The City (IC) [M]

[Stygian]

For the very first time since anyone in the group had seen her, the rat seemed surprised. Her eyes flicked wide open as the huge, gnarly fist stopped right in front of her face, and the bells on her hat jingled cheerfully. She blinked. The response had been completely unexpected, and his reply was so off that it took a moment for her mind to retrace her steps and try to comprehend it.
  'Hmm? Well, that...' she said, distraction in her voice. She seemed to take a mental note. Then, she raised her eyes over his knuckles, and as she took in the look on his features, she erased it and made a new, slightly modified one. She raised a hand, and then a single index finger.
  'For general sensibility, forget discussing stuff,' she said. Then she took a couple of steps, pointedly backing away from the fist, giving Raek a little smile and a tilt of her head, and strolled over to beside the booth, looking forward down the street and into the city.

[Myr]

Raek's ears quirked as his brutish head tilted quizzically. What? I thought she was trying to court me...Eh, well, she wasn't my type anyway...not nearly enough muscle. The lupine Mythos checked a sigh as the rodent walked away. Then again, it was doubtful he'd be able to get a date among his own species-he was a runt, by their standards...if you counted being only a foot or so shorter at the shoulder as such.

Even so, it tended to be a bit depressing that he'd been turned down.

Though, maybe she didn't know that was one of the means of courtship for his kind? You impressed each other with your strength-though admittedly the girls were much stronger than the boys, despite their svelte, muscled frames. After that, it was just a matter of staying alive after the nuptials. And why there weren't ever that many trolls, to be honest, by extension.

Hmm, oh well. His tail drooped slightly as she walked away-pretty much following Traxen's bug-er, machine. He still needed to adjust to thinking of it as an oversized tinker's toy, and not some freakish, metallic insect. Pity he hadn't heard that decidedly detailed bit of information about the chap! Though...he did have the sheer gall to ask one question of Jess as her back was turned.

"What stuff?" His muzzle wrinkled in mild confusion as those pale eyes watched her retreating figure...and rested on it as she stopped to look into the city.

[Boog]

Moze was behind the bar when Kaela walked up, face brightening and nodding approvingly at her visible equipment. "Good to see someone show up able to handle things, I'm sick of seeing kids walk off with a sword and a grin..." The man noticed Ed and the injured girl and grimaced, "You can see to your injuries upstairs. If she's really bad I can drive you to the hospital in town."  When he turned back to Kaela, the brief rejuvination at seeing another practical adventurer had been replaced by a somewhat more exhausted look. He didn't like seeing young people hurt. A slight smile broke through the lines on his face. "What can I get ya?"

---

The demon girl raised an eyebrow at Witt, finished whatever she was doing with the tattoo and threw on her coat again, letting it drape over her wings, making them almost look like part of her shoulders. She looked more... Solid, with the coat on. Concealed, the wings looked more like a carapace. Or armor. She grabbed her cane and got back up with a grimace.
"A man by the name of Jeremiah Ac'Gregor. I want him dead, I think he's here, and you seemed like the right sort to help me for that. From what I've seen of the city I'll need..." She scowled, as if the following word tasted bad, "... Backup."

--

"Probably about... 26 hours. Give or take. Marvin locked me in there. I'll explain while we walk, come on. We need to leave." The shrew shook her head once and reached back into the sarcophagus, pulling out a notebook. "Knew you two would be showing up though. Two adventurers, it's all right in here." She tapped the side of the notebook once, "I've worked it all out. There's a few discrepencies, but I may have messed up a calculation somewhere." The girl was babbling, already leading the way out of the office and down the hall. "There's a war going on. Well, sort of a war. Could you call it a war with this many sides? I mean, you could also call it a clusterfuck, but that would be crude..."

---

In the church the snoring appeared to be coming from above Mao and Jinx, from the stairwell leading up to the steeple...
The scratching got closer. To Jinx, someone about six inches to the left of his ear said "Wonder what that is..."

---

The rat hissed as he heard more of Traxen's plan. "It could take DAYS to get there on foot, pal. If you're gonna go up there you're gonna need to find some sort of transportation. Most of the traffic's hungry, so you may not wanna hail a cab." He opened the gate, "Good luck."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex listened to Traxen's suggestion and the guard's advice. Traxen's idea of searching out and acquiring a vehicle within the city didn't seem practical even before the rat warned them, if she understood correctly, that such items were sentient and carnivorous.  The Order of St. Gutenberg was a strong proponent of thoughtful integration of technology and magic, owning multiple patents advancing the printing trade, but she was relatively certain she couldn't activate or control a motorized vehicle without training and practice. And it would be a surprise if any of her companions had adequate practice in the subject.

