{As Titan came in, he landed a little ways away, walking up to the group. First, he puts the supply crate down, then the truck, with the back doors facing the group. Slowly, Dianne opens it and steps out.}

Jerry: "Dianne?"

Dianne: "Yeah..."

{She walks a short distance from it to see if any unseen snipers decide to take any shots at her.}

'What are you waiting for? Snipers?' Ivy scoffed, before realising that this was exactly correct. 'I don't /think/ there's anyone around... You said it was all clear, didn't you, Jerry?'

'Where's Armin?' said Rex, a slight edge creeping into his voice as he scanned the truck. Although he knew Armin wasn't dead, he couldn't help but be paranoid.

Jerry: "Yeah, me and Fred's people cleared the entire area. You can stop waiting to get shot now..."

{He says unamused. Nodding, Dianne motions to Armin through the window, asking him to come out.}

Dianne: "He'll be right out, Rex. He's just in there."

//I can confirm that,// said a telepathic voice. A white dove flew down, landing in the yard and reforming into Frederick. 'There ought to be no threats around the city, at this moment.'

Armin poked his head out of the doors. 'What do I do with Esme?' he asked. 'You want me to let her out?'

Dianne: "Yeah, carry her out with you. It's all clear."

Pythia: "Esme? Who's that."

Dianne: "I'll explain everything once we get into the city."

{She then yells out to Titan, who then deploys the centaurs and starts unloading the ale and gold.}

Jerry: "Woah....more than a successful excursion from the looks of it."

Armin scooped up Esme, placed her on his shoulder, and calmly stepped out of the truck. Nearly everyone's eyes were drawn to the baby dragon. Ivy slowly tilted her head, her eyes narrowed shrewdly.

'So...' she drawled. 'Whose child did you kidnap? Or are you going to tell me that you two bypassed vampire infertility and created her yourself?'

'Watch it, Ivy,' said Armin warningly. 'I was planning to share that gold with all of you, but you're not getting any if you're not careful.'

Jerry: "Oh...Hi there, kid. Dianne, you want to introduce us?"

Dianne: "First, we unload. Once we're in the city, I'll explain everything."

Pythia: "Are you all ok? Is anyone hurt?"

'No, we're good,' said Armin absently. '...Here, take her for me,' he added, passing Esme over to Dianne. Once the dragonet was out of his grasp, he headed over to Rex.

'Remembered me, did you?' said Rex dryly, the faintest hint of amusement in his voice.

'I didn't forget you,' said Armin. 'Not even for a second.' He wrapped his arms around the dark-haired, gaunt-looking man, hugging him fiercely. 'I missed you.'

'How do you think /I/ felt?' Rex scoffed, returning the embrace. 'Knowing you could have been /killed/ at any moment...'

Throughout the pair's reunion, Ivy was watching the centaurs unload the treasure with unmistakable greed in her eyes.

Dianne: "Load it all into the back of the truck. We're taking it all into the city."

{She takes Esme into her arms and continues to supervise the packing. As this was going on, cars appeared on the northern horizon. A /lot/ of cars. Armin or Fred my recognize them from this distance as the Garvey family vehicles from the Shacklestone war.}

Armin was too busy talking to Rex to notice the vehicles, but Fred looked up and frowned slightly.

'Jeremiah. Did you ask members of your family to come here?' he asked. 'I recognise their cars. I should probably warn you, again, that if your father shows up, he won't be getting a warm welcome.'

Jerry: "What?!"

{He looks up at the aproaching cars.}

Jerry: "Oh, hell...Dianne, whatever you're doing, hurry it up."

Titan: "They don't have the jurisdiction to hunt us here. They are fools."

{Summoning Barnabas, she passes Esme to him and instructs him to take her inside.}

Dianne: "Defensive positions! Titan, if they get out and so much as point a rifle at us, squish 'em!"

Armin straightened up, turning to observe the approaching cars with a serious expression. His hand automatically went to the hilt of his sword. Beside him, Rex didn't quite know what was going on, but followed Armin's lead and pulled out his small pistol.

'We should all get into the city, quickly,' said Frederick. 'This area is still within the king's borders, but we're out in the open, and they might try their chances. Get in the city and they'd have to be mad to launch an attack.'

Dianne: "They're coming too fast. We'll be at a disadvantage if we turn our backs. We'll have to hold our ground."

Jerry: "Hey, let me talk to them. I'd rather not you have to kill my entire family..."

'What are you planning to do?' said Armin, glancing at Jerry. 'There's a lot of them. If they all decided to come this far, to hunt the bounty, then I don't think they'll be willing to listen to anything you say.'

