Paper Faces

Below a cloudy sky the people of the theater district move slowly across the plaza. A play has just let out only a few moments past and most seem none too eager to return to their homes. Instead the other actors, musicians, and various performers in the district draw in more than a few watchers. Like many of these people Daechir is wont to wander amid the crowd, but not to watch the acts. He watches the people as they move about, listens to their chatter with a distant air, but without actually eavesdropping.

Sarcis too had gone to the play, though she was not in the main draw of crowds, having watched from one of the balconies. The rather thin oruch slipped down stairs that emptied out into the streets on the more outskirts of the crowd. A sweep up of a hand, pulling back some of her bangs behind an ear with a slide of a smile along painted lips. She too was listening in to the conversation, but a bit more actively - while trying not to look like she was actively listening.

Azog is here for an entirely different reason. He has moral objections to the theater, which he calls 'entertaining lies', and he generally expresses contempt for the people that like them. But that's an unpopular opinion in Alexandria, so he mostly just grumbles about people that delude themselves. And he still does work for them occasionally, for instance now, he's carrying a heavy crate on one shoulder and talking with a foppish fellow outside one of the theaters that's still working on their current play and waiting on a delivery of ... whatever Azog's carrying.

The sound board operator for the recently completed play unfortunately fell ill the night before, and she needed an emergency replacement. Her brother happens to be Yelrona's landlord, to whom she owes a favor or three after a job that went bad required him to cover for her for the Guard, and he called in the favor... so Rona filled in as a sound board operator. Not a skill she's particularly skilled at, but she learns quickly, and magic can fills in for a lot of technical flaws.

She comes out from backstage into the crowd, glad _that_ is over, and slumps against a tree trunk.

Through the quiet murmur of a lazy crowd comes a sudden noise; a shout. A scream. It comes short and quick, then fades so quickly that it's almost impossible to tell what corner of the theater district it comes from. It's such a large space - and then the crowd moves. People start shoving one another away, trying to get away from /something/ over in /that/ direction. Whatever it is suggests that it's no mere thief harassing someone down an alleyway, but something... more.

Daechir hears the sound and immediately searches for the source of it, his red eyes darting around the large space, but there are quite a lot of people. People who with their surge of activity reveal to him the location of the commotion. Unlike the masses however he runs toward the danger; whatever it might be.

Much like Daed, Rona's instinct is to move towards the center of the commotion. She pauses for a moment first, though, and disappears into invisibility before moving, in a roundabout way to avoid the fleeing crowds, towards whatever is causing it.

Sarcis's eyes flick upward, a look that says, of course on my day off as she turns to look in the direction of the scream. Her head tilts to the other side, curiosity giving a glint through her eyes before her boots carry her in the direction of that alley. Instead of running, she takes it at a more leisurely pace slipping through the crowds with a twist this way and that.

Azog forgets his burden, dropping it unceremoniously at the fellow's feet. Inches from his toes, in fact, and he's now complaining about that, but he's complaining to empty space because Azog's already on the move towards the source of screaming. One thing his height provides is a view over pretty much every human, and a lot of the oruch, too, as few of them as are here in the theater district.

Being a short person in a crowd about to panic and flee is never a good thing, and it is Xasany's hair to the rescue, pulling her into the tree against which Yelrona leans. "Hey, it's been a while.", says the green-haired Gnome, as she lowers herself down beside the Elf. "I'm just hanging around. What're you up to? Any scream-worthy shenanigans?"

Those taller, or at a more advantageous perspective were the first to notice the big black tentacles that are rising out of the crowd at the mouth of an alley. They certainly draw the eye, particularly waving about a few bystanders who were not quick enough to get away. One unfortunate soul is sent flying toward a building several feet away by the tentacle holding them. The real action seems to be going on behind the spell-wrought limbs. As the crowd clears out it becomes clear that there is a woman in the alley fighting - quite well considering that she is clearly wearing clothes that are hardly meant for fighting in - off five individuals in black masks. Together they are in spite of her efforts beginning to subdue her.

GAME: Yelrona rolls knowledge/religion: (17)+7: 24
GAME: Sarcis rolls Knowledge/Religion: (18)+9: 27

Azog will charge into the limbs, pulling his sword out and wielding it two-handed for more hitting power, as catastrophic as that is to begin with. It looks like it'll be necessary to cut his way through to save the woman. That's okay with Azog. That's his thing.

