The City (IC) [M]

[Stygian]

The rat merely laughed at Mykst's reaction, and went on smiling as she turned to Payden next, as the objects spun seamlessly between her hands. And then the man said something very thoughtless, and her smile evaporated like water beads on a hot plate, leaving an impassive expression of nothing. Slowly, with dull routine, she caught the knives one by one, wedging them between one hand's fingers, and then stopped the orange and the beer can in the other. She slipped the little metal slivers somewhere in her jacket, the things vanishing with barely a clink.
  'Jester,' she said, rather quietly, but with a sharpness of tone that suggested Payden had just committed some not illegal yet still terminal offense. 'I'm a Jester,' she repeated, with sharper intonation. 'We entertain, annoy, pose and riddle. We have a level of sophistication to what we do. Clowns are just buffoons in red noses and oversized shoes.'
  The rat's hard look lasted for only a couple of moments. Then, she waggled her eyebrows, and turned around with a jingle, taking a couple of steps past Andrace and Sister Alex as she busily stuffed the orange into a pocket and began groping for her sandwich, cracking open the top of the beer can with a thumb. Then, suddenly, she stopped, and snapped her finger, exaggeratedly making a show of just having remembered something.
  'Oh, damn. Almost forgot,' she said, and turned back with a devious smile. 'Mr. Velasquez... Would you check your right jacket pocket for me, please?'

[Tipod]

You sure got the "annoy" part down pat. ...though, she had just dropped something in his pocket without him noticing. He could feel it, spherical and about the size of a fist. Holy shit what did she just stick in my-- His mind raced, hand fishing around to produce--

An apple. A totally harmless piece of fruit. ...oh for the love of-- The sheriff sneered at Jess, as if he was about to pitch the thing straight at her head. "Are you quite done screwing around? We're not at the frigging county fair, for God's sake."

[Stygian]

Grinning, the rat nodded at Payden's comment, raising the can to her lips. So he wasn't that thoughtful. Anyone else would have at least been a little cautious about someone who could manage to slip a whole apple into their pocket while juggling at the same time.
  'Alright then,' she said, making a lazy gesture. And then, suddenly, her hand was a blur. Something shot out of her palm at eye-evading speed, trailing silver. Payden's hand shuddered, as a short blade wedged itself straight into the apple in his hand, very nearly punching through it and into his palm but not quite. With a whiplash tug on the thin chain connecting the barbed blade with her sleeve, she snatched the apple from him, loosening the blade from the fruit itself, which spun up into the air and against her in a shallow arc. By the time she caught it, the chain whip had already vanished back up along her arm with a flourish. She took another calm sip.
  'Point taken,' Jess offered. 'I'll try something a little more complex next time then?'

[Noone]

Kyirri kept his eyes on Payden, watching for any sudden hostile moves. He watched the exchange between Jess and Payden. He examined Jess more closely, trying to gauge her intent, and whether she could be trusted. I don't think she can be... but I suppose I should at least give her the benefit of the doubt. She looks to be poking fun at Payden, not that I really mind. Still, I hope she's can behave responsibly if faced with live danger. Kyirri turned back to Payden, observing closely.

Kyirri noted his irritation at Jess, and that he seemed to be ignoring him. Interrupting their exchange, he spoke up again, staring straight at Payden. "On a more pressing matter, how do we know that you're not going to shoot us in the back, if you come with us." Kyirri kept his facial expression in his ever blank stare. He helped in nearly getting me killed. I'd not like the chance that it will happen again.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace watched impassively as Jess did her little trick with the apple, with Payden's not-so-glamorous assistance. She changed her opinion of the rat, nudging her "dangerous" score up a few points, and shifting her "weird" score to also straddle the "bat-guano-nuts" column. If she did anything like that in the city, the lioness decided, she'd be out of the group like a shot. Possibly after being shot, if she hurt anyone or tried a stunt like that on Andrace herself. I coulda done that knife throw, maybe, she thought. Mum coulda done it, b'fore her arm got messed up. That rat's good.

Her ears dipped for a moment as she listened to Kyirri. What was he trying to do, break up the group before they even got into the city? As a distraction, she thumped her tail loudly against the wall to catch everyone's attention. "Okay, are we all ready t' go?" she said, rubbing her hands together briskly and cracking her knuckles. "No-one else needin' a quick snack, or a visit t' th' little critter's room?" Through heroic effort, there was only a slight sarcastic tone in her voice, and no hint of an unspoken "at &%@# last!" at the end of her statement.

