Hide in the shadows, or bask in uncertainty.

[visualspice]

"Hey, idiot!" Mae'leena called after him. "What the hell do you think you're doing? That whole place looks about ready to fall beneath the fire!" And as.much as it.was not her concern, she couldnt help but voice her opinion as she grabbed the man by the shirt. "You tryin' to get yourself killed?" And no sooner had she spoke did a large roaring wave of fire explode behind them, and the building suddenly collapsed, trapping the Gambler within.

"Mae'leena swore through her teeth before giving an angry shake to Temujin's sleeve.
"See? What did I tell ya? You could have been  buried alive, or squashed or somethin'!" Really, was he an idiot? Maybe there was more reasons behind the bucket that had been on his head. She frowned sourly at this whole ordeal.

[Ahnnie]

Before Temujin could even get past the doors, however, the pregnant woman from earlier yelled at him and grabbed him by his tunic. Something about the place ready to fall from the fire...but Temujin could hardly have heard her. He could only think with a sense of urgency that the Gambler was still inside, as well as that poor dog, and he needed to do all he could to help before the villagers could come to help. He was going to jerk himself out of Mae'leena's grip...But then a wave of fire swept over the laundry house and the building collapsed in on itself!

"No!" Temujin yelled. His voice was equal parts horror, frustration, and guilt.

"See? What did I tell ya? You could have been buried alive, or squashed or somethin'!" She angrily shook his sleeve, but he could've cared less.

He rushed forward as much as the fire could allow him. "Heeyyy! Trickster! Are you there? Did you get the dog?" He was on the verge of panicking. "Answer me! Trickster! Hell--I didn't even know your name!"

[IcarusDescension]

((OOC: Wohoo! Post up at last, I'll be back in action now for a while, thanks for your patience.))

As the fires roared Liri stared in shock. She had seen the Gambler turn and run back into the building, saving others as he had saved her. Part of her had even wanted to go in after him, but something had stopped her. Somehow it wasn't like the tales and stories she had been obsessed with as a child. It was easy to talk about running into a burning building but actually doing so in face of the very real knowledge that you could die was quite another. The feeling came from deep inside her, instinctual, freezing her limbs.

The only time I've done anything remotely brave yet is to save myself, she thought bitterly as shame burned inside her hotter than the roaring fire before her.

Absently she noticed a crowd was gathering at the scene. A small flock of swooning women were still cheering the hero of their expensive laundry, while others were simply watching the scene play out with obvious fascination.

Two stood apart from the rest, not only in their proximity to the building but in appearance and bearing. One was a tall, lithe woman with distinctive gray-blue skin and flowing blue hair. Or was that the early dawn light playing tricks on her? No, she was sure, the woman had bluish hair. While she could see little of the other person beneath a long concealing cloak the figure made her uncomfortable. She wasn't sure why. For some reason she was glad the person's gaze was focused in the opposite direction.

Another woman she didn't recognize stood holding the arm of their bucket-wearing pursuer, the two seemed to be arguing about something and the man looked like he was ready to charge back into the building also.

Of the thugs she could see only the hawk-nosed man, his two suits had apparently fled already, and even as she watched he was moving away as discreetly as he could manage, apparently unwilling to draw public attention to himself. At one point he turned his head and their eyes met. His were filled with malice. 'This isn't over,' his look clearly stated, and then he turned away.

Then, with a resounding crash, the laundry collapsed in upon itself – the wood groaning its last death cries.

Despite the fire she felt cold, miserable. He saved my life and I never got the chance to thank him.

Somewhere an own hooted, a sound barely audible over the sound of the burning remains of the building.

*     *     *     *     *

The hooded stranger stared at Obsidian for a moment, his eyes narrowed. While to any other he might be a walking shadow beneath his heavy cloak, to her eyes a weathered, light-skinned face would be visible from beneath its folds. He had an athletic build and the hard eyes of one accustomed to harsh environments. A layer of stubble gave his face an unclean look it probably deserved.

