☆ Event Log: Snatched, Part Two

[faileas]

Event Log: January, Snatched - Part Two

I. A Great Escape (20th, Evening) It's been a miserable six days for the Mirrorbound and refugees kept locked away in a basement cell block, subject to all kinds of torment and experimentation. They're a resilient sort, though, and their efforts to organize and bolster each other are not in vain. As the time passes with no sign of the City Guard drawing close to their operations, the Rathmore family grows overconfident, and characters can hear them talking to each other about another mass-kidnapping in the works. The best opening comes late on the night of the 20th. A few of the family's numbers are out - notably, Thomas Rathmore, his wife, and his mother are attending an emergency meeting of Parliament, and Constance is making an appearance at the Coven. This leaves the more inexperienced cousins in charge, the lesser known Rathmores with no particular skill outside of cruelty. Changing of the guard begins as usual, a handful of Rathmores delivering some sparse rations and taking their time to choose a few prisoners to remove from their cells, but this time, the Mirrorbound bite back. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Daenerys and Asura, along with the prisoners preparing an organized revolt, a fire started in the torture room provides chaos and cover - and one dead Rathmore cousin, whose body gives up some of the keys to a handful cells. Time to play the cards you've held close to your chest over days of torture, your held-back spells, your tricks, your items that weren't confiscated. A mass escape isn't likely, with so many people still present in the building and so many of the captives injured and tired, but with enough of a distraction in the form of a prison riot, which may be enough to overpower the three Rathmores initially left in the cell block, a handful of scrappy Mirrorbound may make it out to safety before reinforcements arrive. a. The Escape Attempt There is one door out of the cell block, the main, heavy, warded door that the Rathmores enter and exit from every few hours. It's locked down tight - but it's possible to power through it, pick the lock, or charm it open. On the other side of the door, in the greater basement area, they'll find themselves free of the Bond dampening. Witch magic make take some time to return, depending on whether they were drugged or only charmed, but it'll be important to move quickly. The Rathmores' basement area is large - the size of the mansion above and the grounds put together, and they'll find themselves on the lower of two levels. The cellblock turns out to be a room within an even bigger room, with the stairs at the opposite end. The dangers are numerous: magical and mechanical traps set in areas marked off-limits, illusions intended to confuse and turn people around. There is only one completely safe path from the cellblock door to the stairs, unless they take the time to disarm the traps and illusions with their returning magic and abilities. That safe path is faster but more exposed, with two or three Rathmores in pursuit, and also the other people that could occasionally be heard outside the door - young aristocrats in on the kidnapping, who thought the Mirrorbound would be sent home. They're just as surprised to see you as you are them. In fact, it's not difficult to overpower these non-Rathmore kidnappers; they're obviously shocked to see Mirrorbound still here, in such states, and some are quite angry, or scared to learn what they've inadvertently gotten themselves into. A good handful flee instead of fight, but some others follow through on the shouted orders to go after you. Use the chaos your appearance causes to your advantage. Once escapees reach the upper basement level, up the stairs and through a hidden door, a few more traps remain, but up here, it looks more like a normal basement; servants' quarters, empty for some time now, storage rooms full of antiques, and winding hallways connecting them. It's easier to hide in this dusty maze to escape any pursuers, and eventually, they find the servants' exit out onto the back grounds. From there, freedom is just a run and a decorative, wrought-iron fence away. b. The Chaos Back in the cells, everything descends into chaos. The Rathmores are furious; while two or three of the cousins go after the escapees, the rest begin to gather down in the cell block, put out the fire, and the interrogations begin. They don't bother taking prisoners out to torment them now - they can't, with their torture room charred and smokey. Their main focus is forcing prisoners back in, and locking everything down with magic and heavy chains, to ensure no one else gets out. They grow more vicious now, and they begin speaking directly to the captives - they want to know which ones got free, how they managed it, who helped them, where they're going, who they're going to tell. Those who refuse to talk will be gagged or muzzled or simply beaten without finesse, and they'll move on to the next captive. Preying on the Mirrorbound's camaraderie with each other is the tactic they quickly turn to, hurting one to try and make another talk. The talk outside the main door grows louder in these few hours, angrier. Occasionally one of the Rathmore cousins will go out to spin some lies, or simply shout down any protesting. Some of the enchantments were damaged in the riot, though - they can hear you, just as well as you can hear them, muffled but still mostly clear. The more they hear from within, the more the confusion outside grows; all the better for the escaped Mirrorbound. ..."What's going on? Those were Mirrorbound that got out-" "We thought you were sending them home!" "You told us there was no risk, that this would make them leave-" "You don't need to worry about that! Go back upstairs!" "Someone needs to get a message to our Uncle Thomas immediately-"... They're all panicking as their grand plans, flimsy as they may have been, start to crumble around them. It's just a matter of time, now. The OOC post for the escape plotting is here if anyone needs to refer back to it! Eight characters will be escaping first thanks to a joint effort. The rescue will be underway within two hours of their escape, but those two hours are likely to be unpleasant for characters who remain in captivity. Any NPC maimings or proposed deaths need to be reported on the City Tracker; please note that mass murder / killing NPCs will still have consequences and needs mod approval first, but we're happy to work with players however we can.

