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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 895174" data-attributes="member: 79">Things were going very well for Mongo and friends.  The Yabanjin barbarians drank vodka like it was water.  Mongo, Taz and Nezu weren’t left in much shape for real intelligence gathering, but Ming was still lurking there, stone cold sober and taking mental notes.  He found the Yabanjin chieftains had been recruited for an assault on Bugaisha.  Their chieftains ordered them to go, and besides, there was promise of great loot and plunder there, as well as the chance to bring home Rokugani women.  The Yabanjin didn’t know anything about tactical plans.  They were waiting here and enjoying life until it was time to fight.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Vlad, Fireblossom, the Kid and Kyruko continued exploring Kuzo, taking special note of places they were not allowed to go.  Finally their path took them to the northern gate and the Inu encampment.  The guards at the gate warned them where the Inu were.  Evidently, they didn’t like life in even a small town like Kuzo, and preferred to keep to themselves.  The guards described them as a bunch of thieves and cheats, no mean feat in a town of bandits.  As the group went on to the camp the guards just looked at each other “They don’t know they are headed for trouble.  I HATE Inu.”The camp was different than they had expected.  Instead of tents, the Inu used wooden huts built onto large wooden sleds they seemed to use, even when there wasn’t snow.  Stabled off to the side were elk that stood over nine feet at the shoulders.  Birds circled constantly overhead, and in the shade of one of the Inu buildings a massive bear was dozing.The group was greeted quickly by several of the Inu, tattooed men dressed in hides.  A less fierce but more roguish look to than then the Yabanjin had.  It took two tries to figure out what they were saying.  Their common was not only heavily accepted, but words were slurred together and much slang of their own was added.“So, whatta you wantin’ then?”  the leader asked, looking over the group “Here fer for fortunes, are ye?  Gotta wisewoman who kin tell everythin’ about ye.  Yuir present and future.  Maybe the gamblin’? S’tonight.  Bettin’ on the fechtin’ and more, later.  Maybe ye fecht, yoursells?  We dinnae do the fechts like in town.  Wreslin’s our game.  Any of ye wrestle?”The group certainly wasn’t interested in their fortunes being told.  Quite the opposite, while knowing the future might be nice, the less these Inu knew about the group the better.  If the wisewoman knew real magic, she might be able to tell their real mission.  They’d heard there were fights at the Dancing Ferret, a sort of rough justice where men met the settle scores.  Sometimes to the death, but not always.Vlad smirked “Wrestling?  No, wrestling’s just like sex, only without the fun.  Not interested.”There was a moment of deathly silence as the leader looked around to the others, crossing his arms as he looked back to Vlad “so, what’er ye sayin’ then?  We look like elves to ye?  Ye know what I’m thinking, boys?”  he looks to the other “I think he’s wantin’ to fight the bear.”“I’d kill the bear.”  Vlad growled, growing annoyed, even as Fireblossom watched, growing amused, and Kyruko started to think of a way to talk their way out of this.  But not right away…it was kind of fun watching Vlad dig himself deeper.“Well now, maybe ye would. Maybe there’s more to the bear than ye think.  Maybe yuir friends care ta bet on it.  Strong man that ye are, maybe we’d need odds even.”  The leader said while grinning.Kyruko stepped in now before it got too far.  A whispered conversation with Vlad going back and forth as she tried to convince the angry young man to apologize.Finally Vlad looked back to the Inu.  A slight pause then finally “If I said anything that gave offense, I apologize.”That drew a sneer from the Inu and a short whispered conversation with the others before he looked over Vlad “Ye think that’s enough, then?  Heard people talk like that before, we have.  What yuir meanin’ is “I don’t think I need to apologize, so I hope they’ll buy this.’  Be a mahn.  Either apologize or don’t.  But don’t put all those words around it ta add qualifications ‘n conditions.”Vlad was ready for a fight by this point.  But Kyruko smoothed the Inu’s feathers a little before she whispered more with Vlad.  And finally, reluctantly, Vlad said “I apologize.  I wasn’t trying to insult you.”“Is that why you meeting the elf later for a date?”  the Kid piped up, trying to stir up trouble.Bam!  Vlad backhanded the Kid then Fireblossom stepped in to pull the disguised Yukiyo aside “We’re just getting this settled, don’t start it up again!”No danger of that, it seemed.  The Inu just nodded in approval of Vlad’s action “That’s dealin’ with the insult proper.  Very well, takes a big mahn to apologize.  It’s accepted.”The group left quickly, relieved to have gotten out of the camp without a fight.  Except for Vlad, who was still muttering under his breath “I could have taken the bear.  I don’t see why that was such a big deal.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meeting back at the base, the group discussed what they had learned that day and what to do next.  Volar was going to have the bandit leader he’d Dominated come by the camp later and he would teleport him back to Bugaisha to answer questions.  But first the bandit would drop hints to those around him that he wasn’t happy with how things were going, hoping to leave the impression he’d just taken off.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Again the group split up.  Mongo and Taz went off to meet with their Yabanjin friends again, while the others went to meet Finafin at the Dancing Ferret.  The inn wasn’t the friendliest of places.  A little on the dark side, a place where everyone tried to find a spot where they could sit with their backs to the wall.  