[techmaster-glitch]

[OOC: very very tiny auto here (taking spotted's post as a cue)--I don't want the whole group to be auto'd directly to the City by boog or anyone else before I get a chance to do this. I hope no one minds, but if you do, just say so in the OOC thread]

  Traxen didn't get an answer back to his offer to Payden, instead getting some sarcastic comment about a county fair towards whoever was bothering him in the bar, almost certainly that "unbalanced woman" he referenced.
  And at last, the doors of the in opened up, and people finally began filing outside, with the large lioness (swordswoman?) coming first. Traxen moved his van a bit closer to the entrance, then toggled over the the van's external speakers.
  "To the people preparing to enter the City, may I have your attention please? I'm sure many of you are eager to get on with it, but this should only take a moment..."
  Momentarily toggling back over to Payden's headset, Traxen said "I'll get back to you on those options in a minute."

[Yugo]

Kaela opened her mouth to respond, but quickly closed it and pushed past the incubus when she saw the female archer past them fall to the ground unconscious with a loud thud. Her heavy boots pounded against the concrete rapidly, almost racing her new comrade Edward to the fallen Tasmanian Devil. "Put her down on her stomach," the wolf stated stiffly with no amount of hesitation in her voice. Her stature and bearing seemed to command obedience, as if she was used to having others listen to what she had to say in important or dangerous situations.

The old wolf barely waited for the incubus to set her on the ground before she began to inspect her, her hands pressing against her back. They quickly ran with lines and runnels of red that streamed from the girl's embarassing wound. Her claws clacked around the piece of bone and pulled gently. A grimace crossed her face. "It's stuck in there and bleeding pretty badly. I think it got into the bone." She set her gun down on the ground and removed her knife from the muzzle, brandishing it gently. "I'm going to have to cut it out, but it might not be a good idea if the bleeding gets worse. Do you know any healing magic?"

[Lisky]

Ed listened to Kaela's instructions, lowering Ephy down, yet laying her on a layer of thick, fluffy wing, rather than the hard ground.  Her tugging at the bone made the incubus slightly nervous, and her thought of cutting the wound a bit bigger didn't sit all that well with him.  Not that he'd argue, at least she was helping.

He said in his usual tenor, "Not really, sorry... my healing skills revolve around my own ability to shapeshift and adjust my body, more or less at whim... However i could cauterize the wound with a weak fire spell and the use of a tentacle point.  If we can get her stabilized, i think it best to take her back to the Inn, let her rest up."  Feeling slightly sheepish working on the butt of one girl, while chatting with another, he said in a rather polite tone, "i'm sorry, Ms... I didn't catch you name earlier."  A slight grin caressed his lips and shone through the worry the incubus was feeling.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Alex watched the interplay between the two strays that Mykst and Black Magic had picked up, a prejudiced human and a showboating rat. Interesting friends the young felines made. But slow. Alex considered getting the book by the weather wizard out of her pack to see if a few lightning cracks would put some bounce in everyone's step. The squirrel looked over to the lioness and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Perhaps if you and I moved outside they'd follow." Alex stepped out the doorway and onto the sidewalk to test her hypothesis. And if her hypothesis was wrong a few people might be left behind.

[Stygian]

It seemed that the rat had expected more of a response, because she appeared momentarily off-put by Andrace's exclamation, and the general air of impatience that ensued in the wake of it and Alex's departure. She glanced over the assembled group of people, then gave Kali a bit of a look that was rather hard to read, and shrugged, before returning her shaded stare to the older lioness.
  'Fine. We're all set,' she sighed, straightening her jacket a bit unnecessarily. Walking with a lazy step, she trailed along as people began to depart, peacefully swigging her beer and proceeding swiftly by working away at her sandwich. She adjusted her hat and glasses as they emerged into the sunny street, surreptitiously slipping into Andrace's shadow without any apparent intent.

[Angel]

Black Magic sadly never got the chance to say what she wanted to say to Payden, as he said something that offended Jess inadvertently almost immediately and the rat reacted. The trick she pulled was quite funny, but the lion-girl couldn't help wondering if maybe Payden was right - to a degree. Obviously, Jess was useful and skilled, but she seemed to rub the other members of the group the wrong way. Then again, Payden did the same thing, and Mykst had, by his own submission, invited him. But no matter. It seemed everyone else was really itching to go by now, so Kali shrugged, gave a bit of a confused look to Jess's unreadable one, and grabbed Mykst's hand as she walked out.