"As the day is already getting short I would suggest that we use what remains to investigate as far as we can while still able to return to the Inn at sunset. We can assess how slow travel is and if there is any useable transportation available. Then tonight we can decide if City Hall is a practical or even possible destination." Sister Alex turned to the kangaroo rat. "Does the map book show City Hall?" she asked as she began rummaging in her bag for her own notes on the city. To her memory most of the extant map's markings tended towards notes more along the lines of "Danger," "Monsters," and "Do not disturb" than street or building names.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen said a simple 'thank you" to the gate guard's advice as he opened the gate for them. The book-mage then spoke up about being more cautious about getting to City Hall, if at all. Interesting change from "city hall seems like a good starting point", but Traxen wasn't going to complain. If they were set back a day, then they were set back a day. Made no difference to Traxen, he could stay here as long as he wanted. However, he then heard her mention something about a "map-book"...
   "Map-book? What map-book? What are you talking about?" Traxen inquired.

[Lisky]

Ed nodded to the inn-keeper, "she'll be alright, just sleeping off the after affects of something that some type of beast gave her... Hopefully she'll wake up soon, but for now, i hope this will cover the price of a room."

Ed reached into the small bag partially hidden by his wings and produced a large silver coin.  He smiled politely as he deposited the coin on the bar and headed towards the rooms upstairs.  Choosing a vacant one, Ed laid Eph down on a bed when he noted the emotions coming from the room next door, 2 occupants, one feeling... regret, and more than a little self loathing... the other, felt like mild amusement... Using his winged tentacles to tuck the Tazzy devil girl in, and gently lay her on her side, while still tucking her in, Ed headed down stairs towards the bar where Moze and Kaela seemed to be.

The Incubus's tentacles made their way out of the room, one peeked around the corner, and beyond the partially closed door, the mohawked draconian head cocked a bit to the side, as if considering things, while peering into the room... it could clearly see the back of a rather stout and spiky fellow, and a Demoness.  After a few moments of observation, it then followed the others downstairs as the small swarm retracted into Ed's wings.  

He smiled politely at Moze and and asked, "Do you think i could get a pint of something... preferably only lightly alcoholic... if you've got some, a pint of weissbier would be perfect."

Ed smiled politely as he turned to Kaela, "if you want anything, just let me know... it's on me."

(OOC note, Pal has informed me he hasn't been feeling to well, and might be on sporadically for a little while... although he gave me permission to auto Ephy, via PM, i think leaving her at the Inn is the safest bet)

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace watched Jess and Raek with an amused twitch of her whiskers. Aw, how cute, she thought, they're flirtin' — well, long as th' big guy don't fool around on my dollar, it's nothin' t' stick m' tail into. She'd certainly seen weirder couples: Aunt Penelope's husband was a mouse, and her fourth cousin Hesiod was dating a Mythos with two heads and an odd, four-legged body.

The lioness perked her ears towards the discussion of their route to the City Hall. It looked like there might still be problems after all. She snorted quietly, keeping her annoyance from showing on her face, and nodded to Sister Alex. "I'm not too keen on that," she said, "but y're right, we're runnin' out o' daylight."

As the guard-rat opened the gate, she strode forward, planted herself right at his side, and looked sternly down at him. "So, what're y' sayin' — that we can't get there in one day on foot, an' we can't trust any abandoned-lookin' vehicles we find in there? Y' got any good advice, f'r a change? Or d' we just skip gaily off wi' one last wave, an' hope f'r th' best?"

Andrace hoped she hadn't overdone it in confronting the guard so directly. She knew this not-quite-threatening-but-maybe-intimidating pose — paws set wide apart, hands on hips, shoulders thrown back and chest pushed forward — had a pretty good success rate. She'd practiced in front of a mirror since she was six years old, and chosen as a likely prospect to survive her family's full Adventurer training regimen. Sometimes she didn't even need to lay her ears back or growl.

They did need some useful answers before they went any further, though, and the guard was the only one who could help them. The lioness was itching for action — although hopefully not the kind that had sent that dark-furred girl back to the Last Chance with a poisoned wound in her butt...

