You enter one of the buildings. It's fairly dark in here, the only light coming from the windows by the entrance. It's still light enough to see, but not well. You don't see anyone in here. There are a few low tables and chairs on nicely patterned rugs to your right and left. Ahead is a receptionist's desk, door behind it, elevator doors to its right and left, along with what you assume is a door leading to the building's staircase.

I nudge Finn. "I need you to turn on your powers and KEEP them on. You can sense people, right. If anyone's hiding or sneaking up on us, tell me," I mutter to him.

"Ben?" A weak, hoarse voice calls from the far side of the room, just loud enough for you to hear. A hand reaches up onto the counter from behind, and someone pulls themselves up, looking to you. It's a woman, hair meagerly tucked behind her ears, eyes fogged, lips dry and cracked, slightly parted. She stares past you blankly, but the slightest smile comes to her face. "Is that you...?"

I brace myself and tighten my grip on my axe. "Who are you. Name. Now." What does she look like? Is she visibly working for the Baroness?

She slowly wanders around the counter, taking a few steps towards you. She's wearing a uniform, bearing the insignia of the Mountain Sun. "I'm..." She frowns. "I'm... that's funny. I don't remember."

"Don't take another step. Who's Ben."

"My son." She lowers her hands to her sides. "I was... looking for him."

Man, this is uncomfortable. Also a waste of time. "What do you know," I snap. "Make it quick."

Powers on. Am I picking up any weird vibes from her? Unease or fear from lying, or anything...wrong like whatever’s was out in the forest?

She seems lost, more than anything. Empty. Something is wrong with her, but she isn't lying.

I nod to Hale and the others. “shes good” I turn to the woman. “hey do you know where keystone hall is”

I shake my head. "We can't send her all the way back there. But she needs to get back to our soldiers, at least. We can't stick around to help her. We have a job to do."

“makes sense” “gimme a sec tho”

I shrug.

I lead the woman outside as I’m sure we aren’t super far in. I whistle to the dogs. Which one looks like the alpha?

She steps back when you get close. "No, don't... I have to find Ben

I place a hand on her shoulder. “please trust me we will look for ben and can help you later but you cant find him if you get hurt”

She turns around, shrugging off your hand, and walks back behind the desk.

“there are some pretty bad people in here and we dont want them finding you or ben”

I heave an annoyed sigh. "We can't help people who don't want to be helped. We should keep going."

"You can't see," She mutters quietly, lowering herself back to the floor behind the counter.

“no hold on” I summon the same feelings of trust I felt with Quin on the island and give that to the woman. “please believe us youre safer outside”

It doesn't seem to have any effect. Something else inside her is pushing you away.

SORRY OKAY. I walk in behind them.

Does it seem to be the same thing that was in the forest?

"Sorry about earlier. I'm fine now." Mostly. Aside from the whole... strange unidentified object that went into me.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" I hiss at Quin. "What do you mean you're fine now!"

No, not the same as in the forest. You aren't sure what it is, but it isn't friendly.

I do my best to talk (in a whisper directly to whatever is in there. “listen whoever it is i dont know who or you are but this woman needs her son and my guess is that you are stopping her from finding him were gonna be watching for you now so maybe reconsider your options” I turn back to the group and ask “we can come back for her later right”

"I said I'm fucking fine, and I mean it!" I look at the woman. "What's going on here?"

"She's messed up. She doesn't remember anything." To Finn: "We can come back for her later."

I frown, and walk over to her and kneel down to where she is. "Hey. What's wrong?"

Oh for FUCK's sake.

"You can't see," She repeats quietly. "You can't see. I can see."

"No, actually. I can see now, I got my sight back a few minutes ago."

“well be back i promise”

"Fuck this." I shake my head and look at the rest of my team. "We don't have time for this. Let's keep going." I head over to the door leading to the staircase.

I go to join Hale. “this sucks”

I shrug again. "Is there anyone at the top of the stairwell."

I walk over to join Hale and Finn, after looking at the woman for one more moment.

To Finn: A dreadful silence draped over the entire building. It'll be hard to sense anything until you're closer to it.

I shudder. “bad vibes but lets just keep going”

"Let's go." I make my way up the stairs.

This building has a multitude of levels. Where are you going?

Just the next one, but staying behind the door so we can scout it out first.

When we get to the door, I extend myself. Do I feel anything?

You feel something big on this level, filling most of the floor.

Friendly or like before in the woman?

Like in the woman.

I tell Hale. “hey watch out whatever is behind that door is like what happened to that woman”

I really don't have any clue what happened to that woman except that she is fucked up. "Any specifics?"

