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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 5:58 pm 
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Okay, starting now :) Anyone who doesn't have their characters posted can jump in whenever.

Here we go...

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

What was it with the morbid fascination civilians had with a hanging? The crowds just seemed to be expanding, all eyes fixed on the currently empty noose that dangled like a threat from the gallows. It made a clean escape difficult, reflected a character lounging on the fringes of the crowd cloaked in what could have once been dark green but was now a noncommital greyish hue.

He ran his eyes over the scene, picking out those placed strategically around the location to spring into action upon his signal. Quick, clean execution - of the plan, and if all went according to it, not the condemned - was vital here. Horses waited just outside, plenty for all of them and rescued criminals besides. 'Criminals' was hardly the word, he reflected in disgust. He knew the boy, foremost in the line of subdued captives about to ascend any moment to up the noose, and was reasonably sure the lad had been condemned for stealing half a loaf of mouldy bread.

How he knew this....very few were aware. He was the Phantom, half a myth and half reality, and even his agents - those poised to spring should he give the command - knew very little of him. Better that way. The less they knew, the less they could reveal under torture if captured.

The boy ascended to stand on the platform, quivering as the ratlike little magistrate wheezily proclaimed his guilt. The Phantom tensed. A moment...just a moment...

The lad stepped forward, ashen as the noose closed about his neck, and the Phantom counted down under his breath.

Three..two...one...

Two swift steps and a twist of his hand, and a crate of doves broke free to arrow skywards. A common occurence, but not to those who waited under his orders to liberate the condemned...

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 8:01 pm 
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A slender figure stood amungst the crowd. She wore old and worn boots, a black dress with a few patches, and a falling apart shaw. The girl's black hair was in two braids, and bangs hung into her grey eyes.

She watched sadly as the boy asended to the gallows, and the rope was put around his neck. Nervously she fiddled with a locket that hung from a yarn around her neck, the only thing her mother left her.

The girl, who looked about sixteen, was a little started when doves, many of them, flew overhead...

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 8:10 pm 
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"I find these events quite morbidly appealing, don't you?"

The balding Lord Welfred, seated upon a specially reserved vantage upon a raised dais, set his wine glass down and gestured pointlessly with a gnarled hand, upon which gems glittered like bold signposts for the several thousand aspiring thieves in the city. "Indeed, my boy. You're on the right track, you are."

Jais gushed on like he'd never heard. "All the blood and screaming. My favorite part is counting the warts on the magistrate's nose. Twenty minutes ago I counted nine, but last time I counted eleven. Do you think it's a sign of high stress? My mother used to say - " He paused. "Hey, look. A bird."

Smiling indulgently, the nobleman looked. The last thing he recalled was that some of the doves were kind of pretty -

Then his world went black. And a certain innocent young man named Jais had half a dozen sharp and shiny objects pointed at his face. The guards looked suitably furious. In fact, he would have died then and there. As events would have it, no guard looked too intent upon charging.

The dagger he held poised at the nobleman's chest did help with that.

"No need to panic." The executioner froze midway through slipping the noose on. A hundred pair of eyes suddenly fixed upon the unfolding drama on the noble dais. Meanwhile Jais was busily giving ground, keeping the unfortunate Lord Welfred in a tight death grip. Literally. "No need to panic, folks!" he repeated heartily. "My name is Bonbon, and I'm your new magistrate for the day. I have a grand total of one wart on my body, though you can't see it and it's in a place I'd care not to mention. Raise your hand if you like the good Lord Welfred."

Predictably enough, everyone present was too stunned to raise their hands. Jais grinned and toyed with the poised dagger. "Majority rules, doesn't it? In that case, I may just have the compassion in my heart to take care of this grievance for you..." His grin remained plastered on his face, though his eyes darted back and forth from where he knew the Phantom lurked, to the various other allies scattered around the square. It was fun being the diversion, but every working diversion out there had something in common:

Sometime during the diversion, someone needed to act.

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 8:19 pm 
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Ashraem was acting, slipping quietly towards the gallows from the back. He jumped lightly, caught the wooden scaffolding of the gallows, and climbed up it.
A guard turned in surprise as Ash clambered onto the platform, but he didn't have time to give a cry before Ash had knocked him unconcious with his knife hilt. Of course, when the guard fell backwards off the gallows, it drew attention.
The other two guards on the gallows began rushing towards Ash, and soldiers at the base started climbing the stairs.
Ash quickly cut the rope of the noose and whispered to the boy, "Get outside and take a horse."
Then the first guard was on Ash, and he began fighting in earnest.


