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N'Raha     Posted by the Yellowjackets of Limsa Lominsa!
    FATE
    Location: Skull Valley, Western La Noscea.
    Priority: Low
    Danger: Low

    Goblins from Iron Lake, now encamped in Skull Valley, are peddling items strictly prohibited by thalassocratic decree.
    Yellowjackets stationed in the area are seeking to confiscate the contraband and are entreating adventurers for aid.

    The entry point to this particular... relatively minor, nothing to worry about police action is just outside the city of Aleport on the shores of La Noscea. It's a port town, with bustling trade even yet this evening, cargo being loaded and unloaded from smaller vessels that are avoiding the big bright city of Limsa.
    The contact is a lady miqo'te, blue skin, grey hair, wearing a slightly oversized set of yellow caster robes and a big yellow hat. There's a badge on her chest that's marked with a hornet's symbol. Must be the lady. There's a mixed expression of mild concern, frustration, and huffiness to her features. She's scribbling in an oversized spell book and waiting for help to arrive.

    When they do arrive, they're going to be pointed out the main gates by the girl. "Honestly, we haven't the manpower to chase this down right now, we're running an investigation on unlicensed piracy and it's tying up our resources. You'll find the buggers down the road a ways, you can't miss them."
Silica     Silica arrives in her own caster-style robes, walking alongside her dracotiger with one other pet perched on her shoulder. The everpresent dragonling that is Pina. She blinks at the unceremonious dismissal, and nods a bit, her ears pinning down against her head. "Alright... I'll uh... go talk to them." she says, mounting up and turning right back around, heading out the gate and up the road.
Xianren Xianren is not an adventurer. He doesn't resemble one, and isn't here to stop contraband. He's here to investigate it and see what these 'goblins' are and if they're at all useful. He's a towering man, eight feet tall, absolutely rippling with what could be considered a 'perfect' physique, bronze-skinned and completely bald with piercing green eyes, currently dressed in flowing silk robes, green and black. He's completely unarmed, but has a bag full of money at his side.

"What is their 'contraband'?" Is all Xianren would ask, before, no matter the answer he gets, heading off down the road. He does not stick with the party, taking his own pace, and moving to approach the goblins with confidence. If he likes them, he might even make them his.
Solomon Roget     Hm. Goblins dealing in illicit goods. For Solomon, that's far more complex than that simple description may indicate - he's mulling over his non-violent options, and his posture shows it. Though fully kitted out with his all-purpose armor, giant sword, rune pouch, and crossbow, he's plainly not considering pulling any of them out. And, yeah, Silica's got the right idea. Solomon follows her toward the goblins, talking out some of his thoughts: "First, we find out just what these goblins are trying to sell, and why. If it's just for profit, I think I can simply redirect their efforts to something more useful. If it's some other reason... well, we'll figure it out when that comes."

    As he and Silica near the reported location of the goblins, Solomon's keeping a /very/ close eye on the local population's demeanor and reactions. Not only are the goblins' motives important, but local opinion of them is certainly going to play a role in negotiating the situation. What do the people of Eorzea think of goblins?
Morgan Berselius Morgan is still in the area after last night's brief soiree near the coast. So, he figured, why not help the locals out a little bit in exchange for their warm hospitality? "Contraband, huh? I don't really understand, but sure." That weird monk-y looking guy has the right questions, at least. Morgan stays for a moment to hear this miqo'te's response (an entire race of catpeople, and some of them are even blue! How strange!) before asking one of his own, "Do you uh, have any preferences or prohibitions on how you'd like this to go down?"

After all, there's good reason to find out ahead of time before waltzing in and starting a brawl or something.

But once answered, Morgan turns and promptly starts skulking towards the goblin camp. Time to see what can be done here, eh?
Ritsuka Fujimaru      It had been a fair while since Jeanne last struck out at... Well, anyone. She's been biding her time, regaining her mana, waiting for the right moment to make an impact somewhere once again. Hearing of the call for assistance in what sounded like a rather quiet area against... Goblins? Probably not something worth raising a blade against, much less turning her righteous flames towards.

     And yet, here she is. Arriving at the meeting point, her sword rests at her side while her flag is propped up against her shoulder on the opposite side. She slows her gait to listen to the contact, and even stops briefly to wait for the contact's answer to Xianren's question, then moves onwards. She says nothing for the time being, however, instead scanning the area quickly to get a better eye on who else is here for this job.

     A slow smirk crosses her face as Jeanne follows the road. Depending on the contraband or even those present, this could easily be an ideal location to spread her name once more.
Athela Valemore     Not every quest is one to vanquish sinister forces and save the world. Ordinary people need things done to ensure saftey and sanctity of their lives that their ordinary ways cannot always contend with. Just because a request was simple did not mean it would not be important.

