Scene #4464: Ghost of the Desert

Owner	Pose
Shadowed Scales	The last time something had gone down in Chiaroscuro, Karuyo Cais, Fire aspected Dragonblood Dynast made the large mistake of announcing it to the world. The result of this arrogant blunder cost the lives of most of his esteemed adventuring companions, and a large chunk of his personal honor, having been so completely and thoroughly shamed by the disastrous 'celebration' within the City of Broken Glass. This time, he was a bit more subtle. Not entirely enough so, to go without notice, but the caravan of supplies and explorers departing the city tonight is impossible to miss. It's a large expidition, well funded, and ready to tackle the murderous heat and treacherous terrain and inhabitants of the Glitter-Flame Desert. The desert is murderous, between the oppressive heat by day, and myriad of lethal denizens, ranging from giant scorpions, to giant dune-dwelling horrors, to giant tumbleroll flipping spiders, it's bad enough. But the occasional bandit horde roves about, using the desert for their ill purposes, and then legends also whisper of the Anklok Dragon Kings... The caravan leaves by night, the sun is setting, and that means the air will be cooler and the dunes much easier to navigate by stars. It is perhaps the only way to travel through the desert, moving by sundown and resting during the day. A single figure in red jade armor mills about the myriad mercenaries, supply runners, and hired hands for this trip; Cais himself no doubt ready to lead the way into the desert to claim what he rightfully 'found'. Riches, plunder, and ancient artifacts, a wealth in materials from a time long gone. They caravan is fairly deep into the desert after a time. A perfect time to have any and all potential plans ruined to utterly and completely, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
Finna	A Fennec Fox - where did that little nuisance come from? - probably isn't what the caravan expected, but any caravans traveling the desert tend to attract scavenger attention. Scraps of food attract small critters. Small critters attract birds... No caravan is free of pests. Thankfully, a Fennect Fox is tiny, eats very little, and is extremely hard to spot atop one of the wagons, the sandy-colored fur almost perfectly matching the tarp, easily mistaken for a blemish or a stain at many angles. Finna does not like the desert, but she's certainly found a shape she can live with in it for now. Would be nice to learn just where these guys are GOING before ruining them... would be nice if she could convince them to just GO HOME too, but... Thoughts of the Wyld Hunt taking an interest in her are quick to cool any ideas of convincing this guy of anything using the best methods she has...
Mordremoth	Despite the earlier consideration, Scarlet Briar does not actually show up riding a dragon. She, of all people, knows the need for subtlety. Instead, she is riding a horse/camel/dinosaur or whatever the local equivalent of a mount is, dressed in leather armor and wearing a long, heavy cloak with the hood pulled up. This gives her a mysterious and dangerous air, maybe? Especially with the rifle slung across her back. She's coming on an intercept course... one carefully calculated to put her in front of the caravan, but not directly so. In the dark, with her hood up, it may be harder to tell that she is anything but human, the funny shade of her plant-skin masked by the circumstances. Her course takes her close enough that she can visibly be seen to "correct" it to head toward the caravan.
Ashurel Cloudbank	Hanging out in the caravan is a blonde girl. She looks distinctly different from what one would expect. Blonde hair tied in a pair of pigtails and barely looking over the page of fourteen or fifteen. She has a blouse, skirt, and a short cowl on. The hood is up, but a pair of teal eyes peek out from underneath it. Her name was, according to the roster of hired help and participants, Alyas Sudonim. She was an upbeat and cheerful girl that spent most of the day helping people out in very innocent ways using low-level, almost fundamental wizardry. She's cheerful, energetic, and generally seems well-liked as she shuffles around helping with chores. The two most noticable things she's done is that during a water break she used prestidigitation to make the water cool and refreshing and the bread taste flavorful and fresh for people.
Duet Fortuna	Duet's approach is much later than many of the others. She had to catch up with the caravan, hurrying along and wearing a cloak that hides the mask on her face. Not that she's worried she'll be recognize... but well, a masked girl is always something that is unusual. She's just going to try to catch up and slip in to travel with the others, possibly slipping past the rear guard that may have fallen asleep. It's almost certain she had nothing to do with that.
