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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hippocrachus" data-source="post: 3235628" data-attributes="member: 14148">~ The Night Before ~Albion walked until he came to a sign advertising The Twisted Root. The cautious rogue hung around outside, studying the few late-night strollers and making sure no one suspicious followed him or would see him enter. The front window of the apothecary’s boasted the telltale sign of a speakeasy: a white rose in an empty wine bottle.Albion entered with a dignified grin and his hair parted differently than it was only a moment before."Good evening…" He looked around the front of the store for the shopkeeper and found a middle-aged halfling woman taking measurements of a fine blue powder and weighing them with an elaborate set of gold scales. "Hello, my name is Barnoby Winchester. I just opened a delicatessen on the other side of town…" He waited for the diminutive woman to acknowledge him for a moment before he realized she was waiting to hear what he wanted of her. "I’ve found my new shop plagued with mice and I was hoping I could find a humane means of catching the little rascals in your wares." Albion aimed a hopeful smile around the scales to once again try and catch her eye."You’ll have to do better than that, Mr. Winchester." She said the name like it was a toddler sticking its finger in a candle flame. "That was cute though. This town is too small for me not to have noticed a new deli. What do you want?"Albion coughed into his hand and tried to think of a different approach, but his train of thought was lost to the impatient halfling’s interruption."Look, I don’t care what your name is, son. Who you are or where you’re from doesn’t concern me. I know how to do business." She eyed him critically over the rim of her polished bifocals."I don’t have a lot of coin; I need something relatively cheap if not potent. Something to make my job easier, if you know what I mean." He smoothed his hair over, completely abandoning false pretenses. "Whattya got?""What will you give me?" She hopped down from a standbox behind the counter and waited for Albion to place his coin purse where she could see it. She sneered at the petty contents and went to the storeroom, leaving the rogue to wait in silence. When she came back, she placed a tiny vial of copperish liquid on the countertop and secreted Albion’s gold into her well-tailored dress."Oil of Taggit. It’ll put your ‘mice’ to sleep as soon as it will a grown man. It’s to be ingested if you want it to have the desired effects." She glared at him until he slipped the vial into his pocket. "I’m giving you a special discount, Mr. Winchester, because my late husband’s name was Barnoby. I’m even going to pass on a bit of wisdom in case those pesky mice trouble you again. The Taggit plant grows in the woods around these parts. A reddish green leaf like poison ivy; don’t confuse the two. The oil is expensive, hard to come by, and illegal to carry. I trust you know discretion?""My middle name is secret," he said with an exaggerated wink."Cute. You’re cute. Do you want to know how to make it or not?" She waited for his nod. "Harvest the leaf, mash it into a pulp, and bottle it for a day. After a day, you’ll add a pinch of sugar and a splash of water to give it a pleasant taste and the right consistency. If your mice get a belly ache, you did it wrong."Albion stared open-mouthed for a moment. "Thank you, but why are you telling me this…?""Because I don’t want to see you in my store again. Is that clear? If you get caught with that, you forget where you got it, see? It’s bad for business if scattered brained neophytes go babbling inconsiderate things about the Twisted Root.""Right. Of course. Good evening." Albion didn’t ask her name before he left. Shady business was better left in the dark.~ Morning ~Albion came down to the commonroom from his cheap chambers in the inn at a decent hour. Albion was never one to sleep longer than he had to, but he was never chinsy when it came to rest either.New beginnings and prosperity, he thought once again and fingered a small vial-shaped bump concealed in his shirts. You have to spend a little to earn a lot...Albion joined his companions from the night before and had a relatively quick and quiet meal. When Sven came over to the table sometime later and addressed him, Albion looked at the albino with a cocked eyebrow.Great, now he's my responsibility.Albion waited for the others to leave before doing so himself.</blockquote>

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