    Besides, Athela could not pass up the chance to visit the port of another realm where she felt on familiar terms compared to the rest of the wild and wacky wonders of the Multiverse. La Noscea felt like the coastal lands she had grown up in, especially as she gets a whiff of the salty sea air from the waters just beyond as she walked through Aleport. Alas, the actual coast is not the focus of the matters at hand though.

    Maybe later she can come back and test the local waters for fishing though.

    For now her attention is on what needs to be done, though she does pause briefly at the mention of pirates. Another familiar topic, but for another day and time. She gives the catwoman a curt nod as they're pointed in the way and giving some basic instruction and is quick to follow after the others. "Hopefully this can be handled with little fuss then."

    Like it's ever that easy. But a girl can remain hopeful right?
N'Raha     It's not actually all that far up the road. There's a large hill that crests Skull Valley, before dipping down to stretch along the broad trade roads, with Aleport in the middle, the Sahuagin Breeding grounds at one end, and Limsa Lominsa far to the other.

    And... it's actually a robust little operation going on, really. There's a large set of stalls that have been erected, with some shady looking sailors hovering around and yelling at whoever's running the place. And that would likely be the squat, stange looking people wearing the odd looking gas masks. There's a small cadre of them, busily shuffling goods in and out of a cart to the stalls, and taking people's gil, barter and... well. It's an efficent little operation.

    Off to the side, there's someone that people might recognize, talking with another one of the Goblins that seems to be taller than the rest, and more... chatty. Raha looks mildly exasperated. "I get it. I GET IT, Brayflox, but this... the Admiral's going to yell at you. You're supposed to have a license."

    There's a puffy, raspy breathing noise from the small creature, and a vaguely maybe feminine voice warbles. "Shinycourl speaks rancidwords! Brayflox big hero being! Yellowcoats full of angrytalk with busydeals and no jinglyshine! Brayflox big hero was!"
    The 'hero' part seems to be important right now.
Xianren As Xianren approaches, he's entirely non-stealthy, and he couldn't be stealthy if he wanted to be. His aura is huge, allowing the goblins and N'raha to notice him immediately, as he strides past any security and up to the two of them, because they seem like the 'leaders' around here. He listens to their discussion only briefly, before asking with a firm and determined voice. "I am Xianren, Sovereign of the Pinnacle. Tell me what this contraband that the authorities are after you for consists of." He doesn't seem like he'll take a non-response or a deflection as an answer.

The others only get glances that they're noticed. It seems Xianren...cares most about the mission at hand? Or something like that.
Silica     Silica nods to Solomon. "First gather information, then proceed to make a plan. That's how any raid or dungeon run works." she remarks idly, her tail swaying in counterpoint to the sway of her mount's hips. "I just hope Tetsu doesn't intimidate them too much, but he's been couped up in my inventory for too long and he's getting antsy." she adds conversationally, reaching down and petting the Dracotiger on the side of the neck.

    She spots Raha pretty quickly, and gently giddies the cat to close to the othercat... there's a lot of cat. "Hey Mister Raha... what's going on?" she asks, dismounting and gently patting her friend to calm him... the dracotiger, not Raha.
Morgan Berselius Weeeeelllll hello there.

"Raha," Morgan sidles up next to N'Raha and casually glances around at the many goods and items on sale here. Huh, so it's less 'contraband' and more 'these guys are just doing business without a license.' Nnnneat. "Raha, Raha, Raha. What's this going on here, now? I get news of mischief afoot and find you right in the middle of it. Hmhmhm."

"So uh," he says, glancing at the catman and the goblady. "What are they selling, exactly? It looks like a pretty busy bazaar here. And this... lady here is a hero, too? Hm. Maybe there's something that can be done. Something about someone not paying or something?"

Morgan glances again over at the weird monk-guy.

...What a weird monk-guy.
Athela Valemore     Athela does peer quietly at Xianren's 'presence' for lack of a better word for a few moments, but as soon as the hodgepodge den of deals comes into view she's got her attention diverted back to what must be part of the issue. Oh look, Raha is already here too. She pauses for a moment, mostly to get herself resituated mentally, and by that point the guy that is hard to ignore is already pushing foward with very blunt questioning. She shakes her head a little, but doesn't interrupt and instead just remains back and watchs. The bright red hair does strike a bit of a sight of its own, but other than that she's probably one of the more non-fanciful knights one might see.

