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Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.

Summary:

All seems quiet in Noria, a normal day like any other. But despite outward appearances, the world is at a tipping point, and the face of Loka is about to be changed forever…

Setting:

Noria

Participants:

Aeon? (Male Red-eared Slider Turtle)
Dee? (Male Fox)
Gin? (Female Fox)
Joseph? (Male Mouse)
Leviathan (Unknown)
Raziel (Male Tiger)
Seusur? (Male Draco Volans)

---

It’s a foggy day out in Noria. It’s difficult to see very far into the ocean or the air, but it seems fairly quiet, and people are milling about the marketplace as normal. The archers in the towers seem to be taking a break, since they can’t see anything anyway. Life is proceeding normally.

Raziel is idly walking about the streets, enjoying a quiet day before he has to head back to Meson, and then back to Gilead. He hasn’t spent a lot of time in this part of the kingdom, but he’s at least passingly familiar with the place. The tiger shakes some of the condensation from the fog off of his coat, padding along.

Aeon was enjoying a walk along the town. He was in his usual attire, and he seemed to enjoy the wetness of the fog. That being said, he tried to keep a small amount of flame going in his hand held near his body for warmth. The turtle had barely stopped in Noria, usually he was passing by on his way to Cetayanti. Today he just felt like stopping at a place he had not stopped at before.

Seusur, like a bad case of athlete’s foot, soon fades into Raziel’s view. He’s standing in front of a small stand selling various, random, assorted trinkets. It looks more like a garage sale than something official. The draco’s quietly bartering with the owner of the stand, though the fog’s so thick that it obscures the creature too much to tell what species it is. In fact, Seusur’s pretty cloaked too. Raziel’s probably the only one who’ll recognize him just due to the raw hatred the cat’s got for him. Although their voices are low, it’s fairly obvious that the draco’s trying to get things for far cheaper than they’re worth and the owner of the stand does not have much money. Typical Seusur.

Gin goes about her usual business, gathering herbs and grasses and plants to tuck away into her personal side-strapped boxes. Taking a kneeling position to mix, match, and store that which she needs for herself and other situations. The fog helps keep fresh that which tends to have a hard time to grow under lesser conditions.

Raziel growls slightly as he catches sight of Seusur - or rather, Seusur’s tail. He’d recognize the draco anywhere, after their…misadventures. However, he /did/ promise Rhyis he wouldn’t kill the backstabbing beast, and that /would/ be murder, so he simply tries to stay away from the pasu, walking on the other side of the street. Maybe he won’t notice…

Aeon hummed a little tune to himself as he walked through the street. It was a wonderful day to him really, the only thing that could make it better would be a bit of an adventure… or not getting walked into by a friend as the case may be. The turtle ends up colliding with Raziel when the tiger attempts to avoid Seusur.

Joseph rides on in on his steam motorcycle, leaving the engine puffing away as he folds down the kickstand. It takes thirty minutes to warm up every time, so he often just leaves it running. The mouse frowns. It was a real pain riding through here all slow due to the fog, but he ambles on into the marketplace, looking for something to eat, when he spots a tiger with a most interesting lookin’ firearm. He blinks a few times at the thing.

Seusur doesn’t seem to catch notice of the tiger, or if he did he’s at least not showing it. The draco completely ignores the collision behind him and continues talking like nothing of interest is happening. Although Seusur’s voice is disturbingly calm as it always tends to be, the person he’s talking with sounds significantly less-collected. Whoever it is seems to be on the verge of tears. Maybe somebody should try and nudge Seusur away from the poor pasu..

Raziel is too busy looking at the draco volans to notice the other reptile in his path. He bumps right into the turtle, bouncing off of him and stumbling back a foot or two. However, apart from a startled grunt, he tries not to say anything - he doesn’t want to confront Seusur. Not now. He simply whispers. Sorry. Nice to see you. Can we talk later?” He inclines his head towards the draco, but his intention may not be clear.”

Nothing interesting happens, nuh-uh! You so hear some glurking sound in the distance, like someone was choking on something, but it’s probably one of the marketplace bagels, and it’s quiet just as soon as the sound came. No telling where it came from.

