Desierto...the name definitely suited the terrain in which Luna presently found herself. The climate was far more arid than she was used to, and there was something about the place, some little voice in her head that was telling her to turn back. Still, she had a job to do, a case to solve, and she wasn't going to turn back just yet, not until she closed it. Luna had been in the engineering lab working on a prototype of a new toy for the Rune Knights, when a report came in about a mass disappearance in Desierto. Entire families seemed to go missing each night.
Something about that report set the gears turning in Luna's head. She thought [i] There's something interesting going on here... and I'm going to find out what it is.[i] It just so happened that the toy she was working on could prove useful. It was a contraption designed to inhibit the use of magic, and function only when attached to handcuffs. It was small enough that it could fit inside of the keyhole without inhibiting the movement of the key, or the pins, and it would only inhibit the magic of the one bound by the cuffs. There was, however, a slight drawback, in that if any Rune Knights were to cuff themselves to their prisoners, they too would be without magic until such time as the cuff would be removed from them. Luna had just finished this little gadget before attaching it to a pair of cuffs, and heading out with what she could use.
Upon arriving in Desierto, Luna decided that it might be a beneficial endeavor to acquire some more recent intelligence. Upon stopping at a bar, she learned that two more families had gone missing. This was no longer a simple missing persons case. It had turned into a kidnapping case. Knowing full well that she should have called for back up, Luna got an idea in her head. An idea that if she were to bring in whoever it was that was abducting these people, she might just be able to raise her rank a little.
Luna was an ambitious one, considering that time was most certainly not on her side. However, something told her that there was a chance, a chance that she could make things right. A chance that she could return these people to their homes, that she could get justice for them. She wouldn't rest until she hauled in the one responsible. And so, she unfortunately found herself traipsing across the desert, with a pop up tent, and a hammock, into an uncertain situation. Her first night was uneventful, mostly working on hunches. Whoever this person was, they were very good at covering their tracks.
This did not bode well for the rest of the investigation, as a cold trail was quite difficult to follow. With the sun rising, Luna set up camp, deciding she would resume her search the next evening. She slept rather more comfortably than she had expected to in the hammock that she had brought with her. She had never slept in one before, and was mostly surprised that she didn't fall out of it in her sleep, as she was one who tossed and turned.
Upon resuming her search, Luna hinted upon something. There was a rather acrid smell that seemed to be following her, but it was rather far away, and maintaining its distance. So, having no other plans, she decided to act as though she hadn't noticed, and continue in the same direction that she had been traveling, until the sun peeked over the horizon. When she camped for the day, she didn't actually sleep. At least, not right away.
Instead, she waited for a particular sound. It was a sound that the average person was unlikely to pick up on. The shifting of the sand beneath a person's feet. From the sound itself, Luna could pick up on a few different things. The first of which was the general weight of whoever was approaching. They were lighter than the average male.
Next, she could determine the approximate size and type of footwear they wore. Her best guess was that this was a female assailant, who didn't know that they had already been caught. When this person stepped into Luna's tent, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They approached the hammock, not knowing that they were walking right into a trap. As they raised their dagger, thinking their quarry to be sound asleep, they were surprised by a pressure in the small of their back.
"So, this is how you say hello. Alright, turn around, let me get a good look at you." Luna backed up, giving her would-be-assailant room to do as asked. She smirked a bit, upon realizing that they were, in fact, a woman.
"I'd say I was surprised, but I could smell you a mile away, no offense. I could hear you, too. You're not exactly as sneaky as you think you are. But then, my perception is higher than that of your average human, mostly because I'm neither average nor human. So, what's your game? Why try to kill a Rune Knight?"
"You're too close." This was the response from the assailant. It was concise, if nothing else. "Too close to what?" Luna glared at the other woman when asking this. Something was going on here, and she was going to find out what that was.
"You really think I'm going to tell you?" Luna giggled when the question registered in her head. "Not right away, no. But, we have all day to get you to open up." She stepped closer, and disarmed the woman, before embracing her.