---

Mykst watched the back-and-forth between Payden and Jess and had a few similar thoughts to Kali's, though by now, even he was getting impatient to leave. The vibes of the others were a bit contagious, and he could sense a conflict that he wanted everyone to ignore for now. He touched the pearl around his neck, and got a bit of a serious face. There were better times to fight. For now, he had to prove himself a capable student and figure out just what his girlfriend wanted to find here.

Speaking of, her paw slipped into his a few moments later. He looked over at her and smiled, half to assure himself and half because he was glad to see her being calm about all this. Then they both exited, shortly behind Jess and Alex.

[Myr]

Alas, the wolfish troll didn't care if one showed no ill intentions.

Raek's pale brown eyes went flat as the feminine rat practically snuck up behind his current boss. True, he couldn't agree more with Andrace's willingness to get moving-he didn't want to eat all the supplies while waiting on everyone.

Besides, it was his job to be her hulking shadow, not some acrobatic rodent who either had serious issues with her cognitive balance...or, perhaps, was merely acting in a bid to lighten the mood in some strange, undefinable way.

Then, of course, that was that rather familiar voice. The monstrous canine tilted his head slightly to focus some of his attention on the armored van. Personally, he still thought it resembled some giant, metal insect (To him, anyway!)-but then he'd never had anyone bother to explain to him about how machines should look.

To him, a machine was something with cogs and wheels, pulleys and levers.  Oh, and those little springs that had the horribly annoying habit of either shooting up his nose or poking him in the eye when he accidentally broke the aforementioned device...not something one lost a tooth biting into.

No matter, it couldn't be helped.

The lupine troll's tail twitched once as he decided to come outside-but not without a brief glance at Kyirri. "If the book's a bit heavy, I'll tell you what. Since it's your responsibility now I want you to hold onto it. But if you want to be able to keep up, I'll let you take a seat on one of my shoulders."  Should work out, he thought. Not only will he conserve whatever strength he has, he'll have a better view of anything we run into. Not to mention it'll be easier to keep track of him. It was a pleasing line of logic for the wolven Mythos, to be honest.

Now to address the metallic monstrosity speaking to everyone in general. "Oh?" He grunted sourly as he turned his attention back to it-and his feline employer. True, he'd probably have a talk with Jess later about practically usurping his position later, but that could wait a moment. "What do you have in mind, bug?" Granted, if the owner of the armored vehicle wanted to clear this up with him, now would be a wonderful time to at least give him a rough idea about the modern ideal for 'machine'.

[techmaster-glitch]

   As everyone was migrating outside, Traxen heard someone respond to his earlier announcement. "Well, I've enlisted...wait, bug?!?" Traxen then realized who said that. "Oh...you..." Considering that Mythos' earlier treatment of his cameradrone, Traxen concluded the guy wasn't kidding about the "bug" part. Speaking of which, Traxen was still rather annoyed by that incident. Of course, such ignorance wasn't exactly unusual, what with the vast majority of areas still hadn't had any experience with the most recent, advanced Being technologies. While manufacturers like Jycorp were spreading their influence, there was the fact that they were still new. However, this Mythos seemed particularly primitive, and was apparently oblivious to the concept of a vehicle. That and no technology-illiterate Creature had every actually tried to eat his creations before. Sighing, Traxen decided that he didn't want to risk any further incidents, even though he already resolved to keep all his equipment as far away from this Creature as possible. Time to 'educate" the Mythos.
  Traxen got up from the wall of monitors/workbench chair, and squeezed his way up to the front of the van, into the driver's seat.