Stymied for a moment Daed stops just outside the range of the dark tendrils that continue to lash out with mindless purpose. He is not stalled there for long however, uttering a few arcane words and reaching a hand toward one of the darkly-clad individuals. Unerringly a bolt of magic flings itself forth from his fingertips and at the person in question.

Yelrona 's voice pops out of thin air, not too far from Xasany, as she invisibly approaches the commotions epicenter. "Nothing worth screaming over... whatever this is, it's not me. I'm going to check it out, though... wanna join me?" A few moments later she spots the Black Tentacles and the masked individuals and frowns. "Well. _That's_ not good."

She's not entirely sure who is on what side here, or what is going on, but four-on-one doesn't sound at all fair to her, so she closes the distance towards the fighting group with the intention of assisting the woman.

The Gnome snorts and lowers herself down from the tree, and stalks closer to the mouth of the alleyway. "Well I would, but I can't see you now. I'll be right over here, though." Xasany takes up a spot close to the alley, behind a few barrels and crates for cover. "Hmm. Dressed in black. Seems to be eternally popular."

Sarcis slides a little bit more through the crowds, and recoils as she sees the tentacles lashing out from the alley. A quirk up of crafted brows and her painted lips pull off to the side again. A hand presses against another person as she slides closer but this time giving the alley a wider birth. Getting into position to look down the path, she notices a person flinging magic down into the alley and spots some of the others that seem to be curious as well.

"Hm... Black Mask?" Her eyes lock onto some of the ones dressed in black. "Well of course it's popular. Haven't you heard that black is ~always~ in fashion." One of her hands drift down to a dagger along her thigh, pulling it free of the sheath. "Anyone got any ideas on getting passed the black limbs in the way?"

GAME: Daechir rolls spellcraft: (8)+7: 15
GAME: Yelrona rolls spellcraft: (15)+9: 24
GAME: Sarcis rolls spellcraft: (12)+9: 21
GAME: Xasany rolls spellcraft: (10)+11: 21

The black tentacles continue to keep everyone at bay as the group finally manages to subdue the woman. She falls to the ground with a harsh sound and is immediately picked up by one. The others quickly draw daggers as Daechir's attack lands but seems to have no effect on its target.

"Fighting them is not going to do us much good I can tell you that much." Daechir offers in response to the question. "Getting through them however..." He trails off and shrugs. There was nothing to do but doing, so he runs forward, dodging the tendrils as best he can. Surprisingly, with a little roll that narrowly dodges an attack; he manages to make it through.

Azog grumbles as his attacks have no effect on the tentacles. Well, that's not going to stop Azog. He'll try to scale the building itself, then scoot around the corner, over the tentacles, to work his way past them.

"Stay back!", Xasany yells to those nearby. "You can't fight those, but they can pin you down. Speaking of which..." The Gnome mutters several words that seem to skitter-skatter and crawl away, and from the unknown, subdued woman spreads a mass of sticky, strong strands of web. A good area of the alleyway becomes a dense spider's web.

With the spell identified, and a few people confirming her thoughts on it. Sarcis sighs and looks around. How to get across- And then up. Oh. That's a good idea.

Moving toward the other side of the alley, Sarcis follows Azog's lead and begins climbing up the other building in an effort to avoid the spell currently trying to grapple people along the street-level ground. "Someone want to maybe go to the other side of the alley to make sure they don't run that way?"

It's clear that Xasany's spell does its work, trapping the woman in place with the ones trying to abscond with her. Until one of the individuals starts speaking their own arcane words, the sound crawling down the spine and reminding the body of that moment before something strikes. Suddenly the spell that Xasany cast vanishes, the group of black-masked people shaking themselves of the lingering sensation of webs from their bodies and throwing daggers at those coming around at the alleyway. Except Yelrona. Because she's invisible.

Meanwhile they retreat further down the alley.

Azog is not really going to be stopped by thrown daggers. Not even if he were throwing them. Whether they skitter off his heavy plate armor, or draw a trickle of blood through a gap between plates, they're not enough to stop the huge oruch, who pauses to brandish his sword and call out, "Halt, or I shall teach you a new flavor of pain!" He brandishes the sword with puissant skill and obvious deadly intent before scrambling after them.

