Feb 09 02:53:04 106 PA

From Chronicles

The morning of Tuesday is one marked by subtly overcast skies and a light snow that barely qualifies as a flurry. It's a good day for the trailing end of the winter months. People are out to get their early shopping done. Or setting up for that early shopping. And Vixen is out early as well. She's sitting on the edge of a low wall, legs drawn up in a cross under her. A disposable cup steams in hand and she surveys the plaza intently. Deeply thoughtful as her eyes flick from person to person, only broken up by an occasional sip from her cup, not letting the contents get emptied.

Is it morning? Or has the velvet wrapping the world been worn away, revealing the unrelenting concrete dome above that houses such pomp and purpose, trials and despair? One soul separates from the teeming throng, clad in leathers and flannel and broad, black hat, carrying a large tan canvas case over his right shoulder. Sebastien crosses the market, headed for the gates.

Cassius yawns, and rubbing his forhead, it's still wickedly cold, still winter, and the young man is lookin a little bit groggy. Not so much a morning person, but functional, muttering to himself as he's got his gym bag, slung over his winter robes. Moving to get a workout it would appear.

Vixen continues her vigil over the plaza intently up to the point that she spies Sebastien passing nearby. This brings about a mild interest for reasons yet to be spoken. In any case, she straightens up a little and can be heard to call out, "Hey knight, where's the horse?" She doesn't bother with much subtlety, short of regulating her voice to be heard by him, but not carry all that far past that goal. And she does grin, already casually amused. Though for the moment she keeps her spot on the wall, casually toying with her near empty cup.

Sebastien slows as he hears that voice, peering up suspiciously as he visibly searches for the woman, blue eyes finally alighting on her snugly-wrapped shape. "At the stables," he replies, giving Vixen a level look. "Where is your camera?" He takes a step towards her, perhaps into Cassius' path, creating a human logjam as he tries to spot that wicked, all-seeing eye she seems to cherish.

Cassius huhs as he gets stopped, well he doesn't want to walk into anybody, so anothe presence in front of him gets him to stop and refocus. He sees Sebastian, though no clue as to knighthood or not, he wasn't paying attention to vixen. NOw though, he's focused. "Ah, hello, sorry about that." he flits his hood back a small bit. He wears his respirator, an attempt to fight the cold air.

Vixen pats her coat pocket idly and grins. "Why, you looking for an interview? Was just considering looking for someone interesting. Though I suppose in a pinch you'll do." Her words casually playful. And her eyes flicking towards Cassius as he comes up behind the other man. Should he look her way, she'll dip her head his way, then lift her cup to drain the last dregs. Once she is done with that, she sights a nearby trash receptacle and, after considering it briefly, tosses the cup in lightly at a moment when the wind is low.

"Not at all!" Sebastien replies hurriedly, and reaches towards Cassius as if to shield himself with the man. "Interesting, eh? Let me introduce you to, ah..." His eyes narrow, flitting up and down Cassius. If he's ever met the man, he's obviously lost the memory. "this ... boy!" He grins at Cassius, before flickering an uncertain frown at Vixen. " ...Man!" And another uncertain look at Cassius' effete countence. "...Person!" His eyes slip down the little mage, throwing the media mogul a winning smile. "He's obviously more interesting, non? Wrapped hands as a boxer, bells that ring his presence..?" He leans towards Cassius, stage-whispering, "Where's the circus, son?"

Cassius is pretty broad hshoulder for a young teen, looking at Sebastian, "Ah, huh, I..." he looks back oat Vixen and lifts his hand waving, "Hello there Vixen how are you doing? Anything interesting going on? I turned into your show the other day." he nods. Turning back over to Seb he says totally dead pan, "Havn't made one yet, the last one got blown to hell."

Vixen is amused and it is good. She considers Cassius, then eyes Sebastien, saying to him, "The big hero's afraid of a few questions, eh? Too bad, you seem like the sort who likes to talk. That's all I'm offering. A chance to talk. Not like I can force anyone to answer my questions." She then considers Cassius and dips her head towards him. "Liked it? As to right now, that sort of depends. But I'm always on the lookout for something big. Got a nice PDD almost ready to go out, but I think I need something more for it. Haven't seen it yet, though." She grins. "I don't doubt you'd say yeah if I wanted to interview you. But do you have anything interesting to say?"

"Blown up?" Sebastien gasps. "Why would you do such a thing to your circus? They are so very rare these days!" He steps away from the man-child, rounded spurs on his heels clicking against the asphalt as he takes those staggered steps. "See? He can tell you all about the horrible accident. The tentacles!" He leans close, wondering, "Did you get them all back out of you again, before you escaped?" Sebastien seems to ignore the offer from Vixen, instead preferring to goad the poor lad.

Cassius gives a light shrug, "It was during the Juicer Uprising, I dunno who it was, mabey it was Coalition thinkin we were supporting Juicers, or Juicers thinkin we were supporting Skulls, or mabey either going crazy. Who knows, I was a survivior, we split up the surviving goods and went our Seperate ways. Kingsdale was closest for me. So, here I am!" he smiles, "It's all right, having found anyone to perform with though." he says. Blinking at Sebastian, "What? Huh?" he asks, "Excuse me?" he asks, now he's got no clue what the hell Sebastian is talking about.

Vixen gives Sebastien an odd look, though not one lacking understanding. "Yeah, one day you're going to be put to the mic, man. Maybe not today, but I'll corner you somewhere. So you might as well just give it up and give in. Broadcasting your nonsense would probably give me a big boost." She then considers Cassius. "So what, none of your friends came back around here? Seems like some of them might have, since it was so close."

Sebastien gives a small sigh, raising his eyebrows as he stares at the ground a moment. "The television can teach, mademoiselle. You can debate, you can inform. But inspire?" He takes a step towards the young Cassius, reaching a gloved and to press against his rounded shoulder, briefly, before letting go. "You do that here. Up close. You show. You help them do. When you demonstrate a problem, something to change on your show, the audience wonders, 'What can I do?" When I show a problem I say, 'I am going to go fix that. Would anybody like to help?' So you see, I have nothing to teach. I am not needed on your show."

Cassius finally unhooks the respirator from his mouth and lets out a frosted breath. Looking up at Seb when he sets a hand on his shoulder, "What exactly are you talking about, I cna't understand a word you're saying." giving his head a shake he turns back to Vixen, "Other three just wanted to leave and get out of the area, I wanted to get some...well more adventures" he nods. "So I came here and they took off"

Alistair is making his way back south from the ... garage, no doubt. He's looking to be in good spirits as usual, hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket. One comes out to wave at the group when he spies them, at least to Vixen. Interesting little gathering there, he looks over as he's slowly walking by.

"Radio, man. Or maybe you didn't see my adverts all over the city?" Vixen replies. "The video is a side job. If I had the cred for video over air, that'd be something else then." She smirks. "Informing is what I'm about. Maybe more people gotta wonder what they can do and figure it out for themselves, cause ain't no one got he answer for everyone. You think you do, you're wrong. People are grown up enough to make their own decisions. But that spiel don't excuse you from some time in front of the mic. Just goes to show, you like to talk." She smirks faintly and eyes Cassius. "Adventure, huh? Doing what? Most people looking for adventure want to be mercs. You don't look like a merc to me." Vixen herself is sitting on a low wall near to the two, legs crossed. And the day is both early and subtly overcast, with a hint of flurries. She'll grin at Alistair and lift a hand his way. "Here's the guy with the inspiring words. He's not afraid of some mic time.. well, not once you get it in front of him. Just needs a bit more confidence."

"But is this not the nature of your mass media?" Sebastien wonders softly. "To give the same message to all?" He winks up at Vixen, and eyes Alistair with a decided smirk. "The luckiest man in Kingsdale has arrived! Come before us, oh Wise One. Share your wisdom!" Sebastien properly humbles himself before the blushing bri -- er, man, taking one knee and a low bow.

Cassius shakes his head and hikes his gym bag, "All right, well, I'm not a merc, no, I'm a student and a performer, it's not like people get much entertainment, a skilled performer is wlecome anywhere, traveling and making people happy, why isn't that a good adventure huh?" he looks at the gem and blows out a frosted breath, "Fuck it's cold"

Alistair offers a sheepish smile to Vixen, not entirely pleased with having been put on the spotlight again. He pauses and watches Sebastian for a moment. "I said that good deeds are not always rewarded, but the bad ones tend to come around as a rule. It isn't really a wise thing, it is just how things are. For you, it would just be wise to not display unsightly behaviour." it's all said pretty matter-of-fact.

"I give out truth. What people do with it is their choice, cause it ain't up to me to tell people how to live. You think that's your job?" Vixen replies to Sebastien a brow arched subtly. "And I'm not the mass media, I'm working for the people, scraping what living I can out of it, which ain't all that much. Any of them can drop me a card and let me know what concerns them. I read all the messages I get." Seb's next tantic brings about a casual smirk from her. "You should be on TV though. Got enough pointless melodrama in you for it." She considers Cassius idly before noting, "You should get a real coat. And if you consider it an adventure, I guess it is for you." Her shoulders rolled subtly. "Something good to investigate sounds a bit more interesting to me." She seems content to let Ali handle himself for now, giving him a sly grin.

