4658/The House in the Dark

The House in the Dark
Date of Scene:	10 October 2016
Location:	City of Ravnica <Rav>
Synopsis:	The third lab of Yunomi is located near the Golgari Guild Gate...
Cast of Characters:	272, 325, 172, Corona Arclite, 385, Maya
Tinyplot:	34 - Moeru

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Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    THE HOUSE IN THE DARK -- THE UNDERCITY OF RAVNICA -- NEAR THE GOLGARI GUILD GATE

    There are fewer places that are more dangerous to the Izzet than the Golgari-held sections of the city. The guilds were constantly in a cold war, the factors for more life, more light, and better technology -- and everything that the Izzet stood against. AND ZOMBIES. Which may make it more puzzling that the tanuki would have put her last locale down here, this close to the edge of their enemies.

    Pidge is carefully flitting, his lights dimmed, close to the ground, seemingly afraid, or unsure.

    in the dirty green light filtering from a variety of luminescent oozes and slime molds, there is a house. It's small, poorly appointed, but connected -- via a sparking, loose wiring system -- to the mana network. A rat skitters by.

    It's missing half its belly, its bones blackened with mold.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
And here, once again, comes a former Boros soldier that also wants -nothing- to do with the Golgari, their 'lessers', and their rot 'farms'. Ugh. "I don't know how anyone eats anything they make," the woman mutters as she follows along behind the dimmed Izzet drone, and everyone else, occasionally glancing up to everyone as well as back over her shoulder. Taking the flank was her idea, and one she has taken very seriously. So seriously in fact, that the Sparkblade has already slain 3 vines, 4 'shadows' and at least one insect of a dubious, blood sucking sort.

    She's just a little on edge.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura seems oddly unconcerned with the squalor and the rat MISSING HALF ITS BELLY and the glowing slime molds. As long as it's just zombies, and not ghosts, she can keep her cool...

    Of course, she's got her wand gripped tightly in one hand and a handful of cards spread in the other. Just in case. This part of Ravnica isn't one she's ever been to before, after all.

    Keroberos, in Small Form, is floating by her left ear. Yue is... about, somewhere, although he hasn't actually been seen in half an hour. Scouting ahead, or from the sky, perhaps.

Corona Arclite has posed:
If anyone was to ask Corona, she'd say it actually made pretty good sense when you think about it. If Yunomi didn't want others snooping around in such a personally monumental project, putting a workplace in one place most of her allies and guildmates would not want to go is pretty clever. If not a little terrifying.

Corona doesn't even know all the beef between the guilds, and still being down here was making her tail frizzle. This had a sort of creepiness that just seeps deep through your skin.

To try and avoid drawing too much attention to their little trek she's opted for a lights off approach. Instead she's using her analyzer and a pair of brass goggles she fit some night-vision lenses into to follow Pidge's movements.

The less of the scenery she has to actually see, the better.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Ugh. Zombies. If it weren't for trying to find Yunomi, Yuna would stay COMPLETELY away from Golgari territory, and it's only by virtue of a continued effort of conscious determination that she suppresses the impulse to run the hell away, screaming at the top of her lungs.

.... well, there's also the fact that she's *juuust* a little too worn out from recent days to do a really good job of running away and screaming like a girl half her age. How *Sakura* keeps her wits about her is actively puzzling the battlesuited blonde, and in a weird way, that brainteaser helps her avoid focusing too much on the roving undead. Yuna is just in her basic Light Suit, the Matrix Divider at the ready, but she's prepared to discard her main weapon in favor of her kite shield Shugoseiheki and a one-handed weapon if anything shows up that she'd need to defend against - whether defending herself or somebody else in the party.

Then the Matrix Divider goes off, a gold-green flash accompanied by a faint *bvew* noise and a slightly less faint crackle-snap.

Scratch one half-skeletal rat. Yuna tries not to shudder. "Elner ..."

"I'm scanning," the robo-faerie states quietly. "You probably didn't need to waste a shot on the rat."

"It was creepy and disgusting and rats are dangerous."

Elner just emits a sound distinctly akin to a sigh, and cross-checks locations and current surveillance with Jiina, Marina, and Erina - all three androids being somewhere in the general area, spread out for a combination of early warning (should any Golgari, magic-eaters, or other potential unfriendlies show up) and reinforcements-on-standby (in case Yuna turns out to actually need something more than the Light Suit this time out).

