[video]

[marmoron]

[The image on the feed is shaky and improperly focused at first on the ground.]

I need help. Medical and otherwise.

[Keith’s voice is terse, strained. The camera moves fo focus on an injured Steak. His coat has been tattered to shreds by their attackers, blood pouring from his ever exposed abdomen, puncture wounds bitten into his sides. Though he’s currently breathing, applying pressure to one of the wounds in his side, he’s several shades paler than he’d like to be and his horns — and this is the most offensive part of all — have been slightly chipped at the tips.]

We were attacked by some weird tentacled creatures -- didn’t look like anything I’ve seen around this planet before. They were… [A beat, a sharp breath as he tries to gather his thoughts.] Sneaking around the temples. Working together. Intelligent. Didn’t want to be seen.

Someone else was there, too. He disappeared, looked like he was in bad shape. Anyone know where he is?

[The camera moves away from Steak, now focusing on Keith who has a fairly deep, bloody gash across his face.]

Are these things the Null? Or .. does anyone know what these creatures are? Seemed like they might’ve been using the stampede as cover to do some recon. Might’ve been able to mess with some emotions, hard to say.

[Steak clears his throat, straightening up as he does so. Most importantly:]

Their attacks are powerful, despite their size. [They’re certainly not as large as some of the Fallen Angels he’s come across at home] No one should fight them alone. [Or, perhaps, at all.]

Comments

video

[evocation]

I can maybe stop the bleeding, but someone else will have to do the legit healing. What did the other guy look like? And did the things you ran into look like robots or animals?

voice

[64th]

How big are they? How many were there?

video

[theladyofhighever]

[the video opens on a deadly serious looking sixteen year old girl]

I know some field medicine and I can fight. Where are you both right now?

video;

[marmoron]

Anything would help.

[There's another deep breath out. He's stressed, still clearly running on adrenaline and trying not to breathe too hard. Might have a case of broke rib going on.]

Other guy was average height. Brown hair, green eyes? There are lot guys that look like that that can teleport? They looked like animals. Weird tentacled animals.

[evocation]

Wait, he teleported? How bad did he look?

video

[toiletseat_girl]

[oh shit. ohhhhhhh, shit. well, here goes nothing?]

I know healing magic and ordinary medicine to. And there's no need to worry about me getting hurt 'cause I'm already dead.

And who was the someone else? What did he look like?

audio

[fogsong]

[ It fucking figures. ]

Where'd you see them, which temple? Were they trying to get in? [ She understands there's some dire injuries here but information, given that Hope is gone, is the most important thing to get from them should they succumb. ] What kind of attacks did they employ and did they seem susceptible to anything?

[ She knows this may come off as callous but she's not trying to be. ]

voice

[marmoron]

Don't know how many there are in total. We saw four.

[And you can just hear in his voice that four was already far too fucking many in his opinion.]

There were probably more of them sneaking around.

[And woop, I'll get back to you on the size of these things when mod input has arrived!]

[voice]

[hot_mes]

Where are you? I'm a doctor. I can do more than field medicine and I can be there instantly.

[not to brag but he sure can teleport anywhere]

[marmoron]

Yeah. Teleported.

[A beat.]

Bad. Three of 'em had him surrounded.

["Bad" is an understatement here, actually.]

[evocation]

[There's a moment—an unfortunately long moment—where Kyna considers disconnecting and going to find Harlan herself. She doesn't know these two, and if Harlan dies, there are no gods to bring him back. It's scarily tempting, but she has no idea where he is, and if she teleports across the city trying to find him, she won't actually have enough energy left to help him.

So, for a stretch of seconds, all Keith gets is an awkward, tense pause, and then Kyna finally rakes a hand through her hair in frustration.]

Fuck. Okay. Where are you?

[marmoron]

South side of the lake. Near the normal looking houses.

[Best way he can think to describe it.]

Where are you?

[Cuz able to fight or no, the city's not exactly the safest place to navigate at the moment]

[theladyofhighever]

I'm on my way.