***

  The little square metal plate on the front of the van slid up again, revealing the small window with Traxen in it. "Alright, Mythos...listen up." said Traxen's voice over the external speakers, speaking slowly and deliberately, and making exaggerated hand gestures through the window. "This...is not a bug. This is a van. A vehicle. Like a gryphon-cart? Except no gryphon. Or magic. Are you with me so far? I built this myself. Y'know, hands? And hammer, and wrench, and chisel, something like that. Think of me as a really good blacksmith. Or a tinker. Oh, and those little flying and crawling things? I built those, too. And I control them. They are not bugs, though they do look like bugs. Not food, got it? Not bugs, not food. Okay."
  Traxen's head sunk a little from view as he sat back in the driver's chair. "...gotta scrub the stupid out... Alright, now that I've taken care of that, back to the rest of you. Getting to what I was going to say, we are all heading into the City for our own reasons. We also have all heard about it being a rather dangerous place. Anyway, I'm going in for salvage. As some of you have seen, I do have some robotic drones, with which I conduct reconnaissance beyond the limits of my van. I also do have the capability to exert...force...beyond my van as well. However, I have, on several occasions, worked with adventurer groups (though I am not one myself), and if those experiences have taught me one thing, it's that some intelligent and self-sufficent eyes and firepower are always useful in protecting myself. However, I only have the capability of working with only a small number of people at a time, and I'm not much of a large-group person myself anyway. To these ends, I have enlisted the personal aid of two people among you; Officer Payden Velasquez, and...ah...the book-mage who's name I have unfortunately not learned yet...yeah (and uh, Officer, I would appreciate it if you actually gave her that second headset I gave you...). Anyway. The point I've been trying to get to is; for the best surveillance efficiency, I'll be having them covering separate areas. Yeah, split up. It's not that bad though, if I am not mistaken, a few of you seem to be having trouble getting along. So, you all can sort yourselves into two groups, if you like. Doesn't matter to me who goes with who, I'm really only interested in the two people I'm working with. But, through them, I can coordinate everyone for mutual protection, and provide early-warnings with my own equipment. Right. That's...all I wanted to say. I'm ready to go when the rest of you are."

[Mao]

Mao shook his head at the feline.

"No time, whatever is in there is moving fast."he said, barely pausing once he landed. "You can search around if you wish.  It might even be wise."

With that Mao turned, and made his way into the church, hoping to find his way quickly to the source of the sound and find out that he was over-reacting.  Though in the back of his mind he was worried that things would likely not be that simple.

[Noone]

Kyirri kept his blank stare, awaiting the time to move out. He briefly turned to Raek in response to his inquiry. "I won't have trouble holding this, but I will have trouble hiding it." He briefly glanced outside. "Not now though... there are more pressing matters to attend to." Book in his hands, he strode outside following Andrace, like a silent shadow.

His blank stare went to the van outside when the person inside addressed them. He listened intently to Traxen's speech. He briefly glanced at his companions, trying to gauge their reactions to this situation. Soon after, he kept his attention affixed on the van. After hearing it all, he registered all the information inside his head. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who sees all the inconsistencies with this setup. Besides, if he's working with Payden, likely his employer, then he's certainly not someone who can be trusted. He made a few steps towards Traxen's van, and spoke up.

"Stop." Kyirri said, tone still entirely flat. "If you're Payden's employer, that's certainly an indication that you can't be trusted, several other observations aside. For instance, if you already have an armored vehicle and several drones, which implies that you have at least some, if not a great amount of pre-existing wealth. That would mean that if you don't have any prior influence, contacts, or political power within the city, you have much to lose and little to gain. That you would be going in personally also strikes me as peculiar. Secondly, you claim not to know the name of your second so called employee, that means that you either have so many that you can't keep track of them all, or that she isn't really your employee. Thirdly, you claim to have worked with adventurer groups. Yet I find that odd, that considering you seem to have enough wealth and influence to have at least one, if not more dedicated employees, that you would have adventurers work for you. They tend to be less reliable and in general more expensive. You also seem to assume that we've agreed to this arrangement as well." Also it's sometimes hard to find adventurers to perform dirty deals... employees are far better for performing things like hold-ups and contract killings... Kyirri paused, but didn't express that thought.

"In short, I do not believe you can be trusted, you or Payden. I believe that I and my companions would not appreciate having tracking devices keeping tabs on us." Especially since you could easily just have us all killed when you're done using us. After all, your employee nearly had me killed once... Kyirri held his blank stare, awaiting a response.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt snagged his beer from the bar, flipped the coin - that the knife had morphed into - into the air, caught it, and sauntered for the door, arriving outside to the porch railing in time to hear the pronouncement from the armoured vehicle just outside.

He snorted. "Yeah, like that'll fucking work. 'Split up, it'll be safer!'" He chuckled. "My bloody arse it'll help. You'll just get eaten alive in nibbles, rather than bites." He took a drink, then went on. "Scrubbing the stupid out won't work, either. It seems ingrained." He chuckled once more. "You're better off working as a damned team, only you bastards don't appear to have a fucking clue how to trust anyone."