Isa Reichert	When there's a promise of treasure, nobody can keep their mouths shut. Curious about constant claims of treasure surrounding Chiaroscuro, a certain black ops pilot had spent the day chasing rumours. That was probably a mistake; no two accounts agreed on anything, and it wasn't until close to sunset that she had noticed the caravan filing out the gate. That red jade armour looked pretty familiar. ...But it's not a red-haired, one-eyed woman in a dusty bomber jacket that follows the caravan. There's something wheeling this way and that in the air above the caravan, just far enough that the torches only suggest something's there. The bird -- for that's what it is, the feathers of its wings splayed out like fingers -- can only really be seen by the way stars blot out above its wings. In truth, she'd spotted the fox from early on. It's not natural for a high-strung creature like a fennec to sit still for that long, especially not that long at a time. She's not really a nature person. The different kinds of foxes, and even their names, elude her at the moment. She'd rather be home drinking vodka. But this is not a normal fox, and the Lunar Exalted pilot is constitutionally incapable of leaving a mystery alone. She saw them in a zoo, once; fidgety, twitchy little creatures who couldn't sit still. Isa is pretty reasonably sure a natural specimen /couldn't/ sit this long without sedatives, and its eyes are open. So after a bit of gradual drifting, always careful to stay away from the closest torches, there comes a /thump/ on the stuff stacked around the tiny desert fox. It all lurches as though the load had shifted, but sturdy rope ties most of it in place. Nothing else happens after a few paces. It must be a case of the wagon's bouncing causing something to move, right? Nope. There is quite suddenly an eagle's head, freakishly large, jutting over the top of the stuff Finna is hiding among. It is looking at Finna distinctly upside-down because that's the only way Isa can see her, staring straight at the fox, as though to say, 'I see you.' The head tilts, very slightly, so Isa can fix her single gold eye on the fox; dark line of the second eyelid flicking over the eye and back. The lens adjusts slightly, disoriented by all the bright torches in the darkness. And she opens her beak partway, enough to show Finna the blade-sharp edge of it. The threat is clear -- move and she'll /make/ a way to grab Finna from her little hidey-hole. Her head then whips around, jerking back at the caravan. Although an eagle's face isn't very expressive, the gesture is pretty clear. 'What's up with these guys?'
Stygian Mirror	A skeletal horse gallops not far behind Scarlet Briar's own steed, a bit slower and more sloppily. Mirror, on its back, doesn't seem fully at ease on the speeding undead warhorse. The horse itself doesn't seem bothered by the heat and sand, at least, and so makes up slightly for the rider's lack of riding competences. She's got a heavy green cloak on top of her usual wear, mostly to deal with the wind and sand. Like the plant-woman she's with, her course draws an interception path with the Terrestrial's caravan, and it probably won't be hard to see them coming. Unhappily, she mutters: "This is probably the most trouble I've gone through to kill a Dragon-Blooded. Normally I'd just pick somewhere visible, do my thing, and lure them to me. The desert sucks." You can be undead and still hate the desert. Hatred for the desert is universal. Even Galactus wouldn't eat a desert planet, on principle.
Nozomi Houken	In truth, Nozomi's having a hard time remembering why she's coming out here. Last time ended extremely poorly for her. 'Nightmares for weeks' poorly. She wasn't injured, and technically they 'won', but if ever the term "pyrrhic victory" applied to a fight, that was it, as far as Nozomi's concerned. And yet here she is, on the back of a tiger loping across the dunes under a starlit sky, on the vague impression that it would be bad if these people got ahold of whatever they're after. It's not hard to see why she's having a bit of trepidation over the whole thing. And yet, she comes regardless. Taiga probably stands out like a sore thumb on the desert, black and faintly-glowing yellow against the pale starlit sand, but he's not particularly concerned - he can just keep to the valleys between dunes, and approach to within close-ish distance, and that will be that. Of more concern is the way the sand will probably need to be cleaned out of his paws afterwards. The maintenance team will probably complain, and he's already noticing the faint loss of efficiency. Annoying.
Finna	The fox's EARS move though the rest of it's fairly quiet. Fennec ears are pretty darned big, and there's almost no way to miss the approach of an eagle - wind through feathers is unmistakable. MOST such creatures of its size would probably SCATTER upon hearing an eagle approaching... but this one just swivels an eye over the eagle's way with lightning speed and follows. Since it's coming in for a LANDING and not with claws out for a capture, the fox doesn't run off and instead turns its head slightly for a better look. As if this kind of meet-up is maybe NOT that unusual? Odd, in any case. Well. The Fennec's ears waggle and eyes roll about. Seemingly unconcerned with the fierce show of beakdom! But an answer's there in that gesture. Somehow. The eagle can glean the uncanny sense that the fox is annoyed with the entire expedition and the Realm's involvement in ANYTHING of the First Age. It licks its chops irritably, signaling they're out treasure hunting! A tilt of the head asks a question though. Why threaten your kin, eagle? It's hard to tell, but the Fennec Fox is JUUUUUST a bit tense. In case the eagle tries something.
