RP:Hound Goes to the Pound

From HollowWiki

Part of the Seven Dwarves All Around Me Arc


This is a Rogue's Guild RP.


Summary: After several attempts to lure the Oracle out of hiding, the Rogue's Guild dangles an emotionally explosive and vulnerable Leoxander out in the open. Hearing about his fallout with Eleanor and seeing an opportunity to get back at the Rogue's Guild Leader for past indiscretions, the hag takes the bait, hook, line, and sinker. The only problem is that the All-Seeing Syndicate didn't come after Leo just to talk.


The Office

The Office is on the classier end of seedy cabaret/exotic dancing establishments. Which is to say that it boasts an actual chef, as in a person who studied to make food, and has enough bouncer presence on the floor to offer at least some low alcohol content beverages. Similar to other establishments of this nature, it's got your well lit stage, poles, a diverse cast of dancing women, and surrounding them a population of tables, velvet wing-back chairs, couches, and people who've got nothing better to do (most of them men). Along one of the walls, by the stage, is an opening into a narrow corridor that leads to the dressing rooms for the girls, a lived-in manager's office, and a door with a stairwell that descends to what must be a basement.


There wasn’t a damned thing here for him in Gualon but bad memories. Weeks as a feeder for the spider-queen, the accusatory looks from the public. The desperate moments with Eleanor, or… Ms. Nora… that were too short to count. Hands weren’t in his pockets this time, and once he was far away not to catch any floral or sweet sweat scents of his lover, he began to jog, then he broke into a run. Then he was sprinting like a madman, or a frustrated one, trying to outrace all of those feelings. Street became path, then dirt, then some branches in his way, as he cut right across toward Kelay territory, taking the wild road. His eyes flared gold but his body didn’t shift, his speed enhanced more than a human wearing near three pound boots should attain. Near two decades he’d plagued that world and he knew every trail and turn to find the fastest way to his destination.

Only as he crossed the Cenril bridge did he slow down, still wearing that casual attire of a ripped tee with his brother’s mug faded on the back, the Larket bird on the chest, his jeans worn to wear low on his hips but secured by that kinda bent buckle. His breath exhaled as a hot fog since the sun was quick to set before he moved under the gate of the seashore city and headed north toward the pull of another memory. Nearly every time he’d gone to the Office, it was to find Eleanor. This time, it was to present himself as too curious, too careless, to inspect the cage with it’s dead runes or break in long after any employee had clocked out, no lights or music or patrons haunting the fronted club. It wouldn’t take much for the rogue to break in, and he opened the door to darkness his nocturnal eyes could still penetrate, particularly tinted and leaking with a bit of leftover lycan-gold. Aware, alert, but still playing the part, he sought to pry his way into Eleanor’s office. Wait - was this actually playing a part? Or did his mind still want to search her stack of papers again for more clues? He hesitated on that decision, looking between the scratched office door, and the locked door to the basement.


Nora Large followed after Leo with a purpose, her pace slow but steady. Even when she couldn't see him, she could *feel* him through a Bond that only they could share. Through this invisible connection, the Fox tracked the wolf for once rather than the other way around, trailing after the lovesick Lycan until they left the relative safety of the swamp city.

Once they had, however, she let the space between them blossom and grow, a few dozen yards turning into a few miles, then turning into a few dozen miles. By the time he was racing through Milous Plains and heading toward her favorite city of sin, her own journey slowed then came to a complete stop. The guise of Nora was not one she was inclined to have seen in Cenril, not yet. Not to mention, she could not keep up with his pace through the wilderness, and it was a nearby hamlet she turned to instead.

It wasn't more than a few buildings tucked into a copse of poplars, but it would suffice for the chameleon. Goodbye to Ms. Nora Large; there was only one face who would work and work it well she needed.

The red hair was at last abandoned, albeit earlier than planned. And the green hue that the wolf himself had professed to miss was coming into sharp focus in the quiet barn she had chosen for her change. She removed Lita's corset, pulling a scrap of blue from her belt. It grew far more extensive than the hidden compartment seemed capable of containing until it was her cerulean skirts and matching leather half-vest.

Shrugging into the vest, pulling the leather strings tight, she unfurled the gauzy curtain to descend from where it had been secured around her ribs. The soft cerulean tulle that spread across her midriff did little to veil the flurry of azure ink suddenly blossoming across every bit of exposed flesh, curving around her wide hips and around her back. Keeping the jeans on, she secured the tabard-like skirt over it. Somehow, she was able to tuck the corset back into that mystical leather belt of hers without damaging any of the bones that lined it. The gem faded into view, and last but not least, her iron crown reappeared around it.

With the rest of her tattoos, the sinful stain of ebony had returned too, complete with the strange blue-red scars crisscrossing it, a reminder of their attempt to destroy the Hag's cursed wand. After pulling on black leather gloves, she tousled her fingers through her long waves of flax and wheat before the closest proper door was sought out.

Somehow, Eleanor knew where he had gone, where he needed to go. She pulled out the disc-like medallion, the final part of her new guise. And she knew as she stepped into the guardhouse at Cenril's west gate that they were going to need all the help they were going to get.

Of course, the guards within the gatehouse were startled at the shadow-cloaked figure emerging from one of their doors into their enclosed space. But Fox didn't have time to waste judging the merit of her plan. They barely had time to draw their weapons as she thrust her right fist in front of her, and a blinding flash of white-blue light exploded out from it.

