The City (IC) [M]

[Tipod]

Payden kept himself quiet through most of the conversation, but just had to speak up for introductions and objections. "Officer Payden Velasquez, if any of you weren't around to hear me the first time. I--" Had to choose his words very carefully here. Payden held very, very negative feelings towards 'Cubi in general, and the last thing he wanted was to rely on one for anything. Warp travel also made him uneasy: just the thought of not knowing what exactly's on the other side, or if he would even come out the other end with all his organs in the right place. "I have to ask, what guarantee do we have that your little warp companion will get us to the bridge without a hitch? And what if you get killed by something afterwards?" They'd possibly be stranded and summarily devoured by whatever monsters lurked nearby.

"...oh, yeah." Payden dug out the spare headset from his jacket, passing it off to Sister Alex. "Your, uh, headset. Almost forgot about it."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen craned his head around the back door of the van towards Andrace. "The headsets? Unfortunately, no again, they use the same kind of transcievers as my drones. While I can track them while in range just like the drones, it doesn't work if they go out of range. But actually, there isn't a decision here for me to make. I'm going to the city hall, but you're talking about using the warping creature? He said that would get to to the bridge, right? About an hour and a half walk from here? The average walking speed of a person is around three to five miles per hour. The bridge can't be more than ten miles away. I won't be able to immediately track you guys, but if you warp, I will have caught up with you, and overtaken you, within minutes. The distance to the bridge is practically nothing to me. The only decision to be made here is if you guys still want to go to city hall with me. If you do, then it's best that I just grab a truck or make a trailer here and now and tow you from here to there right off the bat rather than catch up with you and figure this out at the bridge. If you guys want to do your own exploring, then by all means, take the warp creature. I'll wave to you when I pass you guys up in a few minutes on my way to the city hall, and then meet back up with you at the inn tonight. As said, I'd prefer it if you guys came along, but I can live if you don't, it's just one day and one trip. So what will it be, folks? Do you really want to go to city hall, or would you rather probe the outskirts of the city?"
  Traxen then glanced back to Kyirri, with a plain expression of the book, please on his face, indicating he hadn't forgotten.

[Boog]

The guard grinned as Andrace returned to sorting out the group's organization. "Ouiji boards, trouble, gotcha." He looked up. The group was burning daylight which, inside, was a valuable resource indeed. Except in those parts where it was dangerous, but even then...
The rat shrugged and lit up a cigarette. May as well make the best of it. Most entertainment he'd had all day.

--

"Yer buddy's already moved on..." Something again, just a little bit away from Jinx's ear, said. And indeed Mao had, already on his way up the tower... And about two thirds of the way up he found the source of the snoring.
It was a thoroughly... ODD creature. Like a being with exaggerated feral features. The body was MASSIVE, even beyond the size of an average being, a wedge of muscle and bone with a light dusting of white fur. The legs were small, stunted and had knees pointing the wrong way, so that if it were standing the beast's knuckles would probably drag along behind it. The head was that of a feral rat, the size of a golf ball and made to look even smaller on the creature's massive shoulders, and it's long ropelike tail was probably a little longer than it was tall.
The, for lack of a better word, churchmouse lay across the stairs, snoring gently...
The scratching noise, meanwhile, had gotten closer to Jinx. The sound seemed to move lazily through the walls... And then dart under his feet, once. Something brushed the sole of his foot...
Did his shoe have that cut in it a minute ago?

--

Giles crunched his way across the ice. It was cold in the middle of the river, the wind over the open water whistling in the cracks of his armor. There wasn't really much to break the monotony, apart from the occassional fish trapped in his ice bridge.
The sound of splashing changed, subtly. Rather than the slapping sound against the ice to his left there was something breaking the waves before that... Apparantly, he'd acquirred a companion on his walk.
It rippled through the waves like a sea slug, but in truth more closely resembled a leech. Black and slick with two large, jellylike black eyes on the ends of stalks over a mouth filled with flat, tombstone-like teeth. Two arms, each ending in large three-fingered hands moved along with it in some parody of a backstroke.
"HeLlO."

[Noone]

Kyirri gave a blank stare to Sister Alex after being reprimanded. However, he said nothing. She shouldn't be so blindly trusting.... She did however, have a point about them not introducing himself. Thinking it proper, Kyirri simply stated, in his usual monotone "I'm Kyirri Teekay." He resumed scanning his surroundings.

When addressed by Traxen for the book, he turned. He shuffled about uneasily, trying to keep a discrete distance from the van. He peered into what he could see in his van, and what he could of Traxen himself. After a brief scan, he spoke. "I said no. I don't trust you, or that hired thug of yours that nearly killed me." After that, he went away from the van's back, trying to stay on it's side. I'll be damned if I allow them to stab us in the back at some point... I really don't like how they're going to let him spy on us either...

