Phoenix Phire

Ravager Nix returned to his tent a short while later, still accompanied by Darsi. Fajii and Del were sitting on her bunk watching the rest of Alpha team play dominoes on a table that someone had brought in.

The Ravager jumped onto his bunk and was immediately uninhabited. Nix pushed the puppet to one side before catching Wind's attention. "Going to need Rabi on this one."

Wind nodded from the table and lent his teammates a hand as they gathered up the dominoes.

[Summons: Rabi]

The tiny demon skelly appeared in the tent an instant later. "Special mission, Wind?"

Wind pointed toward Nix. "The boss has something for you."

Rabi moved closer to the bunk, his sharp eyes staring at the Ravager puppet. "Looks yummy! Treat for Rabi?"

"Um... No. Ever inhabit a puppet?" Nix patted the bunk next to him and waited while Rabi hopped up.

"No." The tiny demon reached a hand up and stroked the Ravager's head. "What is this?"

"It's a feline/rat hybrid puppet called Ravager." Nix stood up so Rabi could get comfortable on the bunk. He slid the puppet beside the demon. "Just focus on the Ravager and try to imagine yourself as the creature.

The tent flap was opened suddenly, distracting Nix from his task. Sasi Qi stomped into the room, her skeleton feet barely making any noise, despite her best efforts. "Nix! Rabi!"

Rabi waved at his sister, obviously enjoying the moment. "Rabi is going to be the rat-cat!"

Sasi emitted a low growl, her bone tail held in her hands as she stared at the puppet. "Let Sasi do it!"

As if on cue, the Ravager stood up slowly, moving onto its hind legs while peering around the room. Very quickly, its eyes cycled through multiple colors, from black to red and then to bright green before returning to black.

Semmi was watching the Ravager; as someone used to Nix's creations, this one was obviously a tier higher than the normal Emperor. "That's interesting... The eyes change color depending on the ability being used. Red is thermal vision, and green is night vision."

Nix nodded in agreement. "Looks that way. Try putting stealth up."

Ravager Rabi vanished a moment later, his high pitched laugh filling the tent. "Rabi keep rat-cat?"

"No, but I'll make one for your armor when we leave the Bone Fortress."

The Ravager reappeared next to Sasi, who glared at it before looking back at Nix. "Me too, Nix?"

Nix nodded. "Of course. I'll make a special one for House Speaker Sasi."

/Alpha: Semmi: Why is Rabi doing this instead of you?

/Alpha: Nix: I think the puppet heightens reflexes. When I was playing with Del earlier, it was like she was a kitten. Later, when Glacia attacked me, I dodged and bit her without even thinking about it.

/Alpha: Pon: How'd she react to that?

/Alpha: Nix: About like you'd expect. Tried to eat me.

/Alpha: Semmi: Let's check it out... Everyone take one.

Semmi accessed her inventory and then gave everyone a domino.

/Alpha: Semmi: Count of three, everyone throw them at the Ravager.

/Alpha: Nix: That's too easy; you wouldn't be able to hit Rabi on a normal day.

Nix smiled at Sasi, who was still staring at the Ravager. "Hey, Sasi... If you can touch the Ravager in the next 10 seconds, I'll let you do the mission."

"Deal!" Sasi flashed toward Rabi before the words fully left her mouth.

/Alpha: Nix: Throw them!

Nix paused until Sasi managed to corner the Ravager, he flicked it at the puppet the same time Semmi threw hers. The Ravager zipped around Sasi like she was frozen, the dominoes bouncing harmlessly off of the tent walls.

Over the next 10 seconds, Ravager Rabi ducked, dodged, and sidestepped his sister. The frustrated House of Tempest Speaker growling angrily each time she missed.

"Times up!" Nix bit his lip to keep from laughing at the siblings.

/Alpha: Semmi: Holy crap... a lot of that seemed intuitive.

Wind shook his head slightly. "Could you catch Rabi normally?"

Sasi nodded. "In this tent, I should have been able to touch him. In the open, no one touches Rabi unless he is distracted."

/Alpha: Semmi: Seems like even distractions don't work when he's using the puppet.

/Alpha: Nix: Alright then. Game on.

Nix brought up his hud and zoomed in on the Honor Burrough; since FOW (fog of war) was in effect, the buildings that he had seen weren't on it. He pointed to the ice field leading up to them. "Explore this area, Rabi. Something is going on here. Pradi said it was a trap set up by Sandi."

/Alpha: Pon: Who the fuck is Sandi?

/Alpha: Semmi: She's the Guild Leader for the One-Thirties, and probably the leader of Trifecta.

/Alpha: Pon: How do you know that?

/Alpha: Semmi: I read the forums. She's always bad-mouthing us.

/Alpha: Pon: Okay... Who the fuck is Pradi?

/Alpha: Nix: Ducky's right hand in the Keep. Don't ask.

