Skyside 5

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Warehouse - Thunderhead]

The woman nods slowly before ensuring that credit information is successfully provided and exchanged. Mere moments later, the van disappears entirely, leaving beside skid marks in its tracks. The door leading into the warehouse itself remains slightly cracked, various strange lights glowing from within.

[Warehouse - Thunderhead]

Krystal watches the van drive off, hoping that everything will turn out fine for the man. She looks down at her bloody hands for a moments, wipes them dry on her jacket, and then turns to face the reason she came here.

She'll cautiously approach the door, one hand curled into a fist, crystal spikes slightly protruding from each knuckle.

If she reaches it, she will try to peek through before slowly opening it.

[Earl of Purple]

Thunderhead Market

The resistor will be grabbed by the orc he's talking to, who will try to shackle him up and shove him towards the sergeant, who glares at him. "We, are new hires. We've gotta get people used to obeyin' us, or facin' the consequences. So. Lemme have a look at your stuff, make it clear you're obeyin', or I'll beat you an' do it anyway. Unnerstood?" The sergeant's doing his best to be intimidating, glaring at the dissenter and hefting his heavy-looking walking stick. It's actually the haft for a mancatcher, but the head of the weapon has been removed and stowed in the sergeant's backpack.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mad Fronts]

Ishmat giddily claps her hands together. "You got it all wrong, honored professor. It's a matter of economics. After all, why buy slaves when you can get people willingly slaving for you for half the price?" That... sounds like a serious philosophical discussion waiting to happen.
But without getting into any implications, Ishmat jumps to the other topic at hand. "Ideal?" The ethereal inquires. "My ideal is for others to perceive me as one of your man-females of course, the human-oids. I have made long observations of the female form and taken extensive notes. I don't want to copy it right off though, I want to make it my own. Flesh-art isn't really my thing either. It's so passe and humanoids rarely got it even at its heights." She makes a dismissive gesture. "But, I so rarely get to speak with them while I'm working so perhaps you can give me some advice?" She leans in closer and... pokes at his form curiously. "And perhaps explain your form, could you appear as anything? Like... a hippo."

Thunderhead Market

I assume the discussion between the orcs and the people down there don't take place after a half-hour has gone by?
Pretty fast reaction time though, Jaahlyn will take note of that as she will start preparing to leave once it seems things are changing down below.

[The Petroldactyl]

"Umm... yeah. That's true." Amy admits. "Glowy beings are really complicated, one of our leaders use them all the time, so you better watch out for that too. She can get upset at you just for bumping into them!" She pauses. "Wait, have you worked with a lot of angels and demons, Butler? I'm pretty sure the red mana-crystals are associate to demons. Which means they're extra bad if you touch them."

[billtodamax]

Undead Bar

Anastasia's eyes go wide and she reaches forwards to seize Arkant by the collar, trying to drag him forwards to face her. What cure. She says, glaring daggers at him. Anastasia this is very rude he just wants to hire you for a job.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[The Mad Fronts]

"Hmm." Affy raises an eyebrow "That doesn't really sound like ending slavery forever. That sounds more like a scheme to let you corner the market, wouldn't you say?" He asks with a knowing look. What makes a slave a slave? There are certainly some interesting philosophical implications to what she's suggesting. Presumably Ishmat is just casually redefining "slave" to suit her plans. As for advice, Affy shrugs. "The appeal of the human body has long been lost on me. I'm definitely not the right person to advise you on how to be, mmm, more feminine in appearance, if that's what you're going for. I could take other forms if I so wished, but this is me. I could spend time crafting something else, but I see no value in it. Something human can at least easily be related to by other people."

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mad Fronts]

Ishmat rubs her fingers together. "One does have to make a profit too, no? But if the method is cheap enough, everyone will eventually start using it. That's how capitalism works, yes? See... ah, I think I better show you!" She gestures for him to follow as she heads deeper inside the laboratory which really looks more like a bunker, or perhaps a land sub.
The next room is considerably larger than the others however, but only for the purpose of being able to fit more technology into one place it seems as there is no room to stand, yet alone move here beyond a metal platform (without railings) which is hoovering in the air in front of the door. The reason for this becomes clear once he steps closer, namely that the entire floor is covered in cords that are tangled up and laying on top upon one another in such a thick layer that one probably could sink down into that mass and never get out. The cords climbs the walls too, making it look like the room is infested by some parasitic organism.

