.: Singularity :. (IC)

[Firehead]

Derek grew worried when he felt Jason's hand move away. Did the merc want a warning, so he could stop before Derek finished? A pitiable whine left his throat which turned into a moan when the soft fabric of the cloth enclosed the head of his cock. He had already been close to begin with, and the sudden lack of sensations had only made him more desperate to get off, so his load was only all too quick as he stained the cloth. In the euphoria of release, his tongue continued to lather the dick in his mouth as Derek nearly forgot it was even there.

He was brought out of his reverie as a hand descended on him to hold him in place as the older male's own seed started to spurt down Derek's throat. Having lost focus on what he was doing he gagged as the cock started to throb with each blast of seed poured directly down his throat. The convulsions of his throat caused some of the cum to back up into his mouth, but fearing the mercenary's ire made sure not to spit it out on the man's pants. The spunk was left to sit on his tongue, the taste of it just sitting there in his mouth, as he tried to get enough control over his throat to swallow it once again.

Derek blushed as he received praise for his improvement in sucking a dick. He was mostly embarrassed, but he also felt the slightest semblance of pride. He quickly buried the errant thought. No, he didn't want to feel accomplished for this. It was over with now. He just needed to go about avoiding the mercenary. It shouldn't be too hard to find some duty that would keep him from anywhere he might inadvertently run into Jason again, but the way the merc called him pet made it clear to him that Jason would be actively seeking him out rather than forgetting about him as a casual fling, and if he had the pull he claimed it probably wouldn't be hard for him to track Derek down. With those thoughts in his head, he got up to quickly clean himself up. He had little time to straighten his attire and hair, and gargle some water for good measure.

He stood in line with the others under the councilwoman's iron gaze, and it was clear from the start that she wasn't pleased with what she saw. His posture was stiff as he tried to maintain his stance without wilting at the woman's glare. He was glad to see the messenger drew her attention and got things moving along. He could feel a much darker pit in his stomach though as the moment of truth approached. Jason had to be right, right? He had been so sure of himself, and it sounded like he was experienced in the militaries behavior. He couldn't help but gawk a little when the messenger tore her armor open exposing her chest to everyone. The key seemed strange to him. Carving open her chest to store it seemed like the kind of thing to protect it from being stolen, but how did it prevent it from being taken from her? The whole thing seemed a grizzly affair no matter the reason.

As she read over the script, Derek could feel his heart pounding in his chest. When his body grew heavier he fell to his knees unsure of whether or not he'd imagined the sudden extra weight on his body. His eyes cast up as he listened to every word of the messenger with dread in his heart. So this was it, either the resistance gave in, or they all dies in five days then everyone was dead whether they served Barios, the Passernian resistance, or were completely neutral.

Once the speech was over he got himself up off of his knees and tried to find a secluded spot. Surely no one would even notice if he just disappeared for a few minutes.

[Meep Meepersons]

Nola stood there and smiled as she watched the brave men and women step up to take on the various mission their leader dolled out for volunteers. As the teams formed and moved to their respective meeting points, the giant darkskinned blonde began to smile warmly as her 'crew' began to present their plans of entry. "Hmm.." She murs, rubbing her chin in thought. "Why not all three? We will make it a three pronged attack. We'll both complete our mission and disorient the enemy! We'll have Zu drive the truck through the front, make sure to work those tits, the enemy still isn't used to the atmosphere here, should make them a bit more pliable to smooth talk your way through. Don can scale the wall, placing explosive along any immediate threat defenses as well as the roof of the warehouse." She says, taking a breath to continue talking, using her hands to emphasize her words. "Me and Layla will be waiting on the otherside of the wall with some more explosives to blast a truck sized hole, once you two are done loading the truck we blow all the explosive at once and bail before they even realize they just got robbed. What do you all think?" She asks, placing her hands to her hips while standing proudly with her plan. Right up to the point when the gravity of the planet increased by fifty percent, causing her to grunt and slouch heavily before straightening up with effort. "Sh-shit...I-I think we s-should probably hurry up...and get moving..." She says, walking heavy footed towards the truck designated for their mission. "I hope that truck can hold all the gear in this new gravity...."

[RavenLord]

"Well, that's unfortunate."

Victor watched with apathy from where he sat as his colleague's turned their heads towards him all at once in response to his words. Silence had descended onto the whole room, only opposed by the noises coming from small wall mounted TV that had just announced the death sentence of everyone on the planet. His gaze traveled over everyone in the room, looking over everyone's faces. Johann's eye-pupils were dilated and beads of sweat had formed on his forehead, signs of an incoming panic attack. The pudgy man's mouth was gaping much like that of a fish and Victor noticed him shaking, confirming his earlier diagnosis. Sarah on the other hand seemed to be in a state of shock, her lovely face blank with utter incomprehension as her mind refused to acknowledge what she had just heard. Rest of the doctors weren't faring any better, shocked and crushed by the realization of their impending doom. He could easily see the abject horror and despair on each face. It was sad really, though not unexpected. Then there was Wilson.

"Unfortunate? That's all you have to say? UNFORTUNATE!"

In his own unique brand of patheticness Dr.Wilson Trask had devolved into an emotional wreck with little self-control, choosing to lash out at the first target he could find, namely him. Victor let out a sigh before he calmly raised his cup to take another sip from his lukewarm coffee, refusing to respond to Wilson's belligerence. Unfortunately, his indifference seemed to have provoked Wilson further. With an expression of utter rage, idiot suddenly got right up in his face, grasping the front of his coat while invading his personal space.

"Is this a fucking joke to you Victor? Unless you haven't realized, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"Wilson. Let go of my coat."

Victor hadn't raised his voice nor he had spoken anything but calmly, yet the sheer threat and venom behind those words was enough to startle Wilson, causing him to stumble back, fabric of Victor's coat slipping through his slackened grip. Now free, Victor calmly finished rest of his cup before standing up from his seat and moving towards the door. Shaky voice of dear Dr.Sarah Pellham stopped him at the doorframe.

"Where are you going?"

She looked so lost and vulnerable, a far cry from the confident senior Victor had came to know. He didn't like seeing her in such a state.

"Out."

It didn't stop Victor from leaving her behind with all the other mindless sheep when he left the break room. The Passerna Central Hospital was the largest and most prestigous hospital on the planet of Patria yet Victor navigated through its maze like corridors easily enough. His destination was the office of Director Blackwell. Victor intended to inform her of his leave and call in two days of his accumulated vacation time. She was definitely going to be difficult about it, since in the upcoming forty eight hours would see all hospitals on the Patria crowded with patients, meaning Blackwell couldn't afford the absence of one her top surgeons and a diagnostician. Sadly for her, Victor had no intention of getting bogged down with work when he had bigger problems to deal with, like surviving the upcoming destruction of Patria.

[Nobudi]

Aermis peeked around the door frame, and saw that everyone was finishing up. Satisfied by the situation, she decided to go take her position in her room. Squiddles was guided into its protective decent cage, and they plummeted down the planet's surface before making a smooth transition to a landing. Once they had gotten to a complete stop, she hopped out of her seat and let her assistant out of its cage to join up with the group assembled outside of the ship.

Venus looked a lot taller in the holo vids than she expected. With how often she was displayed as a titanic image on holo screens everywhere, it was a bit startling for her that her gaze went a full head above the actual Councilwoman's head. Walking alongside the group to a courtyard opening, holo cams immediately focused on the Messenger, and reporters began chattering away in the distance for this moment. As the Messenger undressed and revealed the key to the Edict, Aermis had to drop a low whistle. That was dedication to the Overlord. A part of her wondered if she, deep down, had the resolution to do something as drastic as the Messenger for the Overlord.

Focusing on the Edict, she had heard similar words spoken, just as her body was smashed downwards. Squiddles and everyone else was similarly affected, but the tentacle beast seemed strong enough to immediately aid her up. Listening to the conditions, it appeared to boil down do: Either win this world, or perish with it. To be honest here, she was more afraid of failing to meet Councilwoman Minerva's, and by extension, the Overlord's expectations than her possible imminent doom. Her home had been turned into an uninhabitable rock long ago, so she had no desire to see it happen to nameless strangers that had done her no wrong personally. She really hoped that they would truly surrender, if only to spare the rest of the planet. She also remembered that she was also given a task, and a lead to follow.

Slowly, weighed down by the intensifying gravity, she and her assistant made their way to the headquarters, to look for the primary database. She needed to look for something.

[Nicoffee]

MONDAY, 2ND OF PATRIA'S FEBRUARY. 9:35 AM PLANETARY TIME. 8:00 PM BAYRIOS CAPITAL TIME.

Gaia

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Josceline Winters. You can call me Josce, though." She grinned, following up with a short chuckle. "I'm a...Hacker, I guess you could say." She stated, rubbing the lower part of her chin. "I only would consider myself good with one type of sigil and that's lightning. But I'd say I'm pretty good with it." She stated, moving over to the bike in question. "Before I joined with the resistance I worked in security. You know those stories of hackers who get hired to break company's security systems for them? That's me!" She stated, grinning widely.

Both of you got onto the bike and began to ride off towards Passerna. "I also know how to handle myself in a gun fight, if need be. I mean, I'm not gonna claim to be the best shot in the world, but I know how to point the dangerous side of the gun at the bad guys, eh? Haha- WOAH!" She was cut off as the bike slammed down onto the floor, the thrusters that kept it floating being unable to keep the vehicle floating at its new current gravity. Slowly, she began to adjust the bike back to the new gravity, while listening in to the edict declaration going on behind her. Once all was said and done, Josce gulped down on her breath. The fact Gaia spoke of being "boned" didn't help much, it'd seem.

"...This...Just makes our mission even more important, right? I mean...Now we...We...We need this." She stated, her grip on the hover bike's handle tightening considerably before she fired off ahead towards Passerna, the bike zooming through the air. "The Edict...It said...Occupy the town hall...We...We're going to need the Edict...And its key." She stated, her face a concerning mixture of fear and realization. "...Let's kidnap Bayrios's messenger."

Nola

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"...That's...An option, I suppose." Zu stated, sighing some. "Fair enough, I'll drop you all off at the proper side of the wall, then I'm heading around. I'll send you a signal when I'm arriving at the destination" She stated, the others nodding in agreement.