Jerry: "I have to try. That's my family, for Christ's sake. Look, if they don't want to listen, do what you have to do..."

{As the cars got closer, Jerry walks past the line of centaurs to be the first one to meet them.}

Armin started to walk forwards, then dropped back. 'They might be his family, but I wouldn't be surprised if they blast him down and step over his body...' he muttered.

Ivy was clutching her revolver, looking excited. Further back, Fred had a slightly distant look on his face, as if he were communicating telepathically with someone.

{The vehicles stop a hundred feet away from the draugr line. Stepping out were the Old Man, Sarah, and an assortment of Jerry's other cousins.The were armed, but their weapons were not drawn.} (Note: Eliza, Steve, and Bob are absent.)

Jerry: "Dad, c'mon, don't do this. It's not worth it."

Old Man: "Step aside, boy. We're just here to talk."

{He steps past him to speak.}

Old Man: "Dianne. We need to talk."

'You need to /talk?'/ said Armin scornfully, loud enough for the Old Man to hear. 'Then why are there so many of you, and why are you all armed? Back off. You don't have permission to go bounty hunting in this country.'

{The Old Man pointedly ignored Armin.}

Old Man: "You broke laws, killed people, upset the natural balance of life and death. This is your one chance to come quietly and face judgment."

Dianne: "That was in self defense, Sam! They attacked me first, unprovoked! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Old Man: "I'm not just talking about Agamidae! I'm refering to your entire existence. The Necromancer War, the Springland coup, all of it! The payment's come due!"

'Do you really drive all this way just to spout cra.p at us?' said Armin. 'Why would things that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago matter to you personally? Admit it; you're just after the money.'

//So, Dianne's led more than one bloodthirsty group of hunters to our doorstep, apparently?// said Rex telepathically to Armin. Armin didn't reply, as he was focused on the immediate threat, but he grimaced slightly.

Dianne: "That debt is being paid. The Iron-Sun Accords are very clear about that."

{The Old Man snorts derisively.}

Old Man: "Those accords don't mean squat anymore. The Ferrosians are long gone."

Dianne: "But the Akhetians are still around to enforce it."

Old Man: "The Akhetians are as unreliable as they are blind."

Lucci: "Is that so?"

{Lucci walks out from behind the Old Man, startling him and the rest of Garvey's family.}

Seeing that nobody was paying attention to him, Armin just stood behind the draugr line and watched, grimly and attentively. Lucci's appearance made him feel a little more at ease, but he didn't relax yet.

'Ugh, it's that weird mind-reading guy,' Ivy muttered to herself.

Old Man: "Lucci?! I thought I told you-"

Lucci: "Do us all a favor, Sam, and shut. The F$%K. Up. I told you back in Tomston to let it go. Don't pursue the bounty, and we wouldn't have any problems. Clearly, you have other plans."

Old Man: "-But she-"

Dianne: "Has done nothing wrong. The bounty will be called off, and anyone pursuing it will be destroyed. Would you like to see the vision again?"

{The Old Man just gets quiet after that.}

//Vision? Did Lucci show him a vision to scare him off hunting us, or something?// Armin mused. //Well, obviously it wasn't enough...//

Lucci: "Now, unless you have something useful to say, I suggest you leave."

{The Old Man just glares at Lucci.}

Old Man: "Let's go..."

Jerry: "Dad, I don't think you have a choice now. Give it up, for all of our sakes. "

{The Old Man just gets in his car, and the convoy drives away.}

Armin slowly sheathed his sword, while Rex put away his gun. Fred walked forwards to watch the cars retreating.

'That went better than expected,' he said, sounding satisfied. 'There was no need to bring in the royal army, thanks to Lucci.'

{With the Garvey family in full retreat, the draugr ease up and return to loading the car.}

Lucci: "Yes, that would be for the best."

{Barnabas returns with Esme. Handing her back to Dianne, he turns his attention to all the others.}

Barnabas: "Hi ho. I'm Barnabas." :D

'I'm an annoying ghoul who's going to feed off your fears and parrot them back at you,' said Armin immediately after Barnabas spoke. 'Oh, and I really like spiders.'

'...I'm guessing that you two don't get along,' said Fred.

Ivy was squinting at Barnabas. 'Is that a torn-up dog muzzle under there?'

{Banabas chuckles before turning to Ivy. He pulls back his hood to reveal his empty eye sockets and exposed cranium.}

Barnabas: "Look for yourself."

