The Snapa-verse

Whisper traced a pattern on Xav's shirt. "That's smart. As little work as possible. I like it," she called. Glancing over at Sören, she asked, "Where do you think he'll take us? Do you think we'll stick together when we get there?"

"I'm just hoping there's somewhere to get some grub when we get there, as I said earlier, I'm starvin'!" Xaverius chuckled, patting his gut as it let out a small grumble.

She wordlessly fished some dried food out of her pack and handed it over. Whisper figured she wouldn't need it anymore if the soldiers caught up to them.

"Atzerii, where do you think we should go?" She addressed Dustin by his clan name to remind herself of his heritage. Though he hadn't attempted anything since earlier in the bar, only a fool would trust someone from his clan so easily.

"Aw, thanks!" He took the food and scarfed it down. "That should keep me goin' till we get to town, then I'm gonna use these parts I got to get me a buffet!" He chuckled.

"You despicable dune-heads," Skullivan said, wanting to add something to the performance as Uluru defended him under the guise of turning him in. Skullivan stared at the Cowboy Ninja before them.

Suddenly at the entrance of the alley a figure slid up, a staff drawn. Skullivan's eyes locked with hers - the woman he'd seen before. "Bounty hunter," He hissed to Uluru & Thessir before stepping forward. "Don't come down here, girl! You look very soft and these men are threatening to cut my face off! They're KILLERS. These two have already got me, you don't stand a chance!"

***

Mirova stared at Aisha. "The Change is real... and it is out there. The only reason the clans have not found it is because they think the world is hard and full of rock... they think their neighbours are their enemies, but when you look down from the sky... from the stars..." Mirova's hand pointed to the top of the tent. "You see the desert is united. We are one people, the clans... and the Change... is the only thing hopeful enough to make people see that. It is the only thing that will make our people... one Nomad clan."

Mirova paused at Aisha's next words.

"The Wetlanders?" Mirova's face twisted in a frown, her having listened in slight bemusement to Aisha up until that comment. Taking the idol and wrapping it in a shawl Mirova crawled forward between the three women and opened the tent entrance up. Stretching down at the entrance of the street Wetland soldiers were marching toward. Mirova swallowed. "You three have to leave," She hissed, crawling out into the sunlight and moving to the side her tent.

As the other three excited the Nomad hit one of the metal support polls of the tent, causing the entire thing to begin to collapse in on itself - the jingle of the instruments inside loud as it wrapped itself into a tight backpack of a ball. From her robes Mirova flung a grey hood over her head, grabbing hold of the large ball of tent - the artifacts poking out of the fabric, and swinging it onto her back and under the grey robe. The alluring Nomad of moments ago now appeared as any other filthy desert dweller, the only hint of more being the massive hunch on her back.

"Go," Mirova said, beginning to leave before pausing and turning back to Aisha. "...There's nothing easy about the Change. Simple, yes.... but not easy."

"You four!" The Wetland Soldiers called as they marched down. With a swallow Mirova began to sprint down the alley, the idol in hand, leaving the other three women behind.

***

Suddenly the Wagon stopped. The threesome inside and their guide would notice a young woman being attacked by her boss blocking their path out the village, Wetland soldiers rushing past to break up the fight. "What is this?" One soldier demanded, ripping Davikal off Ka'Wa as they fought in the street.

"Stop fighting. Street's off limits." Another soldier added, before marching up to the Sören, who was escorted the wagon down the street. "That goes to you too." The soldier paused, glancing behind at the Wagon - from ground-level it was hard to get a clear view of what was inside. "What you got back there anyway?"

"I've got a few length of lumber, a couple of furs and about a dozen apples left." Sören says with a sigh and a shake of his head. Despite the events earlier he sounds calm, and that's because he actually is calm. Growing up hunting saber cats in a snow storm will do that to you, I suppose. "I had more than this, but those damned little...I don't know what they are called, but they looked like red lizard men... When some of them got lose in the village they got into my wagon and tore into my goods."

Reaching just inside the wagon he retrieves a torn up wolf pelt and holds it up so the light shines through several holes. The salamand hadn't gotten anywhere near it, of course, and in fact it was actually a scrap he'd brought with him in case someone might offer him a bite of food for it. Ruined as it was, it was still wolf fur from the Dead Forest.

"Duneyrr here, he helped chase them off before they could do much harm, but what they did was enough. I don't have goods enough left to make any real wealth here, so I thought I would head home before it got much later." Sören had no idea if the guard would buy this, or what the others were up to in the back of the wagon. If the guard decided to look instead of taking his word, they were probably done for, but he was a northman and wouldn't mind a fight.