A few moments later, you found yourself at the wall, with Donnovan half way up the wall on his climbing equipment, Laylah setting up explosives against the wall and Zu had been long gone. She had succeeded in "persuading" the guards into letting her in, though the fact she hadn't turned on her camera might've alluded that she had to do some "physical" convincing. Part of you is sad you weren't there to see that, really, but it's no big deal. Laylah turns to you, her explosives finished with their setting up. "All ready, Zu should send be arriving at the location herself soon too. I can't see Donnovan anymore, so I can only assume he's already at the top and now climbing down. Anything you wanna say or do before we get started?" Laylah questioned, glancing at the comm in your hands.

Well, what was there to do, really? I mean, arguably, Donnovan and Zu were getting ready still. You could just wait for them to get ready or check up on them...Or, well, you know, Laylah and yourself weren't busy at the moment...Then again, the choice is yours.

Aurora

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"I'm...Alive for now." Gordin replied, grunting slowly. He was inside the ship when it came crashing down but, sounded very much alive. "The engines. They're...They're not responding." He stated, in disbelief. "They were at 100% capacity just a few seconds ago. It's almost as if the Edict just...Just turned them off." He stated, the sound of him slamming buttons echoing in through his comm.

Even if there were people below the ship when it fell...Well, they were gone now. The ship slammed down to the floor as if it was weighing an extra 50% of its weight, which added quite a few more tons to its force. "...Aurora. I think we just had a change of plans...I'm coming out of the ship...I'm joining up with the army forces here." He stated, seemingly mulling over his options. "...Unless you have any better ideas?"

Aermis

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

With no time to lose, you and Squiddles quickly made your way down the steps of Passerna's Hall, ever since Bayrios's forces had occupied the place, their main database had been set up down in the hall's basement. The archives, where a direct connection with the Hall of Knowledge under Minerva's control had been set up, Aermis found herself moving down rows upon more rows of steps, Squiddles sloshing its way right behind her anxiously. Her steps felt heavy, not only from the increased gravity, but with resolve, if anything, everyone's steps felt heavy at this point. They had three days to solve this conflict, otherwise...Well, otherwise everything would be just wrapped up by Bayrios's edict, just like that.

As she began approaching the main database, she began to hear the sound of...Moaning? Arriving down at the database, she found that the sounds were getting louder and louder. With a single, swift motion, she opened up the door. As she did, she was immediately greeted by a loud yelp as a woman over at the counter by the entrance, whom Aermis could only assume was the local librarian or receptionist, was actually on top of the counter, with a bright, neon-coloured dildo up her cunt. As she spotted you entering, she tried to pull it out and get back in her seat but succeeded in neither, slipping her way out of the table with a loud 'THUD' as she landed ass facing towards you.

http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/__evil_genome_drawn_by_observerz__889bab8b9de6e2b5977380a74db906ef.jpg

Well, it was good to see Venus was properly securing these archives...At least Squiddles seemed to be enjoying this, based off the small clapping of his tentacles he made in response to her fall. The woman immediately got up, her face flustered as she hid her toy behind her back with one hand, while the other was pulling her shirt down to hide her shame. "A-Ah, hello there! I-I'm Iseul! I'm the lib-librarian. I handle the...Archives here. S-Sorry, I usually don't get many visits. U-Uhhm...Is this about the loud noises upstairs? Sorry, I was kind of...Distracted. Did I...Miss something?" The woman questioned, smiling nervously.

Razajin

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

With a few flashes of your ID and a few muttered words from one guard to the other. Razajin was let in, once he was inside, he was met with two people. One, was Venus, who he was already familiar with, currently on her phone. The other, you could only assume was the previously mentioned General Havellock, his hands tightly pressed against his back as he seemed to be patiently waiting for Venus to finish her call.

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"Greetings." The general spoke, tilting his head towards you. "Major General Havellock. Mars's Fifth Legion."

"Listen, dear, I don't care if you need more time. I don't think you realize but time is something we are REALLY short on right now." Venus roared on the phone, her teeth gritting against each other as she seemed to be listening in to the answer.

"You have until tomorrow. Now," Venus's eyes turned to glare at Razajin as he introduced himself, cupping her one ear that was in his general direction so that she could focus on her call. "If you excuse me, I have some other stuff to deal with." She flipped her phone off and took a deep breath, placing the closed phone on top of her desk. "Razajin. Yeah, I saw your file." She stated, surprisingly calm by this point, considering how she was acting outside and just now on the phone. "...As for the briefing...Havellock." She glared off to the general, who cleared up his throat and began.

"We deployed with 8,000 soldiers stationed here in Passerna. We estimate the Rebel forces to be around 15,000 or so in total. What we lack in numbers, we make up for in equipment and training, though." The general proudly stated, puffing up his chest. "...The conquest of this planet should've been matters of days, but."

"...But of course, that was not considering this stupid atmosphere." Venus cut in, rubbing her forehead, annoyed. "We wasted the first fair few weeks attempting to just mobilize our forces up to Bavaria but that...Well, that went to shit."

Havellock huffed. "Our forces got repeatedly cornered by militia troops in the forests between Passerna and Bavaria. They repeatedly got ambushed and...Assaulted. Either by militia, wildlife, ..."

"...Or each other." Venus added, rolling her eyes.

"...Err, yes. With wounded, dead and ehrm...Pregnancies. Our forces have been reduced to about 4,000 soldiers. We have been trying to go for aerial assaults to pass over the forest, but Bavaria's equipped with heavy anti-air artillery, all our fighters just got shot down repeatedly." He confessed, his finger scratching the scar that began on his forehead and went down to his cheek, as the sweat from his brow seemed to be irritating it.

"...As for a plan. Well, I have a few already in motion...Currently considering how to speed them up." She grumbled. "I will be speaking with a representative from one of the high-status families in Bavaria. They chose to remain neutral to this conflict, but if we managed to convince them to help us find a way in..." She trailed off, rubbing her chin. "My other plan includes the help of a...Local sorceress. She was SUPPOSED to provide us with an alternate path in exchange for some information...But she's not done yet, apparently." Venus huffed before glaring up at Razajin. "...So. We talked a whole bunch. What are YOUR thoughts, Minister?" Venus questioned, her eyes squinting and her tongue scratching against her teeth as she spoke the title "Minister".

Marta Lou + Derek

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As Marta, alongside with other soldiers, cleared up the civilians from the locale. She spotted Derek heading off into a dark corner not too far from off from there, too. What called her attention, however, was the fact that on his way into the corner, a group of three people followed right after him, apparently unbeknownst to him. This couldn't end up well. Derek made his way into a dark alley, he just needed to get away from everyone else for one second. Distance himself from this whole mess and-

"Hey!" A feminine voice behind him called.

He slowly turned around to find that he was being approached by three people, two men in the back with pipes while a woman in the front was pulling out a pistol from a holster hidden inside her jacket. They were locals. "You! You're with those fucking soldiers aren't you?! You're responsible for this shit!" She shouted, her face getting red with anger. "Th-This shit about everyone in the planet dying. It's a fucking lie, isn't it?!" She questioned, hopeful, desperate. "You fuckers have a way out, don't you? You're going to get us off the planet...Now!" She yelled.

Lyalah

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Rol gasped tired moan, listening in to Lyalah's words with full attention. "...An Edict, huh?" Rol spoke, she wasn't sure what the exact words from the edict were at this point, anyways, so, in her mind, this just got a big grin on her face too, as she thought of ways to take advantage of this...Development. "H-Hey." She grinned, her grip on Lyalah's behind tightening as she slowly began to hoist Lyalah up, ready to plunge herself deep inside her angel again. "L-Lyalah, an angel like you can't be hanging around this planet if an Edict is coming over..." She stated, lowering Lyalah back onto her pricks, both slowly sliding their way inside Lyalah's holes, one inside her cunt, while other squeezed its way through her ass, the double penetration pulling off heavy breaths and sighs from Rol herself, as her two massive pricks filled in the doctor's insides. "You can...C-Come with me." She stated, her forked tongue slipping out of her mouth. "I mean, you won't want to be around if this planet blows up now, will you?"

The pilot proposed before suddenly throwing her weight forward against Lyalah, both of their bodies falling with a loud 'thud' against the bed as Lyalah was pressed against the mattress, Rol's body on top of her. Rol grabbed Lyalah by her thighs and held her up in place, pulling her hips back only to slam them right back in, she'd do this slowly at first, her double cocks still sensitive from having cum earlier, but slowly getting over it as she also picked up her pace. The loud, wet sounds of their sex beginning to echo around the clinic as Rol's skin slapped against Lyalah's. She lurched forward, going for a kiss as she began to roll her forked tongue against Lyalah's, one of her hands gripping the doctor's rear for support while the other one just did its best to keep Rol from falling.

Rol's twin cocks were twitching with each thrust, pre cum drooling out from within them as she continued to ram the doctor with all of the energy she had. "...I don't think I can hold out for much longer...You feel...Too good..." She moaned, her digits digging into Lyalah's skin and her toes curling against themselves as she seemed to be nearing another orgasm...And if her previous, sigil induced one was anything to go by, it was going to be messy.

Echo

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"I'll leave right after we're done discussing. Promise. And while you COULD figure out a way out to get this out of this system, not with the time we have..." When everything shook, Cindy seemed to go in a bit of a shock for a moment, she raised her cellphone up and unlocked it, scanning through news quickly as her eyes seemed to widen and her skin to go even paler. Once Echo basically dismissed her, she seemed to grit her teeth at the attitude, but complied, regardless. "Here. Take this. You can drop " She pulled out a small Data chip from her phone and placed it on Echo's hands on her way out.

Soon, Bryon was being taken off to the nearest hospital for examination, you were given a limousine and quickly informed of all the recent happenings that had just went down on Passerna. Needless to say, things were going down fast. You were surprised to find that, inside the limousine with you was Rivolo himself. "...Hey." He stated, his face contorted in a mixture of concern and attempts at keeping his composure. "Given the...Recent developments. I'm going with you." Rivolo stated. "The Councilwoman agreed to meet but...Well." Your butler took a deep breath. "It will be in the Passerna Hall, right in the middle of their base." The butler stated, awkwardly fixing up his jacket as he tried his best to look presentable.

