• Event • 2. Down Beneath [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

[Strange]

Continued from 1. The Morning Of
66th of Ymiden, Arc 720

Down the stairs, Vito and Woe had the choice whether to close the door behind them - and further, there was a deadbolt lock made of metal to reinforce the stone door. A choice to lock the door or not would also have to be made.

At the end of the stairs, the soldiers and Tribunals had guided the congregation to gather in the larger area of the underground space. There were tapestries that warmed the cold stone walls. Lanterns of bloodlight lit up the area in crimson and scarlet hues. Along one of the walls were various shackles and tools for ...advanced confessions. This was, after all, a route meant only for priests of the Theocratum and not for the general populace. To the right of the stairwell was the narrow path out of the basement and into the back courtyard.

Vito knows this basement well. Growing up as an orphan of the Theocratum means that this church was one he had explored in both his youth and his older arcs. Likely, he knows every corner of the vast and large basement... but he does not know what lays behind doors always locked. And for once, though, he has the opportunity to find out. The Herald gave him the keys with the expressed mention that Vito had a key to every lock to be found in the church, most notably as Vatia said a couple times: "...the Herald's Office..."

Beside the Tribunal, the young child who seemed unattended, followed - regardless of how Vito had responded to the mentioned lack of a partner to help keep an eye on them.

Beside the mortalborn Empath, however, the bloodhound lumbered beside him. He sniffed at the ground though, long ears dragged over the tidy stone. Whatever the case of the nature of the basement under the church, it was kept immaculately clean.

The dog went over to the side of the basement, where there were a few heavy doors lined up and sniffed at them. Sniffing wildly, the dog went over to the dual doors that led into the hallway which traveled farther into the basement. Over the murmured prayers of the congregation, the hound barked in low rumbled sound.

!

Message from: Strange

Hello Woe and Vito, You will have to decide between the two of you, whether to close and/or lock the door behind you that connects to the nave. Vito, you're aware of the door that's located in the room that leads to the back courtyard. However, no others except the other Tribunals are aware - and the Tribunals are loyal due to the blood sacrifice, so they won't mention anything about it unless Vito wants them to. Updated NPC Count: 99 citizens alive / 1 dead. 10 Tribunals under Vito's Command (all alive). 8 Soldiers on Woe's Faction (all alive). 1 Bloodhound Dog, following Woe. Attached is the map of the basement. Vito knows this area the best. The "S" doors are definitely locked doors.

Basement Map

[Vito Rossau]

66 YMIDEN, 720
CITADEL IN GLEAM

Tribunal, I don’t have a par-de-ner…

“Of course you do,” insisted Tribunal Vito after a pause. In spite of his frown, he reached down to take the child’s hand into his own. “Stay close to me.”

After the last of his congregation, he guided the child (and both Tribunal Noam and Ileana) through the door and finally down into the basement. Quick to move ahead of Captain Morandi and his remaining soldiers, Vito only stopped upon the stairs when he heard a loud and sudden crash from the nave… and he stared back for a trill, expression unclear, before he turned and continued down the stairs. There was nothing to be done about the nave. There was nothing to be done… and dwelling on the certain loss would only worsen things for all of them, no matter how he felt about the matter. He focused on the child at his side instead, and tightened his grip on their little hand as he moved forward.

“Lock that door,” Vito mentioned, whether to Woe or to anyone that would listen, but he did not bother with wasting any time on it himself. If it was done, then it was done – any added protection they could get was worth something to the biqaj, but he knew well enough that the Creep would not wait for them to answer the door. With a quick glance over his congregation, Vito walked around the gathered crowd to ensure that no one had been left behind upstairs.

Holding still to the child’s hand, he found his mentor, wherever the man was. In a hushed tone, he mentioned, “to the right of the stairs, there is another staircase. The exit is on the other side.”

From the crash they had heard before, he did not wish to take for granted the time they still had. Vito watched his fellow Tribunals work alongside the soldiers to keep the congregation calm, and added quietly, “it is going to take longer than we want to get them out. We need to start moving them now.”

