As Gaston moved in on Cassim, the Frenchman's taller and burlier stature practically eclipsing the muscled but lithe thief, Iago took off to the rafters. He felt it would be safer to watch from up above than be perched on the object of the huntsman's anger, misplaced though it was. Score for Iago, out of trouble again!

Cassim raised an eyebrow as Gaston raised him right off the ground, allowing himself to be dangled without much of a fight. It brought back memories of some of the attempted hangings he escaped back in his... Less skilled days. Still, more interesting things were abound than this muscle-brained brute. For one, Iago was not the only one to express his disdain for the man's boorish song. In the crowd he spotted something truly fantastic! A dragon! A very small dragon, unimpressive by the standards of the literature of the far East he had read, but a dragon all the same! He had to get closer. From his understanding, where there were dragons there was a treasure hoard!

Cassim found himself drug through the air by Gaston (if nothing else this man certainly was as strong as he boasted) and the Gypsy woman came to his defense. He smiled at her noble attempts, but really the efforts were not necessary. "Apologies my fine host," he said to Gaston. "But it is time I found myself elsewhere." The desert man slipped out of his dark blue cloak, and thus out of Gaston's iron grip, landing back on sweet terra firma. In the same motion he undid Gaston's trouser belt then snatched his cloak back up. Belt and cloak in hand, he bounded for Mushu, a golden gleam in his eye.

Merida's eyes flick over to the new commotion, her hand instinctively moves to her bow, before realising that it was just another bar fight. Her hands rest back on the table, freeing her knife that she'd dug into the table.

"Ahh it's nice to be back at home..." she mumbles to herself, having been in one too many barfights in the past.

A lady walks over, looking rather annoyed, most surprisingly at her, not the buffoon starting the bar fight. Maybe barfights were more normal here than she had first thought...

"Why would you have such a high quality and expensive table in a bar if you have patrons like him around?" She gestures toward Gaston before shaking her head dismissively. "Anyway, Ma'am I will have your money, but you might want to go deal with him before he does some real damage."

"You have clearly never met a Scott," she picks the tankard up and holds it up to the other man for cheers, a wide grin spreading across her face as they clash cups.

Both of them chug their drinks, the man finishing his drink a few moments before Merida.

"You seem to be able to drink like a man, it's just a shame you'll lose your prized horse tonight, remember the name Verton Eniski," Verton announces to her, gesturing to the barmaid for another round.

"You're all talk, no drink," she says holding up the new tankard of unknown beverage before starting to drink it, drinking the tankard at the same speed as the last, Verton quickly matching her, caught off guard by the girl's enthusiasm.
The two continue drinking, their conversations getting more and more slurred as they go on. The group of people that were sitting with the Verton started to cheer them both on, warming up to Merida, with a small gathering of people forming around the two intoxicated people.

Verton raises another tankard, Merida matching him, both of them spilling some of their drinks as the tankard clash against one another. By this stage, Merida wasn't able to see straight, the world to her was every moving, making her vision blurry if she didn't focus enough. Her fears of losing Angus were starting to grow, knowing that she couldn't drink too much more.

"W-we botttthhh seem to be abel to whold ourr drinks weil, W-whyo evr can drink thssss the fastests wins?" She offers, wanting to end this knowing she could easliy, well... she thought she could probably finish this last drink quicker than him.

"Sur..." Verton is cut off by a burp and a concerned look as he almost throws up his last drink, instantly regretting this. "S-surre, fasterest to finish there drunk winds. C-cont us down crowd" Verton replies, waiting for the crowd to count them down.

"3,2,1... Go!" A chorus of voices eggs them on, the crowd truly invested in this drinking contest between the town drunk and a girl who they had never seen before.

They both raise their tankards and eagerly drink, knowing how much this last drink is worth and how important it is to just win.

Thud, Thud

The two tankards slam down, onto the table almost in perfect sync, the crowd falls silent, unsure of who had won. The barmaid whose attention had been drawn away for the last round, knowing the stakes, steps forward reaching out to grab an arm of each contestant.

"Aaaaaand the winner is..." her voice trails off leaving an air of suspense as the crowd, and the two contests, wait for the announcement "Merida," Merida's arm is yanked up into the air, almost pulling her out of her seat.

A roar of excitement comes from the crowd and even the people who were originally sitting with Verton were excited.

As Merida got her arm back she offered a shaky hand out to her opponent for a handshake. "Ittwas ery close, w-we ill have to drinkt again some iiime Vertron"

Verton takes the hand and shakes it, before sliding a large bag of money across the table "Y-uow enred it frair and sqair, netts time you're in townd youell find me ere, ut first rund on you,"

Merida takes the bag, slipping it into her dress, before standing up shakily and stumbling over to find the rest of her group...

"Who knew people in this city were so rude," she said, loud enough for Gaston to hear as the one with the parrot moved to make his escape, "Is it normal for you to attack envoys to your city in such a way? I'm not sure your King would be happy to hear that you are setting up a bad precedence for those who wish to establish trade with your fine country."

Of course, Cassim making a beeline straight for her did not go unnoticed, and it was rather startling to be sure as her eyes focused on him with confusion. "Yes?" she questioned, eyes narrowing a bit as she noticed the belt in his hand, and the one missing from the individual who had grabbed him. At this point, Mushu had taken up his roost on her shoulders once more and Cri-kee was currently on her head. She did not like the look in his eye, it was unsettling and caused her to take a small step back, her own tankard in hand as she had decided she wanted to stand around and watch the drinking contest that had broken out between the strange accented woman and the man who was all too sure he would win. "Is there something you need from me or are you just looking to hide behind someone? That man, Gaston I guess his name is, does not look too happy that you had managed to escape his grasp."

Jack's head perked up at the sight of... something... a little bit away from the tavern. If he had to guess, it probably had the stealth and grace of one of the shadow creatures from before. Whether it was a shadow or not was something Jack was uncertain about, or even if it was the same one that took Sally. Regardless of anything, though, Jack saw it was indeed barreling towards the area with a worrying speed, despite it taking a rather erratic path.

