Cora
```Lee thinks for a moment then nods. "Yeah, I got no other leads to go on. Do you want me to talk to her instead, in case you scare her or something? That'll let you look for the Mogash suspect as well. We can't leave anything up to chance."```
Julie
With a thumbs-up, Fay replied.

"I saw her back at History, better start there."

With that, Fay gave a small wave back at Lee before departing back to the Advanced section like before. Going with her thoughts, the Mogash could be intelligent.
Cora
```Lee nods in understanding. "Alright, see you later," She says confidently, then heads toward History.
When the Artist (chosen name, you can pick a different one if you want), was in the History section, she was only just finishing up with viewing the content there, so it was very likely she wasn't in that section anymore. But no matter - Lee would understand. It is a gallery and people are always moving to view the paintings. At least now they have two more hours to find her.
Fay makes her way to the Advanced section of the gallery. On her way there, the elderly Blue Oni passes by with his grandson again, just leaving in fact. He recognises Fay again and gives her a kind smile, a wide grin with a couple missing teeth. That old, huh? Seeing Oni of that ripe old age was not very common considering how long they actually live for.
She can talk to the old man again if she wants, or wave back in kind, or ignore him entirely. If she doesn't stop, she'd find herself in the Advanced section very soon.
It almost feels like the hallways are getting longer every single time Fay passes through them. Surely it was nothing, just the extension of time with boredom.```
Julie
Fay, passing the Oni, gave the elder a wave in response. He did offer her a spell earlier on, after all. Seeing a smile on his wrinkled face, she did think of the rarity of elders within the Oni community. The many things they've encountered and known about for centuries in their youth. Yeah, Oni could be good storytellers. 

Glancing at each hanging painting on the hallways, accompanied with the clear white walls of the exhibit, began to tire her eyes. The chatter amongst aristocrats attempting to discern the meaning of the art-pieces... She agrees with Lee wanting to leave already. 

Tucking her hands back inside her cloak, Fay continued on walking. There's about two hours left before the expo ends, and after that she would have to stay and wait for the supposed culprit. 

She should be in the Advanced section, right about now.
Cora
```The old man was happy that Fay waved back to him. He proceeds on with his grandson to another area, while Fay finds herself in the Advanced area, finally.
The paintings here was quite top-notch. All of them had extremely complex styles or highly advanced painting techniques. There was a particular image that was ridiculously lifelike, as if one was looking at somebody else, of a man with white hair, a twin swords on his back, and several minor scars on his face. Even if one was disinterested in art, you can't deny that this was incredible.
The Mogash man wasn't here, but Fay could kill some time here if she wants to, checking out the other paintings. Otherwise she could go elsewhere.```
Julie
"Huh."

Fay found herself staring up at the realistic piece, head tilted to the side as her eyes scanned the painting up and down. It was so incredibly lifelike, that the subject in the image could pop out into existence and kill her. Wondering who the artist painted, he does look dashing, to say the least. 

Shoving herself back to the objective, Fay looked around the section, only to conclude the Mogash wasn't here at all. Clicking her tongue, she crossed the Advanced section from her head.

Beginner section seems to be highly likely for the Mogash to be right now.
Cora
```Fay decides to leave the Advanced area without viewing more paintings. That was alright, only missing out on a little bit of art.
She passes through the next hallway, toward the Beginner section that appears to be very close to the last one. All of the sections connected to other sections so far, have appeared to have the same hallway length connecting them... But just like before, from the middle to the Advanced section, the hallway felt longer, even more so than the last. This was definitely not to do with boredom... Something was wrong.
All the paintings along these walls looked distorted all of a sudden, like they were... Moving?```
Julie
Fay didn't think she would encounter anything out-of-the-ordinary during the investigation. And by peculiar, things like the paintings moving like wild snakes. 

At first, Fay thought she was at the Abstract section by accident. Weird shapes and art illusions that'd make you think they were influenced by magic. An innovative idea that came up by the community, but ultimately a sucker for most people's brains. 

Yet these.. They didn't seem like part of the showcase.