With eyes of a green-speckled hazel, he looked back to Woe, his expression stern and unrevealing of his thoughts. He caught the attention of the other eight Tribunals with a loud snap of his fingers, and motioned towards the stairwell that they had come down from – with the expectation that they would know to carry on towards the exit beyond.

“Take anything from here, if you have need. There is something I need to retrieve before I follow. But we cannot make them wait.”

!	Message from: Strange
	No one had been left behind, upstairs (other than Balthazar and his soldiers).

[Woe]

The crash from the Nave was worrying, but Woe couldn't afford to make anymore second guesses. His soldiers would doubt his leadership, and that would engender fear in the people they were meant to defend. Ninety-nine citizens, protected by 9 fighters. It wasn't enough. Yet Woe had what he was given, and he respected the soldiers' willingness to fight alongside Captain Black. The latter which he was sure they would meet again. Whether beneath the Nave, or outside, as the Cathedral would surely be breached. Then, he could only hope Balthazar would have the sense to retreat.

When Vito commanded the door to be locked, Woe nodded to the men. "Bar and lock it. It may buy us time." Briefly, Woe considered erecting a runic trap. Shrugging to himself, he supposed if Balthazar was met with the door, he'd simply blink beyond it. The only one who was like to batter it down was a Creepborne. And Balthazar surely wouldn't try to follow them into the dungeons. He didn't know the way.

So Woe took out his sword, and began carving runes onto the door. A trap that was a circle, three-feet in diameter. Two on the door, and two on the ground to cover as much space as possible. He channelled the reclaimed ether from the numbing traps into those arcane landmines. Weaving them into triggers that would activate upon mere touch, as Woe wouldn't be anywhere near enough to trigger them with his voice. He looked to the soldiers when he was done tasking the ether to activate the traps. "Whatever you do, don't run back this way. I've set a trap for the Creep."

Having said this, he caught up to his initiate, who had words and instructions for him. The exit wasn't far, but judging by the loud crash from the nave, he couldn't afford to linger for long before the Creep would be upon them. Woe established a frequency on his Initiate, so that he could keep tabs on him as he went wherever it was he was going. But before he did, Woe whispered back to him, "You can't go alone. Take one of my soldiers. He will accompany you." Woe was referring to one of the more grizzled veterans among them, who wielded a halberd, and bore a cuirass on his breast and a large plumed helmet. The Dragoon looked ready for anything. Woe motioned him over. "Protect Herald Vito with you life." Woe said, reaching into his tangle to root out sources of courage, and strum it until it took over the surface of his tangle. The Dragoon would feel ready to fight anything then, and Woe hemmed in the emotion to the man's tangle, to keep it from dislodging at a moment's notice.

Woe signalled the soldiers to begin organizing the congregation to move to the outside, but before anyone went anywhere, Woe clicked his tongue, trying to get the Bloodhound to follow him. "Here Hound, follow me away from there..."

ooc

Woe is an Expert in Hone and drew two traps on the door, and two on the floor just beneath it. Runic traps of weakness, that should trigger if they get broken down from the other side.

[Vito Rossau]

66 YMIDEN, 720
CITADEL IN GLEAM

Vito found an easy appreciation for the Captain that willingly agreed with his words. Something told him that he would not have met such easy agreement if it had been the white-haired Rupturer that had followed him down into the basement, rather than Woe. Reluctant though he was to be trailed by one of his mentor’s soldiers, his hesitance stemmed not from distrust, and he did not argue against it.

“Of course,” he agreed with a nod towards the Dragoon, “I will return soon.”

The Tribunal turned with a quiet swish of his dark robes. That done, he gestured for Tribunal Noam and Ileana to follow as well, and whether the child at his side followed willingly or not… Vito kept his hold on their hand, and walked swiftly to the double doors that Woe’s hound had fixated upon.