"I didn't expect to see one of the fair folk here," the man said in a voice which was not hostile but fell short of friendly. "I don't believe in coincidences. You're here because you seek the object -of this I'm sure. Tell me. What are your intentions?" He seemed unconcerned as the building collapsed beside them, never breaking eye contact.

[Ethereal-Star]

As the building collapsed behind the two, Obsidian noticed this but her attention was mainly centered on the man before her. She carefully and quickly put her hood back up over her head to conceal herself once more, and gave the man with the weathered face an even look. He had an aura of menace and it made the moon elf slightly uncomfortable to be in his presence for long.

"I am more concerned with what your intentions are, sir." she stated calmly, gaze not wavering from his cold eyes. "I am merely here to check on what I am able, nothing more." Adjusting her cloak some more, she added, "Now that I have answered your question, would you care to answer mine? Why do you seek this relic you speak of?"

As the smoldering remains of the building burned behind her, Obsidian closed her eyes briefly, wondering if there were any who were still trapped inside, and saddened about their fate if there were. For they most likely could not have survived that. But there was little more Obsidian could do at this point. She turned her attention back to the imposing figure before her.

[visualspice]

If he needed a better reason to prove he had luck magic, it was probably then. For after the building had fallen and the flames engulfed every inch of it, a section near the rear began to shift, and then the charred debris, with idle flames, shook off of what appeared to be a table like a wet dog. Moment's later, a figure coated nearly completely in soot, rose up from the smoke, coughing out dust and other debris he had swallowed before taking a wobbly step forward.

Fascination kept the on lookers' eyes glued to the man, and as he managed to stumble his way out of the outskirts of the laundry house's debris, one of the women's eyes lit up as she shrieked.

"Oscar, Oscar! He's saved my Oscar!"

And a squirming little terrier, about as bad off looking as the man holding him, gave a whimpering whine and weak wag of it's tail. And as the woman rushed over to the pair, The 'trickster' gladly handed over the pup. And though he stood there, appearing heroic (and albeit very tired), he heard out the woman's thank yous before she hugged the dog, kissing it frantically while getting her own body and face covered in soot.

"I'm just happy to be of service. Though if you really want to thank me, let everyone know THe Gambler is here for the good of the people- gambling his life to help with yours.... or something." He hadn't quite come up with a heroic line or anything and the woman gave him a questioning look but smiled and hugged her dog tight, askign if he'd be okay.

After coughing out more smoke from his lungs, he gave the woman a lopsided grin.
"I think I'll survive." And she thanked him again before dashing off to where the other women were cooing and swooning over what had just happened. And as he observed that show, his smile grew a little wider before he felt the world spin around him as he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.




And Mae'leena, who was still next to bucket head, snarled a bit as she looked at the spectacle.
"Show off," she growled. "See?" she siad, giving Temujin's arm a shake. "He survived probably because he's some sorta lucky bastard. If you would have gone in there, I'm sure the building would have smashed you flat!"

[IcarusDescension]

Liri continued to watch the two strangers for a few more moments. The woman with the odd appearance put her hood up and the two of them might have just been any two strangers passing through for all their appearances gave away. Too far distant to hear their conversation, she found her attention drifting once again.

It immediately latched on to the almost unbelievable sight of a walking, human-shaped cloud of ash crawling its way free of the collapsing building. Her jaw dropped while the old lady jabbered and cooed over her beloved dog -how had he survived that? Then the man collapsed after a (somewhat unpolished) speech and she realized she didn't care. He was alive!

Quickly she ran over to him, throwing a glare in the general direction of the swooning women as she did so. They stood at the sidelines, gasping and talking amongst themselves as if watching a fascinating play but did nothing to help. "Why don't you do something useful and go find a healer!" she shouted at them, not watching to see if they obeyed.

Instead she turned her attention to the unconscious man covered in soot. "Please don't die," she pleaded under her breath as she turned him over. To her relief he had not, although his breathing seemed shallow to her. Desperately she pulled at her memory. There had been a time when she had lived with an old farmer who had been kind to her and others. Now and then he would take in passing strangers who needed shelter and offer them what assistance he could. While not a remarkable healer he was familiar with some basics and helped where he could help. She had not been the most attentive of students as he had tried to impart his knowledge. Now she kicked herself for it.