He shook his head, in a melancholy fashion, to himself, muttered something about "suicidal, I swear" and leaned on the railing, bending it somewhat, and continued to sample his drink.

[techmaster-glitch]

   After a moment of quite honestly stunned silence, a hollow laugh emitted from the van's speakers. "Wealth? Wealth?!? Oh, good gods! Little dude, it's because I don't have wealth anymore that's I'm salvaging in the first place! Yeah, I had wealth, and dedicated employees, and even a little influence once, but that was before my business was quite literally burned to the ground and sent me on the run. I've been scraping around just to buy food, but more importantly, I've been hunting through scrapyards for parts and raw materials to feed through my onboard processing unit so that I can keep building stuff. Call it an obsession of mine. But scrapyard materials just aren't high-quality enough for some of my work, obviously, which is why I came here when I heard about this place. An entire city of fully-modernized and advanced Being technology, and empty to boot, all for the taking? It'll be better than home, various rumored beasties notwithstanding...should be safe enough so long as proper precautions are taken.
  "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do what I really want to do, and that's re-set-up a shop, because, wouldn't you believe it? Jycorp's already snapped up the market or some city council run by Creatures says "we don't want your technology here'. I even have reason to believe that the band of Creatures who smoked me out in the first place have actually been following me, though I'm fairly certain I've lost them, but even if not, I plan to either be long gone or have a nasty surprise waiting for them...
  "But anyway, there's another thing you seem to have all wrong. I'm not actually employing anyone here, because employing would involve payment. No, I only offered mutual cooperation. The two people I've chosen gain my unique form of protection through intelligence of their surroundings, and thus warning of potential threats. In return, they are an extra eye, ear, and fist for me. We've all heard that this city is a rather rough place, so it's win-win for everyone involved with this setup. Now, the offer was only for them. But, should anyone be standing right next to them, then they would benefit from the same protection by virtue of proximity. That's what I was trying to say. As I said, it doesn't make much of a difference to me what you decide to do. Heck, I was actually prepared to go in alone, but by some truly amazing coincidence, I find all you adventurers here. I'm just taking advantage of the opportunity, but it's no loss to me if you have some obvious trust and conclusion-jumping issues..."
  At that point, a hedgehog fellow went on a little rant about splitting up. Traxen just sighed a little at this. "No, I didn't actually say it would be safer. In fact, one large group would indeed be the most secure setup. It just wouldn't be the most efficient for my purposes. Reason why I was suggesting it in the first place is because several people who were here already went in alone, which they wouldn't have if they were confident in their abilities, and the fact that the barkeeper has been in and out more times than we probably will ever know. I just figured that two groups would be 'safe enough', as you'd still be a bigger group than those who already jumped the guns and went in. But hey...if no one really wants to split up, then there aint really a damn thing I can do about that, is there? Can't say I'd blame anyone for that, either. And once again, little loss for me. Oh well, just thought I'd try, I'll live with it. It's just how I was hoping to work things out."

[Myr]

As it were, a certain Troll-wolf was busy trying to assimilate the considerable amount of information he'd just gotten.

One could almost say his reaction to Traxen's  educational speech was quite comical; the lupine brute blinked, his one lightly fuzzed ear flicking back as one could swear he was raising a rather invisible eyebrow. Granted, he understood some of what was said right away-such as the machines not being some sort freakish insect-but the rest was rather confusing.

Unfortunately that naturally blank look his kind could be so good at probably gave the impression every word had gone over his head, despite how he was trying to sort that out. Why, he even missed the 'roo-rat's response to his offer!

Just as well, really.

The monstrous canine's tail twitched slightly. No magic, huh. And a gryphon-cart? You know, I have yet to see one of those...though I admit those little gryphons don't taste bad themselves.... At least Traxen couldn't hear his thoughts; the fellow might have had something very interesting to say to that. Still, the lupine wasn't quite finished with his rationalization of the given data.  And he built that all on his own? He can't be a being... Raek's muzzle twitched into a frown that further accented that impression he was giving. Well, it could be possible, but that'd take awhile, I'd think. I guess a blacksmith could work....

