[b]"If you are not willing to let transgressions slide, then no point in-"[/b]

The Pyromancer cut off the speaker with a roar and a surge of flame, evidently angry that the shakedown had gone south. And with the fire came a quick wave of heat washing over the scene: Ling flinched, but fired her crossbow on instinct. When she refocused, having reloaded quickly, she found the shot had gone wide. [i]Damn it.[/i]

"You could have done this the easy way, idiots!" The rogue Earthshaper had a shield up now, and was leading his fellows away in the blast. Ling briefly considered pursuing them, but she had done so with the Nightshade, and look where that had gotten everyone. She sent a couple of shots at the Earthshaper regardless: that stone barrier hopefully wasn't thick enough to withstand the impact of multiple crossbow bolts.

But rather than jump the gun any further, she believed, now was the time to defer to the actual leader of the crew. So she called out to Hayes. "Commander! What do we do?"