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Down. I needed to go down. But first...I had at least one wound to heal. I heal my left knee cap, the shot that was compliments of that crazy ***** Reanna. How she got the shard was a mystery. Maybe her and Nishaa were working together. I don't care. She had it, it was mine and I was going to get it back.

I stand up, using my left leg for the most support, and decide on holding on healing that one. I could get shot in the head again by someone. That one would need healing more than a knee cap that would probably heal right up tomorrow. I dig in my coat pocket and stroke the vambrance I was gifted by my wife a couple months ago. She's always thinking about me and my safety. She's a real peach.

Instead, I rip apart some branches and start making a brace for my right knee. Large branches on each side of it, followed by ripped strands of my shirt. I look stupid, as the shirt comes to my abdomen now, but what else can I do? I take it off and slide back into my leather coat.

Niklaus said he was downstairs. Probably stocking up. Makes sense. I take the sword he gave me back the night before and do the same thing I did the night before. I don't want to alert the woman to the fact that I'm about to steal her radioactive shard out from under her. I shove my sword in the trunk of the tree and start making my way down to the second floor, where I know Niklaus will be. It's difficult, more difficult than the time before, but not impossible. I use all my upper body weight and just hang from the sword, legs dangling and occasionally smacking the inside of the trunk, further aggravating my wounded knee, but finally I am there and tumble down on the floor, sword in hand, ready to fight whoever or whatever for the shard. I had to get it.

Roderic Other NPCs/Objects Easy Physically demanding Use sword to climb down the shaft Succeeded

Niklaus slowly approached the elevator, circling around the latter to make sure that no one was already up and hiding around before he glanced down at the vines and branches. He heard some kind of scuffle down there; someone was probably making their way up using the branches and they weren’t alone. The closer he got the more he started sensing the shard, so that’s what it was, people fighting over his shard again. He grumbled and launched himself forward as he initially did when he had to climb down the tree for this first time, holding onto the sturdiest branch he could find before letting himself fall and latching right onto another damn branch. This way he could keep his eyes down on whoever was down there until they inevitably came into view the closer he got; Every and Reanna. The former had the shard and seemed to be climbing up to get away from Reanna, who seemed to be more frustrated than usual – something must have happened to her.

The Killer needed to find a way to take them out both, instead of snatching the shard away and getting two infuriated women after him. He needed to be able to buy himself some time upon reacquiring his beautiful shard. Balancing himself using both hands as he pointed his body towards Every; this was either going to work out or fail miserably, he knew it. Doing anything in a tree should be considered crazy, no kidding. Then he let go with both hands, yep, he wanting to surprise the ladies by dropping on them; and THIS was a terrible idea! He shielded his face with both hands, crashing through several of the weaker branches before he encountered a sturdier branch that broke his formidable free fall. Smashing right into his ribs as he gritted his teeth, okay, maybe that wasn’t a good idea, at all and now he might have broken some ribs. Never try to jump on people in a tree again, Niklaus. He knew he probably gave himself away with the ruckus he had made, shaking his head in disappointment as he regained his composure and worked through that sweet pain, using his claws and upper body strength to crawl back up in a standing position. He had to take back what he thought about trees, some of these branches could be sturdy as **** as he reared back on his legs and jumped the rest of the way down on the lower floor, rolling across the floor to break his fall.

There they were, Every was working her way up the branches while Reanna was pursuing her, a hand coiled around Every’s ankle. It was time to use the one thing he had been keeping all this time, the one item that had served absolutely no purpose for so long. Maybe it was going to work or…not. Retrieving the severed forearm of Bob from his back and holding it up as some sort of…boomerang? Niklaus took aim, right at the light that seemed to be emanating from Every’s pocket, there was no question that it came from the shard. If he could just strike it in the right angle, it should pop right out, right? Come on, Niklaus. A little kid knew how to do this! He steadied his aim at that glowing pocket of hers, holding the forearm up high before throwing it with venom at the woman! The stiff, very much dead arm amazingly did exactly what it was supposed to do; spinning on itself before striking the shard right out of the woman’s pocket. Holy ****! How did that work?
His greedy eyes widening as he activated his celerity and snatched the shard right out of the air before it made contact with the floor. It had been SO long, ever since Nishaa had stolen it from him but he had it back now! The women had been sharing in among themselves but now it was right back to its rightful owner and finder. “Mine!” he hissed, sticking it into his own pocket before cloaking himself in shadows and running off to find a hiding place on the second floor. Or maybe he was going to keep moving because there weren't any real hiding places down there, right?

