• PM To Join • Turn Cloak

[Max]

80 Vhalar 718
Evening


"Sister Maxine," a commanding voice echoed from behind the heavy wooden door to the woman's borrowed chambers. "Sister Rebekah has requested your presence." Max rolled onto her back with eyes closed with a groan. Her right arm extended beyond her bed, fishing along the nightstand and nearly knocking over the nearly empty bottle of rum sitting upon it. Eventually she found the ash tray her half-smoked joint throned and popped it between her lips. Another round of knocking assaulted her door from the hallway.

"I heard you the first time," she called back, eyes flashing open and legs reluctantly swinging over the side of her mattress. "Just give me a bit." The mage hunter roused herself to a stand after a trill of lazy turmoil. She meandered over to a wall-mounted candle, leaning over it to light the end of her ambrosia before she began to get herself together. Weapon belt on, feet shoved in boots, and an ashcloak thrown over a dark uniform, Maxine chugged the rest of her vice before pitching it back in the ash tray. The drug, having amply filled her lungs, was already beginning to settle into her bloodstream. Whatever her superior summoned her for, Maxine's mind would be as sharp as her gladius by the time she got wherever it was they were going.

"She got a new mark for me?" the mage hunter inquired the young Mantis sword upon throwing upon the door to meet him face-to-face.
"I wasn't privy," the man answered, beckoning her to follow him down the hallway. Maxine's brow furrowed but she closed her door and relented nonetheless.

When Rebekah first enticed her with membership to the Mantis, they had conducted their business in the open air of a faction stronghold. Everything felt official and widely sanctioned without question from the populace or the crown itself. It was business-like in a way no mercenary contract had ever felt. Ever since Maxine showcased her merit in the torture and interrogation block, however, Rebekah had brought her along to work alongside her at this Mantis black site. This place felt far dirtier than the stronghold. It was darker, its innermost confines more damp and gloomy. The shadiness of the business conducted within its walls was palpable. Having just arrived a trial prior, it seemed that Rebekah was ready to show Maxine just what secrets the Mantis had their hands reddened with.

After a quiet walk the Mantis sword handed her over to the green-eyed, ambitious Mantis superior waiting at the top of an ominous staircase. Rebekah drew the hood of her cloak up over her brunette braid and eyed Maxine with a solemn expression. She reached her arms out toward the Sword she'd recruited, gently brushing the mage hunter's shoulders. Rebekah addressed her calmly, "We have important work to see through tonight, Maxine." She turned and took a torch from the wall and extended down toward the stairs. "Important work that is crucial to our cause. Come." The mysterious woman turned and began to lead the way with her torchlight. Max glanced about before descending behind her.

"Tell me, Maxine. How do we Mantis deal with a mage?" Rebekah continued to talk while they moved at a leisurely pace.
"Burned or beheaded," Maxine answered the question cautiously, as though it were so obvious that she suspected she was being tricked.
"Yes," Rebekah agreed with a nod. "We execute. It is the surest way to rid Rynmere of this spark scourge. It is not the only way though. You'll learn our alternative tonight by providing a helping hand in it." Right before they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rebekah turned so sharply on her heels that Maxine nearly drew a sword on her in surprise. The woman searched the mage hunter's face for a few trills. Then she said, "Maxine, are you with me?"
"I mean, yeah, I'm standing right here."
"You know what I ask. Are you the ashcloak I know you to be?"
"I burned mages. I dragged suspects from their homes and dropped them at your feet. I testified against them like you asked. When your headsman couldn't get you answers, I did." She gave a tug at the grey cloak she donned. "What more must I do?" Rebekah's face turned ice cold. She raised the torch to get a good look at Max's face, studying the sincerity in her eyes.
"Just thing one thing. Then no one will ever question my decision to recruit you than put you on trial ever again."