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Pidge halts outside the door, then beeps quietly. His lights flash, and then he zips back over to the group, and orbits Sparkblade with determination.

    The door doesn't seem to be locked magically -- a good kick might just bring it down on itself.

    Didn't seem like Yunomi was concerned about people finding this lab.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite thinks that just proves her reasoning correct, but she's not the sort to try and rub it in.

"Welp, now that we're here. And knowin' she likely ain't here no more," the silver-grey vixen murmurs as she puts her device away in her tool belt. "No need to fuss with the door none."

She gives said door a good ol' kick with the heel of her reinforced boots. Clearly not the first time she's done this sort of thing.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura has definitely grown up a lot - in some ways, at least - since Yuna first met her. Her face is set in a look of determination as she grips her wand more tightly. She turns to look at Yuna a moment, giving her a brief, reassuring smile, before looking at the building they've arrived at.

    "Kero, if you w-" And then Corona kicks the door. "...Er, never mind."

Maya has posed:
So here was Maya nce more, She was suited up and redy for trouble she gave Pidge a bt of a grin as she took step be side Corona and tilts her head at the fox who was pretyt much a junker herself. Maya was also far better ready for things down here it seemed she'd made better ready after last time. The undead rat catches her noticed and leaves maya frowning at it. Oh she totlaly didn't like this at all but shenever had much love for the /undead/ given her world's history and her own true nature.

"All right and the only thing I could see eating what they make are species who naturally eat carrion."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"We *could* have checked for life signs before doing that, Corona," Yuna points out. She's still gripping the Matrix Divider tightly, as if expecting gods-know-what kind of terrifying horrors to come lumbering out of the now-open door. Or maybe the house itself will become animate and start trying to punch them until THEIR skeletons are ambling around without a comfortable layer of flesh and clothes.

... the thought of a skeleton getting chilly because it left the rest of its body behind somewhere actually helps keep the fear away, oddly enough. Yuna suppresses her smile - but at least she looks a little less likely to freak out and begin hosing down any source of random movement with a barrage from the Matrix Divider.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Oh hey, a door. "I reckon that's our destination, then," Skara muses, more to the now orbiting Pidge than anyone else. "Welp, ya'all take a look inside, I'll watch the door like last time."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    The door's kicked open, and inside the place is in disarray, as if someone came through, grabbed whatever they could and booked it out of there as quick as they could. The cot's been left with a blanket, still relatively warm. There are notebooks on the magic of Namamura, everything written in the same precise Japanese Yunomi does. There are explosives here, the magical lock that was affixed to the door fizzling with a failed spell illuminating them briefly. There is an aparatus that is plugged into the manavine network. There is a large display of the Manavine Nexus plans on the wall marked up in Japanese "Here, here, here, here, here," in sveral different places, including a crudely hand-drawn ad-in of the grandstand and high stage.

    There are also several, long, cold iron spikes here.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura winces a bit at the sudden PING in her mind of the spell trying and failing to resolve. She gives a slight shiver. "Oh, man, we should have thought of that... Thank goodness it was a dud."

    She knows what Yunomi's magic can do, and she's really not looking forward to being on the receiving end of it.

    "W-well, we should... look around, I guess." She eyes those iron spikes for a moment, then reaches forward to pick one up curiously.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
No ravening undead. No architectural animation. No sign of trouble, and the only hint of a trap is the fact that a spell failed to go off properly. "Good kick, Corona," Yuna says with a faint sigh of relief. Then she freezes. "Are those - ? Elner, give us a hand. Corona, let's make sure those things don't have a chance to go off, now or ever. Everyone else keep your distance for a bit."

Yep, Yuna noticed the bombs, figured out what they were, and wants to make *REALLY* sure they won't have a chance to hurt anyone in the group. Elner begins scanning the explosive devices to sort out how they're wired (if technologically; if they're magic-based, then Sakura's likely to need to help instead of Corona), and Yuna - well, she may not be great with technology, but she CAN follow directions and use tools properly. More importantly, if a bomb goes off in Yuna's face, the Light Suit should make sure that she still *HAS* a face after the explosion. Nobody else has that kind of protection.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite might of been expecting something to possibly jump out too. Which is why she kicked the door open, she's quick enough on her feet to jump out of the way of the potential jumpscares... that don't come. Which is either good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

Despite how much time she's spent around Izzets lately, magic is still a vage thing to her and the fizzling spell doesn't even register.

