Will O' the Piper

Charles looked at the children thoughtfully. As one of them passed by, he waved his hand in front of the child's face, getting no reaction. "Interesting." He muttered to himself. Suddenly noticing that Sigmund had asked him a question, Charles looked at the man. "I haven't seen enough to be sure, but I think that strange music is hypnotic. There is one way to be sure." He sat down on the ground cross legged, ignoring the confused look the other man was no doubt giving him, and reached out with his mind. I hope this isn't a bad idea. He said to Sigmund in passing, before focusing all his attention on the children in front of him. For a brief moment he considered how to get past the language barrier, then realized it probably wouldn't matter if he was just trying to see their thoughts. "Knock knock." He mumbled, and touched all three of their minds.

Rendezvous Crash

It wasn't a surprise for Andre when the locals started to jeer and insult them. In a sense, the people here perceived outsiders worse even compared to the people of Paggio, although that might expand only to Holders, Librarians Holders to be specific. Andre was content on walking with the few insults thrown his way while his teammates took the brunt of it. At least until a man bumped into him and started a string of insults in front of him. The rook reined his urge to retort back. It somewhat worked as he noticed someone rummaging through one of his pocket and picked his wallet. Before Andre could react further than turning his head towards the pickpocket, he only managed to take a glimpse of the culprit mingling with the crowd then the man insulting him suddenly stopped and went on his merry way. The theft didn't hurt his pocket too much as Andre had divided his money into his pockets and hid some in his shoes, they were in a bandit town after all, instead, it did hurt his pride as he only barely managed to realize about the theft and he didn't even manage to get a look at the thief!

Don't you think something's funny here? Shadow asked. These guys are almost mechanical here, almost like they're going after something or someone's leading them.

Andre blinked over the thought but he wasn't able to think further as someone then decided it was a good idea to throw a bottle at the sole female in their group. While normally the bottle shouldn't do anything but annoy the Holder, it was apparent that her stress, if he can call it that, was bad enough that she immediately fell towards Ling En. Andre tsk-ed as he immediately summoned his crossbow, Bishop suddenly losing consciousness would be taken as a sign of weakness and the mob around them will interpret it as an invitation to attack. Their earlier taunting only did so much from hampering their progress to the rendezvous spot, but if they were to actively push back, it would be a needless effort and wasted time for the holders.

"BACK OFF!" Andre shouted, pointing the bow at the front most mob. Hopefully they'd take the warning and stop. If not, well, he might be able to try his splinter bolt now.

Rendezvous Crash

The town was in a complete uproar when they arrived. Vologhn had not been expecting this. He had seen distrust in many places of the world towards their kind, but not to this degree. It was almost like stepping into enemy territory. He shook his head. No, he was naïve. They were stepping directly into enemy territory. There were bottles being thrown at him, but the sloppy projectiles were easily to evade.

How were they going to proceed with the mission when the entire town was against them? There were too many eyes in this place, and Vologhn didn't like being watched. He couldn't hide. A spider who couldn't conceal itself would let their prey elude them. This was going to be very hard.

Before he could even come up with a course of action, a bottle sailed through the air towards them and struck Bishop right on the side of her head. She reeled from the hit, unbalanced, and fell into his arms. There was blood pouring down the side of her head, and she muttered something before going limp.

"Bishop!" he exclaimed, holding her up. Anger flared throughout his body. Vologhn glared at the citizens of Calacany, trying to find the culprit. There were too many people. It could have been any one of them… he should capture them all.

No. Logic made him stop in his tracks. To retaliate would be declaring war against the whole city. They needed to get off the streets, and move more discreetly through the place. Vologhn pulled Bishop into a side alley, where they had a small amount of cover from the jeering mob. Andre drew his weapon and warned the crowd with a resounding command. Vologhn motioned for him to stand down.

"Don't shoot them. How many civilians do you want to accidently kill?!" Vologhn chided. He examined Bishop's wound. It wasn't a serious wound, he surmised, but she was still unconscious. Had the impact rocked her brain? Vologhn quickly weaved a handful of soft threads and began wrapping her wound up. He lacked first aid supplies, but in a past mission he had found out that his threads were surprisingly good bandage material. Being woven out of pure mana made it perfectly sterile.

"Let's move quickly through the alleys," Vologhn said to Andre. "We can make it to the location Alexander had given through this road. I can incapacitate anyone who tries to stop us with my threads."