Admittedly, he was still tempted to stick with his initial philosophy; but while thick-headed at times he wasn't quite that foolish. And it was better than thinking of the fellow as a tinker-as noted before he had some uncomfortable experiences with breaking their little creations.

Nothing like having to find a rather creative means of digging that all-important spring out of one nostril while the creator either laughed their head off or went into a hysterical fit. And woe betide if it was something else, or got him in the eye!

Yeah, it was in his best interest to think of Traxen otherwise.  And pity he missed the rather fascinating discussion-for the most part-while he mulled this over. Especially the comment that seemed to refer to his lack of understanding. Eh, not like it would have helped if he'd tried to pay attention to that and sort this stuff out. And no doubt he was expected to answer the fellow in that remarkable contraption as well.

"Right," He grunted, "I'll keep that in mind." The lupine troll suddenly seemed rather disinterested as he glanced over at his current employer. He did have to make sure nothing had happened while he'd been distracted, afterall.

[Yugo]

"Silverstone. Kaela Silverstone." The older wolf finished Ed's sentence for him bluntly, not stopping in her assistance to glance at him as she did so. Blood flowed over her fingers as she pressed down on the wound, fidgeting with the knife in her other hand as she prepared to do what she had hoped wouldn't come to pass. Her training and years of experience meant that she had medical skills that were adequate for the current situation, but cutting somebody open with an unclean knife ran the risk of leaving an infection. "....fuck it," she said under her breath, the blood welling up from the wound as she stuck her blade into it and began to lever the piece of bone upward.

"Be ready with that cauterization," she cautioned, hoping that Ephrael couldn't feel the abuse that Kaela was giving to the girl's body. A few more back-and-forth motions, and the offending shrapnel popped out with a small spurt of blood, cracking against the concrete below as it flipped end over end. "Okay, do it. I'll try to keep the bleeding down." The wolf used both hands to press down roughly against the wound, doing her best to staunch the bleeding until Ed assisted her.

[Lisky]

Ed's tentacle was heated quickly, and the air around it quivered.  He gently nudged Kaela's hands out of the way as he pressed the tentacle around the inside of the wound, making sure to seal it until a proper healing spell could be applied at the bar.

"Thanks for the help, Kaela." Ed said sincerely, "Once we're done here, i'm heading back for the Inn with my companion.  You're welcome to join us if you'd like... Or you can go on your way.  I feel i owe you more than a simple thank you, and, if you do stay, know that i'll be back to fulfill my debt as soon as my friend is taken care of."  Once the wound was patched, Ed lifted Ephy off the ground, wrapping a feathery wing around her to keep her warm and fight off shock. He held her close as he started towards the entrance of The City, and eventually the Inn.  

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex looked around the dusty street at the bickering crowd. This was not the sort of adventuring group she envisioned traveling into a dangerous zone with. A bit of showing off and jockeying for position she understood, but paranoia and racial hatred were already dividing the group and they hadn't even stepped off the steps to the inn. It was just passing noon, they had managed to waste hours inside.

She glanced over at Andrace, the one seasoned adventurer in the group, and gave her a look that let the lion know her patience was at an end. Then the squirrel stepped off the steps and into the road. Whomever was serious about being in a group would follow. The rest could go back to drinking.

[techmaster-glitch]

   As Traxen was sitting back in the driver's chair after the little speach he made, he noticed that the book-mage herself was already starting to walking off. This was both reassuring and worrying. It was reassuring in that she was clearly a no-nonsense woman who didn't waste time, which is exactly one of the traits Traxen was looking for. It was worrying in that she hadn't actually had anything to say about Traxen's plans herself, which suggested she might not actually be willing to work with him. Admittedly, she never actually said "yes" to his original offer... Traxen wondered if Payden was going to be the only person he was working with. That would be quite disappointing.
  "Well, I guess that's time to go!" Traxen said as he got up and squeezed out of the driver's seat and back to the middle of the van, switching his external speakers off and closing the metal plate on the front.
  On the wall of monitors, Pamcawv automatically tracked all "targets". Traxen tapped the box that was around the book-mage on the touch-screen, and spoke a command. "Pamcawv, follow selected target."
  "A-fir-ma-tive."
  The van then pulled out of the parked position it was in by itself, and went inching after Sister Alex, following about five yards behind her walking pace.
  Traxen then switched over to Payden's headset. "Come along, Officer. I will have your weapon assembled before we enter the gates, as promised." With that, Traxen sat back down at the workbench with the pieces of Payden's gun on it. Traxen pulled out a few cleaners and removed any grit or lint from the parts as he began fitting them together.

