Reaching with one hand, Virulina grabbed hold of the 'wind up' clock and blearily gazed at its time... after shutting off the ringer.  Oh boy, another day... another five things to go wrong.  She lay back and stared at the ceiling for a good five minutes, before climbing out of bed to run a bath.  Virulina shifted some water to the fireplace and let it boil.  Dressed in her bed robe, she padded over to the window and looked to see if anything was happening in the courtyard or in the territory beyond Darkstorm's castle walls.

"Why do I dwell among fools?"

The day before must have been dwelling really bad in Virulina's mind - the fact that she was seeing not the territory of Darkstorm but the prosperous city before the fall of Prysmos. FLying cars were up and about as people went about in a rush to get to work. Trains ran on schedule carrying their passengers to wherever destination they aim to head for. And the electronic billboard was displaying an advertisement for the latest fashion line of clothes, with Virulina herself as the model.

The shock of seeing 'classic' Prysmos jolted Virulina into proper wakefulness.  Her clock 'was' digital and she had just put a cooking pot on the 'fireplace' (actually a gas heater, crafted to look like a fireplace).  Technology was back!  But how had this happened overnight?

"It must be a spell... although Merklyn wouldn't allow this.  Hmmm, I must find out more."

Virulina looked around to see what she had to wear (if this was her old apartment, the answer would be 'a lot').  She also checked to see if her armor from yesterday was still present.  Virulina wanted to get outside and explore.

There were definitely a lot of clothes to choose from Virulina's wardrobe that it probably took some getting used to the Darkling Lord. Everything was how it was supposed to be, yet at the same time her armor was lying in wait by her bed waiting for her to don it again.

Whatever she decided to wear, people outside seemed to be at her beck and call and ready to do what they can for the famous news anchor/model.

Virulina picked herself a fancy black & white dress... and otherwise spent some time achieving a glamorous look.  But despite all of that, she could not bear to leave her armor behind.  So Virulina packed it into a bag to take with her.

"I wonder who Darkstorm was back in the old days..."

Her 'leader' had never previously spoken about his origin and it had been impossible to research him.  But now, things were different.  In fact Virulina could go and visit all her comrades... maybe even the Spectral Knights too!  Collecting her things, she stepped outside and hailed a sky cab and informed the driver of her destination.

"Take me to the news station."

On the way to her chosen location, Virulina gazed out the window and rediscovered her home.  With her station resources, she would find out what was happening.  Of course, she could have a little fun along the way...

"You got it, miss!" the cab driver replied cheerfully as he drove Virulina to the news station. There she got a great welcome by everyone she passed by, congratulating her even on that great report she gave last night (it was last night, right?). It took some effort to shake them off before she could finally settle into her private office.

“Yeah... thanks everyone.  Let’s hope for some great viewer numbers.”

Alone in her office, Virulina brought up a copy of last nights news bulletin. While it played on her screen, she looked up Darkstorm.  It was hard to do without a proper name or picture.  Virulina was forced to use his monicker and verbal descriptions.  Knowing where his castle used to be also helped... if he had some connection to the land.

It proved difficult to find information about Darkstorm, especially when there was very little information to go about him before the Reckoning. Speaking of the Reckoning - it looked like it nearly happened but was stopped by some mysterious individual garbed in white who simply showed up and stopped it, before vanishing without a trace.

That and the case of about a hundred people going missing the year before, only for these people to show up a few weeks later after an eclipse. Coincidence maybe?

Shifting her investigation from Darkstorm to the others, Virulina tried to find information on her old comrades.  However there was a chance they might not remember her, so she crossed a few of the less trustworthy/stable Darkling Lords off her list.  That just left Cindarr and Lexor.  The former had spoken about his life as a construction worker, the latter had lied about all manner of professions.  She could easily handle both of them.

As to this white robed figure, Virulina wondered how he had done it.  The three suns realigning had been the cause of the age of magic... so had he somehow averted it?  That would explain an eclipse later on.  These hundred people however were unexplained.  Virulina did what she could to dig up their identities.