Now that they're here she pulls down her goggles, and flicks on the headlamp strapped to her hat instead. A little better illumination for investigating, but not too bright.

The first thing it illuminates is the cot and blanket. Reminds her of some of the bandit hideouts she's had to help bust. "... It ain't been -too- long since someone's slept in that."

That said she turns her attention elsewhere, going to investigate the layout map and other notes left in this location.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Once everyone has slipped inside, Skara puts her back to the doorframe and starts to glance both inside, and out, from time to time. It seemed that Yuna found some traps to disarm, the others could help, but the one thing that seems to give the woman pause are the spikes in one corner. Her expression seems to turn sullen, but only for a brief moment. It only takes another moment for her composure to return, and then she calls to the others, "Oi. What're those over there?" she motions at the spikes.

Maya has posed:
With the door kicked open? Maya see shortly how messed up it is. It seems someone else has been here, the cot after she gets a look at it? Seem to be warm. The notes are useful but she'll need to find someone who can read it. She looks right at Yuna and Sakura. "Hey can someone take a look at this? I can't read this. It's also strange from the Japanese I have seen."

The rest of the things here are troubling too is the Nexus going to be blown...? Hopefully there may be answers in the Japanese notes, though the style of it was old and there was a possibility no one here who knew modern Japanese could be able to make heads or tails of it.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    THe cold iron spikes may give Sakura a very, very uncomfortable feeling. They feel evil. They feel like warmth slowly sucking away from her body, like that minute you finally get weak in the knees after a long, long run.

    The explosives are not magical in nature, but there is an awful lot of them. Enough to blow this portion of sector sky high, collapsing down the support pillars and the ceiling of the streets above, and to a lot of structural damage to anything below.
    The lay out map is very similar to others found in the notes and displays; it is the layout of the Mana Nexus on the day of the Grand Start-Up, Presentation day. There's a little kanji with 'TANUKI' and a big, red cross out for the kanji for 'DRAGON', one right next to one another.

    The cot is still warm -- Yunomi may even be nearby someplace, watching.

    There is still the divice plugged into the mana vine network itself. It has a series of switches, all firmly placed OFF at the moment.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura cringes as her hand comes closer to the iron spike. She's just about to pick it up, when-

    "Bombs?" She stands up straight, and manages to notice the explosives. "Eek!" She takes a few steps away from the bombs, and produces a card from a pocket. "I, uh... I'll just get rid of them. It'll be okay." Wand twirl! "MAZE!" As she strikes the card, the space around the explosives suddenly warps - all of them, even ones with other objects between them.

    "...It'll probably be okay if they explode in there. Probably." The Maze is doing its best to Vanish all those bombs!

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite tilts her hat a bit to scratch the back of her head. "Ah just don't get it. Everythin' here keeps pointin' at Yunomi doin' this of her own, but somethin' feels... off. Not right about i..."

She trails off for a moment, silent save a few flicks of her tail against the floor.

"... Wait a minute." Corona leans a little closer to the diagram for a moment, then goes looking for any other notes that might of been left around. Something's bugging her about this, but she needs something else to compare to. There were books and clipboards and notes left all over the place last time....

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Having said her peace, and decided she doesn't really care to be near those spikes (FOR OTHER REASONS ALSO), the soldier heaves a sigh and glances back into the dimly lit lands of the Golgari. She hates this place. It shows. The -person she is- utterly hates this place, but that isn't something she's going to vocalize any further. What she does do, however, is act on something Merlin suggested. A glance is given the others, searching this that or the other thing, the books full of technical data, the cold iron spikes, the bombs, and she decides she could do this quickly enough. A step is taken away from the door, just barely out of sight.

With just a moment to herself, the soldier produces something only a -very- small group of people would recognize. "I haven't given up on you yet.." she whispers to something she has in one hand. For weeks she had tried to figure out why to give another press release, but with how rushed it seemed like someone left, she can only hope that someone was still around. Iron spikes be damned, she wasn't going to give up. Not now, not ever. The result? The soldier takes a few more steps and then sticks something in a crack, makes sure the little item stays put, and then she slips back into the doorstop, "Thought I heard somethin'," she tells the people inside, "Just another damn rat," she mutters."