"...You want to...Try sending a counter-offer? She may be a bit...Desperate on time." He stated, concernedly scratching his head. Meanwhile, Echo would have found that Councilwoman Sybille "Venus" Arrobestra was originally a politician and diplomat, not a general like the role she is filling in today. When Bayrios's forces came over to conquer her planet, she supported the "invasion" and turned it into a peaceful surrender, sparing the lives of a bunch of the inhabitants and also guaranteeing that the planet got to keep some of its own laws, instead of adhering to all of the Overlord's rules. After that, she was assigned as a Diplomat in service of Bayrios themselves and was eventually elevated to the rank of Councilwoman, this was supposed to be her first conquest in her new position.

Skimming through the photos and files, you could find that her current look was nowhere close to her old appearance. You could only assume the large claws and horns she was currently packing were splices she got after joining up with Bayrios's forces.

Annaliese + Evelynn

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Eleanor was frozen in place for a few moments after the broadcast ended, her digits tightly on the sofa she was sitting on as she seemed to be taking in all that had just been dumped on her as well. The warning about Venturis news still flashed on the screen for a few moments before Eleanor slowly raised her hand to turn off the television...

She instead lowered the volume. She grumbled, angrily fiddling with the remote. She instead switched the channel.

"HELLO, 'TIS LEONARDO AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH THE RECIPE FOR A SEAFOOD ESCARG-" Eleanor got up and turned the TV off manually, pressing the button besides the screen. She took a deep breath, her hand grasping and running up her fingers up through her hair slowly, stopping at her ears before she dropped her hand off to the side. She turned to Evelynn and Annaliese. "...Hello, Evelynn." She spoke, her face utterly serious, though you got the feeling now wasn't exactly a time to be expecting pleasantries from her.

"Curses such as these...They're horrible, aren't they?" She asked out loud, to no one in particular. Her gaze drifting off for a moment before it refocused on the girls in front of her. "Eleanor, yes, correct. You can go for Auntie Ellen, too, if you prefer, like she does." Eleanor stated, placing a hand on top of Anna's head with a short pat. "I...Had a feeling this could happen...Are they okay?" She questioned, seeing Annaliese receive the message, her eyes drifting off back towards the book shelves that led into her study. "I need to make a call, let's hope the service catches on."

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before shaking her head. "Come with me." She requested, walking up to the bookshelves, she quickly gestured up a stone sigil, the magical symbol materializing in front of her before she slapped it both of her hands and, when she pulled her hands apart, the two shelves slowly slid out of the way, the rock tiles beneath them shifting about to move them. Behind the shelves was a pathway that led even further down into this underground mansion she had dug up. They continued making their way down until they arrived at the office, the one room where Aunt Eleanor spent most of her time in. It was somewhat different in style from the rest of the house, in no small part because most of...Well, everything it was made out of stone. Even the chairs and tables, there were a few ones made out of wood, but they appeared to have been bought, not the handicraft of Anna's father at all.

You were pretty sure the two of you were the first people to come in there who weren't Eleanor herself...

http://theundergroundhomedirectory.com/files/2013/11/magic_mushroom_house-underground-home-interior.jpg

On top of the table at the center was a large, old styled telephone, which Eleanor swooped in and dialed on. The call failed, at first, she cursed, tried again, then someone picked up.

"We had a deal." Eleanor spoke, as the person on the other side answered, Eleanor herself seemed to be holding from lashing out in anger, her fist balling up in anger. "In three days!? That's insane, I need more time."

"This is absurd, you NEED my help and you know that. You ASSURED me you'd have a way out if an Edict came in and- Hey, wait, don't you dare-" The call was dropped, Eleanor seemed like she was about to throw the phone across the room but instead just slammed it down back down.

"...Bitch." She cursed, before turning to Evelynn and Anna, who were probably rather confused about all this. "Right, so. I'm going to need your help." She stated, once again getting up and signaling you to follow her. You left through a hole off to the side in her office and found that it went two ways...Eleanor walked off towards one of them and you followed right after.

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"...I had made a deal with Venus." She stated, as they made their way through the, apparently freshly made tunnels. So this is what Eleanor had been working here in this study all this time...She was digging a massive tunnel! But...For what? "I was going to make this tunnel so that her forces could walk into Bavaria...In exchange, well, you heard the call. Sadly, I haven't been able to finish the tunnel because of a...Problem." She stated, as you seemed to be reaching the end of what Eleanor had at least set lighting for. You then arrived at a...Next.

It was a nest of spiders. Spiders as big as a car. They were blocking the way of the tunnel...That's why... "I was going to dig around them but...We're going to need to clean them up.

...You're not afraid of spiders, right?"

Karna

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

You soon arrived at Andy's bar empty, well, save for two people, finding Arya Mallvono, de facto leader of the resistance, sitting by the bar, cigarette on her mouth as she slowly turned to face you and Andy Mallvono, her brother, sitting on the other hand. Both hand drinks in their hands, Andy looked up at you with a big red blush on his face, he looked drunk. "Ohhh howwwddy there. Sorry babe, but we're closed right now...You're welcome to sit down with us and have a drink though! On the house!" Arya was drinking too, but seemed fine, for now at least. "...Can I help you?"

Victor

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Victor expected his boss to be difficult about this, surely, with this upcoming chaos, she'd want everyone around at full attention to provide for all the people who were bound to get hurt in this chaos but...

"Yeah, sure." She replied, as she was packing up things into her bag. "I'm heading home, myself." Looking rather defeated. "We all ought to...Spend time with our familes in this...Final moment. No way in hell these idiots are managing to get through to Bavaria in time." Blackwell stated, looking back and forth between Victor himself and her bag as she dumped a bunch of pens inside of it. The Director happened to keep a large collection of gold-rimmed pens by her desk, if she really believed everyone was going to die, maybe she shouldn't be taking those to start with, but oh well.

"...You don't have a family, right? What are your plans? Spending time with friend? Dunno about you, but I'm going to visit a brothel, I think...I wonder if those will be operational."

[MelissaB]

Looking at them both she nods a little and shrugs. "Thanks, guess a drink might be a good idea considering." She comments calmly before blinking having totally forgotten why she rushed here. "Oh right yeah... was wondering if I could help... you know stop the whole planet caving in on itself and live for longer than three days." She comments in a rush before sitting down next to them both and grabbing a drink, downing half of a bottle in a quick motion. "Why? Did I come to the wrong place to go about that?" She asks Arya with a smile before shaking her head. "Besides don't want to be working security when that edict drives people nuts." She states with a half laugh at her own plight before sipping the drink some more. "Only way to survive was to have that messenger girl in this city's town hall, on my way over I was thinking the only way it could be done without surrendering the city would be to kill the messenger and dump her body on the town hall, as soon as she's inside the edict's finished and the planet is saved." She states staring down at the table not daring to look them in the eyes just yet.

[cliffracer]

Lyalah was attent as Rol started, fairly impressed with Rol's ability to lift her despite the extra gravity and her own weight... Just goes to show what a soldier is capable of, even if she's a pilot. Rol kept Lyalah's attention even as she sunk both dicks back in to her, her mind nagging her to just shut off for a little and enjoy her partner's lovemaking. She couldn't just let an idea like that pass her by unnoticed (or, perhaps unremembered if she did let herself lose focus,) as it wasn't a light one! She couldn't bring herself to vocally deny the idea outright, the immediate conflict to her own intrests as a savior-of-lives a lower priority compared to the incredible dicks she was currently seated on. She can only respond with a smile and a quiet laugh at her last comment before she's on her back underneath her.

Lyalah almost reflexively wrapped her legs around Rol as soon as she felt her hands, a gesture of submission rather than keeping Rol in place. The look on Lyalah's face was a sure sign that Rol found one of her favorite positions, Lyalah completely unable to keep from rolling her hips in to her downward thrusts. She was glad she didn't have any other patients in as their sex picks up, both so they wouldn't have to deal with the noise and wouldn't try to make use of her vacant mouth! She was more than glad to reciprocate the eager tongue and wrap her arms around her, letting Rol focus on supporting herself.

With Rol getting close to her orgasm, Lyalah wasn't too far behind. Her legs cling tightly to let her know just where her cum is going to be going, the doctor averting the unlikely possibility that Rol would pull out. If the pounding she was getting didn't make her cum, the geyser that would follow surely would... but the double penetration is far too much for her to endure her partner. Lyalah shouts as she's hammered in to her orgasm, heels digging in to Rol's back as her pussy spasms and her ass clenches simultaneously, her body signalling in every way it could that she was ready to be filled!

[lilbooth]

"What is it with you and "counter-offers" Rivolo, can't you ever just make a normal offer once and a while. And what am I supposed to offer her? I was just going to convince her to come to the party... We don't exactly have anything they want. Sure we could publicly voice our opinion but that will just make the other side more likely to hurt us. It's not like we own the town hall, we might be able to buy it. The messenger needs to be standing in the town hall right? That would stop the edicts effect would it not?" She questioned as she sat up slightly from her lazier position. "Did my family entrust with you a message for me to give her?" She asked as she cocked her head at the young butler. "If she's smart enough she'll still want to come to the party, but she might be too enraged to realize its a smart move probably think it is a waste of time. She was eager to facilitate surrender on her own planet, perhaps we can host some negotiations at the party?" She continued, glancing back and forth between her PDA and Rivolo.

[Firehead]

Derek was lost in thought as he sought out a quiet place to gather his thoughts. His feet were unsteady because of the extra weight put upon him by the edict; both metaphorically and literally. How did this happen? His first job, and the empire threw him on a planet slated to die in three days. The message made it sound like this was a way of punishing the soldiers for failure, but what had he done? He wondered for a moment if they'd discovered he was a survivor of Pelkoth until he heard a voice from behind him.

Turning around he saw three unsavory people had followed him down here; each of them armed. He took a step back holding his hands in front of himself. Seeing the gun trained on him he tossed out the immediate thought of drawing his own weapon. It would only provoke her to fire, and she was already aimed at him. They demanded that he help them escape the planet which left him flabbergasted. "Are you kidding me? If I had a way off world there's no way I'd be standing around here. I was literally sent here to die!" He found himself leaning forward as he shouted out the last sentence in frustration.