He then paced over to Andrace's side, he glanced about some more. He looked up at her, and at Sister Alex, he would have sighed if he could. They're all so trusting... I don't like the idea of having us being spied upon wherever we go. He paced over to Sister Alex when he saw Payden handing over a headset. I seriously hope she doesn't take that, we already know it's a tracking device... it could only be worse if it was a bomb at this point...

[Lisky]

Ed picked up on Andrace's thoughts, and grinned mischievously... clearly he'd have to pick the flirting back up come dusk, but for now, it was time to get somewhat serious...

The officer was sending very negative thoughts his way, and Ed couldn't help but sneer a bit at the officer's remark.  "Given the current time of day, we're gonna have 3 maybe 4 hours to actually explore, after that, we've gotta head back out.  I have no intention of staying around at night.... In that time, i highly doubt i would be killed, and if i am, it's only getting about a 2 hour head start anyways, one would only have to make their way back here through the suburbs.  Besides, traveling with a large group, i can act as an early warning system, sensing thoughts and magic..."

He watched impassively as Kyirri approached the lioness who'd become his object of affection (for the time being), and sensed his brooding mood, "Little one, there is no need for such negativity, it may be difficult for you to trust, but mr. Traxxen holds no ill will here..." 
Turning to Andrace, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, and i assure you, the feelings are quite mutual." He smirked as he leaned next to her.

[Myr]

      Yeeg, so much going on! Raek's ears had quirked as he watched the feline incubus tease his employer...or was it play with her? He didn't know. Even if she'd essentially hired this newcomer, that didn't mean the lupine troll had to like what Ed was doing. Any entertainment that winged feline could be seeking-however temporary-could wait until he had fulfilled his job at protecting miss Andrace...or failed, for that matter. But then, as long as she lived, even if he died, his job was considered a success. After that was her problem, not his.

      Besides, he was well aware that the 'cubi race tended to play with their food at times...so, it was common sense that he had to make it quite known that he wasn't going to allow such...ah, things while he was around.

      Admittedly this might end up with him getting his head blown off; considering the fellow's race in general with its many subspecies and clans tended to be rather fickle in nature. And while the brute of a mythos didn't have the ability to shield his mind...he was, at least, bright enough to mask his thoughts with something else.

      But, only when he was aware of whom he was facing, of course. What Ed had been able to do earlier with sensing his emotions at the bar was still quite possible...however, if he were to try and probe the lupine's thoughts without breaking his somewhat sluggish concentration, the 'cubi would be greeted with a scrap of doggerel that he remembered from many years ago, from when he'd first and truly began to learn there was more to the world than satisfying that almost insatiable belly of his. It would hide what he intended to do, and maybe, just maybe catch Ed by surprise.

      It was a sad, dissonant melody, and while Raek couldn't remember it all, he did remember a little that the young girl had sung to him, and it went as thus :

'Danger hidden in his eyes,
We should have seen it from far away;
Wearing such a thin disguise in the light of day...
He held the answer to our prayers,
Yet it was too good to be...
Proof before our very eyes, yet we could not see...'

      "No," the lupine troll said in that thick, rumbling growl as he stepped over and held his axe 'tween the leaning 'cubi and the lioness. "You're not going to hurt her, while I work for her." Those pale brown eyes were somewhat hard, and he obviously meant every word as he kept that scrap of song firmly going in the depths of his thick skull. "Even if I doubt I can handle you in a fight, I will protect her, as I'm being paid to do."

      Then, of all things, he quietly stuffed his axe back into that crude belt and decided to walk over to Payden...whom, at the moment, was giving that interesting gal with the living book some odd device. "What's that?" he asked with obvious curiosity whilst gesturing at the headset-seeming to have already forgotten what he had just done...and might even regret having did, as it were. "Haven't seen something like those, before."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex stared at Traxen as he reiterated his plan for them yet again. He seemed unable to comprehend other's viewpoints. She had a goal, finding libraries; just because it wasn't identical to his didn't make it a lesser goal. "Mr. Ridgrey, because of your reliance on technology I don't think you understand what you're asking of this group. No fighter I have ever met is going to agree to be herded into a trailer and dragged around. It rather resembles a cow on the way to the slaughterhouse. They can't use their skills if needed. While it is wiser to stick together I'm afraid you won't get many takers for your current offer." She glanced at the other members of the party for confirmation or denial of her statement.

