What do you do?

(Note, to whom it applies: Wren has not left fox form since before joining Evyr.)

Being followed is not very high on the list of things that Evyrless easily tolerates; and some big, grey bastard with a fox for a scarf had been doing it for a half-day now. Slipping away was simple enough though, given how close Qarn was already. Evyrless had taken the time to set up a campfire by the road to look like she was resting about another half-day from the city walls. She had then planned to sneak off with the haughty mage boy in tow but the blasted scarf caught a sniff of them before they slipped out of sight. Having been caught, she told the kid to stay where he was before walking closer to the man. He didn't seem to stop growing in height the closer she got him, the tall sod. Just when she got close enough to do so, she threw out a mist of Darkness on top of him and ran for it.

From there, she didn't stick to the road anymore. The man eventually spotted her again, but she was far enough by then that she got through the gates before he could catch up to her. Once inside Qarn, she made a point to be visible within the crowds. She wasn't great at acting like she didn't know she was being followed, but her pursuer was oblivious to the obvious lure. Evyrless ended her walk in a dead-end alleyway resting astride the bustling marketplace. She told the kid to get out of sight before climbing the walls of the alley until she was a good twenty or so feet from the ground. She perched on a wood bearing that was laid between either side of the alley, waiting for the walking statue to follow her in.

He surely did and like before, the fox noticed Evyrless long before he thought to look up. From here, it seemed more appropriate to make introductions. Evyrless swung forward until she dangled from the bearing upside-down by her legs. "Greetings, my lovely, gigantic guest. What brings you to my most humble abode?" she snarked with a hand outstretched like a welcoming gesture, leaving it antagonizingly beyond reach.

Long walk.

There was no reason to talk. The fox wouldn't speak back, most likely, and the quiet was enjoyable. Little noise but the slow crawnch, crawnch of the leaves beneath his feet, and the quiet pitter patter of those ahead of him. Mal glanced up at the pair again and smiled. A beautiful woman with an intriguing air about her was accompanied by a rather young gentleman as they scampered through the path. Both of them had caught his eye, not because they were out of place, but because of how cute their clothing was. Perhaps Mal could take up sewing as his next hobby. Perhaps after stargazing.

They had made camp. It was an odd place to make camp. Little shelter, near the road where bandits could easily find them. Mal didn't mind. He laid down on his back and looked up at the stars before pointing. "That one. I call it Wren," he said simply before looking over to his fox companion. She had noticed something, but Mal couldn't tell what it was. The fox seemed insistent, so he picked her up and set her on his shoulder to go investigate. As he approached the camp, suddenly everything went black, and the sound of feet quickly scrambling on dirt was the only thing he could hear. Mal set his jaw. "I will protect," he said simply. Perhaps they had been ambushed, and some magic user had taken out the biggest threat first. Mal could probably catch up and keep them safe. Once he found his way out of the darkness, he began to jog lightly, his frame lumbering heavily down the dirt path. The fox napped.

There was a city nearby. Lots of loud people clanging their pots together and shouting. That must be their destination. Mal usually avoided cities. People threw things at him, yelled at him, called him things. But if the pair were in trouble, Mal must help. His pace slowed to a walk, however. It was unlikely that the duo had run as long as he had without tiring themselves out. Neither looked very hearty from a distance. Luckily, he saw them just as they entered the city. Mal quickly ran forward and closed the distance. The pair stood out quite a bit in the crowd, so Mal had little trouble following them, just glad they were safe. When they ducked into an alley, Mal slowly turned the corner. At first he thought they were gone, but Wren nibbled at his ear, directing his attention upward. There she was, dangling helplessly from the walls... or so he thought.

Evidently, this alley was the woman's home. The poor girl, having to live in this dirty city. Mal reached up to shake her hand, but it seemed she was just a few inches out of reach. He considered jumping, but decided that he might be more likely to accidentally pull her down. Instead, he figured he would introduce himself in the only manner he knew how.

"I am Mal. You are cute. Your friend too. Need help? I protect the cute."