    It... just looks like a pack of travelling merchants. But looks are misleading and she's trying to pick up on what could possibly be the illicit goods. Eventually she gives a light whistle and one of the gemstones fastened on her belt glows a light aquamarine color as it responds and in the flash that follows her Vaporeon appears at her side. After a moment to take in the new location Sprite scrunchs up her little muzzle a bit, earfins half-folding back. "Vaaaa." This place is noisy with all the going-ons and jangling coin being exchanged and what not.
Ritsuka Fujimaru      That explained that, then. More cat people, more packrats, and the small... Thing called itself some sort of hero. Jeanne's smirk grows wider as she steps towards the goblin calling itself Brayflox,. "You there. What makes you believe that you are a hero?" There's no outright hostility in her voice, but there's a clear challenging tone to it as the white-haired woman in black stares down at the goblin.

     Truly, she has no idea what to even expect from this creature. Xianren and Solomon, at least, seem to have clear goals, and Morgan too seems to have something in mind. She can't quite put her finger on what Silica, Athela, or N'Raha are after, though.

     Her hand isn't touching her sword yet, though. That's... Something?
N'Raha     Oh geez, someone said the 'C' word. Brayflox turns, whips around and... looks up and up and up at Xiao. If she's intimidated, she doesn't show it. "No! Gobbie no sell badwares, gobbies busytrade junkstuff from darkstops! Gobbiegoods cleanmade and sell to boatriders for jinglyshines!"
    Raha looks and waves to the crowd as they start to roll up. "Ah jeez, the cops did put out an alert, didn't they. Of course they did. Bloody meddling..."
    Not-Jeanne d'Arc gets a look from that impassive gas mask, and somehow Brayflox manages to puff up a little more. "Brayflox stuffgetter for Herobunch in last manglefight. Gobbiesmarts stop worldbreak, help manypeople!"

    Over at the stalls though, there's commotion going on. One of the goblins has tripped and busted up a crate, and now there's sailor/pirates jeering and some are calling for discounts on busted goods. Hmmm.
    
Solomon Roget     In... inventory? Solomon stares blankly at Silica after her offhand comment. "I'm sorry, inventory? You keep your pets in... an inventory? Please explain." There's a bit of concern, and a slight hint of dread, in Solomon's voice; this sounds very much like that 'video game' stuff he's heard about, and that's got him a little afraid. "Er... actually, don't. I don't think I want to know." That conversation is one he knows he needs to have, but he is just not ready for that today.

    As for the matter at hand, it's looking like-- well, it WAS looking like a simple matter of helping the gobbies operate above-board and according to the law of the land. Unfortunately, that possibility has vanished with the emergence of angry sailors and pirates appearing dissatisfied with their recent acquisitions. The goods must be either low-quality or straight-up counterfeit. Solomon moves to have a closer look at the gobbie wares. "So. This stuff is looted from the bodies of the dead? Did whoever collect these even bother with repairs, or what?"
Athela Valemore     The sound of cracking crates and cranky customers draws Athela's attention to the commotion. Okay, time to do something she actually knows what to do. The young knight moves to get between the grumpy sailors with enough swiftness that her cloak flutters brightly behind her. "Gentlemen, calm yourselves," she starts in a calm but firm tone. "If you agitate the dealers its only going to take longer to have matters settled." She is mostly just trying to step in and stop a fight from possibly starting in such a busy location. She's lived in trade ports for a lot of her life before knightdom, she knows how... unruly sailors can be. Especially if they've been on 'shore leave' beforehand, if you catch my drift.

    Behind her the Vaporeon pads, then drifts aside a bit to sniff at the crates. Probably to more annoyance of the Goblins, but for the moment Athela's not paying full attention to her and she's curious.
Morgan Berselius "It sounds like they salvage stuff, clean it up and sell the useful stuff back to whoever wants to buy it?" Morgan scratches awkwardly at his cheek as the goblin continues to rant in what he can describe only as... gobbledeegook. "And they went around the last time the Moon Primal broke out and helped keep things together, or something like that?"

Hm.

"Well, maybe if we all calm down we can come to some kind of compromise, huh?" Morgan grins widely as a wave of... calmness seems to pulse out across the camp. While this problem COULD be solved by just... punching everything, that might mean more beastmen wanting to go out and summon a primal or something like that. And that's more trouble than its worth. So instead, the Chosen of Night employs his dark powers to... Try and maybe cool some heads and calm some fiery tempers overall?

What a lame way to use Dark Powers (tm).
Ritsuka Fujimaru      Jeanne's smirk fades when the contraband is revealed to be... "Graverobbed junk? /This/ is the sort of thing the police of this region concern themselves with?" She lets out a disgusted scoff, turning away from Brayflox with her cloak and flag billowing behind her while turning her attention towards the commotion off at the stalls.

