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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tellerian Hawke" data-source="post: 6724993" data-attributes="member: 6790669">Billanverthorne ROLLS THE DICE OF FATE! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Bill begins to laugh, chuckling quietly at first, then laughing at the top volume of politeness (i.e., he doesn't laugh obnoxiously loud, the loudest he gets is still at only a conversational level of volume.) "Avar, your intentions are good, and I am sure that your heart is in the right place. However, Jabbar is correct. It is unwise to be so forthcoming, when you are in uncertain company."Bill studies Jabbar's face for a moment, before continuing. "I am going to admit something to you. I hadn't originally intended to share this with you, but Avar's 'outburst' as you put it, has given me a bit of insight, both into his character, and into yours. I can now see that you are no friend to the Hobgoblins. Indeed, it would be my guess that you are somehow working against them. How else would you be so familiar with their tactics, and their powers?"Bill pauses, sighing heavily. "Avar, my friend, you were wrong about me. I did suspect a darker hand at work than a mere spellcaster. I didn't want to share that information with you, because I wasn't sure where your allegiances lay. But your willingness to warn me has shown me your true character. It seems that as time passes, I find more and more reason to count you as a friend." Bill pauses again, before continuing."Jabbar, I cannot pay you for your information. At least, probably not its full value. All the money I have is what I will be paid tomorrow by Khaled, in return for providing security for his caravan. I am a penniless mercenary, adrift on a sea of intrigue. And I'm not certain of where my next meal is coming from, nor am I certain that I won't be dead tomorrow, or the day after. But I can give you something far more valuable than gold; I can give you my word, and my bond of friendship. If you help me, and tell me what you know, you will have my sincerest gratitude, and I give you my word of honor that I will never betray your trust, even under torture. And I offer this as proof of what I say..."Bill removes his glove, to reveal the bandaged hand. He slowly begins to unwrap it as he speaks. "The wound you see is the result of the most vile, the most foul evil. My hand was burned by what I now suspect to have been a Hobgoblin, wielding demonic powers such as Avar described. That is the reason why my wound has not yet completely healed. I live with the pain of this wound every day, and if the wrong person were to discover my affliction, I could be labeled unclean, and arrested for dabbling in the same dark arts that I am fighting so relentlessly against! ... So, there you have it. We're on even ground; I have made up for Avar's mistake by giving you the same sort of evidence against me. For better, or for worse, we are now bound together by fate, cast adrift in the same boat with one another, on the sea of destiny."</blockquote>

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