The City (IC) [M]

[Mao]

Mao considered the sounds for a moment.  Whatever it was, it didn't sound large.  This was not to say it wasn't a potential threat, but Mao decided that  he should focus on the task at hand.  He moved himself to a stable position as best as he could and started trying to take in the lay of the land and to see if he could gather more information about what was going on.

He took a moment in his search to see if the fellow following him was still behaving oddly.  Mao intentionally turned his face towards the feline as he did so this time, to ensure the fellow was sure he was being watched.  He wasn't sure how the fellow would react, but this too would be important in determining just what was up with him.

[Cogidubnus]

"At ease, brother." Giles said, pausing to light another cigarette. He concealed his hands such that it wasn't immediately obvious he was lighting it with his thumb. "You need to put me on a list or something? I don't have any business worth writing down, so I'll just as soon be on my way."

[Noone]

Kyirri took the item from Raek. It was heavy to him, but manageable. He continued observing things around the room, though he stopped his observations around the room when he heard Andrace call him. He turned his blank looking gaze towards her.

"As you wish." He replied, his voice still completely flat. He took a few steps towards a table, then glanced back at her. "It might be a good idea to check up on miss Fyernos." I just hope she isn't in any danger up there, though, all things considered, she probably is. With that, he went to a table, put the book down, and began looking through it, absorbing every detail, though still keeping his hearing alert. I can't be too sure that no one's going to jump me while I'm reading through this...

[Myr]

"Thanks. When you're done looking, I guess I can hold onto it." He smiled in that toothy fashion of his. "Unless you don't think you can carry it on your own." Raek chuckled in that thick, gruff tone of his as he turned away.

Well, at least that's something, the brutish canine thought as he stepped over to one side. Let them work it out. Besides, his poor stomach was starting to think he'd forgotten it...at least that was easy enough to remedy, thankfully.

The lupine troll leaned into the corner nearest the door...before, of all things, casually dropping the sack he'd bought on the floor-not without a muffled bit of clatter, one might add- and casually began rummaging in it. A little jerky should do it... His lightly fuzzed tail wagged back and forth lazily as he quickly found what he was looking for. Well, this should tide him over for a bit, thankfully.

And, hopefully, the city would provide much better opportunities to sate his hunger...at least so his companions could have something to eat, should they need anything.

[Tipod]

"Payden Velasquez. Officer Velasquez to you." Payden tapped the headphones, readjusting them slightly. Check one, check two, breaker breaker and all that. "Cop since I was old enough to hold a gun straight." He continued to fidget, looking from building to building before finally moving along. "I'm going to find that woman. The, the one with the book." A few minutes more of just standing outside the City limits and he'd chicken out completely. "Stay here."

Payden stormed back towards the inn, keeping both eyes out to make sure Moze wasn't in sight. "Ma'am, you," he half-commanded as he approached the inn's front door. "Sister, isn't it? Are those two kids saying their prayers or what? I told them I'd help, but nobody's going anywhere if we can't get in before nightfall." Bah, young adventurers, either dilly-dallying or rushing headfirst into certain doom.

[Angel]

Black Magic blinked. And blinked again. She was pretty sure the woman was controlling the puppet, but if she was, then why actually get frustrated with it? Unless she was either totally psychotic, a brilliant actress, or both. But, she wasn't about to back down on her invitation to Jess. That would make her look scared, and besides, she'd rather have the rat as an ally than an enemy.

"Oh...kay..." the lioness muttered, a half-amused, half-freaked smirk on her face. She wasn't usually much for showing fear, but she was more unnerved than scared right now. "Well, I think we might have made the others wait long enough, but you've gotta let me hide Mr. B in Mykst's cloak at one point. If he doesn't object to that," Kali added, glancing at the door.

---

Mykst had been idly watching the stairs, wondering when the heck Kali was going to come back down, when he heard a familiar voice. He turned his head to look at Payden. "I'm right here," he said calmly. "Kali's upstairs helping another person with her luggage. She should be down once she realizes we've been waiting this long."

