This ain't that kind of fantasy (IC)

[Dalria]

Carver Neil - Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

Carver scowled but he knew he'd do the same thing, the chief was simply doing business. The Pale Legion had came across a new bale of cash, they had been knocking out local gangs in the name of 'law' and then taking over their corners of the market. One new drug manufacturing plant was added onto their invisible network of real estate. Not only do illegal dealings bring in the cash for The Pale Legion but their benevolent benefactors, a huge network of influential humans who only wish to see The Pale Legion succeed.

"It was a simple joke, I wanted to see if you knew where your head was at. How about eighty to ninety thousand? If your department does well, there can be an increase in funding" Carver winked. "I think that sounds like a fair deal and would bring the two of us close together. I say we have a round of golf sometime soon, what do you think?".

[New Socialist South Africa]

Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

Cassius smiled, and scratched the top of his head. "You know Mr Neil, if you and your associates could see their way to consistently funding this department with three hundred thousand Agenos a month, then we might just be able to scrape by in terms of ensuring matters of confusion like this aren't repeated. It will be a bit tight of course then. This is a large department after all, and we are so remarkably and tragically underfunded. I'm afraid that with ninety thousand a month alone, some of the force might be able to be funded well enough to avoid making such errors, but others might still remain sadly and tragically underfunded, and so still susceptible to such errors. Anything less and, well, my police may just be to thinly stretched to fully clear up the current misunderstanding fully".

"I think that three hundred thousand a month would be a very reasonable donation by you and your friends to this fine department. That will also ensure we clear up any of this confusion quick, and can laugh about this little incident on the golf course together".

[WhatsamattaU]

The angry crowd had been left with a feeling of unfulfillment. Yes, the Grandmaster of the Pale Legion, Sheriff Carver Neil, had been forced to accompany the police to the local precinct. However, a zombie patron in the Silver Bullet openly expressed doubt that the Sheriff would even be charged for firing his weapon in the bar, let alone be under investigation for the two deaths in the private room.

It was unclear who started it, but someone started shouting about marching on the Greytown Police Precinct. The fire of outrage was re-kindled and the crowd that had gathered, via social media and cell phones, now made their way, marching down the streets to the police station.

As they marched, someone began a chant, "Down with Neil! No crooked cop deal!" This caught on with the crowd. The chant's intensity grew and it echoed off the buildings as the marchers made their way from the bar to the station. More calls were made on mobile phones.

News vans packed up their gear and drove ahead to the precinct, to set up and cover the growing story.

The marchers arrived and the chanting continued, "DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL! DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL! DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL! ...."

[New Socialist South Africa]

Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

Malraah sat in his office.He stared down at his hands and along his desk. Framed photographs of his wife, son and three daughters smiled up at him from the desk. Next to them, located in an older looking frame was a smaller and poorer condition photo of a smiling young goblin mother smiling and laughing as she played with a smiling and laughing goblin child. The Captain stared at them, his face at war with itself. Shame, hatred, long suppressed grief and grim acceptance fought one another, with just a hint of fear being held down violently at the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly he leapt up and violently tore his badge off and threw it across the room at the board, where it bounced off anti-climactically. He screamed out a choice goblin swear word that would have had employee resources on his ass if they knew what it meant.

He stood there a moment, gripping his desk violently, breathing heavily.

Outside, in the distance, a sound began to come towards the station. At this distance it was difficult to hear what the group was saying. Slowly and steadily they grew closer however. Goblins, Ratfolk, Orcs, Satyrs, some half-dwarves and half-elves, some human allies, they all came chanting the same thing. Malraah opened his window to listen, and after a few times he got it.

"Down with Neil! No crooked cop deal!"

Malraah couldn't help but laugh a bit, smiling at the thought of going out and joining the crowd himself. He pulled his box of Spider Rider cigarettes out, removed one, put it to his lips and lit it. He drew deep on the cigarette and exhaled the foul smoke out the window.

A frantic knocking came on his door.

"Come!" he barked.

The ratman officer from earlier stood there, looking nervous. "Err Cap, we have a group of protesters approaching the precinct".

"I can see that you blithering idiot" said Malraah, not even bothering to turn around.

"So what should we do?" asked the ratman.

Malraah inhaled his cigarette and breathed out the smoke calmly. "Lock the doors. So long as the protesters remain peaceful, we won't need to crack any skulls. There is no need for us to escalate things unnecessarily".

"Yes Cap" said the ratman officer, and hurried off to do as he was told.

Malraah took out his cellphone. He had a ridiculous number of messages from his wife, and three missed calls. He dropped her a quick message.

"I'm alright, Managing things here. Will let you
know when I can talk. Love you, see you soon".

He didn't wait to see the response. He pocketed his phone, stubbed out his cigarette and tossed it out the window. He went over and picked up his fallen police badge, looking at his tired reflection in its shine. He carefully clipped it back into place, switched off the office light, and went to go and sort out any issues that may arise now.

Interview Room 1, Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

The chants of "DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL!" carried through the locked doors, all the way through to the interrogation room. Cassius tilted his head slightly to listen to them. He gave a derisive snort however, and turned to see what Carver would say to his offer of three hundred thousand Agenos a month.

[WhatsamattaU]

Urbis Forum

Mikrahsh, leader of the Amazon Orc Gurlz gang, had hovered about on the edges of the crowd after slashing the tires of Sheriff Neil's car. There wasn't any pursuit, so she felt comfortable rejoining the crowd and getting props from her crew. Yeah, it was cool. One of the gurlz said Mikrahsh ought to have cut Sheriff Neil, but a murder would have brought the cops down on them a lot harder, so there wasn't much dissention that it really was cool.

Then the crowd started marching to the police station. Effin' A! What a night! Mikrahsh led her gurlz into the march, picking up the chant, "Down With Neil! No Crooked Cop Deal!" Awesome! The gang never, ever, imagined that they could march down the street to a police station and protest against the police! Even better, they could do it and get props from everyone else in the crowd.

The crowd arrived at the station, shouting out so that the words echoed off the sleepy business buildings of Greytown, "Down With Neil! No Crooked Cop Deal!"

After a couple of minutes, Mikrahsh noticed the news vans and their camera crews. They would be on the news! All of Forn would see this! Effin' A! The Empire would see it! No! The Whole Effin' World would See It!

Mikrahsh pulled her gurlz into her and told them they were going to start a new chant. It took a little work to get it going, but it caught on and the crowd came together with the new chant: "THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING! ...."

However, after a while, some protesters, thinking that the important message wan't getting enough time, managed to bring the chant back to, "DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL!"

X X X X X


Homer Kayjack, The Silver Bullet.

"Oh, don't act so flabbergasted," the black cat said as Homer starred at him. "You saw me trying to get you over here. Then you were the one that started talking."

Closing his mouth, Homer took a few seconds to appraise his visitor and the situation. The talking cat was big for a domestic feline and he could also see that there were gray hairs about it's muzzle, indicating that it was also pretty old for a cat.

Homer asked, "Is my life really in danger?"

"Maybe not this very minute," replied the cat, "but I'd bet my last Ageno that you're going to be. I mean, you have to know that you just ripped the mask off one of the biggest terrorists in the Empire, right?... Oh, and call me Tutt."

"Tutt?" asked Homer. The cat nodded.

