Data missing. Requesting update...

[Capntastic]

The fencer looks up from his story; "Who is asking, if I may ask?"

[Endesu]

There appeared to be a conversation going on over with Jikuro and the rest, but he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

His watch on the door would reveal what appeared to be a shadowy face of some sort briefly peeking in before disappearing. Another appeared to take its place... then another... then another... and so on, until an entire crowd appeared to be peeking in.

Somehow, no one else seemed to detect this presence, but Greg could certainly see it. Within a moment, the peeking shadows had apparently disappeared...

At that same moment, the woman was chatting with Mr. Kylitos and somewhat rudely interrupting his conversation. "All right, listen. My name is Jikuro. You don't know me, but I know enough about you to know that you died once and spent a bit of time as a wandering spirit? I need you to tell me as much as you can about that and your ensuing resurrection.

There's also... other matters, but we can discuss those later. First and foremost, what I just asked about. Can you help me out, here?"

***

The painter shrugged and returned to his canvas, steadily working away at what was apparently an invisible mural of sorts.

The peaceful situation, however, was quickly shattered, as the reaper returned to the room, quickly fixing his glance on Kelne.

"It's no longer safe here. We must leave. Quickly. Finish your drink and prepare yourself, because we only have a matter of moments remaining."

***

The dragon snorted and growled in response, and attempted to catch the shovel in its teeth. Managing to do so, it then attempted to tug the shovel away from 32 in a tug-of-war of sorts!

Stephen had climbed further onto the dragon, digging in his blade at every stop.

The other Minions and Anti-Minions appeared to be grouping together for an immediate planning session...

[Idran1701]

Watching the doorway, he shifts, taken by surprise at the sight.

"...So, 'm I not the only spirit around here at the moment? Eh, come on out. They can't see you folks either, seems like, and I'm dead anyway. Not much more you can really do to me as is. We might as well all have a bit of company, heh."

[Capntastic]

"Uh, well..."

He glanced around, visibly uncomfortable.

[Kelne]

Kelne didn't even bother finishing the drink, preferring to rise and check his equipment, "Lead the way," he said.

---------------

32, for his part, fought back against the dragon. Nobody stole his shovel.

[Endesu]

The shadowy beings poked their heads through once more.

Unfortunately, Greg was a bit wrong in terms of the 'company'.

He was now being observed by a horde of somewhat small shadows, resembling the beings that had attacked him in the inn much earlier in every aspect but size.

The beings then ducked out, but it seemed as if more of them had appeared in the process...

... and all of them were gathering just outside the inn...

Jikuro, obviously, had no idea of the above, and simply kept her focus on Mr. Kylitos. "Listen, I know it's an unusual request, but please help us out here. A good friend of mine died, and I'd like to know everything I can about the situation he's undergoing. If it helps any, we can always step outside and discuss the matter?" She held a hand out towards the door as she spoke. "We can continue out there. Will that work for you?"

***

The reaper looked to the three and made an unusual gesture with his fingers. The trio seemed to nod, but continued as before.

The reaper seemed to ignore this, simply leading Kelne on to the unseen door and opening it. The duo would emerge into what appeared to be a well-furnished hallway, complete with naughahyde carpet and fairly tasteful wallpaper. A few doors decorated the walls here and there.

The reaper kept his motion up, though, bypassing several of these doors. "Let me ask you something. Have you ever found yourself caught in a 'dream world' of sorts - one manipulated by a being with the potential to manipulate such things?"

***

The dragon fought, as well, and attempted harder to take the shovel...

As Stephen finally scaled the dragon and jammed the blade directly between its eyes, skillfully skewering its skull in one deft attack. The dragon responded with an angered scream of sorts, and managed to fling the dragonoid and the Minion back to the ship, shovel and all.

"Well, 32..." grumbled Stephen, picking himself up, "You did manage to distract it, and I'll thank you for that. That was no idle threat we just dealt with..."

As Stephen spoke, the dragon seemed to be shifting in form, quickly reverting to a smaller, much lither form...

And said figure landed before the crowd, blade drawn.

"Damn it... how can these pieces of shit even begin to oppose a dragon?! How the hell did all of you manage to pull this off?!"

Stephen simply glared in response, keeping his own blade readied...

