[Plot] Week 093: Cassum

[swaswj]

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Cassum
The Extraction of Pax Solis, Finale - A Cascade of Change
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This Thread

This thread is intended for Val, Minja, Dys, Bob, and Hare.

Your characters can come in together, or separately. They can even arrive on different days as long as it's within a week of the Arx escape.

Near the eastern edge of Terminus, an inn stood. It was small, only five stories, amid buildings that soared twice as high. To earn more money, the innkeeper had even furnished the garret in the attic as an additional room. That garret room had been paid off in advance for several weeks. None of the inn staff had seen people coming or going from the room, bar one busy night a few days before Nocte Nils, but the guest had requested not to be disturbed.

In the shadowed garret, a hulking figure waited, fully enshrouded in darkness. Though there were candles on the wall behind the figure, they had long ago burnt down. In the dimness, it was just barely possible to make out raised spikes on the figure's armored shoulders. A helmet hid his face from view, and he sat unnaturally still, one arm on the long table in front of him. There were four other chairs around the table, but all were at the far end, leaving the mysterious figure with half of the rough-hewn table to himself. There had been a fifth chair, but it was shattered on the floor.

The rest of the room was covered in odd standing walls and partitions, angled in curious ways. There could be any number of hidden bodyguards, perched or crouched behind the partitions, hidden in the deep shadows. Or there could be none, a mere clever ruse. The attic-level room was expansive, but had only a single entrance, and thus a single exit, which the armored figure faced. The shadows beneath his visor seemed to penetrate the darkness, as if he needed no light to see.

It would all be very familiar to those who had met the mysterious figure before, given the name Cassum, but there was one more difference. In the center of the table lay the metallic mask that the young enlil, Mor, had worn throughout the meeting. In front of that was a single black-lacquered box, quite large but simple, with a silver-colored clasp.

Cassum waited patiently, silently, for the conspirators to claim their reward.

[350/350]

 

[Tenchra]

The job had gone horribly from the very start but for some kind of miracle it all panned out for what could be seen as the best. He never thought he would have seen the dawn again, and feel the air of freedom. While this job was paid very well, he was going to be a lot more cautious about work in the future and see who his team was going to be before signing up. There were a few people he still felt were detrimental to the overall success.

That was in the past for now. At this moment he was one of the best thieves in the world, considering what he had just pulled off and that felt good. However, he also knew it was a reputation he would not boast about openly. If those he stole from got wind that there was a man who robbed them in town and boasting about, they might be inclined to bring down the hammer and make an example of him.

Reilly had approached the building where he supposed to meet and get paid. He felt a little uneasy about this whole thing since he was one of the earliest people to arrive, and the fact he was prepared to be double crossed. He was expecting to be killed off before being paid, so there was no one who could trace the heist to his employers. Given the turmoil he had just went through for this job, he was really hoping it was not a double cross.

Donning his mask once again to keep his identity a secret as best as possible. He walked up the door of the building and walked in. He nodded to the innkeeper and immediately headed to the room where he had first met Cassum. He reached for the door handle and stopped for a moment. He hoped once more this was not a double cross as he grasped the handle and turned it, letting the door swing open as he stepped through the breach. He spoke no words yet.

344

 

[Mystydjinn]

Aelflead followed shortly after. Her heavy steps echoed gruffly through the room and announced her arrival from the stairs long before she arrived, and when she walked in through the door she looked haggard. Her already unkempt braid was falling apart so parts of her hair fell down her shoulders and back loosely and the violet frills of cartilage that usually framed her face were tangled within it. She looked as if she'd gotten into another fight with conexus guards before arriving on top of having to trek a day through harsh snow and wilderness.

In truth, she had just been torn to bits with worry about her machine, she had forgotten to retrieve it from the enlil in all of the chaos that ensued with their escape from the Arx hours before.

She adjusted her composure when she remembered that she was not alone in the room, haphazardly finger-combing her hair to little effect, then found herself a seat at the table opposite from the first entry. Her eyes had lost much of their anger towards him being that her mind was preoccupied with terrors of what could have happened to her precious device out of her care, though she had a reputation among the small band for being able to change her attentions quickly. The pointed "Humph," she made at the masked entrant to the room was proof of as much.

Hikaru appeared sometime afterwards. He burst through the door with arms outstretched and announced himself, then placed his hands akimbo to wait for admiring comments while he stared off into an 'empty' part of the room.

"Behold! It is I the shimmer of the seas who conquered the terror of the mountains! Feast your eyes upon my glory!"