The mage hunter blinked with a bewildered expression at Rebekah's back after she'd turned and finished their descent. Confusion riddling her mind, Max followed the woman into the dark underground chambers until Rebekah came to a halt. Maxine did the same. It took her a trill of looking around to realize this was no basement, but a dungeon. Rebekah squared herself to a door with a small, caged window built into it. She raised her torch to illuminate the prison cell with her expectant, stoic eyes trained on her protege. Maxine slowly neared the prison cell to peer within. The very trill she did, a flood of fury and dread seized her all at once. Yet, despite the storm of emotions that raged within, there was another hard and dangerous truth to accept.

She was in serious trouble.

[Rey'na]

"I'm sorry."

Rey'na muttered quietly to herself in a prayer. It wasn't like her to depend on the Immortals, especially after what had happened with Lisirra. But right now, it was all she had. Her time in the dungeon had left her psyche shattered, her mental state deteriorating day in and out. Even now she crumbled, despite the change of treatment. Better food had been given to her, none of it laced with a hallucinogenic. Three trials had gone past and none of her old friends appeared to haunt her, nobody from Scalvoris taunting her or beating her. But it wasn't enough. Her hands shook with a terror that she couldn't describe, a cold feeling in her chest of dread. Perhaps they wanted her last days to be better, or perhaps they wanted to make her feel secure.

But it didn't matter.

Without the poison her sanity had stayed broken, perhaps even worsening. The isolation was crippling, memories of Moseke's dungeon overwhelming her and filling her with fear. All of her life she had spent in a sense of security, feeling as if she was untouchable with Lisirra at her back. Yet since leaving Lisirra the world had collapsed around her. She'd been beaten, captured, abducted, abused. She'd murdered, battled, broken down and almost died. Every bit of security had been torn apart by the vultures around her, leaving her bare and vulnerable. Now, more vultures had come to take what she had left. All because she couldn't follow an order. All because she needed air. All because she failed Sephira, her one true friend - and all because Sephira couldn't find it to forgive her.

As she heard the voices and footsteps approaching, Rey'na brought herself to her feet, leaning on the walls. Chances were it was food being sent her way. Whatever it was, Rey'na had decided from a few days in the dungeon onwards to always stand when someone would approach. It showed strength, at the very least. But more than that. It showed the men and women of the Mantis that she had not been broken. Not yet. Even if she shook and her mentality cracked she was still there, standing, ready for whatever they brought her way. Nothing would be able to stop that.

Nothing but the look of dread on her face when her eyes met Maxine's and the realisation came over her, the terror clear in her eyes. "You...Max?" she asked with eyes wide, leaning back into the corner of the room as she looked to what the woman was wearing. Max wasn't a prisoner, Max wasn't being held here against her will. She was talking to the woman as they came down to the dungeon, she was stood beside her and staring at Rey'na in her cell like an animal in a cage. Hands shaking, Rey'na took a small step forward, her face hardening in a refusal against the Mantis, a last attempt to hide the weakness that she hid underneath.

"What do you want?" she snarled through grit teeth.

[Max]

Maxine clenched her fists and stared into the cell at the weathered woman standing against the wall. From the looks of it, the Mantis had already taken their toll on Rey'na with whatever methods they had chosen to employ. A glance about the woman revealed no missing fingers or robust evidence of savage beatings. The mistreatment they subjected the mage to hadn't been a fraction of the one she'd witnessed before. At least not physically. That revelation alone was perplexing to the mage hunter. The Mantis were aware of Rey'na identity. They knew she was the one who came to action during the mage burning, and just as Rebekah had connected Maxine to the flight from that chaos, they also must've known Rey'na was connected to the unknown Rupturer. Surely they'd be desperate to know the whereabouts and details regarding a mage of Sephira Blackwood's caliber. Why hadn't they resulted to traditional cruelty to get it?

Maxine locked eyes with Rey'na at the sound of her name. Several of the ashcloaks behind her murmured darkly, but for the moment, the mage hunter worried not for their judgement. Instead she was caught listening to the tone in the mage’s voice when Rey'na had addressed her. Such shock. Such contempt. Her caramel eyes darkened, the abyssal centers tightening. So little was said and yet she could hear so much more beneath those two words.

Traitor.

