Furrae Chronicles: Webs of Destiny (IC) [M] {2}

[Tapewolf]

"That's odd," said Jakob as he heard the sound of an internal combustion engine.  "That sounds like military technology to me.  It's an Earth import." his voice trailed away as he remembered something from his brief stopover at SAIA and suddenly realised who the culprit would be.

"Oh gods.  Arcalane...?" he looked around, but the Oracle was long gone.

"You said 'ally'!" he yelled furiously.  "A-L-L-Y!  Someone who is out to collect a bounty on my head does not spell 'ally' to me!"
He stormed out of the room, but the Oracles had done a fine job of making themselves scarce so with a supreme effort of will he forced himself to calm down and joined the others.

"I suppose we need all the help we can get," he muttered darkly.  "but I don't trust him."

Disguise, he thought.  He'll know anyway but if we're going to a city I'll attract less attention as a Being.

His headwings and backwings vanished, but he kept the trenchcoat.  Zipping up the hole it had for his backwings, he cast a charm on it and the zip disappeared from view.  Fishing in the pocket he drew out a pair of rose-tinted spectacles and lengthened his hair.
Now he looked exactly like he had in the happy days before Azrael's murder, and the warmth of the memory brought a smile to his face.

[Aisha deCabre]

On the way to the door, the rumbling sounds grew louder, and Aisha grew more curious.  Her ears flattened to her skull upon hearing Jakob's outbursts and glanced back at him with incredulity.  "Arcalane?"  She had remembered the name of the one who was after Jakob...and who wasn't exactly on good terms with the rest of the group either.  The panthress was just as skeptical as he was.  It'll take a while to get used to the idea.  A bounty hunter on the opposing side.  Why would he help us?

Still, if the Oracle insisted that he was their ally, Aisha was not one to be irrational.  She shook her head slightly.  "It's a chance worth taking," she muttered.

Lengthening her stride through the corridors, soon they came upon sight of the front door once again, looming and drenched in nightly shadows.  Making sure that everyone was there, she helped to push them open into the sight of the barren and mountainous path down.  Aisha could see the gates further across, as well as the figure and car perched outside of them, even just barely.

Hrm.  Right in the open, anyway.  She glanced back to the others, and with slight amusement at the appearance change of the wolf incubus.  "Volunteers on a greeting, then?  Or am I to do the talking?"  It didn't matter to Aisha...all that mattered was finding their comrade again.

[Gareeku]

As the guard spoke, the set of doors opened, revealing a large room, much like one would imagine a throne room to be in a way. At the other end of the room was a figure, standing with their back facing the entering party, looking out through the large set of windows in the wall.
"So you managed to capture him. Congratulations." the voice of a young man stated in a calm manner. Turning around and approaching Gareeku and the two felines, it became apparent that the figure was a male gray-furred ram demon, his arm folded behind his back under the pair of large black bat-like wings protruding from his shoulder blades.

"I guess payment is in order, then." the demon continued in the same calm voice, nodding at the guard at the doors, who in turn disappeared from view.
"I trust you did not too much difficultly in capturing the wolf?" the demon asked. "I would expect nothing less from someone as...dark...as yourself..."
As the demon finished talking, the guard returned with a briefcase full of cash, handing it to Ignatz before returning to stand by the doors.
"There. You have your reward, now I kindly ask you to leave. I have business to attend to." the demon stated. "It was nice doing business with you."
As he finished talking, the guard approached the two felines and escorted them out of the room, the large set of doors closing behind them.

Turning to the shackled wolf, the ram could not help but smirk.
"Who would have thought...the great adventurer Gareeku Manoko...chained up like the dog he is..." the demon sneered, causing Gareeku to growl angrily. If he was to do anything, however, two guards had now entered from another door in the door, fasting a crude sort of leash around the wolf's neck and fully prepared to restrain him if he tried anything.
"Take him away." the demon ordered, and with that, the guards swiftly escorted Gareeku out of the room.

Turning to look out of the windows once again, the demon did not move for a few minutes, before snapping his fingers. As he did so, a group of 4 figures, each draped in black clothing and hoods, seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"The bounty hunters..." the demon murmured. "Kill them, and bring the money back while you're at it."