The guards cried out in alarm, some holding their shielded arms up in delayed reactions, another surging forward despite their eyes squeezed tightly shut. Fox closed in on the first quickly and mercifully, her poison daggers drawn and sliced across their neck as she danced through them, pivoting away from their slow attacks before another was downed with that sharp blade thrust into his gut, twisted and dragged through their bowels. Withdrawing her weapon, their intestines spilled out, and the man stumbled to his knees before collapsing in front of her. The third guard slashed wildly with her sword, but Fox calmly stepped over the second guard and pushed the erroneous swipe away as if it were nothing more than a bee buzzing incessantly around.

Fox said nothing as she continued to move forward and gripped her left hand around the throat of one of Cenril's finest. The guard dropped their weapon with a clang of metal against the stone floor, lifting both hands to try and pry away the assassin's hand. The shadow-cloaked woman's hand squeezed tighter, shoving the guard forcefully back against the nearest wall, and with the sound of crushing bone in Fox's arcana-infused iron grip, the guard began choking, struggling against her. And then her eyes rolled back in her sockets, and Fox let their body slump to the ground, joining the first two.

The guardhouse was quiet as blood spread across the floor. Fox used her cloak to wipe it off her dagger before the blade disappeared through her sleeves and into its magic holster, tattooed to her forearms. With that part of the plan taken care of, she turned back to the door, and for a beat, she paused.

Hesitated.

Drew in a steady breath.

Hand on the doorknob, she turned it, activating the portal to walk through the front door of The Office.

The smell of Leo was potent in that first step, and she didn't need to slide her pale celadon eyes left across the lobby to know precisely where he was standing. She did anyway, almost regretting it as she slowly lifted her eyes, finding him caught in his own indecision.

They had just seen each other, hadn't they? She could still smell bits of him on her … But it wasn't just the wolf she could sense, nor was it his presence alone that started to cause the fine hairs at her nape to prickle on end.

The club was empty save the two of them, but the queen of rogues was so-called for a reason. She felt them crawling through the streets, knowing they weren't more than a block or two away. And her heart began to pound, doubt and panic tightening her chest. This was the right idea, wasn't it? Draw her to him?

After her encounter with the old hag last year, she had set up a series of markers throughout her favorite city to ensure she knew exactly when that (w)itch stepped foot in it. Everything had been quiet, but … someone had been waiting too, hadn't they? Waiting for him to step foot in that club, waiting for her to follow him to it.

Cursing, she locked eyes with her lover, and with her voice still rough and low, told him, "They're comin'."


Leoxander | Stealthy as his enemy was, he felt an echo of what she felt, as if attuned to those very streets to know the weight of their paced, even steps at a distance. Just before he lost his ability to enunciate even somewhat discernibly. “Out of sight…” He encouraged the spellrogue, even if the Oracle or whatever was on the way knew that the rogue’s (former) partner and ally probably wouldn’t be far, the shadows she could manipulate and weave with that pendant that showed crows only to crows, he hoped would be a start to a successful concealment. Until the time came that whoever opened that door might be half convinced they were fighting the beast on his own. The bulk of his hybrid frame, haunched but still weighed upon two, large, clawed, digitigrade hind feet, that distressed pair of dark jeans further wrecked as a hand ripped and dropped scraps up to his knees aside. He didn’t betray his position or preemptive awareness with the exhale of a growl, but on bated breath, sank into a half crouch with his eyes through the open office door toward the open room that might very well be destroyed by the night’s end. And in his mind, a luring whisper to himself. 'Come get me, b**ch.'


Eleanor didn't need to be told twice. With a nod, the shadowed spellrogue melted into the club's relative darkness, her adumbral waves spreading out to swallow her entirely. She retreated back into the club's lobby, keeping to the eastern wall before reaching the bar that spread across the northern one. A door led north into the kitchens behind it, but she remained behind the counter instead. The lobby wasn't usually well-lit on a good night, but tonight it was empty entirely save the two, but not for long. With that warning being shared, Fox's dread grew, feeling half a score of her former mentor's gilt-browed cronies creeping through Cenril's streets. Ever closer to the sordid cabaret. Plans had already been set in motion, though, and Eun circled high above. Traversing the intrinsic link she shared with the blue-feathered bird, Eleanor sent him very clear instructions. Birds — as many of them as he could find on short notice. The Third-Eyed Thugs knew to look for that streak of azure in the darkening sky, and at the sight of him flying off on his mission, they spread out. Four of the three-eyed assassins backtracked up Beloy toward the west, two of them headed south, one continued east, the late hour making long shadows of them. However, the final three, Fox sensed somewhere out there, but their positions were more troublesome to pinpoint.


Meri :: Life as a single parent was no fun, the blonde is always having to worry about pesky details like hiring a babysitter to take care of her young one. It's pure happenstance that the blonde has actually procured one for the night, so that she could enjoy a bit of time to herself, away from a growing and sometimes temperamental toddler. Meri had really only just left her place in Cenril when a certain crow alerted her to trouble, as well could at least. It's not like he could give Meri a detailed run down of positions, but she could puzzle the message together well enough to come to an understanding that there was probably trouble afoot. This meant that Meri was not going to go blazing through the main entrance of the Office. No, a bit of wit and a bit of stealth would be utilized so that she could navigate the streets of Cenril unseen. The blonde would gain entrance to the Office through the basement entrance, silent and cautious as she navigates the hallway in search of....El? Leo? Trouble? All of the above? She's still sort of trying to figure that part out.