[Reaver]

Well at the very least Razajin wouldn't have to falsify gross incompetence on his eventual report to Councilwoman Mars. After all that could be the only reason that Venus and Havellock lost 50% of their forces without making any true headway. A small recon and sabotage force could have found and eliminated the AA placements and evaded ambushes, allowing air support to bombard the forest and clear the way for the main force. Instead they had relied on superior training and equipment instead of tactics and now he was paying the price for their terrible strategy.

"Hm." Razajin said mulling over everything else as he considered the plans of action he had been given along with his own. His eyes closed in concentration, blotting out the raw hatred he felt for Venus and the annoyance in the rebels for being this much of a thorn in the Empire's side. There was a lot to do, plenty of angles to consider and not enough people he could trust to handle them nor the time to handle it all himself. "My thoughts?" Allowing a little bit of amusement to creep into his voice as he thought of all the scenarios Venus had forgot to consider and the many ways he could admonish her. "Well first off we need the messenger under tight guard and preferably I'd like to keep her close to me. We all heard the Edict, if she doesn't get to the town hall and resolve it then we all die. I'd imagine that some of the rebels would be willing to give us one last middle-finger by either killing her a.s.a.p or whisk her away until either the planet explodes or we agree to some asinine demands, which we'd never agree to because that would be treason." Staring at Venus for a few moments to let her know that he would not approve of any form of negotiation that would weaken the Empire's appearance or standing. "In fact I think all troops that have already been prepped should prepare our defenses, since hitting us now before we've completely mobilized would be the best chance they got." How this woman had ever been put in charge of an invasion force, Razajin might never know. She didn't even have a clue in military strategy, let alone counter-guerrilla tactics. The rebels knew this would be the tipping point for Bayrios' forces and if they could break the army before they were mobilized then their final assault on Bavaria would certainly fail.

"As for the plans they both have merit and I think we should work both of them until we see which one has more. It sounds like you have the sorceress under wraps so I'll attend to the aristocrat family. Also, Councilwoman Venus...." Feigning hesitation out of fear and respect. "I think it would be best for you not to attend. If this family has remained neutral for this long then it's possible they could turn on us at their convenience if they think the rebels have something better to offer." While he had no doubt in his mind that Venus would see through his paper-thin excuse to be the highest ranking official there, no one could deny the fact that as soon as they exited that compound they were going to be rolling the dice since the rebels would be active now more than ever. It was entirely possible that this was just a plot to capture Venus for the rebellion but not only did Razajin have less worth, he fully relished the idea of walking right into a trap then shooting his way out.

"I rather represent us than risk your life at the event. Also I have been trained in diplomacy and etiquette if that is a worry of yours." Giving her a wide grin that wasn't to reassure her of anything other than the fact he had his own agenda. "Besides you need to keep morale up by continually appearing on tv until our forces are ready to move out and a plan has been set into motion. Let them know that this hasn't affected the ground troops in the slightest, that this is just a good reason to crush the rebellion now rather than later. Talk about how good life is under the Empire, what the soldiers have to look forward to once they make one final push towards Bavaria. We need to inspire them and make the rebels realize how worthless their paltry resistance is. The less ants in the nest, the easier the cleaning will go. We might even be able to convince a few to line up for their own executions." Chuckling as he rubbed his knuckles to hide his eagerness. Everything he was saying had merit so it was going to be down to whether Venus valued her job security more than living, something he was quite interested in seeing the choice she made. "But I can definitely handle the aristocrats, while Major General Havellock mobilizes the forces and you maintain and reinforce Bayrios' influence. That way you can keep tabs on your sorceress if need be and I can find out if the nobles have a back door to Bavaria so both bases are covered. Those are my thoughts on everything so far, I rather not plan much further ahead until we definitively decide on a plan of action for getting into Bavaria. Also if we could set up a stipend for me that would also be great. I wasn't able to bring everything I wanted to since this was supposed to be an extended infiltration mission, not participating in a war. Since the situation has changed I rather have access to equipment to fit the event. Plus a phone, gotta stay in contact with everyone after all." While it was true that The Great Journey was usually all he ever needed to get out and into situations Razajin had a feeling that it wasn't going to cut it this time, when the stakes were so high. Armor, grenades, equipment and contraband were all going to be needed to make sure that this war ended in a victory for the empire and that'd cost credits.

[Nobudi]

As Aermis and her assistant made their way to the database, she noted how much heavier things had become. Even her clothing had taken on a notable weight. She considered shedding off the normal clothing, leaving her with the armored cloak only, but it wasn't quite an appropriate time to disrobe. She'd have all the time to once the job here was done and she was safely off the planet. As also noted to start eating more heartily. Movement in a higher gravity was often a tiring task. Squiddles would need to eat a lot too. Noticing that its movements were somewhat anxious, she placed at hand on it and gently petted it. "We'll get through this Squiddles. Stay strong," she murmured.

The sound of moaning did pique her interest, as the duo headed downwards towards where the database should be. She had an inkling of what it could be, and was immediately rewarded when she flung the door open. Oh, it was quite the sight for her eyes, and even Squiddles had to applaud from the magnificent performance of the very sexy librarian flashing the pair as they entered the room. "Don't worry," she smirked as she was introduced to the newly named Iseul. "That's mild compared to when I was once in your position..." she drifted off, to a different time before snapping back to reality. "Never mind that. In your case, feel free to continue, I don't mind." She begant to glance around, before starting with her introduction. "I am Aermis, and this one here is my assistant, Squiddles. At your service," she announced, throwing a hand to her writhing tentacle fleshed creature. "I came to inspect the Archives."

She paused for a moment, before also asking slowly, "Are you feeling... unusual at the moment? Aside from the atmosphere?" There's something weird. How could she possibly missed the announcement that the planet was to implode in less than a weeks time?

[Fantasy Fanatic]

Seeing Derek being followed without his knowledge, seeing as how the men were carrying pipes, Marta knew this was bad news. Getting the attention of her colleagues, she made them aware of the possibly oncoming problem as well. If these people decided they were going to take out their rage on those just doing their jobs, they had another thing coming to them. And of course, if they felt confident enough to take on a trained solider by themselves, they might appreciate going up against several more.

Marta leads some of the soldiers after the group shadowing Derek, readying her own weapon just in case.

As they make it to the alley, she sees the group already having confronted Derek, the woman pointing a gun at him and accusing him of having a way out of this mess. Having put one of her colleagues under threat, forcing him to get them off planet, despite being unable to do so made Marta angry. Hearing Derek's claim to have been sent to this planet just to die, made Marta just as angry. Coming on from behind, she used swiped the legs from right under the woman while forcing the arms holding the gun upwards and away from Derek or anyone else. Marta was confident those she brought with her would be able to handle the two men as she took care of the more dangerous element. As she makes the woman fall, she attempts to force her to release the gun by kicking it out of her grip.

[RavenLord]

Victor quirked an eyebrow at his superior. He hadn't expected see his normally uptight and stern superior scrambling to run away. He wondered for a second if her intention to run from harsh reality through sex and debauchery was because of Blackwell's own personality or she was influenced by the aphrodisiacal atmosphere of Patria. Sadly Viktor had no time to satisfy his own curiosity due to more pressing concerns, like saving his own life. Turning his attention back to Blackwell, he gave the woman a warm smile.

"I think it will be harder finding an unoccupied prostitute rather than an operational brothel though i don't think you will face any difficulties finding willing sex partners. With imminent doom hanging up on their hands, there will be a good amount of people seeking solace and relief through sexual intercourse. As for me, well, you are right. I don't have any family or friends. Don't worry though, i have my own plans."

Victor turned to leave.

"Take care Miss Director, and don't forget your condoms. Wouldn't want to catch any diseases afterall." he called out as he left.

He made his way through the floors and stairs with impressive speed. It didn't take him much time to reach the main entrance and soon he was out of the hospital. All the while he thought, about his situation and how to survive Overlord's newest temper tantrum. While some people might object to that description, it was exactly what Overlord was doing, throwing a hissy fit like a child who didn't get what he wanted, except the child in this case had the capability to destroy whole planets. In essence, all of the edicts Overlord had issued up until this point had been a case of "If i can't have it, no one can.".

Yet Viktor couldn't blame all of this on the mentally stunted child with a superweapon. After all he knew that Patria was not completely under Overlord's rule when he first arrived on the planet. He could have chosen another planet, he probably should have chosen another planet, yet loose law enforcement and other unique opportunities Patria had offered made him disregard that fact. In his defense, Viktor had believed the planetary governor and her forces to be at least capable enough to crush the rebels. He also hadn't expected Overlord to act in such a moronic way, throwing away all those efforts spent on integrating Patria into his empire along with countless numbers of assets and loyal followers on a whim.

Viktor couldn't help but sigh in exasperation as he moved towards the staff parking lot. Thinking Overlord's and his own past actions didn't help his current situation. What he needed was a plan to save his own hide. As it was Viktor saw two options he could take. First option was to leave the planet which meant finding a way through the blockade around Patria. To do that, he needed more information about the blockade. His second option was to help the councilwoman and her army win this war. And while Vİktor was a brilliant doctor and a scientist, he was no soldier or commander. He could shoot a gun well enough and defend himself with some skill but that was it. Plus he had little desire to put himself in harm's way. No, his best bet was looking for a way off this planet.

Thankfully he had some contacts he could call upon, people he had found useful enough to keep open a line of communication. As he unlocked his car, a humble SUV, and got inside, he dialed the first person on his list, a smuggler named Todewind from whom he had purchased great amount of equipment for his personal lab. Some of the stuff he needed were his experiments were either very rare or very illegal, sometimes both but Todewind had been able to provide for most of his needs.

Come to think of it, he was also going to need to dismantle his lab and see what he could salvage in case he found a way off planet. That was not something Viktor was looking forward to. He had spent a good deal of effort setting up his own personal lab and he was very reluctant to abandon it. Still he could always set himself a new lab, his life on the other hand was not so easy to replace.

