Of Steam and Steel: IC (Mature) {Currently Open}

[Noone]

Kyirri examined the room with tired eyes. He shook his head as he knew that willpower was all that kept him from collapsing on the inviting looking bed. Far more comfortable than the conditions he were used to. Still, he couldn't afford to give in just yet.

He glanced out the window, then examined the door. He decided against barricading one of the entrances, since it would interfere if he had to leave out of one of them quickly. Besides, they seemed to be far more sturdy than what he had been used to as well. The quiet of the place made him uneasy, it made it seem all the more inviting, and deadly.

I might as well at least take care of myself. He went inside the bathroom. He took a bath, making sure that there wasn't too much water running as to not create too much sound. After cleaning himself up, he made final rounds around the room, making sure the door and window were locked and secure. After shutting the lights off, he fell on the bed and fell asleep, silently hoping that he'd be undisturbed whilst he slept.

[Tezkat]

Nhylamar Badlands

Tezkat allowed his glamour to fade. The patterns of blood spatter shimmered and redistributed themselves around his coat. This time, most of it actually wasn't his. For a split second, the demonic wings were visible in their damaged form as they shrank back inside his shredded coat. He flicked the blood from his blade and slid it back into the sheath.

He stepped over the bodies--body parts, really--of his opponents, favouring his wounded leg a little more noticeably now that the rush of combat was wearing off. He slumped back against his bike and stretched out as he tried to normalize his breathing. Real Demons wouldn't have tired from a morning's rampage, and he didn't want to show weakness in front of another Creature. He managed to look quite pleased with himself despite the throbbing pain.

He raised an eyebrow at the question about dream travel. Right. Cubi were supposed to be able to do that. He'd read about it, of course, but he'd never seen it performed. Although not eager to hand over control of the interrogation process, curiosity got the better of him. He leaned forward.

"How does that work? The dream thing... is it more reliable than questioning her the old fashioned way?"

[Tapewolf]

"Depends how it's done," Sethir replied.  "Also what condition they're in.  If the subject is having a complete mental breakdown or a nightmare, it can be a dead loss, or even dangerous.  Just passively watching her dreams give me enough information to answer the basic questions of who they are, why they're here and so forth.
"If I can make myself visible to her, I can probably do the usual bargain - 'Tell me everything and I won't suck out your soul in your sleep'.  That often works.  However, frankly, dream interrogations can be a strain and besides, I'm out of practice.

He paused.  "I don't know whether you had in mind to torture her.  One of the big advantages dream surfing has over that is that it's difficult to kill the subject, and they are less likely to make shit up just to stop the torture. If you just want to bring her around and threaten her, I can tell you if she's lying."

[Ghostwish]

"I wus heading to a local inn a clannie pointed out ta me." Challam said, his words somewhat slurred in his drunken state.. "And what do you mean.. on.. fire.." He asked, his words trailing off as he peered around the constable, and saw the tavern slowly transforming into a bonfire.. "Holy smokes!" He exclaimed, clearly alarmed. "I just got out of there! Blimey!" He said, and looked to the demon. "Honest, I just went in and had a round of drinks. Maybe too many, but that's all I did. Oh, and a clannie came and talked me up a bits. But that's it.. Straight to the bar, and straight out, which I think is better than straight to the floor. Heh." He said with a somewhat drunken smile.. "I didn't shape-shift once, either. Same form the whole time. Oof, if I wasn't so drunk, I'd go help, but in my state I'd probably make it worse.."

[SpottedKitty]

Zelah followed Captain Wolkshammer outside, fixing the wolf 'Cubi's full name, Paige Shepherd, in her memory. She approached the Gryphon-drawn carts with mingled curiosity and apprehension. She'd seen Gryphons from a distance several times before, of course, but she'd never been so close to one. As she hefted her travel bag into one of the carts, she took a closer look at the Creature strapped into the traces. It was really quite attractive with those almost iridescent feathers, she thought as her tail swished in slow S-curves behind her.

The curious 'Cubi had been careful to heed Captain Wolkshammer's advice and approach the cart from behind. Unfortunately she hadn't realised how close this took her to the sharp end of one of the other Gryphons...

