The Big Push

The Collector · #1

Outside of the Temple of Au'Marui, where the Knights HQ was located, a Murder of Crows that had been twisted to have nastier claws, teeth in their bills, a bit larger than usual and darkly glowing red eyes flew violently, forming a tornado of birds just outside the celestial barrier.... before every single one of them summoned there flew straight at the open Temple doors.

The Celestial flames fired by Shalim easily managed to take care of the majority of the swarm on its way in, leaving only a single straggler to manage to enter the main floor. But that was all that was needed

"PREPARE YOURSELVES!" C's voice rang out from the bird, literally seconds before it too was fried, loud enough even to rattle the walls.

Mage of Mist · #2

Thorn-Dancer was in her room looking over blueprints when she heard the voice, jumping and dropping the blueprint she was reading.
"T-The Collector!?" Thorn squeaked worriedly, running out of her room and to the coms room, seeing all the dead crows scattered around and the one in the Temple.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Sakuya the Hylotl nearly drowned on a cup of tea when she heard the booming voice, jolting up and looking around wearily. "Oh no... That is not good..." She muttered wearily.

#3

Even though he was still recovering from Suzan's spell, C's voice was enough to jar Tom. He quickly scrambled, putting on a uniform he kept nearby for just such a case, grabbed the plasma rifle he claimed as well as his combat gear, and made a b-line for the Comms room

~Knights report in. I'm very much afraid this is not a drill.~

He had meant to come up with an emergency stations plan, but had yet to do so. He could only hope that the lack of preparation did not lead to a lost knight today.

#4

"Who?" CP mumbled, waking with a start. He was pretty sure he had heard a woman yell, but his dark morning room in the inn wasn't burning to the ground, or otherwise under dire circumstances.

Weird...

The tiny electric mouse eventually pulled the covers aside and walked to the window to see if he could get a gauge on the current time. Other townspeople had left their homes and now stood at the doors, looking curiously. So the loud noise hadn't been imagined...

Unfortunately, nothing further seemed to break the scene. If only there was a sign of what was going on...

The Collector · #5

In CPs room, the black paper he'd gained from Swix when the Split had weakened the dimensional barriers between C's realm and Pax started writing with spidery red script right in front of him when he went to turn around since he couldn't see anything. Further inspection would show that The Collector had decided to use the paper once again to talk to the electric rodent. The paper stated this:

'Really? I make a noise that loud with my own voice and you just turned back around to go back to bed? How very disappointing. Clearly I need to do that more often to gain less attention'

And would fade soon after he read it.

#6

Swix had been in the Lounge when she'd heard The Collectors voice boom down into the HQ, eating that muesli cereal she'd grown quite fond of... and nearly dropping it just because of how loud it was. "C!" she yelped, forcing herself to stay sitting and not jump up like she normally would have... doing that in her condition would have easily sent her scampering for the bathroom to throw up if she had.

~I'm in the Lounge Tom~ she sent, not entirely sure if that's what he wanted or if he wanted them to go someplace at that phrase. Humans were weird.

#7

CP watched the townspeople one by one dismiss the noise and return indoors. It must not have been especially important... maybe someone was just showing off how loud they could be. The electric mouse turned around and stared at his bed. Definitely...

Then he saw the writing appear on it's own.

"I was not going back to bed." Cp protested. He gave the note another glance, but the writing was already fading. So much for that idea. The electric mouse was already out the door after contact from C.

On the way down the steps, CP folded the paper into a narrow strip and tied it around his wrist like a paper bracelet. If C wanted to talk- it would be much easier to read her messages.

"What are you screaming about then? Did one of your creations finally sneak up and give you a scare?" He asked, exiting the bar.

Jent · #8

Jent had already sat in the comms room before Tom had barged in. Though, only he had just woken up from the chorus of noise banging his head from the alarms, Alignment, and human combined. "GAH!" Bounding up from the chair, his mind was in pain already, he didn't need this 'helping' it now.

~Right on it~

Sighing, the Distortionist watched as the knight ran inside. "A swarm of crows had flung themselves at the temple, with a single strangler surviving long enough to scream," Jent described the visual feed, massaging his temples to alleviate the headache.

---

Being half-asleep at this time of day, the huldra found herself flailing from the covers at the shrilling shout, not expecting the Collector to be the one to wake her up. That is not good, she thought. Is she mad we stole Dentanus?