Shadowed Scales	It's a pretty nice water break, with Ashurel around to actually make the travel faire a bit more palatable, and a few surprised mercenaries give her their thanks. Others though eye the stranger along for the caravan with a mix of distrust and indifference. Most of them don't even notice Finna, the little scrap of fur blending in well enough with the canvas wagon covers. And while some keener eyes may point up at the massive bird in they sky, the drudge of the trip so far has them losing it, losing ther attention, and soon enough not noticing the huge eagle among all their things, staring at something none of them noticed in the first place. That rear guard is probably having some of the worst nightmares of his life though, slumped over as his mount plods along with him still on it, following the others. It allows Duet to slip in among the men and a few women of the adventuring party. So long as she doesn't do anything to call attention to herself, she can keep it that way. The red armored figure can be seen now and again, the dragonblooded barking orders at some, demanding others keep awake, berating more often than not. This one is high strung and demanding. Also nervous, apparently. Lifting a gauntlet to brow, eyes narrowing into the distance. The figures on approach; Scarlet and Mirror on their steeds give him a moment's pause, trying to determine just what two people on mounts are doing alone in the desert. It is perhaps these figures on approach that spur him to make the decision to keep the caravan going. Rather than stop, or impetuously double-time. It's a bold display of no fear, or maybe brash impetuousness, while men are ordered to be at the ready for violence, wholly unaware of a multitude of wolves already in their midst.
Isa Reichert	The eagle's head pulls upright and the eagle vanishes from in front of Finna's field of vision. Perched precariously over a pile of junk sheltering Finna, Isa's talons are sunk deep into the canvas, creaking with every bump and jolt of the wagon, wings half-unfolding when she needs extra balance. There's a bloom of silver-white light. A moment later, a head pops back down over the alcove Finna's tucked into, and this time it's red hair instead of feathers. Isa's scarred face twists into a grin, single golden eye gleaming. "/Because I can/." The woman has a Russian accent so thick it could be stabbed with a combat knife. She swings herself down, landing in a crouch on a pile of junk right under Finna's position. There's a pistol in her hand, dangling by the trigger guard; of Russian make. Her clothing is far too modern; a thin white shirt tucked into blue jeans, and a dusty old bomber jacket full of campaign patches over that. (It's now as much sandy as it is dusty.) "More important, am no kin of yours." "Da. So. They are finding something in desert again, I take it. Dig it up, bring it back, sell it, maybe. But what?" Isa folds her arms, gun still carefully dangling from her forefinger by the trigger guard. She snorts. "Damn. Could use cigarette. But they will smell smoke, I think." As though remembering where she is, she flicks her single eye back to Finna. The lens doesn't look right for a human eye; it's a literal eagle's eye. "So." She shrugs broad shoulders. "Am going to wait and see. Curious what they find out here." The gun is gestured toward Finna, but not pointed at the fox. "What are you? You are not normal fox. Little fox are yapping always, can never stop moving." Squeezing herself in between parcels, she's reasonably out of sight, auburn red hair and all. "That man in red armour. Was at Chiaroscuro before. Who is--" Oh hey, there's people coming. Isa points loosely with her pistol toward where Stygian Mirror and Scarlet Briar are on approach. "Might maybe be interesting night after all..."
Mordremoth	Water would be nice for a plant in the desert. Scarlet Briar is unhappy wit it as well. "What a place to be travelling. Why don't we just kill the man and we can go back to a more pleasant place? Deserts are only fun if you have a secret laboratory with a hidden waterfall under your apartment." so sayeth Scarlet Briar. Approaching the oncoming Caravan, she doesn't make any hostile moves anyway. Raising an arm, she waves toward the guards and brings her ambiguously-speciesed mount to a halt. "Pardon, travellers. Do you know the way to the lost city of Rata Novus? It appears we have lost our way. Such a danger with lost cities, being lost."