[Cogidubnus]

Red Light District, huh...

"C'mon now. Do I look like the kind of guy to get in trouble?" he said.

Giles grinned. It was unsettling, and somewhat undermined his point.

"I'll keep that in mind, though." he said, leaning back forward and taking a drag of his cigarette, moving past the gate and waving lamely at the guard as he continued on. "Avoid waterfront, top priority, definitely. Won't go there, no sir."

He did intend to go there as soon as he was out of sight, of course. He didn't know the way, though. But the Waterfront helped. Unless it was one of those damn poetic things, like the Parks district being a foundry, or somewhere called Queens that had nothing to do with any fucking Queen.
He headed towards what he thought was most likely the "Waterfront", however, keeping his burning spear resting on his shoulder rather than in it's holster. It looked rather like a long torch, dripping a trail of blood behind him.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Ephrael's slumped form didn't even flinch as the field surgery was done to her punctured behind. Her temperature seemed to be lower than it should and she was in a cold sweat, yet her heart rate seemed strong and steady. And despite her unconscious state the unusual mind shield was still functioning.

She moaned slightly in her sleep.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace waited until most of the others had gone out onto the street before following, at least partly (she told herself sourly) to stop anyone having a change of mind and scuttling back inside. She noticed Kyirri following on her tail, and Jess taking care to keep in her shadow: curious. She watched with one ear perked up curiously as the big armoured bus approached. The other ear went up as she followed the others' conversations with the reclusive driver. Kyirri was, again, suspicious and not shy about letting everyone know. Raek looked confused, which she pretty much expected. The hedgehog was a bit, pardon the expression, prickly, but he had a good point about not splitting up. She'd certainly hoped to keep everyone together if possible once they were in the city.

She wasn't sure she shared Kyirri's distrust of the driver. He might not have made (in her opinion) a good choice of assistants in Payden, but there was nothing she actually disliked about him. Except perhaps his tendency to babble... Ah, well. Without coming any closer to the front window of the bus, she took a good look at the driver. He had to come out of there every now and then, and she wanted to be able to recognise him without the surrounding ironmongery. When the bus trundled off along the road, the lioness turned and followed Sister Alex. "Well, let's get this show on th' road," she called over her shoulder to the others. "C'mon, Raek, next stop th' city."

[Stygian]

The bus rolled up on heavy, armor-hubbed wheels and stopped with the typical creak and hiss of heavy trucks everywhere. Grateful for the company but a little disappointed they wouldn't be taking a walk in the fresh air so that she might get to play a few tricks and get to know these people a bit better, Jessica casually tossed the last piece of sandwich into her mouth, chewed hastily, and then downed it in one gulp, swigging deeply from her beer. She didn't much listen to the announcement, but tried simply to look on the bright side. Or rather, the gloomy side, in that at least they'd get some shade if they went on the bus.
   'What did you expect from people who have come here, of all places?' she asked the air casually, while turning and leaning back against the porch railing only slightly, just barely indicating that it was Witt she was speaking to. 'And, no offense, but you don't exactly seem the type to stay out of this just 'cause of someone's stupidity. You seem more like the sort to tag along just so as you can say you told 'em so.' She grinned. 'So don't try and tell me you're not coming. Personally, I like a man who I can't trust and who'll tell me off like that. It's the nice and earnest ones you ain't sure about that you ought to watch out for. Let's get a move on, shall we, love?'
   The rat's last remark became rather dubious, as while she began walking casually along the street, observing the spectacle the group were making of themselves in their hesitance, she both flashed Witt a sharp-toothed smile and managed to deliver a surreptitious, nigh-invisible but firm pinch to Andrace's backside.

[Myr]

"Right, boss," The oversized canine grunted-right now his pale eyes were focused more on Jill as the rodent conversed with that one chap that had the spines on his back. Still don't know what breed he is, do I? Raek thought as he glanced down at Kyirri again-no doubt the little chap would let him know if he'd like the lift...if he wanted it.

Oh well, he had a paycheck to think about, so when Andrace said come, he had to come. Everything else was moot point in that respect.

