As Zoltan mentioned earlier … Star runs hot and cold. For most of the time, she seems to be the positively best-behaved cheetah all around – especially of any who happen to be sisters to Jezebel and were reunited with her. And then, on occasion, she'll be caught crying for no apparent reason, or just standing and staring into space. And then, the next, she's as friendly and eager to please as they come.

Presently, Star is in the 'friendly and eager to please' mode, a regular whirling dervish of activity as she cleans and organizes Nicodemus' shop. Thankfully, her idea of organization is NOT one that leaves the poor half-Vartan wondering where all the hanging crystals were put. She makes her mistakes, but she's pretty quick at picking up on Vartan logic in arrangement. Perhaps she's worked with some before in Faraon's Dome.

Jezebel, meanwhile, is in a perpetual "all business" mode. She spends more time busying her hands with chores than using them to make hand-signs. She still slips out for her 'errands', but they've become less frequent as of late.

Pouncer is out with the Temple Scouts. Enos, however, is constantly underfoot (or paw or hoof), demanding for attention, and taking it from whomever he can – stranger or friend or family.

"RAR!" goes Enos, as he squeezes his stuffed Fuff'nar, causing the "toothy" mouth to go wide open, showing off several soft "teeth". Only for the hundredth time or so today… or maybe in the last hour…

Zoltan scoops up Enos as he runs by and bounces the cub on his knee while he polishes a few crystals that will hopefully see use in a patron's tail. He watches Moon-Brow quietly, studying her mannerisms and comparing them to Third-Eye's own.

Despite the visual appearances, Moon-Brow's behavior is still distinctly different from Third-Eye's. While the latter might have some experience in serving in a noble's house, Moon-Brow doesn't display quite the same level of refinement, even when the situation calls. She knows how to work hard, she's willing to get dirty, and to clean up the mess when it's finished … and to show off a cheery and subservient demeanor, especially when there are customers about.

Third-Eye … well … "cheery" is just not in the body-language vocabulary for her.

( It's a very good front she has. I wonder how long it will before she trusts me enough to show me what's underneath it all? ) the Vartan ponders. He gives Enos a quick tummyrub in an attempt to quiet him down a bit.

The little jaguar cub giggles and squeals, his feet kicking. At least it's a change from the 'Rar!'…

An elderly couple of Vartans – the only customers in here today (and fairly regular at that) – head out the door, exchanging well-wishes with Nicodemus. Their departure is almost like clockwork, denoting the first part of the day after opening when things hit a bit of a lull.

"Do you have any errands you need me to run today, Master?" Zoltan scrawks to Nicodemus in Vartan, his practiced hands balancing the little cub.

Nicodemus smiles to Zoltan, then scrawks, "I'm sure I can think of something. Let's see… Jakka needs a good selection of glass mugs – sturdy, and if they can be different colors and mismatched, she'd be pleased… but… "

Nicodemus trails off as the door swings open, the crystal chimes jangling, announcing the entrance of a new customer. Not unheard of, but rare at just this time.

Zoltan looks up to see who the new arrival is.

The new arrival would be a Naga, who slithers in, with diamondback markings. Catching the door before it closes, an albino Skreek walks in next, fidgeting with a ring in his nose. And then, after that comes a rough-looking (and none-too-bright) Jupani whose tongue hangs out, eyes focused somewhere above everyone, numerous scars visible through his fur. Behind the three comes a slender Eeee, wrapped up in a heavy cloak against the chill winds running down the street.

Nicodemus looks up, and scrawks, in Rephidim Standard, "Hello! Welcome to the Shiny Shoppe! Can I help you find something shiny?"

Zoltan sets Enos down and hustles him towards the curtained room in the back. These don't look like customers that would like getting pounced by a spotted cub. He goes back to polishing the crystals, but keeps a wary eye on the new arrivals.

Nicodemus' friendly smile drops just a degree to politeness when his query is met by silence while the crowd of customers fans out, the bat approaching the counter, while the others show an intense interest in shelves and walls.

There is a clatter and a splash, as Jezebel bumps her washbucket, sloshing some water (light on soap, since it's been a little harder to come by lately) onto the floor. She immediately bows several times in apology to Nicodemus … then rushes to the back, where the rags and towels are.

Frowning, Zoltan rises to his feet and moves closer to the counter. "May we helps you?" he scrawks to the bat.