    In the crack? A very pecuiliar rose. It has blue and red petals..

Maya has posed:
Maya is hoping her friends and fiure out the notes she found. The cot being warm? That has got her attention She now pulls a scan fate card out in a hope to try an reach out to sense what might be around maybe she can find Yunomi? She's not sure or whoever it was. If someone mentions the Kanji's meaning? That's going to get a very worrid thought in her mind but only if someone lets them know.

She also takes a note at the crack and the flower.

"Humm what do we have here?"

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    There are notbooks. Plans, diagrams, all written in Yunomi's precise Japanese. What kind of information isbeing sought? Lay outs of Namamura's valley? Layouts of Nivix? A burnt piece of book marked in Yunomi's english scrip "REDFERN". A few drawings, smatterings here and there of a Danger Tanuki idea, a few members of the Union. There are papers all over the place, a mish-mash of items, some crumbled, some singed, others burnt so badly that there was nothing left to read on them.

    The bombs are eliminated. Sakura has saved the sector.

    The device at the far end of the room still remains, all its switches firmly switched to 'off'.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
".... that's probably safer than trying to disarm them the hard way," Yuna concedes after a moment's bafflement. Then she turns her attention to some of the structure's other contents.

"Don't they use spikes like these to manipulate ley lines?" is Yuna's first question. She can't sense what's magical or supernatural about them, although the way Sakura cringes when she gets close to them didn't go unnoticed. Five places marked on the map, enough spikes to -

Yuna goes briefly motionless. "Elner, image capture, get every detail," she instructs the robo-faerie. And for good measure? Yuna produces her Scroll, taking a couple of snapshots of the Manavine Nexus plans herself for easier access - y'know, just in case Elner's doing something else when she needs to confer with Rhapsody or somebody about these. "I can't imagine why Yunomi would want to sabotage one of her masterworks," Yuna muses as she and Elner are busy. "Unless she was planning to keep somebody else from using it against her or her friends."

And yes, Yuna does know Japanese. If it's too archaic then she may not be able to parse a whole lot, but ... yeah, she can at least try to read them. And to that end, she carefully (even respectfully) opens one of the notebooks, just to try and get an idea of what it starts with.

Protip: While Yuna is fluent in Japanese, and while she technically counts as a 'magical girl,' her actual *magical* ability is roughly in the approximate neighborhood of more or less *zilch*. Her knowledge of the practical aspects of magic is around that level, too.

However, Elner flits out to take a quick look - and the robo-faerie immediately reports, not out loud but via local radio to the Union members, /Either Yunomi is *here* or somebody got one of the roses she wears./

Yuna quickly closes the notebook she was looking at.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura gives a faint sigh of relief as the bombs all vanish with a subdued 'bwoop'. She looks around the room as the danger seems to be over, visibly relaxing - and edging away from those iron spikes.

    As she hears Elner over the radio, Sakura blinks. "She's here?" She apparently doesn't even contemplate the other possibility! "...Okay. Uh... you guys keep... doing whatever. Excuse me a sec."

    Sakura promptly sits her ass on the floor, legs crossed, and brings her hands to her face, index fingers extended and pointed up. She closes her eyes...

    Yes, Yunomi's aura is everywhere around here - she knows that. But if she's HERE then maybe...

    Sakura mutters something under her breath as she concentrates on trying to separate a living aura from the residual traces it's left on the area. This is HARD.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Okay, the same sort of clutter is here, if a bit harder to track down in the limited lighting. Probably a good thing. It would of been really remiss if there was that much of a different between labs.

Corona picks up a notebook and starts flipping through it. But she's not looking at the notes themselves this time. It's all mostly the same mechanical arcane technobabble she scanned off the last set.

She's looking at the notes and doodles in the margines. Those are more personal, typically thoughtful and emotional. If there's something messed up in Yunomi's head, there may be more clues there than in all the technical jargon.

There's also the fact that the layout details her coupe... While the last notes had tidbits about trying to find and/or rescue Niv-Mizzet. Something between those two just don't mess in Corona's mind. Is there some connection she's not seeing... or did the motives for the Nexus change somewhere along the way...

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Try as Sakura might, there is no sense of Yunomi being here, other than the remnants of her aura left about.

    There is plenty of archane technobabble, there are notes in the margins but they are impersonal. Tech shopping lists. A reminder that they changed the model from the last time.