     If the job couldn't be worth doing, perhaps this would provide a suitable distraction at the very least. She approaches one of the sailors that Athela's trying to halt, holding her hand out as if trying to get him to take her hand. "You there."

     Unlike Athela and Morgan, however, she has no interest in calming things at all. Whether he takes it or not, she calls up a pillar of dark flames from beneath the sailor, fully aiming to immolate the unlucky one. "No haggling."
N'Raha     
    Brayflox puffs up a bit more at the attention, while Raha shuffles over to the side to sideeye some of those pirates himself.
    The leader warbles a bit more at Solomon and Morgan. "Gobbiewares made good in craftyhands, no brokebits for jingletrade!" Though. She breathes a moment or two, considering. "Gonefolk no need pokeydagger or hardjacket, gobbies goodmake and goodtrade!"

    And then the fire and the flames happen and BOY HOWDY. If there's two groups of people to know how to react sudden screaming murderdeath it's scavengers and cutthroats. Athela was just about to get a chance to peek at the boxes when goblins come out of the woodwork, literally almost out of nowhere, trying to frantically grab boxes and shove them into the cart and really anywhere they can stash the,

    Several of the pirates though, big burly roedgyans, turn on the woman that's tossing fire around, charging at her with axe and spell. A conjuror in the back slaps a healing spell on one of the pirates, while casting Aero on Jeanne, trying to cut off her air supply and choke her out with magical noxiousness.
Solomon Roget     Okay NO. This is the part where Solomon steps in and lays down the law. Or, rather, he's gonna use that as an excuse to fight. "So. Jeanne, was it? First the tower incident, and now this. Looking for a fight? You've got one." With that, he draws a few runes out of his pouch, charges for a bit, then launches a torrent of water right at Jeanne and the sailor she's busy torching, looking to both harm Jeanne and douse the sailor. "Come at me!" Once the spell's clear from his hands, he beats his chest in provocation, to try to draw her into the duel.

    To the rest of the crowd, he turns and yells: "Hey, Raha, everyone else! Get these goblins to safety! We'll deal with questions later!"
Xianren Xianren is incredibly bored of this. Graverobbing? Who the hell cares about that? But when Jeanne Alter moves to set the sailor aflame, he's curious. What spurs that?

It turns out, according to a quick radio conversation, will and rage. Xianren sees it as a form of art, in the form of extreme violence. And he has to say, with will like that...he approves. But that means it's time for him to get involved. Xianren takes pace quickly, moving up towards the sailors that are harassing Jalter with magic and axes. He grabs a stall, and then quickly moves to lift it with both hands, swinging to spin it into the sailors and crush them with brute force.

And if that doesn't take them down, he clenches a fist, radiant white fire flowing through the Titanic's hand. He'll move to grab the most-threatening looking sailor, and start to burn him alive in his grasp. "You are interrupting my show. Submit to me and I may spare your life."
Athela Valemore     There's something in the way that Jeanne reachs out that sends a shudder down Athela's spine, to the point that she jerks aside as the dark flames erupt on reflex more than actually realizing what's happening until a few moments after. "That was excessive!" she snaps as her attempt at just talking the matter down is so violently interrupted. And now both the sailors and the sellers are panicing. "By Cobalion's beard..." she utters in exasperation.

    Sprite yips as the crate is yanked away from her suddenly, but it's quickly forgotten as Athela snaps over her shoulder. "Sprite, guard them." "Vap!" The merefox bounces back a few paces to keep closer to the scrambling goblins, even helping in keeping fire down with squirts of water.

    Then snaps her attention back to the matter as Yellowjackets rush in to do their job for good or ill. This is no longer about the contraband or not, it's about these people on both sides of the matter now in potential danger because someone had to insist on instigating things in their way. "There was no need to resort to violence and make this a fight!" One hand grabs to draw her weapon, but more importantly is that she thrusts out the other and uses her aquakinetics to lob a burst of water at Xianren as she starts trying to fry the men. "But if ye wish to make it one for no reason, then so be it!"
Morgan Berselius Well.

That all just went to hell in a handbasket now didn't it? Morgan clicks his teeth together as not one, but two people are straight up set on fire. "Hey Raha, you can see pretty well in the dark, can't you?" Morgan asks, patting the catman's shoulders. "Good. I'm going to give you as much cover as I possibly can. Get these people out of here."