[Stygian]

The rat just sat there, quite still, observing and measuring Kali's reaction. From the doll though, there was a rasping cackle that scraped down the auditive nerve.
  'Wonderful!' Mr. Bonkers exclaimed. 'I'm taking his ey- Mmmmph!'
  Hand clasped over the squirming doll's face, Jess removed the puppet and placed it back in a lacquered box, then shut the lid. Flexing her fingers a bit, she nodded at the lioness distractedly, while her gaze scanned the assortment of objects and devices in the cases before her.
  'Just a moment...' she said, as her hands smoothly glided and flew over the contents. There were a few flickering motions and some small clinking or smooth whispering sounds, but no signs too obvious of the rat equipping herself. The largest object Kali saw her place on her person was a hooked blade of some sort on a chain, but even that disappeared up the inside of the Jess' jacket apparently without a trace. After maybe a minute, she finally slipped a couple of colored vials up her sleeve, and then nodded, apparently satisfied. She stood up, and turned to the lioness with the smirk that appeared to be her most usual expression.
  'There. All set,' she hummed at Kali in an almost sing-song voice, before her expression took on a slight tone of concern. 'Did you see if they had any sort of snacks available downstairs, by the way?' She shot the lioness a curious and disconcertingly sweet look as she passed around her, heading out the door with silky smooth steps, her casual footfalls impeccably silent in spite of the added weight.

[Kafzeil]

Jinx could feel Mao's gaze. Looking up, he did his bets to manage a smile.

However, perhaps due to most of Jinx;'s smiles being scarstic grins ans sneers, his genuine smile looked like a mix between "Awkward teenage Boy aworund his crush" and "Postal Worker with a Rifle on the Top of a Bell Tower."

resuming his climb he did his best to focus on Mao, ignore whatever was slumbering in the Chruch, his manias.

Grabbing onto another outcrop, be beging to shimmey up the edge of the stained glass window.

[Angel]

Black Magic didn't say it out loud, but as she watched Jess quickly, almost imperceptibly, arm herself to the teeth, her gray eyes widened with admiration and fear. This woman was going to be a huge help. Maybe she'd be a rather creepy source of help (that sugary look had done the opposite of its job, but then, who could tell with Jess?), but as long as she was on their side, they were safe. She only hoped the rat wouldn't hog all the fun for herself; there were a few new spells she'd learned before leaving, and she was really hoping to give them a try. Besides,  Mykst wasn't going to be any help if the only people to scare him into being useful were herself, Andrace, Jess, and quite possibly the wolf-troll...Raek, that was his name.

"There were pretzels on the bar, but I think the book ate most of them," the young lion replied, not really knowing if the jester knew anything of Sister Alex's book and not really thinking about it. "If not, we can always come back after all of us have worked up an appetite. I hope they don't object to serving antelope here," she mused, her smile unable to keep itself from revealing her fangs.

[Stygian]

The rat kept her head half-turned back to Kali and an ear cocked as she walked not quite in front and a bit to the side of the lioness back down to the bar and dining room. When she heard the feline's statement, she seemed almost to curl a bit around the midsection for a moment, a hand gesturing closer to her stomach, and she made a frowning expression, poking her tongue out for a moment. It was the most casual, honest expression she'd made up to that point.
   'No good,' the rat commented, and made a little discontented sound. 'Couldn't get anything decent in me that whole bus trip. I hope you don't mind, but I've got to eat something at least...' She walked past Mykst and that eerie fur-less thing that could only be called human, and suggested herself into the attention of Jezebel once more, smirking oddly as she leaned forward over the counter on her elbows.
   'Hay. You got anything to eat on the go? Rolls? Chicken legs, perhaps?' she inquired. 'Maybe just a good drink?'

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's whiskers perked forward and she looked up from sharpening her clawtips when she noticed the sheriff poke his nose in the door. She wondered idly where the armoured human who'd been tossing around fire spells had gone. Could he be in the city already? It would probably be a good idea to listen out for explosions, and watch for rising smoke: that one didn't seem at all subtle about showing his displeasure at anyone — or anything — that annoyed him.

After a few moments the lioness went back to dividing her attention between her claws and looking over Kyirri's shoulder at the map book. Her tail flicked at her hocks as in idea occurred to her, and she turned to Sister Alex. "Say, th' Gutenbergs ought t' have at least a few records o' their own tellin' o' what's in there, don't they?" she asked the grey-robed squirrel, with a nod along the street where the others had gone. "D' y' see anythin' in th' book that matches... or don't match?"