Before anyone could respond Raek asked her a question. She thought a moment for the simplest level of answer. "It allows Mr. Ridgrey to speak to people who are too far away to normally speak to."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace smiled back at Edaric and seemed to be about to reply to the 'Cubi when Raek stuck his tail in. She made a stifled coughing noise that suggested either she was about to hack up a hairball, or she was trying to swallow a laugh. She didn't want to hurt the wolf-troll's feelings by smacking him down for doing his job a little too well. She grinned slyly and winked at the 'Cubi, holding a very clear image in her mind: a clock, its hands spinning round then stopping at a time indicating late evening.

Her ears twitched, and the last foot of her tail flicked back and forth a couple of times at Sister Alex's remarks. Traxen's help would be valuable, but if his devices could only work such a short distance from his van... she glanced at the tops of buildings she could see far off on the skyline. This place was huge, if everyone kept saying it would be more than one day's journey to reach City Hall on foot. That mile or two range might not be nearly enough. She needed to make a decision, and right now: few things disorganised a group of adventurers more quickly than dithering and hesitant leadership. And like it or not, it looked as if she and Sister Alex might have become the closest thing this fractious bunch had to leaders.

After a few more seconds of thought, the lioness sighed and perked her ears forward resolutely. "Th' more I think 'bout it, Traxen, th' more I think Sister Alex got a good point. When somethin' really nasty happens in there — yeah, I said when, not if — m' fav'rite place t' be ain't gonna be zippin' along at umpty-'leven furlongs per fortnight headlong int' th' middle o' a pile o' rhubarb fert'liser. If y' can't think o' somethin' t' give y' gadgets a good bit more range, it might be best if we get t' City Hall sep'rately, each at our own pace. We c'ld meet up back at th' inn t'night, an' compare notes. Unless anyone's in a hurry, an' wants t' go wi' y' right now?" She glanced around at the others, one eyebrow raised and her tail curled in a questioning manner.

"Oh, an' Kyirri? I know y' don't trust 'im much, but anythin' Traxen finds out might help us later. Let 'im have a look at th' map." The lioness sounded persuasive, rather than commanding: she didn't want to push the roo-rat too hard, at least until she'd seen how well he stood up under stress.

[Cogidubnus]

Giles frowned. He took a drag of his cigarette.

He wasn't too keen on standing on the ice bridge any longer than he had to, so he simply kept pace with the leech...-thing-, as it backstroked across the river. He gave it a pretty good staring at before admitting to himself that it had probably spoken with him. He ashed the cigarette and coughed.

"Ah...hi there." he said.

[Lisky]

As the troll interjected into the felines' flirting, Ed gave a bit of an indignant snort as he felt the hostility of the troll.  He was sorely tempted to use his wings to put on a little puppet show, explaining what happens when 'a cubi wuves an Adventurer'.  However, the speckled feline never got his chance, the troll mythos wandered off, and left Ed with a bit of awkward position.  However the mood was broken quite quickly as Andrace sent him what seemed to indicate some type of late night invite...  He grinned toothily back, and said back in a low voice, "call it a date?"

As Sister Alex and Andrace displayed their displeasure, Ed moved closer to them. Raeleg perched himself on Ed's shoulder.  The feline nodded towards the two women, and said, "I agree with them... i know i wouldn't be able to do much good from a cart, it lacks the mobility i'm used to, and in the event of some type of trap... -WHICH THIS PLACE IS KNOWN FOR- it'd be a mad scramble to leave... no, i think i'll stay on foot... however, discussing a plan for tomorrow after we arrive at the inn seems to be the best option if we're splitting up..."

He walked further a little further beyond the gate, leaning against a sign-post leading into the suburbs.  He was waiting for the others to decide what they were going to do.

[Mao]

Mao looked at the creature as carefully as he could with his sight trying to see anything, beyond the obvious physical differences from what was expected, that was out of place.  It was odd enough to find the creature laying here on the stairs, particularly when Mao was sure that the sound he had heard was coming from a room previously.  Maybe he had seen and heard it wrong?  Maybe the creature had moved?  Or maybe his senses deceived him.  The thought was worrisome at best, but rather than focus on it Mao kept to the situation at hand.  He looked about to see if there was anything else in the area, any sort of indications of what was going on.

As he looked, Mao's thoughts drifted to the feline with the odd behavior who had been following him.  Hopefully the fellow hadn't found any trouble, or worse, created some.  Mao considered the odd behavior for a moment, giving pause as he did.  Had he perhaps seen the first signs of what had happened to the people here?  Was there some sort of maddness affecting them?  Too many questions, too little information available yet.  It would seem that he would have to take a chance and wake the sleeping creature up, and hopefully get some answers from it.  "If nothing else, I may be able to find out how this fellow is still here and seemingly unharmed, and perhaps even get him to safety... or find some myself." he thought.  "Though, I get the feeling that safety has long since left this place."