"So, this is the deal," continued Tutt, "There's a sorceress, actually a priestess but she knows her magic, and I work for her. Under the stage is a temporary portal that you and me will go through and be transported to her sanctum. We were listening to the radio tonight and she figured that you were worth trying to save. So, do you want to meet with her?"

Homer paused. He hadn't encountered much magic, before. He couldn't even do most simple card tricks. It was probably why he'd chosen to study technology, because there had been this writer who'd said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

"The clock is tickin', Homer," Tutt broke in. "The offer goes away when I do."

"I'm coming," replied Homer.

The cat and the human made their way down from the stage and beneath it. It was so dark that Homer was afraid he'd run into something and fall, but the cat guided him and the pair soon entered an implausibly decorated hall that featured statues of a being with the body of a healthy young woman and the head of a cat.

Homer was still taking in his new surroundings when he heard her voice, "Welcome." In it's own way , it was like music. He turned and saw Tutt's sorceress.

[Dalria]

Carver Neil - Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

"Yeshua dammit" Carver muttered to himself. It was either he was hung by a crowd or concede to someone who was just a big a jerk as himself. He thought of possibly rushing the captain but that would either end up with a bullet in his chest or a good ole' lynching. He sighed, "alright, I'll pay 300,000 for a game of golf. Now this crowd ain't going to disperse itself, ya'll better call in Imperial riot patrol or else this place is going up in flames. A bunch of heathenish communistic rabble is what it is. Goblins and ratfolk trying to destroy our great system" Carver began spitting out his hate, "I need my weapons back chief" he then glared.

Legion Den

"Boys, look at this!" a red-haired young man called out as he pointed to the television.

Local precinct surrounded by protestors. Sheriff Carver Neil was brought in with suspicion of firing a weapon inside a crowded bar, the crowd seems to be chanting 'Down With Neil! No Crooked Cop Deal'. Sheriff Neil has been known to have ties wi-...

The television was turned out by a large brutish man, the men in the room turned and saluted him calling out, "Chapter master of Urbis Forum!". He walked around, a shotgun perched on his shoulder, machete tied to his leg.

"What are we going to do? Sit here and watch on television as a bunch of ungrateful roaches swarm the streets. Our grandmaster is in that building with lies and slander being spouted about. I'm not going to let this rabble destroy our fine city, we are called legion for a reason. I call upon arms this chapter, raise your weapons, dress in your grabs, we walk in unity" the man bellowed out as the men within the chapter hall rejoiced with many hollers. The call to arms was heard and many headed this, hundreds of men flocked to the den to meet the protestors. As many were turned away from violence at the scene of the arrest by Carver, they were now thirsty for blood and marching to the precinct.

[New Socialist South Africa]

Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

Cassius smiled broadly. "I'd love to get that commitment in writing, and for you to sign it Sheriff" he said, pulling a piece of paper and pen from his pocket and handing it over to Carver. Afterward, he stood to shake Carver's hand. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you Sheriff. I look forward to our game, I'll be work on my swing". He reached into the folds of his jacket and seemed to fiddle with something. He looked confused for a moment, before reaching into the other side and pulling out his cellphone, checking it briefly.

"No need for riot police just yet I don't think Sheriff, not to get you out anyway" said Cassius. "We have a gate out back for times such as these. It leads out onto a back street, and out a civilian labelled gate. With all these protesters out front, we shouldn't have any trouble with it. I'll have one of my officers drive you off where you need to be.

"Oh and Sheriff" he said, "when they ask you what happened tonight, this is what you are going to say. You drove down here to the bar to have a get together with some old friends, and the bar was recommended to one of your friends. Last minute you all realised the bar didn't have any private rooms. Marcus, the manager, not wanting to lose good business, set you up in the office storeroom in the back. That is why you aren't seen entering the front, on both the cameras and by the witnesses. While in the storeroom, two of the men you thought to be friends of yours turned on you. You don't know why, but you think they may have been linked with a criminal gang. You were forced to defend yourself, and tragically in the process, they were both killed. The shock of this attack caused you to act irrationally, thinking erroneously that these men were working with the band playing that night. In your panicked state you shot a bullet into the ceiling, something you both deeply regret and apologise profusely for".

"Now this is critical" said Cassius, looking hard at Carver. "You then said that you wanted to pinch the singer. Not lynch as so many seem to have misheard you as saying. You of course didn't mean this literally, just an old piece of police jargon. You wanted to arrest the singer, you wanted to pinch the singer. You of course now realise that the band wasn't involved, and an apology to them wouldn't go amiss. Witnesses will be found stating they heard you say pinch, you and all your men will be certain you said pinch, and the little bit of evidence we have of you saying that you said lynch will be tragically misplaced, at least provided the pay keeps on coming in". Cassius smiled.

He stood up and Cassius led Carver through the door, calling out. "Hey Chitter! The Sheriff is cleared, you can bring his gun out back for him now. Grimes, drive them home". The ratman Imperial officer nodded and came to follow, accompanied by a tough and grizzled looking human officer, dressed in the light blue of the local UFPD. Carver's men were also being released.

"You have a wonderful morning gentlemen" said Cassius, and the ratmanand human led that along a series of corridors and down some steps to a small back door. It led into a small yard with a gate leading out to a back street, with two civilian cars and a minibus taxi parked in it. Their guns were returned to them, and Grimes went and opened up the minibus.

"Lets get going before the mob gets any the wiser" said Grimes, as Chitter headed off back inside the precinct building. Soon the little minibus and Carver and his men were speeding off along the backroads. "Where too gentlemen?" asked the grizzled human officer.

Out front, Greytown Precint, Urbis Forum

They waited for Chitter to come back to tell them that Carver and his men had driven off. Once he did so, Cassius turned to look at Malraah. "Seems you have the wolves on your doorstep" he noted, indication to the crowd outside.

"Seems we do" said Malraah bitterly.

"Walk with me captain" he said, and the man and goblin walked down a corridor away from the rest. A few minutes later, Malraah emerged, a look of foul displeasure on his face.

"Pass me the megaphone Potter" he snapped, at a nervous looking young human police officer, snatching it from him violently when he found it and offered it up.

"Open the doors" he said. "I have a crowd to address". He checked his watch. It was about 1:20am.

Outside, the chants of "DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL!" continued loud and clear.

The doors were opened, and Malraah stepped out onto the small set of steps leading up from the sidewalk to the front entry of the police precinct. Surveying the crowd, he lifted the megaphone to his lips and addressed the crowd through its mechanical robotic boom.

"PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE GATHERING ILLEGALLY. SHERIFF NEIL IS NOT HERE. WE WILL BE GIVING A PRESS BRIEFING AT 7AM TODAY ABOUT THE EVENTS OF TONIGHT. YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO DISPERSE. IF YOU HAVE GENUINE MATTERS TO RAISE WITH THE POLICE, PLEASE DO SO INDIVIDUALLY AND ONE BY ONE INSIDE THE PRECINCT. THANK YOU".

Malraah watched cautiously to see if the crowd of protesters would heed his call or refuse to accept it.

[WhatsamattaU]

Urbis Forum, Greytown Precinct

The crowd grumbled for about five minutes before they realized that it was over, at least for tonight, and started breaking up.