She looked just a little bit relieved to see Kali and Jess finally come back down the stairs, although there was a tinge of "oh no, not again" in her expression when Jess asked the barmaid about food.

[Boog]

"Nah, not at all. Here, let me get the gate for ya." The rat hopped out of his booth and pulled the gate open with a loud scrape. "Every so often we get officials or scientists tryin' to go through the place, THEM I gotta keep track of, but if y'were here on business you'd probably have showed me the paperwork first." He stood at attention again next to the open gateway, grinning at Giles, "Anythin' in particular you headin' in for? If it's just kicks, I suggest avoidin' the red light district on the waterfront. Nuthin' but trouble."

--

"We got some sandwiches and drinks," Jezebel replied to Jess cheerfully, opening up a cooler against the wall behind the counter. "Anything in particular in mind?"
Moze was leaning on the banister near the stairs, and raised an eyebrow when Payden came back. He wasn't IN the inn yet, technically, but he kept his eyes on the cop.

--

Traxen's drone buzzed over the town, eventually zooming in on the bus, its front end crushed around the corner of the post office. Police officers and paramedics were on the scene, as well as a reasonably sized crowd of people gawking. Nearby was a covered body on a gurney being wheeled onto an ambulance. It was hard to place their species under the sheet, but it looked like something with a flat head and a long snout.

--

Far away Mao could "see" the main island of the City, mist hanging over the river around it like steam from hot soup. Here and there smokestacks could still be seen belching pollutants into the sky, but overall the place looked... Quiet.
The suburbs, it could be seen from up here, weren't that large. They didn't even completely encircle the city, simply forming a crescent-moon shape toward the edge before being cut off by the river that surrounded the city proper like a moat. The nearest way into the main portion of the city was a bridge-
...
The end of which was, apparently, exploding. The occassional blast erupted at the toll booths on this side of the bridge, and there were visibly several individuals clustered there doing... something.
The occassional movement apart from the wind was noticeable in the rest of the suburbs, but the source was hard to get a good look at. And that occassional scratching noise from inside the church seemed to be coming up the inside of the tower now...

--

Kaela's bomb got exactly the reception of a leper at a sadomasochism convention, its rattling bouncing presence sending creatures scrambling OVER each other to get away from it. The blast destroyed one of the toll booths and sent another one tilting, clearing out five of the creatures and injuring most of the remaining ones. The iguana took this opportunity to make a break for it, running to the edge of the bridge and climbing along a nearby girder to try and get out of reach, while the other creatures attempted to retreat. One of them, a bobcat with a mouth that curled outward at the edges on one side, pointed at its eyes and then pointed at Ephrael once before turning to flee.

[Lisky]

Watching the fleeing beasts, Ed indiscriminately sent an additional pair of shimmering, misting, bolts into their midst in hopes of dropping another beast or 2 before they cleared his range.

Once they were gone, he started feeling the pain radiating from Eph, and, upon closer observation, noted the location to be her rear.  While Eph was a primary concern for Ed, the newcomer who'd helped the pair deserved at least the most basic of courtesies.  Standing by the wounded tazzie devil lass, Ed said, "think you'll be alright to pry a little deeper? or, do you want to head back to the Inn once we meet this new..." Pausing to look over, he couldn't be sure by appearance alone, due to the rather genderless nature "modern" body-armor tends leave an observe.  Going by the face and frame, particularly hips, Ed guessed at female, the long snout was definably canine however. "Girl...".

Ed wandered ahead, straight towards Kaela.  He folded the vicious tentacles in upon themselves, reforming his rather large wings.  Feeling like a change, he switched to feathered, and added the speckles, patterns and other features of his normal wings... just, fluffier.   Continuing his approach, details became ever more clear, reaffirming his initial belief as he took note of the more subtle cues he could pick out from behind the armor... She was in fact female, wolf, judging by the tail, ears and fur, and she seemed to be well armed.  The shotgun she was toting gave Ed pause, but, managing a nervous smile and a wave he said in his pleasantly rolling tenor, "Good day milady, i... ah... i believe i owe you a thank you for helping out back there."  His nervous grin turning less timid and more friendly as he closed the distance, slowly, and as non-threatening as possible.  Stopping roughly a wing's length away, Ed's smile had turned into a grin, and said with much more confidence, "Edaric, clan Ahnasazi, i feel i owe you something in return for helping me and my friend out of a rather tight spot miss?..."