[Noone]

Kyirri first made a glance towards Edaric. With a completely blank facial expression and flat tone, he let out a soft "I don't answer to you." He let his attention wander, until Andrace called for him. Kyirri turned his attention towards her, he simply stared at her for a few moments. Help him stab us in the back for sure... but I agreed to serve her, even if she ends up paying for the consequences of this action. It's times like this I wish I could feel unease. Kyirri's facial expression however, remained constant. In his ever flat voice, he finally let out "As you wish.", openly expressing no distaste after that. He paced over to Traxen's vehicle, watching closely for any sign of treachery.

Holding the book out with his still good arm, Kyirri went to where Traxen had opened the vehicle, and held the book out to him. Kyirri simply stared silently, awaiting Traxen's next move.

[techmaster-glitch]

   It seemed that the majority of the group had finally made up their mind; they'd rather not put up with the discomfort and possible risk of traveling attached to the van for long distances. A shame, but not a problem.
  "Alright, I guess that's settled then." Traxen said to the group. "I'll head out to city hall now while the rest of you check out the City's outskirts. We'll meet back up tonight at the inn, and swap information"
  And then--about time, too--Kyirri finally held out the book for Traxen. Traxen gently lifted the book out of his hands with a terse "Thank you." before pulling back into the van, while also cocking his head and pushing the door out a few more inches, indicating he was keeping what he said earlier about letting Kyirri be able to "keep his foot in". If Kyirri did actually take a look inside, all he would see is a wall of monitors on one side, and all manner of gadgetry and junk everywhere else. It was all so inscrutable it wasn't possible to tell what was actually a gadget or simply part of the van.
  And with that, Traxen set to work. He rummaged around a particular cranny until he pulled out a small, naked device, the actual mechanism of a digital camera. Traxen then produced a cable, one end he attached to part of the camera mechanism and the other end went plugged in near the wall of monitors. He then took a bit to rapidly type lines of code onto a keyboard with a constant clackity-clack. After a bit, he seemed satisfied, then picked up both the book and the camera. He wrinkled his nose for a moment and sniffed the book, getting a "blech" grimace on his face for a bit. Getting through that, he set to the real work.
  He began flipping through the pages, pointing the camera at every one and pushing some part of the mechanism. With that, he photographed every page, each picture being stored as data in Pamcawv. While he took a picture of every page anyway, he seemed more interested in the pages that had photos and footnotes of various locations than street overlays themselves...after some minutes, Traxen finally photographed the last page. He put down the camera and then returned to the door of the van.
  He tossed the book back to Kyirri, maybe just a tad harder than was necessary. "There's your precious book back, and I didn't even crease a page..." Traxen then retreated once more into the van, closing the door behind himself this time, with another series of clicks and clanks following the closed door.
  Traxen's voice was once again emitted from the van itself; "Alright, one last question before I head off. Once I get to city hall, I'll be trying to download everything on their primary data servers, and maybe any secondary stuff I can get my hands on. My priorities, however, are lists of industrial and commercial places, inventories of said places, blueprints...things like that. Mainly, I'm just focusing on the industrial manufacturing and development places. Now, is there anything else that anyone wants me to look for in particular, particularly anything that might not be held on their servers? Any data, information, or even items of interest that might be kept in the central administration building for this place? I'm asking because, for me, this is planned to be a one-time-only trip, and I might as well save anyone else the need to go there."

[Angel]

"So we're finally going to do stuff, then?" spoke up Kali. She and Mykst had been quietly observing the group for quite some time now, waiting and waiting to get into the city. Mykst had been watching the incubus, Edaric, put the moves on Andrace as she responded, and felt a bit of relief. The housecat had gotten a rather strange vibe from the way she'd looked at him before, and he was relieved now that the pressure was gone. Of course, now there's the issue of there being a much more powerful and attractive cat here, and my girlfriend being a lioness... But Kali didn't seem to be paying any more attention to Edaric than Mykst, so maybe it wasn't a concern.

What Kali was really thinking was, Heh. Showoff. But a good-looking showoff, at least. She looked over at Mykst and noticed his worried expression, and offered him a quick punch on the shoulder. "Did we tell the guy our names yet, sweetie? I don't remember."

Mykst snapped out of his worry almost immediately and offered a smile to Black Magic. "Right, forgot. I'm Mykst Necrado, that's Black Magic. We're both students of the healing mage Dyixaz. And I don't think we have anything specific to look for, really, unless Magic remembers something from what she saw about this place." He couldn't help being a little nervous as well as eager about finally going in. Payden was right earlier; there were things in there a kitten and a cub couldn't handle alone. They were each almost past childhood, of course, but he knew that was how everyone else saw them.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Back at the Inn Ephrael stirred in the darkness of the room Ed had put her in. Groggly she sat up in the bed and winced at the headache she had "Oww, I really need to learn to dodge faster...." She said as she slowly stood and rubbed at the now healed site of her wound.