[291]

 

[Valero]

When Ignis and Deni finally made their way to the inn, they looked considerably more well rested and cleaner than they had when anyone from their group had last seen them. The decision to rest up in a rented room and replace their sooty clothes from the break-in and following airship crash was a good one even if it meant they arrived a few days after everyone else. Ignis had a new cloak, a grey one with fur lining the edge of the hood this time, but otherwise had forgone the disguise; she wouldn’t need it after Rapax had revealed her identity.

Glancing at her companion from beneath her hood she asked, “Do you think they’ll mind we’re turning up a bit late?” They turned a corner and headed for the stairs leading toward the garret casually, blissfully ignored by the people on the first floor.

Deni shook his head lightly.

“They’ll probably be in good humour,” he replied. “After all, we did succeed in accomplishing our task.”

Not only did the velen seem completely refreshed, but his new sleeveless leather jacket bore no marks and everywhere he walked left a faint scent of aftershave. They hadn’t had that long to rest really, they just made use of the time that they had.

Deni brushed against Ignis as he stepped in front of her and grasped the handle of the door. As the two of them stepped into the garret, they realised that the others had been waiting for them. Instead of saying anything to all of those that he recognised, the velen simply smirked. It was time to claim his reward.

[146]

[126]

 

[swaswj]

The only greeting that met the team was a stony silence. Beneath the visor of that spiked armor, they could practically feel the cold gaze of Cassum, examining them, picking them apart, but he said nothing and made no move to address them or congratulate them. The door slowly creaked closed behind Deni and Ignis, leaving the entire room in darkness while everyone waited for something, anything to happen.

Every awkward shuffle seemed to echo, each irritated grumble elicited a subdued response from elsewhere in the room.

As the moments ticked by, Cassum remained, as ever, silent as the grave.

[100/450]

 

[Tenchra]

It had been a long while that they had been waiting, but it was about time the rest of them shown up. Patience was not Reilly’s strongsuit, especially when he was waiting to get paid. His eyes locked onto Cassum, trying to judge what was going on with that man. He was controlling his feelings trying to show no fear, he had proven himself capable on the job.

“You seem angry. What’s on your mind?” He was speaking directly to Cassum.

 

[Mystydjinn]

When the mage received responses, or more precisely lack thereof, less than to his expectations he took his seat. He did not let the hard room dampen his spirit though, and kept the grin that stretched itself across his face as he sat back against the aging wood.

He'd completed something that was sure to earn him a song somewhere not even a full week ago. He wouldn't let a stiff faced crowd dampen. his mood.

"C'mon what're you waiting for," the spurii asked, cracking sore knuckles. "You weren't planning on shortchanging us were you?" The redhead narrowed her eyes at the demvir carefully, making herself aware of all the exits in the room out the corner of her eyes.


"That wouldn't be very gentlemanly of you."

[127]

 

[Valero]

It seemed as though everyone but their employer was happy with the result of their mission. Either that or they'd played into his hands and he had been setting them up since the start. With the tense atmosphere in the cold, dark room thanks to the enigmatic figure ahead, and potentially others lurking in the shadows, a degree of tact and caution was likely necessary.

Worry tightened Ignis’ chest and made her stomach clench, though Aelflead’s comment made her suppress a snicker. She glanced between their employer, their former work partners, and Deni. Maybe if they stayed quiet, Cassum would answer Soldier’s question.

Unfortunately, Deni opened his mouth to speak.

“Listen to the Soldier,” he said. “If there's some sort of problem, I'm sure we can iron out the details.”

The velen may have seemed perfectly calm and collected, but he lightly grasped Ignis’ fingers beneath the darkness. His free hand was by his waist, seemingly relaxed, but he was ready to draw his pistol in an instant.

Ignis bit her lip, but otherwise looked only a little apprehensive. She stayed near Deni’s side and curled her own fingers around the velen’s, giving them a light squeeze. Behind them, Cora buzzed, ready to fire at the first threat and within Ignis’ cloak, Amicus gathered magical energy for a shield. They were ready for this... hopefully. The enlil secretly wished they’d stayed in bed.

[103/249]

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[swaswj]

There was no sign of acknowledgment from Cassum. Cloaked in shadows, the enigmatic figure did nothing and said nothing. He did not even tilt his head in greeting, or grunt in acknowledgment of the insistent demands. There was only silence, and the sensation that Cassum was judging their every word, mocking their efforts with his continued quiescence.

Seconds turned to minutes and still there came nothing from their mute host, only stillness and dead air.

The room seemed to tighten around them, every shuffle of their feet and exasperated breath seeming to resound around them, Cassum's unflinching gaze boring into them all.

