Exerpt from City Guidelines on the Use of Extermination Strikes
An extermination strike is the absolute destruction of a space through all mediums that may be authorised. This includes but is not limited to: space, time, spirit, shade, material, ethereal and extra-dimensional. The use of these measures is considered only in the most extreme cases where there is an imminent threat to the continued existence of the Hallowed Queendom.
Anyone from Monster Enforcement Null Unit (MENU) can authorise an extermination strike. Alternatively, the Royal Investigators also have the authority to use this option. When this happens, the agent in question must stipulate the reason why the strike must be deployed. Once verified by a secondary force, the strike can then commence.
Note: In extreme cases, high enough ranking agents can authorise a strike immediately. But this is inadvisable and can lead to severe punishment if it is found to be unnecessary or premature.
Agents must stipulate the type of strike required, the location where the strike should take place and appropriate casters are then deployed. A minimum of 10 casters are required for the strike. While less can make the strike work, there is a serious risk of death to those involved.
After a strike is commenced, the target area must be checked to find any survivors who will be detained and studied. If detained individuals are released, they are required to have a thorough mind wipe as a condition of their release.
For further information, go to the designated archives with the appropriate rank and codes to access examples of previous strikes.
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Flair looked around the room, pausing for a minute. “At this moment, we need to wait and decide on a path to take,” she said.
Arctorian gave her a long stare. “We can simply wait it out. There’s no doubt that very soon, someone on the outside will realise that we are missing and something is wrong here.”
“Yes, some of us are important enough to be missed,” Lirien said. “People will be coming here to find out what is going on.”
“We should keep everyone in this room so that there’s less chance that the Shade Catcher can take more victims if we are inside this bubble,” Flair added. “The more victims they take, the stronger they get.”
“I’ll try again to send out my emergency signal,” Arctorian added, lifting a device from his pocket. “It hasn’t worked so far, but it is worth continuing to try.”
“Alchemist, is there anything else you have in your arsenal that might help deal with the creature?” Flair asked.
Jake had already been considering this but was drawing a blank. “There’s nothing else that I can't think of that might help. Especially not when we are trapped in here.”
“And the wards are showing no sign of failing,” Arctorian added.
“That at least means the creature is contained,” Flair said, giving the military man a stare.
“I’d prefer not to be trapped inside with it,” Lirien said acidly. “Getting out of here needs to be our first concern. Then the authorities can remove this thing from my home.”
“Can I speak with you both for a moment?” Flair asked, looking at Arctorian.
Arctorian nodded and turned to Jake, Drak and Silt. “Step outside the bubble. We will call for you if we require your expertise,” he added.
The two moved away a short distance and Drak raised a sound bubble around them.
“What do you make of that?” Jake asked Silt, hoping she would have some insight into her father.
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“There has to be something else that can be done?” Jake said, shocked.
“What about the light potions? Do you have any more of them?” Silt asked.
“I have a handful left,” Jake said. “Flair never mentioned what else might be effective against the creature. So I didn’t have any idea of what else to prepare. I could probably make some potions that might help if I was still in the lab? But I don’t think they are going to let us go back to the lab.”
Standing to their side, Drak slightly cupped one ear with his hand and tilted his head very slightly. He fell silent with Jake and Silt watching him, waiting to see what he was up to.
“What about here in the house?” Jake asked Silt. “There seem to be all sorts of interesting stuff that your father has here?”
“There might be, but I don’t have access to it or even know what it is,” Silt admitted.
Abruptly, he shook his head. “I don’t believe it; they are talking about an extermination strike!”
“An extermination strike?” Jake asked. “What’s that?”
“Let’s just stay that if we stick around, we will be dead,” Silt said, deadpan. “I’m not joking; it isn’t something you walk away from.”
“It kills everyone and everything,” Drak said. “We don’t want to be here if they bring an extermination strike on the place.”
Jake felt a chill looking at his friend’s faces.
“We need to get out of here,” Silt said firmly and started to walk towards the main entrance.
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“Maybe we shouldn’t be heading out with all the evil shadow creatures?” Drak asked, nervously eyeing the darkness beyond the room.
“Don’t care,” Silt replied. “I’ll explain later, we just need to get out here.”
Jake and Drak started to follow her, unsure where they were going, but happy to follow Silt.
One of Arctorian’s men stepped in front of Silt and stopped her progress. “Where do you think you are going? Everyone has to stay in this room.”
Across the room, Lirien, Flair and Arctorian emerged from their bubble. The MENU operative and military officer approached the trio.
“Where are you going?” Arctorian also demanded.
Silt glared at him. “I know what you are planning…”
Arctorian makes a quick gesture towards her and abruptly, her words were stolen and she couldn’t finish the sentence. Her eyes widened and she choked as if she couldn’t draw any air into her lungs.
But that didn’t stop her from throwing a pulse of fire that pushed Arctorian backwards several steps and loosened his grip on her throat.
At the same moment, the Shade Catcher decided to make another attack on the room. Shadow creatures swarmed around the outside of the light bubble in thicker density than any they had seen so far. Essence attacks bombarded the room and the light users holding up the light bubble cried out in panic.
In the middle of the room, a rumbling sound filled the air and a section of floor crumbled away. Jake was horrified to see one of the thicker tendrils start to push its way through the space on the floor.