In spite of his excellent efforts at dodging the tentacles Daechir is unable to evade the dagger incoming. He takes one right to the shoulder, the blow staggering him backwards. Daed's lips tighten around a sound of pain that does not escape him, and he stubbornly moves forward again. With one arm effectively out of commission he can not cast his spells, so he draws his rapier instead.

Yelrona suddenly appears out of the shadows on the other side of the Black Masks, firing an arrow into the ground between the legs of one of the Black Masks. "You're outnumbered, outclassed, and flanked. If you put your weapons down, you'll at least survive. Best deal you're going to get."

GAME: Yelrona rolls intimidate: (5)+10: 15
GAME: Azog rolls intimidate+4: (18)+26+4: 48

Xasany looks pleased with herself for a few moments, before looking a bit sad at her marvelous web vanishing. She doesn't take long doing that, having to duck down behind a barrel to avoid being struck by a dagger. "Careful, they not only have black clothing, they've daggers too. Not to mention that one is a wizard of sorts."

Which might be a mistake. Rona invokes the power of Tarien as the Black Mask holding the woman approaches and grabs him as he runs past, attempting to pin him to the ground.

"Uh, well, I suppose that works.", the green-haired witch says with a chuckle. "Think you can make them drop the lady before they get away, though?" That aimed at the snarly-growly Azog. Xasany sighs and moves to start chasing after the group... Her hair begins to move on its own, gaining some in volume as the Gnome gets closer to where Yelrona stands.

Azog grumbles at the fleeing kidnappers. "Even dumb animals will drop burdens if you scare them away from a kill - it's so they can flee faster," he grouses to Xasany. Well, let's see how this plan works out for them? He'll run after them, his pace lumbering but none-the-less ground eating. His strides are pretty long at his height.

GAME: Sarcis casts Tireless Pursuit. Caster Level: 6 DC: 14

Sarcis, finally clawing her way up to the top and avoiding the flying daggers mostly by being hidden behind a wall, looks down into the alleyway to see them starting to run (due to the efforts of your companions scaring the pants off them). A glance around, trying to pick out which was looked the most promising and the rather slender Oruch took off as a run, relying on her athleticism to carry her in the direction they were moving.

Well, that and a few words spoken in a rather harsh tongue that helped give her a boost to her longevity in such a chase.

Yelrona and Xasany's efforts are not in vain. The former manages to get the man to the ground while the latter grabs the woman with her hair and pulls her to relitive safety. The man screams harshly, wiggling to free his body somewhat of Yelrona. There's a dagger in his hand, but it's not aimed at her. "For Vardama!" He yells this as he thrusts the dagger toward his own body rather than hers.

Meanwhile the rest of you chase after the rest of the masked group. Wise to the game they quickly split up, forcing you to divide your forces, and even then some of them will get away. Even so you manage to run one down, following the individual into a sewer that they pull up. Here they pull out more daggers throwing them to keep those of you that kept up at bay.

Daechir lets his rapier fall as Yelrona brings the man to the ground. He moves forward just the same, sheathing the weapon and pulling free the dagger that is stuck in his shoulder. The dagger disappears into a pocket and when the man thrusts his dagger toward himself Daed throws himself at the man, trying to block the knife by any means necessary.

Azog looks dumbfounded as the fellows kill themselves. But we got the kidnapee back, so it's all good. They want to kill themselves after failing? Azog simply nods. "Their honor. Do, or die trying," he acknowledges their defeat. Were they really going to try to fight him?

The woman is safely wrapped in voluminous green hair, held out of the way of the man Yelrona has brought to the ground. Xasany makes a face as the man plunges a dagger at himself. "Is that poisoned?", she wonders, eyeing Yelrona and Daechir. "If not, let him try. Eluna will see that he fails at everything this evening, even at taking his own life."

"Probably," Rona agrees, but she inspects the weapon and the wound to confirm.

A run along those rooftops, trying to keep out of sight of the ones below - even as they split up. Sarcis tries to keep out of view as best she can, trying to give the one she's following a false sense of security so she can leap on him at a place more of her choosing. A duck down, hopeful that he won't see her and thus keep her from another dagger being flung in her direction. She's not too keen on having them thrown at her, though she does like doing the throwing.