Beloy Street

On the clearest of days, the breeze from the ocean far to the east runs through the town, bringing with it the salty air and cool moisture. The mast of an old shipping vessel rests awkwardly on dry ground here. High atop the wooden structure, a bell of tarnished green copper hangs ready, a heavy rope stretching down to a platform just below. The stand is manned at all times by one of the sharp eyed youths of the town, the vivid green of his tunic visible even from this distance. To the north stands a converted theatre, where a few visitors stumble out of with their drink of choice in hand and a 'hic' to go with it.


Leoxander waited, counting to the pace of his heart, which beat quick and hard beneath the blue rune flickering through the fur on his chest. Purposefully, his hand shaped paw raised and he raked through his own skin between buried clavicle bones above it, not tarnishing the bond, but spilling his blood for two reasons. It further lured the Oracle’s hunters toward the scent they craved, and it cloaked the glow that would be an obvious, telltale sign of Eleanor’s mark. Once the spellrogue was concealed in waiting, he began to stalk forward on the rough pads of his hind feet, his hands barely touching down to floorboards to keep his body low. Then, a sudden stop in the hybrid lycan’s barely dressed and thoroughly furred form as his leathern nose flared and gold eyes darted to the side. Meri. Silent as she was he caught his fellow wolf’s scent immediately, and had not intended to put anyone else in danger. But her instincts were proven true as Leo’s finally bound mind rapidly debated how to send some sort of signal to her to warn her of what she likely already could sense. -Damnit-. Whiskers bristled and hackles rose, and he had to work with a reckless, unplanned ploy to fulfill that unlikely role of bait, as intended all along. Alright, Queeny. He’d owe you another door. Not that he’d paid for the first. A sudden snarl came with the impact of a shoulder as he tore not only the hinged wood but half the frame out of the entrance and went barreling into the streets, making enough commotion to take attention from the skies in all directions. His eyes suited to the dark, he sought his first victim with three, making a riotous display like a bull released into an arena, in a way he typically would not.


Eleanor ; Eun, once Meri had been adequately warned, left in search of other birds, other rogues, others who lurked in the night, and the shadows who might help turn the tides of this encounter. It was not a matter of endangering more lives, but Eleanor could feel the ten thugs moving through the city, inching closer, circling around. Narrowing the circle until her chest tightened into a knot. Even with her arcana at near-full, she knew it would not be an easy thing, fighting them off. It wouldn't be the average Third-Eyed Thug, brow branded in that gilded all-seeing eye. Not ruffians or everyday street crawlers, but skilled professionals who appeared to move both independently and as a team. Their juxtaposition as they encroached on the exotic club made the spellrogue frown in her umbral shroud, something about their precise array drawing wrinkles around her hidden eyes, but another curse did not escape her pursed lips. With Meri's arrival, Fox faded further into the darkness behind the counter, blending in with the shadows enough that the blue lines covering her body were not revealed when they began to glow that azure hue through the impenetrable black. Not one, two, but more than a handful of spells were called upon, activating in tandem, sizzling across her skin, and the air in the club began to grow thick with it, with her crackling, wild arcana. It was then that Leo surged forward, a fury of fur breaking through the solid oak and iron door with a whine and growl of wood splintering and metal bending. The sound, if not the beast himself, sure enough, drew the attention of the trio of three-eyed assassins trying to sneak up on the cabaret. Changing their direction, they began running toward Leo, two of them spreading out to flank the road while the third drew out a mercurial orb from within their deep aubergine robes. The sphere glinted and glistened like polished chrome as they thrust it above their head and launched it down toward the cobbled street at Leoxander's clawed feet. As the orb crashed into the ground, it shattered into a burst of shimmering silvery powder of dizzying gas, which soon picked up as though by a gust of wind, spinning and spinning in the street and growing into a cloud to encompass it. The cloud itself sparkled, continuing to expand even as the three suddenly sprinted into it, seemingly immune to the head-spinning effects of their alchemical bomb, and together they drew their curved swords, each aiming to close in on the lycanthrope to maim or more. In the club, Eleanor's frown grew into a grimace, hearing that glass-like shatter but feeling herself unable to intervene — yet. Everything was happening for a reason, she knew. Leo could handle it, and with a glance toward the other part of the club, she knew Meri would be there, too. And so, with a hard swallow, the queen of crows did not withdraw from her hiding spot.


Meri did not have time to ask questions, she and Leo only had those few quick moments in the same room together. She was here to help, and he was breaking down doors and hitting the streets with a ruckus. The Fox can do everything in her power to shrink into the shadows, but Meri knows she is there. What she cannot understand, is why she is present and not coming to Leo's aid. Meri is not in the know of a lot of this ruse yet this is not the time or place to dwell on it. Leo has just busted down a door and Eleanor's assumption is correct, Meri would be out there with him. The blonde was going to operate on gut again. Instinct told her that Leo was not making this scene for no reason, he wanted the attention on him, and the telekinetically inclined woman would use that to her advantage. The door that Leo just ripped off it's hinges (along with part of the frame) is taken under Meri's psionic control. As bulky as the object is, it moves with a considerable amount of control and speed. While the enemies are busy attempting to take down Leo, one unfortunate soul who is just about go in for an attack is going to find that his efforts are thwarted as that door is going to collide with him with considerable speed. Hopefully. Ideally. Unless he dodges. That's fine though, if he does manage to evade the flying object he is going to have to deal with Meri herself for she'll soon be stepping out of the that hole Leo made in the wall and onto the streets, dagger held in each hand. Leo may not have meant for anyone else to be in the line of danger, but here they were. The psion was ready for it.