[Idran1701]

Raising an eyebrow, he sighs, getting to his feet and heading to the door.

"All right, go on. Shoo! Don't care what interest you've got, now's not the time for it. Go on now!"

Waving his arms towards them, he begins trying to get the shadows to scatter. He's a ghost, after all, what are they going to do to him?

[Endesu]

The shadows did not seem to focus on him very much, now.

Instead, their focus was drawn to the various people in the Inn...

Particularly, Jikuro and the others somewhere in the back.

From what Greg could tell, the number of shadows outside was actually building...

[Kelne]

"I have. And this is why I prefer not to visit the plane of dreams to begin with. I suppose that simply waking up is no longer an option?"

-----------

"Fire two!" Was 32's response, as he hurled a rock at the former dragon. They'd soon see how tough it was without its scales...

[Endesu]

"Not as such, no. I honestly didn't expect it... but it would seem someone is making a move against you while you are in this dream realm. A sneaky, dastardly move to be sure, but an effective one all the same.

And it seems they've closed off any easy ways out..."

There would come an overexaggerated sound of claws working through material in the rooms behind them... and accompanying growls and moans, to boot.

"There should be another way for you to exit this dream realm, but we'll have to work quickly. Tell me, do you recall how you managed to escape from this controlled dream realm you speak of? Think quickly, now, as there is no time for second guessing."

The corridor seemed to stretch on in an endless manner, but it gave Kelne enough space and time to consider.

Just behind them, the sounds of doors being forced off their hinges came about, and a symphony of menacing groals and moans reverberated their way.

***

The former dragon growled and slashed her blade at the rock, slicing it into two.

"Follow up! Attack!" shouted an Anti-Minion, and a further hail of rocks descended upon the being. It simply growled louder than before and slashed through them in an unearthly flurry of movement, settling in time to set her sights on 32 and Stephen... Stephen specifically, though one could mistake the fixation of sight as one for 32.

"It's been several years since you made a promise... and broke it. More than broke it... defiled it, buried it, left it as nothing. And here you are, wasting your time on meaningless goals, as if what you've abandoned means nothing at all to you..."

The figure seemed to pause for momentum before building up in volume. "I won't forgive you for what you have done... ever!"

The figure whipped up her blade and swiftly pointed it at the Minions. A magnetic force, apparently emnating from the blade, seemed not only to tug at the shovels but also seemed to be trying to tear them out of their very grasps!

[Idran1701]

Frowning, and glancing back into the inn, he steps out, attempting to usher them out more directly. He might be incorporeal, but if he can see them, maybe he can interact with them a bit more directly than most.

Swinging around, he tries to smack a few of them around, working harder to drive them away from the inn.

"Get on now, no one wants you around here! Go bother some other woman!"

[Endesu]

Greg would find himself a bit too far out of his element, now; hundreds of Shadows, ranging in size from small to large, had converged upon the spot, and seemed deadset upon breaking into the bar at any moment.

Needless to say, the small shadows had the presence of the much, much larger shadows to fall back on, and they simply stared at Greg as he attempted to drive them off.

[Kelne]

"I used a portal, as it happens," Kelne said, "Which seem to be in short supply at the moment. Now, a question for you. Did you construct this place, or did you simply move into a pre-existing dream?"

One of the advantages of the plane of dreams was that, if you knew what you were doing, you could exert your will on it in small ways. Kelne was by no means an expert, and had never gotten the hang of shaping the plane itself. There was one trick, however, which he had been working on.

The compass he pulled from his pocket seemed ordinary enough, and he even used it on occasion when travelling. Here, there was no magnetic north for it to point to. But there were other things.

Weaving his spell swiftly, Kelne willed the needle to point towards an exit from the dreamscape.

--------------------

32 yanked firmly at the shovel, resisting its tug... Before abruptly going with the motion, rushing towards the former dragon, using his momentum to pivot the shovel and smack its handle into his opponent's head.

At least, that was the plan...

[Idran1701]

...Frowning, he turns back to the group. Focusing as best he can, he tries to get some sort of message across to Jikuro, even if it's only a vague sensation.

"Stay inside, Jikuro. Don't leave. You'll be in danger out there, Jikuro. Stay here, get a room for the rest of the night. So many mercs in here, what happened at the last inn couldn't happen here.