[100/550]

 

[Dysney]

Something was off about Cassum. The man wasn’t responding at all. All of the previous ANO representatives had been clear with their instructions every time Deni had conversed with them, and the armoured, hooded man had been no different. Why the silence now?

The velen let go of Ignis’ hand and slowly meandered towards Cassum.

Ignis wracked her brains for a possible cause of the stony silence. She didn't recall killing any guards and though the airship had landed rather roughly, it hadn't crashed. Mor had been working on repairs last anyone had seen and Ignis doubted the authorities could've tracked those two down before they could fly off.

Is he angry? Did we do something?

She glanced around the room again. Then it dawned on her that she hadn't returned Aelflead's device. “Oh. Aelflead. I have something that belongs to you,” she pulled a familiar black box from within her cloak and slid it across the table to the other engineer. When she took out the box, though, her hand brushed against another container.

Ignis pulled out the small wooden box containing the lights she'd swiped from the prison and set it on the table. “Was I not supposed to take these?” she asked, glancing back at Deni before looking their employer in the eye. She flipped open the box to reveal three floating orbs of artificial light.

Her face paled.

Deni turned back to her when he was addressed. He was just going to shrug, since Cassum had not mentioned anything at all about stealing parts of the Arx, but instead he strode back to the avian engineer.

The rogue took one of the lights and aimed it at his employer at the table.

“Cassum?” he asked, squinting at the man across the table as he tried to pick up on any details that seemed amiss.

[131/386]

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[swaswj]

Light filled the room, cutting through the eerie atmosphere like a knife. The many partitions in the garret which had threatened to conceal hidden assassins were revealed to hide nothing behind them when properly illuminated. The room itself seemed far larger, as well, and not nearly as claustrophobic. However...

Just as the light stripped away the haunting atmosphere of the room, it stripped away the darkness that had shrouded Cassum in mystery. Underneath the foreboding helmet was... nothing. Two black glass lenses hung from the visor of the helmet, dark enough to hide within the shadows, reflective enough to give the illusion of a roving gaze. Behind them was mere empty space, save for a small metallic cube, similarly shaded to the mask that rested on the table.

Cassum was gone and, very likely, had never been there at all. The only thing there was a hollow suit of armor.

[150/700]

 

[Tenchra]

There was nothing there. They had been sitting in a room for hours, with nothing. Reilly’s anger and fear actually began to grow. He needed answers as to what was going on, but what he really needed was to get paid. Rising to his feet and glancing around the room again, making sure he knew what everything was in the room, that he overlooked nothing.

Walking to the center of the table, he picked up Mor’s mask and inspected it a moment before he grabbed the box that was set there and opened it up to check its contents, he swore he would come back to haunt people if this thing exploded in his face.

 

[swaswj]

The box was heavy and gave a satisfying jingle as Reilly lifted it. When he pulled the lid free, the box was revealed to be filled with exa… not all neatly stacked aurits, but a blend of gold, silver, and even some copper-colored dahlitium. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the silvery bigatium coins made up the bulk of the pile.

On the inside of the lid there was a folded piece of paper, though. Reilly ripped it free and unfolded it.

"Sorry,

I knew I could never do this on my own, but you wouldn't have done it for me.

Unfortunately, this is all I have to give you -- I'm just one person.

Thanks"​

It wasn't signed, but there was no doubt as to the author. The code phrase Mor had given before came back to mind, "Cui prodest." Only one person profited from the release of Rapax.

[150/850]

Note

There's 6,000 exa, total, in the box.

 

[Tenchra]

Thats was it. That was all they were getting. After everything they had been through, that was all they were getting. Anger built up inside of Reilly, and threatened to explode, as it took everything he had to keep it under control. With his anger bottled up as best he could, he counted the money once again. Six thousand exa. Hanging his head down as sighed.

The note did not help much, in fact if she had come to him telling the truth he would have helped her for what he was getting now. That was the type of person he was. He hated getting played, he hated being lied to. He knew he was going to see her again, and he would confront her. Whether she walked away, or died that day was still unknown, but he knew he would see her.

“Bad news. We were lied to.” he threw the note out in front of the rest of them, as he reached into the box and pulled out money. He grabbed his and Kincaid’s share, they did not know his brother did not want to be paid and Reilly was claiming his share, he called it the silver lining on a bad deal. Losing the box he tossed the rest of the money in front of them to deal with.

“I have mine and my brother’s take. I am done with this, I am leaving. He turned to walk away from the group, making sure to grab the mask as a keepsake and remind him of his mistake. He was unsure how the rest of the team would handle the betrayal, perhaps he never would get to see if one of the others found her and ended her first. The only thing he was sure of now, was that he was going to get blind drunk.