Stopping her tracks, the young elf blinked at the distorting pieces, before rubbing her eyes with her sleeves. She could already deduce what magic this is, and with the amount of targets it affected, someone with enough arcane capability pulled this off.

Speaking of targets, Fay looked at the crowds around her. If she thought wrong, and this *Is* Part of the section, she would've looked like a fool.
Cora
```She was right in thinking that this wasn't part of the display. Others passing through here started looking around and noticing something was wrong.
A child screamed and pointed at a painting, then cowered behind her father. The painting in particular? It has morphed and shifted into a strange humanoid shape that looked as if it was walking towards the subject. It gets 'closer' and reaches out for the surface, now becoming really life-sized.
The painting starts stretching and bulging, and the canvas begins to rip and tear, as the humanoid figure pushes against it trying to get out. Everyone seeing it ran away in the direction of the nearest section. Before the painting tore open. From it, a humanoid shape fell to the ground, and quickly shifted... Morphed? Back to its feet.
The head turns and faces towards Fay for a moment, just staring at her... Not doing anything, but staring, waiting to see what she does first.```
Julie
Fay's thoughts are correct. The men and women around her also reacted to the strange happenings of the paintings.

What made her look away from the one a-front of her was the high-pitched scream of the child quite a distance away from her. Her sights catching who or *What* Caused the child to flee, made her.. Confused.

In a second the thing that crawled out of the painting, now toppled on the ground, began to morph back on its feet like an Uzhi Slime's motions. Her mouth displaying an 'o' shape at the freaky produce of the painting, which stared back at her.

"*Gehh..*"

Face twitching, her dominant hand laid on the hilt of her *Spatha*, which sat comfortably in its scabbard. The aforementioned weapon is hidden beneath the covers of her cone-shaped cloak, ready to unbuckle from its sheathe.
Cora
```The enigmatic creature glares at Fay's hand as she reaches for the weapon, and lunges to the side, tearing at another painting. It appears to shove its hand into the canvas, like it was grabbing something, and as it pulls back another monster, identical to it in every way besides sharing the colour of the painting it comes from. The painting itself was destroyed, either ripped apart, or the paint ruined, making it worthless.
The new one falls to the ground for a moment and eventually stands back up, while the first one runs away. Screaming everywhere... Was this happening elsewhere in the gallery?
The new one stands up and does the same thing as the last, only this time it doesn't run away. It promptly builds up a group of three, destroying paintings and spawning more monsters. Three remain to menace Fay, all of them in front of her, as if blocking her from going toward the Beginner section.
One rushes Fay down, attempting to attack her unarmed. The other two rip into other paintings to spawn more beasts. So much destruction of wealth and relics of artists, living or passed... But why?```
Julie
*!*

With that, Fay unbuckled the spatha from its scabbard, immediately dragging it out of its black sheathe. Her cloak flying back at the sudden motion. She took on a lower guard, both hands supporting the wrapped hilt of the straight-sword.

She didn't expect something like this happening, that's for sure. Monsters leaping out from the portraits? It was a far-cry from the supposed theft at the last gallery expo.

The colorful beasts before her seemed to spawn more identicals. Perhaps it'd be better to run after this.
Cora
```The creature took a swing at Fey, stepping forward and going for a punch... With rather terrible posture and technique. Like it wasn't even a fighter, or purposed to be a fighter. Yet it fights.
Is it a summon? Is it a beast locked away in paintings? What could it be, and why is it here?```
Julie
She then stepped forward herself, ensuring the beast's swing went pass her head by a few inches before her left elbow laid flat against its chest (assuming that it's the same height as a Macen, though). Pulling back the *Spatha*, she sheathed the tip of the blade against the soft raceless skin of its abdomen, before shoving it forward with a thrust, giving it about 20% of her body-weight.

Folding her elbow open, Fay then propelled herself away from its reach, taking the blade with it and effectively giving the humanoid another hole to breath through- if these things even breath, anyway..
Cora
```The enemy was... Very weak, quite surprisingly so. When Fay slammed her elbow into the enemy's chest, the torso collapsed from the force, like the creature was a hollow mass of flawed, incomplete paper maché. It was soft to the touch and crumpled at the slightest force, but the real kicker was that when Fay stabs into it, the tearing of the 'flesh' sounds like ripping paper.
The moment she opens a hole in the chest, the paper beast goes limp. It falls to the ground, tearing as its weight drops it off the blade, and disintegrates into ripped-up canvas and splatters of paint - the very materials it was created from.
In the back of Fay's mind, she feels as if this is a distraction. The art thief must be stealing earlier than usual, and potentially using these things to distract people. At first glance the portrait people are very menacing, but absolutely pathetic once you start laying into them. The natural reaction of the majority, to run instead of fight, reinforces this.
...But why is it happening in the midst of the event? Something must have threatened the perpetrator using this magic.

