The Great Slave Auction

Ayero had readied herself the best she could for her venture into the Fanalis holding area, but nothing prepared her for the sick show that was to follow. Seeing her brethren chained and restrained like vicious, wild criminals (Even the animals for sale weren’t treated with this much indignity!) made her stomach turn and the thought that she could easily be one of those poor creatures in bondage sent a shudder through her limbs. She fought through her initial shock to appear as natural and confident as possible, thankful for the mask covering her face. Swallowing thickly, she answers the elderly man in a low voice. ”Perhaps later. I’m quite able to judge your wares as I am.”

As he makes his way to an interested buyer, the halfling scans the crowds of redheads with the hope of spotting someone familiar. One of them amongst a cluster of male Fanalis caught her eye—or more particularly, the birth mark on his back that would be unmistakable to his sister’s eye. Her heart jackhammers in her chest and she twists her head this way and that in order to scout her surroundings. Now that she’d found him, Ayero would need to find a way to free him and it didn’t look like she’d be able to break though the heavy chains made especially to restrain her kind. Her eyes finally settled on the guard closest in proximity to her brother, and the ring of keys he wore at his belt. As she was about to take a step toward him, she’s intercepted by the approach of the elderly man. The fanalis woman peers down at him through her mask, hoping that she’d get the opportunity to break this twig of a man in two. But for now she had to bide her time, the bombs would hopefully go off soon and she’d be able to swipe the keys from the guard in the ensuing confusion.

While Lance chased after the guards he was still a bit far away from them so he took this time to stand next to people, pretend to be looking at the slaves while he slipped the tools into their pockets before shaking his head and running off. He completed this process until the bag was empty.

He caught up to the guards again eventually "You guys run fast..." he said out of breath as he saw the guy up on a rope yelling something about letting the slaves go. He had seen the mark painted on the wall somewhere before but he didn't remember. He yelled to the man "Do you really want to do that..." he called with bitterness and a wicked grin. If this man would try to hurt him he would have no chance of fighting back so he wouldn't. He was also telling the truth he wasn't going to stop him from freeing the salves.

The thin, elderly man hummed at the halfing woman and offered a slight nod before scanning around for other, more interested, buyers. The room was filled with prospective buyers shuffling between the enslaved Fanalis and he could not afford to waste time on an uninterested buyer. The guards kept a sharp eye out, on guard to ensure the safety of the prospective buyers against the captives.

Suddenly, there was a rumble like thunder and the ground shook from the force as screams from outside could be heard. Most of the guards ran for the door to see what the commotion was and the elderly salesman quivered in confusion and fear. Most of the prospective customers also rushed for the door, eager to see what the continuing rumbles and screams were caused by. The Holding Center was a mass of confusion with the customers pushing and shoving their way past guards, the enslaved Fanalis straining at their bonds in the commotion, hoping to break free.

Outside of the Holding Center, the guards near the gate were distracted from Diego and Trixie as the area filled with smoke, dust, and debris from the nearby explosions. They immediately ran for the nearest area of destruction, trying to make their way through panicked buyers that were screaming out about mad chickens and loose slaves. From the debris emerged two ruffled, one meter tall chickens, their feathers singed from the force of the explosions, squawking loudly and attacking anything between them and perceived safety.





The cloaked man embroiled in a loud argument with the shopkeeper suddenly stopped and offered a smirk before whispering unheard words. During the argument, the guards were torn between trying to calm him and the appearance of a man swinging from a building after having painted a symbol on the wall. One of the guards jerked his head, indicating two others should deal with the man on the rope as he tried to calm the commotion with the cloaked figure.

As Lance was slipping magical tools into people’s pockets, one shouted out a warning. These customers tended to have close guard on their pockets, wanting to ensure that they precious money remained undisturbed with the sheer number of masked individuals. One felt as Lance was putting the tool in his pocket and he cried out, “THIEF,” a nearby guard immediately moving forward to grab Lance’s arm in a threatening manner. As he was about to demand that the man empty out the half-full bag Lance carried, chaos erupted all around.