The two people before him, fighting in the street caught his attention then and he scratches his head, causing his antler helm to shift a bit.

"I've seen quite a few of your kinds, soldiers I mean, about the village. Has something happened?" He asks, nodding at the two people ahead of him in the road. "Surely a street fight couldn't warrant so many men."

"Not really," Jake said, still grinning. "You see, I really have need of that money." He shook his head at Skullivan's rant, as he dumped the man to the side and tied his hands with a rope pulled from a pocket.

"So, we can do this two ways," Jake said, placing his hands on his belt and stepping forward over Skullivan. "The easy way. Or the hard way."

Uluru sighed and drew out his sword. Without another word he took a step back and took a fighting stance, holding the sword in his right hand while his left stayed balled into a fist...until it opened up and released a small red crystal, which shattered and immediately began to emit a billow of smoke.

"Unless you two can hold your own, you'd better scatter now!" Uluru shouted, pushing Thessir and Skullivan away from the smoke, as he leapt atop Yanyan. Uluru glanced back at the oddly dressed woman who Skullivan had alluded to earlier. He was going to take a risk and trust that she would and could help and if not....well, it wouldn't be the first mistake he's made in the Qafar. He nodded briefly to her, hoping she would catch on and returned his attention to what appeared to be a cowboy-ninja.

Jake shook his head and sighed. "The hard way, huh? Well, that figures. I should have pegged you as a hard one after that conversation about the Salamands. People like you, who don't really care about nature, about the sand." Jake shrugged. "I'm hard pressed to respect people like you."

From his belt, Jake drew out what looked to be a piece of pipe about six inches long. With a flick of his wrist, the pipe extended to about two feet in length, transforming into more of a club.

"Non lethal," Jake confirmed. "Unless you get hit wrong. Pulling out a sword like that just proves you're not the type to think twice about killing someone."

Spinning the rod, Jake moved forward, his eyes peering brightly from underneath his hat. "Teaching you some manners will be good for everyone, I think."

"A spew of nonsense," Uluru sighed as the smoke cleared, allowing Jake to see clearly that Uluru was standing above him, standing on the tail of his sand ray. The creature then catapulted Uluru into the air, as he sprung into a flip and landed behind Jake. "You're quick to moralize, yet you'll easily trust those damn wetlanders to honor their end of the bargain? Think they 'respect the desert'?" Uluru asked, tossing another crystal, this one erupting into a burst of harmless but blinding sparks in front of him as he swung his sword at Jake.

Jake's hat dipped low, protecting his eyes from the blinding sparks as his club intercepted Uluru's sword with a massive clang that reverberated down into Uluru's wrists. A sword was a fine instrument of death, but its weakness was its finesse. Unless Uluru's sword was reinforced with magic, Jake's pipe would shatter or dent his sword to ruin.

Jake's cape swirled as he swung the pipe down with impressive force for Uluru's head, his counter strike coming directly off of his block of Uluru's sword.

As the pipe came close to crushing his skull, Uluru raised his glove blocking the hit, though fracturing a bone in the process as the crystal powering it, causing the intricate line pattern covering it to shine bright yellow as a stunning blast of electricity shot forth and electrified electrified the pipe along with parts of Jaek's glove. With his free hand, Uluru threw another smoke emitting crystal to the ground as he rolled bacleards.

"Yowch!" Jake said, shaking one of his hands. "That one hurt, nice moves! Still, you really like hiding behind smokescreens don't you?" Coughing, Jake retreated from the smoke. "Annoying, I'll give you that."

Jake would see Uluru next, in the air atop Yanyan, steering the sand ray far from the sight of their brief battle. Without any further word, Uluru set off to find where his two, possibly three odd companions had scurried off to.

Jake shrugged, snapping the pipe shut again. "Well, back to work," Jake said, pulling out his compass and checking it again. "Better find that fellow quick..." Walking off quickly, Jake whistled to himself as he went.

Dustin frowned behind his faceless mask as he looked back and forth between the Wetlanders who stopped Soren and the ones approaching them from behind.

"Wherever that isn't here, Hellseherin," he responded briskly, not even taking the time to look back and the cloaked female. "Probably further into the heart of the Sea of Sand. I hear there's a massive settlement along the river that runs down from the Brisks called Grand Yusil."

