NM Part 16

The group is still gathered at the Wark and Kupo Inn, the sun begining to rise once again and the horrors out in the streets returning to their holes. It has been revealed that perhaps the Toriss Bandit wasn't the end of the Justice Unfound chapter. Bob floats about the room aimlessly. "Well according to what we already know there are seven Minions, but only 5 chapters to the book. So it was stand to reason that two of the Specters wouldn't be tied to any particular story."

Remi has been up, and quietly sits on the floor, currently nibbling a bit of left-over jerky as his sole breakfast. Ears raising towards Bob then, he peers at the floating skull a moment, seeming to think a tilting his head a bit, before he asks, "So if not tied to any story, does that mean they could be anywhere?" The Bard frowning a bit as he adds, "... Not really looking forward to even more of a scavenger hunt."

"It means that the killing of them brings us no closer to leaving this cursed place," Alba mutters, slowly drawing a rough block of stone over the edge of the mythril dagger she'd claimed as hers. "For all that it is a satisfying thing. Which means that the chapter that speaks of Justice tells a different tale than the lawman's enemy would speak."

Marduke is drumming his fingers along a table thinking and shakes his head towards Bob, "Well the kidnapped boy had two spirits, the alchemist, and the blacksmith. Everything seems linked in some fashion someway. As for this one, Justice unfound. Putting the jar in the bowl had a effect, the question is what else is there. I recall there being a posting about the last of the brothers and their story at the sheriffs off I think. We may want to start by rereading that." Flipping through the book otherwise re-reading all that is currently written in there. "There is that as well, it may be a part that isn't linked to any of these, or a missing step. I still say we start with the sheriffs office."

Ka'len remains quiet, thoughtful even. He looks at Remi and then at Alba before turning his eyes on to Marduke when the man speaks. He rubs the back of his neck before sighing and nodding to Marduke, "might be a good idea to reread it indeed, maybe even retrace our steps as much as I really don't want to do that.. but we obviously can't miss a step."

Sebastion had managed to get proper sleep in this time, and gets up with a loud yawn as people start chattering with each other. He stares blearily around the room, and stumbles off to acquire one of the pieces of food to gnaw at it, while he observes the others and listens to their theories and comments. "The sheriff's office, then," he agrees, sounding groggy. "He have to be making some progress, for the town to have changed like it has." He yawns again and reaches up to rub at his eyes.

Bob continues to drift about "Well according to my.. remembering. "We have The Beast, The Crone, The Monster, The Glutton, The Poisoner, The Siren and the Traitor.. four of them are dead. There are three chapters left to finish. Three Chapters, Three Spectres. We'll likely find them by finishing the stories."

The streets are quiet once again and the trip to the Sheriff's office is uneventful, though the twisted leering structures are enough to keep anyone on edge. The office is untouched, still the way it was during your last visit, the desk stacked with yellowed paperwork. That faint scent of Cigar smoke still lingering in the air.

Remi shrugs a bit and then hops up onto his feet, stretching out a moment before he remarks, "Alright, lawman's place it is." Soon following the others out of the inn and staying quiet as he traverses the town, eyes sweeping across every building they pass, fingers randomly flexing as he keeps his hands free and ready to hurl fireballs at any scary thing that might show himself. And then finding himself looking at the sherrif's office as they finally reach it, his ears splaying before he speaks up, "... Well, let's tear the place apart."

"Carefully," Alba says, nudging the papers aside to see if any are legible enough to provide clues. "We walk in the house of an ally. Best not to make of him our enemy, as if we lack for such things already."

Marduke shakes his head as he walks along thinking to himself, then snaps his fingers, "Of course, I don't recall the one we took down ever being captured right? Prisoner, we need to find the prisoner, search the records for any indications of anybody escaped. that is the one we seek!" Moving to start going through the papers carefully to try to find anything, "Still, something keeps nagging at me, 5, and 7, feels like there should be three of something in there to. All the primes." Smirking but continues to search.

Sebastion has that new sword ready during their trip to the sheriff's office. He doesn't seem immediately worried on the way, since the going trend seems to be that the shades can't get out of their houses until a certain time, but it doesn't stop him from being wary, staying in the middle of the path for the most part. Once in the office itself, he starts ambling about, looking for something odd, generally staying out of the way of the more energetic members of the party, especially as they poke through the paperwork. He flashes an amused look at Marduke's mention of math-related ideas.