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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 8:48 pm 
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Meanwhile the grey-cloaked figure had disappeared, a lockpick appearing in his hands as he crept round several wagons, keeping carefully out of sight. The shackles binding the rest of the condemned were, luckily, fastened with a running chain - which meant that all one had to do was unfasten that chain and though manacles were still attached to the previously shackled personages, they could be taken care of at a later point at which haste was not so vital.

The few guards posted to ensure absolute cooperation were gone, having responded to Jais's perfectly timed diversion. The Phantom made a mental note to congratulate him later.

The chain was removed and with a few startled glances from those not informed of the plan (the Phantom had connections with the prison guards, so roughly half of them suspected something would be happening) the prisoners melted into the crowd. He hissed after them that horses waited, hoped they had heard, and slipped off to the next task on his agenda.

Which was to maneuver through the crowd until he could see Jais more clearly, and wait for an opportune moment. Just as he could see him start to desperately buy time the Phantom deliberately threw back his hood and on cue a boy stationed for the purpose cried out, "The Phantom! Phantom Grey!"

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Last edited by Meldawen on February 24th, 2007, 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 8:55 pm 
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The girl, whose name was Elizabeth, went wide-eyed when one man first jumped up to the Lord, and another jumped up onto the gallow. Elizabeth pulled out a home made slingshot from under one of her skirts, and grabbed a rock from the ground. Skillfully she shot the second guard on the gallow in the side, and the second time missed.

Of course she knew something was going on, but wasn't sure what. When a hooded man pushed passed her, stopping not far from her and pulled down his hood.
"The Phantom! The Phantom Grey," one boy shouted. Elizabeth froze in her spot, feeling shocked...

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 9:00 pm 
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Miniya closed her eyes, her head spinning. First the boy rescuing the other boy from being hung. Then the girl with the slingshot. And now people shouting. She pushed away from the crowd, the shouting starting to hurt her ears.

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 9:33 pm 
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Upon hearing the dreaded name, the guards whirled around. Two seconds later, three of them fell off the dais from perfectly natural causes. If one could call a three hundred pound mass of blubber being unceremoniously thrown from behind natural.

Stars above, that chap needs to lose some weight! Jais thought, rubbing his sore arms. He leaped down from the dais, unsheathing his scimitar as he did so. "Excuse me, coming through!" he shouted emphatically, darting like the thief he was through the crowd. His eyes riveted on the market square just ahead, where catching him would be like rooting a needle from a haystack. He hadn't spent twenty years running around the market for nothing.

"Hey, I remember you! You're that one who played the prank on me!" came a loud cry in the crowd.

Jais winced. Twenty years wasted, all right. These folks had long memories. "I remember you too," he returned with a friendly smile and a wave, as he darted by. "I still have nightmares of you chasing me in your underwear."

Blotches of ugly purple rose to the man's face so that he fairly resembled a radish. "You - you scum!" Radishface roared, plowing through the thongs in fury.

But Jais was already gone.

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 9:42 pm 
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Threng stood by the gate. He was dressed as an ordinary civialian, but he was anything but ordinary. He was an agent of the phantom, An assasin turned good. It was his job to make sure the prisoners made it out safely. He could hear and see the events unfold. He couldn't help but smile as Jais: that man was a peace of work. Slowly the convicts came into site. He ushered them to the horses, helping eachmount quickly and quietly. "Ride to the group of trees west of the city. We will see you there" The convicts nodded. Thier lives just saved, they would do thier best to comply with their saviors


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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 10:06 pm 
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Elizabeth, feeling shaky, slipped into an allyway between two cottages, getting away from the crowd that was screaming and running from the Phantom. When it at least calmed down a little, she ran down another allyway, were two children, by the ages of ten and eight, waited, both had Elizabeth's hair, but blue eyes. They were obviously afraid. Elizabeth kneeled down to their heigth and tried to calm them. The youngest, a girl, was crying.
"Sh, it's alright Anneth..."

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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 10:48 pm 
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Jaabal stormed out of the keep in a foul mood. He had been assigned to do the impossible. [i]Find Phantom Grey?![/a], those imbeciles didn't know what they were up against.

The barely conceived irritation of the Inquisitor was easily apparent as he slowly raged to a nearby square.


OoC.Is this square in the capital?


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PostPosted: February 24th, 2007, 11:19 pm 
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(( :jawdrop: I see I've got some reading to get in... Well, tell me if I've messed up...))

Jayahna stood near the back of the crowd, not really wanting to be here, but finding herself in the throng of people dispite her feelings toward executions. Pondering what must be crossing the mind of the boy to be hung, Jayahna felt a shiver crawl up her spine, giving her a rare feeling: A feeling that she actually had it better off than someone else. As she looked on, a group of doves shot up into the air, apparently very happy to be free of their wooden cage. It wasn't uncommon for this to happen.

But then, all hell broke loose.