With effort, one piece at a time, the knowledge dredged its way up from the recesses of her mind. Treat the burns with cool damp cloth... By luck or good fortune a bucket of water still lay nearby, probably filled with the intention of fighting the fire and then never used. She ran to it, tearing the sleeves of her tunic into rags as she did so and dipping them into the water.

But keep his body temperature up, he may be in shock...Immediately after applying the rags to the worst of his burns she flung off her borrowed cloak and draped it over him. She put a hand over his forehead, frowning. Wake up, she implored silently.

*     *     *     *     *

The cloaked stranger did not immediately reply to the elf's query, instead his eyes narrowed still further. After a time he seemed to decide something, and his expression vanished. The man's steel-colored eyes softened, crinkling at the corners, and his thin lips curved up at their edges in what sufficed for a smile. His hands moved to pull his hood back from his face, revealing unruly shoulder length hair that seemed to be turning gray but still had plenty of brown in it.

"Right then. Beg your pardon miss, but we don't see many of your kind this way and perhaps I've grown a bit suspicious in my travels. I've been tracking a young lad for some time now, seems he took something that wasn't his that had... sentimental value to a very well-off acquaintance of mine. I tracked him to this little berg here but seems someone else caught up to him first, and all that was left was a pile of ashes. I've been observing the roads in and out of town, generally keeping an eye out -you understand. Seen anything suspicious since you came into town? -Other than the odd building burning down that is." He nodded towards the pile of smoldering wood that had once been the laundry. "Bit of a shame that – I think it was the newest building out of all of 'em. All the others deserve to burn down."

[Ahnnie]

Temujin was absolutely relieved when he saw the Gambler emerge from the collapsed building. It was unbelievable, making him think he was hallucinating at first; but then everyone else started acknowledging his heroic actions, and Temujin then knew he was not hallucinating if the people around them could see it too. Mae'leena's nasty comment went unheard by him, and even if it was, he could not have cared less. However, the sound of her voice registered to him, and he quickly turned around and gave her a big hug (not too tight, though, for fear of the baby) out of the sheer joy he felt just then.

"Thank Tengri!" he exclaimed to her just then, then released her to rush over to Liri and the Gambler as the brave hero of smoke and fire fainted under the exertions of his rescue. Temu was better disposed toward them now, he supposed, because of what the Gambler did and what happened to him afterwards. Temujin always respected a man who stood up to the dangers around him, no matter how fatal. He was also quite aware that the Gambler needed medical attention at this moment. He quickly knelt beside Liri and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

His obedient horse, trained in the nomad ways to fear little and stay close by its master, walked steadily over to Temujin with a very audible clip-clop of its hooves and nosed him in the shoulder when it came close. Temujin turned around to regard it with a pat on its nose and then unhooked his waterskin from the saddle.  He opened the Gambler's mouth a bit with a gentle but firm hand and sent a little trickle of fresh water down, just a tiny bit, see if he could get the Gambler back into consciousness. The townspeople by this time were finally mustering efforts to put out the fire.

[Ethereal-Star]

After some moments of silence and a face-off between the two, Obsidian listened to his words, gauging the truthfulness behind them. She doubted that he was telling her the whole story, and his description of the item he sought (which she suspected was the amulet) being of 'sentimental' value to an acquaintance of his didn't seem to completely add up to the real truth. Especially if it was the same object. The man also elicited warning signs in her mind due to a sense of danger she felt from him, red flags that told her he could not be trusted. There was more to this than he was letting on. Especially with his initial accusation from before. Something of 'sentimental value' didn't warrant such hostility.

Obsidian chose her next words carefully, being careful not to reveal anything about the amulet or why she was here. The guild trusted her with this assignment and she was going to make certain she delivered her promise. His words about the thief being nothing but a pile of ashes now also concerned her. Something like that further raised the red flags in her mind and she was certain whatever had happened to him had been of a magical occurrence. How she knew this, she couldn't rightly say, her intuition told her such and that was good enough for her.

"Who was this man and what did he steal?"