Maxine became a bit more aware of the weight of the ashcloak upon her shoulders. She dropped her hand to rest it upon the pommel of her gladius upon her hip. Her gaze ventured to the shaking hands of the caged mage as she slowly approached. All the terror on the prisoner's face vanished beneath the veil of defiance in the presence of utter betrayal. Rey'na had donned her mask, but the ex-convict could see the chinks in her armor even as she snarled her question. The mage hunter glanced back toward the armored and armed Mantis members waiting patiently behind her for whatever was about to begin to commence. Down either side of the hall there merely existed more darkness. More cells. More hopelessness. Not a door or window to allow even the slightest escape of light within the blackened dungeon's depths. Maxine stepped closer Rey'na cell door in kind, hardening her own expression with stoic determination.

"What every loyal member of the Mantis desires," she answered calmly, vacantly. "To purify you." Rebekah placed a hand on Maxine's shoulder, guiding her back from the cell and toward the others lying in wait. The other ashcloaks eyed their new sister with a guarded wariness.
"This one is known to the accused," one of the women, a red-haired Sword with piercing blue eyes, hissed her accusation.
"I smoked a joint with her once," Maxine brushed it off with a roll of her eyes before Rebekah could interject. "Can we get on with this or shall I waste our time naming every acquaintance I've ever run into, whose status as I mage I could neither confirm or deny?" The red-haired woman pressed her lips unhappily together but did not protest.
"Maxine has proven herself to be an invaluable soldier in our fight against the Spark," Rebekah disguised a smirk and passed the torch to the disgruntled woman. "Not only has she been transparent with me, but she's also been directly responsible for the capture and execution of a handful of mages since she joined us. She's here with me to continue our work and nothing more. Aren't you, Maxine?"
"It's true," the ex-convict confirmed with a solemn nod. Between her vow and the vouching of a superior, the rest of the Mantis members seemed content with the turnout.

Without another word the ashcloaks began to ominously move in unison toward the prison cell. Maxine slowly turned in place, her gaze following them while her mind was still trying to decipher what was about to take place here. Rebekah paused to stand beside Maxine while the others drew their weapons. The woman placed a hand on Maxine's shoulder, her gaze glued to the cage a Mantis sword approached with a key in hand.

"The other mage that was with the two of you that trial," the green-eyed Mantis woman began to murmur. "Despite our best efforts, we've been unable to locate her, let alone discover much about her. A Rupturer of such power cannot be permitted to roam our Kingdom. We must protect our people from such a menace, but capturing or killing such a mage would prove...difficult even with the resources at our disposal." Maxine's blood ran cold. Her eyes stared dead ahead at the cage containing Rey'na. Rebekah brushed away dust that had gathered on the ex-convict's shoulder. "So our Order came up with a better plan. We'll cleanse this mage, one so familiar to her, of that parasite inside her. If she survives the process, we'll mold her into our own weapon by turning her against her mage friend. Two birds. One stone."

With a wide, sinister grin, Rebekah left Maxine to digest the master plan in favor of the bringing the Spark-purging ceremony to its violent start. The marked woman remained rooted in place, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed. Rey'na hadn't given them up. Not yet. And for her stubborn loyalty, the Mantis seemed to have concocted both a punishment and a mercy in one fell swoop. They'd rip her mage-hood from her very soul to suit their cause. Then, with a brutality and mental battle Maxine couldn't comprehend, they'd alter her mind and set their sleeper cell free upon Sephira. She adjusted her jaw at the thought. It was a treason the Special Assistant might never see coming. Not before it was too late. Scalvoris would be doomed by the collapse of Kura's deployed agency. Maxine never cared for the island. The more immediate impact would be here. And it would be when they set Rey'na free to bury that sharp little spear of hers in Blackwood's back.

"Seize her," Rebekah ordered the trill the heavy lock of Rey'na's prison cell snapped open, and the door eerily swung inward. The Order wasted no time swarming the cell upon the command with weapons drawn. A violence of action seemed to be their strategy, seeking to overwhelm the mage they tormented with a ruthless urgency designed to gain custody quickly. Rebekah's shadow loomed over the altercation as she stepped beneath the door frame. "If she struggles before you can get her attached to the shackles on the wall, fear not. Our good sister Maxine will have something for her."