Lee.

The other two portrait people rush toward Fay. One makes a wide stance with its arms out to catch her attention while the other one goes around. They're coordinating to deceive Fay and get past her... But none of them take a swing yet.```
Julie
Her opponents are push-overs. Just from the fact that her elbow simply landing on his chest without any intent on knocking it back, and how it fell with just a quick stab. These were more of distractions rather than opponents. Indeed, they're just hollowed masses of flawed. 

With the body of the first thing she 'killed' began to revert back to its material origin, some of the paint managed to get on her cloak. Considering how paint is god-awful to clean off, just irked the young elf to a nasty degree. 

Seeing two more of the portrait-beasts charging at her, she could see what both of them were planning to do. It gave her an assumption of their intelligence. Not just mindless *Ghouls* Flaying about, rather, they have enough smarts to coordinate with each other.. *Not that they'd be able to.*

Fay doubts that they'd be able to catch up with her speed, and so, rather than fighting them both, the young elf considered fleeing from the flock and head on to the other different sections. Number one objective is to locate Lee, of course.

*..Lee.*

With how many these things are coming out, of course it'd be someone with the highest magical output. The young-looking High Elf from before. Fay asked the undercover Macen to see what the elf's deal is, and minutes after that these things manifested. This had to be the High Elf's doing. 

Can't trust such.

With that, Fay attempted to run from or pass the flock of portrait-beasts, nay the information of how fast they are.
Cora
```The one that runs past Fay starts to rip apart another painting to spawn more of the monsters, while the one that tried to menace Fay got plowed over as she ran. When Fay ran (forwards to pass), the portrait person tried to block her and instead got knocked to the ground and partially crushed on two sides, tossed aside like a rag doll.
Running forward, Fay finds herself in the Beginner section of the gallery, where, for whatever reason, there is very little chaos. There's a whole bunch of people here, almost as if they were herded into it, only a few of the portrait people, and none of the paintings here are destroyed. None of them seem to realise that the constructs are pathetic, so they don't even try to resist.
The sheer amount of people here could easily overwhelm the forces of portrait people if Fay were to demonstrate to them how weak the beasts are. This would let her handle the situation more easily - less civilians risking getting caught in crossfire of battle, and instead themselves fighting and surmounting the enigmatic foes.
Otherwise she could pass straight through and hurry on. Judging by the position of the gallery rooms, people are being herded into the 'opposite corner' - the Beginner section is the farthest room from the History section... It stands to reason that the perpetrator is there.```
Julie
It would be lying if she didn't say that this is fun. Rather than fighting men or women with the desire to kill her, or creatures wanting the elf as a meal, these weak papermache beasts were just child's play. Heavens, even a *Child* Can destroy one of these! 

So seeing the many aristocrats (and few commoners) shaking like beasts in heat at the corner made her let out a chuckle, and a tad-bit of worried for their future wellness. Granted, she did think these portrait-beasts were quite tough at first looks, but after dealing with two of them- with the other gotten ran over by yours truly -, they are just small-fry. 

"*HEY!*"

The young elf attempted to catch at least few of the eyes within the cowering crowd. Without only using her boiled leather gloves, she took the spatha aside before stepping forward. Using her free-hand, she wrapped the limb around a portrait-beasts neck before using the other to grapple its torso, before she attempted to rip the supposed paper flesh in a pulling motion. 

In the case of it being possible, it would serve as her own little showcase for the people.

"*Rip them apart!*"

Disregarding punching them, one would just need to grab at it and pull them apart. An easy kill. Crouching down to pick up her spatha, she punched the air, to see if the crowd would liven up and protect themselves.

Well, no, this is oddly reminiscent to bullying.
Cora
```Fay's shout caught the attention of everyone as they were taken by surprise from it. All cries fell silent as they watched Fay effortlessly rip apart a portrait person - the moment she grabs it by the neck, the surface collapses and the head disconnects and falls off, then the entire thing gets shredded in two as Fay proceeds to mutilate its 'corpse'. She's lucky this one didn't have a painted body otherwise she'd have gotten splattered with paint.
One of the children found this funny and rushed out of the crowd toward one of the portrait people. His victim backs away and tries to run, but the kid is way too fast and he hugs the leg, crushing it in his arms, and forces the portrait person to fall over, resulting in it basically shattering over the ground. The kid didn't even care that he got covered in paint, and roared in mock victory.
And just like that, everyone revolted and started tearing the portrait people to pieces. It was quite hilarious, seeing people who were once being herded like cattle all of a sudden pulling a 180 and destroying their captors.
Fay is able to continue on with little to no issue now. Her efforts here has drastically affected the tide of the event, and given the 'good fight' the advantage.```
Julie
Fay continued on further through the section. 