"Ohh, what to do what to do?!" Jack asked himself as he climbed to his feet, rummaging through his bag of nonsense to see if anything in there would help him. The first thing he pulled out was Zero, which would actually be a bit of a help in this if he didn't have anything else at the moment. Bat Boomerangs wouldn't be useful, he wasn't sure if the Frog Gun could reach the shadow, and while the Soul Robber was a very useful tool it probably wouldn't help here.

As he came to his conclusion, he turned to Zero and smiled at the pooch. "Zero! Do you mind giving me a ghastly howl, hopefully one that'll alert our Troublesome Trinity and the others!"

Zero wagged his little ghostly tail before he looked to the moon and did what most wolves do best.

"Awwrrooooooo!"

Djahli bleated again and struggled against Pierre’s grip. He’d lost sight of Shock, but Pierre’s lifting him up actually allowed him to spot Barrel’s short green tufts of hair as he came out from under another table and scurried towards the kitchen, the little monster easily lead there by the smell of food. Upon spotting Phoebus, Djahli became more frantic, wanting the captain’s attention. He stopped struggling long enough to nod towards the kitchen before he riled back up again. Lock and Shock were still somewhere among the crowd, and if he could just get free, he could weave through the crowd and hopefully catch one of them.

The second Madame Serpente cleared the stairs to get to the drinking party, Shock quickly made her way up, now that they were empty. She climbed onto the banister at the top...and from there, the rope that held up the main chandelier. After a quick test to make sure it would hold her weight without swaying the chandelier too much, she carefully scurried up the rope and up onto the chandelier’s wooden base, taking care to mind the lanterns that hung from it and lit the room. Her weight would tilt it a little, but with practiced grace, Shock slowly lowered herself to sit on the edge, making sure to not move the chandelier too much so the patrons below wouldn’t notice the light shifting, though admittedly between the drunken environment, the dancing flames in the fireplace, and the focus on Gaston, most of them wouldn’t give it a second thought.

Just as she settled herself, Shock noticed a familiar ball of red feathers sitting in the rafters and looking down at the scene below. She grinned under her mask, confident Iago hadn’t noticed her yet. Shock tightened her legs around the frame to keep her balance, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her slingshot and a small stone to use as ammo. There was plenty of other time for trouble, but right now, she readied her slingshot for an easy target, leaning back just enough for a clear shot at his tail feathers.

"Why would you have such a high quality and expensive table in a bar if you have patrons like him around?"

Madame Serpente got one more parting shot at the little redhead before she made her way to the heart of the ruckus.

“A good, sturdy table can take a lot from an unruly crowd,” she said. “That doesn’t give you an invitation to damage it.”

A few more of the crowd gathered around the table to watch Verton and Merida’s contest, many of them amused at such a waif taking that sort of challenge. A few placed bets.

Gaston quickly found himself holding only the stranger’s cloak. He tried to catch him, but the man had already sidestepped away and pulled the cloak from his grasp. With a growl, Gaston tried to follow, to find his leggings suddenly loose and about halfway down his thighs. He barely caught his balance before he stumbled forward...only for Esmeralda to smile sweetly and sidesweep his ankles, knocking the massive buffoon to the floor.

She bowed to the cheering crowd. Gaston growled and tried to pull himself again, but tripped over his loose pants again, to much of the crowd’s laughter. He hastily stood up and tugged his pants back up around his waist. He held them up with one hand as he tried to hone in on Esmeralda. She had already moved behind him.

“Looking for something?” Esmeralda asked.

Cassim had the belt, but she wanted Gaston’s focus on her. She got her wish. Gaston turned around and spotted her.

“No one makes a fool out of me,” he snarled.

“No one except Gaston,” Esmeralda said coolly.

That got the crowd roaring again. Red-faced, Gaston tried to find Cassim again to get his belt back. He noticed the blue-cloaked thief near the strange foreign soldier he’d hardly paid a passing glance to before.

"Who knew people in this city were so rude."

He ignored the comment, his focus still on Cassim.

"Is it normal for you to attack envoys to your city in such a way? I'm not sure your King would be happy to hear that you are setting up a bad precedence for those who wish to establish trade with your fine country."

“He threw that tankard and stole my belt!” Gaston bellowed. “And unless he gives it back, I’m going to--!”

“--Take it outside!” a firm, furious voice finished for him.

Madame Serpente finally made it to the front, having had to shove her way through the crowd. Most of the tavern went quiet, now that the Madame’s wrath had been evoked.

“Or I’ll take you outside,” she threatened.

Gaston turned to her.

“No one--!” he started.

Madame Serpente gave him a glare that would have sent Claude Frollo running for the hills, curse his damned soul. Several patrons bowed their heads, turned away, or quickly found something else to talk about. Some took interest in the drinking contest going on in the far corner. A few others pointed to Cassim and the soldier, quickly marking the troublemakers before the Madame could ask. They knew better than to make her ask.

“You lot,” she said coldly as she pointed to Gaston, Cassim, and the foreign soldier. “Outside. Now. You can come back in when you’ve settled this among yourselves.”

While the Madame handled Gaston (and with a mental note to put in a good word for Cassim once she found the little monsters), Esmeralda slipped through the crowd to continue her prior task. It only took another second to spot a little figure in red near the fireplace.

Lock grinned under his mask as he grabbed a fire poker. He spotted Esmeralda, then quickly ducked back into the crowd. Several patrons hesitantly went back to their regular business, quickly taking drinks, making bets, quietly striking up conversation, and otherwise acting like the current standoff between the Madame, Gaston, and the strangers wasn’t there. A few cheers came from the drinking game corner as Merida and Verton each downed another tankard of the Madame’s finest, most potent mead.