Lita recognized the crow first, from the night prior. It had been on the shoulder of the Other Fox (other only because she'd known one prior). It swooped low towards her, though whether that was because it recognized her or just saw a person, she'd have no idea. When it rounded for a second time, she lifted a hand to swat at it lazily, leaning away from the shadows and paying it little mind. That was, until Leo in all his gloriously destructive fashion comes barging from one of the clubs nearby. She might have made a joke of that- still might, later- if not for the three goons suddenly appearing. She's not daft enough to think that Leo in his absence or whatever amnesia-state he might find himself in lately, left him void of an ability to find himself in every conceivable kind of trouble. And then, there was the spellrogue, who seemed to draw her own brand of trouble. She might have almost smiled. For a moment, there was that familiar thrill that felt good to be a part of the chaos again. She moved towards where Leo and the trio of goons stood, watched from a few yards back as one of them smashed that orb and she reached her right hand to her thigh where her dagger was strapped beneath the skirt of her dress. Reassuring, cold steel. She quickened her pace, no need to hesitate as that cloud of mysteriousness filtered up. One of the few benefits she'd found in letting Hanan turn her was a particular lack of needing to breathe, even if tended to be second nature. "Need a hand?" she managed off-handed to the pirate as she reached mid-stride for the foot of one of the goons, yanking hard to send him towards the ground and yanking him out of reach of Leo so he'd at least be left with one less. She'd ask questions later if need be.

Lita manages to avoid flying doors in this process as well. Makes a mental note to add that to her resume: decent at dodging flying doors.


Leoxander knew his role. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t bide their time and make the appropriate spectacle. He’d earned their attention and that was step one of that unprepared plan - but who was the pirate if he were actually to make plans to begin with? Some of it had been precalculated, but without any surefire result. It was a risk in the wind just as that dust was, which he avoided most of with a lycan-strong leap away from where it exploded in the street, and as some of it blurred his eyes, he saw Meri just in time. Then that door fragment splintered against one of his foes, and his sharp eyes dodged from that into a second unexpected arrival. Their arrival wasn’t necessarily a bad thing - Leoxander had intended to put the risk at his own - but honor among rogues… birds had flocked in like a storm with Eun’s summons. In his half beast state, he couldn’t bark angrily at Jackal or Inks, and like it or not, his beating heart did not clench so hard in his chest knowing they had his back. Crow together, flow together - a lesson he’d learn again that night. One down, two down, third his charm - the rogue wolf pounced hard on the bomber and tore him open as whatever dust he might still have on his person plumed around them, assaulting his senses but also taking out that arsenal of bewildering gas. Blood and fog scattered as he tore the oracle’s minion apart, and he turned to take the rest of his scene but his senses were assaulted by the concoction, russet mane given a shake as he tried to keep his wits about him. He couldn’t give in or give up, just yet, and although his sight was hindered the wolf vision let him see the brighter marks of heat versus the witches’ bootlicking storm. In a rare and possibly only moment, Dal’ken and Leoxander managed to erupt in a loud yell. “What’re’y waitin’f’r, y’ soul-sucking whore?!” Did the werewolf finally manage to speak?


Eleanor ; Thug number one went knocking on Meri's door with his face, or instead, knocking -through- it, his hooded head thrust into the planked wood with a visceral crunch of his cranium. Blood squirted from his cowled crown, flooded across his coal-black vision, and he grasped at the door with one hand, trying to stab at it with his curved saber with the other. He gasped and growled, choking on his own blood while stumbling toward the dagger-wielding psion. The door moved heavily with him, swaying forward on that tilted unbalance, and leaning into it, the Oracle's man rushed toward Inks, the door a makeshift and perhaps impressive, probably terrible shield around his head.

Lita's arrival on the scene was assuredly a welcome one, and Fox would be sure to thank her for heeding the call was she not still hiding inside the club. Hiding? That word was being used very loosely here. She was, at best, waiting. And Jackal was tanning hides with her rear assault, the innocuous vampire sneaking up to take the second thug by surprise. Draped in his eggplant-dyed robes, the thug spun around after falling hard to a knee, ankle pulled out from under him, and he kicked at the vampire with his boots, the soles of which were plated with a type of gold about as innocent-looking as she was. As with many things in the Rogue's Guild or adjacent, nothing is as it seems, and beneath that gilded illusion were cleats of silver, meant to cause harm to the Lycanthrope, but their pointed tips probably wouldn't feel pleasant against Lita's face either should they meet their pretty mark. As the assassin tried to kick at her and free himself, his saber, ordinary steel, in this case, swung up toward her at the same time with enough menace behind his expression to make his aim of decapitation self-evident.