    And then the notes devolve. The portal generator was gotten. It opened with the correct coordinates, and the promise that Kaeru-hime would appear to only someone she TRUSTED, without a doubt, and that the job would be done. And soon it would be over, at last.

    There are oncoming footsteps, making their way close, and a hissing voice.

    IT's coming from the direction of the guildgate, accompanied by skitters.

Maya has posed:
Maya sees the bombs are handled that one less issue to worry about and noe she looks to see the machine. They don't know what it does? Do they turn it on? Do they wreck it? Do they leave it ir do they do something about it? She's not sure and clearly Maya's got to figure out where to find Yunomi before things get worse and the magic eaters have her worried given she damn well knows she's a buffet to beings like that. Maya does however have experiance with magitech and the like an she's going to take a look at device to see if she can suss out a bit of about what it can do? Then there are skitting and hissing? Oh hell she may not have time to check this out.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    Still at the doorframe, Skara stands up off of her leaning, winces, then looks inside, "Hey!" a loud whisper at best, "Golgari coming, if not worse. Take anything you think is important and lets try to figure out what we have somewhere a little safer. Hurry!" A glance is given the rose again, something she didn't hear Elner radio about since she doesn't have a Union Radio (technically), but she hopes as they all rush out that the peculiar rose is left alone..

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura grunts a bit in frustration and puts her hands in her lap. "Guuh. I wish Syaoran were here. HE can track magic signatures really well..." Huff. Arm cross. And then...

    "Golgari coming? Uh... what's so bad about that? We're not actually IN their territory, are we?" She slowly stands up, though, regardless.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
A surreal look is given Sakura, but after a moment Skara realizes she's not exactly a native, "That's just it. We are in their land and trust me, they will able to tell we aren't -them-.."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Either Golgari or Magic-Eaters, is Yuna's thought. Or both.

She grabs as many of the notebooks as she can get, transferring them into her 'inventory' with Elner's help - putting them 'away' where her weapons and shield go when she isn't using them, and where her civilian clothes and stuff go while she's transformed. "The Golgari don't get along with the Izzet," Yuna says in reply to Sakura's query, "and their representative voted in favor of letting the Magic-Eaters help hunt for Yunomi. Plus what Skara said, *and* their representative said they'd kill any trespassers in their territory, so that's at least three or four reasons why it's an issue."

She looks around, sticking the last of the notebooks (anything nobody else took) into her 'inventory'. It looks like she's putting them in a pocket at her right thigh, except that her thigh is pretty much bare except for that garter-like band. "Sakura, can you conceal that thing," she gestures at the switch-box, "in such a way that nobody else will be able to find or use it? We don't have time to try and disconnect it and I don't want to risk breaking it."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "Really? Hm." Sakura reaches into the bag by her waist, and pulls out a white... cloth of some sort. She tosses it into the air, grabs it, and wraps it around herself, putting arms into sleeves - oh, it's a white robe. Or a cloak. She pulls up the hood. "...Okay."

    She glances over to Yuna. "Uh... sure." Card flipped into the air! Wand spun! "Illusion..!" A violently-bright tartan pattern promptly covers the... device. And then it kinda shimmers. "...You can still see it because you know it's there. Don't worry, no one else should be able to tell there's anything but a wall there. Hopefully."

    And then she sneaks out onto the street. And then leaps up onto a high perch. Oh yeah she has Hashshashin training doesn't she?

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Pidge, who until now had been orbiting and quiet, now goes to hide in Sakura's cloak, giving a soft 'blaaaat' sound.

    Speak of the Devil, Yuna, and then Vlrash rounds a corner. An undead elf, a half-consumed rat chittering on her shoulder as the Golgari represntative to the Council meetings was clad in leather armor, a tapered ear giving a twitch, dark gold and red eyes set on the hovel as her head tilts.

    "So." she hisses quietly, her head tilting at Skara, glancing her up and down. "I don't recall seeing one of your type down here." she muses, her voice creaking as her arm hangs to the side, nearly skeletal in form.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"What'sit to you?" the soldier asks, motioning the scratched out Boros symbols. "I'm on a job, alright? We ain't doin nothin' to yer farms, or anything, and we're barely inside the border. We'll be gone in a few, alright?" Skara doesn't seem to phased by Vlrash, or really seem to recognize the rep. "Heck, I even have the 'fella's' card if'n you wanna see it. Cause, ya know, yer guild voted for'm. Papers were all over that stuff. Granted, anything against the tekkers, yeah?" There's slang no one here has probably heard before. Know why? The Izzet -hate- that word.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna winces slightly; she didn't think the Golgari were THAT close. Or that it was specifically Vlrash.

