Thraag tries to just keep the cart moving as fast as possible without hitting anyone.
Most of you manage to make it through relatively quickly... Thraag and Gattlebee, however, manage to bump into everyone and fall ever-so-slightly behind. The voices, which are louder to Thraag, continue... and it sounds like more bickering and running towards you.
"Clear that overload already! I don't want to be shocked by your gun again because you screwed up."
After a while, you encounter what seems to be a festival dedicated to Brigh, the Bronze Lady festival. There's a parade of all variety of technology, but this being Alkenstar, is mostly clockwork. There's a good variety of steamworks, and a small selection of non-clockwork automata that seem to come from presumably Nex, Alkenstar's neighbor. The crowd is even more tightly packed.
You could decide to throw them off your trail slightly by joining in the parade itself ), doing something similar to blend in with a crowd of worshippers () or try to once again weave your way through the crowd, albeit this time around it'll be a bit tougher to do so ()
What does our group of outlaws do?
Thraag uses his hat to shift into clothes similar to what the religious procession is wearing and joins in with them.
Not wanting to draw further attention to himself, Narl pulls his hood back up and tries to move with the crowd. He hangs back enough to keep an eye on Gattlebee, though. Should the man be in any danger, he's ready to draw his sword and... well, something.
There is NOTHING Erryll loved more than making fun of other people's ridiculous displays of veneration, but he figured why not try to blend into this crowd ...
Everyone but Thraag and Erryll seamlessly blend in and gain some ground against the chasing group of roughs. Erryll stands out a little bit due to not being familiar with the customs... while Thraag sticks out a little bit more than even Erryll. It could be worse, though. You can get a good look at part of the party chasing you if you glance back:
- A human man in wizardly robes, which is fairly notable in Alkenstar given the unreliability of magic carrying what seem to be a revolver emblazoned with Brighite which he seems to be showing off as he joins the parade while chasing. Notably, he doesn't seem to be a native.
- A tengu of unidentifiable gender, carrying a musket carved with symbolism of ants, clockwork, and electricity of all things, which is of little use in Alkenstar except for newly created lighting devices (think carbon arc lamps, i.e. really early electrical devices that you might even see in the Wild West)
They seem to be talking to people, but you're unsure of who, as they continue moving through the crowd, with the human taking the path of joining the parade, and the tengu opting to weave through the crowd.
After you make it through the parade, you come out a bit farther away from the persuers than you were before... but run into a portion of the road that is massively under construction, with the crew attempting to repair a sinkhole that swallowed an entire clockwork carriage, with bits and pieces spread out throughout the area. You could try to move heavy bits yourself you could try to order people as if you were a supervisor , or you could try some alternate methods. You can't take too long though, ssince you're still being pursued! What will our party do?
In the back of his mind, Erryll swears one of the ancestors knows something about the weird wizard. Most of Erryll's human relatives were from outside the area ... he just needed to put his finger on it.
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Erryll, you and your ancestors have a hunch that this wizard is most likely a spellslinger, sometimes also called a Spellshot, given the lack of any other weapon, staff, bonded item, or familiar. They study quite intensely to achieve magical effects with their gun, such as shooting literal fire and magic missiles out of it. In addition, magical enhancements to their gun apply to their spells, which with powerful magic weapons can be quite terrifying... but with mundane weapons it's more a fancy parlor trick. They're much more common in regions with both firearm and functional magic, though a good few still exist in Alkenstar.
"They're tracking us by following the cart," Narl announces to any of his crew nearby. "I'd hate to abandon it, but if we need to lure them off of Gattlebee's trail..."
When he gets to the clutter in the road, he nods at Onnello's suggestion, and puts his back into trying to help him move the clockwork rubble.
Thraag growls as he continues to have issues in keeping up and tries to find a better way by ordering people in the crowd around.
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Everyone's help clears the way fairly easily, though Narl falls a tad behind as the chase progresses. Told, however, is worried by the imagery on the musket in particular.
Ants, muskets, and elecricity are all symbols of Cixyron, a Daemonic Harbinger of gunpowder, poisonous metals, and electricity. Their cult is known to attack inventors for their nonmagical weaponry, but there are those members that prefer to create the weapons themselves. They're found mostly in the Mana Wastes and Numeria, for obvious reasons, but there are reports of cults as far as Irrisen.
You also know that, as Erryll knows, the Wizard is a Spellslinger. Unless that gun is a very powerful magic item, they're effectively Wizards who can shoot firearms.