The magical tools all began detonating, breaking apart cages and destroying nearby structures. The slaves inside the cages tried to huddle away from the explosions and cover themselves from the flying shrapnel as they could hear other explosions happening nearby. Almost like a split second chain reaction, all of the carefully placed magical tools were going off. A man that had just won an auction against a known child-lover for a small girl, unknowingly Lance’s first victim, was wandering down the street, pondering at the semi-good deed that he had done when the tool in his pocket exploded violently, ending his life in a vicious display. The rest of Lance’s victims suffered a similar fate, their bodies unable to withstand the force of the explosions in their pockets. Lance and the guard holding his arm were caught in a massive burst coming from the bag of tools, nearly disintegrating both of the men. There was nothing left of the area Lance had been standing at, everyone for several meters suffered life-ending damage from the sheer number of tools still remaining in the bag.

As the cages crumpled and cracked open, slaves were flocking out and trying to make their way to freedom. Some of the distraught customers regained their composure enough to try and recapture the escaping slaves, hoping to obtain what they had come to the auction for. The man in the cloak stopped his whispering and moved swiftly away from the guards now distracted by the chaos all around, slaves and customers mixing freely to escape the carnage that now covered the entire area. After what seemed like an eternity for most of the people involved but was actually mere minutes, the sounds of explosions died down, replaced by the sounds of small structures collapsing and the screams and sobs from the people in the area.

Though anticipated, the sound of the nearby serial explosions cause her to jump in surprise. That was louder than I expected…! As the guards begin to rush out into the chaos she make a beeline for the auction stage and keeps her eyes trained on the guard closest to her brother, snatching the keys from his belt as they hurry past each other. The halfling rushes over to her brother, the surrounding fanalis eyeing her with apprehension and hostility as she roughly grasps his bound wrists and fiddles with the lock on his chains, her shaking hands somewhat hindering the operation.

The moment his hands are free, Neem Shiiba takes a swing at the woman who freed him. Despite the fact that she had undone his bindings he couldn’t take the risk that she was simply a slaver taking advantage of the mass confusion in order to score herself some free merchandise. Even if she was an ally, he wasn’t about to take the chance at giving up his first taste of freedom in nearly ten years. To his chagrin, the masked woman ducked at the last second to avoid his fist. ”Neem! Wait!” She holds her hands up in front of her in defense. As she had predicted he pauses, startled that this stranger knows his name and she takes the opportunity to rip the mask from her face.

His jaw slackens at the sight of the last person he’d expect, partially hidden by the muzzle strapped across his face. ”…Ayero…? I…what on earth…?” His incredulous voice is muffled from behind the restraint which he then takes the time to tear from his face with a hard yank. ”What are you even doing h—“ Neem cuts himself off as he catches sight of his fellow slaves, their eyes pleading with him and the strange woman upon seeing that she likely posed no threat and that she was kin. Closing his eyes, the redheaded male takes in a deep breath before reopening his eyes and steeling his long-lost sister with a hard gaze. ”Ayero, listen to me. Take the rest of these keys and free as many on this block as you can, then get the hell out of here. Leave the rest to me.”

Ayero stares at him with hesitation for a moment before meeting his hard gaze with a practiced version of her own. ”No, I came here for you and only you. I can’t even guarantee that we’ll get out of this alive, so let’s move!” She grabs his arm in an attempt to yank him along, nervous and eager to leave this god forsaken place. ”Don’t be selfish!” He snarls, refusing to budge as she tries to force him to move, instead using the leverage afforded by her grip to push her smaller body toward the cluster of slaves. ”These are our brethren.” The fanalis male hisses lowly, gaze softening after the words leave his lips.

The situation was confusing and unpredictable, but Neem felt as if he owed many of his fellow enslaved fanalis a debt. If they didn’t take this chance now, many of them wouldn’t get the chance to taste freedom again. His words struck a chord within Ayero and she nods obediently, swallowing nervous as she begins to fiddle with the locks. For several moments Neem can only watch her and feel the erratic beat of his heart as he scrambled to come up with a plan to free the rest of the fanalis and make it out safely. His hand darts out and suddenly latches onto her wrist with an iron grip, causing the halfling woman to turn toward him with a confused expression.