Aeon blinks and looks at Raziel… he shrugs softly and nods, then looks and sees where the tiger is trying to indicate. What he sees… egad! A pasu hassling a poor merchant. Well that wont do. The turtle moves over and raps a finger on the stand. “Is there a problem here?”

Joseph takes the opportunity to walk over to Raziel with a wave, looking at that marvelous piece of technology. “Hello there!” He eyes the thing up and down, “I don’t think I’ve seen a piece like that before. Where did you get it?”

The merchant appears to be a small mouse, smaller than Joseph. He barely hits the four foot mark. The creature’s mostly brownish, save for some brighter tan along his chest and belly. He’s wrapped in a pair of (very torn) pants that look like they’re made from some sort of burlap sack, though his coat looks more fancy. It’s a mystery how this pasu even has a place to sell any goods that isn’t a simple wooden box..

Seusur turns to his side to face Aeon once he’s tapped. He talks with the same disturbingly smooth tone. “There’s no problem. I was just casually talking with this mouse and he remembered something that happened to his mother. I’m trying to console him. Really.” It might be quite difficult to tell if he’s lying.. Which he probably is.

Raziel rubs the bridge of his muzzle. Of course, Aeon is too kindhearted to /not/ help an emotionally distraught shopkeeper. On second thought, Raziel probably would too, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s Seusur in question. The tiger simply tries to stay out of view, and not draw attention to himself… Until a mouse walks up to him and defeats the entire purpose of that. And it’s not like the tiger can just ignore him, or turn down a question about his gun… Besides, Seusur seems a little distracted. He glances down at Joseph, and answers, “Er…I made it. The entire action is custom. I’m a weapon’s engineer, you see.”

Aeon blinks. looking at Seusur… and then a lightbulb goes off. He remembers him from the airship. Clearly hes not going to be able to win in a battle of wits or social charm with this one. So he turns to the merchant. “Are you alright?”

Aeon glances up then blinks, rubbing his eyes quickly before his attention shoots to the parapet… he thought he saw something, and then he notices something else of concern… and this causes him to shout out “Raziel! We might have to have that talk MUUUCH later… the patrolling archers are missing.”

Joseph’s eyes widen, “Oh, lovely! I’m a mechanical engineer, that over there is mine.” He thumbs to his motorcycle, “Gets me between towns pretty quickly. About as fast a horse, but it doesn’t get tired.” He grins. “What brings a talented weapons engineer to Noria? It’s not known to be a particularly violent place.”

The merchant nods while wiping an eye with a paw. “He is.. Really.. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met! I’ve been talking to him for an hour and he’s just so.. So..” As cheesy as it may be, the mouse starts sobbing too hard to reply for a solid ten seconds. “I’ve only known him for an hour and he feels like my missing brother!”

Seusur must’ve done some _serious_ work on this guy.. Or maybe he really is telling the truth and the two actually did hit it off. Again, it’s, really, not easy to tell. At all. Nope. Not a chance.

The draco turns his head behind him and looks up once he hears Aeon mention missing archers. After a moment he turns back towards the mouse with a frown on his face. It looks just a /little/ fake this time, but that’s just Seusur even when he /is/ sincere. “Do the archers usually go on breaks together?”

None of you have ever been in the Noria archery core, nor have you gone to their kegstands. How would you know? But it is a little odd that Noria would be completely unguarded by archers.

The sound of a drawbridge lowering— little links of chain rolling forward, can be heard in the distance.

Raziel looks over at the contraption. It’s actually…rather interesting. He’s never seen a vehicle on two wheels. “That’s quite an invention! How did you come up with—” The tiger cringes when he hears Aeon call out his name. Well, now Seusur certainly knows he’s here… However, as he listens to the rest of the turtle’s warning, his attention is directed upwards. “But…they were just there. Odd.” The feline furrows his brow, though for all he knows, they could be attending to an emergency elsewhere. But now, Seusur is probably aware of his presence. He flits his ears at the clinking, but he’s not sure what to make of the sound…

Joseph blinks a few times, looking up, “That’s weird. I don’t /think/ I’ve seen them all out.” He turns around toward the sound of the drawbridge, “But if there aren’t any guards, who is lowering the drawbridge?”

