Skyside 5

[Gullara]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

They can see two cars near the office, one is a house car and the other one a fancy sport car. However, considering Skyside is a lawless city, who leaves their car around unprotected?

The KABAL crew still seem to have some trouble starting the car, but finally the ignition seem to work and the car gets to life. They will need to slowly get out from their parking spot though...

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra follows Kirk and raises an eyebrow, smirking.

"I have morals, but they seem to take a back seat to professional standards. I'm surprised to hear you of all people complain, though."

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"Are you? Well, we don't know each other well yet, do we. Professional standards is Dipsnig's thing. I prefer the third option." Kirk throws her a wink over his shoulder before he sets to work trying to break into the car. He's done this more than once, so he doesn't expect it to be hard.

Was there another vehicle option? Kirk never even noticed.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"The third option?" Electra asks with a smirk, clearly enjoying the conversation. She probably could entangle with the car's security system and unlock the door, assuming the car has power locks, but Kirk seems to be enjoying himself despite his complaints, so who is she to derive him of his fun? Besides, this will let her see some of his more practical skills. Perhaps with luck, she'll let him practice some of them on her later.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

As soon as Kirk even touches the car, the radio inside of it turns on and a smooth male voice speaks. "And why are you working class yolks touching me?" The voice on the radio demands.
If they are looking at the window frames of the car, they can now see the reflection of a tall winged shadowy figure standing right behind them. But if they turn and look around, there is nothing there.
The figure is only visible in the reflection of the cars windows, always standing right behind them.
"Get your labored hands off me before you ruin my pain job."

[Earl of Purple]

Street of Slavers- EXOTIC

The owl-harpy closes her eyes and snuggles up, as she feigns sleep to avoid notice. The osprey harpy glares back, not backing down and stepping forward to challenge the man, seeming to dare him to meet her furious gaze. The final harpy, the vulture-harpy, grins and hisses at Rahilda, who cowers behind her recent purchaser. The vulture's teeth are sharp and filed to a point. Her face is wrinkled, like an old person's; yet the skin elsewhere is young, so she might be younger than she appears.

[Recaiden]

The customer nods approvingly to the show-off crow. Pride can be so underappreciated. Then he steps right up to the cage and looks the osprey in the eyes, staring her down.
"Do you have something to say?"
Hmm. Will one large birdcage suffice, or will they need six individual ones?

[Gullara]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"The third option?" Electra asks with a smirk, clearly enjoying the conversation. She probably could entangle with the car's security system and unlock the door, assuming the car has power locks, but Kirk seems to be enjoying himself despite his complaints, so who is she to derive him of his fun? Besides, this will let her see some of his more practical skills. Perhaps with luck, she'll let him practice some of them on her later.

[Outside the KABAL Office]

As soon as Kirk even touches the car, the radio inside of it turns on and a smooth male voice speaks. "And why are you working class yolks touching me?" The voice on the radio demands.
If they are looking at the window frames of the car, they can now see the reflection of a tall winged shadowy figure standing right behind them. But if they turn and look around, there is nothing there.
The figure is only visible in the reflection of the cars windows, always standing right behind them.
"Get your labored hands off me before you ruin my pain job."

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"You know, the third option. I call that one, 'I do what I want.' It's very freeing." Kirk would love to continue this chat, but it seems he's being interrupted by a talking car. What a bother. "Oh I can do a lot worse than scratch your paint." Kirk replies casually as he tries to slip the long piece of metal he has inside the door along the window.

[Earl of Purple]

Street of Slavers- EXOTIC

They should all be in seperate cages, as that prevents them from hurting each other.

"The harpies? Caught by some sky-whalers. They're very protective of their hunting grounds, so I don't know exactly where they came from. They get caught somewhat regularly, though I've only seen a few other males. They speak Common, but they have their own language too. Sky-whalers aren't always kind to them; slavery is a very small part of their income and mistreatment is only avoided if they've been unsuccessful and desperately need a profit." The drorc finally looks up to answer the question I'd missed the first time around.

"Why should I say anything to a pathetic Groundling that needs fire to explore the upper realms?" The osprey sounds very dismissive, and sneers. The bravado sounds a little forced, however.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra blinks as the car starts complaining at them. That and the weird images in the windows speaks to either a very high-tech alarm system, or something incorporating some form of magic. Possibly both. And the thing is probably going to start screaming any minute now. She glances around, then does her best to entangle with the security system and probe it to see how much of the complaining is coming from an AI and what it can see, if it's there.

"Ah," Is all the reply Kirk will get while she works her own abilities on the car silently.

[Recaiden]

That's a good point. Wouldn't want them injuring the merchandise.

"Why indeed."
Smiling with all his teeth, the customer looks back to the drorc.

"I'll take all of them. These harpies, that is. Not the hag. I've got a man on the way over with my own cages."