[Stygian]

That one was a rather uncomfortable one, Ignatz thought. But then, that was the disadvantage of doing lowly work like this for a change; no one cared for a bounty hunter, so long as he got the job done, and it worked both ways. A better day that bloody ram would have thought twice and again about sending him off. Still, he was loaded now. A pity that he hadn't gotten what he really wanted.
   The feline eyed his 'sister'. She seemed none too happy about leaving this way either. As they walked back to the entrance, he looked to the ground and remained silent for a while, the briefcase heavy in his hand.
   "Well, we'll have to exchange these later. For now..." he said, opening the case just a bit and taking out a pair of thick bundles of bills. One he handed to Mel, and the other he pocketed in his coat. "I vote for taking a bath and thinking a bit. Then I'll see if I can get a room and take off somewhere. You mentioned Zinvth earlier, but I'm not so sure..."
   The two of them were finally escorted out the front entrance and out on the stairs. Ignatz lazily strolled down them, then looked back at Mel. Despite himself, he was a little worried about her mood. She smelt both unsettled and worried.
   "Well, ehm..." he said, looking at her. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you. Since we couldn't get any more information, I'm going to start looking around. So I guess this is where we split up..." he said, feeling a bit bad about just leaving her there. He might have been a callous bastard when it came to the wolf, but he was a target and she was a person. To him, there was a clear difference. "Wish I could give you my number," he joked.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked back at the mansion behind her. The wolf may have been just another creature killer but she didn't think he could have done anything to deserve the bad feelings she got from that demon. Then her ears caught up with her brain and she realized what Ignatz was saying. "Yeah, time for me to get back home and see what they've been up to back there. But first I think I'll check out the gem district, they're supposed to have a good one here." She laughed at his comment about exchanging numbers. "A little difficult." She looked at him for a long moment, debating, then fished something from a pocket. It seemed only fair, she had seen his true nature back when he had captured the wolf. "It's been entertaining. Maybe we'll cross paths again some time." She handed him the small item, a coin-like piece of crystal with the Icewing crest frosted onto it, then disappeared down the street before he'd have time to register what it meant.

[Stygian]

Ignatz studied the coin, or whatever it was. It certainly was a nice piece, but he wasn't the one interested in shiny things. He was just about to ask Mel just what it was, when he looked up and noticed her being gone already. Not even her scent lingered, and there were just enough people in the street to make a crowd. He could have tried going after her, of course, but he probably wouldn't find her before nightfall. And what was the point?
   "Heh. Just my luck..." he said jadedly, then flipped the coin in the air and caught it, pocketing it. He would find out more later...
   Walking off in the opposite direction, Ignatz then spent his money preparing for travel. New clothes, some boat tickets, a bit of ammunition and gear, a few miscellaneous things, getting some money exchanged... That bundle of cash was shaved a bit, but not too much. The rest he would save, along with what he didn't send to Mel, once he got ahold of her again.
   It took some time, and after a while it was beginning to get late. He found a nice inn on the outskirts of the town, right next to a public hot spring bathhouse. They seemed to have a lot of those around. With so little to carry, he stashed the briefcase in a locker after putting a small spell on it, and then walked into the changing room. He slipped off his clothes, throwing the shirt and pants in a bag he had picked up and getting out his new set. Once he was done there, he'd put on a new face, new clothes, get out of there, and then resume the search...
   The bath was a pretty large place, and empty. A wooden walkway surrounded the hotspring that ran up from the rock, looking the traditional japanese onsen. Nice, reddish brown hardwood, grey rock, some hanging plants and trees and steam thrown on it all. The place breathed calm, and so did Ignatz as he walked down and slipped into the warm water, murring a bit.
   He settled and sat there for a while, thinking back at all the things that had been going on. The wolf and his companions, working alone again, that irritating demon and the coin. It was settled now, he thought. Yet somehow he couldn't make himself feel as if it was all finished. He got that feeling quite often, and he didn't like it. Still, there was little to do. Maybe he'd mess with that demon some more in the future, just to make him pay for being a jerk. And he was going to find out what that coin meant.
   He slid deeper into the water, and closed his eyes, pondering.

[Gareeku]

Silently they crept, climbing along the walls and floor much like insects would, the claws on the shadowed figures' hands and feet digging into the stone to provide grip. Dressed in tight-fitting black clothing from head to toe, save for the cloth draped around their head like hoods, shadowing their faces as they silently followed Ignatz and Mel; three following the male feline while the fourth went after the female feline.