[SquirrelWizard]

Around the Wagons

The sounds outside his wagon woke Stephan from his sleep and he opened one eye while he groggily took in his room. His head was throbbing from both his headache and the bludgeoning he had recieved earlier. Stephan cocked and ear to the outside and tried to listen over the complaints of his body.

Sure enough, he heard the sounds of someone walking around outside. Stephan struggled to his feet, and looked at the clock on the desk; which had been busted a day earlier  and therefore wasn't very helpful. With a loud crash he clumsily knocked it over as he reached for his wand. Muttering under his breath, he stumbled over to the door and figited with the lock. Upon finding that the door wasn't locked he grumbled some more and threw open the door and lashed out with a jolt of lightning, not specifically aiming at anything in particular. "Damn it! I'm in no mood! Whoever you are, you better get out or I'll fry you!"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Addy headed for the further cart, hoping that most of the crowd would head for the nearer one.  While she certainly appreciated Captain Wolkshammar's offer he kept some rather disreputable looking company and she was hoping for a less crowded transport. If she had been on the other side of the cart she might have seen the Zelah getting too close to the gryphons and warned the cubi. Not out of any sort of fellow-feeling, but in order to save herself having to perform a healing.

[Boog]

Jeremiah chewed at the tip of his pencil; a nervous habit, when he was thinking. What was he doing? Here he was, miles from home, skulking around the sleaziest places he could... The man had to do some serious digging to even get a name that could get him into the Archive. Baseel Wolkshammer. Guy sounded like some nobility punk. Demon though. Jeremiah'd had... Bad experiences, with demons. So caution was advisable. He plucked the small precious stone out of his hat and absentmindedly stuffed it into his "beer money" pocket. Now if only that big gaggle of people would quiet down so he could hear himself...
A high pitched squeal cut through the man's thoughts, a voice he instantly recognized as either a teenage girl or a dying canary. But in the midst of it he could make out the word "Baseel!" His head snapped up alertly, focusing on the succubus and, thus, the demon she was hanging off of. Without looking away he snapped off a quick sketch of the man in the corner of his notebook.
That was him.
And they were leaving. The whole group was heading off to a bunch of carts. Jeremiah found himself in a position where he needed to make a snap decision. Go talk to him, or find some other way...
Or sneak in.
... Ohhhh no. No no no no no. You be quiet.
I've seen breadboxes guarded better than those carts. We could totally get in there.
No. Shut up. We're not doing that.
You got any other bright ideas?
I will if you let me THINK.
Yeah, but I'm not gonna do that.
He hated these arguments.
Jeremiah skulked his way over to one of the carts at the back of the group, staying to the back and out of the gryphon's line of sight. Checking to make sure that it WAS part of the appropriate group, but that nobody was in it, the frog opened the door as unobtrusively as he could and slipped in. Now he just had to hope this didn't turn out to be a terrible idea.

[techmaster-glitch]

Aelisium Forest

   The Storm Scorp reached the area where the trees thinned out again, and came across the path the Ahnk mech took... onlyto find it far off in the distance, beyond the range of even their projectile cannon.
   Gaakronacht slammed his fist, cursing. "At least we know for sure these guys were Insectis...but that's the fastest Ahnk machine I've ever seen." He said, noticing the body on the ground, and turning to Gezzemocht. "We have to go wheeled mode an catch it, we can't let it get away in Aelisium territory!"
   Gezzemocht ground his teeth, staring ahead. "No...I don't know if we could stop it. We might slow it down, but then no one else would know about it. We've got to go back to the garrison and alert them, so they can send communications to all other outlying garrisons to be on high alert and search for that beast. Let's go pick up that traveler, and find Lieutenant Taige."
   Before they turned around though, Gezzemocht quickly jumped down, gathered up a few samples of the scrap metal, searched the Instectis's body for any weapons or other gadgetry, thowing it all into a compartment on the Storm Scorp, and lashed the body to one of the legs. All enemy equipment needed all needed to be taken back to a base where it could be analyzed or disposed of properly, not left around where a wandering raider could salvage it.
   The Scorp returned to the area where they had seen the Being traveler. "Citizen? Citizen, you can come out now, they're gone."