Once he put some distance between them, Lock pushed the tip of the poker against the backs of the patrons' legs and knees, just hard enough to be felt, though he made a beeline to slide under an open table at every opportunity solely to evade Esmeralda. He laughed with glee at the cries of pain and sudden confusion of several patrons. A few particularly drunk patrons smacked those next to them in retaliation.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel all heard Zero's wail. But surely Jack could wait just one more minute. The fun had just begun, after all!

~~~

Zero’s howl did little to sway the dark figure approaching in the distance. The shadows behind it formed a sort of dark fog that swept over Paris, even more obvious now. While the city was already dark save for a few candles in the windows, or the occasional torchlight from a patrolling guard, even those lights eventually vanished. Notre Dame’s towers ominously loomed over the fog, as if even the church had succumbed to the encroaching danger.

The herald was closer now, enough that if Jack looked closely, he would pick out a creature of sorts, a twisted, grotesque form with no truly definable shape in the dark, but one with strong, thick limbs. It leapt with animalistic power and grace to reach another rooftop. The only distinct detail to come into focus was that it indeed wore a cloak.

It stopped on a rooftop just a few blocks from the tavern and stared in the direction of the tavern’s roof, its cloak caught in the gentle night wind. Maybe it noticed Jack - or better yet, his glowing companion with his even brighter nose. It then started to come closer.

A few shadows crept out from the alleyways and thin spaces between the tightly-packed Parisian homes, these closer than the strange cloaked figure. Many of them had twisted, monstrous forms, though holes in the shadows formed eyes and mouths in macabre mockeries of faces. They spread out to reveal a familiar silhouette in the courtyard across from the tavern: a silhouette of a woman with long, straight hair, ragged ends of a dress that reached her knees, and tiny hands and feet. She hobbled as she took a step, because she was missing one of her high-heeled shoes.

Cassim briefly looked to Mulan as she addressed him, but he was quick to reattach his sight to the true prize he was after: Mushu. Though he was not a thief without proper manners, he still spoke back to the Chinese warrior. "Perhaps you can help, but not with a hiding place. I am more than capable of holding my own, or finding somewhere to hide if the chips are down. No, I'm rather enamored with your dragon." Cassim pointed to Mushu rather dramatically, closing the distance on the red scaled monster, getting all up in his face. "Tell me, are you the treasure hording kind, or the weather controlling kind? Or perchance you're the wish granting variety of dragon? Hm, doubtful your powers would be on par with a genie, but an amazing ability still. Speak your wisdom, mighty beast of flame!"

"YEOUCH!" bellowed a familiar cry of pain from up above. Iago had just been nailed in the tailfeathers and was now in freefall straight down. Cassim rolled his eyes and, with a bit of flair, whipped out his cloak in such a way that it caught Iago safely and softly.

"You should be more careful, friend. And remember that you have wings." Cassim clasped his cloak back into place as Iago perched on his shoulder once more. Still trying to hold onto the illusion that he was a normal bird, Iago said nothing yet his displeasure at such a taunt could plainly be seen to anybody who paid even the slightest bit of attention.

Not that Cassim could enjoy teasing his companion any longer, for the boorish hunter was still trying to pick a fight. Of course he was not the most important figure in the conflict anymore. Not once the owner of the establishment made her displeasure exceedingly clear. Cassim put up his hands in a show of good faith. "As you wish, madame. Far be it from me to disrespect the wishes of such a fine lady." As ordered, Cassim strode toward the door, pausing only to drape Gaston's belt over the man's shoulder in a bit of a taunt... And for another purpose.

Once outside, Cassim darted quickly around the corner. Immediately both began to laugh in absolute joy. For several seconds they shared a guffaw, before Iago unfurled his wings to reveal in his right talon he clutched a sizable handful of gold and silver coins. "The idiots were so busy throwing coins around, and they never think to look up! Hahahaha! What's your take?" Cassim held up a brown change bag, pilfered from Gaston in all the confusion.

"Why don't we find out together?" he asked, drawing open the string.

The jingling of a change purse caught the attention of Jack, glancing over towards it's direction off the roof. Initially he looked down to see if it was Lock, Shock, and Barrel, but when he saw the King of Thieves bolt past along with his featherbrained friend, Jack simply giggled to himself. Of course the King of Thieves would be up to no good in a place like this! Jack wanted to hop down and tell him something, but the soft whimpers of a certain canine appealed to Jack first.

"Zero? What's gotten into..." Jack looked across the street to see the courtyard where a cloaked figure was standing in lonesome, shadows approaching her and closing the distance between her and Jack. Due to her familiar looks, Jack couldn't help but figure who it was, especially with her hobble due to her other shoe being lost when she was left behind.

He gazed at the shoe from his sack of Trickster Tools, looking at the woman immediately after. Without so much as hesitation, Jack stepped onto the shingles of the roof and looked back to Zero before sliding down them. "Howl again for the trickster trifecta, Zero! I've gotta go get Sally!"

Zero nodded and began to howl back up at the moon, hopefully alerting the kids that something was going on, while Jack slid down the roof, jumped off at the last second, landed on some buff baffoon's head before jumping right off (similar to a stepping stone) and running straight towards the courtyard. He reached into his bag, pulling out a familiar green ectoplasm which seemingly wrapped itself around his wrist and fingers, before he whipped the tool towards the woman in question, attempting to pull her back towards Jack and away from the shadows.

"SOUL ROBBER!"

Mulan decided to followed Cassim outside, wanting to separate herself from the noise and narcissism that seemed to permeate the air. Once out of the door, she looked around for a moment, barely catching a glimpse of Cassim's cape as he dart around a corner. A bit confused as to why he would have done such a thing considering he had simply strolled out, she rounded the corner in time to hear the tail end of what the bird, Iago was it? Had to say. However, the words on her lips never finding their way into vocalization as a shouted warning met her ears so soon after the eerie howl, prompting an immediate draw of the blade she carried at her hip.

"SOUL ROBBER!"

"Put your celebration hold, we have bigger problems to deal with it sounds," Mulan said as she began to scan the area, "Cassim was it? You really should have just kept his belt, if it was just a shined Bronze it may have caught you a decent price. It's harder to find than your precious gold."