He carried out the last "ss" tone while keeping his focus on her face.  While talking, he continued to observe her, and try and get a gauge on her thoughts.

[Myr]

The lupine troll paused-having been in the middle of licking those long fingers clean. He'd had sense enough to only eat a mouthful of the supplies he'd just purchased, and for the moment was quite satisfied. Again, more things were happening. Somehow, Raek was morbidly convinced, I get that feeling I'll not ever get to sort things out from today.

Well, that was more than likely true, really.

His pale brown eyes noted that his employer was currently looking at that book with interest with the small, rodentine fellow known as Kyirri, while that newcomer-that female rat- had come back down the stairs asking for something to eat.  No doubt that other feline, Black something or other, would be coming down shortly as well.

I think that one's trouble. His tail wagged lazily despite being pinned in the corner behind him. Looks to be unreliable, and I'd rather make sure my boss doesn't end up with any of that one's weapons sticking out of her back. Or anywhere else. Indeed the aforementioned rat was well-armed, in his opinion...and with a wide assortment of odd implements that looked more likely to induce intense physical suffering with little effort.

Definitely someone to keep an eye on. It was his job to look out for his employer, no matter how capable they were.

Speaking of that one...he glanced at Andrace, just in time to catch that look. He knew what that one was; he'd had it done to him often enough. Without even moving, the canine grunted in a somewhat sour tone. "Make sure it's something they can take with'em, if you want to hurry. You're wasting money if I don't get to do my job, and the sooner we're in there, the sooner I can earn my pay."

[Tipod]

Payden's heart chilled slightly as Jess passed him, turning to give her another look once her back was turned. "...please tell me you didn't invite her to come with us." He spoke very quietly to Mykst, remembering what had happened the last time he spoke too loudly.

Noticing he'd caught the attention of Moze, he gave a little "just one minute here" gesture. "Because there are some people you don't want coming with you into a warzone. Namely people who dress and carry themselves like lunatics."

[Paladin Sheppard]

Picking one of her other special arrows out of her secondary quiver she kissed it before nocking it and letting fly at the Bobcat thing, she knew a threat when she saw one and decided to head it off at the pass. The arrow was crafted and magicked to seek the target the firer chose even through a building....


"Um Ed I dun...feel..soooo...goood...." She slurred before falling flat on her face.

[Stygian]

Rocking on her heels a bit, the rat hummed audibly and tapped a cheekbone with a couple of fingers as she thought for a moment, eyes drifting over the selection of chilled foodstuffs and her nostrils twitching slightly. Along with her ears. She bit her lip, and then pointed toward the cooler.
   'Give me the grilled tuna one, please. And a beer,' she said nonchalantly, passing just a slight glance over her shoulder back toward the man, who was standing just a little too close to Mykst, saying something with his back just a little bit too turned. 'And that orange too. And the apple.' She slipped a couple of bills onto the counter, and then grabbed the items, spinning on a heel and gliding into a smooth step up behind Payden. Holding the chilled can and the sandwich under her arm, and the fruits in her hand, she casually put on her dark glasses again, and then settled her three-pointed hat back on her head, adjusting it for a moment. Then, just as Payden finished speaking, with perfect calm, she slipped a few small lengths of metal out of her sleeve. They gleamed with sharpness, as she raised her hand, and...
   'What're you talking about, boys?' the rat interjected with a manic grin, shooting her head in between the human and the cat, as fruits, knives and a small can of beer spun around her head, her hands juggling them around with expert speed.

[Noone]

Whilst studying the book, Kyirri's sharp hearing detected someone entering the place. He quickly glanced at the entrance, making a mental note of who came in. To his dismay, it was someone he recognized. That person who claimed to be a cop... and was partly responsible for nearly getting me killed, though I suppose the other takes the majority of that blame. Still, I don't like him being in close proximity to those I've sworn to protect... Kyirri continued staring at the map/book, but kept alert as to what interactions were going on between Payden and Kyirri's companions.

