_Fea_

Paragon Times, 28/04/11, early edition, page 7

It is not often that a request to recall an obituary is received, but that is exactly what happened yesterday evening.

We received the tragic news that Firefighter Jake Patterson died in the line of duty whilst attending a call out yesterday afternoon. No one could be more surprised, however, when a few hours later, Mr Patterson spontaneously revived at the hospital morgue.

Initial reports are that the FBSA will be listing him as an individual with 'Lazurus' powers. That is to say, someone who is capable of coming back from the dead.

It can only be hoped that Mr Patterson does not have to put his newly manifested powers to use too often.

((The article is accompanied by a picture of Jake in his dress uniform.))

Ineloo hadn't been paying attention to much of anything since Sarkh had flown into the air. Instead, she had stuck her head out of her hiding place and was staring around at the city as it passed below them. If anyone had been in the position to look, they would have seen a massive grin plastered over her face as she watched the buildings pass underneath them.

Having followed the dragon's suggestion, Ineloo watched from her hiding place as first the Autobot and his passengers raced off, then Sarkh made a vehicle appear for his captain and the rest of her team. She had to suppress a giggle of delight at that trick - while the mages she knew were inevitably too pompous and sure of themselves most of the time, she always enjoyed it when they performed their impressive feats of magic.

As the captain was clearly planning on leaving the scene soon, Ineloo hoped that they would still be stopping off at the City Hall at some point. Having seen the trouble that could come from not having one of these 'Hero Licenses', she wanted to get one as soon as possible. If for no other reason than to make sure she had the opportunity to stay out of the way of these overzealous police.

Not wanting to draw any attention to Sarkh's pocket, she scrunched down, while still keeping an eye on what was going on out on the street.

The cacophony of the massed guns of the police made Ineloo flinch as they fired at the wall that now stood between them and the dimensional refugees. One thing she was rapidly learning was that the ordinary people of this world had access to much louder and more destructive weapons than her home. It was bizare enough to hear one such weapon, but when there was a score of them barking flame and deadly force at once the effect was overwhelming for the little Halfling.

Ineloo clamped her hands over her ears in an attempt to reduce the noise and backed away; a course of action that just so happened to leave her standing under the belly of the dragon she had been talking to. Once she realised where she was, she quickly ducked behind one of his forelegs. With any luck, he would continue to shield her from the roar of the weapons pointed in their direction and not decide that she was either a nuisance fit only for a light snack or forget she was there and sit.

Ineloo looked to Sarkh's captain for her cue, having already stated that she would go with them to the City Hall, she didn't want to end up going in the wrong direction.

Other than that, she made sure her bow and quiver were secure on her back and concentrated on being inconspicuous - the armed and uniformed men around them were clearly this world's version of the City Watch, and her usual occupation was not one they were normally inclined to look on kindly. That said, if she kept quiet and was really lucky, maybe they wouldn't notice her and she'd be able to slip away when the rest of them left.

Ineloo sighed with relief. This whole world seemed to be ridiculous! To be fair, there was a lot of trouble one could get into back home, but this just seemed to be on an entirely new level. The proliferation of mechanical devices and magic that were so casually used by the most mundane of people, not to mention the obviously powerful mages who flew through the air as if it was as easier than walking.

Returning the bow to her back, she glanced over the scene around the tram that was now resting safely on the ground and the two beings that were with it. She frowned as she looked over at the tracks - a chromatic dragon, blue, universally evil and prone to attack as soon as they noticed you, had not only helped the strange Warforged set the vehicle on the ground, but now seemed to be having a calm and reasonable conversation with him. Her first instinct was to run and avoid whatever nefarious plan the dragon had in mind, but her curiosity won out; perhaps he was not evil after all. This world was considerably different from Eberron, it would follow that the rules had changed.

Seeing that the healers were already dealing with the situation, and always preferring the direct approach to a conundrum, she sauntered over to the two. "If I may ask, what exactly are you both, and where are you from?" She chirped in her child-like voice, "You are both quite different from what I have learned to expect..."

Ineloo watched in horror as the explosion tore a hole in the track, the grease that she had managed to splatter on the underside igniting and sending up flames and a plume of black smoke. When she saw the approaching vehicle, she swore loudly, using words that, while probably unheard of here, would have made the sailors at the dockside inns in Stormreach proud.

Desperate to do something that might prevent a greater loss of life, she swiftly switched her arrow for more of the binding ones and loosed them at the damaged track, trying to create a net that might just be able to catch the train before it could slam into the ground.

If I remember correctly, the Rikti are also the reason why the Circle of Thorns has (comparatively) recently reared it's ugly head. The Rikti infiltrated tunnels underneath Paragon City which happened to be part of Orenbega. The Circle pushed them out and followed them to the surface. Hence the reason why the Circle doesn't seem to be a problem over in Praetoria - no Rikti war, no Rikti to make them leave their tunnels.

((It was. And remind me how well missiles go with monorail type structures ))

Ineloo had hastily ducked back behind the dumpster when the thrown collar had come in her direction. While most of the others may have been caused nothing more than a little discomfort by it, being around 3'5", she would probably have been knocked silly by it had the thing hit her. When she snuck a look back out she also saw the shattered remains of the arrow she had sent at him lying on the ground. It was rather annoying to find that the man had actually shot it out of the air! Although, to give credit where credit was due, he was clearly a pretty decent marksman.

Ineloo rolled her eyes. This lot clearly weren't the type to show restraint; certainly not the kind that would be required to disarm a poison or fire trap with any level of success. She made a mental note not to invite any of them along on any jobs she pulled while she was here, then shook her head in irritation. She was not going to immediately fall foul of this world's laws...not yet anyway...

She stepped out from behind the dumpster she was crouched by and, taking a moment to check her aim, she loosed the binding arrow at the crazy priest - if it hit, maybe he'd get tangled up with the metal transport. Assuming her aim wasn't entirely off of course.