Domain Game Quest

[Philote]

>Make a noise to draw them outside
>Slip through door behind them like last time.

wait

>See if they are saying anything useful then do that.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Well, they could be blocking a door up ahead. You go into yourself and mentally flip a switch.

It's like being born into the world. Suddenly, existence is thrust back upon you. All those subtle movements that get us through life, those tiny things that we never even notice ourselves doing, those things are filled in and real again as you stand there. When you have that power on, most of the time, even just standing around, you feel like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle and your various movements shift parts of your body into nonexistence and back constantly. Now you feel whole again.

Whole and completely exposed. But, no one would be able to hear this if you were still unobservable.

You bring your arm down and rap once once the railing. Then you flip the switch back, and back away.

The voices stop, and the people come out. A boy and a give, clothed in red. The guy looks normal, but the girl looks like something out of Aladdin. You wonder if she dresses like that all the time or if you just interrupted something.

The pair look around, confused. The girl leans over the railing and you try to stay focused on swaying back and forth to keep invisible. The boy speaks, his voice like that of a professional slam poet, the words flowing out in an rhythm, lyrical.

"Mike, you just might have been on to something. With your phantom sounds and all that."

Scheherazade draws herself back up and scoffs at him, wryly "And just a second ago you though he was full of it."

"Of course I did. Phantom water? Whoever heard of something so absurd? He's always hearing things."

The girl rolls her eyes. "Yeah, but I don't think he hears fake things. Listening is his whole deal." she looks worriedly down over the side again. "Maybe he's right. Maybe the one on the stairs is a ruse. You know about that friend of hers."

"And you know what Cassandra just sent us." he replies. "Two people headed away from here. There are only three Blues left. So, they;re can only be one here."

"You mean only two." The belly-dancer replies, jerking her head toward the base interior.

"Regardless, we're all level Ten here." he says dismissively. "And there are enough creeps under my command to kill anyone. I don't see why Nadine chose to risk herself in the stairwell, but it's not as though she's really one of us anyway."

>KEEP LISTENING
>SLIP THROUGH DOOR

[Philote]

>Check possibility of throwing them over the edge

Don't do it yet though, I want to know if it is possible first with a high chance of success and not being caught or it won't be worth it. Plus Wulf might want to give his opinion, possibly.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Only one of them was ever leaning over the side, and she isn't anymore. You could probably storm one, break your void veil and hurl one of them over before they got the chance to fight back. But just the one. Then, you'd have to deal with a pissed off Level Ten that would know you were here.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Mission First, Go find treasure chest.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You decide to back away. No point in risking it.

Just in time to, as the two from downstairs had just come clinging up the latter. Headphones looked around wildly, while sparkles just looked annoyed. Headphones was speaking to the boy.

"Harold, this time I know I head something."

You decide that the balcony is getting just a little crowded, and slip through the door. There are three exits from this room leading deeper into the base, no counting the one you just came from.

>LEFT?
>RIGHT?
>CENTER?

[Philote]

>Right, Unless Armand knows better

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Armand tried to remember the inside of this base, but it was useless. Even if they hadn't reconfigured it using an Architect, he still hadn't spent to much time here. So, he picked right on the basis that to finish a level in a video game, that was the direction you moved.

The room he enters look like a sitting room, a table and some couches. There's a trapdoor in the ceiling, showing the canopy top, the sun shining down through the leaves. Behind the table is a door that looks like it's set into the tree itself. It's being guarded by a Trumpeter.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

(Can we put our aura on the trumpeter also? So that when we attack it we can hide both of our sounds from detection?)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(I suppose you could try it by getting very close. That's something I'm willing to roll on, sure.)

[Philote]

>Alright, Lets try that so that hearing guy doesn't find us.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(D20+3=23. Had to beat 15. Success, natural 20)

You rush the Creep.

It's not just you that's invisible. The Rogue is the class that forges it's own path. With Void as your aspect anything along that path, while not being obscured completely, is still obscured. So if this guy was in your way and you wanted him to die without making a sound, it was really simple what you had to do.

You would have to forge a path through him.

You head along the couch. It looks over, see's the cushions deflate, and gets as confused a look as it's kind can on it's face. You launch yourself from the banister, sweeping down unseen from above.