As you continue on your chase, a few of you falling ever-so-slightly behind the pack, you come across what appears to be a showdown between two gunslingers in the streets, with their hands on the trigger and ready to fire. Crowds of bystanders stand on either side of them, chearing them on and pretty much blocking safe passage unless you try to get them to scatter There's also the much more polite option of just... asking the gunslingers to hold a little bit while you pass, which will work for all of you (a single successful Diplomacy check will let you all pass). You could also do the, admittedly kind of brazen, act of just dodging the bullets outright There's also still the crowd to weave through, which while more involved then dodging bullets given the size of the crowd of bystanders, might certainly be more preferable.
Meanwhile, behind you, you hear more squabbling in Dwarven as the Spellslinger and the Musket wielder continue to chase you:
(Human) "... Fine. If they escape, flee. Get those ahead of us to as well, so we don't get killed if we lose 'em. Chase after them in the mean time if we need to, graduate school isn't freaking cheap, for Brigh's sake."
Meanwhile meanwhile, you can feel Gattlebee retch whenever the individuals are talking in Dwarven and mention a name, Lyzerius.
While they're paused for the gunfight, Narl gathers the crew.
"I just overheard them say that there's more in front of us.
"There's only two of them now, and they're already making plans to flee if things turn wrong. I say we confront the two following us now rather than get trapped between them and whoever they've got in front of us."
He hooks a thumb at the two gunfighters blocking their way.
"Maybe we can make the crowd think it's part of the show."
You hear both of them chuckle, both holstering their pistols as the they motion you through. "Eh, it isn't a serious enough duel to kill each other over. We've both had a few of them, but we're using flare cartridges. Go on ahead, sirs," he says to the lot of you. Holding a flare cartridge in his hand that he hasn't even loaded into his pistol yet.
The other one then speaks up, with a chuckle that sounds like she doesn't believe you. "Demon worshiper, eh? We can delay it for a bit since it isn't that serious of a duel. Go on ahead," she says as she motions her hand for you to go through. Once you do though... you all see an old, dilapidated hotel that caught fire and risks setting the entire neighborhood ablaze. The local fire brigade takes up most of the street, blocking all traffic while they get the fire under control. They can use all the help they can get, magical or nonmagical!
You could potentially guess where the fire is likely to spread next, either with scientific knowledge or knowledge of purely the natural state of the world. You could temporarily join the fire brigade and lift the hoses and nonmagical devices to help put out the fire or jut plot a route around the blockade (or just rush around everything) Heck, you could just provide your own water if you can with any water-based spell
Meanwhile as you depart, you hear distant, horrid screeching from behind you as there seems to be a commotion at the last obstacle you had to overcome with the gunslingers.
It is almost as though Erryll were smiling AND frowning at the same time.
He very very quickly gestures and speaks in Undercommon.
"Nitaskil!
"Fill buckets with water and hand them to the men who are here in front of you!"
The difficult to see minion floats off to find its first bucket ...
"It would seem that several of my ancestors were mistaken, who knows, that may explain their absence ... my sorcery is at least as powerful as their witchcraft."
"I can stand here and cast rays of frost at this blaze all night, and I will. The whole city doesn't deserve to die tonight. Let me freeze this, and then throw the cart in the blaze, it isn't what we came for. It will draw an enmormous amout of heat. Shield Gattlesbard. Make him change his disguise. Everyone here is taller and he still looks like an idiotic disguised alchemist with a miniaturized lizard. Let's get this done."
" ... and let me kill the wizard when the time comes."
Thraag considers the wind, building materials and near by structures to see where the danger would move to and yells at some of the brigade to move accordingly.
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Shaking his head at the idea of a straight up fight here around a crowd, Onnello quips, "You all didn't seem keen on participating the last time we were shot at."
"I don't know which 'last time' your talking about, but for right now it's five of us against two of them. If we wait, it will be five of us against more-then-two of them."
When Onnello disarms the duel, and the gunslingers (politely!) stand down, Narl moves with the others past, and pulls up short at the sight of the fire.
"Let me freeze this, and then throw the cart in the blaze, it isn't what we came for. It will draw an enmormous amout of heat. Shield Gattlesbard. Make him change his disguise. Everyone here is taller and he still looks like an idiotic disguised alchemist with a miniaturized lizard. Let's get this done."
Narl narrows his eyes at Erryll in confusion.
"You don't... you don't stop a fire by giving it more things to burn. And we're not burning the cart in any case; it's on loan."
Narl tries to plot a route around the blaze before they get sandwiched between the two groups of people chasing them."[/b]