[Paladin Sheppard]

Wolksheem Aerodrome


"Well! You two aren't much fun!" Paige said with a mock scowl. "But if we must, then lets be about it!" the Wolfess continued with a predatory grin directed towards Baseel.

As she followed Zelah towards the Gryphon drawn carriages, Paige noted the younger Succubus was just in reach of one of the beast's beaks. Her wings formed behind her, fitting through some cunningly hidden holes in the Bomber jacket, and a pair of Tentacles reached out to attempt to move Zelah out of harms way before the Gryphon struck.

[Mechanisto]

Josephine nodded, her short silver horn catching the light briefly.  "Certainly, lad. This won't take long... I believe I've seen what it is I need. you know where to meet up with me if things go odd."

She offered one last smile, and moved further into the alley with the strange black marketeer. Her voice was too low for Gabriel to make out, but she was obviously haggling. She seemed awfully calm about it; as if she knew what she was doing.

The elegantly dressed unicorn then took a tiny pouch from a hidden pocket in her dress, and poured a tiny handful from it into her hand. she was obviously trying to make sure that only the man in the alley could see them, but Gabriel was close enough to make out tiny sparkles... gemstones, beautifully cut. They were obviously not soulstones, or magically enchanted ingredients. Josephine was holding a fistful of good, old-fashioned treasure.

[Arroyo Milori]

On the River

Arroyo jumped a bit from the fired round of a pistol. Looks like he might have some action after all, or not. He doubted some lowly thieves of the sea would board his vessel and try to take anything of his, they seemed to be after bulks of goods for them to sell off or use for themselves. But he couldn't take any chances.

Arroyo quickly turned around to face the cargo ship behind him. He saw a lone pirate on the edge of the deck from the side. A bit hard to take a fire at with a pistol but then again Arroyo wasn't much of a gunslinger himself so he would have missed completely and risked being shot at for attempting, plus he didn't even own a gun!

The yellow Lion tugged the horn's cord a couple of times in specific intervals. Alerting other ships of a ship being attacked by a monster of some sort. While his right arm was busy pulling the cord, his dominant hand, the left; started to imitate a serpent's movement, as if it was rising from a jar. A small stream of a water soon rose and moved the same way Arroyo's arm had. Arroyo then curled his fingers a bit as the tentacle reached up to the lone pirate and wrapped around his neck as the lion's paws made its movements. He then clenched his hand into a fist and made a jerking motion, which made the tentacle attempt to pull the pirate off the cargo ship.

[Kafzeil]

Lucy had tried digging her legs free. To say her attempt to free herself did not go well was like saying a snake was a little lacking in the limbs department.

She twitched as she heard the smaller of the mechs return.

"Citizen? Citizen, you can come out now, they're gone."

Well, clearly they didn't hear her....retort over the gunfire.

Hiding was now pretty much futile. One at the very least saw where she was pinned down, and that would likely be the very first place they'd search. gunning the two down would be a bad idea, if the two had any brains they'd still have their personal weapons at the ready, just in case another Raider was hiding, knocked out, or otherwise got left behind by his buddies.

Lucy sighed, this was one Shitty Day.And understatement, yes, but damn, a single day everything she had every know was gone, and it looked like everything she touched now would turn to shit. She was just ready to give up. Maybe put a bullet in her own brain, deny a one of those three a kill notch in their gun at the very least.

She she pulled back the hammer,  she remembered the note to her mother. Lucy sighed as she considered another option. It was futile, no way in the Seven hell's it'd work. Still,it was worth a shot. Her father had always told her everybody, being or Creature, was basically good, maybe she had simply lost sight of that in all these years.

"I'm over here." Lucy called out. "I'm stick under this damned tree."

She hoped they'd at least listen to her. No lies, no trickery, just the truth. It was worth a shot. Even if she was killed maybe at least she could get this damned note delivered.

[Tezkat]

Nhylamar Badlands

Tezkat chuckled. "She's helpless and alone with the Creatures who hacked her partners to bits. I don't think we need to injure her to get her to talk."