"Just...stay inside. Keep away from those shadows. Keep in here and keep yourself safe.

"...Gods, I hope this works."

[Capntastic]

The fencer rises from his seat, "I suppose."

He turns to his associates, "One moment, please."

[Endesu]

"I created this place, as it were..." The Reaper responded, still moving forward, "... but it seems as if something else has somehow managed to seize control of this dream. I'm not entirely sure how this was done, and though it does not worry me over much, I suspect whoever has taken this path was aiming more for you..."

Kelne's compass did indeed work; it swiftly pointed in the apparent exit that could be taken.

As it would turn out, the exit was in the opposite direction from which the two had been heading; to exit the dream would require them to make their way through the hundreds of growling Shadows which were at this moment streaming towards them.

The reaper halted, a wee bit confounded by this predicament. "I was fairly certain we were already heading in the direction of the exit..."

***

And, to an extent, 32's daring ploy worked; the shovel abruptly drove towards the 'former dragon' and smacked it upside the head.

The character simply seemed to glare at 32 before simply and calmly placing her own hold onto his shovel. With this accomplished, she twisted her arm and drove the edge of the shovel right into 32's own head, smacking him back towards whence he had come.

In the process of the struggle, she had managed to take 32's shovel from him... and though several of the Minions and Anti-Minions resisted, she had taken several of their shovels and nets as well.

At this point, she was generating, in mid-air, a cloud of sorts... a cloud of shovels and nets, no less...

Stephen stood by for a moment, watching the scene play out... before unsheathing his blade and making a thrust at the shadowy character.

Said character quickly dodged out of the way of the attack, still maintaining its hovering fog of shovels and nets.

"Even now, you dare to attack me? How terrible are you?" spat out the figure, waving its own blade at the dragonoid.

"I'm not entirely sure what the hell you're talking about, but I'm not about to let you interfere in my quest... let alone take the tools from these Minions hands!" With that, Stephen lept and slashed at the cloud, disrupting the figure's attempt and sending the tools clattering down onto the surface of the airship.

"Come on, then, take back what you've lost, and quickly!" Stephen commanded, having already raised his blade into the air to set off the character's attempt at a slash. Stephen gathered enough force into his own stance and blade that he managed to throw the attacker off. As this took place, the Anti-Minions would quickly go to work, reclaiming their nets. Presumably, the Minions were also taking back their tool of choice, the shovel, in force.

"32!" Stephen yelled in particular, picking out the Minion from the horde that surrounded him. "Try that same attack you did before! Do it now!"

Already the character had reclaimed their balance and was on Stephen in a desperate, ferverent flurry of slashes. Stephen managed to meet each of these slashes head on in a parry, but was unable to take hold of the time needed to issue forth his own attack.

"Hurry!"

***

Jikuro seemed to pause for a moment, then turned to Mr. Kylitos in something of a quick manner. "Something seems wrong... I'm getting the feeling we should most definitely be outside and stay there. Come along..."

With that, Jikuro and Assassin would go off, with Mr. Kylitos in tow, towards the surrounding outer areas of the Jade Dragon. Jikuro had indeed received Greg's attempt at supernatural conversation, but had somewhat dangeorusly misinterpreted it.

And it was so that the trio would find themselves surrounded by hundreds of shadows upon exiting.

"... or was it inside? Were we supposed to stay inside? Damn."

[Idran1701]

"...Damn it, I guess it didn't work."

Greg heads out with the three, frowning, unsure what to do here. For now, he just tries to interpose himself between the trio and the largest mass of shadows. Yes, he's a ghost, but these are shadows; perhaps he'll be a bit more corporeal against their type.

[Endesu]

Jikuro did not pause; she instead swiftly seized Mr. Broadsky by the hand and made a run for it, breaking through the crowd of Shadows as well as she could with a lizard-jin trailing behind. Assassin would follow as well, attempting to cover their backs. Needless to say, a sizable horde of the Shadows would follow them.

This did not perturb the Shadows; several of them simply charged into the Inn, easily weaving past the likes of Greg, and announcing themselves with a bizarre cacophony of unearthly growls and moans. Needless to say, those within the Jade Dragon were quite surprised by this interruption to their heretofore-peaceful evening.

