Fight the Real Enemy!
	Forum Fracas, pt. II

Teague didn't waste time standing around or discussing things. Instead she quickly got to her feet and blended in to the crowd around her, she murmured to anyone near her. "Best to get out of here. Maybe regroup later." As she headed to the door. Twirling his head in all the wonder of the current happenings, Sam decides it best that he catch on to the new fad as he jumps to his feet. Stretching out his arms like a mummy, he sways from side to side letting out low moaning tone. Smiling all the way to the door, he follows Teague closely, keeping an eye out for Silus and Rhune. As Sam is walking out within the crowd, he takes full advantage of the situation and keeps a very keen eye out for shiny or interesting looking objects (tassel, string, coins, money pouches, broaches) Anything that might be of interest he makes a grab for. The meandering sheep prove easy targets for Sam's roving eye, and he is able to snag a fat money pouch from a zombied merchant. Guiseppe regards the proceedings critically. His eyes narrow as the gnoll begins to speak, and he smirks slightly at the sight of the bolt appearing in his chest. When the crowd becomes enthralled, his back straightens and he watches with anxious interest. As the rest of the room files out, he sits stubbornly, arms crossed, slouched, peering over his glasses at the figures on the speaking platform. "Hmh," he grunts, nostrils flaring and eyes squinting in disgust and bitterness. He stays in his seat until addressed or forced to move. Sam says a silent prayer for Guiseppe's soul. Krige come closer to the Guiseppe and whispers: "Fool! If you want live then get out of here!" Then he continues his way to the exit. As the crowd starts moving again, Kenishiro stands, confused. When the small but concentrated outbreaks of violence occur, his whole body tenses. He looks around, searching for the man who hired him, but does not spot him among the moving mass of people. He starts wading towards the exit, searching for the lost merchant. After the gnoll was killed and crowd moved to the exit, Krige whispered to Urak-gor: "I knew - noone should trust humans. They always in troubles... I think we should try to get out of here. Follow me." And then he starts moving toward the exit. The Leafwalker spoke truly about leaving this place, Urak thought, his mind strangely distracted. While the Bishop may have appeared to leave, his agents cannot be far away. Getting to his feet, he nods in agreement as Matteo speaks. Matteo tries his best to look inconspicuous as he heads towards the door. He gently taps Urak on the shoulder, "Walk with me, spear-brother, and keep your mind blank of thoughts. We will have much to talk about after, but now let your mind be clear as a cloudless sky." "I cannot be your spear-brother, I can only be *like* your spear-brother," Urak interjects hastily, "I do not walk the hunter's path, and so am forbidden the spear and spear-pledge. I will guard you as best I can along the path, but I am a poor warrior," he finishes hoping that he has not misled this man into thinking that Urak was more capable than he really was. "You speak truly about mind-thoughts. This...this *filth*," he spits the word out, "can sometimes brush against the mind, like a shadow against a breeze. I will meditate, and put my secret thoughts in a hidden place." His face grave, Urak follows the human and the Leafwalker towards the door. Focusing his mind on the blank void of the spirit-fire-walk, he lets his concerns, his thoughts, even his identity sink from his mind, cueing himself to recall them when he, and his friends, are clear of this threat. Matteo, Urak at his side, continues his walk towards the door. Without looking at Urak, he responds, "These are grave and troubling times and I would welcome you as a true Spear-Brother. For, in this test it will be the sister-spears of mind and spirit that will be needed. I would trust you at my side more than any spear-brother who thinks only with his fighting arm. A very smart man once told me 'It is better to think your way around combat than to fight, for when weapons are finally drawn, one side has already lost.' It would be far too easy to be on the losing side here." Matteo slowed his walk momentarily to allow Rhune to move ahead along-side Silus. "Be wary, brother. If trouble is to happen, it will happen when that one passes through. Be prepaired to move quickly if needed." "Just put your faith in the Lord and he will watch over you," Silus replied with the same glazed expression. "Though we may walk in the shadow of evil, the Lord is my shepherd and will lead us sheep to pastures safe." Rhune just keeps a glazed look about her, though she finds keeping her thoughts just as blank almost impossible with Silus's sayings. She keeps walking straight ahead. Keeping his mind occupied with innocuous thoughts about what foods he likes and the costs of supplies, Matteo heads out the door at the tail end of the crowd, watching to be sure the Orc makes it through as well. As the tube falls to the floor, Rhune begins weaving through the crowd to grab it. Amazingly, she is not noticed by anyone paying attention. As the crowd begins heading for the exit, it is very difficult for her to catch up to it's location without attracting attention. Thus it is slow going. The others in the group, with the notable exception of Guiseppi begin heading for the exits, falling in behind the masses and attempting to look similarly enthralled, Sam doing a particularly poor job of it, looking more like a zombie than a charm victim. Kenishiro looked about, not really getting much of the meeting. So, for lack of a better option, he tried logics. Item: Meeting, nervous people Item: Dead Hyena-man, nobody helps Item: Talking man in robes Item: Fried small people with pointy ears, still nobody helps, they just smile Conclusion 1: Italians are abolutely and utterly crazy. Conclusion 2: Obviously, magic is afoot, and anybody showing resistance is killed. Showing resistance would be suicidal. Deciding that survival is the best choice for now, the large asian starts walking towards the exit. It is then that he notices the old man sitting like a rock, not wanting to move. Kenishiro pushes aside several of the freshly made mind-zombies and stands next to the old man, smiling. He motions towards the door and pulls the old man on his feet with one hand. Then he guides him towards the exit. Kenishiro reaches down and hoists the old fellow to his feet easily, as he grumbles, but cannot resist the massive hand that pulls him firmly along. Fortunately, they are far behind everyone else in the