Mulan smirked as Mushu made his way to her head, eyeing the thief in a distrusting manner. As much as he had enjoyed the praise, even he knew better than to trust a man who let his greed lead him forwards in his actions. "I'm the Guardian of Mulan kinda," Mushu half snapped, "And it's good to know the chicken on your shoulder can talk."

Mulan snorted, but shushed the small dragon on her shoulder with finger to her own lips, now was not the time to start exchanging witty or snarky remarks, they had worse things to deal with at the moment. "I hope you are as good at fighting as you are at pilfering things from people thief," she stated, "Because we are going to have a nice long fight on our hands and it's going to be tough."

Phoebus marched over to Pierre, mostly ignoring the various hullaballoo going on around him since the Madame was clearly in control of the situation. "Excuse me, old friend, but Esmeralda and I need that goat to help find our other kids."

Pierre stopped babbling for just a split second as his eyes glazed over in momentary confusion. Before he could bring himself to some sort of conclusion, a concentrated blunt pain erupted in his leg, drawing forth a startled yelp from his lips. His moment of distraction was just long enough for Djahli to break loose from his hold and run off. The poet immediately roused himself with an upset wail and reached for the goat, only to have his shoulder taken hold of by Phoebus.

"Gringoire, listen to me." The soldier turned Pierre to face him. "My kids have run off, and this establishment is no place for children. If you see any of them, let one of us know. And, leave Djahli alone so he can help."

Without waiting for a response, Phoebus let him go and proceeded to push his way through the crowd toward the kitchens. Neither man noticed the red tail slip back underneath the tables.

Pierre fell into a silent stupor for a moment as he tried to process this information. Why was he confused that Phoebus and Esmeralda had other children? Why did he feel as if he didn't even know they had gotten married yet? A man of his intellect should easily be able to recall such important things as... Ah, yes, there it was. In his drunken state, it was a struggle, but he did manage to pull up an image in his memory of the blond man about to be hanged for finding the Court of Miracles, and a blurry bit where women were given the option to marry a condemned man to save his life... And the wedding! Yes, of course! Such convivitiousness! The colors, the music, the broken jar! How could he have ever forgotten that?

Pierre gave a long, sorrowful look at his empty flagon. Ah, he did enjoy his drink, but, alas, he could not afford to dull his perspicacity so severely. It would not do for a man of his mind to go about his days drowning his capacity for thought. But, he suddenly realized, he hadn't responded to his friend.

"Ah, of course! Yes, I understand." He nodded sagely, completely unaware that Phoebus had already walked away. "Why, I remember their christenings as if it were yesterday. Little-- Ehmm... Ssss.... Shhhh... Cynthia, yes! Little Cynthia was only five years old when she first started performing in the festivals with her mother. She must be approaching eleven, now, isn't she? Oh, how the time passes when one is distracted with revelry and insights! Such it is, that men must learn to appreciate was lies before them, before Thanatos comes to carry us away on blackened wings to a land ever-unchanging, mortals we all are..."

Meanwhile, Phoebus had made his way into the kitchen. He looked around for a moment, then caught a glimpse of movement out of his eye. He turned his head, waited, annnnnd... Ha! There! A chubby little arm in a black sleep darted out from a cupboard just long enough to snatch a tart pastry off a plate. He calmly walked across the kitchen, dodging two scullery maids as he went. The cook squared off to shoo him out of the kitchen, but she stopped and watched blankly when he held up a finger to his lips. He suddenly yanked open the cupboard and pulled a little boy out.

Barrel's skeleton pajamas bunched up around his chest as Phoebus apologized to the cook and carried him out of the kitchen. The soldier set the boy down on the ground and put on a stern expression, crossing his arms in front of his chest to complete the look.

"Young man, you are in a significant amount of trouble."

Iago would hear a high-pitched young cackle as he tumbled down from the rafters, a small hint to who had taken him down. While that had been fun, Shock wasn’t satisfied. She still had a pocketful of mischief to dish out, after all! A few tankards around the room would be pelted with stones and bone shards, particularly if they were being held by a patron about to take a drink. A particularly good hit managed to not only knock the tankard from a patron’s hand, but cover him from head to toe in beer. By now, a few had wisened up to not only that the stones were coming from above, but that a little purple figure caused the shifting light from the lanterns.

"A witch!" someone cried. "There's a witch!"

Esmeralda glanced up.

Well, that was the second one of them accounted for, at least. Figuring she couldn’t get to Shock right now, she continued her pursuit of Lock.

“Come back here, you little mischief maker!”

Gaston glowered at the Madame, but at least he could come back in once he took care of the thief. He barely felt the belt on his shoulder as he stormed out. Gaston quickly fixed his pants, then grabbed his blunderbuss with the intent of following Cassim.

He never noticed the missing wallet, to which Cassim would find he had a fair amount of silver and copper coins, with a few gold pieces for good measure.

Gaston didn’t see where Cassim went, but he barely spotted the soldier turn the corner when something hard and sharp landed on his head.

“AUGH!”

He quickly aimed his blunderbuss for the figure that dashed away. Gaston hardly had it in his sights when he took in the thin form, the round, white head...a skull?!

"SOUL ROBBER!"

The Soul Robber went straight through the figure. It looked up, and now Jack would see that what he thought was Sally’s silhouette was actually a shadow. Holes in its face formed slanted eyes and a twisted, evil grin before it dispersed into thin air. Several other shadows came out of nooks and nearby alleys, then headed straight for the Pumpkin King.

Gaston watched the shadows come at the skeletal figure. He decided to leave him to his fate and prepare for anymore heading this way. And they were coming. He took careful aim at a particularly nasty-lookng shadow and fired. It dispersed upon taking the shot. He quickly reloaded and aimed for a particularly large shadow coming from a second story pillar when something else caught his eye:

A twisted figure in the dark, with a billowing cloak behind it. It leaped from one roof to another, and disappeared.

Gaston grinned with a wicked glint in his eye. He knew that form. A second shot took care of the shadow before it could get too close, but he knew where that third shot was going to go.

“It’s been a while, Beast,” he sneered.

He reloaded and watched the rooftops carefully for the figure to reappear.