And right on cue, Maxine stormed past Rebekah to enter the cell with her anti-magic gloved hands clenched into knuckle-white fists.

[Rey'na]

What days she had spent in this cell had been a torture filled hell, and all they had to do was feed her. Poison took effect on it's own and, of course, she gave in to the hot food in front of her eventually. "Purify" Rey'na smirked with cold regard for the ex-convict in front of her, the traitor. Yet her body kept shaking, showing signs of the emotion that burned within her. How long had Maxine been working with them? Worse yet, what had Max done in their name while Sephira and Rey'na had been busy? Her face stayed hard and cold.

As the Mantis superior moved and spoke quietly to Maxine, Rey'na watched the Mantis members draw their weapons and step towards her cell. She had no idea what was being planned, no idea what they were about to do to her. But she couldn't fight it. Her Abrogation was weak and her body even weaker, she felt sick to her stomach and her head burned with pain. Maybe she could scramble away from one of them, maybe. But this many? She wouldn't stand a chance in her peak condition, let alone now.

With the stranger ordering her to be seized, Rey'na gave a dark but nervous chuckle, the soldiers swarming in as she raised her hands behind her head. But she didn't back in to the wall where they would chain her. Not yet. Instead, she saw Max approaching and took a few steps close enough to her before offering her hands forward. Before she spoke she made sure her cold eyes met Max's, her hands showing no act of defiance yet the gaze she wore refusing to back down. If Max was going to betray her, she was going to look Rey'na in the eyes and do it. "Best make it quick, Maxine. Wouldn't want to keep your boss waiting."

Immediately she felt soldiers hands gripping her, pulling her away from Maxine in fear she had something planned. Yet she didn't resist. Her arms were placed above her head and she was shackled to the walls, her eyes focused only on Maxine. None of these Mantis members meant anything to her. Whatever it was they did to mages didn't matter to her. But Max did. She had done more than help Rey'na, but she had given Rey'na hope. She would never admit it to herself, but knowing someone like Max was around made her feel safe in a weird way. Even if the two didn't get along all the time, even if Max made threats to her or mocked her. Max was powerful and determined. Which meant she was useful to them.

Or so she thought.

"If you're going to kill me, make it quick" she snarled, finally looking around to all of the soldiers. "I'm surprised a military power like you needs so many members to kill one small girl. I heard you were afraid of mages, but I didn't know it was this bad. Do you have a piss bucket outside in case I raise my voice too loud?" she snapped and looked back to Maxine. "Or do you all feel safe because a powerful woman can punch me if I get too risky? Because if you do, you're as stupid as you all seem."

"Stabbing people in the back never hurt her before" Rey taunted, almost challenging Max to hit her. Part of her wanted to prove that she wasn't going to die afraid, part of her wanted Max to know that if she somehow survived then her life was at risk. But most of her wanted to prove Max wrong about her. Prove her first impressions wrong, show that she wasn't as green as Max had thought she was. Prove that, even if a fuck-up had put her in here, she was a good soldier. One that would never sell out her allies, no matter what they put her through in here.

Finally she let herself lean back, waiting for whatever the mage hunters decided to do. If she got hit, so be it. If she got killed she couldn't stop it. But of course, she wasn't so lucky. Before she could say what was last on her mind, her eyes noticed something. Something glowing, held in a small container that was being opened before her. Something about it made her spine shudder, as if something deep inside her knew to fear it. Adrenaline started to flow deep in her veins and she looked to Rebekah, a mix of terror and hatred in her eyes.

"What the fuck are you going to do to me?"