[techmaster-glitch]

   Upon hearing Andrace, Traxen changed track (but didn't forget about the alledged "map-book"), and interjected with his own response. "I seriously doubt every single abandonded vehicle we're going to pass by is going to be unsafe, but if the city and everything in it really is that infested with bad mojo, then frankly, I'm wasting my time here. Reason why I doubt this is because people like the barkeeper have gone in and out multiple times and for all intents and purposes seem intact enough physically and mentally, and I don't think that'd be likely if everything and the bolts that make it up are bad, through and through. We just have to check everything before using it, which is just basic caution in the first place for a place like this. But even if every single automobile in every driveway, parking lot, and on the side of the road really is all funked up, heck, I can just hash together a makeshift trailer that everyone can sit on, and hook it up 'Cawv here. You guys won't go without funtional long-range transport if I have anything to build about it. I am Mr. Make-it. Don't forget that."

[Stygian]

Jess shrugged, not seeming to speak directly to Raek while her gaze slowly panned over the street that lay ahead.
   'Just... stuff. You don't seem a conversationalist, so let's get something to actually flesh out the talking, if there has to be any.' She smirked for a moment and idly flexed her fingers, her knuckles cracking. Then, cocking her head to the side, bells jingling, she turned her gaze and seemed to listen intently to Alex's and Andrace's remarks, her face oddly composed for a moment. Swaying on her heels slightly, she nodded, eyes not entirely focused, and flicked her thick tail around a bit.
   'If we haven't got a map nor a transport that'll let us explore, perhaps we should just make a short foray and camp in some building if we can't make it back until nightfall?' she asked, putting an almost senseless indication of confidence and ease into her tone, suggesting that as far as she was concerned, there wasn't much that could put a dent in that plan. She wasn't all that impressed with Andrace's attempt at intimidation; for some reason she expected the lioness to laugh and fly off into the sky at any moment. And the way she held her chest out was more likely to spoil the effect she desired by way of distraction.
   'Personally,' the rat continued, clasping her hands behind her back, 'I'd like to be back before then, at least this night. I'm sure Mangy over there agrees with me when I say that we'll get tired and hungry before that, and no one seems to have brought that much in the way of supplies. Later on, I'm sure we can fix up something better, but for now we should just explore a little while. I'm getting tired of standing around here.' She turned her head this way and that, as though looking for cars at a crossing, and took a few strolling steps down the street. Then she stopped to spin on one foot, look back, and raise her eyebrows, giving the others an admonishing, almost exhorting stare.

[Noone]

Kyirri briefly turned to Sister Alex. "It didn't when I last checked it, but I could inspect it again. However, if it's beyond reach for today's march, we might want to check another place." Preferably after ditching Traxen and Payden. He paused for a moment to consider his options. He briefly addressed Raek. "I need it back, for now."

[Myr]

   Raek blinked, his one furless ear twitching back at the feminine rat's reply.

   It was true that he wasn't overly inclined to conversation-at least when working. It just made it easier for him to concentrate on whatever he was being paid to do...enough though right now that was technically being the big, scary bodyguard that could bite the average being's head off in a single go. Or almost, anyway. Er, nevermind. Don't even imagine that.

   And pity he didn't notice Andrace's amusement at what had happened; he might have actually been embarrassed. Ah, the things that never happen are always of the most interesting sort, no?

   But still...the lupine Mythos let his muzzle crinkle into a slightly confused frown. "Er...Okay. Maybe we can...talk some other time." Well, Raek hoped she was referring to idle banter; he'd already decided Jess was a mix between a potential threat, and someone that could at times be mildly interesting.

   He shrugged, huffing a little as he was then immediately torn between what Traxen was saying about being the one to fix things-as well as a certain small 'roo-rat asking for that book. Eh, if he wants to, the troll-wolf thought, I'm sure I can find replacements if my axe breaks though. Or resort to much more...ah, natural weapons that he had at his disposal.

"Hmm?" He glanced down at the little fellow, ears quirking slightly as his barely furred tail flicked into a slightly predominate arch one might expect from wolves in general. "The book?" He shrugged, before lifting his arm slightly and allowing it to drop into his waiting free hand with a respectfully heavy thump. Ergh...personally one might still want gloves after where that poor treasure of a book had been...but, oh well. "Here," He grunted in a slightly sour fashion as he held it towards the 'roo-rat in question.

[Noone]

Kyirri felt a sharp pain as the book's weight pressed against his left hand. He let out a soft grunt, but made no other indications of discomfort, until smelling the book. He gave Raek a blank look, but said nothing. Urgh... can't trust him with simple tasks... He brushed at the book's sides with his gloves, trying to clean the book while keeping the stink from getting on his gloves. In a flat tone, staring at the book, he spoke. "Next time you hold something, try to keep unpleasant odors off of it." After a brief cleaning, he opened it up, trying not to put too much stress on his left arm. Damn it, why now?