”When you leave, go to back to Reim. I’ve heard stories of bandits…thieves or pirates, I’m not sure. But they’re said to be vicious killers that roam the mountains where our home is.”

He spoke with unusual clarity, his eyes boring deeply in to hers. Understanding what he wanted, Ayero can only nod wordlessly and watch as he disappeared into the chaos. She had successfully freed and reunited with her brother, but the stubborn ass refused to leave with her to safety. The fact that she was able to track him down was a miracle in itself and she mused that she should be grateful, even if they both were dead by the end of today.

Diego jumped as the explosions shook the afternoon and threw everything into chaos. Smoke and debris erupted into the surroundings from the aftershock. The guards were running to see what had happened and citizens were running in panic. Diego had a moment of panic, wondering if the slaves were alright but then turned his mind to the task at hand. With the guards distracted, he led Trixie to the manor where Ayero was. He was further encouraged a moment later when he heard loud squawks behind him. He looked to see two large chickens emerging from the debris.

Diego leaped on Trixie's back and kicked his heels in, urging her to push through the mass of people exiting the manor to get inside. Diego's mind screamed at him to get away from the chickens and Trixie snarled at people to move. When they got up the steps, Diego noticed distracted guards near the doors but he clicked his tongue to tell Trixie to barrel into them. If he managed to slip through, he would burst inside and shout, "Miss Ayero!"

There was an incredible boom, a bright flash, and suddenly not only where the slaves free, but the man yelling at him from below was no more. Utter Chaos ensued as slaves and buyers ran for their lives, and guards began to try to figure out what the heck just happened. From his perch hanging from the building Altair got a fantastic view. He could see the channels of people running away from the epicenter and out towards the rest of town. he noticed that some of the slaves were being accosted by both buyers and guards. This was were Altair came in. While the others were helping the slaves escape, it would be his job to distract the guards by making as big a ruckus as he could. And what better way to discourage a bunch of military men then by taking out their leader?

Altair looked from his perch over the crowds of people, trying to identify anyone who looked to be in charge of the guards. Once he found him, he would make his way through the crowd to him, and figure out the best way to take him down from there. without their leader to give them orders, the guards would be rendered as useless as sheep separated from the flock. Who knows, Altair might even find something useful on the man. Finding his target, Altair cut his line, and dropped to the ground. The hunt was on.

As Diego and Trixie barreled through the confused guards, one would turn to follow the boy while the others were beginning the search for the source of the explosions. As the Holding Center had not been victim to the explosions, their attention fell to where the apparent threat was. One of the guards was accosted by a massive chicken that had been following Diego and quickly used his blade to slash the chickens head off. The other chicken came screeching from the side, clawing at the guards face before being quickly dispatched as well.

Inside of the building, Diego would find most of the building empty, aside from the slaves, Ayero and her brother, and the single guard following him. When the guard caught sight of Ayero freeing the slaves, he would shout out, “Hey, you! Stop that! Those are private property!” before moving forward with his sword in an offensive stance, assessing the threat level of the room full of Fanalis. The enslaved Fanalis were looking at Ayero with hope as she unlocked their chains and the entrance of the guard drew the attention of the entire room, each of the imprisoned red-heads turning to the guard with a look of hard anger. The guard seemed to realize the predicament he had placed himself in, his eyes widening before rushing back out the door to find help.

As Ayero unlocked chains, something glittering on the floor might catch her eye. If she were to pick it up, she would find it was a small charm attached to a chain in the shape of a snake that one of the many customers had lost in their rush to see what the commotion was. The other Fanalis still chained would be encouraging her to finish quickly before the guard returned and one of the freed Fanalis would be rubbing his wrists after it was freed of the chains. He would approach Diego as he dug in his clothing for a moment, approaching the boy with a smile. “Thank you, and your pet, my young brethren, for clearing the guards from the door. Take this.” He would hand Diego a silver bracelet with animals etched around the outside. He would then begin helping the less strong of the slaves by aiding them to the door, trying to rush the group as much as possible before reinforcements arrived. If they could make use of the distraction of the explosions and chaos, they could be gone before anyone was able to return.





