Black Market Bust

Black Market Bust
Date of Scene:	30 April 2013
Location:	Giza PLains
Synopsis:	Clayton and his thugs set up camp to hawk their illegal animal wares, until some people take offense to it.
Cast of Characters:	Avira, Clayton, Artemis Eurus, Caran Steel, Sydney Losstarot

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Clayton has posed:
The interconnectivity of various chunks of worlds means a new market for exotic goods. Spices, foodstuffs, medicines, clothing, entertainment, you name it. The exchange of goods tends to be heavily regulated to avoid polluting the respective histories of the worlds, such as selling watches in a medieval setting. One thing remains true: black market goods are always in demand, especially wild animal parts.

On the vast Giza Plains, hidden from plain sight behind a large hill and near the swamplands, a sale is going on. Poachers have set up a veritable market of goods from hides and horns to meats and organs for interested buyers. Not just creatures such as chocobo or moogle from this area, but exotic creatures from all over. Crushed rhino horn, dragon eggs, kraken eyes, werewolf pelts. All for the hungry eyes of the rich and loose of moral.

Clayton is heading this sale, cutting a dashing figure as he sits near a wagon smoking a pipe and watching his men, either thugs brought from other lands or nearby hoods looking for work, armed with guns, tending the tables. One buyer is here today, a rich nobleman of nearby Carwen who likes to collect strange things, even those of the unsavory sort. He is fat and wears a lot of pink. Clayton thinks he looks like a walking, talking peach.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
A lone figure walks through the tall-grasses of the plains, his mind wandering as he thinks about his purpose for being on the plains. He's not got the slightest care for whatever poachy activities Clayton may have going. In fact, as he stumbles over the hill by complete chance, he gets a brilliant idea.

Shapeshift: Average Goug citizen. Brown hair, white t-shirt, the works.

Sydney announces his presents with a loud "AHEM.", attempting to get the gentlemens attention. "Evening, Gentlemen. What wares have you on sale, merchant?" He asks curiously, raising his brow at the scene.

Avira has posed:
A mark has gone out. A most unusual mark indeed.

Avira is still fairly new to the world of mark-taking so it comes to some surprise that one of the more recent ones she comes across is not the typical go-hunt-this-monster-bring-proof-of-your-kill sort of deal. No, the mark she examined was written up as nothing short of a serial murderer peddling moogle organs somewhere on the Giza Plains. The wording was quite strong in that regard and while it did mention other creature products being sold, the bit about the moogles was quite emphasized. In fact, Clan Dagda had actually contacted her personally, after months of silence, with news of this mark.

Of course, Clan Dagda is captained by Mabo the Moogle.

Naturally, Avira is not alone as she slips into the crowd of armed thugs and prospective buyers. There are at least two others with her, cloaked like she is, taller in size. One is human while the other is, unfortunately, a bangaa.

Only when Avira spots Clayton sitting there, pleased as pie, does she realize that her third companion could cause their mission significant problems.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Perhaps a bit of shopping was just what was called for today. An emotionally charged reunion behind her, Artemis is making her way back to the Heretics when she notices the market.

She is dressed appropriately for the climate in soft, earth colors rather than her blue and gold armor, her mask one of simple white--bone, from the looks of it. The wares are certainly interesting, ranging from the common to the so obscure Artemis isn't sure what one would do with it. She peruses however, with the discerning eye of a hunter.

Hefting a good sized horn in her hand she judges would look excellent carved and filled with mead, Artemis approaches Clayton, drawn by the smell of his pipe. Though she has looked at the various furs and meats, she does her own hunting generally. Artemis has also never met a moogle.

"I have a few questions about your wares if you please--first of all, how much do you want for this horn?" she asks, establishing that she is a customer. She nods to the peach man and Sydney however, recognizing they were here first.

Avira and her companions are noticed by the samurai, but she thinks nothing of it by the look on her face, no recognition dawning. Of course, Artemis remembers her, but she also remembers Avira does not want to be associated with her like. She couldn't blame her.