[Icaelus]

The edges of Eve's lips twitched up in the slightest of smiles as she watched her aunt wrestle with the TV remote. Aunt Eleanor certainly didn't seem like the kind of person to spend too much time watching television. She seemed more studious; the type that could pore over books and texts for hours at a time. Eve did enjoy the occasional mystery or romance novel, but the stuff people like Eleanor researched was way, way beyond her..
"Ah, maybe try that red button..or that, then."
Eve's attempt to assist her aunt in her quest to switch off the TV via remote fell flat when Eleanor promptly stalked up to the offending screen and switched it off manually. Sorry, Leonardo. Not quite the time for seafood escargo recipes. A deep, exasperated sigh leaked out from Eleanor as she turned back to face her niece.
She nodded in acknowledgement at Eleanor's greeting, picking up on her aunt's mood easily. She was tense..and incredibly so. Well, the planet's fate was currently up in the air. Only difference was that she was trying not to think about it too hard to stave off the inevitable stress-induced headache.

Evelynn looked over to the panicking Anna, stepping over to place a soothing hand on her cousin's shoulder. Reassuring her when they were in straits this dire was just cheap talk..but well, she could at least try to help calm her.
"There's nothing to be sorry about, Anna. In fact, I'm glad that I'm here. This way, at least I can help you guys out, right?"
She patted her cousin's shoulder reassuringly. It wasn't far from the truth. She wasn't too happy about how things had turned out, but she had visited the planet with an impending Edict, hadn't she? It was just rather unfortunate that Bayrios had picked such a time to pop a surprise test on his minions.
And if she was able to lend any assistance to her family in surviving this, all the better, right?
Eve reaffirmed her convictions. They would make it through this, no matter what. So that there would be no regrets..and she couldn't leave Mom alone, could she? Losing Dad had been painful enough for the both of them..
Setting aside her worries for now, Eve returned her attention to her aunt as she began speaking, announcing that she needed to make a call. An important one, no doubt. What machinations had Aunt Eleanor been working in the shadows of Patria's war?
Trailing after her as per her request, Eleanor led them both to a halt before some bookshelves. A quick gesture brought up a symbol interface which she operated flawlessly, practiced motions that left Eve slightly awed. The shelves parted and the stone tiles they stood upon shifted around to uncover a hidden passage that led even deeper down into this underground home.
"..Just how deep does this place run? It's amazing."
Her quiet musings still echoed within the confines of the passageway as they made their way down towards Eleanor's personal quarters. Sigil lighting kept the otherwise dark passage well-lit, the symbols casting an somber orange glow down on them as they walked.

The passageway ended, opening up into what frankly was a rather odd-looking room. For one thing that made it seem strange, almost everything was fashioned from stone! From tables and chairs to even a picture frame that Eve had to step closer to inspect before she was sure that it was yes, made of stone. If nothing else, Aunt Eleanor was a very, very accomplished mage..
Quite honestly, it left Eve wondering if she should've focused a bit harder on her Sigil theory and practicals..
She walked over to one of the comfy-looking sofas that encircled the coffee table in the middle of the room, sinking into the plush seating with a soft sigh. Thank god the cushions weren't made out of stone, too. That would've been quite uncomfortable. Watching Eleanor stalk over to the table before her and snatching up a rather antique-looking telephone, she was reminded of the fact that she too, had a little call to make..
"Mom's going to be worried sick.."
Evelynn grumbled, slipping a hand into her pocket to retrieve her mobile. Almost as if on cue, the device buzzed to life with an incoming call lighting the screen up. Figures..

"Hello? Mom?"
Eve spoke, then hurriedly pulled the mobile away from her ear just in time to avoid the initial loud outburst demanding the status of her well-being. Yep, yep. Same as usual.
"Moooom. I'm fine, okay? I'm at Anna's. And we're discussing what to do right now. Don't worry too much..alright?"
A small smile crept onto Eve's face, despite the situation. She couldn't help it. For two years, she had basically just brushed away both her mother and father away in her pursuit for revenge. That decision had left no one happy..and Dad was gone now. She had been making a conscious effort now to mend their relationship and thankfully, her mom thought the same way..or to be honest, she had just always been waiting for her. For her to finally come back home.
"Don't tell me NOT to worry, young lady. You're stuck on a planet that's doomed for destruction with no way off and you're telling me to not worry?!"
Her mother growled over the phone, very obviously worried about her daughter stranded on a possibly doomed planet. There was a silence lasting several seconds before her mother simply just sighed out loud.
"Evelynn Lisbeth Graele. You're an adult now..well, only just, but yes. I know what you can do and are willing to do. But..come home safely, please. I'll see what I can do from my end..but till then, I'll be waiting, alright? And give your aunts, uncle and cousin my regards."
Evelynn Lisbeth Graele. Her full name, which funnily was mostly only used by her mother to address her when she was dead serious.
"I will, Mom. I'll be fine."
She tried to reassure her mother again, but her gut feeling told her that unless she had her feet on Ainheim IV's ground and presumably wrapped in her mother's embrace, it was probably a futile effort. She..could understand that. Being helpless to do anything besides worry was horrible. To be able to only look on from the sidelines..
Eve hung up the call with a sigh, looking over to both her aunt and cousin with a rather bitter smile. Aunt Eleanor was still engaged in her own call, and from the way she was barely restraining herself from yelling into the receiver, things seemed to be going awry with whoever was on the other side of the call.
And frankly, Eleanor was speaking loud enough for Eve to be easily able to listen to whatever was going on. Something about a deal..and a three day deadline. Eleanor slammed the receiver back down onto the telephone, signalling the end of the call. Not on a good note, it seemed.

And for some reason as her aunt glanced to her and Anna, Eve felt a small shiver spark through her spine. She definitely wasn't getting a good feeling from whatever "help" that Eleanor required of them..
"Happy to oblige."
Eve shrugged, smiling as she beckoned Anna over to walk alongside with as she too pulled herself away from the comfort of the soft sofa to follow Eleanor. They left the office through a rough-looking yet sizable hole. It led them to two paths, both apparently massive tunnels that could fit an army's advance. Just..what was going on?
As if to assuage Eve's thoughts, Eleanor spoke up almost immediately, explaining that she had made a deal with Venus, that councilwoman of Bayrios'. The tunnel was for Venus' forces to have a straight march right into the heart of Bavaria, Patria's capital. Certainly a decisive blow to land, too..
So why hadn't she completed the tunnel yet? Surely this "help" didn't involve the both of them picking up a shovel and hacking away at rock-hard earth, right?
Evelyn's mental question answered itself as they neared the end of the tunnel, the passage opening out into a wider cavern..full of spiders. Car. Sized. Spiders. And that was where they came in, apparently.
"You have to be joking. Just how many of those things are down there? And graces, they're MASSIVE. Why does every damn thing on the planet have to be so damn big?"
Eve cursed, though she was mindful of her volume. No alerting those horrible, horrible things down there in that hellhole. She looked to Eleanor, shooting her aunt an inquiring glance.
"Aunt Elen, you seem to be an accomplished mage if you've already managed..well, all this."
She waved at their surroundings, indicating Eleanor's work with the tunnel so far.
"So why not just collapse the roof on them to clean them out, then dig through?"
Evelyn proposed. It seemed a logical move..and if anyone here was capable of such a feat, Aunt Eleanor was. But then again, Eve doubted that if Eleanor hadn't considered that option before..perhaps something was stopping her from acting out on such a move?

"Spiders. Why spiders, just why? Urgh..gross."
Eve grumbled her complaints, nevertheless still pulling her SMG from the hip holster it was usually kept in. Quick ammo check on the laser battery; full charge. She highly doubted that it was just going to take a single cell of energy to blast down all those damned arachnids, however. Seemed like she was going to get in a little Lightning Sigil practice, maybe?
And with Anna here..she looked to her cousin. She had displayed a keen skill with knife throwing and possibly knife techniques, but getting into a CQC with spiders the size of a car seemed like a horrible, horrible idea. For one, those fangs were big. Really big. But most importantly, it would be super gross, yuck.
"Any ideas, Anna?"

[Yana]

The curse, hm? Is that it?

Annaliese sunk into a seat, fatigued by this onrush of reality. Resting her chin on her palms, she stared. It had always seemed so irrelevant.

She knew magic. It was part of their universe on its very basest level, from the rocks and the trees, to the atoms of stars and the very blood within them. Thus, their curse: as real as any Edict. Her mother was the first to tell her the story. At the time, it was hocus-pocus - fairy tales to scare children into doing their chores by suggestion of unknowable doom, and Annaliese, precocious as she was, wouldn't be fooled. Mom laughed and smiled with her: If they had been cursed, she said, it would have to do a lot worse than blessing her with such a lovely daughter. Time passed, and amid the highs and lows of childhood, a curse bringing death and destruction was an impertinent joke, good only to be pondered on sleepless nights. That was enough for a kid.

Of course, life changed.

As far as her mind could reach, Annaliese had little but good memories. But that hot evening so many years ago where she learned the truth was a swollen bruise – something only the wisdom of age and the love of her parents had helped her process. She could still smell the blood if she thought deeply enough. She was soaked – her mouth tasted like copper. It was too humid. The candle flame howled in agony.

So, it had come for them.

Aunt Elen's touch broke her mental haze. The world flicked painlessly back into focus. Annaliese looked up, her ears twitching automatically. Auntie's hands were always cool and dry. It took a moment for the girl's head to come back online – she nodded blankly to her aunt's question. She knew, as Anna had guessed – there seemed to be little her aunt didn't know, but it was rarely Anna's place to ask what should have been done.

Even more clarifying was Evelynn's comforting hand. Annaliese looked up at her cousin and smiled bashfully – Eve's red eyes glinted with resolve that couldn't be feigned. She was embarrassed to have lost control of herself in front of someone as strong as this. Anna clasped her hand over Eve's: her skin was rough and calloused, something that gave Anna a moment of curious pause before she thought it better to not make a conversation out of it.

With Evelynn's help, she rose to her feet. There were things to do – time to act like a big girl.

“Thanks, Eve. I really appreciate that. I know we all do.” Annaliese said. She gave her cousin a quick squeeze. Hard to resist.