Ashurel Cloudbank	Alyas Sudonim's cantrips and tricks make her quite the nice mage to have around. And most of her low-level spell allotments are set to help out weary travellers. If someone gets a broken boot or a wagon wheel cracks, she has a quick mending spell for that and the caravan doesn't slow down one bit. She hustles and bustles, quite the beehive of adorable and studious aid for her comrades. "E-excuse me, sir," Ashurel eventually says to the red-armored man as the figures on the horizon are approaching, "A-are we going to be okay? I know a little bit of combat magic, but not a lot. I thought I was being hired as an assistant." She goes wide-eyed, "Are we about to be robbed?" The blonde girl asks looking scared.
Duet Fortuna	Robbed? That gets Duet's attention. She isn't wanting to interfere with this yet, more curious about what the caravan is after than in stopping it. This really is a curious matter. If it's too dangerous or undesireable... well, she can stop it then. The young blonde shuffles forward just a little bit, so she can hear and see what is going on. In the meantime she takes careful stock of the guards around her, just so she knows what she's dealing with in case a fight breaks out. it never hurts to be prepared, as she's discovered. Especially with some of the people that are so odd here lately.
Stygian Mirror	"That was my plan, it didn't sound like Scales wanted him especially alive or in one piece anyway, and the world is better off with one less of those Dragon-Blooded around," Mirror answers Scarlet, coming to a stop once they reach the caravan. As Scarlet begins talking to the guards, Mirror awkwardly raises a finger and opens her mouth, thinking of how she wants to formulate this. Many different phrases enter her mind, but ultimately none leave her mouth. Mirror lowers her hand and closes her mouth, sighing. Scarlet will likely find out why in a moment. Spoiler: Mirror is on a skeletal horse, is carrying a Soulsteel sword and Soulsteel-lined armor, and has three visible Lunar Tells. If those guards know anything about anathema, they're about to start screaming, despite the fact Mirror is calmly sitting on a horse behind the person trying to chat them up. And nevermind Cais if he sees her himself.
Finna	The tiny fox spots the distant riders and decides something about them... doesn't sit well with her. So with her odd 'companion' taking cover within the wagon, she flit-flit-skitters amidst the cargo herself... perching on a barrel behind some stacks of boxes... And soon her own shape shifts, turning into a lithe and slight, almost frail-looking woman with the bare minimum of athletic conditioning to her figure. Finna's hair is white, but so are the fox ears of the Arctic Fox on display. Moonsilver Tattoos fade into view... but the Lunar's OUTFIT is what sets her apart MOST from Isa. No jeans and shift. She's wearing garb that only WORKS in this climate because it's been stripped down to show far more flesh than should be advisable. A leather tunic showing plenty of midriff and bare arms, but decorated with such things as dangling teeth and beads. Not much in the way of bright colors... it's very earthy and simple. Her boots are high quality custom leather workings, and she's carrying at at least two knives on the leather belt at her waist. The Skytongue dialect she speaks isn't even close to Russian or English, having more in common with Earth's nordic family than anything else. "And you are no Moonchild of Creation. But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss kinhood under Luna." She's pleased as punch with her perch on the barrel, leaning forward and ears twitching, tail wagging slowly. She's doing her best to hide her worries at just how ODD and UNEXPECTED Isa's appearance was here. "Stupid Dynasts so like thinking they own everything. Pity this one learned nothing from losing their comrades..." Finna mutters.
Shadowed Scales	'Are we about to be robbed?' It is a good question to ask, though the man in red's face is difficult to see beneath his helmet, he stares into the distance. "No, we're about to kill anyone who gets in our way. That's what we're about to do." He says, apparently ignoring Ashurel's apparent fear. It is about to be an interesting night. Because Scarlet and Stygian arrive now. A red gauntlet held aloft actually stops the caravan now as the Sylvari speaks. "Looking for a lost city, eh? Funny thing would have it, that's what we're doing, too." But the men DO notice Mirror, and the Dragonblood curls his fingers around the grip of his daiklave. And you, I remember quite well." It's, oddly, not the same daiklave he had back in Chiaroscuro. But, there is another with Scarlet and Mirror. A blonde woman on the back of Mirror's steed with her, and she hops off. "Ah, about that! This little trip is over. You can all go home now, it would be a shame to kill everyone here, but I can't have anyone going any further into my desert!" Yes, she just said it was her desert. It makes people scoff, while others quake in their boots at the sight of the Abyssal, and eye the Sulvari warily. The Dragonblood makes his decision. "Okay, kill them now." Mercenaries rush up, brandishing varied weapons at the trio. How badly will this end?