As Ignatz relaxed in the baths, the figures crept in, silent and agile as they scaled the walls, watching the feline submerge himself in the water. As Ignatz slid deeper into the water, the figures took the opportunity, ice magic quickly forming in their hands before two fired bolts at the water, the third firing a bolt at Ignatz himself. If the bolts of ice magic were to hit the water, then the whole of the liquid would freeze up...

As Mel walked down the streets, the shadowy figure continued to follow here, using it's agility to effect as it crept along the roofs of the buildings, watching the feline's every move before landing in an alleyway, waiting for Mel to walk past...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel checked to make sure her belt pouch was securely fastened as she exited the storefront and made her way down the street. The gem merchants here were almost good enough to make her forgive the city it's horrid hot steamy temperatures. She had picked up several items she needed for some unfinished projects, a few more that would inspire new items, and even some junk gems for a snack. One more merchant to check out then she'd find herself dinner and a room for the night. Tomorrow she'd make her way home. Mel pondered the events of the last three months as she walked.

[Gareeku]

Still silent, the hooded figure hid in the shadows of the alleyway when the female feline passed. Just as they had assumed, Mel had not noticed their presence. Taking the opportunity, the figure quickly summoned dark magic, manipulating it so that it took the form of tendril-like whisps of energy. Sending them out, the figure manipulated the magic to quickly wrap around the feline, holding her arms to her sides tight as another tendril quickly wrapped around Mel's mouth to prevent her from crying out as the hooded figure used the magic to pull her into the alleyway they were in. The attack was extremely swift, so much so that no one in the street would notice until they were purposefully looking out for it. The figure assumed in their mind that this would be a quick and easy job. After all, the feline was only a mere bounty hunter...wasn't she?

[Stygian]

Ignatz barely had any warning to the attack whatsoever, save his gut feeling and sense of magic. But he was trained, and generally not a man easily surprised.
   That's odd, he thought, looking up a bit from his steamy bath. Someone sure does know what they're doing. Are the...
   He didn't have time to think further than that before ice magic snapped out, its familiar tingling, burning cold clear in his head and its workings laid bare as soon as he managed to perceive it. Ice bolts. Three of them. Narrus method. Specific energy transmission is...
   Water was not the best element to be caught in. And certainly not to be frozen in. He didn't have time for fancy counterspells, so he simply stretched out and tore the magic asunder, quickly and abruptly. Bolts and surges of magic reduced to its rawest forms tore through the air as the ice spells were shredded.
   Once the magic was taken care of, it was a matter of getting out of the water and up as fast as he could. Fortunately, Ignatz was quite a few times stronger than he looked, and so that was less of a broblem than it might have been. Once he managed to get to the side and brace, he somersaulted out with a splash and a toss of wet fur, and landed hard on the walkway. He tossed his towel and dashed for his belongings. He hadn't heard or felt them move around them, which was fortunate...

[Tapewolf]

"I'll go," said Jakob, removing the spectacles and heading off.  "If he's going to try anything funny, I want to meet it head-on.  But hopefully we can come to some kind of agreement, at least until we have Gareeku back."

So saying, he made his way to the front entrance, following the sound of the engine.  Projectile shield at the ready, he walked casually down to where the armoured car stood waiting.  As he strolled, he found he was whistling an old song by Iron Butterfly.  He gave a small grunt of amusement when he remembered it was called "Termination".

[Gareeku]

"I think we'd better follow him." Blaze muttered to the others as Jakob made his way down to the vechile, a slight smirk on his face. "I wouldn't like to leave those two alone for too long."
After he finished speaking, the squirrel incubus made his way to the car, followed by Gabi and James.
___________________________________

As soon as Ignatz moved, so did the hooded assassins, following his every move as they scaled the walls with as much speed and agility as spiders would possess. They moved around continually, all of them oving in different directions to make them harder targets to strike, launching bolts of ice and lightning magic as their exposed claws sharpened, becoming razor-like in sharpness as they did so.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel struggled against the bonds and started freezing the humid air. For once the thick heavy air was a bonus, quickly glazing everything in the alley.  Not that she was really worried yet, but wiggling and a magic attack distracted her assailant against her primary counter-attack on his mind. His mental shields were good ones, but she had been doing this for a very long time and knew where all the weak points were. She began systematically testing them.