Even Mikrahsh hung her head in acknowledgement of this defeat. Ef it. Other people were starting to walk away, taking away the heat and warmth that the crowd gave off. Still, it hadn't been a total cluster. She slashed a tire on a Victorum Police vehicle, marched on the local police precinct, even got on the telly.

"Gettin' cold, gurlz," Mikrahsh said to her cronies. "Let's call it a night. Ef, we can search the interweb tomorrow and maybe see ourselves on the telly. Eh?" the Orc Amazon Gurl leader finished with a smile.

The gang was about to start making their way back to the Silver Bullet, they'd left their motorcycles in the paid parking lot across from the bar, when the WCNN reporter wanted to ask the gurlz how they felt about what had happened.

Mikrahsh was happy to oblige and her crew stood behind her as she was interviewed.

The red light illuminated on the camera and the interview began:

Felicia Navidad: I'm Felicia Navidad. The police have ordered the dispersal of the crowd that was protesting outside the Greytown Police Precinct. Sheriff Caver Neil has been taken from the precinct through a back door. I'm here with one of the protesters. Miss, are you disappointed in how this event ended?

Mikrahsh: Uhm, yes. We are. I tink it's fair for people to tink that maybe a crooked deal happened inside. I hope dat some offic... someone wit power would look into the police department an' clean out da garbage dat let's outta town creeps.., I mean lawmen types, like Sheriff Carver Neil, shoot up bars here in Forn and say dat music bands need to be lynched. Yeah. And maybe da stink is prob really high in da department, 'cuz da local police guy, Cap Malraah is a straight shooter. He wouldna asked us to go if he ain't been order ta do it."

Felicia Navidad: So you think that there's corruption in the highest levels of the U.F.P.D.?

Mikrahsh: Eh..., uh, yeah.

[WhatsamattaU]

Homer Kayjack, somewhere in the broadcast range of University of Urbis Forum.

Homer caught himself staring at the woman. Clearly, she was maybe in her fifties, or sixties, or seventies, but she was hardly frail. Indeed, she seemed to be one of those older people that was full of life. Homer wasn't sure how he should act.... Well, he was here to hear an offer and she was a sorceress, so Homer opted for attentive respect. He gave the woman a deep bow, held it for a couple of seconds and then straightened up. Then he introduced himself, saying a little shakily, "Hi.., I'm Homer.., but you already knew that.... I'm pleased to meet you."

To Homer's surprise, the woman gave a deep curtsy to him and introduced herself, far more smoothly than Homer's intro, "The pleasure is mine, Homer. Call me Safiya". Safiya gestured to a couch and said, "Please, have a seat." Then she sat in another chair, within comfortable speaking distance.

"That was a marvelous broadcast, tonight, Homer," said Safiya. "Across the multiverses, Centaurs, Satyrs and Sirens are known for their musical talents. The Minotaur on percussion was equally artistic and I've never encountered such a musician of his race before. I was moved, even over the radio. It must have been incredibly intense in person, yes?"

Homer eagerly agreed, "I never experienced anything like it before."

"Yes," responded Safiya, and something sly edged into her voice, "but what surprised me the most was the finale."

"The last song?" asked Homer.

"Oh, that was memorable, but no," said Safiya. "No, the finale I'm speaking of is your bravery, Homer."

"But," Homer said, "I didn't know what I was doing. That wasn't bravery."

Safiya leaned forward and put a finger to his lips, "I disagree, Homer. Oh, certainly that siren's song was quite inspiring, but if you didn't have the courage in you to begin with, you couldn't have have been stirred to action. And the stakes involved, putting your life on the line against a madman with a gun, no points for smarts but you hit the jackpot for just plain decency. So, I have a proposition for a decent young man, Homer."

"I'm near the end of my useful existence, Safiya continued. "I am a priestess and I serve a very, very, old Goddess. But the stars tell me that I won't live long enough to find my successor, in about forty or so more years. That's where you come in, Homer. I want to call on my Goddess to give you eight more lives and then you can find her and show her the inheiritence I wish her to have. A side effect is that you won't be able to sire any children, but if the Pale Legion kills you, then you wouldn't be raising any children either. Each time you die, your body will be transported to a safe place and will be resurrected, seven times in this body, but your last life you will reincarnate as a cat, like Tutt, here." She turned to the cat and asked, "Any complaints, Tutt?"

"I had a good run," replied Tutt.

Homer couldn't believe how calmly he was being in this incredibly strange situation. He'd been skeptical of religion. Hadn't really thought much about a reward in an afterlife, but maybe, if destiny existed, then this was his. Also, it would be a shame to leave so much undone and affairs unconcluded if the Pale Legion really did kill him.

"I'm in," said Homer to Safiya.

Safiya clapped her hands together like a young girl. She leaned forward and put her arms around Homer's neck and kissed him. It was a sweet kiss, the twenty-one year old man thought.

Safiya, released him and leaned back a little.... She looked... younger?

Safiya arose with a wicked smile and pulled him by the hand, to follow her. "Dear boy, I might not survive calling upon my goddess. I'm going to need your help to... 'charge-up'".

[Dalria]

The Legion - Urbis Forum

Carver fled, his men picked him up and they sped back to Victorum. He knew of the upcoming violence and needed to distance himself as the race for senate was approaching. He had commanded some of his heavy cavalry back home to reinforce the legionaries who had taken to the street, the Urbis Forum Chapter head had taken Carver that the men were searching for blood. The soldiers marched, mostly garbed yet some took to the march with bare face. Many were armed with pistols and rifles yet some were armed with bats and crowbars. The crowd also wielded torches, lighting up the sky as the sun began to set.

"Blood and soil! You shall not replace us" the group chanted as hundreds charged towards the police station, yet Carver had exclaimed to the leader that the precinct was now under their protection. The mob directed towards the legislative building, making sure to be as loud as possible to attract attention.

An elf called out, "racist scum!" and immedietly was grabbed by several legionaries, a man wearing an officer garb walked up to the restrained elf.

"Yeshua died for human glory, he died at the hands of vermin like you" the officer lifted his hood and spit in the elf face. The officer utilized a hand signal and the legionaries began to beat the elf. The march continued; no one was killed... yet.

"Blood and soil!" they continually chanted until the mob covered the courtyard in front of the legislative building. An un-garbed man stood out front of the crowd as a legionary handed him a loudspeaker. This man was Brother Marc Germain, a well-known and controversial soapbox preacher aligned with the church of the Purifying Fire. The crowd cheered and bellowed out in joy as the gathered around, Brother Marc moved his hands down in a gesture of silence.

"Brothers! Today we rejoice seeing the friendly and familiar faces surrounding us. We stand today in solidarity, we stand as humans who are tired of the status quo. Earlier in the afternoon, a local sheriff was apprehended as he simply protected himself. When he tried to explain himself a mob of heathens formed at the precinct at an unholy attempt of their perceived justice. Are we going to let this happen? Are we going to let beasts, scum, and vermin dictate who lives and dies? Are we going to allow organized labor movements to scare businesses into hiring non-humans? Are we going to let these same communistic non-human scum decide how our society is going to be ran? I repeat are we?" he yelled with passion.

The crowd responded, "No! They shall not replace us!" the priest smiled.