{He then turns to Rex.}

Barnabas: "Rex, is it? Mmm, that fear is delicious."

Ivy looked more disgusted than horrified, taking a slow step backwards. 'Ew, stay away from me. You're ugly and I don't like ugly things.'

Rex turned his head slightly, eyeing Barnabas without much expression. 'Hello to you two. Glad to see we seem to be on first-name terms already.'

'You'd better not mess with him,' said Armin warningly.

Barnabas: "Of course. I haven't forgotten our deal."

{He then turns to Ivy.}

Barnabas: "That's ok. I don't like simply uninteresting people."

Fred stood nearby, simply watching the process as the draugrs unloaded.

Armin sat down on top of a wall in the yard, joined a moment later by Rex. He glanced over at Lucci. 'Well, thanks. Did you only come to drive off those guys?'

Lucci: "Pretty much. Things could have gotten really ugly had I not stepped in. They might be hunters, but they're still Jerry's family."

Dianne: "Ok, who has a car? I can't fit all my gold in this van..."

Fred and Rex exchanged glances. 'We flew here,' said Fred. 'So we don't have a car.'

'I walked,' said Ivy, sounding pleased about this. 'It's healthier.'

Jerry: "I brought my car. You can load it, it's parked out back."

{As he walked towards the back, Barnabas appears behind him and drops a spider on the brim of his hat. After a lot of swatting and cursing, he steps on the arachnid and aggravatedly turns towards Barnabas.}

Jerry: "Not cool, ghoul!"

Barnabas: Bwahahaha! Oh, lighten up, it was just a joke!"

Jerry: "Pull that sh!t again and I'll put you in a soul trap."

'Oh, he will do it again,' said Armin from on top of the wall. 'His primary hobby is throwing spiders at people.'

Jerry: "I tell you, that's going to get real old real quick..."

{He huffs angrily. Dianne manages to get all her cargo loaded, then she approaches Armin.}

Dianne: "Here, hold Esme. I need to get some things from my house."

{After passing her to him, she heads inside.}

Armin took the dragonet, sitting her on his lap. Rex looked at her with a slightly nonplussed expression, then started to reach a hand out. 'Does it bite?'

'Yes,' Armin replied.

Rex petted her anyway. Esme gave a small squeak and nudged her muzzle into his hand.

'We found her on a frozen mountainside,' Armin added, low enough that nobody else would hear. 'Her parents were killed by the hunters, so we just... took her with us.'

{After a few minutes, Dianne comes out of her house with a duffle bag and some weapons wrapped in a blanket. Loading them into Jerry's car, she then walks back to Armin.}

Dianne: "Ok, I'm ready. Let's get into the city. I'll drive the truck."

Jerry: "Dianne...Have you ever driven before?"

Dianne: "No, but how hard can it be?"

Pythia: "Someone else, please drive her."

Armin grinned, hopping down from the wall. 'Let me drive the truck. I always kinda felt like giving it a go.' He headed over to the truck, opening the door to the driver's side.

Rex watched with an odd expression, somewhere between contemplative, suspicious, and knowing. Then he jumped down too, and he and Fred shifted into their bird forms.

Ivy went over to Jerry's car, intending to ride back with him.

{With Esme in her arms, Dianne gets into the passenger seat. Pythia simply shifts to her dragon form and starts to fly. Once Ivy gets in, Jerry starts the car.}

Settling into the driver's seat, Armin took a moment to look over the controls before firing up the engine, making the truck roar into life. He shifted gears and put his foot down.

'OK, let's head off.'

Slowly, the truck accelerated, heading out of Dianne's front yard and towards the city entrance.

Dianne: "Do they know where we're going? We should probably tell them."

'Actually, /I/ don't know where we're going either,' said Armin. 'Remind me where we're heading, and I'll tell Jerry.'

Dianne: "I thought we were headed to your place? Wasn't that the plan?"

'I don't remember you ever explaining the plan... maybe I wasn't paying attention. Alright, let's go.'

As they entered the city, he turned the truck down a road that would lead to his house. As he did so, he sent a telepathic message to Jerry. //Going to my house. Just follow us.//

{Jerry follows in suit. Lucci, from somewhere, informs the rest of them through telepathy.}

Dianne: "You don't remember me asking if I could stay at your house to get off the plains?"

'Oh no, I didn't mean that,' said Armin. 'I knew that was the plan. I just didn't know that we were bringing everyone else back to my place to talk. But it makes sense.'

Esme stretched up her neck to peer over the dashboard, her eyes following the cars, people, and lights rushing past, seemingly spellbound.