That evening, the woman who attacked Luna, who's name was revealed to be Shal'la, led her to an altar near an oasis. Surrounding the altar were cages, with people packed in like sardines. How they all managed to fit was something that Luna was less than interested in finding out. However, she did get the feeling that this was all just a little too easy.
"So, what exactly were you planning to do with all these people? I mean, I can't think of any spells that would require this, and I don't think they'd make very good test subjects. So I'm curious, just what was your master plan?"
"If you must know, I was planning to summon a demon, and become immortal. I just figured they might get hungry after being summoned. It's not like they weren't wasting away anyway. Trust me, I was doing them a service."
"You know, I've heard that before. 'i did it for you.', 'it's for the greater good', 'i was just following orders'. Funny thing is, none of that really excuses the things that have been done in the name of such ideals. And it never turns out to be the case anyway, so let's cut the crap. I'm taking you in."
Before Shal'la could blink, Luna had cuffed her. "What? What's going on?! Where's my magic?! What the hell?!" While Shal'la was busy complaining, Luna grabbed the keys to the cages, and opened all of them. Her mission had succeeded, the case had been closed, and yet, something didn't feel right.
Luna knew that it was her job to bring this one in, and yet some part of her didn't want to. Still, at the end of the day, this case was Luna's responsibility, and she couldn't just not do anything, not when so many people had suffered at the hands of this woman.
Luna had made up her mind before she had even met her. Had they enjoyed themselves? Yes. Was Luna going to forget her duties as a Rune Knight? Most certainly not. After all, she still had a job to do, and she planned on seeing it through to the end.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this. It would have been nice to get to know you a bit better. But, this is my job, and I'm not going to abandon it just because you're good in bed." She sighed as she led Shal'la away from the altar. This was one of the few times that she was concerned for how things had turned out. It wasn't that Luna didn't like her job. More so, it was that times like this reminded her of why she preferred to work in a lab.
At least her gadget had worked, so there was, I fact, a silver lining to all of this. The two of them made a few extra stops on the way back, allowing themselves some comfort before they had to part ways. Luna was a bit hesitant when filing the paperwork. It was the one part of the job that she always hated. She preferred tinkering with gadgets, as opposed to sitting behind a desk and filling out documents. She wondered how some folks could manage doing that.
WC: 1500/1500
Something about that report set the gears turning in Luna's head. She thought [i] There's something interesting going on here... and I'm going to find out what it is.[i] It just so happened that the toy she was working on could prove useful. It was a contraption designed to inhibit the use of magic, and function only when attached to handcuffs. It was small enough that it could fit inside of the keyhole without inhibiting the movement of the key, or the pins, and it would only inhibit the magic of the one bound by the cuffs. There was, however, a slight drawback, in that if any Rune Knights were to cuff themselves to their prisoners, they too would be without magic until such time as the cuff would be removed from them. Luna had just finished this little gadget before attaching it to a pair of cuffs, and heading out with what she could use.
Upon arriving in Desierto, Luna decided that it might be a beneficial endeavor to acquire some more recent intelligence. Upon stopping at a bar, she learned that two more families had gone missing. This was no longer a simple missing persons case. It had turned into a kidnapping case. Knowing full well that she should have called for back up, Luna got an idea in her head. An idea that if she were to bring in whoever it was that was abducting these people, she might just be able to raise her rank a little.
Luna was an ambitious one, considering that time was most certainly not on her side. However, something told her that there was a chance, a chance that she could make things right. A chance that she could return these people to their homes, that she could get justice for them. She wouldn't rest until she hauled in the one responsible. And so, she unfortunately found herself traipsing across the desert, with a pop up tent, and a hammock, into an uncertain situation. Her first night was uneventful, mostly working on hunches. Whoever this person was, they were very good at covering their tracks.
This did not bode well for the rest of the investigation, as a cold trail was quite difficult to follow. With the sun rising, Luna set up camp, deciding she would resume her search the next evening. She slept rather more comfortably than she had expected to in the hammock that she had brought with her. She had never slept in one before, and was mostly surprised that she didn't fall out of it in her sleep, as she was one who tossed and turned.