"Crap I rather liked this skirt too..." Eph grumped as she looked at the damage, looking round she spotted her pack. "Well at least Eddy brought my gear as well, at least I hope it was him."

Walking over she rummaged around inside until she found another of the short skirts she preferred, and a bit deeper as well, pulling out a pair of pistols in thigh holsters. "This place is a wee bit worse than I heard...And a girl like me needs all the friends she can get." She said as she made sure they were loaded, and after she changed into the new skirt strapped the M1911A2s on.

Pulling her pack back on she headed downstairs again and looked for the Innkeeper.

[Kafzeil]

Sunuva...and these are nice shoes too!

Quickly leaping onto a nearby bench, the wood creaking under his weight, or rather, lack of weight, the feline's eyes narrowed right at the spot where...whatever it was that pieced his sole. Twirling his revolver, he brought it so the iron sights where placed firmly on this thing.

The floor was aged wood. It wouldn't stop a bullet.

A small "Click" as Jinx puled back the hammer echoed throwout the Church, as Jinx growled at whatever was in the flow."Your Move." he tried intimidation, if these things could be threatened. Hopefully, mind games would work. He really hated that Mr. Murphy and his damn Law...

The thought that this was all just part of his mind still loomed over Jinx. That Adventurer... Jinx would regret killing him if he had to. He looked Way too much like Max. Jinx doubted he could stomach reliving that memory. Still, that Adventurer might expolit that at worse, and likely did not feel the same about Jinx. And it seemed like his mind was collapsing faster then ever now. Would this person be forced to kill Jinx if it reached the breaking point?Hell, maybe he was still in the Inn, haluincating it all, that cop charging him as he leapt up on the table and aimed a gun at the Innkeeper...

[Myr]

The musclebound-but not quite an idiot-of a lupine eyed the devices, then glanced at the squirrel-like being after her brief explanation. Oh, those, he thought with a flick of his lightly fuzzed tail, those pale eyes glancing at them again, I've seen them in use before. Never could get any that fit on my head, even after I'd taken the trouble to learn how they worked. Now, if only the fact that they'd been unable to find a set big enough that time hadn't cost him that particular job...eh, oh well.

He had good enough hearing, and if they wanted his attention, they'd get it easily enough. In most circumstances, anyway.

"A headset, right? Been some time since I've seen one." He grunted, his one fuzzed ear twitching back slightly in a slightly unsure fashion. And a pity he didn't get to see Traxen take a whiff of that book. That chap just had to smell it, didn't he? Hey, his fault, not Raek's. Besides, at least it'd not been a hot day or after him doing some heavy fighting...no matter how clean that book was technically, it'd be doubtful anyone would want to come near it. Anyway, moving on, despite it being good he didn't get treated to a show by a somewhat now-agitated feline incubus...

The Mythos shrugged, tail wagging lazily. "Should be useful for you smaller ones...hmm?" His head panned slightly to watch just as the book he'd entrusted a certain 'roo-rat to hold onto was crudely chucked out of of that giant...er...machine. Don't worry, it'd be only a day or two before he was able to think about that with no hesitation whatsoever! Until then...eh...just don't get mad if he slips up. Well, too mad, anyway.

Hopefully that little fellow wouldn't be hurt! If so, the brute of a lupine would at least carry him-provided he could keep one arm free.

Huh, and the pretty much asking of 'Anyone need to know/get anything' seconds later...well, he didn't have anything he needed. Now, if this was a regular town, he'd probably want to know the best places for a monstrous fellow like himself to get a temp job at were, or where folk actually catered to a Mythos like himself. But, as it was, he merely grunted and glanced at his employer with that expectant, almost eager air that suggested he'd really like to get to doing his job. Ergo, defending her and those she asked him to as well as he could.

While Raek was quite willing to follow that lioness for as long as she was willing to pay him-and by extension, quite ready to go into the city as it is!-he couldn't quite get that niggling doubt out of his mind that he hadn't fixed matters between that incubus and her. Ah well, if a warning didn't work, guess that just meant he might not be paid later if things went poorly.

Afterall, he was only supposed to do some of the thinking! If she insisted on pursuing someone that might consider her more of a side dish in the long run-and he could be wrong-far be it from him to do anything. Well, unless the fellow tried to harm her in his presence....