Caran Steel has posed:
CARAN STEEL. In this new world, the former student plans to live his dream of being an ADVENTURER! And so, he has beguin studying the ways of local adventurers. And this CLAYTON has caught his attention. He reads about the exploits of this man, traveling to see all kinds of cool places (which Caran makes mental notes to visit someday) ...and that brings him to the rumors that the man is involved in a black market that sells the body parts of /people/! An avid fantasy reader, Caran has no problem understanding the idea of other intelligent races, even though his own world was only populated by humes.

The black chocobo runs across the plains with the tireless strength of a magical construct. Caran dismounts by the hill, circling around to see...

The black market. This is it?! The only person he recognizes here is Clayton... and it looks like he's dealing with a couple of customers now. What kind of terrible people these must be, buying such things! With forced nonchalance, he approaches, and pretends to browse the wares of a nearby stall while listening to Clayton and his customers.

Clayton has posed:
A burly looking bald man with stubble and squinty eyes looks up from where he's chopping up a chocobo corpse. "Fruits and vegetables, whatsit look like?" He answers loudly in a thick East End accent. The other men all have a laugh at that, except Clayton, who motions for them to hush. He gets up, smiling cordially at the newcomer, though his eyes are suspicious. "Exotic goods from all the worlds, sir. The finest harvest from all manner of beasts and monsters. Please, take a look." The newcomer doesn't look like he's made of money, so Clayton doesn't give him any regard further, sitting back down and taking out his pipe.

He eyes the cloaked figures, but such sights were common. They've made trades and sales all over the place, never in one location more than a day. Disguised figures, people not wanting to be caught buying illegal merchandise, came and went. One of them looked funny, though. He couldn't quite say why. Another of the men, this one looking dark skinned with a scar over his eye, adresses Artemis. "55 gil for that one," he says.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
Sydney looks about, his eyes wide as he looks at the assortment of goods from all corners of the world, looking slightly amazed. He doesn't actually regard the Chocobutcher, since that wasn't actually an illegal practice in Valendia. He looks about, till he notices the moogle skins.

Oh boy, you've done it now.

Grasping one of the skins, he walks towards Clayton as if he plans on making a purchase. "My my, merchant. Mindless animals born for the slaughter are one thing..." He says. The moment anyone looking at Sydney blinks, his entire form will shift to his original. "But to kill a creature such as a Moogle? Now that is just low..." He says, narrowing his eyes at Clayton.

"Perhaps you'll have better luck peddling in hell."

Caran Steel has posed:
...Moogle skins?! Caran has seen live moogles in Traverse town... this is sickening. Time to cut to the chase.

...But he's beaten to it by Sydney. Oh well. He stands next to the other man, glaring at Clayton. "You call yourself an adventurer!" He points at the hunter. "Adventurers are heroes! They use their skills to protect the powerless! They accomplish great deeds and bring more good into the world! They are HEROES! But you... You're no adventurer..."

Caran's eyes flash. "You're a /MONSTER/."

The red mage puts his hand on the hilt of his sword. "And you know what adventurers do to monsters..."

Artemis Eurus has posed:
"And did you kill the beast yourself?" she asks, examining the horn further. While her clothes are fairly plain, her manner suggests she has had the education having money can buy.

Artemis looks over toward the chocobo being butchered and thinks nothing of it. Nice enough creatures, but one has to eat and they /are/ delicious.

However, it would seem some of the others are getting up in arms over something? A moogle? "What is a moogle?" she inquires, while digging into her pouch for some gil for the horn. She passes it over to the man with the scar about his eye, pockets the horn, then stands back to wait for answers, wondering which side she will be defending here.

Avira has posed:
The cloaked trio don't ask any questions about the goods, but they do seem to talk amongst themselves, occasionally pointing at...well, it's difficult to tell exactly what they're pointing at. Surely it is the fine goods laid out for the customers to see, no?

No. They're doing a headcount. While the customers, especially the fat one in pink, are certainly noted, they're far more interested in the number of armed thugs. With this many, an all-out attack might be unwise as Dagda was literally outgunned in this instance. The trio meet up again after a headcount is taken to quietly whisper some strategy amongst themselves.