The cells at the back of the office are empty, no sign of them being opened. Though a glance through a window gives a view of the back lot and the upturned earth and destroyed Boot Hill graveyard. The Sherrif's desk is covered in papers but what would be the most recent reports lay on the top of the pile. The Sherrif was to have attended the trial at the town hall of a local tavern worker accused of murdering a barmaid. There was a report of a theft at the Armory, though what was stolen isn't noted. Lastly there are several pages that by their wording are being disregarded as 'nuisance' reports from the local theatre about disagreements with the local Curio shop about price gouging and extortion against the owner from several of his own actors. The Sherrif apparently was giving those a low priority given what was going on in the town at the time.

Remi glances at Alba as he searches around, and smiles a bit, commenting to her, "I meant we should do a thorough search... Wetlander saying, I guess." Before he shruggles a bit and continues helping the others look for clues. Soon finding himself studying a few of those reports, his brow going up a bit as he finds some possible clues, "... Seems there was a guy being accused of murder." He says, as he looks at the others next.

Alba snorts her amusement at Remi's explanation, bobbing her ears once as she separates the most recent papers. "And a thief took a thing from their weapons storage," she says. "This merchant, though... We have known the Alchemist was among the corrupt. Could it not be that he was not the only one? Who is to say how he responded to the claims made against him..."

Marduke goes through the reports carefully, taking time to even read over the nuisance reports with a thoughtful hmm. "We have to assume very little to nothing around here is coincidence." Pointing to the report on the murder, "I suggest the town hall next. We have not been there yet anyways. The rest we will have to keep in mind, they may lead to something. The Armory and the theater both make me think." Glancing around to the rest.

Ka'len looks out the back and frowns to himself while he murmurs, "it looks like.. the graves have been overturned. That..." He shudders a little bit before looking towards Remi and Alba, "price gouging happens, doesn't seem as important to me either. Perhaps we should go and see if we can find out about the accused murderer and his victim?" He nods to Marduke then before starting back towards the door.

Sebastion furrows his brow as Ka'Len mentions the graves, and walks over to look out at the grave sites. His brow furrows, and he gives a prolonged stare, as if trying to determine /how/ new it was that the graveyard was demolished. It has him unsettled, by the looks of things. "'Justice Unfound,' perhaps there is something more to the price gouging, and by dismissing it, the real problem was missed," he suggests, without looking away. "But it could be anything from that pile, if the sheriff didn't have time to deal with it. Still... It makes the most sense to me."

Remi hmms some as he listens to the others and their opinions on the reports they're reading... And soon enough, both ears as well as his brow go up a bit as the theater and stuff is mentioned, the Bard looking thoughtful for a few moments after, before he suddenly raises a finger and speaks up, "Actually, I remember there being packages with the theater's name on them at the curio shop when we were last in there, so we could check those out too, maybe."

Alba blinks, an eyebrow rising. She turns to look over her shoulder at Sebastion, one ear falling forward. "....Good thinking, warrior. Perhaps this is the trail we would be wisest to follow." Gathering up the incident, Alba carefully rolls them up, tying the bundle off with a rawhide thong. "Best that these travel with us; too much time would be wasted, returning here after each search."

Marduke shakes his head as he moves over to the window to look at the upturned grave. He hmms thoughtfully, "We will have to follow up every lead and see what we find and don't find regardless." Glancing back to Alba and Sebastion. "Also as Remi pointed out, there were packages to the theater. Every aspects of those reports is going to be linked to something. We still have three stories to follow." Tapping the book at his side, "Really it doesn't matter which area we go first, town hall, theater, or armory, I suspect each has a part to place, and pieces to find. I vote for the town hall."

Ka'len hesitates and looks back at Sebastion then his eyes turn on towards Remi as he supplies that bit of information, then to Alba. He seems to consider for a few moments before he looks at Marduke, "let's hold off on the town hall for now. Perhaps the theatre will be something as simple as seeing that the packages are delivered, perhaps it is more, but unlike the town hall it is a clear thing to take something from point a to point b rather than to grope around and hope we stumble on what we are doing."

Sebastion nods in slow thought with the others. His eyes squint outside, a frown showing on his face. He turns away, deciding to leave that for later musing, and shrugs at the others with a clink-clank of his armor. "You all already know where my interests fall on this," he indicates, with a vague motion of his hand. He walks over to the exit, and leans against the wall, waiting for the others to leave, giving a suspicious glance around the room.

Remi hmmms in thought as everyone puts in their 2 Gil about what place to visit first, and then after a brief shrug, he decides to give his opinion as well, "The town hall sounds more important, but we'd have to search around for clues and stuff. At the shop we can just look at the packages and maybe find out what's going on with them right away... So it's a toss up, really. I'm fine either way."

Alba bobs her head. "To this I agree," she says, slipping the bundle of papers into her pouch and stepping away. "Let us see to this merchant, then, and learn whether he was villain or victim in this tale."

