"Don't Look Like You're From Around Here, Stranger..."

[Sylas]

((Open to all))

Black skies tower above the once beautiful land.

Darkened clouds rose from the earth, mingling acrid scent and sour fumes with melancholic songs drifting in the wind. A pyre burns brightly, stoked by half-dead forms hauled into the consuming light... One by one, each carried by two men strong.

A figure stood watching from within a dark alley near the city wall, a roving eye watching the pointed ears of city guards patrolling for the unruly sorts. Hunched over to hide in the darkened veils of safety, the merchant of the Dark Kingdom waits for those seeking wares to retaliate the remaining walking dead.

"Hehe, hello there, stranger. What're ye buying...?"

[Ataraxis]

"Buying?"

Alleys were not what they used to be. Once, they were places of hiding, friends to the shadows and their lurkers; now, they were the clubhouses of criminals. Every time she sought refuge in the dark lanes, she would find that a knave had already made his nest, so comfortable he might as well be drying soured frocks on a hanging clothesline.

"I'm not... I didn't come here to buy anything." Lillian pulled the cloak tighter around her body, hoping she would not have to deal with another rapist. Of late, cleaning the blood from her knives had turned into a chore of indifference. Day and night, surrounded by strife, one could not help but become desensitized; her only relief was that she had yet to kill someone.

She hoped this man, whoever he was, was not about to change that. "But while I'm hiding, I wouldn't mind a quick browse."

[Sylas]

"Hehe, sure thing, stranger."

Sylas the One Eye glanced at the young girl, seemingly out of place within a city plagued by the undead's scourge. The only good eye searched the streets for probing city guards. Seeing the remaining forces of the Singing Blades nowhere in sight, the odd merchant slowly opened the left side of his coat... Revealing an assortment of wares tucked into numerous pockets.

"I've got a lot of things you might be interested in, stranger." He said with a sly grin. "A dagger that burns, an exploding bag, bubblegum that breathes fire, or perhaps..."

Withdrawing the wares back into the concealment of his heavy outerwear, the odd man opened the other side to reveal a primitive weapon... But none of the usual design.

"How about a gun to ensure your safety...?"

A low howl noise could be heard beyond the reinforced walls, much closer in tone to the sound of wild canids than those of the domesticated kinds.

"...S'not enough time to think, I say..."

[Ataraxis]

Lillian had expected nothing more than brand name watches and the latest vogue in leather wallets, all counterfeit; yet, what this man had stashed in his ample cloak was nothing short of wondrous. Some were everyday items in the form of leisure products, others were blatant weapons, and all were invested with unusual powers - enchanted.

"This is quite an amazing spread you have there..." For several heartbeats, she said nothing more, blue eyes sparkling with childish greed. "I admit to an interest in the dagger. And how can I use the bag? Were I to chew the gum, would I burn or somehow be protected?"

It was then that he switched folds, bringing into light a weapon most unusual. It resembled the pistols of Alerar, so often seen as decoration, holstered at the hips of Grafs and dignified patrol guards. "How did you..."

Howls from the north made her judder, somehow sounding more lupine than canine. When she turned back, the merchant in the dark seemed agitated, uneasy. Lillian found it ironic how, of those who were hiding in this corpse-infested town, most were not from the undead.

"It would seem you're right..." After a moment of nervous pondering, she turned her last hopes to the stranger in the alley. "Please, tell me you know of a safer place for this, because I have no intention of walking away empty-handed: I desperately need a bigger arsenal."