As Altair jumped down from the rope and headed for the guards, he would find himself in a rather dicey situation as several of the people attending the auction had heard his proclamation about freeing the slaves. Angered that they had been denied their ability to purchase a slave, he would find himself surrounded by several upset individuals. If he would look down for a moment, he would notice a sturdy looking chain with a lamb pendant attached to the end. On the pendant, he would notice a small magic circle. If he chose to feed a small amount of magoi into the pendant, he would summon a sheep, causing a round of confusion among the mob gathering about him. The guards around the area would still be more focused on trying to find the source of the commotion from the explosions, trying to find the person responsible. The cloaked man from before would pass by Altair without a sound, heading into the clouds of dust and debris to begin making his way out of the city.

Ayero:

Diego:

Altair:

The halfling paused in working on the chains as a familiar voice shouted her name. ”Diego!” She whips around, momentarily distracted from the task at hand by the sight of her young friend and the fact that he was apparently unharmed. But the Fanalis youth was closely followed by a guard who caught sight of the young woman freeing the slaves from bondage. Thankfully he had realized quickly how outnumbered he was and quickly fled the scene, undoubtedly set on returning with more muscle. The urging of the remaining captive Fanalis spur her back into action knowing that there was limited time for them to flee.

Nearly finished, a glimmer spotted from the corner of her eye drew her gaze to the floor. As she removed the last lock and helped the now free Fanalis cast his chains to the floor she took the opportunity to snatch the glittering gold object, figuring something that nice had to be worth some decent Huang. Dangling the necklace in front of her as she rises, she’s slightly surprised to see a rather intricate snake charm fastened to a gold chain. The fanalis woman had often admired the gold and jewels adorned by rich women but refused to spend any of her earnings on such things seeing as how unstable her income was. Thrusting the item into one of the pockets of her cloak for safe keeping she returns to reality and swiftly approaches Diego as he finishes conversing with an older Fanalis.

”Nice work.” She comments, giving Diego a quick once-over to ensure that he hadn’t sustained any serious injuries. ”We’ve done all we can. Let’s leave while we’re still able to!”

Diego turned in the direction of Ayero's cry and noticed her freeing the various Fanalis that were chained up or in pens. Before he could approach her however, a guard followed him inside and shouted at him in a threatening manner. Diego spun around, his tongue flicking to the roof of his mouth to give Trixie a command, but the guard's expression gave him pause. The guard looked at the mass of Fanalis slaves already freed and paled, fleeing the scene when he realized that he would be unable to contain the situation by himself.

Diego let out a breath glad that the guard had decided against fighting and turned his attention back to Ayero. As he approached one of the freed Fanalis pulled Diego to the side, thanking him for clearing out the guards. The Fanalis removed a silver bracelet from a pocket and handed it to Diego. Diego looked it over, noticing animals engraved within the jewelry and smiled up at the Fanalis. "I thank you, but you should thank Miss. She was the one to break your chains." Seeing that the Fanalis still intended Diego keep the gift, he slid it on his wrist. Trixie nudged Diego's leg with a grunt and he rubbed the fur on her shoulder, knowing they didn't have much time.

He grinned up at Ayero as she complimented his work in getting inside, "Looks like you got everyone free, good job Miss!" In agreement that they needed to go, Diego and Madam Trixie followed Ayero outside, hoping to avoid trouble on the way out.

As Altair ran, he noticed that he had gained some followers. Suddenly he stopped, as he had been surrounded by numerous angry civilians who had most likely been denied a purchase due to the explosions.  And who else would they blame?  He did just make a huge announcement while hanging from a building.  Altair grinned.  The crowd yelled and screamed at him, but they didn't approach.  A small rock hit the back of Altair's head, but even though Altair knew exactly who threw it, (he wasn't exactly being subtle), he stopped.  Down at his feet was a small sheep shaped pendant.  Suddenly curious, Altair bent down to pick it up.  Immediately he felt the touch of life magic on the pendant.  Altair grinned once again.  He had no idea what it would do, but he needed a distraction to get away from the crowd.  He concentrated, and flooded the pendant with Magoi until it started to glow purple.  Five sheep appeared around him.  Altair looked to the sheep, and then to the pendant.  And then he started to laugh.  Slowly at first, but it soon became a full belly laugh.  "What a perfect little item for me.  Five sheep for my Shepherd's flock.  Alright.  Cause mayhem my little ones!"  The sheep bolted for the crowd, running in between legs, knocking people over, and biting at their fingers and hands.  They wouldn't permanently injure anyone, but it would be enough to get them thoroughly distracted.  Using this to his advantage, Altair ran off once again to where he had seen the guard captain.  He could only hope that this little roadblock hadn't taken too much time.