"I may rise, oh great one?" Sebastien asks, daring to raise his eyes as high as Alistair's navel. One wonders what he was addressing before he did so! He slowly climbs to a standing position, and gives the man a knowing look. "I will bet there are some bad decisions you have made that you do not regret, hmm?" He doesn't go so far as to wink, but the meaning is plain. "But ah, that you do not know the value of your own good decision does not make it without merit. Should I throw money to the least worthy cause and get no thanks, I may still hope for the money to be spent well." He frowns at Cassius, wondering gently aloud, "These past several monts of freezing rain and blizzards, what on Earth is it that you did then?"

Cassius shrugs, "You know what I'm just going into the gym, to be honest. I'm freezing, and there'sn othing this conversation is actually acomplishing, I'm just gonna go work out" he points to harry's gym.

Alistair tilts his head a little at he listens to Sebstien. It takes a moment but the fact that he got it is shown by the several shades of red that cross his face. Maybe Cassius will start feeling warmer now, too. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Sir" he replies, exhaling. "Hmn?" he glances at Cassius as well then, blinking his eyes.

Vixen only grins at Cassius, giving him a shrug before she responds to Sebastien. "How do you know not sharing your apparent wisdom on air won't do some good by that? You don't." She the grins at Alistair. "I think I understand what the hell he's talking about, but who the hell knows. Some people just can't seem to be plainspoken and have to mix it up, trying to sound wise. Usually just confuses we simple folk." The young woman lightly amused as she returns her attention to Seb.

"You will forgive me if I make myself sound other than I am," Sebastien replies with a smirk. "I am not wise, nor of great intellect, nor a beauty. I am a servant. Taskless at the moment, but indispensable when the prose and negotiations of others have failed." The young man shrugs, and points at the gates before breaking into a jog. "But ah, if you will excuse me, I have a date with a very special horse." He turns around, flashing a broad grin, before ducking and weaving through traffic on his way north.

Cassius just goes to head int othe gym.

Alistair gives Sebastian a 'you've grown a second head' look, though the seems to get the gist of it. "Oh ... bye!" he waves a hand to the man as he vacates, and then he looks to Vixen. "But how would he know Caliopa didn't like me not telling her?" he asks, his brows hiking up. Because the only bad decision in one that makes Cali upset!

"He doesn't know a thing," Vixen opines, looking to Alistair as the other two clear out. "It's a shot in the dark, cause everyone has something they regret. If they don't, they haven't lived. And it just means their regrets are sitting ahead of 'em." She smiles lightly. "And he's pretty much just called himself a grunt, which he is. Good to know who to put up front when the death starts to fly. Me, I'm not a front liner." Wrapped up in her coat, she seems warm enough to just sit out, though she does start to eye the plaza again, as if keeping watch for something new and interesting.

"O-oh!" Alistair's brows hike up. He sighs and fidgets for a moment, his demeanor returning quickly, and he smiles again. "He doesn't seem very friendly" he points out, and looks at Vixen. "Oh - you had a whip. And you hid behind me. But that's okay, it's good you didn't get too hurt." He looks at the plaza as well, following her gaze.

"Well, I might put it more that I was watching Cali's back, but.." She shrugs. "Never claimed to be a big bad. Just a girl that knows how to shoot when there's shooting to be done. Though you know my favored sort of shooting." She grins idly. "The whip is a back up. Suppose maybe I should learn to use something else, but.." She shrugs a little. "The whip is good.. though better for people that know to fear it. Those skeletons didn't." She glances after Seb. "As to him.." She shrugs faintly. "Seems to like to play humble, but he don't sound it. Friendly? Dunno."

Alistair smiles at that, "Thank you for that" he says, nodding his head. "You like to shoot with your camera" another nod, understanding. "I prefer not to fight so much. I'm just good at it ... sometimes you must" his brows hike up a little. "Oh, the whip ... with that and ... your outfit you look like one of those ladies in a poster ... in ... that ... shop" he blushes again now, fircely at least for a moment. "He pretends to be nice when he's trying to be mean. Or did I read it wrong?"

Vixen shrugs when it comes to Sebastien. "We'll see, I suppose. Maybe it might come clear if he talked like a normal person once in a while." She casually pats the wall near to her as she adds, "Dominatrix, you mean? They tend to show more skin. Though once the weather warms up, you might see a little more from me." She grins at him. "I don't tend to use it on people unless they're looking to get hurt serious. When it comes to.. that, I'm a lot nicer."

Alistair hmms softly, making no comment on Sebastian and then he moves to sit on the wall, taking the invitation. He's not exactly dressed very warm, but it seems he's able to stick it out. "Oh ... yeah" more blushing, again - but she also gets a blank look from him for a moment. 'That' is something he has a lot to learn about still, probably.

Vixen smirks faintly and shakes her head. "So how did a guy like you learn how to fight? You look like you'd be more at home doing some sort of.. small time job or something." She eyes Alistair a bit. "Not sure just what it would be.. what'd you do besides fight?" Casually curious at that.

Alistair's jaw drops slightly. His evaluation is that low? "A ... " more blushing, oh how embarassing. "I ... there is a monastery, and the monks taught me" he explains. "I know the letters, and the numbers" a pause, a sheepish smile, "A bit more than the numbers. I can fix things up a bit too. I can play ... uhh, the piano a bit. Probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting."

Vixen smirks faintly at that. "You're pretty unassuming, man. Like I said before, you got the look of someone that's gotten picked on before. Not quite sure still if I got that observation right, but that's the sense I get." She shrugs her shoulders then. "Don't take it bad, though. Being unassuming isn't all bad. Lots of the fighter types like to play it up. For some, it just makes them even more unlikable."

Clop. Clop clop. They might well tell Sebastien's on his way back before he announces himself, as the horse below him makes for quite a scene. The tall, proud Clydesdale mare looks about as she walks, bits of leather-wrapped overlapping steel plates carried effortlessly to give the young knight a high throne from which he may survey his terrain. "We will need a talent show!" he cries from atop the steed. "Though I wonder, is it that you can dance?" One brow arches suggestively, and Sebastien leans back to draw Sara to a walking stop.

"It isn't like that" Alistair replies, his brows hiking up a little as he listens to Vixen. "I just know it's really to hurt people" there's a pause, "I know it's vague and you want to know more, but I'm not ready to tell" he smiles at her sheepishly. His attention is drawn the the horse then, "Huh?"

"Someone can make a lot of assumptions from that," Vixen notes to Alistair in response to that. "But I'll ease off.. for now." She grins idly, then glances towards Seb as he speaks up. Heard him coming, yes. But only now looking towards him. She considers the man for a moment before she shakes her head. "You were talking about farmers before? I think so and I remember wanting to know when you do it. A little awareness raise like that is good to spread around, don't you think?"

"Farmers?" Sebastien asks, confused. He shakes his head, shrugging off the question to smile down at Alistair. "You can play the piano, but is it that you can dance?" he wonders aloud, slight smirk on his features as he asks. He glances beyond to Vixen, expanding, "And how of you? Certainly a woman who lives wrapped in leather knows some fancy footwork, non?"

"I help where I can, in this weather it's harder ... but they do something called winter crops too and then they have a better harvest" Alistair replies, and pauses. "So they say. Also Miss Sage wants to build a greenhouse and I'll help ... oh, when ... I guess I can let you know next time I'm out?" he smiles, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Looking back to Sebastien he gives him a blank look. "What book is that from?" it sounds like a quote.

Vixen nods at Alistair. "That's all ask, man. Maybe a few more folks will decide it's a good time to lend a hand." She grins, then eyes Sebastien. "I don't dance, no. Sing a little, maybe. Not much interest in talent shows, though. The And leather isn't all I wear. But when it comes to winter? It pays to keep bundled. What's it to you?"

Sebastien sits a little straighter, grinning down at Alistair from atop Sara. The girl's dressed for show in her barding, with a royal blue saddle blanket about her flanks. The man atop is less spectacularly adorned, in riding leathers and his big floppy hat. "It is from the book of DuBois, chapter 12, verse two." He leans forward, resting on the front of the saddle, "But you have not answered my questions, Oh Lucky One." He flashes the man a grin, and flickers his eyes at Vixen. At eye level for once! "A man always likes to know if a lady can dance," he replies enigmatically. "Though I do know someone else quite interested in these 'green houses.' I am just not sure what the color of the house as to do with how well plants grow." He shrugs at that, frowning. "Perhaps it is where you keep all of your 'green thumbs?'"

A faint high pitched rumbling sound wafts in on a breeze, followed by the sound of a slap of plastic or wood on metal and then a low grinding sound. Moments later, Jaxain appears from street perpendicular to this one, grinding along a railing down a set of stairs until the end, when he banks left and turns down the street. Spotting the familiar figures (and... horse) down the street, he jumps his skateboard up onto the wall and speeds along it towards the group with a hand raised in greeting. He does not appear to be dressed for, or mind, the weather. "Hey guys, wassup!"

It's all going over Alistair's head. It's like Sebastien is speaking in an alien language. "I guess I can dance a bit" he replies, but there's no connotation to it on his side of things anyway - just trying to be polite and answer the question after all. At the rest of this, he looks at Vixen and asks quietly, "Was he dropped on his head? Did the horse kick him?" some real concern showing on his expression; Jaxain draws his attention then, and Alistair waves to the man. "Hello Jaxain" he smiles.

       People, people, everywhere. Whether in the lines outside the gates or the masses he now finds milling about the plaza, Leonard has an excess of company, at least. A bit of dried meat disappears into a cloakhood donned against the chill and falling flakes, then returns minus a bite. From a dark shoulder, a rather impatient caw is screamed to remind Leonard to share. The greedy, ebonfeathered accomplice at his ear shows its gratitude by snatching the meat from fingers and taking flight.