A Clayman's Finale

In such a stressful moment, Salia heard Arthur calmly asking her to listen carefully. Arthur always gave great advice, yet he generally chose to keep a low profile in such situations where being able to focus was crucial. Therefore, the fact the king wanted to talk to her that very instant meant it was important. "Salia, I have been contacted by someone named Ladon, identifying themselves as the spirit of the white queen. We are told that reinforcements have arrived and will be joining us- you quite quickly". Half of the information was lost with the rush of the moment. Salia was also not in the best physical condition although not moving too much was helping her. But she did hear something about the white queen and reinforcements. That was enough for her.

"Damn it! I know you're not holders! But if we're not careful, we might get killed if the traps continue to hit us from behind while we try to get out!" However, it was clear they'd better do that. Even more so now, since reinforcements seemed to come. "Sonneillon, please protect our backs as we move back!" She was wary of issuing orders to someone else's Spirit but Adeline wasn't exactly calm herself and Salia thought it was her duty to take care of the whole situation to the best of her abilities. It was the only thing she could do at that point. And if retreating seemed like the best option for now, that is what they would do. "Moving back everyone! I'm moving behind you so do not worry; your lives are not in danger!". Keeping them calm would make them more efficient... wouldn't it?

And suddenly, a voice Salia had not heard for a long time. It was Lux! It almost seemed like a twist of fate. She had saved him once, and he was there to help them now. "Good heavens, Lux, you have the gift of timing!!" she could feel her own smile as she ran back without looking behind her. They were going to reunite with people who could clearly help them. And while Salia did not like asking for help, it was easy to see they would not be able to complete their mission on their own. Whoever's call it had been to ask for help, it was the right one and she would have to thank that person.

Free Billy

"Oh, I understand, Quartz, I understand... so you are curious about humans, hm? Maybe we can have a conversation, some time" Remia's own curiosity taking over. What kind of things would such a being be curious about? To her, as a human, the way they behaved, and thought, and everything was normal. Sometimes mysterious and unexplainable, that was true, but still normal. However, no matter if this Quartz spoke, it was still not a human, so its ways of thinking would surely be different, not to mention its values and principles. That could make for an interesting chat indeed.

It seemed that everyone was on the same page regarding the actions of their companion, who had gone on her own. If anything happened, they would surely find out almost immediately. Remia then thought that she had indeed told them she would contact them... how she'd do that, they would not know. But of course, they would be finding out in due time. Not that a Librarian would say such a thing and never contact them again, right? The relatively casual conversation dragged on for a bit as the group made its way outside of the more crowded areas.

"Is your true size really 20 feet tall?!" Remia showed her surprise, opening her eyes wide and looking visibly shocked. She then rose her sight upwards, as if to calculate how tall 20 feet would have to be. "Not bad...!" Remia did have to wonder why the small size was called 'fun size' by Quartz, although part of her warned her it might be better not to ask. At least not yet. Later on, the group was called to the beach, where they would have to do their job. The protesters were already in full bloom and being rather loud. Remia decided to simply not listen to them. What if they were right in any way? It might be better to just lock her feelings for a while...

It was at that point that they were told about the fact there were two holders near the seashore, holders that were not Librarians and so people they knew nothing about. Remia nodded at Eowyn's words, not answering as she didn't have anything to add to the information they were given. Nothing other than being attentive. "Let's go then" she smiled at her compaion as she lead them onto the beach. She could see her struggling with leading the pack and trying to get the crowd out of the way... so Remia did what she knew she could do. She walked close to Eowyn, and gently but firmly pushed people away. "Out of the way, please!". Remia tried sounding authoritative yet not confrontational. Hopefully, it would work well. "I'm pretty sure if they get him, they're going to cause a riot, however" she said as an answer to Mime's remark.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Once Sean and Emily began arguing, with Fran taking command of the situation (or trying to, at least), Diane felt she was a bit on the sidelines. It was clear that this Steve person meant his words. He was ready to fight. Not because he wanted, Diane felt, but because he felt cornered like a little animal. And everyone with a bit of common knowledge knows that small animals can be really fierce when they are cornered!! Not that this man seemed comparable to a small critter in any way, save for the restless appearance he had.

The situation was clearly tense, and Diane did what she thought she did best. Remain in the background, prepared to start any kind of fight support literally any moment now. Whatever the team decided, she would be ready to support them. She had not been here before, she did not know these names that had been mentioned and so she was useless when it came to intel. Therefore, knowing her limitations put her in a rather easy if uncomfortable situation.

She only had one thing to do. Wait, and be ready for anything. Which of course made her feel uneasy. But what else could she do? Nothing, was the answer.