[Lisky]

Raeleg whispered in Ed's ear, something about a quick spell being tripped and him having to go.  Ed hadn't bothered to ask, just knew that the warp aci had to go do something.  He watched impassively as the little guy did his spin, then left.

Back at the Bar, Ephy would be greeted by the gray warp-aci with the ahnasazi symbol on it's forehead.  It approached the tazzy-devil, floating at face level, "Edaric told me to inform you that, whenever you're awake and ready, i can take you back to him.  He's currently at the gates with a larger party..."  The aci gave her a quick look-over then added in a slightly amused tone, "You're shorter than most of the girls he usually tries to... err...impress..."

Trying but not quite succeeding in getting a hang of that brain-mouth filter thing... it was somewhat new to the Raeleg, as he almost never catered to anyone's wishes but those of his master.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Ephrael's face split in a huge grin, "Oh my god a Warp-Aci! I love you guys!" And promptly pounced at Raeleg with a squeal of glee.

[Lisky]

The aci's eyes grew glossier than normal, and Raeleg barely managed to squeak as he was jumped.  Despite all his efforts to dodge, he found himself pinned to floor by Ephy, little claws pulling and flailing as he tried his best to escape.  He squeak, "This isn't part of the deal... stop squeezing me." 

If Raeleg had recognizable facial features, he'd be looking rather indignant at this moment in time.

[Yugo]

A gauntleted hand reached down and grasped Ephrael by the scruff of her neck, hauling her to her feet as gently as possible. "Give the poor thing a break kid, you've squeezed it half to death." Kaela loomed over the two of them. The older wolf was still in the same outfit as before minus her bandolier, having replaced it with the sling her shotgun hung from. With nothing to do but wait until the injured young woman (who was the victom of Kaela and not the monsters), Kaela had opted for a stiff drink and a nap. Nevertheless, her eyes were still somewhat foggy and bloodshot from a combination of high stress and lack of rest. She raised a mug of steaming coffee to her lips with her free hand, tipping it back to enjoy some of the rich and thick drink.

"Sorry, I would have been at your bed, but I didn't expect you to be up and about so soon." There was a rasping of fur as Kaela scratched the back of her head. "There some unintended consequences when I tried to help you, and I tried to help pull your bacon out of the fryer. I'm Kaela by the way. " She extended a hand towards the shorter woman in greetings, her eyes tracing over Ephrael as she did so. She couldn't read surface thoughts like a succubus, but there was still a lot you could tell about a person just by looking at them. For starters, the girl was packing some heavy pistols, which meant she wasn't here on a vacation. "What's somebody young like you doing in a place like this?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex nodded in Traxen's direction. "I was intending to locate libraries or research a possible Gutenberg monastery that may have been within the city. Any help in that direction would be much appreciated, Mr. Ridgrey." With that she passed through the gate, joining the incubus on the other side of the fence.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Hey!" Ephrael yelped as she was hauled to her feet, flailing at Raeleg to grab the warp-aci again. Once she had his tail she quickly hauled him in and held him to her chest. Turning to the taller woman the Tazzie Devil glowered and pouted, then smiled as she shook the offered hand.

"Ephrael, and just treasure hunting I guess."

[Boog]

"YoU aRe NeW." The leach thing smiled up at Giles, its entire face bonelessly reshaping around a smile maybe two feet across. "i LiKe NeW. AnD sTrOnG, i LiKe StRoNg ToO. TeLl Me, NeW-aNd-StRoNg, WhY aRe YoU oN mY rIvEr? ArE yOu HeRe AlOnE? I lIkE aLoNe ToO." The grin stretched even further, the eyestalks of the creature curving inward toward themselves. "AlOnE iS mY fAvOrItE. AlOnE hAs So MaNy UsEs."
With a soft plunk it disappeared under water, before reappearing on the other side of the bridge.
"My NaMe Is PoLyGlUt. WhAt Is YoUrS?"

--

At the gates the rat glanced up from filing his nails at Traxen's mention of servers.
"By my understanding computers ain't too reliable, you may have to shuffle through some papers." He mumbled absentmindedly, "But it sounds like you all have matters worked out."

--

The creature before Mao shifted in its sleep, listing to the side toward Mao slightly, slowly leaning until, almost adorably, it tumbled down a couple steps with a surprised and entirely mouselike squeak, stopping short of Mao's own feet. Blearily it opened its eyes, blinked twice, looked up at the adventurer's face...
It's eyes looked entirely too furrae, but not enough so. The pupil was too large, somewhere between mouselike and furraelike. Somewhere toward the center of the pupil was a ring, the color of the iris dwarfed by the pupil itself. The creature regarded Mao for a moment, looking him over, it's expression shifting from confusion to frustration, like a thought just out of one's grasp, before it finally emitted a furious shrill shriek and swung one arm at the man's legs awkwardly. It began trying to sit up from it's awkward position on the stairs, face up with its shoulders further down than its head, a profanity occassionally distinguishable in its shrieks.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the scratching noise seemed to be heading for the stairwell. Maybe Jinx had scared it off. Or maybe it was deaf. Some sort of noises were echoing down the tower, maybe it was attracted to sound.