"You have to excuse the mess, we don't use real-space that much so we don't tend to prioritize it, but you must know how that is." She continues her commentary as have to climb up on the platform, offering her hand to Affy who of course can't really take it and either have to hoover or climb up on it by himself. The platform then starts to move across this jungle of cords which seem to be powering a massive amount of computers that for some reason have been mounted in the ceiling and along the walls, presumably to give more space to the cords. This of course leaves the room nearly completely black as the is no light sources beyond the computers own flickering lights.
"We consider it effective use of space, I'm really surprised other beings makes so little use of the ceiling and the walls." Ishmat remarks as they seem to be approaching their destination. Namely three huge test tubes mounted on the wall furthest from the entrance, crammed in-between, what else? More computers and cords.

One of the tubes are empty, but the others contain two humanoid figures floating around in some kind of liquid. "See, the problem with cloning is copying that mystical stuff. I believe they call it 'the soul' or whatnot. For instance, an attempt to clone say, VIGIL's commanders, would result in two humans without any of the mystical talents that makes VIGIL's commanders to useful. This is the problem I'm trying to overcome. If one could clone the mystical properties of a being, you could also clone their memories too I believe. Just imagine how useful that would be, especially if you made them happy to obey the orders of a designated master." She seems to have temporarily forgotten that other subject they were discussing...

[Reinholdt]

[The Petroldactyl]

"Umm... yeah. That's true." Amy admits. "Glowy beings are really complicated, one of our leaders use them all the time, so you better watch out for that too. She can get upset at you just for bumping into them!" She pauses. "Wait, have you worked with a lot of angels and demons, Butler? I'm pretty sure the red mana-crystals are associate to demons. Which means they're extra bad if you touch them."

[The Petroldactyl]

"Oh you're not the leader ma'am? You're very good at leading ma'am. So who is the leader ma'am?" Butler thought Amy was running this whole show!

"I've not really worked with them, but more like live with them ma'am. Angels and Devils actually ma'am. Both are actually really nice ma'am. But both groups really hate demons ma'am. Almost as much as ducks ma'am." Almost.

[Hattish Thing]

[Steward Headquarters]

Officer Hoskins leans forward here, tapping a power button at the top of the vigilante's tablet. Sitting back in his chair, the man scratches at his head, shrugging a little as the tablet flashes on, revealing a gallery of pictures and videos depicting some sort of altercation taking place in downtown Inside. Various details date the video back significantly, at least twenty years or more. Solemnly, he responds. "Never had a name, just a number. Years ago, he was some kind of AMENite shock soldier, genetically enhanced, raised from birth for combat, you know, golden age type stuff." With a sigh, he continues.

"Suffered some kind of head injury in the field, ended up developing a sense of self-interest and made off with some kind of magic arm during some AMENite raid, was on his own for a while, up until he tried to rob a bank downtown. Happened a long time ago, if it weren't for the intervention of Praetorian, a hero like you, he would have succeeded. The damage was... excessive, however. With a single strike, the August Grace Memorial Tower was leveled, there were hundreds of casualties."

Scratching at his cap, Hoskins rubs his hands together. "Praetorian put him down, and he's been in a deep dark hole for the last twenty years. A few months ago, there was a prison riot and he ended up vanishing, officials believe there was some kind of breakout attempt, simultaneously. The arm, too, was recovered. Then, nothing. Until now."

--

The tablet begins to play, displaying a shaky recording of the duel which once occurred between Khaizer and Praetorian, a violent but short conflict reaching its climax with the hurling of several vehicles and the destruction of an enormous building. Hoskins watches along from the other side of the table, frowning.

"Our informants have confirmed that he's been sighted at the scene of an attack on some kind of secured facility owned by one "Arlyn Hask," a bioterrorist."

---

[Warehouse:]

Almost playfully, the door slams shut the instant she approaches. Windows are visible across the warehouse, but all have been boarded shut with iron planks from the inside.