Sheep Pendant:

Stamina/Magoi: 195/250

((Side note for future reference: Altair, you can’t summon all five sheep at once))


The Fanalis that had been chained followed Ayero’s directions and began rushing from the building, each of them praying to beat the reinforcements back to the building. As they all exited the building, they would see the entire area in ruins. People, both buyers and slaves, were flooding away from the center of the chaos, an man in a cloak rushing past with everyone else, the flock of people intent of getting as far from the destruction as they could. There were still some buyers attempting to catch the running slaves, but the slaves were fighting now that they were free, fighting and running. The few guards not investigating the massacre left by Lance were as lost in the confusion as everyone else, unsure of who to try and stop and who to let free. If the large group of Fanalis were to hurry, they may just make it away from the guards and move towards freedom.




As sheep appeared from nowhere, the angry buyers balked in shock. The sheep quickly became frightened and rushed through the crowd, trampling over small children in their desire to be aware from the crowd. The guards were too busy trying to direct people away from the fallen structures to have any real sense of order. None of the guards were attempting to shout out orders aside from telling people to make their way away from the destruction, funneling them towards the other side of the city, which had been untouched. The entire area where the different auctions had been held was a mess, debris and injured or dead bodies strewn in the streets, people crying and asking for help to get friends or loved ones out from under the rubble. The group of slave-freeing rogues had made quite a mess and a great number of the slaves were taking advantage of the distraction to run, trying to hide amongst the crowds flowing towards the obelisk. Most were focused on nothing more than escape, mothers clutching children to their chests and dashing away, men helping the older slaves away from the cages that had held them. Any guard that attempted to stop them was quickly overrun and the slaves stayed in groups for safety, knowing that in the confusion, none of the guards would be a true threat as long as there were several of them together.

As Ayero and Diego directed the now freed Fanalis from the building and though the chaotic streets her mind wandered back to her brother. The older Fanalis male had disappeared into the panicked throngs before she had a chance to speak with him about his ominous warning. But that would have to wait as escaping to safer ground was her first priority. She glances to her side and is relieved to see that Diego and Trixie have stayed close, not that anyone was likely to trample a man-sized tiger. Arching her neck, she squints into the distance in an attempt to scope out a safer area for them to head towards.

[Exit]

Diego followed Ayero out of the building with the rest of the free slaves, Trixie at his side with Zanzibar wiggling on her back. The white spider was anxious from the loud explosions and the overwhelming feeling of panic and chaos around them. Madam Trixie was handling it better, while cautious and on guard, she sensed a calmness in Diego and hung to that. Diego had expected the scene to devolve into chaos which was the only reason he wasn't panicking too. That and his Fanalis friend was safe next to him. If there was a threat, he felt confident that they could deal with it on their own. They had managed to get out of trouble so far with quick thinking and some luck.

He also kept an eye out, looking for safer paths to travel to avoid some of the fighting and more angry people. He sent glances back to the freed slaves behind them, making sure the stragglers didn't fall prey to zealous, greedy slave traders hoping to get free helpings.

[exit]

With no clear leader leading the troops, Altair decided he would start helping the remaining slaves exit the area. He began "directing traffic" as it were, wearing his other mask and cloak so that he wouldn't be recognized as the man who made the proclamation to free the slaves. With so many people trying to make their way through the alleys and small passages, it made for quite the job. Altair quickly went around breaking up the clogs of people and allowing the flow to go unobstructed.

[exit]