He looked through it silently, trying to find mention of the City Hall.

[Kafzeil]

In one swift movement, Jinx's head turned, arm extending and pointing his revolver at...

...Nothing. The assassin's brain lurch. Was the city messing with him already? Or was he already just insane? He gulpped, feeling nausious at the implications of it all...

His arm feel listlessly to it's side, a lose grip on his firearm.His mouth agap as the feline felt a chill go down his spine, his brain felt like it could just crawl out of his skull at any given moment.

[Lisky]

The spotted feline reached into his pouch and produced several additional coins with which he left for Kaela.  After a few moments of "careful" consideration, Ed decided that, with his attention span, within an hour of drinking, HE'D be under the table.  His tentacles, on the other hand, they'd go wherever they felt like.  Probably not a good situation with possible friends around.

With his mind made up, Ed headed for the door and whispered to Raeleg, "let's get back to the gate" Waving as he headed out the door again, he smiled slightly deviously at Kaela, "I'll be back around sun-set, if you're feeling adventurous you can join me... After I'm gone, i'll have Raeleg come back here..."  With a friendly wave, Ed headed out as the Warp Aci spun head-over-heels, and sliced a small portal in the air.

Just inside the City gate, a slice appeared on the inner wall, facing the city.  Through it, the same incubus the others had seen before, appeared...  Ed's wings were leathery, rather than feathered.  Fe found the lioness and holy-woman who'd helped him a few minutes ago, and bowed deeply before them, spreading his wings, nearly flat with his back.  After the polite gesture, he said in a soft, and slightly humbled tone, "I came to thank you two more properly for your help earlier.  If you don't mind working with an Incubus, I would wish to provide my services in exchange for the help you've already generously supplied to my friend."  

"who is sleeping back at the in." He added quickly.

[Gareeku]

The wolf said nothing while Aisha asking the shrew if she was ok. As the girl began to walk out of the room, babbling to herself, Gareeku glanced at the pantheress, before looking back at the stranger who was already on her way out of the door.

"Whoa. Hey." the wolf said as he caught up to her, standing in front of her and blocking her path. His voice was calm, but also somewhat authoritative. "First off, do you even have a name? Second, what do you mean there's a war going on?" Gareeku asked, his arms folded. He could understand the girl's wishes to leave that place as soon as possible, having been trapped in that sarcophagus, but there were questions that needed answering. "And who is this Marvin? We chased after a frog being which led us to you. Is that him?"

[Aisha deCabre]

What a chatterbox, Aisha deduced after a moment of hearing the shrew speak, one ear perking up out of curiosity.  Either she was still energetic from adrenaline and fear, or something was a little bit off about her.

The panther followed Gareeku's lead as she watched him stop the rodent in her tracks, asking the same questions that were also swishing through her mind.

"Not to mention, amiga," Aisha piped in, using the title rather loosely as she stood right behind the girl with her arms crossed.  "You knew that two adventurers would be coming?  How?  Did you know it would be us, specifically?"

One thing was for sure, if Aisha was about to play along with someone's plan, she wasn't going to go without knowing as much as possible.  Doubtless, Gareeku had the same idea.  The look in her crimson eyes turned rather stern.  "Because, see, I'd rather not have someone assume that I would go along with any kind of war."

[Boog]

"We should talk while we walk, there's places we need to be," The shrew replied to Gareeku, trying to duck around Gareeku. As more questions were asked, however, she blinked a few times and slowed down. "Fine, but we need to get a move on." She took a deep breath and began ticking off answers.
"When I say war I mean... Well, depends who you ask. Some figure it's over rebuilding this place to how it used to be, some are trying to finally level the place, some want to find treasure, some are still here from when the place fell... Gang violence would be more accurate, but most gangs don't get this powerful. Marvin owns the museum these days; he moved in, he lives here, and he doesn't take well to intruders. I was here to check on something, and I did, but he found me before I could get out. Tall sort of man, a rat. Blind, but that doesn't really seem to hold him back much- Oh, the frog was here?" She blinked. "Huh, that's... Pretty different, actually. Then again, he's new in town. There could be factors I hadn't considered. He seems pretty harmless, but then I heard he shot Lasting Eddie with a crossbow so I could be wrong." She looked around nervously, "We really should get moving, there's places we have to be really soon."
There was a level of urgency in the girl's voice, her fingers curling and uncurling like the nervous habits of an obsessive compulsive in an oil slick.