Maybe take the ringleader hostage? One of them could distract him while the other could slip up behind and-

Their plotting amongst themselves abruptly stops when a pair of other 'customers' grow outraged enough to start lecturing Clayton and his merry band of mercenaries.

Avira motions the other two to promptly get out of dodge before people start getting shot. The clanmates flee to the side of the wagon to take cover. "The mark makes special mention for bringing in Clayton." Avira hisses to the others. "You both grab him in the confusion, I'll-"

She looks to the wagon and the horses, "-get our ride. Go." Avira departs from the pair, circling around to the beasts of burden.

Clayton has posed:
Clayton sits with one leg over the other, still smoking his pipe and looking at Sydney coolly as he reveals himself, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think I'm quite ready to hunt demon yet. I'm no merchant either, I'm afraid; I leave the numbers to the help." He blows smoke at Sydney, giving him a smug look before glancing to Caran. "You certainly seemed to be worked up, lad. You realize these moogles are a feral breed I've elected to hunt on another world?" He is lying, but he is comfortable with that and figures they can't disprove it.

"Feral as in, rabid animals rather than cute and cuddly little people," he says as if lecturing children. "Now why don't you two calm down..." His men turn to face the two, hands on their weapons - mostly guns of various sorts. The bald butcher has a huge cleaver the size of a human child. The fat noblemen sucks in his teeth. "I can't stand these peasant rabblerousers," he says in a quavery voice to his own servant.

Avira's crew go unnoticed, meanwhile. The dark skinned man standing near Artemis fingers his scimitar. "A small white furry creature with a pink antennae bob," he answers to her off-handedly.

Caran Steel has posed:
The fire goes out of Caran. With everything else going on, that /sounds/ plausible. "There are feral moogles?" He looks at Sydney, as if the man might know. "...Are there feral /humes/ on some worlds?" He tries to imagine that.

Caran Steel has posed:
As an afterthought, Caran pulls out his radio and tries asking /there/ if feral moogles are a thing.

Clayton has posed:
"Of course. I know one, in fact," Clayton says casually. "Chap by the name of Tarzan. Raised by gorillas. Often if a human child is seperated from their parents, and left on their own, they might grow up wild and uncivilized. I met another named Gau over on the Veldt in another world. Dreadful business, that. It's up to proper humans to teach them the civilized ways and raise them out of barbarity."

Caran Steel has posed:
Caran frowns at the lack of reply from his radio, then looks at Clayton. "That's not the same thing! A hume is still a hume, even if they're raised by animals! You're saying you found moogles raised by animals and you killed them?! No, /hunted/ them?!"

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
Sydney raises his palm towards Clayton, and the weight of Dark magic grows heavy in the air for a few moments. He smiles devilishly, shaking his head. Dunno what he was trying to do, but from the looks of it, it ain't working.

"Now that evokes an interesting discussion, indeed. Is he still human, when the only difference is his adopted parentage? Would a moogle raised by humans be different? We humes are naught but animals, and you appear to be an especially apathetic breed." He says, a foul grin forming. He clacks his claws together, making a slight plink...plink...plink...noise as he thinks to himself. He probably should buff or something right now, but it'd be rude not to let Clayton have the first shot.

Sydney turns his head towards Artemis, raising a brow. "Hmph. Have you not seen the Siedge Wealde, Eurus? T'was where moogles once dwelt. /once/." ...Sydney /might/ have poked around in Agrias's head a little. Don't tell Ramza!

Artemis Eurus has posed:
"Feral means little, wild does not mean without rights," she replies. "These creatures are intelligent I take it?" she asks, though by everyone's reactions she knows the answer.

Artemis glances toward the dark skinned man fingering his scimitar. She doesn't even reach for her katana, just gives him a /look/.