[billtodamax]

Steward Headquarters

Jesus. She murmurs, looking over the footage. Heavy hitter, huh? Is Hask saying what got stolen? Bioweapons were a pain in the ass. She had some protection but they were always inventing new vectors. Suppose it doesn't matter in the end. You just want me to bring him in? She drinks more coffee.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[The Mad Fronts]

On the one hand, there's something to admire about this attitude of making use of every bit of space available. It's efficient. Sort of. The snakepit of wiring suggests they've sort of half figured out how to do it, but somehow managed to make a bit of a mess out of it anyway. "I'm afraid I must admit I'm a little disappointed to hear you believe in "mystical stuff", as you put it. You're overcomplicating things for yourself. You're trying to solve a problem you've created for yourself by accepting the belief that there is anything special about magic. Or, indeed, that anything like a soul exists at all."

It's always fascinated the Prof, how many people believe that particular piece of childish nonsense.

"Why, if souls were real, that'd make me a soulless monster!" He laughs at the absurdity of his own statement.

The blob-creation beside Affy gloops along after him.

"I assume Shazhan will be joining us shortly?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mad Fronts]

"Why, yes. The system just needs a few more minutes to reboot. Once the power returns, so should he." Izhmat remarks with a nod before continuing on the topic at hand. "But whatever you call it, 'soul', 'aetheric energy', 'mind-patterns', they do exist scientifically. I've proven it! Indeed, I didn't even believe it myself until after hundreds of tests with various beings such as half-dragons and 'spell-casters'. Despite making sure to eliminate all possible variable with control groups and sealed tests, etc. None of the clones had the desired properties the originals had. I can give you the read-outs, but I assure you these properties are not genetic in nature. So whatever you want to call it, I am trying to develop a way of giving them to my clones." She explains while wandering up to the two tubes. "And you misunderstand me. I don't accept these things as 'special' quite the opposite in fact! I'm trying to solve them, shining the light of science where ignorance has prevailed. To show the world that 'magic' and 'souls' can be explained just like everything else, through hard data." Ishmat gestures dramatically towards the tubes and then turns to point at Affy. "Surely a great professor such as yourself must have done some research into this. I can tell that you are as annoyed as I about common people's attitude towards these things. I had hoped that you might be able to help me to shed some light on this, an instrument that could register what my other scans are missing."

[The Petroldactyl]

"Oh, no, no..." Amy remarks as she displays her palms in protest. "I'm not nearly scary enough to be a leader, I'm just a secretary." She raises three fingers. "The real leaders are mister Kelligan of course..." The goblin turns around and walks down a few more steps, revealing a long corridor. In the corridor a gnoll is putting up a painting which Amy gestures at. "That's him!"

If Butler doesn't think she's gesturing at the gnoll, the painting is off a goblin in a stylish suite and a top hat, smoking a huge cigar while striking a haughty pose. "Kelligan hired me. He founded KABAL and has powerful friends all over the place."

[Recaiden]

A pair of people are walking down the street, looking at the shops and storefronts. All this commerce actually makes it harder to make decisions, doesn't it? A consequence of living with the strange creatures and conditions of the nexus, one supposes.

One of these people is Roth: sorceress, deposed tyrant, hot-air-balloonist, weirdly colored drider. Her humanoid upper body is light-skinned, elegant, thin as a rail. Her arachnid parts seem to be that of a mirror spider.
The encounter at the library has filled her head with plans, and she'll need people to complete them.

The other is an elven slave girl whose name may have gotten lost somewhere. She stays right at Roth's side, trying to ignore where they are.

Roth hopes she can get through this outing without being accosted by any reporters, misguided heroes, or people she sent into slavery.
But it seems like it never does work out that way.

[Hattish Thing]

[Steward Headquarters]

With a deep frown, Officer Hoskins rubs his hands together. "The assault on Hask's compound is actually occurring right this moment, we've been hunting him down for several months now, whatever destruction is being wreaked upon the facility is apparently intense enough to warrant Hask's giving up of his own location."

"We dunno what Khaizer's doing there. Bring him in, both of them. I've uploaded the address to your handheld device."

[billtodamax]

Steward's Headquarters

Her eyes go wide and she quickly finishes the gulp of coffee, setting down the cup and picking up her spear. Crap I better get going then. She jogs toward the door, a band of golden light starting to glow around her wrists and ankles as she starts to lift into the air. Providing nothing interrupts her she'll start to speed toward Hask's lab.

