a conversation with an equipment locker. Not that that was odd, exactly. She'd known him to have a violent conversation with a vending machine, once upon a time . . .

"Well, yer out of that hellhole now. Lancy and George were saying Duff wants to get to the Core, if he can. Ma sent him in to try and get me . . ." She sighed, unsure whether she should laugh or cry at the irony that it was she who had to save the one sent to rescue her.

"But we can drop ye off somewhere. Get the feeling we're not your desired company."



Edited by Ajax on January 26, 2014 at 6:02:15

On it went for several more minutes, as Rua combed through the bookshelves while Terrel stood guard, keeping a watchful eye out for the mechanical sentries she'd mentioned earlier. The swordsman grumbled to himself as he searched, and just when he thought that this shelf, too, would prove fruitless, Relayia suddenly leaped off his shoulder.

"What's gotten into you now?" he asked, reaching up to pull the dragonet off of the book it was clawing at. His hand froze when she chirped and pulled aside, revealing the faded letters on the spine of the book.

"Found one," he said to himself, pulling the one copy of Condemned NPCs off of the shelf. He moved out of the row, Relayia trailing behind him as he lifted up the book for Terrel to see. "Halfway there, Terrel."

Bec stepped out from the small storage space. He was beginning to get worried. The man hadn't outright killed him, but there was no telling what he might do now. Normally he wouldn't be so worried; he'd always been good at getting away, in large part due to his stature. His fingers twitched, readying themselves to cast a spell. The tricky part would be his exit. After all, jumping off the edge of the ship could prove.... deadly, but spending the time to cast his sorcery could be equally so.

Terrel raised a thumbs-up in a response, not really wanting to make any more noise than she had to. It wasn't that the automatons were particularly keen-listeners, she just had a bad habit of waking up the wrong things in situations like these. Hopefully he'd find the second one soon.

---
Luir blinked at the woman, two thoughts competing for her attention. Not her desired company? The core? Maybe she looked more shaken than she had thought, but it seemed beside the point compared to the other thing on the table.

"The Core is a difficult place to get to," she responded, not entirely sure what the best course of action would be. On the one hand, they were indeed murderers and, as much as she had seen, lawless. But on the other hand, she was not a jury, and they had shown her an act of kindness by taking her this far. Finally, she made up her mind, "Do you have passage? A way to get there, I mean."

As she said this, Duff pulled back from a storage container, revealing that he had, in fact, been talking with a very short man. She had often thought of escaping the Stamarian prison, but this collection of people was about as far from her expectations as she could have imagined.

Edited by Ribitta on January 27, 2014 at 19:36:59

Duff couldn't help but smile even brighter, the effect much like a shark baring its teeth. A week in this gameworld and he was already getting the hang of magic and all the lovely side-effects. "Now now, Bec." He chided, his own hands flexing slightly as he decided how fast he could break the man's neck, if it came to that. "Being hasty is being dead. Why don't you tell me why you are hiding on my ship? And I'll tell you if you're in for a mooi good trip or a quick fall and a sudden eina."

----

"Passage." Bekka's tone was a touch distracted as she looked up towards the pilot's deck. Her mind still more than a bit puzzled as to where the hell Duff got a midget from. Especially up here.

"Oh. . .to the Core." She nodded, focusing back on the conversation. "If Duff had thought to ask Ma, I bet he'd have a passkey. But . . ." She sighed. For all his violence, energy and . . yes, she had to grudgingly admit he was actually not half bad in the smarts section . . .he still didn't know this game. Not as well as she. "Let's just say we'll be taking one of the lesser-known paths to the Core, 'less we get a miracle." She ended simply.

Luir shook her head uncomfortably at the idea, "Those paths are lesser-known for a reason; most people don't make it through... or back, for that matter. I hope you don't take offense, but I doubt you would make it. No, much better to take one of the safer passages, if you have the credentials to suit the gates." Those in charge of who came in and out of the Core were very purposeful in their selections. Because of their selective nature, alternative paths tended to either be very hidden or very dangerous--often they were both.

She finally made her decision. "In thanks for rescuing me from the Stamarians, I can take you into the Core, if that is your destination." Saying it almost made her wince.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most valuable gifts she could offer someone. A man had once tried to swear fealty to her in order to come to the Core; it was a privilege that few knew, especially of the Outsiders. The Core was filled primarily with the Rulers, their Angels, and other natives of Ymaggion--not many Outsiders, save the most powerful or connected, had regular passage into the Core.

Would this Bekka understand that?