"We stand in front of the legislative building to proclaim to not only our local leaders but our senators and even the emperor himself that we are tired of this! That humans, who united this great nation, are going to fight back in this war on our culture. That Yeshua is watching every move we make, that Yeshua is watching every corrupt bargain that they push through that place of ungodliness. No one will enter or leave this building! Now stand your ground, do not budge. This is our soil! If anyone stands in our way, it'll be their blood soaking our soil." the preached turned the megaphone off and returned to the crowd.

[Corpus Magnus]

Sterk came charging forwards and tackled Epshelm off the goblin, using quite considerable strength to hold him down as Cabra slapped a pair of handcuffs onto the Dwarf's wrists.

Cabra moved over to the collapsed goblin, and picked up the fallen wallet and ID. He looked at the ID, and saw the dwarf's face next to the name. "The dwarf is telling the truth about his name" he said simply. "His name is Vargen Epshelm".

"Great" said Sterk, straightening up after having physically subdued the dwarf. "Vargen Epshelm, you are under arrest for assault. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do or say may be given in evidence. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one may be provided for you. Do you understand?"

Cabra was busy slapping handcuffs on the still winded goblin in the mean time. "Obstruction of justice, lying to a police officer, theft and impersonating another person with criminal intent, you have quite a list against you now don't you. Now I'm going to ask you one more time, and if you lie its is just going to make things worse for you. What is your name?"

Epshelm glared silently at Sterk, weighing his chances. After a moment, he growled deep in his throat. "Understand - yeah, sure. I mean, I understand." He glared at the goblin. "Don't go easy on 'im. 'Ee's a tricky little blighter."

The goblin in question blinked at the police officer. It was several long moments before the oxygen flooded back into his brain and Cabra's words sorted themselves into language. He rose with difficulty, shifting his handcuffs experimentally, and regarded the officer. "Mister - Cabra, was it? Mr. Cabra, those are some weighty accusations right there, and I admit to everything except the 'criminal intent' part. Forn's a dangerous place for a goblin such as myself - the shooting earlier just goes to show how dangerous it is to be non-human right now. I may have lied, but only to protect myself. I don't trust no one but myself, Mr. Cabra, especially in these troubled times. I don't like handing out my personal information that freely. Vargen Epshelm was only the first name that came to mind - I did not intend to impersonate Mr. Epshelm, only to ensure that no one could spot this information and use it against me. Surely you understand."

[WhatsamattaU]

Urbis Forum

The night before, the local television weather newscast had shown a meteorological dome of high pressure system that was predicted to hover over the city for days. There was no way they could have predicted the dome's collapse and replacement by a low pressure zone. But when it happened, the humidity increased and the cooling brought a pelting rain that caught everyone off guard that morning. The weatherman and weather-ladies tried to save face on the morning broadcasts. Not many believed their hypotheses and attempts to explain the phenomenon.

In the university parapsychology labs, for those people interested in trying to quantify the preternatural, not yet open to the students, a PKE metter that had accidentally been left with it's power switched on started clicking faintly, indicating that some small disturbance was near, or a great disturbance was somewhere on the horizon.

Homer could not believe how Safiya rode him and rode him and rode him. Each time Homer thought he had nothing left to give, Safiya found more strength in him. He was covered in sweat. His breathing was labored and he was light-headed with joyful exhastion. How long could she keep him going? How many times did he have to carry her piggy-back style around her penthouse?

[New Socialist South Africa]

The Silver Bullet Bar, Greytown, Forn

"That's officer Cabra" said the Satyr, hitting his badge with pride, causing Sterk's eyes to roll back so hard they were in danger of dislocating. "And as an officer of the law, when I demand that you tell me your real name, you tell me your real name, danger or not. You know what, maybe you'll feel more like talking down at the station. Lets go".

The Satyr pushed Grinz out and towards and police car. Steak helped lift Epshelm up, and half-frog marched and half-pushed him to the car too. They opened up the back and put them both in, quickly checking for any weapons first, before attaching the cuffs to little hooks near the top of the car, to prevent the two from trying to kill each other in the back. They got into the front, and Sterk drove off towards the police precinct.

"So, you ready to give me that name yet goblin?" asked Cabra straggly, turning to stare at him through the metal mesh that separated the front seats of the car from the back ones.

Imperial Palace, Urbs Imperatoria, Urbis Forum

A furious knocking woke Emperor Lyra Lupus up. "Hhhnrrrgr" she moaned miserably, as she sat up in her large bed, glaring at the alarm clock on her bedside table. Its unforgiving red lights read out 02:22, far too early for any sensible person to get up. Clearly there was some crisis that needed seeing to. Sighing deeply, she turned on her bedside light. In the bed next to her, her husband Neville moaned and tried to bury his head under the covers.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" she said, eyes still glued shut, pulling off the covers, stepping out into a pair of black wooden slippers and shambling over the thick fluffy white cream floor to the door, dressed in her comfy black woolen pyjamas. Outside the window, the rain was pelting down, tapping away at the windows musically.

She opened the heavy white and gold painted wooden doors, and winced visibly as the light outside hit her. "Whatsitgoingon" she demanded groggily. Before her a young and very nervous looking human aide was hopping up and down in panic.

"Madam Emperor, we have armed and violent Pale Legion extremists marching on the Imperial Parliament Buildings. We also have reports of them violently assaulting a half-elf. They are wielding torches and weapons and have been chanting extremist slurs, and it seems that they don't intend to leave any time soon".

Lyra looked back through the bedroom to the pouring rain outside, that seemed to have come from nowhere, after predictions of clear skies. "Well I hope they didn't bring umbrellas" she said groggily, allowing herself a small smile.

It wasn't uncommon for various groups to march on the Imperial Parliament Buildings, regardless of how different they otherwise were. Whether it was workers demanding better pay, women demanding equality, goblins come all the way from Gudrybės Miškas to demand its Independence, ratfolk coming to demand their own nation, or even just some racial supremacist spouting off, they all seemed to gather there, at the heart of the Empire. Of course it was rarer for them to come fully armed and carrying flaming torches.

The aide looked at her confused, as if panicked by her lack of immediate action. "So, um, er, Madam Emperor, what do we do?"

"First things first" she said. "Get me a coffee. Black, two sugars, a spot of brandy if we have it. Then get me Director Coal over at Imperial on the phone in the lounge. Now".

The aide hurried off, the instructions seeming to do little but make him even more frantic, but at least giving him some purpose. Lyra stood and yawned widely for a long moment, stretching, before slowly closing the door behind her to let Neville continue to sleep. She shambled forward and collapsed down into a luxuriously comfortable old armchair, and felt herself already beginning to drift off, her eyelids weighed down heavily.

"Here is your coffee Madam Emperor" said the aide, dragging her back to reality. She stared up fuzzily at him. "Oh right, yeah".

She took the mug, blew on the hot black coffee, and sipped at it. Too much brandy. It seemed like the boy had panicked searching for it, and when he had finally found it he had sloshed a bit to much in due to his haste. It had certainly been well stirred however, and the rich Aksumite caffeine struck her system. "Mmmmm", she said, allowing the taste of the coffee to roll over her, "good stuff".

She looked up at the aide, who seemed to be watching her nervously and slightly panicked. "Have you called Director Coal yet?" she asked calmly.

"Oh fu-, I mean oh no Madam Emperor! I completely forgot! I'm so sorry! I'll call him right away!" The boy exclaimed like there was no tomorrow.