[it's adequate]

On the other side of town. I'll be there as soon as possible.

[she made her way from one side of Denerim to the other when it was overrun by the darkspawn, killing all that crossed her path. she can take care of herself]

[marmoron]

[Judging from the length of that silence, he;s gonna wager a guess that she's familiar with the guy who got caught up in that mess, and his expression, as stressed as it is, softens a pinch.]

South side of the lake.

[A beat.]

That guy... friend of yours?

[evocation]

Yeah. We're from the same world.

[God, this sucks. She does her best to swallow her panic and deal, though.]

I'm going to teleport over. Give me sec.

video;

[marmoron]

[Keith's looking serious right up until that "cause I'm already dead" part.]

...That doesn't mean you should be risking your life unnecessarily?

[The logic there is perplexing and also deeply besides the point.]

I don't know who it was. One of his friends could tell you.

[That's not intended to be a brush off, but really... talking kinda hurts and one of the dude's friends has indicated they recognized the description, so.]

audio

[marmoron]

[It doesn't offend him in the slightest. What does concern him is that apparently nobody seems to be able to tell him what the fuck they just fought. He thought for sure it'd be the Null, but...

But give him a moment. Broken rib and all, making breathing annoying and sharp.]

Hope's. Like I said... looked like they were sneaking around, trying to do recon. They had armored shells to protect 'em from most damage. Used their tentacles and beaks when they needed to attack. They're a lot faster than they look.

[There's a long pause as he catches his breath again.]

We could've probably taken 'em on if they didn't come as a team.

video;

[toiletseat_girl]

[she shakes her head]

No. No, no, no. I wouldn't be risking it at all. Because I'm already dead, I can't die again. So I'm cool. Tell me where you are so I can fucking help you.

[if you want to get absolutely technical about it, she's an undead Grim Reaper, capable of healing wounds to herself that would be fatal to a mortal. as far as she's concerned, she's one of the safest people here]

voice;

[marmoron]

[Lessons he's learning about Hadriel: every other person can freaking teleport. Incredible.]

South side of the lake. By the housing that doesn't look weird.

[A beat.]

Bunch of others might be coming. That gonna get in your way?

[marmoron]

[Ah, shit. Probably shouldn't have been so blunt about the guy's predicament then.]

You sure you wouldn't rather go looking for him?

[marmoron]

[Honestly, he's seen enough different universes to know that people who say they can handle themselves when there's a mammoth herd stampeding around and unknown enemies spying on the city can definitely take care of themselves and that it's not a matter of being too proud to just back down.

All the same, he'll repeat Steak's warning.]

...If you come across one of them. Don't fight. Run.

[evocation]

Of course I want to.

[It comes out harsher than she meant for it to, but she doesn't bother apologizing.]

I don't know where he is, and I think he'd want me to help you.

voice;

[hot_mes]

[conveniently nearby, he lives in one of those]

If they're less skilled than I am, yeah. [welcome to Trafalgar Law's Ego, population one] At the very least I can take a look at the severity before deciding who to push aside.

That other person is right. The Null are robots, so if you didn't fight robots, it's not a Null problem.

[theladyofhighever]

[Mariane is a delightful combination of both, fully capable of taking care of herself when there are mammoths stampeding and unknown enemies about and too proud to back down.

she nods at his warning]

I will. I have to get to you and your friend first.

audio

[fogsong]

[ Sharon wonders if it's just luck they came across the strange creatures when and where they did and if there was a reason they were sniffing around Hope's temple in particular, especially given that he's currently gone. ]

Fast, beaks, armored, got it. [ It sounds like creatures that could cause damage if there's a large enough group and if it was a recon group like they assumed then there likely was a larger group. ]

So, what, you'd have taken one out if it'd been two... or three against one? [ That's not exactly confidence inducing. ] Did they run from you or you them? If we can get a direction they appeared to go, we might be able to set up a party to handle them.

[ and other people seem to be jumping to help them medically so she'll stick with her questioning. ]