"And being unprepared is equally so." Bec retorted. He was sharp, Bec would give him that much. Escape was not guaranteed, not from this adversary. He wasn't sure how long the fall would be, but he was fairly sure that even if he was tossed off the ship, that he would be able to cast his spell, and thus make it safely to the ground. The trick was getting thrown off the ship, or jumping, without dying first.

"As for why I am on your ship, I snuck on, hoping to catch a free ride to Allondell. While deplorable, I couldn't exactly pay my fare at the docks, so I let myself onto the safest looking ship. Which, I must commend you on; your ship seems to be rather sturdily built, and I have yet to come to harm..."

"Allondell." Duff chuckled. "Long way from there, Bec." He backed up a few more steps, pointing to the nearest seat against the wall. "Why don't you 'ave a nice sitdown. We're in a bit 'o flux, at the moment. But we should be able to get you back to a nice safe . . .city." As he spoke, the gunship banked gently, turning to follow a new line.

Duff took a split-second to look around, making sure of everyone's positions. There, across the way Luir and Bekka sat, chatting as . . .well, two people did. Up in the pilot's seat, Lancy the eternally short, even in the game, was piloting the vessel with as much aplomb as the man could muster. And the armored figure of George was standing a little ways away, helmeted gaze clearly locked on Bec, armored fingers holding to a rifle, but not raising it.

He brushed a gnarled hand back through his tawny hair, "Quite a pickle. didn't know we was a tourist liner, eh Lancy?"

All he got in reply was a grunt of acknowledgement before his gaze turned once more to Bec.


---

Bekka opened her mouth to speak. Technically a miracle was already within her grasp. She could have demanded Duff wake up a moment into the physical world. Run up the two floors to Ma's office, and ask if she could get them a passkey to the Core for the game.

Not that she particularly wanted to ask Ma for any sort of favor. But still possible. However . . .Luir seemed to have the credentials.

"Bloody he--heck." Bekka finally replied in a soft voice. "Gift horses and mouths and all that. But how'd some random girl we scooped up from a Stamarian prison manage to get Core access?"

Rua stowed away the book in his inventory, causing the tome to disappear from sight. He wasn't surprised at Terrel trying to keep silent in here--thief, after all, weren't known for making a whole lot a noise during a heist, he supposed--and said nothing else as he went about looking for the genre section containing the other book.

This one proved easier to find, especially once Relayia launched herself at it like before. Rua pulled it off the shelf without comment and perused the cover to make sure it was the right one.

Terrel glanced around uncomfortably, not enjoying just standing there like an idiot with nothing to do. She thought about going to help Rua anyway--provide a little emotional support or something--but her better instincts still prohibited her from joining. That and the fact that she wouldn't be helpful at all, really. Something did occur to her, though, after a little bit of thought. It was something that made her feel a touch of dread.

Should she even bother to tell him? The chances of it being an issue seemed pretty low, and she didn't want to freak him out anyway.

THUNK

Nope, definitely better to tell him.

THUNK

The sound sent chills down her spine, even in the game.

"Hey so yeah," she began the PM, dictating it in her head, "could be possible there's a silent alarm. Hope you got the book 'cuz you should probably head on over here. Like right now, I mean."

THUNK

Great.

---

Luir smiled at her good-naturedly, feeling a warmth at the thought of helping someone--it had been a long time since she had had that chance.

"Why do you think I was in the prison in the first place?" she asked with amiable rhetoric.

Rua blinked as he heard a muffled thumping noise at the far end of the room, where Terrel was standing watch. After a moment, there was another sound, and then a private message appeared before him once more. He opened it and scanned the contents.

There was another thumping noise, and the swordsman grimaced. "Figured it wouldn't be so damn easy," he muttered as he stowed away the other book in his inventory. Relayia took to the air behind him as he made his way out of the row and trotted over to Terrel.

"Trouble?" Rua asked as he neared. He raised his right arm to take hold of the sword hilt sticking over his shoulder.

Bekka felt a smirk cross her face, "Keep your secrets then, we all have 'em." With a sigh she curled up on the jump seat, tucking in her legs. "Got any family, Luir?" She asked softly, gazing over at Duff and the small man he'd apparently . . .found? yes, found in the cargo compartment.

"Silent alarm," Terrel grimaced, scanning to her left and right warily. "Automatons just got their alert levels bumped up and the elevator shaft's been locked. In about twenty minutes, if the automatons haven't found anything, someone's going to come down here and try and find out what was stolen."

---

"Just a sister," Luir responded simply, wondering when they were all going to meet this extra person who had shown up. Had they known about him before pulling him out of the storage container?

"What about yourself?"