The bat's face-fur has a mottled appearance, with several discolored patches – a midtone of brown, with spots that seem to be bleached to varying lighter shades, and a few smaller, dark spots. His eyes are perpetually thin, as if even the modest (if glittery) light in the shop bothers him. He regards the black Vartan and, his lips stretched back in a strained facade of genteel politeness, says, "Perhaps. I am interested in a trinket. A scrimshaw design of an interesting-looking bird."

The hippogryph looks around as though studying the walls of the shop with his keen eyes, although his focus is more on the people inside than the trinkets this time. "Could you describes it? We gots many such things here, Kujaku, Aquilian, Vartan – even a picture or two of Shokar"

The bat regards Zoltan a long time, then says, "A piece of scrimshaw. With a most strange bird inscribed on it. One with wings straight out, and three fins for a tail. It belonged to a friend of mine – an old Jupani – whose apartment was ransacked when he passed away."

Nicodemus just keeps his mouth shut. He's sort of picked up the idea that Zoltan knows quite a bit more about this than he does…

Zoltan walks behind the counter and squats down a bit. "I think maybe we gots such a thing. A kavi sell it to us, say he gots it from Exile wolf."

The bat doesn't lean over the counter, but rather looks around the store. "So, has anyone else shown an interest in this little bauble? I'm curious why someone would bother snatching it, after all. Perhaps you've had it appraised somewhere?"

( Well, old bird… do you show all your cards or not? ) He takes up the scrimshaw and holds it in his folded up hand. "Perhaps it have some kind of sentimental value… to someone who maybe seen such a thing once before."

The bat only glances at the scrimshaw. If he's faking disinterest in it for some reason, he's doing an awfully good job of it. "That's the one. You must be Zoltan, correct? And this would be Nicodemus?" He gestures toward the half-Vartan without looking in his direction.

Zoltan pulls himself up to his feet. "Yes." he answers. "And you are?"

The bat pauses a moment, then says, "Korono. That is a very unusual piece. Will a gold suffice?"

The Vartan looks at the piece of ivory in his hands, then back to Korono. "I give it to you… if possible in exchange for information abouts it, if you willing."

Korono raises an eyebrow. "Information, hmm? If information is what you wish, then I shall have to have a word with my associate. He is, after all, the one with the gold. If you will pardon me, I will step outside and let him know of your interest."

Zoltan nods his head. "Of course. Perhaps we can share information as well."

The Eeee nods, and then turns around, striding to the door. He squints, rubbing at one of the black spots on his fur, then ducks outside. The door slams behind him, crystal chimes jangling cacophonously.

The Skreek walks over to the dazed-looking Jupani. "Curr, Curr … lunchtime. Curr! Open up. Curr," he chitters. The "not-quite-there" Jupani dumbly opens his mouth, and accepts what looks like a bright red marble that the rat tosses in. The Jupani crunches pondrously on the treat.

The hippogryph moves to the front of the counter and leans against it. Quietly watching the trio that remain.

There's a clattering sound from the alley, just outside the back door, the sound of some of the boxes of junk falling over.

Zoltan's feathers bristle. "Master… take cover, things going to get bad in here I think."

The Vartan stuffs the scrimshaw in his pocket and moves to the back room. His right hand eases back to where his flintlock rests.

Nicodemus takes just a moment to look in alarm at Zoltan, before the Kavi leaps in spritely fashion, quickly alighting upon the counter. There is a flash, just as Nicodemus ducks back, and a ribbon of red shows across the half-Vartan's brow. The Kavi curses. Nicodemus seems to have hardly a moment to register what is happening, but his body moves on previous orders – scooping up Enos, who yowls in alarm when he sees the blood.

As for where the Kavi came from … no explanation is immediately forthcoming.

The diamondback Naga, meanwhile, slithers over toward Moon-Brow, a hungry look in his slit-pupiled eyes. Moon-Brow still looks as stupidly friendly and helpful as ever, blinking innocently at the snake, as she leans on a nicely-polished coatrack hanging with shiny crystal trinkets.

Snarling, Zoltan sizes up his four opponents. "Master! Star! Jez! Take cover! We being raided!" He spies the Naga and points his flintlock at the snake, he pulls the trigger.