[IcarusDescension]

Liri looked up suddenly as a well muscled pair of arms holding a water skin started dribbling water into the unconscious man's mouth. Water, what's wrong with me? Why didn't that occur to me? Then it registered he had been saying something to her.

"Oh... you're already helping-" her sentence was left hanging as she looked up and realized who it was. She fought the instinct to lurch back, her eyes becoming round with tension. Then she relaxed a little as she realized he didn't seem angry any more, in fact she was struck by his obvious compassion. Perhaps she had misjudged him. "Thank you," she said honestly.

Behind them the battle with the fire continued and even as they talked another corner of the building collapsed outward, throwing a cloud of small debris and cinders in their direction. The tiny embers burned her skin where they landed. She hissed and sputtered a cough. "We should move him, he's breathed in enough ashes for one day." She looked around. "There's a building over there with a covered porch?" she suggested, moving to grab his legs.

*     *     *     *     *

The stranger made a casually dismissive gesture. "Oh that trinket? Well I'll level with you miss it's nothing to get excited over, but as it happens it's quite old and worth a good bit of money you see. You know how rich folk get over their heirlooms... Well anyway so these old folks have had it for as long as they can remember, passed down to them from their folks, just sittin' around in a trunk somewhere apparently. Then a young lad comes along and steals it. Could have stole the whole homestead if he'd had a mind to, but he just takes the poor folks' family treasure. Broke my heart to hear the story, so naturally I had to take the job of gettin' it back for 'em.

He leaned in then and dropped his voice slightly, as if imparting a secret he didn't want the crowd to overhear. "Now here's where it gets interestin'. The poor ol' folks get so mad they up and put a bounty on the boy's head - at least into the ear of a few of the right people- with his description and a few pertinent details - they'd spotted 'im makin' 'is escape ya' see. So now the kid's got a whole slew of dangerous types chasin' 'im.

"Don't know if anybody ever rightly figured out his identity -not that it matters now. Somebody turned him to ashes like I said. The thing is word on the street is the heirloom's still wandering around somewhere so whoever's turnin' people to ashes is likely to try it again before they're done. -At least that's my thinkin'. All I can tell you for sure is I wouldn't want to be the one holdin' on to it right now. Why I sure wish somebody would just come forward and let me bring it back to the ol' folks and end all this craziness. You let me know if you hear somethin'..."

With that the man nodded his head politely and turned as if to move away.

[Ethereal-Star]

Obsidian watched him go with growing unease. His comment about how the other buildings deserved to burn down unsettled her as well as his general demeanor. She supposed she would need to keep an eye on his whereabouts, but do so discreetly. He knew something, that much was certain.

As the man walked off, Obsidian waited a bit, watching to see where he went. Then she followed him, but at a distance, keeping to the shadows as much as she could.

[visualspice]

Mae'leena couldn't believe her eyes. These people were crazy! But she found herself cringing as she observed them, and muttered several curses beneath her breath before calling over, "Don't take him over there! The head guard lives there!"
Really, did they all want to go to jail?

Looking around for a place to offer as a solution, she recalled the stables and turned back around.
"Over here!" she hissed over the smoke and debris. "Bring him to the stables! You can lay 'im down in the hay until we figure out what to do with 'im!"
Surely no one would mess with them there, right? Either way,s he was pretty much useless in her state, and was also feelign she was breathing in too much smoke herself that she began to feel ill.

[IcarusDescension]

Liri nodded at the pregnant woman's shouted advice, gratefully letting the poor man's body fall back to the ground, unfortunately a bit faster than she had intended. He landed with an indignant thud. Oops... I'll have to apologize for a few bruises when he wakes up... Feeling foolish she looked towards the stables where the woman was gesturing. Not for the first time, she wondered why that thought hadn't occurred to her.

Exhaling a breath she once more hefted her half of the man's body off the ground with a grunt. She might appear to all the world as a boy, but life had a habit of reminding her that in reality her body was a small-framed young woman's. Move the body I said... I just had to suggest this...She grunted again as they trudged towards the stables.