Stacey walked into the city’s western entrance, and she was amazed at how much bigger it was compared to her little backwater town was. She followed a lead, which she get from Fallen Hope. She didn’t knew how reliable it was, though because it was only a rumor. ”I guess… I have to look for clues to the whereabouts of this woman,” Stacey thought with her hand on her cheek. She walked further into the city and was amazed at the architecture of the capital. She was pretty much distracted with this until someone bumped into her.

A guy bumped into Stacey and he looked friendly enough. “Oh sorry miss, you must be new here?” the guy asked. He smiled that he bumped into a tourist from what he saw of her. Since she was admiring the architecture and the sites.

She shook her head towards the man’s question, but she was too lost in thought to really converse with the man. He was taller than her by 1 ft and three inches. She didn’t really think of him as much of a threat. ”Hmm… I should really ask him if there’s an inn I could use,” Stacey thought to herself. She just stood there looking at the man blinked at him.

He laughed at her and smiled at this chance. “What’s your name, Miss?” He asked with a smirk on his face. She could see this smirk on his face. He looked at her more closely and noticed the necklace around her neck. His facial expression looked more friendly since he wanted to know about her necklace. “I must say that is a nice necklace,” He said with a smile.

She sighed at the question then soon followed about her necklace. She didn’t think anyone would compliment her family’s necklace before. ”My name is Stacey Rain Blightflower and thank you for the compliment on my necklace,” Stacey said towards the man. He smiled at what she said, but he enjoyed talking to new people.

He looked at her more closely and he looked up at the sky and sighed. “I got to go, nice to meet you Stacey I will be looking forward to more of you,” He said with a smile. He walked away from Stacey and went back to where he was supposed to go the local tavern of Qarn.

She smiled at this, but she hasn’t really gotten any good information about what Qarn is about. She knew it’s only the capital and it’s not that friendly of a place, but that guy was friendly enough. ”Now… where was I?” Stacey asked herself. She started to walk towards the center of the Capital to see if she could sightsee a bit even though she was here for important business.

Deep gravel tones reverberated through the alleyway as the goliath's speech. A brow was raised at him after his reply, then after a beat his reply was met with an energetic laugh. Evyrless crossed her arms at the chest and kept her brow cocked at him.

"I don't know who sent you to me but they could've set up a better joke. Now what do you want with me, pebblehead?"

With a long, vulpine sigh, the fox leapt off the shoulders of the goliath and landed on the feet of her more humanoid form. "Sorry. He does this sometimes. Wasn't worth the effort of stopping him. He's just going to follow you around from now on. But don't call him pebblehead, please. It's not very nice." She saluted the strange human. "Wren, by the way. And now that our introductions have come, I would like to inquire about your names, and if you could come down to somewhere between our levels, that would be lovely."

----

She is appalled at what the man tried to do. She is grateful she caught him in time so she can keep her necklace. She glared at the man with an look of extreme hatred at what he tried to do. "I hope... I don't ever see you again," Stacey said somewhat angry.

She continued to go toward the Central Plaza, since it had the most sightseeing potential. "I hope... not everyone is like that trying to steal what they see as valuable," Stacey thought to herself.

After catching the man trying to steal her necklace, Stacey passed an alleyway and found a strange sight indeed: A goliath, a small wild...thing, an upside down girl, and some weird boy.

(OH LOOK, THE ORIGINAL GANG'S ALL HERE!)

Stacey stopped in her tracks since she wasn’t really used to this type of thing. ”Uhh… Weird,” Stacey thought to herself. She walked down this alleyway to wonder about who these people. ”Hello... Why are you all in this Alleyway?” Stacey asked. She looked at each of them with a curiosity, but she had to find the woman the rumor spoke of. She walked closer to the group of people. "I should probably introduce myself... it's a pleasure to meet you my name is Stacey R. Blightflower," Stacey said with a smile. Her eyes wondered since she was thinking of her mother who is still in a coma. "Mother... I will stop this curse," Stacey thought to herself.