"Fantastic," Rua growled. He pulled the sword from its scabbard so he'd be that much more ready when an enemy appeared. He lowered the weapon to his side. "Are there any other ways out of here? Or do we have to stick around long enough for someone to open the elevator?"

"You might be surprised to know that I thought ahead on that," Terrel murmured, scanning their surroundings one last time before turning to face the wall. It was blank, save for a few red tick marks about three feet away from each other. They had set this up the last time they were down here, so saying she had planned ahead was a little bit misleading, but she would take it all the same.

The door into the ninth repository had been too difficult to crack, so they had set up something else; the guy in charge of it had jokingly referred to it as a 'wall hack' but she didn't really know what that was.

"There's a back way out, with some perks," she explained, "but... well, don't know if you've ever used one of these, but it's on the other side of this wall." She indicated the marked place. "Just follow me through, all right?"

Terrel turned to face the wall and gritted her teeth before walking headlong into the thing. As if stepping into a vat of viscous liquid, she felt the material of the wall ooze by her, consuming her body entirely in only a moment. For a second, she felt compressed and claustrophobic, but soon a small pop met her ears, and her feet struck stone floor again, safely on the other side.

She blinked, wondering if something had gotten in her eyes, but it didn't help. The new room, this ninth repository, was completely dark, save for one thing glowing in the middle of it that didn't seem to actually put out any light. Hopefully Rua carried a torch or something in his inventory.

"Follow you through what?"

Rua sounded confused. Was she aware of a hidden door or something? Well, he soon got his answer, and his green eyes widened as the thief sank through the wall like it was jelly. He could see an outline of light around her where her body touched the wall, and then she was gone.

"Huh. Useful," Rua said as he pressed his hand against the wall, feeling it give away like liquid. He then grimaced and grabbed hold of Relayia before plunging through after Terrel.

Next thing he knew, it was dark. He let Relayia go just as they got through, and she took to the air, seemingly unbothered by the lack of light, and circled around the two of them. "Where are we?" he asked, stepping up behind Terrel. His grip on his sword tightened as he saw the glow ahead of them. "Another repository?"

Edited by RisingDragon on January 31, 2014 at 19:07:59

Terrel nodded but then realized he wouldn't be able to see her do so. "Yeah, the ninth one," she clarified, trying to remember if this had come up in their planning. Only one of them had made it through the little wall hack last time, and she hadn't heard from him again. Come on, gotta be a light switch or something. Tentatively she took another step forward in the darkness and, just then, the lights turned on.

It was quite blinding, actually, but maybe part of that was just the sudden shift. White light flooded the room, and Terrel squinted against it while her eyes tried to adjust. Hopefully the blinding wasn't just an elaborate attack to catch them off-guard before striking them down; she half expected to find the corpse of the guy who'd made it through.

But, slowly, her vision adjusted, and she was able to survey the room. It was pretty big, especially for being underground--probably about a hundred yards in diameter, for the room was oddly circular. Concave in shape, the floor sunk as it went closer to the center, though the middle was only about two yards lower than the edge where they stood.

What was remarkable, however, was what filled the room. She could see now that the glowing thing in the center was, in fact, another circle that etched out a pad of sorts in the floor, just large enough to stand on. But, stretching out from the center, were hundreds of what looked like doorways. It was like someone had built the frame for a door and then never hung the thing, except looking through the aperture felt odd--everything was hazy as if you were looking through a tremendous heatwave. Some of them were wooden, but others were stone or strange metals. She knew what these were--this was the whole point of coming to the ninth repository.

"That one in the middle goes to the Core," she said, pointing at the pad. "These ones coming out from it--the gateways--go to other places in Ymaggion. One of them should take us to Cher Plek."

"Gah!" Rua cried, throwing up his free hand as the light suddenly burst on. Above them, Relayia gave a surprised squeak and dropped, landing on his shoulders and digging her claws into the coarse material of his vest.

Grunting, he blinked away his loss of vision until the room came back into focus, and from there, he froze. Terrel explained it to him, but he still felt shocked at what this room really was.

"This... isn't this the kind of thing an admin would use?" he asked, looking around at the doors standing alone in the room. A veritable hub to... any major location in the world? No way normal players were allowed to use such. Not from a bloody library. "Won't someone know if we use this place?"

Bec followed the orders, sitting in the seat rather tamely. He didn't know the layout of the ship to make a break for it, and he was surrounded on all sides... He had little other choice. All he could hope for now, is that the man actually meant what he said. And hopefully he did. He looked around, noticing two women talking to each other, one of which looked rather out of place. Perhaps that was why the man seemed to suggest that Bec wasn't the only unexpected passenger.