"Whoa, slow down there kid. Its ok. What's you name again".

"Gerald Madam Emperor" said the aide, looking absolutely terrified.

"Well listen Gerald, I think you are doing a terrific job" said Lyra, smiling up comfortingly at the young man. "I'll handle this call myself, why don't you go get Chiron on the phone in the mean time".

"Yes Madam Emperor" said Gerald, and he fled from the room with the greatest haste, slamming the door as he left.

Lyra's smile vanished and she rolled her eyes after he left. "They need to stop putting these idiots on early morning duty" she muttered to herself, switched on the TV, watching as the news unfolded, images of the torch bearing chanting men walking through pouring rain streaming in. She picked up the phone and called Director Coal. He picked up after just three rings.

"Gordon, you're awake? ... Oh right, yeah, they would call you to wouldn't they. How are doing? ... Heh, yeah. I know right. Why can't these human supremacists ever have their protests at a reasonable time of day? ... I know right? Its like, I get it that you are going to push your bigoted and hated ideas, but could you just do it in the afternoon and save us the trouble of having to get out of bed for it. ... Yeah, that'll be the day. So what are your officers saying about it? ... That many? ... That's more than I expected, but less than I feared. ... Ya seems manageable. ... Heh, Ya I know right, not going to be enjoying the rain, serves the angry little idiots right. ... Well listen Gordon, I've sent for Chiron, and he should be here soon. ... Ya I know, but he tends to have good ... well that's not fair Gordon, not fair at all. ... Well how about you save it for now. Listen Gordon, I don't want us to go handle this ham-fistedly. If we go in guns a-blazing then we will just give those whiners the victim status they want so much. ... Yeah I know, obviously we can't just leave them completely unabated, that would make us look weak. ... Yeah sure, and that too. ... Don't take that tone with me Gordon, I care about this as much as you. ... Good. So I was thinking".

A knocking came on the door to the lounge. "Yeshua dammit" said Lyra. "Yeah I'll talk to your now Gordon, the enemy is at the gates". "Enter!" she shouted, and Gerald came stumbling back in with a handheld phone.

"I have Mr Mantis of the phone for you Madam Emperor" he said, looking flustered but delighted with himself.

"Pass it here" she said, reaching out a hand, and Gerald gave it too her quickly, taking a step back and looking delighted with himself afterwards. He stood there, hovering.

Lyra stared at him. His grim slowly melted from his face. "You want me to get out?" he said finally.

"YES!" bellowed Lyra.

"Sorry Madam Emperor". He said, and virtually ran from the room.

Lyra shook her head and lifted the handheld in her left hand and put it to her ear, holding the telephone in her right hand to her right ear. "Chiron I have Gordon on the line. ... Yes he can hear me, say hi boys". She put the phones close together for a moment so the two men could say hi to one another, before putting them back to her ears.

"All the formalities out of the way? ... Great. Now Chiron I've just been telling Gordon that obviously we can't go in guns a-blazing, would just escalate things, and the last thing this party needs is more tension in the nation. ... Yes Gordon, and the Empire, that goes without saying. ... Yes, I know that, I'm not an idiot! ... Both of you shut up. When I say your name you can talk, got it? Good. Now, Chiron, what do you suggest? ... Ya ... Mhm ... Ok, and you have his number? ... Well maybe Coal can help us with that then. Gordon, listen, Chiron is suggesting we get in touch with Carver Neil and tell him to get his dogs back in line. ... Yes obviously not in that language, Yeshua shakes, man would just hang up. ... Well then do that first then. ... Well then leave out that bit then. ... Well then we'll just get a court order on the matter. ... Well then have your officers keep them apart. ... Alright dammit Gordon! That's their bloody job!"

Lyra hung up the phone of Gordon sharply., and took another sip of coffee before carrying on talking to Chiron.

"Yeah, he wasn't happy. ... Yeah, they'll go and tell them the usual about gathering illegally, blah, blah, blah, they'll probably refuse. Gordon calls Carver to get his dogs in line. If he refuses we get a court order in the morning, and if they still refuse then we clear them out. ... Ya I know its a touch combative, but its our job to uphold the law. ... Almighty dammit Chiron then that will be their bloody problem, and won't it just be seen as weakness if we do nothing? ... Well we won't have any votes to build any coalitions if we just sit back and do nothing! ... Almighty dammit my decision is final! Good day!".

Lyra hung up the phone and tossed it across the table, slumping back down in her chair with a "Hhhhuuurrrr, men!". She continued to watch as a priest of some sort gave a long and rambling speech about human importance. She picked up her coffee and finished it off, enjoying the warmth of it, and the thought of these idiots freezing out in the rain.

10 Artiane Street, Lapis Murus, Urbis Forum

Gordon Coal, Director of the Imperial Police Services (IPS) put down the phone with some annoyance after Lyra slammed it down, the force of the blow ringing in his ears a bit. He picked up the phone and placed a call to the IPS office in Urbs Imperatoria. "Good morning Aetius, how are things looking out there? ... Alright. Well just hang tight for now. Let me see if I can talk with Carver to get them in line, then I'll let you know how you should proceed. ... Alright Aetius, you hang in there now. ... Yes I'll talk to you to soon Aetius. ... I said I'll talk to you soon. ... No, I said, nevermind". He hung up. He pulled out a little black notebook he filled with some choice phone numbers. Amongst them was the number he had been given from the Victorum office if he ever needed to get into contact with Carver Neil. He typed in the numbers and the phone began to ring. He waited to talk with the leader of the Pale Legion.

[Dalria]

The Legion - Urbis Forum

The rain poured down in the darkness but the legionaries and their supporters were not giving up. People had already heeded the call and were on their way to join the protest. One that had grown so rapidly with little or no causation; officers had already begun setting up tents and starting small fires to keep warm. They were determined to stick it out, have their voices heard. Although the rain extinguished many of the torches, it did not put out the fire within the passionate legionaries. That is the one good thing that Legion protests had on their side; organization. They could protest for weeks on end as they had the manpower but not only that they had the supply lines. Being a military-social order; rations, munitions, and cots could be brought in to maintain ground made. Several of the more armed officers were facing off with imperial guards at the courtyard fence.

"We want to see the Emperor. That bitch knows we are out here! Send her out or you will have another Frankbur on our hands" a legionnaire spit at one of the guards. The event he was referred too was one of the most controversial riots in the history of the empire, leaving a wake of destruction and devastation. Twenty-two years ago, an elf won the election for mayor of Frankbur, one of the largest cities in Bovaria. It was a slim decision; 51%-49%. Several weeks later, the new mayor enacted reforms to build a new housing system for those living in the undercity, primarily ratfolk and goblin. Three days after that incident he pushed for orcish refugees to make their new home in Frankbur and offered subsidies to businesses that would hire them. The chapter master of Frankbur called for a crusade against this heathen. Several hundred men gathered at the City House for Development, barring access to the building which the committee in charge of the new housing system worked. They called upon the mayor to meet them and speak terms; he sent in the local police department instead. Shots were fired and two legionaries were killed.