Marduke shrugs his shoulders, now with a amused smile. "Oh I suspect we will find this to be nothing expected. I am almost to the point of putting money down the theater will be a work unfinished, and we will end up facing the siren. Little to nothing directly related to the justice one." Shaking his head and moving to follow along, "To the curio shop then." his expression going grim again as he turns to being alert for the walk.

Ka'len tilts his head towards Marduke and he smiles faintly, lips curling a little bit. "Perhaps your right." He dips his head a little bit then starts out into the road, eyeing the twisted buildings they pass while making their way back towards the pawn shop. Sebastion, now silent and waiting on the group, raises his brows and looks off to each of them individually in a sweeping gaze. He looks to the door, and draws that new sword from its scabbard. He's the last one to leave the building, once more.

As the group perpares to leave the door slams shut on it's own. The shutters at each window doing the same giving only the single ever-burning oil lamp as a source of light. A crimson glow bathes the room as the glass domes containing the heads of the 5 Toriss brothers shatter, the heads flying around the room trailing crimson lightning behind them, their features twisted and painted into that of the Clown that's been stalking you through the town. "YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE AND FEED OUR LORD! DIE AND JOIN THE RANKS OF THE DAMNED AND THE MAD! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!" The clown-heads each targeting one of the group and rocketing towards you, jaws agape and dripping bile.

Remi was about to reach out to open that door when it slams shut right infront of his face instead, the Bard blinking and briefly trying to pull it open again, before his attention is diverted to that red glow and the sound of shattering glass... Turning around just in time to see a twisted, screaming severed head coming straight for him, and the Bard's eyes going as wide as they will likely ever go. The shock and terror of the situation briefly freezing him up, making it look like he's gonna be an easy target for the spectre coming at him... Until his hand suddenly snaps up instead, palm outwards, and the room is lit up by the giant fireball conjured up right in the severed head's path.

Alba whips around as the glass jars shatter, hands flicking down to the handles of her knives as her ears slam back on her head. "CLOWNS!" she shrieks, whipping forth blades that flicker with a dim white fire, launching herself at the head that arrows towards her.

Marduke just lets out a long drawn out sigh before turning around to look at the latest commotion. A tired and very annoyed look ins his eyes he glances to the one coming at him and raises his hand as he chants a spell, "Freeze you little piece of.." Cutting himself off as he offers, "Blizzard!"

Between Remi's freakout fireball and Alba's screach Ka'len spins around and suddenly pulls his blade from it's sheath, "fuuuuuu...." He swings wildly at the oncoming clown head almost like a kid swinging a bat at a baseball. There's little skill involved, just a wild slash.

Sebastion's immediate reaction? He turns with the sword raised, and tries to slice one of the heads as it approaches him with a vicious two-handed swing, taking advantage of his strength to make the blade move quickly. Probably not the most graceful of motions, but if it hits, it doesn't need to be graceful. His eyes are wide and his mouth is pulled into a frown that shows his surprise and blatant unhappiness with the interruption. "I /hate clowns/!" Also because of clowns.

The talking heads are fairly easily dispatched, Remi's fireball igniting one and sending it spiraling into a wall to burst into a cloud of ash. Alba's blades each find a home in the eyes of hers spliting it into three sections that crumble to dust as they hit the floor. Marduke is forced to dodge a large frozen clown-skull as it tumbles past him to shatter on the floor. Ka'len and Sebastion finish off the last two at the same time with identical sword strikes that split the skulls in two. The door and shutters creek open once again letting light into the room. The office now the same as it ever was.

Remi stands with his palm out, breathing hard, and still looking wide-eyed... It taking a few moments in fact for his gaze to tear away from the spot where the skull he set on fire crashed, to look at the others instead... The Bard briefly swallowing then, before he speaks up, a touch of lingering fear mixing with a slight tone of annoyance, "... We need to kill that guy."

Alba rises from her crouch, scattering the pieces of the skull she'd slain with a toe, panting for breath. At Remi's suggestion, she grunts, stalking toward the frozen ball of cackling evil. "Agreed," she says, driving the metal-capped wooden spike of her heel into the ice, and the skull's eye socket. "Now. We go."

Marduke just shakes his head after he side steps and sighs, "Lets get going, before something else pops out at us." Moving to start towards the shop, "This place is wearing on us all I think, and still long to go." Glancing back as the skull is crushed even further and shakes his head again.

Ka'len closes his eyes and takes a few breaths before he mutters and sheaths the blade. He starts to kick one half then stops and shakes his head a little bit as he follows the group out of the building, "I think we need to stab him. Alot.. repeatedly.. in a variety of directions and deepnesses... That's not a word, but it should be."

