an alert | open

[hassaran]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Yseult
RECIPIENT: All members of Riftwatch
NOTES: Branching off of this scene. Note that despite the IC call for assistance we OOCly don't actually need to add any more people to that thread, the three of them will deal with the demon themselves before anybody else can get there. We just needed an excuse to make an all hands post asap.

Riftwatch, there is a demon in the Gallows masquerading as Benedict Artemaeus. He has been cornered in the fifth floor workroom. Assistance would be appreciated.

[ Yseult almost always sounds brisk on the crystals; today her speech is quicker and more clipped than ever. ]

Until we know more and can confirm there are no other imposters among the company, be on your guard. Report any unusual activity immediately.

Comments

[grindset]

[...]

Action

[muckspout]

[Olly olly oxen free]

The first place Edgard checks is the library. Is that where Victor is?

[pathlit]

Viktor is definitely in the library, en route to the workroom wherein the gloopy remains of a demon reside. The sound of his crutch against the floor signals his location.

Get closer, though, and one might realize that there are two sets of footsteps accompanying the clink of metal.

"Please tell me this guy isn't a mage," hisses Jayce to Viktor, in a futile attempt to keep from being heard because, well, crutch. Wherever Edgard is, they haven't yet crossed paths--

[grindset]

Indeed: there he is. There they are, heading for the library stairs, en route to the incident two floors above. Viktor is carrying one of Research's devices—protectively, now, as though it may be snatched from his grasp at the first lapse in awareness. He looks as unhealthy as usual, otherwise, and as stern-browed as one may expect him to be.

Likewise in a hush: "I don't know what he is."

[muckspout]

"I don't know what he is."

A high-pitched mimicked voice echoes just before they reach the staircase. Edgard stands tall and confident.

"I see you have someone with you. Do you ignore him? or do you TREAT HIM WITH THE RESPECT HE DESERVES?"

Edgard snarls and blocks their way.

[pathlit]

Adrenaline spikes, seeing this man stand imposingly before them. Instinctively, he angles himself in front of Viktor, hands clenched as he fixes Edgard with a firm look.

“We treat each other just fine, thanks.”

If this is another demon, he thinks, then they are soooo fucked.

[grindset]

Though it does seem natural that the little guy should hide behind the more formidable figure of his friend, Viktor makes no move himself to make it happen. Rather than any outward sign of fear, what Edgard (so-called) receives through Jayce's warning retort is a sharp and attentive glare.

Fresh among his thoughts: Ellie's warning, the urgent crystal chatter. A direct challenge would indeed be unwise. Envy, it was said—what is it they want?

"Have you come to assist?"

[muckspout]

Edgard's eyes narrow.

"If you wanted my assistance, you would've asked for it nicely.. Instead, someone ignored me."

Edgard walks right up to Jayce, looks him in the eye and pokes him right in the chest.

"I have a better idea, how about you two assist me?"

[pathlit]

There's a split second of understanding the tactic Viktor has employed, but then Edgard (or the creature impersonating him) steps up and Jayce immediately takes another half-step forward, further wedging himself between the other two men.

"Assist you in what?" he asks, wary. He has no idea if the guise of cooperation will work, but it's worth a shot.

[grindset]

The demon's guise is effective; despite the likelihood of what it is they're facing, and the very real danger it presents, they see only plain Edgard, whose present conduct is thus not so much fearsome as it is plainly obnoxious. For a moment, Viktor wonders whether this is intentional. Would a demon be annoyed to know it's only annoying?

In any case, Jayce seems to have picked up on the approach, and while he continues to put himself dead centre of so-called-Edgard's attention, Viktor quietly engages the Thaumoscope one-handed. He does not yet raise the device, but slowly depresses a switch, then works the dial, minor movements memorized and made with only his thumb...

[muckspout]

Edgard is annoyed, but by this man blocking his way. His finger still poking into Jayce's chest becomes two hands as he shoves all his weight into him. He may be a demon, but he still has an archer's arms.

"You can start by getting out of my way."

[pathlit]

The poking finger was barely an annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but the shoving is still tepid relative to the worst Jayce anticipates. Equal parts surprised by the mundane offense and primally aggravated by it, he staggers backward and into Viktor, then swiftly regains his balance and surges forward.