Vixen arches a brow at Alistair as she is questioned. ""Don't ask me, I don't know his life story," she replies to him. "But then, if he was, he probably won't remember it." Amused once more, she grins idly before glancing towards the sound of Jax's arrival to the place. Her amusement lingers as she eye shim. "Might ask him the same question," she suggests, to Alistair, jerking a thumb towards the man. She then levels her eyes on Sebastien. "Well now you know. So what little tidbit are you going to give up in return? Maybe you can answer his question." She tips her head towards Alistair.

Sebastien turns his scarred head to Alistair, smile suddenly gone as he watches the smaller man with a dour expression on is face. The line that begins below his right eye spiderwebs through is cheek, grazing his upper lip. A snort rings through the group as Sara tosses her head, probably at Sebastien's heels digging in at her sides, and he breaks his stare to look down at the horse, running his and along her neck. Saying nothing.

Jaxain performs a move which consists of a quick shift of his feet and ends with him stomping on the end of his board, sending in spinning into the air infront of him as he deftly catches it. He walks over to the pair on the wall and sits down next to Alistair, nodding at Vixen as he passes, with a murmered, "Hey babe." of greeting. He reaches reaches a hand over to proform a rather complex handshake of greeting with Alistair (weither he goes along with it or not is his choice) before turning to face the quiet man on the horse. Seemingly ignorant to the fact that Sebastien ignored his greeting he says, "So we still up for that sparring match, dude?"

Alistair looks back to Sebastien, his back straightening a little. He frowns - did he say something wrong? Again Jaxain draws his attention, the fancy move seen from the corner of his eye, but it's the handshake, man, the handshake! The secret handshake! Alistair tries to keep up with it, and once done he looks back to Sebastien.

       Leonard doffs his hood to better survey the plaza as the magpie finds a perch from which to devour the thieved morsel. "Rather clean for so many..." The comment is made aloud, but does not appear intended for anyone other than himself. The gaggle of horse, rider, leathered femme, and the men catch his gaze if just due to their proximity as he steps.

Vixen is amused by Jax. Amusement seems a common emotion for her. "Hey gloryhound," she casually replies to him in turn. When she catches sight of Seb's evil eye, she chuckles lowly. "Relax, man. You're really too uptight sometimes." She glances towards Leo then, the bird's sounds drawing casual attention at first, though as his attention turns their way, she eyeballs him in a bit more detail, her expression schooling down to something more neutral and thoughtful.

Sebastien turns the horse to pointedly brush past Alistair, the large animal doing a wonderful job at pushing the smaller man away as he walks her closer to Jax. "Action Jaxain!" he calls, a faint smile touching his lips. "Of course I would. But ah, how would you have it done? Swords, hands, pistols at dawn?" He winks at that last one.

Cold and snow are a good combination. Or at least, for the oddly-matched pair of the small Inuit woman and the great white polar bear, it is. The two walk side by each, both seeming very content with the weather. After walking a few steps along the street, the bear sweeps a bit of snow at Monique, which earns him a laugh and to be poked in the leg. The bear whuffs and reaches out to nudge her with his nose, and since the two of them are generally given a wide berth of space, they generally don't have to worry about nearby folks. Monique laughs again, then lifts an ungloved hand to give his nose a playful shove. Tornaq pauses, ears swivelling a little as he keeps a bit of his attention on their surroundings, and then he shakes himself off, sending snow skittering out of his white fur. Larger than the average polar bear, he stands taller at the shoulder than what his petite shaman is in total height. A rumble rises from the bear, and then he yawns widely, intentionally to show off long white sharp fangs.

At the gates, a small commotion will arise to notable levels. It was slow to start, barely perceptible over the din of the growing activity at the plaza itself, but will suddenly break into an uproar of voices. Many, many voices raised in unintelligible protest. The din will go on for several moments before there is the firing of weapons. A brief exchange, punctuated by a few bursts of railgun fire that seems to quiet down the source of the sound somewhat, but not silence it entirely. Action at the plaza itself goes still and many heads turn to the north, towards the city's gates. A few individuals, curious, start to head that way. A few, cautious, head in other directions. The rest, uncertain, mill about or go back to their business, with perhaps a bit more alacrity to getting their errands finished.

Jaxain throws Vixen a wink and says, "Woof." before laughing at Sebastiens comment and opening his mouth to reply. At this point the commontion occurs, and he stops and turns towards it. Throwing a concerned look back at his fellows, he turns and leaps deftly up about 7 feet into the air to land on a nearby rooftop and get a better look at the commotion. "What the hell..."

"Wah!" Alistair falls backwards off the wall, legs up in the air for a moment. He bounces back up onto his feet, giving Sebastien a look before the happenings at the gate draw his attention. He puts his hands on the wall, staring off in that direction.

       "Clean... but not safe?" Leonard also swivels around towards the commotion, his sightseeing shifting in focus. The now sated raven takes flight once more as it appears curious of the ruckus, as well. Perhaps they share the same interest in intrigue as well as monochromatic coverings.

Vixen leans a bit to the side as the horse gets close to where she is as well. "Hey, watch the horses ass!" A touch indignant, that. But she goes quiet with the rest when there's the sound of weapons fire. her head turns north as well. After a moment she acts without much delay or hesitation. Her legs unfold and she drops off the low wall. Her hand sinks into her pocket as she jogs over to a nearby highwayman motorcycle, done up with a black and violet paint job. Takes only a few moments for her to get it primed, the machine awakening with a soft roar before she starts down the street at a steady clip.

That's an unfriendly sound. Sebastien's head rises, and he gophers vertically in his stirrups to get a better look at what's happening. "Merde de cochon," he murmurs, biting back harsher language as he peers uselessly back towards his apartment, then forward into the fray. "Every night I suit up in heavy armor, carry a weapon, and this infestes de poux, en proie a la mouche, mangeur de merde comes when the fog as rolled away." The young man walks Sara in a broad circle, dropping to his saddle as he comes up near Monique. "Alors, mademoiselle, you have your wish. Is it that you would like a ride, little girl? I have candy." He winks at her, just barely slowing. She's always said no before.

The rising commotion causes Tornaq to step somewhat forward so that he stands a little bit in front of his charge, to be more protection to her. When the railgun fire bursts forth, it's only through great restraint that the great white bear doesn't roar in protest. Though he does shift his stance to make himself bulkier, a half snarl baring his fangs, his attention in the direction of the gunfire. His ears are turned in that direction as well. For her part, Monique steps closer to the great white bear, one of her hands slipping into a pocket of her parka for a lingering moment before being withdrawn. She leans slightly against his foreleg on her side, slipping a hand to the inner side of the leg and looking beyond the bear. Curious, as often she is, but somewhat concerned as well. Gunfire isn't something she's used to hearing, really, and it doesn't sound like a good thing. She looks up at Sebastien to his words, her dark eyes narrowing a touch, and a smile touches at the corners of her lips. "Keep candy, no need. Me walk," she answers, giving a small nod. She's rather walk with Tornaq.

Glancing at the rest of the group, Jaxain nods to himself and starts jogging over the rooftops towards the commotion. He may not be nearly as fast as the motorcycle, but his route is as the crow (or magpie...) flies, whereas others must follow the street and part the crowd. He seems easily able to leap the 10 or so foot gaps between buildings as he bounds towards the comotion, timing his arrival to coincide with the rest of the group. "I don't see much from here, just looks like some sort of tie up at the gates. I don't see any more weapons fire, but who knows how long that will last."

"Hey! That was a railgun!" Alistair calls out after Vixen, surprised to see her go. He chases her a moment later, then to Jaxain, "She'll just get hurt!" not to mention all the other people who have likely got hurt already. Railguns? Man. What's he going to do about those anyway? Cassius returns back from the gym, awake, and now quite alert, back with his robes and...what the heck is that sound?

       The distance to the gates (and the commotion, whater its nature), is not great, at least for those with wings. Leonard does not immediately step along with or after the others and remains in place, facing the gates. His gaze is not really upon them, however, and it swims unfocused.

Vixen pulls up towards the mess ahead steadily, pulling out of sight of those taking a bit more time. Though she stops short of the edge of the disturbance, her bike silenced, a little adjustment do it locking the killswitch on before she hops off and snags her camera from her pocket as well as some thin data cord.

Sebastien keeps Sara's pace measured, careful of the onlookers and the slowed traffic. The man pats his pockets, and turns to rummage through Sara's saddlebags, frowning as all he comes up with are the smallest weapons around. A pistol. The young man lifts free a bandolier, shaking out the supple leather before tossing it over his head and popping the snap on the double-barreled pistol holster buried within. "We need to get you a wagon," Sebastien notes to his horse. "Something with a rail gun on top. Maybe a rocket launcher. Is it that you would like a rocket launcher, Sara?" He eyes a break and heels her, the large mare darting deftly into the breech.

Tornaq casts a glance towards the small shaman beside him, then lowers his nose to touch her shoulder. Whuffling softly at her, he then brings his attention back to where the gunfire was heard from. Monique lightly pats his leg, then gives a small nod, and the two of them start to walk forward. Approaching the area of the gunfire, though neither of them likely seem well-equipped for gunfire. For the moment, Monique doesn't take out any ofher weapons which she carries, instead just looking to find out more of what's going on.

