Mubashir had hardly heard the exit prompt in his confusion, with Vakker making his way towards the back door. Sumaita grabbed an arm and tugged her reluctant master to follow the Satyr. Sad, it had seemed as though the party were just getting started. Reaching out towards the erupting main hall in protest was met with the sudden appearance of a wall of ice separating them from the tavern at large.

"Hey! They were sstarting to like me..." He muttered, before turning around to meet their current situation. Shit, these guys had actual weapons. As had been demonstrated, brawling is not necessarily ole Mubashirs specialty, one hairy goat man was certainly enough action for one day. Or night. He had been swimming for a while, it was all sort of blurring together at this point. "Ssorry! that iss my cue...Besst of luck!" He said towards Vakker, before melting into a mist and flowing out the back door between the guardsmens legs.

    Sumaita raised her hands in silent protest, before squaring up with the several militiamen now attempting to accost the unlikely pair. Launching into her initial assault, she plants a foot on the wall of the narrow back hallway and lands a flying punch on the foremost soldier, stumbling them back slightly. The one behind him stabs forward, impaling his sword directly into her chest where her lungs would normally be. Fear crossed his eyes as all he was met with was a smile.

    Outside the doorway, Mubashir rematerializes under the slight awning of an outhouse near the exit. The accursed sun was attacking him from all angles now, with the reflection of light off the snow irritating his eyes. He pulled the makeshift headwrap tighter over his face, before waving his hands near the entrance.

"Duke! Serve me now..." He states, the summoning magic reverberating through his words. A dark cloud of mist forms, growing to encompass a large area before slowly evaporating away. In its midst, an abnormally large hulking man soon is revealled. Several chins and massive arms, three times the size of a normal man in both height and weight. Among the several tattoos adorning his body, most prominently lies the one sat across his enormous belly, "The Duke" boldly emblazoned above a cross. He also appears to be wearing a large sunhat, and a necklace of flowers.

"What you waaannt...Vaaacaation..."
"Yess yess, I am well aware. You will be compenssated with an exstenssion. There iss jusst the isssue of sseveral militiamen within this esstablisshment accossting your masster, pleasse deal with them. The one with the hornss iss a friend"

    Reluctantly, the massive thrall turned towards the entrance, quickly understanding he would not fit. With a protracted sigh, he gets on his hands and knees and reaches a massive arm inside, intent on grabbing the first thing that met his grasp. Hopefully, with the guards closer to the door, one would get knocked into him eventually.

Vakker watched the mist waft out the door in annoyance. So, Mubashir had abandoned not only him, but his thrall as well. Honestly, not that surprising anymore. Vakker's opinion of the man had been already been the same as the bottom of his shoe, but who knew? Maybe he'd surprise Vakker in the future and make it even lower.

"Why do you like him, again?" Vakker asked Sumaita nonchalantly before glaring at the three militiamen, the magic of his horn caps activating. The illusionary ram's skull that was hiding his face suddenly grew more sinister in the eyes of the approaching foes, the hollow eyes sockets suddenly filled with glowing red light. The darkness inside the hood felt infinite, as if the skull was emerging not from a hood, but from a hole in space. They all stopped in their tracks, overcome with fear of the skull-faced man in the red cloak.

Vakker simply walked forward while they were too afraid to react. But, a giant hand suddenly reached through the doorway and grabbed him, their huge hand wrapping around his entire torso and pulling him out the door and holding him in the air.

"What the hell!?" Vakker exclaimed in surprise as he was suddenly grabbed, but he should have known the cause. He looked down at Mubashir, leaning his elbow on top of the giant hand and leaning his head against his fist. His other hand tapped its fingers across the Duke's hand.

"So, is this another friend of yours?"

---

Hood of Horrors

    Sumaita slid the sword out from her chest, shrugging at Vakkers question. About to charge once more into the now terrified fray of guards before the Duke reached in and grabbed her only remaining ally in this cramped hallway. The guards cowered as the slightly spookier goat-man gracefully exited the building in the mans massive hands. Great. The work of a thrall was never done it would seem.

"Why yess! Thiss would be The Duke, called him from vascation"

    Outside, the duke raised his quarry to eye level, his facing wrenching in disgust and terror as he sees the warped visage adorning Vakkers horned face. Tossing him away into a nearby snowdrift, he falls backwards, his massive arms tearing into the outhouse and wood facade of the building as the Duke attempts to scramble away from the terrifying man.

"Aaah! Scaaary maan! Scaaary!"

"Oh pipe down, Thiss iss Vakker. Friend."

"Oh...Vaaakkaar. Friend" He waved, a nervous and awful smile across his face.

A guard lands with a thud out the door, rolling slightly in the snow before returning to his feet. The shouts and ruckus from within both the hallway and the main tavern seem to be growing louder. Hmm, hopefully the crowd inside would keep the militia occupied for a bit longer, but the time to leave seemed to be approaching. Mubashirs naturally flighty instincts bade him run, but it would be rude to leave so soon after the first attempt. Mind over manners, he was sure someone once said. That, and Sumaita can't really die, so she can probably handle herself.

With a finger pointed out at the guard, a short mumble saw him collapse to his knees arms too weak to raise his sword in response. The fear in his eyes as he saw Vakker still lingered.

"What, It was a trusce jusst between uss okay?"



Desperation fall shop 35S: By pointing at a target, Your target suddenly feels starving, badly dehydrated, mana-deprived and fatigued, as though they are on their last legs. They will struggle with normal everyday functions and will find it incredibly hard to focus, ignoring their ability to cast spells or even make offensive attacks. Lasts for a post, at which point they are returned to the condition they started in before Desperation was cast. Can only be used twice per topic.

Another thrall? Just how many thralls did Mubashir have? Vakker didn't have any thralls... Maybe he should get some. They could be useful.

"The Duke? Of what?" Vakker asked nonchalantly, still casually grasped in the giant man's hand. He gave a smile as he was brought face to face with the Duke. But suddenly, the Duke screamed. Vakker was surprised for a second before realizing. Oh, wait, the illusion! "Oh fu-" was all he managed to say before he was tossed aside, landing on his back in a pile of snow that crunched beneath him. Thankfully the snow cushioned his landing nicely or he might have been much more upset at being treated so similarly to how Mubashir treats Sumaita. 

Yeah, never mind. Vakker didn't need thralls. Not ones like these, at least.

The Satyr climbed out of the snow, his hooves clicking on the cobblestone stone of the alleyway, and brushed himself off. There were still militiamen on their way, so there was no time to waste arguing with the Duke for throwing him. He'd let that one go for now. He could just leave. It wasn't his thrall still inside the building, fighting militiamen right now. But, that would be pretty rude.

With a sigh, Vakker pointed to a militiaman through the door that was between them and Sumaita. The man suddenly dropped to the ground with a groan. "Indeed it was." Vakker said, looking to Mubashir. "Now let's go." He looked down at the man on the ground outside that was being held at bay by Mubashir's magic. Keeping his finger pointing at his own target, he stepped over to the man and tapped him with his hoof while muttering a spell. That should help keep his identity a secret. From the ground, this guy definitely saw his hooves. Much better to remove that memory.

---

Desperation
Fade From Memory

    This copy-goat had been keeping up with his little tricks all morning, and they had discovered that they had more in common than previously thought. Maybe the real friends were the satyrs we fought along the way. A swift kick to the jaw as the first guard recovered saw them crumple to the ground unconscious. Walking within the corridor found the final guard pining an exhausted Sumaita to the wall with a sword through her chest. Sad, seemed like she was off her game today. His eyes flared red as he tapped the shoulder of the panicked guard. He relaxed, dropping his tight grip on the sword, and retreated outside on Mubashirs command. 

"Come now, no getting sstabbed all willy nilly. Letss go, before we need a barrel of blood jusst to hold uss together."

    A flustered smile crossed her face as he planted a foot on the wall to withdraw the sword. With a yank, he became king of Zeinav and freed his thrall. Another swift kick by Sumaita on the way out found the second guard unconscious, and the third charmed one dancing idly by himself in the crumpled remains of the outhouse. With a bow, he regarded his new goaty acquiantance.

"Vakker, much obliged for a sscintillating morning exscerssize. I wont ssay it hass been enjoyable, but thatss it. Good day to you, nesxt time we meet, I sshant be going eassy on you!"

    The Duke crumbled to dust with a snap of Mubashirs fingers, as Sumaita herself dissolved into a cloud of shadow. Mubashir himself mumbled a few words that found the surrounding area covered in another thick fog. He bit at his tooth, only to remember he had already used his emergency style potion, and such clambered awkwardly through the snow in the fog, tripping over several planks of wood and smacking into a wall as he made his exit.

"I hope the next time we meet will be in better circumstances. Say maybe at a morgue, or a sunlit graveyard." Vakker replied with feigned cheerfulness, a smile gracing his face genuinely as Mubashir finally left. No, he wouldn't say their time together had been enjoyable either, that they could agree on.

Vakker's exit was far more graceful than Mubashir's had been. With a quick incantation, he conjured up a wall of ice right beneath him and used it to hop onto the nearby roof. A thin layer of ice on his hooves let him glide elegantly away as if he was skating across the rooftop, his red cloak swishing around in the wind behind him as he went.

This had been quite a day. He wasn't sure if going together with the dropped lump of clay had been worth it. It hadn't been enjoyable. It hadn't been lucrative, quite the opposite really. It hadn't gained him any connections with anyone of importance, he was sure. But, if anything. it had been interesting. If he ever did meet Mubashir again, he might even consider not punching him in the face.

He would be sure to avoid being charmed again though. That, he would absolutely not forgive if he ever tried it again. And his fury was harsher than the coldest winter. Mubashir would be sure of that.

---

Glacial Wall
Frozen Feet