[Salone]

Dan drew his pistols, bristling for a fight with a bag of potatoes dangling awkwardly from a claw.

"Bandits. Scum of Tyria. Nobody takes my vegetables captive!"

He let out a guttural roar, running downward towards the fight. He could suppress the PTSD for the moment. There would be time for shattered psyches later.

"You're the reason I cut a woman today!"

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Moving down to the lower paddock, Syrgei vanishes for a moment to reappear in the paddock's exit as a bandit attempts to make off with his stolen livestock. Syrgei's sudden appearance startles the animal into running back into it's pen, dragging the hapless bandit with it, while a group of his fellows turn to advance on the intruding thief.

"Hey! This is our target here, get your own!"

"Times bad enough you have to steal a few cows, but you still burn down the crops? You don't think too far ahead, do you?" He sidesteps the first swings, relieving one bandit of her weapon before tripping her up and sending her rolling down the slope towards the lower field, then throws her crude club into the legs of the next incoming bandit.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

A confused second passes, and one of the bandits shouts out a vulgarity involving Queen Jenna, which serves as an impromptu war-cry as they move to attack.

I really did warn them....

As the clumsy oafs lurch for her, Tsae instantly blinks behind them, leaving behind an afterimage that begins to fire its imaginary gun in their direction. The projectiles are harmless, but sure enough, they squeal and scatter for cover.

Even as they do, though, she's moving, blinking again behind the first and calling forth Monarch. The violet specter of the sword explodes from the man's sternum from behind, and she leaves it there to futilely claw at as he dies.

The second, by this point, has amazingly regained his bearings and comes bearing down at her with a dagger flashing. Unperturbed, Tsae backflips away, snapping her fingers in mid-air and laying down a line of shimmering light while calling Vis to her other hand. As she lands, she snaps again, and unseen forces tear the man from his feet, and with strength far beyond what she'd be able to use with a physical blade, she hurls the illusory greatsword like a spear into his chest. Except, she misses a little and accidentally castrates him instead.

At this point, the third bandit is on his knees begging for his life as she calmly approaches him, snapping for Ilya, which she places against his temple, kneeling down. Her hand traces a caress down his shivering cheek. "Shhhhhhh." On the other side, the barrel of the gun slides down to his neck and under his jaw, forcing his head back. "It's okay. It won't hurt. You made a stupid decision, but I forgive you."

Feeling slightly bad for this miserable waste of flesh, she briefly entertains the thought of kissing him before she blows his brains out, but that is just not happening. Not with that beard. Shrugging, she pulls the trigger and watches blood-spattered butterflies comes shimmering out of his skull.

Hopping to her feet, Tsae dismisses her weapons and blinks back up to make sure Eduardo is safe.

[Salone]

"CUT THEM DOWN!"

Dan roared at the bandits as he pounced in to one, firing point blank in to one before bowling in to another. He stood over the now prone form, rage coursing through his veins as he remembered back to the market. Back to that last potato, the potato somewhere in the sack...

Do it Dan. Just...do it. He's the reason why.

"YOU! ARE GOING! TO RESPECT! PRODUCE!"

Dan hauled back, swinging the sack of food against the man's face. He repeated, losing himself in the combat all around him as he smashed the bag again and again in to the man's head. Taking it in both of his hands, he brought it down repeatedly, ramming it back and forth until the screams from the morally challenged ruffian died down and the struggling stopped. After a while he began to run low on steam, only half-heartedly pressing it against the glassy eyed visage before he ceased. He stared at that face. At least, what was left of it. The impact of several pounds of vegetables had deformed the features, and lumps and fractures in the skull had made it somewhat more off center, almost vegetable like itself.

"Human gods-damned vandals. They...they take, and they take, and they don't understand until you take from them. It's never going to change."

Meanwhile, in Eduardo Land

Eduardo looked on at the horror surrounding him. Everywhere, carnage rained as mere men were cut down by this savage bunch that he had added to his bankroll. He could not comprehend it. He had read about it, sure. He had thought he understood. But to see it for himself, in person with his own eyes, well...it was different. So very different and alien. He could not believe what he was witnessing. As the bloodbath subsided, he cleared his throat and spoke to them in a bemused voice.

"You mean...they see you coming, they whitness the massacre, and...they still attack? Hwhy? Hwhy do they do it? If they're going to press the offensive when they are clearly outcast, then they deserve this. Hmph. Frankly, I am disappointed. They didn't even try to beg for mercy."

[Suzerain of Sheol]

"Hey, I told them exactly what would happen if they didn't leave. You heard it, I heard it, they heard it." And it better go on the record.... "Now, as for... whatever you want to call what happened on THAT side of the farm?" Tsaerri takes a pointed step backward to distance herself from the insane Charr. "I'm not even touching that."