The city gates will be a general traffic jam. One can barely get within fifty feet on the city side as the units at the gates doing the guarding and checking duties have set up an impromptu cordon blocking off access. Almost a dozen armored and heavily armed militia are set up to keep that line unbroken, a second cordon holding the outside closed with a similar array of guardians and a pair of flying powered armor are inbound from further within the city. All around vehicles are stopped in a jumble. A few people honk horns to add to the din of several score of individuals gathered on the city side, many speaking in loud, angry voices while others watch on in silence. It's hard to see just what has caused issue without getting close, but there seems to be a small cluster of individuals at the center of the cordoned off area, being looked over by antoher cadre of armed Kingsdale military. But without getting closer than the edge of the crowd, it's hard to tell just what's going on.. but there do seem to be a few bodies on the ground and the people at the center are clustered together in a defensive ring.

Cassius is just exiting out of the gym, he's back in his heavy blue robes. He looks up and around as the city gates have suddnely gotten into a traffic game. Looking up as he sees teh guards blocking off acess, and seeing. What exaclty is going on? He's on foot but he begins to walk over towards the gate, with the rest of the guys forming a defensive ring.

Tirzah was just leaving from dropping Sage off at her apartment when the gunfire went off. Interested she quickly set out on her cycle to investigate. Seeing the blockade she gets doubly curious, flying in above the traffic while keeping out of the path of the power armor.

Jaxain arrives on a nearby rooftop, standing plainly visible as he watches the scene unfold. He will arrive at a place nearby where the rest of the group can also join him. "Do you require assistance!?" he shouts out, in a suprisingly loud (but maybe not loud enough) voice.

Alistair continues towards the gates; being on foot the vehicles don't bother him too much, he can just move right through. He stops at a place where it's easy for him to see what the basic situation is. It seems that the military has it all well in hand, though - but he's still curious, and remains to watch longer.

Vixen leaves her bike where it sits, moving into the crowd swiftly. She's connecting her camera as she does so, making her way up to the cordon itself, weaving between people, even giving a little push where she needs to. By the time she makes it up there, she's got her camera up, trained on the scene. "Man.." Murmured lowly as she scans the scene with eye and camera.

The young Sebastien can get only so close on Sara, patting her neck before again standing on his stirrups to stare off at the small gathering inside. He flashes Jaxain a quick grin, and laughs there as he tries to take in the totality of the scene. "You know that there is enough firepower there to flatten the Earth into a baked glass dish a mile in diameter, non?" he calls back at Jaxain, seeing things more or less under control. Frowning then, he climbs from Sara with the order of, "Don't move, I will be back," and begins the press through the crowd, making his way for the cordon.

Though the oddly-matched pair approach the city gates, neither of them try to push themselves through the crowd of folks. Tornaq usually doesn't have to push, he just has to grumble. Nearer, Monique stops and lifts a hand to lightly touch the bear's leg, looking up at him for a moment. The two exchange a look, and then Tornaq whuffs softly before rising on his hind legs to try to look over the heads of the crowd to try to see what happened. She has no hope of seeing what could have happened unless people get out of the way.

Despite Tir's attempts to keep out of the way, one of the powered armor troopers will peel away from the other to move in 'close' to her. "If you wish to remain in the area, land your vehicle please," the pilot requests firmly. THe other trooper approaches another hovervehicle that's drawn near to examine the curiosity. They ease back and the craft descends towards the ground smoothly, stopping about ten feet over the ground. It seems enough for the other PA trooper as he turns back to surveying the area.

Close in with the people on the ground, snips of the talk and arguing are easy to catch upon. ".. did you see.. ..the elf.. ..blue, like in the dream.. ..why aren't they shooting him.." Bits and pieces repeated in various formats throughout the mix of people.

The militia at the city side cordon are watching the people, whilst one with his helmet off is trying to calm them with words, but his own words are almost drowned out by the din of voices, soft and raised. At the center of the cordoned off area, the stand off between the ragtag cluster of individuals and the homogeneously armed and armored military continues, without the potential dialogue between them being audible. Cassius steps up, he stops at the cordon, and gets himself a good look past it, to see what might be going on. He stops where civilians are supposed to, mabey getting up on a bench and looking up across to see who's standing with the milita. He spots Sebastien moving towards the Cordon and since he's above the crowed he's a bit visable as well. He's just standing and trying to see what's happening.

Tirzah lands as order, grumbling only slightly. Finding a spot is tricky for a second. But then she shrugs her shoulders and lands on an abandoned van. "Enchant me to move through the air friend?" She asks her aide and it does, allowing her to walk towards the scene still elevated.

Jaxain looks down at Sebastien as he passes nearby, smiling at the man but not further explaining his actions. As the crowd starts speaking his eyes narrow and he leaps down off of the rooftop to join the others, pressing people out of the way if necessary to get a spot at the front of the action. "Do you have any way of sensing for supernatural forces?" He asks of the Knight. He spots Tirzah's floating form and waves to get her attention.

Elf? That makes Alistair's ears perk - or rather, they'd perk if he had elf-ears. He tries to to move forward slowly to see if he can confirm this elf-from-the-dreams-thing, wondering if it isn't just people's paranoia, or just someone who happens to look similar.

Vixen glances to the side slightly when she hears the murmurs. Her brows rising slightly as she fixes on the center again. She keeps her camera working, homed in on the people at the center. "This is Video Vixen, on the scene and this could get heavy, folks. Not sure what's going on, but.. people are talking about the elf.. the dream elf." Speaking near to the camera's mic as she says these low things. Her eyes otherwise intent on the scene before them all.

Sebastien stares inside, only catching tiny bits of conversation. "Oh, for the love of..." he mutters, and yells into the fray, "Just shoot the bastard! Catch him while he's monologueing!" And alone. And poorly armed. And reasonably defenseless. The young knight glances up as he's addressed by Jaxain, and shakes his head, turning to... He stares. Huh. So that's what Tirzah looks like from underneath. Interesting. Some things will never change.

The great white bear grumbles, then lowers back to his paws. Lowering his head, he touches his nose to Monique's shoulder, whuffling softly at her. There wasn't much for him to see, and so not much for him to relate to her. Monique raises an eyebrow slightly as she looks up at the bear, and she rubs the fur of his leg before giving a small nod. Decided, it would seem, the two start to make their way closer as unobtrusively as a polar bear and his companion can.

The crowd at the cordon starts to grow restless. The talk bandying back and forth, only seeming to grow in strength as the moments pass. But before it can boil over, no doubt given some life by Sebastien's outcry, events within the cordon shift.

"No, Rajja. No!" A voice rising up, just audible at a distance from the small cluster at the center of attention. There are four individuals visible at first. One a big, armored up canine humanoid learly seven feet tall, when not crouched and at the ready as he is, a big sword held in both hands. Another, a dark cloaked mage by the looks, a hand lifted, fingers splayed, but still. ANother seems a simple man at arms, in medium combat armor with a heavy rifle sitting easily in his grasp. And the other a lightly armored woman who holds no visible weapons, a pair of goggles the only protection she has from danger.

Those four, until a fifth, smaller figure emerges from within the protective shell. A hand, lightly clad in armored gauntlet comes to rest on the side of the canine's thick arm, emerging from robes and cloak of a deep, royal blue. The color of it readily recognizable to everyone who has been in Kingsdale as of late. THough the hood is lowered, veiling the wearer's features. But the height.. the sense of his build. all familiar. Handsome in the way of elves, his face is youthful. Also in the way of elves. Still, the reaction that when his other hand lifts, drawing back his hood remains sudden.

Some fall silent. Others only grow louder. Some even start to finger weapons as the face that has haunted many dreams is revealed, gazing out at the people clustered about him and his companions with a sense of uncertain confusion that might be lost at this distance. There is a moment of quiet before he lifts his voice and states, "I know not what has stirred this, but my companions and I.. we mean no harm to any of you. Quite the opposite.." Though his voice is raised, a sudden outcry drowns him out, silencing the elf for a moment.

Cassius doesn't know whats going on, but he decides to get ready. he moves to make a gesture across his chest and speaking a power word, drawing on his chest and getting ready. Better safe the nsorry after all. He keeps looking. He has no reason to enterance. Just getting ready as he feels stronger. He just listens o the elf as he speaks.

Tirzah mutters, this was a bad situation. No this was the worst situation. Once again the legions appeared to have the setting perfectly to their liking. "Keep us fighting each other instead of the real threat? LET HIM SPEAK!" She implores loudly to the crowd. though her words are assisted by her aide as it quiets the loudest region with a nudge from her.

Alistair frowns faintly; this is strange, that's for certain. Vision can be misleading, but keeping a healthy dose of mistrust might be a good thing here - after all it -does- involve the lives of many. He moves closer still, trying to getter peek at all those figures. This is troublesome.

Jaxain is silent for a moment, then begins making subtle but hard to follow gestures with his hands and speaking in a cryptic tongue. Visions can be misleading, especially when from an unknown source. He remains quiet for a moment, then speaks to those nearest him. "I sense no taint upon him, but that means little. He must be questioned to acertain his innocence or guilt."

       Leonard the Late now arrives at the cordon, though his tardiness does not appear to hinder his awareness. A glance is given to the nearby teen with the excessively colorful robes. "Why the whispers of elves and... ah." Once the query is made, he returns his attention to the concentric circles that constitute the commotion, only to see where the color and race combination might be relevent. Leonard does not appear to bear any bias towards the suspect quintent; merely curiosity. Above those hovering or in flight, the corvid companion alights upon the gates themselves and continues to peer downward.