Aeon looks around, there was too much fog to make out exactly what was going on… he moves away from the stall. Hes going to have to at least try, as he digs deep, attempting to summon what magic he can to try and cause the fog to disperse through moisture evaporation.

Well, aren’t you glad you did that? You can clearly see a giant mob of pirates about to enter the city. They stare at you in disbelief that the fog has managed to clear enough for you to see this. Also, there’s this big ship in the dock their walking out of, and, oh, there are like, three zeppelins overhead.

Aeon says, “…Dear God…I just revealed an attack. Raziel… tell me you recently reloaded your rifle?”

The cloaked figure on the parapet is also visible now.

Dee’s staring down into the city. … At the movement of the fog he looks up, and around, and then decides he’d better get out of sight before someone shoots at him - perhaps there’s some stonework or other to take shelter behind? He’s got a couple of henchmen up there, too. After a moment they all three drop down behind the walls.

As much as the mouse is crying, he turns and notices the coming invasion. Two and two are quickly added, multiplied, summed, divided and added again. “No! I, uh, have to go!” This pasu must be dirt poor, as by ‘go’ he means ‘hide under his stall’.

Seusur, on the other hand, remains .. Almost, collected. Even though there’s invading pirates he seems rather calm about it. Although not much tends to freak the draco out, one would think that an INVASION probably should make him bat an eye a few times. The draco does take cover, but only by stepping closer to the side of a building and peeking around a corner to watch the incoming ship. After all, since when does running and panicking ever work when people invade a town?

Dee, after a moment, might show his head again, ready to duck back down if need be.

Raziel watches the fog disperse, glancing over at Aeon to see if he’s responsible - he’s seen the turtle make fog before, so why wouldn’t he be able to? This, of course, reveals the hordes of pirates invading the city. It takes only a moment for Raziel to recognize them, too. He’s seen the likes of them in action before, what seems like a long time ago, now. “The Advocates…” He clenches his fists, which quickly turns to reaching for his rifle. However…there’s no way he can take on an entire army. He nearly died against five of these guys before… The tiger ushers himself and the mouse that was talking to him towards the nearest alley. “This won’t end well…”

Joseph squeaks, following Raziel into the alley and peeking around the corner, “Holy shit. Are those pirates? How’d so many of them get here all of a sudden?” His eyes widen, trembling a little in fear as he keeps close to the tiger with the big gun. He surely knows how to use it and, after consistent practice, nearly always hits his targets.

Right?

Aeon moves to cover himself. His heart pounding, his head screaming ‘run boy run’ to no avail. As he moves, he takes off his necklace and bracelet and quickly puts them in a bag, along with his wallet. He then ties that bag closed and drapes its cord around his neck, allowing him to hide the bag inside his shell.

Dee’s watching. He’s got a brass telescope inside his cloak.

The drawbridge finishes opening, and the pirates start making their way into Noria. A few guards try to step in the way, not having seen just how large the mob is, but the remaining ones scatter after seeing their fellow guards ripped to shreds by swords. The crack of gunfire also rings out, putting down a remaining bit of resistance. Noria has hardly prepared for invasion.

Aeon was all for protecting people…but this was something too big to protect anyone from.

Dee’ll show above the wall for a moment, and then, if things look clear, swing over it and start rappelling down, a couple of crewmen with muskets trailing after him. If successful, he’d likely be seen (though he hopes he’s unrecognizable) walking up to the one in charge of the pirates to address them, crew trailing behind… Well, the two crew.

Seusur, seeing the approaching mob constantly grow in number while slaughtering pasu, decides /not/ try try and lie his way into a less death-filled death. He’s too smart for that. Instead, he starts walking, calmly, not running, down the street in the direction he heard Raziel and.. That, other, person, going. After a few steps he does move faster, but he doesn’t break into a run. The last thing he wants is to provoke the group into shooting him /first/.

Some of the pirates fan out a little to enter various buildings. You can hear screaming and fright, people surprised by the sudden attacks without warning— no alarms, and without having been outside to see what was going on, no real clue as to what was waiting for them. The poor bastards.

Aeon slowly slips his way from his initial cover, trying to find a new spot to hide. He was NOT going to let some pirates catch him and take all he had, especially when the most valuable things held memories of him and his adopted son having good times together.