The Clayman's Finale

In the chaos, she had forgotten about the researchers. They were in absolute panic, hollering about leaving the place instead of pushing forward as Salia suggested. Instinctively she agreed with them- this place was too dangerous. What could they possibly do when they reach Dr. Valenci? Her hesitation was broken by Sonneillon, who said, "A spirit named Ladon has contacted me. A White Queen is here, with reinforcements. It recommends to continue our mission."

"The White Queen?!" Adeline exclaimed, flabbergasted. The situation was far more dire than she had thought. The Library did not mobilized its Queens for minor squabbles. "Why the hell did Liaison send us in here when they were going to dispatch a Queen?"

Salia shouted at the researches to calm them down. She couldn't tell how convinced they were, but it had to do.

 "Sonneillon, please protect our backs as we move back!" the woman added. Sonneillon merely looked in Salia's direction, as if she had said something utterly idiotic. Adeline rolled her eyes. "Put me down. Now!"

Her spirit abided, planting her gently on the ground. Adeline looked up at the giant monster. When had she gained the courage to look into its inky darkness? Sonneillon was a nightmare of a beast, but it had done nothing but protect her through countless dangers. Somewhere along the way it had gained her trust.

"Grab the researchers instead. Keep them safe. And follow Salia's request!" she ordered, and ran to keep up with Salia. They hadn't covered much distance before a man's voice hailed them from a distance. The White Queen's reinforcements, she presumed. Adeline did not recognize the voice but Salia did, responding cheerfully. From a corridor a man with blonde, spiky hair appeared, his longcoat flapping behind him as he ran. Her spirits lifted slightly at the addition of another holder.

"Alright then, let's press on!"

Free Billy

Nathair

Nathair listened to Eowyn while his ears and mind let Quartz’s chatter with Remia drone into the background. Instead his mind focused on what briefing she passed on and what he understood, attempted to piece the scene together. There were at least two non-librarian holders located nearby. What they were doing there wasn’t known which had Nathair’s mind both curious and nervous. Mostly because he was concern it was connected to the PR event in progress. If it was, that meant trouble for them all. However he pushed the thought out of his mind when his eyes spotted what Eowyn had been on route to correct: the crowd that grown aggressive and now set their angers upon the Library’s PR crew.

Quartz on the other hand had been enjoying himself in his conversation with Remia, leaving the worrying and most of the mission matters to Nathair. One of the perks of having a holder was that he didn’t need to focus completely on one thing. Just what he wanted or had to, his head nodded at Remia’s suggestion to have a conversation at some point. He did enjoy the aspect of knowledge and socializing with others, different views seemed to paint one of the most colorful conversations in his thoughts.

Upon learning his true size, Remia seemed impress, her eyes widened and seemed to look up at imaginary scale where his head should’ve been in reality. His feather couldn’t help but puff out in pride at his and Quartz’s mouth seemed to smirk. If a snake could glow with pride then he would doing it since it wasn’t often someone complimented him. “Yes, it is. It was what drew the Library’s attention to our little island in the first place. Not many places have 20 foot long flying snakes roaming their forested areas. Though I prefer my fun size since it’s a pain to move as a colossal beast around humans, I believe most think I will smash them by accident.”

His attention was drawn away when he noted Arlette’s one hand squeeze the other in a nervous gesture while they drew closer to the aggressive crowds. It was easier for him then the others to notice it since he was still riding atop her head. Gently his head lowered to the young girl’s head then hissed softly into her ear in his sweetest voice. “It’s alright, Arlette, if you’re uncomfortable, hold onto Nathair’s arm for comfort. Give it a tight squeeze and you’ll feel better. Everything will be alright, I promise. So let’s put on a brave face for Nathair, shall we? He can be a rather big scaredy-cat after all and we can’t have that, can we?”

That was when both Nathair and he, for first time, had noted the difficulty Eowyn had in trying to push past the crowd. It seemed over time the protesters had started to become unruly. Their shouts and cries seemed to wear at the PR members’ patience, including Simon Getskilled, by the numerous bodies that hindered their path to stage. Naturally unable to make it through to the Politic Relations crew, Eowyn looked to the others for assistance. Mime made a comment about their briefing being about prevent rioting instead of keeping the man from the crowd. Quartz, on the other hand, felt Remia had said it best in her reply. If blood was drawn, either from the protesters or the PR members, then likely a riot would ensure like sharks gathering at the first drop of blood. That was counterproductive to their task after all. Remia decided to aid in possibly the best fashion as her body moved forward, her voice rang out and gently parting the crowd while aiding Eowyn towards Simon and the other PR members.