“Back off,” he snaps, shoulder angled in a strike toward Edgard’s chest to push him further away from his partner. Relatively mundane or not, his blood is thrumming, nerves on edge with the threat (the fear) of violence. Fight condemns the lack of a weapon in his hands; everything else sickens at the thought of using it on someone who’s supposed to be an ally—someone who walks the same halls and shares the same meals, however infrequently.

For better or worse, he doesn’t take his eyes off of Edgard—doesn’t think that brief moment of contact with Viktor did any harm—

[grindset]

A brief shove is still a shove, still wrought by the mass of one man thrown against another—but it comes while Viktor is taking a half-shuffled step back from the pair of them, putting his good leg in a good place to take his own modest weight. The price: the same reflex that barely keeps him on his feet also jerks his arm for balance, and since his grip is already compromised by his own surreptitious fiddling—

The collision doesn't do Viktor any harm, particularly. It does result in a scrape and a clatter and the sharp sound of the Thaumoscope striking the floor.

"No—"

[muckspout]

It's not that Edgard hasn't noticed the device, he's just a little preoccupied.

"What do you mean no? Are you still treating me like this when you don't treat anyone else like this?"

In his fury, his eyes glow just a little. It's just a moment, but it's enough.

"Stop blocking me." He says to Jayce. "You back off. I'm warning you!"

[pathlit]

The furious glow of his eyes is just a moment, but it's enough -- enough for Jayce to keep his attention focused on Edgard, rather than check in on Viktor and that clatter. Glowing eyes does not automatically equal demon, but they sure don't endear.

Jayce takes a half-step backward. It isn't to concede, but to push forward with a grunt, arms thrust out in the hope of toppling Edgard -- or at least shoving him off balance so he might bodily restrain him. That ought to give Viktor enough time to retreat and request help through the crystals. Even if he suspects Edgard is another demon, he doesn't want to strike him first-- doesn't want to cause bodily harm (if one can do so with bare fists against a demon, anyway) -- on the off-chance that he isn't.

[grindset]

Retreat he does, as far as the nearest bookcase—a negligible distance for anyone in this room but him—with a slight detour to kick the fallen device ahead of himself. It skitters along the floor, rattling horribly, and hits the base of a shelf: still preferable to the stomp of scuffling boots.

"Library," he pants, the sending crystal aglow. Half a breath's hesitation, then, as he glimpses the greenish scar across his palm. If it comes down to it—

No.

"Library, first floor. It's hostile—hurry—"

unbrackets my tag

[armd]

This doesn't come far off the tail-end of her and Loxley's discussion and Abby had been getting her stuff together anyway, which she is now doing faster, grabbing her mace, lunging for the door—

"Coming from the templar tower," is the short response. She is speaking to both Viktor and Loxley, implying a silent directive to the latter: whoever gets there first, well. Good luck with that.

It could be her. She's taking the steps two at a time to get down there quick enough, then running through the corridor with an ear out for anything out of place on the way (though hearing anything over footsteps on stone will be tough). Lest she forget, there's more of these fucks where the one in the library came from. She has to remind herself as she slams the door to the library open that it has Edgard's face on but she has to hit it anyway, as hard as she fucking can. That's gonna feel bad later.

Right now, she's yelling, "Hey—" at it, which is the loudest she has ever been in the library, for the record.

private

[notathreat]

You got anybody with you? Abby said Edgard's acting fuckin' weird.

private 5ever

[grindset]

[While Edgard is (allegedly) en route:]

How can you tell?

[notathreat]

Abby said he was rude to Xio 'cause she's an elf. And he called you a peasant just now. Edgard's weird, but not mean.

[grindset]

I'll take your word for it.

[A touch sarcastic: yes. Unconvinced: no.]

And I'm not alone.

[notathreat]

Good. Where were we when we talked about the celestial carrot?

[grindset]

[Ellie won't see the sudden buckling of his grim resolve, the way it softens in surprise until he shores it up again—but someone else will.]

On the balcony. At night.

[notathreat]

Okay. Is that where you're near right now?

[Footsteps.]

[grindset]

We're heading up to the body.

[And that's the last message he'll send before they're intercepted.]