For just a trill, he paused. He watched the hound’s nose wiggle as it sniffed against the floor, and all the while, he gently searched the tangle of the partnerless child. “What is your name?” the scarlet priest inquired with a glance to the kid, “what do you think of dogs?”

He did not care one bit. But if it helped keep their mind distracted, then it mattered. Regardless of the answer, Vito looked away from them, to push open the double doors and continue on. A long, dark hall of closed doors stretched before him and his companions, but he had only one location in mind, and did not dawdle elsewhere: the Herald’s Office. Where, if unhindered by anything on his walk through the hall and around the corner, he would unlock the closest door, ask the Dragoon to wait there, and step finally into the office.

OOC

Vito attempted to search the child's tangle (just to see whatever's resting on the surface), and has gone to the Herald's Office to check it out.

[Strange]

Tribunal Vito took the child's hand and insisted that they would be partners for the evacuation. The child nodded in agreement and held so tight to Vito's hand that their knuckles turned white. When they stopped on the stairs and Vito looked back, the child moved a little closer and whined with a glance up as well. When Vito told the others behind them to lock the door, the child also turned and repeated in a bossy tone, "Lock the door!"

Woe set the traps upon the threshold of the door. Four in all, perfectly set to trigger upon touch for weakness, set on the door and on the ground.

Upon Vito's communication that he needed to retrieve something, Woe set a grizzled Dragoon known only as Saws. Easily instructed, Saws followed Woe's instructions without complaint. There was easily threads of courage in the tangle, and quite easily strummed to the surface. Saws was not an easily discouraged soldier. He almost seemed to grin, some relieved threads in his tangle, almost as if he knew what Woe was doing to the tangle AND also appreciated it.

Tribunal Noam and Ileana followed Vito with ease, and quiet, though they looked at Dragoon Saws in survey of the armor and weapons. The child kept near, not letting go of Vito's hand, and when asked their name, they answered, "Chuchu." The name was an obvious play on Chuchuzinho or in Vahanic, an endearing term for cutie pie.

Chuchu's tangle seemed a mess. It had confusion over most of the threads, fear and anxiety, but among the tangle there was also astonishment and grief and trust. The child looked at the bloodhound at the doors and frowned, with a whisper of, "Dogs bite... I bite back."

The Bloodhound glanced at hearing Woe's guidance, but whined at the dual doors. It seemed he might listen...

...until Vito opened the doors.

The dog barked, and barreled past the Tribunal to sprint down the corridor hall. As he ran, ears flopping against the air, the hound howled in deep resonant ohwhoowhoos that echoed off the stone walls.

He led the way, it seemed, as by the time Vito reached the door to the Herald's Office, the hound sniffed at it with tail wagging.

When the door opened, Dragoon Saws stood near to hold the door open. The bloodhound hurried inside, in refusal to be directed anywhere else. The dog sniffed around the expansive and large office.

The Herald's Office was a sight to behold.

Meant to both intimidate and awe, the decoration was sharp and precisely chosen. A desk of blackened stone sat in the center, with red runners and gold candelabras.

Along the walls, bloodlights illuminated in a low haze to illuminate the various artifacts and priceless paintings displayed in worship. Paintings of artistic depictions of the Wounded God, and of traditional ceremonies, and a row of various Heralds and the portrait of the last Voice. Herald Vatia's portrait hung above a worship dish centered on a pedestal in the corner. A few bookshelves lined one of the walls, filled to the brim with tomes and records.

In a glass display case, on the far side corner directly opposite where Vito had entered, there was a particular artifact kept safe. Vito would know it very well. It was THE blood chalice, made of precious metals with embedded gems along the side. The gems glowed when blood filled the goblet portion. Only Heralds were allowed to bleed into it, but it was featured in the most private of rituals among only the priests of the Theocratum, once an arc on the last sunset of Zi'da before the Cylus dark. The artifact was so ancient that it was depicted in paintings, and even referenced in prayers. Of it, there was only one of its kind. And there it sat, behind the glass display, in the corner of the Herald's Office.

Was it any wonder that the bloodhound ambled over and howled at the object?

!

Message from: Strange

Woe, feel free to follow Vito if wanted - since the bloodhound also ran off - or not, whichever Woe would choose to do. Updated NPC Count: 99 citizens alive / 1 dead. 1 Child known as Chuchu, following Vito. 10 Tribunals under Vito's Command (all alive). 8 Soldiers on Woe's Faction (all alive). 1 Grizzled Veteran known as Dragoon Saws (halbred). 1 Bloodhound Dog, no longer following Woe. Attached is the same map of the basement. The "S" doors are definitely locked doors.

Basement Map

[Woe]

Woe hadn't spent too much ether, by his own estimation. Weakness was a novice rune, and Woe was careful to modulate their strength so much that they'd only cut the Creep's strength by half if they barrelled through the door, trying to batter it down. It wouldn't keep them at bay long before fresh ferahorns joined the effort, but it would buy them enough.

He hoped.

This done, he kept his sword drawn as he walked along with the mass of afraid civilians and then the eight troops that were left to him, among whom, until Saws returned, Woe counted himself one. He tried to disguise the gait disorder, which resembled a limp. It was a mutation of his abrogative abilities, twisted by the Arcane Gaoler's compulsion to hinder and control. It didn't present any real threat to his mobility, but the perception was king here, especially when it came to the civilians. They couldn't perceive their Captain as weak.

So he stomped his foot as he went along, gathering his troops together and organizing the lines of the civilians. "Everyone have a partner? Group up four by four, six rows deep." To the soldiers, Woe commanded, while extending a supportive strum of their collective courage. "Pair up, soldiers. And situate yourself between each group of 24 or so civilians."

Woe motioned to one of the soldiers left, of the 7 who remained in the nave with him (while Saws guarded Vito). It was a tall thin man, wielding a crossbow, and an arming sword strapped to his left hip. The man was known as Sergeant Bellistiero, shortened to Bell. "Bell, remain with me at the head of our formation. When Vito returns, we will set out immediately, at the head of our own group of 24."

So having instructed Bell, Woe turned to the civilians and went about making sure they were organized appropriately into the groups, as he'd determined they should be. He only hoped that Vito would return soon. They couldn't dally over whatever trinkets, treasures, and relics remained here. Time was of the essence, as the noise from above the nave reminded them all.

Should he fail to make it back within the next bit, Woe would set out without him.

In the meantime, he went up and down the ranks of the people, making sure they locked arms and carried each other and the weak ones as well they could. He dreaded to move beyond into the streets, for fear of what they'd find up there. But what choice had they at this point?

Woe waited another bit before he motioned for the civilians and soldiers to fall in line behind him and Bell. Then, he moved toward the exit, listening intently for signs of the enemy on the other side.

[Vito Rossau]

66 YMIDEN, 720
CITADEL IN GLEAM

Oh, that useless dog!

Vito scoffed as the bloodhound barrelled past. Such beasts, they were, and it came as an offense to the biqaj’s senses to see the hound tromping through the sacred church. He tugged Chuchu’s hand and carried on, expression set into a scowl in the bloodlit darkness. It seemed as if the dog was heading straight to the room he was looking for.

And when he came upon one of the locked doors of the Herald’s Office, he found that the beast had, indeed, led them all the way. The Tribunal could not help his glare in the bloodhound’s direction… and it did not help, whatsoever, when he unlocked the door –

– just to watch the damned dog push into the office too. With a sharp intake of breath, Vito reminded himself to keep what composure he had, for the sake of his fellows and his congregation. He nodded to the grizzled Dragoon Saws, and then stepped into the room.

Even with one eye trained on the wandering beast, Vito stood in silent appreciation of Herald Vatia’s immaculate office. The furniture, the decor, the displays… his eyes swept over the portraits of Heralds and the latest, deceased, Voice. It was easy enough to imagine himself up on that wall, among them. Dressed in a Herald’s holy garb… or perhaps, as he had so often dreamed in his youth, his portrait might one trial replace that of the late Voice. But now was not the time for such pondering.