Right when Evyrless expected the goliath to respond, her reply was given by the fox. The fox who just hopped off his shoulders and morphed into a girl... "What in the sixteen or whatever hells has this day become?" Instead of giving to the fox-girl-thing's request, Evyrless stayed right where she was, but holding onto the wooden girder with her hands as well to keep herself guarded. Just when she opened her mouth to speak, a ditzy blonde strolled into view, introducing themselves formally to a bunch of shady strangers. Evyrless squinted at the girl for a second before the name dawned on her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she hurled her weight forward, her body swinging until her feet held her squarely atop her platform. She leaped off to the side, grabbing hold of a corner of the alley wall about halfway between her vantage and the ground, before quickly dismounting behind Stacey. Evyrless landed gracefully as if maneuvers such as this were as simple as walking, and stepped forward with arms outstretched to embrace the girl. "How's Winter doing? I haven't seen that girl in ages."

Mal watched the exchange with only some minor confusion, which was actually pretty good for him. Another Cute One strolled into view and introduced herself. To Mal, this seemed odd. Normally one reacted to him relatively poorly instead of giving a full name. However, it appeared the girl-who-swings-from-above-places either knew this "Stacey R. Blightflower," or was very good at bluffing. Either way, she had left the boy alone in the back of the alley. Mal stepped back to a place where he could keep an eye on everyone as best as possible, hoping that there was no unseen threat in the shadows, and decided it would be another good chance to introduce himself, seeing as more Cute had showed up.

"I am Mal. I protect the Cute. You are all Cute. Also, Winter is a season, not a girl." These Cute Ones seemed confused. "I am not a joke. I am Mal. May I help protect?"

Wren sighs. This was too many people. She didn't miss being surrounded by misfits who just happened to be together with a cause, so she had no reason to be particularly fond of being surrounded by a bunch of idiots with no goal (Mal didn't count of course; he wasn't an idiot. He was just...more focused on his purpose. Which is totally acceptable. But these people couldn't survive in the wild on their own. She was sure if she had to be around them too long, she'd end up being the one to teach them to hunt. No fun in that.

"I'm Wren. Don't say I didn't at least attempt to be civil," she snarled, before jumping in the air, entering her raven form, perching on Mal's head, and reverting to human form to sit on his shoulders with her arms hugging his forehead. "And Mal, some people give their kids silly names, like the seasons. It's a thing that happens. Remember what I said about that man named...what was it? Forrest? Oh. Glen, too."

Introductions were for chumps! So many people just blathered on and on and then let other people blather on and on. 'Oh heeeeeellllooo I'm so and so!' 'Oh my! So you are! Well, I would have you know I am so and such as well' 'Oh truly? Father of Blah and yadda?' 'Indeed! Forth child of blather gab!'. What a racket! What you really need was some fire! FIRE! FFFIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRE!

When the group met int he alleyway there was someone missing. While the rest were busy saying whatever it was they had so to say, Jazo The Magnificent plotted, planned, and schemed! He hovered int he air above the group, watching and listening through the eyes and ears of a stray cat that was interested int he whole gang's little scene. The wind whipped and stirred around the thin young boy as he watched the introductions with a grin on his face a shark in a blood bath wouldn't be able to match. The cute little one turned into a bird and then back into a cute little one on the big guy's head, then it was time.

Jazo rocketed down from the sky with fire all around him like a love comet from the ninth dimension that would plunge the Earth into eternal sexiness! He struck the center of the group, landing in a perfectly prepared crouched landing, staff raised and spinning above him, turning the flames that had been a round him a moment ago into a whirlwind of fire. The colors of the fire shifting psychedelically witht he use of his fire magic and illusions. He slowly stood, increasing the spin of his staff and the shifting of the colors until it gave everyone in a six mile radius who was prone to such things a seizure. Then the staff was slammed butt first into the ground and the fire whooshed out with a crackle and shower of sparks.

"Jazo!" the boy shouted, voice gaining extra volume and gravity from the enchantment he had woven into it, "Jazo The Magnificent! Hero of our age and master wizard from the longest line of wizards to ever wiz!" Whatever they were talking about, now they had a new topic, one way more awesome.