Several men leapt up onto the gallows, and apparently, one of them was the fabled Phantom Grey. Rayahna wasn't particulary keen on local legends, but this man was flesh and bone through and through. And, She thought, He wasn't bad looking, either. The thought quickly banished from her mind, replaced by all the insults and curses thrown at the man. Jayahna herself felt slightly on edge, and her face had become slightly pale. Backing even further away from the crowd, she wondered what had happened, and why on earth she had come here in the first place.

((I didn't find a bio, Melda, but I asume the dear phantom is somewhat dashing. ;) ))

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PostPosted: February 25th, 2007, 12:58 am 
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((Aye, I went out to dinner, and when I came back everyone had posted. :blink: Ah well.))

Meanwhile, a shorter cloaked figure calmly shouldered his way through the rising chaos in the square. "'Scuse me...Pardon me...Good day, madame...Oh, my apologies, sir- allow me to assist you...Yes, pardon me..." After what seemed like an eternity, Kjan was finally free of the suffocating crowd. Shaking himself as though to cast off any lingering sensations of claustrophobia, he cast a last glance toward where the Phantom stood before ducking into one of the larger buildings.

While freeing the prisoners most imminently due to be executed was the first priority, Kjan intended to use the guards' momentary distraction to get a few other things done as well. He strode through the corridors as if he owned the building, pausing only once to quickly sling a small sack of potatoes over his shoulder and help himself to the purse of coins left sitting on a table. After all, nothing wrong with doing a bit of re-stocking.

He continued to navigate his way through the winding hallways, relying solely on hazy memories to get him to his destination. It could be worse, he thought to himself as he turned yet another corner. The guards could be... The thought abruptly trailed off, never to be completed, as Kjan found himself standing face-to-face with three guards and a dead end. "Oh..." he said quietly, a trapped grin plastered on his face. "Hey...guys...I was just...delivering this, and..." He slowly started to back away, but the guards weren't buying it. Still smiling nervously, Kjan began glancing from side to side as he continued backing up. "Catch!" he suddenly shouted, flinging the sack of potatoes into the guards and taking off running.


Inside the jail, a group of prisoners sat inside cramped cells. Men and women, young and old-- the crown had been indiscriminate concerning who it thrust into captivity. Some were younger than seven, and some were well into their eighties or nineties. None one spoke, save a few hushed whispers, and those stopped immediately upon hearing a loud crash in the distance. Moments later, a slightly out-of-breath man rounded the corner and hurried over to the cells.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to unfortunate circumstances, I'm afraid I must order a mandatory evacuation of this building, effective immediately," Kjan announced as he quickly unlocked the cell doors. He stepped aside as the prisoners hurried out of the cells, ushering them toward the door opposite the one through which he'd entered. "Quickly, quickly, right this way, my good people. There is a wagon waiting outside. Yes, yes, you're welcome. I assure you, the pleasure is all mine. Oops-- watch your step, milady. That's right, this way, folks."

After making sure that everyone got safely into the cart, Kjan swung himself up onto the driver's seat and grasped the reins. Flicking his wrists expertly, he spurred the horses forward and out into the crowd. If it had been chaotic before, it was now about to become a madhouse.


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PostPosted: February 25th, 2007, 1:04 am 
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Jaabal stepped into the square and froze immediately. He plunged through the crowd after examining the situation with a sword towards the area where the prisoners were kept


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PostPosted: February 25th, 2007, 1:20 am 
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((Yes, Witchy, it's in the capital. And :lol: SG! Yes, I suppose he could be described as dashing))

The Phantom's original intent had not been to cause a stampede, merely to draw attention away from Jais and the infiltrating Kjan, but as he neatly evaded the utterly disorganized pursuit of several soldiers, tugged his hood up, and slipped into a deserted alleyway, he reflected that really, it was all for the better.

His timing, he also noticed with satisfaction, was impeccable. The wheels of a cart rattled around a corner and with ease the grey-cloaked figure swung himself up beside Kjan, a cursory glance over his shoulder indicating that 'hot pursuit' was hardly the term for the feeble following they had drawn.

"Successful again," he commented with a grin. Though something, perhaps the rattling of weapons around the next bend, told him as he spoke the last syllable that he spoke too soon.

His intuition was rarely wrong.

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PostPosted: February 25th, 2007, 1:58 am 
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Briefly glancing over at the man now sitting next to him, Kjan grinned and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as they found themselves faced with a cluster of soldiers bearing a wide array of weaponry. Ordinarily he might just charge the cart forward and let the soldiers determine if anyone got run over, but with the fugitives still in the back, he wasn't willing to risk the chance of one of the soldiers actually firing a successful shot before they were clear. "Well," he finally said brightly, looking between their opponents and the Phantom. "This could be minorly problematic."


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