The frown at his lips was smoothed out, until nothing but a face of slight concern was left behind. Vito’s gaze snapped back to the roaming hound, where it had paused to sniff at one particular display case just across from the door he stood at now. He looked up with the expectation of seeing yet another knife, or other sacred item that the Herald just so happened to favor… but what sat behind the glass was no simple knife.

Vito stepped forward, temporarily loosening his grip on Chuchu’s hand. It couldn’t be… and yet, sitting there just before him, on the other side of the glass, was the blood chalice. In wide-eyed awe, he stared, before the presence of the hound beneath distracted him from his admiration. As annoying as it was, the hound’s movement reminded him not to dwell. What mattered now was getting what he needed, and getting out – he could stop and admire the chalice later, if he succeeded in the first.

He moved towards the desk at the center of the room. The red runner was pulled out from beneath the candelabras, and then, quick on his feet, he returned to the corner where the blood chalice sat.

Without a word otherwise about it, the Tribunal opened the glass display. He did what he could to block the hound with his legs, if only to keep the creature’s nose from touching the holy relic, and called, “one of you, hold this dog. Not you, Chuchu, don’t let go of my hand.”

In a quick swipe, Vito collected the chalice, and bundled it in what layers could be made of the red runner he had grabbed. With the wrapped relic held protectively close to his chest, he turned away, and wasted no time with the rest of the room. They had to get out.

“Come, let us rejoin the others,” he nodded to his fellow Tribunals, as well as Dragoon Saws, as he exited the Herald’s Office. The door was re-locked, and then Vito continued, on his way back to the central area of the basement.

OOC

Vito took the blood chalice (wrapped in a desk runner), re-locked the door to the Herald's Office, and is going back to the main basement room.

[Strange]

Off Topic

Woe Skill Check:
Leadership - 26 (Competent).
Tactics - 76 (Expert).
Psychology - 100FT (Grandmaster).
Deception - 26 (Competent).

Woe walked among the congregation, as best he could while disguising his gait disorder. While the intention suited the situation, the success of such a thing was negotiable. No one seemed ready to raise any skepticism toward the new Dragoon captain, however. And as he stomped, the many younger children of the congregation hid behind the older children. They seemed a bit confused by the instructions, muttering to each other in Vahanic about whether they were supposed to be four or six in a group with partners and what did the mage mean?

For the congregation was not soldiers, they were barely even adults. The elderly of the lot also seemed a bit confused, leaving the sickly to try and explain what it was that the Captain had said with the numbers used. The soldiers followed, though, and helped the citizens into the groups at more or less success... the numbers slightly askew from the 24 with one of the groups at 32 instead. They didn't line up, though, more in blob masses of gatherings in the increasingly cramped room.

The Tribunals who remained in the space had followed Vito's gesture to prepare the outside door and the stairwell that led to it. It required some removal of physical traps set up for any wayward persons.

Fortunately, Woe went through the trouble of checking the group organizations afterward. This allowed him to fix the issues that had occurred from the congregation's confusion. It took time, though... and above, past the ceiling and in the nave, rumbled sounds and the familiar rush of flames (for those who knew such a sound) could be heard. The burning of wood had started to leak down in scent as well. A few of the younger children started to cry and wail rather loudly in reaction to this, which caused the infants to also wail until the room was an echoed din of crying children.

Within the next bit...

Woe prepared to set out with the congregation, and to calm them down so they would be ready for the dangerous journey to come...

...and Woe waited another bit...

The Tribunals moved aside to allow the Dragoons through to the exit. A few held some spiked chains that they'd taken down from the ceiling, and another held onto a small handheld barrel of oil. The stairwell was narrow, only enough for two people at most at a time, and steep to lead to the door. Woe listened...