--

Moze smiled in amusement at the conversation at the bar. It reminded him of an incident when he was younger, when he and another adventurer had gone for the same mythos and nearly killed each other in the confusion. They all went out for drinks after, save for the mythos... Then again, most things reminded him of things when he was younger these days.
"Glad to see you're up." He added into the conversation with a grin. "Our policy around here is that the first injury you come back with is worth a free drink. You want it now or should I save it for you?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace twitched an ear towards the guard at the rat's muttered comment. She wasn't all that familiar with advanced modern technology herself, although a couple of her cousins could make these "con-pewter" things roll over and play tricks. Paulos and Akantha called themselves "choppers" or something, which Andrace had never really understood — they weren't in the Pride, so they'd never gone beyond basic combat training, after all.

The lioness shrugged to herself, Traxen would have to deal with whatever he found at City Hall. She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and stepped forward through the gates. "C'mon, folks, we're burnin' daylight!" she called over her shoulder. She paused beside Sister Alex and Edaric, and glanced back to make sure everyone was actually tagging along.

[techmaster-glitch]

   In regards to Traxen's query, only Sister Alex seemed to have an answer. "Libraries and/or monasteries, got it." Traxen replied.
  To the gate guard, Traxen said "Oh, I can handle unreliable, I'll only need them to work once, and I haven't yet been unable to get hardware to do what I want while it's relatively intact. But yeah, there's always the possibility of having to shuffle through a cabinet or two of paper files...wouldn't be pretty, but you gotta do what you gotta do..."
  As everyone else seemed to be moving along (was that Creature going to call his Warp-Aci, like they were going over?), Traxen finally did the same. On one monitor, he brought up a scan of the surrounding area made by the van's sensor stack, creating a small "map" of just a few street blocks. He put Pamcawv into autopilot, tapped part of a street on the very edge of the scan in the direction of towards the city (the monitor in question was a touch screen; several, but not all of the monitors were touch screens), and with a low hum, the electric motors of the van powered it off away from the group.
  As the van made its way, Traxen started shuffling through the picture files from the book he had just photographed. Most of the pictures were of hand-drawn maps of sections of the city, some were pages of footnotes and photos describing particularly nasty areas. Traxen went through until he found the several pages of maps that were on the area Traxen was in; the entrance of the city outskirts to the nearest bridge. Using several screens at once, Traxen manipulated the individual rectangles like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, fitting them together to create a single contiguous map. It wasn't a perfect fit, being hand-drawn, but it was close enough. Traxen continued flipping through photographs, and assembled a few more in a line attached to the cluster he had just made. He continued working and arranging only select map fragments in a linear fasion, occasionally tapping the touch screen with the area scan on it to reset the "destination" and keep the van moving. Eventually, Traxen had just enough of the map assembled to plot the most direct course towards the city hall.
  Between Traxen not completely trusting this map, the possibility to encounter unforseen obstacles, and the fact that Traxen wanted to get there quickly, he decided to take the wheel from here. Traxen moved up to the driver's seat of the van, turned on the panoramic screens, brought up the map he had just created in one small section. He increased his speed, tried to keep to straight roads, all the while heading towards the bridge that the group was supposedly going to warp to...

[Aisha deCabre]

It took all of Aisha's will to not slap a palm to her face, when she heard the shrew try to get by Gareeku and not give too straight an answer.  What also annoyed her a little was the fact that her own questions were ignored completely, about how they knew that two adventurers specifically would be there to help.  The panther wasn't one to believe that fate was trying to guide her and the wolf to some pre-made destination, like they were pawns in a game.  Her eyes rolled upward at the notion.

"Alright, alright..." she said, coming up from behind the shrew so that the diminutive girl was standing between herself and Gareeku.  "I can see you're in too much of a hurry to really tell us anything, so if we go with you, will you cooperate with us, too?  Give and take, chica.  As I said, nobody'd be too happy to just be pushed into something without a good, and I mean a good, reason."

She lifted her head to glance at Gareeku, whom she figured was probably also getting exasperated.  Her voice was set in an aside whisper.  "Let's play along, probably the best way to see what's going on.  If we don't like it, you and I more than likely can get out of it easy."

