T - Varde, Spidey, Kitty, Yuiven

[Nathalia]

((Amorette, Evaline, and Webster were playing away from their respective parental figures after they happened upon one another in the Capital.
However, while they were in a shoppe an odd breeze seemed to creep through the streets, bringing with it the odd scent of heavy spice and something...foul and wrong.

When they come out, the streets are deserted and if they turn and head back in the shoppe...anyone who was in there will seem to have vanished. Quite completely.
The sky seems to have darkened prematurely and small amounts of mist are roiling lightly on the ground.
What on earth is this mess?

A Corvie named Fenzik might be able to help you.
He's been tracking an odd stream of what appears to be living ink. It's been evading him for the past two hours, scooting in and out of shadows and moving almost too quickly for him to keep in sight, much less catch. If the children help him catch it, perhaps, he'll assist them all in their survival.

Your goal is to find your way to the Joker Amaterasu, who was in and out of a different series of Villa-based shoppes looking for some high-quality paper. Hopefully, she'll be able to help you!))


~Nathalia

[Varde]

Fenzik dashed from one alley to another, inwardly thankful that, for whatever reason, there didn't seem to be many other Cards around for him to plow headlong into. The rat's gaze darted madly left and right, searching, as he cursed his curiosity for getting him into such an admittedly ridiculous situation. He must have looked a sight -- his eyes wide, his jaw clenched in determination, body poised as though ready to pounce; his fur was ruffled and unkempt and specked with mud, dust, and other debris from barreling past various obstacles in pursuit of his... "prey". The tail on his right, Zik, eagerly grasped a glass jar in which the rat hoped to capture the peculiar substance. Meanwhile, the tail on his left, Fen, was threateningly brandishing a long net -- the sort one might use to catch small insects. The net wasn't likely to do the Corvie any good, but it was entirely likely that Fen realized this and simply didn't care because he enjoyed having something to wield.

Suddenly, a flash of movement. "There you are!" Fenzik cried, and bolted in its direction once again. Despite spending so much time following it, he hadn't wholly deduced what it was. All he knew is that it resembled a small puddle of black liquid that moved far more quickly than a small puddle of black liquid had any right to move. And for this reason he just had to study it. Was it acting the way it did because of chemical reactions, or had it been magically altered in some way? The scientist's mind raced with the possibilities -- and a good number of impossibilities, as well, thrown in for good measure.

The oozy darkness suddenly seemed to vanish near a collection of wooden crates, and the rat skidded to a stop. Wait, hadn't he seen those crates before? They looked awfully familiar. He looked up. That broken window looked familiar, too. Had the liquid already led him here before? "Ha! You're just running in circles, you... weird black stuff!" Fenzik taunted it.

[Kitty]

As part of their game he'd scaled the 'mountain', the pile of crates to everyone else, and stood at the top with his tail curled triumphantly. This was his mountain, and he only intended to share it with the little joined doll at his paws that he never went anywhere without. Well, alright, only for a minute or two so he could say he got there first .... since they'd told Amorette she wasn't aloud to cheat by flying!

He moved to the edge of the top most crate to see where the other two where when all of a sudden there was a big dark shape saying funny things as it moved toward where he was perched. Instantly his tail poofed out and he waited for a moment to speak, this had been quite unexpected and he, well.. .he needed a moment.

Hey mister, whatcha doin?

[Varde]

Fenzik nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. Was there another Card here? He stiffened, dreading the thought that somebody had seen him in this frenzied state. He looked around himself a couple of times, peering into the surrounding corners and corridors, but he didn't immediately see anyone else. His paranoia momentarily assuaged, the rat's mind then made a leap to the most ridiculous conclusion possible. Could it have been... the liquid speaking to him? Of course! It made perfect sense! It was fleeing from him by some magical means -- mightn't the same magic have compelled it to speak? To taunt him, just as he had previously taunted it?

Granted, neither the tone of the voice nor the words Fenzik had heard particularly sounded like what he might have expected coming from a glob of possessed goo -- had he expected anything of the sort. Then again, after chasing said goo around the city for two hours, he was about ready to believe anything. Zik curled more tightly around the glass jar, hoping that the catch was imminent. The rat cleared his throat and attempted to compose himself enough to address his prey, gazing intently at the base of the crates as he did so.

"You know perfectly well what I'm doing," Fenzik retorted, trying to sound confident. "I've been chasing you around this city for a matter of hours. You are an extremely intriguing specimen," he added, wanting to reassure the ooze that his motives were purely scientific. "Now, are you ready to surrender and come quietly to my lab?"

[Yuiven]

Scurrying up the wall on one side of the abandoned shoppe with ease, the footfalls of a lone figure went unheard. Numerous tiny hairs finely-drawn into the pads of the tarsuses cushioned all sound, while claws latched onto the brickwork for extra purchase. The color of this tarantula's fur was as silver as the polished blade of a sword, and marked with simply elegant swirls, as if painted with a brush in black ink. Similarly was the middle-class rank- seven of Hearts -except stained in the hue of fresh wet blood, on her left breast. A scar crisscrossed into the carapace of her abdomen completing the appearance with two finishing strokes.