Artemis is aware of Avira and her companions moving, but she draws no attention to them as she begins to walk toward Clayton, frowning gently. "Uncivilized? You are a predator, like an animal is a predator. You are an animal, I am an animal....civilized....tch," she replies. "I'm supposing there will be a fight--hunter to hunter I challenge you," she says to Clayton.

Artemis looks toward Sydney then as he says her name. They have not been introduced... "No, I have not."

Avira has posed:
This was not the spectacular diversion that Clan Dagda was hoping for! What a shame that Clayton is so good at drawing lots of attention to himself.

But as Caren and Artems and Sydney and Clayton exchange words, the two other members of Clan Dagda ease themselves into position, flanking Clayton, each about four or so feet away. Avira herself walks to the nearest horse and strokes its neck, glancing over her shoulder to check, every now and then, on the others.

"It isssss unfortunate, sssssir, that you have so many dissssatisssfied customers." the cloaked Clan Dagda member to the right speaks, no doubt revealing himself as a bangaa thanks to his accent. As the realization sets in, both him and the other Clan Dagda member, who turns out to be a male hume, push their cloaks back, each drawing pistols of their own. In the case of the bangaa, his appears to be specially designed to accomodate his hands. Both aim their weapons at Clayton.

"Sorry dear." the male hume smiles apologetically at Artemis. "We need to borrow this man for a little while. Clayton, /sir/." His voice takes a hard edge when addressing the hunter. "Get on the wagon."

Clayton has posed:
As people start calling Clayton out on his BS, his smile slowly fades and he sits forward. "I'm sorry, is this philosophy hour on the Giza Plains? You people and your generalizations! 'Humans are animals', are you in grade school?" He sneers. "Look at our works, and our minds. We have evolved beyond mere /animals/, that is /science/. Our obligation, nay, our DUTY AS A SPECIES, hinges on establishing and exerting our dominance over lesser beings, and uplifting others from savagery into something greater as we stride into the future."

He stands up. "It is true, I am a predator. The ultimate predator. Have you ever waited for hours in a steaming jungle, sweat dripping from your brow, the tension and adrenaline building within you as your muscles become taught, waiting for your quarry to appear? Then, when that magical moment arrives, a big ferocious beast, the king of his element, right there in your face. The sheer terror turning to pleasure as you make yourself known and take that final shot! You all are soft looking, so I wouldn't expect much. I provide a service to others, and these things here? Merely the fruits of my labors. Show some respect!" He is loud enough to get the attention of everyone at the sale.

Then the Clan Dagda members speak. "Ah, of course, this is perfect. You people know I fought in many battles, not only for the BRitish Empire, but against the HEartless? That I helped bring down the Kurt Zisa at Fluorgis? Or mustered a force to bring in the Devil Elf? Of course not." He holds up his hands as if surrendering, to just let them take him in. He waits. His expression remains stoic, but the rage and the darkness now builds up within him.

He ducks, grabbing his shotgun and twisting into a crouch, levelling it at the Bangaa's face, firing a full blast of twin buckshot. He then slams it backwards to smash the human with the butt of the gun, before LEAPING and making a grab for him to use as a shield. "Treachery! Kill these people, NOW!" Then, his men draw their weapons and prepare for a fight. The dark-skinned man with the scimitar turns slowly towards Artemis, while the fat bald butcher is eyeing up Caran.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
Sydney grins, shaking his head. Shadows rise from his shadow, eyes hungrily peering forth at Clayton, before turning his attentions towards the dark skinned man. Might as well go for the one without the hostage. "...Kill him." He says bluntly, and the Shadows all leap forth, slashing wildly as they attempt to overwhelm the dark-skinned man.

"Hmph. Indeed, hunting is quite the honourable profession. But murder is another game." SHINK. Sydney brandishes his claws menacingly. "A game I'd be happy to play with you."

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis sighs. This is quickly becoming not much fun. At least she had a new mead-horn though.

At his description of the hunt, Artemis smiles slowly. "Aye, I have--have you ever face down a raging wild boar with nothing but a short spear you made yourself? Have you felt it sink into the flesh, felt the great beast's spirit leave it? Have you ever tasted the hot blood of the heart gush into your mouth as you take a bite? Tasted the spirit of the beast and respected it?" she asks.