If there was a pattern on why these people were all chosen, Virulina couldn't see it. Their occupations varied greatly from train conductor, policeman, painter to senator, celebrity, and historian. The age range also varied wildly, also including some individuals in their teens. Nevertheless, it was reported that all have managed to return safely despite the incident.

Regarding her allies, it looked like Cindarr was as expected a construction worker. For someone like Virulina, gathering information was easy as long as there were records of it available. It was also by good fortune that Cindarr could be found in the city, working on a construction project going on within the vicinity.

As for Lexor, it took a little digging around due to the lack of information, but Virulina's sense for news managed to lock on with some get-rich-quick scheme involving the shifty Darkling Lord.

Virulina did one more search... on the white robed figure.  Uncovering his identity would be handy, but there was a chance that footage might exist of his 'heroics' (taken by news crews or just bystanders).  Whatever footage she found was copied onto a recording/playing device.

"Cindarr, here I come."

Virulina then headed out of the station to go and find her old comrade.  She'd take another taxi.

There were several recordings gathered on the incident, but the best ones managed to get a good view from a distance away. It was hard to see the face and most features on the definitely white figure, and the only thing going was the object held by the robed one - a strange flute-like object with a spear tip on one end.

"Got an eye on some news?" the cabbie asked as he let Virulina in the cab, "Well better be careful when going out alone. Heard people were getting mugged these days going out by themselves."

The trip was uneventful, finally leading to the construction yard of a new project for a freeway out of the city. Things were going on full swing with the construction going underway.

Virulina wasn’t a naturally chatty type (being more premeditated), but if the cabbie knew something that could be important.

“That must be a drain on your business, who do you think is behind it?”

At the construction site, Virulina went looking for the foreman.  She expected some attention from the workers (especially as a celebrity) and had no hesitation on charming her way to success.  And she kept an eye out for her ‘big’ ex-comrade.

“Hello Foreman.  I was looking to talk with some of your workers.  Don’t worry, nobody is in trouble... but I think some of them might have some information I can use on a story.”
This message was last edited by the player at 10:59, Fri 25 May 2018.

"Don't take my word for it, but eyewitnesses claim seeing a monster where the mugging happened," the cabbie said as he drove Virulina to her destination, "The strange thing is that nothing was taken. Just the victims getting beat up pretty bad."

The cabbie talked about all other things, like how Leoric was doing quite a fine job in making the city a better place and how the new highway would help getting around outside the city much better. He bid Virulina good luck with her scoop before driving away once they got to the construction site.

"W-Why of course! Wasn't expecting anyone to come over for interviewing my men, but be sure to get a helmet on the way," the foreman replied, clearly surprised to see Virulina out here. Most of the workers paused to get a good look when she passed by, wondering about the reason she was here.

Monsters beating people up at random?  Virulina filed that away for later... when more clues revealed themselves.

Following her talk with the foreman, Viruline took a helmet, donned it, and then looked around for the heavy machinery that Cindarr claimed to have used.  She'd start her search there.  But to obfuscate 'who' she was seeking, Virulina picked a random worker first.

"You there, did you see an Eclipse recently?  Was there anyone around the area who seemed out of place?  How about this guy?"

She displayed a picture of the white robed man.

"Oh! You meant the White Hero? People just started calling him that because of how he looked from afar," the construction worker said as he stopped what he was doing and looked at the picture Virulina showed him, "Sorry, we were quite far from where he was when it happened, but he was able to stop whatever was about to cease our technology from functioning and it was definitely something!"

"Eclipse huh..." the man then said as he moved on to the next topic while another worker approached, "I think it happened within last year or something, It was pretty freaky - could've sworn there was something off with it."

"Yeah, like it was larger than how most eclispe would be and is all purply and such," the other work chimed in, as if trying to get Virulina's attention from the first worker, "Scientists have located the exact point where you can get the best view of that eclipse, but it was hard to get there because of how remote it was."

"Well, we haven't noticed anything out of place here so far, busy with work and all," the first worker shrugged while the second worker simply chuckled before adding, "I bet Cindarr would be of help - he tends to halt construction just to help out some helpless animal that ended up wandering in the site. It's a wonder we're still not behind schedule despite that."