The man screams again as Daed effectively stops him from managing to do more than scratch himself with his own dagger. It's a near thing, and he wiggles harder to try and free himself to finish what he started. "Free me at once!"

Sarcis finds at least one dagger thrown at her just the same. Then suddenly the man ducks around a corner and seems to vanish.

Xasany shakes her head. "No, I don't think we will. The city guards will probably want to have some words with you. And perhaps the Temple of Vardama will be interested in why you invoked Her name. So sit tight. Also please refrain from injuring yourself. We will simply revive you. You've failed, utterly, tonight."

Daechir huffs a few inches away from Yelrona and keeps his hand where it is so that the man can't do himself any further harm. The effort is showing in the tension of the dark elf's arm. "He really seems quite determined."

After determining as best she can whether the dagger is poisoned, Rona adds her strength to Daed's to disarm the Black Mask.

GAME: Sarcis rolls spellcraft: (1)+9: 10 (EPIC FAIL)

Azog puts sword away unused and goes back to where the man he was talking to about a crate is getting four stagehands to lug it inside. Seeing that completed, he will wander off.

She spotted the dagger, she had thought she'd been stealthier than that, but such is life. She tucked and rolled off to the side. Popping back up to her feet she caught the sight of him ducking around the corner up ahead. She hopped across the street, following his direction only to find.

He was gone.

Sarcis cursed under her breath before working her way down to the street. Some sort of magic had been cast here... but she couldn't place which. It just escaped her for now. A slip of the dagger back into the leather brace on her thigh she started back the way she had come - this time down on the street level. "Vardam it"

The combined effort of Yelrona and Daechir disarms the man who finally lays back, seemingly defeated. He's growling under his breath. "All of you will pay for defying the will of Vardama. All of you!"

"What's the going rate?", Rona asks glibly. She looks around at the woman Xasany rescued to see if she's OK and conscious. If so she asks her "So... why is the Black Mask after you?"

The green-haired Gnome will gently settle the woman down, and move to sit upon the man's legs to further immobilize him. "You keep speaking Her name, but I'll bet she will be angry with you. Shall we ask Her?"

"You can't ask her anything you heathen fool!" The man curses at Xasany. "The Mask is the prophet who speaks for Vardama!" He wiggles a little but seems unable to move.

Thankfully the woman seems alive if unconscious. She sports a nasty bump on the head as a reason for unconsciousness, and several bruises from her fight besides.

Daechir huffs out a mocking noise and shakes his head at the man, sitting on part of the man's chest and planting a foot on the hand with the dagger. "I do not know much about religion, but that sounds suspect to me." He looks at Xasany. "It sounds as though you know more. Do you know anything about this prophet of his?"

Xasany simply shrugs in reply to Daechir's question. "Can't say that I know much. But as you said, it sounds suspect. I doubt very much that this Black Mask speaks for anyone but himself. Vardama would likely be highly displeased with his activities. I mean, her Temple's not the sort to go kidnapping people, last I checked anyways. There's a lot more going on here than we think, likely. This sod will spill his guts eventually."

Yelrona sighs, and offers up a brief prayer to Tarien before pinning the Black Mask with her gaze. "Why were you attacking this woman?" she asks mildly.

Yelrona tilts her head to one side. "Where is the Mask?"

The man frowns at Yelrona. "Why would I tell you anything?" Her words about the mask make him laugh however. "Ha! You'll never find him." His sharp glare seems to intensify as if he's thinking not-very-nice things.

Daechir looks at Yelrona. "Can you keep him pinned? One of us should go for the guard."

"I'll go! And I'll take the lady too." Xasany bounces up, her hair coming alive once more. It wraps itself around the woman, and lifts it from the ground, and the Gnome heads off.

"No doubt you're right," Rona agrees. "He's undoubtedly somewhere very secure. On the other hand... _you_ talked to him, right? So he can't be _that_ secure. You came here from wherever that is. Are you sure you weren't followed? Weren't watched from around a corner, from a cafe, from a bar, from a church, from a bakery?" She continues in this vein, hoping to get him thinking about landmarks he saw between there and here.

Once the interrogations and the Guard and everything are taken care of, Rona invites Daechir for a cup of tea.

-End-