II. The Cavalry (21st, Very Early Morning) The City Guard is closer than the Rathmores think. Thanks to Mirrorbound investigative help, not always strictly legal but still appreciated nonetheless, they've all followed the clues back and determined a possible address. By the evening of the 20th, several members of the Guard and Witches from the Coven, along with any Mirrorbound who followed the trail, are camped out at a manse nearby, the home of a wealthy widow eager to see her nasty neighbors knocked down a peg. Without solid evidence, the Guard can't get a warrant cleared to search the property owned by a Mr. Barclay, assistant to Thomas Rathmore, but solid evidence comes as soon as eight Mirrorbound manage to fight their way out of captivity, returning to friends and Bonded. They are the last piece of the puzzle, and now legal action can be taken. Theodore Rosethorne, leading a small group from the Coven, sends out a magical message to just the Mirrorbound - they've been found. Anyone who wishes to help bring their missing fellows home, anyone who can help with much-needed healing, or anyone who wishes to bring their captors to justice needs to show up now, because time is of the essence. The Guard can't mobilize more men quickly enough in the middle of the night to be useful and they need all the hands they can get, without a floor plan of the mansion or solid ideas of the captors' numbers. They can barely wait an hour for more hands to arrive before it begins. a. The Rescue Sowilo, Theodore's Bonded Fae and a skilled hand at illusions (and seeing through such), leads the rescue efforts, along with some of Theodore's Witches from the Coven. With information from the escapees, they plan to go through the back, take the servants' exit, and make their way down to the basement levels, while Theodore's assault team will go through the front doors, making as much noise as possible. Sowilo's illusions will keep their presence masked at least until they get into the house. The aim is to get through as quietly as possible, find the cellblock, and secure a safe route to take the prisoners out without them getting hurt any worse than they are. It's easier said than done. Magical and mechanical traps of various types litter both basement floors, and heavy illusion work has been placed to obscure the way. Splitting into smaller groups to disarm the traps and deal with the illusions will be necessary, as the entire group will make its way down to the cellblock as quickly as possible. Sowilo hopes they face little to no resistance, with Theodore's group doing their job, but a few, Rathmores and otherwise, are bound to try and stop them; in that case, they will have to fight. "Make sure you can argue a case for self-defense, if you have to hurt them," Sowilo will tell the rescuers and later the freed prisoners on the way out, wings fluttering agitatedly. "Let them be arrested and publicly humiliated in court - ruin their whole family line for generations to come." He's not happy about it either, and will overlook some of the captors getting a taste of what they deserve, but deaths are not permitted on his or the Witches' watch: anyone who takes things too far will find that the person they're attacking has simply vanished - a convincing illusion - before they're handily knocked out with a spell. They face less resistance than the assault team, but less is not none; a few of the Rathmores are determined to salvage their efforts, and some of their unwitting aristocratic cronies have sided with them. Once they reach the cellblock, dismantling the enchantments that keep the prisoners restrained and addled is the first order of business for some. Others can start unlocking cells and helping people out of their restraints. Protection for the escapees on their way out will also be necessary, as well as medical attention back at the temporary base camp. The main focus has to be on those lost friends and loved ones, bringing them back out to freedom and making sure they're tended to - not on revenge. b. The Assault Theodore Rosethorne, along with some members of the City Guard and some Witches from the Coven, leads the assault. While the rescue team goes around the back, they plan to go through the front door, as loudly and conspicuously as possible. The mansion is large and needs to be swept from top to bottom for perpetrators and evidence that can be used in court. Those joining up with this team are warned that it needs to remain legal - the Mirrorbound and the refugees, all of them, have a very shaky, uncertain legal status within the city, and a mass murder could severely harm what good will they have from the locals as well as their status here. After all, many are still neutral to positive on the Mirrorbound, but that could change in an instant. The Coven will take as much responsibility as they can, but they cannot accept the blame for a senseless slaughter. Splitting into smaller groups will be necessary in order to cover more ground quickly. The aim is to locate, subdue, and arrest as many of the culprits inside as they can. The Guard provides magic-suppressing cuffs, and the Coven a basic knock-out spell, but since many will not go so willingly, some degree of force may be unavoidable. If there's one thing the rich fear, it's a legal black mark on their family name and reputation - the Rathmores will fight back harder than their underlings, but they're also the ones they need alive to face the justice system. Those outside the family, those who only knew about the kidnapping portion, are a mixed bag - some might fight back, siding with the Rathmores, but some might give themselves up once the realization of what happened in that basement sinks in. Once they make their entrance, things move quickly. Several wealthy aristocrats either flee or fight, but their attention is thankfully pulled away from the basement and toward the upper levels. There are dozens of rooms to search, and many are cluttered with an old hoarding family's antiques, furniture piled against doors and windows blocking access to some areas, hundreds of nooks and crannies among the sheer amount of stuff provide cover for culprits to hide in. It's going to be work to ferret them all out and bring them in. Worse still, the Rathmores have collected dozens of cursed or enchanted objects that may be used as weapons against the forces of justice. Some degree of force is expected, but still if anyone tries to take things too far, they might find themselves slapped into cuffs or knocked out with a spell themselves. Any NPC maimings or proposed deaths need to be reported on the City Tracker; please note that mass murder / killing NPCs will still have consequences and needs mod approval first, but we're happy to work with players however we can.