Last but not least, Hound earned his name well. The bad guy, as so many called him. The Oracle's man was turned into a pinata, blood, and guts spilling everywhere like it was candy. But by then, the dizzying fog had settled in, blanketing those within its clutches in the thick molasses of thoughts, spinning, and spinning. Eleanor felt it from inside the club, felt it through that Bond she shared with her (ex-)lover, and felt it so much, so acutely that a low, guttural noise came from the corner of the club behind the counter. The clash of bottles, glasses smashing into the ground, drowned out the curses that flew from her, and she flew out of the club in a deluge of darkness to materialize in the gaping map that was left of the front door, mask in place over the lower half of her face. And as she did, four assassins sprinted from the shadows east along Beloy by a couple of blocks, having backtracked and circled around south no doubt to come up on the other side of them. More curses rang out, this time in the queen of rogues' native tongue, coarse and angry all the same. This group wasn't armed with the sabers, nor were they equipped with more of that dizzying mist that lingered in the air around Leo. Two of them wielded crossbows armed with barbed, golden bolts, immediately firing toward Meri and Lita. The third instead had a scepter-like wand, the end of it a blue-purple rock that, with a flick of the mage-assassin's wrist, pealed out in a sonic shriek toward the front of the club. It was the fourth one who held back, arms down at their side. Watching.


Meri was also surprised in the best of ways when she spies a rather familiar vampire on the scene. This was not the time to catch up between friends, Lita is greeted with a fleeting smirk. Meri had business to tend to, as the man she flung that door at was not quite yet down and out for the count. He was still charging toward her, utilizing the door as a shield. The psion was about to show him how bad of an idea that was. No one would be able to see it, though those sensitive to such things might be able to feel it, but the telekinetic energy that Meri harnesses oh-so-well is gathered and released toward the doorman. It would be like a sledgehammer is being taken to the remains of the door over and over again, until it splinters completely. If the repeated impact against his “shield” is not enough to render the man unconscious, then the psion fully intends to use that harnessed energy to deal one more (hopefully) fatal blow directly to his skull. In most cases, bolts and arrows are a weapon that the lycan loves to deal with. Suspend arrows in mid-air? One of Meri’s favorite moves. Except, she’s a bit busy at the time that this particular group of assassins makes their approach. The strengths of a psion were clear, but they were not without their limitations and weaknesses. Meri is not able to shift her attention fast enough, she can’t get a clear enough grasp of the scene given all of the commotion. Those arrows are going to fly. Lita and Leo will have to fend for themselves. Dead or alive, the doorman and what remains of that poor door will be launched at the new waves of enemies currently making their approach. While this happens, Meri is attempting to angle to the side of the streets to gain cover from the bolts while the psion attempts to also manipulate her telekinetic abilities in such a way that they serve as a shield, at least for her. The birds are here, they are trying to stick together, but sometimes it is every man for themselves, no? Not much help if you’re dead.


Lita reeled back a bit as the thug in hand spun to face her. Dark eyes moved over him, assessing, calculating. She could see him measure the moment's pause as hesitation and as his boot extended towards her, she caught his ankle with the sweep of her right arm, turning her wrist so the dagger extended away from her body as she pinned his leg between her forearm and her ribs. She was toying with him a little, her curiosity and the possibility of a cat-and-mouse game leaving her wanting to poke him to see what he could do. But this wasn't her fight, not exactly. The heel of his cleat thrashed against her ribs and she felt it when his weight shifted upwards, using her for leverage as his arm swung the saber with deadly intent. She was faster. Rather than try to get away from the arc of his blade, she turned into him, spinning on her right heel, her left shoulder collided into his chest and she forced her elbow into his knee, her right arm simultaneously pulling upwards. The crackle-pop of bone and joint being forced to bend into the wrong direction was deafened only by the sound of his scream. His blade whistled past her ear and then swung wild, thrashing as she released his leg at last and he hobbled on his good leg a moment and the hilt of his saber connected with the left side of her jaw. That was more annoying than anything else. It would leave a bruise and that was just rude. There was a curse under breath as she leveled her gaze on the man again, a ring of violet color pulsing unnaturally around the usually dark iris of her eyes. Her right hand lifted to set the point of her dagger beneath the man's chin and her left hand followed behind, her palm flat against the dagger's hilt, thrusting it upwards into the base of his skull with a sickeningly satisfying sound. "Gross." She murmured as she removed the blade, crouching as the body fell to wipe it off on the dark purple robes. She was on her feet in time to see the four assassins making their entrance and she flickered a glance from them to Meri and then to the Fox. No time to think, barely enough time to move before she was sprinting towards and then after Meri. In a past life she would have headed for the nearest shadows and fend for herself but some things were bigger than that. She narrowly avoided the bolt aimed for her but that wasn't her goal: intercepting the bolt aimed for the fellow artist was. She felt the thing sear itself into the back of her left shoulder and kept moving, even as she crashed into Meri, shoving her deeper into the shadows of an alley between two buildings. Stopping wasn't so easy, her arm and shoulder skidding across the building wall as she tried to stop her momentum without shoving them both to the dirt. "Nice to see you too," she exhaled finally, an air of thin amusement in the words as she turned back to try and see the pirate and the fox. She pushed any questions to the back of her mind, alongside any realization of the arrow in her shoulder or blood on her arm.