His frown deepened into a scowl as he kept an eye on the Wetlanders to their rear. If worse came to worse they'd have to fight their way out. He began to take note of the black-clad soldiers on their street.

The smoke cleared and Musa peeked around the corner wall to see that fellow flying off on his fleshy butterfly and the other one walking off at a brisk pace while staring down at a compass. Quietly, she slid back into the alley after the cloaked man was far enough for her to not hear his footsteps. "That was.. Brief." She murmured. Although the fight was fast, she was very lucky that the man with the brimmed hat decided to ignore that loud mouthed Wetlander. Musa huffed in annoyance. He would get a nice strike from her staff when she finally cought up with his little troup.

Bouncing on her toes, she set off after the group again, hoping to find them quickly and apologize for her not trying to detain the brim-hatted man before he attatcked.

Elsie wasted no time in sprinting after Mirova, "Wait! You can't just abandon us now!" She caught up to the older woman with ease but knew neither of them would be able to keep running all day. It was then she noticed the smoke in the sky in the direction of the bar she'd had a drink in only an hour ago. "What the Hell do these bastards want?" she muttered, trying to keep her eyes focused on what was happening ahead of her so she didn't lose Mirova.

Bohdana swallowed. It was her time to leave too.

She nodded briskly at Aisha, a sort of unifying nod at their shared information, before backing away from the Wetlanders and dashing through the side streets. It was now more than ever that she had to find Andel. What would he make of this talk of the Change, she wondered, but their first action would be to get out of Dol Duna before they discussed anything.

Boh skittered into the main street, getting lost in the slowly depleting crowds and pushing past people with a feigned "S'cuse me", all the while searching for her uncle. She gazed up at one point and spotted the smoke rising from where the bar used to be. What the hell was happening.

Thessir was following along just fine, avoiding detection and the like as they walked in the flying beast's shadow. That was up until the point when the man from the bar earlier came upon them both, attempting to apprehend the wetlander. The bounty hunter bound the wetlander's hands and just decided he was going to detain him as though it was just that simple. Thessir wasn't much of a fighter though, luckily the man with the flying beast spoke in his stead.

"What is desirable of gold?" He wondered out loud, speaking his mind. Not long after that sentiment however the man with the floating creature attacked as there weren't many other options for dissuading their tracker otherwise. Bracing his stance he received the wetlander as he was shoved over towards him by the flying beast man.


As the smoke emitted from the man blocked all vision Thessir calmly produced his dagger. He cut through the wetlander's bondage with his dagger so easily it basically passed through the ropes, leaving the cut remains of aforementioned rope to fall in tatters in it's wake.

"Come. We search now." He motioned for the wetlander to follow him as he proceeded down the alleyway. On his way out he passed a woman with a skull set upon her head. Due to the smoke which was flooding out behind him he was fairly sure he saw her but she didn't appear to see them given her lack of reaction. As the smoke enveloped her she seemed to still be looking out towards where the combat was taking place.


After a number of turns across a few alleys as he and the wetlander turned a corner he had arrived to see a woman sprinting right towards them. It seemed their entrance was supposed to be her exit. His eyes though suffering from the light could catch a glimpse of skin from beneath the grey hood. Her skin was almost as pale as his was, white as snow with a mild red hue spread across. The reddish tint was what separated them in terms of skin tone. His skin lacked even that much color, appearing as solely white. Thessir never darkened under the sun, he'd only blister.

This was interesting indeed, mainly because a person of such little pigmentation was as rare as a blossoming blue rose out in the sea of sand. As much as he'd of liked to stop and chat there was still the feeling of being pursued to deal with. It did seem however that the woman was in quite a rush herself. Stopping a moment he raised a hand to grab her attention.


"Are you able to spend a lesser mark of time answering a question? I am curious."

Skullivan swallowed, him and Thessir having narrowly avoided Musa on their way out of the alley. "Great plan," Skullivan said, glaring at his pale companion as they turned. "We have that Cowboy Ninja hunting us, the Wetlanders, that lady! And we still don't know where the hell my idol or the Naima-"

Skullivan paused, his attention turning to the strange cloaked figure running toward them - pale skin and red eyes peeking out of her bobbing hood. Thessir suddenly rose a hand to the woman, trying to get her to stop. In response she shot past the two, smashing between them, and cornering another alley.

"Great plan," Skullivan repeated. Two other women ran forward - one one young with black-hair, and another with greyish blue. They were also chasing after the cloaked, pale lady. Skullivan frowned. He recognized the two from before - they'd try to hand him a religious pamphlet or something while he was locked up. "Oh no, not these two," Skullivan sighed. "GO AWAY!" He yelled as they ran toward Thessir and he. "This alley is very dangerous!"