Those who had weapons drew them and prepared to defend themselves; those who did not attempted to flee the premises, or find safe quarter elsewhere within the Inn. A few guardsmen, having stopped in for a moment, were among those who drew weapons, and quickly engaged the menacing creatures in battle. One guard, in particular, withdrew to gather reinforcements against this encroaching threat.

And though several of the shadows focused their attention on the random civilians or guardsmen who were taking up space in the Inn, several immediately placed their focus on the trio of End, Marie, and Fresca. In a manner of almost unearthly quickness, the party had been split up, and conflict had come about.

"Where the hell did these things come from?!" spat out Jikuro, looking back.

"I wouldn't know; perhaps they were sent by 'Shamash', as she calls herself... or perhaps they were simply hunting down one of you, for one reason or another." Assassin calmly responded, making a slash or two at any Shadows who happened to be approaching far too quickly.

"All right, then. Listen to me, Kyle: we need a place that we can legally stay at and find some safety at for the time being. I wish we could've simply talked this over in front of the Inn, but current circumstances prevent me from doing such. You got any suggestions?!" Jikuro would now more or less yell this request for information at Kyle, given their ongoing run. Her grip had hardened on Kyle's wrist; it would be his discretion to attempt to remove it and move at his own pace... or, alternately, think of returning to where the rest of his party had been.

As noted, Greg found his presence seemed to have no impact; several of the Shadows seemed to either pass by him into the Inn or chase after the retreating trio with relative ease.

Only a few remained, and they simply stared at him with a dull-eyed expression that seemed to betray little intelligence. They did not even seem to bother attempting an attack.

[Kelne]

"Yes, because the unseen horrors will naturally be herding us the way we want to go." He started back in the right direction, drawing his sword, "Quite frankly, I think you should be worried, but that's your call. Now, what say you impart whatever vital information you were going to while we're both still here?"

----------------

One might think that Stephen would be cursing himself for not specifying which attack from earlier, but 32 managed to figure it out, making with the water sphere, attempting to call it into being around their mysterious foe.

Meanwhile, much reclaiming of tools did indeed take place.

[Endesu]

The reaper seemed to pause to consider. "No, you see, the problem is far worse than the approaching Shadows... I suppose it matters little at this point, though. One danger is no worse than another in this case."

The reaper had a weapon at hand; a scythe, naturally. He began to make his approach in the opposite direction, readying for the approaching onslaught. "Now, as I've stated, you need not worry about me; this is not my real self, per se, but rather a copy created for such purposes as this. The actual personage is still awake and is still at work... so even if I somehow manage to die, I will not actually die. Understand?"

The shadows were approaching Kelne and the reaper rather quickly now, leaving very little room to manuever backwards. "Well, the rest of this story can be finished later on. All that is left to tell you, for now, is to keep the meaning of that scrap of paper with you. Lose it and your future will be shadowed in doubt."

At this, the horde approached and began to swarm at the duo.

The reaper responded swiftly with a slash of his scythe; several of the shadows were almost effortlessly disembowled, but more came to take their place within a matter of moments.

***

Luckily for Stephen, 32 had caught onto his meaning, and the shadowy character was swiftly overtaken by the water sphere spell.

It was instantly taken off the offensive, and was forced to resort to attempt to slash the sphere of water off of itself with the use of its blade. Naturally, Stephen did not give the figure time to do this, and instead proceeded to circle the figure, smashing his blade into it here and there.

The figure tumbled from one spot to another, taking in blows as it attempted to take down the sphere. The figure openly gasped for air as Stephen went for a killing blow... but missed, with the figure rolling out of the path of the attack.

"Damn you all to hell!" It growled, standing with just a bit of weakness in its step. Stephen did not utter a word; he instead resumed his attack on the character. This time, he had the offensive, and was able to keep the character from bringing up their own form of an attack.

"All right, Minions! Help me out, here!" Stephen shouted out, attacking with an increase in vigor and speed.

The Anti-Minions charged inward at this command, vigorously smacking and entrapping the mysterious character with a mass of nets.