Her ears flicking at the shouts of amusement from the crowds behind her, a small smile crept up on the young elf's features. Hearing the vocal happiness of those that once attempted to dissect the meaning of these paintings were much more exciting. 

*Hah, this is how an expo should be.*

Sliding the spatha back inside its scabbard, Fay awaited further obstructions in her path to the History section.
Cora
```Besides the random person sprinting past ahead of Fay and rushing down a portrait person, there was really nothing stopping her now. It was like a damn bloodbath all of a sudden... With less blood.
She could see the elderly Blue Oni even having some fun, bonking a portrait person over the head with his cane and glowing with his Numb spell. He's enjoying it, it so seems. Guess even a Blue Oni, their race's peaceful ones, can have fun fighting.
In fact, Faye might just so happen to notice that that 'random' sprinting at his target was a Mogash - THE Mogash. He's pretty damn big and has a lot of muscle, and twin axes in his hands. He effortlessly lifts up that portrait person and slams it into the wall, crushing the body and snapping it in half to cause it to drop lower, just at the height for him to ram his knee into its face. No chance for the construct as it was basically double-killed and the paint splatters all over the wall.
The Mogash raises his arms and axes and roars loudly, inspiring everybody to be fearless and never rest until they are victorious. It was almost magical how his roar inspired people; even Fay feels invigorated, like she just wants to tear things apart. Perhaps that was an aspect of his magic.
Well, on Fay goes down the hallway. She'll reach the History section soon enough. And as it so turns out, the halls appear to be their standard length... Perhaps it was indeed boredom that made them appear longer, or some optical illusion that the paintings around her may have been doing before monsters started tearing their way out of them.```
Julie
The random blur going pass managed to make the girl flinch. Instead of a paper-thin mache-man, it was just a Mogash— *Ah, the one she was supposed to find.* 

The Mogash has some pretty toned muscles. Wielding two axes and the roar of a beast, she didn't expect someone like *That* To have an interest in art! My, oh my, this job certainly has the best surprises! 

Feeling refreshed and full of vigor, the young elf began sprinting much faster. The once clean floor beneath her now a cloak of paint, a mirage of green red and blue and paper. If she wasn't careful, she could easily slip and embarrass herself.

Not that it's something to worry about. Before long, Fay herself took out her spatha again only to cleave the blade against the abdomens of the portrait-beasts who was unfortunately near her reach. Some paint and paper got on her blade, and on her cloak, but what's important is that she's having fun.
Cora
```Fay wasn't the only one having fun. Everyone was actually. Even the people who aren't disposed to violence are at least having fun just by splattering paint everywhere, like they're busting balloons full of it. Literally nobody appeared to have any issue - the fighters having fun fighting and the artists having fun going nuts with paint spilling.
The Wood Elf was lucky enough that she never slipped or even came close to doing so while she was running. Her sprinting got her to the History section very fast... Where, unfortunately, everybody was completely different.
No doubt Fay might have noticed all the paintings in the Beginner section were untouched. The same could be said about everything in the History section. There were portrait people everywhere in here though, making a very thick barricade with their bodies as if they were protecting what was in the middle.
Likely Fay knows what's in the middle. She will need to start cutting them down to get there.
Hopefully Lee was okay.```
Julie
Approaching the barricade of mache-men, there arms interlocked with each other. Fay soon charged forward, raising the blade over the shoulder before slashing it down at the first obstruction at the shoulder. Much like an axe, it cleaved through its paper flesh with tremendous ease.

