Attention, residents of Piville!

Meteorolists predict a heavy snow storm arriving at Piville within the next few hours.
While this storm is caused by cold arctic wind, it could predict an early winter coming in november already. All residents are requested to stay at home within the next few hours, public transit has been halted in expectation of the storm. Scientists have currently classified the snow storm as a C-2 on the Pivillean weather scale.

Thank you for your attention.

- Charles Xynth, leader of the Pivillean government​

 

And it will play a part in the story. :3

 

Dusk was nearing, the first few snowflakes began to fall down from the sky. Charles Xynth looked up, staring at the darkening clouds and then entered the passage leading to the ruins under Piville. His quest for the truth...he had to accelerate it. Not only his scouts had to search down there, he had to do it as well.

From the roof of a near building, Sergeant Quart looked down on him. Although he officially no longer was a Sergeant - or even a free person - he liked this title and kept calling himself Sergeant. Xynth thought that he had already fled from Piville. Oh, how horribly wrong he was. Originally he had planned to proceed with his alternate plan involving @Exilenela, but this snow storm was such a great opportunity. As he saw Xynth entering the secret passage, he began to climb down the building. Back in his days as a member of the Pivillean government, he had used his influence to equip some buildings with secret passages only he knew of. Those who had built them...weren't able to tell anybody about it anymore.

He quickly reached the entrance, using the increasing darkness to his advantage in order to hide from the guards. The snow storm would leave everybody busy controlling its effects, so it would offer a wonderful cover for a small murder. A very important one however. He tightened his grip around the weapon he had owned since he joined the Pivillean army back in the good old days. "It is time to put another victim on my list" he thought and entered the passage, his steps echoing into the dark corridor.

 

Attention, residents of Piville!

We need to inform you of multiple things. First, the storm was now classified as a lot more intense, a C-3 class would not suffice. The scientists have rated it D-1 on the Pivillean scale. One entrance to the underground market has been blocked by the snow and we are trying to keep the entrances of the buildings usable.

Another extremely important information: Charles Xynth, the leader of Piville, has been missing for multiple hours now. Nobody knows where he went to, but we have created a special team which investigates his case. Stay calm, we will find him again soon.

Thank you for your attention.
- The Pivillean government​

 

Charles Xynth's steps hollwed through the ruins. How could he just assume that Quart had escaped from Piville? He should have thought about the possibility of him still hiding, just as 314 had during the Pivillean war.

He heard Quart behind him in the complete darkness while he ran, he was coming closer. And then...he fired at him.
Luckily the darkness was not only a problem for Xynth, but for Quart as well. He missed him three times and then he continued to catch up with him.

Suddenly, somebody grabbed Xynth and dragged him into a small corridor. Quart arrived and continued to run in the direction he suspected Xynth in. "Silence!", the mysterious person whispered and led him into the more iluminated parts of the ruins. He was wearing a mask hiding his face, he had no idea who it might be. "It is good that I returned to Piville...time to get you out of here, Xynth." He could have sworn that his voice sounded familiar... "I have prepared a small explosive charge at the wall over there, a hole inside it will directly lead to the surface." he said and pressed a button on his remote.
The explosion could be heard in the whole ruins and in a certain radius in Piville, too. He told Xynth to get out of the ruins and inform the Piville Intelligence that Quart was still in the town. Xynth ran away and the mysterious person put down his mask.

"Now I am certain that it was good to return to Piville..." 314 said. Suddenly, he heard a clicking sound behind him. "...or wasn't it...?" he said as he turned around. Quart was aiming his revolver at him. "Oh, it was a brilliant idea to return. Xynth might have escaped, but I think you might be of even greater worth..."

314 noticed that Quart was standing on an antique symbol engraved in the ground. He had thoroughly studied the Piian symbol language, the pattern was a lever, but it had to be used with its counterpart. Without moving his head he scanned the floor around him. Yes, there it was. Only inches away from his foot. He quickly moved his foot on it, and almost instantly a heavy stone door closed between him and Quart. He could hear him curse on the other side and firing bullet after bullet into the heavy door. "I know him well enough to be aware of the fact that he always has lots of spare ammo with him.", 314 thought as he ran away. When he reached the hole in the wall the explosion had created, he heard the first bullet break through the door. "Time to hurry up", he thought and ran away into one of the many streets in the Berlin district.