So, with a flick of his scraggly-fuzzed tail, the monstrous canid padded after his feline employer-one clawed hand resting lightly on the haft of his axe and the other casually keeping that sack he'd bought dangling over one shoulder. It wouldn't be hard for him to keep up with her, really, as he settled into a pace that put him within ten feet of her and the feminine rat named Jill. Not that he knew the rodent's name, to be honest.

It was also a pity he wasn't in a position to see the small stunt the rodent pulled on the feline in question...Oh well. It was probably better he hadn't, for both his sake and Jill's. Given his observations from before, even if they didn't manage to kill each other both would probably be in considerable pain...with Raek having taken more in the punishment department, most likely.

As it were, the lupine troll was content to watch for danger for the moment-and glance back at everyone else that was supposedly coming along.  Even if they weren't in Andrace's employ, he had assumed she was pretty much the leader of their band. Hmm...Not his place to point it out, anyway.

[Boog]

"I do hope you don't," The gatehouse rat said, slight grin in the blackguard's direction going unnoticed as he marched off "I certainly hope you don't..."
Giles strolled off into the suburbs, eventually reaching the edge of the brackish river seperating the main city from the rows upon rows of happy little houses. Across the river... Well, it most certainly LOOKED like a red light district on that side of the water. Docks and slums and even a literal reddish hue to the street lamps, constantly lit in the shade of the larger buildings further on. Now how to get over there...?
Well, to his left in the distance he could see a bridge, with smoke coming up from it for reasons unknown. Further down, to his right, he could see the squat low shape of a ferry terminal.

--

Meanwhile, back at the Last Chance, Jezebel stepped out and looked over the crowd briefly before her eyes settled on Witt. She stepped forward and handed him a note.
"That demon girl left this for you before going back to her room. Figured I should get it to yah before yah leave."
The note simply said, "Looking for work? Meet me in room six, upstairs."

--

It was midafternoon by the time the whole large group from the inn finally made it to the gate of the City, the guard rat raising an eyebrow at the size of the group at the door.
"... Is that an armored short bus?" The man sat up a bit more, curious. "Damn, you lot ain't messing about are you?"

--

As Jinx slipped around the back of the church he found himself in the back rooms, offices for (aha) clerical work and restrooms and whatnot. Eventually the hallway lead its way back to the main area where Mao was, where a few things immediately became apparent.
For one thing, the church had a fairly typical design aesthetic save for the pink, sticky looking, person shaped stains on every stained glass window skewing the light ebbing through it. Through another hallway behind the altar they could see stairs, leading up to where the snoring was coming from.
The scratching was somewhere distant underground now...

--

In the museum, there was silence after Aisha thumped the sarcophagus lid... Immediately followed by panicked thumping and muffled yelling.

--

Ed made good time heading back toward the gate, passing house after house with minimum incident. Soon he was only a few blocks away from the gate, where a new group had... Jesus, was that an armored short bus?

[techmaster-glitch]

(OOC: Tipod, I'm just going ahead and assuming you were following behind the van)
(EDIT: Tipod never actually specified he gave me a rifle, not a pistol...)

  Traxen had Payden's rifle assembled in fairly short order. While Traxen did not have much experience with manufactured weapons that were not his own, the peices fit together fairly intuitively. With the van still in motion, Traxen cracked opened the back door and handed the gun to Payden.
  "Remember, if you need any ammo, just tell me in advance. I can make some in a few hours."
  Traxen retreated back into his van, and continued working on the almost-finished drone until the gate came into view. Traxen adjusted himself to face the monitor the gatekeeper was showing up in, turned on the external speakers and microphones, and commanded Pamcawv to come to a stop.
  Traxen the addressed the guard, his disembodiesd voice broadcasting from outside the van. "Ah, hello there, good sir. I can see you are a guard of this place, but what for I'm not so sure of...you aren't going to collect a toll, are you?"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt smirked at the rat, and raised his beer. "Let's not, and say we did." He took a swig, and went on. "Besides, I don't see anything to drink out there."

At about that point, Jezebel handed him the note. He nodded thanks, and commented, waving his beer at her, "I wasn't leaving with this." He then turned the note over, and started to read. Then he turned it the other way up, and started again.

He raised one eyebrow, then the beer, emptying it, and handed the empty tankard back to Jezebel. "Cheers. I think that's my call."

And with that, he sauntered back inside, heading for the stairs, and room six. After all, worst case the girl merely wanted a private liaison, and he could laugh at her...