"Now I'm going to ask you again... what do you know about the eight deaths so far?"

Mortimer sat on the other side of a table. The room was dark, enclosed even, with only a single bright light illuminating the nearly demonic being on the opposite side of the table. Mortimer himself was wearing a white dress shirt and tie with his sleeves rolled up. He also had the irresistible urge to start smoking and thus add to the noir atmosphere of the room but not having access to any cigarets, he found this urge unfulfilled.

The mage had been called in on a mission from the local Bosporian authorities. His ability to determine a persons character with a touch made him an invaluable asset in their investigation. All around the city there had been a rash of deaths, all of them mysterious. People simply dying. No wound, no poison, no trace of magical aura or curses. The people had simply...died. With no cause or reason as to why. The best explanation the department could come up with was that these people had their soul literally ripped out of their bodies. A violent process indeed but not one that didn't leave SOME mark on the body.

Most techniques to cut a soul from a body were rituals involving complex symbols, circles, reagents, expensive stuff that took a long time to set up and even longer to clear away. Also, still leaving marks on the body, or even destroying it outright.

However when Nhieling was seen walking in the direction away from the most recent crime scene, Mortimer had brought the man in for questioning on the departments authority given the puppeteers tendency to traffic in souls. Given his history of thaumaturgy Mortimer was in no way uncertain that Nhileing had something to do with the investigation. Still, "knowing" hadn't done much good as he had been sitting there across from Nhileing for the better part of an hour. To say the least, Nhieling was...uncooperative remaining silent the entire time. Whether he was gathering his thoughts, hiding something or just trying to pis off his interrogators (the last of which was working rather well) he wasn't saying anything.

Nhieling was lost into his through. Waiting for things to calm down, since nobody would listen his story right now. The gloomy atmosphere was fine with him, but nehind his poker face he was worried. If what Mortimer said him was true, then his past may have catch him.
Nhieling suddenly a burst of pure hate, knowing it wasn't his but Zieref one, the soul of his master, sealed into his body long ago. His past seemed to catched him up.
I've waited for too long, TOO LONG. Today he has been imprudent, he's ours !!
Then Nhieling suddenly started speaking. Okay, let's end up this little game, you already know that it isn't me. I use soul of the people I've killed myself, I don't ripe their soul to killed them. Moreover I'm not into aimless killing since long ago. Show me the corps and I'll help.
Then he sat depper into his chair.
Let me guess... Every victim end up dying during their sleep, isn't it?
Seeing Mortimer reaction, Nhieling added : Moreover, people that use the intra world, the void place between mind, like the seer and the mind read have probably either die, or cannot use their ability, or finally have left the town.
Seeing Mortimer reaction, he said : Another point I guess, then I know both the culprit, and the way they act, take me to the crime scene and I'll help.

"Annnnnnnd youo think I can get you out of here beacauuuuuuse?" Mortimer asked. "I can't let you, a mage who admittedly takes souls, to walk right out of here. Nhieling I know we've had a past relationship but right now I don't trust yyou... more than usual, AND seeing how you know EXACTLY how the victims died, you just made yourself suspect number one on the departments list. Really Nhieling, I want to help you but you need to give me a bit more to go on than simply "I can help... cause those guys outside" he said indicating the two way mirror on the side of the wall "Don't think you're innocent. So you can either TELL me what I'm looking for at the crime scenes, OR you can stay here and talk to Vinny."

Vinny of course being the muscleman hired for this operation. It was sort of surprising just how mercenary the police force was. Then again, a recession was going on right now so who could blame em?

Then Nhieling had a little laugh. Like always when he got from casual mode to serious mod, his evil aura came out :
We can also see it another way... What you have? Me, and corps on th arm. What are you lacking? Time. You want want to put an end to it, and the sooner is the better in your case. I don't care at all. I can wait for another hundred of victims to be found. You'll end up releasing me.
Now what are you going to do? You're already into a dead end since you absolutely can't do anything against this enemy.