"But we are not speaking of boar, are we? We are speaking of a person capable of speech, culture...tch," she says, not yet drawing her blade. It seems there are enough here eager to draw blood--and once she starts, it is not likely this altercation would satisfy. Then /she'll/ need to go hunting!

She is poised however, for attack if it comes.

Avira has posed:
The male hume holds up his free hand, "We've been briefed. But as you hinted earlier, now is not the time for debates. We are here with purpose."

"So letsssss get down to businessss." The bangaa adds, keeping his weapon trained on Clayton. Darkness starts to build.

Avira, where she stands, mostly out of dodge, shudders.

Several things suddenly happen at once. As Clayton moves, the bangaa drops his aim and fires a heavy shot from his musket-like gun at the hunter's feet. The male hume, seeing Clayton aiming the gun at his clanmate's face, suddenly jumps on him from behind and the aim winds up being far lower, blasting the bangaa in the gut with buckshot.

Clayton rams the butt of his shotgun into the face of the hume latched behind him and he staggers backwards, stunned from the blow. He's in no position to keep Clayton from grabbing him.

Witnessing things going south at lighting speed, Avira runs around the front of the wagon to the slowly crumpling bangaa, grabbing onto him and dragging him backwards. "C'mon, keep it together, hang in there. ****!" She drops her voice, muttering something to her clanmate.

Caran Steel has posed:
Sydney's clacking claws draw Caran's attention. What...? But, there's too much else going on. Clayton gives his speech. "Grade schoolers? No... I am a member of Alexander Academy's Behemoth Class! And it is the duty of the strong to help and protect the weak!" Caran shoots back.

And then... Clayton starts to make an escape! "I have not spent hours in the jungle, but let me show you what months in a library can do!" Suddenly, a /winged cat/ of all things leaps out of Caran's messenger bag and flutters distractingly around the butcher. "Meow!" wait, did the cat just /say/ meow?

'Fragment of the deepest darkness, free yourself from the cosmos!' Caran mimes drawing a sword, and black lightning arcs between his hands. 'Blade of nothingness,colder than coldest ice! Let my power be made manifest!' The dark lightning grows thicker, resembling a jagged tear in reality held in Caran's hands like a giant sword. 'Cut a swath of destruction! Blade that can slay the mightiest giants! BLACK BLAAAAAAAAAAADE!'

The lightning-like energy coalesces into a clear, straight-edged shape -- a sword of pure blackness that reflects no light, held in Caran's hand. He swings it at the butcher's cleaver, trying to disarm the man before dashing towards Clayton!

Clayton has posed:
The dark-skinned swordsman is surprised to find Shadows appear here. The buyers start to panic at the violence and scatter as the rest of the men open fire with their guns on Sydney, Caran, and Artemis. Tables are overturned, the camp quickly becomes chaotic. The dark-skinned man is knocked over, but sliced clean through the fire Shadow and kicks the other two away, leaping up as he brandishes his scimitar. He is from Agrabah, and a rather unpleasant bandit from there too.

Clayton is busy using the hume as a shield as he begins firing shotgun blasts at those that oppose him, each shot causing a loud and thunderous BOOM sound. "A woman knows nothing about hunting," he shoots back to Artemis. "You have no place in a man's world, you freakish tart!"

The butcher looks at the flying kitty. "You wot mate?" he grunts, trying to swing at it. This distracts him long enough for Caran to come in and slice the butcher's cleaver in two. "You lil...I'll 'ook you in the gabba fer that!"

Clayton eventually shoves the hume away, who sports a few wounds from stray fire, and rounds on the first man, Sydney. He levels his shotgun and fires several shots into him, getting close to thwack him in the chin with the butt of his gun.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
VWOOOM.