Sebastion lets out a sigh as the skulls are summarily defeated, his brows raised. "Well. That was a nice change of pace from the usual attacks," he mentions, sounding entertained. "Now that we've been assailed by clowns..." He looks off at Ka'Len, and blinks once, quietly correcting, "It's 'depths,'" with a smile.

The trip to the Curio shop is thankfully clown-free, though walking from one side of town to the other again is eating away at the ever-shortening time of the daylight. The shop is as it was left, 4 large wrapped packages on the shelves at the back marked for the Valley Theater.

Remi tries to hurry across town, glancing up at the darkening sky every so often. And he wastes no time once he gets inside that curio shop, right away heading for the spot he remembers those packages being at, pointing at one of them as he waits for the others to join him.

Alba slips into the curio shop, taking up position at one side of the door and leaning out to stare at the sky. "...Perhaps we should take these parcels to the Inn," she murmurs, "and deliver them come the morrow. I do not enjoy to see how thin the sunlight runs."

Marduke nods in agreement to Alba, 'Lets grab and go. We don't have time to dally. This city is huge, very huge. I could walk across Emberstand a hundred time and not go through daylight like this place does." Shaking his head as he goes over to grab a package

Ka'len glances at Sebastion and mutters out the corner of his mouth, "deepnesses... it works.." He smirks a little bit more then shakes his head before it fades and he looks around as they traverse to the curio shop. He takes one of the packages and then considers, nodding to Alba before peering at the sky, "I hate to say it, but yea, I'm going to agree with Alba. I feel like I'm not sleeping nearly as much as there is darkness, but frankly I don't want to get stuck out in this."

Sebastion chuckles and shakes his head at Ka'len. He follows along at a matching pace with the rest of the group, and when they get to the shop, he immediately walks over to pick up one of them, sheathing his weapon to do so.

As the group moves to collect the packages there's a crash as one of the shelves at the front of the shop falls over spilling various goods all over the floor. A clattering sound like wood striking wood seems to move between some of the shelves of the shop, and is heard again up in the darkened rafters.

Remi watches as the three packages are picked up, and then starts moving back out with the others, agreeing with them about heading back to the inn. Only to pause however as that shelf falls down, his hand starting to go up... And his ears swiveling towards the clattering next, his eyes starting to try and follow the sound, "... We got company again."

Alba darts forward as the shelves near her fall over, snatching up the last package and snarling to herself. "...Setting the town afire *swiftly* seems the most logical means of escape..." Her free hand dips for a knife, ears and eyes oriented on the rafters, to follow the clattering sound and perhaps anticipate its moves.

Marduke pauses as he picks up the package, hearing the sounds behind him. Sighing he sets it back down and turns around getting into a defensive posture and shaking his head, "Really, I mean really. What is it this time." Frowning as he holds up his hand starting to chant a spell, getting on the ready.

Ka'len freezes and then pulls the package in close with one arm while the other pulls out his blade. He looks down then up before frowning and considering, "think if we made a run for it we'd be able to leave it behind?" He tilts his head towards Alba then before he lets out a snort and starts edging his way to the front of the store while watching the ceiling, "Remi might be able to manage it.."

Sebastion sets the package down, carefully, and pulls his weapon out, ready for trouble. His brow furrows. "If it's not one thing," he mutters to himself, impatiently, looking at the mess the unseen force had made during it's little ruckus. "Did anyone see what it was?" he inquires, confused by the lack of an immediate red glow.

The clattering comes again, this time from two areas at once. Whatever this new problem is, there's more than one of it. A pile of debris from the fallen shelf stirs, something moving beneath it.

Remi tries to keep to the middle of the store as stuff continues to clatter and move, and more than one by now at that, actually forcing the Bard to start aiming both hands at each, palms outward, to send out a fireball if needed. Frowning as he does so.

"*Swiftly,*" Alba repeats, snarling as she edges toward the shop door. "Even if it ends up that we are being stalked by the Moogles."

Marduke picks back up the package he had and nods turning to start for the door, "Indeed, lets get going." Ready to start moving fast if he needs to and glancing to the others, "Alba is right, we need to get moving, fast."

Ka'len considers the time for a moment and then swiftly he nods in responce while continuing to try and move towards the door without running into whatever is stirring that pile or along the ceiling. His sword remains out while he holds onto package tightly.

Sebastion puts the sword right back in its scabbard, picks the package up, points one last glance to the moving pile of stuff, and turns to leave with the rest of the group at a reasonably hurried pace. "Right, no time to be dealing with foolishness," he murmurs.

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