Vixen is very still, the loudness of the crowd worrying her for the audio she might get for this. And the dark roll of the crowd's emotion tangible to anyone. Feeling more danger from those around her than from what lies before her. She keeps the camera trained on the center whilst her eyes flick back and forth a bit to gauge the potential of the nearest people when it comes to a sudden show of physical trouble.

The young knight mutters something derisive, hand falling to the pommel of his sword. "Is it that you have ever seen this man before?" he calls at Tirzah. "Us?" He shakes his head, idly playing with the safety on his still-sheathed sword. On. Off. On. Off. A nervous habit, as he dares not let himself go still inside.

Closer, and closer still, until they've managed to draw near to the cordon itself. The great white bear glares, people move and thus make way for him and his small shaman. Tornaq takes a moment to look about the space they've now come to, and with all the babbling around, he swivels his ears a little. Giving a bit of a grumble, the bear takes a breath before releasing it in the force of a bellowing roar meant to cut through the babbling filling the air. Monique takes a moment to look up at the great white bear, and then a smile touches at the corners of her lips as she gives a small nod. Approval of his actions, even though it was loud.

A sudden shift comes, though this comes of the sky, rather than the crowd. The overcast morning will suddenly grow dark. As if the sun itself were eclipsed, yet the shroud of the clouds don't let one tell if such is the case. The clouds darken and lighting flashes behind their dark screen. Gasps and other signs of shock ripple through the gathered as these events occur in the space of moments. The young elf takes a step back, the armored canine sweeping an arm of his own to the side, nudging him back into the protective circle. Just before several things happen at once.

Despite that it is morning, the fog will manifest almost at once around them all. This causes an instant panic amongst many. The panic fed when the fog seems to bring with it horrors. Armored skeletons and rotting corpses given unnatural life lunge from within, appearing everywhere at once.

Screams and shouts rise up in the moments during and after this. A harsh voice snaps words of power from within the cordon and a bubble of electric blue energy comes up around the five at the center. And just in time as multiple itchy trigger fingers send a half dozen blasts of energy towards them. The field flares, then dims considerably under the fire. The militia, however, find they have greater matters, for the moment, to face. Something is ripping upward from the ground, on the opposite side of the action, outside of the city. A dull green glow can be seen through the fog, the sound of it's rise heard. And above screeching cries can be heard as.. something engages the PA troopers above, cloaked by the supernatural haze.

Chaos comes as people leap to defend themselves.. or those who have no means retreat. Or try to, those unfortunate enough to be confronted directly by the dead finding only disaster as they are assailed. No matter which way one looks, the enemy has come.

Cassius grunts hard at the sudden fog crashes down, he remains on the bench and the panic rises up in him. The memories of the fights before the nature of his powerlessness, he doens't know if he can do it...the moment passes and he thinks, "You can do this...you've trained." he holds his arms up and begins to twist his fingers into arcane pattersn, and firey patterns form in the air, "Beggone you cursed souls, flee this place!" he says, casting Turn Dead

Tirzah looks down to glower at Sebastien. "If the forces behind this fog made you dream of the children of this city would you kill them too? Only a fool would be manipulated by dreams alone." She says to him coldly. Yeah, she's still mad at him. But that will have to wait as shit hits the fan. phbbbt. Suddenly enveloped in fog she dashes through the air to the five as she charges her armor. Whatever this is, it waited until these five could arrive so if could finish this in one go. There had to be a history. Unfortunately she had little time for a lesson.

Jaxain, remembering his last battle, reaches into his shirt and withdraws a bejewled sword hilt which suddenly bursts into flame. He is silent for the moment as he looks at Alistair and Sebastien, offering the sword to either of them if they need it. "I say we protect the civilians as best we can, while we search for the necromancer." That said, he mutters in an arcane tongue again and starts sweeping his gaze over the crowd.

Alistair recoils slightly at that feeling, and things happen all too fast. He looks around, a pained expression on his face, and then he charges for Vixen; the nearest undead with a sword will have it removed from its posession - there's already that there-not-there sheen about him, and he just shoves his way through undead, giving a little time here and there for people to escape as he rushes in. "Miss Vixen! We have to go where Cali is!" because the most important thing is just that.

       Leonard is hardly expectant of the sudden dim, nor the dead within it, but reacts easily enough. His teal neighbor seems to have a solid idea, if not stoic confidence, and Leondar, too, waves those decaying nearest him away with a harsh "Go!" They seem more annoyance to Leaonard than the true threat or focus, as he seeks to close upon whatever the sickly green light is birthing outside the gate.

Vixen gets lost amid the panic, doing the first thing that comes to mind for her. Slipping under the cordon as the militia become occupied with other things. Escaping, for the moment, the chance that she might get trampled by a panic. Though she does hear Alistair yelling, glancing in his direction. "She ain't here, she's fine!" Her voice coming from her general direction as she slips a leg out slightly, rising the edge of her coat above the top of her boot to snap a hand down and pull her vibro-knife as she dips to a half crouch.

"SARA!" Sebastien bellows, throwing himself back from the cordon. His sword whips out, yet unlit, as he heaves his way through those around, blade up, wading through on his way towards his armored steed. Strange how one moment you can be pressed in as hard as possible, and the next you're trampling civilians in the rush to get out of the line of fire. He grabs a fallen man, bodily dragging him aside and towards the wall, as he yells again, "SARA! Where are..?" he falls silent as he spies the horse afield, kicking and bucking at the nearest grasping foes as streams of white snap from her eyes, leaving the smell of ozone in the air. "Oh," is all he can manage, before he holds up his sword, letting plasma leak down its length in a pair of cutting torch-like gouts, waving it back and forth to get her attention.

Monique takes a moment to look up as the fog suddenly comes in, and she frowns, a furrow touching her brow. That, she thinks, isn't good. Tornaq's rumble affirms that, and as the armoured skeletons arise, the bear lays his ears back and roars again, this time out of anger. A snarl remains on his features even after the sound The small shaman straightens, her chin lifting slightly as her dark-eyed gaze settles on the nearest of the skeletons. Her dark eyes remain upon them, and she steps forward to stand a little to one side of the great white bear. She doesn't seem panicked, and instead seems quite calm. Lifting her left hand, she makes a gesture, speaking in her native Inuit tongue, working her own magic to turn those undead nearest to her.

Weapons fire will come from all directions, the less aware firing off weapons in close proximity to allied bodies. The salvo not without friendly fire being inflicted on several parties. The smarter draw melee weapons, finding them to be just as effective in the end, be it a neuro-mace or vibro-blade that gets pulled. The melee is a brutal thing, most dangerous for the unarored people mixed into the crowd more than the armored. Though around Cassius and Leonard, a little over a dozen of the undead turn tail and move away from them. And another handful of those near Monique. Though there are still a few in the area. Even so, a few people without protection or weapons start to move towards the three, sensing sanctuary from danger. Alistair can get a sword easily from one of the skeletons, though he'll find Vixen is not too close just yet after her escape from the crowd.

At the center of things, the harsh voice rises again, chanting arcane words that redouble the electric blue field that guards the five. Yet more weapons fire will rake the magical energy, causing it to flare, then flicker and die. The harsh voice still shouting out arcane words despite the latest failure of the magical shield. A harsh, liquid roar rolls forth from the north, just outside the gates as something.. big rises out of the ground. Just the silhouette of it can be seen through the fog, but a bright green glow is visible at the very top of it, towering some forty feet in the air, a mass that seems to be held up by multiple legs. But a mass of what? hard to say. Whatever it is, the weapons batteries on the walls and the men who patrol them open up, the air filled with the sight and sound of their powerful energy blasts. Added to that is the fire from the ground at the opposite end of the cordon. Screams and shouts fill the air, a cacophony of sound that makes anything below a shout all but inaudible.

Charging her hands with her link to fire Tirzah unleashes gouts of magical flame to incinerate any undead in her path. "Stay with me but conserve your energies." She instructs her aide who silently complies, corpses crumpling in her wake from blasts of air. Once she gets to their guests she takes her stance to hold her ground and fight the undead along side them. "Hello folks. Hope you are finding our welcoming party and check in process admirable. We do apologize for the delay. The legions of undead sighted in your reservation have caused some issues. Are you sure you couldn't have left them behind." She jokes, before her expression gets serious. "You have faced these hordes before right?"

Cassius doesn't know what's going on, the fog is still thick, and he raises his hands up high to try and cut through the fog, looking around and trying to keep out of danger, but to try and get some visability...he casts a globe of daylight./

Jaxain spends a brief moment to harnes his training and guard himself from some of the danger as he enters the melee, having two purposes. One is to attempt to stop those firing at the party of five in the center, the other being to protect innocents. "Stop firing upon them! If they were our enemy, they would not have arrived as they did! Fire at THAT!" he says, pointing at the monstrosity. Several undead minions fall to his burning blade, it's scarlet length melting them upon contact.

Alistair stares at Vixen for a few moments, blinking his eyes. A sword lands on him, which wakes him up right along with the shove it gives him - he whacks the skeleton back, leaving it in shambles moments later, turning around to start running off north. He keeps going, bringins a sword down on any undead that get in his way, and shoving. Normal weapons just don't seem to affect a whole lot right now.

