The Ward's Guard

The man nods. "Is it possible that it's too late? I don't mean to discourage you my new friend, but I also want to be sure that you are sure of your ambitious goals. It really is a noble cause, one that I can respect."

"A noble cause if I've ever heard one. Let me ask you, if your goal is to help the downtrodden, and this town gets destroyed, wouldn't that make them downtrodden?"

The man smiles. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you that I've heard that before. I prefer to know two things about a person, their goal, and why. So if you won't tell me what you're working towards, then would you humor me and tell me why?"

The man looks at the youth thoughtfully. "Perhaps. I think that there are few things that unite people, and while people make rash decisions when they're angry, they are united as they do so. No doubt there will be chaos and possibly death. Perhaps they will be able to channel it to reduce the damage. Regardless, there's not much we can do that would defuse the crowd's tension. Although in chaos, there arises opportunities. So tell me Krait, what is it that you want, what opportunities do you seek?"

The man smiles as the woman watches Krait and the surroundings very thoroughly. "You may call her Catorphia if you wish. She's rather fond of me being alive in case you're wondering. Now I believe it's my turn." The man gestures towards the youth who is still speaking. "What do you think of him?"

"Excellent, I believe that this is progress. I believe it's your turn to ask a question my good Krait. Will you make it a good one?"

"No dancing around the topic I see. I work for myself, I'm not fond of being someone else's servant. I guess that means it's my turn. What is your name, or more accurately, what do people call you?"

The man raises one of his eyebrows. "Just shooting off the questions I see. How about we make this like a regular conversation. You ask one question, I answer it, and then I ask you one. If I recall, that's how conversations are meant to work."

The man chuckles. "I guess that's true. Although it does bring up the question of your motive."

The woman watches Krait with open hostility when she doesn't move. The man shrugs before speaking again. "Doesn't matter much to me. I guess it depends if you're comfortable being that close."

As Krait stopped near the man, a woman appeared on the other side of him, dressed in commoner's clothes, although her skin tone suggests that she's from the Eastern Deserts. She watches Krait with open suspicion. The man watches the crowd and doesn't turn to Krait when he speaks. "I'd suggest not getting too close, she likes it when people respect my personal space."

The man acts Disdainful of Krait's approach, he started to look interested at the crowd's reaction to the speaker.

A man is standing near a store front, he stands casually but he watches Krait rather intently. As Krait sees him, he redirects his attention to watch the rest of the crowd, but he always looks back at Krait eventually.

The young man shows no signs of slowing down, and the crowd around him only seems to grow as he grows in intensity. Long before the young man is done speaking, Krait feels someone watching her.

As Krait approaches the young man, his words become clearer. "This isn't all. You think that this is the first time a settlement has come under attack? I have talked with travellers who have told me about towns and settlements that have been completely overrun and destroyed by the beasts. They are gathering in larger numbers and are getting bolder in their attacks. Soon there will be hordes of them seeking some self proclaimed need for vengeance. If those filthy monsters swarm together to try to end us, then we need to stand as one against them, but the Mayor seems intent on standing on his own, then leave us all to fend for ourselves. That is no way to lead, and it will only bring us to ruin and death! We've seen what they're willing to do, they'll kill us all and burn down everything we love and hold dear." The young man's eyes burn with an inferno of passion as he continues to speak. Those who surround him are transfixed by his words, seeming to share his anger.

As Krait enters the settlement, the inhabitants view her with suspicion that bordered on hostility. The market was only beginning to get set up, and yet the people were wide awake and active. When one looked into their eyes, one saw anger being contained that only intensified the closer one got towards the marketplace, and by association, the mayor's mansion. The tension in the air felt as if it was being drawn like the string of a bow that was preparing to launch an arrow. In the marketplace, one could see a young man with brown hair and round facial features despite looking as if he wasn't quite as large as he should be, talking rather animatedly with a group of people. The young man looks as if he's preparing to address a mass of people. Off to the side, a man watches, looking rather interested in the entire scene.