“Geeze, you think they personally had the Library chase and corner them instead of the animals…” The spirit snorted softly, seemed a little insulted at the behavior being shown around. Shortly, he answered Mime with his own reasoning. “I have to agree with Remia on this, Mime. Any violence here is like a wounded seal in a shark tank; it’ll escalate and cause farther problems as humans aren’t always the most reasonable in intense situations. Our goal is to prevent riot…how can we do that if we let the rioters disrupt the proceedings?”

“I can possibly both keep myself from being seen and still part the crowd. If Arlette lets me down, I can slither over some feet or nip a few people around Mr. Getskilled to help create a path to the stage. I doubt they would be able to ignore that…” Quartz suggested and added. “After we get the PR up stage, however, the fact we have a few non-Librarian holders within the area concerns Nathair and me. They could be aimed to affect the PR’s success or worse, something that could put everyone in danger. That would hurt the Library’s reputation more and make this event pointless. To be honest, I don’t think we need everyone to do crowd control here and splitting up might be proactive over all. Half of us, likely Nathair and Eowyn because we can’t blend well in the crowd like Mime and Remia, can meet up with Mari’s position to investigate the sighting off the beach area and see if there’s a connection to the crowds’ aggression. With some of the abilities I’ve seen in Holders, it won’t surprise me if someone’s is influencing the crowd’s hate and spite against the event for a distraction to do something much worse. Unless someone’s got a better idea?”

Quartz waited for any other thoughts or alternative suggestions, as well as Arlette to set him down, before he would set off on his task.

The Clayman's Finale
Maria stepped around the corner behind Lux, her shield already out. She had no idea what exactly she was supposed to be protecting these people from, but she planned to be ready for it. She almost raised it in front of her face when she saw the monster barreling toward them down the hall, but since Lux didn't seem worried about it she kept itdown. I hope this guy knows what he's doing. she thought, flinching slightly as it got close, then passed them. "I don't scare easily, but I'm glad that thing is on our side." She muttered.

Free Billy

Mari had been looking for an observation post where she would be unhindered, after all being bothered by shopkeepers or people was not her style. She kept moving behind the lined up stalls until she finally found an empty one. She stacked a few boxes and climbed onto it, this time taking care not to stand up, in order to avoid being seen altogether. She pulled out her binoculars and checked where her co-workers are. She could see them moving through the crowd, probably towards the PR team. Hopefully they won't start a fight, even though she was safe where she was at the time.
She once again summoned Sakura, with the same request, however this time Mari intended to check each of the locations with her Binoculars. Sakura sent out the ping and Mari got ready to check the locations to identify these holders... Unless they were in the middle of the crowd.

Will 'o the Piper

Although Sigmund's shouting fell onto deaf ears, Charles' telepathy seemed to take effect. One of the three children, presumably the oldest, stood still and looked dazed. “Why am I here?” The child thought, which transferred directly to Charles' mind. This farmer's son his spell seemed to be broken, as he questioned his surroundings before asking in thought “Are you a ghost?”

With the other two Charles reached, however, it felt to the knight as if his voice was being drowned out by the music which echoed in the children their heads. The younger the child, the louder the tunes felt in their head. The songs, according to the surface thoughts of the hypnotised kids, brought up associations with warmth, love and safety. It was as if they were walking towards a motherly figure. However, the deeper Charles would peer into the minds of the kids, the more heavily he would find himself affected...

Rendezvous Crash

Andre's flash of his weapon, rather than intimidate, caused roaring and laughing throughout their environments. When he and Vologhn retreated into an alley, the crowds seemed to disperse. Some stalked them, but were quickly caught in the webs Vologhn dispatched. However, it wouldn't be long until they found the narrow alley to be blocked by a small group of, probably drunk, men. Their voices all shouted over each other, and although their back was safe, people had even gathered on the roofs and balconies.

One man stepped from the crowd, under the support of more yelling and laughing. The town was like a a family of angry monkeys. “You're not the smart type are you.” The man yelled, above all the other noise. “We don't take kindly to strangers here.”

The crowds seemed to be conflicted between supporting and heckling the man. Although far fewer had bothered to circle around the alleyway than stand in the main street, there were still about twenty different unsavoury types who were clearly looking for a fight. Were some of them not human? Or were they eluded they would have a chance?

“You better run away now, freaks.”

Will O' the Piper
Charles felt himself getting sluggish, and tried to pull himself away from the spell. He managed to crawl his way back into his own mind, breaking the link. To the child he freed, he spoke in broken Shiman. "Safe now. Go home. Stay awake." Before turning to Sigmund. "These children are under a spell." He said, standing up. "I managed to drown it out on one of them, but the other two are far too gone. I think it works on their primal instincts, their desire to be loved, which means the younger they are, the more effective it is. It even started effecting me, so I had to pull out." He closed his eyes, calling up Sophia's power. As he unbuttoned his shirt, taking it off and setting it aside, the tattoos on his chest became evident. Once he opened his eyes again, the crimson glow was evident in the darkness. "Follow them on foot." He said, grabbing a pair of knives chained together from mid air, "I'll take the high ground as much as I can. I'll let you know if I see anything." With that he Jumped up and grabbed the ledge of a low roof, climbing onto it for a better vantage point.