More shadows made their way out from the alleys and towards Mulan and Cassim. They were close enough that sinister faces could be picked from their dark and twisted forms. Some looked humanoid, while others could only be described as demons.

Back inside, the tavern got back to its usual excitement now that Gaston and the strangers were gone. Madame Serpente, having heard the cheers from the drinking game, marched up to Merida to collect her due, then gently guided her to the front, as she assumed that strange foreign soldier was one of her companions. She could wait there until they sorted out whatever it was with Gaston. In the meantime, she heard some of her patrons yelling about a witch, and sure enough, there was one - albeit a child - up in her chandelier.

If it wasn't one thing, it was something else. Madame Serpente ordered a barmaid to lower the chandelier, while she carefully climbed on the table to intercept the little girl. The barmaid quickly ran to the stairs to get to the crank.

The totally manly yelp from Pierre caused Lock to giggle. He tried to get Phoebus too, but the soft clink against one of his greaves meant protection from his fun. Oh well. There were more people to make miserable, and Esmeralda to avoid. He slipped under another table before she could spot him again...and unwittingly came out right in her sight on the other side.

Thinking quickly, Lock poked a waitress and caused her to fumble, which forced Esmeralda to catch her before she fell, and allowed him a quick exit. By now, though, a few patrons had caught onto his game. The more sober of them tried to assist Esmeralda. Lock scurried under another table to avoid them.

What he didn't account for was something else being able to follow him. Now freed from Pierre's grasp, Djahli galloped after Lock, having seen the little red tail that Phoebus and Pierre missed. As Lock tried to slip away again, Djahli caught his tail in his teeth, and, only holding tight enough to keep the trickster from escaping, pulled him out from under the table.

"Ouch!" Lock cried. "Hey! Let go!"

He tried to smack Djahli with the fire poker, only for Esmeralda to swipe it first.

"That's quite enough," she said.

Barrel happily munched on the tart, content enough with the food he already consumed, but the pastries in particular, he found appealing. He was mid-swallow when the cupboard doors suddenly burst open. A strange blond man with a stern look on his face peered in.

Uh-oh. Busted.

Barrel tried to jump down, but the man was quicker. He tried to bite the man's arm, and found himself with a mouthful of thick leather.

"Blech!"

Effectively trapped, Barrel simply finished the rest of the tart as the man carried him out of the kitchen. The man set him down, and with the crossed arms and stern look, Barrel was briefly reminded of Jack.

"Young man, you are in a significant amount of trouble."

Barrel looked properly guilty. He put his hands behind his back, and nudged the floor with one toe.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was just hungry."

He gave the man his most innocent grin, and crossed his fingers behind his back.

"I won't do it agai--"

Zero's second howl came, louder this time. Any pretenses of guilt dropped as Barrel quickly scurried under the man's legs.

"Uh-oh, gotta go!"

Jack was calling for them, and if he and his siblings made him wait a third time, it would mean trouble - and the kind of trouble they didn’t like. Lock yanked his tail free from Djahli and headed for the front door, with Esmeralda on his heels. Shock felt the chandelier move, and glanced down to see Madame Serpente waiting for her. She stood up and held the rope that hooked the chandelier to the ceiling, then quickly shifted to the other side. After a quick calculation of her current height, Shock jumped down and landed safely on the table below her. She kicked plates and tankards out of her way, much to the startled surprise of the drunk patrons who hadn't expected her to simply fall. A few angry patrons tried to grab her. Shock lifted her mask long enough to blow them a raspberry before she jumped off the edge of the table to join her brothers. Madame Serpente climbed down to join Esmeralda in giving chase.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel cackled as they ran out the front door. Their laughter died quickly when they saw the shadows, and Jack in the midst of them. Lock and Barrel quickly readied their slingshots while Shock ran for the stables to retrieve their bathtub.

Madame Serpente sensed danger too, and went back inside to protect her patrons. Esmeralda wielded the poker like a sword and stayed near the boys. Troublesome as they were, they were still children.

In his exploration of city, Kuzco and his troupe would find several shadows heading their way...and only one way to run. The shadows came from several directions, and herded the troupe toward the tavern, where they sensed others of interest as well.

❚❚

Now, see, if I'd known we were gonna get hunted down by... uhhh... if I'd known about that, I'd have gone into the city with the other people I met.

As it was, well, plus side: Kronk showed up again, yaaay, he found us. Downside: shadow monsters. Loooots of shadow monsters. We got kind of, uh, chased into the city, right? I was gonna fight them, with my kung fu, but one of the guards kind of just... picked me up. Yes. They picked me up, definitely didn't have me clinging to their head and shoulders, that would be undignified.

...the point is, guards kept staying behind to "hold them off", and now it's just me and that one guard. Not even Kronk, he got lost at some point. Not even Calo! So now both the chefs have been eaten by shadow demons. That suuuucks! Sure, they managed to keep an alpaca, because one of them followed us and eventually started being carried, and that meant I had to start running, which in these trousers- am I stalling? I might be stalling.

►

---

With a very manly and totally understandable under the circumstances shriek, Kuzco rounded the next corner at full sprint, charging headlong toward what looked like a very bright, shiny, and not shadow demon infested building. Was that a tavern? Hey, it was a tavern! Great, they could totally hole up there until this stopped being a problem!

And then he tripped over a rock, and in a very déjà vu moment, he managed to keep himself from tripping just long enough to spiral into a sort of... cartwheel fall. Right into the alley next to the building, naturally, on to his face. And right in front of a bunch of people, the two more directly associated with him he had to blink to try and recognise.

'...oh hey, I think I know you,' he mumbled after a moment, righting himself and brushing off the stuff on his nice robe. And also righting his crown. 'You were that soldier person, right? With the dragon who got turned into a dragon by Yzma, you probably know who I mean. I... I don't recognise you,' he admitted to the other man. He looked pretty... mm... scruffy? Well, he had a bag of coins. He wasn't stealing things, was he? Oh jeez, that'd suck if he was. Who needed to do that, anyway?

'Sire! Are you alright?' the guard exclaimed, poking his head into the alley, complete with alpaca. He didn't know why the alpaca was necessary, but it didn't seem to mind not being eaten by shadow monsters, so- oh wait, right.