[Reinholdt]

[The Petroldactyl]

Butler tilts his head. "You don't need to be scary to be a leader ma'am." That's just common sense. Regardless, Butler follows Amy to the gnoll and the painting.

With a smile, Butler waves at the gnoll. "Hello Mister Kelligan sir!" See Amy? That wasn't scary at all!

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

Thariza spots the... spider person walking through the market as she looks around. And she has someone with her who does look like a slave. Might as well, right?

"This one looks like a customer," she tells Ambrosia.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Warehouse:]

Almost playfully, the door slams shut the instant she approaches. Windows are visible across the warehouse, but all have been boarded shut with iron planks from the inside.

[Warehouse]

Krystal's mouth sets into a thin line, her frustration at tonight rising.

She'll grab the handle and try to slowly force it open, not wanting it to make noise and attract attention.

[Hattish Thing]

[Hask's Laboratory - Entrance]

After a high-speed flight to the coordinates sent by the Stewards, the heroine will find herself within the ruins of an "abandoned" building. The structure itself is entirely vacant, however, what may have once been a fairly well-hidden hatch built into an exposed section of the sewer system can be found, having been utterly demolished and tossed to the side.

At the middle of the hatch, an almost three-foot wide crater can be seen, centered by a puncture straight through the thick steel hatch.

--

Curious technological canisters vaguely resembling batteries lie discarded upon the ground. Through the opening, lights flicker ominously, and blood can be seen splattered across the ground, likely having originated from the crumpled corpse of a uniformed mercenary whose upper body appears to have been rammed through the cieling.

The corridor ahead turns to the right.

---

[Warehouse]

The instant that pressure is applied to the handle, a particularly sadistic trap is activated, one which causes a previously hidden panel constructed within the door to slide to the side. A weighted press-panel once facing the inside of the handle fires forward with a pneumatic hiss, likely causing several rows of studded spikes to crush the back of Krystal's hand in a most gruesome fashion.

Unless she's able to pull away in time, her hand, as well as many of her fingers, may break.

[Zefir]

Thunderhead Market

The resistor will be grabbed by the orc he's talking to, who will try to shackle him up and shove him towards the sergeant, who glares at him. "We, are new hires. We've gotta get people used to obeyin' us, or facin' the consequences. So. Lemme have a look at your stuff, make it clear you're obeyin', or I'll beat you an' do it anyway. Unnerstood?" The sergeant's doing his best to be intimidating, glaring at the dissenter and hefting his heavy-looking walking stick. It's actually the haft for a mancatcher, but the head of the weapon has been removed and stowed in the sergeant's backpack.

Thunderhead Market

I assume the discussion between the orcs and the people down there don't take place after a half-hour has gone by?
Pretty fast reaction time though, Jaahlyn will take note of that as she will start preparing to leave once it seems things are changing down below.

Thunderhead Market

The man tries to resist as much as he can. Making it very hard to shakle him up.
"You aren't new hires for here." he replies. "I never saw anyone like you around and only people from around here get such a job like you. Your the robbers pretending to be the police. Let me free , a friend of mine saw me befor you caught me. He must be calling the guards right now."
This man might be bluffing and sure is. He's not that good in it.

((Yes the talking happens rigth away he was in the first groupe so I just mentioned something to reply for you now I think I should wait for this to evade time conflicts))

Undead Bar

Anastasia's eyes go wide and she reaches forwards to seize Arkant by the collar, trying to drag him forwards to face her. What cure. She says, glaring daggers at him. Anastasia this is very rude he just wants to hire you for a job.

Undead Bar

Arkant is gabed, but doesn't seem to be afraid.

"Oh come on." he says a bit annoyed. "You sure know that been 'undead' is nothing you get born with. usually it's caused by something. A spell, Medicine a virus or whatever. There sure is something to revert it and i call that a cure. Just a matter of understanding if 'cure' isn't your favorit choice."