Suddenly, the world goes dark. Quite literally, at that. Morgan has pressed a palm to the ground, and a veil of raw shadow-stuff races out from under his hand, thrusting the battlefield into utter darkness. Tendrils of night sweep out and to ensnare the various civilians, Yellowjacket, goblin or otherwise and drags them as quickly and as safely as he can out of the line of fire. "Go," he hisses to Raha, "Now."
N'Raha     Well. This is shaping up to be a right mess. And as the fights start to pair off, that Darkness Falls. There's a sudden rush of energy and then people who aren't fighting, namely the Goblins and some of the pirates start to scarper. There's the sound of that cart moving...
Ritsuka Fujimaru      Laughing as the fires rise, Jeanne draws her sword finally while raising her flag. "You called for mercenaries for mere creatures like these? How /dare/ you call yourselves protectors of the people?" Before she can call out the Yellow Jackets further, she's interrupted by pirates pelting her with wind magic and Solomon blasting her with water. Raising her sword, she grits her teeth as a wilder smirk crosses her face despite the water putting out some of that fire. "Oh, the grappler from the tower. This works just as well."

     Was this her intent, or was this just a convenient result? Either way, she seems pleased enough. Leaving the pirates and Athela to Xianren, she turns her sword to Solomon, opting for a closer-range encounter as she sweeps it towards him with flames trailing her blade!
Silica     Silica blinks as everything just starts exploding. She frowns afterwards, whistling her pet into defensive position. "Come on Tetsu, lets get the non-combatants out of the blast zone." she says, skirting the edge of where all the fighting is starting to happen and instead moves to help the Goblins load up their wagons. "We have to go. Let us help you." she says, hoisting up a crate and stowing it onto a wagon, while Tetsu stands between it and the fight.
Morgan Berselius As darkness falls and swallows the world, it... Doesn't actually seem to be going anywhere in particular. It seems to have become a persistent field-effect of some kind. But out of the black, a series of spikes suddenly shoot up, looking to skewer Xianren's forearm as his grip closes around that unfortunate Yellowjacket.

"Sorry friend," a voice in the dark says. Morgan strolls out from the murk, just barely visible in the gleam of the pyrelight. "I'm not sure I'm okay with /more/ immolations today."
Solomon Roget     Excellent. Everything's according to plan. The madwoman comes at him with a forceful swing of her blade, diverting her attention from the hapless brigands and onto Solomon. And she's got banter, too! He'll have to match that. "I'll have you know I'm not /just/ a grappler. And I see you've not changed since the tower. Great to-ngh!" That "ngh" is the result of him meeting Jeanne's sword with his own, clashing metal with metal, but Jeanne's strike finds purchase regardless - it slips through and slashes against his armor. That's not all, it would seem: the flames from the blade seem to be lingering, hurting him even after the attack. Pah.

    Aaaaand it's dark. Ah well. His target's still close. So, Solomon gauges just enough distance to get a good swing with his own blade, making a more measured strike - though still putting a lot of OOMPH behind the swing.
Ritsuka Fujimaru      How curious. The sky has turned dark, almost as if something foreboding is coming. Or... Is it a sign of Jeanne's growing power? Yes, that has to be it. Laughing even more madly, she keeps her sword pointed towards Solomon once again. "The tower was an interesting... Place. I kept my word not to harm anyone there, but here?"

     Watching Solomon's blade, she lunges forward once again, bringing her armored gauntlet up to block against it. Her jaw twitches slightly as that blade bites in, drawing a spray of blood, but she does little else as her efforts go entirely into lashing out at the strange swordsman. "I've made no promises to anyone here. You'll have your fight, fool!" Spears of darkness gather behind Jeanne as she starts swinging at Solomon once again with a flurry of slashes, each one punctuated by a spear launching itself towards him.
Xianren As Xianren burns an unfortunate person to death, allowing them to get consumed if they don't immediately surrender to him, he suddenly feels something wet push him back, a strong impact against his body that soaks his robes. It's enough to make him drop the person he's holding, but they've got third degree burns at the least, if not dead yet. Ignoring the dying man, Xianren looks down to his robes. "Ruined." And then a spike digs through his arm, piercing into the skin. It'll find that his muscle is very tough, but it's enough to draw blood and stop him from immediately striking out at Athela.

And so, Xianren flexes. His upper robes basically explode off of him, though his lower robes remain in place, showing his absolutely chiseled abs and physique. "You are supposed to be fighting her, not me. Though if I am the foe you insist on...very well."

Xianren turns towards Athela, and suddenly, space ripples around him. One second, Xianren is there. The next, he's right up in front of Athela. He moves to grab her by the arm, white flames flowing through to burn her with one hand, before he twists his wrist to try and slam her hard into the ground. And then, he lifts his other hand towards Morgan...and he punches.

The punch ripples through space, and for the briefest second, his fist appears in front of Morgan's chest, flying forward to slam him with a powerful blow.

"Come, show me what you're made of."
Morgan Berselius Well.

That's certainly unpleasant.