III. The After (21st On) Activity continues all through the night and late into the morning at the former Rathmore estate. All the Rathmores and a couple dozen other wealthy aristocrats are brought out in cuffs over the course of several hours, while all the prisoners are liberated to receive medical attention and reunite with their loved ones. The Guard take statements from everyone who will give one - what they witnessed, what happened to them, what they know - and all who were affected are told they will be invited to testify at trial. A gathering crowd forms at the end of the street, wealthy neighbors aghast at the horrors they're learning had occurred right in their District. Most are disgusted with the once-prominent family. On the steps of the Parliament building, Thomas Rathmore, his wife, and his mother, all sitting members of Parliament themselves, are publicly arrested in front of colleagues and on-lookers early in the morning. Constance Rathmore is taken out of the Coven roughly in magic-suppressing cuffs, surrounded by a small group of furious Witches, students of the Coven who spent the week trying to find the missing Mirrorbound and refugees with Divination. They escort her to the prison themselves. All who are arrested are transported to holding cells of their own within the City Guard - all except those requiring urgent medical attention, who will remain cuffed to their hospital beds until trial. Nessie and Mhairi make an appearance at one point to give the Mirrorbound their sincerest apologies for what happened, and Mhairi delivers the news that they're pushing for an expedited trial in Parliament, in order to keep Thomas Rathmore from bribing any contacts. They, along with Theodore and Sowilo, and the Guard, are all open and forthright with what will happen next: public trial and a certain conviction, followed by sentencing. They don't expect that the Rathmores will get away lightly; what they did is too public and too horrific for even the anti-Mirrorbound wealthy to stomach. Those others who were involved, who weren't aware of what was going on behind that metal door, they'll still face justice themselves, no doubt. In the meanwhile, those kept hostage will need all the help they can get to reach something resembling normal again. Hug your loved ones, nourish your Bonds with each other, and begin trying to heal together.