A Clayman's Finale

Even though Ladon had commanded them to carry on, Salia and Adeline were pressing back. However, outside they could see a familiar type of forcefield form around the temple; which subsequently slowed it's shaking. Noelle had only barely managed to fly Maria in past Lux, and followed suit behind the back-up. When Noelle saw Adeline and Salia start to retreat, something snapped. “Where do you think you're going!” She shouted at them, her large axe appeared into her hand, “You got work to do!”

Lying in wait had tested Noelle's patience, and said patience had fluked. She raised her axe as almost anything about the woman shook with anger. Her fierce yellow eyes looked like they were about to shoot lightning. “Anyone to run now will die.” She threatened, giving Valenci's assistants the evil eye. “I don't care it's dangerous, it's your fault we're into this mess. Now get moving!”

The assistants clung to Salia and Maria respectively, fearful of Noelle, passing the choice between a labyrinth of death in front of them and the furious dragon lady behind them, to the holders.

Free Billy

And get them they would, as Remia's request did not fall onto deaf ears. Simon was being kept off-stage as the girl managed to wade through the crowds far more easily than Eowyn could, and the notion of a rook coming to the PR's aid was enough for most of the protesters to back off... Temporarily at least.

“About time,” Simon remarked, without batting an eyelash at neither Remia nor Eowyn, although one of his co-workers flashed a polite, albeit nervous smile at the two women. The crowd remained tame, but nobody looked particularly pleased. It would be back to pushing and pulling as soon as Simon began to speak, introducing himself to the people with a lot more tact than he'd shown the mercenaries. Not that it helped him much, though...

One woman in said crowd, noted Arlette and Mime, and squirmed herself through the people to take them both by the hand. “This is no place for girls like you.” She said, not noticing they were holder and spirit. “You shouldn't be this close when it begins.”

Meanwhile Mari had trouble locating the holders in the crowd. At least one of them had become apparent to her, if only because said holder stood steady as a rock in the sea of people. It was a woman with graying hair, tied into a knot. She too, seemed somewhat out of place, as her olive skin was darker than even the beach regulars.

Besides this woman, there was a small group of men in the direction of another of her signals, but the were too close for Mari to determine which of them was a holder. Like the woman, they had darker skins and dark hair, and dressed too formal for the occasion. However, they only seemed to be watching the events play out on the scene. Of note though, was that the men had dogs laying at their feet, although the dogs were covered in sheets. Upon closer inspection, some of the dogs had bullhorns...

Free Billy

Mari sighed, to which Sakura tilted her head, wondering what went through her head, however Mari didn't take too long to get back to her old self and order Sakura.
"Sakura, contact the Holder you spoke to earlier, report the following: We've spotted both holders, one is a woman with distinctive graying hair tied into a knot with olive colored skin significantly darker then the surrounding people. The second holder is not clearly indentified but is amongst other people with similarly colored skin, they also appear to have dogs with... bullhorns... Whatever that is, be careful.
Sakura nodded and relayed her message literally, as always.
Mari however didn't really want to get down there, if shit really hit the fan it would be bad for someone as frail as herself to be close to the fight, Sakura's flash barrier worked as far as the spirit could see anyway, she merely patted the handgun she had with her, useless against holders, but hey, ordinary folk are also a threat.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon


When Fran received Emily's call, she too pondered the options. The prospect was difficult, even though the woman had known they would likely face hostility. “You've suffered, haven't you?” Fran stepped forward, in spite of Sean and Emily's warning.

Although Francesca was genuinely worried about Sean's condition, she was quite careful in her body language and intonation. She had weighed her options and made a choice. Fran's spirit (a giant neon eye painted on a metallic ball, with a robotic and monotonous voice that spoke short, sentences) spread a message to all three holders; to stand ready in case something would happen. To Cerberus in particular, the iron eyeball relayed; “S. Merister is consistently unreasonable. The environment eliminates stealth. Werecats are known to hunt at night. Retreat is not productive. Please remain alert.”

Although he did not reply, Fran stretched out her hand to Sean. “I can help you. You and Firittes can come back with us to the Hub. I've heard Edea is quite worried about you.”