Jump and catch tree branch - success
Drop on Every + Reanna - failed
jump down on F2 - success
Throw arm at Every's pocket! - success

Every hadn’t known what to think when she heard Reanna behind her, the sound of branches cracking as she would escape a bit further until the woman was in front of her and Every found herself standing on a sturdy branch. She was just about to jump backwards out of reach when she heard the sound and her childe fell in front of her. The curse was amusing mentally, and just another reason to why Aksel would no longer be in charge of Reanna’s language learning before it was shoved aside.

She felt Reanna’s hand on her stomach, her leg and reached out to grasp another nearby branch so that neither of them would plunge off the side of the tree. The thought to get away, to let her fall was shoved aside as she reached down to grasp the outreached hand and pull her to safety. A frown played across her lips as she looked at the blood on her face before she wiped some of it away. “You need to sit -.” From above when Every heard the crashing, her arm gently pushed Reanna towards the thicker part of the branch so that she would keep her balance.

Something crashed into her hip, the shard slipping loose from its spot tucked in her pocket and falling out and instinctively, Every removed a hunting knife from the waistband of her shorts as something flew past her. Before it tumbled away, she made a disgusted expression as she recognized the human limb and Niklaus’ voice. Instinct brought her knife up and she threw it hard, aiming for the back of his leg as he jumped. With a hiss escaping past her lips, she felt her annoyance spike significantly as the blade sank into a tree branch before she followed after him.

When the man slipped into shadows, she smirked and called out, “Really?” before she stopped to collect her knife while she kept it in her hand. Her hazel eyes went to Roderic and she lifted her hand to salute the former blood thief, walking along the branch as she gave Niklaus time to disappear, her attention on the elevator that stayed exactly where she had stopped it. Every could feel the pull of the shard, it calling to her before she eventually hopped down onto the ritual altar and stepped down. She focused, getting a view of the man’s surroundings before slipping into shadows herself and carefully making her way over.

Gauging by his surroundings through the eyespy, the shadow reached out and grabbed something that certainly wasn’t the shard at first. She gagged inwardly and then went up, feeling for the pocket as she felt it calling to her before. “Bye Niklaus.” Every chimed innocently and pressed her hand against his chest after snatching the shard back, popping out of shadows before she teleported the invisible man into the nearest body of water. Once the spell was said, she put the shard into the waistband of her shorts and rubbed her hand frantically on the cloth of her shirt before heading towards the elevator once more.

steal shard – succeeded
Knife to the knee – failed
Don’t grope – failed

“My beautiful shard. Now I have to hide you..”, he thought but where could he actually go? He didn’t manage to scout any huts to see which ones were unoccupied. Maybe locking it into something metallic object; like a box for example, would have neutralized that pull that emanated from the shard. He had absolutely no tracking abilities and yet he could sense who had it himself, so it only made sense that a tracker would have been felt the shard’s pull even more, right? “Maybe, I’m going to head to the ground floor. The traps would make me harder to f---.” His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand groping him before moving up to his pocket to slide the shard out. Definitely caught by surprise as he spun around to find… Every with the glowing shard in her hand! “WHAT THE HELL, EVERY?!” he yelled at her in indignation. Did she do that on purpose?!

Niklaus was about to smack her, or rather smacking the shard out of her hands. It was his! But her hand had already lined itself against his chest and a teleportation spell immediately cast on him. Feeling his surroundings blur out of motion and the floor beneath his feet disappearing – he was falling! The man held both arms out instinctively to break his fall while he concentrated right on the area he had stalking just been a moment ago, close to the shops on the second floor. Teleporting himself there instead, who knew where in hell Every would have sent him! Luckily dropping heavily on both feet as he looked down to his empty pocket before lifting his gaze to find Roderic standing there with his improvised brace made out of branches – that was weird looking but smart, yeah. “Hey… Roderic” he added, trying to sound casual – what just happened wasn’t going to be told to anyone ever! He considered Every like a little sibling thing, one he liked to annoy and such every now and then but… She groped him, man! Traumatized Niklaus was traumatized.


Scratching at his stubble as he regained his composure, still a little dizzy from the double teleportation. "How's the knee?" he inquired, resisting the urge to poke the man's wounds with his boot. "You seen Every around? Or anyone else?" His wraith communicated back to him then, no one on the ground floor but lots of traps down there, he said. "Hide around somewhere and tell me if you see anyone coming down there. I might need you again soon", the Killer telepathically directed his wraith.

Every saluted me, before Niklaus disappeared. Either he disappeared on his own accord, or she made him. I didn't actually care. Just meant one less person trying to get that shard. I watch Every head to the elevator, even at a slow pace, she's faster than me with this busted knee.