Leoxander saw and smelled less and less, the darkness of that dust closing in on him like a twilight fog rolling in, and the women fighting alongside him would probably hear his choking cough becoming increasingly stunted as he fought to breathe through the powder layering his tongue and throat. He had his ears and a sixth sense left to rely on, and hearing the snip of arrows being released, the shattering wood and the groans of the fallen, along with the sonic force and deafening note of the mage’s attack, he at least knew what direction to go. No silver had managed to find its way through his hide, yet, and leaving the mangled mess of his prey puddling the street, the werewolf began a lumbering, hind footed run toward the last speck of glowing violet he saw, passed the vague silhouettes of his fellow lycan and his fellow Rynvale resident as they made contact with their next mark (or each other). In that quick advance, his bristling fur retracted and shed to the street, markings in his coat giving way to designs of ink along his body, while digitigrade paws became dirty, bare feet hurriedly hitting the ground in his sprint. Not quite complete in another remarkably fluid transformation; hair lined thick on his arms, chest, down the center of his stomach and spine to the tops of his feet, his usual stubble and scruff a hulihee of dirty blond at either side of his jaw and part way down his throat. Leo had no time to waste. As his vision was swallowed up, his left hand pitched forward as though he were going to chuck a throwing blade toward the spellcaster, unaware if the attack toward the front of the office would successfully hit, but praying that he didn’t hear the matriarch of mercenaries cry out in pain. He wouldn’t see the missile of hellfire that erupted from his hand with the speed of skyfire, embers of molten red speckling in the air in a trail behind it. A brief shock of a citrine burst lit up the end of Beloy street and probably revealed that one enemy that had not joined the fray, but the pirate’s aim was not meant for that particular target. He meant to annihilate the sorcerer, but might just get lucky enough to briefly blind the archers’ vision with the blast.


Eleanor ; The assassin released an unearthly growl as the first of those brute force waves slammed right into the door courtesy of the Queen of Kingfishers. The door cracked, boards shattering without regard for the man behind. Further crunching noises were followed by additional bursts of blood coming from his cheeks, temples, shoulders, boards spiking outwards from where they'd incidentally impaled his chest as well. He struggled ahead, one leaden step at a time, through that brutal, blunt volley of telekinetic hammering. It wasn't until she sent forth that final array of power in a stunning blow that he dropped first to his knees, the door falling to the cobblestones around him in shards. He swayed there, disoriented it seemed, before collapsing forward, face-planting into the street and staining it red at Eleanor's feet. The spellrogue stepped backward into the shadows of the club, not out of repulsion or even a need to keep those tall black boots clean. The fourth assassin who had come from the east, they had, she was sure, looked in her direction. She swallowed, her nostrils flaring and puffing against her mask. "Daingead." With the crossbowman launching those golden arrows, she swore again and felt a sudden pang in her own shoulder in a panic. Only darkness greeted her over her shoulder, and when she looked back up toward the fray, it was in time to see one of those tainted arrows sink into Lita's arm, and the queen's eyes widened in alarm. Not so much concern that she tried to warn the vampire, but as she rushed by to throw Meri toward the alley, Eleanor sped after her in a flurry of shadows, trying to see if that gilded ink-like stain had started to spread up Jackal's arm yet. She didn't go into the alley, however, and as soon as she reached the end of the building, she spun around to check on Leo, that sonic impact smashing into the club's entrance nearby, further destroying it. El's ears rang, and she was pressed flat against the building's front, her head shaking to dispel the sudden throbbing in her temples, and the gem fixed at the center of her crown started to pulse with her thundering and robust heart. The insurance claim was going to be a fecking nightmare, but it was a problem for later. Right now, the Queen of the Rogues fixed her attention on Leoxander, whose shift away from the furred mantle, rune shining on his chest, pulled her forward through the daze before melting around the corner to meet Jackal and Inks in what she hoped was more than a moment's worth of relative safety. "There's tois mair," she said to the pair. "Fin' them." And she pointed down with a jerk of her finger, angrily. Fox kept her chin lowered in a meaningful nod as well before she turned around, back toward the street. Peeking around the front of the Office, no time to spare in mourning the damages caused to it, she watched as Leo threw that hellish missile at the Oracle's mage-assassin. The crossbowmen were in the midst of reloading, and they turned away from the blast, crying out. The sorcerer pivoted away, hoping to avoid the wicked flames, although the ends of their robes caught fire, of course, and as the pirate's curse licked at their clothing, they swung the wand at him with a shriek, a mix of Common and … something else. "Zu will come oolo with us, dog!" From the end of that wand was unleashed a silver-threaded chained net, aimed to entangled around Leoxander and pin him down with the weights attached to it. And as it tried to do so, that fourth assassin stepped forward. "Op Uy Uyla time," they muttered, bowing their hooded head low.