Raziel is much less calm and collected from his place in the alley, his rifle in paw and locked and loaded. He’s sure that they’re not going to just let anyone go - especially when the screaming starts. “Monsters…” he growls, peeking out of the alley. He looks for another way out, possibly a back door into one of the houses along the narrow path. The feline will fight his way out if he has to - but he’d rather not take on impossible odds by himself.

Joseph tugs on Raziel’s shirt, pointing toward his motorcycle, “Hey, how about we get on my bike and ride on out of here before they reach the other side of town?”

Seusur is /just/ within earshot to hear Joseph’s suggestion. At this point the draco starts running towards the tiger. He waves a hand to try and wave the feline down without yelling and making it obvious that other people deeper in the town know an invasion’s in progress. Provided the tiger slows his pace slightly, he should catch up in a few seconds.

Aeon slipped from building to building, working his way towards the opposite direction from the pirates. He had to get to the river, he could easily dive in and swim to get past the invaders.

Noria is surrounded on every side by a wall. The side where the river lays is where the advocates are coming from.

Raziel stops short when the mouse tugs on his coat, and looks at where the pasu is pointing. “Maybe, but what about—” He was going to ask, ‘What about Aeon’, but the turtle is nowhere in sight from the alley. Hopefully, he’s finding himself another way out. He’s hesitant to take an offer from a mouse he just met, but…it seems the best option. “Alright, let’s go.” As he heads back towards the bike…he sees Seusur trying to flag him down. “Oh, what now…?”

Joseph runs up to the bike, getting onto it and knocking back the kickstand. He put-put-putters it forward, next to Raziel, waiting for him to get on. “I can’t carry more than one extra passenger. This isn’t one of the Naraka Horseless carriages.” He frowns, seeing the nice looking lizard person who they may have to leave behind.

Seusur looks at the mouse as he comes to a stop, but even with the coming invasion he doesn’t seem to be panicked about the most obvious way out being taken. “Don’t worry”, the draco says as he turns back to face Raziel, “I’m sure I’ll find my way out of this one way or another. I just have a favor to ask.” Before Raziel can turn it down, he continues. “Go find Rhyis. Give him a big hug from me and tell him what’s happening here. That’s all I ask.” Again, before Raziel can respond, he starts walking towards the cat with the giant gun with open arms. This should be interesting..

Aeon eventually finds his way to one of the sides of the wall. He runs his hand up and down the wall and grunts, saying to himself “Chomper won’t work… don’t have explosives on me either.” He looks around, a bit of time to think since the pirates are busy hitting the buildings. Then he gets an idea. He moves close to the wall and takes a deep breath, before he looks down and attempts to fire a strong stream of flames at the ground, trying to make them have enough force to lift him up and over the wall.

Raziel stares at Seusur. /Staaaaares./ “Uh, sure…I’ll pass that on.” He doesn’t feel a need to be hugged, though…so he hops on the motorcycle, his rifle still in hand. As far as he knows, the draco just wants to stab him in the kidneys. As he adjusts his position on the bike, he turns back to Seusur once more. “…Take care of yourself.” He can’t stand the lizard…but he dislikes the Advocates more.

Aeon grunts as he braces himself, this wasn’t going to be easy. As he concentrates, fire springs from his hands and he shoots it down quickly, flamethrower style, it doesn’t seem to do much at first, aside from heat him up, but then he starts to lift, a smile crossing his face. The flames quickly lift him higher and higher. He knew that this was going to draw attention, but part of that would be good, as it would give others a chance to head for the hills. He manages to get to the top of the wall and manuvers himself over. He could hear some pirates shouting, and a few gun shots, a few of the bullets getting pretty close, if he had been over two inches it would have hit his shell, and then another shot would have punctured. By luck he managed to avoid getting killed and hurls himself over the wall, and down to the ground. The pirates would have to exit the town if they wanted to chase him now.

Seusur frowns again when Raziel rejects the hug, but he seems to understand that the tiger’s not going to let it happen. Before the contraption gets going, though, he says one other thing. “Oh, and, I think it’s in my best interests to sell you out. Presumably once that.. Thing, starts moving, everybody’s going to hear it. I’ll wait until I’m sure the pirates are about to see you before calling you out so I won’t make a difference in /your/ survival.”