Then, I get that idea again. I can't let Every get on the elevator. Who knows where she'll go after she gets on it? Three, Four, or even the main floor. If I lose her, I lose my radioactive shard. I take the sword out from my sheathe again and point it in the direction Every is walking in. But, she's not my target. No, I'm thinking grander. Everyone will be forced to stay on this floor.

I turn my body towards the elevator's button system on the wall and throw the sword at it. It soars through the air, past Every and watch it hit that ***** with ease. That was when Niklaus showed back up, and I just nod and point in the direction of where Every is. "No one is going anywhere." I say calmly. "Not with that shard." I'm not going to attempt to try and take it, not right now. Instead, I'm going to talk logic to everyone. "That shard is dangerous." I tell them. "I think we can agree on that much. In the wrong hands...who knows what someone will do with it. Radioactive anything in the wrong hands of any person, can do wrong. Really wrong. So, let's figure out who should have it." I should have it, but I'm willing to hear what they have to suggest before I just take it from them.

Roderic Other None Luck Stab the elevator system Succeeded

Niklaus eyed the couch for a moment, wondering if the cooler box filled with blood packs was still hidden behind it. He had stashed quite some resources around the second floor when he first raided the shops, maybe they were still there or not but that didn’t matter; he was good on blood too for now. It had been a while since anyone last got shot or stabbed, maybe the party got slightly less crazy and less destructive but everyone still wanted the damn shard, he knew that much. His shard too, he found it! What if it was Micah and Velveteen's idea to actually leave it out in the open to see what they would all do..?! The Eyrie had security cameras all around too, right? They could have been on the fourth floor watching each and every one of them!

Radioactive…? He remembered having made that up when Nishaa had first stolen the shard from him and it seemed like it was only Roderic who fell for it; that the shard was only glowing because it was producing radiation of some kind and was therefore highly dangerous. Maybe he should have confessed making that up by now but… he didn’t actually know what made the glowing shard so special. It -could- have been radiation after all, or some kind of alien technology – which would in turn explain why it was affecting them so much. Like a parasitic creature looking for a host like… a symbiote! Mind control, mind fuckery, conspiracy theories. No one knew anything about the shard, to be honest.

His thoughts got interrupted once again as he watched Roderic’s sword flying out of his hand and sinking into the elevator’s outer panel, electricity crackling as the lights died out. That was smart.. Maybe that was what he SHOULD have done earlier instead of… you know, severing the elevator cables. Listening to other male’s words, he made sense, that’s what they should have done at the very beginning; discuss their options instead of snatching the shard off one another and running around like crazy people. Or… it was be just a trick of Roderic’s to get everyone sat down somewhere so he could like… stab them in the head and snatch the shard! “And I’m back!” He launched at Every while she had her back turned to him. Oh no, GropeyHand McGropey wasn’t going to be getting rid of him so easily!

Every didn’t pay much mind of Roderic as he spoke, mainly because she still wasn’t entirely sure about the former blood thief to begin with as she walked away towards the elevator. At least, not until the sword went past her and into the elevator system, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance – granted, it wouldn’t keep her there.

“If the shard were radioactive, do you really think my sires would bring it into the faction home? Her hand curled around the hilt of the sword and admired the craftsmanship momentarily, letting go with a sigh. She wouldn’t be able to fix that. Niklaus’ voice made her twitch, her palm rubbing once more on the cloth of her shorts in attempt to erase the memory.

There was only one man that she’d actually intentionally grope and he was definitely not Niklaus.

The moment Every felt him near, she turned on the balls of her feet and her hands went straight to the man’s arms. “Not for long!” Throwing the man towards the edge of the balcony and over it, her eyes narrowed, “Now leave me and my shard the **** alone.” She hissed, “And go practice flying.” Agitated, she curled her hand back over the hilt of Roderic’s sword and yanked it free. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Every glanced up towards the branches, and then to the remaining male, twirling it idly in thought before she threw the sword in his direction – not wanting to hit the man. Pleased when she hit her mark, the sword sinking into his pants leg so that they would be pinned to the floor, Every hurried towards the nearest couch and hauled herself up into the tree branches to flee.

Every Another PC Very easy Reactionary/ Awareness Niklaus throw him off the edge Succeeded
Every Other NPCs/Objects Very easy Physically demanding remove Roderic's sword Succeeded
Every Another PC Easy Physically demanding Roderic use sword to pin pants to the floor Succeeded

How the hell did she find out that it were Micah and Velveteen who brought the shard into the Eyrie? Probably a smart guess, those kinds of shards weren’t easy to come across and he had actually no idea where they originated from too, to be honest. He had his sights locked on Roderic, eyeing his wounded knees before considering his suggestion. It -was- a wise suggestion, sure but greed overpowered wiseness when it came down to the shard; surely no one would be deemed worthy enough to hold the shard since everyone would most likely vote for themselves if it came down to a voting process to decide who would get the shard. No one had that kind of time and would risk such a leap of faith.