The creep is completely bisected by the time you feel the bite of of the knife digging into it. You don't waste any time, you never stop moving. As the creep parts like the red sea around you you open the door and go in. You slam it behind, just because you know no one can here.

You're in a stairwell. You can see a door down their, unguarded.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

(Would it be possible for us to know what number we need to beat for a success next time before we try something, or does that need to be kept secret to make more sense?)

>Hide creep
>Head through door

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(That's....Probably something I should have been doing from the start. My bad.)

No need to hide the creeps remains, it straight up vanishes. Dissolving down to nothing, the only sigh it had been there the orb shards. You stink your hand under the door and pocket them anyway.

Orb shards: 3/50

You make your way down the stairwell, and cautiously open the door before you.

The treasure room.

Within appears to be a sort of glade. Not a big one, but enough to hold a little trickle of water, some grass, and a large stump in the middle of the room. On the stump sits a treasure chest. On the treasure chest, hands bound, sits a scared looking girl in a blue dress. Her head whips up when she hears the door open, but no relief frames her face. The pair of Trumpeters also look up, temporarily pointing their horns somewhere other than the girl.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

(I don't think we will be lucky enough to roll high enough to do the same to two creeps at once)
>Take the two out quickly and then cloak the girl and hide for when the hearing guy inevitably comes.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You make the only move you feel you can.

You rush the room, not letting the creeps rub their meager braincells together. You flicker into reality the moment you behead one of them, and hear a intake of breath from the other. You turn, but the Creep makes a sound as the wind is knocked out of it as the girl desperately drives her head into it's stomach.

You move then, over the girl and the chest an plant your knife solidly in the creeps head. You don't stop to watch the creep tumble to the ground as you lift the girl onto her feet and pull her close to you, eliciting a small surprised sound from her. You keep moving, pulling her into a sort of slow waltz as you back away from the stump.

The door bursts open moments later. Not just Headphones, either. The four of them.

That boy, the leader, looks feverishly around the room. "Where is it they could have gone?"

Phones pipes in at this. "Nowhere. I didn't hear the door open. They must still be in the room." He plants his back against the door, and closes his eyes. "Spread out and feel around."

The three of them look at him. None move. Sparkles offers, "What if one of us finds him? Then we get our throat cut, that's what! No way!"

"What do you suggest, then?"

This looks like it could be the start of a good argument. The only thing protecting you right now is the fact that none of them want to be the first to find you. You can feel her, trembling against you. You have to think of something.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Talk to her and calm her down
>Find out her name/powers so that we know what we have at our disposal

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You decide to try and get a word with your dance partner so long as you were trapped anyway.

"So, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I'm Armand. Sorry if this is a little awkward, but you just have to bare with me for a minute. Just keep swaying and they shouldn't be able to sense us."

She makes a little sound you aren't totally sure of, and inclines her head to look at you. "That's good. That's good. They can't find us. Thank you." she sounds more like she's trying to convince herself, if anything. "They were.... they were talking about killing me. It's only because of Nadine-" She get's a panicked look in her eyes, as if a horrible though came into her head. "You didn't fight a girl with short brown hair, did you?"

You think back to the girl on the stairs, and the strange vibe that kept you from ending her. "No." You say, consolingly. "I'm an infiltrator. I haven't fought anyone yet."

She sighs quietly in relief. "She's not so bad. You can't fight her, she's not a bad-"

"Look." You say quickly. "Lets just start with your name and class, alright. We can deal with all this personal stuff after we get out of this but I need to know what you can do."

She nods in understanding. "My name is Aya. I'm a Knight of Heart."

The words bring up mixed feelings. The Knight was a good battle class that became more powerful when it was protecting something. The Domain was both what the knight used to protect. The Heart domain you were personally familiar with, and though irrational the though of it brings up a burning hatred in your gut. It dealt with emotions. It had been the class of the blue prince, Issac Nevon, the one who had lead the defection and murdered a good deal of blue team. Prince was one of the leader classes. You didn't have to be a genius to make that connection.

Still, how would you use emotions to protect people?

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Connect their Fear to Armand's Courage and use the relationship to protect Armand's movements from detection

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(Could you run that by me again? I'm afraid I don't get it.)