'Yeah, I'm fine, thanks,' Kuzco replied, whacking himself a couple of times on the side of the head and shaking it vigorously to get himself back in gear. 'Hey, so, no biggie, you guys, but do you know how to fight shadow monsters? Because we're being attacked by shadow monsters, and I'm pretty sure most of my cohort is dead.' Which, which sucked. He hated that. But he was a bit preoccupied to think over it more deeply right now.

As Merida is ushered out of the bar, her stumbling awkwardly over to Mulan, Kuzco and Cassium before looking at Cassim curiously. She smirks at Kuzco and his alpaca, giggling at how much more it looks like a big dog when shes drunk.

"Have I mett yoou yet?" she offers a hand vaguely in the direction of Cassim, interrupting the conversation before her attention is drawn away by someone yelling something.

At first, she couldn't make out what they had said and then she was even more confused when she had worked out what had been yelled. A soul Robber? What on earth was that? And is that a skeleton? Yelling? Oh I have had wayyyy too much to drink.

"Ar what?" She asked the two a little confused as too if she had heard the voice properly.

Merida's attention was snapped away by the sound of gunshots, she tried to focus on the figure shooting and the others that were appearing and seemingly disappearing at the edge of the wall of shadow. She could make out a vague shape of the person shooting, Gaston, but the other figures seemed to just disappear randomly. Gaston was shooting at these shadows, others joining them in attacking them as well.

Merida moved away from the others, putting them to the back of her mind before awkwardly nocking and drawing her bow in the general direction of the shadows, trusting the fact that the people she had become friends with were also attacking them. She quickly, or as quickly as she could in her drunken state, firing one arrow each at 4 shadows.

"Hey! Come back here!" Phoebus bent forward to catch the little rascal, but his arms closed around empty air. Holy Mother, he's fast... The soldier quickly turned on his heel to chase after Barrel. He saw Esmeralda chase after a boy in red with a fire poker in hand, but stuck after his own quarry rather than trying to assist her. Luckily, both children were headed in the same direction: the front door. The boys reached the door at the same time, both adults right behind them.

Pierre was busy pondering his "memories" of "Cynthia's" christening when a purple triangle dropped onto the table he was sitting at. He stared in drunken bemusement as other patrons tried to grab the little... witch? ...Then stood with a holler as he realized Esmeralda's daughter was about to go through the same misfortune her mother had, and at a much younger age. Even the Madame was chasing after her, the voluptuous harlot! He stumbled awkwardly in pursuit, slurring something about "pprotectoring the youthful innonence!"

Phoebus, seeing the strange, probably evil shadows -- WAS THAT A SKELETON?? He drew his sword and quickly shoved the boys behind himself. The motion drew his attention to Shock, who had reached the group and turned to run off somewhere else. He quickly grabbed her by the collar of her dress and pull her back to her brothers, but the sound of a firearm snatched his attention away from her, allowing her to easily squirm away.

Pierre, seeing that both he and Esmeralda were distracted by some hooligans in black, decided to be the sort of hero that requires absolutely no courage, and followed after Shock so he could herd her back like a lost sheep to its flock, and thereby gain all the admiration and appreciation a doting parent with a stable paying job and position of authority had to offer.

The captain managed to catch sight of the shooter just as the second shot went off. He almost let the man get away with using a weapon inside the city, given the demonic creatures he was aiming at, but then Gaston swung the gun up toward a rooftop. What was he aiming--

"NO!" he shouted, diving toward the handsome brute just in time to pull the barrel away from his target.

”CHICKEN?! Watch it buddy, or I’ll bop you right in the snout!” Iago curled up his right wing like a human fist, threatening Mushu in a fight that probably would not end very well for him despite Mushu being a rather pathetic dragon.

Cassim was about to respond to Milan’s declaration of battle, but kept getting cut off by new arrivals. First a scrawny man in a dress tumbled in scared out of his mind and doing terribly to hide it. He babbled at Mulan, clearly having met before. An opening presented itself and so Cassim opened his mouth to-

Once again get cut off, this time by an extremely drunk young woman with massive red curls. What was she even saying? She got uncomfortably close and appeared to be asking a question? Well clearly she was too intoxicated to pay any attention in this dire circumstance-and she has a bow, excellent! Cassim rolled his eyes and jawline, hoping this drunk wasn’t about to turn them all into a pin cushion.

The King of Thieves drew his own sword to prepare for a fight as strange shadow creatures drew near. If his clothing and skin color didn’t give away that he was a foreigner, the curved scimitar absolutely would. ”If any of you happens to see a tall skeleton accompanied by a ghostly hound, they are allies! The King of Halloween is a friendly figure I have already run into tonight.”

Cassim threw himself into battle with the nearest shadow monster, one of the more humanoid looking ones, swinging his scimitar with great skill. Iago on the other hand took to using his most successful and oldest battle tactic: ”I’m out of here! Good luck pal, don’t get killed!”

”If any of you happens to see a tall skeleton accompanied by a ghostly hound, they are allies! The King of Halloween is a friendly figure I have already run into tonight.”

"Over here, everyone!" Jack waved his hand over to the cast of characters. Oh boy, that's a lot of characters. There wasn't any need for him to introduce Cassim once again, but he did notice the arrival of a few other characters from the books kept in his library as well. There was a well-known swordswoman from the far east, an heir to a throne in a country where everyone spoke like dirty bathwater. The large gentleman that Jack had stepped on earlier was unfamiliar, but he might've been your standard 'big strong man' character in the cast of a book, though he thought twice when he uttered something about a beast. Wasn't that... oh well. There was also someone that was known through his lands as a fairly funky emperor, who would no doubt be a delight to meet under other terms, but as it stood right now, these shadows had to go.

That was, unfortunately, all the characters that the King of Halloween had recognized before he felt something in the air. Something strong, something tantalizing. Something... scary.

"Oh, does anyone feel that in the wind? It just makes me feel that tonight..." Jack said as he opened up the top of his bag, an orange light shining out of it's opening.

"... will be an absolutely HORRIFYING night for these shadows!"