*     *     *     *     *

Osgald moved in an irregular pattern among the small collection of buildings the village offered, trying to look casual and periodically glancing behind him. The elf woman didn't initially appear to follow, but the third time he looked back he no longer saw her. Then he rounded a corner and was out of sight.

He kept moving towards the agreed-upon rendezvous, stopping half way there upon seeing a couple of youngsters hanging around behind the apothecary. Perfect. He ignored their surprised looks and furtive movements as he approached. He didn't care what childish mischief they were up to. "You-" He gestured towards the older of the two. "You want to earn some coin for doing almost nothin'?"

The boy perked up, and Osgald tossed him a coin. "Go watch that fire over on the edge of town like everyone else is. There's a small group of people who were involved in it: a young boy, a pregnant woman, an unconscious lad, a foreigner, and possibly a young elf woman. Any of them make a move to leave town or do anything odd you come let me know at once. Do so and there's two more coins like that waiting for you. I'll be around town making myself seen or staying at the inn. Sound good?"

Both boys nodded eagerly and raced off towards the fire. With that chore done he continued on to the meeting, glancing around. Had he seen something out of the corner of his eye? He looked again but saw nothing but an empty alley and cobbled street beyond. Fool, jumping at shadows now...

Upon reaching a sheltered meadow surrounded by trees on the outskirts of town he stopped, noting with dismay that no one was there. His employer was *never* late. Somewhere an owl screeched. He spun about, looking for signs of danger, but could see no one. Nothing but shadows. Still, he knew it to be a warning. Was he being followed? No, impossible. He had been careful. Still no use wasting time. He knew his employer would never risk revealing themselves if they sensed danger or someone watching. Time to switch to plan 'B'. He needed to find somewhere more private...

Trying to act like he had just been out for a bit of fresh air he walked casually from the trees and headed back into town, headed back to the Respite and its surly inkeep, and made arrangements for a room. The other man gave him one on the second floor, overlooking the stables. It wasn't an ideal location but it would do he supposed. At least the neighboring rooms' occupants all seemed to be elsewhere at the moment, probably downstairs getting inebriated, and a look out the window revealed no one about at the moment.

Once inside he made sure to secure the door, open the window, and wait with his back turned. Sure enough, some minutes later an almost imperceptible sound of wings could be heard followed by a sound he could never quite identify.

"Don't turn around," the voice commanded. It was neither male nor female, or perhaps both, half-human half-animal. His employer disguised their voice deliberately he knew, he had never worked for anyone so obsessed with anonymity.

"Never." He replied, familiar with the routine.

"You're getting careless. You were followed." The voice was angrier than normal.

Osgald bristled under the criticism. "Impossible... Who?"

"The elf woman."

In spite of himself he was openly shocked. "Craftly little witch... How? I never saw her."

The voice responded reluctantly, as if resentful of giving him any leeway. "I think she's a moon elf. Shadows will be her ally. If I am right, you must be more careful of her kind. Interact with her only in the full light of day if you must do so."

"Where is she now?"

The voice hissed, a sound as much animal as human. "I do not know, I lost her."

He kept the surge of satisfaction from showing on his face or in his voice. So she eluded you too. Not so high and mighty as you act eh? He thought, but instead he said, "Do you believe she's working for the enemy?"

"No," the voice replied dismissively, "he would not use one such as her."

He nodded. "I agree, I confronted her 'bout the Artifact and from her reaction I believe she's more in the dark than us. She's hidin' somethin' though, I'd bet my life on it. Intimidation won't work on her. We'll have to be more subtle. I've been putting the fear of hell into everyone I think might have the Artifact but whoever's goin' around smokin' people's doin' most of my work for me. Sooner or later whoever has it is goin' to bolt. All we have to do is wait and watch."

The voice hissed again, more vehemently this time. "Time is against us. The enemy has become suspicious that the Artifact has surfaced..."

Osgald tensed. "Is he here?"

"I don't believe so, but he searches. It may only be a matter of time."

"How?"

"He has his ways," the voice said impatiently. "Perhaps someone has been meddling in the dreamscape. It matters not. Time is critical."

He sighed, aware of his employer's impatience and trying to figure out how best to quell it. "Time's always 'critical.' We can't let that make us sloppy. Just be patient, if we stay careful we'll get your precious Artifact in good time."