Isa Reichert	So far, it seems like the caravan visitors aren't doing anything more than talking. Isa occupies herself with studying her impromptu travelling companion, folding her arms and leaning back into her own little alcove. "Get off my case, little fox," Isa sneers. "Or I will have you for lunch, maybe, after I find out what these--" She says something in Russian, an going by the tone it's probably some kind of expletive, "--are doing. Am not here to hug other Celestial Exalt. You get in my way, I kill you. Is that simple. You are not in my way right now, so I don't kill you. Much less messy that way." She shows her teeth. It's not a nice sort of smile. "Am not afraid of messes, though." The rest of the pilot looks human enough; only that surreal eagle's eye seems to mark her as anything else. There's the gruesome burn scarring, too, as far as identifying marks go, but that seems to be a human enough trait. "Some people, just stupid like that, da?" Her left eye flicks out to regard the conversation taking place further distant, her free hand reaching up to adjust the patch over her right eye. Isa's pistol is absently bobbed in place, arm stretched out over to rest over a bent knee. "Oh. Listen to that." Isa cocks her head. "Sound like fight." Isa tilts her head back to Finna, eyeing the vulpine Exalt languidly. "You want to get involved, maybe...?"
Finna	"Wonder how a Moon-child from a world where THAT fashion comes from exists... why they're here, too." Finna mutters just loud enough to be heard by Isa in haphazard, accented english of her own. In what might pass for formal Haslanti tongue though, she exclaims, "One wishing no part of the Silver Pact binding the rest of her kind." She shrugs elaborately, tail whapping lightly against the barrel. She's totally affecting an 'it can't be helped' manner there! "Hmmm. If anyone's stupid here, it's the Fire Aspect. Too hotheaded to think today.." She actually FLINCHES a little at hearing the Terrestrial's response to such a bold claim. "Fool... anyone brave enough to speak like that to a Dynast knows what they're doing..." Curiosity refuses to be denied here. She scampers over barrels and crates to near the wagon's opening and peeks out at what's going on from between two crates!
Ashurel Cloudbank	"K-k-k-k-k-kill them?!" TThe blonde mage stammers, gripping her staff close to her chest. Her eyes go wide and she looks scared at the idea of combat. She shifts her booted feet uneasily in the sand and nods her head a few times. And then the order ACTUALLY goes out to kill these people. The girl yelps in fright and frantically scrambles at the bookbag at her side. She pulls out a thin blue tome that only faintly feels of magic before opening it. Only the first quarter of the book even has anything written in it as she scrambles through the pages. "Oh uhm... no... no... maybe. Maybe... o-okay. I'll do my best, sir!" Tome slipped back into her bag after she memorized her spells, the young girl reaches into a pouch on her belt and pulls out a pinch of multi-colored sand, "A cone of colors that d-dazzle and mystify! I c-cast Color Spray." As she calls this out, the sand dissolves and the staff in Alyas Sudonim's hand shoots a small cone of clashing colors towards, of all people, Scarlet. It will, at most, stun her slightly.
Stygian Mirror	Mirror remains suspiciously quiet as she is not only recognized but also judged. The third member of their little party makes things rather clear right after the fact, and from there onward things spiral out of control about as fast as she expected. "I should have probably mentioned Dragon-Blooded aren't very reasonable people," she says, in a form of apology towards Scarlet, before reaching for the blade on her hip. The jagged Soulsteel sword pulses with black and grey light, and Mirror hops off her skeletal warhorse just as one of the mercenaries reaches her with a spear. To say she moves quickly is an understatement; in a flash of crimson lightning Mirror is behind the mercenary, blade extended ahead and back to the man's own back. She retracts her sword hand, lowering it. The mercenary now behind her would feel overwhelming pain, as both of his arms and legs would come undone with grey gushes of blood surging from his stump of a body. Likely the most insulting and painful part is that it'll take him long minutes to bleed to death. Mirror frowns, turning to stare at the Fire Aspect, Caste Mark glowing on her forehead and bleeding down her face. "Your arrogance is going to get all of these men killed. Don't you have a single shred of compassion left in you or are you so concerned with riches and treasures you've forgotten lives matter?"