The settlement's marketplace bustled with a sense of fear and anticipation that seemed to have been stoked into burning hotter, excellent. Although very little had changed in the marketplace itself for years, it was what had happened last night that seemed to push the people to give their attention to the speaker. The speaker himself wasn't new, he had been there for nearly a month. But even though in the past the general public ignored him, he had their attention now. Only one thing had changed about the speaker himself, and that was not what he said, but where he spoke. While he had consistently demanded change, he normally had done so on street corners and near shops, but now he stood in front of the Mayor's house, speaking a challenge to the authority that he held. The speaker looked to be a youth, but he spoke of things beyond his apparent years. As he spoke of the need for change, his eyes seemed to burn with a passion that could rival the hottest inferno, and he had the people transfixed onto him. He spoke long and hard, as he himself was quite expressive with both his words and actions, often punctuating his points with gestures by his hands. As he spoke, his burning eyes looked off into the distance with a loathing hatred. "Who are they to kill us, but not honorably, I doubt that they know that the word exists. They strike at night, like the beasts that they worship. They move to kill us and any who challenge their ways by not following their pagan beliefs. They attack at night so that they can kill us in cold blood, or simply burn us in our houses! You think that you're safe? You think that just because you haven't spoken out against them, or fought against them, or even mistreated them that they will leave you alone while the rest us of burn? You saw for yourselves, the Craddocks's house was burned to the ground last night as they attacked our settlement again. We all know the Craddocks, they never turned anyone away, not even if you were one of those cursed and forsaken beasts, and where did that leave them?! They have lost their mother and two sons along with their entire livelihood! Ask yourself again, if people who help and support the beasts are murdered and burned in the night, what about you? Will you be spared because you choose to not act? They will murder us all if given the chance, they have shown us this, and the mayor is more than happy to give them that chance! While we live here with only the underdeveloped guards of the walls to protect us, the precious Mayor sits in his manor, surrounded by seemingly legions of guards who stand there at his whims instead of fighting to protect the people! He hires a single Clean Eyes to deal with this, and we find that she was taken last night to be desecrated in one of the beast's barbarous sacrifices no less, in their pagan rituals in a fruitless attempt to kill the Crystal Mother! The Mayor calls one mercenary and decides that all will be well, then she fails and the Mayor returns to his old habits. he stands by as we suffer and offers no help. I say that this needs to change! We shouldn't have our Mayor be a man who serves himself, we need someone who will serve and protect the people! We need security! We need change! We need Action!" A man stood near a local store as the crowd seemed to grow, with their anxiety and fear growing, the youth carried on speaking. They were thinking about it, and that's what was needed. The man didn't like dealing with such zealous people, but it had to be done when it was beneficial. For it was the zealous who stirred the moderate to action, but if only they were more predictable. The man could feel the zealous fire in the youth as he encouraged the embers that filled the crowd to burn hotter. Of course this had been going on for a while, they just needed more fuel, otherwise the coals just couldn't heat up enough, that fuel came from last night. It would not be long before these fires pushed the people to action, anyone could sense that, some snapped last night, others would snap soon. The man smiled to himself. Things couldn't really go wrong now, and then he'd have another in his pocket. He couldn't remember why he had worried himself so much over that sister, even if she came back, she couldn't make much of a difference if she wanted to. The man's smile faded. But what would happen to her, and more importantly, what effect would she have on the plans. Her connection to Concerto both made her valuable and dangerous. If only the man knew if it would be better to have her killed or not, that would make things easier. Until his contacts got back to him, he could only hope that she wouldn't muck all of this up somehow, and that made him uneasy. Why couldn't things just remained how he wanted them? The man decided to continue to watch the youth try to light a burning blaze in the hearts of the people, he tried to distract himself by turning his thoughts to his other companion's and their tasks. He failed. Things were going too well for him to risk letting anyone mess this up. A scowl crept it's way onto the man's face. He needed to deal with this sister, and all of the effects that she would have that he didn't like, now if only he could answer how.