Sydney goes wide-eyed, barely teleporting in time to avoid being shot. Dark Knights? Not a problem for Sydney. Tree-wizards? Sydney ain't scared. But guns are a whole new game. One he's going to play with cautiously. Keeping his distance between himself and Clayton, he chuckles. "Firearms? Funny. You don't look like a machinist." Don't let the mocking get to you, though. Sydneys scared on the inside. So clearly the obvious way to counter that would be with inside-attacks! Sydney raises his palm at Clayton, at first appearing as though he's doing nothing. Clayton might feel something strange...as if something were inside him, hands preparing themselves to crush his very heart. Sydney begins to slowly apply pressure, hoping to get a good grip. Sadly, its a purely magical attack. There's no actual hand gripping Claytons heart...but it'll feel like it, if he doesn't move out of the way fast enough.

Sydney laughs, shaking his head as he surveys Caran. "Incantations? What a positively /ancient/ form of magic." The shadows from earlier disappate as they're cleaved through. However, instead of returning to the ethereal voidy darkness, they return to Sydneys shadow. How odd...

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Freakish tart? Really? This actually makes her laugh. As if she hasn't heard worse! "You sound threatened," she replies with a chuckle.

Then, she's being shot at. That will not do. Artemis blinks out of the way as soon as the trigger is pulled, reappearing with her sword drawn, only a few feet away from Clayton and to his left, slicing out with her katana in several rapid strikes to his arms, the steel of her blade perfectly sharpened to cut through armor, never mind flesh. She aims to disable him, make him drop that gun by cutting into the muscles and tendons of his arm.

Then, she throws out a hand a wave a force blasts from her, telekinetic energy slamming into Clayton like a hammer. "No need to be rude. I cannot abide rudeness," she says.

Caran Steel has posed:
Blam blam! Caran dashes in, only to get shot at! "Gnaaah! OW!" He stumbles to the ground, his sword fraying at the edges, like black flame. "Caran!" The cat shouts, its job of distracting the butcher done, it flies over to its master, paws glowing a white that then washes over him, healing the wounds. The sword again becomes solid and sharp. Caran slowly stands up. "Thanks." He says to Ketan, then: "Yes. It is ancient and powerful magic!" he replies to Sydney. He brandishes the sword at the butcher in a 'stay back!' gesture, as Ketan takes off again, flying over the fight. "I just cut through a metal cleaver. You /really/ wanna fight me?"

Avira has posed:
Avira really dislikes dealing with guns. While she herself wasn't being shot at this second, that could easily change-and looking at the aftermath of her poor bangaa friend here? While chaos quickly looms, Avira works to get the bangaa up onto the wagon.

The male hume finds himself as a human shield, though he mostly serves to fend of Caran's advance until Clayton pushes him aside. Recovered from the blow to the head, he staggers a few steps before stumbling over to the wagon. "How is he?" the man asks of Avira.

"He'll live, but we need to get him healed as soon as possible." she says, "We're not making our stretch goal today. Time to break and swipe things. Make it so they won't hold it here again at least." she nods towards the wagon and the hume too scales it.

Avira rushes around back to the horses and climbs atop the back of one of them. She leans foward, drawing in a breath before speaking her beastmaster voice.

"Run! Run from the swamp!" Not that it's THAT necessary to command horses, beside the fact that Avira has never ridden a horsel before.

Clayton has posed:
"You don't look much like a man either, so I suppose both our perceptions are a bit off today, eh?" Clayton cracks, seeing through that chuckle of Sydney's. Suddenly, he freezes, as something grips his heart. His eyes bulge, he starts to sweat, as the magical power takes hold. But then, something fights back, a shadowy power that sends a jolt through the magical channel back to Sydney. Clayton is blown backwards, sliding on his feet but managing to remain upright. Perhaps too agile for an older human gent with just a gun?

Movement to his left. He sees Artemis come in with her katana but is already backpedalling away from the strikes, firing repeatedly at her. Then, he has to reload. He does so behind a tree, but her telekinetic energy blows the tree apart and sends Clayton flying, landing on his face. "ARGH!" Now that was a doozy.