       Just in case the woman's valid arguments on behalf of the elf are ignored in favor of massed fire, Leonard takes a circuitous route around. Those automatons that come close enough are turned back for someone else to obliterate.

With chaos all around, Vixen migrates north, feeling a bit less beleaguered amid the military, even though they fight off the undead themselves. But there are less of them. She shifts and ducks and slides her way towards the center, ducking and rolling under the sweeping sword of one skeleton, keeping her momentum without glancing back to fight it. All the while with her camera in hand, pointing ahead of her except when she need protect it from harm. She'll get to the central group soon, picking up shots of the action at the middle of it all as she moves.

Sebastien's flare appears to catch Sara's attention, and with a leap over the carnage about her she runs along side the knight, whose sword winks out as he catches his stirrup to drag himself into the saddle. Heeling her, the knight rides back along the periphery of the three mage's safe zone. Letting Sara's eyes pick out targets at a distance, and hewing downward as he pulls alongside stragglers who come into the open circle. The young knight glances back over his shoulder, watching that shield rise and fall, waiting for an opening. "He came with the undead!" he yells back at Jaxain, sword turning a broad, burning arc at his side as he catches a hand groping for his side, heeling Sara for more speed. Just needs to stay a step ahead...

Having bought herself at least a little space, Monique slips her right hand into the pocket of her parka. When her hand withdraws, she holds a rod of leather wrapped metal, perhaps five inches in length. She tilts her head faintly to one side as she looks up at Tornaq, and then she gives a small nod. Together, then, the two of them step towards the undead, to fight. Tornaq swats them aside with his large paws, or at least attempts to do so with as many as get in his way. Monique, meanwhile, takes a moment to look about the immediate surroundings more. Reaching her right hand into a pocket of her parka, she withdraws a metal rod of perhaps five inches in length, wrapped with leather. Stepping forward then to join Tornaq in vanquishing the undead, the small shaman easily finds a spot at the great white bear's side. She speaks quietly in her native tongue, weaving more of her magic, and the rod transforms into a blade that glows with a pale and misty energy. With the blade in hand, she starts to attack the nearest undead, slicing into them.

Though Cassius' globe of daylight doesn't do a great deal with the fog, whiting out the area somewhat, it does serve as a beacon that some start to home in on. the unprotected and a few mercs, their vibro-blade in hand. The young mage will soon find himself surrounded by several wounded and a handful of people forming a loose ring around his light.

Tirzah will find that the five are, for the moment, intact, a ring of broken and burned bodies around them. The big canid cleaves viciously at anything that comes near to him, biting and snapping amid the broad, deadly sweeps of his sword. THe goggled woman wears a broad, eager grin as blots of flame leap from her hands, incinerating the undead that get too close on her side. The merc is picking shots carefully when not shoving away the ones that get past the sword to one side, the flames to the other. And the mage is casting again, fingers weaving as he chants in that harsh, loud voice. A fresh bubble of magical energy comes into being, hammered again by a volley of weapons fire. Despite protests against such a course.

Though this time they're better shots and the field doesn't catch all of the fire. The merc gets winged by two shots, cursing under his breath, but intact in his armor for the moment. At the center, the elf has gone to a knee, his head bowed, hands wrapped together tight. Murmuring lowly to himself, the words lost entirely amid the chaos. "If you got any sort of protection, lady, toss it up," the merc answers Tirzah's words. "Things here ain't real friendly and I ain't talking about the dead." His voice coming with an easy, if tense drawl. "Just gotta buy him time.."

Cassius takes a deep breath, setting his hands down at his stomach, spreading his legs and squares himself. He takes a deep breath, a deep chi breath knowing his next move is going to drain him, focusing upon his ace card. This is what he trained for, this spell. He takes another breath and begins to chant, in Dragonese, complex and flowing words while his fingers work in arcane symbols and quickly starting to form a spell from inside of his mind. There is a dampness around him as he begins to draw moisture...from the huge beast that has appeared. His chanting reaching a deep bass as he Dessicates the Supernatural. The powerful magic flows and visably runs from him to the beast. Upper class spell proably sending magial alerts to anyone that can sense it. The globe of daylight will probably help, light and fire has always been a beacon against the darkness for man, and his area is as good as any to regroup. Not focusing, or leading, just focusing on his casting to try and draw the mositure from the giant beast, to suck the life from it.

Tirzah nods and turns to her aide. "Do what you can to shield us friend." She asks her aide as she continues to burn down undead. The aide considers the situation for a moment before drawing on its resources to erect an air bubble about them, meager protection, but better than nothing.

Jaxain will, for the moment, realize that there is little he can do against such odds except attempt to save as many as he can. Spotting a group of unprotected civilians beset by undead, he barks out a harsh string of arcane cylables as he turns them, "Away from here!" he calls to them, forcing some few to flee the area. As for the rest, he charges in and body blocks one away from its potential victim, swinging his molten blade at another. "Cease firing upon the Elf!" he calls out, "It is a trick of the Necromancers and the being they summon! We must band together!"

Leaving the turmoil of the battle behind, Alistair does his best to break out and continue north towards that glowing torch of no good - he's only an average runner, but he's just pushing through like a mac truck, so far cutting at anything that gets in his way and bypassing.

       Leonard does not object the some flock to the small void in the walking dead his magic creates, so long as the desperate do not trample or impede him. Considering he is moving towards the large, glowing-eyed(?) thing, some might change their minds on following. With a slight lull as he passes the perimeter of the five, he spares them some time and attention. "Why is it always the ones with guns that shoot first and rarely ask questions?" He raises his voice before lifting his hand, drawing forth more of his will. A new blue-white dome of shielding energy snaps into place over the quintet, and possibly the woman, depedent on her proximity.

Vixen stops short as a straty blast from 'out there' rakes the ground near where she is. "Shit.." she glances to the side, ducking down as her camera sweeps towards the center group, making herself a small target. "Dear diary.. this was a bad idea," she mutters lowly, feeling just a bit too exposed, but unwilling to retreat just yet. Then a skeleton looms behind her and stabs down with it's sword. It doesn't penetrate her coat, but the force knocks the young woman down, she shouting out as her right arm curls in instinctively, the camera in hand pressed between hand and chest. She rolls onto her back in the next moment, barely snapping her knife up to deflect the next downward stroke.

Sebastien snarls art the melee in the city, shoulder hunching as he straightens Sara. "Peons!" he yells out, towards the middle. He's fighting peons. "You have this end covered!" he calls down. "I'll take the front!" Ah, young and brash Sebastien. Tearing Sara through the gates at an unwieldy thirty or forty miles an hour, he ducks low to try and avoid any fire before bursting forth on the other side, gaining speed on the road as he approaches Alistair. The man and beast pass as many of the dead as he tries to hit, swinging raggedly left and right to clear a path more than anything else as he weaves his way forward, to make sure the Luckiest Man Alive's luck doesn't run out. Well, not alone.

For the time being, Monique doesn't worry about the great large beast of many legs. She concerns herself instead with the skeletons, lashing out against them with the frosty blade that she created of her magic. Tornaq does similar, swatting at the skinny little skeletons with the bashing of his front paws and sometimes gnashing of fangs, occassionally even throwing his weight into them. Both of them seek to dispatch as many of the undead as they can, to try to save as many innocent lives caught in the crossfire, so to speak.

Outside the gates, those who go to seek the big bad of the moment will come face to face with an abomination. A towering.. creature, perhaps that seems to be entirely composed of the bodies of the dead. The green light comes from a large, glowing crystal that is held aloft as either body or head to the beast, though it has no eyes or other such distinguishing features. 'chains' of string together bodies, held together by no visible force wrap the massive crystal. A series of six 'legs' hold t he central mass aloft, each one further made of the bodies of the dead, bound up together. Long and short bone spines stick out from the central mass in multiple directions, the bone projectiles flung out at the attacking forces that face it, even as massive wall mounted turrets rain down energy fire, burning into the beast. It gurgles a watery roar as one thick appendage is struck against the wall, shaking it with a sound audible over the din of the chaos. A series of mini missiles streak down out of the sky, exploding across the top of the thing in a roll of explosive plasma, staggering the beast. But it hangs on despite the firepower leveled against it, large portions of it's central mass burned and melted down.

Within, the fire that attacks the five at the center, now six with Tirzah, comes from all angles. From amid the crowd. One could, if they took the time, pick out individuals who seem convinced they know the source of the troubles, but the chaos is enough that attacks on them have the danger of collateral impact. The renewed field, the bubble. None of the four fighters question them, focused on keeping back their attackers and shielding the one at the center. The double protection of the bubble and energy field keeping back the stray fire fire from multiple hand weapons for another few moments, enough time that the mage can again cast up a barrier, though his voice is growing tense and strained. Though swathed cloth and light armor, one could guess that his energies are flagging. But his voice continues to rise.

It might almost seem that the undead are limitless. They fall easily, it is true, but even as one falls.. five, a dozen, there are more. And more And more. Though through the actions of many, the defenseless are saved in part. Some fall and the gruesome evidence of this will be visible to any eye, but so too will be the tangible presence of those behind and to the sides of those who gather about Cassius and about several other small pickets of ragtag resistance who stand against the enemy.

Cassius grunts had as he feels the energy drain of his dessication, the drawing of life from the being. The turn dead spell remains in affect, the weaker undead staying away from his group of survivors, "Good bet is to keep firing on the hulk" he points to the large being, visable through the fog. Taking adeep breath, panting hard and sweating, even in this cold. his arm snaps up and a quick jerking motion of his fingers send out a huge fireball to crash into it, sending magical father to bath it. The obvious contrail of the ball of fire leads to him, but it's all out at this point.