[Max]

Maxine's pupils tightened as Rey'na approached her. Was the young Element bold enough to fight her? Here and so outnumbered? Given what was to come, Maxine supposed a last stand of sorts was perhaps better than none at all. She knew she'd personally choose to take a few final licks before relenting to fate. The ex-convict followed the young Element's approach with an icy expression that betrayed none of what went through her traitorous mind. Her jaw tightened subtly at Rey'na's words, but that was all. In the next moment the other members of the Mantis had fallen upon her, dragging her away from the Rusalka as though they didn't know Maxine had single-handedly taken down mages twice her caliber. It didn't take them long to pin her to the far stone wall of the cell. Nimble hands had the captured mage shackled with her arms above her head in no time at all. The ex-convict never once broke contact with Rey'na's defiant gaze.

Just when Max thought the woman really might go down in silence, the Abrogation practitioner broke it with mockery. The Mantis members, for the most part, ignored her childish jabs at their courage. They knew these rantings to be the sort that veiled fear and crumbling hope. This team of ashcloaks was not green by any means. They were professionals chosen to man this blacksite for a reason. They continued their work with no reaction while the piss bucket comment forced Maxine to crack an amused smirk. Her mirth dissipated when the digs were pointed back in her direction.

"That's exactly right, Rey'na," Maxine loomed nearer, watching the shackled woman playing the brave, obstinate soldier in the face of the unknown. "It won't hurt me this time either...but it will hurt you." Rebekah eased forward from the sidelines with an ornate wooden box. The members of the Mantis smiled at its mere presentation. Maxine looked over her shoulder to spy her superior's commanding advance with the box garnering so much attention. Her body rapidly turned, blading so that she stood between the strung up mage and the green-eyed Mantis woman. The others stepped backwards to make way while the ex-convict stood fast. It wasn't until Rebekah paused before her with an expectant expression that Maxine's jaw tightened and she too stepped aside. Rebekah's hands skillfully popped the wooden box open. Immediately, a gentle green glow began to light the cell. The blonde Mantis member solemnly approached to receive the empty box, leading Rebekah alone to hold the strange crystal before her prisoner.

"Poor, poor Rey'na," Rebekah sighed with false melancholy. "You're sick and you don't even know it. Don't worry, love. The Order of the Mantis is not without mercy. We've elected to cure you of your affliction, nothing more." Maxine's eyes narrowed upon the speaker. Suddenly she felt like she was in that court room again, listening to the half truths and predetermined fates as they were voiced. Rebekah looked down at the dull glow in her hands. "Lucky for you, it doesn't look like your particular parasite has progressed far enough to deem you a lost cause! We may save you yet. You will be free of the Spark. Maxine and Janet?" The pair of Mantis members looked toward their superior with raised brows. Rebekah smiled. "Hold her still. This is going to hurt."

Janet couldn't wait to flit to Rey'na's left side to pin her left arm and shoulder to the wall. A bright grin painted her joyous expression, lips murmuring something about salvation for the prisoner she restrained. Maxine looked from the Rebekah and the crystal to Rey'na twice before she fell in line. Mirroring Janet, she took up the mage's right side. Her right hand pinned Rey'na's arm while the left pinned her at the shoulder. The marked woman leaned in to put her full body weight behind her physical attempt at restraining the chained woman. Back turned to the Order and head briefly hovering between Rey'na's shoulder and left ear, she broke her silence.

"You should've listened to me that trial at the burning, Rey'na," Maxine whispered somberly, her hold on the woman tightening suddenly. "You should've fucking listened to me, damn you!" She swallowed hard and exhaled the slip of her stoicism. In that simple gesture, the mask was put back on. Her eyes bore into the stone before her. No emotion rested in her features at all. Rebekah stepped forward, murmuring as she extended the crystal out toward the mage with both hands. The green glow of the artifact brightened considerably. Suddenly its focused beam of light shot forward directly into Rey'na's chest. It had begun.

[Rey'na]

As Max stared back, Rey's eyes sharpened. Maybe she had been green when they started this mission, just like Max had said. But things had changed. Twenty days in a cell wouldn't harden many people, but twenty days of illusions was a different matter. Twenty days of watching your best friend and your sister taunt you, beat you and abuse you only to end up back in your cell alone. That was a different matter.