Either way, Solveig began to race over to the comms room. She figured whatever recorded in there might explain what was going on.

---

Unlike the rest of them, Grathon stationed himself to watch over the Wood Dragon since their capture of him. Glancing above, he heard the vibrations of the Alignment's call to battle from below. Carefully checking over the various experiments being done within the cavern, the being felt unease at just leaving it all here alone when it could be a two-prong attack laying in wait.

~Watching Dentanus~ He spoke to the Knight's mind link ~Rally the automatons in my room for assistance~

Mage of Mist · #9

Thorn watched as Tom ran into the comms room and Jent jolt up into awakening. "Floran wasss looking over blueprintssss when that happen. Think maybe C angry over ussss capturing Dentanussss... Sssshilliam fried sssingle crow that made way in. But Floran ssstill worried over fact C made it ssso far to Temple..." The Floran said worriedly to the two Knights, looking to the screen. "No think ready to fight C, not now... But it ssoundsss and lookssss like ssshe want fight."

Sakuya headed out of the kitchen to head to the conference room... The most logical place she could think of people going to. Due to not being linked up to any mind links, she had no idea where everyone was. She then sat down onto a chair to wait for people to arrive, feeling very worried over what may happen next after hearing the yell.

#10

~Swix, stop by the armory and grab some armor for yourself and weapons for you, Jent, and Thorn. Meet us in the Comms room. Grathon, stay where you are, that is very likely a possible target~

Other than Shalim, what other defenses do we have? We are in a bad spot if she gets to those stairs..... *he asked to the people in the room with him*

#11

~Uhhh, I'm already wearing a dragonscale shirt of armour, I always wear it. Pretty much the only things it won't protect me from are close range bolts or bullets, explosions and powerful magic attacks~ *she sent, just so that they all knew before she got up to go to the Armoury anyway, taking the bowl of cereal with her to finish it on the way. ~So what do you guys need?~

The Collector · #12

'Really CP you should know by now-I am the scariest thing in my own realm. One of my own personally designed creations is hardly going to frighten me'

The entity's words rolled across the strip of paper in that spidery writing as he read it.

'As for my yelling, well I simply wanted some rabbits attention'

Jent · #13

Grathon lumbered past a table laid with several potted plants situated nearly on top of it. Different labels, written notecards up against them, the grey being was intrigued at how the Blue Mage acquired this advanced research from botany and related fields. He really should have gotten him to send over more of his work before his recent disappearance.

~Understood Tom~

---

~Armor would kinda... make it difficult for me too move with Distortion~ he sighed ~Though, grab that blue vial in the locker, Swix, we might need it for this~

Jent tapped his foot at the floor, thinking it over in his head. Even with the simple automatons left here, that form as a defensive barrier in the of chance the Collector breaking through the passage way. Just one of those clay robots could attempt to seal any troops she managed to get past the temple. "... As Grathon said, he still has some robots-"

"SorryI'mLate"

Staring at the panting huldra that burst into the comms room as she nearly tripped on her feet when walking over. "Solveig..." Steadying her, Jent turned back to the others. "We still have another 'flamethrower' down here to help us, but we'll need someone to watch her back."

"I don't want anyone to see-"

"Not like that: to guard you"

"Oh... ," Embarrassed, she smiled back at the knights. "Of course. I can burn whatever part of C that decides to slither in by," Solveig answered, feeling relieved she could be of use in the fight against the Alignment. "... We just wait it out until she storms in?"

#14

"Kind of have to wait her out....we would be at a severe strategic disadvantage if we had to fight our way up the stairs and out....it's best we wait her out down here." Tom said

Mage of Mist · #15

"It... Issss besssst to wait for her to come alsssso" Thorn mumbled worriedly. ~Floran... Would like sssome light armour that be ssstrong enough to defend Floran, but light enough to not hinder movement.~ She sent. ~Floran already have ice and water gunsss, and held onto energy rifle, ssso no think need any more weaponssss.~

A curious Avali poked his head into the comms room, holding his energy rifle. "I uh, could help out" Rechomi said, though was rather nervous. "I may be small, but don't underestimate me. Us Avali are tough." He then walked in fully. "I will do my best to help out in any strategies you form."