Meri ’s ‘every man for themselves’ plan did not exactly involve Lita coming to her aid to save her from one of the bolts flying directly at her. The last thing the lycan woman wanted was for her fellow artist to be taking a hit for her, but she could understand why. Old habits die hard. Meri was a squishy human once and that was the version that Lita knew the longest. The two women collide and tumble to the earth, the psion not able to keep her hold on her twin daggers as they tumble to the earth. Another brief smirk is flashed toward Lita during those short moments they have together, Meri taking a couple of seconds to quip. “Lita. I know you’ve missed me but…” Meri winks, pushing herself to her feet and helping the vampire up as well. The blonde goes to repay Lita’s kindness by trying to free what she assumes to be a gold bolt from the vampire’s shoulder, completely unaware of the true nature of this bolt. Hopefully she has done Lita some good with this action, but this is not a thought that immediately crosses her mind. She doesn’t know. What she does know is that Leoxander has just rushed headfirst into the group of assassins. The temptation to rush into that battle was there, just to even the numbers out a bit, but Eleanor informs Lita and Meri that there are two more. Meri follows fingers in the general direction of down. There is a slight frown at the thought of having to track someone below the streets Cenril, if only because there were so many spots that they could be hiding in. Meri was already plotting where these two beings could be. “I guess we got ourselves a bit of a hunt,” she says to Lita, leading the way into sewers of Cenril via a manhole. The cover was no trouble to the psion, it moved with relative silence given the current commotion in the streets. “I’m bettin’ they’ve probably positioned themselves with the intention of ambushin’ just in case we came through any back exits of the Office.” Like that sub-basement/basement area. Meri knew the way, by the sounds of it, even if Lita didn’t. “If we play it smart we might be able to get the drop on them.” Even if most were too busy fighting to eavesdrop, Meri was not speaking at full volume. Her words were just loud enough for Lita.


Lita will always think of Meri as a squishy human, lovingly so. She'd been gone for a while, missed a lot. Too much. In her mind, Meri had gone from being excited about opening her own shop to having and toddler and what not. There were a few other steps and years in there, sure. But time was funny these days, more fuzzy than linear anymore. She sparked a brief laugh as the blonde helped her to her feet in turn and turned her head, gritting her teeth as the arrow was pulled from her shoulder. She reminded herself to breathe and clenched her fingers into a fist reflexively. "Oh, you have no idea." She rolled her eyes, following the blast at the front of the shop and the pirate in some sort of mid-hybrid change with blue fire. More questions to tuck away for later and a reflexive step back from the fray for a moment. She wasn't the biggest fan of magics these days. The Fox caught her attention and she was happy to let Meri take the lead, happy to having something specific to keep her attentions. She used to live for this, the cat-and-mouse chase and it was still her favorite part of the game. She crouched by the entrance of the manhole, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. "Sounds like you know the way." She kept her voice low, knowing Meri would hear anyway. "I'll follow your lead. Just, watch where you whip any doors, yeah?"


Leoxander couldn’t see the net to avoid it. Couldn’t smell the silver that wrapped over him like a spider’s web. But not one of them would likely not hear the wolf-pirates cry of agony as it enfolded him, even underground. Demonic burns had caused a yell from the assassin in the colosseum - this was a deep scream exposed to few. (Maleficent would relate.) As much as his focus was on sparing the damned spellrogue, his fellow flock, he was blinded, choking, and now entrapped in chains that burned criss-cross patterns into his skin and locked him in his shift in that half man, half beast stage where he still had some very wolfish traits in his anatomy, overall. Strength spent in that newfound fire that burned within his soul, further depleted by the condemning metal clinking around him as he tumbled into the street, he tried in vain to push up only to have his palms and the bottoms of his feet scorched by that lycanthrope toxin. Another howl of angry, aggressive words he hoped to trigger the Oracle’s focus with, if she was actually out there. “I’ll bite your throat out your f-...” Well, one might just guess the colorful title among many meant for the witch. He still knew his part though panic was fighting against rage. Was she worth dying for? The answer would become clear after a struggle, and even with those three-eyed creatures likely closing in, his energy was expelled into throwing them off until a choked breath and his crumbled weight left the wolfman collapsed on the cobblestone, not quite dying but damn close. His wide eyes were still flaring gold against the hellfire burning cloth, but flickered, drained, like the blood covered wound on his chest, his body spasming as nerves and muscles sought to push through.


Eleanor 's skin and muscles sizzled with the crackle of magic from that tangle of activated spells hidden under her light-absorbing black leather outfit. Crouching against the outer corner of the Office, Lita and Meri murmuring behind her as the latter tended to the former, the head of the murder-flock stared on with abject disbelief as Leoxander's scream was almost enough to pierce her eardrums as much as the mage's sonic wand had. It was as though everything he felt, she was feeling; her gloved fingers dug into the side of the building, through brick and mortar under her unyielding grip. That cursed rune … Every part of her wanted to rush forward, their ruse be damned. This wasn't part of the plan, was it? "Aw in …" The mumbled reminder was all that kept her from rushing to his side, from slinging the heavy silver net at the Oracle's hitmen instead. The brick corner crumbled more in her fist before she turned away from the scene with a choked-off sound in the back of her throat. Every curse word she could think of, in Common and that rolling D'Vainese, came tumbling out of her underneath her breath. And furthermore, hands balled at her sides, she wanted to lay out a few new special curses too. Eleanor's stomach twisted and somersaulted, even as the plans started to come together. Maybe … Maybe this was a good thing. She barely had the opportunity to consider it when she pushed herself forward, toward Meri and Lita and the manhole. "Go, noo," her brusque speech rushed out. "Follaw th' scent ay 'at ... poison." Fox gestured at the arrow Inks had pulled from Jackal and gave a stiff nod. As Leo collapsed in the street, El felt a sharp pang in her temples, and that gem flared with blue-green light through the span of a heartbeat. Her voice lowered even more, perhaps to hide the tremble found there, "They've got Leo ... Ah'm gonnae try tae follaw them." It was a good thing her mask hid the lower half of her face and most of the pained scowl there as she turned to peer around the corner again. With Leo evidently subdued by the noxious gas and the heavy silver net, the four assassins regrouped, moving forward to surround him. The fourth assassin spoke again in that butchered Common. "Yeut's Tem good dog. Googa googa." They waved at the others, who surged toward Leo, intending to roll him in the netting and hoist him over their shoulders to be carried into the nearest dark alley.