He got up and knelt by the captive. Even in her sleep, the fear flowed off her in waves. He'd have to find a way to learn that dream trick sometime. It sounded like fun even though the wolf didn't seem too enthused about using it here.

"I don't know what you were planning to ask her, but I seek specific information. About her captain. He and I have a little unfinished business."

[Tapewolf]

"In that case, we may as well do it the more conventional way," Sethir said.  "I want to know a bit about who they are, and why they came here.  Whether this was a planned incursion or an opportunistic raid.  Either way it's our civic duty to report it, and I don't really know enough to do that yet."

"Okay, then," he added.  "Let's do this."

The wolf cradled the pirate's head in his lap and his hands began to glow slightly as he invoked a spell to wrench her back into consciousness.
"Wake Up," he commanded.

[Azlan]

Locke's ears drooped as he was planning to be polite and thank the fellow, but he had already turned and teleported away, "bother, so hard to use one's good manners when others are in such a hurry.  No matter..."  The cheetah bowed to no one in particular, "thank you kind sir, have a pleasant day."

Gathering a few things and donning his new coat, he paid special attention to what he knew of Nhylamar personal weapons policies.  On his way out he made a visible sign of waving to his maid staff, which waved back, and secured the hatch.  Making his way from the docking tower to the city level, he stopped to gather his bearings, today should be a good day.

[Tezkat]

Nhylamar Badlands

Tezkat stood back to give the Incubus room to work with the prisoner. The wolf hadn't even bothered disarming her, let alone properly restraining her. Part of his interrogation strategy, perhaps?

The jaguar wandered back to his bike and found a more comfortable perch for the interrogation. He smiled as the feline stirred from her nightmare. No doubt waking into a new one.

"Good morning, kitten. We were hoping you could answer a few questions." He bent forward to pick up a severed head--the chocolate lab who'd provided brief sport a few minutes earlier. "Your friends aren't so talkative anymore."

[Tapewolf]

Seth noted with some irritation that he'd missed the prisoner's weapon.  No matter, he was monitoring her emotions and thoughts closely and his tentacles were ready to restrain her if she made any stupid moves.

[techmaster-glitch]

Aelisium Forest

   The brothers heard the woman call out to them, informing them of her predicament. The Storm Scorp quickly found her, with her leg caught under a fallen tree trunk. Gaakronacht deftly manipulated several levers in the cockpit, and the arms of the mech gingerly (as was possible for a machine like it) reached down, wedged under the trunk, then lifted it up and easily tossed it to the side. Gezzemochet then hopped down from the secondary cockpit and grabbed a first-aid kit from a compartment, heading over to her to check if she was all right.
   "Are you hurt, can you walk?" He aksed as he approached her. "What's your name, by the way, and what were you doing out here?"

[JamesCray]

Clothing store

Clearing his throat, the diminutive vulpine tried, and failed, to look somewhat officious, given his job as a diplomatic courier. Being very short has it's disadvantages, one of which being you are often not taken as seriously as you would like. Of course, it didn't help that that he was, befitting his size, relatively soft-spoken.

"Um, yes, thank you. Well, I had come in looking for an umbrella, as I suspect you have already gathered."  Johan stammered, buying himself time to formulate a response. Honestly, the cubi had unnerved him slightly, although he was certain it wasn't his intention. "I'm a diplomatic courier, so I do a great deal of travelling, and was hoping you would have something suited to my, er, stature. I wouldn't want to purchase a nicely-done bumbershoot just to be carried off in the breeze with it, eh?" he joked, falling back on self-deprecating levity in an attempt to dispel the discomfort.

[Tipod]

For a brief moment, Bart stared in incredulity at the puny weapon. At least she had a sense of humor. "A-ha, haha--" He broke off the laugh, quickly setting the derringer aside before any of the other Creatures around thought it was his. "Seriously though, I got a proposition. My family, Clan Thom'sen-- you probably heard of 'em-- needs some firepower. Just in case the world gets more war-torn and miserable than it already is."