Tirzah shakes her head as she is in shit central. But can do nothing about it really. Moving up to the mage she looks at him recognizing his fatigue. "Draw from me if you can." She suggest to him quietly, her expression briefly somber. Before she completely submits to being his battery though she addresses her aide. "Engage the monstrosity, fry it." She commands and it departs to do just that, creating a lightning field about the creation. Alistair makes it out somewhere near the thing and ... stops. And stares. He looks at his sword, then at the thing, and backs up a couple steps. It that doesn't get him, those missiles and guns will. He looks about slowly, searching for something else. That thing sure looks dumb enough - if he could reach the crystal, maybe ... "But what would that do?"

       Leonard stops short as well. Giant energized crystal with a 'body' of communal corpses. Not something one typically witnesses on a morning stroll. He sifts through a mental catalogue for potential familiarity, similarity, educated, and/or wild guesses.

Vixen pushes up, her vibro-knife cutting through the common sword of the skeleton above her. Cleaving into its arm as she sweeps it outward. A kick at it's legs unbalance it and she rolls to the side, putting distance between it and her. She bumps into a guy who was headed in the opposite direction, glancing back at him for a moment before she notices something coming up behind him. Her eyes widen a moment, then she tackles the guy down, both of them just missing another sword swing.

"The crystal!" Sebastien yells. "Or just use magic, silver, wood! The undead fear not the weapons of the living!" Patting Sara on the neck hard enough to get her attention, he points up at that crystal, letting her know what to fire at. The horse slows, taking pot shots at the green glowing crystal as Sebastien hacks with one hand. A shaft of light springs from his other, and he mutters curses and finally is pulled from his saddle, swinging and cleaving double-handed in a whirlwind of light and flame in the center of grasping hands and stinking bodies.

The small Inuit woman takes a moment, stepping back from the carnage of skeletons to look around briefly. In that moment, she happens to see Sebastien be pulled from his horse. Frowning a little, she looks to Tornaq before stepping closer to him and reaching out to touch one of his front legs while he takes a brief breather as well. She speaks to him in her native tongue, and he looks in the direction that Sebastien fell as well before he rumbles softly. With their attention now in that direction, the two of them set back to the fight of slashing into skinny little skeletons, trying to clear a path towards the knight errant.

The heavy fire on the corpse abomination seems to finally catch up to it, however. Of course, what could stand up to that much fire for long before expiring? Another series of mini missiles seem to tell the tale the strongest, cracks appearing in the green crystal as the creature staggers, then topples down. The cohesion that held the dead together seems to fade as the body breaks apart even as it's descending, the crystal that glowed green shattering into slivers.

Even as the last of the creature is tumbling down, the elf slowly rises amid the five around him, serenely calm amid the chaos and noise. His eyes closed, he steps forward, steps slow and halting. The canid, Rajja perhaps, seems to sense something. And anyone else who can sense magic naturally or has such senses activated would feel a sudden swelling of power beyond that which now fills the air. Rajja shifts slightly aside, though keeps his blade leveled protectively before the elf.

Paused, the elf's eyes open, revealing a low, blue white radiance that shines from within. His arms lift and he speaks with a voice unlike his own. Ancient words of great significance, notable to the book trained wizard, rather than the instinctive. The words cause a swelling of power that breaks forth upon the last syllables, a sweep of energy flowing over the gates area. A tingle that everyone can feel. And one that takes effect almost at once. Most of the walking dead will shatter and those that don't will instantly retreat into the fog. The fog itself starting to recede. So too, those who continue hostilities will find themselves suddenly struck down, paralyzed by a potent, irresistible force. Even the slightest attempt to harm anything will prompt this instant reaction. Suffice it to say, the fighting ends at once, the fire from afar ending as multiple individuals fall incapacitated. Even some of those trying to get pot shots at the undead will find themselves struck down temporarily by the force that has come into being over the area.

And as the spell is completed, the elf sags, the big canine catching him with an arm, as if expecting just that ending to the strange events. Though confusion continues to reign, the edge of danger evaporates almost at once as within a minute the fog and the undead will be gone. Sage for the remains of the abomination, sprawled before the city gates, the shattered and broken remains of the hordes and the dead and wounded left in the aftermath.

Cassius grunts and he collapses down on a knee, the globe of daylight flickers but remains there, hanging in the air and quivkers, he works and jerking his head a tiny bit, trying to breath deeply. "Ah...ah..." he quivers and looks up, "Ungh, did we beat it?"

Tirzah blinks as the elf casts dispel shitstorm greater and everything comes to a halt. Her aide returning with the beast felled she looks to the elf, curious. "I guess they expected us to be more passionate in our purging of the one who has plagued our dreams for a few months." She notes, glancing at the rest of the group. "I think there will be come questions to go around..." She notes as people start to draw in.

       Whatever Leonard had in mind, the drastic turn in events changes his course of action. His hands lower and his attention shifts from the shattered crystalline and fleshy remains to the the exhausted elf. "That was quite a display... but well worth the effort, I think."

"Uhoh!" Alistair looks to Sebastien being pulled down, and starts on his way there when all kinds of stuff happens - the monster falls, thankfully not on them, and the dead ones collapse. "Wha..." though he still has the sword in hand, it's rather surprising. He makes his way to sebastien to offer him a hand. "Ummm ... I think you beat them all."

Vixen glances upward when the pulse of magic passes. seeing that the thing that menaced the man she's on top of is gone. She glances around once, then down at the guy. Who grins at her a bit goofily. She smirks and pats his chest lightly before she rolls to the side and stands up, looking around. She lifts the camera, flipped around to face her. "Don't ask me to explain it, people, cause I don't got the first clue," she states before flipping the camera back around to start filming the immediate aftermath, though her lens gravitates towards the ones that prompted this, voluntarily or not.

Sebastien drops his sword, the flame winking out. From underneath the pile of bodies, severed limbs, charred flesh, and decomposing things a human hand stabs up, grabbing the hair of one of the more recently dead to drag himself a little higher in the pile, catching Alistair's hand on the second try. Sebastien claws his way free, sinking back to reclaim his hat and sword, before giving one of the fallen undead a vindictive kick. The look he gives Alistair is ugly. Hurt, angry, either on the verge of tears or blinding rage. Either way is face is flush. He pants there, smelling awful, before saying in a very small voice, "I need a can of febreeze."

As the undead are suddenly either struck down or sent fleeing, Monique and Tornaq are both given pause. The frost blade that the small Inuit woman was holding flickers and then is reverted back to being just a metal rod. Her brow furrows slightly, and she glances to Tornaq. The great white bear rumbles softly before shaking himself off and reaching out to touch her shoulder. The leather-wrapped metal rod is replaced to the parka pocket where it had originally come from, and Monique then lifts a hand to touch Tornaq's nose. A small smile touches at the corners of her lips, and she speaks to him quietly in her native tongue, earning a soft rumble from the bear. With no undead left to assault, she and Tornaq start to make their way amongst those who fell in the battle, to tend to the wounded.

"Damn," mutters the female of the cadre, her hands lowering as the mess dies down in the wake of the elf's magical feat. The mage breathes out a low breath, then glances towards Tirzah. "Pardon, madam, but I am not one to impose myself on others, despite your most generous offer before," he states, his erudite diction mixing oddly with his unintentionally harsh tone of voice. The merc relaxes, his heavy rifle lifted to lay across his shoulder. "Well shit, that was a bit too much," he grumbles, glancing around. "Not nearly enough, you mean," the woman corrects him, which gets her a casual, familiar sort of snort from him. The canine remains silent, his big blade held in one hand as the other arm cradles the elf gently. His eyes fixed towards Tirzah warily, stance openly protective of his charge.

The military are quick to act, shoring up the perimeter, with back up all ready in bound. the engagement lasted barely ten minutes, but as things like this are want to seem, it probably felt line longer. A half dozen more flying PA come wizzing on scene and a line of trucks come rolling down the street, including a trio of medical vehicles. Within a few minuets, the area will be swarming with military and medics. The unnamed mercenary glances to the south and the approaching convoy. "We can't stick around here long," he mutters under his breath, frowning.

Cassius phews, the threat is gone and he's tired, his interneral energy spent. He looks at the group that's collected aroud him and sweatdrops. Hopping donw from the bench he begins to beat a retreat, globe of daylight following him, but not wanting to be around when people start to ask questions!

<<Alistair and Seb Left Room for a Small Scene, Noted here>>

"You would need to pass gas in there to get fresh air" Alistair agrees with Sebastien, leaning in to help pull the man out. He tries not to laugh; once Sebastien is out, he'll also grab a shard of that green crystal. Tucking that into his jacket, he then looks back at Sebastien. "Well ... um" he looks left and right. He pinches his nose too now, his eyes watering some.

The young Sebastien does a whole-body shiver, shaking off his sword as he staggers into the open. Turning his head, he whirls slowly in the aftermath of the spell cast. "What, is it that they are just ... done?" he wonders softly, seeing bodies half-buried yet as they ended their climb from the earth. A trio of Flying Titans scream by overhead, circling the fallen abomination. Seeing Alistair grab a fragment spurs Sebastien to dip, flicking aside a pair until he gets a faceted end, and carefully avoids the sharp edges. With a low whistle, he tucks it into Sara's saddlebags. "That was..." he speaks, lowly. "It was almost the spell of legend. Sanctuary. But in the books, it was not supposed to be quite this way, I think. Why would it drive away the dead?"