[Idran1701]

Keeping his eye on Jikuro as she runs off, Kyle in tow, he chases after. Passing through the shadows if possible, otherwise pushing his way past them, he keeps himself near the trio. And should passing through the shadows indeed be impossible for him, he begins striking back at those closest to the others, punching them right in their not-quite-inscrutable faces

[Capntastic]

"You know, I really have no idea what's going on and if this is Ned's idea of a joke you can just forget it right now."

But, despite his tough words, he kept pace.

[Kelne]

"Who said anything about being worried about the shadows?"

There were any number of fighting styles in the world, each designed to face a particular type of opponent. In this case, Kelne was utilising was focusing on speed of attacks, rather than putting unnecessary force behind them. Quick, controlled strikes designed to dispatch a frail opponent with a minimum of effort and keep the sword in motion towards the next. Forward motion towards his goal while keeping the horde of shadows off was key.

"More importantly, what scrap of paper?"

------------------------

The minions went to it with a will, making some serious efforts to whack the enemy with their shovels. Nobody took the shovels and got away with it.

[Endesu]

"All right, listen, Mr. Broadsky! I don't know what kind of guy you are, but frankly, all I've heard from you is whining so far, and I can't say I care for whining!

No, this has nothing to do with some random schlep by the name of Ned. No, it's not a joke. And no, I'm not sure where they came from, either. What I do know is that they're trying to kill us, and I can't let you die before I get a chance to know what I need to know! Got it?!" Jikuro was apparently trying to aurally deafen Kyle with the sheer force of her voice, but she let off once she had finished delivering this message.

Assassin briefly thought, then pronounced "Hold! Let us take to the rooftops, for now. There's relative safety there."

And with that, he seized hold of both Kyle and Jikuro and swiftly ran up a random building's wall, coming to land on what was apparently something of a flat roof, thus preventing any accidental slippage. The roof was fairly high in the air, as well, thus preventing easy access by way of the Shadows to the unfortunate trio.

"That should hold them off for a bit." The former hitman noted, and he took a stance at the corner of a roof, keeping an eye on events below.

"All right, then." Jikuro finally shot out, after a rather lengthy pause. "Now that we have a free moment to ourselves, Mr. Broadsky, let me reaffirm that this situation is very serious, and that I need your help on a matter."

She paused once more, to give her following words heavier impact. "The Infinity Corporation apparently hired a small group of professional assassins to kill you and a group of others that are connected to you. A friend of mine and myself have somehow become entangled in this mess, and he died fighting one of the assassins. Now, I have been told, by this man here, who seems to know more about the lot of you than I do..." At this point, Jikuro pointed out Assassin, who continued to watch the events unfolding below.

"... that, at one point, you yourself died in a desperate battle of sorts. Apparently, you spent some time as a spirit wandering the mortal coil, but you managed to come back to life, somehow, as you are now. So, please... if you know anything that can help me... anything at all... in getting him back, I'd appreciate it." She looked down at the roof they were on with a tinge of sadness. "It's... crazy, but I've come to care for him far too much in this past day to simply let him stay dead. Please... can you help me? Can you help us?

... in return, I can help you know more about the enemy you're probably going to be facing..."

Greg would have no troubles following the trio; many of the Shadows simply seemed to move aside or past him, bearing him no mind at all.

He would be able to follow the trio up until the point that Assassin bore them to a rooftop; from there, he would find that he was able to 'float' upward to observe them, much as your natural spirit would.

He arrived around the time Jikuro appeared to be begging Mr. Kylitos Broadsky for information, and he could definitely detect a sign of sadness in her eyes as she prompted the fencer for mad infos. The other man... the Assassin, appeared to be keeping an eye on the scene below.

From what he could tell, despite the tone in the conversation, the scene was, for the moment, relatively peaceful. The spot they had picked was, apparently, a good one; safe enough, for now, from the encroaching Shadows.

As before, though, he would find that he was able to pick up on things that the living did not apparently detect; as such, he would soon see a figure in a large brown overcoat and hat, watching the scene from a rooftop in the distance...

***

"It's far worse than this group, but let's not think of it for now... and as far as the scrap of paper goes..."

From out of nowhere, the reaper plucked the small piece of paper with the word 'InFiNiTy' written out on it. Had Kelne opted to keep the scrap of paper earlier, and made to search himself at present, he would find that the item had indeed somehow vacated his presence, and had ended up in the hand of the reaper instead. Whatever the case, the reaper would hand it back to Kelne prior to the mass offensive against the shadows.