….What a _jerk_. He does have a point, though.

Joseph blinks a few times, but nods a little, and then guns it, yanking the handle down to open the throttle as the machine starts puttering and picking up speed. In terms of steam-powered vehicles, it’s lightning fast! It must be a full thirty miles per hour!

Raziel growls at Seusur, but he should have expected as much. “Ha. Haha. What a great pal you are, Seusur.” Thankfully, he doesn’t have to talk to the draco after the motorcycle takes off - which is impressive in its own right. The tiger would be engrossed in the technology - if the city wasn’t under siege. He keeps his rifle off to the side, but mostly at the ready; he has no idea if he’ll have to fight while riding this contraption. He is slightly distracted by a burst of light off towards the city wall, though…but at this distance, he can’t quite make it out.

Seusur waves solemnly as the pasu get moving. He waits until they’re just about at the corner of the last building before the one overlooking the incoming mob pasu before lowering his hand and extending a finger. He yells out in the loudest voice he can muster that doesn’t sound panicked or strained, “Svargan technology! Get them!”

The draco might not /really/ work with the Advocates, or even know without a doubt that they’re /really/ invading, but he’s sure as heck not going to tell /them/ that at the moment! Maybe they’ll let him live if he at least pretends to help them chase the mysterious, unique, technology down that could very well be mistaken for something of mythical legend at a glance while traveling at blistering speeds..

As Joseph rolls by the area where the pirates are able to see them, and they hear the draco yelling something about Svargan technology. One fires off a shot in the direction of the motorcycle. There’s a loud PING! And it sounds like a round struck the bike. Felt like it, too. For now, though, it’s still running. Though Raziel feels burning hot water splash on his foot as the boiler is ruptured.

Aeon grunts as he shakes himself a bit and winces. The impact, thanks to his shell, wasn’t as bad, but he could tell it was going to leave him sore later. The turtle looks up at the sky, hoping to all that is good that none of the Zeppelins decide to fire down on him as he made his way north, heading for the forest for cover. He was hoping others make it out, so that he can catch up to them.

Raziel roars in pain as the boiling water splashes on his leg, rendering the intervening, insulating layer of fur next to useless. What is it with the Advocates and injuring his legs?! However, this gives the tiger a /more/ than adequate reason to shoot back at them, and take out his aggression. Even as the bike rolls forward, he aims into the pack of pirates…

The tiger’s shot rings true and kills one of the pirates! They’re pissed now, though, and start coming after the two of you in a detachment from the main group while the motorcycle starts slowing down.

Joseph says, “Nonononono!” He looks around, thrusting a paw into his workbag and trying to find something to patch the hole with temporarily. The mouse eventually finds some gum! He starts chewing it right the hell up, and stuffs it in the hole. They’ve lost some speed, but they’re still moving, and it’ll get them out of here! …So long as nothing else gets fucked up. But they are getting shot at again.

Aeon watches from the safety of the woods, looking for signs of anyone making a getaway. He quietly puts on his goggles and tries to work on the magnifiers to give him a bit better of a view.

There’s a giant wall in the way.

Seusur, hearing gunshots, does the only reasonable thing and runs /towards/ them. Yep. Really. Or, rather, after the “legendary” piece of technology that happens to have ran past the gunshots. If he runs away he’s going to look like any other villager and get shot at, but if he keeps running and yelling about Svargan technology, maybe there’ll be just barely enough confusion that part of the mob will mistake him for one of their own and allow him to hide in plain sight, then later allow him to slip away. Possibly. That’s the plan in the draco’s head, at least. Whether it works or not is an entirely different matter.. While running, another idea forms in his mind. “Are you guys crazy?! That’s SVARGAN, aim for the riders, not the technology!”

Now, hopefully, they miss.

They’re not entirely sure what to make of the draco, but they’re pretty sure he was in the village before they got here. A few of them start to amble over toward him while the ones chasing after Joseph and Raziel begin firing again. Of course, the distance is much further now.