He gave an odd gesture. "Yeah, I know, the 'nice-guy' clan wanting more guns. Sounds crazy, but let's face it: people don't like nice guys. Think you'd be up for making us some shooting-irons, maybe teaching our tinkerers what you know?"

[Lisky]

Nhylamar Badlands

Slowly uncurling her body, the pirate slowly brought herself up from the stun-spells effects.  She slowly rose from her fitful sleep.  Blinking a few times at the wolf and feline looking at her.  Panic immidiately took hold.  She started flailing against Seth, "Let me GO! LET ME GO!" she shouted, over and over again while attempting to flee.


Wolksheem Aerodrome

As the crowd piled into the carts, Jeremiah would find himself packed in with bags and no one else.  Zelah would find that her tail was left alone, though the breeze from a playful swipe could possibly have been felt, as the gryphon behind her made a pawing motion.  Bas managed to sneak off to a different cart while Paige was busy helping Zelah.  Sister Addy, and Cyril were both given seats, and the convoy took flight.  Arriving at the castle around ten minutes later, perhaps a bit more. 

Rather than being given a chance to settle down, the newcomers were accosted  with servants as their belongings were taken to various guest rooms, including jeremiah.  They were taken to said rooms, and shortly thereafter ushered off to dinner.  Which, besides a few pleasantries, was oddly quiet as the Duke and Dame Wolkshammar were busy discussing something of urgency that couldn't be overheard by the attendees.  A quick tour was given, and then the guests were set in for the night.  Everything seemed to move like clockwork. 

Night came and went, breakfast was served early, and the attendants were sent back on their merry way to the MJOLNIR.  Dr. Adelaide would find her monastery still under construction.  Apparently whomever had earned the contract hadn't informed the order that they were running several months behind schedule.   Lord Wolkshammar had offered to house the good doctor until the monastery was finished, however, whatever the case may have been, it seemed for the short term, she was stuck with Bas and Crew.

Cyril was requested to accompany the heir on the trip, as any political matters he was meant to deal with would have to wait, due to fellow land-owners visiting that afternoon.  He wasn't given much choice in the matter, as he too was escorted off on the shopping trip.

Both Paige and Zelah were taken along as well.  Reaching the northern Nhylamar market took little more than an hour, they'd travelled in a straight line, and received immediate docking clearance.  Half the crew were let off the ship, including Bas and company, the rest were aboard to guard the ship.

Bas passed out a small back of coins, as well as a small, blue-green stone.  An orb of communication, which would allow them to talk to each other, should they decide to split off, and go separate ways.  Bas made a b-line for the first stores on his list and let the crewmen do what they wanted.  This was akin to a 12 shore-leave for a wet navy, and many of the crew, including a few recognizable demons, cubi, and a particular angel made their ways towards various locales of interest.


Clothing Store

The aardvark's appearance shifted, he'd taken on the appearance of a common house-cat type feline.   Black with white paws, and a white splotch on his nose.  His wings, however, were a brilliant gold and deep reddish purple.   "Something a bit smaller then, eh?  I think you'll find something you're looking for towards the left half the shelf.   If anything there is too hefty, still.  Well, i can always cut one down to size in a few minutes."
The feline gave a shrug, the sound of snipping could be heard from where the wing-tentacles continued to work, despite the fact that it seemed Johan had his near total attention.

The rack he'd mentioned did have smaller umbrellas, either hard-wood, or engraved metal.  There were 12 to choose from, all dark, muted tones.   


Yagsandras Docking Tower 

As the elevator descended from it's high perch, Loche would note that the towers led right to the market district.  All around him, vendors had their stores open, carts out, and   a general buzz of business was underway.  As he hit ground level, he'd note it was starting to rain, which did nothing to dissuade the others around him.   The collection of beings and creatures in the streets had either magical shields, or umbrellas overhead as they made their way around, either browsing the various shops, or going somewhere specific.

A mammoth sized mythos, with gorilla proportions was standing outside a strangely under-marked location.   A small sign hung outside had a picture of a pitcher of ale, but no other name, or sign adorn the building.

Further on, an absolutely packed market could be seen.  Apparently someone was demonstrating a product, as there was a small stage erected, and a  semi-circle formed to watch the display.