Just as he finished his proclamation, Jack dropped the bag onto the ground, the contents that were once in it having been vanished from anyone's sight, at least for the time being. Might it have been a clever illusion, nobody knew, but Jack certainly knew what to do. He stepped onto the empty burlap sack, a pillar of bright orange flame rising out of it and enveloping Jack's entire lanky and creepy form, completely covering him long enough for him to release a positively joyful cackle.

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The fire sunk back down, revealing none other than the Pumpkin King in his full luster, a Jack-o-Lantern head topping the raggedy red shirt he was wearing, as well as the woven hay that covered his arms and legs. On top of that, it was unclear that he had actual fireballs in his hand or just really hot pumpkins, but it was evident that some amount of fire was involved. In the end, it was very clear that if there were any more civilians around, they'd certainly have left at the sight of the Pumpkin King.

It was almost as if you could hear a tune in the cold wind of the night...

"Halloween's come early this year, everybody! Though, it's not a matter of simple Trick-or-Treating right now!" Jack announced to his untimely comrades, smiling all the while. "I'm all for a bit of trickery, but these shadows have pulled a trick that not even I'd pull! Mind giving this old sack of skulls a hand at handling these naughty shadows?!"

"That's right, you run like the chicken you are!" Mushu shouted as he waved his own fist at the bird, then decidedly slipped into the back of Mulan's collar, "I'll just be right here."

Mulan rolled her eyes at the exchange, then looked at the strange toothpick of a man that had come running up to herself and Cassim before promptly falling on his face like a child who had yet to master the ability. Of course, not everyone had a graceful run, Mulan understood this well and would not hold it against him... too much. However, she did not get the chance to really respond to the Emperor of a far away land before the Thief piped up about a tall skeleton man who was apparently their ally, and also had a ghost dog? "Is he an ancestor of your's?" she asked Cassim with mild confusion, "I've never known an ancestor to be out and about like that. Though, at this time it does not much matter... be careful while fighting these creatures, conserve your energy the best that you can otherwise you will regret your decision sooner than you think. This is going to be -"

Mulan cut off when Jack joined their group upon the ground, her almond shaped eyes growing wide, not only because of the man's height and strange limbs, but also because of exactly how much of a skeleton he was. Even if Cassim said this, man?, was an ally, one would not have thought so at first sight. He was, in fact, a rather unsettling looking character and that alone was enough to put her on edge and have Cri-kee decide it was time to hid in her collar as well. "Chirrrrrrrr-kreeeeeeeee," came the nervous sound of her companion as he hid.

It was then that the creatures began to make themselves known, prompting the swordswoman to jump into action, the metal of her blade seeking its first target with a swiftness that had been drilled into her only years before. Thankfully, it would be easier to deal with the threat with more people willing to fight beside her, and hopefully that meant they would be chased off faster.

Mulan was correct in that there would be a difficult fight on their hands. Several shadows barreled for the group in the alley, with wicked delight in their hollow faces. As the Chinese soldier had dealt with them before, the first few to cross her path were felled by her blade.

The first shadow that came for Cassim got cut through like a stick through smoke. It vanished upon defeat, with a second one meeting a similar fate on the back swing. A different shadow slipped behind Cassim to follow Iago and reached for the bird's tail feathers.

A few more reached for Kuzco and his guard. With a manly flail and a panicked cry of, "No touchy!" the emperor would find his quick karate chop motions took out a small shadow that was gunning for him.

One of Merida’s arrows hit its mark, albeit accidentally, as the shadow miscalculated its dodge from the drunken aim. Two other arrows missed and clattered against the cobblestones, while the fourth hit its mark intentionally, though only on the shadow's arm. The injured shadow angrily charged for the group, followed by a few of its friends to try to chase them out of the alley and into the courtyard.

At the tavern entrance, Shock struggled to free herself from the soldier's grip.

"Let me go!"

Shock was about to try to kick his shin when the second gunshot rang out. She quickly broke free and scurried for the stables. Shock was aware one of the tavern patrons was following her - how could she not with how loud he was being about "youthful innonence!"? - but paid him no mind. Jack needed their help, and they needed their equipment to better assist him.

"Over here, everyone!"

"We're here--" Lock called out.

"--Jack!" Barrel finished.

Esmeralda didn't answer as a few shadows came for the tavern entrance. Lock and Barrel both grabbed small projectiles from their pockets and quickly took out a shadow each. Barrel reloaded more quickly than his brother and quickly fired two more shots, one of which missed. Esmeralda positioned herself carefully to stay near the boys, staying out of their firing range, but providing back-up. One shadow got too close and met its demise with a poker through its chest.

Gaston saw the cloaked figure appear again, and took aim. He had his finger on the trigger, when:

"NO!"

The barrel of the blunderbuss was pulled away from the target. The shot hit the edge of a rooftop and shattered some of the wood, giving an idea of the kind of destruction it could have done to its target. Gaston growled and tried to knock Phoebus away from him.

"You made me miss! That Beast is a threat to this whole city!"

He was about to tussle with the soldier when a delightfully wicked cackle filled the air.

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Esmeralda fended off another shadow before she caught sight of a fiery demon! Her eyes went wide, but she barely had time to comprehend it before she saw another shadow come her way. Lock and Barrel both grinned, and any fear they might have had at the situation went away when they saw their Pumpkin King in his element. Now things were getting fun again! Gaston stepped back in fear, then quickly reloaded his blunderbuss.

Back at the stables, Shock ran for the bathtub and quickly climbed inside. The drunken patron was still following her. She climbed up onto the rim. The patron tried to grab her. In annoyance, Shock jumped to the other end of the tub to evade him. The patron ended up falling in after her. Shock didn't have time to try to push him out; her brothers - and Jack - needed her!

And speaking of Jack, she heard him right as she re-entered the courtyard.

"Halloween's come early this year, everybody! Though, it's not a matter of simple Trick-or-Treating right now! I'm all for a bit of trickery, but these shadows have pulled a trick that not even I'd pull!"