Nix lay a hand on the Ravager's head and knelt down. "Be careful, Rabi. This puppet represents an advantage that we'd rather keep."

The Ravager nodded. "It's a trap for sure."

Semmi gathered up the dominoes after the Ravager left the tent with Sasi following close behind

/Inferno: Semmi: Don't cross the border, Sasi.

/Inferno: Sasi: I know. I'm going to wait on our side.

/Alpha: Wind: What now?

/Alpha: Nix: Nothing to do until Rabi finishes scouting.

/Alpha: Pon: Duran asked to see you in the morning. He still has the satchel you saved from the armory. Anything good in there?

/Alpha: Nix: We'll go through it together. Some rings, a few scrolls, it was a rush grab-job.

Nix sat next to Fajii on her bunk and brought up his hud. "Guess I can start designing a new golem."

"Hmm... Seems like Sandi doesn't like you much." Semmi showed Pon her hud, immediately the old man grinned. "What did you do to Trifecta, Nix?"

Nix shrugged without looking up. "Most recently? Barfight... Kicked their ass sideways."

"She certainly likes to post." Semmi's words made everyone look up. "Open letter to Guild Leader Nix in the forums. I'll send it over."

[Attn: Guild Leader Nix]

Recently Inferno has been attacking Trifecta targets in Colonial. Is there a need for Inferno to hamper the development of other guilds? Attacking us is one thing, but disabling us in the long term goes against the ROW (Rules of War). I've already filed complaints against you and Inferno.

/Alpha: Wind: Are there rules?

/Alpha: Pon: The only one that counts, don't lose!

/Alpha: Fajii: What's she talking about?

/Alpha: Nix: Remember that zone under the Gemini Temple? Where we fought the mummy and Chael got charmed?

/Alpha: Pon: The one where you sent the House of Aquarion guys?

/Alpha: Nix: Yep. Did the same to her people. Slipped black hands on them and tossed through the breach.

[Whisper: Semmi to Nix] There's an official response from Colonial.

[Re: Attn: Guild Leader Nix]

Unfortunately, the guilds in question have willingly entered into a conflict in which they represent opposing sides that will directly impact all of Colonial. Until this conflict is resolved, we will take no measures to recover any accounts.

/Alpha: Pon: The House of Aquarion is still looking for its people.

/Alpha: Semmi: According to Breach Commander Mtui, they might be too late.

***************

The Ravager stopped and sniffed the frozen tracks while its glowing red eyes scanned the ground for any heat signatures. As someone accustomed to operating by smell and hearing, the Ravager only served to heighten Rabi's developed abilities. "Clever... Not catch Rabi in stupid witch circle this time."

The Ravager skirted the area in question only to freeze in place a short while later. "Another one?" Rabi turned to face the first circle and took a moment to mark both of their locations on the map.

Over the next few hours, he carefully marked each trap, his clever mind recognizing the overall intent of the ice fields. When he was finished he moved into the Dawn, Misery, and Agony; the three Burroughs bordering Honor.

/Qi Family: Sasi: Everything okay, Rabi?

/Qi Family: Rabi: Yes. Coming back now.

A short while later Rabi returned the Ravager to Nix's tent where all of Alpha team was waiting for his report.

Rabi has joined Alpha.

/Alpha: Nix: Welcome back.

/Alpha: Wind: Welcome back, Rabi.

The tiny skelly demon hopped up on a chair and then used the table hud to bring up the Honor Burrough. "Clever traps everywhere, someone smart set them"

Rabi pointed to the spot where he started. "The real traps are the witch circles, there are seven of them in all."

Semmi watched as Rabi marked them on the hud map. "What about the buildings Nix reported?"

Rabi shrugged slightly. "All fake, just the fronts of them with nothing inside. Also, there are mines everywhere." Slowly, over the course of the next few minutes, he painstakingly marked out their locations.

Semmi shook her head slightly. "Clever. The mines are in place to herd us into the circles. I bet they are activated remotely. How did you find them all?"

"Ravager puppet is made for demons." Rabi glanced at Sasi's form. When he returned she had immediately inhabited the puppet and taken it outside. "Sasi will want a lot of them for the House of Tempest."

/Alpha: Nix: Let's schedule a leader's meeting for tomorrow afternoon. We're going to need some experts in witch circles.

/Alpha: Wind: I could summon Atilla or Commander Bensic through my graveyard ring.

/Alpha: Semmi: Both actually. We'll put them in separate tents and ask them the same questions.

/Alpha: Nix: We should also talk to Pon's companion.

/Alpha: Pon: Don't call her that, punk bastard!

/Alpha: Wind: I agree. Shuri seemed willing to share information.

/Alpha: Nix: I have an idea about that. Let's plan for tomorrow afternoon.

/Alpha: Wind: What are we doing in the meantime?

/Alpha: Nix: Dunno about you guys, but I'm going to get some sleep and then make some golems.