Now, where was he? "I know how you feel, but your wings aren't doing you much good in there, now are they?"

[Deathkeeper]

Street Of Slavers

The vain crow smiles and gives an extravagant bow.
The others flinch, terrified by that smile. All remain quiet, not wanting to ruin things by coming to the defense of the fool who’s antagonizing the man.

[Earl of Purple]

Street of Slavers- EXOTIC

"I've got some heavy chains and shackles, to stop them flying off, if you want them. That's... Uh, hang on. [Amount] ordinarily, but the sale means it's... Um. [55% lower], I think. The chains are [cheap], covered by the same deal. Already accounted for in that price." The drorc picks up an example of the shackles. It's made of chunky iron, and it looks very heavy.

The osprey-harpy blinks and flinches a little at the grin, but stops herself from stepping back. The defiance melts from her gaze, but it doesn't stay gone for long before it returns. The owl-harpy doesn't seem to notice, continuing to feign sleep, and the vulture glances at the man, and takes a few steps back. Seeing that, Rahilda steps back out from behind the unknown man, though she still looks a little nervous.

[Recaiden]

"Don't worry about them, Rahilda."

The customer shakes his head.
"No need for shackles. You might think you can never have enough restraints, but you can. If they try flying off, we get some real target practice. The guards would appreciate that." I'm not sure why he bothers quibbling over this. The shackles are cheap and there's a sale and the price is no object anyway.
That said, he heads over to the drorc and counts out the money for just the harpies. Which is still perfectly real.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra can detect pretty much the standard functions one would expect from a modern car (by 21th century standards) and nothing that could explain the shadow in the car screen, or the voice communicating with them. She can see that the alarm is about to go off just now...

"As you wish, let's see how you much of your 'paint' that will get scrapped by the bullets they're gonna put in you." The voice replies, the shadowy figure now bending over their shoulders as to look what Kirk is doing.
With some effort he will be able to get in the piece of metal into the car, but if they don't somehow prevent it, that alarm is going to go off.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra's irises glow as she begins injecting data into the security system's sensor monitors, telling it that there is nothing wrong, the doors are all locked, the windows unbroken, that no one is tampering with, or even touching the car's exterior. It might not be enough to keep the alarm from going off, especially since there seems to be some sort of magical component to it that's talking to them, but at least she'll be able to see when it does, and perhaps prevent it from triggering other defenses. She places a gentle hand on Kirk's shoulder, to make him pause a moment.

"Security has a magic component to it. Be careful."

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Imagine Electra and the entity sitting at a table with one button each. At the press of each button, the alarm is turned off or on. Now it was turned OFF and in response the entity is hitting the ON button repeatedly. "My mistress will flay you alive if you continue further." The entity warns. "She is already aware of your transgressions, soon she will call the guards indoors and that will be it for you. You will both die painfully."

[Gullara]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"Funny, you sound just like my ex. She never made good on that promise either." Kirk gets the lock a moment later and pulls the door open. "Now how about the three of us keep this between ourselves." Apparently Kirk is familiar with car security systems, because he goes right to prying open part of the dash. Wish a moment or two of examination, he tugs a particular cord free.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra concentrates, flooding the security system with data. In terms of the table metaphor, she's upped the ante by hitting the 'Off' button thousands of times per second. But she's also begun tracing where the entity is triggering the system from, hoping to find a way to sever the 'wire' the entity's 'button' has. Hopefully Kirk's entry and removal of the cable has helped matters, but she's a little too focused right now to add much to the conversation.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Electra's data flooding certainly seem to succede in angering the entity which the voice belongs to. "You... what are you... RAGARGH!" The last part comes as Kirk disconnects the alarm.
"...joke all you like. My mistress WILL call her people and you WILL get what's coming for you, peasants." The voice continues to threaten, even as Kirk has managed to get inside the car.

Meanwhile, the other car has already driven away. But they can't be too far away though, there is some traffic ahead...

[Gullara]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Thankfully Kirk's already hotwired the car. That was fast. "Get in." As soon as Electra is inside, the tires squeal just a bit as Kirk peels out of there. Thankfully Kirk already memorizes what the card they're pursuing looks like. They can't have gone far, and Kirk's hardly driving safely...

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

Once the security system goes offline and the entity can't trigger it anymore, Electra wastes no time getting into the car, a black and gold blur that's seated in the passenger seat almost as quickly as the engine starts, and she doesn't seem to mind Kirk's driving. They are trying to catch up with the other vehicle, after all. She keeps quiet so as not to interrupt his concentration until they've caught up with the truck.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the KABAL Office]

"You're both going to die, you realize that right? This is so incredibly stupid." The radio remarks as Kirk drives out on the main street, which is followed by a lot of complaints and honks by their fellow drivers.