Nozomi Houken	Taiga's ears quirk this way and that where he ambles behind the dunes, picking up not just sound, but supernatural readings as well. It's a careful dance, of sorts, moving without being seen or heard, but he is cat. Even with his user on his back, he can manage this much. But those ears quirk when the order to kill goes out, and then shift slightly when - of all things - Ashurel opens her book. Things seem to have started moving. "Nozomi. Hold tightly." The girl nods her head, already biting her lip nervously; in a single, borderline-lazy jump, he takes them to the top of the dune, landing where he can get a look at the whole situation. He stops there, however, because quite frankly he's not sure what to make of it. Neither is Nozomi, for that matter. Some of these people are supposed to be enemies, but they're attacking the convoy, which is supposed to be bad, and... and... and oh god that man's arms and legs just kind of came apart. Nozomi lets out a little yelp of disturbed surprise and lowers her head, dropping into a quiet whimper.
Mordremoth	The man knows Stygian Mirror? Scarlet smiles, lowering her hood to show her more plantlike features. "Oh, you know my research assistant? Very handy, she is. My Master did mention something about this desert, but I don't think he really cared enough to pay attention to what was going on. I guess that's why he keeps me around, hmm?" Scarlet would probably ramble on more about her plans and thoughts, purely because she sees no point in getting right into the mess, but Mirror is ahead of her anyway. Besides... she has someone taking action at her! A color spray that easily impacts her and goes right through her barrier shield, to startle and disorient her. Scarlet's cloak falls open to show her armor, and the weapons she was intending on using! Grenades. Lots and lots of grenades. Hey, she isn't throwing them! Yet.
Duet Fortuna	This is a bad situation for everyone in the Caravan, as far as Duet can see. It's going to get bloody unless something is done, and... well, there's something pretty bad about all this. She spurs her horse forward, trotting for the front of the column to clear her throat. "If I may," the blonde suggests. "I have a proposal. Rather than start a pitched battle here that will at worst slaughter one side, and at best result in the spoliage of precious supplies... why don't we do something to keep the matter under control?" She looks at the Dynast with a smile. "This is your expedition, sir. Rather than have the utility mage handle your battle, why don't you select your opponent from the three here, and fight them one on one to determine who shall stay or go? Would this be agreeable to you three?"
Shadowed Scales	No sooner than Mirror renders a man into a screaming nugget sans limbs, blood pooling in the desert sands, the OTHER mercenaries are quick to give the trio a bit more breathing room. But the nameless blonde with Mirror and Scarlet is drawing her blade nevertheless, a slim rapier-like sword of glittering golden material, which is given an agile twirl, before... Duet steps in and suggests a duel. He regards her for a very long moment, it's clear how he tenses beneath his armor, making it creak, just from the thought. "A wonderful suggestion, how would feel about being my Champion, then?" As Mirror said, Dragonbloods are not the most reasonable people, but it wasn't entirely a serious offer. He seemed ready to cast his men in front of a meat grinder, and rely on Ashurel's spellwork while keeping his own hands clean. "It's either that or we can go back to killing everyone." The blonde pipes up, flashing a bright grin. Thus far it's the three against... Prettymuch anyone that will step forward, and after seeing Stygian Mirror in action, and Scarlet's arsenal, the mercs are much more skittish than they were a moment ago. Then Nozomi and Taiga crest a dune. "That one." The Dynast up and decides, pointing to her and Taiga.
Isa Reichert	"You have problem with my jacket?" Isa growls, head tilting to fix Finna with her golden eye. She jerks a thumb back to indicate the garment. "I earn this in Russian military for service. /Lifetime/ of service! You have problem with that, I throw you to Dragon-Blooded wolves out there!" She actually doesn't know about the Wyld Hunt, but it's a safe bet that the Dragon-Blooded are as much jerks in this reality as they are in her own. Her boss is a Dragon-Blooded desk jockey. She pretty much hates his guts and daily wishes for some lethal calamity to befall him. Grumbling under her breath about stupid kids, she wrenches her attention back to the caravan around them. Slowly, a red-haired head pops up beside Finna, single eye narrowing as she watches the unfolding... whatever-it-is.