Stacey saw the acrobatic stunt the lady pulled and glanced behind herself toward the lady. She was disturbed when this lady said her mother’s name. ”Who… are you? My mother… is in a coma,” Stacey said saddeningly. She heard what the Goliath and the young girl said. She cracked a small smile of mostly what the Goliath said. ”Mal… if you must. Wren nice to meet you,” Stacey replied. Her smile went away after she remembered she still has to break this horrible curse on her family. Her eyes started to glow a shade of blue because she is depressed.

She was startled when the young boy has done. ”Hello… Jazo can you warn me when you do that again,” Stacey said surprised. She breathed heavily because she was in a state of shock.

Mal looked back and forth among the group. It appeared some of them knew each other already, and no one had directly objected to his accompanying them. Mal was now one step further upon his path to personal victory. There was little that was being said that truly made much sense, however. Wren's explanation was helpful, but Mal would never understand why people gave others such odd names. Half of the names goliaths had were the first noise out of the father's mouth when told his child was born -- usually a belch of some sort. The boy seemed to be fairly decent at weaving various magical energies together, or at least Mal hoped it was just magic. And the bright flower girl seemed to have odd mood swings.

But one thing was more confusing than most. Mal leaned over to whisper (quite loudly) to Wren, "Doesn't 'wiz' mean to piss? Is the boy some great pisser?"

Wren watched with mild amusement, and a hint of intrigue, at the boy slamming down and introducing himself as Jazo. She'd seen him before - he came into town with the same person Mal had been following. Of course, for all she knew, Mal was following both of them. He seemed a little cuter than average. Probably. At least to her. Mal had some unusual tastes. But Mal managed to out-quick-think her for once after hearing the boy introduce himself as coming from the longest line of wizzers to ever wiz.

"Yes, Mal. That is what he said. I would hazard to guess they're all around his age, and they stand in a line on the city walls, facing outward, and piss off the edge when someone gives a signal." She smiled. She wasn't sure what she thought of the others yet, but she would have to keep the wizzer around for fun. "So, Jazo, was it? Do you wiz that dramatically all the time? Was what you just did wizzing? Will you need a change of clothes?"

She turned her head back to the girl Mal followed. "He's going to follow you around forever now. Just have to accept it." She looked around to the rest of them. "What hijinks and tomfoolery are you all up to? We're already in the city, so may as well assist."

And at that point a whole bunch of conversation happened at once. The two that followed her wanted to get their points across clearly: They were going to keep following Evyrless and they (hopefully) wouldn't harm her. The big one seemed too thick to lie and the one with bloody antlers didn't care enough about any of this to lie either. Stacey here was just getting completely overwhelmed with the exchange from what she could tell, the poor thing. It made sense, the Blightwaters come from a dingy farming village that Evyrless almost wished she never visited. But the pay for that job was good and the company was... surprising. And of course, the kid literally explodes onto the scene just as she was going to interject somewhere in this situation.

Okay, one at a time. "You," she pointed at Mal, "Follow me all you like, but cross me and you'll never see my cute ass again."

"I don't know about you," she then turned to Wren, "But if you're in the business of hijinks and tomfoolery then I could use a shapeshifter."

Evyrless looked over and tickled Stacey's necklace. "We'll talk later, but if I know Blightflowers then I know you'll be a good healer." Looking her over and sizing her up, Evyrless says, "As well as something to distract the guards with."

"And kid, if you're going to show off, at least cut off the lights. We don't want more people following us eternally like Rocky and Bullwinkle over here."

Before Mal can ask the inevitable question about a moose and a squirrel, two men burst out of a door in the alleyway, loudly expressing expletives, but making no real attempt to form much in the way of a sentence. What the entire group picks up, however, is something about "powder" and a "dropped candle" in an accusative manner from one man toward the other. Judging by their haste, it is probably not a good idea to stay in the area.