It was true. Evelynn had every reason to be angry at them – at this terrifying stroke of misfortune, whether bound by a curse or not. This didn't have to be her problem, but so long as she was here, Annaliese felt much better. Everything she'd experienced of her cousin seemed to validate Uncle Matt and Aunt Sofia's flowery parental impression of her, and then some. It was odd but welcome to feel such an aura of power and expertise from someone only a few years her senior.

“I'm sorry, I spaced out there for a second. Um, yes, of course. I'll go get my things.” she said, sweeping around the corner to pry her knife from her bulletin board and grab her cloak and the Shopkeeper from the top of her door. She returned a few moments later, funneling shells into the gun one by one to the tune of satisfying clacks. Now loaded, Annaliese expertly racked the slide with a swift gesture and whisked it under her cloak, double-checking her knife as she watched Auntie Elen effortlessly draw up a Stone Sigil against the great room wall. This clicked with Annaliese immediately.

“Oh...!”

She'd always supposed there was plenty of space in this house she'd never known about. Auntie valued her privacy and the arcane arts demanded a great deal of room. While Anna was visibly bemused, it was only a mild surprise that something had lurked behind these heavy bookshelves all this time. Minding the shifting stone, she leaned in to get a better look at the corridor beyond: It was rougher and less traveled than the rest of the house.

A cool draft tickled her cloak. With a glance at her cousin, Annaliese followed, though her steps were weighed by a tingle of hesitation. Even with her permission, Anna was so accustomed to Aunt Elen's life being off-limits to her that it felt strange and risky to be down here.

“Isn't it? There's all kinds of secret stuff in this place even I don't know about.” she whispered to Eve as she scanned the plain walls. She thought of conjuring a flame to light the way, but the slanting passage promptly opened up into a well-lit room.

Annaliese's eyes widened. Not for what she was seeing, but for the fact that she had seen it.

“Whoa.” she mouthed automatically. It was... stone!

This must have been Aunt Eleanor's office – one of them, at least. Top to bottom, the distinctly circular room and nearly everything in it was painstakingly crafted from stone, something that would have meant little in this home were it not clear that her aunt had gone to immense inconveniences to avoid disclosing its existence to anyone: the furniture was nothing like Dad's work, so it must have been bought. Annaliese supposed it would've been suspicious if Aunt Elen asked for so much extra furniture.

True to her aunt's nature, the office was remarkably spartan with only some basic efforts taken to keep it from being an uncomfortable eyesore. While money had never been a problem for them, Mom's tendency to splurge on cute furniture and décor always made for amusing encounters purely on point of principle from Auntie. A toasty fireplace warmed the room. Annaliese stepped inside gingerly, traveling her fingers curiously across some of the arcane tomes and strange paraphernalia neatly sorted around the room.

Most bizarre of all, of course, was the crude hole conspicuously excavated into the wall nearby. A kind of unfinished doorway, she supposed.

Not wanting to seem impolite, Anna followed Evelynn to the couch and sat opposite, folding her hands on her lap. She stole a curious look at the ancient telephone on Auntie's desk – that thing must've been at least two hundred years old. An excellent way to avoid modern surveillance, Anna realised, and distinct of her aunt. She never did have patience for technology – the television especially. But that was only the side effect of a life spent with the arcane and not with modern society. As she made her call, Anna was quietly torn on whether to eavesdrop or not.

To that end, Evelynn's mention of Aunt Sofia was a welcome coincidence. Annaliese pulsed with excitement, smiling widely. When her phone chose that moment to ring, the girl had to restrain a giddy little snicker. Like mother, like daughter. The tinny blast of noise that greeted her cousin from the other end of the line nearly had Anna in tears, a moment of humour that was quickly cut down by Aunt Eleanor's anger. Annaliese's face straightened in an instant, and she glanced over her shoulder with concern.

Her aunt was tense with cold anger, her brow furrowed deeply as it often was when the sorceress was frustrated. But true anger wasn't something that came easily to Aunt Elen, even in difficult circumstances: She was very efficient about erasing the source of her troubles before she let herself become emotional – especially people. The girl did her best not to stare as her aunt's voice rose, instead doing her best to look at Evelynn.

Most concerning of all was that someone was getting the better of her aunt. That never happened.

Who in the world could do that?

She smiled politely at her cousin.

“Tell them I said 'hi'!” Anna leaned in to whisper. She could hear Aunt Sofia barking at her daughter through the speaker and didn't need to hear to know what was being said. Arguing over the phone was just about programmed into every parent. As the two tidied up their little spat, Anna returned Eve's smile with a warm look. She would have to give her aunt and uncle a call when she had a moment – it was grim to consider, but if things went poorly for Patria it would be her last chance to talk to them... or say goodbye.

The crack of a phone hitting its receiver overtook that thought. Sensing her irritated aunt had something to say, she stood. A sidelong glance to Eve confirmed her cousin was reasonably apprehensive, but Anna could tell that she'd do whatever needed to be done. It was all of them at stake, after all.

“Oh, yes. Of course!” Anna nodded immediately. Help was something she was used to giving, and in times like these she trusted that her aunt would be the one with a plan. She followed, albeit a little disappointed they had to go into the sketchy little hole. The girl minded the draft as she stepped inside, squinting to adjust to the sickly yellow light that illuminated what looked to be an enormous, roughly hewn tunnel – not too dissimilar to a mine shaft, Anna thought, and wide enough to pass a lot of people or gear through. It was too crude to be an extension of the house.

“Wow, this is certainly a tunnel.” she observed, tracing the pitted surface of the rock as they turned down a fork in the path.

Venus?

Annaliese winced. It was hard for a Patrian to not know that name – Venus was the woman in charge of leading the Overlord's forces on this planet, and crazier yet, she was a member of the Council! Anna knew her aunt consorted with many powerful people ranging from the political to the arcane, but it was spectacular indeed to confirm her influence reached as far as Councilwoman Venus and maybe beyond. Still, that was definitely a person who could give even her aunt pause – not that she would let that disrespect go unpunished in the end, of course. She was a woman who held grudges.

Honestly, out of all of this, what disturbed her the most was the thought of some greasy soldiers stomping through her house on their way to Bavaria, but she supposed Aunt Elen would dig an entrance elsewhere. Until now, Anna had no reason to care about the direction of this dumb war. It all seemed so petty and childish – one walk in Passerna was proof enough that a lot of people felt the same when they had some privacy, and heck, even the soldiers themselves would rather hang out than waste their time shooting at some random guy on some peaceful little planet they had no reason to care about.

Anna bit her cheek. She didn't imagine her aunt had anything to gain from all this trouble, either. If she had to guess, it was why she bothered working with Venus in the first place – after all, it was easier to dig a tunnel and help end all this silliness than fend off an army. And besides, right now it was looking like Homeland's victory would just spell the whole planet blowing up.

Thus, they came to Aunt Elen's problem.

“Oh... yes. That's quite a problem.” Annaliese said matter-of-factly.

She cringed. Big spiders weren't new to her, even if their stature could give Grim a run for his money. There were plenty of creepy-crawlies on Patria, after all, most of them harmless or poorly evolved to handle gunfire. No, what concerned her was the nest, something she'd actually never seen before since they lived so deep underground: the walls and the ceilings were fortified with a structure of thick gossamer webbing, suspending clutches of disturbingly large cyst-like objects Anna wagered were eggs.

A good number of spiders trudged indolently back and forth, tiny fledglings skittering around them or in between the strands of webbing. A couple were hard at work spinning new material to expand the nest. It was a big one, and judging by the colours on the belly, these were Yellow-Fangs: a particularly territorial breed of Patrian arachnid with a bad attitude towards humans.

“Well, Patria's atmosphere is high in oxygen... it's part of why the tourists get all happy. I think it means organisms grow bigger or something?” Anna explained to Eve, although her cousin's complaint was probably rhetorical. Her half-remembered science classes couldn't provide the best explanation anyway. The black-haired young woman was aflame with alarm, something Anna found amusing – there wasn't much wildlife on Ainheim, she understood. Wasn't much wildlife like Patrian wildlife, either.

“Mm, you could do that, but Yellow-Fangs like these are kinda tenacious. They only need a few eggs to make a whole new nest.” Anna said. Still...

“Eve's got a point though, Auntie – why not just kill them all with a spell? One of your Fire Sigils could burn this whole nest in a minute, right? Is something wrong?” Anna said. There were plenty of more elegant options that'd be child's play for her aunt, of course: Engineering an Atrophy spell to infect and destroy the entire colony was a classic if you wanted a permanent solution, but such a thing had to be done a la carte and took time to perfect.

Anna hummed thoughtfully. Spiders, eh?

“Hmm... I really wish we had Dad's flamethrower right now. Guess we don't have enough time to run over. Grim likes to squish 'em, too.” she said, rubbing her palms and exhaling in preparation.

“Well, there's not that many. Guess we can do it the old-fashioned way, right?” she said, offering a light smile to Eve.

She swept the Shopkeeper out from its holster. It could turn anything into mist inside 20 metres, and she already knew the big bugs were no exception.

“One pump each should do the trick.”

[Meep Meepersons]

Nola wasn't unaffected by the increase in gravity, but she wasn't about to show it so easily. She remained upright despite her hair flattening to her head and her clothes straightning themselves out as if they were wet. Even during the ride to their destination she didn't let up her tough facade. Shortly after being dropped off Donnovan was over the wall and Layla was done setting up her explosives. Zu was off doing her sexy thing and Nola was a bit Jealous of the guards. With a smirk, she looks to Laylah as she asks aabout doing something while they wait. "Well, if it doesn't turn you off, want to play with my cock? It's huge and meaty also a bit uhh, exotic?" She says quizzically to her own statement. She didn't know exactly how to discribe it considering it was like some kinda freakish science experiment her parents ended up creating. With out really waiting for an answer she undoes some of her armor, exposing her chest, abs, crotch, ass, and inner thighs. Though she pulled the crotch bit away from her body last, making show of her cock slowly creeping out of it's sheath, slick and slimey from her own lubricants. "So, wanna try taming it?" She asks, a few tendrles teasing her own cumslit as the rest simply wrap wrings over the top of her cock, dealing in their own way with the excess gravity.