--

Kyirri did manage to find mention of city hall. The book even had photographs of it; a huge white marble building that looked like it was have statehouse and half fortress. It was indeed smack in the middle of the main part of the city, probably at least two days walk. MAYBE less if they walked through the old subway systems; some around the area were marked off as safe. There were remarkably less of them then the ones marked off as dangerous.

The rat backed down from Andrace's advance, grinning nervously. "I'm tryin' to be of help, darlin', really I am. It's just that the place is unpredictable, and what works once might not work again. You really want something to go on?" He sighed, "Then here's what I DO know. There's these things that look like goblins with huge heads that float? You'll wanna kill 'em from far off, they're full o' spores. And if you see someone that has grafitti or metal grates or cinderblocks ON 'em, try to give 'em a wide berth unless that's really an' truly not an option."

[Cogidubnus]

Giles stood at the edge of the river and smoked awhile, taking alternating looks at one method of transportation across, and then the other. He made a sour face, flicking the remains of the cigarette into the river.
"What am I, stupid?"

He took a breath, and gestured, pulling with his right hand. Fire sprang into existence, at first simply the normal red of all flames - but as the moments passed, it turned fiery blue, and then white, as the ambient temperature around the blackguard seemed to, instead, drop.
In front of him, the top of the river froze lightly, and then continued to freeze, a thick sheet of ice forming across the body of water. He kept going for a few seconds, the ice continuing to thicken, and the white hot flame growing until it was the size of a watermelon - and then the blackguard stopped, and threw the ball of fire straight up. It took off like a rocket, flying into the sky before lightly detonating and scattering itself.

His iron boot crunched on the foot-thick ice - it wouldn't remain here for long, but more than long enough to cross a river. He walked, smiling, and lit another cigarette.

[Mao]

Not wasting a moment, Mao made his way towards the stairwell, taking a brief moment as he strode by to look at the surroundings as much as he could.  There was some odd discoloration to the wall that his sight revealed to him but he couldn't be quite sure what it was.  Given the smearing pattern, he felt he had an idea.  Being careful to be mindful of his surroundings he began to ascend the stairwell, hoping that his caution wouldn't cause him to be too late to possibly save whoever might be up stair, though the sound of the scratching seemed to now be below him, the speed at which it traveled there was incredible.  It could be upon him in moments if he wasn't mindful.  Regardless, he continued on, noting once again the odd behavior of the fellow who had been following him, "Pointing a weapon at empty air?", he thought "Similar behavior to before.  It seems I'm going to have to keep a close eye on him.  There's definitely something not right there."

He felt the cold weight of the katars wrapped up and folded in his robe press against his stomach, almost as though they wished to be let out.  The thought was dismissed, but Mao couldn't deny that given the armaments the fellow was carrying and the general disposition of the fellow he may need to answer the call to violence.  "Hopefully it won't be necessary."  He reached back and grasped the familiar feeling of smooth wood that was his staff.  "No, it shouldn't come to that."  Mao continued up the stairwell cautiously, being careful to not make a creak by only stepping on parts of the boards that were near support points, and thus joined tighter, preventing the squeaking of the boards rubbing together.  "No need to announce to this place that I'm here and moving about."  He smirked at the thought, and continued on his way.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex's attention was divided every which way. There were so many people in the group now and she hadn't been introduced to half of them, and everyone seemed to have different goals. The bell-girl was through the gate and gesturing for people to follow, Andrace was trying to get more information from the guard, the kangaroo rat was searching the book, and Traxen was going on about his ability to tame the feral vehicles. She gave the van a hard look, wondering if he was some sort of bait for the man-eating cars. Before she could follow that thought any further a magical gate opened up and the cubi from a few minutes before returned. He bowed and offered assistance in repayment for the help offered to the injured girl. Alex offered a nod in return, "I hope she is feeling better. For myself I expect no repayment from either her or you. My order is charitable and helps where it may. If you wish to join our group I have no objections." The squirrel glanced in Sheriff Payden's direction, expecting the first and loudest objection to come from that direction.

[techmaster-glitch]

   As Traxen watched the going-ons around him as people continued to prepare for the expedition ahead, he took particular note of two things; one, the small rat was looking through was was probably the previously mentioned "map-book" for any mention of city hall. Traxen was very interested in this. But then, that Creature who had come earlier carrying the injured girl reappeared, requesting to join the group. Traxen frowned at this development, but figured he'd just have to live with it.

***

  Possibly to Sister Alex's surprise, the van broadcasted Traxen's voice first. "I can't say I'm exactly thrilled to have a Creature along, but I suppose I'll manage. Although, I would like to ask you about that remarkable warping creature sometime..."
  After saying this, the van inched towards Kyirri. "Hey...is that really a map of the city? Oh, man, if it is...I'd very much like to see it when you're done, please. I promise I'll give it back, I'll only need it for ten minutes or so."