The butcher looks at Caran, then his blade. "Sod it," he says, and makes a break for it. Now people are scattering as they fear arrest or death, to the four winds.

Slowly, Clayton rises, noticing that his men are scattering. Blasted fools; evidently money can't buy bravery. Knowing he's outgunned, Clayton notices the horses are fleeing. He lunges, grabbing the loose reins of the horse, unable to walk due to a large splinter in his leg. As a result he is dragged across the ground, faster than he would be on foot, but well, it's not fun to be dragged by a horse.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
"Ungah!"

Sydney lets out a yell of pain as the jolt flies through the channel, unable to defend himself against it while he's still connected. He releases his grip in the process, flying back a few steps. His return to his feet is...much less graceful, involving a couple rolls through the dirt and a hard hit against a tree. He rises to his feet, dusting himself off as he watches him fly away into the sunset.

Yelling after the cart as it rolls away, he shouts "Farewell, peasant girl!" Though it might sound rude, his tone is kind(er than usual), and its stated more matter of factly than anything. As for Artemis..."Hmph. Good work, Eurus. Most impressive." He says, eyeing the now-blown-apart tree. Caran just gets an odd look. As fabulous as that outfit is, it sure doesn't inspire conversation.

Caran Steel has posed:
Ketan hears that someone needs healing immediately! He dives for the cart, "Did someone say healing?" If allowed, he'll land by the Bangaa and channel healing energy. He's not as powerful as a real mage, and it /was/ a point-blank shotgun blast to the face, but this is better than nothing, right?

Caran, meanwhile, turns away from the butcher as he's /finally/ free to fight Clayton... and woah, it seems everyone here has strange powers he's unfamiliar with! But then, with his dark spells, he's one to talk. He starts running towards Clayton, only for the hunter to grab onto one of those 'horses'. "Hey! Hey, get back here!" Caran stops, and waves his hand. A glowing door of light appears in front of him, and above Clayton, and he steps through "I've got you!" -- but has misjudged the horse's speed, and he just falls face-first on the ground. "Oof!" He lifts his head and glares. The doors blink out, and another pair of doors starts to form... and then blink out before opening, as Caran's overuse of powerful magic catches up with him. His sword flares out and dissipates in his outsretched hand, and he slumps on the ground, panting.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis watches as Clayton is dragged away by a horse, a less than glorious exit, but she will let him go. There are enough out for his blood.

Artemis is more interested in Sydney. At his compliment she bows her head slightly in acknowledgement. "And yourself...but I'm inclined to ask how you know me, for I don't believe we have been introduced."

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
Sydney grins, shaking his head. "Oh, I don't know you. But I know /of/ you. You and your little friends are rather bold, standing against the church." He says, clacking his metallic claws together. "It makes sense you'd make a few fans, no?" He says, with an enigmatic grin. The heartless rise from Sydneys shadow, taking a few minutes to survey Artemis. They gaze hungrily, attempting to leave the darkness of his shadow, but seem to be unable to do so. Sydney completely disregards them, however.

Artemis Eurus has posed:
Artemis looks toward the Heartless, frowning deeply. "I see," she replies to Sydney. "I think perhaps we should speak further," she invites, then simply begins walking away from the scene.

Avira has posed:
Caren will have to move quick. Avira and the male hume have hauled the wounded bangaa up onto the wagon. The bangaa lies on his side, groaning, until the conveyed spell takes a bit of the edge off and the bleeding from the buckshot stops.

Of the horses pulling the cart, one breaks away. Avira doesn't notice that this one bares the hunter himself from the battle until it's too late. By then, Clayton has already fled.

Speaking of that...the horses wheel around before driving through the camp with the wagon in tow and Avira guiding. Sydney grins unsettingly at the scarred woman and Avira stares back. "You..! Uh...yeah...sure...pleasure and all that stuff. Um. Gotta go! Bye!"

There is a second of pause before the horses speed off again, cresting the nearby hill.

Sydney Losstarot has posed:
Sydney laughs, shaking his head. "If you see fit to humour me, I'll give you the opportunity." He says, following after artemis.