Around the Wagons 

*Kzzzaaappp* "OH YOU SON OF A BITCH, STEPHEN!"
A familiar voice shouted at him.  His sister looked absolutely furious, a wand in her own hand as she delivered a rather powerful push spell to Stephen's upper body, knocking him clean over, onto his butt.  "What's the big idea?! You could have really hurt me, or Sylvie. "

At the mention of another, a rather familiar succubus appeared with a Cheshire Cat-like grin across her muzzle.  She gave a wave, then snuggled up to Mary as her grin grew crooked, becoming a wicked smirk, "Ya, what's with the sparks and anger? Something happen while we were... out?"

At that moment, some rather unpleasant mental images flooded into Stephan's head.  As if he could see -every- vivid detail behind the thinly veiled euphemism.  As quickly as they'd come, suddenly he heard something about dessert, untruth, and something about Sediment shaped chocolate... It seemed today was going to be odd, very odd indeed.


Northern Nhylamar Market

Josephine would find that, instead of the soul-stone she'd been expecting, she was facing down the barrel of a massive bore, snub-barreled revolver.  A flat-palm extended, and the unicorn could hear the man mumble in a near whisper, and a gruff tone, "Hand it over, princess, all of it..."

Gabe couldn't quite see what had happened, the oxen's coat concealed the weapon in his hand.  He could almost feel something going wrong however.  Something seemed off as the man suddenly went from a shady business dealer, fairly relaxed, but alert, to something else, and his pose seemed to be rigid as a board.


Westwynd Inn   

Kyirri would find himself undisturbed by any outside source.  However, internally, he  had a rather bizarre vision in his sleep.  A woman, succubus.  She was holding a strange book.  Her features were too faded to make out.  Canine of some type, very thin, with attractive dimensions.  That much was safe to assume.  Her colorings seemed vaguely familiar, but the lack of detail in the dream made actually identification impossible.  There was a significantly smaller shape behind her, following her.  That thing, that blob.  It seemed to reach out to Kyirri, as if it were trying to convey some message.  Though, before making actual contact, the dream seemed to fade into a restful sleep.

However, upon waking, he'd find that he remembered the colors.   In fact, he'd remembered the entire thing, rather vividly as well.  He would also find himself more compelled than he already was to find the book.



Aeliseium Forest

More rumbling sounds could be heard in the distance, far too far to tell who or what they were.  No rhythmic  drumbeats as the Ahnk mech had produced.  Either there were multiple mechs around, or a multi-legged vehicle.

The tree moved off Lucy with little effort , leaving little more than scrapes and scratches as far as the eye could see.  What couldn't be seen were the many compression fractures running up and down her left leg, which, had she been living, would have been unbelievably painful.  In her current state however, they were little more than a slight stiffness.


Outside the Burning Bar

The demon stalked closer.  Challam's inebriated state only further fueled his suspicion.  "Well, if you caused no problems, then you'll clearly not care if we take ya in, for a few questions.  Right?"

A cruel grin drawn, as the demon made a reach for Challam's arm, he'd flicked the manacles opened with his other, and was preparing to attach them.  His mind-shield proved very resilient to whatever thought reading Challam might attempt.  Though, he could feel arrogance and triumph as the 2 primary emotions the other creature was radiating.


Gunstore

The gryphon's smirk grew even broader, "You think i'm joking about that little bitty thing, eh?  Well, for your information, with the enchantments on both the gun itself, and the ammunition, it's like blasting someone with a Ahnk' Ator built forty millimeter cannon shell, with every shot.  The bigger guns are certainly more intimidating, but they lack the subtle qualities of my baby, there.  For the larger guns, they're powerful, sure enough.  As for your questions  Teaching you what i know, out 'o tha' quest'n... Not good for repeat business, hun... and that's what i am...A business-woman."

Shrugging, and stifling a giggle, "As for selling ya m' wares, are you looking at buying a few guns for security, or are we talking about crate-fulls of the things?"