Finafin was there though, with his Elven boy toy, waiting.With Fireblossom providing all the proper encouragement and flattery, Finafin was more than happy to talk about Kuzo.  Even though he didn’t wear a rapier, he always described himself as a duelist.  Though most in the group suspected the silent younger elf would be the real threat.  Finafin had helped out Rodrigo some years ago and was now officially welcome in Kuzo, wherever it popped up.  And now was a most interesting time, with bandits gathering here to fight Lord Jyaku.  Something of a grudge there.  Rodrigo hates the Unicorn Clan, always has.  He doesn’t talk about it, but he carries a no-dachi and doesn’t allow any of his kids to use Rokugani weapons.Finafin’s personal involvement was limited.  He didn’t bother trying to command troops here.  Mere rabble, not up to his standards anyway.  But he knew some people back west still who could supply weapons.  And he’d be seeking out the leaders in battle for dueling, Finafain was quite confident the Roko’s wouldn’t know how to handle an Elf wielding a rapier.Sitting with Finafin certainly did draw attention to the group, most of it less than friendly.  But Vlad was doing a surprisingly good job heading off confrontations, despite an ever growing need to wreck serious physical damage on someone.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The open area in the middle of the floor was used for the fights.  As Finafin explained it, the fighters were a way of settling scores once and for all.  Take two men, let them fight it out, and no matter who won, the grudge was settled once and for all.  When it was time for the fights the moment Kyruko (Mir) had dreaded, arrived.  Viktor, six foot, five inches of Half-Orc Half-Elf, walked into the inn.  He barely gave the group a glance, though, instead getting ready to act as referee for the fights.The betting started before the first fight and continued through the evening.  Some of the fighters were simple brawling, but most was more lethal.  For fights not to the death, Viktor acted as judge for first blood and if a fighter could still continue, his massive two handed sword close to hand in case anyone wished to object.  Even so, his was ruthlessly impartial, and a cleric of Beshaba was standing by for healing when needed.  The ‘Main Event’ was the least competitive fight of the evening.  A short, muscular man armored in a simple breast plate, against a nervous looking bandit in scale armor, sword and shield.  It was no contest at all.  The unarmed man moved with blinding speed, a left-right- left of punches splintering the shield and hammering the bandit back.  The bandit swung wildly, missing, then the armored monk grabbed onto the bandit’s helmet, dragging his head down to meet a knee to the face, then a crushing elbow to the back dropped the bandit flat.  The battle only last another minute more because the monk made a point of drawing out the bandit’s painful demise, finishing with a twist that cracked the bandit’s neck before declare “This is what happens to anyone who messed with us.”Finafin explained “That’s Grond.  Rodrigo’s eldest son.  Rodrigo rules here, but –noone- can beat Grond.  He trained as a monk, but he wears armor sometimes to slow him down, to make a battle more interesting.  The bandit crossed Rodrigo.  How?  Good question.  They don’t usually explain.  If you draw a line in the sand and say ‘cross this and we’ll kill you’ bandits tend to walk right up to the line, but not step over it.  Rodrigo likes keeping exactly where the line is a little hazy.  People are more nervous when they are not sure exactly how much they can get away with.”Verick had watched the fight carefully to try and gauge how good Grond was.  And he was very sure he couldn’t take the monk one on one.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The inn returned to normal after the fights were finished, money changing hands as the final bets were settled.  Finafin was back to chatting about his past, while carefully avoiding just why he had to leave the Sword Coast.  But the conversation was broken up quickly as Grond walked over.“I’m going to talk to your friend, I’ll bring him back in a couple of minutes.”  And with that Grond reaches over the table and grabbed Nezu by his collar, yanking over over the table, then dragging him behind as the monk walked out of the inn casually.Finafin was ready to resume the conversation as if nothing had happened but the Vlad and Fireblossom had other things in mind, all too aware that Nezu could blow their cover, and suspecting it would not take much to make the Rat talk.  Seeing his new friends following Grond, Finafin just nodding to his elfboy, then followed them out.  Grond dragged Nezu into the alley by the inn.  Lifting the thin man with one hand and banging him against the wall.  “Pretty brave coming back here after so long.  Especially after leaving that bloodwitch in the lurch, you bastard.”  Grond snarled, then pounded a couple fast punches to Nezu’s body.  The rat doubled over before being yanked up straight again.“You try anything this time and we’ll just kill you.  We don’t have time for shows.  I’ll let you and Shahai work out things out when she’s back.  I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you again.  Until then…this is your one warning.”  Then Grond lifted Nezu higher, a headbutt splattering blood from the Rat’s nose, followed by a couple of lightning fast kicks that crushed him against the wall.  Leaving Nezu crumpled by the wall Grond went to walk back inside, nodding to Vlad “You can collect your friend now.  Hope you’re not trusting him much, the Rat’s only good for backstabbing.”Fireblossom watched this closely, frowning now as Vlad and the others went over to check on Nezu.  “Finafin, do you know what that was all about?”“Why yes.” The elf positively purred in his rich voice “I almost didn’t recognize the name.  Years ago, he was Rodrigo’s second-in-command.”</blockquote>

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