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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 896010" data-attributes="member: 79">Fireblossom coughed, staring at Finafin “You have to be kidding…”“Oh no.  It’s a fascinating story, really.  Your friend was quite the homicidal terror, I’m given to understand.  A bloodthirsty little bastard who fit in here very well.  But he made one crucial mistake.  He tried to kill Rodrigo and take over.”Fireblossom just shook her head, having trouble reconciling the twitchy little man she’d always known with what Finafin was saying.“Yes, it’s true, hard as it is to believe.”  Finafin assured, “He failed, of course.  He gave it a good try, but trusted the wrong people for back up and it all fell through.  They decided to make an example of the Rat, I’m told.  I’m not sure of the details, but the torture lasted for days, and often very publicly.  And then...well…Rodrigo has a fondness for companions that are, shall we say, exotic.  Lovely elves are a favorite, but if you’ve met Malachai you know it’s not limited to that.  At the time Rodrigo had a succubus as a guest.  Now, before you think ‘That wouldn’t be so bad’ you must keep in mind, a Succubus can suck you dry without there being any pleasure in it.  As a finish to it, the Rat was drained dry, to the point of death, then released.  He was never the same after that.  I gathered he left town not long before I arrived.  As you can imagine, no one had tried to make a move on Rodrigo since.”Fireblossom could well imagine and as Finafin went back inside, Fireblossom passed this story along to her friends, then whispered to Ming “You can do Restoration spells, right?  How much time can pass before you can’t Restore someone?”“A week or so.”  Ming replied, giving Fireblossom a curious look.“Oh, that’s a shame.  I had this idea of using Nezu as our secret weapon.  Get into a tight spot then restore him to full power.”  Fireblossom grinned.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kyruko healed Nezu a little, enough to get him up and moving again, then the healer had an idea.  Calling the Kid over she quickly cast a spell before they went back inside.  “This is a Chain of Eyes.  It allows me to watch whoever it is cast upon.  I can also transfer it if someone is touched.  Try to brush up against Viktor when he’s walking around.  Maybe we can use it to spy on him.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Then the group went back inside to join Finafin.  Vodka also seemed to restore Nezu a little, though he was now glancing side to side, far more twitchy and nervous than he had been before, which was saying something.Yukiyo waited until a good moment then got up to try and walk past Viktor as he was heading toward his table.  Bumping into the massive abomination, Kyruko triggered the spell and felt it succeed, her point of view shifting from the Kid to Viktor.  So she had a great view of Viktor easily lifting the Kid up by the scruff of the neck as he checked his gold and weapons.  Then he snarled “Better watch where you are going, kid.  Not everyone is as understanding as me.”  Then a casual toss dumped the Kid over a table to the floor as Viktor walked on.[GM Note:  Yukiyo took quite the beating this day, and there wasn’t even any combat.  Would have been much worse if Viktor had succeeded with his will save, though.]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The settled in to chat with Finafin again but they  didn’t have long to enjoy the fine Elven wine before another visitor came over, however.  A young Half-Orc who looked to Ming and Kyruko “Viktor asked me to come over and invite you to drink with him for a few minutes.”  Then the Half-Orc waited, showing fangs with his smile.  Clearly this wasn’t the sort of invitation one could refuse.Reluctantly, Ming and Kyruko got up and went over to see Viktor, Mir focusing, getting herself even more into character.  She did –not- want to spend much time talking to Viktor, if anyone would recognize her, he would.Finafin just waved it off “You are doing well, Fireblossom.  Important people are noticing you already.  Maybe you should stay in town for a while.  We could use people with power and skill right now.  There’s a war coming up and that always means chances for glory and plunder.”  Vlad wasn’t listening, though.  He was starting to feel feverish and weak.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Viktor was sitting in his own corner of the inn, a number of Half-Orcs lounging around, on guard.  If anything, he looked bigger than when Mir had last seen him.  But just as much an abomination.  The strong Orcish jaw with less prominent fangs, mixed with more delicate Elven ears and features.“Don’t worry, my conversation is a little more pleasant than Grond’s.”  he assured, showing a toothy grin “I wanted to talk to the two of you since you are the only real Rokugani in your group.  We don’t get much news on what’s happening in the Empire out here, and most of that is from the Bloodspeakers.  And frankly I like getting confirmation on anything they tell us.  Where are you two from?”This scrutiny was a little closer than either Kyruko or Ming wanted.  In a fine display of Bardic improvisation, Kyruko created a background that had her coming from the Phoenix lands, a ronin shugenja not very welcome in an area where the ruling clan claimed all magic for themselves.  Ming wasn’t quite so quick on his feet, and simply tried to play mysterious without giving much away.  Kyruko led the way in admitting she’d been out of the Empire for some time now, and had gone to work for Fireblossom and Vlad acting as a guide when they got to the Empire.  It was a neat lie that spared them from having to talk too much about what was going on in the empire.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back at the table, Vlad’s condition was getting worse.  His weakness was growing and he face had gotten noticeably flushed.  Even Finafin seemed concerned.  He leaned over for a closer look then sighed as he looked to Fireblossom “Is your friend ok?  He’s looking positively peaked.”Fireblossom was a little concerned as well, glancing suspiciously to the wine before checking Vlad again “He’ll be ok, he just needs a little rest.”“Oh, no…”  Finafin protested, “It looked much worse than that.  You can’t let something like this go without proper treatment.  I’m a bit of a healer, and I know some clerics in town.  Perhaps we’d better take him over to my house.  He can rest more comfortably there.”  The Elven dandy the picture of sincerity as he made the offer.“Not a good idea.”  Fireblossom said quickly “He’s getting feverish.  He gets terribly violent if he gets delusional.  We’d better not take the chance.”The corners of Finafin’s mouth twitched upwards, a hint of a smile before the serious, concerned look returned “It’s no imposition, really.  I have leather bonds, I’ll simply restrain him if he starts to seem violent.”The worse for Vlad was he could hear what was being said quite well.  But his body was feeling heavier, taking more and more effort to move, let alone speak.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ming dodged Viktor’s questions as best he could, with Kyruko often intervening to help him keep his story straight as subtly as she could.  When they saw Nezu and Fireblossom helping Vlad to his feet and getting ready to heard for the door, it was time to try and bring the ‘chat’ to an end.  Kyruko politely thanked Viktor for his interest, and promised to pass along any news that she heard in the future.“Thank you.  Try to keep out of trouble.  Women here are often seen as property, unless they are strong enough to prove otherwise.  No offense, but you don’t seem that strong.  If you think you might be interested in work away from the elf and Vlad, let me know.”  Viktor said before sipping his wine.“Thanks.  I might just take you up on that offer.”  Kyruko tossed out carelessly.  And immediately regretted it as Viktor’s interest was caught again and he started to ask Kyruko about her deal with Fireblossom and Vlad.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fireblossom would have preferred to wait on the others, but Vlad was fading fast and it would only get worse if he passed out while they were still sitting with Finafin.  So getting help from Nezu, they started to help Vlad out of the bar.  Vlad’s condition was noticed by more than just Finafin, and three figures slipped out of the bar to follow.Fireblossom and Nezu carried Vlad back toward their camp as fast as they could, helping him along as he determined put one foot in front of the other.  They were just in the broad alley leading to the open campsite when an arrow thunked into the ground ahead of them.“Try to cast a spell and arrows fly!  We’re after your gold and the elf, nothing more.  You make this a fight and it’s your own damn fault if you die.”</blockquote>

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