Upon resuming her search, Luna hinted upon something. There was a rather acrid smell that seemed to be following her, but it was rather far away, and maintaining its distance. So, having no other plans, she decided to act as though she hadn't noticed, and continue in the same direction that she had been traveling, until the sun peeked over the horizon. When she camped for the day, she didn't actually sleep. At least, not right away.
Instead, she waited for a particular sound. It was a sound that the average person was unlikely to pick up on. The shifting of the sand beneath a person's feet. From the sound itself, Luna could pick up on a few different things. The first of which was the general weight of whoever was approaching. They were lighter than the average male.
Next, she could determine the approximate size and type of footwear they wore. Her best guess was that this was a female assailant, who didn't know that they had already been caught. When this person stepped into Luna's tent, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They approached the hammock, not knowing that they were walking right into a trap. As they raised their dagger, thinking their quarry to be sound asleep, they were surprised by a pressure in the small of their back.
"So, this is how you say hello. Alright, turn around, let me get a good look at you." Luna backed up, giving her would-be-assailant room to do as asked. She smirked a bit, upon realizing that they were, in fact, a woman.
"I'd say I was surprised, but I could smell you a mile away, no offense. I could hear you, too. You're not exactly as sneaky as you think you are. But then, my perception is higher than that of your average human, mostly because I'm neither average nor human. So, what's your game? Why try to kill a Rune Knight?"
"You're too close." This was the response from the assailant. It was concise, if nothing else. "Too close to what?" Luna glared at the other woman when asking this. Something was going on here, and she was going to find out what that was.
"You really think I'm going to tell you?" Luna giggled when the question registered in her head. "Not right away, no. But, we have all day to get you to open up." She stepped closer, and disarmed the woman, before embracing her.
That evening, the woman who attacked Luna, who's name was revealed to be Shal'la, led her to an altar near an oasis. Surrounding the altar were cages, with people packed in like sardines. How they all managed to fit was something that Luna was less than interested in finding out. However, she did get the feeling that this was all just a little too easy.
"So, what exactly were you planning to do with all these people? I mean, I can't think of any spells that would require this, and I don't think they'd make very good test subjects. So I'm curious, just what was your master plan?"
"If you must know, I was planning to summon a demon, and become immortal. I just figured they might get hungry after being summoned. It's not like they weren't wasting away anyway. Trust me, I was doing them a service."
"You know, I've heard that before. 'i did it for you.', 'it's for the greater good', 'i was just following orders'. Funny thing is, none of that really excuses the things that have been done in the name of such ideals. And it never turns out to be the case anyway, so let's cut the crap. I'm taking you in."
Before Shal'la could blink, Luna had cuffed her. "What? What's going on?! Where's my magic?! What the hell?!" While Shal'la was busy complaining, Luna grabbed the keys to the cages, and opened all of them. Her mission had succeeded, the case had been closed, and yet, something didn't feel right.
Luna knew that it was her job to bring this one in, and yet some part of her didn't want to. Still, at the end of the day, this case was Luna's responsibility, and she couldn't just not do anything, not when so many people had suffered at the hands of this woman.
Luna had made up her mind before she had even met her. Had they enjoyed themselves? Yes. Was Luna going to forget her duties as a Rune Knight? Most certainly not. After all, she still had a job to do, and she planned on seeing it through to the end.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this. It would have been nice to get to know you a bit better. But, this is my job, and I'm not going to abandon it just because you're good in bed." She sighed as she led Shal'la away from the altar. This was one of the few times that she was concerned for how things had turned out. It wasn't that Luna didn't like her job. More so, it was that times like this reminded her of why she preferred to work in a lab.
At least her gadget had worked, so there was, I fact, a silver lining to all of this. The two of them made a few extra stops on the way back, allowing themselves some comfort before they had to part ways. Luna was a bit hesitant when filing the paperwork. It was the one part of the job that she always hated. She preferred tinkering with gadgets, as opposed to sitting behind a desk and filling out documents. She wondered how some folks could manage doing that.
WC: 1500/1500