Nozomi Houken	Poor Taiga and Nozomi were already confused. The way the mechatiger cants his head suggests that he just got moreso. They're too far from the caravan for Nozomi to hear it, but the TIGER is a fine enough machine to pick it up. And after a few seconds of trying to puzzle this out, he takes a short hop that drops himself and his rider most of the way down the dune, skidding the rest of the way until they come to the bottom, and a (slightly) more conversational range. The very first words out of his mouth are, "We categorically refuse any arrangement which will require my user to end a life. If it is not to the death, then my user is likely to accept these terms." Nozomi blinks, looking between the robotic feline she's riding and the cluster of Duet, the Dynast, the blonde, Scarlet, and Mirror. "U-um... wait, what's... Taiga, what am I accepting?"
Ashurel Cloudbank	"I-it worked?" Alyas Sudonim looks a bit surprised that the color spray actually worked against an opponent who looked fairly scary to begin with. The tiny blonde wizard clutches her staff to her chest and steps back a few times as she spots all those grenades. Luckily, Duet has proposed a reasonable solution that will allow her to not get grenaded in retaliation for her multi-colored ray of blinding chicanery. "Oh! A duel! I'll cast a spell on you so you can fight better!" She swishes her staff a bit and pulls a component out of her pouch, "The arcane shields those who accept it! Mage Armor!" She reaches out to touch the tip of her staff to the man's red armor, "There! It might feel a bit heavy, but I just cast a very powerful armor spell on you." In reality, she just cast Slow on him.
Stygian Mirror	"I have a better idea," Mirror says, her Caste Mark glowing a bit brighter, and now bleeding profusedly down her forehead and eyes. "One, before I'm not going to fight a child acting in proxy to a cowardly dynast," she says, raising her hand to count and make a point. "Two, because this is pointlessly convoluted." Her voice booms, enhanced by Essence. There's no weird Charms or mind control here, just a megaphone effect, flavored towards a deathly and scary echo. "All in favor of not throwing your lives away against multiple anathema and a fair few unknowns, turn that caravan around and desert your leader. The same goes for all of you considering being his champion: remember this man would kill a sleeping child if he thought them anathema." With any luck, that'll leave the coward to fight his own battle. And then Mirror'll probably let Scarlet have him, she's curious what she can do.
Finna	"Touchy touchy." Finna singsongs irritably in response. "Not so. Fancy outfit! But... nothing the Creation-born wear. Nothing they've ever worn. No place I've seen. Russia's of Earth, the outfit from the jungles of concrete and steel. But you're a Moon-child. Just as strange as those Chosen in the fancy Warstriders..." Of course, while she's keeping an eye on the goings-on with one eye, the other's hunting over barrels and crates and labels. her nose also starts twitching. If there's anything tasty about, she's probably going to help herself during the confusion. Or if there's any bags of coin she could nab... anything valuable in this wagon? even fancy-looking clothes are valuable! But she pauses in her rummagings when the person the Dynast named as a champion actually emerges... NOZOMI? And Taiga's pushing for it? "Huh... clever move..." Who's move, and how is it clever, she isn't saying. But she's probably referring to Duet Fortuna.
Shadowed Scales	Then this is how it is to be. Regardless of Nozomi's confusion, the Dynast has unslung his daiklave, giving it a few practice swings in the air. The blonde sets the tip of her sword in the sand and leans on it to watch with a cat-like smile. "Oh this should be good." Chirruped to Scarlet at her side. Yes. It's pretty stupidly complex, but it's really about to get a lot simpler now. As soon as Mirror's voice booms, the men are given a great moment's pause. Before they all seem to be very much in favor. Weapons are sheathed, the caravan starts to prep to move again. "--Where are you going?!" The Dragonblood demands, but no one is listening to him, the mercenaries take this as cue to leave and they start getting ready to wheel back to Chiaroscuro. That just leaves him grumbling about one other matter. "At least SOMEONE is useful." He growls when Aylas casts a spell that can have no adverse effects upon him in the least, for true. Believing himself to be impervious now-- moreso than he probably already did, he looks ready to take out his anger on Nozomi pretty handily. "I'm not in the mood to give much of a choice right now." He answers Taiga, charging the mechanical cat and his rider at top speed. As top a speed as he's going to get when every ounce of his body moves like lead slogging through molasses on a winter night. It's not very fast. The arrogance is kind of sad really.