Nhieling cross his arms on his chest.

So, what are we going to do? Do you release me and follow me to be sure I'm innocent? Or do you wait for the city to become a ghost one?

Mortimer gritted his teeth. He wanted to have Nhieling out there in the field helping... but somehow he knew that his superiors weren't going to go for it. Either way, he knew what had to be done. SIlently, he cast an over the top Umbrae spell immediately filling the room with darkness.

In less than three seconds the table had been flipped over and Mortimers chair knocked back. Just before the darkness faded Mortimer said "You better get results." The door was opened giving Nhieling a chance to escape and pursue the killer, Mortimer knocked his head into the wall "knocking" himself out.

Mortimer hoped that Nhieling would take the hint and get out of there. The puppeteer needed to escape the station and catch the murderer before the police caught up to him... or the unseen assailent struck again.

Race against the police, race against the murderer, race against fate! Time was of the essence.

Nhieling got out of the prison. The situation was slightly better now, he had the police , helped by Mortimer that were after him... At least now he could refrain his master from taking the control of his body and killing everyone.
Where to start... Oh, yes, first I'll confirmed the scene of the crime.
Getting under disguise to one of the corps, Nhieling scan it from afar. The work was rough, not like the one he was thinking to. But it was definitly his signature.
Disciple? If he had been mad enought to raise disciple I'll have a lot of them moving into the city... Probably sevenAdded Nhieling to himself, with a grimace It will be hard to find them. First he let a note to Mortimer, putting some of his magic on for him to see it right away. To be sure Nhieling add a little enigma :

Of the main sin of human, seven rise.
In the past everything began.
Today one must fall.
Into the harem, everything shall become clear.
For the burning desire to disappear
Into darkness forever.

Then he move to the next location : What he needed was ally to begin with.

"Eh... it's so great to be able to talk again," Micah looks at herself, mumbling to herself as she peers at the frosted window. She had an innocent smile on her face, her goal was completed... but she felt she needed to have something to vow over. Like how she vowed to regain her voice. "Sigh... I wonder how everyone is after the school thing..." She mutters, obviously thinking about all her friends from the school. Even though she technically never joined the school.

The television through the window was talking about the murders. "Why can't we live in peace...?" Micah mutters to herself, looking deeply at the television. She had no clue who would have committed this crime, or how.

Hoping Mortimer would understand his message, Nhieling get in front of William house. Letting a note for everyone on the door he writted :

Okay, where to start... I'll make short on the explanation, since Mortimer already know most of it and will be able to explained it.
The reason of the slaugter into the city is a man. Or I should say a man and his disciple. This man is himself Nicknamed Sloth, and is the disciple of one of my master's seven old disciple, meaning he's over 1000years old by now. He's really dangerous by the fact that it's impossible to fight him directly, since he's a dream hunter. Everyone that is sleeping or meditating can because his prey, and will have his soul tears off.
Actually, the one here are his disciple, I suppose there is seven of them, but I won't be sure before catching at least one of them alive.
To be the faster we can I'll hunt them down and let some note. The dangerous part is that if one of them die their master will enter the game and it'll be a lot more dangerous. All of them have to be taken out at the same time, meaning we'll have to stunned them of whatever until we catch all of them.
I already get one of them, but he's unable to speak right know, I'll let him tied into the Everlast ruin. Make sure he survive, but without being able to communicate with his master.
We'll need all the help we can gather, it's a battle against time, and the looser we'll be in serious %*@!.

[It's open to everyone]

William was confused as he read the note, he didn't understand what it meant, either. It would seem he missed seeing Nhieling go by, "Such a pain," William mumbles to himself, taking down the note. He would agree to helping, but if he can't fight in close quarters, was there much he can do? Will's fire magic could be used in long-range, but he always liked fighting in close quarters. It's what William had always done.