There is a deafening crack and a billow of smoke that erupts into the air. The Kavi, who had sprung up nearby, is caught off guard, choking on the black smoke, his aim with the dagger going wild. The snake's head dissolves in a blink of an eye.

The Jupani, eyes wild, mouth frothing, let's out a wild howl, flailing about with meaty hands, knocking down everything in sight, plowing destruction through the shop. The Skreek, meanwhile, has disappeared, but it seems there's someone at the back door.

The old but still large half-Vartan/half-Cervani, Nicodemus, holds a squawling jaguar cub in his arms. Bracing himself on top of a table, he casts a glance upward and crouches down.

Zoltan looks at the shadows forming on the windows. "Master… the windows! Get down, something about to crash through." He makes a leap for the Kavi, talons slashing.

The black Vartan's attack is fierce and, should it connect, impossible to deflect by the much lighter Kavi. However, the little knife-slasher proves to be frustratingly agile, leaving the hippogryph slashing at empty air. He catches a glint of light reflecting off of a blade darting in toward his arms … and then, there is a sharp sound of chitin impacting hard against … metal. The blade shatters against the Vartan's wrapped forearm! The Kavi looks fleetingly surprised.

There is a stain on the wrappings. At first glance, someone might mistake it for blood, but it seems to be a liquid staining the wrappings, from the shattered blade. The stain does not spread far.

"The back room… go to the back room, and protect Jezebel!" Zoltan screeches to Nicodemus in Vartan. ( Oh star… POISON! And he hit the master with it… ) He roars and makes another lunge for the now weaponless Kavi.

With a loud cry, Nicodemus leaps up from the table he is perched on, though his cry is drowned out by the simultaneous shattering of the polished horn windows, and the wooden door from the alley. Up he goes … smashing through what looks like a simple patch in a worm-eaten wooden roof.

The Kavi, still in that split-second of being caught off guard by the failure of his weapon against the Vartan's arms – as if the hippogryph himself were made of solid steel – is late by a precious fraction of a second in avoiding the black juggernaut's assault. With a frightening effortlessness, the Vartan in one continuous motion crashes into the Kavi, snapping him like a dry twig.

Zoltan hurls the Kavi's body at the berserker wolf and backs off towards the curtained room. He tries to reload his flintlock in the scant moments that he has.

A quick perusal of the battleground reveals that an assortment of Jupani and Skreeks have come in through some way other than the front exit, and the berserker, "Curr," is slavering as he charges straight into the flung Kavi body. Moon-Brow has vanished, a prone Skreek lying with a broken coatrack impaling his back where she was last seen. Just as Zoltan gets through the curtain, he catches sight of Jezebel twirling in a circle amidst black candles … and then pitch black obscures his sight. For an instant.

In that instant he moves forward through the curtain, his sight returns again, though shadows engulf the store behind him. Curses and screams emit from behind the hippogryph.

The curtain ripples as someone comes stumbling through the heavy cloth, bumping into the hippogryph from behind.

His hands still reloading the flintlock and grabbing at his other weapons, Zoltan hisses to Jezebel, "We gots to get out of here… they poisoned master I – OOF!" He spins around to face the potential attacker.

A cheetah with disheveled and blood-slicked hair looks up from under an askew woven-leather headband, her ears flat back in fright at the sight of the fierce hippogryph. Her tail is nowhere in sight … the tip simply VANISHING at the sharp edge of the almost tangible darkness. As some of the curtains swing back, they slip back and forth in and out of blackness as they traverse the spell's boundary.

Zoltan grabs at the Savanite and pulls her into the room. "Moon-Brow. You alrights!" He glances at Jezebel and sets his jaw. "Go to the back of room here and take cover. I told you I protect you and I meant it. Hopefully wolf is taking care of most of friends outside, and I handle anyone who get through."

Perhaps that's why there is screaming out there. The wolf is just a destructive juggernaut, serving not much more purpose than a distraction for anyone able to see to get out of his way, but under current circumstances … There is much roaring and shouting going on in there.

The Vartan finishes with his weapon and crouches down at the door, his finger resting at the trigger. ( If I'm lucky, maybe someone will live through this besides the wolf that I can get some answers out of… )

There's a yelp and then a lupine-sounding whine. "GOT HIM!" "Stupid berserker. Now FIND THEM! And send someone after the flying fossil! He won't get far – "

Suddenly, the voice is cut off as well. It's very, very quiet in the store.