Do I get any specific emotions or readings from the other side of the door?

It's too hard to see. The feeling on the other side drags you down.

I take a deep breath to recenter myself. “sorry no its just silent and hostile”

"Boutta get more hostile," I mutter. I glare at the door, and brace myself before slamming it open and scanning the room. I'm ready to fight. And I fucking step in I guess, so my team is not stuck behind me.

The room is completely dark, save for the dim light coming from the stairwell you just busted into. The room is filled with chairs and tables, unrecognizable people laying, sitting, and standing around. They all wear Mountain Sun uniforms and stare blankly around, eyes grey like the woman downstairs. All of their heads turn to you the second after you assess the room.

"Oh, are you FUCKING KIDDING me."

I move into the room after Hale, looking around warily at the people in the room, lightsaber drawn. Besides turning their heads, have any of them moved?

I keep my weapon drawn and at the ready. I don't like the feeling of this room. I walk up to one of the Mountain Sun soldiers and narrow my eyes. "What's your name."

They make no movement besides gentle swaying, save for their heads and eyes tracking your movements. The soldier you walk up to doesn't respond.

Now that I’m in the room what am I picking up?

"Well what the fuck do we do now?" I ask, not taking my eyes off the soldiers nearest to me.

i glance between my hands and the uniform people. "i could try to, you know, fix them, but..." i sigh, a little frustrated. "i don't think i can do that with this weird zombie stuff and we probably shouldn't waste energy trying"

How tall was this building?

No idea. Tall! The door to the stairs slams closed behind you, leaving you in complete darkness.

I back up to wherever I remember my team being. "Stay close."

I look up from the soldiers quickly, scanning the room for any movement in the darkness.

My claws are out on one hand, while I have my gun in the other. I watch the people in the room. Is the hostile presence in them?

i ready my baton, tightly holding it by the handle.

The heavy fog of voided emotions does a complete turnaround to a unified need to destroy faster than you, Finn, can blink. The soldiers practically jump on you, lashing out with their hands, hitting and clawing at all four of you ruthlessly.

I throw my hands out on instinct, shoving as many soldiers as I can away. If I'm lucky, I might even make some of them hit their heads really hard against the wall and get concussions etc, get knocked out, etc.

well, these aren't enemy soldiers, but if that's the case then they should act more like it i think. my weapon is blunt force anyway so it's barely even friendly fire when i swing at any soldiers in front of me on full zap yippee.

"Fuck!" I turn off my saber for the time being, these are still Mountain Sun soldiers. I start punching any that are nearby, occasionally using the hilt of the saber to hit with a bit more force.

“aaaaaahhhhh” I notice Maia turning off her saber and retract my claws. I then spin my rifle around and start swinging the top of my rifle at their heads.

They stumble back, but no matter what, they keep fighting. Boodied or bruised, they don't seem to care. They scratch at your arms and face, wrapping their arms around your legs and pulling you down. Hale's effort manages to push them back, but they only clamber back faster, crawling over one another to tear you to pieces.

i shakily extend an arm and quickly try to exercise that power. i attempt to alter the amount of energy within them real down real fast.

They have no energy to begin with. Their life is in another's hands.

i move backwards. i have the least capability to kill so i am at a big offensive disadvantage compared to you guys so i am just gonna step back a bit scuuuse me.

Without warning, they stop. You can hear them faintly scuttle back into the darkness and the door swings open behind you.

“...” “so are we supposed to go that way orrrrr”

I shake my head. "Yeah," I finally say. "Let's do that."

As we walk out, I prod one of the followers with the end of my rifle and immediately pull back afterwards.

I turn my saber back on, nodding. Getting out of this room seems like a good idea.

"are you guys okay???" i ask. i heal my worst scratches with the palm of my hand.

I look myself over. Am I?

“physically fine emotionally scared”

"I'm fine."

"emotionally is your department! put some of that fighting spirit back in yourself or something"

You're fine, yeah. You've been through worse. Nothing so blatantly horror-movie-esque, but fine.

Yeah, I am. "There weren't any worshippers in there. We have to keep going." I look up the next set of stairs and start climbing.

I send out my emotional sonar. What am I picking up? Besides the background silence and dread. I do my best to filter that out.

You can only feel one tiny little dot on the next floor. It feels... sad. Scared.

Up or down?

Up.

“huh this is interesting”

"What."

“up a floor theres something thats at least not this overwhelming dread” “its sad and” “scared” “want to check it out or not”

"They could have information. We should make it quick."

I nod. "Let's go."