[Noone]

Kyirri scanned the book, taking into account distances, probabilities, how fast they could move. He peered at the pictures of the structure, analyzing the details. When Traxen asked for the book, Kyirri let out a sharp "No.", then resumed looking through the map. Two days, this place is large... no wonder it's such a mess, administrating a place like this must take an impressive magnitude of competence and effort. Then there's the pictures, that structure looks like it's made for defense. That must mean this place is either an old fortress, which I doubt, or that it's horribly insecure, probably the latter. After scanning through it, he turned towards Sister Alex, facial expression as blank as ever. Damned arm... I really need to take care of that when the others aren't looking...

"Yes, it does, it is approximately in the center of this place, assuming this source is correct. By my estimations, it would take us at least two days to reach that location by foot. I should also add that the structure looks like it is a fortification." And it's probably because the place is in constant political upheaval, if we go there, we're not likely to receive anything but hostility. I think I'll keep my thoughts to myself though unless asked... on this matter.

He then turned to Edaric, scanning him up and down. His reason for aiding us makes sense, though I wonder what he was doing in here before we met him. He looks capable, as well. After a thorough scanning, Kyirri spoke. "I have no objections. I'd say he's more trustworthy than some in our present company, after all." He stood silent for a moment, then turned to Sister Alex, then spoke again.

"Speaking of which, if he has some method of teleportation... as previously demonstrated, we may not have to walk all the way to the city hall, if we still wish to go there." It would also be a perfect opportunity to ditch Payden and Traxen...

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace nodded in acknowledgement to the guard-rat and gave him one last look suggesting that, if he'd given them any bad information and someone got hurt, she'd come back and express her displeasure... with the aid of an Ouija board, if necessary. Keeping an eye on the others as they discussed the map book, and whether it showed the City Hall accurately, distracted her for a moment. When the spotted 'Cubi reappeared in a Warp-aci teleport, she heard him out then glanced at Sister Alex and nodded.

"Yeah, sure, we'd be glad t' have y' along," she said, "Y' look like y' know what y' doin', an' y' just been in there, y' could mebbe give us a bit o' warnin' if somethin' nasty shows up." The lioness had worked with 'Cubi before, as well as hunting them, so she was familiar with their sometimes capricious nature. Besides, he was cute-looking. Hopefully he wouldn't get distracted by something shiny, or just plain forget what he was doing, just as a monster turned up to chew on someone else's butt.

Andrace perked her ears up as another thought occurred to her. "Kyirri's got a good point 'bout tel'portin'," she said, flicking her tail-tuft to indicate the roo-rat. "M' sister had a Warp-aci f'r a while, though — how many places in th' city does y'r one know how t' go to? Oh, an' does it have any... weird or annoyin' habits?"

[Myr]

Great, more to watch.

The musclebound lupine blinked as the incubus made his appearance again. And while it'd been noted by others that his beloved pet wasn't on the menu, the Mythos had to wonder about it. Not to distraction, thank heavens, but still. Maybe his odd thoughts were arising from the fact he was deliberately attempting to ignore his stomach and start scarfing down the supplies he'd traded for. They were for everyone; not just his seemingly bottomless chasm of a gullet.

Besides, by his reasoning he'd be finding plenty to eat once they went inside...provided it didn't eat him first. Eh, that was life. If it was tougher than him, so be it-Raek wasn't interested in the least about considering himself more powerful than a regular being, or trying to be on par with some of the more potentially dangerous creatures and whatnot that roamed the world. Granted, he wouldn't go down without putting up a fight to the best of his ability first, though.

Then again, if anyone went by the base reputation for the Troll races in general, many things wouldn't be willing to try and eat him...they'd assume he was probably one of the most unsanitary things in existence, and thusly just try pound him into mush, if they could. Or get him with fire. Had to respect that.

For all their purported regenerative ability, Trolls in general were actually quite easy to kill if you were careful. Really, just whoosh, and make sure they can't get to water and it's over pretty quick. That, and play the game of 'keep away' so you don't go down with'em. Annnyway....

Not to mention he was still puzzling over Jess's rather cryptic words-well, cryptic to him, anyway.