There's one option open to her, though: Elner just teleports Yuna out of the cottage, rematerializing her somewhere within general earshot, but out of Vlrash's sight.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite's expression scrunchs a bit. To some extent a confirmation of part of what she was thinking... but at the same time, leaving more questions than answers. And the fact that it seems so much more impersonal than the other set of notes bugs her too. What the hibbly hoo went on in that girl's head? If she -did- do the dirty deed... why? What made her change her mind and objectives? Something still isn't adding up, but it's progress. -Something- changed along the way.

Digging through the notes doesn't stop her acute ears from hearing the faint footsteps approaching, Corona snapping her head around. "That won't stop them from trying to use it as evidence to get another guild into trouble," she hiss-whispers back to Sakura.

She shoves the notebook in one of her belt pouches, and then goes to grab the layout map off the wall if she can. Because that's just a little bit too incrimidating. Last thing they need is the people opposing the possibility that there's something else going on finding it.

Sorry Yunomi. Promise, when you hopefully prove not to be a murderous crazy person, she'll give 'em back. But right now, it might be better for others to -not- find them.

... And there's already people at the door. Dangit.

Who here remembers that foxes can climb? Because that's precisely what Corona does, with a little help from her grappler, to get up into the shadowy corners of the building and hide. She can be surprisingly stealth for a gadgeteering cowgirl when she wants to be. Being small and light helps.

Also helps it's a good thing she didn't wear boots with spurs tonight.

She -can- emergency blip away using her ship's teleporter, but she doesn't want to possibly leave the others here alone.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Vlrash glances at the scratched out symbol, then abck up to the Boros.

    "You realize, of course, that if you're investigating in our sector we have the right to know. Just in case things get a little... out of hand and you require..." she glances down, and then glances back up "Assistance." she turns, and spits a glob of black goo to the side, and then scritches a little against the rat's ear, before she reaches up, snaps its neck, twisting it in half.

    She gives a black-and-green toothy little smirk to Skara. "Hungry?" she offers.

    THe rat is still squeaking.

Maya has posed:
Maya can not hide her magic profile if the beings coming in are able to sense it? Maya will show up like a nuclear blast at midnight. She's tensed and going to try to look over the machine with what little time he has left. However they don't attack so she's nog going to pick a fight.

"We are not seeking to cause your guild any issues." She's being honest there and thankfully Corona has snatched up more notes, good hopefully with what Maya has they can figure out more of what's going on with Yunomi.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura shifts her weight a little bit. She's clinging to the side of a wall, perched on a small outcrop and supporting some of her weight with the Hidden Blade she's jammed into a crack in the stone. She wishes she brought some pitons or something.

    She watches carefully for when - if - she has to act to make sure everyone gets out.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
For some reason Skara actually laugh about notifying the Golgari, "Notification was sent, buster. You -do- realize that goes through the Azor and I sent it -yesterday-. Dun worry, you'll get yer notification. In about a week." Smile! "Seriously though, it was only gonna be a few minutes checkin' around fer a few things. And bein' this close to the border? I really didn't think anything'd happen. Until you showed up? Nothin' did. So, c'mon, no harm no foul, aight?" A curious glance is given the rat. "Not my cuppa tea. You can enjoy alla that."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite may of crammed herself up in a dark corner, but her sharp ears can hear almost every word outside.

Nice to know the Boros lady is on their side. She could of instigated them so easily if she had been some sorta inside agent or something.

Still not entirely sure why she has an accent almost like her own. And that sword. Corona knows she's seen that sword before.

None of that is important right now though.