Off Topic

Woe Skill Check:
Detection - 26 (Competent)

...and it all sounded perfectly fine to him beyond the heavy metal door with a barred lock that barricaded easy access from the outside. At least from what he could make out between the crying children of the congregation, and the crackled explosions and thuds from the nave above.


Meanwhile...

Chuchu held tight to Vito's hand while they entered the Herald's Office. The child looked around with wide eyes, then frowned at the hound while the dog sniffed at the display case. When the Tribunal loosened the grip between their hands, Chuchu's other hand went up to grab at the priest's sleeve. Chuchu didn't want to be accidentally left alone in the church.

But in the Office... it was quieter. The explosions couldn't even be heard anymore. Whatever was going on, either in the nave or in the space where Woe and the congregation had been left, had been muffled so much that it was silent in the Herald's Office.

...other than the howling barks of the hound.

Chuchu followed with ease while Vito collected the red runner, and returned to the chalice.

Glass display case opened, the hound started to loudly bay. Tribunal Noam quickly followed the instruction and went to grab the bloodhound around the scruff of the thick neck. The dog calmed down from the touch, and followed guidance away from the display case. Chuchu watched, then nodded and held tighter to Vito's hand.

In a quick swipe, Vito collected the chalice.

As he bundled it in the red runner, layers upon layers of soft velvet...

...a quiet clicking sound echoed within the display case. Like a ticking almost...

Vito turned, to waste no time, and instructed the others out. Tribunal Noam struggled to drag the hound away and out, while Dragoon Saws held open the door for them. Chuchu glanced over, curious as a child often is, about what that sound might be.

Chuchu pulled on Vito's sleeve in a tug while they headed through the door and out of the office, and muttered, "Twibunal... twibunal... look..."

The wall behind the display case vanished. Or so it seemed at first, until it became obvious that the entire wall and all the decor that was on it had slid outward away from the office, in a swinging arch. In its place was a large rectangular block of shadowy depths - easily the dimension of five people side-by-side in width and two average adults' heights.

Whether Vito relocked the door and continued on, he saw this regardless. He had a single bit of time before Woe would continue with the congregation to the citadel courtyard in the Gleam.

He would have to run, to make it before that point.

!	Message from: Strange
	Updated NPC Count: 99 citizens alive / 1 dead. 1 Child known as Chuchu, following Vito. 10 Tribunals under Vito's Command (all alive). 8 Soldiers on Woe's Faction (all alive). 1 Grizzled Veteran known as Dragoon Saws (halbred). Sergeant Bellistiero (crossbow/sword) 1 Bloodhound Dog, wrangled by Tribunal Noam. Attached is the same map of the basement. The "S" doors are definitely locked doors.

Basement Map

[Vito Rossau]

66 YMIDEN, 720
CITADEL IN GLEAM

The child was too easily distracted. It was a hindrance, keeping them near, and yet Vito did not have it in him to guide the bossy Chuchu away. He had been little more than Chuchu once; a child clinging to a priest’s dark robes, afraid, holding on to the only thing that looked like it was safe. For that reason alone, the biqaj did not shush them, though he did not heed the child’s words until the last moment… when he saw the far wall give way, through the crack in the door. Out of habit, he moved to lock the door, as his dark brows furrowed in confusion… what had that been, inside the office? And had there been some kind of sound?

With a quick glance down at Chuchu, Vito unlocked and opened the door, as quick as he’d shut it before. “Hold on,” he warned the others, and he took a peek inside –

“Shit.”

The Tribunal’s whisper was a short-lived sound. Of course; Herald Vatia had mentioned his office again and again, and Vito had assumed that he had wanted the chalice collected… but there was more. A secure, shadowed passage from the church. He did not know where it led, or how long it had been since its last use, but it had to be better than the world outside.

Vito turned on his heels and, as he passed Tribunal Noam, pressed the child’s hand into his.

“Stay,” said the biqaj to Chuchu, even as he was already walking away, and he strummed at those threads of trust he felt within their messy tangle.