Out of the corner of her eye, Tsae notices Diah staring at the carnage in revulsion, particularly at Dan and his bloody sack. Poking Eduardo in the arm, she tells him, "We should probably consider contracting someone to clean up after us. I think we're supposed to be keeping up our reputation, or something."

[Salone]

Eduardo looked back towards the city with disdain, not wishing to waste the day by trekking back to hire what essentially would be janitorial services.

"Hrm, well. I don't think I'd like to go back just yet."

Approaching the horrified farmer, Eduardo produced a fat bag of coins and held it out towards Diah.

"We are suddenly in a hurry, and I apologize for the inconvenience caused by my, er, compatriots. Would two hundred gold be sufficient for you to contract enough able bodies to dispose of this, er, mess?"

[Gallagher]

The usual chaos of a bandit attack was nothing compared to what his guild caused. By the time Gambooge and his irritatingly slow Bag had caught up to the others at the farm, there were bodies all around the grounds, many of them obviously dead. As much as it made his stomach twist, he didn't linger on it before he turned to the golem, a press on the door of its hatch making it close. "Round up the cattle."

"Multiple—enemies—detected. Confirm—attack—mode."

"No," he replied, drawing his element around him. Cold prickled down his arm, fog collecting around his hands. It swirled, thickened, and ice crystals grew where it was most dense. "Keep your distance."

"Passive—mode—activated." With heavy footfalls, the golem started around the outskirts of the farm, away from the massacre inside its broken fences. A flash of light took Gambooge to the broken and burning crops. And he, he could tell at a glance, was the only one in his group that could be bothered. In fact, he frowned and glanced over his shoulder while he raised his hands, the fog spreading and thinning as water gathered in front of him. It looked like the sylvari was just going to pay this family off. Turning his attention back to his own task, he pushed his palms forward, waves of water lurching at the growing flames and dousing them.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Syrgei walked up back up to the upper portion the fields, dragging the lame bandit with him by the collar of their vest. On seeing what was left of the raid, he let the bandit fall the rest of the way to the ground and slowly stepped around the carnage.

"Was that really necessary?"

Another bandit was in a groaning heap by one of the haystacks, the cow he was previously hanging onto now back to grazing morosely by the fence.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

"Huh? What?" Tsaerri turns to see Syrgei hauling another of the brigands up to the pile. "Oh. Are we not killing this one?"

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Syrgei looked to Tsae, to the mess, to the bandit, to...Dan.

Oh boy.

"I...think we'll let the Seraph have these two," he says, gesturing to the other bandit still sitting by the haystack.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

"Uhh... in case you didn't notice, the Seraph weren't anywhere in sight to help. And if you were paying attention, this isn't the first time this has happened here. Now, we know it won't happen again."

Walking deliberately past Syrgei, she snaps for Ilya and shoots the kneeling bandit in the back of the head, never breaking from his gaze. "See?

"As far as I'm concerned, they've signed their own death warrant. Seriously, who cares about a few less arsonists and rapists? You think Logan Thackery wants to bother with the paperwork for putting scum like this into prison?"

Shaking her head bitterly, Tsaerri sighs and looks away.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

"And you don't think your little display might have been enough?" He stands over to face her, regardless, looking at her blindfold.

"Who cares? Right, who cares. They were just bandits. Did they really deserve to be killed for stealing? A dead bandit is still going to be replaced by the next one easily enough. We could at least make them think twice about attacking again."

[Suzerain of Sheol]

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware they'd signed a contract that they were specifically here just to steal some cows. Because that's okay. Clearly, Diah and Jeb weren't in any personal danger. So we should just let the Seraph handle it. Oh, wait. What Seraph?"

I cannot believe I am even arguing over this...

"I literally put my life in danger to try and talk them out of it. What the hell more do you want from me?" She starts pacing around the field in frustration. "And how exactly does the math work on your little theory? We kill bandits, and somehow end up with more bandits? That makes a lot of sense..." She kicks one of the corpses halfheartedly a few times.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Syrgei shakes his head, why am I trying? "You're a performer, right? Wouldn't you think a display has more meaning if people are there to see it? Sure, they aren't about to rob anyone anymore, but they also aren't about to tell anyone else that maybe raiding for a livelihood isn't such a good idea?"

He watches her walk over to one of the corpses and sighs heavily."

[Suzerain of Sheol]

She stops immediately, snapping a glare at him that he can't see.

"Excuse me?"

Tsae stalks back over to the pacifistic imbecile one last time, clenching her hands to stop herself from pulling a weapon on him.

"I don't perform for anyone, least of all you. I'm sure there's an army of socialite sluts at the academy you'd get on just fine with, but unfortunately, you're stuck with me, and if our job is to put a stop to bandit raids -- which it isn't, let me remind you. Hi Ed, are you enjoying your day out in the 'Dale? -- I'd just as soon have them crucified on the roadside, or, you know, just keep killing them until they aren't a problem anymore. Goddess!"

And with that she stomps away back to the road.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Well that was the wrong thing to say.