[Nicoffee]

MONDAY, 2ND OF PATRIA'S FEBRUARY. 9:45 AM PLANETARY TIME. 8:10 PM BAYRIOS CAPITAL TIME.

Nola

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Laylah was looking off somewhere else when she heard the proposal, though it took her a second to actually process it before she replied. "Heh, forward, eh? Well, I mean, I guess I wouldn't mind that, but you might be a bit surprised." She stated, lifting up her large robotic gauntlets. "These two babies here aren't exactly delicate, so unless you got a-" She was cut off as she turned to the side to look at Nola just popping her clothes off. "...Particularly large dick...Huh, well fuck me, you look like you could actually take it." She mumbled, blinking a few times as she analyzed your alien-looking prick. Without any further word, Nola would suddenly feel Laylah's massive hand wrap around her cock, a feeling that was rather unusual for her, herself, seeing as the average person would never be able to fit her tool in their palm.

It felt...Surprisingly warm to the touch, the straight leathery edges of of Laylah's massive digits squeezing hard around Nola's shaft. The palm of that monster that Laylah called a hand pressed against the crown of Nola's cock. "This model of prosthetic I'm using." She began explaining. "They had originally built these for mining and hard construction work." Laylah stated, sticking her tongue out. "I use it for "destruction work"...And the occasional...Situation like this one...Installed a few toys." A wide, wicked grin spread across her face, before Nola could even question about the 'toys' that Laylah mentioned, she began to feel the first of them, as she felt a singular metal tube suddenly slip its way inside her urethra, it slowly and carefully slid its way inside, Nola being able to feel the small tube finding its way halfway down the length of her prick from within before it reached its limit. The gauntlet suddenly shifted until it turned into a tight, leathery cage around Nola's prick, she could feel a faint suction slowly powering up inside of it, as well as the tube beginning to slowly prod its way around the insides of her prick.

"Torque Level 1." Laylah spoke in a calm, nonchalant manner, a loud 'whirrr' began echoing from the mechanical arm as it slowly began to rotate, both the the tube inside of Nola's prick and the grip around her shaft shifting around with it smoothly. "The engine inside of this arm can go up to level 10...No one's made it past level 4 before." Laylah warned, glancing at you, gauging your current reactions to her strange machine powered hand job/fuck toy. "...Torque Level...3." Her gauntlet let out a short 'beep', before the speed at which it was functioning tripled! Nola's cock went from being gently caressed right down to being violently milked and squeezed in the short interval of a few seconds! Loud, wet noises began echoing out from Laylah's gauntlet as it seemed to be shooting out its own lubricant against Nola's shaft, it mixing up with her own natural stuff as small squirts of sticky lube popped off whatever little crack they could find between Laylah's onahole gauntlet and Nola's prick.

"...So, think you can take Level 4?"

Aermis

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"...Aermis? O-oh! Y-Yes! I received an e-mail about it! Councilwoman Minerva cleared up you to access the Archives freely. I mean...Even if this is Venus's territory, Minerva's the Intelligence Boss around here, eh?" She grinned with a short, sheepish 'squee' to follow it up with. "Are you looking for something specific? Each of these computers here is connected to a different database, we have accounts, military records, planetary registries, ..." She questioned, moving out of the way for you to walk past her. She wasn't wearing pants still but...Well, I guess it didn't matter at this point, did it? "S-sorry about that display, I still haven't really adjusted to this atmosphere at all." She huffed, dropping her shoulders. "...It's the fourth time today and I'm still..." She mumbled, a small trickle of her own arousal dripping down her thighs as if to finish her words for her before she snapped back to the matter at hand. "A-ah, sorry, TMI! TMI! U-Uhm...Different? How so?" The librarian questioned, rubbing the back of her head. That wasn't all, as Aermis began to walk around the archives, she could feel it, this room hadn't been affected by the change in gravity. Did...Did it have its OWN gravity?

"I haven't heard anything but the loud noise from upstairs, I uh...Ended up ignoring it because I was a bit...Preoccupied." She stated, awkwardly fiddling with her fingers.

Razajin

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Venus and Havellock listened in carefully to your words, Havellock seemed to nod in approval, a slight grin appearing around the edges of his scarred face. Venus, however, seemed to analyze with you a blank, maybe slightly annoyed, expression as you spoke. "I vehemently agree!" The major general announced, proudly, nodding his head and then slamming his two hands together with a loud clap. "I'll have the Messenger escorted to the center of this building, she will have a safety retinue with her at all times! My best men shall assure themselves of her utmost safety! I'll round up our supplies and prepare to mobilize by noon."

Venus didn't speak a word, she just stared, her finger tapping lightly against the metal frame of her desk. Razajin got to have a good look at her splices, the large, menacing horns on her head and the demonic, threatening red claw she had on her left hand, her veins around her spliced arm bulged and twitched obscenely, only to then settle down for a few moments.

Razajin Wits 68 - SUCCESS!

This was something Razajin was familiar with, at least in general terms. Symptoms of excessive splicing in short periods of time...Splicing itself wasn't that dangerous, but adding too many, too quickly could cause increased blood pressure...Aggressiveness...Hmm.

Havellock continued to speak. "We have spare equipment, I'm sure we can get you some armor, at least. That way you'll be protected when you go meet up with those aristocrat-"

"Not so fast. I read your file, Minister. Ruthless, ambitious..." Venus finally interjected, raising her hand, a slight grin forming on her lips. "I agree we need to keep the messenger safe, and on fortifying our defenses until we're ready to launch our all-out attack. But I will see the aristocrats, not you, Minister, you will deal with the sorceress." She stated, firmly. "I can handle myself, believe it or not, and this assignment isn't just to make friends. We need to show the rebels that we're not afraid of them, too. Surely, if I were to hide away somewhere else and not show to a meeting I myself scheduled...That would be most...Inappropriate of me. It'd make me look bad, don't you agree? And about the equipment...Well, I'm sure we could get him some shielded clothing, but we want to keep our good stuff for our soldiers who'll be out in the field, no? I don't want the Minister to end up hurt, of course, but I'm sure someone as resourceful as him can make do with just that, it'll call less attention, too, yes? Do get him the phone though, I want to keep informed about all the things he does." She added, her pointy teeth, another splice, apparently, showing under her lips.

Havellock rubbed the back of his head in response to that. "...Well, I mean, the Minister has a point..."

"...Havellock." Venus glared at him. "...I'm still in command here, I give the orders." Her eyes slowly turned to Razajin. "Not, the Minister."

Razajin Resolve 27 Vs. Venus Might 103 (Intimidation)

Havellock bit his tongue, but nodded. Razajin felt a remark building up inside of his throat, but the glare from the councilwoman made him hesitate for a split second, and that was all that was necessary for the general to start speaking himself. "...Yes, Councilwoman." He bowed. "I'll get armored car ready for you."

"Good." Venus smiled. "The sorceress lives in the woods, just outside of Passerna. You might run into some wildlife on the way there but...I'm sure you can handle it, can't you?" She winked, before getting up from her seat. "Now, if you excuse me, I have some local aristocrats to butter up." She stated, dusting off her clothes as she headed for the door.

A few moments later...

Havellock awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, letting out short, annoyed grunts before he turned to you. "...All right, here." He said, handing your new phone over to you. You had been given a set of shielded clothing, more specifically, a jacket, it had small filaments of ion around the edges which created a faint kinetic barrier around your torso. Wasn't exactly top notch protection...But well, at least you would get some protection.

"I've already added in contacts for myself, Venus and the sorceress, she was in contact with...From what I gathered, this sorceress is a bit of a technophobe...So I'm not sure how efficient it'll be for you to call her...Anything else I can help you with before you go?" The soldier asked, crossing his arms.

Marta Lou + Derek

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Two soldiers followed Marta into the alleyway to deal with the thugs harassing Derek. The two soldiers were armed with light pistols and light armor. In an ideal world, the moment Marta attacked the woman with the gun, that would've been the end of that...But, sadly, everyone rather on high tension right now. The moment Marta attacked the leader, the two thugs panicked, raising their weapons to get ready to hit back.



Hostile: Red
Thug 1: No Armor, Light Pistol
Thug 2: No Armor, Pipe (Blunt weapon)
Thug 3: No Armor, Pipe (Blunt weapon)

Allies: Blue
Soldier 1: Light Armor, Light Pistol
Soldier 2: Light Armor, Light Pistol

Marta Lou - Unarmed Attack against Thug 1. 60! HIT! 2 Grazes Inflicted, converted to 1 Wound.

Lyalah

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Rol continued to hump away to her heart's content against Lyalah's delicious body, her own mind quickly turning to putty as she couldn't think of anything but unleashing a final, hot load of her cum inside of the doctor who saved her life. "F-Fuck, I'm c- I'm gonna-" She was cut off by herself as she launched herself forward, slamming her twin cocks all the way inside of Lyalah with a muffled, lust-addled moan as her twin pricks erupted into a torrent of cum into Lyalah's insides, the first few waves filled up Lyalah's cunt and rear and quickly began to squirt out, she could feel the slimy, thick cum swirling around inside of her but a lot of it squeezing its way out through whatever crack it managed to find out of her the tight confines of her insides, Rol quickly pulled back and then slammed herself right back in for a second blast, this one pushing the previous load further inside the good doctor's insides and sealing itself inside of the doctor. Lyalah felt herself slightly heavier, glancing down to see a faint bulge in her belly, caused by the excessive amounts of semen unloaded inside of her pussy and her rectum. As if to wrap up, Rol slammed herself one more time for a final load, Lyalah getting to see her own belly bulging slightly more as another thick load was deposited inside of her. After that, Rol finally collapsed on top of Lyalah, panting heavily as her half-closed eyes struggled to open themselves back up.

Rol's cocks finally began to grow limp, allowing some of the cum that had been tightly sealed inside of Lyalah to begin dripping out from her abused holes. Rol was just collapsed, sighing happily and satisfied. "...You're really an angel..." She murmured, cuddling up to the doctor.

Echo

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Rivolo rubbed the back of his head. "...Right, right, sorry about that. I'm just...Concerned, is all. She might try to convince you to help her get help from inside the city." Rivolo explained, frowning. "Your...Relatives were arguing about it, too. Your Great Uncle, Grimbald, also seems to think he can use her to make a deal with Bayrios to call off the Edict." The butler stated, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not sure how feasible that is but...Well. I guess we'll see. Whatever happens, I'll be by your side, milady." He stated, nodding slightly.