[Shadowcaller]

[Street of Slavers]

Ambrosia turns in the direction indicated. Yes, that woman would be hard to miss in a crowd, even in the nexus. Might as well try with her.
The scholar moves through the crowd, her small stature actually being somewhat of an advantage as despite wearing a full suit of armor she nimbly moves through the crowd in little time at all until she reaches the drider sorceress. "Miss, may I have a moment of your time?" She remarks as she attempts to meet the driders gaze. "I am Lady Ambrosia Ithil, scholar, and if you could help my research by answering a few questions, that would be invaluable." She didn't use the 'lady' title often. Just something she pulled out when she thought it might make her seem more important.

[The Petroldactyl]

"In skyside you do, otherwise you need to walk-" Amy starts when Butler suddenly goes to greet the gnoll who freezes in surprise when Butler greets them, start to loose their grip and the next moment the fancy painting he was putting up is in free fall. There might be time to save it however if Butler is fast enough and isn't afraid to throw himself.

[Skyside Park]

There is a whole bunch of unsavory fellows gathered here for some reason. People in robes and hoods that obviously are carrying weapons underneath. It seems like they are waiting for something...

[Earl of Purple]

Thunderhead Market

"Fine, y'want the truth? We're a new gang muscling in on new territory. This territory. Go ahead, call whatever local thugs supply your guards, we'll be happy to hire 'em on or drive 'em out." After speaking, the sergeant drives his fist into the protester's belly, before pushing him roughly to his nearest underling. Attempts where needed, if he's bulky or protected enough to resist a large orc's physical violence.

[Recaiden]

Thariza spots the... spider person walking through the market as she looks around. And she has someone with her who does look like a slave. Might as well, right?

"This one looks like a customer," she tells Ambrosia.

Ambrosia turns in the direction indicated. Yes, that woman would be hard to miss in a crowd, even in the nexus. Might as well try with her.
The scholar moves through the crowd, her small stature actually being somewhat of an advantage as despite wearing a full suit of armor she nimbly moves through the crowd in little time at all until she reaches the drider sorceress. "Miss, may I have a moment of your time?" She remarks as she attempts to meet the driders gaze. "I am Lady Ambrosia Ithil, scholar, and if you could help my research by answering a few questions, that would be invaluable." She didn't use the 'lady' title often. Just something she pulled out when she thought it might make her seem more important.

Yes, a spider person. Is that so weird when your own world has tree-people, frog-people, shark-people, manta-ray-people, rat-people (not to mention the cat-ogres)?

Roth pauses, slightly surprised, and turns to look down at Ambrosia, eye-to-eye.
"Greetings, Lady Ithil. You may. I do like to support the arts when I can."
Yep, these things always happen. But Ambrosia seems nice and polite, for a ... human? Something like that.
"You may call me Roth." She never saw much point leaning on old titles in the Nexus.

"What is it that you're researching?"

The slave girl gives a careful tiny smile, though her gaze flicks nervously over to Thariza.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[The Mad Fronts]

"Why, yes. The system just needs a few more minutes to reboot. Once the power returns, so should he." Izhmat remarks with a nod before continuing on the topic at hand. "But whatever you call it, 'soul', 'aetheric energy', 'mind-patterns', they do exist scientifically. I've proven it! Indeed, I didn't even believe it myself until after hundreds of tests with various beings such as half-dragons and 'spell-casters'. Despite making sure to eliminate all possible variable with control groups and sealed tests, etc. None of the clones had the desired properties the originals had. I can give you the read-outs, but I assure you these properties are not genetic in nature. So whatever you want to call it, I am trying to develop a way of giving them to my clones." She explains while wandering up to the two tubes. "And you misunderstand me. I don't accept these things as 'special' quite the opposite in fact! I'm trying to solve them, shining the light of science where ignorance has prevailed. To show the world that 'magic' and 'souls' can be explained just like everything else, through hard data." Ishmat gestures dramatically towards the tubes and then turns to point at Affy. "Surely a great professor such as yourself must have done some research into this. I can tell that you are as annoyed as I about common people's attitude towards these things. I had hoped that you might be able to help me to shed some light on this, an instrument that could register what my other scans are missing."