[Kafzeil]

Lucy gave her leg a slight flex, pulling up her pant leg get a better look stiff, but otherwise it seemed like there wasn't much noticeable damage. She hoped, at least. Shepicked up some of her things and began to stand back up, using a nearby rock for support.

The brothers would notice something was amiss already. That kind of weight had to have been painful, to put it nicely. Lucy should even be standing on the leg, much less walking.

'Thanks for that."Lucy chuckled softly, moving her legs. Perhaps something had dislocated and she could knock it back into it's proper joint?

She looked at the Brothers. he eyes were not glowing-yet- but they still had an unnatural yellow colour to them. "Name's Lucy. Lucy Alighieri...I'm...well, first off where in the Seven Hells am I anyways?"She muttered. She was trying to play dumb. Trying. She knew these weren't idiots. If somebody had given them a bloody warmech they'd know a Creature, much less an Undead, when they saw one.

[Tapewolf]

Sethir swore to himself as the Being struggled.  His tentacles wrapped around her arms, restraining her.  "The shock hit her too hard," he hissed.  "We should have offered her tea and biscuits instead."
"Put the head away, please," he added.

Sethir patted the feline on the head and his eyes glowed faintly.  It was possible for a 'Cubi to actively drain someone of their emotions, as opposed to passively feeding on them.  It took more energy to achieve than you gained, which made it useless for feeding.  But when you needed to calm someone down a bit it had a lot going for it.

"Calm down," he said, his voice gentle.  "Just tell us what we want to know and it will all be okay.  We'll let you go then."  He kept repeating this.

[Mechanisto]

Josephine clenched her jaw at the sudden change of events. For a moment, her face bore a look of righteous anger; exactly the sort of 'how dare you' look a wealthy aristocrat might wear. She seemed to temper herself, though, and her face calmed. After all, she was hardly surrounded by respectable company.

Josephine took her glittering handful of jewels and held them out towards the thief.

A moment later, with a casual and deliberate gesture, she dropped them to the ground. The rainbow of precious stones cascaded down, scattering slightly as they landed. A few rolled off, threatening to disappear into sewer gratings or cracks in the sidewalk.

Josephine herself seemed unconcerned, her expression completely blank. Almost bored.

(PM Sent to Basilisk)

[WhiteFox]

   Gabriel slipped off Walsh, and slid Holland out of it's holster in the process. Sprinting over swiftly and quietly, crouching low and keeping his blunderbuss tucked close to his chest, he kept hidden behind Josephina as he approached.
   Gabriel briefly peeked at the merchant from under unicorns arm... and darted back immediately when he saw the revolver.
   ...And the stones on the ground.
   He stayed behind Jo, but kept Holland ready.

[Lisky]

Pirate Interrogation

As the emotion was drained from her mind, the effect was almost instant, like a light-bulb clicking on.  She blinked as she considered her new state.  She stopped flailing, and knew she was at their mercy.  With panic gone, all emotion gone, she knew they could do whatever they wanted.   looks like i'm trapped here, can't lie either... no mind-shield, and the wolf's a cubi.  They could be lying about letting me go though... but, i really don't have much choice...


"How did you do that?"  was the first thing that escaped her lips, as her mouth seemed to start working again after the few second total body freeze.  "what do you want to know? I didn't hear your questions over my own shouting..."

Her thoughts were getting garbled together, though it just seemed that, without emotions clouding her thoughts, her mind was trying to work out various plans of escape should the pair of cubi turn out to be lying.


Nhylamar Back Alley

The would-be mugger's attention flickered to the stones as they tumbled to towards the ground.  The shiny glitter they cast in the morning sun.  He started to flinch, then froze.  A deep baritone from somewhere down the alley said in a rather flat tone,  "You sneaky bastard.  Trying to sell that which is not yours."

A flash of white teeth in a predatory smile, a pair of horns,  and something metallic appeared from the shadows that covered the other end of the alley, behind the oxen.  The thief turned to face his new assailtent, momentarily forgetting about those in front of him.  A deep, slapping *click* could be heard as the hammer on the massive , finely crafted, though very spartan revolver was pulled back, and the weapon leveled at the Oxen's head.  The German Shepherd demon behind the gun looked well dressed, perhaps even uniformed in some type of officer's garb.  He wore a long-coat over a dress shirt, a pair of loose-fitting and many-pocketed pants.  He wore a pouch-belt, along with the revolver's holster that nestled on his left hip.  His coat bore a symbol of Voethfel, and a family crest.