At the mention of that name (which the other librarians might recognise as the daughter of the executive director of the Library) Sean burst out in tears. It was known that the director kept his daughters and wife sheltered... As the man's spirit; a succubus, had a strong influence on those around him, but there had been rumours about the director's youngest daughter seeing someone up until a few months ago. Not that the rumours had ever been confirmed... Yet it seemed Fran had done an extensive amount of research. How had she even gained access to such a detailed persona on Sean?

“Come with me, I promise you can go back to your old life.” Fran assured Sean, who for a moment seemed to believe it. Even Steve the ragworm let out a deep, sad cry and it curled up before Sean and nuzzled it's holder. However, the armour seemed phased in a totally different way than Sean. A deep voice sounded from the metal suit, unfortunately reminding Sean of his situation;

“She can't help us,” It told it's wearer, “Sean, you know we've tried. The dragon will just hunt us down; she has tormented us for far too long, found us after days of running and whipped up sandstorms that forced us to return.” Valor, the armour, picked itself (and thereby Sean) up from the ground (and Steve) it groaned in deep thought, drowning out Sean's sobbing.

“And how does she know of me and Firittes?” The living armour continued. “Or you and Edea? This is the first time we've seen her, and both are well-kept secrets...” Sean appeared confused to this notion, and Steve too became uneasy.

“You call yourself Francesca Lamont, who are you?” Valor asked directly; it's chains starting to slither in various directions.

“Political Relationships, of course I research my interlocutors.” Fran replied calmly, although her spirit repeated the request for the other holders to stand by.

“No...” Sean murmured, as anger returned as his dominant emotion. “No, you wouldn't know this.” He made a handsign towards Steve, and promptly the ragworm dug into the sand. As did Valor's chains. “But it doesn't matter. You ignored my warning. Now you die!”

The Clayman's Finale

They had not gotten very far before Noelle appeared. Adeline was glad she was still safe, but her expression was one of anger.

“Where do you think you're going!” Noelle shouted at them, her large axe appeared into her hand, “You got work to do! Anyone to run now will die.” 

Orders were orders, after all. It was odd for Salia to disobey them.

"Noelle!" Adeline replied, "Take them off the golem! They'll just slow us down. The four of us will carry on!"

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Emily

Emily noted the other two holders had been silent the whole time. The woman, young and chipper, looked uncomfortable as her anxiety built from the intensify scene which carried out. On the other hand, the man’s eyes seemed to drift over Emily’s turned back and caused the fine hairs along her neck to rise in nervous and awareness. Her mind assumed those eyes might’ve blamed her in a small way for her actions which lead up to this point, though it was really her guilt once more. To her, that not a good sign and just another reminder of how grave the situation looked from the pain created in the last mission. It was hard to stomach the effects when she was faced with.

She and Cerberus both tensed when Fran made her choice. Again, the woman tried to reach out to Sean, her movement careful not to display any threatening gestures as a metallic voice started to utter in short sentence in Cerberus’s main head. The spirit’s lip pulled back with a snarl, clear dislike at the orders and the woman’s foolish actions. She risked endangering the drakes, a fact that never turned out well as his holder and he had discovered last time.

He had a feeling any reasoning would’ve been lost if the voice indicated anything about the spirit itself, he relayed the message to Emily. “The Politic Relation’s spirit says the environment eliminates any stealth and werecats are known to hunt at night. They refuse to back down so we stay on the alert.” He couldn’t help but add on his own thoughts. “What that bitch is thinking is foolish and reckless. Compassion here risks the drakes; bring the mother dragon onto our head like last time.”

Emily merely stayed silent, her own thoughts too mingled to sort right now as she held her hands behind her back. The bow was on standby for the worse and ready to be summoned at moment’s notice. Once more Fran tried to reach out to Sean an Emily found herself hoping it would work, desperate that her decision to trust her instincts might’ve not been wrong. At first it seemed it might work while the woman attempted to use a woman’s name, the executive director‘s daughter if the Rook remembered right, which made Sean look hopeful and possibly believe it. The ragworm seemed to reflect the man’s own desire with a long, mournful cry before it curled up beside its holder.

However not these words didn’t seem to reach pass Firittes’s spirit’s harder armor. Instead it caused a different reaction, one they had hoped to avoid, which in turn spread to Sean. The spirit broke that hope like a lance knight shattering a shield at a full charge, recalling the torment they suffered and made points to create suspicion. It seemed the woman had intimate details about their lives that she shouldn’t, farther confirmed when she stated her branch and in the end sending Sean into a rage.

Why? Emily couldn’t but wonder for a split second, why must her choices always be bad ones in this place?