Welcome to Part Two of January's event log, Snatched! An aftermath summary of the trial and sentencing will go up on Feb. 4, the day after the City Tracker deadline, so get your submissions in if you have them! More politically-oriented characters may find an opening in the near future to enact change within Parliament and provide their own representation within the city...

And as a general reminder, please make sure to use content warnings where necessary in your headers!

Comments

[whomthebelltolls]

[Vengeance would be theirs. Eventually. She would accept it if they were not the ones to pull the lever to drop the floor out of the gallows. If they were not the ones to pull the triggers of the firing squad - though she would always wish it had been her.

She knows. She still feels it. It's not just Kaede that wants the proper form of justice done to these criminals. But this woman, Maria could almost believe had nothing to do with what was going on, with what caused the occasional flash of pain and fear and... gods, it was like a feral anger in her mind, from Alex.

However, they could take no chances. Even if this one was unconnected, she would have to be questioned, and she was at ground zero for a massive, heinous crime. So Maria puts on her best ice-cold, steady tone - her best Hunter's voice - and speaks, because the woman is staring at Kaede, and not behind her, where Maria had gone to catch up with the youngling.] You'd do well to listen to her. The Rathmores are under arrest for heinous crimes, and you will leave peacefully, or you will be dragged to jail in chains. [A beat.] Or as a fly-eaten corpse. It matters not to me.

[There's something in the tone, though. Something that dares the woman to fight. To try to take them both on. To see if Maria's words will ring true.

And Kaede? Well, she trusts that she'll hold to that escalation of things.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Maria's voice startles the woman, who barely disguises her recoil as she twists away from the Witch. Her voice rises a startled half-octave, but she holds her ground against the taller, paler woman. Just.]

"And who are you, barging into the house of an esteemed family to say such things?"

[The Chimera took the chance to circle to the side, closer to what patch of shadow she could find while eyes were off her. But the lights were coming on in this hallway as the sleepers awoke; how inconvenient. Kaede's voice didn't growl from the dark, but it was hardly necessary. Her existence was intimidating enough.]

Talk to the guard, then.

[The woman snapped her head back, expression twisting in imperious anger. She was speaking, how dare this--aberration interrupt her? Things like this Chimera should have been the first to be driven out.]

"Be silent, you beast--"

[The noble raised a hand, the unlit one, and wisps of blue light coalesced from her fingertips to lash forwards as a glowing, snakelike ribbon. Kaede recoiled--but too slowly to get out of the way. The ribbon twined around her face, slamming her jaws together with a click--it curled over her shoulders and back like nothing more than an innocuous silk ribbon before an immense weight came crashing down on Kaede's back, the drape of the heaviest chains. The Chimera couldn't snarl or roar as she buckled, falling forward onto her arms to keep standing at all. Her ring flickered as she resisted, in jerking fits and starts. But the trinket's magic had been exhausted by the simple passage of time, and Kaede hadn't thought to renew it since returning from Dorchacht.

The Rathmores--and their allies--had made the first move.

How unfortunate for them.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[Well. They certainly had made the first move, and Maria wants to disconnect the two pieces of her Rakuyo; that clang had a particularly bone-chilling quality to it, she thought, but she didn't have time.

If the woman wanted to simply bring Kaede down, then she took her attention off of Maria for too long. In cuffs or a corpse it was, and Maria had advantage of being behind her.