“I will return, I promise. Get inside the office and stay there, all of you. Do not let the child run after me!”

Still holding on tightly to the wrapped blood chalice, Vito took off in a sprint down the hall. It was terribly unusual for the Tribunal to move so quickly, as opposed to the steady, calculated movements he knew – and it proved obvious in the fact that his breath caught up to him quickly.

“Captain Morandi!” he called, and his voice echoed off the stone basement walls. What if the other mage had already started to lead them outside? What if the Creep had already broken through? What if –

– but there was no time for what if. As he reached the double doors and threw them open, out of breath, Vito called across the room, “Captain Morandi! This way, now!”

!

Message from: Strange

The group remains with Chuchu in the office. Skill Check: Vito: Running - 0 (Unranked). Vito makes it to the other basement space in 1 minute and 35 seconds. Woe should be 35 seconds past the moment he was going to head outside. !!! 1d12 Dice Roll for Vito's Success with Running in Tribunal Robes through the Dark Hallways.... 1-5 full on trip and fall; 6-9 stumble but not fall; 10 - run into a corner/wall; 11-12 out of breath but makes it Sidekick (BOT) Today at 7:01 PM @Strange: 1d12 = (10) = 10 Result: Vito should run into a corner/wall.

[Woe]

Woe could sense a disturbance on Vito's frequency. He had been keeping tabs on the young mage while he was off on his little side adventure. Just before he was to unbar and lift the exit from the nave, he felt his initiate running toward him, frantically.

Woe couldn't quite make out the feelings that lay on the man's tangle, but he thought he most definitely was coming to either warn Woe or to get him to see something. Vito would know that Woe's duty precluded him from leaving the people behind, so he went off in the other direction. He tapped Bell on the shoulder, signaling that he should follow and reposition at the back of the formation.

And so they began moving, as the children cried into the hallway toward the Herald's office.

Just at the moment when Woe needed calm and order more than ever, just as he was about to enter into the Gleam to face whatever horrors may lay beyond... Vito tramped into earshot, shouting for him.

The babies were already frightened of the smoke drifting down into the nave, now the adults would follow suit, alerting to the alarm in Vito's voice. But Woe wouldn't have it. He would dominate this situation, this task that he was suited toward. Balthazar was a warrior, beyond compare to any Woe had met, but the mortalborn was bred and born to lead people. His insistence that he stay and fight had been the right decision...

As Woe walked, it was as if through a slow motion that he did so. His long silken hair flowing behind him as he moved through the ranks. He began forming a nexus once more, this time wrangling in the strands of sorrow and hopelessness from the babies. He called to his spirit familiar, from wherever he was. "Breen, I need you." Already he could sense his familiar running to his side, from wherever he was in the beneath.

He began tying those strands of sorrow into his own tangle, hemming it in only slightly, leaving it loose on the surface. He tried as well as he could to hide the growing sorrow within him. His potential for containing such deep sorrow from the children was limited, after all. Breen couldn't arrive soon enough, as Woe began to sob quietly, holding his hand over his face so the others couldn't see him, even as he drained the sorrow from the children, one group after another.

As he came to Vito, where the initiate had fallen, Woe stumbled and grappled on his knees before the Initiate, even as the congregation followed behind him. Breen appeared then, and Woe looked up at him, his eyes full of tears. "Breen, take this sorrow..." And so, moment by moment, the diri of sorrow began lapping up the sorrow from his master. It was an incredible amount for the diri, a veritable feast. It would only make him stronger. For what though? Combat? Would he try and diffuse that sorrow back toward the people he'd only just taken it from?

In a few moments, Woe felt strong enough that he could find his feet, and did so. He walked over to Vito, and extended a hand for him to rise.

"What is it, Vito? Shall we go through the Herald's office then?" Woe looked over the young man, to see what he'd left behind. Then he went over to grasp him by the arm, and help him to his feet.

!	Message from: Strange
	Woe successfully reduces the grief and sorrow from the youngest of the congregation. This quiets the loudest of the crying.