All seemed well for a day as the crowd dispersed and next thing you know, it was the largest Legion gathering the nation had ever seen. They began to torch the fields outside the city, any farm with orcish labor. The police were sent, calling upon military forces and Imperial riot patrol to reinforce them. They came to late, when local police clashed with legionaries, blood was spelt. The Legion outnumbered them 3-1, they marched into the city as most of the police fled. Counter-protestors met the Legionaries but were met with the same fate. The mayor tried to escape town, leaving in a convoy. The convoy was intercepted and after a brutal firefight, a Legion officer slit the throat of the mayor. The city burned for four days, millions of dollars in property damage, and hundreds were killed before the military moved into the city. By then, the Legion had already dispersed, leaving the military to only crackdown on anarchist and non-ideological rioters. The Legion awaited to be feared once again, they had turned their protest into a battle camp.

Carver Neil - Home

Carver had barely arrived home, sneaking into his bedroom and cuddling up to his wife. Barely awake, she acknowledged him with a kiss and cuddled closer. It had been a long day, he knew the men were arming in the capital but he didn't expect a battle camp overnight. He had even turned his phone to silent to escape the massing texts from various officers and chapter masters. He would address the situation tomorrow, plus he didn't want to tie himself to anymore crime in the capital to prevent any more suspension. Nearly one hour into his sleep, his awoke in a sweat. Instantly calmed down as he saw his wife's face, as much as a sadistic man Carver was, his family was everything too him.

He saw his phone light up, "another officer" he moaned to himself as he leaned over to see nearly 100+ new messages. Yet a government number was calling him, not one of the usual Legion contacts. He grabbed his phone and walked off to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water before answering his phone.

"Who the hell is calling this late at night and what can I do for you that can't wait until this morning" he grumbled into the phone.

[WhatsamattaU]

Urbis Forum.
The Apartments of Convener Snorri Grujindar

Ever since his younger days as an Imperial Marine, Snorri Grujindar was an early riser. Typically, he and his wife went to bed a couple of hours before midnight. After six hours of sleep, Snorri was ready to rise and face the new day. Snorri’s wife, Dollie, would rise a few of hours later, claiming it was essential that she get the proper amount of ‘beauty-sleep’. Snorri indulged her in this in a way he’d never indulge a Marine. And, to tell the truth, he was a firm believer in the old saying, “Happy wife, happy life”.

By 0430, Snorri had risen, showered, groomed, dressed, and made coffee with cream and a tipple of honey-whisky. Taking a sip along the way from the kitchen, Snorri made his way to study, to catch up on the news.

Snorri sat down at his desk, in his specially crafted, ergonomic leather chair. Turning on the desktop computer, he brought up the online streaming service from WCNN and was shocked and amazed. A near riot and threat of a lynching in Urbis Forum by Sheriff Carver Neil of The Pale Legion! The recorded scene then shifted to the Greytown Precinct, where protesters had surrounded the police station, and chanting, “Down With Neil! No Crooked Cop Deal” and “The Whole World Is Watching!”

Somehow, Sheriff Neil had either been let go or spirited away to another location and the crowd dispersed. That was good news…, but then the effing Legion had got their panties in a twist and had been gathered since about 0230 at the steps of the Parliament Building. The soldier in him wanted to go out and do battle with the Legion. In many ways, they were like radical Muhadists that thought their God wanted them to die fighting an enemy rather than winning converts by showing an example of piety and upright behavior.

Snorri chuckled, he didn’t want anyone seriously hurt or injured, but had to laugh a bit when he saw that whatever incarnation of Yeshua the Legionairies were worshiping didn’t stop mother nature from pissing on them with a freak rain storm. Also, didn’t these idiots have jobs that they had to go to on a Monday morning? Bound to be lots of people calling in sick. Then their bosses would risk being late with shipments and disruptions in production. And then, they’d be pissing and moaning about how unfair it was that they lost their jobs or promotions to the other people that actually showed up for work.

Snorri watched the news and quickly did an interweb search for supporting reports. Satisfied that he now knew the essential truths of the matter, the Covener phoned his Chief of Staff. “Billy… Yes… Have you seen the news?... I have an idea…. Now it’s possible this will all blow over quickly, maybe even before my plan can be put into action… Call General Rheal and ask him to wake up his Chaplain. If he goes along with this…."


X X X X X

The Parliament Building Square.


Helicopter transports were soon in the air and flying through the rain to the helipad at the Parliament. The grunts then quickly transported military grade weather resistant public address systems and positioned them on the building and aimed them out into the square at the front of Parliament.

From the top of the building, in the rain, Imperial Army Chaplain Carstairs James began his sermon:

“Thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy Heart and Soul, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. Blessed are…”

The bullhorns of the Legionairies were no match for the military public address system. If they didn’t want to hear a sermon about peace and love and brotherhood, the Legion was free to go.

Strangely enough, the rain began to lessen and the morning sun began to shine through the clouds as the sermon continued.

[WhatsamattaU]

Homer Kayjack. A penthouse apartment in Urbis Forum.

Homer stirred. He was only half awake, feeling warm and cozy.

What a night. He engineered a radio broadcast of a great show. Followed a talking cat to the sanctum or a prietess-slash-sorceress. Helped her charge up an interdimensional portal. Met with a goddess from another plane of existence and been given the blessing of eight extra lives. And now he was laying in bed, skin to skin with the beautiful priestess.

Homer wasn't sure what she really looked like. Was it a spell she cast upon herself or on him? Was she the elder sabretooth or just the mature cougar? It really didn't matter. They were here, together, now.

Homer thought about kissing her beautiful, sleeping and smiling lips, but decided he didn't want to wake her from her dream. So he went back to sleep.

[Hashkin]

Kris Devonshire, History Professor at UFU - Outside Parliament Building 6:23 AM

Sir Kristopher Alexander Phillip Devonshire, Duke of Horton, Defender of the Agenorian Realm, and Represenative of Mankind, was late to his first class. His first class of the new semester, and he was late. Classes hadn't started yet, hell, Kris wasn't even sure if the University was open yet, but he needed time to prepare. To kick off his unit on The Great Agenor Civil War, he planned to take his students to the battlefield in Acricos, Pădurea Morților, where he kicked some vampiric butt. The university was close to him, so he walked to his class, even though he regretted that today. It was soaking wet, and whenever he underestimated a puddle, he played the price. He was making one of his final turns when he saw the commotion at the Parliament Building. The building looks like hell on eris, probably a protest, he saw some Legionairies looking up at the roof. Some weird looking guy was standing on the roof, chanting some stuff that apparently came by his God. Kris strode up to one of the Legionairies and asked, "Excuse me sir, but what happened here?"

[Dalria]

Legionaries - Outside Parliament Building

The vampire strode up and had to audacity to question the people who strove so hard to exterminate his kind, "Excuse me sir, but what happened here". A couple of the garbed legionaries as well as some unhooded officers gathered around the vampire.

An officer holding a rifle stepped forward, "we are tired of humans being underrepresented in our government. We built this nation, we are the back of this great country. We have split our blood for this soil; and if we left it to the way it use to be, the beasts and heathenish gangs would have us descend into anarchy and kill each other. Your devilish race would once again feed on innocents! We are trying to protect humanity, that's what is going on here" the officer called out.

"Is that a problem bloodsucker?" another legionary yelled out.

