Padron smiled. The Phantom had shown himself. After months of fruitless attempts to find information, he now had a mass of it practically in front of his nose. Surely the Regent wouldn't mind something more than information--maybe one of the Phantom's followers?

Stalking through the crowd, Padron had no need to clear a path. Most of these people recognised him from seeing him win the various Quarterstaff competitions, or had seen him in an occasional brawl in the street. Regardless, they all knew that when he joined in, things ended. So far no actual lives had been lost, but he had ended the lifestyles of several would-be thieves, or constant drunkards. Maybe today they would see him bring an end to the Phantom, or some of his followers.

Seeing a man scurrying into an alley, Padron followed. No sensible man had a reason to be scurrying away from the fight unless he was one of the Phantom's agents. He tightened his grip on his Quarterstaff as he entered the alley behind the man, following him through a maze of narrow streets. By the end of them, he was getting tired. If there was one thing in the world he hated, it was excessive running, and this was far more than he appreciated, even for the sake of exercise.

A slow smile spread on his face when he realised that the man had reached a dead end. For capturing this man, the Regent would give Padron a sizeable reward, one that would ensure his family's well-being for the next several months at least.

The man's eyes tightened as he realised there was no place to go, and he drew a dagger from somewhere in his coat. Padron's smile shifted into something more along the lines of a grimace. His quarterstaff could block the dagger, to be sure, but it was much harder to dodge a thrown weapon than a swung one, and from the man's posture, he was going to throw it.

A slight crunch behind him was the only warning Padron had it, and the only one he needed. Spinning his quarterstaff, he flowed to one side, hearing the cudgel pass by his head--barely--as he dodged. The man holding the end of the club was easy enough to take down, since he was already off balance from missing, and it only took a double tap with the quarterstaff to put him out of commission--once to knock his feet out from under him and the other to clip him behind the ear and knock him unconscious.

Sparing a glance towards the original man he had been following, Padron heard a thunk sound and saw the dagger embed itself in his spinning quarterstaff. He smiled. That had been his luck making itself apparent once again. It rarely failed to make an appearance during his fights.

The first man, now defenseless, attempted to run past Padron, who sent him to join his companion while parrying blows from the last man, who was showing signs of nervousness--most men wouldn't have avoided their attacks quite so easily, so he had to be wondering how he was supposed to succeed when his two other companions had failed.

A moment later, one of Padron's strikes got past the man's guard and caught him in the gut, doubling him over. A quick twist of the wrist, and the quarterstaff caught the man under the chin and sent him sprawling on the cobblestones. All three of the men would wake up in a jail cell.

Padron slung one over his shoulder and grabbed the other two by their belts as he made his way towards a guard post. Be they the Phantom's men or not, they would still be executed for attempted murder.

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Jateyani tossed his book across the room in disgust. Two days stuck in here, not a soul to cross my path except for the occasional servant, WHY did I want to come? he asked himself. He began to dream of his family's country estates. The trees would be green and it would be the perfect time for hunting this time of year. He could almost feel his horse under him as he tracked down swift game...A light tap at the door startled him out of his reverie.

"Come. Yes?" Jate asked as a young boy stuck his head in the door.

"Sorry to distub you, m'lord, but Lord Elghen, m'lord, he wants you." The boy bit his lip as he stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Elgy! That's the best news I've had in days!" Jate lept from his chair and almost mowed the boy down in his haste to reach Lord Elghen's chambers. "You wanted me, sir?" he asked as he skidded to a halt.

Lord Elghen turned from the high window. His grey hair caused many to discount him, but Jate knew old Elgy was one of the best men in the land. "Come here, you Jateyani. I want to give you a lesson in order, keeping of the peace, and the troubles of rebels." He pointed through the window to a scene on the square. Jate joined him and stared.

A large crowd surged around the gallows. Three guards were on the ground; some of the commoners were kicking them. Shouts rose, even two the third story window, and Jate could make out few words. One repeated constantly, though, was "Phantom".

"Phantom Grey!" He breathed. He knew all the legends. He listened to the lords discuss the mysterious persona and his destructive works throughout the land. Jate didn't know if he hated the man or admired him. He watched the people on the street curiously.

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going on a journey through my old claims

Kaabal reached the soldiers waiting for the Phantom. He displayed his Inquisitorial insignia to the Commander and took control of the small unit. Orders were issued to capture the criminal, not kill.