crowd, so noone sees Guiseppi's strugggles but Asif, who still waits for some response from Kenishiro. As the ensorcled citizens begin to move toward the exits, Marika looks around for Ullar. She has guessed that the old man's incantation allowed everyone nearby to retain their own minds, and is afraid that the big warrior might need a guiding hand lest he betray himself to the cultists. She also keeps an eye out for the outlanders who were sitting nearby...they must be thinking that Italian customs are truly strange, she thinks, and nearly breaks into a grin despite her fear and dismay. Ullar seems to be rather calm. When Marika and Ullar have eye-contact, Ullar slowly moves towards her. In a soft tone he whispers: "This is NOT good. This is absolutly NOT good." He sighs, looks around to ensure nobody is listening to his words but Marika and continues: "Useless killing, how disgusting! We have to get out of this place and meet somewhere else. Do you have any suggestions?" Marika raises one eyebrow slightly to acknowledge that she's head Ullar's words. She lets her eyes flick briefly around the room before resuming her benign blank stare. The tall, copper skinned outlander is trying to coax an old man into motion; other than that, everyone who fell within the protective circle of the now-vanished wizard seems to be moving toward the door, blending with the crowd. Perhaps we will make it out of here intact, she allows herself to think. When the majority of the people on the last bench head towards the door, Ullar looks around for Antonio, wondering what has happened to our host. He whispers to all close by: "Did anyone of you heard of Antonio d'Medici before? I think we'll have to contact him if we are going to start anything against the Catolik Cult." Promptly the big warrior shuts his mouth, realizing that it is probably unsafe to talk whilst the Genoese crossbowmen and the unknown person who was standing behind the Bisshop are still around. As he leads the uncharmed contingent towards the door, Silus continues to mumble the same pious mumbo-jumbo as he has been talking since he started to leave the main room: "It is time to spread the word of our Lord's love," he continues, wearing the same glazed but happy expression. "Let all in this fair city find enlightenment, as have I, that they may be reborn in the warm shadow of the One God." From time to time, he quietens down to listen and look at those who have really been charmed by the Chief Bishop. If he realizes that he is over-doing it, then he will calm down, trying to mimic the actions of those who are charmed as closely as he can. When Krige approached the door, he makes apathetic face, and tries to look like crowd. Then he calmly moves forward to the exit. There is no rush, as the crowd seems blissfully unconcerned with speed. The crowd is thinned down to single file at the doorway, and each member of the crowd passes between the massive Africans and past the purple-robed functionary. Other than the two ex-elves, only one other inhabitant appears to have retained his own will, the arrogant Spaniard. He is some distance ahead of you, and the sweat pours from his brow like an ewer of water. He is obviously feigning being part of the crowd, and doing a better job than Sam, though he is readily apparent to the rest of you. As you get closer to the door, you see that the man is almost upon it, and you can smell his fear from here. He passes the Africans without any trouble, but is not so lucky with the functionary. Hand clutching his chest, the functionary raises his other hand and the door guards cross their imposting tulwars in front of the next man in line, who stops walking but continues smiling like an idiot. The Spaniard looks about in panic, and you see that the black-robed men still linger in the clearing, and from the number of them, you would guess that several have already returned from their pursuit of the rejects. The Spaniard falls to the ground, mumbling in Spanish and weeping. You are too far away to hear the dialogue, but the functionary turns toward someone out of sight, obviously wondering what to do. After a moment, he nods his head and gestures to the Spaniard, who rises to his feet, visibly shaking. One of the black cloaked men looks on him with some disgust, disarms him of his rapier, and pulls him to the side. Teague's hopes fall when she sees the proud Spaniard plucked from the crowd by the functionary at the door. She wishes fervently that she had payed more attention to his methods at the entrance interview. Did he detect the Spaniard's obvious fear, the content of his thoughts, or simply the lack of a charm spell on him? In the latter case, there was little hope of escaping undetected... The time of truth was at hand, now, as Silus approached the door, followed closely by Rhune, Sam, and the young would-be poet. "If they run, we should all make a break together," she whispers to Ullar, without turning her head. "Sow confusion." She pauses. It would be good to speak with these people again, the only ones she knew who had witnessed the Cult's methods and survived with free minds. Well, she knew a place where at least one of them was bound to turn up sooner or later. "We'll meet later at the nearest bookseller's," she whispers to Ullar. Marika begins to quiet her mind, letting the discipline of meditation carry away all thoughts of past and future, and with them her fear and anger, leaving nothing for the door functionary to read but a single-pointed awareness of the present moment. At least, that is her intention...but the scents of blood and charred elf-flesh keep interfering with her focus. Meanwhile, Rhune has managed to locate the tube and pocket it. She falls into the crowd alongside Silus, Teague, Sam, and Krige, followed by Matteo and Urak-gor. Guiseppi remains seated stubbornly, and Kenishiro and Asif look about in confusion, wondering what the hell is going on. Once Rhune can catch up to Silus she slips in beside him. Her face goes blank and she gets a silly, bemused look to her face. She edges forward as the line heads for the door. her mind a race of what could happen and what she could do if caught. She could run, but the presence of the crossbowmen make that impossible. She could fight but there are just to many people here for her to do that. The line gets closer and closer to the door. She is two people away from the door now. Here she goes. Forcing her mind to be blank and her face to be as bemused as possible her fingers crossed mentally she steps forward.

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	Benjamin Lomax

This page was last updated on 20 January 2001