[Suzerain of Sheol]

Clearing his throat, Shealtiel grunts his name, wondering if he's going senile. "Alteil, will be fine, however," he adds.

He takes the food gladly, letting his sustenance spells lax for the moment. It has been a very long time since he last ate.

As Michael goes on, however, he finds his appetite quickly souring. Suddenly standing, he opens himself to the power of Sheol, his knees buckling with the strain. Almost instantly, he senses what is coming, is overwhelmed by it, and stumbles backward, nearly falling if Michael hadn't caught him.

"It's worse than you know. There a hundreds of Dybbuk bearing down on us, and by the time they tear through the settlements on the way here, there'll be hundreds more. And not only that..."

He resists the urge to be frustratingly cryptic; the situation just turned into a crisis. No time for old men's games. "There's at least one Rephaim leading them, possibly more. And Emim, too, maybe as many as a dozen. We have to get out of here. The city will hold for a time, but they'll be overwhelmed, especially with Acacias wounded. I can't fight off anywhere near that many, not with Emim to counter me."

As Michael stares at him, he swings his cane, striking him sharply on the arm. "Time to go. Pack up." He pulls his hood up as he makes his way out of the broken temple.

[Funkduder]

Michael stood up fast enough to make him dizzy, although he was already feeling light headed at the grave news from the dark magi, Alteil. "Mayday! Mayday!" Michael quickly messaged to the satellite. "A large group of Dybbuk are heading to the holy city of Corinth. Expect at least one Rephaim and Emim in a group of at least a dozen. Any citizens in the area should flee for an indefinite period of time."

"I just sent word to the Amorpha Network. The chaos from the call could cover our escape. Plus, I don't want that group to win against the city. The call should draw reinforcements from the other saints and theurgists of the holy cities," Michael said to Alteil, gathering his rucksack again. "We'll need to move quickly, if we want a good place in the center of the new chaos," he said as he guided the man into the center of the growing crowds of refugees to be.

[Serra Britt]

Feenai heard the sudden mayday on the Network and dropped her connection immediately, finding it a little easier to suppress the panic even though the news was dire. "John, JOHN!" she shouted, making sure she got her attention. "A large group of Dybbuk are headed for the city!" The panic was edging into her voice. "It was on the Network so I'm certain the city guards know, but what about everyone else? What.. is there anything we can do about this at all?"

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Stumbling along behind Michael, jostled back and forth by the growing crowd, Shealtiel quests delicately with his spiritual senses, not wanting to wear himself down when he'll likely need all his strength -- and, soon. The Dybbuk are closing on the city with inhuman haste.

He thinks again of the city's defense force and their resources. They have enough men that, if mobilized in time, they should be able to hold the city until help can arrive, but if the Dybbuk manage to break through the defenses...

He feels a pang of guilt, realizing that he is planning to abandon these innocent people to death in order to spare himself, when he could do a lot to help in their defense. And yet, he can do more good living through this than dying here. And besides, he may yet get the chance to strike against them.

He wonders if the local Aritificers have many ED Grenades on hand. Likely not, as he hadn't sensed any other practitioners of Sheol in the city, but if there were any to be had, they would be of great use in blunting the assault.

Hopefully everyone here knew that they'd have to burn the bodies as fast as they could. Saint Typasius will be able to help with that, and Acacias, too, if he recovers, but the two of them alone will never be enough, and with the Emim and that Rephaim looming behind the Dybbuk, the Saints may want to conserve themselves.

Not a good situation for Corinth, he judges, all in all.

[Salone]

"Out of city? That not problem. You take sewer. Smells like shit. Is shit. But it leave city, and so we leave city. Not so many guards. No one guards shit."

He grinned, looking a little wild eyed. He had spent some personal time in the sewer himself, after getting lost in it trying to find his way in to the city in the first place. It was his own personal opinion that the city's sewer system was living on borrowed time, and the many holes and cave ins that existed in the sewer network meant that it was easy to gain entry to, but not so easy to leave. He had spent nearly two days in the dark, attempting to find his way in so no one would actually have to see him enter. He kept grinning, feeling even more clever as he lifted the left leg of his pants, revealing a complicated pattern of scars etched in to his skin.

"I make map, while in sewer. No cartographer, but map work. Until it heals, anyway."

[CupcakeDolly]

Rue paused, staring at the man. The idea slid through her mind for a moment before she said, "That is... really... not a bad plan at all." She studied his leg, though it didn't take long for her to decide that it was too unintelligible for her to decipher. "I suppose I will have to trust that this mess actually means something. Well then, you may lead - "

She stopped, sensing panic at the edge of her awareness. She reached out violently, absorbing the information in a wave. "Khara," she said. "There is something coming - Dybbuk. And others. We must go. Lead the way, quickly!"

[Salone]

"Follow!"

Lev shouted, tearing down the street as he let his pants leg go. He reloaded his revolver as he ran, coming to narrower and narrower back alleyways. After a good eight minutes or so, he stopped suddenly. He searched, looking around on the ground before he found what he was looking for. He proceeded to kick the ground violently, shoving dirt this way and that before he uncovered the manhole that he had covered up. He grabbed at one end with his good hand, trying to pry it back open. It was much harder when he couldn't use his head to lift it up.

"You help, yes? I am not the so good at getting into manhole with one arm."

[Sage]

Jeanne started, not expecting to hear her name so loudly. But she turned to face Feenai, and grew pale as the other girl told her of the situation. "Mon dieu," she said to herself and thought for a moment.

"We are not natives here. The ones who the soldiers want have left. Our survival is of the highest importance now." In the distance, shouts could be heard, presumably citizens and soldiers preparing. Though she didn't know how big the army was, the fact that the others had easily slaughtered the soldiers wasn't a good sign. Still, she wasn't prepared to die for anyone.