[Noone]

When the book was hurled at him, Kyirri quickly stepped to the side, evading it. He expected no less, indeed, he actually expected something more lethal. I wouldn't be able to dodge a bullet like that, I fully expect him to do that later though... Saying nothing, he moved over to pick the item off the floor, trying not to put too much pressure on his left arm. He let out a soft grunt as he hoisted the item up, discipline preventing him from yelping in pain. I'll need to take care of that when possible, hopefully it won't be too long. I'd need to make sure that no one is looking, particularly Traxen or his lackey Payden, they already have too much over us for my liking. And I doubt those I'm following around would react well to it either. He glanced about, listening, observing. Then again, I might not get the time...

He then silently strode towards Andrace, again completely silent on his feet. 

[Lisky]

Ed was glad to have the group getting moving, it was clear they shouldn't have grown that big to begin with, if for no other reason than the group dynamic was a complete and utter catastrophe... or, at least, that's how it seemed from the little time the feline had observed the others.

He noticed the roo rats thoughts... strange as they were, they were none of his business... He felt himself grow a little hungry, and given the current state of things, he'd have to create the appropriate emotions to sate his appetite.  As his gaze came across the youngest members of the party, a devious grin parted the leopard's lips.  He whispered to Andrace, "Don't mind me... just getting a late lunch."

He sauntered over to the kittens, Grinning from ear to ear as he got closer.  "Hello young sir and lady, lovely day for a stroll, but i do hope you've taken the proper precautions, the city is a rather dangerous place... never know what might come at you, or from where."
He leaned in towards Kali, still opened shirted and flaunting his figure.  Reaching into a coat pocket, he produced a small seed and held it up so both could see.  He closed his right hand around the seed, in a loose fist. He then placed his other hand, also in a loose fist, next to the other hand, so all his knuckles were facing up.  He removed his left hand first, displaying a perfect orchid, as if it'd been cut fresh from an expert florist.  He grinned as he held the flower towards Kali, "Pretty flower for the pretty girl?"



Meanwhile, at the bar, Raeleg continued squirming and struggling while being pressed against Ephy's chest.  "Can you please let me go?" He growled, trying as best he could to dig tiny claws into Ephy's arm, completely without success.  "if you let me go, and you're ready to go, i can take you back to Ed and The City..."

[Myr]

Ah, finally!

Raek smiled, showing that forest of teeth in his anticipation as everyone started to get moving...if a bit sluggishly in his opinion. Personally, he also shared the 'cubi's feelings-not that he knew what the feline was thinking, but more of an ironic sharing of empathy by pure chance-about the group being so large, but...as before, he wasn't the type to argue-especially when it seemed his employer was technically the leader of the group.

Ah well, meant more chaos for him to immerse himself in, no? His race was rather chaotic in nature, some said, afterall...

The fact that small 'roo-rat didn't get hurt was also a slight relief...though that slight grunt suggested discomfort, perhaps. Mayhaps a lingering injury that resists magical healing? the lupine troll wondered as he took on a relaxed, if alert, stance-his free hand keeping within easy reach of his axe, while the other kept the main bulk of their supplies slung over his back.

Granted, he wasn't sure if that tinker, Traxen, had supplies with him...but then, given he was in that giant contraption that undoubtedly had a lot of room inside...maybe he did. Speaking on the concept of room...even as the brutish fellow made to stand a few feet behind Andrace, the thought began to occur that maybe the tinker with his strange creations-strange to Raek, anyway-could hold onto their supplies.

Admittedly he'd not paid attention to the fact the driver of that van was planning on trying to drive straight to the center of the city, and probably leaving them in the dust for a little while. Hmm...but still, he was leery anyway of handing off what he'd purchased himself...what if the fellow didn't want to share?

The lupine Troll had taken the effort to make sure their supplies were exceptionally fresh, afterall, and he didn't want someone deciding they'd want it all for themselves.

You know, he thought for a moment as he glanced at Traxen's van, then at Kyirri, I'll just wait and see on the little fellow, and ask later if I find I truly need both hands in the case of the tinker holding onto things.

Then the wolflike Mythos set his attention to that of a more broad, disfocused manner that was something he'd learned when he'd started this type of work. It was a tactic that served him quite well; to be honest. It allowed him to pay attention to specifics-such as movement other than that of his company-without letting himself get tense or jumping at shadows.

The only problem is it made others assume you literally had no brain; given the blank, fuzzy-eyed look it gave one.

No matter. He was finally going to get to do what she was paying him for. Or, well, going to be paying for. Raek's tail wagged lazily as he kept his pace, staying close enough to Andrace that he could perform his duties, yet just far enough back he could somewhat pay attention to anyone that wasn't directly behind him.

You know, this could be fun....