The angry hiss followed again. "I'm not paying you to be careful! I'm paying you to retrieve a simple item from a bunch of commoners!" Without another word there was the same unidentifiable sound from earlier followed by a burst of flapping wings.

Osgald sighed, letting some of the tension ease from his body. After this, he promised himself, he was going to take only simple jobs – rescuing little girls' kittens from trees perhaps.

[Ahnnie]

Temujin was about to help Liri carry the Gambler over to the house with the covered porch, but then the pregnant woman shouted for them to take him to the stables. The reason was that the head guard lived in that house. Temujin found Common authorities to be more corrupt than he'd originally imagined; surely it was no sin to lay an injured man to rest on your porch, if you had one to offer? But whatever. Stables it was. Temu hefted his half of the Gambler's unconscious body with Liri toward the stables. He kicked open the stable doors unceremoniously with his booted foot and helped direct the Gambler to a nice patch of hay.

He steadily let the Gambler down and said to Liri, "I'm going to check on that pregnant woman, see if she's all right. That smoke can't be too good for her." Without waiting for Liri's response, he headed out the stables and went back down the path to the burning building. He hoped that if he found Mae'leena, he could direct her to the stables as well or some other place away from the smoke. If she had found some other place already, though, he supposed that wouldn't be so bad. He would just need to make sure she was ok.

[IcarusDescension]

Liri nodded, watching him go before turning back to watch over the 'Gambler.' She would have to remember to ask the man his real name when he woke up.

A strange sound came from the doorway behind her - an unnatural almost-human shuffling sound. Like someone barely able to make their bare feet move properly across the hay. She turned around to look, curious, and then froze in horror.

Her mother was moving awkwardly towards her, but the woman was not as Liri remembered. Her face was a mask of unhealed wounds and blood, her body was the color of bruises from head to toe and covered in similar injuries that spoke of brutality.

"You," the half-dead woman spoke in a voice contrastingly pure and human. "You did this to me. You left me with that monster to save yourself you ungrateful little girl!"

Liri stared open-mouthed, terror stealing all coherent thoughts from her mind. Then, finally, something pushed through the fog - sorrow, shame. "I... I had to leave. That man, Ko, he was going to do things..." Her protests sounded weak, felt like excuses.

The grotesque figure of her mother continued her slow progress forward as her voice turned remorseful, even pleading. "Why did you leave me sweetheart? You know I loved you..."

Liri felt tears stream down her cheeks as she took an involuntary step backward. "You... You can't be real... This isn't really happening." She spoke the words as fact but her mind seemed to need further convincing to reject what her eyes were telling her.

((OOC: This is the amulet/Artifact once again having a bit of fun with Liri's mind, so anyone who saw anything would not see Liri's mother. It would appear as if Liri was talking to thin air. Just in case it becomes relevant.))

[Ahnnie]

((I hope you don't mind me posting again so soon. I just wanted to get Temujin's horse out of the way of danger, since I'd forgotten about it in my previous post. Also wanted him to be confused by Liri ^^.))

The gray dapple horse had followed its owner into the stables when Temujin helped Liri carry the Gambler in. It was familiar with the wooden structure smelling of hay, so it obediently moved into an empty stall, watching from there as Temujin ran back out to see to Mae'leena. It was a horse trained to fear little, but it still hated smoke and fire all the same. The stall door was not closed, still hanging open, but the horse continued standing there swishing its tail at troublesome flies and training its eyes on the young human man. He suddenly acted irregular, as far as a horse could tell, and his eyes were soon streaming with those tears that often signify a human is sad. The horse felt a little uncomfortable with the forces that were influencing him, seeing as animals were sensitive to these things to a certain degree, and fidgeted slightly in its stall before clip-clopping forward and breathing a loud snort down Liri's head.

[Ethereal-Star]

When the man had moved down through the streets, albeit somewhat haphazardly as though he was trying overly hard to seem inconspicuous, Obsidian kept to the shadowed places as best she could, using a little magic to fuel her efforts. Granted, it wasn't as strong without her staff and during the day but she managed to keep herself concealed nonetheless. Whenever she felt the magic starting to fade, she quickly reinforced it back into place so she would remain out of sight from the one she was following and from anyone else she needed to be aware of.