It also meant Maria had advantage of simply grabbing her by the head and slamming her face-first into the nearest wall, with the loud crack of splitting plaster and drywall and possibly a bone or two. It'll be hard to cast with a nasally voice from a broken nose.

It niggles in her mind - just light her on fire. Use her blood, light her on fire. and Kaede's rage and indignance from the binds don't help, so Maria tosses her the other way, instead. Two for two on broken doors, though, as that one collapses in on itself and there's a startled man's voice from within.

They don't have much time. She needs to figure out how to break this bind on Kaede, and then they're going to start quickly being outnumbered.

Though, with the hollers from the other hallway, the other Guard and Mirrorbound are closing in, as well.] Alright... let's see... counterspell is... [Ah, she doesn't know this very well. Well, she'll do the best she can, and hope the chimera's natural... chimera-ness will do the rest.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Fortunately, breaking the Witch's concentration--in dramatic fashion--weakened the spell significantly. With Kaede already bucking the restraints of the supernal chain, it didn't take too much to jostle the bindings loose. Even Maria's unpracticed attempts at a counterspell was all she needed.

Kaede's hand, the one wearing the ring, came loose first--torn up from the ground like it had been mired in imagined, hardened tar. Then the next, and she tore the last of the silken chain away from her face with a snarl suddenly unmuffled.

The Chimera didn't voice her gratitude--but her eyes flicked to Maria's, and the roiling anger in the Bond paused a moment with a brief pulse of something thankful.

But there wasn't time for much else. On top of the shouts from elsewhere in the house, there were more coming from within the room--and they wouldn't have the element of surprise much longer. So the Chimera lunged for the now-open door, her first stride stiff, her second smoother.

The woman with the broken nose was who Kaede was after first--she hadn't gone far, still gasping and wheezing in the wreckage of the door. Snaring her wrists with a set of cuffs was relatively simple--and the last vestiges of the restraint spell evaporated with a fzzt, like shorting circuits. Her companion, or whoever he was, she left to Maria.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[That's all well and good, and she's glad for the sudden break, but as Kaede works with the Witch, snapping the cuffs on her and stopping things, there's a glint from in the room - light sparking off a flinty gray length of metal, and Maria recognizes it for what it is, even as she quietly mutters an epithet:] Shit.

[The man inside is no Witch, no Monster, just an average human.

With a shotgun.

And it's just Maria's reflexes - her use to fighting other humans, to hunting them (Again, with the Vileblood history. Why does it always keep coming up in this place. It'd be sickening, if it didn't keep saving her life, and that of others.) that mean she's able to teleport out of range just before he pulls the trigger, and the shot goes wide anyway, because a late night wakeup call is not conducive to aim. It hits the wall - mostly of the room he was in because of the way Maria moved before she teleported, and bites into that, before denting the far wall of the hall, but not of Maria herself.

She doesn't have much time, but she at least has his attention, and has him pointed away from everyone else. He has to reload the gun, and so he cocks it open to drop the shell casings out of it, but that means they have time, and Maria has to close the distance back down again. Her legs eat the distance up nicely, and the Rakuyo hums ominously as it's unsheathed, arcing brilliantly through the air and clanging off the barrel of the gun as Maria smacks it to bat it out of his hands.

That doesn't quite work, but he does drop one of the shells before he gets the chance to drop it down into the firing chamber.] Kaede! The other door!

[If Kaede's roar didn't wake the house up, or the commotion now outside, that shotgun sure did, and Maria really doesn't want to be caught surrounded. She can take care of this one; she just needs her back clear.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The crack-boom of the gun deafened Kaede--if she hadn't known there was someone with a gun here, everyone within a few square miles did now. Her ears clamped to her head, but it was far too late for that. And she felt the whistle of pellets whirling close but not touching her--also far after the fact. The sound of gunfire was something she was used to.

But she wasn't able to stop them. Not like she had grown used to for so long. And, for a brief instant, a chilling thought spiked through her mind. Shit.

It didn't have time to linger, though. While she could barely hear Maria, physically--the Bond was different. It ran deeper than mere physical senses, deeper than thought.

