[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rJicBem.png[/img][/center][center][h1][color=2E8B57]M[/color]anfred [color=2E8B57]H[/color]ohenfelter von [color=2E8B57]M[/color]eckelin-[color=2E8B57]T[/color]handau[/h1][/center][hr][hr]
For a moment, Manfred locked eyes with Eun-Ji and nodded. He'd been counting on her intervention and she hadn't let him down. It was refreshing to have at least one reliable element within the larger scope of this disaster. In the background, the Kerreman could hear Zarra going on like a yappy little dog, but he shot a glance back and saw that the shifty Perrenchman was actually following orders for once, so the rest was immaterial. [color=2E8B57][i]For the time being, maybe [b]two [/b]reliable elements,[/i][/color] he conceded hesitantly. 

Then, a new cluster of rioters broke into the rear atrium where the group was standing. One was swinging a table leg like a club, smashing gambling tables, mirrors, and light fixtures. Another was using arcane magic to melt into a safe, a third was smashing lockboxes and scooping coins into a sack, and a fourth went straight for the liquor behind the bar, drinking some and throwing bottles, lighting a few on fire. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Why the fuck don't we get a sniff!?"[/b][/color] a smallish labourer bellowed. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Where does all the money go?"[/b][/color] screamed a woman. A great big beast of a man was taking a sledgehammer to the walls. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Bread and circuses!"[/b][/color] he shouted. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Bread and circuses,"[/b][/color] in an endless refrain. Upstairs, footsteps could be heard racing about, doors slammed, and shouts pierced the night. At this rate, it was not a matter of 'if' but 'when' things would get out of hand and the ship itself would be critically damaged.

[color=7bcdc8][b]"You!"[/b][/color] bellowed one, leveling a pickaxe at Manfred like a pointer, [color=7bcdc8][b]"Rich boy!"[/b][/color] The cut of Manfred's clothing, even though it was not ostentatious, gave him away. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Who's side are [i]you [/i]on?"[/b][/color]

For a moment, he was taken aback. There were six of these people, and at least a couple had clearly displayed some use of the Gift. Manfred did not give the unease that he began to feel any rent on his face, however. [color=2E8B57][b]"I'm on the side of 'the Rednitz are kotzbrocken and so are most noble folks, but I'd rather not see anyone else die on this ship'."[/b][/color] As he said it, however, the idiot who'd been shouting [color=7bcdc8][b]"bread and circuses"[/b][/color] like a broken cuckoo clock, managed to finally stick his sledgehammer right through the wall and also the outer hull just beyond it. Cold, dirty water began to pour in and cracks started to form. Manfred's eyes widened. In his head, he recited the extraction words that he and Eun-Ji had been entrusted with, but there was time yet to save matters here. [color=2E8B57][b]"I would also like this ship to not sink!"[/b][/color] he added with some urgency, as the rioters stumbled back, wide-eyed and flinching away from their handiwork. [color=2E8B57][b]"We can take your demands ashore and force them up the asses of those Rednitz pigs, but this sort of thing-"[/b][/color] He gestured at the hole and the water pouring through it [color=2E8B57][b]"-will only lead to many more labourers like yourselves dying and your overlords being able to sit there on their powdered arses confirming to each other what mindless brutes you all are!"[/b][/color]

Drawing on the motion of the water, Manfred lifted the same chandelier cap he'd used to knock out that arcanist earlier and shoved it in there with a kinetic blast. It just about fit, but it was clear that it wouldn't hold for long without some reinforcement: magical or mundane. The water had spread all along the floor now, but was leaking through planks and lower into the cargo hold. Just to think about it: how many incidents like this one were happening elsewhere in the ship? [color=2E8B57][i]We have to drop everything,[/i][/color] he thought, [color=2E8B57][i]and stop this riot, or it will be the death of hundreds![/i][/color] He had seen Leon, of course, throwing the Lyre. The performer was a wildcard, maybe even daft, but he was not outright [i]mad[/i]. Mostlike, it was another illusion, and Manfred had to trust the instinct that told him so. He also reasoned that he should trust the one that told him to put a stop to the riots. It was right about then that he turned to look for Dory in the hopes that she yet stirred. He wanted to apologize to her for his drastic actions and see if he might enlist her in his endeavour. Fiery and - at times - unreasonable though she might have been, she cared about the people of Feska and about being seen as someone who would fight for them. 

The only problem was that, when he looked, she - along with Zarra - was gone. 
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