As Joseph works to evade the shots, one of them strikes his wheel, causing it to pop, and the tiger and mouse to be thrown from it. Thankfully, it’s only 30 miles per hour. As far as motorcycle crashes go, that’s plenty survivable!

Aeon quickly works his way, skirting in and out of the spot where anyone on the wall could get a clear shot. As he moves, he gathers what moisture he can to attempt to make a new batch of fog to cover him as he moves to see if anyone else managed to find a way to get past the pirates.

A cat always lands on his feet. The crash just ends up propelling Raziel forward and bringing him an immediate sprint toward the opposite drawbridge, which is not far from here!

Raziel raises his rifle to fire at the pirates - when the motorcycle suddenly stops being under him. But, he keeps going with his forward momentum, stumbling for only a moment before continuing in a sprint towards the drawbridge. He wants to stop for the mouse…but with the bullets still flying past him, and the pirates behind, he figures he’ll have a better chance covering the mouse once he gets to the other side of the bridge.

The drawbridge is suddenly covered in the fog that dispersed earlier. If Raziel runs into it, he will be hidden from sight, but will also be unable to see the pirates in order to shoot at them. If he stops here, he could shoot at the pirates, but will be in range of them.

Dee’s likely watching from the wall…

The cloaked figure has returned to perching on the wall.

Seusur mentally takes a deep breath. Yes, there’s a solid plan in his head. Yes, there’s only a small group of pirates headed for him, and they’re not shooting /at/ him, so it’s working so far.

The draco keeps running, though he makes it clear he’s unarmed by holding one hand out to the side and continuously making long, overdrawn pointing motions over his head with the other. Every ounce of his body language screams that he’s either completely insane, or the smaller group heading towards him hasn’t been told all the details of the invasion.

Seusur keeps the deep, commanding tone in his voice that practically doesn’t fit his frame. It only adds to the authenticity and insanity. “Why are you running towards me?! I’m fine, go get them! I’m right behind you! Secure it before somebody destroys it!” Hopefully, by the time anybody turns around, more of the mob will have blocked this group’s view of the downed vehicle.

Raziel curses as he sees the fog. There’s no real cover, beyond that, and nothing to hide behind…but he can’t just leave the mouse behind. He also can’t stick around to fight them all off. But he can at least make an attempt. The tiger skids to a halt right at the edge of the fog bank, turning and kneeling in the street. He has to try. The white tiger raises his rifle at the advancing pirates, and fires everything he has. Hopefully, it’ll but Joseph some time.

The tiger enters the fucking matrix, and in a kickass bullet time CG sequence, pops off round after round, killing three of the five assailants while the other two trip over their bodies. There is a lens flare, and motion blur. Joseph makes it into the fog all chill and shiz.

Dee, on the wall… stares. Formidable combatants.

Dee likely watches this sequence through telescope, in fact.

Oh, right. The draco. Well, there are a few pirates that amble up to him and give him a critical eye, not sure whether to stab him, recruit him, shoot him, ask him questions, bash his skull in, imprison him, or skin him alive.

Aeon watches the fog for movement, hoping someone he knows comes out of it.

Dee scans the city, perched on the parapet up there. More or less the same thing, only on the other side of the fourth wall. His two crewmen watch or talk quietly between themselves.

Right. Yes. Draco. The thing with the tail that looks maybe kinda-sorta like Leviathan’s. Maybe they’re friends and he shouldn’t be killed? It’d be a bad idea to tick off the guy. Probably. Maybe there should be questions. Before any can be asked though, the sound of gunshots hits Seusur’s ear. These fire off far too often for them to be the pirate’s firearms. Mustering all his courage and willpower, Seusur shouts louder and more rageful than ever. “IDIOTS! What was that?!” The draco puts both arms in front of him like he’s going to push the closer mob out of the way if they don’t stand aside. Of course, they could easily grab him instead and drag him off somewhere, but either outcome’s better than being shot in the back of the head while running. …Right?