"There!" A voice suddenly called from behind. Skullivan turned to see a unit of Wetland soldiers running after the two women, electric rifles aimed. "Blast them!" Another yelled.

"GREAT PLAN," Skullivan said again, grabbing Thessir's hand and pulling the shorter man behind him, they following the hooded woman's leave - running down the alley they had just come from. Behind them electric shots began to fire, the sound of surging electric blasts hitting the sand at their feet as they dodged down the alleys. Skullivan glanced back. "Keep up!" He yelled at the two girls." The team of four swung down another street and ran on.

"Uluru, where are you?!" Skullivan questioned as the three ducked into an open entranceway. They flung themselves into a shop, The shop was empty - having been abandoned during the airship's arrival. Skullivan guided them through, jumping out an open window and into another alley. "Thessir, this wa-" Skullivan suddenly smashed into a figure. The Traitor staggered backward at the impact, seeing that he had run straight into the woman from before - the one with the spear and golden eyes.

Skullivan scrambled to his feet and backed away, raising a fist threateningly as he moved toward Thessir, the other two women - Elise and Aisha, catching up breathlessly. The cloaked woman was gone, and instead they were now face to face with what could only be a bounty hunter. "Stay away from me, bounty-hunter. I'll kick you in the knee!" He threatened, his green eyes wild. He glanced up to the rooftops - wondering if Uluru was near...

***

The soldier at the wagon, the captain of his unit, nodded. "We're looking for a man - a Wetland Traitor," The man explained, glancing back as two soldiers grabbed hold of Ka'Wa and Duvikal - pulling them apart and placing magnetic handcuffs on the both of them.

The captain sighed. "But then we found our men murderer, some criminals burnt down the bar," The soldier glared at Sören. "You best pray we find those responsible, son," He added, placing a hand on Sören's wagon. "Otherwise this entire town will pay."

"Sir!" Another soldier called. "In the wagon, I saw movement!"

The captain rose an eyebrow, before raising his electric rifle cautiously at Sören and backing away cautiously. "Check it out!" He ordered, nodding at his soldiers. The black-uniformed men nodded, surrounding the wagon. One of them cautiously stepped forward, climbing up onto one of the wagon's large wheels and looking inside. Whisper, Rusten & Dustin stared up. "It's them!" The soldier cried, leaping off the wagon. "It's the killers!"

"Get out!" The captain screamed, raising his rifle. "With your hands drawn!"

***

In the main square Bohdana ran out, a figure suddenly stepping before her. He wasn't overwhelming tall, but still taller than her. His hairs were smoothed back and on his face was a smug smile. "Hi," The Wetland commander greeted, raising a gloved hand casually. "I'm afraid you'll have to answer some questions on my ship."

"Commander!" A soldier said, running up. "We've found the murderers. They're in a wagon down the street but the soldiers are scared to fight them. They want to bring the others in..."

The Wetland Commander frowned. "Absolutely not. We can handle this without thuggish theatrics," The man grimaced and glanced up at his ship, still blocking out the sun above the town. "Prepare the beam."

"Beam?" Bohdana frowned, side-stepping on the spot nervously, "Hey what d'you want? Clans wont be happy when they find out Wetlanders have been messing with Sea business," she gazed up at the ship, then back to the Commander, "Look, it seems like you have more important people to capture. I haven't seen that damn Wetlander since they locked him up, so let me and the rest of Dol Duna be. He's probably escaped all the way to Grand Yusil by now. Not very smart you mud-lickers, are ya?"

Uluru glanced down below, looking for any sign of his would be companions. He briefly spotted an odd looking shadow, creeping in an alleyway, but quickly v dismissed it as a loose salamand. Looking further, he overheard a mess if commotion and screaming, meaning the Wetland Traitor and other assorted strange looking people had ran into each other. A lighting down with Yanyan, he leaped off his beast and hit the ground.

"I recognize some of these faces..." Uluru muttered, putting his sword away. "We keep all running into eachother, must be fate..." he muttered, half jokingly.

"Ugh, when will these Wetlanders stop screwin' with us?" Xaverius grunted, clearly getting annoyed with the Wetlanders at this point. "Hey, we're just some extra passengers passing through, and I haven't had the overall best day so if you could just take your rag-tag team o' mercs and leave that would be great." He put a hand on the electro rifle he stole, just in case things got bad.