Alistair looks up momentarily, then back to Sebastien, "The spell? I don't know spells" he explains, and nods. If he says its epic it must be epic. "They are evil, or at least controlled by evil" he smiles, shrugging a little. "Anyway I think I said something bad earlier, I'm sorry." His face reddens a little, and he's still holding his nose pinched.

"Gasoline," Sebastien notes softly. "Gas makes it better." He waves at Alistair, kneeling beside one of the fallen soldiers. He draws in a breath, and lets it out, swallowing hard afterwards to turn over the corpse. Looking for something identifiable. Something that might say where all these bodies came from. "Something did hit me in the head," he says, with is back turned, "anyone who sees me will know this. What you said was impolitic. And for the record, non," he declares, stepping to the next corpse, "I am no more ... addled than the next man for it."

"You were talking funny" Alistair replies, and looks back over the field of dead. "Most of those are just normal people ... they don't look too well armored or armored, either. Just bones" he motions around, and checks to see if there's anyone who might have identifiable markings or objects as well. "I wonder if the elf is tricking us."

The dead scattered about who were once mobile are, for all intents and purposes, unidentifiable. The skeletons clad in old, medieval themed suits of simple SDC steel. Stripped of that, they're humanoid skeletons and no more. The zombies are little better. aged and rotting, what clothing they still wear are scraps. Identifying marks and papers since gone missing. The nameless, one can't even determine of they have a family to mourn for them. THe story of the dead that were part of the abomination will tell the same tale. Naked, twisted bodes. Even their features are warped and hideous.

"These are nothing like what it is I saw in the field," Sebastien confirms, frowning. "What I saw there was ... other." He shakes his head, staggering back as he reaches a pustulant one. "Mon Dieu, that one is nothing good." Saliva and mucus run from his mouth, and he coughs a chunk of bile on the ground before pressing on, nose thoroughly clogged as he wipes it on is sleeve. Breathing trough his mouth. "Oh, now I can taste it," he complains, drawing up his shirt. "Those ones," he finally continues, "they were immune to weapons. They feared only silver, magic, some flame. This is a ..." he pokes one with his blade, which oozes pus. "weaker breed."

"This is hopeless" Alistaif rowns faintly, "Yuck..." he says, looking at the zombie that's being prodded. "I don't have silver things" he comments and hms softly. "Maybe someone who can read those things can tell us ... " he comments, "The Crystal. Maybe that, but it might make them feel bad."

"The absence," Sebastien speaks softly, "tells us something." He wipes his sword on another bloated corpse, one better dressed than normal, "Some of these are fresh enough to have been locally culled. The bodies we found elsewhere, they were also drawn from the recent dead. KDM soldiers. But they were another sort of dead all together. This?" He spits on the earth, and walks back towards Sara. "I think you are right. An expensive, enormous, sham."

"Yeah...that attack, it makes no sense" Alistair muses quietly, "So maybe the Elf is tricking us, or someone is tricking us into hurting the Elf" his brows hike up, "But I couldn't sense anything but this. it was too powerful" he nods a couple times. "And again a lot of people are hurt. I think I will go help them now."

"There is a chance there is something here," Sebastien speaks, his tone clearly saying he doesn't believe it. "I'll find it. Some clue. Go on." He waves back at the gates, half lifting his wide-brimmed hat and eyeing the inside, before just chucking it back in his saddle bags. It crumples oddly, showing rigid portions inside.

Alistair waves a hand at Sebastien and moves back towards town - there's going to be a whole lot of first-aiding, unless the military has already gotten their heads wrapped around that one.

<<End Small Scene>>

Tirzah raises an eyebrow at the mention of not staying long and not imposing themselves. Shrugging she just shakes her head, and just like that things will be somewhat normal tomorrow? She doesn't get it but she has other priorities. For one her cycle is still parked on someone's van and for two Sage is probably hearing about this by now. Her aide helping her glide back to her parking spot she heads out.

       "Your arrival was so welcomed..." Leonard chuckles as he steps towards the quintet. "I don't know why you wouldn't want to stay. There was a reason for the visit, though?" His brows lift as he questions and closes, but stops at a respectable distance. Namely out of immediate reach of protective dogs with very large swords.

Vixen breathes out lowly as she takes in the left over chaos. Quite a few people are leaving the area, including some of those that are waking up from the stun that the spell put them under. "Wow.." Low spoken just before she's accosted by one of hte militia. "Back behind the cordon, civilian." Vix frowns faintly and backs off. Another one accosts Leo with the same line. With back up coming, they're clearing out the cordoned off area again. Questions will have to wait, it seems.

Meandering, the small Inuit woman pauses by those who are wounded, touching quietly and saying little but leaving them the better for it. She wends her way towards the group which includes the elf, but doesn't seem in a great hurry. Near to them, both she and Tornaq stop, each taking a moment to consider not just the elf but his companions. She'll try to stay out of the way of the militia, not really wanting to get in their way. And not really wanting to have to answer their questions.

Cassius grunts a little again, and he finally takes his globe of daylight out, grunting, "Damnit...where's a ley line." he mummers to himself, rubbing his side.

Leonard heeds the men with large weapons and steps back outside of the restricted area. He has no argument with them cleaning up the mess. With the scene less threatening, the watcher above returns to him, raven lighting upon his shoulder. Likely looking for more food. Leonard's attention drifts to the brash woman with the camera, "Did you record everything you wanted to?"

Vixen seems a bit peeved at being turned away, looking back towards the five at the center of the cordon before Leo addresses her. She shakes her head. "Not even close, but I guess I gotta be happy with what I got..until I can get at them." She looks to the center again and is thoughtful that topic. It's still morning and for a moment it would have seemed as though the sun were eclipsed, though it isn't the season for it. And the area around the gates was, minutes before, clogged with that unnatural fog. But it's gone now and there is but the aftermath. Medical and military trucks roll up nad personnel start to pour out. The injured are seen to, the dead are collected and the refuse of broken armored skeletons and zombies are pilled. The word begins now, but will continue for the next few hours no doubt.

Tornaq stops and lifts one of his front paws, stretching his clawed toes for a moment as he noses a bit at the pad of it. He flops his small tail as he rumbles quietly, and then he lowers his paw back to the ground. Monique stops as he does, then lifts a hand to lightly draw her fingers through her hair. Lifting a hand, she lightly rubs at Tornaq's leg, a small smile touching her lips. With the militia in the process of cleaning things up, she's unsure of having a place amongst the remains.

Off in the distance, perhaps overheard from the local commotion the black of a small rocket motor might be overheard. After some time, an insectoid-ish figure makes its way through the crowd that are now allowed in through the front gates. The figure waits for the throng to begin to move through and process to their destinations and finally enough of a gap has been created to venture into the city. At about that time, a large chrome eagle flaps down and lands on the being's shoulder, where it emits a disgruntled chitter. The figure shrugs. "It's not my fault you don't fly as fast... no need to take it out on me." The figure stops, looking around at the aftermath of something significant. "Damn...." is its terse comment.

       Leonard chuckles at the woman's response, but his own is distracted by the arrival of the flying pair. He regards the man and mechanical(?) avian a moment. "Damned might be a better word."

Vixen glances towards the same direction as Leo does. Spotting Vargus, she gives him a casual once over before she announces to no one in particular, "I don't know about anyone else, but a stiff drink would be pretty damn good right now. A casual invitation, perhaps, though she doesn't linger too much, her camera being carefully shut down and slid into her coat pocket as she starts to walk towards her cycle again. One of the military trucks rolls through a break in the people still gathered, right into the area of the cordon where it seems some manner of peace has been struck with the people at the center and the military. The five are lead into the truck and soon after the truck will drive off with them in tow.

Stopping as Tornaq draws her attention to the sound of the insectoid-ish figure landing in the area, the small Inuit woman tilts her head slightly to one side. He's a distance away, and she takes a moment to lean against one of Tornaq's front legs, resting briefly there. Monique lifts a hand to run her fingers through her hair, then glances towards the park which had been her original destination, and then looks up at the great white bear, still considering the park. Is it worth it, for a swim, she wonders?

Vargus makes his way through the gates and passes south into the market square and the city proper.

       The distracting arrival is brief, and Leonard's attention returns to the catsuited camerwoman. "Not a bad idea. If the patrols at the gates did not drink it all, already."

Vixen checks her bike for a moment before she decides it's good enough where it is for now. She looks up towards Leonard then and smirks faintly. "There's always something to drink around here." She glances around, noting Monique. She then frowns faintly and looks to Leonard. "Actually, I'll take a rain check on that, man. Just remembered something I have to deal with. This whole thing has fucked up my sense of time." She hopes astride her bike, then starts it up to roll up near to Leo. "Name's Vixen. Keep an ear out." She slips a sticker from her coat and hands it over. She then turns the bike and roars off, cruising to the south.

Monique shifts her weight before smoothly shrugging her shoulders, and then she turns away. Tornaq whuffs softly before turning as well, and the oddly matched pair started to walk back down the street from the way they'd originally come. A bath is easier to take than going to the park, right now, and Monique would rather not risk falling asleep in the bitter water of the lake. Not that the cold typically bothers her, though.

       The sticker is received, if unexpectedly, and inspected. "I try to listen most times." Leonard nods to Vixen.