Xianren's fist lands with a meaty thwack and he can immediately feel his victim go flying off somewhere into the artificial night. For a while, there's no further response. It's as if he was taken out with a single, mighty blow. Is it really that easy? Could that really have been... It?

"Ow," someone says from somewhere nearby... And again steps out from the shadows. It's him. Still alive. Still kicking. And all the while picking at the very obvious hole in his chest that even now is beginning to knit itself closed, "That was rude, punching a guy without any warning." Morgan grunts, gesturing forward with an open palm. "You know, we can still talk about this. No need to get too violent. No?"

A shrug. "Well. Alright."

Shadowy tendrils would leap out from the murk, striking out to snag around the strange monk's arms and legs. It might not be able to hold him in place for long, what with the weird... space-time bending nature of his abilities, but the chill touch of night may still be enough to sap at his strength!
Athela Valemore     It got his attention and that's what Athela wanted. There's little she can do for the man that's been scorched other than getting him let go, so that shall have to suffice. Meanwhile darkness has fallen over the chaos, but she refuses to let that disrupt her focus. She's dealt with dark forces (and Count Kord) enough to keep her mind on the important matter at hand.
    She was anticipating him striking back in return, but the brief blipping out of space is not what she expected. It does remind her of what Ghost types do though. The flaming hand grabs onto her arm and burns hot even through her armor as he reappears. But when he pulls to pick her off the ground Athela reacts to beat him to the punch by jumping herself and twirling with the motion to keep her arm from being twisted around and becoming vulnerable. Instead of a slam she lands on her feet and swings low with her own weapon, aiming at his legs with the backward hooks on Resolute Blade to try and throw him off balance.
Solomon Roget     "Fool you say? Hah! You get no challenge from me on that point." Solomon's tone is one of a fighter enjoying the spoken, witty barbs as well as the physical barbs being exchanged. "But, Jeanne, what you /will/ be challenged on is your ability to win this fight!" With that, he starts working on deflecting some of the slashes and stabs getting launched at him, turning his body this way and that to try to angle his armor to catch the remaining blows at a decent angle. "That said... huff... you do... you know how to strike fast and hard at the same...ngh...time." His little fancy shifting and blocking may have kept him from taking /all/ of the damage, but each blow finds some real estate on their target, pushing him back slightly with each strike. Mental note: ask how she does it later.

    Also a mental note to thank her for using a flame element to counter the otherwise-impenetrable dark. Solomon would prefer to keep this a swordfight, and the light helps him do just that. Once he finds an opening in the barrage aimed at him, he breaks away and winds up for another strong swing. He might not be able to match his opponent in raw power, but he can /definitely/ tank out her hits long enough for his own to wear her down first. Probably. Maybe? Actually, it's not anywhere close to certain. But, no other way to find out but to try!
Ritsuka Fujimaru      Indeed, Jeanne's flames do have the added bonus of making things visible despite the darkness! Sort of. They're DARK flames, after all, so even the visibility they provide is on the surreal, wrong side of brightness.

     "Quite the words you have, swordsman. Although I must say..." Flicking her blade upwards, Jeanne actually moves to defend herself properly this time around instead of simply taking the hits, panting slightly as her all-out attack strategy is already taking a bit of a toll on her. Solomon's sudden counter forces her to catch it with her blade, jerking back at the last moment as it still manages to cleave through her arm and leave a bloody gash across it.

     "You're not doing terribly, either. But... You're holding back. Show me your true power already!" Twirling once with the slash instead of forcing herself back against it, she uses her spin to whip that cursed flag around instead of going for another swing of her sword, aiming to bludgeon Solomon with the flagpole instead.
Xianren It's too dark to really notice, but if one looks where Xianren teleported from, there's a hole in space, slowly closing itself. Same from where he threw that punch. It doesn't do anything special, but it's trippy to look at if you have darkvision. But as they close, Morgan speaks up, still alive, not taken out in one hit. "Why would I stop? You were the ones who attacked me first. I am merely putting you in your place."

And then, tendrils wrap around Xianren, sapping at his strength and holding him still. He closes his eyes, as the sword slices into his legs, which would trip him up if he wasn't pinned. Brilliant red blood drips to the floor, before Xianren suddenly speaks up.

"Enough."

His eyes open, his piercing green eyes staring, as there''s suddenly a bright glow coming from his head. A brilliant white mark appears, eight rays around an empty circle, lighting up the area around him. With a flex of his muscles, the tendrils start to bend, but they don't outright break. Instead, he tries to pull Morgan forward, though if they're not connected to him...

He merely blinks in and out of space again, the tendrils shuddering, as he lurches up to Athela and moves to elbow her straight in the face, grabbing her by the hair and trying to force the blow into as much impact as he can. He doesn't stay around for long, though, forcing Athela to pursue him, as he disappears again, moving behind Morgan and moving to lock his legs with his own, trying to trip him up and pull his legs out from under him. If this works, Xianren moves to smash Morgan down with both of his hands straight into the ground, a powerful impact from someone clearly skilled in martial arts.

"Submit to me and you will live. You will be excellent."
Solomon Roget     Well that's an interesting turn of events. As punshing as Jeanne's attacks are, they seem to be backfiring on her - the various cuts Solomon has been dealing to Jalter seem to be getting deeper and deeper even without him striking them again. So it would seem that even with the dark swordswoman's superior might, the two are evenly matched. Excellent.

    "Holding back, huh?" It's true. Solomon had been pacing himself throughout the fight. But he just couldn't resist the call to unleash the strongest attack he could muster. "Fine. I'll show you just how hard I can hit." With that, and the quick flash of a grin, he utterly disregards the flagpole crashing forcefully into him and digs out a couple more runes, conjuring a small clump of rocks to hurl at Jeanne. Immediately after, he charges forward with his sword, lunging with the remaining force he can muster to ram through Jeanne's defenses with a one-two rocky sword punch.

    Any onlookers will quickly note that he is probably not doing another one of those attacks this battle. Solomon's looking pretty ragged.
Athela Valemore If Xianren is expecting her to scream as he grabs and pulls her hair, he is going to be disappointed. Athela clenches her teeth and grits it, refusing to give in. Even as the elbow smashes hard into her face, sending her reeling backwards as the man teleports away again. She staggers a few steps, then grows as she turns her head to spit out some blood in a very unwomanly fashion. If there's any left on her mouth afterwards it's ignored, unimportant. Her grip tightens on her weapon, even in the darkness the ancient weapon has a faint gleam to it as if resonating with her determination as she takes sprint in the direction of the other two men. But surely him being in close-quarters with her impromptu ally is going to make an attack difficult?

    Not when there's a sudden eruption of water directly beneath her feet and launches Athela arching upward. Similar elemental energy swirls around the blade of her weapon as she grips it in both hands, thrusting down as soon as she's cleared Morgan to drive the blade sheathed in watery torrent strong and precise towards Xianren.

Pursuing him is exactly what he got, too.
Ritsuka Fujimaru      An impressed smirk crosses the Avenger's face as Solomon eats that hit head on. "Fool indeed... But a fool with skill is better than a scholar without honor!" Twirling that flag to hold it beside her, Jeanne steps back to watch Solomon's next maneuver. Will he come from the side? Above, even?

     No. He comes from the front! As predictable as the move may be, knowing it's coming and being able to avoid it in time are two different things. Jeanne slams the end of her flag against the ground to give herself a bit more control as she brings her gauntlet up to protect herself from the rocks, wincing as they too draw blood and leave several dents in the armor. When he comes in for the thrust, however, even swinging herself out of the way isn't quite fast enough as the blade pierces into her side and draws a pained grimace from the Dragon Witch.

     And then she starts laughing again. It's pained laughing, but laughter nonetheless. "Very good... This is what I was looking for coming here. Remind me to thank whoever placed that call for mercenaries!" With Solomon so close, she raises her arms even as blood drips below her. Her arms catch on fire as she slams them together towards Solomon, apparently aiming to burn him more than she does herself in the process!
Morgan Berselius Fortunately, the tendrils /aren't/ at all connected to Morgan. They writhe and pulse in the strange monk's hands, but when he tugs at them, he finds that they are simply contiguous with the ambient murk.

/Un/fortunately, that doesn't help much when the monk surges in and slams him right into the ground. The shadow-man's body is driven hard into the earth, and for a moment it feels as if the impact had pulverized his bones to dust. Dark blood seeps out of dozens of ruptured vessels, staining the ground a deep crimson.

But perhaps it should be expected by now that this person isn't really a 'person,' per se. Does he have bones to break at all?

Suddenly, as Athela dives in from above, the bloodstain below seems to surge and pulse. All at once, a dozen massive spikes surge upward to impale the monk from all sides. The body that was there has bled away, disappearing into liquid shadow to re-emerge some distance away. "Sorry, not interested. I'm already pretty excellent as-is."
N'Raha     There's a growling huff noise from amidst the ruins of the makeshift stalls, followed by a lion's roar, and...

    And N'Raha, Warrior of Light, comes stalking out of the mess and the murk, his axe traling along the ground, tossing up sparks and aether, magical energies rippling off his body as he slowly assesses the fight. Gone is the stylish looking sweater, and in its place is a set of sleek, inky blue scale mail, glistening in the dying light of the day. The ears of the catman flick and twitch, before slinking back against his helmet.