"The gentle giant of the construction yard? Pfft...!" the first one tried to hold back a guffaw as he tried to look away when the second one brought up the topic regarding Cindarr.

White Hero... a fitting term.  These blue collar workers were proving very useful indeed.

"How remote are we talking about?  This Cindarr sounds like someone I should talk to, where can I find him?  Now I'm not promising any news coverage, but if this lead pans out... I'll send some station memorabilia out to the site."

Virulina thanked the men and headed off to go and find Cindarr.  When she found the ex-Darkling Lord, Virulina scrutinized his reaction upon their meeting.  Did he remember her, perhaps via some sort of déjà vu feeling?

"Hello, you must be Cindarr.  I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions..."

"Well, you'd have to use one of those military-grade aircraft to get there, the one that can take off and land without an airstrip?" the second worker said while making hand motions of an aircraft moving up and down before the first one chimed in, "Cindarr would be just over there, by the equipment. He actually takes good care of all things and ended up being the one making sure the equipment are in good condition."

The workers seemed to beam proudly at being able to help out, giving each other a high five as Virulina went to look for Cindarr. She would soon find him by the tool shed cleaning one of the power tools in his hands.

"Oh...! G-good day to you, ma'am!" Cindarr said, his eyes widening in surprise at being addressed to by none other than Virulina herself, "Anything! I'd be glad to help!"

"Have we met before?  You seem... familiar.  At any rate, what can you tell me about a white robed man... or some unusual weather?  Maybe you remember a Dark Storm?"

Virulina wanted to jog the giant's memory without being too open about it.  That way she could see if others might remember things, given some mental jogging.

"Umm... I guess people say a lot about me causing trouble around the construction yard..." Cindarr replied, looking embarrassed as his eyes wander to the tool he was cleaning, "But it wouldn't be nice to leave cute little animals wandering around. What would happen if one suddenly ended up in front of the crane?"

"Oh... That White Hero everyone was talking about?" Cindarr then asked before pausing to think about it, "I guess he's great for being able to stop whatever trouble that was about to happen then. But I feel he was very suspicious, like he just showed up out of nowhere to save us and then vanished without even people know who he is."

"Uh... Dark storm? No... the weather was really clear on that day," Cindarr added as he was visibly trying to recall the moment and not picking up on Virulina's cues, "It was summer. Nice weather outside aside from the weird thing of suns aligning like that."

Same old Cindarr it appeared...

"You've been very helpful Mr Cindarr.  In fact, can I have your contact number?  I don't want it known among the others, but cute little animals might feature in my investigations.  Knowing your stance, I'm sure you'd help me out... if a situation arose."

If there was one way to 'unleash' Cindarr on someone (or something), cute little animals was the best way.  Having some muscle on call would definitely be handy.  Now it was a matter of what to do next.  Track down Lexor or do something else?

"Do you know if there is a swimming pool around these parts, Cindarr?"

"Of course, ma'am. Let me share my contact information with you..." Cindarr looked please when Virulina mentioned she would get in touch with him on matters of animals, eagerly sharing his contact information with the reporter.

"Ummm... Swimming pool?" Cindarr then asked as he looked around, "I think there would be a lot back at the city... Not much people yet out here at the edge of the city."

Bidding a goodbye to her old (yet to be?) comrade, Virulina quizzed a few more workers just to keep up appearances.  Most likely she had all the information that the construction yard could offer.

Then she went to find a quiet body of water, away from prying eyes... in which to test her Shark totem.  Virulina wanted to know if her ability still worked.

Despite the absence of the wizard and others not possessing their totems, Virulina's test went without a hitch. In fact, it felt like it was even easier to accomplish than before. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to talk about it on the same page to figure out if it was just her imagination.

After her little dip and 'totem test', Virulina headed back to the city.  She wasn't sure what exactly to do next, but it made sense to do some actual work and prepare for today's/tonight's bulletin.  She could also look into the 'remote location' and possibly plan a trip there.