[The Mad Fronts]

"Hmm." Affy strokes his chin, peering at the test tubes. "Strange, isn't it? Once, I believed in magic. Foolish young child that I was at the time. My Creations were, mmm, lifeless lumps of metal at first. I couldn't figure out how to breathe life into them on my own, and had to turn to magic for a solution. And for a long time I was reliant on it. Quickly, I found a way to, mmm, store magic. I took what I needed from mages, bottled it up for later use, I borrowed from dragons, from the divine, from any "greater power" that I could not produce on my own." Unusual for the Prof to be quite so open about his own work. There's even a faint trace of a smile on his lips as he reminisces. But then, it is light on any particular detail that could be used. "Well, the more you learn, the more you realise how little you truly know. Arcane magic, divine power, whatever other banner you want to put that stuff under, it's all the same. There is nothing preventing you or I from performing any "miracle" that some deity would perform. The only difference is the methods by which we tap into enough power to do it- either a "god" seeks to leech from its worshippers like a parasite, borrowing just enough to go unnoticed and unleashing it in some horribly inefficient manner, acting like it's something their worshippers could never do on their own. Or it's innate, just some natural power they possess. But give me a big enough battery and I will match anything they do." The Prof takes a step back from the tubes and gives a slightly apologetic shrug, "So I suppose, I'm afraid I must let you down here. Innate power is a thing, though labelling it as a "soul" or anything like that is foolish. So there's something not being copied across in the cloning process. But, having never had any such innate power myself, it is unfortunately not something I've ever studied. Cloning myself would simply be creating an...inconvenience." Which is perhaps why the AI-Affy only activated after the regular ol' Prof went away.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Warehouse]

The instant that pressure is applied to the handle, a particularly sadistic trap is activated, one which causes a previously hidden panel constructed within the door to slide to the side. A weighted press-panel once facing the inside of the handle fires forward with a pneumatic hiss, likely causing several rows of studded spikes to crush the back of Krystal's hand in a most gruesome fashion.

Unless she's able to pull away in time, her hand, as well as many of her fingers, may break.

Krystal jerks her hand back as soon as she notices the panel moving. Her reflexes are good, but not quite good enough to completely avoid the trap. The trap slams down on her fingers, the spikes stabbing into her flesh.

The force is hard, and on a normal person, it would probably break bones. Krystal, however, is not normal. Her bones do not break from that impact.

It still hurts like hell, though.

Krystal shouts out in surprise and pain. Then she grits her teeth and uses her free hand to try to pry the trap open and get herself free.

[Arkhosia]

Parks and Reanimation

This sketchy crew of cloaked individuals shouldn't be kept waiting for too long before Fidelia shows her face, her warm and slightly-oversized hoodie proving a rather interesting choice to pair with a knee-length skirt and stockings. She stops briefly when she spots the cloaked cadre, causing the brown curls that frame her lightly-scarred face to bounce ever so slightly; clearly, she did not expect this many people. "A-are you, uh, all here f-for the ad?"

[Reinholdt]

[The Petroldactyl]

"In skyside you do, otherwise you need to walk-" Amy starts when Butler suddenly goes to greet the gnoll who freezes in surprise when Butler greets them, start to loose their grip and the next moment the fancy painting he was putting up is in free fall. There might be time to save it however if Butler is fast enough and isn't afraid to throw himself.

[The Petroldactyl]

Oh no! Butler will go to dive in the way. A good butler will toss themselves to save their charges. Usually from unwanted stains, but occasionally falling paintings. If it looks like he can get the painting in time, he'll try to catch it. But if he can't, he'll settle for pushing Mister Kelligan out of the way of the falling painting. He does have fairly good reflexes though, even if they've dulled over the years. Catpeople are good like that.

[Morty]

[Street of Slavers]

Thariza hangs back, trying to look as non-threatening as a Charr can, which isn't saying a lot.

"My name is Thariza. I'm just accompanying Ambrosia," she says by way of introduction.

[Purple Eagle]

[KABAL Application]

A lean muscular figure with Polish-Mexican facial features, dark brown eyes and short black feathered hair flies in. Any visible skin is brown-skinned, and the rest (most of arms, most of legs, most of sides of face, groin) is covered in raven blue-black feathers. Sprouting from his back are two blood red-feathered wings which are lined with tiny runes, and most people who look at them for too long will start to feel despair.