I wave an arm towards the staircase. “lead the way”

I stare him in the eyes with a hint of spite and fly up the stairs.

I look to Maia and Silas with a confused expression. “whatd i do”

I shrug, following Hale up the stairs.

Let me know when you decide to, you know, go in. And how you do it.

i shrug too. i think everything hale does is done with a hint of spite, so i'd consider it nothing to worry about.

Exasperated, I raise my arms in the universal language of surrender and follow them up the stairs. What do we see on the second floor?

You don't see shit cause the door is closed.

“try knocking”

I kick the door open.

“or dont” Now what am I picking up? I send some of my little pink fireflies into the room to scout ahead.

i go "ooooooooo"

This floor looks completely empty, but you can still feel that one thing here. It isn't dark in here like it was in the previous floor. It's dim, sure, but there's light.

I walk in and start a little game of hot and cold, spreading the fireflies so we can see better even if there is some light. As the sadness gets sharper and sharper, I start to tear up a bit but know I’m going in the right direction.

I follow Finn. He seems to know what he's doing.

You turn and walk down a hall. It's stronger through this doorway on the side here. Through the doorway, an OPEN DOORWAY, is a little kitchen-like area. Microwave, fridge, coffee, cupboards. It's in here.

I motion to start searching the kitchen. “hello anyone there my name is finn”

It's coming from one of the bottom cupboards, by the sink.

I point so Hale knows. “im not gonna hurt you my friends and i are here to help” I walk over to the cupboard and carefully open it.

I move closer to the cupboard.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Inside is a young child, currently with his arms over his face in the most defensive position he can muster stuffed inside a cupboard. He's shaking like a leaf.

“hey hey hey not gonna hurt you promise” “whats your name”

I put my axe away as quickly as possible.

I decide it's probably best if I put my saber away for the time being as well.

He very slowly lowers his arms, eyes darting between the members of your group wildly.

"like i said my name is finn thats hale with the cool hair and thats maia with the rad glasses and thats silas with the awesome hats”

I pat my hair somewhat self consciously.

i smile and adjust my hats when finn lists my name.

He stays completely still, save for the shaking.

I offer out my hand, trying to exude trust and warmth and safety like with Quin, Cashel, and Ryker.

"We're... here to help," I say slowly. "We won't kill you. Or hurt you. You're safe." How old does he look?

He presses himself against the back of the cupboard the moment you extend your hand. You can't seem to alter his emotions. The feelings of a child are vibrant. He can't be more than 8 or 9, at the oldest.

"okay okay thats fine” I stop broadcasting and back away. “i can stop” I look to the others for help.

"Do you have a mother."

following a brief pause, i nod to finn and sub myself in. if there's one thing children like, it's incentive. i crouch a few feet from the cupboard, removing one of my hats and holding it out in front of myself. "i'll give you this if you come out!" i say, offering a warm smile.

He glances between Hale and Silas quietly, but begins to move forward. He watches all of you as he does so, slowly reaching out for the hat. Without warning, he darts forward, snatching the hat and bolting right between two of you, out the door.

I will absolutely wreck this kitchen in my haste to tear after this very fast child if that's what's necessary to do so. "Kid, WAIT!" I half-hiss, half-yell.

You rush out the door after him, chasing him down the hallway. He's surprisingly fast, but he's still just a kid, and you're far faster. What are you going to do now? Grab his arm, pick him up?

I scoop him up to prevent any further actions like this. Fucking HELL. This is not going as planned.

i look to the others with a conflicted expression.

He writes and balls his free hand into a fist, hitting and kicking with with all the energy he can muster, including smacking you with the hat. "Let me go, LET ME GO!" He starts to sob as he hits you. "I have a mom!! I don't know where she is, she went to go find Ben but I-don't-know-where-he-is-and-I-don't-know-where-dad-is-or-Emily-and-Sarah-and-" He takes a quick deep breath, clearly hyperventilating. "I-didn't-have-time-to-evacuate-and-now-I'm-here-alone-and-" He stops fighting and talking, dropping the hat, grabbing onto your arms, and just bawling loudly.

I think I can say that the nine year old hitting me doesn't do that much. I also don't very much know what I'm doing. It's fine. I'm struck with a sudden wave of intense guilt. I tried to bring this building down. I shake it away. It's fine. I shift him in my arms and sit down on the floor, letting himself cry it out. If he makes an attempt to grab onto me, I guess I'll give him my best approximation of a comforting hug? "I'm sorry," I say eventually. Words that make people feel better aren't my specialty. "You can't go out there. There are soldiers who tried to kill us."