He hadn't heard of the name 'Sloth' either. Was it representing one of the seven deadly sins? "Waaait, he didn't tell me where to go..." William sighs, as he hadn't got out much, not seeing any murders on broadcast or anything. He thought about it, there's seven disciplines in a city with one captured and gagged by Nhieling. If he wanted to take them out all at the same time he'd need more allies.

Micah sat on a lonely bench thinking about all these murder cases. She didn't want to get involved, so she made sure she was in the open. She felt safe to say at the least. "There's nothing to do..." She complains to herself.

"...%*@!... And he couldn't have fucking told us this back at the station." Mortimer was frustrated at the seeming uselessness of Nhielings message. It wasn't that it was indecipherable. Just that he could have told them this earlier and it wouldn't have made much difference.

The seen were clearly a referance to the seven deadly sins. However being personified as "falling" meant that they were people capable of deaths. Seven of them.... seven apprentices stemming from the great sin... Nhieling himself had already admitted that he was greed.... or perhaps that was Zieref who was simply acting through him.

The point being that it was a person who either Zieref or Nhieling had had past dealings with and who also personified a particular sin....

The harem was clearly a referance to a place where ones deepest desires could be fullfilled but as far as Mortimer knew, the only place like that to Zieref was the forgotten city... and his old contacts shouldn't have access to that.

Still Nhieling had left them his handwritting and that was more than enough to track him. It would still take a little while before the tracking adimixture was finished but when it was, Nhieling wouldn't have any place to hide. He needed to get moving and moving fast as Mortimer could only stall them for so long.

Nhieling was waiting into the bell tower, waiting for one of the disciple to manifest. He already know on of the disciple location, but it would be better to end with this one, as he had infiltrated the police as an officier. This fact scare him, since how long have they been here? How much did they knew about him? Sloth were actually the main reason that prevented him from sleeping for 700 years.
I can't let him get me now, not after so long, he will fall today...
Since he had clearly indicated that the first disciple was in front of Everlast ruin, he hoped that William could gather people. The disciple were a pain in the ass, but Sloth was on a level of his own.

Suddenly Nhieling sensed something. Another, but where is he? This direction... The hospital?!

"Yo, Willllll! Daily training as usual," Ken smirks, wondering where his girl tag-a-longs are. It'd be great to see Nina again, too. He hadn't seen her for awhile. He could tell the usually spunky fire mage was under some sort of stress, so Ken took the opportunity to deliver a secret flying kick. "Hyaah!" Ken shouts throwing himself into the air, aiming to smash Will's spine.

"Morning man, what's up?" He cheerfully exclaims after his rude antics.

Nhieling had find the next one, but he found a new unsolved problem.
This one also seemed to be here since a long time since he was nobody else than the... hospital director. The idea was good, since there is people dying here everyday, he just had to suck the soul of the dying one to feed himself without anyone finding this suspicious.
But he couldn't make such an important people disappear... The precedent one had just reach the city the day Nhieling had caught him, playing the role of a mercenary.
Thinking about it, the police officier, and this one... Both of them share the fact that they could kill people discretly.
Meaning that the other one could either be in the same kind of position, or would have arrived to the city recently...

The director could wait, if they had already take all the strategical function, then their plan will be the complete anhilation of the town...
But what the **** could they do of such an amount of soul? With such an astronomical amount of energy, even reviving dead would be a piece of cake. Eh wait ! All the body of the victim were kept by the police under magic spell to keep them undamaged. What if they... Thinking of the deed of another of Zieref disciple Nhieling though. They're probably preparing themselves to fight against the others...
Nhieling, could only think of one reason they could have to do this, but he chose not to focus on it for the moment, he had more urgent thing to do.
First : Contact William they had to prepare themself for something big... Really big...

"Mm... Ken? What do you want?" William bluntly replies, making his way to the Everlast Ruins, parrying Ken's flying ninja kick. He read the note once again, the only clue was the person captured by Nhieling, so Will had to interrogate him. Walking at full speed, he eventually made his way to the ruins. "Ah, sorry Ken. I'm pretty busy, here. Read this." He chucks a crumpled up note from Nhieling over to Ken. He guessed Ken could help with the situation. He couldn't find the person Nhieling said was around the Everlast Ruins though...