Kelne's selection in attack style seemed to pay off; he was almost effortlessly able to begin to pave his way through the crowd. The reaper was no slouch, either; his scythe passed through a dozen of Shadows as a knife would pass through butter. Most of the shadows seemed to attempt to attack, but they were seemingly far too weak to put up a solid attack.

The two would begin to make a good amount of progress forward, until a new figure emerged at the end of the hall, beyond the teeming mass of Shadows...

It appeared to be a man in an overcoat and hat, with a blood-stained Jester's mask strapped onto his face. The man remained deathly still until the two had cleared their way through most of the crowd of Shadows... it was then, and only then, that he moved to impede their progress.

His focus was strictly on Kelne, and as he spoke, his low, dull words would reverberate through both the 'physical space' of the dream as well as within Kelne's own mind.

"Kelne. Tell me, do you work with the blasphemy of mind weaving? Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, mind reading...?" Any attempts to attack the man, directly, would be swiftly swatted off with an armored hand of some sort.

***

The shadowy character was struck from all sides with a wide variety of nets, shovels, and Stephen's own attacks. It seemed to scream under the utter duress of it all, and all too soon...

... found itself impaled by Stephen's blade. Stephen would wave off the Minions and Anti-Minions at this point before turning to the figure and weaving it upward into the air.

"You... you will pay for this. You have ruined my attempt just as you have helped to solidify the ruination of my life prior...!" The figure choked out, wriggling and squirming around the blade. "I swear that I, Aruru, will return... and that when I am done, every last one of you will be dead by my hands... if only because of your association with this bastard...!"

Stephen yawned slightly, and simply flung the shadowy character over the side of the ship.

He turned back to the crowd of Minions and Anti-Minions with a disbelieving look in his eyes. "As hard as it is for me to believe, you lot actually helped quite a bit there. ... thank you, I suppose... though that character certainly wasn't as tough as they were setting themselves out to be..."

"What's the status up there?!" Justin shouted out from below. "I've been trying to keep this ship steady, and it's been somewhat difficult given whatever's been transpiring up there!"

[Idran1701]

Trying to get a grip on this new method of transportation, Greg gives an empathetic frown towards Jikuro. He glances towards the jacketed fellow as Jikuro makes some sort of conversation towards the fencer, and his curiosity gets the better of him. Drifting off, though keeping watch on the trio atop the building so as to not lose track of them, he gets a better look at this new observer.

[Endesu]

The mysterious figure would seem to 'twinge' slightly as Greg approached... he would, first, look dead in Greg's direction before turning and diving downward into the city below.

As he jumped, Greg would note that he had left something behind on the spot where he had once been standing: yet another figure in a mysterious cloak of sorts. Closer observation would reveal that this MCF was dead; blood was trailing from every single pore in the man's head. Needless to say, it was fairly bloody.

[Idran1701]

Starting at the sight, he looks away, flinching, before forcing himself to turn back towards it. Were he more solid, he'd likely be nauseous; as it is, he's still more than a little taken aback at the appearance of the body.

"Gods...what the hell happened to him?"

Turning back towards the ground, he tries to spy where the person who seems to have done this went, examining the body for any signs of what might have happened should he have vanished entirely, but keeping his gaze on the fellow in the trenchcoat if not.

[Endesu]

Greg would see the figure landing on the ground below and taking off in an eastward direction, perhaps attempting to put some distance between himself and the ghost.

Greg would have but a moment to further observe the corpse's condition if he were intent on keeping an eye on that figure in the overcoat; from what he could tell, there were no obvious markings or external indentions on the victim's skull. It was if this new figure had barely even touched the victim...

Now, where had he heard of a person doing something like that...?

[Idran1701]

Little thought needs to be made towards that note; Greg's already well suspicious that this fellow is somehow connected to the murder string that started this whole mess, and the similarity to the reported fate of that first psychic and the unfortunate guard back that up quite well.

Paying another glance to the somewhat distant rooftop trio, Greg heads off, chasing after the departing figure. He continues to pay little heed to his own safety in this; as he continues to think over all this, he's already a ghost. What more could happen to him?