His feet are powerful and birdlike, with talons befitting a harp of his stature, and clawed birdlike hands, one of which rests on his currently sheathed sabre, Misery. The scales on his hands and feet are red-tinged, like his wings. He's clothed in dark green armor.[/COLOR][/B]

[Zefir]

Thunderhead Market

"Fine, y'want the truth? We're a new gang muscling in on new territory. This territory. Go ahead, call whatever local thugs supply your guards, we'll be happy to hire 'em on or drive 'em out." After speaking, the sergeant drives his fist into the protester's belly, before pushing him roughly to his nearest underling. Attempts where needed, if he's bulky or protected enough to resist a large orc's physical violence.

Thunderhead Market

The man was just trying to shout as he was hit and nearly falls on his knees. He will needs a bit befor he can breatha gain or even stand right. If the orcs keep him down and quiet nothing will happen, but if he can shout for help or draw attention otherwise people will notice him and call for help.
The man himself is a stronger one, but I say in a 1on1 with a trained orc he will loose, but it will be a long fight.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Petroldactyl]

The gnoll is pushed aside just as the painting falls to the floor with a crash. "Ohmygosh!" Amy exclaims in shock as stands there, covering her mouth as if preventing herself to produce the nasty swear of "gosh".

The gnoll is still staring at Butler as wide-eyed as when he first saw him. "What- you- what is cat-human doing?" It might be hard to tell as gnoll facial expressions aren't like humans or similar humanoids, but he's utterly confused.
Meanwhile, Amy slowly approaches the fallen painting, it does look like it broke considering there is shattered glass underneath...

[Street of Slavers]

Ambrosia gestures at the charr who towers over her in the background. "Yes, right now Thariza here functions as a observer in my attempt to research slavery. A controversial subject I'm sure you're aware. Most people outside this city, and other key areas, have a strong bias towards the practice. I would like to understand it more objectively however, which is where you come in, Roth." Roth hadn't said any title so the scholar she assumed she wished to be without one. "If I may be so bold, I assume you have nothing against slavery?" She then gestures at the tome that Roth might notice is floating right next to Ambrosia. "But before I forget to mention this, I'm having all this written down by the way, just so you know."

[The Mad Fronts]

"Yes, what really kills me is the vagueness of it all. Simply accepting everything without an ouch of critical thinking. If they just tried to understand what they were doing they could make things so much more efficient." Inside the first test tube Affy will see what appears to be a skeletal reptilian creature that still had a pair of black eyes within its eye-sockets that almost seem to look back at him while still remain completely still. The other tube contains what appear to be the upper part of a pit fiend, everything below the waist seemingly been surgically removed judging by the precise cut and the patch-up job.
"But anyhow, if you cannot help me then at least peer review my study on study on biological transfiguration, it would be-"
She is interrupted by a strong buzzing sound. "Ah, powers back! That means-"

"ISHMAT!" Shazhan voice comes ringing out from what sounds like a loud speaker somewhere. He does not sound happy however.

"He's back!"

Thunderhead Market

Jaahlyn will simply continue playing until the orcs or the rats inform her it's time to go. She was ready to make a break for it every second now.

[KABAL Application]

The KABAL office in the petroldactyl is spacious and decorated with several paintings of a single goblin in various outfits and poses. Judging by the titles, they depict Anton Kellingan, founder of KABAL and his many deeds.

By the application desk sits a gnoll and right next to him is what appears to be a floating eye-ball made of purple light. Some kind of projection or illusion it appears. The gnoll does not look particularly pleased by its presence however, giving it scornful glances even as the winged approaches. "What can KABAL do for you, bird-human?" The gnoll asks as the eye seems to zoom in on their visitor.

Parks and Reanimation

Most of the crowd suddenly turns to her. One of the hooded individuals with large ram horns coming out of the hood and a tail coming from their robe is first to speak. "Yes, are you the undead wishing to be 'cured'?"

"She does not look like a undead to me. Is she disguised? Not even a ding on my radar." Another speaks up, a hooded person without any obvious inhuman features about them in all white with a armed crossbow in her hands.

They don't all appear to be a part of the same company however as she can see a sitting hooded figure with a tail and hooves sitting some distance away, toying with what appears to be a small collection of black seeds. By their side a single rat sits on its hind-legs, sticking its nose into the air as if its smelling something.

A whole group of what can't be called anything but thugs of various races and occupations are positioned around a masked man who seems to be studying her without saying a word yet. It's almost as if the whole crowd is waiting for something...