Jezebel, for her part, keeps right on dancing. Moon-Brow just shakily makes her way to the back of the room and crouches down, picking up a broom.

Zoltan snarls… Master… and his *SON*! "Stay here." he hisses. He grabs his crossbow and the six-shot revolver, he puts the bow on his back and the gun at his side and then steps hesitantly out through the curtains, flintlock at the ready.

As Zoltan steps outside, at first he is assaulted by blackness and silence … and then suddenly his vision returns, though he sees things in a very strange way. What would be dark is light, and what should be light is dark. Shadows are lights, and the windows radiate darkness. A few Skreeks and Jupani stumble about, crashing into things, and some are writhing on the floor, trying to get up, looking as if they can't even tell which way is up. Near the counter, is a bat who flails about, pushing pointlessly against shelves which do not yield to his movement.

Every nerve in the hippogryph tingles – like an arm that has been laid on during sleep, and, upon being freed by rolling over, now sharply signals its discontent as blood returns to the deprived vessels.

The Vartan realizes that he can't stay out here very long, and makes an attempt to grab the bat and drag him into the back room.

The bat still struggles, but in a way that suggests that he is not even aware of the large hippogryph – quite capable of snapping him even more easily than so with the Kavi – picking him up. Zoltan faces no obstacles as he retreats to the back room … but the sensations flicker, his sight reverting for fleeting instances to the way things normally should be, before back to the mad visions filling the store.

Zoltan slams the bat against the floor. "Moon-Brow, help me tie him up. I going to need some answers from him soon." He looks to Jezebel, hoping the mage can still hear him and respond slightly through her ritual. "I felt strange going out there… it safe for me to exit or should I stay here until you done?"

Jezebel does not answer, but gasps and wavers in her dance. She looks to Zoltan, and her expression and movements show that her stamina is being taxed greatly – far more so than any mere dance should do. Perhaps this is something of an answer…

Moon-Brow, for her part, leaps up, pouncing upon the bat, and quickly pinning him about the wings and arms! The bat's senses seem to be returning, as he shrieks in protest, but he's not strong enough to resist even a mere cheetah.

Nodding grimly, the hippogryph gives the bat another rough slam to make him easier to deal with and then exits through the curtain again. Intent on taking care of the attackers before they come to their senses and attack the two Savanites.

The spell flickers entirely. The blackness recedes, shrinking, to reveal only a solitary figure who strides through the wreckage, looking for all the world as if he were carved from the shadows himself, save for the anger burning in those eyes. In the store, none move, save he. And when he forces his way through the curtains into the back room, he finds a prone bat, a prone three-eyed cheetah … and one other cheetah looking up with concerned eyes at Zoltan.

"They might have poisoned Master Nicodemus. I needs to go after him before it too late. You know anything about poisons and cures?" the hippogryph says to Moon-Brow. He rips off a section of the leather with the liquid upon it and holds it out to the cheetah. "I gots to find him quickly… it may be too late already."

Moon-Brow signs, "I know something of poisons, yes." Her eyes do not meet Zoltan's. "And I am sorry, Master, but the Eeee has poisoned himself." She holds up a tooth – evidently freshly extracted from the bat – with a large and conspicuous cavity on the inside surface.

"DAGH!!" Zoltan screams and gives the bat's body a good hard kick. "I going after Master and Enos. I think Jezebel has some herbs here… if you can make up a cure while I gone… do it. I no can stay here any longer." He steps back out and makes a jump for the hole the old Cervani/Vartan exited through. ( Please Star… let me get to him before its too late… )

As Zoltan breaks through, enlarging the hole with his passage, he spies several converging Guardsmen – most on foot – arriving too late on the scene. With the Vartan's keen sight, it takes him only a matter of seconds of flight before he spies a flash of white and a smaller flash of gold, on a rooftop just across the way. Indeed, Master Nicodemus did not go very far.

He rushes to the spot on the rooftop. Wings beating furiously. ( Please be alright, Master. Please… )

When the Vartan lands, he finds his mentor splayed out on the rooftop, the little jaguar cub patting on the half-Cervani/half-Vartan's cheek, mewing sadly. He looks up at Zoltan and sniffles.