"This won't hurt you. But what they'll do to you when you betray them too, these Mantis cunts? I pray to every Immortal that it hurts ten times more than anything they do to me" she snarled, lunging forward like an enraged animal before her attention diverted back to Rebekah. It didn't take long for her question to be answered, though not in the way she hoped it would be. They were going to cure her, remove her of the 'parasite' inside of her. All fancy words and phrases for what the harsh reality was. They were going to tear her Spark out of her body, forcibly rip it away from her.

Cunts.

Yet Rey'na wouldn't let her anger burst through. There was no guarantee they would succeed - and if they did then she had no idea what it would do. What stopped her from being initiated again when she was done here? As Janet came to her side, muttering to herself with a broad and extreme smile, Rey'na let out a small chuckle, turning a few heads. "I know you're trying to make this hurt, but it's painful enough without this crazy bitch whispering in my ear. Shut the fuck up" she snapped, before Maxine said her piece.

Before Rey'na could reply, the burning began. Whatever this crystal was it had already started to take effect just from being near to the mage. Every trill it took for them to bring it closer the pain grew exponentially. It was, in that moment, Rey'na came to the conclusion her luck with dungeons was the lowest of anyone in Idalos - her thoughts focused on anything but the pain. But the distraction didn't last long, the crystal touching her chest and her body trying to thrash out of Maxine and Janet's grasp, her mouth threatening to open at any trill with a scream.

Screams suddenly echoed through the dungeon, her voice almost tearing with the cries of pain that left her. It was as if her insides were bursting through her chest, a part of her trying to claw its way out of her torso and into the crystal. Without thinking her hand gripped on to Max's cloak, praying for whatever stability she could find. Pain shot through her, body both tense and numb all in one. All Rey'na could hope for now was the end of it. But slowly, as the Spark was removed, Rey'na found her mind shattering. What hatred she felt was gone, towards the Mantis or towards Maxine. Suddenly, she was hollow.

In a split trill, the room went dim again, the light of the crystal stopping as all pain stopped and Rey'na drooped forward. One of her hands held on to Max still, for a moment, before willingly letting go. Rapid pants came out of her sweating, shaking body as she tried and prayed. But the Ether didn't come when she beckoned it to, her Abrogation spark truly gone. What little power the magic had given her was gone, all the time spent training with Archie wasted. If she could hate, she would hate. If she could cry perhaps she would cry too. But she couldn't do any of those things. As her heart raced her mind was idle and empty.

Slowly, Rey'na raised her now hollow eyes to look at the Mantis in the room. "I'll remember your faces when I get out of here. Every. Fucking. One."

[Max]

To her threats and cursing, Maxine had offered Rey'na nothing but silence. The world would continue after what was done here, not come to a standstill in the face of the horror of what had transpired. The Mantis would keep on apprehending and executing mages. Scalvoris would thrive another blissful, ignorant trial with no mass understanding of what was to come. The ex-convict was anything but superstitious, but the world always seemed to balance itself out sooner or later. One way or another, she suspected Rey'na would get what she hoped for. If the past foretold anything about the future, Maxine's was bleak indeed. Growing up an orphan had taught her anything but overwhelming optimism. Life for people like her was short. Until it was over, she'd take what she wanted and drain from the world everything she desired. Cost be damned.

But is there a cost for something that's too great?

The bright beam hit the mage Maxine was tasked with restraining and she immediately turned statuesque. She could feel the woman's muscles locking up beneath her grip. Rebekah continued to move closer. Janet's wicked sneer widened with every trill the crystal did its ugly work. The other Mantis members surrounding the event watched with eager faces, the anticipation bright in their eyes as they stared on. Maxine forbore so much as a twitch of emotion even as the thrashing started.

"Give into it, mage!" Rebekah coaxed the prisoner she tormented with eerie reassurance. "Give in and be purified." The first scream beside the ex-convict's ear made her eyes tighten their fixation to the cold cell wall in front of her. It only got worse as the crystal came closer. The cries of anguish filled the dungeon, quelling any thought that might've been running through the marked woman's head. There was no past or future. There was only this terrible moment, and every trill in which she lived within it was an eternity. Maxine nearly jumped when she felt Rey'na's fingers balling up the fabric on her ashcloak. Head forward, that stoicism in her eyes slipped into a wide-eyed emptiness. She didn't fight to pin the mage's arm back up against the wall. Instead she let her grip remain upon her. Max dropped her own hand to clasp it overtop Rey'na's, fingers tightening over the back of the mage's hand as she held it in place.