“Shit…” Emily uttered as she shouted back to the other two, “Keep alert as something can pop up from anywhere and avoid hurting the Drakes. Last thing we need is angering the mother again.”

With that, Emily’s bow came up and prepared to aim an arrow at Sean. Her aim was low, targeting his leg, in a hope just crippling might be enough to make this fight slightly easier. At least maybe the sudden pain would distract him or keep his attention on her, rather than the others. She was part of the reason for his whole affair after all when she killed a Drake. It stained her hands but unlike Sean and his company, she wasn’t suffering from the dragon’s torment day in and out. Her fingers held tightly then released on breath right at his thigh. Emily hoped that having the chain embedded within the ground would keep the man from moving and increase her chances of hitting her target. If not then she would already have a second arrow drawn and ready.

Will 'o the Piper

“You're using them as lines and sinkers?” Sigmund grumbled, suddenly displeased with Charles. “Are you mad? These are kids. Kids for crying out loud.” The rook understood that using the children was the most convenient way to get to the bottom of the disappearances, but this did not go down well with the rook's code.

“Go home!” Sigmund roared at the boy that had been knocked out of his trance, and walked up to the kid with the scariest face he could manage. If nobody was going to speak their language to the kids, Sigmund would go with the tactics he knew best; intimidation and force.

An iron snake's head enveloped around Sigmund his fist, and quickly burst forward to one of the kids. In his head, Medusa giggled, as the weapon clutched inside the child's night robes and snatched a helpless body straight towards Sigmund. “Shut up, vile snake.” He bit at his spirit, as he put the kid under his arm and aimed his hookshot at the second child, a girl. This one he snatched by the arm, “Cursed darkness.” Sigmund cursed underneath his breath. Medusa cackled wickedly.

“Even kids? Seriously?” Sigmund growled at Medusa, who didn't even notice Sigmund's deprecation in her delight. With both kids under his arms Sigmund ran back to the closest house, and without warning, used his strength to kick in the door. The door flew straight into the living room, with Sigmund following up and without even a shred of consideration walked straight into the bedroom; put the kids down with the (no doubt shocked) inhabitants, then closed the bedroom door and stuck a chair underneath it.

“Charles, Eidren, you two better get to the bottom of this, we're not putting anymore of these brats at risk.”

A Clayman's Finale

“Wow, wow, wow, lady.” Lux almost gasped for air faced with the sudden hostility from Noelle. She had been... Forceful before, but this was a completely unexpected turn of events. Fortunately, one of the present holders had a solution; one Noelle was most fit for considering her flying abilities.

“The girl's right.” Lux added to Adeline's suggestion, then reassured Noelle, “Don't worry about the mission,” Sparks jumped between Lux' fingers, “It'll be over quick as lightning.”

“From nervous teacher to dashing hero... Who'd have thought.” Koko taunted in Lux' head, something the Bishop did his best to ignore. Instead he he turned to Adeline and Maria, two holders he hadn't introduced himself to yet. “Lux Turrez, mercenary and recruitment.” He spoke friendly, though hastily, after which he quickly stepped up to Salia and offered her a shoulder to lean on. “Good to see you're still alive. Though I imagine you've seen better days. Here, lean on me, it's time for a role reversal.”

The moment Salia'd accept or reject, Lux started walking. Not only because of the angry dragon lady, but if the royal guard was here again, whatever was going on must've been urgent...

Free Billy

Eowyn was grateful and ashamed that Remia was far better equipped for crowd control duties than she was. Though of course, she couldn't summon Sleipnir without giving the crowd the scare of their lives. The horse didn't understand the nuances of crowd control, however. “A warrior commands respect.” It stated simply, “A display of strength should supersede their meek wills. As well, I have collected more intelligence from the solemn Kuroi. She has identified the holders.”

“I see, thank you Sleipnir.” Eowyn spoke, before relaying the spirit's report of Mari's findings to the rest of the team. “Mari has found the two holders. A gray-haired woman, as well as one in a group of men. She said they have darker skin than the rest of the beach-goers, so please be careful when you see them.”

“Again exhibit a deficiency in initiative.” Sleipnir judged harshly, “Our opponent is in front of us. You lack a warrior's resolve.”

Eowyn, shuddered by her spirit's words. It was true she didn't know what to do, but Eowyn did not think unnecessary violence or displays of strength would be for the good of the mission. Instead, she accepted Quartz' proposal. At least, Eowyn wanted to, before it, along with Arlette, got snatched away by a random woman.

“Don't worry, she's with me!” Eowyn shouted as a small wall of people formed itself between Arlette and the rest of the holders, hoping her voice would be loud enough. Eowyn looked at Remia apologetically, asking if she could help retrieving Arlette. After all, just like Nathair and Eowyn, Arlette just wasn't fit for wrestling through this tumultuous crowd...