[WhatsamattaU]

Urbis Forum.
The Apartments of Convener Snorri Grujindar

There wasn't any sense in rushing to the Parliament, just yet. What with P.L. idiots in the square. General Rheal had taken Snorri's suggestion and proved that the Senators and Conveners could easily get passed the mob in helicopters.

This Carver Neil incident still puzzled Snorri. What made the Sheriff go off half-cocked like that? A little more time digging on the interweb soon produced results. A rock band, called, "Exhallos", had performed a singularly exceptional song about the struggle for interracial harmony. Watching a bootleg cellphone recording, Snorri wasn't completely entranced, but he recognized three things: a driving rock beat, good poetry and the siren's power.

Snorri called his Chief of Staff, again, and said, "Billy. Find me the rock band that played The Silver Bullet, last night. They're called, "Exhallos". I want them here, at my residence as soon as is politely possible. Oh, and one's a centaur and another's a minotaur, so get a big van. Good." And Snorri hung up.

If Snorri could win this band to his side, he thought, he'd bring "Rise Up" to the attention of all Agenor, as well as getting closer to his own goals.

[New Socialist South Africa]

“Good morning Sheriff Neil” said the old voice on the other end of the line. “This is Gordon Coal, Director of the Imperial Police Services. Sheriff, this may come as a surprise to you, but we have a group of Pale Legionaries protesting outside the Imperial Parliament Buildings. Now Sheriff, by Imperial Law, unarmed peaceful protests are of course allowed, but notice must be given to the police, ideally both local and Imperial, at least 24 hours before a protest is to commence. That way we can also ensure the protest is also peaceful, and those involved in the protest are both unarmed and safe”.

Coal cleared his throat. “Now Sheriff, lets not beat about the bush. I know you are a man with some seniority in the Pale Legion. What do you say you request that your boys go home and file a request at around 8am today, so we can all get some well deserved sleep. Then come Midday tomorrow, once the notice has been cleared, your boys can march past the Imperial Parliament Buildings unarmed, and we can all go on with upholding the law and order in the Empire. What say you to that sir?”

[Hashkin]

Legionaries - Outside Parliament Building

The vampire strode up and had to audacity to question the people who strove so hard to exterminate his kind, "Excuse me sir, but what happened here". A couple of the garbed legionaries as well as some unhooded officers gathered around the vampire.

An officer holding a rifle stepped forward, "we are tired of humans being underrepresented in our government. We built this nation, we are the back of this great country. We have split our blood for this soil; and if we left it to the way it use to be, the beasts and heathenish gangs would have us descend into anarchy and kill each other. Your devilish race would once again feed on innocents! We are trying to protect humanity, that's what is going on here" the officer called out.

"Is that a problem bloodsucker?" another legionary yelled out.

Kris - Outside Parliament
"Err...What?" It was now that Kris began to see the Legionairies start to close in on him, scrowls on their faces. The last protest he had to deal with was In 1968 with some weeded hippies, almost no resistance. This may be different, if Kris wasn't quick on his words. " Um... I'll hope you recognize me. Sir Kristopher Devonshire, Duke of Horton, Defender of Agenor and Mankind, Chief of the Emperors General Staff since...About 700 years now. Hope it rings a bell."

[Dalria]

Carver Neil

Carver grabbed his temple and sighed, "well deserved sleep? I was getting my own deserved sleep till you called. Look with all due respect I dislike the rumors of me being associated with The Pale Legion, especially floating around an Imperial agency. I do think those boys are fighting a just cause but I am a man of the law. I do not associate myself with the likes of a political organization. These men are just exercising their freedom, I might be able to talk some sense into them but I don't know how effective I will be" although most spoke about Carver's involvement with the Legion, he tried his best to keep his plate clean. Carver also wished he knew that his men had organized a riot to get him out of the precinct which turned into a full-blown protest at parliament.

His wife grabbed him, "honey what is it?" she questioned, he just patted her and left the room to let her back to sleep.

"Now look here, why not just allow them to protest? Most will be to tired too continue in the morning, let them tire themselves out rather than allowing them to recoup. They are just trying to get their voices heard" Carver scoffed. This had blown out of proportion, he had many texts from chapter masters who were leading their own battalions to join the protest. As much as he wanted to ease the tensions for the sake of his own reputation, he knew it was out of his hands and that the "blood and soil" call-to-arms was already heard. He thought to himself, he had to drive back to the capital to at least accompany his men, or he'd be seen as a coward.

Legionaries

The men crowded around the vampire, "defender of mankind my ass. Ya'll Vamp's would hunt us like cattle if it wasn't for the order that humans brought to this land. I don't care what titles you hold, the only bell that will be ringing is your head if you don't leave. Blood and soil!" one of the officers yelled.

The men saluted, "blood and soil!" they continually chanted.

"Now I would recommend if you would walk your fangs right out of here, Sir Devon, Duke of shit" another legionary chimed in. The protest continued, as morning broke, several trucks from rural regions brought in more men and many from larger cities around the nation were on their way. It was a call-to-arms for legionaries and human-sympathizers.

[Corpus Magnus]

The Silver Bullet Bar, Greytown, Forn

"That's officer Cabra" said the Satyr, hitting his badge with pride, causing Sterk's eyes to roll back so hard they were in danger of dislocating. "And as an officer of the law, when I demand that you tell me your real name, you tell me your real name, danger or not. You know what, maybe you'll feel more like talking down at the station. Lets go".

The Satyr pushed Grinz out and towards and police car. Steak helped lift Epshelm up, and half-frog marched and half-pushed him to the car too. They opened up the back and put them both in, quickly checking for any weapons first, before attaching the cuffs to little hooks near the top of the car, to prevent the two from trying to kill each other in the back. They got into the front, and Sterk drove off towards the police precinct.

"So, you ready to give me that name yet goblin?" asked Cabra straggly, turning to stare at him through the metal mesh that separated the front seats of the car from the back ones.

The Silver Bullet Bar, Greytown, Forn

"Eh, not quite," Grinz said easily, expertly scanning the inside of the police car. There wasn't much he could do without a key for his handcuffs - he would have to wait until he got to the police station, see if he could bribe his way out of this. There was no way he would allow this situation to tarnish his record - though he couldn't see how he could possibly avoid a problem.

The dwarf grumbled a few threats and racial slurs but didn't protest when he was loaded into the car.

[WhatsamattaU]

10:00 AM, Urbis Forum, Greytown,The Hauladay Inn, Centaur Cottage #2

It had taken a little detective work, some questions and money, but Billy eventually found the band.

The band members of Exhallos had been awake for about an hour. The checkout time at the Hauladay Inn was at eleven in the morning. It would have been nice to sleep in, what with all the commotion at The Silver Bullet bar last night, but the road was beckoning. The road and the money that they needed to make to keep touring, in the hopes of attracting the notice of someone willing to offer them a recording contract.

They really didn't know what to make of The Silver Bullet affair. Would the fallout be negative, what with the shooting and deaths and near rioting? Or would it turn out okay?

The cottage didn't come with a television, and they only listened to the radio when they were traveling, so Cretian, Equitizus, Faunsto and Omorfi could really be excused for not knowing how things had played, and were playing out in the news.

Another thing they couldn't have predicted was the knock on the door.

knock. knock. knock.

They figured that they were decent enough for company, but a little wary, it might not be the hotel staff or a friend.

Not standing directly behind the door, Faunsto called to the person on the other side, "Who is it?"

