Damion walks out of his tent strumming a tune on his lute and humming a melody, when five bandits round the nearest tent, coming straight towards him. He stares at them for a few minutes then slowly strolls to his tent, puts down his lute, and strolls back out. "None of you are mages right?" Damion asks in an inquisitive tone.
"We don't need mages to deal with some sissy bard." one of the thugs spouts with bravado rolling off him in waves.
Damion just smiles. The scars all over his body begin to pulse with dark energy, then begin to draw in the light from the surrounding are. Soon, Damion's form is completely engulfed in darkness. The darkness begins to grow, soon it's taller than the nearest tents. The leader of the bandits attacking Damion attempts to slice his leg with his curved scimitar. It ricochets off of the dark form without causing any dajmage whatsoever. The shadow avatar reaches down and swats the bandits like flys. Damion then sets off to where he had seen Nathaniel fighting the Englesian, then, seeing that they no longer had any fighting left to do he reverted back to his original form.

OOC: shadow avatar is nearly invincible against regular weapons, but is highly suseptable to magic.

Devon followed Thomas's scent, a squirming sack on his back.

"I got one alive" he said, "the Leader of the group I targeted. It was tactically appropriate to subdue him and then morally inappropriate to finish him off. At least we might be able to get some information from him." He looked around at the carnage of this camp. "Seems like you have things under control here."

Rulick followed up behind Devon, the cease in activity being a hint that everything was over. He had the tied up bandit that he had knocked out over his shoulder, but dropped him harshly onto the ground once he got there. The look on the knight's face turned to one of slight confusion when he saw the body of an Englasian among the nearby corpses, but he quickly shrugged the confusion off as he gave his small report.

"This one's alive too, but he might not be awake until morning. As for our stuff, one saw inside the wagon, but I killed him, so don't worry. Other than that, everything's normal on my part of the camp."

Jilleen (Adellah) returned to the circus camp shortly after a few more kills, a little frustrated that she had missed out on the best action. Throwing her feelings aside, she found an area where she could be alone. She had to think.
The Englasians. Lord only knew how many she had slaughtered in the great battle nearly a year ago. Jilleen wasn't as thoughtful about one being here as what it really meant. An Englasian. An item that granted access to Incrad. Revenge? Jilleen didn't like it. She didn't like King Roland, but she knew she hated the Englasians. If they attacked, she would defend the king from them. After all, when she really put all the pieces together, there was still a chance, albeit a rather small and impossible chance, that Roland was innocent. Englasians were meant for nothing more than death in the most brutal way available at the time and place of the fight, but moreover...oh, nevermind. It's just another bridge to burn with hellfire to moment you're across.
Her mind made up, Jilleen got to her feet and returned to the camp.

Kratos stepped up behind Nathaniel, facing Thomas. Blood soaked his hands, reflecting the light of the fires near them.

"I took care of a bunch of bandits who snuck in and tried to prey on the camp followers. I'll be hanging around the living area in case there's some stragglers who managed to escape. "

That's roughly when Kal showed up, making very sure to keep the tendon-cut bandit away from Kratos. You tended to learn these things after a while. That, and Kal abhored torture and murder.

"Well, if you want answers I believe this man can provide them. We'll also need to help bandage and potion his ankles. Otherwise he can't walk again."

Damion finally reaches the point where the others have assembled with lute in hand, bawling out a fighting song that was designed to make the listeners blood race faster. When he see the bandit lying on the ground, Damion's face lights up with a twistid smile that promises long hours of pain and torture for the bandit. "I'll make him talk."

Thomas looked at the three captured bandits, and patted the Knights who captured them on their shoulders.

"Good. Maybe Damion can get something out of them later."

Thomas then looked over at Nathaniel.

"You might be right. Pilo might be lying, or he could be telling the truth. None of us know. But, Adin has gone to find out. And though he's a thief, he's also both a Knight and a friend. He will get to the bottom of it, and report what he can when he returns in the morning."

Nathaniel nodded. "Okay. But if he isn't back by noon tomorrow, I suggest we go after him."

Nathaniel looked around. "Well...I'll clean up my part, then I'm going to bed."