    "...I think you two have done enough... tonight." The axe comes up and around, the heavy chopping head flashing aether into the night air, as he sides up... and squares up.
Solomon Roget     As it would turn out, Solomon's all-out assault was a horrible idea. First: he took an intentional direct hit. Second: he pushed himself past his limits, and he knew that. Third: his resulting exhaustion left him extremely vulnerable to counterattack. And even reacting in time to catch Jeanne's arms as she brings them down upon him, Solomon didn't keep anything in reserve to deflect the flames.

    "Argh!" All Solomon can really do is yelp after Jeanne's final punishing strike. After a couple seconds of attempting to muster one last counterblow and managing only to stand himself up, he decides maybe conceding is a good idea. "I... yield. G...good fight." Sure, he could reach DEEP down and keep going if he had to... but that doesn't seem to be a good idea right now. He's not bleeding too much, but the series of concussive blows and burns have run their course. "Yeah... let's call it. Give me a chance to recover and prepare, and... I'll show you even MORE power." With a grimace and a lot of effort, the very much battered Solomon picks up his sword and re-sheathes it.

    Once he's rested up, he'll need to check back with Raha to see what became of the bystanders. Maybe apologize for causing a ruckus.
Xianren Athela comes at Xianren first, bleeding and sprinting. As the water blasts her forward and surrounds her sword, he turns, and the blow hits him head-on...but while it cuts him, forcing him to bleed, it's reduced as the white fire surrounds his body, his caste mark glowing brighter. The water hurts, but begins to turn into steam as it hits the white hot fire, surrounding the two of them. "You're good."

And then Morgan refuses his offer, and spikes ocme out of the ground. They plunge into his body, causing him to bleed from his torso, but the white hot fire melts or pushes back several of them before they can impale him, and those one or two that do impale him are ripped out, showing wounds in his side and arms.

Xianren continues to flow with fire, and is about to attack further...when Jeanne Alter defeats her opponent. So instead, as N'raha comes forward, Xianren suddenly disappears, appearing again not far from Jeanne in a ripple of space. "You did magnificently. I am Xianren, as I said before. I can have a carrier ship pick us up and treat to our wounds, if you would be kind enough to join me."

And then he speaks something into his radio, and nearby, a ship starts to descend not long after. It seems they're going to leave. Xianren /does/ turn to the collected heroes, though. "I will be making my leave. Remember my offer, for next time, I will not be so merciful."

The ship is also made of shiny colorful metal and looks big enough to have a small apartment in it to stay in. Is...is this guy rich or something?
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore rebounds off her diving strike, heels skidding slightly on the now damp ground before finding full purchase. The steam in itself doesn't really bother her, but she can't exactly see entirely clear through it either. So it's understandable that she's still tense, gripping Resolute Blade in front of her at the ready even as she shifts another step back and darts her gaze, fully expecting Xianren to pull his Phantom Force trick yet again before the mist fully fades.

    It's not until she hears his voice at the opposite end of what had been the market place that she realizes he isn't launching another attack and spins around, cloak whipping behind her with the motion... Only to find him collecting the other aggrivator to leave.

And a very pissed looking N'Raha approaching.

She just glares with a scowl herself, having not taken a liking to Xianren's attitude in general, or his showing-off style of fighting. But after seeing what he's already done knows she can't really jump him again before he does leave, so scowling will have to do.

Her Vaporeon, having also been holding back to help guard the fleeing goblins, is scampering behind... though even the merefox is keeping a distance from angry biped Persian.
Ritsuka Fujimaru      As the flames at Jeanne's arms die down, she chuckles softly while Solomon stands back up. Neither of them seem to be in great shape at this point, and she simply sheathes her own blade as he does the same. "You did better than expected, Solomon. The guards here could learn something if they had more courage than coin."

     Bracing the flag against her shoulder once more, the Avenger turns with that burning banner billowing behind her. "You'd better not die before I can kill you myself, then. A worthy foe doesn't come along often." She starts stepping along with her flag assisting her when she hears and sees several things going on at once. A cat-eared man with an axe appears issuing a challenge, and the giant that assisted her earlier is sudenly in front of her.

     Jeanne had been in the start of a laugh at that moment, too. She looks up, shuts her mouth briefly to sort out just what's happened, then sighs and shrugs in turn. "Hmm... Why not. I've done what I needed to." Looking from Xianren to still more Xianren, she leans to the side for a moment to narrow her eyes at N'Raha.

     "You disgust me." She spits out, then stands straight again before nodding towards Xianren. "Let's go."