Duet Fortuna	"Interesting choice," Duet says after a long moment. "I personally would have chosen /me/, since I'm not a combatant and certainly not part of your entourage, but I guess you weren't paying attention to all that. At least you have the support of your magic. Good luck with that, I suppose you'll need it against Nozomi 'Eternal Pain' Houken. She never /kills/ her opponents." Duet... pulls out a candy bar, half-melted, and munches on it.
Nozomi Houken	The entire caravan vacates. The Dynast begins charging him and his User slowly, cleanly refuting his terms. "I think you are under some confusion as to who is giving a choice. Allow me to clear this up," Taiga replies blandly. The robotiger's shoulder cannon turns itself and points straight at the slow-moving Dynast's face. He fires a single, modestly-powerful shot. And then he leaps, intending to land on the Dragonblooded's head and leap again with a considerable amount of force. He'll probably land on one of the wagons. He's fairly heavy.
Mordremoth	Scarlet Briar only has Unshakeable during boss encounters, which this doesn't actually count as because she isn't going to be the boss fight. The plant woman shakes her head, clearing it, and glowers at Ashurel! "Now that wasn't very nice..." Things could have gotten deadly, if Mirror hadn't just scared away most of the caravan. Aww. "Awww. And here I was going to show them something fun. I'm pretty sure that I packed my flamethrower." The challenge is made! The Dynast charges! "Well an honorable fight? I suppose we should keep this fair!" She unlimbers her rifle, loading the chamber with a loud and ominious sounding clack! To Duet she pouts! "You're no fun~"
Ashurel Cloudbank	"S-sorry, maam!" Alyas Sudonim says apologetically, bowing a bit as she gets glowered at by Scarlet Briar. She clutches her simple staff in both hands, bowing repeatedly and apologetically as she clutches her hands to her chest. She slowly edges away from Scarlet Briar and the rest of the group. She's clearly had her faith shaken by Stygian Mirror's words a bit. Owing to this, she backs away from everyone and just nervously scratches at the sand with the bottom tip of her staff, fidgetting and fussing with shapes out of what is probably awkward uncertainty.
Isa Reichert	"Fancy? Is street clothes." Isa wrinkles her nose, although the scarring on the right side of her face makes the expression more ghastly than she might intend it to be. "You want fancy, you see me in military dress uniform, right before meeting with Russian brass, da?" Her protest is half-hearted, though, because she's avidly watching and listening to the situation unfolding. From a safe distance and behind a crate or two of supplies. Of course. Inching higher to see, Isa narrows her gold eye at the negotiations, even as she flicks it sidelong to watch Finna sifting through crates. Maybe she'll snipe something if she sees Finna uncover anything interesting or potentially valuable, but for the most part her eye's on the people over there -- at this point, because she recognises at least two of them. That creepy Soulsteel girl is there, but she also recognises Nozomi Houken and TAIGA. "Hunh..." It's a thoughtful sound, low in her throat and drawn-out. "Look like this might be interesting after all." "Waiting for this little bitch to kill himself on tiger-thing," she comments blandly, folding her arms over the top of the crate to rest her chin over them, before pausing, fishing a crumpled cigarette carton from her jeans pocket, and tucking one into her lower lip. "Hm. You think--oh, shit." Isa looks up, because there is a giant robotic tiger sailing for hers and Finna's wagon's general direction. It may not necessarily hit /their/ wagon, but she's going to watch, because her luck is not really that great. "Ay. Fox-girl." Isa points up to the form of Taiga, rolling the cigarette to the other side of her mouth. "You think that thing going to hit our wagon...?" She sure doesn't seem very alarmed at the possibility.
Shadowed Scales	A duel in the desert. The brash Dragonblood against a girl and her metal cat. The results are not surprising. With his GREAT SPEED he dodges... Absolutely nothing. Taiga's blast takes him square in the face, blowing that helmet clean off revealing... It is not Karuyo Cais. The man is still a fire aspect Dragonblood- in fact the only other survivor of the original squad of them from Chiaroscuro. It's just a quick glimpse before he is pitifully face first in the sand. Though he rises to start giving chase... He's not going to catch up. "Well!" The blonde with Mirror and Briar pipes up. "I think that duel's settled. I say we just leave him to the desert and we all be about our way." Sounds like a plan. She's already sheathing her blade and looking good and ready to wander off. This expidition is over. It's true though. Nozomi (and Taiga) didn't kill him. The desert will probably do that.