Nhieling was hid into the shadow of the ruin. When he saw William coming, with another one, he used his puppet to scout the surrounding. Seeing that no one except from them was here he went out. Hi, you two, said him looking at Ken, without being able to say who it was, the first disciple is... currently unable to speak, I went... a little overboard and I damaged him too much.
He show them the bloody corps tied behind them. He's alive, but we'l have to provide him somes healing to at least keep him alive, because if he die his master will sense it and enter the fight.
Anyways, I can't stay here too much, if you have something to ask say it now.

[Bump, William, Ken, Mortimer, or everyone that want to join]

"Wait, why are these people doing the murders?" Ken requests an answer, Will hadn't told him much and he may have missed it as he skimmed the letter as he read it. He didn't need to know much except that he had to defeat those little brats at the same time without having their leader join.

"Then, if we defeat one, the master will come into play? What if they decide to finish themselves off to call the master?" William questions Nhieling. It was risky and definitely hard to pull off a consecutive simultaneous defeat of 7 different enemies. Well 6 now.

The charm was finished now. The mercenary-police could track Nhieling down now. Mortimer and the others were each issued compasses which they would follow towards the puppet master.

After five minutes of travel Mortimer could already tell where they were heading, Everlast magic school. Nhieling had to move fast now. There were at least five policemen ready and willing to take him out on their way.

They were approaching by broom so if Nhieling didn't want to get captured right away he'd better head somewhere that magic became easily scrambled. Otherwise he would find himself embroiled in a fight that at his level he could not win.

Actually, all of them are a lot too selfich to do it. I must keep on mooving now. I already found two others : One is a police officier, a thin one with a red scar under one eye. Another one is the director of the hospital.
Then Nhieling got into hole in the ground, and went into the sewers.
Nhieling was walking fast into the tunnel. Sloth disciple wouldn't be able to find him here since the sewers were like a gigantic magic distortion. Most of the experiment of the young wizard got here into the past, since this, the sewers were like a magical mess.
Thinking of a plan, Nhieling finally decided the next part : He had to start big mess into the city, one that could allow him to move more freely, and why not accidentaly killing some of the disciple. If their death stayed an accident Sloth wouldn't react.

[Bump too : It isn't a guided topic, for once you have a LOT of liberty, so just go on with what you feel like :(]

(OOC: I swear I posted, anyway, we need more people. Me, you, Al, Ken, Micah. We need 2 more, since I don't like the idea of hogging the spot light and taking on 2 by yourself).

"Ken, the best plan is to find some allies. If there's Nhieling doing something, I'm sure he's already got someone else helping. If we assume he has, there's four people. We need to find 3 more people." William thinks, heading back to the city. At the same time, they should look for the enemies and if you find one, restrain them and gag them.

Taking the plan to opportunity, he sees Micah resting around slovenly, "Micah!" He rushes over to her, as if he was meeting her. He wouldn't know if there's spies or anything. Especially the way Nhieling acts, he never hides his actions... However, thanks to his information, one was a director of a certain hospital, the other a policeman. Meaning, there were four more unknown disciplines they were unsure about.

Ken nodded, walking off looking for someone to add to their so called group. "Damn, I just want to fight those enemies." He mutters under his breath as he sees a man with a 'X' scar across his cheek walk into an alleyway with a woman. Both were enjoying themselves, making Ken slightly jealous at his single status. As he walks onwards, he stops at a window, looking inside at this luxurious looking suit.

He turns to his right seeing the man with the 'X' scar walk out casually, oddly, without the girl. Suspicion rising, he rushes over to the alleyway. It was a dead end, no one was there either. "...I better spy on his guy. Enemy found." Ken grins maliciously to himself, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

(How strong are the enemies?)