((OOC: I'm not going to be able to get on until Monday. Use Nathaniel as you see fit.))

Adin wasn't prone to nervousness, but a yawn here and there as he followed Pilo through a stand of trees gave away that he wasn't feeling quite himself. It had been three years since he last saw his father; thieves didn't often stay in one place too long. So although he'd heard when his father started the Shadoweyes, he knew nothing about them, except that they were the best of the best when it came to stealth and secrecy; in fact, he'd written his father a few letters for advice in setting up his network of spies.

They finally came to a small clearing that had a few people openly walking about, though Adin had seen at least two on their way in, and probably missed many more. If Pilo hadn't been with him, he would have had a hard time getting close, if he could find it at all. Off to one side, a few men slouched against some trees: the bandit leaders, unless Adin missed his guest. A camoflauged tent was set up on the far side, the kind that could be taken out at a moment's notice. Pilo gestured for Adin to follow him into the tent.

Inside, a few candles were burning, the kind that dripped very little wax, illuminating two people, both dressed in the same manner as the people outside; long black pants, soft black boots, and long-sleeved black shirt, as well as a headband with a white eye on it. [OOC: Think ninja. /OOC] The first person was a woman, one Adin knew slightly. Her name, he recalled, was Nelra, tall and with short, dark red hair, one of the most beautiful thieves Adin knew; he hadn't known she was a Shadoweye. His father, Arlen, looked older than he had three years ago. His face was weathered and missing his right eye, instead having a patch with the white eye painted on it, and his shoulder-length hair was completely gray now.

If he was surprised by Pilo's return without the totem and the stranger he had brought, he didn't show it. Pilo gave a slight bow and said, "Arlen, I regret the bandit raid failed. They were unprepared for the level of resistance they encountered and have almost all been killed." Here he paused, and Arlen nodded to Nelra, who ducked out of the tent, no doubt to offer "condolances" to the bandit leader, who wasn't needed anymore.

A moment of silence passed, in which a muffled gurgling could be heard outside, before Arlen turned to Adin. "How are you, my son? Still alive in spite of the assasination attempt I see." Adin was not surprised at either his knowledge of who he was (after all, Arlen had shown him how to mix the mud that now stained his skin and hair) or his knowledge of the assasination attempt. Pilo made a sound, however; clearly, he'd been undercover for quite some time and hadn't heard the recent news. "I'll fill you in, later, Pilo. Right now, I need to talk to Adin. Time is short.

"I know you're probably wondering why we were using bandits to attack the circus. Well, times aren't what they used to be. We can't get into Incrad anymore, and we need to. It's just a question of importance; we can do something to help the situation, while circus performers are just circus performers. In order to cover Pilo's escape, everyone who knew he had been there would have to die, or Roland would be warned that we had the totem and set a trap. You see, although most of the Shadoweyes are untraceable, some of the earlier members, like Pilo, are better known for what they did during the war. It wouldn't be too hard to find out who he was, and then Roland would know it was us. If bandits killed everyone, however, it would appear they had taken the totem, and we could safely enter Incrad. It's a sad way to look at things, that we were willing to kill that many people, but this is about the nation's future. I'm sure you, the Thief of Life, understand such a difficult choice." Adin nodded.

"I'm sure you don't have much time, so I'll make this quick. Once I heard the Knights were attacked, I knew you would try to enter Incrad as well. Since the Knight, Thomas, knew the owner of the circus, I hoped you would try that way. I changed the plan, once I heard a few hours ago that you had reached the circus, but didn't have time to warn Pilo. Here's what I need you to do. The circus will enter Incrad as it planned, with the knights, and Pilo still undercover. That way, I have both a contact inside, and people to take care of what needs doing. Pilo will be your liason with the Shadoweyes." Arlen sighed and walked to the tent flap. "I hope all this turns out. About an hour to sunrise, you'd better get back. Pilo, hang back a few minutes and I'll fill you in on the past few days." Adin bowed to his father and left the tent, ignoring the bandits staked to a nearby tree. He walked under the trees and vanished, a shadow in the predawn light.

OOC: Sorry it's so long, but I wanted to get this part over with.