"We cannot fight this battle for them. We could help, but...not much." Jeanne squeezed Fee's hand and began to run out of the main streets, her free hand going for her laser as a precaution. If they had to fight undead, a thin knife wouldn't be terribly helpful.

The man she had healed was opening a manhole in front of them and ushering in the others. As hesitant as she was to throw her lot in with them, the woman owed her money and they seemed more than capable of defending themselves. Jeanne watched as Lev had problems opening the manhole, and though she was not terribly strong, she took a few steps forward and tried to help him lift it.

[CupcakeDolly]

Rue followed, ignoring the screaming of her muscles telling her to slow down. After they'd stopped, she watched the man kicking the dirt, wondering if he had gone quite mad before she saw that he was actually trying to unearth something. She wrinkled her nose.

"I suppose." She grabbed the other end with a ridiculously skinny arm and strained against the weight of it, then with a jerk noticed somebody else beside her. She blinked. How had she not sensed the girl's presence? Perhaps in her weakened state she had let her defenses down.

Rue said nothing, allowing the girl to help. She was sure that at the end of it Lev had actually done most of the lifting, but their tiny amount of strength seemed to at least have helped in heaving it aside. She rubbed her arm, soothing the sore muscles, then gestured to the uncovered abyss, eyeing the newcomers warily. "After you."

[Salone]

Lev merely nodded to the two who had suddenly joined them, knowing there was no point to pointing a gun in their respective faces. "Thank you for the saving of me earlier." He muttered, groaning a bit as he tried to loosen up his arm. Sliding down, he gripped the slimy ladder that led down in to the sewer, being careful to not slip and fall.

He must have descended a good thirteen feet before he found solid flooring. He looked around quickly, revolver in front of him in case anything was now occupying the sewers. He counted to thirty before looking back up, calling to the women.

"I's okay! Smells, bad. But you want escape city, this the way to go."

[Espy]

Dante took deep breath after deep breath, trying to refuel as quickly as he could. When it wasn't fast enough, he decided to take another succor capsule. It just might help, he reasoned, although he knew he'd wake the next day, if he slept at all, to the most massive stomachache and cramping ever. Still, he swallowed one.

A few moments later, he was able to trace out a tiny bit of red to the north of him; now too desperate to get out, he went towards it on the motorcycle, albeit reluctantly.

[CupcakeDolly]

Assuming from their mental patterns that the other two girls were nervous about being near them, or about going into a dark and smelly hole... or both, Rue took the initiative and climbed the ladder after Lev, jumping to the bottom halfway down and landing gracefully on aching legs. She had a brief moment of internal conflict to decide whether she wanted to use her hands to cover her nose and mouth or to draw her sword, and decided on the latter.

"Lev, was it?" Rue reasoned that it was worth knowing her own bodyguard's name, but she offered no such courtesy to their other new companions. "Lead the way, if you would."

[Funkduder]

Two men, an artificer and a servant of Sheol, stood in front of the crowd fleeing the city. Michael led along hastily, leaving no time for turning back as the flow of the crowd took them outside the city. As the two men hurried forward Alteil realized that something was very wrong, but as the wooden gates of Corinth closed behind them, it seemed to have been too late.
Making their way to the front of the crowd, they saw something which would terrify any common man: it looked as though the hoards of the underworld had been released unto them to collect their very souls. Michael's mind worked faster than lightning as the panic switch activated in his mind. "What do we have: a laser and psychic powers and- No! There's too many of them! But what about the guard? No... they locked us out here. I don't want to die; I don't want to die!!! Michael fiddled with his courage capsule before finally biting down on it and feeling its full effects. With new concentration, he looked at the door, and looked back at the crowd and looked to his new friend and looked up at the absent city guard. He was paranoid, to say the least, and his irrationality threw millions of thoughts leading to his one, final conclusion. "Maybe they were locked out in order to make more time to mobilize"... "Well, in that case," Michael finally said, smiling, "I'll give them time." He pulled out his gun and activated his shield as he walked past his friend. "It should take 30 minutes at the most for the guard to fully mobilize and pull everyone back in, correct? Convince the guard to get everyone inside, and I'll deal with the hoard," he said to the servant of Sheol.

[Serra Britt]

Leaning close to Jeanne, Feenai whispered as quietly as she could, "They know how to fight and we might be in a lot of danger soon. I don't like it but, like you said...we need to save ourselves too."

She couldn't help but think about the young girl she saw when she arrived, and hoped that she could get out safely. Tears welled up in her eyes knowing that it was unlikely, but she reminded herself what Jeanne had said. I left home to live, not to die.

Wiping her eyes, she moved down the ladder as quickly as possible, wrinkling her nose at the awful smell. Waiting for Jeanne to descend, she asked, "Will you watch over me again, while I research what we are up against?"

[Espy]

With quite some speed, and making good time, Dante got closer and closer to the psychic's aura...and suddenly got a tire caught in what seemed like a decent-sized hole. The whole bike flipped over. A...manhole...? They must be in here, he reasoned, getting to his feet and feeling for the entrance.

Ah well...once I get out of here, I'll let some time pass for the guards to forget...and then I'll sneak my bike back out. See you later, old boy, he thought, patting the motorcycle rather fondly.

Dropping feet first into the hole, Dante slid and landed with a slight thud, gagging at the stench.

[Sage]

Jeanne wasn't too pleased with the smell, but she tied the bandanna on her arm around her lower face, which helped somewhat. Looking down at Fee, she nodded before descending cautiously. She didn't trust the old ladder.

Once down, she was just glad that the floor had some traction to it. Still holding her laser tightly, Jeanne glanced at Feenai and hoped that her companion wouldn't panic again.