[Endesu]

The trio were still on the roof in the distance. Jikuro and Kylitos were still, apparently, chatting, while Assassin was maintaining his position at the corner of the rooftop.

Greg would find it somewhat difficult to trail the retreating figure; he appeared to be ducking into every single alleyway and shortcut that he could find. During this time, more shadows had apparently begun to appear throughout all of Doma; however, more of the guards had emerged in response, and so a war of congestion was being waged throughout the streets.

The figure appeared to weave in and out of a few battle scenes, grabbing the attention of several guards as he did so, but leaving said guards unable to follow due to the crowd of shadows that seemed to fill the scene. The figure was now heading into the further outskirts of the town; indeed, out into the forests. It was here that he began to shoot glances back towards the pursuing Greg, and it was at this point that Greg would see he had no apparent face to observe; he was, instead, equipped with a bloodstained Jester's mask of sorts. Not that the apparent killer stared at Greg throughout; he kept his focus, primarily, on the path ahead of him.

It was at this point that the killer would set what appeared to be an armored hand of some sort to the ground. A red burst of lightning seemed to form at his palm, and the ground seemed to burst apart in response, leaving a hole of some sort. It was through this that the killer disappeared.

Were Greg to attempt to follow, he would find himself instantly rebuffed; a quick bit of visual inspection would now reveal there to be some sort of glowing barrier set at the mouth of this tunnel, apparently set up as an anti-spirit device. Now what was he going to do?

[Kelne]

"I'll deal with you in a minute," Kelne said, turning his attention back to the reaper, "As for you, you call this valuable information? You interrupted my hard-earned sleep and gave this idiot a shot at me to deliver a cryptic clue?" The Glare was turned upon his erstwhile 'ally'. "The next time you feel the urge to deliver cryptic utterances, you can damn well -"

It was at this moment that Kelne struck, aiming for the stranger's heart. The rant, heartfelt as it might have been was merely a distraction to allow him time to utilise another ploy. Modifying his weapon was a step up from manipulating the compass, but assuming nobody was actively working to stop him from doing so, it should be possible. In this case, he was making the blade ethereal, leaving it out of phase with reality and allowing it to pass effortlessly through weapons, armour, energy fields... right up until the moment it struck flesh, at which point it would become solid again.

Such a weapon would be hideously difficult to make in the real world, and likely impractical when it came time to parry a blow. Here, it was simply a matter of focused belief.

-------------------

"Not to worry, Not-Boss, everything's under control," 32 called down, words pretty well guarranteed to cause panic when coming from a minion.

[Endesu]

The reaper sighed, placing a hand to his forehead. He held the other hand up; within was that same scrap of paper, taken back through some form of unseen effort.

"If you feel this strongly, then do not allow me to belay you any further." He calmly responded, taking a step away from the scene. He briefly flashed the note, which at this point seemed to be showing far more than the 'InFiNiTy' text of prior times, but rather a far more convoluted series of notes and a numbers - but this soon disappeared, consumed by the reaper's pocket.

It was with that that the reaper simply seemed to 'pop' out of the dream world, leaving the story ultimately unfinished and leaving Kelne by his lonesome.

This new character's defense was broken; the blade struck, and an apparent wound was dealt. The figure remained in the same stance as before, and spoke again.

"If you'd answer my question, Kelne? Have you ever once subscribed to the blasphemy of using your own mind as a weapon or the mind of another as a means of gaining information?" The figure's voice remained low and dull despite the wound he now bore from the ethereal blade. "The sooner you answer my question, the sooner we can finish this."

***

It was at these very words that Justin made his way to the top, looking about swiftly. "All right, then... just what the devil has been transpiring up here?"

"No, for once, he's correct. The situation is under control." Stephen responded, nodding slightly.

"Ah. Very well! Let's all go out for ice cream!" Justin added with a vigorous swing of the arm, before descending.

... and Stephen once again had that dumbfounded look on his face, which remained for several moments before he turned to 32. "32, tell me... has Justin been acting or speaking at all strange?"

[Idran1701]

Frowning at this development, he thinks for a bit...before diving into the ground, bypassing the tunnel entrance and re-emerging within the tunnel far enough down to avoid that device entirely.