Threng cursed as he saw the situation. The phantom and Kjan were surrounded. Using a conviently placed barrel, he lept to the top of a building. staying low to the gound he krept across the roof until he was on the roof overlooking The Phantom,Kjan, and thier captors. He grinned slightly as he drew a tube from his coat. He placed a handful of darts-three to be exact, into the tube. Suddenly a man tried to shove his way through the soldiers "Look, thief!" he cried. "He's stolen my horse" THe soldiers were confused, but Threng knew it would only last a moment. "Time to add a bit more" He though to himself. He wouldn't be able to take down this entire band, but he hoped he would be able to sow some confusion. He aimed and fired. One dart hit a soldier in the neck. He went down instantly, the drugged dart tip sending into a deep sleep. The next dart hit a soldier in the temple. He too went down. The third and last dart hit a soldier in the shoulder. Threng prayed it pierced skin. It did. After a short moment, he too fell down. Threng hurried away. he heard he whistle of arrows that streaked by the spot he had just occupied.

Elizabeth made sure her two younger siblings were safe, and left again. The town square was still hectic, so she stayed in the allyway, waiting for the crowd to die down a little. When it did, Elizabeth watched a wagon rush by, then turn a corner. A few moments later she heard someone scream.
"Look, thief! He's stolen my horse!" and a few moment afterward a man jumped off the roof of a building.

The girl leaned against the wall in the shock of it all. What is going on? she asked herself, overwhelmed...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Lost in the market day crowd was explicitly Jais's element. He wove through the stalls, falling invisible among the throngs. He recalled that he hadn't eaten since daybreak and borrowed an apple off a local farmer. The idiot was overweight anyway, but Jais did have the conscience to double back and return the core once he'd finished it - in case the easily agitated guards wanted to get technical about stealing.

It occurred to him - somewhere between picking his teeth free of apple skin and crediting that the prostitute on the street corner did look kind of attractive - that the Phantom may be in a tight spot at the moment. With a melodramatic sigh he retraced his steps back to the city square, pausing in the shadow of one building to flip his reversible cloak from brown to a faded green, just in case someone like Radishface still remembered him. Drawing his hood up, he caught sight of five guards jogging into an alleyway. He slipped in after them.

He had the best observation skills in the world of course. He was just stopping to congratulate himself on locating the Phantom when he also noticed the soldiers scurrying around the cart. He stepped over one inert guard's body, spotting the telltale dart as he did so. That would be Threng, his antisocial assassin friend. Remaining in the shadows and grinning at his leisure, he scanned the hustle for his niche.

He found it soon enough, much to his delight and perhaps the misfortune of his unwitting victim, when one of the guards pointed and shouted "Thief!" He instinctively began making a beeline for it, when he realized they weren't after him.

The lanky chap with the horse looked like he may need some assistance...

Fleet-footed, he darted out from his cover, intercepting the horse thief. Ducking under the spooked beast's raking hooves, he went in and snatched the first thing he laid eyes on: the man's shortsword. "Look! I'm a thief too!" he shouted, waving the shortsword in the air.

For the second time in half an hour, Jais once again found half a dozen sharp and shiny objects pointed at his face.

Oh, curse it.

He took off running, still brandishing the shortsword above his head like some lunatic. Sometime along the way a thought registered in his preoccupied head that the poor chap might actually need his weapon, but he jovially brushed it aside.

Besides, that was what borrowing was all about.

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After the boy was safely away from the gallows, Ash had jumped down and taken off into the alleyways of the town, a few soldiers on his heels. He knew his way around the city, and quickly dodged into a busy street several yards ahead of the soldiers. He slowed to a walk, blending in as part of the crowd. He walked down the street for a ways, then dodged into another alley way. He watched for a moment, but didn't see the soldiers anymore.
Smiling to himself, he started to make his way towards the place where the former prisoners would be waiting.

Jayahna, who was an expert snoop on all accounts, decieded that following the majority's respnce and becoming a damsel in destress was not the best idea in the world right now, quietly removed her hard-soled shoes and silently snuck around so that he was behind the phantom and his friend. Without saying a word, muchless making any sound, she watched silently, intending to learn something.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

This all went on around a Phantom who was beginning to be singularly unimpressed with current events. Poison darts - some sort of haphazard unplanned diversion - couldn't his allies organize themselves any better than this? Granted, it caused a total of about three minutes of attention not focused entirely on obtaining his head on a pike, which he supposed was something to be grateful for. But it also made time for crowds to gather, and though he knew he had the support of the majority of the peasant population, peasants did not in mass make up the gathering mob.