There was a sense that someone was watching her (someone else besides the man she was trailing after) but she couldn't detect anyone else. Still she knew better than to chalk it up to nothing. Her instincts never failed her. Obsidian supposed she would need to be even more careful than before.

Her suspicions were starting to prove themselves correctly as the stranger was making his way to an empty meadow at the edge of town, looking around impatiently as though he were waiting for someone to appear, then became agitated when no one did. Once again the magic she put in place started to fade and she quickly channeled more energy into the shadows to keep herself hidden. It seemed as though the man may have seen her, or at least thought he did for he looked right at the spot where the moon elf was cloaked in blackness, but apparently not seeing anything he continued on back to town again.

Obsidian grimaced slightly. That was once more too close for comfort. she thought. She regretted leaving her staff behind at a time like this, but it had been necessary. Walking around Connloath with a staff in hand would be a walking magnet for trouble to come for her in the form of Connloathian officials and the Mordecai. She could not risk that. True, it was risky to even use any kind of magic, but she really had no alternative. Blending into the shadows while natural for her kind, was stronger with her moon magic. And her moon magic was stronger with her staff and the presence of night. However the mage had had to do without those last two factors.

Continuing to follow the man, he went to the same inn that she had stayed at before. Hesitating a bit, Obsidian pondered whether or not she should go in after him, then decided it was too risky. So she stayed outside using even more magic to conceal herself from unwanted eyes, being careful not to give her presence away any. Heading over to an outcropping of thick bushes she stood in their incredibly dense shadows and waited, pondering what her next move should be. Not knowing what transpired inside the inn, the moon elf mage stood hidden in silence before making her way back over to the burning building again to see if there was anything there, anything at all she may have overlooked in her haste to put out the fire.

[visualspice]

The horse wasn't the only one moved by the tears, a few stray one's fell on his face, and the unconscious man stirred.

He smelled the manure in the barn first, and that mixed with whatever was stuck inside his lungs brought the man to a much more awakened state as he began to cough and cough and cough and well... wheeze. His face was going nearly purple from the strain, but eventually he was able to catch his breath as he lay there a moment, his eyes opening in a hazy daze.

And it was Liri's tears that he saw first. Crookedly he smiled up at the boy.
"Hey, sorry if I made you cry. But your tears are wasted on me." And he patted his chest, albeit a bit weakly. "See? I'm good and alive as any-" But before he could say anymore, he was off into another coughing fit again.



Outside, Mae'leena was torn over her options. Having found herself wanting to use the fires as an excuse to slip out unnoticed from town was actually something that ended up cementing her in place. And despite being pregnant, she wasn't useless, and found herself helping a little girl find her mother. Turns out her mother was just fine, a little startled from the laundry house fire, but alive. Mae'leena couldn't help but smile to see the pair reunited as she rubbed at her distended belly- and then felt a kick in reply.

"Yeah, yeah you little infant inconvenience. You're all balls now, but just wait until you get out into this world." And she frowned, peering down at her belly. "Too bad you can't just stay in there where it's safe."

But at the very idea of her body being some safe haven, she gave a snort. Yeah right! Turning around,s he figured now was as good a time to leave as ever and as she turned to make her way down the road-s he nearly walked into bucket head.

[IcarusDescension]

Osgald came downstairs after the meeting, ostensibly to plan his next move. However he found himself paying more attention to acquiring some food and whatever the Respite was passing off as beer.

That was until he spotted a group of three men sitting quietly at a table in a corner, nursing drinks and more than a few bruises. They were dressed in clothes that had obviously once been nice. From their demeanor he immediately thought - petty thugs. The kind of people who looked respectable sitting around the poker table only so they could pretend to be better than animals when they had you cornered in an alley. It was a supposition that was all but proven when his mind remembered them from the fire. If he remembered correctly, they had been after the same group of strangers he himself had been watching, and that was only likely to mean one thing.

The thought troubled him. If word of the Artifact had spread to their kind, the situation was indeed getting out of control fast. His employer was right, he needed to do something and quickly.

No sooner did he have the thought then fortune smiled on him yet again. One of the boys from the alley came in the front door, scanning with his eyes for a moment before locating Osgald and making a beeline. "Sir," he said with at least sense enough to keep his voice low, "those people you told us to watch?"

"Yes?" He prompted.

"Most of them moved to the stables behind this same building. Two of them are still over by the fire. The skinny woman in the cloak went somewhere but we can't find her."

The boy shifted nervously, obviously wondering if he was really going to get his coins. Osgald let him worry over it for some moments while he pondered the information. So, they seemed to be sticking together, at least for the most part. Perhaps they knew each other and were trying to sneak the Artifact out together? It didn't matter, if they were going for the stables it seemed his plan was working, one of them must have it and they were preparing to make their exit. Perhaps he could help them out on that front...

Slowly a plan started to come together in his mind. All it would require was some tact and a bit of careful timing. -And of course some decent acting, but he could do that when it was required.

He surreptitiously slipped the promised coins under the table to the boy, then flashed five more waiting in his palm. "If the other two don't return to the stables on their own, find a way to get them there. When they're all at the stables together let me know and these are all yours too."

The boys eyes grew wide at the promised treasure and he bounded back out the door.

Returning to his drink, he allowed himself a slight smile. Perhaps the situation could be salvaged after all. There was still the problem of the elf, but his instincts told him that she, like himself, was here seeking something, which meant she didn't have it already. Besides, the shape-shifter was much more likely to be able to follow her movements than he was.

He looked towards the thugs in the corner, mentally preparing himself to play the role of the greedy informant with 'information' he thought they could use for the 'right price.' First though, he would need a cart and some horses standing by for his anticipated daring rescue...

[IcarusDescension]

Liri was startled by a snort and warm breath across her neck. She spun around to see meet the gentle eyes of a horse, feeling inexplicable, overwhelming gratitude at the animal's simple gesture. She lifted one hand, letting the horse take in her scent before stroking it gently between its eyes. "Thank you," she whispered to the horse, then to herself: "It's not real... It's not real..."

Somehow the interaction had granted her courage and she turned around, finding to her great relief the shade of her mother was gone. Tears escaped her eyes all over again. Why is this happening?

She didn't have time to torture herself over the question for the unconscious man below her was beginning to stir, coughing at first. "Hey, sorry if I made you cry. But your tears are wasted on me." And he patted his chest, albeit a bit weakly. "See? I'm good and alive as any-"

He broke off and began coughing again. Without thinking Liri fell to her knees and lifted the man's head, stuffing more hay underneath to try and keep him elevated. "Careful!" she scolded, too grateful to find him awake to be embarrassed, "You took in a lot of smoke. You're burns aren't bad though - considering. I've never seen someone walk out of a collapsed building like that, you're one lucky man!"

She found herself smiling stupidly at him, feeling his forehead for a temperature. You're acting like a girl again Liri, say something manly before he thinks you're simple in the head... "Never mind me by the way," she added, pulling her hand away and wiping at the tears on her face, "I was just..." How to finish that sentence? Hallucinating? Being tortured by various shades from my past? Finally losing the last spokes on whatever wheels are left turning in my apparently dysfunctional mind? "Err.. The smoke got in my eyes back there... you know..."

Good recovery... Idiot girl! With a sigh she gave it up and decided to change the subject. "I've been wanting to ask you, what's your name anyway?"

[visualspice]

At the boy's inquiry, his eyes sparkled with pride as a grin split across his lips when he revealed, "And here I thought I told you my name." And he extended out his soot plastered hand for her to shake. "Folks call me The Gambler. I'm a vigilante... of sorts," he said, adding it through a cough. "Good luck seems to follow me and well, I aim to use to aid those in need." And he gave Liri a salute and another weak, but cocky grin. "Seems I've used it well today!" he said through a laugh, and another cough before asking, "Say.. you wouldn't happen to have any uh- water would ya? Feels like I totally breathed in that whole fire!"