When the Mid-Ranger was three-quarters of the way up, she paused. A small, deep line of concentration appeared between her brows, although she didn't outwardly shift her attention, trying to detect any change in the fanatically obsessive speech that would alert her she had been discovered. Words were muffled by distance, yet the regular ebb and flow of a conversation was audible. There was no break, no quickening.

The Mid-Range tarantula let go of the breath she'd been holding and smiled. She forced herself to hang there calmly, letting that debilitating moment of fear fade, before scaling the rest of the wall. Finally, as she reached the top, she placed four of her eight legs onto the edge and pulled herself up.

After heaving herself up over the edge, she lay there for a few moments catching her breath, then turned around. Taking care not to distort the silhouette of the roof as she peered down at the scene between the mad scientist and the children below, her red eyes gleaming in amusement.

[Kitty]

At the rat's response he had to cover his mouth with a paw to keep from cracking up. He made a motion toward the girls to try and keep them quiet before flattening himself down on the crate and peering over the edge, trying to remain as unseen as he possibly could.

I'll never surrender to the likes of you!

Oh yes, the rat was now an official part of their game and definitely trying to capture the mountain! well, he certainly couldn't let that happen, could he? The whole chasing him for hours thing didn't make a lick of sense, but his mind was certainly in favor of just letting that particular detail vanish.

You'll just have to try much harder then that to get me mister!

Oh suits it was heard to keep from laughing, and a little snicker did escape his maw before her covered his mouth with a paw again. Man, this adult was hilarious.

[Nathalia]

((We are no longer waiting on Spidey. Just go ahead and play with the remainder of you and when she gets back we'll try to stick her back in))

~Nathalia

[Varde]

Fenzik balked when the voice spoke again. Was the ink really challenging him? He clenched his teeth and front paws in determination, causing his claws to scrape lightly against the stone road. He could still scarcely believe the substance was talking to him in the first place. And not only that, but its voice sounded so innocuous -- like that of a child! Perhaps a child was the one responsible for this... a child toying with magical or chemical forces beyond his comprehension. Yes, that could be it, Fenzik thought, nodding to himself. Either way, he had to get to the bottom of this. He simply had to understand what was going on here. The rat believed he had the ink cornered, and he wasn't going to leave this alley without it.

A shadow shifted beside one crate, and that was all it took for Fenzik to spring into action. He sprinted forward and slammed a paw down on the ground where the movement had been. "Ha!" he cried, panting, but he felt nothing in his grip. He slowly lifted his paw to peek under it, but sure enough, he had been eluded once again. "Confound it!" he cried, anger overtaking him in his exhausted state. Without thinking, he balled the same paw into a fist and pounded it against the crate. There was a creak of old wood, and Fenzik froze with his fist in the air, poised as though he had been about to strike a second time.

The rat gazed upwards, slowly, with a slight feeling of dread. The stack of crates seemed to sway slightly due to the impact. "Oops," he said aloud. He was pretty sure they weren't going to fall over, but he certainly didn't want to do that again. He looked back down at the base of the crates and gave the area one last scan, then turned around. Maybe he should just leave well enough alone. He was wearing himself out, and he didn't want anyone (himself included) to get hurt.

When he tried to walk away, however, he found it difficult. Not emotionally, but actually physically hard to move, as though something were pinning down his tail. Wait... his tail? Fenzik looked back and saw with dismay that Fen had dropped its butterfly net and had, instead, located a handle on the crate to coil tightly around. "Oh, no you don't," he scolded Fen, tugging his tail to try to loosen its grip. Fen responded in defiance by giving the handle a powerful yank. With an awful shuddering groan, the crate shifted toward Fenzik -- not far, only an inch or two, but now the upper crates really looked unstable. "No!" the rat exclaimed helplessly. He tried to run, but Fen was still holding on. "Bad tail! You're going to get us killed!" Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but his fear was talking now.

[Nathalia]

((The ink leaps from behind the crates, squelching nastily on the cobblestones and beginning to pelt down a side street, leaving tiny puddles that evaporate as it goes.

An odd rumbling sound can be heard through the streets...almost as though the cobbles themselves were...moving?
Best stick together...it's getting darker out too...

Your goal is to follow the ink and see if you can't use any items or spells to capture it. If you think you will be unable to do so, then make your way after it to the fountain at the center of the Capital.))


~Nathalia

[Nathalia]

((Fenzik seems to have knocked something loose from that stack of crates...))

Section of Wire: This small bit of sharp wire was just lying there.
It curls and uncurls slowly, as though alive in some way; when touched it tingles magically and whips itself back and forth like the tail of an angry cat. Once touched, it will bequeath its power and fall still, a useless bit of wire.
The SD or Rabbit in question will now find themselves able to, once a week, cause an incredible force of wind to whip around themselves at incredible speeds. These winds spread about 50 feet around the caster and last for a full minute; they will cut into and sting horribly, anyone who attempts to get closer to them during this time, Cards ranked 8 and lower and Leverets stand a chance of losing their heads if not careful...



~Nathalia