I return Silas’ expression and chase after Hale and and the kid. When I see Hale holding the kid, I decide to step back and give them some space. I do want to check though, is the sadness inherently in him or is it starting to fade now that he’s venting it?

He doesn't really grab onto you, more curl into himself and cry. It subsides to a sniffle soon enough, but he doesn't look at you, even when you speak. He's still upset. It isn't fading at all, but he's starting to calm down.

I walk up once he stops crying. “hey hale and hey buddy” “listen im not sure where ben or emily or sarah or your dad is but we did see your mom on the way in here shes down by the front desk if you want we can bring you there”

He looks up at Finn, hopeful. "Mom's here?"

I shoot Finn a glare. "We left her with one of our teammates. He might have already gotten her to safety."

"Joseph...?" The boy's mother, the woman from the first floor, stands about ten feet away from you, watching.

FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

"Mom? Mom!!" The boy, Joseph assumedly, turns and clambers out of your arms, standing up.

Rapid fire emotional radar is she clear of mind?

I stand back up too.

She's still foggy, like she was earlier. She smiles faintly, taking a step forward. "Joseph! I'm glad you're alright... I couldn't find your brother."

“maam hold on how did you know your son was up here”

"They told me." She steps forward again, smiling wider. Joseph hesitates. "Mom, what's wrong with your eyes?"

"Kid, she's really fucking sick." I'm trying to keep my voice as even as possible. "Come back over here."

“who told you”

She spreads her arms, ignoring you, crouching down. "Don't worry, Joseph, I'm okay. Come here." He freezes, turning his head to look at you, then back at her.

I’m going to step up.

"Joseph, DON'T!" I say, a lot more forcefully.

“alright i dont know what you are but get the hell out of here”

"SILAS! MAIA!" I yell back towards the kitchen.

I extend myself into this woman’s emotions to confront that presence I encountered earlier.

I hear Hale yell and sprint into the other room, saber drawn once again. When I see the current situation, I stop abruptly near Hale, watching the woman warily. "Shit."

i run in on cue. rushing over to the kid, i place a hand on joseph's shoulder and pull him back a very tiny bit as a "do NOT go over there" kind of gesture.

The presence hides inside her. Do you really want to confront it? Joseph pulls away from Silas' hand and turns around to face your group, taking another hesitant step backwards towards his mother. Or, whatever is in his mother's body.

“guys need some emotional support here” and tap both my shoulders.

I take the hint and put a hand on one of his shoulders.

“and maia wouldnt hurt to slow them down” Once I get the help of the others, yes absolutely.

"your mom's sick right now, remember? we know you want to see her, but it's.. contagious, and we don't want you to get sick too," i say. i look to the others for backup on what was only vaguely a lie.

*hurt I dive in.

before you do that i move back and place a hand on your other shoulder with a heavy but gentle grip.

I sheathe my saber yet again, slowly moving a bit closer to the other three, looking at Joseph the whole time. "She's going to be okay, alright? She wouldn't want you to get sick though."

She steps forward. "Sick...?" Joseph whispers.

Okay, FUCK this. I throw a hand up and shove her back just a few steps and keep her there. "Finn's going to fix her. For now, come back over here so you don't get in the way."

"It's gonna be alright, but we need you to come back over here, just for a little bit." I add, trying to sound calm, don't want to scare this kid any more than he already is.

He is clearly both confused and conflicted, looking from his mother to you, not moving to either side.

i assume the most assuring expression i can. "you'll get to talk to her in just a little bit, okay? after we get her back to normal," i say, trying to actually believe it.

The woman goes rigid, and so does Finn. Her eyes shut and snap open again. They're bright, practically sending out beams of light, and on top of the blinding white background is a large black X. She's heeeeerre.

i pull back the kid and throw him behind us.

He stumbles and falls back, shouting. "MOM!"

"GET OUT OF HERE! GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" I seize Finn by the shoulders and shake him. "FINN! STOP!" Finn's eyes are squeezed shut. He can't seem to hear you.

i glance at the others and grab him by the wrist. lifting him in front of myself, i take off to the staircase and sail up.

He kicks and screams the entire way.

i try to hold back tears from sheer frustration and panic myself. i keep going.

Finn's eyes snap open in a manner reminiscent of the woman across from him. They glow in a like manner, but with a different symbol in the middle. It looks more like a plus sign. The woman grins widely. It's a grin Hale recognizes, like the one the fake him wore when he strangled himself. That sure is a sentence. Anyway.

i hop to the edge of the roof, spotting quin. "GO DOWN THERE AND HELP THEM," i say, both stammering and yelling. i jump and fly toward anywhere that's away from the battlefield, holding joseph tightly. not so tightly to like. hurt him, i mean. he's a kid.