[Stygian]

It was either demons or angels to move with that speed, Ignatz thought. A cubi would be very lucky to attain that kind of mobility, even with training, and they mostly stuck to their fancy magical abilities instead. All things considered, demons were the safest bet. Not that it mattered much. They seemed to have a favorism for ice magic though, something that he might perhaps use. If, indeed, he needed to. However it did not seem much like that, as while his assailants kept showering him with icy bolts, they seemed to strike some sort of invisible sphere around him now that flared up in small bursts of dark flames and consumed the magic as it hit. Now, he did not need to rip up their magic piece by piece.
   As soon as he reached his bag and pulled out his holsters, he knew the fight was won. The foolish spiderlings or whatever they were had not bothered robbing him of his arms. That would prove a poor decision on their part. He snapped out the first nine-inch barrelled revolver while spinning and slapping in the cylinder of the other and expertly trained it with time- and talent-honed precision at one of his attackers. And then fired.
   A normal bullet out of a regular handgun leaves the barrel at just a bit above the speed of sound. That translates to around 380 metres per second, and not a tremendous amount of force delivered; it is, essentially, the bullet burying itself in a body that is dangerous with such a hit. And it can easily be stopped with some protective medium, like an armored vest. However, the bullet out of Ignatz's gun was no handgun bullet. It was rifle ammunition, in a long and rimmed barrel-sling action mechanism, and it screamed past the roaring braked muzzle of the gun at a good three times the speed of a normal bullet, much too fast for even an angel to react. And caliber and the bullet being a hollowpoint considered, that was enough to rip through a body like nobody's business, cavitating and ripping up a whole lot of tissue as it did. And once he had fired, Ignatz aimed and fired again. And again. And then, when he had loosened his first seven shots, he went with his left instead, with a gun whose bullets were now prepared against anti-projectile magic.
   The feline dashed against his assailants, still snapping off bullets at a good pace and preparing to get close and personal, should it be needed. They weren't the only ones with claws, and he doubted they were as strong as he.

[Arcalane]

Finishing off the last of his hasty meal, Arc pondered for a minute, watching as Jakob came down the stairs towards the vehicle, idly toying with his sword and making sure it was still sharp.

"So... we meet again, eh?" he chuckled "You look worried, almost. What's the matter? Stress getting to you?" an almost cheerful if somewhat overly sharp-teeth-filled grin spread across his face "If I was making an effort you'd be dead already, so don't worry."

[Gareeku]

As the shots were fired out, one of the assassins was hit in the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as a patch of blood appeared over the wound. Another was hit in the leg, causing the hooded figure to fall to the floor. Rather that nurse their wounds, however, the hooded assassins continued their attacks, the one who hadn't been shot diving in towards Ignatz, its claws bared for a strike as the other two fired off another round of ice and lightning magic.
__________________

As the air began to freeze, the hooded figure looked around. It seemed the distraction was however. It was then, however, that the assassin could feel an intrusion within their mind. Assuming it to be the feline, the assassin raised it's razor sharp claws, ready to bring them down in a powerful stroke...

[Stygian]

Ignatz almost spun his right gun as if to sling it back into his belt before he remembered he was naked. Instead, he threw it to the walkway, and whipped out a hand. The assassin flew at him, but was stopped and slung around by the neck, his own movement turned against him as he was gripped hard by the big cat's hand and arm and held fast. While his claws dug into Ignatz's hardening skin, the feline wasted no time in putting his gun to the back of the assassin's head, and pulling the trigger, painting the walkway bright red. The black-hooded figure dropped listlessly to the wood deck as the cat moved on.
   Following were a series of leaping moves. Almost out, Ignatz went for the kill, feinting and dodging to the sides around the lightning coming at him. He took a few steps up the wall of the house, claws digging into laquered wood and splintering it, before he landed between the assassins. By the time he planted his padded feet on the red wood his free right hand was already around and in the first one's throat, warm wetness trickling over his fingers, and his left one was holding his gun against the head of the last assassin.
   A quick moment's consideration, while everything was still. Would he need one alive? Were there any doubts to where they came from? What should he do?
   Fuck them, he thought.
   The shadowy figure could see the last bullet gleaming in the seven-chambered cylinder. It spun up as the feline's clawed thumb cocked the hammer.
   "Not your lucky seven," Ignatz grinned. And then, click.

   When the hooded trio was dealt with, Ignatz didn't even bother throwing a towel back on. He just collected his things, tossed his prepared clothes back in the bag, and then nabbed the first other thing he could before changing and heading out. Soon, a giraffe female, a foot taller than the cat had been, dressed in a businesslike outfit and carrying a black bag was heading down the road, seemingly looking a bit distraught. She slipped a sort of gleaming coin-like thing into her pocket, and turned, starting to head in one direction with a purposeful determination that belied her expression.
   If they are going after me, they're going for her too. That demon's going to pay...