You know, she wouldn't be opposed to eating a rodent. They're natural prey of foxes... But she ain't gonna eat one of THOSE half dead, moldy things though. That's just squicky.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
It's probably just as well that there's no sign of Magic-Eaters; if there were, Yuna would be having an increasingly difficult time stifling her distaste for them. Still, her recollection of the Guilds' meeting is unpleasant enough that she'd sooner avoid the Golgari leader. And Skara seems to be handling things diplomatically enough.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Vlrash glances over to Maya, and then over to Skara. Her eyes narrow a moment. "And a guildless?" she questions. "What kind of investigation are you doing again? Not into that little..." she waves a hand a moment "Izzet problem, are you?" she questions. And then stuffs half the rotting rat into her face, chewing noisily. A black fluid traces its way down her chin.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"What fella do you think I was talkin' about that I had his card?" the soldier scoffs, settling against the doorframe again. "Jes trust me, aight? Wasn't much ta be found here. Damn tekker prolly took all their stuff and ran. Ain't really anythin' left. Scept the rat that ran outta here. Might be the one yer eatin' right now, ta be fair."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Vlrash looks at the soldier, then looks at Maya, then just shakes her head. "Well. I suppose you know who to call. I would not confront /her/ directly, though. They're attributing three deaths to her now. Fourth one is to be determined." she replies....

    And then, like that, Vlrash is gone, walking back towards the guildgate.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"Three eh? I hadn't heard alla that, but alright. If I see'r I'll send up a flare or somethin," Skara says to Vlrash in parting. She stays in the doorframe, waiting for the golgari to slip out of sight, then seems to sigh lightly, "Aight.." she says, giving the all clear. She glances toward Corona next, "Maybe not bash the door down next time so we can, ya know, close it?" She's not upset, it's genuine advice. "Now.." she continues, waiting for folks to get visible again. "Why don't one of ya actually try turnin on those switches? Maybe they'll do somethin' useful."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Suddenly, Sakura is in the doorway again, her Hidden Blade vanishing with a subtle 'snikt'.

Maya has posed:
Maya looks at the undead woman for a moment. Maya tilts her heads a bit at her for a momewn. "It would be unwise poltically for me to throw myself behind one guld entirely." It's true given the poltical and relgious clout Maya has on her home world? She tries to avoid poltical entaglements whenever she can. It's bad for her and others generally. "I understand your advice is soun." She watches the womaqn leave and sighs for a moment. She'll try to go back to check out machine of mystery again. "I'll try to pick the lock next time."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite waits until she's damn well certain she's heard that weirdo walk away and footsteps well gone before she slowly lowers herself back to the floor. Unfortunately her expression is only all the more conflicted and confused. What the hell was that about three deaths? Four? Now she almost wishes they could of asked more.

Almost. And certainly not of -these-... peculiarities.

Instead she just kind of shrugs haplessly at Skara. "Old habits die hard." Normally kicking in a door would of involved a lot of shooting bandits where she's from. Element of surprise and shock.

She moseys over to inspect the machine, since they can still see it. "Ah reckon Ah've read 'nuff of the notes she's scrawled to do this without blown anythin' up." Pause. "Unless it's suppose to. Y'know, Izzet-ness."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna rejoins the others, the 'long' way around rather than Elner teleporting her again. "We're going to have to dig around some and see whom Yunomi's accused of killing ... thanks for covering for us, Skara," she says with a wry but relieved smile.

"Anyway. We should probably take at least one of these spikes for analysis ... Sakura, was there anything you could tell about these things? You didn't seem to like them that much."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura lowers her hood! "They feel... mmh. They kinda feel like they're... sucking everything up. Y'know? Warmth, magic... happiness..."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Pidge comes out of Sakura's hood. He flits about, circling around the grouping once before approaching the spikes. It seems puzzled by them, then flits back to Skara, Maya, Yuna, and Corona, havinvg made sure that Sakura was fine.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna nods slowly. "Magic absorbers ... and the map had sites marked on the manavine nexus. Plunge these spikes into those and I bet you'd take the whole network out - maybe kill the vines themselves entirely, certainly wipe out the network's ability to transmit mana to particular locations."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite glances over her shoulder. "But why would she want to poss'bly sabotage her own big thing?" Then back to the machine. "Welp, here goes somethin!" She flicks the switchs with one hand.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Keep other people from using it against her, is my only working guess," Yuna replies.

Standing far away from the box or whatever it's connected to suddenly seems like a really good idea. Barring that, Yuna summons her kite shield with a call of, "Shugoseiheki!" and makes sure that Sakura is behind the shield with her. Along with anyone else who wants to try and hunker down with them.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    CRACK! HUUUUUUUUUUUUMMM! ChunkchunkchunkWHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

    Now you're thinking with portals. The rest of the lights in the area seem to dim as the portal generator fires up and opens the portal. It stabilizes and shows a very familiar scene to those who have been to Yuomi's homeworld.