"Watch yourselves *******s!" A tiny stone woman in a red car screams at them as she nearly have to drive off the road as Kirk drives out.

Ahead of them they can see the van they're tracking just disappearing behind a corner. There are two cars ahead however and they're occupying both sides of the road in the seemingly freestyle way of driving in Skyside. It appears everyone just drives wherever and just attempt to not crash into one another. A little boar-man is sitting by the side of the road with three different signs that appear to be this city's version of traffic lights. Right now he's showing the red sign.

Going on a whim here, they're not going to stop for the red sign.

Electra, who isn’t driving, might actually note the falcon now as it is diving closer to the van it is following. It is rather eye catching with its golden and fiery red plumage.

[Earl of Purple]

Street of Slavers- EXOTIC

Rahilda is just very glad that they're walking away from the harpies, even if her master is also buying them. She'll follow him to the drorc's counter. He still tests the money; the last time I remember somebody visiting him, they paid with a bag of gravel.

"If you're sure. Shooting 'em can hurt 'em, though I guess you've got spares. If you're breeding 'em, I'll by the offspring once they're fledged. If I'm still here, anyway." Since that could take a while.

[Recaiden]

((Sorry for the delay, closed this page with a post half-written, and then forgot about it))

"Thanks for the offer, but we're not running a poultry farm." Not to say they won't have hatchling harpies, but selling them back? Sounds so inefficient. Surely they can do better.

Outside, a hover-van pulls up in front of EXOTIC. The customer leads Rahilda out, where she'll be locked into a new cage in the back. Then, again and again, he'll carry a giant birdcage into the shop, place a harpy in it, and carry them out to the van. Apparently he's quite strong.
There will be several moments when those already placed in the van are apparently unobserved, if they wanted to try some sort of escape. Though they'll all be locked in individual cages by then. More plausibly, they could try something during the handoff from the drorc to the customer.

[Gullara]

[Pursuing KABAL]

Seeing how things are getting clustered up ahead, Kirk puts his foot to the floor. "Let's see how fast you go, eh?" Kirk laughs out loud as the car rockets forward. Kirk jerks the wheel to the left before they meet a messy end colliding with the first car and jerks back into the lane the moment he can. "Hold on tight!" As they reach the corner, Kirk pulls the emergency break, the tires squeal, and they peel around the corner.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Pursuing KABAL]

Electra has wedged herself into the seat, and despite the G-forces of the sudden maneuvers, barely moves in the seat. Her eyes pick out the form of the bird, swooping after the truck, and she engages their zoom function. She hasn't had much use for that vision mode, since it's closer to field binoculars than true telescopic zoom, but it should be enough for her to pick out more details about the bird.

"Never seen a bird like that before.....looks like it might be following the truck...."

[Shadowcaller]

[Pursuing KABAL]

There are more loud curses as Kirk forces the other cars to come to a screeching halt as he drives in-between them. Horns are honked, fists are shaking, all sort of death-threats are issued.
As they come around the corner, another car just managing to hit the breaks before they drive into one another, they can see the KABAL car casually driving along not too far from them.
But when they notice the car, it's occupants also notice them and it slowly starts picking up the pace.

The road is going straight ahead a while however so they will not have to make any drastic turns. Of course, if either of them look in the rear view mirrors, they will see the rather displeased looking shadowy humanoid figure sitting in the back seat, glaring back at them with its glowing eyes. For once, it isn't talking back but if looks could kill, both Electra and Kirk would fall down dead right about now.

As for the bird, it also turns its head to look at them, which is at the point Electra might notice that it is wearing a talisman of some sort around its neck. That's not something falcons usually do, right?

[Gullara]

[Pursuing KABAL]

Kirk adjusts the mirror to examine the figure in the back seat. Interesting. Apparently harmless, though.

"A bird? Keep an eye on it then." He suggests as he speeds up again. Looks like they lost any chance of discretion.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Pursuing KABAL]

"Damn, I think the thing must be a scout or some form of remote surveillance. It's wearing a talisman....and I think it just saw us." Electra says, frowning. She shifts slightly and draws one of her pistols, the weapon unfolding and thrumming ominously. "This might get ugly."

[Shadowcaller]

[Pursuing KABAL]

The falcon turns away again and looks down at the KABAL van instead.
Now they can see one of the goblins leaning out of from the moving van holding what appears to be a sub-machine gun of some sort. The van slows down slightly as the goblin start firing at Kirk and Electra. His aim is thankfully not very good, but they will see the bullets flying past them. He wasn't too far off from hitting, but now that the van slowed down they might be able to catch up with it at least.

"You're killing yourselves and me. Great." The voice on the radio comments sarcastically.

[Deathkeeper]

[Street of Slavers]

The three harpies cower in their cages, too terrified and young to interfere with the transport to any noticeable degree.