[Tapewolf]

Jakob replied to Arc with his infamous twisted smile.  "At least I won't have to hide anymore.  And do you really think that death would stop me?"  There were rumours that the spells used to raise the undead were available in amulet form to prevent the wearer dying.

"If I were that scared, I'd have your soul out by now.  I know how to do that from a distance.  Anyway, threats aren't going to help either of us," he added, dropping the smile and looking rather tired.  He spoke frankly.  "I don't know what you're here for, or whether you care but Gareeku has been kidnapped and we could do with some help rescuing him."

He gave a faint grin.  "The Oracles prophesied that you would."

[Arcalane]

He chuckles. "Did they now? Well then, I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Arc wiped the grin off his face as he jumped up on top of the vehicle and sat on the roof, looking down at Jakob. "Back at that inn, I agreed to help. Whilst I'm sure none of you trust me, I'm going to stick by that as best I can." He smirks. "I may not have given my full word, but that won't stop me from playing the game a little longer."

He ponders, flipping idly through his memory (any attempts at mindreading would be presented with a large, locked filing cabinet and little else) and trying to think where the kidnappers might have taken Gareeku. "Kidnapped, you say? Well, that's an interesting turn of events I must say. Any idea where he's been taken?"

[Tapewolf]

"Some nearby town called 'Pathrim', I think." Jakob replied.  "I believe Ephrael said she comes from there, so she's probably the best person to talk to in terms of route-planning.  Hold on a moment... I'll see where she is."

Jakob was too paranoid to turn his back on Arc, but he would have to do this to fetch Eph.  As a compromise, a single wing-tentacle head reared up out of his collar like some impossible lupine serpent.  It blinked and grinned foolishly at the feline.

As it happened, the others had almost reached the car anyway, but in any case, Jakob had left his backpack by the door of the temple so he went to fetch it, speaking to the Tasmanian devil as he passed her.

"Arc doesn't seem to be hostile, at least not at the moment.  You seem to know Pathrim more than the rest of us - could you give him directions?  I'll be back in a moment".

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Sure I guess....Is that Arc down there with the....Jeep?" Ephrael was a bit nervous, as she had not met the large feline but hard heard bit and pieces from the others.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel knew the claws were coming down at her, but the assassin reacted too late, she was in. She grabbed hold of the motor control section of his mind and he simply stopped, his body no longer under his control. Next she gained control of the parts having to do with magic and freed herself. She carefully smoothed her jacket back down as she turned to face her assailant, dropping the illusion that she was feline as did. It was a white dragon who looked upon the black-dressed demon. "Now that wasn't very nice." She looked him up and down. "You don't exactly look like a street thief. Let's take a rummage around your mind and see what you thought you were up to."

Mel didn't bother checking the demon's thoughts, she could tell by the look in his eyes pretty much what he was thinking. She went straight to memory, scanning the last few hours until she found the ram giving the assassination orders. "Foolish behavior, but quite typical of you demons really." She checked the time. "I've really spent too much time playing with you. Ignatz should be done with your friends by now and on his way to your boss's mansion. Unfortunately that means your time is up."

A moment later a street urchin slinked out of the alley. A little chipmunk, the grubby sort one would expect to see slinking around alleys, who headed in a winding route back towards a rented mansion in the older part of the city. And in the alley was a man who had somehow managed to freeze to death in hot, steamy Pathrim.

[Stygian]