As quickly as it came, the green light died from the room. The body of the prisoner lowered with the cease of the crystal's power. Janet released her grip on the chained woman to procure the box from which the artifact was procured. Maxine wasn't so quick. She slipped further left to compensate for the absence of the other Mantis woman, bracing against Rey'na's drop rather than letting the unkind metal of the shackles roughly catch her descent. She could feel the tremors coursing through the ex-mage's exhausted frame. The sound of her rapid breathing was a small reprieve compared to the shrieks that still rung Maxine's ears. She could feel her own heart pounding in her chest. The moment she felt Rey'na relinquish her touch, Maxine hardened her heart and did the same.

"See?" Rebekah asked with a satisfied, soft smile. "That wasn't so bad." The ex-convict backed away until she flanked her superior, hands neatly placed at the small of her back. Her gaze seemed to look through Rey'na rather than at her. One of the Mantis men promptly moved toward the cell door, unlocking it and holding it open in anticipation. Rebekah passed the wooden box off to Janet, who promptly exited the dungeon. In the face of the prisoner's threats, Rebekah merely nodded. "I'm sure you will. We'll be seeing plenty of each other after all. All will become clear soon enough." The green-eyed woman looked toward the mage hunter she personally recruited. "Come, Maxine. You've proven yourself well enough. Let us retire to let the other Swords stand their watch."

Rebekah turned and left the room without another word along with the rest of the Mantis soldiers. Expression just as guarded and hollow as it was a trill ago, Maxine slowly backed away from her once-teammate until she too had left the dungeon. The door slammed shut behind them. Once up the stairs, Rebekah wasted no time praising the woman for her loyalty and dedication to their cause. Max said all the words she was supposed to say, the bare minimum, until the two parted ways and she was safely in the comfort of her own room. Door locked, the mask dropped like a rock. Tables and chairs were flung wantonly. Bottles smashed and alcohol dripped down the walls. And for all its violence, no one heard a thing.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Thread Rewards

MAXINE

Overview

Maxine ... “is there a cost that is too high for something?” Her reaction at the end seems to imply that it may be so. I wonder what it will do to her to know what she did to Rey’na. This is the kind of events that can affect a PC for a long time, I think. Good writing about a dark topic. The NPCs were a bit less professional than I had expected of the mantis members ... I hope they get their just desserts one day!

Points

15

Loot, Renown, Injuries

+1 Renown

Knowledge

Acting: Playing the Role of Traitor
Acting: Disguising Underlying Emotions During Performance
Acting: The Demeanor of a Mage Hunter
Acting: Don’t Break Character
Acting: Serving Appropriate Lines
Acting: Improvising Character Responses
Acting: Eyes, Expression, and Body Language Convey a Message
Torture: Removing a Mage’s Spark With An Artifact
Torture: Secure Your Victim Before Acting

REYNA

Overview

Argh! They “purified” Rey’na! You wrote it well and in particular Rey’nas feelings and reactions to Maxine’s treachery and the sudden lack of feelings afterwards. The process was violent and deeply sad but most of all evil. A very emotional and intense thread for Rey’na, until her emotions left her. I have a feeling the cost for “purifying” her will be high.

Points

15

Loot, Renown, Injuries

+1 renown
Rey’na’s Spark removal (pre-approved by Aegis).

Knowledge

Endurance: Losing a soul
Endurance: Torture beyond the body
Endurance: Surviving against the odds
Endurance: Focus on your friends to survive the pain
Discipline: Relentless in your discipline
Discipline: Hold on to what keeps you sane
Discipline: Losing emotions doesn't mean losing hope
Discipline: Never back down

Please use the image code below to stamp your request !

Code: Select all

[align=center][img]/gallery/image/15360/medium[/img][/align]