Kaede launched herself away from the restrained Witch--but low to the ground, baseball sliding into the door and kicking it with both feet. It slammed shut, loud, and from the sound of the thunk on the other side it had been a timely maneuver.

That still left the present issue of the gunman in the room.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[Maria has a gunman. She has the attack advantage, and she will press it, even as her ears ring against whatever he says to her - something about home invaders, but whether or not he's a Rathmore, or just connected to their servants remains to be seen.

Or won't be.

Maria's sword flashes quick and deadly, smacking at the gun every time he tries to raise it. The world is descending into chaos; there's screams from the doors near them, especially the one Kaede had slammed shut, the din of fighting around them - the other Mirrorbound making their way through the house with the Coven and the Guard, everything is a mess. Oh, Maria doesn't miss this. The man doesn't seem to want to shoot unless he has a good shot at Maria, even though he's also having a hard time finishing loading the thing, and he decides just to go with it with only one barrel loaded. Bad news from him, the world's most dangerous game is still one Maria is well-versed in Hunting, and no matter how many times he goes to back up, to raise his gun, she's there to swat it away with her sword.

It's almost - almost like she's taunting him. Daring him. Bring it on. Just try to hurt her. Between that, she swipes at him - they're deadly enough, if he gets hit, it'll be a hard slice across the skin, but it isn't enough to gut him.

Finally, the dance comes to an end when he thinks he has a shot - the gun barks, the screaming intensifies before it drowns in the white noise of tinnitus from the shot, Maria feels the slam into her cape, a thud somewhere near her, and she smashes the gun hard enough to disarm the man, before swiping around and clocking him upside the head with the flat of her sword so hard his arms go stiff into fencing pose, and he falls over.]

... I like my cape. [That is all she says to acknowledge the splatter of shots that had turned the cape into swiss cheese. She's bleeding from somewhere - a shot must've grazed her, or hit her, or something, and she doesn't care.] Let's go fish them out of that room and we're done here.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede kept her head down while Maria traded blows with the gunman--though that was a bit of a generous thing to say. It was more like watching Maria bat at someone like a cat toying with a mouse, instead of ending it with a single flash of steel. Briefly, she considered moving forward enough to trip the man--but it proved unnecessary.

This game ended more noisily than others. The Chimera had kept her head down, and was able to shield her ears a little this time--but the sound of gunfire in an enclosed room was impossible to block out entirely. Kaede was able to recover faster this time, only catching herself once on a desk corner. She glanced at Maria's cape when the pale woman commented on it, ears twitching back--that shot would have made a right mess if it had landed. But there was only a faint pain in the Bond, an itch of an injury that wasn't hers like a stitch in her side.

Kaede turned her attention back to the door she'd slammed--one person was pounding on it and jostling the handle, demanding to know what was happening in there.]

If you can turn off the lights, I'll get them out. [Kaede said, her voice still overloud to keep up with her muffled hearing.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[What Maria doesn't comment on is that it would be easy enough for them to just force the door open and likely make those within tumble over themselves on their way out, and into cuffs.

Because that's not... fun, and she can feel an itch - quite unlike the sting of the injury to her side, in the back of her mind, to add some context to what Kaede is suggesting. Killing was out of the equation, for some reason, but... not other things. Things that perhaps the two of them could do to satisfy the more violent urges without anyone getting hurt.

And ensuring no one ever tried these kind of shenanigans again. Not so long as the two of them were still counted among the Mirrorbound.

Maria stoppers the door with her foot, and nods, turning toward the wall. Fire was her element of choice, but the other most useful element in Yharnam was lightning, like what the Darkbeasts threw off, and what that nutter in the Workshop liked to do with them - turned out that it was very useful against Great Ones and their kin.

Maria plants a hand against the wall, and tries to feel her magic sense out. There's magitech mostly powering the lights - no generators in the house or anything, but there is wiring, and if she knows anything about lightning, which isn't much, but... there is going to be a way she can short-circuit it.