After a short pause, he memorized what page he was studying before, and closed the book. He picked it up and took it with him, holding it in both hands. It's certainly bulky... I won't be able to hide carrying this, unlike the rest of my possessions. With a quiet stride, he walked over to Payden and the others. He quickly shot a glance at Jess. Stay focused he thought, and went beside Mykst.

He looked at Payden with a seemingly blank expression. Kyirri spent a moment examining him, but revealing nothing of note. "No one ever said that you were coming with us." Kyirri stated in a completely flat tone.

[Lisky]

Ed's face suddenly switched from mild playfulness to one of worry as Ephy slipped and fell.  He felt it more than observed it, but, when he looked over to see her laying, face-first on the ground he gave Kaela a quick glance and a, "hold that thought..."  while bolting over to Ephrael's side.

Moving with up-most haste, he arrived above her mere seconds after she fell.  The look of concern growing into worry as he tried to get an idea of what happened.  Kneeling at the girl's side, he smiled gently, and said, "looks like we're getting out of here... I've got you, so just rest up."

First using his wings to keep her slightly off the ground, Ed rolled Ephy over, and lifted her up.  One arm under her knees, and the other around her shoulders.  Carrying her over at a quickened pace, but one that was smooth and steady, he approached Kaela again.  He asked, "uhh... do you know anything about medicine... i'm not 100% sure what's wrong... Looks like she took a piece of bone in the rear... but, i don't think it'd cause someone to act soo... negatively."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

When Mykst decided to talk to the sheriff it freed Alex to respond to Andrace's questions about the map book. "The Abbey has quite a few books on this city, but considers none of them particularly reliable. Most of the accounts are rather jumbled and contradictory." With her height advantage she managed to discretely peer over Kyirri's shoulder to see the book before he closed it. It was hard to tell from the quick glance but she thought that the open page looked similar to the map from the memoirs of "Moon Doggie" Moraigne. "The problem isn't a lack of information. The problem is that I won't know which piece of information is correct or incorrect until I see for myself."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen gave a general affirmative as Payden said he was going in to look for the book-girl. Payden talked to a few people, and the headset of course picked what he said up, but Traxen paid little attention. Traxen started looking over the parts of Payden's gun, picking up the pieces and examining them individually. He also glanced over his shoulder at the wall of monitors to look at the screen displaying the active drone's view. After one particular glance, he saw something other than the tops of buildings. Traxen turned around competely, and looked on in slight horror.
  It turned out a bus had gone and crashed. As bad as it looked, officials and rescue workers already appeared to have the entire situation under control. Traxen somewhat wished he could help, but of course, there really wasn't anything he could do if the authorities had everything covered.
  It still made Traxen rather sad, though.
  Somewhat glum, he set the drone to recall, and turned his attention back to Payden. "Did you give the other headset to the book-mage yet?" Traxen asked.

[Gareeku]

"Damn it..." The white wolf muttered to himself as he realised that he hadn't been quiet enough, and heard that whoever had been made the noises had heard them as return. Hearing the gasp, the lupine took off into a run with his feline companion. As he ran, Gareeku heard that whoever it was, they were obviously trying to escape somewhere, but their plan hadn't exactly gone the way they wanted to, judging from the crashing and cursing.

Finally catching up to the cause of the sounds, the lupine warrior saw that it was in a fact a being. Frog by species, Gareeku noted the stranger's orange and black skin, together with his tweed coat and the bag full of papers slung over his shoulders. The look in the whimpering frog's eyes was wide and fearful; it seemed that in the frog's previous experience, strangers meant bad news. This was further supported when the strange started to escape through the street.

"Hey...hey wait!" Gareeku practically commanded as the frog escaped, stepping forward after the stranger only to watch him climb down to the street below, run, and then disappear.

"...Shit..."

Running one of his hands through his hair, the wolf sighed to himself as he looked around the room, only now noticing that it was like an office, except that it was filled with carvings and sculptures of ancient heroes and figures...athletes...politicians...all important people of forgotten ages that were long past. As he looked around the room with curiosity and interest visibly evident on his face, his eyes fell upon the pencil and paper that were left behind. Looking closer as Aisha did, he found the paper to have a sketching of a bust of an old man. As he looked at it, he listened to Aisha comment on what they had stumbled across.