Will O' the Piper
Before Charles could stop him, Sigmund was forcefully dragging the children back to their homes. "Sigmund stop!" He yelled, "We don't know what could happen to them!" He tried to get down in time to stop him, but it was too late. Catching his arm as he came out the door, he caught the big man's eyes with his own burning red pair. "Tell me, Muscle man, do you have any idea what happens when a person in a trance like that when they can't do what they're told? I sure don't, but I bet it's a whole lot worse than what would happen if we were watching them." He let go of the man's arm, turning his back and walking in the direction the children were heading. "I can't go in there for diplomatic reasons, so now that they're inside we can't protect them. Our only hope to save them and the rest of the children now is to keep going, and hope that we find whoever is doing this before anything worse happens." Rounding on the man again, he pointed a finger at his chest. "I don't give a damn what your personal opinion of me is right now, but as long as we're on this mission WE ARE A TEAM. Stop acing on impulse, stop acting by yourself. If you have a problem with one of my plans, tell me before you start doing your own thing."

The Clayman's Finale
Maria was about to jump in front of Noelle when Lux beat her to it. Lowering her shield again, she nodded at the man bemusedly as he introduced himself. "Maria Miller, White Queen's Rook." She caught up as they started walking, standing near the front where she'd be most useful. "Um, before we get much farther I should probably explain that I specialize in defense, so I would do the most good up front. I'll be able to block almost anything with my shield, but it would be good to know what to expect. You two have been here for a bit, what have you run into?"

Will 'o the Piper

“As long as they're not killing their selves, they're a hell lot better off.” Sigmund rolled his eyes. “If your idea of a plan is letting innocent children walk to their doom, we're not a team.” He stated bluntly, but remarkably calm, before walking straight forward (whether Charles would remain standing or not) towards another kid.

“No goal justifies every means. Matter of fact, you're not convincing me the village will look kindly upon us if we let more brats kick the bucket. You can try to stop me by finding us whatever we need to beat to a bloody pulp to end that trance, or by risking that arm of yours again.”

Mid-sentence, Sigmund's Iron Viper shot forward to yet another child, reeling it in. After ensuring his catch, Sigmund turned back at Charles, unwavering and staring straight into his eyes. “Or you can do the right thing and help me. Choice is yours, mister Night.” Sigmund mentioned shortly, before searching another kid off their curfew to pluck off the streets.

Will O' the Piper
Charles bared his teeth in frustration. "Have you thought any of this through? Do you have any clue what's going on here? The facts are that whoever is doing this has enough power to call these children out of their homes by their own will. They follow the sound uncoerced, because it appeals to their primal needs. Someone with that much power doesn't NEED to call them if their goal is killing, and while you're wasting time here pulling these kids who would lead us straight to them back, the kids who were already taken and are almost certainly STILL ALIVE are in danger. How about you think with your brain for a few seconds here. There's no possible way we're going to find this person on our own, and they've provided us with the perfect guides. If you want to get them out of harms way AFTER we've got a direction, that's fine, but stop letting your short sighted 'good will' get in the way of saving those other children." He summoned his staff into his hands. "I need one of these children unbound, and we have a guaranteed method of bringing them back with Eidren. Go ahead and 'save' the rest of them if you want, but if you get in the way of completing this mission, I'll treat you like any other enemy."

Will 'o the Piper

'That hothead makes an awful lot of assumptions about something we got absolutely no intel on.' Sigmund thought to himself, as he listened to Charles' tirade. Alive, powerful... What did they even know? All they knew was that it lured kids with the promise of love through song, but love could be a lie. Sigmund knew all about that, dismissing the thought before he'd rekindle more of his past. There were even animals and monsters who used pheromones to catch prey – a small fact he'd picked up on a past mission. Working with the library certainly had gotten Sigmund better at trivia. All in all, Charles' guess was as good as his own and when it came to gut instincts, Sigmund felt far better relying on himself. “Awful high and mighty, for someone who let's a kid do his job for him. You don't need them, hell you pulled out of their heads the second you were at risk. That face of yours should be red for a whole different reason.” The rook condemned Charles telepathically, as he continued his search mission; already too far away to hold a proper conversation.

“And another thing, you never place all your bets on a single horse. Even if I get these kids safe and you don't have the guts to take their place, we got Eidren up in the sky with those shiny eyes of his. You can find out a sound's location by stepping in the direction it's louder as well. Since you're obviously not going to be helping me, there's a hint to get you started.”