Meri issued no promises in response to Lita’s quip about whipping doors, the blonde just allows red lips to curl up into a sly smirk. That smirk does not last though, as Eleanor delays their descent into the sewers. Meri did not like this plan, separating so that Eleanor could go off in search of Leo on her own, the way her smirk fades shows her disapproval. Yet they would descend into the sewers in search of two more goons, that Meri figured did not matter in the grand scheme of things. The scent of poison would not be hard for the werewolf to track, even if the smell of the sewers was both pungent and repugnant. While the two women silently move through the sewers on the hunt for the two remaining assailants, Meri does a double-take at Lita’s feet just to make sure the vampire was wearing shoes. Today was not the day to be rocking the barefoot vibe and Meri recalls that Lita was quite fond of that look, at least at one point. The scent of poison grows stronger the closer they get, and as they draw nearer the lycan starts to pick up two very distinct smells from the poison. This must be the two that Lita and Meri are looking for. At this point Meri gives pause long enough to lift a finger to her lips, indicating to the vampire that they should be especially quiet going forward. It would be a few short moments after this gesture that the two women would be able to see two figures lurking ahead in the darkness of the sewer tunnels. Both the lycan and the vampire should have no issue spotting their forms despite the lack of light. At this point, Meri cannot communicate a plan of action to Lita. The slightest whisper could potentially echo in the tunnel and reveal their positions. This is not a detail that is concerning to Meri, she knew Lita was savvy and could hold her own. She had trust that Lita would pick up on Meri’s angle. The only warning that Lita would get that something was about to go down would be a brief look cast in the direction of her fellow artist...and then Meri was a blur of motion, as one might expect from a lycan. Meri would approach one of the two targets from behind, gripping him by his hair so that she could pull his head back and expose his neck. With her free hand, she’d slide the blade of her daggers clean across his throat from ear to ear. While Meri was quick enough to get the initial drop, the moment her blade connects with the skin of her enemy, he cries out in pain and alerts his companion to trouble. Which means, Lita’s gonna really need to have been on the ball with this one or her job might have just gotten a bit more difficult.


Leoxander was foaming at the mouth, in a sense, gritting his teeth and biting back snarls of pain while that mind-numbing gas and the screams he locked down into his chest caused saliva to speckle his jaw, not quite reformed to human features. The combination of vapor and silver had halted his ability to change back entirely, but clawed hands were useless as he tried to curl up into himself and avoid the toxic burn of silver causing enfeebled convulsions against the bodies that lifted him. He desperately tried to find a center, tried to keep reminding himself what… and who that pain was for, grasped mentally for that faith in her and that it would all be worth it, in the end. Blinded, dazed, in a seizure of pain, it was only a matter of time before the pirate slumped against the bodies that towed him away and the growling ceased, succumbing to unconsciousness.


Lita had half a mind to argue, for a moment torn between Eleanor's brief plan unfolding and the urge to run after the pirate and rip out some throats. But what the hell was even going on? Who were these people and why exactly were they ripping out said throats? The why was less important in the moment and arguing would only delay the inevitable. So fine, the sewers it was and she steeled her gaze, set her jaw, not quite trying to ignore the pirate's cries of pain but trying to focus on them just a little less. She was still willing to let Meri take the lead on this one, if only to quell the noise in her brain for a little longer. Lita glanced over her shoulder briefly as Meri descended ahead of her. "We'll find you after." Meaning her and Leo. Hopefully that was part of the plan, at least. Lita is barefoot, unfortunately. at one time heading into a dank sewer wearing a sundress and little else would have made her uneasy but she didn't hesitate, just followed the blonde down into the darkness. She kept a half step behind the artist, ignoring the squish of gunk between her toes and whatever slimy thing was coating it was across the bottoms of her legs. Her dagger still in hand, she paused when Meri did. She could see well enough down here but the stench was overwhelming and she wrinkled her nose at it, lifting a hand to touch the back of Meri's left arm, an attempt to signal that that was the way Meri should head. Thankfully, the artist was quick on her feet. Literally. And Lita followed suit, a dead sprint towards the thug who had already spun to face her. She threw the dagger, which landed its mark just above his left hip and she lifted her arm to block the swing of his saber, reaching for the hilt of the dagger and dragging it upwards in one quick and fluid motion to slice through his abdomen and up towards his opposite shoulder. She turned her head as the blood splashed out and he gurgled a last gasp for desperate air before sinking to the ground. Not nearly as neat or quiet as Meri had been but it would do. "Pretty." he murmured half-heartedly, looking down at the slump of the body and then turning to look at Meri's fallen prey as well. "Think you can find the others?" She didn't meet Meri's gaze but looked instead down the continuing tunnel of sewers.