Dianne: "Well...Where else would we go to talk?"

Barnabas: "Armin's not big on...planning ahead..."

'Hey, you know I don't plan,' said Armin. 'I leave that up to everyone else.' He went down a quieter, darker road, with less traffic. A few people walking down the street were giving the truck curious glances in passing. He has heading towards the northern area of the city.

{Dianne just stays silent, watching the road and petting Esme. Once they got within sight of Armin's place, there was a large, metal being with its arms crossed, leaning against Armin's door. It had a large, black bladed katana across its back and a swirling cloud of molten matter above it.}

#AAPugna

Armin carefully parked the truck in the driveway in front of his house, barely taking his eyes off the metal figure. 'Is that an Akhetian?' he said quietly, as he turned the engine off and climbed out of the truck.

Frederick and Rex flew down, landing in the driveway and shifting back. Neither looked concerned by Pugna's appearance, though Rex was eyeing him curiously.

Dianne: "Yeah....that's Pugna...."

{Once they parked, Dianne gets off. Lucci appears to explain some things.}

Lucci: "Alright, this is Pugna. He's here to help fend off the hunters."

Pugna: "Because you're all too weak to do it yourself."

Armin looked Pugna up and down. 'Oh, alright,' he said casually. 'I guess we'd better just leave it all up to you, then. You don't need us.'

'Lucci warned us that he was unspeakably arrogant,' said Fred in a low voice. 'I suppose he wasn't wrong.'

Pugna: "No, I don't. All I need is for Paxton to show his ugly face. So, the rest of you can just go cower in your flimsy structures while I deal with it."

Lucci: "Now, Pugna, you're not invincible, and Paxton is crafty. I expect you to cooperate with Dianne and everyone. Got it?"

Pugna: "...Fine..."

Jerry: "Well, isn't he just a ray of sunshine?"

'He's lovely,' said Armin. He stepped towards Pugna. 'Well, thanks for coming, I guess. Can you move away from my door now? We need to get in. You can go somewhere else.'

{Pugna wordlessly complies.}

Lucci: "Before we go in, there's one last ally I asked to come. Come on down, Antonio."

{An osprey flies down behind the group and shifts into Antonio de la Cazar. The group may remember him from that time they went back to Shacklestone and found the remnants of Sargon's army.}

As soon as Armin saw Antonio, he put a hand on the hilt of his sword. 'Hey, wait a minute,' he objected. 'That's the guy who wanted us to leave Sargon's most violent, pyschopathic minions alive, wasn't he?'

{Upon seeing him, Dianne steps back in alarm.}

Lucci: "That's not entirely accurate. Carol aside, the rest were just the elderly and young fools forced into it, just like you."

Antonio: "I was just doing what I believed was right. I am here now for Paxton, and to help Dianne. None of you have anything to fear from me."

Dianne: "Really? Why would you want to help me?"

Antonio: "I have dedicated my life to helping innocent non-humans stay safe from hunters. And right now, you need all the help you can get."

Armin slowly shifted his hand away from his sword, looking at the other vampire with mistrust.

'...Well, I definitely don't like you, but we're not really in a position to turn down help. And I'm used to working with people I don't like. But, you do realise that most of the Bloodrazors are non-humans themselves? How do we know you won't side with them?'

Antonio: "Because they're the ones hunting an innocent, wrongly accused."

Lucci: "Armin, you can trust him, on my word."

{Dianne doesn't really look eased by this.}

Dianne: "I don't trust him. At all."

Antonio: "I understand your apprehension, but I assure you, I'm here to help."

Armin considered this, then stepped closer to Antonio.

'If you try anything - before, during, or after this conflict - I'll personally rip out your throat. Sound good?' He bared his fangs slightly as he spoke.

//I don't really trust him, but I guess if Lucci says he's OK...//

Antonio: "That's fine. You'll never find the need to do so."

Lucci: "If we're done threatening each other, can we please go inside and discuss the situation? Your aggresion isn't helping in the slightest."

'It needs to be made clear that we don't trust him.' Armin then left Antonio, going over to his door and trying to open it. '...Rex, do you still have the key?'

Rex grunted in acknowledgement and unlocked the door for him. Armin then stepped inside, letting the others follow. The door opened into a dimly-lit hallway, with stairs at the end and several doors branching off the sides.

Everyone walks in after Armin. Dianne turns and instructs her centaurs to take the cargo into the basement.}

Lucci: "Armin, where would be a good place to chat?"

(Notifications are fixed!
Aaaand I need to post a new room.)