 

[Valero]

Ignis picked up the note and Amicus climbed out of her robes and onto the table. “Guess we should start counting,” she mused. She was in too much shock to really be mad.

Amicus pushed the box onto the floor and then piled all the coins back inside. He pulled the lid into the box and then reached out to be picked up.

Ignis gave her companion a curious look and obliged, scooping the familiar up in her arms. She picked up the box once Amicus had crawled back into her robes and said, “So, how do you want to do this?”

Deni turned and glanced between the other three in the room. Reilly was already halfway out the door, Hikaru and Aelflead looked like they were about to head towards them to take their share. The velen scooped some of the coins out of the container and placed them into a pocket in his sleeveless leather jacket. He whispered something in Ignis’ ear before he spoke clearly.

She nodded, absently grabbing the artificial lights and coaxed them back into the small wooden box, but left it open so they could all still see.

“My share,” he said, then continued shuffling more coins into a pocket on the other side of his jacket. “Tinker’s share.”

He placed the box on the table heavily, shaking his jacket and making a jingling noise to make it seem as though it was not devoid of all its contents.

“Now if you don’t mind, we’re off to celebrate.”

Without another thought, he grasped Ignis’ hand and stormed for the door.

The engineer shut the box and let herself be pulled out the door with a laugh. “Have fun with your reward!” The door shut behind them, bathing the other two in darkness, fortunately that wouldn't make any difference in counting out their exa in the box. The box was empty, now, after all.

[138/524]

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[Mystydjinn]

It took Aelflead a moment to process what exactly had happened, but by the time the, couple she assumed, hit the door things snapped into place.

At that moment she was several conflicting things: angry for being lied to by Mor, though mildly satisfied that her debt was more or less paid, as well as relieved that the box hadn't exploded when the laicar opened it, and glad it contained some reward judging by the clinking in the box. Unfortunately however, the prevailing emotion at the moment was rage and righteous anger, though mostly just rage.
Judging from the way the squawker and sea-drinker had shot off, though mostly the look on the pirate's face when he looked into the box, the spurii had deduced that the pair had gone and dipped with her share.

No more than two seconds later did the heavy table in the middle of the room go flying through the door, shattering it and destroying the frame in the process, and sending both down the stairs of the inn. A moment later the woman was tearing down the now ruined staircase screaming incoherent curses at the top of her apparently very deep lungs with sword drawn and murder in her eyes.


The pirate watched the table fly past his face quietly and decided he'd wait for the woman to get back rather than going after her.

He was all for risking his life in foolhardy feats, but he wasn't quite ready to test his luck against unbridled fury yet.

[254/650]

 

[swaswj]

Far to the north, on the other side of the mountains, Mor worked tirelessly to repair the second propeller of the stolen airship. Cold winds blasted by outside the cave she had maneuvered the battered vehicle into, but Pax had fashioned a burner out of some of the discarded parts, warming things up inside.

The prisoners' garb had gone straight into the fire.

Pax was now dressed in thin but sturdy clothes, dark grey and khaki. Mor had also stashed a new arm for him in the airship. Far simpler than what he had used before, it fit well into the long-sleeved jacket. His sister had wrapped most of the mechanical talon in leather like a glove. From a distance, he would look like a normal, two-armed enlil.

Orator had stayed longer than the rest, but he, too, had ventured off into the wilderness a day earlier, saying only that he had business to resume.

"What now?" Pax asked, looking down at the mechanical talon, flexing it experimentally.

"Now we stay out of Terminus," Mor replied sternly, not even looking away from the sheet of metal she was welding, sending up a spray of sparks and acrid smoke. Though young and bony, she managed to sound intimidating. It didn't hurt to realize just what his young sister had orchestrated, impossibly, on her own. "You've made enemies of the Arcanum and the Conexus and I'm pretty sure most of the general populace would happily get rich by turning you in. Don't think the Astras want you back, and they definitely don't want to see me again." The airship had to come from somewhere, after all. "Our new friends won't be so friendly if we see them again, either."

"That's your fault, not mine," he reminded her.

Mor grunted in response. "We just need to find someplace quiet, make a new life where people aren't always trying to kill you."

Pax looked up at the wide open sky outside the cave. He never actually expected to stand out in the open like this again, no matter his brave words to those that interrogated him. The words that he had shared with the Prophet Vexus came to mind, though.

"Not quite yet," Pax said slowly, looking down at his artificial arm once again before sliding it into a pocket. "There's something I have to do first.

"How long would it take to reach Excelsus?"

[400/1250] End