314 entered his hideout in Piville, a secret control room under the PiIndustries headquarter. "Mission accomplished. Xynth has survived and has already ordered dozens of scouts and soldiers into the ruins. However, I am pretty certain that they won't find him. He is like a shadow...impossible to catch.", he said to himself as he activated the LCD screens on the wall, each one monitoring another part of Piville. He thought about whether he should reveal to Xynth that he was still alive. After all the main reason had been to prevent Quart from finding out, but this had already happened now...he picked up his phone and dialed the phone number of Xynth, bypassing the normal authorisation system.

 

314 looked down to the roads between the skyscrapers of the Berlin district. The roads and pavements had begun to fill with snow, the snow clearance was already in progress despite the bad weather. He tried to remember any stronger snow storm in Piville than this one, but none came to his mind. He looked up to the sky; the clouds were still becoming darker, even after already reaching a very dark grey. Within the last few hours much had changed in Piville. Much snow had fallen; in fact so much that it would take multiple days with clear sky to return Piville to a normal state of activity. And even more snow kept falling in even shorter intervals...

He focused on the reason why he had come to the roof of skyscraper 14 - the security camera. His surveillance network was able to monitor about 99.76% of Piville, but when a camera broke he still had to repair it by hand. For the fifth time within the last ten minutes he thought of the newest changes in Piville. The snow was a big change, but by far not the biggest.

The biggest change in the last hours had been that he had given up his presumed-dead-status, he had talked to Xynth. Now he was officially back in duty. He looked down from the roof once more - he would find Quart. He was a psychopath going haywire, causing chaos not only in Piville. He checked the control panel of the newly installed camera, nodded and left the roof via the staircase.

 

From the diary of 314
512 bit encryption - secure

Within the last few days of continuous snow fall, the mass of snow in Piville has increased dramatically. The average temperature is dropping fast. If Quart would cut off our supply routes for warming the houses of Piville, he would be able to make the town break under the snow completely. Since I have no idea of his current plans, I have - with permission of @Exilenela - delegated armed forces to guard the trucks bringing wood, coal, fuel and food into the town.
Meanwhile however, I am amazed of the size Quart's underground network has reached. Even weeks after opening it we still find new rooms every day, some made by him but many are still from the original Piian ruins. Today's findings however have shocked me.
Apparently Quart did not only store Pivillean weapons down there but also...created own ideas. We have found an enourmous tank in the ruins, much bigger than the pre-war Pivillean tanks. In the same ruins we have found its blueprints, the name reads "M902 Hydrictis", the tank we have found appears to be a prototype. For now we have brought it to the heavily guarded military area. I have requested @FiFyFoFumOtter, the head developer of arms, to disassemble the tank in order to find any signs of a possible third party involved. Quart was never somebody to design weapons, he loved the knowledge on how to use them a lot more.

I am heavily worried about a possible third party - Quart is already extremely dangerous himself.

 

-From the diary of 314-
512 bit encryption
Status: Secure.

Problems over problems...a blizzard that is still damaging the town and riots on the streets which damage Piville even more. I suspect at least some of the violent street fighters to be paid by Quart...he is trying to destabilize the government. And he might have already succeeded with a part of it...

I found the message by accident while checking all message logs in Piville from the last few weeks. Quart sent a message to @Exilenela, trying to convince him of Xynth’s “Intrigues” about the energy crystal. I have told @Exilenela about the crystal myself and about the fact that we need to secure it. The big problem - he never mentioned the message from Quart. But why? What is he up to - does he seriously believe what Quart wrote? If that is the case, he might be interested in getting rid of Xynth, too. However, I don’t think he would directly intervene - I suppose he would just wait until Quart’s attacks prove to be successful.

A long time ago I vowed that I would do anything possible to save Piville. I was not able to do it during the war, but after it Xynth had changed for the better and by now I think that he is trying to give his best, too. However, Quart will ruin Piville. I guess the proud town wouldn’t even continue to exist for half a year if he took over.

The only good thing about the current situation: The Piville weather service expects the storm to stop within the next few days. 162 casualties - how many will we have reached by the end of it…?