So it was that he listened to everyone talk with half an ear...or well, a furless one, anyway. Kind of sad when technically he only did have half an ear, if you considered the lack of fluff. But no matter. His employer had recruited the 'cubi and his interesting snac-er, pet, as well mention of teleporting. Egh, he had a few less-than-fond memories of such things...but the brute couldn't deny it was a useful thing to have at one's disposal. Just the last time he'd ever done it, the one performing the spell had learned the hard way about precisely what 'upset stomach' means when a Mythos that's willing to eat the mold growing in the pipe of that kitchen sink means when he says it. Cue the full-body shudder at what that might have brought to mind. Ewwwww~

Yeah, fond memories. At least they were better than his experiences involving tiny tinker's creations.

At any rate, he was ready to go...and it was for the better he was resisting satisfying his appetite, to be honest. Didn't need to potentially treat his employer to that kind of experience anyway....

[Lisky]

At sister Alex's response, Ed's already positive image of the woman was cemented.  He replied, "You're far too kind.  I'm glad that you hold no grudge, and i do hope that i provide some help... The city is quite dangerous, and i'll do my best to help you avoid or confront what danger may beset you."

At Kyirri's comment Ed shook his head, "we can only go where Raeleg or I have already been... we could get an hour and a half or so head start if you'd like to go straight to the bridge.  Or we can walk, either way, we've got a few hours to get around this place, and, besides that fellow in the van... and some of the... err... less friendly... people in the party, we can stay until dusk, and warp back to the inn for the evening.  That's how i think things should be done, but it would be splitting the party.  I hope that's alright?"

He tried to sound innocent with the last part... and it seemed Kyirri was just as concerned about the law man and self-proclaimed inventor as he was... it seemed to be a good sign.

A few seconds later, Andrace approached and issued a welcome to the party, Ed smiled warmly as she went through the pros of having him around, and he'd rather subconsciously started scanning her thoughts.  something about working with and tracking cubi... then somethi...  and... hmm... interesting apparently she thinks I'm cute...   Glancing over the tall, and well equipped lioness it seems the pair had a mutual feeling of approval of the others appearance. She was taller than him... not by too much, and certainly quite solidly built.  However, he approved, and given her rather pleasantly boisterous nature, he very much approved of the adventurer.

He smiled as she asked her questions, and replied with, "I believe the pleasure is all mine, miss.  I'd be delighted to work beside you, and, if it's someone to watch your back you need, i can do that."  He added a devious grin as his tail swished lazily back and forth.  Ears straight and alert.

"the downside is that we can only go where we've already traveled, the plus side, although travel itself will be slow, we can continue where we leave off tonight, first thing in the morning... and, if you'd like to get a bit of a head start, we can cut about an hour to an hour and a half out, and get straight to the bridge to the city proper...   Either way, the choice is yours, i'll follow either way."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex took a step closer to the kangaroo rat and very softly admonished, "A basic tenet of my order is that books are to be shared." Then in a louder voice she asked the incubus,  who hadn't yet given his name, "You say that we would be teleported approximately an hour and a half's walk away?" Then she addressed the blank wall of the van, "The warp aci is unlikely to be strong enough to create a portal big enough for you. If one of your flying things followed us through would it be able to send you enough information to enable you to catch up later? This would solve the problem, at least in the short run, of our differing travel speeds." After a moment she added to all, "And can we have a round of introductions. Our party has grown so rapidly I'm afraid I missed some names. I'm Sister Alexandria Montegu. I'm a mage from the Order of St. Gutenberg."

[techmaster-glitch]

   So that was her name! Finally, Traxen could stop referring to her as the "book-mage".
   "And while we're on the subject, though I've already introduced myself and my 'co-pilot' to everyone else, for the benefit you you, uhh...Creature, since you only said the name of your Warp-Aci...my name's Traxen Ridgrey." The 'van' replied. "As for you suggestion, Sister Montegu...errr...unfortunately, no. The range of my transmission array is one to two miles, depending on various circumstances. I can't send or receive signals to or from any of my drones beyond that range, and they shut down if the stop getting incoming signals, since they don't have anything in the way of autonomous self-control. Although, that might not do much good anyway...the guard said it could take days on get to city hall on foot, and even if that's not an exaggeration, I could still probably get there in a few hours myself if I push it, and even get back out of the city before nightfall, which was my whole initial plan. Either way, I'd far overtake you on foot, warp or no warp. However, and I'll say this again, if you guys just give me just twenty minutes, I can build a trailer or something that I can tow you all around on. And that's if we don't check a couple of driveways or parking lots for a truck or something that's not hazardous to anyone's health."