IM: Heh. They really don't seem to have thought that out very well.

[Endesu]

At this point, the figure had already gotten fairly far ahead in the tunnel - which seemed to stretch out for some distance.

Greg would find that no matter how quickly he tried to pursue this character, he was still left behind - however, he would catch a glimpse of the killer's feet ascending upwards through the apparent exit from the tunnel.

Further pursuit up and out would reveal what appeared to be yet another corpse of an MCF - killed in what would appear to be the same manner as the last few MCFs.

They now appeared to be approaching what seemed to be a cliffside overlooking a dried out river of sorts... and it was at this point that figure abruptly seemed to disappear into thin air!

[Idran1701]

Stopping at the exit, he looks around, a bit confused. Checking above and below outside the tunnel, he makes sure that this fellow can't fly himself. It's certainly plausible, the way he jumped off that building before...worth a look, at least.

[Endesu]

A quick look skyward would reveal the figure travelling upward in what would appear to be an olympian-scale jump. The arc of this jump appeared to cause him to sail and land just over the dried out river...

It was at this point that figure seemed to pause... before dividing into five. Yes, five identical copies of the same figure had appeared... and all ran out in five separate directions away from Greg.

[Kelne]

It would have been so much better, from Kelne's perspective, if the idiot reaper had possessed the common sense to leave him alone to begin with.

"Oh, I subscribe to all sorts of blasphemies," Kelne said, absently striking to sever the newcomer's head from his shoulders, "Magic, telepathy, tea without biscuits... Even the dark arts of technology. But no, I'm not in the habit of abusing any of my talents for my own benefit. And yourself? What cause do you use your own talents in the service of? Money? Power? Revenge?"

One thing Kelne was making sure of was that his mental defenses were firmly in place. Simply because this person called telepathy a blasphemy was no reason to think he didn't use it.

-----------------

"Yeah, he's been acting seriously strangely," 32 said, "All bright and cheerful and let-me-reward-you-for-your-efforts. It's getting kinda creepy."

[Capntastic]

"Look, okay, I'll help. It's just that you could have said something earlier to make me know it was important. ...

It's sort of weird when you're having a drink with friends and someone who seems to know a bit too much about you jumps out of nowhere and starts demanding your assistance, you know?"

He turned away and peered towards the horizon.

"I'll try to tell you what I remember."

[Endesu]

The figure deftly blocked off Kelne's attempt at decapitation, but did not attempt to counter in any fashion.

"So, then. You do admit that you use godless abilities, regardless of whether or not you believe in their personal benefit..." The figure seemed to respond, perhaps more to itself than Kelne. "If you must know, I use my abilities to further the principles of God... thus, blasphemers such as yourself must be dealt with severely. I fear that this will hurt you, but it must be done."

It was with that that this new character simply... turned his back, and began to walk away.

***

"That is indeed odd..." Stephen murmured. "He's supposed to be an exact copy of Kelne, so for him to express such... ideas is certainly a deviation from what he was originally intended for. 32, keep these concerns a secret... and let me know if Justin continues to act in such a bizarre manner, if you would."

Justin emerged once more, waving to 32 specifically. "Hey, now! Let's go out for a beer after this! Just you and me!"

***

Jikuro nodded slightly. "Er, sorry about that... but it was a bit hard to just bring it up and out of the blue, especially around all of those people I didn't even know. But, yes, please, if you can tell me anything, anything at all, it could help us... I want to avoid the worst that could potentially happen..."

Kylitos would note that the horizon, while still dark, was currently blazing; apparently, something had gone up in flames in the distance. It wasn't the Jade Dragon, but some other structure. Regardless...

[Kelne]

Wonderful. Another religious loony. If Kelne never had to deal with a religious sort again in his life, it would be too soon.

Deciding that if said loony wanted to walk off, that was his business, Kelne checked his compass again and made swiftly for the exit. He didn't particularly want to stick around and see what the idiot had in store for him.

----------------

32 looked at Justin as if he'd grown another head. "Are you feeling alright, Not-Boss?" he asked cautiously.

If Kelne could see him now, he'd probably be moderately pleased. Kelne had been trying for years to get the minions to exercise something resembling judgement of their own. Hence the periodic attempts to expose them to wildly differing viewpoints.