Panic took the room, people running away from the tendrils but stopping themselves as they reached the barrier with the thick shadow creature swarms on the other side.
Silt grabbed Jake and Drak and started to pull towards the light bubble. “Drak, start throwing some light up ahead of us! And Jake, get those light potions into action!”
The combination of Drak’s light and Jake’s potions pushed the creatures back somewhat as they passed outside the light bubble. Silt led them along the corridor in the opposite direction to where they had gone earlier. She took a left turn, then another.
The shadow creatures pushed against the light that Drak and Jake were creating. Essence attacks were now involved in the attacks from the creatures and Jake was forced to use his water essence to repel some of them. Silt used a combination of her fire and ice to do the same.
After a hectic minute of flight and a few minor injuries, they reached a courtyard. Drak had a gash on one arm, while Jake had a cut above one eye that was dripping blood and obscuring his vision a little. Silt wasn’t physically injured but looked exhausted and her beautiful outfit was in ruins.
As abruptly as it started, the shadow creature's attacks stopped. Silt glanced around quickly. “This way,” she said, gesturing ahead.
They crossed the courtyard and reached a gate. Silt raised one hand to the gate but she met resistance and a flash of multi-coloured light expanded from the point. She pushed harder and the light grew stronger but her hand didn’t move any further. She pulled back her hand and punched the ward, but there was no change in reaction.
“So we are still trapped?” Drak stated.
“I think that’s pretty obvious,” Silt replied, shaking her head.
“Okay, now what then?” Drak continued.
Silt rubbed her temples, her eyes momentarily closed. “I have no idea what else to try and we are probably going to die here.”
“Silt, didn’t you say that your father had some items hidden away here?” Jake asked.
“I did and he does,” Silt replied. “What are you getting at?”
“Could any of them kill this Shade Catcher? Or protect everyone inside so we can all survive this extermination strike?” he asked.
She paused, considering what he had said. “There possibly could be, but I don’t have the right access to get at it.”
“It might be possible to get access to places that you couldn’t get into before because of the damage that the Shade Catcher is making. And didn’t Sir Highsong mention the wards were damaged? Could this mean that the wards around the vault could also be damaged?” Jake queried.
Silt looked thoughtful for a minute. “You know, that might work. But that could be a death trap to try it?”
“If the place is going to be destroyed anyway, seems a shame not to try and salvage some of those alchemical ingredients?” Jake suggested.
Silt gave him a hard stare. “Are you trying to rob my house while someone else destroys it?”
Jake gave an awkward laugh. “No! I just thought we could make use of them and save them from being destroyed. Plus, some of the potions I’ve created have warded off the creature and that might give us the opportunity we need to get to something that can actually harm it.”
“Okay, let’s go to the lab first and see what we can find there,” Silt said. “How are you both doing on your essence levels?”
“Not great,” Drak admitted.
“Me neither,” Jake said.
“Well, shit, that’s not good because neither am I,” Silt admitted.
“If we had an essence potion, that would help, but we don’t have the ingredients. And I don’t have the specialism to make them for all of us,” Jake admitted.
“And we can’t really rest here,” Drak said, eyeing the shadow creatures that were hovering above them.
“So we are going to have to sneak back,” Silt said. “Do either of you know how to sneak?”
Drak raised his hand and both looked at him, a little surprised.
“I have no idea,” Jake admitted.
“Okay, we will just have to do what we can then,” Silt said. “We need to get moving now. Let’s go back this way, it’s shorter.”
As they reached the courtyard entrance, Jake lifted out a light potion and shook it. The unnatural darkness pushed back somewhat.
They moved through a door into what looked like a small staff kitchen. “How do we get back to the alchemy lab from here?” Jake asked Silt.
“Stop worrying, I live here, I know where I’m going,” Silt replied sharply.
As they moved into the room, there was a strange skittering noise ahead of them. She held up one hand to stop them moving and a denser shadow could be seen at the edge of the light bubble. It was slender, almost malformed and seemed to be poking around the room just ahead of them.
While there were no real details visible, Jake felt that the creature was staring at them. It slowly started to move closer to them then Silt blasted it with a sharp, targeted burst of fire. It scattered away but didn’t seem to be harmed by the fire.
“That’s not good,” Drak observed, staring at the spot the creature had vacated. “Are they getting stronger?”
“Yeah, it seems that way,” Jake admitted.
“We need to move quickly,” Silt said.
They moved through the kitchen to another, smaller set of stairs. Before, the darkness allowed them to see vague shapes, but it was definitely getting denser and harder to see anything at all.
Silt led them up the stairs and suddenly, more of the larger, slender creatures started to appear on the floor ahead of them. Silt blasted flames at them again, but the creatures simply dodged to one side. Drak hit it with a blast of light and the creature reacted more but it didn’t disperse or run away.
“We need to run!” Silt said. She took off with Jake and Drak running after her. One creature slashed from the right and Jake felt a icy cold, unsettling sensation as it made contact with his arm. The skin went icy and he felt as if it had torn into him, but he didn’t dare to stop.
They reached the alchemy lab from the other direction from their earlier visit. All three piled into the room and Drak cast a wall of light in front of the door. Then he staggered and leaned against one of the walls, looking exhausted.
“Let’s see what we can find,” Jake said breathlessly, looking around the room.