Rivolo glanced out through the window as the car sped out towards Passerna. "It'll be roughly twenty minutes until we get to the Passerna Town hall..." He stated, glancing around the car. Rivolo was tense, well, I mean, who wouldn't, the planet was going to blow up. Who wouldn't be tense in a situation like this. He pressed a small button by the side of the seat, which revealed the limousine's drink compartments, Rivolo pulled out what appeared to be whisky and nonchalantly began to pour himself a shot. "...Sorry, I'm a bit stressed...You don't mind right, Miss?"

Annaliese + Evelynn

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"I considered using a high-powered spell, sadly, there were some complications." She explained, watching the two of you get ready to use your guns. "Just watch where you two point those things...Anyways...There's a river right on top of us. If I were to mess with the stone here too much, I'd risk collapsing this whole structure down, the water would flood the tunnels and...Well, our house." Ellen stated, scratching the back of her head, her ashen gray ears twitching lightly. "Fire sigil would create a lot of carbon dioxide...Which would get directed, again, to our house, unless I dug some vents along the way. I still intend to make the tunnel actually start all the way over from Passerna, that side is almost finished." She explained, taking one more look at the spiders, as if measuring them up, before she began to draw a sigil against the nearby wall. "I was considering using an emotion or atrophy sigil, to force the spiders to move out or just wither them out. Sadly, it seems I won't have enough time for something as clean as that. So we'll just have to go for something a little more...Rustic."

There was a loud 'crack' in the stone after Eleanor's sigil was finish as a singular small handle seemed to emerge out from the stone, Eleanor gripped the handle firmly with one hand and, with a single firm motion, pulled a gigantic, crude sword, which, honestly, with how it was shaped, it would probably work more like a club than a sword proper, out of the wall.



The wall itself quickly crumbled shortly after, Eleanor analyzed the sword on her hand for a bit before resting it against her shoulder. "We need to find their Queen and their nest, break it and they won't be a problem anymore. Ideally speaking, we should get rid of all the spiders in here, too, though I'm sure the soldiers can handle any stragglers later...If we're lucky, one of them eats Venus." The sorceress spoke, forcing a bit of a smile, though after a moment, she seemed to glance up and ponder that for a bit.

"...Huh. Anyways, you're the ones with range, I'll be your front line." There was a spider right ahead of the three of you, it didn't seem to have spotted you yet.



Spider 1: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs
Spider 2: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs
Spider 3: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs
Spider 4: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs
Spider 5: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs
Spider 6: Natural Carapace Armor, Big Fangs

Spider Queen: Natural Queen Carapace Armor, Bigger Fangs

Karna

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Yep, I watched the news." Arya stated, a surprisingly calm grin spread across her face. "Andy here is worried and decided to get drunk off his ass."

"We all gonna fuckin' die, but if I'm gonn' die, I'm gonn' die drunk and happy."

"...Sure thing, bro. Anyways, about your idea." Arya mumbles, passing you over another bottle of whisky. "I'd rather not kill the Messenger if we can. The Edict's wording could, in theory, allow that. But hey, I think we're pushing our luck as it is." She stated, sipping some more of her own drink. "If you want to help the movement, we'll take you in. Anyone who thinks that shooting one of Bayrios's sluts is a solution to anything is good in my book." The woman chuckled, before promptly delivering a slap against your rear. "Ease off, though, will ya?"

She stated, getting up from her seat. "I got JUST the assignment for you, too. We recently got ourselves someone who could help us spy into Venus's stuff...But...Well. I don't feel good sending her off by her lonesome. She could feel...Demoralized." Arya chuckled. "So, I'm getting you a ride and you're heading off to meet with this person, who is currently on her way to meet up with Venus herself, if I'm not mistaken. You up for it?"

Victor

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As Victor made his call, it dialed but a few times before Todewind finally picked up. Inside his SUV, the car's display screen connected to Victor's phone and allowed him to keep the call going without having to keep his hands busy, so he could focus on driving. Usually, the screen would also contain a direct transmission of the caller's face, but, since this was Todewind, instead of their face, the transmission simply showed their "persona" that the smuggler had made for themselves, their voice somewhat distorted. The "character" consisted of a masculine figure wearing a shielded suit, wearing a full mask that covered their entire face, the mask, made entirely out of metal, seemed to reflect the nebulae and constellations, as they were projected against the metallic surface.

http://www.wallpaperup.com/uploads/wallpapers/2015/03/25/645537/0c3cc81866cab09295fb64726f36de79.jpg

"Ah, my best client!" The voice announced. "I'm afraid that, if you're going to make any purchases, you're going to need to- Not a purchase?"

You quickly explained your request over to Todewind, you needed a way off this planet.

"...Ah, I see. I was afraid you were still located in Patria, I hoped you'd have moved out somewhere, I'd hate to lose a great customer due to the Overlord's whims." The figure spoke, joining their hands on front of themselves. "I'm afraid that won't be so simple. The increase in gravity isn't merely affecting people's backs...It's also affecting the ships." Todewind explained, snapping his fingers a small display appeared on his transmission, showing a simplified picture of a small space vessel. "Since the gravity has intensified roughly 150%, that means all shuttles are, naturally packing half of their own weight extra than they should be, and gravity seems to be growing stronger by the minute." The ship in Todewind's display was slowly taking off, before it seemed to get violently pushed back down, its engines still on as it only managed to shoot flames pointlessly against the floor.

"Even if you did acquire a ship with enough thrust to rocket you out of the atmosphere, most humans wouldn't be able to handle the pressure on their way out."

"In other words, what you need is a ship that both has thrusters strong enough to lift twice its own weight and can also generate its own interior gravity field, so you won't get destroyed during take off. Now, this kind of stuff...It's not exactly easy to come by. The gravity field part is easy, but such strong rockets haven't been used for centuries. I mean, ever since people discovered faster than light travel for space, you just needed a set of weaker thrusters for take off and another set for FTL travel."

"I know all this, because I have one." Todewind spoke, calmly and matter of fact. "...But, I'm using to evacuate my own personnel and stock. As much as I value your patronage, I'd hate to have to part with any of these." There was a short moment of silence. "Perhaps, though, we could make a trade. I'm not asking for credits, of course, I'm asking for possibly one of the most powerful currencies that we have available to us today...Information. The Overlord has a database set up within the depths of the Town Hall, in Passerna. It connects directly to Councilwoman Minerva's super computer in Dux, the Empire's Capital. I've had...Semi-successful attempts at infiltrating it, so far. But I've yet to gain full access, I've only managed to catch scraps of information that comes and goes through the server's cache, no access to the mainframe. I can e-mail you a program which could grant me access to that computer, but it has to be installed the old fashioned way, inside one of the computers in that database."

"...That's my deal for you, get my program installed in there and I'll guarantee you a ticket out of that death trap...What say you?"

[MelissaB]

Nodding she shakes her head "Yeah i can see that." She comments before taking the bottle and sniffing it before taking a drink only to cough and make a face and push it back towards Arya. "Well merely mentioned it because it's a lot easier than kidnapping when she can't struggle." She mentions before her ears perk and she jumps at little at the spank. Her tail wagging behind her as she glances at Arya and gives her a long look, her rear jiggling from the blow before she extends her claws and taps them on the counter top, the metallic clinks echoing in the bar. "Hey it was an idea only, don't want her dead don't want her dead but it's most definitely the easiest way, edict doesn't even say all of her has to be inside only that she has to be within the building, hell her head alone would work... a leg... arm... a part of her is occupying the building." She comments before nodding at the assignment being offered. "Sure beats being security guard while the world is on the brink of literal collapse." She chuckles before nodding. "What's the ride and sure sooner I catch up the better considering they're already on their way."

[lilbooth]

"No not in the slightest." Said Echo as she watched Rivolo pour a shot. "How does Grimbad think he is going to get the overlord back off. He doesn't seem to care about any of his followers. If there is anyway to end this nonviolently it is through Venus, hell she did it for her planet, she could probably do it again. And I'm not sure what kind of help the councilwoman would expect from us. We can throw our weight around, maybe lobby support for her but we can't exactly fight the resistance." She said as thought back to Byron and what she needed to do to save him. "I appreciate you coming along Rivolo, you have always been dear to me." She said as she slid towards the butler and placed her hand at the base of his neck, gently kneading and squeezing. She waited for the young man to take his shot before her other hand landed on his thigh. "I could help you relieve a bit of stress if you'd like. Least I could do. Wouldn't want you too stiff for the meeting." She said as her other hand began to knead and squeeze as well. This certainly wasn't the first time Echo and Rivolo had been in this situation. Rivolo was far too professional to allow such advances, but Echo had managed to corner him before. "What else did you plan to do for the next 20 minutes?" She asked as she leaned in and nipped delicately at his cheek and throat.

[Nobudi]

Aermis walked around slowly, and in much surprised. No changes to the gravity here? She had a few hypothesis' about why it was how it was, but nothing concrete here. She could try and understand it later. Though, it would be something interesting to note to the Councilwoman. She noted that she was also still leaking, and she seemed a bit uncomfortable, so she continued, "As for the display, it isn't that bad. You have a nice body. Squiddles here even applause the display." She gestured to the tentacle beast in her employ and then said, "If being the only one naked bothers you so much... " she trailed off as she lifted the sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor. She then unbuttoned her skirt and let it pool at her feel, showing her body off below the cloak. The cloak stayed on, since it was an armored piece of equipment. "There," she said. "Now not so bothered now are you? As for your little adjustment problem, feel free to ask my assistant for help. Squiddles would be most eager to help out." Her pet tentacle beast's tentacles almost perked up in response.

She began to move from terminal to terminal. What had Councilwoman Minerva told her? Ah right. She moved over to a certain terminal and used her credentials to access the system. There, she began to filter through the access logs in the system. She wanted to see if there was anyone digitally poking around the firewalls that defended the system. She turned over to the librarian and said, "Iseul, was there anyone here in the database aside from us recently? Do you have some sort of log for who they were?"