Niklaus didn’t notice that Every had snuck up on him meanwhile, only feeling her grip on his arm late before she launched him towards the edge of the balcony, “What the f—!“, he thought, his instincts kicking in at the suddenly dangerous situation in mid fall to regain his balance and not drop on his head; but the action in itself meant he didn’t have time for yet another teleport as he fell down onto the dreaded ground floor that no one dared venture down to. “Well ****,” he thought out loud after dropping down heavily, feet first, squatting there and realizing that the whole placed had been cleaned up. The mauled bodies of the Bobs were gone, so were the blood trails and the bits and pieces of gore and guts. The traps had been replaced too, unfortunately.. “You can do this”, a voice spoke in his head, he was prolific at disarming traps after all; which took time but it would worth it, not getting blown away. He wasn't going to let Karma get him back so soon if it hadn't already.

Pausing to remember where and which kind of traps got sprung when he initially found his way on that floor earlier and which way he went, feeling rather lucky that it wasn’t his first trip down there. He would attempt to travel the same way, towards the tree and disarm traps in the process, the only way up was going to be through climbing too – oh, the joy. Proximity mines, bear traps, sensor turrets, shrapnel bombs, tripwire shotguns and toxic gas traps littering the ground floor. No wonder no one ventured here. It was a lengthy process but he disarmed one trap after another to clear a safe path to the damn tree, luckily not having run into any shock cage traps on his way; his idea of disarming the latter was really to just throw someone else or something in them for the moment. He hadn't figured out how to neutralize them safety yet or if that was even possible.

Looking back at his accomplishment and memorizing the path he took towards the tree before looking up. Here we go again. The Killer’s claws sprouting out of each digits as he dug them into the tree’s bark, lodging them in securely before using the knife Nishaa threw at him earlier with his free hand. Stabbing the latter deep into the wood as he worked his way up towards the second floor very slowly. Every would probably be long gone by then, he realized when he finally heaved himself to F2; it was back to square one all over again, frustration overload. But no Sir, he wasn't going to give up, never.

fall on feet - succeeded
avoid traps - succeeded
climb tree with claws - succeeded

Every was crazy. Vel wouldn't bring something like this in to the Eyrie. She was right about that. But who did? A potential enemy? Or Niklaus? He had said it was radioactive. He knew what the shard was about. My sword is freed from the wall and even tossed back to me! I was right. Every WAS crazy. Who gave a skilled swordsman back their sword? That would be like saying, 'here you go mister terrorist. A nice A-bomb for you!'

I don't even know what to think anymore, but everyone seemed to know something about the shard that I didn't know. And I wanted to know what that was. Every seemed to know where it came from. Niklaus claims it's radioactive and Nishaa-well, she actually knows nothing about the shard. She's just a greedy shard stealing *****.

As she steals the shard from her very own sire, it just proves my point. I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just destroy the shard. Or break it. Then EVERYONE could have a piece of shard and could do whatever they want with it. I need the bigger piece, as I have experiments to run, but everyone walked away a winner.

Right. Follow Nishaa. I grab the sword from the ground, and sheath it before taking after Nishaa. I'm running, and I can run fast. I like running. I hate running with people, but I enjoy running. I should get Skylar to run around the length of the QZ with me some night. I could coax her with food or beer on a string. That made me chuckle a little. Nishaa is fast, and had a head start.

I have a better plan. I'm not going to chase Nishaa. No, I'm going to bring her to me. I head to the elevator and start climbing. I don't care where she's going, I know where I'm going. Third floor. To MY hut. I don't stop to chit chat or make threats. I keep climbing while everyone's trying to get the shard. Team work hadn't been successful, so now I'm doing things MY way.

When I get to the third floor, I claim abode Nishaa from it and head in to my hut. Let's see her get away now. I pull Nishaa to me and wait until she appears before I tell her what she should do. "Give me the shard." I say calmly, before I go to take it. But as I reach for the shard, I trip and end up face first in her stomach and then on the ground. I lay on the ground for a second, grab my sword and slice up in the air, attempting to cut the shard in half. I manage to slice into Nishaa's shirt instead and reveal some of her skin in her stomach area. "You don't tan, do you?" I say as I look up at her.

Roderic Other NPCs/Objects Moderate Physically demanding Stab the shard in half! Failed
Roderic Another PC Difficult Intellectual Nishaa Take the damn shard! Failed
Roderic Other None Luck Nishaa Summon Nishaa to me take 2 Succeeded