One of them smacks the butt of their gun right in Seusur’s chest, clearly taking offense to being called an idiot. He’ll have the draco know that he is a talented engineer who is just between jobs at the moment, and pillaging pays the bills. The mob surround the lizard, and one of them asks, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Raziel’s weapon is a powerhouse of murder and engineering - when it works. And, thankfully, it decided to help him out, today. The tiger ejects the last shell, the casing clattering on the cobblestones, before he dashes into the fog after the mouse. That was risky…but he Raz knows he did the right thing. Now, he just has to get out of here, to safety - there’s nothing more he can do by himself.

Aeon hears movement, then he follows the sound of footsteps. Eventually the turtle manages to catch up to the runners, and finds its at least two. Pirates would be more numerous. “Everyone alright?”

Joseph runs out into the woods with Raziel, and sees the turtle. He keeps running for a while, though, since he wants to make sure that he loses the last two people that were coming after them. They could, presumably, still be chasing them, after all, once they get back up from their sudden trip.

Seusur winces and oof’s pretty hard, bending forward noticeably. Rather than simply take it, however, he reaches up, grabs the butt of the gun and thrusts it back at the pasu while staring into his eyes. The draco holds the gaze for a few seconds before realizing that there’s no more gunfire, at least from the direction of the vehicle. Realizing this means the others probably got away and anybody left in the other group is probably tending to the contraption, he focuses on more pressing matters. “My name is Seusur. I’m here because I’ve been following those two for _weeks_ trying to get at that device, but they keep slipping away. I /would/ have liked to get /them/ too and see where they found it..” The draco looks over one of the pirate’s shoulders in the direction the not-so-piratey pasu fled. Even with a large mob of pirates surrounding him, some armed, he doesn’t show fear.

Raziel doesn’t stop either, though he waves Aeon along when he sees the turtle outside the walls. Actually…he’s relieved to see the mage in one piece. “Yes, we’re alright. Still pirates. We should move!” He tries to keep his voice down - the fog should help deaden it, but if the Advocates are close enough to catch up, he doesn’t want to give them any hints. At least the woods will offer more cover…

The pirates don’t come after Raziel and Joseph. But a few second later, the drawbridge starts coming back up, closing off Noria from the outside world, and trapping Seusur inside.

Aeon turns his head and blinks, stopping. “Oh boy…” He looks over his shoulder. “You guys can stop running.”

The one who spoke to Seusur folds his arms, regarding the scaly critter. “No worries, then. You and that bike are going to get to spend plenty of time together now.” He looks to the others, “Let’s get him in the local jail.” The others nod, and a rush of arms grab the draco and start dragging him off.

Raziel slows when he hears the draw bridge raising, and looks back at the fog-enveloped walls of the city. He’s…a little in shock. That all happened so fast. “The Advocates…why did they…?” It’s blatantly obvious that they had this planned, and that their ploy to take Noria was successful - but why now?

Seusur sighs and rolls his eyes, but he does comply after the first tug. It’s definitely a little awkward to be walking practically arm-in-arm with pirates, but at least it’s not getting him killed, and hopefully he’s shown enough that he’s not a wuss. The draco’s plan is changing slowly, constantly forced to edge closer and closer to becoming officially affiliated with the group.. “Fine.”

Aeon says, “great… Now we need a biiiig army. This is not going to end well in the slightest. I barely managed to get over that wall. Did that lizard make it out, Raziel?”

Raziel shrugs to Aeon, and shakes his head. “I don’t know. Seusur is a crafty one, though, I’m sure he probably found a way.” He looks for the mouse, now that they’re out of the city. He feels bad that he lost his machine…

Joseph walks back toward the two once he realizes the drawbridge is pulling back up. The mouse is looking incredibly droopy, and shaken, trembling in his steps. “I lost it. And people died. And… Oh, God… What was that?”

Aeon says, “It would have been worse if I had not dispersed the fog to get a good look. There was a figure on the parapet… they must have assassinated the archers.”

Raziel shakes his head. “I didn’t get a good look. But yes, that may be the case.” Looking back to Joseph, the tiger states, “I truly am sorry. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my rifle…I can only imagine what it’s like to see your work end up like that.” He sighs, but the slightest hint of a smile crosses his muzzle, and he tries to cheer the mouse up a bit. “But, at least we’re alive.” He starts reloading his rifle, walking along the road. “Come on…let’s get out of here…”

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Next - Sneaking Through Meson

Advocate Insurrection (Main)