The goal here, he reminded himself, was to get out with the prisoners. So come what may that was what needed accomplishing. Which meant those gates needed opening, and the soldiers needed...disposing of.

"Don't breath in," he muttered to Kjan, with a jerk of his head to indicate that the message needed relaying to their cargo of liberated prsoners.

"Good men," the Phantom begin, slipping from the seat of the cart with lithe grace and bowing to the surrounding soldiers. Most of them shifted uneasily. The Phantom could have that effect sometimes. "I'm sure out good monarch is very pleased with your service," he continued, cringing inwardly at the 'good monarch' part. That piggish epitomy of greed, a monarch? When pigs flew. "But today, I fear, will be a day he is disappointed."

This was not idle jabber. While speaking the Phantom had extracted a packet of some pungent herb or other, which under his cloak he proceeded to open. Under the pretense of another flourishing bow he whipped it out like lightning, spraying the air with a greenish powdery substance.

All those within a radius of ten feet immediately felt as though they had inhaled a swarm of miniature killer bees and utter chaos ensued.

Hopefully most of his followers were smart enough so know what he had been leading up to. Their loss if they weren't. In any case, pandemonium gave him time to wrestle the gates open, and with a frantic gesture at Kjan to hurry up the Phantom evaded a pair of enraged officers and took off in the opposite direction yelling at the top of his voice, "I'm getting away, I am!"

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Threng couldn't help but smile even as he fled from the scene. He did't even bother to duck: he didn't want to be anywhere near that packet when it was used. Fortunatly he didn't feel an arrow in his back. The sounds of coughing, screaming, and general mehem told him that the Phantom had been succesful. He used the roof tops to make his way back to the gate. This upper road was used frequently by others, thieves and the no good, that is. But as long as those using the "upper road" didn't look suspicious, they were generally given passage.
Safely at the gate Threng hopped down from the roof and ran out through the gate. He mounted his horse, a solidly built blue roan mare named Storm. He looked around for the Phantom.

Kjan didn't waste time with a response. "In the back!" he called to any of their allies still present. Without waiting to see how many of them were quick enough to actually comply, he flicked the reins again to drive the horses forward.

The cart charged through the streets, Kjan only barely managing to maintain some semblance of control over the now-spooked horses. "My apologies!" he shouted, tossing a few coins over his shoulder to the poor man whose stall they'd just managed to knock down. "Out of the way! Please move! Crazy runaway horses! Phantom! Plague! Fire!" he called out in an desperate attempt to clear a path for the cart.

Finally they broke free of the city's maze and were out on the open road, still moving at top speed despite the obvious lack of competent pursuit. Now for the tricky part- getting back to the lair as quickly as possible while still avoiding leading any undesirable entities to the same location. "Everyone doing alright back there?" he inquired loudly over the rattle of the cart's wheels. "Good! Apologies for the rough ride earlier! Had to go into an unexpected bit of evasive maneuvering, but hey, that's what makes these things fun right? Right. It'll be a bit before we reach our destination, so hang on!"

Jayahna, her curiosity now sparked with the aspect of danger, she darted barefoot past the gate, intending to follow the phantom in the woods and brush until she found out more as to who this strange figure was.

Her feet and the skirt of her dress now quite muddy, she snuck along a narrow path just inside the outskirting forest. This was usually used by commoners of all sorts, those who wished for a hidden view of the main road. It was perfect, as that was exactly what she wanted.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

((Um, just FYI, the Phantom is still in the city leading the crowd away from Kjan and co))

Meanwhile a certain grey-cloaked figure was thinking it miraculous that he had not yet received a sharp pain between the shoulder blades followed by imminent death. He dodged around several corners, failed to lose his pursuit, and began to anxiously wonder if he had any more of that dead useful powder substance.

Well, he's better, because upon rounding another bend the Phantom was confronted by a very dead end. As in, walls of absolute granite higher than he could even hope to jump. He turned -

- ah, too late. Hm. This called for creativity impressive even for the likes of him. Or rescue? He scanned the rooftops. Perhaps not, then.

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((Ooooooh. *twitchtwitch* I'm a little clueless alot of sometimes... Well then... Is he going to leave? Cause I'm drawing a black at the moment. Mabye could just do the same exept... Later?))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

((He's a bit stuck ATM))

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((IknowIknow... But, assuming his 'phantomish' abilities (Mabye 'Robin Hoodish' would be a better term...) Would eventually get him out, (unless that isn't the case) She could do that then...? Or, mabye I'm just being a MSish cliche... Sorry if I'm bugging you with useless questions/concerns.))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen