Rettick addresses the crowd. "There are two evils in this place. I have sent people to find them."
Pacen shouts. "You're a fool! They'll never be taken by two muds!"
Rettick isn't expecting a reply, as he's new to the field of public speaking. Fortunately, he is proven right, as the Stranger walks in through the north gate. His white skin has faded to a light grey, and he looks older and more haggard.
"Well? I'm here! Where's my opposite number?"
As if in reply, Jal is pulled, struggling, into the square, by his arm, by two mudokons. A hush descends on the crowd, which parts to let Jal through. Most of the attention, however, is on the Stranger.
"So what's happening?" calls Osiris.
"Have there been any disappearences around here lately?" Rettick asks of the crowd.
Murmurs rise, and the word 'Yes' is heard, along with several names, including 'Alad', and 'Hom'.
"He is the cause of it! He is a pawn of a great power, which feeds off fear to grow. It killed the others to make you all afraid."
Int: "What about the body I saw?"
"That was an illusion. It creates the illusions to cause fear."
Mat: "How do you know all of this?"
Pacen: "He doesn't. He knows some of it, and guesses the rest."
Rettick: "That's not true, I was told in a vision."
Pacen: "By what?"
Rettick: "Well..."
Pacen: "Don't you see? It is using you to create more fear?"
Rettick: "We have to kill it!"
Pacen: "We can't! It's too powerf-"
"ENOUGH!"
The argument ceases, and all eyes move from Pacen and Rettick to the Stranger.
"Do you seriously belive we do this just to create fear? Do you know nothing about us? You, Dark Mudokon, of all people should understand. Do you think we could have done what we did before with fear alone?"
"'We'?"
The Stranger sighs. "I've told you enough times already. Why do you not listen?" He points at Jal. "HE is one of us as well. Or is becoming one. Our quarrel isn't with you, you are just the tools."
Rettick: "Who is your quarrel with, then?"
Jal moves forward. As he does, his stick begins to glow black [OOC: Jal's stick is made of pure black wood, with a pure black stone on the end.] The Glow also returns to the Stranger's skin and eyes.
The Stranger shuts his eyes. "No! Not Yet! The Mustering must occur first! Not enough power..."
Suddenly, he screams, and white light blazes out of his eyes. He snatches at the nearest villager, who screams and vanishes in a flash of white light. As the crowd begins to run away, he grabs another villager, who disappears in the same way.
Seeing the villagers fleeing around him, Jal shouts above the screams. "What's going on?" He grabs at Mat's arm. Mat screams, and looks down at his arm, which smoulders black. Blood begins to flow from Mat's eyes and mouth, and he falls to the ground, vanishing in a flash of Blackness.
Osiris and Int run to help, but Osiris catches sight of Jal's eyes and stops. Jal's eyes have turned pure black. Int carries on, and grabs Jal. His hands begin to smoulder like Mat's arm did, and blood flows from him in the same way. He vansihes.
Osiris joins the others in fleeing, leaving Jal reeling around the square.
"What's happening to me?" He turns his black eyes to his stick. "It's you, isn't it?" He attempts to throw away the stick, but discovers to his horror that there is no division between his arm and the stick, and that the blackness of the stick is spreading up his arm.
He turns his black eyes to the darkening sky and screams, as the last vilagers leave the village of Pyke...
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Guns don't kill people, People kill people! Using Guns.
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