Several shadows screeched from the light as they disappeared, while others fled in terror from Jack and went for other targets. Many of the creatures came in larger hoards for the groups at the tavern entrance, and near the alley.

"Mind giving this old sack of skulls a hand at handling these naughty shadows?!"

As if answering the call, something jumped down from the rooftops. The strange cloaked figure Jack and Gaston - and now Phoebus - saw earlier landed on one of the shadows heading for Esmeralda. The shadow dispersed like fog under its weight. No longer seen from a distance, the figure was a lot smaller than the Beast Gaston mistook it for, and in fact, would not have reached even halfway up his massive chest. A hood covered its face, but based on its position, the creature's face wasn't on top of its body, but inserted lower in its chest.

The cloaked figure, having no weapon of its own, dove for another shadow and wrapped its massive arms around it.

In another moment, a strange galloping sound sounded. Shock returned with the rest of the tricksters’ equipment -- and Pierre, unfortunately. Having had a little time to think on the way to and from the tavern, Shock held a small firecracker in her hand.

“Lock!”

Lock looked up and saw what his sister tossed to him. He caught it with a nod and set down his slingshot so he could reach into his pocket for a match. Esmeralda wasn’t sure what the strange device was, but she provided some cover as Lock lit the firecracker.

“Barrel!”

The second Barrel looked over, Lock shoved the firecracker in his hand. With a confirming nod, Barrel loaded it into his slingshot and quickly aimed it for the small hoard of shadows approaching their group. The fuse reached its limit just before it landed in the shadows' midst. The sudden noise and burst of colored light caused several of the shadows to scatter, though some of them still came for their prey. All three of the little tricksters giggled at their mayhem, then quickly got back to it. Lock and Barrel joined Shock in the bathtub. They pushed Pierre out beside Esmeralda so they could better move freely.

The cloaked figure tumbled forward as it tussled with the shadow. After a moment, its strong arms tightened around the thing's chest, before the shadow burst into wisps of dark fog. In the fight, the figure's hood fell back, revealing a mess of red hair under the cloak.

Gaston caught sight of it first. It wasn't the Beast as he initially thought, but...a beast nonetheless.

A beast with a monstrous face. One eye practically bulged out of its socket, while the other could barely be seen under folds of deformed flesh. Its back twisted up into a hunch, while the thick arms gave an idea of strength.

This newcomer didn't say a word as he quickly targeted another shadow.

Merida looks over the skelebob confused, maybe she had had one too many drinks or someone had poisoned her drink. Maybe skelebobs could be real, I mean there's a dragon that talks, a talking cricket, a talking parrot and a very big dog? Called a Llama? How far fetched is a skelebob?

Merida watches as Jack is engulfed in light and then reappears not long after dressed in a weird Halloween esc costume. As he finishes his grand old monologue, Merida puts it together. 'OH its a Halloween spirit,' she shrugs and watches as an army of children get to work doing... god knows what.

Merida watches the weird kids come back in a... she couldn't work out what it was. She watched as they lit and fired a... something? into the mass of shadows. A beautiful explosion of light and colour.

As Merida's eyes focus back, between the alcohol and the explosion of lights and sound it's making it hard for her to focus on th.... Her train of thought is cut off but the arrival of a redhead.

"REDHEATDS UNITNITE" she yells in an attempt at a battle cry as she tries to run toward the newcomer. As she eventually, not gracefully, reaches the newcomer, she jumps up onto his shoulders, wrapping her legs around their neck, making sure not to choke them. She gets comfortable, or as much as possible before introducing herself. "I am Meritha, Princess off Scotlands" she says in a hurried slur as she starts to fire arrows off into the masses of shadows, hoping she can be of some use in her current state.

Town after town and still no sign of either Repunzel or Eugene... Maximus had been searching tirelessly for even the slightest sign of his lost companions, but so far he's had no luck. Hopefully, this time would be different. As usual Maximus' first stop would be the local tavern, there is always plenty of travellers in them and thus plenty of information and if Max was lucky he might find Eugene slumped on a stool.

And once Max got to his destination it was indeed different. Not in the way he was expecting but none the less it was different. In fact, the scene was rather strange. Hordes of shadow creatures had invaded and were currently in combat with... A frizzy archer, a soldier in foreign armour, a lanky pumpkin... Thing. And that was just a few of them. It seemed rather obvious that the shadow monsters were the aggressors, they had to be stopped, and who knows one of these wacky-looking strangers might know something about Repunzel's whereabouts.

Maximus then charged into the fray leaping over the first few shadow creatures so he could land next to the group of zany characters. It didn't take long for some creatures to pick Max as a target, the first poor demon approached Max from behind and was met with a powerful kick to the face. The creature poofed into dark fog after the attack, *so they're lightweights* Max thought as he headbutts another shadow to the ground and trampled on it until it evaporated. This was going to be an enjoyable battle.

Mulan watched as the others began to fight, but only briefly before she found herself nearly immediately having to cut down more shadows as they came her way. While she was thankful to have more people fighting alongside her, she did hope that none would tire out too fast, thought she doubted that the one with the Bow, Merida if she remembered correctly, would have too much trouble with that unless being drunk opted to tire her out all on its own. Of course, that was not her main concern right now, that was reserved strictly for ensuring that the shadows were taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible so they would eventually give up on their targets before anyone got hurt. Of course, with the late hour and the long travel times of those around her, she had no doubt there may be a semblance of fatigue in each of them which had her hoping that this fight would be far shorter than those in her past had been. Exhaustion caused people to make mistakes, and mistakes with these creatures would leave an opening that they would do their best to take advantage of.

Upon the entrance of the new comer, Mushu had poked his head out of his place within the Soldier's collar and made a noise between surprise and... was that disgust in the dragon's tone? There was no time for that! Thankfully, he did not get a chance to make a quip as Mulan immediately found herself turning around in an attempt to defend herself from a different angle, breaking the Dragon's line of site on the one who had come to join them. It seemed he was good with his hands, at least not having a weapon did not seem to deter the newcomer.