The sky was beginning to color amber over a few clouds, and the guards at the mansion stood still on their posts, watching out. The alley behind the place had only a kitchen and cellar entry, and both were locked from the inside and watched by a pair of guards as well. The rest of the foundation was windowless and solid stone.
   It was not going to be a problem getting in though, the giraffe thought as she walked past the place, looking casual. The right time, the right approach... She needed only dispose of that damnable demon, really, but for this offense she thought he needed to suffer just a little bit too. And, of course, have his work ruined for him.
   Now, it was just about finding where to get in. Mel might not be the vengeful type, so she might or might not head back to the place. It didn't really matter. The giraffe just hoped that she hadn't had to deal with more trouble than 'herself'. Not that it would be logical that she did, but still.
   She rounded the corner, and walked into the alleyway. And immediately the guards took notice.
   "Hey! This place is off limits. You're not allowed here!" one barked at her as she came closer. He was a lion, big and roughly muscled, and despite her long neck he didn't have to look far up at her as he turned on her. Judging from looks, he could have picked up her and another person like her and put them both under his arm. But still she walked against him with a self-assured smile.
   "Sorry," she called back to him, pacing steadily. "I'm looking for it." She smirked as she stepped up right in front of him, and he gave her a suspicious look.
   "What? Miss, you're going to have to leave. I can't help you find..." he said, putting on a hard face. Her smirk just deepened into a grin.
   "...what you fell for," she said. He blinked. And then she grabbed him by the neck with unexpected strength and kissed him. The other guard, a wolf, dropped his jaw and stepped up around them. And then his face froze as he watched the lion's reaction. The cat's eyes were wide open and panicked, and his whole body seemed to be cramping. The giraffe just let him go, leaving him standing stiff and trembling, and then she was over the wolf before he had even drawn his sword halfway, her hand around his throat and her other one forming claws. She chuckled.

   A minute or so later, the cellar door closed with a muffled sound, and then the lock clacked into place. The two guards were back to their posts, seemingly standing on attention. From a distance they looked normal, yet closer up one could see that they were too still to be normal. One of them, the wolf, had his head slightly turned so one couldn't see the left part of his face. And the other, the lion, was staring glazedly right forward, his mouth just a bit open and a small trickle of blood running from the corner of it.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The grimy little chipmunk child sat on the alley wall, watching. These back guards weren't right. They should have shouted at her when she noisily climbed the tree, sending her on her way, as the guards in the front had when she had tested them. Her climbing down onto the wall hadn't so much as made them look. Either the ram had hired the blind, deaf, and stupid for guards or someone in a bad mood had arrived ahead of her. Cautiously she made her way down the wall and across the narrow alley, expecting a trap at any moment. But when she got up to the guards she confirmed that someone in a bad mood had indeed been here already. She took the key off the lion's belt and unlocked the door. As she slid inside she hoped Ignatz wasn't in such a foul mood that she wouldn't have time to identify herself.

[Stygian]

The chipmunk only had time to go through one storeroom before she came upon another one leading to the main corridor of the basement section, where another guard was posted. That wasn't strange though. Strange was that the guard was slung over the shoulders of a giraffe who was walking against a vaulted doorway. She stopped and looked up at the little squirrel as she entered, and then made a grimace. Instantly, though strangely she almost didn't feel it, Mel perceived some sort of dark magic beginning to form, the room darkening for a second.
   Then, before anything could happen, the darkness receded and the giraffe's face eased.
   "Oh. It's you," she said, sniffing the air just a bit, and then grinned. "Right on time, as usual. Let me just get rid of this meat and we can get going," she almost murmured and walked through the door, throwing the raccoon like a sack of potatoes into a bunch of sacks that probably did hold potatoes in the food cellar beyond, and threw a cover of rough cloth laying there over him.
   "No problems getting here?" she asked her as she walked back in and looked her over. The giraffe was changing back into Ignatz as she spoke.

[Tapewolf]

"Yeah," said Jakob to Ephrael in a soft voice.  "That's him.  He shot Gareeku and would like to claim a bounty on my head, but I believe we have some kind of truce, at least for the time being.  Besides, I don't believe he'd be foolish enough to try anything silly when we outnumber him so greatly.  Anyway, see if you can't work out the best route between you.  I'll back in a sec."  So saying, Jakob moved off to retrieve his pack.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha nodded as Jakob volunteered to confront Arcalane, following alongside the group with her arms crossed.  Her only thoughts now that things were moving along was just to hope that the Oracle was right.  She had spoken of finding Gareeku.

But while listening to the conversation going on, a few possibilities had shown themselves.  She said that they would find him.  She said nothing about finding him alive... but then, would the phoenix have bothered if that was the case?  And what about after the wolf was recovered?  What would happen then, between the bounty hunter and especially those he targeted?

The panthress figured after the commotion that bridge would be crossed when it would be crossed.  The night sky had started faintly brightening in the east...and the upcoming day could only get a lot more hectic.  For now she would keep an eye on the situation.  Aisha would keep true to her word.  No matter what.