The first little pulse flickers the lights in the hall, dimming them, before they come back on with a louder hum. That wasn't it... so what about...

This time, there's unsettled squawking from inside the room, and the light under the door starts to dim and flicker.] Go, I don't know how long I can do this.

[long_live_the_queen]

[At the first dimming, Kaede crouched in front of the door, tail flicking like an expectant cat in front of a mouse's burrow. At the second one, the one that lingered--her form flickered, like a ghost-image in a picture, and lost its cohesion and coloration. The lightless black thing flattened itself, and flowed under the door like water.

There were two men in this room--a scattered game of cards on a parlor table, scattered books, chairs upended. A study of sorts, perhaps. It mattered not.

One of the men had violet eyes.

Neither took notice of the shadow that flowed past their ankles--they did notice the snarl in the dark, and the bright claws that shattered a nearby magitech lamp, scattering its once warm light into useless static. The rest of Kaede remained in the deepening shadows, flickering away when the Rathmore struck out with a handful of crackling fire, returning to slash his arm to the bone when he started on another. He shouted, snatching his injured arm back--the interrupting spell vanishing into stray embers.]

"Open--open the door! Let us out--!" [The non-Rathmore cried, pounding at the door desperately.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[And Maria just leans her weight against the door, holding it firmly shut. There's something - some kind of a growl that makes a shudder crawl down her back, but she doesn't move. The begging is easier to ignore. That comes with an excess of sociopathy.

Instead, she scans around the hallway, once she thinks she has a handle on how to get the lights to stay dimmed or out for as long as possible. The unconscious Witch is stirring a little - at least the brain damage will be minimal. Probably. The youngster remains squirming in shackles with his head wedged in the banister. The man Maria clocked also seems to be moving slightly. Ah, right, the shotgun.

She'll have to grab that in a moment. She'll just keep an eye on him.] Do your business quickly, Kaede.

[long_live_the_queen]

[--ah, that was right. She had a job to do. As much as she wanted to take her time, mindfully choose where to strike next to make the men shriek, there were more than this. Maria's rebuke wasn't a sound she heard--not over the shouting and breaking furniture--but an order nonetheless.

The next time the Rathmore tried to lash out at the thing in the dark, a cuff latched on to his wrist instead. Kaede yanked on the other end as soon as she heard the mechanism latch, pulling him off balance--and sidestepped away, letting him tumble forwards. And she planted her foot in his back and shoved, just to give gravity a little extra help. He hurtled headfirst into one of the chairs, cracking one of the arms as it fell with him. The Rathmore didn't get up, dazed and bleeding from the Chimera's claws.

The second man was far easier to deal with. Like she had seen Maria do, Kaede grabbed the back of his head and smashed it forwards into the door. And from there, binding his slackening arms was a simple affair. The Chimera dropped him near his friend, and so concluded her caring about them.

She knocked on the door the man had been pounding on, mockingly polite. It was dark enough on the other side for her form to flicker between physical and not, but the light on Maria's side would force her out of an incorporeal state, and...she wasn't particularly looking forwards to getting her neck stuck under the door.]

There's no one else in here.

[whomthebelltolls]

[And the knock comes not a moment too soon - it is almost comical, but Maria's not smiling. She hasn't been smiling this whole time. The sounds from within were... brutal, but she doesn't comment or try to stop Kaede more than reminding her of their need for swiftness. If she can brutalize them in short order, then all the better.

Once she hears Kaede's voice, she relinquishes her grip on the power, feels it sputter and the lights hum as they come back on. Then, she steps away from the door, allowing Kaede to come out. She steps forward, back toward the man that is, once again, stirring.] ... I think we're almost out of handcuffs.

[He groans, stirs a bit, tries to roll over, and is stopped by a boot to his chest. A boot being worn by a very large, very displeased looking woman. Ah yes, the one that got her, the only one so far.] I'll hold him for the city guard to arrive, if you'd like to get started on the next area? I'll meet up with you once they have this one restrained.