[Lisky]

Ed turned back to the van as it spoke, the only one he truly objected to was Payden... He considered what the being was saying, the looked back at the rest of the group, "Apologies for not introducing myself sooner... Edaric, of clan Ahnasazi"  The feline took a bow, and unbuttoned his shirt, showing off the clan mark on his very fit, and well formed chest.

Ed paused and considered his options, he asked, "have you ever been inside a large city, Traxen, while sure enough, in the suburbs, travel is easy, once we're inside the major city i have no doubt that travel will be slow regardless of one's mode of transportation... And remember, this place is among the more dangerous locales... we'll need to travel slow and keep alert.  If your van can even protect itself, i doubt it's adequate protection for what we'll be up against... Quite honestly, i think scouting the suburbs more thoroughly today would be our best option.  Get a feel for the outskirts, and use tonight to plan and prepare for an incursion into the city proper starting first thing tomorrow morning... But, that's just me."

He smiled politely as he let the others mull over what he said... He walked over by Andrace, and leaned against a wall.  'completely forgetting' to button his shirt back up, and, in turn, giving the large lioness a bit of show.

[techmaster-glitch]

   "You make a few good points," The 'van' replied, "Although I think one or two might be baseless. Yes, I have been inside a few large cities before, but the reason travel through them is slow is because of the traffic itself. This is a mostly-abandonded city, is it not? It wouldn't have ever been a good adventuring spot otherwise. Even for what few denizens remain, I seriously doubt there's enough of them to cause gridlock. And yes, it probably would be prudent to feel the way into the city slowly, heading in city hall's general direction. But, I only need to go there once. Once, and no more. Get in, grab data, get out. Securing the path from here to there is not strictly neccessary, as I don't have any return trips planned. Once I have collected the data I need, I'll have plenty of new objectives and destinations, and those I can afford to take slowly, as securing safe passage will be a priority then.
  "However, that's all just me. If everyone else wants to take it slow, and do some exploring, then there's not really much I can do about that, and I'll be heading to city hall regardless. In fact, that might actually work well; since I seem to be the only one with any actual reason to go to city hall, as every else seems to completely lack any concrete objectives or destinations, I can just go to city hall myself while you lot do whatever around here, and we all link back up at the inn tonight.
  "Also, I do indeed have ways of protecting myself and Pamcawv here, though having extra hands helps, which is why I made a mutual agreement with Officer Velasquez here in the first place, and through him, everyone else here. However, as I just said myself, I'm only going in and out, so I probably won't be needing everyone here to come along with me. I still would prefer everyone to come along, but that's everyone else's decision, not mine.
  "However, two other things that need to be take care of...Officer Velasquez, will you please give that second headset to Sister Montegu already? And uh, you with the book..." There was momentary silence from the van as Traxen stopped speaking. The van then positioned itself in such a way that the back end of the van was next to Kyirri. There were a few clicks and clanks, and one of the back double-doors opened up, admitting the torso of Traxen.
  "Please just let me borrow that book for ten minutes. That's all I need. I promise the whole book will be returned to you completely intact, all I need it for is to take a picture of every page so I have the whole thing on demand for myself, specifically so I don't have to ask for it again. And heck, if you want, I won't even close this door until I've given the book back to you. You can keep your foot in, so to speak. So, how about it? Can you part with that book for ten minutes?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace nodded to Sister Alex. "Yeah," she said with a mischievous little grin, "shoutin' hey, you gets confusin' after a few times. I'm Andrace Kithara, o' th' Kithara Pride." Her eyes lingered on Edaric for a moment as she turned to face the others, then she blinked and whapped her tail-tip against her hock. No, no, she thought, Down, girl. Nice scenery, but it's time f'r business now. He'll still be here later, 'less somethin' bigger an' nastier 'n a 'Cubi jumps up an' chomps 'im.

The lioness turned to face the side of the van, one ear perked up and the other cocked sideways. "Well, Traxen," she said thoughtfully, "y' got t' make up y' mind now. Edaric's offer o' a short cut sounds good t' me as well, but if y' van won't fit in th' warp, an' y' mechanical bugs can't follow us... y' got any other way y' could track us? Maybe those little ear gadgets, can they go over a longer distance? M' cousin Nicky tinkers wi' things like that, once she talked 'bout a dee-eff-wotsit — or maybe she meant somethin' else, m' baby brother'd just dropped a hammer on 'er paw. Would that let y' find us?"

Andrace hoped Traxen could think of something. Maybe he could come along with them on foot, but that would defeat the purpose of having the van, and the defences he'd just mentioned to the 'Cubi. They were too potentially useful to leave behind, and she didn't like the idea of splitting up so soon.