"Agreed...not sure what to make of it myself, either...whoever he is, he certainly likes to surround himself in history and culture." Gareeku replied. As Aisha put her hand that held the sketch on the flat sarcophagus, he too noticed the other sketch of the stern-looked lupine. Noticing the scar that the sketched lupine possessed, Gareeku couldn't help but smirk for a moment. This smirk would soon disappear quickly, however, when the white wolf heard the soft knock. Thinking at first that it was merely Aisha tapping on it, he quickly realised that the knock had come from inside the thing. Glancing to the sarcophagus, Gareeku then looked at Aisha.

Just what the hell was going on?

[Angel]

Mykst was, at first, just slightly nervous about the question Payden asked. After all, he was controlling himself rather well now, and the cat didn't want another fight to break out. He was just about to explain, as politely as he could, that it hadn't been his idea to let Jess into the group, when she popped up right between them out of nowhere and juggling and grin and knives.

"MREOW!" Mykst almost fell backward, and his fur fluffed for just a moment before he took a breath and it settled. Damn, that rat was quiet! He wasn't scared, he was just amazed. Ordinarily, it wasn't hard for him to hear footsteps, but clearly, Jess was well-trained. "Na...nothing. This is Sheriff Velasquez, and he asked me and the others to join him earlier. Sheriff, this is Jess, and -"

"I invited her to come with us," Kali called from the stairwell, where she'd seen and heard everything with a smirk. She started to walk towards the group. "Sheriff, can I talk to you for a minute?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Like Gareeku, Aisha as well took the time to better notice her surroundings.  The painting in particular caught her attention, causing her to quirk an eyebrow.  I wonder who that is anyway, to warrant this painting and this similar sketch.

She didn't have to think for long.  When a soft thump came up from the surface of the sarcophagus and was felt in waves by her hand, she jerked back suddenly, leaving the drawing upon the ancient coffin.

Frozen in slight shock and watching the thing closely, she glanced to the white wolf, and back again.  "What in the world was that...?" she murmured, aloud if only to break the awkward silence.

Her hand then went back to her sword, resting on the pommel as she kept a close eye on the coffin.  There was definitely something strange going on.  On the one hand, it would be wise to walk away.  But on the other hand, there would be no way to know if their strange runaway had someone trapped inside, on their last breath.

It could also be an undead monster.  Who knew with this place...this strange City?  But there was only one way to know.  And one way or another they would probably be doing some good.

Aisha made her decision.  She drew the sword and stepped up to it.  "Be ready, Gareeku," she said.  "I'm gonna try something."

The panther wouldn't open the coffin yet...her caution was overriding curiosity, and thus she had to make sure what she heard was right.  With her fist, she reached out and knocked on it herself, twice, and just loud enough.

[Mao]

Mao noted the smile, but thought no further on it.  There was something strange about this fellow for sure, but he didn't have time to figure it out.   He quickly considered the situation and the two options presented to him.

"Do I take the risk and investigate the explosions, where there is likely to be trouble and in large quantities, or brave the inside of an unknown building to potentially save someone while walking into what is likely a trap."  he said, quietly to himself.

"Right.. guess the choice is obvious."

Mao began to make his way down the church as quickly as he could, jumping where and where he could safely.  He nodded towards the feline as he did so.  Pausing for a moment as he explained what he was doing.

"I'm going to see what's happening inside.  There are explosions happening nearby so perhaps being out of sight inside a building is the safest approach of the two." he said quickly and quietly.

With that said, he continued his trek down with the full intent of making his way towards the snoring sound, and hoping to safely discover the source of the scratching sound.  Unhappily, he rasped his staff in his right hand, fearing that he may soon have to use it.

"Hopefully this will be the most that it comes to.."

He felt the cold and unpleasant presence of his katars against the side of his thighs and sincerely hoped that they would be able to stay there.