A voice came from the other side, "My name is William Boodreigh, and my employer is interested in hiring you and spreading your music. I have a limo-van outside, would you be willing to come and hear his offer?"

The other members of the band nodded.

Faunsto opened the door and invited Mr. Boodreigh, a human, in and said. "Please excuse the mess, we were just cleaning up before checking out."

Mr. Boodreigh replied, "No worries. In fact, don't worry about checking out just yet, I will cover the cost of another day, if you'll come with me right now."

Equitizus was pretty much the manager of the band. He looked at the other members, who all nodded, and then said with happy excitement in his voice, "Band, let's not keep Mr. Boodreigh's boss-man waiting!"

[New Socialist South Africa]

Director Gordon Coal

Coal couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Carver’s denials of involvement with the Pale Legion. He had expected the denial of course, Carver wasn’t about to just go around advertising his position to the Director of the IPS, but the denial rang hollow nonetheless.

“Well Sheriff I’d be much obliged if you could see what you can do about dispersing such a collective peacefully. If the proper forms are filled out then there is no problem with a peaceful and unarmed protest, but we can’t have men wielding guns outside the Imperial Parliament Buildings in the mean hours of the morning, certainly not without more paper work than enough to sink a ship. I’m led to believe we had another gathering tonight outside the Greytown Precinct, that time by a different group, and they listened to the command to disperse when it became clear they didn’t have a permit. I don’t see why we should have one set of rules for them and another for these armed Pale Legionaries. If you could try get them to disperse as soon as possible that would be mighty fine of you Sheriff. No one wants to turn this into a chaotic and difficult situation do they?”

Coal listened intently for Carver’s response. He had thought that Carver had ordered the protest, but his sleepy voice suggested otherwise. Either way, despite Carver’s denials, it was common knowledge that the Sheriff was among the upper ranks of the Legion, if not being the man at the tippy top of it all.

Hours earlier, Greytown, Urbis Forum

Cabra did not look at all impressed with the goblin’s repeated refusal to tell him his name, and made an angry little note of it in his notebook.

Sterk was driving, but had to stay away from the precinct for quite a while, as word had come in of a crowd of protesters gathered out there chanting “DOWN WITH NEIL! NO CROOKED COP DEAL!”. Instead of going directly, Sterk simply drove around the block a few times, away from the protest, waiting for the crowd to disperse before driving in to the police car yard. Once they had parked they pulled to two into the station, and marched them off into separate interrogation rooms. Sterk took Epshelm into Interrogation Room 2, and Cabra took the goblin into interrogation room 1. Unbeknownced to Satyr and goblin alike, just some half an hour before, the Grandmaster of the Pale Legion and the Chief of the Urbis Foum Police Department had been sitting in the very room they now occupied.

Cabra sat opposite the still handcuffed goblin. The Satyr was exhausted but delighted to finally be back in the precinct. He took his time to enjoy a deep breath, before pulling out a box of Pan’s Pipe cigarettes and a box of matches. The Satyr put a cigarette to his mouth, lit it, inhaled and expelled a cloud of the disgusting smelling smoke into the air, where it mixed with the stale Spider Rider cigarette smoke of the brand Malraah was partial to.

“So” said Cabra, exhaling another puff of smoke. “Let’s try this one final time. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something that you later rely upon in court. Anything you say or do may later be used in evidence. You have the right to an attorney, if you can’t afford an attorney one may be provided for you. Do you understand these right as they have been read to you?”

Cabra barely waited for the response, before steamrolling right on ahead to “So, now that that’s out the way, what is your almighty damned bloody name? Your real one this time. Not no Vargen Epshelm nonsense this time”.

The Silver Bullet Bar

By now the bar was near abandoned. Downstairs the forensics team was busy taking photos and collecting blood samples in the storeroom office. They had already taken a photo on the bullet lodged in the ceiling where Carver has shot it, and had carefully removed it with pliers and put it into a little plastic bag as evidence. Upstairs, the bartenders, bouncers and remaining staff sat around the bar. They were exhausted.

An agitated bitten werewolf was busy complaining. “I thought you guys were supposed to have security. Instead you have gunmen roving about and my set is cancelled because of it. Worse yet those crazy Pale Legion guys could have killed me! Do you know how dangerous this world is for a werewolf? Do you? This is the last time I’m ever agreeing to come DJ here”.

“Shut up Fluffs” said Kamos boredly, the huge Minotaur bouncer not even bothering to look up from his cellphone, that was exploding with texts from friends after they had seen his moment on the news.

The werewolf, one Cain Ines, aka DJ Fluffy, glared back at the bouncer, but said nothing. Squeek poured him a draft of Golden Mountain Dwarven Stout, on the house, and the werewolf’s mood seemed to improve. The bartenders sat there, dividing up the tips of the night between themselves, while Buckley the Satyr bouncer chatted on his cellphone with someone between puffs of his Pan’s Pipe cigarette.

“WHERE THE BLOODY HELLS IS HE!” Demanded a furious voice downstairs, and a man with messy grey hair and a grey beard came charging up the stairs in his pyjamas. His eyes were wild but tired, and he looked grumpy and half asleep.

“Oh hey Des” said Buckley, in an almost bored voice. “That was what I was saying to you on the phone. We don’t know”.

“Who are we looking for now?” asked Squeek, looking up from the coin tips he was counting out, repeating the number over and over in his head so as to not lose count.

“Marcus of course you blithering idiot!” spat Des. “It may have escaped your notice but I’m a shareholder in this establishment, and those bloody UFPD pigs are saying they may need to close the bar down for tomorrow while they finish collecting evidence. Can you imagine! The Silver Bullet! Closed! On a Monday no less!”

The staff stared blankly at the raving man. Most were happy to have come out through the night with their lives, and quite frankly a day off sounded like a welcome reprive.

“So where is Marcus” said Des, raising his hands in exasperation.

“Not sure” said Kamos boredly, eyes still fixed on his phone.

“How can you not be sure?!?” bellowed Des. “He’s the bloody manager isn’t he?”

“Ya” said Squeek, “but he usually doesn’t stay until the end of the night. Buggers off around midnight to go get drunk at Old Mama’s place or to sleep off his own drinks. He usually just leaves us to clean up and cash up”.

“And did any of you think of calling him?” demanded the still angry Des.

“Not answering his phone” said Buckley, shutting down this line of inquiry.

“Oh” said Des, seemingly finally running out of steam and anger. “Well, well I want to be notified the moment anyone hears from him” he concluded, and stormed back out of the bar.

“Bloody idiot” Buckley murmured once he was gone.

The tips counted up and shared out, they got ready to go home, for some well deserved sleep. Squeek accompanied Kaliagh and her friends back. He would need some rest, as there would be a meeting in the history department at the Univeristy in not too many hours. Squeek was working as a 2nd Year history tutor for ancient Professor Kris Devonshire’s course, helping with the smaller group seminars and marking some of the assignments. The Vampire lecturer would still need to explain the layout of the course to him.

Old Prof Kris as those who liked him called him was a truly fascinating lecturer, the type of lecturer who was always talking about the old days, and about this one time when he did this or met this historical figure. The difference though was that in Old Prof Kris’s case, these anecdotes and insights on past historical figures usually traced to some 500 years ago or so.