    The portal shows the clearing where a waterfall once roared, though now its source has long dried. The straw rope that had cordoned off the cave has been broken away and flaps in the breeze, and in Namamura, it is raining.

    The portal leads right to the clearing outside Kaeruhime's grotto, the village of Namamura far in the distance.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura flinches back, ducking behind Yuna's shield instinctively... then she peers out from behind it. Her head tilts to one side. "Is... is that an image or did Yunomi seriously invent a way to open Warp Gates?"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite pumps fists in the air. "Yeah, it DOES work!... Ah think." She's just guessing by the notes that's the whatever place Yunomi was trying to open a portal to. "Warp gates aren't the only portals out there, kiddo. 'Sides, they go every which where. This one's designed t'go somewhere specific."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
For the briefest of moments, Skara's eyes widen, but by the time she speaks, she's the warrior she's been since she showed up in Namamura. "I'm thinkin yer friend manipulated some teleportin' spells. A lotta the blue guilds have'm, maybe not the Simic though. The rest? Likely. Izzet? For sure. "Though, I'm not so sure I recognize where that portal's goin'. Doesn't look like anyplace in Ravnica I've ever seen. .. Well, no. It kinda looks like that village they built over near the spires."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"I'm pretty sure that's Namamura," Yuna says, looking around the other edge of her shield from where Sakura's leaning out. "And it looks too clear to be an image ... I'm not sure where in Namamura that is, though." She never explored Namamura enough to recognize most of the places within its boundaries. "That ... you know, I think this is why Yunomi wanted to be able to take out the Manavine Nexus. If opening portals to Namamura required that infrastructure to collect enough mana, then she would have wanted to be able to destroy the Nexus so that *nobody else* could do it. And when somebody else *did* and murdered Kaeruhime ..."

Yuna tugs Shugoseiheki's bottom corner back out of the ground and wills the kite shield to disappear. "I wonder ... Pidge? Did Yunomi actually *want* us to find her secret labs, so we'd be able to put the pieces together that she left behind?" She looks at the drone for a moment, then at the portal. If somebody goes through and the portal is closed behind them .... well, there are other warpgates on the Namamura side, Yuna knows that well enough. Or at least there used to be.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "That's definitely Namamura," Sakura says quietly. "..So are we going through or staying here? We don't know how long this portal's going to be able to stay open."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"Well. I say," the soldier starts, first putting the door back up against the doorframe. She fusses with it a moment, but once it stays and seems -stable-, she turns back to the group and the portal, "Nothin' ventured.." she trails before, quite clearly, marching with the intent of walking right through the portal. The only way she's stopping is if someone else stops her.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite makes a waving motion with one hand. "Y'all go investigate. Ah'll stay put and make sure the thin' stays runnin' long enough fer ya to take a snoop and mosey back." And make sure no more of the local jerks show up, either.

Maya has posed:
Maya Says "Corona when we're back at the HQ we need ot talk about notes and wwap some information."The other guilds have ears here but no so much at the Union's HQ. She nods to COrona and Maya seems to be lost in a lot of thought? What the hell is going on her? A thought crosses her mind but she'll hold that off for the moment. For now they need to take wht they have and get moving.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
If this *IS* the last of Yunomi's labs, then any further clues would have to be in Namamura. Yuna steps through, with Elner following her.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "...Well, in for a penny..." Sakura murmurs. The moment she's sure that the portal isn't, like, vaporising people or anything - man, Staren's paranoia is rubbing off - she steps through too.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    As soon as Sakura passes through the portal, The Maze's spell seems to end.

    All that explosive is back in place, and gives a soft 'beep' as its timer turns on, counting down.

Corona Arclite has posed:
... Well, that wasn't expected.

"On second thought, wait for me!" Just because Corona likes explosions doesn't mean she wants to be in middle of that one. PORTAL DIVE AWAY!

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    KA-BOOM! The explosives go off just as Corona dives through, skidding on wet grass as the portal flickers, then dies.

    And now the group is stuck in Namamura, with possibly far more questions than answers left! -- not to mention a mess at the Guildgate.