[Gareeku]

Deciding to climb inside the car, the group waited for Jakob to return with his things, the wolf incubus joining them inside the vechile a minute later. Seeing that everyone was in, Arc fired up the engines and put the car into the gear. A minute later they were off, headed towards Pathrim, which was a good 40 miles away. For the first part of the journey, the trip was through the dense forest that surrounded the area that the phoenix temple was located. While the forest was quite dense, the group had surprisingly little difficulty in making their way through it.

After a while of travelling, it could be seen that the landscape was changing. Gradually the forestry was beginning to disappear, instead being replaced by a more barren, volcanic landscape; from this, the group knew they were headed in the right direction, as the city of Pathrim was located right beside a volcano on the coast.
A little while later, the city of Pathrim came into view as the car the group was in came over another hill. From where they were on the hill the group in the car could see for a fair distance around, and it was quite the scenic view to boot. However, they knew that this was no time to be sight seeing, and though the vechile moved on towards the city.

As they drove through the streets, the group got many an odd look, largely thanks to the size of the car they were in; a vechile like the one taking the group through the streets was virtually unheard of, so to see a vechile such as Arc's was a sight indeed. Deciding that looking around on foot was a better idea than driving around in a large car and attracting possibly more unwanted attention than normal, the members of the group climbed out and began their search, making their way through the many streets of the city, asking members of the public if they had seen anyone resembling Gareeku. Most didn't know what they were talking about, but there were a few who had seen a wolf matching Gareeku's description, giving the group hope knowning that he was somewhere in the city.

For a while they searched, and gradually that hope was starting to falter. By now the sun was low in the sky; a telling sign that night was on its way. However, whether it was a stroke of luck or not remained to be seen, but they happened to stop outside one particularly large mansion. Feeling that he should ask the guards standing at the mansion's doors about Gareeku, Blaze walked up to them.
"Hi there. Um, have you seen a white wolf with spiky-ish hair arou-" the squirrel incubus began to ask, only to be ushered away. Raising his eyebrow in thought at how odd the guards reacted, Blaze was about to go back to talk to the others when he thought of something. "I think we should check this place out. There's something funny going on, I think."

Making it look like they were walking away, the group then sneaked down an alleyway, making their way around to the alleyway that ran down the side of the house, only to find there was another set of guards standing there. However, he then noticed that the guards he was looking at were not only not taking any notice of the group that had just appeared before them; they were dead. "Guys, I think we better take a look inside..."

[Tapewolf]

"Murder," said Jakob, staring at the corpses in disgust, the bitterness in his voice contrasting sharply with his peacenik appearance.
"I would say that some amateur has been attempting ingress to the manor.  A pro would either avoid detection altogether or erase the event from their memories.  Killing is for incompetents and actually leaving your victims for all to see is asking for trouble."

Either that, or they were sick enough to -want- people to see the bodies... he added mentally.

"May your journeys end in light," he said softly, making the sign of Christ the Human.

[Sunblink]

As the group made it down towards the car, Keaton randomly located a comfortable-looking seat within its foundations and pushed herself against it, looking, partially fascinated, partially unnerved, around the interior of the vehicle. While Keaton was no stranger to technology, she hadn't expected for a vessel like this to arrive--although the Oracle had clearly mentioned something about an ally joining them. Then again, Keaton rarely heard of an instance when an Oracle's predictions were accurate, since so many of their visitors became exasperated with their ambiguous messages.

Keaton spent a great deal of the car ride in silence, watching the scenery fly by as she played a mental game of I Spy with herself (most of it was hardly entertaining, however, since she definitely wasn't going to humiliate herself by asking someone), and walking out of the car with a languid stretch. As they walked around the town, Blaze conversed with the residents, probing them about the location of their missing lupine companion. Keaton merely contributed by toying with the marble in her pocket, keeping an eagle's eye out from over her self-amusement.

Then Blaze urgently had the group pretend to move away, guiding them around an alley where another set of guards were protecting the area. Blinking, Keaton narrowed her eyes. Something wasn't right here. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could definitely smell something that she had clearly sensed before, and had even created countless times in the past.

She realized it around the same time everyone else did: the guards were dead.

Keaton frowned, watching Jakob's almost pious reaction somewhere beside her. She muffled a derisive snort and continued to inspect the bodies from where she stood, perhaps to determine the cause of death, a desensitized, almost frighteningly numb look on her face. Could it be that whoever kidnapped Gareeku had been here before and were behind such an atrocity?

Well that just made things ten times more interesting.

~Keaton the Black Jackal