The ribbon across the half-Vartan's forehead has already gone from red to black, and there is a discoloration visible just through the sparse fur in the hide around the wound.

"NO!" Zoltan shrieks. He falls to his knees and picks up his mentor's body. His head rests against the Cervani's chest, listening for a heartbeat or any sign of breathing.

Nicodemus shows no response … but a quick examination reveals that he IS alive. Not in good condition, but he's still on this side of the Procession.

Realizing that he has precious little time, Zoltan grabs his mentor in one arm and Enos in another. He flies faster and harder that he has ever flown before… back towards the shop.

The shop is swarming with Guards, some of whom are carrying out dead bodies and wreckage. There is no sign of any cheetah being taken out.

Zoltan looks towards the back room, perking his ears and trying to see any sign of movement. "I am owner of this shop. We were attacked. Star? Star!! Where are you?"

"My master is dying. Was poisoned. You needs to get a doctor here quickly!" he adds, setting the Cervani gently down and examining his wounds. ( What kind of poison would do this… hrrr… )

In the back room, there is no sign of Jezebel or Star. Where there was a ritual circle, there is a puddle of soapy water that spreads out, seeping into the bedrolls, and no sign of the candles. The bat is sprawled on the floor, his tooth held by a Jupani that examines it curiously.

A raccoon pushes his way through the guards. "Poison?" he asks, and drops down beside the half-Vartan, fumbling as he rearranges his priestly robes and digs through a satchel.

"We found this on the Eeee," rumbles a Jupani Guard, walking over to the lieutenant on the scene. "It looks like the same Exile language you found at the last site."

Zoltan picks up Enos and hugs the cub tightly. ( Thank you, Moon-Brow. I owe you a lot for your quick thinking. ) "There a broken knife in here, has traces of the poison on it." He looks almost pleadingly to one of the guards. "You know who any of these peoples are? Who they might work for?"

The lieutenant glances at the dead Eeee, then back to Zoltan. "Given that it's an Eeee who looks like he finished himself off rather than being captured … I'd guess Babelite. But then, that's what anybody and his pet Creen would guess. I'll have someone look for the knife. You must be … " He leans over to an aide, then looks back. "Zoltan Cambios?"

"Cambio. Zoltan Cambio." he replies wearily. "May I see what you find on bat?"

The Guard looks as if he's about to give a rehearsed phrase about evidence, but the lieutenant waves him off. "Certainly. Perhaps you can shed some light on this." He shows Zoltan a leather-bound book, a flimsy and greatly aged affair that is badly in danger of falling apart, and has had a few haphazard reinforcements to its spine with loops of coarse string to stave off this inevitable fate.

Zoltan carefully opens the book, he glances at the Cervani/Vartan. "Is he going to be alrights?"

The raccoon looks up at Zoltan and says, "It is good that he received attention as soon as he did. He has been poisoned, but I have slowed the progression. We are going to move him to the Temple for further treatment." Perhaps expecting a surprised reaction at this news, the raccoon explains, "This does, after all, appear to possibly be a case of an attack from outside our borders. As a possible war casualty, then, he would be eligible for Temple treatment."

Inside the book are a number of sketches of … 'metal birds'. Again and again, there are variations on the same picture, with a strange text that looks not completely alien, but nonetheless incomprehensible. There are variant pictures of the 'metal bird', some showing it buoyed by balloons like an airship, some showing it fitted with odd-looking contraptions.

Sighing in relief, Zoltan focuses his attention again on the book. "Thank you. He save my child… and I think everyone here was after me. I never forgive myself if my master die because of me." He flips curiously through the pages, looking for a more familiar design.

And then, there are several illustrations of semi-spherical objects that look just like those black round things from inside the 'metal bird'. There are diagrams, one showing one such object plummeting through the sky … some sort of cloud rising from the ground. Some sort of –

The world explodes around Zoltan, as he relives a collage of memories and dreams. Jezebel, plucking spots from her fur and flinging them over the edge of an airship. Sinai breaking apart, out of existence, below. Her laughter as Rephidim itself is assaulted, and then consumed in an inferno that destroys her as well –

– and then, with a bit of a dizzy disorientation, Zoltan snaps back to reality.

Zoltan almost drops the book as well as the cub in his arms. He sways on his feet. "I know why they do this… " he says. "I know what they want."