[Tipod]

A strangled choke rasped from Payden's throat as he staggered back; that damned rat almost gave him a heart attack on the spot. "...I'll get back to you," he grumbled to Jess as the hammerings in his chest slowed, giving a glare to both her and Kyirri. And I'll be getting to you sooner or later, you punk. Didn't give the best years of my life to beings just to have some little snot talk like that to me.

As Traxen's voice buzzed in his ear, Payden felt his blood pressure rise once more. "Give me a Goddamned minute here, I just had to deal with some... some clown." He lumbered over to the stairwell to meet Kali with a light scowl. "You invited a clearly unbalanced woman to join us? How do we know she's not going to kill us when our backs are turned?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace sighed and nodded to Sister Alex. "No more 'n I was expectin'," she said, "But it woulda been nice t' be a bit more sure o' what we're stickin' our tails into." At least, most of what she'd read looking over Kyirri's shoulder had been fairly coherent. Accuracy... they'd have to wait and see. It was no fun at all following maps and directions written by lunatics — although it did get exciting at times.

The lioness flicked an ear towards Mykst when he yowled. She'd seen Jess walking up behind him and the sheriff, but in hindsight, she hadn't heard the rat. She'd been taught how to move quietly on her pawpads, but this was almost total silence. Her sister Despina could duplicate the effect with a sound-deadening spell, but Jess hadn't cast any spells at all: at least, not obviously.

Something else to keep in mind, Andrace thought as she finished working on her claws and put the sharpening steel back into its hidden pocket, was the rat's sense of humour. Sneaking up on people like that wasn't too bad, but the juggling was downright weird. Would they all have to wander through the city with one ear turned back, listening for a footfall that wasn't there?

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen got a bit of a rough responce to his question, which surprised him. Payden was worked up about something, and Traxen immediately found out what; Payden's next words were also broadcast back to Traxen.
  "You invited a clearly unbalanced woman to join us? How do we know she's not going to kill us when our backs are turned?"
  "Umm... Officer Vlasquez?" Traxen said hesitantly, "At the risk of agitating you further... I'll be watching everyone's backs for you, it's part of what I'm offering. And if you genuinely are worried about a specific individual, I think I have a few options you might want to hear about first..."

[Kafzeil]

Jinx nodded at Mao, carefully sliding down and carefully attempting to stay close to Mao, eventually landing in next him on the ground.

Quite frankly he agreed with this Adventurer. He usually saw Adventurers as idiotic, rushing head long into danger for glory. even if they don't know what exactly what it was. Observation from the shadows was his preferred MO. Still, for some reason he...liked this guy. He wasn't sure why but then again, being around this Nictarl felt...nostalgic...

He looked at mao as he landed next to him. "I'm comin' with. But let's find a backdoor. I don't know what's in there, but let's avoid figthing...Whatever the Hell it is."

Jinx made sure his luggage was untouched before dragging it along, looking at his rapier and reading his revolver, pulling back the hammer. "If things get ugly, we run."He muttered at Mao.

He had no idea what was in the Church. A Demon, a Dragon? Something Else? Maybe it just a pissed off giraffe or his mind playing tricks on him.

The feline begun heading to the rear of the Church, hoping to find a discreet way in.

[Myr]

Oh, joy. A snack and entertainment. Still going to keep an eye on that one, Raek thought as he watched the larger rodent juggle the items with considerable finesse. The troll-wolf didn't doubt for an instant she could use the other materials on her person with equal talent. Not to mention her silent style of movement...it reminded him of something. Of course, he wasn't sure as to what, but still. Something to keep in mind.

Still, even a little entertainment was a plus, no matter how dubious the source seemed.

It was also vaguely amusing about the reactions the human had to her-though fully warranted. Raek didn't like unpleasant surprises either. Of course, when your back was as thickly muscled as his the typical knife tended to not get very far....

Oh well. The lupine mythos grunted, shifting position a little as he watched the exchange. If his employer, miss Andrace, decided to intervene he'd be right by her side. Or he could wait outside. Both had equal appeal at the moment. Raek rolled a pale eye at the mentioned feline, ears perked as she had her discussion with the little fellow and that one with the talking book.

Well, if they weren't done discussing things...he could wait. Not like he could walk off from a contract anyway-verbal or not. Just had to hope they'd get moving, and soon...