Both Finn and the woman's eyes fall closed. Finn loses the strength in his legs, wilting down to the ground with a tired sigh. The woman stumbles backwards and tilts her head back. Her mouth falls open and a thin black smoke curls out of her, fading away into the air. When it's all out, she collapses.

I catch him. "Finn! Wake UP!"

Alright. Well

My eyes open very weakly. “hah hi hale thanks for the help” I try to hoist myself up with Hale’s help. I try and scout the woman’s emotions.

"What the FUCK was that!" I hiss, kinda pissed but mostly worried as hell.

I jerk up at that, watching him go. I look back down at the tidebound soldier and decide I cannot take her body with me, so instead, I cut off a small lock of hair and put it in my pocket. I also rip off a strip of cloth from my godtier outfit and adjust it over my eyes as a temporary blindfold before running back inside and down the stairwell.

You can't. You're plumb out of juice. And that is, you can't lift yourself up OR scan emotions.

Ooop here I go. I fall down.

"You need to get out of here. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

“can someone help the lady” “im like thirty percent sure whatever was in there is gone and joey still needs his mom”

Tough luck, dogboy, I'm not fucking moving. In fact, I sit down on the ground and pull him into my lap. He looks alright physically, right? Just completely drained?

Just very drained. He's visibly tired, of course.

I shake my head for a second, I've sort of just been standing watching all of this shit go down, this is fucking insane. Thirty percent doesn't exactly sound really reassuring, but regardless I move across the room towards the woman, lightsaber in hand just in case. I very carefully reach out and shake her shoulder, can I tell if she's breathing?

She's breathing, more or less normally, but it seems like she's asleep.

Can I fly? Or is that juice out too?

I nod back at the other two. "She's alive. Out cold though."

Quin comes through the door. He's wearing a blindfold, and he has some blood on him that isn't his, but otherwise he seems fine.

“hhhhhiiiii quiiiiin how ya doin”

I look around the room. “Silas said you needed help,” I say quietly.

"Shut up, you're about to pass out," I scold Finn, before looking back up at Quin. I don't even have any mean comments to offer. I sigh. "Not anymore. It's done. Fine."

“Are you okay?”

"I'm fine. Finn tried to take on Katanalosi." I jerk my head towards the woman. "Fixed her."

I take a step backwards. “I-“ I can’t look at her. I can’t look at Finn.

"She's gone," I say firmly.

“We need to get out of here. There’s... there are horrible things here.”

“agreed”

I float myself to my feet, Finn in my arms. "No argument here." I blast a nice, big hole through the wall, because I'm not taking the stairs and also I think I deserve it.

Very tired, I grab Hale’s neck to hold on to.

I pick up the woman, and float over to the new exit Hale has just made.

You exit the building, flying out. You'd go back down to the street below, but they're now swarming with soldiers.

Any sign of the mountain sun troops?

They've been pushed back all the way to the far corner of the parking lot. They're very clearly overrun.

So it's not safe to bring Finn there. SHIT. I scan the lot and surrounding buildings for a nice hidden little area away from the combat. I need to get back down there to help them.

You spot a tucked-away area on a fenced off alleyway behind an abandoned restaurant.

I zip down and gently set Finn on the ground. "Don't you fucking dare try anything," I warn. "Stay here."

I also float down and sit next to him.

I land next to the others, laying the woman on the ground as well.

Finn lays down and takes a nap for the first time in a really long time.

Well, Silas doesn't know where the hell he's going.

I jump a little and pull out my phone. "I'll be back," I mutter before shooting off into the sky.

The massive ship of Katanalosi's worshipers shifts, once, overhead with a loud clang.

Hmm I watch it!

I look around, pretty desperately, for Silas. I need to get back down as soon as possible.

Silas, where are you... In case it wasn't clear, you're here.

did not know that! apologies i spot hale over the center and quickly fly toward him, stopping a few feet away from him.

"Hurry." I grab him by the arm and pull him back down to the alley. Once I'm there, I let go and put my head in my hands to take a deep breath. Pull yourself together, Ogygia. There's a war on. "So. Who's still up to fight. We're losing. We have to get back out there."

I nod, turning towards Hale and Silas. I'm ready to get back out there.

I am FULLY sawing logs. Dogboy our of commission until told otherwise

Oh, he better be.

I keep staring at the sky. I'm a little out of it, I think.

FINLEY