Repeating the same motion again and again, she was already through the first two sets of paper-men. There, she can barely see what's happening at center before having to slash the obstructions in order to get through.

Her blade striking the flesh of the paper-man.. Didn't manage to go through like the other ones before. Blinking, she craned her neck, hearing the screech of metal against metal. Clicking her tongue, Fay went back to pull the sp—

The poor, young elf didn't manage to bring her spatha back up when she got socked at the face by one of the creatures. The action caught her off-guard. When all the other things before did as much as nothing from her, these were *Very* Different.

With her behind taking the fall to the ground, she set a hand against where the paper man's fist collided. It stung, then began to ache. A split second of shock could be seen on her pretty face before morphing into one of anger.

The amount of things here blocking the path, she herself wouldn't manage to go through all of them. Looking back, the Mogash would certainly be of great help for her. 

Picking herself up to a knee, her head still aching from the punch, cupped her hands around her mouth. There, she began to call out for the Mogash — or whoever was available in the moment.

Because she doesn't know the Mogash name, she simply called him his race's second name:

"*Heeeyyy! Orc!*"
Cora
```Calling the man out definitely caught his attention. He comes from, not the last area that Fay saw him from, but the hallway to the right. The man can reach her without tearing through the enemies first as well.
He appears excited, hoping that she'll ask him to tear the paper beasts apart... But he doesn't seem to speak. Either he doesn't talk while fighting, or the man is a mute, but he seems to understand what other people say.```

We almost at the end tho. Should be done tomorrow if all goes well.
Julie
Calling the Mogash is a success. With a big grin mirroring that of the Mogash, she directed an index towards the palisade behind her. He could easily understand what she meant. 

And that, Fay stood up from the floor. Her head is still aching, but other than that, she seems to be ready to enjoy the paint-bath.
Cora
```The Mogash follows where she points and lays eyes on the barrier of portrait people. He does appear to recognise that they are tougher than usual - especially given that Fay had an injury on her face.
He opts to care for Fay first, and gently takes her by the arm to help her stand and make sure she doesn't fall from being stunned. He puts up three fingers as if to ask how many she sees, in case she's disoriented.
If all goes well, he'd turn to the palisade of paper maché and takes up his two axes, then begins tearing into them like a whirlwind. A berserker on the battlefield, ripping and shredding through his enemies with no remorse or relent, tearing them apart with his axes or his bare hands as he sees fit or as the situation requires it.
Thank whatever divine forces there are, that these things aren't actual people. To think of the death this man could bring if he wanted to... But his caring for Fay seems to show that he's a kind soul at heart.
Soon, he managed to open up a hole in the wall, big enough for Fay to pass through. From inside, the Artist (High Elf) and Lee turn their heads to look at him. While the perp recoils and backs away toward the wall of portrait people, Lee's eyes turn to Fay and she smiles.
There's a wound on Lee's chest. She must have gotten clipped in combat. It isn't serious, she is managing to stand, but it's still concern enough for the Mogash man to stop racking up a body count and go to her. He promptly picks Lee up and carries her a bit away from the Artist, holding one of his axes and pointing at the perp to threaten her into staying back.
The Mogash barks over his shoulder as if calling Fay in. He recognises this was her purpose... Probably the man was watching the duo as they investigated, and he jumped in to the aid of the good fight.```