The demon was hugging the wall opposite of the entrance that Jo and Gabe had taken.  The oxen was trapped and now his weapon was pointed harmlessly at the back of a store-wall, in plain view of both the equine and the half-pint rodent.


Lamylar

Renard was starting to get back when Ana returned.  He seemed to be in considerably better shape then she'd left for her errands.  He was considering a few things, apparently deep in thought.  It took him a few seconds for him to react to her Ana's appearance.  He scratched his chin, as he got up, and said, "I've been going over various scenarios in my head, and it keeps coming to needed someone from this village to come with me to the capitol to make a formal request for better protection.  I doubt i can get the mayor, he's needed for day to day affairs..."

He left a bit of a pause, as if uneasy, before continuing, "You however, don't seem to have such responsibilities.  Would you mind accompanying me, preferably as early as tomorrow morning, to go to the capitol, as a representative of this village, to get some better form of protection against outside incursion?"


On the River

Mostly likely to Arroyo's surprise, the tentacle did not, in fact, do as he'd planned, the stream of water suddenly collapsed from his control, and he could feel the powerful dispel spell that had been cast from somewhere beyond his line of sight, further along the larger ship.  The pirate who'd nearly been victimized started darting his head from side to side, searching for anything that might have been the source of the spell.

The ship started speeding up, as it made a break away from the current area, where it was clearly unfriendly.  The pirates had yet to detect the lion-being's interference.

[Arroyo Milori]

Arroyo gritted his teeth a bit, then sped up his boat a bit, trying to catch up with the hijacked ship. He noticed some odd netting on the sides of the boat, Arroyo smiled and wiggled his hand a bit, causing his little boat to speed up to the side of the boat. Arroyo was now located on the side of the boat that wasn't within a pirate's line of sight.

A mischievous smile came across Arroyo's face as he ties his boat and climbs his way up it slowly. He already anticipated the situation: There is at least one pirate that knew magic and judging by the size of the boat, there's going to be a lot of them. With his sword at hand, and a river for unlimited ammo for his spells, Arroyo felt quite confident that he would be able to pull off this reckless, yet heroic act of stopping these pirates. After all, they were in his way to his job.

[Mechanisto]

The instant the mugger's eyes had turned down towards the jewels, Jo's slender wire-saber was in her hand and pointed forward. She now stood sideways, one foot forward, in a standard fencer's stance. Her draw of the sword had taken only an instant, but it hadn't been sudden or startling. It had been barely noticeable.

She paused, though, as she heard the newcomer's voice. With the thug thus occupied, she took the opportunity to draw an electric pistol from her side. She also did something else that was barely noticeable. Her long, silvery-white tail swished, taking on a life of it's own; the hair lengthened quite a bit and swept across the ground before her. The strands spread out and clasped the errant gemstones before retreating back. It was a remarkably natural, whip-like motion; it looked exactly like hair being tossed. She hoped neither the thug nor the hidden man could see what she'd done. Of course, she also hoped Gabriel wouldn't exhibit undue alarm... he was almost guaranteed to have seen.

Only after this was done did she speak. "May I assume you gentlemen have prior business together?"

[insidexml]

"All right, water's fine."

What was a good accompaniment to water? This really wasn't supposed to be this hard. Well, he'd order an alcoholic beverage, and see how things went from there. Worst-case scenario, the angel would be dead tomorrow, although that was sort of the worst-case scenario for every scenario, really. Actually, in theory, there were even worse-case scenarios than death, but the angel really didn't want to think about that.

So... a light alcoholic beverage, then? Sikici wasn't exactly very familiar with any kind of alcohol, although he had a general idea as to what kinds of alcohol there were. He tried to think of a specific drink, since something as broad and vague as 'beer' or 'cocktail' probably wouldn't cut it.

"...how about a brandy fix, then?"