Evyr recognizes these men from her past, but it had been a few years, so she doesn't remember their names specifically, only where she met them and the associated profession...which helped her narrow down why they were running. They were members of the Thieves Guild who had been known for taking jobs with high levels of danger. Jobs like "stealing from the treasury of a king," "hiding in a dragon's lair to gather information on it," and - with Evyr's knowledge of the city, this seemed HIGHLY likely - "stealing black powder from the Dragon Turtles gang."

Whether she passes the information on or not is her own prerogative, but even if they weren't all in imminent danger of exploding or being murdered by the most dangerous gang in the city, following these men would very likely bring her "home" to the Thieves Guild itself. Which, of course, would bring better jobs to her new companions - whether she wanted them or not - than standing in an alleyway talking. Of course, and I can't stress this enough, these two men have no fear of dragons, and they're running from a building with a ton of black powder.

As they run, however, Mal, not quite realizing the danger, grabs one of the men and holds him up. The man could not be any more scared...just not of Mal. "Let me go! Put me down! Run!"

Stacey listened to what the lady had to say to everyone within the alleyway. She was caught off guard when the lady tickled her necklace. ”I will enjoy that talk Miss,” Stacey replied. She nodded her head when the lady said about her being a good healer. She heard what she said next and it completely went over her head. ”What do you mean by that?” Stacey asked confused.

She overheard commotion coming out of a doorway within the alleyway. She listened very carefully to what the two people said when they came out. Her eyes started to glow a shade of black because she was afraid of what the men said. ”I… shouldn’t be here any longer,” Stacey thought to herself. She started to run away because she doesn’t want to die here today.

There were very few things that Mal understood, but the look of fear was one of them. This wriggling mass he held aloft was afraid. Not of Mal, but by something else, and if it caused more fear than Mal did, it must be something terrible indeed, and the only force in nature that Mal knew that was more terrible than a goliath was fire. Mal set the man down as he say the blonde take off running. "Everyone, move!" Mal called out. "Together! Stay together!" Mal began to cast Haste on himself to help himself move faster, but in the commotion (and because it had been a while since such a spell was necessary), Mal stumbled over the incantation.

The man who had previously been held by Mal ran off before Mal could even give the order to the group. Wren had the advantage of being on Mal's shoulders and not having to run, herself. She didn't get a chance to see where Jazo and Evyr ran off to. If she had, she would know they hadn't so much "run" as "reached a different level." Evyr climbed the wall of the building next to the one with the gunpowder, using a good portion of her movement just to get up the tall building and a little ways onto it. Jazo followed closely behind in the air.

Not long after they reached the top, the Dragon Turtles' powder storehouse exploded. Had the powder been stored on the main level and had there been a few more barrels, a good portion of the city would have been rendered uninhabitable. Instantly. Thankfully, they were smart enough to have a strong bunker underneath with an easy escape route. Too bad none of them knew to run. The explosion collapsed the building it was contained beneath, and the "localized earthquake" it caused could be felt for nearly half a mile. Naturally, this meant more than just that building was damaged.

While everyone running along the ground (and Evyrless, too) was knocked flat by the force of the explosion (auto-knockdown), Evyrless and Wren were also thrown from the blast. Wren was propelled into a building, while Evyrless was propelled some distance over the building she was on before landing on her face.

Jazo, already in the air, was sent cartwheeling in the same direction as Evyr.

"And now with this shit!" was the only thing Evyrless had done in her limited hesitation of the moment. Immediately on the final syllable, she darted off to the side out the mouth of the alley. With a leap, she grabbed hold of the adjacent building where her fingers suddenly sunk into the mudstone masonry. With quick jumps up the vertical surface, Evyrless had fled to the rooftop. She made a leap across to the next building, but before she could touch ground there was a deafening blast that threw her entirely across with her back skidding against the next rooftop.

For a moment, Evyrless was a coughing mess from being harshly laid flat on her ass. A brief recovery was made and she swung herself to her feet. Quick steps were made until she could peer over the side of the building. No sign of one of them, but there was his straggler friend caught in the mess as usual. She stepped off the ledge projected her palm toward the thief. "Hey, shitsucker!" she taunted as necromantic chains launched and spun around the man's legs, [Immobilizing] him.